catchup pt 1.

Definitely haven't been updating, but since we're in SWOTVAC, I'm now in the procrastination-blogging stage. Hopefully I can keep it up. I keep thinking of things to blog about but forget. ==" Catching up on blogging my 52 week project.

10/52: Celebrating St. Patty's Day
One day, these lovely guys went out on St. Patrick's Day, got relatively drunk on Guinness, and mass-texted EVERYONE they knew to come to the city and have some drinking fun :D
Fun times were had by everyone :) We also went to a pretty shady club in Flinders Lane...and survived LOL

Somehow the pictures actually came up clearly...it didn't look like it on my iPhone.

11/52: Apples to Apples
Went to a friend's house...he has a GOLF swing practice net round the back of his house, a vegie patch...everything! Nice chats; also this game called Apples to Apples, which pretty much is a lawyer game, but with trivia. You get a set of red cards, see which one matches the green card that's put out, and you have to try and persuade the person who put the green card that your card is the best.

It's actually a REALLY fun game, and apparently there's another called Cards Against Humanity (link) that is slightly more controversial...might check it out sometime.
 

12/52: Birthday at Kitchen Workshop
Forgot to take a picture, but it's a pretty nice cheap buffet! Two of my uni med friends were having a joint birthday, so I hopped along :P I haven't been there in a while, and it's definitely value for money. More accustomed to bigger buffets (in HK for example) but this one is still nice.
 
13/52: Birthday at Precinct Hotel
Another birthday for a law friend. Accidentally got hitched after a misunderstanding. How do we look? LOL

 

14/52: Outing at Taco Bell
Taco Bell, at last! I kept hearing things about it, and finally went with some friends. Probably not the best of ideas...we had to wait nearly an hour before getting seats, and the food was just alright for the price. It's a fun experience, but I don't think it's very

15/52: Neighbour's Abandoned House
My neighbour's took the place apart, and are now constructing on top. This was after the first or second day when we (my sister and I) noticed that they started demolishing the place. 


I could say something artsy like 'beauty in destruction' but really, they're just documenting what happened next door. Construction is still going, starting at 7am every morning...it is ridiculously annoying *anger*

 

Part 2 coming soon...?

wong fu productions ft. melbourne

9/52 week project: Wong Fu Productions at Storey Hall, RMIT


This was a momentous occasion for the Melbournite asians who adored the shorts made on youtube by the talented Wong Fu Productions! I had learnt about their tour to Melbourne on twitter, not only through friends but from following them on twitter as well. The perks of having social networks :)

Bought them alone, went there alone (4ever alone!)...until I bumped in to viv (who has an AWESOME blog (much better than mine). go check it out~). Anyway, she helped me get halfway up the ENORMOUS line due to connections. GOOD STUFF.
  

the line was REALLY LONG and full of asians. No white people were spotted that day.

Here's Phil and Wes! Unfortunately Ted couldn't make it...and (symbolically) there's a space left between them (d'awwww). It was awesome to see them in person and sort of get to know them =P. They showed some old shorts, and new ones. They really are creative geniuses...and for Asians to pursue creative arts, it's really an inspiration.

the night is young, my dear!

8/52 week project: Suzuki Night Market + MSO Free Concert


This week was characterised by the awesome Night Market at the Queen Victoria Market! There were lots of gift stores, and the normal collection of stalls trying to sell their wares to the general public who were walking off the calories they consumed. However, the highlight was definitely the FOOD STALLS. It was like a buffet, except you don't pay to eat everything and it's expensiver if you want to try everything. BUT TRY THINGS I DID!

First time I've ever tried this Korean Twist Potato stuff. Its actually really nice, albeit bad for you, but really, it was nommable enough to not really care. Yes, thank you for noticing that the first photo on this blog of myself looks highly suggestive. Also, thank you for noticing my t-shirt is owl versions of all the Doctors from Doctor Who! :)

This here is a charcoal fried meat of some sort. I really can't remember; I think it was beef or pork or something. IT WAS REALLY TASTY, but it was hard to cut with these ridiculous utensils they gave us. But well worth the money spent. 

Afterwards, we ventured towards the Sidney Myers Music Bowl in time for the Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony that the MSO was playing for free! It was actually a really nice night, quite pleasant, and the music was evocative enough to the ears that I didn't fall asleep.

NOTE: from here on in, I've always forgotten to take many pictures, so I may have to find pictures FROM THE NET, not my iphone. This may lead to better quality photos and posts. Ciao~!

" Crying wolf is a real danger. "

...but don't worry, this has nothing to do with the quote. It's merely a lame segue (although a quote by David Attenbourough) to...

7/52 week project: Strange Wolf and the Paperié!

What is this strange place, you ask? The neon sign with the lopsided G in it's name...does that mean anything at all? Nothing, anything?

Who is this person with the out-stuck tongue? A female, somewhat Asian and good at pulling weird faces...! Pokémon type: Kellen.

Delectable burger and chips, with a shot glass of tomato sauce. That's right, Strange Wolf is the name of a new burger joint down Little Bourke Street!

Nice, non?

That burger had a monster meat patty with juices dripping everywhere. The chips were crunchy and fried to perfection...trying to shove them into the sauce shot was a fun experience! I've actually never been to a...'specialized burger joint' (is that how you say it?). And it was great! Although apparently there's another place Andrew's (?) near Albert Park that everyone says I should try. SOMETIME SOON!

These tables were quite low down. They were like ottomans but wooden? The layout was pretty chill and quite comfortable!

Even if the place's opening looked a bit shifty. But you find the best things in places you'd never expect :D

We also found an amazing paperié down Chapel Street. Roaming is fun...especially so when you're not alone. Try it some day~

a cafe in the glen waverly

6/52 week project: a birthday eating at new places!

This day was not particularly interesting, but I did eat at some new places at the Glen, one being Cafe Moretti's near the end of Kingsway. Glen Waverley is a mysterious place...it's like the asianness of Box Hill, but less :D We also went to a Thai place and ate FAR TOO MUCH food...which is a good thing I guess!

a day roaming the city

5/52 week project: roamings in the city of Melbourne

Hello all again!I had a doctors appointment on the last day of January at the RCH, and had a day to kill so I decided to roam the city...alone (makes me sound sad but I really wasn't =P) I went and traveled around different places in the city...here are some of the places =D

Ladies and gentleman, the new and improved Royal Children's Hospital! I've spent nearly half my life at the hospital seeing specialists and getting treatments for the various ailments I have (and getting better!) They've always helped me through this stuff that really fucked over my early social life (LOL) but now I have to move to St. Vincent's hospital (the irony xD). I wish all the best for them in the future.

The new hospital has much more of these awesome open spaces. All the kids were running around having fun in the left picture. I loved hearing them be happy and energetic. Over a bit more (I forgot to take a picture) THERE WERE MEERKATS. so awesome LOL. The right-hand picture seems like either a 1. smoker's area or 2. relaxation place. IT'S AN AWESOME PLACE OF SERENITY LOL

There's an aquarium in the lobby! All the fishies swimming around so cute :33

A place that kellen found one night. The store was filled with Swedish designed stuff! It had an array of amazing stuff, but I didn't buy anything due to lack of funds at the time. I actually loved the store!

An art gallery called Outré on Elizabeth street. THATS A WAVE MADE OF BUNNIESSSS dawww. It was a pretty awesome place! I think I have to become more cultured and appreciate art; this is sort of the start of that :)

NOVELTY ICE TRAYS. And to think and I only saw these on facebook the day before...=D

ONE THING TO DO PER WEEK. Don't think I'll necessarily do all of these things (one of them says 'Have sex' >___>)

WOO life is good-ish :P

KT Education PD day

4/52 WEEK PROJECT - TUTORING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY

Not a very interesting place to be, but a first training day for a tutoring company, KT Education (which was coincidentally at my old school MHS)! I was training for a tutoring position there, pretty good pay, very nice people. We learnt how to deal with the students, conflict management, and a bit of mingling between tutors! It was a pretty fun day, and catering was great (the most important haha).

the night sky is beautiful

3/52 WEEK PROJECT - OUT LATE IN THE PARK
 
It seems like a non-unusual place to be. My friends had a spontaneous get-together at my place, and we decided to go for a late-night visit of the park that's behind my house. I know this isn't really a new place, but I've never been out there that late to just chat and watch the stars. It was a good night so we had some funsies and chatz.

I know this is a bit nerdy but I've always wanted to be able to name the stars and see the ones that correspond to the planets. There's an app for that on iPhone called Night Sky; it's really cool but I don't know if I'll want to use it over and over again. (sidenote: recent restore of my iPhone has caused me to rethink all the apps I download. Having too many makes the iPhone go slow :( ). I admire people who can look up at the stars and know the constellations...the only one I know is the Southern Cross. Also, the planets have their corresponding shine as well, and they appear on certain days in certain parts of the sky...but I never remember when or where =P I tried to look at Mars through one of those telescopes a while ago, but my eyelashes got in the way =="

semi-unresolution picture of the stars; it was too dark for my iphone =O

the really rich chinese restaurant (apparently)

2/52 WEEK PROJECT - CHINESE RESTAURANT (in hong kong):

In my second week, the parents met up with their university friends in Hong Kong. They haven't seen each other for SO LONG that apparently the last time I saw one of the families was when I was 3. They're all Hong Kong rich now, and all sending their kids down here to Australia to study (Yes they all went to Melbourne universities).


Anyway the place was described as 'traditional Cantonese cooking for Chinese people'. So not the weird Sweet and Sour Pork, or Special Fried Rice, or Mystery Meat Dumpling that you get at one of those dodgy Chinese restaurants that look like they were forgotten in the 80's. This was the REAL DEAL.


The menu was quite expensive. My parents told me that this place was where all the rich people ate at because it served really nice food, and had arrogant waiters (I know right what even). And the food was pretty amazing. Usually at normal chinese restaurants you know what the quality of the food is going to be; some good some bad. But at this one everything was PARTICULARLY amazing. It's hard to describe, but the flavours were just...exactly right. 


It's like these tastes are jigsaw pieces that fit exactly in the places on my tongue. PERFECTLY.
 

 

 The prices in this menu ranged from $50AU upwards. Even for something like a chicken or something...FUAAAAAARK LOL (that's alot of money for our meals that normally costed downards of $15 for EVERYTHING)

 

 The place has been decorated really well. Dad told me all the tables chairs and furnishings were from the 50's. THEY'VE BEEN KEPT REALLY WELL :D and damn sturdy hahaha

Malagaysia

1/52 WEEK PROJECT - Malaysia:


We went on a tour of Malaysia with some other HongKongers (through one of those touring companies (because it's cheaper)) on the holidays; THE FIRST WEEK OF 2012 :D Each day had an amazing amount of food which was good. Asian food is always better, seriously. And cheaper (HK$8 = AU$1!! edit: hk food is approximately AU$4 per meal (assuming equivalent serving size)).

Anyway, it was a great experience...mostly eating but I was very relaxing. Learnt that Malaysians are..."lazy" as the tour guide called it. Everything's really chill and relaxing...she told us not to worry if they took a while to do things; it's so hot everyone just wants to have some major siestas. (apparently Spain or something is like this too!) Having the ability of just letting things run their course and not worrying too much seems like a good thing - I'm adopting that ASAP.


scumbag tour guide story: she brought us to this place where we were going to eat some spicy malaysian stuff. she told us the equivalent in Chinese of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!"...and that all Malaysians eat with their hands and that there wouldn't be cutlery. She taught us the way to smoosh the rice up and mop up the curry and chicken and whatever. Everyone was like 'LOL okay let's try it'. When we get there, there are two small basins to wash hands; everyone lines up. We get to the tables.

There's. Cutlery. On. The. Table. No-one used their hands to eat. LOL. Damn tour guide...anyway now TO THE PHOTOS


Apologies for the poor quality of the photos; I used my iPhone for everything...the rest of my family used actual real cameras :(

 IT'S A WING OF A PLANE. the clouds look pretty. PRETTY HANDSOME HURHURHUR oh wait I'm not trying to hit on my readers. anyway...

 ONE MAN. ONE PHOTOGRAPH. STRADDLING THE WORLDS OF SKY AND FIELD.

(ps It's my dad being pensive. The fields have these things called 'Fire Dragon Fruit' (PRETTY COOL RIGHT) and they're really sweet, but making everything red. the colour goes EVERYWHERE (hands, lips, shirt, piss etc)

View from the 5-star hotel lobby. SO DAMN RELAXING and my sister and I splashed around in the pool being kids again just for a bit :) Also the breakfast buffet was quite nice.

PROUD THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND THIS. lol malaynglish

 Cool story: The head of this village had 4 wives and had 18+ CHILDREN with them (not each of them!), at least 10 with the first one. He's allowed 4 because he's Islamic so it's okay. We all got to meet up with him and drink some sour tea. Anyway this picture depicts the house we were in. THEY MOVED THE ENTIRE BUILDING BECAUSE IT WAS DAMAGED SOMEWHERE ELSE. LIKE. THE WHOLE THING. ON BAMBOO STICKS. major ridic.

awesome cat don't need yo company

IT'S A COCONUT GET IN THE CAR

 I do not like durian. My mother + aunt + grandmother do. They bought a lot and ate it all. SAH SMELLY :(

 CHICKEN IN A BUN. (they wrap a chicken curry in foil inside the bun. didn't get a picture of that as I was too busy nomming everything. EVERYTHING) Seriously try this if you're going there.

new years resolutions: a few weeks late

but it's not my fault because I was all overseas and stuff! so that's okay. I don't think you missed me anyhow :D

INSPIRED by this lady's efforts (KELLEN'S RESOLUTIONS ARE MUCH BETTER THAN MINE, also she's doing a 365 which I am too lazy to do), BLOG RESOLUTIONS:

52 week project: Visit a place I've never been or somewhere I haven't been for the past 5 years...52 times HURHURHUR. No it's one every week...

Learn something from a random wiki page per month: SELF-EXPLANATORY...although sometimes you click onto some really weird stuff so if I can't find anything I'm using reddit~

Read one non-fiction and one fiction book per month: SELF-EXPLANATORY. hopefully be able to read some good stuff and impart some wisdom.

Oh, and regular blogging I guess. But my life will be all studyful this year with 28 contact hours per semester (EXCITING)

here's a picture of my baby cousin just to placate you rabid readers :)