Author Archives: Valerie Leung

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About Valerie Leung

I ♥ Sydney Swans. Square-eyed from too much television. I don't read enough. You can find me blogging at LibraGirlRules.com, writing about TV, films and books at ArmchairParadise.wordpress.com and occasionally traveloguing at ThursdayHasAView.wordpress.com. I have been known to write fanfic at fanfiction.net (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2660477/) and you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @valshopaholic.

Picture of Love, Togetherness and Strength

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On Friday 29th April, 2011, an estimated TV audience of 2 billion tuned in to the “Wedding of the Century” as Prince William of Wales married commoner Catherine Elizabeth Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.  They had met at university and had been together for 9 years (bar a short period of separation) and for almost as long, the world had been asking “when will they tie the knot?”  Once their engagement was announced and a wedding date set, then more questions followed: “who is she going to wear?” (making it sound as if she will be wearing a person), “who will be invited?”, “where will they have their honeymoon?”, etc.  And now that the ceremony is over, the next big question to the happy couple is “when will they have a baby?”.  And when that question is eventually answered, no doubt the next one will be “when will they have another one?”.  Ah, so many questions!

We are all fascinated to some extent by people who lead very public lives and, of course, the British royal family is one of the most famous and most public for many reasons.  Like all newlyweds, we wish the happy couple much joy and happiness.  But when all is said and done, the confetti has been cleared from the London streets and royal wedding memorabilia have been sold out, we return to our normal day-to-day lives, and our reality is a very different picture.

Although I was not among the invited guests at the royal wedding, I was fortunate to have been able to attend another wedding a few weeks ago of an old high school friend to her partner of some 15 yrs (or more?), and the father of her two beautiful daughters.  It was a much smaller and more intimate affair – something that I am sure Will and Kate wish they could have had, being surrounded by close friends and family.  There were no formal invitations sent – a simple message on Facebook announcing to friends the wedding date a mere 4 weeks ahead of the special occasion, followed by another one announcing the time and location of the ceremony and reception.  No formal RSVPs were received other than some messages posted on Facebook.  For Rodney and Mary, this was their perfect day.

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Lest We Forget – the Spirit of the ANZACs

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War Memorial Garden at suburban train station

I was only in primary school when I left Hong Kong to come to Australia.  I knew nothing of Australia’s history or the “ANZAC spirit” but to this day, I will never forget my first introduction to Australia’s involvement in WWI.  It was a rainy day in 1983 and our class was gathered in the school library.  There were a few beanbags scattered around the open space on the floor and some of us were quick enough to have been able to dive for one.  As we settled down, our teacher told us we were going to be watching an Australian film called “Gallipoli“.  Neither the title, nor the film’s now-famous director (Peter Weir) and stars (Mel Gibson and Mark Lee) meant anything to me, but as a TV and movie addict even way back then, I was happy to watch anything.  But by the end of the movie, I was sobbing, and as I looked around the room, so were my classmates, including the boys.  My appreciation for Australian history and its involvement in WWI would never be underestimated again.  In the 1980s, the Australian film and television industry was in love with the Aussie war stories and I devoured every film and mini-series that was made on the subject including “The ANZACs“, “The Lighthorsemen” and “A Fortunate Life” based on the autobiography of A.B. Facey.

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The Meaning of True Friendship

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“As we grow older we think we’re losing friends when in fact we are realising who our true ones are.”

I must start by apologising to whoever came up with this quote.  I cannot remember where I read it – possibly on one of my Blackberry apps for Quotes of the Day…no matter.  Whoever you are, I thank you.

I am a Gen-X’er who grew up in an era of typewriters (electric, at that!), Pac-Man, colour TVs and encyclopedias.  I used to write letters with pen and paper and had to visit the post office for stamps or aerograms to keep in touch with friends interstate and overseas.  Some people might say that in the pre-“www” age, it was harder to keep in touch with friends.  I don’t necessarily agree.  It is true that you had to make a bigger effort to keep in touch, but if the friendship is worthwhile, then shouldn’t the effort also be worth it?  And these days, with the ease and availability of email, Facebook, Twitter and mobile texting, what excuses do we have for not keeping in touch?

Last weekend, I attended the wedding of a friend I met in my last two years of high school (which was a very long time ago!).  We were friends even back then, but I would not say we were close.  I suppose you could say we both had the personalities that would get along with just about anyone.  After we finished high school, we had only seen each other once (for a mutual friend’s 21st birthday in the early 90s – just to give you context of the timeframe) and then not again until we re-discovered each other via Facebook in 2009.  And, as Fate would have it, she was living in Adelaide in South Australia and I was going there for a holiday just a few days after we realised she was no longer living in Sydney, where we had grown up.  Even better still, she lived only about 15 minutes from where I was staying with another friend.  So we arranged to meet for lunch.  That lunch date lasted nearly 4 hours.  After all, we had over a decade of catching up to do.  I now feel closer to her than I did in the two years that I went to school with her.

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The “Anti-Social” Network Dilemma

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Everyone talks about “social media” or “social networking”.  No, I am not talking about the movie.  Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. Blogs.  Yes, I am guilty of being addicted to this form of communication.  If you are reading this, then I dare say, so are you, even if only to a small degree.  Social networking is meant to be all about bringing people closer together.  It lets you share your news (happy or sad), thoughts and opinions to everyone quickly.  And it spreads the message far and wide.  It is simply technology helping make us all one big happy family.  YES!

As much as I love tweeting, and I just passed the 40,000th tweet milestone last weekend, I am also well aware of the negative impacts of this type of “social” interaction.  It is true that I have made many friends through Twitter – searching for a hashtag (#) and trending topics (aka “TT” in Twitterverse) will help you find others you have something in common with – but I am also aware of the effects of negative messages being spread via social networking sites.  After all, for anyone who has seen “the Facebook movie” or read the book on which the film was based, you would know that the site started life in a mean-spirited fashion.

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Why I Don’t Watch Game Shows and Reality TV

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A couple of weeks ago one of my best friends from school and her husband went on a game show which just aired in Australia.  When she first told me she was going to be on this show, I was excited for her because it was exactly the kind of thing she loved doing – the fun, excitement, challenge, being in the spotlight and of course, the chance to win some cold, hard, cash.  At the time, I told her I didn’t want to know the results – whether they won or lost.  I said I wanted to be surprised like everyone else when I watched it.  Then as the air date got closer and I started seeing the promotional ads appear on my TV, I started getting anxious.  I sent her a text message in the morning that said:  “If there’s even a remote possibility I might have a heart attack while watching you on TV tonight I need to know the ending NOW!!!”, to which she replied, “You need to watch.  Heart attack guaranteed!”

Then it was showtime! I turned the TV on, sat and waited patiently as the host (not my favourite person on Australian TV) talked through the introductions and explained how the game worked.  Then came the categories for the questions.  They could have lost the lot in Round 1 which would have made for a very short show indeed but thankfully they didn’t.  There were 8 rounds in total and I got increasingly nervous with each round.  I was playing along.  The worst part about these game shows is the long dramatic pauses.  They always annoyed me – the long pause as they made you wait for the big reveal, and then just as you thought they would show you the answer, the host would say dramatically: “we’ll show you the answer when we come back after this break!”  I can tell you exactly what I wanted to break at that moment!  To cut a long story short, the show did not end in my friends’ favour and I nearly had a coronary from the anxiety (for the record, I would have lost the lot, too).  Indeed, I should have taken heed of my friend’s warning: “Heart attack guaranteed!”

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