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.