Chinta Ria

After an overly long day at work, Giles met me outside my building and we walked across the Pyrmont Bridge to a very popular Malaysian restaurant called Chinta Ria.

The Chinta Ria buddha with offerings

The Malaysian hanging decorations that looked like squid

Giles waiting for food with his beer

Our entree

Parker’s Gems 8.6
Bite sized pieces of minced chicken blended with potatoes,
coriander, silver thread noodles and special spices – lightly
battered then snap fried. 4 per serve.

Golden Browns’ 7
Fresh wonton pastry filled with minced chicken, water
chestnut, black fungus and spring onions. Snap fried.
4 per serve.

Our mains

Hokkien Char 17
Soft cooked hokkien noodles gently simmered in a dark soy
sauce with slices of fish cake, rockling fillet, bak choy and
prawns.

Assam Fish 24.5
Rockling fillets simmered in a delicious spicy tangy tamarind
flavoured sauce with tomatoes, string beans and pineapple
pieces.

Coconut Rice

Me after dinner at the city end of the Pyrmont Bridge

Giles crossing George Street

My Top 3 Books of All Time (at the moment)

#3 - The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien


About
A short guy who goes on an adventure to fight a dragon.

Why?
Because I am a geek and this is the first fantasy geek book that I was introduced to.

Who would I be in this book?
Bilbo, although my hobbit name is Pansy Hamwich of Buckleberry Fern.
Do respond with your hobbit name once you work it out.

Life Lesson Learnt that can be used in Real Life:
Trolls turn to stone in sunlight.

Geekiness Rating: 7 because there is at least one dragon.



#2 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

About
A first person narrative about an autistic boy who finds his neighbour's dog dead and investigates.

Why?
Because you get a glimpse at what it would be life to be autistic and as an obsessive compulsive geek you actually understand where he is coming from.

Who would I be in this book?
Not one of his parents. It would be too painful.

Life Lesson Learnt that can be used in Real Life:
Obsessing about patterns is not a good thing. Note to self: stop it.

Geekiness Rating: 8 because this could have been me.

And...

#1 - The Outsider



About
The best example of absurdist fiction with an existentialist look at good and evil as if they are just a point of view. Think Coen brother's 'The Man Who Wasn't There'.

Why?
Because I think evil is whatever a person doesn't like about another person. It's also a religious way of not letting an individual take the responsibility for their actions.

Who would I be in this book?
Meursault as long as I could also choose who I'd murder and could also blame it on the glaring sun.

Life Lesson Learnt that can be used in Real Life:
Some people are simply moral vacuums. Do not start fights with such people.

Geekiness Rating: 3 for the whole loner thing

Weather and why Down-Southers just don't get it

Last night Sydney had a big lightning storm. It was big for Sydney anyway. I have been living on the east cost of Australia for 8 and a half years and I have to say that these "down-southers" really need to stop referring to the piddly rain we get here as "monsoonal".

Sydney storm on Sunday the 4th of March - photo from SMH

You can look up the definition of monsoonal rain and you can nod and say "yep that's what we had" but until the day you know what it is for rain to hurt or that moment when you see the wall of rain approaching and decide to run, until then you do not truly understand.

I grew up in Darwin, where it starts to rain around the end of October and stops in February. It's news when it is going to be dry, not when it's going to rain.

Have You Got A Light?

There is a huge electrical storm over Sydney at the moment. It inspired me to share some of the lights in our apartment...

The lava lamp by the window

The plant lights in the tank

The lights hanging from the top floor

The sky without lightning

The sky with lightning

Jen the Hen

Don't forget Jen's Fabulous Hens Night next Saturday,
3 March from 4pm-ish at [address removed]
*Dress Glam, wear dancing shoes!
*Bring a plate (of the high tea variety)
and some champa's or the like
*Bring a story or an object of special Jen-embued
significance and be prepared to tell the story!
-- from Karen (Jen's sister)

Now everybody say "Jen"

Jan's wedding present to Jen

More sitting and more talking along with more eating

Fi, Jane and Murray eat and discuss the association between Jane Austin and masturbation

Angela, Sam and Jan sitting on Jen's beautiful new red lounge

Sitting around the table of food. There was a lot of food!

Jen drinking bubbly strawberry wine and talking with friends

Jen and Andrew met at a quiz night that Lou had invited Jen along to. Andrew was the master of ceremonies. Giles and I heard this story and proceeded to refer to Andrew as "The Quizmaster" (use Darth Vadar voice). There were a few times when I had to stop myself from calling him that to his face.

Lou telling a brilliant story about the courtship of Jen and The Quizmaster

A story about Jen not informing ex-workmates that she was engaged

The inviation said "*Dress Glam, wear dancing shoes!" and Jane brought a pair along that she had inherited from a friend who moved overseas and had a tendency to not where a lot of clothes. Starting with Jen, we all tried on the shoes. Not a lot of walking or dancing was done in them but we all looked very hot.

Jane's dancing shoes

My Room at the Hyatt

On the weekend, I visited Canberra for my friend Jen's Hen's Night. I stayed at the Hyatt in Yarralumla. The Hyatt is the only 5 star hotel in Canberra (OMG this is true!). I recommend it if you must go to Canberra.

The very comfortable king sized bed that just would not fit in to my suitcase

The shower

The very impressive mini bar with actual decent vodka

The fridge

Pestilence Must Be Next

Canberra should have been experiencing the last few days of Summer when this major hail storm hit. This is not even normal for winter in the nation's capital. These are the pictures I received the morning after the storm, from multiple people that I know living there.

Northbourne Avenue

Hail cracking up

Bunda Street in Civic and a police car probably waiting to arrest jaywalkers

Swan Lake & Coombes Sisters

Karen and Jen came up for the weekend of the 23 & 24th of Feb to see Damien Rice on Friday night at the Enmore Theatre. The four of us (Karen, Jen, Giles & I) saw Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday night. That was my first ballet experience and I loved it!

The curtain screen for Swan Lake at the Capitol Theatre

Before Swan Lake, we visited the very good cocktail bar at Lo Studio in Surry Hills. George + Helen introduced us to this bar and it's restaurant (note order of priority).

The lights above our lounge in the Lo Studio bar (photo by KC)

The lights taken with the flash on (photo by KC)

Jen + I enjoying our second cocktail for the evening

On Sunday, we visited the Lindt Chocolate Cafe. The service was slow, they weren't serving non-chocolate food and we were starving so we left in search of food in Pitt Street, without having any chocolate. It was a rainy day and something was trying to prevent us from eating chocolate but we prevailed with a visit to the Haigh chocolate shop in the Strand before rushing home for Karen + Jen to catch the bus home to Canberra.

Karen + Jen at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe

Lying in Inappropriate Places

I sometimes wonder why I bother to wash anything.

Queenie

Giles + I had to go out with the rest of Sydney, to see the royal boat.

Some facts (do your own conversions because I like the old country speak)...

• Owned by Cunard who according to them have "Advancing civilization since 1840";
• Length: 1,132 feet;
• Beam: 135 feet;
• Beam at Bridge Wings: 147.5 feet;
• Draft: 32 feet 10 inches;
• Height (Keel to Funnel): 236.2 feet;
• Gross Tonnage: Approximately 151,400 gross tonnes;
• Guest Capacity: 2,592 lower berths; 3,056 maximum capacity (Including 3rd & 4th berths);
• Crew: 1,253;
• Cruise Speed: 28.5 Knots;
• Power: 157,000 horsepower, environmentally friendly, gas turbine/diesel electric plant;
• Propulsion: Four pods of 21.5 MW each; 2 fixed and 2 azimuthing
• Strength: Extra thick steel hull for strength & stability for Transatlantic Crossings (no iceberg claims here - touch wood)
• Stabilisers: Two sets
• Cost: Estimated $800 million

The Queen Mary 2 docked at Garden Island

In 1839, Queen Victoria awarded Samuel Cunard the first ever licence to deliver mail across the Atlantic, proudly granting his steam ship the honoured title RMS (Royal Mail Steamer).

My eyes are close for some reason

Giles + Queenie (The QM2)

Compare this...

• QM2 is five times longer than Cunard's first ship, Britannia (230 ft.)
• QM2 is 113 feet longer than the original Queen Mary
• QM2 is more than twice as long as the Washington Monument is tall (550 ft.)
• QM2 is 147 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall (984 ft.)
• QM2 is more than 3½ times as long as Westminster Tower (Big Ben) is high (310 ft.)
• QM2 is only 117 feet shorter than the Empire State Building is tall (1248 ft.)
• QM2 is more than three times as long as St. Paul's Cathedral is tall (366 ft.)
• QM2 is as long as 41 double-decker London buses (31½ ft. each)
• QM2's whistle is audible for 10 miles

The Taronga Tumble

During our visit to Taronga Zoo, we came across a frisky and very public couple.




There were other animals actually behaving themselves at the zoo.

On ferry heading for Taronga Zoo

The city and me

Taking video for youtube

Koala sleeping

Giles looking at birds

Hungry girl giraffes

A pigmy hippo

A counsel of zebras deciding on what to do about their tall neighbours

Alpha male urinating in water before going downstream to drink it - alpha doesn't always imply smartest

Elephants swimming

A Gilesious Manimus in front of a beautiful view of Sydney

Flying foxes hanging from the aviary, just like Darwin

A leopard seal like the really slow one in Happy Feet