Smiley in the Sky

My last dance class was on Monday (1st Dec) and as I was making my way home I looked up in the western sky and saw the smiley in the sky. I wished I had of had a camera, yet then I remember my camera is not good enough to shoot in the sky. It was pretty magical to see it. I remember reading earlier in the day that the next time this event will happen is in 5 years. I am glad I did see it, as I did forget.

Melbourne was a little warm and clear which added to the magic. I felt impressed by the way the pattern of the two planets, Jupiter and Venus formed the eyes and the cresent moon made a smile. I had always wondered if I had seen planets and what they looked like and now I discovered that I had seen many planets before. The photo is ok, yet seeing it with my naked eye was breathtaking and a memory I will cherish (until I see it again in 5 years).

Photo from here

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With all the tragic news coming out of Asia in most particularly India and Thailand at the moment it might have been easy to overlook this piece of news from Singapore -

Singapore jails 3 for kangaroo T-shirts.

Reuters - Thursday, November 27

SINGAPORE, Nov 27 - Three Singaporeans were jailed on Thursday after being charged with contempt of court for showing up at Singapore's Supreme Court wearing T-shirts depicting kangaroos in judges robes.

Isrizal Bin Mohamed Isa and Muhammad Shafi'ie Syahmi Bin Sariman were sentenced to seven days' jail, while Tan Liang Joo John received 15 days imprisonment. They were each ordered to pay S$5,000 in costs.

Tan is the Assistant Secretary-General of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, led by Chee Soon Juan.

The three had worn the T-shirts at a court hearing in May to determine the damages that Chee Soon Juan and his sister Chee Siok Chin were to pay after being found guilty of defaming Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former leader Lee Kuan Yew.

Singapore's attorney-general said in bringing the case to court the trio had "scandalised the Singapore judiciary".

Singapore bans gatherings and protests in all public areas without a permit except Speakers' Corner, the country's equivalent of the historic free-speech haven in London's Hyde Park.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20081127/tap-singapore-kangaroo-c3bb44c.html

Dance Free

A couple of weeks ago I had to leave the dance class early and gave my entry ticket to a friend. The next time I saw him I had a funny feeling, and he said to me that he has good news. I had won the free class, call it intuition or esp or excitement, I am not sure yet I got to dance for free, which I thought was cool.

Okra

Something I have never seen in the supermarket before - Okra. In an attempt to overdose I cooked these three meals over a week. All were delicious.

Chicken with okra served on spinach rice

Corn rice with grilled okra and grilled spiced chicken

Grilled Cajun chicken served with okra fried rice and eggplant in tomatoes

Pasta Disasta

Well not quite, I am practicing to be a journalist. I made pasta often as a child and remember how much fun it was. So when I saw a pasta machine (roller and cutter) at a fairly cheap price I thought why not.

So I prepared the dough with eggs and flour and proceeded to knead it into a nice ball. I always feel that there is something enjoyable about preparing food, I am not sure if it is the dough between the fingers or the reward from working hard. I let it rest, wondering what is the right time to wait. After about 1.5 hours I rolled the pasta out. I was a little frustrated at first as the machine did not want to stick to the bench. Yet, after a while I worked out how to get it all done and from there was able to make some fettuccine.

I waited until dinner time (which was about 4 hours away) and went back to cook the pasta. It had all stuck together again and needed rolling. It went much smoother this time and went straight into the boiling water. Taking a little longer to cook than packet pasta I was able to clean up and prepare a sauce. I was feeling hungry and a little lazy so I went with a simple garlic and parsley sauce with cheese added on. I found the pasta tasted a lot like egg noodles (not surprising since they are the same). The sauce gave the pasta a much needed boost. Next time when I make pasta will definitely move away from strands towards shapes. Now, got to go and find out how to make pasta bow ties.

Pasta in 8 steps

Yahoo vs. Google

I have mentioned how Google modifies their logos for celebrating special events, yet I just noticed that Yahoo does it sometimes as well. Here it is a Halloween standoff.

Was I in a movie?

It is a good time to be a Liverpool fan. Not only did they beat MU for the first time in a while, they also comprehensively sent a message to Chelsea on the Weekend. Unfortunately news that good was hard to keep secret, and when I got home to watch the replay of the game knowing the result detracted a bit from the game. Overall, i found the game exciting to watch, and I feel confident that next year a large hangover might be required.

Lately I have been getting back into salsa, and tonight I went to the school which confused me so much previously. This time I am not so confused, or maybe I am and don't know it yet. Anyway, on the way back I walked home and came across a situation.

As I approached with shopping in hand, I saw 8 men. Big men, mean looking, all in bomber jackets laughing and talking, no I think it was acting,,leaning against silver cars. All the cars were the same make, and looked like two men per car. There was something odd about them, I noticed at any one time one of them was eying me as walked. As I walked I felt a constant glare the kind that said don't look here, unless...

There was definitely something in the air, a vibe or was it more like a stench. The stench was one in which the prevailing mood was we don't give a .... A new car pulled up, exactly the same as the others, two guys in "the uniform" got out and started talking, non threatening yelling, and catching up. Both these guys glanced in my direction with a serious get out of my way look. Then I saw a bulge in the pant leg, and another quick look revealed a holster or something on the belt. I just felt like I had walked onto the movie set of Training Day or another cop drama as the cops were waiting to GTA some one's butt tonight.

All I know someone is going to get it tonight.