hey hey finally finished everything...

It's been a long dreary year... thesis done and submitted, coursework essays all completed. Yoohooo!!!

Somehow there wasn't this sense of exhuberation nor sense of accomplishment... Probably because I am going to start Masters the coming Sept... Neverending road to value-add in order to remain relevent and competitive...

Anyway, it's the start of Melbourne's spring carnival. For those of you wondering what the hell is spring carnival, let me assure you all that it has absolutely nothing to do with spring, except for those ridiculous flowers ladies pin onto their hats as part of their accoutrement (others include LV handbags, skyhigh stilettos, gory ear rings, obnoxious bracelets and necklaces)...

Spring carnival is about horse racing... it's an event historically linked to the lifestyle of the rich and powerful English aristocrats. It is an event that reminded all of the disgusting and widening class difference in the Australian society. To break it down simply, 95% of participants are white, 5% non-whites probably include the "lower class" there as waitresses and cooks and janitors, local born non-whites who think they will inadvertently become white because they dress and talk like one... as well as some innocent jackasses who just did not know better but to gatecrash the party by and for the whites.

In terms of class divisions, the top 5% of the nation are there to pit their prized horses against one another, the remaining 35% middle class are there to try and find some lucky breaks to strike it rich i.e. gambling. The last 60% are either there as workers or some well-packaged, perfumed and "educated" whores or gigalos trying to find a rich guy or lady, young or old, and therefore ascend the social ladder and enter the top 5-10%...

There you are, a brutally frank portrayal of Spring Carnival in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.