I had an awesome long weekend, doing a lot of fun things. These include:

• first visiting EB and seeing various people dress up as star wars characters, mind you it was a bit crowded
• Went to Timezone with Yoshi, Mio and Anna, it was great fun to ダンレボ(DDR) and try out the new Initial D. I found the physics really different compared to AS4, being that you can't just swerve the wheel to drift, it feels a little more "realistic", and you have to brake in this version. It was still great fun playing vs mode too. I was lucky that my cousin's Timezone card works too, so managed to get some cheap games as well. =D
  
• Played a few rounds of SFIV with Billy online, I have a long way to go in order to be good at it, apparently I'm a tad predictable lol. It's still pretty fun, though I want to get a new internet connection ASAP! We'll see how that goes.

Finally, the holidays are among us, it's Easter! I thought I'd do a quick summary of my week leading up to it.

• Did a tax law exam - kinda nasty, with me not remembering enough cases; should've studied more, blame the job applications! (I just wanted an excuse lol)
• Went to a BDO Kendalls job interview session, it was pretty intense with individual interviews, group activities, an accounting test, and a written piece.
  
• Got rejected by Deloitte - I guess I probably should've prepared more with my examples to answers of questions, but at least I know what to do now!
• Project group for my final IT subject has been decided - so far it's alright, but we'll see how we go in terms of workload etc!

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!

The past two days I've spent wandering around looking at various computer stuff, gaming, and anime! I'd post some HK pics, except that for some strange reason I cannot read the memory stick from the camera. I'll try and find a solution sometime soon. :)

I went to the popular Golden Computer Centre, an awesome place full of computer components, from monitors to systems to laptops to different types of accessories. I went to the adjacent shopping place too, known as Wong Gum. It used to be a popular place for copied stuff, but now it consists of gaming and pc accessories at the bottom. I managed to finally get SF4, but it wasn't unfortunately. xD

Another computer centre is the Mongkok Computer Centre. It has 3 levels of shops, but is nowhere near the scale of the Golden Computer Centre. Still has most of what you need, just specific components might be hard to get there.

Kwong Wah Street is popular for plastic model kits, from Gunpla (Gundam model kits), to various car ones. By wondering around there, I started to get an appreciation for this hobby, and the time and effort people put in to build and collect models. I ended up getting two kits, a 1/144 scale HG Exia model, as well as an FD3s Initial D model.

Speaking about models and other hobbies, for those of you who love anime/gaming stuff, be sure not to miss out on going to the Sino Centre. It is kind of the HK alternative to Akiba (Akihabara) that I know of there, with heaps of anime goods, manga, a few gaming stores, and even heaps of Japanese CD shops too. I love to visit there at least once everytime I go back! I ended up getting two posters there, a BoA one and a Street Fighter IV one too. My room's less boring now thanks to it. =) There is also an "Animate" shop nearby that sells heaps of figures, and gunpla too. It's worth a visit if there's a model/figure that you really want.

If you're in the mood for other collectibles that aren't necessarily anime related, you should visit the CTMA centre, or the Trendy Zone. They have various plastic models for sale from Hello Kitty keychains, to unique original ones too. Visiting these places reflects on how much the kid inside all of us resides even to this day!

Well, I've finally set foot in HK and I must say not much has really changed. Our plane got delayed by 30 mins due to some technical problem, but on the whole it's been pretty smooth. We ended up catching a taxi to the hotel and got back around 10pm HK time. I noticed compared to last time, was that the taxi fares went up from 15HKD to 18HKD, and increments by $1.50 instead of $1.40. I guess it can't be helped, everything is getting a whole lot more exxy nowadays!

Other than that, I've jsut been borrowing a neighbouring wifi, and waiting until the shops open! I'll leave you guys with a cool pic I took from the Tsing Ma Bridge, on the way from the airport. :)

It's finally hit me, the fact that I'll be almost there in HK by this time tomorrow. Although it's only a week, I think it would be still an awesome time. It makes me wonder if my view on travelling has changed since going to exchange. Who knows, I guess we'll see! I've made a shopping list already, and this list isn't definite, it might change as time goes by!

• Street Fighter IV for PS3!
• Gundam 00 Gunpla (probably Exia or Dynames HG, we'll see)
• Initial D Model Car
• HDMI cable
• HDMI -> DVI adaptor
• Long USB Cable
• PS3 Fan

Hey guys!

Just thought I'd give some life into this blog, with a new template, just 2 weeks a bit late from the start of this CNY. I went for a simplistic look, hopefully less cluttered than the old one where I tried to stick as much stuff in it as I could.

And on with life, what have I been up to? Not much really, I saw Underworld 3 - which was a prequel but I've never seen any of the earlier ones, so I might be missing out on something. It was an alright action flick, just that because it is set with a vampire setting, the lighting was pretty dark, and in doing so it was hard to see what was going on. The camera angles made it worse because it would move a bit too quick for my eyes. It lasted for about an hr and a half, and we saw it at Southbank, so it was alright for $6.50.

Other than that, just been keeping myself occupied with the ps3. I'm anxiously waiting for Steet Fighter IV - it just spells out awesome! Probably my first PS3 game I bought on the day of release. Here is the latest trailer I found on Youtube!



I'll keep everyone posted when there are more exciting things to blog about! :)

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, it's that time of year. Happy Chinese New Year!
身體健康!
龍馬精神!
心想事成!
新年快樂!
Hope you all have a wonderful year of the Ox.

We had a family friends party on CNY Eve. It was good fun, with the PS3 and Karaoke too; not too mention the awesome food there! Kudos to the parents who made the food.

I spent the new year just with my group of high school friends, and just went to the GAME ON Exhibition in Southbank. It was just great fun playing some 2 player games including DDR, Street Fighter 2, and 5 player Bomberman on the SEGA Saturn. Great day in all, just to spend time with friends.

Other than that, I've just been catching up back with anime. Code Geass is what I'm watching, and it's pretty awesome. Kinda like an alternative Death Note. Highly recommended!

So, what have I been up to in the past 2 weeks of not blogging? Many things, but the most exciting being my friend from Shanghai that I met during exchange in the USA. I'll cover this in a separate entry. Other than that, it's just been hanging out with friends in the city: from watching movies to going to arcades.

We watched Yesman. I thought it was one of Jim Carrey's better comedy films, as it wasn't over the top. It was good for a laugh, and had some wonderful hilarious moments too. Unfortunately we had to sit in the 3rd row seat, and our necks were pretty sore by the end of the film. Still, it wasn't bad for a $6.50 film!

Afterwards we got our HK souvenirs from Billy - solar powered torch keyring. It was pretty cool, could be helpful in blackout situations! We tried to go to Replay, only to see that it's been converted to Timezone. I couldnt use my remaining tokens unfortunately, but it's ok. I can use my cousins gold card now! :)

Other than the above, I've just been spending some time with the PS3 - managed to finish Prince of Persia finally. It's a great game, and it's worth the money, despite the adventure being a tad short. Heaps of fun, well recommended for anyone looking for an engrossing story, and wonderful artwork in terms of the cel-shading graphics. =)

The past two days, I've been blowing my money with spending time with my mates.

I went and saw The Day the Earth Stood Still - it was an alright sci-fi flick, probably average, not good, not bad lol. I also dropped by Replay, to see if my Initial D skills have improved, but I found out that the wheel that I have is so much smaller than the one they have at the arcades. It was still fun, but hard to adjust imo. Hopefully someday, I'll be able to master it. Had a go at DDR too, but it sucked cos I had pretty bad shoes, and I haven't played for a while, was good exercise though.

Yesterday I went to Game On with Misa. It was pretty interesting to check out the games over there. Unfortunately there you couldn't take your camera in with you lol. They had many classics, just not the classics that I'm that into. It was fun, and well worth it for those of you interested in games. After that we just walked around Southbank, and I had a go at spinning these plastic plates too. My wrist was too stiff and took a long time to be able to do it. After that we just wondered around the place. We had the Happy Hour special at Gelatissimo which was 50% off. Too much sugar for me in my opinion, so not something to do on a daily basis. ^^"

Just spending time with friends is great fun, and I love it. Just wish there was more time in the world!