la dolce vita

The math freaks

2007-01-05T22:11:00.000+11:00

On Budgeting in 2007:

"Maybe we should go to breakunch only three out of four times a month."

"But that's only saving, like, $20 for 12 months."

"Yeahhh..."

"That's like, what, $240 a year only."

"Whoah! You did that calculation in your head?"

Which goes to show, you can take the girl out of blonde, but you can't take the blonde out of the girl ;)

PS Gio and I decided that we would not sacrifice our weekly routine of breakunch devouring, and Gio admitted that this was only a rhetorical and/or comical suggestion that was never intended to be actioned.

Hot like a sauna seat

2007-01-04T22:30:00.000+11:00

Well, you know how I told you my brother is now Youth Pastor at his church?

Well, I lied. He actually joined a boy band, but I was just too embarassed to say. Please forgive me?

LOL jokes jokes, but my brother has joined forces with a few of his friends to create a 'boy band' - the Soldier Boyz. Check out their MySpace, where you can hear their 'singles': 'Light up My World' and 'Bring that Beat' (if I had to describe the style, I'd say: East 17 meets Westlife meets Revenge of the Nerds meet Napoleon Dynamite).

It's so cute, Zac can do the actions for the song and tries to sing whenever he can (in his very limited English) Hee hee.

And my Dad keeps on insisting they should try to release the song for real. Oh, only the love of a father. (though I must say, it's a catchy beat!)

PS The title of this entry is the lyrics in one of their songs. Grammy's a-comin their way.

Diamonds on the inside

2007-01-03T00:18:00.000+11:00

Perth was divine.

Our family's very own Mr T; I have to say, this trip revealed the extent of Michelle's cooking talents. Oh i am so embarassed; my beautiful sisters, xoxo

my first time at rottnest island! had such amazing beaches and i snorkelled for the first time! So much fun that I managed to put up with riding for 15km in 37 degree heat... barely my friends, barely.

we went down to dunsborough for a few days - the gorgeous Amberley Estate in Margaret River for lunch; my bro thinks he's very very good-looking; i think zac is very very good-looking; second double-scoop Simmo's icecream for the day but don't you dare steal a bite buddy

voyager estate was stunning and...comfortable...

the beach at margaret river

these munchkins light up my world...

my handy tip to you for 2007: live it UP!!
happy new year!
and seriously guys... live it up...

He rocks and he rolls

2007-01-02T22:58:00.000+11:00

"Dem paparrazzi always up in mah face"

All milk and honey

2006-12-23T11:36:00.000+11:00

Quick update

I am in Perth!! Yay for me! Zac is as lovable as always and Natedogg is the cutest little fatty ever! As usual, family has been on the agenda 24/7 - needless to say, it's been lovely seeing everyone and chillin out not doing much at all.

And just because I'm in Perth doesn't mean I have to miss out on breakunch! I just came home from breakunch with the siblings at Harvest in North Freo, and it was so good! I had an insanely good macadamia, white chocolate and orange muffin, and souffle cakes (essentially pancakes) with strawberries and maple syrup, and two cups of good coffee. And the venue itself is so messy cute and rustic-y - a must-try if you're in the area! (Thanks Michelle!, you got the goods!!!)

"All I Want for Christmas, is..."

And little drummer boy Chris will be making a Perth appearance next week too, which will be very very nice :)

Christmas is my most favourite time of the year. I love listening to Christmas carols in shops, I love seeing Christmas colours everywhere, I love all the sparkly decorations and poxy lights, I love that it brings families together, I love that it rekindles my faith in the abundance of love, joy, generosity and kindness in the world.

And most of all, though it can be rather hidden in this society obsessed by consumerism and self-indulgence (I myself am extra-guilty), I love that Jesus is the reason for the Season.

What are the odds hey

Meanwhile, it's reported that my Great Love is going to be in Melbourne for Christmas/New Year. *ROAR* This is so unfair! I mean, you know, because it's so probable that I'd be hanging out at the same parties as him and that we would have: locked eyes, been transfixed by each other after one conversation, consequently hooked up and lived happily ever after.

Spread the love

I doubt I'll be writing until after the New Year, so until then my oompa loompas, have a wonderful festive season. Hope you all give and receive pretty presents and take the opportunity to drown yourself in Christmas cheer and fun.

xoxo

It's another day for you and me in paradise

2006-11-27T22:40:00.000+11:00

The past weekend was spent in the Sunshine Coast in Queensland! (And I'm going to assume y'all as stupid as me when it comes to Australia and geography: Sunshine Coast is below Hervey Bay/Fraser Coast and above the Gold Coast and Brisbane.)

It was amazing weather (oh how I love the sun) and I had a fanpantastic time exploring the area, and swimming in the beach each morning, and just revelling in the beauty of nature. And of course, seeing Chris always garuntees (a) adventure of some sort, as the boy doesn't really know the meaning of sitting still, and (b) fun, as the boy is a goof to the max.

And it's actually quite funny because I am, at best, "a little" averse to physical activity. Though I didn't always used to be like this. In fact, I used to be very athletic - but hey, you're not here to listen to my days in Primary School are you.

Well anyway, I think that deep (and I mean deep, peoples, so deep I can't even find it myself) inside me is a girl who actually likes to do things and Chris happens to be a rare person who manages to find and harness/force the outdoor girl outta me.

But without further ado, I present you my speedy 48 hours in the Sunshine Coast...

We spent the Saturday at Noosa, which is just an amazing place to be. It just oozes a Holiday Vibe that just washes over you and makes you feel dreamy and all that other good stuff.

before and after swimming: Chris looks like he belongs to the revenge of the nerds in the picture on the right, what is up with that hair? I'm allowed to say that because "wow" look at me, and how picture perfect I look.

After Noosa beach, we went on a mountain biking and kayaking tour. We started off with our guide driving us up Mt Tinbeerwah in the Noosa State forest, where we went for a short hike to get to the top to see a 360 degree view of Noosa. It was amazing:

The mountain in the background in the picture below is Mt Tinbeerwah - I am not joking with you, just the first leg of the mountain bike ride was from the top of the mountain to the point where I was standing taking this photo:

The ride was so much fun though, and I didn't fall down and I used the gears alright and everything - I was so proud of myself! The speed and adrenalin from going downhill and going upndown little hills and just the pure beauty of the scenery (we saw a kangaroo in the forest!) was actually really exciting.

And then we went kayaking! Which was also pretty fun, and like mountain biking, something I've never done before. And so it wans't my fault I was very weak/unco at it, but it was still plenty fun and again, beautiful scenery and perfect weather.

Sunday was spent exploring the hinterlands - checking out forests and quaint little villages. It was so pretty, everything was just so lush and beautiful. It really makes you appreciate nature and realise how important it is to nurture the world we live in.

No littering okay peoples, and recycle! recycle! recycle!

koondalilla national park: rockpool above (woohoooo... and let me tell you: I did that jumping off from a rope too! *blows fingernails* that's right, i am self-appointed queen of this jungle.) and below, the scenery and walk

Anyway, it was a really beautiful place and I had an unforgettable time, you guys have to go and check it out when you get the chance.

But for now, remember peoples: Love life!

It's a lovely day

2006-11-23T20:50:00.000+11:00

It has been a good week. I passed my CA exam, all thanks to God, who I could not have possibly done this without (trust me on that one).

I ate Las Chicas (my most favouritest breakunch joint ever ever) two weekends in a row, which meant two weeks of their amazing French toast with strawberries, pistachio ricotta and maple syrup (above left with homegirl Naomi, as well as other goodies like their BLAT [bacon letuce avocado tomato salsa] above right).

I like how my friends make me laugh, that they are witty and smart, and forgiving, and sensible.

I like (the abundance of) funny emails.

I like that the weather has warmed up (although you can never speak to soon in Melbourne).

I like it how people at my work inspire me.

And I lovvve that tomorrow is Friday.

Sticks and stones may break my bones...

2006-11-11T17:20:00.000+11:00

I just have something to say:

I really think it’s mean that the train traffic controller in Thomas the Tank Engine (TTE) is called the Fat Controller. I mean, sure, he’s a little round-faced and has a bit of a pudgy tummy, but he can't help it, that is how the creators of the show made him and for him to have to live on in that legacy must be quite sad for him.

How would you like it if in your workplace you were known as the Fat Lawyer, or the Fat Accountant, or the Fat Business Analyst, or the Fat Student, or the Fat Doctor, or the Fat Architect - not very pleasant at all now is it.

I mean, every single train gets a name for goodness sake, couldn’t they just have given the poor controller one too?

I think I’m getting paranoid about my own burgeoning pudginess.

P.S. In general, I think TTE is quite a harsh show:

Gordon is "extremely proud and inclined to boast"

James "likes to think of himself as a really splendid engine"

Percy gets "taken advantage of".

Even Thomas is said to be "fussy and over-eager".

Why do kids love it so much!? No wonder children can be so cruel.

This is my Candy Shop

2006-11-10T23:51:00.000+11:00

I felt like I'd been in Perth for a full two weeks. It was so weird to come back to Melbourne on Tuesday night, and, as I've told any one who will listen, I was very angry to come back to 17 degree weather after almost getting used to beautiful late 20 degree days.

But let's get away from the negative!

The trip to Perth was extra-lovely.

Usually when I go back, I spend all day, every day and night, with my family. And y'all know how obsessed I am with my family, but it was really nice to be able to hang out more with my friends too this time, and go out for drinks, and for breakfast, and meet up for lunch, and have dinner with my sisters, and all the other fun casual Perth things.

It genuinely made me feel like moving back home soon just to be close to all the people and things and lifestyle I really love.

Oh, and Gio got along with my family like a house on fire - my Dad even referring to her as his 'adopted daughter' at one stage, haha.

Mona's birthday/"I'm-leaving-Perth-to-go-back-to-Melbourne-but-I'll-be-back-to-Perth-in-three-months-and-leaving-Melissa-in-Melbourne-Woe-to-Mel" drinks at Tiger Lils, a cute bar in the city. Had a fun night with the girls and... Bobbyyyyyy... lol.

rach, dont hate me for putting this pic up, but the truth is you look ADORABLE. And it's the only pic with all five of us in it :p

Rach and Mona took the Monday off work to hang out with Gio and me. To start the day, we went speedboating at Freo, which was a short (20 minutes) but very fun adventure! We got completely soaked, but I think that was half the fun! :) Then we sat in the sun eating icecream before heading up to Scarborough Beach.

Being the girly girls that we are, before we even hit the sand, we did some damage at a surf store and then got ourselves a whole lotta fish and chips. It was such a beautiful day, and the sun was just gorgeous, and I got myself a decent tan. Bring on the summer days, I can't wait! (Meanwhile, I can not believe I wasted my life in Perth not going to the beach and avoiding the sun. Foolish girl.)

I'm telling you, these girls in combination will make you laugh harder than anything. Love 'em to bits.

the speedboat; yes that is me in the middle making a fool of myself. standard.

Natedogg was so adorable. I am telling you, in the three days that: I saw him, came back to Melbourne, then went back to Perth again, the boy had changed and become fatter and smarter and cuter. It's true. *blocks out ears to all you cynical people who don't believe me* Seriously, though, it's true.

Zac at the airport was the cutest thing ever. He literally was nearly walking through the boarding gates, turning his head back and waving goodbye to my Mum and Marie. And when Marie scooped him up, he started going, "Mellll... Melllll... Mellll..." and crying. He is just the most adorable thing ever and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can someone bring him here so I can cuddle and dance with him.

I think Zac takes better pics than me... I leave you with a a few pics taken by the 2yo, showcasing his talents and my ridiculous poses...

Natedogg and his homies

2006-10-31T00:05:00.000+11:00

I just came back from Perth yesterday. A work trip that turned in to a weekend stay :)

As usual, family time in abundance. It was the first time that I saw Nathan, my new nephew! (who will hereon in be referred to as my preferred nickname for him: Natedogg) He was so tiny and adorable and had the most inquisitive eyes... oh how I love thee. So don't mind the inundation of photos but hey, it's my blog and I'll inundate if I want to! Hey, you would too, if it happened to you!

And then there is Zac. The Big Bro now, he has taken pretty well to Natedogg. I mean, sure, a few whacks in the head here and a few kicks there - but nothing the Naughty Corner can't handle. He "talks" so much now, though much of it is admittedly non-understandable to the unappreciative ear. "Zacky, say Daddy". "Nn-deh". "Da". "Da". "Dee". "Dee". "Daddy" "Nn-deh". He tries. He really does.

Bubs are just amazing aren't they - so full of energy and life and outbursts of random behaviour. You just have no idea what's going on in their heads, but you know it's gotta be heaps of fun.

And then there is the rest of my fam.

I went to see my brother Aaron preach on Friday night for the first time as Youth Pastor of our church.

Now, most people are shocked when I tell them my brother is now a Youth Pastor. For three reasons, I think.

One, not so good reason, is because I realise I'm not exactly the most admirable Christian in the world and they think "What!? This sometimes superficial, often mean, rather selfish, quite materialistic, self-indulgent girl has a pastor as a brother?!" I know, it's quite harsh to myself, but hey I'm just being objective and realistic here.

Second, my bro is 24 and single, and to pretty much hand over your life to do God's work at that time of your life, is a pretty significant move, you must agree.

And thirdly, my brother is incredibly incredibly smart and he had a really good job in a very good company. There are honestly very very few people who I think are smarter than my brother in his age group. Just trust me. Whatever you think is smart, multiply it by 100. Seriously. And to hand over your life to do God's work when you're in that kind of position, is a pretty significant move, you must agree.

So, as much as we all recognised that God was undoubtedly my brother's number one passion, his recent decision to work full-time at the church was one that surprised the whole family and probably a fair few others I think.

But seeing him preach God's Word and seeing that passion shine through and seeing how God had inspired him so much, I was just bursting with respect and pride and awe.

Preach it, bro, preach it.

michelle and i at tarts in northbridge; bubble tea with michelle, aaron and phil - peacemakers

It's weird - when I go back to Perth and the whole family is sitting around the dinner table and we're eating away at all my favourite foods (and let me tell you, there are alot of them. My Mother is truly an angel), it feels so odd and yet so comfotable, and a little bit surreal.

I know I haven't been away from Perth for that long, but when I go back, it's as if that family normalcy was another life, a lifetime ago. I'm quite sure none of the rest of my family feel it, but when it's you that is doing the leaving and coming, it feels so different.

I spent today feeling quite angry at Melbourne (standard) and so so so relieved that I will be back in Perth again in three days for the Melbourne Cup long weekend (Sorry horsies.)

Should be a blast as my beloved Gio will be making the trip with me.

PS It was great seeing you Naomi! More breakunches to come on the weekend! And I'm already foreseeing great laughter on Friday night!!!

She came and she snorted

2006-10-30T22:46:00.000+11:00

Photos from Rachel's trip to Melbourne last weekend...

Straight-from-airport-to-Mart-130 breakfast, Jazz music at Manchester Lane, "unexpected" polenta pasta (lol) at Il Bacaro, gourmet brekky at The Botanical, double breakfasts at Las Chicas and Batch Espresso, corned beef (you learn something new every day... lol), targeted trips to Baker D'Chirico, Spanish donuts, "Can you roll like a ball?", Divali celebrations at Fed Square, photography exhibition by the Yarra, tragedy at Grossi Florentino, resorting to Lygon Street...

I love my chick.

Newspoll

2006-10-19T10:35:00.000+10:00

Which is the most disturbing?

(1) Not knowing until yesterday that China and Korea were two separate countries, and thinking that Korea was “just another name” for China?

(2) Insisting that most Australians would also live in the above ignorance?

(3) Looking at an Adidas jacket, seeing a picture of the Eiffel tower and thinking “Ooh, an Italy jacket!” because sometimes you get mixed up about whether Paris is in France or Italy?

(4) A Chinese accountant wanting to teach others how to bogan-spot?

And so now you catch a glimpse in to my life as a wonderland.

On top of the game

2006-10-14T18:16:00.000+10:00

Mike is leaving us! Yes, one of my dear basketball-ing xiao peng yous is moving in to the double-up Dark Side of Sydney and Corporate Finance.

He held his going away par-tay at Vogue for Asia Night. Ah, my favourite :p

But, even with a pack of Chinese zoo animals (although, admittedly, it was very quiet and the club was mostly filled with Mike's workmates. The first time I've ever see the Aussies almost outnumber the Asians at an official Asia Night), it was such a fun night.

Due to the ending of my exam this week, it was my first night of guilt-less pleasure in awhile. And I haven't gone out out with all the basketballers in ages so it was fun to relive a little of those times. Plus, with my sidekick (which always garuntees good times), the ever-sexy Ang (who Han has obviously taught well - she was singing and rapping along with all the random hip hop tunes that none of us knew) and Raelene (Mike's new girl, who we hung out with for the first time - she's a top chick, thumbs up!) in tow - I happily danced and laughed the night away.

Gio, Ang, me and Raelene (Gio's transformation to the dark-haired angel is complete - how hot is it! her and ang have traded places with Ang being our new resient blonde!)

geeks on the dancefloor

the couple that plays together, stays together ;)

we is going to miss the giant; the b-boys

So it is with great sadness that I bid farewell to The Tallest Chinese Boy I Know. He's totally going to kill it in Sydney and it gives me one more reason to get myself to Sydney more often! Good luck, bud.

Don't call me Aunty

2006-10-11T22:01:00.000+10:00

I know God is watching out for me, I just know it. Logically, it should have been an awful day today. Just trust me on that one.

But, after a good news morning at work, my sister Marie calls me in the arvo, you know, just to let me know that she is in labour.

And then, this evening, I'm on the phone to my Dad and my brother-in-law calls through to tell my Dad that Marie has just gaven birth to a baby boy!

Join me, please, in toasting the celebration of the birth of my nephew, Nathan, in to this world. I can't wait for photos!!!

I want to go back to Perth - where the action is!!!

It's over, it's over now

I did everything I could to prepare for my CA exam on Tuesday: I ate fish at least three times during the week (and if you count fish balls and fish tofu [omg, invention of the century right there - boy, they are tasty]), I ate it almost everyday.

I refrained from breakunch on the weekend with Gio (making it the very first weekend since that fateful first breakunch that we haven't breakunched together notwithstanding state boundary separation).

And I even bought "SMART" juice with wheatgrass, green tea and ginseng in it. The "A" in the name even had a "+" next to it. Marketing I tell you, bloody geniuses.

My handy tip for you: Don't buy the juice, it don't work.

Oh no, I got scissorhand-ed

I got my hair cut this evening. I think I'm scared of my hairdresser.

She asked the girl whose hair she cut before me, "Do you like it?" after she was done. And the girl did not answer for the longest time, and then she started complaining about how the layers were too thick on top. To which the hairstylist replied: "Um. Actually, I think it's just that you have a large head," while feeling her client's skull/large head. Eeks.

So, even though she did lop my hair off even though I wanted to keep the length, even though I think I may look a little more fob(ilicious) than what I can usually handle, when the hairdresser asked me whether I liked my haircut, rather than face the inevitable "You have a big face" comment I was sure to get thrown back at me, I did the SmA+rt thing and said brightly "LOVE IT!"

Best to protect myself, don't you agree.

Take your pick

2006-10-05T19:31:00.000+10:00

Damn interns.

I was speaking to an intern at my work: a young 'un, a cool Asian fellow. He was talking to me about the 'reverse' golddigger and commented, "I think I should become a professional golfer, move to the United States, meet Michelle Wie and marry her so I can become rich, too." To which I innocently replied, "Yeah, she's pretty as well."

And this was his response:

"Nah, not really. But she's so cool. She's so good at sport, so athletic, is outdoors all the time, likes doing things. She's so cool! I mean, I don't want to go out with a geek or a nerd...

No offence or anything."

Oh yeah, it feels so good to be me right now.

That's all folks. That. Is. All.

Pink wishes come true

2006-09-24T16:45:00.000+10:00

I just popped downstairs to the Kwik-E Mart to get the paper, but walking to the counter, something caught my eye... Pink Tim Tams! With strawberry filling! I did not even hesitate, it was immediately added to my basket of Rocky Road Trumpet and Streets choc chip icecream Cookie (other things that "caught my eye" on the way to the counter).

Now, ever since Arnott's got rid of "Chocolate Fudge" Tim Tams and started bombarding us with a whole multitude of other funky flavours, I have stuck to the Originals. But I really hope that this Pink Tim Tam flavour will become a permanent stayer in our biscuits aisle, because it is so good.

I don't know why there aren't more strawberry-related chcolate snacks out there. It is really one of the most sublime combinations and yet they are quite a rare breed. The only ones I can think of are the relatively new Heaven strawberry chocolate blocks (truly addictive), and strawberry Kit Kats (from Taiwan, courtesy of my chocoholic partner in crime, Tina) (and I reckon it beat all of Kit Kat's new flavours here in Oz hands down)...

Oh and I was dressed in the most ridiclous outfit ever. Have you done that before - you left your house to go the local milkbar or local shops, and you have on the most horrendous outfit and you know you shouldn't, but laziness wins over?

Well, I will spare you the lurid details, but the outfit may or may not have included the following: Sweater size XL Men's, a slogan saying "Faux hawks are so in right now bro!", pictures of pandas and mohawks, and (copious amounts of) lyrca. That's all I'm saying. I even wore sunglasses even though it has been raining and there is no sun, to dampen the shame I felt from walking out of the house in such a ridiuclous state.

Just another lazy Sunday.

breakunch yesterday at greasy joe's: my fellow Perth expat lovelys (big me up Scottie!) Ang & Xin Min; Gio & manbag Will-i-am.

Because that's how we roll

2006-09-22T21:16:00.000+10:00

My dear lass, Fal, was here during the week for work! It was lovely catching up with her, she's such a sweetie. (And the girl's ability to shop is amazing!) We caned it with the food - Italian, Thai, Malaysian (Fal's friend insisted we go to 'Jade Kingdom' in Heidelberg to try what he described as hokkien mee better than the real thing in Malaysia - big call, mate! I still don't think it cuts it to that level, but it was darn good!), chocolate, pancakes...

The folllowing photo was the only photo we took together - at 'Stokers' (my first time to this coffee lounge in Ivanhoe that specialises in pancakes) on her last night, with our delicious strawberry and blueberry pancakes.

Who knew there was such a thing?

Oh and I know this is rather useless information (as if the above was groundbreaking news), but I was eating strawberries the other day and guess what? I got siamese twins! It was huge. So cute!

I said, think BIG

It's three-quarter time and we're down by 20 points but I still have hope...

CARN THE DOCKERS!

The four eyed monster

2006-09-17T13:31:00.000+10:00

Today, I got my eyes tested for the first time in about two years.

Two years. Okay, admittedly, a lot can happen in the span of two years. Just looking at my own life in the past two years, nearly everything has changed.

But when it comes to my health, I always like to think I'm quite invincible. Plus, I've had glasses since I was little and for the past 15 years, the power has barely changed on them.

So you can imagine my shock and horror when my eye test revealed the following:

I have astigmatism on one eye
I have become short-sighted as well as long-sighted
My lazy eye has become much, much lazier
In the words of the optomotetrist, "The difference between your last prescription and your current prescription is out of this world."
I hate getting o l d.

I mean it

2006-09-11T19:27:00.000+10:00

Today, driven by my company's commitment to contribute back to the community, around 30 of went out on the corners of central Melbourne to sell The Big Issue magazine.

The only exposure I've ever had to The Big Issue was the old, rugged-looking, strange-acting man who sells the magazine on the corner of where I work. And I'm sorry to say I always ignored him, and (out of sheer ignorance) was even pretty scared of him.

I didn't know anything about The Big Issue cause, but today I found out it's a charity that gives homeless people the opportunity to work and improve their circumstances by selling The Big Issue magazine to people like you and me. Two dollars from every (fortnightly) $4 magazine goes directly to the seller.

I'm no philanthropist crusader, but I really do encourage everyone to start purchasing the magazine when you see someone on the street selling it. It's for a great cause and gives those in materially (and often mentally) much more unfortunate circumstances than ourselves, an opportunity for a better life.

Peace.

Standard Behaviour

2006-09-10T20:55:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, Gio and I trekked to Joe's Garage for our weekly breakunch ritual. (Meanwhile, what's with all the breakunch places in Melbourne dedicated to Joe? So unfortunate that the only Joe I know [except Gios bro] is deserving of a good slap and punch. Sorry, wanted to get that out for a few years so I think is an appropriate time as any. Hee.)

Gio ordered French Toast, I ordered Joe's Baked Beans with eggs and bacon on toast, and we shared one of Joe's Legendary Pancakes with banana and maple syrup (seriously, how could we resist a dish with a name like that?? And yes, we could have just ordered that in substitution for one of our own dishes, but we dont roll like that. Hm, I'm not sure what that means, but I think I'll let it slide.)

seriously, how cute/young does Gio look here!!!; tucking in

The waiter who served us our food came up, uneasily balancing the three plates of food before stopping at our table and giving us a quizzical look. Then he goes: "You have got to be taking the piss." (LOL yobs just crack me up). When we claimed we were hungry, he goes, "You guys ordered just about the three biggest dishes on our menu." To which we got quite excited.

Because when you're dedicated to the cause of Breakunch, it (ie gluttony) has to be done.

PS The pancake was soooo damn good!

Baked Goods

I was flicking through this photography book about people of mixed Asian descent at a bookstore last night (as you do). It was pretty much a book with the photos of the faces of ~100 mixed people of all ages, with a page next to their photo written by themself, stating who they thought they were.

And the cutest thing. There was this little boy in it and this is what he wrote:

"I am half-Chinese and half-Danish. But I don't tell people that I'm Danish because they think I'm a pastry."

LOL. So adorable!

Adventure world of sorts

2006-09-05T21:59:00.000+10:00

I really shouldn't be having so much fun considering (i) I have my CA exam coming up, (ii) my CA Workshop is on Thursday night and (iii) I'm trying to shake off a blasted cold.

But last weekend, I took a little trip to Fraser Coast - my first foray in to the state of Queensland.

And you may ask why I'm going there of all places, so I shall just state the known fact that Chris is there, and his Dad and sisters live in Hervey Bay and Chris is soon going to be calling it his hometown, so I thought I'd check it out.

And here is what I found:

Whalewatching

So I arrived on Friday morning and Chris and I pretty much went straight to go Humpback Whale-watching, because in case y'all don't know (because I sure didn't before), that is what Hervey Bay is known for.

Catastrophic event # 1: Seasickness

As we got on to the boat , Chris asked "Do you get seasick?" I answered very confidently/proudly said, "Nope, never!"

And one hour later, I was leaning out of the side of the boat throwing up. Sexy.

The sickness kinda took away from the fun-ness of the day, but only a little. The whales were just too cute, even though I felt so ill, I was still running around the boat to catch sightings of them! I felt a bit like Dr Doolittle, waving my arms in the air and honestly believing that the whales could 'sense' me asking them to play.

And okay, so I didn't get any really good pics (you know, the whole "slow reaction and general lack of photography skills" combination) but I promise you, they came so close to the boat and they were playful and jumping and showing off, and all that other cool stuff you don't expect whales to do.

And I know you still don't believe me because of the lack of photos, but I promise promise you, I only speak truth. They were so so cute!

Fraser Island

I thought that after whalewatching, there would be no more sightseeing, but Chris surprised me with Fraser Island on Saturday! Because of my general lack of geography/general knowledge, I didn't realise that Fraser Island is an island off the coast of Hervey Bay.

And in case you don't know Fraser Island, here are some random quick facts:

- It's the largest sand island in the world (123km long and 22km wide) and is World Heritage listed

- In 2005, it was named in Forbes magazine as the fifth sexiest island in the world! (after Bora Bora in the French Polynesia, Capri in Italy, Corsica in France and Italy's Elba)

- In 2005, American Discovery Channel named Fraser Island as the World's Best Beach

- All roads on Fraser Island are 4WD only

We took a very early morning plane from Hervey Bay to the Island, which let us take in some pretty amazing views:

the plane; the views; touch down on the beach landing strip

The island is magnificent. I could rave on and on but I'll just keep it short and say that it's just such a beautiful place, so untouched, and there is so much to see...

driving along 75 Mile Beach

Eli Creek: clear waters; the paddler; the swimmer

the maheno wreck: the remains from a 1935 shipwreck

the Pinnacles: sculpted coloured sands

Catastrophic event # 2: Bogged in the sand

It had to happen to us. We got bogged in the sand and had to be rescued by some kind souls who felt sorry for us and who happened to be carrying all the right equipment needed to literally dig us out from the hole we found ourselves in.

Catastrophic event # 3: Flat tyre

While Chris was fixing the car, I sat on a log, ate my lunch and watched him get his hands dirty. After I finished eating my roll:

Me: Hey, let me help you. Tell me what I can do...

C: Do you want to see if you can find a big flat piece of wood to support the jack? (The jack was on soft ground and had given way before, resulting in Chris almost being hit by the car)

Me: Yeah, of course.

(I bend down and pick up a long piece of bark that honestly does look quite strong)

Me: How about this?

C: I don't think that can support the jack...

Me: Okay, hang on...

(I walk over to some shrubs about 3 metres away and scan the area before screaming and running back)

C: What's wrong?

Me: There's bugs crawling around everywhere! And bees! But hang on...

(I start to walk around the carpark, scanning the ground)

Me: Nah, I can't find anything. Nothin'.

Then I nearly killed him by going over to the car, opening up the door, getting out my camera and slamming the door shut while he was working on the tyre.

And I sat back down on the log. Yeah.

On hindsight, my own girliness disgusts me sometimes, seriously.

the rainforest going to central station; crystal clear water - the sand you see is what is on the bottom of the lake

It was so exhausting (because, you know, I helped so much in the de-bogging of the car, the fixing of the flat tyre and the driving) but I had such a good time. Really an amazing place.

And so before I knew it, it was Sunday morning and time for me to leave Hervey Bay.

Catastrophic event # 4: Bubblegum & jeans
So we went to the beach and sat on a bench, and when I got off I realised I had sat on bubble gum and it had found it's way on to my jeans So I had to change from my comfortable plane clothes to a bloody dress.

Catastrophic event # 5: Missing my flight back to Sydney
It had to happen to me. Bloody Jetstar, I was literally two minutes late and they refused to let me check in even though I had no baggage to check in or anything.

So I could only go on the next Virgin flight out two hours later. Which I wouldn't have minded so much...

But I had to get to Sydney to meet my sister and Phil!

We spent the entire time at Bondi, which was great because I didn't get to go there last

weekend. Living in Melbourne, with it's lack of 'proper' local beaches, I now have an obsession with 'proper' beaches. Even though I am rather afraid of sharks, dirty water, swimming etc, I just love the idea of oceans and the sound of waves crashing, the freshness of the smell of the sea, and tans, and the whole notion of beach equalling summer and holidays and Hawaii-like getaways.

It was awesome seeing Michelle again and catching up and hearing Zac & other family stories. It made me feel that little bit less homesick, and yet a little bit more homesick, if you know what I mean (and I'm sure that you don't).

We fit in a hearty Italian dinner before I had to rush to the Airport to catch my flight back to Melbourne. Which leads to me to my last near catastrophe of the night and the close-out of my post... Adios amigos...

(Near-) Catastrophic Event # 6: Nearly missing my flight back to Melbourne

The plane was delayed 15 minutes, so after waiting for 10 minutes I had the bright idea to be efficient and cleanse my face before I got on to the plane, thinking that they would say over the loudspeakers when the flight was boarding.

So there I am, happily taking off my eye-makeup, washing my face, about to moisturise, when I hear over the loudspeaker, "This is the final call for Flight xxx to Melbourne. Can you please make your way to the boarding gate immediately."

Bloody hell. So I had to grab all my things and run to the gate, where they were in the midst of saying "This is the final call. Can Melissa - ".

I was the last one on the plane.

Niceeee...

Pics of Hervey Bay and Chris' adorable sisters

the beach at hervey bay

this is becoming my signature pose

the cutie pies

EDIT (10/9/06): I forgot to write about Catastrophic Event #7 on Fraser Island! We had to catch our flight to leave Fraser Island in 20 minutes and had 10km to get back to the main site to return our 4WD. So we had to take a "short cut" route, which meant driving in high speeds down a one-way road WITH US DRIVING THE OPPOSITE WAY. Not joking! Hee hee. But we got back on time so worth it!

Four n Twenty

2006-08-27T17:34:00.000+10:00

Not including the plane ride back to Sydney, I have not slept since 4am on Saturday morning. Knackered and am trying to procrastinate doing some rather urgent work, so as usual, expect a barrage of photos and largely useless commetary.

So the first hour within touchdown at Sydney begins with Gio and I meeting up with J and Grace at Bill's for breakunch. Satisfied myself with a yummy banana and nut muffin and their delectable ricotta hotcakes.

Then headed for the Paddington markets (my first time there!) and Rodeo Show, my one-stop shop on Oxford Street (admittedly rather disappointing this round...). Paddington markets are awesome, so many funky little jewellery stores and various ultra-cute stalls selling clothes, accessories and other cool random home things. If someone can tell me of a similar market in Melbourne, I will love you forever and a day!

The Touristy Bit

Next we walked around Circular Quay, soaked up some sunshine (and wind - the weather was rather schizophrenic on the day) and had a bite to eat at the Opera Bar before walking to the Rocks for a look around the markets there. Somehow, found our way to the city for some sightseeing of the... shopping on George Street... Standard.

The "We are Japanese Tourists" Snaps (aka The "I'm bringing sexyback" snaps)

I think we can safely say that Grace takes the cake for best Japanese tourist impersonation! hee hee. Omg, these pics were so much fun to take, hehe. Grace: you're an inspiration!

Primed

At night we went for dinner at the I'm Angus Steakhouse, a yummy restaurant on Darling Harbour. I absolutely love Darling Harbour. It's such a buzzing place and so beautiful at night.

Ooh my very first video posting!! Of Gio being classy as usual. heeeee

Background: After our meal, Gio and I ordered a Chocolate Temptation to share and, as usual, we devoured it in about 2 minutes. Anyway, the rest of the table ended up daring Gio to lick the plate (as there was some chocolate sauce left on it) for $20. And Gio, coupled with two fatal flaws of being (1) A Hopelessly Incurable Chocoholic; and (2) A Girl with No Shame, quite happily agreed to do this. Note that tables around us were watching her as she did this and one even asked her to do it again so he could videotape it on his mobile. I love what she says at the end:

Old diggity

We then went to Chambers on Martin Place for a night of old school rnb:

A few of the peeps came over after the club closed (at 2am! weak, those Sydney-siders, I tell you hehe) and we sat around chatting until the sun came up. And then, as breakunch obsessors do, we got ourselves to Le Petit Creme in Darlinghurst for a yummy final meal before Gio and I were due for the airport.

And that concludes my "action" (in the most gentle sense) packed 24 hours in Sydney!!!

Thank you so much to Janet for letting us camp at her gorgeous place and for being a fine hostess with the best hot-damn! tan :) And to Grace for breaking her self-imposed bedtime curfew for a night to play play with us, for being our tourguide on Saturday arvo and for oragnising dinner ;) It's always the best to see you girls and being able to share so much laughter and fun is such a blessing! To Gio, chanks for caning everything with me, you know you is my girl.

Love you dumplings longgggg time.

Sweet child of mine

2006-08-19T13:01:00.000+10:00

(1) Over breakunch this morning, we were getting excited talking about going to Malaysia (hee hee hee!) next year. In the midst of this...

Gio: Oooohhhhh, can I wear a kinokomo?

Me: What?

Gio: You know... a kokonomomo?

Me: What?

Gio: Umm... mokononoko?

Me: What?

Gio: You know... that thing that geishas wear!

Me: You are bloody ridiculous.

(2) Talking about what to eat for dinner in Sydney next Saturday:

Me: What dietary requirements is it that you can and can't eat again?

Gio: Umm... not Chinese food.

Me: You are bloody ridiculous.

Walk the line

2006-08-17T22:20:00.000+10:00

Gio and I are the cutest coupling ever.

Today, we organised (in one very efficient minute) and booked flights to go to Sydney next weekend!!!

Sure, we'll only be there for just over 24 hours, but you know - this is our first trip away together.

And this week's breakunch session is going to be spent planning when we are going to go to Perth because YES we are going to go to Perth together too in the coming months.

Cos that's how we roll. Together. That's right.

I'm trying go get there: *Chin up. And smile for the cameras.*

PS And just to clarify any misunderstanding you may get from the above, we do actually love boys. Heaps. LOL. But they unfortunately have a high rate of mofos so for now, we'll stick together, thanks.

She's leaving on a jet plane... don't know when she'll be back again...

2006-08-15T22:10:00.000+10:00

Okay so she does, she's back in 3 months... and okay, she'll be back in a few weeks for work for a couple of days... and okay, I'll see her when I go back to Perth (soon, damnit!!!) but still, this girl is part of the ethnic trinity that is me, her and Gio and so this occassion of her leaving tonight must be mourned :(

kokoblack - intense sundaes

But congratulations to her, Mona is now officially a lawyer, ready to conquer the world and fight injustice for all mankind. You know, fulfilling childhood dreams etc.

Above photos taken over our last supper all together. We had a delicious meal at Stokehouse in St Kilda with my favourite, Kokoblack, after for dessert.

And it was hilarious because we are not very foodie-ish (we just like to eat yummy food, period). So we were all looking through the menu and coming up with very un-cultured, but reasonable (I think), enquiries like:

"What's marjoram?"

"What's pangrattato?"

"What's sformato?"

"what's skoradalia?"

"What's farro?"

But then Mona goes:

"Yeah, what's sirloin?"

FFS. (btw, i ordered the sirloin and it was luurrrvely)

And on the way home, I was telling them how Kurt Cobain thought that, deep inside, everyone was homosexual. (Sometimes, I like to say random things for shock value. You know, for fun.) And so we were all saying how ridiculous that was (because well, I for one know that although women are obviously the more beautiful sex, it is the men who will make me fall), and then Mona goes:

"Homosexual means gay, right?"

FFS.

Pity the fool who she defends one day. LOL, jokes jokes.

(Seriously, that girl is so bloody smart it's scary. Can't you tell, she has closet geek written all over her.)

On shapes again

I just can not let go of this shapes business and how the whold world seems to know the secret world and operation of shapes, except for me.

The self-imposed drama restarted with the Basketballers semi-abusing my lack of knowledge about the Pythagorus Theorem, after commenting (in response to a forwarded email sent out) that I did not know how to calculate the length of the side of a triangle when the length of the two other sides are known.

So as usual, trying to get others to confirm their stupidity, so as to reaffirm my normalcy, I asked Mona and Gio about whether they knew how to solve this trigonometry quandary.

And then Giovanna... Giovanna... goes:

"Yeah, Pythagoras theorem."

Me: Do you actually know what that is?

Gio: "Yeah... It's the tan, cos, sin thing right? It's pretty easy, just four formulas I think. We learnt it in Year 11."

Mona: "Yeah, just square root the square of the lengths of the two known sides. We learnt that in Year 8. Maybe even Year 7."

Great.

So here's what I realised. I retain so much useless things and the things I'm interested in are so ridiculously unimportant, that I have managed to squash out from my brain all the important and logical things that I should know.

I mean, if you ask me about the lives of the most random celebrities: Tara Reid, Kristin Cavalleri, Tyra Banks... I could tell you everything about their lives and where they are right now. I could list to you the top 20 songs on the Billboard charts this week; the celebrity models for the latest Gap campaign and what Nicole Richie wore to the beach yesterday. Really, I'm that sad.

And because I know "so much", my brain always feels quite full, which consequently (and misleadingly so) makes me feel I feel like I'm quite smart and knowledgable. But then I now realise I'm only knowledgable about all these unimportant, frivolous things that mean nothing to anyone who has an actual Life.

And it's bloody depressing.

I honestly am going to start reading intellectual things again. (And by "I honestly am going to...", I do mean "Wouldn't it be great if I...". And by "again", you should probably just scratch that to reflect reality.)

Baby, it's cold outside

2006-08-14T22:01:00.000+10:00

I know you must hate it when all I do is post up postcards stolen from here, but sometimes, they say more about my life than what I know how to put in to words.

I miss Perth so much

I miss hugging my Mum while we have coffee and putting my head on her shoulder at church and whining to her about chubby cheeks and having her treat me like the baby that I am to her.

I miss my Dad's jolly-ness and random whistling.

I miss being unashamedly vain and materialistic, and altogether honest, with my sisters.

I miss knowing the details of my brother's love life.

I miss poking Zac's cheeks and having him sleep in the baby seat in the car with his hand wrapped around my little finger.

I miss the big, secure love that only family can bring.

Someone please transport my family here now.

Please please please.

Weekend Rush

2006-08-06T10:29:00.000+10:00

Grace and her lovely other half Ming were in town over the weekend. It was so nice to see her again; she's such a cutie and it was great having long chats to her about all the things that mattered in our lives right now. Thanks for the listening ear and advice, sweets!

A quick rundown of what we did, hallmarked by food of course...

Friday night, we went to Grossi Florentino Cellar Bar (Grossi's casusal eatery) for a bit of an Italian feast (the hand cut fries there are sooo good) and then to Kokoblack for some hot chocolate love.

Saturday was breakunch at Spoonful, which is supposedly Missy Higgins' favourite breakfast joint. A cute spot; food was pretty standard. I think the obsessive breakunch spree that Gio and I indulge in every week has resulted in our standard of breakunch being pretty high now. Plus I am such a sweet tooth that I only ever really fall in love with a place if I decide to order something sweet and it's really yummy.

On Saturday evening, we went for an American fare dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. And today we went to Chilipadi for curry overload and then chocolate fondue at Max Brenner.

Yes, as usual, an eating feast. But lots of talking and laughter in between :)

Really, love you heaps Grace, you are fantabulous. Love seeing you smiling so much *hugs*

at Spoonful; and Hard Rock

Baby, don't go...

On Saturday night after dinner, we had Mona's going away at Six Links. Yes, the princess of our household is going back to Perth for a 3-month secondment. The apartment will be so different without the Bhangra tunes floating through to my room, the schizophrenic state of her bedroom, the hair and makeup obsession, the 8:40am weekday wakeups, the noon weekend wakeups, the random trying on clothes sessions...

And, importantly, who will go with me to eat the Beef & Guinness pie with mash at Hotel Spencer on random Sunday nights when nothing else will do? WHO, I ask, WHO?! *sigh* tears of sorrow*

Mm sup hoi! toi!

Who loves my attempt at speaking Chinese! Five ten, the drinking warrior game us Asians love to play. Chris and Han learned from Ming and his mates on Saturday night. Even more impressive was that Gio and Simeran also learned!!! Although, admittedly, the girls were not as quick to learn the rules:

(Everyone had gone round the circle and it was Simeran's turn to call out the number)

Simeran: Mel, what do I say?

Me: Just say a multiple of five from 0 to 35.

Simeran (opening out the palm of her hand): SEVENTEEN!

?!?!?!?! For that act of sheer stupidity she was forced to drink. Lol.

Lost and found

Two near-misses that will hopefully teach me a lesson or two about my absent-mindedness/blurness. I lost my wallet in the taxi on my way to dinner and only realised three hours later when we finished, but thank God, after some frantic phone calls and skipped heartbeats, it was found and the awesome taxi driver came and returned it to me. Then, at the bar, I left my camera in the bathroom and some good soul handed it in. Someone is so looking out for me. Can't deny that. But this blurness is getting out of control. I just lost yet another umbrella.

Well, who would think that my CA assignemnet is due next week (I just read the question yesterday arvo, cheers) and my second workshop is this Thursday night. Can't say I don't juggle that work-life balance to my favour ;)

Me, Mona, Simeran

The girli-os

Maybe baby

2006-07-30T18:11:00.000+10:00

After a ten-month sojourn abroad faraway lands fighting trolls and defending the honour of mankind, Chris arrived back in Melbourne this weekend.

...

And as uninformative as it is, that is all I have to share on the matter right now.

Broken Flowers

2006-07-20T22:33:00.000+10:00

My song of the moment is Don't You Think it's Time by "Bob Evans".

Bob Evans is actually a guise for Kevin Mitchell, from Aussie band Jebediah. And, in case you didn't know, and I know you didn't, you ignorant Asians you! (lol), the whole band actually came from MY HIGH SCHOOL IN PERTH! They were in my eldest sister's year! And their first gig was at one of our High School's Year 12 Balls!

Which means, of course, that we are "connected". I don't know how. But we just are. That's right.

Anyway, this song is so gentle and cute and uncomplicated...

Don't you think it's time?

Time to start anew

Time for changing views

Time for making up your mind

Don't you think it's time?

Time for moving on

Time for growing strong

Time to leave the past behind
You've been on my mind

Oh you've been on my mind
Don't you think it's time

Time for quelling fear

Time for a new year

Time for meaning what you say
Don't you think it's time

Time for easing doubt

Time for reaching out

Time to open up your eyes
You've been on my mind

Oh you've been on my mind
Don't you think it's time

Time for trusting more
Without keeping score
Time to let forgiveness out
Don't you think it's time

Time for showing grace

Time for having faith

Time to make more of this time
You've been on my mind,

Oh, you've been on my mind...

... and appropriate.

If you know what I'm saying, and I think that you do.

Wouldn't it be nice if the world were Cadbury?

2006-07-16T22:32:00.000+10:00

This weekend has truly been an eating fiesta, and best of all, spent with great company: the usual chickolitas, family I haven't seen in ages, friends who I really really want to/should see more of, and family friends from back in the day.

But I'm here to speak about CHOCOLATE. Because it makes my world go round and thus is deserving of it's own entry.

I am a true lover of chocolate and on Saturday night, I was craving it. We trekked to Max Brenner in the cold because we wanted to eat the waffles, but they had closed the kitchen, I suspect because they'd run out of most of the food menu. So we were only able to get hot chocolates. Which obviously is not enough chocolate for the true chocoholic.

So tonight, I pleaded with my housemates to go for dessert. And we tried somewhere new, Chocolateria San Churro in Fitzroy, a Spanish chocolate house that specialises in churros.

(FYI, churros are Spanish donuts, long and fried so it's really crunchy on the outside. Sprinkled with icing sugar [ala Queen Victoria Markets Spanish Donuts van] and, optionally, you can dip it in warm melted chocolate for even greater [guilty] eating pleasure)

Insanely good. Look at the excitement in the photo below. I was getting all cocky about my own chocolate eating abilities, saying "Guys, this is just Round 1, I'm going to eat everything on the menu." But after a serving of churros and a tall glass of (I kid you not, thick as mud) iced mocha, I was coming down with a mega chocolate headache. Mmm, the sign of a very satisfied and greedy chocolate eater.

Hope you all had a great weekend too pumpkins. xoxo

PS Call me crazy, but I love that I like my work so much now that I don't even hate Mondays so much anymore.

I Must have been Sick from School that Day when we learnt about... Shapes...

2006-07-13T20:50:00.000+10:00

-----Original Message-----

From: Melissa

Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:26 AM

To: Aaron

Subject: Quick Q

Importance: High
Aaron,

Maths Question... V important...

Imagine: A normal line graph, on X axis is Angle and on Y axis is Value ($). As angle increases, value ($) increases.

What is that maths formula to find out what effect a one degree wall angle change has on value??

I have a diagram if you cant visualise.. But hopefully u know it?

Thanks smarty
Melissa
------------------------------------------------------
From: Aaron
Sent: Wednesday, 12 July 2006 12:35 PM
To: Melissa
Subject: RE: Quick Q
isn't it just rise over run... ie. gradient?

Yes. I admit. I should know this. But this is me; you have got to lower that bar of expectation, my friends.

What rubbed salt in to my ever-deepening wound was that I went home yesterday night to tell Mona about some of my dumber work incidents.

Me: And I had to do know what do with the tan of an angle! Do you know this is about?

Mona: Ahhhh, tan... Tan, cos, sin....

Then, to demonstrate she wasn't just singing a song in French or something (which is what I suspected), she took out a piece of paper and started drawing triangles and making marks on them saying things like "adjacent", "opposite", "right angled" and the killer... "HYPOTENUSE". Who thinks up of these names? Mathematician by day... zoo-keeper by night... Get it? Hippopotimus/hypotenuse. ha ha I am so funny.

But back to the point:

WAT THE??!! MONA knows about these concepts? The Lawyer knows more about Maths than ME??? What is going on here??

Let me pause here and say, this girl who knows her trigonometry backward is the same girl who walked in to my room last week to state: "I've just spent 2 hours on the LV site and I need to get an LV bag." I then began to tell her how paying $2000 for a bag was ridiculous for commoners like ourselves, how we should save our money, be sensible.

Then she started to get all "philosophical" on me and started telling me about how she got a new photo of her sponsor child: "She was wearing a matching outfit with prints! I wanted it! My sponsor child needs to sponsor ME."

And then we started on our usual complaining about how we couldn't live like this forever (ie commoners), how we wanted to be looked after and not work hard, how we wanted to buy everything at whim. Very very anti-feminist, Stupid Girl talk, I'm ashamed to say. But being very very materialistic does this to people and come on now, don't we all sometimes fall in to that trap (DON'T WE?!?!).

But she took the cake with this line, said in total seriousness and accompanied by a melancholy face: "You know, Melissa, as I was looking through the LV site, I realised what I really want from life."

I kid you not, said in all seriousness.

But back to the point:

So much to learn, not enough brain capacity.

Be a Man, Do the Right Thing

2006-07-09T13:57:00.000+10:00

Last night, we went to watch comedian Russell Peters, down from LA for his first Australian tour. Omg, the guy is outta control.

If you haven't heard of him before, Russell Peters is an Indian Canadian comedian, absolutely hilarious! He was on Rove Live on Tues night (I've posted up his performance at the end of this entry), which gave a taste of the kind of jokes he makes during his show.

If you haven't heard him before or don't know who he is, you must must watch this video. It's on Chinese people doing business - classic.

His whole show is pretty much just making fun of people and their race. His main targets seemed to be Indians, Chinese, Italians and Africans, but seriously, every ethnicity is in danger of mockery. My stomach was seriously hurting from all the laughter, it was so good!

And omg, get this! I was sitting next to Mona, and during the show, Russell Peters turns to our side of the theatre and goes to us, "You two girls are cute. One Asian, one non-Asian. Where are you girls from?" OMG! :)

He had 8 shows in Melbourne and Sydney this month, but they're all sold out. So he's coming back to Australia again in December. I urge everyone to go, you have got to experience it. SO funny. More info on buying tickets here. And he'll be in Singapore in October, so if you're there then, try to get along for it!

Do it... do it... just do it, do it, do it. (you can do it, put yo back in to it...) Hee

Not the Smartest Tool in the Shed

2006-07-07T20:48:00.000+10:00

So as part of the training I was on today, we had to play a game in partners where one person has to think of a Famous Person and the other person asks a maximum of five questions before having to guess who that Famous Person is.

My initial thoughts: Ooh.. Fun... Games!

So I go first in asking the questions:

Me: What is this person famous for?

Colleague: Science and mathematics.

OH, FFS.

Me: Okay... (knowing I've already been defeated) Is this person dead or alive?

Colleague: Dead.

Me: What is this person most famous for?

Colleague: Explaining the relationship between objects. (Said in more technical way but I don't know how to speak in a technical way so I have paraphrased)

Let me pause here to brief you:

Before you think I'm very stupid (although it's already too late I imagine), at this point, I had a feeling my colleague was talking about gravity. And admittedly, I was also thinking he was talking about Einstein.

Me: What exactly was this relationship between objects?

Colleague: When one object and another object are drawn together by a force.

At this point I just thought stuff it, I'm going to be a smart ass and say "Ah hah! The law of attraction! Created by God!!!!" because I have no bloody idea who thought up of gravity. But instead I pretended to "think" until time ran out.

So how many of you knew that this "Famous Person" (inverterd commas bcos WHO THE HELL THINKS OF MATHEMATICIANS/SCIENTISTS WHEN THEY ARE TOLD TO THINK OF FAMOUS PEOPLE! [seriously]) was Isaac Newton? I thought he was the guy with the apple on his head or something? Hm.

Well anyway, we had to swap turns and it was my turn to think of a Famous Person.

Colleague: So what is this person famous for?

Me: This person is famous for being famous.

Colleague: Paris Hilton?

OH, FFS.

The Perks of living in a Melting Pot

2006-07-02T13:50:00.000+10:00

Last week it was a wasp par-tayyy at Blue and yesterday night we headed out for a night of Bhangra tunes @ Beachclub in the Docklands for the launch of Joop's (aka DJ Professa) website. Drinks at our place beforehand. Living with Indians for a year and a half, I've come to realise that, in general, Indians are very very fond of their liquor. By the time we got to the venue (Beachclub @ the Docks, a classy joint with a maddd view), everyone was buzzed to the max.

Anyway, great potential for boredom due to Gio and I being one of the only non-Indians there and Bhangra music being played all night. But it was actually really fun. Our Indian mates are hilariousss and the funnest drunks ever. Good value. And Joop is a rockin DJ so...

If any of you are going to be in Perth for the Masala Mix in August, Joop will be DJ-ing, so head on down and start practising your vigorous dance moves NOW.

We are the yin and yang of each other!; Joopalicious decked out in white

Mona, Gagan, Tas and Anita giving their best Zoolanders; Mona is classy as usual

It wouldn't be an Indian night if there wasn't a 5:1 boy/girl ratio and if the boys didn't dance like they were Shahrukh Khan on speed without a leading lady

Sat is a popular man; the sexy laydees

And a superdelicious breakunch feast the morning after...

...at periapt foods in kensington - my big breakfast sandwich with sausage, bacon, egg, tomatoes, spinach and homemade tomato sauce, and gio's scrambled eggs with smoked salmon

These Hips Don't Lie

2006-06-25T20:46:00.000+10:00

Much, much needed full-on girly weekend. I love these chickas to bits - they are so good at keeping me sane and sensible here in Melbourne -> my diamonds in the rough; and I'll love em always for it.

And it's been ages since us girls have had a Girl's Night Out, so we headed down to Blue on Saturday night and had ourselves a long, fun night being dancing queens and stupid monkeys. Standard :) Funniest thing was Mona asked this guy standing near us to take the above left picture for us. And we didnt know it at this point, but he was a Melbourne Tigers player. Anyway, he must have thought Mona asked if he could be in the photo with us, because he goes "Yeah ok" but intsead of taking the camera from Mona's held-out hand, he walked over to where Tas, G and I were. So we're all confused (a bit slow you see) thinking "Watcha doin fool?" So Mona goes "No, no. I mean can you take the photo for us?" And he was so embarassed, rightly so, and took the photo for us. Lol.

the first pic is our "firerce" look (Copyright, Rachel 2004) (hehe). To be used randomly on friends, family, boyfriends, and strangers alike to instill fear and spice up otherwise-boring situations.

On Sunday, Mona, G and I had a lovely breakunch at The Velvet Bar and then watched 'The Notebook'. It's about the fifth time of each of us have watched it and to be honest, a very very crap time for any of us to be watching such highly emotional and ideal(istic??)-love infested movies. But we dig self-indulgence(/-inflicted pain). Anyway, predictably, by the time the credits were rolling (and for me, by about 10 minutes in to the movie), we were all in tears and melancholy and getting in to the usual 'The Notebook' post mortem. Come on now, don't pretend you didn't do it when you watched the movie!!!

But then we started talking about dinner and got all excited again, then went to grab a pub grub dinner at the Docks. (Gio: "What the hell is bangers [she said this with emphasis on the 'g', like 'burgers' only ban-gers] & mash?" Me: "Idiot. Sausages and mash potatoes!" Gio: "Ohhhh, like bratwursts?" Wogs, gotta love em!) I love how food in general is my aphrodisiac to life. Hee.

PS. Check out Ben Harper's "Beloved One" - kickass song and, I know it's meant to be a love song, but it's me and G's song. The first time I heard it, I thought of her straight away. Some lines are obviously not applicable, but 90% of the lyrics says what I feel about her. Love the song, love the girl. Double hee.

The Spinsters do Breakunch

2006-06-17T19:16:00.000+10:00

Of late, Gio and I have been caning it with Breakunch, our version of Brunch.

Our first session at Red Star in South Melbourne nearly two months back was so successful (four and a half hours and two meals later [okay, only I had two meals, but G had about 4 coffees]), we promised each other we'd go for breakunch together once a month. But our little dates (hee) have turned in to a weekly episode of food extravaganza, tears of laughter and generally provided me with many a morning of weekend joy.

For the record, we've breakunched it at Panette in South Melbourne, Las Chicas in Balaclava, Mart 130 in Middle Park, Galleon Cafe in St Kilda and Greasy Joes in St Kilda, some more than once. We decided recently that we'll try to visit a different breakunch joint for each of our outings in an attempt to make the most of Melbourne's bubbling cafe culture.

So today, we went to Batch Espresso in Balaclava. It's owned by a New Zealand chap who actually sources his coffee from the land of the long white cloud. I've heard lots of good things about it and so it comes as no surprise that I came out of the cafe two hours later, tummy filled with yummy things. Anticipating our next outing already!

G eyeing her orange and blueberry pancakes; My spinach and potato hash with cornichons (baby gherkins), poached egg and seeded mustard - as The Age puts it, "a sloppy bowl of brunch genius"

Gio is all class and that is why I love her

At Galleon two weeks ago, bloody Gio, in the middle of scanning through the menu, suddenly shouts out (okay, she just says it in her normal voice, which to a normal non-wog's ear, is shouting): "What the hell is a pick let?" No, she was not talking about baby pigs.

Lucky for me, having now learnt the full extent of her non-exposure to non-Italian food, I clarified "Do you mean PIKE-lets?" Gio: "Oh, yeah, pikelets. What's that?"

And you know, she has never eaten a meatpie or sausage roll and the other week I made her peanut butter and honey on toast (omg, the best breakfast spread combo ever!) and it was the first time she'd eaten peanut butter! And I thought fobs were bad!!!

But on a good note :), after much convincing from the increasing number of ethnics in her life (lol), Gio finally went brunette. HOT!!!

My gosh, she is sounding more and more like my girlfriend (as if we don't joke about it enough) so I shall stop this ode to Gio now and get back to trying to think about where we shall venture to next week :)

Bambino

2006-06-16T22:59:00.000+10:00

I went back to Perth for a short break last week after weeks and weeks of self-pitying homesickness. My lovely eldest sister Marie (5 months pregnant and still far skinnier than me), her husband John and my gorgeous nephew migrated back to Perth in April and I was going crazy knowing that the rest of my family were having so much fun with Zac (ie stealing him away from me, the aunty who actually loves him the most) while I was stuck in Melbourne.

So I can safely say that in one word, this Perth trip was all about: Zac.

So it comes as no surprise that I spent pretty much every day and night with him, going to more playgrounds in 6 days than I have in about 6 years. He is soooo super-cute and grown up since the last time I saw him. The cuteness is quite beyond words really. It's amazing how much joy he brings to the family and how shamelessly whipped we all are by him.

I love how kids at this age are aware, but not really aware, so they're still a bit "duh". Like how Zac tries really hard, but still can't pronounce most words. And how he seems to be in his own world and breaks in to strange behaviour at the most unexpected moments. And his short attention span and unlimited energy and boundless excitement. The boy has us all mesmerised.

Coming back to Melbourne after seeing my family is always tough. But I'm so grateful for being able to spend time with all my special Perth people. Thanks to all for making the effort and apologies to those I wasn't able to catch up with. Hopefully won't be long til I'm back on Perth soil.

Big love, big love, have a rockin weekend kittens.

he actually uses the treadmill! I know I know, it's hazardous and dangerous and all that jazz. but boy does he look cute doing it; stressed out using my ipod as a mobile

our faithful grey trackies and navy sweaters - we is a classy family

zac riding to our lemon tree to pick lemons to bring back to my Mum; the daily gardening round

cute cafe in south perth - 'the secret garden'; our cute pose

parks galore

the baller

zoolander in the making -> he's the man of many faces

the bbq experts; zac took this picture himself! my mum and zac's mummy; babycino in action

to listen to the ipod, he simply puts his finger to his ear and whines; obsessed with slides

my two great perth loves - zac and a hardy ironing board

PS. FYI, Mona just came in to my room and goes: "I hate women with short hair and no make up. It shits me." lol. How can I be upset when girls such as this exist in my life to provide so much laughter?

So it's True Then

2006-06-04T15:49:00.000+10:00

By anybody's standard, I am a crap cook. Just last week, in an attempt to whip up some minestrone soup, I completely scorched the bottom of a pot while frying garlic.

I have always liked to tell myself that the reason for my poor kitchen skillz is because only Mothers can cook. Almost as if, upon bearing child, God bestows Mums with a special gift of being able to know exactly how much spice, sauce, meat, vegetable, condiment, etc to throw together to create the delicious meals us children enjoy while growing up.

So it always amazes me when I meet young people who can cook really well. As in, able to cook a big variety of "proper" dishes (ie not just pasta *hangs head in shame*), which involve using more than one pot, and more than five ingredients, and with spices and herbs, and with absolutely no help from Lee Kum Kee.

And boys who can do this: an even rarer gem.

Let me pause here and say that, due to my poor cooking skills, I eat out a lot. And when I do, I very, very rarely go to Chinese restaurants, as I am totally and shamelessly obsessed with Western food.

But after months and months of immersing myself in a culinary world of pub grub, Italian fare, cafe culture, and chocolate desserts galore, I was craving, beggingggg for Chinese food.

Which brings me to last night's meal, and draws in the whole "boys who cook well spin me out" paragraph above. Ding is known amongst the Basketballers household as the Chef Supreme-O. However, through all his bold proclamations of being chef extraordinaire and the assertions from his housemates that he really was a Kitchen Whiz, I've never had the good fortune of being able to eat great quantities of his cooking.

So it was with anticipation and excitement that a few of us went to Ding's place for a little dinner gathering last night. And (pained stomachs from over-consumption be our witness) I have to say, Ding can cook.

A feast of so many yummy Chinese dishes and all cooked from scratch by the man himself. R-e-s-p-e-t-k. We cleaned it all up to the point where the poor chef was unable to taste many of his own goodies himself!

wantons - excitement!; the closest i came to cooking was rolling these rice paper rolls

The boy has eligible bachelor written all over him. Laydees better get in quick. Oops, I forgot, they already have ;) lol. Fan club rates going insane. Hee.

Good Value

2006-05-23T22:34:00.000+10:00

Firstly, a big birthday shoutout to Grace!!! Keep it real, don't stop chasing your dreams, and may you be blessed with so much love and Camper boots, that the smile from your face never fades away!

xinmin, han & ang's joint - soon to be furnished! for now, oh how we love airmattresses!

For the junk food fanatic within...

Had a great weekend with more interstate visitors. Grace was visiting from Sydney - it's the first time she's been here since I've been in Melbourne, so showing her around and being a part of her efficient shopping expeditions was just lurvely. Can't wait for the already-planned-out Sydney adventures!!!

Rachel was also here for most of the weekend. By the end of her trip, she had well and truly integrated herself in to my household (which includes Gio, who is slowly becoming Weekend Furniture at my place, hee). She's good value, that girl. So many classic lines come out of her mouth, it's hard to keep up but if any of you are ever fortunate to meet this chicka, you gotssss to ask her to give you her "sexy pose"...

On Saturday night, we were all sitting around talking innocently when she suddenly gets up off the couch and lies stomach down on the floor, elbows propped up, face resting on her palms. We asked her what the hell she was doing and she replied, "Don't you think, this is the sexiest pose! It hides your stomach, makes your ass look good and pushes your boobs up."

Of course, I immediately ordered her to get up and sit up straight but she just looked at me with come hither eyes and I almost had to agree. LOL.

Colour my World

I know I'm very slow and the fad for this has probs come and gone, but OMG! how funtastico is the new Adicolor range by Adidas. I am truly tempted by almost everything. I mean, how ridiculously cool is the Fafi designs in the Pink Series - so adorable! And the Taro Okamoto jackets in the Yellow Series... *giggles in excitement*

So I was at General Pants trying on the Miss Piggy sweater (see below) and guess what I noticed?

Miss Piggy was in the exact same sexy pose as shown to us by Rachel on Saturday night (highlighted in yellow below). So maybe Rachel was right after all.

I mean, everyone knows Miss Piggy rocks it in the sexiness stakes. Damn, that Rachel gots some serious insight.

The Things I Do For Food, Part 329

Gio, Rachel and I went to bed at 5:30am on Saturday night and woke up at 8am to eat breakfast before Rachel left for the airport. It was worth it though. Oh yes.

Fever, Fever

Who to go for in the World Cup? I need to decide soon so that I can get some World Cup gear. I was so so torn over the weekend. I desperately wanted to get the Adidas Japan jacket because it was a safe blue colour and on the back it said "NIPPON" - how cute!

Then I tried the England jacket on and the red was actually pretty cool and the style was more flattering. But England??? I only ever liked them because David Beckham was in it and now I just find him ridiculous and the only thing that appeals is Michael Owen.

But who I really really really want to go for is Brazil. They have so many cool players and I've always supported them in the past World Cups. But supporting them means I'd have to get the bright yellow and green jacket, which really looked quite awful on me.

I know really important decisions like who to root for in the World Cup shouldnt be dependent on which flag colours go well with my skintone, but I'm afraid superficiality has brought me down to this.

Bichao. Someone help me, please.

The Story of My Life

2006-05-16T23:11:00.000+10:00

Pieces of Home

2006-05-14T23:17:00.000+10:00

Of late, my apartment has been brimming with Perth people. Janet, Tina, (original Perthanians!) my sister, and this weekend, Rachel. Rach and I have a friendship that dates back to since we were bubs (I even have pictures of us making sandcastles on a beach together in Malaysia!) and she's always been good at making me laugh with her cute, naive comments, or advising me with her wise insight on life and love and everything in bewteen.

And then there's the love for food. Oh yes. As my original Tim Tam buddy (we used to sneak packets of it in to my bedroom to eat), it's only natural that this weekend has been filled with food aplenty. Hee.

Rach, like me, loves breakfast. And lately, Gio and I have been going for longggg breakunches on the weekend. So with great excitement, I introduced both to my favourite breakfast place of the moment, Las Chicas. I think I can safely say they were impressed. The roll call when the waitress read out our receipt was like a bloody menu. Rather embarassing, but completely worth it.

French toast and pancakes with bananas, strawberries, pistachio ricotta and maple syrup; scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, pinenuts & pesto on pide; the cutie & her papardelle with tuscan sausage ragu @ grossi florentina cellar bar

Yesterday night, we spent ages trying to decide where to go. "NOT ASIA NIGHT! NO BLVD!" we all cried out. (Classic line from Xinmin as she came out of her room: "Hey, guys, where are we going?" Han: "I don't know, just go get ready." Xinmin (in all seriousness): "Nah, where are we going? Tell me. Becuase if we're going to Asia Night I'm not going to put any makeup on." LOL) In the end, we decided on Hush Bar.

It turned out to be fullll of Africans. With African tribal-ly songs. FFS. This guy came up to me at the bar (I shall call him um, Wyclef, as he looked like Wyclef with a suit on) and goes "You came a bit late to the party." Me: "Party?" Wyclef: "Yeah, it's Bruce's birthday party tonight." FFS. A bunch of Asians, a wog and a Scottish/Irish lass crashing an African party. Fantastic. So we went to some club in the city where we could hear hip-hop music coming out of. Turned out to be filled with Punjabi fobs and their equivalent racial counterparts. Fantastic.

But you know, I've found out that when it comes to a good night out, it's totally about company and attitude rather than venue. If you get in to a club and immediately start complaining about how it's crap, the night inevitably ends up boring. But my friends are fan-pan-tastic. The kind who create their own fun and entertainment. Helped along by alcohol of course. ;) A good night causing extreme tiredness today. Dreading tomorrow.

Excessive photos due to vain drunkards going crazy with the camera.

Posers and Dancers United: Han, Angela, Xinmin, Rachel, Gio, Mike, Ching and I

Anyway, it's been fun having visitors here. Showing them around this city that I now call my second home - taking them to all my favourite eating holes and shopping spots, introducing them to my funny little friends - a glimpse in to my life as it stands now. And of course, having pieces of home here with me is always so comforting and lovely.

So come one, come all! :)

Spot the Truth

2006-05-03T23:50:00.000+10:00

I just read Tina's post (btw, girlfriend, you have, like, a thousand places/events/holidays to update your blog about and you post up the results of a quiz?!?! - Weak!! No excuses, I'm still waiting for those Europe pics!) showing the results of an online quiz. 'The Keys to Your Heart', to be specific.

So while waiting for the dryer cycle to finish, I thought I'd try the quiz out. You know, so it could possibly sort out all my heart dilemmas and insightfully reveal to me what the keys are to my heart since I've personally been living with mine for 23 years and I still don't bloody know what the key to it is.

And these were the results:

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved.

You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.

In this moment, you think of love as something you don't need. You just feel like flirting around and playing right now.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

LOL. Ok, so I admit I sometimes feel I don't even know myself very well, but there are so many lies in the above quiz result that I could nearly play the reverse of that icebreaker game and call it "Tell 7 lies and 1 true thing about yourself and everyone guess which is the truth." Haha. Stop guessing. I said "nearly".

I knew I should never trust Online Quiz results.

It's like how people do online "IQ Tests", get the results and then go around telling everyone authoratitively that their IQ is 150 or whatever Mensa-ish high result the "IQ Test" told them they had, and everyone knows that the person is, in fact, quite stupid.

Whatever gets you to sleep at night, mate. Whatever gets you to sleep.

O Sister, Where Art Thou?

2006-05-03T20:49:00.000+10:00

It's been awhile since I've been back in Perth, so it was with great delight and joy and homesickness that I welcomed my sister Michelle to Melbourne over the weekend. It was sooo nice to spend my days and nights with her.

It was weird - having her here really made me feel like I was back in Perth again. I miss that feeling that only family can bring - that familiar warm feeling of comfort and security and unconditional love cultivated from (literally) a lifetime of growing up together, looking out for, and protecing, each other, and seeing each other grow and change. Of course, it helps that my sister is the sweetest thing ever, I really love her to bits.

I can not wait to go back to Perth again.

Michelle's Melbourne 'Tour' - the Very Very Limited Edition

1. The Zoo

My company organised a Family Day at the Melbourne Zoo over the weekend, so we went to go see animals! Nevermind that it was pouring with rain. It was free, and so we were going to show face damnit, even if it meant trawling through mud in our thongs or ruining new leather bags. Actually, we both really like Zoos, but generally only want to see the cute animals and the tigers/lions. Which meant we were in and out in less than two hours, so it was still fun :)

Highlights: We saw a snow leopard devour a whole animal carcass. DISGUSTING but strangely entrancing. And my favourite was the bears - aww, they were adorable...

2. Comedy Festival

Melbourne is currently nearing the end of it's 20th International Comedy Festival and so we went to go see Danny Bhoy. He's this Scottish stand-up comedian fellow who my housemates and I desperately wanted to go see last year, but didn't, due firstly to procrastination and then eventual no-more-tickets-left.

But I got in early this year and b(h)oy (ha ha omg, I am so witty, someone give me a mic and an audience too!!), was it funny. He was eloquent and charming and, most importantly, insanely hilarious. I don't know how stand-ups do it. I mean, to engage a crowd for an hour just by yourself and make them genuinely laugh the entire time while making fun of race and religion or other random facts of life. You have to be pretty damn talented.

I suppose to be fair, I should insert at least one joke here that he told. But ffs, what do I look like to you? I'm a Chinese girl who works in finance and gets excited by the 40-book-limit at her local library for goodness sake. Please don't ever expect me to be funny, even when (in fact, especially when) re-telling jokes; you will only be disappointed.

3. Food Madness
And really, you can't be my family (actually, you can't be my friend), and not be a lover of food. (That's right, you heard me - whole new levels of food loyalty happening right here!) I have to admit, my sister doesn't quite cane it like my girlfriends and I can, but we still did good. Roll call of food delights over the past few days:

- Mart 130 (tram stop converted in to a cafe)
- Las Chicas (my new favourite breakfast joint and an unfortunate 30 minute tram ride away. Oh, the things I do for food)
- Chilipadi (hawkers food @1am baby),
- Q11 (because I take everyone there - I've raved about the bacon&egg&spinach sandwich numerous times on my blog)
- Ay Oriental Teahouse (the cutest little place ever and 2006 Cheap Eats Restaurant of the Year),
- Hako (tiny little Japanese place in Degraves Street that I love),
- Andrew's Hamburgers (rumoured to churn out Melbourne's best burger),
- Becco (Modern Italian),
- Pearl (Amanda from Home & Away was sitting on the table next to us! - the golddigging bi-yatch who married Dan's grandfather for money and cheated with that scoundrel mayor, then caused the grandfather a heart attack! Shoulda given "her" a piece of my mind.)
- Tico Tera (homemade pasta - yum),
- Grossi Florentina,
- Laurent,
- Kokoblack,
- Brunetti's.

The whole time she was here, I was saying to Michelle she was 'weak' in the food department compared to my girlfriends but hmmm, I have to admit that writing that all out makes me realise that we did eat awfully a lot. And fyi, amongst those restuarants listed above are a few of 'The Age' Good Food Guide's two- and three- hat rated restaurants. But my sister's favourite? Corn fritters from Mart 130. Damn, the girl got class.

Pictures of food places/food below. Oh hey, let's play a game. Guess the Cafe with the Photograph. Cos I cbf to write captions. Cheers.

So, back to work tomorrow. Argh. Someone please fast forward to Friday already.

Things that are Currently Troubling Me

2006-04-23T19:27:00.000+10:00

(1) Green M&Ms

I've never really understood mint chocolate. Or mint flavoured anything except for chewing gum (and on that note, I also don't understand chewing gum that is flavoured anything but mint, but hey, if that's what market research says, who am I to be hatin').

So, as a general mint-chocolate-combination-hater, I also have something against Mint Aeros, Mint Drumsticks, After Dinner Mint Chocolates and Arnotts Mint Slices (which I especially hate when substituted for Tim Tam's in our fridge at work).

But we're talking "current" things troubling me.

And tonight, I bought a big bag of green M&M's.

Such a huge campaign to make us believe that green M&Ms are special and sexy and then they give us mint flavour?! Puh-leze.

If you give me some peanut M&Ms, I promise I'll stop complaining about something so frivolous.

(2) My skinny jeans no longer fitting me

Inevitable, but disturbing nonetheless. Healthy eating starting tomorrow - it's getting outta control. FFS.

(3) The meaning of Marriage

What is up with people who don't respect the sanctity of marriage? I'm hearing all these real-life stories of newlyweds who have crushes on other people, people who have crushes on those that are married. Does the word 'marriage' mean anything anymore? FFS. May all your teeth fall out, all you men and women of the world who dare to cross that line.

Far out, it almost makes me not want to... Oh, no it doesn't. LOL.

(4) Big Brother

What the hell is that junk still doing on TV? And why are people still watching it? May all your teeth fall out, all you men and women of the world who watch this when you could be enriching/exploring your mind with things like... writing a blog on things that currently trouble you. Yeah.

(5) Realising I am no longer invincible

Isn't it lovely being young and thinking that nothing can stop you in the sickness stakes.

I've always honestly thought that I was supernaturally 'healthy' (obviously, not in the self-imposed purposeful 'eating well and exercise' sense): I've never had a blood nose (except when I was 9 and my eldest sister and I had a one-off [I promise] boxing match and she boxed my nose. No jokes), or a broken bone, or car or plane or sea sickness, and I always thought I had less colds than the average.

Then, in the past month, my teeth start chipping, I start having to see radiologists, I'm looking out for effective multi-vitamins (as opposed to the good ol' usual Blackmores) because I actually need them, I'm needing to get Private Health insurance... FFS!

But the thing troubling me the most at the moment?

(6) The song 'I'm N Luv (wit a Stripper)'

Yes, I know it's just a song, but I have real issues with it. The craziness of the song actually intrigues me (plus it's got a catchy tune) and so like a true hypocrite, I still listen to it (and even bop to the beat when noone's looking), but the lyrics are ludicrous:

She poppin

She rollin she rollin

She climbin that pole and

I'm N Luv with a stripper

...

She's every man's dream

She's God's gift to Earth

Women they love 'em too

That's what you call a woman's worth

What the?! Do normal people actually feel this way? Ignoring the blasphemy, I'm especially offended by the 'That's what you call a woman's worth' line. Like there is the possibility of a connection between a woman's worth and her ability to slide up and down poles in her birthday suit. What has this world come to?! And ok, I know there are a lot of ridiculous songs out there, but this one, for now, surely takes the cake.

Oh, unless T-Pain is talking about the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls. In which case, understandable. LOL. Jokes, peoples, jokes.

Diamonds are Forever

2006-04-18T21:12:00.000+10:00

Just got back from Sydney this morning. Very tired, but, dedicated to my blogging cause, I shall attempt to entertain with photos and lazy commentary.

my first meal in sydney - chorizo sausages & scrambled eggs @ lemon

Maxi's Birthday Bash

Since the first day that J brought him home, we have heard so much about her beloved bichon frise, Maxi (yes, the crazy girl did set up a blog for him. If only she put so much thought and effort in to more useful humanitarian causes, this world would be a better place).

But he did not disappoint - her baby is gorgeous!!! And the loving dog owners that her, her sister and her bro-in-law are, they threw a birthday party for the lucky boy's first birthday! I was amazed. It was like a children's birthday party, only with a whole bunch of excited dogs. There was birthday cake, puppycinos, 'lolly' bags, party hats... All so spoilt!!! But they were such cuties, I want to get me a dog too!!!

j & maximus the birthday boy; my girls - j, t, my newbie Angela, Grace; lily - the most adorable puppy ever ever; maxi's girlfriend: daisy (the dog, NOT angela!!)

grace, me and angela; doing what we do best: eating, sleeping, the Net, and reading magazines

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb

For the past month, we have been trying to think of something we could surprise J with for her birthday. Countless of email exchanges later, we finally came up with climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge together! A really fun bonding experience, and the views were just amazing!

ooh these outfits are hottt - if you're sexy and u know it clap your hands; we love tim tam EVERTYHING!

Breakfast at Bills

Cos we love breakfast best.

my breakfast: ricotta hotcakes @ Bills - divine

Janet's Birthday Partayyy

Happy Birthday darlin! May your 24th year be filled with love and wisdom - two things starkly lacking from your life in previous years. hahaha - jokes, dear. Janet's Black & White Party predictably ended in drunken guest behaviour, dramas, and eventual passing out and/or memory loss. The story of Janet's life. JOKES BABE! :) haha

perth babies - grace fresh from NY; we're taking over j's bed; ang taking time out in the bathroom to blow her face with the hand dryer - we is class, peoples; what's the time, ms lee?

no way... has the anti-romance icequeen j-lee finally melted??? me thinks so :)

i ate (alot), they drank (alot alot)

Luna Park & other fun stuff

After a rather tearful goodbye to Tina on Monday morning, we went to the Sydney Fish Market to pick up a load of seafood (soft shell crabs, bbq octopus, salt and pepper fried squid, calamari, fish n chips, chilli crabs...) and sat at the Rocks to eat. Yummy food and perfect weather - lovely.

We then headed to Luna Park and went on the Ferris Wheel and the Wild Mouse Rollercoaster. As I reiterated to the girls yesterday, I will never ever sit on another ride with Grace again in my life. The girl began to literally scream for help before the "ride" (inverted commas because I dont even think you could call a large wheel that rotates at bloody 2km/hr a "ride", more a... circular sitting device) even began and didn't ever quite stop. It was hilarious and yet rather... odd. lol. Good times.

Thank goodness she didn't try the rollercoaster. (And Ang bub, I apologise once again for the mixup lol)

I am so tempted to put up the funniest photo ever of us in the ferris wheel carriage, but I am seeing Grace in less than a month's time and I confess now that I genuinely fear the wrath of that woman. So for now, these will have to suffice:

we love mirrors, we don't care what they tell us; the view from the ferris wheel; pancakes at the rocks - oh yeah

In all, a fanpantastic trip. Love you girls like crazy. Thanks to you and your sisters for being the hostess(es?) with the mostest(es?), J! :) xoxo to all my princesses.

Can't wait til our next get-together. Someone hurry up and turn 25 so we can go cruisinnn!

Good Times

2006-04-12T23:09:00.000+10:00

I have the Best Friends ever.

Yes, it's been awhile since we were reunited, but guess who was here over the weekend?

Tina & Janet !!!

My best friends in the world, my future bridesmaids (damn right), my dream makers, the heartbreakers (hee), flew in to celebrate my birthday weekend from Taiwan and Sydney, respectively. I'd been planning T's trip here for ages, working on her itinerary and refining it as I visited better eating places and as the crazy Melbourne weather evolved. But J's arrival was a huge surprise to both me and T, sneakily organised by herself and Han.

I have the Best Friends ever.

So on Friday night, we went to Karaoke with the Basketballers and it was so much fun. Tina proved herself to be a lean mean beer-guzzling machine and as usual, Janet downed anything in sight. haha. I drank close to nothing and probably got affected the most. We stayed at Karaoke til close and then continued our crazy antics on the streets of Chinatown and the Basketballers place. I think the pictures speak for themselves :)

(Big thanks to Mike for organising the Karaoke room at midnight the night before when I started getting frantic after realising I had to actually book a room. And for the surprise yummilicious cake. It was divine. I will try to hold back on the fob jokes, promise. haha)

The Birthday Girl & her Birthday Cake

A Night of Suprise & Laughter

han is pimpin' with that Pretty Boy face. hee

han continues to incriminate himself by eating chicken wings funny and making some funky moves on mike

melbourne people being really mean to perth people

the mini basketballers

Saturday we went shopping to find J's Birthday's outfits. Success. The girls are going to be smokin' on Saturday night. Hahaha. And then at night, we went to a ghetto club at Crown which was fun because we are fun damnit.

Sunday, we went to Yarra Valley, my first time. It was gorgeous. I've never really appreciated Margaret River and the rest of Perth's South because I was forced to make annual family trips there as a kid and we did things like visit apple orchards and alpaca&otherfreakyanimal farms, but the scenery at Yarra Valley was beautiful.

(Big thanks to Ding for driving us even though all we ever seemed to want to do was eat. No thanks to you Han for making Tina cry.)

We spent the night at the Park Hyatt, which was beautiful. We didn't get to appreicate it that much as we crashed pretty early due to an already-caned weekend, but it was so comfortable... that neither T or I woke up when J woke up early to catch her flight back to Sydney. lol. Sorry babe!

I took Monday off to shop with T on Chapel Street. And Tuesday, we said our final goodbyes until Friday, when we shall once again all be reunited in Syndey! :)

All in all, an awesome weekend I know I'll look back with much fondness in years to come.

Okay, so I could barely slur together a "Thanks guyssss" on Friday night, but here goes my poxy attempt at a proper birthday speech now:

"J and T, our friendship means so much to me. I don't know what the future holds for us and whether we will ever all live together in the same city again, but I know we're going to be in each other's lives and hearts every step of the way. You girls rock my world.

To the Basketballers, I may mock and tease and dish out meanness, but I'm so proud to have you guys as my friends. Thank you for making Melbourne so much of a brighter place for me.

May joy be ours forever and a day and may our hearts stay forever young."

xoxo

I have the Best Friends ever.

Ice Ice Baby

2006-04-02T10:37:00.000+10:00

Ah, iceskating. Wondrous sport of high school days, where all the Asians (that I cared about, anyway - meaning my fellow giggling 14yo girlfriends drawn from various high schools, and hopefully whoever the crush of the week was) would take three buses down to Mirrabooka (the 'cool' rink, even though it's the stereotypical hometown of knife-weilding gangster wannabes and Perth's most notorious high school. Hmmm, or maybe instead of writing 'even though' I should have put 'because') on sunshiny Saturday afternoons when we'd had enough of trawling around Garden City and town after realising we could only afford food. Ah, forever young.

So it was bit of a timewarp when I stepped on to an iceskating rink for the first time in ages last night. And it was so much fun! I wasn't quite as terrible and uncoordinated as I remember, though far and away from being anything close to average, and there was plenty of mischiveous behaviour, pranks and food to keep me entertained and smiling all night. Kind of like high school, really! :)

For the love of the Game

If you thought I was useless before, please don't read the rest of this entry for it will reveal me to be ridiculously shallow as well, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for people to think quite so lowly of me without crying.

You see, I'm not quite sure how it transpired. All I know is that one second, I was talking about how I needed pointy-toed black boots (I know this should already be a wardrobe staple, but I am unfortunetely devoid of style and funk), the next second Mike and Ding were agreeing they preferred Delta to Holly (I would personally go for Holly myself, I mean, Delta used to have me wrapped around her little finger but she did do the dirty with that married Boyzone/Westlife fellow and that is reason enough for me to, ironically, claim moral highground for now choosing the Slut over the Good Girl), and the next thing, we were genuinely pondering over the ever transluscent concept of 'Game': What is it exactly? Who has it? Where lies its power?

Well, firstly, let me precede by saying that a boy can judge his own level of game no more as accurately as a girl can judge what kind of look she has. No girl looks in the mirror thinks "Check, lookin cheap and skanky. Mission accomplished." No, a girl will rarely know when she has accidentally, but undoubtedly, stepped on the dirty side of sexy. Evidenced by how many skanky girls there are when you go out. Same thing with men and game - see previous two sentences, but substitute with opposite gender and gender pronouns, "sexy" for "game" and "skanky" for "sleazy/pitifully lame".

Sorry, I digress. Right, back to: What is game?

Well, we clarified it's not a numbers collection thing. A guy can have the number of all the girls in a club, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has game. Sure, a positive correlation, but weak coefficient. It may actually just indicate that the boy is annoying, or girls see him as the harmless friend sort, or the girl is easy, or any other such negative thing.

And it's not just a looks thing, because there are plenty of nice-looking boys whose personality exactly cancel out (and quite often, outweigh) any benefit of aesthetic pleasantry. Although admittedly, higher coefficient than previous paragraph.

The point is, lots of factors, lots of permutations. The Hitch "Basic Principles - no matter what, no matter when, no matter who... any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet; he just needs the right broom". I don't actually believe that, but I guess if you substitute "broom" with "game", I can pretend that Hitch & me have the same idea here.

Ok, I've had enough of writing authoratively about such frivolous things. So I shall just say that, in the most simple of breakdowns, if a boy can have a girl wondering about him long after their meeting/the night is over, he has it. He got game. I've a lot more to say but I'll save it for those people in my life who actually care about such things. And trust me, I know it's hard to believe, there are many. ha ha.

A final word: Beware men who have game and aren't afraid to use it.

Don't be a stupid girl. That includes me. Especially me. (Pep-talking myself on my own blog? Crazy shiznits)

It amuses me that I now consider 'Game' an actual topic for which I can have profound thoughts on. lol.

Forever Young, baby, Forever Young.

first time I'd eaten Korean hotpots before

mike, ding, raymond - the 'we got game' gang. yet to be confirmed by third parties; wendy, me and cj

me strugglin'; the pros

the fobs and a crazy monkey

cakes galore; wedges and dessert pizza!; hobbits united

Touch the Sky

2006-03-24T23:05:00.000+11:00

Mister Kanye West's concert last night was awesome! I absolutely adore the guy and his music - I've always thought he was supremely talented and cool beyond words, and seeing him perform so energetically on stage with such spunk and soul confirmed my belief over and over again. *sigh* Love him.

Not only that, Common was the special guest. Together, they both completely killed it on stage - it went off! Of course, because I'm a bit slow like that, I had no idea that this was Common until after the concert. But even this commercial music junkie here knows that Common is hip hop legend. I can't believe I didn't appreciate more during the concert!!

Anyway, if you get the opportunity (ie all you Sydney-siders), get yourself down to this guys's concert, he is a damn good entertainer. Loved it.

wake up mr west

the perth crew

Rushed

2006-03-22T23:23:00.000+11:00

Miss G's Birthday bash on Saturday night at Dracula's, this awesome caberet-theater-comedy horror-themed Restaurant. I've never been to anything like it before - it was so much fun and crazy entertaining! I love this girl to bits, and she was lookin' gorgeous as always. *big cheers* to her birthday wish of finding herself a husband. LOL.

After, I finally, finally went to BLVD for Asian Night. Omg, what a disappointment. The music was not my thing and I felt like a sardine squashed amongst a bunch of Asian zoo animals. Ffs. I shook with Han that we will never go again. (I would write more mean things but I am scared of what Chinese people may do to me.)

I also tried to cook for the first time for the Basketballers for supper - and by 'cook' I mean heated two pizzas, garlic bread and chips in the oven. Which technically is cooking, right, I mean you're creating edible food - the definition of cooking, really. Anyway, stupid high-standard domesticated Basketballers completely did not appreciate and now see me as even more domestically challeneged than before. I shall impress them one day with my spaghetti and toasted sandwiches.

The next day, lingered at the Basketballers apartment where I did what I do best. Eat. And they did what they do best. Cook. The Domestic Queen Bee of them cooked layers of pancakes with different fillings and I got secretly annoyed because his "let's chuck some flour and eggs and milk in a bowl" pancakes tasted better than my Jamie Oliver ones. *grr*

And check this out. When I was younger - in the days when NBA rocked commercial TV, when NBL games played to packed out crowds, when Mike Ellis was the Wildcats captain, not coach - hell, when I used to play basketball - I used to be so in love with David Robinson. I used to root for the San Antonio Spurs just because he played for them. (Before I came to my senses and realised that Bulls were always going to be King. Hi*5 T)

So you can imagine my excitement when Ding revealed that he had a David Robinson basketball singlet! Not just that, he was kind enough to give it to me! (I think he did. I'm hereby taking ownership of it, anyway.)

And because this Ding character is pressuring me at this moment to write this blog entry so he can read it (I suspect because he is vain and wants to see pictures of himself on the Net), here are BIG pictures of Ding for Ding to look at.

the poser (him, not me)

Happy Labour Day Everyone

2006-03-13T15:01:00.000+11:00

I've no idea what the significance of today's public holiday is, but I have great respect for it. Great respect.

Last night, a bunch of us decided to party uppp for the long weekend and went bowling. Safe. I am a crap bowler, so no need to disclose any more info about scores. But let's just say Xinmin, who was wearing a skirt and yellow thongs, beat me. And I was trying really hard.

We then went back to The Basketballers apartment for supper. As me and XM were hungry but domestically challenged and The Basketballers are quite conveniently domestically gifted, we sat back and played Jenga while the most gifted of them all cooked up a yummilicious bowl of something which I shall call Marlow because that's what it sounds like but I shamefully don't know the proper Chinese word. I've never eaten anything like it before, but it was delish. Oh, those Beijing babies.

And the repercussions of Truth or Dare Jenga:

1. Han sitting on Mike's lap for an entire game.

2. Poor, poor XM smelling Ding's sneakers (for losing a game):

3. Han and I swapping t-shirts. Mine was a singlet. You can see this was his loss not mine.

4. Ching kissing Han on the lips. (Was I allowed to disclose that?) And Ching actually looking happy after it. (And especially that?)

5. Raymond and Mike rubbing noses (as per above brackets). It was like a scene from Brokeback if Ang Lee had been high - Raymond and Mike rubbing noses while Han sat dutifully on Mike's lap looking on.

After that, we played Big 2 for far too long in to the night and I WON. Yes, the Malaysian born Australian raised Girl. Because I am supremely talented, have amazing photographic memory skills, am extremely poker-faced, and am stunningly beautiful. You know it. LOL. Jokes, peeps, jokes.

Okay so I now have to go make the most of the little left there is in this public holiday after being the dutiful blogger I am. *ciao

"I'm not Gangster I'm just an Innocent People"

2006-03-12T17:48:00.000+11:00

(This was a line that was said during the night I am about to write about and I've nowhere else to insert it in the entry so you get it here in the Title spot instead)

Another Saturday night, another failed attempt at Asian Night. I started the night over at who I shall now refer to hereon as 'The Basketballers' (ie Han's bball friends who I now claim as my own) apartment for a homecooked traditional Chinese dinner, my first in ages. *yum*

A few of us then attempted once again to go to BLVD, but deterred by the length of the line, went to Karaoke to join some people I didn't know, to sing songs I'd never heard of, in a language that I could not understand. You know, the normal ingredients that are usually involved in making Karaoke the fun that it is. And so goes my first ever Karaoke session in Melbourne.

Look, it's forgivable when I attempt to sing in Chinese when I'm with all my girlfriends back in Perth or in KL, and we're holding on to dear life to our pinyin lyric sheets and laughing at ourselves and each other. But when you're included with a bunch of Chinese speaking Mainlanders who you barely know, and you have recently professed to be able to sing A-mei (and I use the word 'sing' very loosely), and then by complete coincidence, that exact A-mei song comes on a minute after you arrive, then it's not okay.

Pity the fools who made me sing (again, using the word 'sing' very loosely).

pimpin'; watchu say fool?

i was made for this

the fobs within

Feed me

"Tas, let's go to Coles so I can get some fruit."

I have now returned with two boxes of 'Heaven' icecream (Caramel Fudge - unbeatable, and who knew they had a Chocolate Truffle flavour!?) and the new Latte flavoured Tim Tams. Oh yeah.

That's what Friends are For

And speaking of Tim Tam's, my fellow Tim Tam obsessor (this girl bought, no kidding, about 50 packets back to Taiwan with her on her last trip) Tina my darlin', is coming to Melbourne for the weekend before our Girls Reunion in Sydney over Easter. I am so excited. Hee. I am going to put together a food itinerary for her so we can cane it when she gets here (it's what I'm best at) and she is putting together a Come Visit Taiwan portfolio to induce and lure me and the rest of the girls to go to visit her at the end of the year. And Grace baby is coming in May. Double hee.

Ooh so much to look forward to.

PS. Just curious, did anyone else watch Brokeback Mountain and think it wasn't that good? Or am I just heartless?

Romantique

2006-03-04T21:39:00.000+11:00

While J and I were walking through Botanical Gardens the other weekend, I realised that, while we share a friendship cemented by similar values, passions and interests, when it comes to visions of love, we can be starkly different.

For example:

As we walked through the Gardens, I started getting lovey-dovey notions in my head of all the romantic possibilities that could eventuate in such an environment. How cute it would be to hold hands and explore all the different gardens together, picnics next to the lakes, cuddling while watching the outdoor cinemas, lying down under a big tree and reading and napping together on sundrenched days...

In the midst of this, Janet suddenly turns to me and says:

"Don't you think doing really romantic things with a guy is so poxy?"

Exqueeze me?

Poxy?

Romantic things?

Crazy, ese?!

Good God!

Give me... long walks along the beach... the slow dances... the dozens and dozens of roses... sunsets and sunrise... handwritten letters... candlelit anything... the overload of soft toys... surprises galore...

Yes, Poxy is me.

I suspect it's because J is drenched with men who are vying left, right, centre for her attention with this so-called poxy behaviour. And well, I'm disgustingly deprived of it.

Yes, Poxy behaviour for Poxy me.

(In case you haven't noticed, I seriously love that word Poxy. I'm sorry friends, but expect to see much more of it in my blog entries and dropped in to my everyday conversations. hahaha)

So it's All OK then

2006-03-02T10:47:00.000+11:00

The week has balanced itself out.

Some really not so good things happened...

balanced out by some really good things....

The best best best thing by far and away being...

MY SISTER IS PREGNANTTT!!!!!!!!!!

Zac is going to have a little brother/sister and I am going to be an aunty to two gorgeous kiddos.

Life is good.

can't wait til i see u, bub

(zac with his favourite toy vacuum and with a cast! cute as!)

The Chinese Chickens

2006-02-26T11:43:00.000+11:00

My friends owed me. I went to an Oorja Night with Mona & Tas and all their Indian friends and was the only Chinese person there. And I went to Blue on a Saturday night (when they get racist with who they let in to the club) with Giovanna and all her wasp-y friends where I was the only Chinese person there.

I had paid my dues.

They owed me an Asian night with lots of Chinese people.

So we headed to BLVD with a bunch of Han's chig friends for a night of chigga style partyin.

But it was not meant to be. Looks like half of Asia had just jumped FOB from the Yarra River and run straight to the queue of BLVD. We couldn't be bothered with the one-hour long wait, so, to the girls relief, we decided to head to a race-neutral club in Crown. A fun night with my fav Melbourne girls.

But which technically means I'm still owed an Asia Night. I feel sorry for Mona, Tas and Miss G already.

you would be amazed at how similar indians, chinese and italians are

my housemates; the two mc's

me and miss g

i love this picture; han goes "ok, just do a normal shot, no posing." then he purposely goes all gangsta!

outisde BLVD getting bored; but not as bored as this

Ordinary People

2006-02-25T01:15:00.000+11:00

I forgot to write in previous posts, but guess who has come to town to live and work?

Han!!! (My thoughts on him 1 year ago here.) Brilliantly funny, this guy will tell you like it is and you'll love (or hate?!) him for it.

Tonight, Tas came home and being the Docklands lover that she is, insisted we go for a walk since it was perfecto weather outside. So we all trudged ourselves there and sat on an empty bench and talked about growing up and friends and all those other things that are best shared on quiet nights, with good friends, licking gelato and looking over still waters.

The only semi-decent photo taken all night. No offence to Han and his completely useless, crap camera skills, haha

Emotional Junk

2006-02-22T23:05:00.000+11:00

What happened to old-fashioned love??

The simple, forever, you're-the-one, 'til-death-do-us-part kind of love. The love that is faithful and patient and unselfish and all those other things that they say love is in the Bible. A love that is pure.

I used to think (up until very recently) that when two people loved each other, that was it. Life was dandy, all your problems were Solvered and your days from hereon in were a giggly dream. I mean, sure, I knew couples disagreed and got emotional and fought and maybe said some things they didn't always mean. But you always kissed and made up. And then life was a giggly dream again.

I couldn't understand how people who were in love could be straight out nasty to each other, or could play games, or could get sick of each other, or consider breaking up, or not fight and fight and fight for the good thing they had if they were in the vicinity of losing it, or end up mostly not living in a giggly dream at all.

And now I realise it's all possible. And it takes a mighty committed, big-hearted person/couple to keep their head above water.

Have I been completely poisoned by the media, tainted by reality, weighed down by my past? Or maybe I've simply grown up and realised that the human mind is more fickle and so much more complex than I thought. And even worse, the human heart isn't as invincible and strong-willed as I need it to be.

So I hold on to the Biggest love of all, God's love, and hope for the best and dream for the future. Because I know, come what may, with that kind of perfect love, it's all going to be alright.

I'm sorry if this is You. But not really

2006-02-20T21:40:00.000+11:00

bloody ridiculous

This is How We Do it

2006-02-19T21:15:00.000+11:00

How to do Melbourne in 36 hours, Janet baby & Melissa style:

Day 1

Breakfast - Corn fritters @ Mart 130 in Middle Park (cafe/tram stop combined!):

Shopping at Chapel Street.

Lunch - Spaghetti Saltati and Spaghetti Pellegrini at Pellegrini's in town.

Walking to Docklands. Gelatos @ Limonetto:

Dinner - Egg with potato noodles, pan-fried snapper in broth, sashimi, sushi, soft-shelled crabs with ponzu sauce @ Kenzan in town.

Gin Palace for drinks (Gorgeous venue!)

Supper - Chicken curry laksas and roti @ Chilipadi in town .

Day 2:

Breakfast - Big breakfast (3 slices bacon, 3 sausages, 3 fried eggs, 2 slices of toast, 2 hash browns, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans and spinach) and french toast (4 slices!) @ Greasy Joe's in St Kilda:

Shopping and walking down Acland Street.

Walk around Botanical Gardens:

Lunch - Pasta with chorizo and baked eggs with chorizo and tomatoes @ Q11 in South Melbourne.

Bathing in the sun @ Southgate. Take-away cupcakes from Let Them Eat Cake in South Melbourne:

And so much laughter and meaningful conversations in between.

Incidents of note:

Accidentally getting lost about a gazillion times (all the while with me saying "Oh yeah, I know how to get there") Thank you, Melway. Sorry, J
(Very successfully) following cars and racing to catch the gate sensors so that we could get out of my carpark without the remote control
Our very reliable mode of transport for the weekend, now affectionately named Chew Me (private joke, lol)
The eating, oh, the eating ("So we'll have brunch and then lunch." "But brunch is meant to substitute lunch." "I don't like to limit myself to word conventions."; [One minute after demolishing breakfast] "Look at that burger, it looks so good." "Enough!" [five minutes later] "Nah really, honestly, look at it, it looks really good." "NO!"; "I'm not actually hungry at all". "Yeah, same." "So what are you ordering?" "Chicken laksa and roti with curry. You?" "Yeah chicken laksa and roti french toast.")
Somehow no longer being able to speak English properly ("It's got a real, like, hobo feel to it." "Do you mean boho?" "Oh. Yeah.")
Blurness to the maximillion ('What does AWB stand for?" [And after explanation of saga,] "Ohhh I thought it was like A&W rootbeer").

We caught up on everything. How good it felt to be able to have someone sit next to me who knows me inside out listen to my problems and just get it, the comforting patience and sound advice of a best friend, the genuine love and concern that we have for each other's lives, sharing of lifestyle dreams and career aspirations, the drama that is Boys.

That girl Janet, she be my Girl for life.

Thank you God for such good friends who make my life so special. I am truly blessed.

Heart Palpitations at 22 is No Good

2006-02-16T23:26:00.000+11:00

I just came back from my work farewell dinner at Vlado's, a meat paradise. I decided on this restaurant after I read an interview where the owner expressed: "I would like to point out that I am not a chef, I am just a red meat specialist".

And that's some red-meat skills the man has. You don't get a choice at this restaurant, there is only a set meal: Appetizer of beef and pork neck sausage, meat platter entree of different selections of meats, main meal of steak (my choice: rib-eye, medium rare of course!), and icecream or pancakes dessert (my choice: pancakes with icecream of course!). I downed everything like a carnivorous beast on a mission.

My own appetite/stomach scares me sometimes, especially since I'm a girl. My sister's a bit the same, but she is tiny so it's forgivable/cute/admirable. Mind you, I (only) had a party pie and a charity Freddo for lunch, which as my sister pointed out, is definitely not good fat-wise but quantity wise is quite minute. But last night, I kid you not, I ate a box of delicious Lord of the Fries chips and a bunch of grapes for dinner. My stomach is not feeling the best. Some crazy stomach acid from all these crazy combinations of food is trippin me on the inside.

I can't believe tomorrow is my last day in my first ever graduate role. Pretty significant. I love the people in my team heaps and I've learned so much from them. I sure hope I don't cry at my bigger farewell morning tea tomorrow. I wish I could stay for longer, but alas, a new project in my new role awaits me come Monday.

God, please give me brains. And motivation. And all that jazz.

I try

Maybe. Maybe not.

I really don't Care that it's Valentine's Day, honest

2006-02-14T20:39:00.000+11:00

I am quite aware that, if not already unmasked in previous posts, this entry will reveal me as the loser that I actually am. Because yes, it is Valentine's Day and I am going to write about... my mother. Why, of course.

She was here for almost a week and only left this morning, so I've been surviving on little sleep, copious amounts of food, and (over?)exposure to Chinese aunties, uncles, and all the fun n games that this brings.

The main reason she was here was to go to her good friend's son's wedding. A really great family who have always been so hospitable and kind to us. The wedding ceremony was beautiful - and the bride looked stunning!

You hear some people these days saying pretty negative things about marriage: how it's outdated, or just a certificate, or why try to fix something that's not broke, etc. And then you go to a ceremony like this and you actually feel the meaningfulness of the vows and you hear the sincerity with which they are said, and you see the tenderness of the bride and groom toward each other - and you think: What better thing in this world is there? Sure, what harder thing is there, too, but nothing really really good ever comes without unwavering commitment, blood sweat n tears, yeah?

Says the girl who is blogging on Valentine's Day.

Anyway, a gorgeous reception at night, where I had an unexpectedly fun time. I was on a table with some of the groom's lovely friends - bright young things with spark and wit and an unfortunate disposition to use all that intelligence to ridicule Perth. But ah, my energy is often saved for fobs so I won't say anything.

at the reception centre

Other random things we saw and did:

the crown's chinese new year dragon & lantern show

And in a bid to actually do something touristy with my Mum, we went to the Melbourne Aquarium, which I'm afraid was not the most entertaining thing to do - in and out within an hour.

my Mum walks in to the aquarium on the left and exclaims: "We eat all these fish! look! pink snapper, trevally, barramundi... shark..." damn right

And a whole bunch of other quirky and not-so quirky things. Had such a nice time with her. She's really like my best friend, albeit one who isn't always quite on the same wavelength:

Me: "I met X today."

Mum: "Oh, how is he?"

Me: "He's, you know, that really nerdy sort."

Mum: "Eeyeerrr" (ie disgusted tone with associated rumpled face)

Me: "Ma, you know what nerdy is or not?" (realising that a normal Chinese parent's reaction to nerdiness is quite the opposite of disgust)

Mum: "Ummm... sleazy?"

Me: "Noooo...! Like... geeky. Really geeky."

Mum: (blank face)

Before I go, congratulations to Naomi

and myself - we have passed the first junior hurdle to becoming qualified CA's!

And Big Valentine Love to all my girls out there - may we all be treated like Princesses every day, in every way!

I Like Saturdays Best

2006-02-06T22:57:00.000+11:00

saturday lunch

amici's bakery on chapel st - cute gingerbread man recipe on the wall complete with nursery rhyme

this is how the chinese do it

Crown had some Hawker's Bazaar event on the Riverside so Tas and I went to check it out. Heaps of cheap & nasty food (but without the same strong postive correlation coefficient to tastiness that this combination has in proper hawker stores in Asia), overpriced Chinese knick-knacks, cute dancing performances etc. The highlights of the evening:

(1) A captivating 45 minute Lion Dance. Amazing!

(2) The animal yard!:

aren't they adorable! unfortunately, i like you with pancakes and hoisin sauce

Omg, this is one of my biggest achievements ever. I held a chicken. I'm damn scared of animals in general, but one of the animal keepers convinced me to hold a chicken as I was ooh-ing and aah-ing over how cute all the little kids were holding all the farm animals. Do not be mistaken, this was no easy task for me - it took the animal keeper about 5 minutes for me to have the courage to do this. I kept on standing up and saying "Nah I can't do it!!", but she was so encouraging I finally (with my eyes closed at first) let her put the chicken in my arms.

and unfortunately, i ate you for lunch. and dinner.

Rewind

Oh no. While in Varga Lounge with Fal and Rach last weekend in Perth, some guy asked to take our picture for the Varga website. And I just remembered so I went on their website to check out if it was legit, and, shock horror, the resultant picture on the left. You can almost see the "What theee" coming out of my ears. Damn the other two for looking hot.

How deep is your love?

2006-02-02T19:54:00.000+11:00

Excerpts from emails to my sister today:

(1) Verbatim excerpt from Email No 1:

Did you watch Prison Break last night? That is truly going to be my new obsession.

How unbelievably gorgeous is the lead guy, Wentworth Miller? HOW CAN SUCH A PERFECT SPECIMEN BE SO POSSIBLE? Do you think he has had plastic srugery? I don’t know he is just too perfect looking. I honestly feel he is the most goodlooking guy I have ever seen in my ENTIRE LIFE. I just sat there glued to the tv and omg *sigh* I havent felt this way about a star in so long. Except for Jessica Alba and Nicole Richie and lindsay lohan and that was more admiration than *giggle*hee hee*too cute*. Mona Tas and I were all googly eyed over him yday and every ad break we just talked aobut him.

I am so in love with him u have no idea. Is this extremely childish?

(2) Verbatim excerpt from Email No 2:

Guess what I just found out!??! Wentworth Miller is HALF BLACK HALF WHITE. OMG OMG OMG. im not exactly sure why i "OMG" so much but i know that that fact, for some reason, deserves an OMG. In a good way of course. I mean, I kind of knew in my heart no purebred could be that good-looking. I have to say, your second choice of Patrick Demsey is not even close to comparable! He's so old Michelle! And a sleaze!! close would be Samantha from Sex & The City, her boyfriend in the last season who got her to commit. And even then I think I only thought he was so perfect because he was soooo incredibly nice and sweet and when he smiled his eyes would go all crinky and he had a really good body and then... Okay.

Well, back to WM. He went to Princeton!!! And his thesis was on doubling and Gender Identity. Sure, I dont know what that means, but that is what makes him all the more perfect, he is also supremely smart! And his Dad was a Rhodes Scholar! And he's half black half white!!! hee hee hee hee But I think, if my soureces are right, he is 34 yo. Which means if we got married, we'd have to have kids straight awa so he isn't too old by the time he's a grandfather.

But you know, can you imagine if we had kids, his mix and my CHINESE blood?We will be a power race. It will be Martin Luther Kings's dreams personified, all rolled up in our little bundles of joy.

Yes, whoever missed 'Prison Break' last night missed out on seeing a creature of perfection. Many girls I've spoken to have agreed that he is the best looking guy they have seen in their life. (And if by 'many' you also mean 'two' then we are talking on the same wavelength, my friend.)

It really has been ages and ages since I've had a 'star' crush though. Actually, I think girls my age aren't supposed to have such big crushes on celebrities anymore, but there you go, more evidence I'm more immature than most.

I have had two really huge star crushes before:

(1) Nicholas Tse

Okay, laugh all you want, but I was obsessed with this guy. My poor family had to put up with me playing his songs all the time even though none of us could understand it, I watched all the movies he acted in even though they were shoddy DVDs with dubious subtitles that resulted in no movie ever having a reasonable plot, I read dodgy Hong Kong celebrity news so I could keep up to date with what was going on in his life, I loved Faye Wong because he loved her, I even convinced myself that his dodgy hairstyle was cool.

And when he sang in English, oh it made me even more in love with him. Even when the lyrics said things like:

Too much pot and heroine

Too much crack and coke

I am waiting- devastating oh

- Without Me

Just saying it like it is, peepz. I ain't proud of it either.

I don't know what made me stop liking him so much. I think after the whole car crash thing, going to jail, Cecilia Cheung episode, he just lost that mysterious enigma. Or maybe I just got over the whole "Guys who Can't Speak English" business altogether. I may have to get back to you on that one.

(2) Take That

This was the hugest crush I've ever, ever had. Yes, on a boy band. I was in Year 8 and Year 9 and I used to collect every magazine with them in it, I had scrapbooks filed with pictures and articles, a whole wall of my bedroom covered in posters of them, actual photographs I bought off someone who took snaps of them in London, every CD, videos... Yes, I was hooked. I took turns with who was my favourite... they each had a turn as my No 1, except for Jason Orange, sorry buddy. By the end, I had it settled that Mark Owen was the cutest and Gary Barlow was the most talented.

Come on now, how could I not be be obsessed? They gave us: A Million Love Songs, Love Ain't Here Anymore, Pray, Never Forget, Back for Good... Pre-Robbie, post-Robbie... I loved 'em through the end.

And when they broke up, I was crushed. I still have a special magazine that was dedicated to their break up and for months, I would cry every time I read it.

That was some intense love.

And now, WM is my object of affection. Big cheers to Wednesday nights!!!

I just wanna go Home; oh I miss you, you know

2006-01-30T22:23:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year everyone!!! Hope you all celebrated with loved ones and ate all your favourite foods and collected piles of red packets!

Me, I got to be with my Family back in Perth, so I already got all that I wanted...

Someone, pass me the Cute, please

I hadn't seen these two cuties for nearly a year, can you imagine? My favourite kiddos in Perth by a mile. Suzy, especially, that girl is just a little adorable ball of sass n attitude. Kids, they just make me laugh and oh how I love them so!

Me: "So what's your favourite cartoon?"
Suzy: "My Little Pony."
Me: "What else do you like?"
Suzy (looking around): "Mmmmm... I can't think of any right now..."
Me: "Do you like Care Bears?"
Suzy: "Nooo... Care Bears is for babies."
Me: "But I love Care Bears! Oh no! Does that mean that I'm a baby?"
Suzy (eyes genuinely wide with shock. Pause.): "Mmmmm... I like the pink Care Bear best."
Me: "I like the orange one best. And did you think of any other of your favourite cartoons?"
Suzy: "Mmm.. My favourite is My Little Pony. And Care Bears...."

Me: "Suzy, are you the smartest in your class?"
Suzy: "No, we're about the same. But I'm the neatest."

Me to Stephanie: "Do lots of people tell you you're cute?"
Steph: "I don't like people calling me cute."
Me: "Why not?"
Suzy (the voice of reason): "But jie jie, you're still younggg."

They wanted to take pics of scary faces. And I was thinking, "Really how scary can two munchkins look?" Turns out, v scary indeed:

We are *Family*

sibling lovin'. don't tell me you can't see the fireworks behind! y'all blind.

sorrento quay: i want this life; perfect summerdays

i love this pic because we all look so happy and we are all actually laughing at my dad (walking behind). just 'cos.

I had the most yummiest meal last night. I ate enough to feed myself for a week. Roast pork with the most crackilicious skin, juicy prawns, thick curry chicken, gently flaking steamed fish with ginger, piles of fried rice, and silky smooth tofu fa. All lovingly prepared by my incredible mother - truly a food extraordinaire.

I'm back in Melbourne all too soon and I have no trips booked to go back at this point so I have no Home to count down to and this makes me very very sad and angry with Melbourne and my work. Which is childish of me, but I'm allowing myself a day (or two or five) of wallowing in my own ungrateful self-pity before I let myself get back to accepting that my life for now is Melbourne and I for now am contracted to this city.

Are you a Crazy Chinese Woman?

2006-01-22T23:43:00.000+11:00

Great. After dinner, the girls and I went out for a walk in the park and some gelato dessert. Licking a cup of peanut butter and coconut/lime deliciousness, what did I do? I got 'lured' (and by 'lured' I mean the fact that the store was built next to the gelato bar) in to buying an Urban Burger and chips. Where is the restraint? Where is the respect for my body? Where is the motivation spurred by the Victoria Secrets show?

Whatever it is, I can't sleep because my stomach hurts. So now I have to think of real things to write about to kill time as I've no photos and fun to hide behind due to yesterday's post. So I will speak of topical issues to me... You've heard me make fun of idiotic Chinese boys already. I'm sorry that now, it's your turn, girls.

It's because I've noticed that a number of relationships have been rocky of late... J posted about Mad Woman Syndrome ('MWS') already, so that week of hormonal-induced tantrums and moodiness has been justified and explained out.

But there are many who experience moodiness, throw tantrums, and have mountainous expectations all month/year round. It was the wise Rachel (who also came up with the idea of MWS) who realised this disease was only really common amongst only one thread of female and came up with a theory for such behaviour:

The Crazy Chinese Woman Syndrome ('CCWS').

Think MWS, but on an ongoing, forever basis. An unfortunate strain of MWS, CCWS is genetic and destructive to perpetrator, The Boyfriend and emotional ties in between. Like MWS, there is no proven cure. However, this optimistic writer believes that it can be self-managed, though she to date has absolutely no evidence to show that anything but 'break up' can change the stubborn girl.

The cause of CCWS has never been documented and I will by no means try to pull together an exhaustive list. But I will throw out a few suggestions. CCWS girls crave control due to a lack of self-esteem, they need to know or at least believe that they exert puppetry over The Boyfriend's actions to validate their status as The Boyfriend's Number 1 priority. This lack of self-esteem means that they need the constant re-assurance that comes with someone doing everything you ask - the more outrageous the ask, the more you just know The Boyfriend loves you. (This, I've learned, is complete and utter rubbish.) Having no real other interests outside of the superficial, the girl places The Relationship (note, wholly separate from The Boyfriend) as Number 1 priority and expects the same kind of fierce personal loyalty in return, again manifested in doing everything the girl asks at any given moment. In essence, The Boyfriend's sacrifice is the girl's victory.

The trick of the CCWS's actions: Everything is done under the guise of having the best intentions for The Boyfriend or The Relationship. But this pessimistic writer believes that aforementioned, more sinister, reasons lie beneath.

I will take the brave first step of coming out and saying that I have battled with this disease for many years. And I'm quite aware that I can no longer do this because I want my relationship to be as healthy and fulfilling and honest and mature as possible. I don't want my emotions to be controlled by whether my boyfriend has done anything special on any given Sunday. It'll be hard to change old habits, but if we don't learn from our mistakes and become wiser and better people, then growing older has absolutely zero benefits. And I refuse to wrinkle on without some kind of corresponding personal/spiritual gain.

Of course, there are many Chinese girls who don't experience CCWS at all. They are the cool, sassy, patient, independent and genuinely understanding (because CCWS girls are the most understanding creatures on the planet due to self-assigned helplessness and deceiving gentleness, but only on their own terms and in their own time) types. Girls like the aforementioned Miss J and, I suspect, Christine. Big Respect to you all.

Let us all band together to make this outrageous practice stop.

Thank you for your time.

The Special Two

2006-01-22T01:29:00.000+11:00

This weekend marked a grand occassion - the first marriage of an ASIO member! (For those who need explanation, as copied from a previous blog entry: "forget the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, I'm talkin the gang of exclusively Chinese, Punjabi and Sri Lankan chicks who I kicked it with from Year 9 onwards". Get it? Asian, Sri Lankan and Indian, ha ha ha wow we were so clever back then!)

The wedding was in Victoria as Jess has been a Melbournian for some time now. As a result, Mona and I happily represented ASIO on her Big Day, held at the insanely gorgeous Morning Star Estate in Mt Eliza. The ceremony was simple, sweet and meaningful.

morning star estate - the entrance; overlooking the rose field, vineyard and the ocean

the sunken garden; cute umbrellas for those sitting in the sun

After the ceremony, there were photos, drinks and finger food galore. Jess looked beauitful, radiant, overjoyed, and at times a little bit frazzled - all the cliches of how brides should be at their wedding :)

After the ceremony, we had a few hours before the reception, so Mona and I decided to do a bit of exploring. But as we aren't big fans of physical exertion and there was some raging heat happening, we did a lazy-girl version. That is, we found ourselves a patch of shade on the lawn to lay about on, then we headed up the road to soak up a lil Vitamin D on the beach, then we went back to the estate and found another patch of shade on the lawn to lay about on.

mona lisa baby; i am melissa i am chinese and i am scared of the sun; takin it easy; where are we?; the best melbourne beach mona has seen so far

The reception was held in the Ballroom at the estate, and it looked beautiful. The food, fusion East-West, was delish as well - I had "Rice vermicelli, scallop & crisp vegetable salad with hot and sour dressing", "Fillet of beef teriyaki" and "Lemongrass & Passionfruit creme brulee with Coconut icecream". Yummy in my tummy...

the ballroom; namecards; the married couple playing a funny game between courses; the bridal party

In all, a fun day that reminded me how us girls all deserve respectful, strong-valued, intelligent, kind-hearted partners who are madly, deeply in love with us and us with them; and how much I love love love seeing my friends find that because they especially deserve nothing less, and it gives everyone else struggling in love hope that this kind of thing isn't spun up just in fairytales :)

Girl's Night Out

2006-01-15T12:03:00.000+11:00

Had a lovely evening last night. Mona, Tas and I went to the Moonlight Cinemas at the Botanical Gardens to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. Because we are a friggin classy bunch, all we brought was one of Mona's bedsheets to sit on. The movie was, of course, lovely, and as usual I spent most of the time in amazement at how stunningly beautiful Audrey Hepburn is.

getting lost as we tried to find the cinemas; perfect weather brought out a packed crowd; our snacks

After the movie, I claimed exhaustion, but was easily convinced by my already-tispy friends to head out for a night of house at Lotus Bar in South Yarra. It was the first time in ages that just the girls and I have been out together, so was heaps fun. And the following photos will show you why I don't like to drink - look at how pink I become!

@home drinking & posing; pics on the dancefloor ("hi my name is sam. u?" "my name is rochelle. i'm 22. u? u must be old enough to be my father!"); back to Crown

The Reluctant Spectator

2006-01-14T16:59:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, a few of my colleagues and I got tickets through work to go watch the first day of the VB Series - an annual tri-nation one-day international series played in Australia. That is, I spent eight hours watching the cricket. I wasn't initially keen to go as cricket is cricket and Melissa is Melissa, but a freebie is a freebie, an afternoon off work is an afternoon off work and Melissa is Melissa, so I decided to give it a go.

It was much better than I expected. I am not a cricket kind of girl. But you gotta love the off-field entertainment: people collecting empty plastic beer cups to make beer cup towers; life-size naked blow up dolls being tossed around the crowd; sections of the crowd chanting "You are a wanker!!" (don't mind the crudeness, I'm just ad-libbing here!) to the security guards who would confiscate the constant stream of giant beach balls also being passed through the crowd; seven-round Mexican waves accompanied by those in the higher stands literally throwing rubbish down until security stepped in; being trained in the who's who of the Australian cricket team and the what's what of the rules by passionate cricket loving colleagues.

And Australia annihlating Sri Lanka by 116 runs was pretty cool too.

telstra dome & perfect weather; mexican wave

This afternoon, enjoying the simple pleasures in life: walking in the sunshine, eating loads of icecream, giggling with friends...

Revenge of the Geek

2006-01-12T22:07:00.000+11:00

I was told today that working in the department I will be moving in to next month will transform me in to "a geek and an elitist".

Which got me thinking about lots of unnecessary things like whether I was already in that world of geekdom, or whether I was close to the edge, or whether I was just hopefully looking in, or whether I've just been walking in an out of it my whole life:

Why I am a Geek

I won my primary school's Year 2 Spelling Bee with the always tricky "boa constrictor".

Why I am Not a Geek

I don't know how to spell "guarantee" without looking up in the dictionary.

Why I am a Geek

In primary school, I used to read World Book encyclopedia as a hobby.

Why I am Not a Geek

I only ever read about "Apples" (this is true).

Why I am a Geek
I skipped Year 3.

Why I am Not a Geek
A question on my Year 4 Term 1 Maths test asked "What 3 coins can be used to make up 45 cents?" and I wrote "15c, 15c, 15c".

Why I am a Geek

I did pretty damn good in Year 11 and Year 12.

Why I am Not a Geek
I 'mysteriously' have 35 1/2 days absent on my Year 10 Semester 1 Report.

Why I am a Geek

I started a triple major in uni when I was 16.

Why I am Not a Geek
But did pretty damn crap.

Why I am a Geek

This year, I got obssessive about watching "Australia's Smartest Kid".

Why I am Not a Geek

I learned stuff. Like, heaps.

Why I am a Geek

Chris and I ask each other multiplication timetables and have races to see who can get the right answer first. And for some time, this was the only way he could shut me up when we fought. (Me: "I don't care what you think. Don't you ever think about my feelings? It's like I tell you over and over again and you still don't learn. What's wrong with you, you can be so damn -" Chris: "14 times 17." Me: "Omg omg omg.. umm..." *starts muttering to myself*)

Why I am Not a Geek

I quite often get the wrong answer. After 10 seconds of thinking.

Me, geek? I wish, buddy. I think when you're little, it's pretty horrifying being called a geek, probably on the same level as "chink" or "tryhard". You don't realise it when you're young because being smart equates to studying more which means less time for, I don't know, playing kiss chasey or hanging from the monkey bars or smoking or gossipping in class or whatever.

But once you hit young-adult-dom, being a geek (in the traditional sense of the word) takes on a whole new meaning of cool. It becomes an embarassing compliment that makes you blush and say "Aw dont say that, I am not!" but makes you proud at the same time. (And, Boy Geeks: hot.) Because when you finish school, being smart means having more power (because knowledge is power) and more opportunities and more money and mo' money mo' clothes y'all. And that's cool.

In the end, I think it's not the academic things that make you an authentic geek anyway (the type that noone wants to be), it's all behavioural. Like falling off a treadmill at the gym, or banging in to things all the time, or squinting your nose to push your glasses back to the correct position, or tripping over at work in front of the vice president of the group you work in - but you know, those things never happened to me. Just saying.

Food Rant

I just came back from The Local Port Melbourne, a laidback little pub close to my place with an abundance of cute boys working at the bar. Seriously, it was some of the best pub grub I've ever had. Okay, so it was just a chicken sub, but perfect chips are hard to find these days! And the chcolate pudding *sigh*. I'm sure we'll be back again soon - for the sanger sandwich and that brown wavy haired boy with the light blue polo shirt. LOL.

You can Run but you can't Hide

2006-01-09T21:39:00.000+11:00

I won't let you in on all my New Year Resolutions, as failing myself is already crippling enough to my self-esteem, but I will tell you that one of my goals for 2006 is to be able to run, what is affectionately known in Melbourne as, 'The Tan' - a running track around the gorgeous Botanical Gardens.

It's actually pretty short - only about 3.8km all up, but 2005 saw me kind of diagnosing myself as allergic to exercise, so fitness levels are on the low and so goals must be set to reflect as such!

The resolution originated in my workplace, where three of us were casually talking about fitness levels. One of my colleagues mentioned that he used to run The Tan in 13 minutes. Another then commented he used to run it in 15 minutes. And then they both kind of sighed and lamented about how, if they were try to run it now, it would probably take them 18 - 20 minutes.

I kind of just stood there incredulous and unable to input in anything to the conversation that would not make a mockery of myself, as I often do when colleagues start talking about things I have no idea about, eg the cricket, music festivals, Australia getting in to the World Cup, the death of Rene Rivkin, the sale of U2 and Commonwealth Game tickets - you know, things I'm sure noone would expect a 22yo to know anyway.

Anyway, it was at that point that I formulated this resolution of running The Tan in my head, because ain't no Big Boys gonna outgame this 22yo lady in the claim for youth and Eternal Health and Vitality.

So the next night, I headed to the gym to see how fast I could do 3.8km.

(Take note, going to the gym at that point was a rarity. I saw long months go by in 2005 with no exercise, which is pretty poor considering there is no reason whatsoever why I shouldn't be able to. I mean let's be honest here, I do nothing in the evenings, I have no obligations on the weekend, my social life is rather non-existent, and the gym itself is three floors down from me.)

And I walked/jogged it in half an hour (rounding upward to the nearest half hour, haha).

*slaps forehead*

So, being the semi-obsessive person I can be, I've been on a mission for the last few weeks trying to exercise more and the other day I was damn excited because I ran for 4km on the treadmill (no incline, which I read in some health magazine is as useful as running on a downward slope. I bet they're just jealous. lol)!

Damn cocky for someone who has only begun routine exercise for two weeks (and even then, at 3 times a week for half an hour each session, I could still fit a whole Olsen twin down each of my jean legs).

But with the rush of serotonin infestation and a party of endorphins now dancing away in my brain, my arrogant mind screamed at me:

I'm ready to take on The Tan and kick this resolution right out of the 2006 waters, baby!!!!

Oh, the foolishness.

Woke up early on Saturday morning and walked excitedly to the Gardens. I think I ran about 100m, far before I got to the notorious 500m uphill stretch on Anderson Street, before my poor body couldn't take it. I ended up walked nearly the whole round before picking up the pace a bit on the last (downhill) stretch.

So now I'm all down because it looks like I may actually have to really challenge myself to achieve this resolution, and I hate goals like this. *moan*

Thank goodness I wasn't so ambitious the next morning. Just settled back at Q11 and had myself a nice little breakfast of organic pancakes, lemon curd, mascarpone and raspberries and two big cups of extra-yummy coffee:

But I still do believe that it's only their Bacon & Egg toastie that still gets my giddy-see-stars-food-lovin' thumbs-up.

And I'll start next week on my way to achieving another Resolution: to try a different cafe each week in the Quest for the Perfect Breakfast!

So, no matter how challenging or how fun or how predictable, here's a toast to wishing you all success in whatever resolutions have been made. Live, love, learn my lovelies!

Semi-Charmed kind of Life

2006-01-05T22:32:00.000+11:00

I'm late again with the niceties, but hey it's still January so Happy New Year all my little friends!

Before I launch myself in to my resolutions for the year, I think a moment of reflection on 2005 is necessary.

2005 was possibly the most significant year of my life thus far (you know, because I've lived such a long and meaningful life and all). I started the year with a move to another state across the other side of the country, in to a city that I had only ever properly visited once, and in to a life that I had never imagined I'd be brave enough to live. No family and no friends, I began my first full-time job fresh out of uni.

And then...

I developed a deep and joyful friendship with two girls who I had spent five years at high school with, but who I had previously hardly known.

I discovered that I had been too scared and too comfortable to let go and that this fear and selfishness resulted in me being careless with another's heart, that noone deserves to have their feelings mishandled, and that a million apologies can not undo the hurt from a broken promise.

I realised that I had done all the right subjects in high school.

I fell dizzily in love with a boy I had admired from afar and who I now admire more each day.

I lost a best friend to heaven and felt pain so raw and a loss so deep that I felt I was slowly fading.

I got my very first credit card, digital camera, Sass & Bides and paid-for-by-myself mobile phone.

I found that you can have all the material things in this world but loneliness leaves you feeling like you have nothing.

I realised my family is my Everything.

And that my best friends are part of that family.

I learned, I learned, I learned.

Proper Resolutions next time, maybe, if I'm feeling motivated. But for now, I think I'm just going to keep on learning.

I have so many things to look forward to in 2006. It's going to be a mad year. Last night, after a day of frenzied emailing and biting my tongue at work while giggling over our online antics, I booked my flight to Sydney in April and J booked a flight to come to Melbourne next month!

I'm so incredibly excited!

So many lovely things to look forward to:

16 days 'til Jessica's wedding...

20 days 'til I see Perth again...

44 days 'til J touches down in Melbourne...

99 days 'til the reunion with my Girls in Sydney...

104 days 'til Chris returns...

She Came, She Saw, She Loved

2005-12-28T18:28:00.000+11:00

A rather late Merry Christmas wish to everyone!

I've been to, and come back from, Perth - my first time back in more than six months. That's my big achievement of 2005 right there! In summary, the six days there were spent doing my favourite things, seeing my favourite places, eating my favourite food, and best of all, spending time with my favourite people!

Big thank you to my wonderful family who took such good care of me, fattening me up good and proper and making me feel so secure, loved and cared for in a time when I really needed it, and to my funtastico friends who took time out to hang with me and for making me giggle and laugh and have silly conversations that I miss so much *muah*. (First time karaoke-ing in almost a year - gosh I love it! Four hours was simply not enough!)

Relax, pussycat...

St Kilda Beach = Place where Water Meets Sand. Cottesloe Beach (above) - this is beach, people's!

more reasons to love breakfast - Cafe Cafe @ Subi and Retro Betty's @ Leederville (above); the breakfast lover and her posse in Subi (below)

livin' it up dubya-a style: fish & chips and simmo's icecream @ fremantle

Coffee & Dessert at Coco's

love y'all like a fat kid love cake

Christmas Day BBQ

the lovely Jasmine; takin' it easyyy; a bunch of Chinese boyz in da Hood

the lovey-dovey hosts; the makings of something beautiful; the feast; the best bbq-er in town!

i think i saw my bro took these chocolates home after bringing it as a 'gift'; let them eat cake! (esp when it's this damn good); the floating hand

Chinese Mum's are Food Geniuses

mee swa, curry, and laksa

The Aftermath

"She could not at first tell why she felt sad, but she became conscious at last of great longing to go home; then she knew she was homesick, although she was a thousand times better off with Mother Holle than with her mother and sister." - Fairy Tales (the Brothers Grimm)

Now I feel like packing everything up and going back to Perth to live Happily Ever After. Ah, homesickness...

So, as usual, to get me through those nostalgia-infested, heavy-hearted days, I will sit here and begin the next Countdown to More Exciting Things to Come:

Twenty-three days 'til Jessica's wedding...
Twenty-seven days 'til the next trip to Perth...

Hundred and eleven days 'til Chris returns...

And with a little help (both literally and gastronomically) from:

The Final Supper

2005-12-20T22:25:00.000+11:00

... before the girls and I separate and head back to our families in Perth. It's funny how I honestly miss them when I'm away from them. They've become such a comfortable and joyful part of my life (so much so that I seriously asked them once if we could make a pact to live together forever), I'm Punjabi Jutt by association. Safe.

Feeling like some good, hearty pub grub which I know I will not touch when I get to Perth (because I've already made a list of food for my Mum to cook and places I want to eat as soon as I touch down - first meal being the Chinese red wine mee swa noodle soup *chiggalicious*), we headed to Hotel Spencer for the last supper.

Tonight, I tucked in to some braised beef, mushroom and guinesss pie with mash and veges - hardcore pub food thuggin':

This pic did the pie no justice. So, for comparison sake:

As big as my face y'all. And trust me, that's really something. It was so good though. I haven't eaten a meat pie in ages and Tas doesn't eat beef so it doesn't feature much in our home cooking. Thick dripping pieces of tender beef, crispy pastry, not-too-creamy mash... *gobble gobble*

Then we headed to Brunetti's so that our lucky families could have a taste of what we taste very very often :)
I know you wish you wish we were related.

Haha. I don't. Because that would mean less cake for me.

For the Love of Breakfast

2005-12-17T22:39:00.000+11:00

I started the morning today with breakfast with Li Ting at Circa in the Prince Hotel in St Kilda. Meetings with this old friend (from the days when we were bubs in Malaysia!) is always a pleasure. She's one of those genuinely good-hearted, unaffected and level-headed people who I wish I was more like or who I wish I knew more people like.

LT's smoked salmon & cream cheese croque-monsieur and my house-made sourdough crumpets with lemon and honey - divine!

In the evening, we went to Christmas carols at her church which was lovely. I was also able to meet up with her sweet-as boyfriend and my endearing cousin, so definitely a day well spent!

KPI for 2006: (Much much) More than three meetings a year!

The Countdown begins
Four days 'til Perth...
Eight days 'til Christmas...

Hundred and thirty-three days 'til Chris returns...

The Office Christmas Party and all that Jazz

2005-12-15T22:38:00.000+11:00

Today we had our team's Christmas lunch at The Great Provider in St Kilda. It went on for nine hours. And although all I did was sit and eat (a delicious marinated eggplant and roast tomato bruschetta, lovely scotch fillet, mediocre orange zest cake with double cream and berries, and fantastically strong coffee and biscotti - and lots of antipasto, fried calamari and breads as the afternoon turned in to night), it was exhausting! Copious amounts of alcohol consumed by everyone (bar me, as usual - vanity always prevailing). There is nothing more hilarious than seeing people who you have such a huge amount of respect for totally LTP (lose the plot [obviously]) in a silly, uninhibited, funny way. And I have a whole bunch of incriminating photos that I plan to distribute over email tomorrow morning. hehe.

It was a good break as work has been pretty full-on this week. And because of this, I haven't had a proper conversation with Chris all week. So now I am getting unfortunate relationship bonding withdrawal symptoms that are manifesting itself in uncharacteristic mixed- up emotions, elevated fragility, heightened sensitivity, and valid but unsolvable frustration.

Long-distance relationships can be so unkind. *sigh*

What is there Not to Love about Christmas?

2005-12-11T20:11:00.000+11:00

I adore everything about Christmas. It seems to brings out the best of people's spirits and intentions and the city has come alive with gorgeous decorations and countless fun events.

Call me a hopeless optimist or a dreamy believer, but I guess that when the essence of a holiday is something as amazing as what Christmas is really all about, the world can't help but bring itself to celebrate ;).

Festival of Trees at Federation Square

Melbourne Women's International Jazz Festival