Had a really unexciting day with the boyfriend today.

Due to the world cup match timings, I have been waking up at all odd hours and on a Saturday, a day in which I fully intended to sleep in, I woke up at 6am.

So there I was, lying in bed with my brain alert as it ever could be, not knowing what to do with myself and so I dragged the boyfriend up to watch the world cup matches of that morning.

Obviously, when the match ended at 9am. We were both rather bright-eyed and bushy tailed and so decided to head to Bronte for breckie.

Much in the spirit of the world cup, well actually, it was sheer coincidence that I picked up this book at the boyfriend's place, I was reading this book by Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch - A book that would strike a chord in the heart of every male soccer lover.

In the preface, Nick Hornby wrote about his passion for the game and how he has often caught himself drifting off in the midst of a conversation, reminiscing a magnificent goal from a match years ago.

I read that with one eyebrow raised and after confirmation of this phenomenon with the boyfriend, I was well and truly flabbergasted.

Anyway, the point is this. Throughout the whole morning, the boyfriend, who isn't one of your boisterous types in the first place was quieter than usual. With a faraway look in his eyes (reliving kewell's goal at every opportunity). The only conversation we could have was to either discuss the world cup, talk about the world cup and talk about the world cup somemore. Did I mention the world cup? Might have slipped my mind.

Men are well and truly from Mars.

Moving on slightly, watched The Breakup tonight. It is a rather good movie for the simple fact that it managed to portray so realistically, possibly the reasons why most relationships go awry. In fact, so successful was the movie in depicting the thickheadedness of men, it made me almost pissed off with Marty simply because of his sex.

Of course, all men are dickheads and jerks to a certain extent and seeing those similar male habits on the silver screen only drums home one fact.

Those habits are inherent and unchangeable. Ugh.

Sports, video games, mess.

Live with it girl. That was the sublimal message. Ok... Maybe not that sublime.

Of course, I must also mention (only briefly though and in small fonts) that girls are very manipulative and expect men to read their minds.

Anyway, conclusion: Must watch movie to educate the men. They simply must have it spelt to them. They have to want to do things for us. Even if it's just a pretense. They ARE expected to read our minds. And no means YES, yes means yes and maybe means NO....

It's not that hard is it??

the boyfriend's alarm blared at 4:30 in the morning and I concluded he loves his soccer more than me from his willingness to leap out of bed.

"But i woke up early on our trip to melbourne for you as well... see i love you too" he protested

"yeah? but we were going on a holiday together" i say as i narrow my eyes at him.

"that's true" he admits

he goes away and switches the heater on and makes me a tea.

After tossing and turning for a bit, i finally stumble downstairs into his study just in time to see the first goal less than 2 minutes in the match. Ouch!

After which, a gripping 90 odd minutes ensued where there was much jeering, cheering and leering (courtesy of a female australian fan in a yellow halter)

the end result, Australia drew 2-2 with Croatia and gets into the next round by the skin of their teeth.

so the boyfriend and i jubilantly make out way to the city for breckie before work.

there was lots of honking, cheers and shouts in the city. everyone was walking around with smiles plastered on their faces with a few odd grouchies aside.

it was fun!

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On a slightly sadder note, work is shitter-dee-doo-dah

Stayed til 7 on a friday night which is insane if you ask me.

Ruined my friday night and I missed a dinner with marty and friends to celebrate the australian win.

Possibility of working over the weekend.

With greater power comes greater responsibility said peter parker's pop.

Just copped a whole lot of shit at work and with the recent promotion, I can't turn a blind eye anymore. But then again, work life's always like that. There's shit everywhere.

Pity my tai tai ambition looks even less attainable.

I suspect the boyfriend is the sort that not now or would ever condone the idea of a dependent spouse so unless I start hunting around for a new one, I'd better get used to the thought of office politicking in the office and serfdom at home for the rest of my life.

-_-'

Chatting with Marissa the other day and the topic of tai tai~ism came up.

I told her how Marty did not take to the idea of having a housewife and she said... "aiya... you should go out with a singaporean!"

Ouch....... and I feel like such a hypocrite sometimes.

Maybe it's a cultural difference... but i think Marty's school of thought seems to be more "you take care of your own shit and I take care of mine, after which, we'll just hang out and have fun with each other" but this is not how I was brought up.

I believe in a family unit. Not in the individual.

Plus it just feeds my aforementioned uneasiness when all my asian friends never fail to remind me how individualistic white people are.

I guess for now, I'm just going to go with the flow... I think it wouldn't be long before I feel like leaving Sydney. As it is, I'm starting to feel frustrated with this city.

Just yesterday, I spent more than an hour waiting for the bus to come. I was sick with a pounding migraine, it was cold and wet outside and the bus stop had no shelter. Just because it hardly rains in Sydney (an average of about 32 days in a year), the state government obviously saw no need to have sheltered bus stops. Buses are supposed to come every half hourly but sometimes when bus drivers to a no show, there are no replacements. What with the world cup happening and all, I'm not surprised that the drivers have chucked sickies.

It's really appalling how fucking lousy the public transportation network is here. You'd think that such a cosmopolitan city should have really good infrastructures in place but Sydney disgusts me that way.

Roads with portholes, road markings old & defunct with new markings along the roads causing confusion, inconspicuous road signs making it impossible to find your way around, poorly lit roads, buses that are horridly late, trains that are never on time and breakdown causing massive hold ups, new road tunnels that are poorly planned and hence unused AND MUCH MORE...

I just can't understand how the public can accept this kind of service level. I mean, if this was a backwater town fair enough but it's not!

The state government has said that it intends to spend $40billion on improving public transportation. $40 fucking billion.

First of all, short of blasting this city to the ground and rebuilding it, I don't really see how any improvements can be made without inconveniencing everyone who needs to commute to the city.

Secondly, $40 billion? Geez... that's a hell lot of money. After the horrendous cross-city tunnel boo boo (Background: the state government spent about $800 million building a tunnel that is now under utilised because Sydney siders have decided to boycott the tunnel due to several reasons, one of which, the compulsory installation of an e-tag much like our ERP machines. And because the state government promised the private contractor who built and owns this tunnel a certain level of revenue, the state government will now have to pay the private contractor the revenue shortfall and guess where this money comes from - TAXES), all I can say is, the $40b better be justified.

Thirdly, alot of the inefficiencies of the public transportation is due to the plain nonchalance and laziness of the bus drivers and train drivers. They get paid more than 60 grand per annum. Hell of alot for a pretty brainless job in my opinion. I'm pretty sure lots of people from third world and developing nations would gladly have half that amount.

So why aren't these lackadaisical idiots fired? For fear of incurring the wrath of the trade unions.

Fucking bunch of spoilt brats really... if the governments would loosen immigration laws and allow a much more competitive labour environment, not only would it lower costs for everyone, it would also teach those lazy bums a fucking lesson, to either take their jobs seriously or shove off for someone of that would.

Grr.... it just makes my blood boil

Scoff at the propagandistic style of the Singaporean government, the yearly composed nationalistic songs in celebration of national day, the seemingly apathetic ignorant population (which i feel is entirely the success of governement propaganda so why the hell are they blaming our generation for being indifferent i wonder), the ugly government housing, the lack of creativity and vibrancy in the arts et al BUT give me the law and order, dependability of public transportation and well-maintained roads any day.

Unless of course, i'm rich enough to afford my own car and never ever have to worry about public transport ever again.

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Anyway, Aussies vs Croats today at 5am. another late night party at Mart's with beer, nuts, lollies (read: sweets), cookies, potato puffs (maybe) coffee coffee coffee then it's off to work immediately

for now, i'm off to pick marty up from work and cooking paprika chicken for dinner tonight. A dish my slovakian colleague has imparted.

After slogging for 2 years and 9 months as a lowly associate in my firm, I've finally been given my first proper promotion and I can finally call myself a SENIOR accountant/associate. With that, I also have a whopping pay increment of 42%.

YAY

*cartwheels*

Had a superb day today!

First, Jean and I met Chris and bobo (chris' dog who walks around on 3 legs because one of her hind leg is bad) for breckie at Chris' regular cafe near St Kilda's beach although I wouldn't really call that miserable stretch a beach but nonetheless, it was an interesting joint which had the coffee and cakes counter in the centre of the cafe and table all around it.

After breckie, we paid a visit to Chris' home to drop of his yellow saab convertible. Mmm... convertible. I LIKE. Anyway, Chris has a really cool bachelor's pad. His house is a tastefully done up two-bedder with nice art, a cool fireplace and cow skin rugs strewn around. A real bachelor's pad. =)

We took jean's beat up suzuki swift to Dandenong. This little red car makes the most awful noises when starting up and heaves and chugs going up slopes. The drive to Dandenong took forever and after a couple of wrong turns (Jean had this compulsion to turn left all the time) we were finally on the right road up the mountain. By this time, it was well past midday and we were getting peckish again.

A few kilometres up the mountain, in Olinda we stopped at Mrs Marples Tearoom for a wonderful tea. If you ever go to Dandenong, you have to try this place. Mrs Marples has a nice rustic atmostphere with a roaring fireplace. All the tables have nice floral printed table clothes and scones are served in nice baskets with matching linen. Rustic teapots are displayed throughout the restaurant/cafe and old pictures hang on the walls. It was very cottagey and was an enormous welcome from the brisk cold outside.

We ordered cottage beef pie (very apt), scones with homemade jam and cream, bread and butter pudding with ice cream and tea (but of course). The tea was some supposedly awarding winning blend in Britain. The whole get up was so very English.

After tea, we drove up further to a lookout point in Dandenong. The drive through the mountain was really beautiful as well with towering trees on both sides of the road. At the lookout, we could see the light of the setting sun on the mountain tops in the distance. We took a short bushwalk and saw huge trees which had a red tinge and looked like furry tails from a distance. The furry branches started from the base of the trunk and obscured the view of the tree trunks entirely. We didn't go very far before Bobo started slowing down her pace in protest.

As Dandenong is a mountain resorty sort of area, there were alot of quaint shops and after the look-out, we went shopping in these shops. We chanced upon a shop that had over 300 variety of teas and teapots of all shapes and sizes. I went crazy and bought 3 different kinds of tea there. We also went crazy at a shop selling body cremes and butters.

By this time, it was 5 and time to go home so we started the long and arduous drive back to Chapel Street where we had dinner at the Borsch, Vodka and Tears restaurant for yummy russian/polish food. Melbourne is slightly different to Sydney and getting a liquor licence is easier. Hence, All of the restaurants and cafes here sell liquor as well as food. Sydney has more BYOs - bring your own alcohol.

Borch, Vodka and Tears is a dimly lit restaurant with an old feel that somehow feels a little melancholic. I think anything Russian associated tends to exude that sort of melancholia. According to Chris, the restaurant hired a russian designer to intentionally make the place old looking. Here's a couple of pics of what BVT looks like. The restaurant at night is much darker.




The food was pretty good although I've never had borsch or dumplings in russia. An interesting experience anyway and plus the company was great.

One of the best days I've had in a really long time

Walked the entire of stretch of chapel street and most unfortunately, found absolutely nothing at all. Well except for a fake chloe bag made of faux leather of a nice red. It isn't expensive at all and I really like the design but i'm iffy on the fake stuff. beat however has gave me roaring encouragement.

As promised to my two business partners, I have been scouting around looking for ideas and I've been feeling disheartened. After agreeing to go into this venture, I've been paying keener attention to ear rings, necklaces, bracelets, bangles, brooches and the like and I've managed to add a few new pieces to my collection. All for less than $5 each.

And whilst shopping with Marty at Paddington on Saturday, I found a shop that sold all ear rings for 25 bucks. Really gorgeous ones at that. Competition seems stiff but Eelin is of the opinion that there are stupid people (rich ones) who will not mind paying simply because they do not know there are cheaper and better ones about.

It's been an exciting weekend.

But let's start with the bad.

During the week, I received a call from Suli. Much to my enormous surprise. When I asked him what was up, his flippant reply was that he had nothing better to do. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He asked me how I was and equally flippantly, I told him I was still alive.

He suggested meeting up for dinner on friday and deciding to let bygones be, I agreed.

Come Friday, we decided to meet at 7:30pm at Glebe. Not wanting to be late (silly me), I hurried Mart out of the house at a quarter to seven. I was cursing under my breath when I remembered Suli was ALWAYS late. But it was too late. We were already at Glebe.

I gave Suli a call at the restaurant

m: We're here

S: oh you're here!

M: we did agree to meet at 7:30 and it is 7:25 now

S: Oh we're still home and we haven't picked Jane up.

By this time, I can't keep the annoyance out of my voice.

m: This is annoying

S: I was going to tell you we would be late.

Uh huh... like when? 8pm? next year? the next millenium?

I hung up on him shortly fuming and disgusted with the lack of respect this so-called friend had for me. The most abominable thing is he does this all the time but each time, he waves off all his wrong-doing nonchalantly without any sense of remorse for wasting other people's time.

Maybe I'm not laid back enough but I do not see why I should be always waiting around for someone.

And to add insult to injury (but then again, I wouldn't put it part Suli to be such a user), I find out over dinner that his "pals" are busy this week what with house moving and all. I light bulb goes off in my head and I realise the unexpected call and suggestion to meet up was simply because his usual kakis weren't free.

How nice.

Moving on to nicer things, I'm in Melbourne!!!

Absolutely freezing here.

Came on Saturday night and had dinner with Jean and Paul and Spicy Fish. I was falling asleep during dinner from the lack of sleep the nightbefore.

The next morning, we drove 300km up North to Benella, where Andrew's mother lived. it was a quiet town with a pretty decent sized town centre. We made a trip to the Brown Brothers winery, Milawa cheese factory, explored the gold mining town of Becchworth, had hot pies at the bakery there, drove through a scenic route and bought lots of bric-a-bracs. It was great.

Came back last night in time to watch the Australia - Japan match.

the boyfriend went insane with the world cup. Spending 2.5k on a new LCD tv and is now having world cup gatherings every important match. We have been wagering on a match a day and I was 30 dollars ahead before last night, having won 3 bets in a row. muahaha...

i think the boyfriend was beginning to feel ego-bruised expressing his wishes to win his money back but we all know it wasn't about the money. afterall, he is or thinks he is the football guru. Must have been unsettling losing to me like that. Anyway, with the australia match, obviously he took australia. He is patriotic like that. Thankfully Australia won and the boyfriend is happy now, having had his beloved Socceroos winning and breaking his losing streak. So now, I can go back to winning.

Over drinks tonight, Ee lin, Marissa and myself have decided to go into a little business together selling accesories. I know it sounds terribly passe but to be honest, life has been seeming rather lack lustre of late (hence the lack in blogging entries) and this new development has at least given me something to look forward to.

It all started out very innocently with Marissa going on about how she would love to set up her own business relating to fashion of any kind and then Ee lin started on about how her mom is doing the same thing and that she has contacts but just that she lacks the motivation to and how she needs someone to nudge her along and suddenly we were talking about how feasible it actually was and then I started chucking in details and BAM! We realised we were in business. Plus, being the geek that I secretly am, I whipped out my lappie and immediately started googling information to help us along. And suddenly, my life doesn't seem that boring anymore.

With all this new excitement coming up, I can't help wondering if i actually need a boyfriend. Sometimes, i feel as if I don't really need a relationship. For years I have always been in relationships of sorts and have never been technically single for long periods but from memory, I seemed really happy in those little pockets of singlehood.

I still think Marty is a great guy but maybe relationships are overrated.

It's absofreakinglutely freezing in Sydney.

Either winter has come early this year or if this is what Autumn is like, I dread the thought of winter.

Marty and I decided to go away for the weekend. Down to santuary point again. Where we can have some "ALONE" time. Yay.

The previous trip in warmer weather was absolutely delightful but this time around, I have my doubts. The weather has been forecasted to rain for the next couple of days and rain in temperatures lower than 10 degrees celcius is not something to be trifled with. You definitely want to be indoors and all rugged up.

It's times like these that I wonder how my people like Francis, Woanwei, William and the bunch in London survive.

It's a race to get home everyday after work. The wait at the bus stop feels like an eternity and whenever the cold wind blows, and boy does it blow mercilessly, I imagine myself not all too different from a fluttering dried leaf stuck to a twig. I also wish I had a roaring fire place.

Sometimes it even gets too cold to breathe and I find myself unconsciously holding my breath.

Anyway, fun weekend up ahead i Hope.

Will be back on Sunday night for dinner. Perhaps at a German restaurant that I've been meaning to go to. Need to introduce Peter and Nina (german colleague) before they both fly back home next week for the upcoming world cup.

I surprised Marty yesterday by telling him I knew what the score was for the Japan vs Germany match. 2-2 it was. That's what you find out when you get stuck at the reception with the newspaper on hand and honestly, I'd rather read about the world cup than Australian news.

He was flabbergasted and I think slightly proud. Maybe even loved me a teensy weensy little bit more than before. Who knows!