Tropfest Australia

I went to the outdoor Sydney Tropfest this evening. Glad I did....was pretty good....some of the short films even managed to make me smile!

There was one in particular that made me think of all my guy friends. It shows a woman talking....supposedly a video dating profile I think? she describe the kind of man she wants.....shes not very confident, shaky voice, a bit geeky looks with glasses....has a long list of all the cliche type of man...romantic, walks on beach etc etc. she wraps up the video. feels like ended. then she adds. ohhhhh I forgot to mention. My Dad owns a brewery! HAHA. cute. Ive heard so many guy friends with that joke of wanting a girl whose Dad owns a brewery. So guys....heres your chance!
(Im sure the films will be on youtube or such soon.....so will try and find clips for some of my fav ones to share)
ok here we go, link to videos. The one Im talking about is: last roll of the dice.


The emcee mentioned that Tropfest is now also venturing into a few other countries, including Bangkok?! Ill have to do some research to find what month that might be....or perhaps it is still very early stage of planning. He mentioned the NewYork one in July......but no dates mentioned for other countries. But who knows....maybe I can catch another round on my overdue visit home?

Auckland House School - reunions

it seems my friends love reunions in bulk. All these years not much has happened, in fact Ive occasionally run into Aucky friends around Bangkok over the years, and their attitude has always been lukewarm, almost non caring.

Now suddenly, thanks to facebook, everyone has gotten into a frenzy of loving reunions :) Dont get me wrong - Im all for it - but I just am a bit amused by how we all tend to do things at one extreme or the other? Some have said that, the older you get, the more you appreciate your friendships, particularly childhood friendships. For me, the bond has always been stronger with friends from Aucky and from IH, cos we lived together. At Aucky it was 6 years! Thats a big chunk of my life!

Anyhow...so last week, they had the reunion in Bangkok. Mee went. (Mee = Mom). No, not to represent the missing daughter :) She is also an alumna. In fact, she was the School Captain, and Durrant House Captain, and was in the school basketball team! Yes, thats how good my Mom is :) So yes, she went along, and they asked her to give a speech. (Apparently not because of her achievements at school, but because she happens to be the oldest alumna present! Back in those days I dont think there were too many students from Thailand at Aucky). Im told it was a great speech, but I still have no clue what was said. Have spoken to Mom several times since, but still havent got it out of her....yet!

Now, there is one more being organised in Delhi! it is being coined the 'gala' reunion! mygosh....much as Id like to see my friends, in some way the thought of a 'gala' as a reunion frightens me :p Im sure it will be lots of fun though....and do wish I could be there. Will just have to wait for the pics and numerous comments going back and forth amongst all the friends..some seniors, some juniors I wouldnt know I suppose......hmmm yes pics, I love pics!

The theme apparently is to wear your house colour. I was in Durrant House (blue - funny that huh? its as if they knew I would end up in the 'true blue' country Australia!). A comment from Vimol got me thinking. (Vimol is some years junior but was also a blue)that I dont quite have a proper dark blue dress or top. I dont know if that is intentional? Cos at one point, up to perhaps 6 or 7 years after school I remember avoiding brown and yellow, cos I had had enough of wearing those 2 colours for 5 days a week for 6 years!!
Now? I actually love all shades of browns, and my wardrobe is filled with them. With a touch of yellows here and there, including one very bright full dress all in yellow :p So I think Im past whatever hangups I had with school uniform colours :p

Alright - mission - find a dress in Durrant House Colour? hmmmmm if I go through my closet...will I find a blue dress? there is one, but its not dark blue...its more a shade of sea blue, which could almost be looked upon as green! no way! and there is another which is white, but with navy blue patterns on it. might work....but the royal blue? Might make me cringe a little. but Ill keep my eyes out for one that could look decent :)

Valentine's Day

funny thing is – why do we buy into this silly stuff anyway? truth is, the media has so much influence on us that we somehow let ourselves feel that something ’special’ needs to happen on this day.

by the way, historical facts show Valentine's Day to be somewhat sad - marking the death of St. Valentine. Wikipedia has a combination of stories about various people, which you can find on their site here

I personally like this other version I found here: St Valentine, patron of love, lover and friendship
to quote from that article:

On the event of his death, Valentine wrote a last note to Julia to thank her for her friendship and urged her to stay close to God. The note was signed, “From your Valentine.” And some say that this was the start of the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine’s Day.

yes, Id have liked to go to dinner with my date regardless of which Sunday, or which day of the week it is. So why does this supposed ‘lovers day’ with all its media hype makes a lot of us feel like something is missing cos we didnt get flowers, or taken out to dinner and such? By that basis, then I reckon we should feel let down every other Sunday, or Saturday or whatever other day that we dont get flowers? [I quite like getting flowers for no occasion at all. So far, has happened once. Red roses, personally and sweetly wrapped in gold paper :p ]

so whats my plan for today? lotssssssss of chocolates - yes for myself! I dont need a man to buy me chocolates for Valentine's, but I wont say no to free chocolates from anyone, any day hehe.

May head out to some symphony concert (alone) later this afternoon. the plan is to end my evening with what is now becoming my regular daily jog session. fingers crossed the rain doesnt ruin my determination.

Just any other day really :)

ohh PS. Im listening to Roxette again. my rediscovered love for the band. nothing to do with Valentine's....even if the words to some of their songs are somewhat corny to say the least

Happy Birthday...to the most special man in my life

....happy birthday to one of my 2 favourite guys in the world! my big bro. love you!
and to those that keep asking why Im an Arsenal supporter? thats also all thanks to my lovely brother.
amazing birthday present by the way..... Arsenal win over Liverpool 1:0, and Chelsea lost to Everton yayyyyyy
(would have been an even better birthday if ManU had lost too) :p

Black Saturday...1 year on

Its now been a year since the devastating bush fires in Victoria on 7 Feb 2009 that claimed many lives, and left yet numerous more homeless and dealing with the loss of their loved ones.

Today a memorial service was held in Melbourne, a moving service. I am still at a loss for words when I think about what they must still be going through. Losing someone you love and care about is never easy, and not something you can easily forget, especially when it is under such shocking circumstances.

To borrow the words of the head of the Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority Christine Nixon:

"We are here to remember all those who lost their lives," "The worst national disaster in Australia's history has left an indelible scar on families, friends, neighbours and relatives and strangers across the world. People have seen and heard things they hope never to see again."

Our thoughts are with all the victims, their families and loved ones.

Men....no the male specie

I was nicely walking along Enmore road the other day, minding my own business, when suddenly this dog being walked by his owners ahead of me starts to turn around towards me. He kept doing that, and tried to pull his leash backwards, attempting to sniff me. I picked up pace slightly and reached beside them, where the dog kept dragging his owner towards me, wanting to show me affection.
well -or so I thought.

Anyhow, I was torn between wanting to return his affection, yet not wanting to bother his owners. So I smiled at them. This was when he had caught up to each other. The not so little dog was crying out for attention.

We reached the crossing, and had to wait for red light. I decided should be safe to extend a friendly gesture, so smile to the owners and asked the little guy's name. I say hello to him. And guess what? After all that fuss and chasing me for a block, the thing ignores me!!

gee! typical male behaviour. They loveeeeeeeeee the chase, but the minute a woman returns their attention, we are no longer a desired object. Its amazing how the male gene transcends not just across cultures, but also across breeds :p

Pa Mickey's birthday

just wanted to say I miss you. I didnt get you a cake or a rootbeer this year, but you were definitely on my mind.

NOTE: I think this blog can no longer serve as my diary, as it has become somewhat public - may have to think of another avenue to comment freely on how important the 24th Jan 2010 is to me :)

something about honest and 'frank' (not Sinatra....?)

Australia Day...and the flag

the Aussies love their flags. This is more apparent on Australia Day. Every where you go you will notice people dressed in tshirts with the flag design on, girls in the flag version bikini, or people wrapped in the flag, flags put up on cars and prams, etc etc.

So I just dont get the debate as to whether to change the flag. The issue seems to be centred on the display of the union jack (possibly related to the Republic debate and the union jack showing a link back to Britain). Personally I dont see why there is a problem with links back to the UK - even IF Australia opts to become a republic. (There was a referendum in 1997 - it was my first time to Australia, and at the time was still very clueless as to the ins and outs of politics, nor did I pay much attention as to why it didnt happen).

Australia has its roots in the UK. Yes today it may have migrants from all over the world, but its history lies in its ties with the UK, so why try to remove evidence of that link? Im not a big fan of change (haha), I like stability and routine (honest!) - and for these reasons alone to me its enough to keep the flag. I know companies undergo corporate identity change/update every now and then - and even for them its a complicated process that requires a huge marketing effort to get everyone from employees to external stakeholders to adopt the new logo - imagine how hard it would be to implement something like that for a country and not end up confusing its own population?
hmmmmmmm