The Best (& Worst) of 2006

Best moment: There were many… but I’d say one of the best moments this year was landing at the airport in the Philippines. It was such a good feeling – like, ‘We’re back again. This is going to be the most awesome time, I’m going to see my awesome friends again and meet some cool new people, amazing things are going to happen… I can’t wait!’. I am so looking forward to having that feeling again.

Worst moment: The day my Grandpa died. I won’t forget that day, and what it was like to sit with him as he moved on from this world and onto the next.

Best purchase: Hmm…. I’ve had a few this year. I would say the best buy this year was when I purchased a set of luggage tags for free from Safeway. At Safeway, if something you buy scans at the wrong price (well, at a greater price than it should be anyway), you get the first item for free and the rest at the proper price. These luggage tags were on special for around $5, marked down from around $15 or so. They scanned through at $15, so I got them for free. Score!

Worst purchase: The day I paid 35c per page for photocopying, at a newsagent in a small town. I got my paperwork photocopied, and the lady says “OK, that will be four dollars (and something) please”. “How much were they per page?” I ask… “35c”, she says matter-of-factly. What on earth? Since when does anyone charge 35c per page, when the average going rate is between 7 and 20c? I guess this is what comes with being the only newsagent in town... There you go Sammy, I blogged about it! And Chris – this is what the photocopies were about!

Best sale: My best Ebay sale this year in terms of profit was a Commodore 64 (old gaming system for those of you who don’t know), with some games. I bought the lot for $7, and sold them for around $63. Score!

Worst sale: How do I answer that? (Is this a little ironic to you that I’m having trouble answering a question I voluntarily asked? And that I had the power to erase this question before ever publishing it, but instead I’m rambling on about nothing while attempting to understand it, the necessary prerequisite to answering it?) … I would say my worst sales were the items I didn’t sell. But that means they’re not sales… Next question.

Best laugh: I think the longest and best quality laugh for 2006 was had by me and my Uncle at a hotel in the Philippines. We were checking in after a long day, and were needless to say, very tired. Anyway so the lady behind the counter is explaining where our rooms were. Except the rooms didn’t have numbers, they had names. “Sir, you’re in Torquoise, Ma’am, you’re in Ivory, and the other two rooms are Jade and Ruby… blah blah blah… By this time, we’d tuned out. When we tune back in, she’s saying “OK, you can go to your rooms now.” … Huh? “Sorry, where do we go?” I asked. The look on her face was priceless (you mean you weren’t listening?). Tom and I erupted in laughter. Why? It’s hard to say - we were just tired, and we’d realised that we hadn’t been listening to this poor girl for like 10 minutes, not to mention the fact that it was quite strange that hotel rooms here had names and not numbers. So we had a good, tension-releasing, relaxing laugh. We went on and on. Tears flowed and bellies ached, and the people behind the desk wondered what on earth was wrong with Australians, while everyone else was deeply concerned for our mental well-being. Finally, we somehow calmed ourselves down enough to ask one more time what the names of our rooms were, before sheepishly climbing the stairs and hiding from the wide-open eyes of the people below.

Worst laugh: Probably the laughs of others as they laugh at me for doing yet another embarrassing thing… But I have a good laugh at myself too. Haha.

Best meal: Hmm… again, there were many. But a really funny meal was one we had in Chinatown in Singapore (pictured above). We went to this little Chinese restaurant, coaxed in by a nice lady calling us from the door. When we had ordered, we discovered we had no sugar for our coffees. I don’t have sugar with my coffees, but my uncle does. So we asked for some sugar. The funny thing was, although the people in the restaurant spoke pretty good English, they couldn’t figure out what ‘sugar’ meant. Or maybe it was the way we Aussies pronounce it. Anyway, it took us about 10 minutes and several attempts at explanation like “You know, the white stuff people use to make their coffee sweeter”, before one of the girls finally emerged carrying a little white bowl with the white stuff in it. As for what we ate, I recall my uncle ordering fish, and me having some sort of wanton soup.

Worst meal: The day I tried my kitty’s cat food. Don’t worry, it was only her dried food, and it was only one piece. And to satisfy your curious minds, it is, in fact, totally bland and totally distasteful.

Best post: My best post for 2006? That’s really hard to decide, because there are several (or maybe it’s just that I write a heap of nonsense!). I think my ‘Futurama on Divine Intervention’ post was interesting.

Worst post: This post is quickly qualifying for this category… Actually, I would say the worsts posts are those where I just post a link to yet another ‘generator’ site. Is anyone else apart from me getting sick of those? Come on Rach! No more lazy blogging, OK?

Anyway, that's enough for now. Maybe I’ll continue in another edition of The Best (& Worst) of 2006. Or maybe I won’t. We’ll see. But until then, have the Best (& Worst) day of your year! (sorry!) No, maybe I’ll say something cheesy instead, like this:

“Now, I exhort you, make today the best day of your year by doing something to leave an un-erasable mark on the world… and on eternity!”

I mean that last bit. Really!

More dinglish...

This classic example of what I will call 'dinglish' was captured on a ferry in the Philippines. I'm still trying to figure out what the function of a 'Muster Station' is. My best guess is it is some sort of assembly point in the event of an emergency. Not for your cows, by the way, but for your family.

And while walking through Chinatown in Singapore, a lady handed me a flyer advertising a Chinese eating house. It read:

Special recommandation: Chinese home-made pan-cake. We are serving you traditional chinese food in all kinds.
Cooked chicken with chili on the pebbles stone. Keep all the nutrition of our food, the tasting of chicken make you really enjoying.
You can realized what is the amazing food after you tasting.
Nicely embition enviroment! Air-con serving! Fair price!

Needless to say, I didn't eat there. Something about the rocks in the food and an airconditioned waiter didn't sound that appealing.

Thirdly: I know this is not exactly dinglish, but it is cheesy all the same. This anti-drug message appeared on the wall of a high school.




P.S.: If you're learning English, please don't take offense. We Australians like to make fun of others' mistakes, but it's because we know the mess we make of the English language, and feel the need to compensate for our own insecurity. Keep studying hard, and one day you'll be able to speak it better than me.

'Tis the season to be... thankful

Christmas this year was a little different to previous years. In the past our Christmas celebrations revolved around travelling to Dimboola or Horsham or wherever Grandpa and Grandma were. But now, since mine and my uncle's family are the only ones left, we had to figure out something different to do. And since both I and my aunty had to work on Christmas day, we spent the day in different towns.

Still, it was a nice day. We had a quiet dinner at home, and played Scrabble all afternoon. It was... nice. I will admit though, there was a different feeling. Maybe it's because I'm older every year, but I recall being increasingly bewildered at the 'silly season' and where it's heading. Hearing of heated arguments in shopping centre car parks over parking spaces made me wonder - have we forgotten the real meaning of Christmas? To me, it seems like people have become consumed with making sure the dinner's just right, and that the presents they have bought will be 'good enough' for the recipient, or at least equal to or better than those of the other gift-givers. And then, because most are not entirely satisfied with what they get, they take the receipt which was packed with the present, and line up on boxing day to return it to the store, so they can buy what they really wanted!

I don't think I'm the only one thinking 'THIS IS NOT WHAT IT'S MEANT TO BE!!'. That's why I think I really enjoyed the simple Christmas we had this year. Just a simple dinner, a few lollies, a few small gifts, and a bucketload of love. That is what I think it's meant to be. And why? Because of the why. The reason for the season - that's why Christmas should be about giving, not receiving. Because God gave - he loved us so much that he gave. He gave Jesus, because he cares about our messed up world and doesn't want it to be this way. God is the ultimate giver, and we would all do well to be a lot more like him. We would love others so much that we would continually give instead of looking after our own needs - we would give others our care, our time, our kindness - meeting their needs, and making a difference in their life. God gave at the first Christmas - so I'd encourage you to go ye and do likewise!

Finally, I just want to point out something really cool that happened at this Christmas - it was really cool, actually. We've been praying for communities affected by the terrible bushfires we've had this year, and lo and behold, on Christmas day, many of them awoke to find snow outside! We were praying for rain, but they received an even better Christmas gift - a white Christmas. And if you live in Australia, you'll know that that pretty much never happens. So thank God for this amazing Christmas miracle!

Spatch-Woman Returns

I'm back on Aussie soil again after another great trip to the Philippines.

So much happened - and I'm still recovering from the long flight home which was via Singapore.

But I'm so thankful that I was able to go: I love the people, I love the culture, and I'm so passionate about seeing lives changed for the better over there. Over time I've made some wonderful friendships, and I'm so thankful for those people. Here's a toast to a promising future! Thank God...