syncopation

Happy Australian Day from Google!

On top of Australian Parade, wind pipes, soaring fighter jets, and flying Australian flag, we also have…

Melbourne is not on the list!

I was looking for a Moleskine City Notebook of Melbourne so that I could document all the places I love in Melbourne before I leave – and apparently I have thought too much of Melbourne as a city important enough for Moleskine to publish a city notebook…

Interestingly, neither is Sydney important enough or any cities on the southern hemisphere..!

But I thought I am pretty good at going to important cities :P

And yeah, I know, I know, Moleskine is an overpriced piece of crap.

thesis rant

Love this cartoon:

Source: www.westgatepunt.com

1. Governments (federal, state and local) say that they want to reduce pollution and protect the environment. Getting cars off the roads and riding to work is good for the environment.
2. Hobson’s Bay and Maribyrnong councils espouse sustainability in transport. (Both have appointed Transport Sustainability Officers.) Supporting the punt would be putting into practice both councils’
3. sustainability policy. Petrol is expensive. Riding a bike is cheap.
4. The State Government has earmarked $112 million for bicycling and pedestrian programs over the next decade. Punt funding (around $45000 for 6 months) is a tiny fraction of this. A commuter punt service is the missing link, connecting the inner west with the city and the bayside suburbs.Think of the punt as a bike path on water.
5. Alternative bike route through Yarraville/Footscray is unsatisfactory (heavy truck traffic is dangerous and fumes are unhealthy). Have you ever tried to ride along Whitehall St at 5.30pm!
6. Rather than axing the service, the stakeholders could plan for an increase in usage. (This would happen with better promotion and advertising.)
7. Cycling is good for your health. Cycling for 1/2 hour is better for your mental and physical health than sitting in a traffic jam!
8. A handful of pedestrians have used the commuter punt and then caught the bus down Lorimer St, thus showing how the punt can be part of the general public transport system.
9. The punt is a good way to meet people: how many commuters chat on buses and trains?
10. The commuter punt is unique and could become a very special part of Melbourne life.

Source: www.westgatepunt.com

Why am I still writing my thesis?

Suomen kiukku?

Helsinki Complaints Choir

Gotta love “We always lose to Sweden in hockey and Eurovision” :P

Cheeseburger Cupcakes

Cheeseburger Cupcakes, originally uploaded by KateDW.

Would this be my next project?

Random: Cambridge and Oxford

While shopping in Mong Kok…

Me: You know quite a lot of streets in HK are named after British places or Brits. Like, Hampshire, Bowen, Sulfolk, Stafford, etc.

Michelle: Oh yeah, I wonder if they have Cambridge Street in HK?

Me: Hmm… I am not so sure about Cambridge Street, but I know there’s an Oxford Road in Kowloon. Close to La Salle and Maryknoll Convent.

Michelle: Oh right! Hmm… let’s look up if there’s a Cambridge Street or whatever in HK.

—

Another day…

Me (SMS): Hey I found Cambridge Road in HK! It’s actually just next to Oxford Road!

Michelle (SMS): You are so random!

—

When Yat came to HK and had lunch with me in Wan Chai…

Yat: A lot of streets in Wan Chai seem to be named after people. Like Lockhart and Hennessy.

Me: Oh yeah, one day me and my friend were talking about places that are named after places in UK, you know, due to the British influence. And we found out that there are Oxford and Cambridge Roads in HK, which happen to be crowded with ‘prestigious’ schools.

Yat: Of course there has to be some correlations!

There is no enough

“When you waited two months to tell me and I had to find out by her showing up all leggy and fabulous, and telling me herself. You pulled the plug. I’m a sink with an open drain. Anything you say runs right out. There is no enough.”

– Meredith Grey, Enough is Enough (No more tears), Grey’s Anatomy

Relationship

Modern Love: The College Essay Contest – New York Times

“… it’s not a question of faithfulness but of expectation.”

- Steven, in Want to Be My Boyfriend? Please Define, written by Marguerite Fields

If I were a guy…

Via Ngszehin:

If I were a guy…

1. I would be a gentleman.
2. I wouldn’t have to worry about menstruation.
3. I would have a skin head without thinking twice.
4. I wouldn’t have attended a girls’ school…
5. I would have become a metro-sexual.
6. I wouldn’t have to worry mucking up my make up.
7. I could be very popular among the opposite sex because I am quite good with languages.
8. I would go backpacking alone more.
9. I probably would still become a planner.
10. I probably wouldn’t have learnt so many things but excel in just one or two.
11. I wouldn’t have to worry about when to have a kid.
12. I probably would have tons of relationship by now as I’m mostly the initiative one.

Actually I don’t really know, I think I have been living like a guy as far as I could be right now. Based on my personal characteristics, I believe I would be better off if I were a guy, but I can’t help love being a girl. Life is hard enough and there are just too many unnecessary social burdens being a guy.

Rambling at Helsinki Vantaa Airport

I finally arrived Finland! The feeling was so surreal as this is a country which I have fantasised studying in when I was only 18 years old, without really knowing the country except Marimekko, Moonmin, Sibelius, sauna and its incredibly high suicidal rate. (Yeah, that’s really something to fantasised about when you were only 18.)

It suddenly dawned on me that I actually quite enjoy going to café alone when I was waiting for Kary and her sister’s arrival with the company of a cup of filtered coffee at the Picnic cafe of Helsinki airport. I do like isolating myself when I am going to a cafe purposefully for food and not chit chatting with friends. For example, I enjoyed catching up with the news by reading the newspaper by myself when we were having lunch at Lazy Lohan in Edinburgh while the others were busy socialising. I especially like going to cafes with a bar that faces the street:-

1. It eliminates the awkwardness of having to occupying one whole table for two when I am clearly just by myself.
2. Two, I like looking out to the street.
3. Three, I like the sun (only applicable when I am in Australia though.)

Anyway, here are some first impressions of Finland and Finns while I am still in the airport and haven’t really stepped a foot on the real Finnish turf:-

From where I was sitting in the café