Nothing to do with 2008 whatsoever - Organics anyone?

I know everyone's into the new year and logically, technically, this ought to be about new year. BUT I am not quite ready yet and still gathering thoughts for the new year. So here's venturing into something totally unrelated... hah!

Anyone into organic food here?
No offence but this darn healthy option is so not for me. I took a stab and ordered a salad at an organic cafe in Melbourne. It was a pasta cum cous cous cum greens sort of salad...
I took 3 bites and that was it for me! I really couldn't stomach any bit of that organic salad.
It must be good somehow given the crowds at the cafe, or maybe it's just what I ordered.

But for now, it's going to be a long time before I dare venture into organics.
KFC is still the finger lickin feel-good indulgence for me! Oh and Coke too!

Disclaimer: Entries on this blog is not neccessarily in chronological order of event happenings.

First Impressions of Sydney

I just arrived at Sydney a couple of hours ago. These first few hours is pretty impactful and quite enough for me to form first impressions.


People - They are focused with a no-nonsense attitude. Totally un-laid back, unlike relaxing Queenslanders. It's a tit-for-tat, which means, when u ask ONE question, u get ONE answer, no additional details offered. That was the case with the woman at the airport, bus-driver, stranger on the bus and stranger at the bus stop.
There was one kind soul though, this guy on the bus when I was trying to find my way to my friend's place - he is Italian on a working holiday visa, so maybe that's why he's friendly.

City - Sydney is like several cities knocked into one - CBD and skyscrapers in New York and London, Chinatown (roadside eating zi char stalls) in Petaling Street, KL and Chinatown, Singapore, high fashion shopping Champ Elysee of Paris, Xi Men Ding in Taipei, shorter version of Mongkok Street in Hong Kong and Docklands of Melbourne...

Weather - The sun in Sydney burns. And of all times, I just had to forget to bring my SPF on this trip! Darn!

I feel so tiny and kampong when I was walking around. Maybe because I have had 2 peaceful and quaint days staying at Bernice's place, surrounded by 9 puppies! :D
I miss them already!

Boxing Day Sale

Tried so so hard to climb out of bed at 6am to hit the stores for the infamous Boxing Day sale. BUT loser loser - we only managed to slumber out of bed at 10am!
We thought the first batch at 6am would have been exhausted and it's time for us to take over the shift. Wrong! There's still scores of people at the mall.
I only bought a luggage and a couple of tops. :(

Boxing Day Sale down under

I hear the annual stocktake sale in Australia on boxing day is crazy... people wake up and queue up from 6am waiting for the doors to open.
I have to be a part of this too... so we are heading off to Chadstone tomorrow morning at 7am. Hopefully we aren't too late to grab good deals!

Merry Christmas all!

There's an annual pinnacle in my life - Year end festivities namely Christmas and New Year. This is when I start doing my life accounting, summing up what was done for the year and stuff I experienced.

It's a tradition for me. It used to be a mere habit but as years pile on, it became an addict, and ritual. I am proud of it, coz so many years down the road, I am really glad I am still thinking and that emo muscle in me is still flexing!

I am back to Square One this year.

I used to spend Christmases alone in secondary school. It was simple diary writing and chatting on the phone through xmas hours.
In uni, it became annual Xmas eve parties with friends for a good 8-10 years (Gasp, has it been almost a decade already!?). This too became a tradition which I know we all hold dearly in our hearts despite struggling sometimes to get people enthusiastic and efforts to think of new themes, new food, new venues!

Now I am back to spending a peaceful eve alone, thinking aloud via blogging. It's also the first time in many years that I am not frantically running around in the afternoon wrapping up presents and writing heartfelt christmas greetings (i really do try!).

I am really glad to have a chance to spend a silent evening because this reminds me to count my blessings, a virtue which I lack very very badly in. And I know, I will treasure my xmas eves and friends even more now, and I certainly look forward to frantic shopping, wrapping and running around.

Oh and Merry Christmas all! It's officially 12am in Melbourne now!

Hols in Melbourne

I decided I didn't want to be in Brisbane all alone for Christmas and so I am back for a holiday in Melbourne... my 3rd time now and so it's more a slack and catching-up-with-friends trip more than doing the sights.

CY is gonna be back in Singapore soon so the first few days of my trip was dedicated to him! (In his words, so noice so noice!) BUT being on a student budget trip is not easy when it comes to eating with high 'crass' CY! Pains my heart everytime I eat out with him and of course, this gourmet's recommendations never fail... he brought me to a rather chi-chi Korean restaurant "Hallah Korean Restaurant" which is near Queen Victoria Market. He also brought along a bottle of white wine which is soooo excellent, I had more than usual.


That's us in action! (We decided it's more important to take photos of US rather than the food... it's us, and us and us only! It's all about us!) Actually enough of us - I really dun fancy self-absorption!

Annyeonghi kaseyo

Annyeonghi kaseyo (Goodbye to someone leaving in Korean)
My Korean housemate is leaving - for good.

It's strange really, coz I am leaving for Melbourne tomorrow and she's only leaving this Sunday. I get to say goodbye first... I wonder if that helps to take away some sadness.

I was looking forward to holidays and now it's just a plethora of mixed feelings.
Plus it's year end and my usual feel-ly, emo stuff starts acting up more as I reflect on the year.

Carrie only stayed in the house for less than 2 months and boy, she made an impact!
We held long conversations in loose English, yet we were able to understand each other perfectly aided by hand gestures and repeat phrases. I felt like we knew each other for years.

You know, we all know some friends we'll be comfortable with just staying silent. No conversation needed, just mere company. I realised it is not just with old friends - I found this level of comfort with Carrie.

So it's farewell for now, and hopefully that trip to Malaysia we verbally agreed on will happen.

Defeated

I concede defeat.
Maintaining a blog isn't easy at all... and kudos to all those brave and faithful blog-souls out there who keep it going.

Blogging is not for the faint-hearted and lazy a**es...(trust me - I bring laziness to a whole new universe level!)

I need CPR!

Iron Chef

It's payback time!! In a good way of coz... the other two iron chefs in the house decided to introduce Carrie to the world of Chinese cuisine in return for her Korean feast 2 weeks ago!

So on Sunday (25 Nov) we prepared a simple dinner for her, in true blue amateur-style (that's only me though! Ivan is a pro!).

It wasn't easy thinking of what to cook to "represent" our type of cuisine... plus Carrie told us she wasn't really a meat-lover. How can anyone not love meat??! (We later found out it was a misunderstanding coz she couldn't understand what we were asking!! She is a normal meat-eating person!) Aaarrgghh... this made the task even more upheaval.

After keeping busy in the kitchen for a couple of hours - voila! The dinner looks decent, doesn't it?!

Here are Ivan's creations. He named them 'Creation One' & 'Creation Two' (how creative wor!). I have to take my hat off to him though... he put in a lot of effort in preparing.
I took the easy way out... wanted to prepare Bak Kut Teh (Pork soup with herbs and spices) but I became lazy and did these two. Thank goodness it turned out edible!

Overeating!

We went crazy one day to satisfy some major craving.
Sunnybank is the suburb in Brisbane where Asians are plenty plentiful! Serious Chinese grocery shopping goes on in Sunnybank... And that is also where The Singapore Restaurant is. The owners aren't Singaporeans though... I didn't get to finding out where they are from.

I have only been to this area twice coz it's really far from where I live... at least a 45 mins journey by bus.

Now back to "we were crazy", it started with my craving for nasi lemak... This was really decent. The beef rendang reminded me of what you can get in Malaysia, which also means it probably taste better than the nasi lemak in Singapore.


And then it went on to chicken rice... this was my friend's main course. I took a bite and thought the rice was fragrant and could certainly match the authentic chix rice back home. Chilli was a let down though!


And to a side dish of ngoh hiang, sambal kangkong... The ngoh hiang was awesome! As for the kangkong, by the time we got to it, we were on the verge of breaking point!


And we just couldn't resist adding on another side dish of roti prata! Breakpoint - we had to stop! Did take a bite of the prata dipped in curry... it was nice. Well it had better be nice coz it costs AUD10 like all the rest of the other dishes!!! Forget the Jalan Kayu SG1 prata!


And there were just the three of us!

My partner in crime, Winnie! The other party has chosen to remain anoynomous - haha!
The binge continued at Just Soy Cafe (which I wrote about earlier)!

State of mind at the end of the evening: Content and major guilt!

Well, this is why I signed up with the school gym and have been walking home religiously from the city twice a week. This had better darn work

Cairns

Never too late to post some photos of my Cairns trip from 3 - 6 Nov 07! It was a little treat to celebrate the end of semester and of course, I am now a grad dip holder! Yay!

Anyway, I travelled with a few new friends from Taiwan... and initially I was quite apprehensive coz (for those who know me) my Mandarin isn't all that great! But after that solid 4 day trip with Candy, Elaine and Jill, I can hold my head high to say that I can actually hold meaningful and solid 2-hour conversations in Mandarin!

Here's the four of us looking forward to the cruise to the Great Barrier Reef! More on the trip later...!

A little piece of home

I had an ang moh brekkie again today - Mcdonald's (Macs is also known as Macca's) sausage and egg mcmuffin with hashbrown and latte for AUD5.70!

It's a little different today coz I added Sinsin Garlic chilli sauce to the muffin and hashbrown, to relive memories of having Macs in Singapore. Somehow, it made this morning's breakfast so much yummier!

With my morning satisfied, it's now back to work!

豆浆 without 油条

All thanks to my resourceful friends who scouted out this 豆浆 dessert shop Just Soy Cafe at far away Sunnybank Hills in Brisbane. It was a 30 mins bus trip from the city and all worth it!

For a moment, I felt like I was in Taiwan or at some part of Asia. The cafe was filled with Asians, and mostly Taiwanese I suspect. Feels like home though... back to my comfort zone for a while. We had the classic plain soya beancurd and drink which could rival the quality of those back home. One major difference though was each serving costs us AUD3.50 & that is more than 3 times the usual price.

Well, I suppose that's the price I have to pay over here no matter what... *burn hole in pocket*!

Catching up...

I thought the end of semester 2 weeks ago would mean I have more time to catch up on sleep, blogging, shopping, cleaning my room and all that.
Not a chance! I don't even have much time to get my laundry done, which I thankfully had a chance to do this afternoon.

Some stuff that had been happening these couple of weeks:
- I have a new Korean housemate, Carrie!! She moved in 2 weeks ago and taught my other housemate, Ivan and myself Korean swear words! Darn cool... She cooked for us a meal too... I love Korean food! I am gonna get Carrie to teach me how to make kimchi...
- I went on some food binge (Singaporean fare) which I will post about later...
- I went to Cairns for 4 days and of course it comes complete with a dive at Great Barrier Reef.
- I joined the school gym and have been doing short jogs on the treadmill.
- I have been walking home from the city - it takes 45 mins and it really is pleasant coz the cool weather here. Twice a week and plus the gym, all in hope of shedding some pounds.

More to come...

Final Sprint of the Semester

Yay, my last assignment for the semester is due tomorrow! And I can finally do stuff I wanna do!
Counting down counting down...
Off to Cairns this weekend :D

Creativity or pure goth culture?

I saw this one-of-its-kind at The Bunk backpackers in Brisbane... kind of freaky isn't it?

Leaving on a jet plane... a week earlier! YAY!

I can't bear it anymore. I miss home and so pushed my flight one week earlier to 28 Jan 2008!
Not that one week makes hell of a difference BUT the thought of it makes me happy. *big smile*

Queen Latifah

The new Covergirl advertisement fronted by Queen Latifah came on OZ TV one night and my housemate, Ivan said something darn funny!

Ivan: Queen Latifah??!! Shouldn't this be Cover-woman instead?

Harsh wor... but I'd have to agree! :D

OZ Spring/Summer Collection

Brisbane goes into Spring, neo-Summer season! Weather has been erratic... temperature can be a burning 30 degrees and plunges to 15 degrees at night.

I love the weather the way it is now. With spring, comes the blooming of Jacaranda into full purple glory! Amidst the greenery along the riverside, the jacaranda trees are simply gorgeous!

This great season is dampened however by probably the most irritating pests of all - flies & moths! Flies top the list coz of the irritating buzzing sound when they are somewhere near your cheeks, in the vicinity of your ears.

So unless you are plugged into with your Ipod, you can hear the annoying zzzzzzzz...
Some are audacious - they attack you by LANDING on your face!!! Yeeks!!
Before you can swat at them, they "erm" fly away!

I heard magpies attack during this season too. My housemate and his sister have been attacked before... they peck right at your head.
Spring's their mating season and they get territorial when enemies approach.

Thank goodness I haven't kena yet :P

I miss cai dao kuey!

I miss having "dng3 nang2" carrot cake for breakfast!
Yeah, ang mo carrot cake is not too bad for a tea break but nothing gets better than heartland kopi tiam fare especially when it comes to breakfast.

I am running out of ideas what to fill a sandwich with - eggs, tuna, ham, bacon, ham & egg, tuna & mushroom, bacon & egg blah blah. I must have exhausted close to 100% of "sandwich filling" permutations.

Super sian to have lohti and cereal for breakfast every morning... it doesn't super boost me for the day!

I will do anything for a plate of cai dao kuey (with more black sauce) and a bit of hiam complete with teh si siu dai.

For the benefit of those who dun understand the jargon here:
Cai dao kuey - Asian and savoury version of carrot cake. Regular fare for breakfast.
Teh si siu dai - Asian version of tea with evaporated milk and less sugar.
Hiam - Chilli
Lohti - Bread
Kopi tiam - Coffeeshop

Counting down Big Time to 2 Feb 2008

It's no joke staying alone overseas for an extended period of time.
As much as I have tried to entertain myself, nothing beats familiarity.
I can't imagine having to hang on for another 4 months here before my flight back to Singapore on 2 Feb!

And amidst that, I have to work on my assignments!

moshi jump daily

We played hard, we ate hard and we worked hard too...
Classic self-entertainment at its peak!

It's Popeye the Sailor man! It's Popeye the Sailor man!

Dun ask me why - as I was ploughing through my assignments this morning, Popeye suddenly came into my mind!

It's been years hasn't it? So nostalgic! Popeye used to be ranked as one of my favourite cartoons (& carebears stare & smurfs la la la la & gummi bears bouncing here and everywhere...). It never converted me to be a spinach lover though. It was quite amusing to see Poppie beat Brutus to a pulp over chopstick Olive. (She desirable meh???)

Now the only Popeye stuff I like is the Popeyes biscuit at Changi Airport! Has it expanded since beyond the Changi shores...?

moshi food daily

It all started 3 months ago when 3 beings from Singapore came over to OZ to visit another being. Since then, the entire journey was mind-boggling and mouth-popping. Whatever we saw, we ate and drank heartily. We just couldn't stop... it was an evil that we couldn't get rid of! Foodies Anonymous! Brekky at The Gunshop Cafe in Brisbane! Choc-ful muffin at Cafe BB... Nothing quite beats classic hot chocolate at Mount Buller! Need I say more about this fatal attraction between US and Krispy Kreme?
BTW, it was this for the 4 of us... no regrets though! And NO, I don't wanna look like a donut with an empty head! Dessert platter at one of the renowned winery in Victoria (But it was so long ago I forgot which one! :P) Washing it all down in style with Moet & Chandon *sip sip then gulp gulp* Now that's us! Oh, all photos courtesy of Jasmine - i dunno where mine went!

Tea Bag versus Wallabies

As like most other human beings on Monday mornings, I woke up feeling drowsy and grumpy about having to wake up early for work. The morning gloom faded away after I heard a joke on the breakfast morning show that totally cracked me up!


Q: What's the difference between a Tea Bag and the Wallabies?
A: The teabag stays in the cup than the Wallabies for a longer time!

Backgrounder: Wallabies (Australia's team in the Rugby World Cup went down to England last night 12-10 in the quarterfinals.)

Learning every bit of the way...

I have been learning quite a bit lately - some simple things, some not so simple.
Bottom line is - consider your options, decide, be prepared and move on.
That's how simple the drill is. It just requires practice.

Some simple leisurely new stuff that I have learnt:
1) Cupcakes can look really really pretty! They are the latest phenomenon in Singapore too so I heard! Here's some in Brisbane. 2) There isn't just chocolate ice cream... right here in this gelato shop at Queen Street Mall, there are at least 10 other chocolate-flavoured ice creams.
I only tried one so far and have promised to bring Kenneth there when I meet him this Thursday (SO EXCITING!! :)) Oh btw do check out littlejerard.blogspot.com to know more about the chronicles of Little Jerard, latest addition to MB & JH's West Coast abode!

Back...

Hey, I am back after disappearing for a good 3 weeks.
The past 3 weeks was traumatising, but I am back to get my act together and make good. All thanks to my great friends who allowed me to detox...

Miss you all lots and alongside 3 simple pleasures:
1) Old Chang Kee - a friend of mine told me about the new recyclable bag OCK came up with. I lost him halfway - my mind just swayed to the land of puffs!*craving*
2) Steamboat at Beach Road Golden Mile - I used to have a few steamboat buds... one went off to Shanghai in pursuit of high fashion. One went away to UK and now that he's back in SG, I am here in Brissy.
3) Teh Si Siu Dai (aka Milk Tea and easy on sugar)- There's no better beverage to start your day off, to start a mahjong game with, to start a ranting session... *slurp*

It's semester break but no time to relax though.
It's time to do work...

Friday

I am usually looking forward to the weekends... but not this particular one.
I have got 5 stories to rush out by Monday and just the thought of it frightens me.
Am I going to survive the weekend in one piece?

I am gonna ensure comfort is within reach (read: tim tams, red rock chips & coke!).
They will help me get by!

Meanwhile you guys have a great weekend ahead and Congrats to Mingbao and Jiehong on their new baby boy, Jerard! For photos, check out Junxiong's blog!

When recycling becomes ostentatious

UK activist group We Are What We Do has a simple mantra – use your everyday actions to change the world.

Well put. Simple but sensible and powerful credo.

That was how they started their collaboration with famed bag designer Anya Hindmarch and Sainsbury’s to produce an eco-friendly bag to encourage people to reduce their use of plastic bags.

An unpretentious bid that has since erupted into a shopping spree for the hungry fashion addicts, who do not necessarily care two hoots about the environment.

The newborn recycling bag iced with Anya Hindmarch’s designer tagline “I m not a plastic bag” took the world by storm since it was first launched in London in July this year.

It has since evolved, within a short span of two months into a fashion icon plugged by the likes of Keira Knightley and Alicia Silverstone, and met with huge crowds and stampedes each time the bag was launched.

“I m not a plastic bag” made her appearance not only on environment publications and material, it was heavily marketed as a fashion must-have in leading fashion magazines and beauty forums. Has media jumped onto the bandwagon and lost all consciousness for the environment and sell themselves out to haute couture?

Environment causes never quite make headlines in the papers and this seemed a rare opportunity for environment to advocate their cause – but only if these crowds will listen.

The mindset of the public was homogenous.

This noble project presented perhaps the only opportunity to own an authentic Anya Hindmarch creation for a fraction of the price.

The long queues at the supermarkets do not signal conversion of the masses into environmental cause. Of these turnouts, it makes one wonder what the ratio of the trend followers versus genuine tree huggers is.

"I know this is an environmentally friendly shopping bag aimed at encouraging people to ditch their plastic bags for this more eco-friendly option, but the truth is I won't," said one would-be fashionista when interviewed by thislondon.co.uk.

"Besides it wouldn't fit a week's worth of shopping in and will look a lot better with my sunglasses in."

Enough said.

PS: Check out the Riverfire videos at the earlier postings
PS2: Happy Birthday BW! Welcome Welcome! :P

Random

Friend A: "Does your blog have a theme?"
My reply: "Nope, I cannot just keep to A theme leh."
Friend B: "Your blog quite random... you are writing about different things, very random thoughts..."

I can't quite deny this. I don't have a theme and I can't keep to a particular train of thought... that's me - neither here nor there.

My days are just filled with random stuff. One moment it's work, and the other it's school work. And the next, shopping and mundane stuff.

It's tough to keep to a certain mode all the time thus these random rantings! That's how it's gonna be!

Facebook addict

I am officially hooked to facebook... not darn proud of this addiction simply coz i spent 4 hours playing with it on Sat instead of clearing my assignments :(

I had a friendster account, but never got it to work. I didn't understand it.
Was it the interface?

Facebook helps me keep track of stuff - places I visit, friends I have, friends I used to have, photos and lots more.
And the best part, you get to know more about others without them knowing real time.

When this fad will fade I don't know... just wait and see!

But meanwhile, it's back to sending tequilas and candies...

Riverfestival

Taking a break from my seemingly long To-Do list, I took Sat evening off for Brisbane's signature Riverfestival. It's a week long festival along the entire Brisbane river. For me, the highlight of the festival has got to be the Riverfire, a half hour solid display of fireworks, something we don't see very often in Singapore unless it's approved by the government. :( This is how Brisbane City looks like at night from Southbank... The city skyline turned from that to these...!! And this is what fireworks ought to be about! I especially liked the part where the buildings had spurts of fireworks to create this entire stretch of sparkles. Another of my fav was the fireworks shower falling from the bridge...It felt heavenly and surreal to see the fire shower right into the river... isn't that what life should be all about? Can't quite describe exactly the spectacle of it... Video coming right up... I haven't had much encounters with fireworks. The only one other I have seen was during Singapore's fireworks festival. That was decent... But the Riverfire tops it straight up. This will be something I will miss when I am back in Singapore next year! You just have got to be here to see it for yourself!

It's an early day for me... I am off to interview a political aspirant contesting to be Brisbane's Lord Mayor. He's gonna be at some seniors' club for some talk (& of coz a PR stint!)

Very diversified character - an ex-cricketer and lawyer with a particular interest to solve Brisbane's water crisis. Hopefully he hasn't mastered the art of evasion and actually will answer questions!

My Footy Match Debut

SUNCORP STADIUM ---
Home of the Broncos & venue for my first footy live match! It was the last game for the Broncos this season & the stadium was filled, mostly with Broncos' maroon team colour of coz! Broncos was playing Raiders from Canberra. They say no Aussie experience is complete without having watched a live match - so this is induction to be Aussie-sized!


My secondary sch class used to watch the Malaysia Cup at National Stadium, except this is a different ball game altogether. Plus no large triangular large curry puffs & nasi lemak. It's beer, chips & massive burgers here!

I came to the match without knowing how the rules work... they have two different leagues here - the NRL (National Rugby League) and AFL (Australian Football League).
I only know NRL players are bigger sized and the touchdown gets you 4 points. AFL players are smaller built and they score by kicking through the 2 standing poles. That's about all I know and need to know to skim through this Broncos game.:)

The atmosphere was darn cool - check out the blimp! They had the thingy circulating round the stadium before the game started.

And to get me a little more involved emotionally in the game, I placed a teeny weeny "hope" for the Broncos to win and hopefully to pay for my dinner. Thank goodness they won and I got my dinner expenses covered... :D

Oh did I forget to mention they provided free shuttle buses from the city to the stadium, includes the return trip as well?!

Final Score: Broncos 30 bt Raiders 19
No. of pax in stadium: 31,000

The Great Climate Debate

The week went by in a whizz. I can't quite recall what exactly happened in the week or what I was busy with. I suppose it was just down to lessons and work?

The weekend was good though. I finally got to play overnight mahjong again on Friday... and we had "supper" at 5am at the casino cafe. There isn't really much to choose from in peaceful Brissy.

Sunday was eventful for me. There was a public debate to attend and then a footy match in the afternoon... I wanted to start the day by having breakfast at Southbank. It didn't go smoothly. My chicken and vege pie was attacked by an ibis, this preying bird who hopped onto my table and took my pie away. Just like that!! Brekkie was back to just a cup of latte for me. Damn the bird!
After that, my friend and I attended a public debate "The Great Climate Change Debate" between Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Garrett (Minister for Environment and Shadow Minister for Environment). The debate was absolutely brilliant! I never did have to struggle at all to keep awake... both speakers were eloquent and needless to say, extremely politically correct.

The audience had no qualms about interupting the speakers by shouting out loud objections like "that's not true!" & "answer the question!!" even though the person speaking is a Minister. Now, this is freedom of speech!
Never will you get this brand of open communication back in my home country without getting into trouble...

The public packed the Griffith Uni Conservatorium which held about 600 pax... the free event was booked out! I was one of the lucky ones (and one of the two non-Aussies) who got the ticket.

Demographics of the crowd clocked the entire range, from young school kids 10 years of age to the seniors. It was very inspiring and heartening to see this natural response (no mobilisation needed to bus people down). These people were genuinely keen to do their part for the climate and to represent the community voice in government.

Point of similarity nonetheless which probably cuts across politicians of the world united: They NEVER answer the question... and have pretty much mastered the art of evasion.

Words of Wisdom

They say perseverance pays off... But I suppose not all the time?
So how do you know when to stop?
Where is the line to draw to differentiate pure silly and perseverance?
What's the difference between pushing yourself to achieve higher limits and pushing yourself knowing very well your limitations? Is the latter admirable though ultimately it may not attain the desired effect?

Be braver and stronger...

Ekka Eureka!

And so it's true HUGE soft toys are given away as prizes at fairs like this... I always saw this on Ang Moh TV but the scams at the Singapore funfairs eroded my outlook in life about this. I went to the annual Queensland state fair (aka Ekka), played some silly games and won these 2 huge stuff for a total investment of AUD35! Not too bad a deal ya? Erm, just one slight problem though - how am I going to bring these two huge thingies back home? Ekka was an experience... All things fun, festive, foodie and "farmed" gathered. There were thrill rides (I didn't dare try them - they look very hiong! Didn't want to puke my guts out!), loads of game stalls, a hall filled with all kind of foods, an area with stalls selling showbags (with multiple goodies in them), "farm" areas with sheeps, cows, piglets, birds, dogs, horses... It was a conglomeration of stuff! There was also a 10 minute display of fireworks which was not fantastic but alright. I only wish Singapore could figure out something of this scale too, it'll be awesome!! Then we are talking culture and tourism...
I went with 2 classmates from Journalism studies... Jerry (on the right) is from Nanjing, China and Candy is from Taiwan. Their level of Mandarin is superb and there's no way I can match up with theirs with my meagre knowledge of 4-word phrases! And even speaking Hokkien to Candy was a challenge too! Her Hokkien is the real authentic stuff... I was rather amused and amazed at the same time when I first heard it. Thank goodness she was not offended... haha! Anyway she had a good time laughing at my Mandarin too, so it's pretty fair! This is us at the enclosed farm animals area... we went crazy about the cute little furry things walking just right next to us! But this shot is the glamourous one - I fed a goat and it was licking my hand all over... absolutely grossly dripping wet! YEEKS! I still find the meh mehs cute though :P

Now I am just waiting eagerly for Riverfestival, yet another local festival and they say it features a spectacular display of fireworks. Looking forward to that! :D

Semester Two looks daunting...

This semester seems tougher than the first, although I am supposedly to have warmed up already. The assignments look more daunting than ever before... How am I to do a political, medical and education story all due in a few weeks' time?

Will stay in this weekend to mug after major out-of-pocket expenditure at Gold Coast yesterday! Enjoyment ceases this weekend...!

On the other side of the law

Protest rallies aren't quite a common sight in Singapore so I made an additional effort to wake up earlier last Sunday morning to catch a protest rally in the city. This one's particularly interesting because it was staged by the Queensland Police!
*IF things get ugly, who steps in to control the chaos if the police themselves are involved...???*

The rally meant to fight for fairer wages and treatment of the cops by the state government. Not sure if the men&women-in-uniforms got their desired outcome...
My housemate pointed something interesting - the rally time is probably the peak hour for crimes to happen... didn't hear of any sudden rise in crime rates though :)

Took a couple of shots particularly liked this one of a patriotic dog who donned an OZ flag plus the dog is so darn cute!
There were also scores of people who lined the pathways to applaud the police. There was also a bagpipe squad who lead the rally, and their somewhat celtic music had a certain effect on me. I actually felt my patriotic switch turned on!