I leapt for joy and now my ankle hurts.

So! The other day, i was dog sitting and happened to turn on the TV. And what i saw made my blood boil. Save for one show about detectives (and that was only because Huili and Jing Xian highly recommended it), i have not watched a Channel 8 show since the start of JC. After viewing the current show for ten minutes, i realised that i have not missed much at all.

What i saw made me feel sick to my stomach. In the show, the mother in law told her daughter-in-law that the reason for her interference in the daughter-in-law's sex life was because she wanted a grandson (the daughter-in-law had a daughter). I can't remember the exact wording of the whole conversation but here's the essence of it.

daughter-in-law : What's wrong with having only daughters? My father never had sons and he's perfectly okay.

Mother-in-law: If your father had any sons, he wouldn't need his married daughter to come home to celebrate his birthday with him.

daughter-in-law: what's wrong with daughters going back to celebrate their father's birthday?

Mother-in-law: A married daughter is like "splashed water"... (and i turned off the tv at this point)

I couldn't bear to watch it any longer. So what the drama is essentially telling the public is that sons are always preferred and that married daughters should never go back to their own family?

what kind of bullshit is this? Yes, i do understand that some people still feel this way and sons are good (better if more good lookin guys are produced. heeheehee!) but if there is always so much talk about how the media tries to educate the public, isn't such a conversation going against the goal of influencing the public's opinion for better? And i do not accept the excuse that this is just entertainment.

I remember why i stopped watching was because the dramas would insert government ideals into their shows like "we should try for a baby cause of the baby bonus!" If such ridiculous lines can be inserted into the show, why can't they stop promoting the ideals of "carrying on the family lines" and "married daughters should not go back to their families"? Please lah. I personally feel that the whole "carryin on the family line" is a whole bunch of crap. There are so many "Tan"s, "Tay"s, "Chan"s, "Li"s, "Lim"s in the whole world. There is no risk of the name dying out liao. And what's wrong with married daughters going back to celebrate their parents' birthdays? It is after all their parents who raised them, who gave them their love, money and support.

A woman marries the man. She does not owe her life to her in-laws. Her in-laws did not invest in her education, did not bring her to the doctor when she was sick, did not dry her tears, did not share her joys... All they did was produce their son who she married for being himself. Yes, she would respect them, be nice to them and try to love them. But, the son should also do the same to his own in-laws. I don't see any shit being given to the sons about not treating his in-laws properly.

Media has an important role in influencing the public. Should such ideals continue to be promoted in local shows, this horrid mentality will be passed on to the next generation. When will this stupid cycle stop? If our media has the power to stop it, why aren't they?

Perhaps in the past, the woman would be dependent on the man's family but that is no longer the case so why can't local media embrace this change in mentality?? Woman are already being given loads of shit in the world today.

This is part of the reason why not many are proud to be Singaporeans. Why be proud when ur local media sprouts such ridiculous ideals? I'm very very sure (and i really really really hope that i'm wrong) that in the end, the daughter-in-law will bear a son. sigh.

We do not need this whole "Married woman" and "carrying on the family line" to add to our worries.

ah wells. back to boycotting channel 8 dramas and turning to other countries' entertainment products for my dose of escapism.

Gosh. I really miss aussie. What wouldnt i give for another day in Aussie!!



Well.. that means that i'm prob gonna recap my trip in excruciating (Thanks vinna!) detail so be warned!



Before i can recap anything though, i must thank two incredible people who were the very reason for my trip to down under in the first place. A huge "Thank you" to Ting and Neela! No amount of "thank you"s can adequately express my gratitude to them for making aussie such a wonderful experience! It was precisely because of them that this trip was more special and heart warming than most! :D



Ting and Neela during dinner

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Neela for taking time off her busy schedule, managing to tear herself away from her love, and travel 3 hours to join us in Sydney. Sydney would not been half as fun without her at all! She was my sole rock to cling to when we would devise ways to leave the lovey dovey couple to themselves! lol! Also, the poor girl had to endure us pausing every once in a while to snap photos, or forcing her to take a photo! At the Sydney Opera House, Ting was going all out for her love of photography by lying on the floor to get the perfect angle while Neela looked on disbelievingly / disapprovingly..

An incredulous Neela watching Ting demostrate what she would do for her art. The picture is a tad blurred cause i was laughing so hard

We even ran out of the car to take photos of a lovely sunset while she missed Nathan... heh!

The beautiful sunset Ting and i were scrambling to take photos of while Neela goes "wtf?" in the car! Neela was also a very crucial participant of Mission Hot. So heaps of love and thanks go out to the Goddess of Wisdom!

Neela missing her Nathan..

This trip was a super relaxed one because i didnt have to plan anything for the
travel itinerary (thanks vinna!). In fact, ting was cheering me up during the exams by telling me what she had planned! Here's the lovely angel!


The flurry of emails during my exam period was, indeed, a guide towards the light at the end of the tunnel! Instead of dreading to come online to read more notes, i knew i count on checking my email inbox to see that i've got new mail from them.

Besides taking over the travel itinerary, ting was an amazing food guide. Not once did we waste our calories on bad food! Every eating experience was a delight and made me regret not bringing maternity clothes to aussie! I fell head over heels in love with freddo's, developed a strong crush on grecco's cakes and more...

And have i mentioned how grateful i am to ting for accompanying me to places tt she has already been to? Even though she had been to the Great Ocean Road, Philip Island and shopping, she still made the time and effort to bring me to all these wonderful places. What can i say? She's seriously the best Melbourne guide ever! :D

Ting is also one excellent photographer with her big ass camera! If i post any nice photos, chances are they were taken by ting. For example, the photos of the animals posted in my previous entry were taken by ting. For some reason, all the animals looked directly at her while she happily snapped away. hmmmph!

Ting's huge ass pro camera

And of course there was the self-love photos tt she is seriously good at taking! Not to mention how patient she was as i would closely scrutinise every photo and if i was dissastisfied, she would just roll her eyes and take one more photo.

More examples of Ting's excellent self-love!


Then.. she found the self timer mode on my camera and nothing could stop us!

Setting the camera's timer




Needless to say, ting soon became the person who was running from the camera after setting it. And yet again, the photos she did the self timer for always turned out better than the ones i did! That girl has a midas touch with cameras!



Another memorable example of how awesome ting is the when we were freezing our asses off at the Great Ocean Road.

I learned how Ting deals with the very very cold... she kneels down!


We were viewing London's Bridge and ting was about to go back when i asked her whether she wanted to take a self-love photo together. The incredulous look she gave me was a moment i would always remember! then our tour guide came along and asked us whether we wanted a shot.. LOL! Poor ting's look was simply priceless! Here's the resulting shot!


So to Neela and Ting, THANK YOU for all the fun, laughter, talks, guides, photos and memories... You have truly made my aussie adventure the best one yet! :D

Now that im fully rested and unpacked, and almost used to the sweltering heat here (by that i mean, in an air conditioned room), i can start summarising my little aussie adventure :D

i ..
- had this air steward for eye candy on the way there :D :D a very good start to my holiday. He was attentive and even attempted to strike up a conversation with me! But, being the incompetent social idiot that i am, i spluttered and stuttered and so, good bye cute air steward.

-discovered that ting's place has no lift. *horror music please* i had to lug 19kg up the staircase twice (once when arriving from spore, once when coming back from sydney) and then down twice! What's the point of a fireman pole's in such scenarios?



the enclosed fireman's pole (the building used to be a fireman's place)


the many steps i had to lug my luggage up! I'm mighty mouse!