It’s been a long week without even a chance to get a whimper out of me. Just woke up from one of those spectacular dreams where I was in a country that resembled India/Australia (don’t know what my brain thinks up sometimes).

Some of the things of note include the new Macbook from Apple. It’s pretty sleek and elegant looking, comes with Intel’s latest and greatest mobile processors. Pricewise, it still feels a little steep but then you include things like the built in webcam (iSight) and the remote control/media interface (Frontrow) and the glossiness of Apple’s operating system (at current writing, the latest is Mac OS X 10.4), the price feels justified. Apple is an amazing company when it comes to marketing. They will not compete like Dell by beating competitors on price. There isn’t a need as they have such good designers, they can offer products at a slight premium and still gobble up market share.

The new Macbook would be an ideal travel partner, even with the sucky integrated graphics (but then again, those who buy laptops to play games are doomed to obsolescence within months). It weighs in at 2.4Kgs, has some of the latest laptop innovations and has a large enough screen to get some real work done. Heh, something nice, but don’t really need a laptop at the moment. So I digress.

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Camera’s been out of action for a few days now since I discovered dust streaks on the sensor. The liquid solution to clean it that Vyanne previously acquired for me has dried out as I didn’t screw the cap tightly enough. Silly boy! Heh, always learn from experience and never repeat the same mistakes more than twice (at the most I hope, heh). Camera feels a little tainted when it produces images with dust marks on it, especially when you set the apertures to higher f stops, the streaks really get on your nerve. Been contemplating on purchasing the solution here in Melbourne, which costs slightly more and the added $20 delivery charge which I find a ripoff. Heh, then again, petrol prices hasn’t been what it used to be and I don’t think a taxi to and fro the place would be cheap (it’s about 20km from where I stay). Spelling out I-s-o-w-a-n-t-a-c-a-r. Heh. Been looking at the Honda Jazz. Zippy, as they used to describe the Perodua Kancil back home. Heh.

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Weighing between doing a CFA and continuing my Securities Institute financial course over the last week. Decided on the latter and it wasn’t one of those stroll in the park kind of decisions. Was quite impressed with the idea of having a professional certification that would be useful worldwide. Then again, having to scour through self study texts at my own leisure seemed to have killed the idea. Not that I minded it very much, but I know there’s definitely a lot more effort involved as I heard the passing mark for subjects was 80%. That and 40% of people fail (or was it pass?) the subject at Level 1. Not a very enticing future. Whereas I have already done 3 of the required 8 subjects for my Securities course to get a nice spanking diploma. Heh, another marketing package done right, cause if you decide to do another two Master level subjects, hey, lo and behold, you get a Master’s certification! Heh, it would be nice to add a Masters cert to one’s CV.

Studying has its merits, as you do learn some new things in financial instruments you’d be hard pressed to learn anywhere else (especially on your own). Picked a foreign exchange subject for this semester. I can already feel the weight of a June month end assignment due on my shoulders now. Heh, don’t think it will eat too much into my World Cup viewing experience. Managed 2 subjects and a heavy work load last month. 1 subject with proper planning shouldn’t be a pressure cooker at all. Just need discipline *cough* *ahem*. Right.

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Heh, 630am, best time to be productive.

Heh, been wanting to cook for housemates and some other friends and since I’ve been on a cooking spree, decided to cook again this weekend.

Was thinking what to serve people and decided against Chinese food cause I was using an electronic stove and it wasn’t as flexible as I could not get the heat i wanted from the hot plate. If the heat was no good, the food would be no good as well (at least with my level of cooking). Western was a possibility but a tad too pricey as I was only interested in chunks of meat, pasta was too ordinary and not challenging enough. Heh.

Decided on Indian again, with a slight change to the menu. Prepared two curries this time as I knew that one wasn’t enough, had a mutton curry and a ‘butter chicken’ (it was too liquidy, although the gravy was pretty good). Had the usual potatoes and raita (yoghurt), papadams and tried a variation of nasi briani. Vyanne helped quite a bit with the preparation and cooking. Couldn’t have done it without her help (arigatou gozaimasu!). Housemates also helped in preparing crockery (never thought I’d use that word). Heh. Food turned out pretty good. Heh, as below.

Friends also brought cheese and crackers plus some pretty good bottles of Shiraz (2001 Penfolds stuff). There was also sticky date pudding with ice cream, a very nice dessert after that. Basically chatting with loud friends over the entire evening. Heh.

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After food, managed only 30 minutes of outdoor soccer with friends before shuffling off to another friend’s place to watch the FA cup final. Compared to last year’s Arsenal vs Man U, this final was pretty exciting. Unfortunately, I was so tired by then I only managed to watch the first half before dozing off, and waking up periodically to watch a goal when it happened. It was Istanbul all over again. Liverpool conceded some pretty awful goals to Westham and was bound to lose 3-2 when Steven Gerrard scored the most amazing goal from outside the box. It was, to aptly name it, a thunderous shot from outside the penalty shot which sent the keeper flying but it was so accurate it just popped inside the corner of the goal. Another 30 minutes ensued of goallessness before a penalty shootout. Reina (Liverpool goalkeeper) who made some silly mistakes earlier promptly saved the spot kicks and Liverpool went on to win this final 3-1 on penalties. Talk about amaing comebacks, it was like Istanbul all over again when they won on penalties after going 3 goals down to AC Milan in the Champion’s League final and coming back up 3 goals and taking it to a penalty shootout. Jerzy Dudek was absolutely astounding then.

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Another lazy Sunday. It’s been raining so much that I haven’t seen the sun very much in the last few days. Need some good light to go take macro flower shots.