Birthday Cards! And Hot Rods!

It was my birthday on the 14th of August... And all I got is this card from Video-EZY... A free new release DVD rental! =x

Okok... After my thick-skinned and pathetic constante begging for birthday cards... I received 3 cards from my friends... HEHEHE! The first one is from Vernon... A friend I met through the Singapore Polytechnic Cycling Club... Who I disturb greatly without fail on IM...

It's PINK! I got this 1 from Shuyi! =P I wonder if she sealed it with a kiss... =x

She also increased this piece of *bling* *bling* with the card... How sweet... Sad to say... I broke it while trying to untangle the chain... I break things... I'm a guy after all!

And the last 1 is from Cheeleng... Who is currently in Brisbane... Studying in UQ... Considering that the distance from Brisbane to Perth is actually greater than from Singapore to Perth... I wonder why her postage is the cheapest... =x Do not look down on this card... She managed to squeeze a 2 page essay in it! In which she wonders about my gender (Oie... Man cannot cook and make nice handmade gifts ah?)...

3 cards... Not really that bad after all... If I have breast I would definitely receive more cards! =P

Many thanks for the cards! They are now decorations on my otherwise plain plain wall... I have sent return gifts to the 1s from Singapore... As for she who is in Brisbane... I don't think you need something koala-ish, wombat-ish or kangaroo-ish rite? =P

Went to Burswood casino again today... Saw this fleet of hot rods at the Burswood dome...

And I really like this one...

As for the gambling record... I donated $160 to the casino today... Oh well... You win some... You lose some... I will be back! Mwahaha...

Made an investment on my future too... Registered for the NSCA(National Strength and Conditioning Association) CSCS(Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) examination... Hopefully I will pass it and get an extra qualification along the way...

Interesting Sign...

Is this engrish? Would you like a ski baot? Sign spotted near Belridge Shopping Centre...

Goes Camping(Drinking!)!!!

Goes deep into Avon Valley National Park for Thermal Ball 2009 as organised by UWA outdoor club... I'm not from UWA... I'm just an idiot who decided to pop in with friends...

And this is how we cook our meat in the wild...

The shooter timber and drinks at the start... They are all empty bottles by the end of the evening...

Our little fire away from the main bonfire...

Roasted(burnt!) mashmallow on a twig from the ground...

The party marquee which houses the dancefloor... In the middle of the Avon Valley we go to drink and make merry!

Boat race!

Wendy and Aaron(I hope I got the name right...) after winning the boat race...

Futile attempt to snap a photo when highly tipsy...

The next day... Breakfast.. Marquee came down... Pack up... Go home... I was pretty much freezing because I can't get myself into the sleeping bag... =x It was pretty amazing that I found my tent in the first place... Overall... A fun night... Afterall... It's my first time getting drunk in the middle of the forest!

Lamb Rack? Rack of Lamb?

Before roasting... Seasoned with rosemary(garden fresh!), thyme leave and cracked black pepper...

After roasting...

Would you like a bite? Would you?

Been a long time since I had lamb... Not my first time roasting meat, but certainly one of my most successful! The whole roast is 500gm and costed me $12... I ate it in one sitting... I eat a lot... As usual with most meat... Fatty... Oily... Tasty!

Muscle Biopsy!

Moko is the first photo for a reason... Because I wanna put my readers at a state of calmness with a photo of a cute dog...

Breakfast as provided by the research group... Best thing they gave me all day... This photo is harmless...

That's usually how I marinate meat at home before cooking it... Drown it in some sauce and wrap it in cling wrap... Well... Actually in this photo, I'm getting some local anesthesia to lower the pain sensation... This photo is still very harmless...

Getting my blood drawn... I donated 3 small cylinder of blood to science! =x Oh btw... Any photos beyond this one... VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK!

See that little red piece of meat there? That's a piece of me... A micro-biopsy of my vastus lateral muscle... I'm not eating steak tonight... Or maybe tml night as well...

Here we have Dr. Anthony Blazevich insisting the guide biopsy needle into my thighs... This photo is from the THIRD biopsy... Yup... They did 3 biopsy on me today, taking out 2 pieces of muscle each time... After the first biopsy, I was made to do leg presses... They insist a fat ass needle into me... Took out 2 piece of me... And ask me to do leg presses after 30 minutes! Perfect! =P

Here... A SECOND needle is insisted into the first one... This one has a cutting edge... Which does the cutting...

Guide needle sticking out of my thigh...

Another view! You can see how deep the needle went into my thighs... It was not very painful... A prick blood test is actually worst... But... Seriously... Having a fat ass needle in your thigh is not the most comfortable of feelings... Worst still... 4 more biopsies will be performed on me... 3 in 4th week of training and 1 more after the whole thing... Great! Just great! =x

The 1st biopsy was quite painful, first time and the after-effect was quite bad... Felt dizzy and just wanna lay down... Perhaps it's because it is conducted in early morning and my blood glucose level is not stable yet... The 2nd biopsy was the least painful... Sorta 'used' to it... But was still very tensed up (hey! they are sticking this thick needle into me! You will be tensed too if u are me!)... The 3rd and last biopsy of the day is the worst... No idea why but the anesthesia cream didn't have a full effect...Could feel really well the insistion of the needle... And the cutting... AAAHHH! It's the most painful, but weirdly enough... Most bearable... Go figure... Haha...

ECU National Day Rally Relay Bang!

Looky here! Delivery all the way from the Prime Minister's Office in Singapore... National Day Parade goodie bags in a box... I wonder how much it costed them to do this... Thanks but I'm still not gonna vote for u(provided they don't have a walkover in my district...)!

The Rally Relay Bang is ECU's Singapore Student Association's National Day event, held at the Joondalup campus... A pity for the organisers... Because of the rain... It was a washout... The games were cancelled and instead, we moved to a lecture theatre to watch a local production (by local I mean Singapore!)... So that was it... Lunch and a movie... Not much interaction around... Oh well...

At least I got some toys... A green messenger bag that can be converted into a tote bag by pulling the flip away! A fan... A stirrer sponsored by mr bean(for stirring soya milk? Can't really get them around here... =P)... A heart-shaped light thing-a-ling-ling... A set of temp tattoos (Can use when I watch football...)... A postcard(Maybe I can send it to cheeleng when my birthday card gets here... =x)... A set of discount vouchers(looky! Botak Jones $5 off! Cenosis $44 customized slimming treatment! Old Chang Kee 4 for $4.40! Goody! Sadly I can't find Botak Jones, Cenosis or Old Chang Kee here... maybe I should send it back to Singapore... Just for fun...)! And a Singapore flag(always wanted one... SERIOUS!)!

Apparently the goodie bags are packed by my old NS unit this year (30SCE)... ORD LO!

Bought a bottle of Midori at Thirsty Camel... Read about it and wanna try it... Comes with a free very short cocktail glass... Pretty cool...

A simple Midori and lemonade mix... Midori is TOO SWEET to drink on its own... It's usually used in sweet cocktails... Sweet cocktails... Sounds like a chick drink... I'm a dude... But I like Midori... Oh well...

YES! Tml I will be in school for the first training session... Where Dr. Anthony Blazevich(PhD... Not medical...) will be cutting away a small small piece of my muscle... =x

Mee Siam! Siam! Siam!

All you need to cook mee siam... Lemons not required... Third time cooking with Prima pre-mix... Prima should sponsor my blog...

Haven't had mee siam for 6 months... Had laksa for 5 times... Haha... Mee siam has a Thai origin(Siam being an old name for Thailand)... It's one of those dishes I love to have for breakfast(along with lotong... roti prata and soto ayam...)...

Rice vermicelli...

Concentrating on the soup base... Because if I stare at the soup base really hard... It will taste better...

Garnishing for the mee siam...

And the lots... Dinner for 5... Was a celebration of sort for my 6 months in Perth and birthday with my landlord, housemate and Mark(friend of Alex, my landlord!)!

Diner mix his/her own mee siam according to his/her needs and wants... The set comes with a pack of sambal chili and lime juice... The soup base was quite plain, but it tasted really good after adding in a little bit of chili and lime juice to bring out the flavour...

Gelato at bellisimo gelato... A scoop each of super choco and white choco and macadamia... Loved the super choco... Thick, creamy, chocolatey... The white choco and macadamia 1 is a little plain for my liking, but crunchy bits of macadamia makes up for it... Verdict... Better then Il Gelato... Yeah... Thanks to Mark for the ice cream!

But here's the problem... It's located at Hillarys harbour... Not a place I can easily get to!

Moko looking sad and lying down on Mark's leg...

Birthday with a BANG!

Skipped all my classes because I'm a lazy bum... Appeared in ECU's Vario Health Clinic to get a DXA scan and a muscle ultrasound... I'm a subject for a research on gene expression from strength training... Whatever does it mean? I got no idea... I just decided to do it...

The DXA scan gives a result for bone density and body composition... From the result I know that I have a very dense head(does explain a lot of things...) and I have 16.1% of fat in my body(with my head reading the highest... With 19.9%! Good gracious! All I have in my head is bones and fats!)... Will be back in school on monday as they cut a piece of my muscle from me... Doesn't sound very pleasurable...

Went down to the Lone Ranges shooting complex in Belmont(it's literally a birthday with a bang!)... Spent $290, on 4 guns, expelling 140 bullets... Which makes it $2 per bullet... It's good fun... But not something I will be doing every weekend...

The whole set! Revolver... Bullets... Ear muff and targets!

The tiny .22 bullets used in the revolver... Got 50 of those...

Bullets in a row... My recommendation is... If you have some extra bits under your pants... Give those 50 bullets a skip... Easy to handle... Low to no recoil... And no KICK!

For a first timer... I'm a pretty good shoot!

And now for bigger bullets... 9mm Parabellum!

Loads 10 in the magazine...

Bullets in a row again!

The gun... A Glock... 17,18 or 19? I got no idea... It goes BANG! And have a nice recoil... That's all I need to know...

Next up... The .40 S&W... 30 rounds of these... More kicks then the 9mm...

Bullets in a row again... I have no idea why... But I didn't take a photo of the gun... Anyway it's pretty much the same gun... Another Glock... But with bigger bullets!

.45 ACP

I just like lining them up alrite?

Loaded and really to roll!

I really got no idea what gun is this... But I guess it's a varient of the M1911... Bigger bullet... Bigger kick! More fun... Would I go again? No idea... Gonna fly a plane next month first...

From left to right... The .22, 9mm, .40 and .45... Just showing you guys the size of the expelled cartidge...

Because Belmont is next door to Burswood... Made a trip to the casino... And won $180! Lalala... My capital was $150... Used the Martingale system with the Andrucci system... Betted on the last dozen... Rolled to around $275 and got greedy... Split my bets and played on 2 dozen... Lost alot! Got to my last $35... And just threw them in... Won... And went back to using the Martingale and Andrucci system again... Played, $5, then $10, $20, $40, $80... When I place down my $80 bet, I turned away because I don't dare see the wheel! But I won! Reached $330... Told myself not to be greedy anymore and cashed out... So yeah! Won $180 today!

And No... I'm not addicted to gambling! It's just that I like reading up on gambling system... This is only my second time in 6 months in Burswood... AND! If you go to the casino... Use the same system as me... And lose... Don't blame me...

No photos in the casino! But nobody say you can't walk out with the chips and take a photo... =D

So yup... Celebrated my 23th birthday in Perth with a BANG! Won myself a little money... And is now gonna tuck in to KFC and watch Hellboy! Life is good...