Time

Having a free subscription (thx to our previous tennant) to Time magazine has made me painfully aware of how ignorant I am re: things happening in the world. It really is scary learning what is happening around the world right now, that living in our precious, cosy homes, we can be completely oblivious to.

Should we care? Mushie has always been of the opinion that watching the news is "too depressing and upsetting" - and i certainly agree with that. There is way too much suffering going on in developing countries, warring african states, Palestine - Israel, Iraq, let alone the local news about rape, murder etc, to feel very excited about watching the news (i guess that's why they have that naked news .... certainly adds a different twist to news)

I guess I pride myself on my own powers of judgement - that i can see a certain situation/issue and know in my mind what is the right thing to say or do then. (like knowing not to walk down dark alleys or being careful to wash your hands carefully after treating someone's feet for example :)

However, when I think back to pre-iraq ,when Australia was deciding wether it would join the US at war, and I thought ... i guess that's ok, why not ... WHY NOT?!?! How about that Iraq was not responsible for 9/11, that Bush and his governement had lied about the WMD (weapons of mass destruction), that the UN would not support the action, that soldiers would die ... are we partly responsible for not having an opinion, and in silence, supporting our governments who persue these illegal, immoral, stupid wars?

Wedding season!

Holiday Essential facts:
* 8 weeks and 4 days of holidays, 3 weddings, 10 seperate flights
* Places visited - Norway, Denmark, Sydney, Fraser Island, Thailand
* 2 Halo nights, 3 spring roll nights, 1 new nephew
* 960 photos

Thanks to everyone in Sydney for what was a very very enjoyable 5 weeks in Sydney. Time went by incredibly quickly and as always it was really hard to leave Australia again (though the next time we come back, might be for good!). While Sydney is warming up, London is just getting darker and colder. It does have a certain charm to it though! Time to return to work, and i thought time to hand out some awards.


Best wedding dance
Contenders - Bootylicious at Simo/Cel's, the Tango, and "It had to be you"
Winner - While Bootylicious had 15 girls up there shaking it (and that impressive "quickly- spreading-legs" manouever) and the Tango had Bernie (yes, bernie!) doing some classic dance moves; "It had to be you" had it all. Tap dancing, hat and cane swinging, singing (of a questionable quality - but still singing!) - brillant Bundies!

Best meal
Wow, a lot of awesome eating took place on this trip. Got to visit most of the old haunts, though we missed the fish markets (-d'oh!) , but along the way we got into some "hatted establishments". On the home cooked side - Gobbo, Jo and Anna (go the risotto!) also produced some quality that shouldn't be go without mention.
Contenders - Guillarme @ Bennelong, Yoshii, Tetsuya
Winner - Yoshii - the lunch time meal of Wagu beef was amazing, and though the portion size wasn't huge, big enough to leave u satisfied and yet still wanting more. Love the Good Food month!

Best wedding speech
There was only one real contender for this award - Gav, Bernie's best man - what a ripper of a speech. It had everything - generous servings of taunts and embarrassing stories, random telegrams, defecation and nudity stories. The hits just kept coming.
Winner - Gav

And a few random awards ...
The "he's taking so long, maybe he got stuck" Award for slow garter removal - Sandy

The "Country Road" award for terrible posing - Boomsticks

The "Are you sure he doesn't hit both ways" Award for man-love dancing - Gobbo

The "Ouch! My nipples are turning purple" Award for drunken nipple twisting - Kev Y

and notable mention for the last three awards - Mantwan

Extreme makeover

I cringe every time i see this show - and not just due to the abundance of bad teeth, disjointed noses and ugly melons. Even though I have to agree with the Mushie sometimes that "it really makes a difference in their lives" and sometimes their surgeries are really required, there's something about the whole premise of the show that just makes me a bit uneasy.

I can see how easy it would be to just go get surgery - why not? we all have parts of our bodies that we don't like or think that we could improve. Is it just like wanting to splurge some money on yourself and going to buy an accessory like a rolex? It's quite amusing cause these people that get on these shows sometimes just look normal - not anything that wrong with them, but they get this license to shop for new body parts - they're like "i'll got my nose done, my eye lids lifted, tummy tuck, and yeh some new breasts, i'd like some bigger ones thanks".

The thing that is shocking about these tv shows is more the underlying mental thoughts of the people that "win" by being selected unto the show. They cry with joy when they are selected to have surgery, they weep when they see their new breasts. They talk of how their slightly mis-shaped nose has held them back from potential jobs and dates. They put so much faith in the fact that being prettier will change their lives. Time magazine suggests that the tv series "Extreme Makeover" suggests that "The absence of beauty precludes a normal existence."

Do we really live in a society that thinks that?

1yr in London

In the last 2 weeks we've celebrated my birthday (all of 27 years now - and feeling old too!) , Trish's b'day and hit our one year anniversary of being in London. It was a time for celebration and reflection - a year filled with European travelling highlights (that I can now list off like a seasoned traveller) - Greece, Italy, Dublin, Paris, Barcelona, Sydney, Southern Spain, Poland, Vienna, NYC, Amsterdam and little trips around England. A very quick 12 months of frantic travelling, early saturday morning starts, late sunday night returns and very tired monday's at work.

It's been an amazing time. And through all of our first year we've been lucky enough to have good friends to travel with and share experiences. Unfortuanately 1 year has come and gone and G/A have have embarked on a 2 month long trip before arriving back to Oz early in Aug.

Early on, most weekends in London (if not weeknights also) involved spending time at their place, eating mushroom risotto or spaghetti bolognese from their industrial size pots, drinking cordial (called squash in London and served at a 'G/A special' 16:1 water to cordial ratio) and playing monopoly. Other times it was eating out at the local Malaysian place or KFC, or them throwing our garbage out for us and G catching a glimpse of someone taking a dump next to the bin. And always there was eggplant/aubergine for A! ALWAYS!

We'll miss you guys! One year down - maybe 2 to go? Get your butts to london, before we finish up here. It really is the time to travel. Lots more places in Europe to see - then there's South Africa, Africa safari, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Russia, South America ...

Sit on the fence long enough and you'll get splinters

I must say that I am an absoloutely terrible decision maker. When it comes down to two options, I can too easily see both sides of an argument and see that they both are valid and both have merit.

When visiting Amsterdam last weekend, we were bombarded by the plethora of "coffee houses" (to get hash/weed) and "smart shops" (for your magic mushrooms) - as well as sex shops and red light district stuff - that dotted the city centre. [Sidenote: Interesting names for the stores! As our tour guide was saying "don't go to coffee houses to get coffee, and don't go to smart shops to get smart".] If you didn't know before, prostitution and marijuana has been made legal in Holland.

Anyway, re: legalising marijuana, they are convinced in Holland, that by doing so they have caused a reduced demand for so called "hard drugs" (presumably your cocaine, heroin etc). In that sense legalisation has worked. They apparently are also the pioneers of the safe needle exchange, and methadone programs. They do also have a very friendly/helpful population and despite the festive nature of the weekend (and the incredibly heavy drinking) their were very few incidents of violence.

On the other hand, I can't help but think that there is something wrong with the attitude of "if we can't stop it, let's just legalise it so that it's no longer illegal". Is it better to have a higher proportion of people smoking hash, then a lesser proportion of people on soft and hard core drugs? Is hash (socially not acceptable) only as bad as alcohol (socially acceptable)? Is getting stoned the same as getting drunk?

[sidenote #2: i recently heard that a friend of mine has begun working at a tobacco company - another potential fence-sitting situation. It's a job, someone's got to do it, the money's good - on the other hand, i did a good job, millions more are smoking and dying now, i affect kids as well as people that buy my products .... hmm, not sure if i could deal with that. do we have an onus to not just live and work, but to contribute to the good of society?]

Weird place amsterdam ... very pretty, incredible canals, beautiful tulip fields and countryside. The general attitude of the country of - "if it doesn't harm anyone else, it's fine" - has led to a loosening of morals and things that were once taboo are no longer.

Nice place to visit, poss tooo loose to live in.

I'm back!

Gee it's been a long time between blog updates. Almost got to the point of forgetting my password to get into my blog. My comments have been reduced to "Nonez" all round due to my lack of payment to blogspot. Is it laziness? Have I nothing left to say?

Personally I've found that I started writing mostly about sport before realising that there were lots of people (Boston Sports Guy in particular) who wrote better about it and where much more fun to read than me. Than there were the serious posts which always felt like they took too much emotional energy put into them (interestingly enough that xbox vs the wife post was very easy to write - no lack of energy to put into that one!). Than there is my serious lack of english skills - which means typing simple thoughts takes much longer than it should.

Few easy decisions were made - write shorter posts, make them less meaningful (if that's possible) and leave the sports to the experts - too easy.

Hope to see you back here soon!

The Metro

My first step (i think) down a dark path leading to metrosexual-ness was taken in Paris earlier this week. And before you start thinking that I went and got my nipple pierced or went to a tanning salon - I'll let you know - I bought a bottle of "Clinique's skin supplies for Men" range of maximum hydration moisturiser cream costing more than $50 Aussie dollars.

This bottle which promises to reduce fine lines, is usually the stuff reserved for those more attuned to the Queer Eye stuff i.e. guys that wear pink shirts. However, drastic times call for drastic measures - and unfortunately over the last few months my face has succumbed to the fierce weather and chilly winds of London. It had got to the point that i was leaving a potentially incriminating trail of DNA (not dandruff i swear) wherever i went. in short I felt like that freaky dude in Goldfinger who's skin was peeling off (except i wasn't eating mine!)

If buying cream wasn't bad enough, living here and constantly talking to Pommie lads and birds has had some adverse effects on the way i speak. Words like dancing - normally pronounced DAN-cing, have been coming out as DAARN-cing; accompanied by a very appropriate pouncy tone of voice.

With these recent changes, and my body turning skinnier and less climbing and touch footy fit I wonder - will drinking beer and eating chips on a Friday night be enough to stop me turning into a complete wuss bag?

Shopping survival tips

It's the middle of summer over here in London now, though you might not have known that due to the 16 degree weather and people wearing jumpers. It is quite pleasant though - and we have had a mini-heatwave of consecutive 24 degree days, and that co-incided with random british dudes and gals getting down to their jocks and bikinis in the park (no water within 100kms but ppl in their bikinis ... go figure!) Summer here also means sale time - which means more shopping!! (for Jen)

Shopping is absoloutely CRAZY over here - just the number of people plus tourists all adds up to a heap of ppl

The one thing that's always confused me is - why do girls like dragging guys (esp husbands, boyfriends etc) along to do the shopping with them? Guys generally have the following qualities:

1. Guys are quick when doing shopping. Girls are not.
2. Shopping is not the same as quality time. (though it should count towards getting out of other stuff u don't want to do later. e.g. "I'm not cleaning the oven today, cause I spent time watching you shop today")
3. Guys are not good with fashion
4. There is a distinct lack of guy's shops

Yet I still see these men being dragged around shops. So here goes my survival tips for shopping:

* Find a seat - preferably those ones that the shop makers have conveniently placed near the change rooms. That way u are in a prime position to see what your lady looks like in her new outifit(s) while sitting enjoying that luxurious leather - you could almost close your eyes and imagine you were at home in front of the tv ... almost. (side note: lots of other ladies tend to come out of change rooms and parade in front of the mirrors also ...)

* Make quick but thoughtful decisions about clothes - you have to be decisive if you want to get out of the shop so don't dilly dally. It either looks good or bad or average and the more you umm and err the longer you stay.

* If you've already agreed to go shopping take it in your stride - sulking doesn't acheive much once a girl has stepped into "shopping-land"!! Suddnely their supremely talented multi-tasking brains become awfully one dimensional as they get distracted by the outfits and pretty colours.

I miss Oz :(

Have u ever been homesick?? I never knew what people meant when they talked about it, but lately I think I can relate to what ppl mean.

It's been 6 weeks now away from home - travelling through Greece and Italy, and now finally settling into London. It's been a great time really, and we've been really lucky being able to travel with the honeymooners, the newly engaged, and the recently marrieds. Many many silly photos of honeymooners Wong I must say!

Anyway, it all started with weird dreams. I’d dream about dinners with groups of friends and I could see people’s faces and I could feel the love and I’d wake up and everyone would disappear. I’d be left awake in the middle of the night wondering what those people were up to on the other side of the world, and I wouldn't be able to sleep for the next 2 hours.

Then other symptoms began to appear – an almost obsessive need to check email overtook me (and Jen I think). There we were in these foreign country with marvellous sights around us and all we wanted to do at times is find an internet cafe and pay the $4-15 Aus/hr to find out what people at home were up to. We’d sit there and read ALL those reply-all emails – trying to find out how karaoke went the other night, what happened at rock climbing, who went, how they climbed, any little piece of information to remind you of home and make u feel that bit closer again.

You get this compulsion to send these giant mass emails about your travels – one purpose being to tell everyone what you’ve been up to, and the other reason is so that you hopefully can get an email in return. I never realised how many people there are that you want to catch up with and how hard it is to write personal emails to everyone. You sit back after sending the mail and expect a flurry of replies, but the other people are not in the same time zone (not like email banter at work!), so you are left to sign out and check again the next day.

One night you can’t sleep and you lay awake thinking about how to organise your school reunion (and planning it for 2 years time, so that you'll be back in Aus by then)!

I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for my folks and others who travel alone – the thought of leaving everything behind, breaking out of that comfort zone and doing it solo … it’s already tough enough I think.

It’s makes you happy when you think of the farewells, dinners and time spent with people before leaving – I’m sure it’ll make us appreciate home much more too!

Anyways - we miss you guys! Keep letting us know all those silly things that are happening in your life - all those mundane things too. It's weird how u grow to miss those things too. Lastly, get your butts over here soon and join us! Anna and Geri's Christmas white elephant party is only 6 months away!

Is there a God?

It has now been six weeks since the Boxing Day Tsunami - the most recent death toll is stated at 295,000 with a massive 250,000 reported dead or missing from Indonesia alone. Though it feels like such a long time ago, I wanted to go back and write some thoughts about the event.

The tsunami and the grave destruction that was brought down on evoked a lot of different emotions in people. Some people felt sadness and despair as they saw the destruction or lossed loved ones; in some it evoked a feeling of compassion as they dug deep in their pockets to contribute to these people who had lost so much. Personally, I felt a bit numb - that same feeling I had after the 9/11 attacks - an emotional void ... weird ...

For others it brought a sense of anger - a feeling of why has this happened - a sense of hopelessness at the atrocities in the world. What i found interesting was this article that ran in the SMH and reprinted on Mockkie - it echoed a common thought - that if bad things like this were allowed to happen then there must not be a god.

Not being one that has had to deal with real loss it's difficult for me to know what I would think when it feels like the world is crashing down. Would I too begin to doubt God? Would my faith stand the tests of the most troubling times also?

I hope my faith would survive. I am convinced that there is a God out there - one of my favourite movies of all time is Boyz N the Hood - in that Doughboy (aka Ice Cube) says "Is there a God? Sure, I mean how can u have the stars the moon and all that" before debating "why niggaz be killing niggaz" ... point is there is no way that the world and all the complexities of human life can be attributed back to such a random event as the big band. No way.

In regards to the tsunami and why God would let that happen - I know that God has a plan for everyone and controls everything in this world. It's not like he just stood aside and watched what was happening. Everything that happens here is meant to happen, not everything is good though. Sometimes bad things do happen for a reason - losing tickets to Black Eyed Peas wasn't great, but it taught me to be more careful with my possessions. Failures and losses are very instructive.

And finally, how are we as humans, supposed to understand the complexity of God - let alone challenge what he does? Remember, God did destroy the world before (only allowing Noah to survive) - I'm sure he probably wasn't too popular that time either!