Random Musings

Mood: Nervous

Bye Bye Glasses

For those that don’t know and actually care… I’m getting corrective eye surgery. Either LASEK or PRK, since I’d like to avoid having a permanent flap over my eye. However that does mean that I will be in recovery (read: pain) for considerably longer. I will be forced to hide from bright sources of light, such as computer screens… which will obviously affect my blogging. Don’t expect any new entries for a week… then again since when was this blog ever regular.

Neway, it’ll be an interesting change to be free of glasses. I believe I’ve worn them since I was at least ten. I guess I won’t be the same without them… but was I ever “the same”… :p

*****

February-17-2008 at 4:34pm
Mood: Exhausted

Livin’ The Surfie Life

Despite not being in the best shape, I forced myself out for a surfside weekend. This is the last weekend I have before my PRK operation. If something should go wrong, I’d like to have had one last surfing weekend.

I picked Currumbin Beach this time and I got up at an ungodly time to drive the 100km to get there before 9am (when the lesson starts). Considering the insane effort I put into getting there, I figured I should stay the weekend and take another lesson Sunday. So I spent the entire day bumming around Currumbin, had a lazy afternoon nap in the car (thank god for clouds) and spent most of the day contemplating. Life, work, even whether I should post about this. No real plan for the rest of the day. Fish & chips for dinner and then watching the evening surfers and the sunset from Currumbin Rocks. Bedtime came a little early for me at 7pm. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve slept in the back seat of my car (I’m even considering buying some cushions for the backseat…). It’s far from the best sleep I’ve had, but not quite the worst. Next morning, up crazy early for the sunrise and more surfing in the morning.

My hair all messed up and I don’t care. I’m a few shades darker, sore all over and haven’t had a proper shower with soap all weekend, but I’m feeling pretty happy with myself. I think I’ve mentioned before that the urge to live out of a car takes me every now and then. There’s something about the mental freedom of isolating yourself from your regular world. For me that’s computers, internet and the city. You’re not constantly reminded of things that need to get done and even if you did remember, you couldn’t do anything about it anyway so the thought passes.

It’s a stark contrast to last weekend, where I rented out a swanky holiday apartment over in Caloundra. Montville for lunch, then straight over to Caloundra, shopping for dinner, check-in, lazy afternoon at Currimundi Lake/Beach, jazzy dinner on the apartment balcony and then late night dip in the resort pool with champagne. That entire Saturday was planned out, give or take some flexibility. The only thing both weekends had in common was that I didn’t get much sleep… although I think Caloundra takes the cake for least sleep. Luckily I didn’t plan anything crazy for Sunday so it was simply catching the sunrise and then a lazy day at the Sunday markets.

I’m so sleepy right now… but I still need to have a proper shower… then I can’t sleep til my hair dries… ughh, I shoulda blogged after my shower… idiot.

*****

February-14-2008 at 5:23pm
Mood: Moved

Post About Post Secret

Here’s something for the Valentine crowd today. Dav showed me this the other day: Post Secret. It’s an interesting idea that has people sending a secret anonymously to one guy’s address on the back of handmade postcards. There’s some truly moving pieces there. Aside from the one below, here are two other vids on youtube.

“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaMYumr5nA8 “
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=padkl2WH3oM “

What bothers me though is the fact that he’s published some books compiling what he’s collected over the years. I’m sure they make great coffee table books, but I hope he’s not making money out of other people’s efforts… I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he’s donating the proceeds to charity.

“http://www.postsecret.com “

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzq3srbYEUY

*****

February-10-2008 at 11:21pm
Mood: Satisfied

Fuckin’ Awesome Weekend

Nuff said! I’m re-rating this blog to MA15+ for course language… and maybe adult themes… :p

*****

February-08-2008 1:54am
Mood: Sweepy

T1 OO YMCA, WTF?

Today I watched the Operations Officers of the company that I work for, dance and sing the YMCA in full costume. These guys are senior management… one level below and reporting directly to the CEO. I’m pretty sure there will be a Youtube video soon enough that I can link to.

It’s kinda embarrassing, but in a weird way, it’s nice knowing the heads are easy-going, nice guys willing to go out of their way to help charity. In this case it’s the Salvation Army and their performance was the prize for raising ten grand over the christmas period.

I think I’ve just violated another one of my blog rules: No work related material. Meh, rules are meant to be broken, especially by those that make them. It’s almost guaranteed that if you set down a rule, it won’t be long before you feel the urge to break it… hypocrisy is human nature.

In other news, I went to a friend’s new band’s first gig last Thursday. It was over at the Tongue & Groove, which masquerades as a fine restaurant but hides a cosy little live bar in the basement. With bare-brick walls, concrete floor, worn-out couches, it really does feel like a first gig kinda place. Anyhow, in their words, Elvish plays experimental\progressive\fusion… which I’ll translate to as a sorta lounge jazz. Easy listening stuff that’s not quite as chaotic as some of the jazz out there. It was a pretty good performance. Jeremy their bass knows his stuff and it’s fascinating watching him play the bass so many different ways.

You can hear some of their music on “http://www.myspace.com/elvishweb”, but don’t start with “Potter”. It’s sung in German, which in my opinion is a rather harsh language not meant to be sung. BTW, if you checkout the band’s group photo, Scott’s the one working the camera.. :p

*****

February-05-2008 at 10:00pm
Mood: Elated

Cassanova with a Pen

I’ll admit, I’ve never really understood love letters and their supposed power. I mean the sentiment is there and it’s kinda old-skool romantic and all. It just seems like you’re going for the pity response. Maybe my skepticism is due to an incident with one in Grade 3, which backfired on me royally. Back then you really couldn’t get any worse then making a girl cry AND being told off by the teacher. On top of that, not only did Tanya cry, she promptly moved to London… I didn’t actually write the letter, though… my older sister did and then she sealed it and wouldn’t tell me what she wrote. To this day I still don’t know. I almost chickened out of delivering it too, but best bud Umar stepped up and did it without telling me. It’s kinda funny what sticks with you all those years…

I think I’m a believer now. Never under-estimate the power of the pen. I’m pretty sure what I wrote doesn’t even count as a love letter, it was simply an honest letter, some form of closure… but it completely turned everything around. I can almost feel her swooning in her response. Me, I’m in a bit of a euphoric state myself. Going from “fighting to survive”, to “ready to walk away” to “okay, let’s spend a weekend by the sea” truly messes with your head.

*****

February-04-2008 at 12:42pm
Mood: Confused

Mental Dump

Screw it! I need to vent.

My relationship that never was has become my relationship that was but could be again. Since when has time-out ever helped a relationship and how is anyone supposed to accept “This is exactly what I want but not right now”…  but then is it morally correct to advance a relationship with a woman who’s trying to work/study hard to secure freedom for the next few years of her life at the risk of being forced back home into an arranged marriage by her loving but controlling father? I don’t remember signing up for “The Bold & The Beautiful”?

The smart thing to do would be to chase, but the right thing to do feels like I should walk away.

*****

January-28-2008 at 9:56pm
Mood: Bruised, Battered & Knackered

Just Practicing My Wipeouts

I spent half the long Australia Day weekend learning to surf… and failing quite badly. I even had one impressive “concussion wipeout” where the board smacked me. I have a small bruise to show for it and apparently it was audible from quite a distance. Either my head is hollow or Jason’s board is…

Ego aside, it was a little rough out there. Recent weather has battered the shoreline here, cutting away a lot of the sand from the beaches. This of course makes the big waves break closer to the shoreline. Some of the surfers were catching good waves a few metres from the shore. Great conditions for surfing but a little rough for learning. I’m not a quitter though, so I’ll definitely be out there again.

In other news, Eun Ha decided we should go to this Korean restaurant on Friday so I had my very first Korean Cuisine experience. Wait, that’s actually the second one if you count the GimBap she made me before. Neway, it was something I won’t forget, for the wrong reasons. The PaJun entree (seafood pancake) was very good. For the main she ordered this pork dish, the name of which I don’t remember. I think the trauma has erased if from my memory. Anyway, it consists of a mound of pork slices surrounded by cabbage leaves with a small mound of thick sliced green chilli and thick chunks of garlic, with some sauce. You take a piece of cabbage, dip the pork in the sauce and put it on the cabbage with a piece of chilli and a piece of garlic. Then you fold up the piece of cabbage and then try to fit that mass into your mouth. Chew and then wait for the tears… okay so I didn’t cry but I so wanted to… and while I was still reeling and trying to figure out if it was the chilli or sauce that was scalding my tongue, the little sadist had rolled up another one and was telling me to eat it…

I think I kind of deserved it. In past conversation, she’d warned me that Korean food was so hot, and I kinda brushed it off. Having an Indonesian background, I’ve been able to take whatever’s been dished at me. I may not enjoy it, but I can still stomach it. It seems I’ve met my match.

*****

January-23-2008 at 9:54pm
Mood: Distracted

Just Read It

Frankly, I don’t have the time to waffle about it. It’s an advice columnist, who can actually write and is an objective, witty non-feminist. She sounds like a girl with her head screwed on right. The people who write in are typical nuts, but her replies are quite entertaining and verbose.

“http://www.advicegoddess.com/columns/column38.html “
“http://www.advicegoddess.com/columns/column141.html “

… look, just browse around yourself…

Today is full of distractions. Try this other one on for size, Grow Island.

“http://shingakunet.com/special/10054301/0285/index.html “

If you start pulling your hair out, I would recommend you look up the answer on youtube.

*****

January-21-2008 at 9:52pm
Mood: Grateful
Music: She Wants Revenge – This Is Forever

Kevin vs The Sea

I almost got swept out to sea this weekend and got ‘lifesaved’ by a 10 year old girl… Long story short, Sunday morning I was at a Caloundra beach on a body board having a good time when a rip suddenly forms. I don’t usually use body boards so I was a little out of my depth and ended up being pulled out a fair way. It’s amazing how quickly the sea can change, but I also chalk it up to my lack of experience. I failed to pickup the signs that were kinda obvious in hindsight… like all the serious surfers clearing out for starters… :p

For the record, it’s not like I was drowning, I was simply stranded and couldn’t swim back against the current… and I didn’t ask to be saved… they just came out and offered a helping hand, which I prudently accepted. In defence of my pride, the 10 year old lifesaver had a special surf board, also had trouble swimming that rip and on the way back I helped paddle … :p I am grateful for their help though, and you can bet I’ll be donating.

Oh, in case any of you non-Australians were wondering how the lifesaver could be so young, she was part of Surf Life Saving Australia. Surf Life Saving Australia is an non-profit, volunteer association here which helps keep Australian beaches safe. See here “http://public.lifesaving.com.au/index.cfm?objectid=94DF4327-C298-99DD-C965A222C2B95D01” for more details. They actually attract a lot of young kids into their ranks, especially in the more remote coastal areas. It’s kinda like the local sports club. I’m not entirely sure how young she was but I would certainly say early teens.

Btw, here are some tips I got from a friend after the incident:
- If you’re already caught in the rip, swim with it down the beach until you get to a place where the current pushes you towards the beach. I’m still a little iffy on this one since it takes you away from the people who may be able to save you. Not to mention putting you at the mercy of the sea.
- Get off the body board so that you can use both hands, and swim normally to the beach. This one makes more sense, since the board is designed to catch the waves instead of cutting through them. If you keep it tied to your hand, you will be dragging it along but at least you can swim with both your arms.
- Watch the waves. If the waves start merging into each other or crashing in different directions, it means the sea is changing. Move closer to the beach and wait things out if you need to.
- Watch your position relative to the beach. If you find you’re getting pulled down the beach, it would indicate that the underwater currents are fairly strong. Move closer to the beach, just in case.

In other news, I broke my belt buckle today. It just snapped in two while I was fastening it. When is it going to end!? Why do things keep breaking on me…? Maybe I should take it a little easier at the gym…

*****

January-18-2008 at 4:43pm
Mood: Domestic
Music: Garbage – Bleed Like Me

Kev’s Cooking Guide Page 1: Beer Bread

We made beer bread today at the office. They usually have free drinks, nibbles and a form of unofficial “recess” on Fridays after 4. A few guys in the team put two and two together and decided to get the oven mits out. Here’s the recipe:

- 1 375ml bottle of beer (otherwise known as a stubby). It doesn’t matter if it’s warm or cold. We used VB (Victoria Bitter) but any good aussie beer should do.
- 3 Techone mugs of self-raising flour, preferably sieved to remove the lumps. Warning: do not attempt to sieve with a sheet of A4 paper with holes in it.
- Butter, salt & sugar to taste (or entirely optional)

Put everything into a big bowl and mix well (put your arm into it!) until smooth. Butter a small cake baking tray. Pre-heat the oven (a microwave will not do) to 180C. Pour the mix into the tray and bake for 40 minutes. Presto! Beer Bread.

Slice with a sharp knife. Apply honey, butter, maple syrup and/or vegemite to suit your palate.

*****

January-17-2008 at 6:30pm
Mood: Embarrassed
Music: Rihanna – Good Girl Gone Bad

Wardrobe Malfunction

I had one today. A zipper broke on me… and not just any zipper, it was THE Zipper. The one zipper that can bring a suave suit, vest, tie and cufflink ensemble come crashing down. I’m pretty sure even the great James Bond couldn’t recover from being caught with his fly undone (I’d like to see that in one of his movies!). Why do women make it such a big deal?

Neway, this wasn’t something simple like the teeth coming undone, it well and trully broke into multiple pieces. How is this possible? How could someone stuff up a design that’s been around some 90 years unchanged? This is the first time it’s happened to me in the 25 years of my existence and I’ve worn thin plenty of clothes.

Rather than endure a day of having people tell me my “garage door” is open or XYZ (Xamine Your Zip), I decided to nick back home (it’s just a 20min walk down the road, less if I bus it) and change. Bad luck really does travel in packs. Sunshine turned to rain, my umbrella broke and then I missed the bus stop on the way home. About the umbrella, for something that by design is meant be used in wet conditions, you’d expect it to be constructed with something rust-proof. Its joints rusted through it literally disintegrated. Just like that zipper (minus the rust). I must be getting old… but they just don’t make things the way they used to…

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January-13-2008 at 5:24am
Mood: Grossed Out
Music: Jamie Cullum – Catching Tales

Dental Hyde-giene

I’ll spare you the gross details, but in my past I’ve been a massive slob when it comes to dental hygiene. In fact, I think the only reason I still have all my teeth is because I have a low sugar diet and virtually never snack, eating only at meal times… when I don’t forget. The cavity causing bacteria in my teeth must be as malnourished as I am.

As a kid, I remember one incident involving a cavity in a primary tooth, a drill, a syringe, a lot of drama and many people holding me down… and that was just to get the anesthetic in. Ever since then the dentist has been my least favourite doctor. They say you should go every six months… I’ve had ten year intervals.

It really is a shame though, since I’ve been blessed with naturally straight teeth where it counts and only one or two misaligned teeth that aren’t really visible. Unfortunately, now they’re all a light shade of yellow (good thing I’ve got dark skin and don’t smile a lot) and supposedly the tartar build-up is forming a Great Barrier Reef behind my teeth.

I chalk most of it up to laziness, but there is a decent amount of mis-information. I would definitely recommend that you sit down and do a bit of dental hygiene research yourself to make sure you’re up to speed. When I was little all I ever heard was that brushing was to clean up residual food. I figured a toothpick, a quick tongue lick and gargle would sort things out. Then a few years back I learned from Robert (a friend who happens to be a dentist) about tartar and plaque, and that convinced me to start brushing a little more regularly. However, I finally started to take things more seriously a year ago after my motorbike accident. I had to see a dentist to get the chipped molar fixed up and after doing the filling he told me that my gum’s looked a little worse for wear. I’ve noticed some receding gums on several teeth and the occassional bleeding. The possibility of Gingivitis and having teeth fall out really got me scared, so I switched to an anti-bacterial toothpaste and started brushing more religiously. Yet it’s only been last week that I finally visited a dentist for a routine clean and checkup.

There’s a medical centre just down the road and as an interesting change, the dental clinic seems to be run by young women. I saw only one guy and he seemed to be a receptionist… Neway, Lisa the dentist was quite nice, friendly and very professional (for a very young person). In a weird twist, it turns out my receding gums are due to excessively hard brushing instead of any bacterial infection… She said it’s impossible to bring the gums forward again, but she can fill the spaces left behind to prevent further damage. She also noticed some abnormalities below my gumline and asked if I’d be okay with taking some x-rays. It turns out I’m quite a dental freak. I have a rare (<2% of the population) condition called hyperdontia, which means I have one or more supernumerary teeth. She wrote it down on a piece of paper for me to look up later (why are medical people so sweet?). I have two unerupted extra canines in my lower jaw and two visible molars growing beside my wisdom teeth. At first I thought “Yippee!!”, I have a third set… and then I found out that you can occassionally get cysts forming around the embedded tooth… and it requires dental surgery to remove the unerupted teeth… Bummer! At this point I’m going to stick with the wait, watch and see. They’re not dislodging teeth or otherwise bothering me so I won’t bother them.

I’m taking dental hygiene more seriously now though. I’m not sure twice a year sits well with me, but I’m definitely going to have those extra teeth monitored. I’m also not a big fan of flossing, but I’ll give it another shot. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my Dr Jekyll teeth for a long, long time.

*****

January-12-2008 at 4:34pm
Mood: Creative
Music: Duran Duran – Red Carpet Massacre

Twenty Days in Twenty Minutes

Hey, sorry for my slackness, maybe fate is having its way with me after all… not :p If anything’s different, I’ve been spending more time with family and friends. I actually had a family christmas this year, even if it was only with my sister and a few of her friends. She held a last minute, improvised dinner party. We had to make do with what we had, but it’s hard to beat pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream. New years was also a bit different with some party hopping and an interesting start to the new year…

The one thing that rings true is the mysterious girl who’s keeping secrets. I’m kinda participating in a relationship that never was… you’d understand if you knew the details… which will never be shared on this blog unfortunately… you can always read the book I’ve been promising Ani… which hopefully will get written sometime in the future… maybe, if my life actually gets interesting :p

BTW, this will most likely be a wandering blog entry. I’ve had a gazillion half posts floating around in my head the last two weeks but none have had enough to them to warrant a full blog entry. So this will be like twenty days in twenty minutes.

Neway, part of the reason for my diminished online presence, is that I’ve been “putting fairy lights around the lighthouse”. I’ve taken two weeks off work to sort out life and explore more of south east Queensland. Mt Cootha, Somerset Dam, Bribie Island, Maleny, Montville, Lake Baroon, I’ve been taking day trips out to various different places in and around Brisbane. They’re short trips that don’t take a lot of commitment, but get me out of the house and driving. Maleny’s got some nice cafe’s and a great little candy & fudge store. Montville has a lot of quirky gift stores and this impressive candle store. They’ve got hundreds of different scented candles, that actually smell like they’re supposed to. Warm apple pie straight from the oven, freshly baked oatmeal cookies, hot blueberry pancakes, fresh cantelope, cherry blossoms, etc … they really are amazing. I had to get the oatmeal cookies and blue berry pancake one for Eun-Ha. Getting to Lake Baroon involves some great mountain driving, made even more exhilarating with a dash of rain.

I’ve actually visited a few of these places before, when I was much younger. I remember certain scenes and I’m pretty sure my father would have taken the family there. I just found that I never really appreciated travel when I was younger… some of the excitement is lost when you don’t have control or money to spend and you’re marched around on someone else’s schedule. Me and my father have very different views to life, and I used to think that I hated travelling, but lately I now know that it’s just that I hated travelling with my father… although I should probably take that back… I think over the years he’s changed and I’ve changed. He’s more flexible these days and open to suggestions, while I’ve learned to speak up and go my own way. Being older and having your own wallet certainly helps. It kinda makes me wonder what I will do when I have my own kids. How do you best share your love of travel with your children without imposing it… ?

In other news, I’ve decided to do more with my hands… in the last few years I’ve neglected my creative side. Back in high school I loved woodshop and art classes, but stopped when I had to start aiming for that OP1 (that’s quite useless now). Small rant coming up… why does the education system teach you to favour quiet study over socialising with friends? One of the most important skills in the real world is to connect with people and network. It just feels so wrong to go through youth thinking that you’ll find success from studying harder. At the end of the day, you work is worth nothing if no one knows about it. Marketing yourself and your achievements is as important as working hard.

Neway, even now after being done with the education system, I’ve created nothing with these hands. My little arty sister, Davina, makes me quite jealous with all the work she’s done hanging/lying around her house. Even now, this blog is the only bit of writing I’ve done in years. I used to write short stories in high school, even outside of school assignments. I miss the days when I just turned on the radio or CD player and wrote into the night. I guess that’s why I’ve enjoyed writing this blog.

So the first project I’m taking on is to replace the cool, little key chain I lost at Changi airport. I’ll never replace the bent key that is my only memento of my motorbike after the accident, but I can at least replace the chain. I couldn’t find the same bike key chain again so I figured I should probably try to make one myself. Almost as a sign, recently I saw this stripped down bike by the road. It’s owner had left it locked to a pole, but someone’s gone and stolen the wheels and anything else that can come off… except for the lock, chain, gears and the chassis. Unfortunately, the chain and gears were rusted through and simply can’t be removed now. Instead, I popped into my local bike store and got myself a proper bike chain. After cutting it down to the right length and giving it a clean it’s ready now. I got something to replace the bent key too. I found a Kawasaki key ring and got a free engraving on the back, “Nina”. Back then the guys at work joked that my Kawasaki Ninja should be called Nin(j)a. The final piece is the clip, which I bought yesterday. Something much sturdier than what was on the old chain, which would occassionally come loose. I’ll put it all together today.

For those of you wondering what my current facebook status is all about, back in Indonesia most people actually shorten Kevin to just Vin… as opposed to Kev in the west. It’s been made more apparent lately since I’ve been communicating with family and friends there via the Net. I’ve always been somewhat disappointed in how common my name is, although I’ve been fortunate enough not share a class/house/office with another Kevin. So now I think it might be more fun to use Vin instead, at least for a while. It’s not like I’ll give you a dirty look if you use Kev.

Well, I think that’s all that’s fit to print.

*****

December-24-2007 at 7:15pm
Mood: Money Money Money!

Get Rich Slow Plan

I’m kinda appalled at how financially insecure this current generation is. Credit card debt is at record highs, people are spending way outside their means, hardly anybody is saving, much less investing. To make matters worse, you can’t rely on the government. Welfare is one big pyramid scheme that’s collapsing with our aging population. This is why I’m writing this post. I think that I’m very fortunate that back in high school, my math teacher went to the trouble of teaching me about investing. Mrs Farlow, I’m dedicating this post to you. I may have built on the lessons you taught me with the knowledge gleamed from many older and wiser than me, but you started it all.

The key concept here is passive income, which is money you get from your investment returns. You can work for the rest of your life, or you can retire early and have your money work for you. Forget all the calculus, integration and differentials, the most important formula you’ll ever learn in high school is the compound interest formula. The most important factor here is not the starting capital or the growth rate … it’s the time/term. You have to start early to truly see the benefits. Assuming you have the chinese market growing at 30%, invest one dollar and after three years you’ll have two dollars. Leave it there for ten years and you’ll have thirteen.

Now getting this plan off the ground is obviously going to be hard. I know young people, I am one of them after all. They’re stupid, naive, impulsive, wasteful, don’t know how to manage their time and to some extent are delusional about the world. Unfortunately this is the best time to start investing as you’re in the age bracket with the highest disposable income. It takes a little effort, a little self control and some sacrifice to get things rolling. It is worth it though. Live a modest year or two, setup some self-managing investments, then piss money for the next ten years. At the end of the period, you could be successful and rich, poor and homeless, or so-so. Check the balance on your investments. You might find out you can buy a new car, or maybe a new house, or maybe retire a millionaire…

Disclaimer: Investing isn’t for everyone. It involves a little research, a little learning, and depending on what you choose to invest in, maybe a little management time. Your age and financial state play a massive role in it too. When you’re young you can afford to make a few mistakes with your retirement fund, but as you get older you don’t have as much flexibility. As a rule, when you’re young aim for high return, high risk investments. As you get older slowly move the money across to lower risk (low return) investments. This works brilliantly with the compound interest growth as you can quickly build up the capital when you’re young, so that when you’re older, even low return investments still produce a considerable wad of cash. For example, since I’m young, I have most of my investments in the Chinese market and in Australian mining & resource companies which are riding the chinese boom. As I get older, I will start directing the returns from these investments into property, cash funds or stocks in safer, big brand name companies like Intel, Coca-Cola and Microsoft.

One thing to keep in mind is that the money you use to invest should not be needed in the next five years. Depending on what you chose to invest in, the market can be very volatile but it always recovers, you simply have to wait out a bad year or two. Most of the fluctuations are based on speculation and world events, while the companies, their businesses and demand for their resources/services remains steady.

Most people are already investing but don’t realise it. Superannuation is a form of compulsory investment that the government has put in place to deal with the inevitable collapse of welfare. Unfortunately, most super companies actually capitalise on people’s ignorance. The less you know about your super, the more they can syphon off. When I first started with my current job, my super account was set on an average growth fund and had a lot of unnecessary insurance options selected, resulting in negative growth! The first investing step you should make is to take control of your super. You can’t touch this money for a long, long time, so you might as well make it work hard for you. Most companies will allow you to direct where you want your money to be invested. They’re also legally required to provide you with information that summarises a lot of the investment options available on the market. This makes it a quick and simple way of getting a good idea of what investment options are out there.

Now for the heavy stuff. There are three primary areas for investing: cash, shares and property. There is a fourth, bonds, but I do not have enough experience to discuss it. Like everything else the level of risk matches the amount of return you get. I classify them based on four factors: startup, commitment, risk and return. Startup indicates how difficult it is to start investing in this field. This usually relates to how much starting capital is required. Commitment refers to how much management is involved on your part. This usually refers to how often you need to check the state of the market including how much math and reading you have to do. Risk and return are self-explanatory.

Cash is low startup, low commitment, low risk, guaranteed low return. You’ll get around 5-7% annually. Save this for when you’re 80 and you have no life (hence, no spending) and a weak heart. You could choose to play the currency market with your cash, but this changes it to high startup, high commitment, high risk, high return. It completely baffles me why old folks tend to play the currency market. It’s like playing a volatile version of the share market based on countries, with costly percentage based transaction fees and without the bonus of dividends. Maybe they’re just not keeping up with the times enough to understand the share market enough to play that instead.

I’m not recommending the share market though. It’s classified as low startup, high commitment, medium-high risk, unguaranteed medium-high return. Play the share market if you like gambling. It’s like going to the casino, except the odds aren’t against you. Only play with money that you can easily part with. There are guaranteed high return investments, but they are few and far in between. The problem with the share market isn’t so much about the volatility. That actually works to your advantage. The problem is in the mentality you have to adopt to succeed. The best time to buy shares is when it looks like the price will plummet, while the best time to sell shares is just before it seems like the price will shoot up higher. You have to keep your greed and fear in check, to the point where your actions are almost systematic. There is a simple set of rules to keep yourself in check. Break your initial capital into three blocks of at least two grand. Buy into a reasonably stable, but promising company with one of these blocks. If the share go down considerably, use the second block to buy more. This will lower your average buying price making it easier for you to recoup losses or improve your profit when the shares bounce back. The third block is always there if it should go down further. If the shares go up, yipee. You can do one of two things. Sell off part of the shares so that you start syphoning off profit. If they go up further, sell more and so on. Eventually you will recoup your initial capital while still holding a number of shares. Whatever happens to the shares doesn’t matter now since it’s all 100% profit. You are limiting your potential returns on a good stock pick, but you ensure that greed doesn’t get the better of you. If you’re feeling lucky and there is clear potential for more growth you can buy with a second block. The resulting average buying price will still be lower than the market price, so should you be wrong, you can still pull out with your initial capital or even a small profit. If you get to the point where you’re considering the third block, it’s kinda clear you’ve made a bad stock pick. It’s up to you to decide to use the last block, wait it out or bail out.

A safer way to approach the share market is via managed funds. Deposit your money with the company that runs the managed fund and someone who watches the market nine to five will figure out what to buy and sell. Not only do managed funds take the stress out of your hands, they also facilitate possibilities for trading in foreign countries. Someone else manages the management fees, foreign taxation, currency conversions, etc. You just wait for the quarterly reports. This is the option I would recommend the most to people starting out. You can choose to have your money invested locally, in specific markets or in specific business sectors. It’s just a matter of picking which one is the best option for your current situation. On average, the global share market returns 20% annually. In good times, faster growing markets or sectors can return between 30-40% annually. The problem with managed funds is that the good ones usually are high startup. You may need twenty to thirty thousand to get started. I think the trade off to having low commitment is definitely worth the extra effort though.

And finally, property. This used to be what being rich and powerful was about. Kings, dukes, lords. The more land you owned, the better. I think times have changed though. The most powerful men in the world aren’t property tycoons, they’re businessmen. Multi-billion dollar, multi-national companies that invade the economies of other countries. The whole blood and guts and gore thing is so unnecessary when you can enslave a nation economically. However, I don’t think I would enjoy the life of a business man. A 24 hour job just doesn’t appeal to me. I’d rather be the guy who invests in the business man’s idea and lets him burn himself out while I take a cut of the profits. Look at Warren Buffet. He doesn’t own a single company of his own yet until recently he was the second richest man on the planet. He hedges his bets by investing in several hundred companies and probably lives relatively stress free.

Neway, off that tangent. Property doesn’t interest me at all. It’s high startup, medium commitment, low risk, low-medium return. It’s very illiquid and the return on it is on average 10% annually. This is if it’s not just land and you can rent out a house (which depreciates over time and costs you rates). The only thing going for it is that it is relatively stable and in Australia you can negative gear your income for some nice tax breaks. This is something I will eventually move into but much later on when I have enough liquid funds to circumvent the whole home-loan-slave-to-a-bank thing.

I should probably mention that globally we’ve had such a good run for so long that there’s gotta be a recession sometime in the near future. The US money market is having a meltdown. There’s a tech bubble ripe for bursting. The Chinese economy is constantly on the verge of overheating. There is a higher element of risk in today’s market. Thankfully I can afford it. I’ve made some decent returns in past years so I can keep riding the 30% growth chinese market until it goes bust and still come out okay. That doesn’t mean that I’ve just wasted ten minutes of your time. Even if China does go bust, there will be other opportunities in the future. Africa is a mess right now, but when they get their act together you can bet they’ll be China all over again. A whole continent of cheap labour and natural resources. I just hope it’ll happen in my lifetime so I can ride that economic wave.

*****

December-23-2007 at 9:27pm
Mood: Rhymy

Dr Seuss Rocks!

I went to see the Red Paintings this Saturday. They had a show on that was interestingly titled, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” by Dr Seuss. Who are the Red Paintings? I dunno, but who doesn’t know Dr Seuss so I was in… :p Seriously, I checked out their music on myspace and like it. I think they were previously more heavy metal, but are a little more mellow while still keeping their great guitar.

They did this impressive, surreal, stage, theatre, rock, metal extravaganza to the theme of Cat in the Hat. Check out the “What’s New” album for pictures. Excuse the quality, but I forgot my camera once again so the shots were taken with my E6’s puny 2megapixel, no-flash, in-the-hands-of-a-noob camera… (there’s a nightime setting???). I also sapped my battery quickly so they’re only from the first half of the show.

Meanwhile, I will do my best to document the accounts of the night… which while was lacking in light… was packed to the gills with fun… for all ages and everyone. Don’t worry or fret, this incessant rhyming… though begun with impeccable timing… is quickly and surely coming loose… because I am simply not Dr Seuss… :p

Upon relinquishing your ticket, you’re offered with green (marshmallow) eggs and (cake) ham by someone that looks like a mango with hair. As you approach the stage, you can hear Dr Seuss rhyming away to his hearts content on the speakers. It’s 35 bucks for a single band performing, but I’m already impressed. They kick off with not-your-run-of-the-mill stand-up comedian, “Hansel”. She’s crude, rude and vulgar but hilarious. Something you can get away with at an 18+ show. When the curtains do rise, you’d think you were attending a play at the QPAC… they’ve got sets, props and costumes galore. Even the mini-orchestra and choir in the back are in costume. Instead of the band on stage, they’ve got the Cat in the Hat narrating what seems to be their own story. The actors play out their roles and one by one the band members are ‘released’ on stage… and then the music starts. Throughout the show they’ve got random things happening on stage… painters doing body painting, actors swinging a giant clock, actors hacking down tree props with axes, Dr Seuss style cartoons projecting onto the back wall, etc. Between songs they’d pick up the story again. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it led into a whole bunch of other things. They threw a ball into the crowd and had it bouncing around throughout the show… member of the choir were scurrying around chasing it in costume, making sure it stayed in the air. More balls came later. There was a chase sequence around the Tivoli at one point. A fish was introduced at one point and then later reemerged as a giant papier-mache pinata moving over the crowd. Like any good pinata, beat it enough and out comes candy… in this case lollipops to suck on during the intermission. They ended with a cardboard sleigh full of presents and bon2s, which were promptly thrown into the crowd.

*****

December-20-2007 at 6:19am
Mood: Geeky

Soothing the iItch

Lately, I’ve had this desire to go Apple. They’re somewhat ubiquitous in the cool gadgets domain, with the iPod, iPod Video, iShuffle, iMac, iBook and now the iPhone. You can’t help wanting to join the “cool” kids with your own slick portable music player and touch screen phone. The only problem is that Jobs is a smart man and he’s selling “consumer electronics”, as in they’re designed be consumed and won’t last forever, thus keeping him in business. Having the non-removable battery means that in about 3 years, no matter how careful you are with it, you’ll be left with one very stylish brick and an excuse to buy the latest & greatest from Apple.

While I was on the market for a new phone, I just couldn’t let myself do it. My current phone is in relatively great shape, but being a clamshell the three years of use has twisted the hinge enough that it has some trouble recognising when it’s closed or open. With that in mind, I was set on a slider and started my e-Search… then I came across the Motorola ROKR E6.

This thing scratches all those itches. The main drawcard is the slick, bright touch screen that replaces the keypad. Not just pretty, it’s very responsive with good precision even with fingers. That’s the iPhone itch gone. A music player, FM radio and camera are fairly standard on phones these days, but as a bonus the E6 supports stereo bluetooth so grab a pair of split in-ear head phones (like the Sony DRBT10CX K850i), give one to ‘her’, keep one myself, and dance anywhere… That’s the iPod one-upped. It also plays video, so make that the iPod Video itch done and dusted. It’s also half PDA so there’s the iBook kinda sorted.

To seal the deal, it can use stardard SD cards so I can reuse those camera SDs for music or videos when I’m not out holidaying. It supports the standard 3.5mm headphone jacks so you can use your favourite headphones. Staying with Motorola, I’ll have their handy predictive texting. Lastly, it’s got that perfect weight to it that ensures you don’t feel you’re using a plastic toy. I think 120-130 grams is the sweet spot. Love at first sight.

I was so set on it, I didn’t even need to take one for a test drive at the local phone store. I went straight to favourite phone dealer, Ebay. Over in China they don’t know what Goods & Services Tax (GST) is, which works great for me… A brand new phone, spare battery, 2GB SD card and a whole bunch of extras for a smidge over AU$300 postage included.

*****

December-11-2007 at 10:33am
Mood: Gossipy

Scandalous

Big sis Gwen, doesn’t write home often. Now I know why…

“http://gwenitch.wordpress.com/“

It’s not so much the events that she chronicles, but the mindset with which she writes that surprises me. Well, okay so she was never a ‘nice’ girl, I just didn’t know how ‘bad’ she was… :p

It seems little sis Dav’s no angel either… for a bunch kids who grew up tight due to our frequent relocation, we sure do like keeping our secrets. Hmm, maybe it’s more of a communication problem. Everytime I catchup with one, I’ll usually learn something new about the other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o

*****

December-10-2007 at 5:50pm
Mood: Melancholy

Not Myself Today

I forgot to take my camera out with me again. I guess I’m just not a camera person. If you look through my photos, you’ll notice I’m quite camera shy. I like taking photos of things but not with things. For some reason I’ve never really enjoyed having my picture taken… which is a bit unusual since my father loves taking pictures. He’s like some sort of paternal paparazzi… wait, maybe that explains it. I swear he’d take a shot of me on the loo, if I ever gave him the chance. I know he’s got at least one old picture of one of the kids bathing in a bucket.

I’m feeling a little down. I lost my keys at Changi airport one hour before my flight, so for the past week I’ve had to either pray that someone is home or break into my own house. I’ve never climbed a tree or scaled a building before, but I think my past experience with rock climbing came in handy. We have a balcony and second story bathroom window that’s almost always open…

Neway, so today I just got some new keys cut for myself, yipee! No more Jackie Chan hijinks. Then WHAM, minutes later I lose my swipe card… so now I can get into the house fine… I’m just locked out at work… I’ve never lost anything before. Keys, wallets, etc. I think this Tan Kim Thie guy must be trouble. Last night, I found myself walking back home from Roma Street at midnight cause of Sunday timetables. It just didn’t occur to me to check times. I also took interest in an asian girl last night and went so far as to get her number. This was at a church charity event too. I feel some serious changes coming on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99XDWMwpL_A

*****

December-06-2007 at 7:54pm
Mood: Verbose

Kev’s Travel Guide Page 1: Singapore

For those that never appreciated Geography in school, Singapore is a tiny island nation that sits at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula. Despite its size it’s one of the most developed asian economies due to its strategic location in the Malaka Straits. Its got the busiest shipping container port in the world, runs one of the best airlines in the world and is a frequent tourism shopping spot. It’s practically smack bang on the equator so it’ll probably make a great space port too when that time comes.

Their success comes at a price. The government runs a somewhat totalitarian system there, albeit a fair one. You’re automatically forced to save around 20% of your income, in addition to the 9% superannuation contributions. This guarantees financial security for the citizens. To beat pollution and traffic problems, buying a car involves purchasing the car brand new and then bidding on a license to run the car for ten years. If you pick a bad year, the license could cost you more than half the price of the car. Cars older then ten years are deemed inefficient and are shipped to be resold overseas. You don’t really need a car though, the public transport is great and taxis are cheap. Most of the housing must be bought from the government, which results in about 80% of the population living in high rise appartments. Not only do you have to run to catch your bus, you’ll probably have to run to catch your elevator too. There’s compulsory military duty for 18 year old boys which I guess builds character. The fat kids have to start six months early to get into shape, which can only improve their health. It’s a nice place to visit, but I’d have to think hard about moving there.

It’s not much of a destination though, as you can probably see almost everything to see in three days. I’d recommend a transit holiday instead. While you’re planning some other holiday, slap on another two or three days, book your flights on Singapore Airlines (SIA) and set it up so you transit through Singapore. Flying SIA gives you access to a number of benefits. When your book your tickets, mention that you’re interested in the transit holiday. You can book your accommodation in advance at a discount at one of the participating hotels (Peninsula Excelsior at $50/night in the heart of the city is one of the better options). Straight off the plane, look for the Free Tour booth in the Changi Transit Mall. They’ll take you around the city on a two hours tour after which you’ll have a decent idea of what you want to checkout later. Once off the bus, don’t re-enter the airport but head straight for the Transit Holiday booth. Here you can grab your free pass for the SIA Hop-on bus and organise the free drop-off/pick-up from the airport to your hotel, among other things. The SIA Hop-on bus runs half-hourly on two separate loops around the city. One takes you around the inner city, while the other can ferry you out to Sentosa Island, which is a tourist resort island.

As for things to do, Singapore has a large number of interesting sites old and new. Temples and mosques, the byzantine central Fire Station, the durian shaped Esplanade theatre, the new High Court “flying saucer”, massive shopping centres, etc. The Suntec City complex with its Fountain of Wealth is built to form the fingers of an upturned hand holding a golden ring. You can catch the DuckTours here, where they’ll take you out in an old amphibious personel carrier around the harbour and then back through the city. A new giant ferris wheel, the Singapore Flywheel, is under-construction atm. It’s scheduled to open in 2008 as the largest in the world. Each capsule is the size of a small bus and holds up to 30 people. It’s booked full for the first two months (maybe years, can’t remember), tho. For lunch, I recommend you head back to Suntec City and eat at the Food Republic. They have stalls serving all manner of asian foods including the ice desserts common in most asian countries. This is one of the safer opportunities to try the Es Kacang, Cendol and Es Campur.

Then come nightfall, head over to the Boat Quay for your choice of various different world cuisines along the river. If you must have your pubs and pool joints, you can find them here too. If modern dining and nightclubbing is more your thing, head across the river to Clarke Quay where you can visit the familiar Ministry of Sound or have your dinner in a wheelchair or hospital bed at the medically themed The Clinic. If you’re feeling gutsy you can take a slingshot ride into the Singaporean night sky for S$40.

Exploring Sentosa Island will take you a day, more if you want to enjoy the beaches. If you’re like most of the women in my family who can only wear gold jewelry (allergy or they only want the good stuff, I don’t know), Little India is the place for you with more than twenty gold smiths servicing Singapore’s booming Indian population. If cloth and tailormade clothing is more your thing then visit Arab Street. You can have a quality suit fitted and tailormade in Italian wool for around S$450, by the same man Donald Rumsfeld goes to. A little more expensive than in Indonesia but still a bargain price. If you’re running out of things to do, the Botanical Garden, Bird Park and Zoo are supposed to be some of the best nature parks in the world.

So that’s Singapore in a nutshell. There’s probably more to see and do, but that’s all I managed to fit into two and a half days.

*****

December-04-2007 at 7:54pm
Mood: Heretic

Failure, Learn to Live with It

Failure is in itself a consolation prize. You’ve learned something (assuming it wasn’t a deadly mistake). You gain more experience in failing ten times before succeeding, than if you had suceeded the first time. That’s what life’s about, collecting experience. When you die, whatever happens to you, wherever you go, the only thing that you can bring with you is your experiences. Your body, your money, your friends, they all stay here.

Why am I talking about failure? Well, I think as a blogger I have failed. I’ll admit the last few posts have been very self-centred, this is becoming more like “my diary” instead of “my blog”. My heavier crime though, is that I still censor myself. I’ll think twice about the appropriateness of material… mentally edit sections… all before I even sit down to type. I started this blog as an exercise in liberation, to eliminate the fear of judgement, to learn to be more vocal, to express my thoughts and learn to disregard the opinions of others. I think I’ve made advances, but still have a long way to go.

So tonight, I’ll share with you a small mathematical proof I came up with a long time ago when I was a kid. If you’re Christian and love your bible, you may want to stop reading. It might be considered slightly blasphemous, but it’s not like it’ll change much. My mother didn’t skip a beat when I sprung it on her. She couldn’t fault my logic, but she wouldn’t acknowledge any fault in hers. There’s plenty of more controversial material out there if you keep an open mind. This more like fun with math.

Don’t get me wrong though (here I go again), I do have faith in a “God”, I just do not believe in “Religion” and the men like Benny Hinn that peddle it. Religion after all is a creation of man. Despite that there is a place for it in a society that needs it. It provides hope, instills confidence, brings people together, gives people something to live for and brings a sense of justice in places where there is none in the legal sense. Look at any third world or developing country and you’ll see intense levels of faith. Whereas in developed countries, religion is less highly regarded. Faith and trust that would otherwise go to an all-seeing, all-knowing celestial being, is now placed on the government and police force. It’s all fine and well if there wasn’t all the power-grabbing and swindling. You can’t shine a light without casting a shadow somewhere.

Blabbing aside, here’s the proof. It’s based of simple high school probability. If an event can occur it will have a probability greater than zero. It could be one zillionth, but it won’t be zero. It’s probability will be zero only if it is impossible for said event to happen. Now, as a time period “t” elapses, as long as the probability is not zero, the probability of an event occuring increases if it is yet to happen until eventually it is one and the event occurs. Now take Adam and Eve. We know Adam ate the apple, so the probability of that event is not zero. It may be infinitesimally, but it’s not zero. Both Adam and Eve live in the garden of Eden, which just so happens to have the Tree of Life. Eating from the tree of life grants immortality. So now crank “t” all the way up to infinity and watch the probability grow. So the question isn’t “will Adam eat the apple?”, it’s “when will Adam eat the apple?”. Adam and Eve were lab rats in a cage called Eden. Once the experiment is done, you throw out the rats…

*****

December-01-2007 at 7:43pm
Location: Changi Airport, Singapore
Mood: Smitten

Meet Tan Kim Thie

What I mentioned before about the context switching of the mind when speaking Indonesian seems to extend beyond that.

I read somewhere (which means it should be taken with a grain of salt… second hand knowledge is so overrated) that if a child is taught a second language at a young age, the mind achieves true bi-linguality. Each language is processed by a different part of the brain, giving the person better proficiency at each.

Well, now, not only can I think directly in Indonesian but I seem to have developed a tasted for the local flavour of women. I’m not sure I should be sharing this online, but here goes. I’ve always had a preference for caucasian women, particularly eurasians. Maybe the idea of someone raised on both east and west cultures appeals to me from my own childhood. You do gain a broader perspective and better appreciation for life and it’s priviledges. Most importantly, you develop a tolerance for the weird and sometimes very troublesome aspects of different cultures. My parents sacrificed a lot to give me a western up-bringing and I wouldn’t short change them the rights that their culture entitles them to.

However, it feels like in my abscence, I’ve forgotten the natural beauty of Indonesian ‘pribumi’ (the original islander malay) women. The slim build, high cheekbones, smooth brown skin, slightly wavy jet black hair, full lips, large eyes and long lashes. I look pretty ‘pribumi’ myself even though I have mixed blood. Maybe there’s something genetic there, or maybe being of similar looks Indonesian women are just making themselves more apparent… I was shopping for clothes in Jakarta (Jeans Republic has nice stuff) and the girl at the checkout handed me her copy of the receipt and asked me for my name and phone number. Being kinda thick, I thought it was some cultural difference thing and gave her a bit of a puzzled look. Taking that as a no, she hastly changed the request to just a name and signature.

So this bi-lingual thing seems to have some bizarre side-effects. It’s more like discovering I’ve got this split personality who’s fluent in Indonesian, understands the local Javanese dialect, likes food spicy and fatty, digs ‘pribumi’ chicks and knows how to ‘nguyon’. Meet Tan Kim Thie. That’s the chinese name given to me by my Aunt. It’s Hokkien and translates to something like Gold, I think. I’ll have to double check again with Grace.

Btw, I used the term ‘nguyon’ because socialising among Indonesians is a very different experience. Javanese feels to me like a very emotive language. I’m not sure why but for me, a word seems to carry not just a meaning but the emotion of the speaker. Don’t quote me on that though, since my Javanese is pretty half-arsed. How much can you learn in a year or two? What I do know for sure is that someone speaking Indonesian is more animated than with English, more so with Javanese.

That’s probably why you can joke about some truly ridiculous stuff with Indonesians, that might cause a few ruffled feathers elsewhere. I used to think my father had an embarassing sense of humour (not uncommon among the youth), but now I think he just hasn’t made the cultural switch in addition to the normal generation gap. Funnily enough I seem to have absorbed some of his sense of humour, although IMO in better taste.

EDIT: I just looked it up and the family name ‘Tan’ means to narrate\explain\story-tell. So is this coincidence or something hereditary.

*****

November-22-2007 at 3:46pm
Location: Bukit Sari, Semarang, Indonesia
Mood: In Quarantine

Eating Semarang Style

Today I’m sick. Actually I’ve been sick the last five days with at least two variations of a bad cough. I’ve been keeping it under control, but by yesterday speaking brought on boughts of coughing and ‘mas Ari was also showing signs of it too. I thought it best to put myself under quarantine and get some rest. Lately I’ve been out and about all day and getting six hours sleep. So today, I’m collecting family photos, listening to 80s music, watching pirated movies, and blogging.

It’s no coincidence that this more serious cough started after I arrived in Semarang. My father grew up in Semarang and since we first stepped off the plane, he’s been on some sort of food pilgrimage. We’ve been hunting down the “warung2 makan” that he used to frequent. We’d still order hot drinks, avoid ice deserts and wipe clean utensils, but we seem to have partially lost the stricter regard for safety that we practiced in Jakarta. Back there we ate at home frequently, visited reputable restaurants and drank bottled drinks. Families here that can afford it install their own water cooler and only drink/cook with either spring or the cheaper distilled water. I’ve also been told to rinse my mouth with this cleaner water after brushing my teeth.

However, I have to admit the food does taste good. You could say it’s worth the trouble. There’s no government support here so some people’s livelihood depend on the food they cook. They’ll make it as delicious as they can. Rice is cooked with coconut milk, meat cooked with fat, everything is spiced up. While the portions are arguably smaller, they contain much more variety. I bought some simple sausage rolls yesterday and it turns out they’ve all have chilli baked in, which is actually bad for my cough. I can kinda see why my dad has a bit of a weight problem. I weighed myself yesterday and I’ve gained between 3-5 kilograms. Even the medicine here is quite palatable… I’m sucking on a medicinal lozenge that’s sweet like candy and drinking some traditional remedy that tastes citrusy. Ok, enough of me feeling sorry for myself…

I’m truly amazed by the level of success my relatives have achieved back here. I’m writing this post in the house of Gishokbi (older sister on my brother’s side, if I’m not wrong) which could be described as a small hilltop mansion. She has four other houses, and her 18 year old son Edo stays out late racing his modded BMW. Her oldest daughter, Meta, studied and now lives in Germany. Compare that to the previous generation. We used to live in little wood houses that flooded every year. We’d pump our own water from wells. My grandma made money selling small pineapple cookies. You can still see the humble beginnings, though. The house feels cluttered and the fridge is a mess with all kinds of leftovers. Life still feels very much about efficiency and saving money. The house is full of religious symbols: porcelain dolls, ceramic angels, statuettes of Jesus and Maria, a dedicated prayer room with wall carvings, etc. She knows she has much to be thankful for. She actually sponsors a Catholic school out in one of the poorer fishing districts. I went there yesterday. The school is an oasis in the middle of an absolute wasteland. It’s surrounded by murky fishponds, which are flanked by brick hovels. People use their own fish ponds as septic tanks. Giant power pylons loom overhead. There’s a garbage dump nearby. I’m kinda getting depressed thinking about it now, but the children there seem genuinely happy tho, which goes to show that happiness is simply a state of mind.

I feel like calling it a day. So just quickly, our old house hasn’t aged well. It’s been empty since we left. Our old family photos are still hanging on the wall. The walls have been eaten through and the backyard is a tangled mess of a jungle. I also visited the old high school I went to while I was here. It’s actually been closed since and was locked down. Squatters had moved in. I managed to sneak in and take a few quick snaps before their guard dog noticed me. Not in the mood for rabies, I bolted.

Btw, the attached Youtube vid is by local Indonesia talent, PeterPan. It happened to be playing while I wrote the post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndfW9udn7No

*****

November-18-2007 at 5:48pm
Location: Kelapa Gading, Jakarta, Indonesia
Mood: Big Brotherly

Kevin, Babysitter Extraudinaire

I probably shouldn’t be making light of it, but in the two hours that I was out alone when I wrote that last post, my relies still felt the need to send out a search party… Granted I didn’t notice my phone ring twice. Though, I’m not entirely sure how they were expecting to find me in Jakarta’s busy streets.

Jakarta’s not so scary after all. It’s still very hard to get around, even by car (serious traffic problems), but there’s nothing wrong with walking the streets. I look quite local and as long as I don’t open my mouth, don’t really attract any attention. When I do talk, people tend to ask where I’m from.

There are other reasons to not walk the streets. One it’s stinking hot, two it’s dirty & dusty, and three the pollution levels are suffocating. That’s not to say it’s not livable. You can quite literally build your own climate-controlled castle here, have a live in maid to cook, clean & wash, and your own personal chauffeur to drive your two cars between home, work and shopping mall. You only have to be middle class, with a steady job and a willingness to live in a “bubble”. I’m starting to think it might be nice to live here someday. Maybe when I retire. Everything is cheaper here and of course it’s nice having relatives nearby. After ten years abroad you tend to be quite out of touch with the joys of family.

I played babysitter at Saturday’s wedding reception. My cousin Chris(topher) is ten and very inquisitive so he’s been following me around a lot. It’s been a symbiotic relationship. He asks me about Australia and since his English is surprisingly good, occasionally I use him as my translator. Well, his little sister Vina likes to follow him around and Eva is kinda like best cousins with Vina, and so on. Vina and Eva were complaining about being bitten by insects so I took our little party and went to find a table to sit at. Then kokwiembi (which I think means father’s little sister number what I do not know) finds us, takes a photo and asks me to mind the children… so I spend the entire night around them. I don’t mind since they’re cute. Vina likes to yell since she wants to be heard. She’s pretty aggressive so you could mistake her for the older sibling. Eva was freaking out cause her shoes were getting muddy. Chris asks some pretty hard questions, some of which I have to answer with “Begitu saja… Hafalkan”. After a while they get really attached and look for you when you’re not around. It also has other perks. Chris was like “Kokok Kevin, mau teh atau kopi?” and Eva managed to get a Zuppa Puspa (a nice pie/soup hybrid) to go and got one for me too.

My Indonesian’s also improved quite a bit. Actually, it’s more like it’s returned. I used to think that I’d lost most of it. Composing sentences took forever and I’d feel silly saying it.  Each day here I get more confident with it. It’s also more than just relearning, it feels like my mind has switched over. I’m starting to think straight in Indonesian and reflex words like “Wadduh!” are coming out. I’m also starting to mix some Javanese like “Ngak” and “Ngono” into my speech too, which is annoying cousin Edo cause it’s probably like I’m putting his two native languages into a blender. Maybe by the end of my twenty days, waktu saya pulang ke Aussi harus mengadaptasi lagi mengunakan Bahasa Inggris. Bagian bagian dari pos ini sudah dipikirkan dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Rasanya memakai Bahasa Indonesia lebih enak, lebih menyenangkan.

*****

November-13-2007 at 12:20am
Location: Kelapa Gading
Mood: Caged

So Much For Abstinence

I woke up this morning to a distantly familiar wake up call of “Roti! Roti!” from a passing seller. Being a nostalgia junkie, I get high on small things like this. The smell of camphor wood in the bedrooms, food I grew up on, etc. I’d love to have 15 minutes of freedom in one of the snack stores. They’re like candy stores that sell sweet and savoury favourites like ‘kuping gajah’, ‘asam jawa’, ‘peyek kacang’, ‘krupuk palembang’ and ‘pisang guling’.

But it isn’t all candy and rainbows. Coming from Singapore, it’s a massive contrast. In ten years you hear a lot of bad stuff, but I can’t say I haven’t been suprised a few times already. What I saw coming out of the dilapidated Soekarno-Hatta looked more like a post-apocalyptic, zombie horror night flick… in the dark carparks, lit by the headlights of cars, you’d be approached out of the darkness by groups of boys reaching for your luggage, chanting “Bapak, saya bantu”. You fend them off only to have them follow at a distance, swarming you again when you reach your car.

I definitely don’t feel as much freedom as I did in Singapore. No exploring with the camera at the crack of dawn, for now. I’d like to, but I’d also hate to have my relies worry. It’s still day 1 though. I have a local SIMM card now and some local currency so we will see.

On another note, if you’ve never seen the Singapore and you have opportunity to transit there on a longer flight, I would suggest you fly Singapore Airlines and take advantage of their ‘stop over holiday’ program. In addition to ferrying you between your heavily discounted hotel accommodation (strategically located Peninsula Excelsior for $50/night), they run a free bus around the city area. In 3 days, I paid once for the MRT and the bus handled everything else. You’ll probably want to walk anyway since there are a lot of historical buildings, gardens and shopping malls. It’s a great place to try asian food safely, ‘es kacang’, ‘cendol’, the singaporean ‘nasi ayam’. All old favourites. Some new favourites too like ‘gelare’ which I came across by chance while exploring. It’s really nice, but supposedly quite healthy as it’s soya bean based. I don’t believe it tho, it’s too good… :p

There’s a build your own teddy bear store too. You can pick the skin, the stuffing mixture, a few sound clips and a full wardrobe! That one’s for you Dav.

I could talk about so much more but why spoil it for you.

*****

November-09-2007 at 5:22am
Mood: Psyched

One for the Road

My online presence will be greatly diminished over the next 3 weeks. I will be going to Indonesia. While I will potentially be staying with relies, like everything else, the telephone system over there is corrupt. As in it will keep asking you for money for something that is a free service in other countries. So when you connect to the internet, you’re not only paying for data transfer, but also for your timed use of the phone line. It would not be an issue if broadband penetration wasn’t so bad, but don’t the telco’s also manage that…

So I guess that means I’ll be roughing it. It’s not all bad tho. That means more time to bond with the relies, explore more, shop more, cook more and less time on IdiotTube. On the other hand, I won’t be able to answer mail, post to my blog and people can make me default on my Scrabbulous games. Don’t you even think about doing it!

I also won’t be able to manage my portfolio, which is a bit of a bummer since I’m a speculative trader. The market’s low now and I’ve just bought in to ride the recovery. Credit crisis aftershocks and the recent Aussie rate hike have already put the pinch on margin traders which means there’s minimal risk of it going further south in the next few weeks. Touch wood.

Okay, I’m probably over-reacting. They’ll probably have internet cafes on every street, but it’s not like you could trust them with your login details. All manner of nasties could be lurking on those public hard drives. A bit of computer abstinence wouldn’t hurt, though. In line with that, I’m leaving my fancy new laptop at home. With any luck I won’t go mad.

Neway, just in case I find myself in hospital with malaria, in jail on drug charges, in the ground six feet deep or in love with my “mystery woman”, here’s a big luv you all and thanks for reading.

*****

November-09-2007 at 8:44am
Mood: Flying High

The Pillars of Society

Hmmm, this blogs has kinda drifted on a tangent away from cerebral musings to random shenanigens. Irregardless of which one makes better (or worse depending on your opinion) reading, I think I should get back on topic. Here’s something to mull about.

Binary. I’ll assume you know what it is as you’re reading this as “digitised” text that’s streamed over the “Internet” to your “computer” screen. If you don’t then stop reading and look it up on Google, then proceed to smack yourself up the back of the head for me. It’s everywhere, computers affect close to everything and everyone. If you told me ten years ago that the bleach-blonde babe, with the bug-eyed sunnies and lip-gloss would know, much less care about USB ports I probably wouldn’t have believed it. Nowadays she needs one to stick her IPod into.

Btw, I have a theory on those bug-eye sunnies. The mind naturally fill in blanks, generally with what it wants to see. In this particular situation, “beauty”. Everyone looks better with sunnies, because people looking at them fill the blanks with something that is probably better than the real thing. You also attain a sort of universal appeal because what people “imagine” is specific to them. Well, the bigger the sunnies, the more you hide, the better you look… to a certain extent… you don’t wanna look like a freak with a paperbag.

To add to my argument, they were popularised by Paris Hilton. I personally think Paris has no natural beauty (outer or inner). Her face has some weird, distorted proportions. That’s where those sunnies come in handy, they hide a large part of her face and what people fill the blanks with not only looks better but balances the parts that aren’t hidden.

Neway, back off that tangent. Zeros and ones, that’s what most people’s identity and money amounts to. Our entire society is being run by these two symbols, one yonic while the other is phallic. So after raising ourselves above mere procreating animals and outwitting evolution by changing the environment before it can change us, this still stands as a reminder of what really drives our civilisation. I can’t help thinking this was some sort of computer scientist joke when they first developed the concept of binary. A bunch of nerds giggling in a dark room while they draft up the specifications for the first computer. If there are any aliens watching us, they’re probably laughing their head(s) off too.

*****

November-06-2007 at 6:12pm
Mood: Nostalgic

Putting Fairy Lights Around the Lighthouse

I wasted a lot of time yesterday. I think I spent at least half the day running around Brisbane. It all started with these photos Grace showed me. She’s got this blog, which is unfortunately in chinese so I ended up just browsing her photos. While I was looking at them, it hit me that Brisbane looks like an interesting place… :S

I’ve lived, studied and worked here over 10 years, but I’ve never looked at Brisbane through tourist eyes. I have my favourite spots, but aside from that I don’t really venture out further than I have to. I don’t have any photographs or souvenirs. In contrast, on both the occasions that I’ve visited Sydney and Melbourne, I’d be up at the crack of dawn all excited and ready to go out. Then I’d proceed to wander around town trying my hardest to get lost. I think I’ve done Brisbane a great injustice. A lot of Japanese people pay a good deal of money to visit and I live here but don’t appreciate it. Blake told me this short Japanese saying, “It is dark near the lighthouse.” I’m sure you can guess what it means.

Neway, I thought I should give Brisbane the tourist treatment. I had the IXUS for quite a while and it’s been gathering a bit of dust. Seeing as I’m taking it on a trip soon, I figured this would be a useful exercise. Spending half a day out, I got some decent practice shots in just about every angle, distance and lighting condition. I’ll spare you the camera review, but it is a handy little thing.

I started out over in Southbank looking for someplace quiet where I could use the camera undisturbed and undisturbing. They had these beautiful trees along a section of the river with bright red flowers. That’s when I remembered that the jacarandas are in bloom this time of year. It quickly became a quest to track down one that was still in full bloom. They had quite a few of these over on the uni grounds back in my day, so off I went. Not only did I find a nice jacaranda, but I think I may have even found an elusive flame tree around the back… OMG, I’m turning into my father… :p

Then the nostalgia kicked in… I started walking around campus taking shots of familiar places… the Maths honours labs where I beavered away on my project, the physics refec, the IT lounge room with the foosball table, the “back door” to the IT building… It was pretty dark by the time I was done, and my legs hurt like hell. It’s a big campus with a lot of space between buildings.

I may put some photos up. What looks good on an 3 inch LCD may not look so good on a computer screen.

In other news, I have YouTube presence now (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCVKGuXUzPk). That’s a short snippet of an “action” moment in a poker game. Not particularly exciting, but it’s a start. I think the discussion that went on when we tried to cram an undisclosed number of grown men into a tiny hatchback would have made better entertainment.
*****

November-02-2007 at 8:12pm
Mood: Sweepy

Weddings 101

Before I start the main topic of this post, allow me a quick plug of BodyPump. I finally got around to attending a class this weekend. From the start I wanted to try it out, but it’s run at an insanely early time on a Saturday morning. Well, I put in the extra effort this weekend. Even tho I had a late poker night with the boyz last night, I was up and running at 6am sharp. I even had time to pop a load in the washing machine.

Neway, it is a great routine. It’s also quite scalable. With Dance, Core, BodyCombat and BodyAttack, it’s only a matter of time before it gets old or too easy for you to feel any gain. I can see myself doing BodyPump five years on, only with heavier weights and new music. I’m definitely going to try to keep it up. I’ll just keep telling myself that sleep is over-rated.

While I’m on this subject, BodyAttack is pretty much just aerobics. It was straight after BodyPump so I thought I’d give it a shot. I almost died of embarassment. I’m not new to aerobics, back when I was a kid they used to run Aerobics Oz Style right before the breakfast cartoons. Occassionally I’d tune in too early and would blow some time watching some Oz Style. I even joined in a few times. I sucked then and 15 years hasn’t changed much. Now, normally you can stake out a spot in a dark back corner so no one can see you flail… but this new generation of aerobics involves moving around all over the room. At one point the instructor split the group into two groups on either side of the room, facing each other. No place to hide. I think I can get my aerobic exercise elsewhere.

Okay… what was I supposed to be talking about again… yeah, this next section could get a little mushy, so if you lack a sensitive side, stop reading cause I don’t want to hear you gagging.

I’m flying out to Indonesia for a few weeks this Friday. One of my closer cousins, BoyBoy (yes, that is what we call him) is getting hitched. I figure it would also do me some good to get back in touch with my relatives and heritage. In the ten years I’ve been here in Australia, I haven’t returned even once.

So after the gym session, I went looking for a wedding card. I wanted something with a distinct Australian theme. There really isn’t much in the way of variety tho. It’s usually a typical wedding theme on the front, maybe some glitter and a short bit of mushy poetry inside, if anything. The ones that do have some humour are usually in bad taste, so I try to find one with some nice poetry that isn’t too corny. Anyway, in the course of browsing, I start up this conversation with this old gent who’s also looking for a card for his nephew’s wedding. Old people are fun to talk to. They’re generally quite friendly, laid-back and provided they haven’t crossed the senile border, are pretty streetwise and full of ideas.

Neway, we get to talking about what’s on offer and after picking one, he tells me he doesn’t usually like the verbose ones cause he likes to pen a little something himself. I think that’s a brilliant idea. While BoyBoy speaks English, he’d appreciate it more in Indonesian. I return the favour by telling him to pinch one of the nicer envelopes from one of the other cards…

So I finally settle for a simple card with a a brief verse on the front next to a tux and dress. The dress is actually composed of snippets of material, giving it a quaint homemade look. I originally rejected it cause all it says inside is “Congratulations”, but now that’s its strength. It’s a right ripp-off tho. Six bucks for some paper.

*****

October-29-2007 at 7:28pm
Mood: Starved and Parched

Yet Another Catcher in the Rye Review

I finished reading this last weekend. Blake lent me the book about 3 months ago and probably didn’t think he’d ever get it back. It’s not that it’s particularly thick (clocks in at 200 something tiny handbook pages), more that my childhood was filled with books so at some point I got rather sick of em. This musta been the first piece of literary fiction I’d picked up in maybe 7 years…

Neway, it surprised me. Being pretty famous, I kinda expected it to be a solid piece of writing. I saw a cover once, showing a horse in blazing red, so I started with the expectation of something like Horse Whisperer (which rather ironically I never read or watched… hence an expectation based on another expectation). Some emotional story about human growth, endeavour and relationships. This is high school reading, so that’s what you’d want your kids to be exposed to, no?

Instead I got a lot of angst, immaturity and a lot of repeated words. That’s not to say I didn’t like it. It reads with this sense of honesty, like Salinger just took a mental dump. Feelings that he felt, scenes that he saw, thoughts that he thought, that kinda thing. It’s also written like he was standing in front of a room full of classmates speaking about his weekend. It feels very improvised, right down to repeatedly using the same word/phrase over and over cause you can’t think straight cause you’re nervous. To add to that, Holden (the protagonist) is quite human… to be precise, quite juvenile. He acts very much his age, being self-centred, selfish, immature and even a little pretentious.

All up I enjoyed reading it. I’m not sure if it’s because of the honesty, or because I could relate to Holden dissatisfaction with the workings of the world, or simply due to my prolonged absence from reading. Actually, it’s probably all three…

I almost ruined it for myself tho. Out of curiosity, I looked up some of the cultural references in the book (which turned out to be fiction anyway) and accidentally read a snippet about… spoiler alert!…. how Holden’s distructive course is altered by an event… which led to crazy amounts of guessing in the final few chapters. I hope I haven’t passed on the injustice… :p
*****

October-27-2007 at 7:50pm
Mood: Exhausted

Mating Faux Pas

While I’m here writing about personal details of my life, I figured I might as well share what I believe is one of my worst, non-confidential courting blunders. This was about half a year ago, also related to a girl I’d met during my French class.

The two girls you need to know about are Alex and Bianca. Both of them actually knew each other in primary school, but lost contact until they both started this French course. They look surprisingly like sisters, but personality-wise they worlds apart. Alex is a girly girl… keeps up to date with fashion, wears makeup, has her hair done nice and is learning French as she’s moving to Europe. Bianca on the other hand is a career girl and a bit of a diamond in the rough. Being a med student, she prefers jeans, shirts, wore braces and is happy with a ponytail. She’s learning French in preparation for going to Canada to finish her degree. I always knew she had good facial features, but her mother recently showed me some wedding photos from her sister’s wedding and I could not recognise Bianca all dolled up. I reckon she might even have out-classed Alex. Goes to show, “There are no ugly girls, just lazy girls”.

Neway, I’ll skip all the boring details throughout the term. Fast forward to the last class. Alex has made it clear to everyone that it’s her last lesson and she won’t be continuing next term. So on our way out, I tell her we should swap contact info so that we can keep in touch. She agrees, so we stop just outside the Alliance and Alex fishes out a business card and hands it to me. As we’re doing this, Bianca exits the Alliance. As she passes, I say a quick “See ya. Catcha next term”. She then stops and tells me it’s her last class too, so I won’t see her. Something in my head shifts into automatic and I tell her we should swap contact info… yeah, I think you can see where this is going…

So Bianca starts fishing around for a pen and I’m looking for something to write on. “Here, you can use the back of this”. I am holding out Alex’s business card. A split second later, I realise my faux pas. Bianca on the other hand, deftly plucks the card from my fingers and begins writing her name and email address on the back. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alex give Bianca a dirty look. Idiot.

That’s probably all that’s fit to print.

*****

October-25-2007 at 7:24pm
Mood: Emasculated

Boy Meets Girl, Girl Likes Boy, Boy Freaks Out, It All Goes to Hell

Sorry guys… it’s been pretty quiet. I’ve had a few complaints, so…. hey, wait a minute… nobody’s paying me to blog… it takes time, love and soul to compose these entries, so you can just sit quietly and wait patiently for the next entry… :p

I can explain. I’ll admit that gym bunnies (which is actually fairly widely accepted slang. Sorry for ever doubting you, Blake) aren’t entirely undeserving of their somewhat negative reputation for social snubbing. Working out isn’t exactly a social activity and even if you did synchronize you schedules with a gym buddy, I’m not sure how you’d have a conversation between pumping weights… “Ugh, yeah, I agree with ya, ugh, that Rudd guy, ugh, 9, yeah, that guy, ugh, he might be trouble, ugh, 11, Howwie’s been good to us, ugh, but you can’t just, ugh, 14, not give the new guy, ugh, chance, ugh, 17…” Was that hard to read?

To add to that, I also seem to have misplaced my balls… Let me elaborate. We just recently started a new French term. A new girl, Nadia (blah, blah, names changed to protect the not-so innocent), is starting. Arriving late, she picks the seat next to mine. I start picking up signs she might be interested… a few sideways glances, her legs appear to be inching towards me, she tries to start a conversation with “so,…”. I decide I won’t make a move just yet, but if she comes in something nice next lesson then that’s a clear sign and I’ll start up a converstation and maybe ask her out.

So next lesson, she turns up late again, but this time she’s traded in the jeans and top for a short, kimono-style dress showing off some nice waxed legs ending in ballet flats. So there’s my green light. She sits next to me with her legs crossed, angled a little sideways towards me. To add fuel to the fire, every now and then she’d reach down and run her hand up and down her leg. It got more than a little distracting. Even I couldn’t help stealing a few glances. So what did I do…

When we called for a break, I just stood up and kinda bolted. I was the first to leave the room, and made a bee-line straight for the kitchen. Nadia got up behind me and sorted tried to follow, but I was really hot-stepping it out so she broke away halfway to the kitchen.

Someone, tell me… am I gay? Be brutally honest.

Comments:

JasonP:
Another great blog dude; for a while there it was like reading soft, tasteful porn.

KevinP:
Ew… thanks for that mental image, Jas. I must admit I didn’t expect my blog to be enjoyed that way. It’s strictly PG13… :p

I think you may answered my question, tho…

*****

October-12-2007 at 5:36pm
Mood: Very Impressed

Theatre Meets Rock

I went to a Kate Miller Heidke show last night. I call it a show cause it felt like so much more than just a live performance…

She really is quite the character. She comes across as this cute, little platinum blonde with playful, wandering eyes. She’s got the innocent smile, sideways glance down pat. She wore this strapless style stiff short skirt dress that looked like it was cut from a circus tent. It merged into a t-shirt top so she didn’t bear any skin. I should have taken photos, but as usual I forgot the camera at home.

Overall the show felt very theatrical. Her opera singer background shines through in both her voice, her mannerisms and her face. The venue itself had these curtains on the side and for a small place I was impressed with the amount of lighting they set up. Everytime she hit the high notes, all the lights would flash and swing like crazy as if the whole place was coming down!

Her new songs are a great evolution on her previous work. The poetic lyrics are still there, but there’s a much wider spectrum of music. Each song sets itself apart more so than in the previous album. She also uses her opera voice much more frequently.

Towards the end, she did a great little tongue-in-cheek song about how before her big break friends and relies kept suggesting she try out for Australian Idol. Song writing from the heart. A hilarious track which I wish was on the CD I bought that night. I’m pretty sure they’d never get permission to use the Idol name, so that’d be a live performance only treat. She also did a theatrical version of John Farnham’s “The Voice”, hitting the high notes where she could and making it her own.

She’s working with some really classy musicians too. At some point in the show, they each had a chance to do a solo or just an instrumentals track. They clearly knew their instruments. The violinist did a short section playing the violin classical guitar style like a banjo! The sound is hard to describe but it’s definitely it’s own.

After the show, I got my first autograph ever. Scott got her to sign his abs for kicks and then slipped her his card. I didn’t have the heart to tell him, but while I was getting my CD cover signed a girl came up and asked her about it. Her response was “Yeah, he gave me his card… so I guess I can get drumming lessons if I want to”. That’s a crash, but at least no burn

*****

10-11-2007 at 09:17 PM
Mood: Busty

The “Perks” of the Other Sex

Going down the stairs this morning, I’ve noticed this weird feeling. It’s kinda this weird, subtle stretching, around the chest area… more like a sagging… on every down step… Is this what it feels like to have boobs? Whoops, juvenile alert! Better stop reading if you can’t stand it. :p

I’m a little surprised and confused. I’ve only been going to the gym for a few weeks now. While I’ve been steadily increasing my food intake, I’m pretty sure they’re not man-boobs. I weighed myself and I’m still a steady 60kg. So that means that I’ve gained neither fat nor muscle (which weighs even more), or I’ve converted one into the other. It could just be cause my muscles are still a bit sore from Tuesday’s workout and they’re more sensitive to movement.

It does make me wonder what having sizable pecs would feel like. Would they be like having firm breasts, large A cups maybe… ? Being your average straight guy I’ve never felt another guy’s pecs. I never really thought about it. I kinda expected them not to jiggle at all. They’d be firm, rock hard muscles.

I haven’t really thought about the implications of a substantial change in body. I’ve had the same build more or less for the last 15 years, give or take a few centimetres. I kinda freaked briefly the other day when a pair of shorts seemed kinda tight… I thought maybe I’d gone to far with the diet change. Full cream milk and Hungry Jacks beef aren’t exactly weight friendly. That’s what prompted the weigh-in I mentioned before. Considering I haven’t put on any weight, I think I can proudly say the extra girth must be due to firmer, toned abs

*****

10-10-2007 at 04:39 PM
Mood: Frenchy

The Current State of Dance

I did a dance fitness class last night. It’s not the usual dance classes I’m used to. It’s more the type you get on stage where the dancers are trying to distract you from how unco the star singer actually is… oops… :p

Neway, when the instructor works through the moves it all looks quite cool and do-able, but then he puts on some ultra-fast and you end up flailing like a spastic… or maybe that was just me…. I am notoriously unco-ordinated, which is kinda why I was interested in these dance sessions in the first place. I did leave feeling like I did learn something, probably cause there was so much room for improvement. I’ll probably come back for some more funspastic action.

None of it’s particularly useful outside of fitness, though. If you tried pull out any of these dance moves in a crowded nightclub dance floor, you’d probably smack a girl in the face or knee a guy in the balls… or both at the same time… :p I mean there’s the occassional popping, breaking inspired move, but there’s also a lot of arm swinging and footwork. That does remind me of a couple I saw at a club once, doing an impressive popping sequence together. It made me wonder how long they spent practicing in the mirror. I’m pretty sure they were working muscles normal people don’t know about.

Before I sign off, I did a BodyJam session last week. While that one was similarly dance based too, it was less intensive and to more mellow music. Still choreographed stuff, but I had no trouble following. I also has my first taste of Yoga that night and I liked it, much more so than Pilates. I’m not quite sure I have the meditation down right… how does one “think between thoughts”?? The humming meditation is strangely hypnotic with a room full of people humming in unison. While I’m rattling off about fitness classes, the bosu ball is an interesting piece of equipment. Just trying to balance on it, you’re actually doing very small reps on core muscles.

Stay tuned readers, next week we explore the wonderful world of bodypump!

*****

10-03-2007 at 05:25 PM
Mood: Buff

The Serious Business of Pilates

Ahem, scratch that personal trainer girlfriend hint… :p

Don’t laugh, but I found myself in a Pilates class last night. As part of my membership deal, I get to attend all the fitness and rpm classes free of charge. It was straight after a BodyCombat session so I thought why not as part of my “try anything once” policy. The instructor was strict as, and maybe even a little unfriendly. Here are some choice quotes from the session:

“There’s a time for laughing and this isn’t it, this is a time for focusing.”
“Lady in green… I wish I could call you by your name, but I don’t know it.” (and obviously don’t want to know it)
“I’ve never had an accident in a class, and I’m not going to have one today.” (followed by a weak joke about sueing and insurance… :S)

That last sequence, I guess it’s a serious matter for personal trainers. She did seem to know her stuff and was reassuringly concerned about personal safety. As for Pilates itself, I’m not entirely sure it’s my thing. It doesn’t have anything to do with being one of only two men in the class or the instructor… more that coming out of it I didn’t feel like I’d achieved much. Body combat was kinda like that too. I doubt that it would improve your fighting chance, apart from maybe being able to run away faster. It’s more like a different flavour of aerobics for variety.

Comments:

JasonP:
I think I need a gym buddy Kev.  Seeing as I haven’t gone to gym in over a year now (yes, I’m still a member; no, I’m not under contract; yes that is rather stupid).  I will discuss this with you in a future correspondence.  It’s kinda wierd that we sit facing each other at work and yet I get more communication from you via facebook.  Some would say that’s a sad reflection on society.  I say bring on the technology juggernaut!

btw – I like the blog; it’s sort of like reading Dave Barry but with a local perspective.  Also, I just noticed I’ve used three semi-colons in this comment.  Perhaps that’s overkill.

KevinP:
Dave Barry… now ur just sucking up to me cos you want a gym buddy.. :p Don’t say things like that tho, as if my oversized head wasn’t big enough. Whoops, too late… that next pulitzer is mine!

Seriously tho, the next pulitzer could go to a blogger, what with the amatuer journalism fueling the Burmese revolution.

Btw, you are officially my gym buddy now. There’s no backing out now, I have witnesses! You asked for this of your own free will.

JasonP:
witnesses?  I thought I was the only one reading this.

Actually, that sounds like me weasling out of gym for the 365th time this calendar year.  Sigh…ok fine sign me up.  Fine!  But prepare for

Feel the burn! 
Pain is gain!
Two more Reps Kev!!  We’re nearly there mate!!
C’moooon!!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

btw, are you familiar with the comic stylings of Jack Handey?  Or the Mighty Boosh per-chance?  If not, I will rectify this flaw before it gets embarrassing.  That said, it is a small proportion of people that appreciate my sense of humour.  I’m guessing because most people don’t understand what’s funny.  Basically I blame the education system.  Hang on there, I know what you’re thinking.  Don’t even go there … it couldn’t possibly be me that’s wrong on this one!

KevinP:
Hey, no hijacking my blog! Go start ur own! There’s only room for one humorist here … :p

*****

September-30-2007 at 11:16pm
Mood: Lazy

Death and Rebirth

I had a friendster blog from before, but friendster is dead to me now so I am moving to facebook. The old blog was called “Random Musings” – “Single, asian male. Don’t expect too much”. Below is a dump of all previous blog entries. It’s ideally read bottom up.
*****

10-01-2007 at 01:12 AM

The End

Maintaining this blog is becoming somewhat a chore… so this will be my last post here… To all those of you who have followed my posts from the start… please stop stalking me … :p

Seriously tho… thanks for reading Ani and Suze…

On the plus side, I will be opening a new facebook blog shortly. Logging into friendster just to blog was getting to me.

*****

09-29-2007 at 11:14 PM

Gym Bunnies

As Blake puts it, I’m slowly turning into a Gym Bunny… which supposedly means one of those gym fanatics. He’s from down the coast, so I can never tell whether he’s pulling my leg and making up words. I had another coastie housemate before and she was like that too. A little over an hour’s drive away and they already have their own language… :S

Neway, Winter is on the way out and it’s time to get active… not that I was overly active before. I have a tendency to hibernate in winter so it’s more like I get less active. This is my first proper gym membership and I’m quite happy with it. It’s a fairly new gym so everything’s clean and all the machines work great. We had a gym back in my old high school so I kinda have a regular routine already. Some weights first, then abdominal exercises, then onto the cycle for 10 minutes at 20 while my arms recover. Repeat but do the rowing machine instead of the cycle. I’m focusing on strengthening the heart and upgrading my four packs to six packs. Some upper body strength would be nice, but I’d hate to end up looking like one of those muscle heads.

I’m on this whole get fit and healthy phase right now and the stars appear to be aligning… A new guy joined up at work and he packs his week with just about every sport under the sun. A number of his friends got sick recently so he’s been looking for substitute players. Just this week I played lunchtime soccer with workmates, evening tennis and had my first taste of beach volleyball. Add several visits to the gym and my body has been sore all week. Right now I’m not feeling so bad, probably cos I partied Friday night and Saturday morning away and slept half the rest of Saturday off.

On that note, I’ve been trying to up protein and carbs intake to make sure my body’s got all the building blocks it needs. As would luck have it, there’s one of those body building supplements shops down the road from where I live. I popped in to see what they had, but left without buying anything. Everything comes in these kilogram buckets and I’m pretty sure it’s cause they taste like crap and they wouldn’t make money if they had sample sizes. For now I’ll see if the Aussie diet of milk, beef, wheatbix and vegemite will do the trick.

Meanwhile on the healthy side, I’ve asked my fellow housemate Grace, if she’d mind if I started cooking with her. I just need the motivation to dust off the cooking skills. My parents had the common sense to impart cooking skills on me, but once I’d flown the nest, fast food is simply too convenient. Having a Hungry Jacks in the neighbourhood certainly does not help. To turn things further in my favour, Claire (the other half of the chinese “twins”) is now dating someone very interesting so Grace certainly wouldn’t mind the company of another cooking partner.

The only way the stars could align any more would be if I somehow managed to find myself a personal trainer girlfriend… :p

*****

09-25-2007 at 01:30 AM

Blast From the Past

I had a bit of a surprise waiting for me Sunday morning. Coming home from an apartment warming, I found an email from an old friend, a girl I worked with in uni days. She’s a conventional artist, looking to dabble in virtual artwork. I had this fun Honours project looking into developing tools for creating virtual artwork. Boring details aside, we ended up working together. In summary, we were trying to bring something like Osmose (http://www.immersence.com/osmose/index.php) within reach of the average artist. While there was still plenty of progress to be made, I let go of the project when I finished up at uni.

So it turns out that she’s been building on our previous collaboration and they’ve created a prototype based on the ideas thrown around. She was back in town for a short while demonstrating it as part of a small conference on creative arts. It was a chance to catchup with an old friend, so I thought why not.

The meeting was classic reunion… I was waiting for the event to start when i hear two people walking up the steps. I glance back and saw a man and a woman climbing the stairs. Turning back, I thought for a moment and did a double take. I fully didn’t recognise Laz (he didn’t recognise me either), but Kat’s kinda hard to miss We both stared at each other with that questioning gaze, getting closer I finally said “Katrina?” and it just clicked. I recognised Laz then, “I remember you being taller… I musta grown”… It was fun catching up, although I think I might have monopolised a bit too much of her time when she should have been demonstrating the piece.

As for the piece, it’s a little rough around the edges, but the potential is definitely there. It got me all interested in the project again. Straight away I was giving her some (subtle,constructive) feedback on the piece. I feel like I want to get back into it. I’ve already volunteered my services to Kat, so we’ll see how it pans out.

*****

09-16-2007 at 06:38 PM

A Musician’s Life Cycle

Success has changed Kate Miller-Heidke. There couldn’t be a bigger difference between her earlier works like “Apartment”, and her post-signing “Words”. It’s not really a surprise, but neither is worse than the other as they’re not comparable. Her earlier songs are primarily folk, with well written lyrics, an emotive voice conveying a sense of carefree truth.

You can’t deny that “Words” is more mainstream. It has a more professional, sellable feel to it. Yet the song seems to explore what advantage a background in Opera has given her. Some sections of the song left me thinking whether the effect was sound engineering post recording or some sort of prima dona technique. It’s a bit hard to describe, but it seems to carry this subtle illusion of two voices, but you can’t write it off as post-production layering. I dunno, I’m not exactly an expert on music. Maybe I should ask Cody the sound engineer for her opinion.

It is a natural progression though. How do you sing about a free life, making ends meet and lazy afternoons, when you’re touring the world, working 26 hour days and earning more money than you can spend… I will miss her folk songs though. In a warped grass-is-greener way, some days I feel like quiting my job, working at a bar/restau, taking odd jobs, spend the day practicing bass, exercise my dormant artistic tendencies or live out of a car… but then thoughts of an empty bank account and uncertain future snap me back to reality. Is a carefree life really happiness or are you simply burning up all your happiness early…

*****

09-13-2007 at 05:30 PM

More Music

During a bout of sharing of music and videos, my little sister’s brought to light some local talent, Kate Miller-Heidke. She attended a local concert at the Tivoli and in true indie fashion bought one of the home made albums hawked by the artist herself after the show.

She has recently signed on with a big label (you can’t get bigger than Sony) and it kinda shows in her music video of “Words” (available on youtube). It’s a bit more mainstream, but still has some quirky character to it.

Comments:

SuzannaR:
update me! send me some music please

*****

09-12-2007 at 10:11 PM

Breakups & Hookups

It is done. Me and Final Fantasy are over… I don’t have room in my life for this anymore. To seal the deal, I’ve given the console to my little sister. So now, should the madness grip me again, I’ll have a 40  minute drive to bring myself to my senses.

On the flip side of the relationship coin, I’ve asked someone I’ve known for a while, out. While she didn’t give me a definitive no, it’s something she says she needs to think about. It’s the kind of relationship that many might disapprove of and she has much more to lose from it than me. I’m giving her some space, but quite frankly the anxiety is getting to me.

Btw, I am aware of the meaning of “hook up” and I’m using it loosely and more for the benefit of an interesting title. Sorry if u were expecting something more scandalous :p

*****

09-09-2007 at 03:54 PM

Nostalgia Addiction

I don’t know why, but I’m a sucker for music that has that reminiscing feel too it. Stuff like “Middle of the Hill” catches my ear straight away. Am I living in the past? I dunno and I don’t care.

Neway, latest find for me would be Dawn Landes’s – Straight Lines. A lovely little song. A little weird that I found out about it from a Axe/Lynx Bom Chicka Wah Wah advert… the romantic date one… which i might add is very well done (look it up on youtube). Not that I’m endorsing the product, I’m just saying you don’t have to have a good idea to have great production values. The others kinda suck tho, and so does the fake band “phenomemon” thing.

The whole things quite bizarre. How do you take a product that makes allows women to tolerate your presence, into making them notice you, then onto inducing spontaneous “in heat” behaviour… ah, the power of advertising.

Neway, off that tangent and onto another… Dawn Landes lead me onto Leslie Feist for another quick fix. Her “1234″, but what really caught me was her “My Moon My Man”. It doesn’t hurt that she makes some lovely dance music videos (refer to youtube again – while ur at it checkout “One Evening”). The whole package – singer, songwriter, musician and dancer.

*****

09-03-2007 at 01:30 AM

Simple Pleasures

I stopped to watch fireworks Saturday night, on a pedestrian crossing (the bridge kind not the kind that would put me middle of a busy road) high a top a hill.

I can’t remember the last time I saw fireworks. Never really cared much for them as a little kid. I think I was of the mindset that I knew how they worked and so why bother. Kinda like watching a magic trick when you know what the trick is… I can’t help thinking that this little boy was to smart for his own good. Then again I did spend some thought on how the different effects were done… maybe this boy hasn’t really changed much.

I don’t know whether they had these back in my day, but I was impressed by what they can do… heart shapes (albeit occassionally malformed), fireworks that twinkle instead of just burning out. And the fighter jet fuel dump and burn was so much more impressive than it sounds.

*****

08-26-2007 at 11:09 PM

Diabolical Torture

Part 3 of the Tarot Saga; I Underestimated Fate, the Sly Devil. She supposedly works in weird ways, plus the amateur experience of my psychic may have contributed to the clouded reading. I may have met this mysterious girl and her name is … “Final Fantasy XII”.

I mean, if you simply replace “a mysterious women” with “a devious computer game preying on the unaware”, and substitute “a tragedy” with “30% off computer games” stroke of luck, then the clouds suddenly part. Like I said before, my reading was done by a psychic of 3 hours experience… and did I forget to say it was free too… and done by a girl who may have been enebriated at the time.

Take note, this is a cautionary tale. If you should perchance see a copy of Final Fantasy 12 somewhere, lying in a gutter or perhaps falling off the back of a truck, you may think “Great! Something for free.” … oh, ho, ho, you are mistaken… Let me ask, what price would you put on your life?

You may think it is a Final Fantasy and I’m simply overreacting. They are known for their length, addictiveness and complexity. Let me provide some context. While I would not call myself a veteran, I’m not new to this series. I have played through the series since VII, and even visited the older I, II, IV and VI. I’d go so far as to say I’m a seasoned fan. Back in my wasted youth, I “clocked” VII and VIII, playing VII through at least 3 times. I vaguely remember in VIII, the time indicator on the save file would change to a cautionary red when you ticked over 100 hours play time. Clearly an indicator that something was horribly wrong.

Anyhow, why is XII different? I’ve just racked up my 100th hour in XII, and the end is nowhere in sight. I’d optimistically estimate I’m roughly near the end of the first (read: easy) half. What troubles me even more is that it doesn’t feel like 100 hours has passed. It just feels like 50 of those hours have just disappeared. I’ll spare you the technical ramplings on how I believe the game achieves this. Two words though, boss battles. Frequently and whenever you feel the urge to chase trouble. I’ve heard accounts online of 55 hour clear times, but rushing through the game so would not do the game (or yourself) justice.

Before I re-evaluated my “meaning of life”, this would have been great. Now not so much. A sign of my age no doubt. This is probably the first time I’ve ever considered abandoning a game before seeing the credits roll. A shame it’s such a great one too.

*****

08-14-2007 at 12:27 AM

Kevin vs Fate

An update on the “Tarot Reading” saga (see Goodbye World). So far it looks like a no show on Fate’s part.

I did meet a girl who shared a lot of similar interests. She rides a motorbike, does tango, a bit of rock climbing, not afraid to try anything once. We got to talking for a while but I didn’t end up getting her phone number before she had to leave. I could have gone the extra length to get it… but while I occassionally like to challenge Fate, I most certainly do not go chasing it around with a stick.

I guess that’s Kevin (at least) 1, Fate 0…

*****

08-09-2007 at 12:46 AM

Aussie’s Lovable Mascot

I’m not refering about myself, btw.

Scored a free trip to Dreamworld last Friday. To celebrate a big release the company bussed the entire team down to Dreamworld for a day. The last time I was at a theme park musta been in high school and I wasn’t nearly as adventurous as now. That was before I developed a (not entirely unwanted) reputation for reckless abandon, spontaneity and lack of regard for personal safety.

So of course I took on all the crazy rides. I did pass on the Wipeout though, only cause I was concerned about the hearty lunch I’d just eaten. Next time for sure. I was a bit disapppointed with the star attractions though. The whole tallest, fastest marketing gimmick amounts to a very brief experience. On both the Tower of Terror and the Giant Drop it lasted 10 seconds or less. You aren’t given enough time to develop that gut-wrenching feeling. Then again maybe I’m just jaded. I doubt any amusement park ride would stand up to being involved in a motorbike crash.

Neway, I’m a bit surprised with what stuck with me a week on. While waiting for lunch to settle, I had visited the wildlife park and came across this Koala. Sitting on his little perch is this cute, innocent, little thing. Letting go of the tree, with it’s eyes closed, it’s gone and folded it’s arms, hugging it’s stomach. Then it begins to rock back and forth gently and then more vigorously. Finally, out pops this little pellet of poo! I dunno, I just had to smile. I’d just met Constipated the Koala.

I thought about using that as the title of this post, but that’d be like telling the punch line before the joke.

*****

07-23-2007 at 03:03 AM

Good Bye World

Just in case … it’ll all make sense (kinda) in a minute.

I had my first tarot card reading last weekend… by someone who apparently has been in the business for 3 hours. This girl had just left a James Bond party and happened to have the cards with her. I’m not a big believer in supernatural things for matters outside of fun, but this reading hit a chord with me. I wouldn’t say I’m a believer, but I’d like to see how it pans out.

Ok, on with the reading. She told me to shuffle and pick three cards while she fanned the cards between her hands. I picked, in this order… The Empress, The Tower and The Hanged-Man. This translates to “a mysterious, enigmatic, manipulative woman, who is currently witholding knowledge from me” will lead me to “a calamity” from which i will suffer “a great loss”. The key to saving myself is apparently to force “The Empress” to come clean with me. Anna then asked me if I could identify the potential lady. I joked it might be her, since I honestly I wouldn’t really know.

Anyway, considering my plight she did an extended reading. Spreading the cards out she picked a random one, “The Hermit”. Now this is supposed to represent the final end result in which I would be so hurt that I would distance myself from my friends and social circle and become a recluse. Pretty fore-boding, eh?

So this is just in case. If the posts stop coming, you’ll know what happened. I’ll have met some girl, loved her to bits, find her cheating on me and then learn to never trust another woman again.

Comments:

SuzannaR:
Hehe.. I am very much amused

*****

07-23-2007 at 02:31 AM

Drunk Idiot Story 1

Probably the first of many.

Found myself in the city waiting for a bus last Saturday night… well, more like 3am Sunday morning.

Anyhow,  some guys in a hotted-up ute rev by and stop at the light. This tall, lanky guy waiting at the stop jumps up and runs to the front of the car and slaps his ass in front of the car. We’ll refer to him as “Mullet” from now on for obvious reasons. So he’s basicly acting the idiot while the guys in the car rev back at him until the green light.

When he comes back, it seems someone’s gone and taken his bag and thrown it over an iron fence. Instead of doing the logical thing and getting it himself, he starts yelling, asking who dunnit. He gets all worked up to the point that he strips down to his boxers. Bear in mind it’s middle of the city, middle of winter, middle of the night and middle of a decent crowd of people, including some mighty fine young ladies.

Dunno what’s up with this guy, but he keeps on yelling, runs across the street for a quick smoke, and approaches random passers asking who dunnit. Mullet ends up picking a fight with one of them. It’s the usual stand off thing, with a lot of “you wanna go?” and no actual contact. The other guy’s buddy even has to hold him back and drag him away.

Well, in the “confusion” someone’s gone and thrown Mullet’s shoes over the fence… “don’t provoke the loony!”

Finally, a mildly drunk passer by decides to help him out. He ducks around the fence and flings the stuff back out. I would have helped him out, but the entertainment was just too good and my bus just wasn’t showing up. I am an evil person. Maybe that’s why my bus never came… I ended up taking the first morning train out.

*****

07-20-2007 at 12:41 AM

The New Black is Green

Or should that be the new green is black, or it’s green to be black. Anyhow, overused catch phrases aside, I learned about www.blackle.com today. Checkout the about page.

It’s Google’s powersaving initiative. By using a predominantly black palette, it causes your monitor to use up less electricity. The legibility has dropped a bit though and you’ll have to get faster at typing “blackle” instead of “google”.

At this point it also has substantially less functionality than the original page. No links to GoogleImage and the rest of the GoogleSuite. Maybe the message there is you’ll save even more energy if you stop wasting time surfing the net

No one said being green was easy.

*****

07-19-2007 at 12:51 AM

Gaming Equivalent of Cold Turkey

Lose the account. Forget ur password, report yourself to the admins, sell it or simply give it away. I went with the latter.

Coincidentally the week I decided to finish it tied-in with Suze’s birthday so in true cheap-ass fashion, I linked the two together… I mean I was considerate enough to give it to someone who actually played the game. And it was worth something like US$200.

So here’s hoping that devil’s gone and buried, or at least that I’ve passed it off on to Suze…

*****

07-13-2007 at 06:58 PM

Number 2

In keeping with the purpose of this blog, here’s another musing. I live by this one. In a society where the each generation realises the dreams and imaginations of the previous generation.

“Nothing’s impossible, it’s merely implausible.”

*****

07-02-2007 at 01:15 AM

Yet Another Transformers Review

YATR, it’s a geek joke. I bet there are quite a few reviews floating around about it by now. This one’s more of a quick plug than an in depth. Here it is.

F*****’ awesome! What’s that … five stars from me.

Hehe, no seriously it’s great and not just for the die hard fans. I hate to admit that influenced by the film I’ve actually found myself buying a transformers action figurine “by accident” this weekend. Cut me some slack tho, since Arcee (who got cut from the film script) transforms into a slick looking motorbike so it’s two birds with one stone. At least that’s my excuse.

Blackout looks pretty sweet too, though… wait … must fight the urge… need … girlfriend … now … 

*****

06-23-2007 at 06:42 PM

Where’s the nearest gamer rehabilliation center?

Alright, I think that’s it. My crazy plan does work! Except it seems that crazy, rich people with superiority complexes can put a monkey wrench in any plan. I had to settle for no2.

However, I could have taken the top spot but for one critical mistake (or more like lack of action) in the last 2 minutes. This critical mistake in the heat of the moment thing is starting to look like a recurring theme… I think I need to hire someone to follow me around and whenever I find myself in one of these moments, slap me then say “Think, Kevin. Think!”. That’s be quite handy I reckon.

Comments:

SuzannaR:
Which Crazy Plan is this?

*****

06-10-2007 at 02:48 AM

Pauhaus at the Powerhouse

Heard about this from another friend, Joe. He’s big on live performances, so seeing as I’ve never been to one, I thought I’d give it a try. It’s a fairly low profile event, with just a whole bunch of local Australian talent. A departure from mainstream music, a place to look for new sounds. It went on for some 10 hours though, for a paltry $50. The food was a rip-off though (no surprise there).

Some good talent too. The Grates, Expatriate, The Panics, Red Riders I’ve heard before. They do sound different live though, better for some reason, even if you were somewhat indifferent to them before. The vocal are more muted and you get drawn in by the vibrations. Then there’s the energy of the band. The Grates comes to mind … Patience just goes nuts on stage, pure energy. She got the entire crowd jumping, waving, even stamping for an encore (which we got). A great finisher for the night.

Then there are the surprise rising stars. Bit By Bat’s, Whitley, The Temper Trap, definitely bands to look out for. Especially Temper Trap. A great night out. Now I just need to make sure I don’t catch a cold after two late nights, heavy rain and the onset of winter.

New photos of the event are up. Seems the camera doesn’t stand up to some of the crazy performances. Need a faster shutter speed and better zoom. I had it on automatic settings though, cause I couldn’t figure out the manual shutter controls on the spot. It could have just been that. I also had the flash turned off out of respect. That’s why the photos are a bit dark, but more moody me thinks. I never really liked the spotlight effect you get with flash.

*****

06-10-2007 at 01:21 AM

Cool Party Tricks & Boxing

Juvenile Alert! If you can’t stand men acting like men, then read no further. I am about to write the next two paragraphs with the logical part of my brain switched off. I take no responsibility.

I got invited out to a professional boxing match by a mate of mine, Stas. Hot, sweaty men pounding each other doesn’t really do it for me, but given I’ve tried a bit of boxing casually myself, I thought it should give it a chance. It was a good night, four great match made up for two dud matches. There was even a indonesian boxer up there to rekindle my patriotism. However the highlight of the night had to be one of the round card girls.

She wasn’t particularly hot, in fact she looked a bit skanky. She did however have the coolest party trick. Whenever it was her turn, she’d walk to each side, raise the card above her head, and then proceed flex her chest muscles to make her boobs dance to the tune of whatever music was playing. This wasn’t just any cheap trick. She could move each individual breast, to varying degrees, without moving another muscle. She even did a bit of a mexican wave with them. I’m not normally a boob guy, more of a face & eyes, maybe legs kinda guy. I could not stop watching. I wonder if she can do that with her butt cheeks … :p

I’ve seen the “trick” once before, cept it was a guy and the effect was more subtle like a throbbing heartbeat. It was off a TLC music video, I can’t remember which.

*****

06-06-2007 at 11:40 PM

Reentering the Darkness of the Underworld

Yeah, I know I said I’d give GangsterMind up, but I’ve got another plan and this one’s downright crazy so it’s got to work.

Btw, the results from the last round. I got shot down 3 hours from the finish. Just couldn’t stand up to the slugfest that did eventuate. Lessons learnt there.

*****

06-03-2007 at 02:21 AM

Emerging from the Darkness of the Underworld.

Suze introduced me to this new online game GangsterMind (”http://www.gangstermind.com/?refer=151691“) about 2 weeks ago and it’s pretty addictive. It doesn’t help that I was a gamer in my past. It’s like “beaning someone coming out of an AA meeting with a bottle of twenty year old scotch” (”http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=794“).

Anyhow, 10 days later and this round is almost over. It’ll be a nail biting final 12 hours, considering I’ve never seen what happens in this game near the end. For all i know it could be a total slugfest in the upper tiers (for which I’m not prepared). So far my grand plan has executed flawlessly. I’m ranked 24th globally in the ladder that matters, but all that could change with one attack.

This is going to be my first and final full round. I think I’ve done well enough. As much fun as it is, I stopped being a gamer a long time ago for a reason.

*****

05-22-2007 at 03:17 AM

A Danger To Myself

Have you ever had one of those days when something in your brain just isn’t working right … maybe your fishing your toast out with a metal knife or like today you’re cleaning the inside of a can with your finger. No wonder I got cut, I was getting at the leftovers just under the rim. Seconds before that I was licking food off the rim with my tongue …

Actually the tongue injury might have been the lesser of two evils. My profession requires me to type. And so does Ani, my no1 blog fan. So I hope you enjoyed reading this post Ani, since every second word caused me pain … :p

*****

05-18-2007 at 07:13 PM

News Flash!

First photos are up. For a limited time only. It’s been like 10 years since any of the ISB crew have seen me, I’m sure they’ll be surprised. What with all the plastic surgery I’ve paid for … :p Just kidding. That all me as my genes have dictated.

Seems my photo skills need abit work. Brand new camera straight out of the box. They were taken late at night after Tango, so excuse me if my hair’s a bit ruffled. I didn’t even bother wiping down the bathroom mirror. So those white specs aren’t dandruff. I think I might have even set the wrong ISO level and used digital zoom on the last two photos. Blurry as hell. Time to read the manual.

*****

05-18-2007 at 06:21 PM

Let The Musing Begin

Hey, hey, hey, I’ve got the first proper ‘musing’ for this blog. It’s a little old, slightly stale but still very much digestible. Fanfare please …

In love and relationships, you don’t get better at picking winners, you just get better at dealing with losers. After all you only ever get to pick a true winner once. So go out there and don’t hesitate since every loser you pick brings you closer to your winner.

*****

05-17-2007 at 07:31 AM

Armed & Mildly Dangerous

Yay! My shiny new camera has arrived. Canon IXUS 75, state of the art compact camera and I got it roughly AU$100 off thanks to Ebay. I would have liked an SLR but I just could not justify the cost and something that chunky just isn’t portable enough. The IXUS is sorta halfway but it’s still more of a consumer camera.

Anyhow, now I’ve completed step 12345 of “Releasing the Socialite In You”. Acquire a camera to immortalise moments. Straight after completing step 12344, create a Friendster account and step 12344 & a half, start blogging. Now that I’m armed and mildly dangerous (that flash can sting!), it won’t be long before I have a few amateur snaps up on the site.

*****

05-15-2007 at 05:07 AM

Kiwi Sushi

I have just invented Kiwi Sushi and it actually tastes good!

Jesse was in the kitchen making sushi, so I stopped to chat. Select scraps can make a decent dinner, yknow … Anyhow, she ended up mentioning that she wanted to add a bit of green to it but didn’t have cucumber. So I suggested she use some of the kiwis I bought recently. She had a good laugh at that.

I finally convinced her to at least give it a shot. Promised her I’d eat it all if it turned out bad. Well, after the taste test she ended up making a second batch of kiwi sushi.