Monthly Archives: September 2009

My Grandma’s burial in Jakarta Indonesia.

I’ve moved back into my place now that the renovations are coming to a close. I’ve still got to go back to Mum’s place to clean up the room I was sleeping in, living with Mum for the past couple of months has been great. She loves her wine so we often got plastered together after meals (they were amazing meals too!).

Conversations sometimes got deep and meaningful. Much laughter was had as well as plenty of emo moments. The other night Mum told me some more of Grandma’s story (She passed away at 80 a few years ago).

My Grandma, Erlina Lestari, was 10yrs old when she lost her mother. Her father had 5 kids to look after and he was dead broke, so broke that he struggled to keep the family alive. He ended up giving up Erlina’s 1 year old little sister to someone else in the village but one night Erlina and one of her brothers lit up a torch and went out in the village to get her sister back.

Erlina got to keep her little sister but she had to look after her. The little baby would cry non-stop and Erlina asked a neighbour for help, turns out the baby was starving, she needed milk but there was no money for milk so they just stewed rice, cooled it down and used it in place of milk.

When mum talks about stuff from the past it’s like she’s talking about the dark ages. Maybe one day when I have kids and tell them about all the stuff my Mum went through to have my sister and I it’ll sound like the dark ages to them too.

Erlina’s little sister is still alive and well now. It’s amazing what my Grandma went through at 10 years old and bringing up a child. Makes me think 10 year old kids sitting on facebook all day have it easy.

I woke up to glowing red windows at 6AM this morning.

Was the same out the back too (yeah I was half asleep, had to check).

I thought it was the end of the world (I had been dreaming about someone stealing my GT-R too). Yesterday I blogged about my issues with dust in the house and it looks like the whole of Sydney has to deal with dust too after this morning’s huge dust storm.

Dust storm chokes Sydney – ABC news article:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/23/2693643.htm

Many more amazing images on Flickr.

I’ve been cleaning up the house and I found a CD marked RAW IMAGES JUSTIN R32 GT-R. I put it in and fuck I’ve fallen in love all over again with the GT-R. Mark Pakula, thanks so much, you are the man.

I’ve never seen these images and I have hundreds of them, of every little detail. I love you Mark!

Here’s just a few:

The big clean up continues. There’s just so much dust everywhere it’s ridiculous! I’ve gone through multiple damp towels wiping magazines, toys, surfaces. I’ve been sneezing so hard I feel high.

Cor blimey!

Very fine dust has managed to get on every single surface throughout the entire house. It even got under the plastic covers we had on book shelves so it’s all over the books, magazines, my toys, everything, you name it. In retrospect I’d have spent much more time wrapping (or moving) absolutely everything weeks before the builders ever stepped foot in the house.

Measure twice, cut once.

So I was at IKEA today (yes I hate the place and everything I’ve ever bought from there has either broken or never worked properly in the first place) to buy some of those things which hold your knives, forks and spoons in place in your kitcken drawers. Mum told me they had really nice sturdy and adjustable aluminium ones. I found them but hey presto, they don’t fit in my drawers. I’ll have to settle for plastic ones.

I’ve always wanted to try the meatballs there (I love meatballs), finally have, wish I hadn’t.

Following on from Suga’s carbon front lip, mirrors and airbox we’ve just fitted a new carbon rear valance. Pulling the old one off was a little nerve wracking but it came off with a bit of force and with a bit of TLC the new one went on fine and the fit is perfect (to be expected for the the $!).

The car is looking hot. I need a better camera. Most of these modifications are Japanese, the car is not finished.

Oh my.

Fitted.

MMM Carbon.

Jasmine!

Shot from my little pocket camera. YAH, IT WAS PRETTY CRAZY.

Massive weekend. Defqon.1 on Saturday was nuts. The drive out to Penrith was ridiculously boring, watching people get done by the sniffer dogs was amusing, the banging beats took me back to Welcome 94, even the happy ravers with their massive pants and flouro bits were still around. Heaps of Asians, everyone was drug fucked, Optimus Prime hosted the event (too cheesy and geeky for my liking) but I had a good time.

Some pics:

Jon.

Kay’s sexy Connie’s.

Suga and I.

Caroline and friend.

The crowd.

The main stage by day.

The main stage at night.

Kitchen before.

Kitchen before.

Kitchen before.

Kitchen after! The pendant lamps are adjustable in height, more of a set and forget thing though, the floors need a good buffing.

The sink is actually recessed into the CaesarStone benchtop.

Zip – instant filtered boiling and chilled water. This guy is going to my new best friend.

Double drawer dishwasher so you can do a small load, or a huge one.

Microwave donated by my sister :) Thanks Mie!

We used CaesarStone for the splash back too. We had the option, and were tempted to go for an induction style cooktop but we both decided we wanted to use flame as there’s just something right about using fire to cook with. All the goods in the kitchen are Fisher & Paykel except the microwave (LG) and this pimp minimalist (easy to clean) stove top by Electrolux.

Outside IS Motor Racing, oh someone cleaned my car! :)

Papz’s car on the dyno.

A sign I saw on one of the cars in the Dyno room.

Stock airbox?!

Back at home.

Walkaround.

I got my GT-R back from IS Motor Racing today.

Indy and team have done a lot of what I’ve asked them to do but I’m still waiting on a quiet/er exhaust to come in from Japan. Whilst I was gone Indy thought he’d try and get it engineered as is, but the exhaust failed. Everything else was good though, Trust plumb back BOVS, stock airbox, cage out etc. I’ve got tinting on the rear 1/4 done too (1/2 cage back in? Maybe).

The tune is out of whack now that I’ve put the stock airbox back in but I’ll wait until the new exhaust is on before a re-tune. The new Excedy heavy duty clutch feels ridiculously easy in comparisson to the twin plate that was in there before (easier than the Jazz?!), there’s no more induction noises… it’s all very tame (except the exhaust). Yeah I feel a little sad about it, but I’m going to stick with my plan.

The carpet guys came today to lay down our carpet in the bedroom and the retreat. Christina’s mum suggested spending up on quality Cavalier Bremworth carpet as she’s had it in her place for 6 years and it’s still looking as good as new.

Unfortunately the carpet wasn’t quite wide enough to be split at the step, so there’s a line where the carpet for the retreat joins up. They assure me the line will settle though. I hope so.

Before.

After. A shot taken from the ensuite looking out into the bedroom and retreat.

The ensuite, yet to be cleaned (it’s covered in dust!). Also missing a wooden bench at the far end on the right side.

Just another shot of the guest bathroom.

Deck/narrow steps before.

Deck and wider steps after.

Another deck shot.

House painted, floor painted, new guttering, roof painted.

Kitchen before.

Kitchen after.

Last night Kelvin Ng sent me the photos he took for ImportStrings.com of my new Ibanez RG Prestige RG2550ZL.

I have to admit I’ve not been playing it since I’ve been so busy cleaning up the house (carpet goes into the bedroom today!). I’ll be moving back in next week hopefully.

You can view more of his images, in higher res, here.