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During the little time I had during my work trip this past week when I actually had reception for my iPhone, I managed to make an order for two new figures, Alicia Melchiott and Isara Gunther from my most favouritist PlayStation 3 game, Valkyria Chronicles.

I used an Australian based importer called Tamarket. Usually I will order off Ebay, through a seller actually based in Japan, however, I thought I should test out someone local, mainly to encourage the local stores, but also to test out whether ordering locally makes things easier. IT DOES.

I managed to send out the order for the two figures on first morning of the trip, the order had arrived, via express post, when I got home the following day. A one day turn around, something impossible when ordering overseas. Tamarket’s prices were fairly reasonable as well, so I have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone in Australia wanting to order anime figures.

Anyway, to the figures:

I am absolutely looking forward to the release of Valkyria Chronicles 2 later in the year, it is on my list of the four ‘must buy’ games for this year (others being Bioshock 2, Final Fantasy XIII and Gran Turismo 5, if it is ever released…).

This past week I spent a couple of days on a tour of the Snowy Hydro Scheme for work. Quoting from the Snowy Hydro Limited website to give some background:

“The Scheme took 25 years to build and was completed in 1974. More than 100,000 people from over 30 countries came to work in the mountains to make true a vision of diverting water to farms to feed a growing nation and to build power stations to generate renewable electricity for homes and industries.”

Whilst the above quote does contain just an ounce of spin (it doesn’t mention the environmental/cultural impacts the water diversion has caused), it pretty much sums up the scheme. Despite visiting some of the largest renewable energy (Hydro) sites in Australia is definitely interesting, having just returned back to studies, the trip wasn’t exactly well timed. Regardless, I did find Snowy Hydro Limited to be quite a welcoming company, very family themed, and very welcoming to us as visitors.

Essentially, the scheme has diverted flows from the Snowy River, which ran east from the Mountains, and flooded each year with the snow melt. The water is now captured and damed, then diverted west towards the Murray-Darling Basin, where a lot of Australia’s food/agricultural production is based. At the same time, the water releases are used to generate electricity through the Hydro Power stations.

There has been a lot of fuss about the impacts of diverting the Snowy west, mainly due to the fact that it now flows at just a few percent of its original capacity, severely impacting the communities and environment along its length. However, the diverted flows now support a significant proportion of Australia’s economy, both food and energy wise. This a prime example of the Utilitarianism idea of ‘the greatest good for the greatest number‘.

To make up for the lack of recent updates, I can share some of the photos taken over the two day period:

The last photo is of water being released into the original Snowy river, this amount of release was to continue for a couple of days, but I think thats about the maximum amount that is ever released

Well… Uni studies restarted again for the year.

Did I accomplish all of the goals I wanted to complete before uni restarted? Well… kinda. I managed to save as much money as I was expecting to (ignoring the fact that the car Rego came up this month, which was a kick in the balls in itself). I have lost some weight, not as much as I was hoping, but I have been eating better and exercising way more than I used to (nightly exercises and switching from regular coke to coke zero have been effective). At least I’m losing weight instead of putting it on, thats a success in my book.

My photography has steadily improved and I’ve started exercising my brain by reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Combined with steady growth in my anime consumption and acquisition. I think thats 3 out of 4 goals satisfied.

The only fault was through finding a place to live, which I contend only failed due to a technicality, having been rejected from a place after initially being accepted. The search still continues, having lodged a new application for another place today. Hopefully, the fulfilment of this goal has been delayed just temporarily.

I will definately be attending SMASH this year (the Sydney Manga and Anime Show) this year, the date for which was announced recently. SMASH 2010 . I may hold off ordering a Cosplay piece for this year, as an incentive to continue the search for a place to live.

As I mentioned earlier, studies restarted again this year, with my first lecture for a course in Nuclear and Particle physics this morning (nerdy nerd stuff…). However, as of tomorrow afternoon, I’m out of town again for work. It kinda sucks, having looked forward to the resumption of classes for the year, to be leaving again, heading south to look at some Hydroelectric power stations this week isn’t what I had in mind.

As bad as it sounds, I would much prefer to stay in town and focus on studies rather than look at the hydro power stations (once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all…), but I guess paid work dictates my life. Hopefully it will serve as a good opportunity for some more photography, so I should be able to provide a photo update later in the week.

So, no photos to share this time round, to make up for it, I give you Kirsten Dunst in Akihabara

Nothing terribly exciting has happened in my world in the past week. I’m still working hard on the goals that I set to be accomplished before I restart studies for the year. So far, so good. I have managed to maintain a ritual of daily exercise for the last 2-3 weeks; a mix of weights, workplace soccer and time on the exercise bike are starting to pay off. I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to maintain it once studies restart, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to find some time. It beats doing absolutely nothing.

The dead line is just 10 days away. I think I have managed to progress at least two, possibly three of the goals I set in the Transitions post. With the final (fourth) goal dependent on be finding a place to live. Again, so far, so good.

My new Figma Saber figure arrived today. I must admit, I am very impressed with Japan Post. Ordered the figure on Sunday, sent Monday, arrived Thursday morning. That’s between Shibuya Tokyo and Canberra Australia. Not bad, especially with tracking the whole way…

Here is my makeshift miniature lightning studio for my miniature figures. I knew my semiconductors would be useful for something…

One more figure and I think I get deemed a collector.

I did find the Figma Saber a lot more delicate compared to the Revoltech Saber I’ve posted earlier. It’s a little more fiddly to get Saber into the poses that I wanted, but Figma does give you a lot more flexibility in how she can be moved around, even before being able to interchange faces, hair, hands and swords. Whilst I do like the facial expression from the Revoltech figure better, I would highly recommend the Figma version just due to the options it gives.

Anyone looking for an excellent Cosplay of Saber should check out the work of Maridah. Her website can be found here. If anyone can claim to be a flesh and blood rendering of Saber, it’s her.

Just a quick photo update from the 2010 National Multicultural Festival, held in Canberra, Australia.

This really is a great event, each year on the Saturday of the event, a massive food and drink fest is held in the Canberra city centre, drawing probably the biggest crowd of any event held in the city.

Usually a very beer focused event (this is where I discovered pretty much every nation has its own brand of beer), a nice introduction was the handing out of free, branded, bottles of water. Last years event was held in ridiculous heat, with little access to free water, so this was a pleasant improvement.

Most of the stalls are organised by the relevant embassies that are dotted around Canberra. A lot of international community groups contribute as well, particularly to dance and musical performances.

The merry-go-round is a permanent fixture in Canberra, but I don’t think it’s ever quite as busy during the rest of the year, than as it was today…

Argh… despite the glowing optimism I conveyed in my last post, due to the fact that a number of factors in my life were heading towards serious improvement, I wish I could say this week is looking even better.

I got a call Friday afternoon from the real estate agent to let me know that the owner of the apartment we had been approved for had “changed their mind” and given the apartment to a member of their own family. Whether that is due or not, I’m not sure, but either way, I’m still no further out the door of the family home. The search continues…

Regardless, at least one of my goals is continuing strongly. For the last 7 days, I have been able to maintain my “healthly” streak, either dedicating almost an hour each night on an exercise bike, weight training or playing a game of soccer at work. I haven’t lost any weight, but am feeling really good. The next two days are looking good. To make up for games lost due to weather or lack of numbers, the work team has a double header, tomorrow and Wednesday, to finish of the “departmental” soccer competition. We are yet to win a game yet, but hopefully, with a little luck, we’ll be able to pull something off.

My standard picture update… more flowers are gradually making an appearance in our garden, so today’s update comes from the same court-yard the majority of my other recent shots have come from.

I’ve continued my pursuit into the world of the anime/manga/cosplay culture. So far this week, I have taken delivery of 2 more copies of the Fate/Stay Night series of manga, I now have volumes 1, 3, 4 and 5, with volume 2 still on order (I love how Saber is the central character to the TokyoPop series covers…). I have also purchased the first 7 DVDs of the Fullmetal Alchemist series, of which I’ve watched just a few episodes and am looking forward to getting into the series when I have the time.

So far I have just a modest collection of anime/manga, mainly centred around Valkyria Chronicles, Fate/Stay Night and the Ghibli Collection. I don’t think thats a bad way to start, but now that I am more open to pursuing my interest in this culture, hopefully I’ll seek out some good series.

In a related note, if you want to check out the posts I made during my trip to Japan back in August last year, just click: Japan Posts –  I really think that trip opened my eyes to a massive culture packed into just a few Islands, and through that, I discovered the massive, worldwide community that supports it.