1st January - 31st December 2005
31st December - Too Hot to be Alive!
OMG! It reached 43 degrees today... I can't believe I trained in the midday sun, no wonder I'm so exhausted. Now the wind direction has changed, and the temperature is dropping rapidly, yay! Now its off to Penny's for my first NYE in Australia ever!
27th December - Boxing Day Test: Day 2
Today I went to the MCG to watch the Boxing Day test. It was fun. The MCG is very big and it has just been renovated and looks very cool. On Christmas day night (hmm...) we sang carols with my dad's friend's friends. There were points when I was the only person in the crowd who actually knew the words to the carols (I was in the choir in primary school). The difficulty with group singing is not the singing itself, but having to listen to the blackboard-fingernails-singing of others and somehow manage to concentrate enough to hold a tune. Now I am watcing Hamlet on TV.... mmm... Shakespeare
25th December - Merry Christmas!
Today I went for a run very early in the morning. It was very very very quiet. I ran to the top of the steps at the Royal Exhibition Buildings y'know, Rocky-style. It was somewhat easier as there were not nearly as many steps, but it was fun anyway. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the loyal readers of danielyeow.com for their support over the years. Merry Christmas everyone!
24th December - Hell Ride
Until today, I wasn't sure why this bike ride was called the hell ride. Now I am. If hell was a bike ride, this would be it (minus the nice scenery). I'm tired, I'm going to have a nap now.
16th December - Speed Cubing Update
My new 5-try 3-cube speed cubing record is 43.78 seconds bettering my previous PB 43.84 by a good 6 hundredth of a second. Also, first official time for the 4-cube, 10:40.6.
10th December - Happy International Human Rights Day
I had a birthday party which drew critical acclaim from its invitation... I will write more later. For now... I present to you the finalists for geeky/cool birthday present of the year. Check them out!
9th December - and the winner is...
A ha! I have managed to, once again, snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (damn those smelly feet!). I passed all my subjects this semester, yay! I even did a full load of subjects. This is actually the first semester that I have done a full load (4 subjects) AND passed them all in... well... a while. I even got my highest mark at uni ever during this semester. This means I finally finish my BA/BSc double degree! Yay! I win at life.
6th December - oops
It seems that 3 is also a divisor of 24. Such are the weapons of the Spanish Inquisition...
5th December - Day of the Ninja
Happy St. Nicholas Eve as well. The Dutch call him Sinterklaas... hmm... bloody Dutch. Oh, it also happens to be my birthday, yay! I'm now 24, which means that I'm not in my prime. I am now divisible by 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 *hmph*.
30th November - My Say
The Age newspaper's online edition has a fairly regular "your say" section in which people can write in with their opinions. I have posted once or twice in this section on subjects that I feel strongly about. The latest topic has to do with the relationship between Singapore and Australia and how it has/hasn't changed because of the Tuong Van Nguyen case. Australian citizen, Tuong Van Nguyen was caught in transit in Singapore with 396 grams of heroin on his way to Australia, he will be hanged on Friday. This is what I said.
27th November - Horoscope
Today is the launch of Daniel Yeow's much anticipated monthly horoscope! Check out your horoscope for December.
25th November - Begone! Wisdom Teeth
Today I had a wisdom tooth removed, it was giving me trouble (see previous post). Ouch. In other news, I've made a link to the memes page in the top navigation bar thingie of this website. (look up)
24th November - Houston, we have a problem
Lets see... the time is 5:20am, I've had about 4 hours of sleep and I have a toothache. Bugger. At least I won't sleep in for my exam. Oh dear, I've just poured fruit juice on my weet-bix... and I have an appointment later todat at 2:30 (I didn't make that up!). Looks like its time to break out the codine!
20th November - Holy cow!
Today was the road portion of the Victorian Speed Skating Championships. I haven't been training much (at all) for skating lately because of a recent encounter with the University's Unsatisfactory Progress Committee. Anyway, I came second in the 200m Time Trial, not an ususual result. I came a dissapointing 5th in both the 5k and the 500m (which was a little unusual, the 500m being one of my pet events). Now here' the big surprise - 3rd in the 10k points/elimination! Now I'm not really a 10k person, but I raced a tactically "smart" race and managed to outfox everyone. Indeed, it took a while for people to realise that I had actually come third. (coming 3rd in a points race involves accumulating the 3rd highest total number of points (awarded on "points laps") by the end of the race, NOT being 3rd over the line).
18th November - start here
11th November - Rememberance Day
Today is Remeberance Day. In other news, I now have a LiveJournal which exists soley for the purpose of reading other people's LiveJournals and doing other LiveJournal-related things more conveniently. I also bought a new pair of jeans for the first time in like, 11 months, and they cost heaps less than the last pair of jeans that I bought. In fact, the pair of jeans cost the same as my last pair except I paid in Australian dollars, whereas the last pair had the same price on them, but was paid for in British Pounds (as opposed to those pesky Egyptian Pounds), and it was on sale...
9th November - Morning has broken, and so has the fridge...
8th November - A really bad joke
I spotted this one on the internet recently. It is very bad. I thought I should share it with you.
It is not a well known fact, but soccer was very popular in ancient Rome. The Coliseum was used for matches. There was a big match planned for one Saturday, and three famous Romans arranged to meet at the Coliseum to see the match (Rome vs. Naples). When the day came, Caesar and Cassius met in their favorite bar, but there was no sign of their friend Brutus. So shortly before the kick-off, they gave up and went to their reserved seats to watch the game.
At half time, Brutus finally arrived "Sorry I'm late," he said. "The wheel came off the chariot, and I couldn't get it fixed. How's the game going?"
"It's been a fantastic game so far," Caesar replied.
"What's the score, then?"
"Eight-two, Brutus."
6th November - I just don't learn
Ok, this was really stupid, I went skating-racing today. 2nd in the 200m time trial, 3rd in the 500m and 4th in the 10k points race(!). What a way to cap off a weekend... I'm feeling rather sore.
5th November - Note to self
Going out to the pub for someone's birthday drinks, staying out very late, then doing the same the next night THEN going to an athletics meet = crappy times. How crappy? Lets just say that some of the girls ran faster times than I did - that's embarassing. That's right, I am representing the University of Melbourne... people must watch me run and think that a university education makes one run very slowly, with great effort and with agonising facial expressions.
3rd November - final countdown
No, its not a song by a band named after a continent (actually, it is, but that isn't what I'm referring to), its the countdown to the Topology exam - 7 days. I will also stop doing memes and do some study...
30th October - Oh my...
I seemed to have O.D.ed on the memes...
29th October - Memes!
For a long time, I have debated with myself about whether or not to post memes on my website. They're awfully tacky, but I guess that's what really attracts me to them... oh, and they're a great way of procrastinating (as if I didn't have enough methods for doing that). I've decided on a compromise - a seperate page for memes.
23rd October - some long-awaited updates
Check the photos section for updates - science ball, dinner dance and the 'round the bay bike ride.
22nd October - Closing night
Tonight was the losing night for the Euripides Weird Plays. I managed to nail all my lines, although others weren't so fortunate. Earlier in the day, I ran 1500m (not really my thing) then ran 200m without anything like a full recovery (not a great idea), then ran 400m in heavy rainfall (a really silly idea). Luckily my part in the plays doesn't require much movement... I'm a god, I just stand and deliver my lines while occasionally moving my arms around.
The afterparty was good fun. We literally partied until the sunrise. The party had all the elements that a good party should - controversy, stupid amounts of alcohol consumption, a destroyed 4x4 rubik's cube and a visit from victoria police. Oh, and singing, lots and lots of singing... look out for photos...
19th October - Opening night
Tonight was opening night for the Euripides Weird Plays. I managed to miss a line, but nobody really noticed. It seemed very well-attended for a Wednesday night. Attendence only goes up from here...
16th October - Around the Bay in a Day
224.57km by my odometer. In layman's terms - a long way. This may go down among one of the stupidest things that one can do, to run in an Athletics meet the day before the ride. Photos to follow soon.
8th October - Stand Up For Your Rights
This entry shold be titled "Murphy's Law Case Study: Stand Up For Your Rights". As I said many times to the crew during the course of the day, the alignment of the planets just wasn't quite right this year. Many many many things went horribly wrong. I suppose the challenge of event management is to plan and run things in such a way that, in the event that everything should go wrong, the event still "works". I think the night worked. Arj Barker, Wil Anderson, Hung Le, Dave O'Neil, Sue-Ann Post, Greg Fleet, GUD, Sista She, Damian Callinan, Lawrence Leung, Andrew McClelland, Charlie Pickering, Justin Hamilton, Rachel Berger, Cal Wilson, Gerard McCulloch, Joanne Brookfield, The Pinch and Michael Connell were great, which I suppose is all that really matters.
One of the stuff-ups was that four pages of the program didn't get printed, which included my welcome note. So for all those who are interested, here it is in all its glory.
2nd October - Some UMO posters
by popular demand, here are the posters from the UMO. The 'official' one, designed by Michael de Graaf (μ by Daniel Yeow), the infamous Discobulus and the Kitten, the uncomparably lame Kitten and Olympic Rings and the curiously kitten-less Archimedes and Pythagoras.
1st October - Countdown
Only seven sleeps until "Stand Up For Your Rights"! Click the banner above to get your tickets! Please!
23rd September- email overload
You know you're popular/busy when you get 42 non-spam emails which are addressed to you and you alone in the space of 8 hours. Damn this stupid comedy night...
21st September - MUMS-COM cricket
Who says that maths geeks aren't sporty? The Editor of Paradox (Nick Sheridan) and the Education Officer (myself) go on regular runs. Third Year Rep (Tharatorn Supasiti) is an avid cyclist. Anyway, to prove that we really are quite sporty as a group and not just as individuals, here are some photos of us playing cricket. photo1 photo2
17th September - Aths Training, Ballet, Party
What a day. Saturday morning saw heavy rainfall from 9:30-10:30, which happens to coincide with athletics training, yipee. I would have been better off with swimming trunks and flippers. Interestingly, I ran some of my most consistent times to date.
The Christine Walsh Ballet Company's performance of Romeo and Juliet wasn't too bad. It was a little better than the Russian State Ballet which toured recently (but didn't rate a mention on this site) and I knew one of the dancers (Dale Thurlow) and also knew one of the Musicians in the orchestra which was the Melbourne Youth Orchestra (Ajay Iyengar).
Then I had another equinox party. This one was to celebrate Riemann's birthday. All went quite well though September is, admittedly, party season. Most attendees at the party had either just come from another party or were about to go to another one. This depleted numbers somewhat, but not enough to ruin the party atmosphere. It also gave me a good chance to catch up with some old friends - always a good thing.
16th September - Dinner Dance
This Friday I went to the combined Melbourne Uni and Monash Uni Dancesport club's annual Dinner Dance. Unlike all the other dinner dances which happen throughout the year, this one is peculiar in that people actually dance! Strange, I know, but fun nonetheless. Many different styles of dancing were explored ranging from Swing to Latin to Cha Cha all the way to the Modern Waltz. Who knows what I was doing here, as it is a well-known fact that I am incapable of dancing, but I had much fun.
14th September - Universtiy Maths Olympics
Regular readers of danielyeow.com may recall that my team - "The Quantum Mechanics: no job too small" were victors in the annual UMO in 2004. Well, having now won the maths olympics three times and placed second twice, I thought it would be a good idea to try my hand at organising it this year. Not having much experience in event management, there were a few minor hiccups, like questions being stapled in the wrong order. The event itself, however, ran very well with participation up on previous years and the competition being very close and heated at the top. The victors, a team headed by MUMS treasurer James Zhao - "The Quintic Solvers: we're here to beat Sally", first runners up, past MUMS president Tony Wirth's team "The Return of the Expats: expatriate former IMO/ugrads" and second runners up, a team lead by Sally Zhao "The Unsolvable Quintic: Sally's Team".
Here are the questions (with answers), and the solutions. Please report any errors or suggest more elegant solutions wherever possible.
12th September - Tickets to Stand Up For Your Rights go on sale!
Click the banner above to go to the ticketek site where you can buy tickets to this most excellent comedy night.
7th September - Science Ball
In 1901 the states and territories of Australia came together as one country for the first time. The first ever parliament of Australia convened in the Royal Exhibition Buildings, now a *world* heritage listed site, which aslo happens to be conveniently located just across the road from where I live. Now, 104 years later, about 1200 heavily inebriated students converged on this hallowed ground for Science Ball... and it will never smell quite the same again....
photos to follow...
23rd August - Life imitates art imitates life
I am reorganising danielyeow.com. I am reorganising my apartment... maybe somewhere in my subconscious I will reorganise my life. Apologies to anyone who is looking for an article and can't find it...
20th August - Melbourne University Athletics Club
Today was my first training with the Melbourne University Athletics Club. I trained with the middle-distance squad. Hmmm... lets see, 8x300m. This quickly turned into 7x300m after which I still felt that my breakfast was better off outside than in. 15 minute break... then a flat-out 400m. Phwoar... had a bit of trouble walking for about an hour after that.
12th August - Seminar follow up
I've finally written out explanations for the problems presented in my presentation. The slides are here and the explanations + solutions are available here (be patient, it might take a little while to load the image). Feedback welcome.
11th August - Apollo
I recently auditioned for a production of Euripides' "weird" plays, specifically Helen and Orestes (two small plays). It seems that I must've made some kind of impression as they have cast me in the part of Apollo. This is kind of cute because when I did the subject "Classical Mythology", my tutorial presentation was on Apollo. Anyway, I've always wanted to be a god... now I must nip down to Allans Music and find myself a Lyre.
5th August - Seminar: Beauty and Zen in Mathematics
Today I gave a seminar for the Melbourne University Mathematics and Statistics Society. The slides are available here, but a word of warning: I spoke "to" the slides which basically means that, with the slides alone, you won't get much out of it. I will, when I get the time, put together a better explanation of the problems themselves and some worked solutions. For a bit of background reading, Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" and Sun Tzu's "Art of War" are a good start.
Oh, and "the one about the fly" goes like this: Two trains, A & B, 200km apart travel towards each other on a collision course. Train A is travelling at 150km/h, B at 50km/h. A fly on speed starts at A flies towards B at 200km/h then, on reaching B, turns around and flies back to A (again at 200km/h) then turns around and flies to B etc. until the trains collide. How far has the fly flown?
(hint: there's a trick to this (that was the idea of the talk actually, ALL the problems have neat tricks which make them very easy to solve))
31st July - MIFF
The Melbourne International Film Festival (or MIFF for short) was visited by myself and a number of my friends today. I saw Ballets Russes, 4 and The Child. All were 'interesting'. My favourite was Ballets Russes, which traced the history of the historical Ballets Russes dance company as they kept the art alive and brought Ballet to the farthest corners of the world. We had a brief interlude when we grabbed dinner from "Mecca" a North African/Middle Eastern restaurant in Southbank Plaza which was a treat and a half.
I've also added a few pics to the 'gadgets' section.
29th July - AIA NAGM report.
There are some photos and links off this report... but you'll have to read the report to find them. ;)
22nd-24th July - Canberra - Meeting Place
for those of you who haven't been to any of my trivia nights, Canberra is a word which means "meeting place". Starting on Friday with the first ever Amnesty International "Youth Summit", where I was asked to speak for ten minutes on my experiences in youth activism (speech can be found here), this weekend was an action packed one. Saturday saw a bunch of workshops of various human rights issues and things to do with the governance of Amnesty and Sunday was the national AGM - the business end of our little gathering.
The drive home turned out to be treacherous. I actually managed to fall asleep at the wheel. Luckily, this happened at the somewhat less-than-treacherous speed of 0 km/h at a roadside rest area.
21st July - Drive to Canberra 650km 59L of petrol...
17th July - What's on the menu?
Starter - Crab and Nori soup... but without the crab. (I realised late in the piece that I didn't own a food processor or blender, so the soup will be... umm... missing something)
Entree - Hot-pot cooked soba noodles with shellfish (specifically, mussels and scallops... and even some crab thrown in, I wonder where that came from)
Main - Special "soft" risotto (rice porrige) and swiss brown mushrooms ("soft" because I completely overcooked the rice, oops. Although I've made up for it by finding some lovely musrooms, from the market and not my columbian "dealer" of course)
Dessert - Tiramisu flavoured gelati fresh from Lygon St. via my freezer
15th July - MSO concert
phwoar... Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini... phwoar....
The group of us also decided to "tart up" so to speak... we were just oozing class. Check us out!
14th July - Happy Bastille Day!
8th July - Daniel Passes "620-311 Metric Spaces" on only his third attempt !!!!!!!!
4th July - shopping in Hong Kong
Today I was accused of being like a "chick" for my shopping habits. Lets take stock... two pairs of shoes, ok, fair enough... what else, some shirts, a pair of trousers... hmm... what else... a HA! A Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable), that's SO not a "chick" thing to buy, even if it does go well with my new shoes.
2nd July - mmmm Shark's Fin
Continuing my culinary adventures, we went to "The Prince" restaurant for my Dad's birthday. Notable items on the menu, shark's fin soup, abalone and bird's nest. The stand-out dish was the shark's fin.... not just any shark's fin, the best shark's fin I've ever had, and that's saying something. As for the bill... the most expensive meal I've ever had, now THAT'S saying something.
1st July - mmmm Felix
Felix is a restaurant situated on the 28th floor of the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. It serves a strange blend of dishes and ingredients which vaguely fit into the food-genre of "fusion". It ain't bad. The icing on the cake, is when one goes to the urinals in the men's toilet as they face ceiling-floor windows overlooking the Kowloon Hotel (which, ironically, is also owned by the Peninsula Group).
25th June - mmmm Crepes...
Today Joan, Damjan and I went for a little crepe escape on Gertrude st. It was quite lovely, and I probably drank a little too much apple cider, which I'm sure made that afternoon's MUMS committee meeting a little more interesting.
Oh, and we had a little party too...
21st June - mmmm Truffles...
Just had a meal at one of my favourite restaurants, Vue de Monde. Would you believe that one person can eat 13 courses and end up spending... well... alot on just food. Dish of the day - duck egg, egg first removed and shell half filled with a sauce of foie gras mixed with maple syrup, then the egg is re-introduced to its shell and topped with a slice of black truffle, accompanied by two finger-sized bits of bread with truffle spread on them. mmm... divine.
1st June - Judgement
June is judgement month for Daniel Yeow. Several events will take place this month which will, in some way or another, validate (or otherwise) my existence on this planet and remind me that life really is worth living after all. Foremost of these, of course, is my Metric Spaces exam. Metric Spaces is a third year maths subject which is the bane of my existence. I have failed this subject for the past two years with a score which can only be described as pathetic, even by my standards. I suppose if I fail it for a third time, life will still go on, I will still get a maths major and I will still graduate.... but I will have to find something else to give meaning to my life.
In recent news, I attended the Old Scotch Collegians Association's (I went to Scotch) 80th annual dinner. The dinner was a black tie affair so I, not wanting to commit the ultimate faux pas by wearing a white tie to a black tie dinner, bought a black tie and, with a bit of mixing and matching, came up with this outfit. Strangely enough, I was the only person to turn up in either a top hat or tails...
23rd May - Another amusing link
20th May - ring ring...
Today I left my phone at home. This gave me a great sense of freedom which I'm sure many other people have felt as well. Some have accused me of acting irresponsibly citing that, if something were to happen, they would have no way of contacting me. (How ever did people get from day to day in the time before mobile phones?). I figured that, if there was something that was of such extreme importance, people could contact me via the bat-light.
here's a funny link
15th May - Archery?
I have been doing archery for some time now and have just realised that there is nothing about it on my website. Today was a rather extraordinary day, not only because I shot some of my best scores after taking two weeks off due to illness, but also because I witnessed for the first time ever a great rarity in archery - a robin hood. Click here for details...
2nd May - What a find...
I was browsing around and I found this menu my kind of dinner. Pay close attention to the wines... and the price tag, phwoar!
29th April - Life's Rich Pageant
Today was an interesting day. I got to practice my public speaking skills quite a bit.
It all started with my 9am Metric Spaces lecture where I gave a report from a survey that I conducted two weeks ago in my capacity as "Staff Student Liason Committee" (SSLC) representative for the class. Then, later that day, we had a whopping 2-hour long MUMS AGM where I got elected to the position of Education Officer.
25th April - In time
One of my favourite things to do while procrastinating is to practise my skill at solving the Rubik's cube. Today I thought I'd time myself again and see if I've gotten any faster. I have. My 5-try average is now 43.84 seconds.
15th April - Reckoning
So close yet so far. That was the message of today. In the Oceania Speedskating Championships 200m time trial my time was 17.931 seconds which was only good enough for fourth! I missed out on a bronze medal by 83 thousandths of a second. Later that day, a split-second tactical error made me miss out on getting through to the final of the 500m. That night, Collingwood (my Australian rules Football team) lost in the dying seconds of their game by a mere 3 points (14.9 93 def. 13.12 90) when a last minute shot at goal missed by mere centimeters. So remember - seize every moment, every opportunity without hesitation and give it everything you've got!
11th April - Out of Time
I must apologise to all thel loyal readers of danielyeow.com as I have been a little slack updating my comedy festival reviews. This is because I have been busy writing essays and helping out with the Puzzle Hunt. Rest assured, when my essays are in, and my assignments are at least partly done, I will tell all about my most recent comedy festival exploits. Meanwhile, if you're a bit sick of trying to solve those puzzles... have a read of the reviews that I have written.
4th April - REM concert
Just to give you a bit of background, REM are my favourite band. Playing to a packed (but, dissapointingly, not-quite-sold-out) Rod Laver Arena, they were most excellent! Kicking off with recent hit "Bad Day" and playing much of their recent work, most of which is good but not great, they went on to play such all-time-greats as "Losing My Religion", "Everybody Hurts" and "Orange Crush" which, to my surprise, were just as good, if not better, live than on the CD. The final segment kicked off with "What's the Frequency Kenneth" (my first ever REM single) and finished with the melancholy "Man on the Moon". An unforgettable night! I hereby declare this month to be REM month on danielyeow.com
30th March - La Sylphide
On a whim, I decided to hop along to the closing night of the Australian Ballet Company's production of "La Sylphide". Owing to the fact that, late last year, I saw the closing night (31st December 2004) of "La Belle au bois dormant" (sleeping beauty) performed by the Opéra National de Paris, I found the ABC's production to be a bit drab and technically unimpressive. Steven Heathcote, however, was a stand-out performer as the evil witch and a few young faces got the chance to be soloists which, I'm sure, is good for the future of ballet in Australia.
28th March - 'twas a grape day
Today I went grape picking at a winery with a few friends. Highlights of the day include the great meal which we were treated to afterwards and the wine that came with it. Also a highlight of the day, some quotes from Damjan:
"Hyperboling - isn't that like normal bowling but in four dimensions?"
"If it wasn't for the ceiling, we'd get a whole lot more natural light"
"my alcohol makes its own body"
"No, I haven't had too much to drink"
Whatever you say Damjan, whatever you say.
23rd March - Comedy Festival Begins
I will endeavour to deliver a short report on all the shows that I have seen this year. This is by no means a definitive guide, especially as I haven't seen every show, but you may use the advice if you wish. The opinions are not totally uninformed, as I have been to one or two comedy gigs in the past. Check back often, the comedy festival runs until the 17th of April.
21st March - Equinox
Today is the autumn equinox. This means that the day and the night are exactly the same length today, and the days will only get shorter and the nights longer from here until the winter solstice (22nd June). In accordance with tradition, I threw a massive party to celebrate this momentous event. To start with, I needed to make sure that the fridge was adequately stocked with supplies. Shortly after the party started, we had our twister tournament with Andrew Kwok being the outright winner this time around. Once the party got into full swing, we began to come up with creative ways of playing the piano. Also in the music department, we had violins and - music stands! Finally, at about half past midnight, we settled down for a five hour game of trivial persuit which took us well into the next day.
In other news, my old Rubik's cube is officially being retired. After being solved, at speed, over a thousand times, it is starting to look a little worse for wear.
18th March - Comedy Festival Anyone?
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival starts next wednesday, yay! If you would like to come and see some shows with me, here is a timetable of what I plan to see. Most shows are general admission, so sitting in a group shouldn't be a problem.
Also, I've added "Andrew Bolt" to my friends section. Not so much because I consider him a friend - I've never met him. More because he makes me laugh. Follow the link and you can get a daily dose of humour masquerading as serious journalism.
13th March - The Challenge!
my current flat-mate, Columbian Juan Carlos Valencia, has issued to me a challenge. On the 30th of this month, we are going to race a distance of 1500m on the track at Melbourne Uni (running). 1500m is about twice my comfortable race distance but I suspect it is a bit on the short side for my super-fit, ultra long-distance running flatmate. Watch this space for updates on my training...
26th February - Interview with Luca Presti
Your trackside reporter probes deep into the mind of one of the world's best skaters. Winner of the 300m time trial on track and the 500m on road at the 2004 world championships, Luca Presti gives us an insight into his world. Click here for the interview. Also check out interviews with Michael Byrne and Reyon Kay in the miscellaneous section.
20th - 27th February - Australian National Speed Skating Championships
Read up-to-the-minute (well, day-by-day actually) reports from trackside reporter (you guessed it) Daniel Yeow. Here is a results page, if that's all you are interested in...
19th February - A word of warning
As some of you may know, I am skating in the upcoming australian national championships. I would just like to warn my legions of loyal fans that, to prevent overcrowding at the venue, I suggest that you contact one another and arrange to spectate on different days.
In "other" news, there is a hilarious article in the Chaser newspaper which can be found online here. To those of you who do not reside in Melbourne and do not read the newspapers, it would be worth having a read of The Age so that you can get a feel for the environment in which this joke is based.
11th February - Free MSO concert
Tonight I went to a free Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The program was superb, including Rachmaninov's second piano concerto, and finishing with Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture (complete with real cannons and fireworks). I don't know about you, but I find it extraordinary that we have these open-air free concerts which probably draw a crowd of at least 10,000. Perhaps Melbourne is the world's most livable city after all.
26th January - Australia Day
Happy Australia Day! I've been back from Europe for 6 days... lets have a look at my kitchen shall we? Surely those aren't 6 six pizza boxes?
23rd January - Southern Cross is over
note to self: competing in a skating competition with neither training nor rest following 24 hours of flying and a time zone difference of 11 hours AND THEN drinking heavily afterwards is NOT advisable. Check out a photo of "da boyz" here.
20th January - back in Melbourne!
I'm home... well, London sort of felt like home too, because all my old school friends were there (or close). It is good to be home. Before I begin to feel the effects of jet-lag, I will update this page with my little rant about food... which can be found here.
Don't forget to check the photo pages - London, Malta, Italy, France, Holland and Germany
17th January - Shopping in London
Today I went to shop at a place where a person like myself really shouldn't be allowed to shop - Harrods. Why? When I shop, I REALLY shop, especially if there's a sale and especially if it's overseas. Its all my mum's fault really, she wanted me to go to Harrods specifically to get on of those PVC Harrods bags. So dad, when you get the credit card bill, just remember that I probably won't be shopping again for quite some time... I purchased enough clothes to last me for years... well, at least until Versace releases their spring 2006 collection during autumn 2005 (or however it works in the fasion industry).
I can't believe my trip is drawing to a close. I will write a food review of sorts while on the plane back home so watch out for that.
15th January - Taunton in Somerset
When you move around the world so much, and travel as much as I do, its easy to forget about your past. In Australia, many of my friends are still friends with their neighbours, people they knew in primary school and people they knew in high school. For someone who grew up in Hong Kong (like me), such a situation is unheard of. Today I went to visit a friend from high school who I hadn't seen in about 7 years, David Plant. It seemed a bit strange at first, but before long we were laughing to the point of suffocation just like old times... its good to see that some things never really change.
13th January - Shopping in Frankfurt
Frankfurt is a pretty cool place, and its not very touristy (which, to me, is also cool). I went shopping today and FINALLY found a suitable wedding gift for some friends back home is Melbourne. I unfortunately missed their wedding because I was in Rome (yeah, life's tough) but I offered to make it up to them by getting something cool from Europe. Now I finally have... but they're just going to have to wait and see to find out what it is.
11th January - Schloß Neuschwanstein
Ludwig II built this fairy tale castle a little over 100 years ago and Disney stole the look and used it for their castle. Looking at it, it is easy to see why. This was also the first time I got to see snow on this trip, YAY! Check out the photo pages.
9th January - from Dutch-Land to Deutschland
Take the train from Zwolle to Arnhem, then change trains to the one that goes to Frankfurt but get off at Cologne (Köln), then take the one that goes to Basel, but get off at Mannheim, got it? Uh, huh. Then take the train that goes to Innsbruck and get off at Munich (München) it should only take seven hours... easy.
Munich is really quite beautiful and the Wombat youth hostel (I'm not kidding) is by far and away the best hostel I've stayed at and even gives the Ritz in Santiago de Chilé a run for its money (now I'm kidding).
check out the photos here
6th January - chillin' Dutch style
What do people in Holland do when they want to chill? Why, they go to an ice rink for a skate, of course. Which is what I've been doing almost every day... except tuesday, when I went for a skate on my inline roller skates (rollerblades). Seems there's more to Holland than just tulips and windmills. It is the second biggest sport here, after football. I think inline speedskating is, like, the millionth biggest sport in Australia after Cricket and Footy and Cricket and Footy and Cricket... oh, and anything we can win a medal in in the olympic games.
Some photos of Holland can now be viewed here.
3rd January - Kampen, Holland
After cutting it razor-fine all my life, the law of averages has finally caught up with me... I missed my train to Zwolle. D'oh! I still managed to get there in the end, but I was a good two hours late. Let me just say now... trying to sprint with a 20kg backpack ain't easy.
Holland is an interesting place... its very... flat. I haven't seen any windmills yet either. I went ice skating on an old pair of Roy's skates which are called "Vikings". It was an interesting experience... I felt completely like a beginner again, which, for a person of 10 years experience competing in international competitions on inline skates, is an interesting feeling. The ice here is really good, its flat and its 400m around and there are SO many people, its amazing! I love it! Tomorrow, I'm going to get some ice blades fitted to my own boots so hopefully the additional stuffness and ankle support will help me get the hang of this ice speedskating business.
31st December/1st January - Bonne Annee!
A big happy new year from Paris, France! What a night... the Ballet was AWESOME! That Rudolf Noureev guy sure knows what he's talking about when it comes to choreographing a ballet, oh and that Tchaikovski guy ain't bad with the music either. The free champagne was of an unusually high quality and the talent on the stage... incredible.
After finishing at 11pm, I rushed to the underground in an effort to make it to Le Tour Eiffel in time for the countdown, but, at 23:55, I realised that I would have to settle for the Champs Elysees instead. After witnessing a fairly lacklustre fireworks display and watching many French people get very drunk I wandered over to the Tower to witness the mob throwing glass bottles at small groups of riot police... how exciting. After that, I got on a train to go home where everybody had to exhale so that the doors could close.