Celebrity watch

One of the things about living in a big city is that you occasionally see celebrities wandering about town. For the most part, the ones I have spotted have mostly been D-listers (former game show hosts, reality tv contestants). That was until yesterday when I nearly ran into an actor going into a yum cha restaurant. I tried to be discrete and refrained from gawping. Nathan was behind me talking to our friend, Pales, who is a big Winners and Losers fan. They were too engrossed in their conversation and didn't realise what had just happened.

Me: Did you see who we just walked past?
Pales: Who?
Me: The pretty girl from Winners and Losers.
Nathan: Really?
Pales: No way, I have my phone. Let's go. I want to take a picture.
Me: No...we are not going to stalk her now. Do you know how hard it is to get a table here?

The hot Chilean

Ok, so I have to say something about the very attractive Chilean man who was also at dinner last night. Oh. My. God.

The moment he walked into the restaurant, I turned to my friend and the following quick word were exchanged...

Me: "He is very attractive."
She: "I know. Unfortunately, he is gay. My friends thought you were single and were trying to get him to sit next to you but I told her you already had a partner."
Me: "What a pity, I was thinking more for you".
She: "Yeah...the cute ones are always gay dammit".

We both spent the evening trying not to stare. The guy oozes sex appeal. What is it about South Americans? Sexy. Warm. Charismatic. Actually, I have yet to meet an ugly Chilean (Does such a person even exist?). Luckily the food was very spicy so my friend and I could blame our flushed faces on the sichaun pepper and chilli oil.

Sichuan with Mexicans

I just came back from a wonderful evening with a bunch of Latin Americans, many of whom I had never met before. I was my friend's 'plus one' for the evening and the dinner was, to my surprise, at a Sichuan restaurant in the city. Sichuan is a province in China famous for being home to the iconic giant panda. For those unfamiliar with Sichuan cuisine, it is renown for being intensely spicy. All the dishes came either smothered in chilli flakes or swimming in chilli oil. Despite my chinese heritage, I felt completely out of my depth. Fortunately, my new friends knew the restaurant well and selected some amazingly fiery and delicious dishes. What a surreal night...unfamiliar chinese food with (mostly) Mexicans. What an amazing country we live in.

Black vs white

I did something very unusual the other evening. I actually went out...on a week night!

I went to see an aboriginal activist talk about black sovereignty. What a depressing talk that ended up being. The man was just so angry (and, unfortunately, I think he will be angry for the rest of his life). He sees himself as a victim. He spoke about genocide and oppression by white people and white people's laws (I felt so profoundly sorry for all the white people sitting in the audience).

I later spoke to one of my gallery friends who has spent decades working directly with senior indigenous artist and she tells me that the aboriginal elders she got to know were such joyful, gracious people that were intent on moving forward (despite being directly touched by the protectionist and assimilation laws that saw their displacement from traditional lands and the creation of the stolen generations). In those people, she never saw or felt any resentment whatsoever.

So...the contrast...the bitter urban activist and the joyful desert-dwelling elders.

The $5.2 million Madonna

Went to see this on Thursday:

Evidently, according to newspaper reports, the purchase price of $5.2 million was a real bargain. I then spent the rest of my time gawping at a very attractive art teacher who was chaperoning a group of students through the early european paintings.

National costume wtf?

Sadly, this is NOT a costume for next year's mardi gras. Nope. This is actually the outfit that is suppose to represent our national costume for the Miss Universe pagent. Isn't it hideous (the dress, not the girl)?
The bra looks like it has been constructed from several yellow jockstraps and the dress seems to be made from a bunch of over-stetched used condoms/balloons/granny undies.

London burning

Hmmm...all this civil unrest in London reminds me of William Golding's classic book The Lord of the Flies. It's amazing how easily things can degenerate.

The bearded lady

I was at an art exhibition opening recently. One of the artists, an elderly aboriginal woman, had a beard (well, a goatee). She was completely un-selfconscious about it, which was great for her. And the admirers of her paintings certainly didn't care either.

Later, I was talking to a gallery friend of mine. I made the observation that a lot of elderly aboriginal women I've met seem to have facial hair. My friend – a caucasian girl – assured me that elderly caucasian women get facial hair too. As someone of Asian descent, this was a complete revelation to me (even though, as a biologist, I should know better).

"Really?", I asked.

"Yeah", she said. "That's what I'll be looking forward to when I get older. I'm going to start saving up money well before then to get laser treatment."

Go Wendi...

Important lesson: Never mess with a guy who is married to a chinese woman.

A night out

One of my friends just came back to Oz after a month back in Central America visiting friends an family. I decided to take her to the Greyhound Hotel. It was the first time I had been there this year and I had not seen the completed renovations. Both Nathan and I were gobsmacked. The venue looked amazing. I must say though that I do miss the somewhat shabby, run down GH of old...it had character.

Anyhow...my friend was having a good time on the dance floor until she had a slight altercation with a guy. You know the kind...they dance as if they owned the dance floor and are inconsiderate of other people's space. The guy in question stepped on my friend a couple of times and kept jabbing her in the back so she politely pointed this out to him. He said something offensive. My friend (God bless her little Mexican heart), said something back (about the size of his arse from what I was later told). He then danced right up against her, rubbing his crotch against her and then punched her (lightly) in the arm. The security guard then intervened and escorted the guy away....and we resumed our dancing. My friend had earlier been lamenting about the lack of straight guys at the club. I told her later that at least she got some crotch action regardless.

Currently reading...

I bought myself a novel during the week. It is a classic, The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in 1912 and I had never read it.

But the real reason why I bought it was for the cover. It's a 3D cover that even comes with its own 3D glasses. How cool is that?

Life games

Ever get the sense that you're in a real-life video game sometimes? It happened to me yesterday.

My mission was to get from South Yarra back to my apartment (I may or may not have bought yet another painting).

The first 'level' I had to successfully negotiate was to walk from the gallery to the South Yarra train station. I had to battle strong winds and pedestrians, then fumble through my wallet for my met ticket in order to get past the stupid barrier at the station entrance.

After completing the first stage, I then had to survive the train trip itself. Here, I first had to dodge an old indian woman who tried to use my painting to steady herself as she was making her way through the carriage. I then had to get out of my seat to prevent the three snotty little toddlers who sat opposite me from putting their grimy little toddler fingers on my painting. Whilst standing, I had to watch out for the man with the extra wide pram (yes, the painting IS worth more than both your pram - and probably your kids too), the two teenagers and their bikes, and the woman who launched herself into the carriage at the last minute by prising open the door when the tram was moving. I survived all those obstacles.

The journey from the train station to the apartment was a breeze by comparison. More wind (including unpredictable cross winds over Collins Street), construction work, and the elevator (the painting suffered a slight knock but nothing too serious), and then inside the apartment where the treasure was carefully freed from the bubble wrap with my magical sword (i.e. a steak knife).

Mission complete.

Awkward conversations I've had with white people

I decided to share some awkward race-related conversations I've had with people after reading this post from fellow blogger, High Riser.

Awkward Conversation # 1 (during a hospital visit):

Nurse (looking at me and my shaved head): "Are you a monk?"
Me: "Ummm...no, I'm catholic".


Awkward conversation # 2 (at friend's engagement party):

My friend's future father-in-law (a South African): "Look , it's not the black people's fault that they are not as intelligent as us. They just haven't had the same opportunities. I don't have an problems with black people....but I just wouldn't want my daughter to marry one" [good thing my friend is a red-head then].

Awkward conversation # 3 (in North Queensland asking farmer's permission to carry out research on their property)"

Farmer 1 (asking me): "So can you eat these fish?"
Farmer2 (answering on my behalf): "The japanese will eat anything" [thanks love but I'm not Japanese].

Awkward conversation # 4 (at the gym talking to the friend of a friend when I was still at Uni)"

Friend of a friend: "So...Are you flying back home for the semester break?"
Me: (looking perplexed)
Friend of a friend: "You're an international student right?" [WRONG]

My wedding and other secrets

I saw three movies on the plane back from Finland. The only one of note is a film from New Zealand called 'My wedding and other secrets'. It's a story about a chinese kiwi girl who falls in love with a white kiwi guy. I very rarely cry during movies but I did watching this one....the cross cultural references really struck a chord, and I think the movie captured superbly what it's like to be chinese growing up in western society. The guy who plays the boyfriend is also very cute.

Pain in the back

I've hurt my back on only a few occasions. The first time was when I was lifting a 20 litre bucket of aquarium water without bending my legs (stupid...I know). The second time was when I was having a coughing fit whilst brushing my teeth (wtf?). Yesterday I hurt my back again...when I stood up to get off the train in the morning on my way to work. I'm not quite sure how the heck I managed to do my back in from simply standing up, but boy is it sore today. I had to cancel my meetings and work from home instead.

Last night, I made Nathan do the cooking and the washing. He had to fetch me ice cream and rub dencorub in my back. This morning he set up my home office and bought my medication to bed. He is much better at nursing me than I am of nursing him. Nathan gets sciatic pain all the time so I asked him how he manages his back pain. His reply was short and simple... he says "I suck it up".

Back in Melbourne

There were no flight cancellations, not by Cathay Pacific at least. A typhoon had just brushed past Hong Kong so there were delays in and out of the airport. My Finnair flight into HK was delayed and the landing was a bit rougher than usual but fortunately my flight from HK to Melbourne left on time.

I got in early Friday morning. It was interesting to hear the pilot mention over the PA system that there are sometimes laser attacks at this time of the morning. I find it hard to believe that someone would get a kick out of pointing laser beams at airplanes.

It was nice to be home. After a quick nap, Nathan and I went to see the new Living Waters exhibition at the NGV. The exhibition comprised a collection of indigenous art from the western desert gifted to the gallery by the Felton bequest as part of the 150 year celebrations.

After a nice afternoon tea at the nearby NGV international afterwards, I had to go home for another nap (probably not such a great idea for getting over the jet lag). I woke up at noon today. I seem to be sleeping a lot this time. Hopefully I can shake off this jet lag by Monday.

The ash cloud

I'm due to fly back to Melbourne tomorrow via Hong Kong.

Although I've had a fun and productive time, I can't wait to get back home after five weeks here in Europe.

Still, I've been closely monitoring the ash cloud over Australia and reckon it wouldn't be too bad to be 'stuck' in Hong Kong for a couple of days....I can go shopping and eat roast goose.

Alas, Cathay Pacific seems very unlikely to cancel any flights...while all the Aussie carriers have been grounding their planes, Cathay has been flying to and from Oz with out any sign of disruption.

An observation

Stephen Nicholls, the property editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, is very handsome. That's all.

Muru

The dining experiences here in Helsinki seem to be getting better and better.

Last night I caught up with my friend Hanna for dinner at a fancy restaurant called Muru. It's one of those restaurants that has to be booked weeks in advance (Hanna made the reservations six weeks ago). After dining there, I could see why...the food was sensational.

We started with an entree of snow crab and crayfish on brioche, ate our way through a dover sole for mains, sampled some cheese in the third course, and finished off with a dessert that looked something like this (but with rhubarb instead of raspberries).

Best meal in Finland

Fried Baltic herrings on mashed potato at Salve, an old sailor's pub in Helsinki.