sixthseal.com – Page 298 – Leading the wild into the ways of the man…

Green Dragon

January 18, 2003 by HB

Green Dragon

Substance: Cannabis dissolved in 95% alcohol
Also known as: “Green Dragon”

The main ingredient

allowed to steep in the 95% spirit

Preparation: I shredded some cannabis buds into small bits
and put them in this 95% (190 proof) pure grain alcohol called
Spirytus. Yes, that’s 95% Vol/Alc. I think this is the highest amount
of stable alcohol you can have without it pulling moisture from the
atmosphere and re-diluting it self. This is similar to the spirit
marketed as Everclear in the United States. I got this bottle at a
Greek bottle shop near my place. It’s A$ 50 for the 500 ml bottle. The
cashier asked me what I wanted it for, and I said “to dissolve plant
material in” and he went “oh okay”. 🙂 Heh.

The front of the bottle – Spirytus

Anyway, I did drink quite a bit of the stuff, it really packs a
punch if you drink it neat. I usually pour some of the stuff into a
plastic bottle of diet coke and drink it. I learnt that this could be a
bad idea though, the grain alcohol is also solvent grade so it could
dissolve plastic. I’m not saying that it can, I really don’t know, but
it could. It easily rubbed off the blue use by dates on those bottles
anyway. It also tends to turn a chilled drink into a warm drink. Yuck.

The back of the bottle – Spirytus Pure Spirit 95% Vol/Alc

I’m digressing. Anyway, before I came back for a holiday, I shredded
some cannabis buds and put it into what remained of the bottle. When I
returned a couple of days ago, I noticed that the alcohol had been
colored a nice green by the cannabis. The cannabis has been left in the
bottle for a total of 5 weeks (and 3 days) so that should be sufficient
to allow the THC to leach out from the plant into the alcohol. I kept
it in a dark cupboard all this while and it turned a deeper green when
I shook the bottle. Anyway, I felt that this was a good time as any to
have a taste so I took a couple of shots in some diet coke on an empty
stomach.

The result after 5 weeks (and 3 days)

Time: 1:16 am

Poured 3 1/2 shots into 300 ml of diet coke. It tastes EXACTLY like
what marijuana smoke tastes like when inhaled. nice. yum. I think the
alcohol dissolved some nasty stuff from the plastic bottles too…yuck.
it tastes chemical. Chugged it anyway

Time: 1:40 am

Felt slightly drunk with classic finger numbness. heh.

Time: 2:07 am

Feeling slightly stoned too, but the alcohol is masking most of the
good aspects of mj. can feel enchaced auditory appreciation but no
munchies yet.

Time: 2:18 am

ah feeling slightly stoned now. 🙂 good. but it’s a more relaxed
laid back kind of stoned though, not like the seriously stoned you can
get when you smoke bowl after bowl after bowl

Time: 2:27 am

it feels strange, but good. 🙂 i’ve had alcohol + mj before, in that
order. drank a six pack and smoked a couple of bowls and felt great
too, but this is somehow slightly different to that feeling. for one
thing i don’t feel so sedated i’m about to sleep. perhaps that coz of
the caffeine? had a couple of coffees before this too. it is a very
nice feeling though, very laid back and chilly. much more mellow that
smoking bowls but it’s fun too. not as intense, and you have to consume
a whole lot of pesticide while at it too.

Time 3:15 am

Feeling wasn’t satisfactory so i pored another shot of the stuff
into a 500 ml can of beer and skulled it. i can smell the mj. mmm

Time: 3:34 am

feeling pretty good now. 1/2 drunkish 1/2 stoned but not a lot of
head fuck unlike when i’m stoned. it’s pretty mellow and nice though.
would go well with a couple of valiums but i’m saving my stash for a
rainy day.

Time: 3:50 am

yeah feeling nice. stoned and a little pissed at the same time. nice
nice nice. I’m watching My Wife is 18 – the one by Ekin Cheng and I’m
laughing myself to tears
haha
not so funny is the fact that i watched disc 2 before watching disc 1 though coz the files were mislabeled on the network.

Anyway, the stuff was good, but not as intense as I would have
liked. Perhaps I should have dissolved more cannabis buds into the
alcohol, I’ll do that next time. Note that you need a high proof
alcohol to dissolve the stuff in, coz THC is alcohol (and fat) soluble
but not water soluble, thus you’ll want a high proof alcohol like
Bacardi 151 or even better, this 95% stuff.

Coming soon: Cooking with Cannabis 😉

Australian Open 2003

January 15, 2003 by HB

Daniela Hantuchova…mmm

Daniela Hantuchova is delicious! I watched her play today because
Anna Kournikova’s match was held in Rod Laver Arena and the tickets to
those has sold out ages ago. Thus, I went to Margaret Court Arena
instead and watched two matches: Denisa Chladkova (CZE) vs. Alexandra
Stevenson (USA) and Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Adriana Serra Zanetti
(ITA). I was there at 9 am so I managed to get a good seat.

Denisa Chladkova (CZE) vs. Alexandra Stevenson (USA)

When I arrived at Margaret Court Arena, Denisa Chladkova was already
practicing with a couple of other people at that time. The match was
supposed to start at 10 am and she changed and came back in again at 10
am. She wore a blue outfit and has a seemingly endless amount of new
rackets. I saw her change her racket mid-game. Alexandra Stevenson on
the other hand was wearing a bright pink ensemble. She was wearing that
under a tracksuit while practicing and she got a few catcalls when she
took off her tracksuit. I admit, she does look pretty good in pink. 😉

Alexandra Stevenson fixing her racket

Denisa Chladkova stretching

Alexandra Stevenson is the 15th seed but I was rooting for Denisa
Chladkova coz I like her on-court personality. I don’t know how high
Denisa Chladkova is ranked but usually it’s a higher ranked player
(Alexandra Stevenson) against a lower ranked one.

Denisa Chladkova in action

Alexandra Stevenson in action

Anyway, the match didn’t start out well for Alexandra Stevenson,
Denisa Chladkova defeated her 6-2 in the first set and 6-2 again in the
second. It caused Alexandra Stevenson so much frustration that she
uttered some choice quotes during the match:

Arrrggggggghhhhhh!!!
(heard after missing a ball)

No!!! This is so ridiculous!!!
(heard after hitting an out ball)

It wasn’t even ON THE LINE! It was OUT!
(heard after the umpire’s decision that Denisa Chladkova’s ball was in)

A very high strung individual if I ever saw one. 🙂 Anyway,
Alexandra Stevenson walked off immediately after losing the match, and
Denisa Chladkova stayed a while to sign autographs.

Alexandra Stevenson going off after the losing the match

Interesting notes about this match:
Denisa Chladkova has a stash pocket in her skirt that allows her to store an unlimited amount of tennis balls, or so it seems.

Winner: Denisa Chladkova in two sets (6-2) (6-2)

Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Adriana Serra Zanetti (ITA)

The next match was the one I wanted to see, Daniela Hantuchova vs.
Adriana Serra Zanetti. Daniela Hantuchova is the ranked number 7th and
you probably know her anyway since she has a large fan base as well.

Daniela Hantuchova walking into the court

Look at those legs

Famed for her long legs, she was wearing a pink skirt/short combo
and a sleeveless white top. Adriana Serra Zanetti was wearing a white
skirt and top. It’s worthy to note that the court was full for this
match and there were people watching from the top of Rod Laver Arena as
well. Daniela Hantuchova is popular with the crowd so that’s not a
surprise.

Adriana Serra Zanetti in action

Anyway, it must be hard for Adriana Serra Zanetti because she didn’t
get much cheers from the crowd while everyone cheers loudly whenever
Daniela Hantuchova got a point. There were constant chants of “Go
Daniela” as well. A further demoralizing point is that all the cameras
were pointed at Daniela Hantuchova almost all the time.

Daniela Hantuchova resting during a break

The match was very exiting though. It wasn’t an easy win for Daniela
Hantuchova, she was worked VERY hard by Adriana Serra Zanetti. The
first set was close…it went to 7-6 (6). The next set was even closer.
Daniela Hantuchova came back from a 4 game deficit to pull the game
into a tiebreaker. Man, was that tiebreaker exciting.

Daniela Hantuchova ready for action

It went well for Daniela Hantuchova at first, but Adriana Serra
Zanetti gave her a serious run for her money and it went back and forth
many times at game point. I don’t watch much tennis, but that had me on
the edge of my seat, biting my nails or whatever cliché you like.

Daniela Hantuchova making a serve

It wasn’t much fun for Daniela Hantuchova, she threw her racket on
the court in frustration two times after missing two crucial chances to
take the set. Unfortunately, I missed her doing it both times coz my
digicam’s battery was low at that point and I couldn’t turn it on fast
enough to take a photo of her doing that. However, after this back and
forth excitement, she finally took the match. Before that, there was
already a queue to get her autograph and I was near the front so I was
crushed a bit in my attempt to take a close up photo of her. Good game,
I really enjoyed this match.

Daniela Hantuchova in action

Interesting notes about this match:
Daniela Hantuchova has a pretty big bruise on her left thigh.

Winner: Daniela Hantuchova in two sets 7/6(6) 7/6(3).

Anyway, I walked around and watched a couple of matches at the other
courts before heading home. I saw on the big screen TV that Anna
Kournikova lost 6-0 6-1.

The central court

There were several other stuff happening around the central court
too, a lot of tennis related games and other interactive stuff.

Interactive Zone

Oh, and I got really badly sun burnt today. My face and arms are
red, itchy and peeling and it hurts when I touch it. I thought I didn’t
need any sun screen coz today’s forecast was going to be 23 degrees
max. Unfortunately, I’ve learnt that it doesn’t need to be hot to get
sun burnt and also that it is very easy to get badly sun burnt in
Australia. And there I was, thinking “haha pussies” at all those people
putting sun screen while watching the match. 🙂

P/S – Don’t forget to click on the Picture of the Day (PoTD) at the
right hand side menu for one of the better photos I took of Daniela
Hantuchova today.

Kind bud

January 15, 2003 by HB

I’ve had some problems getting a decent amount of cannabis ever
since I came back to Melbourne. Yes, I arrived here a couple of days
ago. The person I usually go through usually have no problems
in getting really QUALITY dank ass weed, but he is going through a
different supplier now. He related the story to me today while he
brought over some of his personal stash. Apparently, there were some
problems with the usual supplier in that he’s decided that he’s going
to quit supplying because it gives him too much temptation to do it
himself. So, my contact has to go through another guy, who has to go
through another guy, so there are some supply issues. The stuff is not
as good as the dank ass nuggets from the previous supplier but I still
consider it kind bud as it’s stronger, hairy-er and has more THC
crystals than the commercial quality weed I get from another guy. I
like this guy coz there’s not many people out there who delivers
(remember, mosts busts are made just after you’ve purchased) and is not a dodgy guy to boot. There are just too many dodgy people in the business.

Disclaimer: veritas is not the owner of sixthseal.com. He’s a guest author who occasionally posts here.

Disclaimer #2: veritas is not currently in possession of any illicit substances. All the abovementioned cannabis has been disposed of.

One Love

January 14, 2003 by HB

Guess where I’m going tomorrow? Okay, you don’t have to guess, just click here
[ausopen.org]. I got the tickets on a whim today after seeing that Anna
Kournikova will be playing tomorrow. She’ll be up against Justine
Henin-Hardenne and honestly, I don’t expect her to win, but it’ll be
fun to watch anyway. The tournament schedule hasn’t been posted as of
now, so I don’t know when she’ll be playing. I hope it’s not late as I
don’t want to camp there the whole day. I have recharged my digicam’s
batteries and I hope I’ll be able to get some good pics posted by
tomorrow. 😉

Anyway, my walkthrough went pretty well. I didn’t sleep yesterday to
finish my stuff for the walkthrough, so I’m feeling pretty tired right
about now. Which is okay I guess, I’m planning to go to sleep at 6 pm
and wake up at 6 am (gotta compensate for last night) and that will
give me enough time to be at the gates when they open at 9 am. I don’t
have my usual summer semester class today because the subject I’m
taking runs for 3 weeks, which gives a total of 15 days, and a usual
semester only runs for 13 lectures and tutes. Thus, I have today, next
Tuesday and next Thursday free. Hooray for that, because even though
I’m not sleepy yet (had enough caffeine to kill a small horse) I don’t
think I’ll be raring to go to class anyway.

The Gauntlet

January 13, 2003 by HB

I had to run the gauntlet today while getting my clothes from the
laundry room. The sprinklers were on, and they rotate 360 degrees while
spraying an arc of water all around the base. It is possible to get
through without getting wet though, because they don’t all rotate at
the same time. However, it does require a certain amount of dexterity
and timing on my part so that my dry clothes do not get wet again. 😉

Anyway, I have a walkthrough for my Industrial Experience tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Sunday

January 12, 2003 by HB

Today was very warm…it was 33 degrees for the better part of the
day. It’s not the 40.2 degree scorcher from a couple of days back, but
it was enough to be uncomfortable without air conditioning. Anyway, I
walked to Yun Yun to get something for dinner. I brought my digicam
along so you can see what I see when I walk that 20 minute distance to
the nearest place I can get food during summer break.

A dead crow through a fence.

Rows and rows of some kind of flower.

A whole lotta new garbage bins.

I also noticed that Yun Yun has replaced their tables and chairs
with newer ones. I was particularly impressed by this guy who ate 3
large plates of kueh tiaw by himself. He was practically wolfing it
down and he drank from his large Gatorade bottle from time to time too.
What is amazing about that is the fact that the guy is skinny and not
very tall…I caught myself wondering how long he has been without food.
Also, the portions we get in Chinese restaurants in Australia is very,
very big compared to back home. Watching him made me feel hungry
myself. Heh.

Today is a Sunday, so if you didn’t go to church, you’ll do well to listen to some MP3 sermons [arpc.net], heathen!

In Soviet Russia…

January 11, 2003 by HB

I went to get some fish and chips for dinner with Jimmy today. Jimmy
is my old buddy from college and it seems that he has decided to go
back to Singapore for good next week for personal reasons. Hmm…now
there’s one less person in halls over summer. It’s gonna be a long
summer…

Now that reminds me of the first time I came over to Melbourne in
2000. I was missing my girlfriend very much and suddenly broke into a
refrain of Sealed With A Kiss (the oldie) while walking home from
playing basketball with a couple of friends. Heh. Oh yes its gonna
be a looooong, looooonely summerrrrrr…but darling I prooomise you
thissss – I’ll send you all my looove…EVERY day in a letter…
Seeeealed with a kisssss. lalala Not sure how the actual lyrics
go, but I’m famed for intentionally singing the wrong lyrics and adding
in bits and parts of my own to songs anyway.

Anyway, I was heating up a rice box for dinner last night and I
happen to notice that someone did a bit of graffiti on a food safety
poster. It’s hardly noticeable since it was done using a pin by slowly
poking small holes to make words, but I just happened to notice it
yesterday. It goes:

Hi KARMEN WAS HERE

And someone else put this below it:

SHE MUST HAVE BEEN BORED

Heh. I loved it so much I’m gonna make it Picture of the Day. Click here
[sixthseal.com] for a large version of the graffiti or click on the
picture to the right of the screen. This is the original poster:

It’s all good though, did you know that:

In Soviet Russia, the posters pin-graffiti YOU!

Ouch.

Edit (15-01-2003): Fixed link since the POTD has changed.

Bills, bills, bills

January 10, 2003 by HB

Bill #1
A$1,937.50 for BUS3650 Business Applications in Neural Networks, my
summer semester subject. I’m gonna have to call my bank on Monday to
use BPAY to pay this one.

Bill #2
A$502.50 as the Halls of Residence rent for the month of January. This
is the new 2003 rates (or so I heard) which charges A$16.75 per day.
But then I vaguely remember staying in halls over summer is more
expensive than in normal semester. I remember my bills being over A$500
when I stayed over summer during the 2000/2001 period. I’m not sure
what the logic behind raising rent during a low vacancy period is, but
oh well…

Bill #3
The third bill, for my unpaid November rent, the January rent added in
and a A$28.45 bill which is probably the net access bill, but from what
month? Also, they seem to be billing me at the summer (or 2003) rates
for the November month. I’ll need to follow this up.

After I pay all of this, I’ll be A$2970.95 poorer (the first bill is
already integrated into the third bill). That’s around RM6000. A bit
off-putting, all this bills.

Anyway, I noticed that Sibu
[sibu.com.my] has a new official homepage. It’s pretty nifty and if you
find yourself wondering “WTF is this Sibu thing this guy keeps going on
about?” you’ll do well to browse around the site. 🙂 They actually have
cams
[sibu.com.my] running at Wisma Sanyan (I presume) which shows a view of
the town square, one showing the Rejang River, Central Market and
Pagoda and the last one showing the mist garden, Brooke Drive and a
sizable chunk of the town. I was impressed.

Ahhh…..

January 7, 2003 by HB

I went to the ATM straight after my 8:15 am supervisor meeting and
was very relieved to see that my bank draft has finally cleared on the
6th day (I banked it in on Thursday). Gone are the days when I have to
survive solely on instant noodles! Anyway, I withdrew some money and
went to Coles to get some much needed groceries. Much of it is junk
food, as you can see. 🙂 However, I did get some food items too, like
the steak pies and the 1kg bag of rice. I also got some laundry
detergent so I can finally get some laundry done. Anyway, I had wanted
to go to McDonalds to get some nice, solid food inside me, but it was
still early then and the breakfast menu was still on, so I just had an
egg and bacon McMuffin.

Today’s weather was very naughty. It hit 38 degrees in the
afternoon. 🙁 I was half baked (and it wasn’t the good kind of half
baked too) and the heat still hasn’t dissipated from my room.
Thankfully, the mercury has dropped somewhat since then, but it’s still
pretty warm. Summer over here sucks, it can get much hotter than in
Malaysia and the dry weather makes you feel the heat just that much
more.

Edit: Oh, it wasn’t a 38 degree summer after all…turns out to be 40.2 degrees! No wonder it felt so hot today. Read this [theage.com.au].

Link: Got the back to work blues? [theage.com.au]

Yes, yes I do indeed. This is part of the article:

“It’s a very real thing … the back to work blues is really
about people thinking they didn’t quite have enough of a holiday,” said
Dr Wilks, a professor of tourism, who is also a psychologist.

You pulled the words straight outta my mouth, buddy. I know everyone
is probably sick of hearing me say this already, but damn, it sucks
being in Melbourne when most students are still in Malaysia, about to
celebrate Chinese New Year with all the traffic jams and the reunions
and the visiting and the CNY songs and the firecrackers and everything.
I don’t even want to think about what I’m missing.

It would be great if I had a 4 month holiday though, I can usually
stretch my summer holidays to 4 months if my exam timetables are
aligned right. It’ll be nice to come back for a 3 month semester and
then graduate, coz then I’ll be thinking I don’t have enough time here
in Melbourne to visit all the attractions I still haven’t visited
instead of thinking about what I’m missing back in Sibu. 🙂 I have
missed celebrating Chinese New Year in Sibu too many times…just too
many times.

Link of the day: Cannabis: The good oil on Jesus [theage.com.au]

Heal me.

The Ketchup Song

January 6, 2003 by HB

I caught this meme (if you can call it that) late. I didn’t even
know what the ketchup song was until roughly 2 weeks ago. The person
who told me was flabbergasted at my lack of erudition and acted like I
had committed a serious social faux pas. 🙂 Anyway, I’ve heard bits and
pieces of it while in shopping malls but didn’t know it was the ketchup
song then. Look at this, it’s pretty good and there is a bit of
interactive stuff (erm…a mouse click) which explains the lyrics in
the middle part too.

Link: The Ketchup Song [cutestuf.com]