VH in Melb Day 2 - The City of Blinding Lights

This is the day I have been waiting for since last year December. U2 Vertigo Tour 06… AAARRrrrraRRRgggHHh!!!! YeaH yeah yeah Woahoooooo!!!.... and man what a day it was. We had free standing tickets… so it was a siapa cepat dia dapat…. We called the Stadium and found out that Security was not allowing anyone to camp over night and that people will only be able to wait in line at 7am. So we all agreed that we will be up early get there by 7, but somewhere between my tummy giving way because it could not handle all that good food yesterday and us looking for coffee and breakfast in the city, and picking up the tickets from shanti’s friend, we only managed to get there at around 9am. There was already a big crowd all patiently waiting… but not as many as I thought would be there. There were barricades arranged and divided into equal parts of space, which lead from the entrance to the perimeter around the stadium. Each pen was closed off once it was full. Now it was just a waiting game….

The sun came out …. and the wind subsided … and for the first time since I touched down in Melbourne…. I started to sweat… it was at least 30Cs… there was no shade and my skin was on fire. Now I regret cursing the cold freezing wind……

Around 4pm or was it 5pm we where asked to get ready…(yes we all patiently waited that long)…. we could hear The Edge (David Howell Evans) practicing inside the stadium…… u2 were beginning to warm up!… They started to play ‘One Tree Hill’… I just froze… oh how I wish I was inside now…. Everyone cheered when the song ended….. ….. Then goose bumps spread thru out my hand …as the opening notes to ‘Walk On’ ….began… I could not believe it… I was listening to them LIVE… even though it was from outside the stadium… it was still invigorating… Are they going to sing these songs during the concert? Well they didn’t. Apparently they where practicing for Auckland.

They started letting us in after U2 had stopped practicing. That was like 6ish….thats when they slowly opened each pen to let us in. It was really well organized ….and the crowd even though a little rowdy did not push or shove their way thru. Unlike the experience I had at the Bon Jovi concert in M’sia back in ..was it 94 or 95. I was stuck in a wall of people and I almost lost an arm. ….Anyway it was still a long wait because the show is only at 9.15pm and the opening act by Kenya West started at 8pm. So, we waited 12 hours in line to get really close to our favourite rock band. How close?...about 25 feet from the main stage, 7 feet from the ramp leading to the small secondary stage which was 15 feet behind us. There was another ramp and stage on the other end of the main stage. Talk about a window seat. For safety reasons 1 third of the field closes to the stage was sectioned off and they limited the number of free standing ticket holders getting in. Suddenly the 12 hour wait was worth it. Even though I wasn’t looking forward to Mr West, I found myself moving to the beat when the P Diddy look-alike got on stage. Not too bad….he was entertaining.

The stage backdrop was this huge wall filled with tiny diodes… I had seen the Boston concert on DVD and what they did with the wall was fantastic. U2 concerts are known for this, which they started using back in 1993, for their ZooTV concert tours and again for their Giant Lemon tour (Popmart Tour). I was very much looking forward to it… and as the sun slowly went down at nearly 8.45pm the crowd was getting intense and to pass the time we all played with beach balls (like 10 beach balls being tossed around the whole stadium by the crowd) and we did Mexican waves.. Stuperb crowd I tell you.

….then it happened… The Edge started playing the opening to ‘City of Blinding Lights’ on the keyboard and the stage light up as a surge of adrenaline shot thru my body…. The crowd roared!!!!... then Bono (Paul David Hewson) walked up the small stage on the other end and began to sing…. The crowd roared again!!!...The concert was simply awesome. All that I have dreamt of, and much much more…. Song after song after song… I was just filled with all kinds of emotions all at once. And I just don’t know what else to say… I know I have been writing some lengthy blogs about my Vertigo Honeymoon in Melbourne but for the 2 hours of being bombarded by U2 LIVE… all I can say is that it was the best 2 hours of my life. ……. Below is the order of songs they sang that nite.

City of Blinding Lights,
Vertigo,
Elevation,
I Will Follow,
New Year's Day,
Beautiful Day – sang bits of Sgt. Pepper's - Here Comes the Sun,
Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of,
Angel of Harlem, - Bono brings an Indian girl near the secondary stage and gives her a piggy back ride around the main stage. lucky girl.
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own,
Love and Peace or Else,
Sunday Bloody Sunday, - Bono brings young boy on to the stage to say No More, in the middle of the song
Bullet the Blue Sky,
Miss Sarajevo,
Pride,
Where the Streets Have No Name,
One

The Fly,
Mysterious Ways,
With or Without You – Bono bring a woman on stage and sing bits of Love Will Tear Us Apart,
The Saints Are Coming, – Latest single.
Desire,
Kite






mo
to be continued.......

VH in Melb Day 1 - The City of Melbourne

The bus ride into the City from the Airport was pleasant. We were dropped off at the Spencer Street Train Station. It was very breezy in Melbourne City …and that’s when the freezing started! Bbbbrrrrrrrr… it was also sunny… so my body was all confused… After buying our weekly Tram/Train/Bus Pass we took a walk to Elizabeth Street where we hopped on the Tram to get to our Hotel. We checked into the Elizabeth Tower Hotel which wasn’t too far from the City Center. The Hotel look old, like it was made in the late 70s or something but it was very cozy and nice. The room wasn’t too bad either. The Hotel had this interesting Spiral Stairs coming down the corner of it… it was cool.

Shanti took us to Lygon Street for Lunch. Italian food is most famous there and true enuff we were passing many Italian Café’s and Restaurants… we even passed 2 cafes that had Malaysian food. We decided to eat at Correto Café. The whole place was filled with Ferrari’s Formula One memorabilia, newspaper clippings, Photos, bits and broken pieces of Ferrari’s F1 car and of cause not forgetting a real Ferrari F1 Car hanging from the ceiling. There were also pictures of Schumacher eating at Correto’s and also meeting the owner of the place… The café was not all show… the food was superbly freaking good. (You are not gonna get pictures of food here in my blog, cos I am not that kind of blogger. If you don’t like that then blogger off). For dessert we went a little further down the street and ate Italian Ice Cream or Gelato. OMG…… I don’t know why people even bother doing drugs… man, the gelato was damn goooooood. I asked for a single and since I don’t consider Gelato food you can see in the picture.. that there was nothing single about it. I would call that a quadruple…. mmm Yum yum!! It was clear after that that I wld be putting on a lot of weight this coming week.

After that wholesome meal … we weren’t in the mood to ronda ronda…. So we crashed and rested awhile, about 3 or 4 hours to be exact. I didn’t get much sleep on the plane remember….. We only got to Shanti’s apartment about 8pm right when the sun was setting, hence the term long summer days… . It was getting really cold and windy when we started walking down Swanston Street. Most shops where already closed as most do at 6pm… yikes!! But since it was a Friday, some of the shops where still open and almost all eateries where open too. I noticed that at every corner there was a 7eleven or a Starbucks. Dono quickly found a DVD/CD shop which was open and I must say that they were cheap, cheaper then here. Originals ofcos and a large range of movies too, with countless number of box sets which you cant find in Malaysia.
It was a short walk to Melbourne Central (Shopping/Subway Station/Makan Place) which had an interesting old building in the ‘centre’ of it and it was housed under a huge big ‘cone’. It is a Shot Tower which was made in 1890. They made those olden days’ bullets or lead balls for muskets. Molten Lead is dropped from the top of the tower (170 feet) which would result in droplets cooling in air into somewhat of a spherical shape and it would land in a pool of water to cool down at the bottom of the tower. Discovery Channel! What have you discovered today!



I was just perplexed by the beautiful architecture all around the city and the buildings façade was further emphasized by excellent lighting which highlighted the fine work in its details. Or is it fine details in its work. Hmmm…. Anyway it was a lovely walk thru the city and was further sweetened by a friend of mine, Melanie, (yo Mel, wuzzup!) who made time to meet up with us later that nite. She’s working and studying in Melbourne.

We tool some time taking pictures along Flinders Street (actually I was holding them up with my picture taking, before going for dinner…. hehe). There I was snapping away at Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral which was really really beautiful, magnificent.




We then walked to Lornsdale Street to have Greek and Turkish food… which was of cos simply divine. Mmmmm …. I’m gonna be a fatty! Yeah yeah!!......... The city was crowded because it was a Friday but you don’t feel it because of the broad walkways all along the streets…I must say that it’s a very easy City to get around by foot. You try doing that here and see… huh! Mau mati kah? and if you dont want to walk then you can take the trams. There are a few old trams which run around the city.





I must add that the toilets where so clean. It was unbelievable! it was cleaner then the KLIA toilets!! Last we head back to sleep because tomorrow is a long and Beautiful Day.


mo
to be continued......

VH in Melb - Taking a crap at 37000 feet

The flight was on schedule and we were on our way. The last flight I took was about 2 decades ago…. So this was somewhat a new experience for me and the first thing I must say is that the food they served on board really really sucked! Hospital food also better lah… I wonder if other airlines have better food. Stupid MAS!. Well anyway. We left KLIA at 9:35pm and it wld take about 8 hours to get there; ETA 8:15am Melbourne Time. I got to watch Nacho Libra and Poseidon. It was fairly entertaining and I also managed to catch the first episode of the fifth season of Smallville (or was it sixth season) and the second episode of Prison Break. Oh and also an episode of Justice League Unlimited. I’d say time well spent.

My first glimpse of Australia was its red Mars like surface. it was about 7am Aussie time/ 3am M'sian. We must have passed Uluru Rock but the stupid captain did not announce it. But it was ok... the lanscape was cool and i took a few interesting photos. I did not get a window seat so I had to take the pictures tru a small little window at the back of the plane.

As we landed the captain announced that the weather was clear with a temperature of 12 degrees Celsius… Come again!!?? 12 degrees Celsius!!I don’t think I was ready for this…?... I read on the net that it was going to be between 15 to 25 celsius, oh well..better button up then. . It didn’t take us long to clear the airport, and our bags were out a few minutes later… and we were greeted with Shanti’s smile, (our friend who is studying in Melbourne), and as we got outside to wait for the bus the weather was actually not so bad, it was crisp and refreshing and easy on the nose…… but then, it wasn’t windy… as we shall soon find out when we get to the city..... of Melbourne.

mo
to be continued......

Vertigo Honeymoon in Melbourne - Prelude

As some off you know I just got back from my honeymoon / U2 Vertigo Concert Tour in Melbourne. hmmm actually i got back on the 24th of Nov....... I had the most marvelous awe-inspiring excellent time ever.... I think I don’t have to say that the U2 concert was just out of this world. I renewed my faith in U2. I could not believe that I was actually there. “It was surreal”, said Rose. I said....Fantastico….. Onos …Dos …Tres……. Chakotay!! Actually it’s Catorce…. anyway……. Melbourne City was really nice… I can see why many people fall in love with it…it is the most organized city I have ever been in. From its broad walkways and clean public toilets which you don’t even need to pay for. From its Tram Systems and beautiful architecture, its really hard to hate it even when you are freezing your nuts off in the cold cold wind. The drive to Mornington Peninsular and Great Ocean Road was breathtaking with its beautiful scenic landscape, simply charming with its hillsides, cliffs and beaches, Its wineries and farmland......sigh!..... so nice wan..... below is just a glimps of my vacation in Melbourne ...












to be continued.......

mo

my winning pixel

Just found out that i won a consolation prize from The Star Newspaper for a photo contest. Actually i did not like the picture but somebody in Star thought it was worthy of a consolation prize. kekeke... anyway here is the link to my picture in the Star Website. not sure how long it will be up.

http://203.115.194.78/contests/merdeka49/winpic.asp?pic=gercon8-structure01


mo

I want to go to the land down under...

less then 10 days to go for my trip to Melbourne.... i am really getting excited about it.... to those who dont know what I am talking about you can read what happened here http://pixelated_mo.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/2006/03/index.html
under U2 concert postponed. I was all set to go in MArch but was devastated to learn that they had postponed the concert. But then in July I was over joyed when they resheduled it to November.... I cant wait to get into the Telstar Dome Stadium with the tens of thousands of screaming fans singing Where the Streets Have No Name... with U2..... man i cant wait....

hmmm ,,... how do you visit Melbourne on a shoe sting budget... hmmm lets see... wow i need to plan this well... and plan i shall...... I will be away from the 16th till the 24th of Nov. Oh and this I guess will be my official Honeymoon... We both love U2 and i am sure it is going to be a blast.

Of cos I am also looking forward to visiting Melbourne... and I would like to do the Great Ocean Drive... so bring on VERTIGO. ....

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Will the real MURAKAWA please stand up!

A friend of mine (Daisy) found this and had bought me some. If you notice there is no brand name written on the box... Maybe I should get the jawi writing translated....hmmm ...well.... the only thing I know is that it is made in Indonesia and it is ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED and it only comes in Malaysian (Asian) fruit flavours. The content has the same texture and feel,,,... it even has the same after taste... So is this MURAKAWA?,,,,...

Beware of Monkeys Crossing

APM (Assumption Praise Ministry) had their follow-up session, at the Lake Gardens on the first day of Raya. This was a follow-up on our last retreat in Penang a few months ago. I must say that APM has grown very nicely this year... and something tells me that the Retreat in Penang had something to do with it.

Lots of matters were discussed.... most of which where on our commitment and discipline. We also planned the 2007 calendar and it looks like its going to be a full year ahead. Overall it was a very good session.

The weather was not too bad...althought a bit hazy.. it did not get too hot... it gave me a lot of photo opportunities ... :) shot about 137 pics...

Next on APMs list is the servers camp and maybe one caroling session for december :) and of cos the numerous masses.

F1 will never be the same

.....without Schumacher. Sao Paulo circuit... the last F1 race for Schummi. This my friends is the greatest F1 driver ever. Eventhougth the stakes where staked as hight as KLCC, he still drove with all his heart and determination.

come on... how many F1 drivers you know would take 4th place after starting at 10th on the grid... then moved up to 4th place only to lose 15 places after getting a flat tire. .... coming back in 19th, he fought his way back to 4th place eventhought he does not have to anymore....

F1 was entertaining with schumi... In china, after his engine blew which cost him his drivers championship... he did not get angry and fire his crew and enginers... he went on and gave each one of them encouragement and his support..... not like some stupit renault driver who barks at his crew... Nevermind that schumi used to bully his rivals with his car... (Flashback of Michael raming his ferrari into Villeneuve's Williams a long time ago)... he is the only one I know who could take a limping Ferrari and hold off an advancing Alanso (this in the opening stages this year). U the man!!!

My hats off to you Michael Schumacher and thank you

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Lets go Voltron force

Ready to form Voltron! Activate interlocks! Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up; mega-thrusters are go!

Let's go voltron force

From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend; the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe, a mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil. As Voltron's legend grew, peace settled across the galaxy. On Planet Earth, a Galaxy Alliance was formed. Together with the good planets of the solar system, they maintained peace throughout the universe, until a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy. Voltron was needed once more. This is the story of the super force of space explorers, specially trained and sent by the Alliance to bring back Voltron, Defender of the Universe!

A friend of mine got me thinking about all the cartoons from the 80s... Voltron would be my favourite... followed closely by all the other 80s toons...

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Before the Haze

The sun rising at my home in PJS7 (26Sept06)

Sunrise at Rose's parents place in SS1 (28Sept06)

Breakdowns

Me car broke down (or shld i say I stopped before it cld breakdown) on my way home after work. The temparature needle started rising.... and at the kampung tungku lights... it had reached the red line.... As soon as the lights turned green I drove pass the traffic light, turned the engine off and coasted till the 7eleven and stopped....

the steam was not to bad because I stopped in time.... let the car cool down... called Rose and few minutes later she arrived with lina and a cooler filled with water... keke.... My saviours.... I only had to put in about a liter of water which which means it was not the radiator or the hoses... So I am guessing its the Radiator Fan...

oh well ...i wonder how much this is going to cost ...... money come money go...

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Murakawa Bubble Gum Found!

My search is over... A colleague of mine told me that they sold this in SaveMart in SS2... and it so happens that I was headed there yesterday night. They sold five for RM0.65 sen... So I grabbed all three flavours, although I do prefer the grape flavored once better..

Inside, the "balls" or the better term would be pellets where not as brightly coloured as I remember it to be... Maybe over the years, the legal level of artificial colouring has reduced, just like Cheesels... its not as orange as it was 15 years ago...

I really dont know why I got so excited seeing this bubble gum... I dont even know how to make a bubble with bubble gum... I guess once and awhile it is nice to see familiar things that we havent seen in a long long time... nostalgic maybe....

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Sweets from yesteryear

There I was minding my own business waiting for the lift. When I got into the lift.... there it was ... in the left corner of the lift floor.... a reminisce of my past... I cld not believe it what I saw... Could it be??... It made me feel like a kid again...

hehe... I did not know that they where still making these... MURAKAWA 'artificially flavored' bubble gum.. this is like a time capsule from years gone by.... Back in school I had to buy it every other day.. I loved the purple ones (Grape) and If i remember correctly there was Strawberry too... and ofcos Orange (as seen in pic). The best part about it is that they are so proud to say that it is 'artificially flavored'.

Tried searching the shops in my area but they did not sell this... So the guy/gal that threw this box in the lift bought this from somewhere else... but where...??? I will add this to my 'to do list' ... to find and buy this bubble gum!! ........ Have you seen this being sold anywhere?

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The Funnies

If you wanted a good laugh because you are feeling down the funnies or the comic strip is not the only funny thing in the newspaper... lets take today for instance. Tengku Razaleigh said that he is "surprized" that Dr M lost in Kubang Pasu UMNO delegation elections. (Yeah right) .... Razeleigh believes there are "unseen forces" stopping Dr M. ......HAAHAHAHhahahahheeeeeeee!! WTF.

How about this one......... "One hour passport renewal" in Labuan and soon in Sabah and Sarawak.. because they are linked directly to NRD.... (If only Klang Valley was as populated as Sabah and Sarawak).. haha.. ofcos they were quick to say that "as long as there is no fault with the system the one hour promise will be kept"..... HAHAHahahahahaaaaaa... and for the encore... in a sepparate article it read "System Crash brings State NRD to a standstill" hehehaeheheeeeeeeeehahahaaa.... ofcos this was in Ipoh, but the Irony of it...hahahaaa..

stop it.... it hurts....

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First Dance

This is a very good picture taken by Daniel with his V3 handphone. Althought its a "little" blur I like it very much and is one of my favourites. Still dont have the time to transfer the wedding pictures to CD so that I can up load it... sorry guys...

Moon Rising

Did anyone catch the moon yesterday... it was gorgeous... The moon has always mistified me... It's tide commanding ways have intrigued me to learn more about it. I didnot get good shots of the moon but they are still nice. Will leave you with a full zoom shot.

Slippery when Wet!

Was going thru some old photos and I came across these pictures which I took last year in July. These were take from the 16th floor of the Menara Merais building and thats the Rothmans roundabout. I titled this set of pictures "Slippery When Wet".... no points for guessing why.

Crikey!

He died as he had lived. The crocodile hunter with his larger then life attics will always remain the most genuine animal lover of all time. I will miss is energy even if he was overzealous in his habits, at least he was genuine.

Here's to that khaki loving crocodile wrestling ..Steven Robert Irwin.

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