The night we touched the sky

Mr Canon pinching the moon

The Faces
Mr. Canon, Ms DT, Mr DG

I once came upon a bridge and what I saw, came to life.

A Brother's Birthday

.A Sleepy Trip Home.
What started as a quite simple afternoon outing quickly turned into a quick-paced, joyful and highly eventful evening! The day started with a usual trip up to Sydney Road again, with the regular gang, joined by Mr. Canon to buy some food for the household. As we couldn't meet up today for our regular brunch outing, we decided to hang out yesterday to relax and take a break from the anguishing academic world.

Photo shoots of those on the tram, sleeping away

After having bought lunch at Kebab House and buying the necessary items, we boarded the tram and nestled ourselves at the very back. Each took their own solitude: some through soothing music whilst others caught some ZZzzs... their heads bopped up and down against the tram's window pane as it made its way down the street with each stop getting closer to home.

As we were about to depart our ways with Mr Canon, having promised to meet up again in the evening for dinner, Ms SG sprained her ankle. Her misfortune was a result of her buoyant need to hop and skip across the street, consequently she landed and rolled her ankle, thus sprained her right ankle.

We rested at home, taking the opportunity to relax and by nightfall, the house was stirring with recovered energy. Dinner with Mr. Canon was in ChilliPadi.

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.A Brother's Birthday.

For hawker-style food that can be found in almost all Asian cosmopolitan cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, at cheap prices I think many people may find ChilliPadi quite a pricey place. But alas, I think we have to take into consideration other influencing factors such as availability of products, location of restaurant, rent and such as well.

That being said, ChilliPadi is a nice place to dine albeit expensive. Food was great, as said before, serving hawker-style food with an up-class dining experience. It's quite popular with the Asians, I've noticed. Perhaps it's because the food reminds them of home?

Ms DT's Nasi Lemak with Beef Rendang

I ordered the roti chanai with beef rendang: beef simmered tender in a spicy concoction of spices and coconut milk. Ms DT ordered herself the Nasi Lemak with beef rendang while Ms SG, Mr DG and Mr Canon spoilt themselves over ChilliPadi's version of kuey teow basah- Basically something similar with just a fancier name in it's menu... teehee

Roti Chanai with Beef Rendang

Chilli Padi's version of Brunei's kuey teow basah

Deserts Galore

Following dinner, we took the opportunity to have a little birthday celebration there, secretly ordering a nice chocolate mouse for Kim, who turned 21!

Lighting his birthday mousse

Happy Birthday Kimi-San! 21 years have brought on a lot of lessons on life for all of us. Hope you had a wonderful birthday and wish you the best in life. Enjoy all of life's simple pleasures and never forget to smile! Happy 21st Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kimi-San

Memories

Just for Laughs

"And that laugh that wrinkles your nose touches my foolish heart"

- Dorothy Fields, 1936

Eggs on Death Row

A Student's Life

Sorry for the lack of updates folks, I'm afraid I'll be out of the blogging world for a while in preparation for the exams coming up next month...

Here's a sneak peek on the daily activities of a student's life>This was taken yesterday, during a quick study session at Ms Croc's apartment.

Dusts from the school books may lead to the blockages in our brains...After sticking our noses in those books so much...That might explain why we look like we're going crazy in the photos... tee hee...

Well, I'm off to study again. Wish me luck for the exams!
Please note, there might be some random posts on my blog, however, have no fear! It's my dismal attempts on help myself memorise some stuff... tee hee..

For those on the same boat as I am, don't forget:

STUDY HARD & LIVE HARDER

makes us all the more human...

On that note, I bid you adieu. Good luck and All the best!

Ms Crocs & Ms DT after their study session

I can. I will. I must

"Every failure, obstacle or hardship is an opportunity in disguise. Success in many cases is failure turned inside out. The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity.
Eliminate the negative attitude and believe you can do anything.
Replace 'if I can, I hope, maybe'
with
'I CAN, I WILL, I MUST"

- Mary Kay Ash

A stroll down the alley...

.The Brunch.
It was becoming our typical Sunday venture: trying out one of Melbourne's many eateries as an excuse to get to together, catching up on good old times whilst creating many new more. Last Sunday was no different. Together with Ms DT, Mr DG and Mr Canon, our hungry famished souls boarded onto a tram headed up north in search for brunch - poor Mr Canon, he was lugging his camera and computer gear in an enormous backpack throughout the whole time. On the tram, he was trying so hard to hold onto the the bars to prevent himself from swaying about and consequently avoid crushing us in the process...tee hee...

Our venue of the day: The Nasi Lemak House - a small yet cosy hawker-style cafe that served what some people considered to be as a very popular Malay breakfast rice dish, the NASI LEMAK (click on the link for further explanation on what the dish is). The restaurant was a nice place and I could see as the day went on that it was quite popular with the locals around. The food was great albeit big in portion for 1 person! It was only from this restaurant that I learnt there were so many different types of nasi lemak.

Ms DT decided what to eat....

Hungry, hungry folks...

My original intention was to put my taste buds on an adventure, unfortunately my spice tolerance sucks so I was confined to ordering the nasi lemak traditional: steaming hot rice cooked in coconut cream served with spicy red hot sambal, fresh cucumbers, crispy fried chicken drumstick, egg omelet and a mixture of lightly fried ikan pusu together with roasted peanuts. Mr Canon and Ms DT ordered hor fun while Mr DG got the nasi lemak kelantan which had the fried chicken covered in a spicy-sweet sauce.

It was a filling brunch as we all ate till our hearts content and little pot bellies filled. Quite a good Malay brunch, i must say, after which the four of us headed down towards Melbourne Central as Mr Canon was keen on taking us the RMIT's bookstore to view some of their visual media books.

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.The Shoot.
So along we went, treading down the road towards the RMIT bookstore. However, it soon became apparent that fate had other things in mind for us... for on our way there, we had stumbled upon an alley: An Urban Street Gallery, where walls upon walls, there were marked graffiti designs of sorts. So is graffiti an art or is it just defacement of public property?
Well... it depends who you ask I suppose...

But back to the story above...
We came across this colourful alleyway... and armed with Mr Canon's camera... I decided to shoot away. This proved to be a good stress reliever for us all. Never had I had so much fun in a photoshoot. Ms SG showed up later on and that added to the fun as well.

Behind the scene pictures...

Mr Canon against the graffiti

Something insane happened though, i call it the influx of creativity:

which resulted in this:

Good fun = Good photos

In our case, over 400 photos. To view more, click
Treading onto an alley1
Treading onto an alley2

Do you see the Ghost?

Laughter, the best medicine after all.

I was stuck in limbo today, found myself wanting neither to play nor work. The weather was horrid too: icy cold, wet, dank... grey... gloomy - not something you want to wake up to and see in the morning. He he. I was hesitant on leaving the warm comforts of my bed, but alas....

So i decided to roam the world of YouTube, in search of something that would brighten my day... and I found it!

This video was posted by a user, BrokerTim, a year ago of his father's voluntary participation in a comedy show. It had me laughing to tears! I swear, watching this video there is nothing else to do but to join in the laughter. Enjoy!

Welcome to Comic World

Well, quite sure you can tell: I have been away from the blogging sphere due to my academic commitments... Exams are coming quite soon, so before I begin rambling off I would like to say Good Luck to everyone and All the Best.

The motto:
Study Hard, Live Harder....
(gives you all the more reason to study extra extra hard!)

Sadly nothing exciting has been going on as of late, mostly because all of us have been busy with school. Day in and day out, we commit ourselves to the daily habit of sticking our noses deep within the dusty, wrinkly pages of school texts and sorts, absorbing new information and new ideas into our brains like overused sponges, often at times till the wee hours of the morning, exhausting the chugging brain to maximum capacity (sounds familiar?). So people: Don't forget to take a break.

I know during times like these it's a bit hard, especially when we've got so much to cover but allowing your mental chatter to ease off for half an hour or so will benefit you greatly in many ways. Start by simple things: Pick up a random book in the library, Go for a short stroll by the park, Call a friend, Take a nap, Play a game, Read the newspaper, Buy lunch and eat it by the riverside with the ducks (ok it's winter, there are no ducks... haha)... but u get what i'm trying to say: preoccupy your brain with something else 2 think about. It's a refreshing experience and it works out the other parts of the brain. So by the time you head back to study-mode, your brain is refreshed to start all over again.

For me, if I'm not in class.... I'm furiously studying away within the deafening silent confines of the library. Seeing everyone else so focused and quiet puts my studying mode into gear. So once in a while I take a break, unfortunately I can't leave the library for fear that I might lose my good study spot (you'll be surprised how jam-packed it can get). So what do i? Explore the visually stimulating world of Photoshop.

Adobe's Photoshop is actually a really good programme and I enjoy working with it immensely. It's sort of like a vehicle which helps your expand your creativity and, if you really know what you're doing, create works of wonders. I came across this good website: Good Tutorial. There you'll find TONS of cool stuff you can do with Photoshop and other design programmes. Want 2 know what I experimented with?

The Retro-Comic World

Something I'm still working on in slow progression... Finished product will be posted
Photo taken by CameraGuru

The Super Heroes Pose
Photo taken by CameraGuru

The Retro Guitar in Comic Style
Photo taken by Ms DT

Foolin' with Phothoshop for comic book effect
One day when I have more time... I'll make a comic strip...
I hope...

Finger-Lickin' Sunday: The KFC Adventure

Yesterday will certainly be a Sunday that I will hardly forget: Just the night before, Mr Canon had called up Ms DT to invite the city gang (comprised of Ms SG, Mr DG, Kim, Ms DT and myself) to join him and the Prahran boys for brunch - breakfast & lunch - at KFC in Gowrie, a 30mins train ride away from the city. Let's just say: never in my life have I woken up so early, travelled so far and for so long for a bucket of KFC chicken, alongside 8 MEGA-hungry people keeping me company haha... not that I'm complaining... as they always say: it's not where you're going that makes the adventure, it's also what happens on the way there, right? ... And PLENTY of things happened on the way! Furthermore, Mr Canon recently just purchased some new Sigma wide angle lens... and being the avid photography student that I am... i couldn't help but take up the challenge! hehe

The Prahran Boys
CameraGuru, Mr Canon, Mr Z
Liverpoolian

Our meeting with the Prahran boys was within the busy walls of Flinder's station. Upon our arrival, there was a flurry of pink everywhere as the day coincided with Mother's Day and Melbourne's walk for Breast Cancer. So whilst waiting for the boys, everyone decided to head their own way to get a little wake-me-up munchies. Ms DT headed for her daily morning dose of coffee, Kim and his sushi, Mr DG & Ms SG with their hot chocolate and finally Mr Canon with Melbourne's renowned Spanish CHOCO CHURROS!!

In case you don't know what churros are, allow me to explain: According to this churro hotspot chocochurro, these lovely edibles are Spain's "enchanted doughnuts". A great Spanish tradition, churros are basically bread-like dough that's fried to a crunchy perfection with a soft melt-in-your-mouth bite inside. These lovely crispy edibles are traditionally coated in a mixture of cinnamon sugar or otherwise are eaten plain. However, nowadays you may find it in a variety of forms: coated in powdered icing sugar, drizzled with piping hot caramel or chocolate sauce, better yet you may even find some of these divine nibbles stuffed with fillings such as cheese, caramel, chocolate, jam, custard and much more!

In our case, Mr Canon decided to go for the classic, where our star shaped churros were served pipping hot, sprinkled with a dusting of fine powdered sugar alongside a serving of white chocolate.

.... Back to our KFC Adventure....

CameraGuru as the Urban Cowboy of the Day

After a short wait, the Prahran boys arrived, set and ready to go... The train ride was quite long, but luckily Mr. Canon brought along some light readings. After 30-45mins ride on the train, we finally arrived at our destination....I see KFC! Making our way to the doors of restaurant, the open air was already lingering with the smell of the chicken being baked and cooked fresh on the spot. As we walked, I could hear the hurried steps of some and the sound of grumbling tummies of others... hehe... so kasian

Hmmm... Chicken...

Is it just me or does Ms DT seem to be around the food alot? Haha..

Here we let our glutton go overdrive (usually what happens when you starve yourself b4 eating - you end up letting your hunger rule over your reason) and we all ordered SOOOO much FOOD! Ha ha... Some of the boys even decided to take a lunch break before launching themselves for their second round...

Yum Yum Ms DT

Ms SG in the act

Mr Z feasting like a King

After feasting like kings, and queens for some, we decided to linger for a bit to let our tummies digest – taking tons of opportunity to shoot… I think after eating so much chicken and pop (soda drinks), there was an influx of adrenalin running through everyone… as you can tell from the photos… haha…

.... On the way back....

Folks, this is what happens to you when you eat too much chicken in a span of one morning! Beware! Ha ha…

To view more photos, click here