that's just mental

so, new journal. mel will be happy to know that i've abandoned my lj for the meantime, though i'll still pop in to say hi when i get bored, i suppose. the name is taken from a tea i tried at the third rock cafe last night. it reaffirmed my assessment of myself as well and truly NOT a tea person. yes, my screenname is a beverage. i've seen worse.

i missed _manitou's shoe_ on sbs last night, though mel saw it. it's a shame really, because like mel i came in late when i saw it the last time sbs showed it. guess i'll have to wait another 8 months for it to come around again.

when i turned 18 last week, i felt no milestone crashing down on my head, but on saturday a truly amazing thing happened: my mum bought mi goreng. to asian families, to many people these days, this is nothing, but let me tell you now, i was truly stoked. we've only ever bought 2-minute noodles (i never know the brand, just that it's the one with the noodolbot promotion) and to buy actual mi goreng, well, it felt good. especially now that mum spends so much time swim-teaching - she still feeds us, but sometimes i don't feel like vegemite on wholegrain or soy and linseed bread for lunch. the world makes sense again.

well, maybe not:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051211a1.htm
i'd once heard of a young japanese schoolgirl killing her best friend as they became more academically competitive, but what takes the cake is that this is the third schoolgirl in japan to be slain since november 22. and that the attempts of employers in checking prospective employees' criminal records can be difficult "because universities often refuse to disclose such information, citing students' privacy". surely that info should be given to employers, especially when the employee would be dealing with children?

enough griping. let us celebrate, for the race riots made it to the top of the news column on the wiki main page:
Race riots erupt in Sydney, Australia, with thousands gathering on the beach to target Arabs, in response to the assault on two surf lifesavers the previous weekend allegedly by a Lebanese gang.
bravo, australia. we're looking real multicultural, aren't we?

still, even when we're being relatively 'multicultural', it's still okay to bag out other nations, so long as it's the kiwis or the poms, right? apparently the english soccer coach or management was nervous about the prospects of possibly facing australia in the world cup (before saturday morning's draw, which yes, i got up to watch at 6.15) because australians like to beat england. not that we're likely to make it past the second round, but we've got 6 months to go before that crops up, and in the meantime there's always cricket. and golf. i've decided to be a fan of matty goggin and nick o'hern.

on a final note, RIP nando's bunny sam, killed by the neighbour's dog last week, and the sound garden at hurstville, the best second-hand (and new) cd store around, which is closing down soon.