New Year Resoultions

31st December 2005, Saturday

Yes we are moments away to 2006, and let's run through the most important event for me for this year (at least for the next 13 hours or so).

Αριθμός ένας (Number One in Greek): The Trip that Binds it All

On 19th August 2005, me and my lass flew off to Japan for my fifth & longest trip to the land of the rising sun.

It was a really special trip as basically we are on our own for most of the time due to my astute planning which spanned 3 locations in Tokyo, Osaka and Iwate and the middle one we had not even been there before; so at the end of it I was quite amazed how we made it through.

Of course the biggest issue that shrouded the trip has to be the way I popped up my proposal to my girl.
I thought everything was perfect with the romantic backdrop of the Rainbow Bridge at Odaiba on an open-air bus to do that proposal...
In the end, we missed by seconds for the evening bus ride and I was compelled to do the proposal there and then; and of all the places, I did it in a shopping mall in the vicinity of the Tokyo train station...
Seriously I am not cut out for this romantic shit, which I had to apologise to my lass for...
In the end the fallout of it was a wedding plan for October next year which can be daunting yet something to focus on the coming year.

That aside, I must say the trip is a good mix of visiting friends (my buddy in Osaka and our favorite Japanese people in Morioka), theme parks and museums (Disneyland, Ghibli Musuem & Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum), historical remnants (Osaka castle, Expo 70 park), natural landscapes (Koiwai Farm, Hatchimantai) and yes lots of dining of great food and shopping which really kept us going; causing us to gain weight and nearly faulted at the airport check-in point for overweight luggages!

A fulfilling trip left a huge dent in our pockets and made me swore to myself not to go to Japan in summer time which have a weather much worse than the arid one we are experiencing here in Singapore...

Despite beckoning by the people in La Tendo to make a short trip in February for the Wonderfest (at least it's still winter), I doubt I would be making trips back to my favorite country beside my own in the coming year, as we had planned for an autumn honeymoon in 2007...

Ok now for some New Year Resolutions which hopefully I can keep...

1) Shaped up well physically and mentally for the wedding
2) Build my dream room with the limited space I have
3) Jump on every opportunity for a good career path
4) Minimise the amount of interaction time with JxMMy
5) Magically altered the number hours existing in a single day to 72 hours
6) Oh yeah and also make Holland win the World Cup in the summer

That's a realistic enough list to keep track on and hereby wish everyone reading this blog for the last 8 months...
A WONDERFUL 2006!!

Japanese word of the day: 元日~gan-ji-tsu~(New Year’s Day) Hopefully there won't be a flu that would originate from dogs to human in the coming year making everyone frantic about their pet dogs in the year of the Dog...

Her Side View Looks Like Fiona Xie!!

30th December 2005, Friday

On the eve of New Year's eve and the last working day of 2005, the mood here is significantly subdued, partly due to the lack of personnel present as almost 60% are clearing their annual leaves while those left behind like myself are rueing over the fact that we did not get an official half day this year since the eve falls on Saturday itself...
But with such an accomodating supervisor as mine, we are warranted with an unofficial half day with the younger brood would gladly accept and the stoic JxMMy most probably would stay till the sun doesn't shine...

While alighting the train at Bouna Vista this morning, I was half awake after dozing off for majority of the long journey and saw this well-dressed office lady barging into the train as if the door would close any moment before I could go out.
Actually there was this gargantuan fellow whom I thought would be alighting as well hindering my alighting process thus caused the lady and when I took a quick glimpse of her feet, one of her stiletto seemed to had fallen into the tracks via the gap between the train and the platform...
I didn't check out her expression, but it's not hard to figure that she would be filled with both anguish and embarrassment at the same time hoping her Salvatore Ferragamo imitation would not suffer any damage as the train departs.
Although I had made no contact with her or in any way caused her to drop her footwear, I felt a certain degree of guilt not offering any assistance as I descend from the platform, acting as if nothing had happened at all.

Gave a call to CS last evening, enquiring about the data retrieval lobang of his and when we could make a trip down to see this expert to resolve my predicament.
However we had a good 15 minutes chat on how things are going and once more our dear Pepsiman had something up his sleeve to tickle my funny bones...
He mentioned about a secondary class outing which he did not attend but got a big scoop from BH (yes my ex colleague as well as old JC mate) who made an appearance...
It seemed like Chin Beng and Miss Moustache would be tying the knot like myself in the coming year and Nanzhou, our pretty flair boy, Sean came and looked all beefed up and in accompany of his gorgeous beau who BH described had a side profile which closely resembles Mediacorp actress, Fiona Xie..which at this juncture CS snapped and went ballistic as he is also fond of the wonderfull "asset"-bestowed local artiste and visibly green with envy for Nanzhou without even seen this girl yet...that's CS for you, ladies and gentlemen

He is also in douldrums now that many people are jumping onto the bandwagon to get hitched in the coming year and with his girl, QTee breathing down his neck to replicate the process, he is still wondering if she is the one...
This led to me give him a piece of advice regarding the fact that if any woman is sane and tolerant to endure our behavior and antics, they are the one destined to be with us for the rest of our lives...
But even so, he wasn't convinced; therefore let's hope he could find that ultimate enlightenment in the coming year.

Back to looking back the year.. like what Simply Red has been harping before:

Numéro Deux (Number Two in French): The Mass Exodus

There had been a drastic change in the staff roll call in my lab if you haven't noticed by now...
Only months ago you would see the 3 witches (BY, YM & LF) bitching, gossiping and creating a din at their work stations which often drew the irk of P.I.s like Seban and Xia Li Ye; but now the once bustling area is as quiet as a graveyard which I'm sure former critics might even missed.
However their sequential departures are not just isolated in our lab but an institute-wide phenomenon as former lab biologists whom Old Hag always considered as "dispensible" would carved on a crack of opportunity to jump ship to greener pastures.
Just the recent X'mas party, it is evident that there had been an exodus of manpower and aptly replendished (since we are considered consumables) by fresh graduates whom followed their predecessors to hop on to this jumping board for a couple of year of experience...except for people like 大便, JxMMy and Boon Hui from SeBan's lab who had signed on a lifetime slavery contract to this slum...

That was the macro aspect of why the girls left ...
Generally YM left for a job which offer her a good 2.5K to recognise that degree in computing she had while over here after 6 years of slogging, she only has 2.2K per month to content with.
LF had thought a Curtin degree would be her avenue to promotion but was left dumbfounded by the resistance of the HR regarding her conversion which in previous cases generally would be sanctioned.
Disenchanted, she applied for jobs elsewhere but after umpteen interviews, her passive characteristics did not land her a better job. Therefore she asked for a change of lab since the work here had became incredibly dry for her liking and now with the same remuneration and benefits she has to worked twice as much for a newly set-up lab. At least she is beaming with a smile been cooped by work as it is a stage for her to learn new skills and show he seniority since she has garnered 4 years of experience in her inventory.

Then we came to the micro aspect on why they left.
As mentioned, the work schedule over our side had been getting really dry and the condescending nature of our supervisor means that we had been doing the dirty work for everyone else except for ourselves.
For a good 3 months or so earlier this year the girls was basically idling to a state of boredom as all the 3 of them had to do is minimal aliquoting or running of agarose gel as they claimed are "fighting for work to do".

In addition they had been living under the wrath of JxMMy for way too long as time and again, he had overstepped their limit of iolerance till a critical stage that they were abhorred at the sight of him.. even these days when he rarely would make an appearance to where the main lab is.
Our supervisor is well aware of the situation but was oblivious to all these on-goings and was biased towards her love-child; which significantly incensed the 3 of them.
Then came the catalyst that spilled everything over in June which led to BY who had been actively seeking a new workplace all these while, praying to leave desolate place.
Her prayers were answered in August as she was accepted for a job over at our rival institute and duly left in October.
Since then the entire lab seems void of life which BY used to bring about with her blaring laughter.
The new replacements then came in the form of Bobby & Triana in August & November respectively but the camaraderie is not the same as before and the working attitude of these newer ones with the misled of some attachments like Lance drove YM to tears even weeks back to highlight the transition of the workplace with regards to the facade of the manpower and the overall morale...

For the past year I myself had been contemplating more than once with the idea of seeking greener pastures and with my qualifications I think I should be earning more.
But been the least ambitious and the most easily contented, I was held back time and again to move on.
Been the dissent over JxMMy, the loss of great colleagues and the disgrunt over pathetic wage package, there had been other great points which I wanted to remain for years to come including a easy job, a great boss and acceptable benefits...
And with the prospect of a switch to the shared facilities overseen by the HQ and the presence of a wedding to be organised, I might not have that time and effort to go seek a new job, "lie, cheat & steal" to get one and properly assimilate into it...
Well as Utada Hikaru had sung before..."oh baby..wait & see".. hopefully without the "risk" if you know what I mean..heehee

Japanese word of the day: 事務所~ji-mu-sho~(Office/workplace)In 2006 & beyond, JxMMy would still be here, Old Hag would still rule things over and I would still be typing this wretched blog every afternoon...

Highly Literate But Poorly Educated

29th December 2005, Thursday

We often know of tales of ugly Singaporeans but the problem with us islanders is that we often have that "jump on the bandwagon" factor existing within each of us, thus often resulted in doing what everyone else is doing...

Today there was a mass-mail that had been circulating within the entire organisation stating that the cater company for that paltry X'mas buffet dinner 2 Fridays back had complained of missing over 100 wine glasses (which they used to serve the highly-diluted soft drinks and beer in) as well as porcelain plates for the meal... Now those who had unknowingly (yeah right) taken the cockeries are to return them duly by the end of the day...
Seriously in an organisation filled with highly educated scientists and researchers, one will wonder whether such a case is a joke to begin with...

Over lunch yesterday, we chatted over certain ugly incidents occuring just at the doorsteps of our workplace...
There was a newly set-up library meant to supplied the researchers and students a place to get the suitable information they required..however it eventually transformed into a pigsty as a very vocal pricinpal investigator had voiced out over the company mass-mail.
This drew the irk of the Executive Director who duly responded by saying he might need to change into his draconian manner to barbeque some of the culprits since they behaved like wild boars...

Then there was the case of the public-sharing color printer existing in every floor. It seemed like our staff had been indiscriminately abusing the usage to print from a scientic journal to more personal uses like self-made posters/calendars (as the girls over my lab was guilty of in the past) to 600 pages recipe and even the entire Lord of the Ring trilogy.
It was disgusting over the fact that the IT team had to change the toner (each could cost up to $1000+) every single day...

This very well answered why there wasn't a nice pantry area filled with coffee,tea and other goodies (like cappucino machines) over here like other big MNCs or even government statuory boards...
It is because we have a really unsightly bunch of barbarians well known to pillage any source of modern civilizations here in this godforsaken slum...

I used to point the fingers at the PRC people (or vultures which I like to refer to them with the behavior during free buffets) but I think some of the locals had the "well we can't stop them, let's join them" effect to aggravate the problem..And don't think the "ang mohs" are spared, I believed they are equally (if not worse) ugly...ugh...
Well as long as I know I would not become such "Jekyl & Hyde" personality...

That aside, back to looking back of 2005...

Nummer Drie (Number Three in Dutch): The Alliance

My closest friends for the past year had been a newly forged one at the turn of this year: The La Tendo Clique

I had known the likes of Vincent and Tay-chan for a good 5-6 years now since the now-defunct DJ Su Pata Pata Fanclub enlisted the help of Vincent's Universal Human Network to host certain huge parties which otherwise could be considered illegal gatherings by law...
I even interviewed my huge (size-wise) friend for a modular project back in NUS.

However with the fateful reconciliation back in 2003 when I bought a set of capsule toys over the local online auction site, I had been with them from their scrawny stall at now-disintegrated flea market on Sundays at Clarke Quay to the establishment of the shop back in Feburary 2004 to now a household name locally (and perhaps in Southeast Asia) for retailing of delightful toys from Japan.
Through the course of it, I got to know the likes of Eng Kiong (Tay's brother) and Matthew (who seldom appear for the flea market in the past despite being a major partner)...
There was Chan who first appeared as an ardent supporter of the stall back in Clarke Quay and with the prefix "Mr" made him so senior when in actual fact he is only a year older than myself.
And in more recent time Karen, Ferris as well as Ferris' younger & equally manga/anime/resin kit/ toys-crazy brother, Bryan as we spent plenty of Saturdays hanging out at the only sporadically crowded place in town, La Tendo (they are really crowded on Saturdays as well lah, don't make them sound like we are there only swapping flies all day); indulging in our talks about anything related to our favorite hobbies, sharing informations, helping them to pack their toys, sometime helping out to entertain their customers, jibing each other as we usually do, taunting and cajoling each other to spend more money on whatever new stuffs the shop has brought in and ultimately finding solace after a week of hardship at work...

There would be that usual gatherings beside La Tendo such as potluck and fireworks viewing at Vincent's place, movie outings (always thanks to the diligence and perserverance of Chan) and soon to be wedding banquets...
In frequent fashion, we will chat over MSN to share informations, lobangs and more jibings...
Putting our resources together, we often get to enjoy a variety of anime series, manga, PS2 games, DVDs, books, magazines and even China dramas...
Last but not least, we nearly all became partner of a fashion apparels retailers which didn't work out in the end as I had just known over last weekend.

Nonetheless the close bond we had soldered over the past year is why they are the first names to appear on my guest list for my forthcoming wedding banquet; because it is not easy to find people around your age that can spend hours talking to you about spoilers for "One Piece" or whether a characters had died in "Bleach"....

Japanese word of the day: 野蛮人(Barbarian) I believe the terrorists at Al Qaeda is more civic-minded some of the people over at my workplace.

Maintaining My Practise

28th December 2005, Wednesday

Just came back from a lllllllllloooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg lab lunch with my colleagues from past and present with our supervisor gracious and generous enough to offer us a hearty lunch at the Spanish restaurant nearby our workplace...
The eating was prompt but the chit-chat session went on and on as our supervisor loves to gossip around as well and with Ron around, there sure would be a plenty to share...
But JxMMy was almost anoymous with his presence as once more keeping very muted by the corner (really gave dead-end a whole new meaning)
I had the most expensive main dish off the menu, a Valencia paella which once more proves that the one that cost the most might not be the most scrumptious as I had difficulty stuffing the sour tomato-laden rice down my oesophagus.
Triana had Squid Ink Pasta which by appearance was the attraction on the table....

Anyway back to my reflection of the past year...

Numero Quattro (Number Four in Italian): Instilling Discipline

I'm quite well-known to be rather fickle-minded and frequently drop off projects or certain practises once I deem I am not able to focus on or find leisure in doing...

Of course I was always been "rewarded" with glares of wonder from friends how I could stay in the same dumpster of a job for 3 straight years but for me as long as the money is good, the environment is acceptable and most importantly the boss is appreciative, I don't find no reason to move on especially I'm not very receptive to new challenges.
The first 2 points became obscure after a while but then which other job allowed you to go home with no dread of bringing work back to rush or allow you to hit the gym everyday...

Anyway this year is monumental in a few aspects when I am managed to inculcate certain habits which I myself was baffled that I could maintain for such a long time...

Firstly is my webpage on my toy collection which I had been updating for like a year plus now and even getting my own domain..this is really my number one interest at the moment and hopefully for a long time to come...the neatly-done hobby webpages from Japanese and their ingrained and meticulous updating prompts me to do better myself all the time...The toys themselves are so nicely manufactured that I think only well-taken pictures are justifiable to its art form....

This blog which I had routinely updating on is really a paperless form of the journal writing I had started back in my secondary school days..but of course the difference lies in the legibility of the content as it would take the world's most famous cryptographers to decipher what in the world I had wrote back then...

Then of course maintaining the healthy regime of going to the gym daily (at least during my work days) was the most impressive of the habits I bred...
I had dreaded doing exercise and always had no motivation and discipline to maintain a work-out schedule...
I would tend to come out with thousand and one excuses not to go jogging (must be early the morning when it is not too hot and crowded but always cannot ake up on time)
The presence of the gym at the lobby of my workplace is a stroke of genius to move even the most stubbornlike yours truly to really work out...
Of course the service is only free of charge till April and let's hope the price would not be too outrageous so that I could maintain such a healthy lifestyle for a long time to come (that is if I am still working in the same place)
But it is always good to have your heart pumping and your body sweating to ensure you might consider "longevity" be part of your forte...
Most importantly by October next year, I would be a dashing groom fit to lead my ravishing bride down the isle...

Hmm.....another habit I inculcated was the weekly pilgrimage to La Tendo which actually might not be too gratified to proclaim loudly I guess...

Japanese word of the day: 習慣~shu-u-kan~(Habits) There's another habit notable which involves my fingers in my nostrils...er... I guess we'll not delve into that...

Looking Back the Year in 5 Glances...

27th December 2005, Tuesday

Boxing day by tradition has nothing to do with Mohammad Ali nor Mike Tyson but really is for everyone to really open up all their X'mas present, be surprised (grossed out/ irked/ mooted/ all of the above) by what your friends and family had got you and analyze how fruitful your haul is for the year, make judgement of certain people and perhaps cursed you shouldn't had spent $20 more on some totally useless novelty items for a colleague who just bought you some "lelong lelong buy one get 2 free" face-wash from Body Shop...

As for myself zilch is the number of presents I got this year except for that festive toffee candies my supervisor got for all the guys in the department (which I still left a handful in some chasm in the refrigerator since last X'mas)...

However I did indulge in some un-boxing of some of my collections which I took out from the layer of dust settled on them after being neglected under my bed for a good few months...
I find it's always have a calming effect to assemble my figurines, take some elegant pictures for my webpage while watching some long-winded Taiga dorama like "Yoshitsune" which can get you heated up for some unscruplous acts the despicable villains in the show can commit...

As East Asia mourn for the 1st anniversary of the major earthquake in Indonesia which resulted in devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, claiming the lives of 300,000 innocent people and we SIngaporeans still couldn't get over the fact that T.T. Dulan can get scot-free for embezzling the money of donors over the years, I think my Boxing day was pretty well spent (except after 3 days, I still only got 50% done for the Music Station Super Live video file which amounts to an enormous 3.35GB!!)

Anyway as we usher into the brand new year (hmmm...very typical line you will hear repeatedly on local television networks this time of the year), I would like to review a rather eventful 2005 for the next 5 days as I present the "Top 5 Events that Have Rippling Effects in my Life"

Nr. Fünf (No. 5 in German) : Me, My PC & Internet

I find my dependance of my computer and internet has developed n a chronic fashion over the past year...

I started this blog way back in April, hoping to chroniclize some notable events in my otherwise monotonous life and now it has became an important aspect of my everyday routine (almost) to come online to scribble a few sentences (make that 4 full pages of essay) to really whine about anything under the sun...

I really love the fact that I could spread my love for my toy collection to a worldwide fellow toys collectors (if they even bother) since last year but having a free webhost domain is always a pain in the ass with respect with the irritating pop-up advertisements as well as limited storage space..but when the entire domain just disappeared into thin air, it was the last straw for me as I broke my piggy bank and gathered every penny I have got to get a domain from a reliable web host provider and now my life is so much more fun, maintaining a webpage about capsule toys which no one really cared about...hooray...

Of course internet has been a wealthy resource of information and things money couldn't buy (which I really shouldn't blabber out loud as it my infringe certain copyright or intellectual property shit laws out there) but all I can say it sure brighten up my life a full ten yards...
But don't forget it could be a bane when you are get caught at work doing what you might not be evn allowed to do at home...oops...

With my life and time well intertwined with the cyberspace, you can figure it out how incensed I would get if my computer and the hardware are not working properly at all...
First my old Dell PC which is way passed it's prime finally call it a day in September which was a blessing in disguise as I bought a way much powerful machine to satisfy my IT needs but it is not without its glitches when it took me a full month to figure out what's wrong with that DVD writer which could not burn DVDs at all when it turned out that the problem actually lies on that cheap bunch of DVD-Rs I bought...

All was very well till the my 80GB portable hard disk drive died on me just days back, barely 8 months in service...
It was really oxymoron when I buy it for that portability to transfer files from one location to another but due to the flimsy nature of the HDD I am advised not to shift it around too much..what BS is that?!
Although I have like 3 years of warranty to ensure I got a new replacement everytime one got bonkers (WHAT?!), the precious files within are not that easy to acquire all over again...
So now I am really looking forward and praying everynight before I go to bed that CS' lobang can actually help to do the impossible that is to retrieve that data stuck within a dead HDD at minimal cost...

Well I believe in the coming year, my dependance on the internet as well as my computer is gonna to poliferate into a whole new level, so I truly hope I don't get another opportunity to get cranky over a spoiled hardware or jittery over some of the stuffs I do online...

Japanese word of the day: 箱~ha-ko~ (Box) Actually you should consider yourself lucky if you get a cheap Bodyshop faciai wash from anyone, I once got a bottle of eyewash which I didn't dare to touch till this very day...

Celebration in Solitude

25th December 2005, Sunday

MERRY X'MAS!!!

One of the holiday which sent many into exhilartion with non-stop boozing and partying since the eve, and last heard the party has already started on Friday evening itself, as hardcore party-goers had no qualms about tiring their bodies with 2 days of rest to rely on....

This year especially my presence had been well forgotten by former friends and acquintances alike who I had not bother single bit to contact for the entire year....so in retrospect, it is good that my handphone was not jammed by useless greeting message...

With my lass preoccupied with work for the entire weekend, the only mode of celebration for me is a nice, cozy X'mas dinner with my family over pizza & pasta later....

No better way to really spend this day which started with a really chilly morning which is most suitable to tag yourself in bed for an extra hour or so; is to rig up my webpage as I am in rampant mood to take more and more pictures and edit them for my collections which is always time consuming...
Of course the marathon I had been harping about...Beside "Yoshitsune" and "Shakugan no Shana" (which I had completed all the available episodes yesterday), I had other great shows to be contempt with such as an original animation video, "Itsudatte My Santa", a animated version of Akamatsu Ken's (of "Love Hina" fame) earlier work about a guy who hated X'mas eve which happened also to be his birthday but he never got a chance to celebrate with his parents who are volunteers to missions for needy countries, and his cause was not helped with a cheesy name, Santa(参太) to commemorate his birthday.
He encountered a supposedly Santa Claus' helper called Mai who wanted to enlighten his X'mas and began their mad-cap, absurd adventure together...your typical Akamatsu Ken's crap but can be entertaining if you wanna feel wretched on X'mas eve night as with plenty of "sabisu" in the show, you just feel even animated characters can get laid instead of you!

I am also looking forward to a 4 hour long Music Station Super Live special shown on Tv Asahi in Japan on Friday but the file size is really big and requires a total a century to get it downloaded...

I spent a bulk of my X'mas eve visiting my religious ground as all Christians and Catholics would to honour the day Christ is born... yes my sacred toy-hunting heaven..La Tendo...

The crowd was flowing in non-stop before dinner time for a last minute X'mas shopping which helped the guys reaped a mini fortune even without much new stocks arriving this week...

Chan came along after work and was up to his usual antics... and revealed his latest toy..a PSP which he got a cheap as a 2nd hand...
Nice gadget and at least the battery life is long enough for a portable gaming console for such genre (unlike the classic Sega Game Gear which sapped 6 AA size batteries in the matter of an hour)

He was moaning of me backing out the potluck party at Vicent's place today as I felt not justifiable to spend a good 2 hours to go back and fro his place at Jalan Membina with the notion of making it back early for the family dinner.
Karen is still away in Japan, Reedy would have to man the shop, Ferris made it clear he won't be going and Eng Kiong would only appear for a short while; so the sole survivor named Chan too was not too keen to make the trip down as well at the end of the day

But I could sense that tinge of loneliness in his voice the entire night as I accompanied him for dinner after LT was closed for business as he whined about he would be going home while people are just leaving home for their respective celebrations...
Hey man...I'm with you in this and to think positively, at least you have a nice PSP to watch your "Densha Otoko" with...heeheee

Japanese word of the day:寂しい~sa-bi-shi-i~ (Lonely) It depends on how you perceive this feeling as I always have my hobbies to accompany through every occasions!

From Volatile to Versatile

23rd December 2005, Friday

The day for the X'mas party and I carried over that whimsical and volatile spirit I had been experiencing at the end of last evening..
I was rushing to finish up that last bit of work to make it for the feeder bus to the MRT station before the non-existent corporate coordinator of our measly place named Candice had to lead these pair of frail-looking skeletal aunties who can easily assimilate the role of minions for the white witch of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe".
They came ro scout the area for a shooting of the corporate video to woo suckers from worldwide to come to our state-of-the-fart research facilities here; I really don't give a slight damn what fabulous production they are concocting, I just wanna get home after a hard day at work...
Their uninvited presence resulted in my loss of concentration and I left the stacker of the equipment ajar and a whole load of samples left undone for the entire night...GMD!
Thus I had to clear it aptly in the morning and more stuff lining up before the day begins.
My fustrations were compounded with the fact that YM and the young ones would be on a very relax mode today...seriously they could offer not much help either on the work front.

I then lugged the big box of gifts my fellow colleagues had been pitting in heart and soul to participate in the gift exchange exercise. There was also the few large boxes of Kinder selection I had acquired as the "early birds gifts"..there were the elusive Kinder-hippos (basically white chocolate shaped as hippoes) which my sis claimed to be really rare to be retailed locally and would even cost at a dear tag of $2...
Anyway the morning preparations were delegated to Triana and the new attachment girl, Ziyue while I went back to do some house-keeping stuff to alleviate the workload hoping for an early knock-off after the party...

The crowd was flowing in at a snail rate and by 10, there was only a handful individuals indulging in the Malay pastries prepared as appertizers while I was busy stuffing myself with that tasty banana fritter/ball/kueh before cajoling the incoming colleagues to take the Kinder chocolate bars and in no time the "Kinder Bueno" and the hippoes were first to disappeared off the tray..

The programme was led by this scrawny fellow from the 8th floor called Nick and he was assisted by this lass who both pretty up to task to get the crowd going for the games which is always the hardest issue of the X'mas party year in year out....
They had this lucky draw where everyone willingly contribute a $2 note with own name written on top..It took some hustling by the resident hustler, Chew to get the notes filling in that huge box...

So the first game began and I showed my versatile side to help out to get the small crowd to sit by a circle to pass the newspaper-wrapped parcel around with a forfeit within each layer, you know the rest....
The next game really everyone on their feet literally...
A reprise of the balloon from last year as this time is a royal rumble every man/woman/child for themselves within the boundary..for the elusive reward of ...$10 NTUC VOUHCER!
It is through such adrenaline-rushing game that some guys got a bit heated and ego overwhelming their basic chivalry self when a particular pimple-faced lad was over-zealous when guarding his balloon from been squadhed by competitors yet using plenty of effort to burst that of the others...
He would be exerting way too much force at times, without malice I hope, regardless of gender he is facing...
However he got on the nerve of Ron who was tussling with him for a while before, glaring him with that same eyes one could imagine from a gladiator in an arena awaiting the opportunity to quashed his enemy to death...I had to be the mediator to calm Ron down and it wasn't long before he was back to his old self, don't feel justified to get too agitated over such a petty issue...

After some other mindless games to give away all the presents available, it was then for the buffet lunch and for people to interact but basically people just stayed within their own cliques, defeating the purpose...
The sad excuse of a human being, the ex-colleague of ours we know more affectionately as "shit (大便)" had no one to talk to and had to resort to join our group as his immediate colleague Ron was with us....
It was when it struck me that I was surrounded by so many new faces as the turnover rate of the non-academic staff was drastic as recently heard been quoted by our admin head, Old Hag as "dispensable consumable".
I also noticed that the new female co-workers are much attractive than their predecessors. If I am a single and eligible testerone-filled guy now I would sure be interested to hook up in some "office affairs"...ahem...anyway the whole dining was accompanied by the paino-playing of a lady from the computer department who really make the pun of "permanent head damage" in "Phd" all so true...
She got her Phd from Harvard but also suffered serious mental issues and now could only find solace in her music and she really was indulging in her moment for the entire time, can be scary looking at her showing off her trades at time...

The end was preceded by the gift exchange procession and the lucky draw of the "pot of $2 note" which was hand-picked by Hag herself and the total of $78 was won by LR from the protein side and finally he could afford to buy a month of legal porn instead of been caught downloading in the office...heehee.. yes he was the one famous for been caught in his act by his colleague...

All in all, our party got accolades from some people and the responses in the end wasn't that bad...

I was busy from the point of returning to the lab, trying to finish up the entire bulk of work within the shortest time possible and as expected my supervisor came in to inform me to leave once I deem it's right time too...
By 3.30pm, I grasped the breathing space available and made my escape from this version of Alcatraz before anyone did a last minute appearance to load me with more work on this eve of X'mas eve....

Japanese word of the day: 逃げた~ni-ge-ta~ (Escaped!) Before being embroiled in more mindless work...

Stand Alone Complex

22nd December 2005, Thursday

Not no relation with the cult anime series, "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex", but I am like a stand alone tower, braving through storms from all directions for the entire as both JxMMy & Bobby are absent as scheduled.
The workload still remains as high if not higher especially with the long X'mas break around the corner a lot of people just wanna rush through their projects before taking a long break starting on Saturday all the way to the 3rd day of the new year which is a common practise, I know I would if I have enough leave to spare...

There is our project to handle and as usual comes in 3 waves beginning with the batch the evening before, one batch done before lunch and one nearing the end of the day.
I used to be able to handle all without a sweat but only that alone without other distractions; however with my gym session occupying much of the lunch time, Bobby comes in useful in the one after lunch but now with him absent as well, the load can be exasperating to handle.
This is exactly why I urged YM and the rest to give that a break for tomorrow especially I would be preoccupied with the party in the morning.

The staff of the German collaboraters would be going on festive break as well but their dictator-like supervisor, mainly based in Frankfurt (reminds me abit like Hitler) is constantly breathing down their necks to finish up whatever left so as they could be in for the race to publish their scientific papers before other people jump the gun...which is why they had been in regular fashion sending their plates up for processing which is much reduced than the hey days.
Despite theirs are basically just stack on to the machine to be processed but can be a deterrance when you are in rush of time...

Then there is the lab over at NUS who always made use of our service (where JxMMy's former concubine No. 1 used to hail from) would send a batch of samples via cab (which would be illegal come January with this new biological law sanctioned by the government with a really inspiring name.. "BATA"). They were supposed to come yesterday which had Bobby sacrificing his usual lunch hour to anticipate their arrival..But no..they chose today when I am at wit's end...
Fortunately I advised them to come in the morning and not interfere with my gym session...

Last but not least the influx of samples from the in-house users which is much more than ordinary....urgh...and their constant interruptions when I am trying to speed up my work...once again triggering my tendency to commit a bloody massacre like my JC days..and I really don't possess that "dead"-style of hospitality to every mother's son especially those hailing from PRC who is expectedly weak in their command of English and yet always try to deliver their thoughts in that language when I try to hint to them time and again that I can understand Chinese perfectly!!

Fortunately the "uncle" from SeBan lab knew of JxMMy's absence and did not send any of their project material for analysis and the gift collection is as good as a deadwood today...

I trembles at the thought of what tomorrow afternoon would be like especially I got a strong premonition that our supervisor would secure us from work early...

Well at the end of this storm at least I can look forward to a X'mas of good food (which I am sure will put my work out to waste) and marathon of "Yoshitsune" and a new anime series I had picked up, "Shakugan no Shana" which I would be satisfied; instead of endless company of people I only bother to meet during festive season and drown myself in booze and got knock out the entire holidays...

Japanese word of the day: 嵐~a-ra-shi~ (Storm) Let's hope it would die down for a relaxing day of party and anticipation tomorrow.

Gift Exchange

20th December 2005, Tuesday

I am in charge of the "gift exchange" segment for the X'mas party on coming Friday and the barrage of gifts started to deliver last Friday despite the fact that it actually supposed to start yesterday and on my absence, Bobby did all his best to collect.... 3 gifts...

Seriously no one actually gives a damn about this age-old tradition in which non-academic staffs would restrict their own budget to $5 to get a decent gift to had a mysterious gift in exchange...

For $5 nowadays, it's hard to imagine what one can get...there were cases of toilet brushes and other prank gifts which can be deterring for those who painfully recieved them after pitting such heart and soul with their own contributions...

My colleagues & myself had never had any trace of interest to commit to such exchange, supposedly to bolster inter-colleague relationships but with the cruel nicknames we had awarded our colleagues, no gift can redeem our acid tongues....

This morning more gifts arrived and there were blank faces when they delivered, seemingly not expecting to be reciprocated with any nice novelty items on Friday, seemingly like just going through the motion.
There were also nicely wrapped gifts in elegant gift boxes which seems to me should had cost more than $5 on itself...
With a day left to collect I really doubt the gift collection box would exceed 30 gifts in total especially with a prediction of a bulk of staff going on leave on that day itself....

We were supposed to have a X'mas lunch between the 3 girls, me & Bob at around 11 plus; which prompted me to hit the gym slightly earlier today. I was accompanied by Bobby who himself was clueless of the lunch happening today, and left JxMMy with a full load of stuff to do in our absence...
After a 3-days hiatus, I supposed compounded with the facts of me suffering from lack of quality sleep as well as my mentality wasn't well set especially as we were in the race against time to complete by half an hour later, I was unable to even complete the time span of 20 minutes with 10kph as I was stumbling through fatigue half way through for the first time since I first started my work out regime which was slightly disappointing as I felt it wasn't a fruitful session despite once again sweating my ass off, and was staggering to hit the showers...
At the end of it, the girls still dared to mince their words of us being later than scheduled.
On the way to the nearby Andorra restaurant, we encountered Lance & Triana who themselves were ready to go for lunch and for a moment I was quite ashamed of our clandestine which blatantly ostricized certain personnel.

The lunch was good but together with that piece of log-cake I had later in the afternoon perhaps deem my burnt calories for today useless...
We managed to catch up on our ongoings for the while as once again we bitched about low pay, heavy load of work, lousy colleagues (JxMMy is a fool-proof example) and everything else under the sun...Talking about under the sun, the humidity was really affecting my dining pleasure but I wasn't perspiring as profusely as the novice waiter who is serving us perhaps it was his first day and the girls were teasing that he was sweating as he was awe-struck by the sight of the muscular Bobby and got aroused....

My afternoon is free of work as well as I first attend a meeting for my shared facilities as they are viewing the tender submissions for the incorporated web portal which seem Greek to me at first with so many factors been considered as an obscene amount of money was required. Then the guy in charge Joe made a sincere request for help in the later stage of the portal development which I felt would be a useful pawn for me to establish my future career so I agreed but wanted to recede abit as I felt I might not be as capable as they wanted me to be...well que sera sera...

Back to work, JxMMy finally found the opportunity to catch hold of me to impart the fragment analysis report generation which seems really dry yet hefty but I just bear through his dead teaching..and yeah his breathe stink big time today as well...sigh

Japanese word of the day:ギフト交換 ~gi-fu-to ko-u-kan~(Gift Exchange)I think I should just pay $5 for an economical breathe refresher to give JxMMy for X'mas.

No Time to even Take Pictures

20th December 2005, Tuesday

It's technically Tuesday morning just off midnight and I just got home from a rare day out with my lass...
It was supposed to be a casual day to settle some issues as well as do some X'mas shopping but the schedule was well-packed to even enjoy the decorations around town in conjunction of the season...

We started off with a visit to the bridal boutique which my lass had signed up just a couple of weeks ago.
Located along the rejuvenated shophouses on Tanjong Pagar Rd with some immediate competitors as neighbours, look like a pretty good deal with quite a lavish setup and the person who is in charge of our case, Kath is a flamboyant auntie with face laced with "old people's freckles" and had purple streak on her crown but was very accomodating to our needs as we enquire about details for our ROM as well as the actual day especially the gowns the bride would be donning...
The main designer is a sissy M'sian accent designer named Ivan who looks like your typical "Ham Chee Peng" hawker who loves to show people his butt crack with his hip-dangling jeans; however his impeccable design for bridal gowns is worth mentioning and I began hallucinating my pretty bride in the well-embroided gown walking down the isle.
We then went to recee on the groom's suits which looks pretty decent, most importantly I should slim down a bit to look better in black...
Then my lass asked me to try a trenchcoat which resembles a bit of "Shanghai Triad" but retrospectively resembles a loser magician...
After confirmation of some other trival matters like the make-up artist, flower bouquet & the bridal sedan...I mean car, we left for Plaza Singapura where we secured the tickets for "King Kong" at 7pm with the remaining vouchers my supervisor gave me for birthday gifts...

That was around 2pm, and we thought that we had 5 good hours to stroll and shop around town...which we were totally wrong....
We headed all the way to Wisma to begin our shopping expedition...
Surprisingly the fashion apparels this year is bleakly attractive and even the usual brands like Top Man & Springfield could not even conjure a shirt that I had my eyes fixed on uncontrollably...
Then we proceed to the main aim for Wisma..to purchase our wedding bands...
The Goldheart outlet is located along the crowded underpass linking to Ngee Ann City so it was not easy to manuveour around..Plus the store is just opposite Famous Amos, thus the smell of freshly baked cookies is terribly suffocating which is why the staff had to position a large fan on the ground to get rid of the pungent (too much of a good thing is bad!)
Our enthusiasim was efficiently extingusihed as we were awe-struck and left dumbfounded by the price of the pair of platinum rings skeyrockted to around twice the price we last saw in Woodlands.
There's a 20% discounts on wedding bands at the moment which is a rarity on it's own but still each ring exceed the budget by a good $400.
At that very moment, I got a feeling that the ring with a nice "Lord of the Rings" inspired elvish vine design is not really suitable as a normal wedding band...
This left a bad taste in my lass' mouth as she had no even interest to look at alternatives...
We then headed for Kino where she said she wanted to re-adjust her mood to check out on the rings again...
Of course if she really desires the original choice I had to oblige despite a scathing burn to me for my budget but as long as she is happy...
Fortunately she sees it my way when we returned to Goldheart as we go through a few other cheaper alternatives and we both agreed on a pair of amalgam rings of white and rose-colored golds which twined in a certain fashion..The grooom ring looks decent but the bride's one is really nice with a small diamond embedded within...
WIth some sweet words from the sales plus the fact that there was a sapphire underneath which is one of the few in this "Felicite" series as well as it seems like predestined for us to own the pair as the sizes were exactly fit for both of us...
We were rewarded with a $100 voucher for our purchase and I decided to let my lass to jump on the opportunity to get another piece of jewellery as she picked a pair of ear-studs which come in a shape of a bird's feet or leaf-like but all is good with all the discounts...
The cleansing of the newly-purchased jewelleries as well as the registration for the complimentary member's card left us with only an hour and half before the show begins!!

I had intended to indulge in a lavish seafodd platter from "Fish & Co." but time is definitely not in our hands as we even had to scurry down to PS via MRT and we still left with minutes to gather some other stuff we had intended to get...
In the back of my mind I felt we should not be on time for the movie as GV is famous for dishing an entire chunk of useless advertisment which always tend to end up starting the movie half an hour later; therefore we took our time to stroll to the theater only to be rue over the fact that the movie had began already with Jack Black as the director was wooing the poor and aspiring actress Naomi Watts to star in his film...
Seriously we didn't miss much as the action on the prehistoric Skull Island where our lead ape, King Kong reside began after the 2nd hour with nice action-packed cinematography by the famous master, Peter Jackson but there were many instances I felt familiar from the LOTR series...
Our primate lead was a fantastic actor despite being a CG made one and he definitely can deliver a better performance than Andy Brody..
I was captuvated by Watts' acting and beauty but I felt the movie went too much overtime and many viewers got restless by the final 3rd of the show...
We were basically fighting over the caramel-coated pop-corn for the entire show with my lass even urging me to ask for a refill once the supply ran out...

An eventful day that left me well exhausted by the end of it and we didn't even get the opportunity to bask in the lights and sound of X'mas decor along Orchard Road..

Japanese word of the day:高い ~ta-ka-i~ (Expensive) The unscruplous jewellers at the shop has no shame to jack the price up so drastically...

Bitter-sweet end to the Week

18th December 2005, Sunday

For the 2nd time in this wretched year, my life has been tarnished with the death of yet another hard disk...
This time round it is my portable notebook hard disk which I had acquired for less than 8 months ago...
You know how I irated I would get when some gadgets I held dearly in my heart malfunctioned so I was practically too fustrated to sleep on Friday night after I came home late from the company's X'mas party (which due to some confusion in the schedule we mistook the actual dinner to light snack and I left with a pretty empty stomach) as well as a short pop-by at La Tendo, only to find out my hard disk which was functioning properly when I was in office just could not be detected on my PC once I tried to analyze a file inside...

Therefore yesterday's afternoon, I made it straight to the shop where I got the HDD to do a diagnosis of the problem.
As I made it to the actual address of the shop, both me and my lass were bemused by the fact that the shop had been replaced by yet another shop. I was disillusioned with the prospect that I could just had to give up on my dead HD..which was helped much by the phone number on the receipt which they had retained since moving to yet another location within Sim Lim Square.
So I related my plight to the staff and she referred me to one of their Calcatta-based technician cum sales personnel who looked not a wee bit interested in helping as if my problem had eaten into his break time or something.
So the problem could be down to either the box (which is cheap and a much ideal situation I had hoped) or the disk itself (meaning I need a miracle to recover all my treasured files)
Somehow the worst had be actualized as my hard disk really died and under the 3 years warranty I could claim a new one from the Samsung Service Centre but I was in dire needs to recover my files which I heard from CS once that it would be possible but the staff was completely non-helpful when I virtually begged him for help as he simply put me off with a shake of his blockhead.

Fortunately I managed to contact CS who is always ready to render any help but in this case he was also not too positive; and felt I should had do backups of my precious files rather than depending on a rather flimsy portable HDD...
The Samsung Center recommended a data recovery expertise plying their trades in Science Park which was pretty near my workplace but I quivered upon hearing the price of a recovery of a 80GB HDD would cost anything from $200- $2000!!
No way I was prepared to pay that kind of obscene money even with the files I had almost impossible to retrieve..
Then CS buzzed to give me a glimmer of hope saying that he got lobang to get the job done for just below $100 which I really prayed would be true now...

My mood did get a bit better as we went for a shop at Kino before my lass left for her concert at the Expo in the evening.
Naturally my path would cross into La Tendo which is finally enjoying the usual Saturday crowd they had been yearning for the past couple of months.
Karen who came around 7 as she would be enjoying Chan and the rest for the screening of King Kong is getting cold feet for her inaugural trip to Japan later this evening and we reassured everything would be fine..

I left for Funan for my dinner with my Japanese clique.
As I had arrived with Cheryl and Foo already waiting by the entrance, it was apparent that Selina's recommendation of a quiet location to dine on a Saturday night is commensurate until a pack of boisterous teenagers hit the joint and set the place with high decibels...
Sel came only 15 minutes late which was a miracle by itself and was accompanied by her beau, Kevin who I am pretty sure might be a vampire because of the fair complexion and looks much younger than the last time I saw him.
Loke and Candy joined us a good half an hour later and we indulged in some catching up from our latest travels to job changes (especially Foo's new coordinator job at Discovery network as well as Jackson's sudden change of job from one he held for a good 7 years to selling Thai Buddha statues at Pasar Malam).
It was a good but rather abrupt catching up for us with even Loke & Candy joining the wedding bandwagon, and scheduled their traditional ceremony late next year as well.

I left for home glad to have meet up some close friends but bitter nonetheless with my hard disk which for once hope that spending a sum of money out of my shoe-string budget can be at least helpful to my cause..hell..even my budget list is now lost into oblivion...DAMN!

Japanese word of the Day: 落胆さっる~Ra-ku-tan-sa-se-ru~(Disheartening) It can be when such niggling issues arose to spoil your festive mood

I'll Do It Anyway

15th December 2005, Friday

Yoohoo..reaching the end of the week and I have 3 full days of sabbatical as I will be on leave on following Monday to do some last minute (and I really mean last minute) X'mas shopping as well as paying the bridal boutique which my lass had paid for a visit to check out what they have in store and catch "King Kong" which was pronounced as the highest grossing box office takings on a Wednesday opening...

Today is filled with "I do it anyway"...

My left knee cap is aching badly since last evening and I had contemplated on skipping the gym session but I went anyway since I felt amiss not going...and the bespectacled female Maly instructor who was picking conversation about my wrestling T-shirt the other day kept catching up with me today and speaking in her usual Malay accent yet a notable effort in doing some Americanized slang into her sentences, which at times I couldn't make out what she is blabbering about...nonetheless I feel like I'm a multi-racial chick magnet (hey Abang Abang sini makan goreng pisang~~)

After some weights which could be the reason why I am gaining weight despite my daily sweat out in my jogging, I hit the threadmill... I felt with both my knee-caps in not so fantastic condition, a good 9kph with 0 inclination will do..But Triana came for her 2nd jog of the week and knowing how high a speed she could achieve, I felt my belittled ego signalling for some showsmanship, so I went with 9.5 kph anyway...

The 1st 10 minutes was like torture and the next 10 I felt numb, and my ill-disciplined body kept crying out to my mind to slow down to perhaps 9kph at the 25 minutes mark...
As I was gasping for air, miraculously I crossed the 25th minute and my mind won the battle to made me continue at the original speed till the 30th minute mark, and thoroughly burnt a good 500 joules (is that the correct unit anyway?) of calories...

Later this evening there would be a company X'mas buffet plus performance by some of the scholars and staff of the other institutes as well as a X'mas tree lighting up ceremony..sounds cool and really in synchronized with the festive mood..but I got a sudden yearn to hit La Tendo as they ahd some stocks yesterday and I felt I should do my shopping today than tomorrow which would proved inconvenient for me to lug the toys to dine with my friends...

I guess I'll go after the buffet anyway and skip the darn light-up ceremony which was scheduled for 7pm...

With my leave on my Monday I had to entrust Bobby to take over that exasperating collection of the gifts from the non-acad staff for the party which can be a hassle especially knowing how busy a Monday morning could be..sorry Bob I guess I owe you one...NOT!

Japanese word of the day:心 ~ko-ko-ro~(Mind) My mind is making me do a lot of things I would not have done in the past lately...

The Primal Explosion

14th December 2005, Wednesday

"King Kong" the blockbuster movie by renowned Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson hits the theaters today and to commemorate the close genetic relationship I have with the black Goliath (of course with similar physique and the same initials in our names), I threw a fit only the giant primate is capable of this early morning..but I had been provoked from all directions...

It started with our original plan to register for marriage in mid March on a Friday but Mom remembered she would be going on a trip up north to M'sia on treat by a cousin (who has received like 18K of bonus alone this month which really hits my acupoints as I doubt I would accumulate that much bonus in a decade); and we had to come out with an alternative date which I suggest to my lass on the phone to the following Monday which would jolly well coincide with the arrivals of our Japanese friends from Iwate and I know that it would mean so much for them to grace our ceremony, for my lass that is...

On the train I was badly sandwiched by 2 typical PRC construction workers who once again has no regards to their personal hygiene, less the fresh air needed by their co-passengers...

Back at work I was like a puppet on the strings been requested to do this and that from BY (to book her work-out lesson since I would be hitting the gym before her) and from YM (who needed someone to carry the crucial step of her prep as she had to depart for a lesson on ethical handling of lab animals)..
The former smsed back to annul her work-out plans for the day, while I simply rebuffed the latter's request, stating I had things to do on my own as well...
Just then my lass buzzed my handphone asking whether I would want to dropby her friend's newly-renovated flat on Boxing day to scout on some ideas for our own...
Perhaps my original plan for X'mas is still to bum around at home doing what I like best while I feel knocking off her graveyard shift, my lass will be more in need of rest...
Perhaps she called at the wrong time...
I just bail out on that idea much to her dissent which was evident from the tone of her voice; however I did got back to her that if she really wants to, we will go...In the end, she herself feels that the 2nd day of 2006 would be a better choice since she is not working the day before...

I felt I had to wash out all these dampening mood and what better way than to go for a nice jog at the gym and at least the Malay female instructor there was pretty interested in my.... T-shirt with a strong professional wrestling theme and we held a casual conversation of exactly 1 minute before I proceed for my usual work out
It was at the gym that I got to know the winner of the inaugural family edition of the Amazing Race which is beemed direct via satelite and for all of you keeping the suspense for the repeat telecast later the evening, here's a spoiler, the winner comprised of 3 brothers & a sister and their family begins with "L" and end with a "Z" with "IN" in between..heehee

I thought I couldn't complete the half hour jog at 9kph speed but was glad I pulled it through with a whole bucket of perspiration generated to my delight..
However the water pressure in the showers is miserable and I had to scrapped whatever drip of precious water to have a soothing cleansing session...

The afternoon is a carbon copy of yesterday underlining how routine my simple life can be which brings me to conclude with some celestial informations Mom derived from some soothsayer/bomoh/witch doctor/medium she consulted last evening which managed to amaze her with how accurate he percieved me without knowing me beforehand...
He says that I am contented with simple life and might reject high paying jobs which I would ultimately grow to grudge about...true...
I will wish for death for people I hated..yikes..I'm not a Scorpio for nothing, can forget but never forgive...
Luckily despite how obnoxious JxMMy can be, I don't really hate him yet...so true as well from his words
My lass is described to be very likeable, very true...
I will lead a comfortable life as I grow older...hey I am not complaining now am I, though I wouldn't mind getting half of the bonus my abovementioned cousin is receiving...
Lastly he also said that I am "dashing"...in my plump kind of way....which definitely reflected badly on all the true things he mentioned above...

Japanese word of the day: ゴリラ ~go-ri-ra~(Gorilla) He never mentioned that I could throw a tantrum. match only by King Kong himself

Strange Premonition

13th December 2005, Tuesday

I had a strange premonition this morning as I proceed to work and in the style of "Lost" it actually was realized...
I took the direct feeder train from Yishun down to Bouna Vista and usually would not doze off till after the Yew Tee station which was like a good 5 minutes journey from the preceding Kranji station. The smooth, uninterrupted route is always anesthetic..However today I was still pretty much awake (perhaps due to the unplanned early sleep which thwarted my plan to work on my collage last evening).
To safeguard my place it is better to just close your eyes and even pretend to be in slumberland.
Just as I shutted my lids, I could visualize a very pregnant woman stepping on the the train from the platform of Yew Tee MRT station which is a valid reason to be a Good Samaritan to give up my prrrreeeecccciouuuuuusssss (in the tone of Gollum) seat...
For a split second I opened my eyes, and there it was staring in front of me is the bloated abdomen of a very pregnant woman who just stepped onto the train...
I may be had the strong desire to snooze on board all the way to work, I felt it was only right to give up the seat as the Naval Staff Sgt on my right and the China-auntie reeking of strong medicated ointment on my left would never be in such kind fashion ever....

Well perhaps of the good deed I was in much jovial mood this very day, breezing through my work and worked with an extra spring in my steps...
And a good run during gym session ensures I am fully energized for the entire afternoon (only to sleep early in the evening much to my rue)
I was also able to do the 1st of the series of collages for my webpage to commemorate X'mas and hopefully could be put up by before 12 midnight as I wanted to do it daily before it hit X'mas eve, so today is actually 12 days before X'mas eve (I'm such a DORK!)

Back home yesterday evening, Mom reminded me to check if I could made reservation for the Registry of Marriage for a date in March (by right it has to be 3 months before in case of popular dates like let's say Valentines) which I blatant forgotten again...
She then bugged me about giving some part of my bonus to appease my future wife and whatever not claiming that it is to assimilate the woman's nature which I was completely not in the mood to condescend especially when talking about money...
Anyway seems like all the festive celebrations would really take a toll on my already-tight budget..with a forthcoming dinner with my Japanese-loving clique this Saturday and a demand from Mom of a pizza for dinner on X'mas day, I would now have to have another $100 available which was supposed to be other purposes, gotta find else where to scrimp from now..

Japanese word of the day:予感 ~yo-kan~ (Premonition) Wait I got a premonition that the world might come to an abrupt end by 2036 when a huge asteriod hit the earth...

Sanｔa Claus is coming to town?

12th December 2005, Monday

Year after year I had been whining about the lack of X'mas mood as the retailers are banging on one of the few occasions when people would splurge on gifts for their loved ones, especially with the bonus is in the accounts...
Each I tried to get into the festive spirits and tried to concot some special get-togethers between friends which in most cases things left a "bad taste in the mouth" (READ: 2002)
But this year especially I am not getting in sync with the whole X'mas thing...
Perhaps my mind is focused to much on my forthcoming wedding and I may have other divertions...

But it could perhaps the lack of quality company to spend with...
My buddies whom I had spent the last X'mas (sorry not the Wham, give you my heart shit) engaging in a long night of PS2 playing are not preoccupied with their own stuff either overseas or spending Quality Time with their other halves.
My lass would be working the whole sale once again during the period so no romantic get-away...
The original get-together for my past and present colleagues didn't manage to struck into the right gear as I intended and I managed to put on the "emergency brake" just in time...
Karaoke at those Japanese lounge which you can indulge in the latest J-Pop tunes would be an absurd idea as we had that twice before and it simply cost us a bomb...
My family ain't no Christians thus no hoo-haa about any celebration (which brings to the point that hope that some of my staunch religiously-inclined evangelistic friends would not invite me to one of those shows about their religion)
Of course I would not wanna booze and party all night long (ooh yeah Lionel Ritchie) and waste my entire X'mas day away...

The humid weather returns to give you one of those tropical X'mas atmosphere again....

So basically I would just hide inside the comfort of my room and hopefully I will have enough episodes of the latest Taiga drama obssession of mine, "Yoshitsune"... and that should really save some money...

However some of the possibilities would be the acid-tongue gang from my workplace might dropby on the eve itself for a simple get-together.
Vincent also had invited his Kagoshima youth club gang over for a potluck party on X'mas itself and I got the invitation from Weixian but highly unlikely that I would attend as I doubt my La Tendo clique would be going as well as Karen who is leaving for Japan this coming Sunday would only returned on early boxing day...

I got a sudden surge of yearning to get gifts for people like my host family back in Iwate with beaming approval from my lass as well as a little something for my supervisor which I managed to get Bobby to chip it, so those two are on the list for X'mas shopping next Monday as well as X'mas cards, a pair of sports shorts for my work out session...

Talking about working out, I believe almost the entire lab hit the gym this afternoon with Bobby joining me, captivated by his weights as usual while YM went for that free classes as usual and even Triana came for a run on the threadmill and my god, despite her diminutive frame, she is packed with stamina, as she ran a total of 40 minutes at an average of 9.5 km/h, simply put me into utter shame...

Well the grouping for the World Cup Finals was out on Friday evening (German time)...
What an exciting Group C would be, labeled the "Group of Death" for 2006 at the expense of the team I support, the Netherlands.
Seriously Marco Van Basten's would need to work extra hard to milk anything out from the likes of Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro & Ivory Coast...
The former is of course the hot fave being the seed of the group while the Serbs with the likes of Stankovic, Kezman and Kovacevic cannot be taken lightly...
Ivory Coast has Didier Drogba of Chelsea, enough said....
Brazil, England, Spain, France & Germany got very good draws...
But Italy is facing a hard group on its own with the Czechs breathing down their necks...
So as badly as I want my Oranje to left their inaugural title, I believe it would be a tournament for Brazil to lose...

Japanese word of the day:パーティー~paa-teii~(party) So good not to be invited to any this X'mas, if not I would be in douldrums on how to reject those that I am not attending...

Gains & Losses

11th December 2005, Sunday

It's scary to think that X'mas is just barely 2 weeks away and I think I still have much to do...wanted to do a X'mas collage with my toys collection for the festive season to decorate my webpage, however still stuck with all the raw materials...

Had an indifferent weekend with some happy gains and petty losses...

Saturday:
The morning was simply brightened by a parcel sent to me by my buddy over in Osaka. Actually it was a set of trading figurines based on an anime series within another anime series..it's complicated but I guess no one really care.. The purchase was done back in late October and the delivery was slightly overdued and despite knowing the contents, I felt it was an nice advanced X'mas present...

I also treated myself to an early X'mas splurge at La Tendo on Saturday, actually just happened that the stocks arrived are filled with items on my wishlist with budget allocated. There were a few impromptu buys which could really resulted in some loss in my bank accounts but knowing myself I would try to figure out ways to fill the holes created. But my gain with regareds to the haul was simply the sacred satisfaction of purchasing things I had yearned and a feeling I am said to be addicted on and binging for on a weekly basis.

Despite a transient period spent with my lass who knocked off at around 8pm and had to wake up at the wee hours of 5, was sweet as nectarine and we got to interact face to face instead of through wires which I do not hold high regards for. The theme last night was once again about the incoming wedding and the progress is that the ROM date is highly likely to be in March as my parents unanimously harped for.
Chatted with my buddy online and my lass made sure I conveyed her request to make sure he is back for our ceremony which as mentioned before that he might has a chance to miss if work arises. We also contacted Jing and Ed whom we felt should be good for "brother" and "sister" troop...
So last evening was a great gain of quality spent but the main loss has to be the defiency in sleep time as I had to force myself up by 6 to walk her to her company bus pick up point under the soggy weather, pretty romantic though...

Sunday:
Went to Siti's wedding ceremony in Choa Chu Kang as planned...
Loss in time to spent on doing my personal stuff, money on the gift, transport etc.
Gain in...food? The food was not up to standard seriously as I would expect much better for a Muslim wedding banquet, but perhaps I was fussy..
Gain in...company? Hmm... I had to snubbed that once more as it was good to see some of the people at work outside of office hours but even so we would whine about the situation at work that can drastically ruin all the good mood..got to see some ex-colleagues who had departed for greener pastures such as Has & Diane formerly of SeBan's lab...
Got home by 4 and had a big gain in terms of updating my webpage as I multi-task myself to watch all the anime series I had stored while taking snapshots of my toys collection to be posted online...

Bracing for a long week ahead once more....felt a loss of precious seconds over the truncated weekend...

Japanese word of the day:損失 ~son-shi-tsu~(Loss) My buddy's famous quote is all so true.. "You'll gain some ,but you'll lose alot"

Toning Down For the weekend

9th December 2005, Friday

The construction around the MRT station at my workplace has been continuing become a pain in the neck for me.
First they demolished the original overhead bridge which served us so well all this time and put up a scaffold like intermittent one which BY always felt would one day collapsed (*Touch Wood!*) which is like 700 miles away from the original one and not one you would really wanna take when you are in a rush...
This prompted people like myself to jay-walk across the busy Bouna Vista Road hoping to save their few minutes at least..of course the incidence of a deadly accident is high, so the good people from perhaps LTA and perhaps the construction company decided to rig up fenced barricades over the area which we always referred to as "go-go-go" (the acronym we used when we felt it's safe to dash acorss the road)...now walking to the station takes a total of exactly 4 days instead of 10 minutes in the past...bummer....

Back at work, YM's roller-coaster mood got an upturn as she is busking in bouyant aura, happily interacting with Triana, the new attachment student (her name I think is Zi Yue) and yes even Lance, which is an extreme twist of the episode early on in the week.

I had un uproar in the morning with regards to the poor quality of the results overnight which really wasted all the efforts we had put to prepare it. Adopting the role of detective which JxMMy is so well-versed off, I came out with some speculations (which are all wrong) and throw in some solutions (which really did work).
And of course replendishment of a crucial consumable which was promised to be sent by yesterday afternoon which never came. Then realising the sales-person handling is none other than MPD who can be the least professional and remotely responsible, sent me into an uncontrollable fit, bawling out to demand her to make sure it is in by today...

Partly of my pique in the morning could really down to the fact that the various muscles all over my body is aching like there is no tomorrow.
Especially my left bicep's tendon to the fore-arm is so painful I can't even stretch out my left arm straight...not to forget the ability to engage in everyday activities like taking off my tops (which requires my arms to be straight) as well as carrying a 5 litre full of water needed by the "white elephant" robot which is a usual routine of mine.
This really indicates that how badly toned up my body is with a stark absence of regular work out...
However regardless of all the aches, I was still inspired to go work-out which I believed had finally got the discipline kicked in...
Ran a good 40km on the threadmill today...using a manual program at 7.3 kph for 30 minutes with an inclination (much like resistance) of 3...
Sure it was tougher than yesterday and by the 20th minute I was contemplating of slowing down but only minue 2 minutes of the mark..which still makes me pale in comparison to the auntie beside me who I believe jog like for 30 minutes at higher speed as well...I feel wretched at the moment...
What's worse my work-out session ended prematurely as I badly sprained my right pectorals while doing the after-jog crunched which left me cowering in agony outside the gym..HA HA SUCKER!

Got a news that there would be an admission slapped for the gym come next work year (around April)... I knew it..all good things don't last..simple business strategy..first they feed you with the goodies and like drugs once you cannot live without it, they charge you exorbitant price for it ..well if the price is reasonable (let's say 50 cents one time) and I actually like the concept of working out during office hour, I might consider continuing patronising them...

Anyway I feell my aged body should take a rest over the weekends with things to look forward to:

Saturday: Finally get to meet my lass after a week or so since our banquet arrangement...well she is work ing on Sundays this month as well with overtime even on Wednesday plus the entire X'mas been sacrificed for her work, I gotta treasure every second spent with her as I doubt we will be seeing much of each other tille next year...

Sunday: Going for SIti's (from the neighbouring lab) wedding banquet. As much as I enjoy going to Muslim's wedding (good food, no need to big an "ang pow") I was taken about how staunch her parents and relatives were regarding the proximity of different genders especially strangers you had not seen ever in your lifetime. Thus for the whole celebration there would be 2 distinct sections, 1 for male and another for female and completely no interaction..For me I would be completely in solitude as I would be the only guy representing my lab (JxMMy was invited and doubt he would attend and even if so, me and him ain't exactly the best dining partners)..
Then there were other restrictions like only bright colored clothings allowed, and no sleeveless, revealing outfit and mini skirts which prompted BY to throw brickbats over but it is not as if she would wear those kind of clothes right?

Japanese word of the day: 筋肉~kin-ni-ku~ (Muscle) Wanna see that "rat" under my sleeve?

Making up for the Absentees...

8th December 2005, Thursday

My arms are aching nonchalantly as I am typing this post..more on that later...

A relative quiet Thursday not because of the lack of bustling activities but there are several prominent absentees from time to time...

Bobby went for his escapade to Batam..Although he claimed that he is going with a band of friends as well as her girlfriend, we cannot take away the possibilities of him indulging in some promiscuous flesh trade..heehee...ignore me, just in a mood to throw proofless allegations on people today...

YM left before lunch to accompany her sister who has fallen ill to the doctors when with around 10 days of leave left to expand within the next month, she could jolly well take 1/2 day off everyday from now...

Our supervisor herself was off attending a dental appointment the entire morning when I intended to present my initiative value once more as I would propose a methodology in bulk ordering of a few consumables we regularly expend for our hefty project for Se ban...

I myself did a Houdini's disappearing act, 5 levels down to the gym once more as I tried running on the threadmill as mentioned yesterday.
The high-tech gadget we had here is pretty idiot-proof with buttons for you do choose whether you just want to burn calories or a more hectic cardio work-out.
I picked the former program and the screen led me through a series of information analysis such as which age group I belong, how many minutes I want to run, and at what speed.
I did a 20 minutes at 5kph but as more people started to utilise the same machine beside me I felt I couldn't contain that big ego in me and increased the timespan to 30 minutes and raised to the maximum of 7.3kph.
So there I was struggling to jog, hoping my heart would be pumping like it has not been for a while and the adrenaline rush...my heartrate been monitored by the sensor that I was mandatory to hold on to..
Of course the lack of the forces of the outside environment is obvious as I didn't really feel the strain of doing the jogging even 20 minutes into the schedule..no build up of lactic acid on my thighs, meaning I could actually go on much longer and only my arms are the main part of my body been perspiring profusely which is why i kept juggling with my towel to wipe them clean...
So after 30 minutes of regular run and 5 minutes of cool down jog, I clocked 35km (as stated on the machine) and feel the speed might be a bit slow..I'll try more rigorous cardio program tomorrow.
As mentioned in my Remedial Training in the past, I quickly did some crunches and situps to ride on the fact that my body is still burning calories away, so as I could really curb that huge abdominal area of mine.
The whole session today took around an hour and I felt pretty revitalised except for the strain on my arm muscles after the weights yesterday...hey I'm getting the hang of things...

My day actually didn't start well realising my favorite footballing club failed to move on to the knock-out stage of the UEFA Champions League...
Placing in a group with the likes of Villareal, Benfica and Lille, with no offence to the rest, they should have breeze through...
But 2 "0:0" draws with Villareal and a draw & loss to Lille, Man Utd is left depending of the vital final game at Benfica to "make or break" for their passage through.
Their recent form has been great including 4 straight wins and some senior players are back and their opponents missing 5 key players, it should be a forgone conclusion despite playing away but with a wretched twist of fate the players couldn't contain their Portugese opponents and lost 1:2...
Not only did they fail to make their mark, they couldn't even enter the UEFA cup as they languished at the botttom of the group...sigh
To add salt to their wounds, they have to see close rivals like Arsenal, Liverpool & Chelsea making it through without breaking a sweat...
No wonder Sir Alex's head is on the chopboard very soon...
Well some optimistic supporters would say at least the squad can concentrate more on winning the league this year..2 words "DREAM ON!"...

Japanese word of the day:　消える~ki-e-ru~(Disappear) Hope my tummy could do a disappearing act as well.

High on Endorphin

7th December 2005, Wednesday

More marital updates for this midweek:

1) For like 3/4 of yesterday my lass had been on a scouting trip to Tanjong Pagar (near Vincent's UHN office) which is a haven for contemporary bridal boutiques. The first she hit was Z Wedding D'sign which took up much of her time as the outspoken sales personnel was convincing in her presentation which manage to throw in many items including a bridal car, gowns and suits for the ROM day, attire even for the bridesmaid, best man and even the parents; all at a price well within our budget which is a reasonable fraction of the price quoted by the lavish Irene's Creation at Delfi with much more to offer. She also went to scout on Ted Wu's boutique who produces avant garde design for bridal dress and gown but at a price half of 10K which deterred her at the instant.
It was blatant that her choice is leaning towards Z Wedding and while the original idea was to bring me down a couple of weeks later to have a look and pay the deposit, she "jumped the gun" by agreeing there and then and paid in off her own accords.
Although I would be footing the bill, I actually was glad she found one bridal shop that she likes and from the web page it does seem quite impressive...and all those added enticing perks...

2) As followed up to the plan to meet up the Japanese clique for a dinner later this month, I contacted the likes of Foo, Jack and Selina. I was really grateful the former did not hesitate a bit and agreed to help me out as a "brother" for the actual day. And while informing Selina that I would have good news to share for the dinner; she popped the bubble by disclosing my good news and said that I had mentioned to them the last time round..me and my blabbermouth...
Then I got to know that she would be holding her wedding next year as well with her beau for so long now, Kevin.
And by coincidence it would be a couple of weeks before mine and thus by some Chinese Ying-Yang auspicious rule from the sacred book of the Mountain of Zu, we cannot attend each others' wedding due to the 6 months buffer period (3 months before and 3 months after the date of your own wedding)...
But we do share any sentiments when it seems like the fact that every mother's son will be getting married next year for sure, so all of you out there with friends at the right age of marriage, prepare a monthly budget for "ang pow" money...

3) In tune to the motto of "looking good for my wedding" as well as keeping a healthy body (feeling very lethargic lately), I decided to take up a personal work out regime.
I decided to pay the staff exclusive gymnasium at the lobby of our building a visit for a light work-out today...
It looked pretty small from the outside but when I am in I was startled by the sheer area it encompasses..
The friendly staff guided me to the male changing room where the allocated locker is located and I suddenly felt if the fitness center for the NS-men RT sessions is as good, I guess people would pay to attend...
I'm no fitness guru and never intended to be one, I just do some weights that focus more on my upper torso and do sit-ups & crunches for the abdominal area which I seriously need to trim. Of course for someone who for most part of his life detest gym and all equipments within, I was doing perhaps mostly the wrong way which a female instructor was there to guide us along.
For the early part I was perhaps the only one around doing weights and BY & YM who came back minutes after me went straight to the threadmill for a short jog of perhaps around 10 minutes which I didn't notice them sweat a bit, thus becoming skeptical that jogging on the threamill is half efficient than jogging in the wide open when the heat and humidity would make sweat (alalalalong~~)
Anyway I was totally gasping for breath after a 2nd round of weights and proceed to wash up and felt actually quite good...
And on advice of Bobby is that I should do some cardio workout, so as skeptical as I am, I am thinking of giving the threadmill a try tomorrow.
So I hope to cultivate the daily workout habit with this facility free of charge to staff of our company with weights on odd days and jogging on even days...
Well hope I can have enough discipline this time round...

Lastly something not so related to my wedding, my lass actually agreed to pay for a complimentary ticket to a long-awaited concert for her favorite English boy band, Backstreet Boys' one night only concert in SIngapore after a wait of a decade too late...
I actually agreed to tag along as it was not the untalented, over-rated & narcissitic Taiwanese brats band she favored so much (which by the way she exchanges her shift work to work on X'mas just to be free to attend their concert later this month).

And secretly I used to play the BSB's cassette of my sister back in my younger days, crooning to the tune of "I would never break your fart..I mean heart" as I was longing for the affection for my crush that period...and trying to reprise the role of Nick "whose ass is twice as big as mine" Carter...ooh yeah and I haven't touch on my PJ & Duncan's "Eternal Love" story...heehee

Japanese word of the day: 運動~un-dou~ (Work out) so that my ass would not grow as big as Nick Carter's

Calling Truce

6th December 2005, Tuesday

Yet another wonderful day at work without the morale-sapping presence of JxMMy and I even took over his side project under Se Ban gracefully without a glitch under the mentor of Bobby. Well if we had mastered the hefty report generation for the results, I'm sure we can do without his presence foe a prolonged period....

YM returned after her half day yesterday and that episode when she broke down due to whatever that had been bothering her yesterday. She claimed that it's the indifference in working partners but Bobby felt skeptical about it, insisting it had to be some relationship problem (as he accompanied with a very chauvinistic sweeping comment "as there's the only problem bothering girls").
She was quick to update me that LF (with a gallon of whining included) won't be coming for the X'mas get-together and with her personal dissent with our newer work partners, she does not felt compelled to come as well.
Great...so much for sparing a thought for the organiser....
Well at this point of time I myself felt discouraged by the ongoings as well and calling it truce with the whole party thingie, saving me some money, my mom's efforts to cook up some dishes as well as a half day leave which I was planning to take on that day.
I can take a complete day the Monday before to go out with someone who appreciates me more, of course with my wife-to-be, for a movie date for Peter Jackson's new blockbuster, "King Kong" and some X'mas shopping.

Last evening managed to catch the pilot episode of the new Taiga dorama series, "Yoshitsune" starring none other than one half of "Tackey & Tsubasa", the only other Japanese actor that would made me turned gay other than Nagase from Tokio, Takizawa Hideaki.
This warring dorama which depicts the life chronicles of a legendary hero named Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his accomplishments with his eclectic but glit-edged band of vassals. Of course the star power which could be paralleled only by recent Taiga series (the last I had been captivated and shed a few tears have to be the 2004 series,"Shinsengumi").
The cast includes several method actors and aristrocratic veteran actors in Japan and of course popular faces from the acting and even music scene including Matsudaira Ken (Matsuken Samba!), Abe Hiroshi (from Trick), Goto Maki, Ueto Aya,Inamori Koizumi, Koizumi Koutaro (PM Koizumi's son), Oguri Shun (Hanazawa Rui!) and even Densha Otoko himself,Itoh Atsushi...
There is much nicer cinematography this time round and teh narration is clear and crisp and with proper subtitling, this is really like a very efficient history textbook with even a trivial at the end of each episode.
Of course the improved editing from NHK which give us a sneak preview of what to come as Yoshitsune turned manhood and his realization that he is under the Genji bloodline which got me all excited, only to realise that I still have 48 more episodes to cath up..DAMN...
Nonetheless hope to stock up enough episodes to keep me entertain this X'mas/ New Year period...

Japanese word of the day: 取り消す~to-ri-ke-su~(Cancel) Think I'll still get mom to cook all the goodies despite cancellation of the get-together to stuff me as full as a turkey on a platter over the festive season...