I think i'm over Christmas.
Didn't it start in October?
The holiday season for me really only began on Wednesday afternoon, which I spent in abject depression about the state of my research. I took a nap and tried not to think too much, which is sometimes the only way to deal with things till you're a bit more detached and sensible.
In any case, almost immediately, i reverted to my natural nocturnal habits. Left to my own devices, i unfailingly stay up till 5am and then wake up at noon. This sortof worked on Thursday, when the retail sector stayed up all night too, and so we went shopping at 8.30pm! An adventure! Unfortunately, people doing christmas shopping, even at adventurous hours of the night, are Really Stressed and In a Hurry, and i'm afraid it rubbed off on us. We darted in and out of shops, methodically amassing appropriate gifts for Bear's friends and loved ones... or rather, I would select various items, thrust them in front of Bear, who would say "hrmmmm" or "ehhhhhrrr" or other helpful beary noises, and then I made the final decision.
I got a little upset at Bear, but it really wasn't his fault. Bears can't be expected to be any use at shopping. Thankfully however, they are very good at carrying heavy bags, giving hugs, and driving cars!
After a nice midnight dinner at our regular 24hr cafe, we were off to the Fish Markets! Hurrah! Bear was much happier shopping for fish, and despite the heaving crowds, we got out with several kilos of fresh seafood for Christmas lunch with his family. We also bought some perch for ourselves, which Bear suspects we might've got for free in the chaos, so that was cool. :)
And then we went home. Bear went to sleep, and I stayed up till 5am.
Then came Friday. It's still Friday as far as I'm concerned, but you know, whatever.
We did nothing on Friday, also known as Christmas Eve. I woke up at 1pm, sat around, went online, had some lunch, wrapped some presents, failed to have a nap, sat around some more, and had a brief delusional experience whereby it suddenly occurred to me that the strange bump growing on my ear was dutch, and it was from the netherlands.
Then i made dinner. We looked in the fridge and found a tomato and two potatoes, so with the help of our rather enthusiastic veggie garden, we had thyme seasoned pan-fried perch with lemony mashed potato and a lettuce and tomato salad with basil vinaigrette.
Then i burnt most of the crumble i'd put in the oven, and we had slices of fresh mango with vanilla yoghurt, topped with salvaged crumble for dessert.
That was probably the high point of the day.
Christmas is so nothing. All the shops are closed. They're even closed on Boxing Day, which isn't their fault really since the NSW government took it unto themselves to provide retail workers with "a decent break at Christmas time" by banning retailers from trading on that day.
We're flying off to Singapore on Monday though, for a measly little week.
I wish i had a longer holiday.
I wish my family and friends were here.
I wish we all weren't so inevitably lost and alone in this world.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Friday, December 24, 2004
Yum!
"Made especially for the chocolate gourmet, delicate orange pieces and almond slivers enveloped in intense dark chocolate."
Or, the much more evocative description from the french website:
Toute l’harmonie subtile d’un fin chocolat noir, doux et fondant spécialement conçu pour célébrer les saveurs délicates des tendres pépites d’orange et d’un feuilleté d’amandes effilées.
Une tablette de couleur noire intense avec des morceaux d’amandes et d’orange qui se laissent deviner.
En bouche, cette tablette révèle une saveur légèrement acidulée et de multiples sensations : croustillante, croquante, sablée et fondante.
Un véritable plaisir gourmand pour les papilles des amoureux de chocolat noir de dégustation.
Which means, (via babelfish):
All the subtle harmony of a fine chocolate black, soft and melting especially designed to celebrate delicate savours of the tender nuggets of orange and laminated of spilt almonds. A shelf of black color intense with pieces of almonds and orange which are let guess. In mouth, this shelf reveals a slightly acidulous savour and multiple feelings: crusty, crunching, sanded and melting. A true greedy pleasure for the papillae of in love with black chocolate of tasting.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
IQ rant
"It is the realisation that by definition half the world has an IQ under 100 and they vote conservative." - From some aimless editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald.
I've heard comments like this so many times, and that was probably the last straw. Wasn't it passed around as a sortof Bushism that George the Shrub was surprised to hear that "half the population was of below average intelligence"? I'm paraphrasing from memory by the way. And two lecturers who really should have known better used that same line in class, as a warning to drive more carefully during the holiday season, because, etc.
Loathe as I am to counter Bush-mockery, he was right to be surprised, because its simply not true that half the population is of below average intelligence. It's doesn't ring true intuitively, and it's not true "by definition" either, because an average of a sample of numbers does not imply that half the sample of numbers lie below the average and so on. People know this, don't they? Am i taking it too seriously? Is it actually a joke that people find funny?
Alright, so IQ is represented in a normal distribution, which is different from a random sample of numbers. Even so, I think there is some confusion in interpreting the curve.
Here is a sketchily drawn (and blurry) representation of the normal distribution of IQ scores in a population.
Perhaps the confusion lies in the understanding of what a normal distribution is, because it is symmetrical across the mean (100), and therefore half of the possible scores lie below 100, and half above it.
However, the population is not distributed that way. As you can see, if you were to be strict about it and decided the average IQ was 100, and 100 only, there is a rather significant number of people that are "average", and hence those groups of people with IQ scores of less than 100 or more than 100 for that matter, cannot reasonably be considered to be half the population.
Moreover, an IQ is not a fixed number, being only a test score, and is usually subject to error of plus or minus 3 points. Not only that, scores within 1 standard deviation of the mean (15 points) are usually considered average, such that approximately 68% of the population has, in fact, an average IQ score, ranging from 85 to 115. Therefore only approximately 16% of the population could reasonably be considered to have a below average IQ score.
In case anyone wants to know, an IQ score of at least 2 standard deviations above the mean is the point at which intellectual giftedness is usually set, although there are variations.
I'll try not to get started on how IQ does not equate intelligence, and go to bed instead. Feel free to ask me any questions, call me a pedant, or argue with me if you don't agree or think I'm taking this too seriously.
:P
I've heard comments like this so many times, and that was probably the last straw. Wasn't it passed around as a sortof Bushism that George the Shrub was surprised to hear that "half the population was of below average intelligence"? I'm paraphrasing from memory by the way. And two lecturers who really should have known better used that same line in class, as a warning to drive more carefully during the holiday season, because, etc.
Loathe as I am to counter Bush-mockery, he was right to be surprised, because its simply not true that half the population is of below average intelligence. It's doesn't ring true intuitively, and it's not true "by definition" either, because an average of a sample of numbers does not imply that half the sample of numbers lie below the average and so on. People know this, don't they? Am i taking it too seriously? Is it actually a joke that people find funny?
Alright, so IQ is represented in a normal distribution, which is different from a random sample of numbers. Even so, I think there is some confusion in interpreting the curve.
Here is a sketchily drawn (and blurry) representation of the normal distribution of IQ scores in a population.
Perhaps the confusion lies in the understanding of what a normal distribution is, because it is symmetrical across the mean (100), and therefore half of the possible scores lie below 100, and half above it.
However, the population is not distributed that way. As you can see, if you were to be strict about it and decided the average IQ was 100, and 100 only, there is a rather significant number of people that are "average", and hence those groups of people with IQ scores of less than 100 or more than 100 for that matter, cannot reasonably be considered to be half the population.
Moreover, an IQ is not a fixed number, being only a test score, and is usually subject to error of plus or minus 3 points. Not only that, scores within 1 standard deviation of the mean (15 points) are usually considered average, such that approximately 68% of the population has, in fact, an average IQ score, ranging from 85 to 115. Therefore only approximately 16% of the population could reasonably be considered to have a below average IQ score.
In case anyone wants to know, an IQ score of at least 2 standard deviations above the mean is the point at which intellectual giftedness is usually set, although there are variations.
I'll try not to get started on how IQ does not equate intelligence, and go to bed instead. Feel free to ask me any questions, call me a pedant, or argue with me if you don't agree or think I'm taking this too seriously.
:P
Cool stuff
That is, gift ideas from the New Scientist nomoresocks site.
A selection:
Giant Microbes
Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius
Grass armchair
Invisible Body T-shirt
ACME Klein bottle
The Element Collection
Star Theatre
Room defender
Trekker Palm Microscope
Commission a table
Zero-gravity flight!
Explore underwater volcanoes!
MIG25 Space Explorer
and lastly, this. Oh dear.
A selection:
Giant Microbes
Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius
Grass armchair
Invisible Body T-shirt
ACME Klein bottle
The Element Collection
Star Theatre
Room defender
Trekker Palm Microscope
Commission a table
Zero-gravity flight!
Explore underwater volcanoes!
MIG25 Space Explorer
and lastly, this. Oh dear.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Salsa dinner
Bear and I were invited to his brother's place for roast dinner tonight, but I've been an antisocial grouch all day, so decided it would be Best if Bear went with my apologies and I stayed at home. Besides, i had all this work to do, and the Queer Eye Christmas special on tv! Hahahah. I also had a craving for tomato salsa, after staying up last night transfixed to the telly, watching infomercials about this allegedly superinvinciblepowerful food processor.
Tadah!
I'd never made a salsa before, but recipes seem to suggest its some combination of tomatoes, chilli, onion, green herby thing, and some acid. So, i chopped up some roma tomatoes, jalapeno chillies, red onion, basil (fresh from the garden), and whizzed it up with some lemon juice. Then i stirred in a splash of extra virgin olive oil and half a cob of corn, because we had some sitting in the fridge. I also made guacamole while i was at it, and served it with sour cream, because i like sour cream, and more basil, because we have a Lot of basil. :P
Then i sat down and ate it with warm corn chips while watching the Queer Eye special (those wacky americans and their obsession with christmas trappings!), and was sated and happy and feeling just that little bit more sociable. So the ratties and i hung out together for awhile, but Kimi got bored with the conversation and went exploring, and Linus slowly fell asleep in his hammock.
*yAwn!*
Turns granulated sugar into powered sugar! Makes peanut butter in just seconds with only peanuts! Grind your own coffee beans! Make your own sorbet! Clear your kitchen counter of everything else you need only one machine! This one!One of the demonstrations was a tomato salsa, and i'm not sure why but something inside me went "ooh!" and so i made salsa tonight, while Bear was out being all familial and sociable.
I'd never made a salsa before, but recipes seem to suggest its some combination of tomatoes, chilli, onion, green herby thing, and some acid. So, i chopped up some roma tomatoes, jalapeno chillies, red onion, basil (fresh from the garden), and whizzed it up with some lemon juice. Then i stirred in a splash of extra virgin olive oil and half a cob of corn, because we had some sitting in the fridge. I also made guacamole while i was at it, and served it with sour cream, because i like sour cream, and more basil, because we have a Lot of basil. :P
Then i sat down and ate it with warm corn chips while watching the Queer Eye special (those wacky americans and their obsession with christmas trappings!), and was sated and happy and feeling just that little bit more sociable. So the ratties and i hung out together for awhile, but Kimi got bored with the conversation and went exploring, and Linus slowly fell asleep in his hammock.
*yAwn!*
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Late night shenanigans
(somewhat inscrutable instructions can be found here.)
I'm up late working on research thingy. Have long overdue meeting with supervisors on wednesday, and i need to create 2 months worth of work by then. This last minute creativity is a hard habit to break! I remember doing it for those project-things we had in primary school. Remember those? Can't remember the bloody acronym... ERP? no that was the book list.. IRP? Was that it?
I once asked Bear, who submitted his honours thesis before the deadline, how he overcomes procrastination.
Bear: Er. I just start panicking.
syn: But by the time i start panicking, its already too late!
Bear: Oh.
Bear: I panic early.
Friday, December 17, 2004
Vamping pachyderms
From Style.com:
Yes, they really are. You can even buy the t-shirt!
Fashion should be fun. And what's more fun than an elephant in a dress?Are they serious?
Yes, they really are. You can even buy the t-shirt!
(excerpt) Elephants are few and far between in fashion circles - too big, gray, and wrinkly to run with such a polished crowd. But industry insiders love a new idea, and elephants in couture - a concept that animal-loving photographer Bruce Weber approached W Creative Director Dennis Freedman with - is as novel as notions come. So, in the middle of preparing their spring collections, 11 designers whipped up plus-size clothes for a trio of vamping pachyderms.Amazingly, a portion of the proceeds benefits an elephant conservation group. Well there you go. You can even see the photos. I recommend the one with the elephants in manolo blahniks.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Some news and things
So allegedly, someone is engaged! From our year, meaning rgs gep year of '96, and I won't say who because its supposed to be a secret. Yargh, wasn't Kewei's marriage enough? It could just be gossip though, I remember last year's rumour about Ida getting married and that was all hogwash. Although... i also hear Ida's italian boy is finally coming down to Singapore to work, so that must be pretty cool for them. Can anyone confirm this?
Speaking of going to Singapore, Bear and I are making our way down after christmas, for a week or so (27th Dec to whenever). Bear says, "We're going back to singapore to drink lime juice and eat monster curry puffs and look at chinchillas and hamsters!"
Bear has been to singapore with me before, a few months ago, on a 3 day whirlwind stopover, mainly to introduce him to my parents. I figured, 3 days was just enough, in case u know, it didn't work out, we'd just fly off quickly. But it was beautiful! Bear was on his best behaviour, and so were my parents. Just beautiful. So he gets to visit again.
Apparently Bear remembers having some lime juice, which he liked, as well as old chang kee curry puffs, and a great many other things i thrust in front of him, going "Eat this". He also saw his very first hamster, and chinchilla, and was suitably impressed with Sim Lim Square and the Taka food basement. He met Kelly and Louise, and a whole dinnertablefull of relatives, which was nerve-wracking but it was really quite nice that they'd all turned out to meet him. Bear said they seemed to talk about food a lot. They said Bear seemed very nice but was so quiet!
I told them Bear is shy lah.
Hang on, Bear is speaking to me again.
Bear wants me to say that his (i.e. my) herb and veggie garden is doing beautifully, but if any caterpillars or slugs are reading this, they should know to stay away, or, or, they will be... vanquished!
(Bear is quite sleepy, it is way past his bedtime poor dear.)
So. Is anyone doing anything on New Years Eve? A party would be fun! Why do i have vague memories of bridge parties in deserted parts of Orchard Road on previous new years eve? Can anyone confirm this?
Well anyway, I hope to see you all again. Everytime i do, its like a breath of fresh air. :D I expect Cin will know all the best places to have dinner, or might host another one of her very pleasant after-eight get-togethers. Also, Sulin will probably have special passes to the newest hippest places to go have a drink, and Louise will no doubt be doing something unexpected and exciting.
So i'm looking forward to it. We'll bring our tummies, and you can all meet Bear if you wish. Just be warned, he may be quiet, but he's got a beary good appetite!
Heheheheheh.
Speaking of going to Singapore, Bear and I are making our way down after christmas, for a week or so (27th Dec to whenever). Bear says, "We're going back to singapore to drink lime juice and eat monster curry puffs and look at chinchillas and hamsters!"
Bear has been to singapore with me before, a few months ago, on a 3 day whirlwind stopover, mainly to introduce him to my parents. I figured, 3 days was just enough, in case u know, it didn't work out, we'd just fly off quickly. But it was beautiful! Bear was on his best behaviour, and so were my parents. Just beautiful. So he gets to visit again.
Apparently Bear remembers having some lime juice, which he liked, as well as old chang kee curry puffs, and a great many other things i thrust in front of him, going "Eat this". He also saw his very first hamster, and chinchilla, and was suitably impressed with Sim Lim Square and the Taka food basement. He met Kelly and Louise, and a whole dinnertablefull of relatives, which was nerve-wracking but it was really quite nice that they'd all turned out to meet him. Bear said they seemed to talk about food a lot. They said Bear seemed very nice but was so quiet!
I told them Bear is shy lah.
Hang on, Bear is speaking to me again.
Bear wants me to say that his (i.e. my) herb and veggie garden is doing beautifully, but if any caterpillars or slugs are reading this, they should know to stay away, or, or, they will be... vanquished!
(Bear is quite sleepy, it is way past his bedtime poor dear.)
So. Is anyone doing anything on New Years Eve? A party would be fun! Why do i have vague memories of bridge parties in deserted parts of Orchard Road on previous new years eve? Can anyone confirm this?
Well anyway, I hope to see you all again. Everytime i do, its like a breath of fresh air. :D I expect Cin will know all the best places to have dinner, or might host another one of her very pleasant after-eight get-togethers. Also, Sulin will probably have special passes to the newest hippest places to go have a drink, and Louise will no doubt be doing something unexpected and exciting.
So i'm looking forward to it. We'll bring our tummies, and you can all meet Bear if you wish. Just be warned, he may be quiet, but he's got a beary good appetite!
Heheheheheh.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Fun with freak weather
We had the kiddies' christmas party today at work, and its over! hurray!
There was lots of "party food" prepared: chocolate biscuits, chips, corn chips, cream cookies, jam biscuits, stuffed olives, cheese, gherkins, more chips, crackers, breadsticks with dips, different flavoured chips, the ever ubiquitous fairy bread, and even a hopeful attempt at "healthy" sandwiches and veggies and things that just went uneaten.
For entertainment, there was pass the parcel, a prize raffle, plenty of colourful balloons, putting up the christmas tree, a movie, and at 4pm, a sudden hailstorm fell upon us under a sunny blue sky, followed immediately by half an hour of full-on thunder-and-lightning soaking big wetness. Yay for freak weather!
Filling kids up with sugar and then trying to keep them dry and indoors when chunks of ice are falling like so many collectible items from the sky outside, is very futile indeed.
*wring out shirt*
Also, children under the age of ten are irresistibly attracted to mud, puddles, and overflowing drains, and don't get ill from drinking dirty rainwater. Probably not anyway. Some sort of evolutionary adaptation perhaps?
There was lots of "party food" prepared: chocolate biscuits, chips, corn chips, cream cookies, jam biscuits, stuffed olives, cheese, gherkins, more chips, crackers, breadsticks with dips, different flavoured chips, the ever ubiquitous fairy bread, and even a hopeful attempt at "healthy" sandwiches and veggies and things that just went uneaten.
For entertainment, there was pass the parcel, a prize raffle, plenty of colourful balloons, putting up the christmas tree, a movie, and at 4pm, a sudden hailstorm fell upon us under a sunny blue sky, followed immediately by half an hour of full-on thunder-and-lightning soaking big wetness. Yay for freak weather!
Filling kids up with sugar and then trying to keep them dry and indoors when chunks of ice are falling like so many collectible items from the sky outside, is very futile indeed.
*wring out shirt*
Also, children under the age of ten are irresistibly attracted to mud, puddles, and overflowing drains, and don't get ill from drinking dirty rainwater. Probably not anyway. Some sort of evolutionary adaptation perhaps?
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Christmas parties
We went to the Airbus christmas party on friday.
I'm still thinking about the food.
The shindig was held on the top floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and would've had a spectacular view, if not for the thunderstorm that lasted all night long. Oh but the food! It was a smart-casual stand up and mingle affair, although Bear and I spent a disproportionate amount of time being antisocial on soft white leather poufs waylaying waiters with platters of the best ever finger food i've ever had. Maaan... there were little quiches, chinese soup spoons full of minced chicken with crunchy veggie things, mini pizzas, mini mushroom risotto, smoked salmon wrapped round something creamy on crunchy crackers, spicy gingery fried wontons, really good sushi, grilled salmon and chicken on bamboo forks, peking duck pancakes, little newspaper cones filled with shoestring fries and crispy beer battered fish, .. and on and on. Oh! and for dessert, the most enormous cheese platters with candied fruit and other assorted cheese accessories and the bit i can't stop thinking about, rows upon rows of tiny little creme brulees! All laid out with tiny shiny spoons tucked into each little pot of perfection.
*hhhmmmm!*
There was certainly more food than the modest crowd could eat, and I couldn't stop thinking last night of all that fantastic food lying around uneaten. ARGH!
*thinking about it again*
ARGH!
There was also quite a lot of alcohol to be had, and champagne! I managed not to embarrass Bear in front of his colleagues and their respective wimmenfolk, but i Did have about 7 glasses of champagne and I don't usually drink, so i don't know where that went.
It was also funny when a bunch of Bear's bosses started pulling down balloons from the ceiling and doing helium.
All in all, it was a bit more fun than the Boeing party, which was a sober sit down affair at the posher-than-thou Australian Golf Club. They served up a decent three course dinner, but also hired a comedian who it seems was cautioned rather heavily about making offensive jokes, and hence proceeded to make plenty of jokes about being inoffensive... and still managed to make fun of several people in the room. Unfortunately, I REALLY HAD TO PEE, and was sitting right in front of him, and he went on for about half an hour.
I don't like formal sit down dinners. They're so stifling, and what's with the dress codes? It seems to me just a little bit rude to tell your guests what to wear, especially if they might have dates who are just complete dags and have no money to buy fancy outfits nor the figure to wear them, and not only that, but to word the dress code as "Lounge Suit", which when googled, specifies business suit for men, and buggerall whoknowswhat for women.
I suffered great worrying over that. A $269 black silk top purchase and a small nervous breakdown over shoes later, I now have a nice-ish formal-ish outfit for special occasions, excepting of course any of Bear's future work things.
So anyway the verdict is, Bear is advised to order more aircraft from Airbus.
I'm still thinking about the food.
The shindig was held on the top floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and would've had a spectacular view, if not for the thunderstorm that lasted all night long. Oh but the food! It was a smart-casual stand up and mingle affair, although Bear and I spent a disproportionate amount of time being antisocial on soft white leather poufs waylaying waiters with platters of the best ever finger food i've ever had. Maaan... there were little quiches, chinese soup spoons full of minced chicken with crunchy veggie things, mini pizzas, mini mushroom risotto, smoked salmon wrapped round something creamy on crunchy crackers, spicy gingery fried wontons, really good sushi, grilled salmon and chicken on bamboo forks, peking duck pancakes, little newspaper cones filled with shoestring fries and crispy beer battered fish, .. and on and on. Oh! and for dessert, the most enormous cheese platters with candied fruit and other assorted cheese accessories and the bit i can't stop thinking about, rows upon rows of tiny little creme brulees! All laid out with tiny shiny spoons tucked into each little pot of perfection.
*hhhmmmm!*
There was certainly more food than the modest crowd could eat, and I couldn't stop thinking last night of all that fantastic food lying around uneaten. ARGH!
*thinking about it again*
ARGH!
There was also quite a lot of alcohol to be had, and champagne! I managed not to embarrass Bear in front of his colleagues and their respective wimmenfolk, but i Did have about 7 glasses of champagne and I don't usually drink, so i don't know where that went.
It was also funny when a bunch of Bear's bosses started pulling down balloons from the ceiling and doing helium.
All in all, it was a bit more fun than the Boeing party, which was a sober sit down affair at the posher-than-thou Australian Golf Club. They served up a decent three course dinner, but also hired a comedian who it seems was cautioned rather heavily about making offensive jokes, and hence proceeded to make plenty of jokes about being inoffensive... and still managed to make fun of several people in the room. Unfortunately, I REALLY HAD TO PEE, and was sitting right in front of him, and he went on for about half an hour.
I don't like formal sit down dinners. They're so stifling, and what's with the dress codes? It seems to me just a little bit rude to tell your guests what to wear, especially if they might have dates who are just complete dags and have no money to buy fancy outfits nor the figure to wear them, and not only that, but to word the dress code as "Lounge Suit", which when googled, specifies business suit for men, and buggerall whoknowswhat for women.
I suffered great worrying over that. A $269 black silk top purchase and a small nervous breakdown over shoes later, I now have a nice-ish formal-ish outfit for special occasions, excepting of course any of Bear's future work things.
So anyway the verdict is, Bear is advised to order more aircraft from Airbus.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Late night conversations
syn: Genitals!
Bear: ohno.
syn: everything is related to genitals!
Bear: what?
syn: name an object, an entity, anything!
Bear: er. ferrets.
syn: they're furry! like genitals!
Bear: ohgod.
syn: gimme another one!
Bear: this is ridiculous. fine. the planet Neptune!
syn: ...
syn: isn't it near Uranus?
Bear: ...
Bear: i'll give you that one.
Bear: ohno.
syn: everything is related to genitals!
Bear: what?
syn: name an object, an entity, anything!
Bear: er. ferrets.
syn: they're furry! like genitals!
Bear: ohgod.
syn: gimme another one!
Bear: this is ridiculous. fine. the planet Neptune!
syn: ...
syn: isn't it near Uranus?
Bear: ...
Bear: i'll give you that one.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Meet Kimi
Kimi is a 1yr 5mth old Norway rat, with agouti berkshire markings. He lives with Bear and I in his very own custom made mansion with his best buddy Linus, whose photo is under the About Me bit on top of the sidebar. Kimi is usually the personality of the pair, as Linus' motto seems to be "Who needs personality when you've got these whiskers?".
:)
Kimi is also our go-fast, run-about rattie, but wherever he is exploring, will materialise by your side in a flash of fur if you shake the treatie jar.
Unfortunately, the image is out of focus and blurry, but that is the only kind of photo that Kimi takes!
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Still friends?
I have been a very bad friend. I don't call anyone anymore, I don't even email! I sit here, in my slightly-too-large grownup house-with-double-garage in suburbia, and all i do to keep in contact with the people i call my friends, is to read their blogs. Isn't that tragic? So one-sided. Comments and tagboard one-liners aside, clearly some more effort was needed on my part. Hence, the resurrection of this blog.
I really hate that word, by the way, shall attempt to never use it again.
Also, i am doing some serious procrastinating, and i might as well make something useful rather than sit around fretting, right? right?
So in case my friends forget me, I'm still here! I'm still thinking of you, i still care, and i don't know when i'll actually live in Singapore again.
Sigh.
So don't forget me! Come here often and read about the strangely ordinary life i lead in Sydney with Bear and my two furry boys, Kimi and Linus.
Officially (for visa purposes), I'm completing a Masters by research in Gifted Education, after having finished four years of Psychology. That aside, I actually spend most of my productive time working part time (rent! little luxuries!) at an afterschool child care facility, where i learn something everyday from the kids ("My dad almost got smuggled the other day! Coming home from work! There were these guys who asked him for his wallet and he escaped and ran to the police station!"), and try to guide them in their development as best i can ("Suyin, how do you spell TV?")...
I like my part time job a lot. Most of the time. :)
Here is a picture of the house we live in. It's an old double brick, built in the 1920s, and has several camellia bushes(trees?) scattered about the front and back.
Another day perhaps, i shall take pictures of the herb and veggie garden Bear has planted for me. :)
I really hate that word, by the way, shall attempt to never use it again.
Also, i am doing some serious procrastinating, and i might as well make something useful rather than sit around fretting, right? right?
So in case my friends forget me, I'm still here! I'm still thinking of you, i still care, and i don't know when i'll actually live in Singapore again.
Sigh.
So don't forget me! Come here often and read about the strangely ordinary life i lead in Sydney with Bear and my two furry boys, Kimi and Linus.
Officially (for visa purposes), I'm completing a Masters by research in Gifted Education, after having finished four years of Psychology. That aside, I actually spend most of my productive time working part time (rent! little luxuries!) at an afterschool child care facility, where i learn something everyday from the kids ("My dad almost got smuggled the other day! Coming home from work! There were these guys who asked him for his wallet and he escaped and ran to the police station!"), and try to guide them in their development as best i can ("Suyin, how do you spell TV?")...
I like my part time job a lot. Most of the time. :)
Here is a picture of the house we live in. It's an old double brick, built in the 1920s, and has several camellia bushes(trees?) scattered about the front and back.
Another day perhaps, i shall take pictures of the herb and veggie garden Bear has planted for me. :)
A recipe!
Blogger is abit hangy isn't it?
Maybe I should've gotten an lj account like jo said. Ho hummy.
Anyway, here is a recipe for a really yummy quick dishmeal that i've been addicted to recently. It does require a food processor though.
oops i have to go to work. I'll finish this later. :P
(...3.5 hours of screaming children later...)
Okay i'm back.
Fusili with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
adapted from this Epicurious.com recipe.
1 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese or Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil*
Fusili, or any other pasta you like (enough for 4 main courses)
Put everything except pasta and oil in a food processor, and whilst its running, add oil in a steady stream till smooth paste forms. Tadah, you have pesto. Now cook pasta, and then drain and return to the warm saucepan and toss with pesto. Tadah, you have pasta with pesto. Hey presto! heheheheh
You can also add cooked chicken to make a bigger meal of it. The pesto is also very yummy spread on warm sourdough. mmmm..
*You can also use some of the oil that the sun-dried tomatoes are stored in, it seems to give more of a bite to the pesto. The one i get has like an licoricey flavour. Very nice.
Maybe I should've gotten an lj account like jo said. Ho hummy.
Anyway, here is a recipe for a really yummy quick dishmeal that i've been addicted to recently. It does require a food processor though.
oops i have to go to work. I'll finish this later. :P
(...3.5 hours of screaming children later...)
Okay i'm back.
Fusili with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
adapted from this Epicurious.com recipe.
1 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese or Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil*
Fusili, or any other pasta you like (enough for 4 main courses)
Put everything except pasta and oil in a food processor, and whilst its running, add oil in a steady stream till smooth paste forms. Tadah, you have pesto. Now cook pasta, and then drain and return to the warm saucepan and toss with pesto. Tadah, you have pasta with pesto. Hey presto! heheheheh
You can also add cooked chicken to make a bigger meal of it. The pesto is also very yummy spread on warm sourdough. mmmm..
*You can also use some of the oil that the sun-dried tomatoes are stored in, it seems to give more of a bite to the pesto. The one i get has like an licoricey flavour. Very nice.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Must make new post
Hurrah! It still works.
Now i have time-wasting activity that does not depend on other people updating their blogs!
The previous entry was written two years ago, just before i met Bear. Bear was distracting for awhile, so i didn't write anything more, but since then we now live together, in sin, and so he's somewhat less distracting.
In fact, he's out in the garage now. doing things. with cars.
Everyone, meet Bear:
Now i have time-wasting activity that does not depend on other people updating their blogs!
The previous entry was written two years ago, just before i met Bear. Bear was distracting for awhile, so i didn't write anything more, but since then we now live together, in sin, and so he's somewhat less distracting.
In fact, he's out in the garage now. doing things. with cars.
Everyone, meet Bear:
Isn't he gorgeous?
I will write later. more. something interesting maybe. Bye for now!
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