June 2002 Archives

Well, I've decided to start doing this from now on. It's a list of five questions for bloggers to answer. It comes out every Friday, and I suspect that's why it's called the Friday Five [fridayfive.org].

1. ...sent a handwritten letter? I send cards and letters to my girlfriend all the time when I'm in Melbourne, so I'll say about a month ago. I used to have heaps of pen pals when I was in high school too, but I seem to have lost touch with all of them. I still remember I had a gymnast pen pal called Su Yen. Still remember Joanne Lim, Daniel and Ting Chuan? Of course you both do. :)

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand? I baked a raspberry mud cake with my girlfriend last week. She did most of the work, but I, uh...helped to open the packs and stuff. And I carried out the oven and beater from the store room. Heh. Of course, I helped to eat it too. What can I say? South Korea vs Italy was on. I would have done my share of the baking otherwise.

3. ...camped in a tent? I think it was in 1997. It was before the SPM exams and a group of us camped on the school grounds. It was very fun, we managed to do a mini human pyramid. Pretty impressive considering none of us have done that before. I had my driving test the next day too, I ended up not sleeping and went to the test quite blur. I did manage to pass it though. Here's a couple of photos from that camp.

Standing (from left): Sing Choon, Huai Bin (me), Yi Ching, Adrian

Not standing (from left): ?, Yee Sing, Ung Hing, Teck Heng, Ting Chuan, ?

I have forgotten why my shirt is in such a sorry state.

I apologize for subjecting your eyes to this photo. :) Heh. I'm the one with the yellow briefs partially showing (the last one). This was taken as we were about to go into formation for the human pyramid.

I'm the one at the top. Tied my shirt to my back for that Superman feeling. I had to hold my hands out to balance myself because Ting Chuan (who was supporting me) kept on laughing for some reason. Heh. Just seconds after this photo was taken we broke formation (we lost balance). Fun days indeed. I shall leave out mention on whether any alcoholic beverages were consumed prior to this attempt because this was on school property.

4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community? I helped Wesley Methodist Church to type in a list of the members into an Access database in 2000. Pretty gnarly work. It wasn't all altruistic though, I was more interested in compiling a personal list of, uh...the better looking members of the congregation. Heh.

5. ...helped a stranger? Hmm...I gave A$ 2 to a woman who approached me and my friend outside Melbourne Central Station about two months ago. She claimed she needs to buy diapers for her baby and she was pushing a pram. I had just left St Francis church, I went for their Easter Mass, and was feeling pretty good, so I gave her some coins even though I highly doubt her story. Does that count?

Link: fridayfive.org

I'll be off to Mukah [moeswk.gov.my] tomorrow with a couple of my buddies. Mukah is a small coastal township upstream from Sibu. There is a beach there, although it's too polluted to swim in. I'll be back on Sunday, going to stay there for the night. I haven't been there since I was really young, so it'll be nice to go there for some sago and umai [geocities.com]. We went to get the tickets this afternoon, going to catch the 2:30 pm bus tomorrow.

Getting the tickets at Sedaya bus terminal

I'm seated in unlucky 13

Anyway, me and my girlfriend went out to get some ice cream tonight. As I was sending her back, I felt a really bad stomachache coming on, the kind that produces watery feces. I insisted on going back home instead of using her toilet, thinking I still had a bit of time. Unfortunately, it got really bad as I left and I had half a mind to turn back, but since I was already halfway home, I might as well attempt the whole run. Anyway, about 2 minutes later, I got hit with a really bad URGE to go and I was seriously considering going right then and cleaning up the mess when I get back. Heh. It was that bad. However, my sphincter was stronger than I thought, and that wave soon passed. But soon, another wave came and in desperation, I floored the accelerator to try and beat the last traffic lights, but it changed just as I got to the intersection. Woe! Luckily I managed to get home okay and rushed upstairs. Ah...nothing beats reading Time in the toilet while taking a dump.

Headed out to see the Borneo Post editor today. I feel like writing something to be published. I went to the wrong office though, I thought it was the one at Sungai Antu but that's the printing press and management offices. The editorial ones are in town, above Ta Kiong. I was surprised to see that the offices are all equipped with Macs. Rows and rows of Power Mac G4s, even the editor was using one. Guess Wintel is not in vogue with the publishing crowd.

Anyway, I was interested in covering crime scenes and such, but I hear you need police connections for that. I was relegated to doing public interest articles...I haven't thought of one, but I'll crack out my word processor and write one up when I'm in the mood. Anyway, I headed back to find out that I've been ticketed (again) by those damned SMC ticket inspectors.

Hmph...luckily this kind of parking ticket does not involve demerit points, just a fine. The police issue ones comes with 10 demerit points free of charge. Parking here involves coupons, which are displayed at the windshield, and I neglected to put one up before I left the car.

Well, I headed off to Wisma Sanyan after that to get something to eat and develop my photos. I brought my scanner back so I'm in the process of scanning all my film prints this holiday to archive them. I also picked up a couple of pirated VCDs, I saw that the newer ones are much clearer now and the sound is slightly better too, compared to those gnarly ones a couple of years back. They cost RM 5, which is slightly less than A$ 2.50. Back in the days, these VCDs often has people standing up, coughing, cell phones ringing and other assorted noise. It's because they are filmed using a camcorder in a cinema. The newer ones doesn't have this problem though, I wonder what changed in the filming process.

The Minority Report and Men In Black II

Site update: Due to popular demand (okay, no one requested it, but I wanted to do it anyway) I've put up a POTD Archive.

Edit: Obsolete link removed after the move to Movable Type

Not surprisingly, Brazil won 1-0 against Turkey [fifaworldcup.com] in this match. I hear the Asian Handicap betting odds for this match is a one goal advantage to Turkey, so that means no one is hauling home any cash tonight. Of course that means no one is winning any money as well, so it all works out. A very remarkable game was played by Brazil, with the winning goal made by Ronaldo. The Hasan Sas antics towards the end of the match displays very poor sportsmanship though. I think he was pissed coz he alleged one of the Brazilians pushed him, but the referee didn't do anything. As the Brazilian took the corner, Sas tackled him in a way that makes it seem like he was out to get the player instead of the ball. Naughty, but understandable. Must be pretty frustrating to lose in the semis. I'm looking forward to the Germ Bra final. Or is it Bra Germ?

On another note, I finally had one of those Spicy McChicken Delight burgers today. It's okay, tastes like a Zinger. The McDonald's fries here sucks compared to Aussie McDonald's fries though.

Link: Boo hoo hoo [fifaworldcup.com]

South Korea lost 1-0 to Germ Many. I was hoping they will reach the finals...that would have been great! I was screaming at them to PULL AN ITALY [fifaworldcup.com] and JUST GET A SHOT IN during the last 5 minutes, but the Germany defense was too solid at that point. Michael Ballack got a yellow card BEFORE he shot that killer goal in, and considering he's going to miss the finals due to that card, I was hoping he'll be bummed but he still managed to get a goal in!!!!!!!!! Arrrggggggghhhhhhh... But at least Michael Ballack and Oliver Neuville Jens Jeremies [fifaworldcup.com] won't be playing in the finals [Edit: I've been told that Jeremies will NOT miss the finals and there was only one yellow card dealt to the Germans. I must be getting Referee-itis (selective blindness) coz I could have sworn I saw two German players carded]. Hmph. Good game Korea, go and eat those Senegal motherfuckers alive in the 3rd place playoffs [Edit: I'm really blur...that should read "eat those TURKEY motherfuckers alive"].

I went out with my ex classmates (plus one FOAF [dictionary.com]) tonight. Picked up Johnny, Justina and Daniel and headed to Wisma Sanyan to meet with Yi Ching and Jonas (I think...didn't hear your name clearly). Yi Ching wanted to get a new cellphone and Daniel wanted to get some CDRs. I went to the camera shop to ask about the availability of a 36.5 mm UV filter for my digicam. If you're a photography nut, you'll know that is a not a standard lens thread size. As far as I know, only Crystal Optics produce 36.5 mm filters and that shop didn't carry it. I might have to use a step up adapter to 37 mm or a step down one to 28 mm. We'll see. Anyway, we headed down to Bandung after that because Johnny hasn't had dinner yet and was hungry. Too bad he had to share the kampua goreng with 3 other people. Heh. Anyway, Bandung has become a shell of it's former self. It's pretty empty now, it used to be the only late night outdoor food court, but now there is the more popular Taman Selera and also the Pedada one. I asked someone to take a photo of us and she nearly dropped my digicam (!) and was pointing the lens at herself at one point. Here's how that one turned out.

Busting out my chopstickz skillz and holding a whole lime.

From left: Huai Bin, Daniel, Johnny, Justina,Yi Ching, Jonas (?)

(Click for a larger image)

After supper, we went to Pintu Gerbang (Pintu = door and Gerbang = arch) to take some pictures. There are always people racing those mini remote controlled cars there, but there was only a couple doing it today. At weekend nights, there could be as many as 40 people there. I noticed that there are quite a few new structures in Sibu nowadays. This one is in front of the old Sugarbun and opposite the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic church.

Sitting: Jonas (?), Johnny, Daniel, Huai Bin (from left)

Standing: Yi Ching, Justina (from left)

(Click for a larger image)

It's good to meet up with Yi Ching and Justina, which I haven't seen in a long time. We were from the same class in high school. We actually considered going to Methodist to take some photos there but finally decided it would be too troublesome to have to wake up Mr. Yeo to open the gates. Heh.

From left: Justina, Yi Ching.

(Click for a larger image)

Mail me if anyone wants higher resolution, un-watermarked pictures.

Linda Blair makes a cameo

OH MY GOD!!! What is that face?!?!?! I swear it wasn't there when I took the photo! BUKIT AUP IS HAUNTED!!! Damn ghosts, now they're coming out in the daylight too.

(Click for a bigger picture)

I headed out to Bukit Aup at around 4 pm today for no particular reason. It's a park about 8 km from where I live. People go there to run in the afternoon and couples go there to ensure the continued existence of the human race at night. There are also some persistent rumors about ghosts infesting the park, and I remember this crazy old guy passing around leaflets with a photograph of a ghost supposedly taken in Bukit Aup when I was young. Of course, this raises the question of why a ghost can be caught on film when it's supposed to be optically invisible, but I digress. Looking at the place though my lens, I found out that it's actually a pretty nice place. I'm very out of shape though, I found myself HUFFING and PUFFING by the time I got to the observation tower. I could count 3 other people with cameras there too, I wonder why.

The signboard telling drivers that this is Bukit Aup, in case they happen to forget.

The opening hours, but you can get in anyway after 10 pm.

The map of the park, complete with names like Fairy Pond and Garden of Meditation.

1. Rowing Platform. Quack!

2. Observation Tower.

3. Skysteps. They really are quite steep.

4. Pavilion.

5. Garden of Meditation.

6. Fairy Pond.

7. Picnic Area.

8. Children Play Area.

9. Mid Level Platform.

10. Lagoon.

11. Boating Lake.

12. Amphitheatre.

13. Administration cum Food & Drink. Bad choice of words. Hearing cum in the same sentence as food and drink makes me think of unconventional sexual acts.

14. Jalan Aup and 15. Car Parks. I didn't think anyone would be interested in the T for toilets. If you're wondering where this numbering comes from, it's from the board (Pic #3).

The view of Sibu town from the observation tower.

The spirit offerings (that's what I heard) at the observation deck. Plastic bags full of Weird Shit ^TM that's either to ward off bad luck or to induce good luck.

The view of the cemetery from the observation deck. Those are not residential areas. All of them are cemeteries.

I carved my URL into the wood at the observation tower. If you live in Sibu, go to the tallest deck and look at the wooden railing to your left and it should be there. Heh. It took me a while to do that with my car keys. Next time I'm bringing something sharp.

Oh, and if you're wondering, the ghost picture is done in Photoshop. I don't know how to use those newfangled filters, so I just traced Linda Blair's face from a screen capture of The Exorcist [imdb.com] movie and cut and pasted it into the photo I took in Bukit Aup today. Pretty low tech, but hey, it works.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir has withdrawn his resignation [emedia.com.my]. Good. Dr. M is a great leader...perhaps the only one in SEA who's not afraid to say what he thinks. Unlike the leaders in other countries who's perpetually bending over backwards to accommodate the United States, Dr. M is always doing what he feels is best for Malaysia, regardless of what the world thinks of him. This is a mark of greatness and for that, Dr M has my respect.

Picture nicked from New Straits Times [nstp.com.my]

The naughty parking ticket

It didn't even register to me that I was parking illegally coz I've been parking at that spot for so many times and heaps of people park there too. It's that line beside the road divider in Taman Selera. Hmph...while I was eating, one of the stall waitress asked me where I parked and I said at the road divider and she told me that the traffic police are writing summons. I rushed there but they were already in the middle of the line and I was the first car in the line. Sheesh...I took a photo of them anyway, this photo is worth RM30 and 10 demerit points, so please save it to your hard disk or set it as your wallpaper. =D

(Click for a larger picture)

The smoke is from the satay BBQ beside me. I have taken the liberty of applying a mosaic filter to the license plates.

I hate getting parking tickets, it always happens to me for some reason. And it's not like I'm out to spite The Man and park anywhere just for the hell of it. It must be coz it's the end of the month. Gotta meet quotas, you know, and where else in Sibu can you get 20 at once. Hmph. Anyway, I went to the pasar malam today with my mates Daniel and Johnny. Guys always seems to go out in three's coz two will suggest questionable sexual orientation and one seems kinda sad. hehe.

A noisy photo of us. I'm the guy with the hand down the pants. I can't remember why I did that. :)

Headed out to Kin Orient Plaza to get another Photoshop CD coz the last one was an upgrade version. After that, we headed down to the pasar malam to take a couple of pics. I haven't been there in...ten years I think. I hear it's getting torn down in July to make way for a tourist attraction of some sort. After that, we went to Premier for more photo taking fun and finally went to Taman Selera (grr...) to get something to eat. Had some chicken chop. I was taking a photo of my friends when the group of waitresses behind them started smiling at the camera. One of the them asked me to take a photo of them, and I was more than happy to oblige. Heh.

(Click for a larger picture)

The waitresses (and a waiter). There seems to be some debate to which is prettier, the white shirt with a blue spiral design or the black shirt with Number 1 on it. Make yourself heard. White shirt or Black shirt?

Anyway, I found a dead lizard outside my door today. I hear it's because my cat is offering her friendship to me in her own way. Sharing her food with me, so to speak, coz she doesn't want me to go hungry. How sweet.

Another wonderful match [fifaworldcup.com] by South Korea today. They managed to hold off the Spanish Inquisition and win 5-3 on penalties. w00t! I'm looking forward to watching them play Germany, and with a bit of luck, they just might meet Brazil in the finals. There was several nail biting moments, when the ball just deflected off the goal posts (my heart nearly stopped), but good thing they won in the end. To tell you the truth, I wasn't very confident in Lee Woon-Jae's abilities as a goal keeper, but he managed to block one of the penalty attempts, and that's good enough for me.

Both of the teams I was supporting lost today. What a pity. I wanted England [fifaworldcup.com] and the United States [fifaworldcup.com] to win. I was hoping for the final to be USA vs Korea with Korea winning on a penalty shootout. Heh. I feel sorry for David Seaman, it's got to be his last World Cup appearance so I was rooting for England to get through this match. He did a spectacular save and hurt himself in the process, but too bad he didn't see the Ronaldinho goal coming. Oh well...it would have been great if they had won the match, at least he would have gone out having won against Brazil in the World Cup. Nevertheless, I'll be rooting for South Korea and Senegal tomorrow.

I went out with my mates Daniel and Johnny tonight for some Counter-Strike action and found out that I suck more and more now. I have decided to blame the st keyboard for my poor performance. =D I give myself an A for effort though...heh, look at this picture:

(Click for a larger picture)

Counter-Strike

When night falls on Gotham City, Sibu, we put on our bat suits and save hostages that needs saving, kick asses that needs kicking and take names that needs taking.

We headed down to the Mist Garden near the town post office for some photo taking. Daniel is a photography nut too. Interestingly, there were two security guards there. I heard it's coz the mist pool was always getting vandalized or stolen, so they were stationed there. I asked whether it's possible to step into the pool, and the security guard said it's okay if it's only going to be for a while. So here's how that one turned out:

(Click for a larger picture)

Powering Up

Doing my best Gohan impression.

We also took a picture from the green lighted trees, which required some creative positioning of the camera to get right. Finally, we put the digicam on a concrete water drainer that's kinda jutting out from the top of an incline. Perfect for the shot.

(Click for a larger picture)

Lost Souls

It seems that we have passed on to the next world. It's nice down here though, lots of trees.

Finally headed to the food court at Pedada to get something to eat. I had fried kueh tiaw. Haven't had that one in a while, so it tasted pretty good. The food court was packed, even though it's on a late weekday night. On another note, my girlfriend gave me some constructive criticism regarding my blog. It appears that the design is too bland, so I'll crack out the designing CDs and revamp the website this holiday.

Ah...it feels good to sleep for a solid 10 hours. Spent the rest of the day with my girlfriend. Today was very hot, maybe I haven't acclimatized from the Melbourne winter. We went to get some ice cream...found a really good one with pineapple chunks in them. Just the thing for a hot afternoon. While driving past the Bukit Lima swimming pool, I saw the Chinese association building had a lot of cars parked in front. Looks like they have a food court at the bottom floor now. Anyway, I found an interesting property of milk. I bought back some fresh milk and freezed it so it will keep longer. The color of the milk turned slightly yellow, like the condensed milk in cans. After the defrosting, it returned to its normal...urm, milky color. It could be that I'm easily amused, but I found that interesting. Well, I also managed to get some of that good ol' kampua lovin' action. Went to my favorite stall in Pedada and had a big plate of kampua mee. It's noodles with soy sauce, chilli, red wine, green onions, fried onions, pork oil, pork slices, and plenty of MSG. Very nice, and tastes very different to that nasty kolo mee stuff. Fed the cat some of that sardine-calamari-shrimp cat food, which she loved. The Whiskas Cravers stuff must be good too. My cat usually snubs dry food, but this one seems to agree with her. Anyway, I saw on the news that there was stuff going down in Carlton after the Italy-Korea match. Heh. Wish I was there to take some pictures. Then again, it's entirely possible that I will be mistaken for a Korean and get my ass kicked. =D

Link: Italian fans get a yellow card [theage.com.au]

Kampua with a side serve of meat dumplings. It doesn't look appetizing to the uninitiated, but it is.

The heat is making me stoopid. I find myself puzzling over basic grammar and having to think really hard to find the right words to explain something.

The Korea-Italy match was pretty intense. I was cheering for the Koreans coz I always like to support the underdogs. After the missed penalty and the Italian goal, I was not very convinced that the Korean team can equalize, considering Italy's solid defense. However, the amazing 88th minute goal by Korea forced the game into extra time. Kudos to them for not giving up the match. The Koreans managed to win the match by scoring a goal in the second half of the extra time after Totti was sent off, leaving Italy with 10 men. Man, that was a fantastic match...but I am still puzzled as to why Totti was sent off.

On another note, I brought back some cat and dog food from Melbourne to feed my cat and my girlfriend's dog. My cat really liked the gourmet cat food. After sniffing cautiously for a while, she licked the can clean, sauce and all. My girlfriend's dog did not like the dog food though. I had to persuade him to eat it. He's a bit shy and will not start until there is no one in sight, so we both hid inside the house for a while before checking to see if he's touched to food. He has not. But he was sniffing it, which is a good sign. After a while, I saw from the reflection that he was starting to eat it. It's a small can, he ate only half before leaving the rest to be infested by ants. Looks like he's not big on beef. He eats chicken most of the time.

Mmm...turkey slices in sauce. Very interesting.

Eating beef is against my religion. I refuse to soil myself.

P/S - I will be grateful if someone could mail me a working serial of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 that doesn't begin with 1045.

I have finally arrived in Sibu at 10:10 am today. I couldn't take the Sunday flight out coz the fog grounded all of the incoming planes, which were routed to Sydney. After a 2 hour wait, the airport cancelled all remaining flights and put us up at the Rydges with dinner and breakfast vouchers and a cabcharge coupon (lets you get on a cab for free). The hotel is in corner Exhibition St. and Lt. Bourke Street. Right in the middle of the city...I would have thought they will put us up at the Hilton opposite the airport. Heh. Rydges is not a bad hotel nevertheless, I think its a layby hotel for cabin crew coz there are heaps of them walking around. I got a suite with a king sized bed all to myself. Not bad at all, although I would have preferred to fly out on Sunday. Well, there were two flights out of Melbourne on Monday, the 3 pm and the 11:50 pm. The MAS people said they will try their best to put us on one of those two flights. I didn't get to go on the 3pm coz I have a connecting flight that couldn't be made with the 3pm, so they assigned me to the 11:50 pm one. Oh well. I didn't do much though, just slept through the night and woke up at 9:30 am to line up at the MAS counter and grabbed some breakfast after that. I slept most of the afternoon as well. Heh. MAS paid for two nights at the hotel, but I had to check out at 9 pm to catch my flight back. The flight was overbooked so good thing I was there earlier. Anyway, I couldn't get the pics up coz I don't have image editing software at my home computer. Will pick up a warez CD of Photoshop on my way back later. Feeling tired now...nearly had an accident just now too. Those damn brakes need to be changed.

I'm taking the 11:50 pm flight back to Sibu later. Damn, cleaning up my room sure takes a lot of time. I had stuff lying around from the beginning of the semester! Heaps of trash to throw out, prompting a neighbor to question whether everyone takes out the trash on Sunday after seeing all the bins full. I have already taken out 8 bags of trash and I'm still not done. I'm suffocating from all the dust I kicked up while packing. 3 months worth of dust... Oh well, at least I'm going back for a month for my winter holidays. Goodie.

Headed down to Chadstone today to get some stuff to bring home. Since I was there I also caught the 3pm screening of Spider-Man. Very nice indeed. Tobey Maguire is perfect as Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst looks as delicious as ever. I like Willem Dafoe too, he was great in The Boondock Saints. Anyway, I saw that Mum's the Word is showing at Alexander Theatre on my way back from the bus loop, and since that's just a 5 minute walk away from halls, I decided to go without knowing what the production is about. A quick call to the box office revealed that they still have front row seats. The fact that I'm going alone does make getting good seats easier. I felt that I didn't fit in the target demographic though, as the crowd mostly comprised of 40-something women. Hmm.. The show started at 8 pm and I was bored to tears in the first part. The show was about a group of 6 moms talking about their experiences. I had a good mind to walk out during the 20 minute interval but decided to keep an open mind and stay for the whole show. There was the new mom which opened the show with a very graphic depiction of childbirth. There was also a new age mom, a feminist mom, a 20-something mom, a jaded mom and a mom with a sick child. The lights went out about halfway thru the production and the cast did a very impressive ad hoc adaptation of the script. The cast of this season is not the same as the brochure though, today's cast seem to be younger, and one looks to be in the early twenties. Photography is "strictly forbidden" but I did get a photo of the set before one of the ushers informed me. Anyway, the second half was more interesting, there was even a full nudity scene, but it's funny instead of explicit. The scene was about how the 20-something mom's baby boy ran away while she's in the changing room and she charged out buck naked and ran across the stage, giving the audience an eyefull. Heh. All in all, it's a solid performance by the cast, but I wasn't interested in the subject matter so I'll be lying if I said I enjoyed it. Nevertheless, it was an interesting two hours. I like live theatre productions, and there are some good parts in this one like the Fabio in the park scene, the banana scene and the hubby not getting any scene.

The photo of the stage before the performance started.

The brochure front (Click for a bigger picture)

The brochure back (Click for a bigger picture)

Edit: Large pictures have been removed.

Went to the Melbourne Indoor Pistol Club [mipc.com.au] today. It's near the Newmarket train station in Flemington. The building is actually an indoor rock climbing place and a shooting range combined into one. They're also an authorized dealer for H&K handguns. After a quick registration and handing my passport over to the counter (security reasons) I was off to the briefing. I got to use the Heckler and Koch USP 45 [hecklerkoch-usa.com], the Beretta 92D 9mm [beretta.com] and a silvery .357 caliber revolver. I was surprised at the weight of the handguns. I wasn't expecting it to be that heavy. The bullets are live bullets so the recoil was pretty strong. The first time I fired the 9mm, I was puzzled by the strong recoil and the loud report. There I was, thinking that the 9mm is a kiddy gun, but it's pretty powerful too. I know that guns can kill people, but it never really registered until I fired a real gun with live ammo. You do feel respect for the weapon after that. I do have some OCD tendencies sometimes, and I had this disturbing URGE to put my hand in front of the muzzle. Good thing I kept it under check or I would have blown my hand off. Heh. Looking at the target, I wasn't really accurate with the Beretta. Of course, it's not an accurate gun in the first place, but I must have overcompensated for the recoil coz the shots were off center. The bullet ejection system is pretty impressive. It comes out from the side chamber, and when the bullets run out, the handgun does 'reset' and the muzzle is slightly detached from the main chamber. Interesting. The .357 has an even harder recoil. It's one of those revolvers that rich old men use in movies. This one was accurate, most of my shots hit the center of the target. The fact that I started tapping the trigger instead of squeezing it (which skews the bullet trajectory) might have helped too. My favorite gun is the H&K USP though. It's also one of the guns in Counter-Strike if I'm not mistaken. Plus it's a .45, and I've always wanted to fire one of those. It looks pretty impressive, aggressive profile and nice weight. The front sighting stump is easier to align with the back groove in this model too. I also liked the hefty recoil. You get the feeling that this gun means business when you use it. Very nice. It seems easy to get a handgun license here, but unfortunately I'm not a permanent resident so I can't apply for one. Bummer. I would love to have that H&K.

All pictures are clickable to bring up a larger picture.

Taken thru the blurring window from the viewing area. Cheers Jimmy.

Another pic thru the window. The target is 7 meters away. Don't laugh. It's supposed to simulate a "real life situation".

Now follow as we ride...

The Beretta 92D 9mm

Making you an offer that you can't refuse...

The .357 revolver

Keepin' it real, thug style

The H&K USP .45. It would have worked better if I didn't have a slight smile from the previous photo.

I realize I will look pretty damn stupid if someone rips those photos and starts forwarding them with "Fwd: Look at this wannabe gangsta HAHAHA" but then, everything looks stupid when taken out of context. Oh well, by posting it on the net I have lost my right to complain anyway. =D It was pretty fun to think up captions though. Most of them are snippets of Tupac's lyrics.

The scoreboard:

The big tears are made by the 9mm bullets, the star shaped holes are done with the .45 and the compact round holes are .357s.

I went to the city today to sort out the Flemington shooting range booking. I'm going tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm straight after my last exam. Will be keepin' it real G style and post some photos tomorrow to boot. ;) Anyway, you know how Pepsi came out with Pepsi Twist? It's normal Pepsi with a slight lemon taste. It's only available in KFC for the time being. Well, I was grocery shopping at Coles the other day and saw that Coke has something similar. I don't know which one came out first, but here's the Coke version:

Diet Coke with Lemon flavor

I prefer the Coke version. Pepsi tastes too sweet to be thirst quenching unless its watered down with ice cubes. Diet coke is my drink of choice. Anyway, I've noticed that the KFC chicken here are absolutely miniscule. The drumsticks are half the size of the Malaysian counterpart, if that. It's only slightly bigger than the Ayamas frozen mini drumsticks. While having 3 pieces of chicken will make me feel bloated in KFC Malaysia, here it just made me feel slightly full. And that's the ultimate 3 piece meal with the Picnic bar, bun, fries and mashed potatoes.

KFC's The Ultimate 3-piece Meal

Well, I took a lot of pictures while I was in the city today. I've been getting the dreaded "System Error" that plagues most Nikon digicams. I figured out that it only happens when the zoom lens have not been retracted properly for some reason. The remedy is to manually push (not too hard) on the zoom lens, so that it is 'docked' again. You shouldn't touch the actual lens with your fingers, just apply pressure on the side if you have this problem. Anyway, I've been doing a bit of gadget shopping too. I went the the really cheap computer hardware place opposite Melbourne Central. Picked up a Canon CanoScan N670U for A$170 and a Surecom self powered 4-Port USB Hub EP-1004P for A$45. I saw this Wacom tablet going for slightly over A$100. I don't draw, but I felt a nearly uncontrollable compulsion to buy it. Just because. Good thing I walked out of the store before I did. Heh. I did notice that the first thing that the Quick Start booklet of the scanner says is "Scanning of certain documents, such as bank notes (snip) may be prohibited by law and may result in criminal and/or civil liability". Oh? I had already scanned a crinkly 50 dollar bill and was about to post it with some quip about printing it but on second thought, that might not be a good idea.

Anyway, here's a complement to yesterday's POTD. I found this today while walking to the bus loop.

Rumble of the Peters: A 3-Way, all out, no holds barred, "no need to keep the dinner warm honey, coz I ain't coming back" cage match.

Peter the Possum

Generally regarded as the crowd favorite, this little critter can run fast and has pretty sharp claws to boot.

Peter the Possum Man

Not much is known about this bloke, but I hear he catches possums for a living.

Peter the Speed Racer

Because of the speed his vehicle is capable of, there are no known photographs of this menace to the roads. Question mark picture taken from CRpuzzles [crpuzzles.com].

The result:

Peter the Speed Racer Wins! (with a total knock out)

Today's exam was pretty easy, which is good. I woke up at 11 am and didn't have time to eat lunch so I just grabbed a couple of power bars and a coke from the Nature Pantry in the campus center. It's on the way to the bus loop. The creatine one tasted pretty good. I feel like I'm growing already. Heh. The protein bar one is called Nitro-120 and supposedly contains 40 grams of protein, 3.8 grams of glutamine and 10 grams of glycerol. After eating it, I saw the label said Warning: Due to high potency consume with plenty of fluid over a period of two days. Half a bar before or after training. Not suitable for children under 15 years or pregnant women. Now you tell me. Oh well, I've got another exam tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Not a good day, today. Took the 8:30 am shuttle to Caulfield and got a pastry and a coffee and a large chocolate milk to eat while walking to the racecourse. I was balancing the latte on the plastic plate that comes with the pastry. Unfortunately my skillz were not up to par and I ended up spilling half the latte all over my shirt. Grr...had to go to the toilet to clean up and I could smell coffee all day long. Oh well, at least it woke me up. The first exam was went okay. Systems Design, I'm repeating it (keep your comments to yourself) and it's a core subject so that's good. Didn't have enough time to do the business class diagram well, but that's okay coz I think I did pretty good on the other parts. My "pretty good" might not be Martin's "pretty good" though. Heh. Martin is my lecturer for this subject. Anyway, I had a 2 hour break in the middle, so I got a burger from the plaza and went to the labs to read up on Unix. I read all the past exam papers and the lecture notes. I didn't have time to read the Week 12 tutorial exercises though, which, as I would learn later, was a Grave ErrorTM. About this time, I felt a disturbing trickle of warm liquid down the back of my pants. I already knew what was up without having to look into my bag. The chocolate milk that I got this morning and drank only a bit from lay spilt at the bottom of my bag. A little quick math reveals the amount of liquid that has been displaced from the bottle into my bag. 600 ml (bottle capacity) - 100 ml (amount drank in the morning) = 500 ml of chocolaty goodness. My books were soaked and so were my pants. I went into the Winner's Circle feeling very decidedly un-winner like. The Unix Programming assignment can be summed up in one word. Hard. Upon coming out, I was told that all the questions were based on the Week 12 tutorial solutions, which I didn't read. There was even a 20 mark question that can be done in one line of code. One measly line of code that was in the Week 12 tutorial exercises which I neglected to read. One miserable line of code to grant me a "Get out of Fail free" card. One wretched (I'm using the inbuilt thesaurus here) line of code that is worth 20 marks. I'm going to print out the Week 12 tutorial solutions and eat it for revenge. To top it off, I tried the balancing act again with two seafood baskets and a hot cocoa from slops. When I opened the door to my room, the plates tilted and the cup of cocoa started to slide. One of my hand was on the door knob and the other was holding the plates with the sliding cup which dropped and spilled all over my floor. It was either that or drop my two seafood platters. Guess which one I chose?

Exams exams exams. I have two papers on Monday so I'll have to miss out on some sleep tonight so I can sleep early tomorrow. Need to get in bed by 11 pm so I can wake up at 7 am and take a shower and pay my rent and then catch the 8:30 shuttle to Caulfield Racecourse. Last exam I got a really good seat. Right in front where you can see out into the race course. It gives me just that little bit of inspiration. Heh. I've got a paper from 9:30 - 12:30 and another one from 2:30 - 5:30. Not exactly the best arrangement considering both of the papers are really important. Oh well. Wish me luck people.

I didn't sleep last night to do a bit of revision and finish up my assignment. Wanted to pass it to my lecturer early morning and then come back to get some sleep before Spit Day. Things didn't go exactly as planned though, I got home at around 10:30 am and only went to bed sometime before 12 pm. When I awoke again it was dark and looking at my clock I saw it was already 8 pm. By the time I got to the mound, there were only scraps of meat left and all the beer and Strongbow was gone. Bummer. Anyway, I walked to the middle way place between Pinewood and halls (don't know what that place is called) to try that Chinese take away place that I've never been to. At the lights before I crossed the road, I saw this funny fender bender happen. The first car wanted to run the red lights but changed his mind at the last minute and screeched to stop slightly past the line. There was another car behind it (about 25 meters or more) that stepped on the brakes too. She must be going pretty fast coz that 25 meters wasn't enough to stop her car. She slammed into the back of the first car. 25 meters! I wonder how fast she was traveling. I think they knew each other coz they didn't even bother to get out of the car and just drove away together.

Anyway, back to the take away place. It's called Yun Yun and it has a very old skool feel too it. It's like it dropped straight out of the 1970s. I like it though, it reminds me of this restaurant back home that has the same decor. I felt like I was in 1970s China. Heh. It closes pretty early, at 9 pm and thus there were no other customers inside when I went there at around 8:57. I looked at my watch, that's why I had the time down. There were a couple of tables and benches inside so it's not strictly a take away place. It even had a dentist style waiting bench, complete with old issues of magazines that nobody reads. Anyway, I had the sweet and sour pork in batter (A$8) and a special fried rice (A$6). I like sweet and sour pork, I had this a lot when I was younger so that must be why I always get this inexplicable craving for it. The sweet and sour sauce was very nice, not too sweet and not too sour as well. Pretty generous portions, it comes in the standard takeaway rectangle boxes most Chinese food places here use. The special fried rice comes with a lot of BBQ pork slices (char siew) and chicken pieces. It also contains bean sprouts (!) my most hated vegetable, so you should get the cook to hold the sprouts if you go there. The brochure I got said that it has new management now, it's now run by a Colin and Anne Lew. The cook and cashier are both around 60 years old, which adds to the 70s feel of the place. I like the fried rice, it has a very umami [glutamate.org] taste so I'll be going back for more when I'm craving for Chinese food.

Dentist bench for your waiting pleasure.

The tables. Complete with a slippery vinyl table cloth.

Old skool air conditioner in the upper right consolidates the 70s feel.

The cashier desk.

A peek into the kitchen.

Today is the last day of the semester. I'm going to catch the 8 am shuttle to Caulfield and then hand in my assignment. After that, I'll have to see some of my lecturers and tutors and then get back and get some sleep before Spit Day starts. Note to self: Remember to return the overdue library book. Anyway, Spit Day is a Roberts Hall event that marks the last day of the semester. Otherwise known as the Festival of the Mound, there will be BBQs and some drinking on the mound, which is a small hill in the central courtyard of Roberts Hall. On another note, I saw someone trying to kill a spider with a keychain today. I was walking up the stairs when I saw this girl trying to hit something on the ceiling. Responding to my quizzical looks, she told me that there's a spider, pointing to the area above my head. Now this disturbed me greatly, because I don't like spiders. I have arachnophobia due to an unfortunate incident when I was 7 years old, which involved a bathroom, a large spider and running out of the bathroom naked. Anyway, back to the spider incident, I was trying hard to remain nonchalant but my steps instinctively become rather hurried while I hunched my shoulders stiffly and prayed that the spider won't suddenly decide to drop down my neck. After reaching my floor safely I looked down and saw a spider about the size of my palm crouching on the ceiling. Phew. I think I would have produced a very unmanly noise if the spider really did jump on me.

I was feeling thirsty on my way to the campus so I got a bottle of mineral water from the dodgy vending machine at Huntingdale Station. Anyway, I wanted to drink plain water so I got disgruntled when nothing came out after I pressed the spring water choice. I pressed it again and lo and behold, two bottles came out instead of one. Sometimes this happens, especially when the bottles are small. Good then, I was really thirsty. Saw a little girl on the train today with her pet chihuahua. She was letting the dog run loose all over the carriage and was talking to it and everything. Very cute. The girl was about 10 years old so I'm wondering why she's using the train alone at night. Today is my last 8 pm - 10 pm lecture. I'm not a big fan of that time slot coz by the time I get back it'll be 11 pm and thus half the night is gone. OK, enough rambling, I'm going to go to sleep now and wake up earlier tomorrow to study. Waking up at 12 pm is considered early for me since I've taken the trouble to schedule most of my tutes in the afternoon. Oh, and drinking OJ and coffee together is really something. I think my bowels are crying now.

Two men are driving through Alabama when they get pulled over by a highway patrolman. The cop walks up and taps on the window with his nightstick. The driver rolls down the window and 'Whack!' the cop smacks him in the head with the stick.

The driver asks, "What the hell was that for?"

The cop answers, "You're in Alabama, son. When we pull you over, you better have your license ready when we get to your car."

The driver says, "I'm sorry, Officer, I'm not from around here." The cop runs a check on the guy's license, and he's clean. He gives the guy his license back, walks around to the passenger side, and taps on the window. The passenger rolls down the window and, 'Whack!' the cop smacks him on the head with the nightstick.

The passenger asks, "What'd you do that for?"

The cop says, "Just making your wish come true."

The passenger asks, "Making what wish come true?"

The cop says, "Two miles down the road you're gonna say to your buddy, 'I wish that asshole would've tried that shit with me!'"

Well, since the World Cup is going on now and all, me and Jimmy played a couple of rounds of Zerg Soccer as a break from studying. It's a custom map for Starcraft made by Blizzard.

Most people assume that the Zerg are a malicious species with no sense of humor or fun. While they are quite malicious, some Cerebrates have demonstrated both humor and a desire for pure recreation. The recent popularity of soccer among the Swarm is a prime example. Besides sporting a name even a Hydralisk can pronounce, it gives opposing Broods an opportunity to safely compete, and has recently surpassed "Pin your tail through the Terran" as the Zerg sport of choice.

Description and pictures taken from SCC: Map Archives [battle.net].

Basically, you have two Guardians and two Mutalisks and a Queen. You attack Da Ball, which is a heavily armored and Zealot with high hit points. There are Hooligans on all the sides. The Hooligans are Hydralisks on the long side and Zerglings on the back. If Da Ball hits the side, the Hydras use their spines to move it back from the wall. If Da Ball hits the wall beside the goal posts, you get a free kick. Each match consists of two 10 minute halves. Now on to the battle report.

Game 1

killuminati [Me] leading Jormungand United

Silencer [Jimmy] leading the Baelrog Footballers

The game started with my Guardian spitting out a spore at the Zealot (Da Ball), propelling it slightly forward. Both of us haven't played this scenario before, so we were just experimenting around. After seeing that I have 2 Mutas at the sides, I quickly hotkeyed them and moved them up to help move the ball. I left the other Guardian and the Queen in front of the goal post. With the help of the Mutas, the Guardian managed to edge the ball closer and closer to the goal posts. Silencer tried unsuccessfully to block the ball and into the beacon, er...the goal it went. w00t! The half time whistle blew and into the second half we went.

Half-time score: 1-0 to Jormungand United

At the sound of the second half whistle, I immediately pushed the ball into the other side with my Guardian and hotkeyed the two Mutas and moved them to the front to help. I also commanded the Queen into the fray for some Ensnare goodness. When the Queen neared the ball, I moved my Mutas and Guardian away and ensnared Silencer's two Mutas that were trying to get the ball over to my side. Unfortunately my micro skillz were lacking today and I Ensnared the ball as well. I did manage to get it to the side, before the Hydralisk Hooligans spined the ball back into play. The Ensnare was starting to fade so I Ensnared Silencer's Guardian again and pushed the ball further into his goal area. Unfortunately the Ensnared Guardian managed to push it into the side before I got the ball into the goal, resulting in a penalty kick. I used my two Mutas to kick the ball into the goal, but was intercepted by Silencer's Mutas. The final whistle ended the game with a score of 1-0.

Full time score: 1-0 to Jormungand United

Game 2

killuminati [Me] leading Jormungand United

Silencer [Jimmy] leading the Baelrog Footballers

The game started off badly, with Silencer getting off a shot before I did, moving the ball closer to my side. My Mutas tried unsuccessfully to stave off this brazen attack and I quickly called my goal keeper Guardian up to help. Bad move. Silencer's speedy Mutas (Mutalisks move faster than Guardians) took this chance to push the ball into my goal post! Arrrggghhhhh! The Jormungand United leader, killuminati took this chance to let off a Hokkien expletive which sounds like cheese and bye mashed together. The Baelrog Footballers coach replied with a celebratory "whoot!" and proceeded with another goal attempt with his Guardian. I decided to use my Mutas to "foul" the forward Guardian in a show of un-sportsmanship. Unfortunately, the players don't damage each other so that was for naught. After a close call in which I just managed to push the ball to the side using copious Ensnares and furious Muta microing the half time came.

Half-time score: 0-1 to the Baelrog Footballers

I started off the second half determined to even the score. However, Silencer got hold of the ball again despite me flying my Mutas back and forth to hold off the push. My poor Mutas got Ensnared by Silencer and their flying speed was greatly reduced, resulting in the ball nearly reaching my goal before a timely block by goal keeper Guardian (Jersey Number: 2) managed to push it to the side, resulting in a penalty kick for Silencer. My Mutas got Ensnared yet again and it was all I could to to push the ball off to the side before it went in this time. However, Silencer was not to be denied and the third try using a Guardian and 2 Mutas rewarded him with ANOTHER goal, dashing the hopes of killuminati to even up the score. With only 2:47 minutes left with the second half, I renewed my vigor and pushed forward with all my players, leaving the goal post unattended. I was just one step from Silencer's open goal post when suddenly one of his Mutas materialized close by and pushed the ball off to the side. With that, the game ended with:

Full time score: 0-2 to the Baelrog Footballers

'Tis a sad day for Zerg Football fans.

I am going to sit for my finals one week from today. Better get some studying done.

Went to McDonald's today to grab something to eat. I saw someone walking this big furry dog, it was huge! The tail itself was as thick as my arm. Interesting, only matched by the cat one of the Monash College admins keep. That one is a huge thing too, and its funny to see her walk. I think it's a she anyway, I didn't peer underneath to check. I would look strange doing that coz the cat was on campus grounds and there are people walking around. I tried carrying her once, and she's real heavy. I think she didn't like it though, coz she struggled to get lose. It's a nice feeling though, picking up such a big sized cat. A nice heavy weight. Anyway, McDonald's has this promotion going where you get two Scrabble stickers with your drink and two with your fries. It's only for the large value meals though. Basically you stick the stickers on the tray liner which has a Scrabble game going and you win whatever words that match your stickers. I got a D and an N for the fries. Forgot what I got with the drink. The funny thing is, there is this Scrabble sticker on the bin asking you to check for stickers before throwing away the wrappers. Cute. Just realized that this has become a food centric blog. Oh well.

A very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day to the man. Take it easy Dad!

Birthday Haiku

Father the binder

Order from discordia

Irreplaceable

I was planning to go and see Mamma Mia (the musical) today but the tickets were sold out. Oh well. I'll just catch it after the exams. I picked up a 4 pack of Cranberry Flavored Bacardi Breezer while on the way back. Hmm...I can't even taste the rum in these drinks. Naughty stuff. Most of the drinks coming out nowadays mask the taste of alcohol very well. Weird and disturbing trend. Anyway, I played several games of old skool Starcraft and Unreal Tournament with Jimmy tonight. My skillz have pretty much atrophied and I'm wondering it its the new mouse (which I'm been blaming all this while) or I just suck now. I used to wreck the horizontal and the vertikal but apparently not nowadays. Oh well. Anyway, we did a late night run for food at the nearest gas station. I had an Aussie Hero (Supreme) Pizza Roll. The attendant was from Roberts Hall too last semester, what a coincidence. Pretty nice guy. What's that Mr. Sandman? Say what? Be right back, someone wants to speak to me...

Never have urinary tract infections again.

Taken on the dirty table beside the microwave in the gas station store.