Disco Fever Xmas Party 2008

Our Xmas party this year was held in Nov (cheaper!) at Doltone House (not cheap) at Pyrmont, near Star City Casino with a view of the Harbour Bridge. The theme was "Disco Fever" and we all had to dress up in 70s. I had my mom send her dress from that period and I wore a blonde afro (eek, I look ugly. haha!!). The best costumes were donned by the guys who had to rent their suits, bright orange and purple bell bottom pants, afros, and platform shoes.

The best part of the party was the entertainment...us! Every year, there is a dance competition (yep, they really take it seriously) to take home the most coveted price...bragging rights to be the #1 in the whole company. We were lucky to have a professional choreographer in our group. Some teams hired one. The dressmaker team sewed their own costumes.
Our team danced to the tune of "Disco Inferno" (Burn, baby, burn). Everyday, we were practicing our routine (great exercise) that we got sick of hearing it.

...and the winner? Not us. It was the S.A.B.A team who pretty much had naked guys (gay good looking ones), like strippers strutting infront of the whole company.

Great Ocean Rd - 2nd time

The first time I went to the GOR, we got to the 12 apostles at night...too late to take any good pictures. The second time around, it was pouring rain! But I managed to take some great pictures along the way (London Bridge, 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge - check out my shots in my photogallery).

I have a visitor from the US! Yippee!!!

My fourth friend from the US to visit me down under: Yingying!!! The first day must have been the longest day for you, YY. I picked her up at the airport after at least 14hrs of flight, drove straight to the Blue Mountains (2hr drive) to see the Three Sisters, drove back to have dinner at the Kirribilli Club, then coffee in Crows Nest at a place called "New Orleans"...like you never left the US. (Picture below: Brad, Celestine, YingYing)

One day in November...

...I rented a car on Saturday. Looked at the map and saw Copacabana beach on the North Coast. I was interested so I drove up. I was curious if it had anything similar to the famous one in Brazil. Nothing much to it. But the song kept playing in my head...it goes something like this:

"Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl...at the Copa, Copacabana! The hottest spot North of Havana...at the Copa, Copacabana!"

Operation Xmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is an organization that collects donations for kids and are sent to third world countries. Our job, as volunteers, is to make sure the shoe boxes filled with stuff are complete with something to wear, write, wash, love, and play. Some things we have to remove if found in the boxes are bibles, any notes referring to religion, battery operated items, and food (all are put in a reject box) but still maintaining the integrity of what was originally put in the box by the donors.

I was put in the line for boys age 10-14 yr old. It was interesting opening these boxes. Some would be filled to the top and some less. Some would have girly stuff (maybe intended to be given to the boy's sister), some would have pictures of the donors. I found a nice watch that I left on there (I shouldn't have because it was battery operated). Some would not meet all the requirements so we would have extra tshirts, toys, pencils, or writing pads to add. The funniest for me was taking everything out of the box to check the checklist and not being able to put everything back in there.