Life Down Under ...

Some New Photos

2009-04-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Some latest photos for your viewing pleasure.

Cyberspace Kids

2009-04-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's the Easter Holidays again. And not surpringly, the kids are bored. We've gone to the movies, visited a cattle farm, played at a fun maze playhouse and saw little penguins strutting their stuff at the Penguin Parade. The kids have also spent hours in front of the idiot box and read all the books they borrowed from the library.

So, what's next?

I thought and thought - why not set email accounts and blogs for them? So I did. And now Joshua and Joanne are proud owners of their own email accounts and blogs.

While Joanne is still not all that keen about being part of the cyberspace, she does enjoy seeing her photos and her favorite Disney Princesses on her blog. Good way to upload her pinkish photos too.

Joshua, on the other hand, is very enthusiastic about having his own cyber home. He's put in a couple of posts without much help from me. Before long, he'll be a master at this and I'll be asking him for help!

So drop by Joshua's Omnitrix Zone and Joanne's Pink Palace if you're keen to have a look.

Second Anniversary in Melbourne

2008-12-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

Yep, I've been living in Melbourne for two full years. And now, I can easily apply for my Resident Return Visa (RRV) and go in and out of the country easily. Not that I couldn't before. But I would have to produce lots of certified documents and supporting letters if I were to fly out and fly back into Australia. Lots of paperwork. Troublesome.

Time really flies. It doesn't even feel like it's been two years - more life half a year. The kids and I have adjusted well. In facr, too well I don't think we can fit into our old Malaysian lifestyle anymore.

For one thing, the cool weather here is very nice. You can take long walks and not sweat at all! Of course, in summer you do sweat.

Not much problem with food here. You can get virtually all sorts of Asian food at the Asian shops. They even have petai, salted fish and belacan here, much to my delight. Unfortunately, the kids do not share my passion for them. So when I had petai and some salted fish last week (two different occasions), they just went "EEWW! What's that smell???" and pinched their nose and gagged. Wait till I present them with durian. They'll probably pass out.

To be honest, the past two years have been pretty much the same to me. But I did make some very good friends this year and that has certainly improved my social life, although I still don't get to go out much at night, thanks to a husband with a terrible phobia of taking care of kids and doing housework.

I've also started doing some freelance writing with an online magazine called Suite101.com. The returns are really peanuts. It runs on a shared revenue basis. I only get paid if someone clicks on the links that appear on my pages. But it's for long term and if I keep writing, I'll have a body of work that will be able to generate income even after I've stopped writing. At the time of writing, I've published 73 articles. Not bad for a 3-month tenure. If I keep at this rite, I should have hundreds of articles by this time next year. Hopefully, there will be some real returns by then.

For now, I'm pretty contented. Not much money but I'm not complaining. As long as the kids are enjoying their childhood and learning things the fun way, I'll be happy to do all the other donkey work at home - as long as I don't have to work full-time outside the home. That means my significant other will have to work harder if he wants to live in a five-bedroom house and drive an Audi TT soon!

We'll see what our third year will bring us.

Banged Again!

2008-12-01T06:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'll admit it. On a scale of 0 to 10, I probably score -1 when it comes to my driving skill. Yes, you've guessed it. I had a little accident with the car again recently (21 Nov 2008). It wasn't as bad as driving through the garage door last year. This time, I reversed the car into a little pillar outside the clinic. So there is big dent on the right bumper and broken real light cover.

I could blame being sick (that's why I was at the clinic!) and therefore not being able to concentrate while backing the car. I was also pretty sure the rear sensor didn't pick up any signal as the tiang was too thin (which could be it since it was at an odd angle with the rear sensors and I really didn't hear any beeping, I swear). But the fact was, I was careless. My blood pressure shot up, literally. The doctor was perplexed to find my blood pressure so much higher than usual during my visit with him. When he asked if I was under a lot of stress lately, I told him I just had a minor accident outside his clinic!

He was sympathetic. Apparently, he backed into their bloody tiang before too!

I was worried that Alex would really chew my head off for real this time. I SMSed my good friend Lina and she immediately offered to take me home, thinking I had really CRASHED the car.

Then, Lina and another friend, Sze Nam, decided to cheer me up (they know how much Alex treasures his car). They bought lunch and came over my house with their kids. They don't live next door to me but something like 10 minutes away and they would have to come out of the way to get to my house during morning school rush hours but they quickly offered to send my kids to school and fetch them home if the car needed to be fixed at the workshop. So thoughtful of them!

Yes, I was distressed but at least, this time around I had moral support from friends. They even shared with me their own spouses' weird behaviours just to make me feel better. And then, two other friends - Aunty Lilian and Aunty Stella - called and came along with more food! They too consoled me, assuring me my husband wouldn't have my head.

Time passed quicky with those four ladies in the house. I was mad with worry about Alex's reaction but for that 2 hours or so, I had friends to keep me company. Gosh, I never thought it would be so great to have such comfort. When I crashed the car the first time, I was all alone. So sad and pathetic.

And you know what? The next day, Aunty Lilian actually offered me the use of her husband's car! Uncle Alvin is another wonderful person. I was so touched I nearly cried!

I must have made Alex sound like a real monster! My friends were so concerned. Come to think of it, they probably thought Alex is an abusive spouse! Well, let's set the record straight. My husband is not a monster, just overly obsessed with his car.

Thankfully, he was calmer this time. Yes, he was upset, but only for a short while. He didn't shout and rave. He's probably resigned to the fact that his wife is a hopeless driver. Maybe he won't buy big and flasy cars for me to drive anymore. Not that I'm ungrateful for having that very nice Mazda CX-7. It's a fabulous car. It's just a tad stressful for me to drive sometimes. I'll be happy with any car, as long as it comes with automatic gears!

Trips to Sydney and Canberra

2008-11-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

We finally made our way to two other cities in Australia - Sydney and Canberra - over the Melbourne Cup weekend. The trip to Canberra was a necessity. Both Alex and Joanne had to renew their Malaysian passports and this can only be done in person at the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra. Quite troublesome if you live outside Canberra!

And since we were headed for Canberra, we thought we should include Sydney on our traveling itinerary as well. After all, it's only about 2 and a half hours drive from Canberra to Sydney (or so we were told).

So Alex booked the return flight to Canberra - which was generously paid for by his boss Colin (great Aussie bloke) - for the whole family. Once we reached Canberra, we rented a car and drove straight to Sydney. It was a short flight from Melbourne to Canberra, taking only about 50 minutes, kind of like KL-Penang flight time. But driving from Canberra to Sydney was another thing.

But I was rather excited since this was my first long drive from one city to another. The kids, of course, kept asking "are we there yet?" Thankfully one of them slept for a while. But I enjoyed the drive. The scenery was a little different. There were lots of ranches and farms so you could see horses, cattle and sheep. And guess what? There were people selling mangoes by the roadside too! And you thought you only see that on the highways in Malaysia.

Alex was tempted to speed as the car we rented was a Holden Commodore, a powerful car. But everyone stuck to the speed limit on the road. So he had little choice but to be a bit more obedient behind the wheels.

The journey took longer than 3 hours. It was nearly 6pm when we reached our hotel in Sydney. The Four Point Sheraton is just a short walk from Darling Harbor and after checking in and putting our stuff in the room, we went for a walk. There was an open concert at the harbour so it was packed with people. The kids found a nice playground nearby and we spent some time there.

As we were walking back the hotel, the sky suddenly lit up. We looked up and lo and behold! There was a nice firework display and we were about 100m from where the fireworks were launched! Awesome. The sky just went wild with an array of colours and patterns. And it was deafening too. It lasted a good ten minutes! We called it a night after having our dinner and all squeezed into the king size bed.

The next day we did the what all tourists did. We went to Chinatown and had breakfast there and wander around the harbour. Then we checked out and went to see the Sydney Opera House and view the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We took a few shots as proof we'd been there and then went to Bondi Beach. Highly overrated. That's all I can say about the beach. But the kids had fun in the sun and sand. Joanne got her shoes wet and had to be barefoot from then till we reached Canberra later that evening.

After Bondi Beach, we set out for the long journey back to Canberra. We made a wrong turn along the way and wasted half an hour before getting back onto the high way. We reached the capital city at almost 7pm.

It is such a stark contrast from Sydney. Syndey is crowded with bending and narrow roads while Canberra is quiet with very wide roads. I doubt there is much excitement in Canberra. But we were not on a real holiday. We were there because we needed to. So no complaints there.

The next morning, we headed for the Malaysian High Commission early. We were No 5 but it took a while to get things done. If you were hungry, you could buy nasi lemak sold at the counter inside the office! So weird. Once we got the passports, we started doing the tourist thing again. Our first stop was the War Memorial Museum. Interesting if you love history but a complete bore and waste of time if you don't even know what World War 1 and World War 2 were. I enjoyed the field trip.

We also went to the Telstra Tower where you could view the whole city 360 degress and the Botanical Garden. The towere was okay but the botanical garden was boring. No bright beautiful flowers to look at. Just lots of boring looking plants! We went to the city after that but all the shops were closed by then. So we let the kids play in a playground for a while before driving back to the airport to board our flight back to Melbourne.

Nothing interesting happened from then on. We reached Melbourne around 9pm and got home around 11pm. The kids both fell asleep in the car. And I had piles of dirty laundry to do the next day.

That was our latest holiday update. Not too exciting but better than nothing.

Spring Beach Holiday

2008-11-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is a way overdue piece. I should've posted this like 2 months ago, shortly after our fantastic one week holiday in Blairegowrie, a nice little beach town in the Mornington Peninsular and just minutes away from Sorrento, a bigger town with better amenities.

My cousin Pin Pin and her husband invited us along for the holiday. The bank they work for, ANZ Bank, has a stuff club that runs several holiday houses around Australia and this nice, charming house in Blairegowrie is one of them. Very cheap - only AUD600 for one whole week!

Our holidays started on 20 September to 27 September - what bliss. Everyday we went to a different beach, except one day when it rained all day. But six out of seven was pretty awesome. Of course, the kids had more fun. They built sand castles and collected seashells on all the beaches they went to. Each beach has its own personality - different types sand, landscape and seashells. One day, we even found a beach all to ourselves, sort of like our own private beach. Splendid!

We had lots of barbecue fun too. Instead of cooking, we just bought some some sausages, chicken wings and meat and took them to the park with BBQ pits to grill them. Easy, no need to clean up plates and cutlery after each meal. We just had to throw all those soiled paper plates and napkins in the bins provided.

It was a shame Alex couldn't be with us the entire week. He only drove us there and then came back to Melbourne to work for the next few days before driving to Blairgowrie the following weekend to pick us up again. But we may go there on our own one of these days. After all, the drive to the Mornington Peninsular is only about one and a half hours. Too bad we wouldn't have the luxury of staying an entire week the next time, unless of course we got invited by Cousin Pin and family again to another place.

Photos will be uploaded later.

Friends Of My Own

2008-10-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

I never realised how much I missed the company of friends until I made some of my own friends earlier this year. The first year we were here, I hardly ventured out of the home, safe the few trips to buy groceries and the weekend outings with the whole family.

The thing is, I didn't feel anything lacking. Perhaps I was too busy getting the kids (including the XL size one) and household organised. After I dropped Joshua off at school, I often went home with Joanne in tow. We didn't send her to kindergarten so I had to take care of at all times. Which meant no free time for myself.

Then Joanne started school earlier this year. I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time. Hooray! Freedom at last. But that doesn't mean I get to lepak all day long. There is still a lot of housework to attend to - it's never-ending but at least I didn't have to tag along a small kid wherever I go anymore. And that makes things a much, much easier.

At school, I got to know a few more mums. I got particularly close to two of them - fellow Malaysians. Sze Nam and her family moved here almost a year after mine. So she was even newer to the environment than I was. The strange thing is that she lived in a neighbourhood not far from mine back in Cheras. And we had to travel all the way to Melbourne to meet each other. I might have seen her in Malaysia before. She worked as a pharmacist at Guardian and I used to haunt Guardian a lot! I thought she looked really familiar when we first met.

Lina, on the other hand, has lived in Melbourne for nearly 20 years, since her university days. So she knows a fair bit about a lot of things here. Plus, she is a certified accountant - really useful to have her as a friend! Lina and I also share another special bond. Both our daughters are named Joanane. More we both seem to have the same taste in clothers, having several identical outfit!

So these days, after I drop the kids at school, I would hang around at either Lina or Sze Nam's house. They both have a 2-year-old son each, so I help them a bit whenever I can. Lina's son, Arthur, for some inexplicable reasons, adores me. So I could watch him while Lina tries to organise her household. Sze Nam's son, Ken Zet, however, doesn't share that affinity. So the only way I can help is to go food shopping with her from time to time.

Well, it's so good to have my own friends - not that my cousin and Alex's friend's wife Anla had not been helpful. They have, especially when I first got here. But it sure is nice to have a few more good pals.

Head Lice Alert!

2008-08-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

When the word "kutu" is mentioned, one often envisions dirty poor children with unwashed hair and bodies. Well, the fact is, "kutu" is quite feared here too. Every few weeks, I would get a "Head Lice Alert" notice in the kids' school satchels.

I was stumped when I got the first notice. Surely, this couldn't be, I thought. I read and re-read the notice. That wasn't a joke. I asked around. Yep, head lice are a real problem among primary school kids. But fear not, there are many ways to get rid of these nasty little blood-sucking bugs. Just hop in to the local pharmacy and you'll find an entire shelf devoted to getting rid of head lice! There are head lice shampoo, head lice gel, head lice mousse, head lice powder, head lice solution - just take your pick. At least the treatment options seem hassle-free.

I remember when I got "kutu" on my head when I was in primary school. We were living in Langkawi at that time and we hung out with kampung kids, who understandably were very prone to catching head lice. The treatment was horrendous - kerosene. Imagine having fuel on your head! I don't know what's worse - the fact that you may turn into a human torch easily if there was some spark the moment your hair was drenched with kerosene or that the "kutu" might drive you mad if you didn't get rid of them. There wasn't much of a choice. So I had to be careful not to go near flames while I was having my "treatment". Of course after the incident I was sporting a near crew-cut style too!

So far, both Joshua and Joanne have been spared the head lice agony. Hopefully no head lice would ever take up residency on their heads. But I think I know why head lice are such a persistent problem. The weather could a be a factor. It's often so cold that some kids go without having a hair wash for more than a week! I suspect many of them do not take bath daily as well. Some might even blame it on the water restriction, I think. How convenient!

Just the thought of having "kutu" running around on the scalp is enough to make my skin crawl. Heaven help me. I hope I don't have kids coming back from school with heads full of "kutu"!

--

Yes, We Speak English

2008-05-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

"Where did you learn your English?"

"Did you learn your English here or back home?"

These are some of the most frequently asked questions that I often get from people who just meet me. Most of them assume that since I'm a recent migrant, I probably shouldn't be able to converse in proper sentenses. Which I do, of course, and which in turn, surprise some of them.

So I usually have to explain that we actually speak English in Malaysia. In fact, most suburbans families there speak English at home, although with a different accent. Also, English is taught in all schools and is a compulsory subject. Additionally, Malaysia is a former British colony. And therefore, English is one of the legacies left by the British.

This goes to show that many local Australians don't really understand the world outside. They lump all immigrants in one general group - migrants don't speak English. Which is true in most cases. I know many migrants from mainland China who can barely speak any English. Those who learnt their English after their arrival here usually speak broken English. And there also many Japanese and Korean migrants with great difficulty in expressing themselves in English.

But not all migrants have that difficulty. Many from Malaysia, Singapore, India and some African nations are quite comfortable with English. In fact, most skilled migrants are proficient in the language because English proficiency is a must for migration applications.

I'm not the least offended when people ask me those questions. I probably write better English than many of them. Maybe I should say, "I just took up a crash course in English 3 months ago". It would be fun to see the shock on their faces. Now, that's a thought ...

Ouch! My Finger ...

2008-04-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

The middle finger didn't seem to have much use to me - except to show rude gestures - until yesterday afternoon. I was clumsy enough to have it slammed by my car door! Usually these things happen when you're in a hurry. But I wasn't. In fact, I arrived half an hour earlier at the kids' school to pick them up before the school bell went off.

Anyway, I opened the door to get out and slammed it before my left middle finger managed to get away. At first, it was just pure shock and no pain. Three seconds later, the pain shot through the finger and spread all over the hand. It started to throb badly. My heart too started pounding. And I started sweating. I took a look at the injured finger. Blood clot started to form under the nail. Luckily, the nail was not broken.

Gosh, it hurt like hell! It was just one freaking finger and it hurt like hell! I wanted to shout obscenities but there were other parents waiting nearby. So cursing was out. So I gritted my teeth and got back into the car, hoping the pain would subside as I sat still on the seat. It didn't. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. The finger was so swollen and red it looked really ugly and vulgar.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture nice, soothing images. Didn't work either. When I opened them, everything looked ultra bright - like extremely overexposed pictures. It was weird really. The pain must have affected my optic nerves too. I was seeing stars! By then, my ears were burning too. And the pain still clawed on tenaciously. I'd always prided myself for being tough and thought I had a high threshold for pain. Now I know better. I'm just wimp. I can't imagine, nay, I don't want to imagine what it's like being bashed up or hurt in an accident. It would've been so much worse.

After about half an hour, I had to leave the car to get the kids. My vision had gone back to normal by then but the throbbing on the finger was still there. Somehow, I managed to carry some of the kids' stuff and get everyone in the car and drove back safely. But it was difficult doing house chores with one finger disabled. It was hard to think how one finger could slow you down so much. I managed (still a little tough, I guess) to clean up the kids and have dinner ready, though at much slower pace.

I didn't get to properly tend to my injured finger until the kids had gone to sleep. By then, the pain had subsided considerably. But looking at it, it would be quite some time before I can have my old finger back. No, the middle finger's task certainly is not only to show rude signs.

Kiasuism Aussie Style

2008-04-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

You know how Malaysian and Singaporean parents are extremely kiasu when it comes to their children's education (and everything else in general, actually)? Well, kiasuism exists here too, but not in terms of academic performance, apparently.

To be fair, all parents want their kids to do well in school. But few local Australian parents would take the trouble to send their kids to tuition classes after school. This is something prevalent only among Asian migrant families. Yep, they load their kids with extra homework because there's virtually no homework for kids below Year 3.

On the other extreme end, there are ridiculous proposals by some very misguided parents to ban homework because they claim homework should be done at school under the supervision of the teacher. Beats me. I don't know how on Earth some of these parents justify that kind of thinking but this is not the minority speaking. This kind of lobbying has been going on for some time it seems.

Anyway, back to the topic of kiasuism. The folks here take socialising and sports very seriously. Most kids will go to their friends' houses after school once or twice a week - just to play, not to do homework together. Joshua has been going to his friends' house regularly and Joanne has invited her friends too. That's fine actually.

But what boggles me is how some parents arrange their kids' week according to the kind of sport they get involved in - Monday (Swimming), Tuesday (Soccer), Wednesday (Tennis), Thursday (Footy), Friday (Cricket) - you get the drift. And then they protest when there's homework for the kids because their kids' week is already packed!

Don't get me wrong. Sports are good. I wish Joshua would show more interest in them but he's happy just being the spectator, not the player. But don't you think too many sports may not be that great? How does a kid stay focused?

And then there's the thing with birthday parties. They are BIG here. And I get worried every time the kids receive an invitation (once a month at least). The parents seem very preoccupied with outdoing one another in the form of lavish parties. The parties usually come with a theme, sometimes with clowns-cum-magicians to keep the kids amused. Some are held in fancy venues. And of course, the host is expected to hand out goodie bags before the guests leave. I must say, some of the parties are really cool - more the reason for me not to hold any birthday parties for I'll never be able to live up to their standards here!

Honestly, I dread the day Joshua and Joanne start demanding to have their own birthday parties. I have been coughing up lots of excuses. I'm not sure for how much longer they'll buy those, though. Maybe I'll have something for them when they turn 18 ...

A Walk In The Cemetery

2008-04-14T03:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of cemeteries. Don't know why. Not that I want to take up residence in one of those places anytime soon. I'm not ready for that just yet. But this morbid fascination with final resting places of the dead has been a part of me for as long as I've lived. I always get excited whenever I drive past a cemetery. And you know what - the older they are, the more fascinating they are for me.

My fixation with them, however, ends with just enjoying their view. I don't crave spending a night alone in a cemetery, nor do I have any interest in communicating with the dead. I just enjoy looking at gravestones. Period.

And last week, I had the privilege of exploring the Burwood General Cemetery. I didn't plan the trip, though I've been toying with the idea of dropping by the Kew Cemetery not too far from my place. I sort of stumbled on the former while I was sent by Alex to fix his rear sensor monitor which was damaged when some scumbag mistook it for a GPS navigator and tried to yank it off the dashboard after smashing the window. So I drove the car to the workshop to have it fixed.

It took an hour for the job to be done. So the guy at the shop suggested that I have coffee and read some newspaper at a coffeeshop down the road. I did. But something else caught my eye - structures that looked like tombstones across the road.

Lo and behold! It was a cemetery. The coffeeshop was completely forgotten. I crossed the road and savoured the sight that awaited me. It looked more like a park than a graveyard! Some of the graves were so beautifully constructed and adorned with fresh flowers. A few even had mini showcases displaying favourite personal items of the deceased. Some housed the entire family! And I found one very old headstone dated back to 1866!

I explored from one end of the cemetery to the other. I only saw one other couple and an old lady visiting graves of their relatives. It was quiet and very peaceful. When I've covered the entire cemetery, I decided to finish reading a book that I'd been reading. I couldn't find a bench, so I settled for a tombstone under a tree and spent the next half an hour there. I bet the spirit residing there must have been pleased with my company.

After more than an hour there, I had to go back to the workshop for my car. But it certainly was an hour well spent, at least for me!

Mandarin Classes

2008-03-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

I'm at my wits' end. Both Joshua and Joanne are not keen on learning their mother tongue. Oh, they used to be multi-lingual back in KL. They spoke to their grandparents and dad in Hakka and Mandarin, me in English and the maid in Malay.

Now, they seem only proficient in one language. While I'm glad they have absolutely no problem with English - in fact, Joshua is so good in English he's apparently one year ahead of his expected level - I think I may have failed them when it comes to learning Mandarin or Hakka.

I'd tried teaching them Mandarin at home. I actually brought along some books from KL. But after a few attempts, I gave up. I didn't have enough time and the kids just wouldn't take me seriously. So Alex and I did what good parents do - we enrolled them in a Chinese school.

Well, this is not the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan you see in Malaysia. Most Chinese schools in Melbourne only run on weekends and they usually rent their premises from existing secondary schools. Joshua's and Joanne's "school" is only from 9.30am to 12.15am. So you can imagine how much one can learn in such a short time.

Still, it's better than nothing. At least the trained and skilled teachers will be able to drill something into their heads. And it helps that I can supervise their work. I wonder how non-Mandarin speaking parents deal with their kids' homework. It's not easy. You actually have to sit next to them to make sure they do their work correctly. No wonder my nephew Andrew dropped out after a few terms. He's a bright boy but having parents who were English-educated didn't help him much.

Anyway, Joshua and Joanne were not happy about their Chinese school at first. But they didn't have a say in this. They are learning. Joshua is quite fast. Not surprising since he went to a Chinese kindergarten in KL. Joanne is a little slower but she's picking up. I have to give my mother-in-law credit here. She spent quite some time teaching them the basic strokes way back in KL and when she visited recently.

The thing is, they still refuse to answer me in Mandarin. I have to cajole, threaten and reward them to get them to do that. But this is not a problem unique to them. Most Chinese kids here display the same reluctance. I know that because almost ALL the kids at the Chinese school speak among themselves in English! Makes you wonder if this is working at all!

I don't expect my kids to be able to read, write and speak the language the way I do (I went to both primary and secondary Chinese schools, after all). It's just not realistic with the kind of time they spend learning it. But at least, I hope, they won't be completely clueless when someone speaks to them in Mandarin.

Now I'll just have to consciously switch to Mandarin every now and then to get them interested.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

2008-02-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

In the beginning, there were the superheroes to keep them enthralled - Ultraman, Spider-Man, Batman. Joshua couldn't get enough of them, and Joanne just sort of decided to like whatever Joshua liked. She still does, actually.

But for some reason, they could never endear themselves to Superman. Don't know why. The bright red underwear worn on the outside probably had something to do with their aversion the the most recognisable superhero of all times.

Later on, the kids discovered more superheroes - the Powerpuff Girls, Power Rangers (and gosh, there are so many variants of Power Rangers!), the Incredibles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Kimpossible. They have T-shirts, pajamas, shoes, socks, slippers, cutlery, bags, books, caps, DVDs, etc, featuring these unearthly creatures.

Then, Pokemonia hit them. Both Joshua and Joanne ate, drank, breathed, slept and dreamt about Pokemon. They even created their own Pokemon and on many occasions "forced" me to create mine as well. Of course, my Pokemon had to "battle" against their Pokemon too. It was madness. And apparently, it is an affliction shared by many other kids around the world. My 2 nephews are crazy about Pokemon and have collected decks after decks of Pokemon trading cards.

I thought this Pokemania would haunt me for the next few years. Alas, it is not to be. Oh, they still like Pokemon but they like something else better - Yu-Go-Oh! - a game and manga franchise created by Kazuki Takahashi involving a card game called Duel Monsters in which players or duelists use cards to defeat one another.

I find the concept pretty similar to that of Pokemon - the Pokemon battle while the duelists in Yu-Gi-Oh! duel. I personally prefer Pokemon. At least many of the creatures are usually cute and cuddly. Duel Monsters, on the other hand, look hideous most of the time. Which is why I find it a little odd that the kids like them so much.

Now, instead of uttering names like Pikachu, Raichu, Blastoise, Treecko and Charizad (Joshua's one-time favourite), they now spew out rather spooky and gothic-sounding names like the Dark Magician, Celtic Guardian, Spell Caster Summoner, Soul Tormentor, Exodia, Sword of Revealing Light and an assortment of dragons! And there are trap cards, spell cards, magic cards, etc too.

These days, they have several decks of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Actually, they harrass me on a weekly basis to get more cards in the hope they will find a magic card or a card featuring the legendary Blue-Eyed White Dragon. These are supposedly rare and therefore very much sought-after.

There's one good thing about Yu-Gi-Oh! though. The games come with points earned or lost during duelings. So Joshua has learnt quite a fair bit about additions and substractions. Not Joanne, though. The figures are too big for her to manage.

Also, with Yu-Gi-Oh!, Joshua has discarded his propensity to demand that I create my own duel monsters. That would have been too much for me. Maybe I should create one now - just in case. Kid-Chewing Dark Mummy would do nicely.

First Day At School

2008-01-30T15:49:00.001-08:00

Today was a big day for Joanne. She officially started school as a Preppie. And unlike Joshua, she couldn't wait to go to school. She didn't have a first session until 1.30pm but insisted on coming along when I dropped Joshua at school just before 9am.

Joshua found his old buddies and quickly blended in. Joanne kept asking why she couldn't go into her classroom yet. I had to explain that the Preppies only needed to go to school for 2 hours the first 2 days and they only do it in batches. Disappointed, she came home with me, but before loudly exclaiming: "I wish I could go to school now!"

Four hours later, smartly dressed in her school uniform (a second-hand summer dress uniform that I got for only AUD10), Joanne finally made her entrance at her classroom, which actually resembled a playroom with an assortment of colourful toys, drawings and paintings, other artwork and even a pair of birds in a cage! Fabulous, just the kind of room a 5-year-old would like to be confined in.

Mrs Boyce, her class teacher, ushered us in and instructed Joanne to find her own tub to put her books, stationery, library bag, reader cover and satchel. She did it brilliantly. And without being told, she helped herself to the paper and crayons laid on the tables. Her new friend Phoebe was already there and had started drawing something.

Joanne rushed through her drawing. I didn't realise why until I saw her putting her masterpiece aside and started taking out some "masak-masak" toy from a nearby bin. She certainly knew how to keep herself amused. After arranging all her cooking utensils on the table, she turned to me and said: "Mummy, you can go now."

My jaw dropped and I was at a loss for words for a few moments. Some parents lingered on (like I did with Joshua last year) and Joanne just dismissed me! My little one is not so little after all. She certainly packs more guts than Joshua. She actually asked me to leave. I remember Joshua clinging to me timidly on his first day at school. Joanne has never been to any childcare centre, pre-school or kindergarten. Yet, she had no problem setting foot in her school on her first day.

Well and good. With my 2 kids becoming more independent, I'll have more time for myself. About time too!

Watching Tennis With The Hubby

2008-01-23T22:01:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing that can stop Alex from dropping everything else, it has to be Maria Sharapova, the glamour girl of professional tennis. Yes, my husband has the hots for another woman. Thankfully she is someone completely out of his league and out of his reach.

And I don't blame him. Really, if truth be told, I enjoy looking at Sharapova too. She is tall, beautiful, brainy (you have to be to play world class tennis) and she actually wins big matches, unlike fellow Russian player Anna Kournikova, who flaunted everything about her except her tennis skills while she was competiting on the professional circuits.

So I wasn't surprised when Alex decided to ditch his parents for an after-dinner walk just so he could watch his idol-cum-goddess taking on Justine Henin in quarterfinals of the Australian Tennis Open, which is currently broadcast live daily over Channel 7. After dinner, he promptly forgot his cleaning up duty and plonked himself on the couch. He even recruited his parents as his fellow cheerleaders for Sharapova.

Each time Sharapova scored a point, he cheered like a jester, much to the kids' amusement. Of course, he did that for their benefit too. (About time he learnt to entertain the kids, anyway). She played brilliantly, demolishing the top ranked Henin 6-4, 6-0. My significant other was overjoyed, naturally. He went to bed happy.

Since Sharapova also thrashed her semi-final opponent Jelena Jankovic, we'll get to see her in action in the final on Saturday. You can count on Alex cancelling all his appointments or refusing to leave the house. He may even forgo his much loved nap time! All in the name of ogling the leggy tennis ace in action.

Sharapova is a beauty all right. Too bad she grunts a lot. Wait, maybe some guys find that, err, exciting? Hmm, I'll have to ask Alex about that.

Watching Tennis With The Kids

2008-01-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

It's tennis and cricket seasons now. And since I know next to nothing about cricket, I opt for the Australian Tennis Open. After all, I was at one time a big fan of professional tennis.

We can't afford the pricey tickets at the Rod Lever Arena to catch the action live. Fortunately, we get to see matches broadcast live daily over Channel 7. So we tune in to watch tennis whenever the kids are not hogging the TV to watch their kiddie shows.

Last week, Joshua and Joanne watched their very first tennis match - the 3rd round match between Aussie underdog Casey Dellacqua and former Australian Open Amelie Maurismo. Joshua the patriot wanted Dellacqua to win while Joanne chose Maurismo simply because she was dressed in pink, Joanne's favourite colour.

It was an exciting match with both players taking turns playing brilliantly. Joshua, still new to the game, kept asking me how the points were scored. So I explained as the match progressed. He could read fairly well now so he could tell who was leading. He was definitely anxious for Dellacqua. Because it was a close match, he couldn't sit still. He would cover his eyes, walk around, wince or grimace each time Dellacqua lost a point or made an error. He would cheer and jump up and down excitedly when a point went in favour of Dellacqua. Naturally, he was over the moon when Dellacqua emerged the winner of the match. Joanne, on the other hand, wasn't all that concerned that the "pink girl" lost.

Dellacqua's quest however was over in her next match against Jelena Jankovic. Joshua was disappointed. Then he turned his attention to another match involving another Aussie - this time the match between Lleyton Hewitt and Novak Djokovic. Until yesterday, Joshua has never heard nor seen Hewitt but Hewitt instantly became his favourite in yesterday's match. Unfortunately, Hewitt too lost.

Yes, Joshua was definitely disappointed but not crushed. Even before the match ended and we all knew how it was going to end, Joshua stayed true to his "hero", saying he didn't care and still wanted to cheer Hewitt on. At Joshua's age, I would've stopped watching if my hero was being given a sound beating.

There are a few more days of tennis watching to go. Joshua is sure to sit next to me if I'm watching. I wonder if he'll pick up watching cricket or footy too. Probably not, since I don't.

Unrepentant

2008-01-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

This is so weird and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

A Melbournian teenage scumbag by the name of Corey Delaney hosted wild open house party that went completely out of control, leaving his neighbours' cars badly damaged and scaring the hell out of them when 500 intoxicated young punks made themselves at home in his house and the neighbours' frontyards, and guess what?

He's completely unrepentant. In fact, he is basking in the attention he's been getting everywhere. The mass media are party to blame for giving him too much exposure. I think he fancies himself some sort of celebrity now, walking around in some weird hooded jacket and a pair of sunglasses. Worse, a party promoter is even said to be considering hiring him to organise a party since he seems to have the flair of inviting strangers to his party. They might as well be promoting bad behaviour.

The authoritites, the police and the neighbours, understandably, are not amused. The police is slapping a AUD20,000 fine on the Delaneys for wasting police resources. Terrified neighbours called the police when the crowd got too rowdy and police squads dogs and helicopters had to be called in to disperse the unruly teens. Several police vehicles were smashed in the process too.

The parents claimed they had no idea the son would do something as irresponsible as that. I find that a bit hard to swallow. Surely there were signs that their teenage son could not be trusted to be left alone for a couple of days. Yet they went on their holiday without him. I wonder how they are going to face their neighbours and the community.

As for the irresponsible and idiotic party riot boy, someone should give him a harsh lesson. He's completely unremorseful. When asked by a reporter to take off his stupid sunglasses and apologise to his neighbours, he refused, repeatedly. He ought to be whipped, repeatedly. And when asked what advice he'd give to other teenagers considering of having a party while their parents are away, he had the audacity to say: "Get me to do it."

I hope something really BAD happens to him soon. Better still, someone ought to hand him to the Malaysian police. They have the knack of inflicting excruciating pain without leaving any marks on the body. That would do beautifully. Really.

Stolen

2008-01-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

I learnt a big lesson a couple of days ago - no matter how safe you think a place is, it never hurts to be extra careful.

It's true Melbourne is relatively safer than KL. However, it is not crime-free. Two days ago, I fell victim to a pickpocket right smack in Chinatown. Someone unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and stole my wallet.

Back in KL, I would never carry my backpack on my back and put my wallet in the front pocket. But here, lulled into complacency and the assumption that no one would pick my wallet, I did just that - convenient for me to carry the bag and hold the kids' hands.

Now I know better. I should exercise the same precautions that I did back in KL.

Luckily, there wasn't much cash in the wallet and only 1 ATM and 1 credit card. Once I discovered the theft, I quickly called the banks concerned and had the cards barred. My driver's license and Medicare card were easily replaced. There wasn't a need to make a police report. My requests to replace my library cards and several retailer loyalty cards were efficiently and quickly granted too. At least there wasn't so much hassle here.

Well, the incident was certainly a wake-up call for us. People do abduct kids and do nasty things to them, although not quite as frequently as in Malaysia. Still, I'll certainly be more careful now whenever I'm out with the kids. I've on several occasions left the kids on a bench in the market while I quickly did my grocery shopping nearby. That is going to stop immediately. Too risky.

And Alex will have to stop leaving the kids to me to watch over while he goes browsing on his own. It's hard to watch over 2 kids when they want to go to different sections of the store. He'll have to do his share of kids watching now.

That was certainly a lesson worth learning.

Sweating It Out On New Year's Eve

2007-12-31T15:41:00.000-08:00

I spent the New Year's Eve of 2006 at the local hospital with Joanne, who was down with contact dermititis on both her feet. It was an agonising evening for both of us. Last night was yet another agonising New Year's Eve for us.

No, we didn't usher in the new year at the hospital this time. We were at home, but we might as well had been in a furnace. Dear God, it was HOT! It was hot all day with the temperature soaring past 41 degrees Celcius. It was so bad that at one point, the local authorities were considering banning the annual New Year's Eve firework display in the city. Luckily for the revellers waiting to see the big show, the firework display was allowed to go on.

I couldn't help wondering how those revellers took the heat. The crowd must have been overwhelming. Even in the so-called comfort of our home, the sweltering heat was unbearable. Unlike our Cheras home, which is fitted with 4 air-conditioning units, there is none in our rented home here Doncaster. We have 2 standing fans and a mobile cooler, which is totally useless in hot temperatures.

So we all sweated like pigs on New Year's Eve. I couldn't even watch the TV in the living room because the mobile cooler had been moved to the bedroom. You can imagine what a boring New Year's Eve that was.

We all went to bed early, trying to sleep. I couldn't. I woke up several times to open the windows to see if there were any cool changes. There was none. The air outside was still. There was hardly any breeze at all. So I did what I could to cool down.

I splashed cold water on my face. I sprayed water all over me. I stuffed my little pillow in the freezer for a while so that it would be cool to the touch when I took it out. I even stuck my own head in the freezer a few times!

Luckily the kids have a better fan in their room. Otherwise, they would be wailing too.

Morning came and the temperature was only slightly better. Now, as I'm writing this, the temperature has shot up to 36 degrees and it's not even 11am yet. Guess it's going to be another HOT HOT day.

I really dread summer sometimes ... Thank goodness there are cool changes now and then.

It's Christmas Time

2007-12-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas sure is a big thing here. KLCC Suria may have the biggest Christmas tree I'd ever seen but there are lots more Christmas-related ornaments, decorations and activities here in Melbourne than KL.

We were here during Christmas last year. But since we were busy starting our new lives here, we didn't explore the shopping malls all that much. This year, however, we've gone around and seen a lot more. It started way back in October when the first Christmas ornaments made their appearances. I first saw those in Myer.

They are not only Christmas trees, reindeer, stocking, angels, etc. They actually come in so many interesting forms. Some of them depict mini villages, playgrounds, hot air balloons and fun fair. And Santa is not always on his sleigh. He can be on a motorbike, climbing a ladder or fixing some lights. Quaint and quite a sight to behold.

And now, with Christmas just a week ago, you can see even more Christmassy stuff. You can even write a letter to Santa Claus and post it and receive a reply from the jolly old man himself. Of course, at scheduled times, you get to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you wish for Christmas.

Naturally, you can also find Christmas cards, gift wraps, gift bags, ribbons, gift tags, gift boxes in virtually every shop and supermarket. And gift ideas - you can find them everywhere. Shopping malls everywhere are having sales too, enticing everyone to spend more.

Yes, Christmas is commercialised but the good thing is, the folks here haven't completely lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas plays and carols are conducted at parks, schools, community halls, etc. And kids get to enjoy lots of free train rides and free passes to here and there.

Well, we may not have white Christmases here, but the Christmas here sure beats the Christmas in KL.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Anniversary

2007-12-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

Today marks my very first anniversary in Melbourne. Unbelievable. It's been one whole year and it seems like just yesterday when I flew here with Joshua and Joanne.

Nothing much has happened. I haven't even seen much of Melbourne and only attended my very first "formal" dinner 3 nights ago - Alex's company-cum-Christmas dinner. Well, that was quite something - to be surrounded, hugged and pecked on the cheek by people I barely knew. And the dinner dragged on for hours until after midnight. No joke. If you think Chinese dinners are bad, this Gwai Loh style dinner is even more long-winded. Still, it was good fun, and the food was glorious. Plus, we were entertained by Hot Stuff the clown-cum-magician.

Well, that was pretty much the highlight of my ENTIRE year here. But at least we are enjoying a better quality of life here. Water restrictions and costly charges from tradesmen notwithstanding, everything else is great. Cleaner air, less traffic, fantastic schools, excellent healthcare services, efficient public services, helpful civil servants, friendly people, safe environments, the list goes on. No complaints there, really.

And the kids love it here too. They've adapted to life here so well I don't think they can survive life in KL anymore. Even I would find going back to KL difficult. The atrocious public service in Malaysia is enough to serve as a deterrent for me! Not to mention some other unmentionables back in Malaysia. Sad but true.

Yep, I'll stick around here. With both kids at school next year, I'll have more time to myself. Maybe I'll be able to explore Melbourne on my own in my free time. That should be fun. Can't wait.

I Cannot Survive!

2007-11-29T04:15:00.000-08:00

The above three words were repeatedly uttered by my six-year-old as he clutched his head with both hands as a terrible headache ripped through his head. These three words and others with similar effects such as "How can I live like this?" and "Is the pain ever going to go away?".

Well, I must say Joshua is a bit of a drama king. And since he has a rather low threshold on pain, he tends to whine excessively when he's in pain. What's a 5 on a scale of 10 for most people is probably a 9 to him. So when he developed a bad headache a couple of days ago, he sounded as if he needed to be rushed to the hospital.

Which was exactly what his grandfather thought. You see, on Tuesday, just five minutes before the last school bell went off, he started screaming in pain in his classroom. I wasn't aware of that though I was already at his school with his grandparents (who are here for a long visit) and his sister Joanne. I saw his teacher Miss McDonald coming out from the classroom quite frantically but didn't know she was looking for me. She didn't see me and went back into the class.

I only realised Joshua's predicament when Rosemary - Joshua's best friend Alexander's mum - saw me and quickly told me about the situation. Naturally, I rushed to his classroom and found him being comforted by both Miss McDonalds and Mrs Powells, the teacher from the next class. He was crying incessantly, worrying both the teachers.

I know my son. It was probably not as bad as he appeared to be. So I did my best to comfort him and carried him back to the car. At that point, I knew there would be some problems with the grandparents. Joshua is their favourite grandchild and one of them would insist on my doing something extra.

Back in my mind, I knew some Panadol, lots of water and a good rest would do the trick. But no, grandpa kept saying we had to send Joshua to the clinic. I didn't oblige. It was 4pm and you could only get to see a doctor by appointment. By then, I doubt there was any slot left for me for the day as the clinic closed at 5pm. The clinic would, at best, arrange an appointment the next morning. The other option is the Emergency Department of the Box Hill Hospital, an option I found totally ridiculous because you would have to wait for at least 3 hours before any doctor could see you.

So I ignored the old man and drove straight home. Of course, Joshua kept wailing and screaming as if he was on the brink of death. I knew someone wasn't happy with me but I called the shots here. Thankfully, my mother-in-law was here 2 weeks earlier and she'd seen how appointments needed to be made at clinics and how whiny Joshua was when he was down with gastroenteritis. So she backed me up although she was very concerned as well.

Finally we got home (the journey was less than 10 minutes thouth it felt like like 1 hour with all the screaming at the back seat). I got Joshua to swallow a spoonful of Panadol and lots of water. Then I gave him a head rub with some minyak angin. He fell asleep in less than 10 minutes. And he was out for almost 2 hours after that.

By 6.30pm, he woke up and was okay. Good as new. Boy I was glad I didn't kow-tow to some stupid demand. Rushing a kid to a hospital because of a headache? That would be really too much ...

Teachers On Strike

2007-11-21T03:41:00.000-08:00

Today, thousands of Victorian public school teachers didn't turn up for work. Instead, they staged a big protest demanding higher pay, better working conditions and smaller class sizes. Yep, the teachers had gone on a strike.

It's totally unheard of in Malaysia. Malaysian teachers generally get paid peanuts (and some deserving teachers never get the promotion or increment that should be theirs though some other lazy ones get triple promotions simply because they have the right skin colour), work throughout school holidays and handle classes with more than 45 kids each.

Big difference? You bet. But nothing is ever good enough for the Aussies. Nurses, airline employees, factory workers and even police officers stage what they term as "Stop Work Action" activities from time to time. I suppose to them the action is justifiable. I haven't been here long enough to pass any good judgement but I guess as they have their reasons. And if it's for the good of all eventually, why not? Very often, whenever the demands by certain unions are met, they perform a lot better. So it's cool.

That said, these strikes are also very disruptive. Some parents were understandbly upset because they were given too short a notice. Many working parents even had to bring their kids to work today because they couldn't find anyone to take care of their kids.

Joshua's class was not affected. So he went to school as usual. But more than half the school's kids were not there today because their teachers had refused to show up. And these "defiant" teachers have vowed to continue "industrial actions" until their demands are met. Which means we can expect more strikes in the near future.

A day or two of strikes are okay. I just hope they don't go on strike for 2 weeks every day consecutively. That would be disastrous!

Invasion Of The Flies

2007-11-19T02:31:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I detest flies! And there are so many of them around these days. For the uninitiated, flies abound here during prolonged hot seasons. And since it's almost summer and the temperature has been soaring way past 30 degrees of late, flies thrive, making a nuisance of themselves.

They are real pests with a penchant of making pit stops at various points of your face, notably the eyes, nose and mouth. Disgusting! Sometimes I feel like a corpse with those tiny buggers hovering and buzzing around me.

Back in Malaysia, we always joke that if flies buzz around you, that means you stink, literally. Well, you don't have to stink here to attract flies during summer. Apparently, the flies attach themselves to humans and other animals because they are drawn to the moisture in the eye, nose and mouth. No wonder they don't follow the food crumbs I toss about to stop them from harrassing me!

And guess what? There are 10,000 to 30,000 types of flies in Australia during summer. 30,000! What a staggering number of pests. And some of them feast on blood too. Gross! And how do you tell them apart? Apparently, according to one fly expert, they have "different lifestyles". Duh? Flies have lifestyles?? Don't they just breed and cause trouble wherever they go? I can't imagine flies having different lifestyles. It's just too odd.

In the meantime, I'm going to invest in some fly swats. No creature a million times smaller than I is going to bug me without my hitting back.

28 Weeks Later

2007-11-07T03:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, first thing first. This movie - 28 Weeks Later - was not my idea at all. Alex rented it, so I watched it with him while I was doing some ironing. Multitasking is my speciality after all. But gosh, what a horrid and stupid movie it was.

Never had my intelligence been repeatedly insulted so much during the course of a movie. And this one was flawed through and through. The thing is, it actually did fairly well in the box office. I wonder why. Are moviegoers so gullible they'll just gobble up whatever that's offered to them?

I remember avoiding watching it because I read a review in which the reviewer stated "Don't worry. Everyone in this movie was so stupid they all deserved to die!" And he was right, 100%.

Here are some examples of the movie's stupidity.

1. Why would people return to a country devasted by a deadly virus so soon even though it was declared safe? Shouldn't they wait at least 10 years instead of 28 weeks?

2. How could two kids slip out of a restricted zone so easily? The zone was closely guarded by highly trained soldiers.

3. The kids' escape was noted but the authorities took hours to locate them (after they happily cruised around London before going back to their old home). How could that be?

4. How could their mother survive so long and how on earth did she find her way home after being bitten by one of those infected by the rage virus?

5. How could their father have such an easy access to their mother's restricted chamber (after she was completely decontaminated and disinfected and restrained) even though he was a caretaker of the building? Where were the guards? Where were the surveilance cameras? Don't they have these sorts of things when they keep people with crucial information or special abilities (The doctor taking care of her believed that she was a carrier of the rage virus who might be able to help produce a vaccine for the disease)?

6. Why did the kids' father have to kiss his wife knowing that she was definitely infected with the rage virus? That was the stupidest thing anyone could've done! The virus spreads through saliva and blood. So bingo! After the kiss, he turned into one of those rage monsters and started a killing spree.

7. Why wasn't the chamber occupied by the survivor/wife/mother monitored at all?? Surely after the man turned violent and started banging things and killing his wife, something would've triggered something to alert the authorities. But no, they had to wait until he got out and started spreading the rage virus that they took action - of course, it was too late by then.

I stopped watching by then, because I had finished my ironing chores. I just knew that the two stupid kids who started the whole thing actually survived the ordeal. They ought to be shot.

Anyway, it's just a stupid movie. Glad I got some chores done while "watching" it. I heard there may be a sequel called 28 Months Later. You can count on me not watching it.

Where West Meets East

2007-11-02T04:59:00.000-07:00

Oops, I did it again! Once more, I failed to dress Joshua up for a particular special day - this time the last day of the "Where West Meets East Art Festival". You see, Joshua's school had devoted the entire week to this festival, holding exhibitions and a host of activites based on the West Meets East theme. And today, the kids and teachers were supposed to dress up in Asian costumes for a little street parade.

I knew about the festival and the street parade but somehow the part about asking parents to dress up their kids ala Asian style escaped me. I read everything attentioned to parents but somehow missed that part. I only found out about it yesterday.

Too late. I didn't bring Joshua's old Chinese New Year costume to Melbourne. So he went to school in his uniform. No big deal. He wasn't too concerned. Still, I had a suspicion he was going to stick up like a sorethumb in the midst of colourful Asian attire.

True enough, we saw all the little Gwai Lohs and Gwai Muis dressed like little Chinamen and China dolls here and there. There were those in kimonos and saris as well. Boy, these Aussies really take this sort of thing seriously. Only a handful of the kids came in their uniform. And the weirdest thing was, half of those "unadorned" kids were Asian!

Ha ha. Such irony. Joshua wasn't that alone after all! I guess we Asians have seen all this cultural thing and are just not that fascinated with it. Which begs the question - are we losing our touch as Asians?

Probably. Which is quite sad, actually. As is it, both Joshua and Joanne are showing signs of becoming real banana people. They speak Mandarin and Hakka (when they do decide to speak at al and this is becoming rare these days) with a funny accent.

I guess I'd better send them to Mandarin classes next year before they completely lose touch with their mother tongue and origin.

I'll Be Darned!

2007-11-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

"Who farted??! It's so smelly!"

"Oh no! Not an old bus again!"

"Hey, that's the same bus driver we had yesterday!"

"That woman with a fat tummy isn't really fat because she is having a baby!"

"That car is so ugly and old!"

I have to endure listening to my 2 kids babbling loudly like this between themselves while riding on the bus. Kids being kids, and we all know how downright painfully honest they can be sometimes, they just blurt out whatever that's on their mind without thinking.

Of course, I do my best to hush them, telling them to keep their voices down while talking in public. Naturally, they don't get it most of the time. They just make any passing comments whenver they stumble on something that deserves some kind of mention, usually the more unflattering kind.

One of my biggest fears is to hear them commenting loudly about somebody's disabilities. Disabaled people in Australia are very independent and frequently move about and board public transport on their own. Many of them have cerebal palsy or severe obesity and therefore physically look unusual.

I'm so worried the kids would say someone looking ugly or stupid. But thankfully, they haven't embarrassed me like that, yet. Maybe they instinctively know it's not right to comment about others' misfortune and disabilities. If so, maybe the kids aren't so clueless about life after all.

Until we have the car back, I'll have to hope Joshua and Joanne will lower their voices when making commentaries on the bus, and pray they NEVER, EVER say someone is ugly because of one reason or another. I don't fancy getting killer stares from strangers!

Blown Away

2007-10-29T04:23:00.001-07:00

While the rain here in Melbourne is kind of wimpy - I've only heard thunder rumbling twice during my 10 and a half months here and that for only a few seconds each time - the wind here sure pack a punch. And gosh, it has been extremely windy the past couple of days.

The wind doesn't blow from any one particular direction. It blows from anywhere and everywhere! And if you're not careful with your kids while they are outdoors and a gush of strong wind happens to come your way, your kids may get blown away, not unlike what you see on cartoons!

Yesterday, we went to the city centre. And boy, the wind was certainly putting up a big show. There were little twisters here and there - not the life-threatening kind but they certainly made a big sweep of things around them. As we were walking along the streets, we saw women in skirts desperately holding their hems down lest they became overly exposed. I suppose if a lady was interested in doing a Marilyn Monroe skirt-blown-up stunt, that would be a good time.

Also, we learnt that if you want to do up your hair at the hair saloon, make sure you check the wind condition first. Otherwise, your nicely coiffured top will become an entangled mess after the wind is through with you. We know. That's what happened to Alex's hair yesterday, moments after he stepped out of the hair saloon.

Understandably, we all went home with dusty hair, face, skin and clothes. It wasn't so bad, as long as nothing fell on the car or us. And yes, the kids were smart enough to hold on to our hands tightly as we walked. So they are still with us ...

Cyber Grandma

2007-10-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

At the grand old age of 62, Mum has finally joined the cyberworld. Thanks to my sister Hui Yin's kind donation of an old but still usable computer, my mother can now communicate with my sisters and me via email.

Understandably, there were a few hiccups when Mum started her "lessons" with my youngest sister Wei Wei. But soon, she got the hang of it. She can access her email and reply us. Things will certainly be easier. I can send pictures of us here in Melbourne to her quickly. We told her about chatting online but Mum isn't too keen. Chatting requires fast typing and her fingers are kind of stiff these days. Well, fret no. Emails are just as good.

Her access to the Internet also means she can read my blogs anytime she wants. Fabulous. Now I don't have to repeat myself when I speak to her on the phone. Of course, there's ONE major drawback - it also means I have to be extra careful with my language while posting my blogs. No more swear words - not that I swear that much - but that's a small price to pay. As long as Mum can easily read about my life in Melbourne here, that's good enough for me.

And you blokes out there who use colourful languages while commenting on my blogs, well, try not to go overboard! Though I think my mother has the sense of humour to appreciate those ... err as long as they don't come from me, I think.

That's just a start. I remember how backward I was too 10 years ago. Now I can't imagine life without the Internet and email. I'm sure Mum will agree with me soon. Since she has quite a lot of time on her hands (when my littlest nephew JJ isn't there to spice up her life, that is), she can start prowling the cyberworld soon. Who knows, she may soon start downloading Golden Oldies tunes from YouTube!

Now, if only we can get Dad to show the same enthusiasm ...

Pokemon Rule

2007-10-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

These days, Joshua lives, breathes, eats, drinks, sleeps and dreams of nothing but Pokemon. Apparently, he and some of his school chums had formed their own Pokemon Club too. That's fine with me. Kids love to have fun after all.

But what drives me bonkers is Joshua's incessant need to "battle" with Joanne. This is some Pokemon exercise in which Pokemon trainers try to capture a wild Pokemon or compete with another Pokemon trainer.

Sometimes, Joanne amuses Joshua by playing along. Other times, she is not keen. That's when Joshua will start a shouting match with his sister. Beats me but he is pretty bossy and demands that Joanne plays Pokemon with him when she'd rather play with her girly toys.

That's not all. Joshua has also started "creating" his own Pokemon. Now these new creations of his have their own names and their special abilities. He can even describe how they look like or what they are going to evolve into (It seems that evolution among Pokemon is the norm). Fine, as long as he's happy with his own kind of Pokemon.

But no. Our friend was not happy with that. Last week, he insisted that I create some Pokemon of my own too (slapping hand on forehead)! And he wouldn't leave me alone until I'd created a few of those pocket monsters. And of course, naming them alone wasn't good enough. I had to describe how they looked like and what special abilities they had.

I've forgotten most of the gibberish stuff I churned out to silence Joshua. But I remember one that I named Tarantulo. You've guessed it. It looked like a spider and was armed with poison. Joshua was apparently pleased with Tarantulo.

See what having kids can turn you into? Now I'm supposedly a Pokemon fan too, according to my son ...

Fun With The Bus

2007-10-24T02:14:00.001-07:00

Frankly, taking the bus isn't so bad here. In fact, it can be quite an adventure. Besides, the buses are always on time and most bus drivers are helpful and friendly, particularly when you are travelling with young kids.

And today, I boarded a bus driven by a Malaysian. Chatty fellow. This uncle was a teacher back in Malaysia and has been living in Australia for 26 years. He's from Butterworth and actually knows some of my teachers in Jit Sin! Small world. I sat on the first passenger seat with Joanne (after we dropped Joshua off at school) and this uncle just kept talking and talking. Quite interesting. He related to me how some of the kids of his friends had helped Doncaster East High School become one of the top schools in East Melbourne. Apparently five out of six of them became doctors! It's hardly surprising. Most of the much sought-after schools here have very high Asian migrant population!

When we went to pick up Joshua from school, we took a bus to Box Hill and had some snacks and McDonald's there. Then instead of taking the usual bus home, we decided to take another bus that serviced another route. A change of scenery might be fun, I though. Well, new sights, of course, but it took us half an hour to reach Westfield Shoppingtown, which is about 2 minutes by car from my house.

The kids wanted to walk from Shoppingtown. So we did. It was quite a long walk but they had fun along the way. They picked flowers, saw a small bird picking a fight with a big black crow and best of all, played with a big fat fluffy friendly cat. After the little playtime with their new feline friend, the kids say they want to walk back from Shoppingtown again!

As for me, at least I don't have to worry about wrecking the car the next couple of weeks. And no parking woes! Life isn't so bad without a car.

Lessons

2007-10-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

I survived the crash. The optimist in me would like to think that it happened for a good reason. Maybe I'm not meant to drive the car the next few weeks. Who knows? Something much worse might happen if I drove around.

Alex, of course, insists that there's a lesson to be learnt here. He's right, of course. I have no excuse for what happened. I was careless and a little absent-minded when the car slid down and crashed through the garage door. Here's what we've learnt following the accident.

Lesson 1: Always check the gear status! I obviously forgot to put the gear in reverse when I wanted to back the car up a bit. It was still in drive mode. So the minute I released the brake, it went forward.

Lesson 2: Ask the right questions when dealing with tradesmen. We made some calls to garage door specialists to come to the house and give us a quote to fix the garage. We forgot to ask if the measure and quote was done free and was charged AUD110 just for one guy to come and have a look! If possible, call up the guys who provide free quotes.

Lesson 3: Check with the insurance agent what really is covered. Apparently we can claim for the damage done to the garage door too. It's now considered a third party claim. Luckily Alex had the good sense to bombard his insurance agents with all kinds of questions.

Lesson 4: Don't buy a big powerful car for the wife who can't drive properly! I doubt Alex will see the sense of this, though. He insists I should be grateful for having such a nice car. Indeed it is a nice car, probably too nice for a clueless driver like me. An old bomb with automatic gear will do just fine. At least I won't be under such pressure driving it. You listening, Alex??

Meantime, it's back to the buses ...

What A Day

2007-10-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Crash! Sob ...

That about summed up my day yesterday. It was supposed to be a happy day for Joanne. It was her first Prep Orientation Day at Greythorn Primary School and she had looked forward to it for days. She even willed herself to recover from her tummy upset (bouts of diarrhoea the night before) so that she wouldn't miss her "big day". I was so glad because she was so much easier compared to Joshua.

It was a good day for her. I picked her up from the school and everything was fine until I, for some inexplicable reason, engaged the wrong gear and crashed out car through our garage door when we got home. I had moved the car too close to the door and tried to reverse it back further. Instead I put the gear into "drive" and literally went through the door.

The windscreen cracked but thankfully didn't shatter. I panicked and frantically searched the phone to call Alex at work, knowing that he would be furious. Oh boy, he was beyond furious and immedately headed home.

Joanne was so cool. She nonchalantly said, "Oh no. How are we going to pick up Joshua later?" Trust the kid to be so unconcerned. She wasn't even shaken, unlike me.

I was both relieved and terrified when Alex got home. He took one look at the damage - the car was halfway through the garage entrance with the door on top of the hood and roof of his precious Mazda CX-7 - and a torrent of very angry words came out of his mouth. I suppose I deserved it, for not being careful enough. But he pissed me off too. He never even asked if Joanne was okay. Blast him! (He probably didn't find that important since I already told him no one was hurt.)

After making several calls to his car dealer, the insurance company and some of his friends, Alex drove the badly dented car to the workshop. I had to drag Joanne along to catch a bus to pick up Joshua later. Well, looks like we will be doing that for a couple of weeks.

And the damage was BIG. AUD10K just to fix the car. And the garage door, of course. That was really bad.

And to complete a really bad day, Joanne's stomach ache came back later in the day. She made so many trips to the toilet in the middle of the night and kept whimpering in pain that we both didn't get much sleep. She seems better today. Thank God for small mercies.

What a day! I hope I won't have any of its equivalent any time in the future.

Of Safety And Cleanliness

2007-10-17T05:02:00.000-07:00

Back in KL, I detested passing by construction sites. And there were (still are, I bet) scores of them everywhere. In my neighbourhood alone, there are a few here and there. And all of them are messy, filthy and dusty with all sorts fo building materials, equipment and tools strewn all over the construction sites. Some of them are not even working properly. And the makeshift "houses' occupied by the workers are such an eye sore. Worse, the mud and dirt accumulated and blocking the drainage systems frequently result in flash floods.

The only thing you can expect at a construction site in Malaysia is total mess and possibly hazards. Also, half of the workes don't wear proper safety attire. Well, you could see safety signs at the sites but I think they were put up just to pacify the authorities.

Before I came to Melbourne, I thought this is how construction sites everywhere look like. I was wrong. Construction sites here can and are supposed to be clean and tidy. I was stunned and impressed the first time I saw a construction site here. There's a huge restoration exercise and extensive renovation going on at a shopping mall near my current residence here and wow, it's amazingly clean and free of chaos.

It all boils down to the importance of work safety. And it's pretty simple actually, come to think of it. Everyone wants to go home in one piece at the end of the day. And the surest way to do that is by making sure everything is where it should be. When things are tidy and organised, it is less likely to cause accidents. Workers can also move in and out with ease.

Work safety is serious business here. More so because people here are more aware of their rights as workers and are more prepared to take legal actions if they suffer injuries while at work. You can see the same safety precautions and cleanliness at factories and vehicle workshops as well.

I guess Malaysia is in for a long wait to see that happen, not when so many construction workers don't even have valid working visas. No visas, no rights. No rights, no safety necessary. Enough said.

Summer And Winter In Spring

2007-10-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

The weather here in Melbourne is like a bad joke. You never know what to expect. Officially it's now spring but there are days when it feels like something else.

Yesterday definitely felt like summer. The weatherman had forecast a temperature high of 24 degrees but it soared to 30 degrees, apparently the highest since April this year. It was so warm we could wear our usual Malaysian clothes. And for the first time in months, I wore my slippers when I went to pick up Joshua from school. The warmth persisted till late at night. A cool change only occured sometime before dawn I think.

The temperature dipped this morning. It was only 12 degrees when we left for Joshua's school. The kids had to wear their jacket again to fend the cold, very much like what they did during the winter months. There was even a slight drizzle to complete the winter picture.

By mid morning, the sun made a few appearances. There were moments when it felt like spring. It was rather windy though and before long, the sun went into hiding again. Dark, heavy clouds began to loom across the sky. But every now and then, the sun would peek out from behind the dark clouds.

In the afternoon, the sky finally opened and it rained quite heavily for about 20 minutes. It was chilly, of course. Thankfully we were sitting comfortably at a McDonald's restaurant not far from our house.

See how unpredictable the weather is? I won't be surprised if we are hit by hail stones tomorrow. That's why everyone watches the weather forecast closely. You never know when you need to bring an extra jacket or wear thicker or thinner clothing.

No More Paradise

2007-10-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I overheard two women of Chinese descent at the grocery shop talking about visiting other countries. I missed the earlier part of their conversation but caught the part about countries not to visit.

One of them said Thailand should be avoided because of some unrest in the southern part of the country. She then added that Malaysia wasn't a good place to visit as well. "Too chaotic and not safe," she said in Cantonese.

I nearly jumped and came to Malaysia's defense, proclaiming that my country of origin was one of the safest countries in the world. Then I stopped myself before I made an utter fool of myself.

After all, Malaysia has not been a safe haven for quite some time. It's true there are no unrest or riots (not that I'm aware of or these are not reported in the papers) there but the crime rates have escalated at alarming speeds lately. I keep hearing stories of petty crimes being committed even in small towns like my hometown in Bukit Mertajam.

And in Cheras, where my inlaws are still living, the situation has gone so bad the residents there feel like they are sitting on a time bomb, each wondering when someone would break into their homes. In fact, their neighbour 2 houses away just fell prey to some intruders last week.

Visitors may shy away from Malaysia thinking it's not safe because of terror threat or political unrest. But they have no idea what wise move it is to bypass Malaysia. They probably would have gone home much poorer if they are unfortunate enough to have their pockets picked.

It's sad but true. Malaysia is no longer the paradise it used to be.

What's With Festivities Anyway?

2007-10-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my 38 years, I didn't hear any Raya songs; seen any Raya decorations; read about some kid blowing off his fingers while attempting to enliven the Raya mood with homemade crackers; or eat any kuih Raya, lemang, ketupat and rendang. Understandably, the last item on the list is the one that I miss most ...

And of course, there is no news on mass exodus from KL to other parts of the country, leaving the capital city a virtual ghost town for a few days. Also, no updates on the death toll due to road accidents during the balik kampung rush. And certainly, there is no info on open houses hosted by VIPs.

To be honest, I didn't even know the past few weeks were Puasa month until my sisters mentioned about fasting in one of our email exchanges. Malaysia might as well have been in Jupiter or something.

I do miss the Raya mood but frankly, Raya the last few years has not been the same as it was when I was a kid. Raya, like other major festivities in Malaysia such as Chinese New Year and Christmas, is a tad too commercialised these days.

I grew up in predominantly rural Malay areas. So there was no shortage of homemade Raya goodies during the festivity. The hospitality, the sense of community (though my family usually seemed like the odd one then), the sparklers and the kids donning their newest baju raya to collect duit raya from door to door, etc. I can still remember these things quite vividly.

I suppose the same can be said of the Chinese New Year in recent years. Well, people still celebrate it. It's just that the mood seems to be disappearing more and more each year, even in small towns like my hometown in Bukit Mertajam. It's not that fun anymore.

However, CNY is still celebrated in a big way in Melbourne, thanks to the big Chinese community here. I'm not sure but it appears that some of the events are held for the benefit of the uninitiated, namely the ang mohs who find this sort of cultural things fascinating.

I guess nothing beats the Raya or CNY moods we had when we were kids all those years ago.

Play Time

2007-10-12T06:34:00.001-07:00

It's been a good week for Joshua. He's been to his best friend, Alexander's house twice after school just to play. The first time was on Wednesday and yes, that was his very first outing to a friend's (his own friend, I mean, not kids of his father's friends) house.

He was having so much fun performing Pokemon battles with his pal that he didn't want to come home with me when I went to pick him up 2 hours later. I didn't want to impose on Alexander's mum, Rosemary. So I insisted that he gather his things and leave.

But Rosemary kindly offered to let them play for a few more minutes. So while we waited for the kids to stop playing, we had a nice chat between us. To be honest, I haven't exactly been a social butterfly since arriving here. It's usually hi and bye for me whenever I see the other mums at Joshua's school. But Joshua's hanging out with Alexander after school at the latter's house had given me the chance to at least get to know another parent better.

I found out that Rosemary actually lived in Butterworth as a child. Her father was with the Royal Australian Air Force and was posted at their base there more than 30 years ago. Interesting. She also loves cats (she has 2 of them) - something in common with me.

But the best thing is - she has asked me to bring Joanne along (which is what I did today) to play with the boys. I was hesitant at first because I didn't think it would be nice to make her "babysit" my kids for 2 hours. After all, I didn't know her that well. Still she insisted, saying that it was actually quite alright because the kids don't usually bother her when they are that preoccupied with their own games. Which is quite true. I can relate to that too because whenever my nephew Andrew comes for a visit, I actually manage to finish more work! So I left my 2 kids in her care for 2 hours today.

What bliss! Ha ha. Maybe I should socialise more with the other mums too. Play time after school for the kids turns out to be a great thing for both the kids and me.

The A Factor

2007-10-10T03:54:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason, I seem to have a certain connection with people whose names start with an "A".

My Christian name is Adeline and I'm married to Alex. My mum is Anna and I used to sponsor 2 kids named Anuchai (from Thailand) and Aisulu (from Mongolia) under the World Vision Sponsorship Programme. My best friend in Melbourne is Anla, wife of Alex's best friend.

I have a few ex-colleagues called Anne, Angelina, Asiah, Amy, Alexa, Anastasia and even a couple of my namesake, Adeline. There was an Alson, Andy, Andrew and Anthony and Alan too. One of my closest friends has recently adopted a new blog moniker - Anfield Devotee and while his real name doesn't start with an "A", it has an "A" in every one of the four syllables in his first name.

Even my some of my favourite movie/book characters have "A" names - Aragorn and Arwen, Anakin and Amadila, Anne Shirley (Of Green Gables).

This A connection seems to have affected Joshua as well since his best chums are Andrew, Angus and Alexander. And his new teacher is Miss Amy McDonald.

It's little wonder I end up in a country with a name that starts with an "A"!

Creativity Unleashed

2007-10-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

All kids are creative. Which is why many of them have imaginary friends. Joshua at one point had an imaginary friend named Scratch. He also had an imaginary pet dog called Clever-Doing-Dog. Not to be outdone, Joanne announced she had one named Clever-Doing-Cat.

They seem to have forgotten these imaginary creatures now, though. Maybe the various activities and new friends at school have diverted Joshua's attention elsewhere. As for Joanne, she just busies herself with her new toys (mostly hand-me-downs) and cartoons.

But they are both still creative in their own ways. Joshua, a keen sketcher, never seems to run out of things to draw. And what makes things interesting for him is that the kids in school are encouraged to draw and colour when doing their school exercises (they refrain from calling these homework because some parents are apparently allergic to the term). And of course, they are allowed to stick their drawings and stickers on the cover of their books.

I don't recall being allowed to do that in school. In fact, if anyone was found with stickers and drawings on their book, they were likely to get a good scolding, or worse, caning from the teachers. There was hardly any room for creativity. Any desire to truly explore one's creativity in unconventional ways was quickly stifled by the various strict and oftentimes ridiculous rules we had at school.

The kids here also spend a fair amount of time doing art and craft. Joshua brings back something fancy every week, much to the envy of his sister.

Well, Joanne has a vivid imagination too. She makes her own "pet food" for her favourite toys - Fluffy the rabbit, Kitty the kitten and Pikachu the Pokemon. She actually draws the food and cut it out and place it on the pretend plates for them. Sometimes, when she's too lazy to draw, she will cut out pictures from supermarket leaflets.

I'm glad she's going to Prep next year. She'll have a blast everyday at school, just like Joshua is right now.

Workplace Bliss

2007-10-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

The Howard Government launched this campaign on creating awareness on workplace agreements a few months ago. The advertisements are pretty good. I won't go into details but suffice to say the messages are clear - workers' rights are protected and the governmet takes great effort to see to that.

There's a Workplace Authority that makes sure employers buck up where workers' rights, benefits and minimum wages are concerned. Workplace inspectors are frequently sent out to various companies to make sure there are no hanky pankies on the employers' part.

And if new or existing employees have any doubt at all about their rights, there's an infoline they can use to call. It's printed in big, bold letters on their website, the advertisements, brochures, etc. All it takes is a phone call to know what you're entitled to as a worker within an organisation.

See how well workers are protected here? No wonder people hardly bitch about their work (and I mean bitching the Malaysian level); they are often efficient, friendly and helpful; and they don't have to resort to other means (bribery, stealing, robbing, etc) to have something extra.

Just the other day Alex fell sick and called his boss to say he wasn't coming to the office. His boss, Gary, was genuinely concerned and asked him to have a good rest. Gary even thanked Alex for calling to let him know. And guess what, you can take your sick leave without having to produce a medical certificate from your doctor. Yeah, the bosses here trust you not to abuse the your sick leave entitlement.

Now, if this had happened in an office in KL, the boss would probably sound a bit sarcastic. Some would even have the audacity to ask you to come in later in the day. And if you don't have an MC to prove you're sick, that's too bad for you.

I have no strong desire to join the workforce here - I already have a fulltime job being the household manager - but it's nice to know that my kids won't have to work like slaves when their time comes.

Bionic Woman

2007-10-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

I caught the pilot episode of the new Bionic Woman series by chance last night. It was nothing like the old Bionic Woman I saw as a kid in the 1970s. We kids thought the old Bionic Woman (played by Lindsay Wagner) was cool. But this brand new techno wonder really kicks ass! Awesome.

Yeah, her name is still Jaime Sommers. But instead of being a tennis pro, this Jaime Sommers is a bartender with a very high IQ. And she didn't get smashed up in a parachute accident, she was hit by a huge truck. And apparently, it was no accident. And it was her scientist/doctor boyfriend who fixed her up and turned her into Bionic Woman.

And boy, can she run! You know how the 70s version of her kind used to run in slow motion to reflect speed? This one RUNS, really FAST. And she fights with style and grace too, although it was a rather shaky start for her. More, she shares the tissue regenation ability shared by Claire Bennet (Heroes Season 2 is here, by the way) and Wolverine. Why, I'll say she makes a pretty killing machine (if she chooses to kill, that is).

But she's not the only Bionic Woman here. She has a predecessor who has gone bad and mad. This will of course complicate matters. But that's where the fun and action lies, I suppose.

Admittedly, there's a lot of eye candy and action and probably not much but who cares? This Bionic Woman rocks! Must not miss the next episode ...

The Double Bunk Bed

2007-10-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

It's funny how kids can turn almost anything into a toy or in this case, a playground. Our newest purchase, a double bunk bed, arrived this morning. Well, it was still in various pieces but the minute the kids saw the boxes and the new mattresses, they were estactic.

Well, they saw how the bed would look like at the furniture shop. So they knew what awaited them once their dad fixed the whole thing up. But even while Alex and I were busy assembling it, Joshua and Joanne couldn't contain their excitement and kept interrupting us, until we banished them from the room.

Once their new bed was put up properly, they started climbing up and down the bunk bed. Not surprisingly, both wanted to sleep on the top bunk now. There's something about the top bunk, I guess. Probably because it reminded them of the playground. I certainly did when I was a kid.

To be fair, I told the kids they had to take turns sleeping on the top bunk. And to my surprise, they readily agreed. If only they are so agreeable with everything else!

I think it won't be hard to get them to sleep early tonight. I just hope whoever is occupying the top bunk will not end up on the floor in the morning!

Karaoke Night

2007-09-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I posted on my blog about how great my neighbourhood was because there was no dreadful karaoke singing around. Well, I spoke too soon.

Our Vietnamese neighbours had a huge party last night and you've guessed it, karaoke singing was part of the programme. Those who know me well know that I have this aversion to karaoke singing.

Don't get me wrong. It's fun to hop into one of those karaoke lounges to make fools of ourselves in the company of good friends. However, if karaoke singing leaves the boundaries of those lounges, it gets really crappy. Especially if the crooner is tone deaf but insists of assaulting the ears of others.

I should know. I lived in a neigbourhood rife with awful karaoke singers who were so inconsiderate of others. Heck! I even lived with one, someone who is closely related to my husband. I had to tolerate that kind of dread on a daily basis. It's little wonder I love living in Australia, far away from the maddening noise.

Anyway, our Vietnamese neighbours and their friends just reminded me of the horror I used to endure. They were terrible singers. It was quite a surprise because we've lived here for 10 months and that was the first karaoke assault we had. Hmm, maybe it won't happen so often.

And mercifully, the neighbours had the decency to stop their howling and croacking at 11.30pm sharp. Guess they were still more considerate than their fellow karaoke enthusiasts in Malaysia. Thank goodness for that!

No Shortage Of Asian Groceries

2007-09-29T04:41:00.001-07:00

One of the main concerns of many Malaysians who are about to move to Australia is the possibility of not being able to get their usual supply of groceries. Well, if anything, there are more varieties of Asian groceries here than back in Malaysia – at least this is the case in Melbourne.

Melbourne is truly cosmopolitan. Asians are everywhere and there are suburbs that are predominantly Asian. Box Hill, which is 5 minutes from my house, is a typically Chinese area. Then there are places such as Richmond, Footscray and Springvale occupied mostly by Vietnamese.

Since Box Hill is so near me I usually do my grocery shopping there. You can find virtually everything you need to do your usual Asian cooking here. And there’s more. Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese ingredients that you don’t normally see in KL are aplenty here. Very often, you can find things that are actually imported from Malaysia too!

You want to cook Assam fish or beef rendang? No problem. You can find tamarind, lemon grass, curry leaves, chili, onion, garlic, ginger, shallots and whatnot easily. If you’re lazy, ready-to-cook paste is also available. And you’ll be spoilt for choice.

In addition to spices, other dried ingredients are also easy to find. Herbal soup mix, ikan bilis, dried shrimp, salted fish, salted eggs, instant noodles and all the beans that we use for making desserts are also displayed prominently on the shelves of most Asian grocers.

And the greens – they are much bigger, plumper, juicier and tastier than their Malaysian cousins, courtesy of the temperate climate here, although I heard that the continued drought and water shortage may result in a drop of harvest and an increase in the prices of greens soon.

Well, remember how our parents used to say that we’d have to eat bread everyday if we moved abroad (ie to Western countries)? Those days are certainly gone, especially in Melbourne.

Height Of Footy Fever

2007-09-28T05:31:00.000-07:00

I have no interest whatsoever in Aussie Footy but even I can't escape all the talk about the AFL Grand Final tomorrow afternoon at the MCG in Melbourne. It's Geelong vs Port Adelaide. And since Geelong is a Victorian team, you can bet most of the crowd will be rooting for Geelong.

And there was even a traditional Grand Final Parade in the City this evening to mark the event. Wow, a parade, imagine. I knew Footy is serious business here in Australia. I just didn't know how serious it was.

And the news slots were filled with items related to the Grand Final. So much time and attention was devoted to it. People were interviewed on the streets and you could see fans of all ages - from 3 to 93!

There's more. Alex's company actually had a luncheon BBQ in honour of the game. Can you beat that? Not only that, the workers were dismissed early. They started the celebration much earlier and regardless of which team finally takes the trophy, they are going to have a day off on Monday too. Now I'm not sure if this applies to all companies in Victoria but Alex's company sure is practising that.

Good for a non-Footy fan who doesn't even know what teams are in the Grand Final! That's my man - sport-blind.

A Few Things I Like About My House

2007-09-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

I have no great love for the house that I lived in for six years in Cheras. It is too big (3 floors), too colourful (shades of rainbow) and come with silly-looking cone-shaped roofs (just like fake castles). Many have dubbed the houses in that area "Disney Houses". It didn't help that my room was on the top floor.

In contrast, the house that I'm living in right now in Doncaster is just perfect. It's kind of old and it's not even our own (we're renting) but it's haven to me. Here's why:

1. It's a single story bungalow. No more running up and down the stairs. You can reach any part of the house within 20 seconds!

2. It's easy to clean. All done in less than half an hour.

3. It's in a quiet neighbourhood. No aweful karaoke singing, no squabbling neighbours, no barking dogs, etc.

4. It's a 1-minute walk to the bus-stop (You never know when you need to take the bus).

4. It's 3 minutes away from the Eastern Freeway, which takes you straight to the city.

5. It's a 10-minute walk to the Westfield Shoppingtown (too bad under heavy renovation now, so a bit messy).

6. It's 8 minutes away from Box Hill - where you can find all sorts of Asian groceries, libraries and hospitals.

7. It's 10 minutes away from my cousin, Pin's house.

And best of all, it's just Alex, Joshua, Joanne and me. Just the way a little family should be. Well, not for long, though. We'll have to make room for some long-time visitors soon ...

The Birthday

2007-09-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

I turned 38 today. Well, the day didn't start well. It wasn't the thought of my getting closer to the grave that gave me that sinking feeling. It was the sorethroat that had been bugging me for a couple of days.

It just got worse. I felt as if a small blade had been lodged in my throat. Each time I swallowed, that was a stabbing pain. Darn, how was I to enjoy my birthday dinner? I felt drowsy and tired throughout the whole day as I did my usual house chores and got my kids ready for their little sojourn at my cousin's house for the evening.

Yep, no kids for the evening. Just me and Alex and a nice dinner and err, a seminar.

No mistake there. I did write "seminar". You see, my beloved significant other had signed us both up for a free "First-Time Home Buyer Information Seminar" for the evening. He apparently failed to note the significance of the date when he called up the organiser to book a place. He only realised that after I reminded him that Sept 26 is my birthday.

And he went "Oh, we can have an early dinner and then go to the seminar. Can you ask your cousin if we can leave the kids at her place for the evening?" That was 2 weeks ago.

That's my man. At least he was still buying me dinner. He took me to a crowded and noisy Chinese Restaurant in Richmond. No romantic mood there but the food was awesome. As I tucked into the succulent crab meat (really yummy), he actually said we could ditch the seminar if we were to really enjoy our dinner. So I deliberately took my time eating my crab.

We actually finished our dinner with 20 minutes to go before the seminar started. We could just make it if we hurried. Luckily, Alex suggested we go somewhere else - to Crown, the place to be in Melbourne. We didn't stay very long but it was nice just the two of us.

At least there's still hope for this man that I married.

Big Brothers

2007-09-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

I was lazy to cook today. So I took Joanne, Joshua and Andrew (my nephew who came for a visit) to McDonald's instead. There's something very appealing about the McDonald's restaurants here. It's not Ronald and friends. It's the big indoor playground that comes with each restaurant.

We got there early. So we could find a place at the playground area easily. Soon, the area was filled with running and screaming kids, including the trio that I brought along. It was a little overcrowded and quite a lot of shoving around.

Then I saw a woman parking next to my car (I could see it from where I was sitting). She caught my attention because she had 5 kids with her. But that was not the main catching thing. There was a boy aged around 10 and he was helping his mum carry his youngest sibling, a toddler.

I watched the family closely. Well, I seldom saw boys that age so attentive to their younger siblings when I was in KL. I saw a lot of girls doing that but never boys. Very intriguing. So I kept watching them.

The 5 kids were very well behaved. They didn't rush to the playground. They sat inside the main dining area in the restaurant and ate their lunch quietly, with the oldest boy making sure his younger siblings get what they wanted. When they finished, he held the youngest one (the one he carried earlier) and took her to the playground.

He didn't dump her and start running around on his own. No, he held her hand and made sure no one trample on his little sister the entire time they were in the playground! That's right, he took her up the steps and slid down the slide with her. Trust me, no one would dare bully his sister.

Impressive. His mother must have done one fantastic job bringing up her brood. Then I remember meeting a Melbournian couple a few years back. They too had a son who was very caring towards younger kids. And then there is Andrew. My nephew whom my 2 kids adored. He doesn't have any younger siblings but he takes on the role of big brother so easily.

Maybe the way people raise their kids here are little different from the way people do in Malaysia. In Malaysia, girls are typically expected to be caring towards their younger siblings but boys can escape from doing that.

Well, I certainly like the way here better. No wonder Western men tend to take on the role of fatherhood more readily when the time comes.

By Appointment Only

2007-09-24T05:13:00.001-07:00

You know how you can easily walk into a clinic in Malaysia anytime you wish? You don’t have to call in and make an appointment first. You only do that if you are seeing a specialist for a very serious ailment.

Well, it’s a different story here in Australia. Here, you have to make appointments for almost everything. If you want to see doctor, a dentist, a veterinarian, get a hair cut or have your car serviced, always call to fix an appointment first. Otherwise, you may be turned away or have to wait for eons before you get to do what you mean to do.

And an appointment doesn’t always mean that you get to see the person you want to see at the time you’ve booked. It only means you are assured that you’ll get to see him/her. In many cases, you still have to wait for a while.

This is something that many Malaysians can’t get used to. We are so used to the first-come-first-serve exercise. Not surprisingly, each time I bring the kids to see a doctor, I would inevitably overhear people, especially older people from Malaysia or Singapore, complaining that they still have to wait despite making an appointment to see the doctor first.

Well, at least the services provided are usually satisfactory. Otherwise, I think people would have revolted a long time ago!

The Reunion

2007-09-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we met up with some old friends who had come for a visit in Melbourne. Our little get-together was held at another friend’s house in Balwyn North since only his fortress-like abode can fit all 30 of us!

It was so good to see some old familiar faces and to catch up with one another. And since each family had its own little army of little people, the house was filled with screaming and running kids as well.

A few years ago, such a reunion of friends would see us chatting, drinking, smoking, eating, drinking, reminiscing, drinking, playing cards, smoking, drinking – you get my drift. Later, we’d probably go somewhere else only to indulge in the same things. And this could go on till the wee hours of the next day.

But these days, we don’t all get to sit down together. Some of us, usually the mums, will have to attend to the kids first, making sure they eat their dinner and are not fighting among themselves before having the chance to sit down and enjoy the meal and conversation. And when we all finally sit down to play catch up, some of the kids will barge in and demand some attention. Quite a struggle holding up a conversation when you have cranky kids pulling at your clothes and hair!

Naturally, we all become like Cinderella. By midnight, it’s time to hit the road and go back to where we’ve crawled out from earlier. The night is still young but our priorities have shifted to the young ones. So we reluctantly bid each other goodnight.

That’s what happened that evening. There was so much to catch up on but so little time and too many distractions. Still, the “party” was a blast. Wish we could have a few more of that every now and then!

Farewell My Teacher

2007-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Joshua completed 3 quarters of his first academic year at Greythorn Primary School. Time really flies.

The last day of his school was also a "Casual Clothes Day" - the kids left their uniforms at home and donned casual clothes to school instead. It was all so informal. And since it was also Miss Ellard's (Joshua's class teacher) last day at school for year 2007, the kids had a special farewell party for their beloved teacher.

I don't know Miss Ellard as well as some of the other teachers but I think she has played a very big part in moulding Joshua's life at school. All the kids love her - she's generous, warm and genuinely affectionate towards the kids. And of course, it helps that she's young and pretty too. Well, actually, she looks more like a model than a school teacher!

As I reached the school compound to pick up Joshua after school, I saw his classmates and Miss Ellard all gathered under the big oak tree for a group photo. Oh, it was a lovely sight. The kids were proudly showing off their special individual cards that Miss Ellard made for them and were all smiles for the camera. I quickly whipped out my camera phone and took some shots too.

Some of the kids lined up to give Miss Ellard a cuddle. Joshua wanted to do that too but was too shy to ask. In the end, I had to take him and present him to his teacher. She was full of praises for all the kids. Some of them cried, reluctant to let her go. It was one those "awww" moments. So touching. I could see her blinking back tears too.

She won't be gone for good, at least not yet. She's on a long sabbatical leave and will be back next year. Hopefully Joanane will be enrolled in her class. She's such a wonderful teacher. Joanne actually asks if she can go to Miss Ellard's class next year! Well, one can always hope.

The Fake Eye Lashes

2007-09-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

What is it about fake eye lashes that appeal to women so much these days? I don’t know how men view them but I find them rather off-putting. How can a woman look sexy and alluring with obviously fake, long and thick eye lashes resting on their cheeks? Honestly, I think they look kind of scary.

I was watching The Ghost Whisperer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt last night. That’s one of the rare occasions where I actually managed to finish not one episode but two episodes back to back. Anyway, something kept bugging me as I stayed glued to the idiot box. I couldn’t place it at first but then I realized it was Jennifer Love Hewitt’s fake eye lashes!

I’ve always thought she was a natural beauty. But why on Earth did she have to stick such thick and long fake eye lashes? She is pretty enough. Just a hint of mascara or something shorter and thinner would have worked wonderfully on her. But no, she had to pick the bazookas of eye lashes.

They were a huge distraction. And there were lots of close-ups of her in the show (since she’s supposed to be displaying all kinds of emotions as the psychic who can communicate with the dead). And each time there was a close-up, I lost the conversation!

Her character even slept with the fake stuff on! Of course, she also slept with fresh make-up on. Totally unrealistic!

Is that what fake eye lashes are supposed to do? To distract men until nothing seems coherent anymore? Well if that is so, they certainly are working very well. I know I am distracted!

The Birthday Card That Says It All

2007-09-20T05:40:00.000-07:00

The doorbell rang as I was in the midst of preparing lunch. Drat! Not a salesman, please. As I walked to the door, I started conjuring excuses to thwart the advances of a would-be salesman. To my relief, it was the postman, with a special delivery.

The parcel was addressed to me, but I didn't recognise the handwriting. I turned it over and discovered it was from my brother-in-law, Rizal. Grinning, I suspected the parcel was filled with stickers and whatnot for the kids. And true enough, there were stacks of Transformers and Disney Princess stickers as well as a comic and story book for Joshua and Joanne. Lucky kids. They have uncles and aunts from Far Far Awayland who regularly send them stuff.

But there was something esle specially for me - a birthday card from my sister, Hui Yin (Rizal's wife). She used to make her own cards (and at one time even sold them) and therefore could pen anything suitable. But she's been busy lately and has apparently resorted to buying cards instead of making them. This particular commercially available card describes Hui Yin and me so accurately. In fact, it describes all four of us sisters quite accurately.

It says "We're a little bit crazy and a whole lot of fun! We talk about everything under the sun. You make me laugh ... and when you are blue, I'm happy to do the same thing for you. We love being sisters, and that is no lie - Just can't do without you ... won't even try!"

I laughed out loud, and even shed a tear or two reading that. That description sounds just like us. Gosh! I do miss my sisters. The crazy and hilarious antics we used to share and the stupid pranks we played on each other.

I remember we used to write very bad poetry and emailed it to one another while at work. The poems didn't have to be err, poetic but they must rhyme. So we "forced" them to rhyme, most of the time with comical results. I still have the collection of our poetry in one of my folders.

Then we have several "tests" that can quickly verify our status as sisters in the family. One of them was the "Magnificent Seven" test that will prove who we are. And of course, we had the natural talent to make utter fools of ourselves in public every now and then.

Well, it will be a long while before I can see all of them again. Kind of depressing when I think of how far my family is away from me. But Air Asia is coming to Australia. Maybe it won't be so bad.

And thanks No 3 for the birthday card.

Unfinished

2007-09-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

Alex has a very strange habit. He loves watching movies. But he can happily stop the movie halfway, or even with only 10 minutes left for that matter, to take a nap, read a magazine in the loo, or worse, swap DVDs!

I don't understand this at all. At one time, quite a few years back in fact, he was watching Meet Joe Black starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. He got sleepy towards the end. Having seen the movie prior, I told him there were only a few minutes left and that he should just finish watching it. But no, Mr Sleepy Head couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and decided to abandon the movie. The next day, a thief broke into his apartment and stole a few items, including the Meet Joe Black VCD! And no, till today Alex never saw the ending of the story.

That incident didn't teach him the joy or importance of watching a movie from the start to the end within one sitting, though. He still "breaks" his movies, all the time. Most annoying. And last night, we rented The Wickerman with Nicholas Cage in the lead role. I no longer have a stomach for horror movies and simply loathe watching a scary show all by myself, especially at night. So I was glad to have a partner watching with me.

I should've known. At 10.30pm, he started yawning and we were only half way through the movie. I wasn't that keen on the movie at first but slowly got hooked and I wanted to know what happened next. But Alex loudly excused himself, leaving me alone with The Wickerman. Truth be told, it wasn't that scary but I was just too chicken to watch it without another person next to me. So I abandoned it as well.

No more horror flicks for me. Waste of time and kills the fun if I have to watch it with the only other adult in the house!

Citizenship Test

2007-09-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Australian government has decided to make it a little tougher for migrants to become citizens. They have introduced a new citizenship test. While many PRs who wish to become full-fledge citizens are not happy about it, I think it's only fair. After all, there are way too many migrants in Australia. Apparently, 25% of Australians were born elsewhere.

I'm not too worried about the test. I know when the time comes, I'll pass with flying colours. I've been passing tests consistently, except for the darn practical driving test that I had to sit for FIVE times (and Maths test, of course. Still have nightmares about that.)

What I'm trying to say here is that all is fair, despite an additonal obstacle. Sure there are debates that if an existing citizen takes the test and fails, does that mean his or her citizenship is revoked? And the nature of the questions are being questioned too. It appears that some of the questions are a bit "out" - like asking the applicant about certain sport legends. Yes, the debates can go on and on.

But it's the law now. You want the citizenship, you have to sit for and pass the test. Fair enough. This is a lot better than applying for a Malaysian citizenship, which can take up to more than 40 years if you have the wrong skin colour and religion. Indonesians dying to be Malaysians will be glad to know that they are exempted from that rule, though.

No one has sat for the Australian citizenship test yet. But the first batch of applicants will do so on Oct 1, 2007. Until then, we can only guess just how tricky the questions are.

Independence

2007-09-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

It's true that Westerners are more independent. I see it everyday here. Kids are encouraged to be their own "men" since young. And they are expected to leave the family home and find a place of their own once they are out of school.

But it's not only young people who are fiercely independent. A lot of senior citizens and the disabled are equally self-reliant. Many elderly people do their own shopping and drive around without being accompanied by their adult children. They also live on their own or in a retirement village. They don't feel the need to cling on to their children even in their golden years. They seem pretty happy with such an arrangement.

And I have nothing but respect for the disabled who bravely move around with the aid of scooters, power chairs and motorised wheelchairs. Most of them are on solo mode and they seem perfectly capable of doing their daily routines.

I suppose it helps that the government pays huge amounts of benefits for the ederly and the disabled. And also, we have a caring community in the real sense. All shopping areas, offices and public transport vehicles are disabled-friendly and nobody but only the disabled park at parking lots meant for them.

It's not just all talk, there's a lot of action involved too. You'll find most people willing to step in to help anyone in need of help anytime, anywhere.

Becoming independent is so much easier when there's help around. Another thing that Malaysians should've learnt a long time ago.

Car Wash

2007-09-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

In Malaysia, you'll often see domestic maids washing their employers' cars in the morning or evening, sometimes on a daily basis. So it's not unusal to see many shiny clean cars, especially the luxury types, on the road.

It's a different story here in Melbourne. Very rarely do you see a truly clean car on the road. Most are covered with dust and mud and some look as if they have taken part in a motor rally or had a mud bath.

There's one simple explanatin for this - water shortage. Water restriction is in place across the state and that means you can't wash your car the conventional way - with a garden hose and splashing water here and there. It's an offence here. And your neighbours will report you to the water authority and you'll be labelled a water rat, a pariah within the community. (And there are other water-related crimes to, such as watering plants as you wish but that's another story).

You can wipe your car window clean with a piece of wet cloth but that's about all you can do. So everyone drives their car to the car wash facility to give their car a bath. There are 2 types - hand car wash where some workers will tend to your car washing needs and self-service car wash where you wash your car using what's provided at the facility.

Most people opt for the latter because it's cheaper. You put some money in the coin slot and you'll be given a specific period of time to do your washing. If you haven't finished washing your car and your time is up, just feed the thing more coins. So the faster you wash, the more money you save.

I was totally entralled the first few times I went with Alex to wash his car. You have to queue up, of course. But it usually doesnt' take long because nobody wants to spend more than they need to at the car wash. You'll also see some people washing in very kiasu manner - they are so fast they need only AUD2 to wash the entire car! It takes a lot of speed and skills, though!

I haven't tried using the car wash myself. I suppsoe I'll end up using a lot of coins. That being the case, I might as well just drive to a hand car wash centre to get the job done!

Britney's Defender

2007-09-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Normally, I wouldn't bother wasting my time or blog space to talk about the likes of Britney Spears and those in the same league - Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Lindsay Lohan, etc. But this time, I thought it might be fun to poke fun at her and one of her most loyal fans.

By now, most of us would have heard or seen Britney's disasterous live performance at the MTV Music Video Awards last Sunday. Though scantily clad, she failed to wow audiences worldwide. Well, naturally, people were dumbstruck by her appearance but unfortunately not the way she had anticipated.

Sporting a little pot belly, she was quite a joke to look at. I don't mean to be cruel but if you're a celebrity and you want to flaunt it in front of thousands of people, you should at least have the decency to make sure you don't repel those very same people. I am sure most people gawked at her during the performance not because she looked like a goddess, but more so because they couldn't believe the once svelte and toned Britney looked like she had just pigged out big time before taking to the stage.

Not surprisingly, harsh criticisms became her constant companions the few days that followed her performance. Some people said she should be put away somewhere safe for others! Seems like the whole world has abandoned her. In the midst of this however, one fan came to her defence.

Meet Chris Crocker, Britney's superfan who posted a video on YouTube pleading people to leave Britney alone! That is so hilarious. He seems genuinely upset and choking while making his infamous plea. I don't know if this kid is vying for some free publicity himself but he's quite well-known now. And his very emotional stunt has apparently generated other spoofs, including one supposedly from his own father!

After what Crocker did, I doubt people would leave Britney alone. Too priceless to be left alone, for the wrong reasons, of course!

Mad About Tan

2007-09-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

I have a friend whose surname is Tan and he likes going to the beach. Each time he comes back looking very tanned, he will say that "it comes with thename". Nice pun.

Well, the Aussies certainly love being tanned, not the migrant Aussies butthe Caucasian Aussies. You know how the women in Malaysia do all they can to protect themselves from the sun. Well, here it's the complete opposite. In summer, you find lots of people baring as much flesh as they can under the glaring hot sun. I stay under the shade whenever I can.

And when there is no sun - such as during autumn and winter - those tan lovers will turn to solariums (like those you find in tanning salons) to get the tone they crave. It's mad. It's literally toasting yourself! And though some salons claim that the rays from solariums are safer than UV rays from sunlight, doctors disagree.

Two days ago, a young woman named Clare Oliver died after a long battle with skin cancer. Before she died, she campaigned tirelessly against the use of solariums for she believed that she herself fell prey to skin cancer as a result of excessive usage of solariums. Her campaign drew a lot of attention because she was campaigning as she was dying. It was really sad, she was only 26 and extremely attractive.

Would her campaign and subsequent death due to skin cancer shake some sense into tan lovers? I hope so but I seriously doubt it. Some people just can't get enough of tan. The funny thing is, I don't even find it appealing!

Earthquake!

2007-09-13T05:01:00.000-07:00

For years, we Malaysians thought Malaysia was the safest country on the planet, spared from all kinds of scary natural calamities except the occasional floods. We didn't have hurricanes (only tropical thunder storms), tonadoes, volcanoes and earthquakes. Well, once in a blue moon we might feel a slight tremor when a major earthquake struck somewhere in Sumatera.

But things changed after an undersea earthquake hit somewhere near Sumatera on 26 December 2004, triggering tsunamis along coastal areas in South Asia and claiming nearly 230,000 lives. Malaysia was not spared. We lost 50 people in the disaster.

Alex, the kids and I were actually along Gurney Drive in Penang moments after the tsunami struck. The sea was black and choppy and as we drove past the beach, a big wave washed over the barrier and over our car! Well, that was a big shock and people who had been staring into the sea earlier ran helter skelter. We were stunned but unharmed and managed to drive to the hotel we were supposed to stay. At that time, we still didn't know what had actually happened. It was only later in the day that we heard about the earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis.

Tsunami in Malaysia - that was a first. And many people felt the tremors that came after the earthquake too. Since then, Malaysia seems to be experiencing more tremors than ever before. Yesterday was the latest addition. Many people panicked and feared another tsunami, though this time the authorities seemed more prepared for it. I wasn't there but I read about the incident.

But something else bugs me. Does the increasing frequency of tremors felt in West Malaysia mean that the tectonic plates are moving closer towards the peninsular? Does it mean that seismic activities have shifted towards us? If so, will there actually be an earthquake in Malaysia some day?

Scary thought. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. For Malaysia is definitely not prepared for such a catastrophe. We have no experience and our buildings are certainly not going to withstand any violent shaking. And we have some of the tallest buildings in the world!

I suppose the only thing we can do is pray that it never happens.

True Champ

2007-09-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

Tennis ace Roger Federer did it again, for the 4th time at the US Open. Yes, he is the undisputed world number one tennis player. And heavens, he's got so much grace and class in his game!

I haven't really been updating myself with the latest bits in professional tennis but I used to be huge fan. My then favourite was Sweden's Stefan Edberg, another classy tennis great. He was a gentleman on and off court. You never read about him shouting obsenities at the umpire or throwing his racquet in a tantrum fit. And off court, you never read about him getting involved in scandals and whatnot. His record was so clean that a renowned sports journalist once said that "the only dirt you could dig out from Edberg was his dirty laundry!".

After Edberg retired from professional tennis, I lost interest in the game. The new generation of players that started to emerge were mostly bad-tempered, egoistic and insolent punks. Not worth my time at all.

Then came Roger Federer, who won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003 by defeating Mark Philippoussis (the dude in that stupid reality show Age Of Love), and he's been winning Grand Slam titles quite consistently since. His latest Grand Slam title is his 12th and he's barely 26!

Well, at the rate he's going, he will probably end up being the greatest tennis player in history. Already, some people have tagged him as the best ever tennis player. But what makes him truly remarkable is that like Edberg, Federer is always cool, calm and collected on court. Apparently he threw many tantrums on court when he was a boy. But somehow, he's become mature enough to leave that nasty habit behind.

And he never bad-mouths his rivals, a trait that is so rare these days. You keep hearing one ace bitching about another all the time. It's good to know there are still a handful who subscribe to the belief that if you have nothing good to say, don't say it at all.

I look forward to seeing Federer win more championships. After all, this is one bloke young kids should look up to. God knows we lack good role models for young people these days!

After 9/11

2007-09-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

Another big moment in Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah. We all know what happened in New York on September 11, 2001. Nearly 3000 civilians died because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And it was the first time that such heinous acts of terrorism were captured on camera and broadcast worldwide. I

I'm not going to dwell on how dreadful terrorism is. It will always be, regardless of who the purportrators are. But what also irks me are those who think terrorism is funny and device ways to plant hoaxes.

The day after the 9/11 incident, the area surrounding the Petronas Twin Towers in KLCC was a scene of chaos and alarm. The security staff was alerted after someone claimed there was a bomb somewhere in one of the towers. I was working at Menara Maxis (situated just next to the Twin Towers) then. As a safety precaution, we were all asked to evacuate the building. People were milling about at the designated emergency areas. No one seemed overly concerned. No one actually believed there was a bomb in the first place.

True enough, it was a hoax. What a complete waste of time, not that I was eager to go back to work. But it irritated me endlessly that some people took pleasure in creating panic among others. And worse, it was very bad taste indeed - poking fun at the expense of the deaths of so many innocent victims.

Naturally, such pranksters abound. Despite much stricter airline rules being in force, there are still morons who joke about planting bombs on planes. These people should be tossed out of the plane while it is airborne! (Of course, that's a security breach and completely out of question.)

I certainly hope I'll be spared the agony of sharing my flights with such irresponsible, immature and insufferable idiots.

Locked Out!

2007-09-10T03:55:00.000-07:00

I had quite a scare today. While I was out in the garden pulling out the weeds that threaten to turn my backyard into a jungle, Joanne actually locked the door leading to the garden. I didn't know that until much later, when I needed to go back into the house for some other chores.

To my horror, the door was locked. I peered into the house (the door is sliding glass door). No sign of Joanne. She must either be in the playroom or her bedroom. I could only get near the window of the playroom, which is quite a few metres up from the garden. Hoping that she was there, I used a rake to reach the window and gave a few hard knocks. She didn't appear at the window. Which meant she was in her bedroom. Which was bad news for me because her bedroom is on the other side of the house. And there was no way for me to get to that side unless I scaled the garden fence.

Luckily, there was one way to get to the front door and ring the doorbell. That would get her running to the front door to see who was out there. I went to the backdoor of the garage, which thankfully has never been locked, got into the garage and then climbed out of one of the windows there. If someone had passed by that window at that moment, they probably thought they had stumbled on a burglar climbing out of a window!

Thank heavens no one saw me doing that. I quickly jumped down and ran to the frontdoor and rang the bell. The little one appeared, looking very bewildered to see me outside. I asked for the house keys and got them from her through the front window. Phew!

That was quite a fright. After making sure Joanne understand that she is not to lock the door when I am outside, I decided from now on to take the house keys with me if I'm outside the house. I certainly don't want to repeat that burglar stunt again!

Joy Rides

2007-09-09T04:53:00.000-07:00

As long as I can remember, I've always enjoyed car rides. Never mind that I used to get car sick as a child. My sisters and I just loved the car rides our dad used to give us in the evening after dinner.

In Melbourne, I just can't have enough of the scenic drives here. Well, we don't have the pleasure of driving around after dinner - kids have to be tucked in early and besides, it got dark really early the past few months. So we try to make do with driving around on weekends.

What I like most here are the different kinds of houses you see as you drive on - some with very nice lawns and driveways. You rarely see the same design although housing developers seem to have started building clusters of identical homes in recent years. Still, most houses look different - with their own charm, style and personality.

And of course, now being spring, you can see many nice flowers starting to bloom. I hate to say this, our Bunga Raya is just no match for the floral beauties here.

And since we are on the subject of drives, I should mention the Great Ocean Road drive. The entire journey from Melbourne to Port Campbell takes about 3 hours but the spectacular views you see along the south west of the Victorian coastline are just breathtakingly stunning - like the stuff you see on travel documentaries. Your eyes can feast on fantastic rock formations (the most famous being the 12 Apostle rock stacks), lush rain forest, scenic little towns and surf beaches along the road.

Now, that was the best drives I'd ever had. Hopefully I'll be able to have another go at it soon. In the meantime, the weekend drives around the suburbs of Melbourne will do.

Invasion Of The Weeds

2007-09-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

It's definitely getting warmer, though it's still pretty chilly early in the morning and once the sun disappears from the horizon in the evening. Sometimes, it actually gets so warm it feels like summer is already here! Which is ridiculous, of course, since that's another 3 months away.

Having got used to such nice cool weather here, I'm quite certain I won't be able to stand the constant heat back in Malaysia. No wonder those who've lived here for years always find it hard to get used to the hot and humid conditions in Malaysia.

Anyway, now that spring is here, flowers are blooming. Unfortunately, those cherry blossoms I loved so much are mostly gone now. But other plants and flowers are picking up where cherry blossoms have left off. And these include weeds.

They are EVERYWHERE! And there are all types too. The only consolation is that many of them come with nice little flowers - white ones, yellow ones, purple ones, round fluffy ones, etc. So they are kind of nice. But weeds being weeds, I'd rather not have them at all. God knows what lurk underneath them if I allow them to multiply!

During winter, the weeds seemed to be in an arrested development phase. So there wasn't much for me to do in the backyard. But now, to my chagrin, they are all experiencing some sort of growth spurt! And there are some weeds I'd never seen before too. As a result, my backyard is now overgrown with them. Tending to the garden is certainly no picnic. By the time I finish weeding out the entire plot, I'll have to start all over again. They are growing faster than I can get rid of them!

Little wonder almost every household here has a lawn mower. I think it's certainly time we invested in one too.

Unclogged

2007-09-07T00:32:00.000-07:00

When you get overly thrilled just watching water swirling and quickly gushing down your kitchen sink hole, you know your life is as exciting as watching grass grows. Well, that’s the kind of life I have now. A dowdy housewife, that’s me.

And I couldn’t get over the fact that I could drain the sink so easily now. In fact, it has never drained water down so fast before. I kept looking for excuses to dump water in it, sort of like making up for lost opportunities yesterday.

But seriously, having the kitchen sink working properly again is such bliss. The best part is, we didn’t need a plumber. The corrosive caustic soda powder actually worked, though it took almost 12 hours to do so.

Now I’m tempted to pour the corrosive stuff into other sink holes in the house – the bathtub, the toilet wash basin, the laundry sink, etc. It’s so darn satisfying seeing the water disappearing so rapidly.

I think it must have something to do with my childhood. My dad was a government servant with the Veterinary Department of the Malaysian Agricultural Ministry. So we moved around a lot and stayed in government quarters in real ulu places. Well, the plumping systems left much to be desired. We always had leaked or clogged sinks and toilets. It was part and parcel of our lives then.

Imagine our relief when we finally moved out of those government quarters and lived in a house in which everything worked properly. I suppose yesterday’s blockage was a grim reminder of the inconveniences I experienced earlier in my life. Not that terribly harsh but not comfortable either.

Well, I’m glad that’s over and now I know what to do when something else gets clogged again. (Apparently I was the clueless one on this because my sister just told me she’s unclogged many sinks before!)

I guess the real estate agent knew what he was talking about after all. My sincerest apologies to him.

Clogged

2007-09-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

As long as everything in the house works normally, I don't bitch about doing housechores. But if something breaks down, that's when I start behaving irrationally.

The kitchen sink had the grace to revolt against me today. The pipe draining the water out was (and still is as I'm writing this) clogged and the used water stayed put. I thought using the pumb thingie (don't know what you call that) would help drain the water out. Instead, the pump kept sucking out all kinds of filth and yucky stuff. As a result, the sink was filled with UFOs - unidentified floating objects.

And needless to say, they didn't smell too good. In the end, I had to scoop the filthy water and its weird floating companions into a pail and drain them in the garden. Literally dirty work! I called the man of the house at work who in turned called the real estate agent representing the landlord (everything is handled by the real estate, you can't go straight to the landlord) so that he could call a plumber to fix the darn thing. Instead, the smart alec suggested the use of some corrosive powder to dissolve the filth and flush it out.

Tried that. Didn't work. Alex used the pump thingie like I did earlier, hoping that would help. Gosh, more UFOs surfaced. And this time, they looked even filthier.

I was a picture of gloom and doom the whole evening. Imagine washing your dishes in the laundry room. So inconvenient. Not surpringly, no one offered to help me. It took me longer than usual to finish my chores.

Bad day. The real estate agent had better get us a plumber tomorrow.

Hello Kitty

2007-09-05T02:02:00.000-07:00

Cats and my family – we are tight. Growing up, we’ve always had cats. And no, we didn’t keep any pedigrees. We just adopted strays who wandered into our backyard. Some of them look really hideous but we loved them all the same.

And since we spent most of our childhood in real kampong places, there was never any shortage of cats and kittens. No dogs there – kampongs are predominantly Malay areas anyway. We were perfectly fine with that. I personally can’t stand dogs very well. They stink and drool. A real put-off!

Of course, being so attached to your cats has its drawbacks. When they die, it’s really heart-breaking. I remember Buffy, our “sweet cat”. She was adorable and extremely clever. Unfortunately, she didn’t live very long. We found her carcass across the street from our house one day. She had a nasty head wound. We were not sure if she was hit by a passing vehicle or someone bludgeoned her to death. Her death left a big hole in our hearts.

She was succeeded by a few other outstanding felines – Twiggy, who was so scrawny when she first arrived; Sporty, the gorgeous but not so bright tabby who got left behind when our family moved from Alor Setar to Bukit Mertajam but who was miraculously found when my parents went back to Alor Setar for a brief visit; and his sister Pity (so named because she had that perpetual pathetic look), who had to be put to sleep when her cancer got really bad.

After her death, my parents decided not to keep any more cats. However, that didn’t stop my mum from feeding the stray cats along the back alley of her house. And cats love her. Strays would follow her around in markets, coffee shops, etc.

I don’t see any stray cats here in Melbourne. The few cats that I’ve seen are obviously pampered pets. They are all huge and with shiny, healthy looking fur. Joshua and Joanne always get excited whenever they catch a glimpse of the cats running about. No such reaction when they see dogs (and there are so many pet dogs around here), though. In fact, Joanne has openly declared that she “hates dogs”.

They must have got that from me. No question about it.

Remembering Steve Irwin

2007-09-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

I must confess. I wasn’t a die hard fan of the late Steve Irwin, but I quite liked his shows. He was just so out of the ordinary when dealing with wildlife, particularly crocodiles. And his accent, wow, now that’s really Australian! And though I prefer another renowned wildlife hero – Jeff Corwin (he’s much better looking, I must say, and funnier as well), I thought Irwin was pretty cool too.

So naturally, his tragic and sudden death exactly a year ago was a big shock, though not quite as shocking as Princess Diana’s death. I was still in KL at that time so I had no inkling of how the Aussies took it. He was the pride of Australia and an icon in wildlife preservation. They adored and loved him here (though like most celebrities, he had his share of critics too). So there must have been mass mourning and grieving.

I always had a feeling he would be mauled by a crocodile someday, or may be a shark if he happened to be in the sea. After all, he danced with death each time he went near the wild animals. If you’ve watched any of his shows, you’d know how many close calls he’d had. He must have run out of luck eventually. In the end, it was a stingray that did him. Until his death, I had never even heard of a stingray killing someone! I always regarded stingrays as docile and graceful sea creatures, never ferocious killers. It did seem like a very cruel joke to be killed by a stingray, of all animals.

Well, today Irwin’s are fans paying tribute to him in various ways. There are TV specials, features on him in the newspapers, online comments on him and his legacy, etc.

His legacy lives on through his family, particularly his widow Terri and daughter Bindi. That little girl has got spunk and display astonishing maturity coping with the loss of her father and carrying on his legacy.

I certainly don’t think the Irwin name is in danger of fading away anytime soon.

Walk To School Day

2007-09-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

It's one of those "days" today - Walk To School Day. This is part of Greythorn Primary School's (Joshua's school) to promote its Walkng School Buses Programme scheduled to be launched next year. Essentially, they want to encourage parents to use the school bus programme when it's available to reduce the use of private cars when sending their kids to school.

Our friend was very eager to be part of the walk until I told him we had to be at the Greythorn Park by 8.30am so that all who were taking part in the event could walk to school together. Joshua was appalled by the thought of going out earlier. You see, we would be lucky if we could leave the house by 8.30am!

Kids being kids, Joshua and Joanne take their sweet time getting ready. (Thankfully we've only been late to school once. )And since I have no idea where Greythorn Park is - it's not that far from the school, I'm sure - I would need to give myself a few extra minutes to figure out where it is. And that would mean leaving the house by 8am. And since the kids' attachment to sleep is unbreakable, I decided not to keep pressing them about joining the walk.

Also, I think we did our share of walking the first few months of Joshua's school life - walking to the bus stop, catching the bus and then walking to school. Same thing after school. So they were excused from doing the walk.

We'll take part in the next special "day" activity instead. Hopefully it doesn't require waking up earlier than usual!

Happy Father's Day!

2007-09-02T00:34:00.001-07:00

Joshua has been very excited about Father's Day. (Yes, it's Father's Day in Australia though most of the rest of the world celebrates the ocassion in June.) He'd bought something special and made a very nice card for his dad. But he was a little shy when I pressed him to give his dad the goodies he's got for his old man.

I had to "accompany" him to spring the surprise on Alex. He was beaming when his dad happily took the card. Joanne too started floating around after she presented him the gift. There were kisses and hugs and lots of happy faces. But Joshua was a little disappointed Alex didnt' open the gift immediately. You see, on this big day, Alex had to go out and meet his colleagues over something.

Well, at least the kids are starting to feel a closer bond with their father. They still won't go hug him for no reason like they do me but there has been some improvement. I keep telling Alex the easiest way to get their attention is to play rough with them. All kids love that, within limits, of course. And Alex has been doing that on weekends when he's home, sometimes even without my asking him to do so.

Maybe there's still hope for this dad. I long for the day when I'll be able to go out on my own without the kids whining about being left at home with their dad. That will be a great treat for me on next Mother's Day! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Moving House

2007-09-01T02:39:00.001-07:00

No, we are not moving house, not any time soon. In fact, we just renewed our lease of our current house for another year. Too lazy to scout around for a new one, and honestly, too broke to even consider buying our own. Sigh ...

Anyway, something really caught my eye the past week. There is this house near Joshua's school and it is being moved, literally.

If you are familiar with the kampung scenes in Malaysia, you'll know those kampung houses stand on legs and most can be moved to another site in the event of a flood or if the owner fancies having it elsewhere - with the help of the entire kampung population, of course. That's moving house Malaysian kampung style.

Here in Australia, some people move their houses too but in a far more advanced and sophisticated way - through the service of professional house removal experts. These experts use hydraulic jacks to lift the house and then move it to another site. I have no idea how they actually move the whole structure using the normal highway because it's just too big. But look at the pictures I've uploaded here and you know I'm not kidding.

I watched the workers briefly the other day. Wow, it was a lot of work, the kind that should only be done by certified engineers. And apparently, you can buy a ready-made house and have it moved to the location of your choice as well, using the same experts.

Hmm, I learn something new about this country almost everyday. I wonder what's next.

On This Day 10 Years Ago

2007-08-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-08-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-29T01:29:00.001-07:00

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

2007-08-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-08-25T05:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-24T01:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-23T05:35:00.001-07:00

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

2007-08-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-08-20T05:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-14T04:57:00.001-07:00

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

2007-08-13T03:45:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-08T04:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-06T04:01:00.000-07:00

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.