Saturday, November 18, 2006
My Cruise Holiday - at last!
I'll let the video speak for itself about how much fun I've had on my cruise on the Costa Victoria.
Featured Music: Snow Patrol - Spitting Games
Friday, October 20, 2006
My Life just got a kick up the backside.
Lo peeps.
It's been a while... Nothing new there!
Loads of things have happened since the last time I posted a blog entry.
I got back to the temp job that I had last year. Injection plastic moulding at good ol' RW Simons. Worked there for 2 months instead of last years 5 days. Got to know the lads there a bit better. Did a lot more stuff there than just processing frame vents; Used mills, and lathes to do make caps of sorts, did drilling work to correct a few thousand frame vents that somehow got passed quality control undetected.
Ah well, my 8 hours shift went by reasonably swiftly after bringing my divx/xvid player. watched a few seasons of 24, scrubs and smallville whilst at work. Boss didn't care, just as long as I kept up with the product output, QC and paper work. No problem. There was one thing though... have a look.
That’s one of the few good things that have happened since, but they have been over-shadowed by a horrid incident which happened towards the end of September. I had a major traffic accident, and wrote off my car.
Was driving back home from work. At 5 minutes past midnight, I was less than 2 minutes away from home, I approach slight right handed corner (one that I had been going round night after night for the past 2 months), I go into the corner, the back of my car starts to scream, my car was oversteering, I reacted by countersteering... but I overcooked it.... the car went completely perpendicular to the road, I saw the left mud bank fly past and getting closer, BANG!!! I hit the wall hard and bounced off... BANG!!!! The rear of my car hit the mud bank on the other side. My glasses fell off. SCREEEETCH!!! What now...? I feel weightless..... (am I dying? FUCK OFF!!!!, I'm not done yet! I'm not leaving my friends and family.) THUD!!! SCRAAAAPE!!!! Oh shit, I rolled the car.. I see the sparks illuminating the passing tarmac inches from my face on the other side of the unbroken window as i looked to where gravity was pulling my head.
The car came to a stop; the only thing I can hear is a faint whine of something mechanical. The only thing I can see are the in-car console lights.
I better get out of here, fast, could oncoming traffic see my car round these corners? better switch on the hazard lights (thought they would've come on by now)... am I hurt? no.. don't think so, can i move my legs? yea... nothings acting up, arms? yep, they're fine... oh, how am I gonna get out of this car. It's lying on the drivers side, only way is up skyward.... What can I grab on to? what can i step on? Damn, this door's heavy... OH SHI-! THUD!, I lost grip of the door and it bumped me on the head. Lets try that again. Foot on the side of the chair, other foot in the glovebox, c'mon, a little higher! Nope, nothing sturdy enough for me to comfortably step on... fine, i'll get as high as i can, then snake out with the passenger door weight on my back. With some effort, I managed to get out of the car, no other traffic yet. I step away from my car.... i can't see nothing, my glasses are still in the car, headlights and hazard lights are all I can see in the darkness.
Time to call 999. Oh no... where's my phone?, please don't tell me I left it in the car.... nope, it's in my right pocket, thank god. 9, 9, 9, Call.
I opened my mouth, my voice was trembling, "Hello?", What service do you require?, "Errr... Police....and errr.. umm... Fire..b.b.brigade", Police and Fire Service.. confirming incoming phone call from 07xxx xxxxxx, Hello you're through to Police, Hello you're through to Fire & Rescue, "M...m.m.my name is Ka-Tai Lau, Kilo, Alpha, Hyphen, Tango, Alpha, Indigo, Surname is Lau, Lemur, Alpha, uh... Uniform (my brain was racing), I have just been involved in a major traffic accident just outside of Holsworthy Town, I have flipped my car onto its side and it's blocking traffic both ways.", Are you hurt? Is there anyone else involved? Is everyone out of the car?, "No-one else is involved, It is just myself", Okay, Where are you?, "I am...... (oh shit, what's this a-road called?? where the hell am i? some drivers have arrived, I ran to them and asked) I am on the Holsworthy to Holsworthy Beacon road, Half mile from Holsworthy Industrial Estate", Police and fire crews have been dispatched, they'll be there within half an hour. You may hang up now.
3 cars and a lorry turned up and stopped. The people approach me and ask if i'm okay. I looked at myself with the light from their cars, nothing hurts, I think I'm okay, I inspect myself by pressing and rubbing various parts of my body, something felt tender behind my right shoulder. I couldn't see anything, but i felt something there.
"I'm a nurse, let me have a look... its just abrasion, probably from your seatbelt... nothing else hurt?" Nope.
I phoned home.... Parents went nuts (i blocked it out), they were on their way.
Next, I called the insurance to report the accident and arrange recovery. Mobiles battery died shortly after the call... bugger.
Blue strobe lights came from round the corner, the fire crew were the first to arrive, boof, on came the flood lights, then the silhouette of 5 firemen... "Geeze Kai! Could you park that car any better for us?!?!", I turn around and see the roof of my car, showing my reflection, I turn back, and see it was one of the tutors of the fire fighting course I had a few years back when I was part of the St John Ambulance division. "Yea, well, I tried!", I was given a head to toe inspection from one of the other firemen whilst in the fire engines cab. I was fine. Just a bit of shock.
Parents arrived. They kept relatively calm around everyone else. Mum was all over me, making sure her son was in one piece.
"Have you given a statement?" asks dad.... what? what do you mean give a statement?
"Have you given a statement?!" he asks a 2nd time.... what are you on about?
Dad just gives me a shitty look, and looks at my car whilst the fire crew was cleaning up the oil and debris.
"Excuse me, are you Mr... Ka...Tai Lou?", I turn around, it was a policeman. Yes, I am Ka-Tai Lau. "Please come with me sir". I was led to his ford focus estate panda car. Questioning began, then he gave me a lecture on safer driving, reminded me of speed limits, told me how unsafe this road is to drive fast on... etc.
"I can't prove that you was doing dangerous driving, so I won't give you any convictions... unless you want me to" My answer goes without saying. I did ask for one thing though, a piece of chewing gum, because my breath stank of the indian curry i had during my dinner break at the factory. He hands me a pack of chewing gum with 1 remaining, "it's all part of the service, dude".
I walk away, from the police car, the fire crew is still clearing up, parents just stood and watched. "Can I go home now?", yes, said the firemen, we're just here to entertain ourselves by watching the lone policeman clean up the mess :)
So, me and the parents got in the car, and went home... It was quiet for the rest of that night. Lights off at 4am for the parents.
My light stayed on. I couldn't sleep, I was replaying the whole event over and over and over again in my head. How? Why? I don't get it...
Something else dawned on me... Parents said they knew 'something' was going to happen well before the accident at 12:05am, but they don't know 'what'. Dad said he had random twitches in his eyes all day. Mum said she felt a pressure on her heart at about 11:30pm.
Anything out of the ordinary happen to me that day?... Yea, I nearly had an accident on the way to work, drove round a corner, a van was parked, facing the other way on my side of the road. No chance of stopping, so i used my ABS to steer around it, and carried on with my journey to work.
When I got to work, I was told that I had to go see the manager.. ok what have I done.. it became aparent that my services weren't needed anymore because there wasn't a demand for the product i was working. It was my last week at work... Great... I was already pissed off with something at home to do with the poor Mercedes Benz service my dad was getting.
What else..... my phone battery died, but i didn't have my phone charger, so i left my phone plugged into the cars phone charger, problem is that the keys have to be in the ignition in order for the cigarette socket to work. so i placed my car within view of my factorys workstation, and put a cloth over the steering wheel/ignition to hide the keys.
I charged the phone for just over an hour, constantly checking on my car.
The place where I parked my car, i never normally park. When the sun had set and the outside factory flood lights came on, my car looked ‘alive’ with its headlights that appeared to glow every time I went out to check.
Work went on as usual then I packed up and went home as usual.
The morning came, I never left... I had paperwork to do, and people to phone.
The following weeks were full of heavy drinking till I slept, watching mind numbing TV, listening to depressing chillout albums, getting moody with concerned parents/friends. It was a very shit phase. I wanted out.
To this day as I write this blog entry, I still haven’t got a replacement car, the insurance money or a job. I just have a lot of time sitting in front of this PC, downloading/watching anime, new season of Smallville, chatting to people. Just being house bound. It’s crap. But it can’t get worse.
Oh, if you don’t want to see the result of overcorrecting oversteer of a Peugeot 307, look away now.
RIP Terri.
I’m still alive. And I haven’t quite given up. Catcha l8r peeps.
It's been a while... Nothing new there!
Loads of things have happened since the last time I posted a blog entry.
I got back to the temp job that I had last year. Injection plastic moulding at good ol' RW Simons. Worked there for 2 months instead of last years 5 days. Got to know the lads there a bit better. Did a lot more stuff there than just processing frame vents; Used mills, and lathes to do make caps of sorts, did drilling work to correct a few thousand frame vents that somehow got passed quality control undetected.
Ah well, my 8 hours shift went by reasonably swiftly after bringing my divx/xvid player. watched a few seasons of 24, scrubs and smallville whilst at work. Boss didn't care, just as long as I kept up with the product output, QC and paper work. No problem. There was one thing though... have a look.
That’s one of the few good things that have happened since, but they have been over-shadowed by a horrid incident which happened towards the end of September. I had a major traffic accident, and wrote off my car.
Was driving back home from work. At 5 minutes past midnight, I was less than 2 minutes away from home, I approach slight right handed corner (one that I had been going round night after night for the past 2 months), I go into the corner, the back of my car starts to scream, my car was oversteering, I reacted by countersteering... but I overcooked it.... the car went completely perpendicular to the road, I saw the left mud bank fly past and getting closer, BANG!!! I hit the wall hard and bounced off... BANG!!!! The rear of my car hit the mud bank on the other side. My glasses fell off. SCREEEETCH!!! What now...? I feel weightless..... (am I dying? FUCK OFF!!!!, I'm not done yet! I'm not leaving my friends and family.) THUD!!! SCRAAAAPE!!!! Oh shit, I rolled the car.. I see the sparks illuminating the passing tarmac inches from my face on the other side of the unbroken window as i looked to where gravity was pulling my head.
The car came to a stop; the only thing I can hear is a faint whine of something mechanical. The only thing I can see are the in-car console lights.
I better get out of here, fast, could oncoming traffic see my car round these corners? better switch on the hazard lights (thought they would've come on by now)... am I hurt? no.. don't think so, can i move my legs? yea... nothings acting up, arms? yep, they're fine... oh, how am I gonna get out of this car. It's lying on the drivers side, only way is up skyward.... What can I grab on to? what can i step on? Damn, this door's heavy... OH SHI-! THUD!, I lost grip of the door and it bumped me on the head. Lets try that again. Foot on the side of the chair, other foot in the glovebox, c'mon, a little higher! Nope, nothing sturdy enough for me to comfortably step on... fine, i'll get as high as i can, then snake out with the passenger door weight on my back. With some effort, I managed to get out of the car, no other traffic yet. I step away from my car.... i can't see nothing, my glasses are still in the car, headlights and hazard lights are all I can see in the darkness.
Time to call 999. Oh no... where's my phone?, please don't tell me I left it in the car.... nope, it's in my right pocket, thank god. 9, 9, 9, Call.
I opened my mouth, my voice was trembling, "Hello?", What service do you require?, "Errr... Police....and errr.. umm... Fire..b.b.brigade", Police and Fire Service.. confirming incoming phone call from 07xxx xxxxxx, Hello you're through to Police, Hello you're through to Fire & Rescue, "M...m.m.my name is Ka-Tai Lau, Kilo, Alpha, Hyphen, Tango, Alpha, Indigo, Surname is Lau, Lemur, Alpha, uh... Uniform (my brain was racing), I have just been involved in a major traffic accident just outside of Holsworthy Town, I have flipped my car onto its side and it's blocking traffic both ways.", Are you hurt? Is there anyone else involved? Is everyone out of the car?, "No-one else is involved, It is just myself", Okay, Where are you?, "I am...... (oh shit, what's this a-road called?? where the hell am i? some drivers have arrived, I ran to them and asked) I am on the Holsworthy to Holsworthy Beacon road, Half mile from Holsworthy Industrial Estate", Police and fire crews have been dispatched, they'll be there within half an hour. You may hang up now.
3 cars and a lorry turned up and stopped. The people approach me and ask if i'm okay. I looked at myself with the light from their cars, nothing hurts, I think I'm okay, I inspect myself by pressing and rubbing various parts of my body, something felt tender behind my right shoulder. I couldn't see anything, but i felt something there.
"I'm a nurse, let me have a look... its just abrasion, probably from your seatbelt... nothing else hurt?" Nope.
I phoned home.... Parents went nuts (i blocked it out), they were on their way.
Next, I called the insurance to report the accident and arrange recovery. Mobiles battery died shortly after the call... bugger.
Blue strobe lights came from round the corner, the fire crew were the first to arrive, boof, on came the flood lights, then the silhouette of 5 firemen... "Geeze Kai! Could you park that car any better for us?!?!", I turn around and see the roof of my car, showing my reflection, I turn back, and see it was one of the tutors of the fire fighting course I had a few years back when I was part of the St John Ambulance division. "Yea, well, I tried!", I was given a head to toe inspection from one of the other firemen whilst in the fire engines cab. I was fine. Just a bit of shock.
Parents arrived. They kept relatively calm around everyone else. Mum was all over me, making sure her son was in one piece.
"Have you given a statement?" asks dad.... what? what do you mean give a statement?
"Have you given a statement?!" he asks a 2nd time.... what are you on about?
Dad just gives me a shitty look, and looks at my car whilst the fire crew was cleaning up the oil and debris.
"Excuse me, are you Mr... Ka...Tai Lou?", I turn around, it was a policeman. Yes, I am Ka-Tai Lau. "Please come with me sir". I was led to his ford focus estate panda car. Questioning began, then he gave me a lecture on safer driving, reminded me of speed limits, told me how unsafe this road is to drive fast on... etc.
"I can't prove that you was doing dangerous driving, so I won't give you any convictions... unless you want me to" My answer goes without saying. I did ask for one thing though, a piece of chewing gum, because my breath stank of the indian curry i had during my dinner break at the factory. He hands me a pack of chewing gum with 1 remaining, "it's all part of the service, dude".
I walk away, from the police car, the fire crew is still clearing up, parents just stood and watched. "Can I go home now?", yes, said the firemen, we're just here to entertain ourselves by watching the lone policeman clean up the mess :)
So, me and the parents got in the car, and went home... It was quiet for the rest of that night. Lights off at 4am for the parents.
My light stayed on. I couldn't sleep, I was replaying the whole event over and over and over again in my head. How? Why? I don't get it...
Something else dawned on me... Parents said they knew 'something' was going to happen well before the accident at 12:05am, but they don't know 'what'. Dad said he had random twitches in his eyes all day. Mum said she felt a pressure on her heart at about 11:30pm.
Anything out of the ordinary happen to me that day?... Yea, I nearly had an accident on the way to work, drove round a corner, a van was parked, facing the other way on my side of the road. No chance of stopping, so i used my ABS to steer around it, and carried on with my journey to work.
When I got to work, I was told that I had to go see the manager.. ok what have I done.. it became aparent that my services weren't needed anymore because there wasn't a demand for the product i was working. It was my last week at work... Great... I was already pissed off with something at home to do with the poor Mercedes Benz service my dad was getting.
What else..... my phone battery died, but i didn't have my phone charger, so i left my phone plugged into the cars phone charger, problem is that the keys have to be in the ignition in order for the cigarette socket to work. so i placed my car within view of my factorys workstation, and put a cloth over the steering wheel/ignition to hide the keys.
I charged the phone for just over an hour, constantly checking on my car.
The place where I parked my car, i never normally park. When the sun had set and the outside factory flood lights came on, my car looked ‘alive’ with its headlights that appeared to glow every time I went out to check.
Work went on as usual then I packed up and went home as usual.
The morning came, I never left... I had paperwork to do, and people to phone.
The following weeks were full of heavy drinking till I slept, watching mind numbing TV, listening to depressing chillout albums, getting moody with concerned parents/friends. It was a very shit phase. I wanted out.
To this day as I write this blog entry, I still haven’t got a replacement car, the insurance money or a job. I just have a lot of time sitting in front of this PC, downloading/watching anime, new season of Smallville, chatting to people. Just being house bound. It’s crap. But it can’t get worse.
Oh, if you don’t want to see the result of overcorrecting oversteer of a Peugeot 307, look away now.
RIP Terri.
I’m still alive. And I haven’t quite given up. Catcha l8r peeps.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Post-graduation
OK, it has indeed been quite a while since I've done a large update summarising what's been going on since my last update.
So, what's been going on?
I've graduated on July 13th, the whole family went up to Swansea for the day to celebrate the event for me. Matt even came along and contributed.
The day started at 7am, left home before 8, got to Swansea just after 11, had lunch at 12pm in the Toby Carvery, then went over to the Brangwyn Hall to register, collected robes, took photo's (will show those at some point), sat down for the Congregation till about 4pm.
After that, spent a while on the steps outside the hall having some photos taken. Unfortunately, I missed the class photo thanks to my impatience. But I had my photo taken with Ollie Barrett (my best class mate), and Matt; so it's good enough.
The day in Swansea came to a close in a Thai restaurant (Thai Phoenix), not before we all went to Verdi's in mumbles for an ice-cream.
Good byes were exchanged, and I was on my way home. Graduation... Job done.
So, what's been going on?
I've graduated on July 13th, the whole family went up to Swansea for the day to celebrate the event for me. Matt even came along and contributed.
The day started at 7am, left home before 8, got to Swansea just after 11, had lunch at 12pm in the Toby Carvery, then went over to the Brangwyn Hall to register, collected robes, took photo's (will show those at some point), sat down for the Congregation till about 4pm.
After that, spent a while on the steps outside the hall having some photos taken. Unfortunately, I missed the class photo thanks to my impatience. But I had my photo taken with Ollie Barrett (my best class mate), and Matt; so it's good enough.
The day in Swansea came to a close in a Thai restaurant (Thai Phoenix), not before we all went to Verdi's in mumbles for an ice-cream.
Good byes were exchanged, and I was on my way home. Graduation... Job done.
Graduation!!!
Hurrah, I had my graduation ceremony yesterday.
Right, so I give the camcorder to my sister, guess how much of the ceremony she filmed?
5 minutes? 10 minutes? 1 minute?
Well, I'll tell ya... 7 seconds....
Watch the 7 seconds of probably the most important day of my life.
My 7 Second Graduation Vid
Next up, photos; this I trust my family to never fail to take.
I've made a small photo gallery of what's been taken on mum's camera, to view them, you need a flash plugin for your browser.
Graduation Photos
God... I've just noticed that I look like i'm trying to fake a smile in almost all the photos :S :P ah well...
Right, so I give the camcorder to my sister, guess how much of the ceremony she filmed?
5 minutes? 10 minutes? 1 minute?
Well, I'll tell ya... 7 seconds....
Watch the 7 seconds of probably the most important day of my life.
My 7 Second Graduation Vid
Next up, photos; this I trust my family to never fail to take.
I've made a small photo gallery of what's been taken on mum's camera, to view them, you need a flash plugin for your browser.
Graduation Photos
God... I've just noticed that I look like i'm trying to fake a smile in almost all the photos :S :P ah well...
Friday, May 12, 2006
Got an hour? Watch this...
from Loose Change 9-11
they bring you:
Loose Change : The Movie
One helluva documentary about 9/11. It might not be around for long though.
At the end of the video it states:
"Warning: Under the USA Patriot act, any person or persons found in possession of this information can be held under 'Domestic Terrorism' and detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay.
You are encouraged to distribute this DVD to friends, family and complete strangers before its too late to do so.
Any public performance, unauthorised copying or distribution via the Internet is STRONGLY encouraged."
they bring you:
Loose Change : The Movie
One helluva documentary about 9/11. It might not be around for long though.
At the end of the video it states:
"Warning: Under the USA Patriot act, any person or persons found in possession of this information can be held under 'Domestic Terrorism' and detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay.
You are encouraged to distribute this DVD to friends, family and complete strangers before its too late to do so.
Any public performance, unauthorised copying or distribution via the Internet is STRONGLY encouraged."
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Just so you know...
The Corridor film project has been put on hold.
Should've said much earlier, but I decided to drop Corridor as my major project, and pursue another route to gain my degree.
Ladys and Gents, i present to you...
Web-eMotion... in screen shot preview form.
Watch this space, and also for those of you that can, please attend this:
School of Digital Media Graduate Exhibition
I'll be there.
Should've said much earlier, but I decided to drop Corridor as my major project, and pursue another route to gain my degree.
Ladys and Gents, i present to you...
Web-eMotion... in screen shot preview form.
Watch this space, and also for those of you that can, please attend this:
School of Digital Media Graduate Exhibition
I'll be there.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
A Summary of my Monday 6th March Evening
I don't need to say much in this entry.
I'll just let you download this mp3 and listen to it.
Humanbreed - Tearing Me Apart
The tune really will summarise how i felt that evening.
What happened before Monday evening? Gigi came by Wales for just the weekend from Paris.
With Matt, I took her around Swansea, the Black mountains and Cardiff.
I honestly treasured and enjoyed every moment that I was with her.
Thank You very much Gigi.
I'll just let you download this mp3 and listen to it.
Humanbreed - Tearing Me Apart
The tune really will summarise how i felt that evening.
What happened before Monday evening? Gigi came by Wales for just the weekend from Paris.
With Matt, I took her around Swansea, the Black mountains and Cardiff.
I honestly treasured and enjoyed every moment that I was with her.
Thank You very much Gigi.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Domains!
Lo peeps,
Just to let you know, because of my Marketing and Presentation module,
I have convinced myself to purchase 2 domains to help me go forward in my degree.
KaiMedia - my online CV portfolio thingamy bob.
and
Corridor - my interactive media major project film home site.
Bookmark 'em and just keep an eye on them for updates.
l8rs.
Just to let you know, because of my Marketing and Presentation module,
I have convinced myself to purchase 2 domains to help me go forward in my degree.
KaiMedia - my online CV portfolio thingamy bob.
and
Corridor - my interactive media major project film home site.
Bookmark 'em and just keep an eye on them for updates.
l8rs.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
ffresh 2006
Go here for some of the ffresh goodness from my point of view.
Kai's ffresh 2006 photos
I think i'll let the website explain itself :)
But then again, you could also go to the official ffresh website.
I'm busy now, catcha l8rs.
Kai's ffresh 2006 photos
I think i'll let the website explain itself :)
But then again, you could also go to the official ffresh website.
I'm busy now, catcha l8rs.
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