Bungle of the Year

'An unsuspecting passenger who flew to Tokyo is carrying one million yen's worth of cannabis compliments of customs authorities after a bungled exercise involving sniffer dogs.

An officer at Narita International Airport yesterday stuffed 142 grams of the drug into the side pocket of a randomly-selected black suitcase coming off an overseas flight so that the animal could detect it.

"The dog couldn't find it and the officer also forgot which bag he put it in," a customs office spokeswoman said.

"If by some chance passengers find it in their suitcase, we're asking them to return it."

The cannabis, which has a street value of one million yen ($A10,100), was in a metal box wrapped with newspapers.'

excerpt from The Age

What an unusual souvenier!

First Time at the Footy

Gaz and I went to the footy on Saturday night! It was a first for me. Australia is famous for a couple of things, among them is the footy. Footy, or Australian Rules is played using a rugby ball with 18 players on each team. The main objective for these spandex shorts clads is to kick the ball through one of the four posts at each end of the field. A ball kicked in between the longest two poles scores 6 while a ball through the other two shorter poles scores 1 point.

Look at those spandex shorts!

Gazza is a Richmond Tigers supporter, and I was happy to adopt his team for the night. The game was held in the MCG, a famous outdoor stadium near the city. We were part of about 60,000 supporters of Essendon (the other team) and Richmond Tigers present. The temperature dropped below 10 degs at night during the match but the adrenalin of the game and hot food gave us the warmth we needed.

I was amused at seeing the lads chasing after a very slippery ball, awed by some players' skills and excited by the chase up of the other team in the third quarter. Not everyone was as excited as I was though, there were plenty of foul words ringing around, uttered by Essendon supporters who were unhappy with the outcome.

Overall, my first time at the footy was a very good one. It was a terrific experience eating the traditional meat pie at the game, wearing my team's scarf like all the other supporters and being at the edge of my seat barracking for my team! And to think that watching sports is boring...!

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight

eenie minie moe... what shall I have for dinner at Nando's? It's Friday night, and I can't be bothered to cook! Vouchers such as these are dropped into mailboxes every week.

End of a Weekend...

You can almost see the nostalgia dripping off the title of this blog, can't you? It's just a few more hours before the clock officially ticks over to Monday, and it's time to go to work again :(

It was raining the whole day on Saturday. Usually Melbourne gets little sissy drips of rain intermittently during winter and spring. Yesterday, BIG drops of water fell from the skies above from morning through to Sunday morning. I woke early on Saturday, cleaned the whole house as I was having a friend over to look at the house with a view to rent my room (which will be vacant once I move end of next month), and did my laundry. Then I drove to the post office to pick up a parcel from Malaysia that had been sitting there for a week waiting for me.

The parcel was a special delivery from Malaysia containing some sample materials and dress designs from my dressmaker back home. She had also made a sample dress for me to try on and make adjustments as necessary. I'd lost weight since my visit to Malaysia! I'd probably lost 2 inches off my waist since then.

But good meals throughout this week, would no doubt put me right again! Yesterday night Gaz and I went to his mom's for dinner. Gaz's cousin had given her some abalone the day before and it was on the menu for yesterday's dinner. Gaz's cousin had gotten the abalone from her Aussie friend, who had somehow caught the abalone on his fishing trips, and didn't know anyone else who wanted them (such a waste!). On the menu as well as big bursty prawns, yum!

I had another good meal this arvo with Jiun, an ex-Uni mate at Kimchi Grandma, a Korean restaurant in Carnegie. We had pork bulgogi which was delicious, and bean soup with cubes of beef, pipis, beancurd and zucchini. Although indicated in the menu as non-spicy, it had large slivers of chillis in it and was SPICY!

During the lunch, Jiun (also the prospective new tenant at my old place) told me about her current housemate, an accountant working in a large firm in the city who had been stealing small change from her. Not driven by any financial needs, this lady is obviously a habitual thief with a psychological disorder! Her tale reminded me of a personal encounter with a Malaysian lady during my first year at Uni who was studying pharmacy who also stole food and money from me before I stopped giving her last chances and 'disfriended' her.

While we were busy eating and catching up, I received a call from Gaz's mom asking me to go to dinner at her place - she'd cooked her famous congee, with dried oysters and lean pork. When I arrived there in the evening, she'd also fried prawn crackers and I had a jolly time crunching on them while slurping up fragrant congee in front of Chinese telly in the warm warm house... such bliss...

I'm back at home now, it's stopped raining and my room is warm and toasty from the heat emanating from my little fan heater. Time to lie down in bed with a good book and relax for the remains of the weekend.. adios!

Large Lunch

Chuck, Shaun, Grace and I met up for lunch today. This is the first time I saw them since my move to the city, and it was almost like a mini reunion (we used to work together at the same workplace but the three of them has since moved to other workplaces). I had a large plate of roast with deliciously crispy cracklings, peas, roast pumpkin and carrots and chips in lieu of baked potato, all topped with a generous serving of gravy. It was a mouth watering meal, so much so that I finished the last morsel although I was bursting at the seams!

During lunch, Shaun shared his experience celebrating the Holi festival in India. Holi is a thanksgiving festival celebrated in India where people offer prayers to God for a bountiful harvest. Holi is one of the most boisterous festivals in India and is celebrated by people throwing various colours at each other. Apparently this is also a time when the consumption of cannabis is allowed! Cannabis buds and leaves are grounded to form a a green paste, then mixed with water, milk or alcohol and drank. The concoction is called 'bhaang'. An hour later, the 'time bomb' is released. People's reactions to this drug is varied; some people react to the intoxicating drink by laughing without provocation, or talking endlessly. No wonder it's a boisterous festival!!!

I wonder what it's like if we celebrated Chinese New Year in the same style... sprinkle some cannabis on the suckling pig, or abalone slices during the traditional reunion dinner and all family feuds will be solved! No one would remember which uncle was trying to swindle the family fortune, nor which auntie was gossiping about etc.. Stoic grandpas will be laughing their heads off, and everybody will be giving the young ones bigger ang pows than they intended to. I reckon it's worth a try!

Last Day at Work

The end of a phase in my life has just ended. 15 months of working in the business centre has boiled down to a vase for the new house, and a card with everyone's best wishes for the next role I'll be starting tomorrow. Customers have called me expressing their appreciation for my services thus far and congratulations on the move, bosses have volunteered a vacancy should I want to go back to my old job. I'm really touched by their generosity and thoughtfulness.

This is the second time I've changed jobs (not counting the interim, make-do jobs that I hold on to for food and shelter money) and it doesn't get any easier. The anticipation of a new life, getting on with new people in the new position, it's all very challenging. But the good thing is that I have plenty to look forward to:)

Victorian Budget 2008/09

The annual state budget was released at 3:30pm today:

This budget provides further relief by:
• reducing stamp duty to homebuyers per annum through an adjustment to stamp duty thresholds of around 10 per cent;
• enabling first homebuyers to receive both the First Home Bonus and the principal place of residence stamp duty concession.

The stamp duty initiatives and Regional First Home Bonus apply to contracts entered into on or after 6 May 2008. The Government also continues to substantially increase the supply of affordable housing for families.

http://www.budget.vic.gov.au

ARGGHHHH!@#$ I missed the savings of around $3k in stamp duty by a mere 3 months!!

Bridesmaid

Yesterday was devoted to helping a friend getting married. Being the bridesmaid, I was honoured to share this joyous ocassion in her life, experience the stresses of organising one of the most important event of all. I arrived at her sister's house where she was getting ready, early in the morning. We got the church early (What? The groom didn't have to wait? Phhh!)The ceremony was meaningful though I didn't hear a word of the sermon I was so concerned if the bride's train was displayed properly for all to see or not, if her hair was holding up, and if her lipstick was smudged from that passionate first kiss as husband and wife..

After the official march out of the church as a couple, all of us gathered outside to take pictures. It didn't help my nerves that the weather was so cold and while guests had the luxury of rugging up, us two ladies in skimpy clothing, sleeveless were shivering away!

Straight after a small lunch, we set out for the gardens to take some pictures. The weather really held up for the ocassion, and there were plenty of other couples getting married. We spotted at least 4 other couples taking pictures in the gardens! It became a little like a take a ticket system in order to use some of the more picturesque spots in the garden.

We then adjourned to the restaurant for a traditional Chinese banquet. It was a day made for Kodak moments, but sorry no pictures as I was too busy!