§ubliminal Ŧransmission ☼★♣※

2009-06-07T11:53:00.003+10:00

I think I now have a bit of time to ramble again... With an inspiration of this picture.

I wonder if Karl Pilkington has seen this.

2008-06-09T23:20:00.018+10:00

Hello! Finally got the internet up and running at our new apartment. The new place is smaller but it's nice and cozy here. It's also much much warmer than the old place, which is really nice. Can't really tell how cold it is outside sometimes. The windows get all fogged up most of the time but I like it like that.

Things are still messy around but I don't think we'll unpack everything since we'll be moving again the end of the year into this new place that's getting built at the moment. I'm quite excited about that. Meanwhile, here are some pix of when we first moved into the place we're at now...

It was also Pie's birthday last week. We went out for Japanese at Tomodachi with Pie's friends. I was very happy with my salmon teriyaki. MMmmm. That was nice. I was very happy with how big the salmon pieces were, considering most places serve puny salmon pieces when you order salmon teriyaki.

Pueng and Pie

She's so Serene

Oh! And we bought a PS3! + a must have game: Guitar Hero III. Also got Heavenly Sword, which is an awwweesoomee game. If you're thinking of getting a PS3 or a PS3 game, I highly recommend it.

Oh baby

Also went to Mr. Jon Teh's birthday dinner at the peking duck place on Smith street. So fat and yummy. No pictures from that though. Too busy eating. After, we went to Max Brenner... As shown below...

Goodnight!!

+ + +

2008-04-10T21:10:00.006+10:00

I lost the fight... But I'm glad I was finally given an opportunity to experience what it's like to be a fighter. I was often told by the other fighters at the gym it's a whole different world stepping into the ring. I guess I never really understood what they meant until last Sunday night.

I don't mean to be all melodramatic but as soon as the ref pronounced fight on the first round, it felt like all that mattered in the world was myself and my opponent. Come to think of it, it didn't even feel like the ref was there in the ring. I forgot about the audience, the ring girl (whose foot I stepped on later in the night), or anyone else in the fight venue. Or may be it was because I wasn't wearing my lenses and so all I could see was my opponent.

Post-fight, I now have better directions for my training. I now know what I need to work on and how I can prepare better for the next fight (eg. not lose too much weight for the weigh-in).

Regardless of the outcome of this bout, I genuinely appreciate all the support I got from my friends and fellow fighters at the gym. And also my trainer... eventhough he doesn't say much. Everyone did a great deal to help me prepare physically and more importantly, mentally leading up to the fight.

I know training will now feel different after I've had the fight. Sparring will be much more fun...

2008-03-20T22:44:00.007+11:00

I'm so busy these days. But it's good busy. I come home so tired everyday but I wake up excited the next day for what it has to offer me. This is a good phase. I'm 2 weeks through my personal training course at the Australian Fitness Academy and I'm loving it. It's a nice feeling to go to class everyday and learn something I have lots of interests in. Reminds me of high school in a way since I'm doing this full-time.

I guess what I missed about high school was going into class everyday to see the same friends who would progress through the course together as a group. That was kinda absent at uni and going to the academy is letting me relive that a bit, although it'll only last a couple of months.

I'm also likely to be fighting in the next Prosecution show. I'm super excited about this since I've been waiting quite a while for my trainer to match me up with someone and it's finally gonna happen. The fight is two weeks away so training is also getting more intense. Hopefully I do well.

2008-02-03T16:55:00.000+11:00

I can't even begin to explain how annoying it is when one half of a pair of my socks goes missing. What am I supposed to do with one sock?

Mooovieeesss

2008-01-28T23:59:00.000+11:00

Cake and I went to see Sweeney Todd yesterday. An interesting movie... or should I say musical. It wasn't super duper but I must say it was very enjoyable.

The melodies to which the lyrics were sung to were all very beautiful and complemented the scenes very well. Similar to the musical version of 'The producers' (2005), I especially thought the combination of the more 'classic' singing style and the use of simple everyday/casual language in the lyrics was very cool. If my ears weren't playing tricks on me, I heard the C-word in one of the lines sung by Johnny Depp. It had quite a kick to it.

If you're ok with a bit of blood then Sweeney Todd is very worth watching. Actually, make that lots of blood... Lots of splashing blood. But it's all good!

As for Cloverfield, damn that movie got me so nauseous I was close to puking in the cinema. I guess it's what sets Cloverfield apart from other big screen movies, but I really am not a big fan of the hand held camera/home video style movies. The camera was constantly moving so fast that I got soooo sick. I had to take five and come out to wash my face in the bathroom. That didn't help much.

There was a line in the movie where one of the girl characters was losing lots of blood and said she was dizzy. I felt so much like yelling out 'I'm so f*cking dizzy too!' but I don't think my fellow audience members would have appreciated it much. It certainly didn't help the whole place was smelling of rich butter from all the popcorn they had in there, either.

That aside, I thought the movie had an interesting concept to it. The way the plot progressed definitely left me wanting to find out more (If I didn't have to constantly close and rest my eyes and brain every 2 minutes). The trailer and early parts of the movie did a very good job of getting you curious. If it wasn't because of the constantly moving camera, I think I would have liked the movie a lot more. I honestly really wanted to leave my eyes open and see everything they had to offer, but my brain wasn't co-operating. Ok, I'm back to complaining again. But such a shame... so promising, yet impossible for me to watch.

Now I'm waiting for SAW IV to come out. Woohoo!! Who wants to come watch with me??

Parents in Melbourne (Part two)

2008-01-15T23:06:00.000+11:00

The fourth day was the Christmas day. Everything was shut on Christmas day. EVERYTHING! I guess I hadn't expected it to be like that, seeing this was the first time I spent Christmas out of Bangkok and Christmas in Bangkok is very happening... esp. on the shopping side of things. Anyways, so we went to this beach instead and dad got to use a parking ticket machine for the first time. I think he got to have a bit of his fun.

The beach was alright but it was a lil windy so we didn't really get to hang out long. Plus we got hungry. So we went looking for a place to eat... But everything was shut. Except this nice looking restaurant but it was all booked out. Then we went to the next suburb... and then the next. Nothing was open. We decided to drive back towards the city. Uni was on the way so I thought we could stop and see if any of the restaurants was open and so I could show my parents around uni and where I work. Everything was shut. EVERYTHING... except 7/11.

By the time, we were quite desperate. The 7/11 looked like a five star restaurant to us by then. We managed to get hold of some sandwiches and soup-in-a-cup for lunch. Look how happy we were...

After lunch on the lawn, I showed mom and dad around uni. It was nice I finally got to do so. After like... nearly 5 years. Dad produced some cool photos of the buildings I was so familiar with. Pretty cool seeing them differently through the camera lens.

The rest of the afternoon and since everything was shut, we decided to spend some nice sunny time at the Docklands. That was some of my favourite time off the whole trip I think. Some of the best photos that came out were also of that evening. Check...

Having seen my uni, it was time Cake and pie showed mom and dad around theirs, Melbounre Uni. It was still holiday so the whole place was shut. It was nice in a way, being empty and all. It was also a good opportunity to pay a visit to the ATM that ate my card 3 years ago. Forgive but never forget.

Too lazy to explain the rest of the day. But it looked something like this...

The next morning I woke up to see the most beautiful sky I had seen in a long time. Then I noticed the sky was dotted with some hot air balloons. Some had only taken off not far from our apartment. Very nice to start a day off with a nice morning.

That day we went to Werribee zoo. Woohoo! But we barely saw any animals. I don't know where they all went. I guess that's the problem with them open zoos sometimes. I remember seeing a camel, some zebras, rhinos, a few birds (they weren't even working at the zoo), and plenty of flies. FLIES!!! Annoying summer flies.

At the zoo, I noticed the zebras had some voluptuous asses. So ample and white. I remember having thought about this before but had forgotten how nice zebra asses were until I saw them again that day. Anyways, I'm just saying.

But it got me started taking pictures of some human asses. Probably because there weren't that many animals to see and the ones that were there weren't even doing anything interesting.

The eighth day we went shopping at Brunswick street. Dad went off to check out some pretty cool graffiti around the area.

Ok. I'm sleepy. Stay tuned for the third and final installment. Thanks for looking!

By the way, did you know zebras were the second species to branch off from the most primitive form of horses, just after the asses?

Parents in Melbourne (Part one)

2008-01-06T19:56:00.000+11:00

This was the first time I spent x'mas and NY outside of Thailand. It was different. But it was fun taking parents around Australia on their first trip into the country. Thanks to dad's photography skills, we have shit loads of some gorgeous photos.

The first place we went as soon as our parents landed was Queen Victoria market. Where would we be without food! It was rather cold and windy for a start of summer. That didn't stop dad from going crazy with his camera(s). We decided to have lunch at the food court. Food was so so but the French mini pancakes with ice cream definitely got my mom's attention.

Happy with food in our green bags and trolley, we headed back home as it started drizzling. By this time, dad was feeling a little jet-lagged, while mom was still as fit as ever. In fact, I must say mom was superfit throughout the whole trip, and never really seemed to get tired, especially considering how warm it got towards the end of their stay.

After waiting for the rain to clear, we came out to hang around the river bank, where I am pleased to say, we achieved a brand new sighting of another space invader. Photo was taken right away before it got away.

The second day we drove up to Mount Dandenong in a blue Camry we had rented. I had been noticing the new Camry around on the road and thought it was not bad looking. So it was cool I got to drive one to see what it's like. It wasn't all that... The ass was too high, which I felt limited visuals through the rear window.

The weather wasn't much better than the previous day. So we gave the Sunday market by the foot of the mountain a miss. Our first stop up on the mountain was
at the tea leaves shop. It was awesome. I don't really drink tea but
it was fun smelling all the samples of all the weird different scented teas they had. We must have spent over an hour in that little tiny shop 'cause there was just so much to look at.

Lunch was then at Miss Marple's tearoom. Despite the limited number of dishes on the menu, food was as superb as always. The chicken pie was awesome. Should get back up there again soon. We spent pretty much the whole day on the mountain going through collectibles and antique shops.

In the evening, we drove back into the city for dinner and went for a walk into Melbourne Central so dad could do some photography. And so he got his fish eye out an came up with some pretty cool photos. Melbourne Central like I had never seen before...

The next day, we headed to Sunny Ridge strawberry farm expecting to do some strawberry
picking. But due to the rain, the farm itself was closed so we bought some pre-packed strawberries from the shop instead.

With the farm closed, we headed further down Mornington Peninsula, into Sorrento, a nice little town with a beach road, dotted with numerous interesting shops. We spent the whole afternoon walking up and down the road, checking out all the shops... Then headed back.

It was cold and windy that evening but that didn't stop us from going for a walk along the bank of the Yarra, down to Crown for a bit of the fireball action by the casino that brought some much needed warmth, though way too short-lived.

Randomania VI

2007-11-18T14:22:00.000+11:00

It has certainly been a long while since the last Randomania. Let's start with some of the food we have enjoyed at home...

Today's lunch: Pie's steamed fish and Cake's Chinese vegetables

Last week's dinner: Chicken salsa field mushrooms. Should have added a bit more salt.

Bibimbab and tofu

More bibimbab

Cake's kaitoon

Pie making some choc chip cookies

Coooookies

A nice day by the river bank and the site for our new apartment... Can't wait til it's finished

How random

Kenny likes it

Cake had been telling us about this Hawthorn Sunday market so we decided to check it out...

We walked in and it turned out to be a granny fair. Hehe... How cakey!

Then we came out and saw this weird looking graffiti on the wall.. took me a while to figure out what it was.

Sean showed me this wall sculpture by his apartment a few weeks ago. Thought it was pretty cool.

39 wolves

Got bored while I was studying for my last exam and had the camera with me so decided to take some pictures...

+ +

One of my favourite projects of cake's

+ +

I got to use this public toilet cubicle a few weeks back. It was pretty cool and hi-tech but I found it quite funny how the sign said the door would open after 10 minutes. Just couldn't help imagining a guy with an upset stomach sitting on the toilet and the door springing open.

+ +

I know manufacturers are obligated to providing such info but this one is a bit obvious, no?

I was writing an email on this computer at uni until I came to a stop as I couldn't find the comma. And then I realised what the problem was...

How peculiar

I think we were walking down brunswick street when we saw this little guy waiting for his master.

Patiently waiting

I don't think I have posted this picture of Popo before. Such a poser cat. He knows he's handsome.

Bella sandwich

We went for these healthy burgers on bridge road. Very yummy. Have to go again soon.

Food... Happy.

I came out yesterday morning to find this moth having left some kids on my shirt. As flattered as I was... I had to let them all go.

+ +

Finally, I came home last night to see this in the empty pond outside my building. Somebody was romantic enough to give up so many tomatoes.

2007-11-11T13:45:00.000+11:00

Although a lot less frequent, my left eyelid is still twitching. I'm really not sure what got it started.

So I have finished uni. No more studying. Might sound a little weird but I actually felt quite sad after the last class I had... after nearly 5 years of going to uni. I guess I should feel more light and carefree but I don't really. There's quite a lot I have to sort out and think about what's gonna happen next in my life. May be I think too much but they're big decisions and I don't wanna be making choices I'll regret later on down the track. One good thing though, is I now have more time with my sisters.

And I miss home...

2007-10-22T20:10:00.000+10:00

My left eyelid has been twitching for the past five days... I wonder if it means anything.

2007-10-08T21:17:00.000+10:00

I don't think I have been this stressed in a while. Most of it is attributable to all the work I have at the moment I guess. Throughout the past 5 years of studying, I don't think I've had this much pressure on the amount of work I have to get done. Why have they all got to be so big and due in at the same time?? I have also been missing my parents, Mali, and Bangkok in general more and more. Nevermind.. I'm sure things will get better after the next 2 weeks...

Family days out

2007-09-27T22:20:00.000+10:00

So it's finally much needed mid-semester break and I thought I'd take this opportunity to spend a bit of time with my sisters since I must say I've been really busy with school, work and training this semester. So far, we've taken trips to the Royal Melbourne Show 2007 and Melbourne Zoo. The latter probably sounds a little too childish a place for us but what can we do, we love looking at animals. Let's start with some pix from the Melbourne show...

Cake wanted to check out the 'Art&Craft' hall. It was a big hall with all the grandma stuff with a lot of grandmas walking around. Stuff like paintings, baked desserts, scarfs, and other things grandmas do to pass time at home. But some of the things they had on display were quite amazing like these cakes...

I like that lil snoopy in the window to the left

Tororo Tororo

I thought this one was truly amazing

But I didn't really get this. They all looked the same.
I guess they were rated from delicious to shit.

There were all these rides you'd expect at a fair. We felt a bit too old for them and didn't go on any but watched all the kids have fun.

Distracted by the little boy in the bee suit

And of course all these funny looking prizes...

Ding ding paw paw

We particularly liked the cats and dogs they had on show.

Super affectionate ragdoll

Sleepyhead

Another sleepyhead

This is a cat

This one looked so bored

You can say most of them were bored and sleepy.

All in all, it was quite a nice sunny day out

+ + + + + + +

Having seen all the cats and dogs from the show got us in the mood for seeing more animals so we visited the zoo a day later. The forecast said it was gonna be 21c on the day but it felt nothing like it, which sucked. Didn't stop us from having fun tho.

The girls snacking on some home-made sushi

This snow leopard was gorgeous. One of my favourites.

Japanese garden

Tree kangaroos... quite strange

Merekats

Gorilla spotting

This gorilla was magically pulling out of nowhere his never ending supply of vegetables. Was very funny to watch.

Dad???

The butterfly room was pretty cool

Pie was a bit squirmish with all the flying caterpillars

Entrance to the Thai elephants

Poor elephant

A bit of Thai food area

Lunch break

I've never had anything saltier than this chicken teriyaki

On to the reptiles...

mm.. forgot what snake this was but the way it sleeps is pretty cool

An uncircumcised water turtle

A chameleon, one of the coolest creatures in my opinion... definitely far superior to geckos.

A baby Jabba

Gob

Gob lek

We ended up spending 6 hours at the zoo. Despite a bit of drizzle, we had a good day.

The end.

Everybody, say hello to Sammy the salmon and let's do the salmon dance ♪♫♪♪♫♪

2007-09-19T14:38:00.001+10:00

The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance

Prosecution III

2007-09-14T13:12:00.000+10:00

Next event...

Fight venue: Melbourne, Australia
For tickets, call Jet on 0402608560

Bye bye hair

2007-09-11T10:25:00.001+10:00

Last night I had a dream I got with Anna Nicole Smith. But a toned down version so she was way more petite, non-bimbo, polite but the tits were still there. The left one felt very nice. I remember telling her I liked her tits better post-implants but realised after I woke up I got that bit mixed up with Pamela Anderson. I also knocked out an old guy in an elevator for groping my version of Anna. She was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Anyways, I got bored of my hair and decided to go skinhead again.

Before

Half way through, Pie suggested I kept it like this...

After

Goodbye hair

Hachimaki o kudasai

2007-09-08T14:08:00.000+10:00

Well, first thing I wanna say is the weather in Melbourne has become really soothing this weekend and I am extremely happy about it. It just makes everything so much nicer.

A perfectly mild Saturday afternoon

On the flip side, I've been a little ill. Aching joints, sore throat, radiating heat and pulsating head... But I started feeling better. So yesterday afternoon I decided it was time to do a bit of cleaning around my room (which has been loooooong overdue). By the end of the day, I was so proud of how clean my room felt and how nice my bathroom smelt.

The sight of my bed makes me so sleepy

Other than that, I had been interested in checking out Afro Samurai for a while. Then I got to watch all five episodes, courtesy of Noelle and John (who have also kindly burnt all five episodes onto a CD for me) and I must say I really liked it. Afro Samurai is coolness. I love how they have immaculately blended oldschool samurai culture with bits of modern elements.

Afro Samurai is coolness

I must admit my favourite character was one that probably had the smallest role and probably had one line throughout the whole series. It's Brother 3 from the Empty Seven Clan. I of course thought it was really cool how he's forever moving his head to the music through the headphones that are never to be taken off. I think it's his un-hostile attitude and sense of respect for his enemy that make him so cool... attempting to offer his enemy rice and tea, before fighting one of his brothers, mildly asking for the 'number 2 headband' as an alternative to fighting... 'Hachimaki o kudasai'... Such a cool guy.

Hachimaki o kudasai

Now that I've seen all 5 episodes, I just wish there were more...

Krispy Kreme Bikers

2007-08-25T11:26:00.000+10:00

I haven't ranted in a while due to an extreme case of work overload. But anyhow... today I was sitting at this food court just having late lunch. I sat on this log bench thing and had put my bag next to me on my left. I was about half way through my meal when this big biker guy came and sat next to me so I moved my bag. He came alone and I didn't think much of him except 'oh.. a typical big biker guy'. You know... black shirt with bike logo, beer belly, moustache+beard, sunglasses indoor etc..etc..

But I noticed he had with him 4 krispy kreme donuts and 2 drinks. After about 4 mins, his friend turned up. Another biker... same hair cut, sunglasses. Very mean looking. They were about to have their drinks but realised they had forgotten straws. So the second biker said he was going to get some straws... He came back and the first biker looked up at him and said 'Thank you, baby!!' And then they kissed.

Hehehe...

2007-08-13T21:00:00.000+10:00

Today I was so absent-minded that I put rubbish in a mailbox... Hope no one noticed.

Sidyodtong

2007-08-09T23:45:00.000+10:00

I finally got a chance to go check out the Muay Thai gym Kenny trains at. It was in a way what I had expected. Very down-to-earth, low-tech, Thai countryside style boxing camp with Thai country music playing on a cheap boombox in the background. At times, it actually felt like I was back in Thailand somewhere out of Bangkok.

So I knew this was the place for me to start training at. Not that I don't like training with Ernie.. Ernie's great but I have always wanted to train at a Thai camp with a Thai ex-fighter. I would have taken a picture of what the place looks like but I didn't wanna look like a tourist in there. So may be some other time. And I'll post up some pix.

Sidyodtong camp basically has half a dozen punching bags of different shapes and/or sizes. I guess it was so you could depict fighting both fat and thin fighters. Haha. There's also an open floor with mirrors for shadow boxing, and of course a boxing ring for some sparring/technical work. Scattered across the gym are all sorts of Muay Thai equipments and other fighting/fitness related gear, and of course pictures of HM the King of Thailand. Other than that, I must say the equipment and machines for weight trainings are inadequate, but that's what is usually expected of Muay Thai gyms. So I think I shall stick with fitness first for weights/biometrics stuff.

Obviously, I got excited with all this. In fact, I think I was a bit too overly excited and should have taken it a little easier on the punching bags. Now I'm waiting for my right shin and ankle to stop swelling and turning purple. Hehe. I was gonna put up a picture but decided against it. I still want people to come read my blog.

Anyways, a place like this is definitely rare in Melbourne let alone Australia and I'm happy to have found it. I shall have a lot of fun training there and I'll try to get some pictures up. Now, I really need to sleep. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

2007-08-06T20:22:00.000+10:00

Today, a lady at the newsagent made a comment about my name I thought was pretty funny. I was there to buy my train ticket and when I was paying for it, the lady was just starring at my debit card like she was trying to figure out something. Before I could ask what the matter was... She looked up at me and said 'It must have been hard for you as a child every time you had to spell your name in school'.

I never thought of it like that before. As kids, we didn't even realise our names were unusually long for international standard. Most of the times we had to write them out in Thai anyways. But now that I think about it... some of the comments I most often get from friends and strangers are to do with the length of my name and almost every time, I'm asked to pronounce it out for them so they can repeat, which always seem entertaining to them.

Anyways, just something random I was thinking about today.

2007-08-05T10:50:00.000+10:00

Ok, I'm back. First thing's first... My computer is zero. After having had accumulated an unjustifiable amount of spyware and such, I decided it was time she was put to sleep, then resurrected. The initial plan was to back up her memories onto the external HDD and then reformat but... It was too late. She died from within, and non of her memories could be saved. Being the master, I had no choice but to let it all go... all of her. Everything... including ALL MY 3,800 odd SONGS!!!!! AAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh........

On a brighter side, my comp has now been revived into a brand new virgin, ready for a fresh new start. So fresh so clean clean. It feels good. I'm having a good time filling her up. This time I'll try my best to be very careful and not infect her with anything.

So here's to a fresh new start...

2007-06-20T23:43:00.000+10:00

I need to blog more often.. but it's soooo cooooooolld my fingers are frozen so I can't really type. So much has happened since my last post. Interesting stuff. But I'll come back another day to elaborate. But I just wanna say..I'm usually not really one of those clumsy people who always trip and fall but today I fell like I never fell before. Proud and I were running after this tram and didn't even make it so we started slowing down.. Then the next thing I knew I was face down on the ground (oo it rhymes). The stupidest thing was I had tripped on a little green pole which must have been about a foot in height off the ground and I didn't even see it. Actually there were two of them, to make the matter worse. It was actually quite funny, in retrospect, 'cause I fell quite far forward but I looked back to see my right shoe had come off and stayed right where the pole was, looking back at me like 'what the hell was that?'. Anyways, good thing I landed on my hands, which started bleeding a lil afterwards but it's nothing serious. Proud was making sure I wasn't hurt but I knew she had some serious internal giggles going on... Hehe.

Mr. Popo & Ms. Bella

2007-06-02T00:56:00.000+10:00

We currently have two house guests, who will be staying with us for the next couple of weeks. One is from Siberia and the other is domestic. Both are extremely polite and well mannered, which makes them really pleasant to have around. We have arranged for them to sleep on the couch with some pillows and they seem to be settling in just fine.

But Mr. Popo and Ms. Bella get rather jittery at times. The sound of the door bell makes them jump. And at night they would come and scratch on our bedroom doors, asking to enter. But in their own naturally adorable way. Here is what they look like...

Mr. Popopi (10+ kg's)

Ms. Bella

I don't think I've ever met cats this well behaved and so affectionate, especailly Popo. He always does this soft purr that makes him sound like a pigeon. Hehe. And is always ready to give you a soft peck on the cheek.

Bella has a funny habit of pushing doors open with her paw and squeezing into small spaces. They are also probably the only cats I know that have their own friendster accounts. Anyways, more pictures...

Popo is always up for a belly rub

Having dinner

Bella watching Popo rolling around the floor

Popo missing his dad

Popo loves sitting on my notes

Bella's attempt at sliding the balcony door open

??

On a seperate note, my tongue is healing fast. But the very tip of it is still a bit numb.

Gimme back my tongue

2007-05-31T00:00:00.000+10:00

One of the lil things that pisses me off the most is when you're happily enjoying your meal... and then your stupid tongue decides to get in the way of your teeth. And your stupid teeth can't tell food from tongue.

Today I bit myself so hard a lil chunk came off. I swear.. I'm not joking. It was the worse one I've ever had in my life. Good thing I had some beer to sterilise the cut straight away. The bubbly effect must have helped clean the cut. I hope somehow that bit of my tongue grows back properly. Right now it's black and purple.

*I'll spare you with no picture on this one

I think I've been studying a lil too much and not sleeping enough...

Today I was coerced...

2007-05-23T23:40:00.000+10:00

...into having Hungry Jack's by a friend. Last time I had anything from there must have been about a year ago and man.. has their whopper deteriorated. I remember back then, what was meant to be beef still at least looked like beef. But today, it was like a dry brown piece of leather. Sometimes I think it's a scam burgers look so good on the ads and what you get is the total opposite. Worse yet, certain giant fast food chains try so hard to convince the public they're becoming health-conscious, but the truth is they're still trying to make money off of the same old shit they've been selling.

Anyways, today I submitted my last assignment for the semester. That felt pretty good but like I've mentioned before, the tight cluster of exams is just around the corner. Considering how much I have to read, the next couple weeks are gonna go by just like that.

My last exam will be on the 15th of June. Not only do I look forward to that day because I finish my exams, but also because a friend of mine is fighting, and I'm pumped to go support him. Kenny sent over the poster for his next fight, and it looks pretty mean (the guy on the top right). I'll be sure to get some good photos from the fight.. Woo!!

Better go shower...

☼ ♣ ¤☻

2007-05-20T12:53:00.000+10:00

I need to catch up on sleep but I don't think that's feasible until my last exam is over with. For the past few weeks I've been spending most of my time at uni. Staying back pretty late and over the weekends. That didn't bother me much..I'd rather be going in to get work done properly than having to rush last minutes and feeling bad when the results come out shit. It's just that the consecutive late nights are taking toll on my energy level (not to mention the eye bags).

Don't get me wrong tho..I still appreciate the flexibility of student life/working part-time. Considering this privilege is probably gonna come to an end the end of the year when I graduate, I don't wanna take it for granted. Occasional compression periods but plenty of time for training and roaming around is actually not bad at all. I do also wanna finally start working full time tho. Hopefully all my PR process works out fine. I'm expecting a lot of hassle...

It's been a while since I last posted up what I cooked so thought I might share a few dishes. Deprived of time, my cooking time has been reduced to 15 mins - half hour. hehe.. But it was good. I've been forced to come up with some really simple and quick healthy dishes. Behold...

My own version of Chicken Parma

Pan fried chicken breast with my lastest craze: Baked Beans!!

This one doesn't look very good. Didn't taste all that good either haha. Stir fried kangaroo. Should have left out the wombok.

But right now, I'm craving for some Taiyaki..one of my childhood food ☻

cue: harpy music....♪ ♫♪ ♪

Also wanted to show this porterhouse/veggie soup thing I just made for dinner but forgot to take photo. And it's already gone..

☺ ♠ ♦ ☼

Randomania V

2007-05-06T13:38:00.000+10:00

Excuse for having been absent for a while. Been real busy with a number of things but it's just easing up a little. This is probably gonna be the last breather I get before the final wave hits. My exam timetable is just messed up this time round. 12th, 13th, 15th June with only one free week to study for the three subjects. Plus there are still 3 major assignments between now and then. Oh well, I'll find a way to survive.

I'm quite sore today. Yesterday's training must have been one of the best sessions I've had yet. Aside from getting kicked by my trainer and flying across the room, sparring was very fun. I must say I'm very grateful for the opportunity I have for something I'm so passionate about in life. Something I always look forward to. And I want it to go somewhere..

But now, I think it's time for another Randomania; Randomania V

Let's start with this Shabu-Shabu place in Bangkok we went to the last time we were back. I can say this restaurant was one of my favourites this trip round. I think it was the freshness of their food that set them apart from other Shabu-Shabu joints. So close to our house too.

But what made this place so special was their special almond sauce. And I must say it was special. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

The almond sauce was really good both plain or mixed with fresh garlic/chilli/spring onion. Mmmmmm. Cannot wait to go back. Candidette, next time I'm taking you there!

+ + + + + + +

'Cake and Pie shop' at Melbourne Uni's lastest night market.

Some of the items being sold in their shop

A few of the ugly dolls cake made for sale.

More of the ugly dolls Cake has been making at home. I took the octopus.

Hehe

This is one of the ugliest.

+ + + + + + +

Some mini ice cream cones at a shop in Bangkok. Can' really tell from the pic but each cone must have only been about 2 1/2 inches in height. Just one bite, really.

Up in Chiang Mai, I couldn't help but admire how nicely arranged these bbq pork ball sticks were. Even in the cabinet.

The seller was nowhere in sight tho.

+ + + + + + +

I saw this guy couple times around the streets of Bangkok. I must say he's one of the street acts with some real talent. He sang, danced, played the harmonica and the 'Isaan' style guitar, and dressed up as... well what you see on the picture. He had some serious tits bouncing around, too.

+ + + + + + +

A snake we spotted on a tree by our garage. The tree was right next to Mali and she didn't even realise the snake was there. Looks pretty cool actually.

+ + + + + + +

We also checked out a pet shop in Bkk with this room they had displaying the cats. Some were really nice except they were all sleeping the whole time. But then what else do cats do.

We especially liked this one. Had a very weird looking face but we can't see it here. Pretty funny.

+ + + + + + +

My lychee BD cake. Tastes even better than it looks.

+ + + + + + +

Sometimes I can't help but take pictures of weird people I see on the streets. This was a while back when it was still damned hot in Melbourne and this weirdo at uni was walking around in his full leather suit + cape. Whatever makes him happy.

+ + + + + + +

Dad, sists, and a mobile ice cream shop

+ + + + + + +

A Japanese restaurant we went to. The food was very authentic.. and so was everything else in the place. Just thought our room looked very nice.

Happy Cake and her green tea shaved ice, with an interesting looking red bean topping

+ + + + + + +

Back up in Chiang Mai, Dad about to enjoy his 'Kowneow Mamuang'. I don't think I know of anyone who doesn't like this dessert.

+ + + + + + +

Mali getting ready to go for a walk

With her mini-me

Mali even made it big on an Aussie magazine cover.. hehe. Thanks to Cake.

Chloe: 'What about me?'

+ + + + + + +

The three amigos @ Pancake Parlour

Side view

This is what eating at Pancake Parlour makes you become. Just kidding. Pancake Parlour is awesome.

+ + + + + + +

I was also gonna post a picture of this ladyboy I saw in Melbourne but changed my mind. In case he/she stumbles upon my blog and sees the pic... I'm not particular good in dealing with ladyboys.

2007-05-02T23:43:00.001+10:00

Tofu is soooooo gooooood. I can't get over it.

Anatomy for Beginners

2007-04-22T23:38:00.000+10:00

The lastest member to be added to my precious DVD collection, 'Anatomy for Beginners' presents live dissection of the human body in front of an audience, who I think must be medical students, as well as other general spectators. As explicit as it is, I find the show extremely educational and entertaining.

Anatomy for Beginners

The dissection is led by the German anatomist, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, who I personally find quite charismatic and admirable. His passion for the human body makes me realise how much people take for granted their bodies. I find it a pity that everyday we move and go about doing things without even really understanding what goes on inside our bodies. But then again, what goes on inside is extremely complex. And that's what makes this DVD rather special.

Despite all the controversy surrounding Dr. Gunther's work, I think his invention of plastination was an ingenious step forward for us to better understand how the human body works and what each tiny bit inside all of us looks like. I never knew what the spinal cord actually looked like and how long it was , or that there's a spot on the inner thigh that makes one of your testicles move upwards, when lightly stroked (I am still yet to find it) .

The Anatomist: Dr. Gunther von Hagens (right)
and The Pathologist: Prof. John Lee (middle)

The DVD itself features 4 live autopsy episodes, explaining Movement, Circulation, Digestion, and Reproduction, as well as a documentary film on Dr. Gunther, centring on his Body Worlds exhibitions, and the development of his invention of plastination. All four episodes of the public autopsy feature commentary by Professor John Lee, a pathologist from London, who does a good job of explaining the functions of different body parts, as Dr. Guther dissects away.

All in all, a very entertaining, well-directed/filmed, attention sustaining TV event I'm happy to have in my collection. I shall now look for 'Autopsy: Life and Death', the second installment following the DVD, focusing on understanding causes of death, one being poisoning. Interesting!

My very own Engrish collection

2007-04-09T16:03:00.000+10:00

Subliminal-Transmission proudly presents its very own collection of the Engrish culture. These pictures of my Engrish encounters were taken using a mobile camera so apologies for the quality inferior to best. Enjoy...

Location: Siam Square, Bangkok

I think they meant please don't bring food into the shop.

+ + + + + + +

Location: Siam Paragon, Bangkok

Shame..very nice/posh shopping complex..lovely cafes&restaurants..Ruddish?

+ + + + + + +

Location: Carrefour Soi 26, Bangkok

Isn't it usually the opposite? Either they missed out the 'Don't' or they like their toilets clogged up. Well, I cooperated.

+ + + + + + +

Location: Tawana Hotel, Bangkok

Ok, may be this one does make sense in a way..But still caught my attention, especially how there was this hairy arabic dude sitting right next to it.

+ + + + + + +

Location: The 2006 Royal Horticultural Exposition, Chiang Mai

This was a sign this guy had put on one of the steps leading up to a little Thai house. He saw us giggling at the sign so he walked over and said in Thai 'you guys can go up if you want..but do it quick!!'. Hehe.

+ + + + + + +

Location: Royal Kitchen Chinese Restaurant, Bangkok

May be it's just me but I found this one funny, ok?

+ + + + + + +

Location: Toys 'R' Us, Bangkok

This one I totally don't get. Did they mean don't count how many barbie dolls there are? But I can't imagine how counting barbie dolls can be bad. Don't count? Any idea, anyone?

+ + + + + + +

Location: Food Stall, Chiang Mai

They either meant 'All You Can Eat' or everything on the menu is edible.

Pardon me while I randomly ramble away...

2007-03-31T21:11:00.000+10:00

Ok..I'm taking a break from my IB essay, which is due on Tuesday (I think....I better check after this). Really, I wanna be dota-ing with the guys at Candidette's place tonight but if I dont get this done, I'm doomed..because there's also an exam on Monday! And many many more upcoming assignments after that. Ahh!! But I'll survive.

Here's something I've always wondered, if anyone knows anything about this, please enlighten me. When you moisturise your skin right? Does the cream that gets absorbed into you go join the layer of fat underneath your skin? I've asked friends and they all look at me weird but if you think about it... A lot of companies advertise their moisturising products to be 'fast absorbing'. Does that mean your skin doesn't feel sticky because the product goes under your skin fast and becomes a layer of fat? And if so, it should be able to get metabolised? I remember wondering this during my IB years at school, when I used to moisturise my mid-section a lot (don't ask why) and over time, the area kinda expanded. May be I was eating too much of my ex's superb tiramisu, but I seriously thought that the moisturiser helped contribute.

Today, I also learned something new... always make sure you wash your hands very very thoroughly after cooking with hot chillies before you go pee. Because it stings pretty bad. May be for girls it's not as bad cause you don't need to use your hand to hold anything while you're peeing?? (I assume). So next time, I'll remember to wash my hands better!!

I don't know if it's just me or do other people get this too..when I see something I know I shouldn't touch, I really wanna touch to see what it's like or how it feels. I'm not saying I go around grabbing boobs or touching other people's belongings. I mean when I see a hot pan or a sharp edge, I'm tempted to have a feel. Normally, I'm able to contain myself. But two days ago I went downstairs for a swim and to use the sauna. In the sauna was no one but the sauna unit and I. So I thought it was a good opportunity for me to try out something I've always wanted to; to touch those rocks they put on a sauna heater because they don't look hot. So I went ahead and had a feel and Damn!! it was HOT!!! But at least now I know.. and as much as it hurted, I felt much satisfaction inside of me.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Better get back to the essay...

Listen to what this girl is gonna do when she sees a monster

2007-03-25T00:40:00.001+11:00

This is adorable. I want a daughter like this hehe. Love her facial expressions.

Face Transformer

2007-03-15T22:46:00.000+11:00

Nabil sent me this pretty cool website to play around with the other day. Have you ever wondered what you'd look like if you were of the opposite sex or of a different race?.. or if you were a caveman or an apeman? Well, thanks to University of St. Andrews' School of Psychology's Perception Lab, you don't have to wonder no more. Here are some of the different versions of me.

As a Caucasian

5 year old Jet

As a female

Grandpa Jet

Ghetto Jet

Manga Jet

Jet the Apeman

Might have worked better without my glasses on. But I couldn't be bothered taking new pix. A fun website tho. Have a go with your own pictures and see how they turn out. Have fun!!

And it happened again.. Why me....

2007-03-14T00:26:00.000+11:00

Yea so just now I was walking out of the train station minding my own business, listening to my iRiver when this aussie guy came in front of me...

Aussie guy: Excuse me!! Excuse me!!

So I took my headphones off..

How come you Asian guys are so *omitted due to obscenity*?

Me: Err I don't know. (oh crap, what kinda shit have I run into here)

Aussie guy: Is it because of the way you guys eat? What do you guys eat?

Me: MMmm I don't think so.

Aussie guy: So where do you live?

Me: Just down there. I pointed towards the direction I thought best opposed my apartment. Haha.

And then the shit hits the fan..

Aussie guy: Well, I'm actually looking for a partner.... to wrestle with.

Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aussie guy: See I'm a wrestler and you Asian guys these days seem much bigger than how it used to be when I was at uni.

Me: Ok! Bye!!

See, I would have liked to tell myself it was some sort of a prank or a dare his friend got him into. But it looked like he was on his own and he had this determination in his eyes of how much he wanted to wrestle.

Shit man, why do these things always happen to me. I would not be complaining if it was a girl (although, would still have been a bit weird). But when these things happen to me, it's always some mental bum chum.

Anyways now that I'm on the topic, I got more to elaborate. But so far, what I'm about to tell you only happens in male public toilets in Bangkok, as far as I'm concerned. You girls, and I believe also a large number of guys probably don't think much goes on in Bangkok's male toilets. But you're wrong, there's a lot more to it than just discharging wastes.

Ok, no matter which toilets I go to in Bangkok, can be in an upmarket mall or just a public W.C. off the street, there is a certain type of guys who spend an awfully long time in these vicinities. Not because they've been drinking too much water but they're there for their viewing pleasures. And I notice that they all follow very similar steps.

First they roam around the washing basins, which are usually situated near the bathroom entrance. When a person walks in, they check you out and then decide whether to follow you or not. If you're the chosen victim, they would walk after you and park at the urinal right next to yours and pretend to be peeing. As a normal man would agree, the standard rule is to look straight at the wall in front of you and keep your eyes there or you can just look down at your own hose, that's ok. But as conspicuous as it is, these creeps stare into your urinal, look up at your face, down to the urinal, up at your face etc... until you're done. And let me tell you, when someone's paying attention to you when you're peeing, urinating becomes a difficult task. That's not the end. They will then follow you back to the washing basin and watch you wash your hands and look at your face through the mirror (I don't understand this part and why they do it). After that, they stay by the sinks to look for a new victim.

Believe me this really goes on in the toilets in Bangkok. I know because the first time I started noticing the sort of activities, I stayed back to watch what they get up to. A lot of guys probably don't notice this, but if you take time to look out..you'll see. And like me, you'll start using the cubicles instead. So dad, Kaiping..you guys better watch out.

Alright. Enough gay material for the day..Back to work.

Baby panda scares Mama panda with a sneeze

2007-03-11T23:12:00.001+11:00

This is so cute and really funny.

Korn, finally unplugged!

2007-03-04T14:04:00.000+11:00

I've just come across Korn's latest release, Korn UNplugged. I'm half way through listening to the album for the first time and really loving what they've finally done to the songs I grew up with.

From what I've heard so far, an interesting range of acoustic instruments, which otherwise would not be used in Korn's normal arrangements, creates a good contrast against the band's usually low, thumping, bassy kinda sound. In fact, I'm loving the way Korn maintains their signature super low bass guitar on this album, and at the same time have the melodic piano playing on top. This is particularly evident in 'Got the life'. An interesting use of some string instruments have also been introduced on this album, namely the violins and if I'm not mistaken, also the cello.

I'd also like to point out that John Davis's voice doesn't seem to feel the need to be inhibited by the fact that the accompanying music has been made much softer than the band's original versions of the songs. As far as the voices go, Korn is joined by Evanescence's Amy Lee in 'Freak on a Leash', who helps out with some beautiful harmonic lines. And despite having heard some of her desafinado live singing, I think she does a great job on this track. The contrast between John's and Amy's voices, together with the accompanying piano make the track my favourite off the album so far.

Another plus from this album is the band's cover of Radiohead's 'Creep'. Again, one of the songs I used to listen to all the time when I was growing up (I know I'm making myself sound like I had a rough time as a kid). John softens his voice up a lot for this track and it's nice to hear him sing in a different way. A nice change to his usually powerful, sharp-edged voice.

Now that I'm on the last track of the album, 'Throw me away', I shall say that this line-up satisfies my years of waiting for Korn to come out with an unplugged release. On this last track, I'm hearing some Japanese drums, which is an interesting approach to a track, of which the original version has a lot of synthesized beats and sounds. So all in all, Yes!!! Korn has an official unplugged album!

Track listing:

1. Blind
2. Hollow Life
3. Freak On A Leash feat. Amy Lee from Evanescence
4. Falling Away From Me
5. Creep
6. Love Song
7. Got The Life
8. Twisted Transistor
9. Coming Undone
10. Make Me Bad / In Between Days feat. The Cure
11. Throw Me Away

And for those who are actually interested in hearing some samples: http://www.korn.com/

'300'

2007-03-03T11:05:00.001+11:00

Two of the movies I'm eagerly waiting to come out; '300' and 'Grindhouse'. Started seeing the posters for 300 around Bangkok and knew I had to see it. Can't wait.

Grind House

2007-03-03T10:56:00.001+11:00

This is definitely Tarantino/Rodriguez kinda thing. It looks real oldschool. Should be pretty cool.

The Chiang Mai Album

2007-02-23T17:24:00.000+11:00

Let's start with the first sets of pictures; The family trip to Chiang Mai...

Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi

The hotel must have been one of the best we have ever stayed in as a family. It was quite an experience and I'd like to share it with you guys through these pictures. Dad spent a decent amount of time around the hotel with his D200 around his neck. So a lot of these pictures were taken by him.

Steps leading up to the main lobby. The hotel in general is meant to be of the Lanna style.

One of my favourite places at the hotel; the pool.

The hotel also had a small temple, which I thought added to the general tranquility of the place.

The library actually held some pretty rare books on Lanna art/architecture and other interesting art books.

This was cool. The library had available a vast collection of DVDs hotel guests could borrow during their stay. We decided on 'Totoro', mom's 'The Three Tenors in Concert' and some other movies I don't even remember.

The yoga and meditation centre.

Some big ugly fishies outside the spa.

The Rooms

The villa

The first half of our time at Dhara Dhevi, we were staying in 'the village' section of the hotel. Basically, each family had an enclosed space with traditional Thai/Lanna style houses on the inside, making up bedrooms, a living room, a sauna, a private pool and an open kitchen.

The entrance to our home for the first half of the stay in Chiang Mai.

A nice lil garden in the centre of the Thai houses.

Must have taken us a good 15 minutes before we could get into the pool of cold cold water. But it was nice once we were in. The little house there was the sauna.

Pie having her breakfast by the kitchen.

The living/dining room. Probably my favourite out of all our houses. The sound system in there was excellent. Watching Michael Buble's concert was a joy.

Mmmm that was a good lunch.

Inside the ladie's bedroom.

The ladie's bathroom. Don't worry those blinds could be shut so no one could peak.

Now why would they wanna make a little cabinet with a wooden gecko hidden inside?!? I don't understand.

The colonial Suites

The second half of our time at Dhara Dhevi we were staying in the colonial suites. Personally, I liked this section of the hotel better. Not that traditional Thai houses are not nice, but I guess the rooms seemed a little too dark with dark wood everywhere.

The colonial section of the hotel overlooking a courtyard and a pond.

The bedroom

The living room

My favourite part of the suites must have been the bathrooms. I think I could live in one of them.

I could brush my teeth in front of these sinks for the rest of my life.

Each suite had a porch leading out to the colonial pool.

Trying to be all stylo with cake by the pool in my PE shorts.

The hotel also had their own vegetation going. Here, mom and Pie seem a lil shocked by the size of these melons.

Pie got happy standing by the raw tomatoes. Not sure why.

The Roral Flora Ratchaphruek 2006

Ok enough about the hotel. One of the reasons we were in Chiang Mai at the time was because the Roral Flora Ratchaphruek was on. The horticultural exposition was to celebrate His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 60^th anniversary or the Diamond Jubilee of His Majesty’s accession to the throne together with His Majesty’s 80^th birthday anniversary. Here goes...

This seemed to be the main attraction of the exposition as it attracted the most number of people. I admit...I didn't know what the building was for. Still don't. Could someone please tell me?

I like those weird looking palm trees at the back.

Whoaa.. that's a lot of salad. But seriously, that's vegetables.

More vegetables.

A nice picture taken by Cake. I don't know what flowers these are tho. But they're quite nice.

Pie and I looking at other people looking at something.

Flowers..and trees... and flowers everywhere...

This is what trees look like at night in Chiang Mai....
Ok, enough stupid captions.

The ladies

...

(I wasn't really peeing, ok?)

One of the exposition mascots. It was meant to be some fruit. We just couldn't figure out what.

Dad & his favourite toy

Path leading up to the main hall at night.

This tree is meant to have some sort of significance..I think I should have paid more attention at the fare.

Ok...I think this should be enough pictures to make the first sets of the Chiang Mai album. There are still a lot more photos coming up of different places we visited up in Chiang Mai. Like pictures of dancing elephants, and me playing jelly fish in the pool and things. So please stay tuned...

So I'm back in Melbourne

2007-02-11T05:39:00.000+11:00

Aside from getting molested by a male steward, the flight was quite alright. Stayed up to watch this pretty funny bollywood movie and this other Korean movie called 'The Host', which I thought was pretty cool.

Anyways, it's nice to be back in Melbourne. It's quite warm but I'd rather have the heat than how it is in winter. Just had my first kickboxing session today. Oh man, very tiring....but good. I think the heat made it a lil difficult for me to catch my breath. Also, I'm gonna have to start wearing mouthguards at trainings now since my dentist found two of my teeth have cracks in them.

As most of you know, I recently turned 24. Wow, I think I'm old. In a way it feels like I haven't done much the past 24 years. But on second thought, I've done so much. I've done shitloads. But one thing I can say is I am happy with the way my life has turned out so far. So I thank those who have contributed and please do continue to do so. Your love and friendship mean a lot to me.

As I've mentioned in my previous posts, there's a fair amount of pictures that have been accumulating, which I have been wanting to post but couldn't. Now that I'm back in Melbourne, prepare for some hardcore picture posting action!!

So we're back from the trip...

2007-01-18T18:00:00.000+11:00

And pictures speak way louder than words. So here goes...

In front of Kai's house, ready to roll.

Kai decided it was a good idea we kept track of our toll collectors

First stop: Kaiping enjoying his 'Khao Mun Gai' at the motorway service pit. We chilled there for a bit before hopping back in the car and got back on the road.

On the way Kai spotted this racing circuit. We stopped to have a look and thought we could have a few laps in the go-karts but it turned out it was an open circuit and that people brought their own karts. So we just stood and watched them race. Nice place tho. The track was surrounded by these smalls hills, with a pretty good view of the track from the top.

After a few more kilometres closer to Rayong, we made another stop as we spotted a 'Gai Yang' (bbq chicken) stall by the roadside. I got into a conversation with the chicken seller and had a bit of an insight on what life's like selling chicken on the side of a highway.

The final stop we made before getting into Rayong was at Big C, where Kai decided he wanted to have his sight checked. I think he just wanted new glasses.

After getting into Rayong itself, we spent a couple hours driving around different beaches looking for a good place to stay in. In the end, we found this beach front condotel that was really worth the 600 baht a night, with aircon/hot water/fridge/UBC/a huge balcony and a breakfast. Awesome!

It was already around 4pm when we finally got settled at the condotel and we didn't wanna miss out on some beach chilling so we went down for some beer Chang and some light snacks. Since it was Sunday, the beach was pretty much empty, which was nice. We ordered some 'Somtum' (or papaya pok pok as Kai calls it), but forgot to tell them to take it easy on the chillies so yea.. we nearly died finishing it. But that's what makes eating Somtum fun, I guess. Kai's trick was to eat it all without stopping and go wash your mouth in the sea, which actually helped. A lil odd but a good technique. Only works at the beach, of course.

This was our breakfast the next morning; an all you can eat buffet. A pretty big phrase for a 600 baht a night accomodation. hehe. The cooking was actually pretty good. Mmm I love hotel breakfast.

After breakfast, we were back on the beach and was joined by this lil fella, who wanted to play but always moved away when we got close. There were some real fine eye candies on the beach this morning. They were of premium quality, I must say. You can try zooming but I don't think it would be much help. hehehe.

Kaiping in water

Hehe this was pretty cool. On the beach was this small fisherman's village, where small fishing boats would come in every few minutes. Then we spotted who we believed was Batman on one of the boats coming in. I must admit it looked pretty cool.

After the beach, we decided it was time to visit the hotel pool. We wanted to reminisce on our days in the school swimming team but we could only swim so much in what must have been a 15m pool. Still, it seemed a very clean and well maintained pool. Plus the sun was out and the temperature was perfect. The building behind us on the right was the building we were staying in.

Well, we only spent like half an hour at the swimming pool and then it was time to head out to Koh Samed. After only 15 mins on a speedboat, we were on the island. First thing we did was got a place we could sit and have some Somtum and Gai Yang (as seen in the pic). Mmmmm that was a damned good meal.

Compared to the beaches in Rayong, there was a lot more going on on Koh Samed, which was fun but I think we also enjoyed the peace and quiet we had on the main land. Again, eye candies galore here.

As we were strolling the beach (and 'yogging' at times), we came across this guy who I believe was a local, sculpting this sand elephant. Behind us at the time this picture was taken was also a life-sized convertable vehicle he had also sculpted out of the sand. We wanted to sit in it but Kai was too heavy.

After a few hours on the island, we got on a boat to head back into Rayong. Kai decided it would be more fun we climbed up onto the roof of the boat. So that's where we spent our half hour cruise. He was right, it was fun up there.

Kaiping trying to make himself useful

And was thinking about becoming a Thai politician

Time was passing quick once we were back in Rayong. We decided to drive over to this place called Rayong Resort to take some pictures since it was situated in the mountains, and the roads up there had spots we could stop for some scenery appreciation. We also thought it'd be nice for the car we took a picture with it after some long hours of driving it around.

And it was time we drove out of Rayong. It was a nice drive out of the town with Kai rapping to his music next to me. Our next destination for the night was Pattaya, but that's another story altogether.

Good trip, bro. I know it'll be a while til we meet next but we should definitely do this again. Til then....

we keep grinning.

Woo Hoo!! We're going on a road trip...

2007-01-14T03:14:00.000+11:00

As I mentioned being on 56k, all the pictures are gonna have to wait til I really have time to sit down and load them up. Meanwhile, Kaiping and I have decided to go on a road trip leaving tomorrow morning, with the final destination being Rayong. We pretty much haven’t planned anything so we’re just gonna hop in my car and hopefully there’ll be a cheap hut or a bungalow for us to stay in tomorrow night (in a non-gay manner).

Bangkok so far has been pretty good to me as always. But I must say all the bombings and disturbances that have been going on in the country lately have been upsetting me a lil. And to be honest, what the future of the people of Thailand is like doesn’t look too vivid. But I don’t wanna go into that.

Shopping, tho has been even better than ever this trip round. I’m not too sure why but clothes especially the designs on the cheap t-shirts have become very nice at a lot of shopping spots. Cake, Pie and I were at Jatujak (the weekend market) and everywhere I looked I found something I liked. And it was all so cheap…even cheaper than how it used to be, as far as I can remember from the previous years.

The standards of the department stores have also been raised way higher than before. Yea, may be products may have gotten just a lil more pricey, but I found the whole shopping experience at these stores to be even much more fun. What used to be the World Trade Centre was bought up by the Central chain and became Central World Plaza, which I personally think is awesome.

Anyways, I shall keep shopping for there is still much more to be explored and much more to be seen. But first, I must get some sleep soon for the next few days there’ll be a lot of driving to be done and I won’t want to scare Kaiping by dozing off behind the wheel.

Goodnight!

2007-01-10T18:31:00.000+11:00

I'm overloaded with pictures at the moment. I have so many from the trip up to Chiang Mai and just in Bangkok in general I wanna get posted but 56k makes it a lil tricky. But expect a lot of photos soon...

18.12.06 : Bangkok Transmission Begins

2007-01-09T18:01:00.000+11:00

We landed yesterday night in Bangkok to experience our first sight of the new Suvarnabhumi (su-wan-na-poom) airport. Upon the touchdown, I thought the landing strip had been beautifully decorated with differently coloured LEDs and the buildings looked pretty good from the outside.

It hadn’t really hit me I had landed at home until I saw the big sign on the gangway with a yellow background, which read ‘Long Live the King’. Once inside the building, my first impression regarding the interior of Suvarnabhumi was a failed attempt to blend traditional Thai art with the sense of sophistication that the airport was meant to boast (in my humble opinion). To be fair, it was a nice airport and seemed better than Don Muang (the old airport) in ways, but the patterns on the floor resembled a church floor in a Thai temple, while the ceiling reminded me very much of the ceiling at Carrefour. But that’s ok. Looks and design are a matter of opinion.

What troubled me, though, was the fact that the standard of the services the airport offers never got updated the way the infrastructure itself did. The same old ‘you want taxi?’ nuisances still take up the arrival hall space, which already is not so big. And why would you wanna put the taxi stand right outside the arrival hall exits just so they can be blocked by the taxi queues. The worst thing, tho was that I have to say the only place there’s a queue for the males’ toilets is at the new Bangkok airport. I went round the place to have a look and some toilets only had one urinal pot. ONE!!!

Anyways, enough ranting. The weather/temperature here in Bangkok has been perfect so far. Not too humid, not too cold. Hopefully it stays this way a long time. Dad had mentioned to us there was a surprise waiting for us at home. And like we had speculated, a new family van. We have been going places in it and I must say I like it very much.

Pre-Bkk Transmission

2006-12-15T00:49:00.000+11:00

We have approximately two and a half days until we leave for Bangkok. Without spoiling it for my family, I, for some reason seem to look forward to it less than previous years. I think it's because I'm quite happy with the rhythm I got going on in melbourne at the moment with things, esp. work and training. Plus I've been able to hangout with some good friends lately now that uni has finished (don't delete my Sam&Max! I'll be back to finish it). Don't get me wrong, tho. I can't wait to see the other three family members when we get back (the third being Mali, of course), and some old BPS veterans, esp. you Bauchi.

Anyhoo, I got a few things planned for the two months in Thailand. Among them is an art project that I very much look forward to getting back into.

The Hefty Metal Animals Project

To continue with what I had started during IB Art, I look forward to expand my clan of the Hefty Metal Animal sculptures. In addition to the already existing Spidian V1.1, and the Giraffe V1.1_Rust, the current idea in mind projects some sort of a gigantic Hefty Metal Spider Crab, of which the design should be based on a Japanese spider crab, which looks something like this...

Japanese Spider Crab

And here is an old picture of the Spidian V1.1.

Dimension: 27cm x 25.5cm x 30cm
Weight: 4.7 kg

Spidian V1.1

Just thinking about it gets me quite excited. I can't wait to get started.

Other things planned include writing some music and getting back into playing the Piano. I've left that to rust for too long and it would be a terrible thing to give it up. Also, these recent years I've been fooling around with the Guitar and coming up with songs, most of which I have already forgetten, which is a waste. So now that there's time, I would like to sit down and do this properly, and hopefully record some of it.

Other than that, I wanna look for a good Muay Thai camp. One which I know I'll survive in, considering how hardcore the native Thai boxers can be. I would still like to be able to drag my ass back here to continue training in Melbourne next year.

Another highlight of our time back in Thailand will be the trip up to Chiang Mai, which mother has kindly arranged for us to stay at The Mandarin Oriental. I have had a look at the place on the website and I can't wait to be there.

Villa Lobby

Royal Villa Spa

Farang Ses Restaurant

With the events I went through this year, I think I deserve to relax in a place like this just fine. Thank you, Mother.

*Hotel pictures taken from the website

Bush Inferno

2006-12-13T13:20:00.000+11:00

With the intensity of the fire of this year's bush fire season, I got total respect for all the firefighters, who have been out there on the front lines, fighting inferno since last week. There had been a lot of coverage on the news, but as another city dweller, I kinda took it for granted how serious the matter can be for people, who are directly affected. That's until I woke up a few days ago and the sky was dark with all the fire smoke that the wind had carried into the city. Cake, Pie and I then could make sense of the mysterious burning smell we had experienced the night before.

Today seems worse than yesterday. The burning mist seems denser with stronger burning scent and the sky doesn't look too happy. It didn't help that the last weekend was one of the hottest and dryest weekends with strong wind to make the fire spread even more rapidly. Well, I do certainly hope the situation gets better, and that the firefighters get their very much deserved rest soon. Meanwhile, Go Go firefighters!!

What it looks like from our balcony

Mali and her goggles

2006-12-11T22:45:00.000+11:00

So the lastest news on Ms. Maliwan is that she now wears goggles... Pink goggles. The purpose of this was not only to enhance her already bold and cheeky sense of fashion (take her pink checkered frilly dress for example), the vet wanted to make sure her ultra bulgy eyes don't get scratched by branches and things, considering how naughty and perky she can be around low bushes sometimes. And her eyes get dry quite easily, since her eyeballs are so big her eyelids don't shut completely when she blinks.

Whoa Whoa..I see everything in pink

Goggles off

You know..sometimes we don't know who she's really looking at. Can't really tell. I don't understand.

+ + + + + + +

On a seperate matter, I got meself a phone upgrade to the newly released MOTORAZR V3xx. Booyah! Alright I know it's very similar to what a lot of you guys have out there but hey... mine has two cameras and a three logo on the back lid aallrigghttt? So back off, aight?

Actually this phone holds a personal significance to me, as it marks the first piece of a newly bought electronic equipment, of which I decided the protective plastic sheets be peeled off the screens right away, without hesitation. Now, that's something I had never done before.

Black is beautiful

The three logo.. Now, you don't have one of those on the back of your phone, do you? No, I didn't think so (I wish there was a way to scratch it off somehow).

My new toy

Work work work

2006-11-30T01:07:00.001+11:00

So the results for the semester were released last Thursday, which I found to be satisfactory. So that's all good. Now that this year's uni is out of the way, I'm gonna have more time for work and grow some moolah.

As some of you may already know I've been working as Dr. Cooney's research assistant at uni (yea, teacher's pet or whatever you wanna call it), one of the more frequent questions regarding the matter I've been getting is 'What exactly do you do for your lecturer, Jet?'. Well, I appreciate everyone's interest in what I do for work and would like to take this opportunity to elaborate on what actually goes on behind the office door, as to supplement my usually short and perhaps, inadequate response to the fore-mentioned question.

In general, I do whatever z boss would like me to (get your mind out of the gutter). The main project that I'm helping him with at the moment has been running for a couple of months. Initially, 5,000 questionnaires were dispatched to organizations across different industries, to find out more about the current techniques and frameworks used for teamworking. Around 500 came back, which is actually enough to keep me busy for the next few weeks, as they need processing.

As for what exactly needs to be done to process and analyze these returned questionnaires I should probably omit, as I wish not to bore you too much. But vaguely, I have to go through each question from each of the questionnaires and code them before the response to each question can be enter into a database, which will need to be constructed in the near future. After that, the statistical analysis itself is pretty much executed on a software called the SPSS.

As boring as it may sound, I actually enjoy coming in to work everyday. I think the best thing about it is the peaceful working environment, not to mention other really friendly staff. Academics and lecturers suddenly become so much more approachable outside the lecture theaters. Despite everyone having their own office, all seems to have adopted the open door policy (literally), which adds to the overall benevolentness. And above all, I get to listen to my iRiver all day long :)

+ + + + + + +

Z Boss

The Corridor: One of my favourite places at the office

My lunchbox: Cake's Sushi

Randomania IV

2006-11-24T18:41:00.000+11:00

And it's time for another Randomania, where everything has nothing to do with anything. And bookoo pictures is always fun. So without further ado...

Woohoo!! Another Space Invader spotted.

Location: Meyers Places, Melbourne

+ + + + + + +

A tram derailed in the city the other day. No idea how that happened.

The tram from another angle with a lot of onlookers.

+ + + + + + +

There have been a number of protests lately, within the city of Melbourne and that has been getting on my nerves a little. Roads and trams were blocked so getting places was a bit of a hassle.

People waited ages for trams as tractors strolled at the speed of a snail.

Well, it was a change to see some farm tractors roaming the city.

+ + + + + + +

Where my eyes are when I daydream at home.

+ + + + + + +

My new toys

Pieces of the Kaleesh and the Jedi Master

General Grievous and Master Yoda about to get it on

+ + + + + + +

Can't decide how I should do my laces. Which should I keep? And yea, I'm still wearing my BPS PE shorts.

+ + + + + + +

The best chicken rice I've had must be from Montien Hotel in Bangkok. Everything about it is so good. The sauces are uber tasty.

+ + + + + + +

Just a random little doll someone had put outside an apartment on my way home.

+ + + + + + +

Lunch: Mmmm Lamb Rump and Tofu

+ + + + + + +

Mara: The best thing to sleep with.

+ + + + + + +

There's this tiger farm in Thailand not far from Bangkok, where piglets and tiger cubs are raised together. And this is what you get, lil piglets sleeping on a mother tiger. Notice how they've dressed the piglets up in the tiger vests. hehe.

A cub sleeping on top of piglets

Tiger cubs drinking from a mother pig's teats

+ + + + + + +

As you can you see, Pie and I have been going a lil crazy over DVDs lately. Well, may be just me. To add to the rapidly growing collection;

Iron Monkey: Action packed traditional Chinese Kung Fu movie with funny bits. And Donnie Yen is always a plus.

Peanuts I & II boxsets: Kinda grew up watching Snoopy. Mother's special request.

Little Britain Complete Third Season: One of my favourite comedies. The new characters are getting more and more disgusting. And there's that Thai ladyboy, Ting Tong (or is it Tong Ting?)

The NeverEnding Story Trilogy boxset: Probably the first proper fantasy movie I watched. Gets me a lil nostalgic.

Pink Panther The First Season: I think the best thing about Pink Panther is the music.

Dragon Tiger Gate: Corny..Very Corny. But good fighting scenes. Of course, it's Donnie Yen.

The Adventure of TinTin: For the last time, Dom, TinTin is NOT homosexual, alright?

+ + + + + + +

Our house seems blessed with weird strawberries.

+ + + + + + +

And finally, dinner: Roast Turkey (Potato popcorns are great)

DVD Galore

2006-11-16T01:19:00.000+11:00

And my dvd collection has begun. I've decided I'm gonna start collecting movies I like and ditch pirated dvds. I've had enough of the frustration from a bootlegged dvd getting stuck half way through a movie and having to skip the whole scene to get the dvd going again. Plus, it's always a good investment to build up a collection of films I like. Well so far, here's what the stock's looking like...

Fawlty Towers

Ahhh good old Fawlty Towers. I was first introduced to this classic British comedy series by a friend, Infomatica back in the days at the dorms. After a few episodes and I thought Fawlty Towers was one of the most wittily humourous comedy series ever written..still is. That's because it's written and starred by the ingenious Mr. John Cleese himself.

My personal favourite character has to be Manuel, played by Andrew Sachs as the hotel's only waiter (from Barcelona, as Mr. Fawlty always says). The character is simply adorably funny, being constantly confused due to his limited English.

For a lil taste of what Fawlty Towers is like, here's a short clip off of my favourite episode, where Manuel's having trouble understanding one of the hotel guests.

The Neighbour No. Thirteen

This Japanese film first caught my attention with its cover with these two guys in identical urban clothes, one holding a samurai sword. I thought that was pretty cool. Its Jap name Rinjin 13, the plot follows young Juzo, who used to get bullied in school and develops an avengeful alter-personality, whose sole mission is to kill his childhood tormentor. The movie gets more interesting as the bully coincidently moves into the same building as Juzo, along with his young wife and his lil son. And when Juzo's split personality, #13 comes out to visit them at home :)

The other thing that got me picking up the dvd was that the guy on the cover with the samurai sword is Nakamura. If you have seen Fearless (Jet Li), Nakamura is the Jap guy, who fights Jet Li at the end. I like his style...

From Dusk till Dawn

One of my favourite movies. I remember watching it on VCDs in highschool, and thought it was a shit cool movie. I like to think of From Dusk till Dawn as like an everlasting gobstopper, with each scene dissolving to reveal a new flavour/mood. You get to see George Clooney be as crude as ever, starring as the elder of the crime-indulging duo, the Gecko brothers (nothing to do with the amphibian whatsoever).

This movie was the one that got me into Tarantino's work. In fact, I think it's my favourite from the Tarantino collection. Mr. Tarantino also plays one of the main characters in the movie; Clooney's character's younger brother.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The First Three Nightmares

This dvd boxset contains the first three of the infamous A Nightmare on Elm St re et series. The last time I saw any of these was probably when I was around 8 or 9. Wasn't exactly my movie of choice at the time but dad had me sat next to him while he was watching it, and I remember thinking Freddy Krueger's damned cool. He's just different from any other boogiemen out there. He's not another one of those slow-moving big stupid mysterious figures with a large knife in one hand and a mask to hide a disfigured face, who can barely walk but somehow always manage to catch up with the girl only to see her scream hideously and stick the knife in her stomach. Freddy's much more than that. He makes slashing wayyy stylish.

P.S. Freddy kicks Jason's ass any day.

+ + + + + + +

I have also just seen SAW III at the movies. Now, I would classify myself as a fan of horror flicks and usually, the bloodier the marrier. But SAW III did turn my stomach in that cinema. Well, may be it had been a while since I last saw a blood and guts film on the big screen so everything seemed so amplified. A brain never looked so big.

Dont get me wrong. I'm not saying the movie was bad in any way. In fact, I think it was very well made. The plot was clever as usual with its unexpected twists and turns. The concept behind each of the torture scenes was also very clever, with each of the excruciating machines that were so nerve-wrenching to watch operate, and at the same time, invigorating...in a way.

All in all, a good movie with some excellent make-up effects (well, they better have been make-up effects), and a clever plot. And if you're a fan of the good old blood and guts (and brains), SAW III will definitely not dissappoint.

A Day in the Life of Jet

2006-11-13T17:12:00.000+11:00

Woohoo!! No more exams.

So today, there was this weirdo guy in the changing room at the gym. I had seen him before and thought he was very weird but today he was even weirder. In fact, the only place in the gym I've seen him is in the changing room. He's this lil Asian dude, who walks around wrapped in his white towel around his waist, low enough to make other guys rather uncomfortable. I mean it's normal for guys to walk about naked, just minding their own business in the changing room in a non-gay manner. That's ok. But this guy walks around half naked in an obscene way, constantly looking at himself in the mirror, and at other guys.

So anyways, fair enough if you wanna be weird then it's ok just leave other people alone, you know. After kickboxing, I walked in and he was looking at me. I walked to the basin to wash my hands and he followed and stood there. Then, I went to the aroma room and again, he followed and sat next to me. Then, he turned to me and asked if I had finished working out.

Me: 'Yea, I'm done' I tried keeping it at that. But he wanted to talk...

The weirdo guy: 'Haven't seen you here before. Have you just started coming here?'

Me: 'No.. I've been coming here a while.'

The weirdo guy: 'Oh ok. I come here a lot but I don't use the gym. I like the sauna and the changing room.'

Me: ?!??!

Some people are just strange.

Being a cheapo, I dropped by Borders to read some magazines and to JB Hi-Fi to check some DVD's on the way home. I found this digitally remastered dvd boxset of one of my all time favourite movies: Event Horizon. It looks something like this...

And this...

Awesome. I also stopped by this pet shop to look at some kitties they had on display. Very cute. Too bad we can't keep pets in our apartment.

I got home just in time before it started drizzling. I actually like it when it rains and I'm inside, especially at night. I sleep well when it rains, as long as there're no thunders to wake me up.

It was time to cook and roast turkey was on the menu. I opened the pantry and thought to myself that may be some of the vegetables had been in there for a lil too long. For example,

And...

I should buy less potatoes next time. Anyways, dinner looked something like this...

Half way through the meal, Pie barged in through the front door, screaming without sound 'Help! Help! There's a worm on my sweater'. FYI, worms are Pie's worst nightmare. Here's what the lil guy looked like after I flicked him off of Pie's stomach...

Poor guy. He didn't make it so we threw him in the bin. Well, I threw him in the bin as Pie went to shower and wash all her clothes she had on *roll eyes*.

Now that I'm about to go to bed, I've just seen a bruise on my right foot. Gotta take it a lil easy on the pads.. hehe.

Thanks for reading about my day. Goodnight everyone. ZZzzzzzzz

Woohoo!! No more exams..ZZZZzzzzz

How kids these days do maths

2006-11-05T21:58:00.000+11:00

Pie showed me these today. Damned funny...

Notice the etc.. hahaha
. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

Have you heard this one?: Why were the Polacks so easily defeated by the Nazis in the WWII?...

Because the Nazis marched in backwards and the Poles thought they were leaving.

HAHAHA. I laugh every time.

+ + + + + + +

So we went skating today. It was nice to finally get a chance to get out and do something out in the sun after having been in the library every day for the past few weeks. Not that all my exams are over, tho. The fourth and final one will be on Thursday; International Trade Law. Not really my kinda thing. It's fun to learn and all, but I hate it when there are no right or wrong answers in the exams. I know some of you may think 'Wow, that's sweet..no right or wrong'. But it's not so sweet when even there's no wrong answer, when they don't like it..it's wrong.

So anyways, Spaceman Spiff was going down this slope on his skates today, for the first time in years. Well, he didn't exactly stack it or anything, but managed to leave behind a black trail from pressing on the break so hard haha. And then the track stopped half way down as he jumped onto the grass hehehe. Don't mean to be cussing you or anything, Mr. Spiff, but it was hilarious.

Speaking of skates. Check out this new Kelso 2 boot. It's sweeeeeeet.

Damned sexy

I think I would wear them on the street if they were walkable.

With a Ground Control Hi-Lo frame on

Anyhoo, I still love my skates. Eventhough they gave me burns today on my ankles, but I still love my skates. My sweet ass Legacy Venoms.

My babies

Best and worst places to get away with your nasty habits

2006-11-01T22:53:00.000+11:00

On the way back from the library today on the tram, I was thinking of where the best and worst places would be for some nasty habits, us human can get away with. Don't ask me what got me thinking the topic..'cause I don't know either. Here's what I came up with:

Letting one rip, aka One man jazz band
Best Places..
1. On a friday night in a night club (no one can hear and smell it)
2. In a fertilizer factory, unless your friends can distinguish your smell from the smell of shit in general. This works particularly well for the silent fart.
3. In a swimming pool, as long as you let it go slowly as to avoid that bubble effect on the surface of the water. This is especially good for the wet fart because you're already wet.
Worst Places..
1. In a church or a temple, especially when monks are doing their meditations.
2. In the library. Unless you have mastered the silent fart, breaking wind out loud in the library can have a devastating effect on yourself and the others around you.
3. In the movies, unless you can time your fart with the loud bits on the film.

Burping
Best Places..
1. In a restaurant in China, as a sign of appreciation.
2. At Paris Hilton's concert, again, as a sign of appreciation.
3. At a party, as you and your friends race through the alphabet.
Worst Places..
1. In a packed public transport on a hot day.
2. When you're doing your wedding speech/eulogy on the mic.
3. In an exam. Just like the guy behind me on my Monday's exam, who kept distracting and torturing me with his sausagy burps.

Missing the target (probably most applicable for guys, and in extreme cases for girls)
Best Places..
1. In the toilet at a pub. Since it's already all over the place, might as well contribute.
2. In a bush. You can even set your own target.

Sneezing and spraying
Worst Places..
1. At a subway restaurant, when you're making your customer a sub.
2. On a date, just before your first kiss with him/her.
3. In china in 2003, during the SARS epidemic.

. . . . . . .

Got a new book today; 'The Hypochondriac's Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have'. Read through a bit of it in the library, and learnt some pretty interesting stuff from this lil book full of humour. Like, have you heard of this disease called 'SCLERODERMA'? Let me read to you about it..

SCLERODERMA

'You can buy the finest European Moisturizers. Rub yourself with freshly picked aloe. You can take bath in extra-virgin olive oil and pack your face with mud from the deadsea. You can inject pure royal jelly from the hives of South African bees directly into your pores, and it won't do you any good.'

'Scleroderma (skle''-ro-der'-mah) is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes hardening and tightening of the skin and its connective tissue... ... results from your body's immune system producing an excess of collagen in your body's tissues... ...in which your skin and organs slowly harden and you begin to resemble a human statue.'

-DiClaudio, 2006

Mm, that doesn't sound very fun. How about 'CAVERNOUS SINUS GRANULOMATOSIS', in which it constantly feels as though someone were driving a nail into your eyeball, or 'CONGENITAL ERYTHROPOIETIC PORPHYRIA' (a very painful sounding name), in which your skin blisters and burns when exposed to the sun. Sounds familiar?

Anyways, I shall have the pleasure of reading through the book once all my exams are over.

. . . . . . .

*Big up to Spaceman Spiff for having sold his car, finally.

NTU lecturer Feedback Damn Funny..

2006-11-01T02:05:00.001+11:00

Courtesy of Cheryl Lee

One down, Three to go

2006-10-28T12:15:00.000+10:00

So I got one exam down, which I must say actually went pretty well. Expecting something good out of this subject. I never really saw international economics as a doctrine I'd be too interested in but this subject has provided me a good insight into the principle and a good understanding of how things work, especially the foriegn exchange stuff. So that's cool. Ok, enough nerding.

I've been listening to a lot of Fergie's new album: Dutchess. Aside some of the really lame lyrics and her rather orthodox style, I like a lot of the songs on the album. There's quite a fair bit of Missy Elliott and Gwen Stafani showing through her work. May be a little bit too much? She also seems to have used a lot of the 'Run DMC style' rapping..may be because she wanna rap but she can't? (not saying anything bad about Run DMC) But overall, I think it's an album with a good variety of moods. And now I got 'London London London..' stuck in my head. I like it, tho.

Putting her music aside, I must say she's got one of the fittest bodies out there. Tight abs and bootiful. Well, that's if she really looks like how she does in the media, in real-life.

Things have been quite spooky in my pencil case lately. Usually I have two black uni-ball pens in there (as shown in the pic). One is almost empty and the other one's kinda new so it's quite full (you know how with uni-ball pens, you can see the amount of ink you have left inside?). The almost empty one I usually use for writing unimportant stuff, since the ink has become too inconsistent and the new one I use for when I want some solid text. Last night I wanted to write notes for the exams and wanted to use the new pen. I thought I had taken out the right one from the pencil case but then the ink started cutting off after a couple sentences. So I checked and there was no ink inside so I thought I must have taken out the wrong one. Then I took the other one out and started writing..same thing, ink started cutting off. So I took both pens out to look and they were both EMPTY!! BOTH!!! how??? It's like someone broke into my pencil case to drain out my new pen overnight. I checked and there was no ink stain or anything on the pencil case. Strange.

I went to buy a new black uni-ball Signo pen earlier today and when I was taking it out of the pencil case in the library, a PURPLE uni-ball pen fell out. Purple? I never bought a purple uni-ball pen or any purple pen altogether (despite it being my favourite colour when I was a kid). Where did it come from? I have no idea. Somebody get an exorcist for my pencil case. Or better yet, get Constantine!!

So my next exam is on Monday; International Management Process. And then another one on Thursday. I've pretty much been living at Baillieu, trying to get my readings done. Really looking forward to after all this semester's exams. Have a list of things I wanna do and so I can finally go skate with Candidette and Spaceman Spiff.

Meanwhile, I gotta get three chapters done tonight. 'Til next time...

2006-10-25T21:18:00.000+10:00

I see a new blogger has arisen. Your nebulous material shall be my source for second opinions on the subject of music, Darkmatter.

Where is my gray jacket?

2006-10-24T23:31:00.000+10:00

*The following is pure whining. Don't say I didn't warn you*

One of the things I hate most is to lose any of my clothes. I don't know where my gray Roger David jacket is. I made sure I put it in my bag instead of putting it on the shoulder or hang it on the outside of the bag like a lot of people do but still... I managed to lose it. Why couldn't it have been another jacket.

Now usually when something goes missing, I can usually try to think and trace back to when and where I might have left it. But this, I didn't even wear it yesterday so it should still be in my bag but it's not. I may have taken it out of the bag in the changing room at the gym just so I could get other stuff from the bottom of the bag out. If that was when I lost it, it would mean somebody nicked it when I wasn't looking. F***ing stoler! And I'm sure I checked the locker before I left and I had taken everything out.

Otherwise, I was in the library that evening. I may have taken it out of the bag to get my books out but fo sho I would have put it back in the bag. Again, if it was then that it went missing, somebody nicked it. Stoler! Stoler! Stoler!!!

I liked the jacket so much I went back to Roger David today to see if they still had any left. But that lot has been forwared to DFO and it's ffarrrr!!!!! Well, I guess now that my favourite jacket is gone, I'm gonna have to make up for it in Bangkok. Can't wait. I hope I find something similar too, tho.

+ + + + + + +

On a seperate matter, I think old people on the tram are very funny. I like the way they sit and do whatever they do. Except those scary ones, who mumble violently and look like they're gonna hit you with their cane.

Two days ago, sitting opposite me was this little old man, who looked very friendly with his silly blue cap. You know, one of those old men with an everlasting smile on their face :) (in a nice way, not in a perverted way). After a while, this old lady came on the tram and I was watching the old man become instantly coy when the lady took a seat next to him. He was trying his best to not be too obvious while he was checking her out. His hands were in his pockets one second then out the next as he seemed quite restless like an excited lil boy. hehe. I thought it was quite funny.

On the same topic, Nabil was telling me about this funny thing that happened on his tram ride yesterday. This really old lady was sitting on the tram...really old like grandma old, you know.. And then ticket inspectors came on. They came over to her and asked to see her ticket. She reached into her hangbag and took out the ticket with her trembling hand along with a magnifying glass and held it over the expiry date on the ticket for the officer to see hahaha I thought that was hilarious.

+ + + + + + +

So my first exam is on Thursday. International Economics. Quite confusing. But should be ok.

Randomania III

2006-10-21T22:32:00.000+10:00

This one is extra random with lots of pictures 'cause I dont have time but I wanna blog, mmkay? And 'Phase 2-Exam Hibernation' has begun, mmkay?

+ + + + + + +

Cake's new art project. What would you do if there's an oversized creature in your toy grabber? huh? That's Bing Bing in there. The project is on display at Melbourne Uni.

The Evolution of Bing Bing

+ + + + + + +

Foaming Kiwi means it's gone bad, no?

+ + + + + + +

I gotta stop counting when I'm cutting food. It's getting annoying.

+ + + + + + +

So here it is.. My new hair. It looks different in different kinda light, obviously. I might get it a bit lighter next time. And it's not as red as it looks in real-life.

+ + + + + + +

What do you do when you have poured too much Martini by mistake? Do you try to pour it back into the bottle? Or save the trouble and just drink it?

+ + + + + + +

Knuckles after kickboxing...I guess it's not too bad. But it hurts but it's not bad..

+ + + + + + +

'Light Grenades'. Waiting with much anticipation.

+ + + + + + +

This guitar was done a while back. Took me a while but I like how it turned out. May be a lil dark, tho. I'm thinking of drawing on the back. Like that wiggly stuff on the bottom right. Like that. When I have time...

+ + + + + + +

Pie's paper sushi (and a fried egg)

+ + + + + + +

I think I've become very addicted to this revolving ring. I don't go anywhere without it. I apologise to those, whom I might have irritated by the constant movement of my right middle finger and thumb. I can't help it. It's muscle memory now.

+ + + + + + +

My supper. Smoked Salmon Sandwich. Yea, that's pineapple. I like it, ok?

+ + + + + + +

Weird strawberry

+ + + + + + +

K..back to studying. International Business theories. Very interesting.

Blade Rangers

2006-10-17T17:30:00.000+10:00

JE The Grycon Knight

Ride of choice: USD Grycon Clan
Discipline: Street Aggro

JM The Motion Man

Ride of choice: Salomon Motion 5
Discipline: Street Cruiser (he's an accountant)

NT The Athena Seraphique

Ride of choice: K2 Athena
Discipline: Street Cruiser (in the rain)

JS The Venom Rider

Ride of choice: USD Legacy Venom
Discipline: Street/Park Aggro

Together, we are the 'Blade Rangers' (JE, you can be the pink one)
Our motto is 'never give up (no matter how many times we stack it)'

*The end*

Randomania II

2006-10-15T22:30:00.000+10:00

It happened to me again. Those of you, who know about my 'Can I get a toasted chicken punani, please?' incident at the cafe at uni...I did it again. But this time it was at the juice bar, where I uttered 'Can I get a regular chicken smoothie, please?'...

Why do I do these things? What would any chicken have anything to do with a fruit smoothie?

+ + + + + + +

Anyways, so I have a little bit of a break before the next hibernation period; 'Phase 2-Exam Hibernation'. Managed to hand in the last two assignments without a major glitch, although they took a lot out of me. I think I experienced a near-death experience at one point, in front of the computer at uni. Everything just went white (or may be it was black)..my whole life flashed before my eyes... episodes of previous assignments and falling geckos (who have lost their suction) came back to haunt me. And then my assignment partner woke me up.

+ + + + + + +

It's been a while since I first had a love at first sight with a car. Last one was probably with the 2000 S-Type. Now in 2006, the new Chrysler 300c series turns my head everytime. At first, I had been noticing it around and had been thinking it was a Bentley, and it didn't help that both Chrysler and Bentley logos have wings. But ok, they're not that similar. Then after a while, I started seeing too many of them to be a Bentley. So I looked at one upclose, and realised it was a Chrysler. Well, another car that hits the spot for me.

+ + + + + + +

Do you guys sometimes miss the cartoons or animes or whatever you used to watch when you were kids? I'm quite happy I found my childhood anime the other day at this Asian DVD shop. It's called 'Fist of the North Star'. Back when I was a kid, I would watch it dubbed in Thai every week on TV. This Jap anime series first came out in 1983, the year I was born. Last week I found out there's a remake with 3D-CGI, and was on a mission to have the DVDs in my possession.

The main character, Kenshiro was once my hero when I was little. I wanted to throw punches so fast you can't see my fists. Or make anything explode with a touch of my finger tip. But now I don't know why I would wanna do any of that. Other than may be if I wanted to make mashed potato or something.

+ + + + + + +

Had my hair coloured yesterday. Turned out better than I had expected. I like it :)

+ + + + + + +

Today's kickboxing was intense but I had a lot of fun as usual. My trainer stayed on to train himself after my session so I decided to join him. Whoh.. let's just say now my arms and legs feel like they're falling off. And when I cough, my obliques feel like they're gonna tear. It'd be interesting trying to get out of bed tomorrow morning. Better go to bed now..

Goodnight, Y'all...
.

Ms. Maliwan Somsuphangsri

2006-10-11T23:44:00.000+10:00

I haven't been able to introduce Maliwan to some of you properly yet. So I'd like to take this opportunity to do so. I think it was about three years ago, when Mom, Cake, Pie and I were strolling down the aisles of the pet section of the notorious Jatujak, we spotted this adorable lil brown blob with a lil black snout, flopping around in its crate. If there was such a thing as love at first sight, that was probably it for me. We went up to the shop and asked the shopkeeper about this tiny baby pug.

To be honest, as much as we really wanted the puppy, our previous pet had kinda put us off the idea of having a pet for a while. That barking cat (Hippo) was possessed. I think among the weird pets we've had, Hippo was the weirdest. But that's another story all together.

But who could resist that tiny lil brown thing. So we decided the baby pug would be our next house pet. At least when she barked, we knew it would be coming from a dog. Earlier that day we had decided we were going for a movie at Central Plaza, a big mall near by. So we told the guy we'd come back to pick the puppy up.

When we came back to the shop after a few hours, that brown blob was jerking back and forth in the crate, trying to throw up. Apparently, she had been eating too much, non-stop..hehe. We made sure she wasn't dying and then took her home.

The baby pug, then, became Maliwan Somsuphangsri, or Mali for short. I remember Mali had this baby smell, which we thought was really cute. We got this wooden pen for her (a pet containment pen, Mali couldn't write), which worked out to give way too much space for her at the time, but everyone knows how fast puppies grow.

I remember an incident, where Mali got her head stuck in between the wooden columns of her pen, as she was squeaking for help.. HELPP HELLP EAKK EAAKK HELLPP!! At first I really didn't know what to do because if you could imagine, pugs already have bulging eyes, Mali's eyeballs were extra bulgy, and I knew if I was to pull her body hard enough, her eyes would have been rolling away on the floor. Anyways, after a few minutes we managed to kinda twist her around and her head popped back out, with her eyeballs still intact. The whole time she never stopped screaming.. eeeakkk eeeaakkk hheeellppp hellppppp!!! So if you look in the picture on the left, you can see we had put plastic sheets to prevent her from sticking her head through the gaps again.

Dad had been on a business trip overseas during Mali's first few days at home. I remember it was funny how when he came back from the trip, saw Mali on the floor and was wondering to himself what kind of creature we had brought home. Dad grew to love Mali like we all did.

Right this moment, she must be either sleeping or thinking to herself when Cake, Pie and I will be back to see her again. Soon, Mali. Soon....

Thirsty Mali

+ + + + + + +

eh?

+ + + + + + +

Mali with her flowers

Assignment Hibernation

2006-10-08T18:55:00.000+10:00

For those of you, who are tired of opening my blog and seeing that same plate of tofu time after time, I'll be back with more non-sense rambling soon (anyways, I'm getting sick of tofu, too..been having a lil too much).

Just gotta get these assignments out of the way. I'm on hibernation in a comp lab at uni at the moment. Will be back on in like 2-3 days..

So til then, if you're bored, check some links under 'subliminal procrastination' or something.. or go entertain youself somehow...

I know, here's something for you guys to figure out meanwhile; 'What has 5 eyes, 4 ears, 9 legs and 6 arms and is purple and green.... and pink and goes "rrhhhwwwwaawwaaaaaarhhbbbaaaa *pause* bababububaaddadaaaaaaaaaa boo boo gagagaaa'. I'll be back with the answer after Wednesday..

Til then~~

I heart my firm tofu

2006-10-03T20:15:00.000+10:00

I like my tofu

to eat my firm tofu
I like my tofu
white and tight my firm tofu

A bit soy sauce a bit spring onions
a bit rice wine makes my tofu shine
I love my tofu
nice and white my firm tofu
..........

I also like Martini Rosso (JinMin's fault)

+ + + + + + +

Tonight's dindin:

Lamb Cutlets with Salad (No tofu this time)
Before

After

Stand-up VS. Ground Control

2006-10-01T19:41:00.000+10:00

Striking VS. Grappling, K.O. VS. Submission or Muay Thai VS. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - The dichotomy of two schools of fighting, which personally I think are the most applicable, has been of interest to me for a long time so I thought I'd write about it a lil.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Apart from the fact that it looks like two gay men having fun on the ground, there is no question BJJ is a form of fighting that works out there on the streets. The fighting style has been developed in the favour of smaller-sized fighters, who lose out to their opponent in size. In fact, Helio Gracie was just a lil Brazilian guy, when he adapted the art from traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu.

A triangle/armbar submission (Minotauro VS. Coleman)

Legend has it that traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu was developed for Samurais so when(if) they lose their swords, they could fight bare hands. Back then, it wasn't so much of the armbars and the rear naked chokes but fish-hooking (using fingers to tear mouth), and eye gouging. Then when it was brought over to Brazil, the art was developed through the violence that was going on on the streets of Rio by the world renown Gra cie family. To be fair, one flaw I can see of BJJ is it probably only works best for a one on one fight. I can't imagine how one would be able to take on more than an opponent at a time, working on the ground.

Here: BJJ VS. Sumo, is a very good example of how BJJ can be used effectively by someone who is much much smaller in size than his/her opponent (BJJ fighter: the famous Royce Gracie).

Muay Thai

Needless to say, Muay Thai is a very high impact fighting style. If you cannot take your opponent to the ground and submit, Muay Thai is the way to go. Born in Thailand, 'มวยไทย' was originally developed for military purposes in the ancient times. Similar to Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai was invented so Thai soldiers were given the ability to engage in unarmed combats.

The fighting discipline can be said to be one of the most "down to earth" ways of fighting, putting to use fists, elbows, knees, forearms, feet and most importantly, shins. Muay Thai allows fighters to develop solid body parts, as not only does the fighting style emphasise striking down of the opponent, the fighter him/herself, must also be able to withstand the striking from the opponent.

Two of my favourite Muay Thai fighters: Masato and Buakaw

As for the flaw, if a pure Muay Thai fighter gets taken down, he/she would be in trouble. Muay Thai does need you to create an appropriate striking distance between you and your opponent. If you ended up on the ground with a BJJ fighter, you'd better try to get both of you back on feet and start chopping down the tree.

Here's a clip of a K-1 fight: Muay Thai VS. Boxing, with one of my favourite Muay Thai fighters, Masato, fighting a Japanese boxer. A very interesting and entertaining fight.

The things I really like about these two styles of fighing is the simplicity and the practicality. While Muay Thai utilises all the weapons mother nature has given you, BJJ lets you dominate your opponent on the ground, where most of the action is likely to take place if real fight was to break out. Other than all that has been mentioned, practicing both or either one of these two styles guarantees to get you fit as F***. Fo sho...

My ideal opponent (left)

Randomania

2006-09-30T17:54:00.000+10:00

One of my favourite flash cartoons on the internet has to be David Firth's 'Salad Fin g ers'. While all the episodes take the meaning of weirdness to a whole new level, I LOVE IT..(not that being weird is a bad thing, right?). Being a solo artist, Firth boasts creativity allover his Salad Fingers episodes. The eerie music in the background, which he claims is based on samples from Boards of Canada, sets the vibe the cartoon emits very different from anything I've seen out there.

Here's the first episode called 'Spoons': An introduction to Mr. Fingers as he pays a small child a visit. And if you're in the mood for something peculiar, watch all seven episodes.

Firth's work is featured on the website: www.fat-pie.com. There you can find his other cartoon series, all guaranteed to be weird. A word of warning, tho..some of the episodes may leave you in sorrow for hours. So if gloomy cartoons doesn't sound like your cup of chocolate, avoid the 'Spoilsbury Toast Boy' and the 'Milkman' series.

+ + + + + + +

Has any of you ever felt that some of Pink's and the Veronicas' songs are suspiciously similar? Well, not only are Pink's 'U+Ur Hand' and the Veronica's '4ever' written by the same guy (Gottwald), the songs have pretty much been constructed with the exact same chords. Check out this cool vid on youtube.. Pink VS. Veronicas

Despite not being a big fan of pop music, I actually like both these two songs. Plus I think Pink's cool anyways..

+ + + + + + +

I think I'm used to the fact that I don't look like I'm from Thailand but I don't really know why I always get mistaken for a Korean. I'm saying this because lately I've been having random people on the streets coming up to ask if I'm Korean. Then when I say I'm not.. they just piss off.. Weirdos!!

Anyhoooo, I was just watching this US TV-series called 'Monk' by Andy Breckman, starring Tony Shalhoub. I had been seeing the ad on TV for the series so I thought I'd give it a try over tonight's dinner. Five minutes in and I found myself hee-hawing on the couch.

The story follows Detective Adrian Monk (Shalhoub), who has an extreme case of an obsessive-compulsive disorder. The funniest bits are when he breaks into his super anal rituals haha, among other funny things he does. I wonder what it'd be like to have to really work with a person like him.

+ + + + + + +

Tonight's dinner: Porterhouse with Tofu Rocket Salad (fusion cuisine, no?)

The Polaroid Project by Cake

2006-09-24T14:00:00.000+10:00

Having artistically gifted sisters, I have been lucky to always enjoy the various interesting art pieces around the house, finished and/or in the making. In this particular occasion, I would like to talk about Cake's lastest experimental project; The Polaroid Lift & The Polaroid Transfer.

This first piece, seen on the left is a Polariod Lift imposed on woven fabric. As you can see, Cake is waiting for it to dry. Upon close inspection, the creasing effect the film has produced gives the piece a subtle motion to the texture, almost like a rising of red smoke. The colouration of the film still reflects the original photo, which was of a flower. The dark bluish bits up top and bottom right corners were derivable from the background of the picture, when the photo was taken.

The same technique has also been experimented with plain pieces of paper, which according to the artist, allowed for better control over the placement of the film. This was evident in the finished pieces through a more furrowing effect.

Another technique explored by Cake was the Polaroid Transfer. This can be said to be a more simplistic approach, where the top layer of a Polaroid image is peeled and placed on plain pieces of paper (left). A different impression was achieved by the Polaroid Transfer, with a more classic feel, due to the deterioration of the colours on the original film when processed with the Vivitar slide printer, as well as at the time the film was pressed.

To take things further, Cake tried the Polaroid Lift on different materials. One of my favourites has to be what she has done with the lil saucer and the espresso cup.

On both the saucer and the cup, the vivid flower images and the seamless placement of the film give both pieces a true-to-life effect.

+ + + + + + +

The 'lifting' of the Polaroid

The film is carefully placed on paper

I admire your gift, sist..

+ + + + + + +

On a seperate note, dad was telling cake he took Mali for a walk to see the soldiers on the streets. I can just imagine her walking with her ass going side to side looking up at each of the soldier's faces..This is what she is probably busy doing now..

Hey! Its that guy!

2006-09-22T21:15:00.000+10:00

In reference to Mr. Spaceman Spiff's blog on 19.09.06, I came across this book the other day as I was killing time at Borders. The book's title is 'Hey! It's that guy!' by Tara Ariano. Quite self-explanatory, really. I flipped through the book and was chuckling by myself for each of the actor's page, the title would be 'Hey! It's that loud, angry, belittling, hard assed drill sergeant', or 'Hey! It's that loser, who always wears thick glasses.' A useful guidebook to have lying around in your living room.

Amazon's got this interactive online reader, which let's you have a look at the sample of the book here.

I didn't end up buying the book, but I bought something else instead; Ricky Gervais' 'More Flanimals', the second of the Flanimals series. The book is pretty much a picture book with hilarious guide to the evolution of Flanimals, the Flanimal kingdom and Flanimal behaviour (hehehe) among other Flanimal facts. Let me introduce you to some of the species.

This here is Horosi Horasi a.k.a. Razus Razus.
He is of the Scrabulatory Skruntling specie and
is known to be the fastest Flanimal on the planet.
He is capable of reaching 50 mph because he
possesses legs that go absolutely mental.

Next, this guy is Glonk. He doesn't do much

I have no idea who this is.

But yea.. also bought a few more books. Might talk about them another time. Among them, John Burdett's 'Bangkok Eight' since I'm really enjoying 'Bangkok Tattoo'.

k..I'm off to meet more Flanimals.

Anatomy of the Chicken (wing)

2006-09-22T20:47:00.000+10:00

Ok..I have always wanted to talk about this. There seems to be a lot of confused people out there about what chicken drumsticks and what chicken wings are. As a chicken lover, I feel it is my responsibity on behalf of all the chickens to get this clarified.

(The following bit's probably not gonna be of use to those of you, who already know the difference between drumsticks and wings.. so piss off until the next blog..I'm joking you can stay.)

So you know when you go to Nando's, TGIF or KFC and you order some chicken wings and you find that there are also chicken drumsticks but you eat them anyways? Well, they actually are wings..upper wings, to be precise. You see, I think a lot of people think upper wings are drumsticks because they are shaped like drumsticks but smaller (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Upper Wings (drumettes)

Now, chicken drumsticks are actually what look like chicken drumettes but bigger (Fig. 2). They seem to be a lil less popular than chicken upper wings (may be because upper wings are generally more tender and come in a convenient bite size).

Fig. 2: Chicken Legs (drumsticks)

Kapich? No? May be this diagram from Wikipedia will help

So next time before you go 'Hey, I asked for wings but they gave me drumsticks..', spare a minute or two to figure out your chicken.

Pfft..and you think you know your chicken..

Next week: chicken crop... (check out the egg by the ass)

Thailand under martial law

2006-09-20T23:30:00.000+10:00

As a lot of you have already heard, the Thai military force has taken over the country for now. With the constitution revoked, the coup leader, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin has declared martial law. H.M. king Bhumibol was personally informed of the nation's situation by the general, together with the chiefs of the armed forces.

I was able to call home this morning and learnt that the situation is under control. The military intervention has been carried out cautiously, with memories of the bloodshed from 15 years ago for everyone to keep in mind.

Personally, I see General Sonthi's action as an heroic act, as the coup was to help end the political and even societal turmoil that has been going on since the beginning of the year, not to mention the intense conflicts Thaksin had created within the country during his political term. Unlike in 1991, I think this time the army's action was carried out, purely for the sake of the people and to save the country against its Prime Minister, who thinks running a country is like running a big corporation. Well, he can run but he can't hide.

Another thing I thought was smart about this movement was the fact that it was executed without prior knowledge to outsiders. One of the reasons the 1991 revolution went ugly was because the exact date of the overthrow was declared, which resulted in the gathering of crowds from different institutions (mainly uni students), and those who just wanted to test out their long kept away firearms. But with this occasion, although there are tanks and humvees rolling the streets of Bangkok, everyone has been calm, while supporters nearby watch peacefully.

Well, I just hope things turn out well without violence and Thaksin will be able to, for once think about the people of Thailand, rather than how to make more money, at the expense of the country's democracy. The king is tired of you, Thaksin...

Long live the king..

*Pictures were obtained from www.reuters.com

A Fever You Can't Sweat out

2006-09-19T13:18:00.000+10:00

The first time I listened to 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out', I was taken back by the band's use of instruments pop punk/synth rock bands don't normally even think about using. This is only true for the second half of the album, tho. The 'Panic! At the Disco' album was pretty much divided into two halves, with an electronic intermission in between (rather plain and too long for an intermission and starts off like a cheesy dance music from 'A Night at the Roxbury').

The first half features synthesized beats and sounds, as well as some acoustic riffs in the background. The cool thing about it is in most tracks from this half, the synth bits would kick in when you least expect it. Like in 'The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage', what seems to be the bridge of the song suddenly became this upbeat cheesy electro beat, which I could almost see Jim (from American Pie) stripping to. And yes, their track names are damned long. Kinda cool, tho.

Now, the second half is where it gets really interesting. Old school instruments like the Vaudevillian piano, the accordion and the horns add a lil bit of magic to the sounds. I particularly liked their use of the strings in 'But It's Better If You Do' and 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies', featuring plugged violins and I think what must have been either violas or a cello.

My favourite track, tho was 'There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet', simply because it's got the Jazz essense to it. Well, how can it not? The track starts off with the drums doing the swing. Then, the voice comes in, accompanied with the perky piano. Not only that, there're bits in the song, where all instruments and vocals would stop so the drums can solo..Jazz sttyyyyllleeee..Definitely my favourite song of the album.

Let me just talk about the track names just a bit. According to Wikipedia, most tracks on the album reference works of Chuck Palahniuk (he wrote Fight Club!!), who is said to be the band's collective favorite author. More about that here.

All in all, despite it being a lil draining since all the tracks are upbeat together with high vocals, 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' is a pretty interesting album. Another creative piece of work with a different choice of instruments used within the genre. Have a listen:
http://www.purevolume.com/panicatthedisco

A space invader located

2006-09-17T21:45:00.000+10:00

There aren't many cars on the road, nor pedestrians on the streets. It's another fine Sunday afternoon and I'm on my way to Baillieu with three chapters of economics in my bag, waiting eagerly to puzzle me.

Empty seats on the tram allow each passenger plenty of personal space, which is an incentive for a tram voyage on a Sunday. I had chosen a window seat, as usual. Being a martian, I find my eyes panning out the window for some fine Venusian specimens, naturally.

'Man, I wanna go sit in the park and read my Bangkok Tattoo..It's such a nice and sunny afternoon...' A sigh. 'But tomorrow's test is 15% and I don't wanna mess that up..'

'eh..' My eyes got my attention. I think they have spotted something and it's not a fine Venusian.
'It's one of them.. a small one but he's definitely one of them!' I smirk. 'What's he doing so low down there?.. I gotta go check this out.'

I reach for the tram cord and hop off. After just a few steps, I'm standing outside a secondhand bookstore, looking down at him..

..with a smile on my face.

http://www.space-invaders.com/

*My discovery of the lil invader is dedicated to my blog mentor, Khun Candidette, Khun Spaceman Spiff, and Khun Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator.

"Whatcha lookin' at??"

Nice day today, innit?

2006-09-13T00:59:00.000+10:00

Finally... the sun's out and I think it is here to stay for a while. At least until the next winter (hopefully). Everything seems so much better when its nice, bright and warm. Everyone's in a good mood, especially guys. You know why? Because if we were to test for a relationship between the amount of sun there is and the amount of clothes on a girl's body, the result would be a significant negative correlation (check out fig.01).

And it's nice to see the birds are out to play on a beautiful day like this. I think I saw some blue tits today. Or may be they were great tits. Yes, I think they were great tits. A lot of them (I'm still talking about birds).

I saw something else funny today. When I was walking out of Melbourne Central, there was an eggplant just lying there on the footpath. I'm not sure what it was doing there or where it came from but it was there. I actually started laughing at it 'cause it looked so lost....and funny. Didn't have my camera with me so I took a picture with my phone instead (people there must have thought I was weird).

Wonder what it's doing now... may be someone adopted it.

The Bell and the Hammer

2006-09-11T21:26:00.000+10:00

'The Bell and the Hammer' is one of those few albums I hear the first time and know it's gonna stay in my iTune library forever and ever ever. With all the differnt species and breeds of music there are these days, Indie is probably the genre 'This Day & Age' will fall most comfortably into.

The album starts off with 'Always straight ahead'. A song about a girl, who is afraid to fall in love, even though that's what she dreams of. In terms of the instrumentation, this song's got creativity written allover it. The shimmering harmonies at the start sets a serene vibe, which goes on for eight bars and then the coolest bass line comes in with the rest of the band. About this point, the beauty of the hi-hat comes out to play. I loooovvee it when bands pay attention to the hi-hat. It just shows how delicate they are with the way they make music. Another interesting thing about this song is each instrument jumps out to the front at times, throughout, just to say 'hey! look what I can do!'. As for the beautiful lyrics, it makes me feel sorry for people, who fear to love for whatever reason. It's quite sad...

The rest of the album offers glowing melodies , with gorgeous lyrics. Songs like 'Of Course We've All Seen the Sun', 'The Bell and the Hammer', and 'Second Star to the Right' are full of radiant piano and guitars , not to mention the soothing voice of the lead singer. 'The Bell and the Hammer' is definitely one of my favourite discoveries. See what you think: www.thisdayandagemusic.com

Anyways, today I bought a new book. Probably the first fiction I've bought in a long long time. The blurb reminded me of this other book, 'The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison' by Warren Fellows. That book was about this Farang guy, who was convicted of trafficking heroin between Thailand and Australia, and checked himself into the 'Bangkok Hilton'. The fact that I couldn't put that book down got me buying 'Bangkok Tattoo' as it instantly gave me the same sort of vibe. Here's what it's about:

'In District 8, the underbelly of Bangkok's crime world, a dramatically mutilated body is found in a hotel bedroom. It looks bad. It gets worse for detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep when the self-confessed murderer is the most successful 'working girl' at The Old Man's Club, a brothel owned jointly by Sonchai's mother and his boss, Police Colonel Vikorn. And it gets deadly when Sonchai, in an effort to get at the bizarre truth, is forced to run the gamut of Bangkok's drug-dealers, prositutes, bad cops, corrupt military generals, and the pitfalls of his own melting heart.'
-John Burdett

You see... Bangkok=sex and hookers?? Yea, may be. But don't other cities have all that too? But then I guess there's nowhere else, where you'll constantly get people coming up to you going 'u go spaycial sho? u want massaad? I take u...wely sheap...'. But that's only if you're a tourist. Anyways, I think Bangkok, or even Thailand holds this sort of reputation because people in the country's industry don't know how to blush. They are way less than embarrassed with what they do. Where else in the world can you find a living pingpong shooting machine? Or whatever else those girls can do with their poons.

I look forward to the upcoming nights, as I'll be taken to the Bangkok underworld, seeing bad cops and hookers (seeing as in seeing them on the streets!!)... may be I should take 'The Bell and the Hammer' with me too....

10.09.06: Transmission Begins

2006-09-10T23:51:00.000+10:00

One of the many dishes to come.. Chicken breast w/mushroom white wine cream sauce~baby rockets~fries~and beans

Before

After

I just love it when my chicken breast is juicy and tender. I think the trick is to butterfly it, pan fry both sides quickly then chuck it in the oven for like 12-15 mins at around 180°C. That way, you don't get the 'oh, it's so tough and dry' chicken breast, which despite it being a good source of protein, is so damned hard to swallow.

A generous amount of extra VIRGIN olive oil when panfrying usually contributes to the tenderness (extra virgin meaning the olives were of the purest form of being virgins when they were pressed..hehehe and thus, being more superior than those olives used for the only 'virgin' olive oil).

Another important thing is the quality of the chicken meat stays nice and juicy only if you can finish it in a meal (please refer to 2nd picture). Say you can't finish it and want to keep it in the fridge for the next day's lunch. It is likely your chicken mushroom white wine cream sauce will be tough and dry, and you will only have yourself to blame (not to mention how soggy your fries will be..but then again most people can finish the fries even if they are full).

So it might be wise to make sure when you obtain your chicken breast(s) at the market (or supermarket..whatever) that the size of the breast(s) are of good standard... by that, I mean not too big, not too small and that it(they) is just enough to make you happy (being too ambitious or too picky with the breast sizes usually brings problems because you won't be able to find any).

Ok..enough nonsense for the day...
_