September 23, 2008
brownlow 08 is the fail (+ retail love)
My internet’s back up, wheee! (/^ ^)/ Which means I can, once again, youtube all the Gruen Transfer and torrent all the Bourdain to my heart’s content. 
***
On a less happy note though, the Brownlow’s last night was an utter disappointment, right from start til end.
Here’s a list of why I thought Brownlow 2008 was so supercaliflabbergasticextremedoucheebags-ly horrible.
- First we had the oh-so-shoddy production efforts, when it was supposed to be one of the most important events of the year where AFL is concerned. It’s not the first time channel 10 is broadcasting this event live, so things like having the music off cue after every single commercial break is not excusable under any circumstances. It’s like even ASTRO live production is better than that.
- The embarassing mistake on the speaker’s part at the start of the event. Instead of announcing the winners from Round 1, he skipped ahead of schedule and did Round 2 instead. And he went on for almost 3/4 of the list before someone from backstage told him off. O_o Again, dear production crew, where the hell were you, and what took you so long to pick up the mistake? If it was a matter of logistics, couldn’t you maybe have someone throw a stick at him from a distance so he didn’t start the night with such distaste?
And to make matters worse, the offender happened to be none other than the head of AFL. You would think, being in charge and all, that he would have some semblance of knowing what he’s doing.
Andrew Demetriou, CEO of AFL
Although to his credit, he has been known to read out the wrong names and whatnots throughout his run as announcer for Brownlow. (- -”)
But still, I reckon last night was the cherry topping la; and in a strange sorta way I did feel kind of privileged to have witnessed such a booboo. And it’s always nice to know that us Malaysians are not so behind in terms of our live telecast standards.
***
But yes, all the technical errors aside, I could at least hoped for the content of the show itself to live up to my/our/everyone’s expectations. But that did not happen either (except maybe for Bulldogs/Cooney supporters); and the lack of recognition of skills and performance was just.so.painful.to.watch. T.T
More so that I love Jimmy (Bartel, with all my heart) and had wanted him to win for the second year in a row, but if that not possible then at least give him points where he deserved. Such as in games where he clearly had the upperhand where it all mattered – good sportsmanship, owning the field, and scoring shitloads of goals
Case in point: Geelong VS Sydney. Adam Goodes from Sydney (one of the runner ups) scored two votes (maximum three) with only 14 possessions and no goals, and his team lost 6 goals to Geelong. And in that same game, Jimmy had 35 possessions, belonged to the winning team, yet received no votes at all (stats courtesy of yang yang).
Now, I’m not an expert. In fact, I’m no where near being an expert, and I’m aware of how vicious the hardcore supporters (of any sporting teams for that matter) can be towards anyone who tries to invade their inner sanctum and pretend to know these things. But seriously this is just ridiculous, even for me.
G.Ablett and J.Bartel
And it’s not just Jimmy who got shortchanged for his points. Fellow team mate Gary Ablett was the other favourite to win this year; and yet, he came third behind Cooney and Brisbane’s Simon Black. O.o I haven’t been watching every single game this season, and certainly not the ones of Brisbane and Bulldogs… but why have everyone tip Bartel and Ablett to be the ‘sure-wins’, then have one of them come third and the other not even in the top 10 medal vote count?
THAT’S JUST A LOAD OF CRAP.
***
And seriously, on a purely superficial level, who would you rather win?
.
Him?
Adam Cooney, Western Bulldogs, Brownlow medalist 2008
.
Or him?
Jimmy Bartel, Geelong Cats, Brownlow medalist 2007
Bleaah, complete waste of time. +__+ The Cats better not disappoint at the grand finals this weekend.
***
On a much happier note though, my online purchases arrived yesterday! It was supposed to have arrived before Uma’s birthday last Friday, but I managed to find something to wear on that night so it was all good.
Recyling my birthday's for her birthday
Anyway it was my way of getting back at him because he hasn’t been providing for us as he rightfully should. And over all the annoyance of having to ask for money every single month, and then getting only a small sum that’s hardly enough to pay for the basic expenses. This, after all the talks about ‘not enough just ask me’ and ‘don’t need work, I can send you $$’.
So I’m doing what I’ve always done back home – charge it to his CC. ^^ Which I’ve stopped doing since I got here because I tried paying for stuff on my own and cos he said the charges were extremely high so I should, as always, just ask him for $$. *fumes*
I felt a twinge of guilt initially, when I first clicked the ‘BUY NOW’ button. But hey at least I got nice stuffs out of it.
…
Plug: I shopped at SUPRE
August 17, 2008
eats shoots and leaves
As much as I may complain about the lack of things to do/eat/play-with over here in Perth, there’s no doubt that it has one of the best sunny days in the world.
KL/Singapore is too humid and sticky, London doesn’t have one, and other places I’ve only been during winter so I don’t actually know for sure. But I’m sure lots of migrants to Perth/WA can attest to the picturesque cloudless blue skies as one of their reasons for moving here. And our winters aren’t as wet and miserable as Melbourne’s hur.
Anyway, today was one of those beautiful sunny days; and given that we’re in the transition period to spring, the temperature is just about right for being outdoors. And that’s saying a lot for someone who prefers to be slugging it off at home (in the daytime at least) rather than be outside. ^^
So me and yang took a train to the city, having first drove to the train station with his one hand still half swollen.
He drove like this the whole way
Although he does drive an auto, and is a leftie, so it wasn’t as though we were putting our lives in danger or anything.
****
Lunch was something of a disappointment though.
Initially my tempura bento looked pretty good, and even came in quite a big portion for $11.50.
This, after having said I wasn't very hungry.
I took a bite of the rice, and liked the toasted black sesame they sprinkled on top. And then I tried the salad, which was half-decent, but the dressing wasn’t as nice as the one they serve at that place on James St.
But then it went downhill from there.
The tempura batter tasted more like a poor fish and chips batter (instead of being light and crispy as it should be); you know, the sort that leaves a dough-y, pastey aftertaste?
Don't be fooled by my good photo skills aha
Then came the battered vege, which usually consist of sweet potato, eggplant, carrots, enoki mushrooms.. And occassionally in these Aussie jap places, there are the capsicums and zucchinis.
But an entire chunk of onion?
WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?!
For the record, the onion wasn’t even cooked through; so it tasted like a slice of raw onion wrapped in pasty fish batter. =.=
And then there was the “sushi”. (I put inverted commas because I don’t consider a sushi a sushi unless it has at least one of these ingredients: raw/cooked seafood, fish eggs, sweet omelette)
Bad enough that my sushi pieces lacked taste and substance – I don’t even remember what was in it – look at how badly-wrapped it was!
The only thing I remembered about it was avocado.
-.-
But at least I didn’t have a KFC burger which was damn dark brown and uncharacteristically crispy HAHAHAHAHAHA.
****
But the day was salvaged by some indulgence shopping! (/^ ^)/ Which isn’t a luxury I can always afford (usually indulgence comes in the form of a $5.50 large bubble tea with chocolate sago and rainbow jelly); but this was a once in a while treat ler… for all the housewifely duties and early morning stock counting jobs I’ve put myself through (ahem), and because I have been feeling a bit mopey recently. =/
And also because it was a damn good promotion la, as it always is with Clinique products. >.<
I was running low on facial scrub anyway, so it was a good excuse to spend.
All in all I paid about 80 bucks for the large tube of facial scrub plus the bright red lipgloss (third from left), and got everything else for free.
I don’t know if the promotion runs country-wide or just in WA, but if you’re within the vicinity, head down to Myers and spend $60 and above to get a FREE Clinique goodie bag, which comes with:
- Rinse-Off Eye Makeup Solvent (60ml)
- 7 Day Scrub Cream Rinse-Off Formula (30ml) – wtf now I have 2 tubes of it
- Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion (30ml)
- All About Eyes Rich (7ml)
- Fresh Bloom Allover Colour (1.8g)
- Fancy Blush Brush
- High Impact Mascara (4g) – one of my all-time favourites
- Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine (2.4ml)
- Cosmetics Bag
Oh my life has meaning again.
July 31, 2008
Love, actually
Love comes in many different ways.
It comes in the form of having all your winter clothes washed out of its original sizes and colours, and therefore giving you a perfectly valid reason to buy new ones.
It comes in the form of having just that extra bit of money to squeeze in a couple of items that may not be quite as necessary during that said shopping process.
That extra bit of money having came from what was initially meant for a nice, warm & thick jacket, which all shops no longer stock for buyers. Nevermind that it is still very much wintering, raining, thunderstorming, hailing and hurricaning around the country; no, we start selling knitwears, and knitwears exclusively.
But yeah, extra bit of something. I’ve always wanted one of those corporate-looking vest, SO HERE’S TO GETTING THE DAMN VEST FINALLY.
Mirror needs cleaning. -.-
Aaaand, seeing as to how this is my first official entry on this blog, I feel compelled to write a bit more about myself and what I usually do with my time and little friends over here in Perth – if only to try to establish myself as more of a half-assed writer than a camwhore who captions extensively.
I try laa, can?
But there’s only so much I can write about haps in Perth, so I’ll try to balance out the self-portraits with the occassional couch political commentaries and foodies experiments. ^^
My name is Hsin. I am 23 years young. I’m a PR and Media Studies graduate who can’t get a job as of yet, and am therefore doing a diploma course in a completely different field, in hopes that it’ll give me enough points to fulfil the requirements of being a temporary resident in Ozzieland. So that I can hopefully kickstart my career here (and move on to greater, bigger and busier cities eventually), and avoid joker politicians, high-cost-low-living-standards, and rapists/snatchthieves/perverts lurking around every corner.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t hate my country per-se, just the people running it and the consequences of their courses of actions (and some say by their sheer existence).
I miss the food, as expensive as they may be these days; the fact that ringgit is worth almost nothing when converted to AUD and SD (and therefore a thrill to go on a spending spree); but most of all the family and the friends. Especially the family and the friends. 
But I lead a pretty decent life over here. My lack of family proximity and affection is made up by the presence and love of the Sayang <3 coupled with this group of people who keeps showing up everywhere I go. Probably cos they love me and can’t bear to live without me.
(I’m saying this with knowing comfort that it’ll be a while before any of them chance upon this site)
Oh, and I used to inhabit <<here>>
-xx-
And I cook!
Today, I whipped up an extremely quick and brainless meal.
Bean-less Minestrone (serves 2)
You’ll need:
- 2 medium-sized carrots, cut into wedges or sliced thickly
- 1/4 bunch of celery stalks, coarsely-chopped
- 1 brown onion, coarsely-chopped
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 1 medium-sized tomato, chopped (I prefer Roma tomatoes for flavour)
- 2 cups of dried pasta
- 2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste (or according to taste)
- 2 cubes of beef stock
- 4 cups (2L) of water
- dash of white wine (optional)
- butter, to saute vegetables
- salt, peppercorn and sugar to taste
First, saute the garlic and onion with butter until the onion turns soft. Then throw in the chopped celery, season it with a bit of salt and pepper, and stir-fry on medium heat for another 10 minutes.
Add the water, tomato paste, beef stock cubes, carrots and tomatoes – then cover and simmer on high heat until it just reaches the boiling point.
Now season the soup according to taste with the white wine, salt, pepper and sugar; and cover and simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes (until the carrots are soft and the celery turns pale yellow-green).
Add in the pasta, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Dish out and serve!
Minestrone without the bean-picking!
Spoonful of warm, hearty winter yumness
Feeding the Infinite Pit of Doom
