31 January, 2007
Clarify my grammar please?
Voltron: "Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put two hyphens between the words Fish and And, and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, and after Chips?"
29 January, 2007
Toshiba makes mobiles!
I never knew that until I saw their ad in a honkie magazine today. Check it out! It's slim and its metallic :D
How fast can you type?
I've always wondered how faster you guys type! Especiall you programmers out there! Well? Give it a try here at the typing test.
21 January, 2007
The Fish has returned!
Finally I'm back. From where? I'll give you a clue...its 8 hours from Australia given a 40km/h tail wind, home of the legendary girls who are never sized 29 (well according to their shops anyways) and land that grows on water ;)
I won't say anymore more about that. In the interest of keeping this post reasonably non-elvina-prolific I'll try to break it down into sections. Here goes :)
Flight In
Perhaps THE worst part of trip :) I flew economy with Virgin Atlantic which meant two things - they were budget...and they budgeted far! The seats were tiny compared to other airlines such as Cathay and Qantas, which in turn meant you really couldn't lean back without killing the person behind you. Also may I say the Beef Stroganoff wins the best poo impersonation award! Compound this with the lovely 4 hours of turbulence which created massively long lines for the bathroom when we could actually go.
The flight wasn't as bad though, I met a nice guy who was travelling back to England after visitng his wife and daughter. We had many games of battleship and trivia :)
Key lesson: Virgin Economy is sub-standard economy.
Base of Operations and Reconaissence
I stayed at the Stanford Hillview in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), 5 minutes from TST MTR station and TST East. What I didn't know before arriving was that to get there I had to pass through THE bridal street and 100 metres of nightclubs, massage parlours and love motels...a lovely combination.
I arrived at 1am in the morning, trunched through Kimberley Street and then up an extremely steep hill to my hotel, noting the location of the 7-eleven and supermarket along the way :)
The next day, I gathered from provisions from 7-eleven and headed out to find a route to Cathay City, Lantau. That took the bulk of the day, and I had many many asian breads (alas I forgot to taken photos, but I had everything from a breadshop - $125 HK). The trip to Cathay City wasn't so bad after all, only1 hour minimum by MTR.
D-Day
Not much to say about it really. 5 x 1 hour exams starting from 8:30am. Was almost dead after the interview which was 2 hours after the exams. Bought 5 instant cup noodles and Yakult and retreated back to my hotel.
Nothing like a balanced diet...
R&R
Yay! After a decent night's sleep, I headed out for my day and a half of R&R. Started off with converting my ID card into the new smartcard system. Then I had lunch with a someone's mom (who bought some stuff for me to carry home...grr Grace and your bloody handbags!) and we end up chatting for about an hour and a bit over lunch. A quick trip back to the hotel (and yay I bought some long sleeve tops from ES on the way back) and I was ready for my dinner meeting with BIG SIS!
Last call at the airport
We had yummy sushi at Iyame Sushi and then went shopping! Boy has Giordano changed! The clothes definitely look better now :) With jeje's help I managed to find jeans and cargoes that I had been looking for!
The next day Big Sis took me around TST for lunch and some candy shopping (guys you have to thank her for all those quirky lollies I brought home). We finished the day at the airport.
Interesting things
Anyone think pasta and steak is too much for lunch?
How about Smoked Cheese Squid???
Slimming candy!
Collagen Chocolates???
Flight out
Flew premium economy back to Sydney! The difference between economy and premium is too much :) But it was definitely a comfortable ride, met a really nice guy called Bolan who was returning from Spain.
I'll write up something more later. But now I'm too tired.
Calvin
I won't say anymore more about that. In the interest of keeping this post reasonably non-elvina-prolific I'll try to break it down into sections. Here goes :)
Flight In
Perhaps THE worst part of trip :) I flew economy with Virgin Atlantic which meant two things - they were budget...and they budgeted far! The seats were tiny compared to other airlines such as Cathay and Qantas, which in turn meant you really couldn't lean back without killing the person behind you. Also may I say the Beef Stroganoff wins the best poo impersonation award! Compound this with the lovely 4 hours of turbulence which created massively long lines for the bathroom when we could actually go.
The flight wasn't as bad though, I met a nice guy who was travelling back to England after visitng his wife and daughter. We had many games of battleship and trivia :)
Key lesson: Virgin Economy is sub-standard economy.
Base of Operations and Reconaissence
I stayed at the Stanford Hillview in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), 5 minutes from TST MTR station and TST East. What I didn't know before arriving was that to get there I had to pass through THE bridal street and 100 metres of nightclubs, massage parlours and love motels...a lovely combination.
I arrived at 1am in the morning, trunched through Kimberley Street and then up an extremely steep hill to my hotel, noting the location of the 7-eleven and supermarket along the way :)
The next day, I gathered from provisions from 7-eleven and headed out to find a route to Cathay City, Lantau. That took the bulk of the day, and I had many many asian breads (alas I forgot to taken photos, but I had everything from a breadshop - $125 HK). The trip to Cathay City wasn't so bad after all, only1 hour minimum by MTR.
D-Day
Not much to say about it really. 5 x 1 hour exams starting from 8:30am. Was almost dead after the interview which was 2 hours after the exams. Bought 5 instant cup noodles and Yakult and retreated back to my hotel.
Nothing like a balanced diet...Yay! After a decent night's sleep, I headed out for my day and a half of R&R. Started off with converting my ID card into the new smartcard system. Then I had lunch with a someone's mom (who bought some stuff for me to carry home...grr Grace and your bloody handbags!) and we end up chatting for about an hour and a bit over lunch. A quick trip back to the hotel (and yay I bought some long sleeve tops from ES on the way back) and I was ready for my dinner meeting with BIG SIS!
Last call at the airportThe next day Big Sis took me around TST for lunch and some candy shopping (guys you have to thank her for all those quirky lollies I brought home). We finished the day at the airport.
Interesting things
Anyone think pasta and steak is too much for lunch?
How about Smoked Cheese Squid???
Slimming candy!
Collagen Chocolates???Flight out
Flew premium economy back to Sydney! The difference between economy and premium is too much :) But it was definitely a comfortable ride, met a really nice guy called Bolan who was returning from Spain.
I'll write up something more later. But now I'm too tired.
Calvin
12 January, 2007
11 January, 2007
09 January, 2007
Spanish feast!
My good friend Anna came over this afternoon to do some cooking, and she brought her Spanish cooking book with her! We made some weird cold soup containing garlic, almonds and GRAPES, paella and a strange desert whose taste is best described as a custard donut :) But man did we cook alot! There is still plenty of chilled soup in the fridge...and dude the paella (see pictures below). "I don't think there's enough rice" Anna said :P All in all it was very fun! I'm dead tired now...time to crash before work tomorrow...
Fish out.
The 'interesting' soup...
The paella...yummm!! But...
Anna guessing how many days Calvin will be eating that Paella...
Fish out.
The 'interesting' soup...
The paella...yummm!! But...
Anna guessing how many days Calvin will be eating that Paella...
The fried custard thingy...
08 January, 2007
I had a dream...
Have you ever woken up from a dream that contained some profound truth or deep insight? I always wondered what to do with these dreams. They are part of your subconscious expression; both true to your feelings but at the same time void of your conscious sensibilities. Anyways I digress.
My dream my dream...
...in the movie montage style of Goldeneye..
*insert funky spy music that doesn't infringe on copyright here*
All is white in the tranquil mountains tops. There is a sudden avalanche and a skier is seen buried.
Oh stuff this, its way too complicated. Here’s a quick summary/
In this dream the boyfriend of a good friend is buried in a landslide. He was left for dead, except that friend and I work alone to dig him out. Unknown to us, our candid conversation is heard by him. When we finally dig him out, he starts to accuse me of hitting on his girlfriend. The dream ends with me getting frustrated with the whole thing and walking away.
On the surface there wasn’t anything significant about the dream. There was a lot of digging and small talk. I guess it’s the person I was digging out that was significant…damn ungrateful bastard :P
So the moral of the story? Help isn’t always appreciated, so don’t always offer help. More specifically don't be too helpful to girls with boyfriends (major generalisation here) because most of the time their boyfriends should be doing it!
Yeah I know Anna, you told me the obvious ages ago :)
Jaded Fish, out.
My dream my dream...
...in the movie montage style of Goldeneye..
*insert funky spy music that doesn't infringe on copyright here*
All is white in the tranquil mountains tops. There is a sudden avalanche and a skier is seen buried.
Oh stuff this, its way too complicated. Here’s a quick summary/
In this dream the boyfriend of a good friend is buried in a landslide. He was left for dead, except that friend and I work alone to dig him out. Unknown to us, our candid conversation is heard by him. When we finally dig him out, he starts to accuse me of hitting on his girlfriend. The dream ends with me getting frustrated with the whole thing and walking away.
On the surface there wasn’t anything significant about the dream. There was a lot of digging and small talk. I guess it’s the person I was digging out that was significant…damn ungrateful bastard :P
So the moral of the story? Help isn’t always appreciated, so don’t always offer help. More specifically don't be too helpful to girls with boyfriends (major generalisation here) because most of the time their boyfriends should be doing it!
Yeah I know Anna, you told me the obvious ages ago :)
Jaded Fish, out.
07 January, 2007
Rest in peace - Momofuku Ando
Momofuku, the inventor of instant noodles died today. *sniff* To think this man's invention kept me alive on so many cold nights.
06 January, 2007
Plans plans plans...
It's only been 6 days since the new year and my year's been hectic. Three things have preoccupied me -
1) Finding plane tickets and accomodation to Hong Kong. After a rather hasty notification (on christmas eve), the airlines finally reopened for booking on the 2nd and man it was already filled. In the end after much searching I could only find tickets in premium economy (don't ask me, I'm not sure what's so special, virgin's website doesnt' say much without the word premium either).
Finding accomodation in Hong Kong wassn't any better either. The process made more interesting by Taiwan earthquake which had rendered most of Optus' links to Hong Kong useless. But after several sleepless nights, I've finaly managed to sweet talk my way into the Stanford Hillview in Tsim Sha Tsui. Many thanks Ann for searching HK sites and numbers for me!
2) Resumes and interview materials. ARGH who'd thought writing a new resume would be so hard. All my past ones have been technical resumes; what I can do blah blah. But these are useless in a non-computing interview. Ah well this will have to done this weekend. Also I need to prepare a 5 minute presentation on the job...
3) Feeding myself. Damnit, why do humans need food. It must be one of the most mundane process to do by yourself, especially when there's no one else to eat with. I mean why bother cooking a kickass meal when you are just randomly put something together in the microwave? To compound the problem, my favorite ramen house was closed for the holidays!
Anyways Cyb has been kind enough to come over and help me with the burden of eating the food I cook (breakfasts so far). Hmmm pancakes...
OMG Pac-man returns!
The Masonic conspiracy is everywhere!
1) Finding plane tickets and accomodation to Hong Kong. After a rather hasty notification (on christmas eve), the airlines finally reopened for booking on the 2nd and man it was already filled. In the end after much searching I could only find tickets in premium economy (don't ask me, I'm not sure what's so special, virgin's website doesnt' say much without the word premium either).
Finding accomodation in Hong Kong wassn't any better either. The process made more interesting by Taiwan earthquake which had rendered most of Optus' links to Hong Kong useless. But after several sleepless nights, I've finaly managed to sweet talk my way into the Stanford Hillview in Tsim Sha Tsui. Many thanks Ann for searching HK sites and numbers for me!
2) Resumes and interview materials. ARGH who'd thought writing a new resume would be so hard. All my past ones have been technical resumes; what I can do blah blah. But these are useless in a non-computing interview. Ah well this will have to done this weekend. Also I need to prepare a 5 minute presentation on the job...
3) Feeding myself. Damnit, why do humans need food. It must be one of the most mundane process to do by yourself, especially when there's no one else to eat with. I mean why bother cooking a kickass meal when you are just randomly put something together in the microwave? To compound the problem, my favorite ramen house was closed for the holidays!
Anyways Cyb has been kind enough to come over and help me with the burden of eating the food I cook (breakfasts so far). Hmmm pancakes...
OMG Pac-man returns!
The Masonic conspiracy is everywhere!Ah enough whinging.
With luck this weekend will be a quiet productive one...as long as no one mentions my thesis...
With luck this weekend will be a quiet productive one...as long as no one mentions my thesis...
04 January, 2007
01 January, 2007
Tick tock, and a new year arrives.
*tick tock* and another year arrives quietly with the click of the gears.
This coming year will pose the greatest challenges for me yet - the completion of my thesis, finding life after university, finding a job... There are so many defining questions that I must answer. Where would I go? Where do I want to work? What do I want to be? Would Margaret finally eat Japanese?
I doubt that.
As with every new years, this is the time to define the resolutions for the year. For the first time, this year's resolutions will be a mix of old and new. In no particular order...
1. Get more fit (aka 2006 NYR #4)
2. Join a shooter's club
3. Learn to cook
4. Learn to dance
I'm a bit too tired now to think of more. I'll have a sleep on it :)
Happy new years everyone.
This coming year will pose the greatest challenges for me yet - the completion of my thesis, finding life after university, finding a job... There are so many defining questions that I must answer. Where would I go? Where do I want to work? What do I want to be? Would Margaret finally eat Japanese?
I doubt that.
As with every new years, this is the time to define the resolutions for the year. For the first time, this year's resolutions will be a mix of old and new. In no particular order...
1. Get more fit (aka 2006 NYR #4)
2. Join a shooter's club
3. Learn to cook
4. Learn to dance
I'm a bit too tired now to think of more. I'll have a sleep on it :)
Happy new years everyone.
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