Merry Xmas to you, too!

I received a blue Xmas card today, posted in Australia, but forgot (or intentionally) to sign their name. They didn't even have a return address! The handwriting looks very familiar but it is not registering.

You know who you are. If you're reading this, please leave me a message. If you're not him/her, don't pretend you are him/her and leaving me a fake message =)

Thanks for the card and hope you have a wonderful Xmas and a safe New Year!!!

How do you spend $120 in 2 seconds?

Try me!

I locked the car keys inside the car on Xmas Eve! I called a few auto specialists and the first quote I got was $180. Why that expensive? Well, everyone was going home early from work for the holidays and I really didn't have a choice as I needed the car during the Xmas weekend. The second quote I got was $120 but they won't be able to do it in the next couple of hours. We even called the police near where we were at the Rocks and they turned us down!!! The next quote I got was $160 then I told him, another company was giving it to me for $120. So he gave it to me and he came in 15 minutes. He took out his metal spleen, pushed it down the car window, and in two seconds...wala! The door opened! I said, "I'm paying you $120 for a two second job? Can you give me more discount? You must make a lot of money." He says, "Sorry, I already gave you a big discount, its the holidays, and no, I don't make a lot of money. My boss does!" What a racket!!!

There you go! How to spend $120 bucks in two seconds. Can you beat that? Let me know if you do!

Government House

Day after my harbour jet cruise, I checked out the Government House at the Botanical Gardens. Another site I haven't checked out since I've been here for 2yrs and 2 months (has it been that long)? Again, I pretended to be a tourist. They asked me where I was from and I answered, "San Francisco!" Hehe! I know, they hate Americans.

The house is located on top of a hill at the Botanical Gardens, overlooking the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was situated there to give the appearance to onlookers arriving at Sydney Harbour that someone important lives in this house. The house serves as the Governor's residence (hence, the name). Since 1996, under the direction of the Premier, the house is no longer used as a residence. It was used during the Sep 2007 APEC summit as one of the key meeting venues and still remains as the Governor's official reception space especially for her weekly meetings.

Harbour Jet Cruise

I tried one of those jet boats that goes 75km/h along the Sydney Harbour one Saturday. Its just one of those things that I haven't done as a tourist here in Oz. It was a warm day in Sydney and it was just perfect to get wet. Indeed, I got wet, probably soaked if I didn't wear some protective gear.

You know for sure you're gonna get wet during the ride so the guy next to me had to wear gloves and protect one of his inflamed fingers. During the ride, the poor guy got stung by a bee on his other hand - how did that bee get on the boat that's running at 75km/h? The boat was doing nose dives (to get the people infront wet), doing 280 degree turns (to get me wet who's sitting on the side of the boat), and sudden stops. Now I know what Sydney Harbour water taste like.

Sydney Opera House

Its been a while since I've seen a show at the Opera House. In a span of one week, I went to see three shows. When it rains, it pours!

1. John Williams Movie Soundtracks by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra - compositions for the movies such as Indiana Jones, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Psycho, ET, Schindler's List, Harry Potter, Superman, Close Encounters, LA Olympics theme, and half of the show dedicated to the sounds of the six Star Wars movies.

2. Schubert's Great Symphony - boring!!!!!!!!

3. The Nutcracker - at the opera house forecourt. I've always heard or seen ads about this show but I never knew the story.

Sometimes when you've got nothing else to do, Plan B = Opera House

15 Blue St, North Sydney

Its sad to say, we had to move office from 15 Blue St (Fujitsu Bldg on top of the North Sydney station) to 201 Miller St. Here are some reasons why I oppose of the move:

1. I now have to walk about 4 blocks from the train station compared to not even less than a block from the old office. But I can look at it as an exercise for me.
2. When it rains (and its been raining a lot these days - its summer, by the way), I get about two blocks of uncovered walkway...compared to zero to the old office.
3. We can see fireworks from our office during New Year's eve. Our view these days is a black and grey parking lot!
4. And the main reason why:

Halloween Party

They don't really celebrate Halloween in Australia. If they did, its just another excuse to have a drinking party. I thought it'd be a good idea to get people dressed up on Halloween. I was afraid people won't participate but I'd say, it was a pretty good turnout that people actually dressed up. Some would call me to make sure they weren't the only ones dressed up. Some hired costumes at a party shop. I dressed up as an angel. We had a couple of fairies, batman, two draculas, three witches, robin hood, gypsy, pirate, an 80s girl, one of those mormon men in blacks, and a lot more. But the best part for me was when a few of us went out on the streets to buy some beer...with Borat. The lady behind the counter was talking on the phone and told the person on the other line that Borat was at the shop. Borat took the phone and started talking with the perfect accent!

The life of the party? I have to give it to BORAT!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Too many birthdays this October...on my calendar, I have 14 people listed. The cousins in Australia celebrated mama's big 60th bday...at mama's expense! Yippeee!!!

One other party celebrated was at Hard Rock Cafe this past Sunday, Oct 21st, for Vinnie!!! We didn't know it but it also happens to be the Cafe's last day before they close down...til they get another location somewhere at Darling Harbour.

Did you know that in a group of about 30 people, there is a big probability that two people will have the same birthday? We tested this theory back in my college days. We went around the whole class and indeed, we found two people with the same birthday. At one of my old jobs, in our department of about 25 - 30 people, there was me and Miss V who had the same birthday. And at the Hard Rock Cafe party, there were only six of us but I found out that I have the same birthday as Patricia! Are we gonna have a big party next year or what!

Happy birthday to Mama, Lola, Analie, Terence, Keiko, Oliver, Natasha, Michael, JC, Vinnie, Melinda, Kim, Michelle, and Alma!!!

Belly Dancer

I didn't know they had male belly dancers!!! And I didn't know I was gonna get to dance with one!!!

We went to a Lebanese restaurant called Zenobia, the self proclaimed Queen of Egypt who was from Syria. We wanted to see some belly dancers on Saturday night and to our surprise, they introduced a male dancer. We pointed one of our guy friends to get pulled up to dance and when asked, "are you gay?" he didn't really understand the male dancer and nodded, "Yes!" But he wasn't.

Here they are!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Its Labor day weekend in NSW and ACT. No other states were celebrating it except for us. What did I do?

I rented a car for the weekend which I usually take to go out of town. But this weekend, it didn't go that far. I was teaching two people how to drive on Sat and Sun. One day, we drove all around Wilson St doing some parallel parking and roundabouts (which I don't like very much) and the next day, we drove around busier streets (and almost got into an accident!!!). Shhh!!! I wasn't supposed to let these "L" license plate holders to drive the rental car anyway (coz "L" are for losers!!). We did squeeze in a little bit of joy riding to Watson's Bay and one more place I got to check off my list of places to see - Vaucluse House. Can I just add on to here that the cross street from Vaucluse House is called "Oolala St". Oooh La La!!! Not that there's anything fascinating on that street.

Ironically, on Labor day itself, I had to go to work!

7th Ritmo Brazilian Festival

Perfect time to take the Brazilian couple I just met to this festival held at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour this past Sunday. Little did we know, there was a Chinese and Korean festival going on at the same time in the area. So we tried a variety of food all day...that's all you do at these festivals. Eat, eat, and eat some more!!!

There was a samba dance number on stage and I saw my salsa dance instructor choreographing the whole thing. And I noticed that he had shaved his mohawk!!! The following day, I went to my salsa class and I shook my head when I saw the mohawk. There was only one way to find. Nestor, the instructor (wow, it rhymes!), happened to dance with me so I asked him if he had a twin brother. And that was it! Fooled me!

I got to try some of these ACAI (pronounced ah-sah-hee) - a Brazilian berry only found on top of palm trees in the Amazon rainforest. Take note: its got lots of vitamins (B1, B2, B3, C, E), iron, potassium, calcium, protein, high in fiber, lowers your cholesterol, has more than double the antioxidant content of blueberries, and is 30x more anthocyanins than a glass of red wine. So how come I've never heard of this before? I have to find this in stores somehow.

At the end of it all, I didn't even get a chance to meet up with the Brazilian couple. We were both moving targets. We'd be walking back to the Brazilian festival to look for them and they would be walking to the Korean festival where we just came from to look for us. Sigh!

Piety Stall

LJ and I went to help Mitch & Andrew with their piety stall last Sunday after mass. We took over in doing the selling. Needless to say, that was the best day they ever had. Naks! I ended up buying a children's book about Saints. I'll try to be that kid who was so knowledgeable about Saints in the movie, "Millions". That was a good movie, by the way. Go rent it!

Australian Hotel

You wanna try some crocodile, emu, and kangaroo pizza? Check out the Australian Hotel at 100 Cumberland St, at the Rocks.

My boss in San Francisco from almost 10yrs ago contacted me and told me his colleagues are moving to Sydney. So I met up with this Brazilian couple and took them to the Australian Hotel so they can try some authentic food (as in the toppings, not the pizza). Unfortunately, Vinny was vegetarian and Patricia was not too interested in exotic foods. Oh well...I still ordered the crocodile, emu, and kangaroo pizza.

Thredbo - Snowy Mountains

Australia's highest peaks are located in the Snowy Mountains. Not surprisingly, they are known for its ski resorts. During this APEC weekend, we drove down south for a ski trip. The last time I went skiing was about 10yrs ago in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This time around, I wanted to try snowboarding.

We had an early start on Friday morning leaving Sydney, a quick drive around Canberra, one stop shop at Jindabyne for our ski gears and snow tires, and off to Thredbo. We stayed in the little town of Thredbo which was pretty cute, narrow streets, cabins and lodges by the side of the mountain overlooking the ski resort and the snowy mountains. Our house was just next to the resort and my room, waking up in the morning with a view of the snowy mountains.

Saturday was all-day snowboarding!!! I joined a group of people for the lessons and when the instructor asked, "who here is from Sydney trying to get away from the APEC weekend?" Everybody pretty much raised their hands. Yep, everyone I talked to was from Sydney.

First run down the slope was scary. But the second, third, fourth, and fifth was exhilarating. I was liking it more and more, better than skiing! The thing I hated the most was getting on the lift. The first one I got on, I couldn't get on the seat properly and fell. I quickly fell flat on the snow to avoid the lift hitting my head and they had to stop the whole thing to get me up. When I finally got on and got to the top of the slopes, I prepared myself getting off my seat. With my luck, I fell again and had to duck my head to avoid getting hit. Good god!

Sunday, we drove back to Sydney and passed by the Pauline Fathers Monastery (Hanging Rocks) at Penrose for lunch at the park. The monastery had chapels representing different countries and little chapels for different saints. If we only had more time, I could have gotten a 'Saints 101' education from these chapels. We were hurrying back to return the car by 6pm and we just made it on time.

Walking back home, we passed by Kings Cross and entered a pub to watch the Women's finals of the US Tennis Open.

...I'm tired!!!

APEC Summit

21 Leaders coming to Sydney for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Thanks to President Bush (or the 'Shrub'), we get a holiday on Friday, Sep 7th. Yipeeee!!! Sydney was a ghost town. Of course, I had my alternatives. We planned a ski trip to the Snowy Mountains (the highest peak in Australia) by Thredbo.

Its been the buzz all year, the city preparing for a big event since the 2000 Olympics. Presidents such as Bush, Putin, and Hu (China) were all coming down under. For security reasons, during the week of APEC, there were road closures, public transport timetable changes, additional cameras installed, and fences all around the city. I had a chance to see all this when I took the train around Circular Quay passing by the Intercontinental Hotel where Bush was staying (and possibly the 699 people he brought along with him). Fences and security guards everywhere! Notwithstanding, pranksters from the TV show 'Crashers', pretended to form a motorcade and got through security at the hotel with police escorts. And coming out of the car was no other than Osama Bin Laden. Of course, that was the whole joke! But it wasn't funny to the police. They could have shot someone!

One of the highlights of APEC meetings is the traditional group photo of the leaders wearing the host country's national costume. Australia doesn't really have a national costume and we were all guessing as to what it would be: speedos, bushman outfit (as in Steve Irwin), cowboy outfit (Crocodile Dundee). But it ended up with those lame Driza-bone coats. I don't even know what it is. It looks to me like an ordinary raincoat. That's Australia???

And you can't end APEC without a Bush blunder. Here goes: Pres Bush thanking John Howard, our Prime Minister:

"Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit."

I wish we had more of these APEC meetings in Sydney. Til 21 years from now, I guess!

Salsa Class

I've missed my last four salsa classes due to my US holidays. So this week, I made up two of those. Luckily, the dance instructor for these two classes is no other than the World Champion of Salsa - Oliver Pineda. I got to dance with him and he said I was good and I dance smooth...nice!

He owns the Salsa Latin Motion class that I've been going to. Its also the same teaching school that was featured on "Dancing with the Stars" - Aussie version.

Look him up on Youtube!

Star City Casino

We went to Star City Casino for some free lessons. In all of the month of August, you can get free lessons in BlackJack, Baccarat, and Roulette. I sat at the BlackJack table as it was the only available seat. $100 worth of funny money to start off...and my money never went up! Just another confirmation why I'm not much of a gambler coz I know I'll so regret losing my money when I'd rather spend it on the food! Anyway, it felt like the dealer was telling us tricks on how to lose your $$. I'm so risk averse so I like to play safe...and I should have followed my instincts. Thank goodness it was fake money!

After I lost all of my money, I let the next person sit. And guess what, he wins $300 bucks! Gad damnit!!! To give myself some "consolation", I think I was the lucky charm...o, ano? di ba? loko lang!!!

"Live Free or Die Hard"

Whew!!! What an action-packed movie. The best action movie I've seen in a long time. You can't go wrong with Bruce Willis (at age 52), aka John McClane.

The fourth Die Hard movie comes out 12yrs after the last one (Die Hard with a Vengeance) and its so much better than his Planet Hollywood co-owner's sequels (Arnold Schwarzenegger's "T3" and Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky Balboa").

This is a must see!!!

Celestine Coming to America

9 days after Posh's coming to America, it was my turn. July 21st, the day "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" arrived...9:01am in Sydney. My departure time was 11:45am and had to be at the airport at least 3hrs beforehand. I got to the airport at about 9am, checked-in, and the first thing I did was look for a newsagent and buy the last of the 7-series book. Thank goodness, I found one. I would have ended up reading the so-far boring Bram Stoker's "Dracula" while on the plane.

I got to the terminal and started reading the book. Next time I looked up, I saw people around me reading Harry Potter. I arrived in New Zealand for my stopover, looked around the terminal and people were reading Harry Potter. I arrive in LAX and kids were walking around holding the Harry Potter book. What a phenomenom! Of the 16hour flight from Sydney to California, I was only half way through the book. My cousin finished it in 20 hours over the weekend.

Shhh...don't tell me how the story ends.

So what now? What now after HP? There's nothing else to look forward to. Any books you'd recommend?

7-7-07

Did you realize that each year for twelve years, starting from 2001 up to 2012, we will be having a triple same number date (or however you call it?)

1/1/2001
2/2/2002
3/3/2003
4/4/2004
5/5/2005
6/6/2006
7/7/2007
8/8/2008
9/9/2009
10/10/2010
11/11/2011
12/12/2012

Each year seem to represent something:

6/6/06 - the antichrist was supposed to come (did it?)
7/7/07 - supposed to be a very good wedding date (goodluck to Eva Longoria and Tony Parker!)