Unhealthy Obsession..

My closest cousin has an unhealthy obsession with handbags. On last count she told me she has approximately 10 'treasured ones' and a unknown number of normal-other-use ones. The 'treasured ones' are the European branded bags and costs over $400 each. (You know ..the Gucci's...LV... Prada .. etc..).

Don't get me wrong, I own a Gucci too (only one.. because I can only afford one - for which I use for work). It's a great bag. Although, I'm not sure if it is worth a price tag of $955, but it has yet to fall apart. Which I can proudly say - It has done much better than the other ones I was using previously. In most cases, my handbags only last about 3 months or so. I think it has something to do with the amount of stuff I put in them.

My usual workbag contains.. external harddisk cover (with my harddisk), CD pack (my survival kit), a few network cables (sometimes) and my iPod. As I said before, it's my 'work bag' .. it contains everything that I need for work.

But, I seriously think that 20++ handbags is getting to be a bit too much.

So here I am now, brainstorming what to get my cousin for her birthday. I had a chat with her bf, and he suggested that I can either continue her unhealthy obsession with handbags or get her the iPod Nano. (Dammit.. both are just as expensive !)

I told him I'll get her the iPod (atleast the iPod has a retail price tag) and leave him to continue her unhealthy obsession.

One dead Fish..10 stitches..

My favourite Pearlscale goldfish died today. It never swam very well (just kinda wobbled around). I thought it was a common trait amongst Pearlscales - since they are so fat and round. Just like a golf ball. I jumped on Google and did a quick search - a couple of the websites I read said that it might have had a problem with its swim-bladder (and can be genetic). Is there any solutions to this ? I don't want this to happen to my other Pearlscale. Does anyone know ?

Today has just been a really bad day. Besides the fact that I had to go into the office to work (on a weekend) and missed the first half of the Eagles game. Pete had also managed to injure himself. Stupidly.

About 20 mins after the Eagles had lost (it was a very close game.. all credit goes to the Swans though - they did play very well), I recieved a SMS on my mobile. The SMS was from one of his friends, saying that Pete had hit his head and was on the way to the hospital. I replied his SMS with the following message..

"Ok .. I know the Eagles lost the finals.. but it's not the end of the world ! Just tell him to stop hitting his head against the wall !!! .."

I already had a crap day the whole morning and was in no mood for jokes.

Pete came home with his head half bandaged (10 stitches) and one very bruised arm.

At first I thought the bandage was fake. But as I continued to stare at him, I noticed his left eye was completely swollen and had a couple of quite visible cuts below it. I was shocked, but extremely pissed off. Trying my best not to raise my voice, I asked him what happened, he replied he ran into a closing door - playing with the boys.

I was so irritated .. I couldn't even be bothered to ask how he managed to do that and just walked away back to my room.

I actually wanted to laugh.. But I couldn't.

Canberra ...3 P's (no more)

Canberra is famous for the three P's... "Pornography, Pyrotechnics and Politicians" ...

Well, Canberra can no longer be known famous for the three P's. As it is official, Pyrotechnics (Fireworks) is no longer available to the commercial public - It is Banned.

Over the past weekend we drove down to Canberra to buy some fireworks to celebrate the chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. All chinese people like a big bang during celebrations, and since fire crackers were definitely out of the question we decided to take a 3 hour drive to buy some fireworks from Canberra.

ACT, the supposedly last state of Australia where fireworks are legal, who sells its products & services to all other states (where fireworks are illegal). Sadly, this is no longer the case. I nearly walked through the whole of Fyshwick and all the pyrotechnic stores I found were closed for the year. The only shops open were XXX rated stores and car dealers. It felt so eerie walking through that suburb.

Not only was our three hour drive to Canberra to buy fireworks spent in vain. We also missed out on watching the all-important AFL preliminary finals between West Coast Eagles and the Adelaide Crows. Growing up in Perth, the Eagles are my home team. I spent a whole hour in the heart of Canberra trying desprately to find a local pub which broadcast the game. After questioning a couple of locals, I realised there was only two pubs in the whole city centre of Canberra. The closest one - An Irish pub - didn't even have a TV.

And this we call the Capital City of Australia.

I ransacked my brain of all the possible places that might be broadcasting the game. I finally found a DickSmith store which I know sells electrical goods (therefore must sell some sort of TVs). Unfortunately they were playing some loop-back tape of pre-recorded ads (Dammit !!). After hunting around for a few moments more in the freezing weather (9C), I gave up and started my long trip back to Sydney.

On the way back I called one of my friends back in Sydney to send me periodic updates of the game via SMS to my mobile. (For the record, we won ! Eagles kicked ass !!!)

House Hunting .. still....

I've finally found something thats within my price range (only just), of a reasonable size and in a good area. Whooppeee ~!

I sent an email to the real estate agent requesting for more information on the apartment. The usual Strata levies other outgoings and a floor plan. I got a simple email back with the strata levies but no floor plan. So I replied the email and asked if I can arrange for an appointment time to go view the apartment. Two days later.. still no reply.

I was thinking.. (dammit..) someone has beat me to it, and put an offer in for the apartment already. I decided to give the agent a call to verify this. As I was genuinely interested in this apartment and desperately wanted to see it.

If I had thought real estate agents were rude previously. This one takes the cake.

She answers the phone with this weird tone in her voice (it just so happens to be the agent who replied my email) and asked which apartment was I looking for. Then when I asked if I could arrange for an appointment to view the apartment she said this:

Agent: We only want geniune serious buyers for this. We are not interested in showing the apartment to researcher or browsers who wont actually make a commitment until 6 months later.

Me: I'm sorry...What do you mean ?

Agent: I mean we aren't interested in showing this apartment to anyone who is just browsing the market.

Me: Ok... I understand (you biaatch)... I am interested. At least interested enough to give you a call (dammit!). Well, I can only be interested to a certain level - as I haven't even seen the (freaaaking) apartment yet. (I really wanted to hang up on her already).

Agent: We only arrange for appointments Monday to Friday during working hours.

Me: Which would mean 9 - 5pm ? I work full time... I really don't think that would be possible.

Agent: As I said before, only serious buyers.

--- End of Conversation ---

Far out... that's customer service for you.. !

Well, if I didn't need to work (and had won lotto) then I think I could accept that schedule.

And if I wasn't working, I doubt the bank would approve my home loan ! (unless, obviously if I had won lotto - then I wouldn't be needing a home loan anyway).

I understand the need for sales people to screen out potential vs 'do-not-waste-my-time' buyers. But this was really starting to get ludicrous.

Even if I do finally get to make an appointment to view the apartment - I doubt I would buy it.

Does Mahjong Bring Out The Worst In Us.. ?

Mahjong is a game I picked up since I was a child at home. My parents played it religiously every weekend. Since I was the eldest child at home, I ran the 'water and tea' department. Which is the job of making sure everyone of my aunties and uncles' coffee or tea cups were kept to a reasonably full level. Therefore, I constantly had to be around the Mahjong table. We have a total of five Mahjong tables at home. And about seven sets of Mahjong. My grandma even gave me one of those sets of Mahjong when she came over the last time to visit me from Perth. (Is she trying to get me adddicted to Mahjong ??)

Mahjong is a game which I must agree brings out the worst (or the best) in us.

From a young age, I saw even my sweetest aunty lose her temper when another uncle had gamed on her card. And I had often seen my other aunty throw a Mahjong tile irritably at the table when it wasn't the tile she had hoped for (she even threw it at my uncle a few times). My mum and daddy can also never play on the same table. The result would be just like world war 3 in the household.

My daddy is a man of few words. But put him on a Mahjong table and even he starts to evolve take on the characteristics of other players. He begins to speak alot louder (possibly to keep above the noise made by the tiles) and even starts to joke around with the other players.

Or maybe we are all just sore losers. And Mahjong just brings it all out. There is no sportsmanship in this game.

Last night we decided to play a game of Mahjong.. and the result ?

The most swear words I had heard in a three hour interval. Followed by one of the guys leaving (at the end of the game) and later calling me to tell me that my other two friends were both sore losers.

I told him he was too.

Food poisoning.. and now the flu ?!?

My last three days in Hk was spent in half in bed .. the other half of the time was spent in the bathroom hugging the toilet.. !! My stomach violently reacted to something I ate whilst in Macau. I really don't know what it was.. could of been the BBQ food or double layered milk pudding or even the Portuguese Tart I had.

I knew I shouldn't of been such a pig...

Now that I'm back in Sydney, I had only lasted one day before the Sydney flu bug snared me as its next victim.

*sob**

I hate being sick. Especially since I think I've run out of sick days at work already. (dammit..no pay).

Well... its not all bad. I've managed to level up two levels in World of Warcraft. That's all I've been doing. Sleep... Warcraft.. Sleep

*sigh**

I've nearly gone through another tissue box. I've just been piling all the tissues on my small table next to my bed. I have one BIG mountain of tissues now... The bin is just too far away.