New Year, Fresh Look

A new face lift for my blog for the new year. It's about time for the change after 4 years of dull and boring look. To the frequent visitors, yup, don't look lost. This is still the same old blog. Just a title change not long ago and now a fresh layout. The blog should look cleaner now with less redundant posts. If you are looking for old postings, you can still find them in the archives section. With the bright and softer color tone, I hope readers have a pleasant time reading. As for the wonderful title picture, I will refresh it frequently with photos that I've captured from my life journey. So don't forget to check back often. If you have any comments, feedbacks or thoughts, don't hesitate to post it up here. Things like ads; I would like to know if they're annoying or not. Or perhaps you would like to read new contents apart from the boring flying postings. I will improve from that. Hopefully this blog will become more interactive.

Australia Day

It was the Aussie Day celebration on the 26th. The whole city was abuzz with activities, especially around Swan river. In the day, there were air shows, water activities, concerts and picnic/booze parties in the park; all leading up to the big event in the night. At 9pm, the city was lit up with a fantastic display of fireworks and pyrotechnics which lasted for 30 minutes. Although a lot better from the NYE display, it was still not up to the standard of fireworks in Asia that I've seen. Hopefully Perth can do better next year.

Good End, Bad Start

"Good things disappear fast while bad things leave bitter taste"

Oh great, a rant post to start off my blog for the new year. I had a wonderful year 2007 but the lowest point in my life last week for the start of 2008. I'm picking up the pieces and moving on. Hopefully I will see the sunshine and rainbow again in the later part of this year. Anyway, I would still like to wish all readers of my blog a Happy New Year 2008 and may you have a blessed year ahead.

More rantings...

Below are New Year's eve pictures from the city. But you can't see any celebrations in them. After dinner, we were walking down the streets in the city. Stages have been prepared and people started to gather at the area for street party and show performances. I bet it will be one great night. But some cry babies and old men started whining to go back to hostel. We left the area before the countdown and party even get started. Determined not to have a pathetic night back in the hostel, I followed 2 losers to another place while the rest headed back home. Whatever happened next was so pathetic that I don't want to write it here. The only consolation from that is I was able to catch fireworks from the distant and a less than 30-minute dance (no thanks to the el-cheapos again). I vow not to have all those cry babies, old men, losers and el-cheapos along in any of my future outings. Rather be selfish and spend the good time myself.





Wow, feels good to let off all the steam. Even though I call them losers, those are still my coursemates and some read my blog too. It's nothing personal and we're used to name callings. They are just unfortunate victims in this one and only rant post in my blog. Sorry guys, this time was my turn to return the favor, hehe.

Christmas in Perth

My first christmas being celebrated Down Under. However, it was not a snowy white nor cold christmas. Christmas day was right smack in the middle of a dry and hot spell; a taste of what summer's gonna be. In the heatwave, the temperature shot up to 42 degree celcius. I spent the day in Mosman Beach. Very beautiful beach with fine and silky smooth sands. It was my mistake not to apply sunscreen on my entire body. My back was roasted and had to endure few days of sunburn pains.



Seems like BBQ is the preferred christmas and summer activity for the Australians. In the week alone, I had 4 BBQs to attend. My friend was joking the other day that BBQ is one of the Australians' staple food. In the SFC BBQ and christmas party, everyone was having a great time. One of the best party ever being organized in the college.

Symphony In The City

The West Australian Symphony Orchestra did an open air performance for the public at the Esplanade, in the heart of the city. Since it was performed in the open with help of loudspeakers, the sound was not really great. But still, they should be commended as it was a free event for the public with a new concept of picnicking while enjoying the music. The performance ended with the lively tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with the Swan Bells chiming in the background and the 7 Field Battery of The Australian Army blasting the cannons.

Taming 600 Wild Horses

Been quite busy with the Baron conversion flights recently after my transition from the Cessna. From riding on the puny 160 horses, now I have a whopping 600 horsepower; 300 on each engine at my disposal. Taming the beast is not an easy task, considering the big jump in power and speed adaptation. I was literally stunned by it's speed on my first flight. On the Cessna, I cruise at 120kts (222kmh) and land at 65kts (120kmh). Now on the Baron, I cruise up to 195kts (360kmh) and land at 95kts (175kmh)! My old cranky car can't even cruise past 140kmh and now I'm landing the plane at 175kmh. The engines are so powerful that it can still fly safely with the loss of one engine. But it loses 80% of the performance. Therefore, one needs to arrest and fix the problem quickly or else the plane will spin out of control. The plane is heavy and sometimes I find myself with 2 hands on the column. It's time for me to go to the gym more often to work out the muscles.