Baby cat in the boot of my car in the middle of me cleaning it up.

Life has been hectic but good.

Its less than 2 weeks to Mr T arrives and so that has motivated me to do be a little ok a lot more productive than normal.

I'm still doing 7 days a week but i manage to get quite a lot done in the evenings.

Today in addition to washing my car, phase 4-5 of cleaning my room, doing a load of washing, dishes, cooking a big meal (garden of vegan- spinach and tofu salad-highly recommend btw) and grocery shopping i also met with my uni
co-coordinator. She gave me some very good news, it might be possible for me to complete my masters part time in 3 years instead of 4. I also picked up two assignments which have been graded and somehow I managed to do well in both of them.

Life is indeed good.

I had my second wing chun this week, and it has been challenging and painful (in the days that follow the classes) but i'm enjoying it. This week there were more women and more newbies both of which kind of helped ease the pressure of being a hopeless beginner.

Last sunday i also had the privledge of attending vodafone live at the chapel(relatively intimate performance) with Sarah Blasko for free. It was good, although strange to see a live artist perform a few of the same songs twice just to get it right for TV.

I have noticed though that music like Sarah Blasko that is a little softer I haven't been enjoying as much lately. I'm hoping it will pass since it includes quite a lot of music collection(M Ward, Jens Leckman and many more). In the meantime lots of great rockier performances coming up. Sons and Daughters- which will be the first show that Mr T will attend with me in Melbourne. And Big Day out recently announced there new line which includes The subways which I like.

Other shows that i'm thinking about but probably won't attend for financial reasons include:

The Kills

Sleater Kinnery (yes i will see them at Big Day out but still...)

St Jeromes Laneway festival (includes pretty girls make graves, broken social scene and more)

and

the Carpark festival (includes: sons and daughters(yes again), kills, Architecture in Helsinki and more)

I also noticed that all the upcoming shows at the corner (sons and daughters included) are smoke free-yayyyyyy! Although a couple of my friends will be disappointed that they can no longer smoke a joint there- you know who you are!

But seriously are they all smoke free now? When did that happen?

------------

Also sighted more more Asian male- white female couples including: a couple perhaps in their late 30s or early 40s playing with their kids, and today an eldery couple. Maybe its just because I'm getting out more or something...

A double decker bus in HK.

Keeping your surname is a sin to some.

Also inspired by something from Carnival of Feminists which is currently being hosted by sour duck, Shrub has posted a quite a lengthy list of statements on why 'We Can't Be Equal While...'. I found i could relate to quite a few, but one that stroke a big chord with me at the moment is:

For different-sex couples, women are expected to take their husband's name, or at the very least hyphenate, but many men still balk at the idea of even considering adopting their wife's name.

I am not taking Mr T's name.

As a result I constantly have to explain or rather defend my actions. The biggest question is 'what about your kids?' to which i have started to reply with 'sorry you might have me confused with someone else, i don't think i ever mentioned plans to have children'. Yes there is a big assumption that marriage= kids. But that's another story. And anyway, they still want to know just in case I do have children somewhere far far away in the future. In case you are one of those non-creative people who can't imagine how a family could possibly cope if the mother and father actually had separate names, there are other options: that boys taking his name, girls mine, or hyphenated names.

I have been accused of being racist. Mr T Chinese and so I supposedly don't want to sound like I am Chinese when i'm not, my middle name could Chinese too, so my whole name would sound very Chinese. But NO that’s why!

But that’s not the worst part.

My brothers ex-girlfriend asked me 'why?' and i said 'why should i change it?' to which she replied 'because you love him'.

A prominent pro feminist blogger recently commented that he felt trusted as a result of his new wife taking his surname.

Many have said in quite a condescending way 'how does he feel about that?'.

What the fuck? Because I choose not to follow a pointless patriarchal tradition I'm accused of being racist and it is inadvertently suggested that I don't trust or love him. So i take vows in front of all of family and friends saying that I want to make a lifelong commitment to him. But I don't love or trust him?

Poor Mr T!

No women still don't have equal rights.

You might as well burn me at the stake now!

Thank a feminist!

I found this through sour duck who found it from Roxanne who actually got it from someone else and so the author is unknown, but the point is it needs replicating. One of the major issues i have with anti-feminist women is that that it seems like such a slap in the face to all that feminism has done for women.

So heres a great reminder on why to thank a feminist.

If you're female and...
...you can vote, thank a feminist.

...you get paid as much as men doing the same job, thank a feminist.

...you went to college instead of being expected to quit after high school so your brothers could go because "You'll just get married anyway", thank a feminist.

...you can apply for any job, not just "women's work", thank a feminist.


...you can get or give birth control information without going to jail, thank a feminist.
...your doctor, lawyer, pastor judge or legislator is a woman, thank a feminist.

...you play an organized sport, thank a feminist.

...you can wear slacks without being excommunicated from your church or run out of town, thank a feminist.

...your boss isn't allowed to pressure you to sleep with him, thank a feminist.

...you get raped and the trial isn't about your hemline or your previous boyfriends, thank a feminist.

...you start a small business and can get a loan using only your name and credit history, thank a feminist

...you are on trial and are allowed to testify in your own defense, thank a feminist.

...you own property that is solely yours, thank a feminist.

...you have the right to your own salary even if you are married or have a male relative, thank a feminist.

...you get custody of your children following divorce or separation, thank a feminist.

...you get a voice in the raising and care of your children instead of them being completely controlled by the husband/father, thank a feminist.

...your husband beats you and it is illegal and the police stop him instead of lecturing you on better wifely behavior, thank a feminist.

...you are granted a degree after attending college instead of a certificate of completion, thank a feminist.

...you can breastfeed your baby discreetly in a public place and not be arrested, thank a feminist.

...you marry and your civil human rights do not disappear into your husband's rights, thank a feminist.

...you have the right to refuse sex with a diseased husband [or just "husband"], thank a feminist.

...you have the right to keep your medical records confidential from the men in your family, thank a feminist.

...you have the right to read the books you want, thank a feminist.

...you can testify in court about crimes or wrongs your husband has committed, thank a feminist.

...you can choose to be a mother or not a mother in you own time not at the dictates of a husband or rapist, thank a feminist.

...you can look forward to a lifespan of 80 years instead of dying in your 20s from unlimited childbirth, thank a feminist.

...you can see yourself as a full, adult human being instead of a minor who needs to be controlled by a man, thank a feminist.

--Author unknown

A random couple in central-Hong Kong who almost look they should be part of the billboard behind them. Photo taken from on top of a double decker tram

The planet works in mysterious ways

On the day i found out the good news (thursday see below) i later went to a local shopping centreand saw 5 wf-am(white female-asian male)couples. More than i have seen in a whole year.

On Saturday a little after i discovered the date Mr T will arrive I saw a wf bride with her am groom.

I think mother nature(don't ask how) is smiling at me.

I will post more soon just working like crazy at the moment (5 paid days and 2 volunteer days) and trying to get prepared for when Mr T arrives (which is about 3 weeks away).

And yes i'm still walking around occasionally smiling to myself.

The Best News

I was in the doctors office today (nothing serious) when i got a text mesage on my phone. I was quite embarrased because I was actually in with the doctor and i of course should have had my phone off, so I tried to pretend it didn't happen.

After I paid and got in my car i checked the message, which is by far the best text message I have ever received, it read:

My Aus visa had been approved!

I then let out the biggest 'woooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooo' ever and then something strange happened: i started to cry happy tears. Yes today i became a happy crier.

I've been so worried lately that it wouldn't be granted in enough time for him to get a flight here before xmas or new years eve. Not to mention that we have waited for him to move here for so long (17 months), it was just such an amazing relief.

I called or texted everyone and then proceeded to drive home very very slowly quite concerned because I was in so much shock i was not only crying but also shaking.

I'm so happy right now!


Mr T jumping for joy in HK.

What have I got myself into?

For some reason i decided to play around with my template today and therefore all my links are gone.

Please be patient while I get it re-organised.

In the meantime i need to seriously think about whether perhaps I should just move to blogsome instead of blogger because i lurrrve the categories option.

Can someone tell me whether the right side of the blog is appearing correctly, to me it seems as if the links don't show up completely.

IR protest today in Melbourne

photo taken from the age

Super cheap lunch box from a vegetarian restaurant in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.


About cooking...

The last post had me thinking about cooking. I avoided learning how to cook at all for a quite a while. As a a teenager I had family members who would comment on how I don't know how to cook, and then ask questions like 'who is going to cook for your future husband?' which of course turned me off cooking all together.

It wasn't until I become a vegan that I actually started to cook thanks to my then boyfriend. He used to make this beautiful vegetable risotto and taught me how to make it, actually I think he just gave me the recipe. Somehow though I ended up making it better than him. I was quite pleased to discover that not only could make one dish by myself but also a slightly difficult one too. Risotto even for me now is something that can easy be ruined if you don't watch it carefully.

Its basically grew from there as i taught myself how to cook from cookbooks and recipes i found online. Strangely what inspired me to cook even more was actually the opposite of what initially deterred me from learning at an early age. I didn't want to be dependent on others, whether that be my boyfriend, my mother or having to eat out. Besides a lot of the new ingredients (tofu, lentils, chickpeas) I was starting to discover in restaurants neither my family or my then boyfriend could made.

Somewhere early on in though I discovered something very very scary: i liked cooking! I felt slightly guilty like somehow I was becoming my then worst nightmare: a house wife.

Thankfully I grew past that and now here i am cooking about 5 nights a week and I can't get enough cookbooks. I honestly read them like a novel sometimes.

Apparently I can cook (without a recipe).

I'm a strict recipe follower well at least until i have made it enough that I can play around with it.

Tonight though i wanted to make something similar to a dish i had at a local restuarant, and i searched online and was unable to find a similar recipe so I decided to make it up and its not too bad and super quick to make.

I call it butter garlic beans (couldn't think of a name)

2 tablespoons nuttlex (vegan margarine)
garlic (as much as you like, i used about 2-3 cloves)
1 teaspoon of veg stock powder
1/2 cup of water
400g can chickpeas
400g can kidney beans
400g can cannellini(white beans)
a handful of baby spinach leaves
salt
pepper

Heat nuttlex and garlic for a few minutes. Add beans, stock, and water and bring to boil, simmer for 5 minutes and stir in spinach leaves

Add the essential salt and pepper and serve on rice.

Serves 2.

The one thing i would add to it next time would be an onion, but i simply didn't have any this time.

The wall along the staircase on the way up to 'The Panic' (indie music shop in Mongkok)

If you like rock, or punk or folk then check out:

Sons and Daughters album repulsion box

They are a Glaswegian punk folk band which I come across thanks to Claire.

And they are my favourite band at the moment and are coming to Melbourne very soon.

Am super excited!

The Tagging game

Shamash tagged me with these instructions:

Go into your archive.
Find your 23rd post.
Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
Tag five other people to do the same.

Mine is from June 2003 in a post called sell my soul and the fifth sentence in my case is very short:

So i didn't apply for it

a lot has happened since then!

Now i tag Erin, Claire, Andrea [aka tekanji],Sour duck and Daniel. As well as anyone else who wants to join.

Don't worry I won't be offended if you don't oblige, but i do recommend it just because it is interesting to see what you were writing about particularly if a lot of time has passed since the 23rd post.

I did struggle coming up with the five people since most of the blogs i read have already participated.

Female Chauvinist Pigs

I bought it on friday and finished it within a couple of days, could have been a day but I tried to drag it out as much as possible.

I can not recommend the book enough. Its easy to read obviously. It made me laugh, and also quite sad and quite angry at times (not at the author but at the issues).

Below are a few quotes please keep in mind that the book actually covers quite a lot of topics (teens, sexual education, lesbian relationships,feminism, anti-women women, tv and more) and i struggled choosing only a few quotes.

Here she discusses incidents with teenage girls giving sexual favours in public (a sad section):

What all these adolescent incidents have in common are, of course exhibitionism and oral sex -oral sex for the boys that is. Like the mythical rainbow parties, these situations revolve around girls giving erotic performances and boys literally lying back and enjoying the benefits

Below she discusses women who enjoy going to the strippers, and watching tvs shows like girls behaving badly:

Because part of the answer is that nobody wants to be the frump at the back at the room anymore, the ghost of woman past. It's just not cool. What is cool is for women to take a guy's view of pop culture in general and live, nude girls in particular.

On women in the sex industry:

It's a cliche that bears repeating (and substantiating) that most women in the sex industry have been victims of sexual abuse........... Estimates range from 65 to 90 percent, and she is inclined to believe the highest numbers as are all the other experts I spoke with. Obviously, people who have suffered sexual trauma in the past can move on and enjoy their sex lives in the future. But there is something twisted about using a predominately sexually traumatized group of people as our erotic role models It's like using a bunch of shark attack victims as our lifeguards.

It no wonder I'm not a fan of porn!

The thing is society tells us that engaging in certain types of behaviour (porn/strippers included) is not only normal but sexy. Sexy is something we are told we are seeing every day in adverts, on tv, on the street (in so called sexy outfits), in strip clubs, porn etc.

She also points how 'sexy', or 'sexually liberated' people like Paris Hilton aren't necessary enjoying a good sex life.

She concludes with:

We need to allow ourselves the freedom to figure out what we want from sex instead of mimicking whatever popular culture holds up to us as sexy. That would be sexual liberation

I'm free!

Free at last

I celebrated with a few glasses of wine, dark chocolate, a few pretzels, some blogging, lots of phone called advising the world i'm free and tv watching (it was house, gotta love house).

Not exactly your traditional celebration, but that will come later.

I am so looking forward to being able to have a life well for a few months anyway: going out after work, watching movies, going to shows, going out for dinner,reading for fun, learning wing chun.

Speaking of wing chun, i've paid and picked up my uniform and will start next week. Very excited since I have been talking about it for 5 years, actually maybe 6.