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.
Month: June 2002
Mist Garden
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.
Stoopid
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.
2-1 and gourmet pet food
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.
Flight Cancelled – Fog
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.
Selamat Datang Ke Malaysia
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.
Mum’s the word
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.
Let my angels sing
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.
Pepsi Twist and Diet Coke with Lemon Flavor
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)
Power bars that cost more than a meal
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.
