peterleh.

[21/08/2011 1:39:25 PM] Tu Pham: you should post my video on this site also ;)

Well if you guys didn’t know, I like to chill out and play guitar sometimes as a hobby. I’m not technically good at either guitar or singing but it’s something I enjoy so get off my back!

Since my last post on Valentines Day, I’ve made three more short videos of me mucking around on the guitar with friends or just on my own. The videos were pretty much made for my darling friend in Georgia, Tu.

So here it is on the internet now :P You can stop being jealous now, Tu!

(Source: youtube.com)

Well, it’s almost been half a year since my last update and it’s been one hell of a ride in terms of everything in my life.

For the most part, some avid party-goers would consider my life extremely “boring” or “average” and for the most part, I would completely agree with them. However, people like me enjoy the simpler pleasures in life - rather than the hypnotic thumping beats inside a club (which, don’t get me wrong, have their own merits), but I digress.

I love the fact that I document my life as I go along with my camera. It gives me the ability to remember things that I’ve done that I might not have remembered otherwise. Facebook also helps! :)

So I’ll start the ball rolling with Theresa’s very fun, very filling and very Vietnamese 21st birthday house party. While it was a bit of a drive, it was very entertaining to catch up with a bunch of people that I hadn’t seen for a very long time. In addition, it was also very fun meeting new people, creating new friends and strengthening the bonds of friendship with, what once used to be, acquaintances.

Not too long before (I’m going off my Lightroom pictures so the timeline might be a little wonky!), my best mate Wayne had his graduation and I was tagged by his parents to be his personal photographer for the day (minus the actual ceremony). It was a very fun-filled event that tested by capabilities of trying to eliminate shadows in an environment where a flash would have been absolutely useless. I do believe at the time I was experimenting with Custom White Balances in order to improve my workflow but in the end, that died out with me just leaving it on Auto and firing away.

The day event consisted of photographing Wayne and his family and select friends until nightfall where we headed to Burwood to eat at a Chinese restaurant with his friends and family.

I have to mention, going through my pictures, it turns out I’ve actually done more than I thought I did, hah!

Next up is a joint birthday party between two extremely close friends of mine, Den and Adrian.

Den celebrated his 22nd birthday whilst Adrian finally became a “young adult” at the ripe age of 21. I say “young adult” quite hesitantly, mainly because he doesn’t act anything like a matured person and still mucks around and jokes around near constantly. But you know, I just don’t care because it’s hilarious and I do believe he can be serious when he wants to be.

Continuing with the birthday trend, the next big event that came up for me was Wayne’s birthday dinner with his parents’ close friends and family. Wayne’s a lot like me in the fact that we don’t really tend to celebrate his birthday in a large way. We prefer our birthdays more simple and low-key but his parents decided that since he was turning 21, they’d make it an excuse to catch up with family friends and graciously extended me an invitation to accompany them :)

There was lots of talking, good food and entertainment to had by all. Of course, I was designated photographer, but hey, I didn’t mind!

One last birthday to mention (I swear), would be our friend Steven’s. Steven also celebrated his 21st in June just before I left for America (which will have several posts dedicated to itself).

Once again, a very low-key even with close friends at a Korean BBQ buffet out on George St before half of us called it a night and the remainder of us re-enacted our high school days of drinking in a random park somewhere, hoping to not get caught by the police.

Finally, I’m just about finished with all the events leading up to our (Wayne, Jacqui and I) trip to the United States of America in order to meet up with one of our best friends who had gone overseas for a year to study, Kai.

The following posts will detail my trip and hopefully provide everyone with lovely pictures :)

And so another summer break comes to an end and all of the USYD students prepare to go back to uni - myself included. This semester’s shaping up to be pretty good considering I only have 3 short days and have motivation to do better this time around.

I managed to finish Bleach up to the latest episode too … 310 episodes, my god. So many fillers but at least it’s better than the constant grunting and yelling in DBZ. Looking forward to what’s coming up in the final two episodes of the season, even though I know tomorrow’s episode is more filler as well.

We went to the Blue Mountains last Tuesday (Aaron, Adrian, James and I) for a random road trip with the boys in celebration of James’ return to Sydney after working in an internship with the Treasury of Australia for the past three months. It was surprisingly enjoyable even if I literally had no sleep and had to function on Mother alone - hah! Got some good photos out of it that I’ll upload later alongside a video.

I ended up finishing watching DBZ - all 276 episodes.

Now I’ve started on Bleach … FML.

Everyone in university in Sydney can relate to me right about now. It’s hitting crunch time where we’re closing on the end of our semester and the need to study and revise starts to ramp up. Yet, here I am writing on a blog that I rarely ever write on just so I can escape the torture for just a little bit longer!

But then again, I haven’t really had anything to blog about. Literally. I’ve been home pretty much every week ever since I came back from America in July. There’s really nothing left to do in Sydney though, that and I need to save money for my next trip.

We visited the Costco that opened up in Auburn, Sydney though! It’s probably the only massive American wholesaler that I can think of that exists in Sydney. It boasts cheap prices, members only and a large variety of products in bulk. Oh, and of course, this:

More spam than my 5 email addresses put together! (I’m so sorry…)

So what’s my verdict on it? I can’t really say. I haven’t been to the Costco in America (yet) only Walmart and they’re different so to use the adage: apples and oranges. My impression of it is ‘disappointed’. Naturally, the items that you buy in bulk (as in a pallet, really) is dirt cheap when broken down into unit cost. However, regular items are usually the same, or even more expensive, than their outside counterparts! So unless you can finish 2 pounds of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, probably stick to the smaller, unit-expensive packets found in stores (you probably shouldn’t be eating 2 pounds worth of the stuff anyway!).

So why 46 days you say? (You didn’t but nyah!) Well, it looks like I’m set on my way back to Georgia for 3 months over the Australian summer! This time around I’m ready to spend a heck of a lot more quality time with my relatives as well as my darling girlfriend. Long distance relationships suck like that, but I don’t mind sacrificing my time in order to make this thing work. Besides, by staying home all the time, I think I’ve done more homework and study than I did for my entire schooling up until this semester! So it’s win-win!

Will this relationship last? I don’t know. No one does.
Am I going to try? Hell yeah! It’s fun and I feel it boosts your creativity and doesn’t seem to devolve into just sex like a lot of relationships turn into.

That being said, the no physical contact is pretty excruciating, and it’s more the simple things of just hugs and kisses rather than the steamy love-making ;)

So yes! 23rd November to 22nd February! (Hopefully)

46 days and freaking counting…

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I have recently returned from my trip overseas to the United States of America! Now, I didn’t get enough time nor money to travel all over the States but nevertheless, I had a lot of fun and would definitely go back as soon as I possibly can!

As you have probably guessed, this post will be discussing all the things I got up to when visiting my uncle in Bonaire, Georgia.

Starting off, I’d just like to say that flying straight to Atlanta, Georgia is not an easy flight. Not the hardest, but sitting on a 13.5 hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, CA, taking 2 hours to get through Customs and Immigration (due to an unusually busy Wednesday) and another 5 hour flight to Atlanta, Georgia is no fun. I’m not one to take photos of the plane taking off or anything like that so you won’t get any of those pictures out of me but here, have one I took while being extremely bored waiting for my fight to Atlanta, GA:

Australians lead the way! Woo!

That aside, let me just sum up quickly: I had a heck of a lot of fun in a city that actually has freaking NOTHING to do!

Now without further ado, have a picture of my residence for the next week:

This is my uncle’s place. Pretty swanky compared to the cramp house I live in, but hey, I live near the Sydney CBD so I’m not complaining!

My uncle is my father’s younger brother that I had the pleasure to meet when my family travelled back to Vietnam back in 2000. My uncle’s immediate family consisted of his wife and his two kids, all of whom I got to meet back then and re-acquaint myself with on this trip.

At some point within the last decade (I forgot when exactly), my uncle decided to leave Vietnam and head for America to start a new life. With this meant the usual, new passports, new citizenship, new struggles and a new language but as with any determined and motivated person, he put his mind to adopting his new life and made it work, alongside his kids and spouse and for that I respect him.

However, in the immediate family, let’s just say there were two more additions that I got to meet for the first time; one of which, I instantly fell in love with. That would be this little tyke:

I’ve always been a sucker for kids, I’ll admit. They’re just so small, fragile and extremely cute! This one’s name is Kayley. Kayley is technically my cousin first-removed (my cousin’s daughter) but really, she can just call me an uncle to make it easier, hah! There’s no discerning uncles/aunts when it comes to title in Vietnamese, so it makes it easier for me to explain my relationship to her if I just call her my niece to others.

Kayley is just barely over a year old and extremely boisterous yet at the same time, rarely ever cries for a 1 year old! Well, that’s somewhat a lie, she always cries when it comes to eating smushed peas so there’s that but then again, I wouldn’t like eating smushed peas either!

At the time, she couldn’t walk on her own but had to use a baby walker (pictured) and every now again would walk (assisted) using the coffee table as a railing for her to stand. It’s a shame I didn’t take a picture while I was holding her but the memories will definitely stay with me for life - I guarantee it. I’ve never been good with dealing with kids, even if I love them but I made sure to make the effort this time. I’ve always had this irrational fear that I’d always drop my kid or crush my kid to death since they’re so small but I man’d up and got over it in order to, hopefully, create some hazy child memories for Kayley to recall in the future.

Besides Kayley, I got to meet the sons and daughter of two of my dad’s old friends from back in the day:

From left to right are Kevin, Deric, Tu and Nam.

They’re all younger than I am but heck, they still know how to show an Aussie how to have a nice relaxing Georgian time :) Many people don’t know this but I’m more of a stay-at-home kind of guy that doesn’t take much to be entertained. I would rather go bowling (which we did) or watch movies (which we did) rather than go clubbing or a bar to drink ourselves stupid.

I also go to meet this guy again:

This is my hilarious cousin, Huy. Let’s just say he’s a boy who needs to learn to keep it in his pants before it falls off to some sickly disease, hah! I joke, he’s an extremely top bloke who took time out of his schedule to show me around Georgia and made sure I felt welcome into his home.

Like I said, there’s not much to do in Georgia, but I did manage to accomplish the following:

• Visit Georgia Aquarium
• Visit the Coke Factory
• Go bowling
• Eat breakfast at midnight @ Waffle House
• Visit a Walmart
• Make new friends
• …and download a lot of movies with American unlimited internet!

Oh, and one more thing. I fell for this girl:

Yeah, hah!

I’d like to say more, but that would probably take a whole post on its own :)

Well … before I knew it, the week was over and I was on a flight to San Francisco to meet up with Wayne and Kai.

All in all, I left Georgia extremely happy and at the same time, slightly unsatisfied. I draw it up to the fact that a week was simply too short, when I figured it would be just the right amount of time to fluff around in a state that had nothing. Instead, I found a state that housed my relatives, my family friends and my new love interest. I’ll definitely be going back as soon as finances allow me to.

But now it’s time to talk about the next leg of my trip: San Francisco!

Well it’s certainly been a while since I last posted something up on Tumblr. I have to say, it is refreshing to type out things that aren’t related to the current issues in management accounting in Australia - that stuff gets dull REALLY fast.

I’m clearly still in holiday mode though. I already find myself reminiscing about driving around NSW during the summer holidays and how much fun it was just to experience something new. Which reminds me, I did promise myself to upload a few pictures from our Blue Mountains trip for my own keepsake. Here they are:

I’m pretty happy with how the pictures turned out. It was a good exercise both physically and photography-wise considering it was a heavily overcast day with minor showers throughout. Nevertheless, I’m planning to print out and perhaps frame a couple of the shots I’ve taken in the past to have on my desk.

In other news, I did well in my interview for 13FIND for a Data Verifier role and will hopefully start that position soon since my NRMA application fell through due to a poor reference. I’ll take away a valuable learning experience of choosing my referees more carefully next time. This bodes well for my proposed America trip, especially with the news that I can get cheaper tickets if I book before the end of this month and leave before July starts! I’ll make a saving of nearly a grand on tickets alone if I nab the deal.

Finally, a lot of my friends are turning 21 this year, which means, EPIC PARTIES! Fully catered parties with a bar tab? Yes please! Well, I don’t drink any more but I won’t say no and stuff my face and drown my stomach with Coke! I’ve already had my own birthday in January but I’m actually more excited to hit Vegas either mid-year or end of year and gambling my ass off! I should have taken more photos of the parties but it seems like a lot of people have very nice dSLR’s now-a-days which makes my role pretty redundant. It’s alright though! It gives me the chance to concentrate on meeting new people instead!

Well that’s pretty much what’s happened for me in the last several weeks. Nothing truly exciting but I do have some things planned with a bunch of friends regarding recording a little short. It’ll be a sequel to something silly we did years ago that we never got around to finishing. I’m pretty excited to be doing something like that again and it’ll definitely improve my videography skills!

Stay tuned!

Just taking a quick break from learning a new song on the guitar to post something on Tumblr so I can look back at the end of the year and remember all of the random crap that I’ve done. My memory is way too poor to remember everything, hah.

Contemplating doing Project 365 next year when I’ve got much better camera gear and hopefully a stable job to support my ~$120 weekly fuel consumption habit. I’ve been good and cutting back lately though - carpooling whenever I can.

So we went to a Korean BBQ place in Campsie yesterday and I’m still suffering from the effects of the massive intake of meat and watermelon. $29 for all-you-can-eat with no time limit? Hell yeah! It’s situated on London St, just off Beamish St, in a quiet little area.

Here are the pictures I was bothered to snap off:

To close off, to all those wondering where the lyrics in my title came from, I’ll leave you with this: