DO I EVER WANNA GO SYDNEY AGAIN?

The last time i had an airport saga was in Shanghai, but that was because the flight was cancelled without my knowledge.

But who would expect someone who travels looking like this plane(picture courtesy of VB) will be a target of suspicion for...what....illegal immigration? Prostitution?

The minute I touched down and spotted travelling solo, an officer asked to see my arrival card. The notion of 'holiday' which i marked as a reason for travelling there and 'for 3 days' didn't quite click with him. He asked repeatedly if I was sure I was there for a holiday for only 3 days. I thought he was assured when I said I had to get back to work. He marked a Big 'RED' word across my arrival card and i was allowed to proceed to the immigration counters, only to be stopped again after that.

The same officer came out, led me to a counter in full view of other travellers, put on a pair of rubber gloves (like those for surgery or murder) and started tucking into every piece in my luggage, and all these while firing me questions like who i was meeting, how much money i brought, where & how I was meeting them, what kind of friends, where they from and what we gonna do. As I'm not a seasoned 'cross examinee', i found myself not answering fast enough and i think that aroused more suspicion. Worse when the words 'internet friends' was mentioned. The last straw was when the term 'pole dance' which i made an effort not to mention, had to, and was blurted out...THAT'S IT. "Pole dance? Oh yeah? You do pole dance? You here to be a pole dancer?" My head was rung by repeated attempts to get me to admit I was there to get a dancing job. At this point I almost wanted to tell him why would i want to do that as I probably have a better job then him back home...I'm here to pole jam with some pole enthusiasts I met online, after we gonna have a costume party...THAT'S IT!! Uurgh! Wa kao!

And then he found my teeny school girl costume.....haha.....he said "that's it? that's all you have, ok, you can go now....have a good time.". He must be convinced by now as I think my costume not HAWT enough and too un-stripper like! Hahahah....

As if that was not enough, on the day I departed the place, I was again checked and questioned......think i'm blacklisted or something.

After those (plus some other not-so-pleasant) experiences, I told myself I don't think I EVER need to go back Sydney. But I changed my mind after sinking my teeth into the first macadamia nut I bought from a nut shop there.....wa, damn nice, can't find them here. I actually bought 8 packets meant to give to colleagues and friends but decided they too precious to be used as gifts (sorry la), except for 1 packet i gave my dear monday auntie who always cooks such nice crabs for me (i promised her before i left)

Footnote:

Can't imagine what will happen if this outfit ah...... taboo....hahaha

I NAILED THE PENCIL

So this is one of those harder moves that eluded me for a long time due to my short fingers and small palms. When they are so short they can hardly wrap round the pole, it is hard to find the balance in this position. Picture this: doing a handstand is already hard enough but to have to hold our entire bodyweight on a backwards twisted hands like this --what do ya think?

So at the sydney ipole studio, they had this spray called the 'firm grip' that gives the hand a slightly sticky texture and....... viola, went up perfecty and can even experiment several leg attitude poses...

Watch how i got into this position

Was very proud of myself , except that I may not be able to do without the spray...hmm, maybe can use spray mount...hahahaha

WARNING: MAY BE BORING...TOTALLY POLE-RELATED

I reckon it will be a while before i can achieve the handspring due to my tiny grip, so I'm practising to improve existing moves so that i don't feel like I'm NOT improving:

1. linking pole moves
You know how previously i had to do one invert stunt, land on the floor and jump up and do another. Now I can try to link 3 to 4 moves while up there on the pole before landing. Jacky Wu Taiwan pole dancers...here i come, think I'm almost ready to compete
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h97/mingassuziewong/?action=view&current=linkingmoves1nov.flv
(sorry, everything i have to do twice)

2. Shoulder mount to strait edge
The strait edge is darn difficult cos you need core strength to hold up there with your legs NOT wrapped round the pole. Feels like wanna fall backwards. Think today I managed to stay 0.001 second longer, so don't blink, you might miss it. You could hear how happy i was to stay that long
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h97/mingassuziewong/?action=view&current=shouldermttostraitedge1nov.flv

3. Butterfly
This move is usually done from an invert....i.e. you climb and invert with legs clamping pole, place your hands on pole , hook one leg on pole and stretch out the other. To have to jump up like this requires arm strength. I'm practising this to somehow hope to do the handspring someday (thanks to all those who believed in me, but i'm still far far from it)... hope to post a video when i get it, may be months, or years
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h97/mingassuziewong/?action=view&current=butterfly31oct.flv

4. Invented my own Spin
I love pole dancing cos there is no fix syllabus and no limit to what you can do. I kindof made up my own spin. A back spin with a v...did it one time, two time and third time i managed to invert from the spin
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h97/mingassuziewong/?action=view&current=backswingtocrux.flv