Just a little something

I've managed to procrastinate some more. This one is slightly productive though... I finally figured out image masks on Photoshop. Hehe, I know it's not hard, but I just never got around to it. So here's one of my attempts:

Pretty huh?

New Zealand and the Drinking Culture

After the reply Amy left me on her blog, I thought I'll address this as well as make an update on the proceedings in my life. 

Yes, Amy, I am drinking a lot. There isn't anything else to do in New Zealand though. Seriously. When you go out to town, you drink. When you are free in University, you go to Shadows, the student pub (in Auckland anyway). When you go camping, you drink. I can't explain it too well, but New Zealand has a long established culture of drinking. This is exacerbated when you're: A) a university student; B) an Engineering student (although I'm sure this will provoke comments/blog posts from others telling me that it's not the case). In any case, I will limit these claims to only New Zealand. 

But all that drinking aside, yes I did go out drinking last night. As well as clubbing, but I was drinking first. I went to Deschlers, the rock bar which has become my usual hangout of late. I just like sitting there and having a few quiet (as in I don't speak, because it's actually really loud with all the rock music) drinks. Plus, they make awesome drinks, in particular the gin martini I so favour. 

I then met up with Willow and her crew, that being Daniel, her boyfriend (obviously), some of her friends, Paul, Ashein, Keri and Kim (they hang out in a group called the Tea Party, don't ask me why), and some of her other friends whose names I cannot remember. Yes, I'm bad with names. Yes, I'm worse after a few drinks. Irrelevant, though. 

So anyway, we all make it into the Flight Lounge, despite the huge faux pas on Ashein's part (by wearing running sneakers). Yes, we all got in because of the huge buffer of girls, and also because there were not many people there yet. Then I accidentally spilt some guy's drink. That didn't really matter, since I bought him another. But then it turns out he had the same PIN as I did, so he bought me a drink. Cool huh? I like these little random things.

I'll probably mention this now, but I personally don't know how to dance (as in I can't shuffle, etc). You know, I can move and whatever, so it depends on what people perceive as dance. But yes, I can't/don't dance. Anyway. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, when I do "dance", I'm not discriminatory of any particular way of dancing. Often I enjoy reciprocating my dance partner's moves back on themselves. And I get very dirty when dancing.

So. Yes, I dirty danced with some of Willow's friends, because she didn't want to dirty dance (neither did Tea Party group). I think I got summarily judged by the Tea Party group of friends after that, but meh. Screw them. I was already on my alcoholic high besides. 

Another thing about me is when I dance, I dance with anyone. Anyone. So long as they aren't creepy. So this random dude (I don't know what is it with random dudes dancing with me, eg: Luke at Arnold's party) comes up and starts dancing with me. So I dance with him for a bit too. It might have gotten a little dirty. I think. It's kinda hazy anyway. But I got judged again by "Tea Party" group.  Bugger. Oh no, my world's going to implode *rolls eyes*.

Sorry, I don't think I ever really explained my irritation with that group. Simply put, they're rather judgemental, and as gossipy as the rumour mills from high school. As well as conservative. You can draw your own conclusions.

Night kinda ended sometime at 3am I think. I get this feeling that the Lady Gaga song, "Just Dance" is starting to embody me quite well. Particularly the bits about dancing, having a bit too much, and forgetting the name of the club. Hehe. Quite an early night too, and I have no hangover! Yay! The damage wasn't too bad either... Spent about $100 in drinks just on myself, which I reckon was alright. But I'm quite tired... And I haven't finished studying for those tests yet. 

My holidays aside from that were horrible. Boring, dreary and dull. I had 4 assignments to complete, and 2 tests to study for (both of which I haven't actually finished studying for). I still have one more assignment to complete too (by Thursday). Should be good though. So what's everyone's plans for the weekend? I'm just going to study =\

And back to hitting the books. Ciao.

ARGH! SICK!!!

I'm like feeling the beginnings of a cold. It's annoying. I don't want to be sick. Goddamn Richie. I blame him for passing on his cold to me. Just like I blame him for the cold last year. And the year before that. I always seem to catch it from him every year. Damn.

Oh well. And it's also the day before the Stein. A bad time to be sick indeed. I s'ppose I'll just dose myself with some nasal decongestants and go, then use the weekend to recuperate. Should be fine, hopefully. Oh wait. Round the Bays this Sunday... Oh god... 

I'll figure something out I guess.

Talked to Sam earlier today, and Arnold's party came up. Seems that Luke wasn't Becky's boyfriend. You know, Luke, the guy who asked me if I ever slow danced with another guy. Dude I ended up slow dancing with. Which completely throws some of my assumptions out of the window. Now I wanna know. Damnit. God damn my need to know everything sometimes. And now it's killing me. 

Oh, you don't know what I want to know? I want to know why he asked me that. If I ever slow danced with another guy. ARGH!!!! I'm frustrated.

Bow Ties?

Well Lionel, glad to hear you can tie a bow tie. Join the ranks of people who can tie one (I honestly don't know who else can actually do one apart from us so far though). But if you can't do it (and it was a bit of trouble to learn)... don't despair!  Here's a little picture guide for all you people who still can't tie one:

Hehe. That's my random bit for the day. Ciao!

Colour My World

I was browsing through a while ago when I came across this. I thought it was a rather touching piece. But anyway, go play it. It's not so much a game, more like just one of those "journeys". Rather artistic I must say.

Plus, it moved me. And that's not the easiest thing to do. Here.

Wine for all! Rejoice!

I found a great site that sells wine by the dozen. And it's pretty cheap by the dozen too... You get wine for about $10-14 a bottle, and for pretty good wines too, considering they'd normally retail for about $15-25, and award winning ones at that. 

I'm so stoked. =D

Broken Strings

I was listening to James Morrison's recent album Songs For You, Truths For Me. I really do like James Morrison as a singer. His songs are rather soothing. Anyway, give this song, "Broken Strings" a try if you feel inclined.

You can't play on broken strings

You can't feel anything

That your heart don't want to feel

I can't tell you something that ain't real

The truth hurts

A lie is worse

I can't like it anymore

And I love you a little less than before

Beautiful lyrics. I don't know why, but I like it.

Bugger... Got Tagged

Got tagged by Chris on his blog, so here goes...

1. What’s your ambition?
To succeed and be prominent in what I enjoy and have an interest in. To somehow be in more control of things, but maybe from the shadows rather than directly.

2. Who is more important to you? Friends or boy/girlfriend?
Friends. Although there would be situations when I'd go with the latter.

3. How often do you think of committing suicide?
Its been a long long time since I've done that, although I've had disturbing dreams lately of being overwhelmed by some enemies, or rather being hunted, and then dispatched.

4. Do you think you have enough confidence?

Yeah. Mostly.

5. How many babies you want?
If I can have twins, twin boys and 1 daughter. Otherwise, just 1 of each.

6. Favorite perfume/fragrance?
Currently, lots. Hmm, Infusion d'Homme by Prada and Fahrenheit by Christian Dior are my two most favoured at the moment.

7. What do you think will be your greatest downfall?
My lack of ethics for some things.

8. Do you believe in eternal love?
Eternal... Its too long lasting for me to believe in. Long-lived love? Yeah, definitely. Eternal? Hm, I'm not so sure.

9. What's a perfect girlfriend/boyfriend like to you?
Perfect in that they have little imperfections that I don't care about; that they have some mannerisms that make me love them more; that they make me feel secure and cherished.

10. What are your bad habits?
I have a weakness to spending money on food and clothes.

11. Is there anything you wanna tell the people who hate you?
"I don't really understand why you'd hate me, but really, the only person its affecting is you, not me. So why not get along with me? I'll even buy you a drink."

12. Do you cherish every single friendship of yours?
Yeah, sure.

13. What do you hate most in others?
Lack of initiative and courage/confidence to do things.

14. What do you crave for the most currently?
Money to go on a shopping spree.

15. What features/quirks do you find totally sexy on a guy/girl?
Uhm, hot bod? Eyes, hands, hair. Pretty much, if I find you sexy, I find you sexy. Why ask?

16. Describe the person who tagged you in 7 words.
Asian, amusing, fun, teetotaller, lighter than me!

17.What have you done to yourself to make yourself happy?

Improved my sense of fashion, went to the gym, and get myself noticed.

18. What will you become in another 10 years to come?
Hm, I don't know. With enough luck, rich, successful, and happy? Like a fairy tale?

19. Whats your guilty pleasure? (something you usually wouldn't admit out loud)
I admit to most of my guilty pleasures anyway, so I wouldn't know off the top of my head what guilty pleasures I do not admit out loud.

20. I tag:
No one. Because, unlike Chris here, I have no wish to impose the joys of answering 20 questions on anyone. But... that being said, I tag you if you wish to be tagged.

Of Names That Don't Matter

You could say I'm really bored. Alright, I am actually really bored. So bored that I was thinking of a pseudo alter-ego for myself. Well, since I feel like Damian as my alter ego is kinda odd. Almost as if I've outgrown it ever since I have no idea what Alastair calls me now.

That aside, I decided that I might as well keep my original name in this alter ego, well, at least in its initials, just changing everything around. Hmm, here goes...

G. W. C. L.

Right. Unfortunately, Gabriel is the only name I could settle for with a G. I'm sorry, but I feel weird taking others. Hmm... 

W's tricky. Walker. Warren. Whitlaw (kinda weird, I know, but I like it). Wyatt. 

C's just as bad. Chase. Christian. Corey. Cyril. Cyrus. Gah. 

Maybe this wasn't so good an idea...

L... hmm... meh. Since it's a last name... Logan! Why ever not? It brings to mind Gabe Logan. Hahaha. I actually could live with that. 

Actually, come to think of it... I've already been called Gabe Logan quite a few times anyway. So maybe not so random after all. Apparently Loh sounds somewhat like Logan (owing to it being pronounced as low with a bit of an 'h')

Strange Dreams

I've been having odd dreams lately. They always involve me being a survivor of some sort by freak chance of some apocalyptic event, like an ice age, nuclear fallout, rapture, etc. And the world is always in ruins of some sort, and really dystopian (as one would thus expect). Society has broken down to basic banditry, and violence is rather common. Somehow people manage to cling on to certain oddities of society, such as currency. 

Last night was no different. Every night I have different companions in this dreamworld, and this time it was Richie. I suppose I "entered" the dream at the same time I awoke in it in a groggy state from having been near a patch of some weird gas being emitted from some cracks in the ground. I think it registered in my head at the time that it was carbon dioxide and some other miscellaneous gases, and that they somehow caused nausea and/or extreme drowsiness.

Iain was fashioning some sort of device to let the gas build up around the area, since it's a rather dense gas, into a sort of pseudo-fence about some wider area. I think it was the area we lived in, or maybe it was some sort of place we wanted to protect. It seemed to make sense at the time, but I wouldn't know for the life of me now what would have been in it. Obviously it was important.

So anyway, me and Richie were going down to the nearest settlement to buy food. I don't remember how long we were walking along, or where we were. I do remember that looking at the bush and shrubs about the place, it could have been any temperate country, no jungle stuff. Although it was a little warmer than one would expect for a temperate country. And the earth looked a little baked. I remember things being rather yellowed somehow.

So anyway, along the way are all these decrepit buildings, some of which are in obvious states of disrepair. Somehow there was a carpark which was rather intact, but I'll get back to that later. We get to the settlement which looks a little like some old town center. Here's the one oddity I remember from the dream. Somehow, Burger King and MacDonald's were operating. No idea what they were serving, but I remember regarding it with disdain, although I regard it with some disgust in real life anyway, so maybe that wasn't relevant aye?

We get to some place which behaved like a supermarket I guess. Not that it was anything close to it, kinda weird and stuff. Hm, I guess it was about now I realised that the sun was a little hotter than normal. Me and Richie buy some food, and somehow (I have absolutely no idea why) decided that a good form of protection would be to get some sort of syringes with very strong tranquilisers in them. Sorta like darts I guess. I think it had something to do with us not being to afford guns, or maybe guns were rare. I don't remember why, but I knew it wasn't possible for us to get any. Although now that I wonder about it, why not knives? I guess we must have had knives.

We begin the long trek home, and back through the carpark. Along the way, we realise that we're being followed. Its kind of obvious really, I guess, since he wasn't making any effort about it. Big hulking fellow. Scary in the way that he's just tall and huge. And he had this grin on his face, as if he knew he was going to catch up to us somehow. And he walked fast too. Us hurrying along didn't help much either, since he somehow closed the gap by the time we reached the second flight of stairs.

Here comes the second part which didn't make sense. Richie suddenly said something like... "Hey Gabe,...." followed by a string of numbers. Well, this string of numbers was something in the logic of the kind of numbers that you input into a calculator and turn upside down, and it forms a word? Like how 01134 makes hello? Anyway, no idea what the numbers were, but the gist of it was something along the lines of "We're in trouble". And that we were too.

He had definitely caught up to us, and there was no knowing what he wanted. I guess he wanted our money and food and whatnot, but like we'd want to get robbed, knowing we'd probably die as well. Thing was though, he was kind of big, and there would be no way we could take him down. Unless those tranquilisers would work. And they're pretty obvious, you know. 

We got them out anyway, since you know, might as well try. And he charged. 

I then woke up, feeling utterly confused.

Yeah, no idea where these dreams are coming from, but they're pretty weird. Not weird enough to spook me, but just somewhat disquieting. The strangest thing I found is not that I wake up just as something is about to happen to me, but its more of the fact that I kind of wake up as if I told myself to wake up. I don't really know how to explain it, but it just felt like I had to wake up, and I did. Not that it was a vivid dream, since it didn't feel completely real, and I hear in vivid dreams you can control things around you, but it certainly somehow seemed real, and yet surreal somehow.

Yeah, so that was my weird dream today. Thought I'd share, since well, I got rather bothered this morning over it.

My brief holiday... is ending!

Its sad, but my summer holidays are over. Tomorrow I begin workshop practice, the prelude into my summer job. Then summer work begins, and my holidays at the beach will rapidly drop to nil. My tan might fade because I don't have enough time to wander around and lie in the sun.

It's sad, I know. But oh well, c'est la vie.

Going out for dinner tonight with some mates at the Canton Cafe. Sounds pretty good actually.

I bought Nigella Express (yes, I love Nigella Lawson, though she is no professional chef), but I was honest-to-God debating buying the French Cafe Cookbook instead. The French Cafe is one of the top restaurants in Auckland. And the food looks exquisite, plus you have to book it weeks, if not months in advance. And the hefty price tag associated with it makes it impossible for me to sample its culinary brilliance anytime soon. I did skim through the pages of the cookbook though, and it looks gorgeous. I was literally drooling over the recipes in the book.

I'm still very satisfied with Nigella Express though. It has a lot of great quick dishes to cook on the go, although I've noticed that Nigella is a woman who doesn't seem to mind deriving some of her cooking ingredients from specialist stores and markets, as compared to said professional chefs who prefer making their lovely sauces from scratch. Oh well, differences I suppose. And speed is always sometimes useful. Maybe I'll look through some more books on fast cooking and absorb their little spiel on fast cooking before I form any prejudices on how quick cooking should be done. Although, like I said before, Nigella Express is a treasure trove of a book. I almost wish there were more recipes to be included on it, but I'm being greedy here.

Ooh, I had best get ready to go. I wouldn't want to be late would I?

Hmm...

I noticed this on Scotty's album, so I thought I'd upload it here too. The background to this picture is rather simple. I think it started off with Adrian giving Ange a head massage, then Kane (not pictured) wanted one, but Adrian said it would be weird or something. 

Then Adrian proceeded to give Tony one, making Kane annoyed/jealous. Yeah, whatever. Then I got one from Ange with Tony lying next to me on Ange's lap who was lying in Adrian's lap. So here it is...

Open Survey (of sorts)

Alright, out of general curiosity, I'll just leave this one open indefinitely, so reply whenever. I've noticed that engineering students in New Zealand tend to dress badly, or at least poorly when compared to Science majors, Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, etc. How true is this over wherever you are? Bear in mind that I mean most, not all =)

I have a feeling Singapore's exempt from the rule, since it's a little too hot. And how do I define poorly dressed? Hm, that's a hard one. I dunno, I guess they just look sloppy in a way? Or a general refusal to wear anything but t-shirts? I can't define it because it's based on what I see. Plus I'm bad at explaining stuff (as I've already established in my interactions with fellow students during lessons). Anyway, gotta get back to last minute packing. Ciao!

Oooh, the drama...

...that is Gossip Girl. What else did you expect? Yeah, I finally found the time to watch it today. Makes me wanna see the next episode. Random, huh? Whoever thought I'd be one to watch Gossip Girl?

Oh my god, this seriously takes the cake. Or maybe I find insensitivity amusing.

Food and drink?

The holidays are ending... I've still got tons of work, and my study devoted to MEDSCI 142 (test next Wednesday) amounts to just 2 hours. I'm fucked... On the other hand, I guess I've been de-stressing a little. It does help quite a bit, I must say. I've been pretty tired recently.

Although, recently, I've been having sufficiently strong cravings for a nice steak and maybe a bottle of Sam Adams to have with. And additionally, I'm also wanting to have a nice glass of single malt scotch, like Macallan's Fine Oak range or Talisker, or even  Aberlour. Whatever, you know. I just want a good scotch I can appreciate. I'll have to add getting one to my list, after all the other things first though. Like a new cellphone. Hmm, what to get, what to get...

I just read Sandra's post, and even though I had dinner two hours back, I'm getting hungry again looking at the Big Breakfast picture she posted there. ARGH! I'm craving foods.

I think I might probably take Malcolm out for dinner one of these days since he's been so nice recently, and well, I feel like taking him out for a treat. Hmm, the steakhouse down at the Harbour sounds like a good place, ah?

P/S: Off-topic, but recently one of the ladies at the department store downtown gave me a tester for a relatively recent Guerlain fragrance, Guerlain Homme. I must say I quite like it, its got green tea, lime, rum, bergamot, and a few other things. Pretty bland, but still not bad. I still like Mitsuoko and Vetiver by Guerlain more though. Or even Fahrenheit by Christian Dior.

Strange Things...

It appears that in Japan, anything is possible. Including paid seducers and relationship counselors who help to either break a couple up or reconcile them... Yeah, odd huh? I found this article when I was trawling through the web, over here. I guess its a bit of an interesting read.

Found this on Wondermark.com... Its called #291: In which Notability in determined:

I intentionally wrote it out to be an illegible mess.
You wanted me to write you letters, but I'd rather lose your address
and forget that we'd ever met and what did or did not occur.
Sitting in the station, its all a blur
of dance hall hips, pretentious quips,
a boxer's bob and weave.

Rule No. 108

Rule number 108: The road to hell is not paved with good intentions. The road to hell is paved with smooth-jazz CDs, herbal teas, John Tesh specials, and low-fat cheese.

I found this off a book from Esquire Magazines, The Rules.