+ve

Moobs has been an absolute darling, and has been drowning me with lots of food and attention so that I don't feel too bad about not being home for Chinese New Year.

CNY Eve dinner at BBQ King, bestest roast duck I've ever had!  And the rice came in a bucket! 

That's Moobs waiting for me to be done with my picture :P

When I almost cried today, he reminded me that it was not good to frown/ be sad on the first day of CNY, so I put a smile on and we went out to buy some snacks and rent some Asian DVDs from Blockbuster, and I felt better.

Here's to good boyfriends! And amazing roasted duck from BBQ King!

P/S Shout out to the bar right next to our apartment, love your steaks!

St. Mary's Cathedral

Went for the mass there on Christmas Day. The experience was easy to sum: awesome church, horrible congregational choir and sermon.

We were there on Christmas Eve as well and heard the church's official choir with gorgeous six-string accompaniment, complete with the french horn and other such instruments (look at me, the expert, hehe), and they were amazing.

I know going to church isn't supposed to be like going to a party (for Catholics anyway, and my Sunday school teacher would argue otherwise having taught us that not going to church was equivalent to turning down Jesus' party invitation), but they could make it not so sombre. It is a celebration after all.

Anyway, enough with the mass and here are some piccies of the church:

That's me in Hyde Park.

A statue of Pope John Paul II outside the church.

That's the choir on Christmas Day mass.

That's me lighting a candle.

Organ boy.

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Have decided not to go watch Wall-E tonight at Sydney Olympic Park, but instead will go for Sydney Festival. So many mini-gigs! Working tomorrow :(

:(

Was just looking through Facebook photos, I miss having good friends. 

The Kuching folks Mike, Spence and Terence especially (because I was just looking at Mike's wedding photos). My college and uni classmates, ex-colleagues at the paper. Good times.

It saddens me that people grow distant, or 'move on', especially when they're MY people. 

I understand it is part and parcel of growing up but I feel that I am mostly to blame, though I can't quite pinpoint the fault nor the reason (though I think being a hermit and spending most of my time at home, whatever the location -- Kuching, KL or Sydney, had something to do with it). Perhaps I am just being melodramatic.

Moobs and I have often talked about 'if we get hitched' from time to time, and one of the questions that come up is: "Which of my friends would want to come?"

I never know the answer. And that is not a good feeling.

Karma

I have no idea who Tony Bianco is but I just scored a pair of lovely yellow leather flats in his line for a lovely, lovely price of $20 (original retail price was $99, then it was slashed to $40 - the price I thought I had to pay when I went to the counter, but turns out they slashed it further!).

They are super super super comfy. I've never owned a pair of flats that didn't give me blisters or slip out at the back before. And it's a happy shade of yellow!

I feel like sunshine!

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Have been reading Belle de Jour's Secret Diary of a London Call Girl. I know lots of people, the kind of people that read a lot, think it's really good, but I just don't think the blog format lends itself to a book. 

Also, having bought the book without knowing what it included and purely because Billie Piper looked very risqué in her lacy black lingerie (my mother never told me to not judge book by their covers, so I did), am quite disappointed that it's a verbatim copy of her blog posts, most of which I've already read on her blog anyway.

So many good books to read, no time to waste on this. 

Now on to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight which I'm making myself read so that I can properly condemn it.

Heinous

hei·nous (hā'nəs) 
[Middle English, from Old French haineus, from haine, hatred, from hair, to hate, from Frankish *hatjan.] hei'nous·ly adv., hei'nous·ness n.

adj. Grossly wicked or reprehensible; abominable: a heinous crime, the weather. 

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In another lesson about the English language, my workmate Little Miss Bossy* at the shop doesn't know the different between 'bare' and 'bear'. 

Case in point: I was giggling at an email from corporate that told us to 'bare with them' if replies are a bit slow.

Bossy: What's so funny?

Me: She said B.A.R.E. with me. B.A.R.E. Hehe. 

Bossy: What's wrong with that?

Me: B.a.r.e. means to not be covered kinda. It should be b.e.a.r, as in to tolerate.

Bossy: But that's the animal.

And these are the people who ask if I speak English at home.

Psh.

Burnout

NYE fireworks at Harbour Bridge. Was sitting on Moobs' shoulders when I took this, hence the lack of heads.

New Years Eve was quite an experience (one where we tried to cower in other people's umbrella shade) but not one I would like to repeat very soon.

Two days after Moobs and I are still exhausted and nursing migraines. My attempt at getting tanned was laughable as not only did nothing get tanned, a patch of my back is sore and red from sunburn.

Once we're better however, there's this to go to at the end of this month:

Rocksong

It falls on Australia Day, Jan 26, which is the first day of Chinese New Year, which will be pointless this year because there's just the two of us and no family = not much of a celebration. 

Will attempt cooking a semi-traditional Chinese meal although my options are quite limited considering there's only the two of us. Might make Sarawak Laksa with the paste my mom sent over a month back.

Aaah. Laksa.

In other news, I had a plate of AUD$8.80 fried kueh tiaw at what I think is a Malaysian stall in Chinatown today and it was worth it.

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Went to see Alexia Sinclair's The Regal Twelve photo exhibit at Customs House and it was amazing. This was by far my favourite:

Christina of Sweden - The Androgynous Queen

Photo from Britannica.com

I took photos of the prints (just for you LC!!) but found online versions here and here which are way better than my photos (stupid reflections in the glass).

Enjoy!