Oh, i thought the part where Alan finds himself 'cheapened' whenever Sally pop out immediately after having sex with him is funny...
Twice, shown in this episode, Sally just have to leave immediately, IMMEDIATELY after they've had sex... her reason being she's really busy, need to go to court and so on...
and when Alan said, like a little boy, "can't you stay a little while... to talk??"
she asked back, "what's there to talk?"
Then, Alan forced her to attend therapy session with Joanna(Sex Therapist)
Even before the session was really started, Sally was already feeling awful about the whole thing, ie. they (Sally and Alan) need to talk about their 'relationship' in front of another stranger????
to her, it's all just about sex...
but to Alan, he'd prefer to cuddle a little bit, talk a little bit... ha!! that's funny!! over the years, seems like Alan has 'grown' to be a much more softer person... but more cheerful, maybe because of Denny!!
The next sex scene was apparently, between Sally and Brad!! (Ooh!! I thought she was at least semi-serious about being with Alan)
After the 'session', Sally lied beside Brad... and I thought, ha? the one that she's actually more serious about is BRAD???? cos, she actually lied there for a little while and hugged Brad, and told him that "it was great!!"
the next thing we heard is... Sally snoring... ^o^
and Brad's face started to seemed to be lost and confused!!!!
So, we thought Alan was making big fuss out of it huh??? I can't wait to see the next episode, how'll Brad's reaction be...
and... if you think Sally is being 'unromantic', 'mean', 'insensitive'... ooh!!! don't all(almost) the guys do that???
Aha~~~ that's funny!!!
2006-10-31
Criminal Minds - Riding the Lightning (114)
It took me a while to figure out what's going on the first half of the show... as, it's somehow different from the rest of the episode I have watched before, ie. to catch the criminal as to prevent the next murder to take place... this one is... not so much to 'prevent'.. that's why it took me a while, as there wasn't a recent murder case...
The next half took my full attetion as Gideon was trying his best to save Sarah Jean... her look is just too sad to look at, and lastly she mentioned to Gideon, "my life ended the day I met Jack"... ooh, it made me wanted to cry...
As most of the TV crime cases recently are about over-protective and obsessive mothers... I rarely see such a self-sacrificing mother..
Sarah Jean decided 15 years ago, to go to jail with Jack, on a death penalty... to protect her own son Riley... it's so sad... as there're so many other mothers who claim that they'll do whatever it takes to protect their children, but the last thing they think about is for the real good of their children, and also to give up their life totally, and speaking about giving up her life, Sarah Jean gave it up for a duration of 15 years, that's a long wait, and that's torturing for her soul... what I am saying is, for some mothers, to give up maybe easier to give it up instantly, rather than to give it up in such a slow pace, 15 years.
I was glad that Gideon made a good choice, as not to tell the kid(Riley) to come forward... usually one will insist in doing that, to get the kid to come forward, just for self-justification and nothing else... but Gideon really thought for Sarah, and Riley, and Riley's current parents... as Sarah said, what good will it do, to let Riley knows who his real parents were.
This story tells about a very self-less person's life...
Gideon: Albert Pine said, "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."
Episode title: Riding the Lightning.
The term "riding the lightning" was used to describe an execution by the electric chair. The condemned would be summarily electrocuted in the chair, hence he/she would "ride" the electric current.
The next half took my full attetion as Gideon was trying his best to save Sarah Jean... her look is just too sad to look at, and lastly she mentioned to Gideon, "my life ended the day I met Jack"... ooh, it made me wanted to cry...
As most of the TV crime cases recently are about over-protective and obsessive mothers... I rarely see such a self-sacrificing mother..
Sarah Jean decided 15 years ago, to go to jail with Jack, on a death penalty... to protect her own son Riley... it's so sad... as there're so many other mothers who claim that they'll do whatever it takes to protect their children, but the last thing they think about is for the real good of their children, and also to give up their life totally, and speaking about giving up her life, Sarah Jean gave it up for a duration of 15 years, that's a long wait, and that's torturing for her soul... what I am saying is, for some mothers, to give up maybe easier to give it up instantly, rather than to give it up in such a slow pace, 15 years.
I was glad that Gideon made a good choice, as not to tell the kid(Riley) to come forward... usually one will insist in doing that, to get the kid to come forward, just for self-justification and nothing else... but Gideon really thought for Sarah, and Riley, and Riley's current parents... as Sarah said, what good will it do, to let Riley knows who his real parents were.
This story tells about a very self-less person's life...
Gideon: Albert Pine said, "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."
Episode title: Riding the Lightning.
The term "riding the lightning" was used to describe an execution by the electric chair. The condemned would be summarily electrocuted in the chair, hence he/she would "ride" the electric current.
Boston Legal - The Verdict (306)
The beginning of Season 3 is a little bit different from before, a case, where Scott Little is being charge for murdering Judge Hoopers, who he was having affair with. When Coho and the Claire girl first came into the serios EP2 I didn't like any of them, however, Claire immediately showed that, she's slightly different from the rest of the associates, where she can be considered rude most of the time, but she can see through and read through the real problem of person, where normally others are not able to do it.
Coho came like a superstar, and immediately 'booked' himself this famous murder case in town. However, I'd like to quote Brad's saying to Paul, "He acted like a superstar, but I haven't seen why he's one yet!"
At the end of the case... after almost everybody has been 'questioned' and made a possible murderer for Judge Hoopers's murder...(her husband, the sick neighbour who's a peeping Tom, Scott's mother) we saw that, it's possibly the mother... as Scott seemed to be emotionally involved with his over-controlling over-babysitting mother.
The testimonial session given by the mother, and with Coho, seemed to be staged, as claimed by Dennis... to switch the attention of the jury, the mother, after being harshly questioned by Coho, cried out loudly that she needed a lawyer...
Ooh!!! that's interesting... and that set Scott Little free... cos, 1. police didn't do their job good enough, once they saw the tape, case closed, as Claire said, 2. The mother looked even more suspicious...
All in all, this verdict reminded me of 2 of the continous episodes in 'The Practice' season 8, "Coming Home", where Alan defended his best friend who's married, arrested for murdering his lover. At the end of the story, it seemed like the friend really did murder his lover, cos, she was simply sleeping around, and he was obsessed with her.
Similar to the few episodes in this season of Boston Legal (maybe that's one of the reason, Alan was not on this super case, cos, it'll remind us so much of The Practice.. but I suppose, Alan will do it HIS way)but in the end, it really seemed like it's the mother who did it.
The 'impressive' scene is the last scene, where Scott and the mother were left in the room alone... usually.. if any of the lawyer 'accidentally' defended a real criminal, it'll just be shown in an implicit and subtle way at the end of the story, but this one.. ooh!! is shocking to me... first, the mother touched Scott Little's face (come on!! a 20++ year old man) and said "I love you!", then, Scott, looking at his own mother, saying "I love you too!" OK!! I thought everything will stop here, and I thought it's really just about an over-protecting mother and a super-duper submissive child, but then, after these "I love you" phrases, they both started kissing passionately!!!
Ya, that's shocking to me... as.. well... normally we don't really get to see mother and son(real mother and son) kissing passionately so close-up, in TV series!!!!!
SHOCKING!!! But when Coho re-opened the door and asked these two go to out to speak to the media, it didn't seem like he had any suspicion on the mother??? (as opposed to Alan, normally he'll at least, ask for the last time, "do you really kill her??")
However, it seems to me now, that, Scott actually did it, or accidentally did it, and asked the mother for help, to clean up the whole house... but the mother did say something like "I'll step up and tell them the truth!!"... huh!! what's the truth??? mm...
Coho came like a superstar, and immediately 'booked' himself this famous murder case in town. However, I'd like to quote Brad's saying to Paul, "He acted like a superstar, but I haven't seen why he's one yet!"
At the end of the case... after almost everybody has been 'questioned' and made a possible murderer for Judge Hoopers's murder...(her husband, the sick neighbour who's a peeping Tom, Scott's mother) we saw that, it's possibly the mother... as Scott seemed to be emotionally involved with his over-controlling over-babysitting mother.
The testimonial session given by the mother, and with Coho, seemed to be staged, as claimed by Dennis... to switch the attention of the jury, the mother, after being harshly questioned by Coho, cried out loudly that she needed a lawyer...
Ooh!!! that's interesting... and that set Scott Little free... cos, 1. police didn't do their job good enough, once they saw the tape, case closed, as Claire said, 2. The mother looked even more suspicious...
All in all, this verdict reminded me of 2 of the continous episodes in 'The Practice' season 8, "Coming Home", where Alan defended his best friend who's married, arrested for murdering his lover. At the end of the story, it seemed like the friend really did murder his lover, cos, she was simply sleeping around, and he was obsessed with her.
Similar to the few episodes in this season of Boston Legal (maybe that's one of the reason, Alan was not on this super case, cos, it'll remind us so much of The Practice.. but I suppose, Alan will do it HIS way)but in the end, it really seemed like it's the mother who did it.
The 'impressive' scene is the last scene, where Scott and the mother were left in the room alone... usually.. if any of the lawyer 'accidentally' defended a real criminal, it'll just be shown in an implicit and subtle way at the end of the story, but this one.. ooh!! is shocking to me... first, the mother touched Scott Little's face (come on!! a 20++ year old man) and said "I love you!", then, Scott, looking at his own mother, saying "I love you too!" OK!! I thought everything will stop here, and I thought it's really just about an over-protecting mother and a super-duper submissive child, but then, after these "I love you" phrases, they both started kissing passionately!!!
Ya, that's shocking to me... as.. well... normally we don't really get to see mother and son(real mother and son) kissing passionately so close-up, in TV series!!!!!
SHOCKING!!! But when Coho re-opened the door and asked these two go to out to speak to the media, it didn't seem like he had any suspicion on the mother??? (as opposed to Alan, normally he'll at least, ask for the last time, "do you really kill her??")
However, it seems to me now, that, Scott actually did it, or accidentally did it, and asked the mother for help, to clean up the whole house... but the mother did say something like "I'll step up and tell them the truth!!"... huh!! what's the truth??? mm...
3711
Well... after coming back from our SPA county trip... we're supposed to go to Footscray's Gold Leaf for a good chinese food dinner... (have been there before, the food was good, and the price wasn't too expensive, the place is pretty cosy too!!)
Then... maybe we're too exhausted, or we're too blur, or whatever #$!%$@^ reason, somehow we triggered off our car's anti-theft alarm and that, the whole car is disabled!!!!!!!! DISABLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even though we can power-on the rest of the equipments, and off the alarm, but we couldn't start the engine..
When it first happened, we didn't realise how 'serious' the problem is, still went up to our apartment, discussing what to order later, and took a short nap...
then, we went down to the basement carpark after half an hour of rest, only discovered that, the whole car was disabled... %@$^%#&*$%^%$##$# there goes our great dinner plan...
Then, we pulled out the car manual (for the first time) and start browsing through to see if there's any solution...
before we decided to resolve the thing ourselves, I was already thinking what will happen the next day...
the next day, by right, we're supposed to continue our weekend driving trip, to Williamstown, IKEA to grab a copy of the new product catalogue and so on...
I was telling myself... if we don't get this resolved, then, the next day, the whole 'picture' will be overturned, to...
waking up early, stressed, calling the rental company, asking one of those people and telling them about this problem... that, maybe they'll ask us to try to look at the manual and try it ourselves first, cos, on a Sunday, I don't think they'll be happy to travel far just to solve a problem where 2 idiots who accidentally disabled their own(rented) car.. and I'm scared that, this will be chargeable... then, if even they also couldn't solve it over the phone, before they tried it themselves, they might just decide to give it a big round, ask a tow truck to come and tow away our car...
THEN... we, not just have only 1 day driving experience, but need to pay for all these extra services, and on top of that, feel damn shitty!!!!!!!
so, 2 of us, start reading the manual with extreme cautious, to see if there's any hint of solving the above issue..
the whole manual with some other small manuals were all in a small little plastic folder pack... I started to dig here and there, flipped it inside out, then, a small credit card-size card fell down, it'd some numbers on top, and with this 'security code' 3711... from the manual description, this figure somehow fit into the 'solution'... as, the manual said that, we need a 4-digit security number, and we'd have to switch the power on and off, according to the number, for eg. 3, then, on-off 3 time, wait for 3-10 sec, then, 7---> on-off 7 time and so on... finally, when the 'car lock' sign is 'illuminated', we've to start the engine immediately, within 30 sec, otherwise, it's considered failed...
Our first attempt failed, as we didn't quite understand the manul fully... so, we went to take our dinner just across the street, an indian restaurant AMEER... as THE MANUAL SAID, if any 3 trial(in a session) fails, then, we've to wait for one hour!!! (I've already foreseen, and imagined that, probably the whole night we'd had to come down to the basement every 1 hour just to try to switch it on)
After our dinner... we went back to try again... this time change hand... I did the work, and he read the manul... 1st trial, failed, 2nd trial, no result, 3rd trial, nearly no result, last minute, he shouted, "switch on the engine"... VROOM!!!!!!!
we shook hand in the end ^_^V
Then... maybe we're too exhausted, or we're too blur, or whatever #$!%$@^ reason, somehow we triggered off our car's anti-theft alarm and that, the whole car is disabled!!!!!!!! DISABLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even though we can power-on the rest of the equipments, and off the alarm, but we couldn't start the engine..
When it first happened, we didn't realise how 'serious' the problem is, still went up to our apartment, discussing what to order later, and took a short nap...
then, we went down to the basement carpark after half an hour of rest, only discovered that, the whole car was disabled... %@$^%#&*$%^%$##$# there goes our great dinner plan...
Then, we pulled out the car manual (for the first time) and start browsing through to see if there's any solution...
before we decided to resolve the thing ourselves, I was already thinking what will happen the next day...
the next day, by right, we're supposed to continue our weekend driving trip, to Williamstown, IKEA to grab a copy of the new product catalogue and so on...
I was telling myself... if we don't get this resolved, then, the next day, the whole 'picture' will be overturned, to...
waking up early, stressed, calling the rental company, asking one of those people and telling them about this problem... that, maybe they'll ask us to try to look at the manual and try it ourselves first, cos, on a Sunday, I don't think they'll be happy to travel far just to solve a problem where 2 idiots who accidentally disabled their own(rented) car.. and I'm scared that, this will be chargeable... then, if even they also couldn't solve it over the phone, before they tried it themselves, they might just decide to give it a big round, ask a tow truck to come and tow away our car...
THEN... we, not just have only 1 day driving experience, but need to pay for all these extra services, and on top of that, feel damn shitty!!!!!!!
so, 2 of us, start reading the manual with extreme cautious, to see if there's any hint of solving the above issue..
the whole manual with some other small manuals were all in a small little plastic folder pack... I started to dig here and there, flipped it inside out, then, a small credit card-size card fell down, it'd some numbers on top, and with this 'security code' 3711... from the manual description, this figure somehow fit into the 'solution'... as, the manual said that, we need a 4-digit security number, and we'd have to switch the power on and off, according to the number, for eg. 3, then, on-off 3 time, wait for 3-10 sec, then, 7---> on-off 7 time and so on... finally, when the 'car lock' sign is 'illuminated', we've to start the engine immediately, within 30 sec, otherwise, it's considered failed...
Our first attempt failed, as we didn't quite understand the manul fully... so, we went to take our dinner just across the street, an indian restaurant AMEER... as THE MANUAL SAID, if any 3 trial(in a session) fails, then, we've to wait for one hour!!! (I've already foreseen, and imagined that, probably the whole night we'd had to come down to the basement every 1 hour just to try to switch it on)
After our dinner... we went back to try again... this time change hand... I did the work, and he read the manul... 1st trial, failed, 2nd trial, no result, 3rd trial, nearly no result, last minute, he shouted, "switch on the engine"... VROOM!!!!!!!
we shook hand in the end ^_^V
SPA County Part II
Where was I?????
AH~~~~
After the Chocolate Mill, we went to our destination---Pepper Springs, in Hepburn Springs...
the building itself was lovely and looked promising... we were glad to make the right choice, ie. instead of going for a full expensive but yet less expensive than the top 5 spa places in Daylesford/Hepburn Springs, we opted for a cheaper one, but chose among the top 5 location... ^_^ it's like buying those discounted bandy stuff... ^_^... as I was thinking... since it's supposed to be a pamper session, then, we must go to a good place, with soothing and promising ambience, rather than just anywhere... otherwise, I can just do it in any city, right??
Pepper Springs location is right next to the real Hepburn Springs... that's why it's very famous...
when we went to the check in counter, after paying off the remaining balance, the lady handed each of us a bathrobe and a pair of slippers, (of good quality, rather than those paper slippers that you can find in those 3-star hotels)
then, the lady brought us to the waiting lounge, wooh!! we saw a lot of ladies there, besides him, there's only another male on site.... ^_^ ie. ladies really know how to pamper themselves, and we notice, mostly it's couple who'll opt for the wet retreat area usage, ie. the package we chose... but the rest of the single ladies, all of them are taking various massage pacakages...
In this waiting lounge area, there's herbal tea served, that we can have at our own leiruse, and some apples in the middle... the tea that we had at that time, was berry green tea... oh!! nice oh!! ^_^
We were asked to fill up some questionnaires... then we were brought to the retreat area...
There's a pool with 3 different segment, 2 hot jacuzzis on each side and a plunge(cold 24 degree) in the middle
Then, a stone sauna room, a detox room(infra-red) and a thick steam room... I like the thick steam room, the steam was really thick that you hardly see anything, and even though I knnow mostly it's the steam on my body, but I felt like I was really sweating a lot, it felt good ^_^
On top of these, there's a sundeck and a small leisure guest lounge in the corner, plus a drink counter, where herbal tea is served and where you get to replenish yourself with plenty of water... plus there's a quick shower room, for those who just come out of the sauna/steam room to rinse themselves before jumping into the pool...
We're allowed to use this whole area for one hour (ONLY) so... basically, it's just hopping in and out of different rooms/pools...
I didn't try the plunge pool but he did, with no fear!!! ^_^ the weather that day was considered cold, I tried to insert my foot inside the pool, couldn't take it... so, didn't bother... in fact, the good practice is cold-hot-cold-hot intermittently...
I saw the girl of one of the couples... she was really making 100% use of the facilities... I saw her really busy walking around, changing the 'venues' from time to time... a real busy lady!!
Surprisingly... at the end of the 1 hour, maybe really, it's the mineral spa that working on me, or the hopping in and out of the pool/rooms... I was feeling pretty drained, relaxed, and sleepy...
At the end of it, we went to our separate changing room to take our showers and etc... wow!! it's already 4pm, but I still see plenty of girls coming in... as this mineralspa.com only takes 12 people at one time for the retreat area, and maybe another 12 people for the massages, so, we see people coming in batch, rather than there will be a continous flow...
Then... we head off back to Melbourne... then... another 'accidental' event...
(pictures are not originally from me.. as we didn't carry our camera to the wet retreat area, one reason is that it's a wet place, another reason is, I don't think they'll allow us to snap pictures like nobody's business, especially there're other guests who're in their swimming costumes)
AH~~~~
After the Chocolate Mill, we went to our destination---Pepper Springs, in Hepburn Springs...
the building itself was lovely and looked promising... we were glad to make the right choice, ie. instead of going for a full expensive but yet less expensive than the top 5 spa places in Daylesford/Hepburn Springs, we opted for a cheaper one, but chose among the top 5 location... ^_^ it's like buying those discounted bandy stuff... ^_^... as I was thinking... since it's supposed to be a pamper session, then, we must go to a good place, with soothing and promising ambience, rather than just anywhere... otherwise, I can just do it in any city, right??
Pepper Springs location is right next to the real Hepburn Springs... that's why it's very famous...
when we went to the check in counter, after paying off the remaining balance, the lady handed each of us a bathrobe and a pair of slippers, (of good quality, rather than those paper slippers that you can find in those 3-star hotels)
then, the lady brought us to the waiting lounge, wooh!! we saw a lot of ladies there, besides him, there's only another male on site.... ^_^ ie. ladies really know how to pamper themselves, and we notice, mostly it's couple who'll opt for the wet retreat area usage, ie. the package we chose... but the rest of the single ladies, all of them are taking various massage pacakages...
In this waiting lounge area, there's herbal tea served, that we can have at our own leiruse, and some apples in the middle... the tea that we had at that time, was berry green tea... oh!! nice oh!! ^_^
We were asked to fill up some questionnaires... then we were brought to the retreat area...
There's a pool with 3 different segment, 2 hot jacuzzis on each side and a plunge(cold 24 degree) in the middle
Then, a stone sauna room, a detox room(infra-red) and a thick steam room... I like the thick steam room, the steam was really thick that you hardly see anything, and even though I knnow mostly it's the steam on my body, but I felt like I was really sweating a lot, it felt good ^_^
On top of these, there's a sundeck and a small leisure guest lounge in the corner, plus a drink counter, where herbal tea is served and where you get to replenish yourself with plenty of water... plus there's a quick shower room, for those who just come out of the sauna/steam room to rinse themselves before jumping into the pool...
We're allowed to use this whole area for one hour (ONLY) so... basically, it's just hopping in and out of different rooms/pools...
I didn't try the plunge pool but he did, with no fear!!! ^_^ the weather that day was considered cold, I tried to insert my foot inside the pool, couldn't take it... so, didn't bother... in fact, the good practice is cold-hot-cold-hot intermittently...
I saw the girl of one of the couples... she was really making 100% use of the facilities... I saw her really busy walking around, changing the 'venues' from time to time... a real busy lady!!
Surprisingly... at the end of the 1 hour, maybe really, it's the mineral spa that working on me, or the hopping in and out of the pool/rooms... I was feeling pretty drained, relaxed, and sleepy...
At the end of it, we went to our separate changing room to take our showers and etc... wow!! it's already 4pm, but I still see plenty of girls coming in... as this mineralspa.com only takes 12 people at one time for the retreat area, and maybe another 12 people for the massages, so, we see people coming in batch, rather than there will be a continous flow...
Then... we head off back to Melbourne... then... another 'accidental' event...
(pictures are not originally from me.. as we didn't carry our camera to the wet retreat area, one reason is that it's a wet place, another reason is, I don't think they'll allow us to snap pictures like nobody's business, especially there're other guests who're in their swimming costumes)
SPA County Part I
Last weekend, we decided to rent a car and visit the spa county around Melbourne. The spa locations available around this city are the Macedon area and the Daylesford area. We chose to go to Daylesford and Hepburn Spring as.. the information we obtained from the internet about these 2 places, seemed to be more promising ^_^
We started early on the Saturday... planning to go to the Hanging Rock, which is a geological structure, as well as, there's winery there... however, we started TOO EARLY, that when we arrived at the place, it's still not opened yet, and it's like another 2 hours to go... so, we decided to give up... as we only have one day to the whole Macedon and Daylesford area...
That morning, was pretty cold... we're too 'chilled' and hungry... the next stop we made, was in Woodend, another small town on the way from the Macedon to Daylesford... and... err.. due to the cold temperature, we're both having this urge to answer the nature's call... however!!! it's too early in the morning, in a weekend, there weren't many people on the street, though we saw a bunch of students playing tennis and some other sports near the school compound... the ironic thing is... normally when we need to find something, we'll never see it... so, we didn't spot any loo around where we were... but we're bloody cold and bloody desperate, and bloody hungry... We walked around the one and only big commercial/business building in this town, entering most of the cafes that were opened by then, to see if they've any washroom inside... surprisingly, the first 2-3 cafes that we went in, they're tiny and they don't have any washroom...
Eventually we found one, and that's where we decided to have our breakfast...
The french toast looked yummy right? it's his favourite, I have a ve getarian pie, due to miscommunication -.-
After having our breakfast, we continued our journey to Daylesford, as our spa appointment was at 2:45pm, we took some time to wander around the town, and tried to go to all the 'highlights' nearby... (oh!!! talking about spa... prior to the weekend, he suddenly suggested that we should go visit the spa county, get ourselves pampered... so I started my 'online research', and try to make some booking. At first, we're planning to stay a night around
First stop, The Convent Gallery (http://www.theconvent.com.au/ )... they charged us(foreigners, free for locals) AUD4.50 for the entrance fee... when we first entered the building, there were already a couple having their breakfast there... then, we paid the entrance fee... then, we started browsing around... well... at first, we were not so impressed... just some merchandised goods, some paintings on the all, and some sculptures here and there... we went to the basement, they've some minimal collection of the items that the previous church people used... it was pretty dark there, felt like a dungeon ^_^... then, we went back up to the groundfloor, then first floor... the art exhibition there was pretty interesting, they've some err... chrome or other metal sculptures displayed... not that we really knew how to appreciate them, however, the price range is like AUD2800-4000... jaw-drop!!!
There are even more impressive things in this Convent Gallery... as it's not really a galllery gallery... ^_^ beyond those art exhibition rooms, we later reached some interesting areas, like the function rooms and the nice balcony that overlook the town(as this place is on top of a little hill) then, there's a little chappel after the first function room---a function room that's full of sunshine, the most natural decorative, and there's a beautiful garden just outside this function room, over the other side is the balcony... after the little chappel, is another more private function room, and we saw some people already busy decorating the place... it seemed like, there'll be a wedding dinner reception on that night... what a romantic place...
The next place we went to, is the Wombat forest, I thought I would see some wombats around there, but nope.. besides the fact that, there might be possible sighting of wombat, it's just a normal 'woody' park... so, we decided to go to our next destination, ie. the Daylesford Lake...
Well.. Daylesford Lake, is just a lake, nothing much to describe, except that, we saw quite a number of cars parked around the lake, as there're a few springs around the lake, there're people going there, just to fetch some spring water...
Then, we went to the Lakehouse, the famous spa place with a famous restaurant... since the spa/massage is SO fully booked, we wanted to see the 'true colour' of this place, ie.OH!! to see how great it is!!!
mm... overall... the Lakehouse has lots of nice little chalets around the lake, for their guests... however, the main reception/administration building itself doesn't look too impressive... but ya, we saw more foreign visitors there...
Since there're still time, we went to the Lavandula Lavender farm( http://www.lavandula.com.au )... ya, I thought I'll see a big patch of purple colour on the ground from afar... even before I reach the place.. but nah!!! Even after we've paid AUD3.50 each for the entrance fee... there's still purple colour... APPARENTLY, the lavender will only blossom in December till mid-January!!! CHEH~~~~~~~~~~ well... I don't want to sound as if we got cheated... cos, mm... it's really quite unimaginable for me, if I were any of the girls on the farm, all year round, guarding the farm, having minimal visitors, packing and tidying up the merchandised goods area... so, don't tell people, you can only get to see real lavender blossom in December till mid-Jan OK??? otherwise these girls will be having even more quiet and lonely life... (>_<)
However... we did walk around the farm area and tried to explore more out of it, since we've already paid... there's a small rundown container, which, apparently is the workshop(semi-workshop) of a porcelain artist Peter Minko( http://www.minko.com.au )... we went in, he was just there, drawing on the porcelain pieces... it's a small tiny container, and since he was paying his full concentration to do the subtle drawing, we felt a bit like we're disturbing him, so, we left just after a quick browse of the surrounding inside the container...
Then we went back to the main area, where one of the girls showed us around this little old cottage, since 1850s(actually the whole thing, all the little stone buildings around this farm were built since1850s)... inside, a small foyer area, then a living area with a piano, fire place, a dining table with some chairs, on the other side, a kitchen, then, a bedroom beside the kitchen... the basement had a cellar, a bathroom, and a small washing area... then, the attic, was where the children slept... (I heard, there're 13 of them)... the place is basially very old with some minimal restoration... but, I think, it's really quite a good 'piece' to show foreign visitors like me... look interesting...
The next stop, also the last stop before we went ahead to our spa session was the Chocolate Mill( http://www.chocmill.com.au/ )
well... you won't get to see those chocolate fountain and river like the one in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"... however, the building itself is quite interesting... the whole building is made of strawbale, and the 'cementing' material is actually lime and earth... err... don't ask me the detailed stuff... I don't really know either.. ^_^
and the door at the entranace... the outer frame is actually made of stack of bottles...
One of the rules in this building is, "don't try to knock it!" but oops.... I have already knocked before I read this... how can one resist the temptation?? you know this whole place is made of straw, and the cementing material is just earth.. don't want you want to knock knock and see??????
anyway... we bought some chocolate to try, since it's so special, as it's mentioned on the 'board', that, the chocolate is not sold anywhere else besides this Chocolate Mill.. one interesting that the 'board' mentioned was... "you don't keep chocolate in the fridge, as this will make it 'sweat' and causing this 'streaky' outlook on the chocolate itself, however, it won't affect the taste of the chocolate"... haha!!! I thought we all keep our chocky in the fridge??? but ya, I notice, it does 'sweat'... therefore, usually, before, it 'sweats' its way out, the chocky will normally end up in my stomach!! ^_^V
..... to be continued
We started early on the Saturday... planning to go to the Hanging Rock, which is a geological structure, as well as, there's winery there... however, we started TOO EARLY, that when we arrived at the place, it's still not opened yet, and it's like another 2 hours to go... so, we decided to give up... as we only have one day to the whole Macedon and Daylesford area...
That morning, was pretty cold... we're too 'chilled' and hungry... the next stop we made, was in Woodend, another small town on the way from the Macedon to Daylesford... and... err.. due to the cold temperature, we're both having this urge to answer the nature's call... however!!! it's too early in the morning, in a weekend, there weren't many people on the street, though we saw a bunch of students playing tennis and some other sports near the school compound... the ironic thing is... normally when we need to find something, we'll never see it... so, we didn't spot any loo around where we were... but we're bloody cold and bloody desperate, and bloody hungry... We walked around the one and only big commercial/business building in this town, entering most of the cafes that were opened by then, to see if they've any washroom inside... surprisingly, the first 2-3 cafes that we went in, they're tiny and they don't have any washroom...
Eventually we found one, and that's where we decided to have our breakfast...
The french toast looked yummy right? it's his favourite, I have a ve getarian pie, due to miscommunication -.-
After having our breakfast, we continued our journey to Daylesford, as our spa appointment was at 2:45pm, we took some time to wander around the town, and tried to go to all the 'highlights' nearby... (oh!!! talking about spa... prior to the weekend, he suddenly suggested that we should go visit the spa county, get ourselves pampered... so I started my 'online research', and try to make some booking. At first, we're planning to stay a night around
First stop, The Convent Gallery (http://www.theconvent.com.au/ )... they charged us(foreigners, free for locals) AUD4.50 for the entrance fee... when we first entered the building, there were already a couple having their breakfast there... then, we paid the entrance fee... then, we started browsing around... well... at first, we were not so impressed... just some merchandised goods, some paintings on the all, and some sculptures here and there... we went to the basement, they've some minimal collection of the items that the previous church people used... it was pretty dark there, felt like a dungeon ^_^... then, we went back up to the groundfloor, then first floor... the art exhibition there was pretty interesting, they've some err... chrome or other metal sculptures displayed... not that we really knew how to appreciate them, however, the price range is like AUD2800-4000... jaw-drop!!!
There are even more impressive things in this Convent Gallery... as it's not really a galllery gallery... ^_^ beyond those art exhibition rooms, we later reached some interesting areas, like the function rooms and the nice balcony that overlook the town(as this place is on top of a little hill) then, there's a little chappel after the first function room---a function room that's full of sunshine, the most natural decorative, and there's a beautiful garden just outside this function room, over the other side is the balcony... after the little chappel, is another more private function room, and we saw some people already busy decorating the place... it seemed like, there'll be a wedding dinner reception on that night... what a romantic place...
The next place we went to, is the Wombat forest, I thought I would see some wombats around there, but nope.. besides the fact that, there might be possible sighting of wombat, it's just a normal 'woody' park... so, we decided to go to our next destination, ie. the Daylesford Lake...
Well.. Daylesford Lake, is just a lake, nothing much to describe, except that, we saw quite a number of cars parked around the lake, as there're a few springs around the lake, there're people going there, just to fetch some spring water...
Then, we went to the Lakehouse, the famous spa place with a famous restaurant... since the spa/massage is SO fully booked, we wanted to see the 'true colour' of this place, ie.OH!! to see how great it is!!!
mm... overall... the Lakehouse has lots of nice little chalets around the lake, for their guests... however, the main reception/administration building itself doesn't look too impressive... but ya, we saw more foreign visitors there...
Since there're still time, we went to the Lavandula Lavender farm( http://www.lavandula.com.au )... ya, I thought I'll see a big patch of purple colour on the ground from afar... even before I reach the place.. but nah!!! Even after we've paid AUD3.50 each for the entrance fee... there's still purple colour... APPARENTLY, the lavender will only blossom in December till mid-January!!! CHEH~~~~~~~~~~ well... I don't want to sound as if we got cheated... cos, mm... it's really quite unimaginable for me, if I were any of the girls on the farm, all year round, guarding the farm, having minimal visitors, packing and tidying up the merchandised goods area... so, don't tell people, you can only get to see real lavender blossom in December till mid-Jan OK??? otherwise these girls will be having even more quiet and lonely life... (>_<)
However... we did walk around the farm area and tried to explore more out of it, since we've already paid... there's a small rundown container, which, apparently is the workshop(semi-workshop) of a porcelain artist Peter Minko( http://www.minko.com.au )... we went in, he was just there, drawing on the porcelain pieces... it's a small tiny container, and since he was paying his full concentration to do the subtle drawing, we felt a bit like we're disturbing him, so, we left just after a quick browse of the surrounding inside the container...
Then we went back to the main area, where one of the girls showed us around this little old cottage, since 1850s(actually the whole thing, all the little stone buildings around this farm were built since1850s)... inside, a small foyer area, then a living area with a piano, fire place, a dining table with some chairs, on the other side, a kitchen, then, a bedroom beside the kitchen... the basement had a cellar, a bathroom, and a small washing area... then, the attic, was where the children slept... (I heard, there're 13 of them)... the place is basially very old with some minimal restoration... but, I think, it's really quite a good 'piece' to show foreign visitors like me... look interesting...
The next stop, also the last stop before we went ahead to our spa session was the Chocolate Mill( http://www.chocmill.com.au/ )
well... you won't get to see those chocolate fountain and river like the one in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"... however, the building itself is quite interesting... the whole building is made of strawbale, and the 'cementing' material is actually lime and earth... err... don't ask me the detailed stuff... I don't really know either.. ^_^
and the door at the entranace... the outer frame is actually made of stack of bottles...
One of the rules in this building is, "don't try to knock it!" but oops.... I have already knocked before I read this... how can one resist the temptation?? you know this whole place is made of straw, and the cementing material is just earth.. don't want you want to knock knock and see??????
anyway... we bought some chocolate to try, since it's so special, as it's mentioned on the 'board', that, the chocolate is not sold anywhere else besides this Chocolate Mill.. one interesting that the 'board' mentioned was... "you don't keep chocolate in the fridge, as this will make it 'sweat' and causing this 'streaky' outlook on the chocolate itself, however, it won't affect the taste of the chocolate"... haha!!! I thought we all keep our chocky in the fridge??? but ya, I notice, it does 'sweat'... therefore, usually, before, it 'sweats' its way out, the chocky will normally end up in my stomach!! ^_^V
..... to be continued
2006-10-23
La Tropezienne@Glenferrie
mm... there's this little lovely patisserie place that I forgot to mention, it's just one block away from Samurai along Glenferrie Road...
We thought the Brunetti's pastries were already very interesting and lovely, but this place is even better... it's just a small not-so-outstanding little cafe along Glenferrie...
The discovery was... we wanted to go to Samurai that Saturday, but we're SO desperate that we arrived too early... Samurai was not even opened yet, but we were very hungry, so, we went around, thought of having a sip of coffee or grab something to eat... before we indulge in the pool of sashimi...
Then, we came across this shop, a cute little pink colour shop, it somehow reminded me that I was somewhere else in Europe, but not in Melbourne... even the smell in the shop, reminded me of those lodges that I have stayed while I was out in the field, long time ago.. @_@ (start to daydream!!)
The 'collection' of different types of pastry and cake is even better and bigger than the one we saw in Brunetti... however.. when we were there the first time, I didn't bring along my camera... so, no photos to showcase over here ^_^ ('gomen ne!!' ie. sorry neh!!)
We thought the Brunetti's pastries were already very interesting and lovely, but this place is even better... it's just a small not-so-outstanding little cafe along Glenferrie...
The discovery was... we wanted to go to Samurai that Saturday, but we're SO desperate that we arrived too early... Samurai was not even opened yet, but we were very hungry, so, we went around, thought of having a sip of coffee or grab something to eat... before we indulge in the pool of sashimi...
Then, we came across this shop, a cute little pink colour shop, it somehow reminded me that I was somewhere else in Europe, but not in Melbourne... even the smell in the shop, reminded me of those lodges that I have stayed while I was out in the field, long time ago.. @_@ (start to daydream!!)
The 'collection' of different types of pastry and cake is even better and bigger than the one we saw in Brunetti... however.. when we were there the first time, I didn't bring along my camera... so, no photos to showcase over here ^_^ ('gomen ne!!' ie. sorry neh!!)
Over-Ducked and Greco Sin
OK!!! OK!!!!!! the other day, before we went to watch the movie "The Departed", near Chappel Street, at the Village Cinema, we went to get ourselves over-ducked... (ie. overdosed with roast duck) in Pacific House@Toorak Road, a road perpendicular to Chappel Street.
We first heard about this delicious roast duck rice place from his colleague, a girl who stayed around Toorak Road, (ie. she's a filthy rich girl)
she and a few other colleagues, local and non-local, all supported this place, as THE place for duck rice... ^_^... (drool!!)
From then onwards, we went there a couple of time... I have to say, it's so far, the best that we've had over here (but our PJ SS something Sunrise Duck is even better... I'm serious!!)
The serving is slightly less than the rest of the duck rice (per person) that we have tried... it's good, as it's not THAT oily, and the duck is just nicely roasted, the sauce is not too tasty or salty, everything is nicely and moderately done...
They serve the roast duck with some lemon-plum sauce in a separate small plate...
The thing about this place is, what we have observed, that it's not just good, JUST because of the roast duck(or other HK-style roast stuff) but also the cooked dishes that they offer on the menu. As each time we went, we saw the others ordering not just the roast stuff, but all other dishes on the menu... so, we slowly gathered that, this place is famous, for almost everything they have... (sounded a little bit exaggerated huh? but ya, that's how I feel)
On top of that, they serve you complimentary soup before your food, and limited amount of oranges after your big meal... the soup, was tasty, and it's not the same soup everyday!!! ^_^
I know there maybe people consider their services as not one of the good one, however, as for me, I thought, it's not too bad, as the waiters/waitresses are generally still very polite... however, what we encountered one day, was, one of the waiter kept coming to us, wanting to collect back the soup bowls, even though we haven't finsihed them yet, but he did it in an innocent way, so, OK, I forgive him ^_^
Later, we figured, it could be because, the peak hour is 7pm and above, but as for us, we went there before 7pm, where the crowd still haven't built up yet... then, I got the idea that, they were busy collecting all the utensils, plates and bowls, to prepare for the most crowded time... however, of course, I didn't stay back to confirm this, as I was not THAT upset by their such-a-rush attitude, so, I was fine with that... anyway, the duck compromises everything
Then after the movie (The Departed) we went to the Greco nearby, along Chappel Street... it's a totally different setting from the one in Crown Entertainment Complex, this Greco is slightly more pleasant and yuppie!! ^_^
More young people, and the waitresses/waiters are more lively, less rude... ^_^
I had my usual Affogato, which is served in a different way as the one in Crown, and we had a slice of chocolate cheesecake, which was good!!! ^_^ Lovely!!!
We first heard about this delicious roast duck rice place from his colleague, a girl who stayed around Toorak Road, (ie. she's a filthy rich girl)
she and a few other colleagues, local and non-local, all supported this place, as THE place for duck rice... ^_^... (drool!!)
From then onwards, we went there a couple of time... I have to say, it's so far, the best that we've had over here (but our PJ SS something Sunrise Duck is even better... I'm serious!!)
The serving is slightly less than the rest of the duck rice (per person) that we have tried... it's good, as it's not THAT oily, and the duck is just nicely roasted, the sauce is not too tasty or salty, everything is nicely and moderately done...
They serve the roast duck with some lemon-plum sauce in a separate small plate...
The thing about this place is, what we have observed, that it's not just good, JUST because of the roast duck(or other HK-style roast stuff) but also the cooked dishes that they offer on the menu. As each time we went, we saw the others ordering not just the roast stuff, but all other dishes on the menu... so, we slowly gathered that, this place is famous, for almost everything they have... (sounded a little bit exaggerated huh? but ya, that's how I feel)
On top of that, they serve you complimentary soup before your food, and limited amount of oranges after your big meal... the soup, was tasty, and it's not the same soup everyday!!! ^_^
I know there maybe people consider their services as not one of the good one, however, as for me, I thought, it's not too bad, as the waiters/waitresses are generally still very polite... however, what we encountered one day, was, one of the waiter kept coming to us, wanting to collect back the soup bowls, even though we haven't finsihed them yet, but he did it in an innocent way, so, OK, I forgive him ^_^
Later, we figured, it could be because, the peak hour is 7pm and above, but as for us, we went there before 7pm, where the crowd still haven't built up yet... then, I got the idea that, they were busy collecting all the utensils, plates and bowls, to prepare for the most crowded time... however, of course, I didn't stay back to confirm this, as I was not THAT upset by their such-a-rush attitude, so, I was fine with that... anyway, the duck compromises everything
Then after the movie (The Departed) we went to the Greco nearby, along Chappel Street... it's a totally different setting from the one in Crown Entertainment Complex, this Greco is slightly more pleasant and yuppie!! ^_^
More young people, and the waitresses/waiters are more lively, less rude... ^_^
I had my usual Affogato, which is served in a different way as the one in Crown, and we had a slice of chocolate cheesecake, which was good!!! ^_^ Lovely!!!
Death by Samurai
YO!!! it's our usual sashimi pilgrimage again!!! ^_^
ahh!!!! I really wouldn't know, after I go back to KL, will I be able to find such a dirt cheap deal of decent sashimi... sigh...!!!!!!
mm!!! however because of this, I decided I will start my 'desparately seeking FISH' journey when I go back... I will turn KL upside down, inside out, to see if there will be any good decent deal, like the one that I can get in Samurai@Glenferrie@Hawthorn@Melbourne@Australia... ;;-.-;;
Last weekend, went there again, this time we ordered slightly different stuff... however, still interesting...!!!! and oh!! they've employed a new waiter... ^_^
previously, whenever we were there, they're all waitreSSes, tall and short, smiling and non-smiling waitreSSes, but this time, there's an extra boy taking orders from us ^_^V ghee... lucky!!
This time we ordered the same still-very-very-very-mouth-watering sashimi and my beef tataki...
On top of these 2, we ordered something new, a teriyaki tofu(last time I ordered agedashi tofu), and some seasoned squid, and an Omu-rice, (in fact, in Japan, they just call it Omelette, which is different from our usual understanding of omelette, to me, actually
Yummy!! LOOK AT THE PLATE OF SASHIMI!!! YO!!! Death by Samurai!!! ^_^V (Victory!!)
ahh!!!! I really wouldn't know, after I go back to KL, will I be able to find such a dirt cheap deal of decent sashimi... sigh...!!!!!!
mm!!! however because of this, I decided I will start my 'desparately seeking FISH' journey when I go back... I will turn KL upside down, inside out, to see if there will be any good decent deal, like the one that I can get in Samurai@Glenferrie@Hawthorn@Melbourne@Australia... ;;-.-;;
Last weekend, went there again, this time we ordered slightly different stuff... however, still interesting...!!!! and oh!! they've employed a new waiter... ^_^
previously, whenever we were there, they're all waitreSSes, tall and short, smiling and non-smiling waitreSSes, but this time, there's an extra boy taking orders from us ^_^V ghee... lucky!!
This time we ordered the same still-very-very-very-mouth-watering sashimi and my beef tataki...
On top of these 2, we ordered something new, a teriyaki tofu(last time I ordered agedashi tofu), and some seasoned squid, and an Omu-rice, (in fact, in Japan, they just call it Omelette, which is different from our usual understanding of omelette, to me, actually
Yummy!! LOOK AT THE PLATE OF SASHIMI!!! YO!!! Death by Samurai!!! ^_^V (Victory!!)
China Max@Essendon
In this area that I am staying right now, there aren't many chinese, or asian...
Therefore, there isn't any chinese grocery shop, or many asian(vietnamese, thai, indonesian) and chinese restaurant, except ONE, China Max...
In this ChinaMax, you won't see any chinese dining out there, except us ^_^;;
However... I would like to mention about it, as, the food actually is not that bad, and the dishes are actually all very tasty, but pricy as well... -_-
On Friday nights, when I don't cook, or when you want to 'celebrate' the coming of weekend... normally we'll just go to China Max to settle our dinner, even though, pricy!!! ^_~
The ambience is good, the service is good, the food is good, the dishes are all very lovely, even though, pricy!! ^_~
We have tried quite a few different dishes there, all are nice, but pricy!! ^_~
(well, from what I look at it is, when you're lazy to go far, and you're hungry, probably a little bit cold, all don't matter anymore, and this place does provide you with a very cosy and comfy environment for you to sit in and relax, even the takeaway is good, but pricy!! ^_~)
The dishes that we ordered that night was the string bean with minced pork(干扁四季豆), our favourite, (back in Malaysia, you can find it in Esquire Kitchen, or `Delicious`) and Lemon Chicken... mm... yummy!!!!
Therefore, there isn't any chinese grocery shop, or many asian(vietnamese, thai, indonesian) and chinese restaurant, except ONE, China Max...
In this ChinaMax, you won't see any chinese dining out there, except us ^_^;;
However... I would like to mention about it, as, the food actually is not that bad, and the dishes are actually all very tasty, but pricy as well... -_-
On Friday nights, when I don't cook, or when you want to 'celebrate' the coming of weekend... normally we'll just go to China Max to settle our dinner, even though, pricy!!! ^_~
The ambience is good, the service is good, the food is good, the dishes are all very lovely, even though, pricy!! ^_~
We have tried quite a few different dishes there, all are nice, but pricy!! ^_~
(well, from what I look at it is, when you're lazy to go far, and you're hungry, probably a little bit cold, all don't matter anymore, and this place does provide you with a very cosy and comfy environment for you to sit in and relax, even the takeaway is good, but pricy!! ^_~)
The dishes that we ordered that night was the string bean with minced pork(干扁四季豆), our favourite, (back in Malaysia, you can find it in Esquire Kitchen, or `Delicious`) and Lemon Chicken... mm... yummy!!!!
What's this thing with APOLOGY, you buffoon!!!!!!!!!
Recently I notice one 'trend' in these days... apology, apologise, apologizing... !%#!$^#&^%*%(%*%^@%$#$#
From small to big, from up to down, from east to west, etc....
world leaders, !#%%$#@^-politicians, religion leaders and so on, ASKING OTHERS TO APOLOGISE TO THEM, due to some saying or speeches that the person has made.....
YA!!!!!! so?????
the next thing that will happen is, when the person apologises, then, they'll start saying, "oh, this apology is actually not an apology", and they'll demand more and more, saying more and more !#$%$@^$ BS, things get more and more uglier............. (and so on)
I was always thinking..... usually, those who cry for AN apology, actually they want more, and most likely, those who cry for an apology are guilty themselves... and they somehow know about it, but were so damn terrified when others point it out, then!!!! here they come, asking for apology... and more and more... they start to make a scene of themselves... without realising it.. come on!!! give me a break!!! stop asking and crying and requesting for APOLOGY, just tell me, tell the others, what you actually want?? you want more dirty $$$$??? say so!!! you want the rest to close their eyes, and let you continue to do wrongs!!! say so!!!! you want to continue your dictatorship?? say so!!!!!! stop asking for apology, cos, that's the last thing you want!!! cos, you know you're just as guilty as those life-sentence criminal in the jail!!!! please!!!! just give me a break!!!!!!!
you big stuipd disgusting BUFFOON!!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
haha!! I picked this word up from Boston Legal(oh!! I just love this drama so much)
the first time I came across this word, (oops, shows that I have such a poor vocab ya?? ^_^) is when Alan Shore(James Spader) called the district attorney Frank Ginsberg(Currie Graham)... and during that time, I thought this word is kinda cute, and it sounded 'bloated' to me ^_^
then, later, Denny Crane was called as a buffoon as well, that added the 'bloated' feeling about this word to me even more...
there you go, the actual definition of this word ^_^V
from dictionary.com,
buf·foon (buh-foon) n.
1. A clown; a jester: a court buffoon.
2. A person given to clowning and joking.
3. A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.
From small to big, from up to down, from east to west, etc....
world leaders, !#%%$#@^-politicians, religion leaders and so on, ASKING OTHERS TO APOLOGISE TO THEM, due to some saying or speeches that the person has made.....
YA!!!!!! so?????
the next thing that will happen is, when the person apologises, then, they'll start saying, "oh, this apology is actually not an apology", and they'll demand more and more, saying more and more !#$%$@^$ BS, things get more and more uglier............. (and so on)
I was always thinking..... usually, those who cry for AN apology, actually they want more, and most likely, those who cry for an apology are guilty themselves... and they somehow know about it, but were so damn terrified when others point it out, then!!!! here they come, asking for apology... and more and more... they start to make a scene of themselves... without realising it.. come on!!! give me a break!!! stop asking and crying and requesting for APOLOGY, just tell me, tell the others, what you actually want?? you want more dirty $$$$??? say so!!! you want the rest to close their eyes, and let you continue to do wrongs!!! say so!!!! you want to continue your dictatorship?? say so!!!!!! stop asking for apology, cos, that's the last thing you want!!! cos, you know you're just as guilty as those life-sentence criminal in the jail!!!! please!!!! just give me a break!!!!!!!
you big stuipd disgusting BUFFOON!!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
haha!! I picked this word up from Boston Legal(oh!! I just love this drama so much)
the first time I came across this word, (oops, shows that I have such a poor vocab ya?? ^_^) is when Alan Shore(James Spader) called the district attorney Frank Ginsberg(Currie Graham)... and during that time, I thought this word is kinda cute, and it sounded 'bloated' to me ^_^
then, later, Denny Crane was called as a buffoon as well, that added the 'bloated' feeling about this word to me even more...
there you go, the actual definition of this word ^_^V
from dictionary.com,
buf·foon (buh-foon) n.
1. A clown; a jester: a court buffoon.
2. A person given to clowning and joking.
3. A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.
2006-10-17
The Departed and Chrisitan Bale
Right after we finsihed The Departed movie, came out of the movie theatre, and sat down at the cafe nearby(Greco@Chappel Street), both of us discussed about the show right away... it's not the best best best, but then, it was good... even though with so many bad languages... (particularly, mostly from Mark Wahlberg's Dignam)...
Then, we started to talk about Leonardo DeCaprio's Billy, as, Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan, as basically this role, regardless it's in Infernal Affairs, or The Departed, will always win the sympathetic vote...
I was arguing with him, that... arggh!!!! Leonardo is lucky to pick up this role, and then, I added this remark, as in, whoever plays this role, will always win the viewer's heart... cos, he's just too pitiful, too helpless... and too... poor little thing... ^_^ but then, I insisted that, it's not exactly the same situation with Tony Leung ^_^ it's not that he's lucky to have that role(Chan Wing Yan) but it's because it's Tony Leung, then, it was good... ^_^V
AND... it's because of Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan, they've to find somebody compatible to Tony, there comes Andy Lau's Lau Kin Ming... ^_^ that's my theory... ie. the whole thing revolved around Tony Leung... ^0^ Wo hohohohohohohohohohoho!!!!!!!
However... after hearing me saying how boyish-looking Leonardo is, in the show, he asked me, who I think, will be more suitable to play the role... ^_^ then, I started to drool... as just when we're in the theatre, watching those movie trailers before the show started, we saw the trailer of the new coming movie "The Prestige"... ya, right after he posted me that question I started to fantasize Christian Bale as Billy... ^.^;;
and immediately he guessed it... (of course, who else will be in my mind, it's always Christian Bale, and Christian Bale!!!)
Then... it came the second question for both of us... ^_^
who'll play against Christian Bale, as Colin Sullivan??? mm... we couldn't think about anybody... not when we're so sleepy and stomach filled with cakes and coffees ^_^
So, till today, I still haven't come out with who to play Colin Sullivan... hm.... till just a moment ago, I saw somebody posted something on the internet forum... wo hoo!!!!!! Johnny Depp... gosh!!!! that'll be hot... too hot!!!!! woohoo!!!!!!!! yep... even though the somebody suggestion(as some other body actually made a fake trailer, posted it on the Youtube.com) was, Billy--Johnny Depp, Sullivan--Chrisitan Bale, opposite from what I think of.. however.. well... as long as Christian Bale is being considered in some of the fans' mind... it doesn't matter... ^_^
Then... I start imaginging in my own version, Sullivan---Johnny Depp (come on, he's played many time those rugged, sloppy, cool gangster, I'm sure he'll be glad to take up some other type of roles) and Billy---Christian Bale... as I personally will always prefer Billy/Chan Wing Yan... therefore, it must be given to Christian Bale... ^_^... However... if Sullivan is Johnny Depp, then... I may have to reconsider the ending, as oppose to Infernal Affairs, which I wish Andy Lau's Lau Kin Ming would be arrested immediately or shot dead!!!! ^_^
Then, we started to talk about Leonardo DeCaprio's Billy, as, Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan, as basically this role, regardless it's in Infernal Affairs, or The Departed, will always win the sympathetic vote...
I was arguing with him, that... arggh!!!! Leonardo is lucky to pick up this role, and then, I added this remark, as in, whoever plays this role, will always win the viewer's heart... cos, he's just too pitiful, too helpless... and too... poor little thing... ^_^ but then, I insisted that, it's not exactly the same situation with Tony Leung ^_^ it's not that he's lucky to have that role(Chan Wing Yan) but it's because it's Tony Leung, then, it was good... ^_^V
AND... it's because of Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan, they've to find somebody compatible to Tony, there comes Andy Lau's Lau Kin Ming... ^_^ that's my theory... ie. the whole thing revolved around Tony Leung... ^0^ Wo hohohohohohohohohohoho!!!!!!!
However... after hearing me saying how boyish-looking Leonardo is, in the show, he asked me, who I think, will be more suitable to play the role... ^_^ then, I started to drool... as just when we're in the theatre, watching those movie trailers before the show started, we saw the trailer of the new coming movie "The Prestige"... ya, right after he posted me that question I started to fantasize Christian Bale as Billy... ^.^;;
and immediately he guessed it... (of course, who else will be in my mind, it's always Christian Bale, and Christian Bale!!!)
Then... it came the second question for both of us... ^_^
who'll play against Christian Bale, as Colin Sullivan??? mm... we couldn't think about anybody... not when we're so sleepy and stomach filled with cakes and coffees ^_^
So, till today, I still haven't come out with who to play Colin Sullivan... hm.... till just a moment ago, I saw somebody posted something on the internet forum... wo hoo!!!!!! Johnny Depp... gosh!!!! that'll be hot... too hot!!!!! woohoo!!!!!!!! yep... even though the somebody suggestion(as some other body actually made a fake trailer, posted it on the Youtube.com) was, Billy--Johnny Depp, Sullivan--Chrisitan Bale, opposite from what I think of.. however.. well... as long as Christian Bale is being considered in some of the fans' mind... it doesn't matter... ^_^
Then... I start imaginging in my own version, Sullivan---Johnny Depp (come on, he's played many time those rugged, sloppy, cool gangster, I'm sure he'll be glad to take up some other type of roles) and Billy---Christian Bale... as I personally will always prefer Billy/Chan Wing Yan... therefore, it must be given to Christian Bale... ^_^... However... if Sullivan is Johnny Depp, then... I may have to reconsider the ending, as oppose to Infernal Affairs, which I wish Andy Lau's Lau Kin Ming would be arrested immediately or shot dead!!!! ^_^
What's left behind in Infernal Affairs(I) is wrapped up in The Departed... at least, for me!!!
OK, I went to watch "The Departed" last Saturday, didn't expect much, as I really don't like any of the stars, and I am definitely not a fan of Martin Scorsese!!! However, I still went to watch the movie, as I would like to see how the American interprete such a film, like "Infernal Affairs". As when I watched "The Grudge", it's easier for me to understand the "Ju-On" story, so, I somehow do give some credits to Hollywood remake... however, it's mostly because of my curiosity.
Let me list out the names first...
1. Tony Leung(Chan Wing Yan) vs. Leonardo DeCaprio(Billy)
2. Andy Lau(Lau Kin Ming) vs. Matt Damon(Colin Sullivan)
3. Eric Tsang(Sam) vs. Jack Nicholson(Frank)
4. Kelly Chen(Dr.Lee Sum Yee) + Sammi Cheng(Mary) vs. Vera Farmiga(Madolyn) [maybe Martin Scorsese decided that, Sammi Cheng's role in IA was unnecessary, so, scratched!! ^_^]
5. Lam Ka Tung(Inspector B) vs. James Badge Dals(Barrigan)
6. Anthony Wong(SP Wong) vs. Martin Sheen(Oliver Queenan)
7. Mark Wahlberg's Dignam, a character that's not in Infernal Affairs
The storyline of TD is more or less the same as IA,
1. most importantly, the mobster has a mole in the police department and the police has an undercover in the mobster gang.
2. the part where Sullivan asked the mobster boss Frank, to get his gang members to submit their personal details and put it in an envelope, and where Billy changed the spelling on the envelope, which later... shows that, whoever has this envelope IS the mole
3. there's a female psychiatrist where Billy likes to visit, [but as compare to IA, I thought the real interaction (where no bed scene is involved) between this undercover cop and the psychiatrist is more subtle and sweet in IA, but less in TD]
4. second most importantly, Queenan died the same way as the role that Anthony Wong played, which is kinda sad, really sad!!! I thought he's a real good man in the show, regardless it's IA or TD
5. third most importantly, Billy's real ID IS deleted
6. lastly, the shooting and killing scenes at the end, near the elevator.
OK... the rest of the things I want to mention... ^.^
1. as it's Jack Nicholson, so, there're a lot more storylines about Frank, how he is, and who he is, more interaction between him and Billy, [which I didn't get to see in IA]
2. as, there's no more Sammi Cheng, so, there's some indirect love triangular relationship between Madolyn, Billy and Colin Sullivan, how indirect it is... ^_^ I guess you'll see it yourself ^_^
3. one thing is as compare to Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan, I thought Leonardo's Billy whined too much and made too much noise of him being an undercover, IA definitely is a much much more subtle and nicely paced show, Chan Wing Yan appeared to be a much more steady and quite cop, but Billy looked desperate and noisy, that's why, I guess, both director even though TD obviously does come after, and from IA, but both the directors wanted to tell different story, and maybe that's why, Billy is not really really another Chan Wing Yan. [as I still think that Leonardo still looks like a little boy, prefer him in "Catch me if you can", ie. a little boy]
4. the title, The Departed, vs. Infernal Affairs, I guess, The Departed, simply indicates the story to be pretty straight foward, as compare to Infernal Affairs... [From the chinese explanation on such a film title, Infernal, it cames from buddhism. It's a layer of the hell, "Avicinar Aka", which is the most painful and suffering layer in hell. Whoever get into this layer of hell, are normally those real big bad people and there's endless suffereing. "Infernal" here somehow means "endless", and it's FIVE big endlessness... 1. time, endless, 2. space, endless, 3. equipment, endless, 4. fair, endless, 5. death, endless, ie. there's no limitation of time for one to suffer here, there's no limitaion of space for one to suffer and be punished here, there's no limitation of different equipment can be used to punish one, over here, and it doesn't matter if one was a man, or a woman, or somebody or somebody small before one dies, one will be punished here, and lastly, punishment and suffering will not end, if one thinks that, it'll end with death. Therefore, those souls who ended up here, will always suffer, INDEFINITELY, and that they've nobody to trust, they're on their own, and they'll always wish that they can get out of it, but they'll never be out of it!!]
So, my point is, I thought, IA does present the endless suffering and hopelessness... (you must watch it, how can you miss such a good film ^_^ for Tony Leung's sake!!)
however, TD does not... maybe Martin Scorsese didn't want to...
and as a viewer, I appreciate Martin Scorsese's way of presenting it...
However-------------->>>>>I thought that... as I had watched IA before I watched TD, so, it somehow helps me to understand TD better, if that's the other way round, I'm not sure if anybody will find it easier to follow TD story-telling closely... as for me, it's sometimes kind of confusing. As I am have the pre-requisite IA, therefore, I understood TD much better. So, I thought.. mm... IA stands alone, while TD doesn't @_@, my opinion!!
hehe... if you want to know what I mean, go watch The Departed, as I mentioned in the title, "What's left behind in Infernal Affairs(I) is wrapped up in The Departed"... why? hm!!! cos, the fact that, Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan had to die at the end of the show, gave me the effect as an overnight stale hard bread stuck in my throat, I just couldn't and still cannot swallow it...!!!!!!! so, if you watch The Departed, then, you'll know what I mean... at least, I can somehow swallow it!!! ^_^ kakakakakakaka!!!
[even though, there're some people who'll always prefer the Infernal Affairs ending, but, it's definitely too super sad, and hopeless for me... and followed by Infernal Affairs I, comes II, and III, which are all about Andy Lau's Lau Kin Ming role, which... mm... made me wanted to shout "ENOUGH!!!"
Let me list out the names first...
1. Tony Leung(Chan Wing Yan) vs. Leonardo DeCaprio(Billy)
2. Andy Lau(Lau Kin Ming) vs. Matt Damon(Colin Sullivan)
3. Eric Tsang(Sam) vs. Jack Nicholson(Frank)
4. Kelly Chen(Dr.Lee Sum Yee) + Sammi Cheng(Mary) vs. Vera Farmiga(Madolyn) [maybe Martin Scorsese decided that, Sammi Cheng's role in IA was unnecessary, so, scratched!! ^_^]
5. Lam Ka Tung(Inspector B) vs. James Badge Dals(Barrigan)
6. Anthony Wong(SP Wong) vs. Martin Sheen(Oliver Queenan)
7. Mark Wahlberg's Dignam, a character that's not in Infernal Affairs
The storyline of TD is more or less the same as IA,
1. most importantly, the mobster has a mole in the police department and the police has an undercover in the mobster gang.
2. the part where Sullivan asked the mobster boss Frank, to get his gang members to submit their personal details and put it in an envelope, and where Billy changed the spelling on the envelope, which later... shows that, whoever has this envelope IS the mole
3. there's a female psychiatrist where Billy likes to visit, [but as compare to IA, I thought the real interaction (where no bed scene is involved) between this undercover cop and the psychiatrist is more subtle and sweet in IA, but less in TD]
4. second most importantly, Queenan died the same way as the role that Anthony Wong played, which is kinda sad, really sad!!! I thought he's a real good man in the show, regardless it's IA or TD
5. third most importantly, Billy's real ID IS deleted
6. lastly, the shooting and killing scenes at the end, near the elevator.
OK... the rest of the things I want to mention... ^.^
1. as it's Jack Nicholson, so, there're a lot more storylines about Frank, how he is, and who he is, more interaction between him and Billy, [which I didn't get to see in IA]
2. as, there's no more Sammi Cheng, so, there's some indirect love triangular relationship between Madolyn, Billy and Colin Sullivan, how indirect it is... ^_^ I guess you'll see it yourself ^_^
3. one thing is as compare to Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan, I thought Leonardo's Billy whined too much and made too much noise of him being an undercover, IA definitely is a much much more subtle and nicely paced show, Chan Wing Yan appeared to be a much more steady and quite cop, but Billy looked desperate and noisy, that's why, I guess, both director even though TD obviously does come after, and from IA, but both the directors wanted to tell different story, and maybe that's why, Billy is not really really another Chan Wing Yan. [as I still think that Leonardo still looks like a little boy, prefer him in "Catch me if you can", ie. a little boy]
4. the title, The Departed, vs. Infernal Affairs, I guess, The Departed, simply indicates the story to be pretty straight foward, as compare to Infernal Affairs... [From the chinese explanation on such a film title, Infernal, it cames from buddhism. It's a layer of the hell, "Avicinar Aka", which is the most painful and suffering layer in hell. Whoever get into this layer of hell, are normally those real big bad people and there's endless suffereing. "Infernal" here somehow means "endless", and it's FIVE big endlessness... 1. time, endless, 2. space, endless, 3. equipment, endless, 4. fair, endless, 5. death, endless, ie. there's no limitation of time for one to suffer here, there's no limitaion of space for one to suffer and be punished here, there's no limitation of different equipment can be used to punish one, over here, and it doesn't matter if one was a man, or a woman, or somebody or somebody small before one dies, one will be punished here, and lastly, punishment and suffering will not end, if one thinks that, it'll end with death. Therefore, those souls who ended up here, will always suffer, INDEFINITELY, and that they've nobody to trust, they're on their own, and they'll always wish that they can get out of it, but they'll never be out of it!!]
So, my point is, I thought, IA does present the endless suffering and hopelessness... (you must watch it, how can you miss such a good film ^_^ for Tony Leung's sake!!)
however, TD does not... maybe Martin Scorsese didn't want to...
and as a viewer, I appreciate Martin Scorsese's way of presenting it...
However-------------->>>>>I thought that... as I had watched IA before I watched TD, so, it somehow helps me to understand TD better, if that's the other way round, I'm not sure if anybody will find it easier to follow TD story-telling closely... as for me, it's sometimes kind of confusing. As I am have the pre-requisite IA, therefore, I understood TD much better. So, I thought.. mm... IA stands alone, while TD doesn't @_@, my opinion!!
hehe... if you want to know what I mean, go watch The Departed, as I mentioned in the title, "What's left behind in Infernal Affairs(I) is wrapped up in The Departed"... why? hm!!! cos, the fact that, Tony Leung's Chan Wing Yan had to die at the end of the show, gave me the effect as an overnight stale hard bread stuck in my throat, I just couldn't and still cannot swallow it...!!!!!!! so, if you watch The Departed, then, you'll know what I mean... at least, I can somehow swallow it!!! ^_^ kakakakakakaka!!!
[even though, there're some people who'll always prefer the Infernal Affairs ending, but, it's definitely too super sad, and hopeless for me... and followed by Infernal Affairs I, comes II, and III, which are all about Andy Lau's Lau Kin Ming role, which... mm... made me wanted to shout "ENOUGH!!!"
2006-10-09
Sashimi + DimSum = ME!! ^_^V
OK... it was a Sunday, and we thought that the dimsum session in Sharkfin House in Little Bourke St. starts at 11.30 a.m.,
and we were in the city, at 11.00 a.m., so, to kill the time, and since I was having my regular sashimi calling again.. so, I thought, we'd have some 'appetizer' in Yoyogi...
JUST ONE sashimi entree will be good enough... ^,^
then, we ended up having ONE sashimi entree, PLUS a mix tempura plate... @_@
Sashimi, always look so inviting right?? I just don't know how to say 'NO' to them!!!!! sigh!!!
When we were there, to our surprise, it's already full of people, eating!!!!
then we realised, in fact, the dimsum session starts at 11.00 a.m., ^o^
but we're still considered early enough, and it's always easy and possible to get a seat for just 2 of us...
within 10 minutes, the 'captain' already brought all of us up the lift to level 1, (it seems like this restaurant, has... err... 3 or4 leves, I can't really remember exactly, cos, it seemed like, I have been to all other levels too... and each time, the 'level' that I go to, is different, anyway...)
They were just setting up table for us, a couple of us, all in small group of 2...
Since we're already half full, we only ordered the must-order dimsum, and forgo those filling ones(for eg. 'cheong fun', 'loh mai fun', 'char siu pao')
we ordered our must-have, the 'har kao', and 'siu mai', one to be my favourite, and one happens to be his favourite... which I think, is just nice, that, we'll never need to fight for the food... ^_^ (only in this case)
then, I ordered the chicken feet by accident, as I thought he really wanted it, but then, in fact, we never ordered any chicken feet as long as it's just the 2 of us, cos, I don't eat, and he wouldn't eat it all alone, but then, on that day, I thought he wanted it, cos, he mentioned about it.. however...!!!
then... guess what, we waited for 1/2 hour for MY favourite spare rib to 'show face'... I asked the waiter/waitress for many time, "if the spare rib is ready??"... finally, it's ready, after 1/2 hour... we just sat there, empty table... I refuse to let go, as we've waited for quite some time...
however... it's all worth the wait ^_^
But I didn't take the picture of my favourite spare rib, as the battery of my camera ran out!!! ~_~
and we were in the city, at 11.00 a.m., so, to kill the time, and since I was having my regular sashimi calling again.. so, I thought, we'd have some 'appetizer' in Yoyogi...
JUST ONE sashimi entree will be good enough... ^,^
then, we ended up having ONE sashimi entree, PLUS a mix tempura plate... @_@
Sashimi, always look so inviting right?? I just don't know how to say 'NO' to them!!!!! sigh!!!
When we were there, to our surprise, it's already full of people, eating!!!!
then we realised, in fact, the dimsum session starts at 11.00 a.m., ^o^
but we're still considered early enough, and it's always easy and possible to get a seat for just 2 of us...
within 10 minutes, the 'captain' already brought all of us up the lift to level 1, (it seems like this restaurant, has... err... 3 or4 leves, I can't really remember exactly, cos, it seemed like, I have been to all other levels too... and each time, the 'level' that I go to, is different, anyway...)
They were just setting up table for us, a couple of us, all in small group of 2...
Since we're already half full, we only ordered the must-order dimsum, and forgo those filling ones(for eg. 'cheong fun', 'loh mai fun', 'char siu pao')
we ordered our must-have, the 'har kao', and 'siu mai', one to be my favourite, and one happens to be his favourite... which I think, is just nice, that, we'll never need to fight for the food... ^_^ (only in this case)
then, I ordered the chicken feet by accident, as I thought he really wanted it, but then, in fact, we never ordered any chicken feet as long as it's just the 2 of us, cos, I don't eat, and he wouldn't eat it all alone, but then, on that day, I thought he wanted it, cos, he mentioned about it.. however...!!!
then... guess what, we waited for 1/2 hour for MY favourite spare rib to 'show face'... I asked the waiter/waitress for many time, "if the spare rib is ready??"... finally, it's ready, after 1/2 hour... we just sat there, empty table... I refuse to let go, as we've waited for quite some time...
however... it's all worth the wait ^_^
But I didn't take the picture of my favourite spare rib, as the battery of my camera ran out!!! ~_~
Duck before Prawn!!
On the same duck-out day, after we had our duck... his colleague went to Crown Entertainment Complex again, for his usual activity... (well... frankly, after dark, if you don't go to Crown, I seriously would not know what other things one can do, in this city!!! after dark, not even a ghost will be on the street)
so, we splitted... and both of us went to have something else, as... he's still not THAT satisfied with just the duck, and complimentary...
we went to our usual Malaysian cafe/restaurant place... he wanted to have some prawn noodle, after I showed him some eating guide and blog on the internet on malaysian cuisine, mind you, they really look very yummy!!! and in fact, I was craving for teh tarik (ah!! come to think of it, I haven't had any teh tarik as in teh tarik, for more than 1/2 year already, how sad!!!)
so, there's Chilli Padi in Melbourne Central... we went there when we first came.. then, later, we found out, the owner happens to be his colleague's uncle, from teluk intan... both of them were working profession before, but one day, the wife decided to open up a restaurant, and she went for some cooking course... and... there you go, Chilli Padi, in Melbourne Central...
This restaurant's business is pretty good... next to it, is THE Max Brenner... and this Chilli Padi, the owner is a very businessman businessman, ^_^ the restaurant is opened till late night, (not the usual 'late night' standard, but real, real, late night, till morning, 4am) serving light snack, for those party goers during the weekend.... and once a month, they've some wine tasting event cum fine dining dinner, that costs roughly AUD100++, anyway...
That's the boss who's standing there, funny thing is, the boss looks very fierce, but his wife, looks like a very nice friendly lady, as she always smile, together with her eyes(there're people who only smile with the mouth, FAKE!!)
Well.. I wouldn't say the prawn noodle is exactly as those back home, however... in this city, faraway from home, when you crave for one, this helps...
As for me, I'm not a prawn noodle lover(never!), so, I actually like their beef rendang here, really good and tasty... mm... comparatively, it can be said, it's as good as the rendang back home... ^_^ (drool!!)
Whereas, the teh tarik I had that day, was the first teh tarik I've had... it's not the same as the roadside teh tarik back in Malaysia, but you'll find plenty of them in those slightly expensive local cuisine restaurants back in Malaysia... I call them the expensive teh tarik... (usually it'll cost RM3.00-3.50, compare to the roadside teh tarik, RM1.20)
Therefore... it's up to the standard ^_^ well... the taste is definitely different (expensive vs. roadside) as the tea that they use, is different...
ps: there is another restaurant here, near Bridge Road, Richmond, somehow you think that, it's called Chilli Padi, but it's actually not... this site, USED to be the Chilli Padi old site, then, they moved to Melbourne Central, then... the 'successor' who occupies the place, also do Malaysian food, but didn't take away the banner outside the shop... we nearly got deceived the first time... I was shopping at Bridge Road, then, came across this restaurant... and we heard that, the prawn noodle in Chilli Padi is good, so, we thought this is the Chilli Padi, so, we went in. After browsing through the menu, we couldn't find any prawn noodle, so we got suspicious... then, we started to hesitate... and since the waiter didn't come to talk to us immediately, so, we took the chance to runaway... ^_^ and later, we went to the real Chilli Padi, near Melbourne Central, which we in fact, have always passed by, but didn't stop by... ^_^
so, we splitted... and both of us went to have something else, as... he's still not THAT satisfied with just the duck, and complimentary...
we went to our usual Malaysian cafe/restaurant place... he wanted to have some prawn noodle, after I showed him some eating guide and blog on the internet on malaysian cuisine, mind you, they really look very yummy!!! and in fact, I was craving for teh tarik (ah!! come to think of it, I haven't had any teh tarik as in teh tarik, for more than 1/2 year already, how sad!!!)
so, there's Chilli Padi in Melbourne Central... we went there when we first came.. then, later, we found out, the owner happens to be his colleague's uncle, from teluk intan... both of them were working profession before, but one day, the wife decided to open up a restaurant, and she went for some cooking course... and... there you go, Chilli Padi, in Melbourne Central...
This restaurant's business is pretty good... next to it, is THE Max Brenner... and this Chilli Padi, the owner is a very businessman businessman, ^_^ the restaurant is opened till late night, (not the usual 'late night' standard, but real, real, late night, till morning, 4am) serving light snack, for those party goers during the weekend.... and once a month, they've some wine tasting event cum fine dining dinner, that costs roughly AUD100++, anyway...
That's the boss who's standing there, funny thing is, the boss looks very fierce, but his wife, looks like a very nice friendly lady, as she always smile, together with her eyes(there're people who only smile with the mouth, FAKE!!)
Well.. I wouldn't say the prawn noodle is exactly as those back home, however... in this city, faraway from home, when you crave for one, this helps...
As for me, I'm not a prawn noodle lover(never!), so, I actually like their beef rendang here, really good and tasty... mm... comparatively, it can be said, it's as good as the rendang back home... ^_^ (drool!!)
Whereas, the teh tarik I had that day, was the first teh tarik I've had... it's not the same as the roadside teh tarik back in Malaysia, but you'll find plenty of them in those slightly expensive local cuisine restaurants back in Malaysia... I call them the expensive teh tarik... (usually it'll cost RM3.00-3.50, compare to the roadside teh tarik, RM1.20)
Therefore... it's up to the standard ^_^ well... the taste is definitely different (expensive vs. roadside) as the tea that they use, is different...
ps: there is another restaurant here, near Bridge Road, Richmond, somehow you think that, it's called Chilli Padi, but it's actually not... this site, USED to be the Chilli Padi old site, then, they moved to Melbourne Central, then... the 'successor' who occupies the place, also do Malaysian food, but didn't take away the banner outside the shop... we nearly got deceived the first time... I was shopping at Bridge Road, then, came across this restaurant... and we heard that, the prawn noodle in Chilli Padi is good, so, we thought this is the Chilli Padi, so, we went in. After browsing through the menu, we couldn't find any prawn noodle, so we got suspicious... then, we started to hesitate... and since the waiter didn't come to talk to us immediately, so, we took the chance to runaway... ^_^ and later, we went to the real Chilli Padi, near Melbourne Central, which we in fact, have always passed by, but didn't stop by... ^_^
Duck Tales
Last weekend, we went to duck-out again... well... one of his colleagues LOVES duck, especially peking duck, so, we took the opportunity to indulge...
as usual, we went to the err... famous duck place in town, Old Kingdom in Smith Street, Fitzroy, this restaurant... when I went there the first time... I was impressed...
thoroughly impressed by its style, ie. it doesn't have A style, it's really a very duck place, a hardcore duck place, for hardcore duck eater...
my first impression on this Old Kingdom was, wow!!! no decoration at all, no beautiful waitresses in cheongsum, no beautiful layout of plates and bowls and chopsticks on the table...
On the table, it's mainly some basic items, PLUS a plate in the middle, to put the sliced peking duck later...
all the utensils are pretty old, and it seems like, the owner won't bother to replace them... ie. people come here to eat duck, and nothing else...
This place has pretty good deal for peking duck, (however the owner, I heard, is a Bruneian, duh!!!! @_@) it's AUD48, and the package that comes with it, is, the remaining of the duck meat, will be used to be fried with bean sprout, and the frames will be used for soup, however... what they'll be serving you, the bean sprout and the soup, is of course, not exactly from the duck you just had... (who cares??) ^_^V
within 1/2 hour, we've already finsihed our own portion of duck... his colleague, our guest had a very slow pace of eating, and that... shh.... I'd to control my pace and stopped from time to time, otherwise, ^_^ I'd have finished his portion for him!!! ^_^ then... I urged them to serve the soup faster... so that, in the mean time, I could fill up my stomach with the soup... it was nice... ^_^
This place has a menu in fact, but since most of those(including us) who come to this place, is for hardcore eating duck, so, normally we don't bother about the menu, and the waiter also doesn't bother much into taking orders from us, he'll just confirm with us, if the 'standard' package is all that we want... ^_^
ps: talking about duck, however... there's a recommended place for HK style roast duck rice, Pacific House, we went to the branch in Toorak Road... well... pretty nice too!!! (drool!!)
as usual, we went to the err... famous duck place in town, Old Kingdom in Smith Street, Fitzroy, this restaurant... when I went there the first time... I was impressed...
thoroughly impressed by its style, ie. it doesn't have A style, it's really a very duck place, a hardcore duck place, for hardcore duck eater...
my first impression on this Old Kingdom was, wow!!! no decoration at all, no beautiful waitresses in cheongsum, no beautiful layout of plates and bowls and chopsticks on the table...
On the table, it's mainly some basic items, PLUS a plate in the middle, to put the sliced peking duck later...
all the utensils are pretty old, and it seems like, the owner won't bother to replace them... ie. people come here to eat duck, and nothing else...
This place has pretty good deal for peking duck, (however the owner, I heard, is a Bruneian, duh!!!! @_@) it's AUD48, and the package that comes with it, is, the remaining of the duck meat, will be used to be fried with bean sprout, and the frames will be used for soup, however... what they'll be serving you, the bean sprout and the soup, is of course, not exactly from the duck you just had... (who cares??) ^_^V
within 1/2 hour, we've already finsihed our own portion of duck... his colleague, our guest had a very slow pace of eating, and that... shh.... I'd to control my pace and stopped from time to time, otherwise, ^_^ I'd have finished his portion for him!!! ^_^ then... I urged them to serve the soup faster... so that, in the mean time, I could fill up my stomach with the soup... it was nice... ^_^
This place has a menu in fact, but since most of those(including us) who come to this place, is for hardcore eating duck, so, normally we don't bother about the menu, and the waiter also doesn't bother much into taking orders from us, he'll just confirm with us, if the 'standard' package is all that we want... ^_^
ps: talking about duck, however... there's a recommended place for HK style roast duck rice, Pacific House, we went to the branch in Toorak Road... well... pretty nice too!!! (drool!!)
Coffee and Chocolate~~~ A Lazy Day~~~~~
It was a lazy weekend (2006-09-24), we went around town, doing nothing... well... do something by doing nothing ^-^
There is this place, I would like to mention, it's called "Coffee Palace", at the junction between Elizabeth Street and Bourke Street, next to the departmental store Myer... as we normally take the tram, and there is a tram stop just in front of this Coffee Palace, therefore, we kinda 'notice' this Coffee Palace...
On a sunny day, a lot of people will like to hang out here, mostly working executive, rather than youngsters, it's a cozy place for coffee... and what I like the most about this place is... ^_^ the waitresses are all extremely sweet and pretty... we went there, late morning, to have something to fill our stomach, before the real life in this city starts... so, we had a half tostie to share, and a latte and mocha...
Then... later in the afternoon, before we went back to our apartment... we had another round of drinks and dessert, Max Brenner(my first encounter with Max Brenner was in S'pore, where my ex-roommate introduced it to me) in Melbourne Central... I prefer this outlet than the other one, which is nearby, in Queen Victoria Building.. as the one in Queen Victoria Building, is
Furthermore, as oppose to the outlet in Queen Victoria Building, this one as my favourite dessert, the Belgian Waffle, that comes with icecream and chocolate dip, very sinful huh!!!!! Usually, I'll persuade him to have one, as normally you can see that the table next to you, where there're 2 girls, each of them is having one for themselves... ^_^...
I like the concept of Max Brenner as compare to another chocolate place, Koko Black, we tried Koko Black before, but somehow found it being too rich... ^_^, while Max Brenner's chocolate, is just nice enough for our taste, and one thing I love is the Hug Mug, the way they serve most of their chocky drinks... ^_^ lovely isn't it?? you're suppose to give the mug a hug, and sip from it... I thought it's very nice and warm, particularly in places where there's cold weather (that's told by my ex-roommate as well, a lovely lady!)
Apparently, (if you read the intro in the menu book) Max Brenner wanted to be a writer, and he was always fascinated with the story in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", so, he wandered around in Europe, spent some years in Paris, getting drunk, and lived a purpose-less, indisciplined life, (as he belives, or he's read from somewhere, about life of a writer, that, most writers' lives are pretty disorganised, and usually associated with drugs and alcohol) however... eventually, he evolved himself to be a chocolate maker... (the details I've forgotten), and he's bald... I took his sketch (or somebody's sketches) of himself on the napkin...
There is this place, I would like to mention, it's called "Coffee Palace", at the junction between Elizabeth Street and Bourke Street, next to the departmental store Myer... as we normally take the tram, and there is a tram stop just in front of this Coffee Palace, therefore, we kinda 'notice' this Coffee Palace...
On a sunny day, a lot of people will like to hang out here, mostly working executive, rather than youngsters, it's a cozy place for coffee... and what I like the most about this place is... ^_^ the waitresses are all extremely sweet and pretty... we went there, late morning, to have something to fill our stomach, before the real life in this city starts... so, we had a half tostie to share, and a latte and mocha...
Then... later in the afternoon, before we went back to our apartment... we had another round of drinks and dessert, Max Brenner(my first encounter with Max Brenner was in S'pore, where my ex-roommate introduced it to me) in Melbourne Central... I prefer this outlet than the other one, which is nearby, in Queen Victoria Building.. as the one in Queen Victoria Building, is
Furthermore, as oppose to the outlet in Queen Victoria Building, this one as my favourite dessert, the Belgian Waffle, that comes with icecream and chocolate dip, very sinful huh!!!!! Usually, I'll persuade him to have one, as normally you can see that the table next to you, where there're 2 girls, each of them is having one for themselves... ^_^...
I like the concept of Max Brenner as compare to another chocolate place, Koko Black, we tried Koko Black before, but somehow found it being too rich... ^_^, while Max Brenner's chocolate, is just nice enough for our taste, and one thing I love is the Hug Mug, the way they serve most of their chocky drinks... ^_^ lovely isn't it?? you're suppose to give the mug a hug, and sip from it... I thought it's very nice and warm, particularly in places where there's cold weather (that's told by my ex-roommate as well, a lovely lady!)
Apparently, (if you read the intro in the menu book) Max Brenner wanted to be a writer, and he was always fascinated with the story in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", so, he wandered around in Europe, spent some years in Paris, getting drunk, and lived a purpose-less, indisciplined life, (as he belives, or he's read from somewhere, about life of a writer, that, most writers' lives are pretty disorganised, and usually associated with drugs and alcohol) however... eventually, he evolved himself to be a chocolate maker... (the details I've forgotten), and he's bald... I took his sketch (or somebody's sketches) of himself on the napkin...
Seoul Garden
On 2006-09-22, I followed him and his colleagues to this korean restaurant downtown Melbourne, it's next to the Marriot Hotel, called Seoul Garden...
when we first entered, well, not many people, besides us, there was only another table there.. in fact, initially we wanted to go for japanese food, however, on a Friday night, it was fully booked...
so, typical korean barbecue food, meat and lots of meat... ^_^
I don't particularly fancy korean food, especially this Seoul Garden, the marinate is far too sweet and the taste is too strong... too strong to the stage, where it's kinda irritating, if you've more...
however, I always like the side dishes in this type of korean food setting, ie. barbecue... the side dishes, for eg. bean sprout, cucumber, kimchi(well, it depends on the restaurant though, some really sucks, but some are pretty lovely), and back in K.L., this restaurant that I have been to, (Nak Won) I love their potato stripe, don't underestimate how potato can taste like, in Nak Won, the potato stripe(side dish) is really attractive... however... as it's complimentary sidedishes, I'm not sure if the waiter/waitress is willing to endlessly replenish for you..
Then... after the dinner, (which is a little bit unsatisfying, as in taste, afterall, I still prefer japanese food, which is lighter in taste, less heavier for my tastebud, and feel kind of healthier ^_^), we went to the Crown's Entertainment Complex, as some of his colleagues, wanted to 'visit' the casino... so, the guys went into the casino, and the gals went to visit Greco, to have a pamper and girl session...
and without the existence of guys.. ^_^ we pig-out again!!!
Again, I ordered my favourite Affogato, I didn't order any cakes, but when I was eating the korean food, towards the end, my mind was fully clouded with COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE!!! I could feel that, this little cup of coffee was calling for me afar... (well, basically, I as just too fed up with the barbecue marinate, they're too 'tasty', and sweet!! the only one good barbecue meat, was the limited beef that I have, which had no marinate at all ^_^;;)
Normally I like this type of events, especially with, err... strangers... well.. not so strangers though, they're his colleagues... but then, as girl-guy talk vs. girl-girl talk... it's my first-hand experience in getting to know them more... the cake (coffee cake) was not ordered by me, that girl loves sweets, even though she always talks about DIET, ^_^ but then.. it's fun, then, without the rest of us knowing, another girl somehow ordered another piece of cake, a cheesecake, with extra icecream... Goodness!!!! it's just TOO sinful... according to her, the cheesecake is THE cake for Greco, so, she had to order for us to try... well... talk about cheesecake, I actually start to miss Malaysian Secret Recipe... ^_^...
One thing I notice is that, the cakes here are normally extremely huge... I bought A SLICE of cake once, and it took me 3 rounds to finish the whole slice, across a few days!!!!
when we first entered, well, not many people, besides us, there was only another table there.. in fact, initially we wanted to go for japanese food, however, on a Friday night, it was fully booked...
so, typical korean barbecue food, meat and lots of meat... ^_^
I don't particularly fancy korean food, especially this Seoul Garden, the marinate is far too sweet and the taste is too strong... too strong to the stage, where it's kinda irritating, if you've more...
however, I always like the side dishes in this type of korean food setting, ie. barbecue... the side dishes, for eg. bean sprout, cucumber, kimchi(well, it depends on the restaurant though, some really sucks, but some are pretty lovely), and back in K.L., this restaurant that I have been to, (Nak Won) I love their potato stripe, don't underestimate how potato can taste like, in Nak Won, the potato stripe(side dish) is really attractive... however... as it's complimentary sidedishes, I'm not sure if the waiter/waitress is willing to endlessly replenish for you..
Then... after the dinner, (which is a little bit unsatisfying, as in taste, afterall, I still prefer japanese food, which is lighter in taste, less heavier for my tastebud, and feel kind of healthier ^_^), we went to the Crown's Entertainment Complex, as some of his colleagues, wanted to 'visit' the casino... so, the guys went into the casino, and the gals went to visit Greco, to have a pamper and girl session...
and without the existence of guys.. ^_^ we pig-out again!!!
Again, I ordered my favourite Affogato, I didn't order any cakes, but when I was eating the korean food, towards the end, my mind was fully clouded with COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE!!! I could feel that, this little cup of coffee was calling for me afar... (well, basically, I as just too fed up with the barbecue marinate, they're too 'tasty', and sweet!! the only one good barbecue meat, was the limited beef that I have, which had no marinate at all ^_^;;)
Normally I like this type of events, especially with, err... strangers... well.. not so strangers though, they're his colleagues... but then, as girl-guy talk vs. girl-girl talk... it's my first-hand experience in getting to know them more... the cake (coffee cake) was not ordered by me, that girl loves sweets, even though she always talks about DIET, ^_^ but then.. it's fun, then, without the rest of us knowing, another girl somehow ordered another piece of cake, a cheesecake, with extra icecream... Goodness!!!! it's just TOO sinful... according to her, the cheesecake is THE cake for Greco, so, she had to order for us to try... well... talk about cheesecake, I actually start to miss Malaysian Secret Recipe... ^_^...
One thing I notice is that, the cakes here are normally extremely huge... I bought A SLICE of cake once, and it took me 3 rounds to finish the whole slice, across a few days!!!!
2006-10-01
Sexual Harrassment Q&A
When I was thinking about the sexual harrassment cases that I know of in my life... I suddenly thought of this...
To those useless and ball-less male there, if you're so pathetic as to need to sexual harrass your female colleagues, choose the right victims!!! otherwise, serve you right, to get kicked out from the company...
duh!!!... so, am I speaking for the idiotic male?? not really... but then... I always think that, what goes around, comes around...
and to these pathetic guys... if you're so pathetic, then, please don't do more pathetic things like sexually harrassing somebody in your workplace... to make yourself even more hopelessly pathetic!!!!
mm... I won't say those female 'invite' those harrassment themselves... (please make it clear that, I am talking about harrassment, not rape!!! rape is a severe case, all those males, should be cut-off 'there', and hanged)
I was thinking about this...
What if...
the person who harrasses you, is the prince charming in the company, is the handsome guy you've always dreamed of dating? @_@??
what if??
A person who looks like Leon Lai, or Andy Lau, or Christian Bale, or Kimura Takuya, (or whoever handsome celebrities that you can think of) send sms to you everyday, saying "I miss you so much", "I can't sleep without seeing you", "I keep thinking about you, even in my dream", etc.
A person who looks like James Spader, or Tom Cruise, or Tony Leung Chiu Wai, or Josh Harnett, (or whoever handsome celebrities that you can think of comes close to you in the lift, and talks to you flirtateously...
and what if,
it's your handsome boss... who have you some verbal 'harrassment', then you may misinterprete it as an opportunity to have a relationship with the upper management personnel???
Err... will you still file a sexual harrassment compliant??
[frankly, to me, probably I'll faint, due to over-exitement, as it's TOO good to be true]
When I was Boston Legal, Alan Shore(James Spader) and Denny Crane(William Shartner) have been sexually harrassing their female colleagues, all the time... that's why, Boston Legal is a 10:30pm show, it cannot take up the prime time... ^_^
I remember one of the episode, where Alan's ex-girlfriend Tara (Rhona Mitra) has always been kinda 'harrassed' by any male that she met, cos, she's just too attractive and sexy... and there's once, Lori (Monica Potter) asked her, "won't you find that as sexual harrassment?" she said "no, I am used to how male behaves like this in front of me..." (indicating that, she knows very well, herself being sexy and attractive, ie. she's that sex appeal)
When I see House, Dr.Gregory House(Hugh Laurie) loves to harrass Cuddy as well... he always talks about her boobs... and I can see that, Cuddy somehow likes him (in the platonic sense) so, she didn't have any 'reaction' about him talking about her boobs...
And when I saw the last season of '24', one of the girl who just came to help in CTU(Counter Terrorism Unit)... told Chloe about her past record with one of the guy, Miles, at that time helped to run CTU... that she's filed a sexual harrassment to the superior, about Miles... and of course, Miles never admit that, and told everybody that this particular girl is sick...
Then, on one occassion, while discussing over the tactical, Bill (another person who helps in taking charge of CTU) put his hand over Chloe shoulder before he left the table, this girl told Chloe this, "do you see the hand? it's not right??"
^_^
And I thought the definition of sexual harrassment, is pretty subjective, especially when such act hasn't come into a physical act yet (but of course, when it really comes to be a physical ones, then it'll be too late, isn't it?)
Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances:
* The harasser can be anyone, such as a supervisor, a client, a co-worker, a teacher or professor, a student, a friend, or a stranger.
* The victim does not have to be the person directly harassed but can be anyone who finds the behavior offensive and is affected by it.
* While adverse effects on the victim are common, this does not have to be the case for the behavior to be unlawful.
* The victim can be male or female. The harasser can be male or female.
* The harasser does not have to be of the opposite sex.
* The harasser may be completely unaware that his or her behavior is offensive or constitutes sexual harassment or may be completely unaware that his or her actions could be unlawful.
However... back to my initial question...
What if..........................??
From what I can see is that, the 3 cases that I mentioned in my previous entry, none of the guy has that 'celebrity' type of outlook..
but then, one will say, if they look like Tom Cruise then, they don't have to do all these funny things...
Well... who knows... there're tonnes of criminals out there, who look very good and look like professionals...
and maybe really... people who look like Tom Cruise have already got away with it, and that nobody will file a complain and that... we wouldn't know right??
See!! the world IS very prejudicial!! and LOOK does matter!!!
To those useless and ball-less male there, if you're so pathetic as to need to sexual harrass your female colleagues, choose the right victims!!! otherwise, serve you right, to get kicked out from the company...
duh!!!... so, am I speaking for the idiotic male?? not really... but then... I always think that, what goes around, comes around...
and to these pathetic guys... if you're so pathetic, then, please don't do more pathetic things like sexually harrassing somebody in your workplace... to make yourself even more hopelessly pathetic!!!!
mm... I won't say those female 'invite' those harrassment themselves... (please make it clear that, I am talking about harrassment, not rape!!! rape is a severe case, all those males, should be cut-off 'there', and hanged)
I was thinking about this...
What if...
the person who harrasses you, is the prince charming in the company, is the handsome guy you've always dreamed of dating? @_@??
what if??
A person who looks like Leon Lai, or Andy Lau, or Christian Bale, or Kimura Takuya, (or whoever handsome celebrities that you can think of) send sms to you everyday, saying "I miss you so much", "I can't sleep without seeing you", "I keep thinking about you, even in my dream", etc.
A person who looks like James Spader, or Tom Cruise, or Tony Leung Chiu Wai, or Josh Harnett, (or whoever handsome celebrities that you can think of comes close to you in the lift, and talks to you flirtateously...
and what if,
it's your handsome boss... who have you some verbal 'harrassment', then you may misinterprete it as an opportunity to have a relationship with the upper management personnel???
Err... will you still file a sexual harrassment compliant??
[frankly, to me, probably I'll faint, due to over-exitement, as it's TOO good to be true]
When I was Boston Legal, Alan Shore(James Spader) and Denny Crane(William Shartner) have been sexually harrassing their female colleagues, all the time... that's why, Boston Legal is a 10:30pm show, it cannot take up the prime time... ^_^
I remember one of the episode, where Alan's ex-girlfriend Tara (Rhona Mitra) has always been kinda 'harrassed' by any male that she met, cos, she's just too attractive and sexy... and there's once, Lori (Monica Potter) asked her, "won't you find that as sexual harrassment?" she said "no, I am used to how male behaves like this in front of me..." (indicating that, she knows very well, herself being sexy and attractive, ie. she's that sex appeal)
When I see House, Dr.Gregory House(Hugh Laurie) loves to harrass Cuddy as well... he always talks about her boobs... and I can see that, Cuddy somehow likes him (in the platonic sense) so, she didn't have any 'reaction' about him talking about her boobs...
And when I saw the last season of '24', one of the girl who just came to help in CTU(Counter Terrorism Unit)... told Chloe about her past record with one of the guy, Miles, at that time helped to run CTU... that she's filed a sexual harrassment to the superior, about Miles... and of course, Miles never admit that, and told everybody that this particular girl is sick...
Then, on one occassion, while discussing over the tactical, Bill (another person who helps in taking charge of CTU) put his hand over Chloe shoulder before he left the table, this girl told Chloe this, "do you see the hand? it's not right??"
^_^
And I thought the definition of sexual harrassment, is pretty subjective, especially when such act hasn't come into a physical act yet (but of course, when it really comes to be a physical ones, then it'll be too late, isn't it?)
Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances:
* The harasser can be anyone, such as a supervisor, a client, a co-worker, a teacher or professor, a student, a friend, or a stranger.
* The victim does not have to be the person directly harassed but can be anyone who finds the behavior offensive and is affected by it.
* While adverse effects on the victim are common, this does not have to be the case for the behavior to be unlawful.
* The victim can be male or female. The harasser can be male or female.
* The harasser does not have to be of the opposite sex.
* The harasser may be completely unaware that his or her behavior is offensive or constitutes sexual harassment or may be completely unaware that his or her actions could be unlawful.
However... back to my initial question...
What if..........................??
From what I can see is that, the 3 cases that I mentioned in my previous entry, none of the guy has that 'celebrity' type of outlook..
but then, one will say, if they look like Tom Cruise then, they don't have to do all these funny things...
Well... who knows... there're tonnes of criminals out there, who look very good and look like professionals...
and maybe really... people who look like Tom Cruise have already got away with it, and that nobody will file a complain and that... we wouldn't know right??
See!! the world IS very prejudicial!! and LOOK does matter!!!
3 and a 1/2 Sexual Harrassment
In my life... I was directly/indirectly involved with sexual harrassment cases. ^_^ Interesting and spicy huh!! ^_^
As recetly, there's another 'indiect' case that happened, in my knowledge, so I thought of writing something about this...
For those who knew how my first job was.... basically they know, I worked offshore, ie. onboard a vessle, ie. onboard a vessle for entire 5 weeks, ie. for the entire 5 weeks, in the middle of the sea, in the middle of nowhere...
First encounter
This was the first big case, that I was somehow there, at the same time during the sexual harrassment news outbreak. As the company that I worked with, is a multinational company with strict safety and sexual harrassment rules, therefore, it was BIG...
What happened was, there's this female navigator (now they call it positioning engineer) claimed that, somebody onboard had been sending porno pictrues, or disturbing emails to her... that lead to a very extensive 'investigation' onboard, Party Chief interviewed all the males... as the emailed sent, was from a public workstation, and that it's a yahoo account, which is untraceable of who the real owner was, therefore, technically speaking, they couldn't pinpont to one single individual male.
Anybody onboard for the same entire 5 weeks, male, was basically the usual suspect... till the end of the investigation, I am not sure based on what solid reason, they narrowed it down to a guy onboard, from the same homeland, and same office as the girl, and interrogated him. OF COURSE, nobody will admit such thing, and that, the investigation, I have to say, was fruitless... AND, the person, who was interrogated, demanded an apology, as it was an insult to him.
OK, case close for the sexual harrassment investigation. However... whenever there is sexual harrassment, one is sure to hear 'negative' input about the female side. That's how the society is... male-dominated society... regardless you're in the east, or you're in the west. Immediately I heard people commenting on the girl, for eg. she'd wear extremely tight tank top and shorts when she exercised on the helideck(the deck for the helicopter to land during crewchange), or, she liked to stretch herself in front of the male colleagues while they were working... bla bla bla..
Well... I just listened, as it's quite funny... how this case brought 'spices' into our monotonous routine 5 weeks of onboard offshore life... and... since nobody was actually physically, or even psychologically damanged and harmed, so, I thought, I can say it out out... THAT it's quite funny and interesting experience.
Not until...
when the victim is yourself ^_^
The 1/2 case, being a short case... a different trip... sometimes, as offshore environment can be pretty hostile and abnormal for a normal female, you don't get to see many female onboard at one time. There was this trip, if I have not remembered wrongly, I was the only female at that time, but with good working and trustworthy male colleagues, so, that was alright for me, and that, I know, most of the time, I was just another buddy to them. However... there was this one night, when I return to my cabin, I found out that one pair of my bras was gone. Immediately I was more enraged rather than terrifed, as what I saw is, one of my belongings was stolen, (regardless what it is) I didn't like the idea that, my belongings gone missing. I reported that to the Party Chief and the Captain.
Later, the captain, the nice old humble Norweigian Captain came to talk to me, and advised me to err... stop @_@ well... as in, don't pursue further or push it too hard. He told me that he's been working on a vessel the entire of his life, and he has seen many funny people... He said, he can initiate a boat search, but that might lead to nothing. I listened to him, and thought of those circumstances. Well... it's not that, it'll be a BIG deal, but then, I thought, if I was the guy who stole it, if I know that, they're searching the boat, then, I would just throw it away, into the sea, it's so convenient huh!! Then, I told the Captain that I brought this up, was because, I wanted to send a message to the thief that, I KNOW!! and that I am VERY ANGRY about this. It's not a matter to get it back. Anway, even if I were to get it back, I would have thrown it away as well.
Case closed.
Second Encounter
Two years ago, one of the manager in the company that I have worked with, called me one day, and asked me about Mr.Z, if he's the type of person who's 'extra hands' on you... I told the manager, I did notice that Mr.Z was like this, but that, I didn't let myself being victimised to the next step (well... as a female, you gotta be able to sense this, and know when to warn, directly or indirectly, the other person, to not to take further steps right? If you can sense it, and you let it happens, further and further, I call it, 'leading the person on', if you don't know it... I don't know what to say)
So, testimonial from me collected...
The next thing I heard was that, Mr.Z was kicked out from the company, as, apparently all the female, who have, or who are, gave the similar statements.
However... what triggered the 'investigation' was, this girl, Miss.S went to the management, complained that, Mr.Z was trying to hug her, or get physically close to her in the lift. That's the 'kick-off' for the whole investigation.
Then... here come the juicy part, as the First Encounter, there will always be a retaliation or backlash to the female, in this case, Miss.S.
Notes from Wikipedia.org
Retaliation and backlash against a victim are very common, particularly a complainant. Victims who speak out against sexual harassment are often labeled troublemakers who are on their own power trips, or who are looking for attention. Similar to cases of rape or sexual assault, the victim often becomes the accused, with their appearance, private life, and character likely to fall under intrusive scrutiny and attack. [17] They risk hostility and isolation from colleagues, supervisors, teachers, fellow students, and even friends. They may become the targets of mobbing or relational aggression.[18]
Women are not necessarily sympathetic to female complainants who have been sexually harassed. If the harasser was male, internalized sexism, and/or jealousy over the sexual attention towards the victim, may encourage some women to react with as much hostility towards the complainant as some male colleagues.[19] Fear of being targeted for harassment or retaliation themselves may also cause some women to respond with hostility.[20] For example, when Lois Jenson filed her lawsuit against Eveleth Taconite Co., the women placed a hangman's noose above her workplace, and shunned her both at work and in the community--many of these women later joined her suit.(Bingham et al 2002) Women may even project hostility onto the victim in order to bond with their male coworkers and build trust.
After the 'case is closed', (ie. Mr.Z was kicked out from company, Mr.Z was already very senior, middle-upper management) I heard some of the backfire statments from others, for eg. she led him on, she always wear extremely tight shirt and short skirt, she likes to charm the male bosses to get things done, she'd fight for opportunity to travel with bosses(in the case, Mr.Z) for those pretigous job tasks, like recruiting, and so on... and Miss.S was not new in the company anymore... so, it's not the first day, she knew Mr.Z.
Furthermore, she causes trouble to the other family, ie. Mr.R's wife called into the office to check on her, questioning about her, as she, apparently, (according to 1st, 2nd, 3rd hand information) would call Mr.R late at night, for no reason... and bla bla bla...
Case closed??? apparently not closed yet, even after 2 years..
The next thing I found out, was, Miss.S, requested to transfer to another location, as the office has been very stressful and tensed even till this moment that I write, and that... somebody, here comes Miss.B took this opportunity(the sexual harrassment case) to strengthen her influence and position in the office..., Miss.B spread words about Miss.S to stir up the office's initially peaceful/harmonized(when I was there)---but turned to a little bit tensed environment, besides what I have stated above, Miss.B even added that, Miss.S was actually trying to seduce people's husband... and bla bla bla...
[I should kneel down and thank God that, I am not there anymore]
Case closed??? Nah... this case, will never be closed, it's already formed a dark cloud on top of the office, and it's already caused a 'plague' in the office... -_- What I know is, the office is never, and will never be the same anymore, like when I was there...
And, what I can see from this case is... 一物制一物(there's always another higher moutain, or, it takes the same type to get the same type), I knew Miss.S, and I knew Miss.B, before I left the company, Miss.S, was definitely not a person who's not aggressive ^_^, she 'somehow' caused Mr.Z to be OUT, and then, Miss.B made her OUT!!
Hm... now, I'm wondering, who'll be the one to take on Miss.B @_@
Third Encounter
This is an indirect case, or, rather, it's a case happened in the workplace of somebody that I know...
A girl complained to the management, that, there's this guy who, called her or sms'ed her everyday, every hour that, he missed her so much, couldn't sleep without seeing her, and etc. well... it's a verbal sexual harrassment... When I first about this, ^_^ the first question I asked is, "is it physical, or verbal?" (as in the second case, it's considered physical)
OK, no big fuss about this case, the guy was immediately asked to leave the project, before the management planned to take on legal action, and the guy, I think, also was aware/felt guilty of his act, didn't defend himself at all, packed and left.
Case close...
However... there is this one interesting thing from this case...
As I mentioned, it happened to the workplace of somebody that I know... and somehow, from the descripton, I guessed who the victim was...
I have met the victim ONCE, only over a dinner... but then, when the full description of the whole 'event' was briefed to me, I was able to identify the victim ^_^ well... sometimes, I think, the world is really too small...
[Long time ago, on another occassion as well... (ah! not 'sexual harrassment' related) one of my seniors(who's in another faculty) told me that, there's this girl who's interested in him, and that, she left a 'love note' in a book that she later returned to my senior... then, one fine day, I went to find my senior, we took the lift up to his department's lab, a girl came in to the lift, saw him, said 'hi', tha'ts it... later, I asked my senior, is that THE girl?? he asked "how do you know?"... well... BLAME it to my sixth sense then!! ^_^V]
The lady(victim) in this case... (kaka... I'll be the one who starts this 'backlash' here) over the dinner... I noticed...
well... talked about the dinner... it's like this...
First, this guy said he wanted to bring us to have some good vietnamese food, then, when I reached the destination, Ooi!! it's a chinese restaurant... why? apparently, this lady, who last minute joined us, couldn't take any spicy food... that's why, we ended up in a chinese restaurant... which is fine with me, as I wallop anything that's in front of me...
Then, when we were supposed to order... we were told, the lady was a vegetarian, fine, I have nothing against vegetarian, and this was not the first time, I sat down with vegetarian friends, (back in Uni days, there were so many vegetarian in my course, you'll find out when you go on field trip with them) so, she ended up ordering TWO tofu dishes, and it's good for me, cos, I love tofu as well, but then, we ordered some roast duck for ourselves... ^_^
Well... no big fuss about the dinner.. but it's interesting to get to know who orders what, or who eats what, or who chitchats over the dinner, who will take the food from the main dish themselves, even though we first met each other, who are quiet, who are loud... and etc.
So, what's the connection between being a vegetarian girl, and being a victim?? nah... technically speaking, no connection, BLAME it on my sixth sense ok?? ^_^
..... to be continued
As recetly, there's another 'indiect' case that happened, in my knowledge, so I thought of writing something about this...
For those who knew how my first job was.... basically they know, I worked offshore, ie. onboard a vessle, ie. onboard a vessle for entire 5 weeks, ie. for the entire 5 weeks, in the middle of the sea, in the middle of nowhere...
First encounter
This was the first big case, that I was somehow there, at the same time during the sexual harrassment news outbreak. As the company that I worked with, is a multinational company with strict safety and sexual harrassment rules, therefore, it was BIG...
What happened was, there's this female navigator (now they call it positioning engineer) claimed that, somebody onboard had been sending porno pictrues, or disturbing emails to her... that lead to a very extensive 'investigation' onboard, Party Chief interviewed all the males... as the emailed sent, was from a public workstation, and that it's a yahoo account, which is untraceable of who the real owner was, therefore, technically speaking, they couldn't pinpont to one single individual male.
Anybody onboard for the same entire 5 weeks, male, was basically the usual suspect... till the end of the investigation, I am not sure based on what solid reason, they narrowed it down to a guy onboard, from the same homeland, and same office as the girl, and interrogated him. OF COURSE, nobody will admit such thing, and that, the investigation, I have to say, was fruitless... AND, the person, who was interrogated, demanded an apology, as it was an insult to him.
OK, case close for the sexual harrassment investigation. However... whenever there is sexual harrassment, one is sure to hear 'negative' input about the female side. That's how the society is... male-dominated society... regardless you're in the east, or you're in the west. Immediately I heard people commenting on the girl, for eg. she'd wear extremely tight tank top and shorts when she exercised on the helideck(the deck for the helicopter to land during crewchange), or, she liked to stretch herself in front of the male colleagues while they were working... bla bla bla..
Well... I just listened, as it's quite funny... how this case brought 'spices' into our monotonous routine 5 weeks of onboard offshore life... and... since nobody was actually physically, or even psychologically damanged and harmed, so, I thought, I can say it out out... THAT it's quite funny and interesting experience.
Not until...
when the victim is yourself ^_^
The 1/2 case, being a short case... a different trip... sometimes, as offshore environment can be pretty hostile and abnormal for a normal female, you don't get to see many female onboard at one time. There was this trip, if I have not remembered wrongly, I was the only female at that time, but with good working and trustworthy male colleagues, so, that was alright for me, and that, I know, most of the time, I was just another buddy to them. However... there was this one night, when I return to my cabin, I found out that one pair of my bras was gone. Immediately I was more enraged rather than terrifed, as what I saw is, one of my belongings was stolen, (regardless what it is) I didn't like the idea that, my belongings gone missing. I reported that to the Party Chief and the Captain.
Later, the captain, the nice old humble Norweigian Captain came to talk to me, and advised me to err... stop @_@ well... as in, don't pursue further or push it too hard. He told me that he's been working on a vessel the entire of his life, and he has seen many funny people... He said, he can initiate a boat search, but that might lead to nothing. I listened to him, and thought of those circumstances. Well... it's not that, it'll be a BIG deal, but then, I thought, if I was the guy who stole it, if I know that, they're searching the boat, then, I would just throw it away, into the sea, it's so convenient huh!! Then, I told the Captain that I brought this up, was because, I wanted to send a message to the thief that, I KNOW!! and that I am VERY ANGRY about this. It's not a matter to get it back. Anway, even if I were to get it back, I would have thrown it away as well.
Case closed.
Second Encounter
Two years ago, one of the manager in the company that I have worked with, called me one day, and asked me about Mr.Z, if he's the type of person who's 'extra hands' on you... I told the manager, I did notice that Mr.Z was like this, but that, I didn't let myself being victimised to the next step (well... as a female, you gotta be able to sense this, and know when to warn, directly or indirectly, the other person, to not to take further steps right? If you can sense it, and you let it happens, further and further, I call it, 'leading the person on', if you don't know it... I don't know what to say)
So, testimonial from me collected...
The next thing I heard was that, Mr.Z was kicked out from the company, as, apparently all the female, who have, or who are, gave the similar statements.
However... what triggered the 'investigation' was, this girl, Miss.S went to the management, complained that, Mr.Z was trying to hug her, or get physically close to her in the lift. That's the 'kick-off' for the whole investigation.
Then... here come the juicy part, as the First Encounter, there will always be a retaliation or backlash to the female, in this case, Miss.S.
Notes from Wikipedia.org
Retaliation and backlash against a victim are very common, particularly a complainant. Victims who speak out against sexual harassment are often labeled troublemakers who are on their own power trips, or who are looking for attention. Similar to cases of rape or sexual assault, the victim often becomes the accused, with their appearance, private life, and character likely to fall under intrusive scrutiny and attack. [17] They risk hostility and isolation from colleagues, supervisors, teachers, fellow students, and even friends. They may become the targets of mobbing or relational aggression.[18]
Women are not necessarily sympathetic to female complainants who have been sexually harassed. If the harasser was male, internalized sexism, and/or jealousy over the sexual attention towards the victim, may encourage some women to react with as much hostility towards the complainant as some male colleagues.[19] Fear of being targeted for harassment or retaliation themselves may also cause some women to respond with hostility.[20] For example, when Lois Jenson filed her lawsuit against Eveleth Taconite Co., the women placed a hangman's noose above her workplace, and shunned her both at work and in the community--many of these women later joined her suit.(Bingham et al 2002) Women may even project hostility onto the victim in order to bond with their male coworkers and build trust.
After the 'case is closed', (ie. Mr.Z was kicked out from company, Mr.Z was already very senior, middle-upper management) I heard some of the backfire statments from others, for eg. she led him on, she always wear extremely tight shirt and short skirt, she likes to charm the male bosses to get things done, she'd fight for opportunity to travel with bosses(in the case, Mr.Z) for those pretigous job tasks, like recruiting, and so on... and Miss.S was not new in the company anymore... so, it's not the first day, she knew Mr.Z.
Furthermore, she causes trouble to the other family, ie. Mr.R's wife called into the office to check on her, questioning about her, as she, apparently, (according to 1st, 2nd, 3rd hand information) would call Mr.R late at night, for no reason... and bla bla bla...
Case closed??? apparently not closed yet, even after 2 years..
The next thing I found out, was, Miss.S, requested to transfer to another location, as the office has been very stressful and tensed even till this moment that I write, and that... somebody, here comes Miss.B took this opportunity(the sexual harrassment case) to strengthen her influence and position in the office..., Miss.B spread words about Miss.S to stir up the office's initially peaceful/harmonized(when I was there)---but turned to a little bit tensed environment, besides what I have stated above, Miss.B even added that, Miss.S was actually trying to seduce people's husband... and bla bla bla...
[I should kneel down and thank God that, I am not there anymore]
Case closed??? Nah... this case, will never be closed, it's already formed a dark cloud on top of the office, and it's already caused a 'plague' in the office... -_- What I know is, the office is never, and will never be the same anymore, like when I was there...
And, what I can see from this case is... 一物制一物(there's always another higher moutain, or, it takes the same type to get the same type), I knew Miss.S, and I knew Miss.B, before I left the company, Miss.S, was definitely not a person who's not aggressive ^_^, she 'somehow' caused Mr.Z to be OUT, and then, Miss.B made her OUT!!
Hm... now, I'm wondering, who'll be the one to take on Miss.B @_@
Third Encounter
This is an indirect case, or, rather, it's a case happened in the workplace of somebody that I know...
A girl complained to the management, that, there's this guy who, called her or sms'ed her everyday, every hour that, he missed her so much, couldn't sleep without seeing her, and etc. well... it's a verbal sexual harrassment... When I first about this, ^_^ the first question I asked is, "is it physical, or verbal?" (as in the second case, it's considered physical)
OK, no big fuss about this case, the guy was immediately asked to leave the project, before the management planned to take on legal action, and the guy, I think, also was aware/felt guilty of his act, didn't defend himself at all, packed and left.
Case close...
However... there is this one interesting thing from this case...
As I mentioned, it happened to the workplace of somebody that I know... and somehow, from the descripton, I guessed who the victim was...
I have met the victim ONCE, only over a dinner... but then, when the full description of the whole 'event' was briefed to me, I was able to identify the victim ^_^ well... sometimes, I think, the world is really too small...
[Long time ago, on another occassion as well... (ah! not 'sexual harrassment' related) one of my seniors(who's in another faculty) told me that, there's this girl who's interested in him, and that, she left a 'love note' in a book that she later returned to my senior... then, one fine day, I went to find my senior, we took the lift up to his department's lab, a girl came in to the lift, saw him, said 'hi', tha'ts it... later, I asked my senior, is that THE girl?? he asked "how do you know?"... well... BLAME it to my sixth sense then!! ^_^V]
The lady(victim) in this case... (kaka... I'll be the one who starts this 'backlash' here) over the dinner... I noticed...
well... talked about the dinner... it's like this...
First, this guy said he wanted to bring us to have some good vietnamese food, then, when I reached the destination, Ooi!! it's a chinese restaurant... why? apparently, this lady, who last minute joined us, couldn't take any spicy food... that's why, we ended up in a chinese restaurant... which is fine with me, as I wallop anything that's in front of me...
Then, when we were supposed to order... we were told, the lady was a vegetarian, fine, I have nothing against vegetarian, and this was not the first time, I sat down with vegetarian friends, (back in Uni days, there were so many vegetarian in my course, you'll find out when you go on field trip with them) so, she ended up ordering TWO tofu dishes, and it's good for me, cos, I love tofu as well, but then, we ordered some roast duck for ourselves... ^_^
Well... no big fuss about the dinner.. but it's interesting to get to know who orders what, or who eats what, or who chitchats over the dinner, who will take the food from the main dish themselves, even though we first met each other, who are quiet, who are loud... and etc.
So, what's the connection between being a vegetarian girl, and being a victim?? nah... technically speaking, no connection, BLAME it on my sixth sense ok?? ^_^
..... to be continued
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