Tango's Blog

It was a saturday morning a week before my trip to my old school's singing competition. My friend living next door and my house mate, arranged that day to help me tighten my car's loose handbrake. It was never meant to be a 3-men job, in fact, I can do it all by myself if I wanted to but as I don't have any tools, I borrowed theirs and themselves along. They have a lot more mechanical experience than I have, and it didn't take long for the handbrake to be tightened. Because it was a free saturday my friend suggested we should take the car to an open ground where the handbrake could be stretched to the limit. My house mate jumped in to the hot seat straight away before I could, but I didn't mind at all since he was insured on it as well.

The "testing gorund" wasn't far at all and soon we reached a path that leads to it. It was very rough at first and we travelled very slowly but then we saw it started to smoothen up and my other friend sitting at the back seat said, "Floor it!" My house mate stepped his foot to the floor and the car rocketed. I always feel skeptical about his driving as he may had some sort of racing experience but he always drive like Essex people on the road. He revved the car high up through 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and for some reason he decided to swerve to the right onto some grass, then left again back on to the road. But rather than staying on the road it carried on sliding to the left towards some rocks and crashed towards it. Then the next thing I knew was that it went over the rocks and stopped. The seat held me very tight and dust was surrounding outside the car.

When I was looking for my first car, I never expected it to be anything but a tool for getting me from A to B. I set my eyes on a Renault Clio and a Ford Fiesta when I went to Gloucester. Both had the same spec, both didn't cost a lot and neither was the insureance. All cheap and cheerful, but when I saw a sudden £300 drop on the Clio on decision day I went straight for it. There were couple of faults on it like the glove box only had 1 hinge on one side, the window scroll the passenger side fell apart and the handbrake was far too loose etc etc. but I knew I would love it because it was my first car. After spending 2 months of driving, I did. The joy of freedom going wherever you want, putting you shopping in the boot rather than your back pack and finally going somewhere far away for the weekend without taking a coach or anymeans of transport (like going back to my old school). I didn't expect it to be the car of my life but hoping it would last as long as I needed it.

And now here I am being forced to imagine what the fate would be like once I stepped outside of the car. The driver's side wouldn't open at all so I had to be the first one to get out and this is what I saw:

 

The car may not look too damaged but after close inspection the chassis was twisted, the radiator broke cause by the impact and gearbox casing fell apart etc simply un-repairable. My mate who crashed it got really upset and said he will buy me  new car. I wasn't angry at all because I just think there's no point being so and these things will happen, so be thankful that no lives were invovled. Still, I was very upset about it since I only had it for 2 months...

I have applied for an extra job in the beginning of the summer so that I could make good use of my extra amount of free time. The job I applied to is some kind of security/stewart position needed in semi-big events. I applied without expecting to be accepted and so I thought as I didn’t hear from them for most of the summer, but obviously I was wrong when I received their text about going to Leeds at the end of it. I have never been to any festivals like Leeds or Glastonbury before, therefore I looked forward on this trip more than I intended.

My first impression is that it’s just like other concert you will see live but this time it’s outdoor and combined with other funfair that you can enjoy in one place. Of course I do know that the whole point of being in this place is to see people’s favourite bands and all sort of things what the fans do, dance around, throwing beer, blew-up jonnies around and simply go crazy and get thrashed. But what more I got to realise is that there are much more drama and moments that makes this festival so memorable. From time to time I inevitably spotted someone with some head-turning costume…i.e. a topless guy wearing g-string under his jeans and a fat bloke wearing a mask, vest and a skimpy pant or someone else just took her top off to show her boobs off. A girl relieving her bladder by the main stage which was a mesmerising sight for many. Also people like to bring all sorts of stuff such as sex dolls and stuff with “sex telephone numbers” written on it to hold on top of them for the live camera to broadcast. It’s quite a laugh when you look at the screen and see them co-ordinating the doll’s head to such a position that it looks like it’s having an excitement with the singer’s...

 

Of course that was only about the festival itself but what about the job, which I was mainly here for? At first I was thinking it is going to be very tiring and boring as I would have to stay in a position all day (11hours to be precise). And there wouldn’t be highlights of the day unless there are some good bands around. I was wrong. The bands do help making a better day but confronting people does also bring things a little bit more alive.

 

My job did vary from being helping and caring to being extremely strict, but being helpful wasn't that interesting so I'll just mention the strict and harsh bits. There were 2 portable loos by the sound mix(Silver tower in the picture) there are there for working crews but many others simply cannot be bothered to walk a little bit further and decided to confront me and trying to get to those toilets by all means. Of course, me alone wasn't able to defend all of them so some did manage to divert my attention and help themselves. But some, was never lucky enough as I pulled the door wide open just before he or she could lock it, and did the cheeky had gesture to tell them to go away.

 

Also you know usually people love to smuggle drinks into stage and throwing them around? This is one of the things that I had to look out for.

A girl dropped her can of un-opened Strongbow in front of me, I seized it, because cans are banned from the arena. She pleaded me to have it back, but I said, “No”. I didn’t spill it in front of her like other officers but I should have done.

 

 

They don’t sound much but it’s priceless when you see their gutted faces. My friends described me as a tyrant but after all those school years where people generally treated me like a joke, it definitely feels…satisfying. This is probably why I fell in love with this job.

 

I was posted to the “pits” (the black fences in the picture) most of the time. Those pits are there to restrict the number of people near the stage so that they won’t get squashed by themselves. However this means people had to walk round it between band changes. Some simply had too little patience to do just that and climb over it, which I had to deal with.

 

It may be an instinct of my police dream since childhood. I get very sensitive to violators.  As soon as I spotted someone climbing over, I started running like mad before they could get away. Just like when I first spotted 2 teenagers climbing the 1^st fence (they were about 30m away from me), I started running towards them. By the time I got to them, one of them started his way to the second one. I grabbed him back down and his mate as well, and I held them till my colleagues came running down, helping me out taking them away. People who saw the whole thing cheered me and say all sorts of things like “Yea, Felix” (They knew my name because it was labelled in my uniform.), “Felix, quick as a cat!”. Some girls started flirting with me so on and on. After that every time I walked pass them, they call my name, trying to “hi five” me etc. Even my colleague hi-fived me for what I did. One of my colleagues did ask in amusement, “Did you catch 2 guys by yourself?”

 

At this point I won’t blame you accusing me bragging myself, in fact, I did question myself, “Was it really that amazing? I was only doing what I was told.”

 

The other one was a big bloke who was trying to do the same thing. I might have spotted him late and by the time I got to him, he was well on his way over the 2^nd fence. An instinct made me jumped up and wrapped my hand round his neck (like a high tackle in rugby) and grabbed him back down. I thought that was it, and he would give up and walk back along the pit and join the crowd. He seemed to be very determined, because even though I grabbed him down, he just turned his head, looked at me and then had another go climbing over it still with my hand wrapped round his neck. He just took me with him, literally! Of course I was also very determined not to let him go, so I pressed both my feet against the fence just to add more weight on him. He was very strong. I didn’t think I could pull him back down again but luckily my colleagues helped me out again and took him away. When I got back to my position, there were 3 teenagers looking at me and said, “Wow, can you teach me that move?”

A bloke behind me was starring at me as well looking stunned (probably saw the whole action).

“Are you alright?” I asked in a very chilled tone even I was still full of adrenaline.

“Yea” he said, turned away, still looking stunned. Then he turned back to me and ask, “Mate, are you a Ninja?”

 

It has been a very long time since anyone had complimented my pace of running because after all those rugby years in school I knew I was crap. But after that day, may be I’m not totally rubbish after all. My legs are still up for the job. Buffed up from cycling during the summer perhaps?

 

Of course there are down sides about this trip as well because although I go to the festival and get paid at the same time, I had to stand there most of the time and the pain I had in my ankles was excruciating. Yes, I did walk for 50 miles before, but standing still for 11 hours is completely different story. The amount of break I had was very little. I only had 20 mins per day to have a packed lunch and is portion was far from satisfying. Those who know me would know how much I could eat every meal and could probably picture how much torture I had.

 

It was an amazing adventure and as I said, I love this kind of job. Why? I’ve already told you.

 

There was 1 amusing incident that I didn’t know until I read the news later on. It was a girl who managed to get stuck in the toilet as she tried to retrieve her hand bag that she accidentally flushed. And if you search “leeds festival poo girl” you will find lots of links about it.

 

It has been at least a month since I last blog, because I have just moved house with my mates for the 2nd year and we had to set things up for the house including TVs and internet. I suppose it doesn't take a month to setup the internet but because one of my housemate, who was "assigned" for the job, has given the provider the wrong address for the house. I had to wait for another 2 weeks before I could access internet by my bed again. And I had to blog this from the university's library where the only place I could get internet. There are a lot of things happened before now but I'll try to blog it when I can.

It's funny, when I was really small and didn't even have a phone yet I always played Snake on my Dad's Nokia. From then I fell in love with Nokia. Even when my Dad bought my first phone, I chose a Nokia (2100). I thought I was going to stick to Nokia forever but after 2 years when I was tired of my monophonic ringtone and '8 bit" screen I started to look for another one, but at that time Nokia were releasing a lot of weird phones that I hated. Plus when I saw more and more of my friends having Sharp flip-phones. I started laying my eyes on Sharp's flip-phones instead, as seeing there are less "key lock" hassles on flip-phones. As a result I bought a Sharp GX25.

I was going to buy a Ferrari Version of it but I was too late. So, bizzarely, I sprayed my normal GX25 in Ferrari Red with Carbon Fibre vinyl on it instead. But after another 2 years I found myself looking a better phone after getting tired of my 0.3 Megapixel camera phone. I aquired myself a Sharp V903, a phones that I drooled for a long long time. It has and optical Zoom camera lens which no phones offer nowadays, much better picture quality than my GX25, so well that they look good on my desktop wallpaper. I thought I was going to stick to this phone forever. But, coincidentally, another 2 years later I suddenly found myself buying a new one. The reason behind is not I want more and more features on my phone. It's I find my phones are getting bigger and bigger and I'm getting a bit fed up with it's size takeing up my pocket. In another words, I just wanted a smaller phone, doesn't have to be better but may be with just as much quality features.

This made me set my eyes on the Sony Erricson C510, it is small and still have the same pixel size of camera which is perfect for me. What's better is that it has much more handset memory than my last one 100MB not 18MB. Quality speakers and so on. In the end I traded my V903 for it.

So what's my verdict?

Camera: The camera is just as well as the old one. check these two:

Both taken from similar whether and both cars are black. The one on the left is from the new phone. Difference? not at all.

It may have a lot more features and steeing for me to fiddle, but, as I use it for capturing exotic cars drving past, I stick to "Auto" because I cannot adjust settings in milli-seconds. In the end the quality of images are just as well as long as you keep the "auto" setting active. I do find the difference in videography though, and it is much better. The V903 would stop filming after 11 seconds because the 18MB internal would take further. Also the resolutions for it is much higher. But what I am pleased about is that I can turn the shutter sound off. Phew!

Usage: I have to say my pocket feels less bulky than before.  When I used the GX25 it has to copy contacts from sim, for some very bizzare reason, before you can access the numbers. The V903 didn't, which I like, but the C510 did. I thought it would piss me off alot but it has the option of synchronising contant details on both sides, so I don't have to keep updating them now and then by myself.

Application: It has the shortcut feature which I find useful, I used to remember my hot keys for getting the calculator but now it's just a button away. There is a thing called TrackID which can search music names by the sound you record. In another words, if you go somewhere, say a restuarant, found a music you recognise but not sure of the name you can just record it and it will find the name for you. I tried it and it's swift.

Some of you may already know, I have a few phone numbers from different networks. So how much hair did I pull out before making my decision? None, I thought I would ask people to unlock it for me which ever I choose but it appears that there are no network locks on my phone. Thanks Carphone Warehouse.

When I still had my Compaq, which only has 30GB hard drive(yes 30GB 6 years back), I always had the habit of backing up and shifting important files to my external hard drive as it gets filled every now and then. With my current 320GB laptop I became very lazy of doing so since it never gets filled therefore I have much less motivation of "right, let's do some backing up today.", well you get the picture.

So,when my computer was getting faulty, you would expect that I started getting myself busy backing up before I sent it off for repair. No, I did not because it was only the fan that went rattling which I don't think how I will lose all my data when all the technicians need to do is just replace the fan. But it turns out to be a bit more complicated than that. Because of acedemic stuff, I had to keep using my computer with the faulty fan. So when I eventually sent it off for repair the CPU and hard drive are already damaged and had to be replaced. So when I got my computer back, I got busy figuring out what I have lost and what are backed up in my external hard drive.

The good thing is the guys in Asus recovered everything from my 2nd partition, which are my precious videos and TV programmes I gathered over the years, I've got a lot of pictures and videos (including the video where Toby Francis jumped into the pond in the quad for some reason)back in my external HD and photobucket and other bits and bobs. The bad thing is that I have lost all my game saves so GTA-IVs 100% completion is gone, GRID's progress is gone. Other than that I've also lost some other personal data, University work  and my diary which recorded all the memories all the way back when I was in 5th form. Luckily it was backed up before but not recent enough to retain my 1st Year University memories. I've also lost my Office 2007 as well but I'm not concerned because it is so terrible that I will move back to 2003 anyway.

In the end, I'm glad to have it back, I don't think I will cry about and recover what I've lost because I don't feel gutted at all. It feels like there's something inside telling me "Forget it, there are more things to worry in life. If there are something I meant to be missed, I will realise and try to find it by then."

As I said before, I won't go home this summer partly because my parents will save some money on flight but mainly I can work here which I get a better pay. Of course Halls in University can't keep me in one place all summer which means that I need to move to another hall for the summer. It doesn't sound much of a big deal, but it is.
This reminds me that I have completely forgotten to tell you about what my room was like when I was still in there, so just before I left. I took some photos.

As you can see it's pretty big and I actually loved it. Yes it looked like it is made of cardboard but it was so roomy that I didn't bother to complain. The view you get may not have a bayside view but just the university itself instead, but as you see people come and go I felt I had life. Just before I went I have also found something in a place that I never looked.

So those booze had been there for 2 years! Anyway when I moved to another hall, it seems like that, I've moved back into Tower House.

In all respect this room's layout is just like the one I had when I was in U6th. A simple bed, desk and a cupboard.
As far as the corridor is concerned it looks like I'm in gate because it is so narrow that I can't even strtech my arms.

The "Towerness" continues as you look as you find that the shower and toilet are located in separate chamber just like the ones in the U6th corridor. The only thing that start to differ from it is the kitchen because it is so big that you can possibly have a party in, but the most important thing is that there is a stove that allows me to cook. So now I can actually cook some healthy meals!

So will I survive here for the summer? I don't know but since I now have a bunch of books that I meant to finish years ago, a bicycle to ride to town to and Sims 3 to keep me accompanied I don't think I will go mad that soon.

It's been along time since my last post due to the fact that I had exams to prepare, but they are now over so hopefully I can now post slightly bit more often.

So how were my exams? They were ok, there is only 1 module where I found it rediculously hard, but neither has half of the people in the course, other than that everything went well but I will have to wait and see when the results come up. Either way I have to admit I have never felt so depressed before, and the day before I had my first exam my head literally turned solid as I could not take any more in because as I soon as I looked at my revision notes and questions, the pain in my head became unbearable.

Anyway they are now out of the way so what I am going to do now is work very very very hard at my part-time job over the summer and earn some money!

Basically within one of my module, I'm required to make a clamp which worth some marks for the module. People had been saying it is very boring. And indeed it was worse than what I expected.

Listening to the supervisor, who is about 70 years-old, talking about how the machine work and safety stuff on a Friday morning is worse than sitting in chapel and listen to the preacher talk for half an hour, but I have to stand instead. I thought this would be the only draw back of the whole experience because I thought I already have gained enough skill from my previous DT experience and can simply get on without any trouble, but no. As soon as I saw an engineered drawing like this, I knew it was going to be burning in hell...

As you can see it's a product involving lots of steel chopping, drilling and welding. Other than that using a lathe, chamfering edges, and you might ask how hard can it be since I did DT? The trouble is, although this clamp is mostly steel, all you need to do is use a jig, drill some holes, weld a bit and the rest is done by CNC by a qualified person. The most of what I do in this is using a lathe, which is something I never used in Dean Close. Everthing were so unfamiliar that I had to keep seeking for help such as how to drill or trim such and such so that I can keep the dimensions close if not spot on. Dimension is also a pain in the arse to monitor since the measuring aid in the controls are so narrow you have keep counting the number (of cycles) on top of your head to make sure you are drilling the right dimension. Although I can get help from two supervisors, they are very good at helping those who are ahead and simply let people who are stuck, stand there and fall behind in misery. Now I must confess that when I was in Dean Close I should have done something else that involves lathing rather than making that stupid box...

Although it is very hard work and the boredom is extremely unbearable I have to say I felt it very rewarding once I finished it, just as much as I finished my Duke of Edinburgh. but unlike D of E I don't want to do that again!

It has been a while since I blog again because of too many things to settle like 2 courseworks that everyone is stuck on etc. So to blog everything from last time I should start from the day I arrive in Heathrow T5(Yes, I travelled with British Airways, but I didn't lose any luggage, OK? But I have to say the food and entertainment is worse than Cathay pacific in comparision).

Firstly when I first arrive, I suddenly find myself in the 21st century with modern architecture so it's a good thing. the second thing that caught my eye was the underground system which gets you from one side of T5 to another quickly, it is automated with no pilot inside. which is very impressive but honestly, Hong Kong had that ages ago. I was going to observe abit more about terminal itself but I was running late to catch my coach so as soon as I got my belongings I was gunning for the exit to where the coaches are, right at the first step on the exit. Very convenient and just before I looked round I found that I was in Thailand where the whole station is straight, there are no bends and traffic bypassing behind you. Everything is neat an tidy. I was going to admire more but just before I can do that, I spotted my coach is already boarding so I had to get on board and leave. Shame really, i could have explored more but now I think I have to wait till next Christmas, because that is the next time I go back(becaise I had to work hard to get a car :). So that concludes my 'adventure' in heathrow T5.

As I have mentioned I had a lot of things to worry about as soon as I get back especially coursework, (at this point I must confess that Excel 2007 is completely useless in so many aspects I had to switch back to 2003 so I can carry on without frustration like producing a decent graph which 2007 cannot manage, ever). Therefore I didn't get to have time to write anything interesting. Now I have. First thing, my job and food. As I said the place I work is a westernised chinese restuarant (chinese food but taylored to suit western people). If you have been to chinese take away often enough you should discover there is an irony that chinese take away would do chips. My place didn't do that but now, when they decided to change menu, they thought they should intoduce some chips...WTF? Why would you rather have chips in Chinese than in mcdonalds? Even though it's westernised like I said you can't have western food. Good business? I think people lost their sense of direction between east and west.

Next thing. Computer, as you might have noticed on Facebook, my status was something like 'Oh, Shut up.' The reason for that is my computer suddenly rattling like mad one day (I am not sure what happened because if I did, it meant that I would have taken stickers out to satisfy my curiosity and lose my warranty). My guess is that the fan has gone loose for some reason. Although it sounds minor but this rattling drives me mad and since I cannot take it apart I had to send it away which even drives me insane. Asus gave me a UPS sticker so I can package it. However this UPS centre is located in an industrial estate called Milton park in Abingdon (not right inside but somewhere round it, so I didn't see Mr. Stokes I'm sorry).

This privately owned estate means that there is no road names so google map and multimap can't find it precisely, (Try search 95 Milton park industrail estate) without saying Abingdon you go all the way to Dundee! OX4 7RZ didn't work because they give up on that. but the good thing is Google searches close around milton park, and with help of clever thinking searching this estate it came out with a firm who let properties and it shows up with a map showing where 95 is, phew! Google even shows up what bus to take so everything went sweet and gravy. Dispite the fact that on my way there a kid threw up in the bus so half the journey smells of Mcdonalds.

One of my friends found the opportunity to mock this thing is an Acer. Really? No, because if it was, it would be in pieces by now.

 

Every year, my mum's side of the family will gather up at the nearest weekend and have a Barbeque. My parents didn't go, which I am not suprised about(but that is not a topic I want to go deep down into). This year's BBQ took place at my Uncle's(mum's little sister's husband),as ever, but since it's only me and my brother were going, I decided to ask my another uncle's car (My dad's little brother) to drive all the way there. (*That's one of the downside of English, there are no particular calling for specific relatives, whereas Chinese has and makes life so much easier!) My Uncle, where the BBQ took place is quite the other side of HK but that's only about an hour's drive which is an equivalent of Cheltenham to Swindon without Motorways(in distance, and the Geography of HK stretches that 40mins average up to an hour). This is the car I drove:

 

It's Automatic (my aunt's wimpy car that has been suped up my my Uncle without being converted to Manual yet)but the roads of HK is already the best recipe to get lost for a guy that had driven such a distance for the 1st time, so Auto is good. My Uncle's house is big in comparison in HK. although it's a size of average houses you see in estates, but's it's still cost an equivalent of a Mansion. Give you can idea. you have to atleast have a BMW X5 and a Porsche for it.

I also took an opportunity to try out GT5P for the 1st time as well, and god, is was sensational.

 

Still BBQ should be the main thing for this event.Unlike Westernised BBQ where the food is only burger and sausages, may be some vegetarian stuff as well(but the fact is, unless you are a monk, no one is vegetarian in China including HK and Macao as a whole), Hong Kong Style BBQ is a mixture of anything BBQ-able food. So you can see Oyster in the picture along with steak and ribs. There are some King prawn as well at the bottom left corner. Things on the left is Fish Ball(beated Fish meat mixed with flour into a ball) with pepper. Chicken wings are also an unmissable dish in the BBQ menu. It's basically like Nandos but way more combos and choice.

Of course, BBQ mayhem is always a probable event in the programme and this time, rather than catching fire. My cousin, her (the word cousin doesn't tell you it's a boy or girl does it? Chinese ca be a bit specific than that!) boy friend was a bit of a Rookie in doing BBQ and the food he did was either too rare or too cooked like this corn (which has turned into a Grenade).

 

And by this time I would like to introduce you to some of my relatives:

They are both my cousin(obviously but I can call them differently and specifically in Chinese calling, so you will know which one is older) The one on the right is called Wallace and left is called Marcus.

 

And this is my uncle (my mum's sister's husband or can I say mum's brother in-law?)