I have long since given up (*)

This long forgotten memory popped up while walking home from the train station. It is quite possible that the AWB Iraq can of worms prompted it.

This is slightly complicated to explain but I will try my best.




I was 15 years old when I played in a team table tennis tournament (teams of 4-5 players). The day before the finals, 2 players from a team in the playoff for 1st and 2nd joined my team for lunch. There was a conversation thread which I could not follow clearly. What had transpired was that these 2 players were quite unhappy with their team patron and were willing to lose their matches on purpose in order to spite him (more so his possibly boastful wife).
They were willing to lose their games but not the prize money they would have gotten had they won. They wanted one of our guys to approach the other team.
So it was arranged that they would lose but still get the money. Note that financially, they gained (nor lost) nothing.

What is troubling is that I didnt say anything when I finally understood what was happening. I would like to think that I thought it was wrong but I really dont remember whether there was any outrage on my part then. However, I do remember thinking it wasnt fair to the other 2 unknowing players (one was to become the Mens State champion the year after).
The realisation of how much one would need to hate/dislike their sponsor/patron to have wanted to do this only came later in life. It was a black day for the sport and for me. It still bothers me to this day, 20ish years later, that I remained silent.
What is also troubling is that these guys, some in their late 20s, early 30s would expose a 15 y.o. to such a situation.

I dont remember where my team finished. Lower than 4th I think.

Postscript :
I can only imagine the embarassment of the people who were directly involved when all this was found out a few months later. The tournament was not held the following year. One of the guys is now a locksmith after dropping out of a police cadetship.

Sorry to bore you guys, but this is for my kid, when she is older and finds out, at the lawyers reading of my will that I've spent her inheritance and all I leave her is the URL and password to my blog. Go here instead for superb and entertaining food reviews. BTW, I dont remember ever telling anybody this story. Not even my parents.

(*) but I still think of you often.

Next scheduled blog : 18^th Feb 2006.

It's not you, it's me.

This sorry saga takes in events spanning 2 nights.¹

Day 1. Friday Night
I'd rung Simon (who sometimes reads my blog. Hi S!) up to see if he wanted go see Good Night, Good Luck.
S : Hello.
Me : The luminuous wind gently shimmers off the jade pagoda. *click*

S was 5 mins late cos he got the time wrong. Then these 2 giggly girls² had the audacity to jump the cinema queue by walking over those zig-zag lines which we (I) was happy to follow. OK, so it was just them and us in the queue, but still. S is such a shameless flirt. They were going for Narnia. Pfft. Kids movie. 1 hour to kill before the movie started so food time³.



Hey! The same girls were there at the restaurant! While they were perusing the menu at the window, we got in and got the last table. Up your nose, girls. Karma sucks! Anyway, I'm glad S declined my offer to invite them over cos when they eventually got seated⁴ next to us, we discovered the quiet one had a voice like nails dragged down a blackboard. S confirmed my observations by clever use of his eyebrows. *shudder*

Conversation after the movie.
S : I did think some of the audience looked a bit young.
Me : Crossed my mind too. I thought Melbourne youth had gone serious.
S : And I did hear you say cinema Five, I just thought you knew where you were going.
Me : Thanks for the confidence. The jade pagoda falleth down the mountain.

[flashback] Conversation in the cinema.
Me : Jeesh, it's taking a long time to start.
[5 mins later]
Me : Shit. It's Narnia. Shit. Have u seen it before? Shit. Shit.⁵
[5 mins later]
S : Can you *stop* swearing now?

And that, is how I saw Narnia for the 2nd time in a space of 10 days. I didnt like it all that much the first time either. 132 minutes.

Day 2. Saturday Night.
Was going to go see The Constant Gardener with Elle before it disappeared from the big screen. Pre-movie dinner review here.

Conversation at the cinema queue.
L : What do you mean there is no booking? I rang at 430? They took my card number.
Usher : Sorry, Miss. The session is sold out.
Me (grimaces) : This is one great weekend for movie outings.⁶ Shit. Shit.

Later, as I was leaving her place.
L : Why do things like this happen to me?
Me (distractedly) : It's not you, it's.... me.

*big sigh* I try again in a fortnight.


¹ I did consider doing this Memento style. Did you know how hard that is?
² an incidental secondary story.
³ I'll eventually do a review at We Do Chew Our Food.
⁴ They actually moved from their original allocated table to the one next to ours. *shrugs*
⁵ Narnia started 15 mins later than GNGL. I estimate we'd already missed about that much, 15 mins of the other movie. Karma does suck.
⁶ Friday the 13th? Pffft...

Under Construction

Post not ready. Come back Monday.

In the meantime, you may want to read my restaurant review here at We Do Chew Our Food.

A Rush of Blood to the Head

MG had this cunning plan where we¹ have a food/restaurant review blog collectively.




To be included in this very select group, all you have to do is to just mention the possible existence of this food blog anywhere, in anyones blog and you're in. The key word here is exclusivity.

So far, the (possible) bloggers are elaine and subl.

Some administravia.

The alternatives are :
Using blogger.
Pro :
Easy/familiar to use.
Con :
Hard to maintain.
Hard to organise.
ie. if we use the comments as reviews, comments are not editable after it has been submitted.

Use of a Wiki
Pro :
Easier to organise/manage. The logistics part of it is good.
Con :
Small learning curve involved.

But more importantly, we need to come up with a cool name. Off the top of my little head, I can think of
melb_gourmand
melb_palate

I prefixed it with melb but we dont have to.

My thoughts, we go with blogger cos it's easier to setup initially and see what logistical problems we encounter and I'll migrate it over to a wiki later.

This is roughly how it *may* work (using blogger).
Each blog entry is for a specific restaurant. I guess you might need to be added to list of "bloggers" to be able to edit the entry or add to the entry. I dont see using comments as input to reviews workable as one cannot re-edit comments. Perhaps a prefix of the blog title with the cuisine type, so as to ease searching? Hmmm, or maybe one could post in a comment, then an administrator puts it into the main post? See, I told you it was clunky.

These are just random thoughts, BTW.

What do we get out of this?
I have no idea. Maybe it's a really bad idea.

Our motto? How about "Just because we cant cook doesnt mean we dont know good food". Alright, that's *my* life motto and we dont have to use it. Yes, yes, I know most of you can cook well. I was just referring to self, where each meal is like eating fugu. Anyway, come up with an alternative. I need ideas.

Inspiration? The Superparma site.

Soooo, express your interest and your thoughts and your ideas. Basically, to quote New Order, Express Yourself.

Addendum
The site is currently at http://letmeeatnow.blogspot.com/.

¹Yes, you too.

Filler post

I have been tagged by that, that, that person¹. Seeing as I have nothing to write about² anyway, I'll resort to the trusty "include song link" and do the meme I found on Melly's blog. It's not what subl asked for but it's a compromise. Life's a compromise.


Rain, beautiful rain, the cool change on that 43C day. Love the smell.


Song : That Was The Worst Christmas Ever by Sufjan Stevens.

Four Jobs you’ve had in your life:
Waiter
University Tutor
Research Assistant
Chippendale Programmer

Four movies you could watch over and over:
The Incredibles
Princess Bride
Any PT Anderson movie (esp Punch Drunk Love).
Any Jarmusch movie (my fav is Dead Man but not too sure about repeated viewings of that).

Four places you’ve lived:
Kuantan
Kuala Lumpur
Nuremberg
Hong Kong

Four TV shows you love to watch:
Currently:
Dont watch anything regularly currently

Forever:
Seinfeld
The Simpsons
Firefly
Arrested Development

Four places you’ve been on vacation:
Budapest
Perugia
Cairo
St Louis

Four websites you visit daily:
Slashdot
The Age
Boing Boing
Groklaw

Four of your favorite foods:
Chicken satays (grilled, ones at Satay Bar are quite good)
#22 at Thanh Phong, Richmond.
Sweet Mangoes
Garlic nan with any curry (except lamb)

Four places you’d rather be:
Rome
Istanbul
Germany (Kaiserslautern, Munich, Stuttgart during the World Cup)
Home

Four bestest albums (my enhancement):
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Fiona Apple - When The Pawn...
EBTG - Walking Wounded Garbage - Version 2
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

Four bestest books (my addition):
Gabriel Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera
Robert Butler - A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain
William Goldman - The Princess Bride
Bill Bryson - Neither Here Nor There

That was painless, I think. For me anyway.

I wont tag anybody as I dont like to inflict pain but do do this just so that I'll know what you like and where you've been. That way, I'll get to feel like I know you really well, though the reality is that we're strangers and will probably remain so for all eternity [maniacal laughter in the background]. No pressure though.

¹Substitute with your favourite term of endearment eg. harlot, sod, sausage, witch.
²The kid fell asleep on me and I didnt have the heart to wake her up to go to the fireworks for NYE.