I spent last Thursday catching up with an old mate of mine Chau. It was great, just seeing how he was doing and wondering around teh city at various game shops. I swear I basically know all the video game shops from the 3x EB Games shops to JB....etc...

We got to talking about random stuff, and for the first time I thought that maybe I should go and study Psychology if I can't get a job in the business/IT field. It just seems interesting to see the way people think, and why they do so. But it was just a chain of thought, that's about it for the moment!

We had Japanese Curry at Kadoya for lunch. It was pretty good, but level 5 out of their 10 levels probably is my limit of hotness. I can't really eat that hot food, I just get heated up for no reason. :S Here's a pic of it below:

Hey guys, did you miss me? xD

I'm so relieved and relaxed now after what would probably be my worst 3 exam block that I've had in the 3 years that I've been at uni. I'm pretty confident I passed all of my exams, but whether or not I did better is another question. I'm determined to do as well as I can for my final one as well, but I basically took the whole day off today just to do nothing, which was pretty awesome, since I haven't done it for so long!

So in my day of nothingness, here is what I did:

• Cooking! I tried to cook some dishes as my parents are currently overseas, and it made me realise how much I actually enjoy it. I just don't know how to haha. Cooking potato salad was fun, and tasted alright. My first time pasta was easy to cook, and I basically learnt most of it when I was in America. If I had more opportunities to cook, I'd love to cook more! My creations are posted below.
  
• PS3ing! I got through 2 more chapters of Valkyria Chronicles. It's pretty fun, but I got stuck again lol. I hope to be in front of the anime, and plan to finish it this upcoming holidays!
• TVing! Managed to spend a lot of time watching food and music programs on TV. There was one from Taiwan, and made me want to go and visit there just to try out the different dishes they offer there compared to here.
• Animeing! I watched a few more episodes of K-On! and I must say it is pretty enjoyable and addicting at the same time. Mio ftw!

Just wanted to make an entry about Mother's Day last Sunday! It was a great day to have lunch with the family, and we ended up going to Oyama in Chinatown. A tad expensive, with Katsudon's going for almost $20. It tasted good, but just a tad exxy for my liking! I ended up getting a card for mum too. I wish I had more money, I'd make sure she'd have a better pressie!

For dinner we ended up having dinner with my cousin, and their NZ friends that have migrated over here. I managed to meet Jeff who happened to be in my year and went to the same school as Wendy, my formal partner. It's such a small world, and everyone knows someone else that knows everyone. It's great!

Hello again! It's been three days since I last posted. Nothing too exciting has happened, just making the final preparation for my Gaming party on tomorrow! Checking out that the gaming components work, batteries charged etc etc. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a successful day, hopefully all the preparation has paid off! Other news:

• Ate Mi Goreng two days in a row - I've forgotten how good they are! I think I can keep eating them for a few more days still, but it's so bad for health. I guess everything that is bad is always the best tasting!
• Trying to study, it's kinda hard since my party is on tomorrow, it's hard to concentrate lol. I need heaps of catchup, but we'll see how we go. :)
  
• Went to Black Jack's the other day in the Treasury Casino in the city. Not bad, as we had a buy 1 get 1 free voucher, so 10 bucks for a buffet was pretty good! It was only valid until today, so I should've told you guys about it earlier! A pic of the different kinds of food offered there below. =)
  

Hey guys! I've had a hella awesome day yesterday, and managed to squeeze heaps of stuff into it. :) A quick rundown:

• Started the day off doing some work XD Basically just worked with my group in our marketing assignment - basically have a clear outline as to where we have to go with it.
• This was followed by lunch with my newly found foodie friends, Sunny and Virginia. We were going to go to Oishii, but unfortunately luck wasn't on our side, and it was closed. Sunnybank Oriental was where we ended up going. I'm glad that we all had a great meal, despite the disappointment.
• Afterwards, I managed to kill some time, and met up with Yoshi, Anna, and Mio - three people I met at a networking function recently, might go karaoke with them sometime next week. ^_^
  
• Then was the fun bit - Karaoke! I dunno what attracts me to it, it's just always heaps of fun. Met a few new people there too, hopefully I can go again sometime soon. :)

Hey guys! 4 weeks already! Guess I gotta start studying~ I have one mid sem in about a week and a half, so it'd be cool too. Things that happened this week:

• Went and took my Korean friend Sunny to grab some Chinese food (was disappointed that they didn't have soft shelled crabs on the night =( ) I'm glad she enjoyed what we ate there though~
• Went to Kate's 21st BBQ Party. It was great catching up, and meeting some new people there too. First time I cooked at a BBQ haha, but forgot to bring a camera along, I'd learn my lesson for next time.
• Job interviews, going to do one with Deloitte this week, hope all goes well~ I'm currently applying for a Technology Consultant, just something I thought would be suitable, and would incorporate Commerce with IT stuff too!

We ended up meeting our Japanese friends, the Shidara's, and took them to various places in the last few days I was in HK. These included:

• Going to the Victoria Peak (Highest and most expensive point in HK)
• Visiting the Stanley Markets
• Visiting the Convention Centre!
  
• Catching the Star Ferry
• Going to Ocean Park!
• Eating Peking Duck!
• Eating HK Brekky!

Here is a picture from the Victoria Peak with the famous tram coming up!

Here is a view of the popular Stanley Market!

The HK Convention Centre.

The star ferry to cross the river.

Sealions at Ocean Park!

Panda at Ocean Park!

Peking Duck!

An HK Brekky with various bread from the bakery!

On Friday it was my friend, Misa's birthday. Her friends and I decided to go and organise High Tea as it was something she always wanted to go to. We went to the Brasserie at Stamford Plaza, near the Botanical Gardens, next to the Brisbane river. They had nice views there too. It was $27.50, I thought it was alright, they had some sandwiches too, but these cakes look better!

Above is a picture of my cup of Latte - a bit too strong for what I'm used to, but it was good! It was something different from previous birthday celebrations I've had in the past, and I'm glad to have experienced it.

Ah yes, another week has past since my trip from the USA. Life is slowly settling down, and slowly settling back down to something that I'm more familiar with. My mum came back 2 days ago, and I was glad to finally have good food last night. Lately I've just been keeping myself busy with the PS3, mainly with Initial D, and Prince of Persia. I hope everyone had a very Happy New Years, and best wishes for 2009!

Speaking of which, here are my new year's resolutions (writing it down so I can follow them):

• Learn how to cook 9 different dishes from mum
• Learn how to sing well (I realised that I love karaoke now!)
• Finish 9 games - any console!
• Maintain a clean room (This would probably be the most difficult one)
• Save enough money, to go on a nice trip/meetup with friends back in the USA!
• Meet a lot more new people, and becoming a more international person I guess.
  

Now that I'm back home, I have heaps of time to blog about stuff. It has taken me a few days to start working on it, but here it is. This is how I spent my last days of the USA:

• Having a Christmas dinner with Kelvin, Yao and Kristen at Kelvin's house - we had rib eye steak, with beans and salad, topped with apple cider/wine. It tasted really good, and it was great seeing their look of surprise when I gave them all a small present each. It was basically a variation of chocolates, a Xmas card, and a picture of me and them.
  
• We went to karaoke, Yao, Kelvin, and I. This involved mainly singing Chinese songs - it was great fun, and made me realise how much I love singing and going there. Too bad many of my friends here aren't into it.
• Had some Korean food - still need to get used to Kimchi haha.
  
• Went bowling: this was the first time in a while since I last ten pin bowled. I won the first game, but came 2nd in the second game. I'm rusty =(.
  
• On the last day, we just went and had some greek food - it was interesting kind of cuisine, pics will be up later!

I really miss you guys, I hope we'll meet up soon, and that I won't be forgotten! You guys have made my experience in the USA worth that while. ^_^

What can I say? It's nice to have a change for a while, taking it easy, relaxing, before going back home. We did quite a few things in the past few days, from seeing snow a few minutes from the campus, to going to the beach, and to going to the arcade as well as eating some sushi! I can't really ask for more, spending time with friends everyday. Better make the most of it. :) Here are some pics:

Oishii ne~

I think I'll upload the pics after Thursday, when most of my assessment has been done.

My last two days in LA were a lot more quiet and relaxed. It involved going to have some decent Chinese food that I haven't had for ages, as well as visiting the Getty Museum, and just car tours here and there.

We went to the Getty Museum, having no idea what it was. It ended up being an art and architectural exhibition that was interesting. Unfortunately, I'm not really a person that can appreciate art that well, but I have taken a few pics here and there, for all you readers who appreciate art.

Afterwards, we just had a car tour around Santa Monica, especially the beach. Unfortunately, the two ladies at the back were a bit exhausted, so all we did was drive past different areas.

For dinner, we ended up getting Bo Zai Fan, which is claypot rice. It was not the best Chinese food, but a lot better than what I have had here in the Bay Area. We also had some of the Chinese Chinese food with rice that I miss so much. Afterwards we had bubble tea - they call it Boba here which I was confused at before. It wasn't anything special to me, but a good change from soft drinks.

For our last day in LA, we just ended up getting Yum Cha Brunch, they like to call it Dim sum over here. It was good to have Yum Cha after so long, almost 3 months now! Kinda bored of the Dining Hall food they served here already. My favourite Dim Sum would have to be Siu Mai - a pork and shrimp dumpling that is a staple to the Yum Cha Diet.

We ended up departing for Santa Cruz at about 2pm, and managed to get back at about 1am. I really appreciate the work the Kelvin put in to driving us there and getting back safely. He almost fell asleep on the wheel though mind you.

This LA trip made me realize how sacred time is, because before you know it, it is all over. I thought it would have been a nice slow paced, 4 day holiday, but it went past just like a flash. It was good to actually get to know my three friends, but reality shows that all good things must come to an end. I hope that we will at least keep in contact, and go on another trip again some place else around the world. But I might just be a little bit optimistic, but who knows, it could come true.

I think for the next few days in LA, I'll do my best to blog every morning. Images to come later, currently having trouble uploading some of them. =P

OMG, I finally arrived in LA. There were 3 others that went with me, Kelvin, Yao, and Kristen. After leaving at around 4ish from Santa Cruz, it took us roughly 8 hours to get here. I guess it didn't help that we were basically following the peak hour traffic to arrive.

Horrible traffic!

Hello guys! How is everyone doing? I hope all is well. Week 10 now, it's almost the end of the quarter with Thanksgiving day around the corner too. I basically did not get up to much this week, due to assignments slowly catching up and getting the better of me. Next week should be more interesting perhaps! Here is a quick summary of the week:

• Assignments - they're just so annoying!
• Went to the Italian Culture night, had homemade pizza and tiramisu, check the pics below!
• Had sushi again at totoro! Had some pretty decent sushi too, check the pics.
  
• Spent all of the weekend help painting a soup kitchen's kitchen. Before and after pics below as well.

Homemade pizza, Italian style! It was pretty good I must say...
a lot better than Dining Hall haha.

Homemade Tiramisu!

Me and Marin at a random dining hall night.

Dragon Sushi at Sushi Totoro!

Sujin, Alice and me at soup kitchen

Before

After

Anita and her crew that helped with painting.

Week 9, 5 weeks to go! OMG. Time flies! It only just felt like I last blogged yesterday. I've had an alright week, assignments getting the better of me nowadays. I'm still trying to enjoy every moment of here though. I think I'll start to take some more photos from here on, since I basically only have 3 weeks before exams start, and I won't be able to see some of the many cool people I have met in the past 2 months for a long time. Sad, isn't it? But such is life. I really do hope to travel sometime to catch up with these friends that I have made, and wished that the time in the US was longer, though I do miss staying in my own room, with a bit more space. =P Of course, the people too. Okay then, here's a wrap-up of what happened in the past week:

• Going to the Computer History Museum - despite it sounding geeky, it was pretty interesting to see that something so small in computers nowadays, had to have a room to replicate it.
• Going to a Chinese Hot Pot party - involved going to a restaurant place they hired out, and eating some "Da Bin No" which I haven't had for a while. It was good, but there was just too many people to actually enjoy it in my opinion. Good to meet some new people though. =)
• Eating out at Sushi Totoro - despite being based on the character Totoro, I thought it was alright, and more or less similar to I Love Sushi. They had a lot of fusion sushi, as well as soft shell crabs! For those of you that don't know soft shell crabs are crabs that have just changed shell, so the insides of the shell is soft, and when fried. It was good, but I still prefer Oishii at home.
  
• Visiting San Jose! It was the first time I went to a shopping mall, the one in Capitola didn't count. I went to Valley Fair - there were more than 250 stores, but discounts were nowhere near what Gilroy had to offer. =) I also went to get some asian groceries - how I miss mi goreng! I splurged and shared some uni with Kelvin - uni being one of the more expensive of Japanese sashimi. We finished the day off with having some ramen too. I had a Kotteri Miso Ramen. I reckon it was pretty good, but the wait for it was a little bit long. =( Otherwise it was an enjoyable day in San Jose!

The first ever computer.

Fusion sushi at Totoro.

Maya, Me and Patty @ Totoro

Kotteri Miso Ramen

The Japanese supermarket!

The Asian supermarket!

Xmas stuff at Valley Fair!

Hot Pot food!

Uni!