On This Day 10 Years Ago

August 31, Malaysia's Independence Day. If I were still back in KL, this would be a long weekend for the family. In the past, back before the advent of cable TV, we would just laze around in front of the idiot box and watch boring parades carried 'live" over the TV stations. Things changed 10 years ago.

Ten years ago on August 31, I wasn't in front of any TV. I was in Langkawi covering an event - a go-kart race. The Sun, the newspaper that I was working for at that time, sent me there. The Sun also had its own representatives for the race - not that any of the four blokes could race properly! We were all there just for the fun. For me personally, it was more of a much needed holiday than anything else. And being the only rose among the thorns had its privileges. I got golden treatment everywhere I went.

I was in the media room when the shocking news of Princess Diana's death reached me. It must be a joke. That was my first thought. In fact, that was everybody's first thought. But no, a reporter from Berita Harian swore that it was the truth. You must remember, in 1997, the Internet was still in its infancy. There was no wireless broadband and no SMS to send messages around. It took a while for us to verify the story.

Boy, all of us in the media room were in shock when reality sank in. Well, none of us knew Princess Diana personally (how many people actually did anyway?) but she was such a big personallity, the most recognisable woman in the world. The news of her sudden and tragic death was just a bit hard to swallow. And over the next few hours, we scurried to find more news of her death, instead of paying attention to the go kart race! Ha ha ha. Of course, we did write about the race after it ended but it was naturally overshadowed by something else that was much, much bigger.

Well, it's been 10 years. And it's the Merdeka Day that holds the most vivid memory for me. Ironically, it's not about Malaysia but a foreign lady from afar.

Homework Should Be Banned?

Okay, this is going to make Malaysian parents cringe. The Tasmanian Parents And Friends Association says that homework should be banned altogether! And apparently a lot of parents share the sentiment.

Gosh! That's about the most absurd thing I've ever heard. I got this information from an article that appeared sometime back in The Herald Sun newspaper. At first I thought I misread the sentence with that statement. I had to read it a few times to make sure I got it right. It seems that homework is "an excuse for poor teaching in the classroom and merely adds to the stress of students".

Goodness, as it is, the kids here don't have much homework to do. From Prep to Year 3, there is no homework at all. The kids just get supervised tuition in school - meaning they finish whatever they need to do in the classroom. They have daily readings at home but the teachers stress these are not homework, just something to practise on. And even some exercises that the kids bring home are optional. And no, they stress that's NOT homework. Hmm, "homework" must be a very bad word indeed.

The kids already have things too easy here. I say some homework is definitely a must. Otherwise, they are sure to get lazy and find it hard to cope when they go to secondary school. This is already happening, especially among Australian born kids. But the parents don't seem too overly concerned about the lack of enthusiasm in homework.

I still don't get it. Homework should be banned? That's just too ridiculous.

Blooming Blossoms

It's such a cliche but truly, when you see cherry blossoms blooming all around you, you know it's spring. Well, officially, it is still winter until the last day of August but signs of spring are everywhere now.

And until now, I'd never really seen cherry blossoms before. The fake ones we see during Chinese New Year don't count. The real ones are really a sight to behold, especially when there are a few of them together.

They come mostly in pink. But there are white and red ones as well. Each is gloriously beautiful in its own way. I can't get enough of them although I've seen them everywhere by now. I even have one cherry blossom tree in my own backyard. I didn't realise it is a cherry blossom tree because its branches were botak until 2 weeks ago. I actually mistook it for some old, dying tree! Ignorant, that's me.

As beautiful as they are, cherry blossoms don't last very long, probably 4 to 5 weeks at most. Pity! But there are other breathtakingly beautiful flowers waiting to make an appearance. I'm looking forward to that. My mother will love that too. She should only come visiting during spring. Not this year though. Hopefully next year.

Hello Spring! I just hope we don't get hay fever with all the pollen floating around.

Memories

It's a pain getting older. My memory is not as sharp as it used to be. I once prided myself for having a fantastic memory. That's why I did fairly well in subjects like History, Geography and Biology. Well, not anymore. These days, my ability to remember things seems to be slipping - a sure sign of ageing.

In the past 2 weeks, I've misplaced my house keys 3 times. Each time it happened, I ran around like a mad woman in the house looking for the keys. In one of those occasions, I nearly couldn't leave the house to send Joshua to school. I found the keys eventually but as a result, Joshua was late for school!

And there have been numerous times where I can't remember what I cooked for lunch the day before, where we went to on the weekend, which shopping mall we went to, who came to visit the week before, etc. I often find myself being forced to mentally comb every corner of my brain to get the answers.

Thankfully, I can still remember things that happened years ago. Not Alex, though. He doesn't seem to have a vivid memory of his childhood. Well, he can't even remember when we first started dating! And yesterday he got the year we were married wrong.

I guess my memory is still a little more intact than others. And hopefully it will be like that for a while.

It Runs In The Family

It's common to see familiar traits and mannerisms in children from the same family. Younger siblings, in particular, have the tendency to follow what their older brothers and sisters do. They may mimic the way their "heroes" (some kids do hero-worship their big brothers or sisters) talk, walk and interact with others. Or maybe they have the same interests and hobbies.

In my family, such similarities extend to cousins and nephews as well. Tse Hao, my nephew, talks in a very animated way, sometimes a tad dramatic. Joshua does that too. They used to hang around quite a fair bit back in KL. Maybe that's where Joshua picked up the animated style. He's still like this here in Melbourne. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

These 2 boys share another thing - they love drawing and making art crafts. Their drawings often have words - making the drawings look like picture stories. Now, my third sister Hui Yin used to do something like that when she was a kid. In fact, she had her own comic strips - complete with speech bubbles and all (Her husband Rizal was like that too when he was a boy - no wonder they clicked so well!!).

The thing is, Hui Yin is not Tse Hao or Joshua's mother. I certainly never did any picture stories as a kid. Neither did Tse Hao's mother, my second sister Sue Yin, although she was pretty good at sketching.

Another thing - Joshua likes to create his own "songs". He would sing some nonsensical stuff and go on and on for a while. Hui Yin did that too 20 years ago. It is just so weird!

Now, I have another little nephew - JJ. He's my youngest sister Wei Wei's son. He is turning 2 next week and he looks so much like me when I was a toddler. Don't know why. He's not my son but he looks like me. Ha ha. And apparently, his mannerisms are said to be almost identical to Joshua's.

What makes it even more interesting is the fact that JJ and Joshua hardly ever spend time together. So where did JJ get what Joshua has?

Must be the crazy genes in my family. Yes, they run deep.

Tse Hao & Tse Yuen

Long before my own kids were born, I was very close to two other very special kids - my nephews Tse Hao and Tse Yuen, sons of my second sister Sue Yin.

I used to visit them almost every weekend. Then I started going out with Alex. The first few times Alex came along for the visits, Tse Hao would burst out crying! For some strange reason, the boy didn't like Alex on sight. We always joked that probably because the kid could see horns sprouting from Alex's head! The younger boy, Tse Yuen, seemed more partial to Alex's presence.

Then I got married and had Joshua and Joanne. The four kids got along famously. My regular visits to my sister's house continued until we migrated to Melbourne last year. My kids miss them and they appear to miss my kids too.

So I was thrilled when I started receiving their emails. They are big kids now, 11 and 9 respectively. It's always nice to hear from them. Tse Hao, the more flamboyant of the 2, is now sort of "inventing" his own version of the English language. It takes a bit of head scratching to decipher what he's talking about. My other sister Hui Yin describes the language as a disgrace. Which is quite true. But as long as the boy knows exactly how those words are supposed to be spelt and he doesn't do that with his homework and exams, I guess it's okay. He's pretty bright actually but somehow loves appearing silly. Beats me!

Tse Yuen, the younger one, appears to be more mature between the two. He has a big heart and always thinks of the welfare of others first. He gets worried if somebody spends too much money on something. He also would let Joshua "win" from time to time whenever they played. And Joanne just adored him, always holding his hand whenever they went out somewhere together. Fantastic traits from a 9-year-old, don't you think?

Well, I hope Joshua and Joanne will be able to exchange emails with them soon. For now, I'll have to help them type out their messages. Still, isn't the Internet great? It's so much easier to stay in touch with loved ones now.

Hungry Ghosts Roaming Around?

I'm not a very "Chinese" Chinese. And living in Australia doesn't help improve that. I don't have a lunar calendar at home so I have no idea what festival is up soon, until I saw some Chinese shops in Box Hill selling mooncakes.

Yes, mooncakes are easily available in Melbourne. Still, something is lacking. The mood is not there. Perhaps it's the absence of lanterns adorning the shops. I haven't seen any in Box Hill, although the population is 90% Chinese.

And if the Mid Autumn Festival is just around the corner, that means it's now the 7th month in the Lunar Calendar - the month when Hell's gate is supposedly open, the month where spirits of the departed roam freely on Earth, the month that you really should watch your back lest some lost soul decides to follow you home.

Now, that spooky feeling is entirely missing here. Why? Probably because I don't see anyone burning hell money or offering food by the roadside to starving, wandering spirits . You know how your hair sometimes stand up and you feel a chill running down your spine as you walk past those offerings at night in the 7th month. Well, not a tiny weeny bit of that feeling here.

Also, I don't have to endure all those advertisements over Astro's Wah Lai Toi on this month's ghoulish offerings. Gosh, I nearly ODed the last time. I bet the cinemas in Malaysia are sending creepy messages to their Chinese audience there too - all in the spirit of making the occasion more, errr, hungry-ghost like.

No such spirit here. Out of sight, out of mind. I'm more convinced than ever that this hungry ghost hoo-haa is all in your head.

Daffodil Day Teddies

Today is Daffodil Day, a day dedicated to raising funds for cancer patients and cancer research. Joshua's school has actively participated in this event, selling a range of items to raise funds this week. The kids were even encouraged to don something yellow instead of their uniforms.

For the past few days, I kept hearing Joshua telling me about some cute teddies the school is selling. I had no idea he actually wanted to buy one of those until yesterday when he finally told me that today would be the last day. The poor boy. I told him he should've just told me he wanted a teddy. Since it's for a good cause, I wouldn't have minded forking out $5.

To my surprise, he said he didn't say so earlier because he was worried I didn't have money. Once more, my emphasis on being thrifty has paid off. A bit sad, though, when my son took such a long time to tell me what he wanted!

Anyway, he was really thrilled to have the money to buy the teddy. After dropping him at school, I took Joanne to Box Hill Centro to do some grocery shopping. And there was a stall selling teddies and other items in conjunction with Daffodil Day as well. Joanne knew Joshua was getting a teddy. So she asked for one too. A good cause. So I readily parted with my money in exchange for a teddy. Joshua would be surprised to see another similar teddy, Joanne quipped.

When we went to pick up Joshua later in the day, he wore a forlorn and sad look. The teddies were sold out! Poor thing. He had been so looking forward to getting one. Luckily, we had another one that we got from the mall. Joanne showed him her teddy - which I insisted should be THEIR teddy.

The kids agreed to share the teddy. And they are playing with it as I'm writing this. Funny how things turned out, huh? If I hadn't gone for my grocery shopping I wouldn't have bought a Daffodil Day teddy for Joanne. And Joshua would probably be very disappointed not being able to get his at school.

I'm just glad they are happy sharing it.

Covered Up

There was a mention of Malaysia on MSN news yesterday and it was for a very silly reason. The coverage was about Gwen Stefani being compelled to "cover up" during her concert there.

Well, to begin with, I was surprised that she was allowed to perform "live" there. Quite a vixen, she's used to showing lots of skin, even during her pregnancy. She looks great, of course. And at least she doesn't have the habit of driving with a suspended license, or drink driving or checking in and out of rehab centres like some celebrities we know.

Apparently, she appeared before her cheering fans on stage donning a black leotard under a white short-sleeved shirt and black-and-white striped hot pants suit, with black gloves up to her elbows. Pretty modest, huh? Stefani described the wardrobe modification as a "major sacrifice"! Ha ha. Well, at least she had the grace to do it.

She was in Melbourne as part of her tour recently. Naturally, there were no such silly restrictions on her stage costumes. Fans were just thrilled she was here.

Pressure to cover up is not a new issue in Malaysia. It's so overdone and doesn't really serve any purpose. Well, people reading the news flash online must think Malaysia a most backward and strange country. And who am I to say it isn't?

Paperback Heroes

Like thousands of women, I'm a sucker for trashy love stories, particularly historical romances set in the Regency and Victorian eras. The funny thing is, I never paid these types of novels much attention until my sister shoved one of her books to me.

(Hui Yin has always been the reader in the family. She never leaves home without a book or two. And sometimes, she reads two books simultaneously!

And she is nuts about historical romances.)

Sure, I spent a fair amount of time reading Mills & Boon stuff during my teens. But I outgrew those (she is still at it, though) and went on to more "serious" and "intelligent" stuff - non-fictions like biographies, real-life crime stories as well as murder mysteries and sci-fi fantasies. And I absolutely had no interest in reading any historical romance novels, until about 2 years ago.

And I've been hooked since. Most of the stories are silly to begin with - titled, dashing and wickedly handsome aristocrats who would move mountains and swim the seven seas to be with their lovely (and often in distress) damsels. There would be conflicts, scandals and even tragedies before they could find true love with each other. And of course, the besotted lovers would live happily ever after.

Predictable? Absolutely. Waste of time? Not entirely.

You see, the words are usually written so beautifully. Even when the characters quarrel, they do so with so much finesse and grace. Check this out:

"If your carriage had been moving at any speed above an almost imperceptible crawl, madam, it would not have posed a reckless endangerment to serious, responsible travellers who would really prefer to get somewhere by the end of a day instead of spending eternity on one stretch of road." - Lucius Marshall, Viscount Sinclair in Simply Unforgettable

Or this:

"A woman can use charms and looks for three things. She can go into the theatre, she can become a man's mistress or she can marry. As for me, I have no inclination or talent for acting and no wish to shame my family by entering into an illicit relationship. My only choice is marriage. That, I suppose, is what it means for a woman to be a survivor." - Elizabeth Hotchkiss in How To Marry A Marquis

Classy, no? I absolutely adore this kind of language (of course the book titles are often really no brainers). Which explains why I'm so besotted with Hugh Jackman's Leopold in Kate & Leopold! Leopold talks like that - and he's tall, dark and handsome! Ha ha.

Well, there's nothing wrong with indulging in a little fantasy, as silly as it sounds. After all, grown men the world over are obsessed with their comics. At least I don't need to look at pages of drawings to read my books. That's for kids, isn't it?

Fish Out Of Water

My sister Hui Yin started her new job at Hong Leong Bank yesterday. It is only her second job after being in the workforce for about 10 years. I say good for her.

I read her email just now. As expected, she is a bit depressed now, having had to adjust to a new workplace, new bosses, new colleagues, new everything, etc. She even described her current state of being like a fish out of water.

Well, fish, listen up. Leaving a dead-end job, or rather a job that's no longer rewarding, is the best thing you can do for yourself. Whether you've made the right choice still remains to be seen, of course. But at least you've taken that leap. If anything, it may be the right stepping stone to move elsewhere eventually. After this first leap, you'll find it easier to leap again if the need arises. Trust me. I know.

I remember my last permanent job. The pay was much better than my job before that but more was also expected of me. And I had this real "terror" title on my business card too - Senior Consultant, Content Development. Gosh, I nearly fainted when I saw that. I was merely a low profile content writer and my new employers upgraded me a few times! Perpetually worried that I couldn't live up to expectations, I hardly ever handed out my business card, even when I was supposed!

Honestly, I didn't think I could last very long there. Everything was so high tech and I was pretty intimated by the demanding clients we served. But you know what, eventually, it turned out to be the job that I stayed on the longest - 5 years - in all my years in the workforce back in KL. Things got easier as time went by, of course.

So fish, if you're reading this, know that it's normal to be depressed now. But a smart cookie like you should have no trouble getting the hang of things at the new office. Good luck! Break both legs!

Anyone Missing Daddy?

Alex is away on a business trip in China. He's been there for a few days. And each day, I would ask the kids if they missed their daddy. The answer was invariably a "No", expressed in an I-couldn't-care-less manner.

But this morning, I got a different reply from Joanne. She actually said "Yes". Ah finally, I thought, redemption for the man of the house. At least one of his kids finally started to miss him. When I asked my 4-year-old why, she replied: "I want Daddy to come home because we don't have much money left. We need him to give us money to buy things."

Some redemption. (I have been stressing the need to be thrifty since we are now a single income family and it appears that Joanne actually understands that more than I give her credit for.)

So Daddy is only useful because without him, we have no money. It's awful to hear my own child sounding so mercenary!

Well, that the price for not being a hands-on dad during the first 12 months of the kids' lives. Unlike many modern dads I know, Alex seemed to be stuck in the 1950s, happy to leave everything concerning the kids to me (and his parents while we were in Malaysia). It used to irk me endlessly. Then I gave up on nagging him. He would eventually regret that.

And I was right. These days, Alex does try to make up what he missed before with the kids. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to handle them. He'll be completely lost if I were to leave the kids with him for more than 2 hours. Yes, it's that bad.

The kids will always prefer me to him, no matter what. So you blokes out there, if you're about to be a dad, make sure you play your parenting role effectively when the time comes. It's kind of sad if your kids don't miss you when you're away!

The Namewee Affair

Well, this young punk sure has got guts. I'm talking about Namewee, the Taiwan-based Malaysian who has caused more than just lots of red faces and is now facing stern legal actions for supposedly insulting the Malaysian national anthem.

His adapted version of the Negaraku (or rather Negarakuku!) was posted on YouTube and has been going around the cyberspace, much to the fury of the Malaysian government and its staunch supporters.

I've seen the video clip and I must say, the "song" is all so true, yet crude and hilarious at the same time. I saw the original version in Chinese and Bahasa. And if you read Chinese, it will have you in stitches in no time!

Few people have the guts to do what Namewee did, me included. One wonders whether he did it on impulse or had given it a lot of thoughts prior. We whinge about the unfairness we experience with increasing regularity but that's what most of us do. We just whinge among ourselves.

Not Namewee. This bloke actually verbalises, loud and clear, what we, particularly non-Bumi Malaysians, always bitch about. But what he conveys is all true - the injustice, the corruption, the horrendous civil service, the favouritism, etc. And he does so in a crude, yet equally creative and catchy manner.

Namewee is now a condemned man in Malaysia. See the unfairness in speaking the truth? Well, that's Malaysia for you. There is no such thing as freedom of speech there. It's just a myth.

Now, That's Magic

I finally watched The Prestige. Bought the DVD on sale. And it's really worth it. To sum it up, it is brilliant.

Of course, me being an idiot, I had to spoil my fun at least 10-fold by reading the plot and story before watching the movie first. Yeah, stupid me. For some reason, I'm always partial to spoilers. I couldn't wait for the real thing, so I looked for an alternative. You can find almost anything on the Internet these days.

The turns and twists of the story are amazing. Hats off to the author of the original novel, Christopher Priest, as well as Christopher and Jonathan Nolan who expertly adapted the novel for the big screen. It's astounding how creative and imaginative some people can be. Makes me feel extremely inadequate sometimes.

The casting, directing and acting were superb. It is a star-studded cast, with my favourites Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale playing the lead roles of Robert Angier and Alfred Borden respectively. Yeah, Wolverine and Batman are both in the movie!

Well, actually, they played more than one role each. Jackman is dashing and charismatic as the showman magician. He is also quite effective playing a perpetually imbibed actor hired to be his double in his act. Bale's performance too is unblemished. He is unrecognisable in his other role as Fallon, Borden's loyal illusion engineer. And David Bowie - well, I wouldn't know Tesla is Bowie if I hadn't seen the credits!

It was a thrill watching the 2 leads trying to outdo and sabotage each other (I was so mesmerised I didn't touch my favourite potato chips, not even once, and that says a lot!). But what heavy prices they had to pay!

Now I can't wait to get my hands on the novel. Meantime, I will just watch the movie a few more times. Of course, the extras on the DVD will certainly be a bonus for me.

Andrew's Baptism

Today, my nephew Andrew was baptised and welcomed to the Catholic Church. And I have the privilege of being his Godmother. I know, spiritually, I probably don't really qualify but I've been given the job, so I'll do my best as his companion and guide in his spiritual journey.

Anyway, the ceremony was simple yet beautiful. It was held at St Bedes Catholic Church in Balwyn North. St Bedes is also a Catholic school that Andrew is attending. Often, baptisms involved young infants. But in Andrew's case, he has made a conscious and clear decision to become a Catholic. Well, he may only be 9 but he's certainly given a lot of thoughts to that.

The ceremony was also unique in that the parish priest, the very affable and jovial Father Gregory Bennet, took the trouble to explain the important parts of the ceremony. I was baptised as a baby. So I had no recollection of what happened. The highlight was of course seeing Andrew had his head dunked in water. Joanne got really amused at that point!

And one more thing, the ceremony was actually held during the students' recess time this morning. That's right, a baptism during school hours.

Now, that was something I don't think I'll get to witness in Malaysia.

The Ugly Asian Driver

I hate to say this, but on the rare occasions that I witness someone behaving rudely, the culprit is almost always Asian. I've seen Asian shoppers shouting at each other and Asian drivers fighting over a parking spot. And today, I saw an irate and impatient Asian driver blasting his car horn continuously at the car in front of him.

Well, there was a slight congestion on the road we were travelling on before he lost his cool. But it wasn't long, not even 5 minutes. If you've endured KL traffic during peak hours, this is really nothing. Anyway, this guy was right in front of me and obviously the kiasu type. And he kept honking (I actually hadn't heard that kind of honking since I left KL). Most annoying.

The driver of the white car in front of him had signalled to indicate he wanted to do a reverse side parking. By right, this idiot should've waited and let the guy in front reverse. But no. He had to show his impatience and tried to honk the guy in front of him off the road.

The other guy opened his car door and got out. Great, I thought. There was going to be a showdown, right in the middle of the road! And dear God, this guy turned out to be a burly-looking redhead wearing a dark blue jacket. He had that mean look. Clearly pissed off, he approached the rude Asian driver. Then to my surprise, I saw him whipping out his wallet and flashing a badge.

The mean-looking redhead was a cop! Ha ha ha. Oh dear. The road bully wannabe picked the wrong guy to boss around! I couldn't hear what the cop said but he obviously gave the idiot in front of him a lot to worry about. Served him right for being so darn rude! I was hoping the cop would give him a summons or something like that but I think he let him off with only a warning.

I laughed all the way home. I've read about policemen in unmarked cars. Yep, don't fool around when driving here. Of course, the kiasuism in some Asians is just too hard to curb.

Swimming

Most kids would jump with joy at the thought of going to the swimming pool. Well, not Joshua. He is just weird.

You see, the school has a swimming programme for all the Prepies before this term ends. They are to attend swimming lessons stretched over 9 days at the end of the term. And it's only 45 minutes each session.

But our friend was (and probably still is) horrified by the prospect of going to the pool. It's not that he had had some traumatic near-drowning experience before. He's just too scared to swallow water and have water in his eye, ear and nose. Sissy. Too over-protected when he was back in KL under the care of his grandparents.

Well, he's going, whether he likes it or not. He actually burst into tears earlier because I insisted that he go. I tried convincing him that it would be fun and that he would regret it if he decided to give it a miss. I told him that he should be so lucky. Most kids in Malaysia won't have such an opportunity. I certainly didn't when I was schooling in Malaysia.

We'll see how it goes. He'll probably have so much fun that he forgets to be worried. Which is actually nothing to worry about in the first place! Sigh ...

Parking Blunder

Driving is so easy. I don't know why it took me so long to realise this. I was one of those nuts who passed their driving test eons ago and then never really took up driving. I just kept renewing my license every 3 years. The truth was, I was too scared to drive. Plus, there were too many road bullies in KL.

I never drove in KL, until last year when Alex had to come to Melbourne first, leaving his spanking all new Honda Accord behind. So I had little choice but to drive. It was an automatic car, so getting reacquainted with the art of driving came easily.

However, parking was and still is a big problem. I knew I was in for a hard time when I first arrived in Melbourne. Taking another driving test proved to be a nightmare. Subsequently, I had to sit for the practical driving test 5 times before passing. Strangely, it wasn't the parking part of the tests that failed me.

Anyway, I eventually passed. But my parking skills, or rather the lack of it, are horrendous. It doesn't help that Alex seems to have a deep affinity with big cars. I suppose I should be so grateful and lucky to be driving a Mazda CX-7 but it's really huge for me. Worse, the gate of our garage is so narrow that I'm not allowed to drive in and out of the garage. So Alex has to drive the car out in the morning before he leaves for work and then drive it back in when he comes home in the evening.

And parking at Joshua's school is quite a challenge too. So I try to be early when sending him to or picking him up from school. Half the time I can't park straight and have to get out of the car, take a look at the car's position and then re-park. Quite embarrassing.

And the other day, at the car park of the nearby shopping mall, I nearly couldn't get the car into the parking bay. Actually, I almost hit the pillar next to me. Thankfully, 2 good Samaritans came to my aid and directed me. They must be laughing their heads off after that. Most embarrassing.

But last week, I witnessed something near Joshua's school that made me feel better. Another mum who just passed her driving test was doing what I was doing. She got out of the car and re-parked her car. Heh heh. I'm not alone after all.

Magic 100 Words

Joshua has mastered the Magic 100 words, and he's got a certificate to prove it.

I'm referring to the a collection of commonly used words such as "I", "you", "we", 'yes", "no", "can", "red, "like", "some", "as", etc (you get the drift) that Preppies like Joshua are using to learn to read. There were 15 sets of such words and having mastered all the words, Joshua was given an "award" during the school assembly for his effort.

Well, the kids get "awards" for all sorts of things. A bit overdone, I personally think, but good to help boost self-esteem among the kids.

Anyway, what I want to say here is that the approach used by the schools to encourage reading is very effective. The kids have a daily reading kit that they bring home to read everyday. Joshua is picking up his reading skills fairly quickly. He can read signs on the road, notices on the wall, movie posters, etc.

The other day, I tried to avoid telling him about some kid meal that came with a toy at the Red Rooster restaurant but he saw "The Little Red Rooster Meal" on the wall and insisted that I get him that one. So much for trying to hide information from him. He can read now. He can also construct simple sentences, thanks to the weekly diary writing he does at at school.

Yes, young people here read quite well, but they don't count too well. Numeracy somehow isn't given the same focus and emphasis as literacy. Hmm, someone should really look into this. Maybe I'll bring that out when I have my next teacher-parent interview at the school.

The Priest Who Swore

Swearing can be liberating. I do it all the time, sometimes unfortunately in front of the kids. Yeah I know, I ought to be more in control in the presence of the kids. Anyway, we are not talking about my swearing habits here. We are talking about the unusal outburst of a senior Catholic priest here.

Monsignor Geoff Baron, a senior priest in Melbourne, was recently filmed swearing obsenities to a group of young thugs. Worse, the short footage was posted on YouTube and circulated around the Internet. Naturally, such foul behaviour from a spiritual leader caused an uproar within the community. Parents were aghast and the press was unforgiving, demanding that the Church do something about it. The poor man apparently had to go into hiding for a while.

In the midst of all this, people seemed to have forgotten what triggered the abusive outburst in the first place. The abovementioned young punks had been taunting and tormenting the elderly priest as well as damaging church property for years. They had been warned repeatedly not to cause trouble but the warnings were ignored. They boasted about stealing things from parishioners and skated around the church compound in reckless ways.

So finally, on that fateful day, Monsignor Geoff Baron lost his cool and snapped, unfortunately in full view of many people and was caught on film. Well, he shouldn't have done that. But he is human after all and there is only so much shite a man can take. So in a moment of lapse, he did what many people do every hour of their lives. He swore. And he was damned because of that.

Come on. Where is the justice of this? The real baddies here were the young hooligans whom he'd tolerated for eons. If I were in his shoes, I would've throttled each and every one of them years ago! If anyone were to be punished, it has to be those useless punks whose lives obviously have no purpose on this planet. And shame on their parents too for doing such a lousy job bringing them up.

I say if a priest swears, so be it! He must have a good reason for doing so.

Art House Movie Conundrum

As much as I love movies, I am never into art house movies. Never was, never will. They are just too "deep" for me.

Good old Bala used to ask me to check out free art house movie screenings in KL back in our reporter days at The Sun. He meant well, always willing to share what he perceived as great things with his pals (still does), including moi. I tagged along a couple of times, and each time I came out feeling like an idiot!

While everyone else gushed over a particular film, my mind went blank. What the heck was the movie about? I didn't get it. Either I was profoundly stupid or everyone else feigned cleverness. And if someone happened to ask "So what do you think of the show?", I would produce a safe answer - "It was err, interesting," and quickly walked away before he or she asked another question that was even harder to answer.

Here in Melbourne, the video stores are filled with a huge range of art house movies from around the world. For reasons best known to himself, Alex recently picked one called "Irreversible" starring Monica Bellucci from the shelf.

If you've seen it, you'll know how graphic the violent scenes are and how weird it is - it actually starts from the end and keeps going backwards chronologically. I was totally confused and it took me a while to realise the strange sequence. Watching it really drained me. But I must say, each chapter (about 15 minutes) is only one take, with no cuts in between - pretty impressive acting.

Still, impressive or not, art house movies are certainly not my cup of tea. I don't want to tax my brain when I'm watching a movie. I just want to laugh, get some cheap thrills or marvel at beautiful things. Yeah, that's shallow, I know. But that's just me.

Footy Fun Day

Today was one of those fun days at the school. It's Footy Fun Day. All the kids at Joshua's school were encouraged to come in colours of their favourite football team.

Now, that posed a problem. Apparently, Joshua had chosen a team called The Eagles. I had absolutely no clue what The Eagles wear. Miss Ellard, Joshua's teacher, kindly informed me they come in blue and yellow. I neglected to ask what shades of blue. Luckily, I had good old Google to find that out.

So I managed to find the right colours for Joshua today. Well, as expected, he was a little underdressed. The other kids, being real die-hard footy fans or future footy stars, were decked in jerseys, scarves, socks, shoes and hats of their favourite teams! Riots of colours everywhere. They even had time to show off their outfits in the school hall.

Gee, school is so much fun here! I wonder what fun day is next.

Age Of Love

I can't believe I just spent the last hour watching a really dumb show - Mark What's His Name Age Of Love. You know, one of those so-called reality shows in which one guy gets to be intimate with a bevy of hot babes and then eventually chooses one to be his "mate".

Well, this one is kind of "special" because the catch here is someone quite famous - a world-class tennis pro. Can never pronounce or spell this Mark guy's surname but that's not the point here. Anyway, it boggles the mind that someone already rich and famous is subjecting himself to this kind of humiliation and stupidity.

There are 2 groups of women here - the old cows (40-somethings but still look gorgeous thanks to various kinds of enhancements) and the young chicks (well, they look kind of fake too). And as usual, you see claws coming out (Wolverine would've been proud) when there are a group of women vying for the attention of one man . There are backstabbers, conspirators and traitors. I wonder how these people can be in the same room for more than half an hour. All the hatred, jealousy and ill feelings floating in the apartment they share must be very bad for their mental health! Well, that is assuming all this is real and not staged, of course.

But I must say, it was kind of entertaining in a sick and twisted way. I mean, I watched the WHOLE episode. Total waste of time. I have better things to do next week.

No Comparison

The Aussies are generally a nice, friendly and helpful bunch. But they complain a lot too.

They complain about the poor public transport service, about having to pay for this and that, about their councils not doing enough. They are pretty vocal about the country's leadership style too, hitting out at the Prime Minister and other top politicians directly without fear of persecution.

They whinge if the bus is only 5 minutes late. I mean, come on. What's 5 minutes? I've waited for the darn bus for more than 2 hours back in KL before! Five minutes late is actually "on time" according to Malaysian standard. Nay, make that "early".

Taxes are high here for a reason - they go back to the people. Australians enjoy roads without tolls, fantastic public health and community services, top notch civil services and many social benefits unheard of in Malaysia. Yet, it's not enough for some of them. I read about this woman who complained about having to fork out more for petrol these days because the government is not paying her enough family benefits. Duh? She doesn't even have to work and she is whining about not having enough dole?? She ought to go live in Malaysia. She would be out on the street and still be alive if she's lucky!

And what about criticising the Prime Minister and his politicians? Mr John Howard and friends kena left right and centre from everyone here. In Malaysia, if you so much as hint about the PM not doing this or that right, you may get a call from the police very soon. Worse, they may just arrest you under the Internal Security Act and stuff you in some obscure prison indefinitely!

See the difference between First World and Third World? Enough said.

Movie Night

Tuesday. My favourite day. Why? Because of cheap video rentals on Tuesdays. Yep, it's my movie day.

Going to the cinema is an expensive affair here. When we watched Transformers a couple of months back, it cost us a bomb - AU$16 per adult ticket! Renting DVDs is a much cheaper alternative. And there are quite a few options too.

At Video Buster, you can rent a DVD for only AU$1 on Tuesdays and have it for a week. Of course for new releases, the rental period may be limited. Another good place to go is Video EZY. Gosh, they have everything and a lot of new movies. They even sell ex-rental DVDs at crazy prices. Its rental charges are higher than Video Buster's. Still, it's a lot cheaper than going to the cinema.

Renting DVD is really worth it. The kids truly make the best of it, watching their kiddie shows at least 7 times before returning the DVDs!

And another plus - all DVDs are original and uncensored. If you don't like something, don't watch it. The movie rating is clearly printed on the cover. Read carefully before renting.

Well, gotta go. Have to catch my Ocean's Twelve now. I know it's an old movie but I didn't get to see it when it was first released. So it's a treat for me tonight.

Saved By The Ring

I've always known everything happens for a reason. And what happened last night at my parents' house in my hometown in Bukit Mertajam bore testimony to that.

I usually make my weekly phone call to my parents on Sunday evening. And for some reason, I delayed my call for half an hour last night. And that turned out to be a good thing. My 2 sisters were there too and were just leaving when I called. They were already at the gate, getting ready to get in the car. But they went back into the house when they heard that it was me on the phone because they too wanted to have a chat with me.

My youngest sister Wei Wei promptly left her handbag for her husband CP to hold. As he hung around outside the gate, he noticed a motorbike approaching him. As it got nearer the pillion rider stood up, trying to snatch the bag from CP! Good thing he was alert and managed to foil the snatch theft attempt.

I shudder to think if it was Wei Wei standing out there with her handbag. So waif-like, she would have been pushed to the ground and probably got hurt when the 2 goons made their move. Fortunately it was CP, who's bulit like a truck (meant to be a compliment), was standing there instead.

My mother got a little overwhelmed by the incident. Who wouldn't? Our conversation was mostly about the foiled attempt. I couldn't help feeling how fortunate that I am here in Melbourne where such crimes are rare. At the same timeI feel bad for my family in Malaysia who have to face this threat regularly.

I also like to think that I saved the day. But I know deep down my late call happened for a reason. After all, God works his miracles through people and incidents. So this must be one of them.

Seeing Melbourne

I have to admit this. Despite having arrived here eight months ago, I haven't seen much of Melbourne. I go to the same places week after week - Box Hill (for Asian grocery shopping), Knox City (supposedly the largest shopping mall in Australia), Victoria Gardens (because IKEA is there), the city itself, Joshua's school, the local parks and playgrounds and the libraries.

Sad but true. There are so many places in, around and near Melbourne that I haven't set foot on. We've only been to St Kilda Beach once and Crown a couple of times.

So it was quite an experience for us when we ventured a little "further" today. We drove to Docklands. Well, it's very near the city. We just never found the time to go there until today. It's quite a nice setting. Lots of nice yatchs there, buildings shaped like boats and ships as well as a number of fancy restaurants. But it was chilly today and there was a bit of a shower. So we didn't hang around long. Still, it was fun and quite a departure from our normal weekend routine.

I think we should make it a point to go to other "near" places every weekend. Then I will get to see all of Melbourne eventually.

Musicals And Plays

If you love musicals and plays, Melbourne is a good place to live in. There are so many such performances throughout the year.

Now, I have NEVER been to a musical or play, although I did try to catch some at the Istana Budaya in KL a couple of times. Somehow, I never did manage to attend any. I wonder if I would take a liking to them if I did.

Anyway, there are plenty here. Everywhere you go, you can see posters and advertisements announcing plays or musicals by school kids, drama school students or professional actors, singers and musicians.

They start them young here. In schools, music lessons are part of the curiculum. And many kids attend extra music or drama classes after school. And guess what? They are encouraged to perform before an audience, for instance, during the school assembly. I have attended Joshua's school assembly a few times and each time, there will be a couple of students invited to play a musical instrument for everyone in the hall. And they are pretty good. I'm certaint there will be plays and other performances at certain times of the year.

And of course, the pros are at it too. Melbourne being some sort of a centre of performing arts, you'll be able to catch well-known actors and musicians strutting their stuff on stage too. Hugh Jackman was here last year doing his The Boy From OZ tour. Too bad I hadn't arrived here yet. I would have loved to see Wolverine sing and dance on stage. Weird image. But he must have been darn good to earn a Tony Award for his role as Peter Allen in the musical.

Well, maybe next time ...

Fighting Over Nothing

Kids being kids, they often fight over the same toys. Strangely, they must have the same thing. I mean no one would take note of one particular toy until one of them notices it and starts playing with it. Then the other kid, for some inexplicable reason, must have the same thing as well. A tussle will follow, sometimes quite violently too.

That's pretty normal. I had my shares of such fights with my sisters when I was kid too. What is not so common, however, is seeing kids fighting over something that's not even there!

Joshua and Joanne do that a lot and they drive me completely insane whenever they are at it. You see, one of them will pretend to be having an imaginary toy and have a blast playing with it. The other one, curious, would want to know what it is. If the former refuses to tell the latter what it is or share it, the two of them will start shoving each other.

I mean, for crying out loud, it's a PRETEND toy. You can't see, feel or touch it. And yet, the two little devils can fight over it. And they fight, literally. Mike Tyson would have been proud!

Too imaginative, too creative. Maybe I should look at the bright side and hope my kids will put their imagination and creativity to good use someday.

Advance Australia Fair

I've been seriously thinking about applying for an Australian citizenship. Well, all Australian PRs are eligible to apply for it after a 2-year stint here. And since I quite like it here, I might as well go for it once I'm eligible.

So I figure it would be a good idea to start by learning the Australian national anthem. The first time I really heard it sung was at Joshua's first school assembly. Yes, parents are invited to join in the weekly assembly. Cool huh?

Anyway, I attended it a few times and kind of managed to get the anthem's tune in my head. But I still didn't know most of the lyrics. So last week, I did a search on the Australian national anthem and discovered quite a few interesting facts.

I found out that its title is Advance Australian Fair and that it only became the national anthem in 1984. Gee, our Negaraku is even older. You see, the Australians shared the Brits' God Save The Queen before that. That's hardly surprising. The Queen is, after all, still the head of state in Australia.

I also found out that the other contender for the national anthem was Waltzing Matilda. Interesting, no?

My friend Bala insisted that Men At Work's Land Down Under was considered at one point. I chose not to believe him. Waltzing Matilda maybe. But Land Down Under? As cool as it is, I seriously doubt it.

Dried Up

When my Malaysian friends and I talk, we frequently talk about the strange weather in Melbourne - drought, oven hot days, 4 seasons in one day, unexpected cold snaps, winds that howl eerily, etc.

But there's something related that's not that often talked about - the dry air. Malaysians are used to humid conditions. So it's a big change here. Good and bad, of course. Dried food such as biscuits, cereals and crackers stay crisp even after being exposed to the air for long periods of times. And of course, clothes dry super fast, especially in summer. And because we don't sweat as much as we do back in Malaysia, we don't mind taking long walks. These are the plus points.

The downside of having dry air is that you tend to have dry skin too. And that's bad news for people with sensitive skin, like Joanne. So we have to opt for soap-free products and use lots of moisturisers and lip balms. No wonder these products are rather cheap here. There certainly is a big demand for them.

We try our best to apply them religiously. Otherwise, we will sport permanent flaky, itchy skin and cracks on our lips. Not a good feeling I can assure you. Alex got lazy a few days ago and couldn't stop scratcing his back. And now his back looks as though he's been whipped mercilessly. Yeah, awful scratch marks made by himself (Don't get silly ideas. I know some of you have twisted minds). Quite a feat. It must have been ultra itchy!

My hands have been spared much of the dryness-related agony, thanks to my daily routine of moisturising the kids' skin. Now, if I can just remember to moisturise other parts of myself, I will be spared entirely.