Political parties suck.

When I was in Canada I voted for the Conservative Party. I am sure people wanted to pour cold water over me or something, but I just didn't think Stephen Harper was all bad.

Now that I am living in Australia, I get quite irritated by John Howard, who's a liberal (but that's just Australian for "conservative" in party politics). Anyway, John Howard is getting replaced.

I find the notion of aligning yourself with a party to be totally irrational... There is not one person I know, with whom I totally agree, no matter what "party" he or she belongs to, and whether that "party" is left, right, or centre leaning. Given this, how can I totally agree with a certain party? Whatever happened to thinking for myself on an issue-by-issue basis?

Why do I feel like cartoons like South Park present sad but invariable truths sometimes? (re: the Giant Douche v Turd Sandwich episode). Perhaps this is only reflective of what I feel at the moment, which is cynicism. Does everyone get like this when they realize their "play-years" are behind them? (For me this is approaching 30) The cynicism may further be reflective of a change of my love for Peanuts. I still love the strip, but whereas I loved it for its cuteness when I was younger, I now love it for its darkness. Is this why I think political parties suck?

housing rant part 2

Persuant to my previous rant about flat-hunting, I have had some more 'encounters'. This time, we had our eyes on a little flat on Manion avenue in Rose Bay (again 'little'... maybe next time I'll talk about the housing affordability in sydney-or the lack thereof). The unit is really quite desirable, but it still needed a ton of work: repainting, reflooring, and a new bathtub. We negotiated an offer which was accepted almost right away. However, after the real-estate agent told us "congratulations, the vendor's accepted your offer", we didn't hear from her again for days. Naturally this makes us really nervous. Then on a Friday evening, we get home and we discover this message from the agent: "Deliver the signed contract to me right away. There is someone else viewing it tomorrow morning, and I can guarantee you he's going to put in a better offer". It was 6:30pm. Our solicitor's gone home. There was nothing we could do.

How is the agent's message dodgy? Let me count the ways:

1. Since when do the agents, who are supposed to be friendly facilitators of housing transactions, use imperatives in their sentences without apending the "please"es?
2. Does the term "oral contract" mean nothing in real-estate? I thought the offer had been agreed upon? But I know better now, and I will refrain from judging the agents too much next time they pretend the vendor did not agree on a deal with us.
3. If the agent was so sure a higher offer was coming in 24 hours, why would she demand our signed contract, which would bring the vendors less money?
4. If the other buyer was seeing the flat for the first time in the morning, what are the chances he would put down a high offer in the afternoon without having inspected the strata company or carried out further inspections in the unit?

We decided that this agent was trying to 'hedge". Our theory was confirmed by the following events.

Being nervous about losing the flat, we told the agent on Saturday morning that the contract had been ready to pick up. She called us back, left a message saying she'd get it on Monday. On Monday, she said to me "you know, we've never even known if you wanted to sign the contract, and now the other buyer has given usa better offer". She then proceeded to give me, within a 5k range, how much the other offer was. I questioned the existence of "the other buyer". She said she would provide proof after I gave her a written and signed higher offer.

So, below are my observations:
1. She was lying to me point-blank: they've had our contract, or known about its existence at least, for two days (agents in sydney work on saturdays). We know this because she actually called us back after we left our message about the contract being ready.
2. To the real estate agent, our contract had ceased being a legal document that needed to be executed. It had become a tool with which they pressured the other buyer into making an offer above the so and so price.
3. She attempted to get us to increase our previously negotiated and accepted offer, to exceed the newly negotiated and accepted offer made by the other buyer. She was staging a private bidding war between two bidders... except we both thought we'd won the place!

Anyhoo, and this is the clincher.. This agent, this person, this individual, did this to us (i.e. delay signing of agreed offer, in order to 'hedge' the price) for the second time! We had ourselves to blame for being seduced by the flat so much that we did not heed the little voice that said "it's that woman again!"

This episode ellicited some dark thoughts within.. like, why is it illegal to club the head of someone who truly deserves it? Well, only for a short time anyway. But we wisened up. From this experience, we learned the following points:

1. Oral agreements are nothing. get both your and vendor's signaturs on that contract.
2. If you have legal guns, get them out. Make them earn their money. Set them on agents who act dodgy.
3. If an oral agreement is accepted, do your best to pressure the agents to remove the sales ads, or at least add an indication that a sale for the property is being finallized (such as the words "under offer"). Normally, people back off when they see that the property is within days of being formally sold. There are exceptions though. But This is what I would do anyway.

So the conclusion, we endeavoured to abide by these rules, and now have finally bough a place, after 8 months of searching!

challenge: find me a good real-estate agent

There is something so frustrating about finding a place to live. Actually, that is not true. I enjoy going to see different places and imagining myself in them. I believe I do have a little renovator/decorator inside of me, although that is no statement of the skills of this persona. Anyhoo, in a nutshell, daydreaming is fun.

But here in Sydney, and in most other places, the unfortuate infiltration into the real-estate purchase process by the real-estate agents is something beyond my control and I find hard to live with. They look professional, presentable, and mostly act quite courteous--while possibly lying through their teeth and with-holding information. Granted, sometimes, they just don't know the answers to my questions, but then...... gosh darn it, if that's the case (and mostly it is) then what in the world do you need these people for?! I recently inspected a cute little apartment with no gas heating and in need of a completely new bathroom. The agent said "I don't know if you can put in gas heating, you need to ask the body corporate (e.g. builder)". Well, if that's something an interested buyer can easily figure out, you'd think a pro like a registered agent would have been able to find that out, huh? The same agent also told me it'd be about 5K to get a brand-new bathroom. I challenge you to find someone who is not a handy-man or a builder who installed a fresh bathroom that is attractive for less than 15k. But, I will tell you, the agent looked awefully professional and kind saying these things and confirming my notion that real estate agents can be really inept.

Everyone knows that a pro can evaluate a place and give a somewhat accurate ball-park range of its worth. But, you will be hard-pressed to find an agent in Sydney who will give you an honest estimate. I have to acknowledge that at the end of the day, an agent's job is to get the maximum sales price for a property. However, there should be a distinction between the ability to convince people they should pay more for a place, and the ability to make someone pay a high price by sacrificing morality and honesty. Besides, there are already property auctions that offer plenty of playing ground for a skilled agent. A good agent will be able to retain more interested buyers and pursuade them into bidding, and hence obtaining a higher price. But (and this gets me worked up every time) many of them simply take advantage of the fact that lots of buyers are not as educated in prices as they are, and are easily swayed into paying say 30k more than a fair amount.

Once I had a conversation with an agent (whom I actually liked based on the conversation), who said that normally a price within 5% is quoted. The flip side is, in Sydney, 5% is usually of something like 1M, and is hence 50K. Ridicule-ness #2: they usually give you a quote that is at least 5% LOWER than the real yard-stick. This means someone can be misled into spending time researching a place, going to auctions, and finding out "oops it's really 50K more expensive than what you have". For many people, even an extra 20k is non-trivial, so they should honestly be supplied with this information before they decide on their interest level.

Of course, if you're selling a place, you'd want more money for it, so you might not care if your agent acts soul-less. However, wouldn't a vendor want an agent who's informed about the property, and is hence better able to engage potential buyers in discussions? Secondly, sometimes, the tactics the agents use can really back-fire.

Case in point: we inspected this lovely 2-br art-deco apartment on Wolseley Rd in Point Piper (during its first inspection), and I liked it so much that we arranged for a second inspection with my in-laws to see it 4 days later. We called on the day of the second inspection to confirm, only to have the agent say "there's been an offer on this place for more than 500K, the inspection is cancelled". Well...... 'good to know' was my first thought.. right after 'when were you going to tell us again?' Now, we were ready to pay upto 500k but no more, so we backed off. But weeks after that conversation we see the published sale price of that particular apartment, and it was less than 500k. So what happened? Did the agent unknowingly scare us off while trying to get us to put in a high offer? Was it a trick that ended up being a three-way loss? The vendor got less than what we would have paid, the agent got a smaller sales fee, and we didn't get that lovely place we liked. Maybe it was an honest mistake: maybe someone made an offer but retracted it super quickly. But if that was the case why did no one call us back? Were they too lazy to work for their commission? In this instance the difference was small really, but it was enough for the vendor to have a lovely overseas vacation for 2.

Most honest citizens would like, but do not get an inflated salary for what they do. Doctors and lawyers charge high fees but we all know how specialized their skills are and how expensive it was for them to attain those skills. So, find me more than a couple of real-estate agent who is neither greedy nor inept, and I will repent.

Selachophobia

According to the Discovery Channel website, "selachophobia" is the scientific term for an abnormal and persistent fear of sharks. I wonder, who coined this term and when? Was it before or after Jaws came out? "Selachophobia" was not really in the limelight until the producers for Jaws successfully terrified the masses.

What is the most scary thing for a person going into the ocean, is it really a fear of sharks, or the fear of the unknown? I am not afraid of the ocean, but I get scared whenever I realize my visual field is very limited in the sea. My fear of anything starts kicking in at this point. I do not get scared in the dark in my bedroom, because I know precisely what is there. I am not afraid of drowning, because I always wear a life jacket and stay near the boat.

I remember snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef region. I was excited to see the delightful colours of marine life, and was fortunate enough to spot a huge sea turtle that allowed me to swim close to it. I started following this turtle, forgetting to check where I was going and my principle of "staying near the boat". Luckily the turtle swam toward the boat anyway. But between the short span of time when I realized that I was not watching my directions and when I saw that I was swimming to the boat, I had almost a spasm of fear that lasted just for seconds. I remembered this travel program featuring a group of Pacific islands, where the host, after finding a half bitten turtle while wading in shallow water, said "this is likely the work of a shark". In my mind the association between the present turtle and an unseen shark was quickly made, and I swam so fast towards the boat that I later considered having a go at serious swim-training. I also wondered, if there really was a shark, whether our army-assault grade boat would fly my way to save me, and run over Australia's national treasure. I will own that the fear I felt was perhaps a bit silly. But I don't think it's entirely just paranoia-I was in a wild part of Earth, where the rule of humans did not apply-marine life will not selectively harm only those who are bad citizens. As close in proximity to other people as I was, my immediate environment was one where survival was the rule.

Perhaps "selachophobia" is nothing more than our natural survival instincts-and the inclination to avoid danger-gone unchecked.

Reading "Year of Wonders"... can't help but think this..

This weekend I read a book my mother-in-law lent me, a historical novel about the plague in 1666. In it a "heroine" suffers burying her husband and sons, bears the burden of the eventual dark hearts of her other family members, and comes through this ordeal both stronger and wiser.

But, while I enjoyed reading this novel, I can't help but note the following (I do realize this story is fictional; my beef is only with the plot):

1. The main character goes from being a complete illiterate whose confidence is hampered by childhood abuse by her alcoholic father, to someone capable in herbal-healing, mid-wifery, and reading in not just English, but also some Latin. She does all this in what, 2 years? I do realize this is supposed to be the extraordinary story of a woman, but I can't help but think this: her incredible transformation is hard to believe.

2. The plague comes to her village via a box of infected cloths. The tailor working with these cloths, who also happens to be the tenant at the heroine's house, becomes the first plague victim and tells her to "burn-it-all" before passing. Does she burn everything like she is supposed to? No. Having seen the horror of the condition as it kills the tailor, she still lacks the wits to destroy the "plague seeds", as is his last wish-and goes on to distribute the garments made with these diseased cloths to the people in her village, 2/3 of whom end up dying. OK, I know that in real life, it probably would not have been enough to completely stop plague by burning victims' belongings, but it likely would have helped. And anyways, this is a novel. But, I can't help but think this.... if she really is "extraordinarily" intelligent, as she has to be to learn about herbs and latin and reading in a short time, then wouldn't she have figured out "plague things with oozy puss things = VERY BAD & MUST BE DESTROYED"?!

compilation: Signs if you have an okay boss

1. Both your boss and you know the "if, when, and why/why not" when it comes to your promotion
2. Your boss knows what you do at the company
3. You are allowed to be sick
4. Your boss faithfully remembers all decisions made, and all the details in any conversations regarding/involving you.

Rules of thumb:
1. You have not felt like strangling your boss
2. You only rarely want to throw your pen(s) and/or other stationaries at your boss

My Bridal Dress

Had to blog this.

Had been looking for vintage/avant-garde. Experimenting is fun. But minimalist turned out better for the lagoon wedding. Bridal dress magazines are very educational and they kick butt!


Just so I can remember when I'm old:

My bridal dress is: traditional/minimalist.
colour: rice-ish white, matching coloured veil (curtesy of my 5-auntie in Taiwan)
material: rice-coloured see-through organza over satin + crystal beads
back: very pretty V-shaped lace-up corset with thick white satin ribbons. And a "modesty panel" to hide my behind, which would have shown at the base of the "V". WORD: It is a mechanical wonder.
front: sleeve-less, straight across chest. With beading across the chest. Organza gathers at right waist, where beading is also added.
train: short train
hair ornament: found these great diamonte clips on Cross St. in Double Bay
shoes: pretty silvery shoes with shiny little beads, from the Bay in Ottawa!

A Good Drink

One of the conclusions after several years of low-budget-but-good-grub student life: 1 part soda water/perrier + 1 part mandarin/grape fruit/orange (fresh squeezed) = fizzy low sugar cheap and healthy citrus pop.