[Chapel Hill] The New Asian Restaurant in Town, Spicy 9.

May 24th, 2014
My friends and I got together and went to try the new asian restaurant in town.

Which is this place, Spicy 9.
My friends and I were all curious about what this restaurant is going to be like.
(Especially I was, because there isn't much Asian restaurants near UNC that are both "Legit and Good" at the same time.)

Hmm..

This place has a really nice interior design.
I normally prefer the atmosphere that is aesthetically comfortable or beautiful, but I also like this kind of clean and modern look as well.

Spicy 9 cooks all sorts of different kind

I really like this soy sauce plate!
I mean, look at it.
it's shaped like a fish! :D

My friend, Neil, who is going to be my roommate for 2014-2015 school year, ordered this chicken fried rice.
This was the entree we ordered that came with the largest amount.

My friend, Christina, who was also there when we were celebrating Frank's birthday at TOPO, ordered veggie roll.

LOL
well, she ordered the Edamame Burger when we went to TOPO, so I'm guessing she's on a vegan diet.

I'm always so jealous of vegetarians, because I just can't eat anything without meat or fish.

And lastly, this is what I ordered!
Sushi Regular
It came with 8 California rolls and 7 pieces of nigiri sushi.

Oh yeah, when you go here at dinner, you get a slightly larger portion at a slightly higher price.

I don't know why, but Spicy 9 makes really tasty California roll.
It tastes even better than the nigiri sushis!! (WUT?!)
Well, I'm not saying that the nigiris are bad. They're good; the raw fish were quite fresh.


Anyways, all three of us really liked our dinner at Spicy 9.
(I'll say the only downside of this place is the high price.)
I am very looking forward to trying out other menus they make.

Making a Logo for My High School Math Teacher.

Not so long after I made my HTR logo,

My high school math teacher (who taught me Pre-calculus and AP Calculus) commented on my facebook post, requesting me to make a logo for him.

 So I did.

In the middle of my spring 2014 semester,
I didn't feel like studying one day, and there was an inspiration that came to my mind.
So I made the concept sketch that day, and finished it yesterday, which was after my first year at UNC was over.

I sent him about 4 versions of this with different colored background, while hoping that he likes them.


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Shortly after he changed his Facebook profile picture with my logo, he requested me to add "RTFQ Your Way" in there.
I guess I'll have to send him the logos again.


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Hmm...

I added "RTFQ Your Way" in there, with one of the best fonts I can come up with,

and now it looks a bit fuller(?), but at the same time a little bit unbalanced.

Anyway, this logo took the total of approximately 3 hours to make.

and somehow, I think I ended up with a logo that is even more powerful than mine.;;;

[Chapel Hill] Roommate Dinner at a Fancy Turkish Restaurant, Talullas

April 29th, 2014
It was about time when the spring 2014 semester was coming to an end,
and my roommate and I realized that we haven't had a roommate dinner yet.
So, we went out to Franklin Street to have a roommate dinner before our first year at Carolina ends.

We thought our one and only(?) roommate dinner deserved something legit,
so we went to this Turkish restaurant called 'Talullas,' which is known to be one of the best restaurants in Chapel Hill, NC.

This is how the interior looks like.
Turkish decorations contribute to the nice atmosphere of this restaurant. :D

This is the table we sat at.

Bar seats.
The whole restaurant was pretty empty.
I think it's because it was Tuesday night.

I liked how this lantern looks like, so I took a picture of it!

When we ordered our food, this was the first thing that came out.

It's a bread with a dipping sauce.

...and, my goodness.
This bread was fantastic!
You can ask for a refill for this bread.
.....and.... that's pretty much why I kept on eating and eating. Haha.

Now, here comes our entrees!
I ordered a Chicken Shish.

and my roommate ordered the Grilled Whole Fish (Bass).

This is one of the best menu in Talullas.
No wonder it looks so delicious!

My roommate and I were actually thinking of sharing our food.

Which is why we ordered a different entree.
I gave him some of my Chicken Shish, and he gave me some of his Whole Fish.

Heh heh heh
This looks soooo awesome!

These pictures are actually making me want to eat this again. :D

A bite of whole fish.

and a bite of chicken shish.

My god!
Both of these food were amazing!!
Chicken Shish was really good,
and the Whole Fish was one of the best things I've ever eaten in my 2013-2014 school year!
That explains why Talullas is known as one of the best restaurants in Chapel Hill.
The food is TRULY FANTASTIC!

Oh yeah,
My roommate ordered a dessert too.

I was too full to eat any of this dessert.
All because I ate so much of that bread. (We got about 4 refills for that bread.)

The waiter and waitress noticed that I was intensely taking pictures, and ended up asking for my blog address.
I haven't blogged for a while, so I tried to tell them my blog address as I remember it.
Will this be my road to fame??
....and when I came back to my dorm, I realized that I told them the wrong address.
:(

Thanks to Talullas, our roommate dinner was great.
Except for the fact that this place is really expensive, the food and the atmosphere was just brilliant!
(Well, it's still cheap compared to what you can eat at places like Manhattan.)


Fancy Turkish restaurant Talullas.
If you ever come by Chapel Hill, I would definitely recommend eating here!
I mean, words alone cannot fully describe how good this place is.
You won't regret it!

Impulsive Purchasing Extra Stuff for My Camera. (Unboxing the Things I Bought)

As I got my DSLR, I got to want to do a lot of different things,
and as I got to want to do a lot of things with my DSLR, I got to want to buy more stuff for my camera as well.

For that reason, I've been spending a lot of time on Ebay and Amazon late April.
and eventually...
I've ended up impulsive purchasing.


On April 25th, 2014

My first package from Amazon arrived!

Alright, let's open up this thing, and see what's inside!

!!
Another box!
Boxception!!

Inside the 2nd box was the object I bought.

After taking it out of the plastic bag.

Time to configure this into one of its most basic configuration.

Yes, as you can see this is a camera shoulder rig,
which can make video shooting easier and more comfortable.

I can mount the camera like this, and I'm good to go.
(That's actually my roommate's camera on there :D)

This actually is one of the cheapest shoulder rigs out in the market (approximately $40), and this bad boy can be configured into a bunch of different configuration.
It's like a Swiss army knife of shoulder rigs.

The one I got had the name "Mantis Folding Rig," but this kind of rig is most widely known as "Spider Steady."



On the same day, after a nice nap,

I got two packages, one from Ebay and one from Amazon.

Let's open up the Ebay one first.

Fiio E3
It's one of the small headphone amplifiers.
I'll talk about why bought this, later in this post.

This is an older model that is no longer being produced now.
I bought this model because this one uses a AAA battery, instead of a rechargeable one.
I don't want to wait a couple of hours recharging this thing, I just wanted the convenience of just switching the battery to use it continuously.
I bought this at about $15.

Now let's unbox the package from Amazon!

Hmm...
This one has shock absorbing air bags

From this box, there are, first of all, some lavalier microphone tie clips.
These were pretty expensive for what they are.. ($13 for 5 clips...)

and from the same box, there were these.

Lenmar's aftermarket Canon DSLR LP-E8 batteries!
I've heard some good reviews for the lenmar ones.

I bought these two for about $25.
I thought I'll be needing these extra batteries because shooting videos drains the batteries much faster than just shooting still photos.



On the next day (April 26th, 2014),

The last package had arrived.

I opened the package with scissors.
It's me just trying to be careful with my stuff.

and look what I've got.

This is an external microphone for DSLR and Camcorders.
It's called 'Shengu SG-108,' and it is one of the cheapest microphone in the market. (about $30)

It has some nice reviews on the internet saying that it's "good for how cheap it is"

Shengu SG-108 comes with a microphone, a pop screen, a battery, and a pouch.

The rear part of the microphone can be opened like this.
This is where the battery goes.

Let's take the wrapper off the battery

then put it in there and close the lid.

Lastly, put the pop screen over the diaphragm

Now, it's ready to be used!

...and that wraps up all the things I've impulsively purchased on the end of April.. :P

As you can see in the above, I've actually connected my Shengu SG-108 with my Fiio E3.
You see, the problem with DSLR audio is not just the internal microphone, but also the internal preamp.
and cheap microphones like SG-108 have a low gain, which the DSLR tries to compensate by increasing the gain of its internal preamp (This is a bad thing, and ends up with a lot of noise/hiss).
So, amplifying the sound coming from the microphone, before it hits the DSLR's preamp is a wise way to use your budget microphone! (Yay! less noise/hiss!)
(If you have a lot of money, feel free to go straight to expensive mics like 'Rode Video Mic Pro.')


Now that I think of it.
I think I forgot to buy an LED video light (Oh great, more things to buy)


Anyway, it's always better to buy these kind of things in the U.S., because back at home (South Korea), these things cost 2~4 times more....
I think it's all because there's barely any demand for these kind of things in South Korea.
So, I can proudly say that I'm actually saving money!!!!..... I think... :D


But, do you know what I really want?

A NEW LENS!
Can you even believe that one of the lenses I'm trying to buy is still 4 times more expensive than all of the things I've unboxed in this post combined?
Sigh*.... those lenses...


Looks like human's desire is limitless...
BUT I REALLY WANT A NEW LENS!! T_T