Brisbane Baby

Hello guys, I figured it's probably high time I let you in on what I've really been up to here down under. (haha! that was a funny sentence. up down under.)

This is my workplace: The William Buck Centre. Its a really nice building right smack in the middle of the city, about 5 minutes walk from Central train station. I suppose you could liken it to Raffles Place MRT in Singapore. I work on the 14th Floor at Dibbs Abbott Stillman Lawyers. Their website can be found at www.daslaw.com.au if you're curious. My work hours are 8.30am to 5pm (Yes! FIVE-BLOODY-P-M! You'll never get such wonderful working hours in any Singapore law office. Of course, you don't get paid as much too, so that sucks.) I usually leave the office right on time. The other intern (this year 4 guy called Jonathan) is a little more hardworking than me though. He leaves the office at like 7pm or sth... (which is damn late by Australian standards). Poor him cos his boss is also the Managing Partner. Heh. He does a lot of corporate work. I'm in Commercial Litigation but I get to do a bit of Construction Work and some general liti stuff. I also get to do some Admin Law and Aviation policy research. Quite interesting I must say.

Latest update on the latest case that's hit the papers: there's a small town called Maleny which is along the Sunshine Coast stretch (north of Brisbane city). Woolworth's (the supermarket chain, for those who don't know) has bought a piece of land in Maleny and wants to build a supermarket there, and perhaps a small mall or something, as I mentioned in a previous post. I'm involved in the case! Yay! Haha.. no lah, just doing some research for the lawyers involved that's all. People (environmentalists and the like) are campaigning and protesting against the development of Maleny because they say there is a population of about 30 PLATYPUSes living there and building on the site would affect their natural habitat. So yeah, they've been camping on the building site and protesting and refusing to let the builders do their job. It's now known as 'The Platypus Case'. There's this one clown who manage to find a loophole in the law and exploit it. If you want more details about funny things the protestors do, you'll have to ask me personally, I don't think I can post such info up here... Not authorised to do so.. =P. Must be careful what I say in public sia, wait kenna sued how. Maybe you guys can Google for 'Maleny' and see what comes up. Or, as Sandra Phung (the famous one as quoted in the ST) suggests, you could Lexis it. As she says, and I quote, 'Lexis is the new Google.'

Ok, let's see now... My typical day involves getting myself to work (sometimes by train, sometimes I get a lift from my cousin-in-law), grabbing breakfast along the way... my favourite so far is toasted bagel with Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Strawberry Jam. MMMmmmmmMMmmmm. I think I put on like 20 kg ever since I got here. After I knock off, I take the train back, it's about 20mins to my cousin's place, and then bum around and watch tv, have dinner, play with the dogs... and then it's time for bed. Quite a relaxed lifestyle lah. I wouldn't mind living here permanently really, if I had all my friends and family with me. I just need all the important people. =)

Ok this post is long enough... will blog more another day. Still have to tell you guys about how I tried to go find this Singaporean restaurant (owned by my friend's auntie) and yeah, that was also the day Jonathan and I had dinner with Yunsong, and other miscellaneous stuff that I've experienced. P.s. Lots of cute guys in my office!