Anniv October 30, 2008

I should have been blogging more this month considering there are several milestones to celebrate. Apart from my birthday, there’s my first anniversary of my arrival in Australia and my job. Finally, naka-isang taon ako sa isang company, haven’t done that since 2005! HAHAHAH.

What struck me was that time just flew by. Compared to my hellish months in the last 3 companies I’ve been in prior to this one…ewan ko lang, I must have settled into the groove of things. I must be happy. Or maybe I just don’t know what I want to do next, career-wise.

I feel the need to focus on developing a strong sense of self and work out all my ‘issues’ and ‘hang ups’. It’s easy to be more positive nowadays. I’d like to think I’m almost ready for the next big thing.

Thanks thanks thanks… October 26, 2008

Celebrating my birthday this year’s a blast. As in. So different from last year. God is really good. Thank you to everyone who remembered and took the time to greet me

I got to see almost all of my friends in Melbourne and was lucky to have picked good places to dine…Knife, Fork, Bottle and Cork on Lt. Bourke, Hanabishi on King, Ezard on Flinders Lane and Cookie on Swanston. I will never forget the Oyster Shooter and the Chicken Dumpling with coconut milk soup at Ezard (these deserve a special mention because they’re that good).

On the day of my birthday, I didn’t have anything planned aside from a small get-together with the Morasa family, Abby, Carol and her son. I offered to join Abby to run errands after and we ended up doing a bit of shopping. I love my new dress and top from Snowgum!

We then had coffee at Brunetti near Melbourne Town Hall to fuel up and we just chatted up a storm. At the last minute, Abby invited me to join her to a get-together at Altona Beach. I’m very glad I did and and got to know some of Abby’s friends while relaxing on beach mats, enjoying the night breeze. I felt very happy afterwards; I felt that my ideal Saturday just happened, down to the weather.  I felt blessed that my ideal Saturday happened on my birthday

Being Sick is the Pits… September 26, 2008

Been sick since Monday and stayed home since Wednesday. I feel really down and exhausted right now. The doctor has me given a round of antibiotics,  and I cannot wait until all the gunk is out of my system and my voice returns back to normal. The worst was probably yesterday when I woke up with half of my voice gone and went to bed early only to wake up several times to cough my head off which made my head ache and ears ring.

It’s the same each time I get it. Sheesh, and people tell me it could have been worse (since I got the flu vaccine). I hate the flu, I really hate it.

Ateneo’s win didn’t even cheer me up–I was that miserable.  I miss home, my family. I miss my friends in Manila and Singapore terribly.

Wall-E September 21, 2008

Watched Wall-E with Kaitlin and Ann Friday night and I loved it. The animation’s fantastic, as usual. The message is really good too–very timely. Global warming and obesity are issues of the modern world.

Speaking of obesity…a feature on Type 2 Diabetes, a disease linked to obesity, came on Discovery Home and Health. Australia is one of the countries experiencing exponential growth of Type 2 diabetes cases year after year, and has overtaken the United States as the most obese country in the world. One Finnish professor made the point that countries have to make healthy living as the ‘easiest’ option available so that people tend to choose the healthy alternative.

I understand the crux of this suggestion. As it is, it’s hard to eat healthy and well. I struggle with it; it takes time to read labels and plan meals (so you shop with a purpose). Psychologically, I grew up with an appetite for variety and the tendency to indulge in ‘fun’ foods when an excuse comes up. I think junk food is an essential part of a balanced diet! I feel very fortunate that Australia has a good range of fresh produce, and I can afford to spend a bit more on whole foods and organic products. I get tempted all the time by chips, chocolate cake and convenience foods (which have preservatives and what-have-you) and many times, I give in. There’s always room for improvement in my diet. At the back of my mind, I know I can’t allow myself to be worse than yesterday because 6 years ago, I got a wake-up call from my doctor in Manila. I have to strive to be as lean and active as I can because I am at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Ordinary Day September 21, 2008

Another sorta ‘oldie’ song….Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton. She sounds really good live!

I’m looking for the sheet music–I think it’s simple enough for my limited piano knowledge.

A Thousand Miles is too gasgas for me. And I never listened to/looked at it the same way after White Chicks. HAHAHAH.

‘Wiggle’ your way to wealth September 18, 2008

The Wiggles are Australia’s highest-paid entertainers.

I told Roch that I’d rather be a Wiggle if that’s the case. Doing simple choreography and singing and wear a skivvy daily (and maybe some weird costumes from time-to-time) to entertain kids, it definitely sounds more fulfilling than being a programmer. They travel a lot, too.

Go Ateneo! September 18, 2008

Okay. I am not a basketball fan. Actually, I suspect I only know half of the rules, but this doesn’t stop me from getting excited when I heard that Ateneo can be UAAP champions this year. What makes it even better is it’s over La Salle.

I don’t think I’ll pay to watch it over the internet. I cannot appreciate good plays; I’m just after the scoreboard But I hope Ateneo wins…don’t choke now, guys!

Baby Zee September 18, 2008

My sister-in-law gave birth yesterday to our family’s first apo, Kyle. He’s small, just a little over 5 lbs, but healthy and (much to my mom’s relief) has a beautiful nose.

I want to call him Zee because he’s going to have a second name starting with ‘Z’…as of yesterday, they haven’t decided.

Now, the problem is…we also call Zebra (the dog) ‘Zee’. Everytime my mom or my brother mentions ‘Zee’, but referring to baby Zee, Zebra wags her tail.

Oh darn. Conflict. HAHAHAHA.

Newcomers Alike September 14, 2008

I was hit with waves of loneliness sometime last week. The feeling comes and goes, and when it’s there, there’s that temptation to go to the dark side. 

I googled and Newcomers Network came up. I decided to go last Friday, thinking that I really have to go out there to make friends. I was sleepy that afternoon at work, but the nice spring evening snapped me out of it.

I thought that there would be someone who will meet people at the entrance of the Rendezvous Hotel bar, but no…I saw a group of middle-aged people with name tags and frankly, I was intimidated. I stood in silence at the entrance until I saw a girl (who I think) is my age saunter to the bar to get a drink. Nina, who is from the UK, came with her boyfriend and introduced me to Sue, who was the event organizer. She led me to mingle with Marianne and John. Marianne is a student at Victoria University and worked part-time until she quit the day before. John is a motivational speaker and gives seminars to corporations–from middle managers to front-line people. 

Sue shifted people around as more people came in. I spent most of the evening with siblings Ann and Chong (Malaysian; students), Kaitlin (American; art student), and Mohammad (from Saudi Arabia, medical student). A big group of us left close to 9pm to get dinner and Rob ( some-sort-of-environemnt consultant; Dutch) ended up in our group. We had dimsum at Dumplings Plus on Swanston Street.

Dinner was quite pleasant and everyone came clean about how awkward it was to be socializing for 2, 3 hours straight earlier that evening. We were all tired! It was also interesting to discover how most of us decided to move to Australia by choice because we liked the quality of life and better opportunities. Rob told me all about his job and I thought it’s interesting. He analyzes products and determines the enviromental impact of the product, from the raw materials to bringing it to store shelves. Heck, honestly, I’d be interested to study that! 

I’m glad I went, hopefully I am going at the right direction to stop the bouts of loneliness. I sent an invite to the group to the Tesselaar Tulip Festival, so hopefully I’ll see them again.

Tomorrow I plan to run on the Tan track, hopefully meet this running club whose members meet there every Monday.

Spring! September 8, 2008

September…start of the ‘ber’ months, the start of Spring. I was looking forward to putting away my winter clothes, and my down quilt when I noticed that the temps are stil teeter-tottering between 12-15 degrees, and even colder at night. Let’s give it a couple of weeks more, hey?

Elsie and I have started taking lunchtime walks around Southbank. With each day, we see more and more people going out for a jog. After my decent finish at my first 10K, I feel encouraged to try outdoor running, maybe when the days start getting longer again with the sunset at past 7PM. I downloaded the Walking/Jogging Track Guide from the That’s Melbourne site. There are nice scenic tracks around the city–the ‘Tan’ track, Albert Park and Docklands.

Okay. I get asked this question quite often–when’s the best time to visit Melbourne?

• Weather-wise — if you’re after mild, cool days…late March and April then late October and November. The days are quite long for these months as well.
• Event-wise — For me, March…with the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, Moomba Water Festival and the F1 racing at Albert Park and January, for the Australian Open. Depends on what you want to do.