Archive for March, 2007:
Crowds of people at Sylvia Park
MT WELLINGTON – A lot of people decided to go shop at Auckland’s latest shopping development at Sylvia Park. Dubbed “Stage 3”, the newest addition of retail and parking space includes Borders where Henry and Cheryl work; Hoyts Cinemas where Dennis works; and Dick Smith PowerHouse where famous people Stacey Daniels and sports dude Tony Veitch were hard at work selling hair straighteners.
Perhaps the most exciting product on offer today came from Sonystyle outlet, with a massive 70” Sony Bravia HD-ready LCD-TV. A hefty price tag of $9999.99 comes with a *free* PlayStation 3. Very big screen.
Other additions to this megamall behemoth included real dining, which was sorely lacking with the previous gastronomic options being food-court stuff. A whole “Dining Lane” included outlets such as Nando’s, Umi Sushi, wagamama, and a new pub called Garrison.
Whilst big and spacious, this bar offered very slow service when Cheryl and I went for a 1/2 hour lunch break. After being told that it would be quick, one ordered pizza failed to materialise after a half hour of waiting. So I got my money back and the food court’s Mango Chicken won (again). Understandably Garrison doesn’t pride itself as a quick delivery expert. But Domino’s would have reached my house with the pizzas in 30 minutes…
So minus points la.
(the neutral journalist died sometime before)
I’m off to Nathan’s engagement do tonight. In the meantime, need to study properly: hope you’re all having a good weekend!
an apple a day.
I’m happy sitting here.
On Friday the Corbans judge came into NYNY, and I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to serve him. I can’t wait to hear what the results will be like!
I ate an apple today for the first time in 2 years. I mean like, headfirst “crunch” experience, you know. Totally refreshing.
Oh and paperclip last night went from dinner to a discussion that repeated the same thing over and over. I’d prefer a movie next time, or something more inclusive (imagine wine buffs reiterating to each other that reds should not be chilled. Again and again. It’d put you off the wine industry given enough time…)
I have this DVD of Battlestar Galactica that Kenneth passed to me. I’m not sure what I do with it. *scratches head*
Food smells really delicious from across the road… but I’ve had my lunch. There are midterms to consider across most of my papers, so I’d better get back to them.
—————
Oh, and apparently Brian’s concert went pretty well. There’s a review here, but it mentions little of grammatical value. You can see my name in the background image, and I’ll be chatting with Brian about how my piece was received.
Have a good day!
(it was a yummy apple)
you’re so damn slippery!
1. Teeth. These are now very SLIPPERY, because glue from my braces are still out and about. You run your teeth along them and they’re so smooth! Need to install lower retainers, but otherwise it’s all good! No braces, no licking around to get rid of bits of rice, I can chew gum again, bite on apples again… it’s a marvellous life.
2. Dad. You can buy her love, but you can’t buy mine. SLIPPERY people drive off without warning and greet me by saying “prepare, 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.” I’ve applied the rule of if you don’t categorically say no, then it’s a yes. Therefore, it’s safe to say you acknowledge the fact (doesn’t matter that I’ve already seen her and you hide your tail like an elephant hides his legs).
It’s not something to be ashamed about, unless of course you’re a traditionalist – oh wait.
A great day to wake up and
SWIM!
Day-light savings meant I got an extra hour’s of sleep after duty managing last night.
Last night I also got a huge rude awakening. I didn’t expect it, but my dad came in for dinner with a nouveau-riche Asian posse. It was weird having to watch my dad have dinner opposite another woman (i.e. not my mum). In fact, it contributed to a pretty foul night, but I got through it without too many repercussions. Locked up and sorted it all out – duty managing = ok!
In the afternoon today, I worked through 10 laps of the pool. I know, it’s not *that* much. But I’m a newbie swimmer, and my technique is pretty inefficient. Something about not being particularly bouyant, nor having a decent left stroke. There’s things that swimming lessons will teach you.
Admittedly, I found it much easier to swim this time with the help of goggles! Hah, those wonderful suctiony implements. They give your eyes a sunken demeanour but make you look that much the better swimmer. Anyways, pretty slow atm. But I’ll get there. Swimming has less impact than running so far, which is why I can cope with it. Will resume hitting the pavement though, once I can be 100% sure my shoulder won’t scream out from the forces involved.
Alright, I’ll stop making this journal impossible to load up! Have a good weekend!
Mummy,
It’s been a year.
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投进妈妈的怀抱
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(Proverbs 31:28).
James Brooke Fantasia getting played
I wrote a violin sonata for my first violin teacher in Kuching sometime during the middle of 2006. He’s prepared the piece with a pianist and is going to give it a premiere performance in about two weeks. Check out his concert poster 8000 km away: (link).
In other news, I’m looking forward to my first duty manager’s shift at NYNY: on St. Patrick’s Day, no less, where everyone will be going crazies in all the bona fide Irish pubs. And probably big cover charges, so by the time I’ve closed up only Nzellig’s will be open again. *exhales*
Anyways, Cheryl’s first day of Borders work. Henry’s 2nd. And I think Dennis had training at some stage. Got work to do, have a good night everyone!
Garages and bands
Had dinner with dad’s “home-cooked” meal last night. A combination of eclectic dishes such as Pizza Hut pizzas, yum char leftovers and a pot of crab and tofu soup that he cooked at Aunt Jennifer’s house. I’m not sure how long he’s staying for this time, but probably long enough to sort out the legal side of things regarding mum’s New Zealand estate.
Anyways, the actual point of this post was that with the help of a Paperclip jam session, I finished a rough sing-through of newest song “Breeze”, as well as a short fun clip with Dennis resembling the start of “Head over Heels” (have a listen to it here). Stylistically, it was popped up and with the double filtering of the guitar chords sounds a bit like the Paul Oakenfold mix of “Starry-eyed Surprise”.
Anyways, it’s Monday. Hope you all have a good week!
practice? violin? today?
My first violin lesson since I pulled my shoulder. Philip was kind enough to work on the two easier pieces, the Mozart and the Franck. I have to say though that for an aggregated 1 hour of practice over two weeks, I did alright!
No nasty after-effects from ballroom last night, made sure to go easy on my shoulder (less crazy flailing movements!). The chacha is excellent at Silver-Bar level: we have this move called the Turkish twist (i think) which makes the girl spin like a washing machine on said cycle!
I’ll see how work goes tonight. Last week was killer, especially when customers decide to order about 10 cocktails in a row. (sad flairing face). But I’m pretty good so far…
I promise I’ll get some music up! Limited server space, so I’ll start by putting up samplettes. Once I make them, of course 
last year of uni
What am I doing this semester?
SPORTSCI301 – More exercise physiology. Calculating your VO2max, stuff like that.
SPORTSCI303 – Biomechanics. Roughly equivalent to 7th form Mechanics in physics, but applied to the human body. Has very interesting sporting and clinical applications.
SPORTSCI307 – What? It’s a sociological paper. You know what that means. Macademia to the max (means Maaaaaarrrgh, ACADEMIA!)… our lecturer holds to pretty strong feminist perspectives.
CHINESE110 – The most interesting paper for me – should be infinitely beneficial since I look yellow, have a fantastic Mandarin accent, but couldn’t read a Chinese roadsign to save my life. This course is for people like me, heh.
Tag me here! At least until I can figure out how to add a tagboard onto this Mac-based website. Easy to use, but hard to change – kinda like a tree on fire.
(not really.)
Have a good Monday!
still sorting it out
Alright, my resting phase continues. I’ve mostly grasped this thing, and so now I’d like to be more ambitious and create some photo libraries! And some samples of my music. Anyways, I’ll get back to it.
Using mac has its disadvantages. Because they like to set everything up for you (you just click and get what you want), it’s pretty hard to step slightly out of their box. So that means no tagboards, no commenting (unless you’re a .mac member), no extensive customisations.
But I’m sure I can find a solution. Hope you’re all having an awesome weekend!