I was up until 4.30am last night watching the Opening Ceremony. Gah. The performances and the choreography and the fireworks were fantastic though, really awesome and vibrant. My favourite parts were the fireworks making footprints, the introduction to the scroll, the blocks that moved up and down and the tai chi display, and the lighting of the Olympic Torch was definitely spectacular too. Pyrotechnics were top-notch throughout the ceremony.

We had a farewell dinner for Bjorn on Tuesday night at Two Souls, where the food was fantastic. On Wednesday, Mel and I ate at Rasa on Cuba St before going to Central Baptist where we played on the piano for a good two hours or so. Friday night I met up with Laura and her friends at Lonestar (I had the ribs - they were awesome) before heading home to watch the Opening Ceremony streaming live from the TVNZ website.



Today - I am being very Asian and I'm boiling some barley water \o/ Thanks to my parents for providing the oversized pot. I had been thinking of boiling barley water for ages, and it wasn't until I got the opportunity to grab some barley from the Asian grocery store near Pak'n'Save that everything started falling into place. I couldn't find any rock sugar, so I tried the Asian supermarket on the corner of Dixon and Cuba, and I managed to get a packet of rock sugar crystals. Hopefully this won't be an epic disaster.

Speaking of epic, apparently it's now a verb at work. You just got epicked.

Yeah right.

When I woke up yesterday (approximately 11am), it was awesomely sunny and..dare I say it for Wellington standards...warm O_o It was almost like it wasn't winter.

Anyway, Bjorn had organised some indoor soccer and netball for us as part of his going away. Oh my goodness, that seriously hurt. I was so unfit. Goalie was a popular position. So many of us were suffering today. But it was fun, and no one passed out, and all was good.

We were at Eelyn's last night for an awesome dinner (Yes I have pictures, don't worry). We were entertained by conversations of med-speak and chickens, a good round of Pictionary/Charades, and towards the early hours of the morning, some electrical displays from the storm outside. The rain was incredibly heavy, and the lightning was rather frequent, so we didn't leave until 2am or so.

Which meant pain getting up for church in the morning. Yup. I met everyone else at Reading after the service and we had lunch at this cafe on the corner of Cuba and Ghuznee (I forgot its name again -_-) where Andy and I shared a pizza (No pictures of this one). My mission in town however, was to get some shoes, so I was accompanied by Mel and Ian and we went to the Number 1 Shoe Warehouse on Lambton Quay where I got three pairs of shoes for $74!! What a bargain.

So I've been working on this incredibly panicky yet addictive game called Amnesia Attack that started on Psypoke first, then I ported it to the Ignite site, and finally my own site got its own a few days ago. As of this update, I have five Amnesia Attacks - can you name them all?

So. Good.

So yeah, last Sunday, when I posted that Facebook message, we were having some friends around for a Sunday roast, which was delicious by the way.

This past week has been busy; we had an internal conference at work where we listened to some of the seniors talk about various topics - it felt like being back at Uni, except I couldn't fall asleep. It was, however, very informative, and entertaining at some places as well.

Nats was down for the weekend for a med conference too, so we caught up with her. Matt Andrews was down as well (in b4 joke about stealing bags) so he joined us; Tom Bye was around and I yelled out "Tooommm, Hiiiiii" before we had to drove off, so I don't know if he recognised me or whatever.

I was on music again this morning; I didn't know half the songs, but I still managed, which was great. I also arranged to get access to the piano during the week which is FANTASTIC, I've been eagerly waiting to try out Still Alive on the piano (Thanks Stephen :3) but also it gives me an opportunity to practice during the week so I don't freak out on Sunday morning. Met with Mel and Raewyn after church for lunch at Nando's, where Mel and I shared a whole chicken.

We met up again in the evening with the intention of enjoying some jazz at Lido, but it was pretty full so we walked to D4, but that was dead, so we headed to this place on Majoribanks which was closed. With hunger pains rapidly rising, we resolved to go to Strawberry Fare, where I had a salad and some chocolate brownies. I think I scared Mel, Paul and Raewyn with my I-am-eating-but-it-looks-like-I-am-having-an-orgasm face. I think my CompSci friends know which one I'm talking about.

In case anyone is wondering:

No I did not create a Facebook account. Go away.

EDIT: lol urfacebook

I wanted to make sure I got to work on time on Friday, so I spent Thursday night at the Hub because of the trucks protest. They took so long coming down State Highway 1 that they only got to town around 8.30am, so there wasn't any traffic at all. But once they got in...there was epic honking and blasting of horns. They certainly made their presence known in Central Wellington. I heard there was mayhem in Auckland as they blocked up the Southern Motorway and Queen St too.



We'd also learned that Team Puppyguts, led by some guys at work, had won the 48 Hour Film Festival. Congratulations to them! In celebration, the company got a treat.



I spent most of the day finishing up the Ignite Website..and sneaking in a few games of DotA. Sigh I'm so rusty. But the website itself is making good progress, and Ignite Youths 2.0 will definitely release on time :p

I just got back from watching the game at JJ Murphy's. What an epic game!



We had a good meal as well. They were unfortunately out of steaks, so I ordered some delicious lamb shanks. Still a little bit hungry, Sunni, Andrew and I decided to share a chocolate mud cake (We were looking at Raewyn enjoying hers and wanted one too). My first comment upon its arrival:

"...This tastes meaty...."

Yeah. Some one had confused chocolate sauce with barbeque sauce. Awesome.

Last Tuesday, the company had the Speed Racer premier at Reading Cinemas. While most of us concluded that it wasn't as bad as everyone said it was, it was certainly...epileptic and corny in some places. Overall, it was entertaining and had some action-packed shots, but I wouldn't say it was fantastic-fantastic. Oh, there was an after party too, and that was pretty good. I got to play the game for the first time (I highly recommended it) and got to hang with some workmates, so that was pretty cool.

Amy was down in Wellington again, selling dumplings at Pak n Save, again, so we met up for dinner on Wednesday. I took her to Great India where we had some awesome curry and some not-so-awesome Indian dessert dumplings. We went over to Strawberry Fare to make a booking, where I saw Sunni and Raewyn. I told Raewyn that Amy was on the Jet program as well and the two couldn't stop talking. Go figure.

Anyway, we met up again on Thursday night with Peter and Laura, and we had dinner at this place called Piccolo on Vivian Street. It was small and empty, but the food was pretty good and the owner was really friendly and talkative. I advised everyone to eat less because we went to Strawberry Fare afterwards YAY. Between the three of us (Laura had to leave), we shared a Jaffa Tower and a Lemon Chocolate Cheesecake.

Friday night it was time to head to Auckland. Due to bad weather, the flight had been delayed by 30 minutes, so it wasn't until 8pm that we were actually boarding. However, some retard had decided that he'd check in his bags, but not show up on the aircraft. So we waited an extra 30 minutes for him to show up, and Qantas finally decided that they wouldn't wait and started to unload his bags. So yup, just as they finish unloading, aforementioned retard shows up and boards the plane (with heavy glares from the other passengers) and we finally fly off at 8.50pm or something like that.

It was around 10.30pm when we finally got to May's house. After the initial greets, I started scoffing some food that John had saved for me while the speeches started. It was a really good party, quite cosy and really friendly. It was midnight or so (time really flew by) before everyone started leaving, so I texted Andrew and the others to see what they were up to. No one wanted to drive out to Te Atatu to go for milk tea, so we canned the idea and made plans to meet up on Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday morning, my sister and I went to this place called Fuze on the peninsula for brunch, and I ordered some bacon and eggs with an extra lamb chop. It was good to catch up with her, especially over such good food.

I met up with Andrew, Richard, Mat, Nat and Jono at Benediction, just off Newton Road. I was still full from brunch, so I didn't eat anything, but I had a milkshake and watched the others enjoy their meals. Jono had to head off, so we split up: Nat, Mat and I went to Dress Smart, looking for a jacket for Mat, while Andrew and Richard dropped Jono home. We reconvened at the flat, which smelled like rubber thanks to Richard's ingenuity, and just hung around. Pretty soon after, Mat went with his family to see Kung Fu Panda, so the remaining four of us went to... MOMO'S! So good. So much better than Wellington milk tea.

Pretty soon after, we were at the Blockhouse Bay Tennis to celebrate Matt and Andrew's 21sts. It was...strangely familiar. But there were lots of people, lots of good food (again) and lots to do. There was music, there was dancing (no Singstar though), there was some alcohol (I went totally pink...but so did Matt), there was a really good atmosphere about the place. Great time.

Sunday was church, lunch at Wendy's with the youth, a quick catch up at Amy's place with her, Ted and Bobby (the food looked awesome :/) then dinner with my parents. We had beef stroganoff and roast chicken, plus my sister had made some apricot choc-chip muffins and my dad had brewed some feijoa wine. It was awesome.

One of the best weekends ever. Sigh.

Well, not photos strictly from the weekend, but whatever.









So yeah, I had my first music practice at Central Baptist. It's quite different from KCC - we start at 9am on Sunday morning and finish just before 10am O_o which really puts on the pressure. I knew some of the songs and picked up others, and I was accompanied by a saxophone, an organ and a flute, so there was plenty to mask my mistakes. But it's a really nice piano, as you can see, and it's really great to be playing for church again.

Yum Char was pretty average. Yeah, what can I say? It was a bit more expensive, not very good variety (too much fried food), and the mango pudding tasted very artificial. We'll be sticking with Majestic...although Peter wants to go to Grand Century some time.

Epic Cute.

If there was any Monday to choose to demonstrate how bad Mondays can start out, I would choose today.

In retrospect, the day itself wasn't bad; rather, just the bus ride to work.

Some guy thought he would be funny and make a joke about how the bus was full and how he'd have to sit on the roof.

If that wasn't enough, this clown started singing.

Yes, singing.

Badly.

Singing badly about how he had to go to court and try get a not guilty verdict and something about being hit on the head with a beer bottle, and how the bus wasn't going the right way to the courthouse.

I thought my ears would bleed.

Blahblahblah blah blahblah, blahblahblah. Blahblahblah blah blah. Blahblah, blahblahblah. Blahblahblah blah blah blah. Blahblah, blahblahblah. Blahblahblah blah blah blah blahblah blahblah blahblahblahblah blah blah blah blahblah blahblah STRAWBERRY FARE blahblahblahblah blahblah blahblah blah blah. Blahblahblah blah blahblah, blahblahblah. Blahblahblah blah blah. Blahblah blahblah blahblahblahblah blah blah blah blahblah blahblah blahblahblahblah blahblah blahblah blah blah.

I guess I've just been so busy with everything. Last week was the last week of the sprint at work, so we were trying to finish things up. Mat, Nats, Stacey and Richard came down over the weekend for a visit (see the Gallery pics), and I've got an influx of work from Psypoke...and also another secret website ¬.¬

Let's see... last weekend was really good. It was great to see Mat again, and he got to meet all the Wellington people I hang out with, as well as see some sights (including my work place). We had lots of good food (YAY PARADE CAFE AND STRAWBERRY FARE). We did a 15 minute run through Te Papa, we visited Mt Victoria in incredible winds, we watched the All Blacks beat Ireland, we played Pictionary (never again.), Mafia (never again.) and Puerto Rico, and Mat even went to church with us.

It's bug-fixing week this week, so it should be relatively quiet, but I've got a lot to do outside of work. *yawn*

Alice, Cinta and Jo came down to Wellington for a visit on Saturday very morning. I picked them up from the airport at 8am - thus began the love affair with Wellington.

Saturday was sight-seeing day. We went to Mt Victoria, Oriental Bay, Lambton Quay, Civic Centre, Te Papa and Botanical Gardens. We saw the Beehive, that stupid Platform 9 3/4 sign at the Railway Station, the giant floating silver ball, my workplace, a large umbrella.... we ate lots of delicious things too. We had brunch at the Parade Cafe (I had been there with Andy, Nat and Jono before) where we totally indulged on far too much bacon, corn fritters, eggs and divine chocolate cake and carrot cake.

Sunday I took them to Central Baptist where they were treated with scones ("I approve!" said Alice). They can report back to KCC and tell everyone how I'm doing :p We went for yum char after that, at Majestic Cuisine, where we insisted on tofu fa, mango pudding, and durian pastries. I also took them shopping down Cuba Street and Lambton Quay, and that was rather excruiating. We had a simple dinner - two wood oven pizzas from Maverick's, just down the road. This was in anticipation of epic dessert at Strawberry Fare, where we ordered far too much and I had to force myself to consume the entire lemon cheesecake that I had ordered (It was delicious). They also met everyone from the Estate and the Hub - we hung out for a bit at the Hub.

But the worst of the shopping had yet to come, as we went to Dress Smart in Tawa. Geez. Haha nah it was alright. There were some cool non-clothing shops there that had interesting things (like a sim card backup device for $2 or something like that, or giant candles shaped like Chess pieces). We had a quick bite at KFC before heading back to Valley Girl on Willis, where we saw Auntie Su, Yining and Liann. Then it was a quick walk up Lambton Quay and Cuba Street again, before heading home to pack. We ended the weekend of awesome food by going to Great India on Courtenay, where, again, we ate far too much.

It's been a really good weekend! And we have more visitors this weekend too \o/

Yeah I suppose I've been a bit slack when it comes to blogging. I spent the past week working on the most awesome Pokemon Snap section on the INTERNETS!!! EXCLUSIVE TO PSYPOKE!!!!!!!

Anyway, the whole flat went to watch Indiana Jones last Saturday. It was very action-packed, by the post-movie analysis proved there was very little plot, bits of cheese, and many holes and inconsistencies. But as I said, the whole point of the movie is to be so enthralling that you forget about all these things, and it did, so it was okay in that respect. I wouldn't pay to see it again though.

On Sunday, we went to Karori Baptist for a visit. The service was...um...different, and very friendly. Too friendly. Jono and I were glad to escape. We met with Andrew, John and Bjorn at this cafe in Kelburn, where we waited over an hour for some epic delicious food. Of course I took pictures - check the gallery.

Hmm, I haven't blogged in ages. Oh well, here goes:

Firstly, I've made some changes to the gallery, so you can post some comments about the photos I've uploaded. There's a summary of the comments posted so far on the right-hand side, so you can see the most recent ones.

Secondly, I've uploaded photos I took last week, covering events like Heong's Graduation, Jane's Birthday, and the Wellington Food Show. The Food Show was absolutely delicious - a must for next year! There are also three Graduation Photoshop pictures for you to see :3

I've had a pretty damn awesome week. I got to spend time with family and friends, eat lots of delicious food (that I took pictures of, don't worry) and I graduated in two degrees that were the result of four years' hard work and divine intervention.

Fantastic.

I spent all of Wednesday with Debs. We went to see Iron Man, which was rather disappointing in my opinion. The story and the villain was predictable, the fight scene was short...and the physics were completely wrong. Also,
1. Build robot arm and leg.
2. ???
3. SUCCESSFUL ROBOT!
I got to spend some time on the Internet (which explains the rushed post below this one) before we went for dinner at St. Tropez. We shared escargot; I had a nicely done steak for mains and a tart au citron for dessert - she had braised duck and creme brulée.

I wanted to meet up with Casey and Jesse on Thursday, but neither of them were in. Instead I spent half the day fixing the Internets for my dad, since he'd decided to ditch Woosh for ihug. I spent the rest of the day catching up with friends and lecturers at Uni, before going with the family to Mikano in Mechanics Bay for dinner. Tom wasn't working there that day. Whether this is fortunate or unfortunate is for you to decide. But the dinner was nice and dessert was superb - I had another steak and a nut trifle. Trifles for the win, seriously.

Friday graduation brought about some weather uncertainty. Andrew picked me up before picking Deanna up. We were a bit strapped for time, so he decided to drop me at Uni so I could rush in for the Maths breakfast. And what a delicious breakfast it was as well - there were fruit kebabs and toasted croissants and danish pastries and garghharg*drool*. There was also some champagne but I decided to take the sober route for the day.

I rushed to the CompSci breakfast two floors above and to my delight I managed to swipe the last custard tart as I entered. It was good seeing lots of people I knew and catching up with more of my lecturers - telling them I'd gotten my dream job, and thanks for putting me through all of that, and so on. Many thanks to Ann for including Python in the CS111 cirriculum, it has become quite useful at work :p

Rain threatened to cancel the procession at 9.30am but a window of opportunity arose and we quickly marched down to the Town Hall, a bit wet, but still jovial. Upon arrival, who should we find but HSIN-YAO?!, who had previously not existed for the past three years or so. We have pictures as proof, in case you don't believe us.

Trudging back up to Uni, I took some photos with some of my lecturers and old Clock Tower workmates, before heading to the Science brunch for some delicious chocolate cake, and finally to Albert Park for some more photos with the youth. It was all too short lived as we rushed down to the Town Hall again for the ceremony. Mad props to Andrew for high-fiving the chancellor!

Dinner was with my CompSci friends at Santa Lucia in Mission Bay. It was a really good atmosphere, with live music and dancing. I was in such a good mood that I asked Debs for a dance. Only to be refused. But apparently Amy was keen, so I tried to teach her some Ceroc moves without looking too uncoordinated, and it seemed quite good O_o So hooray for that. We migrated to Amy's house for 4 hours of mafia (again, I was promptly killed in the second game I played. I blame you, Casey!!).

I spent Saturday with Mat, Tom and Richard, playing Ticket to Ride in the afternoon, then heading for dinner with the CSC + Mat and Richard at Jimmy Wong's on Lorne Street in the city. It's some kind of fusion east-west place, and I had some wagyu beef which was really disappointing. My parents can cook better stir-fry than that. Unsatisfied, we went to the dessert place next to the Civic Centre for some ice cream and pearl milk tea (I had a double scoop of mango and cheesecake ice cream!).

Sunday was a chance to say goodbye to the youth group. It was a Mothers' Day service, then a quick lunch at New Lynn Shopping Mall, before spending some time with Debs and then my family. We rushed to the airport at 7pm, to find out my flight had been cancelled...engineering problems, or something. I was really lucky to get a flight at 9pm on Air New Zealand, for no extra cost. What's more, my luggage was overweight so I had to stuff some clothes into hand luggage. So while the flight was a bit chaotic to start with, I managed to get back to cold, cold Wellington without further troubles.

I wish I could relive this week again. :3

Commerce graduation was fantastic. The forecast was set for 100% chance of rain, but all we saw were magnificent blue skies and mostly sun, although some very brief overcast moments provided some relief from the heat.

Anyway, the day didn't quite start off as planned - I woke up at 8am instead of the planned 6.45am and ended up missing the Commerce breakfast (which wasn't that great anyway, I heard). I still arrived in time for the procession and it was a nice walk to the town hall. Since I was in the first ceremony, we went straight in and sat down.

The ceremony didn't take too long, and we were soon out taking pictures with parents and friends before heading to China for yum char. And it was a pretty good yum char, but not as good as Majestic Cuisine in Wellington. Following that, it was up to Albert Park and Business School for more pictures, and then a quiet night at home.

Phew.

I shall be more prepared and energetic for Friday's graduation.

I am taking a break from packing... I'm trying to pack light so I can take some nice-to-haves back to Wellington like Pictionary, possibly Cranium (although Suni has Cranium already), a badminton racquet and possibly a shelf (A small one, of course).

Congrats to John and Wei for graduating in a Bachelor of Engineering today - I'm glad the weather held out during the day! Hopefully it'll fine up next week.

See you guys in Auckland soon! *sneaks off to play DotA*

It was Andrew's birthday yesterday, so we made an expedition to Matiu/Somes Island in the middle of Wellington Harbour for a walkabout and a picnic. Really awesome weather, the skies were blue and the sun was out in full April force. We got to see some wildlife as well, including some skinks, a fantail and a robin. And sheep, sheep are cute :3 Pictures in the gallery.

Dave had his birthday earlier in the week as well; Jono and I had homegroup so we joined the gang afterwards - just in time for delicious cake, I might add.

Only another week to go before I'm back in Auckland \o/

Last weekend was the Armageddon Pulp Expo at Wellington's TSB Bank Arena. While I'm not a big fan of comics, sci-fi, anime and wrestling, Armageddon still has a decent gaming presence and I was there to catch Super Smash Bros Brawl and, of course, the best racing game ever, Speed Racer.

Bumped into Peter today. He just arrived to start work on Tuesday. He's probably reading this. I met John for Burgerfuel and the three of us went to HK BBQ for milk tea.

The three flats met up at Calzone (again) for some coffee and dessert. While it was not the best in the world, it was certainly delicious and droolworthy.



We were also joined by Tom, who had flown down from Auckland for something to do with the tramping club this weekend.

Calzone were closing up, so we migrated across the road to HK BBQ. And there's only one thing we go to HK BBQ for.



Yum :3 Still not as good as Momo's, and we got booted out at midnight. Sigh. And they say the Wellington night life is better than Auckland's.

I slept at work today :O Legitimately, you could say. Basically, we're shifting the place around so that people in project teams are closer to each other, and it's easier to communicate or whatever. Anyway, shifting means unplugging computer; unplugging computer means I can't do work; if I have no work to do... I sleep :O



After work, I met up with the others at Char Bar for the pub quiz. We didn't do too badly this time round: our name was In Soviet Russia, Quiz Answers You!. And we weren't DFL either, so that was great.

We decided to end the night by having rock melon milk tea with pearls at HK BBQ.

We resolved on Friday night that we would go for yum char, since some of us hadn't been in a long time; or in the case of Jono, never been at all.

We chose to go to Majestic Cuisine, since it's such good value for money and the quality is pretty much up there. We had so much food.. prawn dumplings, scallop dumplings, vegetable dumplings, siew mai, rice noodle, char siu bao, glutinous rice, deep fried squid, pork ribs, pork pastries, mango pudding, tofu fa, custard buns, coconut cubes...simply awesome. However, there were not enough egg tarts and no more durian pastries :(



We had so much fun that Jane and Andrew could not contain themselves.



The rest of the day was spent napping and playing... DotA! Yay! :D

IT REOPENED HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So yeah, I went into town with John to grab a few things, such as Burgerfuel, a clothes rack, and a sympathy card. I wanted to get a haircut too, but I didn't find anywhere suitable.

Anyway, that night, we had a potluck dinner with the other two flats. Man, it dragged on for a whle *_* But the food was really good: I contributed some prawn-cuttlefish ball-onion and capsicum kebabs, we also had roast pork, roast chicken, roast vegetables, salad, garlic bread, chips and dips...and ice cream and fruit salad to finish.
In other news, I got to play on the keyboard \o/ and we also watched Dirty Dancing /o\

IT REOPENED HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So yeah, I was a bit late home last night because I went out with Jono, Sunita, Jane and Paul. We went to Calzone, this cafe on the corner of Courtenay Street and Cambridge Terrace and just hung out. I had a honey-roasted chicken fettucine. Then we migrated to HK BBQ across the road for some taro milk tea:



By the time I got home, it was midnight and I called my parents (timezones, you know) and spoke to them for an hour or so. I swear, everytime I call them, there is ALWAYS a mention of "this absolutely delicious thing we had the other day. It was so good. If only you were here." -.-

Instead of Ceroc, me, Jono and John (The three J's) went to a pub quiz on Wednesday. Our team name completely and perfectly described the events that night.



Anyway, today I completed a program in Python, which is rather new to me. My exposure to Python consists of CompSci111 lab exercises that require you to figure out the area and circumference of a circle or to create a random number guessing game. But Python is a neat language, I've yet to fully discover its benefits and quirks. I still don't really like that indentation thing though.

I might have an epic update for tomorrow. We'll see...

Someone on my project team left the company on Friday, so we had a thing for him to celebrate his time at Sidhe. As usual, we had our obligatory company trivia quiz, and since he was from Norway, the inevitable question was "Who created the fjords in Norway?". No, my team didn't get it right. Yes, I'm sorry.

Anyway, here's a photo of some of the events that transpired that night. It was a balloon popping game.



On Saturday, I binged on a $6 bag of sour gummi lollies, including sour apple rings, sour watermelon rings, sour peach rings and sour coke bottles. And two mega snakes. Insert diabetes here.

On Saturday night we went to the other flat for a cultured wine and cheese night. To some people's dismay, there was more cheese than wine, but Bjorn didn't seem to mind. It was a really good night, despite the cacophony that was John and Matt talking in French.

Today I went with Jono to Central Baptist for a proper service, and yeah it was really good. I think I'll stay. I even managed to slip in that I was interested in the piano ¬_¬ And we're looking to join a home group as well. I guess we'll see how that goes.

I TTLY LUVZ FACEBOOK I CAN POKE YOU LOLZ DO U WANT TO POKE PERSON BACK U CAN WRITE ON MY WALL AND DRAW DOODLEZ TOO YAY FACEBOOK *~*!**~^_^ ^_^*~*!**~

EDIT: Click here for a recollection of the day

Okay well, firstly I got my new glasses today for 50% off the normal price because OPSM are awesome.

Secondly, I was walking out of my building when I saw the bus drive by, so I hurried to the bus stop and managed to catch it in time. As I stepped on the bus...I saw three very familiar faces walk down the footpath.

Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Ali Williams.

WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was indeed a fantastic time catching up with friends and family as I travelled back to Auckland for Easter. I left for Wellington Airport at around 10.45am to catch the bus from Wellington Hospital at 11.15am. I arrived at the airport with about an hour to spare so I just lazed about and walked around. The flight left early and only took 45 minutes, so I was out of Auckland's domestic terminal by 2.15pm. Shereen picked me up and we headed to the Hunua Falls.

We didn't do much on Friday. It was basically unpacking, team and cabin allocations, team building exercises including a blind obstacle course, some brain teasers and a team chant. I was the leader of my team: the Bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S! Raymond and Quan were our guest speakers.

Saturday was a rotation of four activities: kayaking, raft building, high ropes course and random games. I was stupid enough to wear my glasses while kayaking and as a result, they're sitting somewhere at the bottom of the crater lake where the waterfall spills into. Sigh. But anyway, I did have fun the rest of the day, despite the fact it was the second time I've lost my glasses in two months. We also had a guys' discussion and had some "manly" games. I can't believe how stubbornly competitive I am.

On Sunday we had a treasure hunt, a Burma trail, a barn dance, theatre sports and epic Mafia. My apologies to the committee for being so cynical during the Burma trail, haha. But yeah, it was a good night, I got to roleplay Phoenix Wright (to a certain extent) and of course, the other activities brought a smile to my face.

Yesterday we cleaned up the site and Debs and I left early to go to Burgerfuel for lunch (despite the 10% surcharge, it was so worth it), and then I dropped by home to see Dad and my sister.

So today I stumbled to work; tired from four days of fun, blind from no glasses and limping thanks to..um... certain manly games. It was a really nice surprise to see an Easter goodies box sitting on my desk: two Moro bars and two Cadbury Easter eggs. I shall add this to my collection.

Let's start chronologically. You'll never guess what I did on Sunday.



Yeah, there were four of us: me, Laura, Laura's friend and Laura's friend's friend's boyfriend's friend.

Anyway, after that, we went to Mt Victoria - pictures in the gallery. It was such a windy day, we kept getting blown around. The view was awesome though, however it was a pity we couldn't see the South Island. We saw quite a few planes going in and out of the airport - it's really weird when you're walking by the mountain and suddenly you see a plane at the same altitude as you.

This week was the last week for our sprint (Basically, a task period) at work, so we were trying to finish off all our tasks. I think I was pretty productive this week, I managed to achieve a lot of things that I didn't have any idea of a week ago.

Yesterday I celebrated a friend's birthday, but I also mourned the loss of a family friend. It really was a hilly day yesterday. My heart goes out to all those affected... I'm sorry I can't make the funeral and I guess it's just lame timing.

Tomorrow.. I leave for Auckland at 1.15pm, arriving 2.15pm. It'll be awesome seeing everyone again, and I know I'll have a great Easter camp with my youth group.

It's less than a week to Easter, which means I get to fly back to Auckland to visit my youth group and my parents. It also means our current sprint for work is wrapping up, so I'd better finish all my work!

Today we had a flat barbeque, for no apparent reason whatsoever. But it's always good to have a flat barbeque. At least there wasn't any dancing this time. Rather, we played Mafia! Hooray. We had a twist on the game where we only two of the sheriff, doctor and sniper would be active, but it would be random and no one would know which one had been left out. So it makes it interesting when someone attempts to pass themselves off as something they aren't. Yeah, it was quite intense, but Jono kept making the wrong decisions and I think the Mafia got away with a lot more than they should have.

Oh yeah, as a followup to my last post, the three most common responses to the story have been:
3. Sleeping? And listening to your iPod? Let me note this down
2. So, the bridge you say? I think I'll go check it out some time
1. You said WHAT? You should have said "I'm taken, but here's my friend's number!"

I was napping by the Civic Centre bridge to Frank Kitts Park, when I heard a small movement by my feet. So I opened an eye and I saw this girl sitting there (Edit: She was around 20 years old).

"Hi", she said.
"...Hi...", I responded, hesistantly.

"Tired?", she said.
"Yeah, quite tired. Just snoozing in the sun"
"You work?"
"Yeah"
"What's your name?"
"Oh uh...Jeremy"
"Ah okay. Well my friend wants your number"
"....."

I paused for a bit.

"Where is she?", I asked
"Oh she's hiding"
"I see. Uhm...well...uh....I'm taken....sorry"
"Oh. Oh okay. Thanks"

.....

LOL.

Yeah, been busy. Kinda.

Firstly, I finished Apollo Justice, which was great, because it means I'm not staying up past 1am playing the cases. Final verdict: Mmm, good game, good story, but still not as epic as Phoenix Wright. The characters might take a while getting used to, but overall, not too bad. I'll get the fifth game when it comes out.

Secondly, Debs was down in Wellington last weekend with Denise for my birthday, which was really nice. We had some much-missed Burgerfuel for lunch. Yes, we drove all the way to Lower Hutt. It was so worth it. Check the gallery for some pictures.

Let's see... I got an umbrella hat, a "There's no place like 127.0.0.1" shirt, some comfy house slippers for winter and a screen protector for my phone. Apart from the umbrella hat, all very useful presents. ¬_¬

Since then, it's just been work, work, work. Yesterday we got cake and cookies. Today, I almost fell asleep in a meeting, I was so tired. I'm glad it's the weekend \o/

I've been a little late in blogging, and I blame this entirely on Apollo Justice. It's not as captivating as Phoenix Wright, I must say, but it is still captivating and I have been playing it every night.

Anyway, on Sunday I went for yum char with Laura (again) and her friend from Uni. At the same place. With the awesome durian tarts :3 We got to have a lot more variety this time, including an awesome mango pudding, that tastes like REAL MANGO!!





Today I met up with Ritu for lunch, and we went to this place on Courtenay Place called R&S Malaysian restaurant. I wasn't sure what to have, so I ordered nasi lemak.



It was nice..until I found a hair in the rice. So I'm not going back there again ^^

Debs and Denise arrived from Auckland today as well, so I took them around to the Civic Centre and to Reading Cinemas for dinner. Then we went back to their hostel, where I played piano! Yay! It was such a calming and relieving experience, to be able to play the piano and to feel the music fill the air. Ahhhhh. I'm satisfied.

Today kinda reinforced how cool my job is. I mean, apart from the gaming and the coding (which are two of my biggest passions), we get perks. Perks like...

1. Free soft drinks. Our soft drinks fridge was restocked today. I had a Schwepps ginger beer, and it was so good.
2. Brownies. We got brownies today. And they were delicious. Absolutely delicious. Being near the food table means I have ready access.
3. Ice cream. We got ice cream on a cone today. And it was hokey pokey and neopolitan. It was a pretty hot day, and ice cream is pretty awesome on a hot day.

Sidhe is awesome.

Apollo Justice is out! The fourth installment of the Ace Attorney series is here for the Nintendo DS. In addition to the awesome shout phrases from the original Phoenix Wright series, we have [GOTCHA!]. Thanks to Steven, I can now play my unofficial copy of Apollo Justice!

Anyway, been up to a few things lately. Uncle Paul came down to Wellington on Tuesday to visit the Gormons at Wellington Hospital. Auntie Priscilla looks so frail, and she doesn't have very long left. It's inspiring to see Uncle Chris so strong in his faith. I took Uncle Paul out for dinner at the Mexican Cafe, near the hospital. Look at this delicious dessert, it's awesome:



In the Civic Square yesterday, they were protesting over the use of cluster bombs. It was quite a scene, they were getting people to lie down on the ground and they drew outlines in chalk. I wanted to get my silhouette done, but then I noticed they wrote the person's name down on the ground too. So uh, yeah. Pass.



We went back for more Ceroc lessons last night too. Mmm yeah, it wasn't as fun as the first time, but it wasn't as awkward as well. I dunno, I don't really want to go next week. We'll see though, I might get peer pressured again. Maybe I'll go for five lessons and get my sixth one free.

This morning, there was a power cut, causing all the buses running on electricity to come to a standstill. That is, the bus I was on stopped in the middle of the road and we had to get down and walk. We were lucky though, another bus came past and we all crammed in for free. I hope it doesn't happen too often -__-

Finally, I also picked up a goodie box, sent to Wilkins Suit Hire from Dress Circle Suit Hire. "Oh are you here to pick up some fabrics?" they said. "No", I replied, "I'm here for instant noodles!" Yeah, I was sent instant noodles, some Chinese tea, some sesame snacks and my ang pow. My parents are cool :3

Yesterday we had a flat barbeque. I suppose it's kind of a flat warming, since it's the first big party since the four of us moved in together. Despite the cold weather, the food and alcohol proved a big hit, and people were having a good time. So good in fact, that they started cranking out the Ceroc moves on the lounge floor. Yes. Quite.

At 10pm, we whizzed off to Te Papa to see the fireworks, as part of their 10th anniversary. Check the Gallery for the pictures I took.

Today I went back to the Streets for the morning service, with Andrew and Bjorn. I have to say, the morning service was a lot more welcoming and familiar than the night service, even if I didn't know any of the songs. It's a similar structure to KCC and we also had communion, which was good. Yeah, much better atmosphere in the morning...but it's still a little big and intimidating, haha.

After that, we met up with some others and had a barbeque/roast meat lunch. Roast duck, roast pork, barbeque pork and spicy chicken wings! :3



I also took the opportunity to try a honey milk tea, which was very average. Although it was better than the one from Cha (See my post a few days ago), it still doesn't compare to Momo's. Sigh.



Finally, I forgot to post this a few days ago, but here is the Wat Tan Hor I had from K.K. Malaysian Restaurant.

I walked home for the second day in a row. It was a really good walk..until it started raining. Then it became a run. A not-so-good run. But at least I ran home in time to play DotA, which is always good. Yesterday, though, I stumbled upon this cute little thing:





It was so cute. I clicked my finger and it bounded towards me, all happy to see me, so I patted it...while trying to take another picture. It wouldn't face the camera though, but you can see my hand extending out to scratch it. So cute 8d

I finally got put on a project at work. So starting Monday, I actually have some hard-out things to do! Hooray. No more extensive reading of the Intranet Wiki. I also got to know some of the QA Team on the 9th floor. One of them has this:



Epic, epic win. It's so cute T_T.

Anyway, we also had a company quiz after work, because one of the guys was leaving. We didn't do too badly, we came second out of five teams. One of the categories was "Wellington" -.- and another category was "Southland". In the end, our prize was $15 to spend at a bar of our choice, and we gave that to the guy who left in the spirit of..his..leaving. Or something. Yeah.

Lately I've been out of the flat a lot, so it was finally good to come home and play DotA with Weng Hao, Debs and Matt. Too bad the school kids couldn't join us... go to school and get a degree so you can get a cool job like mine!

Anyway, on Tuesday we went to another flat for dinner...friends of Andrew. Last night, I was peer pressured into going for Ceroc lessons. It was fun, but it was also the most awkward situation I have been in, in a long time. I was a bit late, and when I started, I had no idea what I was doing. And when you're the guy and you have to lead, and you don't know what you're doing, it means you tend to screw things up.

Anyway, we made a hasty exit from Ceroc to go to the pub, to drown our sorrows. Well, I didn't feel like spending $7 on beer, so I just sat around and chatted. We also went to McDonalds and I got a strawberry sundae there.

Hm, today is Valentine's Day (It's about time to end) and I got some chopsticks from Debs as a present. She got a box of Lindt as a present from me. Tomorrow is our first anniversary :3

As another week draws to an end, I finally got put somewhere at work. I think I'm going to be working on some internal framework, so while it won't directly affect the games you see on the market, it'll make a big impact to the games that we output. So I will try to sneak my name onto the credits some how.

So yeah, I went to find this pearl milk tea place and I ordered a small papaya milk tea to go. Small, so that I wouldn't have to drink so much if it was crap.

Sure enough, it was crap.



Maybe their shaved ice will be better. They have Champagne and Grape :3

Laura and I went for yum char today at this place on Courtenay Place, in Wellington. It was called Majestic Cuisine. Seems to be very popular with the locals - the restaurant was really busy and almost all the seats were filled.

Anyway, it felt so good having things that I had taken for granted in Auckland. One, chopsticks. My flat doesn't have chopsticks and I really miss the use of them, especially for cooking (like grabbing stuff out of the oven) and eating (instant noodles, not that I have had lots of those). Two, Chinese tea. Chinese tea is awesome, especially on cold days. I have it practically every day at home, but it just felt so good being able to drink Chinese tea.

I said I'd take some pictures for Casey, so here they are.





Apart from the things listed above, we also had Siew Mai and fried taro pork dumplings. All in all, it was a really nice yum char.

Laura also showed me a place where I could get milk tea, but she didn't recommend it and said it wasn't as good as Momo's. OH WELL. I'll still try it out and get back to you later on this :O

So it's the end of my first week at work. Good week, I'd say. Still training...I've been working on this application that animates shapes, just to get used to the company style of coding and its conventions, and all that. It's a bit slow though, because everyone's busy and all, and no one really has time to assess my work immediately, as such.

Anyway, I was introduced to everyone at show-and-tell on Friday. It was a "We have a new person, Jeremy Lai, he's standing over there" and a "...Hi..." in response. Eh. But show-and-tell is great, I got to see a bit of the projects currently in progress, and I can tell you now that they're really awesome. If I had a console, I would buy those games :O </shameless plugging>

I also had dinner with Ritu on Friday night, at an Indian restaurant. And that was nice, because she's like one of three people I know in the city. I should have taken a picture of what I ate (because that seems to be the thing with my CS friends) but I forgot. I had mango chicken, with a spicy level of "Indian hot", as opposed to "Kiwi hot". Yeah, it was pretty hot :p

As I walked around the train station, waiting for Ritu's train to arrive, I saw this epic failure:

Wishing you all a safe, prosperous and peaceful year of the Rat in 2008!

Anyway, I finally got my new pair of glasses today from OPSM. They feel very light and...omg I can totally see everything now -.- So for future reference, in case I forget, my powers are 150 left and 100 right.

Also, I walked home today. Health++;
In jeans. Comfort--;
Via a scenic route. Health++;
With lots of hills. Comfort--;
But it was nice and sunny (a huge change from the last few days) so overall, it was a good walk. I doubt I will be doing that again, at least not in jeans.

Anyway, it's nearing the end of my first week at work. I'm still training - I've just been programming a competency test and revising/refactoring my code so it conforms with company standards, and also learning how to make it well structured and extensible and all that jazz. Got to meet a few new faces today (because I have to report to the HR Manager tomorrow with their names).

Well yes, it’s been a really long time now. When I last posted, I was paying 1c per kilobyte (Thanks Vodafone!) for using my phone as a modem. As a result, Vodafone think I owe them $150, but I’m certainly not paying and I intend to sort it out once and for all after Waitangi Day (Yes I have tried calling 777). BUT YAY INTERNET AT HOME!

Anyway, yes I did arrive safely in Wellington. It did indeed take us 10 hours from Auckland. We stopped over in Taupo for a quick toilet break (The lake was a beautiful rich blue colour), Turangi for fish and chips, and some random long drop on the side of the road about an hour out for Wellington (Ugh. I was lucky I had a blocked nose). Yeah, blocked nose. I ended up suffering from exhaustion and then a cold upon arriving, which was not ideal, but hey.

So yeah, I settled in alright, got everything set up. My parents were with me on Thursday morning and we took a quick ride up the cable car, went to the optometrist, explored Cuba Street…then they took off for Taupo (overnight stay, then Auckland on Friday). For the rest of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I was just wandering around Wellington. Lots of interesting people were walking around for the Sevens. Went for a walk around the Botanical Gardens, went to Te Papa, saw the Beehive, walked around the city. I had Nasi Lemak at K.K. Malaysian Restaurant, Wellington :3 Sunday I just lazed at home (too much walking) but my flatmate Bjorn took me to church that night.

I walked in to the church with Bjorn and it immediately reminded me of WCCC. Very large, lots of people. I’d say almost everyone was under 30, and I was probably one of three Asians. We were a bit late, so I only caught two of the worship songs, but the second one we sang was “I stand in awe of you”, which was reassuring and comforting for its familiarity. I remember sitting in the chairs, listening to the sermon, feeling very reclusive and thinking about how I miss the friendliness of KCC, and how it’s nice and small and simple and so welcoming. I mean, it’s great that everyone’s so enthusiastic about God and worship here, but it just kinda creeped me out. I really want to find a small community church…I guess I feel less intimidated. Anyway, we didn’t stay long. I had a big day the next day…

Yeah so Monday was my first day at work. Sidhe is a really cool place. I walk in, and there’s people doing some hardcore programming, people in team meetings, people who have put aside their computer and instead are playing around with their creations on a Nintendo Wii. Like, seriously. We get to play with what we write :D I spent most of the day reading documentation and company policies and conventions and stuff like that, so it was kinda boring, and I was falling asleep towards the afternoon. But they sorted me out, and the next day I was completing a competency test (an extension to what I did when I applied for the job) just to make sure I had practice using the naming conventions and commenting styles. I was also given some homework, so I really should be learning all about C++ Templates and STL.

Anyway, I’m really glad I finally have Internet access. It’s like a connection to the world, to friends and family back in Auckland. It feels a little more relaxing and it certainly helps me to settle in better. I think once I get my new pair of glasses on Thursday, I’ll feel more confident too.

Pictures of Epic Win:

Yeah not quite, I just found out I can connect my Vodafone mobile to my computer and use it as a MODEM!!! How cool is that!!!

Anyway, in a nutshell, I made a safe trip to Wellington with my dad. I drove to Turangi, and he drove to Wellington...all in all, around 10 hours with no real problems. After arriving, I suffered from exhaustion and dehydration, but that seems to have settled down.

The flat is cool, a bit dirty but it's nice. I have a big room (subject to change) and I've set everything up. I am missing DotA and IRC and all the wonderful little things that only the Internet can provide.

I'll update more once I get a proper connection. I'll also upload some photos from my new phone (Very good quality photos, I might add) as well as write in more detail.

Hmm yes, I haven't blogged in a while. I've been quite busy, and lazy at the same time (How I've achieved that, I don't know).

Let's see. Since I last blogged *checks* last Friday, I've had a nice farewell from the youth at Western Springs, complete with Burgerfuel and Chocolate Scrabble; I went out for dinner with my CompSci friends and play Guitar Hero; I had a good last crack at the piano at church on Sunday; I've LAN'd enough for the next couple of weeks; I helped Mat move into his new flat with five med school students; I went to play Poker with Jono, Nat, Richard, Andrew and Mat; I had dinner with my family at the Viaduct for Dad's birthday.....and I have..uhm..begun packing. Yes. Packing.

I've seriously put packing off for so long. Bleh. I should be alright though. I still have practically all of Tuesday, and the big things need to be packed into the van on Tuesday anyway. I also need to pack for Parachute which is in...uhm..6 hours.

Oh yes, I got a damned Vodafone. Ask me for my number, I'm not giving it out over my blog. However, you can check my Profile page for my Credit Card number :O!

I was cleaning the cobwebs outside the house when I noticed this poor little monarch butterfly just fluttering helplessly on the lawn. So, being Asian, I took him inside and start taking pictures and showing him off on the webcam.

But anyway, one of the guys on my IRC channel suggested I fix the wing (with assistance from this video), so I did. Or tried. Whatever.

Anyway. Uhm. Yeah. Either way, if I helped then that's good, if not, it was doomed to die anyway. The end result is that there is a monarch butterfly with obnoxiously-coloured bits of cardboard stuck to its wing, and there are bits of permaglue stuck to my finger that I'm trying to extract with a nailclipper.

Check the Gallery for pictures.

Edit: It died T_T Rest in peace, little butterfly

I've been really busy lately, and in the back of my mind I know I'm running out of time to pack and I'm running out of time to catch up with friends too.

Anyway, quick summary of what I've been doing: Tuesday and Thursday I spent making costumes for Philly's 21st. I'll reveal them later as a surprise. All I can say is that they're AWESOME.

Debs came back from Singapore :3 Car battery went flat (again) at the airport. Had Burgerfuel two days in a row. Went to Cafe Latte with her since Trinh was working there, then Momo's after.

Ummm yeah, tomorrow I'm supposed to keep free, so in my spare time I'll probably be writing a list of things to bring down. Then it's Philly's party so yay \o/

It's really hot today x_x We had Stanley's Roast for lunch, and then I went to Auntie Val's house to fix up her computer (Intarwebz troubles). Matt and Holly stayed in the car with the radio/fan on, so when I went to start the car...yup...flat battery. So I called Cinta and Brendon came over to jumpstart me and I was on my merry way home.

Anyway, Friday was Sonny's 21st party thing, so we went to Dolce Vita on High Street for dinner. And I was incredibly hungry so I ordered a steak with parmesan cheese on it. And after devouring it within a few minutes, I was still hungry, and Sonny couldn't finish his pizza, so I had some of that as well. The cake was good though :3 (The cake was not a lie). And after that, we went to play pool at the same place, where I proceeded to fail miserably and lost a 5 ball lead to Jess -.- But at least me and Jess beat Sonny and Steven, so all in all, it was a good night.

The country mourns the passing of such an icon - Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. Truly, he lived out the motto of his alma mater, Auckland Grammar School: "per angusta ad augusta" which means "through difficulties to great heights".

A great man whose adventurous spirit and generous heart will continue to inspire New Zealanders for many years to come.

I dunno, I've been really tired lately. Like I've been going to bed between 12am or 1am, and I've been waking up at 9am. And when I go to bed, I'm exhausted and doze off almost immediately. ¯\(º_o)/¯

Anyway, on Tuesday we all congregated at Uni again. I dropped by Admissions and gave Anna some resources to touch up her computer skills (Oh I need to send her some files too...). I paid IRD some overdue tax (*shakes fist*) and we basically just hung around town doing random things. We went to iMax and Yifans and...yeah. I was captivated by Advent Children playing at that game shop in iMax. After that we met up with the workers (Ted, Ray, Han) for dinner at Daikoku Ramen on Victoria St(the one with the white toilet *_*) and then we went to play random Warcraft mini-maps and DotA in -wtf mode.

Yesterday I went with my sister to visit Waikumete Cemetery (It's been 9 years >_o), just to clean up the plaque and make sure everything was alright. Then we tried to go to Yaruki for lunch but it was too packed, so we went to that place on the corner of Railside Ave and Great North Rd.. I think it was called Asuka?

Later that day I picked up Reuben from town and we went to Alice's place for dinner, where we were treated to the fine talents of the three girls that we cooked for last week. Dinner was overall superb, presentation was well done and the performance was....um.... yes. Uhm. Unique.

I've decided I need to be frugal. Overdue tax, speeding fine, new phone, birthday presents, Parachute...I can't wait for my first paycheck >_o

Yesterday, we went out for dinner and I had prawn balls :3 And it was awesome.

Anyway, after church today, we went to Wendy's for a quick bite, and with nothing better to do, me, Sam, Matt and Weng Hao went to play pool at Breakers. Wow, it was so incredibly hax. The final game, I managed to do that trippy "make the white ball hit the other ball twice for the win" and I also did the "random ricochet off everything for the win".

After that, Ted texted us saying he was finally back home in Auckland, so let's go out for dinner! And what better place to go to than the Korean place we went to three nights ago! Hooray. Nah it was a good meal. We ate and then stood outside for ages just talking. My legs were really sore.

Yeah then after that I was heading to Momo's with Matt and Weng Hao, when Cinta texted me saying I had a speeding fine. Ugh. What a horrible way to end the day. Rargahrgarghgrhgrhh. $80 too. That's like, 12 milk teas.

And petrol is bloody $1.759 per litre. Omg.

Have you ever, ever seen such an epic, EPIC scene composed of CONFECTIONARY?

Okay, so I randomly decided that I would run some errands today. I wanted to get my exam scripts back, and I also wanted to visit some of my good friends from the Clock Tower, so I headed to Uni to accomplish all these things. One of my friends, Ritu, said she wouldn't be back at Admissions, but low and behold, who should I find walking up to the staff room at the Clock Tower? I shake my head in disappointment, Ritu :(

Anyway, it was good catching up with Mark, Tristan, Ritu, Mark, Alex and Anna. And randomly, Graeme walks through the doors of the Clock Tower looking to get some illegal documents verified, so lucky I was there to pull some strings. And I also got him an envelope and a stamp to send his documents off.

Anyway, in midst of all these things, Amy txted and was like "okay let's have dinner!", so I just hung around Engineering with Graeme until 6ish, then went for dinner at our favourite Korean place on upper Queens Street (I really like the fresh kimchi there). And of course, we went to Momo's, where I had a passionfruit nata. With the night still young (11pm, to be precise), we headed to the driving range for some fun. The driving range is great for stress relief. And yeah there's no real stress-causing agents at the moment for me, but it did wonders for my back, at least.

All in all, a really good night \o/

I went over to Debs' place yesterday, where Alice, Jo and Cinta had crashed after New Year's. They wanted, with Reuben, to play some Risk. So we did. And some extreme hax by Alice saw her take the first two games with no real competition. Seriously, she had such easy missions like "Destroy 15 enemy units in one turn" or "Conquer one continent", and she had hax dice rolling skills too. Reuben won the last one..haha, and in that game, we conspired to eliminate Alice first.

Anyway, we had a really cool night, just hanging and chatting. For some reason beyond my comprehension, the subject of a dinner party was brought up, where the guys cooked for the girls. And the next thing I knew, Reuben and I had volunteered to do just that O_o So, today, we did. We cooked a three course meal for Alice, Jo and Cinta.

We started off with bread and dip for entrees, then proceeded with sirloin steak on salad and salmon, with roast potatoes. And to top it off, we had a strawberry and mango sorbet, thanks to Reuben's Magic Bullet.

It was a really nice dinner. I was quite impressed with how well it turned out, given the amount of planning we did. My only regret was the steak, which is overcooked and ruined :( But at least it was tasty, so that was some consolation. The sorbet was really nice and the bread was really nice, so all in all, it was a good night.

Of course, there was a catch, and the girls are cooking us dinner next week. Mwahahaha.

Wow..it's 2008 already. Happy New Year indeed - I hope you all had a wonderful celebration with family and friends.

I don't know, I feel a bit down. I'm uncertain of what 2008 holds for me, especially with moving down and starting work. I miss Debs, because I would have liked to spend New Year's with her. As I write this, she still has another 3 hours to go lol.

Anyway, in summary of what I have done: Burgerfuel was closed so Sam and I went to this takeaway called Alligators where they serve huge burgers; spent time with the youth group just chilling and playing games; went to Point Chev beach and watched the fireworks at the Sky Tower; made a toast (with Grapetiser) with the youth group to the New Year; got locked inside Coyle Park (damn Auckland Council); got let out from Coyle Park; went to Momo's :D and played DotA. It's been a great night.

Sam has been bugging us to play pool, so, finally, after music practice yesterday, I took him to Breakers on Lincoln Road and we had three games. He was winning the whole way through for all three games, but when it came to crunch time, he just couldn't sink the black ball and I ended up sinking all mine and the black ball for the win. He managed to win the last game though...haha..yes..I mean I let him win ¬.¬ In case you are interested, there were several hax shots, including one where a cue ball hit the white ball twice and went into a pocket \o/

Anyway, there were like 7 youth at church today. Brendon disappeared soon after the service, and Philly had to go somewhere too, so the remainder of us went to Subway (Eat Fresh) for lunch. Following that...we went to play pool! :d The first game lasted a whole three shots as Weng Hao pocketed the black ball accidentally (Me: "Oh you're bound to hit something in if you hit it in that direction!" WH: "Okay!" *hit* *black ball goes in*). The second game was going well until I pocketed the black ball ¬.¬ (FAIL) By that time some other dudes wanted to play, so we left and went home.

Wow it's New Year's Eve tomorrow. 2007 has gone by pretty quickly.

The period between Christmas and New Years always seems so blah. It's like something's meant to be happening, but nothing does. ¯\(º_o)/¯

Anyway, we had an awesome feed on Christmas day. We had cheese platters (with some pickled onions, yum!), chicken nibbles, roast pork, glazed ham, potato salad, hot salad, green salad...and then for dessert we had these custard things in pastry cup...things. That were really really nice, so it's all good. And we also had a 5-layer rainbow jelly that took 5 days to make.

Since Christmas, I've been trying to get my sleeping habits back to normal after waking up at 4am to go to the airport. I think I'm back on track... kinda. Oh, and Sam arrived safely, so that's good too. \o/

I've been playing a lot of DS. Namely Pokemon...I've been breeding Larvitar and I finally got a good one ¬.¬ Anyway, that's half of my team, I need to get an Abra, Machop and Staryu now. Sigh. I wish the game makers would stop being so freaking stupid over IV Breeding and just make it some kind of max(father, mother, random) function. I also played Mario Kart DS over Wifi with PT, and that was lame, because he got a Blue Shell at the last course and pipped me to win the race. But all in all, we tied because I won the first two and he won the last two, so I'm not too fussed, and I fail at MKDS anyway so it doesn't bother me.

Lastly, I have also been hacking Pokemon ROMs. Yes h4xx0r lolz. I've been looking at the trainers' Pokemon. So far I've figured out level, dex number, item held and moveset. There's another number that I'm not too sure about...Weng Hao hypothesised it to be some kind of AI difficulty, and it makes sense, but I don't know of any way to test it.

Edit: So I'm up at 5am, waiting for Shereen to pick me up so we can go to the airport. XKCD is just so appropriate (but not for the same reasons)

Poor Sam. He's leaving tomorrow, so we had last Momo's forever tonight. I had a Taro Milk Shake with Mango Pudding. Alice got a Taro Milk Shake, with no pudding, but they gave her free pudding anyway -.- And Reuben got free pearls in his drink, and Deanna got free mango pudding in her drink too. And, in the Christmas spirit, we spent over $50 and got a free gift from Momo's! It was a doggie keyring that went straight into Sam's pocket. Haha, parting gift indeed.

Well, time for our last DotA game while Sam is in New Zealand ever! :3

So today we had the Christmas service at KCC. I was saying that it felt a bit hectic because I was trying to remember all my lines, as well as play the piano. But it all sorted itself out in the end.

The Christmas skit went really well. I didn't forget any of my lines (which was good), and I managed to ad-lib to cover up some late cues and also some other forgotten lines. There was a slight bit of panic when I realised I didn't know where the wireless microphone was, but frantic pointing by Andrew soon solved that. Yeah, I'm really pleased with how it went. Those of you who missed the skit will get the chance to see it later, because Uncle Ken filmed the whole thing. ¬.¬

After the service, we all went to grab a bite from Noodle Canteen in New Lynn. Cinta and I shared a honey chicken noodle, which was really nice. I kept telling myself not to eat too much, because we had an afternoon tea thing with my sister for her birthday later. In the end, I was feeling really hungry, so I took more from Cinta and also from Alice.

So after that, I made my way to Mission Bay. Despite the traffic and the lack of parking spaces, I managed to find a spot just in the back streets behind Burger King, and I joined the rest of the family at Mecca Stonehouse. At this point I wasn't feeling that hungry, but I ordered a chocolate mud cake, and after (happily) devouring it, I suddenly got hungrier. I don't know, why does it seem that I get hungry when I eat more? O_o Anyway, after that, I began stealing squid rings from Anita, and bread from my parents, and my parents got sick of me stealing food so they ordered another plate of bread and dip. Yum :3

So having been fed extremely well, I began to feel drowsy, and it wasn't until 5pm I struggled home and went straight to bed. Ahh, the satisfaction of eating too much and then napping.

It was Jess's birthday two weeks ago, so what better to do than to celebrate with a barbeque at his flat? I didn't actually know it was his birthday (I think it's his 21st too) until Daniela brought a cake from Michel's saying "Happy Birthday" (And a delicious one it was too!).

Anyway, I have rediscovered that the Wii is really really fun, even though you don't know what you're doing half the time. And it's better than way, because when you do something right, it's incredibly rewarding and funny at the same time. We played WarioWare, Brain Academy, Wii Sports, Super Monkey Ball....and DRAGON BALL Z YEAH. Yeah, even though I kept getting sassed in Dragon Ball Z, the main objective is NOT actually to beat your opponent, but rather, to see how many times you can yell OVER 9000!!!!!! or KAMEHAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I think I won on those grounds. Damn right.

Tomorrow is the Christmas skit >_< I really need to revise my lines, but we have guests over at the moment and I don't want to look like a nincompoop just randomly yelling things like "Would you mind sharing your Christmas cheer with us???".

Oh yes, I sense that some people are at Momo's right now. ¬.¬

So I FINALLY FOUND MY BELOVED SOUR APPLE RINGS!!! They were in New Lynn Foodtown, and it was a huge effort trying to get to them. There were these teens standing outside Foodtown singing, of all things, lame songs from High School Musical, at an obscene volume, so I had to crank my iPod to maximum to try and drown them out. Yeah, I know, it's amazing I'm still alive. But it was worth the struggle for those sour apple rings :D Yeah I also have sour coke bottles and feijoa lollies too. Ahh, happiness comes in artifically flavoured gelatinous treats.

Yeah I managed to finish my Christmas shopping, once and for all. It was actually pretty hectic in the malls today. Lots of people, no parkin
g, long queues...eh. At least it's done and I don't have to worry about it. Oh wait, I still need to wrap everything -.- Ngoh. I suppose I'll do that tomorrow.

What else..oh yes, Sam invited me (and Matt and Sam) around to his house for a simple meal of spag bol. Following that, we went to Parnell for Chocolate Boutique, but once again we were disappointed by the huge crowd standing around. So we walked further down to Movenpick where I had a sticky date pudding :3



Also! I have updated the Gallery with more kitty pictures from Sam's Farewell. Soooo cute. I also have a few pictures to share from our end-of-year bash at Wenderholm:

With the weather a bit shaky, we decided not to head out to the east coast beaches as originally planned. Rather, we went to Mission Bay and just hung around. We were a bit delayed by Alice, because she was at home having difficulties trying to contain these two little kittens.



So cute. Sooooo cute. They were curling up in De's handbag and snoozing. They kept mrowring (in an adorably cute high-pitched mrowr). Soo cute. For more cuteness, see the Gallery.

Anyway, it got quite dark around 2pm so we headed back to church to play some Cranium. Following that we had Burgerfuel (I had the Hawaiian special burger) and skit practice for the Christmas skit.

And finally, to top the night off, we went to Momo's where I had a Taro Milkshake with Mango Pudding.

Ahh, what a night. I'm very satisfied.

So yeah, yesterday, I totally went to Momo's again - this time, with Matt, Sam, Sam and Weng-Hao. I had a rockmelon pearl milk tea with pearls, and two beef and two lamb sticks. Apparently Amy and Bobby were there earlier as well. I think we missed each other by 30mins or something.

Today, I got a txt from Daniela saying "OKAY WE'RE HAVING DINNER TODAY SEE YOU THERE" with no prior warning so I was like "O_o" but yeah I didn't have anything on so I was happy to oblige. There were 10 of us, and we went to La Porchetta's in the city. I shared a half/half Mexicana and Original Porchetta's pizza with Ron, and I also ordered some garlic bread, so it was a good and satisfying meal, but not too expensive either.

One of the waitresses dropped a huge platter of empty plates on the floor. I swear the crashing and smashing lasted more than 5 seconds (which is actually a really long time for plates to be doing that, if you think about it). Epic fail, but it was kinda funny.

After that we went to play pool, which was incredibly entertaining. You CSC people are so hax. Seriously.

"Free for dinner?" "OKAY!"

Yeah so we went to Renkon in Parnell for dinner - me, Amy, Bobby, Raymond and Dong Jin. Just randomly. It was nice, although I can't remember the name of the dish I had. Some beef with garlic sauce thingy on rice. And we had lots of sides too - baked octopus (takoyaki?), fried chicken and fried tofu, and they were really nice.

Of course, if we're in Parnell, it kinda means that we have to go to the Chocolate Boutique, but unfortunately for us, it was way too crowded. By this time DJ and Raymond decided to call it a night, so Amy, Bobby and I went to Movenpick instead. I had caramel ice cream with hot chocolate brownie. It was ridiculously sweet.

So like, Movenpick started closing around 11pm. And we had lots to talk about. The three of us can really talk about anything and everything. So we relocated to Momo's (<3) for some drinks and continued talking for an hour or so. I had a passionfruit nata. Yeah so it was just after midnight that I started chronically yawning, so we decided to call it a night and went home.

I feel better about things now. We'll see how things go, but I'm hopeful and optimistic.

I like how...as a group, when bad things happen, you grow closer together as people strengthen to support each other in times of need.

Today we had a meeting, just to make everyone clear about what had been decided (See my last post). People were really hurt, and it hurt to see these people, who are like family to me, in this way. The worst feeling is when I look into someone's teary eyes and don't know what to say to comfort or encourage them.

But we must move forward. Together. We need to be mindful of the future and put the past behind us.

~ We're all in this together ~

So, today looked promising. It was cloudy, but there weren't any rain clouds in the sky. It was windy, but it wasn't a chilling wind. So with the weather holding out, the youth group went off to Orewa for our end-of-year party.

Unfortunately, the barbeques at Orewa require 50c to operate. Unfortunately, by 50c, I mean the old oversized 50c. So we didn't have one, obviously, so we decided to go to Wenderholm. Lucky for us, there was a spare barbeque, so we set ourselves up and started cooking food.

Food was great. There was so much meat. And there was salad and fruits and cake and *drool* and oh it was delicious. I helped to cook so I didn't overeat, and as a result, I was able to run around and go for a swim. The water was really nice. We were catching waves and stuff, but then it suddenly turned cold (I think it was a change in wind) and we headed back out onto dry land.

We continued to play a few games... beat vortex (Where you throw to someone, and they have to clap before they catch it. When you lose all your lives, you lie in the middle of the circle and everyone else gets to biff the vortex at you), and we also played EPIC TWISTER where we had a mat of 14 Twister dots. Yeah. It was epic. Epic, I tell you. It got to the stage where it was just me and Deanna, and Cinta, the spinner, had given up spinning and was just calling out random limbs and random colours.

Of course, since we're so close to Orewa, we couldn't resist going to Plantations for some ice cream. So we did! I had a double-scoop of gingerbread and cookies & cream on a waffle cone. <3

We were unpacking things at church, when some things happened, that should have never happened. It really soured what was an awesome day. I really don't know. I feel so helpless and depressed...even though I'm not involved. All I can do is support those who are affected. So, those of you who know what I'm talking about and are reading this...please, please don't carry all your burdens by yourself. We're like a family, and we're here to support each other in whatever way we can.

We had a good LAN. There were nine computers at the peak time (Thursday night), with a few more people than that. It was more of a gathering, we didn't play that much DotA as one would expect. Rather, we went to Momo's, we went for a run, we cooked our own brunch...yeah it was pretty great. We even played some Mario Party DS (Yes! I know how it works now. Only one person needs Mario Party. All others use Download Play.)

Okay, so yeah, Momo's was great. I had a Papaya Milk Tea with Mango Pudding (One of Debs' favourites). We had stuffed ourselves sick with KFC for dinner, so we decided not to have any sticks.

As for the actual LAN, we had ups and downs. Networking was a breeze this time, so everyone was connected within a few minutes. DotA was great at times, and bad at times. Haha. Thomas thought he could be sneaky and stop screenwatchers by closing the laptop. So, he did. And the laptop hibernated. And he dropped from the game.

We had music practice immediately after the LAN, and by the time we finished it was around 9pm, and we hadn't had dinner so we went to Burgerfuel. I had a Three Degree Burn, and spud fries. I swear I've never demolished a burger that fast before. I was seriously hungry. But it was awesomely delicious, so it was all good.

Tomorrow, we're heading to a beach in Orewa as our end-of-year youth group activity. I hope it's good weather. I haven't checked. Also, shout out to ANDREW LONG: Happy Birthday! Hope you, Steven and Uncle Paul have a good flight to Malaysia. Eat lots and stay healthy. Don't get fat!

So today was a big rush, trying to firstly help Mat move out of the flat, secondly organising Yum Char with Simon at Hee's Garden, thirdly I'm so totally late for the LAN at church but that's okay, because we found THIS at the flat!



It was so small and cute and..probably extremely terrified when Tom picked it up. But we took the opportunity to take pictures and then Tom set it down again. But it just sat there unhappily, so I picked it up (it was so cute) and took it to the tree where its parents were, and it jumped out of my hand and flew happily back into the tree. Ah, happy endings.

Okay I better run for the LAN. I think they're all expecting me :(

It's probably not a very common term, but if you explain it by using a contrast to "flat warming", it makes total sense.

So yeah, the time has come for Mat, Simon, Tom and Richard to move out of 'the flat'. So they had a flat cooling party. Without Richard and Simon. It was so damn awkward for the first three hours or so. First of all, Mat's rower friends came, and they were loud and rowdy and I didn't really feel like socialising with them, so I joined Tom's friends. And Tom's friends were total retards and kept dry-humping each other, so that was really disturbing and what-not.

Eventually Graeme showed up, so at least there was one other Asian in the house. Simon eventually showed up at 11pm, so we made plans to have Yum Char before he left forevarz on Saturday.

Anyway, interesting things we did:
- showed Tom lemonparty
- put lemonparty as a background on Tom's computer
- unplugged Tom's mouse and keyboard to prevent him from changing aforementioned background
- shutdown Tom's computer to prevent him from changing aforementioned background
- ridiculed Tom's choice of words in that lame Facebook Scrabble game (eg, chouse, areae, catlin)

Tomorrow! I'm helping Mat move out because I have the van. Then we're going for Yum Char as a farewell thing for Simon. Then I have the LAN <3 So it'll be a pretty busy day for me...and I should probably go to sleep because I have to wake up before my parents leave the house.

So today, Matt and the two Sams were like "So you wanna have ramen?" and I was like "...OKAY!" so we bundled into the car and went to Kiraku on Elliot Street in the city. I had a Chashuu Ramen, which was very nice; I really like how they give you chopped garlic at Kiraku, because it gives the soup just that extra tang of flavour.

Not quite satisfied yet, we decided we would go to the Chocolate Boutique in Parnell. So we did. We had issues parking (I almost hit someone as well, but it was all sweet), but eventually we found a place about 5 minutes walk away, so it wasn't too bad. I had a mango creme mousse, Matt and big Sam had a chocolate frappe, while little Sam had an Italian Denso.

Still not fully satisfied, we went to Momo's where I had a champagne and grape nata, and three lamb sticks. Mmmm. So great.

At this point in time, I think I could do with a bit more food. Maybe some waffles or some of Cinta's famous chocolate pudding. Or maybe some more sticks at Momo's. Yeah. I'm hungry :3

On a small admin note: I changed my tag board a bit so that the tags with more hits are bigger in size. Ooooooh flashy.

It's been very tiring lately.

Friday we had a BASIC Group dinner, and that was nice: we had teriyaki pork with stirfry veges on rice, and Cinta's famous chocolate pudding. We also played some Pictionary and had brainteasers from the Cranium card pack, and we were still keen to do something, so we went to Momo's <3 I had a Taro Milk Tea with Mango Pudding.

Saturday was busy too, music in the morning (only four songs so we were done quite quickly) then the church BBQ in the afternoon. So much food, it was awesome. There was meat of all kinds, satay, curry chicken, meatloaf, potato salads, coleslaw.... and for dessert there was cheesecake, fresh fruit, sago pudding, apple crumble, lemon tart....mmm. And THEN, after that, we went to Momo's. Again <3 I had a Blueberry Nata.

Today we had our last BASIC for the year (probably forever, for me), and we didn't have any songs prepared so we had a "Free Choice" where you just picked whatever song you wanted. And since we were sitting out in the front anyway, I decided to play the piano and I stuffed the intro for the third song, but otherwise it went really well. I felt a bit cheated after not playing for Open Worship last week, so this makes up for it. Then during discussion, we had some really interesting questions brought up, so props to Uncle Paul and Uncle Lye Chye for their explanations and sharing.

Finally we had skit practice where everyone got to hit me with some kind of inanimate object. Blah.

I spent some time on Saturday night resolving some conflicts. It's really quite tiring, physically and emotionally. But I don't mind it, because it means were resolve what's bad and look forward to more fun times. I'm glad we had that talk to sort things out.

Tonight, a couple of my step-mum's friends are coming over, so I guess I should be helping to prepare. But I feel like sleeping.

My hair is getting long, so I thought I'd try to spike it out the back and see if it bore any resemblance to Phoenix Wright.



Not too bad I'd say. A bit of hair spray or gel would make it look really good. All I need is a blue jacket, a white shirt and a red tie, and I'm all set. I already have the attitude :3

By the way, my jumper isn't actually that colour. I just photoshopped it to make it look a bit more bluish for the Phoenix Wright thing.

My auntie left for Malaysia today. I find it amusing that whenever relatives come over, they always take back groceries..my auntie managed to stuff a 2kg cabbage and 1.5kgs of avocado into a box and take it home. Her luggage was overweight so she left behind some clothes. I'll miss her awesome cooking and stuff. It was really great having her around, and it's just a pity that the hot water cylinder had to flood her room like that >_o

I have finally finished the long-awaited Graffiti Wall, so you can stuff that lame urFacebook site and come and draw stuff on my wall instead. Hooray! Comments and suggestions and bug reports are always welcome.

Oh yeah, I fail at relationships. ^_^

I can't believe it's three weeks to Christmas. Geez. I need to do my Christmas shopping soon. In accordance with the festivities, we took my auntie to Franklin Road in Ponsonby to see the Christmas lights. They have a tradition of lighting up all the houses on the street with extravagant neon lights, and it attracts a lot of visitors.

Yeah, the lights were impressive. But if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Bleh.

We found this little one inspecting the car.

I think he found the wheels were a bit off balanced. Also, he told me we needed a bit more oil, so I must remember to top it up sometime.

What else...we had dinner at Canton Restaurant in Kingsland with my step-mum's friend from Malaysia. Oh, I went to West City and bought some sour coke bottles and feijoa lollies. Epic win. I just need my sour apple rings and sour gummi bears and then my collection will be complete.

Anyway..Grammar traditions never die. One of the long-standing traditions between me and my Grammar friends is to congregate sometime around December 6th (preferably on that day, but generally ) at Auckland Grammar School and play some games...like handball.

Following that, we usually head to BK and stay late before going our separate ways. Anyway, this time, since we actually had a proper place to hang out (ie, the flat), we opted for Domino's and took it all back to the flat where it disappeared within around 10 minutes.

After that, we proceeded to play Cranium, using the pristine unopened box from my 21st that all my friends had so generously given me..but that didn't last long. Question: If you had to act out "tour guide" for charades, how would you do it? :O

Finally, we had a huge Mafia marathon until 5am where there were epic battles and epic frustrations and epic idiocy. I even enjoyed the times when I wasn't the overlord, because unlike SOME PEOPLE WHO I PLAY WITH, my Grammar friends don't kill me off in the first round.

So yeah, with 7 hours of sleep, I woke up groggily and proceeded to watch Simon play "Stalker", and get owned. Apparently he's making progress on that, so good on him. He kept getting shot on the first mission, and he had to use like 8 bullets to kill everyone and blahblahblah. When everyone had finally woken up, we had two games of DotA where we were royally sassed, then I finally drove home to beat the traffic. \o/

Tonight! We are going to Momo's because Ted is leaving for Taiwan tomorrow. I have to remember to get some money off him for his Parachute ticket. Oh yeah, we're going to be playing Mario Party DS at Momo's... haha. That'll be fun :O

So I've had a real busy two days. On Friday I went out for dinner with my sister to this Japanese place called Moto on Paramount Drive (It connects Central Park and Lincoln Road) and we ate so much, and it was really good as well. We both had a bento box, except I had beef and she had chicken. The bento came with sashmi, sushi, teriyaki chicken skewers, tempura and some miso. We also shared 8 dumplings and a tofu salad. Of course, my sister couldn't finish some stuff so I had to finish it for her. I think the only thing left on the table were my two sushi, so we did a pretty good job.

After that we went walking around West City for present ideas. We came out empty handed. West City was about to close anyway, so yeah.

Then I went to pick Bobby up and we went to town for Linh's birthday thingy. Her Facebook invite thingy said 9pm, so we were a bit surprised that she was..um..not there when we arrived at 10pm. She was "running late"...haha. Poor Linh. We had a good time though. The music was a bit loud and it was hard to hear people talking, but it was good to catch up and meet new people. Half the time I didn't know the person's name, because you know, you introduce yourself over the loud music and then you spend the rest of the night trying to figure out what they said... and whether you got it right. Oh, we got her a drinks set where you add your favourite alcohol, freeze the mix, and then you have an instant cocktail. She also got this punching bag thingy that swears each time you hit it. O_o

Today, my CS friends went to Wenderholm for a picnic thingy. As usual, Amy organised a huge amount of food, so we were exceptionally well fed. We had fun cooking on the barbeques, and kicking soccer balls around, and lazing about, and catching waves in the water (It was cold, but wasn't unbearable, yet Ted came out shivering like he had hypothermia). Raymond kept washing things. Al and Ted "wrestled" on the grass. There was a turd in the urinal. No one ate the "kerosene sausages". We fail at capturing ducks. Pics and video of Al and Ted at Casey's blog.

In the evening, we had nothing to do, so we made a stop to Plantations in Orewa and had some ice cream before going to Al's house and play PS2 and Mafia. Ah Mafia. I haven't played Mafia in ages. And today I was reminded as to why I hate it so much. Everytime I'm mafia, the sheriff investigates me, then reveals himself and points the finger at me, so I die. Everytime I'm not mafia, the mafia kill me. So that leaves me with two places left - when I'm the doctor, I get to heal myself all the time; also, when I'm the sniper, I get to randomly kill someone. Han also introduced a "Joker" who has a one-per-game ability to either shoot, save or investigate someone. I guess it opens possibilities, but in the end, I suppose people just shoot for fun.

Eh. It was a good day. I'm tired. I'm on piano at church tomorrow so I have to get up early.

I hate shopping -__- It's so tiring and boring, especially if you don't really know what you're buying. So you like, walk around aimlessly, trying to figure out stuff to buy, then when you've finished walking around, you've totally forgotten what you saw was good.

So yeah, we went shopping for Linh's birthday present today, at St. Lukes. In case she reads this I'm not going to spoil :O But it was a tiring experience and zzzzzzzzz and yeah I got stuck in traffic on the way home anyway.

But! Some cool things we found:
- a polar bear that goes "ROAR" when you tilt its head
- a trippy wobbling stand
- a cup with a propeller at the bottom to automatically mix your drinks (Creates a swirling vortex of power, it said)
- an ice cream cone that rotates your ice cream so you don't have to turn it when you lick it
- a mini Mahjong set

In other news, the graduation ceremonies are out. My ceremonies are:

Monday 5th May, 10:45am
Faculty of Business and Economics
- Degrees and diplomas A-F
- Bachelor of Commerce (conjoint) A-Z
- Property A-Z

Friday 9th May, 1:15pm
Faculty of Science
- Degrees and diplomas A-Li
- MSLTPrac A-Z
- Bachelor of Science (Honours) A-Z

Finally, here is a picture I took.

There's a kitty on my car 8d! (It's actually Debs car)

Omg. So. Full. Too. Much. To. Eat.

You know when you eat too much, and you have troubles breathing, and you feel lethargic, and you just want to lie down? Yeah, that's me, right now.

I took my auntie and my family out to eat at this Sun World: New Millennium place in Newmarket. Auntie May from Enjoy Inn owns it, or something. We had Peking Duck, steamed oysters, prawn balls and some XO tofu. Omg. It was so good. SO GOOD. All I can think about it how much food I ate and how I'm so full and omg it was soooo good.

Food is so awesome.

...seem no different from weekdays..when you're on holiday! Except we have church on Sunday so that kinda lets me know which day it is.

So since my last post, I did indeed get InfoSys330 back. I was quite surprised because I didn't think Examinations people worked on Saturdays. So I just "happened" to check, by pure chance, and...yeah. There it was O_o It was an okay mark, and I'm happy with it. So hooray.

And coincidentally (or was it?), Andrew spoke about worries and stuff at SHOUT on Saturday. What he said really made me think...but I can't say his perspective on Uni and grades and exams match mine. Even after what he said, I think what I said still stands: I set my goals high, and I'm not willing to settle for mediocrity when it comes to something like this. But it was a good time of sharing. Thank you for..um.. justifying why you liked the texture of my shirt, Andrew. You're like a brother to me too :p

Also, I thought the worship for SHOUT went really smoothly. From a music perspective, I think we did a good job and stuff. A pity there were so few people, but I guess that happens with high school exams.

So for the past two days I've been moping a lot. Why? Because I'm like that. I mope over bad grades. What is a bad grade? It is a grade that is below what I expect of myself.

*sigh*

Okay, okay. When it comes to grades, no one ever takes me seriously. I think that's fair, I think my expectations are high. I set them high. I aim high. If you aim high, and come short, of course you're going to be disappointed. Why do I have to settle for mediocrity? God has gifted me with an ability to learn, so I should put this ability to good use.

At the beginning of the year, I set my goal to have another year of all A's. I expected to achieve that goal. I have done so for the past two years. Furthermore, my grades, with respect to Computer Science papers, have been perfect, bar CompSci220, which I got an 'A' in.

Until now.

Sigh, yes, I got a B+ in CompSci367. OMG says everyone. It's really depressing. My transcript looks ugly with A+ A+ A+ A+ A+ A+..............................................B+. I've been really screwed over in this course, for reasons beyond my control. More than once, actually. Furthermore, I don't think "this is a conglomeration of two courses" is a good enough excuse for the poor administration and organisation. You know what I'm talking about.

Firstly, assignment 1 screwed a lot of people over. 4% is not trivial, and it is probably the difference between... a B+ and an A-? Hmmm.

Secondly, what the hell was with this challenge problem crap? What is the point of forcing this "optional" material on us? Hoff trees were not mentioned ANYWHERE in any of the lectures. Only students in CompSci709 would know what a Hoff tree was. Wait, what? CompSci709? Isn't that a graduate course? Why yes! It is! Doesn't that mean that all the undergrads who can't take that paper are disadvantaged because there are postgrads that took that paper? Why yes! Prove that mathematically. I dare you.

lol im angry on the internets

Anyway, what else have I been up to...I had SHOUT practice today, went to Momo's after. There was 11 of us, and of course that meant chaos because of the orders and the payment and yadadada. But champagne and grape nata is awesome. And so are lamb sticks. And so is DotA. So I'm temporarily happy.

I really want IS330 back. So I can mope about that too, if I don't get a good grade.

Went to play tennis with Amy, Bobby, Ted, Casey, Viet, Raymond and Alex at the Three Kings court (just near the library). Oh my goodness, I'm so unfit. But it was a really hot and sunny day, and in no time, I was tired and sweating and started being all "nyeh" about hitting the ball. We also had a sham of a tennis competition in which Casey and Bobby won by SUDDEN DEATH!!!!!

After that, we went for dinner at this Vietnamese place just opposite Burger Fuel on Dominion Road. It was so late, I was just happy to have food, so it probably tasted a lot better. You know what I'm talking about? You appreciate food more if you're really hungry...kinda thing. Anyway, after that we went to have pudding at Chalin. Yay pudding.

Oh and I finally got a grade back today. Two nights ago I had a dream that the "Points in progress" went from 45 (ie, 3 papers) to 30 (2 papers), so it finally came true today. I suppose it was fitting that the first grade back was the first exam I sat, so yeah. It was Maths315 (Mathematical Logic). I did well \o/ and immediately without explicitly mentioning the grade, everyone knows what I got. ¬_¬

Also, here is an interesting observation that people have made about the box art for Super Mario Galaxy. Look carefully at the title text. You will see sparkles of light under some of the letters. These letters spell something out. :O Highlight for spoilers: UR MR GAY. The people who make these initial findings are amazing.

I have never heard of anything so cute or adorable as this.

It's been pretty blah these past two days. I've been quite lazy because I've been out late and gotten home late and woken up late and felt lethargic and so the rest of the day is blahhhhhh. It's hard to get myself to do things, so I've been bumming around playing Phoenix Wright 3 mostly.

Yesterday, Sam randomly decided he was thirsty so I took him up on that offer and we went to Momo's with Weng-Hao after our game of DotA. Momo's is so great.

Grades Update:
CompSci367: Pending
Maths315: Pending
InfoSys330: Pending
-.-

I was invited to have dinner at 'the Flat' today - that is, Mat, Simon, Richard and Tom's flat. Poor Tom was being a drama llama the whole day over not being present at this dinner. Andrew was there too, as well as their friend Natasha.

Dinner was actually really delicious. Mat cooked a prawn and avocado risotto, with tiramisu and chocolate mousse for dessert. Absolutely fantastic, and compliments to the chef. I helped to prepare o/

At the moment we're just waiting for Richard to sort out his wireless so we can play DotA. Yes, Simon and Richard are hellbent on DotA and Richard has revealed that he has an addiction for it, and can't sleep until he has had a game.

So the youth are doing a Christmas skit for the Christmas service this year. I thought I'd go along so I could be the musician dude, because I'm usually the musician dude and don't have to act.

And then, all of a sudden, I'm the main character dude. Wut. I have to memorise all these lines as well x_x It should be a good skit though, if we can all get our lines sorted and our acting polished.

I'm excited by the prospect of Momo's <3 Apparently the story is that Viet got bored and so we're all congregating at Momo's now. Yay! I must remember to bring some cards along.

Oh geez I hate marking. I suppose it's a very easy way of earning money... at the cost of sanity. Still, I am amused by the number of really dumb students who just don't follow instructions, or they some how manage to be so smart that their assignment blows up in their face.

For example, this dude has managed to implement a text area and a scrollbar. Very good. Glad you got that far. However, he's managed to uncouple the scrollbar and the textarea, so that the textarea doesn't scroll. Fantastic. 0. Fail.

Oh yeah, I thought my marking was due in 4 days ago, but it's really due in tomorrow. I mentioned this to my mates at the CSC dinner and they were all like "so people like YOU are the reason our marks are so late!". Well nyeh to you :(

Debs flew back to Singapore today. I'm sure she'll be reading this sometime soon. Poor girl, she keeps complaining about how she'll have nothing to do. Except play DotA. pdoth

Ever tried playing the teslacoil? Hold on..yes, I did just say teslacoil. That thing from science class that shoots out lightning bolts (Who broke the chain of pain?!?!), or if you're a geek, that tower thing from Command and Conquer. It can be used as a musical instrument.

This is epic win.

So I was invited to join the "CSC" (The CompSci Crew, not the CompSci Club. Ask Sonny.) for dinner tonight. We went to the Thirsty Dog on K Road for a meal where we spent half the time talking about DotA, and the other half of the time observing a prostitute opposite the bar, trying to nab a client. Yeah.

Apparently she got a client after we left, says Daniela.

As with all normal computer scientist gatherings, the night was not over until we had gone to a Net Cafe and played DotA. We had two good games: I was Leviathan in the first, and Razor in the second. Great stuff.

Oh yes, as you can now see, I'm fully operational on a domain name, mrowr8d.com, so make sure you bookmark my site.

And I finally got a wireless router, so I can wi-fi with my DS! My Pokeymanz. Let me show you them :O

So yesterday, I had my last undergraduate exam yesterday ever. Providing I pass all my exams this semester. But everyone seems to have some kind of belief that I'll pass, so I guess I will.

To celebrate, we had a LAN at church starting Friday night and lasting until Saturday evening. Big success, lots of people turned up and quite a few people were keen to learn to play DotA, and even those who weren't keen stuck around and played table tennis, or some board games.

Oh yes, check out the LAN November 2007 Gallery Page for some pictures I took with my webcam.

Okay, so this is my first real blog entry, from the new admin panel that I've created..that no one can see. I can do bold and underline and italics and strikethroughs... I can also add links and stuff and.. yeah. But I'm lazy so I can't be bothered at the moment.

This should also hopefully be on a new paragraph.

I like having full control over what I put in my blogs. And by that, I mean the ability to write direct HTML in the blog. Maybe one day I can add the ability to parse PHP code. That would be hot :o

Edit: Comments are now enabled with bold, underline, strikethrough and italics, but no other HTML for the time being.

Hello this is my first blog post and it fails lol