Let there be pie!

And as a haute cuisine type chef would say: Ukulele!

My very first pie! The first real bit of cooking I've ever done that doesn't involve omelettes, boiling (ala instant noodles) or just plain heating up. It looks malformed, but otherwise didn't turn out too bad for my first ever pie, and proved to be a very filling lunch. Learned plenty of lessons on what I should do next time and what to improve on.


Filling consists of chicken mince, reduced cream, mixed veg. and cheese on the inside and a few sprinkled on the top for decoration.

Now, this entire article seems a little pointless, but so is the direction I've taken with this particular blog. 

I can drive!

Well, as of today, I have crossed another of life's stepping stones towards independence. I have passed my practical driving test and am no longer a learner driver. I'm not a full driver as of yet, but I can now drive around town unsupervised by a qualified driver.

I've dithered long enough but have at least achieved this before 30. It will have its fair share of problems - but I'll worry about them when I get to it.

"Asymmetric"

What does it mean? Well, without referring to a dictionary, I'll try and explain it off the top of my head. Something is said to be symmetric when both sides are equal. Therefore, Asymmetric means the opposite, where both sides are not. A persons face for example is (often) symmetric. If the hair is brushed to the side for example, then the face is no longer symmetrical. It is said to be asymmetric. Enough with the explanation.

Now that's a word I am fond of. Quite a useful word to use when describing toy robots, as the terms are useful for describing the symmetry of the toy's appearance. However it is a word that I am constantly forgetting whenever I get to an appropriate point that it can be used.

The brain is a funny thing. You will often know something, and be very confident in your knowledge of this subject. But, at the critical moment, perhaps due to some brain activity that's related to stress, the pathways that lead to all this information seize up or get blocked. Thus you are at a loss to remember what it is at the critical moment. Later on, when the information is not particularly relevant at the time, it may come flooding back in great detail.

This is why I often did very badly during school exams. It's this pressure introduced by the time limitations (and lack of access to reference materials) that often made me forget something that I otherwise knew very well. If it was an easy question that I could do in my sleep, that was fine. But if it was something I wasn't too certain on, but knew the answer, then the numbness of the mind occurs.

Stage fright is also caused by this. Only that has the added stress of having you feeling nervous while being observed by many. The worry that you will fail, the prejudging, etc. All the little stresses don't just stack up, they come in an tidalwave, as you're being observed by many. If you don't go on stage often, your confidence can quickly get shattered and start doing mistakes.

But again, the mind is a funny thing. It might recall snippets of a song at sudden moments and you get a part of the song playing in your head all day long. a terrible thing to happen if it's a song you don't like. Me? I don't particularly mind it when I recall the Badger chants. (Badger, badger, badger..etc)

Oh hang on, what was this about? Oh yes, the word Asymmetric. And Symmetric. They're fun. Look them up some time and find an excuse to insert them into your everyday conversation!

Bovril is not Bovril anymore?

Warning: This blog entry may not be suitable for extra-hard-core vegetarians since it's mainly just me babbling on about a product derived from beef extracts. Beyond that I have nothing against your diet lifestyle of choice - but that's beside the point.

Growing up, I used to enjoy a product known as Bovril, which I understand might not be familiar to everyone. It's similar to products like Marmite or Vegemite. Only it's made of beef extracts. If your country was previously colonized by Britain some time in its past when all the major world powers went mad and tried to lay claim to most of the world, you might have it in some local grocery stores. If not, perhaps it'll be in shops specializing in imported foodstuffs from Britain.

Back to where I started, I used to have this product when I was growing up. Either as spread in cheese sandwiches (toasted or plain), on plain crackers, as flavour for rice porridge or even as a nice broth by just mixing it with hot water.

Though I do like beef, I do not eat it very often. In fact, I hardly have anything resembling a beefsteak at all during the course of a year. This is because one of my parents has an allergic reaction many meats and seafoods, thus the whole family's diet follows suit. Thus I used to enjoy having Bovril for its beefiness - even if isn't really meat nor can it substitute for a piece of leather.

Suddenly, a new turning point in my life, I leave college and fly to New Zealand to live and as well as continue my studies at University. Bovril turns out to be not a particularly common product in the local supermarkets. More prolific are Vegemite and Marmite. Marmite being the local speciality, and Vegemite more Australian than Kiwi. Still, they were the major source of the salty dark pasty non-meat extracts spreads, and they are just as delicious. Once or twice I've found real imported Bovril in shops (a South African goods shop, actually) and took advantage of them. It's probably a decade now since I've really had a good taste of Bovril.

Just a few days ago, I saw one in my local supermarket. I took it off the shelf thinking it would be a nice change for a spread. Then something on the label caught my eye. 'Suitable for Vegetarians'. For a moment there I was left a bit confused. Bewildered even. Then after reading the label, my world shattered.

There's no beef in it. Not even just the extracts. I must admit though that I did not check if had any imitation beef flavouring. Bovril is now just another Vegemite or Marmite.

Now, I can only assume the worldwide Mad Cow problem we not too long ago may very well be responsible for the removal of the beef.. I might just be overreacting, but what's bothering me the most at the moment is why are they still calling it Bovril? Where's the Bovine in it?

That's my aimless rant for the day. And I bid you a good night.



edit: I might give up on the e-mail posting if this keeps up. It seems to play havoc with the text formatting and inserts carriage returns that were never there. Or it might just by my e-mail options. Might give it a few more tries. In the meantime - manual edits! There, all fixed.

An uninformed ramble on the Zaku II

Today's mindless rambling is about the mono eyed beast known as the Zaku. More specifically it is the Zaku II. Please note that as per the title, I know very little of the source material not having watched the original series the Zaku originates from. Most of what I know I've gathered in bits and pieces from various sources so please take everything I say in here with a grain of salt. Corrections obviously welcome for those that are better versed in the history and origins of the Zaku II. As a semi-related preamble to this: The real purpose I'm bringing this up is because I just plain like this mecha. However, the other reason is that I had a diorama project I was working on mid to late last year mentioned in last years blogs, but didn't really elaborate on it too much. This was partly due to the fact I had put it into two model making competitions, one local and one in Japan (purely for fun, I assure you!), so wasn't at liberty to disclose too much of the details. Now that the competitions are over - and naturally I did not win (though did end up amongst the many great honourable mentions ) - I will be putting up some photos of the results in the near future. As the key figure in this diorama is a Zaku II, I thought I'd give a brief overview of what it is, from my uninformed perspective. Right, enough o that. What is a Zaku II? Well, this chap in the photo below is a Zaku II - taken from a few snaps I took a few years back called "Zaku II On the Lawn".

To those that know what these guys are and want more specific details on the Zaku in the photo, this is a MS-06F Zaku II. That probably doesn't mean much to most folks. The MS-06 is the model numbering system that Zeon (the side that uses these mobile suits) assign to their various mobile suits. The F marks this as as a variation of the MS-06 with modifications that allow it to be used in space. A MS-06J for example would be the ground type that doesn't have the extra rocket boosters on the legs and backpack. There are many-many other variations. The Zaku II is a type of mobile suit in the Gundam universe. The best way I could describe them is that they look a bit like an American footballer with spikes on one shoulder pad and a shield replacing the other.

Like a large majority of the mobile suits that feature in this series, its sequels and its spinoffs, they have a single camere "eye" on the head (main camera). Zakus are the mass produced staple mobile suits used by the Principality of Zeon (the alleged 'bad guys') against the Earth Federation Space Forces (the alleged 'good guys'). They technically exist solely to be blown up in very large quantities by the EFSF. They are the counterpart to the GM (pronounced Jim) used by the EFSF, which in turn is blown up in large quantities by Zeon. It's interesting to point out that the name Zaku closely resembles the Japanese word Zoku, which can be interpreted as vulgar or common. That technically describes them quite well. I think a better term was Zako - but I can't seem to find the translation in my dictionary - or maybe my imagination made up the word.

These guys first featured in the 1979 anime Mobile Suit Gundam, and I understand were designed by Kunio Kawara, one of the mecha designers for the show. Despite being the blow-me-up-now mecha for the show, they turned out to be more popular than the titular mecha for the series, the Gundam. The plastic model kits for the Zaku outsold the Gundam at a ratio of 2 to 1! They were originally sold in the standard mass produced green colour and the Char's custom Zaku II which is essentially a red repaint that came with a command antennae on the head.

As the years have gone by and the Gundam mythos continues to expand, many variations of the Zaku have emerged. And I'm speaking of the Zaku II alone, and not the other Mobile Suits that appear to be Zaku spinoffs like the Marasai in Zeta Gundam and the Geara Doga in Char's Counterattack and the Zaku's featured in Seed Destiny. The Zaku, is in a way, the basis for many later mobile suits. (The white Zaku in the photo is an unpainted "White Ogre", a personalized Zaku II from the Igloo 2 series. Note the antennae on the head. That generally signifies that the Zaku II is used by a commanding officer and the whole suit is calibrated to be something like 20% better than the normal suits piloted by the soldiers.)

If you were to ask my why the Zaku did better - I wouldn't have a clue except that I am just as hopelessly fascinated with them. The Zaku is actually quite simple looking monster and is not as intricate in overall detail as the Gundam. There are more curves than straight lines on the limbs, torso and head. Perhaps it's the simplicity of it that assists much of the Zaku's appeal. In a way, for the model kits, this simplicity lends itself greatly to easy customization of the paint work or for etching your own details in.

One aspect of the Zaku that may put mecha fans off is the fact that they are asymmetrical thanks to the shoulder armour consisting of one round pad (with spikes) on the left arm and a shield on the right arm. I quite like the asymmetry - but I do agree that it's a matter of taste. But if you think about it, these are only bits of protective armour. From a model kit perspective, there's always the option of buying two kits and swapping the shoulder pads.

According to the specs of these mobile suits that you get on the instructions for the model kits, Zakus can weigh up to 80 tonnes when fully kitted with their basic equipment (including 100mm machine gun, a 280mm bazooka and an axe known as heat hawk). If you can imagine the amount of weight these guys are swinging about and the amount of momentum they can possibly achieve with that much weight, it's mind boggling. Heavy metal indeed! 'tis a shame they're made to blow up so easily.

Since the start, Zaku model kits have been released and re-released in various sizes such as 1:144, 1:100 and 1:60, and come in various grades classified as High Grade (HG), Master Grade (MG), Perfect Grade (PG) and numerous other types including assembled action figures and other fun items. The recent Master Grade 1:100 scale Zaku II v2.0 releases (from 2006 onwards) are quite breathtaking model kits that are very intricate kits to put together with probably about 5 - 8 hours of construction time depending on how much effort you put in.

Once done, they are excellent to fiddle with and pose thanks to their highly articulate frames as well as offering a feature present in many master grade kits with removable armour plates that let you view the inner mechanical details.

I'll simply close this article off with a personal recommendation by saying that even if you don't plan to immerse yourself in the Gundam universe but would like a fun mecha model kit to put together, definitely give this chap a try. I highly recommend any one of the v2.0 master grade kits - they're well worth it and oodles of fun. However don't limit yourself to the Zaku II - they're just the focus of this blog article. I can heartily recommend the Master Grade 1:100 Gundam Mk II v2.0 kit (either in the AEUG or Titans colour schemes) as well if you'd like to try a Gundam instead, which features equally good articulation and features an interesting sliding armour system to facilitate the articulation without the armour getting in the way. If you don't have any local shops that sell these kits, you can try places like ebay or online shops like Hobbylink Japan.

"Live Fats Die Yo Gnu"

Title is a quote borrowed from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Soul Music (ISBN 0-552-14029-5). On Sunday morning I woke up to the news of a tsunami warning. As with any other major events or natural disasters that have happened over the years, especially those that may directly influence me, this was quite something to take in. The estimated time of the arrival of the waves was about 10.30-11-ish in the morning. That passed and all seemed fine. That was a good relief. For then, you never know if there were going to be aftershocks. Either last year or the year before, we had a similar impending tsunami warning, reported by the media. Our Civil Defence department took a rather lacklustre attitude towards that potential disaster and was heavily criticized by the public, media, politicians, etc. Obviously everyone had a right to be angry about that - our lives could have been in danger. Luckily it turned out all right and wasn't too major a catastrophe. This time, Civil Defense seemed to be on the ball. Warnings were issued, the media did frequent coverage of the impending disaster. Even residents in some seaside communities were given phone calls or cellphone txt message warnings. Good on them - better show than last time. Then, later that evening, I found it both amusing and horrifying to learn at how so many people ignored the warnings and pretty much flocked to the beaches for a paddle and a sunbathe or go out on a boat ride. Like candles, humans live short but bright lives. As if often advised, we should "live for the moment". That's not really a bad bit of advice. If you're going to get killed by a tsunami, why not get in one last swim on an otherwise great day or at least be amongst the first to see the surge of water arriving in person? Why not indeed? I don't think it was ever implied that you had to live in the moment recklessly. I think I'd rather opt to forgo a nice day at the beach and live long enough to see many more. But that's just me. Yes, it turned out okay in the end, so all's well that ends well. But is that really a fine thing? What if it hadn't? I don't like to think too deeply about things like the meaning of life and whatnot (to be honest, it bores me to sleep), but this event was an interesting insight for me into what it is to be human. We're a stubborn species.

So much to do - so little time!

Wow, it's probably due to the global recession that work has been so hectic lately that before I know it a month has gone and past and I have not posted anything new (though I've thought up lots of things I wanted to ramble about). I'm definitely never going to be cut out for this Twitter craze I've been hearing about - most definitely not. During this time I've thought of all things to post - one was a big self-rant about how tired I was and how I never found any time to do anything. Eventually wrote it, but then decided against posting it. Looking back it seemed rather silly, and I've done lots of stuff since then. What you might ask? All sorts of stuff. But the ones I'd like to mention the most would probably be some of the new model kits I've pieced together, which consist of Kotobukiya's new Mechanic series of vehicles that are basically sets containing one tank chassis (tracked or wheeled) and parts to make two different vehicles. Brilliant stuff. Looking forward to their helicopters and their new versions of the robot transport trucks that are also in the pipeline. As an aside, I found the following tucked away in my rough notes, which I appear to have written up to post but forgotten about. So I've touched it up and have include it for your amusement: Ever find yourself having a good dream - only to wake up and realize it was only just a dream? I did. I dreamed that I was walking around the plaza of a mall (rather, a quadrangle complex). Interesting place - I seemed to have an idea where I was going as if the place were familiar. Must've built it up from the various malls and shopping areas I've been to over the years. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a woman and a child walking through a side passage - don't remember if I ever used it before but had a feeling that it was a shortcut. Took it - and was rather surprised to find a public bath house. Well, more like a large hall with jacuzzis and private bathing pools with blinds. The entrance was a showering area. Rather odd that it was on a raised walkway - the whole floor of the bathhouse, where it wasn't a private room or a jacuzzi, was one big warmed pool. There's nothing like relaxing in a tub and letting warm water soak into and soften your stiff limbs. So I got all excited, I decided to rush off back to the hotel room I was staying at to get a towel. My first inclination was to just go in and forgo the towel, but they didn't provide any so drying off later was going to be trouble. Then I woke up to go to the bathroom. Cursed myself and realized I'd just broken what would've been a very pleasant dream. Usually you forget your dreams very quickly after you wake up, but then there are some that you don't. Dreams are interesting things indeed.

The March madness march of maddened marchers

The ides of March is here. Happy new year! Eh? Well, I occasionally wonder about the Gregorian calender that we use to manage our daily life. Often I come to the conclusion that there's a 2 month offset. I know most of the month names are basically Roman names, but when I try to associate them with numbers, that's when the whole 2 month offset comes in place. Look at October. Tenth month of the year, but it has Octo in it. I know it's probably referring to Octavius, but if you think about it from words like Octagon, Octopuss, etc. Octo means 8, but October is the 10th month of the year. Then there's December, the 12 month of the year. However, the Dec, if I'm not mistaken comes from Decimal. 10. To decimate in groups of 10s. Etc. Also ever wondered why February only has 28 or 29 days in the year? That's because it's meant to be the end of the whole yearly cycle, and is basically filled with whatever days were left over in the division of the days in the year. So when and where did we offset the whole year so that it ended on December and begins in January? Well, that was just a fleeting thought.

An Idle Day On a Summer Weekend

Here in the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand, it's summer. In my town we've had several gorgeous balmy summer days, so I've spent some of it outside ... under that yellow bright ball thingy. One hour under the sun and I'm sunburned. I went with my dad and brother on their usual trip to the swimming pool. I didn't go with them into the swim centre, but instead spent some time wandering around the mall next door to get some odds and ends. Ended up buying a new pair of sandals, some modeler's clay and wire. Odd collection of items. Then it happened. I walked by a booth that was set up strategically in the middle of the hall. "Excuse me, sir, could you spare a minute?" It was a someone trawling for people to commit money to some cause or other. Somehow I managed to buck up the courage this time and shrug them off and run off on my way. Normally though it's not in my nature to be so abrupt and I tend to unwillingly lend them my ear and get sucked in and get all nervous and find ways to get away as quickly as I can. Don't get me wrong: I approve of a lot of these "save the children in (fill in third world country of choice)" campaigns, but I do not approve of the guilt mongering that goes on with these campaigners who try to talk you into committing a donation. Also I don't know how legitimate these folks are despite all the official sounding logos they've got stamped all over their gear. In this mad world today there are so many people out for a quick buck that they'll do anything. It's hard not to get paranoid over any form of cash committals. In my mind a donation is something (or some service) that you'll give willingly - you don't have to have a minimum or set up a long term payment plan. Now I feel bad talking about them. Then there are folks trying to get you to sign up for things, usually credit cards like American Express (or insert credit card of your choice). Sometime I double back and see if I can find a longer way around them, or wait until they're busy trying to get the attention of others (diligently trying to get away) and walk by quickly. Avoiding eye contact. Then there are the cold callers that drop by the house. I think these are worse as you become a captive audience - which is compounded by my amiable nature that lets them suck me in. That just makes it harder to get away. It's just not in me to slam the door on them. I do have to commend the Jehova's witnesses though, as they are fairly diligent. Somehow they managed to track me from when I was living in Malaysia all the way to New Zealand. I'm not religious - I'm not even an atheist. I just don't want others trying to get me to do things I don't want to - and feeling uneasy all the time. Rant off. I later spent the day at my local library. I thought I'd use their new fan dangled book lookup system to find some books I was after. I'm rather interested in Windows MFC programming and am particularly interested in learning DirectX. I have a computer game brewing in my head - I need to get the necessary tools to build it. After half an hour later, I gave up. Are they too specialized a topic that I can't even find them in the library? I guess I'll have to take the plunge and buy the reference manuals off an on-line shop like Amazon.com. Technical manuals are expensive to be buying on a whim! After that I had lunch with my dad and brother by the sea. Lunch consisted of a few tiny chicken wing nibbles and some (un-chilled) Lipton(TM) Peach flavoured Ice Tea. The peach tea is to tea like what bottled water is to ordinary water - but was it oh-so-refreshing and hit the spot! Also had an apple custard strudel for dessert. It only had a hint of apple on the ends, and it was completely empty on the inside. Everyone else had the same thing too, and they were all empty. We'll never buy that again at the bakery. This is where I got sunburned. At least I wore a hat! Later that night, I tore open the modeling clay, used wire and super glue to create a frame and somehow made a start at creating a small sculpture of a perky young lady that exists only in my head, (who, for some odd reason, has an unimaginable wealth of knowledge on the topic of tea, but not much else). I thought "why not add sculpting to my endless number of hobbies?". It could be handy in any number of ways - plus it would be neat see one the many characters I'd created in 3d. The results were not pretty - or rather it's too early to tell my efforts can be finalized. After many attempts at trying to get the basic shape down (and failing miserably - the clay didn't want to stay on the wire frame - probably didn't let it set long enough), I discovered that it was midnight. Off to bed and that was that. It's good days like this that you can look forward to.

Christmas Eve Eve

'twas the eve before Christmas Eve, and things are just as mad as ever. Shopping centres are packed with people shopping. Shopping. Shopping! It appears to have been this way for the last week or so. It's greed. It's necessity. It's just us doing what we do best: trying to do everything at the last minute. In a way it's fun. Fun to an observer, though probably not to those that are in the thick of things. There are a variety of reasons for the congregation of people at the malls, I'm sure. But yes, that's just how things are in the consumer world at this time of the year. Tomorrow, the 24th day of December, I still have two thirds of a day's worth of work left to go at the office. Shopping's all done and I'm all set for the break. But as I sit here typing all this, I'm thinking: "It's a Tuesday, but feels like a Friday" That's fairly general and can cover any day preceding a day off or holiday. Maybe it's the effects of my expectation of the day off ahead? Who knows. Well, time to rest up and get ready for another day.