Triumph in Tampines on Silent Night

25th December 2006, Monday...X'mas

One X'mas Monday spent in the comfort of my home, recuperating from a late night exertion celebrating the festival with some of my closest friends hours prior...

On the eve of the day to commemorate the birth of Christ, we began our celebration to one of my missus' university chum, Lisa who previously resided a block behind ours and now in a new flat with her hubby in Toa Payoh and they were very much eager to show it off their high budgeted renovations...
Then the meteorlogical phenomenon which Karen's Korean idol was named after came in the ultimate version and we were kinda stuck in TPY before we could proceed to Eng Kiong's place as it was starting to subside...
We had intended to take a direct bus ride from central to the east of the island but the missus was feeling slightly under the weather and we hailed a cab instead...

The choice was pretty justified as we got to EK's place pretty much shielded off from rainwater though we were bamboozled by the design of his block which is like a weird Tetris block...

Karen and Miyano, the other members of my team were already there and we were prompt to begin plotting the downfall of our opposition who set their base at La Tendo for the afternoon in the game of charades.
While Karen got a wicked list of movie titles which the easiest might include the likes of "Crimson Tide" and "The Truman Show", we took efforts to get some really tough anime titles and idioms from the internet...
From 6 to 9, while Corin and Yanhui were kept busy in the kitchen cooking up some vegetarian delicacies including my wife's famous golden vegetarian "Kong Ba Pow", Miyano started to keep buzzing her hubby and gang to hurry close operation of the shop and rush their way over...

They eventually did just past 9pm and it didn't take long to get the party started:



The food though looked as limited as those WF exclusives but was very much enough to go around especillay it got Vincent and Bryan full, though the latter was down with flu this festive season...


All the presents are placed nicely under the tree with everyone anticipating their prospective one

We kicked off the games we had concocted for weeks now with charades as the 2 teams went to their designated room to do a last minute preparation before squaring off against one another:



The white team which comprise of the Chong brothers, Thomas Vexar, Kev-Kwa and Reedy weren't really look like a winning squad with the exception of team captain Vincent and Mr Chan...


This is the best example of the winning group with similar style T shirt...


The respective captains clarifying the final rules...


Ferris began the ball rolling with the movie category for their team




Chan was deemed to be the star player for their team and got his team-mates engrossed with his performance


The youngest member of the night doing a dedicated job to score for his team



Despite his conditon, Bryan was close to get his team-mates nail the answer for "crimson tide"...



Perhaps his team-mates had "geat expectations" towards his performance, but Reedy like any other people will have problem with the word expectation.




Vincent certainly was the star player of the team and his performance for "Exorcism of Emily Rose" was truly classic...


Ferris once again with "Jinki Extend" for animation titles...


The red teams start their marauding way with Karen



People like Corin and Yanhui starting to have more faith in their abilityas the game progress...


Miyano was pretty good as well, but she was at her prime best when coming to provoke her husband and his group...

AFter 3 rounds as well as the bonus one, our team was in majestic form and score twice as many points to our opponents, much due to our merciless selection of questions which proved so much more difficult....

The clock was ticking closer to midnight and the chimes could be heard from the nearby church and it was time for gift exchange...



From Karen to Yanhui, a cool Swatch watch and shower foam from Victoria Secret (didn't even realize they produce those)



From me to Karen, Calvin Klein Escape for women and 2 DVD worth of J pop mp3s



From Vincent to Miyano, a 2 GB Creative Zen MP3 player...


From Chan to Eng Kiong, a LG DVD player which is most suitable to be placed in La Tendo


From Bryan to Corin, a stylish Puma carrier bag


From Ferris to Chan, the leather slling bag he had hoped for...


From Corin to Reedy, a backpack with a Tim Burton's Twisted Mind notebook


From Ferris, Karen and La Tendo to Kevin, Gundam plastic models
From Chan to Kevin, a Yonex badminton racket.


From Miyano to Bryan, a 1GB Sandisk Thumbdrive


From Eng Kiong to Ferris, a nice short-sleeve business shirt


From Reedy to me, a Logitech gaming-suitable mouse


From Yanhui to Vincent, a Picard wallet


From Kevin to the 4 bosses of La Tendo, Samuel & Kelvin T shirts



From La Tendo to everyone, more Samuel & Kelvin T shirts...though I wish it was Cospa




Yanhui's birthday happens to fall days before the eve and we took the opportunity to celebrate for her as well and it was a nice hazelnut cake courtesy of Karen

We then played the number game and finally the racing game for the losing team to recuperate some points while decimating our points but people were getting weary and the points were too much to catch up and eventually Team Red got all the honours and we shared the Kino vouchers which was the prize kitty for the night...

We had planned to stay over at EK's place but the humidity was not something we could tolerate especially after the rain...

With transportation, we all could go back and the hosts could have a good rest with Yanhui having to work on X'mas morning and the rest of us to glue to our own bed till X'mas afternoon..
All in all, a wonderful time spent with the clique and everyone went home well satisfied!

Yuletide Yawning

21st December 2006, Thursday

On Tuesday, our little tropical island recorded the 3rd most rained day in 75 years of history in meteorological archives with 365mm which is more than the rain poured for the entire December of 2005!

I was lucky I had managed to avoid places like Olive Road or some part in Admiralty which was suffering with flash flood...
The constant raining though bring inconveniences when proceeding back and fro from work; it did brought about nice, cool weather which mirrors the autumn weather in some temperate countries which is most suited with X'mas just round the corner.

The nice, cool weather also make me wanna curl up under my futon-style blanket and waltzed into my dream world... which can be the precise explanation for that persistent yawning I had all day long...

Then again I am like counting seconds to knock off before indulging in my 12 days away from work before coming back much refreshed from the sabbatical on the 3rd day of 2007.
I have generally have done up what supposed to be done which was most deserving after 3 hectic days of mad rushing to get what I set out to do this short week at work.

With 2 days remaining to the highly-anticipated X'mas party on Sunday, I have came out with a list of things to keep me on my toes for the next 2 days:

1. Seasons Greeting on my Home Page: I have been decorating my page with interesting tribute to the holidays with my figurines as the heralds of the greetings. I have came up with some idea for this years' greetings and I will try to lay them out tomorrow with this being top priority.
2. Gift Wrapping: Gotta come out with the 2nd gift for the gift exchange and hunt for suitable wrapping materials to ensure the person receiving my gift will at least be appreciative with the wrapping even though he/she might not like the gift itself.
3. Finishing watching Akihabara@Deep: I am like half way through since Chan passed me the series last Saturday and this absurd but surely not tasteless dorama which lampooned the life and ordeals of "akibakei" maniac/otaku surely is a commendable effort with me anticipating Daruma's cosplay for every episode while smitten by the fighting maid, Akira. I also just realized that both Page and Box are members of Johnny's Jrs, showing that despite their background, they can immersed themselves as otakus without breaking a sweat.
4. FM 2007: There's no need to explain but I will surely clock another few more days of game playing whether its X'mas New Year or even End of the World...

I am also hoping to do up more for my webpage including the ranking of my collections for the past year but I have next week to contemplate with...

With such weather as well, everything looks really rosy to spend yuletide, just cooping at home (much like a confine-in maniac) and watch this eventful year comes to a peaceful end...

Will give an account of the party next week as well as reviewing 2006 from my personal point of view soon... akan datang...

Japanese word of the day: 猫及び犬 (Cats & Dogs) The rainy weather is perfect for stay-in otaku unless he/she wanna stock up on his/her indulgences.

Friends Turned Foes for X'mas

18th December 2006, Monday

During the badminton session on Saturday, Karen generously passed each of us (gaki Kevin included) a Nike wristband, perhaps a pre-X'mas gift for everyone...
Since the La Tendo clique had been in such sporty nature lately with a weekly sport (usually badminton) outing, it surely comes into great usage...
Being an ardent One Piece fan, it wasn't a surprise that she eventually overturned the interior of each wristband, revealing a cross sign she had meticulously stitched onto...
Fans of the manga-anime series would recall the Alabasta storyline when the Luffy crew in preparation to prevent Mr 2 (the gay ballet man) from doppegangling as either one of them with his ability, they drew a cross on each others' left hand to easily differentiate the real and the doppegangler...
In a touching scene when the crew left Vivi to set off to a new island, they raised their arms to prove that the princess would eternally be a part of the crew as well showing strong "nakama tamashi (spirits of friendship)"...
The La Tendo clique had slowly molded ourselves to model after the protaganists of One Piece though I would need plastic surgery and lipo-suction to look like my idol, Usopp...

However this coming X'mas eve, for the grand prize of $80 Kinokunya vouchers, friends might turned to foes for one night only...
We had divided ourselves into 2 teams (red and white in tradition of the NHK kohakku song competition) to bid to outdo each other in the game of charade and perhaps at another game which Chan had suggested...
Of course, there are many other games in store which will pit every man/woman for themselves...

Personally I don't like to be a loser and I would participate in any game which I felt I have no chance to win (i.e. the Football Manager series) and thus I will have to put friendship aside and even to my own wife, to get the top kitty..heehee
However I never have sufficient luck to win games of chance, so it might bite back on me...

On Saturday at the shop, almost the entire clique was present with the exception of Bryan who left early in his best attire for a date (I supposed) with a special someone for a Corrine May concert at Esplanade, surely romantic...
Miyano came and we started mocking each other team's capability to win the games...
My team comprising of my wife, EK and his spouse, Karen and Miyano should have certain advantage to our opponents yet it will be hard to tell..especially when the conniving wife of Vincent gave me a call yesterday night, informing me that the other team is already plotting their questions for charade and a sense of arrogance was felt when Chan didn't give us a sniff and even offered us spare questions if we needed...

All in the name of fun and surely make everyone anticipate the party even more...

A short week for me at work as my long hiatus begin this coming Friday, thus I would be quite anxious to finish this current project at hand yet hoping time flies by for the next few days...

Kinda tight with budget therefore might had to scrimp if thinking of more X'mas gifts for other people including my buddy who took an effort to get me a COSPA T-shirt from Osaka where he would return today...

Japanese word of the day: 競争 (Competitive) Hey have to be...we aare talking about $80 Kino vouchers here...

Shopping Euphoria

12th December 2006, Tuesday

It's perhaps a hormonal reaction in-build within us to be submerged in the feeling of sheer ecstacy when simply splurging your hard-earn money on materialistic indulgences...
which was exactly what me and my missus had yesterday...

After a weekend when I was too engrossed with the new version of Football Manager (the 2007 edition) in which my ugliest side (I just can't lose) & went rampage at times with my fictitious football team's incompetence (which makes you wonder why I am still chronically addicted to the game), we went all out for a day of mindless shopping extravaganza...at the same time watching our savings been decimated into oblivious...

Most the items were basically in our needed list such as electrical appliances like a domestic cordless phone as well as a hair-dryer or new pairs of jeans though it was supposed to be my need for jeans and turned out she bought a couple of pairs as well after the honey-coated cajoling by our regular jeans supplier from Queensway Shopping Center...

We had intended to just shop along the stretch of Orchard but got time enough to stay within the vicinity of Takashimaya where we had some vouchers from a recent opening of bank account as we witness the phenomenon of late X'mas shopping with the eve barely 14 days away but still it wouldn't be as bad as when u venture shopping centers from 22nd onwards...
Likewise in the case of the jeans, she got fragrances as well when it was my prime objective...

More European cuisine for a dinner to commemorate our anniversary (of becoming an item, yes we still have to celebrate that), but this time no more nauseating German meat overdose but some nice pasta and pizza from a familiar Italian restaurant, Prego at Swissotel Raffles Hotel which I had a nice 25% discount voucher as well from my insurance company as a complimentary for birthday...
Then the root of evil arrived when we lugged our haul down to the new extension in the basement "Marketplace" of Raffles City and stumbled upon the New Balance boutique outlet which was having a 20% storewide sales...
The devil side of mine tore all my budget sheets into shreds as a new pair of shoes and a new slingbag, a couple of items etched within my wishlist for my forthcoming Tokyo trip but now managed to get what I am pleased with yet definitely cheaper to get locally...although I do not exactly the budget for it in this manic end of year period when I had been overspending with gifts and meals-out...
My lass followed suit with a nice carrier bag to top her rampant purchase for the day and she had got the cheek to inform me that she has no budget to adhere to...

With that mountain of items, I suggested taking a cab which is totally opposite to my usual stingy persona though we forbidded the idea to call for one which is a norm in town in evening when somehow you are at the taxi stand and there are zillions of available cab for hire but all are waiting for their station to buzz them of prospective customers on the booking for that extra few dollars.... it's sad...

At the end of a full day of shopping led me to go through my budget so intricately, I put auditors to shame seriously...

Anyway all these talking of shopping, put me in that same shallow wavelength of his Beautiness whom I was expecting to see in town especially his usual gay haunt of City Link and on his day of leave...But I did met a familiar face in LF who was out enjoying some harmonica concert on a Monday evening...

To conclude this post on insuppressible spending, my old man succumbe to his temptation to get this China-brand car in the off-season format, thus the financial burden wouldn't be too suffocating and let's hope they don't regret it by the end of the day...

Japanese word of the day: 消費~shou-hi~(Spending) Sometime something inside just makes you wanna spend...

Live Music!!

3rd December 2006, Monday

Finally we are into December and I began the month with a bang literally as the loud music, the confetti and visual effects happening in my 1st ever paid concert got my eyes opened and my ears veered on Saturday evening....

Just months back, my missus insisted me accompanying her to watch the concert by Emil Chau Wakin to commemorate his 20th anniversary in the music business...
I tried rejecting the idea but didn't had the heart to disappoint her once more, so I meekly agreed...
Seriously this singer who's music I grown up listening to is like one of the few performing artists out there you will not detest and it transcended all age groups...
His family man image and his passion for the music he composed and of course his tendency to forget his lyrics and his infectious personality got everyone hooked...
Of course after the mid 90s when he was at his prime, his appeal waned in recent years but by the attendance of the concert at the indoor stadium told another story...

The crowd shown a very family affair with aged grandparents and even parents lugging their young children...
My lass bought the most expensive ticket there was to offer which cost us (more like her) a cool $300 but the view we had by the side was pretty much worth every penny...

Forseeing that he had the tedency to over-run his concert, the event organizers stated the concert will begin at 8pm and getting everyone seated by 7.30pm... and he did not showed any prima donna personality, perhaps bursting into the rather small stage which was cozy enough to house his band consisting of 2 guitarists, a pianist, a sound effect keyboardists, a drummer, a bassists and 3 back-up vocalists...
But on the other side a 20 men/women string ochestra which I really like as well as a pipe-guy since he dabbled with saxophone, clarinet, flute and other pipe instruments...

While the music was blasting for a while , it got better when the ear-drums got accustomed to the high decibels...
I liked the huge screens hanging on the ceiling which had close-up shots of Emil while he performed, though a nanosecond delay from the live act but at least there was lyrics for people like myself who wasn't too familiar with all the songs to hum along...

Upon beginning, he assisted a rather wooden guy to propose to his lass using one of his famous number which concern getting married...
The pudgy bride-to-be nonchalantly agreed, as if she was forced by circumstances when her unromantic beau was having stage fright despite Emil's comedic assistance...
There was anothe dude along my row who started proposing to his own girl while the song was rumbling, which got the crowd around them abuzz...
It was a cheap way to jump on the bandwagon..well if it is okay for such a leecher to be your husband, then good for you lady...but I find the act rather disturbing...

Our crescent-faced singer was having a bad flu which can be deduced from his voice and constant sipping of herbal tea along the stage..but his overwhelming enthusiasm to perform won everyone's hearts and he was assuring everyone he had still many classic tunes yet to be sung while our watches were screaming 11 plus...
The last segment fetaured all his best hits from the 1990s which really got me going and his ability to strum his guitar while crooning was eye-catching...

All good things must come to an end as it did around 10 minutes to midnight when he bid everyone farewell with a fitting finale after thanking his hardworking musician crew and all the sponsors while around 2/3 of the crowd was gearing to stream out of the stadium...
My wife, being a seasoned concert goer as she is, was expecting an encore and wouldn't budge unless convinced that the concert is over while I hustled and coaxed her to leave like Cinderella at the Prince's ball by midnight...

We managed to catch a feeder bus to Yio Chu Kang which expedited our journey back and save a few dollars for transport but overall it was a great night to hang out with one another and of course with Emil...and it might be my last concert-going due to how expensive concert here would be unless L'Arc~en~ciel or SMAP hit town which is as close as impossible...

For the rest of the weekend was a carbon copy of last week with a badminton session, lunch and then to La Tendo where I splurged indiscriminately and had to lug my haul to the concert...
Was supposed to meet up my buddy TW but got a change of plan...
Sunday was when I stayed home to bask in my indulgences when my mind started bursting with ideas to make my monochrome life a bit more colorful as the missus was feeling a pre-Monday blue in the evening, kept claiming to want to take MC...

Selina sent me her online photo album for her recent trip to Tokyo which includes an on-sen ryokan trip at Hakone with her beau, Kevin and it got my Japan-loving hormones raging like wild rush of adrenaline this morning...
This week at work would generally be dictated by how fast BY and Seegeta can prepare the samples for me...but overall I felt there might be some delay from the previously postulated time of completion as they would be only less then 10 days at work after this week which is a bit tight for me...

The radio stations are starting to churn out X'mas carols to instill some festive mood in the air...and perhaps we should be starting to get into the mood soon...

Japanese word of the day: コンサート~con-sa-a-to~ (Concert) I might start stripping and dancing like a mad man as seen in the concert on Sat if Laruku actually comes to perform locally...