Something to Do

It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I am stuck with a problem so extraordinary that I don't remember the last time I encountered it.

I have nothing to do.

It feels weird. And yet, I feel like there should be heaps to do - only a month ago I felt like 24 hours was not enough in a day and yet I am sitting here, blogging, for lack of something to do. Usually I blog when I should be doing something else (probably sleeping, studying or reading a book).

And I haven't been lazy. Really! I mean, I was up this morning, bright and early (okay, more like DARK and early cos it was 4:30am). Did my first shift at the new studio - as of today my boss opened a second studio which is now my new workplace... more on that in the future. Finished work at 1pm, came home, lunched, and now here I am.

I acutally did have all these grand plans to work on our home budget but the laptop is nowhere to be found - I think James has nicked off with it. So I'm sitting here blogging. And probably boring you to bits.

I supposed some of you have read this far and are still stuck on learning that new fact about me getting up at 4:30am on an average morning. Well, it's not every morning - on Saturdays I don't have to be up til 5:30am (yes, to answer your question this will probably kill off what little Friday night social life I once had), and Wednesdays may become a sleep in day because I work evenings. And who knows? If I am somehow able to acquire that elusive skill of being able to put an entire face of makeup on in 10 minutes like some people claim they can (how the HECK do you do it? and it always looks so great. *sigh*) I may be able to push all these wake up times forward by 10-15 minutes.

Now I've just got to think hard - what was on that seemingly endless list of tasks that I had to do?

Oh yes... I could clean out my closet. You know, finally sort through and chuck out those clothes that I haven't worn for almost 2 years because they're two sizes too big (yay) for me. Except that I actually really like some of them... and given that an average healthy weight gain for pregnancy is about 10-12 kgs... I could find those clothes useful. Only, will they be out of fashion by the time I even think about having babies?

Gosh, I CANNOT believe that I am planning ahead for pregnancy. What is wrong with me? I really do have nothing to do.

I think I'll just go now and clean out that closet.

Super-Sized Ambulances for Super-Sized People?

I can't believe it.

On my way to work this morning one of the news reports on the radio was that of customised extra-large ambulances being built. There is a growing need for these as the percentage of morbidly obese people in our population rises.

These ambulances will be able to transport people to a maximum weight of over 400kg. This includes the installation of a custom-made lift on the side of the ambulance to help paramedics get patients into the ambulance.

The cost of one of these babies is estimated at about 200, 000 per contraption - and that's just the lift, not the entire ambulance!

I wish someone out there would take that same amount of money and put it into the health and fitness industry so we could better equip Personal Trainers, Fitness Instructors, Life Coaches and others to do their job properly.

There are too many radio ads stating "become a Personal Trainer in 8 weeks and be your own boss." Stupid ads! They attract people who do it for the money, or for themselves. Where are the people who are doing it for their clients?

Balut - Delicious Delicacy or Disgusting Duck?

Responses to some of the comments on my Balut photo album:

*****

Brave? I wish I had a video - James ate his with ease, instantly recognising that this was "simply" a test of mental strength. It took me 5-10 minutes of staring at mine and making funny noises before I could bring myself to eat it. The funny thing is, I've eaten this stuff once before so I already knew how it tasted... but the little baby ducky looked so sad, so forlorn, so... dead.

*****

It tasted quite nice - like the yolk part of a hard boiled egg, only softer and creamier. I know... just the word "creamy" in relation to an embryo is making some of you grimace. In fact, it even tasted healthy, especially after having eaten out so much and feeling like I've had at least 2 years' worth of my fried food allowance in the space of 2 weeks!

*****

But... who came up with the idea in the first place? Does anyone know? Did someone hard boil an egg only to crack it open to discover it had an embryo in it, but then being Asian didn't want to waste good food so they ate it anyway? This question shall be added to my list of food questions (e.g. who thought of putting chicken together with avocado?) until I find an answer.

*****

Regarding the Fear Factor comment - somehow I don't think Balut is anywhere near as bad as drinking an entire raw Ostrich egg (or some other large bird - it looked like about 2 litres of the stuff!). Did you happen to see that episode? I also think I'd much rather eat Balut than live worms... or coackroches. Ugh.

*****

Filipinos - you will be pleased to know that your national delicacy does have international fame. Balut-eating was featured as a challenge in one season of Survivor, although I forget which one. And they didn't just eat one, they ate up to four or more... the person who ate the most won.

*****

Stay tuned for a Balut-eating tutorial video... coming soon to a Multiply site near you!

My Dad & Mum - random thoughts

My Mum is working in a kindergarten teaching cute little kiddies. I never knew my Mum was so great with kids. On Saturday mornings she gives small group private tuition to three of the kids in her class. Can you believe that kindergarten aged kids in Malaysia need tuition? That's how early Asians instill the "workaholic" mindset into their children. And by kindergarten I mean 2 to 4 year olds!

According to my Dad, within weeks of my Mum tutoring these three girls, their performance in school improved dramatically. So much so that there are other kindergarten parents who want my Mum to tutor their kids! However she wants to maintain a high level of service to her students so she refuses to take more than the three she currently has. My Mum, in high demand! Wow - I'm so proud of her.

***

Every time we go back to Malaysia there is always that inevitable list of items we are requested to bring over from Australia. Things that either cannot be purchased in Malaysia or are of a much better quality in Australia. Without fail, on that list is a 500g bag of jelly beans - the kind that can only be found at your local Amcal pharmacy. My Mum uses these to "bribe" some of her children to behave. I shudder to think that one day my children's grandmother could be bribing them with jelly beans... or that they would prefer to stay at my parents' house because they get access to junk food there that their Mum wouldn't allow them to have at home. Haha. Perhaps that will be a funny story for a day in the future.

***

For the last 4 years or so, my Dad has put his heart and soul into working to turn around the family business in Malaysia. Just like any other type of change, it has involved a lot of negotiating, conflict, and heartache. All this time, I thought my Dad was doing it mainly as a service to my grandmother. As a part-owner, it forms a large part of her livelihood and therefore essential to a comfortable living particularly as she gets older.

It never occurred to me that the business also employs dozens of locals, therefore in turning the business around my Dad is not only trying to do what he considers his duty as the oldest son to look after my grandma, he also recognizes that if the business closes down, literally hundreds - all the employees plus their families - could be left with nowhere to turn. Some of the employees have worked for the business for 25-30 years, ever since their teenage hood. They would definitely have nowhere else to go for employment! This has given me an even more profound respect for my Dad.

My Dad hopes that when the employees realize how much he cares for them and how willing he is to be loyal to them, this will generate loyalty amongst them. He's the sort of person, however, who will never tell them that a large part of the reason he's making some of the changes is to keep the business going and therefore to benefit them in proving them jobs. I hope, for his sake, and for theirs, that they do find out one day. If I could speak the language, I'd tell them myself.

***

No one is perfect. Sure, I have my disagreements with my parents. But my love, admiration and respect for them reaches far beyond any irks I might have with them. Compared to how much they have given and sacrificed for me, my brother and my sister, compared to how much they clearly love me, compared to what a wonderful example they have set for me with their lives... the rest is most definitely inconsequential. I hope one days my kids will say the same things about James and me.

Filipino Food Adventures

I must admit, I had a challenging time finding food that I was willing to eat for lunch and dinner in Manila. I suppose I could have just made life easier and settled for fast food, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Thankfully, from 15 July we will be staying with some Filipino friends so will have the advantage of insiders' advice on food, but in the meantime I am left subject to the food on offer at the malls.

My first dinner experience was at Megamall food court: I ordered a pork steak grilled on a hot plate and an additional plate of vegetables. They were my favourite veggies - “tung choi”, also known as “morning glory”. However, they arrived swimming - no, drowning - in oyster sauce. The pork steak was also drenched, covered by some sort of gravy thickened up with a mound of corn flour. Nothing like what the picture displayed - a nice, clean pork steak - no sauce - sitting next to very neat pile of rice. I did manage to rescue my dinner out of their sauces as much as possible… the sauce on the pork was so thick that I could just scrape it off with a fork.

For lunch the next day, we found a lovely Asian store where I ordered a delicious piece of steamed fish fillet, complete with an Asian-style dressing of coriander, soy sauce, ginger and probably fish sauce. Ordered my favourite tung choi again. This time it had soy sauce instead of oyster, a much preferred option to the previous evening.

For dinner that evening, I discovered a Mongolian store in my search for fabulous food. I purchased a bowl which I then filled with whatever I wanted. This gave me complete control over exactly what and how much veggies, meat and sauce went into my meal. A fabulous feed for a fabulous fee.

So concludes part 1 of my Filipino Food adventures. Now it's on to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - home of my parents, sister, grandma and other extended family. I'm looking forward to some good, familir home-cooked food after 3 days of eating out.

Filipinos seem to love their Fast Food

I have never seen so many fast food outlets in one single place in my entire life. Megamall, one of many shopping centres, boasts a huge array of fast food outlets. Yes it certainly lives up to its name - it is massive - yet it can’t be more than about 2 ½ times the size of Chadstone shopping centre, and it definitely has more than 2½ times as many fast food outlets.

The following is but a small sample of what I saw at Megamall, and by no means extensive: McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Donut King, Krispy Kreme, Mrs Fields, Wendys, Jollibee, Greenwich, Gonuts Donuts, BreadTalk. I can’t keep going because I don’t even remember the names of half the stores.

Do humour me and allow me add to the picture being painted:

• A number of stores had more than one outlet – I saw two outlets for McDonalds, KFC, Krispy Kreme, Pizza Hut, Donut King, a store that sells Brownies… and three Jollibees!! Jollibee seems to be the premier fast food joint in Manila, as opposed to the traditional McDonalds in most countries.
  

• Not only were there multiple stores for many fast food outlets, the stores themselves boasted a floor space of double, sometimes triple that of the average clothing store. And they were always filled with people.

• It seemed to me that 50% of Megamall's occupancy was food stores, of which 50% or more were fast food.
  

• There was a vast array of non-franchise fast food stores too, including at least half a dozen different donut stores, multiple bakeries (Asian bakeries often stock a lot of sweet breads and are more like fast food than what you might find at a bakery in Australia), brownie shops, ice cream vendours, bubble milk tea, “fruit juice” stores, fried chicken, all-you-can-eat buffets, Mexican food, pizza stores… the list just goes on.

• Even James thought there was a huge amount of fast food on offer - if that isn't telling you something, then I don't know what will!
  

• There seemed to be deep fried versions of just about any food you could possibly name.

The thingis - they're all so little.... where does all that food go?

Kids

I'm not clucky. Never have been. I can appreciate a cute baby but I have never, and will never, use the phrase "you're so cute I want to eat you!". I enjoy holding the odd baby here and there but will never join the crowd surrounding one for hours on end cooing at him/her.

I think I prefer kids when they're just a bit older, starting to learn a bit of independence, and can communicate with me using words.

Why am I sharing this? It was really just an excuse to send you to a link - click here for a video of Nathan Staggers displaying his newfound reading skills. The conversation he has with his Dad before and after the reading portion of the video is a demonstration of his intelligence. Enjoy!