Bunbury Fishing Trip

We celebrated Mother's day this year with a fishing weekend in Bunbury with my parents, brother and sister.

Bunbury is so beautiful.  Its one of the few places in Perth where you can wake up and watch the sun rise.

On this fishing trip, I didn't get much fishing time.  Nor did I catch any fish.

But you know what, being with my Dad and Mom, and watching them catch those small herrings,

 made me the happiest man alive.

There's this one thing thats so much more important than all the little things in life.

Good Friday

This year's Good Friday was especially sad because Anh's granddad passed away.

Edgar's been battling cancer for a long time and the damage to his liver has taken its toll.

We visited Nana this afternoon and she's coping well.  She said she's already missing him but she's happy that he's not suffering anymore and he's gone to a better place.

I admire Nana's courage and strength but I feel so sad for her.  She has her kids and grand kids, but I just can't imagine what it would be like to lose someone you've loved for over 50 years.

Nana says shes going to have to learn how to be by herself now.  :(

I'm again reminded how precious life is and how we shouldn't take for granted the time we have with our loved ones.

Good News Only

January has shaped up to be a fantastic start to 2011.   Apart from the flu, which got me two days off work, its been good news after good news!

1. After our honeymoon in Hong Kong, I came home to an order that has been six months in the making - my new car!

Very happy with Giselle (that's the name Anh's given the car).  She goes like the wind and has these very hypnotic eyes.  Best cure to post-holiday blues :)

2.  My good friend Phil gave me the fantastic news this afternoon that I'm going to be a groomsman to his wedding!! Oh yeah!!  I know Phil and Mel are going to have an awesome wedding and I get to be in the midst of it all.  Buuuccksss night! Hehehehe.

3.  My cousin Berts and Thuy just passed on the great news that they are expecting TWINS!!! Two for the price of one!! Crazy stuff!! I don't think I've heard of twins in our family generation so this is going to be quite exciting for everyone.  I'm excited to see the twin prams hehehehe.

Albany

Anh and I had the most splendid weekend when we visited my brother in Albany.

It was a 6 hour bus ride to get there but was good fun because Anh kept me company (we did nothing but eat in the bus hehehehe).

Chicko rolls for the bus ride

Now I said 'splendid' because thats the impression I got of this small country town.

Its like a very cosy little english village.  The weather is very cold and houses look the part.

Its a beautiful town and one I'd definitely visit again.

Doggie

Above is a picture of Albany's peaceful protest against the construction of a new building. Take that you construction company - eat our socks!

I'll visit Albany again because Mark tells me there's fishing to be done!  Hehehe. Speaking of fishing, my brother surprised us all by taking us whale watching!  It was such a cool adventure.  Our captain was funny and charming and he really made us feel like we were in an adventure to catch Moby Dick.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait very long to spot some Humpback whales!

Man these things are massive!! (I'm kicking myself for not brining my telescopic lens!)

We did lots of sightseeing - Denmark was just as beautiful (although the town was so empty!)

Best of all it was nice to spend time with my bro again.  We watched the soccer that night and ate home made leek and potato soup with pan fried snapper.

Engagement Tea Ceremony

Last month Anh and I celebrated our engagement....... again :)

This time was a traditional engagement tea ceremony.

From what I was told, the Vietnamese engagement tea ceremony involves the groom's family bringing gifts to the bride's house as offering for the bride's hand in marriage.

They said back in the old days, when marriages were still arranged, this would be the first time the bride and groom meet.  And that the gifts were kinda like a down payment or a deposit in case the groom ran away. Hahahaha.


Okay, maybe I made that last bit up.  I'm not really sure of the history but I'm guessing its originated from the Chinese marriage tea ceremony, which is very similar.

It was cloudy that day but thankfully it didn't rain.

The actual tea ceremony didn't run according to plan but it was just all laughs and giggles in the end.

Anh's family worried if the Groom was any good

Pink is the new black

There were plenty of food and great company which made for a great day.

Thank you to everyone who helped out.  A lot of people put a lot of work for this day and it was just really nice to have everyone there enjoy it with us.

I'm looking forward to the big day - its gonna have firecrackers and a whole pig!

Marching on to Autumn

Autumn is here so bye bye to the Summer heat wave!

Amen to that brother!

I don't think I can handle another day walking around with armpit sweat patches!


Yes.  Grossness.

*****

Autumn means the start of the football season, which also means the time for my wedding is fast approaching!

I'm using the football season as my ruler because we're getting married same day as the football grand final.  I'm just hoping none of the west ozzy teams make it to the finals otherwise we're going to have some very unhappy guests!

Thankfully work for the wedding has been progressing along nicely.  I mean, we're doing as much as we can now but we know there'll be things that we'll have to leave until the end.  We're going to the Dusk Bridal Expo this Saturday followed by grand wedding in Hyatt.  I hope you're not too tired of wedding posts.

*****

Last Sunday, my family visited Anh's family to discuss our engagement tea ceremony.

Nothing like pork chop and broken rice to get the folks together.

Our parents talked about the tea ceremony, but also about random things like fishing, food and tradition.

I must say, I'm very glad both my parents and Anh's parents get along so well.  Family feuds are always unpleasant, so a good start in that department is a good sign.  Since both parents respect each other's traditions and customs I'm sure the engagement will run smoothly.

Plus us young ones will make sure its fun.  :)

****

Last Sunday Anh and I also invested on a new SLR camera!

*insert "wooooo" sounds*

It's very exciting!  It came with two lenses and it goes click click click when you press down on the button -  just like in the movies!!

And we got a sling bag with a compartment to put your wallet!

And its got lots of dials and numbers and stuff.

Its very heavy though.

Quite big too!

*ahem*

As you can see we're complete noobs when it comes to photography.

I was clicking away on Monday and the shots looked good in the viewfiender, but all the photos came out black!  :(

But thanks to YouTube photography tutorials, I'm picking up on photography lingo and techniques very, very quickly. Yey!

I'm actually off the training wheels (Auto Mode) and am adjusting my own shutter speeds and ISO settings!

*inser "wooooo" sounds*

Hopefully in the not-so-distant future, we can take colourful shots of random things which we can enlarge, frame and hang all over the house to make it bright and happy.

Engagement BBQ

Haven't been blogging for a while. Been busy with so many things lately. Primarily playing games on Steam wedding and engagement related stuff :P

Last Saturday was a HUGE milestone for Anh and me! We organised our first big event together and held our engagement BBQ!!

We didn't want it fancy, we just wanted it super fun - so we pulled out every trick in the book to make it a super enjoyable event :P

We had a big lamb roast,

Soooo goood, I can't wait for the next lamb roast

Octopus hotdogs,

Weiners

Slushy machine and watermelon vodka,

Epic fail - watermelon vodka = gross

and then we played games.

Toilet paper - wedding dress game

But the best part was setting up a video camera to make a diary room!

The idea was from Big Brother and we were hoping friends would just leave short clips and heartfelt messages. Who would have thought alcoholic slushy and a video camera would make such hilarious combination.

Pam and Ben's clip included sign language for the deaf

Som with some really really random and funny clips

The party rounded up quite late and was already 3am Sunday before we got to sleep.

But even so, we're so happy. We feel super blessed for having such awesome family and great friends around us.

Love you all!

Car Envy

It seems like the financial crisis has not phased people at all!  

Everyone's buying new cars!  Its crazy stuff. 

Last week my brother bought a new car!  Then my brothers friend bought a new car.

And this week my dad's been jumping from one yard to another looking for his new set of wheels.

Owww how I envy them both!!

Maybe this new-car fever is contagious and I might catch it?

I wish.

*sigh*

But its an event long over due.  

My brother's 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer has clocked over 250,000kms and sounds like a chain smoker with a bad case of emphysema.  Its got chocolate and Coca-cola stains all over the tethered upholstery.  

And for some reason, the rear bumper hangs lopsided.  Oh yeah, and good luck getting it started during cold mornings.

My dad's car is even worse.  Its done over 300,000kms and reads 110km/hr when doing 70km/hr on the freeway.  And the lights are so dim!  Even on high beams, its just slightly  brighter than some cars with their park lights.

But I remember when we first got the 92 Toyota Corona, it was like a super luxury car coz it has power windows and central locking. Wooooow. Flaaashaaay.  

How times have changed. 

Maybe if my dad didn't use the Corona to haul mulch, maybe it would still be flaaashaay.  

And wouldn't smell so bad.

But even if I bad-mouth thesetwo cars, deep inside I really am quite attached to the rust-buckets.   So many memories, both good and bad.  

I can only be thankful that these cars have taken us to so many places safely and soundly.   They've done really well and its just a good time to move on.

Now...  if only dad will make an offer for that turbo-supercharged car...... *crosses fingers*

2008 Season Ender

3Willings

1) Wonder Girls!!!! (This dance is too cute)

2) Apollo Justice

3) Pineapple Fried Rice

So here we are again.  

End of another year.

Another crazy year.

Wow.  Well what can I say about 2008? Its been a pretty good year for me because I've accomplished so many things.  

I went to a lot of new places.  

I met new people, experienced new things.  

I was even on TV.

Im the guy in the middle with sunnies :)

And best of all, I enjoyed and shared it with friends and loved ones.

Japan with Anh was the highlight for 2008 though.  Everyday for two weeks was just pure joy.  

And a lot of eating.  

"Can I buy some Tokyo Bananas?" "Haaaaiii!" *Kawaii*

It wasn't all fun and games though.  I had my share of sad times and disappointments in 2008.

My chocolate wasabe chocolate dessert was a disappointment

And it wasn't just me.  A few people work had it very tough this year.  One guy got divorced,  another lost a nephew and another lost their dad.  

Today I found out my high school friend's partner was murdered.  It was really quite shocking news.  I didn't know how to react to something like that.  

I was just sad for him.  Something like that you don't really expect to happen to someone you know.  

But I'm a firm believer that from bad things, better brighter things will bloom.  

Wall-e is a fighter! Fighting!!

Like the financial crissis and the drop in fuel prices.  

The greedy people got punished and the normal people get cheaper fuel.  Hehehe.

Never take anything for granted was the Christmas message this year.  

My dad is the bestest.

I will take that message to heart.  

I hope to spend more quality time with those special to me.  

And that should make 2009 another good year.  

Thank you 2008.

Korean look for 2009?