new photo albums! which i'll update later...

Just a quick post to say I've now got photo albums up on my blog - I'm looking to add more photos, but have to find a way to work around the 250mb limit at the moment...

I've got to do this quickly because once I've done that, I can go back to preparing for my JET interview next week - I'm kinda freaked, because I heard that a majority of it will be in Japanese... hopefully, they won't be expecting too much (they are looking for someone to speak Japanese who hasn't lived in Japan for longer than a couple years) so all I'm doing (in theory) is translating my statement of purpose to Japanese, and trying to work out possible questions they'll ask me and answers. Problem for me is just a minor problem - my endless need to procrastinate has prevented me from actually getting around to actually doing much study - I was going to write a blog about my superhuman procrastination ability actually, but

back in melbourne... and bored as hell...

I felt the need to blog since I haven't done any blogging since I came back - probably because there's not much to update really - been back for like a couple weeks now and my body clock still feels out of whack - Not as bad as before though, since I think I just got sick from jet lag/exhaustion the week I came back, so was coughing and all gross, but I'm pretty much over that now.

But haven't really being doing much since - except for watching TV, and downloading episodes of all the shows I missed, and the shows I got hooked on that haven't been aired yet here in Australia - yay Heroes, The Office, & Veronica Mars! Also, Ugly Betty isn't too bad either - I ended up watching a few (by few I mean 8) episodes to see what the hype is all about - I can kinda see why people are watching. On a related note, yay peekvid.com - It's like youtube for TV shows, so more watching and less downloading time as well - so bookmarking it for every time I've missed an episode of Survivor.

Anyway, it still feels weird not being overseas - I've got a theory that the amount of time it will take before you settle back in is like around about half the time you spent overseas - so, some time this week I'll be more into the whole swing of things. It just feels strange going from chillaxing and not having to worry about anything to worrying about finding a job and an interview and stuff. I think I've spent like most of these two weeks finishing picking out the photos I like and making DVDs and stuff...

By the way, I'll probably make one of those online album things of my trip, so I'll put up a link once I'm done with that...

my humps... in thai

I've finally gotten around to posting this clip, of My Humps in Thai... We were kinda freaked out to hear this while at Starbucks.Nope, it's not even a song that sounds coincidentally similar,
it's just a straight rip off. Kudos Thailand, for bringing us inferior pirated DVDs, electronics, clothes, and now music!

My Humps

it's the end of an era... wait, how long's an era?

Wow. It's already been five weeks, and my Amazing Race-style holiday (though remarkably less amazing and not really a race) has pretty much come to an end. I've just finished packing my suitcase and what have I got to show for my holiday?

• Extra clothes I bought when they lost our bags (but now don't really need at all). I hope I can get reimbursed for these since it took a chunk out of my spending money...
• A cool blue Nintendo DS I had originally planned on purchasing in Japan to entertain me for the whole trip; little did I realise they sold out almost completely in Tokyo (or the places I went) so only managed to buy it a couple days ago here in Thailand. I also didn't realise that they don't have many DS games at all, and the ones they do have are imported from the US and not Japan, so are actually more expensive than Australia. So now I have a DS to play for the last day of my holiday, but without any games.
  
• A bunch of postcards that I accumulated over the five weeks, but forgot to actually send to people
• Monopoly: Roppongi Hills Edition - I remember why I don't play this game often - I really suck at it. If I buy up all the stores I land on, then I have no money to build stuff, and the fact that the Dark Blue Park Lane/Mayfair set is the bane of my existence.... It's so much harder to dislike this Monopoly though cos it's set in Japan and has all these anime characters on it! Plus, when the currency is flowers, how can you stay mad for long?
• 4.1 GB of photos on my MacBook - That's 1927 photos and 61 movies, which means hours of fun slideshows to inflict on everyone when I get back!
  
• at least $100 worth of tiny crap I thought would make cool souvenirs but looking back don't know why I bought them. Case in point: I have at least three or four mini plastic toilets that shoot mini plastic turds when you open the toilet. I know. It seemed cool when I was standing in the store in Japan with aisles upon aisles of those little toy dispenser things. Um.... do you want a mini plastic toilet????

Still, it seems like I could've done more on the trip - like spending more money or something - I guess I can just justify it when I get home by using up the rest of the money I allocated for this trip anyways.

Also, I'm kinda bummed I won't be here in Thailand to celebrate Australia Day - I know it sounds weird, namely actually celebrating Australia Day, and doing it in a place other than Australia, but they have a special buffet here on the day - By reading the ad, it seems like a shame to miss...


See? I love lamp.

chillaxing...

I finally got my suitcases back! It only took a week, an endless amount of time spent on the phone following it up and complaining, a few days buying clothes that I don't need anymore, but huzzah! Even though I've got new T-shirts, and boardshorts and stuff, I now have to make an effort to wear the ones I brought so it doesn't seem like a big waste of time and effort packing all that stuff.

Nothing much has happened in the past few days really though - mainly playing Pacman, lounging by the pool, and eating excessive amounts of food. I've also been shopping a fair bit to buy stuff, and hoarding the receipts in hopes of getting reimbursed by the airline. I'm pretty familiar with the local shopping centre now - to the point where I know what the next song will be that is blaring out of the loudspeakers - judging from the dido, savage garden, and that song by kylie that you apparently can't get out of your head, an Australian tourist gave them a CD six years ago that they haven't got around to updating yet.

I got freaked out though while I was there since I heard a Thai song that sounded strangely familiar... I'll youtube the song once I get around to uploading it from my camera.

baggage claim: the movie

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fruitlessly wait for your bags at baggage claim, but were put off by the thought of having to go through customs at the airport? Now
you too, can experience all the fun and enjoyment of waiting for a bag, in the convenience of your own home!



All this, thanks to my brother's unparallelled photographic ability, and two hours to kill at the Bangkok Airport!

things i've learnt on this holiday:

1. Japan really does rock. I was a little freaked out that I had really high expectations of it and that I'd be disappointed when I got there. Fortunately, this was one of the cases where I wasn't.
2. The Algorithm March thing. Me & my brother have watched it so many times now that we probably know all the moves. Well, I think it's a cool dance anyway...
3. Mr Pink from Reservoir Dogs has a fair point about tipping. In NEw York, most of the waiters were shitty, never smiled, and would just dump food in front of you. One place we went to, the greeter/door bitch greeted us with her friendly frown and took us to our seats. When we asked to be seated next to the window (in a fairly empty restaurant, and within sight of an empty table) She just said "nope" and walked away. Why pay a service fee for no service?
4. To find a good restaurant in Rome, simply find a place to eat. Then, once you're full and you've eaten a fairly overpriced mediocre meal, leave the restaurant, walk 20 metres, and then you'll find a place with not-lukewarm pizza.
   
5. The reason I love Thailand is probably because I've already exhausted every facet of the Thai tourism industry. Since i've already seen every major touristy destination, it just leaves more time for bumming, eating and shopping.
6. I'm Narin, and I'm a Guitar Hero-holic. I really, really really want to play. Guitar Hero songs now form an integral part of my iPod playlist, and when I listen to some of the songs, I remember what buttons to press and manage to air Guitar Hero. It's gotten so bad that everytime I hear a song, I think a) whether or not it's a Guitar Hero-worthy song, and b) what buttons you might have to press if it was in the game. Is that sad? Wait, don't answer that.
   

happy new year!

well, I certainly had an unconventional new years. It was spent watching Anchorman and The Office when the clock struck 12. We wanted to see the fireworks and stuff, but because of the bombs in Bangkok, New Years Celebrations were cancelled, which sucks, because our hotel room windows look right on the main street where the fireworks would've been.

It wasn't too bad, though. I've decided Anchorman just gets better everytime you see it. I'm not saying it's Zoolander or Dodgeball quality, but it may get there...

minor update...

just heard there's been some bombings here in Bangkok - I was wondering why they had to scan all our baggage at the hotel... The bombs were a little while away, but also heard there might be an attack near the major new years celebrations and stuff though, which is kinda near us... Anyway, just letting you know we're okay, and leaving Bangkok for Hua Hin in a couple days anyway...

new years celebrations and excessive gelati

This has to be the weirdest New Years yet – I left Italy at around 6:10 on New Years Eve eve, and around 14 hours later, I arrived in Bangkok in the afternoon. In between that, our planes got delayed, and all our bags got lost in between Rome and Bangkok. Haven’t had the best luck with our planes – I think every flight we’ve caught has been delayed – some for a couple hours, and this time they lost our bags…

Anyway, it’s been a while since my last blog - Our hotel in Italy didn’t have internet (well, they did, but at €17 a day, so like 34 bucks) so I’ve been waiting for a good time to blog. Not much has really happened, except that I’ve been killing time playing monopoly. Not just any Monopoly though. Monopoly: Roppongi Hills Edition! Roppongi’s this high-tech residential/business/entertainment district in Japan, which has its own logo and mascots and everything. So, this Monopoly has different place names, currency, and player tokens. I think the cool thing about it though is that instead of buying houses and hotels, you buy kiosks and megastores. I don’t normally enjoy playing Monopoly that much, but maybe because it’s in Japanese, and I can’t understand all of it that makes it more fun.

Italy’s been pretty cool – I’ve struggled to find good pizza and pasta here, but the gelati’s been good. I guess it’s kinda hard to screw up ice cream. So the gelati’s been a little too good. I’m kinda glad I’m leaving Italy because I’ve pretty much OD’ed on gelati. Favourite flavours: Chocolate mousse, Panna Cotta, Cream Caramel, Mango, Lemon & Chocolate truffle. It’s been pretty much a requirement after every meal –including breakfast- one gelati hunt ended with two cones of gelati after we discovered an even better gelateria right behind our first one. I think I’m one more serve of gelati away from diabetes. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that fourth one of the day yesterday…