Culture shock

Mel & I, together with a group of friends, bought tickets to the opera La Boheme. The performances are in Italian but subtitles are provided.

Like most operas, the storyline is base on a love story. And since it was my first operatic experience, I was really looking forward to it.

Oooh man.

Call me an unromantic, uncultured ignorant. But by the second Act, every strand of hair on my body was standing on ends. There was WAY too much love in the air for me to bear.

I could literally feel Melvin cringing and rolling his eyes!

The acts after intermission was a lot more solemn. I found myself immersing more into the characters and the drama of the tragic ending.

Admittedly, it was a very pleasant evening. Besides some face cringing moments, I had a ball.

And, given a second opportunity to rub shoulders with the culturally inclined socialites. I would gladly give it another go.

At least I got to doll up and tread around in my little cocktail dresses!

[I could just feel all your shallow glares!!!!]

Shoe laces and a broken ring

It has been almost a week since we put Salem under house arrest. He seems to be coping well besides the outburst sporadic meowing [which thankfully only happens whenever we open the balcony sliding doors].

Poor thing.

I have to admit. There was a little burden of guilt brewing in me. And I was beginning to get a little worried what this new captive life style will do to him.

So in fear of causing any bad and irreversible damage to his “catly” instinct and agility. I began my search around the apartment for a new toy that he could play with. In hope of re-invigorating his little mind.

I never believed in buying those expensive cat toys. The only toys we ever bought Salem were;
- His all time favourite little stuffed blue mouse
- A knitted ball
- And his scratching post.

The rest of his play pan collectibles consist of used present ribbons. An old shoelace. An old tennis ball. Used M&M candle figurine containers. Little vibrating pull out toys I bought from Brisbane Victoria markets years ago. Paper bags. AND. His favourite “hanging-around-the-kitchen- pass-time” toy. Rolled up plastic bags.

After much scrummaging through my bathroom cabinet. I stumbled upon my old spiral ring that I had bought from Paddington’s market a year ago. It was once my trophy possession. I never left home without it. Till it snapped one day.

So today. It became Salem’s new toy.

He absolutely and utterly fell in love with it!!

He was smacking it around the bathroom floor. Pushing it under doors. Carried it around the apartment. And his most ingenious self invented game ever. Bathtub ring hockey. How funny!

I tied the ring to his old shoelace. And for the very first time. Managed to catch his attention for a good whole 30 mins!

For fear that he may gradually get bored with his new toy. I decided to put a stop to this new obsession and kept his new toy for another day.

He glared at me unapprovingly and resumed his meowing at open balcony doors.

There’s no winning is there.... arg.

Surprise weekend getaway

It was Melvin’s birthday past Friday. I wanted to surprise him with a weekend getaway at The Rocks. So for the past week, I spent my precious lunchtime break, browsing through the web, making calls, plotting and planning for his gift.

Melvin was absolutely convinced that he was going to play lawn bowling that weekend. Even called a couple of friends and our neighbours to organise the game!

Can you imagine how stressed I was! I had to do a lot of lying [which I suck at] and whinging about how tired I am and really do not wish to exert myself over the weekend, to finally persuade him to [VERY begrudgingly mind you] drop the idea.

I somehow managed to bite my tongue through the week. And armed with a fake aloof demeanour, pretended to “play it cool”. I came this close to telling him the truth [well to be honest, mainly to shut him up].

And boy did he play the game. He whinged, he demanded, he threatened that he had to work over the weekends. All to force the truth out of me!

Soooo meeeannn.

Anyway. I managed to eventually pull it off. And on Friday, at dinner, while we were both devouring 2 mub crabs. I told him what I got him for his birthday.

My gift - A weekend getaway at The Sebel Pier One Sydney located idyllically at the water edge of The Rocks. A half-hour adrenaline heart pumping thrill ride on the Adventure Jet Boat at the harbour! And than off to watch the much anticipated AFL game at the pub with greasy pub food for lunch. [The Eagles were THIS CLOSE to wining the grand finals. Arg. It was so painful to watch. sigh.]

Oh. And a tie I bought from Melbourne.

I was beaming with pride when I saw a smile unwillingly creeping from behind his aloof face.

We checked in early the next morning. The Jet Boat ride was pretty good. We did several 360 degrees spins and saw many secluded beaches and huge [how rich are these people?!] mansions.

At the pub, Melvin ordered the largest beer he could find. 1 litres of gold liquid. It was so funny watching him drink from this huge mug, which literally was the size of his FACE. AND watching him turn redder and redder with every gulp.

It was a very good weekend. A couple of our uni mates joined us for the jet boat adventure and the game. Than Mel and I spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around the rocks, roaming through the markets and enjoying the beautiful weather. Dinner was at the much talked about restaurant called Wildfire just 10mins walk from our hotel.

I had a whole lobster for my main! Wok fired with chilli, salt and pepper, and black bean! Boy was it good. I did not care that I was the only one in the restaurant sucking and smacking away. AND eating with my fingers. YUUMM.

Mel had the duck. And a Very Good Duck it was. Double YUM.

Check out time was unusually late, at 12. So we did not have to rush the next morning, which was really good.

We felt so relaxed and pampered. What a stress free way to end a stress filled week. =)

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Under house arrest

Salem is a domestic short hair. A well accustom pet for the indoor living. So when we got him. We decided that was what he was going to be. An indoor cat.

After moving into our apartment. We installed a cat door so he could go into the balcony. And that was as far away from home as he gets. Besides the neighbour’s balcony next to us.

Last night. He discovered how to leap into the balcony of the neighbour above us. And from there. He discovered the stairwell. And the “WORLD”.

Only problem. He did not discover how to get back.

I was scared shitless for 10mins while he went on his disappearing act. After much calling and waving his favourite treat in the air. I spotted him from our balcony. Roaming around the creek looking absolutely lost.

I ran out of the apartment into the stairwell and called out to him. He ran towards me. Meowing away.

My heart melted. I felt like an irresponsible parent.

After feeding him his dinner and giving him many hugs and kisses. And his largest ration of treats ever.

The little brat went out into the balcony and attempts to “escape” again!

He is SO under house arrest.

Mid-Autumn Mooncake Festival

Today is the Mid-Autumn Mooncake Festival.

I love eating the little lotus paste cakes. Especially the ones with egg yokes in them. yummm!

The atmosphere here in Sydney is quite different from Singapore. It doesn’t have the intensity that normally builds up before this celebration. Though I have to admit I was quite stunned when I heard a radio presenter wishing his listeners a Happy Mooncake Festival.

It put a smile on my face. But it was still not the same.

Back in Singapore. Kids would have already bought their lanterns and lighted them up in parks. Jurong Chinese Gardens would have had her annual display of the largest lanterns imaginable. Stores everywhere would have already sold hundreds of the beautifully flowered boxes of cakes. Tea and yams would have been brewed and steamed to compliment the sweetness of the lotus paste cakes.

My family would now be gathered around a table with a display of the little sweet cakes, sampling the different boxes bought from various “Best Mooncakes” stores in town.

And I?!

I managed to steal a slice at our church’s mooncake party with a spec of egg yoke dangerously hanging on.

How sad…

Sudden impulse moment

I flew in to Melbourne for a couple of days for work. On my return ride to the airport. It suddenly dawn upon me that despite the many trips (both for work and pleasure) to Melbourne. I have never taken a picture of this city before!

Acting purely on an irrational impulse to capture the moment. I scrambled through my bag, took out my camera and quietly snapped away from the back seat of the taxi.






I got a couple of weird glares from the driver through his rear mirror for that.

How embarrassing.

PJ Night

A group of girlfriends of mine got together to organise a pyjama’s party. We were to stay at one of the girl’s apartment down by the harbour at Pyrmont.

Before heading off to our girlie night. A few of us had bought tickets to the Australian production of The Producers. So we bid the party goodbye for a couple of hours and headed off to the theatres.

I always enjoy live musicials. The live performances. The stage props. How every illusion so creatively captured in the defined limited floor space of the stage. And how scenes are so quickly and almost magically transformed to the next. I had a blast.

After the show. We went back to the apartment to join the rest of the gals.

The night was filled with giggles, gossips, junk food, marriage proposals and ex-boyfriends stories (yes boys.... we talk about u even after you're gone). Someone had brought along one of those “get to know each other better” games book, which we passed around each taking turns to ask a question.

It started off pretty mild. But later on into the night, with all the salt and sugar we were ingesting. The stories started to get interesting.

We were trading off experiences of disaster dates, undesirable courtships, long distance relationships, how to dump a guy “gently”. AND escape plans from nightmare dates!!

It was loads of fun. We laughed and laughed and didn’t hit the bed till 4am! Boy was I pooped!

The next morning was a definite late starter. Lazily and half awake. We managed to stagger our way to Pyrmont Fish Market for lunch.

We treated ourselves to 2 seafood platters, oysters, prawns, salmon, grilled octopus, bbq eel, wine and rich full cream berry yogurt. Who says girls only eat salads!

The rest of the afternoon was spent soaking our aching bodies in the heated indoor pool and Jacuzzi.

oh Boy have I forgotten how fun PJ nights can be!! Thanks for the great night babes!

Suburbia pleasantness

I am going to break the rule of real time blogging and back date to last weekend.

It was a beautiful sunny spring Saturday. I woke up to one of those mornings where you just want to kick back over a cup of tea, have breakfast in a local café, relax and sun bathe ALL day.

We rushed through our usual weekend house cleaning duties and were out of the door by 10.

Mel and I hardly ever go out for breakfast. I think it is because most weekend mornings are spent mucking around the house idling on couches and me fussing around cleaning and attending to the garden. So it is really nice when we actually get up to something in the morning.

We drove our little MX5, hood down, hair in the wind to our neighbour suburb Wahroonga. Found a nice cosy café and ordered our poached eggs and bacon on toast with mushrooms on the side. yum.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a pamphlet in the mail, sent out by our local lawn bowling club, offering a free starter lesson for beginners. We have been talking about giving lawn bowling a go ever since Mel came home one day [after a team building event] going on and on about how fun it was. Even got our neighbours to agree to give this predominately oldie sports for the retirees a go. But somehow, work and other social commitments always got in the way.

So I decided it's time to get my little bud down to our local lawn bowling club to check it out.

The atmosphere in the little unassuming club was refreshingly warm and friendly. A bowling session, which includes bowling balls, the lawn and a free introductory lesson, cost a mere $5 per person!! Wow! We are SO in!

On the drive home. We dropped by a garage sale from across our street and bought a microwave egg cooker for 50 cents! And some old antique looking napkins holders.

Back home. We popped in to the neighbours for a quick coffee catch up. Table conversation consisted of aqua aerobics, upgrading projects around home, lawn bowling, Thai tea, red bean paste, Japanese rice cakes and outdoor dining tables. I love how random the conversations went!!

Salem had been meowing from our balcony looking down at us the whole time we were at the neighbour's (we live in a low density apartment that has staggered balconcies). He always does that btw... The minute he hears us from over the "fence" he would jump onto the ledge and give us grief till we acknowledge his presence or till we get back home. The silly thing.

Anyhow, it was soon late noon and after a quick game of table tennis (oh yes, did I mention we bought ourselves a table tennis table a couple of weeks ago and have been table tennis crazy ever since!!). We showered and got ready to go to a house warming party in the city.

A friend of ours had recently bought himself a lovely terrace house in a happening and funky part of town. I am simply in LOVE with those cool colonial frontage houses. Everything from the oh so cosy fire place to the colonial visage and the narrow back yards and tiny balconies. I secretly wished I could buy myself one too. But a year ago, we opted for a brand new comtempo apartment instead, which I am ALSO absolutely in love with too... *silly smile*

Anyhow, the party was a dash but we knew it was time to leave when people started rolling up the “good stuff”. The unmistakable rubbery sweet smell of weed.

I [of course] was the designated driver. Almost stall the car twice on our drive home.

Damn those 5 gear manual transmission!

And with that, I end my (never ending) story of my day spent in a nice surburbia way... =)

Brisbane

I had some spare time during lunch today and thought I'd post some pictures I took in a recent business trip to Brisbane.

The Man Made Beach

The first time I saw this man-made beach was back in 2001. I was like… “what’s the point?! Could never beat the real thing. Crazy beach obsessed Queenslanders.”

But now, looking at the little kiddies splashing around in the safety of the confined toddler zone. Parents watching away looking absolutely relaxed and stress free. I suddenly thought to myself- What a great idea!

An Indescribable Moment

Words cannot describe how good it feels to sit in the sun, sipping down a nice cool drink on a glorious spring day. Coming from tropical humid Singapore. I never take the beautiful weather that Australia is so blessed with for guaranteed.

Thus the saying …What a lucky country we live in… sigh…. I concur… =)


er...Belts Galore??

I must have taken this out of sheer boredom. No doubt it must have been while I was sitting in my room, after an idealistic dash on the treadmill, waiting for dinner and feeling absolutely famished. hehe… Belts anyone??

Decisions decisions decisions

My company car has reached its 3-years life span. So come October, I'm going to get a smacking brand new wheels of steel. Woohoo!!

All I have to do now is to decide on the color.

Should I go seductive Vespers metallic blue or mysteriously fierce Phantom black (ggrr)? Hmmm….