Moomba Waterfest 2009

Moomba Waterfest 2009

This the weekend for Melbourne's very own Moomba Waterfest! Although I am not sure of the origin of this jolly festival but I sure enjoy it every year.

Like every other year, you get game stalls and soft toys, hot dogs and jam donuts, fireworks and concerts! The money paid for the games is for charity, so those are money spent for a good cause! The time spent there is with friends, so those are time spent for another good cause!

This year, we went there in what seemed like an entourage of students - padahal only one of us is still studying. As usual, we went there by train until Flinders Station then just walked over to the huge playground.

A familiar sight! This year there were a few additional and cuter toys! - Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and some deliciously coloured big teddy bears! As soon as we saw the first stall, the girls started oozing their "Yer. . .that doll is soooooo cute!" while the guys shed their first drop of sweat. Like every other year.

But I must say that having such an event is perfect for fundraising. Game stalls encourage:

Ego (male): "Don't stop me, I must win one big Ducky for you, darling."

Manja-ness (female): "That unicorn is so cute, can you please win it for me, please?"

Tantrum (female): "Look at that guy over there, 3 dolls already, 3 dolls! You??"

Tantrum (male): "I'll win you that damn Panda even if I have to empty my wallet, you get it?!"

Determination (both): "I promise I'll win something tonight after 3 years of trying!"

Persistence (both): "Maybe the next game I will win leh. Okay, trial #136."

Admiration (female): "Oh my gosh, you are so good at this, baby."

All these lead to: more money for charity!

It is also a great place to catch up with friends and expect to see a few familiar faces. It is also a great place to remind yourself annually of how you suck in games :-(

Here is a pictorial depiction of a stressed boyfriend. So stressed that the background is getting blurry.

Everyone had quite some fun that night, although evidently not much luck. But I was the luckiest. Luckiest of the luckiest, man!

But before that, lemme show you the fireworks :-)

Now you know why I was the luckiest on that night?

I got the doll I wanted!

And I got it from someone else!

And it wasn't my boyfriend!

The story behind this is pretty funny. The only game in which I had some sorta chance in winning was the lottery game. $3 for 5 numbers and if one of the numbers matches one of their lucky numbers, then you win a doll! So I tried 3 times! Got nothing. Then Vincent tried once and I said I'd definitely be angry at him if he gets it the first time. And pinpon, he got it!

He asked me which one he should get as he really did not need a doll. So I gave him my 'wise' opinion and he got that one and being nice, he gave it to me! Jeng jeng jeng.

Am I lucky or what!

Lost 3 times, no skills for other games, not even single/pretty enough to be woo-able by Vincent - and yet! I got a doll from him! Bwahaha.

While writing this post, I decided to look for our Moomba pictures from last year and did some comparison.

1. We had so much more dolls last year! Reason for the decline? Recession, lack of training/motivation among the guys due to aging, lack of manja-ness from girls due to aging (maybe?) Jess, Yiki and I were eating rather than wanting dolls.

2. Last year was grilling hot and this year it was freezing cold!

3. Most noticable difference? The missing of Mr Tan. Halfway through the event, I suddenly realized why he was not able to make it due to 'commitments made earlier'. He saved the stress of having to win something for me, saved the money he would probably need to spend trying, saved his time to watch some anime instead. But I got a doll, so cher.

But the most exciting thing to have happened that night was not during the festival itself. But during our trip back home on the train. A fight occured on the train!!!!!!!

There were some kids playing around with aluminium foils, scrunching them up into balls and throwing them around. This finally got onto the nerves of a fellow passenger and soon a verbal fight started. Then suddenly!! An older guy appeared and started physically pushing the passenger and more suddenly, he took out a knife and threatened the other guy with it! As soon as this happened, two guys rushed to tear both of them apart. It would be scary to imagine what could have happened.