It comes back in a full Circle

19th April 2010, Monday

17th April 2010 proved to be a real eventful day for the sleepy town of Singapore...
The preceding evening was well soaked in the torrential showers that spitefully arrived every single day during knock off time.
I did made it to Salon de Uno earlier than my stipulated appointment, and managed to get my highly active follicles well groomed by 7.30pm when the missus came to find me straight off work with no appointment planned.
She was to accompany to CS' place after dinner as a rather last minute gaming session was coined with PL's dinner appointment gave her husband some lee time to hang around with his gaming buddies on a Friday evening.

Thought it might be a great session to banter about unraveling the mystery behind "Heavy Rain" but TW's intention was to indulge in PES as usual which we did.
It was well fine but just become slightly too repetitive while a sudden phone-in interview for the host definitely hindered the progress.
At least the missus found her own form of entertainment but I felt bad putting her, who was still recovering from her chronic cough, through this despite it was her choice.

Saturday began not so bright nor early but one could sense the entire neighborhood roasting up for the grand reopening of the Hindu temple across the road which spelt road closures around our place.
It was crucial to start with a hearty breakfast and that was what we had at Starbucks as we were both bought by the strong aroma of freshly brewed Java.

The long awaited 3rd phase of the Circle Line was in operation on that fateful day.
Of course it should cut the traveling time to La Tendo, 19 minutes to be exact as indicated at the route inidcation board before Chan and I took our maiden ride from Bishan Station.
In the end with umpteen prolonged halts (notably at Paya Lebar), it added up to around 25 min which is around the same time we usually waited for that godforsaken Bus 16 in town on Saturday anyway.

Love the Noah's Ark style architecture for the Stadium station though with the ganrty at only one end does not make much sense.
The cement on the footpath to Kalleng Leisure Park was barely dried when we got there, highlighting what a hush hush job it had been.

The opening of the train station surely saw a stark improvement in the human traffic as the store was swarmed almost 80% of the time we were there.
Of course they held a 20% storewide sales helped matters too but the 2 concerts from Taiwanese acts certainly played their part to bring in the crowd.
Like my merchandise-crazed wife who spent close to 300 bucks on the increasingly stale 5 men Taiwanese band, it was easy to spot the hordes of concert-goers with their sparkling new official T shirts on.
The downpour in the afternoon nearly jeopardized the open air concert.

Closing to the final hour of operation, Karen made her appearance after going very quiet on the net and in appearance lately.
She would be getting her working visa in a few days time and the flight to Seoul is imminent.
The crew had intended to catch "Kick Ass!" which Chan had been raving about though my utmost intention was to catch the Manchester derby live with TW.

My buddy who was in the midst of a nice dinner with his missus had thought the match would be at around 9-ish when in actual fact the kickoff was around 7.45pm.
He did say it was likely to catch the Chelsea-Spurs game which kicked off after midnight.
Therefore the plan altered as the movie kind of fell with sprawling interest.
Left for AMK for dinner with yet another meal at Popeye's fried chicken, certainly look to abstain from it for at least a few months.
Bryan was gloomy for most of the day. Made to slave on a Saturday, drenched from the shower and then perturbed by the price of the Macross F Ichibankuji that he felt was not justifiable despite a strong desire to own the figurines.
I wonder if the deep fried chicken could do much to help 'cos the score at City of Manchester Stadium certainly couldn't as his beloved Poo's archrivals looked on course for a possible 19th league title after a Paul Scholes' injury time header deflated the host in laser blue.

As TW mentioned during our journey to his place after dropping PL at her Dad's in Bishan,
"When I heard GOOOALLLL! I knew there would only be one team who had scored as Man City has no fan in Singapore."
Great words indeed.

There was a filler known as "Blacburn vs Everton" to keep us preoccupied before the big one at White Hart's Lane.
Seemingly a scrappy game at first but Blackburn scored a couple of screamer including one from TW's fave player now at least because of the sheer flair of his name, Steven Nzonzi, yet end up losing to lucky Toffees.

Prior to keepoff of the big match, the missus arrived with a seemingly sore throat and high from the adrenaline rush of the live concert.
It was really nice of her to chaperon me for the 2nd night in succession when she would be bore to tears with the proceedings, plus the match would likely ending by 2.30 in the morning.

So the game ensued as we built up with our undying loathe for the likes of Terry and Cashley Cole.
It was befitting that Spurs was the team on form and the star man was defender turn winger Gareth Bale.
The Welshman had transformed his form of late since the days of Spurs-will-lose-when Bale-starts.
After Jermain Defoe hit a powerful spotkick off public enemy's No.1 John Terry's handball, we were celebrating like teenage morons.
Spurs were dominating play the entire first half and deservedly go 2-0 up before half time, from our fave Spurs player now Bale.

Second half was even more exhilarating for us with Drogba cramping his groin muscles before kick off then by my mouth of voodooism, John Terry actually got sent off for 2 yellow cards.
Chelsea was in the doldrums and we were basking in their plight till a late rally which saw Lampard reducing the arrears when we had our hearts in our throats.

Definitely a great night if you are Man United fans (esp when fellow title chaser Arsenal also lost on Sun) but Spurs under Redknapp is definitely dazzling and truly hope they make it into the Champions League.

So a wonderful Saturday ended on a great note as we sort of rekindled the interest in the EPL as the season runs in... Everything like karma will comes back in one full circle, John Terry oughta know..heehee

Japanese word of the day: 円(Circle) Life though cannot keep spinning in circles

Orchard Road, Almost Unrecognisable

14th December 2009, Monday

Heading down the final stretch before basking in my alone time at home, no usual hustle and bustle in the train, no gay sashaying from the Beautiness, no unreasonable bullcrap from Shitty Green etc.
Seriously I had not been looking forward to a period of clearing leave as of this year with workload almost asphyxiating at the tail end of the year which drove me to the wall.

One lingering problem would be that I might not be able to complete the things I set out to do during my "retreat" especially since I starting to adopt a laissez faire attitude and let things unfold daily as I welcome the new year.
I definitely need plenty of discipline and maximise the limited amount of time at hand.

Over the weekend, there was supposed to be a mini La Tendo clique meet up at Kinokuniya main branch in Ngee Ann City which imploded as none of them showed up as it transpired, leaving me and the missus just have a glimpse of the chances in the facade of the new lease of life in Singapore's premier shopping street.

It was well documented that a lot of attention drawn away from the road that people expended wads of preciously-accumulated dollar notes rather than just plucking apples and other fruity contemporaries.
However since the exciting development of ION Orchard which really changed the landscape at that part of the Orchard road for me, it was soon joined by the likes of Orchard Central, the reincarnation of Specialist Shopping Center, soon to be complete Mandarin Gallery, a prime shopping stretch before Mandarin Meritus Hotel, the extension for Paragon and now the new boy in town Somerset 313.

The newly constructed malls were aggressively as they leaned precariously close to the main traffic unlike the older siblings like Ngee Ann City and Wisma Atria which were receded inwards.
By better making use of the land, these malls actually have more space for the big boys in retailing to hog their square feet of space.

The whole feel as I think I mentioned about ION Orchard definitely ascended Orchard Road to be comparative to the well known shopping districts in Asia or even the World, the immediate one that I had thought of would be Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.

However while the external was glistering (especially with the Christmas ornaments), the real deal as in the choice of retailers had not been too swashbuckling.

The new wave of retailing focus on the premier brands as the Nouveau riche from China and of course Indonesian expats can pour their wealth without the need to travel great distances, only to be despised for their crude behaviours by the Europeans.
Of course the local caught on the fever in this materialistic climate but seriously how many can afford a diamond-studded Franck Muller timepiece which worth half a million?!

The second wave was to bring in novelty brands which had been rousing in other parts of the world, sometime back to Singapore.
GAP tried its best but not good enough, Muji somehow reached his plateau in terms on recapturing the local buyers but the star of the moment definitely belonged Uniqlo.
The ambitious affordable clothing line which made its staple stronghold in Japan looked to win the hearts of fad-crazy Singaporeans who definitely was allured by the slew of megastores opening around the island.
I had been a big advocate of Uniqlo, known for its durability and offering good style at a reasonable price; but even now I just abstained of visiting a branch when I head to Japan.
From the papers, while new food business ventures are sprawling around town, others like Wendy's and TGI Fridays are making a comeback to give us more selection over time.

While it is good to see new faces in the retailing market, the shopping option in Singapore is still very limited in terms of selection which really became exhaustive once you get around.
The usual Mac Donald. Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Watson, Guardians, City Chain, City Optics, G2000, Comic Connection, Old Chang Kee , so on and so for really left little for imagination and Singapore shoppers, being highly conservative yet the fad chasers do not wince at seeing the same shit over and over again.

Nevertheless it's the season to splurge even though we ought to stay frugal and be stringent with the expenditure but one can't help himself/herself, the real damage will come this Saturday when we actually take the time to search for the suitable purchases...

Japanese word of the day: 流行 (Fad) Are you a newborn Uniqlo sucker?

Meeting Neil

2nd November 2009, Monday

So October went with a whiz and November arrived with what promises to be a month to meet celebrities sandwiched by the event that never failed to retract the strain of perkiness in me...In-camp Training.

As mentioned the weekend was one I had to get used to having the entire apartment to myself.
It was Halloween and gusty wind and incessant raining plagued the latter part of the day.
There was a relentless wrong number from a young lady so adamant that someone with a name I had not heard in my entire life was living here.
The ringing was persistent to a state I had to lift the handle of the phone in my parents' room to get crazy girl off my back.
From this experience, I knew I hated to be alone in the house, especially in the evening.

I had major plans for Sunday.
First to La Tendo, then perhaps China Square Central where Chan was publicizing for his new trade before making my way to Victoria Hall where the Neil Gaiman symposium was held.
The evening was set to have the Wrecking squad gathered for a chat session including having a look at the pictures me and TW took from our respective Japanese trip.
However most of the plan went down the gutter before daybreak.

CS got a bout of fever which saw him bedridden so he was out of the equation.
TW then told me he could pick me up at Bishan, which meant that I can put La Tendo on the backseat for another week.

In the end I was fetched at Ang Mo Kio as he had time left after dropping his new bride to her father's place.
The usual jam on CTE was hindering our smooth ride but we were way ahead of schedule.
By the time we had reached Funan Center where he parked his father's MPV, we had an hour or so to burn.

So we just strolled around the IT Mall and mainly had a glance at what's in store in the game shops.
Then we had a chat with some beverage at Jolly Bean when he gave an insight of his much enjoyable Japan honeymoon which saw him and his missus traveling from Kansai to northern tip of Japan and then to Kanto.

Before we knew it it was 1.30pm and we made headway to Victoria Hall which was stone throw away from our location.
It was blatant a queue had been found which followed the perimeter of the authentic concert hall.
The event as we queued for the tickets weeks earlier was meant for 300 persons or so but now it inflated in volume due to overwhelming popularity of the author whose works transcend many media including comic and movies as well these days.
The final tally of people attending the question and answer session was close to 900 as it filled the hall to the brim.

Neil, in his signature curls and black outfit met with vociferous cheering from the country he labeled "highly organized".
He gave us an insight of what he had been working on, including a "Journey to the West" self journey project, his short film and breeding of honey bees back home in the States.
But in his usual morbid fashion, he started rattling off about having no regret if he was to lose his life from an tragic airplane accident as he was one of the few people in this world who had accomplished almost everything he had set out for.

In an exceptional eloquent fashion, Neil Gaiman was not as reserved or moody as one expect from his style of writing and his stories.
He could keep rattling on some of his past experiences and some of his view which never failed to perk up the driest topic available.
His encounter with the legendary Hayao Miyazaki when he had a day off from his "Stardust" premiere schedule in Japan was really a dream comes true for many and we felt it could be the fact that great artists then to adhere nicely together, the likes of Gaiman, Alan Moore, Miyazaki, Yoshitaka Amano etc.

The Q&A session was pretty short (thank goodness the few questions from our local cohort was pretty deep and came from extensive research, thus not pulling the face down of fellow countrymen) as the bulk of the time would be taken for the autograph session held outside Art House and Neil was ready to indulge to the request to all the hundreds of ticket holders even though only one item allowed for signature, that would look to take a long time.

A long time indeed as TW & I were near the tail end of the beeline which stretched to where the famous Sir Stamford Raffles statue which marked where he alighted was.

It was exceptionally humid with sporadic glare from the unsympathetic sun, but fortunately it remained reasonably dry.
The long queue did not look very much like shrinking for the first hour and the crew was kind enough to offer everyone packet drinks to recover some bodily liquid lost through profuse sweating and saliva waste from chatting; much like that crew behind us.

The group led by this guy in insulating turtle neck sweat top spoke with a pretentious American accent but later we found out to be from Hong Kong.
When a friend came identifying them as "Death", "Desire" et al, we knew this group of cuckoo-head surely had took the obsession too far.
Throughout the queue, they went on talking shit literally about comic and something else which we did not bother to decipher but every enunciation just got on our nerves.
It did not make things better when they kept shoving TW on his back.

After 2 hours we barely got near the facade of the Art House building and we deduced that Neil was signing very patiently.
We also made up many possible situations from which the crew would cut the queue just before us and then continue straight after us.

Before we knew it was 5 plus and Foo who agreed to meet us for dinner had already arrived at Funan Center where we supposed to rendezvous at 5pm.
Upon hearing we were queuing for Neil Gaiman, he got enough premonition that we most probably could not make it in time and left soon after.
It was a wise choice as by 6.30pm we finally got int the front pouch area where we named as the "White Arch of Happiness".

As tired, hungry and mentally disturbed from the incessant conversations going on at our rear, teh sight of Mr Gaiman at the autograph booth just bring our spirits up.
Apparently he was a very obliging author who would fulfill your request of an autograph, handshake and even photo-taking.
The last part we felt we could do without but the way he made every signature so special had made the wait well worth it and one could now understand why he is known as the "superstar" in the literacy scene.

By sheer surprise, the main guy helping him keeping the flow of items to be signed as an old Navy training mate of mine and as we were too engrossed speaking about how wretched Navy ICT can be I had forgotten to shake Neil's hand but it did not matter.

By 7, we left for Funan Center well satisfied and in need of food.

After lingering around to search for a Swensen outlet which was not there, we settled for Mac Donald which was the fastest as he was running out of time to fetch his wife.
He guided me through his daily adventure in Japan and despite me making such great number of trips to the country myself, I was still captivated by the places they went and the food they had.

Sadly he could only stop at day 7 before we left for home on a Sunday which was hogged by 3 hours in a long, unmovable queue in front of a group of over-the-top chatty Neil Gaiman fans.

Japanese word of the day: (雑談 Chat) Some people just could not shut up

Not Your Average Singaporean

22nd October 2009, Thursday

I think I am a sore thumb that stuck out in a land which conform and condescend.
A land where people tends to just follow a fad and find its cool to follow what people like.

There's nothing wrong with it of course but slowly you will lose your self identity I feel.

There are many classic examples of typical islander around me and of course I still communicate with them in all modes but there were times where I felt I was not intrigued in certain level when talking with the "drones".
Of course on the flip side I can't be possibly befriending and liaising with people with their staunch interest and ideology, there would be exasperating for sure as well.

Over the course of the past 2 decades, I had been molding myself into a sort of Singaporean who develop an eclectic taste though it was not as arty farty as it seem but I just do not think I fit into the general public somehow.

I had been reading regularly of late on my daily journey to and fro from work.
Neil Gaiman who would be in town in a fortnight's time had been the author I was focusing on and after growing up on "The Sandman" and later "Stardust", I was a born again Gaiman fan for sure and looked to pick up more of his novels (not many actually as compared to graphic novels).
With my growing interest in writing I ought to read more to expand my literary skills and style of writing but I detest going to the library and can't possibly keep buying books.
Let's see how things go from there.

I like Gaiman's rotten Americanism but his spooky tales from the old Victorian English period is appealing as well.
My interest on the 2 major English speaking nations across the Atlantic was immense.
Of course I love the American style of satire and ridicule humor. "South Park", "The Office" and even talk shows like "The Late Show with David Letterman" are important dietary essence in my current well being.
Hollywood films be it blockbusters or indies, be it romantic comedy or at times mystery adventure (I steer away from horror and grotesque features), I am always looking for movies to keep me preoccupied.
However I tends to sneer at big money productions which drones are inclined to watch.
As much as I refrain from "Dragonball Evolution", I still paid good money on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra".

I love English dry humor as well though strong accent can be a deterrence.
Grew up on children show and comedies like "Mind Your Language", "The Black Adder", "Allo Allo" and "Goodness Gracious Me" from Thames or BBC but these days the spectrum had been much limited.
Ricky Gervais' sitcoms are always welcomed and I would pay good money to watch his standup comedy while I fancy Simon Pegg too.

I always have a strong inclination towards the colorful European cultures perhaps firstly from watching professional football and of course food as well.
I love world cinema and European affairs are high on my list as I tried to catch as many interesting films from the great continent as possible.
Quirky French films have to be a favorite of mine.
I would love to pick up all major spoken languages in Europe and tour all prominent cities inside out, perhaps that's for the next lifetime.

As I cringed at how fabricated the Koreans are, developed some sort of a loathing for the Chinese and found Taiwan and Hong Kong too one dimensional, Japan had always appeal to me that other East Asian country could not.
Of course visiting the lovely nation on yearly basis and having lovely friends there help to bolster the affection for the country many in their 60s still could not forgive for the atrocities of the second World War.
Anyway I am a sucker for their history, their geography, their current affairs, their food, their traditional culture, their pop culture, their fashion trend, their literature, their language, basically I am a walking Japanophile as somoe might claimed.

Many local who as mentioned riding on the crest of the fads might had pledged allegiance to the Korean scene now, I had always been dedicated to the sushi-inventing nation.

Of course I do not follow blindly and there are still many aspects of Japan that does not appeal to me, nevertheless it has plant a seed in me and now reaping the harvest I am sure.

Sometimes I wonder listening to classic J pop songs to accompany the writing of Neil Gaiman is the best combination but hell it worked for me.

Then our budding nation of Singapore, the place where I call home.
The place which I hope could be less of a heat cooker or less sardine packed crowded everywhere.

I am not 100% patriotic. I don't agree to all government policies nor I like most of everything here, be it TV, avenues for entertainment, taxes et al; but I have no qualms about staying here for the rest of my life.
It's a nifty place if you want a peaceful, monochrome life, even commuting day in day out with drones.

I am an amalgam of the good things I fancy from the West and the East while highly contended with everything going on for me on the incredibly hot island of Singapore, I am just not your average Singaporean that's for sure.

Japanese word of the day:アイデンティティ (Identity) I fel mine is a bit smudged, in just the way I like it

Money is Paramount in Singapore

11th August 2009, Tuesday

After a wholesomely welcome 3 days break, it was back to work with the usual routine and getting my body to shape after nights of snacking on some junk food which had plagued my personal life the past few months.

On Sunday, our budding nation celebrated its 44th birthday with the usual shenanigans which the old man pointed out much to the ire of Mom who felt he was all too negative but in truth he was part of a whole nation of disgruntled old men who felt the government had robbed them of something yet they would just complain vociferously on the sideline, knowing it was a lost cause anyway if they band together and went on a rally or something.

I had no love lost with my country, finding the place simply too restrictive and cramping our style but patriotism had never been in my blood maybe perhaps in sports.

One thing for sure our little red dot had been well fortunate to be sheltered from natural disasters like how Taiwan, China and Philippines had been bracing themselves from Typhoon Morakot.
With my cable TV package filled with Taiwanese cable news network, we had been exposed to the atrocities of how Mother Nature can create as torrential rain pelted indiscriminately from the south to the north of the island nation, resulting in monetary loss and of course loss of human lives.

Speaking of cable TV, while we are only going to be introduced with the high speed fiber optic cable connection in the near future unlike some nations like Japan who had laid it eons ago, we just had to make do with the typical cable provided from Starhub.

To me having cable connection for internet and paid TV subscription is paramount to living in a place like Singapore.
Once I realized the connection level of my apartment had been unstable since 2 weeks ago, I was prompt to engage the technical support from the service provider who responded in a speedy fashion to my satisfaction.
The outsourced technician recommended relaying of a new cable connection after finding my old one which was laid before the major renovation had been done to my nuptial room seemingly was the cause of the reduction of connection power.

A pair of friendly Hokkien-speaking Starhub-sanctioned contractors dropped by on Saturday morning and resolved the issue which luckily needed no major relaying of cable and now connection had resumed to the optimum.

The job needed to be paid and in addition to some unforeseen usage of money such as a couple of nights ago when I paid my respect at TW's late grandmother's wake, I saw my original plan to hold the fort in terms of expenditure been thwarted.
Certainly in Singapore, money is almost everything and one just simply go living off beyond their limit.

Now with the missus burdened with her car loans as well as other financial commitments for her mode of transport, I simply had to be the one footing the bill when we are out whenever possible.
Sometime one will wonder if a bag of money would drop down from the sky out of the blue.

That was simply a madcap adventure in the Dream Academy's National Day production "Sing! Dollar" which had a run at the Esplanade Theater and we had the opportunity to watch it as they extended the run over the National Day weekend.

I was first attracted by the play due to the stellar cast including funnymen Hossan Leong and Kumar, 2 names enough to buy anyone over.
Plus the Dim Sum Dollies (Selena Tan, Emma Yong, Pam Oei), Lim Kay Siu, Najip Ali and DJ Sebastian Tan, you have like who's who in the local theater scene honing their comedic skills.

At the end we had a great them simply floored by the antics they pulled on the stage even though our seats at the 2nd level balcony can be a bit strenous to the neck but as Kumar said we can just not been cheapskate and buy the more expensive seats right at the front.

With the backdrop in Geylang, the story was about greed of our kinsmen plus ribbing at how stereotypical we are with regards to people who traveled great distances here to earn some money (like Kumar's Bangledashi worker character, Emma Yong's Chinese prostitute Lan Lan and Pam Oei's reprisal of a Filippino maid).
The story which was scripted by the truly talented Selena Tan also intertwined many contemporary issue like the Mas Selamat fiasco, Reverand Ming Yi's case and even an uncontrollable rib on the Temasek Holdings.
With Kumar and Najip in the line up, there were always going to be referance to their recently deceased hero, Michael Jackson.

But overall the play was in right tempo, the songs were well receptive, the props were adequate and even spectacular especially the Chinese temple pillar in the last scene and of course the performances of all 8 actors simply wonderful.
Sadly I think Hossan was over-shadowed by the rest because of his part, nevertheless it was a great way to spend the Saturday afternoon with my wife.

It definitely had more entertaiment value than "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" which we caught with some of our La Tendo associates in the evening.
At least the film by Stephan Sommers who gave us "The Mummy" and "Van Helsing" was much watchable than the Transformers shit.
Funny to see how the kid from "Third Rock from the Sun" (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) had transformed into a hideous mad scientist and eventually as the manianical Cobra Commander while the benevolent pharoah from The Mummy (Arnold Vosloo) who become a shapeshifter who like to whistle kids' songs.

A play at the Esplanade with local flavor, a dinner at Carl's Jr, 2 movie tickets, some collectibles from La Tendo, some snacks for the remaining of the weekend and fuel and parking for the car and the budget for the weekend was blown out of proporation.
This is surely living a Singapore Dream.

Japanese word of the day: 帖当(Pledge) Did you say your pledge on 8.22pm on National Day?

Not the Best time to be in Singapore

25th May 2009, Monday

Friggin' hot is an understatement of how the weather is like for now.
It was so warm and humid even at night when air is still with almost no breeze even when you are outdoors; I would start sweating even through the mere process of respiration.
It was time like this you have to thank Mr Willis Haviland Carrier, for the invention of modern day air conditioning.
Don't know what I'll do without it.

The previous week ended pretty nicely with my renewal of contract after the bloating of the bank account, at least it is another 3 years in the same job with much security unless I committed a grave error at work or the department got disbanded *TOUCHWOOD*.

A wake, a wedding banquet and a dinner with my in-laws occupied my weekend.

It was supposed to be down to Jalan Besar Stadium for Friday night football but a sudden change of mind made me decided to attend Vincent's Grandma wake at Jurong West instead.
The change of mind was largely due to the fact that the chance my team making a triumphant return was pretty bleak (which they did, by sheer luck) and it was galvanized by the fact that my usual partner-in-crime had totally looked like turning his back on watching the live football.
I cannot blame him altogether as the time could be put for better usage that watching listless footballers dishing out football to treat insomniacs.
I was rather perturbed by his lack of interest thus far but the words of my missus who on a day off from work and gave me company on my way home off work soothed me, stating that it had happened before and most likely will occur again.

So off to meet some friends who might be truly worth my effort on the humid Friday evening which was partly the reason why I was so cranky before we set off to the west.
It was also one of those rare occasion I had hoped we had our own car...that's a story for another day or maybe not.

The whole gang with notable absentee Chan who was caught up with his night shift again, had arrived in force to show final respect to our friend's paternal grandmother who might has passed on peacefully, nearing the centurion mark.
The entire Buddhist style wake was pristine and peaceful. Despite all dressed to the occasion (no flashy bright colored clothings), the mood wasn't too somber as the gang unleashed the chipmunks in them, chomping away on peanuts and watermelon seeds the entire evening as we chatted heartily mainly on Vincent's lack of neck (a topic in warmly inititated by his other half), Vincent's judo club adventure and his trophy-winning swimming era as well as how I advised EK to slap Steven Gerard when he and his Liverpudian chums came down to Kallang Stadium in July.

The entire gathering concluded close to 1 in the morning and the intention of watching "Night at the Museum 2" hadn't even been brought up.

Saturday was pretty laid back as of these days Saturday and Sunday mornings were filled with rerun marathorns of episodes of "Friends" which was already shown on weekday evenings.
I wonder if it was an addiction or it had become a part of my daily routine that I still religiously catch this sitcom together fellow classic NBC "Must Watch" entree, "Seinfeld" despite I can already memorize the lines.
Each viewing still never fail to tickle my funnybones....

Andy's wedding banquet was held at Carlton Hotel which is located in town, Bras Basar to be precise.
Beside having to enter the ERP-gantried region, the traffic can be intoxicating as we had to travel on the longer route to avoid a sudden twist of traffic jam when we boarded CTE.

It was a poor attendance for Andy's banquet from our side but we did have a rare appearance of Johnny who we hadn't seen since our own banquet back in 2006.
The even more shocking cameo was Kenneth who couldn't try to stay on time of what the invitation card has stated like he did during Edmund & Jing s' banquet.

I was non-chalant as usual in front of my University friends as usual and it was well-documented how local wedding receptions always bore me to tears with the same usual shit.
But at least the company was quite interesting this time round with Sherry being the joker entity while Kenneth always up to his old devious way to try to sabotage the newly-weds.

The bride came from some "Lam-kee" clan which I postulated to be from Hong Kong but now spread all over the world with her parents been residing in Mauritius, and looked very eloquent and outgoing, certainly not like most local ladies I presumed.
There was a 3 men band crooning endearing romantic tunes with the groom himself dedicating Ronan Keating's "When you said nothing at all".
Then like what the Caucasians would usually do, they got to the dance floor (or how limited the space before the stage) and did a slow dance with their parents which was something different than the usual perhaps.
There was also the apearance of a Mediacorp actress which perked our interest a bit.

Sunday was mainly back to my new hobby of writing before joining the missus and her whole family down to the newly renovated Sembawang Shopping Center for dinner at "Fish & Co.".
It was apparent she really basked in a rare opportunity for a family dinner with her family and surely is a happier time than those tumultuous years before our marriage.

One time Premier League title contender Newcastle Utd, a luminary of the early days when Kevin Keegan was in charge and earn the adoration of a growing herd of fans in Singapore for their gung-ho attacking style, was relegated on Sunday together with their Tyneside rival, Middlesborough.
Both had been despondent the entire season and in the case of the Magpies, even the return of the prodigal Alan Shearer as the stand in manager couldn't inspired them to escape the drop.
Their fellow relegation contenders, Sunderland and Hull City weren't exactly putting a fight till the very last day as all 4 sides lost, surely not in the same wavelength of those days when West Ham valiantly battled to the 40 points mark and yet got relegated.

A late viewing of "Troy", one of the Blu ray I bought recently very much ate into our sleeping time, ill preparing us for the long work week ahead which she lamented.... as usual.

Japanese word of the day: 時間の無駄 (Waste of time) Apparently some friends are a good waste of time while others are definitely not

3rd Consecutive ASEAN Cup for the Lions?

2nd December 2008, Tuesday

The 7th ASEAN Cup (previously more affectionately known as Tiger Cup) or now known as the AFF Suzuki Cup will kick off in Indonesia

With our constant failure to win the elusive SEA Games gold for football, our hungry nation were awe-struck with the success we had in this competition.
We had shared 3 each with perennial giant Thailand for the previous 6 editions while close rivals and neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia would always watch on.

Our first title came in 1998 with the famous Sasikumar's blade of glory against host nation and hot favorite, Vietnam.
That competition was mired with the disgraceful match between Thailand & Indonesia who felt the better option was to lose and stay at the city they had been residing for the group matches. Own goals were scored blatantly but it was poetic justice when both were knocked out in the semi finals by our Lions and Vietnam.

After the years of distraught under the tutelage of Jan Poulsen and Vincent Subramaniam where we just aren't the regional footballing power as we yearn to be, it was the emergence of a bony former Notts County Serbian coach, Raddy Avramovic that saw us hogging the limelight again after 6 years absence in 2004.
With young FTS talent like Agu Casmir and Itimi Dickson, Singapore was irrepressible brushing everyone aside.
In the memorable 2 legged semi against Myanmar, the Burmese resorted to throwing plastic bottle and having their reserve goalkeeper storming to the pitch to get into the argument which duly backfired on them and saw us meet the host Indonesia in the final which we pulled a stunning 3-1 away victory in the first leg which set the way.

Raddy continued his good work 2 years later when Singapore was the co-host and the main feature of the group stage was the 7 goals scored in the match against Laos by Noh Alam Shah.
As usual, disgraceful scenes were shown...this time in the final when hot favorites and co-host Thailand felt the referee were poor to award us a penalty which saw us win the 1st leg 2-1.
The coaching crew and perhaps their manager urged the players to commit a mass exodus from the field when there were still some minutes to be played.
The Thai were hungry for revenge in the 2nd leg at home and Pipat duly delivered the vital goal to give them the advantage.
However our trump card was shown in young Khairul Amri who took the entire Thai defence by surprise and whipped in the winner.
Total euphoria to win pretigiously, away at Thailand somemore...which is why the competition had etched with such significance in the heart of the local fan.

Merely a year or so later, Raddy hoped to be 3 time lucky when he led our valiant Lions to pursur yet another title, reinforcing our status of the footballing giant in Southeast Asia, and making all the skeptics eat their words.
However Thailand will still be the favorite to pip for their 4th title while co-host, Indonesia and emerging force Vietnam are looking to claim the title for the first time ever.
Then there is the sleeping Tiger in Malaysia...so competition will be steep.

Preparation for the competition hadn't been smooth... The squad was fresh from a long, tiring S League season inclusive of 2 cup tournament, AFF Cup for the likes of SAF and Home Utd and a string of World Cup Qualifying and national friendlies.
The usual captain Indra Shadan who had a quiet year for both club and country were criticised and had his position in jeopardy.
He responded in the most positive way on the pitch and nearly allowed Home Utd to claim the title till an inury put him out but he did managed to get back to fitness just in time.

Young forwards Khairul and Fazrul Nawaz were both unfortunate to see their chance to show their talent in the competitions due to season-ending injuries.
Qiu Li, the most recent naturalized player from China saw his eligibility been rebuked with the FIFA regulation.
Noh Alam Shah who served up to 7 months of ban for punching national teammate Bennett during last year Singapore Cup Final were struggling with fitness after recent injury woes.
But his presence would prove vital as well as another striker who went into oblivion in the early part of the season, Agu Casmir.
With the evergreen and ever-fit Aleksandar Duric, we should have a strike force that would sent shivers down our opposing defence's spine.

The midfield relys heavily on the naturalised trio of Mustafic Fahrrudin, John Wilkinson and Shi Jiayi.
No matter the constant barrage of criticism of us buying for success, all 3 as well as the other FTS are willing Singapore citizen and without them our team might not be strong enough to see us into the 3rd qualifying round of the World Cup.

The Achilles heel of the squad really lies with Raddy's staunch faith in his favored back four.
Big Precious and the equally immobile Baikkaki Khaizan somehow did not have the pace nor the defensive capability to fend off the speed of some of SE Asia best forwards.
I think even Fandi at his ripe old age now could breach the defense with both eyes closed....
Noh Rahman had always been a reliable rightback but having missed most of the season through injury when playing for his club Geylang, still ain't back to his top form.
Meanwhile the man many fans including myself pinpointed as the solution for the softbelly at the heart of the defense, Daniel Bennett is playing out of place at the left where he lacks the pace, crossing ability or the attacking impetus.
Somehow his young SAF team mate Saiful Esah or Home Utd's Juma'at Jantan might be of better option.

The frailty of the defense was exposed in the 2 recent friendlies with Vietnam and Malaysia for the build up to the competition when our team was leading 2-1 on both occasion with only minutes to go but the defense couldn't held on the lead and were punished with a late equalizer.

While we seemed to bless with some good goalkeepers in recent time, I felt Lionel Lewis though the bestowed with the perfect physique for a custodian, somehow just isn't the same guy who took the competition by storm a year ago.
His sombre form opens the door to the 2nd choice, Hassan Sunny who shown his capability to guard between the sticks in the latter 2 games of the WC qualifying when the fissures in Lionel's game was showing.
Once again Raddy's blinding nepotism saw Lionel claiming the starting position which many feared might jeopardized our chance to retain the cup.

Our campaign began this Friday against Cambodia and a big win is crucial as every single goal counts when you want to notch the top placing going into the semi finals.
Myanmar and host Indonesia will be a stumbling block but if we can get 4 points out of those 2 games, the lads will be brimming with confidence going into the semi with perhaps the Viet who seems the likely opponent if we finished top of Group A.

It's not wise to count the eggs before they hatch but I do have faith this team can repeat their previous heroics and will keep tuned to the live matches including that on Friday since I will be on leave (what a great way to spend my off days from work).
But somehow I felt the odds will be stack against us...if we can persevere through it, surely we have earn the rights to be called the footballing kings of Southeast Asia!

Japanese word of the day: 第3回目 (Third Time) Might be 3rd time unlucky..yikes

Anime Festival Asia 2008

25th November 2008, Tuesday

2 words to describe the recently concluded Anime Festival Asia...Resounding Success.

Although it was scoffed by a Kotobukiya representative housed at the booth of their official distributor here as "inadequate at best" but seriously it would be utterly folly to think of an anime & related hobby event to be held in our pucchi island of Singapore can remotely stand shoulder to shoulder to the most shabbily-organized one in Japan.
We are no Wonder Festival and we knew it...but if the Japanese companies could see the potential of this market (perhaps they had already realized) and we had the appetite for more in this region, AFA could be a benchmark event for otakus for the near future.

The event started for me and the clique perhaps one or 2 days prior when on Thursday I heeded the call of EK to the store for some packing in the evening. But with the sheer amount of goods accumulated over the past 4 years from the 2 store incarnations, the 2 hours I was there didn't really helped much.
The following day, the likes of Tay-chan and Vincent meticulously shipped the army of carton boxes down to Suntec convention hall and with the likes of Bryan and Karen going to to set things up which was an ordeal task within that 12m by 12m exhibition booth.

The event will be initiated by 10 am but there was a snake-like queue stretching the entire width of the halls on the level 4 as anxious fans tried to get their hand on some exclusives (which didn't work out to be an exclusive...just pre-launch products that's all).
As we did some last minute setting up including some of us had to cosplay as Shinsengumi members which I had a kick out of till it was a bit less breezy in the convention hall as well as Vincent briefing us on our roles.

La Tendo Booth

For the first day I was positioned as a marshaller of the perimeter as the crowd gushed in like flood or ants to sugar as the crew was badly swamped for almost the entire day, i.e. really good business.
But then with such obscene prices offer, this kind of turn out was expected no less.
It's hard to discipline myself to fixate my focus on the interchanging flow of customers and standing around for like 3-4 hours straight is no mean task.

I tried to wander around the exhibition hall but simply you could had comb the area within 10 minutes or so...
Many other blogs would give you the low down of who's on show from the despised (ODEX) to the scalpers (Vincent's Toys) to market spoilers (Passion) to my gaming haunt (Gamescore) to Foo's current employers to the studio that gave us our worst 20 minutes of our lives "Limit Cycle" to anime merchandise extraordinaire KKnM to TW's former employers...seriously it's who's who in the local otaku scene...think some tokusatsu fans might miss Mr Ng...

Didn't expect to spend in this event and turned out I really didn't fork out a single cent here though I was nearly succumbing to buying that Pullip doll the missus had her eyes on and was selling as good price from local distributor Magma Heritage. But space was a luxury which eluded us and I had always find Pullip dolls kind of creepy, so it's a hundred bucks or so saved.

Our immediate neighbour was Encore Films who were responsible to bring in some cool Japanese movie flicks which Japanophiles like myself would applaud to.
They had promised to bring in Studio Ghibli's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" on New Year's Day but it was the Detroit Metal City live action movie that recieved a lot of buzz for those who are into that dark comedy.

DMC next year?

Adjacent to us is a DLE Inc. who seems to be responsible for the infectious flash animation gatheirng storm in Japan, "秘密結社 鷹の爪(The Eagle's Talon)".
Basically the booth just have 2 LCD Tvs buzzing their productions with some related merchandises which were not for sale...
We felt it might just take them 5 minutes to clear the booth when the event ends.

As La Tendo found some long lost customers of the past (who unanimously felt Kallang was now humanly accessible) and attracted new ones, the few of us found familiar faces in the crowd.
Cheryl was here with her Gundam Plamo enthusiast hubby, Raymond was first spotted.
Then Foo came with Michelle and the former was quite delighted to reacquinted with DD who had came with some members of the Kagoshima club to help Vincent out.
Finally TW who coerced his wife-to-be to the event, acting all fanboyish when he was able to get the signature of Morimoto Koji, Animation Director of Studio 4 C who gave us Genius Party.
He was also the same sucker who was swindled $84 on a petty T shirt just to earn his right for an autograph.

The main attraction for me on Saturday was the performance of vintage anison, Mizuki Ichirou or we affectionately known as "Aniki (Big Brother)".
Aniki was very dedicated to the event appearing on both days, even kick starting with the opening theme of Mazinger Z to initiate the event; on Sunday assuming the role of the judge of the Cosplay competition.
However it was her repertoire of classic anime and tokusatsu themes that got me buzzing...
I haven't watch all those old anime series he had sang but I sure had heard them well enough through the games I played.
Theme sof Mazinger Z and Combattler V just cause an emotional explosion inside of me.
I would say those who spent $78 for the VIP seating made a good choice and the crowd was a good spirits to honour Aniki's top-brass performance.
With the encore interlude, think he sang a total of 13 songs and made effort to complete the signature session for those who spent for the concert, with a touch of customisation.
Some were requesting him to bring along JAM Project which he was the initiator and he meekly agreed...let's keep our fingers crossed.
For me, AFA was so enthralling because Aniki at his grand old age made his appearance!

ANIKI!!

On Sunday morning there was much less crowd as expected but business still seemed pretty brisk.
I decided to man behind the attraction table which was hogged by Chan and Karen the day before; and sure beat becoming a perimeter marshaller.
However the endless standing to entertain the enquiries and making sales was still tiring and lactate building to our limbs can be excruciating.
La Tendo ensured we were constantly fed and meal IC, Bryan was up to his task to deliver the food from Suntec City itself.
A string of unexpected patrons to this event which one required to pay for entrance include some elderly, a patient on drip and even monks and nuns who bought Buddha statute trading figures from us. The passion for this hobby surely span people of all walks of life.

Another demographic group who made their presence felt were the cosplayers.
From the usual Shounen Jump clans (Naruto, Bleach, D.Gray-man, Prince of Tennis) to some recent favorites (such as Code Geass and Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn) to some of the most quirky (a stocky fellow in perhaps Pucchi Eva Rei plugsuit getup as well as a really amatuer Kamen Rider) to some well dedicated one like the Gundam Exia from "00" and the 一撃殺虫!! Hoi Hoi San; there were also an increasing number of Gothic Lolitas (virtually very young girls) in this event...and seriously such clothing ain't cheap wonder where they gather their funds from.

Caught the cosplay competition with my buddy TW in the afternoon and was hoping to spectacle on the crème de la crème of the cosplayers on show.
In the end most were simply below par and were performing skits which don't really make sense or plain gibberish. The final entrant of a Tifa from FFVII Advent Children also single-handedly drove much of the crowd away.
We were more into the Ultraman Zoffy group who made effort to make small buildings as if you are actually watching the tokusatsu show.
The kaiju dersevingly won the individual award while that poor Knightmare Frame mecha from Code Geass were falling apart since the beginning drew the sympathy of Aniki who award him his special award.

Zoffy versus the White Ape kaiju

The main attraction for many was surely May'n's concert in the evening.
After a rather decent performance by a local J rock cover band who did numbers from Nightmare, Asian Kungfu Generation, L'Arc and Luna Sea, the rabid fanboys' prayers were answered when the petit singer made her appearance.
By this junction the entire floor before the stage were filled to the brim, at least twice as much who came to catch Aniki the night before.
We caught a glimpse from our booth and noticed many didn't heed the warning of the organizers for don't take photographs or videos of the performance.
While the likes of Chan, Ferris and Bryan who had been big Macross Frontier fans were largely captivated to see the singer behind Sheryl Nome in action live, I was unfazed by this Horipro singer who became an overnight sensation with decent Oricon chart showing.
She did tried her best with decent dance moves & crowd interaction (including some simple English she might have memorized for days) but her singing left alot to be desired especially the high pitch vocals which amplified to an intolerable state.
She left the stage briskly after just 6 songs with no encore whatsoever, and promptly proceeded to the signing ceremony which many complained about been replica on white cardboards...
It surely world's apart from Aniki...well things don't always equate as it does.

With seconds ticking till the end of the event, we made a final surge to reduce the amount of goods needed to bring back to Kallang.
Despite some shelves are emptying and hot commodities are sold off easily with replendishment over the course of the 2 days, we were still hoping to move some of those items which were stuck since ages back.
Vincent started to draw attention of the departing crowd by slashing the price of some figurines to level unheard of...
While La Tendo had gathered a reputation of being overprice or profit-hungry (which is not is subjective from time to time), many just couldn't resist the amazing price on offer.
It paid dividends as the ending minutes saw another surge in sales but still some items are destined to be left in the cold.

As the patrons were ushered out of the convention hall, we started packing (while DLE were long gone with their 2 seconds of squaring up).
Transport of items were limited to Vincent's measly van and I joined a few who left behind to bring everything back to the shop.
All in all, it was a great experience for all of us and something perhaps to look forward to in 2009...

The tired crew

Japanese word of the day: 痛むこと (Aching) That's what my thighs are telling me at the end of the 2 days event

More Electronic Woes & Youthful Hazing

21st November 2008, Friday

The wretched chain of my gadgets committing premature suicide continued for this week...

On Wednesday, Mom returned home to realize the apartment in an electrical shutdown...She bemoaned that the authority hadn't sent us a letter to notify the shutdown.
Not taking much into account, I went to my room and started hearing this persistent ticking sound which sounds like an analog watch.
I traced it to my SCV set-up box which did not have the power indicator despite connected to the electrical point.

I deduced that the blackout in the afternoon could be caused by the set-up box, not after piquing once again, regrettably subjecting my folks to my tantrum...
The whole accumulation of the long series of faulty gadgets were driving me insane...

Fortunately Starhub got someone down to replace the setup box the next day...Kudos to them, my cable TV-less day is only one day long...

Last evening while the missus is having a late shower after we had returned from helping La Tendo packing up for the major event tomorrow; the water heating unit went dead.
Bewildered by how come a usually-sound electrical appliance would go dead (the missus was saying it could be blown fuse), I went to try the switch and managed to get it to work again.
The switch had been flimsy since day one and I wasn't surprise it will lead to the failure of the water heater eventually.
I feared for life that the heavily cluster of appliances in my room would be killing that few points available...let's hope not.

There was a furore for the past week with regards to a student in a renowned Junior College who was thoroughly humiliated during her birthday celebration in the school compound, and the authorities didn't do much to halt her classmates for the distasteful act.
It then drew a debate on whether hazing (the term coined for students engaging in mass taunting or humiliating act on a specific individual with or without the victim's consent) should be allowed in schools.
Of coursse the victim's safety was at upmost concern but the psychological aspect was also taken into account.
I had my own accounts of "hazing" in my youth and surely it was for fun with your friends...a certain ritual of cohesion and acknowledgement by your peers which was so crucial when we were young.

It was by no means bullying here but with the availability of mobile phone with video camera function and live streaming site, such incidents which had happened since the stone age days were blown out of proportion...

During National service, a sort of initiation in my obese (and yes heavyweight troopers here) company was to be at the end of a group piling activity or now termed as "taupok".
It was truly dangerous especially you have 6-7 recruits weighing an average of 180 pounds doing a Janga blocks on you...even those in the middle would be at the brunt of breathlessness
Fortunately no one got hurt through the male bonding...

Such bonding carried on to my naval days when a closely-knitted bunch of seamen on board a ship would always vent their everyday mental stress by doing all sorts of cruelty act on each other...some are so provocative, I couldn't even say it here...You just gotta join the navy to experience it...then again better not.

I didn't actually loathed such hazing as long as everyone had their fair share of being the victim...then again I tend to not struggle much as shown when I got into University and the guys from the club decided to come out with the "birthday sabotage" activities.
It began with Bernard who was nicknamed "The Birthday Bear" on a night we all stayed over and decided to strip him down to his undies in the middle of a lecture hall foyer...luckily we were the only one there...
Since then on everyone became a prospect of hazing, most of the time with stripping which I thought got the girls more excited than us guys back then.
During a leadership camp we finally caught a slimy fish in our vice president Kenneth who was a commando and always manage to break off our grasps but that day we had like 15 guys after his blood.
On the other side of the spectrum, there was me who willingly take off my pants to let them do whatever they desire with the shaving cream they had on hand, because I grew weary of struggling and somehow by reverse psychology, killed the mood for everyone.

Such hazing was surely a benchmark of our youth and as long as we do not jeapordize our safety and lives, I felt there shouldn't be much hoo-haa about the whole shenanigans.

The missus is spending another weekend at Kuala Lumpur but I would be very much preoccupied with the Anime Festival Asia, with everyone starting to get hype of the inaugural edition of this event which we hope would be a resounding success and a long tradition in the local otaku scene. More on that soon...

Japanese word of the day: 青年 ~se-i~ne-n~(Youth) With our brittle bones now, it's hard to do those things we did in the past...we used words to haze each other now...which is much more painful

Escalating Cost of Living!

3rd October 2008, Friday

Back to work after a day break and was surprised to find a couple of familiar new faces.
A former course mate from my University days who had been with my former company for the past 6 years finally jumped ship to one of the group leaders here.
It was a long process when he kept negotiating for an astronomical hike in his current pay which the HR is resistant to pay. I guess in the end, he just back off from his request and took the job just as his former lab was closed down.
Meanwhile there was another lady whom I had seen from my work out session in the office from time to time and supposedly hailed from my previous employers as well who had came for interview with Shitty Green weeks back.
Aftering enquiring from His Beautiness about the boss and environment, she finally joined as the 9th member of our group...what a bulging sum when it was almost half that number before I joined 2 years back.
Suddenly my current workplace had became a refugee camp for those from my old workplace...

Didn't notice the hike in fare during my MRT trip to work and supposedly every trip now had increased by 3-4 cents.
Our nation now surely is feeling the brunt of the oil prices as well as the precarious global economy...
Some financial analysts are fearing a repeat of the 1920s Great Depression after the bankruptcy of big financial houses like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. The domino effect is alrealy in motion with some European banks in major debts and in need of assistance from their governments while the stock market are in an endless bear run.

In Singapore, the government and associated organisation like MAS are trying their best to curb the rot to be spread here but it's inevitable.
Companies may start to tighten their purse-string; I am surely expecting much decimated bonus by next May.
The situation is worsen with the price hike of various common amenities and services we need day in day out.
The price hike in public transport is always prompt with the world trend and unlikely to reduce when the oil situation subside.
Then Singapore Powers staked a claim to increase utilities prices especially the electrical bill by a good 20% or more.
The utilities bill for my household has always been hefty as we had been addicted to sleep in air conditioned rooms every night... It's a habit that is hard to give up on. So as long as we are able to foot the bill, we just will stick to our routine and stare at the alarming sum at the end of each bill.

Newspaper is an important nourishment to the mind, keeping you up to date with what is happening around in the world.
Shunning it will make you trapped in your own world and unable to hold any solid conversation about current affairs.
For me I had my daily dosage of tabloid size paper from SPH which is free (which is the plus point)
However SPH did increased the price of all their papers to keep in line with the high production costs.
What happen to those days when a copy of Straits Times is 50 cents?

So now in this oxymoronic predicament, you have to save on transport fee by cooping yourself at home. But you cannot turn on the light, or PC or TV to save on electrical bill.
You can't watch the news on TV but newspaper had become too hefty to buy...
Perhaps the best solution is to walk to your nearby Mac Donald's, buy a cup of coffee and sit in the air conditioned restaurant the whole day, hogging on to their newspaper. You can even watch TV at those branches with the LCD screens.

Joke aside, surely I have to start going back to that ultra frugal lifestyle (as if I have one).
But no more spending $100 odd on a stand up comedy...no more few hundreds on a high end ear phone...no more buffet dinner at Raffles Hotel (but that's once in a very blue moon, so still fine)
Ultimately might have to cut back on my hobby like figurines, DVDs, manga, games which I am trying to, but resistance to temptations so far had proven futile.
Meanwhile the missus and myself still have the cheek to plan a long vacation to Japan which will cost us thousands of dollars.
I do have money set aside for that while not depleting the bank account which seems possible at this juncture.

It's truly hard to acclimatise to hardship after enjoying such a wild time financially... But as long as we do not incur huge debts by taking loan or unable if pay off my child's education (if I have one), I think things should remain status quo....

Japanese word of the day:増やしなさい(Escalate) What goes up must come down...well not cost of living though

Public Act of Intimacy

19th September 2008, Thursday

Some said marriage kills the romance but then I am never really a romantic guy..Neither am I a touchy partner well at least not within the watchful eyes of other people around.
Sometime I even felt uncomfortable just hugging the missus in front of family or close friend (then again it would look pretty awkward considering the size of us both).

However with the government still adamant to instill abit of romance into our stoic nation, many people actually heeded the notion to a point they readily show their acts of affection to one another in public places.
We are not talking about the "naked wrestling" BY once witness in the open space opposite Woodlands MRT station or the usual fanfare by the peeping toms in places like Labrador Park or maybe Bishan Park or the usual void deck actions some claimed to see.
Places like public transports i.e. MRT, restaurants, library, cinemas (which is quite a norm cos it's dark and if you refrain from a noisy foreplay no one would notice except the guy beside you or behind you) are common areas to see young love birds snuggling it out which ain't a big issue to me.
There had been many complaint letters sent into to local papers with regards to some nubile beings who had over stepped the border of intimacy; but usually such letters were sent by spinster who wretchedly yearn for some touch by men.
I am truly risking violating the act of sedition when I would say a certain racial group of our kaleidoscopic nation would be the main culprits but then again the other races are starting to join the act even a few lesbian couples I had noticed before.

Although as mentioned the younger demographic group tends to be indulging in such public display, one instance just the other day on my way to work deviates from the norm.
Exasperated that I could not grab a seat despite the train trip being a direct one (meaning there's no need for me to transit), I just try to keep balance in a sardine-packed carriage while losing myself in my NDS as usual.
It was until Choa Chu Kang station, that I felt my arm was brushed by the hair of a lady beside me.
Being the anti-social being I am, I tends to try to adjust myself so that I would not be tickled by keratinised filaments of a perfect stranger (even an attractive OL who certainly would regard me as a pervert anyway, so better keep away from unnecesary troubles).
However I then realized that her male partner was actually cuddling her and foddling her back as if he is tending an asthamtic kid or something.
There was even a point when he was helping her to alleviate an itch on her back which was totally uncalled for on a packed train.
While the lady was around 30-ish who can be forgiven as a 20 something in her early blissful relationship, her itch-post looks close to 50 with a head of unkemped grey and dry hair and looks to devour his younger lover there and then!
It was a disturbing sight to start a day with for sure...

There was this rather popular young couple within the vicinity of our workplace who we affectionately label them as "拿(Carry)".
Looking just completed their hatachi (20 years old) ceremony; this loving couple especially the guy surely looks to portray as that caring boyfriend all girls dream to possess...to a point it can be quite overbearing..
I first noticed this couple a year or so ago at the gym...
They were like a usual young couple with the lad gently supporting his lass' back as if she is suffering from some spinal issue all the way to the ladies' changing room.
He then supposedly waited for her to change into her workout rig and chaperone her to the gym as if she would be disorientated when the glass panels of the gym didn't give its location straight away.
He then saw her up the threadmill and both started their concise jogging.
The guy made sure he did it before her, so that he could render her support off the threadmill.
This is when we gave them their nicknames and it carried over several time over the past year.
Even when they were on the street, they were inseperable with the guy's hand always at the ladies' anterior; at times might pet her head like a doting parent would do for their beloved child.
In more recent times during a rainy morning while waiting for the shuttle bus into the myriad of office buildings, I saw the couple with the guy sheltering the girl's precarious forehead from the vicious raindrop pelting down with his bare hand, not it helps much seriously...
So at this juncture, you will presume the lady must be drop dead gorgeous that warrant such undividing care and concern from her beau...er...let's just say she looks slightly better than Ugly Betty...damn I'm bad...
Kudos to the pair...at least they enjoyed each other's presence while resisting the test of time...

For yours truly I reckon the classic hand-to-hand (swinging optional) or an occasional peck on the cheek or lips while bidding good-bye is where my limitations hold...but even so it would draw some unwelcoming cold stares from the same wretched spinsters...

Japanese word of the day: 親密 (Intimacy) I wonder would the guy's hands would sorely miss carrying something in her lass' absence

Bereavement, Breakthrough and Babies

18th August 2008, Monday

Over the weekend, my forth maternal uncle (and the 2nd last surviving ones) passed away at the ripe age of 70 due to colon cancer I assume from what I can depicted from Mom.
My recollection of him usually was during that few and far between expedition to the small durain plantation the household owned.
A swinging bachelor with a history of promiscuous lifestyles, he certainly had a life he envisioned to be and hopefully he felt it was fulfilling enough for him. May he rest in peace.
Once again it is hard to accept when there is a death in the household, despite not a close one... but life goes on...

The Olympics though took centerstage in the family and perhaps the rest of the island when the female table tennis team managed to clear the semi finals stage to earn the rights to go up against the home team and World No. 1 last evening to claim the gold medal.
However we were already in jubilation on Friday when they toiled to beat South Korean in 5 sets as we would the least get the silver medal, an honor 48 years in the making.
The live telecast even put the Prime Minister's National Day Rally at the backseat as we braced for a near impossible task to overcome a China team with the top 2 seeds in the world.
In the end, we lost sheepishly in 3 rounds with Dad adding his own commentary about how bad our "bought-over" team is and what rights they had to earn 750K prize kitty. He was just being sore and negative as usual and the missus who was watching the first few match-up with him in the living room got tired of his constant hounding of our local peddlers whom she supported and retreated to the comfort of the room for the final match up.
Elsewhere Phenomenal Phelps finally notched his 8th gold medal on Saturday and he barely lost his 7th (1X100m Butterfly) by 100th of a second.
Jong Oranje failed to beat hot favorites Argentina in their Quarterfinal tie while 10 men Belgium caught the scene by storm by beating Italy 3-2 to make it into the semi finals.
Rafael Nadal won gold medal for men's single tennis while Federer redeemed himself by clinching gold for Switzerland in the doubles.
Russia clean swept the women's singles while the Venus sisters retained their doubles gold.
Usan Bolt became the fastest man of earth with his 100m sprint but China's golden boy of the tracks, Liu Xiang ended his quest for his 2nd consecutive Gold in 110m Hurdles when he pulled out of his heats due to problematic Achilles tendon, surely to much awe and exasperation of the local fans supporting him.

While even the Prime Minister was exhilarated with our first Olympic medal for half a century, many insensitive mood-spoilers claimed that there is no glory with the medal since the team including the coach comprised of mainly China-born Chinese.
This brought the whole FTS (Foreign Talent Scheme) issue up on the surface and it was so well documented and discussed, I'm starting to yawn just typing this.
Seriously with no sporting culture whatsoever, the laidback mentality of Singaporean plus the way our government manufactured us to be, we would never win anything on international level without imported talent as highlighted by the PM himself.
In a virtual reality of 2017, a Singapore National football team won the 3rd placing of the Confederation Cup, beating the likes of Colombia and Uruguay and matching against Spain and Argentina with a squad comprising a Chilean rightback and a couple of Thai midfielders and on anyday might even include some China-born players as well as a Nigerian defender and a host of many other non-Singapore born players...

Mr Lee also emphasized on our appalling birthrate especially among the Chinese population, and fervently encouraged more couples into the parenting bandwagon.
This news came to me mere minutes before the missus bemoaned how envious of other friends who are basking in motherhood.
I do believe in having my own children but once again I just don't know when...
Once again another topic we had stumbled upon time and again...sigh

Think Foo & myself had finally gave up hope on Sengkang Punggol when we witnessed yet another pathetic display one which if I have a kid would never want to show them.
We made an effort to head down to Jalan Besar for the S League duel against fellow strugglers, Young Lions hoping for another victory under Gravobac's tutelage.
But almost half of his first eleven was robbed from service and the youngsters modeled themselves after the senior squad in the most wretched way.
For an entire match, we couldn't string a good attacking opportunity and there was perhaps a tame shot on goal even Massimo Taibi can save for sure.
The Young Lions our next hope for national team isn't any better in footballing wise but just lucky they meet a Sengkang squad on their usual lousy day as we succumbed to a 2-0 defeat.
Once again it's not about the scoreline but how woefully the team displayed in the loss that really made us jaded....doubt we may attend another match featuring our team for sometime till the end of the season.

Japanese word of the day: 育てること(Parenting) If a kid is like a professional footballer, I may fancy taking up parenting. But if it's like Sengkang Punggol, I rather not...

Ming Yi, the new Durai

16th July 2008, Wednesday

The big news in town has to be the probe and trial of estranged former head of the charity-fund community hospital Ren Ci, Venerable Shi Ming Yi.

After the a few months of investigation by the Charity Council of Singapore with their accounts, it was found that there were several cases of irregularities which led to bring the abbot into limelight as he seemed to approve loaning of money to some other organizations and companies set under his name using money donated to the hospital.

This fiasco surely drew parallel to that of the NKF saga back in 2005 (in fact NKF was probed in July that year) and put the National Kidney Foundation in bad light (donations much reduced) and T.T. Durai, the CEO became the main villain of it all after judged to misappropriate the funds for his "peanuts"-worth annual income, 1st class flights for dubious conferences and golden taps for the personal toilet in the office.

NKF since then halt all public form of aggressively campaign for funds as in those annual (sometime more than 3 times a year) live TV variety extravaganza from our local network to solicit for as much donations as possible with local Mediacrop artistes being subjected to some daredevil stunts.
Their success (in ascension with each rendition) see several other Non-government Charitable organizations following suit, including Venerable Ming Yi's Ren Ci Hospital.

The show the latter put up was a much heart warming one with the sad stories of the poor patients taking the highlight and no lucky draw for cars or other lavish prizes (which was always frowned upon but a tactic local mid-income philanthropists are suckered into).
The actors and actresses of Caldecott Hill after being scrutinized for unreasonably put their lives at risk for those stunts put up acts which involves less danger.
However the grave danger was faced by someone else...Ming Yi himself.
Over the course of the proliferation of Ren Ci's charity shows, the abbot had balanced himself on wooden planks suspended on tall buildings or doing other stunts out of the page from David Blaine or something.
This usually drew sympathy from the hosts and guests of the show, with tears for fear for his demise if something went wryly wrong; and the viewers at home were too shared the sympathies and felt the only right way to redeem themselves, was to make more donations.

For the longest time possible, I felt such method of solicitation for donations is uncalled for and downright abhorrent.
I had refused to support such causes but I am not a very charitable man to begin with though the same cannot be said about my family as they together with a large majority of the local Chinese-speaking population who didn't had much to do on Sunday evenings but watched these programs were suckered into donating quite a lot of money.

Of course we all felt it is for a good cause and for Chinese, we believed in good karma.
However after the NKF fiasco and now with Ren Ci who seemed to be the one organization no one wants to believe to be dabbling with such shameful misappropriation of funds, especially with the well respected Venerable Ren Ci (who my mom claimed to reside in a condominium), I think people starting to become jaded and think twice now on whether they will want to make a donation to such NGOs again.

Personally I felt bad but couldn't help gleefully sniggering with the terms "HA HA SUCKERS!" spontaneously sprouting in my mind...
Then again I believe in karma as well so I shouldn't laugh at others who had done so in the past unlike myself,'cos I might need such aides in the future.
I am also a sentimental human being who will be moved by sad scenes on TV, just that I don't react with my wallet though....

Japanese word of the day: 慈善 (Charity) Always remembered a Uni chum of mine who was adamant not to help out in charitable causes, claiming he is not a charitable person, so why pretend to be one...wise words I tell you

Bring it On, Uzbekistan!!

27th March 2008, Thursday

As Foo mentioned last evening, it is a good time to be a supporter of the Lions...our national football team
Amid the doom and gloom of the inflation, the search of Mas Selamat which crippled our peaceful everyday lives and speculation of the GST might increase to 10% soon, the much-ridiculed Lions put up a great show at the National Stadium at Kallang last evening, beating Lebanon in the 3rd Round Group game for the qualification of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Foo who renewed my interest in local footballing scene when I was a fellow victim of costly paid cable exclusive for all footballing entertainment, even skipped an evening class to catch the broadcast live on Channel 5.
We were chatting vehemently on the MSN like a pair of lovers or giggling teenagers as perhaps the only means of watching the match together as we used to in distant past...

Last Saturday, the Lions had a credible draw with the Socceroos but pundits claimed that the treacherous, waterlogged pitch of the National Stadium (which should be closed for renovation by now & the Australian National team even came for a friendly then before their World Cup adventure) was the root to a dour match...
Seemingly the pitch master managed to put the green of this famous stadium in place before we entertained our Middle Eastern opponents.
The Lions lost rather unfortunately at Saudi Arabia months back as the gulf of a difference was quite blatant while the Lebanese were shot down by the mighty former Soviet nation, Uzbekistan at home; therefore both team needed a win to get the campaign back on track and my home nation was the one more urgent to do so especially in front of a home crowd of 11,000.

Weather was unpredictable for the past few days but the sky opened up nicely for the game at half past 7 though the humidity which we always used to play to our advantage could be on the high side.
The Lebanese were missing 7 starters (supposedly) including 4 star players plying their trades in German leagues (not sure whether is the Bundesliga) and we sure didn't want to show any empathy to their cause.
In the past we used to give our opponents too much respect but with our improving professional league and talented players we has amassed we surely can compete readily with what the best of Asia can offer.

The swift progress of our national team mainly has to be down to one man... perhaps the martyr of our beleaguered soccer scene, Radojko Avramovic or we like to known as Raddy.
Beneath that skeletal frame which enables him to be an extra in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" MV without any make-up, this Serb who had some professional playing time at Notts County was the shrewd tactician and motivator to bring us 2 back-to-back ASEAN (Tiger) Cup and making the Lion's den a tough ground to enter; thus we had not witness anymore embarrassing 4:0 mauling by out neighbors from the north.

Raddy also had the eyes for the right players for the right positions...
Over the course of 5 years or so, he had readily incorporated foreign talents and young impressive players into the squad usually horded by those usual players.
the Foreign Talent Scheme or FTS had met great success in other sports like table tennis, badminton & track & field.
But after the FA taking France as an example when they won the World Cup in 1998, decided to enlist some of the more well known foriegn talents who had been in the S League for a while like Goncalves & Grabovac, both of whom had been disappointing in the international scene.
However the recent enlistment like Mustafic Fahrudin, Shi Jiayi, Precious Emuejeraye, Jon Wilkinson and most importantly Aleksandar Duric changed the landscape.
And when they sang the anthem with such pride with the local lads, we knew they had readily accepted the fact that our country has embraced them for the commitment.
Duric, at the ripe age of 37 was surely a late bloomer in the international scene but he scored a brace against Tajikistan in his debut to single-handedly put us through to the 3rd round of the qualifiers, a height our local team had never been able to attain.
He scored last evening as well with a wonderful blast after out through by Shi Jiayi for the opening goal.
That dictates the game and was part of his pristine performance which include a near 2nd goal from a slide from Khairul Amri's ground pass across the goalmouth and purposeful passing throughout.
He had telepathic link with his co-attackers like Indra and Fazrul as well, a delight to watch.
He might ran out of steam as the game matured, he surely is a danger as a goal poacher when he is around.
For a while I thought we might miss Noh Alam Shah, but Duric well made up the void.
When the former returns from that moment of luncy in the Singapore Cup final, we will have plenty of attacking options...

Shi Jiayi was perhaps might man of the match. He is perhaps the best thing Sinchi FC had brought us.
He is surely a great playmaker which links well with the attackers and look very comfortable on the right flank as well.
But its his deadball specialist ability that we had been lacking for years that we should treasure this young Chinese chap (he looks abit like Oguri Shun with the long hair).

Raddy's penchant for young players is also reaping rewards for us.
Obviously instrumental with the building of the Young Lions, he had readily added the young players into the mix, and they managed to step up and makes the future of football here very assuring.
Fazrul Nawaz, one of the young Lions on show scored the all important 2nd with a lucky deflection off one of the Lebanon defender. But he did kept his nerves to choose to shoot. He had to gllaring chances to score before that.
But he needs to mature as he picked up an unnecessary yellow card and nearly awarded a 2nd...
Raddy promptly replaced him with Khairul Amri, another known hero (scorer of the winner in Thailand for Tiger Cup) and his speed was a menace for the tiring Lebanese defence.
Another starlet was Sharil Ishak who have 2 nice chances to add on the lead as well.
The final substitution is an even younger Hariss Harun, who seems to cope well despite playing the last 10 minutes, ensuring the opposition doesn't score.

So when the papers stated that the final score should stand at 6-0, it was exaggerating. While Lebanon applied intense pressure at the latter stage of the 1st half and sporadically in the 2nd period, we still had better goal-scoring chances and one move which ended with Mustafic with a thunderous shot on goal, parried away by the opposition custodian, I had the epiphany that this team might be the best ever, in terms of talent and ability.

With Uzbekistan soundly beating Saudi at home, the table is thrown wide open.
On 2nd June, we will entertain the Central Asian and it would be a tough game as Maksim Shatskikh and gang possess the built and tenacity that require the Lions to match with all their moght.
One blaring problem was the defense persistently failed to deal with the aerial threats of the Lebanese and this could be a problem when we faced the Uzbeks, hope Raddy could rectify that in 2 months time.

Foo and I unanimously felt we should render our support to the Lions come June and so should you 'cos we got such golden opportunity to make it into the 4th round...
A certain minister began the "Goal 2010" campaign which always to be scoffed at but suddenly it didn't seem that absurd...Go Lions!

Japanese word of the day: 希望~ki-bou~ (Hope) Mr Mah's baseless speculation may actually come true...I sure hope so

Exclusive Salmonella filled Choco Cake!!

5th December 2007, Wednesday

One of the big news locally has to be the tragic case of 109 people down with food poisoning, some of the cases are pretty chronic and need hospitalization; after all had consumed chocolate cake from local confectionery chain, Prima Deli...

This is perhaps a stain in our impeccable F&B records in Singapore, unlike some developing countries who are used to churning out cardboard Baos or industrial waste Sichuan vegetables...
The company was prompt to do their own investigation following the food poisoning fiasco and claimed it was a staff at the factory that was a carrier of the salmonella bacteria which was the root of the illness...
Our local authorities, Agricultural and Veterinary Authority of Singapore immediately advised us to not take any Prima Deli's bakery products and the chain was forced to stop operation so close to the X'mas...
This surely will affect their business which should be rosy during festive season and at the long run, an uphill task to win back faith from customers... I can hear the likes of Bread Talk, Bengawan Solo & Four Leaves laughing to their bank at the fall of one of their closest competitor....
Then again Singaporean are a bunch with transcient memory, once Prima start pushing a bun at 50 cents each, everyone will risk their gastrointestinal system for some cheap breads...
I wonder if the CEO of the Prima Group will make public apology like the shameful Fujiya Co. president for the scandal of using expired ingredients for their confectionery products earlier this year which prompted his resignation

Personally I am looking for a log cake for the season, but unlikely will choose Prima Deli due the fact that their cakes are always overpriced and the cost was not duly justified...

Luckily the red-dyed vegetables from the farms nearby Tengah Airbase was not released into the market...

With food such a precious commodity these days, such news surely doesn't inject much confidence in our local scene with the festive season just at our doorsteps...

A better piece of news would be that our local athletes are performing up to expectation in the SEA Games held at Korat, Thailand...
The shooters (I really don't know what's a better terms for them) outperformed themselves to clinch a good haul of 8 gold medals and could have gotten more if luck hadn't eluded them... So before the games actually opened in full force, we are sitting nicely behind host nation, Thailand in the medals table...
Our table tennis teams are getting into their form to make it into the finals of the team competition, so we shall hope to reign in that area this time round again...
Of course the usual suspects like swimming, water polo, bowling etc. will hope to boost in the overall haul of gold medals...
One of the most elusive gold medal, we would love to possess would be the soccer gold medal and the Young Lions (Under 23) after a dismal 0:0 draw with minnows Laos, get their campaign on track with a 3:2 victory of group rival, Vietnam and if we could get at least a draw against neighbors Malaysia, we'll be in the semis and I am sure most Singaporeans will love to get one over the Tigers and go into the semis in good form...
Seems like Sports Council's efforts are bearing fruits, let's hope for the best after the games to see whether we can break our own records in terms of medals attained and perhaps pipped many neighbors with bigger pool of sports talent to call upon...

On personal front, seems like the left-sided gum of my lower jaw had swelled overnight since yesterday and despite not creating unbearable or acute pains, I fear it might proliferate into something bad...let's hope it subside like the last swell (caused by an ulcer) the last time round...
What I truly fear that it might be a wisdom tooth and seriously this is not the right time for a wisdom tooth extraction..yikes...

Japanese word of the day: 歯 ~ha~(Tooth) I fear to visit the dentist more than anything else in the world...at least I wouldn't spoil my teeth with chocolate cake this festive season

Something Weird Brewing in Our Island

5th September 2007, Wednesday

Since August, our usual-dour island had been spicing itself with some unusual ongoings...I'm not talking about the supernatural kind since it is that time of the year...

The ODEX saga had been hogging the scene for a while now and the latest is that they are willing to offer the olive branch to those who heed their warning and stopped all downloading of animes since 2 days ago...
This drew more furore within the netizens especially the anti-ODEX bunch (perhaps me included) were suspicious of the actual motive behind this...
Then again the swords had been drawn and blood been spilled since, people are so incensed with the organization that no one can forgive them simply by some sugar-coated words they muttered to spite the market...
At least they finally launched their Video on Demand (VoD) program and seek to improve their quality which they should had look upon at the very beginning...
It will take them a longshot to win me, my anime-loving friends and perhaps all those who were pissed off from this fracas...almost impossible
Perhaps they produce good quality anime episodes at the fastest time span possible with no awful local dubbing, fansubbers-level subbing and at perhaps $1 an episode...
Well the principle aspect still makes boycotting them the just way...

With the success of the movie "881", Royston Tan maybe the favored director for Mediacorp's Raintree Pictures, taking the limelight of their incumbent No. 1 director, Jack Neo...
Recently there was a case when a prankster hurled a rotten egg towards one of the cast during a promotion event... The same prankster (or is the same guy?) went onto Jack Neo's blog and proclaimed it was the latter that instigate this unruly actions, drawing the ire of the one-time comedian who stated his innocence...
I doubt Director Neo would be such an unmagnanimous character and surely would lend a shoulder of support to a fellow local film-maker; however since he is such a genius to tell story from scratch, perhaps he was indeed the instigator...
It's anyone's call...

Since my days with the National Cadet Corps, we were thought possessing live round or merely expended shell was a chargeable offense since Singapore has such stringent states law for non-possession of firearms...
Recently a soldier from the 1st SIR ran off from his camp with a rifle and some live rounds...
The army and police went on a rabid search for this lad with a wretched consequences the moment he ran off with his weapon...
They caught him in Orchard Road, without any commotion...Then they interrogate him for the exact reason for his folly...
Apparently his girlfriend of 4 years decided to break up with him when he was in perhaps the worst stage of his life, grueling it out in perhaps the worst infantry unit in the army...
What's worse, she left him for another woman...Woah man..brother I feel your pain dude... BURN!!
Seriously the male ego is a dangerous tool that can make or break one's life...Losing your girl to another man, ok it's a hard pill to swallow, but time can ease the agony bit by bit...
But if the opposition was another woman (butch or whatever you call the androgynous female being), somehow absconding with your perilous firearms seem a pretty sane option to indulge in..
You may label me MCP or something and perhaps the unfortunate party should had try to up his stats as a boyfriend his squeeze would not let go; but it is blasphemous to let your woman go into another woman's arms without putting a fight...
Then again hot lesbian action, that's another matter altogether...I'm so mean at this juncture..heehee

Last evening Yu-kun's 3 weeks stay in our usually-dour island came in an end as he took a flight back to Tokyo... He would be sorely missed for sure, especially for the likes of Karen and EK, the latter getting pretty emotional, kept requesting our poor Japanese friend to try drop a tear or 2 this time...
A carbon copy of last year farewell dinner, with the exception of Chan (at work once again), Miyano & Vincent (on another cultural exchange trip) & of course my missus, the rest made their presence at Roma's Deli, Singapore's only vegetarian pasta & pizza place...
Then we literally saw him off at Terminal One at Changi Airport with the Chong brothers actually came after EK coerced the elder Chong to do so...
There wasn't a tear dropped just handshakes all round Yu as an appreciation of the time we spent with him, a video farewell for Chan who couldn't be here and some photos as seen below:

We would see him in half a year's time but for myself November would be a good time to fix a rendezvous with him somewhere in Tokyo...
Next up, Nao from Iwate is coming to town for one night only...

Japanese word of the day: 薄暗い (Dour) Some find news on papers gloomy others like myself just want to make fun of it...