djkr and friends take on Life

i love chips and six layer dip = refried beans, brown beans, onion sour cream, cheddar, guacamole and salsa.

six layer dip

pen for scale

mmm dip……

been rather lazy/bogged down with work over the last 1 week. gonna unleash a whole of pics in this post though.

in and out

being a singaporean in cali, i find it my morale obligation to hunt down the best eats here. here i present the traditional american dish, the hamburger. the west coast’s answer to whitecastle is in and out. most locals here call it the best burger joint ever. their fries and freshly made in each restaurant and the beef tastes like a cow was right behind the restaurant. what is interesting about this place though, is the secret menu. the menu itself has only 4 entrees and its up to you to scoop up what the secret items are. its like going to mcdonald’s and asking for a mcgangbang (google that out, i not sure if it exist though, but you can always try it out back home ) the special menu in in and out consists of ‘animal’ style fries -- that is fries with cheese and fried onions and mustard on top, as well as ‘animal style’ cheesburger, that is mustard fried patty of beef with fried onions. its awesome. and most importantly, its cheaper then mcdonald’s or wendy’s.

don’t miss this sign if you are on the west coast

yep. count them. thats the number of items on the menu.

the interior of the restaurant. quaint, ain’t it?

could you really say no to this? could you?

albie’s beef inn

having tried the best ribs in san diego, i wanted to have steak too at an afforable price. our landlord suggested albie’s beef inn, a old style divebar/steakplace. it didn’t disappoint. ‘tastefully’ decorated with nude potraits on the walls, it had a old school vibe to it, which added to the experience. and of course, the food was good.

and tuesdays to saturday, there is live piano entertainment with a dancefloor next to the bar. think clubbing for 50 years up.

appetizer: calamari. like you have never seen it before.

filet mignon was what i ordered. cooked rare, it is the one of the most tender parts of meat. all this wrapped in a streak of bacon with melt in in your mouth potatoes. to die for.

the group of us that went to albie. (l to r) me, samantha, sherry, stan, pamy and jamie.

clubbing

unlike singapore, the legal age to club in america is 21, which makes pamy very sad. also as most of the girls here are yr 2, a lot of them can’t go. but hey, their loss is my gain. i have visited 2 clubs here thus far: kava lounge and deco. kava lounge is a chill out place, where the serve organic alcoholic drinks. imagine a bar that serves cosmic hibiscus and miso broth. but the deal maker here is the percussion band which plays live to a dj spinning decks. quite original.

percussion band in full view

this is the bar counter and menu. if you can squint take a look at what they serve

the lounge floor

deco’s was the 2nd bar i went to. if you are familiar with art deco, that art decoration style in the early 20th century, you will appreicate deco’s. the club is decorated in the above mentioned style. a lot of asian americans frequent this club so i figure it must be owned by one. other then the deco, the club has this really nifty music mixing system other then just mixing music, the club projects the music video in question on a screen and as the dj is transistingm you can see the music video of the song about to be played.

the bar at deco’s.

they also had dancer’s beside the projected screen.

aztec recreation center

the aztec recreation center (arc) is a gem in sdsu. for 18 dollars a month, you get to use the gym, a swimming pool, fitness classes, a rock climbing wall, free use of wii and bowling. i will never look at ntu’s gym the same way again. ever.

the arc requires fingerprint id and a password to enter.

the key highlight of the arc is fitness classes. they teach everything from yoga to salsa to kickboxing to pilates for free. kickboxing class (which pamy and i attend) is so popular, we have to queue 1 hour in advance to get in!

rows upon rows of treadmills, stairmasters, with television sets on top of them…

…with rows and rows of machines and freeweights…

.. topped off with a indoor rock climbing wall where members can use for free.

balboa park

balboa park is san diego’s answer to nyc central park. it is 4.9km square huge and is situated squarely downtown. what makes the part beautiful is its spanish influenced architecture. also the park is famous for housing the world’s largest outdoor pipe organ (with free concerts every sunday) as well being a location for shooting citizen kane. the park itself has 13 museums of varying topics from art to aircraft. international cottages offering their nations’ speciality of food, buskers on the pavement, grass and fresh air… all this in this historic landmark.

the california tower and the dome were used as a setting for citizen kane’s residence in the movie

the world’s largest outdoor organ is a sight to behold (and hear!). and besides, they have free concerts there every sunday.

the park is really very pretty. and that would probably be an understatement too.

failed attempt at emo shot.

behind us is balboa park’s tribute to the old globe theater in england

balboa park.

and lyon i want you to do this by the time i come back ok! see below!

ok guys, its 4am here. going to hit the sack! night all!

you know one of those japanese bath therapy pools thingys? the ones that you deep yourself in cold water and then immediately go to the hot water to allow for some therapeutic benefit/ torture/ s&m?

imagine one of those, except where there is no hot water. and when you plunge into one of those cold icy pools of water, every muscle in your body freezes up and starts to contract. you start to hyperventilate as you panic and every arm you flail in the water to stay afloat saps energy from you.

and thats was just my surfing swim test.

in 8 degree celsius water, swimming is a whole new ball game. the swim test was just a 100 yards (nearly 100m) and treading water for about 1 min but after swimming 50 m, i was really tired. strangely enough, random thoughts of leonardo dicarpio and kate winslet flashed thorugh my mind. i don’t really blame jack now for letting go of rose’s hand. its was just too damn cold.

here are all the pictures I neglected to put up over the last 2 weeks.

basketball game

this is the basketball game i talked about in the previous post

this is cox arena, SDSU’s HUGE basketball arena

the whole bunch of us at the basketball game

the end of the match, when the aztecs won the new mexico lobos

and a video for you too! note there is an error in the date. it is supposed to be 21/1/09

the border to mexico where we went factory outlet shopping

chinese new year

here is the dinner we prepared from cny. it isn’t too fancy, but was a link to back home.

all of us at the dinner

phil’s BBQ

phil’s BBQ is voted by the locals as one of THE best BBQ places in San Diego. look at the pictures below to know why!

phil’s bbq

the ribs here are awesome. they are juicy and tender. and look at the size of the onion rings! yes those are onion rings!