Tsurukame Shabu Shabu

A very interesting meal indeed. I'm beginning to realise that food I can't pronounce or spell easily tends to be very interesting. This shabu shabu thing sounds like a drug that can land me in prison for life. Syabu syabu. Ganja ganja. Whatever.

Since it's getting late and I'm getting sleepy, I'll just let some photos do the talking for me.

Many plates on the table. Bowls of sauce too.

Left side of the table.

Right side of the table.

Miso soup. I think. Hope I'm not wrong. I'm bad at these things.

Scallops close up. Big shell, but small guy living inside.

Not something I get to try everyday. Glad to meet up with friends and eat something special :D

The AUD$49.90 Assignment

Education isn't cheap. And it's risky.

Very risky.

Recently it was brought to my attention that I had to complete an online assignment. The estimated time was given at 20 hours. Quite a big one considering the fact that my previous online assessments only took 1/2 to 1 hour at the most.

Whatever sense of enthusiasm I had in this particular assignment quickly faded when I found out that an attempt at this technologically advanced piece of homework would cost me no less than $AUD49.90. That's like more than RM150!

Hell, with that kind money I could buy a villa by the beach in Hawaii.

Okay, perhaps a nice scale model of a villa in Hawaii.

But still, for thrifty (and perhaps stingy) people like me, RM150++ is a lot of money. You have to complete the assignment and submit it online, so any unforeseen problem that kills your internet connection while you're submitting a section of your work will spell doom for you. Zero marks for that section, no ifs and buts.

I'm just so glad that I survived the thing without much problems, save for a few instances that nearly caused me panic attacks. Education can be dangerous, it seems.

Movies (Mostly Cartoons)

After abandoning the cinema for a long time, I finally had the chance to catch some movies in the past 2 weeks or so. Nothing wrong with some entertainment. I think it's been about 7 decades I haven't blogged about movies, so here's an update of what I've watched.

The Adjustment Bureau. Sometime ago. Apparently there's a special group of highly skilled professionals ensuring that our destinies don't get messed up. Provided you can get your hands on their hats, you can use ordinary doors as portals to get to anywhere and everywhere. So if you see some weirdo wearing a hat, steal it and start turning doorknobs clockwise. You might get to New Zealand within an hour. If you turn the knob anti-clockwise you'll piss the entire bureau and they'll pawn your pet goldfish.

Ahhh... kiddy stuff. Hop. A story about Easter Bunnies and rebellious chicks with Spanish accents. Word of advice: avoid multi-coloured jelly beans. You call it candy? The easter bunnies call it their poo!

That's the bunny rabbit when he was younger. Yup, pretty cute. Especially the eyes and the teeth. Don't underestimate him. He's a professional drummer.

The most recent addition, Rio. Another cartoon. This one involves a lot of singing animals. Birds mostly. What did you expect? Rio de Janeiro is in Brazil. When they're not playing football, they're dancing and singing. The main character has a way with physics but not with the girls. Much to learn, much to learn... well at least he learns how to fly in the end. The only time I ever flew was when my bicycle threw me into a large fish tank, but that's a different story altogether.

It's Not Over

Mid sems are history, but hopefully I'm not. That's one hurdle off the books. Next it will be assignments and assignments and before I know it the finals will be here. Of course compared to audit work, this hardly qualifies as 'pressure'. It's just the beginning, and like all the bad guys in action movies say...

IT'S NOT OVER.

Even Daughtry sang that.

Eats noddd owwwverrrrrrr~~~~

It's not over until I say it is, and right now, I say...

HOLY COW IT'S 1 A.M I BETTER SLEEP BEFORE I PANDARIZE MYSELF!!!

Hi Law, It's Me Again

Over the past 2 years I have written many posts about law (both real and fake law). They usually appear when a law exam is around the corner. That's exactly the situation now.

Tuesday will be the mid-semester test day for business law. So far I've gone through Business Statistics and Economics. Accounting will come later.

I've said before law is one of my favourite subjects. Hard to study, but interesting as light reading.

In an attempt to lawify this post and boost my morale for Tuesday's mid-sem, I shall first present for thy consideration the case of Pang v Puay Kee (1982) CLR 34. In this particular case the Imaginary Court held that flying aircraft low enough to scare pet Chi Hua Huas to death did not amount to negligent conduct, provided that an airport was reasonably nearby. Earlier I was fortunate enough to observe a pet doggie which appeared to be very troubled by Thai Airlines flying overhead. This case just came to mind. Judging by the fact that the Penang International Airport was about 5 km away, I guess there are no grounds for litigation.

Speaking about cute little pet creatures, earlier I was also fortunate enough to have a lengthy discussion with a very dear friend about cockroaches. Hang on...

...this implies either the cockroach is a cute little pet creature, or my friend is one. Either way something's wrong. But anyway, in R v Kachuak (2011) HCA 56,362,725,000, the Commonwealth Government of Juanotopia prosecuted a cockroach for trespassing into top secret restricted government property. The Kangaroo Court, upon having 7 barrels of ale, declared that cockroaches were sentient beings capable of being charged in court, and should reasonably have been able to read the sign posted outside government property - 'Juan's Stuff. Keep Out.'

The cockroach was sentenced to 5 lives in prison. In Justice Juan's words:

'...cockroaches, being born with brains smaller than humans', should nevertheless *hic* be treated...as being able to comprehend the law. Their smaller brains *hic* have been compensated by the fact that they have six(6) feet, and not just two(2) like humans. It is my belief that cockroaches should therefore *hic* be treated as having the same legal capacity as human individuals, which leaves this sucker *hic* dooooooooomed.'

When asked what the court meant by 'should reasonably have been able to read', Justice Juan replied:

'Anything not reasonably reasonable to be considered reasonable within the reasonable context of the word should reasonably be considered unreasonable by a reasonable person capable of reasonably reasoning the reason behind the reasonable meaning of the word.'

The court adjourned silently with everyone wearing exactly the same look currently on your face.

Post Mortem

Alright folks this post is a bit late. Sorry I mean very late, but better late than never I guess. After the Pirates thing we had a post mortem, which allowed us to review our weaknesses, apologize for what we did wrong and get praised for what we did well. It also gave us the excuse to talk nonsense and organize a barbecue after the serious discussion.

Big boss talking. Must listen.

Bigger boss talking. Must must listen.

The focus of the evening was of course, the barbecue. Not the post mortem. It's difficult to have a long meeting when you know you have frozen fish balls and sausages and chicken waiting outside to be cooked. We quickly finished talking and went to the rooftop, where we could cook and pollute the air without suffocating.

Skewering all the foodstuff, and posing for the camera.

Those not on the skewer squad proceeded to play with fire.

Food skewered, pits ready, can cook.

Some of the yummies on offer.

Siao sampats in action.

Jump for joy. Though I don't recommend jumping too much after eating.

This concludes our pirate-themed adventure. I bet it was a journey worthwhile for all of us :-)

Pirates Ahoy!

As promised, here are some photos I borrowed from Facebook after our photographers posted them for the world to see. Just to colour up the blog and show some old friends what I've been up too. I didn't appear much in the pics because I kept running around the place. Bet the others had a hard time figuring out where I was.

Proudly made by the deco team.

Zhong Yang's masterpiece.

It wasn't easy assembling this 12-meter long path.

Fellow pirates, armed and dangerous.

Buffet line - where everyone gets stuffed.

Our key revenue center, manned by make-up artists.

Band performance for the night.

Another performance, courtesy of the Indian Cultural Society.

Root beer drinking competition, not for the faint-hearted.

Part of our audience.

B Boy's hip hop dancing. The night's climax performance.

Notice how they braved the rain. They've got the moves.

Free dance session! Apparently the crowd doesn't mind getting wet.

The people behind it all. Organising committee group photo.

The day of the event nearly gave me heart attacks (yes, in plural form). Especially the deco assembly phase. We managed to put everything up just minutes before the event started. Thankfully we overcame the major setbacks, and during the event the deco team could finally relax and fool around. I myself was walking around smiling like a fool. It was the program team's turn to feel the pressure, and I must say they handled it well.

Cheers to the organising committee for making it all possible. I haven't seen such perseverance and determination in a very long time. Keep the fire within you, my friends. It will bring you a long way.