storm

it has been storming ever since my return.

since last friday, it has been raining and blowing continuously. huddling in my warm little apartment, i sometimes feel like i'm out at sea, especially when the wind howls, the rain keeps pounding, and i look out and see giant trees tossed around like saplings. kinda like the little boy in "ponyo on the cliff by the sea" in the storm scene.

Surreality

how surreal. playing "ji gu pai" in Ukraine with a bunch of aussies. who ever knew? just to clarify, "ji gu pai" is a typical childhood game played in SE Asia. watch the videos to learn.

this took place on a 5 hour plaus train ride to Lviv, Ukraine's version of Melbourne aka the most cultural city in the country. train ride was straight out of Hogwarts Express, except that we were stuck in third class: windows stained so brown you can't look out, grimy sheets and blankets, lights that don't work, poor ventilation, and restrooms that are too horrible to mention. still, it was very romantic and all. with company such as these, how can one get bored?

last clip shows the girls breaking out in song, using "ji", "gu", "pa", no less. no prizes for guessing the song. this was one of the highlights of the trip to Ukaine.

from ukraine

lviv.

warm fuzzies

as part of the counselling/team-building we had to do before leaving for ukraine, we had to write down one aspect of each member that we will appreciate whilst over there and living together for one month.

this is what i got:

-upfront

-level-headed and non-emotional

-a different perspective on things - good thing :)

-his different perspective on things and his motivation/determination

-clear and logical thinking - afresh perspective and patience!

-objectivity + assertive leadership qualities. also maleness (stop us from making too many girl decisions)

-learning turtle tai chi with you! and being around someone who makes me laugh.

thought it was interesting cos it's always interesting to see how others perceive you. recurring theme seemed to be objectivity and different perspective. this probably came about because we were previously discussing an ethical situation involving too many kidney failure patients and only one dialysis machine. basically, i thought they went too much with their emotions. they probably thought i was some monster because i was willing to put some other candidates before cute, innocent children. muahaha.

some other interesting things that popped up from the warm fuzzies.

-non-emotional, hmmmmmmmmm, could be a good and bad thing.

-patience?? lol, i'm not too sure about that! wait and see, WAHAHAH~

-maleness. yeah. i am MAN. nuff said.

-turtle tai chi! lol. for some reason an image of ninja turtles doing taiji popped into my head. ^^ yeah, i'm going to put them through training hell, hahaha, those poor innocent lambs, they have no idea...

warm fuzzies. funny name, but boy, do they work.

【ShareMTV】五月天 出头天《作品七号》首波主打歌

mayday singing in taiwanese (hokkien). so cool right. ^^

五月天

seemed to be on a mayday rediscovery lately. was listening to some of their older songs and came across this.
五月天-純真

used to love this song a lot. sang it to myself before when bashing through the late, humid jungle nights. always mixed it with another song though.
五月天：生命有一種絕對

for some reason, there are parts when both songs sound similar to each other to me, and i always end up mixing them up, especially when i used to sing it to someone. lol, same thing with "hot cross buns" and " three blind mice".

五月天 如煙

some people are just not worth my time.

names

i was accused of having too many names today during a student committee meeting. it was funny cos it was one of my lecturers who looked bemused when we were doing introductions.

LOL. it's true.

my offical "unoffical" name within the school, which appears on my name tag, is "Yanz" (basically a typo, which i am too stingy to fork out $17 to rectify); it's also the name most of my friends from the previous year group know me as. i usually introduce myself as "Ian" to Westerners, just to save on confusion, but i sign my emails as "Yan." "Yan" is strictly how i should call myself, if we go by the process of adopting a name by choosing one monosyallable from within the original, lol, and it's how most Asian friends call me.

doesn't bother me, really, LOL, but i guess i can see how it can be confusing.

fundraiser at tiger,tiger

wine and tapas afternoon/evening on april 26, sunday.
the quiet before the storm.
the alleyway tiger,tiger is tucked away in.
the start of the afternoon. tapas start to flow from the kitchen.
the crowd starts trickling in. the evening is underway!
the busy kitchen.the end of the evening.
counting the money. a very successful night. more than 10k was raised to purchase resources for children with disabilities in ukraine.
of course, all this would not have been possible without the help and time of all those who contributed, our supervisors, kirrily and jillian, and the generosity of the owners, claire and braydon, who not only provided the venue, but also refused to take a single cent for all the food and drinks provided. words cannot express our gratitude.

thanks also go out to vi and long for providing the fantastic pictures used in this post.

epic fail

see more pwn and owned pictures

answer: not if you wrapped the webcam in a condom.