Hari Raya Open House and Sandringham

Friday, 18th September 2009

It was a Friday night and I spent it blogging whilst waiting for some form of cards-related drunken debauchery to begin, when Ethan messaged me on GTalk telling me that Ivan had just came back and that they were going out to Docklands. It must be around 10pm when that happened, and I hesitated. Docklands implies exactly that: it’s a dock, near the sea, and I’ve experienced the icy grip the cold winds blowing from the sea had on me when I was there the last time; and with the night, temperatures would drop dangerously to a level I couldn’t stand.

So we went there on foot as it wasn’t that far away (the joy that is Melbourne :D): me, Ethan, Ivan, Ivan’s friend Melvin, and Desmond, and we snapped some pics (Melvin has a DSLR as well).

#1 The Etihad Stadium.

#2 A closer look.

#3 The guys.

#4 We walked across the street to have a closer shot.

#5 La Trobe St near Docklands at night, after crossing a bridge.

#6 Beautiful Docklands at night.

#7 A close look at the ships.

#8 A luxurious, expensive-looking bar.

#9 A boat that doubles up as a bar too wtf.

#10 Another look of the sea and Docklands.

#11 The infamous cow on a tree.

Then we returned to our residence to play some card games, and we were playing 007 in Cantonese until Ali the Iranian joined in, after which we switched to English. And halfway through that Mike the American came in looking fairly drunk and decided to join us.

#12 Then Mike taught us to play this card game called Asshole and it was wildly hilarious. (MUST play this when I’m back in Malaysia wtf.) He kept shouting “Drink asshole!” when he was “President” to the unfortunate guy who was the “asshole”; and a point of reference for me in the future: card no. 4 – social drink; card no. 2 clears all; you can’t end with a special card (ie: cards 2 and 4), etc.

Short and pointless but I found it funny.

#13 Mike and Ethan the Asshole wtf.

#14 Ali and his sleight of cards.

#15 Des and Ali.

At one point Mike decided it was a good time to moon us and proclaimed it the “hairiest ass in the northern hemisphere” wtf.

#16 Mike the Asshole hahaha. We didn’t get to do anything to him ‘cause he left us and said he was hungry.

#17 Mike wielding a kitchen knife looking deranged and drunk wtf.

#18 Mike in rage.

#19 Cooking.

A glimpse into our night—or at least, our cooking anyway.

More cooking.

#20 Eating some pork.

#21 Climbing on the roof at 3am WTF.

#22 Ivan, Ali, Ethan, Mike—all of whom are smokers wtf.

Climbing back down. And Ethan was telling me not to post up this video on Facebook hahahaha.

Saturday, 19th September 2009

Communal cooking again. =D I was telling Des last weekend how I love taufu kang and we should make it someday, and I researched it for a bit on google and gave him some links via FB.. and then one day he told me he got the recipe from his mum and he made it! It was actually pretty good even though we’re missing some ingredients.. I’m easily contented like that.

Sunday, 20th September 2009

#23 A bright sunny Sunday brought us to… you won’t believe it (at least, I couldn’t wtf), but a Hari Raya Open House! Ahhh it makes me miss Malaysia for a wee bit then, the atmosphere with Sudirman songs blasting from the speakers with mostly Muslims gathered there with the occasional angmoh, and listening to chattering in Malaysian English everywhere over there somehow made me feel as if I was transported back to Malaysia.

#24 At St. Ambrose’s Hall, Brunswick.

#25 Some dude I don’t know (could be from Walsh Main), Ivan, Des, me.

#26 Props to those who can spot an irony in this pic wtf.

#27 Took this pic across the road.

#28 I’m sure you’d notice the cross on top of St. Ambrose’s Hall by now wtf and why I found it ironic.

#29 Me, Des, Shai (from Walsh Ground, from Kuching too IIRC), Ivan.

The open house began at 9am, but by 12pm nearly all the food were gone.. It was fantastic being able to eat kuih raya (!!!), mi goreng, drink some green sirap (tastes like medicine), and the satay was the best I’ve ever eaten in my entire life—I exaggerate not. Too bad I only managed to grab just two sticks, but it was purely orgasmic.

Since we left kinda early and we’ve already swiped our weekend Metlink card that’s valid for the entire day, I suggested jokingly to the rest that we should sit on a train and randomly head out somewhere. Back in Malaysia this idea would be met with scoffs or ridicule, but since I’m not in Malaysia (despite hanging out with a bunch of other Malaysians), they agreed to it on the spot and before I knew it we were on our way to.. somewhere. >_>

#30 At Jewell Station.

#31 Graffiti with a message near the tracks.

At Prahran Station, Melvin hopped onto our train and apparently we were on our way to Sandringham instead of Middle Brighton.

#32 At Sandringham!

#33 ..which is near the beach.

#34 It was actually pretty warm and sunny and didn’t feel like spring at all—I guess it’s only in the CBD where we have atrocious cold gloomy weather. -_- In fact I earlier spotted two shirtless me jogging around so it must account for something.

#35 Des and Ivan drinking coffee that they bought.

#36 Des and Ivan took off their shoes as it was really sandy but I soldered on. And ended up with my sole coming apart slightly (shoe glue broke off wtf) and sand was able to enter my shoes.. v_v

#37 It was a pretty pleasant beach.

#38 Me. (It was such a coincidence that I decided to wear the best shirt I’ve ever decided to buy to the Hari Raya Open House and ended up wearing it to the beach too. :D)

#39 Desmond.

#40 Me again.

#41 Birds flying away.

#42 Ivan, Des, me.

#43 Another look at the beach.

#44 A wedding photography was going on (and great location choice I must say!).

#45 Walsh Street Boys WTF (Backstreet Boys wannabes hahahaha). (Remote control came in handy as usual.)

#46 More.

#47 omg hahaha we’re such a bunch of posers wtf.

#48 Casual take.

#49 Angle fail.

#50 A beached jellyfish.

#51 Me and Melvin.

#52 A sunny Sunday at Sandringham (unintentional alliteration).

#53 Attempting to step on Ivan who was lying down.

#54 I love this series of photos! Take 1.

#55 Take 2.

#56 Take 3—you can even see the clouds move.

#57 Take 4.

#58 Jumping series Take 1.

#59 Jumping series Take 2.

#60 I was so afraid of falling down and hurting myself badly (we were standing atop some bunch of rocks that extend towards the ocean) so I didn’t want to jump too high >_> and always end up on the ground earlier than the rest.

#61 The long staircase which two guys used to exercise by jumping all the way up wtf.

#62 Some pretty houses can be found along Beach Rd.

I was feeling a bit guilty going on a random impromptu mini-road trip like this as my International Trade mid-sem test was the next day.. but ah what the heck. I’m only here once anyway.

Monday, 21st September 2009

The mid-sem test was tough as hell, but I managed to answer many of the questions (out of 40) so that has to account for something (compared to when I didn’t know 9 out of 10 questions during our first non-assessable quiz wtf). Some of us—me included—were transferred to the 12th floor where the School of Economics, Finance, and Marketing is as there were way too many people in the classroom on the 8th floor; we were brought to the seminar room instead, and Florence (my Pubgaine teammate) was there too.

I went to the Golden Key’s Self-Defence Workshop for beginners held at RMIT’s University Function Room at Building 8 at 6pm, and 90% of the attendees were Asians, and only like 2 other girls were non-Asians. >_> Our buffed instructors were GK committee members, Patrick (the Treasurer) who has been taking up judo since 5, and Sam who knows Brazilian Jujitsu.

According to Sam, some 10 years ago, people have found which moves in martial arts work best for self-defence and start and seek to combine the best moves for the purposes of self-defence; which doesn’t mean that once you learn one martial art you shouldn’t learn other moves. Patrick’s a pretty cool instructor and cracks a joke every other minute, while Sam’s the calm, cool, collected one.

I found the workshop to be fairly fascinating for someone who knows zilch about martial arts, much less self-defence; and they were all pretty basic moves that we can actually use in real life. From that workshop I know basic moves to defend myself when punched, bear hugged from behind, wrist grabbed.. and other basic things that we should know like we shouldn’t be looking down at our feet when walking and appear scared, that we shouldn’t be afraid of pain (as most of us prolly don’t get hurt a lot) ‘cause it might be a life or death situation, etc. We were also taught how to poke someone’s eyes out or tear someone’s ears away or rupture a eardrum WTF when the situation demands it. “Better risk going to jail than having yourself killed” as Patrick puts it hahaha.

Thursday, 24th September 2009

I met up with my Investment groupmates, Estee and Han the Vietnamese, at the Business Library at 11.30am. Estee asked me to bring my laptop along the night before, so I did. And the weather decided to kick up a fuss and rained whilst I had my laptop bag on my back. -_-

After a 1-hour discussion, I took away a Japanese curry set (only $6.40!) from Don Don, Swanston St, and then we ate our lunch at the cafe on the 3rd floor of Building 8. We then moved on to the Swanston Library to continue our work, after which I returned at around 6pm-ish as Ethan and I had agreed to cook together the day before.

So I cooked dinner with Ethan and Des, and this time I decided to cook some chicken drumsticks with soy and oyster sauces (bought the drumsticks from Aldi on the way back), which was what I’ve been trying to cook for the past two nights, but I ended up with something that’s pretty tasty on the outside but uncooked on the inside. =/ We took a while trying to ensure that the drumsticks were already cooked, but I didn’t know what to expect.

This blog entry has yet to end, but I’ll be continuing it with another post instead.