Another year over...

Here I type in the final hour of 2012. I'm not usually one for party and celebration but had planned to be at the casino right now. Dad has always viewed New Years Eve as a family day. As teenagers, it was often difficult to tell him otherwise and today was no different.

Whilst my sisters had plans of their own, so did my father. I worked a very slow day at the office and came home to a prepared BBQ for this evening. My uncle and grandmother were coming over and I was tasked with picking them up.

We haven't had a BBQ in years, nonetheless it was how I remembered them when I was younger - Lots of meat (even though I no longer eat meat, potatoes in their jackets, beetroot, three bean salad, corn and salads. Afterwards we played 3 way scopa with my dad and uncle - all losing a little bit of money to be reinvested in shared lotto. Whilst my uncle was in the mood for a big one, My nan couldn't last the distance and I dropped them home an hour before countdown. I have to say that the evening went better than was expected.

Its probably a good time now to reflect on the year that was. I had 2 overseas trips, one to a destination I had wanted to go to for years (Macau). I did lose weight, though have lost focus of late. My relationship status is, well, status quo and my cousin and her father still are not talking and I started this blog..

Before I watch the countdown and fireworks on TV and retire for the night, I wish everybody a Happy New Year for 2013. May you all achieve your goals and be prosperous.

Victim of their own Stubbornness.

Divorces and separations are relatively uncommon in my family. One of the first to divorce was by uncle (dads youngest brother). He lost custody of his only daughter when she was about 8 years old (early 90's) and she and her mother packed up and went north to the Gold Coast.

Talking to my uncle about his daughter has always been a touchy subject. For many years she was in wilderness and we didn't even know where she was. Then, about 5 or 6 years ago when she was in her early 20's we heard news that she was going to be engaged. My uncle, through a common friend, sent money up for the engagement and there was a few letters and a phone call that followed but then my cousin went back into her wilderness.

A few years later, Middle sis went on a holiday to the Gold Coast and caught up with our cousin. Middle sis and this cousin were always very close as a kid. Cousin was now married and had their first daughter. My uncle, who was also close with middle sis (and her Godfather) was hanging with anticipation on news upon her return, however, for reasons best known to her, decided to avoid mu uncle. When they finally crossed paths there was a big argument when my uncle tried to get his daughters phone number off middle sis - middle sis was right to withhold the number at the time, however, the way the situation was handled was poor on all sides.

A few years later and it was 2011. She had a second child and it was my turn to visit the Gold Coast on holiday. My cousin was also on holiday that week, however, I managed to catch up with her on my last day there as it was also the day she arrived back. I didn't get to meet her husband or kids but we had a reallly long phone call. I saw some of her kids photos on her phone and we discussed her current predicament. She was now happy and ready for me to pass on her number onto her dad. Only problem is, her dad had reached the end of his tether and didn't want to talk to her unless he rang first, insisting that he has done all he could and it was on her to make amends.

My uncle is now a victim of his own stubbornness. He did not talk to middle sis for 3 years after the episode above and whilst I can tell he still deeply loves his daughter, he is restricting himself by hiding behind his disappointment. Often I would bring her up in conversation in vain attempts to change his mind, but he would pretend to ignore the topic while my nonna would ask questions. This Christmas, he found a loophole to his stubbornness - he gave me a large amount of money and asked me to make sure his grandchildren received it.

I rang my cousin to explain, but she politely refused the money, arguing that she needed some kind of relationship before she started accepting gifts on their behalf. The tragic thing is that she has heard lots of bad stories about him without knowing or remembering who he is. I broke the news to my uncle today that his money was not accepted and he was disappointed. I'm left hoping that my cousin decides to ring her dad again, and if it happens, hoping that my uncle will not fly off the handle, forget the past and start afresh.

If I can do just one really great thing in my lifetime, I hope it is reuniting these two. I think middle sis, my cousin and my uncle could have all done things differently to avoid the mess we are in right now, but we have to work in the constrains of the hands that have been dealt. Whilst this situation has been fueled by stubbornness, my stubbornness is to see this through until they are reunited and have regular communications.

Oh Oh Oh Oh

It is amazing how the music you grow up with from your teenage years through to your early 30's sticks and resonates with you for the rest of your life.

I have lived through Bros, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer and various other phases in my youth and it never ceases to amaze me how an act can infiltrate itself into pop culture and take over. In today's internet age all it takes is a catchy tune and funky film clip to storm the charts and 2012 has certainly been the year of PSY and Gangnam style.

How he managed to generate over a billion hits on YouTube by inventing a dance is outstanding. I've seen PSY pop up with Hugh Jackman, used in ad's.The icing on the cake was an ad for a Gangnam dancing competition in Singapore

Gangnam dance competition in Singapore

However he managed it, good luck to him. For a non-english song to crack the charts is phenomenal. Just goes to show that the next big thing is always just around the corner.

Lab Rat

So I have been at work the last couple of days. Given that I have 1 active case at the moment and the customer is on leave for the next couple of weeks, my boss decided that it was time to develop the team and do some lab work configurations.

I'm a broadband enginner in a support role. The problem with support is that you only get involved when the network goes pear shaped, and event then the fault is usually software or hardware bugs. It's very rare that we actually get to play with the equipment and set up an end to end connection.

I had a late night last night and was very tired today, to the point that my boss offered to send me home early. I refused as I enjoy lab work and I felt like I was learning, Nonetheless, I certainly wasn't at my productive best and it was alot of fun. We managed to get a user connected and almost had him connet to the internet but our knowledge exhausted itself at the final hurdle. Hopefully we will be able to finish it off on Monday.

I really enjoyed today, just a pity that I was so darn tired.

Dexter

One of the best TV dramas going around is Dexter. For those not accustomed, it is about a serial killer who works as a blood spatter analyst at Miami Metro Police Department. His work allows him to do his own forensic studies and find his own cache of serial killers and takes them out in his own methodological way to fill his compulsion to kill people. The seasons are short enough and well targeted - there is usually a main plot with several small sub plots to keep the viewer entertained. The first season was outstanding and the next few were really good. There were a few seasons in the middle that were up and down.

This is the kind of series that I like waiting until all episodes are available and watch them all in a big chunk. I recently acquired Dexter Season 7. In 2 days I have already polished off 10 episodes. This season is rather complex and there are 3 or 4 main storylines, but needless to say I am hooked and hope to finish it off tomorrow.

I really love the way Dexter's brain works. It is so analytical and he is almost obsessive compulsive. Definitely a show best viewed at night. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth tracking down.

Nostalgia overdrive

My little sister came over today with her husband. Middle sister does not get along well with little sister mostly due to little sisters choice of husband, as little sister didn't visit for Christmas, she chose today instead.

I went to a computer place with little sisters husband, bought a plush Pacman that I thought was cool and made a funky sound effect, visited their retro game museum and was impressed with their collection.

When I made it back home, I went all nostalgic and dusted off my Sega Master System II. Played a few games of Alex Kidd and Ghost busters. I enjoyed myself a little too much. and my sisters husband really knows his way around retro games.

And so this is Christmas

Christmas in this household is a fairly standard affair. Dad goes to the Cemetery at 7AM to dress his fathers tomb. I go with him if I am up early enough. He is home by 8.We pick up middle sister at 8:15AM on the way to mass. After Mass, we visit my Nonna for an hour then go home, where dad busily prepares lunch (normally a seafood affair these day, but was formerly homemade Lasagne when I was growing up), Dad gets drunk, everyone gets bored and the afternoon is filler.

This Christmas was no different. The best part of mass is the Homily, and this year the priest used it to target people like myself who only attend at Christmas and Easter, emphasising that God fills a hole in our lives and in a bizarre way compared it to Danoz Direct whereby people buy a whole lot of useless stuff they don't need to fill a need.

Lunch was fantastic. My uncle came over, however left relatively early. We had heaps of oysters and a mix of crab meat and prawn salad. Afterwards there were heaps of others on offers - Salmon salad, cheese platter, oven baked wedges, fish cocktails, olives and tomato and much much more. I was very full by the end of it.

Christmas seafood Entree

I played a game of Jones in the Fast Lane with my middle sister - its an old 80's game but we still get enjoyment out of it. we also swapped presents. I give her an obseenely large box of chocolates (a tradition) and smiley face pillow covers (she likes yellow smiley faces and these were trendy enough to be right up her alley). She gave me some clothers, some not really my style but nice enough for me to give it a go.

When I dropped my sister home, I discovered that I had a flat tyre. This is a real pain as I expect most tyre places to be closed on festive week, but I'll have to find a way around it. Regardless, Merry Christmas to all!

Making use of a free day.

The best Christmas present my work gave its employees this year was a bonus day off on Christmas eve, and thus a 5 day weekend. I do not normally take leave on Christmas, I don't see the point as I have no young family also on holidays. That being said, I really appreciated it this year, particularly since I was coming off a week on call and was eager to break my house arrest.

I did some shopping with my dad this morning and had a siesta at lunch. I was keen to get out and do something but it was a scorcher outside. I finally trekked out to the air conditioned casino. Whilst I have visited many casinos this year when on holidays, this was my first visit to my home casino all year and the first since they finished renovations. Being Christmas eve, the place was a little quieter than usual and it didn't take too long to get a seat at.the poker tables.

The buy-in at my table was $200. I had my limits - 5 hours max or I would leave if I managed to get my stack over $500. I was off to a good start. first hand had pocket 5's. Flop was A52 and managed to win $50. Had AA 3 times, won 2 good pots and lost a small one. After 3 hours playing I was sitting on around $450 and looking for a hand to put me over the line.

I chanced 69 in a blind and after a lucky chase, made a straight on the turn. Pot had well over $100 in it so I tried to secure it with an overbet and went all in. I was called by someone relatively new to the table who was chasing a flush. It was a terrible call as he had little value, nonetheless, as is so often the case in poker, you can get lucky with any hand and the river gave my opponent his flush.
This was the turning point for me. I had a few other little victories and losses, but for the most part, spent the evening talking to others at the table. I ended my 5 hours $65 behind but had fun regardless and felt I received value for money.

I walked to central via chinatown and stopped by a food hall I enjoyed in my uni days. I would always get a Laksa and dessert at this particular food court, but the places I used to go to had both closed down. I bought a laksa from another place and it was good without being outstanding. I chose seafood, and it had real seafood in it (lots of fish, some Octopus and prawns). The best way to murder a Laksa is by putting crab sticks and extender in it. It was however, very oily and it was hard to take the liquid.

My Laksa from Eating House, Chinatown

Laneway at chinatown

I managed to squeeze in a small froyo on the way home and walked home in the rain. All in all, I'm satisfied that I didn't waste a day off!

Sunday Ritual

Every Sunday morning, I visit my last surviving grandmother. Nonna is 86 and lives a handy 10 minute walk away.

Age is catching up with her. Her short term memory isn't what it used to be and I often have the same conversations with her. She is Italian, she often starts sentences in English and finishes them in Italian, which would be handy if I could speak Italian. She lives with her youngest son who is also her carer.

One thing she doesn't forget is that I visit on Sundays, and have done for years. I'm her oldest Grandson and was named after her husband so we always share a special bond. She brews a coffee and I do the TV crossword. We then talk for a bit and I catch up on what else is happening in the family. My uncle and I have an unscripted roleplay where he keeps picking on her and I keep defending her. She loves it.It is at a point now where if I can't make Sunday, I need to ring or give notice so that she doesn't worry that she has done something wrong or anything like that.

The thing I like most about Sundays is that she really appreciates my company, which is why I equally appreciate being there. It is a simple gesture, but one thing my parents have instilled upon me from a young age is respect for my grandparents.

Post Apocalyptic Post

In an attempt to put a positive on the Mayan calendar apocalyptic "threat", now is as good a time as any to reflect back and re-evaluate what is important in life and what isn't.

My mind keeps wandering back to a lunch hour I had about 6 months ago. It was during school holidays and my walking partner wasn't around, so I decided to have lunch at a shopping centre local to work. I ate lunch on the end of a shared bench, on the other end were two thirty-something mothers catching up, One of them had a kid in a stroller, the other had a ~5 year old girl that increasingly looked bored. before too long, the 5 year old turned her attention to me and was urging me to help her play with her toy wind-up car. I couldn't resist and started playing. The mother didn't seem to mind (I think she was happy for me to babysit for a while as she caught up with her friend).

The toy wasn't particularly well made and kept shooting off in random directions. This was of great amusement to this kid. I overstayed my lunch hour and this kid was genuinely loving the attention I was giving her and was loving trying to catch the car before it veered off the table in every random direction possible. Eventually, my time had run out, but the kid kept asking for one more turn and it was hard saying no. The mother told me after a while that I didn't have to stay, regardless, It took great effort getting up and trekking back to the office and that simple day was one of the most enjoyable lunch hours I have had.

There are two points that are resonating in my head, firstly, I am very appreciative that the mother allowed me, a total stranger, to play with her kid. You get the feeling that in this day and age everyone assumes that every stranger has cruel intentions and whilst in this case, I was supervised at all times, the trust is still very much appreciated. Secondly, will I ever have children of my own? I have always expected to have my own family one day but for whatever reasons, I'm still single, living at home with no immediate plans of settling down. Now that I'm on the wrong side of mid-30's, the fear of going through life without children is gradually becoming reality and whilst I look for things to fill the void, nothing will be quite the same as having kids and helping them develop.

End of the world, so lets shoot something.

So here I sit at home on a Friday night, bored as can be. The Mayan calendar ends in a little less than half an hour but on-call has grounded me once again.

I'm a huge fan of politics. This time of year is traditionally quiet for domestic politics, so it is not hard to look for other targets and there is no other target quite like the US and their current congressional debacles.

The recent shootings in Newtown has shown how messed up their gun laws up. We had a mass shooting in Port Arthur in the 90's, Our PM quickly tightened gun laws and staged a buyback. There are certain no-brainers when it comes to fixing US gun laws - There is no place for assault weapons to be owned by civilians. There's no reason for being able to buy a gun without a background check regardless of where guns are purchased and there is no place for high capacity clips to be sold, yet congress manage to tie their panties in a knot and argue for the sake of arguing over the bleeding obvious.

To top it all off, It is scary to see how Fox News try to twist the discussion into a mental health debate. America calls itself the land of the free, yet most seem to be feeding from someone elses pockets.

The Treasures Within

There is a TV show that I have been obsessed with recently called Storage Wars. The basic premise is that if you don't pay your upkeep on a storage locker for over 3 months, the storage facility has the rights to sell it. Every so often, the facility will host an auction. Buyers have 5 minutes to look at the locker without entering or touching anything then the locker is auctioned off and the highest bidder then owns the contents.

Often the lockers are a stack of rubbish with the occasional gem item that is appraised, but there is something about seeing a pile of belongings that makes you not want to look away - whether it be on the side of a street or in a storage facility. The show also wins by following some great characters and watching them try to outbid and trap each other into paying more than they need to. It is a really good half hours light entertainment.

Work has been a little quiet this week in the lead up to Christmas and one large section of out office floor has relocated to another site. They left behind about 20 roller door Curdenza's. Not letting an opportunity go by, I decided to play my own game of Storage Wars.  Ended up with a pretty cool pen, 2 DVI cables, a purple post it pad, a muesli bar, about $2.85 in loose change and a handful of green tea bags. Not quite the treasure within, but it was a bit of fun and helped a slow day move quicker.

On a side note, Its now been a month of blogging for me. I'm a little suprised that I have been able to keep this up, but stranger things have happened.

Lunched Out

I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, however, had another work lunch today. Work very rarely provides lunch, but it is the Christmas season and it feels like I am in an avalanche of work lunches.

Today's lunch followed on from a customer meeting, so I needed to be on my diplomatic best behaviour. I had a pretty dry King Salmon at a steakhouse. They were very short staffed, they took an eternity to take our order and before I knew it, half my day was gone and all I wanted to do was sleep.

I really wish these things were spaced out better throughout the year, but I guess that would be too hard to manage. I think I'm done fr work lunches this year, which means that I need to get back working on my diet.

Happy Birthday, Middle Sis!

Yes, you read right, Middle Sis is 33 today.

We have a tradition that we eat out on each others birthday, and today was no exception (thanks to my boss covering my on call for a few hours). We went to a Japanese Ramen place that has recently opened up in our area. I had eaten the Veg Miso Ramen there afew weeks ago and was quite impressed by it. Today, I chose a Salmon Ramen and whilst it was still good, I was far more impressed with the Veg Miso.

Vegetable Miso Ramen from a couple of weeks ago.

We topped it off with another FroYo. It was my sisters first (though I have managed a few now) and she was less impressed than I am. The best thing about the evening was that I was able to have a good talk with Middle sister. She seems in a pretty happy state with life right now. she is coasting through life. Its amazing how infrequently we talk these days.

Shopping for presents is becoming difficult as we grow apart, but I had scraped the depths of my knowledge of her to find the perfect present. 10 years ago, there was a particular Tarot card reader she was very fond of. i visited once, but it did very little for me. She changed locations 3 or 4 times and finally we lost track of her. Well, I managed to find her and bought her a voucher for a reading. Her reaction when I gave it to her was not what I expected - she had heard news of another Tarot card reader that was cheaper and local who was highly recommended by a friend that she was anxious to try. I think she will still make use of the gift, however, it was not the silver bullet I was expecting it to be.

Despite the nights shortcomings, I enjoyed myself. I think she enjoyed herself too. Happy Birthday Middle Sister, all the threes...

I'm on call... to be there!

I like my job, however, one of the more annoying traits of it is being on an on-call roster.

For me, this essentially means that I am under house arrest - I can walk around the block, catch up on movies, wash my car or clean up a bit around the house but not do much else. I rarely get called up, but when I am called, it is usually in the middle of an emergency and I have to follow a strict set of service level assurances and pretty much ready to go. I've been called at 3am on a weekday and at 6pm on a weekend. you just never know if or when your phones going to ring, so you need to be prepared at all times. Some faults last an hour, others (like my last fault) last a week.

Earlier in the year, I had to do this every 3rd week, then due to some planned absences in the middle of the year picked up a couple of extra weeks and was doing every second week for a while. A fourth person joined the roster in October and thanks to a swap due to  my Singapore trip, have managed a nice stretch of 7 weeks without being on call, the most time I've had off the roster since joining it.

That all changes tonight. I'm back on call for another 7 days and whilst I will get some reprieve tomorrow night by way of a swap with a coworker, am expecting a rather boring week at home. There is a silver lining - the financial compensation helps but I feel the cost is justified considering how restrictive my movements are when I am on the roster.

Saturday Night Party.

My middle sister has a birthday coming up next week and decided to throw a house party in her yard last night. I was invited and it was Hawaiian-themed, so donned my Hawaiian shirt and arrived fashionably late. She is turning 33.

I'm not as close to this sister as I used to be, but I suppose that is to be expected. She is single, however, dating a younger guy. Unlike middle sister, I am not a party animal, nor am I the life of the party and knew very few people there outside of a couple of cousins, though I met a few people I had heard my sister mention on a few occasions.

What really amazed me is that even approaching her mid-30's, my sister is still able to throw a large party. I'd guess 50 people were there and I think I was the oldest one there. What else was suprising is how young the crowd was. Lots of people were in their mid-20's, showing me that middle sister still knows how to make new friends. She had a few staple friends, but friends seem to blow in and out with my sister, unlike myself who has a much smaller solid core group of friends.

My sister never moved out of home until she was 30. Up until that point, My parents were quite strict and would never have condones such a party. Is my sister making up for lost time? Is it just the way she is? will she ever settle down? one of her friends elegantly highlighted that she has a habit of attracting younger boyfriends - is this a sign of her maturity? or just a phase she is going through?

The years will answer my questions but the party was an insight to her social life nonetheless.

FroYo Maybe?

I am a complete sucker for Ice Cream but haven't had much Frozen Yoghurt,

I went for a relatively long walk last night and on my way back, noticed what looked like a brand new Froyo chain open up in my suburb. I haven't had anything like that before, so just had to give it a go.

As part of an opening special, they had a 50% off sale, and the cost was based on weight.

The toppings bar was quite extensive and was half chocolates and sweets, half sweet fruit.

This effort worked out $3.70

My First FroYo attempt

My thoughts? It was really nice. I couldn't tell much difference between different FroYo flavours, but the toppings really made it. I'm kinda glad they are so deer as if they were cheaper they could be addictive. I'll certainly have another

All good things must come to an end.

Today is a sad day.

I am a man of many little routines and idiosyncrasies  one of them is getting a regular soy cappuccino from the basement of a hotel down the road. I start work at 8am. An hour later I do the 100 metre walk for my caffeine hit. For the past 12 months, my barista (Franky) has provided this service well.

Franky is more than a barista to me. Sure, he makes a brilliant cup of coffee but he is also a good guy to speak to. He opens up to me a little bit, and I return the favour.

Franky has been the highlight of many mornings, however it is now time for him to move on. He has a second job and has been recently promoted, meaning he will need to work shift work and have to leave this job. I've had coffee from his replacement and have not been impressed.

This morning's coffee was on the house, but is one I would have rather paid for if it meant more Franky coffees.

I took her to a Supermarket

Why must crappy fatty foods be so cheap and easy to get at supermarkets?

I'm doing my best to lose weight, but these monstrocities keep opening up in convenient locations and have extended opening hours.  The pre-packaged foods they sell are full of sugar and fat filled calorie crap.

I'd like to avoid them but am always tempted to visit for a single item, only to walk out with 3 or 4.

I read somewhere that Denmark tried to introduce a 'fat tax' but it failed in practice and was withdrawn. I'd be interested to know why it didn't work.

Dieting would be so much easier if these companies took some social responsibility and put quality ahead of turnover.

Late night with the cards.

Played one of my usual games of tournament pub poker last night. It has a $12 buyin with one $5 rebuy/addon/lifeline. There is a modest $500 guaranteed total prize pool with the top 5 making the money. In honesty, I was in the mood for a long walk instead, but a friend whom I often play poker with talked e into going.

The first hour was not taken too seriously and I squandered my initial stack just before the break. I then used my $5 rebuy and was back in the game. My table wa broken up and I was separated from my friend, this helped me change the way I was playing and all of a sudden, I started getting good hands. My friend was eliminated when we were down to 2 tables.

Pub poker tournaments have different objectives to a proper poker tournament - they ideally want you to play for a couple of hours, have a bit of fun and a couple of drinks, get eliminated and then have a slap on the pokies. as such, tournaments tend to start off slow but push you to play alot of hands towards the end and all you can do is push your chips in and hope to get lucky causing many to get eliminated in a short amount of time late in the tournaments. My very lucky moment was when there was 10 players left. I was first to act with pocket 8's. I went all in. After a couple of folds an announcement was made at the other table that someone was eliminated and we would be making final table. The last person to act woke up with pocket 10's but chose to fold and didn't want to risk his chips so close to final table - a sensible strategy that most probably saved me from tournament elimination.

On the final table I played my usual grind. I was not a big stack but picked my battles well and waited and watched as others were eliminated. Finally made it into the money and the chips started going around the table in a circle as we unintentionally took turns chipping each other up. The guy that came 3rd was rather drunk, despite this, it took some time to eliminate him. Once eliminated, we decided to do a split for $170 each which we were both happy with (although I cannot say the same for the guy who came third). The player I split with managed a Royal Flush earlier in the night - thats something you are lucky to see once a year! I've been on a bit of a streak since coming back from Singapore, making the money in 3 of the 4 events I have played.

Turned out to be a really good night, except for the fact that I didn't get home until 1AM , so ~4 and a half hours sleep for me. I was semi planning to go to an official work Christmas party tonight, but am thinking better of it as -

• Its a week night and I'm already very tired.
• There are several people from work not going
• It is a Jungle Safari themed party and I'm fresh out of loin cloths.

Weight

I am a heavy guy. literally. 5-6 years ago I was close to 172kgs. I went on a 3 year diet and made it as low as 108kgs. Since then, my weight has fluctuated, but for the most part, I have managed to keep it in the 110-120kg range. I try to do heaps of walking and have some control over my diet to stay in this range.

I was on the heavy side of that range this time last year, dropped down to 112kgs when I went to Hong Kong in April, bounced back to 119kgs and lost a couple of kgs in the humidity of Singapore. I've been pretty stable the last couple of weeks.

I have a rare gift of getting into "The Zone". Its difficult to turn it on, but when it is on, I am very determined and can achieve anything I put my mind to. If I can turn it on again, I'll reach my goals. I am writing this blog today in te hope that I will find the On switch.

Media killed the Radio Star.

The big news story of the last week is how 2 young DJ's made a hoax call to a hospital where Princess Kate was staying and how a few days later, a nurse committed suicide as a result.

This has been playing on my mind quite a fair bit in the last few days. Firstly, the whole radio station is vile, which in turn attracts ratings and encourages more vile behaviour. In my opinion, this isn't the worst stunt the station has pulled (even though it produced the worst result). A few years ago, one of the morning presenters put a 15 year old onto a lie detector machine while her mother quizzed her on her sexual history, knowing full well that the poor kid was raped when she was 12. Inexcusable by the mother and inexcusable for the station allowing it.

I honestly believe the prank was a couple of kids trying to have some fun. The prank itself was way over the top that it was beyond believable for most. It could have been much worse - they could have asked the gender of the baby, if there was a chance of twins, etc, but none of these were asked, instead the "Queen" fed her corgis. At the time I had a work discussion about it with my team leader, he believed that the hospital staff would have lost their jobs and the prank was way out of line.

I think the prank highlighted issues with the hospitals processes which they now need to address. In a perverse way, the suicide a few days later has helped the hospital and the worldwide media focus on the presenters and the prank. I wonder what pressure the hospital put on the nurse in her final days. What counseling did they offer? I'm not condoning the prank, but think the hospital is getting off lightly from media scrutiny. Also, what was the mental state of the nurse? It's safe to assume something must not have been right for her to take a radical step.

I also think Anonymous is out of line. What right do they have to demand these kids resignation? If they have broken the law, I have enough faith in the legal system that it will be dealt with. I also have faith that they are being punished enough with suspensions and the guilt of a lost life. Regardless, I'm sure their reputations have taken a severe hit and their future radio job prospects are now limited. Its amazing how this one mistake has blown up internationally yet all their other stunts went unnoticed.

As I said earlier, I have a strong dislike for this station and think the prank was in bad taste, but I think the hosts needs a bit of slack cut.

Ruby Sparks

I watched a preview for this movie a few months ago at the cinemas when I watched the latest installment of the Batman movies and have wanted to see the movie ever since. The preview left me with 2 lasting impressions - that this was a re-invention of the 80's movie "Weird Science" (which I haven't seen in years but thoroughly enjoyed) and secondly, I could not get the Kaiser Chiefs song "Ruby" out of my head.

Well, I finally made my way around to watching this today. My impressions were largely incorrect and it was quite different from Weird Science. There was no explanations on how the girl came into existence and I found the first half a little slow - we all knew what was coming but it took a long time to unravel. It was different enough to any movie I can recall in the last 15 years, so I'd say it was worth watching if you are in the mood for some light entertainment but did not have the level of humour that I was expecting.

Without giving the way the ending, there were many shades of grey that made you wondered what just happened. I wish they had pushed the fiction bit a little harder instead of leaving it in the fringe of believability. Certainly worth a viewing but is nothing outstanding.

Home and Away.

Most people take holidays to have a break from work. I take them to take a break from home.
My parents are both in their 60's. I am the only child still living at home. They are quite traditional and conservative - as such have an.expectation that I will stay at home until I am married, which is looking increasingly unlikely. As they get older, so is their dependency on me.

Both my sisters forced their way out of home but not without a fight. I chose not to take the fight. I long believed that being a solo traveler was a waste and failed to talk people into going away with me. I was fortunate enough a few years ago to have rather frequent business trips interstate, which highlighted just how much I needed a break from home. When these dried up, I started making opportunities of my own.

Today I feel like I've been nagged at all day. It is close to midnight and it feels like I didn't have a moment to myself until a few hours ago. Rather exhausted now and this has been the first chance all day that I've had to write a blog entry

Don't get me wrong, living with my parents is cheap and easy, however, does have its cost.

Christmas...errr... Work December Lunch Meeting

I work for a large company in Maquarie Park, near Maquarie University. We have an official work Christmas party that is usually hosted in the city on a weeknight, goes for 3-4 hours and and makes for groggy people stumbling into work the next day. Most years I do not attend as I do not know most of the people that work in my company, but part of the rule of having a unified Christmas party is that work teams are not permitted to host their own Christmas parties.

So our team decided to have a December lunchtime meeting, and coincidentally decided to have it offsite at a restaurant.  I managed to rig the restaurant choice to my favourite restaurant in the area, the Mediterranean at Marsfield. I wish I'd taken photos of my meal (Salmon, crab meat and veggies in a lemon sauce), but it looked very impressive, tasted fantastic and a generous serving. Squeezed in a strawberry and ice cream dessert and am now very full and I think everyone was happy with the venue..

I'm a huge fan of this type of intimate lunch and wish I could do it more often. oh well, 'Tis the season :)

Trouble in Paradise.

I spoke to my middle sister yesterday and learnt that one of my cousins has separated from her husband. She was married quite young, almost straight out of school, and had her first child a few months later. She now has 2 sons, both under 5. This is not a complete suprise to me, my cousin often depends on her parents and her husband is a great talker and full of promises, but rarely delivers. They live a few houses away from my middle sister and whilst it is in my nature to keep my distance, have the impression from my sister that they are rather a high maintenance couple.

Separations and divorces are relatively uncommon in my family. I have an uncle that divorced 20 years ago and another that I rarely see divorced quite recently, but I see my parents encounter problems often and they deal with it. They have been married 38 years and had their fair share of issues and have always worked their way through it.


I hope my cousins work through their issue for their childrens sake. The kids are always the silent victims.

Losing My Religion?

I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. My entire family is Roman Catholic.

I had a Christian education (and am proud to have done so). if I ever had kids, I'd want to give them the same education I received. If i ever am married, I expect to do so in a Church.

Where religion loses me is the bible itself. I like to think that the bible has a good set of values if not taken literally. It is after all a collection of books that were deemed bible worthy (by man) over 2000 years ago. I think most stories themselves are no longer relevant, though the values behind them hold some weight.

I believe in Karma, even though this is not in my faith.

I used to work with a Coptic orthodox lady who was one of the most dishonest people I have ever met. She would hapily spend 6 hours at mass and would 'fast' for a third of the year (though this meant she ate chips and Oreos from what i could tell). She would decorate her desk space with saint pictures but would freely lie through her teeth to get what she wanted, then I assume she would go to confession and be good with herself.

For myself, I am happy going to Church at Christmas and Easter, in addition to Christenings, Weddings and Funerals. I am increasingly disagreeing with some Church teachings and think I should be free to make my own mind up. The bible is after all vague in areas.J

So how many concessions do I need to make before I lose my faith? I am sure that my family and Church would not agree with all of my life choices, some of which I do not regret. I still like being a Christian on my own terms but I do wonder sometimes.

Emergency! Emergency!

I've had an action packed 24 hours.

Last night, I played poker at a different venue. Its a 45 minute walk away and had a quite a lot of people that I knew there. I impressed myself and played really well, until we made it to the last 3. I took a few too many risks and busted. Still finished up winning $120 but regret not pushing for a deal.

The downside of finishing so late in the tournament is that I didn't get home until well after midnight. I wake up at 5:30 AM and regret missing out on sleep. To make things worse, the first 2 hours of my work day was spent on an emergency and that did not go as smoothly as I would have liked.

The icing on the cake was once I finished the emergency, went running in the direction of my favourite barista late in the morning, only to discover that he was sick, so had to settle for a weak and crappy coffee from his replacement.

Needless to say that I'm pretty tired now. About to try and accomplish a 2 hour walk then will get a good sleep.

Singapore Funnies

If this blog had readers, they would probably be as bored reading about my Singapore holiday as I am writing about it, but as it is fresh in my mind, I have one last post on it.

As should be plainly obvious, I'm not one to take loads of photos, but am very good at taking photos of signs or ads I see overseas that I am not likely to see in Australia.

Firstly, one from my hotel. Stayed at the V in Lavender. It was on top of a MTR station which was good but the room smelt of cigarette smoke. Rated as 4-star, but felt closer to a 3-star. There were 3 things banned in the lifts.

Lift sign at V hotel

 Now Smoking I would have guessed, pets I may have guessed but Durian? How smelly must it be for it to be banned in a hotel lift?

Onto a toilet sign. Now I come from a country where squatting is rare, so was not overly suprised to see a sign warning not to squat. What did suprise me was the element of humour used to illustrate the point

Dont Squat for your own splashing safety!

Now at a food court there was an ad for what I can only assume is a vegetarian feast. I didn't eat this one, but was tempted to, only because I liked the name

Buddha jumps Over The Wall

 Now I don't know if this one is deliberate or not, but this one has a very different meaning in OZ, particularly for men:

Jeweler in Little India - pity they were closed!

Last one, Singapore is a very clean place. In the airport toilets there were touchscreens requesting you to evaluate how clean you felt the toilets were. Don't worry people, sign is sanitised every hour.

Chanfi Airport cleanliness evaluation

For the record, I gave an Excellent :) .

We are Family

I thought I'd take this opportunity to give dear blog an insight into my family.

I am the oldest grandchild on both sides of my family. I have 2 sisters (Whom I will refer to as middle and youngest in this blog). Youngest sister is married and in her late twenties. Middle sister is single and lives alone with her dogs. Middle sister is definitely the wild party animal.She is also very stubborn (a family trait). Youngest sister is more placid and creative, but can easily slip under the radar.

I live at home with my mum and dad. both my sisters have moved out of home and I'm the last man standing. I have one grandmother left, my fathers mother. Her english isn't great but I visit her most Sundays (as I did this morning). My father has 2 brothers, his older brother is married with 2 kids, his younger one is divorced and is now my nonna's full time carer. Hi also has 1 daughter which he hasn't seen in 20 years and now lives in the Gold Coast.

My mothers family is a little more fractured. Both her parents have passed away, along with one of her brothers. She is one of 7 children. He has an identical twin sister who lives 10 doors down from us. She has another sister and 4 brothers, however, the family is not in speaking terms and I hear very little about them.

So that is my family in a nutshell. I'm sure as this blog develops you will be hearing lots more about them.

Knowing when to hold 'em

A few years ago, I was a regular in the pub poker scene in my local area. I was quite good at it and had my fair share of victories. I'm down to 1 or 2 venues that I play and am nowhere near as regular a player as I used to be. Before I left for Singapore, I won entry into a poker final at Padstow RSL It boasted a $10,000 cash and prizes prize pool with the winner getting $2,400 - nothing to sneeze at. Whilst I had already won free entry The outlay for this tournament was $40 in re-buys and add-ons. I initially thought I would not be able to make this tournament due to work certification preparation, but fate allowed me to attend.

Padstow is close to 1.5 hrs walk away fro where I live. I enjoy walking that kind of distance and whilst on many days, I've driven there, it was a nice day and in the mood for a walk. There is a body of water between my place and Padstow called Salt Pan Creek, and there are two bridges to cross it, a road only bridge and a rail-only bridge. What is little known is that under the rail bridge, there is a beautiful mangrove boardwalk

Boardwalk Entry

Boardwalk Bridge

Salt Pan Creek

 I appreciated the views and saw a few ducks frolicking in the water. I made it to Padstow early enough to have a decent fish cake lunch before my tournament. I caught up with a few people at the tournament that I hadn't seen since I was a regular player.

I had a bit of a shaky start but soon settled into the groove. I impressed myself on how well I played in this tournament - I was really expectimg myself to be more rusty and kept wanting to "make the next break". 3 breaks down, and I was still alive - by no means dominating but I was grinding my way taking risks at the right times and getting lucky a few times.

I finally made the money and the final table. I was very short on the final table so know I needed to take risks quickly. I chanced 67 and flopped a straight, I pushed a few times with Ace High and stole a few blinds. As each person was eliminated, the prize guarantee kept raising - $100 - $150 - $250 and so on. Before too long, we were down to the final 5 players. We agreed to split at $1070 each and we also win a ticket into a bigger game in Newcastle next year.

I was delighted with the split despite feeling like I could win the lot - I've been playing poker for years and know all too well that other would only take 1 bad hand to bust me. Its the biggest win I've had in a while and its good to know that I still have it. It was a very enjoyable day!

On this day in history...

Today the history books will show that it was the first day of Punters last test. it was also the international test debut of Sir Donald Bradman (against England), It's also the last day before plain packaged cigarettes are mandatory, but November 30 is special to me for other reasons, 3 other reasons in fact.

• This would have been my Grandfathers birthday (fathers side). 
• This was the day my parents were married in 1974.
• Today is the birthday of my childhood best friend.

For today, I'll only elaborate on the first point. My fathers father has always been special to me. I was the first grandchild on both sides. He migrated to Australia in 1964 with his family and he could speak english, but it was not his first language. I was named after him, so carry a little piece of him wherever I go.

I remember how much he liked spending time with me when I was young. They would often babysit me when my parents were working. We would always have lunch at 12:00 PM on the dot, have a nap after lunch, then have an ice cream dessert  at 3:00 PM. I would wake up my grandfather at 3:01 PM if he was still sleeping and insist on the ice cream, the things we do in youth.

He passed away in 1990. He would be 96 if he was still with us today. All of these years later, he is still missed.

Being Certified

One day back at home and I'm straight back to work.

The main reason for my hastiness is that I have a work certification to prepare and sit for. I had originally planned to do the certification in October, so planned my holiday for November accordingly, however this was delayed to December. I thought of taking certification material to Singapore to help my preparation, but later decided that I didn't want it to spoil my holiday and thought better of it.

In my first day back, hidden among my hundreds of emails, I notice one that says that my certification is now pushed back to February. This is a great relief as I thought I was running out of time to prepare for it, and gives good reason as to why I didn't meet this years work objectives.

I am really not looking forward to this work certification. Firstly, it is only recognised in the company I am currently working for and only certifies for the role I am currently doing. Should I get promoted, I would need to get re-certified. I am in favour of technical certifications (I've already done a couple of those in the last 12 months and learnt a few things to help me in my job) but this particular one is based on processes and procedures and is basically a propaganda machine to turn me into a company advocate and a sales machine. Why I need documentation to prove that I can do the job I already do defies logic!


The main push for certification is that it will allow me to justify a CPI wage rise next year (and it is also one of my managers objectives to ensure that I am certified). Whilst I love my job, working for a large company has it's drawbacks.

Flyin' home

Took a red eye flight out of Changi airport. Flying out at 2am was hard work, particularly since I was on teh cusp of changing time zones. Had one screaming baby to deal with, but I was so tired that I managed a good 4 hour block of shut eye, and then another nap or two once I woke up. I don't think I have ever slept more on an 8-hour flight.

Arrived early afternoon (Sydney time) and did little more than unpack and recovery. My final reflections on Singapore -

• The humidity was tough at first, but you do get used to it. its also a good way to lose weight as I tended to eat less there.
• Food and clothes are cheap, however, I found most electronics to be on par with ebay prices. Food is generally fresher in Sydney - I had several good meals but not many great meals (this may have been as a result of not knowing where to go).
• Ice creams and Lassi's are great there.Had my fair share and then some. Also have lots of inexpensive juices there that help you deal with the humidity
• MTR is fantastic.- I found a few pics I took on the circle line (one of the emptier trains I took

Carriage view from the front

No driver! Front window looks straight onto tracks.

• I was there for 5 days. That is more than enough time to see Singapore. Wouldn't recommend staying longer unless you knew someone or has something specific to do
• WiFi hotspots were not as common as I expected. They were around, but you had to look for them.
• There was alot of camera security everywhere. I saw several platforms of 6 cameras pointing in all directions.
• November allows you to see the streets and shops line up with Christmas decorations I wish I'd taken pictures of Orchard Rd at night, but this was near my hotel

Christmas tree near Farrer Park

• The Casinos are horrible - if you want to gamble, go to Macau
• Our world is getting smaller - there were alot of Australian products and stores available in Singapore. I saw The Body Shop, Harvey Norman, Cadburys and Tim Tams (sure I saw more but none immediately come to mind)
• I enjoyed my tine in Singapore, however, cannot see me going back any time soon. Its a holiday that I'm glad I did but am in no hurry to go back

Last day in Singapore

I slept in a little bit after having a late night the day before. When I did wake, I went for a walk to nearby Little india and did some last minute souvenir shopping. Little India was all dressed up for a "Deepavali" festival that i had apparently just missed. I tried asking a few people what it was celebrating but did not get a good answer. I know it is something to do with the temple and is celebrated with flowers and firecrackers. yes, I could just do a search and research, but I much prefer using it as a trigger to converse with people and learn the old fashioned way.

Serangoon Rd, Little India

I then made it back to my hotel, packed my belongings and checked out at about 12:30pm. My flight wasn't due to depart until 2am the next day so i had a lot of time to kill. I went to a nearby food court and had a food dilemma. There was a big queue outside a prawn soup shop, and there was a Japanese place (which i was craving) but had no customers. No customers usually signals bad food for me, but the server was pregnant and I was a little sympathetic. The salmon meal looked impressive and was very filling, but was pretty oily and I regretted not having the prawn soup. To rub salt in the wounds, the people at my table had the prawn soup and were raving on about how good it was!

Japanese cooked salmon meal with Dragonfruit juice at Lavender Foodcourt

With alot of my day left, this was planned as a spare day, and I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to do. I went onto tripadvisor to see the "must do's in Singapore, and number 3 on the list was to ride the flight simulator at the Singapore Flyer. It took me way too long to find the Singapore flyer, in my ignorance, I had no idea that the big ferris wheel thingy that I kept seeing was called the "Singapore Flyer" and my map directions led me astray.

Singapore Flyer from the base.

I get there and it wasn't cheap - $215 SGD for 45 minutes. I have no flying experience but the cockpit is an authentic interior of a Boeing 737 with a 6000 megapixel screen. I watched a short training video and away I went! I flew from Macau to Hong Kong International to the old Hong Kong international (Kai Tak). The old airport was hard, you kinda had to fly into a red and white checkerboard onto the side of a mountain and turn a hard right, then drop quickly. It isn't a wonder as to why they closed it! I then did a loop around Sydney and my time is up. It was alot of fun, but it took a long time to get my head around all the controls and was a bit overwhelming at first. Still, would recommend it!

Boeing Flight Experience boarding pass

After a walk back through Raffles, I then had dinner, it was my opportunity to try the prawn soup and it was great!. I had a last minute Mango Lassi from Little India and picked up my bags and off to the airport.

Sentosa Island and Night Safari

After my failings at Marina Bay Sands, I was eager to get to Sentosa Island and try the Casino there. I had heard that the casino there had Texas Holdem I chose to take the MTR to Harborfront and do the boardwalk from there.

On a side note, let me interrupt to say how fantastic the MTR system is. Trains every 5 minutes, EZ link cards that only charge you for what you use, good intersecting stations and so easy to navigate your way around. I so wish we had a train system that good here. Same can be said for Hong Kong and the Gold coast (my 2 other most recent holidays). The only negative I have on it is that it starts to shut down at 11:30PM - way too early for a city that doesn't sleep!

Now, dear reader, the detail has not escaped me that I am very lousy at taking pictures and my entries are very verbose, however, this is something I intend to remedy. I did take a picture whilst on the boardwalk (albeit not a very good one).

My view from the Sentosa Island Boardwalk

From there I headed straight to the holdem tables, and whilst I lasted a little longer than I did at Marina Bay, the wait for a free seat was lenghty, the smoke from other players was still irritating and I still couldn't manage a decent win streak. I decided upon leaving that Singapore casinos were not for me.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the island. I found it rather over developed and aimed at a family audience, as such, did not appreciate it as much as other places in Singapore. I decided to boardwalk back to the MTR and went back to my hotel to freshen up.

I had just enough time to make the Night Safari. I had planned on doing this early on my trip, however, sleep had the better of me. I made it just in time for the last 2 shows, a fire breathing show and Creatures of the Night, then squeesed in the tram ride and went down a walking path. I really enjoyed myself, more than I was expecting. It was nice walking through a zoo at night. 

Now I know what you are thinking, I must have taken loads of pictures at the zoo. Well, no, I didn't take any. I was a little paranoid about setting off a flash and was enjoying my time too much to be compelled to take photos. One thing I am good at however is saving bits of paper, so here was my ticket

Night Safari ticket

I missed the last MTR so caught a cab back to my hotel and called stumps to a good day.

Chinatown, Clarke Quay and Marina Bay Sands

My next day in Singapore was a Sunday. I had planned to see a show at the Marina Bay Sands, however, due to me misreading the schedule, missed the show. Instead, I tried my luck on the Casino floor. The interesting thing about Singapore Casinos is that you need your passport to enter the building (I suspect that this is a government requirement).

Once in, I played a bit of three card poker, but could not catch a hand. I did a punt on the money wheel with similar luck so cut my losses and moved on.My preferred game, Texas Hold-em, was not on offer here. What I did notice about the Casino was that the odds offered were very crude. I don't know if the tax rate is higher, or if they are trying to make more profit to counter the reduced local revenue, but either way, I don't intend visiting that Casino again.

The other annoying thing about the casino was everyone was free to smoke at the tables, or wherever else they want. It made me very appreciative of Australia's anti smoking laws - it is practically illegal here to smoke in any indoor confined space.

I then caught the MTR to Chinatown and had a look around. It was like an oversized shopping centre with lots of small shops. I've been to a fair few Chinatowns around Australia, and this was the first I saw that was indoors. It was probably the dirtiest place I visited in Singapore and I tried to do some shopping, but couldnt find anything I liked.

A short walk north landed me aat Clarke Quay. This was a beautiful place, lots of good restaurants, lots of nice scenery. I regret not taking some pictures, but I'd love to visit this place again if I were to ever return to Singapore. Had another brilliant ice cream dessert from one of the outlets - It was in a cone but looked like the Eiffel Tower.

I then walked through City Hall and Bugis back to my hotel room in Lavender and appreciated one of the nicer nights I spent in Singapore.

Lunch with a friend

I was fortunate enough to meet up with a friend on day 3. We met at Somerset and walked up and down Orchard Rd before finally settling on an Italian restaurant. we then did a whole lot more walking, had a delayed Ice Cream dessert from Häagen-Dazs. This was my first dessert from Häagen-Dazs (and was a place I've wanted to try for years! I've seen them in Hong Kong and Macau but never in Australia!). It was a little bit rich, but worthwhile just the same.

I first met this friend a couple of years ago and we ahve kept an email channel open ever since. It was very rewarding spending time with her. She was the inspiration I needed to start this blog as in our long talks she mentioned her own blog, and she may have inspired me in other ways, but time will tell. It was a delight catching up with such an upbeat and energetic person who has an exceptionally god handle of her life. She helped me clear my head a little and our talk was invaluable.

We parted in the afternoon when she went off to watch a movie with her friends. I took the opportunity to walk from city hall, through Raffles and down a subway mall to the Marina Sands. The weather did it's best to spoil my plans, but persisted anyways as I did not want to waste a day in Singapore. This day was the best of my trip by far!

First days in Singapore

One of the first things I like to do when I go on holidays alone is go for a walk, get completely lost then try to find my way home. I take a map with me, but try not to ask for directions.

My walk on this occasion took me from my hotel in Lavender through to Bugis then Little India. I then adopted what I've always known as "The Method of Zen" (I think it myght be a Prachett reference). This is where if you have no idea where you are going, look for someone who you think is going to the same place you want to go and follow them. This led me into a food court. I was contemplating ordering food when I realised that the TV screens were refreshing with ward numbers - I had followed my way into a childrens and womens hospital! I was not going to have my first meal in Singapore in a hospital!!!

I quickly found another exit and ended up near the top of Moulmein Rd. There were a lot of fancy cars in the driveways and I think I stumbled on a road sign that said "Newton Circus". What could this be? A real circuis? a shopping centre? some other attraction? I followed my way down regardless and ended up at a roundabout. Rather anti-climactic so I kept making my way down to Orchard and Somerset. Had a fish soup at a Food Republic food court then caught the MTR back to my hotel. I was completely exhausted and slept for hours. Tried to go out again when I awoke, but it was raining and I didn't have it in me. Not the best walk I've done, but at least I've done it.

Gone Scootin'

I've just arrived back from a short trip to Singapore. While I intend to elaborate more on the trip in the next few entries, thought I'd share a bit about the flight up.

My departure flight was on 'Big Yella Fella" out of Sydney Airport. This was my first experience on a budget airline, so was a little bit unsure of what to expect. My plane was an hour and a half late on departure,

Experience for me was quite good. The biggest annoyance was the kid behid me who kept pulling back my headrest and disrupting any opportunity of me napping.

Managed to get to my hotel and check in just in time to have one night on the town on Orchard Rd, thoght didn't get up to anything too excited as was rather exhausted by that point.

Hello Cruel World, I'm Taking Over Now.

Wow, who would have thought it. I have just started a blog.

I've just arrived home from a holiday, I was able to catch up with a friend who was passionate about her blog. I managed to find it and thought it to be inspiring enough for me to commence one of my own. I don't know how far I will take this, or who I will communicate this blog to but I'm keen right now so am striking whilst the iron is hot.

I've long thought of blogging and have had similar failed attempts at trying to maintain a diary, however, I'm going through a strange phase of my life right now. I am a quite a private person and hope to share a little about who I am.

Who's a lucky boy?