A few of you might have seen this already. This is David, after having a tooth removed at the dentist, and obviously still intoxicated by the nitrous oxide that he would have had to inhale.

But you may not have seen this one. Here’s Chad Vader. After the dentist.

It’s a word for word copy and yet somehow different. (via Gizmodo via Star Wars Blog)

Is this real life?!

On our third day in Guangzhou, we’d ventured out to a village located nearby Zhongshan city which was about an hour’s drive outside of Guangzhou proper. The reason we went was to pay our respects and to visit the grave of “Ah Po”.

Ah Po, or roughly translated to mean “old grandmother”, was what my cousins and I called her. To my mom and her siblings, she was Zhen Jie, or sister Zhen. She was their childhood nanny and household servant in Penang, who then went on to look after almost everyone of my older cousins and also my brother and I.

Ah Po had left China in her early 20s (~ 1940s) and did not return till her 60s. During all the time that she was working for our families in Malaysia and Singapore, she’d send her earnings back to her family in China.

We’d met up with Ah Po’s nephew in Zhongshan city, who then led us to the cemetery and then up the hill to Ah Po’s grave.

At the grave, we prayed, and we burnt incense.

We also burnt Chinese funeral money.

It was quite a joyous affair because as we were going through the rituals, everyone brought up their favourite story of Ah Po to share.

After all that, we trekked down the hill …

… to go for a hot-pot lunch that revolved around fish and chicken.

It was a very simple meal but it was very satisfying.

After lunch, Ah Po’s nephew then took us to the house where she’d spent her last days. The village area sorta looked like this.

We went down an alley …

… to get to the house.

In terms of money, Ah Po would have been upper middle class when she returned to China. But she lived very humbly till the end. The house is currently rented out but this was basically how she had lived.

She had a very comfortable life compared to most Chinese peasants, but she took a big gamble and left everything behind to go work in a country she knew nothing about. She even lived through the Japanese occupation when she was there. Just thinking about that makes me feel small but in a good way. It gives me perspective, and it keeps me grounded.

On Thursday Thamanoon and I went to lunch at Little Creatures in Fremantle. The place serves great pizza and the one we had – spiced lamb with fetta was fantabulous. And although Little Creatures is famous for their Pale Ale, I much prefer their Pilsner and Roger’s Amber.

Pizza, beer, good weather and great conversation. ‘Twas a very good way to spend my day off work.

And yeah, Thamanoon is covering his face because he thinks that my blog will make him famous. You over-estimate my readership man! Hahah!

I wasn’t going to blog about this but mom had said,

You should blog this. This is interesting.

And I’m nothing if not a good son, hahah! So here goes the story …

Last night as I was walking Snoop, I noticed that our neighbour’s bin was so full that it couldn’t be closed. The council garbage truck driver can refuse to clear a bin like that because when the winch picks it up off the ground, the garbage might spill everywhere. I didn’t think much of it except, “Good luck with that.”

This morning, when mom went out to do her gardening, she noticed that the bin was heavier so she opened it. Inside at the top, was the huge garbage bag that was spilling out from our neighbour’s bin last night. Woah ho ho, bad move.

Me, I would have been passive-aggressive about it and just take the bag out and put it back in their bin. I tend to avoid confrontations. But mom is different. Heh.

I was by my room window on my computer when I heard her saying to the father of the house, “Hi, could you not put your rubbish in our bin?” Now if you were caught red-handed, you’d just apologise profusely and try to make the thing go away, right? Not this guy.

He started saying stuff like how “Australians would help each other out”, how his kids “made a mistake” and on and on. That riled my mother up even more because was he being a little bit racist about it, saying that we were somehow un-Australian for not wanting other people’s rubbish in our bin? Ridiculous! As for it being a mistake, his kid must have been really dumb because he would have to have mistaken our lawn for theirs, walked with the big garbage bag to our bin thinking that it was theirs, AND THEN put it in there.

Mom was having none of it and told him off real good. By now, I had turned down the music and was quietly listening and watching by the window. Mom was awesome and it put a smile on my face. I was very proud of her.

The man thought that he could do what he did and we wouldn’t say anything and he was wrong. He thought that he could intimidate a little Chinese woman and he was wrong. Go mom! Woohoo!

On Sunday at the Perth Big Day Out, a 17 yr old girl died from an ecstasy overdose. But calling it an overdose is misleading. She most likely didn’t die from taking 3 pills (allegedly) in one go – you need about 18-20 in one shot to get poisoned (source: Erowid). She most definitely died because it was a very hot day (~ 38°C), her body overheated greatly as a result of the drug and she wasn’t drinking enough water.

Teen dead after suspected ecstasy overdose at Big Day Out : thewest.com.au

But I guess the point is moot.

As much as I enjoy and partake in it on occasions, I know the stuff is illegal even if I don’t agree with the way government fight this war on drugs. If I was afraid of being caught with them, I’d throw them away. I wouldn’t down 3 in one go in a bid to not waste them. There’s always next time. And purely from an experience point of view, having 3 pills at once spoils your fun because you’d be so out of it. And that’s when the temperatures are moderate. Add the extreme heat, and you are just asking for trouble.

The girl’s age and inexperience with the drug played a big role in her unwise decision. Though, would she be alive if there wasn’t a police presence? Probably.

Sniffer dogs ‘raise risk’ for dance party drug users – National – smh.com.au

But you can’t blame the police for doing their job too. Ostensibly, they are there to discourage drug use. Which is what would happen if you throw your stash away or decide not to take any, because you think that you might be stopped and searched on the day.

But a lot of people like getting high and the majority of them don’t die from doing ecstasy. So trying to beat up this story and use it to scare people off of it will not work. Young people can see the hypocrisy of the law when it comes to drugs. So another approach is necessary.

I believe that education and harm minimisation does not equal encouragement of drug use, just like teaching kids about contraception does not mean we are teaching promiscuity. We have to give them more credit than that. They are smarter than we assume them to be. Arming them with information and trusting them to make a smart decision about drugs, is better than expecting them to make that smart decision without any knowledge at all.

I’ve been summoned to serve as a juror and is required to show up at the District Court building in Perth city on the 23rd of this month. The summons said that it may last one to five days, and according to it, jury duty is done during business hours on weekdays, and I’m allowed to go home. Yay for that, ‘cos I’ve got Future Music Festival to go to that weekend.

This would be my first time ever being in a court room. It’s kinda fascinating but it also reminds me of group assignments during uni – there’s bound to be some slackers, and stubborn or annoying bastards in amongst the bunch.

That is of course, I pass through the first day of jury selection. Part of me think it’s gonna be exciting, and part of me think it’s gonna be boring (what if I nod off in the afternoon?). Part of me would rather be at work, and part of me would rather not be at work but not having to spend the day(s) in a court room either. Hah!

Oh well, whatever happens I’m sure to have some observations to share in and around the time of the case. I wonder if there will be a media gag. I will most likely not be able to blog about the case specifically but I can blog about the experience and the environment right? Too bad cameras are most definitely not allowed inside.