Today, got up at 6:30am, read the newspaper with my coffee. Took the above shot from my balcony.

Went downstairs at 9am, swam 12 laps in the (25m) pool , then 20 minutes in the sauna. back upstairs, shower, did some work, then, within 30 seconds after I hit send, Frank is on the phone asking if I'd like to go to do some archery.

Hell yes I would. I haven't shot an arrow in a long time. I used to do competition archery for a few years there, but hey that was 10 years ago.

Great fun, came back, had lunch on Jalan Alor (mmmMMMmmm duck rice) then back to my apartment in time to watch the rain come down.

It's 4:30pm, so far, it has been a great day.

I bought and watched 'A History of Violence' last weekend.

Definitely the most mature Cronenberg film I've seen, Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello are amazing to watch together. Rare that a film depicts so much love AND so much anger and a mixture of the two.

I like David Cronenbergs' work, he crosses boundaries and tackles topics that others would not. Sometimes with varying degrees of success, but always thought provoking.

Highly recommended.

- one month in Malaysia today -

Listening to: 'Neon Golden' by the Notwist


Thanks to Julee for dropping by with kind wishes on my post about deciding to stay in Malaysia for a year. Return the favour and visit her blog here.

Aah Saturday... gotta love it. This morning i got up around 8:30 and spent the next couple of hours quietly drinking coffee, surfing the web, and watching recently downloaded episodes of 'Lost'.
I'm really poor until Wednesday, so used to Sydney budgeting, I'm thrown out of whack here.
So, in true geek form, I fired up the google spreadsheets, and now I have a basic budget with everything in both AU$ and MYR.

...Such is the exciting life of living in another country.

I called my good friend Kele last night, he gets married 2moro back in Australia. All the very best to you buddy.

I also called my sister and talked to her for the first time since coming over here. It makes it so much easier to be able to just grab your phone and call back home.

Hi Gill if you're reading this.

Had lunch with a friend at Times Square, went to the gym when i came home, ate some bananas (much cheaper than sydney), and didn't smoke any cigarettes for a change.
Cigarettes are so cheap here, 7.40 MYR, about $2.70 AU$ per pack. In Sydney I'm used to paying about $12 AU$ a pack and the cigarettes here are a bit stronger, so there's that real chance that when I go back home I'll get stuck in a really expensive nicotine spiral.
SO better to proactively try to keep it in check really.

Not really that much else to report... 2moro the plan is to go to the Butterfly Park, I know I've been saying that for a few weeks now though. I will go for a swim, and I will have fun and say hello to strangers.

All the best.

Found Him!

advertising for diet dog food...

...completely and utterly stolen from neatorama.

Okaaay... I need to backtrack a little here.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday were public holidays here (hear that all you Australians? Yeh that's right 2 days off).. celebrating, as far as I can tell either or both of Hari Raya and Deepavali.

I won't try to explain these days relevance from what I've gleaned from taxi (sorry 'Teksi') drivers and passersby, I will, instead, lean towards my friend Wikipedia:


"Hari Raya (Malay for "Day of Celebration") is a term used in Malaysia that can apply to the Muslim festivals of Eid ul-Fitr or Eid ul-Adha. Typically, simply "Hari Raya" refers to Eid ul-Fitr, which is also known as "Hari Raya Aidilfitri" or "Hari Raya Puasa" (literally "Fasting Day of Celebration").

As Eid ul-Fitr often coincides with either the Hindu festival of Deepavali or the Chinese New Year, which are both celebrated in Malaysia, portmanteaus such as DeepaRaya or Kongsi Raya have been created that refer to Eid ul-Fitr and one of the two festivals."


"Diwali, also called Deepavali, is a major Hindu festival that is also very significant in Sikhism and Hinduism. Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolises the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. Celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional diyas. Fireworks are associated with the festival in many regions.."


So there... make sense of that?

Oh Good.

In Australia, possibly the most humorous concept put to us by overseas tourists is the notion that kangaroos are everywhere, even in the main street of Sydney (hahaha, oh you crazy foreigners! oh...wait a minute.. i am one now).

Well, last week a monkey wandered into work. A bloody monkey! I like monkeys, though they freak me out a bit.




They're just big enough to be a major hassle if one jumped on you, and they look like they're seriously considering it, all the time.

When i went to the bird park, there were some monkeys sitting on top of a gate i had to walk through... i started to open it and they screeched at me a bit, and there was one that was just grinning at me. I seriously thought he was going to jump on my head.

He wore the same expression I wore when I was 20 years old, drunk and just been dared to jump off a roof or something similar.

Anyways, that's tonights post. Hope you enjoyed it.
Oh, just wanted to say a big Hi and thankyou to everyone who I've spoken to on googletalk, messenger, email, telephone who has lend me their support, and told me how much quieter the place is without me back there.

Some have even gone as far as to say they miss me, but let's be honest, that's just pillow talk really.

;)

...till next time.
Oh and visit my good friend Enclave's LiveJournal. Writing like this makes me wonder if I should really put some effort into this blog, or just give up completely.

Laters.