Sydney

Holidays are here at last!!

And Anh and I are off to Sydney!!

We're so excited!!

Not because we're going to eat and eat until were 2 inches wider! (Sydney Food and Wine show and Masterchef restaurants here we come!! :P)

And not because we've saved up guilt free money for some serious shopping :P

But because we can finally get our minds out of work and can set ourselves for some well deserved RnR.

Yay for holidays!!!

3Willings

1) Ginuwine (feat Timbaland & Missy Elliot) - Get Involved - OMG OMG OMG!!! THIS SONG IS DA BOMB!!! If this doesn't get you dancin` then.... then... you don't like chicken - and that means there's something SERIOUSLY wrong with you. Sure #1 prediction!

2) Dark Chocolate Kit Kat - Finished whole block in one sitting. Dark Chocolate is good for you right?

3) Rules of Engagement - Just saw an episode this evening. David Spade and the big guy are funny. My brother and I were laughing our butts off. I want my birthday deal!

Kilo to Giga

There was a time not so long ago when I was introduced to anime and I was very quickly addicted to it. 

I would wake up super early to catch Pokemon and Dragonball Z on Cheeze TV.  I had to get my anime fix or else I went mental!

Love makes you mental.  My first anime crush, Shampoo from Ranma.

I went and saw every anime at our local video store (all four of them).  After I finished that I drove to a video store 15kms away.  After I finished that I drove to ANOTHER video store 30kms away.

I was hooked (I wonder why...) and I knew I had some sort of problem.

I tried to help myself by meeting with some like-minded folks.  I went to UWA on Fridays and Curtin on Saturdays to satiate my cravings for anime.  

But I think that just made it worse.

Thankfully, through them,  I did learn about the Internet and how it can endlessly supply me with all the Japanese animation I'd  ever need.

My dad wasn't so impressed.

Imagine downloading seven 120M episodes simultaneuosly....   

..

..

..

..

..

on a 56.6k modem.

Yes that's right.  

I took over the phone line for days and weeks and was racking up huge phone bills because I had the modem on auto-reconnect when it timed out.  

Every time it re-connects it clicks 25 cents. On average it will time out about 15 times at night.  Multiply that my how many days in phone bill cycle.  

Hmm... now that I think about it, maybe I did go a bit too far.

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Download quota. 

That's a word that haunts me frequently.  

Last Sunday, I left the computer on for three hours and I downloaded the remaining 4Gigs of my May quota.  

So not good.  

And being shaped back to modem speeds is humbling reminder of what life back in the dial-up modem days.

So like any spoiled 28yo-teenager, I applied for additional quota today  :P

They processed it so fast, I got a confirmation approval this afternoon - happy days!

When I was completing the forms, I did reflect on a few things.  

Two years ago 12Gb was WAAAY more than enough, 

Eight months ago 25Gb was more than enough.  

But who knows? Maybe I'll eat my words when I apply for a 200Gb account next year  (No thanks to YouTube and Steam).

YouTube is a constant source of politically incorrect entertainment

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I'm reading about the new broadband plan the government is undertaking. 

Construction starts around September this year and will initially support speeds of 100Mbytes/s.

Its really exciting stuff because theoretically, the national broadband scheme can go faster than 1Gb/s!!  And that's a direct fibre optic connection to your house which means Internet speeds will not be affected by your distance to the exchange. 

Awesome to the max!!  K-Rudd gets extra brownie points for this.

(Not that kind of brownie!) 

How fast is 1Gb/s?  That's twice the speed of a USB(2.0) file transfer!

Or imagine downloading a Blue-ray movie or PlayStation3 game in under seven minutes?  

How about a DVD movie in less than 40 seconds?

Crazy insane!!!!  

With that kind of crazy transfer rates would you bother going to the video store and worry about  dirty or scratched DVDs (some people are just ferral!!) or returning the movie or getting mauled by the ugly black dog that's always tied next to entrance? 

Just download the movie already! (Legally of course!)

And with that kind of speed, I'd run out of my 200Gb quota in less than half an hour...

...which, I guess, is not so awesome.

Victorian Bush Fires

Yesterday I was whining like a little girl about problems I was having with my house construction.

There was so much to do and I was already over my budget and I'm running out of time.

I guess we all get a bit testy when it comes to (lack of) money.

But when I saw the news today I got choked up.

Hundreds of families across Victoria have lost everything to bush fires.

There were stories of heroism and close calls.  

But many would have lost too much.

It takes losing something to realise what we already have.

Please help fellow Australians and give to www.redcross.org.au

Gong Xi Fa Coi Oi Oi!

There's been an explosion of Australian patriotism this year!

Everywhere I go, Aussie flags are waving around.  

Especially cars! So many cars driving around with mini Aussie flags stuck on the windows.

Skippy and the Kangaroo

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  I think that's fair dinkun' olright! The wiieeeh rippas!

It's just, these flags are probably made in China, so it kinda puts a slanted irony to the whole patriotism thing :S

The other irony to Australia Day is that it's also Chinese New year! 

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

I scored myself another red packet!   Which is almost awesome...

:( 

Almost because my family don't really celebrate Chinese new year (Its just not there in the Filipino festivities calendar).

I feel guilty when I'm given red packets.  

I feel like a Chinese-fraud! (Imagine that.... a fake Chinese!!)

In fact, I'm so guilt-stricken by these gifts, that I've not spent a single dollar from the red packets.  They're all there stashed in my drawers, just in-case the big Red Packet Gods find out that I don't actually celebrate the new year and punish me by taking the money back!  We'll it's all there if you want it back!!

Any hows, I had originally planned on cleaning up my room on Monday, but I was told that if I did that, I'd be spending the rest of the year cleaning up.   Chinese superstition?

Still, I'm not one to risk it.. (or pass the chance NOT to clean up).

So instead I watched lots of YouTube and binged-ate on these Hong Kong lollies my sister gave me.  

So addictive......... until I ate a marshmallow one with Red bean paste inside. bleeeeack!  

Cursed red beans!!

M is for Melbourne

3Willings
1) Fight Quest
2) Monster RX Radio

3) One Republic - Mercy

Me and the melbournian yellow taxis

Watching episodes of Fight Quest reminded me of my Melbourne trip because my girlfriend and I saw our first episode there.

We also watched quite a bit of Mythbusters and Ultimate Fighting Champion Fight Nights. It was free cable TV - what were suppose to do? waste it?

Fight nights were so addictively brutal!

But Melbourne wasn't all about lounging and watching TV.

We originally planned it easy and lazy but it turned out being exhausting with lots of walking and shopping and eating and going out.

The central train station

The Yarra River is one of my favourite things about Melbourne

Trams (and hook turns) were scary at first, but we got used to it

Oh.. before I forget...

Budget terminal in Melbourne is 'shed-like' budgetty - complete with wire fencing!

Sauerkraut anyone?

MCG

Pair of random Hawks supporters. I don't know them

Ice Lounge. 20C below zero anyone?

I love the ice glasses - except when stuck frozen to my tongue

Ice gremlin

Der Raum - Ranked 4th best bar in the world!

And of course..

Chocolates!!!

Lots of missing photos including Chapel Street and Crown Casino photos. They're in my girlfriend's camera.

I think my girlfriend will be keeping those photos hostage though.

She's still sooking that I bought more stuff on Chapel street than she did.