Dad's birthday

Happy birthday dad! Getting older, but at least you're still very fit!

*BTW: see how magie's foot is just about to go into dad's green dessert? Just after this picture, she kicks it off the table hahaha. Luckily the glass didn't break and pudding just fell out intact!

We went to Wheeler's hill hotel bistro to eat. It was a very good dinner! I had the special steak and lobster for $29. Not a big fan of lobster, but it was nice. Steak was cooked quite well as well. Finally got my Heiniken (haven't had one since Amsterdam) and got another blue something for free with a newspaper coupon. We also got free calamari through coupons. Bless my mum for keeping coupons haha.

teoh,

happy birthday mum

and plus, happy birthday mum =] I appreciate you more every day.

easter break fun

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you are all having a good long weekend.

I was feeling a little burnt out at the end of last week, so I decided that I would take Friday - Sunday off completely from any university related work. It was a good plan, I feel much better and have been smashing grad applications all day. I think my company count is up to 20's so hopefully one of them will want to hire me.

Amanda's birthday was last Friday, so happy birthday to my best friend (you are now older than me, hah!). It was a good night of old high school friends (+mich) and rounds of classic games of mafia and jin.

Went to Bright on a loooong family drive on the Saturday. 4 hour drives are killers. But I will always remember Bright for the gorgeous fresh air and the nice creek that I was dying to play in.

I'm feeling quite tired of social outings now actually. I'm so ready just to stay at home for the rest of the week. Have quite a bit of uni work to catch up on, so good timing!

teoh,

party all night long

So last weekend was party after party after..nope, actually it was just those two. Cat's & Ann's 21st birthday parties were both on the same day, one after another.

Catherine's was a Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter high class tea party, located at One Tree Hill picnic grounds, a rather clever theme I thought. I was told to wear a touch of 'mad hatter'-ness or wacky, and my family helped my put together this strange costume with a bowler hat and giant gold ribbon as my bowtie. And then no one else dressed up =_= except tim and his polka dot shirt. Grr. Haha, but it was pretty fun.

Cat & Lauren put a lot of effort into setting everything up! It looked beauuutiful! The classy food was delish and the hot tea came in handy as it was quite cold up in the Dandenong ranges. We had a good time! Happy birthday tomorrow Cat!

And then it was on to Ann's birthday. Boy I was stressing out on this one, as I had a rather ambitious project to complete and it was all done rather last minute. I had recruited my brother to help me create a life size cut out of one of Ann's many Korean actor/singer idols, so I could present it to her as her boyfriend! It turned out very well thanks to my brother's high creative talent.

The party was held at Gertrude Hotel in Fitzroy, which was quite a nice venue. I'll be curious to know what the bill was, but it was well staffed and very neat. It was a very nice turn out and I enjoyed the night. Dave used his magical talents to make a fantastic performance with his guitar as usual. I wasn't very happy with my speech at all, but Kim Bum made up for it and saved my ass. Happy birthday Ann.

teoh,

belated wishes

So with all that's going on, I haven't had time to update a few birthday celebrations I've been attending.

First up, Jason Ling! Happy 21st birthday buddy. Even though you didn't have a birthday celebration, you still get a mention, cause you're that cool! Actually, cause you're such a close friend of mine, I do want to say something!

Thanks for your friendship since grade 7, it's been good times all the way. In fact, I cannot recall a time when we've been at odds with each other. That itself kinda tells what kind of friend you are: always supportive! We've shared many good memories together and you've also taught me many things on the way. The best thing about you is that you're the best kind of company anyone could want! It's no wonder you're really popular nowadays. All the best.

Secondly, Marco Kwok! Happy 21st birthday to you good sir. We all went to Langham hotel for lunch buffet, and I was very impressed. The service and presentation were all up to the price, so I was quite happy by the experience. Not somewhere I'll go often though!

Marco, you've been my longest friend to date now (you beat dave by a few months? or a year?)! Even back then you were smart, so I knew you were going to go to elite places in the future. Now look at you, Dr.Kwok! I think the most impressive thing about is how hard you work. Not just study wise though, but life in general. I think back to the quiet timid boy you were in year 7, to now the confident guy who unfortunately still stabs me in the back with sarcasm now and then, and I think of the effort you put in to change yourself for the better. I applaud you and to the result. Good on you. I also put up this terrible photo of you as revenge for all the times you've annoyed me. =]

Next is Willie's and Danny's 21st! Unfortunately I don't have a picture for either of their's, but they were good celebrations to catch up with their 'crew'. Danny's was near Crown Casino, and we had the honour of dining at Willie's family's little restaurant for his! Even though we are quite distant, I'm glad I went and refresh those old friendships. Some people should never be forgotten, and although there were times when it was rough, they were still my first group of friends in high school and included me. Cheers to our friendship! (even though they don't read here =])

And finally, last but not least, Sharon and Grace's birthday! I was quite swamped with work last week, so thankfully Amanda organised something for us to gather up and celebrate these two strong girls birthdays! They went to Zest at Glenny, and I joined later on. Each one I think has had struggles to deal with but has been given some much courage and strength to continue on. I admire both and glad we still all can keep in contact, even though these two girls are the most busiest of the group.

Happy birthday guys!

Whew. And there's more to come. Ann's, Amanda's and Cat's are all in April and quite close together. More fun ahead!

teoh,

twenty one - the man i am

As my twenty first milestone in my life has arrived, I would like to write a little something.

To be honest, the reason I was not keen on celebrating my 21st was because I felt like I did not have much to celebrate. I like to think 21st as a time to celebrate the person's life up to now, and I did not think there was much in mine.

Amanda touched me when she mentioned about accomplishing a lot in my friends around me. It was really nice to know that I had made a positive difference in the people around me and made me feel a lot better about my 21st. Jason and Grace both reminded me of all the strong friendships I had in that room. And I was really surprised by the strongest speech coming from Tim, my past arch-nemesis haha, but really glad. After all, if I've turned my enemy into a really close friend, I can't have done much more. Those improv speeches really made my night. I was not kidding when I said they are half of my life.

Just as my friends mentioned my good character, I must credit a lot of my positive traits to my parents. I have both learnt and inherited my kindness from both of them; my generosity comes from my mother, who always gives to people and never expects much in return; my organising and social skills I must be grateful to my father.

I'd also like to say thanks to my brother and sister. Although my siblings are literally distances away, they have made the effort to come in and celebrate my 21st in their own way.

I really look forward to the my life ahead of me from the point of twenty one. Although I've been warned that it's all downhill, I hope I get to have a fun time rolling down it!

teoh,

my 21st birthday

21ST BIRTHDAY POST.

Boy, have I had a great few days of celebrating.

I would like to thank everyone for all their birthday wishes, and everyone that made an effort to make these past few days special for me. I have had a WONDERFUL time and everything worked out great.

PreBirthday - 26th

Played 3 hours of badminton with dave, xuan, amanda and a new friend michelle. Was exhausted afterwards, slept at 8PM. Xuan bought me a new racket, adding to the one my dad bought me in malaysia =]

Birthday Day 1 - 27th my actual birthday

Star wars book I ordered arrived - perfect. Went to buy sowing machine with dave at target, later watched tennis and played monopoly deal at tim's house. Also played scrabble. FLAXEN for 36 point win!
Small group of close friends came over, played some games, ngs' made me cupcakes, ann bought me a cake, we all sang songs and ate =] GIN.

Birthday Day 2 (also my brother's) - 28th

Went to work for supervisor training (did I mention I put myself up for promotion?) and ended up having cake all day. Everyone at work sang happy birthday for me, had a great time.

Had an even better time as more workmates gathered for dinner at airstream. Also got me cake and sang happy birthday (third time this week!).

Birthday Day 3 - 29th

Had dinner with all my closest friends at Rare Steakhouse, on Little Collins street. I figured I would go ahead and try the prime Angus steak ($48 for a 400g porterhouse) and man it was good. Had some nice BBQ sauce that is apparently also called monkey glands in South Africa? to go with it. Everyone sang happy birthday once more. Amanda, Jason and Grace said some improvised speeches for me, which was really nice. Love all my friends.

Birthday Day 4 - 30th

Dinner at Rockpool at Crown with dad and brother. Had steak yet again - unbelievably, it was better than Rare's (still pricey $58). So soft and tender, full of flavour. Had some nice side dishes, roast pumpkin and sweet potatoe with burnt butter and garlic yoghurt was my favourite. Some great desserts followed, macaroon with banana ice cream and balsamic vinegar ice-cream on a strawberry tart. YUM.

Now off to canberra tomorrow to have some fun with my friends. BOOYAH.

teoh,

slightly down

my poor fish rainbow isn't looking very good at the moment =[ I'm a bit sad. It's sorta just floating around at the bottom of the tank, moving only so slightly. 'He' (as I like to think of him) has had a good life though, I've managed to keep him and his 'partner' Flora for a good 7 or 8 years. I'm quite proud of taking good care of them. Hope he passes along as peacefully as possible.

I bought some new seaweed and cleaned out the tank for him, which brings me to my second topic. Pet's Paradise is a horrible place. Terrible service, the staff don't seem to care about your needs at all. Terrible product, more than half of my sea weed is already browning and dying. The lady should have checked for me. They have lost me as a customer, never going back to them again. Sad for such a large franchise that deals with such cute puppies.

GHD interview is nearing, slightly nervous. I'm scared that the cognitive test is going to reveal me for the true retard I am haha. Hope I've kept my problem solving skills from high school. I shall be spending most of tomorrow preparing.

Had fun at tim's 21st yesterday, happy birthday tim. Hope you enjoy your new camera. Also hope I didn't base you too much in my speech. I actually did have some nice words in there, but I forgot to mention them up there. Whoops. You're a pretty fun guy, glad to have you as my friend. Looop buddy!

also, I've changed to Google Chrome. opera was doing something funny and I couldn't get it to stop. Plus I've been slightly frustrated with opera in that it doesn't support a few things that I use. I've discovered the Chrome has supported mouse gestures and shortcuts, so I'm all happy with it now =] I'm going to miss Speed Dial though.

teoh,

Meat & Wine Co Review

It is my dad's birthday on Tuesday, so we decided to go out to celebrate at a fancy place in the city.

Meat & Wine Co is located on Southbank, just near MacDonalds, on Queensbridge street. It is famous for it's wide combination of meat and wine. It features a restaurant with two levels, and a lounge bar which sometimes holds special events.

The Restaurant

I've actually been in this area a few times from crown, and was surprise to find it was not a fancy dress place. No one wore anything more fancy than my own outfit that you can see in the pictures, so it's a very casual restaurant. The restaurant itself is very nice, the bar is quite comfortable, dining tables are spacey enough. The restaurant actually extends out onto the footpath, but you wouldn't be able to tell thanks to tight plastic walls and heaters.
Make no mistake though, the prices are not casual. As you would expect from a meathouse, the prices range from entrée dishes for fifteen dollars to steak and chips for as much as fifty dollars. Sides extra four dollars. Not a place for the tight budget.

Service

The night started off terribly. My brother told them his name and the time he booked, and they could not find it. The lady then proceeded to tell my brother that it was booked for 6PM, not 730PM and quote "you must've misunderstood me". She then rudely gave us a look of 'you are so inconvenient' and told us to wait in the bar while she sorted something out. No apology. No when she'll come up and tell us. Just shoved us aside. I was ready to let loose some Teoh rage at her.

Thankfully, that was the end of bad service. 10 - 15 minutes later, we got a table, where we were served with one of the friendliest waitress I've met. She took care of us like a waitress should, inquiring if we were celebrating and arranged a birthday scoop of ice cream for my dad (then again this could've been a trap: see below). All waiters and waitresses were very polite, with sir's and lady's. Food came at a respectable duration of around 20 minutes.

The service at the table was very satisfactory. Front service, look out.

FoodThe prices drove my expectations quite high, and I can say that they were met in some regards. I had a rib platter ($50), containing beef, lamb and pork ribs and chips. It was huge. 1kg of meat. I managed to get t hrough most of it and it was delicious. The sauce was nice, and the meat was really tender; very easy to eat off the bone. However, it was a bit disappointing that salads were not included in my meal. I felt a bit sick after a while just devouring a whole plate of meat and fried potato chips.

My brother's steak was delicious, the meat was so tender and he got 600g of it. It also cost fifty dollars. I had a nice chunk of it and enjoyed tearing through it like an animal (I used my fingers cause they were already dirty from the ribs). Overall, I think my family was pleased with the food delivered.

The dessert was an apple and rhubarb crumble, which was satisfactory but not outstanding.

Verdict

I would like to re-experience this place again, maybe next year. There's no doubt it is expensive, but the food and nice table service makes up for it. However, the trap I mentioned before: the ice scoop that my dad got for his birthday surprise? They charged us for it, $3. That's just wrong in principle.

I will probably never take my high school friends, as they are both pov and not used to eating that western food. But my workmates might enjoy it. 21st possiblitiy? Only with a few people.

Recommend for steak enthusiasts and those who can afford a nice night out.

teoh,

long and let live

okay, time for an overdue update:

Mum's birthday

It was my mum's birthday last wednesday - happy birthday mum! my brother came home and we bought her a cake, magazine subscription, flowers and hairspray tickets. the cake was a hazelnut flourless cake and was quite nice!

Vacation Work

I've been stressing a bit about vacation work, cause I'm slowly coming to terms about how competitive it is out there. My top preference company (see I won't say due to paranoia that you will go apply - like it'll make a difference) is quite elite and I'm not really sure of my chances with pretty average marks like mine. Fingers crossed for me please! I'm doing quite a bit of preparation, even signing up for mock interviews and such, so I hope it pays off.

Technology

Currently in the market for a new laptop, and almost got one today! Toshiba T130 is quite suitable for my uses and it was on sale at harvey norman for 1000! Unfortunately I found a dead pixel on mine and it was the last one in stock. Ah well. Hunt continues.

Also quick review, I finally replaced my old harddrive with this! I do love my tech toys.

Lacie 500GB rugged, USB 3.0! For those who don't know, everyone is universally using USB 2.0, so this is the next gen stuff. My computer thankfully is next gen, so I already have a USB 3.0 slot. So testing it out, I get rough speeds of around 78MB/s, which is triple the usual speed. Nice! It did, however, cost me a little extra than usual ($210) and are only available online shops so far.

teoh,

'night out.

happy 21st amanda and sharon. it was a good night out. still tired, so will do this in dot points.

fun to catch up with quite a few people. jali is still strange and funny. sam is such a mother (sat behind me so she could keep an eye on my speedometer). tim is so fashionable. saw hong dance haha.

speeches went alright. some nice improv and some not so nice improve haha. dave smashed them all with a great singing voice and talented guitar playing. awesome.

missed out on cake. >.<>

venue was nice: Moroccan Lounge. I liked the nice big sofa/bed thing, though more softness required.

and finally. after a year. talked to grace.

feel it all wash away. thanks dave for the extra 10 minutes. I know it must've killed you.

teoh.

my birthday!

quick birthday post!

what can i say, awesome birthday. water rafting down rapids in the morning, which was awessssome. i fell out when we hit into a rock, and lost a chunk of my skin from a finger, went down 7m waterfalls, did 'surfing' ahhh, it was so good. Definitely a highlight of the tour (black water rafting was soso).

Then we went to Argodome or something, and did swooping and sweebing. Swooping is basically a giant swing, except it was pretty high up and pretty harliarious with a guy I did it with. He screamed the whole way down, it was so good. Sweebing is some weird bicycle device, and you race times around the track, also good fun but my legs died on the fourth laps.

Then my new friends gave me a birthday cake surprise and shouted happy birthday at me the whole day to publically humuliate me. They're an awesome bunch, thanks guys.

I promise I'll get around to photos one day but I keep running out of time. I just remembered I need to check my Allocate to see if it's done so I'll write more later.

teoh

thought to hope to revelation

big post today:

first off, I've been having a few computer issues once again. This time it's the dreaded blue screen of death =[ Actually, I don't get the blue screen, which is why I didn't realise it was the BSOD, my computer just kinda chucks a spaz and dies. But yeah, after hunting through event logs, it's the BSOD. Had to do a few diagnostics around at techsupportforums, and so far all the hardware checks out, which is a relief. Fingers crossed that it's fixed ! ( we did a few things to help hopefully )

secondly, I suck at DDR =[ I feel so ashamed at my performance on tuesday, so terrible. I dunno if I have the heart to go the comp on thursday, but if I have no other plans I might go ( and watch).

The past week has been pretty good. Movie reviews!

Avatar 3D, was pretty amazing, well worth the money. It was good that I went with no expectations, plus I had no idea what it was about. 3D effects were soso for me...I guess it did add to the experience, but it hurt my eyes. When he jumped off a rock high in the sky and leapt for rope, my stomach sorta dropped. The story was alright, but was ruined by the cliche ending at the end =[ But definitely a must-see. Music wasn't bad either, listening to it now, quite a few epic moments.

Sherlock Holmes, was pretty entertaining. I heard it's pretty disappointing to people who've read the novels (let's face it, not many), but it was a good performance by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Jude Law. I enjoyed the way they created the character Holmes, with his little quirks and super-insight to detail. Plot was meh, and the sequel became obvious when it was 10 minutes to finish and they hadn't solved the mystery professor. Overall, not bad. Music was composed by Hans Zimmerman, I recognised his style during the movie. =] (if you don't know, he's pretty awesome)

Reviewing Avatar reminds me that I didn't post anything for Julian Tang's birthday =[ we saw Avatar the same night we went out for his birthday. Took him to Hogs Breath, where I was shamed when I couldn't finish my plate when even MARCO did. T_T but it was his 21st, so happy birthday! sorry we couldn't do anything huge for you big guy!

Um...my sister's left for the UK =[ we took her to the airport on tuesday, and I'm feeling a bit sad that she's gone for so long. She's safely made it to the Uk just last night, and it's really cold haha. Anyway, hope she settles okay and she stays safe =]

Oh! I finish arranging my room. I think I'll wait til the next post though. It'll be a nice new year day post (hopefully)

Adding photos now... gay blogger won't let me move them around.

Happy New Year everyone.

teoh,

where are the golden bananas?

I'm capped at home, so blogging at work is now the only option.

I've actually taken to hermiting due to gaming, which is good considering being capped means I'm reduced to offline things anyway. Along with Dragon Age Origins and Trine, I've also started up Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, which is actually pretty fun.
FPS war games have improved since the last one I've played (which was ages ago). This is more 'realistic' (as far as you can stretch that word in virtual games), involving more modern special operation forces and such. Pretty fun, I'm looking forward when someone cracks Modern Warfare 2 for me =] I suppose I'll do a proper game review soon, but for now, this will be a general update.

Last night was Li's and Jame's 20th birthday, at the Golden Monkey. Despite being designated driver for the night, it was a good time. Saw John Chen again, love that guy, spent a night with ann, finally saw hong randomly!, and of course the birthday boy lithium. It was, as was put by someone in my car, a mediocre night, but I found it quite enjoyable. Bartender Daniel was quite friendly, as most bartenders are, and mixed quite a few drinks for ann. I must say, it's expensive trying to get ann drunk, and I didn't even succeed.

Notes for future parties/21st: The venue was quite nice, just typical dim-lighting, decent level of music noise (no DJ, just overhead) and drinks were expensive as usual. Hong missed the dance floor, which is a fair point and might be a deal breaker for some. The whole place was booked out, and it tended to break people into their groups instead of mixing. Wouldn't consider it for mine.

It was also exciting/stressful to drive into the city, since it was the first time. Driving in was nice, no stress, ann was a good co-pilot. However, driving back out was annoying for three points: city looks the same every road I take, the roads are too hardcore (see below), and matt didn't shut up about alternate routes! =P I drove home with 3 drunks in the back, matt, guo and hong.

what I mean by hardcore roads is that there were no guidelines or shown on the road, probably due to the tram lines. but still, I miss my noob white lines =[ and even the round abouts are huge. Reminds me of the magic roundabouts we got taught in engineering (google magic roundabout swindon).

btw, hong has over 40 readers on her blog =_= I'm pretty sure I only have like 3. Takes off the pressure of blogging though =D

the following posts will be a review of my new keyboard/mouse and some games =]

teoh,

tang / uni results

posting in the early morning is not something I want to be a habit. Was almost late to work, just rolled out of bed and ran to the car, changing, brushing teeth and grabbing a bowl for 2min noodles on the way. ugh.

first off, happy birthday janice tang =] finially 19, man so young still. hope you have a great day, sleeping in, eating lots of food, napping, eating more food etc.

second off, uni results came out thursday night. I was really surprised how high the scores were:
computing: 94, geo: 69, concrete: 75, traffic: 75
I was really expecting P's C's, even maybe a fail. I really wish they had slapped me somehow though. I didn't really study that well this semester, and I can't help feeling a little invincible. My studying has slowly degrading, and yet I haven't failed anything yet. So the whole cycle will begin next year.

anyway, horrah to passing everything =]
back to work,

teoh,

surprise! wotcha

happy birthday dave!

do I spy amanda doing a korean pose? sigh. what a lunatic (hats joke :D)

it is now thursday, and I have hardly made a dent in my assignments. hope everyone is having a fun holiday.

teoh,

sleep and sleep

happy birthday (on tuesday) tim! great fun, reminded me of the good old times in high school.

I'm really tired this weekend. I only had four hours of sleep on the saturday morning, since we played hats until late and then work in the morning. Spent the whole afternoon sleeping, woke up and didn't have the energy to get into the city for my workmate's outing. Sorry Lucky >< Then I slept some more.

Yeah, I'm in the mental state where I can't really write anything interesting just yet. Maybe next time.

teoh,