Revenge Of The Haze

Just when we thought the sky is clear of the choking haze we had last week, it came back with a vengence today! And this time its worse than last week with blanketing smoke all across the city.

The haze is caused by smoke from the bushfires that are still raging on in the high country. Today with the help of the northerly wind the haze has return to Melbourne. Temperature is expected to hit 35C tomorrow so its another bad bushfire day and more choking smoke.

As of the 1st of January 2007 stage 3 water restriction will be enforced so residents are not allowed to wash their cars except in commercial carwashs, gardens can only be watered twice a week and only between 6am till 8am and between 8pm till 10pm. My garden will be dead by the time I come back from Malaysia! Die lah!

Rudolph and the 5Xmom

Only 6 more sleeps till Christmas and in case you've been living under a rock, Linpeh has released the final edition of Rudolph in your house song sang by the 21 bloggers like 5Xmom, Cocka and Wingz just to name a few.

Here's the song;

If you like the song so much you can download it from here.

But more importantly 5Xmom is giving away 2 RM50 prizes to 2 lucky bloggers who can tell which lines she sang in that song! To find out more head over to her post here.

Now 1 of the requirements for entering this competition is to complete this slogan:

Reading 5xmom is so...

Aiyo I dare not put here what I was going to say lah! Paiseh, so I'm going to write a lyric to the Rudolph song since we are so into Rudolph now. So just sing the words to the Rudolph tune below;

Lilian the 5Xmommy
Has a very generous heart!
This year she's giving money
2 bloggers are gonna win!

So if you want to win it
You just have to join the game
Head over to her weblog
It will tell you what to do

Lilian the yummy mummy!
You'll go down in history!

OK..if I don't win the RM50 then the competition must be rigged! Oh one more thing..I have to say which line she sang and the line is;

...Rudolph with your nose so bright...
...Won't you guide my sleigh tonight...

Apa ini? What kind of competition that requires I put my answer on the blog for all the other competitors to see! But just knowing the lines is not going to win it coz the judges are Linpeh and Wingz so...Psst! Linpeh and Wingz..if I give both of you RM10 each you let me win onot? Don't tell people lah, quiet quiet say I'm the winner OK?

Christmas Lights @ The Boulevard

I did a post last year on the christmas lights displays at The Boulevard in Ivanhoe and how time flies, its a year since that post! So last Saturday after the Carols in All Nations I decided to revisit The Boulevard again.

Christmas lightings in the houses along The Boulevard have been a age old tradition going back to the 1950's. Every year residents compete for the biggest and the brightest display of seasonal cheer.

I remember when I was growing up in Sibu during Hari Raya we used to drive down to the kampong to watch the colourful and wonderful displays of lights hanging on those wooden houses. The christmas display in The Boulevard brings back memories of those times so many years ago!

The lighting displays will be on from the 16th of this month till the 24th from 8.30 pm till 11.30 pm so if you are in Melbourne better head down there to check them out!

True there are a lot of houses right across Melbourne that have similar christmas light displays but ask any Melburnian and they'll tell you to to go The Boulevard. It has become a landmark of Melbourne.

Some of the older residents may have died or moved out of the area but in their places new younger residents have taken over the tradition of decorating their houses with bigger and better displays.

About 20,000 to 25,000 sightseers visit The Boulevard on the 3 nights before Christmas and the council is even considering providing free bus shuttle service to reduce traffic congestion.

Portable toilets are also provided as well as police presence to help curb trouble makers who sometimes damage the displays or steal them. Oh well, there's always some rotten apples in the basket!

This year the council is also providing additional entertainment which includes an Italian choir, a brass band, a clarinet trio and gospel singers. Its a really Chrismassy spirit here at The Boulevatd!

So I'm going to shut my mouth and let you enjoy the lights, play a christmas carol while youre watching them to get you in the spirit. Have a great Christmas! Remember its only 7 more sleeps!

Entrance to Santa's workshop with Santa's little helpers carrying boxes and boxes of presents!

There's Santa in his sleigh with the reindeers on the roof top!

Frosty doesn't want to miss out on the fun but lets hope he doesn't melt away in Melbourne's summer heat!

Can you see Bart Simpson on the top right hand corner and Santa driving a convertible in front of Bart?

Be sure to have a very Merry Christmas and there's still time to buy me some presents!

Carols in All Nations

Last night I went to All Nations Park for the annual Carols in All Nations organised by the city of Darebin for a little christmas cheers and spirits.

This much-loved community event is running into its 4th year and drawing more and more people every year. This year's concert was hosted by John Lane and featured guests like The Kucha Edwards Duo and Rosie Hilder. Both are local artists so don't worry if you don't know them.

But most of all it featured choirs from the local community like the Florinian Greek Choir, Fo'fo Anga Tongan Choir and the Gruppo Culturale Italiano Choir.

Best part of the event was during dusk when they lit the specially made star that sat on top of the hill facing the stage opposite. Its called the Northcote Star and was designed by the local artist Ken Evans.

Here's a closer view of the Northcote Star. Looks good doesn't it? I spent a few minutes trying to get a good shot of it, its hard to take pictures in the dark with my crappy camera but with the help of a tripod I think it came out ok.

Oh yes, the Massed Community Choir led by Ms Polly Christie (with the angel wings) marched down from the Northcote Star towards the stage with in candlelights to perform their christmas carols.

I didn't stay long after that coz it was getting really cold so I cabut! Brrr...beside, I had another place I wanted to go.

I Can See Clearly Now, The Haze Is Gone..

I can see clearly now, the haze is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the choking smoke that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Yes after 2 days of haze and with the cool change yesterday afternoon followed by constant rains last night the sky is clear again! Just in time for a beautiful weekend so have a great weekend everybody!

Hazy Melburn

Looks like readers are fed up with the story of D so I'm going to kill the story. Maybe when there's more juicy gossips happening to him later I might continue to write part 5 but for the time being D stands for died liao!

I woke up this morning to find a red fiery sun staring angrily back at me. The haze is back again after a couple of days of good clear sky the northerly wind decided to blow the smoke from the bushfires down onto Melbourne.

Everywhere you go you see smoky haze. This time its worse than the weekend, this time can fight with the haze in Malaysia! On the way to work we saw what looked like a foggy winter morning except this is smoke and not crisp cold clean air like in winter.

The whole city is blanketed by the haze, visibilty is reduced to a couple of hundred metres and you can actually smell the smoke in the air. No need to light up a cigarette today, got constant smoke to breathe all day long to keep you high!

Where once the city skyline was contrasted by the clear blue sky now all I see is haze! This is the worst I've ever seen. Hope it doesn't get any worse, hasn't had a decent rain for months and the grass is all dried up too!

The Story Of D Part 4

To read part 1 go here.
To read part 2 go here.
To read part 3 go here.

It seems like D still has some fans out there in the blogosphere who wants to continue reading his story so I guess I can continue to write more on it. You know the drill coz I said it so many times before, this story is reader-generated. If you like it and want more, leave me a comment to let me know. But if you can't stand this stupid story anymore and want me to kill it, let me know also lah coz you don't say I don't know mah!


So when B told D about leaving the company in M’s name, D went ballistic! He and B had a big fight but nothing D said was going to get B to change his mind about putting the company in D’s name. B thinks D is too immature for such a big responsibility even though he is the eldest son of the family.

There is some truth to what B said about D’s irresponsibility. D has always been a happy go lucky guy. He didn’t like school and loved to skip school all the time back when he was just a boy. He has always depended on his parents for just about everything like money. No matter how old he gets, he’ll always mooch off his parents if he could!

On the other hand, M is totally the opposite of D. He’s disciplined and responsible. He’s the only boy of the siblings to get a university degree! No wonder B favored him to D. B knows that if D was to have control of the company he would destroy it so better to put it in M’s name instead. So how bad can it get for D now? Wait, there’s more.

Because D hasn’t been doing regular hours at work and his parents still had to pay him a full salary, they decided to put D on a casual hourly pay meaning he gets paid for the time he’s in. After much disgruntlement D agreed reluctantly. So now he gets paid by the time he comes in to work which is very little but on top of that, he doesn’t get holiday pays! Can it get any worse? Yes, there’s more.

One day D’s house needed some major repair to his sewer system but he had no money. D decided to ask B for some money from his long service leave. Long service leaves are for people who have worked full-time in a company for more than 10 years. Its usually 8 to 10 weeks entitlement I can’t remember but some people opt for cash payment which is what D wanted but you want to know what his father said? “Because you ceased to be a full timer before your 10 years was up, you don’t qualify!” said his father.

Want more? You know what to do!

Spring The Trap, Lets Catch Stewpig Wuching!

Looks like readers are losing interest in the story of D so I'll stop writing about him unless I get an overwhelming request for it! So today I'm not going to write about the story of D but instead I'm going to tell you what happened to me last night.

In the Sunday paper I saw a column saying there's a christmas display at this place in Box Hill and its free! Could be interesting, said I as I might be able to take some nice pictures of their display so I decided to go.

When I arrived at the place I saw people carrying a sign saying "Christmas Display" on the street trying to get drivers to turn into their premises to see the free christmas display. I went in and was greeted with friendly smiles and was shown where I could park my car.

I parked my car and got my camera ready, turned around and saw this man standing there patiently waiting for me. He came up to me and greeted me, introduced himself and shook my hand. Gee, what a welcome! I thought to myself, I've never gotten services like this before! He led me to the front main door and said someone else will show me the way from there on.

At the main door another man greeted me most warmly and led me into the door. I must say they did quite a setup with the christmas display but it was too dark inside because the displays need to be in the dark for striking effects so meaning my camera will not be able to take any good pictures. Moreover the man (I forgot his name already) didn't give me a chance to enjoy the displays in peace. He led me through the entire displays, talking to me about how Joseph and Mary had their baby Jesus in the manger, then the 3 wise men and you know the rest. Then I finally realised saya kenak conned laio! This is a church and this is how they recruit new members! I've fallen into a trap!

So not wanting to bolt out of there and trying to be polite and all, I listened to what the man had to say and I also asked a few questions making it sound like I'm interested eventhough I was bored shitless! But luckily the display wasn't long and we soon came to the end. But he's made his sales and the ball is in my court so to speak coz he gave me some pamphlets and badge to take home and told me about their Carols by Candlelight next weekend and that I am most welcome to bring my whole family!

So do you think I should go? Chey! If I wanted to talk Jesus I can always talk to 5Xmom or QV! Don't have to spring a trap like that to lure people into your church trying to recruit new members! Sibeh tulan lah!

The Story Of D Part 3

To read part 1 go here.
To read part 2 go here.

Hello all! Welcome back for another episode of the story of D. I sure hope you enjoyed the first 2 episodes then you'll enjoy all the other episodes to come. If you haven't read the first 2 episodes then I suggest you read them first and leave a comment to let me know if you want to me to continue writing this story!

We found out from the last episode that D was actually an adopted child. To find out more on this we have to rewind around 40 years back into the past..back when B and his wife Y were newly weds and just starting to have a family. But tried as they might Y wasn't able to fall pregnant so after much consideration, they decided to adopt instead.

Their dream of having a child was finally coming true! There was a young couple who got pregnant out of wedlock and back then this is a bad bad thing! Moreover they were too young and had no money to take care of their baby so they decided to put their baby up for adoption.

So a babyboy was born and B and Y took the baby home and named him D. Back then D was the center of the universe for B and Y, they loved him very much and spoilt him rotten. Soon B and Y decided to adopt another kid to keep D company so they adopted another babyboy and named him S. D and S got along really well and they became the best of friends throughout their lives.

Then one fine day Y found out that she was pregnant! This was so unexpected but she finally get to have her own baby! B of course was very excited about the pregnancy as well. Some people till this day still think its a bit odd that Y could fall pregnant after all these years, especially that was during the time when B used to travel a lot...but that's another story for another time.

Anyway 9 months passed and a babyboy was born to Y and both B and Y loved him to bits! They named him M and showered him with all the luxuries that D and S used to enjoy. There's a new golden child in the household and D and S had to let M had all the best things B and Y could afford, like the best food, the best clothes, the best toys and the best Christmas presents! The good days for D and S were gone..

Fast forward to present day...B and Y are in their golden years but they are not allowed to get the government pensions because they make too much money. So in order to get that pensions they have to be broke and not owning any monies or properties. D thought that this is his chance at inheriting the company he built so he went back to talk to his father about putting the company in his name but his father said, "Son I love you dearly but you are still immature to bear that kind of responsibility so I'm putting the company in M's name." *DENG DENG DENG DENG*

If you want me to continue writing this story, you know what to do!

Haze In Australia!

Lets take a little break from the story of D to bring to you on the situation in Australia. I woke up this morning thinking that I was back in Malaysia already but realised I was still in Melbourne!

In all the years that I've lived here I've never seen haze like what I saw today! Normally on a fine day you'll see blue clear sky but today the sky was filled with smoky haze like in Malaysia!

Well, ok maybe not as bad as in Malaysia but this is the worst I've seen here. All these haze is caused by the smoke from the bushfires that are still raging across Australia right now. Its a hot summer with temperature reaching 38 degrees celsius with no relief tomorrow with temperature expected to reach 37 degress celsius!

Which means tonight will be an uncomfortable warm night and I won't be able to get a good night sleep. Should've put in that air-conditioner I kept defering. Now I suffer!

The Story Of D Part 2

To read part 1 go here.

Well it looks like I have enough interested readers for me to write part 2 of the story of D so here's part 2 after the success of the pilot episode of part 1! If you like part 2 leave a comment to let me know if you want to read part 3 or you can tell me to kill the story already coz its boring! Either way, let me know yah! Without further ado, enjoy part 2...

So D found out after all these time that he doesn't have any shares in the company that he set up. All those years of hard works have all gone down the drain! What is he to do? He was very very upset, understandably but his father would not budge on giving him a share in the company. D begged and cried to his father and his mother also but both parents were not keen on letting D have a share of the company. D was furious and had a big blew with his parents. All kinds of things went through his mind, he even thought about suing them but D is a weak man who's always under his father's thumb so he gave up that idea. He thought of leaving the company and taking all the clienteles with him but that would mean starting afresh and he was too scared to do that on his own. He tried getting on the good sides of his parents by "angkat kaki" but they see through his scheme and still would not budge.

D was in a dilemma, all he could do was swallow his pride and kept coming in to work day in day out. Soon he was whining and complaining about his parents to his friends, his staff, his clients and his wife. If you think D was really upset about this circumstance then you should see how D's wife felt! D's wife blew her top like a volcano! You see, D's wife S always thought that with D's company doing so well she would not have to work but stay home and be a "tai tai". She had dreams of going shopping everyday, getting her hair and nails done and drinks champagne by the pool with her rich friends everyday! But now all is lost and she had to go look for a job!

D continued to work for his father but because he knows that he has no share in the company he doesn't work as hard as before, he became very slack and sometimes would not even show up for work. Soon he’s only coming in for a couple of hours work and nicking off to get drunk with his friends at the pub. So because of that his father decided to deduct his pay for the hours he was absent! So now he’s bringing home less money which made his wife very very angry! S was so angry she couldn’t take it anymore so she called his father to demand his normal pay reinstated but his father said no because he’s not paying him for time he’s not at work. “How can you be so mean to your own son?” S cried out to B. “If he wants a full day’s pay he needs to do a full day’s work!” answered B. “You’re just doing this to him because he’s adopted!” *CHENG CHENG CHENG*

The Story Of D Part 1

Neo wanted me to write a post on my work but since there's nothing exciting about my work how about some gossips at the workplace instead? If ask me about gossips at workplace then I have 1001 tales to tell! I will start with a pilot episode first to test my audience to see how much you like gossipy posts, so if you like it and want to read more then you have to leave a comment to let me know! So without further ado, enjoy my gossip tale from work..its the story about D.

Once upon a time, there was a man by the name of D. D loves money like everyone else but D is also very lazy, he wants to be rich but he doesn't want to roll up his sleeves to work for it. So he always came up with all sort of ideas on how to get rich quick. One day D had a brilliant idea on how to start a business which he hopes will set him and his family up for good financially. He has the expertise but he didn't have the capital to start his business and his credit rating is basically nil. So he asked his father for help like always when he needs money.

D's father is a money face and tight ass man. His ass is so tight no one can brokeback him! His name is B and he loves money even more than D and he is good at it too so when D proposed to him about his little idea of business venture his eyes all lit up like a christmas tree! So he decided to help D set up his business by going to the bank and asking for a loan for capital, organise the paperworks and purchase all the necessary equipments for the business.

The business went really well, there was a steady stream of works coming through and money was coming in every week which meant both father and son were very happy. Whatever money they made from the first couple of years were used to pay off the loan, buy more equipments, hire more staff so the company can have more clients. More clients meant more money and father and son were happy!

Soon the business was doing so well that D got to drive a Nissan Patrol 4WD compliment of the company that he set up. Every year everyone got bonuses and all were happy. There was peace on earth then.

So after a few years of hard work and paying off the business start-up capital D's dream of an easy life with steady stream of money coming to him was becoming real. He wouldn't need to work anymore and would just play golf and go fishing everyday. So one fine day he went to see his father about getting his share of the profit but his dad said; "Son, I own the company. You are just working for me so you don't get to share in MY profit." "OMFG!!!" said D but there was nothing he could do because before they started the company they never put it on paper that D had any share in it. To be continued..

If you want to know more about the story of D, leave a comment to let me know and if you don't want to read about D anymore coz this story sucks, leave a comment to let me know also!

Go To My Happy Place, My Happy Place..

Its been a long time since I last updated, I'm not lazy but just too busy at work. Seems like everyday is just wake up, go to work, come home all tired and stressed out, go to sleep and repeat all of the above all over again and again! So busy can die I tell you!

After a long, stressfull day at work sometimes I like to go to my happy place above where I can de-stress and breath again! Here I can let go all my worries and just go blank in my mind to relax. But not everyday I get to go there so sometimes I go there in my mind, like today..go to my happy place, go to my happy place..ahh..

So I do apologise if you've come all the way to read the same old posts over and over again for the last 3 days! I will try my darnest to update as often as I can but when I'm so busy at work, there's no story to tell but how stressfull work is! But, I will do my best..in the mean time let me get back to my happy place, my happy place..ommmmm..

Christmas Spectacular

Its December and that means I'm going to be busy all month! That's how crazy things get over here in Australia, everybody wants to get everything done before Christmas comes so everyone can go on a long holiday. I want too so I'll be busy right up till Christmas which means I'll be updating less. I also want to get everything done so I can go away in peace. So Malaysia here I come!

These were taken from Crown Complex Atrium where a spectacular light show featuring Christmas is showing every half an hour from now till after Christmas.

If you're in Melbourne do check it out, its magical! However the show is more or less similar to the show from last year with just a bit of changes here and there.

These 2 acrobatic clowns were supposed to be moving but I suspect something's broken coz they're not doing anything when I was there! I do remember last year they were doing some acrobatic stunt.

Here's Santa's reindeers but I can't find the one with the red nose they call Rudolph.

Moulin Rouge! The sides open up and the curtain raised to reveal these 3 lovely ladies doing the can-can!

And lastly we have the rotunda where a fairy flies down from above and Santa eventually emerges from a drawn up curtain..watch the show below.

World AIDS Day Concert

Today being the 1st of December is the first day of summer in Australia. It is also World AIDS Day.

Just so happened that last Sunday I chanced upon the World AIDS Day free concert at Federation Square in the city. The concert featured local artists like Rob Mills and Kate Alexa.

The concert drew a large crowd to the square and the weather was fabulous with sunny sky and light cool southerly wind so as not to get too hot so everyone can enjoy the concert.

As usual Mayor John So was there to officially declare the concert open so the party could begin. I don't know what is it about John So but he's so popular everyone loves him be them asian or european descent.

I can't remember who this guy is but he does have a good voice. In fact I don't really know any of the artists performing on the day so don't feel bad if you don't know them either because they are after all local Australian artists.

However I do know this young rising star, her name is Kate Alexa and her debut album is Broken & Beautiful packed with pop hits like Always There and My Days Will Come.

Before I left I watched one last act by Cousin Leonard who I think are also very good. Don't just take my words for it, watch the video clip below of their performance and judge it for yourself!