Sunday, October 05, 2008

Oh wait it's October already. Yeah, it's been more than a month since I last updated, but things always pile up around this time of the year. Since then, I've emceed the Monash Ball, got semi-involved in some Student Council elections drama, performed at a wedding, got sunburnt in Kuantan, got back into Magic full swing (nerd alert!) and started giving Math and English tuition to a 12 year old Australian Chinese kid by the name of Kevin. Well, the last one I actually started a little earlier than last month, but let's not get into too much detail yet, shall we?

30th August 2008 - Monash Ball
Well, firstly, the Monash Ball, this time held at Sunway Resort Hotel. This year's theme was interesting; Mardi Gras is celebrated differently all over the world, and we had a fashion show that reflected that fact (photos stolen from Amahl):



Because I was emceeing, I was working most of the time and I didn't have the time to really sit down and take photos, unlike last year... But I'm not complaining. There were quite a number of memorable moments at the ball, notable ones including an onstage kiss snogfest between a Ms. Monash candidate and her boyfriend (which I think probably made everyone stop voting for her) and steamy dance performances from our very own Monash students.



And later, in a twist of irony, the most unconventional underdog ever, my good friend Vishnu aka Indian dude who hangs out in my office a little too often for my own good was voted the coveted Mr. Monash title. Also another friend of mine, Rachel, was voted Ms. Monash. Apparently she won by a close margin of two votes.


And after the event was all over, a lot of us headed to the Ministry of Sound Euphoria for the after-party for several hours of awesome.



And that was about it. Oh, except the fact that a lot of hoo-hah ensued following the Ball and in conjunction with the Monash Student Council Elections of which I'm certainly glad is over and settled with. Well, not really settled per se, but more like the fact that it was a smear campaign to begin with and that it was made up of mostly baseless allegations against certain candidates... Blah. Just a minor rant from me.

Anyway, from this day on I'll try the method of posting short updates but on a more constant basis and see if it fits into my time better; at the moment I think I probably write too long and too far in between to maintain anybody's attention, my own included. So, tune in next week and I'll hopefully have something to say about the Kuantan trip.

The Zimbabwe Dollar Watch:
Well, a month later, and the Z$ value has dropped by another 100%. At this rate, the exchange rates would likely be RM1 to Z$60 by the end of the year, or worse.


Pointless Fact of the Day:
I received a forwarded e-mail (unfortunately, I still get these) recently about the supposed existence of this restaurant in China that you'd have to brave a dangerous climb before reaching, with the reward being a free meal for your efforts. However, looking at the attached photos left me incredulous.




I don't see no safety harnesses! It's hard to fake photos like these, yet I doubt that there'd be hundreds of people climbing this every day just for a free bowl of soup... Moreover, how the heck would they get food supplies up the mountain if you'd have to climb steep rock surfaces like the ones in the pictures?

Obviously, I had to do some research. Snopes.com didn't have anything, so I had to Google it up myself, arriving at some Brit's blog which merely described the e-mail in its entirety (click on the link if you want to see the other photos in the e-mail) but giving no verification of its authenticity.

Nevertheless, I did manage to discover that some, if not all, of the photos were of the famous Huang Shan or Yellow Mountain in China. However, based on travellogues and tourist guides from the internet, there's no mention whatsoever of the death-defying climbs and the restaurant at the peak. Thus, the jury's still out on this; can anyone help me verify its authenticity?