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Tomo, Saya Sendiri dan Lia 

Heres a picture of Tomo, Lia and myself at the Japanese festival not too long ago.

I think my Indonesian presentation went fairly well. I'm pretty confident about most of my exams. More on this soon.

Phluha-What?

While I was over at my perfect student's place today, I noticed a large circular object with octopus-like suction-ball things leaning against the wall. At first glance I assumed it was some crazy Korean contraption for drying socks or something. I inquired and the exchange went something like this....

ME: "Hey, what the hell is that!?!"
YUN: "Oh, that? That is a 훌아훕."
ME: "A 'ph..', a what?"
YUN: "Um, a 훌아훕." {slightly different stress}
ME: "Get out the electric dic! {tionary}!"
YUN: "Yes, perfect teacher, here it is, 훌아훕."
ME: "Oh, um, a hula-hoop?" "Why the hell do you have an overly thick hula-hoop with large bulbous bumps on the inside as if it were some strange torture device?"
YUN: "Perfect teacher, I don't understand you!"
ME: "Sorry. What the hell do you do with that thing? And why does it have those {pointing} things!!?!"
YUN: "You play hula-hoop {prounounced something like 'flufau'}. And those things are there to take away the fat." ::Demonstration offered:: "Don't you have these in America?".

It gets a bit less interesting at this point, but perhaps you get the idea. Have I been gone so long? Has the world come crashing to its knees? Has the dark behemoth H.H., returned once again to ridicule and torture our women with his circular pleasures? Yun informed me that it is a 'must-have' for every woman in Korea. She boasted that her mother has an even heavier one and she does it every day while watching tv. I told her that it was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. But I promised to research it before putting her down on a regular basis. I gave her quite a bit at the time, however. But, after having googled for hula hoop+exercise, I find that I may have to put my foot in my mouth. Has this been going on a while? Should we be scared? Did I really just spend 14 minutes of my valuable time writing this?

Indonesian Ducks

I need to do a 5-7 minute presentation for Indonesian class on Tuesday. I'm far from ready. Actually, I just started it on the tram earlier (Sat). I'm a little worried, but I'm sure it won't be so bad.

I went out with Lia today, we went to Chinatown for a drink before going to Crown. I gambled for a while (even money), before heading back to Chinatown for some food.

It seems my sharemate has picked up a baby duck at Victoria Market. He paid $6AU and being that it is cold outside and 2am, I'm wondering where the duck is. I guess its a pet, but I'm not really sure yet. More on this soon?

Funny Stuff

I saw this article in the MX (Free Melbourne paper) on Tuesday.

Sex worker advertisement prank sparks catfight at club

A Territory dog club member who fought with two women office-bearers, took out ads with their phone numbers touting them as sex workers, a Darwin court heard yesterday.
Shirley Irene Wright, 52, of Wulagi, pleaded guilty to two charges of unreasonably causing substantial annoyance.
"Pauline, erotic fantasies are what I like. Home all day." was the come-on line for a 72-year-old wheelchair-bound woman.
"Sandy, bashful, bring your toys, a devil after midnight." was the other wording for a 56-year-old shift worker.

Revenge of the Sith - Thai Night

I saw Sith on Thursday, and I think it was probably the best of the pre(post)-movies. I went with Yun Jung, my student/gambling sidekick. She had seen none of the other movies, but seemed to really enjoy it also. The only thing that really bothered me, though not nearly as much as Episode I, is the campy style of all the scenes involving emotion. They just don't seem real to me and detract from my immersion into the movie. I never had this problem with parts 4-6. Ah well.

Within the boundaries of Melbourne, one may occasionally find ethnic nights at some of the various nightclubs in the city. Last night was 'Thai Night', so thats where I went. I went with 6 Thai guys who I've befriended here. It was nice to be out and speaking Thai, but the scene was pretty boring. I managed to convince most of them to leave, go to a cheaper pub and return later. That ended up being considerably more interesting. We were out until 4am or so and then I crashed at one of their places in the city. I got up at 11 to meet Yun. We talked for a while before visiting CC where I managed to win some cash from the casino. After that I taught my other student.

Hung out with Lia tonight. We just had dinner and gambled and stuff. Not too exciting.

Japanese Festival - Girlfriend?? - Movie Stuff

I'm going to the Japanese festival in Box Hill tomorrow. I'm sure it will be very exciting. Or not? Well, I'm going with Lia, so it can't be so bad!

I bought my tickets for Star Wars opening show on Thursday. I haven't decided if I will take my favorite student or Lia. I'm leaning towards my student, as she can probably understand it better. We'll see!

Last night I went out with Lia and Lana for a bit, then I met up with a bunch of new friends and we went to karaoke. I made it home by about 3am. It was lots of fun.

Tonight I went shopping with Lia. Then we went to see Boogeyman and afterwards a few beers. Then dinner in Chinatown. Finally, we walked by the river and sat there for a while. It was nice.

As you have probably noticed, I no longer write as much as I used to. I'm suffering from some sort of blog-block I suppose. I am fairly active, but I don't know if its worth reporting.

Somebody Set Us Up The Bomb

There was supposedly a bomb scare in Melbourne yesterday, but I haven't seen anything in the news. The roads were closed for a while and guys in blast gear went in to check it out.

Star Wars Episode III comes out mighty soon. I'm excited! Not sure how many people I will force to go with me.

I did pretty well on my Arabic mid-term. I somehow managed to get 450/450 on the online, 13/15 on the listening and 76/100 on the oral. But I think my grade on the oral was crap as I answered every question correctly except for one in which I happened to forget the arabic word for key! I think the lecturer thinks I'm a bit pompus and doesn't take to me so well. Horseshit!

I need to do a 5 minute Indonesian presentation in a couple weeks. Not sure yet what I'm going to talk about, but it could be fun.

I've been playing piano a lot and I am fairly confident I can do well on my performance test. Assuming I don't have any severe panic attacks anyways.

Things are still going very nicely with Lia. I have been seeing her a lot lately. Actually, everyday except one since I started saying things have been going well! Bliiing! Tonight as well (^.-)*

I'm still waiting on pictures from a couple people. I'll try to put some pressure on them so I can post some new ones.

Good Stuff

Lia and I went to see The Amityville Horror on Wed. It wasn't anything special. Well, the movie wasn't anyways. Afterwards, I took her to a nice Thai place for dinner. Things are looking pretty good with that.

During the afternoon I went with my best student, Yun to CC (Crown Casino). Drank and gambled a bit. She lives across the street from there and we end up there far too often. It sure is fun though!

Last night I went to Lia's place with Will, Tomo and Rangee. We had dinner and drank lots of wine. It was fun. I finally got to see the flowers I sent to Lia. They certainly weren't as nice as the picture, but I think they still served their purpose. Things go well! I am pleased.

After dinner at Lia's I went to the city to meet up with my friend, Kazu, who was drinking at some pub near the state library. About 7 Japanese and 2 Chinese. It was fun. Afterwards, I went with two of them, Yoko and Jay to a place called The Loft, which is where Dominique (girl from international house) was having a suprise birthday party. It wasn't that exciting for me, but I suppose it was a great birthday for her! Took a cab home and woke up real late. Bit of a hangover to I think. I suppose I deserve what I get after drinking on and off for 12 hours.

A Great Day

Yes its true. I had a wonderful day yesterday. Not perfect of course. I did get a little sick, tried to stay out of a rather heated political argument that contained far too much nationalism for me to bother participating, but looking back I know it still amounted to good stuff. No time for details, but heres a picture!


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