The Chronicles of the Chockabon

Peh.

2009-05-16T06:28:30Z

I hate having friends that are guys. Especially close friends.

The pursuit of vegetables.

2009-02-19T08:45:42Z

I came across the delightfully chewy vege-root last year at the Ice Queen diner on Aviemore Drive. The name is something of a misnomer, as the only thing my family and I ate were steamed buns, bland corn soup and salad, consisting of seaweed, bean sprouts and this never-before-seen rooty thing.
I did enjoy it.It was rather chewy due to the threads that run through it, and the marinade/dressing went with it very well.

Skip forward the better part of a year, and I am now on a ten hour long haul to Seoul. Oo, lunch! Bibimbap, PLEASE. And thus my next encounter with the wonderfully crunchy, yet chewy yellow-white rooty thing. Mm.. yummy.

So now, on a bored, meandering surf throuh the interwebs, I look up bibimbap, and riffle through the list of usual ingredients. Mm. Doraji. Google Image the word, and you find pictures of chilli sauced jullienned rooty things. They look positively hunger-denting, in my opinion.

And so I will try to find the things fresh, anywhere in New Zealand.

recette pour l'oeuf fumé

2009-02-16T08:51:19Z

In light of the fact that I have now mastered the ~~complex~~ art of making steamed egg, I think I'll impart the valuable, yet wildly vague recipe. Do bear in mind that I don't use measurements, I just add what I like, however much I like.

First an foremost, you prepare the filling of your choice.
My personal favourite are dried scallops and shrimps, so I leave them to boil, and then soak until separated into separate strands. Leave them while you prepare the eggs.

In a bowl I beat together eggs, the number depends on how many people you're feeding; one if you're feeling just a teense peckish, two if for about one person, three for two, and so on. Very vague, but whatever.
Add a splash of milk to the eggs, about half a cup for every two eggs you have in there.
Add about a table spoon of normal cooking oil and a teaspoon of sesame oil (it makes it smell and taste a world better).
Oh. And salt. Always salt.
Take the shrimps/scallops out of the water and make sure the scallops are in separate strands before you add them to the egg, then add the water you boiled it in to the mixture.
Beat it all in a bowl together, and pour it into whatever you're serving it in. One massive dish, a bowl, ramekins, whatever.

Get a steamer, or a suitable alternative, and three cups of water should be enough. Place the bowl, etc in the steamer and set the stove on mid heat (I put mine at 6). After ten minutes, make sure the surface of the egg is firm, and preferably smooth. If it IS bubbly you've probably left it on for too long, or the temperature is too high.
Set the stove down to a quarter heat and leave for 5 - 10 minutes.

When you think it's done (hey, I just guess), take the egg out safely and add soy sauce.

Voila.

OHMIGOD WAI.

2009-02-05T10:27:06Z

Why is HE so beautiful? And I don't even know who he is. Man, I wish I was like that.

chockabon @ 2008-11-25T10:02:00

2008-11-24T21:25:54Z

damn, I wanna watch Harry Potter 6. And have I mentioned John Williams is a genius? John Williams, the guy who wrote the music for Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, what else... hrrm.

But anyway. Having seen the trailer, I WANNA WATCH NAO. Bastards at Warner Brothers keep postponing the release date so that now, HP6 is coming out in July next year, as opposed to this year T_T wankers.

-sigh- Trailer just makes the movie that much more epic 8D

And maybe I should mention that Professor Horace Slughorn is being played by none other than Jim Broadbent, whom we all possibly know as
- Bridget Jones' father
- Harold Zidler from Moulin Rouge
- Inspector Frank Butterman from Hot Fuzz

List. Endless. Goes on.
I can't say I saw it coming, but not that I know, HE'S PERFECT. WOOTWOOTWOOT.

Trailer. Here y'go, dears.

Heh.
Ron. In love with Romilda Vane. Makes me laugh.

chockabon @ 2008-10-28T17:43:00

2008-10-28T04:45:29Z

This guy is THE SHIT. Like, who else?

See? My case is rested.

fucking n00bism.

2008-10-16T10:26:00Z

Argh.
LiveJournal. Too computer-literate for me. WAI.
Question. How d'you get someone else's moodtheme?
Particularly that of aatash, the person who translated a number of the Ouran High School Host Club drama CDs. Namely, the first one. The one with all the Goodnight dialogues/monologues. Oo hoo hoo yeees.
But anyway. answers, pl0x.

And btw, my brother brought home a stack of Armageddon pamphlets, so I have the ticket pricings.

Adult - $16.00
Child - $10.00
Family (2 adult, 3 children) - $45.00

Of course I suggest we go with the family, because we all save $7.00, which is g00t.
Just need to decide who's willing to go as a child. I know Elfie's up for it, as long as she wears a cutesy kindy hat that makes her look so little -squee-
And we can go to Real Groovy which is chocka full of VINYL ZOMG. The place is my Mecca. Like ROWAN ATKINSON LIVE IN BELFAST LP FTW. W00t. I love the place. LUVVIT. So much vinyl. I could die happy. If I was suicidal. Which I WAS. But not much nao.
Man, I love the city. We must find a property and LIVE THERE. Yes.

I have also taken an interest in the Japanese virtual boyfriend website, WebKare. Unfortunately, it's all in Japanese. Which is somewhat of a drawback. Yes. Somehow it reminds me of some other Flash animation game. *cough* Absolute Obedience *cough*

Hmm. Yes. WebKare. Omoshirosou.
Alrighty. Beddy bye bye. no?

chockabon @ 2008-09-28T23:30:00

2008-09-28T10:47:35Z

I can't believe my dad is unbelievably stubborn. And STUPID.

I've been wanting a record player for a couple of months now, but my dad is strongly against the idea.

His logic is that the things are incredibly outdated and expensive and difficult to maintain. I will have to get records to play on it, and I will need to replace the needle, and the things are incredibly expensive. We're talking up to $40, and possibly over.
He also says that record players and records are incredibly outdated, but for crying out loud, what the hell does he know?
Looking through the internet, they're still made and the simple, 3 speed, belt drive ones cost upward of $200.
I'm not particularly interested in the more fancy expensive ones, duh.

I also looked at the records in Real Groovy, and although I flicked through them briefly, I've not seen a single record that was over $40.
There are some that are just $3.95 and I admit the aren't particularly popular, but still. Imagine the ones they sell on TradeMe.

Dad also says that you'd pay twice as much for a record player now, than you would whe they were in fashion, but WHAT A DICK. I may as well pay now, before they become completely and utterly antiquated.

Asshole.

ZOMG -FANGIRL SQUEAL-

2008-09-28T07:32:36Z

Math class was much enlightening, we learnt about conic sections, and basically covered circles and ellipses. Yay. Bonded a bit more with the rest of the class. Billy happens to know about crunchyroll.com. And small talked about music.

BUT ANYWAY. Rushed out of class and into the car, to zoom straight to the town hall. From New Lynn to the city in less than half an hour was , lemme tell you, much stressful. Especially when my mum's driving and she's going "Which way is it to the city?".

Persuaded to get her to turn left into some car park, and I dashed out of the car and through the back entrance into the town hall.
Huffed and puffed much (I am so unfit, it's pathetic).

Met up with the rest of the music bunch, coerced into glomping with Davence -har har-, and generally panicking about where the hell Alan

John Psathas concert. Mad cool. Crazy fantastic. Words fail me.

The first half was much interesting. Especially the third and last movement. Piano, cello and clarinet trio. Watched the cellist most ofthe time. You knew something mad was gonna happen when he walked in with that mad green shirt. Well. Something mad did happen. He did. He was totally mad. Head banging reminiscent of that guy from Macleans. Liek woooahh.

Apart from shitting bricks worrying where the hell Alan was, it was good.
He turned up 40 minutes late, the stupid idiot. HE GOT HIMSELF LOST. Went to Princes St and Cook St. ARGH.

Anyway. Second half. Started with Abhisheka. W00tles. Favourite composition by John Psathas evar. WOuld've stood up and danced interpretively to it, if I didn't have so much shame.

After the second half, the three of us music geeks (James, Nicolle, and moi) decided to give a standing ovation.Like W00p.

Decided to talk to the mad cellist, who was now wearing a multicolour waistcoat LOL.
My introductory line"I just thought I'd like to say you're AWESOME".
-facepalm-

But that's not all, folks.
On the ride home, Nicolle and I decided to get home on Darren's car.
Best experiece evar.
Laughed non-stop on the way home.
Even when Nicolle pointed out there was a hubcap rolling away from us and smacking into the truck behind us.
ROFLMAOALHLDAFVNLKAZNDSRO. Har.

Got home, short of breath, need I say.
Noticed the hubcap on the front left wheel of Darren's car was ern, missing. Hee~

Fangirlism~

2008-09-27T08:02:04Z

Ahh. We all know how awesome CLAMP is, so I've decided to read xxxHolic.
Twenty and one half chapters in, I like it. A lot.
The art reminds me of One Piece, what with the strange eyes and the very lithe and slim characters.

My favourite character by far is predictably, Yuuko Ichihara (consulted Wikipedia for her full name).
Words cannot describe much in awe I am, of her.
He is so very mysterious and has t3h most awesome sense of dress.

-squee-

Gotta love CLAMP.

This will make the rest of my week~

2008-09-23T10:51:16Z

W00t.

Can't believe it.

Mrs Freeman asked to see Raphael and I today in chemistry.
Saw her. She told us that us two and Devashini got chosen to take the selection exam for the Chemistry Olympiad.

I mean like, OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE IT I FEEL GOOOD.
It's just the three of us chosen out of everyone in Yr 12 chemistry, so uh... you can guess how special I feel XDDD

Printed out last years exam. It's feasible. It says it's based on Yr 12 knowledge of chemistry, although Mrs Freeman says it's Yr 12 going on Yr 13. Which is fair enough. It looks... difficult XD

Ahh, LOODLE LOODLE LOODLE.

chockabon @ 2008-09-17T22:42:00

2008-09-17T10:45:31Z

Aah.
Went to get my first injection today, at about 12.45.
I've never been good at dealing with needles, so the doctor got me to cough for her, and she stuck the cursed thing in my arm.
I could quite clearly feel the vaccine getting into my arm, which wasn't too pleasant, it took a while DX
But anyway, 10 hours on, and my arm is marginally sore. Just thought you guys should know.

chockabon @ 2008-09-17T10:25:00

2008-09-16T22:29:59Z

I was link-surfing today, and found this rather inaccurate article by some white post-middle age guy, no less.

chockabon @ 2008-09-16T20:32:00

2008-09-16T08:34:50Z

By the way, laydeez.
What do you think of cosplaying in goth-loli sometime?
Armageddon? [nah.]
Yr 13 week next year? I ask now, because the costumes are around $200.

just for your entertainment.

2008-09-16T07:15:44Z

[2.21 or something]
I had my drink bottle sitting at the front of my desk. Which was empty.
I'm nearing the end of my music exam (which I will have totally failed, by the way; only finished one essay and not two), when I shift ever so slightly and my drink bottle falls over. Falls over onto the FLOOR. And bounces. Several times. All over the floor. Making a painfully loud -CLUNK. CLUNK. CLUNK CLUNK CLUNKclinkityclink-.
This was in the hall, by the way.
With people, y'know. Who heard the whole thing.
I got up to get it, Mr Charlesworth got to it first and gave it back to me. I place it back on my desk.
I turn around and I see NICOLLE-FACE suppressing a ROFLMAO, her face turning red. Vairy, vairy red.
But oh NO, that's not all.
Mr Charlesworth thinks again, and takes my drink bottle, shakes it, and places it quietly on the ground.
-dies-
And the moral of the story is, don't have empty drink bottles in places where they can make loud noises. Kids.

Hah. Unrealistic much.

2008-09-10T09:16:29Z

Well. Got bored. And lookie here.

"You aint a genius! You a girl!"

Great. $3520.

Har. Foolz.

This guy jumped off the Empire State Building. I kid you not.

Hmm.

2008-09-03T09:15:23Z

Kelly approached me today in tutor group. wanting to know if I'm applying to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
The idea hadn't crossed my mind, but after further investigation on Wikipedia and the official site, it has its merits.

The test is made up of kanji and vocab, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension and grammar.
Requirements include a set amount of kanji knowledge, a particular amount of vocab, and a listening "skill".

The level 4 test requires about 150 hours of study, which means about less than a year, or namely, about 9 months of a school year.
It also needs 100 kanji.
It's undeniably the safest option, but probably the less suggestable or realistic, as well.
Not too sure if I've learnt about 100 kanji YET.

Level 3 requires about 300 hours of study, or one and a half years.
300 kanji.
This would be a better option, seeing how Kelly is applying to sit the level 3 test as well. Miss Cumberland also has a level 3 at the JLPT, though it's probably less accurate now that she has years of teaching under her belt.
Including year 10, I now have about three years of study done, but year 10 doesn't seem to have been that intensive/substantial, so maybe taking the level 3 test may be a more realistic option.

Level 2 requires about 600 hours of study, or three years.
1000 kanji.
Now this, is kinda pushing it, seeing how Alan (not Peng, some other Alan) got this certification, after watching anime and playing computer games.
I don't watch as much Japanese-language media or play much computer games anymore.
One thousand kanji is also far from my estimation of how much I know.
If I pass the level 2 this year, or next, I may try for this one afterwards.

Level 1 requires about 900 hours of study, or 6 years.
2000 kanji.
Although damn near impossible, at my level, I'd like to see how I'd turn out when I've done that many years of study, ie after university [I can take an elective paper as well as Stage 1 science, so I may as well study Japanese).
I hear a large percentage of the native-speaking population are also unable to get a level 1 certification.
According to the stats from last year, 33.4% of the applicants in Japan passed, and 25.7% of the applicants overseas passed.
Mm. Waow.

Read and comment. Tell me what you think.
Should I take the test, and which level?
4? 3?

Mm. Live food.

2008-08-24T03:46:41Z

Ahh, the wonders of Sunday boredom.
Out of curiosity, I looked at Dom's post on eating live octopus, and watched the brief video that accompanied it.
Although it's just a few seconds of this plate of octopus legs wriggling, I was just a tad intrigued. Just a tad.
I watched the other related YouTube videos to do with eating live octopus. Mm. Graphic. At this point I was considerably disturbed, but still fascinated. So now, i have seen a platter full of abalone squirm for a minute, give or take a few seconds, a live abalone sushi squirm and writhe for a few second, and thanks to itasan18, I have now seen the disembowelment of an abalone.
Never did like eating seafood, but now, I'll never look at seafood the same way again.

Hnn.

2008-08-20T10:04:08Z

-gurgle- I just woke up from a rather uncomfortable nap. I wouldn't even call it a nap, it was hours long. Just woke up at like... 8.45 O_o
I feel like I have to record it, because it was so strange, yet so feasible, it's falling apart as i write it. Have to do it fast.

I remember being in my house, somehow being attacked by supernatural beings. I don't know. Memory running out fast.
The sky was eerily dark for sunset, like black cloud over a sunset, and then I'm standing next to the dinner table, my brother being attacked by a Harry Potter/LOTR-esque being, like a dwarf, like erm... Gimli? I remember the thing having my brother on the floor, about to kill him somehow, and I take the knife from its hand and squeamishly thrust the blade into its chest. I rip it out and jab it in twice more. I get the feeling that just because it's dying, doesn't mean something dangerous still isn't going to happen. My brother and I (feeling incredibly nervous by now) then throw the thing out through the door to the backyard, where it sails over the fence O_o
Fair enough, the thing explodes, with a massive destructive dome, the circumference rushing out towards us. It's not an ordinary bomb, this one is magic, like it can destroy living things, organic substances. The trees are thrown back, splintered, but the fence and the bricks are still intact.
My brother and I shut the sliding door, and somehow, the curtain is giving off a black aura, like it can protect us against the oncoming bomb blast. And sure enough, the bomb does get in through the crack left behind by us, but the few bubbles left are repelled by the curtain, and they float away.

Next thing I remember, it isn't much, but we're on a bus, with friends, I don't know their face, their names, their voices, I only know they're my friends. I don't know where we are. We keep getting out and exploring places, taking photos with each other.
Sooner or later, I flash to a stall in Japan, in a building. The people sell food, grilled squid comes to mind, there are sacks of dried food laid out on the floor in front of the stall, like dried seafood, like the Aji Ichiban place that I went to.

Next memory, I'm on the bus again, pulling up to our accommodation. I'm incredibly excited, I like what I see. The really modern, contemporary inn isn't more than two, three stories high. I love the thing, it's located somewhere remote, but the grass is so green, and the sky is so clear. The walls aren't there, it''s like they're completely made of plastic? Glass? You can see the inside, and every room has a different colour to it. We're in some media room, with black leather listening chairs, CD players everywhere. I even remember a a shelf of vinyl records and feeling mildly envious.
I'm called to the reception, like there are some things I need to organise with my group details? I sit down, there's some guy clad in black leather motorbiking clothes sitting and talking there, chatting to the receptionist. He mentions having missing a thumb. I ask. He holds up his thumb. It has a chunk missing from it, that's not a missing thumb. He also mentions missing his foot. I look down but, it's right there, it's not missing.
A dream-while passes and I realise this is Yuichiro. Somehow it IS Yuichiro, and it's not. Like a couple years into the future, when he's had more riding time with his motorbike? When he'll be in Sydney with his family? I don't know. More people are coming into the foyer, and somehow we're all filling out sheets of paper, I think they're questionnaires... I can't seem to fill it out, it's about as difficult as writing the essay I was supposed to in English today.

Dink.
Dink.
Dink.

Door. Gentle banging.
Phone. I have one text. Matthew Yee. 19:52.
Mother. Home. Close the door, mum. I don't want to get up.
Wait. It's what, 20:45 now? I've been sleeping for almost four hours?. Wow.
What a weird dream. Must record it down.

Dragonball movie?!

2008-08-18T04:09:52Z

Oh. My God.
Mine ears do deceive me.
According to Geekologie.com (my newfound internet love), Dragonball is being made into a live action film.
Yes folks, that incredibly shonen manga that we've all lived with in our childhood is now being made into a movie.
With real people. White people. As Goku and Bulma.
Chow Yun Fat is being cast as Master Roshi. Who wears a shirt with a half nekkid ch1xx0r printed on it. Brilliant.

I realize the manga was originally shonen to appeal to the sci-fi caveman in all of us, but a live-action film?
Our eyes will bleed.
I will watch it when I can, and laugh the whole way through.
Join me, my friends, and we will butcher Dragonball for generations to come.

WISH LIST.

2008-08-16T02:16:25Z

In light of the fact that my birthday is coming up in a month (30 days?), I have decided to compile a list of EVERYTHING I could possibly want, regardless of how ridiculously bankrupting [THOUSANDS OF MOOLAH] the items are.
They are in no particular order, I just type them as they pop into my head.

- a vinyl record player/turntable
- an antique typewriter (yes, I developed an obsession with expensive, rare, old crap, so sue me [but you can't, can you?])
- Guitar Hero 3 [Wii]
- a record collection
... er. Nothing else comes to mind, really. I shall update when I can XDDD

OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD.

2008-08-13T10:39:43Z

Words cannot describe how unspeakably furious I am.

First of all, sorry for sounding like a whiny bitch, Mr Young. Can't help it.

Group performance assessment.

I cannot stress how much I disliked the second half, which was filled with amateurs that thought they could play the guitar.
People ended up getting up the front and moshing and head banging like lunatics.
Shit, there was even this band of post-collegiates playing some shitawful screamo thing.
"DON'T GIVE A FUUUCK, DON'T GIVE A FUUUCK."
IT WAS A FUCKING ASSESSMENT, NOT SOME MAD RAVING CONCERT.

James, dear James, asked me to write a violin part and cello part for Alan and I, just so Alan can do the assessment.
James is on piano and vocals, Davence is on guitar, Scott's on guitar, Katie's on bass, and Ruth is backing vocals.
I spent months, arranging a part for Alan and I, just so Alan can get his credits, which I doubt he will.

With every item, I get increasingly worried, sweating bullets and telling people so, repeatedly.
Everything is loud and screamy, how the hell are our nice and clean Beatles songs going to top them?
Waiting backstage is no better, we're waiting for Pinho's band to GTFO the stage with their earpiercing noise.

So. After the entire concert, it's finally our turn.
Alan and I pop across the stage to our little side platform, and end up with one microphone between the two of us.
We start to play, and I discover that I don't measure up much to Davence on his acoustic guitar part. It is simply too overpowering.
The microphone simply did not help.
No-one could hear us.
The rest of the medley didn't get any better.
Alan and I continue to play our obviously inaudible string parts, just playing.
Feeling incredibly stupid, like no-one cared, or could see us.
James and his lot are rawking up the crowd, drawing everyone away from us.
Man, I felt like shit.
We just decided to give up on the stupid performance and just stop.
No-one could hear us, for fuck's sake.

To get down to it all, I wasted months doing something I didn't want to do, and in the end, it all goes to shit.

Afterwards, Scott has no idea why the hell I'm furious, and Davence and James are like "good job!" O_o

Mr Young, however, does take responsibility for the microphone thing, telling us that he didn't know we'd be playing strings.
Fair enough.

But man, I need some skulls to crack.

ZOMG

2008-08-11T09:57:42Z

Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt.

Does this not own?

http://www.bebo.com/PhotoAlbumBig.jsp?PageNbr=1&MemberId=1522913717&PhotoAlbumId=8376744311&PhotoId=8446885324

I bow down to whoever made the outfit.

And the girl, for she is total ownage.

chockabon @ 2008-08-05T18:37:00

2008-08-05T06:43:23Z

baah... since that horrid differentiation common test, I've had this rather throbbing headache.
but surprisingly enough, I actually knew how to work out all the everything up till question 9, which I didn't get the time to do.
Thingy's response - "I could've, but I couldn't be fucked doing it."

baah. atama ga itai.

chockabon @ 2008-08-02T21:07:00

2008-08-02T09:17:40Z

alright. so not EVERYTHING is wrong with my life.

academics is looking up.
I did my Macbeth presentation for English on Tuesday, and I GOT E. YES.
screw you Matthew, with your 3 minute Charmed FMV and Fall out Boy backing song.

what's more, I totally freaked about my chem common test, seeing how I didn't study for acids and bases, and didn't get jackshit that the teacher said.
but hey. did my common test on Wednesday. got my results on Thursday. got Excellence. hissed "YESS" in front of the whole class and totally regretted it, seeing how most of them had gotten A.
and poor Robin got NA. AND TIAN GOT A. HAH. SHAME ON HIS FACE.

hmm. went to see Hancock today. it's quite good. and lolsome.