C'est la vie

My End of Year Trip

So i think i finally need a break. i haven't been on a holiday since 2005, which is pretty sad and i think its about time to go on one this year. So far i'm thinking about going to Kenya (east Africa) and then to Ghana (west Africa), my birthplace. I'm thinking of taking this trip at the end of the year, after second semester and returning next year, before the first semester. I need a big holiday so i can relax and fr a moment leave my worries and thoughts behind.

I want to go to Kenya because I've always wanted to visit a country in east Africa, i was either going to go to  Uganda or Kenya, but comparing the two, i think Kenya is a better choice. The reasons are:

1. From asking around and experience, apparently Kenyans are more friendly, no offence to Ugandans but i have heard the people can be hostile to tourists, i don't really consider myself as one because i'm African but hostility isn't cool towards anyone as a matter of fact. I think is more to do with the older people because the youth and children i have come across that are Ugandan are okay, its just the adults. Anyway so they say Kenyans are more friendly to strangers than Ugandans.
2. One of my best-friends live there and her family told me i am always welcome in their home at Nairobi, the capital. So i will have a place to stay and i can hang out with people i know, which is always a plus when visiting a foreign nation.
3. Kenyans speak Swahili do and i would like to be surrounded by Swahili speakers because I am very much interested in learning the language, i have mostly learnt greeting and introductions and would love to learn more. 
4. I just want to immerse myself in their culture!!!

The reasons for choosing Ghana are simple:

1. my relatives and friends are there
2. I was born and raised there for a little while
3. I miss my people, culture and food, and the general atmosphere
4. I will go during Christmas and the new year, which is the best time to visit.

My final reason for choosing Africa  is that frequent visits to the continent serves as a reminder of the blessings i have received and the experience teaches us to appreciate everything we have more than we do and also to live life to the fullest. 

Kwa heri. Da yie.

NBA Playoffs 2013 Round 2

Hey ya'll.

I'm gonna be giving my predictions for round 2 of the playoffs. So round 2 has began with the first couple of games played this morning. I'm gonna give a list of my predictions which include the team i think will win, when they will win (game number) and why i think they'll win. 

• Miami Heat v. Chicago Bulls. Heat will win in game 6.I know heat are potential champions or show this year and i know the want the championship again. Although bulls were able to break their winning streak, that doesn't been they can stop the heat from beating them because that painful loss will become a motivator for the heat to beat them and beat them good. 

• Indiana Pacers v. New York Knicks. So Pacers won the first game of many against the knicks, I think although they have the lead, its just momentum from their previous clash against the hawks, who were easy opponents, in my opinion. However, celctics were also easy opponents so this is pretty hard but im gonna go with the knicks in game 6.

• Oklahoma City Thunder v. Memphis Grizzlies. I am definitely know that thunder want this championship more than anything after their loss last year and it has  taught them to play harder. Kevin Durant said himself he is sick of being second which means he is ready to lead the achieve greater. So my guess is thunder in game 7.

• Golden State Warriors v. San Antonio Spurs. Personally, i dont like the spurs, maybe its their boring uniform or lack of notable star players, whatever it is, i'm not a fan. I do however admire the the strength of the warriors and their excellent game-play in their last match-up. So i want to go for the warriors but i'm nervous for them because the spurs can play. Finally, i think the spurs' fire will burn out just like the clippers. so im gonna go with warriors in 7.

That's it for today, i hope my predictions are close to accurate, but nba is full of surprises, anything can happen. 

Ramen in a Cup??

Hihi!!

Went to the city today and guess what i found....Ramen in a cup!! How weird is that, well i guess its not that weird since we have cup noodles but this place called Ichi-ban boshi in the galleries food court on George St serves its ramen in a cup.SO KOOL! Im amazed at how japanese people can come up with these cool ideas... 

Anyways, this food court shop isn't the main store, they do have a location thats above the galleries were they have their own area where u can sit and they serve you ramen in a bowl.

The flavour for the ramen in a cup was all right compared to the actual store but the serving time was super quick which i guess those that are in a rush will benefit from whereas the queue for the actual store is massive during peak lunch hour. The wait it worth is i guess as its actually one of the best ramens places available in sydney i guess. U guys should definitely give this a ago is your around the sydney area, you surely wont be disappointed!! 

A little tip for those that do go is to remember to go a bit early before lunch hour or else ull be stuck in the queue!! Here the website remember to check it out!!

http://www.ichibanboshi.com.au/

Happy Eating!!

Living Life to the Fullest

Hey guys

So people talk about living life to the fullest but they may not grasp the whole concept of it and so I would like to explain my opinion about it. So in my opinion I have been living life to the fullest as I have been living life in perspective to people who have less then me. I have seen video's and photo's of people who have to walk to get what they desire. In my opinion we have life easy and therefore we shouldn't be complaining.

I'm sick of people who complain about not having something and they just complain and complain and then compare themselves to others who do have it. People who are like that are arrogant, self centered and have no self respect. People these days don't understand that we have a lot going on for us life food and water we can go and buy, a house to live in, cars, smart phones, laptops and etc.... and still think that they should have more and don't realise that there are people living in Africa that have to walk 2 km or even more just to get water to drink and they have to work on a farm and either get payed less then 50 cents and hour or don't even get payed at all.

I find that we have luxury and that people who should be happy with what they have and be grateful for everything. In my opinion people are to ignorant to look beyond themselves to see that even people around them are homeless and live on the street and they are working harder than others just to be able to stay warm, find food, and have a place to stay at night where they can rest. To me people are greedy and all they want is more without even thinking of giving to the community.

Online Shopping

Online shopping has become too easy and convenient that it is horrifying. My parents never caught on as most parents won't if they are from Gen X or above as they do not believe in online shopping due to fears that the store online is fake etc, which results in money taken and goods not seen or most commonly the excuse which even our generation use is that how can you purchase a product without physically seeing it.

Most of the time, items I have purchased were books from Amazon and small knickknacks from eBay, only a few times did I proceed with a expensive purchase that has ranged from $150 to over $3000. Making small purchases, you generally don't have much care/fear that the item is of lower quality or for some reason or another that the item doesn't arrive, maybe due to seller or lost in transit.

However when making a large order, such as when I bought computer gaming parts for a whole system, racking up a bill of over $3,000, you start worrying about the authenticity of the company to which you will be paying and the constant worry/checking of the whereabouts of your package via postal tracking....the anticipation.

These days, buying online is safe to a degree, you may encounter at least a few times in your life that you tried to purchase from a fake seller, or seller selling lower quality goods compared to what was advertised. Sites such as Amazon and eBay are quite safe, policies in place to protect purchasers and sellers, also providing buyer and seller reviews to which help push the decision to make the transaction as they are important in knowing the reliability of the account (buyer or seller). For example, I only purchase from highest rated seller, as I believe they are authentic, to which the buyer also cares about their services to get more reviews and awareness of themselves out in the community.

Some sellers are quite accommodating as well, for example in the past, I purchased a expensive computer part which was sent halfway around the world to me but nearly on arrival I asked for a refund from the seller, the seller's policy was that any goods purchased are refundable within 30 days to which I applied for before my goods even arrived. Refunding it only required me to not accept package which the seller can see via tracking. As of that action I received my refund, however the buyer never received the refunded product which meant it may have been lost in transit going back to them and they made a lost, to which they did not make a big fuss over. These type of actions by sellers rate a high review to which future buyers would see and influence their decisions in buying from them.

Overall, I view online shopping as reasonably safe as long as proper precautions are taken, such as looking up on the seller details, insuring your product during transit if it is expensive, and more importantly, making sure the device you are making the transaction on is secure as viruses on computer can make note of your credit card details etc.

Alan

Dinner for tonight!

Hi welcome back to my food posts :)

These days im just to lazy to do anything anymore...I havent cooked in a while and so tonight i decided to make Tonkatsu rice, a japanese breaded deep fried pork. Its actually quite easy to make considering how expensive it cost to eat this at a japanese restaurant. 

So for tonight all i did was marinate the pork with salt and pepper, egg it and bread crumb it. I then heated the pan with oil and fried the pork until gold and crispy. Serve with rice and veggies!! How easy ... 

Here a picture of tonights dinner!! Pork Tonkatsu!

Give it a go!! Its seriously not hard at all
Anyways as usual...

Happy Eating!!

(nom nom :0)

Product Review for a Trip - Corsair Voyager 1TB Wireless Mobile Storage!!

 

Corsair Voyager Air 1TB Wireless Mobile Storage With Ethernet (NAS), iOS and Android, BLACK (CMFAIR-BLK-1000-NA)

Product Features: 

• Storage for use at home and on the go
• Connect via Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or USB 3.0
• Designed for tablets and smartphones - custom app for iOS and Android
• High-capacity rechargeable battery streams video for up to 7 hours
• Streams HD video to up to 5 users at one time

• Limited 3 year warranty
• Wall adapter and 2-amp car adapter included

These days, all of us carry some form of smart device that is constantly linked the the internet. For people in Australia, where internet is dismally slow, streaming movies whilst travelling can be a painful experience. 

Even downloading content into your device doesn't help much as most devices have a limited capacity of 64GB which doesn't off you much freedom. 

To which comes the Corsair Voyager which is godsend for movie and music lovers that go away on long trips with or without friends. I for one am going on a trip to snow with a group of friends, to which a 5 hour drive would be a bore as conversation can only go so far... which is why a product such as this is godsend, as myself and friends have the freedom of choice to select from a 1TB depository of music and movies to listen/watch from and enjoy. Filling up the 1TB full of goodies is painless as USB 3.0 will make transferring large amounts of data fast and easy.   

Five of us can be watching or listening content from our devices such as tablets and smart phones as they are connected wirelessly to this device with up to 7hrs of play time. Even if the battery life dies prematurely, which would be very disappointing, but fixed easily as Corsair have kindly enough to include a car adapter in the package which when plugged in give us as much time as needed to enjoy ourselves whilst travelling and may even boost streaming speed and distance. 

Thus, this product will be soon in my hands, as a product such as this with the capability to store much entertainment and run off internal power will be very useful for my circumstances.

Alan.

The 2013 NBA Playoffs Part 2

Hey There!

The last time I posted I discussed the eastern conference of the NBA 2013 playoffs. Before I get into the western conference, I would like to say that my predictions for the eastern conference have come into effect with the heat advancing to the second round of the playoffs. For the other teams it's getting pretty tight, i didn't think the hawks would be able to pull through and keep up the fight against the pacers, I still don't want Bulls to win because it would be easy for the heat to beat the nets.

Anyway, so the eastern conference, firstly spurs have advanced and beat Lakers so easily, Lakers have had a bad season, I hope the Lakers work on team chemistry and morale in the next few years to come. Moving on, so the thunder wear beating the rockets in the first week of the playoffs and had a pretty good lead, and then all of a sudden, the rockets thought 'hey, its getting pretty tight now, how about we start actually trying', so they did and to day, forced game six. I still believe the thunder deserve to win this because i know Durant as a team leader tries to hard to come first and would like to for once in his life, he feels he always comes second, i think it would benefit him a lot to get somewhere in the playoffs, especially for reaching the final last year.

In terms of clippers and grizzlies, i think grizzles may take this one, the grizzlies are really pressing forward in attack, I'm still unsure if clippers can take it and i feel grizzlies might surprise us and take the win, although i prefer the clippers, grizzlies have a great momentum going.

Lastly, I'm really confused about who to go for in relation to the clash between the nuggets and warriors, its too much of a tight clash, they are very similar in things they do, uniform, tactics, the way they play in general, i don't wanna put the weight of the team on one mans shoulders but i feel it is up to Curry to bring them a win, i say this because i know he is a magnificent player and team mate, the boy can play, he can school you, and i know that warriors feel the same way about him, he has been playing through his injury which shows great motivation and courage. Also, Curry and Thompson are a great tag-team, they know the courts and boy can they shoot and score. I'm gonna go with the warriors because of the way they play and for Curry's style.
Here's what the current bracket looks like.

http://www.nbaplayoffsbracket.com/2013/index.php

Failed Pudding!!

Yesterday i attempted to make a custard pudding. The recipe I followed was from Japanese Food About linked below...
http://japanesefood.about.com/od/japanesedessertsweet/r/custardpudding.htm

I honestly thought i had all the ingredients up until i needed the vanilla essence!! Sigh! I searched literally everywhere in my kitchen but it was nowhere to be found...WHERE IS IT!!!....
Anyways, I was already halfway through with making it and i wasn't going to throw everything out so i decided to use this green pandan essence that was lying around in the fridge for i don't know how long...But i guess its alright to use at least my custard will taste like something besides baked eggs!!

Here's some pictures of my failed pudding YAY!!

 And the final product....

My Pudding should have looked like this.... :(

Picture was taken from...http://akoinu.blogspot.com.au/2011_03_01_archive.html

Happy Eating!!!

(Probably not so happy)

Education

Everyone talks about education these days as either useless or useful. For the people that think its useless well guess again because education is a big part of what happens to you in the future as you start to go into the working industry. Education maybe a controversial to talk about but I think it is very important as it shapes everyone's perspective, opinions and way of life. To me education is very important as it has taught me to think on my feet and not be spoon feed everything that people teach you. We have to be independent when it comes to learning things and how it will help us in the long run.

When people talk about education they also talk about the system that it is involved in and how it revolves around it. The system can be wrong at times but in all fact the majority of the time it is right and that is why we follow it. At times it may seem pointless to learn things in schools, universities or colleges as it may be boring or useless to us but in some fact everything that you are taught is useful to how you live and your way of life. When comparing the different types of education there is similarities and differences but in the end the main goal is to be taught what is right and how people interpret it in their life.

Different Social Circles

May or may not be how it is for you

When you graduate from high school, whats left of your friends form a social group that last throughout university. This group would face your passes, failures, and party throughout your years in university.

However, for some people, they cannot find a balance between study and play. Which means that if they try to do both, it ends in failure. This means on of the options must be chosen.

For me, it was trying to find the balance, failing, then wizening up and choosing to focus to a degree on study. This meant my goals have changed, when goals change, same as how you interact within your social group. For example my social group that lasted from high school to university, love to party, this conflict of my current interest made me seek a different social group, one that was more mature in ways and orientated to study and success. From this change of social groups, you will realise that how you act previously may not be suited to the people you interact with in the new group, thus a change in attitude and how you act occurs, but not your personality.

Different groups have different social mannerisms, with that said, a word of advice is to consider careful if you try mixing social groups together. It may work out fine, but more often then not, two fundamentally different social groups do not act well together as their mannerism may be too different which may ensure conflict with you in the middle.

Thus, if you are the type of person that is transiting from one goal to another, it is important to have people with similar goals to you as it may drive you to the right direction, but you must not forget the original company of friends as they may not understand you, but they have stuck with you through thick and thin in the past. Even now such friends may not understand you, but as time passes, peoples mentalities changes, as such in university would mean they have gotten serious which with their priorities and formed a goal that may be similar to yours.

However, you have to remember that mixing social circles is a hassle due to differences and that beforehand the two groups are suited together in order to lessen the impact between each gtoupd.

Karate

Karate has been listed as many different things such as a waste of time, used for attacking when in a fight and many other different negative comments. Well that is totally wrong because the principals of Karate are Self-Defense, a sport and a way of life as it can help you overcome any obstacle that blocks your way. A quote that really is inspiration for life is "How you do anything is how you do everything" which implements that if you are always positive in one aspect of life it will be illuminated in all aspects of your life. The way people think that Karate is a waste of time because they think all we do is just repeat thinks over and over again and don't do anything else.

Karate has really helped me improve all aspects of my life by being positive about anything that tries to put me down, has made me focus in all arrays that need concentration and has also helped me stay aware of everything around me. When talking about being aware of my surrounds in Karate we use the term Zanshin and this term is very helpful for when working and studying as it will help with knowing how to study or work in an environment that is very busy and you have to focus. With the amount of good Karate has brought me I never think back to how my life could have been if I hadn't started it. The fact that is Karate has helped so many people in the world and I know it has helped so many of my friends lift themselves up and continued with their life.

The 2013 NBA Playoffs

So as ya'll know the NBA playoffs have begun. First of all I'd like to say i am pretty disappointed that Orlando Magic didn't make it through to the playoffs, but then again, they lost Howard to the Lakers. Anyway in this post  I will be briefly discussing each match up and conclude with playoff predictions.

Round 1 is somewhat still in its beginnings with only 2 games played by each team. first i will discuss the East. So we have Miami  Heat against Milwaukee Bucks, Heat were 2012 NBA champions and they have been playing with such great team work that i feel its obvious they will win against the Bucks and proceed to the next round. Lets be honest, they have probably the best starting 5 in the game. I go for the heat by the way, and no I am not a band-wagoner, i have rooted for them on and off since the 5th grade.

Next we have the Brooklyn Nets which is somewhat of a new team, well lets say they have been refreshed, against Chicago Bulls. Now i feel Bulls are all hype, yes they ended Heat's winning streak back in the regular season stage, but they fail to beat other insignificant opponents. They have each one a game, but I'm not sure if its my animosity towards the team or the skill the Nets show but i am going for the Nets on this one.

Moving on, we have Indiana Pacers against Atlanta Hawks. To be honest i really didn't care about this match up however, i watched highlights from the first game, and i have to say, Pacers got skill! I don't even really pay attention to the players but Pacers could be a threat in this game. I feel the Hawks have nothing on them and Pacers will proceed fo' sho'.

Last but not least, in the East is Boston Celtics against New York Knicks. Now this is a very interesting match up, so Boston i feel is giving it their all but they are missing something, could it be their 3-point shooter Ray Allen who is now shooting threes for the Heat?? i think it is, maybe their team morale has gown down, however whatever it may be, all i know is the Knicks be beating their ass. Knicks got this in the bag.

Next time i'll go through my thoughts on the West, I have put up the 2013 Playoff bracket down below within this post. However for now, Go Miami! and have a Happy NBA playoffs.

Ribs and Rumps

Another post about food!! YUM YUM.... Todays dinner was ribs and rumps located at North Ryde. Every time i come here im really tempted to do the challenge which consists of 1kg rump steak, chips and a full rack worth $84.95 if you finish the challenge within 1hr its FREE and you will become a vip member a receive 10% cash back every time you dine at ribs and rumps. Too bad its way to much for me..so here is what i ate tonight lamb shanks and vegetables !!

The pricing is a bit over but occasionally come here eating is worth it!! For those that aren't near top ryde there are also others around sydney!! better check them out or else you will really miss out on delicious juicy meat

http://ribsandrumps.com/locations/?region=nsw

Happy Eating!!

Going natural

Now the term 'going natural' refers to ones decision, usually someone of African decent to stop straightening or perming their hair and leaving it the way it should be an should've been.

First of all, our hair is supposed to remain in an Afro/curly type state, that's how we were created. But back n the day we thought we would be more attractive if we had hair like white folks, nice and straight. But as a black girl you begin to realise your hair doesn't and will not stay straight forever because it begins to go back to its original state, so that's hen the term relaxing comes into place, meaning to chemically straighten ones hair.

We've all been doing it since we were kids, relaxing our hair, wearing weaves and so on. But as for two days ago I took a stand and thought who cares, so I got a haircut, even shorter. So from now I'm starting from the bottom and making my way to the top, to what my hair would've been like if we weren't so influenced by society.

I am currently I day three of the transaction, believe me it's gonna take a while but, I feel we should all, as black girls partake in this. Getting back to our roots, hair and culture alike.

Thanks,
Selina

Holidays!!

YAY!! its the holidays and whats better to do than eat! To celebrate my short 2 week uni break i started off with a delicious buffet BBQ. This place is amazing although it rather expensive, but for the quality i guess its worth it. So you can choose between the premium and gourmet set, the premium set consists of wagyu beef and everything on the menu and gourment excludes wagyu. Premium is 55/pp and gourmet is 45/pp. I for sure went for the premium set with the mouth watering marbled wagyu beef. The thing about this place is that it uses charcoal for the bbq which makes the food seems much more delicious and fragrant

Definitely give this place a go even though its a bit pricey, i dont think ull regret it or else ill shout u a meal or ur choice :) Just realised i havent even mentioned the name of the restaurant. Its called Suminoya located in the city, have a look at their website and the menu on the link below 

http://www.yakiniku.com.au/suminoya/ 

Happy Eating!!

Frustration at Team Organisation

Hello, my name is Alan.

I am in my final year at university and I am part of a student association, whilst doing full time study and working on my spare time. Recently I participated in helping out a event called the "Amazing Race".

Some people may have seen such event on TV, but for those who have never heard of it, it involves teams of 3-5 people working together and racing to checkpoints spread out in a geographic location. At each checkpoint the team is required to complete activities in order to receive a clue to where the team needs to head to next. The team who is able to complete all the checkpoint receives a monetary prize.

However, before the event can even start, 2hrs before the participants arrive, the committee of the student association must set up the event and go over their checklist of rules and confirm if everyone understands their tasks and if the teams are arriving.

Lets say it was complete bedlam, one organiser forgot to send out a email to each team to notify and confirm arrival time, another miscounted the amount of teams participating and in general all checkpoint overseers did not fully know their events. Disappointing but not an unexpected result when the president of the committee does not know the full scope of his/her responsibilities.

When organising events amongst friends for the public one must be aware that they may become lax in their responsibilities or they do not see the urgency and importance of their tasks. It can be sometimes very frustrating, comparable to explaining reasoning of what to do and not to do to a 5 year old child, but not just one child but a group of them. This can be very frustrating to the person that is leading this.

When being a group leader, one must continuously go over what needs to be done to each group member individually then explain again to the whole group in order to lessen the interference within a communication process. However its not finished just there, the leader must continuously remind and stress the importance in order for any plans to run smoothly.

As you can see it can be very tiring, but if you set high goals for yourself but your team has lesser expectations, one must continuously push uphill in order to reap the satisfaction for yourself by attaining the desired results.

Alan

Braces

Hey guys for those who are following us today's post will be on Braces. I have had braces since November 2011 and I already want them off cause they are a nuisance. The reasons that I got braces are because I had an anterior open bite and therefore my front jaw needs to be pushed back and down so that they are inline with my bottom jaw. Braces are in for 18 months to 2 years but if people don't wear their plate that is given to them their teeth end up going back to there original state.

The fact that people get braces is a waste of time because it doesn't matter how people see you on the outside it's how you perceive yourself on the inside which counts. They cost way too much for what they are used for. In fact I suggest that people forget about braces fully just for the circumstance in the end they are useless and people have too much time on their hands to worry about their teeth of their children's teeth.

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