Gun-jostling time!

31st May 2010, Monday

Don't May seems a wee bit too long for my liking?

A long weekend just vamoosed by without significantly leaving a mark though the tiramisu at Pontini was highly delectable and made every penny of the 16 bucks well worth it.

It was basically riding the stallion in the virtual wild west while learning to lasso the horse, guide the herd and hunt down bounties before hooking up with the posse to squash some bandits' den for most of the weekend.
Kind of neglected the missus by the end of it, though herself was pretty absorbed in all the gun-trotting action when she watched me play.

On Vesak Friday, the BBQ birthday celebration for 77 year old grandma was not the most ideal when none of the filial grandchildren had not bother to check with the meteorological station for the most accurate weather forecast.
The whole brood was made to dodge for shelter at least 2 times before finally managed to grilled the remaining food till the very end of the night.

The Sunday game session with TW and CS came off at the very last minute despite it being way truncated than expected.
Nevertheless the whole session succeeded in us impressed (albeit me slightly) with "Lost Planet 2" and TW likewise with "Red Dead Redemption".
Nevertheless can expect the trio of us hooking up online very soon.

Japanese word of the day: 射撃(Shooting) It is always much more fun to do it virtually...

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

Age is just a Number

13th April 2010, Tuesday

With the missus out of town, managed to beckon the guys for some sort of a meet up despite time constraint.
Lili had a hair appointment surprisingly just a stone throw away from my place which warrant CS a few hours to hang out with me and TW who distinctly indicated that he would be available for the whole of Sunday than originally penned on Saturday.

My nostalgic weekend began on Saturday evening when I was tracking some old friends on Facebook.
Despite being a staunch advocate to ban such networking tool because of the evil tales which crept out of the closet, it was afterall great to catch up with old friends or acquaintances.
Managed to join a group for my secondary school which I had good memories of unlike my junior college years and even finally caught hold of my first real puppy crush though I was resistant to request for a friend addition.

The day began at 10-ish when TW as scheduled albeit hastily over the phone mentioned that he would drop by around 10.
I was barely nibbling my tasty cookie (milk chocolate and macadamia) when he made the house call.

It was apparent that CS would only reach an hour later, so we did the next best thing than merely doing the waiting game: play Pro Evo Soccer on the PS.
We tried to emulate the FA Cup semi final for that night between Spurs and Pompey (which the latter amazingly snitched it despite problem off the pitch) before CS made a much earlier entrance.

Off we swooshed to AMK for lunch and it's fun just cruising with my buddies, only if CS could curb his volatile reception to lady drivers.
Lunch was at Popeye's Chicken which was rather steep a price for fast food but the quality in terms of the fried chicken and other side dishes like their marsh potato definitely is a breathe of fresh air from that offered by Col. Sanders.

CS kept us hanging with something brewing from work while TW filled us in with a rather cringeworthy ploy by a female student of his, on playing the heart of a fellow student to produce work for her.

After wiping clean the tasty chicken and spilling jam on pants for some, the burgeoning crowd in the joint was getting rowdy and we decided to head to Funz Center.
The objective was to source for a new game for yours truly and Quantic Dream's "Heavy Rain", a suspense thriller looked like the prime choice as I told CS that i was more into adventure with a good spin in plot these days than RPG.

Didn't lingered long at AMK Hub and left for my place as Lili was on the verge of finishing her styling appointment, meaning CS could not stay for long.
It was indeed the case as we were a few yards from reaching my place yet we still get to see the awkward control of Heavy Rain while hearing the rest of the scoop of sleaze off CS in the end... Good Times.

After the Pepsiman left to pick up his lass, TW stayed for a tournament on PES, using the uber powerful Spanish squad which we both reckon would do good in the World Cup.
It was midway when TW got a call from CS, claiming that I had dropped by relic of a mobile phone in his car and he would make a return trip from Jurong after sending Lili back, just to return it to me.
I thought it was just an excuse to just catch up which did not transpired.

What was more bizarre was that beside my mobile, TW had dropped his car keys in the passenger seat of CS' car as well which was verified by the latter.
They claimed it was voodoo when I mentioned the name of "the Big O" as we kicked off the day and it came back to haunt us.

TW had intended to hitch a cab ride to fetch his key until I offered him the missus' Ford Focus as a the alternative, meaning at least he would save on the cab fare.
It turned out to be a cool ride as we started speaking about how time had just flew by (with some real classic on Class 95 really helped orchestrate the mood).
In the end despite heading towards the fourth decade of our existence, a good 22 years since we became friends, we still very much remained the same pair of goof balls as age and what not would not deter us off the way we wanna lead our lives.

Despite not granted a longer time than expected, I felt it was real nice to catch up with them again as the havoc we can create when we are all in attendance.

Surely at my age, you would not think one would take urgent leave with the excuse to look after an ailing wife but spend the day finishing up a newly bought console game... yah age is afterall a number as the mindset remains.

Japanese word of the day: 年齢 (Age) The body does tell the real age somehow

Pure Adrenaline Rush

30th November 2009, Monday

A really thrilling long weekend for me at least, maybe even a bit imprudent with the expenditure.

Everything started on Friday with Hari Raya Haji being a much welcomed break after a tumultuous week dealing with Shitty Green and his insolent demands for his project.
I had made plans with CS as mentioned previously weeks before as he tried to sell me "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves".
Before embarking on my journey to his place at Serangoon North Ave 1, I had got a setback with regards to the official bluetooth headset which is the most crucial tool for online gaming via Playstation 3.
A mutual gamer friend, BH had fell short in snaring that item just days prior and it seems like the chance of me getting that on Friday looked bleak.
However a quick stop by at Funz Center after buying the movie tickets at Cathay Cineplex, I was delighted to see a restock had taken place and I wasted no time to snag one off the shelf.
In fact I should have bought a couple more as later we realized.

Before having my hands on to the Naughty Dog produced game, it was the usual series of trailers for upcoming games which CS had scoured from 3 PS network.
EA's "Dragon Age Origin" had tingle the heart strings but it was "Final Fantasy XIII" had indicated why it was a game worth waiting for.

"Uncharted 2" definitely was engaging and really work on the treasure hunting factor which made it so appealing.
The graphics were stunning, gameplay accessible, storyline solid, characters likeable and dialogues quirly.
No wonder it received all the accolades since its release.
Before I knew it I was 1/3 through the game as CS had a quick nap along the way.
He did demonstrated the online multiplayer mode which was seamless and relishing the prospect of endless hours of fun especially when now we can communicate using our bluetooth earpiece.

We caught Roland Emmerich's spanking new disaster movie, and the mother of them all, "2012".
It was a movie that made my poor wife wept uncontrollably as she pondered on the prospect of that same scenario happening in the reality, knowing there was no where we could run and hide.
The movie packed with non-stop roller coaster ride as Emmerich and his crew just banged on fast paced action to keep audience on the edge of their seats while laughing wryly on how on earth could the main protagonist, the author reprise by John Cusack could dodge so many near deaths.
It sort of made us overlook how porous the storyline actually was but overwhelmed by the CG-made spectacle.
It definite was one of Emmerich's better films of late and I rated it better than "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra" combined.

Saturday was spent solely at SITEX, the final of the 4 big IT conventions our tiny island hosts in a single year.
The objective to venture east to the Singapore Expo for it was to net a reasonably-priced portable hard disk drive.
There were definitely plenty on show with the likes of Seagate, Toshiba, Western Digital, Samsung etc hogging the limelight.
But with a real sage in the form of CS by our side to state that Western Digital should be more trustworthy because of the country of its origin and we were thrilled to net a 2.5" WD Passport with 750GB space which should last me a while.

We were joined shortly by TW. It was the first time since his wedding that the three of us got to meet up and sparks flew there and then.
TW had been captivated by "Dragon Age Origin" and had been harping over it meanwhile we had a rib on CS when he came clueless on how to undergo his marriage proposal.
The missus was urging on the discussion of the likely destination for a much anticipated 2010 Japan trip, a tenth anniversary commemoration for "Tokyo Wreckers".
However it was not the right place and the right time.

We headed back into the claustrophobic-ward off Exhibition 5 & 6 as TW wanted to have a look at the laptop available, he would like to get for his wife.
Instead it was us who made a purchase with a Belkin Tunebase FM with Hands Free, a great tool for the iPhone or even iPods when cruising in the car.
The gadget meant to plug in the cigarette lighter allows the driver to charge his iPhone while listening to the songs stored in it using an unused frequency to amplify on the car audio system, while also enable incoming call to be received hands free.
It was an ideal gift for the missus for an early X'mas as she had been scouring high and low for such a device and at a reasonable price we just grabbed it.

This was after taking into consideration of the location of the cigarette lighter which was less accessible on the usual.
We put CS in the stress chamber when it looked unlikely for a while that the connection could be properly made.
The wager would be if it failed he would be left stranded in the Expo car park in the pouring rain, of course it was going to work in the end.

Our next stop was the Ikea Megastore at Tampines.
I had never been to this outlet since its opening a couple of years back despite being a great supporter of the affordable Swedish furniture manufacturer.
The main objective for us would be looking for a new workstation chair as the situation looked more chronic when my fat ass managed to break a foldable chair the other day, itself a replacement for the actual throne early this year.
In the end we had the eyes on one with an extended back rest by the model name of Markus and at $399 looked a steal as similar models would cost much more elsewhere.
However I would not want to jump the gun and give leeway for more searching for a longer shortlist.
The missus was also mindful of what the plan to convert Sis' room into her personal workspace once she moved out to her own place.
A nice white bookshelf with classy glass door seemed perfect but there was always going to be space constraint.

En route to drop my close buddies off to their respective residence, TW suddenly prompted an interest to get online for our "Uncharted 2" party which basically jolt CS into life.
My wife even obliged to turn to Ang Mo Kio where TW could pick up the game and the bluetooth headset from Funz Center.
Suddenly a ray of hopeful glare shone on CS' nonchalant face as he was jittery that it might not work out as we inched closer and closer to AMK Hub.
My wretched mouth spewed the possibility of the headset would be sold out and by sheer ill fate that was the situation when we got to Funz Center which was back to starting comment that I should had stocked up on in when a friend might in need of one.
It turned out to be a fruitless hunt for the AMK region as I even contemplated in borrowing from Chan who was stranded at La Tendo at that juncture.
As we trudged disappointing back to the shopping mall, TW made a last resort as he made his way to the Sony shop in Bishan Junction 8 to look for one while we sent CS home.

Along the way both of us got the missed call from TW who brought us the heartwarming news that he had successfully snared a piece from the shop and our plan for a late night online rendezvous looked palpable especially with Peiling not in the household at the Fus.

We began the online frenzy at the stipulated time of midnight as CS had to lower his volume considerably with his other half getting some well earned sleep after a week of hard work.
We did had many sleepovers dabbling with console games while sports genre is the one that usually allowed us to play side by side but for real multi-playability with such an eye for details only wi-fi or lan connection is able to support.

TW has a penchant for Monster Hunter Portable which allowed him and his mates to meet up to go hunting together but soon it would be likely to be addicted to hook online to the PS3 and with games like "Uncharted" and in near future "Lost Planet 2" allowing seamless game play online.
Our shenanigans of killing computer generated military drones carried on till the wee hours of Sunday before we felt enough was enough.

The next day a text message from CS revealed that he surely had the hunger for more, so expect yours truly to reacquainted with my decades-old buddies on the virtual realms soon.
It was also bodes well that the missus had fun watching us fooling ourselves in the game while helping me solve treasure hunting problems in the game too.

Japanese word of the day: オンラインゲーム(Online Game) We sure had picked it up a bit too late

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

The Prez Relinquished his Role Part 2

6th October 2009, Tuesday

The bride's home was in the heartland of Bishan and by the expressway it was a good 20 minutes as we stay tuned to the nonchalant voice of the simulated lady announcer off CS' Global Positioning System.
I was assigned to be the chap that bear the customary practice of opening the door of the nuptial wagon; and I constantly joked about going to the wrong household such as an Indian one.
I nearly did as from where we had parked, I had the misconception of the exact block to head towards.
Ultimately, I had became redundant as the bride's brood had a dashing lad ready to do the occasion and TW in his best looking tuxedo was ready to receive his bride.

As mentioned prior, there was no usual "gate-crashing" shenanigans although the supporting casts were present on both sides.
The groom though still had to pronounce his undying love for his bride-to-be in front of family and friends.
My buddy was more receptive for those mushy lines yet it was an ordeal for him to go so in depth with the declaration though everyone knows it was not skin deep.

This was followed by the serving of the tea to the elders. Usually for the bride, it would be carried out in a return trip but in this case with the luncheon beckoning, they just got on to it there and then. The trio of us were really standing aside in a state of redundancy except CS was totally drenched in his own perspiration as the morning heat was too excruciating to take.

The return trip was definitely not a smooth ride as CS nearly broke into an alteration with a van driver who was adamant not to be cut his lane by the flashy white Lancer.
My friend who had like many Singaporean drivers had extremely short fuses on the road, decided to sped and overtake the van before signaling his conquest with a blasting of his car horn.
I was sure if that driver was a healthy lad with a few other ruffian-like accomplices, all hell would break loose at the middle of Jalan Eunos.

Back at TW's ivory white maisonette, the relatives were ready to welcome the new member of the family as the toddler and the dog were starting to draw attention as usual.
There was slight delay to the whole tea serving procession as one of the auntie had yet to arrive.
Therefore the free time was used to take family photos while we started to assume the roles of props or merely security due to our lack of involvements.
When we were next to take pictures with the newly-wed, it seemed like the lens were not directed towards us as we had been ostracized.

My buddy was an emotional sop bag on his big day as he choked on words twice on perhaps the biggest day of his life.
First instance was when he was serving tea to his aunts from the paternal side. His emotions perhaps was triggered with respect to his late grandma who was tad too late to grace this happy day.

By around 10 am, the skies around the island were overcasted with an impending storm on its way, there had been news with regards to wretched traffic jams on all major expressways.
The nuptial wagon took some key personnel together with the bride's entourage to the venue of the luncheon, Traders Hotel while CS made his way to pick up his lass who was still caught up with her work.

Foo and myself were to take a ride on one of the aunties' car and it happened to be the parents of TW's cousin, Sarah whom I had went on my very first Japan trip with and whom I adopted the reference of "Jia Biao Jie (doppelganger cousin)".
Along the trip to Tanglin road, we chatted about the atrocities of foreign maids these days, in such a way that you can't live with them yet you can't live without them.

The ballroom/hall for the solemnization ceremony and the buffet luncheon was a rather elongated room but narrow enough to fit just 2 tables side by side.
It did seemed like they had prepared the tables at the very last minute which crossed TW's old man.

By 11 plus, most of the guests had arrived including CS with Lili and Michelle who got stranded around Tanglin Mall somehow.
But there was no sight of the missus who was responsible to send my parents from home.
It seemed like the traffic jam was not showing sign of receding and they would eventually miss the march-in, the solemnization from the justice of peace, the cake (real) cutting ceremony and TW's speech to thank the parents on both sides when he choked for the second time for the day.

My family did arrived in time for the buffet which was quite a spread of cold seafood, sushi, pasta, yakitori, stewed beef, grilled fish with cheese and potato and tasty looking desserts.
My old man was harping over how good the food was and how convenient it was as compared to having the traditional banquet.

With the newly weds being swamped to mingle with friends and families who they had not seen on regular basis, we just had our usual banter usually circling the colorful co-workers of CS whom he mentioned the night before.

Not before long, we lured the couple over to take some pictures with us as seen below:

The Wreckers, all tied up

Somehow you knew we would not stay sane for long.

Foo doing a great impersonation of one of CS' paranoid colleague.

21 years of friendship and more to come

The lunch ended at a good 2 plus when some friends remained to catch up old times while it was all soggy outside.
We had a chance to have a look at the complimentary suite which was pretty impressive but they might be too drained to really enjoy the amenities and facilities.

We bid farewell soon after that with Lili still needed to go back to work while under the insistence of the missus, we had a comprehensive stroll around ION Orchard which really put the "high" in "high end shopping".
There was struck of good luck in the evening as my mom and missus placed a bet on 4D for the car plate number and struck consolation.
The winning sum was quite negligible but it was something to cheer about especially for Mom who had always welcome winning lottery money from any avenues.

The whole event seemed to last shorter than it actually was and now we looked forward to the next wedding from perhaps CS who looked the most probable, well we never know, do we.

Japanese word of the day: 感情的 (Emotional) It had been emotional day, either in the tea serving, speech giving or simply on the road

The Prez Relinquished his Role Part 1

5th October 2009, Monday

Into the month of October when notable marriages take precedence over everything else.
Considering my own wedding (albeit customary) was held in October in 2006, it certainly is a month of merry-making, well at least within the Lunar calendar.

My buddy held his solemnization cum customary luncheon on the Mid-Autumn Festival and it was surely a good occasion for some sort of reunion.

The whole event began on Friday evening when after a hair cut, I took a ride on CS' Mitsubishi Lancer down to TW's place at Telok Kurau Lor G.
I was crossing my fingers that he would be back home when I had done with the haircut, and true indeed he barely made it home and needed time to wash up and have his dinner.
He had yet draw the cash for the red packet, so we took a drive around the industrial park before picking Foo from his place.

Foo made a last minute decision to join us for our mini-Stag party since the time we met up had been easy on his work schedule and thus for a long while the Wreckers were back in full force and I certainly cherished the time we were going to have especially when after marriage, TW's precious time might be even divided between work and his wife.

After stocking up on root beer and a tub of ice-cream, we finally arrived at the nuptial villa and the sight of his Subaru R2 ornate for the ceremony was quite amusing since it is so cubic, it looked like a really huge present.
Each of us took one of those ribbon thingies and tie a dead knot on the handle of the 4 doors of CS' car and definitely a significant featurette to kick off the evening.

His household was buzzing with preparation for the customary wedding procedures tomorrow but it looked very much whatever needed to be done had been done, despite TW kept yapping about he might have missed out certain things.

It was well documented that his room had vast space to house all his hobby needs and a workstation.
Even with a queen size bed, a new white (hasn't it been always) chest of drawers and a supposed dressing table which had yet to arrive, there was plenty of room to engage in an Argentine tango in.
He mentioned now that he had acquired a laptop, there was very little need to work in his room as he could do in the living room area where we resided for the night.

Dylan. TW's adorable nephew was well past his napping schedule when he joined the boys to catch the premiere of the latest season of "The Amazing Race".
There was a new twist to the plot this season as the race started eliminating one couple even before the crew managed to hit the airport.
It happened to be this uber-confident Yoga-preaching pair with the guy looking affably like Triple H from WWE.
Nicknamed "Numero Uno", the pair despondently were given the boot when they failed to locate the car plate number with the Kanji for the Tokyo locale of "Shinagawa".
TW and myself were especially enthused about their dismissal as we had a staunch dislike of the pretentious couple.

Despite being a loyal viewer of the Emmy-award winning reality series as it allowed one to marvel at the various alluring corners of our planet, the fact that they cooked up a lame Japanese game show in their first road block where the contestants were forced to gobble down a wasabi-filled sushi via a roulette, hosted by a mock Japanese host who actually was from Hawaiian or Guam and speaking in a poorly choreographed Japanese-style English and in front of a crowd of North Koreans masquerading as Japanese tourists, that was a last straw with their stereotype shit in front of the bunch of us who had been dabbling with Japanese pop culture avidly.
The myriad of colors with poorly sketched animation did give young Dylan a good time.

We then flipped to Star World where David Letterman was entertaining Madonna on his show.
Instead of enjoying Letterman's dry humor, we actually were more interested in how hideous the pop queen is this days behind her cake of make-up.

The highlight of the night arrived when we started gathering round Pepsiman whose endless wretched tales never failed to perk out interest.
Getting remotely drunk on rootbeer float, CS narrated with his usual panache of the various interesting characters he encountered at work.
As TW said the stories kept escalating into an relentless climax as it definitely made CS' workplace a twisted circus that he deeply hated but can't bear to leave.

The seconds trickled past 2 am as the large golden frame clock which was a complimentary from some famous hard liquor company had indicated.
With dawn beckoning and we needed to be up at 6, we had better catch a wink but CS was doused in Red Bull which Foo had offered and prompted him to stay awake while myself too was too high to bring myself to sleep.
So for the next 4 hours or so I just lie on the cold slab known as a mattress, trying to rest my mind for the big day.

With his parents up and running at around 5 in the morning, the 4 of us did got up by the postulated hour as Foo's uncontrollable sinu s problem became synonym to daybreak.
After taking turn in the shower (not together), we started to dress in our best outfit and before the photographer arrived at 7.15am, we were raring to go.

つつく

World in Disarray but I find Solace

1st October 2010, Thursday

My buddy is getting married in 2 days time and he had been getting butterfly in his stomach.
I knew he was more than ready for the commitment and truly hope he and his other half can walk down the isle of the remaining years in a blissful and endearing manner.

There was no sort of Stag party but it was going to be the usual "wreckers" night out over at his place on the eve of the big day.
The only dent in the build up of it was that a fourth founding member had gone AWOL and his "disappearance" had left me in the limbo, to a state I was starting to get disenchanted.
Perhaps I had thought too much into it and he was just preoccupied with things in his life.

After a weekend of F1 racing, the week went into full gear with 5 long days at work and the only solace was the wedding at the end of it.
After which, it would be another 4 days of work before me and my wife jetting off to Japan and to Iwate to attend Sou & Eriko s' wedding.
It would be another event to be looking forward to and a short escape from the mundane work routine, while in preparation of a hectic end of the year which include a pesky 5 days ICT.

The world as we knew it is now in a state of disarray as natural disasters started wrecking havoc so close to our doorsteps.
A sandstorm sent Sydney in an unhealthy orange hue while a typhoon flooded and ruined homes of thousands in Philippines and Vietnam.
Just yesterday an oceanic earthquake in the Pacific Ocean resulted in tumultuous cascade of tsunami destruction on sprawling islands like Samoa, and within hours Padang, Indonesia received a deadly bolt of 7.6 on richter scale with tremors could even be felt for minutes in Sinagpore.

Together with the pending fear of the H1N1 virus and the bustling terrorism threats, we are not living in the most jolly of times.

A few days ago, there was a report of Singapore population hitting the 5 million mark soon with a bulk made up of permanent residents and new citizens.
It was of little wonder why our tiny red dot is so appealing for many people in the world.
With the major problem of land shortage as well as lack of any resources, we had been blessed from being at the brunt of Mother Nature's cruel game.
If you want to live an uneventful and stable life, here is where you have to be as I myself would say I am all for that.

End of the day, I am once again announcing the fact that I am happy remaining status quo in finding solace of playing virtual management games, getting myself in fits with South Park and second guessing what's the minds of people close to me.

Japanese word of the day: 無秩序 (Chaos) The only chaos in my life is the madness in taking public transport so far

CONflict with the RADicals

14th September 2009, Monday

So the weekend that I had anticipated for a while gone and in the most satisfactory fashion I supposed.
Spent quality with the missus, totally rested my rigid bones, indulged ourselves in plenty of good food, spend till the credit cards busted and of course taking a great opportunity to hang out with my buddies; It was not spectacular but ain't shoddy either.

The day began at ION Orchard, the new center of attraction in Singapore's most popular shopping street.
The architecture truly stuck out in the backdrop but did not really blemished the mood of the area, instead setting a distinct feature of its own.

We had intended to purchase the JR Pass in the JTB Salpon but that did not go according to plan as we were simply too hasty.

We did had the traditional coffee, kaya toast and half boiled eggs at a cafe which bore decor which was most astutely made to resemble a high class cafe in Great America during the early 20th century or something.

The massage session at The Ultimate Wellness Haven at Shaw Center was set at 11.30 am; the entire penthouse setting was pretty grandiose and looked to cater for the tai-tais with cash to burn and the secret location looked like an exclusive clandestine of sort.
The package the missus was cajoled to buy was done a year back and she was still settling in in th form of a monthly installments.
The whole experience ain't that bad with decent massage therapy and body scrub which rid the rigidness in my muscles around the neck due to my incessant hours in front of my workstation 5 days per week and the tightness in my thigh and calf muscles from all the regular jogging.

We left for Conrad International Singapore as planned but traffic around town on a Satueday afternoon especially with COMEX, another one of those gargantuan IT convention held at Suntec City, was not going to be forgiving.
There was a near alteration when a Comfort Delgro Hyundai Avantis model unreasonably cutting the lane and close to gracing the boot of our car.
A horn of frustration ensued from the offender and from account by the flabberghasted missu, the obnoxious taxi driver still had the cheek to give her the middle finger.

The foul mood immediately evaporated when we made our way to Room 803 where we would spend the night at.

We did not lingered long in the room after settling down as one of the objectives of the weekend for me was to buy myself a decent set of suit for the important wedding procession I would be involved in for the month of October.
Prior to traveling from Orchard Road to Marina, we had took a detour to the Zara outlet at Wheelock Place and had my eyes on this particular made of real soft synthetic material which is well stretchable which is advantageous for someone like me with that kind of irrational figure.
In the end that was what I purchased.
It nearly did not transpired well with limited stock (make it one set only) in the outlet at Marina Square.

We had some rest in the room till it was dinner time as we expected our guests to be coming in around 7 plus.
The buffet at Oscar's had quite a budding reputation for a buffet which serves fresh seafood which did not really whet my appetite but it did looked quite amazing to see a good 8 types of oysters including Coffin's Bay, Irish and Scottish.

There was a "Treat of Nagoya" for limited time as the chefs laid out some exquisite Japanese cuisine from the central Japanese city.
We warmed out stomach and worked that gastric juice before the rest arrived.

Eventually TW and Peiling made their appearance, a good half hour before CS and Lili who was caught in the usual Saturday evening jam on the CTE arrived.
Despite the setting of the table and the constant topping of our plates, the 6 of us had a jolly good time chatting on each others' dining preference and a myriad of topic like the COMEX, the funny incidents in CS' workplace, TW's impending big day and of course spilling the beans from each other's can.
In the pipeline is also the "Tokyo Wreckers" 10th year anniversary" tour which CS lobbied aggressively for and something nice to look forward to the next year.

The dining and the hearty chatty lasted till an hour after the buffet stopped its operation but the restaurant was gracious enough not to hustle us out for making our usual din and even granted us a good deal as I was a patron of the hotel itself.

The gang left after taking a look at the room as the night petered to watching "The Devil Wears Prada" on that 52 inch Sony Bravia.

On the actual birthday of the missus, we began with more guilty indulgence as we overworked our intestinal factory with a fulfilling breakfast at the Oscar.
Before we knew it, it was checking out time as our little escapade for her birthday came to a close, with a parting shot of the view from our room:

Japanese word of the day:ザリガニ~Za-ri-ga-ni~(Crayfish) It seems like every love unshelling those crustaceans, making a whole mess just for that little bit of meat.

Wow, seems like it had been a great weekend...

22nd June 2009, Monday

When I was bitchin' to the missus as she was in the midst of some "mahjong tiles-memory matching game" on her Facebook that I dreaded Monday while myself in the midst of a late surge of Japanese dorama marathon of recent episodes of "Shiroi Haru 白い春" (Trying to hold back the tears when Abe Hiroshi had to lie about dislike his own daughter), "Mr Brain" (equally piqued over the fact they left a major cliffhanger and we had to wait another week to find out who is the murderer) and catching up on "Tenchijin 天地人" (More Abe Hiroshi is good for health).
I should really had no qualms about the past 72 hours which had been grooving out fine as a seemingly perfect weekend.

As scheduled, I applied for leave on Friday to the incense of the missus as she dreaded seeing me in bed still while she had to drag herself to work.

Rented a couple of Frat Pack-associated movies "Semi Pro" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" which I hope can become a staple of entertainment on weekly basis now, kicked off my day on Friday morning as the rest of the day was cascaded with Football Manager and Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 but hit a glitch when CS called and announced his no-show for the gaming that evening with a machinery issue that would keep him at work till the wee hours.
It surely took the gloss from what looking to be a great night with Foo hoping on the bandwagon as I hailed the cab after my hair-cut and picked him up along the way en route to TW's place at Telok Kurau.

The ribbing was still present but the usual angst antics of CS would had been even better but little did we expected to complete the full leagu till 5 in the morning.

Foo, visibly fatigued the day's work and then the long hours staring at the LCD TV while his thumbs numb from handling the PS3 controllers, collapsed on the parquet floor and totally knocked out.
TW soon to follow as he was decimated by the snooze monster. I caught myself some sleep on his workstation chair before the first ray of light came about and I hustled Foo to make our way home.

Tried to sleep after the missus had already got her day going as she went to meet a friend at 8 plus, but some persistent drilling kept me awake till around 2 in the afternoon when I actually felt into slumber but merely for a couple of hours.

The lads had planned a dinner for some nostalgia reminiscence but many of those joints we had hit back in those days had either closed down or being replaced by new upstarts.
After much pondering, we decided to meet at Thomson Plaza, the place itself was a relic of my youth.

Just as I was preparing to make my way for my bus ride to Thomson Road, the sky opened up as cruel raindrops pelted mercilessly, so vehemently that there was no visibility at all at the peak of the torrential raining.
It certainly delayed my schedule and things weren't help by the wretched wait for the bus which seemed to be the longest wait among the cluster of bus service for that bus stop.

That was surely a classic wretched way to start the night.

The dinner was attended by CS' lass, LL and eventually joined by my missus, returning from a trip to Johor Bahru.

We dined at this family-style restaurant cum dessert shop, Miss Clarity along Thomson Road and before you knew it, our "aura" came into effect as diners started to made a frantic beeline out of the place and by 9 pm the restaurant was empty with the exception of us doing our usual antics and throwing our usual corny jokes.
Seemingly LL had a great laugh over the course of the dinner that her facial muscles were in spasms by the end of it.
It was truly gratifying to see our other halves getting well aquainted with us and one another as our friendships are always going to be endearing and surely beyond our usual game sessions or what-nots.
The biggest running gag between us on that soggy Saturday evening would be CS not being pleased with the words I had projected him to be in front of his girlfriend and was determined to had me assasinated.
Of course we did caught up of people from the past especially their old Secondary School friends, scarily most I had came to know as well.

The best thing that could happen on a lazy Sunday afternoon would be profuse raining, setting a gloomy yet cooling atmosphere and you have snacks and endless entertainment on the TV or PC and you just laze your day away.
That's what I did and for the missus catching up some lost sleeping time over the week.

Durians are cheap and in abundance of late and we got to savour the "yellow sin" in large satisfying quantity over the weekend to our heaty delight.

So a fabulous weekend of sleep, games, movies, doramas, great company of friends and durain, doesn't get as good as this...

Japanese word of the day:完璧 ~kan-pe-ki~ (Perfect) Of course the ultimate fantasy is 4 of us engaging in a PES marathon with the usual squabbling while our other halves feeding us durains...

Swinging with the Pepsiman

15th June 2009, Monday

Looking at the 12K of hard earn cash being "invested" for the audio gadgetry pleasure of my buddy, I can vouch he is living for the moment and surely nothing wrong with it.

It was a date with CS on Saturday as he beckoned me to join him for a trip to the PC show. With a strong disdain for the omnipresence of the huge crowd making maneuvering around simply impossible at times, I usually would give such exhibitions a miss unless there is a piece of IT product needed to be bought urgently.
But with nothing on hand on a rather cloudy Saturday morning, I obliged to Mr Pepsiman's request.

The trip ended empty-handed for both of us as we had not had the scant intention to splurge but we nearly did when some local start-up company was all guns blazing to solicit the crowd with a tool which can cut household electrical bill by 20%.
It surely drew our interests much like the next bill-concious Singaporean at the show. But neither of us went near to dishing $200 for it, well we nearly did.

The top draw for us was at the Gain City booth where the latest Samsung LED TV was on show. The slimness of the TV and the overall design just made us salivate but the introductory price of $3000+ (including discount) was the putting off factor especially when we knew the price would plunder in due time.
Our own LCD TVs at home are working fine as well, so no incessant splurging that day fortunately.

I managed to pick up some pamphlets of the top end printers (with many built in features like faxing, photcopying etc) as the missus deemed interested in getting but not just yet.

The target was to get out of the show by 2 but we got off much earlier than that. We then headed to Millenia Walk where he was interested in some designer chocolate from this "Chocolate Research Facility" as his other half seemingly had a sweet tooth.

We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on some things in our lives as of now as well as hitting the nostalgic note.
He was very much alive when he spoke of his adventure while improving the gadgetry of his car which was pretty interesting to listen to as no one really get to see a Maserati on the streets of Singapore any other day, especially not when the owner is a teenager born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

It was apparent that my buddy seemed immerse with upgrading his car but he was conscious not to go overboard especially when he had other interests (i.e. gaming) to catch up on.
But he did had intention to settle down with his lass, just he looked more captivated with living for the moment.

I for one was not ready to try to deter him from that ideology as myself wasn't willing to take the next step in life readily.
But I am sure w e will both turn out fine at the end of the tunnel.

Nevertheless a nice day to hang out with CS which does not concern game playing or PC fixing; I am just glad to be able to catch up with my buddies at greater frequency of late.

Japanese word of the day: 瞬間 ~shun-kan~(Moment) It's good to plan ahead in life but sometime should try to live for the moment.

A Cool Night Out with My Chums

1st June 2009, Monday

The entire last week was culminating towards Friday evening when I had got TW and CS on board for a hang out session with the usual playing of games on the console and let the proceedings flow and see where it took us to.

My friendship with my buddy began almost 21 years back and it never seemed to waned as we were so alike in many interests and ideologies and he always knew how to entertain me.
Over the years I had grew tolerance for his staunch way of handling things, his passion in whatever he does as well as not conforming to how we would like him to, such as a simple matter of hooking a LAN cable to his Playstation 3.
CS was TW's secondary school friend but it was surely fate how 3 of us would stick out like an odd trio over the years.
Perhaps the time we had been apart (TW with his days in Vancouver and Osaka while CS spent 2 years in Glasgow pursuing his degree) had galvanised our friendship even further.

It could be a quartet of wrecking buddies but the missing link was as it said, "missing".
I assumed he was on call for national duty but he hadn't update me on anything else for like 2 weeks now.

The evening began when I got home slightly early after entitled to leave an hour early from work with the "Eat With Your Family Day" program encouraged by the Center of Fathering (what in the world is that?!).
After preparing the stuff I promised to bring along to TW's place at Telok Kurau, a change of scenery for a game session which usually was at CS' place or my place if it was just the 2 of us.

I arrived at CS' block at Serangoon slightly ahead of time and could feel the humidity driving me to the roof as the stickiness of the skin from the sweating just ain't my ideal way to begin the night.

Fortunately my IT-savvy friend didn't made me wait too long as we hopped onto his white Mitsubishi Lancer. He did pointed out he might not last long for the night as work during the day surely would take its toll at due time.

When we arrived, the first person...well we always regarded him as one was his household pet mongrul, Happy.
The aged canine was still enthusiastic over the years since I first saw him as a puppy which couldn't stop yapping away.
Behind him was a little toddler with a very familiar face... Immediately it got to me it was his baby nephew, now closing in to one and a half years old and developed sturdy limbs to see him walking steadily.

TW's older sister was staying with her family as she is expecting the 2nd child, the water at her place is sure fertile.

Little nephew yearned to join us for our virtual football yet he was not to comfortable with 2 strange faces wearing black shirts, came knocking in the middle of the night.
Nevertheless being the baby of the household and a pretty adorable one, it was understandable he is well doted and soon he would leave us on our own, doing some theatrics which his mother was real proud of before making his departure.

So we began some kicking about on Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.
Barcelona's comprehensive victory in the UEFA Champions League final at Rome Stadio Olympico was the inspiration for us to take the Catalans giant.

CS who surely hadn't touch the game in a long while was rusty but patiently we put him into the groove though we can't be too proud as he had set the level on "amatuer" since the beginning of time.

Chelsea with that bugged talent known as Joe Cole proved to be hard for our Barca but we perservered, i.e. kept replaying them in the exhibition till we ultimately reached our motive of just mauling the Blues from London.

Then we began a whirlwind Konami Cup which featured clubs as well as countries including a Cameroon side we faced in the semi finals, containing the clone of our star striker Eto'o.

It was a of hearty great fun to rib at each other's errors while glamouring each stunning goal we conjured especially when TW found the way to convert goals with well precision.
It would be better if we could all shut off our mobile phone but it was impossible as it seems.

After that tournament we began engaging in a conversation which we hadn't done as a trio for a while.

The crux of the conversation surrounds our life with regards to our career as well as our other half.
I vividly remembered a good 14 years or so back, we were discussing about how our lives would be when we reached 30... It was a tad too uncertain but we knew someone up there must have loved us, bestowing us a jobs and a partner which 3 of us deemed to be our live-long companion.

TW gave us an insight of his new job which required him to serve as the chief lecturer, he sure is going places among us.
But he had his issues with taking charge of a band of established professionals in his field who aren't exactly comfortable to taking orders from someone like himself with less credentials.
Meanwhile CS just hated his job to the core and when times are good, I forsee him making the jump.

We also touched on my missus' sideline which had one chap nearly "conning" CS to join, laying the bait of an attractive career prospective.
As much as I am fully supportive of my wife's involvement and her aspirations, we are all just too skeptical about the probability to be a success story as many inside had vouched it could happen.

Then there was some brainstorming for TW's forthcoming wedding and marriage in Singapore on the whole.
He had managed to economize his ceremony with a very understanding bride but he was incensed with the Singapore housing situation, refusing to pay a ransom for a HDB flat which one would hold for just 99 years.

We all starrted speculating how things would take a turn in this crossroad of our lives.
Personally I revealed my fear of how long could I see myself in my line as 40 might be too old for comfort in my field.
Nevertheless we are all just too glad to remain status quo, spending our leisure time playing games and doing very "fanboy" like stuff while our other halves led a more happening lifestyle on their own.

The time was close to 3 in the morning when by now CS' eyes were sodden with veins as his body was yelling for him to rest and we called it a day.

It was great time shared with 3 good friends and from TW, he would like to do it again...I hope it might not wait for another few years or even months for the next one.

Japanese word of the day: 連絡をとりなさい(Keep in Touch) The problem with good friends tends to be too captivated with their own lives and failed to keep in touch

Taking Up Dead Space?

4th May 2009, Monday

The May Day long weekend was pretty well spent in my books.
With my folks off to another Northern excursion back to Mom's relatives' place in Johor, we were left in charge of the apartment again.

Got to hook up with 2 of my buddies as well as managed to watch a whole chunk of backlog of doramas in my computer.
I even caught a nearing 3 hour long commemorative special from Fuji Television, on their 50th anniversary, reminiscing some classic dorama series from the past with the slew of top billing actors and actresses we had watched since young surely helped to make the occasion even more meaningful, especially yours truly who is infatuated with nostalgia.
The show was hosted by SMAP, and perhaps Tsuyoshi's last live appearance before his scandal. Anyway heard he will not be charged, and could make a comeback soon...we'll see.

My weekend really started on Thursday when TW came over for some Pro Evolution Soccer fun.
I actually had intended to organize an impromptu gaming session at CS' place on Friday but seemingly my wife-doting buddy had to commit his time to his bride, and felt perhaps we could catch up on Thursday itself.
We sure had a good time taking Spain national team (our favorite outfit in the game) and simply wallop our opponents (in amatuer mode of course); but the penultimate objective was to totally humiliate England which we both loathe (in the game and perhaps in real life) but after umpteen attempts we just couldn't win convincingly.
The playing took a toll on the missus who was gracious enough to leave the room for us.
A good chat to catch things up with each other ended at around 2 when he hailed a cab home, very much similar to another of this session back in December.

While the missus went on a hiking trip with her business partners at the South Ridges walk, I decided to find my own program when I called up CS who as usual in the comfort of his home, playing his beloved games.
Things sure got a bit lonely without TW or Foo but we made the best of things when he showed me the latest in the game industry, the usual of whetting my appetite even when I find it hard to squeeze time to concentrate in engaing in console games (hard to multi task unlike playing FM).

The bulk of the time there was when he let me have the hands on on a chilling game he even had chills down his spine while playing in the day time, "Dead Space".

This horror game from EA Games is much unlike any other of the same genre such as Capcom's "Resident Evil" series.
The game which very much inspired from the 1997 sci fi horror flick "Event Horizon", will create a spine-chilling atmosphere as the protaganist, engineer Isaac Clarke unraveled the mystery over the annhilation of the crew onboard the Ishimura Planet Cracker ship.

CS left me on my own for most of the time and as much as I had a strong disdain towards such game despite an urge to pick up Resident Evil 5 though, I found the control easy and not too nauseous.
The developers surely know how to create the morbid environment which at times you as the player would not be sane enough to explore.
Fans of grotesque slasher movies like Saw would love the amount of blood and innards that one can generate while dismembering those alien creatures, which love to sprang out from no where to scare the shit out of the player.

The game won many awards and accolades and for a casual player myself who got intrigued enough to continue on, it sure deserves to be rewarded.
On some level, the game is much more than just blind slashing and killing, there are several stages when you need to seek the best solution with your other skills like Statis and Kinesis to get machineries to work.

The game took me to 1 plus when I saw CS was pretty bumped up for the night though he was cool enough to give me a ride home in his brand new Mitsubishi Lancer with all the dazzling gadgets as we would expect no less.

Saturday was basically home bound with the missus who was preparing for her make-up competition on Sunday with Karen as the model.

A couple of good results going for the teams I support with Man Utd beating Middlesborough in a rather yawn-inducing affaor but one wouldn't have time to even bat an eyelid in the El Clasico at Santiago Bernabeu with the irresistable Barca machine went riot over the hapless host, Real Madrid with a 6-2 scoreline which could be more for the Catalans.
Both teams are on course for their domestic titles and I hope to see them squaring up against each other in the Champions League final, though Barcelona surely deserve to win it as in all competitions they are in, for showing the world such delightful positive attacking football.

I didn't had the chance to catch up with the final of my Wrecker buddy as Foo sort of bailed me out (but to spend time with his other half is definitely take the precedence) as I made the journey to Tampines alone to catch the Cup preliminary round which didn't end up good in terms of the scoreline (as I have expected) but the spirited display and the cheers I heard for the team was pretty heart-warming.

Japanese word of the day: 恐怖 (Scare) There were moments we just scared each other, pretty silly that we couldn't stop laughing

Unfathomable Human Nature

6th April 2009, Monday

Went to La Tendo on Saturday evening and caught up with Vincent and Miyano; which was when we heard the news about Ferris had bought a car with an off-peak season (weekend) license plate.
All these while, we had only know that Vincent is getting his own automobile (though he used to commute happily in a van or a motorbike, both belonged to his brother apparently), behind the smoke-screen, the elder Chong has secretively fulfilling his own desire to own a 4-wheeler (he too had been a motorcyclist all these while).

This led to a shock awakening on why he piqued out that day on MSN when I made crass comment about the Korean car model he had been waxing lyricals about (for info both his and Vincent's car are of the same model, just different color).

It sure is bewildering why he want to be so secretive about it but then again it's sometime good to keep things to yourself, and not broadcast to the rest of the world, you never know how people percieved it.

Speaking of broadcasting, Foo and my recent blog adventure on our favorite local football club which had blown very much out of what we had intended it to be when we started, got caught in a sticky situation of late.

With a draw at home against a team we felt with the talent we had in the playing squad, we should had easily truimphed over at the comfort of the home ground, we went on to lash out undiscerningly on how disappointed we were, without thinking twice about mincing our words.
This brought an uproar in the hierachy in the club management who felt we are just some negative media trying to unsettle the team morale or something.
The bigot German coach even blew his top and sent me mails, stating his indignation upon reading our gratuitous criticism and groundless deduction of his tactics and game play etc.

While I defended my point with Foo's backing, it was pretty much an ugly fall out between us and that arrogant head coach, so don't expect us sending each other Chirstmas cards anytime soon.

Despite having the support of the understanding chairman who oversaw the whole situation on an unbiased ground, it didn't really turn out the way we had intended but we had to state our stand as a fan who coldn't just standby and watch the team getting into a rut (we are bottom of the table by the way) and still unbashfully plaudits the team for their lackluster performance.

While I might have come off a bit too defensive and strong with my words, I didn't expect my partner in crime felt I was rather uncalled for in terms of self-imploding with the whole situation.
I knew he shared my passion if not more, but he tends to keep things subtle which was antagonistic to my style.
There was no wrong or right on how one decided to express themselves; you never know his calming nature could be the remedy to my rash, indiscreet style.

The truth is I might felt jaded with the fallout but I was not that bothered but he seemed to try to think I might have got too involved in it, now trying to distance from it for a while.
I agreed to his stance to sooth the situation by not going against it heads on which might implicate other people, but somehow I wish there was some sign of support throughout the whole fracas.

I know I am a rather self-centered and perhaps egoistic guy, but I would treat my real friends with sincerity and support whenever I could though it seems it was not reciprocated at times.
This incident together to another incident many X'mas back brings me back to square one about truly understanding my buddy.

Japanese word of the day: 人間性 ~nin-gen-sei~ (Human Nature) Still unfathomable even when you thought you know one person long enough

Harsh Reality

24th February 2009, Tuesday

Been back for 5 days now from a trip which was truly gratifying for me and the missus and surely one to savor at the end of it...you can read all about it here (though it would only be out next week or so).

So it's back to reality once the fun has subsided...
Work was almost non existent once I had returned with the completion of whatever project at hand since I had left. While new projects are at the horizon, the lack of work surely makes me a bit uncomfortable.
Retrenchment has been everyone's mouth since the turn of the year and now at the crest of recession, everyone just want to hold on to their job.
Myself will want to hold on to this job I cherish very much and with my 3 year contract coming to an end, I do have a fear within...*fingers crossed for a new contract come May*
From the townhall session the director had with the company last week which I had missed, it seems like our department will not be taken with much regards for the coming work year and with the gaffer now in Boston, we just hope for the best...But I still have optimism that our group will be crucial to the institute.
As for performance bonus, since this recession is even worse than the SARS period, I can't expect much this year...no expectation no disappointment...

As for the missus, her industry being at the brunt of the diminishing demand for their product has started to adopt the four-days work week to reduce cost.
At the moment it is alternate Fridays till September and with her annual leave fully expended, it means her pay will be downsized due to this policy.
At least she keeps her job...

Our government had came our with a recession package including a employment credit to ensure we remain status quo and double the GST Offset package with the first payment coming in a week's time.
The amount is not much but sure do help in some way... The electrical bill is set to reduced (though still overpriced) as well as public transport (by mere 2 cents)...
As chatted with Beautiness this morning, it surely is a year to try scrimp and save as much as possible....

In such times of recession, I still hear some nuptial bells ringing... Firstly my buddy TW in October and coincidentally that of Eriko and Sou in the same month.
We have decided to fly down to Morioka just to attend the ceremony due to our friendship as well as perhaps the only chance to witness a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony which they had intended to go through instead of holding in a chapel.
Lastly my sister and her beau are thinking about tying the knot soon but maybe not the customary just yet...
Really time to get a decent suit...any good tailor to recommend?

One mildly pleasing news is that the high key in-camp training to Kao Hsiung had been cancelled..
I speculated that it could be due to the funds been cut but got wisp of the fact that it could be the unavailability of ships...
No matter what it's good to know I need not visit the southern city of Taiwan again for the 3 year in a roll though I still have one more high key to clear in the coming years...

Finally been really in groove with Foo for our side project in our quest to support of our beloved team, Sengkang Punggol.
The trip had taken us to unbelievable height for now as we meet some crucial characters in the local footballing fraternity.
Somehow watching the games now seem to hold more meaning and life surely become more interesting at this juncture...
At least it takes some blues about current economic climate away...

Japanese word of the day: 現実 ~gen-ji-tsu~(Reality) surely everyone has to wake up and smell the coffee...

At the eve of flying off...

9th February 2009, Monday

The flight will be at 11.45 pm tomorrow... We have done the on-line checking in and secured 2 pretty good seats on the upper deck of the Airbus A380 (surely one of the highlight for me for this trip) though not the exact ones we wanted.

This is a trip I really look forward to relax myself, not that I am in the midst of a really tensed and highly wound-up working life but a good get-away for me and the missus who had surely yearned for an overseas trip like this since an entire year of confining within Singapore or the most Malaysia.
Planning this trip took a great amount of time, think since 2nd half of last year, but with the financial recession tsunami tiding it, things got stifled abit but it didn't douse our enthusiasim for the trip since I had set aside the extra dough for it for a while ago.

In the end we were glad to get a "once in a lifetime" deal from SIA and with the lodging at Tokyo also seemingly affordable, we manage to tide over the high yen rate.
The amount we intended to bring over should be more than suffice for a good eating and shopping trip but still you never know with the hap-hazard Japanese economy now.
The yen rate dropped in drastic fashion immediately after we had changed the currency, just a reason to get on my nerves...but just had to ignore it...

Have great expectations of the onsen ryokan, mainly due to the amount of money we were going to pay.
The objective to the snowy Akita surely is to laze and indulge in the healthy hot springs and taste some good food provide from the ryokan.
Spending will be kept to the minimal except for some Akita-limited omiage (souvenirs) but wonder if we ever had the time to venture out of the resort since there are quite a few hot spring to sample.

The really short spell at Morioka will be great to catch up with Eriko and perhaps her beau, Sou.
It had been 3 years since we last saw them and it's a pity we couldn't stay a bit longer. But seriously ran out of idea what we can do in Morioka except for catching up old times.
Of course I will seek her assistance to look for Hiroki and his family whom I had totally lost contact with.

Diseny Sea on Valentine's Day would be a great day out for us...I really enjoyed myself at my first Disneyland trip back in 2005 despite I could do without the sun-burn and felt we shouldn't had rushed to go off.
This time round with a full day planned to the poorer-aquatic cousin of Disneyland, we can immersed in the romantic moment (since many touted Disney sea is more for adults) minus rampant crowd and some death-defying rides of course.

We had plans to visit the likes of Yokohama and Shimokita, venues in Tokyo we had yet to explore while plans for the likes of Akihabara, Nakano, Ueda are always in the plan as well as Shinagawa where would be staying.
Eating good food surely is my utmost priority for this trip and will need to aggressively shed off excessive "baggage" when we return.

I might had gone at the wrong time with the S League now buzzing into the final week of pre-season and a lot of major news transpiring but I am sure my partner in crime, Foo will get those covered... One of the trivial thing in life that get me excited of now.

Yesterday we paid a visit to my buddy's place as we had not been doing so for the past Chinese New Year.
It was great catch up with my buddy who is in the midst of his marital scavenging and from his words sound like a real adventure while CS who came by too was fervently taking notes....not!
But he did showed us his new wagon, the Mitsubishi Lancer EX which had all the gadgets to appease our dear buddy.
We then followed TW and his parents up the Bukit Timah hill to the British Club where we had dinner at high altitude.
The humid after rain weather and the spices from the Indian cuisine is a sweaty concoction but as the night worn off, it got cooler and we were totally immersed in TW's father's wise words about the current economic downturn and the repercussions not everyone got to see unless you are doingh business like themselves.
It was a good Sunday night with my buddy and those who had seen me grown up as well as my wife... will surely render all help possible when his big day arrives in October...

Japanese word of the day: 流れ ~na-ga-re~(Flow) Wanna go with it for the coming trip

A Sweet Fruit Tart doesn't sweetens a Bad Loss

23rd December 2008, Tuesday

Something sweet to whet our appetites on Sunday for the family X'mas dinner:

These nice (and costly) pastries from The Patissier as well as the spicy herbs pasta the missus cooked up which I can never get sick of eating as well as Mom's crispy roasted chicken, it was a perfect evening for dining with the family as well as my buddy who came to deliver the white wine.

The dinner also prevented me from heading to the National Stadium (yes it is yet been tore down despite set to do so 2 years back) for the return leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup semi final between our Lions and Vietnam with the first leg ending 0-0 in Hanoi.
I had the luxury of watching it with my buddy at the comfort of my home and that surely had "blessing in disguise" written all over it.

The mission was a simple one...scored against the Viets and we will hold on for a victory and proceed to the final against highly-fancied Thailand.
However that was very much hindered by the resilient Vietnam team following the wise tactics of their Brazilian gaffer, Henrique da Silva Calisto while our boys also showed the lack if luster especially at the final third.

We saw glimpses of brilliance from Sharil Ishak on the left after reinstated to the first team duties after been struggling from match fitness for so long; however the final ball always didn't end up at the back of the net.
In the 2nd half we saw Ridhuan who had been the mired one for most of this tournament coming to form butu his passes and Jiayi's setpieces just aren't doing much for our wasteful forwards.

With minutes ticking away, Vietnam compounded a cruel stroke with 12 minutes to go with a fast counter attacj which saw substitute right back Ismail Yunos being brushed away.
We tried in vain to find the leveler and Raddy's proud unbeaten record in the ASEAN cup came to an end to much joy of the well-represented 5000 strong Vietnamese crowd while our local fans left home, sadly without the chance of seeing our national side claiming the title for a 3rd time in a row.

Well if only the real world would be as easy as how me & TW whipped England and Calamity James' asses in PES2009...

Japanese word of the day: 甘い~a-ma-i~(sweet) Well things can't be sweet all the time...

Like Husband, Like Wife...and a new PC

17th November 2008, Monday

After 2 days of drowning in extreme misery (don't try to empathize with me 'cos you'll just find me utterly silly), my life had a new sparkle...a blue luminous one as followed:

This baby tilted my expenditure on IT products to around 2.5K since the start of the year but it could be the most life-defying of them all....

The weekend began early when I beckoned TW who was fresh from his wretched ICT for a rendezvous at our old comic hide-out in Serene Center.
It merely took me less than 20 minutes to reach there from my workplace as traffic was smooth from Clementi to Bukit Timah Road.
My No. 4 uniform-wearing, short cropped buddy was already there browsing through Comic Mart for some reading material.
As the Mac which was the original plan was congested, I suggested to walk down to Adam Road Hawker Center for dinner.
We started whining and moaning about our misfortunes over the past weeks or so and I got a low down of what happened during the Russell Peter show.
Then it's only to get nostalgic on a breezy Friday evening as we cruised along the express way listening to endearing English pop songs from the 1990s as I suggested to hit a internet cafe to just to surf youtube for perhaps classic anime openings.

The only place I could think about these days would be at City Hall area..in the end we found this lan-gaming joint within Funan and did what we had intended for an hour or so, when CS who I had looked for in vain called to set an appointment with me to get the PC issue out of the way... which would really be the best remedy to make my mood back to the upswing.
He also disclosed a little recent update on our mutual friend BH which perked TW enough to meet us at Sim Lim the next day.
As I waited for the missus who was at a wedding banquet just down the road at Swissotel Westin Stamford and TW himself waiting to pick his lass from dinner at Liang Court down by Clarke Quay, we continued frollickin in our good old days including 1990s music, soccer and comic artists...sure were good times...

Saturday began with a frenzy...I had intended to start the day early by getting the purchase at Sim Lim less hassle and hesitation as possible.
The lads and I had arranged to meet by 10.30am but by 10 I was still at home as the missus insisted to tag along before heading off to her own affair.
So without much choice we hailed a cab down and got that slightly off the protracted time, then again the traffic congestion at CTE in AMK area was the main culprit of it.
We found CS taking his breakfast at Burger King in Burlington Square...after satisfying his caffeine urge, he gave us a low down on how BH finally got a girlfriend but the story wasn't as in depth as we had anticipated.
We wasted no time to head back to Sim Lim and more precisely Bell Systems Electronics to assemble my new PC.
Not wanting to really diagnose what's the real reason behind the failing of my original PC as CS stated as I am in dire need to get myself hook up online at home; we went ahead to do an overhaul retaining just the DVD Rom and salvaging the hard disk which hold some important data I wanted.

CS suggested to enquire with this guy by the name of Dave (whom he mistaken as Jave...er no one would call themselves Jave) who he mentioned is like the wise sage up on top on the computing mount and would impart us some knowledge on what parts would be most suitable for my computing needs.
After understanding that I'm not really into gaming but most for internet and multimedia entertainment, he suggested taking an AMD chip-mounted board with built in graphic card...
CS had his doubts on AMD being not as stable as Intel chips but Dave managed to win us over by his updated knowledge... Or he could be blowing his own horn..
However considering AMD is such cheaper alternative to Intel, it would really doesn't make sense why he wouldn't want to earn more money for his store (unless he just wanted to clear the AMD chip stock...yikes).
Without the need to purchase additional graphic card and the much lower price of the motherboard and the chip, my original budget of $1K seems to be much surplus when he included the power supply unit, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard disk & of course a new tower with more coolant fans and those psychedelic blue lighting.
With building up a new PC, we need an operating system to run on...and we had both insisted of getting Windows XP but wise sage Dave snubbed our request, saying I should go for Vista (which at that point I still wasn't convinced was a more superior OS by Microsoft than XP and reluctant to use it day in day out).
He hit the point on why we wanted to held on to old technology which would be obsolete in half a year's time....
Grand Ol' Sage hit the notion and I duly obliged with getting the Premium Home Edition of Windows Vista with the total bill much under $700...seriously home computing had really become so much cheaper than maybe 5 years ago.

While we waited for the PC to be hook up and tested by their staff, we roamed Sim Lim and I was very tempted to get the new version of Football Manager by SIGames, released just a day ago.
However the sole mission of my wife's presence was to kill off any idea I had to do that as she had such bad blood with this series of game which will see me transform into a angst-driven bastard...she said she disagreed for the sake of my health...
But what I want I must get (as long as it's within my ability to own it)..and after relentless persuasion and a few sad looks, I got my wish fulfilled though with a price of doing some health check next month...er...we'll see.

Not before long we went to collect my new PC while TW was tempted to upgrade himself but didn't even buy a new scanner as planned as the incumbent is now soaked with rain water after he had forgotten to close the windows on a rainy day.
The missus who had been distracted by the wide selection of laptop and portable PC so far was very much tempted to a model from Taiwan-based brand, ASUS.
More on that undying temptation in a while...

After bidding TW goodbye, we headed back home as CS managed embed the DVD Rom as well as the old hard disk and installed the OS and not before long my looming misery was erased though I had lost alot of bookmarks which we couldn't seemed to isolate.
I need some softwares as well but I had good source as well as generally those I can get online including Copy Trans which was my inaugural online purchase software as I wanted to backup the songs in my iPod with the correct playlist before a fix of the battery issue...the last piece of my IT expenditure puzzle.

With the exception of still not able to listen via headphones via the front jack as well as persistent sound from the rear fan which CS had salvaged from the old PC as well, everything is working great...and Vista ain't such a pain in the neck as I had expected.
I could now even clone the display to my LCD TV after we hook up with a VGA cable from the PC...so now I surely can play my FM while enjoying a show, without the need to sacrifice the monitor as seen below:

I also installed FM 2009 on that night itself and it surely wasn't any easy task with the whole tie up witb Steam which really infuriated many avid fans during activation which couldn't be highlighted enough on the forums. Fortunately in my case, it was just a mistaken "1" for "I" which as well documented as well together with the "0/O" issue.
With the whole patching, it took close to 2 hours to finally launch the bloody game.
Fortunately start up was relatively fast, so is processing, mainly due to the power of my CPU I guess.
The whole new 3D match interface was met with much skepticism (but the previous 2D pitch was also well scorned till it was finally embraced over the years).
I had a try at it as seen below:

The Tv view was quite nauseating at the start...it seem like aerial view by helicopter or something, not conventional viewing of a soccer match.
But after a while I got quite used to it and with some level of glitches as expected, it was actually quite smooth and didn't take long to load the match.
Then again you can switch to normal 2D if you can't get used to it.
Fortunately I could use tactics and training schedule file from previous editions, so no need to mind those areas which I usually don't give a hoot about.
It was pretty hard to score in this edition but perhaps just had to get the gist of it eventually...
All in all, as I always quote..even the worst effort from SIGames, it's still a darn good game to spend hours on it...with this and PES 2009, my life is sort of complete now.

As mentioned the missus had her eyes on a laptop and had strong desire to make it her own on Saturday itself till I came up with "you sure you have the cash for it" rebuff.
After further consideration over the course of the remaining few hours and some early hours on Sunday, she made up her mind to get it....
She also intended to trade her old one for some cash to supplement her purchase...
Such a nature which resembles so close to mine, really scared CS stiff for a while...perhaps despite our widening differences, this similar trait pulled us together somehow.
So in the end, she got what she yearned for and was perhaps a good choice since her 4 years old laptop is dying a slow death anyway with crazy background softwares which make it so slow to work with...

She also helped me get an official copy of Norton AntiVirus 2009 edition which CS advised me to invest on...
An enlightening quote from the horse's mouth on Saturday was "well I got by the fact that we need to pay for softwares now, maybe you should to"...wise words...perhaps...at least because we could afford it now rather than those ailing schooling era.

So plenty of refreshing computing experience for the household for the next week or so....

Japanese word of the day: 私はほしいと思う何が私は得なければならない(what I want I must get) Surely a frightening trait but at least we will fight for it....