why wy?

after much prompting from johan, I have bowed to pressure and created a blog. Hey, it isn't embarrassing until 10 million people know and you're googleable. Will put aussie 101 here... the rest to follow in a couple of days and hopefully some new stuff soon.

-----aussie 101 ---------
hey everyone,
it's day three in melbourne and i've only had one beer. depressing? not quite. For oh-my-god-this-is-the-pits, hit-you-in-the-guts depression, you have to go house hunting.

like they say in more colourful hokkien, cheap and good rarely go together. I saw a couple of
places the other day. All were somewhat seedy, cramped apartments in
differing states of disrepair.

One was terribly musty, had a kitchen as big as the bathroom, the stove was broken and
the paint was flaking due to water seepage. The rental agency said they
would fix the stove but not the wall, so not even considering it.

But the weirdest place we saw had everything going for it: smack on the
street with the tram line, minutes away from shops, two bedrooms and cheap. Only this, it WAS a
shop. Imagine a doctor's clinic. the two offices were the bedrooms - which had no windows and
simply faced what would have been the "waiting' area. In the back was a kitchen and a largish hall.
I was too shocked to take pictures.

And since Valentine's is almost here, let me share this morose (but true) housing-dating analogy.
If someone is still available despite being on the market for quite a while, usually there's
something quite salah or wrong. the good ones are snapped up early, as soon as the previous person
leaves.

Then, there were the two Singaporean guys I was supposed to share a house with. one of the guys
backed out cos ""his girlfriend said cannot"". he is also nearly 30. oh wait, he's an engineer.
Out of the blue, he calls me yesterday, saying he is still looking for a housemate. So, we meet
up. He's late, I'm cold and he comes with what i think is his girlfriend. Obviously, I don't know
because she doesn't introduce herself. Or smile.
Obviously, I don't like her. She would make a
great salesgirl in Singapore or an SIA stewardess (no offence to jo's
sister) or an actress who just had botox. Do I really want to live with a guy who listens to his
girlfriend then waffles that it's ok to have a female flatmate yet takes girlfriend along to
meet me? hmmm...

am going to see more places tomorrow. keeping fingers crossed.