The Happiest Refugee

There are only two times. Now and too late.

And don't kid yourself; when you don't decide, that's a decision.

Always question your fear, Anh. there's almost never a good reason to be scared.

Australia eventually offered us sanctuary. Mum and Dad were overjoyed. Dad walked around the island asking people if they had any spare warm clothes. He collected a big bundle of jumpers and blankets because he’d heard about Australia—‘Beautiful country, friendly people, but really cold. It’s right near Switzerland.’ That’s my dad, great at rescues, crap at geography. We touched down in Sydney, Australia in thirty-degree Celsius heat and my family were thinking, Geez, Austria’s really hot, man!

There’s only two times in life, there’s now and there’s too late.

worst happens, if you lose and fail, but you still celebrate coming second because you’ve given it a red hot go. There is no need to fear failure.

Miss Buk is what we called her (I suspect her name might have been Burke, lucky for her it wasn’t Furke),

The old [veteran] guys finally realise that if they closed their eyes, this Vietnamese kid was actually just an Aussie comedian up there talking about his working-class childhood. p264

good looking when I was six.

The basic concept is that they throw you into the middle of a scene where you're the only one who's completely unprepared. You step through a door and someone says, 'Thank god you're here.' From there you play the scene as if you know what the hell's going on, with a live studio audience watching, expecting, actually demanding, you to be funny. p282

It didn't seem like we had to do with less at all. It felt like exactly the opposite. Having this women stay with use made us feel very well off. This is why my mum is a genius. She could've told us a million times that we were lucky to have what we had- three meals a day, clothes to wear, a roof over our heads - and we would never have believed her because we heard these cliches all the time and they didn't make us feel lucky. But allowing someone who had even less than we did to live with us made us feel incredibly fortunate, wealthy even. This woman was so appreciative and grateful, and always made us feel like we were benefactors sent from God to help her through. p130

The patrol boat began shooting at us, and the women on our boat screamed.

Dylan-boot wearing, Asian Tonto that was attractive, because we exchanged phone numbers and soon we started dating.

The Yellow Peril will steal your livelihood and rape your women,’ etc., etc. Was

[42 Up] made me realise that life flies by and you've really go to seize the moment. p198

I hated being on the receiving end of sympathy, I remember all through school being determined to prove that I could survive without any outside help. p159

War's taken too many men away from me.' p158

The fear of having no money was so merciless and so overwhelming. p129

There's always a big risk when you go into buisness with family or friends, and this is made even more intense when you all live together as well." p111