Wishlist update

As previously mentioned I've got a couple of things that I've been eyeing.

A trip to Hong Kong allowed me to purchase one of them, the Tokina 11-16 ATX. And it was really much cheaper then what I would have to pay for in Singapore. Had to search almost the whole of Hong Kong island for it as Mong Kok shops just did not carry it at all. But very happy with my purchase if a but burnt in the wallet.

Also, Sony has finally played nice and come up with a new iteration of their gaming console, the PS3 Slim. This means that prices for the PS3 will drop and more surprisingly and interestingly, the PS3 Slim isn't as expensive as the PS3 when it first came out. Need to think about this one, but I might want to get this when I have to go overseas again.

Additionally, the HTC hero was finally released in Singapore on September 4th. Suggested retail price is about 800+++ with suggestions that signing a 2 year plan will drop this price to around 600++. Again another toy to lust after as my phone contract is about up.

My wallet weeps gently.

Up up and away

Up started positively enough. A short film titled Partly Cloudy brought about giggles as memories of how we used to think babies come from was brilliantly put into animation. Funny yet poignant about how friends stick with each other. It was also interesting to look at how someone has to do the stuff that no one wants.

And then it was onto the movie proper. This was a story that talked of how a child, because of his idol, has big dreams. It talks about how he finds the love of his life that shares the same dreams that he has. But life is rarely smooth sailing. You live life and sometimes you get comfortable with it, so much so that you forget the dreams when you were young. And the next thing you know, it's almost too late. And Carl (the old man) only sees that when his wife (Ellie) is on her last breath.

But if there's a will then there's a way. Adventure has a way of finding people who need to escape. Stuck alone and with the prospect of being sent to a nursing home staring him in the face, he remembers his dreams and follow it. And tying balloons to his house, he goes up in search of adventure.

Along the way he picks up a virtual menagerie of characters ranging from a young and overly enthusiastic Wilderness Explorer (think scout cub), a talking (!) dog and a weird bird. He learns about friendship and ultimately needing to let go and move of to better things. No sense grieving for what has left when there are new opportunities ahead.

Up is a feel good movie that has enough of a story to keep adults entertained and some parables inside to get some people thinking, while at the same time having enough jokes and visual gags to keep the young uns giggling away.

Tram rides

Was taking a tram home last night and despite it being close to 9pm, tram conductors decided to pop up.

To give a bit of background, in Melbourne city itself, trams are the preferred mode of transport. You have to buy a ticket to ride on the tram. These tickets can be purchased either on the tram, where they are instantly validated or you can purchase them before hand and validate them when you're on the tram.

It's not perfect, and there are numerous cases of people cheating the system. There have been numerous ad campaigns urging people to validate their tickets. But still, the common method is to ride the tram with a ticket but not validate it. If they see a tram conductor, they will then have to try to validate the ticket before they get caught.

So anyway, there was this girl sitting across me in the tram. No kidding that she looked something like this:

which may or may not have been the reason I sat opposite her.

So when the tram conductor popped up, much to her horror, she desperately tried to validate her ticket before he could get to her, Unfortunately, she was sitting next to the door and was stopped by the tram conductor before she could do just that.

The poor girl was then quizzed and asked for her address so that the fine could be sent to her. But since she was from Hong Kong, hence not having a local identity card and address, the conductor was adamant about confirming her address, least she was giving a fake address. She was asked to call a friend so that that person could confirm her address. However, the friend on the phone gave the conductor his own address as he doesn't know where the girl stays.

The conductor was fuming now and inistent that the girl was trying to cheat her way out of a ticket and that it was now TWO offences. 1 for travelling without a valid ticket and the other one for lying about her address. At this point of time the girl was close to tears and trying to desperately explain her situation. Added to that, she was missing her stop. Another conductor had to come along to try to calm the situation down and ask that they get off and settle it off the train.

And that was the last of what I know of that.

Moral of the story? Nothing, though the girl was awfully cute.

Update wishlist

New toys that I want to get my hands on if I had money.

HTC Hero



Newest Android phone to be coming out soon.




Playstation 3

Being marooned in another country with nothing to do makes me want this so much.





Tokina 11-16mm

I want to take pretty pics.

FML

The lady that sits opposite me is now singing in a terribly off key voice. My music from my ear phones is unable to drown out that terrible canaphony. FML.

Absentmindedness part quatre

This is getting ridiculous.

She's now lost her notebook and is looking for it.

Absentmindedness part trios

And today she has managed to lose her ring.

Just wow.

Absentmindedness part deux

Update: The lady has just claimed to have lost her phone again and is now searching for it all over the office.

However I hear it ringing in her bag.

Oh my.

Absentmindedness

This lady in my office managed to lose her handbag and handphone (twice!) in one week.

And all those times she left it in the toilet.

Makes me wonder what the female toilet smells like.

Weird sleep habits.

I got back from Gold Coast at about 12 last night. The flight was approximately 2 hours, of which I spent the majority of it sleeping.

I think sleeping while sitting up for that period of time really messed with me cause I was having this really weird sleeping pattern that nigh.

I would sleep peacefully, wake up all of a sudden, sit up and try to fall asleep doing that. Some part of me, that wasn't sleeping would shout at me "What are you doing?!"

I would realize how stupid it was to try to fall asleep sitting up on a bed and promptly lie down and fall properly asleep again.

ONLY TO REPEAT IT AGAIN.

Flying is really messing with me.

Overheard today

"THE TRAM CAN TALK!"

Small boy

After the tram driver used the intercom.

Socks

I need a new pair, the current one I'm wearing is so small it keeps slipping off such that I'm left with half a foot covered.

Irritating.

Awesome

2 guys stuck in a browser

So cool

Velociraptor Trophy

Superpowers

Darkness.

Icy coldness.

No! I don't want to get out of bed!

Can't I sleep another 5 more minutes?

Stupid clock is not working again. Why's it showing 8.45 when I set my alarm at 7.45 and it hasn't made those god awful noises that literally wake the dead?

8.45

OH FUCK! I need to be at work at 9!

I sit down at my desk.

It's 9.10

I've got superpowers.

RIP the 96. YNWA.

Learn more at Hillsborough Disaster

Oh what fools we mortals be

I've been recently hooked on my DS playing this new game called Suikoden Tierkreis.

It's a pretty fun game, with simple gameplay to bring in the younger crowd. I kind of like Suikoden games cause they tend to have pretty good storylines + the OCD in my can't help but want to collect all 108 heros every time.

So there I was playing. As you can see from the box art, it's for ages 12+, meaning it isn't particularly difficult most of the time. Also, the experience system means you can level your characters pretty fast if they're underleveled. I wasn't having any problems with the game till then, happily progressing the story and gathering charaters. Saving was an unwelcome disruption and a severe jerk from the gaming experience.

Which meant all in all, I hadn't saved in  over 3 hours of game play.

And then I met it.

It, in this case was some gloriously overpowered monster. It knocked out half my party with one blow. I tried to run.

FAIL.

The next blow came and I was dead.

The dreaded words floated on my screen.

GAME OVER.

I wanted to just curl into a ball and cry right there and then.

How cruel the RPG gods can be.

Footballers can do magic

Know how they sometimes say that footballers can do magic with their feet?

This one can just do magic, plain and simple. One minute there, the next minute, disappearing into thin air!

I'm going to UniNats2009!

For those that still don't know, I'm currently in exile in Melbourne, Australia.

And since I'm here, why not take part in a unicycle convention (first ever for me).

I hereby present: UniNats2009.



Signed up for the event, and booked my accommodation. Baring any mishaps, I should be there come Easter weekend.

Woo hoo.

Brain explodes.