No Optus

Has anyone ever heard of cell relay stations going down? A couple of
minutes ago my monitor was flickering like an SMS or call is about to
come through. I put my cell phone next to the monitor because I have my
headphones on when I’m using the computer and I need to know when I
have calls coming in. The monitor flickering (electromagnetic
disturbance?) is the best ring tone ever. πŸ™‚

Anyway, I’m digressing. My phone was causing the monitor to flicker
because it’s actively searching for a station. The station I use when
I’m home is the Clayton North one. I know because cell phone companies
here have this feature that displays the station you’re using (and thus
the area you’re in) on the cell phone display instead of the operator
logo.

Well, it was searching for a signal just now and ended up displaying
SOS Calls Only. I turned it on and off and it still couldn’t get a
signal, but after 5 minutes, it showed the Oakleigh South station with
a very low signal strength (because its further away than the Clayton
North one). It’s back to Clayton North now, but I just thought it was
interesting that happened. Hmm…yes, I’m bored. Okay, back to work.

Mmm…chicken

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What I like about these chicken packs are the vegies inside them.
They look like leaves and taste like them too. πŸ™‚ There’s quite a bit
of variety inside too, there are broad green leaves, reddish branches
and stuff like that. Anyway, I’m feeling uninspired and amotivated
today. Still have to work on my stuff for tomorrow’s supervisor meeting
though. I’ll go pop some bubble wrap…

Link of the Day: Perpetual Bubble Wrap [urban75.com]

I could do this all day. There’s just something very appealing about
popping bubble wrap. I can’t stop myself from pressing the round
thingys on drinks from McDonalds too. It’s those round raised things
with labels like ‘Diet’, ‘Other’ etc. Those things are so compulsive…

Someone please wipe the drool off my chin

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I’ve just watched this NTU (Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore) Halls of Residence cheerleading video from last year that
Daniel kindly FTPed to me. The pictures are pretty blur because I had
to photograph the monitor. I can’t seem to grab screenshots of MPEGs in
Windows XP. It’s some kind of interhalls competition and I was
surprised that some of the routines are really good. There was one that
particularly stood out, I can’t remember which stairway it was but they
had the Moulin Rouge Can Can snippet which lead into Offspring’s
Original Prankster. I liked the intro where they lifted this girl high
up and she waves and did the arms-folded-trust-drop that cheerleaders
do. It’s a really good video, if you’re inside the Monash network I’ve
got it shared under killuminati in Direct Connect (Hub: davo).
Otherwise, bug Daniel [mailto:] to send a copy to you. πŸ™‚

Anyway, as I was walking to the dining hall today, I passed by a
possum rummaging around in a rubbish bin. I didn’t see the little guy
until I was right beside him and in a caffeine induced jitter, I jumped
a little. Well, I think I scared the possum more than he did me,
because he jumped even higher and scrambled over several rubbish bins
and flinged himself into a wall! Ouch.

Link of the Day: A Frightened Boy [rathergood.com]

I’ll have two of whatever he’s having. Oh, and if anyone knows the
title of the song used in the flash animation, give me a holler. Thanks!

Cones

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Cones is a brand of joint paper cones made by Mountain High
[mountainhigh.nl]. It retails for A$3.95 at Off Ya Tree, a local
headshop. I’ll be honest with ya, my butter fingers can’t roll good
joints. The joints that I make inevitably draws very poorly, due to the
cannabis not being packed tightly. Cigarette smokers, you know what I
mean. When you don’t ‘pack’ a pack of cigarettes by tapping it upside
down against your hand before opening, the draw (referring to the air
flow here) becomes very poor. I don’t know how to explain it, but
packing cigarettes optimizes the air flow and makes it draw better.

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Anyway, enough about (the lack of) my joint rolling skillz. I
usually smoke marijuana using a bong because smoking it with joints
seems like such a waste of good cannabis. However, there are times when
toking on a joint seems appropriate, like during celebrations or in
situations where it’s not feasible to carry around a bong with you. The
Cones by Mountain High comes in a pack of three and is made using king
sized joint paper.

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The instructions at the back shows two methods of filling the cone –
by pushing the cannabis into the cone using the supplied straw, or by
tipping the cannabis directly into the cone. Personally, I find the
first way to be easier. The cone can be laid flat against any surface
and filled by pushing the pre-shredded cannabis into the cone. This
makes it less prone to structural damage to the cone. I’ll explain more
in the paragraph below.

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The second method is done by tipping the cannabis into the cone
instead of pushing it. The packaging of Cones has this removable hole
on the upper right hand corner with the word Remove. By
removing the hole and putting the package back side up, there is a
place for you to place the cone while you fill it using the second
method. The packaging of the front is such that it produces an elevated
platform for the cone to be placed in the hole when it’s overturned.
Very nifty indeed. However, this method makes it easy to accidentally
touch the cone with the card you’re using to drop the cannabis into the
cone. Doing this of course makes it bend at the weakest point (the
thinnest point closes to the filter) and has the potential to tear the
cone if you do it hard enough.

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Now to the taste test. The paper used to make the cone is thin, and
it tends to burn too fast for my liking even if you’re not toking on
it, which is wasteful. The taste of the cone leaves much to be desired
as well. It has this rice paper taste which is unnatural and somewhat
distasteful. The taste of the paper tends to overshadow the sweet
tasting marijuana smoke. The structure of the cone is pretty flimsy as
well, but that shouldn’t pose a problem if you’re reasonably careful.

Personally, I don’t like it enough to want to buy it again. But it
certainly has its merits. The cardboard filter works well in keeping
the shredded cannabis in the joint instead of drawing it into your
lungs which is an ‘Ack!’ moment that I always have when rolling my own
joints. If you look hard enough, you can see small groove patterns in
the paper, like the ones most cigarettes have. This is to make the
joint burn evenly, and it does that well. A nice touch, this. Also, the
straw included in each cone is perfect for packing the marijuana into
the cone, leading to a very good draw.

It’s A$3.95, which isn’t really expensive, but you can get rolling papers for much less than that. I’ll prefer the Royal Blunts EZ Roll Tube [sixthseal.com] though, if I want a change from smoking from a bong.

Caution: Possession of cannabis is against the law in most countries.

Explosive Diarrhea

I woke up today having to run to sit on my porcelain throne. I
barely made it. In fact, I think maybe I didn’t after all. *cough* I
haven’t expelled such a large volume of watery feces with such force
for a long time and I’m looking back to dinner last night to see what
went wrong. I had:

King Island Dairy Roaring Forties Blue Cheese

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This one is not very likely because I’ve eaten from the same wedge without problems yesterday.

Superior Gold Tasmanian Smoked Salmon

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Vacuum packed and sealed package, so it doesn’t seem to be the offending party as well.

Coles Croissants

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It’s bread. No mold, so not very likely.

Frozen cooked prawns from the Coles deli

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I’m putting my money on this one. Are you supposed to eat prawns
labeled as “frozen, cooked” from the deli straight off the package? It
came in a ring of about 40 prawns and it even had a small indent in the
package for dip! It sure looked like it can be eaten without any
further cooking. Well, the prawns still looked a bit raw and tasted
raw, but there was a dip bowl built into the ring! Why would someone do
that if it’s meant for cooking?

Sibu, CNY, Class of ’98

These are the photos of the Chinese New Year mega gathering of
Methodist High School Class of ’98 which I missed due to coming back
early. πŸ™ Daniel sent me the pics today for everyone to download. He
also sends his apologies because the pictures are not taken very well.
I’m going to put this up for a week and then I’ll take it down, so if
you’re in the picture, get it now. πŸ™‚

Right click, Save as

methcny1.jpg

Download here. (2.12 MB)

methcny2.jpg

Download here. (2.00 MB)

[Edit: Large pictures have been removed.]

Curious George

I didn’t do too well in the exam today, but I should be able to
pass. *fingers crossed* I only got 1 hour of sleep last night. Wanted
to sleep at 2:30 am but couldn’t so I laid in bed doing jack shit until
5:30 am before I finally decided against sleeping and got up and
studied some more. I thought about crunching up a couple of Valiums
(legally prescribed) and getting some sleep, but that would not be such
a good idea considering there’s no way I would be getting 8 hours of
sleep. Diazepam makes me feel really scattered if I don’t sleep for a
decent amount of time after taking it.

Anyway, I did finally sleep for slightly more than an hour at 8 am.
Woke up feeling strangely refreshed and got some serious studying done.
I always tend to cram a few hours before the exam. George picked up the
shovel and started digging into the ground. The tree has been there for
more than 7 decades, but good things must come to an end. He digs, one
shovel at a time, one rock at a time, one pebble at a time. The
children crowded around him, peering curiously at George. Curious
George.

Sleep beckons me.

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