Lost In Translation

That's right, folks!
Ever since I've quit my job (cuz uni's starting soon. heh), I've been finding more time to myself, living up the homelife sitting in front of the tube pretty much all day. Well... the tube and a console, to be accurate.

I've been pretty much getting up at 9:00ish every morning now, being the latest I can sleep in till, in contrast with the 6:30a.m's back when I was working the past month and a half. And from then on, unless I've got certain errands to run or meals to eat, I've been resting my lazy arse on my Ikea flexichair with a controller in my hands all day.

First off, I got myself these pair of sweet treats:

Which may I say again are sweet. Ratchet & Clank 3 has got to be my very first "bought" PS2 game ever (not counting those RM10 ones from back home), which is rather amusing I guess, considering that technically, I don't have a Playstation to start off with. And not only that. I've also got myself a pair of controllers. So basically, I have a pair of award-winning controllers, a genuine (yes, Top Spin isn't) PS2 game, and yet, no PS2. As for now, I guess I'll just have to settle still for kg's.

Nevertheless, these two games have been keeping me busy for the past few days. R&C being the delightful kids' smash 'em - trash 'em one (kinda like Halo when on multiplayer... except that the level of seriousness is of Crash Bandicoot) and Top Spin simply being... Top Spin. The tennis game is definitely addictive, considering how I'm (as in my custom-made player... me) climbing my ranks now to be a Pro tennis player, beating the likes of Hewitt and Federer, when really in real life, I have absolutely no clue about tennis at all.

How cool is that??

And just today, I got myself this:

Mwahahahahahahaha!
I will never see the light of day. But I'm not complaining!
Oh well. What can I say? Half of my friends are working now. The other half aren't exactly back in Melbourne from the holidays yet. Well... either that or I'm just ignoring them. So what else can I do but sit at home and play all day??
Sure it's unhealthy. And definitely not cool considering how geeky it is. But I guess I'll just have to live life one day at a time, learning from my mistakes.
But as for tomorrow, I think I won't learn just yet.
;)

So Lydia told the bunch of us ("us" being Esther, kg and I) that there would be a free jazz session at Fitzroy Garden last night. Apparently bands of different genres and backgrounds have been performing at the garden every weekend for almost a month now as part of a 'festival' now in Melbourne called Summer Fun In The City. Last night would be "jazz" as she so put it and tonight would be swing.

But jazz it wasn't.
Instead we had a hybrid of Jamaican ska, a little bit of raggae, hip hop with some Latino influences fused together like rojak. Okay. So there may have been some jazzy bits in their gig. But honestly, not to be mean or anything, but to me, they pretty much just sound like Cat Empire wannabes. See the way I see it, the Cats have been the pioneers to such fusions, and ever since then we've seen little 10-man bands with brass, percussions and incoherent rappings sprouting all over Melbourne like parasites. Think Missy Elliot and her pioneering of intergrating exotic African/Indian drum beats in her mash of hip hop. Ever since then you've seen every Tom, Dick and Harry doing the same thing. And they're annoying. 'Cause most the time these guys are just a bunch of try-hards trying to be all fun and gay when really, they appear just lame.

Surprisingly however, these guys didn't seem to appear so. Not to the crowd at least. The crowd wasn't all that huge, but nevertheless impressive. Reminded me of the Moonlight Cinema. Comprised of a lot of families, most of them were there with mats and picnic baskets. But for the far cooler bunch of people, they'd head to the front and form the tamest of all mosh pits and start dancing to the grooves. Silly as it may all sound, the atmosphere was actually really pleasant.

But honestly speaking, the band wasn't all that great.
Performance-wise, I think they were far too uncoordinated to pull off a great gig. For example, at times they'd be only this one lone dude (out of the dozen of them on stage) getting all hyped up, trying to get the crowd to jump along to his tunes, only to turn back to find his bandmates pretty much stale as well.
Uh-uh.
Lyrically, not to say that I'm some kinda maestro with words, but they were kinda crappy. I mean... oh nevermind. All I can say is that they were pretty cheesy. But then again, this was only when they were singing in English. I have no clue when they blabber in Latino or so forth.

Musically though, I think they were pretty talented.

The brass band for one, were pretty impressive. The guy on the furthest left on the sax is good. Not that the others didn't know their stuff. But I guess he stood out for me because during his solo, I found him to be the grooviest, jazziest, and most confident. Haha! What a critique. But oh well. As long as you catch my drift. His freestyling tunes were simply impressive, so to say, with the makings of a true jazz saxophone player.

But the highlight of night would still have to be the drummer though. Just when I thought it was gonna be a long night, in came the drummer on his solo. In fact, it was really cool when he sorta did a "battle" with the percussionist, trying to match his quick palms on the bongos.

His rolls were great and he could even do those off-beat, in-beat rolls, if you know what I mean. Okay, so I make a terrible music critic. But at least I know what I enjoy, and I enjoyed listening to the drummer strut his stuff.

We pretty much left after the drum solo, leaving us with a good note I guess.
But as Esther so put it herself, "I much preferred them when they weren't singing."
Oh well. That's just our opinions at least.
For more info of the band, check out their website at trojanhorns.music.net.au.

As very few of you may know, in my apartment right now sits a huge crappy blue sofa-bed with a broken frame. Not that that has rendered it totally useless or anything. But it is certainly not good for your back anymore, sitting on it. You see, while it may still serve alright as a bed (despite it's really thin mattress and terrible trampoline-based bed that should be banned by chiropractors around the world), it is totally crap now at being a sofa. The frame which is at the bottom front of the sofa is cracked and broken, hence when you sit on the cushions, the frame would give way, causing you to sink into the sofa.

So what kg and I have been doing is hunting for a replacement, if not try to fix this current one... which we're not sure how. There's been heaps which we've come across but I personally am torn between two from Ikea and Freedom.

Meet the Fagelbo (Ikea).

As you can see, it is a very nice looking sofa. But not only that - it serves as a super comfy bed due to its awesome foam cushions that would also be the mattress, unlike my current one which is so thin you can fold it in together with the bed frame. The Fagelbo is basically a pull out bed equipped with storage space under the ottoman for extra pillows (which I'm enchanted by), turning it into a rather big double bed, like this:

Pretty neat, eh?
The only problem though, is that the frame that helps pull out the bed underneath the sofa is rather flimsy itself. Which is a real disappointment, really, because the whole point of hunting for a new sofa bed itself is to avoid such disasters again.

So in comes the Zoom Sofa (Freedom).

Clever and extremely reliable. It's a futon, hence it is definitely far more reliable in terms of it not breaking apart in any way. Plus, as you can probably see yourself in the picture, its frame's made out of steel.
And not to mention the way it folds itself out. It's meant to turn into a double bed, but really, it is pretty small for a double bed. But it can also be left as a single bed. Well... just watch:

Cool stuff, huh? And everything's folded out to any shape in a matter of clicks.
So what's the con for this sofa? Well, to me, I don't like the colours it comes in (this screaming red, a navy blue, and charcoal grey). I don't think it blends in well with the apartment. Plus, I think in terms of looks, the Fagelbo kicks Zoom's arse a million miles out.

In terms of comfort of the mattress though, they're about the same. Except that Fagelbo's cover material is smoother and softer, hence making it a wee bit more comfortable to sit/lie on. But on the other hand, the Zoom sofa's cover is zipped and able to be taken out to be washed if ever the need arises while the Fagelbo's cover can't be taken out to be washed.

So what do I do???
I'm in such a dillemma!! I think kg and Esther are rooting for Freedom's Zoom, given its durability and Freedom's better reputation for longer-lasting furniture. But am I so blinded by Fagelbo's looks and hidden storage compartment that I can't see the whole purpose of purchasing a new sofa altogether?!? Plus it's an L-shape sofa. It's got an ottoman!!! A friggin' ottoman!! ARRRGGGHHH!!

It's like buying an Apple product. All looks no brain.

Sigh... If only I were a millionaire.

The Melbourne air is truly so polluted. The city air, especially.

Just today, out of the pure boredom of my heart, I decided to clean my table-fan. Now, please note that the table-fan in my room has never been used outside before and has only been used indoors all this while. If it's not sitting on my study table doing its rightful duty, it would be outside in the living area. Oh, and do note as well that my room does not have a window. Well, not a window that can be opened at least. So the only dust it is able to accumulate is within the living area of my apartment (which really, it's seldom there) or in my bedroom (where it spends 95% of its time at).

And, well... I can't really find the words to describe it. Why don't you just take a look at it yourself?

What can I say? I don't think I'm dying any longer. I know I am.

So, armed with a screwdriver, a dirty cloth usually used for the car, an unused toothbrush and a lotta tissue papers, I started ripping it apart cleaning it inch by inch by my balcony. It was clearly unfit to be cleaned inside. And what a tough ordeal it was. Almost taking about half an hour (with Esther's help as well), I was so glad when it was finally clean and ready to be reassembled.

Aw, look at it. Ain't it a beauty? Almost feel like I've just washed my car itself. It was literally shining!! I could see my own reflection on the surface of the blades.
But of course, such beauty did not come without a price. There was collateral damage as well.

Imagine all that dust, and possibly more blown away by the wind already, inside my fan. Accumulated by the surroundings of my bedroom, and fanning the room every night. At me. It felt as if I've just emptied the dustbag inside a vacuum cleaner.

The Melbourne air is truly so polluted. The city air, especially.
I want my suburby life back...