Banana & Mangoes

Phone camera photography 101:

Do not expect photos to turn out great. In fact, don't even expect photos to turn out moderately decent in quality unless you have one of those fancy schmancy camera phones (I was told Sony Ericsson does good piccies).

What it does, however, is capture the moment through grainy shots because you don't happen to have a more superior instrument with you; or in my case, failed to charge the battery ahead of time. -.-

Not my fault entirely. I didn't expect to be sightseeing in Carnarvon. In fact the only reason we did really was because the job went a lot smoother than anticipated, and we ended up with 5 odd hours to kill while waiting for our flight home.


Our plane.

Note to Diana (and Danson, when he eventually reads this): The flight to Carnarvon was only a fraction of the hell we went through the last time. I only felt sick for a little while, which was a vast improvement . ^^ And the flight home was surprisingly smooth, although I did take precautions to not stuff myself with big breakfast prior to take off. :P

Anyway like I said, sightseeing wasn't part of the plan, so we weren't equipped with maps or GPS or information. After killing as much time as we possibly could on lunch and window shopping, we only managed to pass like an hour tops. T.T Clearly there wasn't much to eat and window-shop for.

So fine, we set off to hunt for attractions and photo opportunities, driving as slow as road courtesy allows us to, and here are some pics to document our efforts:



The pretty coastal side of Carnarvon



Someone once told me that the Aboriginese believe that the trees are 'bowing' to a greater spirit.



Best mango smoothie, ever. And possibly the best battered scallop too.

Scallop was "Chinese Restaurant Grade", i.e. fat and juicy morsels which are so fresh that you could peel it off strand by strand. Not the tiny battered-heavy ones you get at most chippies over here. I'd almost forgotten the real taste and wholesome flavour of scallops until 2 days ago. And I was happy that Mitch had a scallop education himself - I could see it in his face, even though all he did was nod and half-shrugged.



Here in Carnarvon, they are extremely proud of their people's achievements.

And I say that with no hint of cynicism; I honestly think we could do with a bit more community spirit in our lives sometimes. :)


We also set out to hunt for the hilariously named (and for some reason, terribly elusive) 'Chinaman Pool'. I think we both had our own lame and possibly-racist imaginings of what this pool could be. And we figured that maybe at the very least we would find some mini museum or something to kill some time with.




Unfortunately, we were quite wrong.



It was a river bed. Mitchy wanted to go walk along the plains but I wasn't too keen. The hot weather was a huge factor; that and I didn't want to encounter any snakes or biting creatures that may be living in those bushes. -.-

So we moved on, disappointed that it was not in fact a Chinaman-shaped pool.


Google image search result for 'man-shaped pool'


Next we came across what was possibly our most interesting discovery of them all: The Carnarvon Heritage Trail!

Dotted with steam-powered trains and tractors from simpler days, it also housed the One Mile jetty, the beach and an observation tower which sufficed my photographic needs. And with that, I leave you with a couple more scenic shots of Bananacity. Taa.
















xx
Hsin

Smoke and TV

As the primary keeper, tidier and worrier of our home, I finally understand the laments of mothers and house owners all around the world:

Why doesn't anything work around here?

The kitchen tap is dripping, the bathroom sink is clogged, the hot water in the shower is dodgy, the fire alarm sets off at the drop of a hat, the brand new bed is creaky (although only on the heavier person's side haha). Now to top it all off, my oven is chocking out chemical fumes! T.T

Sigh, excuse me while I go air out the place.

*

Now let's talk TV for a bit.

Glee has made its long awaited return! And, I don't know if it's just me, or perhaps my expectations of it are too much, but the debut episode kinda lacked... oomph-ness. Considering that the finale went out with a bang (winning sectionals, Mr Schu finally leaving his skitsy wife and THE EPIC KISS), the new episodes are quite anti-climax in comparison... and to a certain extent, even a little repetitive. =/

I hope it gets better, I'm sure it will. Songs are still top notch though, and Sue Slyvester's 'Vogue' music video was simply mind-blowingly hilarious.

*

Then there's 'Community'. If I haven't already told you about this genius piece of a 22-minute gem, I'm telling you now:

Watch this, if it's the only TV show you have time for.

Here's a taste of what you can expect:



The best bits of the show are always at the end credit.


On my list to start (finally start) watching:

Help Me Help You - I think I like anything with seriously demented characters.

Modern Family - it is reminiscence of Arrested Development, judging from the sneak peeks they had on Channel 10.

Underbelly


And under recommendation of Dennis koh:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand


It's supposed to bring out the balls in me.

Manic Mantra

I think I've let myself be distracted long enough.

It's time to take charge of changing my life around, and no one's gonna be able to give me what I don't try to give myself.

I am making an oath to go prowling for a job. And I'm not allowing myself to make up anymore excuses. There is no better time than now, it is either Do or Die. I MUST DO THIS BEFORE I LOSE MY MIND.

If I don't get a permanent job by the end of this year, I am packing up and heading home. It'll be one of the most difficult decisions I have to make, and probably the most painful. But I think it's a calculated risk worth taking. I've thought long and hard about it, and I think it is for the best.

MY DEADLINE ENDS DECEMBER 2010.

I've regretted decisions or lack-of decisions in the past due to my hesitation, but this is the biggest milestone in my life yet - the volatile years between graduation and parenthood. I believe that what I do in the next few years will determine my happiness and contentment for the next 20 or so years.

When I do eventually settle down and start a family, I want to do it whole-heartedly and not wonder about the "What-Ifs" and the "I Should Haves". My future hubby and kids should not have to suffer because of my poor decisions (and hard-to-please nature).

*takes a huge breath*


Anyway, with all said and done I think having a goal in sight and a rough sketch of a plan in place, I'll feel a lot more secure and less susceptible to the random emotional blowups that I've subjected us both to the past couple of months. It seems that anytime I don't have work to keep my mind occupied with, I'll start nitpicking at my unachievements and getting flustered. And all of a sudden, I want to just give Perth the finger and book my first flight home.

Which, thankfully, I have not succumbed to.

Amidst all these... let's call them "my little empowering mantras", I'm not going to make any selfish and impulsive decisions without taking my other half into consideration. It's not his fault that I am weak-willed and stubborn at the same time. Possibly the worst trait combination in history. -.-

I also have to remember that Subang grass may seem a lot greener to me right now because of my homesickness, but there was a huge reason for me leaving to begin with. And I'm not going back until I have something to shove into their faces with.

Silly to be living my life based on a bunch of judgmental folks, but I'm too tired to be the bigger person at the moment. I'll do it when I'm a bit more successful and not juggling 30 years worth of worries on my shoulders.

Wish me luck now, for the billionth time. :) I promise I'll follow through with my plans this time around. I will not fail me, I will not fail us.



xx Hsin

I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do that.

Remember her?





She is one of the contestants in this year's Amazing Race.

Television irony at its best. May actually watch it this year.

Back (from hiatus and Kalgoorlie)

Oh my goodness, look who started blogging again.

Who knows how long I'm going to sustain this one, but I do miss writing sometimes. Mostly when I'm traveling through the middle of nowhere, which for some reason is when I start having lots of thoughts about everything. It's just a bit strange.

Plus, I made a promise to some friends to resume blogging as soon as my new laptop arrives - and it has - so here I am!

Hello you pretty thing

Btw, reason for my shift to a brand new site, because I want to pretend the previous abandonment never took place. -.-

Bear with me while I rediscover my writing style. I think I need a bit of warming up to this after so long. It's been a while since I wrote anything that isn't an email, job application, or a 140-character feed.

Anyway a quick round-up of my year so far:

We've moved out from our shared house to our own complex unit near the city. It is a cosy little thing in a lovely neighbourhood near the city, and we have a view of the doggie park across the road, much to Mitchy's delight.

I'm still only working part time, but I've had plenty more regional travel opportunities lately. In fact we've just gotten back from Kalgoorlie which is a miner town about an hour flight away from Perth. Not a bad place (except for some of the seedy miner men), and the food there was shockingly good.


I found one of the best and most authentic Thai food over there, where the cook/owner was this tiny Thai elderly lady who believes in making everything from scratch. We had something called Jungle Curry, which was essentially a whole lot of herbs, spices and greens thrown together and cooked with either chicken or beef. And I think because we ordered Extra Hot, she came out to check on us to make sure we haven't burned a hole through our guts.

She was mightily impressed that we polished them all off. She proceeded to ask where I was from, and when she heard I was Malaysian, she took me as a kindred spirit and started brandishing me with stories of her life and even a free dessert of my choice. At the same time, she was following her big, dopey-looking waiter around the restaurant, telling him off for being slow and incompetent. T.T I felt so sorry for him!


We also drove to Leonora, which is a small town about 230kms away from Kalgoorlie. Not the greatest drive since it was mostly a straight road across dirt and wide open spaces of nothing. But we did pass the town of Menzies, which had this pump station slash roadside attraction:

Next week we fly to Carnarvon. The last time we were there, Diana and Danson had a stomach-content-regurgitating experience on our flight back. It was a small plane propelled by equally small engines and, well, propellers. -.-


On top of that, I'm also doing a bit of writing for Oxfam Australia at the moment. It's a cushy, borderline copy-pasting job, but I'll like to think it's a small baby-step start for my foray into an industry which continues to reject my applications. It is GREAT. Although to be fair, I've yet to start door-knocking at companies. Hopefully it doesn't follow with door-slamming-into-face too much. Will document the events here when I do eventually. It'll be a riot.

And on that note, Happy Anzac Day to all! And happy long weekend to all non-celebrating non-Aussies residing in the country. Have a beer, or five, and remember to raise your glasses when you do. :)