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.

When Tragedy Strikes We Pull Together

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It is Tuesday 22nd February, 2011.  I have spent the better part of my day today glued to the television but it is not what you think.  I have been watching the rolling coverage of the earthquake that hit 10km south-east of Christchurch, in the South Island of beautiful New Zealand,  At 6.3 magnitude, it has been deemed to be less severe than the earthquake that hit the same area last September, where there had been no loss of lives.  However, the devastation has been unprecedented this time – the quake hit at 12.51pm local time on a Tuesday afternoon, when people were at work or outside having lunch, and kids were in class at school.  Christchurch was still rebuilding from the September earthquake, and many buildings had been weakened by that quake, exacerbating the impact of today’s quake.  As I write, the confirmed death toll stands at 65 and is expected to rise as more than 200 people remain unaccounted for.

Our Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, spoke in Parliament earlier, announcing that a search and rescue (SAR) team was already on its way to help our neighbours across the Tasman (NZ is approximately 3hrs south-east of the Australian east coast – even closer than we are from Central and Western Australia).  She reminded us of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) spirit, that we rise to the occasion and provide whatever assistance we could to help our neighbours, as they experience one of the “darkest days” in NZ.

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Confessions of a Procrastinator

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It should come as no surprise to you, dear readers, given the title of this post, that I had been wanting to blog about this for some time (and even less surprising is the fact I started writing this a week ago and left it unfinished at 200 words).  So why, you might ask, am I finally writing this now?  Well, the answer is quite simple really…I’m procrastinating from doing something else!  Actually I am avoiding a whole raft of things right now: ironing, laundry, cleaning the bathroom, getting my fridge fixed, completing the sequel to my White Collar fanfic, exercising, just to name a few.  I’m scaring myself just thinking about how long this list could actually be – if I could be bothered to get out the pen and paper to write them all down!

I have been a procrastinator for about as long as I can remember.  Usually I’m putting off doing something important like filing my tax return, or back in my school days, it would mean writing an essay or other homework.  Times like these, my stove top would end up being so clean you could eat right off it because I would do just about anything to avoid the task at hand.

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Counting Our Blessings

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In case you didn’t know, today is Chinese New Year.  It marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit.  Now, before you go asking me what that means, let me just say I have no idea…will it be a good year? Well, there are a lot of people in this world so I’m sure it is bound to be a good year for at least one person, right? 🙂

As is tradition, I got a red packet (or “lucky money”) from my parents.  For the first time this year, I would not be getting one from my Grandmother since she passed away recently (In Loving Memory for my Grandmother).  The very thought threatened to bring tears to my eyes but I was determined that I would not start the new year with tears, but rather, I was going to remind myself of the many blessings in my life.  And it would seem that I am not the only one to be thankful for my friends of late.

This next story I am telling does not belong to me but it makes me happy telling it just the same.  You see, earlier this week, my favourite actor, Matt Bomer (star of White Collar) was appearing on US late night TV talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.  All of us Collars are excited at every opportunity that we get to see Matt.  So needless to say it was very exciting for us fans seeing him promoting our favourite show, but of course, not everyone can get to L.A. to meet the man himself.  And this is where having great friends makes me “squee”…you see, Christine Antonios could not make it to L.A. to meet Matt in person, but two of her friends were kind enough to go, and here is the best part.  Not only did they get to meet Matt outside the studios, but they went, armed with a handmade sign for Matt to hold so they could photograph him with it…and below is the result:

Matt Bomer holding a sign in support of my fellow Bo-mite Christine Antonios

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Keeping It In Perspective

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For most of the past 18 Christmases, the special day was celebrated at my sister’s house.  Although not so much the biggest fans of dinner parties, my sister and brother-in-law would host the Christmas Day lunch as they had the biggest house to accommodate both sides of the family.  Lunch was traditionally the good ole Aussie BBQ with a touch of side salads and variety of cold meats and the like – the usual fare that would leave you thankful for wearing pants or skirts with elastic waistbands.  Cleaning up was always the “fun” part and that was another good reason to have the luncheon at my sister’s since they have a dishwasher (I, on the other hand, AM the dishwasher).  My sister has two pieces of household machinery that she swears she cannot live without: the washing machine and the dishwasher (I suppose you could say the refrigerator is pretty important too but if the fridge dies you could just eat out).  So it came as no surprise that she went into hyper-crazed mode when her dishwasher died just before Christmas a few years ago.

That year, I spent Christmas Eve at my sister’s and she suddenly proclaimed: “My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?”  Now, I have to point out that I am from a pretty spiritual and religious family, so for her to say that was pretty serious (for the non-Christians who may not be familiar with this phrase, these were the words uttered by Jesus Christ at his Crucifixion)!  So I stopped and reminded her that there were people in the world who were homeless or had no family to celebrate Christmas with and that a broken-down dishwasher would be the least of their worries!

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Expectations

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Do you remember the last time you were disappointed by something or someone? Do you remember who/what it was and why?  Well, I can remember it as if it happened yesterday…wait…it was yesterday!

After nearly 2 months of anticipation, the night had finally arrived for my friend and I to go and see the legendary John Malkovich’s performance at the Sydney Opera House as Giacomo Casanova in the Sydney Festival 2011 highlight piece Giacomo Variations, a chamber opera play based on the life and times of the infamous playboy of the 18th Century. I even had to miss out on an evening of White Collar for this!  But it was a rare opportunity to see Malkovich in action doing live theatre and singing a little opera.  And tickets had been sold out almost as quickly as they had been released so what could possibly go wrong?

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