Wednesday, May 26, 2004

My Friend Russ

He came into our website and noticed he wasn't mentioned in my blog and just could not believe it hahaha... so here it is Russ... an entry JUST FOR YOU :) Happy now? :D

You've Got to be Joking right?!

First of all, William Hung is NOT a singer... he's not Asian American (he's just Asian - I know I'm not the only one hearing that strong Cantonese accent) and he has death threats?! HAHAHAHA! I guess there are sicker people out there then himself wasting time on him. ...so he was funny for a week but c'mon already!

Yahoo! Top Stories - Death Threats for Unlikely 'Idol'

Monday, May 17, 2004

Another Year Older...

...with the recent torrential rain in our area and such beautiful gray skies, being the first sunny day today, I was actually inspired to go get some plants. Okay, so the husband has asked me a few times (very nicely and patiently) to get some on a weekday since it's a mob on weekends. Still, I went out there in the screaming heat. Takes A LOT of initiative on my part you know :)

I came home from Lowes with a bunch of stuff... culinary herbs, fruits and vegetables, marigolds and little flowers that have no petals (I hate flowers with five regular petals) and just some color for our very dull deck. I figured being a year older now, I'd try something new instead of leaving the planting to my husband. BIG MISTAKE! The only smart thing I did was to go out there equipped with my gardening gloves (brand new from last year of course) - which are sitting in the thrash can right now. We had some leftover soil (or at least something black and ikky) and I poured them out onto one of those long ugly containers and bravely I dug into it with my gloved hands... it felt ok... and sort of planted the marigolds... ok, I have no idea how much soil I need so when Bruce comes home to the deck of terror, he might have a good laugh but hey, at least I tried. I stayed out there for a neverending 10 mins and I'm leaving the rest of the planting to Bruce... I'm sure he likes it a lot more than I do.

Well, at least after this experiance, I know one thing's for sure. One year older or not... I still hate the sun, I hate the feeling of it on my skin, I hate soil and flowers and plants of all sorts... I hate gloves that are not lined so your hands don't actually stay clean (what's the bloody point?!) and I hate gardening (even tho' it was just on the deck).

Maybe I'd try again next May...

Thursday, May 06, 2004

G'bye Mates...

More like good bloody riddance. Australians are rude... the ones in the city at least. Don't even believe that just 'coz it's bright and sunny (and you white people think this type of weather put you guys in a good mood... NOT), people are friendly (yeah right the ozzies are as friendly as the bloody garden hose) nice and helpful (nope, nada, no way!)... on the contrary... but maybe it's just a big city thing... the nice ozzies say it's a big city thing. MAYBE. I haven't had similar experiances in NYC, SF or Tokyo?! Too bad my family loves it here so much... and yes, I have to return. As soon as in 30 days ARRRGH! :)

Still, it was nice to see my family, spend time with them, shop and eat and shop and eat some more... story of my wonderful life! I should stop complaining about the people here... they can see my picture and they may hunt me down... they are after all ozzies and hunting is probably a big part of their life hahahaha! Boy do I sound like one of those ignorant Americans :)

I'm at the Melbourne International Airport right now and the guy sitting next to me thinks that these internet booths are phone booths chatting away on his cellphone complaining about how it's too noisy here. DUH! There are six people typing away around him and this IS the bloody airport right by the cafe and gates! Yes, Ozzie hahahaha!

Never mind all this bitching... despite all that, this is a nice place to visit - don't ask Bruce tho'!! :) It really is... shopping is good (not great, but good)... there are actually some cool Australian brands (Perri Cutten) to buy and they have very good Chinese food here. Steak at Lazar is good (I still like Ruth's Chris best!) but the service can be off on nights when John isn't in his normal cheeky mood. People have stopped returning solely for that reason.

Anywayz, I have to go enjoy my beef roll and orange soda so I can hurry up on the plane and sleep for fourteen hours. I tried to sleep as little as possible I could last night - I got 3 hours of z's - so that might help.

See all of you real soon!!

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Lobsters and Steamed Fish For Breakfast

This is the life! Well, minus the part of having to do the dishes hahaha! You all know how I can't leave dirty dishes sitting around... anywayz, I've had lobster noodles every morning since I arrived and this morning, I had some serious slap-yer-mama-good steamed grouper. YUM! When was the last time I had fresh steamed fish... HEAVEN!

Yesterday, Kevin (my little brother) drove the entire family to the outskirts and visited some vineyards... it was an absolutely great day! The sky was really dark and cloudy, it rained super hard at one point and for the first time since Bruce's and my wedding almost three years ago, the Tay family was together again. I'm still a Tay by default after all. We all missed Bruce and talked about him (okay, namely dad and I talked about him hahaha) but it was nice for me since he's part of our family and I felt bad he wasn't with us. Of course, he might be tickled to even think my claim of him missing out on anything overly awesome. Can't say he loves Australia.

We had a sumptious lunch at this winery... oh before I go on, why do the Aussies call the appetizers 'entree' and pronounce the 't' in 'fillet'??? Why can't people just speak English?!?! Anywayz, to start, we had antipasta, grilled salmon and pan fried liver salad... everything was yummerlicious. Then the main course consisted of rabbit sausages (awesome!), steak (pretty darn good), grilled snapper (a little salty but good nonetheless) and an order of delicious pork confit. Can you believe we actually managed dessert after all this?!?! No wonder by the time we got home early evening, we all crashed for a couple of hours. In fact, mom and dad went to bed and never did return to join us three bozos for the evening...

It wasn't a very exciting evening compared to the last two nights where we all (except anti-casino Dad) burnt time and money at Crown Casino. It was riveting... so exciting when you're not gambling with your own money hahaha - dad is going to kill me if he ever reads this. ...instead, we ordered some ribs and pizza and watched 'The Italian Job'. I was loyal to Memphis ribs and passed on it hahaha... tried a slice of the meat lovers pizza from a local pizzaria... overly parmesaney for my liking. Not the best I've had for sure... Kevin and Geraldine loved it though, so that was good... I had some more steamed fish...

Oooh, the husband is on msn chat so it's time to chat with him... the rest of this blog entry will just have to wait.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

Land of Criminals, Accents and Smelly People

It's just way too much trouble coming to this country. I had trouble getting a tourist visa (simply because mine was valid and no one spoke enough English at the Australian High Commission to advice so) and then when I eventually got a new one, the people at LAX airport insisted I got another one. By the time I arrived and went through immigration, they pulled me aside for who knows what, but probably visa problem. What are they like?!

All that and fourteen hours next to the smelliest Australian jerk made me just want to turn back and say 'to hell with you bunch of criminals who speak funny and call Burger King, Hungry Jacks'. Gawd!

Yes, I have arrived. Albeit unpleasant stuck between that smelly jerk and the old man who insisted on sprawling his dwarfy arms and legs onto my side of the two middle seats, I'm glad I'm here in one piece and together with the rest of my family. Of course, after the initial speculation of my weight, color of my skin and new hair color/style, we headed straight to dim sum... or better known to some of you, yum cha. It's so nice for the entire family to be together except we're missing my little sweetie stuck at home on his own. I am NOT talking about the little black pug stuck back at home with Jo... it's my husband stuck home in Memphis, missing me... and I him, of course :( Hopefully, this will be the final trip I'm making on my own this year. It simply is no fun travelling without Bruce... forget what I said earlier when I was in Minnessota... forget liberation, forget freedom. I want my husband with me!!

So I lost a day flying here... which mean my intentions of staying for six days is actually incorrect. Accurately, I will be in Melbourne physically for five full days... a little short considering this ain't no China (hahaha, sorry Pegster, I don't mean you, I'm talking about China and the bloody fools there :D). But I suppose five days certainly beats no days...

We've eaten a couple of times already since my arrival at 9am... it's 6:30pm and dinner is in about an hour or so... I'm ready :) I've done some shopping and my brother and sister in law have bought me a coat and a couple of tops. Boy do I love my family hee hee... I know Marjorie, I'm a lucky bitch - so sue me :)

I'd be home in time to play bunco... in time to celebrate my birthday HINT HINT!

I promise to eat enough for all of you. I'd start swimming when I get back. I promise :)