why wy?

Do what you love, love what you do

2010-04-29T10:48:00.002+08:00

Dear friends,

After practicing for over a year in Singapore, I've made the hard decision to relocate to Melbourne to work and live.

I'll be missing family, friends and food.

I'll post details of where I'll be working when everything's confirmed, but in the meantime, there's a wedding to plan!

spinal surgery

2010-04-08T11:44:00.002+08:00

Really good link to what goes on during spinal surgery. You may need to register for Medscape first, registration is free. Warning: there are pictures of surgical procedures and it may turn your stomach.

It's really all in your head

2010-04-06T16:26:00.002+08:00

Looking at images of sick people actually boosts your immune system, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia.

It sounds like a really neat evolutionary trick to me. If someone is coughing their guts out 2 metres away, then their germs are going to all over you. So your immune system goes to code orange and starts sharpening the battle axes...

Vigorous activity only moderately more protective than moderate activity

2010-03-19T10:39:00.002+08:00

From Medscape (registration needed, free)

The message seems to be that vigorous physical activity is associated with a modestly lower risk of cardiovascular disease when compared with activities of moderate intensity. So if you really really push it, you are not at a higher risk of dropping dead or damaging your heart.

"If two people are expending a thousand calories per week, does it matter if they do that by running or by walking?" said lead investigator Dr Andrea Chomistek (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) in explaining the rationale of the study to heartwire . "We found that there might be some benefit to doing it with vigorous activity such as running, but it doesn't appear to be a very strong benefit. As long as you're burning a certain amount of calories per week, between 600 or 1000 calories per week, it's okay if you do that by walking. You don't necessarily have to go out and run a marathon."

So go out there and exercise at your own pace!

Awareness of ovarian cancer

2010-02-01T10:06:00.003+08:00

February is awareness month for ovarian cancer. The information that follows has been sent by the Australian Osteopathic Association. Sorry it's long but important. Ovarian cancer is often a silent killer and there are no tests for it so it is crucial that women are aware of the symptoms and seek help early.

About Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

* Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is an international campaign to raise awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer. In 2010 in Australia Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is held in February. Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is also a time when Ovarian Cancer Australia, their volunteers and friends, raise funds for their programs and resources to support women with ovarian cancer and to ensure every woman in Australia knows the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

Who is Ovarian Cancer Australia?

Ovarian Cancer Australia is a national not-for-profit organisation providing support and advocacy for people affected by ovarian cancer, and is the peak body for ovarian cancer awareness and prevention. Our programs are focused in these important areas:

* Promoting awareness of ovarian cancer and its symptoms in the community – giving Australian women and their healthcare providers a better understanding of the early signs of ovarian cancer

* Providing support networks and resources to women and their families and friends affected by ovarian cancer

* Advocating with medical professionals, government and the media for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer

* We are the only organisation that works with Australian women, their families and friends who have been affected by ovarian cancer

Ovarian Cancer Australia Exists To:

* Save women’s lives by raising awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer

* Support those touched by ovarian cancer

* Be the voice of ovarian cancer awareness and prevention in Australia

How Many Women In Australia Have Ovarian Cancer?

* 1 in 70 Australian women will develop ovarian cancer in their lifetime. Each year, more than 850 Australian women will lose their battle with ovarian cancer – that’s one woman every 11 hours.

What Is The Life Expectancy For A Woman Diagnosed With Ovarian Cancer?

* 75% of women are diagnosed in the advanced stages and will not live beyond 5 years. If diagnosed early, the majority of those women will survive. This is why awareness and early detection is so important.

Who Is At Risk Of Developing Ovarian Cancer?

Factors that are considered to increase the risk of ovarian cancer are:

* Age – women over the age of 45 are at greater risk of developing ovarian cancer. However, it affects women of all ages - ovarian cancer has been diagnosed in girls as young as 7.

* Never having taken the contraceptive pill

* Having few or no pregnancies

* A high-fat diet, being overweight and smoking

* A history of cancer in the family, especially ovarian, breast or some bowel cancers (approximately 10% of all ovarian cancer cases are due to an inherited gene fault and these are found in 1 in 500 people in Australia)

* Being of Ashkenazi Jewish descent

Facts About Ovarian Cancer In Australia

* This year, 1500 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer; more than 850 will die from the disease

* There is no reliable early detection test for ovarian cancer

* The majority of Australian women do not know the symptoms of ovarian cancer

* Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cause of death in Australian women

What Are The Symptoms Of Ovarian Cancer?

The four most frequently reported symptoms from women diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer are:

* Persistent abdominal pain or pelvic (lower abdominal) pain

* A noticeable increase in abdominal size or abdominal bloating

* Needing to rush to the toilet to urinate often or urgently

* Feeling full quickly of finding it difficult to eat

Other symptoms that have been commonly reported by women with ovarian cancer include:

* Vague but persistent stomach upsets such as wind, nausea, heart burn or ingestion

* Vaginal bleeding

* Change in bowel habits

* Weight loss or weight gain

* Excessive fatigue

If these symptoms persist even after prescribed treatment for other more common conditions (for example irritable bowel syndrome), women should ask their GP to consider the possibility of ovarian cancer. Ovarian Cancer Australia provides free symptom diaries to download from their website so that women can track what they are experiencing and be able to better communicate with their GP.

Is There A Test For Ovarian Cancer?

* No! There is NO early detection screening test for ovarian cancer. A Pap smear does NOT detect Ovarian cancer. This is why awareness of the symptoms is critical to Australian women

How Is Ovarian Cancer Diagnosed?

* Ovarian cancer can only be confirmed at the point of surgery. If ovarian cancer is suspected, a GP will recommend tests which can suggest if ovarian cancer is a possibility, these include the CA125 test, and a trans-vaginal ultrasound, but these tests cannot be used to screen for or diagnose ovarian cancer.

How Is It Treated?

* When ovarian cancer is confirmed during surgery, a total hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries on both sides), omentectomy (removal of the fatty tissue that covers the bowels), lymphadenectomy (removal of one or more lymph nodes) may be performed.

Awareness Is The Key To Saving Lives - We Raise Awareness By Promoting:

* Australia’s annual awareness month is February

* 2010 Teal Ribbon Day is Wednesday 24 February

* Teal is the international colour representing ovarian cancer

osteopathy and fertility

2009-12-22T20:06:00.001+08:00

I'm currently researching how osteopathic treatment can help couples conceive and I turned up this link on the optimal diet and lifestyle for conception.

I haven't found a single source that is the definite authority on boosting fertility but going back to first principles, it makes sense to start at the blood, venous and nerve supply to the reproductive organs and pelvic mechanics. If the body and organs are free to move, they will be able to carry out their function. Freeing restrictions around the T10 to TL region seem to have good results, anecdotally.

documentary about babies

2009-12-07T09:17:00.001+08:00

This upcoming documentary looks at the lives of 4 babies - different cities, different countries. Looks really interesting!

tennis elbow

2009-12-03T09:17:00.002+08:00

I'm spending my morning walks to work listening to health podcasts, in particular, ABC's The Health Report, most of which I downloaded ages ago but haven't listened to.

This nugget of information comes from 2006 (this is embarrassing) regarding tennis elbow. It turns out tennis elbow is more complicated than simple inflammation of the extensor tendon. It seems to involve a change in the collagen content of the tendon, increased disorganisation of the cellular matrix, blood vessels and nerves in the area, which could explain why even the smallest action like picking up a cup of tea, suddenly become painful.

The university of Queensland did a study where they divided participants into 3 groups. One group had a steroid injection, another had manual therapy, the last group did nothing. All had advice on ergonomics and correct lifting to avoid aggravating the elbow.

The first group improved very quickly, but had slower healing at the 3 month mark and a greater chance of reoccurance.
The second group improved less quickly but had the best recovery at 3 months and continued to improve after that.
And the do nothing group had roughly 80% recovery at 12 months.

The take home message is that it's okay to wait and see if you suffer from tennis elbow, but if it doesn't improve after 3 months, go for some manual therapy and steroid injections should be a last resort.

And with most muscular skeletal injuries, it is good to continue to be active but avoid painful movements, or doing an activity to the point of pain.

Common remedies do help in preventing colds

2009-11-12T15:01:00.003+08:00

This is from reputable medical site medscape.

In summary,
Upper respiratory tract illnesses and influenza-like illnesses are common, as is the use of home remedies and natural products to prevent and treat them.... It is prudent to ensure good hygiene, immunizations, adequate rest, and adequate fluid intake, while avoiding deficiencies of essential nutrients.

There is support for:
Echinacea. (Taken prophylactically, it can reduce the risk for URTI in adults by 58%)
Garlic
American ginseng
Pelargonium
probiotics in adults to prevent or treat URTI.

In children, some data suggest that vitamin C and echinacea can help reduce the risk for prolonged URTIs.

Although studies of black elderberry and andrographis are promising, no research has evaluated the optimal roles of these products with atypical H1N1 influenza infections.

Aside from common sense precautions (avoiding honey for children less than 1 year old to reduce the risk for botulism; avoid giving bacterial products to severely immunocompromised patients), natural products are generally very safe, and their use can be tolerated.

back in the saddle again

2009-11-05T16:22:00.001+08:00

Howdy.

That seems to be the line from an old country song... I haven't been away, just busy with preparing an ergonomics lunchtime talk.
So if anyone reading this is in HR or wants to organise lunchtime talks at work, let me know.

celebrity spotting

2009-09-28T14:35:00.000+08:00

Usain Bolt and his osteo.

Why?

2009-09-28T09:58:00.002+08:00

It's a question I get a lot. Why did you choose osteopathy?

Usually, the answer I give is - Oh, I was really tired of journalism and waking up at 345am to start work at 430am.

Which was a big part of my decision. But it was also the sense of, well, if I don't try something different now, then when? I liked journalism, the buzz of being in the newsroom, but something was missing, somehow.

And perhaps, it was partly a Wittgenstein moment, a deep need to do something with my hands. Brilliant Cambridge philosopher doing manual labour - not that there's any comparison to what I do.

It's also what I like to think of as my sandwich-maker moment, after Douglas Adams' last book. It's where Arthur finds himself in a primitive society, and has no real skills, eg carpentry, sewing, mechanics etc. So, in case we go Planet of the Apes or Mad Max, I have a skill, besides cooking.

So it was a big leap into the unknown, and so far, no regrets. The best part - seeing people get better.

Increase in the number of kids with ADHD

2009-09-22T20:07:00.005+08:00

In recent news, there has been an increase in the number of children diagnosed with learning disorders in Singapore.

In case that link expires, here's what it says (edited):

Last year, more than 840 new patients with the learning and behavioural disorder showed up at the Institute of Mental Health's (IMH) Child Guidance Clinic, almost four times the number seen in 2000.

ADHD, characterised by hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattention, is now the most common condition seen. The rise has been attributed to a greater awareness of the condition and to parents' increased concern and their willingness to seek help.

IMH has come up with a website for parents and has games for children with AHDH.

Personally, I find it quite hard to navigate the site as it's been set up like a gaming website. As osteopaths, we often do see children with ADHD and anecdotal evidence suggests that the kids are calmer after treatment.

There seem to be four main causes of ADHD - cerebro-organic causes; neurochemical disorders; genetic factors; food allergies. Some children who are later diagnosed with ADHD also have a history of visual and hearing problems, for instance recurrent ear infections, which can then lead to difficulty understanding and processing instructions, explaining why they can't concentrate in class.

When treating a child with ADHD, osteopaths will try to improve venous drainage from the cranium and remove any intraossseous lesions of the cranial bones, especially the occiput and temporals. Lesions of the occipital bone can affect the functioning of the brain stem, the rates of CSF fluctuation, the cerebellum and thus motor control, the visual cortex as well as the hypoglossal nerve, which is important in speech development.

AHDH can be treated conventionally with medication like methylphenidate, but there are well documented side-effects like loss of appetite and disturbed sleep. While it is every parent's right to decide what is best for their child, they should also weigh up the pros and cons of medication and consider alternatives when available.

Osteopathic treatment can be given in parallel with medication or as a conservative, first approach to managing ADHD. It is unusual to get results immediately after a single session, as it can take a while for cranial lesions to resolve and for the body's self-healing mechanism to kick in. Most parents report positive changes over three to four sessions. It has been found that osteopathic treatment over one to two years, with treatments every three to five weeks, is particularly effective and has lasting benefit.

Of course, other things that can be helpful include counselling for both the parents and the child, support at school and eliminating refined sugars and processed food from the diet (again, this is from anecdotal evidence).

a special post for a special someone

2009-09-08T22:15:00.001+08:00

A non-osteopathic quote for a special loyal reader of mine

"You had me at hello."

xoxo :)

Babies and brains

2009-09-03T16:26:00.001+08:00

Another interesting link explaining why human babies take so long to walk.

Here's an except:

If babies’ heads got any bigger, they would get stuck in the birth canal and kill both mother and child. Although natural selection worked to maximize what could be done—for instance, babies’ heads compress as they twist their way around the bones in the pelvis—there simply is not enough room for a big, mature brain to pass through.

As it turned out, the evolutionary answer was to let the brain keep growing outside the womb before it matures. So in contrast to other mammals, humans have a good bit of development to do after birth.

What's inside a baby's head?

2009-08-31T10:44:00.001+08:00

Great read!

Here's a snippet:
Simple experiments demonstrate that babies are, for the most part, trapped in the here and now, a conclusion supported by the finding that the part of the brain responsible for inhibition and control, the prefrontal cortex, is among the last to develop. Gopnik uses the example of an adult being dumped into the middle of a foreign city, knowing nothing about what's going on, with no goals and plans, constantly turning to see new things, and struggling to make sense of it all. This is what it's like to be a baby—only more so, since even the most stressed adult has countless ways of controlling attention: We can look forward to lunch, imagine how we would describe this trip to friends, and so on. The baby just is. It sounds exhausting, which might explain why infants spend so much of their time sleeping or (like some travelers) fussing.

For Gopnik, this lack of inhibition and control is a gift. It makes babies and children ideally suited for the task of acquiring information about physical and social reality.

It just occured to me...

2009-08-28T10:05:00.002+08:00

that I've been gabbling on about biodynamic osteopathy without a proper intro. So here it is:

Biodynamic osteopathy is a non-intrusive, respectful approach to treatment that considers the patient as a whole and in connection to their environment. It was developed by Dr Jim Jealous, D.O, based on the later teachings of cranial osteopath Dr William Sutherland, D.O., who studied under Dr Still. It recognises that the forces which guided growth and development in the embryo are still present within us as the forces of regeneration and healing. During treatment, the osteopath interacts with this innate intelligence of the patient’s body and allows it to direct the treatment process. Patients often feel extremely relaxed and balanced after treatment.
Some patients can sense their body adapting as changes take place, others may be unaware that anything is happening at all but will feel a difference once the treatment is over.

I know it can sound a little fluffy, but it's almost like the Tao, really hard to describe and once you attempt to, you can sound like a fool but when you experience it first hand, you know exactly how powerful it can be.

horse riding

2009-08-27T10:10:00.002+08:00

Yeah blogger is back to normal.

There was an article in today's papers about the benefits of horse riding for children with special needs, and I completely agree. Horses, with the right temperament in the right environment, have a gentle nature that soothes, and all children love spending time with animals.

I've also been reading Sutherland, and he says that horse riding can help to free up the sacrum as the two innominates (bony bits of your bum) are fixed so the sacrum can be articulated by the movement of the horse. In children with special needs and even in regular folk, sometimes the sacrum is stuck and this affects the mobility of the entire spine, as well as the function of the pelvic organs. So perhaps there is a physical reason as to why horse riding is so beneficial.

liver flip!

2009-08-22T14:02:00.002+08:00

Hey hey it's Saturday...

Sorry couldn't resist that...

I was reading Sutherland today - it was a required text for school but I never read it all the way through - and I came across the liver flip technique.

It's really simple, and it works! Tried it on myself and could definitely feel a change, the upper right quadrant is lighter, makes you feel less bloated. If you're getting worried, it's not really a 180 or 360 flip, more like the liver getting its bounce back by making sure it's suspended nicely and able to move. It's also meant to be really good for morning sickness, and pretty much any kind of hangover.

Jill Bolte's stroke of insight

2009-08-18T20:14:00.003+08:00

First, watch this.

Jill is a neuroscientist who suffered a stroke, but what's interesting is the language she uses to describe it.

Often, biodynamic practitioners will use similar terms when they get together and talk shop. I don't know what the significance of it is, but perhaps, it has something to do with turning down the volume of the left side of the brain so that you can start to hear what the right side is saying.

AT Still's homeboy

2009-08-18T17:30:00.002+08:00

I've had AT Still's (founder of Osteopathy) works in my iphone for a while now, but they are in unwieldy pdf formats and I've finally got down to configuring it for Stanza. Stanza is the best ebook reading app for the iphone and it's free.

So that's what I did today. Hopefully I'll get to read them now. The biggest advantage of Stanza is it remembers where you left off.

You can get the books in pdf here.

There's also an interesting article on the same site, about the biodynamic approach and finding the Health in the patient.

I personally find learning biodynamics is like trying to learn a foreign language by watching movies without subtitles. The more foreign movies you watch, the better you get at figuring out the vocab, but every now and then, something happens and it makes you go huh?

I wonder if the blogger problem is a singapore thing. Tried a suggestion - changed to manual proxy - and it works fine. Hope I don't have to do it every time I post.

New way to manage dementia

2009-08-17T10:04:00.001+08:00

I'm sorry for the rough look of this post, blogger seems to have gone all 1996 on me, courier font, no java.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6735083.ece

Snippet: A radical approach to dementia care has been invented by a grandmother who has no medical training. She doesn't go into details, but it seems to suggest that since patients with dementia can't store new memories anyway, it's better to keep them happy by giving in to their fantasies than to correct them and make them feel embarrassed and a loss of control.

Thoughts?

2009-05-06T12:08:00.002+08:00

trivia: osteopathy (and chiropractic) helped to reduce the death rate during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918.

There is a treatment sequence video of the techniques that were used. We would still do the same techniques today to treat any type of flu, not just the latest swine flu that is big news now. The idea is that by improving the functioning of the rib cage, we can improve respiration and the body's natural healing response.

2009-05-04T15:12:00.002+08:00

Blogging - an old-fashioned form of personal communication circa late 1990s that was surpassed by social networking sites. See the fate of geocities.

So folks, there you have it. I've left the world of blogger for facebook and twitter. Anyhow, as this site still comes up on random google searches, I thought I'll leave this short update.

I'm now working in Singapore as an osteopath at Osteopathic Healthcare in Buona Vista. Osteopathy is a form of manual medicine that helps the body get better naturally and keeps people feeling better for longer. In particular, I've developed an interest in the biodynamic approach to osteopathy in the cranial field, which focuses on finding the health rather than the disease. It is extremely non-invasive when it comes to treating babies, children and those in ill health. In fact, I'm going off to Amsterdam in June for a short course on Biodynamics for children. Woohoo!

Melbourne's still really close to my heart, and I'm hoping to return some time in the future to work, play and kick ass (i.e. get my black belt).

And if anyone in Singapore is looking for really decent, well made lattes, try
highlander coffee
coffee culture at biopolis, where I work.

Highlander is open monday to saturday, coffee culture is only open weekdays.

2008-07-23T07:09:00.003+08:00

Hmm, so what's been happening? The days have gone by in a blur of laundry, training (which translates into more laundry), masters work and fretting about whether my future lies in Melbourne or Singapore. Good latte vs all night prata.... obviously it's more complicated than that but really, it is trying to choose between two completely different things and I want both.

Meanwhile I'll daydream about owning $1000 sexy red heels (thanks gnat), being somewhere warm and sleeping on 300 threadcount sheets.
http://blog.mrandmrssmith.com/top-10-budget-boutique-hotels-mr-mrs-smith/
Mr and Mrs Smith is a blog that specialises in plush romantic getaways where you check in as mr and mrs smith. heh.

2008-06-09T08:26:00.003+08:00

Blame it on sex in the city, or my emotional state of mind, or the fact that I had a good shopping buddy (my cousin, male, not gay), but I came home with a $150 Zara skirt yesterday. Since embarking on my student lifestyle, I can't remember when I last splurged on clothes. Actually I can, 2 years ago in KL. But this has got to be one of the more expensive single items in my wardrobe.

By god it felt good.

And it is a skirt (gray, pleated, knee length, well constructed with a thick belt) that when other girls see it, they sigh because it is so beautiful. A skirt with personality, that you build outfits around and not the other way. A skirt that would cover its eyes in shame and say, you can't possibly put me together with that tacky $10 top, I would rather die.

I'll have to get better at ironing because there is no way it is going to emerge wrinkle free from my backpack.

The rest of the night was a riot as well, meeting up with the cheemsters. We spoke of the significance of bahzhang, as it is the festival of triangular meat dumplings right now, to wearing black on mondays as a silent protest against work, and even climbed a 4 storey spiral staircase (old fashioned fire escape which has purely decorative significance today) to prove we could do it while slightly drunk. Presumably if I was 100% sober, I wouldn't attempt it.

Come on guys, we need to do a koh samui reunion - what about in wakiki? Alvin, dig deep and rent us a house for a week.

Otherwise the rest of the weekend was filled with laughter, which is not a bad thing. :)

And in response to a shopping challenge question - there is no zara in australia. Had to google it.

2008-06-03T13:02:00.002+08:00

Erm hello again.
I'm not sure how this attempt at blogging will go, I'm probably only blogging now in a small attempt at procrastination (masters homework looms), but look, life's been very busy. And complicated. Like the movies I watched on the plane to Singapore. Yes, I'm back for a week to spend time with my aunt/godmother, who I don't think will see the year out. It's always awkward when people say I'm sorry, but don't be really. She's not dead yet. And that's the point, I can fly back at her funeral, but I rather spend time with her alive. Even if she has to go to bed at 9.

I've also been huddled away in my little corner in Melbourne, juggling school, work and Joe. Apologies to everyone if I haven't been plugged in enough to know what's going on. This is not the place for details, suffice to say we have mutually agreed to spend a year apart. It was a painful decision but feels like the right decision for us at the moment. It's always hard to write it down on the Internet, because in some way that makes it real. So we've become the cliche of the long-term relationship, which has made me realise another cliche, I regret not cherishing the time we had together more, and we can't recreate it now because I'm not the same woman and he's not the same man. Anyway, I've decided to leave the final decision up to time.

The movies I watched all were sad, not sure if I was subconsciously attracted to sad complicated movies, or it is the glut from oscar season. Probably both.
Before the devil knows you're dead - it is so much more than a heist movie gone wrong. Won't spoil the plot.
The bucket list - slightly more cheerful movie about 2 old coots who decide to do everything they wanted before terminal cancer claimed them. It's alot easier when you are rich enough to have a lear jet, that's all I can say.
The Savages - brother and sister have to deal with putting their father with dementia in a home. Philip Seymour Hoffman again.
Home Sung stories - I didn't expect that this would be my favorite of the lot. It's a small australian art film and stars Joan Chen, but is about a sultry lady who migrates to australia with two small kids and they have to follow her as she moves from man to man and makes several suicide attempts. It's a movie that lingers with you, unlike the others which are just sad.

2008-03-30T18:37:00.002+08:00

Let's see, what's been happening...
- I'm guilty of blogging via facebook status updates, which is why this site has stayed relatively quiet.
- Summer, or the tail end of summer, was brilliant weatherwise. Then last week, it all turned to shite. Rain, cold winds, yup winter is here. Sigh.
- Went to a f-ing awesome comedy fest night. It had Patton Oswalt, who besides being the voice of the rat in that Pixar movie, he is also the voice of spongebob, my all time fav sponge under the sea. His actual standup material is more adult and cynical than the cartoon work he's done. The hosts, I can't remember their names, were absolutely hilarious and could have carried the whole show through...

2008-02-09T15:03:00.000+08:00

I never thought I could do it, but I jogged 5km yesterday, and the cherry on the cake is that I am not aching today. The last time I jogged 5km was 8 years ago, when Joe and I first started dating. He liked to run, I thought I could run, we tried running and I almost died. It was a tearful experience.

Over the last year, I've been jogging, just short 20min jogs, mostly because it is free and doesn't take up too much time or planning. When Joe came over to visit, he wasn't as fit as before and for the first time, I was ahead of him. I'm sad to say that it was a turning point for me, for the first time I could run faster than him. There is hope for making 5km after all! My usual 20min jog turned out to be 3km, the next job I ran some more and 4km was possible, then 5km wasn't that impossible to conceive. So the deed is done. It was painful at the end and I did get a blister but the satisfaction of being able to do it was worth it.

2008-02-02T10:07:00.000+08:00

I would never wear paired shirts with my significant other, but I could make an exception for this.

the closer you get to the other person wearing the T-shirt the more hearts light up on the T-Shirt

Maximum life points! Just like a video game. It would be even better if it worked like magic but the secret lies in 3 batteries. Bleech.

2008-02-01T22:27:00.000+08:00

I spotted this
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/31/filial-piety-letting.html
and it brought back memories. My parents used to take me there as a kid. haw par villa was this theme park on the cheap, so no rides, just a bunch of statutes enacting ancient chinese stories and various religious beliefs. The scariest was the 18? chambers of hell. I kept my eyes closed for most of it so can't be sure of the number. Guess I didn't learn very much. Anyhow, it was scenes of the wicked being punished, so put in boiling oil, limbs being torn apart, you get the picture. Definitely not for kids, but i guess it was a different generation. I remember they had creepy half crab half human statutes, must be to represent the sea kingdom. I don't remember this filial piety one, and I was probably too young to have a laugh at it.

They closed it down (low admissions) and tried revamping it, removing the scarier statutes and putting in a dragon ride but the buzz died down after a few years and I'm not sure if it is still open now, but they chucked the scarier statutes after the revamp.

Anyone else out there with memories of haw par villa? Please share.

2008-01-19T12:11:00.000+08:00

I've never been good at computer games but I absolutely rawk at Wii bowling. Of course, natural talent doesn't count for that much when your friends have the time and the drive to practice Will bowling every night so that they can beat you. One of them (no names because of potential embarrassment issues) has even named his bowling ball -Michelle. These guys are serious.

However, I bet they will be creamed by Flossie.

Look at the curve of her wrist. She's throwing a straight ball. The Telegraph reported that the Wii is a big hit in nursing homes in the Uk.

2008-01-16T21:38:00.000+08:00

It is not a good sign when your tech support friend goes, I have bad news, do you want to sit down first.
I was trying to get the iphone to work with a hardware fix (to avoid software issues) and it wouldn't recognise the sim. It seemed like a simple contact issue, and I'm not sure what happened (still in shock) but in english my iphone is very sick and needs to go to hospital (back to apple) and I'm not sure when it will come back...arghhhhhhh
Stupid steve jobs.

2008-01-09T01:00:00.001+08:00

It just shows that you can't be too rich to laugh at yourself - bill gate's last day at microsoft.

Lynx told me that one of our fav singers I introduced to him, Feist, is performing in Melbourne in January. Drats. A quick google and it turns out she is actually performing Feb 23, 24. My heart did a woo-hoo before realising that while I will be back in Oz, that is also the weekend I will be in shitty Canberra. Double drats.

Banged up my toe (the same one that I broke, in the same place) at aikido, so I am hobbling slightly. I was comparing war wounds with a friend, and some injuries are to be expected in a contact martial art, so as long as there is no lasting damage (including to the ego), it's all good.

2008-01-01T12:27:00.000+08:00

So a new year has arrived. Hmm, feels like the old one. Time for resolutions.
- Learn to play chinese chess and mahjong (not simultaneously)
- Get better at pool and regular chess.
- Cook more meals and switch to low GI carbs as an experiment.
- Drink better. I had an 18 year old single malt last night, a whiskey old enough to order its own drink at the bar. It was glorious.
- Read more. (This will be hard with school.)
- Work just enough to pass my exams, so that I have more time to do stuff I like.

That's enough on my plate I think.

2007-12-27T11:53:00.000+08:00

There is a new member to the family - the iphone. I bought it on impulse, after long wistful sighs, with a little help from my travelling friends. It is gorgeous yet impossibly complicated at times, especially since I can't use it as a phone - yet. I don't need another phone, and compared to my workhorse SE K800i, the iphone feels like an expensive alfa to the K800i's mazda sedan- nice to look at, fun to use, can drive you crazy at times and very idiosyncratic. Well, I'm off to learn to love to love the iphone.

2007-12-24T11:37:00.000+08:00

I think I may just fall in love with comics again - time's top 10 list. Will definitely have to get Alan Moore's latest (I would have bought it even if it wasn't on the list) so anyone scrambling for a last min xmas gift for moi - there's a hint.

2007-12-22T09:04:00.000+08:00

When your ass is 30m hanging in the air, I've trusted Jo with my life, and when I've encountered blue screen of death, I've dialed his emergency line. Yes, Jo is the man - mr rock climbing tech suppoort although, thankfully not at the same time. Tonight is his second wedding (same marriage, second party) and I'm honoured to be a part of it (even though it means I have to do some work at the reception desk). I saw bits of the first wedding video and I definitely had pangs of jealousy that I wasn't there, because everyone else was and damn it it looked like a whole lot of fun even though it was meant to be a formal affair. Tonight's affair is at his old hostel at uni, so I'll be wearing my 12-year-old orientation t-shirts... they still fit.

2007-12-11T15:44:00.000+08:00

I was driving and I heard on the radio that the monetary body in Singapore has decided that a combined asian currency like the Euro is not a feasible idea because the timing isn't right et al. I'm glad it is not going to happen any time soon, because that is the whole point of going overseas to Thailand and Malaysia to shop - it is much cheaper than in Singapore. Just met some australians on holiday, and they were exclaiming how much cheaper singapore is - $55 for 4 pairs of shoes - and several locals have given them puzzled looks, erm, yes, but it is much cheaper in Bangkok or KL...

Speaking of which, am heading to KL tonight to make my annual contribution to the malaysian retail economy, although I think I will aim for more restraint this year.

2007-12-05T08:51:00.001+08:00

not sure if this works, otherwise the link is here to see a double decker bus do a Uturn on a narrow 2 lane bridge.
Oh, and they have Japanese style talk shows in Germany.

2007-12-02T15:48:00.000+08:00

Bought a new laptop at the annual computer fair - looking at the line of cars waiting to get into the carpark you'd think singapore is a nation of geeks - either that or bargain hunters. It was the quickest sale I made, but as Johann pointed out, including the first trip we made, plus comparing brochures, we actually spent some time on it. Ended up with a $1100 Acer, dual core 1.46 ghz, 120gb hdd, 2.5gb ram, vista home premium, card reader, webcam but sadly no bluetooth. And to think I spent a week rigging up my phone to control my itunes on my desktop... sigh...

The house of Johann and Joe (and a few others) is a geek paradise - there are at least 15 computers in the house, plus a projection tv (for soccer and the xbox) and a massive 100 inch touchscreen that has to go to make way for... get this... the pool table.

edit 3/12: the advantage of a geek paradise is they have heaps of stuff, Reezan has kindly donated his old bluetooth dongle and let me install his original ms office, 2007 okay...
I think these computers have some form of life.... Johan thinks they are scared of him and work properly when he comes over to take a look. And I could never get the borrowed laptop to go into energy save mode and turn the screen off until I got the new one in.... almost seems like a case of laptop jealousy.

2007-11-27T15:58:00.000+08:00

My photo albums from the trip are on facebook (but you can click on these links if you are not a member) with captions.

Gu lang yu
rest of xiamen and guangzhe

China was interesting. The most surprising thing is that, by the end of the trip, I could pass for local (with my poor mandarin) expect for the fact that
- I had this Indian dude with me. He became quite the celebrity, girls were queuing up to take pictures with him.
- I was wearing a singlet when everyone was in two or three layers. Well, it was only 20-25 deg and the sun was shining. Now I know how canadians must feel.

2007-11-12T07:08:00.000+08:00

Am back in Singapore for less than 25 hours, having arrived at 515am local time in the morning, and at 710am, I have already checked my email twice. The airport has free surfing stations, and I figured it would take a while for customs. I think I may have a problem with technology.
Since it is 1030am Melbourne time, I am fully awake but no one else is. And since
I am off to China tomorrow am, figured it is pointless to adjust my body clock twice so am going to attempt to stay on Melbourne time, although the party tonight will be challenging. Wish me luck.

2007-11-08T06:33:00.000+08:00

Drinking diary
Tues - had half a bottle of champers (Cup day, 's traditional)
Wed - exam in morning (hence only half a bottle), thought exam went badly so had 3 beers over lunch. Later after dinner found I passed, so celebrated with remaining champagne.
Thurs (today) - drinks with classmates.
Fri - girls only pyjama cocktail party. I will be arriving late so am presuming I will be forced to catch up.
Sat - beers at the pub with the aikido crowd
Sun - drinks on the plane? At least I won't be driving to the airport.

I hate having to leave Melbourne just when the weather is warming up and when juicy mangoes, peaches, cherries and plums come into season.

2007-10-26T07:15:00.000+08:00

I've always wanted to take bad photos on purpose that turn out good, ie have fun with a LOMO holga or LCA, which is the antithesis of how to take a good photo.
Dodgy plastic camera from the 60s + expired film = surreal, overexposed blurry pictures that look amazing (to me).

Parents/relatives/grandparents: Aiyoh, why your photo so blur? You neber use auto focus?
Me: It's meant to be like that.
Parents/relatives/grandparents: Shake of head, wondering about their offspring's lack of ability to take proper photos.

I do have a lomo, the one that takes 4 shots at slightly different angles, but each photo is tiny and the colour is never as rich. But before I plonk down for a holga, LCA or Diana, I can't figure out where to get medium format film or process it now that everyone is on digital. I chanced upon this flickr site with beautiful pictures and it turns out it is shot in singapore. Look at the intensity of that blue sky! Now I desperately want a lomo but I'm not sure if I can recreate the same effect...

Another link to lomo pictures of singapore - trust me, definitely an unusual take on the familiar.

Ps: I'm actually meant to be studying radiology right now, which is coincidentally also about making sense of blurry black and white shots...

2007-10-23T19:51:00.000+08:00

Am listening to
Matt Pond PA - they remind me of Matchbox 20 before they went over the hill.
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I thought they were an old band from the 60s but they are a relatively new band with an old sound. If you like Amy Winehouse, this hits the spot.
Beirut, Iron and Wine - I haven't heard enough from these two groups, but very similar to Badly Drawn Boy, folksy pop music with good melodies.

Studying is so bleeech.

2007-10-11T14:36:00.000+08:00

Got into a minor accident sending my cousin to the airport this week, but the car comes back from the shop tomorrow. Yeah! Getting around without it is a real pain, stuff the environment, I'll make up for it some other way.

Re the accident - guess it is an expensive lesson but thankfully no one was hurt, this on a day that coincidentally 9 people died on the roads, the highest figure for the year.

Have gone into study mode at full speed, more out of desperation than any real desire to do well. Devendra Banhart, The Postmarks and Peter Bjorn and John's Young Folks are keeping me company. I can't believe how catchy it is. Find them on hype machine.

To facebook or not to facebook? Gnat has a good video that sums it up.

2007-09-16T12:36:00.000+08:00

It started as a quiet civil wedding at the registry to get the paperwork so that we can buy a flat, and now it is dawning on me that keeping it small is going to be hard. You can't have a wedding without some family, and you can't invite family and not serve some food, and if you only have family there they will drive you crazy so you need some friends for support...

Already, mum is talking about making fruitcake for the cake (which will be good cos I haven't had her unhealthy fruitcake with butter and eggs and whisky for ages), my long-time gal pal of 19 years (I am godmother to her 3 year old) has volunteered madly to be wedding planner, despite my insistence, we have to keep it small. But I feel like such a cad saying no to a flower girl, and so I suspect the same thing is going to play out repeatedly.

I don't even want to think about the guest list.

But enough about me. A big welcome to the world to Kai David Wee, age 1 day.

2007-09-11T13:51:00.000+08:00

The funniest things on tv and available on the internet

Summer Heights High (or get it at itunes as a podcast)

The IT crowd

2007-09-03T20:43:00.000+08:00

This has been a terrible week.
1) house got broken into, laptop was stolen. Nothing else was taken, which is good.
2) mom is worried and flies over. For those who know, my relationship with her has been complicated in the past year and we have "letting go of apron strings'' issues to resolve. Am determined to be positive, but hearing that your mom is arriving in less than 24 hours is a stressful experience.
3) She brings my old laptop over and it was working fine until 4pm today, then blue screen of death. My attempts to revive it are unsuccessful. Planning to hand it over to an IT buddy here to see what he can do.
4) I am naturally attracted to technology and geeky things but I really really hate computers right now. And the fact that I should back up my data more often.

2007-08-21T19:27:00.000+08:00

The fruits of procrastination - 6 orange and chocolate muffins. Am currently struggling through an assignment for school and stuff for work, I'd much rather be looking at photos of the antarctic. Just spent 2 hours watching futurama and the simpsons on telly, which is something I haven't done in ages and it was brainlessly good.

This story about Galileo's preserved middle finger made me laugh, considering he was excommunicated and died in house arrest. The same site also has a video of a language made up entirely of whistles, Silbo... it has 4000 words. There is even a link to learn it but it is useless because I can't whistle.

And this 300 parody as well.

2007-08-19T21:13:00.001+08:00

This weekend has got to be one of my weirdest this year but in a good way, a pinch-me-I-can't-believe-this-is-happening way. On the Friday I had to go to a 21st birthday party, so I dusted off my trusty Mango black halter dress and put on my high heels, hoping that my sore knee wouldn't protest too much. And on Saturday night, my good pal David invited me along for the premiere of the Malaysian Film Festival, on the condition that I wear a sarong kebaya. As part of the informal Singapore - Malaysian Peranakan association, I was among other similarly clad women standing alongside the red carpet, welcoming guests. This is the closest I've ever come to feeling like an air hostess, and that my only purpose was to look beautiful is a new one to me.

So all in all, it was two consecutive nights of dressing up and taking tiny steps and appearing ladylike, something which is pretty rare. But of course, proper ladies don't swear in two languages when the cold melbourne wind cuts through lace and bare skin.

I like this attempted self portrait I took, because it seems blurry and edgy and impromptu, as opposed to a proper posed shot.

More youtube goodness on manic monday - this clip from a 70s kung fu movie is unintentionally funny I really dig the stiff upper lip british dubbing at the start, but hang around for the end.

2007-08-15T17:30:00.000+08:00

more cool shirts - last exit to nowhere - shirts based on fictional towns and companies in cult movies. Definitely like a secret handshake, a nudge and wink, aren't we cooler than everyone else smirk.

2007-08-12T15:38:00.000+08:00

The science of insulting women - negging is to insult a beautiful women to lower her self esteem so she falls for you more easily. It must be a bastardisation of nagging. Not that it is hard to insult a woman - the classic triple whammy
1) you're fat
2) you're ugly
3) you made me turn gay

Listening to your ipod out in the bush without electricity - now possible. A guy is selling a windup mp3/video player. 40min of winding gives you 20hrs of play. It looks bulky but the specs are good - radio, recorder, SD card slot.

And this made me laugh... it is funnier if you know science fiction. Or gay terminology, a friend tells me.

This coming week looks like a real killer, a test, a friend in town for a business trip, a 21st party, an interview, helping another friend with an aikido demo, and finally on the weekend, turning up for a Malaysian film festival in sarong kebaya and borrowed jewellery. Oh, and working on the weekend too.

2007-08-09T20:50:00.000+08:00

HP5 is over, but there are still lots of movies out there that I want to catch. My art house days are over, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Stardust - because it was written by neil gaiman and the trailer was impressive
Across the universe - a Beatles musical (ps you can watch clips of both at fabulist)
Beowulf - also because neil had a hand in the screenplay and I read the book, which is the basis for all good fantasy novels.
The golden compass - because the dark materials trilogy is going to be the next big thing.

And of course HP 6 and 7. I get a kick out of seeing the distinguished cast point wands at each other, especially when you've seen the same actors go all stiff upper lipped in period dramas.

2007-08-04T21:53:00.000+08:00

Just got back from seeing King Lear, which ran for about... 4 hours. Almost Bollywood, it even had some songs, just not the dancing. It was very good, very intense and very precise, but my olde english is rusty so some parts I was lost. It was also the very first Shakespeare play I've seen live, everything else has been on film. I miss the cinematic close up, but only because we were in the cheapest seats (which were not very cheap either).

I was really worried about Sir Ian McKellen's nude scene, and if it would put me off LOTR and XMen reruns forever but I shouldn't have bothered. Me and my gay friend agreed he is a man blessed with many talents (ahem) . I guess there is a reason (besides artistic integrity) why he is willing to drop his dacks night after night on a world tour.

And I almost got the dates mixed up, so I would have turned up tomorrow and realised the tickets were for yesterday....

2007-07-21T07:19:00.000+08:00

I found this on one of my favourite mp3 sites Some of it is funny, some of it sad, most of it true.

A) Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
B) If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
C) Never have children, only grandchildren.
D) I am fond of children - except boys.
E) Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.
F) Children are contemptuous, haughty, irritable, envious, sneaky, selfish, lazy, flighty, timid, liars and hypocrites, quick to laugh and cry, extreme in expressing joy and sorrow, especially about trifles, they'll do anything to avoid pain but they enjoy inflicting it: little men already.
G) There are only two things a child will share willingly - communicable diseases and his mother's age.
H) I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
I) There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.
J) In America there are two classes of travel - first class, and with children
K) The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.
L) The English take the breeding of their horses and dogs more seriously than they do their children.
M) Your children need your presence more than your presents.
N) I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
O) Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them.
P) The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.
Q) Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
R) Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.
S) My music is best understood by children and animals.
T) You make 'em, I amuse 'em.
U) The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother's always a Democrat.
X) Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
V) Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery.
X) God is dead! Heaven is empty - Weep, children, you no longer have a father.
Y) It is a wise father that knows his own child.
Z) You don't even live once.

. . . . . . . . . .
A)John Adams B)Margaret Atwood C)Robert Benchley D)Jean de La BruyÃ¨re E)Dick Cavett F)Lewis Carroll G) Clarence Darrow H)Ralph Waldo Emerson I)Robert Frost J)Theodore Geisel K)Oliver Wendell Holmes L)Jesse Jackson M)King Edward VIII N)Karl Kraus O)Gerard de Nerval P)Princess Michael Of Kent Q)Antoine de Saint-Exupery R)William Shakespeare S)Socrates T)Benjamin Spock U)Igor Stravinsky S)Harry Truman V)Gore Vidal X)Andy Warhol Y)Oscar Wilde Z)Yoda

After going through that I'm not sure if the quotes match, for instance the one by Yoda, I'm pretty sure he said X.

2007-07-19T22:22:00.000+08:00

ice cream football.

Wednesday was the coldest day in Melbourne in 9 years, a miserable 7 degrees at its hottest. It snowed in parts of victoria too, and I almost wished it snowed where I lived. After all, it is going to be that cold, you might as well throw snowballs. Aikido training in winter is somewhat of an experience. You can't feel your feet for the first 5 minutes because the mats are so cold...

2007-07-10T19:52:00.000+08:00

cats that look like hitler

One of the last handwritten newspapers in the world. Great story.

2007-07-05T12:32:00.001+08:00

Even if you don't do a martial art, you've gotta admit this is a pretty cool incense holder.

echuca

2007-07-01T08:21:00.000+08:00

Joe and I decided to head up to Euchua midweek, in a desperate attempt to get away from the cold Melbourne rain. It's got a cute name, say A-chook-a, and is about 2-3 hours away, depending on whether you stop or not. It is an inland river port and is really popular for fishing and living on houseboats in summer. Note to self - houseboats are really ugly, more like containers floating on water. So steam paddles were the thing, as the river is really shallow ( I could stand in it and have the top of my head showing) and they still operate for tourists. I took pictures of the boats we passed, and forgot to take a pix of the boat we were on. It was called the Alexander Arbuthnot, which led to a whole series of bad jokes (from Joe) revolving about ahbuthen.

My best pix of the trip.

The sun and warm weather kicked in on the second day, and I walked around in a t-shirt outside in the sun for the first time in a month. It was nice weather in Bendigo too, where I took this pix. Look, blue skies! What is really funny is that we were almost planning a roadtrip to Lakes Entrance, which is really beautiful until concerned friends mentioned that it is colder than Melbourne this time of year. Lakes Entrance is currently flooded.

There is a chinese temple in Bendigo because there was a large Chinese population who came during the Gold Rush. The name outside the temple is jin shan, which means gold hill literally. At that time, Victoria had a 12 pound levy or entry tax, so to save money, these Chinese immigrants got off at Robe, in South Australia, and walked 300km or so to get to Bendigo. And these days we pay airport tax without question.

2007-06-30T06:56:00.000+08:00

My resolve not to drink for a week lasted 2 days, which is better than getting back on the bandwagon straight after, I supposed. Some links:
soft toys + food
some cool utube vids about what you can do with aikido (not that I actually do stuff like that in class... yet)
bloggg is acting strange so this will be a short post.

2007-06-24T20:35:00.000+08:00

Have been woken out of blog slumber by Team William's challenge - five things to eat before you die.

1) Sashimi at the Tokyo Fish market at 5am in the morning. I didn't watch all those discovery travel shows for nuthin'.
2) Special adult version chocolate chip cookies or brownies, like the ones they have in Amsterdam or similar, with an extra ingredient that I will not spell out in public.
3) Paella in Spain. Cos I want to go to Spain.
4) A meal at Tetsuya's in Sydney.
5) Fried chicken skin from one of the beachside restaurants in Krabi, Thailand. Incredibly addictive, forget the calories.

By the way, absinthe is overrated. All I had for my troubles is missing out on dinner, a massive series of spews, a banged knee and the ruined shoulder of a friend who had to carry me home. Definitely the worst drinking-related night of my life and there were no green fairies either.

2007-06-03T19:04:00.000+08:00

I passed my 4th kyu grading this weekend (it's an aikido test) and thanks to all the training I did for it, I can now fit into an old pair of jeans. Woo hoo! Double happiness.

2007-05-27T20:15:00.000+08:00

Disco isn't dead, disco is life!
As Eddie Izzard puts it in Mystery Men, now I do like disco, but I think there is a time and place for it, and 7pm on a Sunday is not it.

Definitely not as a wind down for the weekend, and definitely not after a hard arvo of aikido training. I hit the books before meeting my friends at this gay pub, listening to Peter and the Wolf and Jude (folksy kinda music) while I studied, then watching drag performers strut their stuff to Tina Turner and Pink is simply surreal. And it doesn't help that the Kylie impersonator has better legs than you.

Going to bed now.

2007-05-23T07:05:00.000+08:00

A telstra call centre caught me at home yesterday and gave me the spiel - you used to be with us, and we want you to come back, we've lowered our rates, we're really cheap now ... etc. Then he asks me, how much do you pay a month for your phone?

I go $20, including line rental.

You can hear him swallow in amazement.

To his credit, he doesn't try to sell me the telstra deal, just asks me a couple of questions about my provider and hangs up, beaten. I never found out how much i could save if i signed up with telstra, but i get the feeling it would be a negative number.

(note to non australians - this is the expensive, non lucky country when it comes to telcos. Line rental is twice or three times as expensive as in Singapore, and there is still a flagfall for every mobile call you make, on top of call charges that are expensive anyway, and can work up to a dollar a minute, uncapped, on some plans. And they still charge you for the crappy standard phone handset rental every month even if you have your own phone, unless you take the initiative to return it to them.)

2007-05-17T20:58:00.000+08:00

Still alive, pardon the silence, but it is exams again (where does the time go?) I will be taking an aikido exam (grading) as well as the regular osteo stuff, so my days have been a combination of school-mat-study-sleep-school-work. Blogging is going to fall off the radar, pretty much, until erm June-ish. See you then!

2007-05-05T10:00:00.000+08:00

just stumbled on this really cool shirt
it doesn't really make sense until you find out that the code in the green rainbow is the crack for HD DVD.

2007-04-29T10:14:00.000+08:00

I know I'm kinda late but just discovered this vid of painting with french fries and ketchup. The soundtrack rocks.
There are heaps of vids up of the new Bjork album and concerts, I'm not sure if I am into Bjork as much as before, I don't even listen to the old Bjork stuff anymore. I prefer Feist and Amy Winehouse.
Speaking of alcohol abuse, I had too much wine Friday night, woke up and the room was still spinning. A sign maybe I should take it easy? Nah, went ahead for aikido training anway, but made sure to tell my partners to take it slow initially until I was sure I could hold down lunch. You don't know till you try. Btw I was fine.
The Age today had a front page splash - 260 arrested a week for public drunkeness. Ironically, Victoria is the only state that enforces this law, dating back to British days. So you can be drunk in public in the rest of Australia without penalty. Woot!

2007-04-22T14:00:00.000+08:00

I really enjoyed this vid of an american folk/country group jamming with a mongolian duo on the rooftops of beijing.

2007-04-17T14:36:00.000+08:00

Stick to people, Annie Leibowitz. Her pic of germany's latest celeb comes off a tad scary.

2007-04-09T08:34:00.000+08:00

On one-week term break, but it is a rip off really. The easter weekend is 4 days long, so effectively I get a holiday of 3 days. Bleech.

This weekend has been one of ups and downs, on Saturday I had a rough training session and was feeling all teary and distressed after. Many many many thanks to faye, who came over the next morning to give me an osteo treatment and I was bouncing off the walls with good vibes. In fact, I felt so good about myself that I ended up dancing at a gay bar with a couple of good chums past my bedtime. There you go, osteo treatment works!

Oh, and cuddles from these two fellas definitely helped too.

2007-04-01T06:31:00.000+08:00

a duck feeding koi. another damn cute vid from cuteoverload.

Spent a whole day on bent knee and semi horse-stance for aikido training yesterday, then all night standing around at a beautiful engagement party in high heels. Today I have to work - standing at the footy. I am so going to pay for this tonight. These are times when people go, she's really smart and I go, if only you knew.

(I can hear my friends chorus - we know.)

Aikido is going well, but I still need to work on the idea of being calm and centred and empty before the attack. I see the row of black belts going to attack me during practice and in my head I go oh fuuuuck, which I'm told is the natural healthy response to danger.

2007-03-30T20:10:00.000+08:00

whenever I'm bored or a bit down, i head to cuteoverload. See otters holding hands.

2007-03-29T21:48:00.000+08:00

part of the masters programme is having to do a research project cum thesis, and the ignobel site is a good place to start - ie topics not to do. Last year's winners included:

MEDICINE: Francis M. Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, for his medical case report "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage";

MATHEMATICS: Nic Svenson and Piers Barnes of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization, for calculating the number of photographs you must take to (almost) ensure that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed
REFERENCE: "Blink-Free Photos, Guaranteed," Velocity, June 2006,

LITERATURE: Daniel Oppenheimer of Princeton University for his report "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly."
REFERENCE: "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly," Daniel M. Oppenheimer, Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol. 20, no. 2, March 2006, pp. 139-56.

2007-03-23T21:12:00.000+08:00

nice slightly disturbing art - the sort of illustrations you expect to see in grown up fantasy novels here. Reminds me of dave mckean in terms of the composition, but his art is rendered in what seems like water colours and pencil.

And gorgeous bags here. ahhhh. The blue japanese looking one with the maroon sash is my fav.

2007-03-16T07:37:00.000+08:00

2 sunsets, or rather, the same sunset from two places.

2007-03-12T19:36:00.000+08:00

Success - finally managed to copy all the tunes from my old ipod to the new one... there are no good free programmes that can sync painlessly, I thought I did that until I found songs missing (don't ask me how I noticed out of the 6000 songs I have). Ended up manually comparing playlists, song by song, and recopying the ones that got left behind.

In sad ipod news, accidentally managed to wipe out a friend's ipod collection after he deleted his local itunes library. Damn you autosync! Thankfully, he is taking it quite well, and have promised to go over next weekend to give him some music that he gave me yonks ago.

There is a strange ad running on the radio which I found funny at first but not anymore. It is about how radio doesn't need celebrity voices to boost sales, and features John Cleese as the celebrity voice who is peeved that he is no longer needed. It is kinda ironic then that the ad agency must have paid John Cleese a celebrity fee to act in a commercial that espouses celebrity endorsements...

2007-03-04T08:33:00.000+08:00

It's been a week in Australia already, and yet it feels like 3 and I've got homework to hand up already. Caught up with old friends, made some new ones and will have to say goodbye to others. My new neighbour, the lawn bowling one, is moving back home to Cairns to be back with her family and to get away from the cold. Another friend is thinking of packing up and going back to Singapore.

Will stop blogging before this post becomes too philosophical.

2007-02-06T08:06:00.000+08:00

Just came across this post about a book Experiment at Work: Explosions and Experiences at the Most Frightening Company on Earth by Andy Law

It is about the practices of an advertising company in the UK called St Luke. From the blog post (edited):

- Everyone is a co-owner. This mean that a portion of the company shares are distributed equally among everyone each year, with additional shares reflecting the number of years the co-owner puts in.
- Fear, greed, and ego are outlawed, and the lack of co-operation is a firing offence. This, of course, encourages teamwork as well.
- Poor performance isn’t necessarily seen as a bad thing - people have their good times as well as bad, and the strong teamwork helps people get back on track.
- Co-owners are indeed really the most valuable asset. Of course every other company claims the same. But if a co-owner has a personal commitment which clashes with a professional one, the personal commitment is allowed to take precedence. Whoa. And of course, there are no fixed hours, and co-owners can work anywhere (at home, etc.).
- Sabbaticals (1-3 months) are given every few years, recognising the value of learning and resting and satisfying one’s curiosity.
- Sharing everything, and total transparency. There are no offices nor personal desk spaces and co-owners are discouraged from staying in one place for too long. All meetings are open and all information is available to co-owners, including salary details. This point is probably hardest to swallow, but it’s because they felt “it represented the most human form of a networked environment”.
- Only clients have fixed space, so the office is organised around the clients. Meetings happen everywhere, with people popping in and out of rooms to meet other team members or clients to cross-pollinate ideas, or at the lunch area, the reception floor, or in the garden.
- The office is an art canvas, with the colours and theme changed monthly. So the office may sometimes look like a hospital ward, a Catholic church, a beach, or look like a mass murder has just taken place.
- The Make Yourself More Interesting Fund pays for courses that co-owners attend to make themselves more interesting. Like parachuting, anthropology, Indian head massaging, and horse-whispering.
- One of the reasons why St. Luke’s is so frightening is that they don’t have any plan. As in 10-year or 5-year 2-year plan. No, they don’t believe in planning, because most plans don’t come to fruition anyway. Instead, they rely on serendipity. They survive on serendipitous events, which bring them business. Frightening to most, exhilarating to some.

Sounds fun, although I do like the idea of having my own desk or at least a place to keep my coffee mug.

2007-02-05T23:58:00.000+08:00

So much for last game at the National Stadium, managed to catch Singapore vs Thailand on wed. The football itself was so-so but the atmosphere was electric, not to mention the chance to learn new malay swear word.

I even managed to eat the triangular curry puff (mostly potato and unidentifiable brown gravy) but there were so many illegal hawkers selling them that I'm not sure which was the stall that my friend had referred to. I guess it is the experience rather than the taste of the puff that counts.

Anyhow, by time I got around to posting this, Singapore has won the second leg (against Thailand but playing in Bangkok) so we take the Asean trophy! The trophy is kinda funny, because Singapore and Thailand are the only two teams to have won it, so the names inscribed are alternating. The match was a heart-in-mouth affair for the 90min, only because the Singapore team relies as much on luck as well as skill, ie they are not very good. They do have moments of brilliance, then they do something stupid.

2007-01-27T23:27:00.000+08:00

Singapore beat Malaysia at soccer tonight, on penalties. A bit sad that I had to contend with watching it in the office (am working) instead of being at the National Stadium, which I just found out is being torn down to make way for a new sports complexmajing. The news came out in August last year and stirred up a big debate, but like with most old buildings in Singapore, they get replaced in the name of progress. For The Greater Good. Etc.

I'll miss the Stadium, I haven't spent enough time there, never got to sample the famous triangular curry puffs or coffee in a condensed milk can. So it was built in the '50s and didn't have enough female toilets, but it had a retro coolness that you can't just replace.

I've only been to the Stadium twice, both times when it was full, and the feeling is electric. The first was a Michael Jackson concert (it rocked, okaay) and the second was a Singapore vs Indonesia soccer match a few years ago, long after the heyday of Singapore soccer (Singapore got kicked out of the Malaysian league in the '90s after winning the title). No matter which team you support, everyone gets to yell referee kayu (which apparently means stupid in Malay, but I always assumed that it meant ref unfair).

The best feeling: When a wave is going on, and you can feel the entire concrete building tremble as people stomp their feet.

2007-01-19T20:48:00.000+08:00

design porn at square mag. work safe, as long as you don't purr or sigh too loudly at the beautiful chairs, lamps, taps, showers, houses etc. (my colleagues have already been around twice.)
I especially love the tap, the way it allows light to illuminate the flow of water.

2007-01-17T12:30:00.000+08:00

Got back from Fragrant Harbour last night, and what was a one week holiday felt like a two week break - which is a good thing.

Did some rock climbing and now sporting cuts on my hands to prove it. We also trekked on an island, urban trekked (ie shopping), rode on a junk, and ate. A lot.

This is the view from central craigs, at the START of the climb. Not shown - the long trek uphill, first concrete steps, then a trail, then scrambling over rocks, and climbing a steep incline of rock with just a rope to pull yourself up. Don't look down.

Rock climbing on Tung Lung Island. Very pretty, unfortunately most of the climbs are quite hard! For more climbing info go to hongkong climbing. HK climbs are graded harder than Singapore climbs, so if it is stated as 6A, it is really a 6B.

There's more to HK and skyscrapers and dim sum. We met a guy who had done the seven peaks and both poles (he runs an outdoor shop), a whole bunch of Singaporean bankers, lawyers and academics, and had a pretty good laugh all round.

On the downside, the pollution is baaadd. On some days, even the buildings across the harbour are a blur. Residents blame the factories in China, and they have a point. Over Chinese New Year, when everything shuts down for the holidays, the skies turn blue again.

Contentment.

2007-01-01T21:54:00.000+08:00

clip of an ang moh kid speaking perfect singlish at a school play. Close your eyes and tell me if there is a difference.

2006-12-30T08:23:00.000+08:00

this is what the ramayana would look like if drawn by a pixar artist. Reminds me of the monsters in power puff girls. And judging from the transformers and ninja turtles revival, PPG is going to be back in 2015.

2006-12-28T06:54:00.000+08:00

Have finally switched from old to new blogger, and just realised you can't edit shared blogs that are still on old blogger. So nat, you can post to pickle sisters (sorry no updates, I haven't been cooking), and mirili people, please migrate soon (I have been reading).

"I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking,” The last letter from Saddam Hussein, which is a strange turn from a man who has always been associated with war. I guess looming death can do that to you.

I saw a tiny picture of him in my new non-beta yahoo inbox, and I mistook it for a fancy byline photo of some journalist - then realised it was Saddam, in a crumpled suit and shot like it could be in GQ. Crimes against humanity aside (something I think most world leaders are guilty of, directly or indirectly), I prefer his lean grizzly prison look to the content military despot look.

2006-12-22T20:11:00.000+08:00

Was at a whisky bar last night, and it just sounds wrong when you hear grown men saying: "I prefer the 12 year old.''

Be glad you never met the Demon Duck of Doom. A giant, flesh eating duck from where else, australia.

A long way from the Waldorf

2006-12-21T08:59:00.000+08:00

At the counter of hotel nan yeang in chinatown, KL, we saw this sign: Room 1 hour RM27, min 2 people. Extra 3rd person RM5.50.

We took the room for a night, only because we (here I don't mean me, subtly pointing finger at the other half) didn't get around to booking a proper hotel before we left, and we got to KL really really late following a horrendous traffic jam and bus ride. Imagine, 9 hours stuck behind a smoking driver.

The room was small and cramped, dispite the fact it came with TV, aircon and balcony, definitely for business, not romance. The corridor was outfitted in tacky pink, but I'm sure Wong Kar Wai could have done something beautiful with the 50s style stairwell and lift lobby.

No matter, the shopping more than made up for it. 1 Utama rocks! It even has a climbing gym, but I decided to give up climbing for sale time.

2006-12-15T18:07:00.000+08:00

am pissed off cos my phone has been stolen on the train. Trying to look on the bright side of things
- i was thinking of getting a new one with bluetooth in Jan anyway, but i didn't want to spend that sort of money.
- my phone is not worth very much at all. even the company that made it has given up its mobile division
- a whole bunch of contacts lost, but then again it gives me an excuse to weed out friends, as a colleague puts it. Nah, it means i will have to start collecting again. At least there is email.
- i will lose my phone number, which i kinda like.
- the most valuable thing in the phone is an MMS i sent to my cousin last christmas, for the memories more than anything.
- my wallet and iPod are still here.

2006-12-07T05:37:00.000+08:00

I am feeling grouchy.
Because it is 5am and I am sitting in an office.
Because I have to get up at 345am to go to work. Even though this is 645am in melbourne, it doesn't feel like 645, it feels like too fucking early.
Because I just read about a socialite (only 33) who is opening a manolo shop and bought 20 pairs for herself ($1,500 each). I hate her because she has 20 new pairs of beautiful shoes and also because she sounds dumb and self-absorbed. She talks about desiring a $60,000 Felipe Massa Richard Mille watch. "Once, (Massa, an F1 driver) suffered a really bad crash but when he emerged, the watch was still in working condition.'' yes, but what about the driver?

2006-11-27T19:23:00.000+08:00

Played tourist today, with my 78-year-old aunt the tour guide. She walks faster than me. Everyone is talking about vivio city, the new shopping centre - as in so new than the cinema in it hasn't opened yet. Will try and check it out later in the week.

Had to update the photo on my identity card - in a sense I turned 30 again. The registration centre is crowded but they send me to the front of the queue, perhaps they think I don't have time to lose. An hour and two blackened thumbs later, I've got a new card. The last photo was taken when I was 17 or 18. My eyebags have doubled since then, and I'm pretty sure I'll look back 10 years from now and moan about my unfashionable haircut now.

It has been raining every afternoon, which makes the heat bearable. This is tropical drenching rain, not pissy weak damp rain. Have taken to carrying a brolly around.

2006-11-19T15:08:00.000+08:00

Now with exams over, my social life has bloomed - like cactus after rain. But some days, a gel just has to stay home and do laundry. A quick shout to my neighbour (literally yelling from the carpark) quickly led to a couple of beers, G&Ts when the beers ran out (to be honest I only had 3 bottles in the house) and suddenly, noticing the sunset, I said a little too brightly: Let's go for a walk!

Walk walk walk.
Past the local lawn bowls club. Lawn bowls is a cross between regular bowling and golf and is usually played by old people. It is what I would term daggy cool, ie like wearing golf wear to the club.

A couple of bowlers, the sort of men you would see at a country pub, give us the once-over. Bowling clubs are known for their extremely cheap grog. We are contemplating this when suddenly, a female face pops up.

Are you gels interested in bowling?

Short answer - we walk back to get some moolah, exchange friendlies with the bartender ($2.20 pots!) and find ourselves barefoot on the green.

There's plenty of advice from the men:
"Why did you do that? You stupid woman!"
"I'm not trying to coach you but...'
"If you can't get within 3 feet of the jack, you have to start taking clothes off.''

Incredibly offensive of course, but on a warm relaxed Saturday evening and after a couple of beers, everything is funny. It's all harmless, it feels like hanging out with the uncles at the end of a wedding dinner, when everyone has had a bit in them, and they are putting their arm around you and giving you "serious advice', while their wives just roll their eyes.

Two of the bowlers are nicknamed Chopper and choppa. I'm not saying the local club is a rough place, but but Chopper has been banned from lawn bowls on three occasions. There's a lot of etiquette, he says. Uhuh. And he also punched the president of another club (when he was a member there). At the AGM.

We impress them with our preference for beer over "girl drinks', our keenness at bowling - if not ability although I actually got better after two beers - and they even forgive us for being vego. (I wasn't feeling up to the sausage sizzle.)

I'm not sure if hanging out with drunk old people is something I want to do on a weekly basis, but it definitely makes for an unusual night out.

2006-11-13T17:21:00.000+08:00

And the pickle sisters is born.

Thanks Mon, as always, for feeding me and being an inspiration.

2006-11-12T14:34:00.000+08:00

Had a wonderful day, despite having an exam tomorrow, can't seem to get into study mode. Listening to the Wallflowers now, and it fully captures the vibe of the day, laid back, relaxed.

It all started with a good breakfast - you can't go wrong with a croissant dipped in molten chocolate and hazelnut coffee. The croissant was store-bought (I haven't had home-baked since nick, my first housemate, who was generous and unafraid of butter), the sauce made by melting dark cooking chocolate and adding some cream at the end (so that it doesn't harden when it cools and looks glossy) and the coffee came in a tea bag. Which isn't real expresso coffee but I like it gentle and mellow.

Picked up my race winnings, took a stroll to the supermarket, and much later, found a food blog that celebrates food, good writing and a love for the supermarket (my no-longer-secret guilty pleasure). Here's what Orangette has to say:

Human beings, I believe, come in two varieties: there are those who love to go to the grocery store, and then there are the rest. According to modern taxonomy, both varieties fit within the category Homo sapiens sapiens, meaning “very wise man.” According to me, however, those who prowl the produce section and dally in the dairy aisle are something else entirely. They are of the subcategory Homo sapiens sapiens sapiens, meaning “very, very wise man.” Or so I like to tell myself.

For me, going to the grocery store is less about buying than it is about being there, less shopping than a sort of sensory steeping. The grocery store is not only a place for purchasing, but also for observing, for ogling, for stacks of crisp-smelling boxes, bright colors, and big ideas. It is a place of promise, neatly presented, aisle after aisle, edible and otherwise.

I will bake a quiche tomorrow I think.

2006-11-11T14:17:00.000+08:00

What happens when you try to mug a magician? You don't get very much, as 2 teenagers found out. From AP

Copperfield, 50, and two female assistants were walking from the Kravis Center to their tour bus when they were approached by the teens April 23. The assistants handed over money and a cellphone, but the illusionist turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing, although he was carrying his passport, wallet and cell phone.

"He said in depositions that he had things on him, but it wasn't difficult to make it seem like there was nothing there," prosecutor Sherri Collins said.

Ah, the folly of youth.

Besides exams, I've also turned my interest to Spring Racing. I'm not so much interested in the fancy hats and flirty dresses, but in the gambling side of things (and the champagne of course). I picked two winners (but fell asleep before I could place my bet for the first one), so here is my very short list of what works and doesn't, gleamed from my very short betting history.

1) Don't bet on the favourite (the horse with the lowest odds). It doesn't pay well and rarely comes in.

2) Some races are known for being wide open, so there is always a surprise element to it. In which case, your guess is as good as mine. You can always pick the horse that has won the most money so far, if all fails. (delta blues, winner of melbourne cup) For the other races apparently, it's easier to pick a winner.

3) Like the name? The two winners I picked from gut feel and the buzz they were generating (divine madonna, miss finland), but then again two others I picked using the same criteria didn't make it (geordieland, superkid).

So I don't think I made any money in the end, but I think I may have just broken even. Which leads into

4) If you have one in mind, don't be greedy and bet on a few horses. So even if you do win on one horse, you end up losing money on the rest.

Looking forward to doing the same thing next year and hopefully making enough to buy dinner!

2006-11-06T10:56:00.000+08:00

A bit of shameless self promotion ahem. I am not taking orders.

Glad you liked them gnat. To be honest, the sewing was easy but I did do a double take when they told me how much the postage was. I could buy a *real* gift for that amount ;)

Maybe I should take up knitting.

2006-10-31T16:22:00.000+08:00

I've been away from home too long. Forgot the name of my nearest community centre and actually had to wiki it.

Ghim Moh is a district in Singapore that has a reputation nationwide for attractive food at its Food Centre that distinguishes it from other food centres in Singapore. Famous stalls include beef hor fun, char kway teow, chwee kueh, mee pok, roasted meats, and xiao wan mian. The estate consists of 21 blocks.

The chicken rice is pretty good too, even though it isn't famous.

Am still on my music binge (now playing oldies like mr sandman - think 1950s not metallica) but came across this guardian article that made me laugh so hard.

You could be forgiven for consulting the history books. The winners at yesterday's Q awards were a roll call of heroes from decades past - from 60s' legend Smokey Robinson, the 70s' Jeff Lynne, the 80s' Aha and the 90s' Take That. Add in Oasis, U2, Boy George, Peter Gabriel and the Who, and it would take a long time to add up the combined ages of the winners, though one observer did work out an average age of 41.

The baby of the winners, Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys - just 20 - admitted he was too young to know all the people around him, although that did not stop him from issuing a forthright assessment of one of the winners: "A lot of people make jokes about having awards for no reason just for the sake of having awards, and pretending they were good when they weren't. I'm not old enough to know a lot of them, but even I know Take That were bollocks."

That was, perhaps, the bitchiest comment of the lunch - apart from a legally unprintable swipe at Heather Mills McCartney by Jonathan Ross. The Q awards have been notable in recent years for their fallings out: Elton John used them to accuse Madonna of lip-synching and last year Liam Gallagher called Chris Martin a plantpot. This year's awards were a much more sober affair, but not literally, as there were enough cocktails, wine, whisky, vodka and beer to sink a battleship.

Sigh. I want to write like that.

Have you discovered firefox 2 yet? It's great although it feels slower.
My fav extensions (now called add ons)
- Download status bar - which puts your downloads in the bottom bar of the browser instead of a new window
- fast video download - so you can save youtube and other net video. simple and easy.

2006-10-26T21:15:00.000+08:00

I can't believe nobody thought of this sooner - a nalgene lantern. I so want this for christmas!

And a supercute pix of a kid who crawled into a toy vending machine... all in the name of sponge bob.

2006-10-25T20:53:00.000+08:00

Just some things that made my day:

Listening to nina simone - she is just brilliant. Four women.

There is a really really hilarious aussie comedy called Thank God You're Here (you can get it on the net if you know where to search ahem nudge wink). There is no real plot, jsut four guest comedians every week and they have to walk into a sketch with no clue what is going on and wing it from there.

And there is, or was, an Australian Idol finalist who is a dead ringer for Sideshow Bob. Bobby Flynn got kicked out but he sounds like a really promising folksy John Mayer sort of guy. Again, you can sample his music if you know where to look. (email me if you need a hint.)