William Chong

I started the weekend with a swim in the pool. It’s a shared pool between two apartments (ours and the one next door), but it was beautiful and the water was just right. Did the tourist thing and walked all round the city centre, lots of interesting pics of the various landmarks. Did you know that the roof of the Sydney Opera House is all tiling? You only discover this when you get up close. Very expensive shows in there too, most of them will set you back at least $100 if it’s opera. (I’ll leave the BridgeClimb, which was awesome, for another post.)

Also got to see one of Sydney’s many markets, the Paddington Market. Had to go through major gay and lesbian area to get there though. Very unsettling sight when it suddenly hits you why the tavern on the corner is packed, and there are no females in there, lol.  The market itself was pretty good. Lots of clothing-related stuff, some arts and crafts. Most of them too pricey for my limited budget, but very interesting to look at. If you’re wondering what the second picture above this paragraph shows… well those are decorated cakes. YUM.

(On a side note, some Sydney food places have funny names… try some Chinese food at “Wok On Inn”, or have a nice lunch at “Thai Me Up” restaurant. Not joking.)

The internet I’m borrowing is a wireless connection that’s not the best in Sydney apparently. I met up with a close relative of mine (his name is Gerald) – works as an IT manager setting up major hotel logistics and analysis, very well paid in Sydney. Everything here is more expanded: the salaries, the suburbs, the stress levels, the expenses.

I also managed to attend church – it’s a notable comfort that we can worship God no matter where we are in His earthly domain. The pastor here is also called John, he’s somewhat older (in his 60s), and oversaw a pretty efficient service (we went through 5+1 hymns, a Bible reading and a message about Christians and authorities, in Romans 13:1-7, in just over an hour. (John later told me that the mind can only handle as much as the backside, lol).

John and a couple of people from the congregation went from the church (based in Dundas Valley, west of the main centre) to a food court in Parramatta City Centre where a famous local Malaysian stall was. It’s a pretty good travel tip to go with the local wisdom, and I enjoyed the food so much I brought another pack home for a future meal.

YUM.  (I’m pretty sure I have a wider belly. Mm.. crispy pork belly.)

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Enough about me. I wanna hear how *everyone* is doing. TELL ME.

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Sitting in my room. It’s a gradual transformation, moving from the bunkroom of my youth to a new beginning, a new space.  During the three weeks of internet-free living, I have:

reorganised my wardrobe
moved furniture around
set up my own office/studio space
earnt half a grand in transcriptions
sorted through CDs and DVDs
started and finished Christmas shopping
completed a medal test
uploaded 2 songs
gone to Mangawhai on holiday

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Yep. Life is pretty good so far.

I love these early finishes on Friday!  Got to relax and work on my assignment whilst I was in Sylvia Park.  The great thing about free wireless is that you don’t have to even been in the store to use it – Skyped with Tommy (who’s doin’ fine in Canada) whilst we were havin’ lunch in Burger Fuel.  RB seems alright too, though a touch homesick and undertexted.

Also finished one assignment – I’m onto it!  Alright, prepping for the weekend.

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Not much to say, except that I’m pretty envious of Rainbow and Tommy and all their exciting breathtaking travels.  One day I’ll have the means to do the same – I’d better try a different country to get some variety in our collective photobooks!  RB if you read this, I’d love to have a full-sized picture of the beautiful Lake Louise and the chatel you had lunch at.  Thanks for the postcard!

Oh yes, the title – I dropped Chinese 210.  I know, shock horror.  But I decided to do it within the 2-week grace period… pretty much the level of Chinese is just a bit too high for me.  110 was perfect for me – whilst I’m harrassing my Chinese dictionary full-time during Nora Yao’s classes, which was a bit disconcerting.  I may keep attending lectures though, and see what she says.  Teehee.

Two assignments to work on – aside from the food diary thing (you feel very bad writing in 150g of Rocky Road Ice cream, or 170g of Domino’s Pizza, haha) we also have a motor control lab report to type up.  Might start on that tomorrow and Friday.  These readings are actually really interesting, but there’s a lot to do.

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Got tickets to see the Macleans production.  This year it’s “Beauty and the Beast”… Disney songs are the most lyrical and well-written.  Those lyrics are very timeless, lots of people would agree with that!  Anyways, gotta sleep.  Take care!

I’m excited.  Just finished an essay, now have 3 weeks to study for 4 exams.  I caught my brother’s cold, which knocked me out of action for a couple of days last week.  On Saturday I DM’ed a slow night whilst Verne watched the rugby with glee.  And on Thursday one of our inebriated middle-aged male customers dragged a middle-aged female customer into the toilets.  Me and the other staff member that saw it just shook our heads, and she got to clean up the toilets at the end of the night.

In other news, we have a poker table!  I can say that it’s a decent investment for social lubrication.  Here’s a cool picture of a random room:

Going to hang out with Linda’s family tonight.  Hope you’re all happy celebratin’ the Queen and her birthday, etc!

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