Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

Last weekend, the first Costco finally opened in Melbourne. Amongst the various newsletter articles and blog entries in Melbourne blogosphere that have alternatively raved and ranted against the opening, there’s been an undercurrent of curious discussion from many Melbournian females. It’s been revealed that Costco sell, amongst other things, diamond rings. This then lead to discussion (on talkback radio, in print, in the blogosphere) on whether or not females would be comfortable receiving an engagement ring from what is viewed as a “discount” store, and whether or not they would willingly admit to the place of purchase when asked by others.

Firstly, let’s take into account two factors:

1. Costco’s claim that they never make more than 15% profit on any of their items
2. When I worked in mid-range jewellery retail for a few months in my teens, the markup was about 80%

One should assume then based on the above figures, that while one’s fiance might only be able to afford a one carat diamond ring in a normal jewellery store, they could easily upgrade to a three carat (if not more) diamond ring if they were to buy at Costco.

Which then begs the question – why would females opt for the smaller ring from a jewellers, when they could get something worth three times as much? In the end, a diamond ring is a diamond ring no matter where you purchase it – so, the bigger the better. I’d personally prefer the larger rock with greater market value, to the smaller rock from the name brand. I’m frankly surprised that from the feedback I’ve heard, most females in Melbourne would opt for the opposite – the smaller ring with brand name recognition.

Of course, in the end it’s about the love not the ring. But a large ring is a nice touch – splurging once in your life on something entirely large, glitzy, and unnecessary should be a necessity in everyone’s life.

P.S. Nothing from my father yet.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

In the past week, I’ve been coordinating and organising stalls about work within the disability sector at three different career expos around Melbourne. What I found most gratifying over my time at these expos, was the attitude of high school students towards the thought of working with people with disabilities. There is no longer the stigma of “duh, you’re a retard” that one would have encountered a mere handful of years ago. Instead, I spent time talking with students who had already seriously considered disability work as a career, stating things like “I have an autistic friend”, or “my mother works in disability”, or “I had learning difficulties as a kid, and my integration aide really helped me like I want to help others”. It’s very gratifying to see a generation of children growing up who have sincere appreciation of the benefits of a strong social and community network.

I suppose you would describe it as job satisfaction – I love that in this job, I have the opportunity to promote an essential role in society. It’s especially important considering that the average age of a disability worker in my state is the mid to late forties – we need to get some new, young, blood into the sector. I love that I do the essential back-end work that allows the hands-on care to take place – I keep the disability sector in my state ticking over, and allow its members to keep up to date with new policy developments, to gain further education and training, to network with fellow professionals, etc.

On another note, one of the expos that we exhibited at today was located 100kms out of Melbourne in Warragul. Driving there, I was simply astounded by the sheer beauty of the Australian landscape. Rolling hills, gullies, bushland…it’s stunning. And all half an hour out of Melbourne on the freeway. Like my attempt to see my city through tourist eyes, I really should learn to simply go on day trips to small rural towns and see more of the surrounding countryside. For example, Phillip Island is only about one and a half hours drive from my house, but the last time I went was when I was fourteen!

I sense some local sightseeing in the near future.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

We recently received a brochure in the mail at home, informing us that the Dingley Arterial Project would continue in late 2010. It is essentially a roads improvement and upgrade project designed to ease traffic movement from the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne out into the south Gippsland region, and vice versa.

The next stage of the project will take place pretty much in my backyard. The next part of the highway will be about a block behind my house – I could probably kick a football onto the freeway from my house once it’s completed. I can’t even begin to imagine the noise it will generate, not only in the creation process, but upon completion when a million cars will be zooming along the freeway each day. I see the benefits of the project of course when it comes to the alleviation of heavy traffic in my area (which we need desperately!), and the improved ease of travel to certain parts of outer Melbourne (it would make travelling to Dylan’s house a lot easier for me), but for local residents like ourselves, the noise will definitely make a huge change to our peaceful lifestyle.

With this in mind, it’s more imperative than ever that we find a new house and move before they start construction late next year to avoid the inevitable noise pollution. At the moment it looks like my family will be buying two separate homes as we want to buy in different areas – my parents want a two-bedroom unit for themselves and my brother in our former suburb, I want a one-bedroom apartment on my own near where we are now, but a bit closer into the city. So unless we come to some sort of compromise, we’ll be buying separately. As a result, I may possibly not have the financial support I had expected as my parents will be buying afresh as well…but considering the kind of places I’ve been looking at, I’d have a single apartment paid off by the time I’m thirty anyway, which has always been my main aim.

And besides, if I have my own place, I won’t have to worry about making Dylan masquerade as a friend when we have sneaky ninja sex. That would be a relief, largely because despite appearances, I do hate lying to my parents and wish that I didn’t have to go to such lengths to hide something so natural.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

The thing about having spent my entire life in Melbourne is that I sometimes fail to see it through new eyes – to appreciate all the attractions and benefits it has to offer as it’s simply home. You take it for granted because it’s simply always been there, and you expect it to always be the same. You don’t bother to try new things because you scoff and say “only tourists do that”.

Last night, Alex and I put that hometown anti-tourism snobbery to shame as we went out to the city to experience a truly touristy event – the free Ignite at Docklands festival.

With a hilarious half-hour shadow puppet show by Canadian clown/puppeteer Jeff Achtem, followed by a dazzling performance by “Pyrophone Juggernaut”, a humongous fire organ based on a 200-year-old experimental musical instrument, it was a brief outing, but one that drove home the point of how secluded I keep myself in Melbourne. Aside from work, study, friends, and lover, there’s no change to my routine, which is perhaps why I’ve been so discontent this year. There’s the same old, but nothing new and exciting. If I went to this type of event more often, and just tried new things in my home city every now and again, I imagine I’d be a lot happier with my life.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

If you’re Australian, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months, you’ll no doubt have heard of the $900AUD stimulus payments that many working Australians will receive. The criteria is quite simple: you must have earnt no more than $100,000AUD in the past financial year, and no less than $10,000AUD (or thereabouts), and you must have paid your taxes. Comply with that criteria, and you’ll receive a $900AUD cheque from the Rudd Government in the hope that you’ll spend it in trade and thus inject some life into the Australian economy and stave off the recession for as long as possible.

Retail figures for the past few months would suggest that these stimulus payments have worked, but I can only wonder at the mentality of those who would receive $900AUD and immediately go out and buy for instance, a plasma TV or other big ticket item. That’s $900AUD that you could put towards your mortgage, your credit card debt, your student loans, or if you have no debt, towards your savings (which is where my $900AUD went - straight into my high interest savings account to accumulate interest). My parents spent their combined $1800AUD on re-tiling our house roof in preparation for the coming winter.

Other people I know have spent it towards paying off credit cards, to paying a portion of their university fees straight up, to buying textbooks and the like. Essential things. It seems awfully irresponsible of people to simply spend the $900AUD on material things, though I suppose as a retail worker, I shouldn’t complain too much. Every material thing they splurge on means that: I keep my job for that little bit longer; the Australian economy staying afloat a little bit longer; unemployment queues won’t spike as rapidly.

But I do wish people were more attuned to saving rather than spending. The GFC wouldn’t have happened in the first place if this was the case.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

According to rumours, Costco is going to be opening up a branch in the Docklands in Melbourne. I first became acquainted with the store on my trawls of frugality-related blogs online - Costco would always be touted on North American blogs as the best place to go to buy certain items in bulk to save a few extra dollars. From Wikipedia:

Costco focuses on selling products at low prices, often at very high volume. These goods are usually bulk-packaged and marketed primarily to large families and businesses. Furthermore, Costco does not carry multiple brands or varieties where the item is essentially the same except when it has a house brand to sell, typically under the Kirkland Signature label. This results in high volume of sales from single vendor, allowing further reduction in price, and reducing marketing costs. Costco also saves money by not stocking extra bags or packing materials; to carry out their goods, customers must bring their own bags or use the merchandise shipping boxes from the company’s outside vendors.

Will this concept work in Melbourne? I think under certain circumstances, it could have worked, but they made a fatal mistake in locating their Melbourne store in the Docklands. For those unfamiliar with the geography of Melbourne, there are two main points to keep in mind for the rest of this entry:

1. The Docklands is relatively close to the heart of the city. The resident demographic of the area is relatively young, and the purpose of the area is primarily as a tourist and business centre.
2. The majority of Melbourne’s population is located in the southern, eastern, and south-eastern suburbs. People travel into the city for work, but they live in the suburbs.

The Docklands is primarily somewhere one goes for business purposes, fine dining, and recently, tourist purposes for the quirky sidewalk artwork and the Southern Star. It isn’t somewhere that working families (the demographic most likely to be interested in the savings offered by buying in bulk at Costco) are likely to drive to just for the purposes of saving a few dollars. Using my own family as an example (we’re pretty much the textbook example of a working family interested in saving money), we live in a suburb approximately 25 kilometres from the center of Melbourne - or 30 kilometres from the Docklands where Costco would be located. Any savings that we could possibly gain by shopping in bulk at Costco would be negated by the cost of petrol in driving there - and this is a situation that most Melbournians would find themselves in.

My suggestion is that they should have located the Melbourne site of Costco in a south-eastern suburb like Oakleigh, Clayton, or even Dandenong - three suburbs that are relatively central to most Melbournians (based on suburban sprawl). All three suburbs have quite developed industrial districts that would have been ideal for a large warehouse to house the Costco brand. They’re all are located near entrances of a major highway, and are within easy travelling distance of the large majority of Melbourne’s “working family” demographic - thus increasing their customer base and increasing their profits.

Alternatively, they should do what Aldi did when they first came to Melbourne, and situate their various stores within shopping centres (or near shopping centres) in residential areas - thus, ensuring a local customer base. Did Costco not do consumer and local research before deciding to set up in Melbourne? The points above have been based on simple common sense, but they’ve gone with a simple “centre of the city = centre of the population” theory without considering the effects of uneven suburban sprawl.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

G’day mates. I always thought I was a true blue fairdinkum Aussie in my manner of speech (though not quite derro, ocker or bogan), but this recently discovered Aussie slang dictionary abso-bloody-lutely puts my poor efforts to shame. It’s flaming beaut, I’m well chuffed.

Time to brush up on my Strine I think, before I make tracks and shoot through to the UK. From experience, Pommy men dead cert go mad for Strine accents (reminder to self: stock up on frangers). Should perhaps also take the opportunity to go bush for some authentic damper, and learn to make some lamingtons before I call it a day here Down Under in the lucky country.

Full points to those who can comment on this entry in full blown Strine. Carn youse fellas, avago!

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

For a friend’s 23rd birthday celebrations last night, we found ourselves at Gin Palace, a laidback bohemian-type cocktail lounge in Melbourne city. Rather than being like the snobby up-market cocktail bars with sleek leather lounges and lots of glass and chrome that generally makes up Melbourne’s nightlife, the Gin Palace is about soft cushy couches that have seen better days, old black and white photos on the walls with ornate gold gilded frames, velvety wallpaper, lots of hidden nooks and crannies, and bartenders in brocade waistcoats. I’d rate it a 9 out of 10 on surroundings alone.

The atmosphere is entirely nineteen-forties, and I can only imagine what the place was like back when there wasn’t smoking bans in bars. There’d most likely have been clouds of stale cigarette smoke which would really add to the decadence and antique opulence of the surroundings. The service at the bar is excellent (the bartenders really know their drinks, and I had a long discussion with one about the merits of particular ciders), but definitely don’t sit around waiting for the table service, as you’ll be waiting half the night. Give their “Curds & Whey” cocktail a try if you visit - it’s a fantastic lemon-based drink that leaves quite a tart aftertaste.

With all that said however, the high point of the night that gave the biggest laughs was when we left the bar at about 2am in search for a souvlaki place to end the night (oily food in the early hours of the morning is best). Once we were outside the bar, all us girls stopped, pulled out a pair of thongs from our respective bags and took off our sky high heels. That’s what years of late nights on the town do to you - you learn tricks like these that make life a lot easier when walking around the city for half an hour looking for a place that’ll still sell you a souvlaki at that time of night.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

I think one of the things I’d miss most about Australia when I leave are the beaches. I’ve become accustomed to heading to the beach every couple of days - whether it be by myself for a walk on the sand (good for your calf muscles!), or with friends just to chill out. It helps of course, that my closest beach is only about ten minutes drive down the road (though, too far to walk), which contrary to popular stereotype isn’t actually a privilege enjoyed by the majority of Australians.

To demonstrate the amount of time I spend at the beach within the space of a week:

• Last Wednesday: Friend came over for lunch, then we headed to the beach for a massage.
• Saturday: I went to the beach early in the morning for a walk.
• Monday night: A friend came over and picked me up, then we went to the beach before going back to his place.
• Last night: Went out for dinner with friends before we bought beers and went to the beach to chill out.

Realistically however, going to the beach isn’t necessarily about “the beach” for me, as it would be for most people. Rather, it’s somewhere I go because I can’t really have friends over at my place even for a beer and a chat because of my parents. So the attraction of the beach is more about being able to chill out somewhere where my friends aren’t being shot the death glare by my parents and made to feel unwelcome - and that I won’t need to worry about when I get my own place in England and create a swinging bachelorette pad.

I will however, perhaps miss watching the sunset on the beach. Cheesy, but beautiful.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

Surprisingly, the title of this entry isn’t just a bad post-coital line (though I’ve had my fair share), but rather an actual legitimate question - Melbournians just experienced a tremor at approximately 9pm (EDIT: Apparently it measured 4.7 on the Richter scale). My mum panicked, my father shrugged, my brother started screaming “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!”. And me? I jumped online to blog about it, because that’s the way I roll.

I can’t actually remember the last time we experienced an earthquake - we certainly don’t get them regularly (maybe every couple of years), nor are they ever strong enough to cause any damage. You’ll find your doors and windows rattling, an ornament might fall off the mantelpiece, and you might end up applying lipstick on your cheek instead of your lips, but for the most part, structural damage is rare.

That’s one of the good things about Melbourne I suppose - devastating bushfires prompted by arsonists aside, we are nearly never affected by natural disasters. Earthquakes are few and far between, tornadoes, cyclones and hurricanes don’t hit us, tsunamis have never occured, there are no volcanoes around that can suddenly erupt without warning, we’ve never been flooded for any length of time, and we’re obviously not in the right part of the world for hailstorms or blizzards.

Going back to bad post-coital lines, I think the worst I’ve ever dished out was “Is that it?”. Not quite as harsh as this girl - I’m obviously not trying hard enough to be mean.