Retrospect.

My exams are over!

Melbourne is the swine flu capital of the world! Okay, that’s not something to be worth getting excited over. But with the laidback atmosphere and easygoing attitudes of people roaming the streets, you’d never think that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I’m still healthy. I think.

Some backdated pictures from like… April.

The Jason Mraz concert that I went for with Andrea and Yon How.

As I mentioned, it was a fabulous concert (apart from the horrible rendition of ‘Lucky’ by that cannot-make-it supporting act).

I’m still really glad that we caught the better concert of the two nights!

One year (:

As you can see, this is a late update from May. We went to The Point at Albert Park Lake. (We got a bit lost initially searching for the place, and spent almost half an hour walking around the Aquatics Centre, trying to figure out our bearings, but that’s another story.) I think The Point specializes in mainly steak; but we both agreed that nothing beats the Wagyu steak we had last year at Rockpool. Prices are fairly standard. Wine is expectedly expensive. The restaurant itself is actually divided into a cafe (downstairs) and fine-dining (upstairs). The setting was quite intimate, dimmed lights and all. Service was quite good, waiters were really helpful.

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I found out about the Light in Winter that is held at Federation Square, and so that was where Yon How and I went on Saturday night.

Volume was the highlight of this event. It’s been running for three years now, and is brought to Melbourne the the United Visual Artists who are based in London or something. It’s basically a setup of these light pillars that each have their own unique music, and the pillars respond to movement! Here’s the snippet taken from the Fed Square website:

Known for their work with U2, Massive Attack, The Arctic Monkeys and Kylie Minogue, UK-based United Visual Artists will launch their latest installation, ‘VOLUME’ on 4 June. With a soundtrack arranged by Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, this incredible fusion of light and sound will see a forest of luminous LED columns light up Fed Square during the winter months. The columns respond spectacularly to human movement and visitors are encouraged to walk, crawl, jump and dance their way through this interactive installation.

How cool is that!

The queue wasn’t too long, and I think visitors can stay as long as they want with the lights. Best of all, it’s free.

With the exhibition set up against the backdrop of St. Paul’s Cathedral, it looks quite beautiful. When we went in, there was a little boy with his mother, and it was really cute and amusing to watch him run around the columns and the lights respond as he moves past them.

It’s worth checking out. It was quite a fun experience, walking, running past the columns and watching it light up and music emitting from them as they respond to movements. I think they must have built-in sensors or something.

When we were satisfied with our light experience, we walked around the rest of the Square to see what else was going on. The other exhibitions weren’t that spectacular, except for this bonfire in the middle:

It’s Aboriginal-related. I didn’t really read the information to find out what it’s about.

And this caught our attention too:

It’s almost inconspicuous – I mean, you wouldn’t think that this ubiquitous bin was actually the exhibition itself, except that it was glowing blue.

Upon closer inspection:

Silhouettes!

As I mentioned, the only highlight is the Volume showcase. The rest of the exhibitions that were supposedly works related to the theme of light were rather average I thought.

And we ended the night with a ride on the Giant Sky Wheel.

Winter is here.

And so are exams.

Had my first written paper today, as well as a 5-min test on jazz scales and chords test later in the afternoon; it went by surprisingly fast – the 5-min test, but the written paper wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, considering the amount of preparation I did for it. Only thing left now is to start studying for my 50% Chinese Politics and Society paper that’s in ten days’ time.

KAREN FOONG, I AM JUSTIFIED IN WANTING A DSi!!

Satoru Iwata stated the goal of this handheld is to aid in the transition from “one DS per household” to “one DS per person”.

SEEEEE!!!

Most people are often surprised when they find out that I play console games. Well, granted, I don’t really play that much anymore; I played a lot more before, haven’t been doing so much in recent years, partly because when I get into a game, I really get into it and waste hours trying to complete it, so I try not to dive into that temptation anymore. I’m not really a PC gamer – I’m more into RPGs and fun little adventure or time-wasting games (under which I categorize Puzzle Bobble and the likes). In fact, I spent a fair amount of my years growing up in front of the PlayStation, trying to complete all these RPGs (occasionally using the Gameshark when I felt frustrated!), half of the time watching my brother playing and “spurring” (more often squealing) him on. There were also those moments where I tried to steal opportunities at the Gameboy whenever I could (from my siblings who wanted to hog it all the time too). It was probably prudent of my parents not to have bought Gameboys for each of us (they were already quite stern as it is – sharing one among the four of us was horrible for awhile, until my dad bought my youngest brother the then-latest Gameboy Colour, but even so, everyone abandoned the first-gen Gameboy which now looked outdated by comparison to the smaller, more modern-looking GB Colour that made us all constantly wanted to hog the new toy, much to the irritation of the youngest brother).

Even in the years before I hit my teens, I remember visiting my aunt’s house, where she had a super old-school SNES, and I remember playing equally-old school games with my brother. (Gosh, just thinking of those classic games is making me wish I could play them again…) The only PC-game I really got into was probably The Sims (the Sims 3 is coming out soon, I am actually THIS tempted to wanting to get it… somebody stop me from going back to that uncontrollable game-playing cycle!)

I’m not really that updated anymore with whatever new games are out, or what’s the hottest RPG now. (Well okay, the fact that I know about the DSi and even the upcoming release of Sims 3 is just an anomaly.) Those days are gone (really!). But occasionally, I feel the tease and lure of them ol’ days calling me back…

*follows in an ignorant blissful state of mind*

I shall wait until prices for DSi drop. Maybe end of this year or something.

On the other hand, I think I might not go back to Brunei after all… I’ve been swaying back and forth between whether I should go back or not, and my sister constantly SMS-ing me asking if I was going back kept reminding me. But then today I saw the Singapore MoH notice advising people not to travel to Melbourne if possible, and I think that should probably apply the other way. Considering that Melbourne is a swine flu hotspot, Singapore probably won’t want to welcome me, and what’s more, Brunei will probably quarantine me too. I don’t want to be that “GIRL BRINGS SWINE FLU TO BRUNEI” in the headlines. So thank me for saving you guys from such a situation.

Sorry … (Karen, I’ll call home again to confirm la…)

I’m healthy, thankyouverymuch.

Miss you all very much… Sigh. Say hi to the dog and cat for me. And the cars that I miss driving. The good food that I’m craving for. And enjoy all the gadgets and presents that Charles brought back to you all from Manchester (without me, yes). Gah. =/

One more exammmmmm.

Early Autumn

They don’t make songs like these anymore. Amazing lyrics, and sublime music, matched by a divine voice.

(Music by Ralph Burns and Woody Herman; words by the great Johnny Mercer.)

When an early autumn walks the land and chills the breeze,
And touches with her hand the summer trees,
Perhaps you’ll understand
What memories I own.

There’s a dance pavilion in the rain all shuttered down,
A winding country lane all russet brown,
A frosty window pane
Shows me a town grown lonely.

That spring of ours that started so April hearted seemed made for just a boy and girl.

I never dreamed, did you, any fall would come in view so early, early?

Darling, if you care please let me know,
I’ll meet you anywhere
I miss you so,
Let’s never have to share another early autumn.

Woody Herman has a great interpretation of the song as well. This era was just so rich with such splendid jazz standards as this; mainstream music today leaves me shaking my head and wondering where the great has gone.