The 23rd Celebration

It is the 27th of October and I am one year older. Actually if you think about it, on birthdays people basically turn one day older - not any different from any other day. Every day, we just slowly move towards the one year mark where we say "Wow, I'm one year older" but not really.

My birthday begun with B asking me "How do you feel now that you are one year older?" - a question he asks every year. This year is different because I liked how it went. I responded by saying "I feel old" which is what most girls would say anyway. Without a pause, B said to me "I do too but the point is to grow old together". It's true - why do I care about growing old? It's not even a bad thing when the two of us are doing it hand in hand.

I have always been a person to make a big deal of birthdays because I like celebrating someone's special day and this means getting them a cake, a present or a few presents and talking about it a month in advance. This birthday, however, feels different to me as I am typing this alone at home. I have no plans to be anywhere and I don't wish for anyone to gift me with anything. Is this the effect of growing up?

Just last week I was doing some work for my Mum, which involves calling people up and asking them a bunch of questions for a survey and of course I had to ask "How old are you this year?". I was utterly shocked when some people actually said "Umm, I'm not sure but I'm born in XXXX". How can people lose track of their age? Don't people celebrate their birthdays every year and be reminded of how old or young they are? It turned out that she is only 34, making this situation more absurd to me. It sounded like she might start losing track of the decade of her age too.

Now that I think about it, it may not be so absurd after all and I probably was a little judgemental about it. Perhaps age is just a number to her and the most important thing is to enjoy every single day of life - then really, what does her age tell her? Nothing. Someone could be 80 years old and still have an adventurous, kind and open heart like an innocent child has. In contrary, someone could be just 30 years old but feel so trapped and sick of life like how an old person nearing death might feel.

Age is really just a number. It might somewhat indicate how you look but it should never be used to rule your life ("Oh i'm too old for this!"). It should never be used as a countdown to when your life ends, because let's be honest, we don't know when that day could be and it could be tomorrow. Age should really be used to remind people of how possibly short life is and how every single minute is important and precious, especially with your loved ones. This is also why B and I try to never go to bed angry - why let the anger of today spoil tomorrow? Isn't one rotten day enough?

What B said really touched me and I keep thinking about it today. I'm 23 this year, which is by no means old but I'm all ready to enjoy all the moments that life may bring. A birthday shouldn't be made into a big deal but it should be an opportunity to slow down and take our time to enjoy being surrounded by our loved ones. It is only the third of my birthdays that B and I are spending together but I am looking forward to so many more, one precious day at a time.

Spring is here!

It's middle of October and two weeks into Spring now. This means that it's getting nearer to the 5 months of waiting time for my visa. All this waiting is making me a little impatient ~~ Hopefully the visa will be granted in good time!

I've been cooking a lot so at least that is keeping me busy. I think I'm 100% a better cook now than ever before. I've stopped freaking out when touching raw meat and I can whip up some decent meals for B after he comes back from work (did I mentioned he's now full-time employed?!?!). I'm really ecstatic about B's job because I think it's a great company that he can learn lots from. Certainly a good company to get a first proper job in!

Lots of people have been asking me: "what do you intend to do in Australia?" or like "what kind of job are you going to get?". I haven't really thought about it because I don't really want to make lots of plans before getting my visa. It's pretty scary to think that they *may* reject me and I will have to be apart from B.

But that aside, more good news! B and I have managed to bid for a BTO in Bukit Merah and we have already selected our unit at City Vue @ Henderson, which looks like a really nice estate. It will only be ready in 4 years so we have got much time to figure everything out. Life is moving pretty quickly for us ~

Lunch at Il Lido Italian Canteen & Visa Updates

Its our second time back at Il Lido Italian Canteen and we're nothing short of amazed. From the food to the atmosphere - Il Lido is built to impress. We ordered three antipastis and four mains to share, which is a really good strategy I think since we want to eat everything here.

I can't even began to describe how wonderful this restaurant is because I have not had any Italian food that even comes close to what Il Lido offers. The bread dipped in clam sauce was heavenly, the scallops in the risotto were seared perfectly, the fish was so fresh and the pasta most definitely al dente.

In other news, I have another 2 months to go before my visa application hits the 5 months mark. I've already completed by medical checks and police clearance during my last trip to Singapore and I'm hoping that the visa will be processed smoothly.

Adapting to life in Aussieland has not been difficult so far, though I still need to work on greeting people. It's always a challenge to ask someone "Hey, how are you?" because it doesn't come naturally to me. Because of the culture differences, some little things that have not occurred to me before now become things that are extremely important.

Nonetheless, that day we passed by Cottesloe and as I look at how amazingly far and vast and bright blue the Indian ocean is, I am so thankful that I get to be here.