Snowboarding

I took the last week of 2009 off and chilled out at Pei Ying’s place. Since I had just finished the final assessment, I did not have to do any studying, so the entire week was just pure relaxation. And boy do I miss those days.

On the Saturday before going back to work, three of us (Siew Gee, Pei Ying and I) decided to go snowboarding. We went to the Pine Knob Ski Resort, which was half an hour drive from Dearborn. Before throwing ourselves to the snowy slopes, we made sure our stomachs were taken good care of. We had brunch at LA Cafe, which offered absolutely scrumptious omelets (in generous portions!).

We were ready for the test after the hearty meal. I skied twice, which I thought was okay as I knew how to do some basic maneuvering and minimize falling down. However, snowboarding was a whole different beast, at least for me. I cannot remember the number of times I fell hard on the snow. Still, I managed to have a lot of fun. It was fun falling down again and again, knowing that with each fall you are gaining more experience and learning something new. At least that’s what I like to think.

I spent most of my time at the beginning slope, and only ventured to the intermediate slope once to get some photos taken. Overall, it was a great experience, but would be much better if it was not an extremely chilly –10C day.

1. Get set, ready, ouch!  2. Let’s try again… 3. Weeee!!

Pei Ying being very cautious…

 

Best snowboarder of the day…low center of gravity does help a ton! :P

Pine Knob Ski Resort

Washington DC 2009

I first visited the capital of US when I was a junior. Back then, my travel buddy was none other than Abarai Renji Ren Jie (too much of Bleach), and our trip was a cheap but enjoyable one. 3 years after, I revisited this great city, this time with Pei Ying.

Our trip started off not so well, when a traffic jam almost prevented us from reaching the Detroit airport in time. Long story short, we managed to make it because a kind girl saw us and let us hop on her cab. Also, it took more time than expected for us to travel from the Baltimore airport to our Washington DC hotel, as the cab driver screwed up the directions. So it was already 2am-ish when we reached the hotel. Tired and hungry, we went to CVS downstairs and bought some ramen to feed our poor stomachs.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip was alright. Little did our stomachs know that they were about to experience the greatest treat in a while: authentic Malaysian food! We went back to the Penang in Bethesda, and luckily the food there was still great. The Kuey Teow Soup was so so, but the Wat Dan Hor and the roti canai was awesome! Too bad, as usual no photos were taken because the food was gone before we realized it.

Back to the trip - the first 2 days were cloudy, and it even rained heavily at one point that we had to take refuge in the Air and Space Museum (and have lunch at the McD in it). Still, we managed to cover most of the famous attractions in the city.

White House, the side (back? front?) which I did not go 3 years ago.

The National Christmas Tree (yeah, no joke)

Washington Monument

Chinatown Dunkin’ Donuts (funny translation)

View from Washington Monument (bad visibility that day)

Jefferson Memorial in background

Entrance of US Capitol Hill (was under construction when I was there 3 years ago)

 

The Capitol Rotunda

 

Frieze of United States History

Great Hall of Library of Congress

Exterior of Library of Congress (somehow reminded me of Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome)

East face of United States Capitol

 

West face of United States Capitol

 

Reflecting pool (without the water). People actually walk “in” the pool.

Reflecting pool (view from Lincoln Memorial)

  

Lincoln yang bergaya-nya.

And finally, various shots of my favorite monument in the city:

Shows

10/10 David Copperfield

Venue: Fox Theatre, Detriot

Finally got to see the famed magician live. The magic/illusions were a little bit disappointing though, as I have already seen most of it on tv, and they weren’t all that impressive. I really wanted to see the illusion which he was sawed into half, but unfortunately he didn’t perform it that night. Here is a Youtube clip of what I was talking about:

 

11/21 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey:Over the Top Circus

Venue: Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit

Went to the Palace of Auburn Hills for the second time for this circus show (1st time was for an NBA game years ago). Saw some protestors at the entrance protesting against the animal cruelty that the trainers have allegedly committed to train the animals for this show. Well I guess as long as there are people who like us are willing to pay for the show, the cruelty will go on…or maybe not. Can’t people think of a better training method? (wishful thinking)

The show itself was alright, and was definitely more tailored to kids. The 7 motorcycles speeding in a steel globe was quite a scene though, and we were definitely holding our breaths watching that insane stunt. Given the difficulty of this show, one can guess things didn’t always go well, as recorded in the following video (note: this is not what happened in our show):

 

Some photos taken:

 

The Greatest Show on Earth? Hmmm….

 

What a circus…

Tiger show (disappointment because I thought it was Thai girl show…ok lame)

12/5 Disney on Ice

Venue: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

I bought front row seats for this event, but didn’t expect them to be so close to the stage. It was actually not a very good idea since if we were to sit a few rows behind, we would actually have a better view as the “elevation” is higher.

The show was enjoyable but not as “magical” as I thought it would be. Guess I have grown out of it after my last Disney World trip.

 

The proximity of our seats to the stage

This is a cool scene that has all the major Disney villains in it

Cheers…

12/12 Moscow Ballet’s Nutcracker

Venue: Fox Theatre, Detroit

I had little idea of what a ballet performance is like before attending this show. After watching this, I wouldn’t say that it is my cup of tea. The music was great (well Tchaikovsky’s work), but the ballet dance was just okay, lacking in both precision or difficulty (at least it seemed like so). Obviously I was missing something. Maybe I should have paid more attention when I was taking my modern dance class a while back…

Carmel Automobilia 2009

The downtown of Carmel, which is within walking distance from my apartment, is a vibrant place especially in the summer. Often the main street will be closed for special events like concerts, themed fairs or various shows. One of the shows that I have attended is the Carmel Automobilia 2009.

I did not know about the event in advance, and found out about it when I went out to lunch with a colleague who temporarily stayed with me for that weekend. Since he had to run some errands after lunch, I decided to take some time to see what the show was all about. Coincidentally Utah called me about it, so we decided to go there together.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that they have some decent cars on display there. I can’t remember when was the last time I was actually so close to cars like Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins.

Ferrari and Lamborghini:

The Lamborghini Gallardo was actually the one that I used to drive……in Need For Speed Most Wanted. Other cars:

And there was this car which screamed for attention:

The entire car was coated with pennies. Guess how many of them were needed?

 

That’s only $382.95, really.

 

Indeed…