New Hairstyle

I must give credit to teerdi for taking such beautiful photo (per her request)

Yup, this is the latest trend in short hairstyle especially in the UK [1] after Victoria Beckham recently showed up with her funky, sleek short hair. Mine is not as short as hers though, I didn't want too much of a drastic change from waist-length to ear-length. Many commented it should be shorter at the back and I am seriously considering it for my next barber visit, but I am fine with this gradual bob at the moment. I specially like to look from the side with the longest part at the front end. I think both front parts could be longer, so when you look from the front, people wouldn't notice I have short hair. "Ada udang di sebalik batu" (wrong context but there is no better expression to describe this situation! haha).

To avoid missing my long, massive hair that I have kept for years, I make sure I keep these few points in mind:
- It takes less time to blow/dry my hair
- Saves on shampoo/conditioner
- No worries on hair breakage and sweeping away hair dropped on the floor
- Split ends and damaged hair removed
- Saves effort to tie it up during sports
- More cooling for the summer

Summer is a week away from now, it is the right time for me to keep a short hair anyhow.

[1] Quote from Mon

Young lads and the Sea

Before this fishing trip, the last time I went on a boat to the sea was during my second scuba diving trip 1.5 years ago; the last time I thought deeply about the sea was when I was absorbed by the book "Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway 3 months ago (though I must admit I was drawn thoroughly to "Life of Pi" more which left my mind unsettled for a while denying some cruel facts; while the last time I watched the sea from the pier was already 1.5 months ago. I love the sea, it is full of mystery deep under, it may have a totally different life form somewhere not known to us. I had the chance of living close to the sea in my childhood, I dream of having a house built near the sea in the far future, but right now I have little chance of seeing the sea, of course, except if I go fishing.

Thanks to the organizer, Will, we had a fruitful trip to Westernport Marina, Hastings with the Peninsula Fishing Charters. Weather was moderate, with a bit of drizzle at the beginning, sun all the way and chilly wind to end with. Overall good for fishing, we should not expect any better as weather is crazy these days with a top of 36C these 2 days, then down to 19C over night. The sea was calm and quiet at the pier area, and got slightly rough out to the sea.

With little experience fishing, I started with feeding about 5-6 snappers whilst perfecting my bait-tying skills and recalling basic fishing techniques I learnt some 15 years ago. It was not before long (just 3+ hours later) that I finally caught a snapper, which was also the last one (35th? 45th?) we could bring back. Satisfied with the small achievement, we sat down happily to have sausage rolls and home-made curry puff without realizing that my jacket was already heavily stained with blood and it really looked like I have murdered someone. One of us caught a blowfish and Rob (the fishing charter guy) blew it up, and I thought it looked a little like a squirrel with long rabbit teeth. After we were done with the snappers, we shifted to another spot fishing for Whitings. I noticed that our boat was equipped by Codan equipment (GPS, radar or some sort).

Each of us brought 3 snappers back home. The recreational catch limits for snappers introduced by Victorian government is a maximum of 3 measuring 40cm or more. At night, the 5 hours of standing on board left me with its after effects. Not that I could not stabilize myself on the ground, but I could feel the earth under my feet moving with the waves.

VIC Licence

Hiew Yin Chong, a gentle lady who burnt rubber on Penang road for 4 years [1], had never thought that one day, she would have to spend sleepless nights (exaggerated) and several tense moments worrying about a driving test. She has driven 4WD on hilly slopes, raced up to 100mi/h (equivalent to 160km/h) on Highway 101 in the States, yet, the one sentence she spat out to the driving examiner right before taking the test was "I am nervous!"

What is wrong with me??? I admit I have no confidence in a lot of matter, but for driving, I am more confident than Lim Peh. It is the Victoria rule that is driving people nuts. It is as if this green-coloured laminated credit card-sized licence is worth a million. My confidence was completely shattered when I learnt that stopping < 3 sec at STOP signs, or not slowing down at roadwork area, or coming out from a junction to the leftmost lane but there is car approaching on the lane next to it etc etc, could earn you an Immediate Failure. The exam itself makes it worse as you are not allowed to make conversation with the examiner apart from requesting to repeat the instructions. And the most unbearable and dry reply you get is "I'm not allowed to talk about this now".

It's all over now. 31/10/2007 marked the beginning of a new life born to drive legally on OZ roads. After visiting VicRoad for 6 times in 6 months, I swear I will never step a foot in VicRoad for the next 10 years. That is also why I have them issue the licence that can last me till 2017.

I had a chat with a friend who was granted his licence a week before me (and who obviously had also failed before), we both agree that we couldn't be happier getting a full Victorian license than getting our PR approved! Finally, one piece of advice: It is always good to take a 1.5 hour lesson before sitting for a driving test, especially for those with 10-year driving experience.

[1] Quote from Jojo Ung