Spent the whole of Saturday with cousins. With my car I have a new found freedom as it’s more convenient to travel to various locations without the hassle and boredom of waiting for public transport. Having a car also helps with the transportation of belongings, as I helped my cousins move from their old place to their new one. With the exception of me getting lost occasionally the first time round going somewhere, driving around is pretty fun, and relaxing as you take your mind off things and just breeze along the roads.

Brought my cousins to Ikea to shop out some furniture. Had lunch there and as a multinational corporation, their Swedish meatballs were instantly recognisable (well, have been wanting to eat them for a while). Used to have them while I was home in Malaysia. It’s something a little different from the standard fare we normally have and it was good to have a change. Heh, cousins were pondering about the various types of furniture to get, and I wasn’t really providing much good feedback. I guess it’s a personal thing, what you like your table, chair or bed to look like. I could imagine myself 5 years back and being unable to decide what I’d think was practical or a necessity for myself (other than the standard bookshelf, study table etc). Having been around, seeing friend’s places, and helping people move houses, one develops a personal flavour and knowledge base for knowing what to get.

After shopping, went to another cousin’s birthday dinner. Heh, had Korean and just mingled and ate. Even being the most ancient among my cousins (all except one are still studying) I seem to manage to get along quite fine with them. Heh, they’re all quite independent now and can take care of themselves. It’s good to have exposure to these things so you do learn some essential skills in caring for yourself and problem solving when the need arises.

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Was finally able to jog around Princes park without flaking. A full 3.2km run. Legs are aching a little now but not nearly as sore as I used to remember havin them after exercise.

Heh, this post originallly panned out to be something longer, but I cut down on it as the motivation to write certain topics waned. Just so much on my mind these days (as always) but too little of it gets expressed.

It finally rains.

It helps a little, since it’s been like 38 degrees and while its still drizzling outside, I don’t think the heat has gone down much. Plus it helped give my car a little rinsing, heh.

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Today is Chinese New Year, and the only celebration I had was to just go to Chinatown to catch the buzz. Managed to snap quite a few photos, and I was drenched in sweat after that. Even with a cap on you could feel the full blaze of the sun and the area was just crowded with people. There was a fan dance, a lion dance and a dragon dance, and mainly in fluorescent colours. Too many people around that I couldn’t get the best view of the action. Heh, wished I had the 18-200mm VR lens, so I could cover the entire scene from wide to tele. Had my tank of a 70-200mm slapped on and that gave some very decent photos. Just not used to taking action event photography and forgot to set the shutter speed as a limiting factor so a few shots were blurry due to the fast movement of the dancers. I realise that the D70 is a very good photo tool if you have the time to tweak the settings, but it just doesn’t quite cut it if it’s for sports (*ahem* D2H *cough*) or low light (*snort* D2X *sniff*). Heh, the very thing that comes decently close would be a D200 (saving more money in my piggy bank) with more focus regions and a bigger buffer for continuous shots.

Anyway, camera stuff aside, eventhough CNY was celebrated in Chinatown, the feel isn’t quite the same. In Malaysia, at least there are lanterns on display as decorations, the new year commercials, music on the radio etc. In Melbourne, there’s a very westernised version of it, none of the tradiotional stuff we see. Some stalls were setup but you don’t get the normal produce you’d expect for new year’s like the barbequed meats and waxed ducks or new year cookies, or mandarins. The only stalls I saw were property development, some bridal photography and other commercialised stuff. I find the atmosphere very lacking. There is a large Chinese community in Melbourne, but in a very modern westernised setting that it doesn’t have that traditional sense or setting. Maybe it just feels a little more ad hoc, as there is a mixture of Chinese cultures, and not the Malaysian Chinese culture I’ve grown up with.

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Heh, had my reunion dinner at my cousin’s place last night. Ate a lot, but the heat wasn’t conducive in providing an enjoyable environment. Unlike Malaysia, air conditioning is not standard equipment in most Melbourne households. Called home to wish everyone. It’s really different this year, as all my cousins have grown up and are studying abroad now. Reunion dinners used to be at my grandma’s place where I recall having steamed fish and prawns along with all the exotic Hakka dishes, heh. This year my family and relatives ate out, as there were less people around and it saved the effort and time of cooking a feast.

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Like they say, the only constant is change. I do very much appreciate the present and all that has been given to me.

PS. No fireworks. That kills the mood as well.

Heh, walked past all the shops on the way home and couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat. Everything seemed bland on first thought. It could be that or just that I’d prefer to eat with company, then anything goes in. Or it could also be the fact that I only had $5 left in my wallet, and I wasn’t really keen to ‘empty’ my wallet so quickly.

Hence I decided to come home to a bowl of cereal and coffee. Breakfast food? Well, it is adequately substantial and it tastes allright, so why not?

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Just tired from work, and sleeping at 230am the night before zombifies you for the rest of the day. You get used to it, being able to still function, but you lack humour and there’s a twinge of sarcasm in your voice when you feel you need to put more effort than you expect from yourself.

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One of those odd days I guess. Just glad it’s Thursday, not that it means terribly much other than meaning that the weekend is near. Heh, think I’ll nap on it.