Ain't gonna be no rematch
Can't freaking wait for this album 08/29/2010
Race face 08/13/2010
Hiya. Once again the Lonergan mansion is experiencing some internet difficulties, so I'm writing this from my Mum and Dad's place. Coming to my Mum and Dad's is always really exciting now because they have not only a TV, but a BIG SCREEN TV. Neighbours has never been so good. (Speaking of TV, the just finished conversation with my Dad, while watching Arcade Fire do a live set on the Daily Show: Dad: Have you heard of a band called fire something? Me: Arcade Fire? Dad: Nah, Fire something Me: Arcade Fire? Dad: Nah, something flame or something. They're Canadian or something, I heard em on ABC radio the other day. Me: Yeah Dad. They're on the TV right now. They're called Arcade Fire Dad: Yeah, Arctic Fire, that sounds right) Anyways, mostly gonna write about my recent runner's high from completing the City to Surf. It was the first time I did it and I thought it wasn't too bad. A few tips for younger players in the City to Surf: - Start around the back of the pack in your first race. This means you never actually have to run at a fast pace, because there are too many ppl (about 70,000 or so) in front of you. For the rest of the year you can say that you totally would have gone faster if you were in a better place. - Focus on good looking people while running. They're a source of inspiration. - You can wear an old jumper in the morning (while it's still about 9 degrees), and then throw it on the side of the road at the start of the race, and then kind-hearted Girl Guides will pick it up and donate it to the homeless. Aww. So there you go, moral of the story was I finished it in 1:27 (I blame my place in the pack). And I managed to jog the whole way which was my goal.  Race Face at finish line, getting beaten by a 12 year old girl and grey haired man in pink shirt R.I.P. Surf City 07/22/2010
Disclaimer: possibly tipsy and/or overly nostalgic while writing this.  I shed a single tear when I found out that my favourite ever night spot, Surf City, had been torn down. Surf City was a place of hopes, dreams, and fake palm trees all set to the constant heady tunes of Sir Mixalot. Going home now really feels weird. I was the last of my family to ostensibly leave Newcastle. Almost everyone I know from there has already moved away anyways, but it's still the only home I've got. People can hang shit on that town all they want. All I know is, in Newcastle little old lady neighbours come to our door to this day to polish the letterbox, just out of the kindness of their own heart:  Exhibit A: Novacastrians know how to buff to a nice shine. I just can't think of a single other place this would happen. I can't really imagine living in Newcastle again, but it'll always be home.  吾♥shanghai 07/08/2010
Rat-f*cked 06/26/2010
This blog probably isn't the best place to go for informed political commentary, but it's still kinda hard not to comment on the fact that we can go to sleep and wake up with a new Prime Minister. And all this without having any say in it whatsoever.  So here are a few random thoughts about the whole thing: Best Julia Gillard-themed Facebook status updates: SPIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! Is this goodbye Rudd?? (via Eleanor) the Labour Party proves you don't need WorkChoices to unceremoniously and without warning sack somebody... (via my cousin's husb) there seems to have been some media agreement to never film her from the waist down (also via Eleanor) (who does seem to have a very valid point) *BOOM* And watch the Labor party implode. I suppose Julia is better than Rudd because let's face it the only thing worse than Rudd is Abbott. (via Sol) Followed by the general Facebook consensus (Facebook appears to be the only democracy we had that morning): What's this?? PM Julia???! (via Jayanthi) Best temporary wiki entry (deleted in about half an hour): A Welsh ginger as Prime Minister? You have got to be joking! Rudd is bad, but not that bad. Best article about the whole thing (and more reason to put a brick through the ALP Sussex St HQ) http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/dark-clouds-that-spelt-doom-for-a-prime-minister-20100625-z9lf.html Best rehash of that Hitler movie in the past week or so: Final personal thoughts: - Can't believe ALP was that scared of losing. - NSW ALP are a bunch of t...bags. - Poor Krudd. I mean, he wasted a crap load of money, but how would you feel. And I'll never forget the great times we had when you were still on Sunrise. - Good luck Jules. When the election comes, if you get voted in by people as opposed to a bunch of union factions, I think it will be a genuinely proud moment. 开心网 or, what I do instead of study 05/08/2010
Originally my plan for this apartment was to transform it into a den of zen where I did nothing but study, read and expand my mind with mind-altering home-made pizza. Instead it has become the place for me to spend waaaayyy too much time on the internet. The latest culprit is the Chinese version of Facebook - Kaxinwang, or web of happiness. Kaixinwang is a total rip-off of Facebook. More or less everything is the same as the old-school FB, with the focus mainly being games, and links to whatever is big on the net. In my humble opinion, they could both learn a lot from each other. Things Kaixinwang could learn from Facebook: -Graphics: Kaixinwang hurts my eyes. It looks like a slightly better version of a Myspace page, but still looks like spew compared to Facebook. It's also harder to upload photos onto Kaixinwang. Things Facebook could learn from Kaixinwang: - Links: Links are way more interactive in Kaixinwang. A lot of the articles that Kaixinwang links to seem to revolve around the following: one person gets cocky. Other people knock them down. An example is this article, translated in a hotch-potch manner below: I’m not beautiful. Of course, when I was younger I was a bit of alright. But gringos still love me. He calls me Chinese princese (sic), and he looks after me like a plum blossom. Our baby is cuter than average Chinese babies. Our house is something ordinary Chinese women wouldn’t even dream of. I urge my sisters in China to study English very well in university….It is only through my great English that I am able to communicate with foreigners. But not everyone can be as lucky as I am. I think I am in the same league as Zhang Zi Yi, able to please the foreigner’s eye. She, however, goes for a flashy lifestlyle, while I am a down-to-earth woman who likes a peaceful life. My photo is below: 我不漂亮，（当然我年轻时还是不错的），但老外照样爱我！他总是叫我 Chinese princese （中国公主），对我关照入梅，我们的宝宝比一般的中国宝宝可爱！我们的房子更是一般的中国女人想都不敢想的！ 我劝在中国的姐们在大学的时间好好学学英语吧·····我就是因为英语很好，才可以和外国人沟通的 但是也不是每个人都可以像我这么幸运的，我觉得我就和章子怡一样的能干才可以进入老外的眼中，不过她重视浮华，我倒是个喜欢平淡生活的老实人  The great thing about Kaixinwang is you can then leave your opinions in a fun, interactive poll:  Gringos' taste is fairly spicy 43% Foreigners who come to China are all trash 3% This is obviously just attention grabbing bull-crap 2% Domestic help whose performance appraisal is still not finished 38% Just cos you’ve had some exotic cucumber doesn’t mean you need to show off about it 5% Chinese men don’t want you 5% Like foreigners big wi..y 1% I prefer down-to-earth Chinese husbands. 3% And this is how I spend my time...... Sighted 05/02/2010
Further confirmation that I is living at the right address. Australia's well-loved 'that red head chick off TV' is now a confirmed neighbour:  Yep, that's right, you've read correctly. Alison Whyte lives on my street. And in case you're wondering how I knew her name, it's not cos we're neighbour buddies. It's cos her name comes up as the second entry when you google 'Who's that redhead on aussie tv?'. Go try it yourself! In other (and possibly more impressive) neighbour news, I found out that another well-known identity living on my very own street is the big man himself:  I'd read before that Paul Keating lived in Potts Pt, but didn't know where exactly. I can now confirm he lives about, oh, three doors down. Yep. Booyeah. Out of respect for the big man I'm not going to give total details on his whereabouts, but it's not as flashy as I would have expected, and is actually a terrace which looks like it's being renovated, but apparently has already been finished. My question is: why do I never see him on the street? And does he mind when I dump stuff in his recycling bin? Woah, I mean, Woah. 04/19/2010
It takes a lot for me to get excited about a movie nowadays. But when a movie stars Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, and a middle-aged white American woman playing a male Chinese dwarf, it's hard not to get excited. I was talking to a friend who studies Balinese art and is one of Australia's foremost chess players (still disappointed that said friend doesn't wear a bow-tie, nor is he named Cecil). The Bali link got me thinking about this killer book I read when I was a teenager that was set in Indonesia. I did my head in trying to remember the book's name until I: a) remembered it was "The Year of Living Dangerously" (is that, or is that not, the best title ever) aaannnndddd b) found out it had been made into a movie by Peter Weir. Yes that's right: Peter freaking Weir. Now I can forget about reading the book again and focus on tracking down a cinematic classic. If anyone has a copy, pls send it to me. In the meantime, we can all just sit back, watch the trailer and get excited together. Autumn Part 2 04/06/2010
Back-to-back posting, that should get the Weebly readership stats back up. Anyways, Easter weekend was a chance to get back to my hometown and see the world's cutest kid. All hail Kingston:  Seeing my mate Dan and his lovely wife Charlotte with a little bubba is still incredible. Dan and I used to pretty much spend every weekend on his farm drinking goon, smoking White Ox (prison tobacco) and doing impromptu karaoke with his guitar and mic to Sweet Home Alabama. And now he has a kid. Still kind of hard to get my mind around. Dan and Charlotte both look very natural with the whole baby thing. They also have a pram which is on its own platform at David Jones, so the baby should be pretty well-cared for. This is me trying to look paternal:  I was pretty useless though, especially when it came to burping little Kingston. It's gonna be so cool to see him grow up and do stuff together that I'm better at. Like trips to Vegas. After that incredible experience, it was time to head to the vineyards near Newcastle in the Hunter Valley. My friend Mel had organised a house in the country to celebrate her birthday. How excited were we to be in wine country? Oh, about this excited:  It was fun to hang out and have some wine time. A highlight included checking out the local nightlife at the highly recommended Cessnock Hotel. This pub closely followed the pub pattern common to the Hunter Region and Newcastle: beer, rum, dj playing Fatman Scoop, fight breaking out, pub being closed by the police. It brought back all my fondest Newcastle nights out memories. So: congrats Dan and Charlotte on such a beautiful lil kid, thanks Mel for the weekend, and thank you Hunter for the memories. Autumn Part 1 04/06/2010
I haven't posted for a bit cos this past month or so has seen me working hard to achieve my dream of being more like this man:  I was really looking forward to having a birthday back home but all my uni exams were on at the same time. This meant I had to put my party back a bit while I mastered the important life skill of drawing Capital Market Lines. It's all so one day I too can wear suspenders and have an 80s computer screen. Still, as the month drew to a close I got a chance to get the crew together for a bit of a Chinese banquet at Spicy Sichuan Restaurant. This place is so new I can't even link to it yet. Unfortunately we ate all the food before I thought to take photos of it, but here are some remnants that demonstrate the nice tableware (available for sale at the restaurant)  Mmmm, sloppy mapo tofu leftovers.... All in all, the restaurant was pretty kick-arse. My only complaint is with the manager, who insisted the cheapest wine wasn't available (while the waiters insisted it was), and basically tried to rip me off all the time. Either way, the most important part of the night was the tops crew (and also the interior design). And if you're looking for the best Sichuan food in Sydney, this is probably it:  | Allow me to...
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