Goal!!

This was the lone goal by Turkey during the Australia vs Turkey game I wrote about. More photos are in my pbase gallery.

Poor Little Rich Girls

I saw a few minutes of Simple Life this afternoon. Needless to say, I'm never watching that show again. The idea of two rich girls living a completely different life as compared to their real lives is intriguing I must admit, and its funny seeing them struggling to work...but I just don't like the amount of disdain and disresect that they had for manual labor. That little scene where they messed up the milk about to be delivered to people did not make me laugh. At all.

I'm sure the show is getting a lot of airtime, and people watch it wherever its shown, but I'm going to be one less person watching. No big deal maybe, but I just don't think they deserve 30 minutes of my time.

Futbol!

One of the things I love about being somewhere else, is the countless opportunities you have that would not be available to you when you're at home. Take Futbol for example...I don't think any international team would ever dare visit Manila for a round of friendlies.

But in Australia, they do.

Last Monday I took off early from work and took a 40-minute train ride from Glen Waverley to Telstra Dome where the Australian Soccer team was scheduled to play Turkey. It was the first time that the Socceroos (as the Aussie team is called, and I personally think its sounds a bit weird...almost like an insult) are playing for the public in their home country FOR THE FIRST TIME -- whether or not its because they're soccer players and not Footy players is beyond me -- but for both teams, I think its part of their Road to World Cup preparations.

The crowd was not as big as when we watch Aussie rules, but they were crazier. A typical futbol crowd is insanely into the game and most possibly end up hoarse after each game. This game was not an exception. There were more Turkey fans as expected, and not surprisingly, Turkey was the big winner that night. Though the Socceroos had some mean attempts, ball possesion and ball control was without a doubt, with the world #9 team (and recent World Cup third placer). Besides, most Aussies think Futbol is a wimpy game anyway, I dont see any reason why their team would beat "Turkiye".

More photos will be posted on my gallery soon, including a shot of the lone goal made that night during the 27th minute of the first half. In the meantime, relish that photo above and imagine how it would have felt to watch an International game in a stadium that big...better yet, imagine how it would feel if it were World Cup 2006.....

Socs I am not...

What Name Should You Have? by Lauren

I ought to be Jade. (got this 'quiz' from Cyn's blog aka Alyssa)

Hello Bloggerbot!

Searching for this photo for my first ever attempt at using this feature made me realize how very few nice photos I have. I look crappy at all my other photos...maybe I should get in touch with the Extreme Makeover people...

Home and away...

Its amazing how time flies. This time last year I was still wondering whether or not I would be spending the next year in my life in a foreign country.

Now I'm (almost) one month away from coming home and saying goodbye to Melbourne.

I am looking forward to coming home. There's nothing more comforting than knowing that the house you come home to at night has most, if not all of your worldly possesions in it and that your stay there isn't a temporary thing. Its home. Its where you'll always belong. Home is where you don't have to ask people to repeat what they just said because they don't really a different accent. Its where you can hang out with people who understand you when you mumble, curse or groan (haaay ginoo)....

And yet as the time draws near, I'm also a bit apprehensive. Home means real world. Home means traffic, pollution and all the economical problems that comes with being part of a third world country struggling to survive. Just thinking about the ongoing electoral count and the scandals that will inevitably follow gives me a headache. Not that I'm an expert on the Philippine political scene, I don't deserve that credit. I just know that times become tougher when people start craving more power.

One more month...and then I'll be back. Manila, here I come.

Okay so they still lack that oomph...

..but I'm still proud of them anyway.

I'm referring to my latest gallery up over at pbase. I think I must've sent the link to all I know, whether they care or not.

That's the thing with happy-snappers like me I guess. Whenever we come up with a photo that has some semblance of decency to it, we like to dance around and rave about it over and over again. Its some form or rain dance I think. Maybe if I keep doing it, then I'll eventually have real talent and not just luck.

So while I dance around and pray for the gift of artistic ability, bear with me and drop by my humble little gallery...

36 men and a ball

We were told right from our first few months here in Melbourne, that our Aussie experience would not be complete without watching Aussie rules Football.

So we did. Almost everyone from AGL Onsite team trekked to Telstra Dome last Saturday to watch the St. Kilda Saints eat Collingwood Magpies alive. They are currently the first and last ranked teams respectively.

My thoughts on the game? While nothing still beats The Beautiful Game, it was not boring. I was cringing with pain everytime they slammed into each other. Don't know how the game is played? Imagine American Football without the pads and Rugby without rules. The field is much much bigger than Futbol, and people are everywhere. You have 36 players running around, 3 (or is it 5?) umpires inside during the game, plus coaching staff from each team (yes, they can run inside to hand water to the players and there are other staff whose main job is to relay the coach's orders direct to the players.)

Troy

I saw Troy last Friday. I won't add another review to what I'm sure will be a thoroughly reviewed movie anyway. But I will say this....

Its been three days since I saw the film, and I'm still drooling over Brad Pitt.

*drool* *sigh* *swoon* *sigh*

Our last day trip out of Melbourne?

We purposely scheduled our Dandenong trip on the early part of May because we were told that the autumn colors would be beautiful this time of the year. So we went last week and while the colors were there, they weren't as breath taking as we hoped in would be. But overall, it was a beautiful day.

We started off at the William Ricketts Sanctuary where the artist's (William Ricketts) clay sculptures of aboriginals were nested among the trees. For lunch we went to a nearby feature place, The Cuckoo Restaurant where the buffet was overwhelming (too bad I couldn't eat more!!) and the entertainment was worth staying til late afternoon for. Last stop for the day was at the Emerald Lake Park where we waited for Puffing Billy, Australia's only surviving (thank god) steam train. We opted to not go on the train since it was too slow, and we had a car for the day anyway.

In case the link above doesnt work, more photos are here and our group photos are here.

I'm running low on melanin.

I need to go to the beach and soak up some serious tropical sun and beach fun. My feet are dying to walk on fine, white sand and I'm beginning to miss my sarong terribly.

But until I come home, I'll have to make do with the lap pool at Monash Aquatic Center.

Pamangkin No. 5

I am now a proud Tita to five lovable kids. My youngest playmate was born sometime 10 am last April 30, weighing in at 6.4 lbs (the smallest of the bunch so far). Her name is Ma. Samantha D. Pampolina and I hear she's quite the little lady, still very quiet and well-behaved (so far).

I'd post her photo but I don't have one yet, so until then, this entry will have to do.

....