Just a quick note to say there are problems with Adam’s internet connection which is preventing me from updating the blog (despite my efforts).
Rest assured I’ve got a bunch of cool stuff to share that I hope to post shortly!
Category: Miscellaneous
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Yesterday we headed into the city again (Bernard felt much better so he came too) with the goal of seeing Avatar and visiting the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Australian Museum. It was raining very lightly which was quite nice since it lowered the temperature.
The wildlife exhibit was good except for the winning photograph. You can read the controversy here. I personally preferred many other photos to the winner, controversy aside, especially one that showed a house cat facing off against a fox in the snow.
We hadn’t allowed ourselves that much time (the two old men I’m vacationing with sleep in every day…) so we didn’t get to explore the museum, which was a shame since it seems to have drastically overhauled the exhibits since any of us were last there. Of course we found the time to gander at the world-class mineral exhibit, which I always love.
The top spider photo was of one they had on display at the museum. I promise I will find one in the wild to photograph soon! The lower right photo is of a dead spider covered in gold. This is to suppress the electric field effects caused by a scanning electron microscope – basically they have to coat the subjects in gold to increase contrast when microscoping them. They had a wide variety of gold-coated insects on display, and it was very impressive how even the fine details such as hairs were shining and golden.
Lunch was Japanese at Sakae (I had the pork tonkatsu… delicious!) and afterwards…
…we headed over to the cinema to get our tickets. We had to see the 2D version, since Adam can’t see the 3D, but the only 2D screening was ‘gold class’ (a premium class, private seat) for $26 apiece. We weren’t going to pay $78 to see the film so we moved on.
So what to do?! Well, since Bernard had missed out the day before we went back to the UFO machines, where he won a cute stuffed steam bun (photo forthcoming). Pricelessly, he exclaimed it only “cost me $30”! We also went on another bit of a shopping binge, buying more asian DVDs (example: Boys Over Flowers entire Korean TV series) and books (such as Nick Cave’s new novel that I didn’t even know existed). There was also a relaxing rest for beer (and Lift) at the Sydney Tattersalls club, before a bit more walking and browsing that culminated in an equally delicious Oporto dinner!
< Almost $50
Did I mention everything is so expensive in Australia?
We did not go to the fireworks, we knew around dinner we wouldn’t be. This was mostly because Bernard’s dealing with a bit of pain and we didn’t want him to be uncomfortable in a crowd for hours. As it turns out, it was probably a good thing we didn’t go. While the 9pm fireworks at Darling Harbour were mighty impressive, the midnight ones were a big mess of smoke, so thick at times you couldn’t even see the bridge. The yin/yang symbol was also a bit strange…
Even so, it was a bit amusing to watch the fireworks live on TV and hear the sounds coming through the window!
We did of course play more MTG. Bernard set a new record for cards simultaneously in play:
I was asleep last night by 12:15 I think 🙂
Oh, and one last thing: apparently there is a cheetah in the DS walking software!
Two more random shots, one of which is the Sydney Apple store (that I didn’t enter):
[Today my 3 cans, 1 bottle and 1 glass of Lift totalled 1975 ml. That makes the trip total so far 7 Litres.]
Lifting My Spirits
I got up early, woken by birds, around 5 am. I had a shower and, before 6, left for a stroll around Centennial Park.
The above shot was taken by the new digital camera I received for Christmas, which can take fancy panoramic shots. It does a mighty fine job of this, and I’ve been using the feature a lot.
The park was full of birds (as it always is), including Galah’s and the usual swarm of ducks:
The walk took a while, and filled up my daily step counter on my pedometer (more on that in a future post). I got back to Adam’s around 8:30, and shortly after we left for a bit of shopping.
Lunch! Lunch was Oporto (surprise, surprise):
Which is every bit as great as I recall. We hit chinatown today, and I made a great many purchases. Bernard was not feeling well, so he went home to recuperate whilst Adam and I trolled the DVD shops, arcades and ‘cute goods’ stores. And the UFO Catcher place down near Paddy’s Markets:
Here is a video of some of the action. The machine was carefully chosen to appeal to my target youtube demographic 🙂
…A bit later though, I WON SOMETHING! It was an amazing victory, using a two-claw machine to win something large. A nearby asian teen was heard to say something like “He got one!” Needless to say, she was surprised and impressed by my awesome skills. What did I win? That’s a secret…
Dinner was subway, and the evening was spent watching TV and playing MTG.
Here’s a very funny video of one of Adam’s bottle openers…
Tomorrow evening we’re off to the city for the fireworks, and on New Years Day we’re going to the horses at Randwick racecourse!
[Today I drunk 6 cans of Lift and a small bottle, making the cumulative total 5.025 L so far.]