Zorbing on the Gold Coast

Right, so I’ve been back from Emerald City for two months now. Another overdue entry. It's the same excuse no doubt. I have no idea where my time has gone. Work has been busy as usual and any left over time I have at home is usually spent preparing for my Sunday School lessons, church meetings or catching up on my reading. Oh and I also do the laundry and ironing on some evenings. Geez and I don't even have a kid yet!

I started this entry a month ago so apologies if it’s a little outdated…

Anyhoo, I can't wait to tell you guys what I got Pen for his birthday (on 2 April!). I brought him to breakfast Creek Hotel for his favourite steak and also presented him with a 'Zorb' package. What is zorbing you ask? Quite simply put, it's an activity where you get into a huge inflated rubber ball and roll down a big hill while screaming your lungs out. Loads of fun really. Have a look at some of our pictures and videos below.

We decided to make a whole day of it on the Good Friday holiday since we had to drive to the Gold Coast to zorb. Ooo ooo ooo! And Max Brenner just opened shop at Marina Mirage so I was really excited to get my chocolate fix. After the upside-down harness zorbing, Pen and I felt soooo nauseous that we had to lie down in the car for a while. I tried to vomit but couldn’t…and then I had this sudden urge to eat fries! How odd. This must be how a hangover feels?

Anyway, it was such an unforgettable experience and I’m glad we did it!

Arriving at the Zorb Park...all ready to go!

We're getting ready to go into the ball. This is just the hydro zorb. Ball is filled with some water and we don't actually go upside down.

They're filling up the ball with water!

That's us halfway down the hill.

Arrived at the bottom of the hill after 15 seconds I think? After that, Pen and I did two individual hydro ones.

This is the harness one where we're both strapped to the ends of the ball. We get turned upside down while rolling down the hill. It was so intense! I have to admit I screamed a lot. And it's the first time I heard my husband scream too I reckon.

That's me doing the individual hydro.


And that's Pen.


And this is the upside down one - can you hear my screams?

Back to the present…

Our 2nd wedding anniversary is coming up next week! Pen and I were in the car on Sunday when I exclaimed:

Me: Hey! Next week is June already! Oh my gosh 2 June! It’s our wedding anniversary!
Pen: Oh yeaaahhhh… this one crept up on us hey?
Me: What do you mean crept up on us? You mean you forgot?
Pen: Errr… NOOOOOooo!
Me: Okaay. So what are we doing?
Pen: *silence*
Me: Well, I planned last year so this time it’s your turn to shine.
Pen: Ok. What should we do then?
Me: *thinks what the heck – didn’t I just say it was his turn?* Hmm…dinner somewhere nice maybe?
Pen: Yeah ok. *pause* But can we not do anything on Wed? Coz it’s State of Origin…

*sighs* Oh well… I’m sure that was just a cover up right? I’m sure he has something extravagant planned next week. You think?

Back from Emerald City

I’m back in Brisbane after a fun-filled weekend in Melbourne. And I simply must say this – Wicked was fantastic! I absolutely loved every single moment of the musical and would really like to watch it again if I could. Why can’t they come to Brissie?!

I also have to add that I’m quite proud of myself because I didn’t get sucked in to buy all the musical merchandise. It was tempting and extremely hard to resist. Everything was decked out in green when we walked through the grand entrance of the Regent Theatre. It was almost like we’d walked into Emerald City. There was a bar with a green fridge and they were selling ‘Ozmopolitan’! Instead of the usual orangey pink, it was luminous green (and I really mean luminous!) in a cocktail glass that lighted up in…yes GREEN! I was squealing in excitement and pointing to all things green but Pen didn’t really share my excitement for the merchandise it seemed.

And I tried so hard to talk myself out of buying this!

Back to the musical – I was really impressed at how the story just flowed seamlessly into Wizard of Oz. I quote an interview with the producer; it was really as though the camera was tilted to another angle to show us what was happening concurrently to the familiar events in Wizard of Oz.

One thing that struck me the most was a particular line from the Wizard. He said, “To bring people together, we need to create a common enemy!” That thought stayed with me even after the musical was over and it made me think about how true that was. It dawned upon me that sometimes our ‘enemies’ may not always be as evil as the media makes them out to be. Just like how Elphaba isn’t all that bad! I’m talking about this from a political point of view, of course. Anyway, I digress. Just some food for thought I guess.

Probably not a surprise to you but I also managed to squeeze in some time for shopping and also to hunt down the best breakfast in town. We (or me rather) decided to drop by Chapel Street this time as I didn’t get to visit the area on my last trip. H’oooooh! It’s a really long shopping strip and I don’t think we even got close to the end of it. We might have lasted a bit longer if it wasn’t for the horrendous weather! Can you believe it, the moment we set foot on the street, it started bucketing down and the both of us had to seek shelter under my little orange umbrella. I was wet and cold and not really in the mood to shop at all.

It certainly wasn’t the best weekend to be in Melbourne (it was freezing even though it was only March!) but having the chance to watch Wicked in third row centre seats made it all worth the while! And who could pass up the opportunity to spend time with the most patient husband in the world?

Outside our apartment

The pool and spa area

Breakfast at Degraves Espresso - down one of Melbourne's famous alleyways

I was craving for Eggs Benedict, naturally!

And Pen was craving...well...everything!

Shopping at Chapel St despite the gloomy weather

Going to see Wicked!

And of course, always lovely to catch up with Lou and Nick whenever we're in town. We were at Brunetti, best dessert place in Melbourne and I dare say Australia!

In a nutshell

I’m guilty once again of not updating my blog as frequently as I’d hoped to. It could just be a matter of time before I start ‘twittering’ here instead of writing actual paragraphs. Sure hope not!

Anyhoo, I’ll spare you the lengthy details and just give you a glimpse of what happened over the last few weeks or a month and a half by the looks of things!

In a nutshell, Pen went to America for almost a month in Feb. I was moody and lonely – drowned my sorrows in books and dvds. Pen finally came back bearing loads of presents for me including a new Coach bag, Kate Spade wallet, Fossil watch, a CD, book and some magazines. I was happy again – purely because I was privileged enough to enjoy his company again of course! Actually I’m exaggerating. It was not that bad. I managed to catch up on some ‘me’ time. It’s not every day I get to read for hours on my couch/bed and drive Shadow to work.

A couple of weeks ago, Pen took me and his dad for a V Australia staff open day to tour the new long haul plane scheduled for the Sydney-LA route. See pictures below! The queue was soooo long and we waited for almost 40 minutes before setting foot onboard. I had to keep telling myself while standing in the heat that I was there to support Pen and all his hard work. Actually, you’d think this would be the perfect opportunity for a Mexican standoff between me and the plane – after all, it kept my husband away from me for months (if you add up all the long weeks he’d been away in the past two years)!

Group photo while waiting to get on the plane

Talk about national pride - I look like some patriotic Aussie. Nice shot by Pen though.

Here's a first look at the retro-looking seats in economy class. I had to hold my shoes as we weren't allowed to wear them onboard. Instead, they made us put our footwear into clear plastic bags.

Ahh...premium economy seats. Pen went to the ends of the earth to search for the reading light on my right. I was his guinea pig at some point when he brought the lights home - had to test them out to see if they were bright enough for reading. The husband seemed to think the bookworm at home would know best.

And being the geek that he was, Pen insisted I took a photo in front of the... what's that called again? Engine?

There's also a photo of me lying down in the business class seats but thought it wasn't ideal for public eyes. Haha. Looks like flying business class will soon become a reality for me. Pen said the staff rate was only $1,400 return to LA! New York, here we come!

In other news, I’m leaving for Melbourne this Friday evening to catch ‘Wicked’! We’ve booked ourselves into a semi old-English looking apartment called Somerset Gordon Place! Look at the photo gallery, it’s so pretty. Fingers crossed it’d be a lovely weekend hey?

Homesick on CNY

Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

I think I can safely say that all of you who are reading this blog will be having much more fun than I am during this time of festivities. Can’t believe I missed celebrating CNY in Singapore two years in a row. There is zilch atmosphere here in Brisbane – well maybe there is a little bit but I avoided Sunnybank and Fortitude Valley altogether last weekend. But CNY to me is not just about the lion dances, pineapple tarts and mandarins. It’s more about spending time with the family and close friends, be it sitting around the table eating ‘gua zi’s or sharing a joke or two over the much anticipated reunion dinner.

Having said that, I must admit I had a relaxing long weekend with Pen’s family and my good friend Izaeel. What can I say? Thank God for friends who are in the same boat as you? Haha.

Izaeel and I caught the much talked-about Twilight on Friday night at Garden City. After two hours, it was not difficult to see just why so many teenage girls had fallen for the made-believe perfection that is Edward Cullen. Even us ‘oldies’ were smitten for a moment but were quickly pulled back to reality upon seeing the ring on our finger.

Come Sunday evening, Mummy Luciana once again made us daughters-in-law feel at home by preparing a feast for ‘reunion dinner’.

On the first day of CNY which also happened to be Australia Day (Yay for me coz’ it’s a holiday!), I joined Izaeel, Ranger and their Indo friends for Yum Cha at Shangri-La. That was probably the most ‘Chinese’ thing I did all weekend, apart from giving ang baos to Xiao Xiao and Qi Qi.

So…I don’t suppose you had a more exciting CNY than I did? Humour me.

It's Wicked!

I’m finally going to watch this – on March 14! I’m so excited! Since its launch in August last year, I’ve eagerly wanted to watch it. Problem was, the Broadway musical was only staging at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne and I haven’t managed to steal any time away.

But now I have! They’ve just announced new dates for the musical this year so I’ve tempted Pen to go on a weekend getaway with me to Melbourne! He agreed in a heartbeat and has even booked our air tickets.

Best thing is, the air tickets and hotel stay will be freeeeeee! All thanks to the husband’s job and frequent flyer/credit card points.

Oooh, can’t wait. I’ve always wanted to fly into a city JUST to watch a show/musical. Sounds like something out of Pretty Woman. Haha. :p

Recession shock

Someone whispered in my ear on Friday night at Changi Airport before I left - “Remember, we live vicariously through your blog!” And I remember nodding my head in amusement. So yes, I’m keeping my promise.

Here’s a piece of news for you – I received a rude shock when I stepped into the office early on Monday morning. Apart from finding myself ‘chair-less’, I was also alarmed to find out that…(and I quote my colleague Nicole)

“Oh my gosh! When you were away, Mandy and Tracy got made redundant!”

At this point, I almost fell off my chair (after I dragged it back from Nicole’s little corner). Mandy’s in my team and she only recently joined the company a couple of months ago. She’s a really likeable girl and I’d grown to enjoy working with her. She also used to give me rides to the Homemakers’ Centre (where Pen sometimes parks Shadow) after work every now and then. On the other hand, Tracy our trusty Office Manager, had been with the company for ages. She was our administrative arm who painstakingly took care of our needs. I don’t know what they were thinking retrenching her.

Long story short, apparently the higher powers have decided to streamline all the teams and only keep the managers and ONE senior staff per team. The retrenchment was done while I was away in Singapore but I’m sure they would have planned this way before. This was when I started thanking God profusely for His blessing and protection upon me. In the midst of the current economic downturn, I should be thankful I still have a job. Although I must admit I’m still a bit nervous about the whole episode because this means extra workload for me on top of the fact that I’d have to work extra hard to ‘recession-proof’ myself.

Please pray for me!