There are also some other smaller projects that I’d like to work on in the next few weeks:

1. Book all accommodation for our trip to China in April/May. I’ve already worked out a rough itinerary, so would like to start locking in some accommodation!
2. Start brushing up on my Mandarin language skills. They’re very rusty as I haven’t used Mandarin regularly for the past four years. I’ve already borrowed some audio language guides from my local library that I want to transfer to my iPhone so I can practice on my commute.
3. Start reading up on research methods for my last unit of study for my Masters. I should receive this year’s materials towards the end of this month, but because I have last year’s materials already, I can start doing some pre-reading.
4. Learn how to use Kieran’s new Nikon D3100 DSLR that he won the day before he left for Japan. He left it with me, so I might as well teach myself the basics so that I can appropriate the camera whenever I feel like being “artistic”. Inverted commas are actually necessary, because I’m not artistic in the traditional sense.

I also have a monthly pass to a gym in the city that I purchased for $19 off a Daily Deal site. It expires at the end of February, so I guess I should start going. I need to go at least four times to make the $19 investment worthwhile. Wish me luck?

Graduate successfully from my Masters with a High/Distinction average: I didn’t graduate from my Masters. Instead, I did the complete opposite of successfully graduate, and instead I deferred my last semester of study. I did get a Distinction for the first semester of study though. I start study again first semester of this year – starting late February through to mid June. I’m a bit worried about it actually – I will have been away from study for the past six months and I hope that my motivation hasn’t suffered as a result.

Take the next step in my career to a 10% increase in salary and a step up in position title: I didn’t get a discernible increase in salary nor a step up in position title. What I did do was find a new job in Sydney that is probably more focused and relevant to what I want to do in the long-term, as opposed to the work I had been doing previously. I’m doing work that involves a degree of higher level thinking – of strategy, analytics and planning. It’s a step up from the purely administrative, logistic and “doing” work that I have previously done, and offers more opportunity to broaden my skills for appeal to future employers.

At this point I don’t know how long I will stay with the role. It’s becoming clear that it’s not enough money to live comfortably on for the type of lifestyle that I am accustomed to. It is also clear that while there may potentially be long-term scope for growth in the role, it’s not something that would happen in the next two years, nor something that could allow for any short-term substantive growth in income. Yet there are clear pros to the role – I enjoy the work, my colleagues and the organisation. And if things go according to plan, staying at this organisation would make sense as they are very family-friendly and offer great maternity leave and “back to work” options. But I can make more money elsewhere for similar work within a similar not for profit environment. At this stage…I don’t know what I’ll do. I imagine I’ll see through a twelve month cycle however, and make a decision towards September of this year.

Pay $5000AUD off my mortgage, additional to the regular fortnightly payments: I actually paid an extra $18K onto my mortgage in 2011. However, I’m currently chewing up any benefits I earned by not paying my ongoing mortgage amounts (in agreement with the bank) as I work through my current money problems. My additional payments allow me to stop paying my mortgage until September. I hope to get back on track by March though (by which time, I would have chewed up $10K of my additional payments), and to start paying my mortgage again at that point. I’m still stressed about money, but I’m hopeful that things will turn around soon.

Finally fully furnish and decorate my apartment, with photographic evidence: Well, technically yes, I did this. I did fully furnished my apartment in Melbourne and showed off some of the key features of: my bedroom, living room and kitchen. But then I moved out of my apartment in August and in with my parents who pretty much claimed all my furniture to replace their old furniture. Moving up to Sydney in September, I had nothing but my personal clothing and kitchenware. I took no furniture or whitegoods with me.

When I finally moved into my own apartment, I’ve had to essentially start this resolution again and furnish an apartment from scratch. I think I may have just made it – I picked up some pieces on Friday. However while I’ve got most of the furniture, I still lack the personal touches that make it a home…and I’m struggling with ideas of how to make it feel like home when it’s a rental property where I can’t hang pictures on the wall, repaint, or do anything else that alters the physical state of the property.

As for resolutions for 2012?

I recently spent some time setting objectives for the next six months at work. Each objective had one guiding principle, they had to be SMART objectives: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Using the same concept, I wanted to look at my personal goals for the next twelve months.

1. Graduate successfully from my Masters with a High/Distinction average (repeat!).
2. Get down to Melbourne at least twice this year to visit friends and family.
3. Get back on track financially with a strong $5K in savings by the end of the year.
4. Go overseas twice.

The first three are pretty self explanatory. I need to finally finish this Masters…no more delays! I’m also feeling a bit homesick. Having my brother here for a week helped, but really, I just miss home and my mum’s cooking. Even though I’ve been eating my way around Sydney trying out new places, I’m yet to find anywhere with food as amazing as my mum’s cooking. I’m also not used to being in this kind of a financial situation – I’ve always been the responsible one, and I want to be again.

As for going overseas twice, I already have that super cheap trip to China planned, which Kieran has now also booked tickets for. I look forward to showing him around a country I consider my second (and original) home. I’d also like to look at going overseas again towards the end of the year. I’ll have about three weeks of leave accumulated by Christmas, which would be just enough for a whistle fast tour of Argentina, Chile and Peru…or India and Sri Lanka…or Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia…or anywhere really! I know now what experiences make me happy and I want to do it all especially now that I’m with someone who is similarly inclined.

I should probably make a resolution about losing weight and/or doing more exercise, but we all know that kind of resolution never works. ;)

And just for your enjoyment – the fireworks that I got to watch last night.

In all seriousness, I actually did go to some amazing restaurants when I was travelling, after the first week of heavier food. My best dining experiences in each major stop on my trip include (and, warning, this will be long and wordy):

LA: Koi

Koi was the first nice restaurant I went to in America, a few days into our trip. I met up with the lovely Noemi and Neftali here for dinner – and basically in choosing the restaurant, I asked them to pick somewhere that was famous for celebrity sightings. Did you know that Sharon Osborne got into a fight with her agent at Koi, and that Lindsay Lohan threw a hissy fit when they refused to serve her alcohol here? Unfortunately we didn’t managed to spot any celebrities when we went, but the experience was really amazing.

If I was to sum up the restaurant in one word, it would be Zen. They really try to play into Japanese minimalist decor with lots of bamboo, and are huge fans of ‘mood’ lighting. It was really quite a classy and understated restaurant, and I was expecting to pay around $80 as that’s what the Australian equivalent would cost…if not more. Imagine my surprise when I opened the menu to find how reasonable the prices were – only about $25-$30 per main. I ordered the pan seared basa sole (delicious!), my friend Beth ordered the pan roasted duck breast, and I can’t remember the sushi that Noemi and Neftali ordered, but if you order the one with mango, it’s a real hit! We all had vegetable tempura, edamame and grilled Japenese eggplant to share, as well as a bottle of wine. For dessert, we had the hot fudge and caramel sundae, as well as the New York cheesecake – pure heaven.

I’d recommend Koi if you’re looking for somewhere sophisticated with excellent service and deliciously light food that still satisfies. Just make sure to book a table in advance rather than show up on the spur of the moment – it is very popular, and does attract a well dressed crowd.

San Diego: Georges on Fifth

You would be a fool if you paid full price to eat at Georges on Fifth. We weren’t sure of what we wanted to eat that night, so we wandered around the trendy Gaslamp Quarter. Walking past Georges, it answered our unasked questions about what we wanted – a good wine list, award winning Angus steaks for Beth, a good range of seafood for me, and a Grammy award winning pianist playing live music. We were actually a bit hesitant because the prices were marginally higher than some other nice restaurants we had seen – but then when the maitre d saw us hesitating over the menu, she actually gave us a voucher for 20% off our final bill. Sold – make sure you never pay full price at Georges on Fifth!

We chose to sit at an outside table so we could people watch. It was a Friday or Saturday night (I can’t remember), and the types of people walking past getting ready for a big night out made for good dinner entertainment. Beth ordered an Angus steak, but because I’m personally not keen on red meat, I ordered the salmon sauteed with a coriander crust, with sun dried cherry fennel relish and a basil oil and montrachet risotto. It was absolutely superb.

I’d recommend Georges as it’s centrally located in the Gaslamp Quarter. It’s fantastic as the place to start before a big night out!

Las Vegas: RA Sushi Bar Restaurant

RA Sushi is located outside the Fashion Show Mall towards the end of the new Las Vegas Strip – where the Wynn casino is. It’s fantastic for a late lunch/early dinner because of its Happy Hour specials (3pm – 7pm) – we were there around 4pm, and they have some half price specials on really unique sushi hand rolls and cocktails too. I recommend both the Dragon Bite and Blushing Geisha cocktails…not that I started drinking at 4pm!

I had the Nabeyaki Udon, because I had a craving for some good noodle soup. The seafood was lovely and fresh, and the tempura wasn’t too heavy. Beth had the potsticker soup which was good…but I have to say, I thought my own potstickers were better.

Overall, it was alright, but really nothing too spectacular. In terms of Japanese-style restaurants, Koi in LA was much better, and I’ve had much more authentic Japanese in both Melbourne and Sydney. Las Vegas as a whole was very disappointing though – restaurants in casinos were unremarkable (we ate in Treasure Island, Mandalay Bay, and Palace Station where we were staying) and there weren’t that many restaurants available on the strip outside of the casino complexes.

San Francisco: Maverick

We walked past this restaurant every day from where we were staying to the BART station that got us into town – and every day, we would say to ourselves: “we must eat there before we leave”. It actually wasn’t until the night before we left that we actually went!

Maverick is a really small and intimate restaurant that prides itself on its extensive wine list. Michael, the owner of the restaurant, is on the floor every night explaining the properties of different wines to patrons, and he really knows his stuff. I recommend dining there on a Tuesday if you can – you get 50% off all bottled wines then, which really just meant that instead of going for the $30 bottle like we normally would, we went for the $60 bottle for $30. The menu changes regularly as well depending on what’s in season and available on any particular day at the markets – when we were there, they actually changed the menu halfway through the night because they sold out of a particular dish.

I ended up ordering Baltimore crab fluffs for an entree, the tagliatelle for a main, and I had the pecan pie for dessert. The desserts in particular are quite excellent, so if you’re on a budget, I would recommend eating elsewhere for dinner, and coming to Maverick for dessert and wine to finish off an evening. Pricing is quite reasonable though – I think we ended up paying around $60 to $70 per person for a three course dinner and a cocktail each and a bottle of wine to share.

Seattle: New Orleans Creole Restaurant

We arrived in Seattle rather late (we seemed to make a habit of arriving in new cities after hours), and went in search of some food in the historic Pioneer Square part of Seattle. Our first thought was to go to the oldest bar in Seattle which apparently dated back to before the turn of the (last) century – but it actually looked a bit scungy from the outside. Luckily, just across the road was the New Orleans Creole Restaurant with a live jazz band playing…we were sold! Beth actually ended up buying two of the band’s CDs.

I wanted to try a bit of everything as I’d read a lot about Creole food in various novels, travel books, etc. I started out with a cup of gumbo for starters, and the seafood etoufee for mains. Along with the clam chowder in a bread bowl that I had in San Francisco, gumbo is now probably one of my favourite soup/chowder/stews. There’s actually a Creole restaurant up the road from where I work – I must pop in at some point and try their gumbo (I’ve tried their sticky date pudding before, it was delicious!). And this is probably most illustrative of the difference in restaurant pricing between Australia and America – a chicken based gumbo in Australia will cost me $20, but a seafood based gumbo in America will cost me $13!

We also ate at a Moroccan restaurant (Marrakesh) when we were in Seattle, which was excellent and remarkably cheap for the quality and quantity of food – something like $25 for five courses. I also tucked $5 into a belly dancer’s outfit when I was there.

Forks: The only diner in town

Look, there’s not much to say about this. We’d already tried the one Asian restaurant for lunch (generic fake Asian food like sweet and sour chicken), so didn’t have much choice for dinner, especially as we’d already earmarked the one cafe for breakfast the next day. The highlight of diner was simply the fact that I had the Bella Burger and the Twilight Punch…and I got a pair of fake vampire teeth with my Twilight Punch! Yes, this excites me.

Vancouver: Cactus Club Cafe

Our meal at the Cactus Club Cafe was a last minute decision at 10pm. We were originally wanting to dine at Diva at the Met (I had my heart set on the tuna and crab entree, and lamb main), but got back too late from our Victoria daytrip to make the restaurant’s dining times. Cactus Club Cafe was the only option open late at night on a weekday that wasn’t MacDonald’s or something similarly unappetising.

We were really surprised by how amazing the food and atmosphere was at the restaurant. We were absolutely starving by that time so didn’t linger too long over the menu. We ordered: Korean style BBQ lettuce wraps, a rocket salad, and a bottle of wine to share, then I ordered the soy-dijon ocean-wise salmon, and Beth ordered the blackened Creole chicken. That was way too much food – but it was all so delicious that we ended up eating all of it anyway.

I would recommend the Cactus Club Cafe at cocktail hour – they seem to cater primarily to an after-work crowd, so get dressed up in your corporate gear, order some entrees to share, and sip cocktails in the bar area.

I find the fact that people can defend the lack of a liveable minimum wage and the tipping system absolutely appalling. Quite frankly, if there is no lawful national minimum wage standard which actually provides a living wage, then there is something wrong with the system, and the system needs to be fixed. It should not be defended and accepted as just the way the culture is – that’s the type of mentality that builds apathy to an unacceptable situation. Tipping and wages aside, it baffles me that people can be so blindly proud of a country that doesn’t offer their people the basic right of healthcare. Also, the fact that a country whose basic education system limps behind most industrialised nations, and that has caused one of the world’s most dramatic economic crisis, can produce such feverish devotion is confusing. And stereotypes exist for a reason.

In the interest of full disclosure – I identify as being Chinese Australian. I’m not one or the other, I am both at the same time – ethnically Chinese, culturally Australian. I’m generally pleased to identify as being Australian – this is the country after all, that gave the child of two poor immigrants the chance at higher education and to succeed, that looked after my father when he had kidney stones, and that looked after my mother when she was in danger of losing her eyesight. It’s a country with compulsory voting so that everyone is ensured to get their say about how the country should work, and a country with a strong economy that got through the GFC largely unscathed. It’s a country of scenic beauty – I can spend whole weekends at the beach, in the mountains, in the wineries, or in the country. It’s a country of great multiculturalism – half of all Australians were either born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas.

But I can recognise Australia’s faults. There’s a nasty undercurrent of ‘us’ and ‘them’ when it comes to the issue of asylum seekers that sees a portion of Australians become racist, xenophobic fuckwits. There’s a level of inherent traditionalism and sexism which means that people still question our Prime Minister’s competency on the fact that she is an unmarried female in a de facto relationship, not over her actions or policies. Government representation isn’t all inclusive as the two major parties sit much too closely on the political spectrum. The cost of living in relation to income in Australia is one of the highest in the world. There’s too much money given to the private education sector, and not enough money spent on public schooling. Hospitals are overcrowded and there is insufficient care facilities for the aged and disabled. We do not give all relationships (heterosexual, homosexual, whatever) equal rights.

And if anyone points out these faults – by golly, I will agree with them. We are doing okay in some areas – but we can do much better. And that attitude is much healthier and productive for the country than one of blind patriotism. When you believe that your country can do no wrong, how can you ever help it to improve? Better that a citizen hold some reservations about the way things are run, and continue to work and campaign for change.

Handprints on Hollywood Boulevard

…but Americans have rhinoceroses to satisfy them!

And I’m not even joking. I was approached by a million American men brandishing glass dildos. All American men are dirty sleazes.

…and really good at geography. Because Mt Everest is in India, okay?!

…indicates the type of meal you can purchase at this establishment, but also the direct result of eating meals there. It is handily open 24 hours. I think that like the typical American, I will have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and most importantly, the mid-morning meal, mid-afternoon meal, supper, and a midnight snack there.

who doesn’t understand the ‘real’ America (e.g. not anything on the West Coast because it’s not authentic and the East Coast is where everything is at) and only likes the commercial and stereotypical media-fed version of America, here’s one of my favourite photos from my holiday. Because Disneyland is great fun and the original Disney theme park, and I enjoy being a child.

Tomorrow I am going to post photos of burgers, fries, and fat Americans because that is all I know of America.