i can take all the madness the world has to give
so im like totally mobile now.. well at least a bit now. i passed the Ls test easy on monday.. and went for a bit of a scoot around the burbs. it went pretty well once it was going.. i managed to get it almost up 80 on a flat straight .. and it probly had a bit more in it. it struggled badly when trying to start on a steep hill though, i cant get it up my driveway =p

also i think its leaking petrol.. also i charged the battery and the electric start still doesnt work =( im gonna have to take it to a mechanic.. but there arent really any Vespa mechanics near me... theyre all like in the city. but im not sure im ready to drive allt he way to the city, especially with a Vespa which cant start on hills =p

frisbee wasnt on yesterday.. it was a pretty terrible storm actually.. but we were all hopeful =p the rule is apparently that the game is off if theres less than 30s between thunder and lightning. although most ppl say its only really off if its less than 10s. but last nite it was somewhere between 2s and 9s most of the time =p

also you all need to download this song

hihi~~ puffy ami yumi you cant take the sky from me
so ive completed the pre-learners motorbike training course.. well for automatic =p but thats enough to get me on the road. almost. ive still gotta go and do a computer knowledge test.. but im rather good an temporarily memorising a list of multiple choices questions =p

i didnt realise this before, but u can actually fail the pre-learners course.. but after doing it, i cant really imagine how anyone could fail it. youd totally need to like run into a post or something. we screwd up heaps and he just goes "yeah thats close enough". he jsut made it sound like scary when he started mentioning what we do if we fail the pre-learners. on a scooter the pre-learners is like easier than pie...like really easy pie.. that u get out of a box and put it into the microwave. the hardest thing on an auto is using a indicator.. and thats not hard even for a non-drive like me.

the first day it looked rainy so i was like totally over dressed.. but then it was like 40 degrees in the shade. david and kallie had like these plastic raincoats so they were like sweating profusely. like when david took off his jacket it literally poured out onto the floor =p then the next day it was freezing and pouring, the course still went on in the rain.. so we were quite soaked by the end of it. i was like shivering whilst on the bike cos my hands were so cold. luckily i didnt need to do anything really.. cept go in a circle and check my blind spot.

anyways.. two steps closer to being mobile..

meri kurisumasu~
i went to buy a scooter helmet.. but they didnt have my size =( so the guy was trying sell me this other woe looking helmet for the same price.. and im totally not going for that action. so the other option is that i buy like a cheaper one.. or a more expensive one which looks good. im more tempted to go for the expensive one, cos the cheaper one is the cheapest.. and usually the cheapest is cheapest for a reason =p

.. anyhoos.. lets step back in time..

:: tuesday
frisbee was ok. we played on this tiny field where i could throw the full length of the field with a forehand =p at the start i was just lauching the disc long every time i touched it, but i felt bad and tried not to do it.. but it was so tempting =p

i was pretty annoyed at my team for a while, but we started playing a lot better towards the end. but still relying way too heavily on the long throw to win. near the end of the game i had to sub off after i did this awesome block on this guy who was trying to huck the full length of the field. ... the problem was that i did this block with my face. he actually got me right between the eyes.. and i hit the deck.. more stunned than injured though.

:: wednesday
we had a rather unproductive meeting about an upcoming japan snowboarding trip.. im not sure we really decided on anything other than that we were undecided =p

.. in some festive news, i got my first christmas card in the post this week =) it was from my favourite lil singaporean Sheralyn ^^; hopefully im gonna be able to vist her on the way to japan =)

i was emo before it was cool
whoa a number of events have occurred since my last posting effort. here we go..

:: friday
it was my bday ^_^; yay me. im now officially mid to late twenties. Of course there was no chance i was gonna do any work on this day. Some doods at work bought me a very rich chocolate cake and some scratchies.. with which i won $8 worth of more scratchies =p i was talking to this lady at work who asked me how old i was turning and i told her i was 18.. and she totally believed me, despite the fact that this is my 5th year at the RBA now. she mustve thought i started working when i was 13 =p

after work i had a small gathering of people for some bday drinks. it was cool to see some peeps who i dont see heaps and just hang out somewhere quiet for some alcoholic beverages =) i dont really like to talk about presents i get.. but the award for best card goes to pete n anne. cards are so awesome.

im secretly bitter at all the pikers (you know who you are) except for Pablo of course, who was interrogated by an undercover cop and couldnt make it. and to make matters worse.. the cop turned out to be a conman who escaped with many of his hard earned dollars.. grrr. Mindy also gets special mention for turning up to the right venue at the right time and still piking by going to the wrong floor =p

photos can be viewed here.

:: saturday
we had the annual catch-up-on-bdays chen family dinner outing at Drummoyne at some thai place which is apparently heaps popular. i also got to check out Jo's new place, it seemed quite nice as far as i could tell although nothing was really unpacked. we also had some quality gelato afterwards =)

:: sunday
sculptures by the sea for me to see. it wasnt a fantastic day for it, but it was warm and not raining and thats all i ask for really. there were heaps of ppl down there.. it was impossible to walk down the path at times. i really like the scultures that are big things which are made up lots of other little things hehe.

afterwards we played some texas holdem. i was doing quite well in the cards i was getting.. but unlucky with what other ppl were getting. in a short period of time i managed to get 2 pair twice and a straight twice.. so i bet up big on those.. and lost them all. grrr.

he had it coming, he only had himself to blame
i didnt go to work today.. yay me. i finally managed to use up some RDOs.. ive been maxed out for like 2 months.. which means ive wasted 2 days of leave. i used this free time to buy a hat =) after watching Chicago on the weekend i was thinking a hat would be cool. initially i wanted one of those 1920s hats like Billy Fynn had, but theyre like uber expensive.. i dunno why.. but they are. i decided to cheap out and buy this hat from SDS instead. it was like 1/4 the price and whilst not the same, it gives the same illusion =p the idea is that when i start riding around heaps ill have helmet hair all the time, so its a good time to start wearing hats =) i also managed to have a browse of helmet options for a scooter.. and they are all pretty much the same =p for some reason this helmet i wanted cost $100 in black and $130 in white.. grr i want white *pout*

.. travelling back in time... we had frisbee yesterday.. it was like the worst frisbee weather.. raining sporadically and horribly gusty winds. we lost the first game despite playing ok. i was like dominated at the start.. on offence and defence.. but about halfway through the game i totally lost the plot. i pretty much lost the game for us with some terrible decisions.. i dunno what happened.. its all a blur =p

the second game was a bit better.. since we won =p i think the wind really highlights the difference between a average thrower and a really good thrower. this guy dave on our team was throwing like 10 times better than anyone else on our team. he was actually like adjusting spin on this throws based on if we were with or against the wind. im jsut like throwing whatever out there =p the 6th point of the game tied it at 3-3.. but it took like 30mins (in a 80min game). luckily for me, i was on the bench for that point, so for all the points after that i was much less tired than the opposition .. coincidently we won all 4 points after that one =)

let the bass from the speakers run thru ur sneakers
so i like totally own a genuine Vespa now. the guy was very nice to drive it all the way from Mittagong to Thornleigh. I gave him a reasonable tip for it though =) its not in perfect shape, but im pretty happy with it. the guy drove it around to show me it worked.. then my dad drove it around for a while.. and said it worked well. and lastly.. i gave it a try.. and i think i broke it =p i managed to stall an automatic scooter.. and now i cant start it again. my dad reakons it jsut needs a tune up, so ill probly put in it for a service in the next week or so. in the few minutes i was cruising about it was heaps fun. i almost ran into a parked car.. then a moving car =p itll take a while to get used to how the accelerator sorta doesnt kick in right away, its like delayed.

anyways.. i cant wait till i get my license now ^_^;

i may seem quiet but thats probly just cos im just trying to suss u out
hrm. i havent posted for a while.. i cant really remember whats happened this week, so it cant really be that interesting =p

the biggest news i spose is that i bought a Vespa off ebay. i am one step closer to being self-transportable =p in two weeks im booked in for the motorbike riding course.. and then ill be relatively mobile... finally. i was thinking about it so much this week that i made a small flash animation here.

tuesday the frisbee summer season started, and i came away with 2 wins from 2 games =) neither were particularly pretty games though. in div4 we've got a much more skilled team than last year, but didnt really play that great. we beat a team which was the only team we beat in the regular season last year. i wasnt really even doing very much, but we really struggled whilst i was on the bench. the score was 7-0 when i was on the field.. and 1-4 when i was on the bench. lack of cutting is the biggest problem.. i dunno how many different ways to tell a team u need to cut!!! =p

anyways, the most amusement was when i was guarding this girl.. she was killing all our defenders with her foot speed. i sorta shut her down, killing their offence, but she was pretty cool about it though. i also got a few catches against her, cos the throw was way up in the air, and im about 6 inches taller than her =p i think she also plays div1 cos afterwards she had to rush off to another game.

div3 was pretty woe, the team we played didnt know how to play but were heaps athletic so they kinda got away with it. like half the team were really nice guys and the other half were heaps jerks. they kept trying to rort the score saying it was heaps closer than it was. so they were either arrogant idiots.. or blatant cheaters. i feel bad for the nice guys on that team.. cos they are gonna get pwned by the other good teams.. we played like total crap and still beat them 12-8, also we're gonna be one of the worst teams =p

um.. what else.. oh.. ling ling quit the RBA this week. even though he is a bit casual at times.. he was totally carrying the LAN group. theyre screwd without him there. apparently there was much bitterness around that area when they heard the news.. so childish. we celebrated his last day but going for an RBA length lunch =p .. it took me like forever to get home that nite.. cos there was like cityrail retardedness returning.

it all keeps tumbling down
jsut another boring weekend for ian... on friday nite i went out to drinks with work ppl.. and this guy asked me ID.. and im like "cmon man..". im like 25 in 2 weeks and im still suspected of being under 18.. grr.

im officially bored with everything.. nothing impresses me any more. ive been watching Viva La Bam a bit lately.. and its sorta ok to watch.. its basically Jackass.. but with more sillyness and less gruesome self mutilation. they just muck around like kids.. cept theyre old enough to drive and buy whatever tools they need to make a big ruckus. man itd be cool if i had frens like that.. instead of ppl who spend their weekends playing WoW and sniping items on ebay =p i think i need to meet more adventurous ppl.. more spontaneous ppl.. ppl who dont mind looking silly. sadly im stuck in the IT industry.. where such ppl are few and far between. i definately need to hang out with more ppl who are into punk music .. and i mean punk.. not emo. i definately need to rock out some more.. im sick of only being invited to things which involve RnB music =p

i love you for free and im not your mother
my dad has been admitted to hospital with an irregular heatbeat =( apparently he went to see a doctor for a checkup.. and they were like "zomg! u need to go to a hospital now!". heaps scary. i took a day off work today which was convinient cos i got to go visit him in hospital, they gave him some IV stuff.. and its stabalised.. he's gonna be there a few days with all these heart monitors attached to him. they record the data to a 64Mb SD card which they analyse later. hopefully itll all be ok, pray for him if you're they praying type.

Jo was over to also go to the hospital, and at dinner we were discussing my upcoming bday. which is 25 btw.. omg. my dear mother reminded me that Jo got married when she was 25.. and hinted that i should get a move on in that particular area =p

.. in some lighter news.. i went to Ikea today to purchase a mosquito net for my bed. and i have to say that it is rather massive.. its like Bunning warehouse.. with another Bunnings warehouse on top of it =p cept instead of shed and wood its got foldable desks and giant mushroom shaped lamps. Rhodes shopping centre is looking ok now too.. although it needs like a Kmart or a Target or something to make it complete.

you only get what you give
another exciting day at the rba results ian blogging =p

last nite we had a quite productive frisbee training. i pretty lethargic for most of it. it was melbourne cup day, so we'd been at the pub for a fair share of the afternoon. my long throws have gotten heaps woe.. i hope i go ok when the season starts next week. we're hopefully gonna win by the throw-dump-swing strategy which seems to destroy most div4 teams =p

on the way home i went to niges to help him move this bed from upstairs to downstairs.. and it was pretty hilarious, it was like a puzzle adventure or something. basically its a double bed, and if its upright it couldnt fit thru the doorways cos its too high. but if it was sideways it couldnt get around the tight corners. to make things even trickier, the roof wasnt high enough to tip it from one to the other, so we needed enough space on the floor to tip it flat and then up again =p ah.. well maybe u had to be there.. but it was funny.

.. anyways.. its my bday soon =) so heres your invite ^^; i made it in flash.. its pretty woe cos i dont really know flash, but its mildly amusing at least =p i was a bit worried that heaps of ppl couldnt make it cos i think all the first rsvps i got were ppl who had other things. but since then theres been enough positive replies to make it interesting =)

zomg! im almsot 25!! eep.. i feel so old.. argh.. my knees.. my back.. my teeth.. =p this morning i think i chipped off a piece of tooth.. it was quite a big bit too. it hurts heaps.. i think i should finally go see a dentist =p