29 winters past.

Another winter to add into this journey of life, and a simple yumcha was the order of the day.





As I mildly reflect,

Still waters belie the storm to come,
Yet the storm shall relent
And the waters be still again.

---

And a lifetime first - highlights for my hair as a birthday pressie. Courtesy of Mel and her patience - all 2.5 hours of tender loving attention to detail. The aftermath to be posted when the colour settles.

Supernova Pop Culture Expo

Was massively pumped out for this convention - have never attended a comics/anime expo in my life, and this counted as a first.

Event itself wasn't as grand as expected, and wasn't quite worth the $20 ticket. But well. Managed to get a glimpse of Ando from Heroes and Gimli from Lord of the Rings, and the quintessential photo with a coupla storm troopers ala comics conventions.

House quirks

Been spending pockets of time here and there breathing soul to the house, and have been actively scouring the Salvo's for nice old frames awaiting a second life.


Found a photo of my favourite muppet! Animal the drummer.


A selection of nice postcards now reside in this frame.


The way in the backyard verandah.


And some shots of the lighting at home. All this made possible by my brother's Exlim camera!

Pink M&Ms

Found at a servo.

Blok M

Had a massive craving for indonesian food and the shoe recommended a relak corner near Chapel Street. On Commercial Road, "Blok M" is the name of the joint and man was it chill. Service took forever to come, the water from the flask took forever to pour out, and the proud owners were just happily relaxing outside playing guitar and singing folk songs. What a great community getaway! Place was known for good nasi goreng - so I went with great anticipation. Ordered a nasi goreng kambing.



Menu Action - quite pricey. All the main courses hovered from $8 and above.


Shoemin stressing over what to eat.


Their murtabak was pretty interesting. Looking like a spring onion pancake, it tasted like Roti John sans massive grease.


and this was found in Safeway. Men's sized tissue. Man. 30cm by 30cm. How big is that!

Abalone

Ron the ceaseless adventurer came home after a dive with a some abalone. Caught fresh off the Mornington Peninsla. Man have never come close to one that was alive before we decided to makan the fella. So the four of them were righteously set to rest the night before in salt water before the big operation. Next time Ron will come back with five, that's apparently what the licence allows per diver. The abalone tasted great fried with butter. But couldn't quite help feel sorry for the dudes who got the taste of our kitchen knife.

Check out Ron's priceless looks.

Former students

It's a great feeling. Having former students defying all odds to further their studies; to an educator that is.

Invited a couple of former students now studying in Melb over for lunch. A mix of them were studying their Bachelor's at Monash Uni and Melbourne Uni, and there were two who have already embarked on their Masters! How time flies from their days as wide-eyed 17 year-olds fresh out of secondary school and into the polytechnic where I shared what I knew. And now. From Republic Polytechnic to Melbourne Uni. What a great jump and cause for joy! :) Even found out that one of them just got started on her PhD. Amazing.





And yeap, that's one of my new recipes. Tacos.

Cadbury Ice Cream

Found this stashed away at the new showroom :)

Love it, but not quite sure what to do with it. Yet.

Bob's fried rice

Have a brand new recipe for fried rice. Improvised on the fly, and fired up with a chance like a die. Man. How corny is that? :)

Check it out. Quite pretty.

Frogs!

My aussie employers have got a brand new store in the furniture catchment area of Dandenong South, a good 30+km away from my current place. That's like Jurong to Bedok!!! ** Our actual signage wasn't quite up yet.

Here're some peektures of the store-in-motion and some loovely pics of a colleague's kids, Oscar and Allie, they're both massively adorable. And Oscar's born on the same day as I am - we connected straight away. Even though all we said to each other were - Choo Choo and Ball Ball. :)

Wandering Planet?

My mind tells me I should change the title of this blog to Domesticated Boy. Not quite the wandering planet of late. Ah well, they're all just words aren't they?

Check out the traditional Chinese brews I bought. As we speak, am boiling barley to cool down the system. Currently afflicted with a double bonus - wisdom tooth action and an infected throat.

Food glorious food and the temporary drum kit

The household went slightly mad with tacos for dinner :) My usually vegetarian housemates also went nuts with a slice of Kangaroo roast.



And my attempt at vegetarian-ish dinner. Whilst cooking I had to let go some minced pork though into the Moroccan Chickpea Mix. Need my meat.



Above's the loan kit a church friend kindly loaned to me to bang on until I get my own. Finally. A kit to practise on.