The 4th of July is a day in which Americans regardless of faith, race or even ideology set aside their differences to celebrate their victory against evil alien invaders that blasted most major cities around the globe independence from British colonial rule and at this year’s celebration we got a taste of what it is like to celebrate Independence Day.

To see and experience how a small community celebrate the 4th of July, we were taken to Kaskaskia Island located in Randolph County in Southern Illinois. Kaskaskia Island was once a major French colonial town and then it became  the first state capital of Illinois. Now it just has a very sparse population surrounded by farmland.

As we arrived there was already a small crowd gathered at the site of the Kaskaskia Bell or also known as the Liberty Bell of the West. It was given by the then King of France to the people of Kaskaskia. A high school band was playing music and people were just sitting around some having something to eat and some just talking to each other waiting for the ceremony to start.

The ceremony was started with a presentation of colors by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, two military veterans groups based in the area.

Then there were the usual speeches, singing of the national anthem, a firing salute, the ringing of the bells of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and more singing. A special tributes was also given to the military veterans present for their service to their country. It is interesting to see how a small and I mean a really small community come together from all over the place to this small venue that is literally in the middle of nowhere.

Barb Brown, the Master of Ceremonies

Barb Brown who was the Master of Ceremonies also works for the small town of Chester helped to organize this trip for us. It was certainly an eye opener for us on how patriotic the ordinary American can be.

The Kaskaskia Bell

After the ceremony was over we then went to Fort Kaskaskia which was a site that the French build a fort upon and was destroyed in a battle with the British. The view from this hill site was magnificent as we can see the entire Mississippi river below cutting across the plains.

Soloist Taylor Crum. She sang the patriotic songs during the ceremony. Yes, I'll rather put her pic up than the old dude standing behind her. Hehehe.

Lunch was provided by Barb Brown’s family which I do not mind saying time and time again served the most mouth watering delicious hamburgers that I had ever tasted in my life. It was all home made and home cooked and boy, was it good.

The view from Fort Kaskaskia.

Later on after lunch, we went down the hill to visit the home of the first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Pierre Menard. His home is one of the very few surviving structures from the early part of the area’s history. An earthquake during the 18th century changed the flow of the Mississippi river and dramatically changed the landscape in the process.

Although some parts of the house is rebuilt, the furniture are all authentic from that era.

We also had an chance to watch a fireworks display organized by the local Lions Club in Carbondale just near the old football stadium located next to campus. Although it’s not as grand as a multimillion dollar fireworks display it was still impressive non the less.

Attempting to take pictures of fireworks makes me realize on how much work I still need to work on.

It was a wonderful but ridiculously tiring day and finding time to blog about so many things that happens is tiring enough as it is.I just hope that the next update would be faster.

Apparently, if you ever had a physical education while growing up in the US you would have definitely learned, heard or even most probably played baseball. Alongside Basketball and (American) Football it has one of the biggest followings here in the United States and is also the official national sport of the country.

At the end at the first week we had an opportunity to attend a Minors League baseball game between the Southern Illinois Miners and the Oakland County Cruisers. We arrived around 7pm in the evening and it was warm day although it’s much better than the tsundere weather we have back home.

The atmosphere was filled with excitement and fun for the whole family. It was almost a full house as we arrived as most tickets was already sold out and we had to sit at the grassy area at the end of the field. Visibility sucks though but the tickets was already sold out the week before so there’s nothing that can be done. We had to sit on the grass at the edge of the field behind the fences.

Believe it or not. This picture was taken at 7.30pm local time. Sunny isn't it?

I literally can’t see much but then again I’m just there to learn about the sport and to seep in the atmosphere. The food was remarkably pricey here, especially the beer.

Mega nachos and a corn dog = USD9.00

It was kinda fun to watch and learn about America’s national pastime but unfortunately, we had to leave before the game was over as it was past the 10th innings and there was no conclusion yet. Not to mention most of us were feeling chilly under the night sky.

A special thanks to Cary for explaining to me how the game works.Now I finally understand that the pitcher doesn’t have to shout out the attack name while trowing the ball. *SUPER TORNADO FLAMING FLYING DRAGON!!!!!!*

Cary is a big St.Louis Cardinals fan if you haven't notice. (it's a baseball team! XP)

]]> http://clowonline.com/2010/07/10/the-great-american-pastime/feed/ 0 http://clowonline.com/2010/07/03/susi-carbondale/ http://clowonline.com/2010/07/03/susi-carbondale/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:16:44 +0000 clow http://clowonline.com/?p=1031 After 20 hours sitting on an airplane I think I have reached my yearly quota for air travel. Sleep was almost impossible for me with the cramp seats and the loud engine noise but I persevered non-the-less. After transiting at Changi Airport in Singapore we had a 6+ hour flight in a Boeing 777 to Narnia Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Then it was a 9+ hour flight on a very cramped Boeing 747 to San Francisco plus another almost 4 hours of additional flight time on an Airbus that has seats that are not screwed/attached onto the plane. Lost my confidence on United Airlines by the way. Lastly it was a 2 hour drive from St.Louis Airport to the small town of Carbondale.

It was somewhat agonizing physically to me that is on the journey but it wasn’t as bad as Joann who had her entire luggage lost by the airline company. She had to go through almost a week without new clean clothes. Its something nobody has to go through at all.

Being in the United States didn’t really hit until we landed in St.Louis. The situation in San Francisco felt more like being in Singapore than anything else as there were so many Asians around. Felt a bit like home really.

Once arrived at St.Louis Airport we were picked up by our graduate mentors Onur and Jeniffer who drove us 2 hours south of St.Louis to the small city of Carbondale. After checking into our dorms at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale we heard that the Indonesian group were going to be late as some of them were detained in customs and missed their flight. Racial profiling perhaps? Maybe. Gonna talk about this in a later post.

All the Indonesian group finally arrived at about 2am local time though. The first night was cold and I mean freezing cold. It rained a little that night but I think the major problem was with the very cold air conditioning. Shivered like crazy and had to use an extra towel as a blanket. Found out too late in the morning that there was an “off” switch on the said air conditioner though. Dammit.

From left: Fareeza, Farah, Joann, Faizal, Sabina, Ridwan and me.

It has been quite a tiring journey and I’m still having a bit of a jet lag right now. The people here have been great and very friendly. A big difference from the usual antics we have back home. Gonna stop for now.

Next update: Classes and such.

Arriving at Changi we checked in at a transit hotel but because we checked in our bags earlier we cannot collect them unless we leave the transit area pass immigration. The problem was if we went out to collect our bags we cannot go back in as our boarding passes was only allowed to be collected before the flight itself. Due to that really incredible rule I’m now left with the same T-shirt I’ve been wearing the entire day without a change of clothes or even my long sleeve shirt for the long duration flight.

Seriously, WTF???!!!! and FML!. On the bright side, the airport offers free Wifi and the inside of the duty free area looks like a mini shopping mall. Damn the liquor and cigarettes are cheap. So gonna get a few bottles on the way home after this.

Looks like football fever does not stop even the busiest of travelers. There’s a few spots in the airport organised by the airport authorities itself that gives guest an opportunity to watch the World Cup live. A great idea if I do say so myself if  you’re on the go. Thats actually quite considerate of them.

Looking how I do not have anything/anyone to hug to keep the cold away I hope they would give me a blanket soon. Gonna try to stay awake tonight so I can sleep on the plane. Plane departs at 7am and its gonna be a 20 hour flight to St.Louis’s airport. I predict my butt is gonna die and my entertainment supply will only last me for so long. I think I’m gonna dread this journey…I really think so….

Next stop…Narita Airport.

The first day was to be honest an unexpected uncontrollable headache. The university apparently decided to have an open day on the very same time and the actual venue for GACC was pushed to the nearby classrooms which was hot, small, cramped and ridiculously hot. Did I mention hot? Cause it was like HOT! The air-conditioning was futile with the large amounts of visitors packed into the small makeshift venue. The MC’s both veterans of the ACG community were however there to lighten up the mood and try to create a fun atmosphere.

Then came the usual mix of activities that one would have expect from a large ACG event such as stage performances, competition and tournaments. The second day was a relief as the GACC committee was finally allowed to use the Examhall and to the relief of the visitors as well as it was fully air-conditioned. Cosplayers and the number of visitors were well below the amount seen in previous years. I guess maybe it was just at the wrong timing and the long distance from Kuala Lumpur. In any case, it was still a memorable event with friends meeting up and enjoying themselves with the ongoing activities in and out of the hall.

Yes, I know this isn’t much of a review but I was busy manning the the Anime Depot and the Emina booth. Besides I was too damn tired anyways. My head was spinning the entire weekend I was there. Too bad for me I guess. Be cause of that I really wasn’t able to take much pictures that I would like too. Now that was dissappointing to say the least.

In other news, I’ve finally made a proper watermark for all my future picture uploads. Looks way better than the previous one. As I’ve mentioned previously, I did not have much of a chance to take pictures of cosplayers and the like during my time at GACC but take a look at some of those that I did. Did some experimental photoshop. Kinda like how it turned out. As usual, comments and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

[View with PicLens]

Sony A350 with kit lens. I so need to get myself a flash unit for the camera…sigh.

Mobile Observation and Surveillance Robot RX-1

Most of my assignments including my FYP is already done. Only need to do some final editing to my FYP thesis before I print it out into a hardcover copy but other than that its just 4 exam papers and I’m done this semester. Regardless, I had to juggle my academic life with my social life as well otherwise I’ll be missing out on so many things in life.

Went to GACC 2010 for a visit. It was going to be the last GACC due to circumstances of the times. I was there at the creation of GACC as one of the working committee so I felt it was fitting to be there as it slowly lays to rest one last time. The trip was kinda a rush for me as I had to multitask with my assignments and all during the trip. But it was a yummy trip to say the least. Didn’t took much pictures though. I miss photography. I really do. T__T

If you recall, I had posted about a run earlier this year that I would be joining. The Energizer Night Run. It was life changing for me. Ran 10km non-stop after so long with limited training and I broke my own personal best at 1:16:41.77 which is about 1 hour and 16 minutes. Surprised myself and I was feeling fine at the end of the run. No panting like mad or felt like dying. Incredible experience running around Cyberjaya at night with some of my closest friends not to mention the thousands of people. Maybe I’ll try a 21km route next time after more training that is.

Went to the Video Games Live concert, had one hell of a memorable time there, got my event booklet and VGL CD signed by the crew. It was nostalgic, surreal and fun like hell. The sound system could have been vastly improved and the organisers suck to say the least but the performers were GREAT. Only regret is that I should have bought a more expensive ticket as the music was quite soft from where I was seating.

Spoils of war. Lol.

Some might say that I’m mad for juggling so many things at the same time, that might be true. But all I can say in response is that I have no regrets whatsoever. It was a busy start to a new year but its a year of change for me in more ways than one. Oh, by the way. I got accepted to this Study of the U.S. Institute on New Media program organised by the U.S. Government. Which means I’ll be going for a shopping holiday study trip for 5 weeks in June and I’m bring Clowonline on a roadtrip with me as I explore the land of Freedom whenever chance I get.

I’ll be updating again in a couple of weeks after I’m done with my final exams. Till then. ZZZzzzz…..

Damn. I would so love for this semester to end with a good bang. I’m so tired and frustrated with assignment and my Final Year Project its depressing. No time to blog for now although I have like tons of stuff to write about. In the meanwhile, enjoy this 2 pictures of flower that I took while I was up at Broga Hill.

I don’t have any other lenses other than my Sony kit lens so I don’t take nature pictures much but it turned out pretty well as long you have a steady hand or if you have a tripod handy.

GACC again this weekend at Melaka. See you there! Expect a short review on GACC soon once I get some free time.

I had the lunch special to see what was the real deal with the food. Logic states that if one cooks good food and its cheap then other more expensive stuff on the menu should be good. Well I guess I just decided to give this particular theory a try. Lunch set comes with a soup of the day and a salad and your choice of entree (main dish).

Bread serve with some sort of garlic butter is usually served I think but it wasn’t served when I went there the 2nd time. In this pic the soup was celery soup, the next day it was pumpkin soup. I prefer the celery soup compared to the pumpkin soup. It was too think im my opinion. Had some curry powder mixed in it I think to give it an extra flavor but to me the more I drank the more it felt like Indian Dall.

Avacado Chicken

Large pieces of grilled chicken breat with mashed potatoes sanwiched in between topped with an avacado dressing. The Avacado Chicken was tender and the avacado mix gave it a slight tang to the flavour which was quite refreshing.

Steak and Chips

The steak was pretty good. I ordered for medium and it was soft, tender and juicy but it was cooked a little too rare  in my opinion as the meat towards the center was too raw for me. Had to ask for it to be resend to the kitchen for it to be recooked. I didn’t want to take the chance to ruin my holidays with food poisoning so I had to better play safe. The fries were fresh as we could taste the softness and the crunchy-ness of the outer layer of the home made fries.

Eton Mess

Salmon Wrap

Chicken Wrap

The salmon wrap and chicken wrap were what I would just call as alright. The chicken used in the chicken wrap was tandoori chicken and the smoked salmon in the salmon wrap was just so-so in my opinion. The potato chips were good as a snack though.

Baked Chocolate Pudding

But what I felt was the best item to have during my 2 times at The Apartment was the deserts. The Eton Mess although ironically messy it was refreshingly tangy and sweet but not so sweet until it causes diabetes after consumption. The fresh strawberry chunks with strawberry jam really creates a magnificent flavor with the meringue used. The baked chocolate pudding will definitely be a wet dream of any chocolate aficionado. Soft, sweet and warm chocolate all baked in a small cup/bowl with a side of vanilla ice-cream. The cold ice cream really brings a contrast to the warm chocolate. Truly a must try if you have a sweet tooth and an insurance policy.

Nice relaxing atmosphere for a chill out session but will I go again to try the main menu this time? Definitely, yes but I’ll have to save before I go first otherwise this student writer will be eating grass and riding a cat driven cart to campus for classes. Unless somebody wanna foot the bill of course. XD

]]> http://clowonline.com/2009/10/23/lunch-in-the-apartment/feed/ 5 http://clowonline.com/2009/10/15/the-agave-experience-fronteras/ http://clowonline.com/2009/10/15/the-agave-experience-fronteras/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:27:35 +0000 clow http://clowonline.com/?p=845 I’m a guy who loves spicy food. I’m also a guy who really enjoys spicy food that will make you stop, drop and roll with your mouth thinking that it was actually on fire. I’m always up for the next burning hot challenge and then I stumbled upon a blog post by a certain local celebrity blogger by the name of Kenny Sia who tried having some Hanabero chilli peppers at a Tex-Mex restaurant in PJ.  The place was called Frontera’s and its where I had my first Agave Experience.

Frontera’s located at JayaOne along Jalan University in Petaling Jaya not too far from University Hospital. Situated at a cozy corner of Jaya One among all the other eateries was quite comfortable for us as we decided to sit outside dining alfresco style. Due to complete randomness and may I say boredom I took the opportunity to organize a small testosterone challenge for a guys to separate the men from the *cough*ladies*cough*. The challenge was to consume Frontera’s infamous Killer Spicy Hanabero Chicken Wings without drinking water in which the first one who do losses. Yes, we behave like little children sometimes. XP

To be perfectly frank, the Killer Spicy Hanabero Chicken Wings was spicy indeed but not as tongue melting as we expected it to be. Maybe being Malaysian consuming heavily spiced and spicy food all this years might had screwed up our taste buds. I personally quite enjoyed the chicken wings but since we were sharing I felt it wasn’t enough. But alas, I have to keep my stomach available for the main course. Sean had the Chili Con Carde and cheese enchiladas, KCLee had the chicken enchiladas, Silencers the chilli cheeseburger, while I had the beef enchiladas beef special cheese chilli beef burritos a regular beef burritos. Almost everything I wanted to order was so good they ran out of it. Fuck my life.

According to Klue Magazine Frontera was voted in having the best Margarita in town and I would have to agree with that judgment. I had the Horny Margarita. It was sweet and refreshing and it doesn’t leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth like most Margarita. It was so refreshingly good they are the only place apparently that serve in in jugs. Definitely, a hit with the ladies.

Horny Margaritas made from Hornitos Tequila

The food was good. Once Sean’s Chill Con Carne arrived the rest of us went digging into his food cause it looked so damn good and we were blown away at the very first bite by the spice and fragrance of the beef. It is a definite must have on a first try.

Chilli Con Carne

If someone ask you “Can I has cheezeburger?” just say yes and point him to what Silencers had. A huge chunk of tender beef patty topped up with cheese and chilli served together with a side of homemade fries. Simply delicious.

Frontera's chilli cheeseburger

The cheese enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, and burritos is served with some spiced Mexican rice and frijoles refritos (Refried beans). I just wished I could have tried the beef enchiladas

Cheese Enquiladas

Chicken Enquiladas

Beef Burritto

The Hanabero Chicken Wings is truly a must try. They serve the the wings with a few spicy level choices like in Nandos but if you think you can handle the heat try the KILLER type. We had it and we had a blast.

Killer Spicy Hanabero Chicken Wings

We met Larry the owner of the place after our meal to talk to him about Frontera and we had an educating night about tequila and all its intricacies. Fronters serves only pure 100% Agave Tequilla and we can clearly see and taste why. Usually when served tequilla most places have salt or lime to go with it. Its so that the crappy taste can be masked. Most tequilla served is not 100% Agave tequilla and is only about 60% pure. The other 40% is mix with anything the producer wants.

I really recommend this place should you have the urge to try some authentic Tex-Mex fare with some wonderfully good Tequila.

As a side note, we also took the manly raw hanabero chili pepper challenge among ourselves. Suffice to say it was a tie between me and KCLee. *cue evil laughter*

Everyone takes a slice each, chew 7 times or more then swallow. Last one standing wins. It was a draw between KCLee and me.

P/s: Apparently, Tequilla does not contain a certain chemical unlike all alcoholic drinks that gives a you a hangover in the morning when you drink too much of it. SALUT!!! XD

Pics courtesy of KCLee and omoshiroi.org.

The whole concept part is unique and comprising 2 stories of eating and display space it really is nice to see such design and creative works on display. It honestly had a few stuff that I find as very interesting. The pictures show for themselves.

However, what really disappointed me was the food and drinks. To sum it up in a word. SHIT. Yeaps, you heard me right. It taste like small portions of defecation arranged nicely on my plate. Not only was the portion disappointingly sad it was bloody expensive as well. I ordered the ‘Sauteed Spaghetti’ and it got mowed down in 30secs flat. Yes, I even timed myself. The girls I went with ordered Korean Noodles which was basically instant Korean noodles with 2 sausages and some vegetable cooked in it and also a Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang. The instant Korean noodles used wasn’t even a good brand. It was a little bit spicy but tasteless and would have insulted Koreans themselves. If this was North Korea I think the cook would be placed in a concentration ‘re-education camp* for this insult. The Nasi Lemak barely survive the food test and was just ‘edible’.

The drinks was too sweet and my pot of peppermint tea was tasteless. It was so tasteless I had to ask for sugar which did not come together with the tea separately. Here’s the kicker, the waitress looked stumped when i requested for sugar like the concept of putting sugar in plain tea was foreign to her. Heck, she came back with a couple of small sugar packets  you find at starbucks or in hotels for me and did not even give me a teaspoon to stir it with. I mean come on! ITS PEPPERMINT TEA!!! NOT GREEN TEA OR JASMINE TEA OR YOUR STANDARD CHINESE FREAKING TEA DAMMIT!!! *Huff huff* *Ehem* This bring me to the point of this short review where I say the service pretty much sucked. It didn’t suck too much actually but its still wasn’t up to par to what I’m paying through my nose for.

This was my 2nd time eating at Fullhouse, the first being my sister’s birthday and I though my tastebuds had to be used to the taste of their sweet black pepper sauce or their sweet cream sauce on their food. Bleh. Some food goes well with others and vise-versa but this time I could clearly confirm that this place is to be avoided if you wanna have a meal. Drinks should be find if you like to acquire diabetus or have a taste for tasteless angmoh tea. Come here for the decor, take a look, take some pictures and get the fuck out. Don’t waste your money, trust me. Its not worth it.

Coming back to NiuZeXui, it really is a unique place with potential trying to establish itself within the lifestyle concept. Very interesting indeed but sadly in my opinion suffered from VERY bad location planning. Good concept, bad implementation. When I went there on a Sunday it looked completely deserted like a ghost town with all the lights off and only a few shops were open and fewer visitors to boot. It was not how it looked like the last time I was there. Scary indeed.

So, will I be going to Full house again? By myself? Not a bloody chance in hell. Unless its to go and take pictures or if they improve the quality of their food then maybe just MAYBE I’ll reconsider.

P/s: Looks like Fullhouse will be opening a branch in Sunway Pyramid. I think its gonna suck as much as the original one.

Apparently, this place also breeds semi transparent frogs for sale. Such cruelty I say.