Its been 3 month since I last move into the place at NOrth Street. One of the great things about this place is that we are rather united in things we do. And this includes sleeping.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a matter of choice. Take last night for example, I was dead to the world by 2am and at 3am I heard my housemates suddenly coming in the room turning on the lights and shouting, "EH IVAN YOU'RE TRYING TO SLEEP AH??"
I remember this goes waaaay back to the first month. As I recall I was on the verge of falling asleep when my housemate suddenly called out, "Eh Ivan!! Chor Dai Di lo!!" I ended up playing a wierd game which combines Chor dai di with dices.
So this bring us back to tonight, I was stressing with my assingmetns when I heard my housemates coming upstairs to sleep. Its time to pay a visit to their room.......
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Royal Adelaide Show
Since the house is quiet for now, I shall take the opportunity to update on the Royal Adelaide show.
We took a train deep into the heart of Australia to a town where all promising travellers gather and gear up for their epic journey to the mythical grounds known as “The Adelaide Show grounds".
Blacksmith and goods vendors were readily available in town to repair equipments or to resupply them with food for their journey.
And of course being so close to the desert of Shar’k Anun, they had the perimeter heavily guarded by state of the art military equipment.
According to the scroll we bought from a beggar for 10 dollars, it was said that one must travel a week through the Desert of Shar’k Anun, cross the “Mountains of Despair” and finally pass the “Valley of the Goddess.”
So with a team of 7 which consist of DPS, tank and healer we headed out on towards our epic journey. After weeks of hardship we were on the verge of a major breakdown mentally and physically. Our water supply had all but ran out. We were conserving water by just drinking a mouthful a day. Finally we saw it, the colours which was thought to be mythical, the colours of the royal Adelaide show.
I am sure by now you would have figure out that the above story is 99% fabricated. Notice the 1% is true. Which is we did went to the Royal Adelaide show via train. The black smiths and farm equipments were all real too. All build behind a solid fence. And you’ll be surprise what kind of insane rides these aussies come up with.
The rest of the post will just be pictures.
Life in Adelaide Thus far
I am sure most of the readers who still visits my blog are curious on my life in Adelaide. Well, to be honest, it has been pretty interesting. Ok maybe interesting is a rather mild word. Try Roller coaster ride or bungee jumping or maybe a ride to space.
Between assignments, events to attend, daily house guest to entertain and of course not forgetting WoW there is hardly anytime to do anything at all. This is one of the really rare times that the house is actually quiet.
Not that I am complaining really, life is fantastic. So that is it for now, I update this blog the next time there is a quiet moment in my life.
Between assignments, events to attend, daily house guest to entertain and of course not forgetting WoW there is hardly anytime to do anything at all. This is one of the really rare times that the house is actually quiet.
Not that I am complaining really, life is fantastic. So that is it for now, I update this blog the next time there is a quiet moment in my life.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Melbourne Pt 6 - Last few days
I’ve heard of it, those small little solid rain. But I have never really seen it before, except of course on television. So I was a tiny winy excited when we were going snowboarding on Wednesday.
This time, I woke up to the sound of Shawn cursing at us to get up. “S***, Get UP!! F***, UP Now!!” So it appears that we were running a little late behind schedule, it was 5.58am. We are supposed to get to the city by 6am.
Thus, with record breaking speed, we somehow got our self ready within 2 minutes, while Shawn called a cab. By 6.10 we were at the city, we rushed out of the cab telling him to “keep the change”. Another first in my life.
The journey to the mountain took 4 long tedious boring hours which most of it was spend sleeping and watching the sun light slowly flooding the pastures around us. At about 10am we finally reached the top of Mt. Buller.
As I step out of the bus and onto the snowy land the first thing my body did was shiver. Compared to the warmth of the bus, the outside temperature was below zero and it was FREEZING, literally. It took a while before my body manage to get accustom to the temperature and stop shivering.
After settling our paper work and gathering our equipments it was time to go SNOWBOARDING!!! Snowboarding was awesome. Speeding down the hill with total control of the board is a exhilarating experience. I for one had the speeding down the hill part mastered, all I need now is to figure out the “total control” part. I crash head first, numerous times.
The fun ended all too early as the bus was to leave at 4pm. Nothing much happen on the 4 hours journey back accept maybe Shawn’s epic bladder story but that is up to him to share.
Nothing much happen after Mt Buller, the last few days in Melbourne was spend recovering from all those early mornings. We spend our time playing settlers the board game and other meaningless stuff.
On the last night I was somehow talked into buying desert for everyone. But that’s another story, too long to be told here.
Before I knew it, it was time for me to board my plane where a new chapter of my life is supposed to begin.
This time, I woke up to the sound of Shawn cursing at us to get up. “S***, Get UP!! F***, UP Now!!” So it appears that we were running a little late behind schedule, it was 5.58am. We are supposed to get to the city by 6am.
Thus, with record breaking speed, we somehow got our self ready within 2 minutes, while Shawn called a cab. By 6.10 we were at the city, we rushed out of the cab telling him to “keep the change”. Another first in my life.
The journey to the mountain took 4 long tedious boring hours which most of it was spend sleeping and watching the sun light slowly flooding the pastures around us. At about 10am we finally reached the top of Mt. Buller.
As I step out of the bus and onto the snowy land the first thing my body did was shiver. Compared to the warmth of the bus, the outside temperature was below zero and it was FREEZING, literally. It took a while before my body manage to get accustom to the temperature and stop shivering.
After settling our paper work and gathering our equipments it was time to go SNOWBOARDING!!! Snowboarding was awesome. Speeding down the hill with total control of the board is a exhilarating experience. I for one had the speeding down the hill part mastered, all I need now is to figure out the “total control” part. I crash head first, numerous times.
The fun ended all too early as the bus was to leave at 4pm. Nothing much happen on the 4 hours journey back accept maybe Shawn’s epic bladder story but that is up to him to share.
Nothing much happen after Mt Buller, the last few days in Melbourne was spend recovering from all those early mornings. We spend our time playing settlers the board game and other meaningless stuff.
On the last night I was somehow talked into buying desert for everyone. But that’s another story, too long to be told here.
Before I knew it, it was time for me to board my plane where a new chapter of my life is supposed to begin.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Melbourne Pt 5
Some of you might be asking. “What the hell are you writing so many post on Melbourne? I want to know what is happening to you NOW!!”
The reason is simply because that once I’ve finish writing on Melbourne, there won’t be much left for me to write about. So that’s that.
It was all already plan. The morning right after the great ocean road trip I would sleep the morning away. Sleep was becoming really rare.
However, there was the problem of returning the car at 7am the next day. But then again, that is not my problem as I wasn’t the driver. YET, the driver, in this case, Shawn dared to open his mouth and requested that I accompanied him down to town the next day to return the car.
Well, knowing me being the good loyal friend that I am, I answered with a simple NOooooo. I needed to sleep, period. Unfortunately, he was rather persistent. Therefore, after some negotiating it was decided that I would get his pillow AND the electronic bed warmer and he will get company waking up at 6am the next day.
And thus, we awoke early without much sleep to return the car. We met up with Brian later on and had a breakfast, Australian style which is basically an American breakfast.
Kim Chew met up with me and Shawn later on the day and brought us up to his cool high rise suite located right in the heart of Melbourne city. Even though small, this cosy two-bedroom apartment provides a breathtaking view of Melbourne city.
That night we went to bed knowing that the next morning we would yet again be waking up with insufficient sleep. We needed to be into the city by 6.am for the snow boarding trip. Yes, SNOW!!!
The reason is simply because that once I’ve finish writing on Melbourne, there won’t be much left for me to write about. So that’s that.
It was all already plan. The morning right after the great ocean road trip I would sleep the morning away. Sleep was becoming really rare.
However, there was the problem of returning the car at 7am the next day. But then again, that is not my problem as I wasn’t the driver. YET, the driver, in this case, Shawn dared to open his mouth and requested that I accompanied him down to town the next day to return the car.
Well, knowing me being the good loyal friend that I am, I answered with a simple NOooooo. I needed to sleep, period. Unfortunately, he was rather persistent. Therefore, after some negotiating it was decided that I would get his pillow AND the electronic bed warmer and he will get company waking up at 6am the next day.
And thus, we awoke early without much sleep to return the car. We met up with Brian later on and had a breakfast, Australian style which is basically an American breakfast.
Kim Chew met up with me and Shawn later on the day and brought us up to his cool high rise suite located right in the heart of Melbourne city. Even though small, this cosy two-bedroom apartment provides a breathtaking view of Melbourne city.
That night we went to bed knowing that the next morning we would yet again be waking up with insufficient sleep. We needed to be into the city by 6.am for the snow boarding trip. Yes, SNOW!!!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Melbourne Pt 4 - Great Ocean Road
On Monday, I awoke to the sound of people moving about busily. A thought then fluttered through my mind “Sammy is leaving for Tasmania today, I should say good bye to her.” Unfortunately that was as far as my conscious mind went before it dropped straight back into the dark pit of sleep.
The next thing I felt was a solid kick right into my ribs and another thought went through my mind, “Shawn is kicking me, I think he wants me to wake up.” And I went straight back to sleep after that.
Eventually my conscious mind manage to stay awake long enough for me to actually wake up. Even so, I was still suffering from the lack of sleep.
We met up with the rest of them later at the car rental where we finalize the paper work.
The original plan was that we would rent a classy Camry and cruise down the Great Ocean Road in style, but due to the numerous people coming along in the trip, we got our self a family Sedan instead.
After several minutes of being stuck in Melbourne city, we finally manage to navigate our self out of the city with the help of a GPS.
Our first stop was the coastal town of Geelong where we got a quick breakfast from Mac D for half price, complimentary of Shawn Liam, worker of the month.
The great thing about driving our own car is that we could stop wherever we want, whenever we want. Our next stop: Surf City.
Since none of us was willing to part with our cash, we soon continued along our journey. However, it was not long before we caught site of a spectacular view of the ocean. It was a call for yet another stop.
We drove along the coastal road until we saw a lighthouse. It was an instant unanimous decision that we should stop there.
We had a quick Australian lunch of Fish and Chips at another stop at some random town.
We soon realize that we were running way behind schedule and if we want to make it to the twelve apostates before sunset, we should be really going.
So it was just one more stop for ice cream at Apollo’s Bay because of a brochure we saw before heading straight to our destination.
Shawn took the wheel for the rest of our journey towards the twelve apostates. Let’s just say that he made turns that evening that would make speeding down Genting Highlands looks safe in comparison.
However, we did pass by some really nice views. Too bad, we did not have time to stop for us to take a proper picture.
With that kind of hellish driving, it was no surprise that we manage to reach our destination just as the sun was about to set.
Needless to say, a group picture was call for.
So we drove at nightmarish speed risking our life just to see some stones jutting out from the sea. Totally worth it.
As for the return journey, Kim Chew took the wheels and drove at a speed down a trunk road Australians calls a highway at speeds only a Malaysian will even attempt. I wonder how many tickets we got that day.
And so, it was the end of another epic day only possible with S8 @ Melbourne.
The next thing I felt was a solid kick right into my ribs and another thought went through my mind, “Shawn is kicking me, I think he wants me to wake up.” And I went straight back to sleep after that.
Eventually my conscious mind manage to stay awake long enough for me to actually wake up. Even so, I was still suffering from the lack of sleep.
We met up with the rest of them later at the car rental where we finalize the paper work.
The original plan was that we would rent a classy Camry and cruise down the Great Ocean Road in style, but due to the numerous people coming along in the trip, we got our self a family Sedan instead.
After several minutes of being stuck in Melbourne city, we finally manage to navigate our self out of the city with the help of a GPS.
Our first stop was the coastal town of Geelong where we got a quick breakfast from Mac D for half price, complimentary of Shawn Liam, worker of the month.
The great thing about driving our own car is that we could stop wherever we want, whenever we want. Our next stop: Surf City.
Since none of us was willing to part with our cash, we soon continued along our journey. However, it was not long before we caught site of a spectacular view of the ocean. It was a call for yet another stop.
We drove along the coastal road until we saw a lighthouse. It was an instant unanimous decision that we should stop there.
We had a quick Australian lunch of Fish and Chips at another stop at some random town.
We soon realize that we were running way behind schedule and if we want to make it to the twelve apostates before sunset, we should be really going.
So it was just one more stop for ice cream at Apollo’s Bay because of a brochure we saw before heading straight to our destination.
Shawn took the wheel for the rest of our journey towards the twelve apostates. Let’s just say that he made turns that evening that would make speeding down Genting Highlands looks safe in comparison.
However, we did pass by some really nice views. Too bad, we did not have time to stop for us to take a proper picture.
With that kind of hellish driving, it was no surprise that we manage to reach our destination just as the sun was about to set.
Needless to say, a group picture was call for.
So we drove at nightmarish speed risking our life just to see some stones jutting out from the sea. Totally worth it.
As for the return journey, Kim Chew took the wheels and drove at a speed down a trunk road Australians calls a highway at speeds only a Malaysian will even attempt. I wonder how many tickets we got that day.
And so, it was the end of another epic day only possible with S8 @ Melbourne.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Melbourne Pt 3
By Sunday morning, I was mostly accustomed to the cold. It is also on that day, the last of the S8-ians will be flying in. At sometimes around 6am, Kai Xian and Jane touched down at Melbourne’s airport.
At around 7am they reached Sam’s house and woke us up from our very short sleep. Soon after the typical long-winded discussion on where to go, we finally decided to visit the Melbourne Victoria Market.
Victoria market, despite being several thousand km away from the last market I have been too, still behaves like a market. Suppliers, vendors and shoppers all work in harmony with each other while goods and cash flows at a constant pace.
That night we had our first-ever official S8 gathering, in AUSTRALIA. Therefore, in the spirit of all S8 gathering, we had the official what I would like to call POI or “Period of Indecisiveness”.
After half an hour of wandering up and down the street, we finally manage to reach a grudging decision on the place to eat.
The food was not fantastic by any standards. But then again, we are here for the company, not the food.
We parted ways after dinner knowing that tomorrow; most of us would be meeting up again for an epic journey down the Great Ocean Road.
At around 7am they reached Sam’s house and woke us up from our very short sleep. Soon after the typical long-winded discussion on where to go, we finally decided to visit the Melbourne Victoria Market.
Victoria market, despite being several thousand km away from the last market I have been too, still behaves like a market. Suppliers, vendors and shoppers all work in harmony with each other while goods and cash flows at a constant pace.
That night we had our first-ever official S8 gathering, in AUSTRALIA. Therefore, in the spirit of all S8 gathering, we had the official what I would like to call POI or “Period of Indecisiveness”.
After half an hour of wandering up and down the street, we finally manage to reach a grudging decision on the place to eat.
The food was not fantastic by any standards. But then again, we are here for the company, not the food.
We parted ways after dinner knowing that tomorrow; most of us would be meeting up again for an epic journey down the Great Ocean Road.
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