25 November, 2009 @ Wednesday, November 25, 2009
san francisco day 4+5
san francisco day 4. we came back to san francisco from napa valley and there was a massive jam along I-80. :( i got bored in the car, so i took a few photos!

yellow school bus.

view from the side mirror.
when we got to chinatown, we walked around for abit, then we had dim sum for lunch at this cafe called broadway dim sum and cafe.

the food was actually pretty bad. the siew mai was the size of a big rock. :(
then we went to take a tram ride, the san francisco famous tram ride.

then to union square where we had shopping and awesome cheesecakes. on the 8th floor of Macy's, there's the Cheesecake Factory. and man do they have awesome cheesecakes.


the cheesecake factory

thats my oreo cheesecake.

and that's the fresh strawberry cheesecake.
after that, we visited the apple store at stockton street.


it was nice, lots of people were in there. and i got my hands on the new magic mouse.
san francisco day 5. had breakfast at the hotel, then we went to the apple campus. it was a half hour drive from our hotel, but it was well worth it. they had a company store there, the only place in the world where you could buy apple mugs and apple shirts and apple pens and stuff.




that's me at the entrance.


the company store.
went in there, bought a shirt, mug and a pen and some mouse pads as gifts for some people.


the apple pen.


the apple pen in perspective.


the apple mug


the front of the shirt says : hello i'm a mac


and theres an apple logo on the back.


the mousepads in red and blue


the awesome plastic bag.

then, we went to the intel museum, sorta like a visitor centre for intel. bought  a couple of things too.

an intel mug.


a gel pen, this one was free.


and a magnet. free too.


yeahh intel.

then we went to google, the didnt have a visitor centre but we walked around anyhow.

google logo.

then on to stanford shopping centre, for sprinkles cupcakes. mum wanted to go there.



theres mine, peanut butter chocolate.


theres mum's, chocolate coconut


and dad's, orange raspberry.
thats all for today, it's thanksgiving tomorrow.

23 November, 2009 @ Monday, November 23, 2009
san francisco day 2 + 3
hey, alright. i shall start using valid titles like the one above instead of stuff like "i'd rather pick flowers instead of fights".
so, san francisco day 2. started off with us going to sunday morning flea market.

we were expecting to see stuff that was actually usable but instead we saw antiques and statues. like seriously. who would buy statues and antiques and pearls and stuff. maybe those collectors but not for tourists rite.
then we went to the gilroy premium outlets and that place was awesome! we spent a whole day shopping there. i bought new track shoes, adidas duramo 2 in red. pretty nice shoes.

adidas duramo 2.
got this pair of shoes for USD$40, which in turn is SGD$55. i mean, it's cheap. i also got a pair of new calvin klein jeans for USD$20 which means SGD$27. for CK jeans? then we left the premium outlets and went for krispy kreme doughnuts! those rings make me happy. haha :)


san francisco day 3. we set off for napa valley and reached the napa valley hotel at 10am. check in, got all the procedures done, then we had a sub and set off for the wineries. the first one we went to was sterling wineries. they had a really good tour, bundled with a cable car ride up the hill and awesome views.



i didn't actually drink the wine, i was just holding the glass. the woman over the counter wouldn't let me drink any, she says i'm under 21. :(

really awesome views.
then, we went to the Napa premium outlets. i got three nautica shirts, two long sleeved and one short.

the long sleeved ones were USD$25 for 2, which means SGD$34 for both.

and the short sleeved one was USD$8, SGD$11.
tomorrow we'll be going to chinatown and lombard street.
cheers,
DARYL.

22 November, 2009 @ Sunday, November 22, 2009
last day of the last week
hey! so some of you know that i'm currently in san francisco on vacation with my parents. :) it's an awesome place here. we arrived on friday, plane was early. the customs officer that was clearing us was wearing black motorcycle gloves, which made him look like some sort of monster with plasticky hands. anyway, we got through, duh. then we picked up our luggage and then picked up our car. the car was pretty awesome, at least it had all the I wanted. then we drove to our hotel, which we had some problem finding. after asking a petrol station and some random guy at ORACLE, we finally found our way.
then we showered up and set off for Best Buy Mountain View. :) picked up our GPS, the Garmin Nuvi 255W and a dashboard mount. all for $210 inclusive of tax.


that's the GPS.

and that's me with the GPS. i look stupid in this picture.
the set-up of the GPS was pretty simple, the initial satellite search took about 5 minutes, out in the cold weather. then we went to the mountain view walmart, and they didnt have stuff like eggs and shrimp so we went to safeway. they had everything we wanted so it was good. :) went back to the hotel and mum cooked laksa. wahahha. we used a premixed paste bought from singapore.

before

after.
the laksa was pretty good! then we slept and i was having insomnia. woke up at 3am and couldn't sleep afterwards.
second day. we picked up some muffins from the hotel cafe and then headed off to the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE! haha, the drive was pretty smooth with the GPS guiding us. we the first one to arrive at the bridge, no one was there yet. :)





haha, epic. the place was really nice, and we had nice weather too. :) then we went breakfast. the parking near there was really lolcat. $10 per entry. had eggs with ham and potato for breakfast before getting on the cruise to alcatraz. alcatraz was a nice experience, no one could escape, at least i wouldn't try.



hahha alcatraz. then we went to fisherman's wharf, had fish and chips and calamari, shrimp and oysters. then we went back to the hotel and the rest of the day was slack.
more photos will be uploaded onto facebook once i get home, the internet here is way too slow.
till next time.

@ Sunday, November 22, 2009
MIDNIGHT BOWLING. LITERALLY.
ayyy. yesterday, my parents and i went to the club to bowl. when we booked on the phone, the guy told us it was $25 an hour, halloween special. so we didn’t really expect much, just ordinary bowling.
when we got there, the bowling alley was dark! we thought it was some spoof or prank but it wasn’t. the guy told us every halloween they hold a special event where you bowl in the dark with ultraviolet lights that make stuff glow. it was way cool.
we rented our shoes and even the showlaces glowed. pretty nice experience though, at least for a change..

that was the bowling alley, all glowing and stuff. this shows that my camera sucks.

yeah. that’s all for today. hittin the hay just about… now.

@ Sunday, November 22, 2009
the end of something awesome
today was the last day at school and i guess it was pretty bittersweet. well for some of us, it was sad but for some it was really carefree and happy. also it was the last day together as the class of 2B ‘09. we’ve made some really good friends, but also those who aren’t as friendly. thinking about going to a different class is really demoralising and all, but i guess i’ll just have to hope that the appeal goes through, or even better still, be posted to 3SB without any appeal. actually it’s too early to determine what class we’re gonna be posted to. looking at the level ranking is a really bad gauge. say your level ranking is 56, means you’re in the top 80! BUT if your maths and science <65, then you won’t even stand a chance of getting into a pure science class. for me, it’s 62 for both math and science. so so so so so near, yet so darn far. :(
we did usual things today, last day of school. take pictures, behave ecstatically, and trying to get the whole world’s signatures in a day. here’s a picture i ripped off facebook,
hhahahhaa the 5 of us, awesomeness.

@ Sunday, November 22, 2009
bright and morning star
Today was a pretty alright day, started off with PE, we played ultimate frisbee which was quite a fail. After 2 points we stopped the game cause the teams were lob-sided and Nigel got injured. Then came history lesson, learnt about the voting stuff and the merger with Malaysia. Then recess, homec then art then literature. Boring stuff. Aww man, this post is such a fail. You’re probably snoring off now cause of the boring-ness of this post eh?

26 September, 2009 @ Saturday, September 26, 2009
i need somebody, help!
hey, today was my dad's birthday, so we had vongole for dinner, it wasn't that awesome, cause i made it. :D then we flace-planted dad with a cheap $2 cake with lots of cream on it and it was awesome. here's a video of what happened. :P


awesome stuff there. :) then we had a real cake, that cake was thrown away. here's the real cake, mum baked it somehow.

dad with the cake. all for today. :)

23 September, 2009 @ Wednesday, September 23, 2009
i'd rather stay awake when i'm alseep
konsole!
yep, i'm looking at getting a console after the EOY exams. :) the war is pretty much between the xbox 360 elite and the ps3 slim. both play rock band, which is why i wanna get a console, and other games of course. like halo 3: ODST, and DiRT 2, PGR 3. thats if i get the cash to buy all that stuff. saving money is hard, really. so here's the real argument. the xbox 360 wins in some areas and the ps3 wins in some areas.

for online gameplay, the xbox has got xbox live which is a far more superior platform to what the PS3 is offering, PlayStation Network. PSN is overall laggier than xbox live, and chances are, most of your friends who have an xbox have xbox live. and how many people actually have a PS3?
for game catalogue, the xbox had a headstart of one year, which will naturally result in more games for the platform. most games nowadays are for multi-platform, but there are exclusives. for example, the whole HALO line is exclusive to the xbox and resistance:fall of man is exclusive to the ps3. so i guess we pretty much tie up here.
for graphics, the ps3 is a clear winner. given the simple fact that it supports blu-ray shows that it has a greater graphics capability. the xbox's graphics aren't that shoddy too, but the ps3 is a clear winner here.
value for money, depending on what you're looking at. if you're looking at hard drive space, you get a draw, both consoles carry a 120GB hard drive.. if you're looking at the overall value of the two consoles, the ps3 wins, for it's blu-ray and greater graphic capabilities. if you're looking at online play, xbox wins, for the all-awesome xbox live.
it really all depends on what you're looking at. for me, i would gladly go with the xbox as a more established and rounded console. :D

22 September, 2009 @ Tuesday, September 22, 2009
late nights and early parades.
mountain dew kills you. :)
yeah, clement got me 2 cans of mountain dew, of course not for free but at a dollar a can. it was awesome, seriously. i finished 2 cans today, and just found out that it kills you real bad. there's more caffeine in there than in coke, which everyone thought had lots of caffeine :O and then, it contains more sugar than coke. coke has got 7 teaspoons in a can and mountain dew has got 10 teaspoons in a can. :O and i'm gonna stop drinking mountain dew :O but for keepsakes, i got a few photos of the drink with the nicest can around.


teehee, mountain dew in a mountain.
so today was a pretty dry and boring day. i know, everyday in my life is boring right? we had lessons then i came home, then had tuition and then dinner and then you know, stuff you do on a boring day. :( that's all i have, seriously.
it's 11:08PM and i'm tired :D. (I'm actually posting before midnight! what an achievement).

21 September, 2009 @ Monday, September 21, 2009
i'll sit on the front porch all night.
haha, i'm pressured to post. :)
yesterday, my parents and I decided to go rent some dvds to watch in the night. we ended up getting monster in law, die hard 4.0 and facing the giants. so here are my thoughts on facing the giants and monster in law.

Facing the giants was a pretty awesome show, the story was really inspiring. :) it's about a football team and how they trusted God to help them defeat their enemies. their campus got a revival and the football team also got stronger as God worked miracles through them, to make the state champions for the first time. great show, must watch.

all right, this show. unbelievably lame! the story is just about one guy meets a lady, they decide to get married. then the mother-in-law doesn't like the lady so she starts doing stupid stuff to make the lady not want to marry the guy. i mean, this kind of plot has been used a thousand times. examples, meet the parents, bride wars. well bride wars not really but its somewhat so. although i must say some parts are kinda funny, but not worth the pain of watching the whole show. if you could, give it a miss.
i haven't watched die hard 4.0 yet, but i'll get to it soon. off to bed.