.defeated

A well-deserved shower.

It's only Wednesday night and quite a bit of things have already happened in the past three days. I think someone will be pretty happy about me mentioning the events.. Hehe and so I shall give him/her the attention he/she was seeking. ;)

I've received my first official hate comment! You can check them out here, here, and here if you are curious or haven't already seen them. These comments were obviously written by someone extremely uneducated and unprofessional and were just empty threats anyway. Even if he/she attempts to do more I could always use those as evidence and hand them over to the authorities when the time comes.

I was serious when I said I was going to report this case.. Everything has quieten down at the moment and I will not hesitate to go to the police if something comes along later.

I'll be keeping the comments (in my e-mail) for as long as I exist in this world, in case the policemen needs extra information (for related/similar cases) in future. :D

––

Anyways, just as I have defeated some coward who probably hides behind the computer all day to send hate comments and threats , I have been defeated...

By some virus.

Oh yea, my temperature measured 38ºC (100.4ºF) earlier this evening and SF had to go down to the chemist to pick up medication for me.. :\ I'm feeling slightly better now as I type this, so don't worry about me. I'll be fine by tomorrow night! :D

The next challenge, which takes place in about 5 minutes time, would be to shower. SF was asking me if I was going to take a shower tonight, since I'm freezing under layers of blanket/scarf/sweatshirt/sweat pants. I HAVE to shower everyday, even if the temperature drops to –something-degrees-Celsius! And I HAVE to wash my hair too!!!

:| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :|

Okay, I will take a shower and get it over with.. And I think I'll take the portable heater in with me. Brrrrrrrr.

.overdue 120mm's

the Strap.

That's just a photo of the strap from my nice little lomo toy camera, the Holga 120N. I bought it just so I could experiment with 120mm (medium format) films. So far, I've only had 2 rolls of films developed......

And I've got about 4 - 5 rolls of films left undeveloped and they are all in my fridge right now. Majority of the photos were taken in Hokkaido, Japan last winter and so that means they are overdue by about 4 months now! Guess I'd better stop being lazy and start looking for a place that does cross processing in the city. :\

.something that i didn't know about him

Home-made Carbonara Fettucine.

SF and I learned something new about each other this weekend.
________________________
Scenario #1

SF: "How come we never buy one of those carbonara sauce from Safeway? I like it too!"
_pdra: "Wow really? I thought you never liked it! That's why we didn't buy."

I never realize that SF loves carbonara just as much as I do. So yay! Guess we'll get to eat carbonara pasta's more often!


Scenario #2

We were talking about having carbonara fettucine for dinner tonight and SF found out something new about me in between the conversation.

_pdra: "Actually, I like fettucine more than spaghetti."
SF: "Huh??? Really??? I always thought you liked spaghetti more that's why we'd always buy spaghetti rather than fettucine. I also prefer fettucine!"
_pdra: "Wow really!?!? I didn't know!!! I always thought you preferred spaghetti that's why we'd go for spaghetti rather than fettucine."
SF: "Nooooo. Fettucine is nicer."

________________________

LOLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

.the goodness of nutella

Nutella Muffin.

So the other night, Aryen and I decided to bake some chocolate muffins. We've been talking about baking stuff together for nearly a month now and so it finally happened on Sunday night.

This recipe includes Nutella (yay!).. And I ended up putting half tub (close to 1 cup, 250ml) into the mixing bowl, along with all the other ingredients. I know, it sounds kinda like me wasting Nutella but I think it was worth it. It's the one of the best home-made I've ever tried!!!!! XD

The baking took us about 1.5 hour.. It was worth the wait. I'll post up the recipe when I'm not too lazy busy. :)


Update: Recipe's up @ Recipes by Students! Check it out here!

.sofia restaurant

SF and I went on a double date dinner tonight at Sofia Restaurant in Camberwell tonight. The four of us had a great time catching up and talking about random stuff that's been going on around us – bubble tea, job issues, wow-so-much-food, restaurants around the city, etc..!

Anyways, I'm not good at reviewing stuff so I'm just going to type what comes in my mind.

First, I thought you might wanna know what we've ordered to share.. We decided to have the *refers to restaurant manual* Spaghetti Carbonara (creamy, with bits of ham), Spaghetti Marinara (with prawns), Meatlover Pizza and Fritto Misto (seafood plate). x)

Spaghetti Carbonara

Spaghetti Marinara

Meatlover Pizza

Fritto Misto

I told myself that I would have to eat fast and forget about dieting today.. Because if I don't, I'll get full by the time I finish the first serving of spaghetti. So I did.. But still, I ended up full pretty quickly. :\

Aftermath.

The meal was AWESOME though! I haven't been to an Italian restaurant for quite a while now. The staff at Sofia were really generous with the ingredients and everything.. So the servings were HUGE. We ended up taking away all four dishes!

Thanks for the meal guys! We'll see you guys real soon okay??? :D

.coincidental?

Double egg yolk.

SF was cooking some Maggi chicken flavored instant noodles last night. Just as he took an egg out of the fridge, he thought to himself, "How nice if there were two egg yolks inside this egg...."

And he got a shock of his life after he cracked open the egg and add it into the sauce pan. There were 2 egg yolks beneath the egg shell and the whole thought was actually random!!!

:| :O :| :O :| :O

SF was freaked out and surprised at the same time.. But since he was starving to death, he didn't question the egg anymore and started gobbling the bowl of noodles. LOL.

.well, that's life.

Untitled.

I don't like this.
When things are starting to look good, all of a sudden, it starts to collapse again.
What's happening?


I'm still hoping that we won't have to resort to going long distance for the next 2 years...

.my confession

the Guide.

I have a confession to make.........

Umm.. Let's see... How should I start... :\

Okay. Here goes. Istilldon'tknowhowtomakefulluseofthe5DmarkII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it will take me another year or so to figure out... Just like how it took me more than a year to get the hang of my good old 350D. So right now, I'm actually much more comfortable on the entry-level 350D than the semi-pro 5D mark II.

And I won't be asking anyone for help. I want to figure this out all by myself.. It will just be like getting to know someone who will stick with you through thick and thin for many years to come. I shall take my time with this –– will take it on photo walks occasionally, talk to it before bed time, etc.

That's all I need to confess. Thanks for reading. Tah.

.HDR I

Lakes Entrance, Gippsland, Victoria.

.why seafood is expensive

the Wait.

The four of us decided to go on our very first road trip together on Good Friday. And so we decided to head down to Lakes Entrance (Gippsland - Southeast Victoria) for some crabbing session.

We have talked about going crabbing for a few months now and finally decided to go for it.

I thought we would come back with at least 10 crabs.. Unfortunately, we left Lakes Entrance empty-handed. :\

No wonder seafood is significantly more expensive than any other meats.

The funny part was that we lost the two crab nets too! But that's fine. We were, after all, inexperienced.

SF cheered us up by saying "Let's just take this as an experience. We'll do better next time."

And next time, if we do decide to go crabbing again, I'll be sure to bring more entertainment and probably a waterproof picnic mat.

.happy easter

Happy Easter Y'all!

I don't know if I'm too late... But Happy Easter everyone!

I'm so going to buy remaining Easter bunnies and eggs from Coles/Safeway/Big W!!! Easter egg sale --- here I come!!!

.landscape photography and some issues

Lakes Entrance, Gippsland, Victoria.

It's almost 3 years since I bought my first DSLR (the 350D)...
Wow..
Hmm.. And I don't think I'll be doing much event/portrait photography, unless I have to. I'll just stick to landscape for now.

Gahh.. I'm also itching to buy a new lens!!! I'm wanting the ultra-wide EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM or prime/wide EF 24mm f/1.4L USM. Oh and I need a new tripod too - none of my two tripods can support the heavy duty 5D Mark II! :\
But I'm broke. I need to save up... For the future..

And I have to start earning my own money now!

._.

Hmm...

Anyways, Happy Easter y'all! Have fun egg-hunting/chocolate-gobbling/whatever!

.iron eggs

Iron Eggs a.k.a. Tea Leaf Eggs.

SF's new trademark dish! :D I am so going to miss these when he takes off for Singapore early next year... :\ Oh well. I should learn from him while I can.

.why i love melbourne I

the boys @ Docklands.

Humorous and sociable people whom I don't know makes me smile. And the great thing about Melbourne is that lots of people here are as friendly as these guys!

.docklands on a saturday evening I

Webb.

A lot has happened in the past couple of days... So I decided I need to go out for a walk.. Just me, the 5DmII and iPod.

I decided to go back to Docklands again for a brief photo walk. I thought I'd wait for twilight too since most of my photos were taken during the day. And I must say, that it was worth it. :)

Oh, and guess what? I found Webb Bridge! I tried looking for it last week but failed.. And ended up at the west end of Melbourne Exhibition Center. :\ I might have been grinning to myself without knowing.. LOL let's I hope nobody saw that!

I love Saturday evenings.. It's the only time of the day of the week when I feel totally calm and relaxed. And being in Docklands made it better. I felt so much more positive when I got home from the photo walk session.

Perhaps I will consider moving to Docklands in the next couple of years!

.childhood memories

Childhood.

I remember my parents taking me down to playgrounds during the weekend as a kid... And I also remember going to the playground with cousin Yuki and Irene (4 and 5 years younger than me respectively) on Saturday evenings during our weekly visit to 祖母's (grandma's) place.

And my favorite would always be the swing. I could go as high as I want to and relieve some of the frustrations with it. It never fails to make me feel better.. :)

I'd love to go on the swing now but I think I am a little too old for it.. LOL. I'm actually wanting to take photos of kids on swings but since parents these days are a little paranoid when it comes to their children I think I should refrain it. :P

So tell me, what's your favorite childhood memory? No word limits!

.going LD

Hoping for the Best.

For those of you who don't already know, there is a high possibility that SF and I are going long distance again in less than a year time.

It's inevitable I guess.. Part of me really wants him to stay here and continue trying... But the other part of me is like, telling me to let him go for a couple of years.

Sure, I'm not too happy about it.. But I guess it's time to stop listening to the selfish part of me and start thinking for the future.. It's time the guy build his career.. And if he REALLY have no other choices, I guess I should encourage him to find a job in Singapore for a while and MAKE SURE he comes back to Melbourne after that.

I'm still hoping for miracles to happen.. Miracles like one of the Big 4 banks offering him a job so he doesn't have to go.. At least not until I can leave Australia with him for a while...

Sigh...

I need to be strong.. I have to!!!

.prata

Roti prata.

Home cooked and authentic...

Few more times of prata and he will be gone... And I'll have to wait for another 2 (or worse, 3-4) years until I get to try his cooking again...

:\

Why am I so emo?

.the noisy door

It happened at around 5am, 40 minutes after I went to bed. I must have been stuck on the very 1st stage of sleep, because it felt as if I was still awake 40 minutes after turning in.

I was sweating real bad.. And our bedroom door was banging due to the 100km/h wind (if there was one). I tried fighting the noise by telling myself to try harder to fall asleep. The more I fight, the more chaotic it became. I was "seeing" hundreds of 死神 (Shinigami's = death god) running around. This probably resulted from the fact that I watch 7 - 8 episodes of Bleach everyday.

But the banging continues. Nobody was banging on the door - it was obviously the wind. It was so unbearable that I forced my very exhausted body up to open the closed door. I was curious about the weather condition outside so I took a quick look at my winter garden (where I left the sliding door open as well). Turns out it wasn't windy at all.. In fact, it was friggin' WARM!!! :\

Hmm.. That could be a hallucination though.. But I'm sure it wasn't.