The Intrepid Adventures of a Wayward Wandergurl

Sydney FAQs v.2008

2008-07-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Where are you now?
I have been living in Sydney since Feb 2005.
I currently live with my cousin and 2 nice Mexican housemates in Leichhardt, in the italian district close to the city

What do you do?
I work in IT doing consulting and auditing.

Are you done with school?
Yes, I finished a double Masters in International Business & Business Information Systems in 2006.

Please do not ask me this question on a regular basis. Thank you.

When are you coming back to the Philippines?
I was last there in Jan 2008. I tend to come back after a year or two to visit, so we'll see.

Do you have a boyfriend?
No.

Also: No, I don't mind. No, I'm not a hermit, I do date on occasion. No, I'm not in a hurry there are many things I still want to do with my life. Yes, being single is fun. In short, if it happens, it happens.

You may also find me on multiply or facebook! If there are any more questions you think I should include here, leave a note.

Hello, is anyone out there?

2008-07-09T05:53:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in so long. I don't know if anyone reads this anymore. Hello? Is anyone out there?

I was going to post a photo essay of my trip to europe but I realised that it is already here.

The complete albums are on flickr.

Have been doing fine, should post un updated FAQs next. Let's see. Ha ha ha.

Manila 2008

2008-01-13T05:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm back from the dead. Thanks to my friend Naz who revitalized my header. Am back in Manila for the holidays. Will be working on fixing my links and such but for now here is a picture summary of the highlights so far. The rest of the pictures are
here And there are even more pictures on my facebook!

Bohol

My Best Friend Jen & Me & the Chocolate Hills

Mum on her broomstick

Bohol Bee Farm

The Food at Bohol Bee Farm

Reunions

With my grade school classmates, cw: Jill (with Toby!), Cecile & Cara

With college friends San, Ciara, Krissy & Tin

With X-Mktg people from my first job at Citibank
(Carl, Donny, Russ, Paul, Daph & Car)

Singing in the Rain with Falx & Carlos (who did their crying in the rain)

The Spice Girls. I just felt like saying that even if they will kill me.

My Puputs! John, Jason & JP

My Former Big Boss, Mahiar

My ex Roomie, Maui!

Family

My godson Miggy

Attack of the children! (on cousin edouard)

Everyone had a baby

Toby with his mum at his first birthday party

With Baby A at his baptism

Marcus being eaten by Tito JR

2007-06-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Dammit, I know its been ages... have asked my friend JJ to do some revamping and hopefully we'll get a new template/background up and I can start updating soon.

Cheers!

2006-12-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

These are the plates from when we were done eating dessert. Also spanish hot chocolate, bwahahaha

2006-12-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

Jenny, Me & Cara at dessert last night. Cara is an old friend from grade school who went to the same uni that I did for college. We saw each other every now and then but I haven't really seen her in at least five years. Nice to catch up and chat about what we were doing. Cara now works for NEDA, the govt economic authority and is about to apply to take her masters somewhere. We also bumped into Flordeliz, an old high school classmate who is now a dentist. We all remember her grad ball dress, which was ahead of his time as its halterneck was made of fur. She is doing very well, and is also teaching anatomy and physiology!

12/15/06 01:04 pm - So far...

2006-12-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

(cos im tamad to retype)

dear sacha, andee, carolina, kat & miel,

greetings from the humidity of manila!

so far i have done nothing but eat. my tummy isn't used to eating that much so its protesting a bit. i shouldn't go into detail cos its kinda gross. So far I've had adobo, pancit bihon and lumpia (sacha you like lumpia!). Mum has gotten me soy milk so I'm still having cereal for brekkie. I have a prepaid mobile and yesterday I finished my first load of PhP 300 (about 8 dollars aus) in two hours just telling everyone what my number was and calling. Its been really fun to call these people who don't know the number and are all like, who's this and go "Poooopieeeeee" or "heeeelllllooooo its meeee" and have everyone scream.

my flight was slightly uneventful. I watched three movies (yes, three!) scoop, los dos lados de la cama (its the sequel to los otros lados, sacha it wasn't as good and the actresses changed! they made everyone gay.) and stormbreaker with this really hot 14 year old. I also saw the end of step it up the channing tatum movie and project runway. i was soooo bored during my layover in singapore i kept going on line. there was a 15 minute limit for the internet so i would go, walk around and come back. i have had the shittiest coffee ever - the place i got my coffee from had bad coffee but a really good cranberry-orange cake.

when i got to manila it was really humid. from the air, before landing you can see SM Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in southeast asia. as you descend, tis like this big blue SM sign is looming up at you from the ground next to all these lights from the fishermen's boats on the bay. my cousin anthony, who works in the airport met me at the gate. he saw my name on the manifest and went to say hi. of course the first thing he said was, "lumaki ka ha" (you've gotten bigger) so far my family has been considerate enough not to mention this, although mum throws it in every now and then in a fake discreet way.

when i got home everything was the same but different. they got a new giant jelly bean shaped car because my cousin vanessa studies in UST where it floods and she has to be picked up there. its a bit ungainly and it seats seven (perfect for kat and co!) but i am from a family of two so that doesn't really make sense to me. mum had packed up a lot of stuff in my room but all my books are still there. i am surprised that there are less books that i haven't read than i thought. all my romance novels are on the top shelf which is the biggest and they are very dusty. i am rereading some old ones now.

i still have some jetlag. it is three hours ahead and i am quite sleepy by 9 o'clock. i still however get up at 830 which is the equivalent of 1130 australia time bwahahaha. i looked through my closet. mom has always said that she can't send me anymore stuff because none of it will fit me anymore but hello they're all t-shirts and i fit!!! yesterday i tried to wear one of them but you know how there's always a strip of skin that shows between your low rise pants and your shirt, mom goes, its not uso anymore (that's not what people wear here anymore) and i think she thought i looked fat so i rolled my eyes and changed. otherwise mum has been quite nice and strangely we have been bonding.

yesterday i had lunch in cibo my favorite restaurant with my friend therese. we had gorgonzola & spinach dip, penne al telefono (cream, cheese, tomatoes) and red grape shake. i knew what to order before we even sat down. I also wandered around the malll quite a bit. i almost walked up the wrong escalator. i also kept going to the wrong sections, and i would remember when i was almost there, its good to know that the mall (glorietta) hasn't changed so much and that i still remember how to get around.

i tried to get my nbi clearance for my visa but they wouldn't let me cos i didn't have the original so i have to go to carriendo which is like in old manila, in the trafficky part of the city. i also went to the giant Zara flagship store (carolina! the clothes are soooo nice!!!). i want to get a suit and a pair of jeans and maybe a mini skirt. the skirts here are kinda long, its only zara and mango that have short ones. i also saw this really nice winter coat, but not like i need another one.

my best friend joey came over for dinner and i fell asleep at nine while he was downloading my music. the broadband here is a bit wonky, you have to double click on something to connect and get the internet!!! my cousin's internet connection is sooo complicated, she has one cpu, another machine, a dsl box, a ups and you have to have the fan automatically opened pointing at the cpu battery thingy or else it overheats!!! and you don't always get to connect to dsl. its quite strange. i had to go on dial up yesterday and of course i ran out in like an hour.

today i am having lunch with a family friend, having coffee with my old persian boss who is visiting from the states and then watching casino royale with my cousin and having coffeee with my friend john. (okay im loaded up till i leave!)

Okay at this point suddenly my cousin's monitor just blacked out and i have had to go to my room and get into the dial up!!! i have tried to fix it but the myriad of connections are too much for my patience. (I miss our broadband connection. siiigh)

Andee: my cousin has this really nice bag for 150 pesos bought in divy i think i know where to get your present hahaha also how do i get in touch w/ your mom/dad re crossword puzzles
Miel: i told my mom about the house and she is very interested. will talk to you about it later.

hope you are all doing well!

cheers!

How did I end up being nice?

2006-11-29T03:47:00.000-08:00

Showgirl!

2006-11-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

Today I went to see Kylie with my friend Jaya. Our seats were quite good, on the floor section near the ramp where she well, makes rampa. The first half of the show I didn't know most of the songs, except for Come Inside, Kids and Spinning Around. Security also stopped us from taking pictures, "at Kylie's request". After the 20 min intermission - where I bought myself a " I am a Showgirl" shirt that I quite possibly may never wear in the philippines for fear of misinterpretation - we managed to squeeze to the floor section near the ramp which was on the end of the row where we were and that's where I took these pictures.

Kylie came back singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" while sitting on a moon, but my pictures of her there are so fuzzy so you're getting the picture of the back of her neck!!!

You can tell why Kylie is much loved by the gay community - all the male dancers were 90% of the time in swim trunk type undies and were shirtless. At some point they wore trunks and giant peacock style wings - which caused me and my friend (who is gay herself) to burst into laughter and for her to say, "I can see why Kylie is such a fag hag!". To be fair she had excellent dancers. I really admire their stamina, skill and their ability to dance around in their underwear. I don't think that would have been easy particularly for the men.

She changed outfits at least 6 times, and more often than not the dancers had to change quicker and get on and prance about first. They also had quite a few complicated moves. And at one point, where they were all dressed like robots, the guys had giant metal nose shaped triangles stuck to wear their dicks were supposed to be. (Gaultier designed, perhaps, like Madonna's cone boobs?)

One of the ladies in line at the bar during the intermission remarked to a gay man, "One of them has to be straight. You can have the rest, but one of them has to be a straight man!!!" In fairness quite a few of them looked straight, especially the guy with a lot of tattoos, but I guess you'd have to be pretty open to allow yourself to parade in your underthings and touch other men as well through the course of your dancing. Most straight men I know are rather squeamish about that part.

There was a middle aged woman in front of us who had brought her daughters and was just screaming "Kylie! Kylie!" the whole time. I tried to be considerate as I thought, she must be this woman's Bono but my friend just wanted to kill her. Also the lady next to her had this fluffy feather duster like thing that she kept waving in the air, which makes quite an appearance in my Can't Get You Out of My Head Video.

Kylie did two encores, the first doing CGYOMH and two other songs dressed like a cross between an Egyptian and a butterfly. Then she did the last one in a rhinestone studded bustier type top with funky graffiti printed pants and a coat, none of which matched. The back of the coat said "Kylie Says Relax. She's back!" and one of the signs on her pants - next to a pic of Keanu, of all things - said, "Kylie likes tea better than sex"

My favorite renditions were of "Locomotion" - which she did cabaret style with a Vogue intro - "Lucky" (yes, 80s!) and CGYOMH. She also sang "Especially For You" in the end as a tribute to the fans who waited for her to come back. Was especially horrified that I knew all the lyrics, thanks to pinoy radio. At some point she said, "Thank you to all of you who kept your old tickets from the last shows " - she had to postpone because of her cancer and old tix were still valid but could also be refunded if not used. She also asked, so where have you been keeping them? Anywhere interesting? Tell me! And I said "Underwear Drawer!" cos that's where I keep all my tickets! And she heard me! In the end she said so far the knickers drawer was the most interesting one (Go Me!).

My Weekend

2006-11-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

Here are some snapshots of my weekend.

Happy Birthday to Toby the dog!

Toby is 7!!!

Andee and Hazel the boxer. They both want cookies.

Kartini in a wig & Sacha at Kartini's house party
(The theme was colour, and just for effect, she wore a wig)

Thanksgiving

Me stuffing the turkey

The finished product, complete with meat thermometer. Cooked for three hours. Nicknamed "Morales" by Nic, the ultimate Paquiao fan because Manny Pacquiao our champion beat the Mexican boxer Morales again. (In short, luto si Morales)

Thanks to everyone for coming! I think Ala & Nic might have other pics as well...the rest of mine will go up soon.

In the City of Blinding Lights!

2006-11-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

It was the best night of my life.

I Have seen U2. I now understand why people follow them around the world. Now I know that even if they don't come here next time, I'm going to see them somewhere in the world, and I don't give a shit how much it costs.

And yes, we were Jologz. Kulang na lang may sampaguita kami sa kasisigaw namin. I'm still riding high on the U2 wave, 2 days later. (And we're back for more on Monday!!!)

I don't mean to rub it in, but the more y'all go, I hate you, I can't believe you went blah blah the more I will just say:

Belat! We went to U2!!!

Also, in case you had any doubts as to how close we were...I mean we didn't line up at 9am for 530 entry (concert started at 700) for nothing...

See the stage behind us!

Bono I love you!

Bono flying a kite

I can't quite figure out how to turn this around, so if someone could tell me that would be great. Otherwise, here he is :)

And the screaming in the background? That's Claudia.

(Will post a more detailed entry later!!!)

Things I did while waiting for something to print

2006-11-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

Your Unique Costume is a Cockroach

Truly creepy!

What Totally Unique Halloween Costume Should You Wear?

Halloween Horoscope for Capricorn

Your friends see a whole other side of you on Halloween - brash and bold.
You make be reserved and conservative most other days, but on the 31st... look out!

Costume suggestions: A stripper or naughty priest / nun

Signature Halloween candy: M & M's

What's Your Halloween Horoscope?

Your Vampire Name Is...

Sirona of Scandinavia

What's Your Vampire Name?

Your Gluttony Quotient: 59%

You definitely have your gluttonous moments. For you, eating is a true hobby.
And while you do spend a lot on food, you can always make it back winning eating contests.

How Much Gluttony Do You Have?

The week in tidbits...

2006-10-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

10/13/06 - Big Day Out
Its 1:17am. I have been trying to get big day out tickets for in fairness, mga almost an hour. The first time I got through and confirmed. I was shocked at the quickness and then it timed out right after the confirmation. So from experience, there is a 99% chance we didn't get those tickets. Everytime this happens to someone on our website and they call to check if its gone through - it never has, except for the one time that it did, and that's once in the entire year I have been there.

The next couple of times I've just timed out after selecting that I need four tickets. Right now I've just finished typing in my particulars for the enth time - the website has stored my credit card number to automatically pop up when I type the number 4 even (must clear cache afterwards...) - and I have no idea if this will go through. If it does, its a miracle.

Wait a minute...
You've ordered too many tickets!!
You've already purchased tickets to this event and as a result have reach your maximum allowed tickets. Start again

So it went through? We'll never know. For now I'll presume yes, seeing as I'm getting this message. Confirmation takes up to 21 days (hahahah) so I guess I'll call Ticketmaster in the evening tomorrow to see if we can check. This is providing that they actually have a record given that the purchases were done on the BDO website...

I'm not desperate enough to get tickets, so if we miss out, then we miss out, there's always next year. When maybe I'll actually know who the bands are. Though having now downloaded Muse, its not so bad.

EDIT 10:33 am
I received the confirmation email. We have 4 tickets to Big Day Out. I am still so freaking sleepy. And I am liking Tool. They sound like old school rock.

For a list of all th bands that we're going to be seeing, go here

10/14/06 16:00 - It's getting hot in here
Whatever made Sydney decide to be 37 degrees today? As far as I know its supposed to be 19-32 but I just checked the weather department and it says that's the temperature.

It is way too early to be this hot. Waaaay to early. To quote my housemate, "it looks like its going to be a long, hot summer." See! Global Warming! That's what you get!

I had to take the IELTS exam again to prove that I can speak english for my residency application. I finished faster than most people and I even asked for extra paper for the writing exam, where we had to write about exercise. We also had to write a letter to a hotel that we'd supposedly left stuff in and ask them to find them and send them back. It was not hard. I think the guy that interviewed me for the speaking portion was a bit surprised as well, I spoke to him with a full on american accent and I guess, well, I didn't even really try. I was just sort of thinking, well they are looking to see if I can speak english, and I hope they can tell that I do!

My winter clothes got packed today. I've brought up my cooler and I have my electric fan is upstairs.

Tomorrow though, I think it goes back to normal weather at 21 degrees. I've decided I like Spring and Autumn the best, though I shouldn't really have to pack up my stuff till about October (so now is really about right) and bring out my winter clothes till May at the earliest. So far its been on time...

Oh, if only I could go to the beach.

10/15/06 12:49 pm - Elvis and other things
Last night we saw Elvis the musical, which featured a projection of Elvis on screen and his original band playing in the background. They were rather good. Elvis kept kissing all these girls that were hurling themselves at him at various concerts. It was well cut and the sound quality was very clear and crisp. Sacha and I both agreed that he had dating (although in english it was translated to charisma and magnetism) even if he wasn't that hot and that there was no one like him in present day. I mean, it didn't change - they showed various concerts and people were still hurling themselves at him in technicolor, as much as they did in black and white. And he sure as hell kissed anybody who was near the stage. Wonder if he'd still be able to do that now. In some shots, he also really, really looked like Lisa Marie (obviously).

Today my plan is this: get up. Buy cheapo Thai take away for lunch (or possibly dinner, we'll see) Take shower. Write paper. Buy Red Bull. Write paper. Have dinner. Write paper. In theory I can do this in 4-6 hours under massive time pressure. I want to be done by at the latest, tomorrow morning so I can prepare my 5 minute powerpoint presentation on the topic.

Also, I just want to buy stuff from Gap for the Red Campaign. Not just because of Bono, but because Africa has always been one of my interests. The Inspi(red) t-shirt is already sold out online, but I still want to get it, so I put my name down for it. (Hello, honey76, sama ka ba?) Ideally I would like to wear it to the U2 concert (hello, flipped_jaffa). There's also a really nice hoodie (not that I need another one) and a sweater. The t-shirts are 25 bucks, I think and that's not bad. I miss gap. I want to shop in America.

10/18/06 10:07 pm - - Estoy cansada

I did full on yoga for the first time in my life today. There was only one other beginner in the class and she left early. I got a bit of help and specialized instruction because of that, which was great. It was quite hard though, we did ashtanga and everyone knew the poses. Our teacher mentioned that it would be best if the people at the gym did beginners and advanced seperately but for now it was mixed. I tried to do a bridge and my lower back hurt. Sigh. I have been able to do that every now and then, randomly but I can't hold it. But its okay, cos I just stuck with the basic stuff.

Then there was this bit where you stuck your feet up in the air, with your bum in the air, toes pointed up and elbows in. Seriously the position itself wasn't painful for the butt or the back, I just had problems with my elbows, they wouldn't stick properly to the mat, so it was hard to get them in. I am eternally greatful to kickboxing for giving me stronger arms and legs to better support myself.

The gym that I did the yoga in was part of a 2 week trial for 35 bucks, unlimited classes. After that you can continue the membership, pay the yearly fee of 199 and then pay 35 bucks a week for the rest of the year. I just can't afford that for now, as much as I would like to join so before the 2 weeks are even over I will call to quit. Maybe if I wasn't a student I could afford the 140 a month plus my kickboxing fees. For now I'm happy with the casual classes at uni, plus I am considering taking up latin dance, so that would mean less time to make full use of the 35 bucks.

I am so excited for uni to finish. That means 2 kickboxing classes a week - three if I'm ganado - one dance class, possibly on a wednesday and maybe i'll even throw in some yoga which I can take as part of the class pass I pay for kickboxing.

We decided to do a mesa redonda - round table - featuring different countries of the world discussing the nuclear situation en Corea del Norte for my Spanish Oral Exam. I have a short speech that I will have to add to once the rest of my groupmates get everything sorted. I'm trying to get out of work on Friday so that I can join their group meeting. Carolina and BBC Mundo helped me write my speech.

Next Wednesday is my Spanish final exam. I will start studying tomorrow.

Okay I'm really tired now. Oh, and I'm liking Eskimo Joe... (this is so not grammatically correct, is it?)

What I'm listening to and What I love

2006-10-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

Me in tidbits

2006-10-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. The adapter of my computer broke and I have been using Sacha's PC. Today I finally uploaded all my pictures. Eventually I will blog in more detail about what's happened but here's an excerpt so far...

Here's me on a colorful bench on Brunswick Street in Melbourne. I went over for four days and stayed with my friend Cat-Cat. A lot of it was spent walking around the city, exploring and of course, eating my way through one of my favorite cities.

Last weekend I went to the Grand Philippine Fiesta. For the first time in almost two years I ate bibingka, which I stood in line for 2 hours for. It wasn't even that good but I was kind of desperate. Here's me eating bananacue!

Here's me and my friend Ala doing the Coogee to Bondi Walk. Just finished that today. It is 5KM and it usually takes about 2 hours but because we walked leisurely and took pictures everywhere, it took about 5. We also had a lovely (but cold!) dip in Bronte Beach.

Eventually we got to Bondi, where there was, for the first time in my life, no one on the beach except black wetsuit clad surfers riding the waves. There were no tourists, just a handful of people. Maybe it was because it was a cold day, or the surf was strong but there was no one out there except the hard core real surfers, the kind that are really from here, as opposed to the back to back throes of tourists that are usually basking in the sun.

So here's what I've been up to so far. Hope to post something longer when I can...

2006-09-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

The Marrickville Festival - Marrickville is a multicultural suburb in the inner west of Sydney, not too far from uni/where I live. They have an annual festival that is a celebration of different cultures. Rose and I went this afternoon.

2006-09-17T02:39:00.000-07:00

Watussi - I discovered them at the Spanish festival and we came early to hear them. They sing mostly in Spanish with African inspired beats as well and they are pretty good.

2006-09-17T02:38:00.000-07:00

Rose discovers the fairy floss and gets all excited!

2006-09-17T02:37:00.001-07:00

Funky icee containers

2006-09-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

Colorful banners at the festival. They shut down the main road for it, and there was food, food and more food plus stalls with lots of stuff and live performances.

2006-09-17T02:36:00.001-07:00

Rose trying on a hat

2006-09-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

Me trying on a hat at one of the stalls

2006-09-17T02:35:00.001-07:00

We passed this store as we walked down Marrickville road. I couldn't resist taking a picture as it had a funny name...

2006-09-17T02:35:00.000-07:00

Rose's Peruvian skewers. I think they are called Aparcaba. I really wanted a bratwurst but they didn't have any (shocking!!!) so we opted for Peruvian food instead. It was a good experience.

2006-09-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

Peruvian food. Now if only I could remember what its called. Chicken & Pork with potatoes, mushed together with spices

2006-09-17T02:33:00.000-07:00

Maori Performance at the Centre stage. They had some funky movements that I wasn't able to capture. They're also wearing flourescent outfits, much like what a roadside worker would wear so people can see him in the dark...

Goodbye, Crocodile Hunter

2006-09-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

My first ever memories of Steve Irwin are of him trying to pick up a spitting snake without wearing anything but a pair of goggles, never mind that their spit can burn your skin. (This was after my friend Dyne did his best crikey accent and convinced me that the crazy Aussie guy was worth watching.)

When my cousin first told me that he was "reported dead" I refused to believe it. I mean, Aussie news is notorious for its exaggerations. (Nothing much happens here, so there appears to be the need to sensationalize everything.)When it was finally confirmed later on and the tributes started showing on tv, I finally believed it was real.

People ask me what it's like here, if people are freaking out. They're not. Steve Irwin was a bazillion times more popular in America, even in the Philippines. Here they recognize his great contributions to conservatism and Australian tourism, but he's not as big a thing as he is everywhere else. I mean, the man made worldwide news and CNN did a tribute.

In an interview Andrew Denton of Enough Rope did, he asked Steve why he thought that Aussies were "a bit embarrassed" about him. Steve said, "It's because there's a little bit of me in every Australian." And he's right. He was bold and passionate and committed. My Aussie friends agree that he epitomized Australianess but he took it to another level that most regular Aussies considered a bit too much sometimes. He was very much respected, though. And I think a lot of people here have come to look at him more differently now that he's gone.

To me he was a good man - a great man, a devoted father/husband and animal lover. He will be missed.

Goodbye, Steve.
from cute overload.

2006-09-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

Whassap? Yesterday was Caleb, my friend Kat's son's 2nd birthday. It was a children's party with only two children. The rest of it was all filo adults and the teenagers they dragged with them, eating, in fairness an aussie style barbecue with sausages and salad. And lots of cake.

2006-09-03T01:02:00.001-07:00

Mum's new gadget #232323423423423. Kat has just bought a new camera, and a video cam and possibly something else. She has now joined the ranks of the gadget whores. (hee hee)

2006-09-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

I still haven't figured out entirely how to use this camera, so there's a bit of a delay when I take pictures. Thus, Caleb isn't facing the front anymore!

2006-09-03T01:01:00.000-07:00

Me & Caleb. He looks sungs and I suddenly have this gigantic forehead.

2006-09-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Caleb blows his cake with lolo. I ate three of those cupcakes and a piece of that cake. (Saturday is chocolate day)

My butt is wet.

2006-08-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

So I started out this day rather well. I was on time for Spanish and I managed to come up with some pretty decent answers (partly because I've done this tense before). My deberes (discussion hw) were all correct too, cos I had Carolina look them over the night before . I also had a chat with this Aussie-Portuguese girl from class who is very very good in Spanish and she will be reviewing with me, so that should help me with the exam next Wednesday.

Then I went to change my flight and my travel agent and I had a laugh about how mum kept changing her mind. He was like, "you're going to charge your mum cos its her fault, right?" and I was like, "yeah!!! totally!!!" Anyway, my new flight back here is Jan 8. I arrive in Sydney Jan 9, and would ideally like to go to NZ within the next 2 days, as mum wants to spend some time with her friend in Auckland, and I would like to go visit Ees in Welly.

Then I got home. Now we have two main doors, the front door which has barred gate and the back door, which includes the courtyard gate. The courtyard gate door and the back door have the same key and its the key I've got. Sacha and I use the back door and Carolina & Pat use the front, as those are they keys that we have. When it rains, or right after, the lock gets stuck and its usually a pain in the ass to get the key out. This past week has been particularly bad. Last Monday Carolina and I had to pour canola oil on it to get it out, on Monday evening I had to go to Derek's house (our neighbor) to borrow oil and Luke, his housemate had to help me get the damn key out.

Today it was just stuck. The friendly cafe across the road gave me oil but it didn't work. It was also raining and I got wet trying to get it out and trying to cross the road when the cars splashed me. Then I went to the physics building to see if Derek was there. He wasn't, but Luke was and Luke gave me a scientific explanation on how it was pointless for me to use oil and that I should call a locksmith. So I trudged back home and called the real estate. I waited for an hour, got frustrated, went to Yuga, my fave neighborhood cafe, had an apple & honey pie and a chai latte. While waiting for the locksmith to call i whined to my cousin who said, "go ahead, you're allowed to eat chocolate cake." but in fairness I didn't. The cashier was also kind enough to let me go even if I didn't have enough to pay - I was going to eftpos but there was a minimum and my bill was 11 dollars, 4 dollars too little. So I paid 10.50 and she said pay again next time.

I called the real estate and the nice receptionist followed up with the locksmith and gave me their number. They should arrive between 430-5pm today. Pat also said he would be home around 4 so since it was 30 minutes to 4 I decided (quite moneyless) to wait it out by napping on the armchair in the courtyard. (Thank God Pat decided to just leave it there) It was nice and soft, but quite wet as it had been raining. My butt was very very wet already from sitting on it previously while waiting, but I still managed to take and on-off nap till Pat got home at 415. All in all I have missed my accounting class, waited since about 130 and the locksmith isn't here yet. I will call them in 5 minutes if he isn't here.

I've also downloaded the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Blood Sugar Sex Magic pa rin forever ang no 1 fave ko, and I've noticed this album in particular they all kind of sound the same. Nevertheless its pretty okay.

2006-08-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a blogging experiment hosted at dearauthor.com. To enter the contest, put up this blurb, image, and trackback and you are entered to win the following prize package.

$200 Amazon gift certificate

Signed copy of Slave to Sensation

New Zealand goodies chosen by Singh

ARC of Christine Feehan's October 31 release: Conspiracy Game

You can read about the experiment here and you can download the code that you need to participate here.

SLAVE TO SENSATION

Nalini Singh

Berkley / September 2006

Welcome to a future where emotion is a crime and powers of the mind clash brutally against those of the heart.

Sascha Duncan is one of the Psy, a psychic race that has cut off its emotions in an effort to prevent murderous insanity. Those who feel are punished by having their brains wiped clean, their personalities and memories destroyed.

Lucas Hunter is a Changeling, a shapeshifter who craves sensation, lives for touch. When their separate worlds collide in the serial murders of Changeling women, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities�or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.

Excerpt

Where have you been these past 5 years?

2006-08-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

grabbed from tahara_l

FIVE YEARS AGO...

How old were you? 22

Where did you go to school? I had already graduated from University

Where did you work? I was jobless until October of that year when I started with eTelecare

Where did you live? With my mom and my lola in Makati, PH

Where did you hang out? In Starbucks, with the equally jobless Falx & Ceres sharing one coffee, In my house where the food was free, In Oakwood working out, In PSI learning things, At mass with Joey smoking our lungs out, (usually sharing one pack of winston kaloks!) and wherever I went when I was dating...

How was your hair style ? I was growing my hair at that point. It was chin to shoulder length

Did you wear braces? no

Did you wear glasses? yes for reading sometimes

Who was your best friend? Jen, Joey, Ceres, Falx, Sundyne, San

Who was your regular-person crush? Hmmm...wala

How many tattoos did you have? .0

How many piercing did you have? 2

What car did you drive? In fairness, a 1999 mazda automatic. i had just learnt to drive properly and would drive it around with the driver

What was your favorite band/group? 2001? Musta been Britney, sorry to say. Also Dave Matthews Band and U2

What was your worst fear? Not being thin enough, or beautiful enough for someone to love me.

Had you smoked a cigarette yet? Yes

Had you driven yet? Yeah

Had you been arrested? no

Had you been to a real party yet? Yeah.

Had your heart broken? Yes I think.

Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: How about...in a time of exploration?

**HA HA!!! LETS SEE WHAT YOU ARE NOW! **

August 2006

How old are you? 27

What grade are you in? I am in my last semester of my masters degree

Where did you go to school? University of Sydney

Where do you work? Salesforce, Inc

Where do you live? Glebe, NSW, Australia

Where do you hang out? Glebe, Newtown, the City

Do you have braces? No

Do you wear glasses? yep

Who are your best friends? Jen, Joey, San, Sacha,

Still talk to any of your old friends? Yep.

Who is your celebrity crush? Currently? In fairness there is no one that really rocks my socks and makes me squeee as of now.

How many piercing do you have? 2 pa rin

How many tattoos? none

What kind of car do you have? None

What is your favorite band/group? Currently its Gnarls Barkley, Sergion Mendes/anything with salsa, and I'm discovering Dashboard Confessional. Also eagerly awaiting Christina Aguilera and Ludacris's latest. Forever a U2 fan.

What is your biggest fear? rejection, failure and abandonment

Have you been arrested since if so how many? nada

Has your heart been broken? I think so

Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: QuirkyAlone

I tag: Kat and Duke

Book meme

2006-08-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Duke

Books that changed your life?
From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Freidman - I never got to finish it, in fact I think I only made it to chapter 4 or something. However, it was the first book I ever read on current events, and in my CNN obssessed phase at that time, it helped me understand the whole Israel Thing and how it went further back than I ever imagined.

The Alchemist - which I read in 1998, thank you very much. I resent all those people in Friendster who put it down as their favorite book because its the only bloody one they've read and they only read it because everyone else did (its next to the Da Vinci Code and Tuesdays With Morrie). Nevertheless it was an excellent book with a strong message on dreams

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux - read at the age of 12, and kickstarted my romance novel

The Godfather by Mario Puzo - the first ever 'grown up book' I read

The Sanman series by Neil Gaiman - enough said.

I could throw in the Prince by Machiavelli, I don't entirely remember it I just remember "The End Justifies the Means" inspired me.

Books you have read more than once? - The Godfather, Archangel by Sharon Shinn, Too many romance novels, The Belgariad & The Mallorean, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, Linnets and Valerians, I could go on...

Books you would want on a desert island? A survival guide, A romance novel, and something on how to build a boat with minimal supplies!

One book that made you laugh? - A Year in Merde (I haven't finished it yet)

the last book that made me laugh out loud was: "Surrender to a Wicked Spy" it involved wooden prosthetics in the 1800s. And a man with a very large appendege. I will leave that to you to work out.

One book that made you cry? - I've uhm, never cried reading a book. The Time Traveller's Wife was one of the saddest books I've ever read though.

One book you wish you had written? - absolutely anything Neil Gaiman has done.

One book you wish had never been written? - in fairness, wala pa ata.

One book you are currently reading? - Don't Look Down by Suzanne Enoch, A People's History of Britain by Rebecca Fraser, Financial Accounting

I always read 3 books at the same time. In this case, with the last one I have no choice :P

One book you have been meaning to read? - Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

2006-08-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

Our company was the official seller of tickets for Cirque du Soleil's Varekai. As a result, we got a free ticket each to the opening night!!! It was an absolutely excellent show, I think it's safe to say there's nothing quite like it and I would really recommend seeing it if you had the chance. Here is a sample of what we got to see...

2006-08-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

This is the peacock man. You weren't actually allowed to take pictures inside, but before and after the show there were creatures milling about that gamely post for pictures and were very true to form. We even saw a leopard trying to hunt this deer/wildebeast

2006-08-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

Vanessa, me and Pauline at Cirque du Soleil's Varekai. We got all dressed up for the After Party only to find they'd cancelled our invites...oh well. We looked nice anyway!

2006-08-10T07:02:00.001-07:00

Vanessa and her matching peacock

2006-08-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

Me and the lovely bird

2006-08-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

Pauline and the lioness..

Memeng meme na.

2006-08-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

I am so sleepy. I have slept for ten hours but I still feel narcoleptic.

Friday
Friday saw me doing a split shift - 845-1245 and then 5-9 at work. Between that I had a meeting for my Careers Day workshop, plus I had to go home and do something I'm trying to remember now. It rained so hard last Friday. It was like a bagyo. My boots were soaked and I know for sure that I need galoshes but haven't the least idea how to go about getting them. (Ok I'm going to Kmart one of these days...)

After dinner I discovered that there was only one box of chocolates left from the stuff we had bought from lala0range. I think I'll get some new stuff when I get paid next. Of all those chocolates I bought I only more than half a box of maltesers and some milk ways (the milky way box is still at work). This means Sacha ate everything else, of course, with some help from Carolina and Derek. Pat didn't even get to taste any, I think.

Saturday
Saturday saw me at the Pyrmont Markets. It was raining again so it wasn't as full as it usually is. I met up with my cousin Miel who woke up late. In fairness, I was still in bed when she got on the train. I literally rolled out of bed, got dressed and waited and waited for the bus. (Weekend timetables never predict bus arrivals with much accuracy) We took the tram to Star City and met up with Kat and Caleb who was a sweetheart as usual. Apparently if Caleb likes you he blows strawberries at you and tries to show off his clothes. Which he kept doing when he saw me and I was thinking, why is this child making belat with some blubber? And I was this close to going, Caleb stop that its rude but apparently he likes me, so that's okay. He is very cute. I think he is two next month.

After Pyrmont we went back to my house where we ate pancakes and bacon. My cousin was wearing tights and a mini and if it were up to me I would bloody freeze to death but she seemed fine. Next we went shopping. I needed pants that weren't jeans and a bunch of bras, as I'm tired of squeezing into my bras from college. (Yes, I still have them) After going to David Jones and not really finding anything, we went off to Myer where I ended up with 3 bras.

I ended up with cargo pants from Just jeans and my cousin persuaded me to have my eyebrows done by Martha, the eyebrow expert at the Mac counter in David Jones. It was 45 bucks but redeemable through make up, which meant she was able to buy eyeshadow and concealer and really meant that I forked out 70 bucks for my blusher and concealer brush. I have decided that I want a complete set of brushes someday, the real kind, not the chipipay stuff. Martha used this lovely brush with white tips that could pretty much do anything and it was 80 bucks. I will save up for that.

I ended up buying stuff from priceline - body wash and a new pair of tweezers as mine have disappeared - plus going to body shop and getting eye cream and an exfoliator. Martha was like the nth person to tell me I was extra dry under the eye and I thought, God this many people can't be wrong, you have to spend money already (cos eye creams are damn expensive).

Went home, went to church and then swung by Newtown to grab dinner. Had a craving for Sweet and Sour Pork which I ate in front of the tv with Pat, who for the first time in months had a Saturday off! We ended up watching bits of Dennis the Menance. He was in bed by ten, which is so unusual for him, as he usally doesn't get home till about two on Saturdays. I took a looong shower, listened to Gnarls Barkley and checked out my new gadget.

Sunday
Woke up at ten. Still sleepy. Have uni stuff to do. Have a surprise party but don't really feel like going anymore. I figure though, if all am going to do is sleep, might as well go cos if my excuse is uni, I have to do uni, right? I hope I can be home by dinner.

I'm so sleepy. I have resolved to play all the music I haven't listened to in my itunes. I started with Gnarls Barkley, who sounds like a funky rnb bit of early moby (think the play album) and was great. I finally listened to Coldplay-yes I have never heard a full album. Just yellow, i think, and whatever they've played on the radio and I'm sure I had no idea it was them. Now I'm playing Massive Attack. Seriously enjoying all this stuff.

I also keep finding stuff that I never knew I had. Like a shitload of placebo, radiohead and Rihanna. (Where did I get Rihanna from?) Also thanks to Rey I have Cinderella. Who are they?

Also currently downloading Dashboard Confessional, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Los Lonely Boys, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and the Dixie Chicks. Anyone else who has music to recommend, feel free to leave a note!

Okay I think I'll roll out of bed now...

And all that I can see...is just another lemon tree

2006-08-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went to my friend Jaya's house to have my hair cut. Jaya is my lesbian ex-hairdresser friend from work who has a filo partner. She does great haircuts. I asked her to put streaks in my hair. I asked for red streaks, but either she didn't have enough red, or she put too much of the mahogany mix cos I ended up with too much of a brown.

I spent the ride home - there was trackwork over the weekend so it was quite a trek to get to Allawah on the bus - wondering if I looked like one of them filo ho's from SoCal with fake blondies, huge tits and cars that make bayo.

I was fine till the evening when I looked at the mirror in the bathroom, where in the light I swear it was positively orangey looking. Frantic MMSes later I was reassured by my cousin honey76 and sanshine_butete who said and I quote, "You're insane, you look good." I'm still getting used to it, as I really wanted that red.

I reformatted my computer last Saturday night. I kept thinking, you know this has gone too quickly, I must be missing something. This was pointed out to me the next day when my housemate Pat said, after attempting to configure the internet: "You haven't got any drivers installed."

Kakahiya! I was in tech support pa naman!!! Also I backed up my bookmarks, and I don't know where they are. I remember where i put them, and I remember I burnt those files into a folder but guess what, I don't know where the fuck that cd is. Ah well, its been a while. Buti na lang I'm not in the middle of the semester and am fine with just grabbing the bookmarks again. Most of my blogs are on feedblitz, so its not a big deal.

Sunday was spent cleaning the bathroom, working, practicing my spanish (un poco) with Karina, my Chilean workmate, and then having a family dinner with my Auntie Angie who is visiting from pinas. Mum sent my old Spanish stuff, including my weatherbeaten old notebook from 96-99 which had no cover.

It brought up memories of Spanish class... my first one in Instituto Cervantes, where I discovered Real Madrid, got totally drunk on tequila and in fairness, went on my first dates ever. And then there was the one in Ateneo. Where I met Patutski Pie and Ramon. How strange, two of the people I ever liked I met in like, Spanish. The first one didn't pan out, but I was like seventeen and wait, I remember! He used to call me when I was sleeping! And I was like this valium like creature who would fall asleep all the time - like I'd go to bed at 7pm - so I would answer the phone and get pissed so he never called again. Bwahahaha. Now that I'm older I can reminisce and laugh, when I was that age I was too afraid of commitment to be in anything but denial. :P

Monday had me late for Spanish. At which point I froze up during recitation. I need to get over my fear and build up my confidence. My classmates are a mixture of different levels, but what seems to be common is no one hesitates to speak, I mean, several of us stumble and stuff on occasion but it doesn't matter, they're not afraid to make mistakes and misconjugate. I, on the other hand am totally terrified. I'm working on getting over it now, hopefully by reviewing it more thoroughly.

In the afternoon I met up with Ala and got my five packs of chocolate in support of her program. It was nice to finally meet her and we talked about moving to Australia and the "adjustment curve" that my counselor talked to me about ages ago, complete with me dramatizing the illustrations on the chart. Kat joined us after walking down from the library in Glebe, and then we parted ways, as Kat & I had to go to class.

I got home, cooked fish fingers that were totally burnt cos the outside cooked and the inside was raw, and it took forever. (Never mind cos the ketchup made up for it) I also made tuna casserole for lunch tomorrow. I am ashamed to say that we saw the finale for Big Brother 6. I don't really like it, but I can follow it to an extent because Sacha seems to like watching it, and if it's on tv, I end up watching bits of it. Also the dude at Ralph's, the cafe at uni was on it as well, and you got a dollar off your coffee if you voted for him.

Have decided to buy my friend Natasha's Queen Mattress and I will just invest in a better bed frame. As my cousin pointed out, I have broken two ikea beds already - neither of which were my fault, okay. The first one in epping just broke, I didn't even jump on the bed, and the second, my current one, the middle plank doesn't seem like its wide enough to hold the slats. Also the fact that five people have looked at this bed and we've all tried to fix it kind of means that not all of us could have gotten this wrong...

Tomorrow, I am off to work (I wonder what's on sale...) and then hopefully some grocery shopping before practicing my Spanish then off to my Proj Mgmt class.

It's my last semester. Go Me!

"Damn good tips for relationships"

2006-07-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

I found this quite interesting, and most of it runs true.

"Damn good tips for relationships"

1. Whatever you do, don't just show up at their house [without notice]...they run around in their underwear just like we do.

2. DON'T CHEAT ON THEM. It may seem foolproof, but girls tell each other everything about everything. Trust me, they WILL find out and you will be mad.

3. Beware of every single male relative and all guy friends. Any of them would kick your ass at the drop of a hat, and a lot of them wouldn't even wait for the hat.

4. NEVER miss an opportunity to tell them they're beautiful.

5. DON'T refuse to kiss in front of your friends. If they laugh at you, it's because they're jealous.

6. If they slap you hard, you deserved it.

7. Don't be afraid to touch them if you want to. If they're going out with you in the first place, it's because they like being in your arms.

8. If you don't sleep with them, DO NOT tell your friends that you did.

8. If you DO sleep with them, DON'T tell your friends that you did.
(is it worth it? you probrably wont get any if she finds out)

9. You can be dirty minded in private, really...most of them are not offended by it...

10. Not all of them eat like birds, a lot of them can eat like whales.

11. Most of them don't mind paying half of everything, but they do discuss these things with their friends. Realize that if you make your girlfriend pay half all the time, everyone will know about it and your friends will know you're a pussy..

12. Every girl should eventually get three things from her boyfriend- a stuffed animal, ONE OF HIS SWEATSHIRTS, and a really PRETTY RING. Even if it's not a serious relationship.

13. Make sure she gets home safely as often as you can. If you're dropping her off, walk her to the door. If you aren't dropping her off, call to be sure she's home safely.

14. If a guy is bothering her, it is your right to beat the shit out of him.

15. If you're talking to a female friend of yours, PULL YOUR GIRLFRIEND CLOSER.

16. NEVER, ever slap her, even if it's just in a joking way. Even if she swats you first, and says, "Oh, you're so dumb" or something, never make any gestures back.

17. Go to a chick flick once in a while. She doesn't care whether you enjoy it or not, it just matters that you went.

18. You're dead meat if you can't get along with their pets, parents, and best friends. Be prince charming to their friends, Mr. Polite to their parents, and make sure to be nice to their animals.

19. Don't flirt with their moms...that's just freaky.

20. Don't be freaked out by PMS. It's not gross, and it really does make them feel like shit, so be understanding.

21. If you don't like the way they drive, you do it.

22. If you're officially dating, and you're introducing her to your friends, you'd better damn well introduce her as your girlfriend.

23. Don't stress where you go for every date. They really only want to be with you.

24. If they complain that something hurts, rub it for them WITHOUT being asked.

25. Girls are fragile. Even if you're play fighting/wrestling, be very gentle.

26. Memorize their birthdays. You forget her birthday and you're basically screwed for life.

27. Don't marinade the cologne, but smell good.

28. Don't give her something stupid for her birthday or Christmas or Valentine's day. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it has to be meaningful.

29. If you think the relationship isn't going to last, don't wait to find out. It will only hurt her more if you draw it out.

30. After you've been dating for a while, realize that they really have started to trust you. When you have a girlfriend who truly trusts you, you have a lot more responsibility, privilege and control than you would think. Be careful with it, most guys would kill for that kind of power, and it can be lost in a nanosecond.

31. NEVER, and i mean NEVER make her do anything she doesn't wanna do. Because if you do she'll think that you're only after one thing. (and i think you all know what that is)

(If you have read this and you are a girl, then some of these things are actually really true...am I right?! And if you read this and you are a guy, then these are like the best tips you could ever get!)

You now have 2 options...
1) Repost this bulletin and you will have good luck in all your relationships.
2) Ignore this, and you will have bad luck in all your relationships...now you wouldn't want that, would you

More hot men. (I don't even know who this guy is)

2006-07-13T01:56:00.000-07:00

Classic scorcher
You scored 55% masculine, 58% athletic, 45% exotic, and 56% refined!

You have picked my personal favorite type of man. Yes, man, not boy. The all-American and then some. You admire a buff body and manly features but someone who knows how to bathe himself and even though he's a scorcher, you could still bring him home to mom - as long as she keeps her hands off! Someone this hot would be......Victor Webster. But let's face it, the whole point of this was to look at a bunch of hot guys. If you liked what you saw, please rate my test!

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on masculine
You scored higher than 99% on athletic
You scored higher than 99% on exotic
You scored higher than 99% on refined

Link: The What type of MAN turns you on Test written by thinkandcome on OkCupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

It has been a nice, bright day so far. I hope that it stays that way :)

2006-07-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today we went to pick up our new old washing machine, purchased from ebay for 82 dollars (he waived the 51 cents :). I woke up this morning bec there were people laughing outside my window. I'm not the kind of person that responds kindly to being woken up, as most of you may know and I'm not very coherent.

I stuck my head out of the window and said "Excuse Me! Some people are trying to sleep here! Get out of my front yard!"
Them, "Uhm, its a pavement." (We have no yard. its literally a sidewalk.)
Me, "Whatever just get out."

When I woke up this morning I laughed at the hilarity of it all. I hope that they have a wonderful day, (I remember they were all carrying flowers) they can spend it making fun of me, my bleary eyes, incoherency, and funky hair all they like. I so did not make sense, they must have thought I was drunk or hung over.

My alarm went off at 9, at which point, I knocked on Sacha's door, got her up and went back into my warm bed for a few moments before we rushed off to the bus stop. We ended up waiting about 30 minutes before we got on the bus to Abbotsford where the machine was. The driver wasn't sure what stop we should get off, so he let us off on number 373. We had to go to 515. We walked quite a bit, and there was a stop right before the corner where the house was. Go figure.

I forgot the apartment number, so we actually knocked on number 1, which looked totally empty and had papers all over the front pavement before we walked around the side and found a washing machine in someone's front walk. Which meant that was the house. We rang the bell, paid the nice dude and he helped us carry it to the car. My Auntie from Epping came to help us transport it, i.e. provide the car, and we took it home and put it in. Sacha has since done a load of laundry and it works fine.

For lunch I decided to make real beef soup from the leftover beef bones that Nic had bought. The pot was so big. I put in carrots, baby potatoes, leek, onion and mushrooms. Somewhere along the way it cooked with no taste, which lead to me calling the original domestic goddess asking, "Was I supposed to drain it then put the beef back then the vegetables?" Between the two of us we figured out that I had put too much water - apparently should have only put enough to cover the beef and then some - and so I drained about half the water, added a shitload of salt, pepper, basil and some crushed garlic it was fine. I am now having it for lunch and have shared it with some of Kartini's dutch friends who are visiting from Canberra.

I am going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean later. Anyone who is seeing it: Stay till after the credits , I don't know what's going to happen, but all my movie sites say you have to do that! Before that I may go play frisbee or take a brisk walk with Derek. Then I should go to church and maybe we'll have duck sausages and soup for dinner before the movie.

Also... here is a fun video of Ewan Mc Gregor dressed as a tomato and Judi Dench dressed as a lobster for a tv ad. See how many people you can recognise.

Might go to Leichhardt tomorrow in the wee hours to have brekkie and watch the soccer at the same time! Go Italy! (And, yeah, I still love you Zidane!)

I no longer have a World Cup Team

2006-07-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

Portugal, the last team I was supporting, lost to France. As I said to Duke, I think both sides played well. I would have preferred though, that france win for you know, making a goal and not a penalty kick. I think winning thanks to a penalty kick - unless its the overtime kind - is slightly not fair, regardless of who is playing, especially if you have a superstar player doing it. this is because you know, its generally dependant on the ref, not in the hands of the players. a different ref could’ve ignored it and not done a penalty, or given a card (as far as i understand, correct me if im wrong).

That said, althought I am not happy that France won, they played well as did Portugal, and either of them winning was generally deserved.

My comments about the game that Sacha and I woke up at 5am to see:

1. What is up with that drama, Luis Figo? He like fell down, had this stretcher come and pick him up and then when he got to the sideline got up and walked back in. Hello. I think you're a great player and all, but drama? C'mon.

2. There is absolutely no way in my mind that Luis Figo is in the Top 10 Hottest Football Players List. But then I do not agree with most of the people on that list.

3. When Zidane stepped up to take that penalty, I knew. I knew in my heart there was no way he would miss - therefore they would win - and of course I was slightly kilig pa, because I love Zidane. Even though he badly needed a shave. (Speaking of which, he was not the only one.)

4. The camera kept closing up on only two people: Christiano Ronaldo (who Sacha says, "Has a weak chin" and doesn't do anything for us) and this French dude, with a sweater draped over his shoulders. He must own a team, be a manager, politician, really rich or something. The more they closed up on him the more he reminded me of Sir Ian McKellan and made me feel like he should be in pink and have a poodle.

5. I could not, for the life of me, tell the difference between, Thierry Henry, Mekele and Abidal when they were being panned from the back in long shots. And let's be honest. I can't tell the difference between all the black players if they're not close up. Or the Japanese or Korean ones. To be fair, I think if there was a filipino football team, we'd all look brown to the rest of the world.

6. I think that given the fact that their best players are not natively French, France should not be by nature discriminatory! Their country is famous for its discrimination - partly to blame for its riots - and yet they probably would have problems winning certain events if they didn't have their Algerians, or migrants from former African colonies. They also wouldn't be as rich a country, if they hadn't had other economies to sell their products or obtain resources from. (I mean, they discriminate against Americans for crying out loud, and they're like, white. ) Before I go on a tirade about Africa or discrimination again, I think I'll stop with this: I'm not discriminating against the French, or any colonial power for that matter, I just don't bloody think its fair.

7. Sacha and I realised that we had no idea what the French Teams were named. I can name at least one team from most of the major European leagues: England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, heck I could possibly name one in Scotland if I had to, but I have no idea what the names of the French teams are. In fact there was a brief second where I was like, there are French teams? Hello, of course there are.

"You didn't send me that picture. (pause) But I have gotten pictures from you of lots of semi-naked men." - Sacha, while watching the game, as we discussed the shirtless Italian soccer team picture

All right... I have received and sent several pictures of nice, shirtless football players. I have the Brazilian team in their locker room, the Italian team in Dolce & Gabbana underwear and lotsa other happy little things. I will be completely honest in saying I got into football because the players were hot.

Flashback to 1996, my first Spanish class. My friend's girlfriend sent him a picture of the Real Madrid Team and her crush, this nice Spanish football player with blondish brown hair that slightly reminded me of River Phoenix. And that is how I became a Real Madrid fan. I have no idea what his name was, and he probably doesn't even look as hot as my imagination remembers but who cares? There are a lot of hot soccer players, true they're not really in Real anymore (unless you count Beckham) but there are plenty more of them to choose from!

In fairness, since then I have grown to love the sport, enjoy watching the game and actually dream of having the ability to connect my foot with the ball, which doesn't look like it will happen by a long shot. So you know, good things did come out of my initial obssession. That said, I will never deny that I got into it because the players were hot. Cause they still damn well are.

France is evil

2006-07-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

I decided to sleep in last night and not watch the soccer. I should have, because it was Brazil's last game. (I wonder what time they show the replays?)

My heart is broken. First Spain, now Brazil. My hopes now rest with Portugal, and if I must, with Germany - France must go down!!!!!! Damn it.

I really must get back to cramming now.

2006-06-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaargh. Spain has been playing excellently throughout the entire World Cup. France has been cruising along and hardly making the effort, sort of just winging it. And they've made it through to the quarter finals!!! They have crushed my beloved Spanish team, 3-1, thanks to that very very last goal by Zidane. I love Zidane, but, but, but, but....

Now my only hope is that they be crushed by my other team. Go Brazil!!!

(Just to let you know, I was studying so I had the live updates on the internet on and would just glance up occasionally. Still. Sigh.)

My Life in Segments

2006-06-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

Uni

I'm actually done with my paper. I have sent it to Sacha and Kat to edit. Usually I just send it to Kat (and my cousin) but both of them are lost so I sent it to Sacha to start with. I'm not ecstatically happy with it, but it will do for now. I think I could have done more analysis, but at this point I have to move on to my next subject.

I have a law exam on Wednesday. Its open book but its still quite challenging. I have to make reviewers for all the chapters I haven't done that and read the two and a half chapters I haven't done, plus do some practice questions. My group did well in our first groupwork, plus our bucephalus presentation but our final report didn't do as well. We passed, but we didnt' do excellently. Granted, I don't need a giant number to pass but I'd like to do a bit better than just that.

I'm having an urge of "I would like to make my daddy proud" syndrome, what with it being law and all.

Food

I have eaten so much this weekend. I just keep having choccies, choccies and more choccies with the excuse that I need them to study. (Any excuse will do)

As Kartini is moving out we are losing most of our cutlery, pots, etc so Sacha and I went to K-Mart today and did a little shopping. I went and bought this 100 piece cooking set, that you'll be able to see on the upper right hand corner. It has absolutely fucking everything, pots, knives, cutlery, every single sandok known to man, mixing bowls, chopping boards, various implements, even a pizza cutter, steak knives, and one pan. (We don't need pans) I also bought baking implements - a measuring cup, baking tray, muffin tray and baking pan.

Sacha bought an 18 piece set of glasses. We've decided we can have a dinner party, provided there are only like, five people, cos I think we only have maybe 5-7 plates left at home! We also got a new cookbook each, and in inspiration I purchased chorizo and pancetta for some pasta.

I've decided this winter I will attempt to make a roast chicken. Bill has a simple recipe and the new Delicious has one for roast chicken in orange sauce. I even bought a bowl that was big enough to fit a chicken in it for the marinade, and tried to work out how it would possibly fit in the fridge. I believe that if I can do this I can really cook. Sacha and I are going to host a tiny dinner party, with her boyfriend Shai and Derek and possibly Andee, cos otherwise we're never gonna finish that chicken. She will help me make the stuffing and possibly the sides (she does amazing mashed potatoes...) I hope that it will turn out all right.

If it does then we're doing thanksgiving. With a turkey. (I am inspired by my best friend's amazing turkey with flavor courtesy of a variety of mercury drug syringes - you had to have been there, really)

I've decided also to attempt to cook duck, as it seems like something nice and warm for the season, but not a whole duck, just slices that I can put in some nice wonton soup or a noodle dish.

I have had cravings for salad of late (o diba, Nic?) so I have resolved to get back on the healthy bandwagon once the exams start - cut down with Mr. Choccy and no more chips. (So says the girl that ate a whole box of Decadent Chocolate Chips - with some help - in two days.)

May have some relatives over for a dinner type deal next week. I've promised them that since I moved in here (over six months now) so now that is winter and I'm finally on holiday I wll go ahead and do that.

Hips Don't Lie, Celebrity Obssession and of course, Futbol!!!
I found this link to the men of the world cup, courtesy of the sydney morning herald. Just scroll down and click on the link. There are a lot of aussies, as you'd expect. The one of the well-endowed portuguese player is particularly interesting.

My mum called today and the first thing she asked was, "Did Nicole get married yet?". I have a hard time with this statement, its not the first time she's said it, the last being right after she sent me that article that Krip did in the PhilStar, which prompted me to think, "Nicole? Ha? Ano?". Strangely enough my celebrity obssessed self didn't process it, I actually tried to think of all my friends named Nicole (after concluding instantaneously that there was no fucking way Nic could have met someone in the last three days that I didn't see her in Sydney and thus be getting married) before it occured to me that, Oh Yeah. Nicole Kidman is getting married.

Her wedding pictures are here as per the Sydney Morning Herald. Sacha has actually been to the place where they were married, they held an easter egg hunt there last April and she went with her Egyptian friend Amaal and her family. Its apparently a nice place. Most of the pictures are of Nicole and family in various cars. There is only one official photograph of the happy couple(click on the "Wedding of the Year" link). They look nice and sweet and I'm glad that its been kept mostly private, even though I would love for more details.

I just downloaded Shakira's latest album and I find that I don't really like it in English. I'm downloading her Spanish one now, along with Grey's Anatomy Season 1 and Honey and Clover the anime. I have realised that I need a DVD Writer, which I will hopefully have sent to me by September at the latest, if its not possible to get it sooner.

Tomorrow we are waking up at 430 to see Holland vs Portugal. I have resolved to make my law reviewer while that is going on...I get the feeling that I'll be up early to cram on Wednesday morning. (Yes, I know its also Spain vs France, but that's not the point. Besides, I'm not sure I want to see that...)

I will leave you with this picture of two of my favorite players, Kaka and Robinho from Brazil. Go Brazil! (and Go Australia!)

My World Cup Obssession

2006-06-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen a World Cup game since last week but then there hasn't been anything I really want to see. Next week, however is a different matter.

Sanshine_butete and I were talking about our favorites for the final 4. Mine were Brazil, Germany, France and a wild card, possibly Switzerland or Argentina. Hers were Brazil, Spain, Argentina and England I think. Looking at the schedule below, I have to revise everything because they're all fighting each other now pa lang!

My prediction is that Germany and Argentina are both going to win and will face each other in the quarter finals. (Now I have to really see that) And then its France vs Spain!!! I am definately for Spain and they have been doing better so I'm hoping that they'll go through. Never mind France. But then that means (because most likely Brazil will beat Ghana) it will be Brazil vs Spain! Hello!!!!! Those are my top two teams!!!

I don't think despite Kat's rhapsodizing about Kewell, Australia will make it to the next round. The fact that they've made it to the 16 is an accomplishment enough for a rugby obssessed country that is just getting into the soccer. They're playing against Italy. Italy will go through, and most likely so will Switzerland and there you go. I hope Switzerland makes it through, I'd love for them to be in the final 4, they're like the super under the radar, wtf I thought they were all about skiing and not soccer type team.

Am having a bit of trouble predicting who will go forward from the second round tho. England, Ecuador, Portugal and Holland are all very strong. England is also suffering from erratic performance, Ecuador has been doing well so that is anyone's ball game. Portugal and Holland are just a death match waiting to happen.

So my revised final four includes Germany and Brazil. The other two I don't know. It sort of means getting rid of Argentina and Spain - two other teams I'd like to go through - but I'm trying to be realistic. Sigh. I hope a latin american team makes it through!!!

Check out the schedule here

Sawi

2006-06-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

There are many things to blog about from, Kat's dinner to dinner with Lisa at this wonderful Lebanese place.

First however, I just have to say...the socket downstairs has a short circuit again, our tv's not working, I am too lightweight to carry the giant thing upstairs, I think the pubs are closed, its 3am, I can't find live streaming (for free) on the internet or the radio station that's doing it live, so in short... I can't watch the soccer.

In fairness, my real time live internet update thingy does say that Brazil scored a goal. I have yet to see my team play! Sigh.

So what am I doing? In fairness I'm studying instead ha...

2006-06-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

You Should Spend Your Summer in Europe

You're in to almost all forms of culture - art, music, architecture, food...
And spending a summer at the beach sounds pretty darn boring to you.
So head off to Europe, where you can have your tiramisu (and even eat it on the beach!)

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

It's 12.3 degrees

2006-06-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

I suppose that isn't bad, considering its probably a lot colder in Scandanavia. I woke up at eleven today, this being the first time I've been able to sleep in in ages. Would love, love, love to lie in bed but I've actually got to write a paper and clean my desk/sort out study stuff.

Made myself a chai latte with the can that I bought from my favorite Chai Coffee House near work. It was pretty good except I ran out of milk. Yesterday I bought 2 litres of soy milk from the chinese grocery - its totally fresh - this time I got the soy without sugar. It sucks, big time. So now that I'm out of my So Good Lite I have to wait for Sacha to go shopping to get me another one.

There's nothing that I would love to do more than just lie in bed. Have I said that already? My desk is a mess what with study stuff from last week's exam, which I can now put away for the moment. (I never chuck anything out till I'm sure I passed.)I now have to write a paper for the same subject. I've decided on Latin American Politics, specifically Bolivia. At first I was wondering how to connect it to the US but a friend mentioned that she was deciding the same thing and she came up with a connection (which I don't remember). I kind of think I should feel guilty because we're doing the same topic, although that's allowed but then we thought about it seperately and will most likely use completely seperate approaches, so I guess its okay. Plus I don't think a lot of us will be doing it, say versus the multitude that did China, the US, Australia and Uranium the last time around.

Sacha is off to a party with Shai, her boyfriend. She has mentioned cleaning the house repeatedly but I am in no mood to help her out. I am getting frustrated by the need to load up the dishwasher because of the amount of dishes left by the sink. And the fact that no one will empty the dishwasher when I've obviously cleaned up their crap. And that I'm always the only person who remembers the garbage. And that we only clean the house when we feel like it - I always clean the bathroom because I want to take a bubble bath.

The house cleaning bit is obviously not just everyone else, I mean, if I really wanted to clean the house, I would but I'm in no hurry. In my old house, we had stricter arrangements, we each had to clean a room once a week and because my housemates were into it, I was too. Since no one is into it here, I guess we're all just going to let it go. I mean, I had to buy a vacuum cleaner before I finally cleaned my room, after about two months, so why should I be complaining? The thing is, we could have a neater house if everyone just cleaned as they went, you know what I mean? Like wash the dishes as you cook. Not leave the newspaper in piles in the lounge room for weeks before we chuck everything. Put the videos back where they should be. We just don't do that. I've decided either to get the housemates together for a talk (if I can find them) or to write them all a nice letter. For now, I'll settle for cleaning my desk.

Tonight Sacha and I are having dinner with Andee, who is back for the weekend from Bathurst, where's she's been assigned as part of her Nutrition course. We're still deciding where to go.

I have given up wearing shoes, despite the winter. Last night I wore my birkies to buy dinner at the jap restaurant and then to the pub later on, where Sacha and I ended up watching England vs Paraguay. None of my shoes are waterproof. My shitkickers from Melbourne don't let the rain in, but if you step in anything it soaks right through. They also didn't dry in time the other day, forcing me to wear sneakers that became equally soaked through, resulting in me walking around barefoot for a while with my shoes stuffed with paper. Changing socks twice a day due to wetness has not been a good thing. Walking back from church last night I even soaked my Uggs. So now, I'm like, fuck that. If we're gonna get wet anyway, we're wearing slippers.

I have gotten myself some Pei Pao Kua, which is a preventive measure against sore throat. I was very happy to get it, even if it was ten dollars. Last night I also saw the movie "Lord of War" which was very good. Its about Nicolas Cage (I really don't understand his appeal. He's a good actor but he's not hot. At all. And he always ends up kissing all these hot chicks. I mean, I wouldn't want to be kissed by Nic Cage, I think.) who plays an arms dealer and its part satire, part comedy/drama about how the world works, in terms of war. I liked it.

Anyway, enough procrastinating...time to go!

Shiloh was anti-climactic and other things.

2006-06-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

I've realised that if any of the hip hop dudes that I like come to this country no one will come to watch them with me. I mean, who else likes Ludacris and Trick Daddy? Just_Me_. This is after I read a report on E about Luda sponsoring this documentary on this girl teenage basketball team and apparently he does a lot of work promoting self-empowerment in young women. Slightly ironic, considering he's like this mega rap star with this hip hop image with skimpy clad chicks in his videos. I think its nice of him though.

Napaka anti-climactic naman ng pictures ni Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. The child is too young for anyone to determine who she really looks like, other than that it looks like she got mommy's lips. So much hype for not too many pictures. I'd rather see the child when it is bigger and has more personality, then you can figure out if it looks like Brad or not (which I think it does). It is still at that indeterminable stage - you know the one where you have to put earrings on it to figure out that its a girl.

Here is a Priceless conversation with my friend Kat, who moved here when she was 12. She was asking me to explain jologz and cono.

You said: do you know who kris aquino is?
salingkat: yes
salingkat: don't tell me she has a blog
You said: no but she speaks in cono
You said: i.e taglish kolehiyala
salingkat: so that's not normal?
You said: NOOOOOOOO
You said: Kris Aquino is not normal
salingkat: oh, i thought i was just so out of it, the language had evolved while i was gone

These are my definitions:

jologz are baduy people who can't speak straight english - that's not the bad thing, because there's nothing wrong with just being able to speak tagalog. they're westies but pinoy version. fake hip hop, really bad dressing, like scrubs in the no scrubs song by TLC

conos are rich kids. like burgis. they can speak english perfectly fine, they probably cant speak tagalog for shit, but theyre sosyal, they have lots of money, the girls speak valley girl taglish (like kris, except kris doesn't qualify as cono anymore because she's too bakya now)

Feel free to input your suggestions, as I am sure I will be asked this again by others.

Nic the "graduate student" and I were mentioned in Krip Yuson's column this week. I took a writing class with him way back when with chockwit and the-artist-formerly-known-as-Gabby --> now Gabriel, unless you're icebitch, in which case he'll forever be "little Gabby Narciso".

What Krip failed to mention is that he was quite possibly somewhat high the next day, otherwise he was supposed to come over for lunch and have some of my chicken in lemon ginger sauce with Nic. Really funny. Must see him again sometime.

Kat has just reminded me that I may not have blogged about the Writer's Fest. I don't remember. I think because Nic blogged about Neil and Wil I didn't bother! I went to three events, Neil, Elizabeth Kostova and Krip's thing. I was supposed to go to Audrey Nifnigger but I had to work that week.

Anyway, I have to go do some research now...

Warning: This Post Will Make You Hungry

2006-06-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today I spent like, a hundred bucks on food! I don't ever think there's anything wrong with spending money on good food, its always worth it (except for that five dollar bratwurst, but we'll get to that later).

This morning, I got up early and went to the Pyrmont Markets. They happen every first saturday of the month. My friend Kat went last month and came back rhapsodizing about duck sausages and creme fraiche and other things. I thought they would have other stuff too but when I got there this morning it was All Just Food. It was like, a dream come true. (And so totally worth it, because I don't get up at 7 on Saturday mornings just for nothing!)

I took a cab this morning as I didn't want to walk in the cold or have to figure out the bus switch. Despite the fact that Pyrmont is technically the next suburb down, there are no direct buses from where I live down to Star City Casino, which is next to the park/wharf where the market is. When I got there I met up with Kat and Caleb, who has grown and is the sweetest little thing. He can say "Sa-cha" now, (the name of his day care lady) and he makes sungit, gulat and smiley faces. He also makes the cutest attempts to jump, but he can never make it off the ground.

The first thing I did was buy ice cream sandwiches, at 6 for 25 dollars. We left them at the stall, which is run by one of Kat's high school friends, while we wandered around. I next purchased a ten dollar pack of duck sausages in apple and thyme. I also excitedly found Mirin. As I said to Kat's friend Nick, who does Physics at uni and knows Derek and Luke but not Sacha, (we were actually even at the same party last week without knowing) "I have no idea what it is, but the recipe says it needs it, so I got it!". I have been looking for Mirin for ages because I have been meaning to try out this recipe for Korean Barbecued Lamb, so now I can finally make it, yay! (I really need a new camera so I can take pics of food, mine is soooo busted)

Next we found the stall for Creme Fraiche. I was thinking of not getting any because we still have a tiny tub of it at home - I've been saving it for my famous beef stroganoff, I also put a tiny bit in my pasta, i highly recommend it, it makes even instant pack pasta taste yummy. One bite of it on a tiny piece of bread was just heavenly, so I grabbed a tub for five bucks, and am planning to cook Sacha and me dinner tonight.

After this I wisely decided to look around first and then buy later. I found a stall with exotic mushrooms - the kind that look like anemone and coral - and porscino mushrooms, which was what I should have put in my risotto. Since I've still got risotto leftover, I decided not to get porscino - maybe next time! I also found this cake stall with gluten free cakes, tried several different cheeses in different stalls, found a tart stall and all these other things!

In the end I bought chicken, caper and olive ravioli after tasting it - they had cooked it and left it to simmer a little so that it was almost fried, it was excellent - a pack of exotic mushrooms, feta cheese, and cherry tomatoes for cooking. The vegetables all looked so good I was tempted to buy them, but hello, they will all wilt and die before I get to use them all. I also must have annoyed the tart seller because I changed my mind three times before getting a brownie, a berry cheesecake and an apple and almond crumble for Sacha. I also found this stall with a giant brownie in pie form, which I will also buy someday, but not now!

Kat also discovered a stall that sold bacon. REAL BACON. As in the fattening filo/american kind that crumples up when you cook it. Do you know how long its been since I've had _real_ bacon? (All of you at home count your blessings because its so bloody hard to find here! :P) So of course I bought a pack. Its called "Streaky Bacon" here. She also negotiated with the venison sellers to have specially smoked venison at the next market to make "Tapang Usa" (or rather, she's going to buy some for her mum to figure it out!). I am looking forward to tasting that and have told her I am coming over to have some!

The only thing I regret buying is the bratwurst. I always get bratwurst when we go to fairs or markets, they are the only sausages I like - i don't eat sausages at aussie barbies - and I have them with onions, ketchup and mustard. Today I paid five bucks for a skinny bratwurst. I mean, bratwursts are supposed to be fat. Like really thick and juicy and round, not like skinny hotdogs. He also put it in a bread bun that was pre-lined with rocket, of all things, I hate rocket with a passion, (more than I hate toge even. wait, i can't decide!) and covered it with some sort of chutney. Now in fairness it was good, but for five bucks, that was truly the only thing that was so not worth it.

After spending too much money, seeing as we had to go back to the atms at Star City to get more, I decided it was time to go. I took the wrong tram and had to get off and switch, though it was very quick, and then took the bus home. I was planning to clean my room and the lounge room but Pat is having friends over tonight (plus there's one still asleep downstairs) so I think I'll wait till tomorrow. In the meantime I'm cleaning my room and possibly studying at a cafe or at my desk if I can get it clear!

I've already eaten two of those yummy ice cream sandwiches. Next time I'm just going to get the basic ones, like vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookies. The expresso flavor was good, but I like 'em basic. Tonight, its beef stroganoff for dinner. (and then off to Salsa ?!?) Mmmmm.

Now I'm off to meet Sacha and Derek for coffee before I come back, clean my room and sort out my studies. Go Me!

The Name "Robbie Williams" is a Bad Word

2006-06-02T04:19:00.000-07:00

(I should say, that for those of you that don't know/don't read the FAQs/Have asked me more than ten times but still don't remember, I work for a call centre and our client is a ticketing agency. I should also let you know that usually, I love my job . I've been working there for almost a year, and today was the worst ever, and I was not the only one who thought so - imagine turning to each other in the bathroom, or hanging out downstairs at the break and just suddenly bursting into, "I hate Robbie Williams." That was the general mood today.)

I hate the Robbie Williams pre-sale. We have all these people who are whining they can't get in. Whining they can't get tickets. People who called before the onsale at 12noon freaking out. Did they not read the email that said "not on sale till 12 noon?". Did any of them not listen to the Voice Message when they call that says, "THEY'RE ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE?" and that they have to just keep trying due to the volume of people trying?

I HATE ROBBIE WILLIAMS. (Not him per se but mostly just you know, these people. Who don't listen. Or don't prepare ahead of time.)

See chat below:

You said: im so glad i am not a robbie williams fan
swankysanya: why
You said: there are soooo many of them it is so competitive
You said: we have a presale today on the internet
swankysanya: bwahahahahaahahahaha
You said: i swear the prospect of buying tickets in advance has robbed all these people of common sense
swankysanya: bwahahahahaahahaha
swankysanya: and through eeet aahhhhllll she offers me protekshuun!!!
You said: and they're like, "no you listen to me"
You said: and i want to go, "no you listen to me BITCH. i'm trying to tell you what to do to get your tickets right"

I should add, this woman says to me, I keep trying to get in. I say, its not 12 yet, you won't be able to access anything till 12. And you'll need your login and your password. And she's like, I don't have it. Aba, malay ko ba kung ano yon? Dapat alam mo yon diba? After telling her I don't have that info, and that I can't transfer her to online and that she has to chick on "forget password" I hate that. Hello, kasalanan ko ba if you're not prepared?!?!

You said: and i just want to say, this IS THE WORST EVER. worse than the rugby, worse than the cricket, (almost worse than the wiggles) because there area ll these fanatical women, and men trying to get tickets for these fanatical women
swankysanya: am so not envying you
You said: kasi theres like a bazillion people accessing the website and so not everyone can get in? bandwidth, you know
You said: so ayun. they keep calling and we like keep telling them to try
You said: and ayun
swankysanya: teeheee

We need a bigger bandwidth server, this I understand. I also agree with my officemate's assessment that different states should have sales on different days. And yes, its frustrating when they go through and it hangs right after they submit payment.

But. If you do get stuck, let's say you can't get to the next page, or you click a dropdown box and it doesn't get you to the next step, or it hangs, Don't Blame Me . It's not my fault you can't get through. It's not my fault your internet connection has a problem, or that the server is overloaded. Get mad at the other Robbie Williams people you are competing with that are making it hard for you to buy tickets.

There is nothing I can do for you. I cannot sell you tickets that are not in my system. All I can do is tell you to keep trying. I can't do anything for you.

I am EXHAUSTED.

Quirkyalone!

2006-05-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

For all you mothafuckas that keep bugging me about being single and asking if I date as if its the only thing in the world you can think of (I have a life. There are other things you can ask. I am happy to be single, get over it.), here's one for you. I am not answering anymore dating questions. I am not bitter, I just don't get why everyone has to insist/imply that you have to be in a relationship to be happy. I also don't see why it is the only question anyone ever asks me right after "How are you na?" Followed by, "Why? How come you don't have a boyfriend?" (like its a crime) or "Ooows talaga, baka you're just hiding something."

KISS MY ASS.

Next time, read this before you ask. Click on the picture, and read, for once.

2006-05-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Read This First

A Photo Essay

2006-05-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

Today I went to file my application for another IELTS test (to prove that I can speak english). It did not occur to me, though it should have, that I would need passport pictures so I rushed out to get some done after grabbing the application form. I had no idea that my hair wasn't fixed - I had brushed _and_ fixed my hair that morning, which is more than usual - so the resulting picture made me laugh. As a result upon reaching home I decided to take a look at all my passport/visa pictures, and post them here so you can join in me the hilarity that is the evolution of me in photos. Enjoy! Bwahahahahahaha!

2006-05-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

This is me at the age of 18. This is the passport that has been to the most countries. I think I look nicely native in this picture.

2006-05-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Back in the day when I still looked like a boy, I have no idea why my hair (on the left side) looked this way. All Philippine passport photos require a blazer/coat and so there I am, this prep school boy getting a visa. Ha ha ha.

2006-05-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

This was my last passport and possibly one of the few pictures I have of scary anorexic me. This is what happens when you have an eating disorder, weigh about 90 pounds (or less) and think you're still fat. I was 22. Think of this as a cautionary picture. Even if I could fit in size 24 jeans, I'm glad I don't look this way or weigh this much anymore.

2006-05-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

My latest passport picture. I decided to put my hair out so peole could tell what I looked like if my hair was up or down. I was told not to smile too much. It looks like I belong in a Rizal novel.

2006-05-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

This is what prompted this whole photo essay of embarrassing pictures. I had no idea my hair was so harrassed in that picture. I look so...lost and frantic, and I assure you I am not. Hilarious!

Hello Brangelina!

2006-05-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for Angelina Jolie to give birth for ages. It started out as a joke, to sort of mockery of the celebrity obssessed world (including myself) but suddenly, after the Cruise baby was born I began to actually take it seriously. So the past few days rumors have been abounding as to whether or not she was in labor, etc. Personally, I was thinking she wasn't due until June, I suppose she was just early.

Today, ironically after checking my daily gossip sheets, (the day she was rumored to give birth last week I checked obssessively almost on the hour, before saying to my cousin, "see, see! it was all bullshit. i knew it! she isn't due yet!") I went out with my housemates to have dessert, only to get a text from my cousin maybe 20 minutes later, "Brangelina gave birth to a baby girl!".

I went on with my evening (I'm not _that_ obssessed!). And upon returning home googled the meaning of the baby's name, which incidentally is Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. Shiloh, aside from being the dog in the Newberry Award Winning Classic (which I knew) and the site of an American Civil War Battle in Tennessee (which I didn't know) means "Place of Peace" in the Bible (I'm presuming Hebrew but could be wrong, the Bible wasn't all written in Hebrew, as far as I know). Its a place where the Israelites took refuge. Have asked Sacha to ask her boyfriend, Shai, who is Jewish from Israel.

Nouvel, on the other hand, turned out to be the last name of a famous french architect and as Brad is said to have an interest in architecture this was the explanation that made the most sense. I could, obviously, be wrong about this too as information made to the public - other than the child's name (as in not even poundage) - has not really been released.

Shiloh, joins the list of funkily named kids who have been born lately: Suri, Grier, Kingston James, Moses and my personal(wtf) favorite, Bluebell Madonna. Don't think I'll ever get over the origin of that one. Kingston and Moses I think are tied for "the most normal sounding" names of the bunch, though this is not to say that I don't like the other ones, I actually think Suri is nice and Grier, possibly after the feminist is pretty cool. Bluebell Madonna, is a different story altogether. I have of ourse, no right to criticize the choice of the particular parents who have chosen these names, and so I will say nothing further about that one.

And I cannot, cannot believe I obssessed about 'the most beautiful baby on earth' so muuuuuuch. I hope that the child does not grow up to be traumatized for any reason and does not develop a big head or insecurities from that press created monicker. I hope that it (oops, she) grows up to be happy, healthy, well rounded and free from public pressure to be beautiful, well aware that she can be who she wants to be... (with parents like that, it looks like they'll make sure that she knows) also, I hope that she doesn't get called SHee-Loh like Shee-Ra or Shee-loh Beeelo or Shee Shee or whatever else she would be if she lived in the Philippines.

Also: Apple is not a weird name. I knew an Apple, Orange, Peaches, and more than one person with those names. I am from the Philippines, where somewhere, some way, I am sure a child will be born that _will_ actually (possibly) be named Brangelina.

Lessons from my Childhood

2006-05-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Last night, as my super creative and crafty housemate was helping me make Bucephalus, the cardboard cut out horse for my law presentation (yes, I know, I'll explain later), we started talking about the stuff we learnt as kids. Her mom teaches 4 year olds in the IS in Jakarta and she was telling us how they always had to take the glue away from the kids because they always used too much glue. This was after I overlined the end of Bucephalus' mane and squished it onto his head. I was telling her how we had sewing and ballroom dancing as children in school.

In primary school we had to learn how to embroider because, I presume we were little girls and still not old enough to use sewing machines unattended. I remember the style of teaching in my old school as fairly critical and very authoritarian (and no, for my old chums, it wasn't just Miss Manila). I think the style of teaching is very different now, I remember I quite used to get reprimanded for doing things wrong, when now everyone is a lot more encouraging and focused on positive reinforcement vs negative. I do remember a lot of our primary school teachers were kind of masungit (cranky? Pia, you write copy! what's this in english?).

I remember in 4th grade we had to make bags out of basketweave, the ever infamous material and exhibit our sewing prowess by sewing different rows of embroidery stitches on the front and then sew a peace themed design on the back. The first row was running stitch, then backstitch, etc. This is quite possibly the only subject my best friend Jenny has ever done badly in, because she never finished her bag as she just wouldn't do it. Now she's like, completely an expert at all mommy-related things, simply because she's creative (not that she has any kids). I on the other hand, totally cheated all the way. My mother realised that I couldn't sew, and so the women in my household - then my yaya, my lola and my cousin Loudette - took it upon themselves to help me finish my project. I think sewing is the only thing they ever really took over. Everything else I pretty much did on my own, with minimal assistance.

The thing to do in fourth grade was to use funky colored thread. I had been given this aqua blue thread by a friend, I remember this distinctly, as I think it was the same friend who got me, the Barbie hating one, to play Barbies with her. It was the funky kind that started out in bright aqua then along the line it faded to white, like those tie-dyed shirts. I ran out of thread in the middle of the line where we were supposed to demonstrate our mastery of the "Cross Stitch" and then completely forgot and submitted the whole bag with a bunch of crosses not Xed.

In my freshman year in high school we had to make a jumper in sewing class, with real machines. I absolutely refused, as it was this flowered thing that you cut out, measuring your own shape and sewed together. Like it would ever really be worn. I think I just passed sewing class, and the jumpers got put to good use in Music class - when each group had to reenact a musical and my group did the Sound of Music. As I was the boy (again) I got to wear shorts and fake leiderhosen (i think someone lent me suspenders. or at the very least they were shorts with a long sleeved top and a blazer) and there was no need for me to ever complete that jumper.

Now reminscing aside, it occured to me as I was using too much glue that the reason why I thought I couldn't sew and do all these things was simply because I was told I couldn't do it. As a child, I think in my household, it was automatically assumed that if I couldn't do something, it was either done for me, or I was told I couldn't do it. I have since discovered that barring a few things (like coloring within the lines 100% of the time) I can do anything I set my mind to. Which is why technically if I choose to sew, I can sew and if I chose to crochet, I could crochet (my beloved lola did all that for me...), and possibly if wool didn't make me sneeze I could knit. Seriously, people can do anything they set their minds to, barring any health or other people related reasons (i.e. if you needed another person to help you accomplish whatever and that person refused, like lets say someone had to, i don't know, lend you their priceless picasso for an exhibit or something).

I with that I had known this when I was five. Or fifteen. Or even when I was twenty. I could have done so much more. But I guess it was different when we were growing up- the style of parenting (maybe it was just my house) and teaching was more authoritarian, and maybe I was just too afraid. I think over the years I have grown braver - or possibly taught myself to be more brave- and that coming here opened up a new world for me. That and a few seminars I have taken over the years have encouraged me to try everything, within reason. I know that there are some things I'll never do - like you're never going to get me to see a horror movie and I will never ever in my life ride any theme park rides that go up and down, also I don't think I'll ever crochet, its too boring - but I do believe there's a lot more things that I can do. I may not end up being a master at them, like I can swim but you know, I suck, but at least I can say that I've done them, that I've tried, and maybe I'll even keep trying, if its something I like.

This, in a scary way, combined with that musical I saw last weekend, called Babies - which was about what babies think and feel from 0-2 weeks, acted out by an amateur teenage production - kind of shows how much influence parents and other authority figures have on our lives as we are growing up. I mean, I don't blame anyone but myself for my lack of will to try when I was a kid, but really, there's a lot that people do that they don't know have affected others. In the musical the "babies" sing a song called "Blank piece of paper" as soon as they are born, and they talk about how when they are born there's literally nothing there, and there's a line of five babies, and five different kinds of parents singing (e.g. hippies, yuppies, country folk, etc.) and they each give the kid a gift, like a stuffed animal or a football and its like, from being "blank" that's the first thing they get and it starts from there. And I thought it was really scary how parents really just can mold a child without really even trying or knowing what they're doing, and how much influence exists. Thank God I don't have to think about this again until I decide I want to be a parent and actually go about producing one. (Which won't be for a while...)The musical was very enjoyable though, it was fun and funny and although the sound system was kind of crap - sometimes you couldn't hear them and we were in the third row - it was pretty good for an amateur production. I also got free tickets from work.

Bucephalus is done. He is part of our role play for our group presentation in law class. He was made from brown and black cartolina, which in this country cost me about 7 dollars. We are reinacting a case, where Bucephalus was bought by Margaret who needed him for a horse breeding business. Bob, the seller's representative told her that he was fit for breeding and that "he has sired 5 champions". (I have read this case so much I have memorized the lines) She then signed the contract even though the terms in it said nothing about breeding. They also struck a seperate deal where she said, "i'll give you an extra 1,000 if you can guarantee he has no bad habits or vices". Margaret got the horse and found out that he was sterile and that he bit people. We are supposed to give her legal advice in the form of our presentation.

And that's why last night my housemate drew me a horse and we cut it out and used lotsa glue :)

What the fuck is up with all this Da Vinci Code crap?

2006-05-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

I just got home only to find waiting for me, email, which I'm sure was a forward, from a nice, well meaning (Opus Dei) friend who is a part of my college mailing list. Its a statement about the Da Vinci Code. I thought that being across the ocean I would not be subject to all the unecessary hullaballoo at home but no. I get mail that says "watching the Da Vinci Code will hurt Jesus."

Excuse me, but how do you know that?

Its all just bullshit. I mean, its a movie. By saying that its something else means you allow for it to affect you and you are in a way saying that it has some truth. If you just released a statement that says, we think its false and did nothing else or ignored the whole thing altogether, it wouldn't generate so much publicity (and you gotta admire that really well done PR) that people would be encouraged to see it. Doesn't anyone remember how the best way to tempt someone to do things is to forbid them to do it?!?!

People should have the right to make their own judgements about A WORK OF FICTION.
I should at this point say that although I know the story, I have not read the book. I made a decision not to read it because I felt it was overhyped and having read Angels and Demons I felt that was enough religious symbiology. I also thought at first that I would just watch the movie. I have since decided not to see it - although this whole thing has made me pissed off enough to want to watch it just to prove freedom of choice - initially because I'm not really keen on Tom Hanks and now because I just don't want to be a part of the fuss.

I wanted to reply and say I think this is a big fuss over nothing and its just a movie but I would probably with my usual directness hurt her forwarded feelings and she's really a nice girl.

And do we not have better things to fuss over, like the state of our country, the politics, the fact that in this scenario there appears to be a difficulty in separating church and state and you know, there's the ever prevalent problem of poverty?!?

Sigh. Must our country always have to find a source of drama? And why is everyone making a fuss? I'm now making a fuss over everyone making a fuss because I just don't get what the point is.

May

2006-05-18T00:51:00.000-07:00

Again, in Summary :)

May 05
Para Bailar La Bamba

Today I've made chorizo and red wine sauce with pasta for lunch. I don't really like red wine sauce but its the jar that Sacha bought so there you go. I added real red wine and mushrooms and lots of cheese. I usually like my red wine sauce on steaks, not pasta. I'm bringing the rest of it to work because well, again, I don't really like red wine sauce.

Since they've cancelled work tomorrow I'm just going to go to kickboxing and then meet up with Rose, who I haven't seen in ages. Then go home and do homework, and spend my Saturday evening researching my next brief.

Last night's brazilian party was unbelievably boring. There was a crush of people, mostly older and they were all having fun, but it was like, not our thing. There was an intro to latin dancing downstairs and I enjoyed learning how to mambo. When we started, Sacha and I had to be partners because there weren't enough boys. And then they went, okay switch partners clockwise (bec no one really knew each other). I ended up with this vietnamese/chinese dude who was pretty good but wouldn't look me in the eye. Sacha ended up with a guy who said, "You've never done this before, have you? I think I'll sit this one out" and promptly moved to another partner!!! When it came time to switch I had her dance with my partner.

We left the brazilian party and then moved to The Establishment, Sydney's premiere meat market. I suppose I'm a bit too picky, there really wasn't anyone I liked. Sacha of course, by then had been hit on once, and when we got to Establishment she got hit on twice I think. Everytime Sacha gets picked up I slip away because well, that's their thing. She got hit on by this nice looking black dude on the dance floor, and I just went and danced on my own, near this group of white aussie chicks who couldn't dance for shit, it was so weird I couldn't tell if they were just having fun by dancing funny or they really couldn't dance (what's up with aussies and they're yeah, if i move like this and shake and flail my arms about this is dancing! I would love to generalise and say white people can't dance, but I think Sacha can, so...) Then he asked Sacha out and she said she was seeing someone and he just turned around and walked away! I thought, okay, fair enough, you don't have to waste your time but really, you could have at least said goodbye.

Derek, Sacha's friend from physics who we've both known for quite a while came over to join us. We promised to be his "wing women" i.e. help him pick up the chicks while he would be our (or rather mine, unless Sacha found a really cute one) wingman. From Establishment we went to The Orient, which was full of old people and then to Cargo Bar, which was totally dead, for a Thursday night and then I got hungry so we walked down King St Wharf (Darling Harbor) and found La Cita.

La Cita was a salsa place and it was great. I had beef empanadas, which were great too! We had a drink each and then we started dancing. Derek had taken salsa lessons before so he was trying to teach me. After some time bobbing around I realised that this was quite possibly the first time I had ever danced with a partner and not had to lead!!!

In high school we had to take ballroom dancing. And one of us had to be the boy. And since I looked like a boy anyway, I was the boy. I was always the boy (even in class plays). My partner was darth_stitch. Our best dances were the waltz - we could box step quite well, thank you - and the cha-cha. We could boogie okay but we were absolutely horrible with the tango.

In the first place I don't think we were taught right. I think we were taught to tango ballroom dancing style - the kind your lola does - and not the real argentinian version. Also, darth_stitch had a back problem (?) possibly and couldn't really bend backwards. Actually, no one in the class could bend backwards. So everytime we had to make a dip, darth_stitch (and every other girl in the class) would just bend her neck backwards and look up at the sky, while I would bend forward and bend my knee. We were pathetic but hilarious.

Our final presentation was done to the theme of "That's Entertainment" because we couldn't be bothered to practice and actually do anything. cheese dip was german moreno. and she ripped her pants right after her first introduction and had to borrow my spare pair! All of us "boys" especially me and Naj, who looked equally as much of a boy as I did, looked like we were from La Salle GH, one of the boys schools. Black pants, white shirt.

And so I learnt how to lead, and still have to fight a bit when I start dancing (especially the swing) because as my previous partners have said, "You have to stop leading because I'm the boy."

Roooight.

May 7
Your mission, should you choose to accept it.

So Miel and I saw Mission Impossible 3 which was great. I have been action movie starved for ages and ages. It has been such a long time since I've seen a movie where things have been blown up, the plot is slightly if not completely implausible and they have all these cool gadgets. I was perfectly happy with this movie. Tom was tom, and he was the same cool almost unflappable kick ass dude and that was completely believable and not annoying. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who perhaps because of his general stature sometimes makes me mix him up with Jack Black was excellent, as always and the rest of the supporting cast was great. Keri Russell was in that movie for five minutes.

Miel and I went to the movie with Claudia who is quite the noisiest person to see a movie with. Miel and I are usually very talkative as well, but we speak in hushed tones and I've realised that because its fast paced and you don't always have the time to comment I don't usually do that for action movies. Claudia was kinda loud and excited and she kept trying to guess what was going to happen and although I thought her comments were funny there were some times when I wanted to say, hinay hinay, Claudia like I was calming down a rearing horse. It was kinda llike that. (Miel, i know you're going to read this, I like Claudia, but you know, it was funny.)

My housemate Kartini is moving out (don't know if I've mentioned this before) to a castle, which is actually a big house in Annandale (next to Leichhardt where I used to live) with a friend. The rent is really cheap, like a hundred bucks and its a converted ballroom that's been split up to several rooms. Her friend's family is a bit eccentric, his parents live in one wing, and he lives in the other and they've got all this stuff stored in different rooms, like a whole room full of piano music (the kind that plays automatically on those old pianos) and an old elevator sitting in the garden. His father apparently refuses to throw everything out, so they're just basically waiting for him to die (he's in his 70s) to throw everything out. Its got a nice view of the city and the river and since Kartini's hardly ever home, its not such a big deal for her that the place doesn't have internet and all the other stuff. She's leaving most of her furtniture as all she needs is bedroom stuff.

We've all pretty much gotten along well so it will be sad for her to go but its okay, and its not as if we're not going to see each other again. Also I am going to move into her room when she leaves, which will be a pain in the ass to get my stuff together (will have to dismantle wardrobe and possibly bed as well) but what the heck, its bigger and quieter.

May 7
Winter is coming

I have been in denial of winter for well, ages. I wear long sleeved shirts, thick jackets and thongs . Yesterday when I was late for work (and no one noticed) I ran out of the house in thongs and it was just so wrong. The wind started on sunday and it hasn't really stopped since. This morning was the coldest in Sydney so far, at 9 degrees. (Thank God I slept through it in the warmth of my doona) Last night my housemate from Indonesia brought up her giant heater and put it on. I assembled my heater at midnight (naks, parang may magical properties from doing that) and tested it for a bit but I slept without it on.

I've become more acclimatised to the weather, I don't get as cold as often, I've decided the more I can stand the cold the easier for me it will be to get warm - less layers and the less electric heating needed.

So today, hearbreaking as it is, I am packing up my summer clothes. Last Sunday I aired out all my coats, washed all my scarves and beanies and now I'm ready for winter. As much as I appreciate a cool day every now and then, I miss my singlets and my thongs, and my gnarly feet (which are so gnarly they are not funny). As I write this I am wearing a light sweater (the one I got in Switzerland 9 years ago and shrunk in someone's dryer in Texas) knee length pjs and knee length uggs. I also own fuzzy light purple slippers that say "thrill" and "me" (the alternatives were "yes" and "no" in fuschia and "its all about me" in green) for days when i don't quite need the uggs.

I've arranged to keep my socks in the little box with the singlets so I will always remember they are there and I can use them appropriately for layering. I also intend to buy a shoe rack so I can just put all my shoes on it, as the mess is getting slightly annoying. I also own more thongs/slippers than any other pair of shoes, but that's not such a big surprise.

At present
I went to salsa lessons this week, and it was fun. Will go back as soon as I am able - this week I had to work on stuff and next week have got the Sydney Writer's Festival. So far people I have been dancing with have been telling me I'm pretty natural at it so its a bit surprising to actually find out that you're good at something naturally - I've always kind of hoped there would be something, you know how people naturally excel at swimming or basketball or what not. I had sort of reached a point where I was thinking, what if you aren't naturally good at something, so this is surprising but good to say the least.

The other day I had chocolate - tea doesn't quite cut it - at the Lindt Cafe with Kat. We had a cake and a dark chocolate each. Despite my attempts to have chocolate not as frequently as before - now 3-4 times a week which is better than everyday - my stomach has thrown a fit. So no more choccy for a while again. Must get used to not having it often.

My friend Nic is visiting from Brissie and another friend, Andrea, my former housemate is visiting from Melb. Andrea is staying with us, Nic is staying at her family's house in Woolhara.

Today Andrea and I went to see The Crying Men which is basically a showcase of Sam Taylor-Wood, a photographer's works. She took shots of 27 male artistas crying. Of course I could identify 90% :P (there was a dude I didn't know and a couple who you couldn't tell because they had their hands on their faces) My favorites were Hayden, of course, Jude, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr. Lawrence Fishbourne had a very striking picture as well. There was also this video that was commissioned by the National Gallery of London that featured David Beckham sleeping. It was supposed to be a "sensual portrait of an icon in repose" or something like that but he just looked so bloody restless. He was sleeping on his side, on an arm and I thought, but your arm will die and you will get cramps. Also, would you be fully accessorized if you were sleeping?

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I am going to boxing now and then I have to do my law. I will update from the Writer's Festival very soon :)

April, in Bits and Pieces

2006-04-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Me in Melbourne happily eating a bratwurst.

I have yet to blog about my Melbourne trip, but here is so far what has been happening this April. I went to More Concerts Than I Have Ever Been In My Entire Life (as you can tell from the previous entry on Kanye West), had a food filled Easter and so far am on holiday till the end of this week.

Papa Was a Rolling Stone (April 11)
When I grow old, i want to be Mick Jagger.
(or at least in fairness have his energy and puwede na rin his money, but not any related injuries or diseases that may have resulted from his lycra wearing past, though I'm sure that if I were him I would regret nothing, but i digress...)

The stage at Telstra Stadium, exactly the same as they used in their free concert in Brazil

My friend Pauline & Me and our tickets

I've also confirmed that not only can white men _not_ dance, but middle aged women are fun to watch when they dance. Which means whatever you want to interpret it to be.

And if I had a webcam I would demonstrate it for you. Promise.

Here is my conversation with a friend right after the concert, which pretty much summarizes the whole thing.

Lars : mic jagger changed outfits more than britney ever did
Lars : i swear.
volcanogirl28 : no way
volcanogirl28 : but not as much as cher
Lars: feeling ko si britney mga thrice lang kasi madming eklat choo
Lars : si mick with his tight pants nagpapalit lang siya ng top
Lars : oh, id ont think anyone can beat cher.
Lars : as in meron siyang gold and then red tapos floor length ang kanyang coat
and only jagger can get away with wearing a feathery fur coat with a matching hat
Lars : and you know what, when i get old, i want to have as much energy as a rolling stone
Lars : promise. mick jagger had more energy than me and you and san combined
Lars : tang ina patalon talon siya everywhere
Lars : ako nakatayo kang ako dun tang ina pagod na ko
Lars : but no, mick jagger bouncing and running up and down and screaming and all that
Lars : kakaiba.
volcanogirl28 : he must be on steroids
Lars : it must have been all the drugs he took in his youth.
volcanogirl28 : tara, drugs na din tayo
Lars : i prefer to think it had something to do with his colorful tight lycra wearing past.
Lars : sabi nung kasama ko "do you think they'll be in tights? i've only seen pictures of them in tights"
volcanogirl28 : whut
Lars : i think that was a rational assumption
Lars : tang ina lahat kaya ng costumes nila dati lyyyyyycra
Lars : and their guitarist was wearing a JEWELED BELT
Lars ): as in the wide silver spangly kind
Lars : hello.
volcanogirl28 : some people just have "it"
Lars : i know. carry nila, carry
Lars : i knew 8 songs from the playlist im so proud of me
Lars : this is given na WALA AKONG ALAM last week kundi paint it black at satisfaction
volcanogirl28: bwahahhaha

Me Against the Music (April 12)

It all started because my friend Rey G, the computer god sent me a portable hard drive at my request because I was out of space for my mp3s.He was kind enough to format and set everything up for me before it even got here. So I transferred all of them over. I also wired my itunes to detect them in that folder. Occasionally I have to keep replugging it in because its not detected, which I assume because this is a portable computer and it moves around a lot and it is a device that is plugged in.

Rey G also included his mp3s, as a well meaning surprise. So my 13mb Mp3 collection shot up to an unwarranted number with a whole lot of songs that I didn't really need. Granted, I loved all his RnB stuff but there was nothing alternative he had that I didn't already have, and really do I need "Hagibis", "Boyfriends" (who are they?!?!) or "Freestyle". I don't do Freestyle. (I did, however keep the Apo songs as a rememberance of my childhood. And yes, I kept Katawan. What do you think? I grew up on "Palibhasa Lalake" too...lalalalalalalalala) And I just wanted to say, really a person's Mp3 collection can tell you a lot about the person who owns them. Hmmm... ;)WEG.

So after editing out the doubles and shit I found that stuff still couldn't fit in my ipod. And/or it wasn't detecting. And/or it informed me that it couldn't copy playlists. Which effectively suddenly turned my ipod into one blank disc every podders worst nightmare.

Repeated troubleshooting and deleting later it is now it is finally copying all the files back - I'm on song no. 322 of 4676. We'll get there eventually. I just want my ipod back. Its name is Bono I love you II and I want it back in its proper form. Baby come back!

(on a tiny troubleshooting note, i have discovered that everytime i turn my pc back on or it comes back from standby i have to plug and replug my portable hard drive so that it redetects and registers that the songs are there. i don't mind, but i don't think that's supposed to happen, right?)

On a side note: My ipod is now fixed. I have since discovered the 80s music that Rey added and I am now a happy bunny. Thank you Rey! Mwa mwa!

Prelude to Easter (April 15)

Mum is here visiting. She went to Yamba with my relations (somewhere upstate near the border of Queensland) for a week. On the first day there she promptly tripped over a parking guard in the supermarket and had to be rushed to the hospital. She had bruises on her face, a split lip (which they glued together), and two broken teeth (pustiso, thank God) . Its not as bad as it sounds and she's okay.

She sees specks in her eyes now, which the doctor says are permanent and they're like loose tissues. There's not anything that can be done, and its not a big deal he says as he was a soccer player sometime ago, and he has a lot of those floating in his eye. Which of course means that mum is now in league with David Beckham, Ronaldo, etc. who probably have equal amounts of tissue floating in their eyes thanks to hitting balls with their heads. Mum of course got hers from tripping over a parking guard and smacking herself on the ground.

Today Sacha and I saw the India.Arie Concert. All my pictures are fuzzy because its dark but all I have to say is that it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. (Now all I have to do is wait for Bono to come back...)

Easter Consumption (April 17)

Strangely, have discovered that I no longer crave chocolate as much as I used to, having given up chocolate (and chips) quite successfully for lent. I suppose we'll have to see if that's still the truth next week. Yesterday got off work early. My friend Karina and I shared the chocolate cadbury bunny I got myself to end my lenten fast and I discovered that I couldn't really glomp down chocolate straight anymore. I also turned down her offer of kit kat bites.

After work, I swung by the bookstore to grab the sequel to the romance novel I had inadvertedly bought without knowing it was a two parter then headed off to church. Unlike Manila, you either go to mass in the morning or the afternoon, there is no such thing as a midday or a midafternoon mass on a Sunday so having missed the 7am mass thanks to work and having a family whole day affair that I was already late to resulting in me missing the last remaining mass of the day, I decided to just pass by to say hi and thank you.

Headed off to Epping, got picked up by my cousin Rochelle's boyfriend Sean, who is well, family they've been together for ages. We waited for my cousin Miel, the cake baker who was in the train right after mine and then headed over. I was so hungry because I hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast and a danish that I smushed into my mouth because I knew there would be tons for lunch and therefore did not eat, and it was almost three and I was starving. Sean, Rochelle and my cousin Lara all had to go, they had stayed to say hi to us and because they were leaving we all had to have picture taking. After the picture taking, galit-galit muna and I just kept on stuffing my face with my Auntie Genie's pork steak in mama sita sauce (Go Mama Sita!) and rice. (God I miss rice, I can never cook it right I have it max once a week now)

After nibbling on Miel's chocolate cake we hung out for a bit, laughed and exchanged stories. The highlights of the evening were mom's insistence of Miel's need to find a mate, thus telling cousin Andrew, who arrived with his Indo-Chinese girlfriend Natalie (who I like except theyre both _really_ _really_ high school type clingy) to find Miel a boyfriend and giving me the feeling that really they were treating her like some sort of animal that needed to reproduce. This lead to her trying to push it on _Me_ as the next oldest single person in the room.

Then there was mom explaining about what she saw in the Easter Show, leading her to say: "Ang lalaki ng mga Kalabaw." Which promted me, in my conoest best to say, "Mom, cows are bakas, okay! Kalabaws are carabaos. You saw bakas!"

Headed home instead of staying over and got home around 9ish. Today got up a bit late, headed to Manly with Mom and Vanessa to have lunch with family friends Tony and Jan. We had fish and chips by the beach, where it was hot but super windy making it cold anyway. Took a walk to Shelley Beach down by the inlet and had smoothies and some ice cream while everyone else had cappucinos.

Finished up and headed to Miel's for dinner. I cooked fish cakes, she made sinigang, of which I had 2 servings (Go Pinoy Food!). They said my fish cakes were good but I didn't try them because I was too busy eating the sinigang I've been craving for for the past two weeks - I can go for more than a month without philo food, don't even notice I'm missing it, because its too much of a waste to cook that much, though its kind of sad. And yes, had cake/ice cream for dessert.

Now I'm home and surprise, so are my housemates, which is a big change from the last week when none of us were home. Last night it was just me even. Found a giant chocolate bunny on my desk, which I think is from Sacha (left her one for easter saturday). I will save it for a moment when I truly feel like having a choccy.

The giant chocolate bunny. I took it to work, shared it with people, ate about a quarter and kinda fucked over my tummy.

Bugbog. (April 21)

Today I have eaten myself to a heartburn. I have had pasta for brunch, an assorted bit of snacks including chips and grapes, a few bites of a muffin, chicken and corn soup (even if i'm not supposed to eat corn, a friend made it, and it was good) massive amounts of water and a tiny chai latte. I ate the twisties like there was no tomorrow, it being my first twisties pack in over a month. It is now time to go back to no chips.

Yesterday I got beaten up in kickboxing, although unintentionally. My partner was a nice indian girl with a mean right hook (if I could do hooks like that...champion talaga). She did regular boxing classes downstairs and was really good at punching. She was kind of new to kicks and she wasn't very good. Everyone who starts generally sucks but she sometimes had trouble hitting the pad. She narrowly missed my crotch during the inner thigh kicks and thus I have a large purple bruise on my inner left thigh. I also have two black bruises on my right one.

Since everyone else in the class is more experienced, we had inner and outer thigh and sweep kicks, which was a bit difficult for the two girls who had never done it before including her. It was also one of those warm downs that my instructor, Jo loves, the kind where you do 10 kicks on either side then ten push ups. And then 10 kicks on either side somewhere else (e.g. outer thigh) and then 9 push ups and it goes in descending order. We only did up to 5 push ups this time, thank God. Otherwise I think I might have died.

For the first time since I ditched chocolate and cheese my stomach feels like it is loaded and it will burst. Having lived for the past 40 days with a clean and healthy stomach, I realise the difference and know that it is the better feeling. So back to chocolate only for special occasions (like, max once a week, it really is the shits when I have it) and chips well, hopefully rarer! They are harder to resist now because they don't do anything to my beloved tummy.

Okay. We are not doing corn again. Heck, we are not eating the combination of foods we just had today again.

That has been my April so far... more as it happens.

2006-04-04T03:47:00.000-07:00

My cousin Vanessa is visiting from Manila. We went to Circular Quay and we found an exhibit of Unicef Bears for charity. There's a bear for every 124 countries in the UN. This one is from the motherland, La Pinas herself.

2006-04-04T03:40:00.000-07:00

A Whole New World! The Iraqui bear

2006-04-04T03:39:00.001-07:00

Hooray!

2006-04-04T03:39:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm...

2006-04-04T03:38:00.000-07:00

Cuban Bear...just like a cigar

2006-04-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know we look alike. The youngest half of our generation (I barely make it and its only because the next oldest is 6 years older) takes a pose. I suppose when we were 5, 7 and 10 respectively we never envisioned ourselves sitting together at a restaurant in Sydney as a government employee looking for a better job, a future doctor/med student and a postgrad student in IT...

I think I'm Kind of Important Now.

2006-04-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

I cannot be enthused enough about Kanye West's concert. From the moment he opened with "Diamonds are Forever" it was absolutely electric.

Sacha and I sat on the last row of the dress circle in the Concert Hall of the Opera House. I can finally say that I've seen something in it! We were pretty lucky to get tickets - as Kanye said later, the concert sold out in 3 minutes. You could still see him clearly but couldn't make out any faces. We waited for perhaps about 30 minutes before the concert started.

The 18 piece string orchestra - all women in lovely black dresses - filled in. The lead violinist, who we later found out is with Kanye's team and is in charge of teaching all the orchestras the sequencing and practicing with them before every concert was in white. She was rather enthusiastic and kept waving at everybody and dancing up and down, even chatting with some people on the sides, which I found rather unprofessional, given that the rest of the orchestra was just sitting on stage. I kept wondering, what is up with this girl but then that was explained later when Kanye introduced his band. Everyone in the orchestra wore red wraparound shades to protect them from the strobe lights.

I was sort of feeling a little old, a lot of the people there were teenagers in retro clothes - I have never understood the 80s resurrection, the big belts, the weird Madonna style layering (sleeveless with off the shoulder), the high waists, I could go on. This was slightly alleviated by the fact that there were some older people, plus he did a slight retrospective on music that influenced him - with some Jackson 5 and AHA's Take On Me which everyone sang along to. I really enjoyed that - especially since he did some 80s dancing to Take On Me - and then I began to wonder if everyone else knew what it was because of the 80s bands or because of the boyband revivals...

We were up on our feet the moment he started. We sat down every now and then but a lot of people just didn't bother. A whole lot of them knew the lyrics to every song, I could only follow along with some of them. Sacha and I had just gotten his first album, College Dropout, courtesy of Pat our nice housemate who downloaded it using torrents recently and I didn't really listen to it much so there were some songs that sounded familiar but I didn't know the lyrics too.

In the middle of it all, he did a retrospective on the hiphop songs that influenced him, and he talked about how he had produced a lot of songs from famous hip hop artists like Ludacris. Kanye being Kanye, he also talked about himself a lot. Whatever anyone's ever said about his ego is true. I found it funny, as he makes fun of himself in a disparaging/egoistic way as well. Sacha thought that he was "like a child" because he lapped up all the attention we gave him. I suppose it didn't help that no matter what he said we all screamed anyway, even when he talked about his contribution to hip hop and said, "I think I'm a notch above everyone else" and, "I think I'm Kind of Important Now." Which I found funny but true. I don't know enough about hip hop to say what kind of important contribution he's made, although I've heard it said, but I love his music so he's important to me!.

The orchestra was excellent as well, and the lead violinist chick kept bouncing up and down. We all went crazy when he did Golddigger and then the lights went out, which I presume is the way he ends it, because every performer has about 2 songs as an encore and they always make it sound like they never plan it and the audience has to force them but really its planned all along. Well, we all certainly encouraged him, everyone screamed and clapped and someone even yelled out, "Wake Up Mr West!".

When he came back on he asked everyone to scream "so loud that I shouldn't even be able to hear the music" and we obliged. He also thanked all of us for coming and said, "thank you to all the girls who spent a little extra time getting ready because they knew they were going to see Kanye." I found that funny. The girl next to me was practically hyperventilating everytime a new song came out going, "Oh My God, Oh My God!". She knew every line, including the ones from the intros to his songs where he was just talking, as he did the intros too. (It made me wonder how wacko my friend Nic and I are going to be when we get to U2)

He ended the night with Touch the Sky, which is my favorite Kanye song and of course we all went wild. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to (not that I've been to much, I seem to be making up for it this month...).

And yes, I am a hip hop fan. (but I'm not jologz :P)

Hachoo

2006-03-28T00:33:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I took to cleaning the lounge room, or rather the little nook in the corner where my cousin will be staying. Since our house used to be a shop, the front part has this little entry way where i presume people came in which is now closed up. I only have a picture of it without the bed in it so just try to imagine that little door with a mattress in front of it.

Its actually quite cozy what with the nice blankets and covering that you'll have to imagine and some linen hanging on the wall as decoration.

Now in the process of cleaning this and stuffing the tiny holes - which were again, for the shop - in the ground with bluetack to avoid the unecessary entry of the insect variety and sweeping I developed allergies which have now escalated to what appears to be a cold and a slight dry cough.

Thankfully I had no work today so I stayed at home except for the immediate rush to the pharmacy when I woke up and found myself hoarse. I obtained Dry cough medicine and betadine gargle to supplement my kick ass antihistamines and the Pei Pao Kua - known as Pippa Gao here - that is downstairs and belongs to my housemate.

I underestimated, or rather forgot the effect of my antihistamines and as such knocked out while trying to read marxism for class and woke up to discover I had highlighted myself purple, resulting in me putting my favorite light blue shirt in a napisan dip. (Go Napisan! I believe in you!)

I managed to finish my article and am now reading about systems design. I also discovered that there was an extra oh, i don't know 50 pages to read for law in another book, that I tried to print off the internet and resulted in me completely draining my printer ink.

I am now in the midst of packing for Melbourne plus finishing systems design plus trying to remain coherent enough to be able to answer some of the law questiosn that we all said we would do by tomorrow for my group work. I tried to change my flight to Thursday morning but the Filipino - I am so definately sure that I was connected to a call centre in Manila even if we didn't acknowledge each other's Filipinoness (hello my name is maria! im sure he guessed) - I spoke to said it would cost an extra 70 dollars so there you go, I passed.

I have decided that if I still feel like shit tomorrow I will skip one class and then come home directly after the quiz in my third class to grab my stuff and go to the airport. I am arriving at something like 1045 and will have to take a train plus walk for about 20 minutes to get to my friend's place. I borrowed Sacha's red mini-maleta in anticipation of the books I will bring home. I'm also taking homework with me, how sad is that?

Anyway, I don't think I'm supremely sick because I have the energy to do stuff, I'm just perpetually sneezy and groggy. Hopefully all this preventive medication will work and I will be good enough for a jaunt to Melbourne and Kaaaaaanyeeeee when I get back!

And so it begins.

2006-03-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

This semester after some manuevering and trying out different classes I have ended up with law, business intelligence, IT risk management and assurance and the politics of the world economy. I also managed to make it so I only had to go to uni for 2 days - Monday for one class and the rest on Wednesday.

Needless to say, by the end of my last class at 9pm on Wed I'm pretty burnt out. And I need massive doses of sugar and on occasion the forbidden fruit known as caffeine to get me through it, though our teacher is excellent. The fact is, its a 9 hour day with a one hour space in between and that's it.

Law is proving to be quite interesting and despite being only at it for 2 weeks I have been enjoying it. As I told my best friend Jenny, "This is the part where we find out if my father was right and whether or not I should have taken law." (Not that it means that I will suddenly take up law), which by the way is the chosen profession that everyone nominated for me in one of those forwards that you pass around and ask people questions about yourself to see how well they know you. In the part where it says, "What do you think I should be when I grow up?" I distinctly remember a whole shitload of people in the office saying either "Law or Rule the World".

As I have no desire to be the next Oprah or a member of the British Royal Family or I don't know, American, (or Republican!) I suppose my attempt in law will have to suffice.

I've been perpetually sleepy of late, which is a switch from last week's "I couldn't sleep at all" thanks to the variety of noises outside my room including the pain in the ass fire alarm from the building acrosss the road on tuesday night, and the drunken couple on wednesday night. Looks like we are moving in July.

My mother is arriving next week, with my cousin otherwise known as "she who could not decide whether to come or not and took so long she missed tickets to the lion king and thus will have to go on a different day." I will be housing my cousin for two weeks, in the bed in the little nook in the living room. She is known for being rather sheltered and I am told, incapable of making a decision on her own, aka one of those "I don't know, it's up to you, bahala ka" nahihiya types, which needless to say is the bane of existence of every only child. I am somewhat of the belief that she may turn out to be a bit more self-assertive as she too is an only child, so we may end up just clashing with me making her go the way I want her to. At least this time she's too old to bite me, which she did quite often as a small child.

I have, however, in preparation had my mother set her expectations. (now, don't say i didn't learn anything from you, d.e.b... :P)

I will have to figure out how to now fit family into my ever pressing schedule. I was planning on doing more volunteer work at uni this semester but I don't know how to fit it in anymore, I hope I can do more of it sometime.

I am going to Melbourne next week, to meet up with mum and my cousin. The U2 concert was postponed to November due to "the illness of a family member" (who we all suspect is Edge's 8 year old daughter who has cancer) and so I'm going to meet up with them that weekend instead and catch the Lion King, see friends and go see the romance novel bookstore!.

In the meantime, I'm off to finish that episode of South Park that was banned from being shown because it prominently featured Scientology and a certain couch jumping man protested.

And then I've got to get back to that law book and finish Chapter 8.

2006-03-16T01:50:00.000-08:00

Guilt	What is yours?	Explain yourself
Culinary:	Chips, Chips and More Chips	I was a filipino child weaned on clover chips (which I only eat when i am sick as the ultimate comfort food), chippy, kirei, oishi, planters and later on doritos and twisties. I have since discovered Kettle chips which are fantastic. Right now...I've given them up for lent.
Literary:	Romance novels	I started with my mother's mills and boon, for lack of anything to read and have now progressed to an extensive collection. The highlight being seeing my friends Roy and Chris L imitate a cover in Barnes and Noble.
Audiovisual:	America's Next Top Model	I may not watch it with the same fervor as maddy gaiman but hey, when it comes on, i'll see it. I will watch a trashy show at least once. And yes, I used to watch Melrose Place.
Musical:	Britney Spears	I have all her albums and thus have no need to buy the best of collection. I don't think she's a musical genius but she's fun and the beats get you going.
Celebrity:	Eonline	I have the propensity to remember all sorts of useless celebrity trivia. So it doesn't matter who it is, I'll know.

Now I tag:-

pia, kat, miel and duke! >

to complete this same Quiz, Its HERE.

Queensland!

2006-03-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

Pre-arrival

We left on February 18th. I went to work first with all my stuff and had to have Sacha take my passport since I had forgotten it. We decided to go to Queensland one day in December when we were both pretty bummed, me because I realised I couldn't go home this year and Sacha because she missed her family and knew she couldn't go home for a while either. We decided to go on vacation and thanks to Jetstar's start of the year sale we got return tickets for 98 bucks a pop, which is cheap.

I got to the airport before Sacha did but due to a malfunctioning ticket printer she was able to get in line with me when she arrived due to the delay. We had barely ten minutes to get to the boarding gate because of the delay and I got stuck eating chicken breast strips and chips because I was so hungry.

The flight was relatively uneventful and once we arrived we paid fifteen dollars each to get on a special shuttle that took us to our hostel. Our hostel was in south port which is ten minutes away from Surfer's Paradise, the main beach on the Gold Coast. Our room consisted of a bunkbed, a dresser and built ins complete with a ceiling fan that seemed poised to decapitate you the moment you sat up (pictures later). Sacha took the top bunk, which I figured wouldn't be good for me because I move around so much when I sleep it might make the bed jingle. The next morning, Sacha discovered the hazards of sleeping under the ceiling fan, or rather the ceiling fan discovered her when she got up and hit it with her head. It seemed more hurt than she was, as it went around for a while going wock-wock-wock in a pained manner.

We had pizza for dinner, take away from a nearby pizzeria and since it was pretty late by then we just crashed.

Day One
On the first day in the Gold Coast we had breakfast at Subway before heading out to the city. We hitched a ride with the hostel's van service and got to the main transit lounge where all the buses arrive from different parts of the country and most hostels go every hour to see if there's anyone who is checking in.

The Gold Coast reminded me a lot of Vegas with a beach, its got shopping malls and bright lights and its quite possibly the only place in Australia where the shops close at 10 (Thank God!). It was very, very hot that day so the first place we actually went to was the mall where I went in search of a Boost juice. We ended up in Baskin Robbins where Sacha had a smoothie and I had two different flavours of ice cream. We ended up exploring the mall, Sacha got a pair of shorts and I grabbed a pair of earrings.

Five minutes after that I went to grab money from the ATM and it swallowed my card, just because. After a short discussion with Commonwealth Bank they advised me that the card would have to be cancelled because once the ATM was opened it would be destroyed and that my replacement card would take 5-10 business days so I was stuck on vacation without any money. Thank God I had credit. This was also not necessarily a good thing, because having a credit card sort of just gives you a bigger spending limit, and I spent more than I had budgeted simply because I had credit. I had a list of things I needed that I was planning to buy over the next few months but instead, I just bought everything during my Gold Coast trip. Go Me. Go credit card bill.

But enough of that. After that incident I called my cousin, on whose credit card I have an extension as not being an Aussie citizen I'm not allowed to get one on my own, to make sure that we had enough money on the card for me to survive. We did.

Then Sacha and I walked over to Surfer's Paradise where we checked out the Beach Volleyball tournament, grabbed free stuff and spent the rest of the morning baking in the sun. The weather and the water in the Gold Coast is much much better than in Sydney because the water is warmer. Granted, I will never find calm waters in this country but at least there were no jellyfish and the water was not chilly at all. I managed to summon up the courage to hurl myself at the waves with the rest of the populace, despite the potential for flashing. Every other girl there had to adjust her straps everytime a wave flew over. There were lifeguards on surfboards monitoring the beachgoers making sure that we didn't go beyond the flags (which mark the safe surf limits)and huge waves that would come hurling through and knock everyone down.

Once we were done being baked we headed off to the mall and did some serious shopping. We intended to go home, change and head back out for dinner but we ended up staying instead as the van that was supposed to pick us up and take us back to the hostel didn't arrive. We had dinner at a nice italian restaurant where we had pasta dishes that Sacha was confident we could replicate at home. We took the bus home and crashed after a long day.

Day Two
On the second day we decided to head over to Brisbane and explore. We were supposed to meet up with my friend Nic but she fell asleep instead. The Gold Coast train system wasn't very hard to figure out. There's only one train that runs from the Gold Coast to Bris and it comes twice every hour. It starts from Robina and goes express to Brisbane Airport, or as we we memorized, "going on to Bowen Hills and Eagle Junction stopping only at Indooropilly..."

We got off at Fortitude Valley where the hostel we were checking into was supposed to be. We were originally planning to spend the night in Brisbane but upon discovering that our tour could only leave from the Gold Coast, we moved our booking to the next day.

We had breakfast at a quaint little cafe in "the Valley" as Nic terms it then we walked around the area. We found chinatown and in ten minutes hit the city centre. Brisbane is really just a small town with big buildings masquearading as a city. You can walk everywhere and nothing is very far from each other. Its only if you live outside the city, in the suburbs in the country that everything becomes pretty far (as evidenced by our train ride...).

We went to the Botanic Gardens and had a snack at their cafe there. It was nothing great but the paddle pop (ice block) that I had saved my life, it was soooo hot and sticky. After almost bumping into really cool giant spiderwebs we decided to head over across the river on the ferry. The wait for the ferry was longer than the ride. By the time we finished paying we were already at the dock for South port, which is the cafe/dining/entertainment centre in Brisbane. We attempted to find the museum and along the way I passed one of the venues that we sell for, the Brisbane Convention Centre and we stepped in for some airconditioning and to view some brochures.

We ended up at the Queensland Museum, more specifically their Science exhibit which was interactive. We had about 45 minutes before the museum closed so we didn't get to see very much although it was a lot of fun trying out the different objects and learning things. My favorite part was where you could stand under a certain light and have a camera take a picture of your shadow. We spent some time making funny poses and trying to see what the effect would be.

After the museum we had dinner at a chinese restaurant in South Port. It described itself as "fusion" chinese but it didn't taste any more remarkable then your average cheap chinatown restaurant and there was nothing great, especially considering the prices. There was a piano player who let Sacha play a turn during the evening. We had dessert at this nice cafe, where I had this lovely triangle mousse before we headed back to the Gold Coast on the train.

Day Three
We woke up bright and early and grabbed some takeaway breakfast (at Subway again) before rushing off to our tour. We had selected a 4 wheel drive tour to Lamington National Park and Mt Tamborine. Our tour guide, Trevor, was this full on Aussie bloke, who was in his fifties or so and had grown up on a sheep farm somewhere in the inland NSW area. He was semi-retired, he still owned a farm that was run by his cousin and he did the touring on the side.

Our first stop was an Alpaca farm, where we met Roy the stud Alpaca, had morning tea and I got myself an Alpaca wool poncho in bright colors. Then we moved on to Lamington Park. Trevor told us a lot about the history of Lamington as we drove through it.

One of the stories in particular that struck me was that of the O'Reillys, a family that moved into the forest during the early part of the century, when people were encouraged to move into the forests (which weren't national parks yet) to cut down lumber. During those times there was a weekly flight from Brisbane to Sydney and it flew regularly over the same flight path over Lamington. One day the plane didn't show up in Sydney and people were searching all over the place to find where it had crashed. One of the O'Reilly sons had an idea that it was somewhere in the forest so he hacked through all this jungle (this is the largest dry rainforest in the world) and found two survivors trapped in the plane crashed on one side of this mountain. So he left them with supplies, went back and got all the lumberjacks and they cut through a swath of forest to get to them and take them back to safety. There is now a monument in Lamington park to him and his heroically lead rescue.

We went through the park's rainforest walk where we climbed a series of hanging bridges throughout the forest. There were signs that said "No Jumping" but you didn't have to jump to make it swing eerily, reminding me of those movies where the heroes have to run across some cliff on a shaky bridge and it falls just as soon as they leap to safety. We also climbed this tree viewing station that involved going up a series of rungs. Walking down was a bit precarious because it was like walking straight down a ladder, except that you were several feet above the ground.

After the rainforest walk we drove down to a small town whose name I don't remember to have lunch. The winding roads triggered my motion sickness and I went off in search of soup. No one seemed to make soup when it wasnt winter so I bought a plain chicken breast sandwich that was the most boring thing ever, only to come back to lunch to find that there was plain roast chicken that I could nibble on.

When lunch finished we headed over to Mt Tamborine where we did the Gallery walk, checking out various galleries and shops. We ended up buying 6 different kinds of toffee, which I've just realized are probably still in the fridge. (Fortunately they keep for 2 months)Sacha did a little shopping while I bought a pair of butterfly earrings. I found several african style statues that I could actually afford but thought that well, I don't have my own house, where am I going to put them? So I didn't buy them.

Once we were finished, we had Trevor drop us off at the nearest train station and we took a trip back into Bris. Our hostel in Bris turned out to be a bit of a walk from the train station. We got directions from this guy who lived in the motel a few blocks from the hostel and ended up climbing uphill this one steep street that looked (and felt) like someone had attempted to draw a straight line on a hill. You really had to puuuuuush to get up to the top. Of course we later found out there was another way and that we didn't have to do that.

Our hostel was nice and cheery and we had our own bathroom attached to it, which was huge, possibly because it was designed to accomodate someone who was handicapped. That night we got dressed up nicely and went out to dinner. We ended up at this diner type place with jazz music playing next door. We had a good dinner and then we went back to the hotel to read our books.

Day Four
On our last day in Bris we went to the art gallery where I noticed that none of the portraits were ever smiling - which is probably the case in every other museum in the world. One of the exhibits involved sitting in a booth and writing letters that you felt you needed to send, if you put an address the museum mailed them to the person, if you didn't they would keep them till the end of the week and then burn them, it was a bit like a cleansing/healing process. I wrote a couple of letters and Sacha wrote one to her grandmother who was ill.

Another cool project was the one where you were supposed to make your own city, basically anyone could come in and make a building or a tower or whatever out of white lego blocks and add it to the city, every so often one of them would have to be taken down and someone else could take a turn, but your creation could stand for posterity for a couple of weeks. I made a short tower but there were some bad ass creations, including one eiffel toweresque giant made by this german engineering student that took a whole day, according to the staff there.

Prior to the art gallery Sacha and I did some book shopping. I was dying to get the sequel to The Curse of Chalion by Louis Mc Master Bujold (excellent, excellent book!) which I had just finished so I went to several different bookstores till I finally found it. Sacha bought a few books in each one and by the end of it - thanks also to my purchase of romance novels at a 2nd hand shop - we had to get extra bags from Dymocks to carry stuff.

We rushed home to take the train for the gold coast but since we had to walk back to the hostel and then to the train again we missed the first one. We counted all the trains as per the timetable flashing on the tv screens overhead but they seemed to come too fast so we actually missed the Gold Coast train - I could have possibly made it as I was right in front of the door but then that would have meant leaving Sacha behind. So in short, we took the third train and discovered, much too late that it was at least 20 minutes to the airport, meaning we had missed our flight. We had to pay another 70 bucks to get the flight on for the next day and so in effect our flights ended up not being bargains :( oh well.

We stayed at a hostel down the road from the airport which was a 20 minute walk on the side of a major highway and got up at 430 in the morning to get to a 620 flight. Consequently, Sacha and I were number 1 & number 2 on the planes respectively and we arrived so early they wouldn't let us in after we checked the baggage, we had to wait quite a bit.

David, Sacha's friend was nice enough to pick us up from the airport and the moment we got home I rushed off to work, having called the night before to explain that I would be rather late, so they adjusted my shift. And so that was our trip to Queensland.

February, in summary

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So, long time no post. A lot of things happened in February so I figured I just make one long summary of everything that i'll put here. Also went to the Gold Coast, with Sacha which I will put up as soon as I've got all the pictures from her because my digicam is slightly fucked.

As of February 20 I have been in Sydney for one year. I've decided to devote a seperate entry for all the things I have learnt so far, being in Sydney and all that. Anyway, I have survived and have done okay, I believe. I also have got an article published here. Look at the World Pinoys section and you'll find me... everyone so far has been able to tell which one is my article without me telling them the title.

Whirlwind Weekend
The first weekend of February was full of activity for me. On Friday night Sacha and I went clubbing with Kat and Rob and all the clubs we went to despite having great music turned out to be daggy. They were late so Sacha and I decided to meet them in the city. I had thought we were going to be picked up in a car so I wore my three inch stilettos with ties. (Pictures later) One of the things that I love about Sydney is you can go clubbing in shorts, provided you know how to dress the rest of you up. So I wore my short black shorts, stilettos and a lace top that made my boobies look nice (I like my boobies). Sacha, ever the heartthrob almost got picked up the moment we stepped out of the bus by a bunch of guys that invited us to join them at the Establishment, which I will refer to as Sydney's main meat market - people dress up and go there to check out and be checked out - it also had a bit to do with the fact that she looked hot and was in red and you could see her a mile away.

We walked a bit downhill to get to the first club which was no joke as I was being gravitationally pulled down in those heels (I have since learned to bring tsinelas and carry the damn things). When we got there we grabbed a drink and started dancing right away, it was all RnB and full of Asians and the occasional Indian. I started texting my super clubbing queen friend Jane, who incidentally lives on the same street that I did growing up in my first house in Manila, (although we never met then) asking her what another good place to go would be. She gave some recommendations but we didn't end up going there and when she found out where we were (I don't even remember the name - Kat what was that place again?) she was like "its not my type, that place" and I started to wonder.

Sacha got picked up again by this guy on behalf of a friend which didn't bode too well as I mean, if you have to get some other guy to do the picking up for you, dude, I mean, come on. She looked like she could use some rescuing so we went and told them we were changing clubs. Not that she was getting bothered, more like they were just well, not worthy. So we moved.

We ended up walking around the city, getting asked to move by some cranky bouncer before ending up in La Campana, where they have RnB in one room and Salsa in the other. The music was better but the people were just dodgy and daggy as. I had to sit down a bit as I thought my stilettos would kill me and when I finally joined them on the dance floor this tiny - and i mean tiny - indian guy kept trying to slide up by me and kept touching my ass. When we finally got rid of him this giant tongan dude kept sliding up behind Sacha trying to lift up her skirt. He had two friends next to him so we decided - just as indian guy returned to try and touch my ass again - that it was time to go.

On Saturday it was Sacha and Rose's joint birthday celebration at a Turkish Bellydancing restaurant in Surry Hills. Most of the people there were Rose's friends but Andee, our housemates and Brendan, Sacha's physics friend made it over too. I had two birthdays to go to that night so I was sort of in a rush. Although the food was excellent the service sucked big time and it took forever to get us served even just with menus. I decided that since I had to go to another party there was not enough time for me to eat a full meal so I ended up just sticking to ordering appetizers, and we all shared a selection of dips with turkish bread, which were fantastic. I almost ordered a kebab and I'm glad I didn't because Andee's order of almost the same thing was big enough for two and I would never have made it out of there in time. Right in the middle of eating the belly dancer showed up. She was blonde and very elegant and somewhat exotic and she danced with bells and fake swords. She got the guys to get up and dance with her. Rose had selected the restaurant specifically because there was a male belly dancer that came on after her but since I had to go I didn't get to see him.

After rushing in a cab to central station I met up with Simone, my friend from work and we headed off to our workmate Jaya's birthday party. Jaya is our funky lesbian friend, who is a gifted hairdresser on the side - she did my haircut. Her partner Andie is filo as well and they have two adorable dogs, Buggy and Sooks and two cats. Jaya's birthday dinner was also at a Turkish Restaurant, this time in Enmore. Simone and I took a bus and then walked down. There were so many leftovers - huge servings as well - we just ended up eating them all and we got stuffed. We met some of Jaya's friends, including one from the Central Coast who baked wonderful cakes. She had baked one regular cake and one in the shape of a tulip for Jaya's birthday. I had a lot of cake.

Once we were done Simone and I headed off to Zanzibar to hang out and have a drink or too. I got so sleepy I dozed off while Simone was in the bathroom and one of the bouncers woke me up telling me it was time to go...

On Sunday I had a dinner, at least that's what my datebook says. I'm trying to remember which dinner it was but, you know what, I don't! Aside from the I went to see the Chinese New Year parade with my american friend Gwen and her husband Chris. Gwen woke up early to get to the front of the fence but got jostled by some impolite spectators. Nevertheless she managed to find herself a position towards the side and because she had a giant hi-tech camera she was able to stand next to the press section. She got some great shots. I, being a few rows back got a lot of heads in my pictures as well.

Wolverined
Here is an excerpt from my other journal about how I got to well, see Hugh Jackman because of work:

The whole event that we went to was a special event for group bookings. Group bookers are nice local agencies that buy tickets in the 20s or 50s then sell them to people seperately (possibly with additional cost) and/or with accomodation or certain travel packages. A lot of the people that came were from the country or even out of state. Most of them were nice looking old people that made us feel very young.

I went with my work friend Vanessa who is also a filo, being true filos, we found ourselves 2 seats towards the front (as in behind the two front tables) and shared a table with a whole bunch of people from various parts of sydney, all group bookers, and mostly baby boomers or older. There was free champagne and wine plus some various appetizers that we missed out on because everyone else at the table liked to eat so I went to nick some from the table where everyone else from work was.

The show started with introductions about Peter Allen, who is the guy who the Boy from Oz is about. He is an aussie performer who was once married to Liza Minelli, realised he was gay, met his partner and eventually died of AIDS. He is a true Australian icon, and he popularised the song "I call Australia home" which I had never heard of till that night, much to the shock of everyone in my office as its supposed to be an aussie legend that everyone sings when they want to be patriotic.

They showed a short clip of hugh, his background and winning the Tonys, then they introduced the producer and the director - who choreographed, among other things, the salt lake city winter olympics, several musicals, and cher/madonna/barbra's tours. (his credentials were rather impressive)

Then finally, out came Hugh.

The first thing you notice about him is that he is very tall. I mean the man is Wolverine for a reason. And that he has very clear skin and no wrinkles, which I believe is thanks to a lot of make up or as was pointed out to me later, possibly botox. He has nice crinkles around his eyes but that's it. He has a sense of humour and is very pleasant. The moment he walked on stage this old dude took his picture and there was a flash right in his face. He graciously stepped down and took a picture with him. But that was the most. He seemed to only pay attention to old people!

He talked a bit about the show and introduced the people performing with him, including Chrissy Amphlett, the lead singer of the Divinyls("When I think about you I touch myself...") who was playing Judy Garland in the film. Then he sang "I call Australia Home". Thanks to the camera I borrowed from Sacha I was able to take a lot of close ups but because he was singing and moving around a lot some of them were a bit fuzzy. He got this gift from this lady and walked around a bit near the tables in front of us. I was blocked by an entire table or I would've leapt up and possibly tried to take one of those insert yourself and me into the picture shots. When he left Vanessa leapt up and tried to get a picture of him walking by, but sadly, we missed getting that close.

After he left there was a short discussion and then they said goodbye. We hung around and they served all this yummy food - wonton, spring rolls, mini burgers and mini pizzas so we all ate. Vanessa and I hung around the media giveaway booth for so long that they finally gave us each a bag which means I now have the soundtrack, a promotional dvd, a poster, cap and a lot of other things.

I will however, not be watching the show because its too expensive and I'm not entirely a patriotic Australian... yet.

Rrrrrraunchy
A great part of what occupied my life for February was our project for Consumer Behaviour. Okay, to be fair I didn't put as much effort into this summer class as I usually do for regular classes and I still spent most of my time working but we tried. The requirements for the project involved observing a particular consumer behavior for a certain product and analyze it using marketing terms. We ended up doing Raunch Culture which is basically the consumption of sex and how it is portrayed in the media, etc. If you want an example of what Raunch Culture is, well, Paris Hilton is its poster girl.

I had to do a couple of interviews for the report so I interviewed practically all the Aussie born or bred people that I know - Simone and her boyfriend Maurice, Scott, Kartini's boyfriend and Karen her good friend, Kat, Rose, etc. asking them all these questions about what they thought about Raunch and showing them ads.

We had to do a presentation and a written report, half of which I ended up leaving to my groupmate - there were only two of us - as I had to take the exam earlier than she did. Our professor moved the exam to the Monday when I would be in the Gold Coast so I had to make arrangements to take it on the Friday anyway, which resulted in me running to Office Works to print out a ten page reviewer I had made (Thank God she gave out the exam questions early) at 10 in the morning for a 2 o clock test. (Yes. I cram.) Multiple amounts of coffee and Natural Snakes (think gummy worms) later I made my way through that exam. So far I have passed the subject, and although I did all right in my exam our presentation - which given its haphazardness I'm not surprised - although passing, didn't score so well. She appeared to have really high standards though, since the class average was even lower than our mark.

Housewarming
On the 25th of February we had our housewarming party finally at the house. I had work so my contribution pretty much was just alchohol and some dip. Sacha and Kartini went all out and made punch and whipped up home made dip. A lot of people brought beer. Sacha invited all the guys we met speed dating (yes, we went again and it was fun and we made friends, but no, i didn't meet anyone that rocked my world) but only two of them came.

The highlight of the evening was when this Russian woman who couldn't even speak english walked in through the front door and started playing the piano. We all thought she was someone else's friend but it turns out no one knew her. She started flailing around and dancing, she tried to take Rob (who we met speed dating) upstairs and she fell on some of the vegetables we had cut up for dip. Rob and Pat (new housemate) ushered her out and Rob ended up smooching with her outside. This we discovered thanks to Suheil, my friend from work who came along with Vanessa who provided running commentary. The police had to come and get her later on because someone reported her lying on the road. Rob seems to think she had been assaulted because she managed to ramble on in english when prompted and she lived in a shelter and was very frazzled and worried.

One of Kartini's friends who was a DJ spun some tunes in the lounge room while Brendan and David (also from speed dating) played acoustic music in the courtyard. There were a bunch of people we didn't know but it was pretty fun anyway. My cousin Miel and her housemate Yvette came, so did Martina from uni and her friend Yuka. We had a lot of fun entertaining. No one got really plastered. Most people stayed till around 2 or 3 - some of Sacha's friends stayed until 4 while the rest of us just knocked out - and it looks like everyone had a great time.

And the Rest of February
Will be explained by my next entry on the Gold Coast. We also had the exterminator come last Wednesday (which is technically March) and had to take all the things out of the kitchen. We are still in the process of moving everything back and the roaches are still there, primarily because we have so many methods of entry into our house. The last roach I saw the other night was huge and I actually stopped to examine it because it had interesting markings, indicating that it was one of those bush cockroaches again, which is okay as long as they aren't in the house. Thank God Lisa wasn't there or she just would have been hysterical, I was hysterical enough as it was screaming everytime I hit it as it was a really big one. We have resolved to attempt to plug up the holes in our house and get a doorstopper or as Pat says, get that powder you put under the door that stops them dead...

2006-03-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

Eat your heart out, Paris Hilton! Here comes Sacha!

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Me and my Stilettos

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Rob & Kat on our night of clubbing

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Happy Birthday to Rose! With her friend from Senegal.

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With the birthday girl. Brendan, Sacha and Me

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Iba ang may pinagsamahan...Andee with turkish beer.

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The Super Yummy Dip Selection

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Shake that booty! The bellydancer in action

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Jaya blows out the candles

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Jaya & Andie cutting the...cake?

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Jaya's Tulip birthday cake

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Our drinks at the Zanzibar

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Simone & Me at the Zanzibar

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the Zanzibar's array of drinks

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Part of a Dragon! Lots of the floats featured the Beijing Olympics.

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Kung Hei Fat Choi!

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One of the floats from the Chinese New Year Parade