It's Chinese New Year.. and last night i was out celebrating Australia Day with the locals..
Mostly it was running after a bunch of kids that are my mentor's children.
Good running that is.. the kids were very energetic..
Some of the night was spent pitching mini australian flags into the oval.
The highlight was Humphrey Bear, and the fireworks! (yes, in a town of population 4000, there managed to be fireworks!)

And I can't finish without commenting on the cheap food- $2.50 for hot chips and $1.50 for 4 freshly cooked donuts?! It's like i was back to the good old days... =p

I wish i was brave enough to say things to people as i feel them.
It is somewhat of a curse, actually. But it didn't always start that way.
It usually starts off as a crush where i generally try to hang around them.. =p
And we usually end up being friends.. (Which is good.)
But that's when the trouble starts.. coz sometimes I'm a bit blinded to the reciprocal nature of the friendship- where maybe they are interested.

Sometimes I've had people come up to me and say, "You and so-and-so should get together..." or "Why aren't you and so-and-so going out?" or the blunt "So-and-so is cute, why don't you do something about it?"

Dammit that's annoying.

And i usually reply, "I don't know.."
Or more commmonly, "So-and-so has a girlfriend"
Because i've left it too late and they've gone and asked another girl out.

So far this has happened 3 times.

Maybe someday i'll be able to say "Ok, I will." And run out and ask him right then and there.

Maybe.

A friend is going to be a mum very soon!
I went to Adelaide for the weekend, and I'm guessing everyone is excited about the baby!
It's due on the 26th January- which is very soon..(i like to state the oblivious!) and she's probably a bit tired of people asking about the baby..
excitement!

My current flat mate is attempting to teach me how to drive a manual car. It's quite hard actually.. not that i expected anything less.. especially since i'm not the quickest of learners in motor vehicles. It took me 2 tries to get my L's! and then another 2 times to get my P's! Anyway, i know how to drive- kinda... I was on the highway and i didn't stall! (only because driving a manual on a highway is much the same as driving an auto.. no gear shifts and weird arse balancing of the clutch and accelerator..)

Anyways, this year, i'm in Waikerie.. which is a small town 2 hours drive from "town" (aka Adelaide) with a population of abouts 5000. It's quite dry and HOT! If you don't believe me check out the forecast... HERE

See.. I'm justified in my complaining.. =p

And the photo... here is the stupidest ticket i've received. I've never been booked for speeding or disrupting traffic or drinking or even pulled over for a random breath test... and what do i get, but a ticket for PARKING FACING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF TRAFFIC! WTF!?

Hmmmm.. It's the last day of holidays and i've been ringing everyone from my friends in Adelaide, to my one and only primary school friend who i've still kept in contact with for something to do tonight. I've realised that there must be a big secret party somewhere this Saturday night- That or the simultaneous blockage of all mobile phones belonging to my friends. I don't think i've faced this much rejection since applying for IT grad positions 2 years ago.
Nothing says loneliness more than spending the last days of your holidays alone. *sigh* I guess the appropriate thing to do would be to wallow in your own self pity.

And before you could blink an eye, there were 3 days before you had to return to the books. Where did the time go?

And a favour? If anyone can rad Vietnamese, I'm dying to find out what these signs say! They were posted in front of the local hospital in Hoi An.

Happy new year!