of lunaring around addendum

Ah! I did forget something…

When we went to see the total lunar eclipse, there were these massive power line cables running across the field we were in, but we didn’t give it much thought besides: “Will it get in the way of seeing the moon?”

Dat and I were talking about something, and for some reason I touched his hand and we felt this weird vibration passing from me to him or him to me… especially if i rubbed my finger across the back of his hand.

It was an omg, wtf moment which turned into everyone giving me the back of their hand to rub, which then made them test my neck and cheek for the weird vibrations (it did, but not as strongly as through my finger).

It was then discovered that it wasn’t just me who was giving out weird vibrations XD Everyone was giving out weird vibrations, especially when rubbing the finger across the back of the hand, more or less (some ppl had different strengths of vibrations oddly enough)… except for Ruby, who either emitted rather weak vibrations or wasn’t being vibrated at all! Heheh weirdo…. =P

What was funny was that if I was touching Dat and Tien was touching Dat’s other hand, she could feel it! XD

Anywho… that’s about it really XD we were entertained for about 10 mins hahah… we put it down to being too close to the giant power lines for a bit too long.

of a night out, a bday in, and lunaring around

A wet and slightly cold Friday night saw a bunch of girls huddling around a table in Newtown merrily sipping and slurping at 2-for-1 priced cocktails (Lotus Chills and Red Corvettes are absolutely diviiiiine!). Kuletos was closed down for a while (we had a minor scare that it was closed down for good) and did some really nice renovations! There’s going to be an upstairs part too! Yay! More room XD hehehe

After Happy Hour and a Half, we found ourselves at Thai La-Ong… again – we never seem to make it past there to eat at Thai Times Nine lol. We ordered just the right amount of food and the least amount of food wastage.. yay! What did we get… Hmmm for about $10pp, we had: Spring Rolls, Curry Puffs (but Tien/Phuong can make and have made much much better ones), Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Satay King Prawns (?), Beef Curry starting with “Mas”, Green Curry, and rice all around. So cheap!!! Ah gotta love Thai food =D

We were there for a loooong time.

It was fortunate that when we left the restaurant, it had stopped raining for a bit and started again once we loaded onto a bus =)

Ruby, Phuong, and I decided to call it a night and so got off at Broadway Shopping Centre, while the rest of the gurls stayed on to party some more at V bar (where Tien picked up!! XD teeheehee).

Ruby had a dodgy/broken umbrella that would fall apart if it wasn’t held together properly, but we all crowded underneath it anyways, giggling and trying to co-ordinate walking to the car.

There’s one thing I absolutely hate about driving in the city (barring the idiots on the road, driver or pedestrian) is driving in it in the wet – you just can’t see the lane markings! The water coupled with the street/car lights just makes it all shiny… So paranoid that I was going into someone else’s lane (which I think I did a couple of times =_= bah).

Had to pick up a talkative and emotional Ram @ Circular Quay and dropped Duy (who looked soooo out of it) @ his car.

Anywho, photos of the night: Flickr, Picasaweb, favs!

~**~

Went swimming with my mamma and then to Eastwood to look for this shoe store that stocks shoes for “smaller sized” feet on the recommendation of her coworker. Mum’s coworker merely said “it’s just opposite the station!” when asked where it was and what was the address, so mum didn’t think it would be *that* hard to find….

We ended up searching for it on one side of the tracks, then the other and then back again…. and we still couldn’t find! Hesitantly, mum said that there’s this only shoe store she knows in Eastwood, but she wasn’t sure if it had my size.

… It didn’t… not really anyways… though I *did* find these non-zippered knee-high boots that fit my feet and my calves …. but there was only one side – they had somehow lost the other side! Mum and I pretty much ransacked the boxes we thought they might be in lol. Pity the other boots i was interested in was a bit big for the feet, but because i have fat, chunky calves, they won’t zip up T_T tragic.

Mamma’s reaction was so funny: *total disbelief* “What do you mean they don’t fit?! Why won’t they zip up!??! *tsk tsk* That’s why they’re so cheap… because the manufacturer’s got the sizes wrong… who would have such skinny legs?!” Amused, I pointed out that I *do* have chunky legs and that mine are suppose to be slim like that girl *indicates to slim legs girl*

*pause*

“Oh…… Still! ” she retorted briskly. “I think the manufacturers made a mistake.”

lol So sweet, trying to make me feel better ahhaha

Anywho, didn’t end up buying anything and after dropping mamma home, I drove to Sam’s place, traded some movies for some k-drama and k-movies then drove to Minh’s place (where I only took one wrong turn! =D Yay! Last time I was lost in Homebush Bay area, on the wrong side of the tracks lol) and traded what I picked up at Sam’s for some more k-drama (Coffee Prince yay!! ^_______^) and Top Gear’s Polar Special episode (double yay!). Felt so bad because I just came to leech and she had friends over >_< but much love for my cuz <333 =D heheh

Aish... was so tired afterwards, but even so, had to get ready to go to Kelly's place for her birthday party! =)

Singstar is..... surprisingly a lot of fun. ^_______^ We had pizza and a delish strawberry birthday cake as well!

Photos from the night: Flickr, Picasaweb, and favs!

~**~

Got sick from the swim or hanging around Eastwood, getting it off some random, and it got worse on Tuesday.. so I took the day off =P hehehehe

We ended up on Duff Rd in Cecil Park, at some random big grassy area, which had really nice view of the moon. Wondered though if this was someone’s property or not, but set up our cameras or telescope anyways. Probably about an hour into the eclipse, a man walked out from the darkness and asked us what we were doing there.

“Eerr…. is this your property?” Ruby queried a bit nervously. We were standing around like numbnuts wondering what to do and if he was gonna kick us off XD

He replied rather bemusedly, “You damn bet it is my property!” He had seen lights flashing about when he came out to see what the fuss with the total lunar eclipse was and wondered what was going on.

“To be honest,” he mused. “I don’t see what the big deal is, hey? It looks the same to me.” lol He was really nice and left us to (continuing to) use his grassy field =D We doubly made sure we dind’t leave any rubbish behind – what kind of guests would that make us to such hospitality, neh? =)

We ended up mucking around with the LED lights and the images it left on a long shutter shot. It was so much fun!!! Ruby is soooo good at writing people’s names backwards XD

Dat and Phuong came pretty prepared with food and hot drinks…. well intended anyway XD He brought out the portable stove to boil the water for the hot chocolate… except he had forgotten to bring the pre-boiled water…. and then the gas ran out XD there were marshmellows too!!! Ah wellz =) Doesn’t matter babez *patpat* ^_______________^

Ram and Paul (who weren’t there with us) took some awesome shots.. mine were okay, but had to be cropped XD lol (i know! cheating hehe) they’re on Flickr, Picasaweb, and favs!

of the weekend

Friday: It was my grandmother’s sister’s 80th birthday (Minh’s grandmama) and the momentous occasion was celebrated at Maxim’s Restaurant in Bankstown. The menu was the “normal” 12-course dinner you would find at any Asian wedding, though there were a couple of dishes that were new to me (one of which that I remember is the Taro roast duck). While we slogged through dinner, we chatted about books, movies, tv shows… books… when I realised… nothing has really changed since we were kids. When we were kids at weddings and family outings, we would talk about pretty much the same things (with the addition of how sucky school is, now it’s how much work sucks). Okay, so our taste in books are just a little more varied and tv shows we talked about were less american and more japanese and korean, but essentially it was the same 10 years back. Funny how some things are.

Anywho, so Minh lent me Coffee Prince to watch… and now I’m hooked. It’s the cutest and rather funny series and I’m rather glad I got it near the end of the series, because I don’t know how much I can take waiting! >_< *impatient* It's just so so so so so good!

I didn't know it was a novel originally 'til Minh mentioned it and found the link in Wikipedia. Ugh, must not read too many chapters (I'm up to Chapter 12 or 13 I think >_< noooo). Not surprised that they had changed some of the things in the book for the drama, and it's interesting to see how the drama adapted the book for tv.

So incredibly addictive.

To distract myself, I'm borrowing My Lovely Kim Sam Soon and Princess Hours from Claudie (PH when she/ her sister’s done with it).

^_____^ yay!

~**~

Soo… Saturday was pretty much watching CP (instead of cleaning up my room and doing the laundry) and a movie night at one of Ram’s work mate’s place… which ended at 3am! O_O Didn’t get home til about 4.30 … where, when I got home, immediately unpaused the CP episode I was watching and when that was done, watched another episode! >_< It wasn't until it was 6am that I actually went to bed =T

~**~

Dat came over to do stuff to my PSP and we had/made lunch: pies with mash and peas.

He also gave me a couple of games: Loco Roco, Gurumin, and Crush. Loco Roco is just about the cutest game *EVER*. Ram’s been playing Crush and it looks hard -_-

Dat and I were only meant to play a couple games of Super Puzzle Fighter, but we ended up playing for several hours and all 3 versions! Heheehhe, he kicked my butt in 2 out of the 3 versions, but it was soooo much fun. So much better than playing against the CPU – wish I could play 2 player more often! hehhe

~**~

Finally installed Diablo2 and have been playing it… though I’m still not sure how to build my Sorceress character – seeing the last few Sorceress characters have been total duds in Act 4 and 5. Meh. I think that’s the only thing that’s holding me back from really playing it, even though I’ve read strategy guides and whatnot.. I’ve never been good at strategies though. Le sigh.

~**~

Recent Purchases:

• Remote Shutter Release (Brand OMG! <--- lol)

• Camera backpack – the Slingshot 100AW is soooo not good for someone my size (Brand Tamrac, Model Adventure 6)

• Capcom Puzzle World PSP (if only for Super Puzzle Fighter lol Buster Bros. I’m terrible at and Block Block as well… )

of ski action ‘07

Trip Summary
Where: Wanaka, New Zealand
Snow Resort: Treble Cone and Cardrona
When: 4th to 11th August
People: 16 – Ash, Ben H., Ben Y., Celine, Cham, Dinesh, Duy, Elena, Irf, Jess, Kirit, Michael, Qing, Ram, Sean, Teresa
Ski/Snowboard Ratio: 5/11
General Itinerary: Transit, 3 boarding days, rest day, 2 boarding days, transit
Catch Phrases of the Trip: “Worst/Best [insert place/run/item/event] *ever*”; “Great success!”; “Ski Action!!! *ski action motion*”
Photos: Flickr, Picasaweb, Fav. Gallery, Duy, Kirit, Michael, Ram

~**~

It’s always harder to wake up in the morning when the sun’s not even up, but woke up at 3ish in the morning we did… Only for the snows of course Ram was running late, as per usual, and it took a while for Dinesh to come out (Duy was pretty much prompt – as usual haha), but we got to the airport kinda late, but on time… turned out that our Air NZ flight to Auckland was delayed by 30 minutes! (Which proved Irf’s sage advice of “Neh, it’s Air NZ, they’re always late” to be correct)

So, flew to Auckland – had brekky (yay! Most of my plane food experiences have been fortunate and quite tasty – also somehow, having everything basically compartmentalised appeals to me somewhat lol) – grabbed some duty-free liquor, our bags, and flew to Queenstown. Picking up the van rentals didn’t take as long as last year (which took about 2 agonising hours), but it was still long enough for people to get a bit twitchy – twitchy as in… grabbing 3 huge traffic cones, placing them side-by-side, and silly photos ensued (geddit? Treble Cone? Ho-ho-ho… -_-;;).

Getting our rental gear at Alta took AGES though – outfitting 12 people, I guess, does tend to take a while. I think I got the same board as I did last year! Sadly, it looked a bit worse for wear with a little piece chipped off at one of the ends and generally sporting a scratched-up look. Ram got the most expensive board – a Burton Vapor (it was quite pretty, but was less so because ram kept on raving on about it) – and Duy got 2nd most expensive. Both got executive boards, which are much lighter than the “beginner’s” board.

~**~

“Is that our house?” someone queried as we were driving down Upton Street trying to look for our accommodation (Elena and her Previa went to Wanaka first). “Cuz I saw a bunch of asians inside and there’s a Tarago outside…” lol Turns out it *was* them!! XD Happy coincidence!

Bruce/Teresa found such an amazing place! So spacious and it held all 12 of us quite comfortably (Ash, Celine, Michael, and Kirit got their own place).

We all settled in and sleep quickly stole over us.

~**~

We boarded at Cardrona first, which was quite nice, though had *really slow* chairlifts, but it did get a bit crowded near the end of the day. I quite liked Cardrona, as the main green run, Westons Gap, was huge and not too scarily steep and so I reckon it’s a great beginner’s run. Gave me plenty of room to do my S’s across the slope.

Treble Cone, on the other hand, I really disliked when we first went there. Their green run (main and pretty much *only* green run), was hella twisty, with lots of edges that looks like it goes over the side of the mountain to a certain doomed death of being impaled by sharp pointy rocks. “Happily”, it was usually just a really steep slope that ended back onto the twisty green run – a *lot* of more experienced boarders and skiiers used those parts – scaring the crap out of me when they come down in front of me >_< (though some were stretched down!!!)

Suffice to say, the first time I almost had a heart attack, though it wasn't as bad as last year when I had a panic attack on the blue M1 on Coronet Peak and it took me an hour to get down. I wasn't confident enough to do my S's on such a narrow run, so by my 2nd run, I was pretty much in tears with frustration (again - I cried last year too -_-;; i'm so hella lame) that I couldn't bring myself to do this run properly and that I was such a big pansy wimp.

So I thought I'd practice my toe-side on the easy slope, which was separate from everything else... but it had T-bars.... *shake fist* It just added to my frustration because I kept falling off it!!! >_< Bah I say. Got lots of good pointers and tips from the lift dude and my 7th and 8th attempt were victorious! XD Toe-side sucked, but got more helpful pointers from the dude =) He was so nice!

I was pretty happy that we went back to Cardrona the next day, but some people preferred TC more and so was a bit meh about going to Cardrona lol. Cham and I took lessons with Jen and she grounded our basics (weight distribution and stuff) and because Cham was asking, we learnt switches, 180s, and little jumps. I wasn't very good with the 180s, I kept forgetting where I was suppose to turn or jump lol. Stupid relative positioning! Cham was way better at it =) I just wanted to perfect my S's really.. and riding switch really did help ^_^

Can't help but notice that the instructors here in NZ seem to be way better than in Aust... hmm ... I wonder why. But I guess it's not really a fair comparison, seeing it was only Cham and I in the class XD lol

Ram dragged me to Captain's basin and I had huuuuuge fun there, but only after learning the run - cuz it was so large that there were other, differently graded runs (including moguls!! Ugggh moguls, how you suck! *shake fist*). Not so fun was having to go back to the other side of the mountain via traverses. Poor Bruce had to drag me along bits of the way because I stalled =.= only sucky thing being a boarder...

~**~

Break day! Ash and them went south to Queenston and Frankton, while most of the boys and I went to Mt Cook. Shenanigans ensued. lol Take a gander at the photos – you’ll see what I mean. Sean’s got some pretty funny videos of the day too ^_^ I hear he’s compiling them *hint hint*

There was lots of harping on Ram to slow down and when Ram, Duy, and Dinesh climbed *down* our glacier look out to touch it, it was me nagging them to come back up because: “it’s gonna get dark soon!” I was just worried they’d take too long and we’d have to walk in the dark back to the van, and bits of the trail were icy!!! >_< I also didn't wanna get lost. It was so barren.... who knows how often a ranger comes along?

Anywho, when we loaded back into the car there was still some daylight left. Meh. Better safe than sorry, but i did feel a bit like a nagger/whinger/etc.

~**~

My second experience of Treble Cone was waaaaaaay better and ironically, seeing how much I disliked it at the beginning and really dreaded going to it in a way, it was the best day I had on the slopes.

And it was all thanks to Irf and Cham who pretty much draaaagged me up the mountain to go down Main Street.

Main Street was hectic, it was steep (for yours truly), and it was immensely fun. At the end of my first run, I was fairly fizzing with adrenaline and sparkling with joy. My second run just pretty maxed out my system with endorphins and I was really tired (stacked it sooo much! Irf got really worried cuz I practically snowballed down the slope at one stage – didn’t hurt but! Powder!! XD). So I went to join Sean (whom had taken a nasty fall on his shoulder and was feverish) and Ben (whom had done his ankle in) – both were getting drunk in front of an open fireplace outside the cafeteria.

I stopped going on Main St and back to the Easy Rider cuz, besides getting really tired, it got really really windy and I got blown off the slope twice XD lol

By this stage, I could do the green run rather comfortably and could do little S’s on the traverse-y bits. Oh happy days!

Then the weather got a bit cloudy – one of the runs I went down, I couldn’t see *anything*!!!!! It was a bit frightening and I was totally NFI where I was… when we finally got down the mountain I declared that I was gonna call it a day (besides, I was still buzzing a bit from Main St). Funnily, Michael and Duy were kinda following me cuz it looked like I knew where I was going XD hahah Boy, were they wrong!

The last day of snows was split between TC-lovers and Cardrona-lovers/people wanting to take it easy. Going down Scum Valley was …. a mistake. Besides it being *really* powder-y in the valley-like place, surrounded by rocks and *with* rocks on the run, it met up with the Lee’s leap run and it turned all dirty and patchy and grassy on the way there. Eeurgh.

In the powder section, I stopped to see where everyone was (Duy, Dinesh, Michael, and Kirit were behind me) and paused… no one was behind me. Slightly panicked, until I saw Duy leisurely heeling it down. But we had lost the others – turned out that Michael and Kirit went back up or something, and Dinesh accidentally went down Powder Keg, a black run! Ooopsy.

Had to take off my bindings and when i stepped down, my foot went all the down in the snow.. stopping only at no less than mid-thigh. XD hahahah it was pretty funny, but a pain to get out of.

The wind also really picked up at Cardrona – at TC, they had to close the main lifts because it was *too* windy – so TC-lovers got home about 2 hrs before us. I also got blown off the slope on Westons Gap, so Celine, Duy, Dinesh, and I called it a day.

Most of the time, we were on the steeper green run near Whitestar Express – that was also a lot of fun ^_^ Started to get icy and bare though =(

~**~

On the last night of the trip, there was (naturally) a lot of imbibing alcoholic beverages involved, with Ram vainly attempting to get people to go and have a night out on the town.

This only appealed to a few people, as it was cold and rainy, not quite bucketing it down, but enough to make people want to stay in.

However, after much cajoling, Ram managed to muster some people out and into the van. It rather puzzled me that there were more people going out the door than the 4 who were willing to brave the wet and cold night with a boisterous Ram.

I sat there in the corner of the lounge, with the TV blaring and reading Freakonomics, saying bye to people as they left.

Last person out (Duy) – door closes.

Quiet descends, accompanied with the gentle albeit incessant pitter-patter of the rain and an annoying and seemingly gay talk show host nattering away, audience laughing dutifully.

I paused. It is slightly freakishly quiet after the hubbub of having 15 people getting drunk and playing BS earlier.

Could they have…Am I….Naaaah… Can’t be…Could it?

A feeling of foreboding stole upon me and I quietly freaked out….

I was 99.999% sure that I was the only person in the house.

Le sigh. After going upstairs to get my mp3 player, it was confirmed that no one was upstairs.

While I busied myself with doing the house work (washing dishes, loading dishwasher, generally cleaning up), I was growing uneasy.

I really don’t do well home alone, let alone in a biiiiig house in another country.

*loud static noise from the TV*

I totally freaked out and mental images my brain have maliciously stored away until times like this of the girl from The RIng flashed by.

Her broken, bloodied fingernails. Her long, wet, dark, stringy hair. Her dirty white gown…. and her climbing out of the TV >_< OMG!

Ran to the TV, turned it off (spitefully my memory reminded me that such a simple gesture did not stop the girl.. WAH! I was in such a mess)

Anywho, I tried to calm down and think very basic thoughts: dishes go in here, glasses in here, plate still oily/dirty - rewash!, put cutlery here, tidy up this.

Kinda worked in a way, save for a dark corner of me that was absolutely having a nervous breakdown; whimpering to herself.

When the kitchen and living room was pretty much done, I went to pack my suitcase. When *that* was done, I went to sit on the downstairs lounge and read, listening to my mp3s. Just in case someone came and didn't have a key (but what if it wasn't anyone you know!? *shoves away thoughts of evil men with gleaming eyes and equally gleaming knives whom likes to cackle rather evilly and smelt horribly*).

There was a knock at the door. It was like a race gun going off, my heart was sprinting in my chest. I looked up, dreading the worst, and I see this tall, white guy with a horrible grinning face.

*Freak out!*

Wait!

I know that stupid grin! Stupid Irf >_< But was rather glad he came home, even if it was because his wisdom tooth was killing him =P

About 45 minutes later, everyone came back, and Ram was like... I didn't know you were home alone til I got home T_T

I still don't get it... how did it go from 3-5 people wanting to go out... to 15 people going out, most of whom said didn't want to go out??!?!?!? Bah, I say.

~**~

Hmm other memorable moments?

The dinners was great! The cooks (Teresa – the head chef – , Jess, Elena) did a marvellous job in cooking/making: pies, mashed potatoes, mushy peas, various sauces, various salads, various pastas, various pizzas, and bbq’ed meat! Mmmm…

We also had dessert! Apple strudel, apple pie, apple crumble, vanilla icrecream, cookies and cream!! mmmmm dessert… Yummy ^___________^

~**~

We ate out on Tuesday night. After lots of loitering out in the cold, not being able to choose a place to eat, we ended up in a nice little mexican restaurant – Amigos Cafe – which resulted with the guys farting in the van and on the trails the next day =_=

Anywho, we were split up between two tables, and funnily enough, both tables were opposites to each other: one was loud and rowdy and well on their way getting trashed/trashier and the other was quiet and well-behaved.

… Except when Cham got peer-pressured into what they guys were doing on the rowdy table: squeeze lemon juice into the eye, snort salt, and throw back a tequila shot.

I ended up having to drive home, despite the fact a couple hours earlier, I had finished a Monteith’s Winter Ale (yum!) pretty much all by myself… on an empty stomach. First time in a while that I got to the floppy-body-leaning-against-wall-to-walk stage XD hahahhaha I remember sitting in a chair and thinking, “I think it would be best if I laid down on the floor – ’tis more stable”.

~**~

Elena, Jess, Ben Y. and Ben H. boarded for 3 extra days, prior to the rest of us arriving in NZ, so their rest day was on our 3rd snow day. The daredevils went skydiving and bunge jumping!! We got to see the dvd of their bunge jumps hehehe it was pretty funny ^_^ Poor Elena was in tears and totally freaked out when she had to jump, while Jess seemed calm and collected right up ’til she had to walk to the edge (where she started yelling out stuff and screamed on the way down – you could hear her screams getting quieter the further she went down! lol).

~**~

Anywho, that pretty much about sums everything up… I’ve clobbered together a small slideshow of photos with Snow Patrol’s Tiny Little Fractures. (Okay, not really clobbered, cuz it took me *ages* to get it done >_<) Hope you like it! ^_______^

[P.S. Let it load first before playing, so playback won't be jittery =)]