If anyone saw the main page revert back to July, fear not…you have not gone back in time.
Apparently, the server my blog is hosted on had a “catastrophic hard disk failure”. My hosting
company only does monthly backups because they want to minimize server downtime, which is fair
enough, but now I’ll have to re-upload one month’s worth of stuff. How fun. It’s going to take a
while so expect some pictures to be broken and not all links fully working. My apologies. Fun fun
fun.
Nostalgia
I went to get some fish and chips just now and man, did that bring back some memories. It seems
that Australia/New Zealand fish and chips shops looks about the same. Greasy interior, a bench with
old magazines for people waiting in line and a slightly depressing ambience. I remember I used look
forward to eat one serving of fish and chips as a Sunday meal back when I was in New Zealand. Just
a pack of fish (NZ$1.10) a piece of fish (NZ$1.10) and a whole bottle of tomato sauce (NZ$2.40). I
will then absolutely saturate the chips with tomato sauce (about a 400 ml bottle) and eat the whole
thing with relish. Another “fish and chips memory” would be staying out in town late most weekdays
while still wearing my school uniform with a couple of my buddies. I was in high school then –
Riccarton High School in Church Corner, Christchurch. We would go to the city square straight after
class and hang around town until around 12 midnight. There was a fish and chip shop near the city
and we would always get something to eat there and play the old arcade games in the shop for a
while before taking the bus back to Church Corner.
This picture is from the Riccarton High School [school.nz] website.
Hmm…looking at the web page sure brings back a lot of memories. The circle shows my first home
stay when I was there. I was always late for school and to avoid the gate keeper, I would jump
over the fence which connects the school grounds and the backyard of my home stay. Pretty nifty
eh? =D It works both ways, but climbing into the school grounds is easier than climbing into my
home stay backyard. This is because there are lumbar supports on the backyard side of the fence
to use as footholds. If I wanted to climb back into my home stay backyard, I would need to pull
myself up and vault over. It was hard to do that in the beginning, but after a bit of practice,
I got really good at it. This is useful for an entirely different reason. I didn’t have a lunch
pass then so I couldn’t go out of school grounds. The backyard trick allows me to go out without
having to pass though the gate. Heh. Those were the days indeed.
Sleep is good
I saw this Cultural Carnival going on at the campus grounds this morning as I was on my way to
class. I didn’t get to really check it out coz I was in a hurry, but there were some food being
prepared and a group playing bagpipes on stage.
The Korean booth at Cultural Carnival.
Anyway, I got my gym membership card today and a reciprocal card so I can use any of the gyms in
the campuses (there are six in Melbourne alone) of Monash University. Which reminds me (I won’t
know why it reminds me, it just did) I have to wake up tomorrow at 7 am to prepare for a client
meeting for my Industrial Experience project. That leaves…lemme see…about 4 hours of shuteye if
I prepare to go to sleep now. Sounds like a good idea. I had an issue very recently. As it turns out, it was bed bugs. Thankfully I was able to find do it yourself treatment options online so it wasn’t too much of a hassle, but still a little gross to find out. At least that’s taken care of now. I’m not sure how long I dealt with it to be honest, but it was a pretty long time if memory serves. I’m going to be more mindful of that from here on that’s for sure.
Captain’s Log
I’ve been watching the DVR rips of Star Trek: Enterprise [startrek.com]
Season 1 and it’s pretty good. I’ve always been a bit of a Star Trek fan but I like to watch
episodes back to back. The opening is really good, quite a departure from previous Star Trek
openings. Another thing worth of note is that it’s showed in 16:9 aspect ratio. The Enterprise
seems to have an agreeable cast as well, with Scott Bakula (of Quantum Leap – love that show
too) as the captain and the delicious Jolene Blalock and Linda Park as the female bridge crew
members. The facial repertoire of Jolene Blalock (who plays a Vulcan Science Officer) greatly
reminds me of one of my friends back in Kuching. It seems rather interesting that Linda Park (a
Korean) is playing a Japanese Ensign officer in the series though. Incidentally, I have been
playing a bit of the Star Trek: Dominion War
[campaigncreations.com] mod for Starcraft recently. It’s okay, but the Defiant ships are way
overpowered.
Anyway, I’m feeling rather queasy now and have been visiting the toilet numerous times today
courtesy of “Hot Lemon Chicken”. Damn, that hot lemon chicken is helluva hot. Even writing this is
getting me started up again. Gotta go.
Feel the burn
I had a physical exam for my gym membership and an appointment with a trainer to manage my
workout today. I seem to have a “risk factor” in that I have hypertension. It’s 143/95, which is
slightly high, but I already know I have borderline high blood pressure. It seems that the
diastolic blood pressure is an important hypertension number for younger people. I have clocked in
higher blood pressure figures though. I didn’t have my usual nitro powered coffee and sodium
saturated meals today to have a more presentable reading. Heh. I actually haven’t eaten anything
for 16 hours prior to the reading, but that’s because I usually only eat one meal a day. I seem to
have put on some weight too. I’m 73 kgs now, a gain of 3 kgs since my last weighing. However, I
seem to have grown 1 cm. Heh. I had 171 cm down as my height and after measuring, it turned out to
be 172 cm. Anyway, I was put on a rather rigorous cardio + weight training program. It was
punishing to finish the sets that were recommended by the trainer. There were exercises that worked
on small muscle groups I didn’t even know I had. I am supposed to do 20 minutes of cardio and 40
minutes of weight training three times a week. There is another program for a one hour weight
training which should be done on alternate days. Hell yeah, I felt the burn today. =D
4 prints on a Polaroid minus one that was cut out for the membership card
I’m going to get my gym membership card tomorrow. I went to the MONSU service desk to get my
photo taken for the membership card. I always lose my passport sized photos for some reason. It was
A$5 for 4 prints on a Polaroid film. Apparently Polaroid film needs to dry out for around 2 minutes
before it can be cut, but I was strapped for time so I just cut it up anyway and it didn’t smudge
or anything. I look fat in this picture, so I’m going to stick to my workout and attempt to go from
fat ass to beef cake in one month. Watch me folks. =D
WWE Global Warning Tour Melbourne 2002
I must be running up a hefty sleep debt because the creditors (headed by
Mr. Sandman) was after me all day long. =D As promised, here is my writeup
of last night’s WWE Global Warning Tour Melbourne 2002. I arrived at
Spencer Street station at slightly past 7 pm and joined the influx of
people heading towards Colonial Stadium. We are a teeming mass. We hunger
for The Rock’s famed cuisine, the flirtatious whiffs of Ass Kickin’ Quiche
and Poontang Pie beckoning us. Heh. Anyway, I stopped by the official
merchandise hut to get the official Global Warning 2002 Melbourne t shirt
(A$45) and the program booklet (A$25). I was futilely searching for a
place that sells coffee but couldn’t find one in the short time before the
event is slated to begin, so I made do with a diet coke and heaps of
positive energy. I managed to find my seat in the Gold Box just a couple
of minutes before the event started. It’s pretty close to the ring, and we
have access to the ramp where the wrestlers come out of too. A note about
the pictures: The lighting was pretty weird, which made the pictures came
out badly. I heard that people with disposable camera’s only got pictures
of pitch darkness. The ultra bright spotlights on top of the ring made my
pictures underexposed and I didn’t get any good pictures. If I use flash,
the pictures will come out all dark, and if I didn’t use flash, the
pictures will come out blurry because the jostling will shake the camera
before the picture has been fully exposed. Damned if I do, damned if I
don’t. I didn’t want to use zoom too, because any shake will make the
pictures go out of focus.
Match #1 – Rikishi vs Rico
Stephanie McMahon, the General Manager of WWE
The event started with
Stephanie McMahon (yeah baby) walking out to the ring to give a speech
and she announced the arrival of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Brock was
basically going on about how he is going to win the title match tonight.
He was also trash talking about how he put Hollywood Hulk Hogan out of
action in their last meet up. Stephanie then introduced Rikishi and Brock
and Paul left via the ramp. The first match is going to be a “Kiss My
Ass” match where the loser has to kiss the winner’s ass.
Rikishi (one of my favorites) came out of the ramp entrance with loud
pyrotechnics and his entrance music video. He was pumping up his hands the
whole way and that got a lot of cheers from the audience. Damn, I love
that guy. His opponent is the colorful Elvis look alike
Rico, who I’m not familiar with. I’m not really good at commentating
WWE matches because I’m really just a casual fan and don’t really know all
of the move names. But Rikishi won this match and as promised, Rico had to
submit himself to Rikishi’s famed Stink Face. Heh. Rico didn’t want to
though, and tried to sucker punch Rikishi but the man avoided it and
dropped Rico near the corner where he lied semi-dazed in a perfect
position for…
Rikishi about to give Rico a Stink Face
Rikishi then slapped his ass with both of his hands driving the crowd
absolutely wild. Man, did I mention I love this guy? While Rico was
recovering, Rikishi spread his ample ass cheeks and squatted down on
Rico’s face. He even rubbed it in a couple of times! That was worth the
price of admission by itself. =D
Match #2 Reverend D-Von & Deacon Batista vs Mark Henry & Randy Orton
Mark Henry vs Batista. This is one of the better pictures.
This is a tag team match with
Reverend D’Von and
Batista in a team and
Mark Henry and
Randy Orton in another team. Again, I don’t really know these people
even though they’re from the SmackDown! roster. I thought D-Von was pretty
funny though. Mark Henry is supposed to be the strongest man on the earth.
Oh, I saw someone flash this funny sign during this match. It went “Don’t
Make Me Come Up There!”. Heh. This match was won by Mark Henry pinning
D-Von.
Match #3 Jamie Noble (with Nidia) vs The Hurricane
The Eye of the Hurricane
The two Hurricane fans in several rows in front of me went crazy when
The Hurricane came out.
Jamie Noble and
Nidia in comparison came out to rather subdued cheers. It was clear
that The Hurricane is the crowd favorite by the rousing cheers that
happened when The Hurricane did the Eye of the Hurricane move. Jamie had
the upper hand in the beginning but The Hurricane quickly started to
dominate the ring a bit and Nidia jumped in by grabbing The Hurricane from
ring side and gave him a wet sloppy kiss. Heh. She did that twice too, to
distract him and let Jamie Noble get the upper hand. Jamie Noble walked
away with the Cruiserweight Championship by pinning The Hurricane. He
didn’t get much cheers though and the crowd even started a “slut” chant
for Nidia. Nidia and Jamie can be seen arguing when they left the arena. I
felt sorry for Jamie though, coz he looked rather dejected and sad when he
left the arena. =D Meanwhile, The Hurricane was strutting around the ring
to the cheers of the crowd.
Match #4 Hardcore Holly & Chavo Guerrero vs Billy & Chuck
I reckon Billy is enjoying himself
Billy and
Chuck came out to “You are a wanker” chants from the crowd. They were
threatening to walk out when the crowd didn’t stop the chant and got
counted by the referee up to 9 before they jumped into the ring and
started pushing
Hardcore Holly and
Chavo Guerrero around. It was a pretty funny match, with Billy
grabbing Holly from behind at one point. He seemed to consider something
and then started humping Holly, much to Holly’s dismay. Heh. Funny, that.
Another time, it was Guerrero getting Chuck in a choke hold from behind.
Chuck seemed to like it and even protruded his ass way backwards in
invitation, but got a kick in the ass from Guerrero instead. The match was
taken by the Hardcore Holly and Chavo Guerrero team.
Match #5 Test vs Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle lying on the mat after a clothesline from Test
There was a short break after the last match, and then the lights darkened
and
Test came out from the entrance ramp. He is pitted against
Kurt Angle in this RAW vs SmackDown! match. Test was going on about
how Australia was very much like America because they both suck. That got
a lot of boo’s from the crowd. Kurt Angle, who is sporting a new bald look
from being scalped in a match sometime ago, came out after that and said
that by insulting Australia, he is insulting America and him by proxy and
then sucker punched Test. It was a pretty exciting match that could have
gone both ways but was finally taken by Kurt Angle with an Angle Slam.
There was a 20 minute break after this and the second part started with…
Match #6 Lance Storm & Christian vs Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio
Lance Storm dominating Billy Kidman while Rey watches from the
sidelines, hoping to get a tag
This tag team match is another RAW vs SmackDown!
Lance Storm and
Christian are from the RAW roster while
Billy Kidman and
Rey Mysterio is from the SmackDown! talent. I can’t remember much from
this match, but there was a lot of high flying action and one of the
wrestlers hit the referee by mistake. Heh.
Match #7 Chris Jericho vs Edge
Edge edging (heh) out of a Jericho hold
Jericho came out to initially good crowd reaction but at some point
the crowd turned against him and began the “You are a wanker” chant. This
was on of the best scenes of the night, because Jericho took hold of the
mike and shouted that he doesn’t even know what a wanker is. That got a
lot of laughs from the audience. For the record, a wanker is someone
who masturbates. I don’t know the origin of that word, but it seems to be
used exclusively in Australia/New Zealand. After that,
Edge came out holding a video camera and started filming the crowd.
That made him an instant crowd favorite and I could see everyone rooting
for him in this match. J2K tried to pull a Walls of Jericho on Edge but
Edge managed to reverse it and and pinned Jericho for the win. After that,
Jericho had a tantrum and started hitting the ring posts with a metal chair. He
stormed towards the exit and pushed the metal steps leading to the ring
over and threw a plastic chair into the ring. Edge, who was in the ring,
righted the plastic chair, sat on it and crossed his legs with a smug look
on his face, to which the crowd erupted in approval. Edge then did a
victory lap and even scaled one of the scaffolds around the ring and waved
to the crowd. Very nice.
Match #8 Stacy Kiebler vs Torrie Wilson
Stacy holding down Torrie while the audience looks on
The Big Valbowski came out to present this Bra and Panties match. He introduced
Stacy Kiebler as the woman “who has legs that can wrap around any man
three times”. Stacy came out to loud cheers and wolf whistles.
She did her trademark move of sliding one leg into the ring and slowly sliding
the other leg in, giving
the appreciative audience an eyeful of her ass. =D She was wearing a cut
off white top and a very short pair of black shorts.
Torrie Wilson
came out after that, wearing a pink outfit. The match started with
Torrie ripping off Stacy’s top (revealing a black bra and nice
cleavage) and throwing it into the rowdy audience. At this time, Nidia
came running up to the ring and joined in the fracas. Stacy and Torrie
teamed up and stripped her to her panties and made her run offstage. At
one point, the referee pretended to break apart the two women and
rolled with them a couple of times before standing up with a big grin
and adjusting his pants around the crotch area. Heh. Stacy was arguing
with the referee about this understandable act of unprofessionalism and
Torrie took this chance to grab Stacy and forcibly removed her pants,
winning the match. I think there might have been some unintentional
exposure, because Stacy hurriedly adjusted her black thong. =D Stacy
then walked down the ring to the exit, followed by Torrie. The Big
Valbowski walked up the ring, took hold of the mike and told Torrie
that he has one thing in common in Australia…he’s also very good
“down under”. Torrie then beckoned him with a finger and a come hither
look and they walked off arm in arm.
Match #9 The Rock vs Triple H vs Brock Lesnar
Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?
This is the no disqualifications, triple threat title match of the
evening.
Brock Lesnar was the first out of the entrance ramp to mild audience
cheering.
Triple H came out after that, and the crowd went wild! He did the
water entrance too, where he drinks from a bottle, throws it into the
audience and sprays it out when he got into the ring. There was surge to
the ring and I managed to squeeze myself near the ring and snapped a
couple of (very blurry) close ups. It’s hard to take pictures with
everyone jostling for position and with stray arms blocking the flash.
When Triple H got to the ring, a loud “If you smell…” refrain broke up
and
The Rock made his presence felt at the top of the ramp. The guy looks
good in real life too. The crowd began a loud chant of “Rocky! Rocky!” and
The People’s Champion nodded in approval and raised one eyebrow as he
entered the ring. The match started with The Game and The People’s
Champion teaming up against Brock. Brock was put out of action for a while
and Triple H turned against The Rock. Brock then grabbed Triple
H from behind and hit his head against the corner of the ring and threw
him out of the ring. Brock started to dominate The Rock and nearly
succeeded in pinning him before Triple H came into the ring again with
blood streaming down a gash in his forehead and pulled Brock off The Rock.
The unstoppable Brock threw Triple H out of the ring again but The Rock
had recovered by this time knocked Brock around the ring. The Rock did
that “three chops, spit on hand and a final chop” move and dropped Brock.
Then came THE PEOPLE’S ELBOW. Damn, I love that move. =D Brock managed to
stand up but got pinned by a Rock Bottom for the win. Triple H was up
again at this point and together with The Rock, they started teaming up
against Brock again and got him out of the ring. Paul Heyman (I think he’s
Brock’s manager or something) took a metal chair and hit The Rock from
behind. The Rock was unfazed though and turned around to confront Paul
with Triple H. There was a funny scene here where Paul Heyman was on his
knees begging and apologizing to Triple H and The Rock. The Rock pretended
to consider it but finally shook his head and Triple H did the Pedigree on
Paul Heyman and The Rock finished him with a People’s Elbow. The Rock then
asked Triple H to do the People’s Elbow on Paul Heyman too, and the crowd
was cheering them on. Triple H seemed to consider it and tentatively did
the three catapults off the ring straps and an elbow drop. The crowd was
absolutely wild at that point. I never thought I’ll get to see Triple H’s
version of The People’s Elbow. Heh. Triple H left to loud cheering and The
Rock took the mike after and said the famous words: “Finally, The Rock has
come back to Melbourne”. He pronounced it “mel born” though. =D He then
gave a short speech with involved eating Australian pie. Heh.
The Rock layeth the smacketh down on Brock Lesnar
This is the best picture I took that night. I was right at ringside when I
took this one. Click here
for a bigger version of this.
The DVD of WWE Global Warning Tour Melbourne 2002 is coming out on the
14th of November.
Global Warning
I smelled what The Rock was cooking tonight. It smelt pretty damn good. =D
The highlight of the event is the three way match with The Rock, Triple H
and Brock Lesnar. The Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson one is fun to watch
too. Torrie won the Bra and Panties match by stripping Stacy down to her
bra and panties. It can be argued that the real winners of that match are
the guys in the audience though. Heh. I’m really sleepy now so I’ll write
up the event tomorrow after I wake up. Until then, I leave you with this
teaser.
Hurricane fans holding up signs.
Box Hill + The Glen
I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night before leaving for Box
Hill this morning with Christopher and Adrian. We ate at this place called
the 1228 Tea House.
The tea house has an interesting system. They have a stack of order papers
on each table with the table number. There is a pencil there too, and
you’re supposed to fill in the order sheet yourself and pass it to the
waitress. They have very generous portions as can be seen here.
Let me tell you, finishing that drink was quite a feat after the plate of
Taiwanese Chicken Fillet Rice.
Anyway, we went to the arcade after that and played the Ferrari F355
Challenge driving sim before heading to The Glen. It’s a shopping mall
near Glen Waverley which is about 15 minutes from my place. It was okay
but Chadstone is much bigger and covers a wider variety of interests too.
I did see this interesting machine where it draws a sketch of you based on
your picture. It’s like the photo sticker machines, but this one produces
a portrait instead of a sticker. I choose the “tough” caricature instead
of a normal portrait. Heh.
ph34r my artificially rendered double chin!
Well, it’s time for me to leave for WWE’s Global Warning Tour event. Woo!
I’m pretty tired because I didn’t get enough sleep last night, but I’ll
have 5 lattes or something to make up for it. =D
The most electrifying event in sports entertainment
I decided on a whim to check if there are any tickets left for WWE’s Global
Warning Tour at
Ticketmaster [ticketmaster.com.au] under the A$109.99 price point this
afternoon. I saw some going for A$199.99 yesterday night, after Adrian saw
on the news that they’re making some more seats available, but that’s a
bit too much. Anyway, I saw that there were only two seats left in the
Gold Box (A$109.99) area, so I rushed down to the Ticketmaster outlet at
Chadstone and snagged myself a ticket to tomorrow’s event. =D This was the
event that sold out in 48 hours after the tickets were available.
Apparently, they managed to squeeze some more seats in by creatively
arranging the seating area. Goodie…I’ve wanted to go but have failed
trying to get tickets to this sold out event before.
The updated card for this shows that:
WWE GLOBAL WARNING TOUR MELBOURNE : COLONIAL STADIUM, SATURDAY AUGUST
10 @ 7.30pm
WWE Undisputed Championship
The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H
Edge vs. Chris Jericho
Tag Team Championship
Christian & Lance Storm vs. Big Valbowski & Hardcore Holly
Cruiserweight Championship
Jamie Noble (with Nidia) vs. Rey Mysterio
Rikishi vs. Kurt Angle
Randy Orton vs. Test
Billy Kidman & Hurricane vs. Chavo Guerrero & Rico
Bra & Panties Match
Torrie Wilson vs. Stacy Keibler
Three-team Elimination Match
Mark Henry & Maven vs. Billy & Chuck vs. Batista & D-Von
Plus a special appearance by SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie
McMahon
Too bad Hollywood Hulk Hogan had to pull out because of a back injury but
at least Stephanie McMahon will make an appearance. Heh. I’m in the Gold
Box area, which will be hydraulically moved out to the front to be closer
to the ring. Not as good as the Fightdeck, Platinum and Diamond seats, but
those go for twice the price. Woo hoo, I’m pretty st0ked to watch one this
one live. I’ve always been interested in professional wrestling (okay,
sports entertainment) and the storyline is pretty good too. It will be on
tomorrow at 7:30 pm at the
Colonial
Stadium [colonialstadium.com.au]. They allow still cameras so I’ll be
posting pictures up late tomorrow night after the event. I can’t wait to
smell what The Rock is cooking.
I hunger. I eat.
The worst thing about taking the shuttle is being the 26th person in the
queue for a 25 person capacity bus. If only I had walked a little
faster, I would have been the 24th person instead. I got into the line
just slightly behind two girls. Oh well. I took the Oakleigh bus
instead since it was already docked and ready to leave. Oakleigh is one
station in front of the Huntingdale bus that I usually take.
Unfortunately my 10 trip Zone 1 ticket got wet during the
snow-in-pocket fiasco during my trip to Mt Buller and it didn’t quite
work on the validation machine. Good thing the kind bus driver let me
on anyway. I’ve only been to Oakleigh station once before, because the
nearer stations are Huntingdale and Clayton. There is a lot of
community artwork on the station wall, which looks slightly depressing
and dodgy.
Well, I had my first supervisor meeting for my Industrial Experience
project today. It was with Ashley Cambrell, a very likable guy who also
happens to be the person who wrote the program we’re supposed to be
updating now. Mmm…inside information. =D Oh, something rather
embarrassing happened to my during the IE lecture. I haven’t had anything
to eat since last night and I was chewing gum during the lecture. People
who have done this before can attest to the fact that this is a big no no.
Apparently, the chewing action produces a reflex where the stomach
produces digestion acids (can’t be bothered to check for the correct
terminology) in anticipation of the meal. However, with a piece of chewing
gum, there is no tangible “meal”. The stomach does not like being tricked
like this and will tend to protest with a loud rumbling. I swear it was so
loud, my friend looked at me and asked “Are you hungry?”. Sheesh…what
loud rumblings my stomach make. It wasn’t just a one off thing too, it was
so loud the row behind me could hear it. Heh. I finally excused myself and
got a chocolate milk and some spring rolls from Merlins to satiate the
beast.
