Byron Bay

We did the walk through Cape Byron Lighthouse and didn't realize this area is the most easterly point of mainland Australia...so it says on this picture.

The highlight of this walk was seeing some whales over the ocean. At this time of the year, they are migrating to Queensland where its warmer when they give birth.

After walking around the beach, we headed over to the "balcony" - bar and restaurant to pass the time before driving down to Coffs Harbour. We sat by the corner on the 2nd floor so we can see the roundabout and people passing by. Its such a beach town compared to Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour. Between the three of these, I'd go back to Byron Bay.

Nimbin

Nimbin is already near the border of NSW and QLD. We drove up there to see what the hype is all about. Nimbin = Marijuana.

Before we entered the town, I saw a "Mardi Grass" sign event coming up. And just right after we got off the car, my friend was already asked if he'd like some weed. In less than 5 minutes, he's already been asked three times if he'd like to buy some weed.

We went to a coffee shop and I asked the barista what the deal is with marijuana. It is totally ILLEGAL but people come here thinking they can get them easily. Apparently not. There are cameras everywhere and if you're caught dealing or transacting, you're going straight to jail.

When we got to Byron Bay, I saw a tour bus from Nimbin called "grasshoppers". Funny!

Next stop: Lismore...but there's nothing worth to talk about there.

Big Banana - Coffs Harbour

The highlight at Coffs Harbour - the Big Banana! Because they have banana plantations everywhere. Its a Banana Republic.

This is the first big thing that was constructed in Australia. Soon, other cities followed by constructing their own big thing.

http://www.bigthings.com.au/

Smoky Cape Lighthouse

We continued our road trip up north to Southwest Rocks Lighthouse. Its a nice quiet place, far away from any town. If you want some quiet, alone time, check in at the bed and breakfast just below the lighthouse. Its got great views of the ocean. But you'll just have to hike up to get there.

After admiring the views from the top, we drove up a little further and saw these two bikers on the freeway. When we had lunch at a rest stop, their families were waiting for them there, too. These two french bikers (one bikes with only his arms) planned to bike all over Australia 100km every day for two months. Gosh! It will be hot for them soon. Their families are blogging about their whole trip. Check out their website: http://www.australia2009.net/

Two days later when we were heading back to Sydney, we saw the french bikers on the road again. Good on ya! Goodluck on your travels!!!

And by the way, today is September 9, 2009 (09/09/09).

Road Trip - Port Macquarie

Five hour road trip along the east coast to Port Macquarie. The highlight of this trip was not much of Port Macquarie (I didn't think there was much to see there) but the motel we stayed at Crescent Head (30 minutes north of Port Macquarie).

I did think the walk path along the water was nice. Next time you come to Port Macquarie, bring some paint and you can paint your own memories on one of those rocks.

Surfaris is a motel for surf campers. We met lots of people from all over the world coming to this place to learn how to surf. And the night we stayed there, we had a 2hr jazz concert. We even got to participate when they handed out different instruments for us to strum along. Audience participation.

Inglourious Basterds

I went to the premiere of the movie, "Inglourious Basterds". Unfortunately, Brad Pitt wasn't there. But I did get to see the director, Quentin Tarantino, Diane Kruger, and Christoph Waltz.

Quentin's movies are famous for its violence. I liked the "Death Proof" one (girl power!). I think his movies are cool that I've made a list of all his movies and decided to buy all of them:

1. Reservoir Dogs
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Jackie Brown
4. Kill Bill
5. Death Proof
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. Four Rooms
8. True Romance
   

Paper Planes

At the preschool the other day, some of the kids were making paper airplanes. I tried to do one but I totally forgot from when I was a kid. I had to ask one of the boys to show me how. Anyway, I tried making one today at home and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how I used to make one.

Do you remember how to make a paper plane?

"Celestine and the Penguins"

I've been volunteering at a preschool since July now and today, the teacher read a book to the kids called, "Celestine and the Penguins". The only other book that I know of that is my namesake is the "Celestine Prophecy"...and I read that one coz I was curious what it was about.

Baklava Heaven

I have a weakness for baklava. I found heaven at this place in Granville, just by the train station:

Abla's Pastries
48-52 Railway Pde
Granville, NSW
Tel#02-9637-8092

If you happen to pass by there, PLEASE buy me some baklava!!!

Knitting

I've always wanted to learn how to knit. So when Customs House in Circular Quay availed free lessons, I immediately signed up for me and my cousin, Michelle. Two heads are better than one in case one of us forgets.

My first project is a scarf. Gosh does it take a long time to do this project. Winter will be over before I finish it. But its fun, very addictive. I want to do a blanket next time.

After taking the class, I've been noticing people on the bus with their knitting kits. Its kindda like when you bought your car, you start noticing people driving the same car as yours. Isn't it?

Michelle, my other friend (Sovanni) and I will make knitting a cool thing to do!

The Sydney Spanish Language Group

I signed up for meetup.com where you can add yourself in to an interest group (biking, foreign language group, guitar, etc). I joined the Spanish Language Group to continue practicing conversational spanish and to meet new people. I've actually become one of the assistants for this group, mainly to provide beginners English to the native-spanish speaking people. Its a good trade off.

I've signed up for the American Expat group in Sydney, watched a game of american football, and met a new friend from Dallas. Its a good network!

So check out www.meetup.com in your area. I've checked it back in the bay area while I was there. There's lots of groups to join in.

Guitar Lessons

My friend encouraged me to start learning to play the guitar. With the spare time I have these days, I cut my nails on the left hand and started to play. It takes time and patience and sore finger tips to learn. But I am glad I am doing it. My cousin also showed me some easy chords to play and make a tune out of it. I can impress some people with a sample tune but that's about it. Just don't ask me to play the whole song. He he!!!

"Bruno" Premiere

"Borat" is so 2006!


The last leg of the "Bruno" premiere was in Sydney and I got to see Bruno make another stunt act: coming out of a pink hummer limousine, disturbing the premiere (his own, in fact), and getting arrested by the police. Its what he does all the time!


I got so close up to him I got to touch his hand! Freaky! That man's got some nice and smooth facial skin and very toned, long legs!

My Adidas

I bought my first Adidas today!

I've been looking for the classic Samoa shoes (see right picture) for months now, going into stores, calling stores, internet search. I even called Adidas and they may have put me through to the warehouse and said, nope! We don't make them anymore. Huhu!!

But I finally found something similar to its style. Its called Beckenbauer All Round (see left picture). It looks nice. Yay!

P.S. In the Philippines, we call chicken feet (food-wise) Adidas!

Twitter

My former boss got me to sign up for Twitter. At first, I laughed. I hear about twitters telling their followers what they ate for breakfast or what they are checking online at that exact second. These people have too much time on their hands.

But I signed up anyway and started tweeting just before I left for the US. And yes, I did have a lot of time to spare. When I arrived back here in Sydney, I started following Twitters such as CNN, NBA, Time, EOnline, Aplusk (Ashton Kutcher), etc. Its actually a good way to get the news you want at the exact moment it happens.

You should sign up for it!

(oh yea, if you want to be my follower, my username is celestine28...not that I have anything interesting to say).

Room for Rent - Orange County ($590)

Our house (a room) at Orange County is available for rent. If you know anyone who is interested, please let me know.



Townhouse in a quiet and exclusive gated community (3 BR, 2.5 Bath, 3 car garage)

• close to Chapman University, new Sports Center complex and park, easy access to Freeway (5, 22, 55, 91), St Joseph Medical Center, Santiago Canyon College
• swimming pool, indoor garage parking + outdoor guest parking, club house
• utilities include water, garbage, washer, dryer (excluding internet/tv cable, electric, and gas)
• cross street: Prospect St (near Chapman Ave)
• 10 minutes away from Disneyland

Thanks all!

Hooters

I was in Dallas this week visiting a friend who has three kids (1, 3, and 5yr old). We passed by "Hooters" and told her that I've never been to one and was curious how it is inside...my thought was a typical hang out place for guys checking out girls with big boobs.

Apparently not. It seems to have been a family-oriented restaurant. They even have kids meal and pass out crayons with coloring activities.

I was even curious what their job applications ask for (not that I would apply). Size and all. But didn't get a chance to. If anyone knows, blog me about it.

No Helmets Required?

I took a picture of this motorcyclist on a freeway in Dallas. Apparently, it is not required to wear helmets in Texas.

Isn't that kindda like the #1 rule when riding a bike?

Jamie Foxx???

Doesn't Jamie Foxx look like Michael Batts, the comedian?

My 15 minutes of fame???

A friend of mine messaged me on facebook and asked me if I was on the TV show, "Ready, Steady, Cook" - it was a cooking show that I was a studio audience in filmed about a year ago. Indeed, that was me with Jen and Alfred (accordingly, I was reconnected to Alfred again and found out he is back in Sydney! Yay!)

A few days later, I found out from Michael, our seminarian friend, that he saw me, Mei and Paul on "Good News Week", another TV show that we attended.

I hope this is not our 15 minutes of fame (just as Andy Warhol said, everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame). That would have been a waste!

The band, Sugar Ray, named one of their albums "14:59". The album's title was a jab at critics who considered the band a one-hit wonder and were merely enjoying their "fifteen minutes of fame".

Easter Weekend

Easter week is one of the Holiest weeks in the Catholic Church (Greek Orthodox, this year, celebrated it one week later based on their calendar). To some, it might look like I went church hopping this weekend. But it wasn't all religious obligations this weekend for me.

Thursday - we went for Holy Thursday mass at St Columba church, our local parish. Friends came over to have the passover/sacrificial lamb for dinner.

Friday - I joined my coworker for the 10am Station of the Cross at St Margaret Mary in Merrylands, checked out St Dominic's church at Flemington, and went to the 3pm Passion of Christ at St Patrick's in Parramatta. Three new churches for me = three wishes!!! When I got home, a couple of our friends came over to hang out with us during this fasting, no meat day. When midnight came, we drove to McDonald's and watched Seinfeld episodes til 1:30am.

Saturday - We did a bit of walking towards St Joan of Arc church in Haberfield (but was closed). We then went to the Easter vigil at the newly renovated St Peter Julian's church in Chinatown.

Sunday - my friends and I went to a service at the Opera House and later went to St Patrick's church in the city for the Easter Sunday mass. A BBQ was followed at our house...another party! Mei and I was bored after the BBQ and watched the movie "Summer Hours" at the local movie cinema. We were still not satisfied so we invited a friend to come over and chat til midnight.

Monday - was a bit of a rest day. We made some pizza at home (from scratch) and had people over again for a mini party!

Geez - what a weekend!

2010 World Cup Prequalifier

April Fools!

World Cup Soccer will be held in South Africa in 2010. On April 1st, my friends and I went to watch the Socceroos beet Uzbekistan at the ANZ arena in Homebush. Its a prequalifier match in the Asian area (I think). Looking forward to more matches and following the games til next year.

House Auction

I was walking around the neighborhood one day and I saw a house auction just around the corner from where I lived. I've never been to one so I thought I'd stick around, read the procedures and watch the auction happen.

They do a lot of house auctions in Australia...you know, where you raise your hand, bid against other buyers and the seller yells out "SOLD" and does the hammer thing. Over here, you have to apply for a bidder's registration number. You cannot pretend to be a buyer when in fact, you are working for the owner. When caught, you can get penalized $50k and the real estate agent and owner might get fined, too!

So we were all called out to the front of the house. The bidding starts and nobody was budging. Ten minutes later, nothing still. I thought it would be more exciting than that. Unfortunately, nobody bid on the house (maybe too embarrassed to suggest a price that's too low???). They had to close the bidding and put the house back in the market.

Coldplay

That was one electrifying concert I've been for so long. Although I only like or knew a couple of their songs from their new album, "Viva la Vida", I had to check off "Coldplay" on my list of things to do before I die.

This was their last concert in Sydney. They've had great reviews since coming down under. And boy was it great! They played their best songs ever including: Clocks, Yellow, Speed of Sound, Hardest Part, In My Place, The Scientiest, and many, many more from their new album.

...and Chris Martin is such a piano man!

Amway

If you've heard of Amway, you know what this is all about.

My cousin, LJ, and I met this lady who told us about an investment, a passive income investment, not relating to stocks and real estate. With the financial crisis, what other investment is safe these days? LJ and I were both skeptical (being typical accountants) but gave the lady the benefit of a doubt. We thought this was going to be one of those pyramid schemes.

At first, the lady was very persistent that we attend this meeting. She wanted to meet the following day, if not the next day, and so forth. So we gave her a chance and LJ and I would go together just in case one of us can't say 'No' and get sucked into this. After two months, LJ and I attended the meeting.

It sounded too good to be true. Its Amway. The idea is, be a member of Amway (or get into their "pipeline" - as they call it), get discounts on their products, you get into a pool of members, meet a sales quota and then get a check for a certain % of points, try to get people to be a member and get a % of their sales. Once you've built your network, the more $ you get from their sales. Its a typical pyramid scheme, but apparently, a legal one. Its SCAMway!

Amway has been described as a cult. Members pressuring you to buy products of great quality. Having to go to meetings and selling motivational materials, telling people how they didn't have to work anymore for the rest of their lives, pressuring new recruits to sign up, etc, etc. According to some people, they've lost friends who pressured them into buying the products, this cult taking over their whole lives with all the meetings and recruiting they had to do, totally annoying other people. In the end, the reality is, a very minuscule % of the people actually receive the big checks.

I'm glad LJ and I had an open mind going to this meeting and being skeptical...and smart. It sounded too good to be true and if you're dumb enough to get sucked into it, well, that's just too bad. My advice is, don't even get into it. If you want to check it out, just be open minded and be smart about it.

Australian Tennis Open 2009

My first tennis grand slam. And so we did our pilgrimage. Three days of tennis matches in the cold, hot, unpredictable weather of Melbourne.

First match: Serena Williams def Shuai Peng...and the list of matches we watched at Rod Laver Arena are as follows:

• Victoria Azarenka def Amelie Mauresmo
• Jo-Wilfred Tsonga def Dudi Sela
• Elena Dementieva def Samantha Stosur
• Rafael Nadal def Tommy Haas
• Dinara Safina def Alize Cornet
• Roger Federer def Tomas Berdych
• Jelena Dokic def Alisa Kleybanova
• Novak Djokovic def Marcos Baghdatis
• Serena Williams def Victoria Azarenka
• Rafael Nadal def Fernando Gonzalez
• Jo-Wilfred Tsonga def James Blake

This year, I wanted to see #1 Nadal, #2 Federer, and #3 Djokovic. On the women's side, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. I got to see the men but not the women.

In the end, we watched the Mens Finals at Circular Quay (back in Sydney) to see Rafael Nadal win his first Australian Tennis Open.

I am happy coz I got the champion and the #1 player to sign my tennis ball.

O-le! Ole, ole ole! O-le, O-le!!!

Lawn Bowling

Lawn bowling is for the retired and therefore, it must be boring. Not from my experience. The idea is, you throw a white ball on the field and you have to throw your ball so it is as close to the white ball as possible, basically. Now there are some strategies to it but you'll just have to try this game to get into it.

The funny part of the day was the advertisement posted in the lawn bowling area. Because it is an oldies' game, it shouldn't be a surprise when you see this sign to the right:

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.

Little Bambinos

We had the Leichhardt Italian Festival on Norton St, just a few feet away from the house. They featured lots of Italian food and the little Bambinos (Fiats). They are so cute!!! This was more worth it than the Sydney Motorshow and its free!!! These 50yr old classics are definitely cooler than the new models.

Sydney Motorshow

It sucks, its boring! They didn't even have Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW. Maybe they don't have the budget for this anymore. The car industry is going down that the US Big 3 (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) needs a portion of the $700 billion payout from the government.


There were some futuristic-looking cars like the Toyota Hybrid but I still like the old-fashioned cars like the Ford Mustang.



The best part of the show, though, was when we rode on their 4-wheel drives in a makeshift rugged terrain outside the Sydney Convention Centre. It felt like going on a ride at Disneyland...well, not really. But it was more exciting than the showcase.

Southern Highlands

Mei, Paul, and I planned to drive to Canberra and back in one day. Mei just got her red 'P' driver's license and was her chance to use it during our day trip. We didn't quite make it to Canberra, not because Mei was slow, but the trip was more leisure, didn't matter where we ended up, or even if we got lost. It was an adventure trip.

First stop was unplanned. We saw some signs to the Nepean Dam, which looked similar to the Hoover Dam in Nevada/Colorado. Then we drove to the town of Bowral, famous for the Tulip festival and the home of the greatest cricketer of all time, Donald Bradman. We drove past lovely country houses around the area of Bowral and Mittagong. And next stop to Berrima where we stopped to check out their pottery/painting galleries, a nice mom & pop coffee shop, then thought, it was time to go home. We didn't even reach halfway thru to Canberra.

On the way back, I took Mei and Paul to this popular Portuguese restaurant at Petersham called "Silvas". Petersham is where you will find tons of Portuguese and Brazilian shops. It was Saturday night and the place was packed. All we could do was a take away and ate the kebabs in the car. Must try!!!

Relative State

My cousin LJ had a gig with his band, "Relative State", at the Cat & Fiddle in Balmain. They usually play at the "Basement" in Blacktown, all the way in woop woop! (Blacktown is Filipino town). We've gone a couple of times all the way there and finally, they have come closer to the city, in Balmain. Sounds like they are moving up!

LJ used to have a band in the Philippines (Mush Carnival) and they were even featured on MTV Asia. How cool is that? At one of their gigs here (at Sydney University), they opened for a famous singer from the Philippines (sorry, I'm not up to date on who that famous person would be). But that's good publicity for them.

And here's another cool story:

There is this Spanish looking guy at work and when I finally met him during one of our drinks at a pub near the office, he said, "O! Kamusta?" Nobody in the office would have guessed he's Filipino coz he looks meztiso. Anyway, after talking to him, I found out that he used to be a drummer for a very famous band, Razorback, in the Philippines. Wow, I work with this guy. I told LJ about it and he told me that, yes, he does know him (Miguel Ortigas). LJ used to record at one of Razorback's recording studio. But LJ said there was another band similar to the Razorbacks that he liked better than them. Here's another twist. Miguel told me his wife worked for this company in North Sydney and it happened to be the same company as my friend's. So I immediately text my friend and she did worked with her. What's so funny was when she received my text message, she was on the same elevator as her. What a small world!!!

Ripples Cafe at Luna Park

Since spring has started, I thought we'd try some nice restaurants around Sydney with a view of the city skyline. Located outside the North Sydney Olympic swimming pool by the Luna Park ferry station, Ripples Cafe gave us this option.

Ripples Cafe is an award winning alfreso BYO cafe where diners enjoy the stunning uninterrupted views of the Harbour, Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (yep, that was our view!!!).

After dining, we ran for the ferry to Darling Harbour and had dessert. There is a Lindt's Cafe but unfortunately, they were already closed for the night (so early!).

Thanks for spending the night with me (Mei, Paul, Cherry, LJ, My). We'll do another one of these soon!

Absentee Voter

I just voted for the US Presidential Election as an absentee voter. First time doing this before everyone else and being part of a historic election. I hope the one I voted for wins.

Cirque du Soleil - Dralion

It took me a while to finally get to see a production of Cirque Du Soleil. I remember one of the first ones, "O", in Vegas. And now, "Dralion". The two performances that I liked were 1) the tiny, skinny girl who did an inexplicable acrobatic performance standing on one hand that didn't even flinch or wobble while her whole body was moving around, and 2) the trampoline guys who made it so easy and fun to jump on a trampoline. I know its not easy because we have a trampoline at home and to control yourself from being flown out of it is a bit tricky. You wouldn't want to jump too high!

S-P-0-R-T-S-C-R-A-F-T Summer Fashion Show

I was invited to watch the Summer Fashion show at our company, which I was so excited about, coz we get to see the new line before everybody else. I usually attend our monthly sales meeting where they show us the best and worst sellers of the month. Of course, I do help out with that reporting!

About a week before the show, our company unveiled its Olympic uniforms at the opening ceremony in Beijing...tracksuit pants. I wasn't really impressed by it but apparently, the New York Times thought it was the best outfit of all the countries.

Our catalogue models were Kristy Hinze and Norbert but unfortunately, they were not the same ones you see in these pictures. I hope to get invited to the next fashion show, for our other label S-A-B-A.

Jason Mraz Concert

This is the 2nd concert I've been to in Australia (I think). I went to see Jason Mraz held at the Enmore Theatre in Newtown. Wasn't really much of a big fan until recently and I'm glad I went.

WYD08 - Sunday Mass

The big and final event of the World Youth Day 2008 is the Papal Mass at Randwick. This is the 4th time I'm seeing the Pope. And I can now cross WYD off my list of things to do.

...next WYD has been announced. To be held in Spain.

WYD08 - Randwick Vigil Mass

We did our pilgrimage walk from Central Station to the Randwick Racecourse. A pretty long walk (we were originally gonna start at North Sydney) but with the huge crowd and walking with friends, the moment just passed by. We also had to carry our own backpacks and sleeping bags for the overnight stay at the racecourse.

Along the walk, we joined an East Timor group in praying the rosary at Centennial Park. We passed by all different groups from different countries carrying different flags. The whole WYD week, these were the flags I've seen: poland, canada, wales, italy, germany, mexico, spain, US, philippines, indonesia, brazil, scotland, korea, japan, malaysia, singapore, india, pakistan, vietnam, new zealand, sudan, south africa, argentina, ireland, england, burma, east timor, australia, tonga, france, puerto rico, guam, lebanon, and more that I didn't recognize.

Then came the Vigil Mass hosted, of course, by the Pope himself. It was a great feeling to be with the Pope with at least 200k pilgrims all together. And a once in a lifetime experience camping at Randwick with the rest of the pilgrims overnight. It was freezing, middle of winter weather, with just a sleeping bag (two for me). I woke up a couple of times during the night. Around 1am, there were still people up chatting and making noises. By around 3am or 4am, I woke up again and I heard silence. It was full moon and there was a halo around the moon. It was amazing!

WYD08 - Domain

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Sydney on Sunday but his official "coming out" was Thursday, July 17th. So I've taken Thurs and Fri off to join in with the rest of the pilgrims for the celebrations.

The Pope arrived in his boat-a-cade (as in motorcade) straight to Barangaroo where he did his opening blessings. We were assigned at the Domain where his pope mobile would pass through. We waited for about 3hours to see his pope mobile pass by so quickly (for safety reasons) and all I got was this shot (I would have had a closer shot if the nuns infront of us didn't take our front view. We had already marked our territory!!!). I did see his torso after clicking the camera. This would actually be the second time I would see the Pope because I was in Rome in 2005 just after Pope JPII passed away.

Xmas in July

Why not? Its cold, we have all-year-round Xmas lights at our house, and we're doing it for a cause. My flatmate wants to raise $1200 AUD to build a well in Africa through an organization (Life Outreach International) and provide water for life. My other flatmate just wants an excuse to party. Hehe! So we appropriately decorated our house with Xmas decors and we dressed up in something red, white, green, gold or silver. Without giving too much detail, we raised close to $500 and hopefully getting close to the goal. Thanks to all of you who donated to the cause! And for my first Xmas celebration in July!

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Blessed Pier Giorgio is the patron and role model for the young masses. With World Youth Day approaching, the relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was brought to Sydney. And I had a chance to touch and pray to his relics at St Benedict's church. Learning more about Catholicism, touching objects onto a first class relic makes the object a 3rd class relic. This would be the beginning of my pilgrimage to the World Youth Day celebration that ends on July 21st with the Papal mass at Randwick Racecourse.

Pier Giorgio was a vibrant young man born into a wealthy family who dedicated his 24 short years to the needy, to works of social action, charity, prayer and community. He would always say, "Charity is not enough: we need social reform." His father would not give him much spending money but the money he received, he would give to the poor...even if it meant he had to run home to be on time for meals to give up his train fares. When he was a child a poor mother with a boy in tow came begging to the Frassati home. Pier Giorgio answered the door, and seeing the boy's shoeless feet gave him his own shoes. At graduation, given the choice by his father of money or a car he chose the money and gave it to the poor. (To read more: http://www.bettnet.com/frassati/).

And so it became that with his selfless charity work to the needy, when Pier Giorgio passed away, it was the poor that petitioned to begin a cause for canonization. He was beatified in 1990 by Pope John Paul II.

Sample Sale

My new company (I can't seem to spell it out here because the last time I posted about my new job, someone at work searched for the company and my blog showed up. So I had to kill that blog posting. I wouldn't want my coworkers knowing all my stories). Anyway, my new company, being a clothing company, had a sample sale one Friday. The labels we have (there's two of them...damn, I can't say it on here) are pretty high end, with textiles coming from Europe. Normally, a shirt that would cost $130 AUD was being sold for $20. Pants over $100 were also $20. Jackets for $200 were being sold for $50. But of course, since they are samples, you have to be careful what you pick. My coworker almost bought a blouse that was cut at the back or pants that had a big hole on its leg. It was fun but hard to shop and not being able to try it on.

So I got my employee card last week which entitles me to a 35% discount on our clothes. I tried it that same day and went to MYER in the city. After trying on a few things, I was ready to pay...but was totally rejected. The sales lady told me I had to go to a freestanding store to be able to use my employee card. I told our State Manager that if QVB was not an option for me, I would not have bought the stuff. I was trying to help improve our sales!!! Eventually, I did get the stuff I wanted but was given a bit of a hard time. It was an experience!

Guiness Book of Records

...came to Leichhardt. Being the "little Italy" of Sydney, they held the event for the longest line of pizzas (I know its a bit silly). Along Norton St, they set up a long table starting from the street where we live (Macauley St) all the way to about Marion St...221 meters long and 826 pizzas in total.


Its a bit corny. What they should have done is make one long piece of dough with all the ingredients on it and roll it through the oven...then feed it to us (it was basic cheese pizza). But we did make it to the Guiness Book of World Records. I've never seen one happen before or participated on any.


Just to prove this is real, one of the pictures shows a lady representing Guiness Book of World Records. Actually, after she measured it, it was short of the record. So they had to make an additional 3-4 pizzas to cover it. And there were still some leftovers.

"Good News Week"

I had tickets to be part of the studio audience of the TV show, "Good News Week". Its sort of a comedy show/competition where they have a panel of celebrities and they compete to answer current event news. Unfortunately, I didn't really know who the celebrities were (they had Kelly Rowlands from "Destiny's Child" in the morning taping) and I didn't get some of the Aussie jokes. Haha!

There was a lady whose only job is to fix his tie and shrubs off anything that's on his suit. What bug me the whole time was the host's pants sticking inside one of his high cut boot and nobody told him (not that they would put the camera on his feet anyway).

Leichhardt to City

Who would have thought I'd walk (or could walk) from our house to the city (approx 6km far)? Nobody did...and I proved them wrong. I started off at 10am and got to Chinatown at about 11:45am, just in time for their mass. Along the way, I did some short stops (but did not buy anything) to an antique shop, glass shop, art gallery, was asked for directions, pub, checked out the price of a vespa, looked at the menu for a Korean and Japanese restaurants, and withdrew some money at the bank. It was a bit of an adventure.

Western Plains Zoo (Taronga)

Taronga Zoo has a branch in Dubbo which is a safari style drive through around the zoo. You can also rent bikes to look around. The animals are sectioned by continent, some you can have animal contact, and most are fully restricted.

We had too many pictures so I'll just show a few of them that I like. The zoo had animals ranging from kangaroos, emus, tigers, water buffalos, giraffes, zebras, tortoise, koalas, monkeys, elephants, cheetahs, dingos, and a lot more. I recommend checking out this place - not a typical zoo but a safari style zoo.