Know Your Capacity

The lesson from last night: Know Your Capacity, thank god I know mine.

I think pictures are better then words. I'll just upload the best ones. Alot of the best stories and pictures will stay behind closed doors. I'm sorry, but it would be un-ethical of me to reveal S_ _ _, J_ _ _ and D_ _ _ _ _ yakking in the garden whilst leaning against the wall. Jase has a pretty indepth anaylsis of the night which can be found here. His updating pretty regularly now too, so the occassional oogle is a good idea.

I thought about photoshopping some, but really couldn't be bothered. Red-eye is a thing we must all live with in the World of Alan.

Enjoy these pictures of the wedding. I'm the majestic awe-inspiring silver lion that looks super happy. The one during the day are more of the ceremony. Very beuatiful etc etc, but the lion dance was my highlight ^_^ just jokes.

Congratulations to my Sifu and Si-mo!

[Lets do a lion dance...]

[Ooooh...this looks interesting!]

[Whats this? Looks tasty!]

[Take the chair...]

[I'm not sure what this step of the dance translate to, but it's called Seung Chin]

[The Yaolin Boys]

Later on that night at the dinner-reception. I only got a few because Phil's camera died. I miss my camera.

[Richo, Ryan, Phil and Jayden: Tiger Claw!]

[Me, Jase and Ricksta: I look really out of it but I was fine]

[Jayden, Ryan and Me: End of the night and definetly feeling the wine]

A great night.

Oh and today's revelation was K.C.F.C, be sure you ask Kath about it. Being a girly-girl you need to call her too -_-"

From A-la-la-la-n

Things are getting busier these days

Exams are just around the corner, so I might be absent from my beloved and almighty blog. I need to study!! Don't fret avid reader; I will try to post a few random snippets. Notice how I highlighted try?

I've decided to anaylse how much study I need to do for my units (rather then actually studying):

CFP: Overall, I'm not tooooo fussed about. I think three days of hardcore work should be enough to keep my average and maybe even bump it up a few points. Other then Ch6 Option pricing and the associated dreadful Black-Shcholes Pricing Model, I don't have that much drama with this unit. Considering that Option Pricing covered almsot 3 weeks of the second half of semester, drama suddenly compounded.

Shirlz, Ling, Joe and I combined quite well in the CFP assignment. Although I let the team down with my poorly done part ><

CA: The good news about this unit is that its on the 17th (last day), giving me two pure days of total focus for this unit. The bad news about this unit is that it is so freak-en huge and covers so much stuff (we didn't have a mid-sem) that I should stop blogging now and get started studying!! It was the only unit which I actually did the Unit Survey for and didn't joke around. The best unit this semester by far and away.

Roy (not you-know-who's Roy), Tasha and I did well in this assignment. But it was an easy assignment and the average was damn high.

MA: My most hated and worse of units. It's the first one up and I need to lay a Beau Waters tackle on it, ie: knock it out. I'm genuinley worried about the amount I need to study because the lecturer is a hack; she's genuinely lacking in ability. The book is sooo daunting; its heavy and smells weird. I've had this book for a while now and it still smells funny. Not a ha-ha funny either.

Thank god there was no assignment.

CL: Similar to a blend of CA and CFP. Overall, not tooo fussed but the daunting workload means again, I should start now. And so much freak-en reading to do with it. My biggest issue with this unit is that I've been unable to attend alot of the lectures because I got a clash. So alot of text reading because I HATE iLectures. Now that the uni is paying attention to Australian Copyright Laws, the iLectures got even worse. Just audio. Yuk.

My solo assigment for this unit could of been better. Much better. Thanks to Shirlz for the help though.

Conclusion? I have heaps of study to do.

On the upside, I have one of the best things to look foward to this weekend. A LION DANCE and a wedding. It shall be my reward for a week of good study!! The lion dance is a new routine and it's got some really cool parts in it too. Makes me go fuzzy inside ^_^

I'll be OK! Things are getting busier these days. I'll be alright.

And a very last note to finish this all. The funniest thing I heard this week was my CFP lecturer saying to _ _ _ _ I'll just use the letter J to indicate _ _ _ _, K for me, and L for the lecturer:

L: "I see you got your assignments back"
K: "Yeppers. By the way thanks for lecturing CFP this semester. You seem to be really happy with your job"
J: "Yeah, you really love teaching it don't you?"
L: "It's not my job I love, it's you that I love"
J: O_O
K: Um...ok then

Hmmmmz...yes...that was awkward

I almost forgot. I've added the very fantastic Zoey and the Eugene-pickin Kayehsa to my sidebar. I would do the reviews for it and plug them to no end like Eugenes. But I'm tired. Another time. Speaking of which, Eugene updates VERY often. Another plug.

*phew* all blogged out

[EDIT] I'm prolly gonna get my ass kicked for this. Nah, not prolly: will get kicked in the ass.

+afferty blues+ punk rock emo overload.. my head is throbbing says:
i must admit
+afferty blues+ punk rock emo overload.. my head is throbbing says:
i'm a poser!

No names but i think we can guess.

Organisational Skills

Back in highscool I was never the organiser of events. My spontaneous lifestyle made me a great addition to an event, but a poor director of affairs.

Geeze, I miss some of my old highschool buddies.

[Padman, Ca-la-la-la-lam, Fry, Matto, Joyce-E, and Saj in Lancelin]

I took that photo but where is Jezza?! Good times.

I realise now in uni how difficult it is to organise something as small as a dinner between friends. The consideration of whose free, whose not free, who might be free, who has a ride, who needs a ride, who will only come if they are given a ride, who wont come if they are a third wheel: the list is endless. And since I'm super spontaneous and free-roaming it gives me a headache.

Even for all my persuasion skills I cannot make it happen. Am I losing my awesome abilities which saw me argue a brilliant Heart of Darkness essay (without reading the book)? The same skill which makes me the most loved one of my siblings?

Probably not because today at 5.10 when the Acct. & Finance Office was closed, I got them to re-open so that Josh could get his Corp. Acct. assignment back. The magical words of "please" does wonders. The lady was super nice to me even after the other meaner lady said: "nobody is there...they all gone home now" and no, i did not flirt with her.

I've come to this conclusion; no matter how persuasive you are; if you lack organisational skills then things dont happen like *that* Oh yeh...and everyone has assignments due. Minor detail.

Now I have a headache, my contacts hurt, I'm sick of studying, MA book looks daunting, CA looks even worse...I guess studying instead will be on the agenda these next few weeks.

What a rant...

From A-la-la-la-n

Plugging Eugene's blog

A while ago on Jase's blog he said something about plugging about Lisa's blog. Or was it vice versa?

Well anyways we all know now that plugging means promoting after listening to Hamish and Andy at 4 - 6pm (see: I was plugging Hamish and Andy and before i plugged Jase and Lisa). They always plug their silly T.V show: Real Stories. Which really isn't that funny. At all.

Anyway, today I shall be plugging Eugene's blog. Fly Away has been added on the sidebar. Overall i would say it's quite similar to mine. Minus the endless self-promotion of myself, the kick-ass movie reviews i do, the awesome pictures i post up, the cool template. Geeze...I'm getting dizzy from loving myself/own blog so much. See here i was plugging my own blog.

Hahaha...be sure to read it. Some good quotes of his most recent articles include:

"Since I'm still in my 'infant' stages of blogging, I'm abnormally enthusiastic about posting something new every 3 hours or so."
"I watch too much korean romance flicks to say otherwise"
"My favourites were the episodes featuring Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart"
"I like the money I see in my bank account every week so I would never forgive myself if I lost the job"
"I'm writing this after a really good game of DotA"

Very refreshing. I highly recommend a visit. Eugene was insistent that I did not review his blog. Because I listen to him so much, i did the inverse. ^_^

For those of you who don't know, I torment Eugene in Corp Acct with Josh.

Random fact: I said plug at least seven times. It felt like more.

Hope you all had a better weekend then my sucky one.

From A-la-la-la-n

Is blogger working?

This is a test, since I'm so great and nice.

[Random picture]

Quick tip too: be good.

From A-la-la-la-n

The Departed

It's been a while since I've seen a movie and the result has been a corresponding lack of movie reviews. Duh. Enjoy:


Last night, I caught the Departed down at Greater Union Galleria. As many of you might know, it's based loosely on the Infernal Affairs series. Seeing as I'm one of the few asians who hasn't seen the series, my perspective is without the influence of Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Then again, Matt Damon and Mark Walhburg have been my heroes (ie: Bourne Identity and the Big Hit).

Overall, I liked the movie even if it is a Hollywood remake of a supposed HK cult classic. Plenty of swearing, irish gangster and alot of violence mixed together quite well and churned out a pretty decent movie. Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Walhburg and the titanic guy all acted and combined superbly. I thought the romance part of the movie was a bit over the top (cover your eyes kiddies...and your ears!!) but other then this slight mishap i would rate it as: 8/10

Like I said, the acting and violence was pretty good but the plot and humor/wit was kick-ass. Even if it's meant to be semi-serious and IA was serious (so I hear), i enoy laughing. My favorite parts are the contrasts between Damon and Dicaprio; beautifully done. The Cantonese guy in the movie had a really weird accent. And some of Walburgs (Dinigam) lines deserve mention:

Ellerby: Go f _ _ k yourself.
Dignam: I'm tired from f _ _ king your wife.
Ellerby: How is your mother?
Dignam: Good, she's tired from f _ _ king my father.

***

Police Camera Tech: Who the f_ _ k are you?
Dignam: I'm the guy that does his job. You must be that other guy.

Scorcese also directs Gangs of New York which was a huge incentive to see this movie. Even if you haven't see GoNY, see this!! See it on a tuesday and your getting a bargain. $8.50 for a movie that borders close to 3 hrs. Bargain! It's really my only major beef. Thats a long time to drag a movie out to. And of course, the weird love triangle thing.

Now to see the IA series...

I went through some of Choung's music in search of some trace/dance/chill-out/techno/house and stumbled on Way Out West. Its actually sort of growing on me. For now.

From A-la-la-la-n

Karting

Today I hung out with all the Yaolin boys at Belmont Indoor Karts World to celebrate Sifu's impending vows. Even though we were all amatuers and on the beginner karts, it was bloody good fun.

Within the first twenty or so seconds on the track, I had been pulled over by the staff for breaking rules and given a warning. All around the track, the guys were jostling and bumping each other so it's not like I'm the only trouble-maker. Along with Sean early on, we had an especially good chase which eventually saw him overtake me.

Towards the end I began to slow down so that the others could catch up. Why? So then I could race a bit more dangerously and aggressively >D

It got pretty aggressive as four of us bunched up; something happened to Phill and he spun out and then crashed into the side. I got nudged by Richo on the turn pushing me into the wall allowing for James to zipp through. Phill's crash must of been pretty bad because a piece of the wall was broken and the nudge from Richo caused a pop in my tyre ><

Richo came out on top overall with the best lap time. Only because he didn't jostle/spin out with the rest of us.

Trev, Chuong, Darren and Jase you guys missed out!! A very fun outing which finished off with lunch at the Noodle House on Guildford. Not bad at all. The food there is good, but I can't judge too harshly. How hard is it to ruin Char Kway Teow? Pretty easy if you go to Hawkers Cuisine at Broadway.

I'll post up the piccies (to breed envy and jealousy in the non-karters) in a while. Phill took the digicam with him to Brisbane.

Finished the day back at Yaolin lion dancing and training my heart out. Very sore. Very happy.

From A-la-la-la-n

Taunting

Today after work, I hurried down to the bike shop near the Galleria to search for a new bike (what else?). After turning on all my charm for 15 minutes on a metallic brown bike, the salesguy only gave me a $100 discount, falling to $299. After being bitterly disappointed with the selection range and price I decided to head off home.

I was heading home on Camboon Drive when a white Land Rover in the distance background was zipping between cars at around 110+ km. He was still behind me when the lane starts to merges to form a single lane. Even though it was getting really tight he really tried to overtake me but it was too late and he had to fall merge. The punk keeps tailing me as I turn onto Morley Drive and tries to overtake me but the left lane is already pretty congested.

So it's still tight and the Land Rover still tries to zip past me. The green Hyundai Excel in the left lane is driving quite slowly (a little below the speed limit) and keeps him from slipping between on attempts. I can see the guy get really frustrated as he switches back to my lane. I can even make out his angry features quite well in my rear-view mirror, after all; he was tailgating me to no end. Keep in mind that I'm going at a reasonable speed to be driving in the right lane.

I thought: "This guy is till trying to overtake me?!"

The evil gene inside me sparks and I decide to taunt him. While he tails me, I slow down so that the Excel is about a car length to my left and there is just enough room for the Land Rover to get pass. As soon as he switches lane to take advantage of this space, I accelerated forward so that now the Excel is a length behind me. When he switches back to my lane I slow down so where back to square one.

It was a continuous taunt at the punk for alternating between tailing me and the Excel. This goes on for ages up Morley Drive until we finally hit the set of lights I turn right at.

Without me boxing him in, he finally manages to get pass the Excel and since I'm turning, passes me too. The land rover gives me the one-finger salute, yelling something (my windows were up) while honking angrily as I watch him speed off into the far distance. Hopefully not too far:

I got to see a police car pull out of a side road. I didn't get to see if they chased him because I was turning but I sure hoped they nailed that punk.

Moral of the Story: My capacity to frustrate knows no boundaries. Sure it wasn't nice, but he started it.

Blah blah "two wrongs don't make a right" blah blah "Alan your so immature" blah blah

In other news; I have set a new bench mark for solitaire

[53 seconds. You know who you are]

From A-la-la-la-n

High on Top of the world

I got my Converse High-Tops!!

[Another pair of shoes: Mum was *pleased*]

Very happy!!! Sure I'll prolly get the City Series too, but for now I'm happy with these. A special thanks to Shirlz who spent 20+ minutes waiting for me as I contemplated over them.

And after leafing through GQ magazine I've come to evidence that re-affirms my beliefs. No matter who you are fellas; a model for Diesel, Brandon Flowers from the Killers or John Citizen, you SHOULD NOT wear skinny leg jeans.

You look silly and emo. I've got some good sources who have told me that chicks don't dig skinny legs on guys. A choice between only short shorts OR skinny legs on guys came up unsurprisingly lopsided: wear the short shorts.

A handy tip: Clothes made for girls, make them look great wearing them. Guys do not look great in girl clothes. Simple.

Have a good weekend everyone!! Exams are around the corner...

From A-la-la-la-n

Question: What is Dit Da Jow?

It seems like alot of you don't know what dit da jow/tid da jowl/Tiě Dǎ Jiǔ/鐵打酒 is. I shall use the power of my blog for the greater good and clarify this highly controversial topic.

My knowledge of dit da jow comes mainly from kung fu and my family. Basically it's made from secret chinese herbs and alcomohol, mixed together with a secret traditional formula and then boiled for a secret time and the result is a medicine asian parents will swear by. You leave it to age and it gets more potent as time goes by. Your suppose to use it for bruising, sore muscles and pretty much anything external.

But some types let you drink it...

This is where it gets interesting because dit da jow is super alcoholic. Well, seeing as alcomohol can solve countless problems, it can probably solve colds too. I remember one time I was really sick with a cold/cough and the placebos of modern day medicine did nothing. I decided: "heck...why not?" after my mum suggested I drink some.

The details get a bit hazy here but I know I fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next day. FEELING BRILLIANT! Ever since then I haven't touched the stuff because it taste gross and i prefer my natural immune system over everything. The memory is a bit hazy because this is close to a 5 year recount on the effects.

I strongly suggest (but take no responsibility) if your sick and asian, you ask your parents for it. Dit da jow. If your gonna follow ahead with my advice make sure its the drinkable type because apparently the kung fu type we use at training is poisonous.

O_O

The legendary Fong Sai Yuk (the Eastern version of Achillies) was famous for his "copper bones and iron skin" a result of body conditioning and bathing in dit da jow. Invincable? Hardly, FSY Achillies heel was his lower spine. A certain somebody punched him there and FSY was killed.

From A-la-la-la-n

PS: Cheers to Garry for giving me the chinese characters and pinyin for it.

*BUURRRRRRRRRRP*

CFP assignment has been handed in!!! Ling delivered the goods with 10 minutes to spare. YAY!! What a horrible assignment.

I think we had a pretty reasonable attempt at the questions given that you had a maximum of eight pages. And it was so vague and broad, forcing alot of deductions. ALOT. I'm hoping for at least a credit for this assignment.

I think this extract was the highlight of an otherwise dull uni day.

Alan drinks alot of coke and feels burp-buildup and calls Caroline over
Alan: Hi Caroline! Thanks for giving back my tutorial answers.
Caroline: Yeah, thanks for lending them to me.
Alan: Come closer...
Caroline edges closer...
Alan: *BUURRRRRRRRRRP* HAHAHAHAHAHA
Caroline: -_-" GROSS!!

Geeze...and i said this was the week where I would be more mature.

Karma got me for burping in Carolines face when i went to Foot Locker after uni to check out these shoes I've been oogling for the last few days. Alas! The store was closed! I'm NOT obsessed with shoes. My Rivers recently died and I'm just searching for a new pair.

[Adidas Gazelle II City Series "Rio"]

Thoughts? The alternative to the Gazelle II City Series "Rio" are a pair of High Top Chuck Converse. No need for a picture alot of people have them already. But I'm buying them for nostalgic reasons NOT because I wear skinny leg jeans and I'm emo. I'm NOT emo. Adidas or Converse? Tough choice.

A certain C. Mai gets to finish this entry: "i typed my mobile number instaed of my student id number on the front cover"

Smoooothe mate

From A-la-la-la-n

Random quotes and Lolly pop race.

I'm currently doing my CFP assignmenting. Super fun and super tedious.

I just have some quick quotes from the week I wanna post up. They are all independent and I'll keep these people anon:

"I don't want a tissue, give me some dexies!!"
"The first answer is never the final answer"
"It's ok for you to punch me in the face but I won't punch you in yours"
"he says the best place 4 kung fu swards is xian"
"...with all do respect..."
"YOUR'RE the circle!!"
"Nagn yee haw bik"

Ahhh, the joys of my life.

I got to learn a new lion dance routine this week (taking my total to six different routines). Only a few hundred or so more to go.

And the last random part of this post is Niss again stole the honors again in our race to finish licking the lollypop during the week. Kath stealing second and me taking out third. There was only three of us. This is also the first picture i've ever uploaded from my phone.

[Nissa ownage, my crappy attempt and Kath is the one nobody remembers. Second]

What a random post. And the wasabi dream hasn't come back yet =(

From A-la-la-la-n

My Wasabi Dream

For those of you don't know, I've just finished my meat exile and now I'm happily and heathy-ily eating plenty of meat. During my time as a vego I had alot of meals with wasabi. Didn't matter what it was, I HAD to have wasabii on it to make it bearable. Pasta, vego sushi, white rice...all with wasabi. And yes, during this I also ate tofu.

[A fond memory during these times was when I was getting down to the dregs of the tube, I would just lick it raw]

Anyway, a few weeks into my non-meat diet i begin having thisdream that kept coming back. I think wasabi gave me weird dreams.

The dreams went something like this:

My date and I walk into an underground Japanese restaurant (like Seizan in the city) and were greeted by an eldery gentlemen who tells us to take a seat.
While were waiting he comes up to me and give us a small plate each, on this plate is a small slither of fresh wasabi.
He says: "Lick this while you are waiting for a table"
So I start licking away and glance around the waiting room. Lined up neatly are other patrons also licking plates of wasabi. Everyone is looking very content and silent.
And even when our table is called and were ordering, i'm still licking this plate of wasabi.

I wake up and I swear the taste the wasabi lingers on my tongue. I had the same dream last night. Morale of the dream: Wasabi makes you have weird dreams.

Now that I'm not longer eating vego, I've laid off the wasabi and i dont get the weird plate-licking dream. I'm tempted to eat some wasabi and see if I get the same dream.

On a completely unrelated topic, I sometimes think the academic gods are always smiling down at me by giving me good timetables for exams (9th, 11th, 15th and 17th of November) but then viciously bringing their wrath onto me when the results came out.

Better start planning for these exams. I would like to do particularly well.

And a very last note: I finally managed to get the A.S.i.A Cocktail Dance of the guys working. Expect it posted up sooner or later. Expect later. The people on youtube give very rude and weird comments.

I would quote some, but they are just mean.

From A-la-la-la-n Chung

Dance Dance and these are the lives you'd love to lead

As promised. The A.S.i.A Committee dance but only the girls section. Its actually quite funny without music. Trust me, think it's weird watching it without the music? Hilarious.

Be good.

From A-la-la-la-n Chung

PS: the title of this entry was inspired by the Fallout Boy song "Dance Dance". Great song.

Shaolin Troupe was good...

...but AN-TONY WAS BETTER!!!

Tonight Josh organised for Jase and I (plus a bunch of randoms) to come along to see the Shaolin, Lion Dancing, Acrobatic Troupe. Sure they "oooh"-ed the kids and "ahhh"-ed the non-martial artists in the crowd with their wu shu and mediocre-acrobatics, but the real delight of the night was AN-TONY!!!

[AN-TONY!! and me]

For those of you who didn't see the show, AN-TONY!! was the host. He was the most confused, lame-0, silly, clutzy host you'd every meet. His accent only added to my amusement. He sweat so much during the introductions which just emphazised his confusion of the show. Notable quotes:

"And now you will see the act: Roller skaters on Round Table"
"Big round applause for: Man Walking Tight Rope"
"Make them welcome: Lion Dancing on Steel pole!"

Ahhh AN-TONY! What a class act...

After the show, I suggested to the fella's that we should go on-stage to get piccies with AN-TONY!! and the monks. AN-TONY!! was really suprised that we wanted to take piccies with him instead of the monks. Shaolin Monks are cool and all, but I seriosuly thought they were just a wu shu school with buzz cuts.

[The fella's and AN-TONY!!]

[Jonny, me, Buzz- Cut-Wu-Shu-dudes, Josh and Jase]

Overall the show was prolly a high 6 to a low 7 outta 10. Good but nothing extraordinary which i hadn't seen already. The bulk of the marks came from AN-TONY!! I got other piccies of the show and all, but who cares? AN-TONY!! MAybe a few bonus points for burning an 11 dollar whole into my wallet.

Cheers to Josh (whose not gay) for connecting me to the $37 discount.

From A-la-la-la-n Chung

PS: Hypothetically; if your loss in Ballajura dont call Lisa or Noelle who live in the area for directions. They aren't useless, just not useful. Call Alarick instead, much more helpful.