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.

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...