チェイサーの夢

Winter has officially pass in Perth and Spring definitely hit Perth. Recently, I have been addicted to a certain type of fruit call the Loquat.



How did I even came across this fruit?

Well, the story goes like this:
It has long caught my attention that birds have been snatching off fruits from a particular tree. For weeks, I have been walking up to this tree and taking a closer look at it. However, I have no idea what sort of fruit it is? This is not the sort of common fruit one could get in the supermarket. One day, I met the owner of the tree and asked him. He told me it was call Loquat and even offer me to try one. It was a mind blowing experience with just one bit off the fruit. This fruit is so juicy and the best part of it, it taste like honey. I have never tasted fruit that is so sweet and yet juicy. Seriously, everytime I walked past that tree now, I would just help myself to a few of the fruit. Even as I am typing this post, my mouth just water just thinking about this fruit. Hmmm... Loquat....



According to Wiki:

Loquat fruits, growing in clusters, are oval, rounded or pear-shaped, 3-5 cm long, with a smooth or downy, yellow or orange, sometimes red-blushed skin. The succulent, tangy flesh is white, yellow or orange and sweet to subacid or acid, depending on the cultivar. Each fruit contains five ovules, of which one to five mature into large brown seeds. The skin, though thin, can be peeled off manually if the fruit is ripe. The fruits are the sweetest when soft and yellow.

Bak Kut Teh. A food delicacy that is not strange to many Asian. A easy way to describe such dish would be: Tender pork ribs cook under herbal soup and serve with a bowl of hot steam rice. Talking about Bak Kut Teh, one must not forget to include You Chia Kua too.

I would say it used to be a very common dish in Singapore. However, over the years, it seems to be getting harder to find a good stall that sell good Bak Kut Teh. Here I am to recommend a good stall that sells pretty good Bak Kut Teh. For people who take public transport, just take MRT to Clark Quey and walk towards exit E. Cross the traffic light and you should be able to see a whole shop that sells only Bak Kut Teh. Just in case, anyone feel they would get lost. Never fear as long as you see Riverwalk Shopping Center. You are at the right place because the Bak Kut Teh shop is just beside Riverwalk Shopping Center.

For people who demands cheap Bak Kut Teh such like $3 or less. I would strongly recommend go to the market buy a packet of spicies and pork ribs and cook youself. Such delicacy usually cost more that $6 dollar. However, if you are a fan who is looking to try out this traditional dish. You can check out this place to try it out.

I meant to write this down on my blog a couple of weeks ago but it keep slipping off my mind. What kind of coffee drinker are you? I found this piece of article on the Western Australia and it looks darn pretty right about me.

According to the paper:

If you are a Latte Drinker:
You are more likely to: ~ Flicks gossip or entertainment section of the newspaper
~ Spends Saturday night in pubs, bars and clubs
~ Listen to dance music
~ Takes public transport
~ Lives in a shared house with friends or with mum and dad




If you are a Cappuccino Lover:
You are more likely to ~ Flicks to sports section of the newspaper
~ Spends Saturday night at home eating
takeaway and watching TV or movies
~ Listens to pop music
~ Drives a sedan
~ Lives by the beach or water








For a Flat White Lover:
You are ~ Flicks to travel section of the newspaper
~ Spends Saturday night out on a date
~ Listens to rock music
~ Gets around in a taxi
~ Lives in an apartment in the CBD





A Long Black Drinker:
You are likely ~ Gets their news online
~ Spends Saturday night at the cinema or theatre
~ Listens to classical or acoustic music
~ Drives a 4WD or sports car
~ Lives in a detached house

While surfing around the internet for game faq, I came across this five letter words: Spore. Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it after one year of waiting it's finally here. Here is a simple review: From the creator of Sims, comes the new game SPORE. Here in the game, we get to create from a single cell organism and evolve slowly to a species and then we built a civilization and then we get to choose to conquer the galaxy or become a peaceful nation and co-exist with the world. Think of the unlimited ways to create and ways to play the game. Incredible and it is out this September 7th.

For more detail to this cute game, check out this website and it has a video where you can watch: http://www.ea.com.sg/spore/

It is a freezing winter this season in Perth. The weather was like 6 degree in the morning and 17 in the morning. Not to forget to mention about the rainy days throughout the winter. It was until last week, Perth started to have a whole week of sunny weather. I sort of guess spring was here but I wasn't too sure about it until I take a walk in the garden and saw these.



Flowers are blooming and Herbs such as spring onions and Italian parsley are all growing. I hardly could believe my eyes after seeing all these in the garden behind me. It just feel so good and spring is indeed here in Perth.

Karma, just what is karma? According to Wikipedia, karma is the results of all deeds actively from the past, present, and future experiences, or 'fruits' of actions which made one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others. A more easy way of interpreting that explanation would be do good and good will come to you. Do bad and bad will strike you.

I wasn't always the type that believe in karma but recently after watching this show:



I begin to believe in karma and so I started practicing it. I made it a point that I should do good while working at my part-time job at Caltex. How? Well, I sort of let customers go when they are short of a few cents and always try to the elderly when I can. However, the real big challenge came a few weeks ago when a colleague of mine can't work. He was apparently sick and fainted at work the previous night. So his brother called in for him and informed my manager, Duncan that he can't work that very night. So at about 7.30pm, I recalled receiving a phone call from an unknown number(one of the issue with Iphone and they seriously should solve this problem). I picked up and there was Duncan asking me if I could just fill in for that colleague of mine as he was at his end and couldn't find anyone to work that very night. Well out of good will, I agreed to that request even though I was pretty exhausted from my morning shift that very day.

So, there I was back at work that very night and shocking everyone there because I was working double shift. I was kind of pretty down but still I do what I have to do. Just as I was putting chocolates up the shelf, something caught my eyes. Naturally, I bend down and take a closer look. Guess what !! OMG !! It was a fifty dollar note. I can't believe my own eyes. I mean what on earth is a fifty dollar note doing on the floor !? The first explanation that ran through my mind was could I have drop this fifty dollar note from my cashier? Anyway, I kept that note in my cashier and waited until the next morning to do a end shift declaration. Hey, my system did not indicated that I was shorted of fifty dollar note. Wow and that was the very incident that inspired me to continue to do good and be responsible for my own action. I mean look at me, I help out a colleague and do my required job scope, I found cash waiting there for me. Incredible.

To further enhance my point on karma, here is incident number 2:

There was this guy over at my work place that seems to have issue working. Either he would be late for work or he just don't show up. So out of concern, I asked the manger in training, Lorrisa, whether do she need help that morning since I saw the duty roster shows that only that guy would be working that morning. I guess delighted by my "concern", she asked if I could come in early to help her out. Well, since karma pointed to me that I should help people, I agreed. So I went to work that very day and true indeed, that guy was late for work for two hours. Lorrisa was grateful that I came early to help her out if not she wouldn't be able to handle the whole shop alone. But the whole story didn't just end there. By the time, it was about noon. A though just pop into my mind. I was thinking would karma reward me today for helping out? If karma would help me, I would be glad if I could have a $30 dollar optus recharge for my phone. Just before I sign off from my cashier, I realised there was a recharge value paper on the machine. Out of curiosity, I take a look and it was a $30 dollar optus recharge !!! I asked that guy did he do a sale on recharge and forgot to give it to the customer? He told me he did sell one recharge but it was a fifty dollar value and he has cancel the $30 dollar value. He has no idea why did the machine still print out the recharge value and told me to take it. There KARMA strikes again !! I can't believe it myself. I mean there I was wishing for something and that something really came. Karma really works in a way where we never know and expected.

I have recently started to work as a service attendant in a nearby Petrol Station. I cannot believe my eyes when I see the salary I drew from my two weeks of work. Check this out:



I hardly could believe my eyes. I meant look at this amount of money. I know I know it is not a lot for a graduate. But just a simple job like servicing customer in a Petrol Station and working only close to 36 hours a week, I got this. No wonder they say in Australia even you do not have a degree, you can still survive. Now I truly believe it now. And Geesh, why didn't I started on this job during my university days. It could have provide me with better cash flow than that Thai restaurant I work in. Oh well no point crying over spill milk.

Just yesterday night, I was chatting on Msn with one of my Kai Ki, Tony. He was telling me Diablo 3 is coming !! I was like OMG, NNnooooo way, you got to be kidding me. I mean Blizzard just have plans to release Starcraft 2 this end of the year and they can't possible release plans that they are working on the next episode of Diablo. I couldn't believe what I see on my laptop screen until I saw the trailer for the game. It was immersing. The game play doesn't feel like it change a lot but yet it seems like the game upgrade so much. The graphic is so much clearer and smooth now. And from the look of the trailer, the minions really made me feel fear. It is like throngs of monster swarming at you while you explore the dungeon. I seriously do hope they would reduce the lag time for the barbarian skills. I mean being a fans of physical violent in Diablo 2. The Barbarian is one mean fighting machine until it reach the Hell level where everyone seems to be stronger than him and the only skill I could recall using is whirlwind. Not to attack but to escape from throngs of monster because they are all elemental stronger than me, not to forget the part where some of them are immune to physical damage. Well to end the story, visit http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/ to understand more about it.
2008 is sure a good year. So much games release and so much anticipation to awaits.

It hail again. While on my way to sent yunyen to work, it started to hail. All the ice and rain falling from the sky. It almost felt as if X'mas is here. However, I do pity those out on the street. As it started to hail, I can't help to notice that there was this guy running for shelter. Ouch that seriously got to hurt really bad. All the rain and ice cubes hitting at you. It was at this moment I am thankful for owning a car. Although the fuel prices is kind of a killer nowadays, still the car save me from getting bash mindlessly from the ice.

What is black, 5 inch tall and talk with attitude? It is no other than a Skipper. Yahoo ... Madagascar is back. I cannot believe my eyes when I open my internet explorer today and lo and behold I saw something familiar. Madagascar 2 !!?? Unbelievable. Never have I expect Dreamwork to continue to work on Madagascar. I have though that all the dancing, attitude and running away from the Zoo was the peak of the show and Dreamwork shouldn't be able to come with anymore new ideas. Immediately, I type in Madagascar 2 in the search engine and check out their main website trailer preview on the movie. Well, I have to do this because the yahoo movie preview pretty much lag great time. Anyway for fans who love to see any of those animals dancing again here is the website to check out their trailer.

http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/teaser.html

Unbelievable ... 3 year. I cannot believe myself that my relationship with Yunyen has being 3 long years. It just felt like we have only begin our relationship for only a month. Gosh, where has all the time flew? Anyway, to celebrate our three beautiful years together, we had come up with a romantic getaway. A nice picnic by the beach
and to top it off a romantic movie.
Where to get a nice place to picnic and yet feel the romances in the air? Well, I guess it is no other than the Cottesloe beach. Before a picnic can begin, we head down to grab sushi, coca-cola, jester pie and a subway. It took us about 15 minute to get down to the beach. When we arrived there, the beach as usual was a beauty.




We found a spot, took out our picnic mat and sat down to enjoy a lovely lunch by the beach. I would comment that the romantic lunch would have being better if not for these few drunk Aussie who keep throwing bread crumbs to feed the seagulls. Half the time, I was protecting my food from the seagulls. Well just in case, those birds suddenly felt hungry enough to attack us for more food. The other time, I was fearful of those birds pooping on us since they were hovering above our heads half the time. And it was all thanks to those drunk Aussie. But overall, I would say it still quite a romantic lunch by the beach.







We left the beach at about 4pm and head back to Garden City. What more to end the lovely day by watching the movie: Sex and the City. It was the first time I entered a cinema and found the ratio of guys to girls was like 10: 1.



Well standing on a guy point of view, I agree with the guys that this is not a movie where most guys would want to watch. There was no action, no deep underly plots to be resolve and no matrix-like graph. However, after watching the movie, I would rate the movie 10/10 rating. Even though without those usual graph effect and action, it was such a romantic movie that emphasis what is LOVE? Thus, this conclude our romantic day out and embrace ourself for our 4th year.

Another place of interest in Perth I would say it is Fremantle. A basic introduction to this place: Fremantle is a port. It is a great place where a family or a group of friends could relax and talk. Not to mention the great food and beer. For the ladies, there is a market here and numerous good shops that would keep you entertain for the day. Not to mention that these shops are open on a Sunday too. Well for more information, take a look at this website:
http://www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/main/html/?CFID=676249&CFTOKEN=95737623.
That would answer any question.

Caversham Wildlife Park and the Swan Valley~~

After my graduation, I took my family to the infamous Swan Valley and the Caversham Wildlife Park with a big finger cross. That is because my family wish to see some grapes in real life. But the issue here is, it is March. The season for grapes is over and I really doubt I could find anymore around with them being dried up prune. Anyway, I still proceeded ahead to try to find any left. But first stop is the Caversham Wildlife Park.

The Caversham Wildlife Park is one great place to check out the wild life in Australia without paying too much of course. One get to feed the Kangaroos and take pictures with Kola. For more information check out the website here: http://www.cavershamwildlife.com.au/.









After a few hours of walking around and enjoying all the bit of pieces of the wildlife, we head down to the Swan Valley. Guess what, we hit Jackpot. yeah !!! Yeah !!! Yeah !! Grapes and at this period of the year. Check this out.


Not to mention too, the grapes taste like sugar. I have never taste grapes that were these sweet in my life. Gosh ... now I understand why on earth do those food critiques always say grapes are sweet.

Updating Part 2:.....

Let's see is there any other major incident that happened during these two months. Oh yes yes, how could I even forgot to blog about it. Oh, silly me. Yes, Yes people. I am officially a graduate of Murdoch University which meant that I am a degree holder. Yeah !! yeah !! Looking back at my primary school's day, I recalled that my form teacher even have doubt that I could make it pass secondary without having to retain or ending up in the normal stream. But hey hey look here I still made it. Even though I was being called stupid and couldn't even get a basic math question right, look at me now. I still graduated and to even spice things up I graduated with a Psychology Degree. So people out, don't feel sad even if your teacher called u dumb or stupid or even untalented. Be stubborn like me, hang in there and your world will get better. It's all hard work and perseverance that will help you through this realistic world where grades and talent is worth more than gold. But oh well ... I still graduated. yahooo... to graduation.






One funny thing about graduation in Murdoch might be the bright red regalia. The regalia with it's hood look so much like what Harry Potter wear in the movie. But overall, the whole experience is still pretty fun. I don't recall being to happy and excited before. Not even when I attended my polytechnic graduation. Guess must be the feeling of accomplishment and attaining something that I want.

It has been two months since I last posted anything. Well for a starter, I recently just shifted to a new place. Due to the shocking high increased in rent prices, I was forced to leave the very nice Millpoint Road to my current new place in Coolbellup. Now that's a very big change in location. From a very nice city view from my window, all I see now is trees trees and more trees. Gosh. Oh well.. what could I do rental prices is just shocking high. After having moved out from Millpoint, I spent the next two months viewing houses after houses. Some of them seems to be build from scrap wood, while others were so good where the whole of the swan river view is just outside your balcony. Unfortunately, I got none of the those places. Why? That's because there was 30 application in getting a house. OMG!!!! where on earth these people come from. It seems like half the people in Perth was homeless or looking for a new place to stay. Geesh. It's such a bad experience in finding a place to stay.

Anyway ... I think I will continue another time. Don't really feel well yet, since trying to recover from my cough and flue which pester me over 1 week.

Well well, back to Perth again. Time really flew. In a blink of an eye, I had already spent one month in Singapore. Here I must apology to those dear friends whom I have promised to meet and ended up I didn't. I know I know the same excuse I always give is that I am busy. Please believe me dear friends, it is seriously true. I didn't get back home until like 5am in the morning almost everyday. Anyway to cut things short. I wanted to write about this before the night I came back to Perth which was on the 28th February 2008.

I was on my way back from Minglong's place after collecting some "stuffs" from him. It was close to 10 pm. Then it suddenly dawn to me that hey I am going back to Perth to continue the next phase of my life. It was this sight that made me feel kind of sad leaving Singapore and finding a job in Perth.



For some reason, I feel suddenly missing Singapore and the life I am leading here. All the 3 years in Perth studying, I didn't even miss Singapore. But now all of the sudden with the though of going back to Perth to try applying for a Visa (with a 50-50 chance of getting it) and looking for a job, made me worried and homesick. This though keep racing through my mind: Is it really worth the trouble of coming to Perth to look for a job here? With all these troubled thoughts, I lay down to sleep. The fateful morning where I am to leave for Perth made me even more sad. The sight of my grandfather sitting there on a stool at my corridor almost made me cried. He knew that I was going back to Perth and quickly wake up and just sat there to see me off. This sight really make me emotional. My grandfather is close to 90 years old. I recalled before my University days, I always spent time with him at home chatting with him about china or we could be arguing whether or not to keep the clothes. However these 3 years oversea with me gone all the time, there wasn't anyone there to chatting and joke with him. Furthermore, this recent trip back to Singapore, I noticed that my grandfather aged so much as compared to 2006. He began to have hearding problem and he has to use a walking stick. Upon hearing my idea of going back to Perth to find a job, he didn't rejected my idea. He just told me to go ahead with my plan and wish me all the best for it. This was what made me very emotional. We both knew clearly in our heart that we, grandpapa and grandson, may or may not even get the chance to meet next year given by my grandfather's age. However, we still stand at the door like two grown men bidding each other goodbye and promising the other party I will see you again next year.

Thus, this concluded my little Singapore Story. Live well, grandpapa. I really do hope to see you next year or anytime soon.

15 more minutes to the coming of the Rat year and everyone is busy with last minute cleaning, packing, tidying up the house or standing at Chinatown to feel the spirit of Chinese Lunar New Year. Looking back at the previous posts, I realised I have not been able to fully enjoy Chinese New Year for the past 3 years. Given that University start somewhere mid of February, I either have to go back before Chinese New Year eve or on the first day of New Year eve. Finally, I am able to enjoy the spirit of chinese and in my very homeland.

I do have to comment that Chinese Year has changed so much. This year there wasn't much stalls stepup for Chinese Year. I was pretty much shocked and of course disappointed. I learnt that this was due to an unfortunate event where two children was being burn alive and the reason they couldn't escape was due to the stallers owners who tried to expand out their store and end up trapping their escape route.

Although, there weren't much stores setup for Chinese New Year but the routine is pretty much the same. After a hard work of cleaning up the house, it was steamboat with the family. Then clean upmore or watch the TV until like midnight. It just feels so comfortable where you see so much aisan culture and especially the chinese TV part. Oh look at the time now: Happy Chinese New Year 2008.

I guess I will stop here and go out to wish my parent a Happy New Year first.

It's been close to 3 day since I landed at Singapore. The feeling of returning back home is really full of mixed emotion and feelings. I recalled watching the whole of Singapore's nightview on the plane and telling Yunyen omg look it is so bright and beautiful. It is so different from Perth. After the plane docked, we walked out and see for ourself the infamous Terminal 3 airport. It is huge !? I reckon it is at least 2 times the size of Terminal 2. After all the small details, I was sitting at a taxi on my way home. It was close to 10pm and there are still people everywhere. Gosh, I just feel so excited seeing so many people. It's feels like hongkong now.

For the past few days, I have been to Bugis, Sim Lim and Tampines Mall. The though of sitting down in a coffee bean and talking with all my friends was just simply bliss. I seen so much changes in them and learnt more change in Singapore. To put it simple in words, I guess after all I am a Singaporean. So returning back to Singapore was just so nice of a change from Perth.

*Note: What I have written here is a sensitive topic. Please, stop and close the window if you think you cannot compromise with what I have written.


The idea of writing this topic dawn upon me while I was surfing the internet. I’m not sure if anyone noticed that there seems to be getting more websites that contain indecent pictures or videos (otherwise also known as porn to some). Some might disagree with me since porn has been around and growing since the start of internet. It is shocking true that the porn industry is growing by the years. However, I am not going to touch and debate about it. Those pictures that I was referring to are often girls or ladies who goes clubbing and do all form of crazy acts. For example, there was this post I happened to come across which has pictures of girls doing bar top dancing. The next few pictures showed them actually stripping naked and either it could be their friends or it might be the crowd who used their hands to cover these girls’ specific “body parts” for them. Has clubbing gone really that wild in the Asian countries? This is what our future generation is going to become? I can understand that everyone seeks to have fun in their own way. However, is this really the kind of fun that we wish our future generation to have?

Well, either my mindset has turn “old” or seriously parents out there need to do something about the new generation culture. I’m pretty sure that some will tell me off by saying I am “out of fashion” or I can’t understand what is going on with their generation and there is a gap between our ways of thinking. Well, I cannot deny the fact that we are brought up in a very different setting and that the demands and ways of thinking vary with generations too. However, this doesn’t support the fact that anyone would love their children to go out have fun and stripped naked. Or any parents would love their children, for the sake of love, just have causal sex with their boyfriend and took tons of their sex photos and post all over the internet. All these events that I have written above are all real life events that have happen in Taiwan and have been reported in the new.

I urge all parents to reconsider their parenting methods. Some might think “Nah, it’s alright. My children are gold and these events happen on in other countries not in mine.” This is a very wrong mentally. These incidents are happening in ASIAN countries now. This means that due to modernisation and exposure to America concept, more Asians are accepting this is kind of lifestyle is a norm. Parents seriously should try to educate their children in a right manner and not allowing these forms of behaviour and attitude to further develop.

What is Ignorance? According to Wikipedia: "Ignorance is a lack of knowledge." So what is Stupidity then? According to Wikipedia: "Stupidity is a quality to a person's words, actions, or beliefs."

Why am I interested in these two terms? This is because recently I happened to come across a blog who written something very unpleasant. And who is this blog written by? Well, guess no further, it is no other than my previous housemate: Alex.

I have never seen anyone with such STUPIDITY in him. He actually wrote that he was very unhappy about the task that I have allocated to him to fulfill before he offically leave the place. Gosh, what a jackass. Well, even if you are reading this, I still have to call you Jackass. Why? Here the story and why am I even angry over the matter:
Alex would be leaving the place on a earlier date than the rest of us. Since, he is leaving early, the only job that I could allocated to him is the garden. All he need to do is to clean up the garden. How dare he have the cheek to comment that it was the most difficult task and we took the easy tasks for ourselves. Furthermore, I had handed him the duty list like 2 month before the date he was leaving the house. He should know clearly what is required of him. But he told me that he don't know that he has to clear the garden. The frustrating part was that he dare to write it in his blog that he don't want to do that task and hope that I would forget about it. That explained so much the part where he sitting in his room doing nothing since the very day he finished his last paper to the very day he is leaving. What in the world is this !??

Well if you are reading this, Listen UP JACKASS, let me get this clear to your thick skull.
One: You have ample time to organise and clean up the list of tasks you have to do before you leave. If you fail to do it, this just show how "great" you can manage your time and proved that you are PLAIN LAZY.
Two: I have specificity told everyone that if he or she failed to do the required task, I would not clean up the area for you. You just have to bear the cleaning cost.
Three: Don't try to act stupid to me if you fail to read the list. The three word: "I don't know" will not help you in anyway because you fail to read the list that I have prepared for you.
Four: You happen to have the easiest job in the house. The three of us took almost 3 days to clean up the whole house.
Five: While Tony is helping you to clean up the garden, you were just walking around acting as if you are a model on a runway. Wake up, young man. If you lucky to have someone to help you with the task and yet you took advantage of him.
Six: If you are that really unhappy, feel free to call me up. I am willing to debate the matter with you.

Furthermore, Stop giving other people the impression that you are very clean and is willing to do all that is required of you. I can tell you now that you are not clean at all and you are super lazy and making life difficult for others. Stop have these wonderful nice illusion like Homer Simpson and think that others are trying to make your life hard. If you have reflected on the matter, most of the time the main problem lies in you. You failed to do what is required of you, which on the other hand, causes distress to others. Do you not think why I always have to scold you for not being clean. And, these are the so call things you have done. Look at it. It's pure rubbish.

This is a picture of the stove that I have asked you to clean. Look at all the black marks there. It was not there before you clean it. You just damage the stove, wonderful cleaning work.


Look at the dishrack you used for the past one year. Wonderful, don't you think? It is broken and full of rust. Best part I still have to buy a new one to replace it for you.


Look at all the pots and pans you have used. It is so "clean" right!?. You left all the wonderful burn curry stain mark there. Wow, I must comment "WHAT a Clean Person You Are."


Now look at this the shelf you used for you refrigerator. Wow, nice clean person you are. You left your cleary leaf behind for other to clean up for you. That's so "thoughtful" of you to leave something behind.


Well these are some of the things you think you have clean. But take a REALLY good look at it and I can be sure that everyone will tell you IT IS NOT CLEAN. So, wake up and stop dreaming.