The Clock still ticks ...
Music: Landy Wen Lan - Lan Se Yu

Last Saturday, the day that Dazz left Sydney for his model ambition tour in South East Asia, my straight uni friends threw me a farewell yumcha brunch. It was kinda nice, another gathering before I leave this place with whom I have a love/hate relationship with. Anyway, it started me thinking about what I love or hate about Sydney, in other words, what I'm gonna miss or not by moving back.

So I compiled a reality check list below:

What I will miss most about Sydney

1. First and foremost, my close friends here.
This includes Murf, Kelf, and Marc. I will especially miss Dazz and DC, both who have been the pillars of my life for the past few months.

2. My freedom:
to stay out as late as I want,
to smoke inside the house,
to wear my clothes or hair anyway I please that week without family/relatives giving me lectures on CONSERVATISM1101
and so on

3. Foreign films
Be it from Dendy's Cinema or from my favourite TV channel SBS, I will sorely miss my usual dose of thought-provoking films (in French, Italian, Spanish, German amongst others), that actually put more thoughts into the story and scripts, than the usual Hollywood fares where probably half the cost of the production goes to the actor/actresses and the rest goes to the special effects. I believe these films have in many cases helped me to realise some areas lacking in my life, such as my tendency to reject happiness like Amelie Pouland. I know that access to such films are harder back home but I will strive to continue as I believe they will help me to grow even more, spiritually.

4. Cheap Protein Powders

5. Free Optus 'yes' time
Ahh yes. I remember many a nights on my mobile phone, talking to other Optus users because the first 20 minutes of any call is always free. I will miss those times, no worries in mind, just chattering away happily.

6. One-off local phone charge
Australia Telstra charges a one-off fee of about 20c for every local call it connects, which means unlimited phone time and internet dial-up time!!!

7. High salary
Even a part-time worker can expect to be paid about $15 an hour, compared to about $5 in Singapore. Sigh. But then again, standard of living here is much higher as well. A fresh graduate can expect salary of about $40K pa compared to about $20-24K in SG.

8. Cheap cars and property
I can basically kiss my dream of "owning my own apartment by 25yo" goodbye. Also, an average car is about 5 times cheaper to purchase in Sydney than in SG. sigh.

9. The Outdoors
Australia being famous for its outdoors is no secret. I will long for the summer days I used to spend basking at the perfect and pristine Bondi Beach, then the rest of the day at a cafe sipping iced mocha in surf shorts and sunnies, while ogling at the young and beautiful. Or the times I was up at the Snowy Mountains, skiing and snowboading the whole day, then coming home to a warm fireplace, hearty dinner and lots of booze. I also remember a time when I was on the ferry from Manly back to Sydney one evening during sunset, the city lights in a distance, reflected as white slivers on the choppy sea with the orange sky as a backdrop. The Opera House framed one side of the Harbour Bridge; I stopped breathing, thinking I was in paradise.

What I will NOT

1. The Weather
One word sums up Sydney's weather: unpredictable. As a harbour city, weather forecast is not its forte. Neither is its stability. It may not get as cold as cities in North America but I have never been very good with temperature below 20 degrees anyway. I especially abhor the wind and the rain, both of which Sydney boasts to have a lot. At least from now on, I won't have to wear a jacket to the clubs anymore. And, dry itchy legs would soon be a thing of the past. Ditto with dry lips so that's savings on moisturisers and lip balms yay.

2. The train/bus/plane fares
Public transport fares in Sydney, nuff said. Also, Sydney is far from anywhere in the world. I'll probably pay twice as much to fly to anywhere.

3. The cost of Fashion
Sydney is NOT one of the fashion capital but I'm sure it's up there amongst the most expensive.

4. The crowd at clubs
Sub-standard! One thing I definitely will not miss are the stale, filthy and grotesque old potatoes, with their sleazy grins and aggressive pick-ups. Don't even get me started on their "just-as-guilty" accomplices, the die-hard Potato Queens.

5. The closing time
All shops are closed latest by six ... sometimes five, even Asian ones. It irritates the sheet out of me.

6. Sydney as a "transition lounge"
At least half, but probably more, of the friends or acquaintances I have met here have either left Sydney or are intending to do so in the near future. And sometimes even the locals too(ie Oscar is leaving to join his bf in the UK). I wonder if this is the price Sydney pays for being such a cosmopolitan city, filled with foreign students, overseas interns or just the plain weekend tourists. I totally agree with what DC has said about this before," It seems like everyone here is a tourist one way or the other...before you know it, they are all gone". This makes it hard for me to establish any sort of connection with this place through its people and till now, I have yet to feel any sense of belonging to it. Sometimes, it seems like Sydney is merely a playground like Disneyland, or a museum, very pretty to look at and fun to be in. But no one really lives here; people work and play here. At the end of the day, everyone returns somewhere else, where it is warm, with a soul and not just a facade. These are merely my thoughts, feel free to rebutt. I am so jaded sigh.