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Korean BBQ Restaurant Review

I decided on the spur of the moment to eat someplace I haven't been to before so I went to Clayton with my mate Jimmy in search of Food. The one I was wanting to go to (Agra Sweets - an Indian food place) was closed so instead we headed to the Korean BBQ Restaurant at 3/299 Clayton Road.

I had:

Seafood Pa-jeon "Korean style seafood, spring onion and vegetable pancake" A$7

Yuk-gae-jang "Spicy beef stock with mixed vegetables in hot pot" A$10

Shik-hye "Korean traditional rice punch" A$2.50

The mochi type dessert A$3

No, I don't have a photographic memory, but I do have a digicam and I took photographs of the menu. Heh. There were only 3 other tables filled in there but the service was pretty good. Friendly and accommodating. I'm pretending to be a restaurant critic here, so bear with me. The food turnaround was around 10-15 minutes. The pancake was pretty good, quite a bit of seafood in there but pretty bland without the soy sauce side dish. The main meal was okay, I'm not expecting it to be so heavily laden with kimchi, which I'm not a big fan off. It tastes weird to me. There wasn't lot a lot of beef bits in the stew but there were heaps of rice vermicelli, all sorts of vegies and eggs. Everything tastes like kimchi, good for a cold night but like I said I'm not big on the taste of that stuff. It also comes with 2 platters of condiments (6 types altogether). I don't know what some of the condiments are but they taste sour. Quite good, it balances the kimchi stew. The rice punch was okay, small tin though. I drink a lot, so that is of concern to me. I ended up ordering another coke to reach my "drink quota". I also had a mochi type dessert for A$3. It's rice pastry (the soft kind) wrapped around chocolate ice cream and dusted with some powder. Mmmm, I liked that. Tastes like a cross between the mochi dessert you can get from ice cream vendors in Malaysia and kueh.

The decor

Total cost: A$24.50 including GST

I think the food wasn't really good enough to justify the price. They are more famous for their BBQ. Oh, watch out for the funky chopsticks, they're a bit tr to use. The table beside us was having that and they seem to be enjoying their meal. The female shop proprietor is a bit paranoid about having her picture taken. She ducked or turned away the both times she was in front of my lens. Thought that was pretty funny.

Listening to: Eminem - The Eminem Show

Yeah yeah, I know what everyone thinks of him. I listen to a lot of Westcoast gangsta rap so I'm pretty dubious about a white rapper too. Finally decided to listen to his Marshall Mathers album with an open mind and found out that he's pretty good. He can write some pretty provocative lyrics (or is it Dre?) which people can actually relate too. There are some people who think that he's fake coz he came from a middle class family so he's not gangsta enough. Personally, I don't really mind. If he can churn out good songs, it doesn't matter to me if what he raps about is real or not. The Eminem Show is even better than the last album. Loved every song on the first listen. My favourites are My Dads Gone Crazy (Hailie sounds adorable in the backup vocals), Superman (But I do know one thing though, bitches they come they go), Cleaning Up My Closet (reply to his mom), Soldier (about the Kim kissing another guy at the club incident) and hmm...I pretty much like every track. I'm not going to apologize for liking Eminem. If you think he's manufactured (most of the current artists are anyway) and it bothers you that much, hell just don't listen to it. Go and listen to your underground band. Elitist fucks.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 02:30 AM Permalink | Comments (3)

Keys

I found my long lost keys! I lost my keys about a month ago, tried searching my whole room but didn't end up finding it. Well, while doing laundry today, I happened to look in the small ledge under my wardrobe and there it was! Good thing I found it, now I can lock my door for a change. I've been keeping my door unlocked even when I go out coz I didn't want to lock myself out. I know that's not very safe but I'm sure the keys are somewhere, I just couldn't find them. I knew they'll turn up one day and they did. :)

My room key, cupboard key and dog tag to open doors in Roberts Hall. On a different note, it seems that the 885 has high chromatic distortion when taking pictures indoors. Noisy shadows too, but at least outdoor pics are really good.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 02:48 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Pr0k chops

There was this slightly demented guy distributing leaflets and carrying on like a pork chop about how McDonald's is poisoning everyone. According to him, 140 people were taken to the hospital last night after having McDonald's for dinner. He said he heard that on the radio and was "creating awareness" by distribution leaflets and ranting in the Caulfield campus. When no one paid him any attention, he mumbled something about kids not caring about their health nowadays and walked away to bother some other people. To which the shuttle driver cracked "Dunno what radio station he's listening to, but it sure ain't 3AW". Heh. I like that shuttle driver. He's always cheerful and friendly. Anyway, I've got heaps of stuff to do now. Two assignments due tomorrow. Poor me.

Picture taken using Nikon 885 from 29/05/2002 print issue of Herald Sun [heraldsun.com.au].

Carrying on like a pork chop is Aussie slang for making a big fuss.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:26 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

GET RICH QUICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I had my Unix assignment interview today, which didn't really go well due to some "undocumented features" I didn't notice in my...uh, rigorous testing. Oh well. I hope that I get good marks for it, coz it does meet the basic specifications. Anyway, I've noticed that the blue SmITh's vending machines accepts Malaysian 20c coins as Australian 10c coins. They are the same size, not the same weight though, so the half price trick won't work on the more sophisticated machines. According to the Universal Currency Converter [xe.com], a 20c Malaysian coin is equivalent to 0.0940808 cents in Aussie dollars. That makes for a saving of 0.940808%. If you are so inclined, you can lug over a trillion of 20c coins and use them here. That should give you a net profit of...oh I don't know, something like 5 dollars? Heh. The best get rich quick scheme is still the one which nets you one million dollars in 2 weeks. Here's how to do it:

1. Buy 20 kgs of raw chicken thigh (or some other white meat)

2. %@#$!&*^((*&^!ERROR: ASCII conversion error

3. Profit!

How's that for a quick and easy million? :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:34 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

This is not a fire drill?

I went to campus with my digicam today to take some photos and heard the fire alarm going off in Block B as soon as the shuttle pulled into the loop. I saw a fire truck in the alley so I snapped a couple of pics of that as well as the fire fighters walking into B block. I must have looked a bit suss taking photos like that. I wonder if they think I pulled the fire alarm? Heh. Here are the photos, click on them for a larger picture that opens up in a new window.

All pictures are clickable to bring up a larger picture.

The fire engine sitting idle in the alley. Block B is camera right.

The fire fighters were studying a fire indicator board very intently.

The fire door leading to the computer labs in Floor 3 of Block B. Please make your way in an orderly fashion to the evacuation area.

The file of people using the escalators to go down to the second floor.

The fire doors leading to the left wing computer labs. It is closed.

On the top of the escalators.

The bridge area on the second floor is where everyone decided to go.

Masses of people standing around and talking at the bridge.

More people milling about.

Still more people hanging around.

People, people everywhere...

The all clear is given and everyone started to go back to the labs.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:42 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

The Mirror Project

w00t! I have been added to The Mirror Project [mirrorproject.com]. It was taken yesterday morning (early morning) during an impromptu session at the Roberts Hall gym.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:16 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

My virtual model

This is pretty fun. You can create your own virtual models at My Virtual Model [mvm.com]. I had to tweak the weight settings to make myself fatter coz the first avatar I made (using my real weight) looked too thin. Had to inflate my weight a bit to make it fatter. If you're having trouble in converting kg -> pound, you can use this converter [onlineconversion.com]. Here's my virtual model:

My hair is not that evenly bleached and there should be a much larger bulge where the boxers are but other than that, it looks fairly accurate. Seriously, the avatar is bulge-less and is not anatomically correct. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:26 PM Permalink | Comments (11)

Mini Me

Well, I've been thinking about the issue of children after reading an article about how most 20 somethings don't intend to have kids nowadays. Personally, I think it would be great to have some mini me's running around. I'll like to have a little cute daughter. Girls seem to give less problems than guys. That is a generalization, but usually it's true. I think I will spoil my daughter though. :) Ah, what domesticated thoughts I think.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:05 PM Permalink | Comments (1)

Search strings

I was looking at my webstats and noticed that someone came in from an "angelic layer episode downloads" search on Yahoo! I used that search string and noticed that I was the 8th site in the results. Hah! Too bad you didn't find what you wanted, mate.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:19 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Days till I get my digital camera: 0

I got my digital camera today! It's a Nikon 885, 3.2 Megapixels with 3x optical zoom. Took it to the library today and took some test shots. I didn't manage to go to Flemington shooting range or Chocfest today. Decided not to go to punish myself for waking up to late yesterday. I need to get my assignments done first anyway. I've changed the webcam picture above with a Picture of the Day. The image quality today is pretty bad coz I couldn't tweak it. I used Logitech's Quickcam Editor, a really basic graphics editor. I'm currently downloading the warez version of Photoshop so expect the quality to improve. As the name suggests, there will be a new one everyday, so hit Ctrl + D. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:41 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Floyd the Barber Part II

Went and got myself a haircut today at the Monash Hair Salon in the campus center. I had it trimmed really short on the sides and back. The hairdresser was an intern I think. She forgot to put the hair guard on before cutting my hair. It's that heavy black flap that avoids tiny hairs from going down your collar. Only remembered when another hairdresser pointed it out. I didn't notice myself. The haircut was okay but she's too chatty for my liking. I was not in the mood to talk coz I'm in a hurry to get to Caulfield to hand in my assignments. It cost A$18 so it's definitely an intern. Usually it costs A$25 to get a haircut. I grabbed a pizza from the pizza place after that. I'm not really a big fan of pizza, but the other shops were closed. I had a slice of University Volcano, which I heard was slightly spicy. Now I can take very hot food, but this was on an empty stomach and I think the person preparing it dropped chili flakes on the pizza coz it was saturated with it! Made me feel queasy for about two hours. :) Anyway, I also bleached my hair today. Got the fudge speed2 bleach. I like fudge, coz I still remember the large poster they had in Christchurch back in '96.

Contents of the box: One 25ml bleach base, one 25ml booster, one 2.5ml bleach base, one 2.5ml booster, one 55ml developer liquid, one sachet shampoo, one sachet conditioner, one brush, one pair of gloves, one manual. The 2.5ml small packets is for the strand and skin test, which I never do.

Anyway, the end result was this:

I only left it on for 15 minutes coz I was in a hurry. It turned out to be a semi disaster. :) The picture is taken using my webcam so the coloring nuances cannot be seen. Its lighter than what it seems to be with some patches of ultra light colors. Kinda horrible, but I don't want to recolor it, so it'll have to stay.

Days till I get my digital camera: 1

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:29 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

McCain Roast Turkey Dinner

Food always helps me sleep. Eating a meal before sleeping always makes me feel sleepy so I had one of those TV dinners. It's a McCain's Roast Turkey Dinner. The price is A$4.90, pretty much standard for full serve frozen meals here.

The front packaging. The sidebar says "Roasted Turkey in a rich country-style gravy with traditional cranberry sauce served with roast potatoes, carrots and peas".

The back of the package. It says to heat the meal for 6-7 minutes. I put it for 6:30 on high power.

This is what the actual meal looks like. Pretty jumbled up but still presentable and slightly promising. The colors are there instead of the washed out colors of most frozen meals.

The cooked meal. The turkey is covered by the gravy. Calling it a turkey is an exaggeration. It's nothing more than two (thinly!) sliced pieces of deli meat. The shape of the meat is the same circle slice of deli meat. The sauce is pretty good though, much better than the gravy the halls dining hall dishes out. The cranberry sauce is very nice as well, but tastes a bit too much like strawberry jam. The potatoes kept well even after being frozen and tasted like a cross between boiled and baked potatoes. The carrots tasted as it should. Overall, it's a pretty okay meal. The things that ruined it a bit was the deli meat turkey and the small portion. The gravy was good though, and that's the most important thing. I'm feeling sleepy now. Nite people. :)

Days till I get my digital camera: 1

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:14 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

No sleep for the wicked

I can't go to sleep. My fears about failing is keeping me awake at night. Jesus Christ bananas. I feel that if I don't get up and study, I'll fail for sure, and I'll regret not cutting back on sleep and studying instead. Then I go into full out panic mode and entertain very weird thoughts which I will share with no one. I wonder why the thought of failing makes me feel so bad and depressed and desperate. What a guilt trip. Hmm...I need to chill out for a while and try again 30 minutes later. Get things in focus. *breath in* *breath out* *breath in*

Days till I get my digital camera: 1

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:50 AM Permalink | Comments (2)

This is not good

This is my Java Unit Test. I got 5 out of 20. 3.0 for Part A, 2.0 for Part B and a total of 5.0. Since this is worth 10 marks towards the final result, this means I got 2.5/10. That comes to 3 "real marks" after rounding up. Not a very good number by anyone's book. I did notice that the marks had been liquid papered due to a calculation error(?). It used to be 3.5 for A and 3.0 for B. That gives 6.5 as the total, which is 4 real marks after rounding up. If I fail by one mark I'm going to think about this paper.

Days till I get my digital camera: 2

If anyone noticed a numbering discrepancy, its coz I counted Saturday (the day I get my digicam) as one day too, which isn't quite right. Thus, I've cut the days by 1.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:46 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Hitting the slopes

Went to check my pigeon hole after I got back from classes today and found a card from my girlfriend (you're the best, dear), my Optus bill (Hmph...) and a brochure from Mt Buller. Winterfest is from 7/6/02 - 27/6/02 but I'll be back home then, so I'll probably go after I come back here during the second semester. Christmas Week (29/7/02 - 2/8/02) is the best time to go. There will be heaps of people during that time though, so be prepared to queue for the ski lifts. Ah...I'm looking forward to it already. :)

Place your hands here

Days till I get my digital camera: 3

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:32 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Bloody 9:30 AM fire drills...the alarm just went on and on and on and on. Beep! Evacuate the building! Beep! Evacuate the building! Beep! Evacuate the building! Beep! Fucking hell... (me) Beep! For fucks sake! (neighbor) Beep! Oh, shut up! (another neighbor) Beep! Fire drill people, get up get up. (overenthusiastic resident advisor) Beep! Only a handful of people actually walked down to the designated area. I sure didn't, I was taking a nap, so I just stuffed my ears with my pillow and tried to ignore the irritating alarm. Besides, if it were real, the message would have been - Beep! This is not a fire drill! Beep! Heh...happened last semester when Richardson Hall (the one closest to us) got smoke logged. Why do they schedule the fire drills in the morning anyway? It just irritates everybody.

Days till I get my digital camera: 4

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:28 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Like a chicken with it's head chopped off

I'm feeling rather pan because I've got heaps of assignments due and finals are on the 10th of July and I've been really slack this semester. Arrrrgggggghhhhhh *runs around in circles* It will feel good when all this is over and I pass all my subjects. It will be better if I get credits coz pass doesn't look really good on paper. Well...going to head off to the library later to borrow some more books. I feel that I need to study every second of the day now if I hope to pass all my subjects. I'm not worried about Unix Programming, Systems Design and Documents Imaging, but Java and C++ is giving me a bit of trouble. Hmph. Oh well, at least I slept from 4 pm till 2 am last night, so I'm all ready to hit the books. Libraries are mysterious places, don't you think. Every time I walk into a library, I feel like something weird and mystical is going to happen. Like behind every shelf of books there is a time portal all ready to transport an unsuspecting library goer to the 14th century. I did discuss this issue with my friend and he said that it's probably coz I don't go to libraries much. It seems that the mysterious-ness disappears after you go to libraries for a while. Hmm...must be something about the smell of old books. Possibilities!

The books I checked out from the library the day before. Lugging them back was no mean feat, I tell you.

Days till I get my digital camera: 4

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:32 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Sleep deprived

Just came back from a tiring day at school. I didn't sleep last night to finish my Unix programming assignment and I had to leave for a 10 am class. It's just my luck that the tutor told us it was okay to pass it up before Friday at 4 pm. I stayed up to finish my Documents and Imaging Systems assignment earlier in this semester and the submission date was postponed as well due to the lecturer leaving for Brisbane for a seminar. And the same thing happened with my Database Systems assignment last semester. I wish that the assignments that get postponed are the ones I'm having trouble with as opposed to the ones I've finished. Oh well, at least I have a bit of time to add some features. Anyway, I saw that Chocfest 2002 (Melbourne Chocolate Festival) is being held this weekend. I might drop by since I'm heading to Flemington this Saturday anyway.

Today is a rainy day, which makes the ground muddy. People like me shouldn't wear light colored clothes on a rainy day. That's coz I track mud all over my pants. I saw several people wearing white pants which weren't stained with splashes of mud, so I'm force to conclude that there must be something wrong with the way I walk. On a side note, Unix is the only thing I know of that can reduce a grown man to tears. Manly tears, that is. ;)

Off to the washing machine you go.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:37 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Took a short nap just now. I just had a weird dream. I dreamt someone sent me an ICQ message telling me to turn on the radio coz there will be an interesting announcement. What the...it's slightly disturbing that my dream was so net centric.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:57 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Nasty

I happened to chance upon a loaf of bread that has been uneaten for about a month behind my desk when I dropped my wallet. I knew I bought a loaf of bread some time ago and didn't finish it, but I haven't seen it around so I assumed I chucked it away after the use by date has gone by. Apparently not. It fell down the back of my desk and sat there unnoticed until today.

Pretty innocent looking from afar

A closer look through the packaging reveals that something is not quite right. Holding my breath, I removed the air tight tag on top:

A peek through the top of the bread packaging. It didn't smell bad at all. I could only detect a slight cheesy smell but I didn't breath in deeply anyway. Didn't want the spores to get into my nose and lodge inside my brain and slowly mutate me into a cauliflower. Pretty intricate flora designs can be seen here. Some greenish stuff, some whitish stuff and some blackish stuff. A work of art by nature.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:23 AM Permalink | Comments (3)

Astraware Contest

Received an email today telling me that I have won a prize in the Astraware Bejeweled Birthday Giveaway [astraware.com]. Basically anyone that enters the "contest" will win a prize.

I got:

Zap! 2000 - A game for Palm, which I already have (albeit mine is a warez version). But it's still nice to win an official version. After clicking on the link:

I was told that a mail will be sent to me with the registration code.

I received a mail with a download link and my registration code. This is version 1.5 of Zap! 2000, which has three versions - grayscale, 256 color and 16 bit color. Apparently, v1.5 is supposed to run faster on the m505 and other Palms.

Synced it to my Palm and registered using the reg code that was provided.

Zap! 2016 on an m505.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:20 PM Permalink | Comments (745)

Roll me a blunt and pass that brew...

Going to head down to the Flemington Shooting Range next weekend, probably on Saturday. They have a firearm shooting range, basically you get to shoot with a 9 mm Semi Automatic (15 rounds of ammo), .45 Caliber Semi Automatic (12 rounds of ammo) and a .357 revolver (12 rounds of ammo). It will be a good stress reliever too. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:29 AM Permalink | Comments (2)

I am good in drawing

This is a prototype screen for my assignment. The map is sourced from a raw screen capture from the Swanston Street Precinct Association webpage. Touched it up with Paint, adding white text boxes to symbolize ambulances and a shaky hand (too much caffeine) drawing of a sun with a black hole in the middle. That is supposed to be the scene of the accident. This is prototype of an emergency management system done using Java. ph34r my l33t drawing skillz! ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:34 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Malaysian Local Talent

Listening to an Ah Niu album I downloaded from Boxup [boxup.com]. I'm still trying to figure out whether the song Abu Ne Ne is racist or he's just being satirical about Malaysian culture. Abu Ne Ne is a racial slur used to refer to people of Indian descent. I used to like Ah Niu when I was in Form Five but I haven't heard much of his recent stuff. I did see him perform in Wisma Sanyan, Sibu during 1998. He did like two songs and his security staff bustled him away after someone threw a coke can onto the stage. It's strange the way that local artists all go to Hong Kong/Taiwan/wherever after they become successful (and I use this term liberally). I've been told that those markets are more mature and that's where the big money is made. Feh...sell outs. Another local band I like is OAG. Again, I've not heard much of their recent stuff but their song What's the Name o' the Game? is a classic! Kinda melancholy and I've always treated it as a coming of age song rather than a football anthem. :) Another group which deserves mention is the M-girls. They used to do Chinese New Year albums only but they have done a studio album this year. If you've ever watched one of those costume CNY videos, you'll have seen them. I think they're called "four girls" in Chinese (direct translation). I won't comment on their musical abilities, but that Cassandra Chin sure is good-looking. Heh. =D

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:17 PM Permalink | Comments (27)

Saw this on Slashdot

"War On Terror Not Over Yet", Emperor Declares

CORUSCANT -- Presiding over a memorial service commemorating the victims of the attack on the Death Star, the Emperor declared that while recent victories over the Rebel Alliance were "encouraging, the War on Terror is not over yet."

"We will continue to fight these terrorists, and the rogue governments who harbor them, until the universe is safe, once and for all, and the security of the Neo-New Cosmik Order ensured."

It was one year ago today that the Death Star, perhaps the greatest symbol of the Empire's might, was destroyed in an attack by fanatic Rebels, who used small, single-person crafts to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable defenses. Thousands of mourners were on hand to remember and pay tribute to the victims and their families.

"We lost our innocence that day," reflected one mourner. "I guess we thought we were immune from the kind of violence that happens in other galaxies. We were wrong." "I lost hundreds of buddies that day," said one teary-eyed Stormtrooper. "Guys whose only crime was trying make the Universe a safer place."

Although the day was colored by sadness, the mourners found some relief in the news of a decisive victory over the Rebels. In an attack led by Darth Vader, Empire forces were able to rout hundreds of Rebels from a network of caves underneath the surface of the planet Hoth. "We're not sure we got them all," says a Vader spokesman. "There are a lot of places to hide in those caves. But we've delivered a powerful blow to the terrorist's infrastructure, that's for sure. Today, the Empire has struck back."

Initial reports are unclear as to the fate of Luke Skywalker, a hero among the Rebels, who is rumored to have delivered the fatal blow to the Death Star. Skywalker, a former desert-dweller from the planet Tattooine, became a part of the Rebellion after family members were killed. Skywalker was trained by a militant wing of the Rebels, known as "Jedi Knights." Fanatical in their religious beliefs, the Jedi Knights claim to derive their power from the mystical "Force."

It's believed that Skywalker was specifically trained by infamous terrorist O bin Wankanobi. Wankanobi, occasionally called "Ben" and easily recognized by his bearded visage and long, flowing robes, achieved near-martyr status among the Rebels after his death last year during a spy mission. His more fervent followers believe that Wan Kenobi lives on within them today, some even claiming to hear his voice during times of duress.

The attack on the Death Star came shortly after the Empire's destruction of Alderstaan, a planet whose government was known to harbor terrorists. Responding to criticism over the total annihilation of the planet, Vader stated, "There is no middle ground in the War on Terror. Those who harbor terrorists are terrorists themselves. Alderaan was issued ample warning. The fight for continuing Freedom is often burdened by terrible cost."

The cost of this war can still be seen today in the continuing efforts to build a coalition government on Tattooine. Longstanding animosities among the planets various ethnic groups, including the Jawas, Tusken Raiders and scattered human settlers, have been an impediment to the peace process. The Empire continues to maintain a small peace keeping force until a provisional government is finally in place.

Much of the difficulty in fighting the Rebel forces stems from their lack of a central organizing structure. "They don't play by the traditional rules of war," complained one spokesman. "They come in all shapes and sizes, united only by their single-minded desire to destroy the Empire before it destroys them."

The Emperor closed his comments today by stating that "the cowardly attack on the Death Star left a deep scar on the Empire. However, we will not stop fighting until every last evildoer has been brought to justice." He paused for several moments, wiping away a tear and then added with determination, "We will never forget."

"I wish we could all just get along," said one of the mourners. "But it's hard to offer an olive branch to a cult of religious fanatics whose main tool is violence and who insist on calling us the Dark Side."

Heh. Thought this was pretty funny. It was posted by Namarrgon on /..

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:31 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

I FEEL THE POWER SURGING THROUGH ME...

Time to study. I knew that 11 heaped teaspoons cup of coffee I drank should kick in right about now.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:02 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Aftermarket chargers

Well, I got a new charger this afternoon for A$25.

The charger. It didn't come with any packaging and the shop proprietor told me that if it doesn't work, I'm welcome to bring it back for a full refund.

Made in China by Tian Ye Electron Company. Tian Ye translates to Sweet Coconut in English. Hah!

Well what do you know...it actually made the optimized charging detector trip. I don't know if it actually uses optimized charging coz it's not official Ericsson merchandise after all. I didn't feel the need to time the charge cycle to see if it actually charges faster or just trips the optimized charging detector. =D

The bad thing about the charger is it's unusual orientation. The plugs actually goes in sideways so it needs to be at the end of the power board. Notice the green LED indicator.

Well, all in all, it works well and isn't too expensive. I've seen one of those USB chargers that charges using the USB port of your computer. They cost A$15 and take power off the computer main power supply so they don't need to be attached to a power source. It seems pretty nifty but my USB ports are all taken so I didn't get one of those.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:05 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Grr...

I tripped over my cell phone charger cable just now while it was charging my T-28s. Didn't realize anything out of the ordinary until I tried to plug the charger cable back in, only to find:

The charger cable snapped from the tip.

1. Close up of the cord. It's naked...

2. Close up of the broken off bit.

At least the battery has been charged nearly to capacity.

Oh well. I'll have to pop into the mobile shop at the campus center tomorrow and see if they have any charger cables for the T-28s. I only have one, so I won't be able to charge my cell phone now that its b0rked. I did try to manually insert the squiggly wires into the broken off bit but my amateur electronics tinkling did not produce any satisfactory results. In other words, it did not work.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:37 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

My no-spoilers review of Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Vedi I Came

Upon arriving at Chadstone, me and my mate Jimmy got something to eat at nudle. I was craving for some Chinese food but the food courts upstairs were closed so the next best thing is the quasi Chinese food place near Hoyts. I had Malaysian Chilli Seafood Stir Fry with rice and a chocolate milkshake. After the meal, we headed over to Hoyts to check out the status of the line, but seeing not much activity there, we went to Pancake Parlour for dessert. I had a stack of pancakes with cream and a coffee. When we got back to Hoyts there was a line of people waiting there already so we got to the back of the line and queued up. Good thing I had my Palm with me so I read my Java lecture notes which I had the forethought to sync before coming here. There was another guy in front of me with a Sharp Zaurus and a girl behind me with a red Visor. Pretty good PDA showing considering Australia doesn't have a lot of PDA users.

There were two guys beside me with a digital camera and a toy lightsaber that started to shoot pictures of the line. Upon seeing that, a senior staff member came over and asked that the guy put away the digicam as no cameras will be allowed in the theatre. However, the staff member did not want to keep the digicam for the duration of the film because she did not want any liabilities, so the poor guy had to get out of line to put it in his car. Heh. Anyway, after a long wait, the we were allowed into the main waiting area. There were three groups of people, the La Premiere room, Cinema 12 and Cinema 5. Interesting that they opened up 3 screenings when they planned for one. The La Premiere line is the longest one and also the one with the most security checks. Everyone got their bags checked before being allowed into the theatre.

There was another long wait outside the theatre, with us sitting on the stairs in a line. The Hoyts staff begin distributing magazines to the people waiting in line to keep them occupied. Unfortunately, the only magazines given out were this:

The Australian Women's Weekly March 2002

Hmm...alright then. At least it kept be busy reading the articles considering I didn't have the forethought to charge my Palm batteries and it ran out on me. While waiting in line, I felt the rumblings of a stomachache. Heh, I should not have eaten the chilli seafood dish on an empty stomach. I didn't want to go to the toilet though coz the doors were about to open. After a couple of minutes, the doors opened and everyone ignored the poor attendent asking to see tickets and rushed into the theater to secure a good seat. There was a group of guys in front that nearly started a mini stampede by running into the theatres. :)

Veni I Saw

After a short while, the screen came to life and everyone started clapping...to the Hoyts snack bar advertisement. =D The usual adverts and trailers ran for 20 minutes while the crowd settled down. I did see a good Nike advert - it was the steel cage tournament one. Pretty interesting. The Gamecube one was not bad too. The trailers that ran I've mostly seen before from Apple's trailer site, but it's nice to see the Superman one on the big screen. Kirsten Dunst filling up the screen in the end of the trailer where it was raining on her wasn't exactly hard on the eyes. ;)

Soon after that, the film started and everyone started cheering and clapping and mimicking the voices of Star Wars characters. The cinema was filled to capacity and it was a pretty good crowd, mostly fanboys with about 80% males and 20% females. The movie started with the usual panning up after the words scrolled up to screen. Natalie Portman seems to have gained a bit of weight in this film, but she's gorgeous as usual. I didn't expect to like Hayden Christensen but I think he did a pretty good job with this one. Believable chemistry between him and Natalie which is a plus during the love scenes. I thought it was really, really sweet when Amidala kissed Anakin on the cheek when she jumped from the pole in the arena.

This film was much better than Episode I, and I am one of the few that liked Episode I, so that's saying a lot. :) The music was great, especially during the arena battle. The Jango Fett storyline is good, gives a bit of back story for him and shows us his fatherly side. The Naboo scenes are beautiful, I reckon it's not hard to fall in love in that kind of environment. =D And Natalie Portman gets some pretty nice outfits *wolf whistle*, I especially liked the one she wore in that scene with Hayden beside the fireplace. Those things look very perky and firm and pliable. ;)

There is one scene which was quite cheesy though. Perhaps the director didn't mean it to be so, but it's hard to take it seriously when the whole theatre is laughing. The one I mean is the Anakin nightmare sequence, it comes right after the fireplace scene so all the gutter minds in the theatre was laughing their asses off. We get to see Anakin's dark side start to surface in this film. He is rebellious and confrontational with almost everyone. The visual effects are pretty good, everything is believable and detailed. I especially liked the arena fight, that was the coolest part of the film.

All in all, this is a very good film, I expect even non-fans will like it. It develops all the characters nicely and it's a great lead up to the third installment, which I am very much looking forward to. We finally get to see Yoda fight and he's really good. I expected it to be strange considering Yoda's height but he really pulls off some pretty impressive moves and more than held his own against his opponent. Go see it in the cinemas, the cam DivX and the pirated VCD doesn't do this film justice. I give it 5 out of 5 seals.

Funniest line in the film: Obi Wan saying "Anakin, I swear one day you'll be the death of me" (or something to that effect). It had the Star Wars fans laughing while most of the theatre were probably wondering why we were laughing.

Bye I went back

The movie ended at around 2:30 AM after which I went home. I'm not my usual eloquent self today (heh), but that's because it's nearly 5 now, I'm sleepy, and I still need to finish up my assignment. I'm glad The Force was with me as I managed to hold my diarrhea until I got home. I knew I should not have eaten hot stuff on an empty stomach. =D May The Force be with you too, young Jedi.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:55 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Attack of the Clones

I'm heading over to Chadstone Hoyts later to see the premiere of Attack of the Clones. Expect a review up when I get back at around 02:30 AM + 1000 GMT. :)

Here's a joke for you people to enjoy:

There was a boy standing on a corner selling fish.

He was saying, "Dam fish for sale, dam fish for sale."

A preacher walked up and asked why he was calling them dam fish.

The kid said, "I caught them at the dam, so they're dam fish."

The preacher bought some, took them home and asked his wife to cook the dam fish.

His wife looked at him in bewilderment and said, "Preachers aren't supposed to talk like that."

The preacher explained why they were dam fish, and she agreed to cook them. When dinner was ready and everyone was sitting down, the preacher asked his son to pass him the dam fish.

His son replied, "That's the spirit dad. Pass the f**king potatoes!"

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:01 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

TP Makeover

I was sitting on the toilet bowl going about my business when I happened to notice the backup roll of toilet paper on the floor. The packaging has changed! To show you all the old and new packaging, I had to raid the toilet of the floor below (which typically goes through toilet paper slower than our floor because they have fewer people) because our floor only has the new ones. I pity the next person downstairs who uses up the toilet paper only to find...NO BACKUP ROLL! I am evil. =D

The old

The new

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:31 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Asses? Wrists? Backs? Where am I and what is this place?

More on the chair issue. I've already submitted a maintenance request form and I should get my new chair tomorrow. I have given up on trying to sit on my sofa. It's not that it's uncomfortable, on the contrary, with that pillow, my ass feels like he's in heaven. It's just that the books I use to prop up the chair is small. I do not have a big ass, at least I don't think so. =D The footprint of my ass is larger than the books I use so parts of my ass are hanging off the edge. That is Not a Nice Feeling^TM and is liable to cause mild discomfort and a general feeling of ill ease. Heh. Thus, to rectify this situation, I have swiveled my monitor sideways and as I'm typing this, I'm sitting on my bed. This is a much more acceptable position, not only to my ass but to my wrists as well. But now my back hurts coz beds do not have back support. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:03 PM Permalink | Comments (1)

Propped

Well, I was lazy to head over to the operations office today to get my chair fixed so I made do with the sofa. After a while, typing became a burden due to the sofa being too low relative to the table so I just used the keyboard from my lap. One of the good things about having a cordless keyboard. However, that didn't work so well coz I still had to squint when looking at the monitor so I propped up my seat with 2 books and my pillow. It feels much better now. My wrists, not my ass.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:02 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Hiraikotsu

Feeling tired of studying, I downloaded and watched Inuyasha episode 65 - Saraba Seishun no Hibi (Farewell Days of Youth). It aired on YTV (Japan) on the 8th of April, 7 pm. I've only watched up to episode 44 so far, but episode 65 is a filler episode so I figured I won't miss much by watching this. It was raw, as in no subtitles. I managed to get the gist of it though. Either my Japanese is getting better or Inuyasha just uses a lot of the same words. Heh. Being a filler episode, there isn't much about the Naraku storyline but it did have a funny scene of Shippo about to be molested by Inuyasha. =D There are a lot of people who doesn't like Shippo (the fox demon) but I think he's adorable. My favourite character would have be Sango though, she has the best background story and she looks cool in that Youkai Taijiya outfit.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:41 PM Permalink | Comments (156)

Mounting evidence that I'm overweight

Man, this is sounds like a script for a bad cartoon. My chair broke when I sat on it just now. The screws holding the chair snapped on BOTH sides. Someone up there is telling me I need to go on a diet. That, or I just sat on the chair too hard. =D

The Chair. Red circles showing where the screws gave way.

Close up of the chair. You can see where it snapped.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:56 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

It drives me crazy!

Nano nano nana nano nano nana nano nano nana nano nano nana

Nano nano nana nano nano nana nano nano nana nano nano na

Nano nano

It drives me crazy

I really love

What it does to meeeee

Sweet, sour and salty

Nano nano

Na na na na nano nanoooooooooooooooooooooo

I have this jingle stuck in my head. It came from the commercials on TV when I was around 12. It's those sweets from Indonesia with funky flavors like Hot Pineapple. It's a testament to viral marketing that I can still remember the lyrics after 10 years.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:18 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Dumb people

Ah...I finally installed Windows XP Professional on my computer. This came with an enterprise key so there is no activation. At least I don't have to put up with Windows Me crashing on me every hour. Seriously, it does not like my system and that's really how often it crashes. Anyway, I've ploughed through one of the Java books I borrowed from the library and now I'm going to finish up my Java assignment.

Thought of the day: I have lost faith in the intelligence of the general population. People are gullible...say something like "SOME FUCKING RICH CORPORATION WILL SEND 20000000000 CENTS FOR EVERY TIME THIS MAIL IS FORWARDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU DON'T FORWARD THIS YOU DON'T HAVE A FUCKING HEART!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERY FUCKING PERSON IN YOUR CONTACT LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and people will start forwarding the chain mail left, right and center. Never mind that there's no way to track every email (unless that someone is the NSA). Never mind that this has been proven as a hoax email. Get a grip people. There is *GASP* no little girl with a hole in her heart/cancer/some weird disease waiting for your 2 cents to have an operation. There is *GASP* no company tracking the emails and donating 2 cents to that little girl. If you believe everything you read, I've got a nice island I'm willing to part with for the low, low price of $1000 dollars. And I'll throw in a couple of coconut trees with that as well, if you ACT NOW. Please mail me to get my anonymous PO Box mail address where I can abscond with your money and disappear without a trace.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:44 PM Permalink | Comments (2)

This is what I've been up to today

Finals are less than a month away. I've resorted to "counting time" to get my revision done before the finals. It works like this. It doesn't matter what time you sleep or wake up, but make sure that there is at least 16 hours between the time you wake up and the time you sleep again. Like for instance, I woke up at 3 pm today. That means I'll have to wait until 7 am to sleep again. That way I don't shaft myself by sleeping too much. =D

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:12 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

A$3.99 DVDs

JB You've Done It Again! I saw DVDs starting from A$3.99 and above in JB Hi-Fi. I'm not sure if this is a store wide thing though, coz I only went to the Chadstone one. There was a shelf full of B-Movies going for A$3.99 and I bought 5 of the cheesiest looking ones. Heh. The titles are:

Murder On Flight 502 [IMDB]

Replikator [IMDB]

Force : Five [IMDB]

Bio-Force I [IMDB]

Cartoon Classics - Superman (No IMDB listing)

B-Movie Bonanza!

Funny quote of the day: Jimmy (after seeing Bio-Force I) - "You mean there is a Bio-Force II???"

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:39 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Attack of the Clones!

A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love.

I went to Chadstone this afternoon with Jimmy and got myself a ticket to the first screening of Star Wars Episode II. I did call them yesterday and they said there were about 180 tickets left. However when I went in today, the attendant told me the tickets were all sold out. Luckily they opened up another session, so I did get a ticket. wh00t! Interesting tidbit - Since Australia is faster (GMT +10) than most of the world and George Lucas wanted a worldwide same day release on the 16th of May, we get to see it faster than most of the world. =D Note the ticket, it says 15th of May 11:59 PM. *gloat*

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:28 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

King of the Nordic Twilight

I was surfing the network just now, looking for new music and I stumbled upon this gem. The music reminds me of something out of Final Fantasy (the RPG, not the movie). I seldom find music that I enjoy without having to have it "grow on me", and this was one of the rare occasions where I liked an album on the first listen. It sounds remarkably similar to Cradle of Filth, but without Dani Filth's high pitched vocals. Think Dusk and Her Embrace with only the female vocals. It's epic music, very nice, but it's not as gothic as CoF. King of the Nordic Twilight is by Luca Turilli and it's more "happy sounding" than CoF although I found their sound quite similar. I also found Slayer's latest album - God Hates Us All, kudos to them for managing to sound the same after all these years. The first time I heard Slayer is on South of Heaven and now, 10 (?) years later, they still sound the same, with the same issues getting their panties all in a twist too. How's that for dedication to a genre? =D

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:42 PM Permalink | Comments (2)

Mmmm...

Dining room dessert of the day - Poached pear with ice cream. I love this stuff.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:55 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Muzak

Welp...I just got back from my Java mid semester test. It was pretty easy but I'm kicking myself now for not studying the theory part more. I was led to believe that most of the marks will come from modifying source code, but that part was just a measly 3 marks while the theory portion carries 7 marks. Theory stuff is my forte too, so I wish I paid more attention to that. Oh well. Anyway, I'm feeling like a drowned rat right now. It started raining at around 3 pm just now and I went out with clad in only a shirt with a T shirt underneath. It wasn't really cold when I left so I didn't think of bringing my coat along. Which inevitably makes it rain and drenched me while I walked back from the campus center. Anyway, I didn't get much sleep last night and what I had was a caffeine fueled nightmarish nap, so I was feeling pretty sleepy when I got on the bus. It didn't help that I had a sandwich before and food always makes me sleepy. To top it off, the muzak playing in the shuttle bus is a lullaby! I swear to God, it was a damned lullaby. Sweet Mary, mother of Christ...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:37 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Nyo

Strange. I was listening to Digi Charat's Welcome! 2000 track and suddenly felt slightly depressed. It's rather like an RPG.

You see a messy room with soothing music wafting softly out of it

>> ENTER ROOM

You are suddenly hit by an overwhelming sense of Despair

-10 Health

Heh...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:36 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Brainstorm!

or maybe not. I noticed that I have a static IP address at the halls after a reverse DNS lookup. Eureka! I thought and modified my webcam script to load the image by FTP from my machine. Alas...even though I have a static IP, the Monash network does not allow outside connections as I found out. Oh well...back to my revision for tomorrow's test.

P/S - I changed the webcam image manually anyway coz it's getting stale.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:20 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

This just cracked me up

The quality is a bit dodgy coz I used a webcam. The source is a magazine.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:01 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

The Porcelain God

I think I'm slightly lactose intolerant. I've noticed that every time I drink a significant amount of milk or any other dairy food, I end up in the toilet. Anyway, I've found that coffee granules tastes pretty good. I was lazy to wash my only mug last night so I ended up shoveling some coffee into my mouth using a plastic fork and chasing it down with some Breaka. Pretty good buzz and the coffee tastes good too. All roasted and rich.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:24 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Reinforcements have arrived

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:34 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Sleep is for the weak!

or something. :) I have this problem...whenever I want to go to sleep, I have to keep my thoughts in a low key mode about 1 hour before I plan to sleep. If not, my brain will keep on fixating on whatever that I thought of and I can't go to sleep. Today, it started with a simple thought. I was thinking that it's a bit chilly. Then I thought about one time when I went to a rave and it was real cold outside. Then my brain starts producing music. The muted bass sounds you hear from outside a club or rave. Then my brain thinks I dropped speed. I get the surge of adrenaline and then I can't sleep. Jesus Christ bananas. Now I'll have to wait another hour before trying to sleep again. I haven't been to a rave in a long, long time. I don't mean the cheesy quasi raves by big name DJs organized by clubs. I was talking about the underground stuff where everybody is just out to have fun, leave the bullshit and the attitude at the door type of thing. The small gatherings where no one dresses up and everyone has the PLUR thing going and everyone is just out to drop some chemicals and dance! Man, I miss those days. Oh well, back to sleep.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:06 AM Permalink | Comments (2)

OJ

Noticed that the Original Juice Co. are still using Valencia orange concentrate in their juice.

If you can't read that label it says:

Due to a severe shortage of Australian oranges this current season, we have had to blend some Australian Valencia orange concentrate with our squeezed daily orange juice, as a temporary measure. We would like to assure all of our customers, that when the new season oranges becomes available, we will return to our normal 100% squeezed daily product.

I've been drinking this stuff for a long time, and I actually feel that the current batch that has orange concentrate tastes better! It's sweeter.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:47 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Reformatting woes

I finally got around to reformatting my computer. I was using a warez version of Windows XP and even with an activation crack, it expired on me so I was forced to spend nearly the whole night on reinstalling. It's far too complicated to explain. Let it be known that I have 3 warez Windows XP CDs.

CD #1: Proven to work but scratched to the point of being unusable. Bootable.

CD #2: Proven to work only in my DVD drive. Unbootable.

CD #3: Recent burn using an ISO of a corporate edition. Not working.

Basically I took the longest route and finally gave up and reinstalled Windows Me. Mmm...it crashes on me every 3 minutes. Nice. I would install Linux but unfortunately it does not have a version of ICQ that works behind a HTTPS firewall. How sad.

Old trusty

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:11 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Chasing Amy

I just watched the final installment of the Jersey Trilogy by Kevin Smith. I am aware that Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is the last one of that trilogy but I could only find a cam (cams are movies filmed using a camcorder in a cinema - low quality) on it on my network. I generally don't watch cams coz its too blurry and I have to squint to see anything. I prefer DivX (DivX movies are ripped from a DVD - high quality) encoded stuff. The version of Chasing Amy I watched is a rip of the Criterion Collection DVD. I thought it was a pretty good movie, but perhaps I wasn't in the mood to watch a introspective type movie so I couldn't really get into it. For some reason, I feel that Mallrats is a better movie. But Chasing Amy does come up with some interesting questions about relationships. Particularly the one about men wanting to be Marco Polo. It is true in a sense even if most people deny it. This seems to be a main theme in the Jersey Trilogy. It was in Clerks (snowball), Mallrats (uncomfortable place) and Chasing Amy (fingercuffs). I didn't like Ben Affleck in Mallrats and I guess that carried over to this movie. Now I can't watch a movie with Ben Affleck in it without thinking that he's going to screw someone in a very uncomfortable place. No, not in the backseat of a Volkswagen. =D

Best line in the movie: Jay saying "Well look at this morose motherfucker..." (I love alliteration)

The question that begs to be asked: When did Holden (Ben Affleck) become friends with Jay and Silent Bob? I recalled them being not on good terms in Mallrats.

Questionable decision in the movie: Why did they have Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) smoke in the diner? He's not a smoker and its glaringly obvious from the way he doesn't inhale.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:34 PM Permalink | Comments (4)

Why cordless optical mice suck...

or why cordless optical mice using rechargeable Ni-Cd batteries and used by a guy who does not wait until the batteries are discharged before recharging suck. Ni-Cd batteries are particularly sensitive to the "memory effect" [batterybank.com]. Hmm...I think I've lost track of what I wanted to say. I meant to post something along the lines of "wh00t I found my missing battery". Anyway, some background info. I use the Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical [Logitech] keyboard/mouse combo. The good thing is that they look cool. The bad thing is that they require batteries (being cordless) and I've noticed that my CS skillz have gone downhill ever since I used this mouse. Anyway, I'm digressing. The meat of this post:

1. I have 8 rechargable Ni-Cd batteries

2. 4 are for the keyboard and 2 are for the mouse with 2 as backup so that I always have a fresh set.

3. I lost one of them a couple of weeks ago.

4. I found one of them today when I picked up my laundry. It had rolled under a chair.

5. wh00t

Oh Joy! Thou hath not forsaken me!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:46 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Are you going to eat all that? Wow you must be hungry.

The dining room cashier said. I didn't even think it was a lot of food.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:22 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Monash University Engineering Ball

Read this: Disease alert for university [The Age]

It seems that two people who went to the Engineering Ball last week got meningococcal disease which is a form of meningitis [WebMD]. It's curious that meningitis is so prevalent in Australia and NZ but I've hardly ever heard about it in Malaysia. It seems that all outdoor hot springs here have warnings not to submerse your head into the water to avoid getting meningitis. Anyway if you're too lazy to click on the WebMD link, meningitis is an infection of the brain which can be fatal. Apparently the bacterial form is more dangerous than the viral one.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:31 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

73.2%

Wh00t! I got 18.3 out of 25 for my Systems Design and Implementation interview. I missed out on a couple of marks due to not recalling my tutor mentioning that the seven design principles will be in the interview. Must have zoned out or something. Heh. Cheers to my tutor Niresha Mudalige. I think I'll go to sleep now and wake up early tomorrow. Nite people.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:29 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Floyd the Barber

In a fit of righteous anger I snipped off the front locks of my hair. Hmph. That's the last time they're shagging into my eyes and making me not able to concentrate on my lecture notes. I've been putting off going to the hairdressers coz I don't have enough time. The deed was done with a pair of paper scissors. I bunched up the front locks of my hair into a manageable lock and snipped through it with the scissors. It required 3 motions to cut through so it's not that straight, but when I looked into the mirror, I feel that I've done a good job. At least the best that a non professional can do. =D

The lock of hair

The scissors

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:26 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Drive-by street killing

Oh look. The guy that got shot dead in Port Melbourne last night is...the son of Kath Pettingill! If you're not familiar with her, she is the leader of the Pettingill crime family of Melbourne. She has vowed revenge when interviewed by 3AW (the radio station) and said:

"All I can say is to the two persons involved, they can run but they can't hide"

Kath Pettingill

(Picture taken from The Age)

Read more here: Mother vows revenge and warns Chopper

With this and the Margaret and Paul King murders, it seems that the newspapers will be interesting these few days.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:51 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Java Practical Assignment Stage 1

of which I got full marks! :) wh00t. Tell you all something, actually I just finished it 15 minutes before the tutor checked my work! =D I feel like I've gotten away with murder. Heh. Cheers to Thong Le, my Java tutor!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:17 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Grr...

Look at what happened to my doughnuts. It seems that ants have a particular affinity to this kind of doughnuts. I'm serious. I got some of these last week too, and forgot to take them out of my bag and when I looked again, it was crawling with ants! It's like they just came out of nowhere and descended to brutally attack and tear into the soft pink flesh of the poor doughnuts. The horror!

Crawling up my CAT5 cable

Marching towards the battleground

The pain...the pain!!!

It is hard to show the scale of the infestation with such low res pics. The doughnuts are completely covered with ants.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:08 PM Permalink | Comments (1)

It's what's for dinner...

Oh, forgot to tell you all about something I got at Bi Lo today.

[Click on the picture for a larger version]

Yup...

I'm thinking about frying it with some eggs and eating it for dinner. Look at the price, it's only A$1.37 for three pieces of grey matter. Mmmm...

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 01:44 AM Permalink | Comments (4)

Scotch Tape

Me and Adrian went to get some groceries at Bi Lo and also went to get take away at McDonalds. There was this incident that struck me as really funny. I was paying for my Quarter Pounder meal using EFTPOS. I tried swiping the card through the reader but it just won't read my card. After having no luck after the fourth try, the cashier got the shift manager to come over. The shift manager apologized and informed me that the reader is quite sensitive. She then got - get this - two rolls of scotch tape out of her pocket, used one of them to tape the magnetic strip of my EFTPOS card and bit the end off with her teeth. And sure enough, on the next try, the scanner did read my card perfectly. Hah! The shift manager even had the forethought to have 2 rolls of scotch tape in her pocket just for this. I wish I had my digicam already. The fact that the shift manager had TWO rolls of scotch tape in her pocket cracked me up. The funny part is the shift manager trying to get the EFTPOS card to read on the scanner with that scotch tape. Hilarious. Or maybe I'm just easily amused. =D

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:34 AM Permalink | Comments (0)