I was at the supermarket last week as I so often am not, and was faced with a moral dilemma.

The supermarket was quite busy and I had just joined the end of one of several longish queues to check-out. The store staff were on the ball that day because noticing the situation they decided to open a new check-out lane. And this is where I found myself in a quandary.

As the checkout chick walked past to open up a new lane she asked me to come over to form the queue. As opposed to sneakily queue jumping I was actually invited to do so on this occasion, and I obliged. I even helped move the shopping trolley out of the way. Perhaps I did so to appease my guilty conscience as on-lookers stabbed me all over with their contemptuous glares. Thankfully I only had a handful of items and paid by card so was out of that uncomfortable situation rather quickly, or at least quicker than most.

But that’s where there’s a problem: What if I had been patiently waiting for quite some time in a queue and had passed the point of no return, ie. was walled-in by the impulse candy section and unable to escape my queue to join another? Surely if anyone was deserving of gratification it would have been these people. I would have been annoyed to say the least. That day I escaped some annoyance; many others didn’t.

In this scenario it seems that people at the end of queues – those who have waited the shortest time, like myself – were to benefit the most from a new check-out opening.

And this brings me to a similar situation related to driving on Sydney’s fine roads though I believe it affects drivers everywhere. If drivers in other cities have developed a strategy for this problem I’d love to hear it – there are many things that take a while before reaching the Land of Oz.

I’ll set the scene: You’re driving along on a road with two or more lanes. Suddenly there is a breakdown or similar in front on your lane causing the cars behind to come to a grinding halt. Now you must turn on the indicators and try to change lanes in an attempt to get around the obstruction.

You know what happens next… The people who have waited the shortest time or no time at all are usually the first to exit the situation because by spotting the incident from afar have changed lanes early on and cruise straight past as you sit there hopelessly until the very last car behind you has done the same. Again, the first person in the queue is often the one feeling the deepest burn.

It is becoming rarer and rarer that you meet a nice driver who will give way to you – due to the sheer number it would be impractical to do so anyway. Other times there may be someone slow in pulling out and you are presented with a golden opportunity to exit before the steady stream of cars starts moving towards you. But again, it is usually the cars behind you that are able to seize such opportunities first!

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I feel like, you know, cupid making all these Matchas! Oh the puns will never get old…

So I woke up this morning, as usual putting on my Kimono and then promptly took it off after remembering what I’d said in this previous post. I was in a bit of a rush yesterday so this will be a photographic tour of only my second attempt.

(more…)

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Growing up as an Asian (I remain Asian to this day also), tea is an integral part of my diet. In fact some of my friends and I might even consider ourselves quite the tea connoisseurs

Irrespective of these past persuasions I am still very excited today to receive my Japanese ceremonial Matcha tea set from Ippodo Tea.

Their website is great, check it out @ http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/ if you hadn’t already clicked the previous link. It’s full of information on various teas as well as the history of their 300 year old shop. If I should ever visit Japan the store will definitely be on my list of destinations.

Aside from the purported health benefits, it’s just kind of cool to finally do it like they do in the movies! Except I will not be wearing a kimono. Or tying my hair up into a bun. I’ll leave all that to the real fanboys.

It’s a little late to start brewing right now – especially since lately I appear to be a bit sensitive to caffeine – so it will have to wait until tomorrow morning before I try my hand at making some.

For now, here are a few photos of the kit (click for more):

Origami-like precision in the wrapping paper

Surprisingly good English in all their documentation

The goods meticulously packed in true Japanese fashion

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So 2010 is upon us, and not without some changes to be had I’m sure.

For instance, I have found that the week-to-page + blank page layout of my diary from Rebound Books is no longer sufficient for all the little notes and memos I write to myself. These days I need a day-to-page in A5 size and have had to settle on a rather ordinary diary that I got from K-Mart.

In other news, I was recently contacted by Menulog – a website with restaurant information, reviews and online ordering system. In my search for restaurants I have occasionally stumbled across the website looking for opening hours and menus and they do seem pretty comprehensive, at least with restaurants local to where I live anyway.

Somehow – and I’m still not 100% sure how – but someone over at Menulog must have come across my website and deemed it foody enough (I suppose I do write the occasional food post, but I digress) to send me a voucher to share with my ‘readers’. So here it is:

276529

This coupon code will take $10 off your next take-away order at Menulog’s website. Ordering online does seem pretty convenient if you’re afraid of speaking on the phone or need to order food while you’re on the phone to someone else… That and many restaurants’ menus are listed online so you can easily browse their selection instead of trying to dig up their flyer in your recycling bin or having the employee with less than perfect English attempt reading it all to you.

Without personally having used the service yet I can’t say how good or bad it is, but based on feedback I’ve read elsewhere they seem pretty reliable. The coupon should work for most of this year and will work in conjunction with any restaurants’ existing offers as well.

Frankly I think this benefits them more than it does me, because apart from me also being able to use this coupon to receive $10 off I promise I’m not getting any kickbacks (nor am I employed by them), and this free advertisement is going out to all of the handful of people that actually even read the posts on this website hahaha.

Gotta love the fact that this site ranks highly on google for some very obscure search keywords I suppose.

Enjoy.

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Taking advantage of my recent funemployed status I have decided to get back into bike riding and have been especially pumped about playing a game called Ultimate frisbee/disk/disc/whatever*.

Ultimate is self-refereed and combines elements of  netball, gridiron, soccer, basketball and probably a few others. Having only played it for a few weeks or so a group of friends and I are still honing our moves. The beauty of Ultimate is that even beginners can have a great time playing while learning, which is exactly what we’re doing!

Our first disc was bought from a local Sydney-sider. The design on the disc isn’t exactly my cup of tea but I guess you can’t really see much of a disc while it’s in flight. Actually since it’s such a fast-paced game you barely have time to hold the disc before throwing it again.

Aesthetics aside I also bought a glow in the dark disc and Andrew bought one with flashing LEDs from the states. We’ll see how practical it actually is for playing in the dark when he gets back. As far as cost goes the discs are inexpensive and compact enough to take just about anywhere.

I won’t go into a full explanation of the rules as I believe the Australian Flying Disc Association’s Website does a fine job of doing that. As always, there is no shortage of other websites on the internet relating to this sport.

There are some crazy clips on youtube demonstrating the lengths that better players go to catch/block the disc. Not that I am willing to punish my body like that (yet or ever) but it does give me a little something to aspire to. Here’s one of my favourite clips:

* Frisbee is actually a registered trademark to the Wham-O toy company, but at least here in Australia is associated with the flat, plastic circular object that you throw about at the beach, with your dog and playing Ultimate.

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Today I was forced to use a drive-through car wash such as those found at many petrol stations. I say forced because the car needed to be washed pronto but I didn’t have time for it to be hand washed so figured a drive-through once in a while is not so bad.

For quite a long time – definitely longer than I’ve had this car – I have had an aversion to drive-through restaurants also. However I have not been that desperate to have to have gone through one. Not yet anyway.

As I went out to clear off some leaves and other obvious debris from the car, I noticed the woman that was behind me in the queue scrambling out to her car.

I soon realised why – she was getting a car wash too and wanted to take advantage of the fact that I was stalling so that she could drive into the car wash first. And she did; deluxe wash.

That cow.

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So this is a new post about old news.

It is made at the request of someone who checks their RSS feeds daily for new blog entries. This sad person knows who they are

A few months ago my beloved SR20-DE powered Nissan N14 Pulsar lift-back in red was written off when a driver on their provisional license ran into the back of her.

Besides, it was about time anyway to move on to a safer and – in my eyes – more handsome car.

Enter the Ford LT Focus Zetec sedan in silver. Not as quick as the red rocket but generally a better car (same power, same torque and more fuel efficient but 300KG heavier = less grunt )

Can you believe it, I don’t have one good photo of the old girl!

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This may very well be considered a betrayal of my oriental roots.

However, if I had to choose between rice and bread.

You know, this stuff:

Verses this stuff:

Then I’m pretty sure that bread would win every time.

This is not to say that rice is bad at all, because it’s not. I just prefer bread more than I do rice.

Perhaps I should put it this way: I love both rice and bread. It’s not that I love rice less, I just love bread more.

Must come from my Australian upbringing or something like that…

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If you’ve ever spoken to me about the lunch situation at where I work, then you will know that I lamented greatly some months ago when the only ‘real’ sandwich shop in the shopping centre next to my office – Subway is not such an establishment – went out of business (first mentioned in this post).

Real sandwiches it seems are not popular in this suburb and eateries – if you can even call them that – like McDonalds fare much better. In fact some days I think 90% of the people in that little food court are eating something resembling food from between the golden arches.

Despite being on the pricey side I had sandwiches there many times a week. He came across as a bit smug sometimes but the guy really knew how to make a sandwich and had available the quality fillings and breads needed to satisfy my hunger and tastes. He shone like a beacon of light amongst a dark world of craptacular food outlets.

Over the months eating there I threw a few challenging compilations at him and he came through unflinchingly each time. He made one of his best sandwiches – and unbeknownst to me to be my last one from him, ever – during his last week in business. The following week when I came back to find his store boarded up I was truly saddened indeed =(

Since then the situation has become very dire. Subway picked up their form for a little while, but is back to its old ways with stale tasting bread and not very fresh salads. Even Oz Fried Chicken was forced out of business as their patronage was far too low for the large premises they occupied – I am partly to blame for this.

Although the old Oz Fried chicken store had been uninhabited for months their store was  still furnished with all of its old decorations, tables and seating. Mail was building up under the door and it seemed like the owners had abandoned the store one afternoon without telling anybody.

That is until last week, when a glimmer of hope appeared in this culinary black hole. There it was, in large acrylic signage on a wooden back board: Akira Sushi Cafe. The announcement of a new eating destination on its way is happy news in itself, but the fact that it has the potential for actually being good, now that is something truly special.

From what I can tell by gazing through their window each day is that it will not be a sushi train. It will however be very cafe-esque which should be interesting. Large glass display cabinets are being fitted so hopefully the variety will be extensive. There is good visibility throughout so I’m also hoping that the chefs and their making of the sushi will be on exhibition. I find such transparency in food preparation greatly comforting.

Akira Sushi Cafe’s launch day couldn’t come quickly enough as far as I’m concerned as everyone in our office is checking daily whether the renovations have finished. Today I so yearned for sushi that I was tempted to go into the work site and help complete the remodelling personally. Alas it was not meant to be.

Full impressions – and photos too – will come as soon as they open their doors. Let’s hope this one’s a keeper!

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Overly loud people annoy me to tears.

The sorts of people who during quiet parts of a movie speak to another next to them only to be heard by the entire cinema audience. Overly loud people that spoil plots and/or do running commentaries are the worst kind and should be shot (or have other suitably bad things happen to them)

Or what about the holler of a person who’s laugh is so loud as to be heard throughout the entire dining area of a restaurant only to garner awkward stares by all other patrons? In such cases I cannot help but be reminded of the uncontrolled laughter of a chimpanzee.

I hope I never become an overly loud person. I still haven’t figured out 100% what causes a person to become overly loud. These questions need to be answered:

• Is it a deliberate attempt at attention-seeking or to irritate others?
• Do they even realise how loud they are?
• Is their hearing damaged to the point that they can’t even hear themselves speak?

If one of the latter 2, then I will be investing in another pair or two of Etymotic ER-20 audio attenuators to protect my hearing. Currently I keep a pair in my car in the event that I find myself in overly loud situations and also use it when I mow the lawn. They help a lot.

Hearing loss is not something to be sneezed at so I also recently bought an SPL (sound pressure level) metre and  measured the levels of my sound system. At typical volumes thankfully I listen in the safe vicinity of 65-75 dB(A).

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