Most of you that read this and are on Facebook will know already, I'm changing jobs!
Still in Singapore, going to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in an attempt to further that "career" thing within the banking industry. The new job will hopefully be more business facing, but means there will be less and less chance to be that pure tech geek :-/.
But anywho, I finish up on the 15th of Nov at BarCap and start on the 26th with RBS.
And on a completely tangential note I'm also returning to NZ for a week 7th Dec - 14th :). Won't be in Welly much this time round as the cousin has completed her manadatory 3 years of drinking at the Otago Tertiary Institution of Alcohol Consumption, and I must congratulate her by buying her copious quantities of drink whilst she is wearing a funny hat.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Oh yeah photos...
The Rome and Croatia photos are up at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/klatchy/
There's a separate set for Rome and Croatia.
Enjoy! and for those of your who are awesome photographers, please also to be commenting on the crapness of the photos ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/klatchy/
There's a separate set for Rome and Croatia.
Enjoy! and for those of your who are awesome photographers, please also to be commenting on the crapness of the photos ;)
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
La Città Eterna
My flight from Dubai to Rome was much better. Possibly because I was more rested, but there was still bugger all leg room. Ok, I'm going to stop ranting about that now.
To my surprise and horror, the navigation video screen displayed Milan as the final destination. Nowhere on my ticket did it mention Milan at all! Anywho, milled about at Milan airport for an hour before getting back on the plane for an hour long flight to Rome.
Found my accomodation without too much hassle, in a quaint little street nestled right next to the railway station (useful for trip to Naples). After freshening up, I decided to go for a random wander, and sort out a few things that cocked up during the flight over (lack of contacts, body wash leaking all over the suitcase, no adaptor for lappy).
No sooner had I set foot back in the square in front of the railway station, I was accosted by two horrible looking gypsy women. One trying to grab and kiss my arm and the other trying to use some crude cardboard apparatus to attempt some sleight of hand on my man bag. I had to forcibly remove them from me and bark obscenities to them in English before they would bugger off. I really didn't want to do that, and they really were amateurs, since they were at it for about a good half a minute without filching anything from my bag!
I faffed around in the Railway station mall, found what I needed (except for the lappy adapter), and walked down a random street, it eventually took me down to Trajan's Forum, YAY!, got a few pics on the SLR but the light was dimming and I didn't take the tripod along. Ducked into a Trattoria and had some lovely pasta, finished up with gelato :)
Waiting for Masty and Bruce now, he txted me about an hour ago, no further word. Might get something to eat.
Ciao for now :P
To my surprise and horror, the navigation video screen displayed Milan as the final destination. Nowhere on my ticket did it mention Milan at all! Anywho, milled about at Milan airport for an hour before getting back on the plane for an hour long flight to Rome.
Found my accomodation without too much hassle, in a quaint little street nestled right next to the railway station (useful for trip to Naples). After freshening up, I decided to go for a random wander, and sort out a few things that cocked up during the flight over (lack of contacts, body wash leaking all over the suitcase, no adaptor for lappy).
No sooner had I set foot back in the square in front of the railway station, I was accosted by two horrible looking gypsy women. One trying to grab and kiss my arm and the other trying to use some crude cardboard apparatus to attempt some sleight of hand on my man bag. I had to forcibly remove them from me and bark obscenities to them in English before they would bugger off. I really didn't want to do that, and they really were amateurs, since they were at it for about a good half a minute without filching anything from my bag!
I faffed around in the Railway station mall, found what I needed (except for the lappy adapter), and walked down a random street, it eventually took me down to Trajan's Forum, YAY!, got a few pics on the SLR but the light was dimming and I didn't take the tripod along. Ducked into a Trattoria and had some lovely pasta, finished up with gelato :)
Waiting for Masty and Bruce now, he txted me about an hour ago, no further word. Might get something to eat.
Ciao for now :P
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
SIN - DXB
I regret not flying with Singapore airlines now.
The flight to Dubai was a shocker, packed with first time dud fliers, the guy next to me kept on coughing the whole trip, complete with flying bits of phlegm *shudder*, sounded like he was on his last stretches after contracting bubonic plague.
Question... why do people insist on bringing babies on planes? Their delicate ears aren't ready to handle rapid changes in pressure, and no matter how lovely you think your baby's cries are, a team of babies performing synchronised wailing does not a church choir make. If you can afford to fly, you can afford to leave your baby behind and hire a babysitter. If you're taking your baby to visit relatives... DON'T!, your relatives should come and visit you, otherwise they're cheapskates and you should disown them.
Additionally, there's drastically decreased leg room, it was like a long haul Air Asia flight, only Air Asia is 100 times cheaper. Anyway most of the trip I was too tired to care. Hopefully the flight over to Rome is better.
The airport is also a marked change to the pristine, ordered Changi airport. People sleeping on the floor all over the airport in various states of undress, a few concerning smells in places. But hey, at least I get free wireless and the guy at the information counter reminded me of the Fonz, albeit an Arabic version.
Now if only the airport sold contact lenses.... :-/. Rather than forgetting socks and underwear, this time my supply of contact lenses conveniently decided to run out!
... I should really stop ranting now and get to my gate. :D
The flight to Dubai was a shocker, packed with first time dud fliers, the guy next to me kept on coughing the whole trip, complete with flying bits of phlegm *shudder*, sounded like he was on his last stretches after contracting bubonic plague.
Question... why do people insist on bringing babies on planes? Their delicate ears aren't ready to handle rapid changes in pressure, and no matter how lovely you think your baby's cries are, a team of babies performing synchronised wailing does not a church choir make. If you can afford to fly, you can afford to leave your baby behind and hire a babysitter. If you're taking your baby to visit relatives... DON'T!, your relatives should come and visit you, otherwise they're cheapskates and you should disown them.
Additionally, there's drastically decreased leg room, it was like a long haul Air Asia flight, only Air Asia is 100 times cheaper. Anyway most of the trip I was too tired to care. Hopefully the flight over to Rome is better.
The airport is also a marked change to the pristine, ordered Changi airport. People sleeping on the floor all over the airport in various states of undress, a few concerning smells in places. But hey, at least I get free wireless and the guy at the information counter reminded me of the Fonz, albeit an Arabic version.
Now if only the airport sold contact lenses.... :-/. Rather than forgetting socks and underwear, this time my supply of contact lenses conveniently decided to run out!
... I should really stop ranting now and get to my gate. :D
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
First non-impulse electronics purchase in Singapore
I bought a Canon EOS 400D today ^_^.
Swapped the kit lens for the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.
SGD2000 exactly from Sim Lim Square (next door to my place, Singapore's electronics Mecca).
Got about a week and a half to practice before I unleash Europe on it! Got a week to decide whether or not I need to get the crazy 10-22mm super wide angle lens ;)
Swapped the kit lens for the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.
SGD2000 exactly from Sim Lim Square (next door to my place, Singapore's electronics Mecca).
Got about a week and a half to practice before I unleash Europe on it! Got a week to decide whether or not I need to get the crazy 10-22mm super wide angle lens ;)
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Aging
So now people should theoretically take me more seriously. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen.
Cosy affair at St. James with a handful of lovely people in Singapore. Wish all you se Kiwi's were here too :(.
A big thanks to all the lovely people I've met over the past year in Singapore, thanks for making my time here so awesome, keeping me entertained and sane outside of work, listening to me when I'm feeling down (or just when I'm drunk), and helping me grow up :D. I'm trying to catch up to y'all, really!! :P
Evidence of drunkeness and aging at:
Cosy affair at St. James with a handful of lovely people in Singapore. Wish all you se Kiwi's were here too :(.
A big thanks to all the lovely people I've met over the past year in Singapore, thanks for making my time here so awesome, keeping me entertained and sane outside of work, listening to me when I'm feeling down (or just when I'm drunk), and helping me grow up :D. I'm trying to catch up to y'all, really!! :P
Evidence of drunkeness and aging at:
 |
| 23rd Birthday |
Monday, April 23, 2007
Jeremy Piven... you are GOD!
Saw Smokin' Aces in the weekend. It pleased me, expected a more cohesive story line, but thats not important, what is important is that one of the most hilarious lines ever had been uttered:
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Will you tell me what that is?
Hugo Croop: About what?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Look at the collar on that coat... whats that look like, that stain?
Hugo Croop: I dunno... Cinnamon roll?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Cinnamon roll? the cinnamon, the roll of the cinnamon. That looks like jizz... ya Eastern European jizz, that looks like some fuckhead shot his load on a 12000 dollar calf's skin jacket. The twist? Its my 12000 dollar calf's skin jacket. y'got semen, human ejaculate -
[checks watch]
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: - that's been allowed to soak in for what, six, seven hours now? Work it's way into the fabric-f**k'n fibers - and while you may never see it in a Tide commercial, I think it still safely qualifies as a "tough, deep down stain."
Hugo Croop: If you like I send out?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: ...to what? Incinerate? 'Cuz I'm almost dead certain there's not a f**king laundry detergent or dry cleaning process known to man that can ever return that jacket to its former glory! Some sh*t, suffice it to say, just don't wash out. Now, the money question... To whom does that stain belong? C'mon, somebody was banging one of these skanks, sans rubber - -which is terrifying in its own right, pulled out, let 'er rip and ruined the last gift my mother gave me before she died.
[snatching up coat]
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: The way I see it, it's the same as if she was dug up, three months dead and it was shot right on her rotting corpse, 'cuz that's how it defiled this feels!
Hugo Croop: Do you want me to say I did it?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: I was kinda hoping, yeah.
Hugo Croop: Do you want me to say I'm sorry?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Only if you really, truly mean it.
Hugo Croop: Im very sorry,
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Are you a Collasal fuckin idiot?
Hugo Croop: I am idiot.
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Get the phone, it's probably Mecklin. Get Fatolli up here and start cleaning all right? and please for me will you do one thing?
[Card trick putting a card on Hugo's forehead]
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Get out of my fucking sight
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Will you tell me what that is?
Hugo Croop: About what?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Look at the collar on that coat... whats that look like, that stain?
Hugo Croop: I dunno... Cinnamon roll?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Cinnamon roll? the cinnamon, the roll of the cinnamon. That looks like jizz... ya Eastern European jizz, that looks like some fuckhead shot his load on a 12000 dollar calf's skin jacket. The twist? Its my 12000 dollar calf's skin jacket. y'got semen, human ejaculate -
[checks watch]
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: - that's been allowed to soak in for what, six, seven hours now? Work it's way into the fabric-f**k'n fibers - and while you may never see it in a Tide commercial, I think it still safely qualifies as a "tough, deep down stain."
Hugo Croop: If you like I send out?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: ...to what? Incinerate? 'Cuz I'm almost dead certain there's not a f**king laundry detergent or dry cleaning process known to man that can ever return that jacket to its former glory! Some sh*t, suffice it to say, just don't wash out. Now, the money question... To whom does that stain belong? C'mon, somebody was banging one of these skanks, sans rubber - -which is terrifying in its own right, pulled out, let 'er rip and ruined the last gift my mother gave me before she died.
[snatching up coat]
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: The way I see it, it's the same as if she was dug up, three months dead and it was shot right on her rotting corpse, 'cuz that's how it defiled this feels!
Hugo Croop: Do you want me to say I did it?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: I was kinda hoping, yeah.
Hugo Croop: Do you want me to say I'm sorry?
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Only if you really, truly mean it.
Hugo Croop: Im very sorry,
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Are you a Collasal fuckin idiot?
Hugo Croop: I am idiot.
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Get the phone, it's probably Mecklin. Get Fatolli up here and start cleaning all right? and please for me will you do one thing?
[Card trick putting a card on Hugo's forehead]
Buddy 'Aces' Israel: Get out of my fucking sight
Thursday, April 19, 2007
World famous! Not just in NZ ;)
Props to Marcel for spotting this little gem on the wild and dangerous interweb. What an awesome video of Shane Bond being awesome. It also happens to have me in it! :D
People had often mentioned they saw me on TV impersonating Warney, I doubted them... but this is proof!! :D
Its about 40 seconds in, or 2:50 to go!
People had often mentioned they saw me on TV impersonating Warney, I doubted them... but this is proof!! :D
Its about 40 seconds in, or 2:50 to go!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Geezus.... 1 year already, lil bit of reminizzling
I kinda want to say time flies when you're having fun... Seems not that long ago that Chad and I got sloshed with a whole lot of you and woke up the next day with a huge hangover, and seems like Christmas was just yesterday.
However, one wouldn't REAALLY describe working here FUN, its alright I guess, I do feel rewarded when releases go right, people thank me for making their lives easier, and although I haven't really been coding recently, when I do get to do it, its great!
But then thats all counterbalanced by the bureaucray, heavy handed processes that are totally inappropriate for front office development, retards you have to deal with on an almost daily basis, and the next bit of work is essentially fucking VBA in a fucking spreadsheet, yeh we REAAL cutting edge here.
I guess as long as pay and bonus continue to be good I'll keep at it until Asia no longer holds any more delights for me.
I have still yet to:
With the recent shake ups in personal life and the realisation that one will probably not sign on in Singapore indefinitely, arse will have to be engaged to ensure the above happens.
Other random musings over the past few days:
Oh, I almost forgot, I think I'm going to Rome/Croatia in August with Masty, Bruce and maybe Chad. Should be a wicked trip if the blimmin travel agent has a clue and gets back to me soon. It doesn't bode well when the conversation with the STA travel agent goes something like this:
Me: "Hi, I'm planning to visit Italy and Croatia for about a week in August and would need some flight and accomodation quotes. I'll need to travel to Rome and then Split and back again to Rome, finally returning to Singapore".
Agent: "Sorry, what was the other location".
Me: "Split, its the second largest city in Croatia"
Agent: "Split, not in Italy!"
Me: "No, its in Croatia, across the Adriatic Sea from Italy"
Agent: "Where is Croatia?"
Me: "*sighs*, it used to be part of a big country called Yugoslavia, in the mid nineties there were lots of wars, lots of people died, it was on the news, you may have heard about it?"
Agent: "Ok, you leave phone number, we will get back to you"
Me: "Errm.. Ok *gives details*".
Still no word to date.
If all is well the trip should more than sate my classical/medieval history geekiness, Rome goes without saying, Split is close to Roman Salona, and Dubrovnik was previously Ragusa - one of the main cities of the Venetians during the middle ages. It should also serve to sate me on the matters of rowdiness, drunkeness and belligerence given I will be with Masty and Bruce and alcohol will form an integral part of this journey.
However, one wouldn't REAALLY describe working here FUN, its alright I guess, I do feel rewarded when releases go right, people thank me for making their lives easier, and although I haven't really been coding recently, when I do get to do it, its great!
But then thats all counterbalanced by the bureaucray, heavy handed processes that are totally inappropriate for front office development, retards you have to deal with on an almost daily basis, and the next bit of work is essentially fucking VBA in a fucking spreadsheet, yeh we REAAL cutting edge here.
I guess as long as pay and bonus continue to be good I'll keep at it until Asia no longer holds any more delights for me.
I have still yet to:
- Visit other misc Asian countries (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Phillipines)
- Visit India
- Do snow related activites in Hokkaido
- Get my diving license, despite wanting to do it ever since I got here and almost managing to do it in November last year
- Remedy the 20+% body fat situation as described by my trainer late last year
With the recent shake ups in personal life and the realisation that one will probably not sign on in Singapore indefinitely, arse will have to be engaged to ensure the above happens.
Other random musings over the past few days:
- Why am I still not used to the 30+ heat and still sweating like a rapist everytime I step outside?
- What if the IT industry in Spain is non-existant
- Will work transfer me to London if I want to leave Singapore
- How will the point above impact the point above the point above?
- Will I really want to work in London, do I have a choice given this wanderlust?
Oh, I almost forgot, I think I'm going to Rome/Croatia in August with Masty, Bruce and maybe Chad. Should be a wicked trip if the blimmin travel agent has a clue and gets back to me soon. It doesn't bode well when the conversation with the STA travel agent goes something like this:
Me: "Hi, I'm planning to visit Italy and Croatia for about a week in August and would need some flight and accomodation quotes. I'll need to travel to Rome and then Split and back again to Rome, finally returning to Singapore".
Agent: "Sorry, what was the other location".
Me: "Split, its the second largest city in Croatia"
Agent: "Split, not in Italy!"
Me: "No, its in Croatia, across the Adriatic Sea from Italy"
Agent: "Where is Croatia?"
Me: "*sighs*, it used to be part of a big country called Yugoslavia, in the mid nineties there were lots of wars, lots of people died, it was on the news, you may have heard about it?"
Agent: "Ok, you leave phone number, we will get back to you"
Me: "Errm.. Ok *gives details*".
Still no word to date.
If all is well the trip should more than sate my classical/medieval history geekiness, Rome goes without saying, Split is close to Roman Salona, and Dubrovnik was previously Ragusa - one of the main cities of the Venetians during the middle ages. It should also serve to sate me on the matters of rowdiness, drunkeness and belligerence given I will be with Masty and Bruce and alcohol will form an integral part of this journey.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Bloody Chinese Government
^^ Taxi to work.
I lost my phone because of the bastards... well at least I have a new 3G capable phone! Go mobile blogging!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Good Vibrations 2007 - Sing Stylez
I'm not really a big music festival fan, the conjugation of retards, really horrid toilet conditions, huge queues to get booze/food, hit and miss line ups means I'm pretty much a music festival noob.
Anyway, popped my music festival cherry over the Chinese New Year long weekend.
Pros:
1. Wicked Aura Batucada - Singapore based international Brasilian percussion group. They are WICKED! 6:30pm time slot, but had the crowd just as amped as J5 and the Beastie Boys.
2. Jurassic Five - Took them eons to get ready and actually come out (allusions to weed, coke and circle jerking were made whilst waiting), but once they did the crowd just went off, off my nut the whole time!
3. Beastie Boys - Final act for the night, bit of a weird first half of the set though. Quantity of extremely inebriated white men did sully the experience some what bloody body odour and misdirected belligerence.
4. Agrikulture - Contemporary Indonesian Kraftwerk? I was getting a drink during most of their set and so only caught the beginning and end... but I like :)
5. Dubwise and Guerilla crew for providing the dub and drum n bass support, hopefully next year they'll get a big DnB name into Singapore. *fingers crossed*
6. Photo op with the beautiful Denise Keller (German-Singaporean MTV Asia VJ). ^_^
Mehs:
1. Electrico - I'm not a fan of most types of Rock.
2. Cut Copy - I liked their set on FabricLive 29, live.. they were somewhat disappointing.
3. Other acts
4. A sausage fest of expat kids inappropriately shouting MILF at the female vocalist of Cicada without regard to the actual fact of whether she was a mother of not.
5. White male tourists. Thank god none of them were New Zealanders, us Kiwis... we're so well beahved. :)
Regrets:
1. Too Phat - Awesome Malaysian hip hop / RnB guys, they were supposed to come on before J5, but some screw up meant that they went to the other arena with the indie rock (and eventually trance) fags... I will see them before I leave Asia!!
Loltastic photographs below:
Anyway, popped my music festival cherry over the Chinese New Year long weekend.
Pros:
1. Wicked Aura Batucada - Singapore based international Brasilian percussion group. They are WICKED! 6:30pm time slot, but had the crowd just as amped as J5 and the Beastie Boys.
2. Jurassic Five - Took them eons to get ready and actually come out (allusions to weed, coke and circle jerking were made whilst waiting), but once they did the crowd just went off, off my nut the whole time!
3. Beastie Boys - Final act for the night, bit of a weird first half of the set though. Quantity of extremely inebriated white men did sully the experience some what bloody body odour and misdirected belligerence.
4. Agrikulture - Contemporary Indonesian Kraftwerk? I was getting a drink during most of their set and so only caught the beginning and end... but I like :)
5. Dubwise and Guerilla crew for providing the dub and drum n bass support, hopefully next year they'll get a big DnB name into Singapore. *fingers crossed*
6. Photo op with the beautiful Denise Keller (German-Singaporean MTV Asia VJ). ^_^
Mehs:
1. Electrico - I'm not a fan of most types of Rock.
2. Cut Copy - I liked their set on FabricLive 29, live.. they were somewhat disappointing.
3. Other acts
4. A sausage fest of expat kids inappropriately shouting MILF at the female vocalist of Cicada without regard to the actual fact of whether she was a mother of not.
5. White male tourists. Thank god none of them were New Zealanders, us Kiwis... we're so well beahved. :)
Regrets:
1. Too Phat - Awesome Malaysian hip hop / RnB guys, they were supposed to come on before J5, but some screw up meant that they went to the other arena with the indie rock (and eventually trance) fags... I will see them before I leave Asia!!
Loltastic photographs below:
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Oooh yeah! I'm a celebrity!
Props to Chad for finding this! I knew I was related to famous people! Please line up for autographs kthx!
First I present an equal opportunity collection. Asians, Emperors, Soccer players, Wizards and Lesbians reprazent yo!
Next a more Asian oriented collection, with vampire slaying garnish
Finally, the black edition. I think its purely coincidental that I'm 50% similar to 50 cent.
First I present an equal opportunity collection. Asians, Emperors, Soccer players, Wizards and Lesbians reprazent yo!
Next a more Asian oriented collection, with vampire slaying garnish
Finally, the black edition. I think its purely coincidental that I'm 50% similar to 50 cent.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Tis the season to be jolly, and eat like you're a refugee from Somalia, and get sunburnt!
I suppose I had better post about my migratory patterns over the Christmas and New Years period. Most of my readers will have been involved in some sort of shenanigans with me, so feel free to NOT read this and save yourself 3-5 minutes of your life so that it maybe better spent downloading illegal software, killing brain cells on YouTube, searching for pornography, or doing something outside to take advantage of this lovely weather that no one in the world seems to be getting ;-)
The season of jolliness actually began a full week before my triumphant return to NZ. Scott (an ex-Synergite mate) passed through Singapore for a week with friend Parmesh and was dragged in to what almost ended up being a week-long piss up with them (definitely NOT complaining guys!). Hilights included consuming giant novelty sized burgers at Brewerks, and giant novelty sized margaritas at Cafe Iguana. I left them to their own devices during the day, and invariably Sentosa, the Zoo and 500 malls were visited.
The flight back was one of the worst I've ever experienced on Singapore Airlines, I got shoved into the back-most row of the plane with no leg or recline room, and decidedly average looking air hostesses (perhaps my standards for them have risen now?). The lads and lass (who joined us half way through the week-long piss up) kept me well entertained at least. Let it be known that this is the first flight where I did not endulge in Super Mario Bros (yes... I even played Super Mario Bros on business class over to Singapore, albeit drunk on champagne! :D).
Parted ways with Scott in Auckland as he was sticking around for a few days for a wedding, found Wellington to be just as I expected, around about 15 degrees :D. What I didn't remember was the severity of the wind as I made my way back into Wellington for Synergy's Christmas shindig, my lightly producted and carefully crafted hair was devastated by the Wellington wind in mere seconds. I just want to say here, New Zealanders (and Synergites especially) you guys are awesome, despite having left for 8 months, I felt like I hadn't left at all, and thanks heaps for inviting me back!
In the next few days I undid the month and a half of hard gymming in Singapore, 2 BBQs, numerous lunches and coffees :S. It was so worth it though :) and great fun catching up with everyone, the week climaxed with the Twenty20 International between NZ and Sri Lanka where I proudly donned the green and gold impersonating that loveable rascal Shane Warne once more (with a cut blonde wig this time). By chance, the larrakins sitting next to us happened to have smuggled in a giant inflatable phallus, I couldn't let this opportunity slip and neither could they (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=175300 for those not in the know), unfortunately the hawk-eyed and rather grotesque looking security guard confiscated the phallus before any incriminating photographic evidence could be procured. The Duckworth-Lewis system affected play and Sri Lanka was declared winner much to our chagrin, the chagrin was remedied later on that night with 2 bottles of Veuve Cliquot and numerous ridiculously cheap cocktails (compared to Singapore), which reminds me... I have to get the recipe for the Dirty Clint at Ponderosa again, anyone back home wanna help me out?
Was good to spend a few days with the extended family over Christmas, big ups to the family for all the cooking. Despite being surrounded by Chinese food, nothing here in Singapore quite captures the flavours and subtlties of cuisine from my home town (Xi'an). This of course did not help the burgeoning waistline issue, but they're forgiven :D.
New Years was spent camping on a wicked little secluded bay (Anaura Bay) about an hour's drive north of Gisborne. I'd never been camping before and this was certainly one of the best experiences in my life, and something I'd like to do properly again. I was spared of much of the set up hassles as Jess and Nathan kindly offered a portion of the main tent (the marae) to me. The emptying of the chemical toilets, while not a very envious job provided a few hilarious moments as I got urine and possibly fecal matter over my hands and feet in the dark :O... not to worry though, our campsite was right by the beach and a quick swim remedied that problem quite successfully... poor fishies... ;). I'm also fairly dark now as an added bonus of catching some rays on the beach, still peeling in some areas though :(. Oh yeah, chur for the Darren on NY's, you know who you are ;)
Three weeks just wasn't enough :(, I'm keen to head back later in the year, but I've got to find a better excuse than Crate Day :D.
The season of jolliness actually began a full week before my triumphant return to NZ. Scott (an ex-Synergite mate) passed through Singapore for a week with friend Parmesh and was dragged in to what almost ended up being a week-long piss up with them (definitely NOT complaining guys!). Hilights included consuming giant novelty sized burgers at Brewerks, and giant novelty sized margaritas at Cafe Iguana. I left them to their own devices during the day, and invariably Sentosa, the Zoo and 500 malls were visited.
The flight back was one of the worst I've ever experienced on Singapore Airlines, I got shoved into the back-most row of the plane with no leg or recline room, and decidedly average looking air hostesses (perhaps my standards for them have risen now?). The lads and lass (who joined us half way through the week-long piss up) kept me well entertained at least. Let it be known that this is the first flight where I did not endulge in Super Mario Bros (yes... I even played Super Mario Bros on business class over to Singapore, albeit drunk on champagne! :D).
Parted ways with Scott in Auckland as he was sticking around for a few days for a wedding, found Wellington to be just as I expected, around about 15 degrees :D. What I didn't remember was the severity of the wind as I made my way back into Wellington for Synergy's Christmas shindig, my lightly producted and carefully crafted hair was devastated by the Wellington wind in mere seconds. I just want to say here, New Zealanders (and Synergites especially) you guys are awesome, despite having left for 8 months, I felt like I hadn't left at all, and thanks heaps for inviting me back!
In the next few days I undid the month and a half of hard gymming in Singapore, 2 BBQs, numerous lunches and coffees :S. It was so worth it though :) and great fun catching up with everyone, the week climaxed with the Twenty20 International between NZ and Sri Lanka where I proudly donned the green and gold impersonating that loveable rascal Shane Warne once more (with a cut blonde wig this time). By chance, the larrakins sitting next to us happened to have smuggled in a giant inflatable phallus, I couldn't let this opportunity slip and neither could they (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=175300 for those not in the know), unfortunately the hawk-eyed and rather grotesque looking security guard confiscated the phallus before any incriminating photographic evidence could be procured. The Duckworth-Lewis system affected play and Sri Lanka was declared winner much to our chagrin, the chagrin was remedied later on that night with 2 bottles of Veuve Cliquot and numerous ridiculously cheap cocktails (compared to Singapore), which reminds me... I have to get the recipe for the Dirty Clint at Ponderosa again, anyone back home wanna help me out?
Was good to spend a few days with the extended family over Christmas, big ups to the family for all the cooking. Despite being surrounded by Chinese food, nothing here in Singapore quite captures the flavours and subtlties of cuisine from my home town (Xi'an). This of course did not help the burgeoning waistline issue, but they're forgiven :D.
New Years was spent camping on a wicked little secluded bay (Anaura Bay) about an hour's drive north of Gisborne. I'd never been camping before and this was certainly one of the best experiences in my life, and something I'd like to do properly again. I was spared of much of the set up hassles as Jess and Nathan kindly offered a portion of the main tent (the marae) to me. The emptying of the chemical toilets, while not a very envious job provided a few hilarious moments as I got urine and possibly fecal matter over my hands and feet in the dark :O... not to worry though, our campsite was right by the beach and a quick swim remedied that problem quite successfully... poor fishies... ;). I'm also fairly dark now as an added bonus of catching some rays on the beach, still peeling in some areas though :(. Oh yeah, chur for the Darren on NY's, you know who you are ;)
Three weeks just wasn't enough :(, I'm keen to head back later in the year, but I've got to find a better excuse than Crate Day :D.
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