We got wheels!

Mardi Gras baby!

Apologies for the sporadic entries here! As some of you might know, I dropped my trusty Canon IXUS 850 (I know!!) and now the lense wouldn’t go back where it should. Am very VERY sad. The thing is, I actually have a very VERY powerful DSLR… but it weighs a tonne and gives me a sore neck. Also very intimidating when I pull it out at brunch and attempt to take photos of my food.

And so, I am left without pictures to blog with.

However, I decided to start getting used to the monster of a machine and brought it out to, of all events, MARDI GRAS! It turned out to be a great decision because, even though my photos came out crappy (you’ll know what I mean…) I managed to double it up as binoculous and got a decent “view” of the parade!

Getting to the parade was quite… painful. Firstly, yes, the sore neck. Secondly, he was working so I was left battling the crowd on my own. Thirdly, drunk Aussie teenagers are pain in the arses!! If there are any teenage Aussies who get drunk at every opportunity reading this right now, let me tell you this — you are a loser. A LOSER!! STOP PASSING OUT DRUNK ON THE STREETS! STOP GROPING AND GETTING GROPPED! YOU ARE NOT COOL!!! STOP BEING A WOO!-GIRL!!

Ugh.

See, the viewing points were basically a human lasagne. Layers upon layers of people just stacking themselves against one another. Then comes along this crazy Aussie chick who thinks she’s size -00 and tries to squeeze herself in between, uh, the breathing space of two human beings? “Like OMG! Com’on Courtney! I swear, we are, like, SO close! We are, like, seriously, a metre away from the front!!”

Like. Seriously. So is everyone standing in line here? Duh?

Not being able to roll my eyes any further, I turned to this chick and said, “Look, I’m trying to get a view here too,” in the hope that she’d quit acting like a mouse. And guess what this intelligent being replied?

“Who are YOU?”

For your info, -I- am trying to tell you to quit being an idiot and stop shoving the 200 other people around you trying to get a decent view just like you are!!

Randomness

- Can’t wait for Farmer’s Market tomorrow! Am so gonna get my hands on those damn quiches this time! 7.30am it is.
- Mardi Gras tomorrow night baby!

- Recently, I’ve become a SUPER morning person. And I pass out before midnight. It’s amazing how I used to stay up til 4am and head to school at 6.30am (probably explains the sleeping in class). Anyway, I wake up before the alarm rings these days like clockwork, and it’s been pretty terrible for him cos he gets awoken too. Sorry darling!
- Not only do I wake up early, I have so much energy even before my morning coffee that I start snooping around the house looking for things to tidy. SO weird.
- Autumn is officially here, the weather is getting chilly and very soon, the days are going to get shorter…

- I love the seasonality of this country, and the part it plays in the produce we consume. In Singapore, we take for granted the tropical fruits we get all year round. While the variety is great, I think it’s interesting to observe the season’s produce and “eat along with it” too. In winter we have winter veggies, like squash, pumpkins, sweetcorn. Come spring, there is asparagus, strawberries. Late spring and early summer brings juicy watermelons, cherries and mangoes. Right now in summer we have a multitude of stone fruits – nectarines (YUMMIEST EVER!), prunes, apricots, peaches. Can’t wait to see what autumn has in store.

- Observation: Aussies are a funny lot – they can be in their savvy business suits and frilly skirts, but walk to work in their Nikes. Very odd fashion, but very health-oriented and practical. Kudos! I wish Singaporeans were like that. Such a killer to be standing in heels on a bus for an hour.
- And for those who are not in their sporty shoes… they simply go barefooted!

- Last weekend, we got locked out of our building after a dinner night out. He’d taken his office keycard instead and I didn’t bring my card out. Catastrophic. In the end, we randomly buzzed a neighbour to explain our situation. Neighbour #1 asked if I had IDs, and when I said I didn’t, he said “oh ok.” Which I took to mean “Oh ok. Well I suppose I can come to get you, you don’t sound like a crook.” After ten minutes, he still didn’t come down. Quite an arse. He could have just told us he wasn’t obliged to open the gate?! Anyway, neighbour #2 was a lovely lady who came down in a jiffy without any gripes – “it happened to me before!” Thanks sweetheart!

- Alas, the search for bridesmaid dress was futile after a 1-hour journey to Miranda. Yes, Miranda. Ugh. Well, at least now I can claim to have been to Miranda. And AND I had Red Rooster!! Gosh, I miss those hot chips from when I was in Gold Coast. AND, I went to an Aldi for the first time! Funny how it’s suppose to be a “budget supermarket” but stocked so much German-imports! Very peculiar. But very interesting grocery outing for me since most of the stuff are different from Coles and Woolies.

- Can you already tell that I LOVE grocery shopping? I’m thinking it might have something to do with my parents owning a mini-mart when I was a kid. The highlight of my week is when the supermarket catalogues come out on Mon and Wed. I know.

- I know my English is very poor in this post. I don’t know why.