The Empire Maker

New Zealand oh New Zealand

2004-12-23T14:49:00.000+13:00

Few months back, there was a mention from a very famous New Zealand singer, Bic Runga, that New Zealand is a very racist country. It is a statement that kind of shocked me as Bic is a local here. So, what happened? I asked all my friends, and they also come up with one answer...Yes, this is a racist country.

When I first come here, the image of Maori is very strong. They have Maori names and words everywhere.....so I thought, ah well...this must be a better country than Australia in terms of Race Relations. I think it is generally known that in Australia, the treatment of the native Aboriginal people are dispeakable. Even my Australian friend said so.

After few years residing here.....I found that, Yes, this is a racist country. There are so many instances that shocked me. I am too shocked to react. I have lived in another western country before for many many years, but being racially discriminated and harrassed here in NZ has brought me to a new level of trauma.

Is the image of Maori that I mentioned before, was just a window dressing?

Happy Birthday Oli!

2004-10-22T13:25:00.000+13:00

The birthday bash was fun. Lots of familiar faces turned up. The cake is so decadent! Choclate Mousse from de Spa, couriered from Christchurch! Yup...so decadent! Since Oli is doing more girly stuff nowadays, we decided that she should have a manicure set.

Myself, Caroline (the host), Davina and Gui

2004-10-18T10:59:00.000+13:00

Myself, Caroline (the host), Davina and Gui
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

The Tux and the jeans.JPG

2004-10-18T10:54:00.000+13:00

The Tux and the jeans.JPG
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

Caroline's Graduation Party

2004-10-18T10:44:00.000+13:00

My fellow PhD colleagues has graduated! She has arrived! I am still thinking, when am I gonna start writing my Chapter 6. I am still rewriting my Chapter 1 till 5 and it has been almost a year that I have been doing that! Anyway, back to the party.....lots of people from Zimbabwe there! I went there with Yusuf (thanks for accompanying me!) and it seems that he had a good time. We went crazy with the camera after the party. The food was good and the dance....it was quite cool.

The Outfit

2004-10-08T11:27:00.000+13:00

Nice outfit. Got me some new acquaintance from friendster.

The Boulcotteers.JPG

2004-10-04T02:32:00.000+13:00

The Boulcoteers.JPG
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

The Colours of Malaysia

2004-10-04T02:09:00.000+13:00

The Malaysia's Night was OK. It was the usual fun meeting others and performing. The food was good as usual....and in a usual tradition, I sweat from the spiceness of Malay cooking! I had a good table, where Brenda and Feng seated with me plus one lovely Cambodian girl who made an effort to come after seeing the ad poster in Commerce Campus. Now....I am impressed with that! She apparently asked her Kiwi friend to come as well. It is not really the power of advertising that fascinated me but the interest that she has on Malaysian culture. The footloose was a bit of a disaster as no one came to the floor and dance. My feet was itching to be on the dance floor....(hey..it was saturday night..!) but nobody was really prepared to go dancing with me along infront of hundreds of people.....which I don't mind. I did have a nice slow dance with Neene, over Frank Sinatra.

Keeping up with the theme.....it was painfully time consuming to find the perfect attire for the night. Originally, I wanted to wear my tux, but the tux was purchased in Birmingham 10 years ago!!!!!! I used to be so skinny (28-29 inch) and it reminds me of my difficulties in buying jeans esp. at my favourite stores where they only stocks 30inch and above. So, I ditch the pants and go for my newly purchased 'vintage' denim jeans. The tux shirt was bought based on goodwill....where I somehow managed to get more than 50% discount after being honest to the shopkeeper that I only have $18 in my pocket. Good thing that she is also the owner of the shop. And lastly....last minute details....bright red hanky and Red and White necklace in keeping up the theme of the Colours of Malaysia. The red colour stands out in every photos!

I am gonna miss this event when I return back to Borneo. Not really the event, but my friends that I went with......

Paintball War

2004-09-23T09:33:00.000+12:00

I was just thinking....if I was in the army, I was probably be dead.....I am not even sure if my name will be carved in some stone at a memorial park. The paintball war is not even a drop of a real war and it is physically enduring....! Maybe it should be rename as pain ball war or pain in the ball war.

On the other side of the coin, it was a cool experience. Getting lost at the lower hutt is also a good experience. At least we got to see some nice mansions tucked in somewhere!

Bruises! Cuts! Naahh....that is normal...nothing to whine about. Watching people fell and stumble...now...that is something I can recall and laugh on my own.

Zahrin, Sean and I at the Colloquium

2004-09-19T23:26:00.001+12:00

Zahrin, Sean and I at the Colloquium
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

Council Chamber at Hunter Building during the colloquium

2004-09-19T23:26:00.000+12:00

Council Chamber at Hunter Building during the colloquium
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

Religion and Identity

2004-09-19T23:08:00.000+12:00

Malay Studies of Victoria University of Wellington organised this colloquium on Religion and Identity. Totally irrelevant to my work but a rather interesting feed to my mind. It is quite interesting how plural can identity be (according to convenience). The colloquium itself was really interesting. Good papers and good food (a must for me since I am very particular in hospitality). There is one horrendous participant who is so disoriented and very hostile to every single paper. He should be shot! There is another presenter who is so gentile but when delivering his paper, he almost made me sleep into coma! All in all...it was a good experience, even just by watching the people!

Hale and Gale...whatever

2004-08-18T13:12:00.000+12:00

For those who are in Wellington, ain't the weather crappy???? Did you guys noticed that the hale was very very bad yesterday. It goes on all night till now! I was caught in it this morning. Unfortunately, I have to come to the office as we are having farewell lunch for Mondher who are leaving to Paris for his sabbatical. So, I have to brave the horrible weather today. Can't wait to leave the office!!!!!

BTW, Sita.....kalau nak iron baju....banyak lagi di Boulcott tu...thanks for doing that....malu seh....cepatlah dapat kerja. Kalau tak, you will end up jadi housekeeper di Boulcott pulak!

The Japan Invasion

2004-08-18T13:03:00.000+12:00

The festival of Japan is here in Wellington! I think this is the first time such thing are held here. Around 1.45pm, I was trying to arrange for the gang to watch the Sumo Wrestling through the net (it was a demo and apparently it was also a competition for Wellington Cup), and Kak Eera told me that the Kabuki Lecture and demonstration was on in 15 min!!!! I leave everything, grab my jacket, hop in to the bus and in 10 min, I am already at Ilot Theatre and found Kak Eera outside the town hall, looking a bit lost. We managed to get 2 seats without tickets (apparently one has to get a reserved ticket for a free admission....very NZ!) and the rest was a cool experience. I must admit, I would go crazy or end up playing solitaire on my PDA if I watched the real Kabuki but the lecture on Kabuki was quite entertaining!

And then, there is the Sumo wrestling. Our favourites are this big guy that we called 'Perut' (no idea what was his name) and a tall hairy guy that I called 'Bulu' (Nakamura). Well...Nakamura won and I was spot on when I first saw him. He is one tall guy with muscle. I won't snigger at them anymore. The wrestling experience taught me that they apparently quite atheletics. They really have good muscles despite the chubby appearance and they can do the split.....*cool*

Looking forward for the drum demonstration on Friday!

The Emperor has left the Kingdom

2004-08-15T14:14:00.000+12:00

It was a bitter sweet memory. I think I still has not process it yet. No emotions here yet. The loss has not been felt. Maybe tomorrow.....At least we all had a good send off. From last night party, which was quite sombre in mood to a proper send off at Gate 17 at the small Wellington International Airport. What happen now????

By the way, Yusuf pukul me today for some reason. Ceh.....

Fever......

2004-08-09T21:17:00.000+12:00

When the weather change rapidly, I am surely will have a fever......! The last time I had a bad fever, it was really bad.....it was bad not just it was up to the point that my body shook up, but because I am alone in my house and nobody's there to ease the pain. I had another bad one when I was on holiday back home in KK and we thought it was the incurable Bloody Dengue and it was quite traumatic to get the blood test done in a public hospital while shivering and sweating like hell. Last weekend, since the winter days here in Wellington get so warm lately, the same fever occurred. THANK GOD I was at Boulcott. People pampered me here. John even come to visit with a bag of fruits! God knows that I need it! Jo was handy when I started to shiver violently last night and he managed to tuck more blanket on me. Everybody else keeps checking up on me which is quite sweet. I must give them credit for even looking at me as I look like sh*t.

The thing I hate about being ill is that my world slows down immediately. I also hate to bother other people. I guess I am never be the person who crave for attention and being ill is one of the way. And another thing that I learned, I need to be around people, not sheeps in the countryside. I am definitely moving to Boulcott in August.

Castleton in Sheffield, United Kindgom 2000. The Good Old Days.

2004-08-06T09:27:00.000+12:00

Castleton in Sheffield
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

Old Life

2004-08-06T08:43:00.000+12:00

What tick me off the most while I am here is that I miss my old life back home. Why? Simply because it is so good! I have given up 3 years of full salary and any side income from my consultation work to be here and had a leap of faith with my PhD. I will have no regrets but my life here in New Zealand is harder and harder by day. The only consolation is my group of friends.....mmmm.....probably the cafes and the art scene too! I have just got a call from Pauline, my best friend during my Coventry days (and still is) that she is in Melbourne at this very moment. Shawal is presenting a paper this afternoon and got paid for his effort on publishing another paper and Esmadi just got back from a holiday in UK and France. The rest are quite predictable, Kak Moriz must have been shopping this year at Dubai Shopping festival....I am wondering what else that she will be buying.....she was keen on that Louis Vuitton's America Cup Bag when we were in Auckland, my family, who will go travelling first and tell us that they went there *when* they got back and Maria, god knows what is she up to! Last year she tried to raised money to sponsor her team on their expedition to climb Mount Everest. I am not so sure whether they managed to do it this year or next year.

The recent travel that I did was to Palmerston North, which is only 2 hours away! I am not publishing any paper as my PhD has basically taken over my life.

Ah....the good old life. I can't wait to get back in April 2005. I miss the excitement, the happenings, the *life*........

*A depressing note for a depressing day - It is grey, cloudy and wet today in Wellington*

2004-08-05T19:54:00.000+12:00

Gabriel Knight 3
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

Nostalgic Trip

2004-08-05T16:54:00.000+12:00

When I was a 'munchkin', I used to play these computer games and my favourites were King Quest's Saga, Police Quest's Saga and Leisure Suit Larry's Saga. Sierra succeeded in firing up my imagination through these RPG Adventure games and I had the sweetest memory playing these games with my siblings, nephews and nieces. Last Saturday, after explaining another favourite game of mine by Sierra, The Gabriel Knight's Saga, to Jo, we were overheard by Jan. There was something that I said and the next morning, three of us went straight to the shop and bought the game i.e. Gabriel Knight - Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Dammned. Well.....we are hooked with it.

Deepest gratitute to Kak Eera for putting up with us in her room while playing the game, and Naz, for 'lending' away Jan on his last week in Wellington.

2004-08-01T11:13:00.000+12:00

Rouge Bar
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

The Rouge Bar Experience

2004-08-01T11:02:00.000+12:00

It was Saturday and it was sunny. We had crappy weather for many days here in Wellington, so everyone was eager to go out and enjoy the winter sun. The original plan was to go window shopping and hang out at Coco in Cuba Street. On the way there, we saw this really cool very new restaurant which looks 'very Manhattan' so we decided to give it a try. The deco is almost breathtaking. The location is excellent! It is new...so they still developing their culture there. Food was late, my mocha takes almost half an hour to get to the table, but the waitress was pretty apologetic about that. The Anchovy Tart sucks! Too salty! Anyway, at the end of the day, we had a nice chat as usual.

2004-07-31T11:53:00.000+12:00

The Boys
Originally uploaded by Imperatix.

Birthday Party for Naz, Jan, Zahrin and Sean

2004-07-31T11:35:00.000+12:00

What happened???? I was just relaxing with my iBook and the next thing I knew, I was whisked away in S2000 to buy groceries and end up cooking for 25 people! I turned out to be a fun night and everybody seems to be in a high spirit. The food was great....thank you to my sous chefs, Zahrin and Sita!!!! :-P It is THE party of the month.

I am blogged!

2004-07-31T11:15:00.000+12:00

This thing is not that user friendly.