Cute-ness Attack!

My cousin, Gregers!

Solitude on Flight

A long flight with one transit in between is the longest I’ve ever been on a plane actually. Fortunately, British Airways is actually quite decent, and I enjoyed most of my flight from Singapore to Heathrow and then from Heathrow to Copenhagen.


The Singapore-Heathrow segment of the journey to go visit my aunt consisted of a full 12-hour flight which meant that my ass would be seated for a very long time. That aside, it also meant I would have a lot of time to kill. As expected, I managed to watch FOUR movies in between napping, going to the toilet, and eating. Strangely enough, the long flight offered me a solitude which I did not know I was longing and the movies that I picked allowed me to catch up on shows that I’ve been saying I wanted to watch, but never got around to. During this time, I reflected on many things, and remembered many things that were important to me.

I remembered the importance of good friends, and the joy of having loved (together with the pain of having lost such love), and the greatness which is family. I remembered compassion and possibility; I remembered happiness and the wonder of clarity of thought. I remembered the beauty of the world and its significance to me, and I remembered the insignificance of man and the boundless struggles we create against the forces around us.

I felt connected, once again, to these things, and was reminded of the things I have learned over the years and the people and things which have made me the person that I am today. Flying alone in a navy blue sky allowed me to truly reflect and experience (again) the wonder of the human spirit, and the things that motivate, inspire and love us.

The strongest, and part of the flight which I remembered the most, was when I was nearing the end of Up, and the protagonist was slowly flipping through a scrapbook which contained memories of his wife and their married life together. For some reason, as he was doing this, I started to cry. I saw how I needed to let go of certain things, and continue to look forward, no matter what. I saw how I was making my memories ‘wrong’ by feeling unhappy about them and longing for them. In the end, it’s really about Tennessee’s famous, “It’s is better to have loved and lost, than never to have love before.”

After crying, I looked out the plane window, and right outside were three things: the wing of the plane, the horizon between the night sky and the white sea of clouds, and the glittering silver of stars encrusted into a navy blue piece of velvet. Then I remembered, and it felt like the stars and the night sky were comforting me. Telling me to be strong and to remember that there are many things ahead and important for me to do, and not let the ‘bad’ things get me down…for those things were not truly ‘bad’, but just lessons to learn and ways to make me stronger and better than before.

It’s time to move on and enjoy my time in Copenhagen, seeing what I need to see, and doing what I need to do. And going back into myself and recreating myself all over again. =)

Flying on a Jetplane...

Am now waiting for the gate to open...then I will be on my way to Copenhagen...

Gonna be a LONG LONG flight...

Transiting in Heathrow first, then onwards to Copenhagen.

Whew...

Still don't know what to feel....sheesh.

Visiting Copenhagen...

but for the wrong reason.
Sighz...

Will be gone from Tuesday night to Tuesday evening.

Impressed! (with myself)

Today's a fairly slow day in the office, so I was taking the time to plan out my leave and offs for the end of the year. It's really quite exciting. Of course I need to run it by my seniors such that they are alright with it, and such that they don't suddenly panic and wonder why I am not around. Anyway, I was feeling nice and all initiative-ish, so I took the liberty to draw up a table to facilitate the viewing of my planning for my seniors.

So here's what I sent to my senior:

Nice right? LOL! My colleagues were quite impressed. Mwahahaha!
Anyway, now I need my senior to give the green light, and I'm all set for the end of the year.

It's either this, OR I continually take long weekends for myself (like Mondays and Fridays off).

Wish me luck! =)

(Backdated) SITEX 2009 & my virgin LAN Gaming Experience

Last Thursday was great!

I took a day off, and with some of my fellow editors, we planned to head down to SITEX 2009 at EXPO to check it out and see whether there was anything worth buying there. For myself, I was looking forward to finding some good deals for the Playstation 3 that I was intending to purchase as a present to myself. So we all met up early early and made our way to the exhibition hall. There were SOOOOO many people there man. Sadly, SITEX 2009 was a disappointment! There wasn't anything that really stood out and screamed 'BUY ME NOW!'.

There was only ONE vendor selling PS3s, and even the official Sony booth wasn't carrying the console. So we ended up leaving really early after making our rounds. Slightly disappointed, but cheerful nonetheless.

Next on the agenda was lunch and LAN gaming. It was a Japanese affair on the 4th (or was it 5th) floor of Iluma. Nothing too fantastic, but still decent. We had some fun ordering using the RFID pen and RFID enabled menu.

Then the main event began. We went to the 7th floor of Iluma, and booked ourselves for 2 hours of solid LAN gaming (though I am sure in the eyes of seasoned pros that this measly amount is hardly a challenge). We booted up Left 4 Dead 2, but it turned out to be too difficult for us, with two out of the four of us being slightly noob-ish (I was of course one of them, PLUS I don't really like first-person shooters). Anyway, the game was a co-operative first-person shooter where four people need to move through a zombie infested town. We kept dying, so we quit and loaded up the original Left 4 Dead, and had a ball of a time.

There's something extremely therapeutic about blasting zombies left-right-centre, and riddling them full of bullets. My favourite weapons were the uzi and the Molotov cocktails.  There's nothing more satisfying than the sound of bullets spraying at a semi-automatic rate into piles and piles of undead bodies hungry for your flesh. And watching the zombies run around like headless chickens as they ignite from the sea of flames caused by the Molotov cocktails is damn shiok (of course at this point, you continue to fill them full of bullets! *beams*)!

Unfortunately, we each had out evening appointments, so the fun had to end. But I definitely enjoyed my time out with my colleagues....I'm glad they're around sia. Helps make life in the office more enjoyable!

=)

(Backdated) Of Sausage Risotto and Stewed Pears...

Now this was something that happened a while back, and I have been meaning to blog about it for the longest time. So I better do it justice now, since I've nothing to do at work today, and everything's in the 'wait-for-the-senior-to-tell-you-what-to-do-mode'.

Anyway, an unfortunate incident on a Monday led me to share it with the absolute babe from work, Jo-Ann. This amazing woman offered to come by my place on that week's Saturday to cook me a nice dinner and to just chit chat. So that's exactly what we did. We researched and printed out a recipe to prepare for the evening, and we decided on sausage risotto. It was a fairly simple dish, but you have NO IDEA how fucking good it tastes! (Pardon the my 'french'.)

So the dishes for the evening were as follows:

~Fresh Mushroom Soup (from scratch)
~Sausage Risotto
~Stewed Pear in Mulled Wine (the wine is drunk as the last part of the meal)

Here are some pictures of the cooking in progress:

Onions in the pot, sliced mushrooms at the back.

Wine being 'mulled'.

The soup ~ after blending and adding of cream

Jo and the Risotto

Stewed Pears and an over-dramatic me

Ruby-red on the outside, translucent white on the inside.

Well, the cook out was amazing, and we both came to the conclusion that if risotto was how 'angmos' cooked their rice, it's no wonder most of them are fat fat fat! Which unfortunately for us both, exactly who were going to become after that dinner....FAT FAT FAT! =)

Can't wait for the next cookout! Wheeee!

reflect-rant

Recently I've time to reflect on the company that I keep and the people I truly relate to. It sorta feels like my range is reducing once more, and the general love for people is often confused/conflated/collapsed/tainted by the unhappiness I feel towards certain people.

The thing is, at a level, I guess I already decided in my heart that I don't want to further associate with some people, and maybe I just don't know how to tell them this. Or maybe I'm just confused and frustrated... I guess as much as I know not to be affected by the people around, it's just not easy to just NOT care about the people I love.

Some greater, fiercer, more violent part of me just wants to bash up all the people who are treating the people I care about unfairly. And, I would love to be able to bash up all the intangible things like uncertainty, unhappiness, confusion, frustration, etc. These things always get in the way of people knowing what is best for them, and what they truly want...and seeing that sometimes really pisses me off.

I guess that's why I'm doing what I'm doing...a big part of me still truly believes that I can 'help' the people around by being the way that I am, and by the relationships I build with them. That's why I have resolved to apply the following adage/mantra/advice (whatever else you wanna call it) to my doing of things:

Always make sure you are solving a problem, or making something good even better than it already is.

Try applying this to all aspects of your life - friends, family, work, self...everything. And see how it goes. I guess I'm trying my best to do that everyday, and to myself especially.

Sigh, sorry for that seemingly random post. I just felt like saying those things and clearing my head a little. I think I haven't been speaking that much, or as much as I'd like to. Well, I will try to start blogging retropectively...there are definitely some posts which are long overdue.

Ciao for now peeps!

*hugz*

Friday...but I'm super sleepy now...

It's that dreaded post-lunch syndrome...

I call it the 'pig-pig' syndrome, where individuals will always feel sleepy and experience this intense desire to rest their heads on their desks and sleep. I am quite traumatized by this because I've been trying to find a way to stay awake so far, and the only way is blogging. At least it forces me to use my brain to think and construct ideas around the English language.

I am seriously dozing off as I write this...I just want to go home. Please......

A Phoenix Down for Me & You

Last night was great.

I managed to procure and use a phoenix down for myself.

And I think at the same time, you got one for yourself too.

Time to start leveling-up again, and learn new skills, and may we meet again when we've attained our next Limit Breaks/Overdrives attacks.

Cheers babe!

Goodbye

Sitting together one last time in a place that held so many memories.
Expressing all that needed to be expressed - one with words; one without.
Lingering touches and longing looks.
Whispered thoughts and careful embraces.
Kisses that flowed through trembling lips.
The back of hands, wet from wiping away hot, painful, poignant tears.
The dull thud of a joking sentence, that just wasn't that funny anymore.
The very real fact of farewell sinks into both poor, unfortunate souls.
The closing of one platform makes one wonder if it will ever be revisited.
It feels like a book is being archived, never to be seen again for a long, long time to come.
The cool caress of the night wind makes it that much harder, as the pillows and the bedclothes give up little comfort.

A final kiss of berries and lips oh-so soft.
A final embrace of love disappearing, and yet not.
Such is the torment that was chosen, so many years ago.
Goodbye my love, goodbye.

Pro Tour Qualifier (Singapore) - San Diego (backdated)

I just managed to rush out this disgusting title that has been plaguing me since the day I stepped into the company. Anyhow, it's on its way to the printers and now everything is (as Jo says) 'sales' problem'. LOL.

As such, I've decided to spent the last few minutes of my time at work blogging about my weekend...I'm already too tired of staring at anything work related. I shall start again tomorrow morning. =)

Disclaimer: The following post is highly technical, and should only be read by fellow Magic: The Gathering players, or individuals are familiar with the game on a fairly technical level. You have been warned, so proceed at your own risk. PS: If you wanna learn to play, contact me ok? :)


So...last Sunday, I spent close to 8 full hours playing Magic! It was a qualifier event, and what was at stake was a return air ticket and invite to Pro Tour - San Diego in 2010! As you all may know, playing professional Magic at a world stage is one of the things on my bucket list, so I was very excited when I chanced about this opportunity over the local MTG forums.

So I made my way down to the venue which was a condominium on Braddell Hill. It's quite remote, or at least I've never been there before, so I was quite amazed to see such a beautiful old estate. It's ALMOST self-contained...I say that because they have everything in the estate EXCEPT a place for food or groceries! Hard to imagine right?

So yesterday, 81 Magic players crammed themselves into this function room to play Zendikar Sealed Deck. It was fun man...my card pool was pretty amazing, although it was 'worth' a lot. In the end, we conducted a deck swap and I had to build a deck from cards of the player opposite me.

Basically, I built the following deck:

9 Swamps 7 Mountains 1 Teetering Peaks 2 Plated Geopede 1 Goblin Guide* 1 Goblin Shortcutter 1 Goblin Ruinblaster 1 Ruinous Minotaur 1 Bladetusk Boar 1 Vampire Lacerator 1 Surrakar Marauder 1 Vampire Hexmage 1 Vampire Nighthawk 1 Gatekeeper of Malakir 1 Hagra Crocodile 1 Heartstabber Mosquito

2 Burst Lightning 1 Magma Rift 1 Zektar Shrine Expedition 1 Hideous End 1 Disfigure 1 Explorer's Scope 1 Adventuring Gear 1 Eldrazi Monument*

*Rares
 This R/B deck was quite fun to play, and as you can see, I had tons of creature removal AND burn spells. Sadly, I made some bad plays which resulted in my less than stellar performance. In fact, I think I made too many bad plays, which really cost me...a lot. I have a lot to learn about mulliganing, and deciding what type of hands to keep, both on the play or on the draw.

My Best (and most Risky) Play
I was facing down Sphinx of Jwar Isle (5/5, Flying, Shroud), a Vampire Lacerator (2/2), and an untapped Gatekeeper of Malakir (2/2). My Heartstabber Mosquito had just died from blocking the sphinx, and I had nothing on my board. Here's what I did:

I played the Goblin Ruinblaster without kicker from my hand and attacked. My opponent blocked (to my glee) with his Gatekeeper. I proceeded to burn his Vampire Lacerator with a Burst Lightning, and then cast my own Gatekeeper (KICKED of course) to take out his Sphinx! Wootz! Needless to say, I won that one.

The Best (and most surprising) Play Against Me
I was facing a G/B mid range deck. And I was slowly soaking up damage, but I thought my life total could take it. I was at 15 life, and the current attack would bring me down to 6. I did some math, and decided to take the damage to spare my creatures.

Just when I thought it was safe to untap and start on my turn. My opponent stopped me and announced that he was not done with his combat phase. He tapped two Swamps and showed me two copies of Vampire's Bite for an additional (and lethal) blow to my life points. I was amazed by that play and congratulated him of course. =)


I can't wait for the next event on the 6th of December. I'm definitely going to be there competing again, and this time, I hope I get to build an amazing deck!

Wish me luck!

WORDS I Hate...

1. Okay.
2. Nevermind.
3. Mm.


Used wrongly, these words can get me SOOOOO fucking mad.

Fucktard.

PS: 'Mm' is technically not a word, but it manages to become one JUST FINE...evidently...

Doodling!

This week is a week of in-house courses at work where we are learning about the ins and outs of the editorial process and what not. Of course, not ALL the lectures are interesting, and I usually am able to get some doodling time in. Here are two of my sketches:

It started off with me just wanting to draw a pumpkin head (for the Halloween season and what not you know?), but it became this full-fledged 'abomination'. I am quite pleased with it though. Alas, I still suck at drawing hands. 

Strange hibiscus-looking flower. Don't ask, I don't know why I drew it also.

Drawing shenanigans aside, I did have quite a good weekend. I went to Sentosa with PY JUST to have lunch at Cafe del Mar. Total waste of money, but the food was good, and I enjoyed myself. That's most important I guess. Here's what I ate:

Somewhere at the beginning of the meal.

AFTER.

Alright, signing off...Time to get back to work.

=)

The Joys of Creative Writing

Please click on the post's title for a funny read. =)

Breakfast & Dogs

I KO-ed and woke up at the strange time of 3.44am today. It felt good and yet surreal. I did not really know what to do with myself, so I played Bejeweled Twist, hung up my laundry, and when the sun came out, I made myself some breakfast:

The eggs were my proudest creation I think...I loved how the white was firm and slightly runny, and how I managed to maintain the liquid integrity of the yolks. And they're so pretty too yes? =) The picnic ham was just a must add, if not the plate would have looked too empty. Topped everything off with a light sprinkle of black pepper and the teensi-est bit of salt. I had a good breakfast. 

---------------------------------------

On a side note, there was something that I saw on a book in PageOne at Vivocity, that I have been meaning to post up, but keep forgetting to do so. Here it is:

Native American elder:

"Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil.
The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog, all of the
time." 
When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied:

"The one I feed the most."

This is one of my favourite parables. And when I saw this on the cover of one of the books in the store, I just HAD to take a photo of it. Something to remind to feed my 'good dog' more and 'bad dog' less.

Time to start work! Meetings to go to today! Wheee.... =)

The Effects of Boredom

When you're extremely bored at work, this is what happens.


http://christmascarolscootermagic.blogspot.com/2009/10/halloween-origami.html

A Great Weekend!

Yesterday had to rush some work the entire day, so it was industrious and somewhat satisfying. Heh. So now, I have some time to blog! Mwahahahaha. Here's what I did over the weekend. I must say it was pretty shiok.

Saturday

Tuition in the morning.
Coaching in the afternoon.
Gaming and dinner in the evening!

I went over to Melvyn's place to play games and have dinner! He made warm tomato salad & chicken stew....very nice. Before that I also pigged out a bit on the homemade hummus and doritos...yummy yummy. Unfortunately, I only took a picture of the stew, but I assure you, everything else was super good and HEARTY! I must remember to get the recipe from him.

Chicken Stew with Foccacia

After dinner, it was a nice evening session of bitching at the VMA '09 show, warm apple pie, and Runebound! It was this role-playing broad game that I've never played before. It was pretty fun, except that I didn't win. I think it's because I picked a character called Sahla the Shaman...confirm lose right?

Sahla the Shaman

Looks complicated huh? It is. But it was quite fun, and I guess my imagination and inclination towards things like these help. Eventually, it was too late, and instead of going ahead with the initial plan of playing GuildWars, we all just went to bed. Oh! I did manage to get a game of BlazBlue on Mel's PS3 in! Shiok also that one. (My English is so terrible...so fun!)

Sunday

Tuition in the morning (different kid).

Drafting Magic with Isaac in the afternoon.

Coaching in the evening.

Dinner with friends!

Drafting was fun. Isaac and I played two-man draft - trust me, it's not as simple as you think it is. There's a different kind of strategy and thinking behind two-man drafting. We drafted both M10 and Zendikar. I won the first draft, but lost the second! Died to Bloodchief Ascension! WTF lor...it's not a card to be underestimated. It can swing games man.

Dinner was DAMN good. First it was Sun & Moon at Wheelock.

Sashimi!

Then we went to Dempsey for dessert! (PS: Paying a PREMIUM for good dessert is both painful and pleasurable at the same time. Ouch - Mmmmm....)

From top:

STICKY DATE PUDDING

APPLE CRUMBLE

STRAWBERRY TWIST - THINGY

YUZU LIGHT CITRON CHEESE CAKE

Of course there were drinks all around and lots of conversation and laughter. I enjoyed myself that night and I'm glad everyone else did too! =)

Now, the next milestone is pay day! Then I can start clearing all the stuff I need to clear! Yay!

Have a great week everyone.

Operation: TWS

It's not often I get the chance to coordinate an elaborate covert ops exercise from the comfort of an air-conditioned office. It all started when I saw this particular tweet by Vicki, and found out about the TANGS WAREHOUSE MOVING OUT SALE. So I sent the news to some other colleagues of mine via trusty Gmail, and before I knew it, I was coordinate a shopping trip during our Friday lunch hour.

After elaborate correspondence over Gmail chat, we decided that we should have an early lunch in the canteen upstairs. After a quick lunch of highly affordable economic rice, and fruit that tasted vaguely of other fruit (imagine a papaya with a mango aftertaste = mapaya/pango and watermelon with a tinge of pineapple = waterapple? / pinemelon?), we grabbed a cab from the main road and made our way to the sale.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as packed as I expected it to be, and the very friendly orange signs along the way made it easy to identify and locate the 'warehouse' which 'hosted' the sale. In a nutshell, I felt the sale was more suited for aunties and ladies. The selection of things for men just weren't enough. I ended loitering around the super affordable Sanuk racks, and looking at the tiiiiinnnnnnnnyyyyyy Timbuk2 rack. In the end, I DID spend some money on some things (actually, I think I spent the most amongst the girls who went with me...lol). Here's the breakdown of the damage:

The big-ass orange plastic bag all the stuff I bought was placed in. =)

Two pairs of Sanuk slippers: SGD$38.00

(one for me, one for a friend)

Box of Japanese chocolate sandwich biscuits: SGD$4.50

(Birthday present for a colleague)

Nabisco Cream Crackers: SGD$5.90

(For my increasingly frequent 'cracker + something' sessions with Jo-Ann)

Gummibears for a friend: SGD$5.00

(I think I got ripped off on this one)

Timbuk2 Messenger: SGD$89.00

(I'm going to trust that the PINK in this bag is what's going to make me stand out in a crowd. It's just more fun to have a colour combination that I think very few people would actually choose)

GRAND TOTAL: SGD$137.40 + SGD$5.00

(the Gummibears were bought after at a secret location that we did not notice until after we'd all paid for our stuff)

Today's operation was quite fruitful actually. I shall be on the look out for more warehouse sales from now on. Seeing as how my workplace is in such a godforsaken place already, I might as well make the most of it and find excuses to get affordable deals like these during lunch hour. =)

Till the next mission!

Signing off.

I love my brother!

I was having a conversation with my brother, and it was really funny.

Here's how it went:

Me: Yo, watcha doing?

Bro: Oh, I'm TUMBLR-ing...

Me: Huh? What's that?

Bro: It's like Twitter, but like blogging style.

Me: Oh I see.

Bro: OH! Have you heard about this thing that this guy said about Youtube, Twitter and Facebook?

Me: No. What did he say?

Bro: *announcer type voice* In the near future, users of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will be able to access all three on a brand new collaborative platform called YouTwitFace.

Me: *laughs like a madman*

That was it...YouTwitFace...Classic man... Damn Funny.

=)

Stupidity

I was at lunch, and was waiting for the canteen uncle to finish preparing my lunch (I ordered Chicken Cutlet...heehee). So I was standing there, waiting there with the rest of the hungry office workers. It was exceptionally crowded today because it was raining and no one really wanted to head out to eat.

So there was this group of girls who were waiting for their fish and chips, and while doing so, they were trying to prepare chilli sauce for themselves. So they took the dainty little plastic saucers, and began to squeeze the sauce into the dishes. After awhile, the sauce got stuck and refused to come out. Of course any sane, commonsensical person would know that it's because there is a bubble of air stuck between the chilli sauce and the mouth of the bottle. So the most logical thing would be to give the bottle a good hard shake and trying squeezing again after that.

This nincompoop of a girl, kept struggling with the bubble of air, and in the end, she concluded that the bottle was "spoilt".  IDIOT. All this while, her friends who witnessed the entire thing, obviously displayed a greater lack of brains as they backed away from her attempts to get the sauce out of the bottle as though they were afraid that the red, plastic squeeze bottle would explode or something.

-- 10 minutes later --

The SAME girl finally got her fish and chips, and asked the uncle for mayonnaise. Now, the uncle does not understand English, and he says so, and asks her again what she wanted. And she replied (adamantly at that) with the SAME request, in English. She did this a total of three times, and if it wasn't for the auntie who came out from the kitchen and happened to notice the self-righteous girl getting slightly irritated at this entire thing, I'm sure the idiot of a girl would continue asking for the mayonnaise and not even care about the obvious communication gap.

Haiz... People really ARE that STUPID.

I need...

...to be STRONGER.

Exciting Weekend Ahead

I am excited about the coming weekend.

I am going to be doing SOOOO MANY things. =)

1. Giving intensive GP tuition to my Indian kid from 730am - 11am! Woots!
2. Playing for two events at a Zendikar Launch Party
3. Coaching my client who just arrived in Singapore.
4. Attending a TCC Preview to represent Coaching.
5. Heading home to have celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with my mom.
6. Giving tuition again to my tuition kid from 9am - 1130am! Double Woots!
7. Spending the day tanning/swimming/reading at a pool or a beach.
8. Having dinner at VERVE, which is NEAR my home! Hurhur.
9. Going for an important meeting, that I can't wait to give my input in.
10. Going down to ZIRCA to support my friend who's in Mr Singapore! YAY! So exciting!

*rubs hands together gleefully*

PS: Watch out for my geeky, and totally incomprehensible report on my Magic morning! Yay!

~BORED~

I am so bored.
I AM SO BORED.
I aM sO bOrEd.
i Am So BoReD.
I Am So Bored.
I aM sO boreD.
I Am So BOREd.

I am so bored that I am trying out other ways to type the same sentence, over and over again.

Life's great.

PS: Miffed that I'm missing the Zendikar pre-release tomorrow. CCB! =(

Wish I had more time with her...

I was in the middle of a Chain Revolver combo courtesy of my favourite gunner babe from BlazBlue, Noel Vermillion, when my mobile vibrated. I checked it, and it turns out that I actually had tuition in an hour's time. So upsetting can? I thought I could have one more round of combo practice in the arcade before heading off to do my market research. =(

I ended up buying the books before rushing to tuition. So now I have about 5 Primary 1 Grammar Practice/Activity books to look through. Spent $34.57 on them...must claim back from the company.

I am thinking about what to do with that ONE remaining token still sitting snugly in my right pants pocket. I wanna play!

Argh!

Food, just Food...

Spending the day with L normally equates to the consumption of waistline-unfriendly amounts of food. This happened last Saturday. Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

I just love food. Heehee.

Love this song...

Watched Sayang Sayang that day on Channel 5. I really like this song....A LOT.

(The video has an annoying Channel 5 advert for 2 secs in the beginning, but overall, the video and sound quality of this video is the best I've found so far.)

It's Time For Sayang Sayang


There seems so many things that lie before us
There's just so many things we want to do
But let's just stop and pause
For just a moment cause
We should do something special...me and you

It's time for sayang sayang
It's time for sayang sayang
Caring for one another 
Family and friends
It's time for sayang sayang
It's time for sayang sayang
As we go walking together, hand in hand

The time that we all love is here to treasure
A very special time of the year
These days we're sure to find
These days of yours and mine
We'll share them with the ones we hold so dear
(Hold so dear)

It's time for sayang sayang
It's time for sayang sayang
Caring for one another 
Family and friends
It's time for sayang sayang
It's time for sayang sayang
As we go walking together, hand in hand

As we go walking together, hand in hand

I am...

DAMN SLEEPY!

Fun Weekend!

I did many a great thing this weekend...

Friday
- went to do market research on competitors and began to marvel at how quickly I was able to identify the problems with the brand i.e. poor product placement which would probably indicate poor marketing relationships, poor on-the-ground awareness which is leading to CONTINUED sales problems.
- met some new coachees, and found them absolutely interesting and cool. *excited*

Saturday
- JB Day!
- Had yummy lunch.
- Had very affordable haircut.
- Shopped for -ahem- certain things related to technology.
- Had yummy seafood dinner!
- Felt fat after that... mwahahaha.
- Grateful for the company though.

Sunday
- MAGIC CUBE DRAFT!  :) So many good cards to choose from! Spoiled for choice sia...heh.

-----------------------------

I sense that today is going to be a slow day... I can already feel the drudgery pulling at the edges of my consciousness. *yawnz*

An Inspiration!

Interesting Stuff at my Workplace.

 

Platter of expensive, absolutely amazing roasts. Burned a hole in the pocket, but it was still worth it. =)

 

Funky taxi. I've never seen one like that before. Maybe I'm just ignorant. 

 

This is the first time I've seen a lucky draw being held in a coffee shop. The prizes (not featured here) were actually below the banner. But some of the prizes looked a little dubious. LOL!

Excited about the weekend + Uber quick rant

Let's rant first... here goes:

cue rant...

Just because you don't have a life and I seem to be 'happier' does not give you the right to give me stupid ass looks every time you see me do something that jars on YOUR sensibilities. If you are so unhappy about it, either come and confront me about it OR ignore me.  So choose one or the other.

Don't stay in some fucked up place where you're OBVIOUSLY unhappy, or you OBVIOUSLY have something you want to say, but you just aren't saying it.  It's okay if you want to remain a constipated excuse of a human being for the rest of your miserable life, but not when it makes you sneaky and makes you give off this eternal air of suspicion that projects itself onto just about everyone around you. Sadly, seeing as how that's probably going to be the way things go for like...ETERNITY, I guess I'm just going to have to put up with you. But mark my words...one day...I will snap, and when that happens, it's NOT going to be pretty. Because you WILL lose, in every aspect.

Some people are just so fucking repressed...gosh...and uncertain about themselves. I hate people with no opinion. It's like they don't have a stand about things in life at all. Sheesh... like PLEASE, give me something to respect about you man. I implore you...

*inhale*
*exhale*

end rant...

Now that that's out of the way, it's time to talk about more exciting things!

I will be having a short day trip to the land which is truly Asia tomorrow! Errrr...essentially, yeah. That's all. Loads of shopping and seafood dinner at night. Mwahahahaha!

Vonda Shepard - Baby Don't You Break My Heart Slow

For some strange reason, this song has been stuck in my head since morning.
I just can't seem to stop humming the tune.
Weird.

OMG OMG!

This is what happens when you don't read to the end of the interview, BEFORE posting something about it.

When I got to the end of the interview between Fantasymundo and Patrick Rothfuss, I discovered that he actually gave a sneak peak into the first six lines of the sequel!


On his first hand he wore rings of stone,
Iron, Amber, Wood and Bone.
There were rings unseen on his second hand,
One blood in a flowing band,
One was air all whisper thin,
And the ring of ice had a flaw within….

Forgive me for being such a fanboy... =)

*nods in agreement*

From an interview with Patrick Rothfuss, on his experience with facing pressure on producing an excellent sequel to his novel, The Name of Wind.

About a year ago, Tim Powers said to me, "A book is late once, but it's crap forever." 

Nice. I like.

Can't wait for the sequel...

*rubs hands together in anticipation and the cold of the office*

I like cooking.

It would seem that the only time I get to blog these days is that little bit of free time in the mornings, before everything swings into high-gear. ANYWAY... the past weekend has been fun for me! It was a weekend of creative expression (sorta), and time well-spent for myself.

I cooked a lot this weekend. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself...from the grocery shopping to the food preparation to the actual cooking of the food and serving it, and of course, the EATING! (Unfortunately, no pictures though...no quality camera at the moment, maybe COMEX might come to my rescue? Heh.) I made quite a few dishes over the weekend, and these were mostly recipes I stole liberated off Tastespotting.com. Here's what I cooked:

1. Bacon Corn Chowder

Verdict: VERY GOOD. It's a semi-blended soup, and extremely flavourful, and probably a year's (or two) worth of sodium in a single serving. It was the first time I blended soup! An amazing experience, I tell you. My blender is now my new best friend! Hee.

2. Seafood Baked Rice

Verdict: The seafood wasn't the freshest thing alive...so no-go. BAD...threw it out.

3. Bacon and Pea Soup

Verdict: I prefer the corn version. The peas lend to it a thicker, but more grainy texture, which isn't removed via blending. Plus, it wasn't the bright green I hope it would be. Maybe I need to use FRESH PEAS next time...I wonder where to get those man...

4. Spinach & Cheese Spaghetti

Verdict: Just nice for my tastes, but a little too bland for the common palate. I couldn't find feta cheese in FairPrice, so I use mozzarella instead - NOT flavourful enough. Next time, I shall remember to chop the spinach up better, and use feta instead.

5. Honey Chicken Drumlets

Verdict: Super easy way to cheat with chicken, and especially if you have a sweet tooth (I'm not referring to myself) - just douse the damn meat in the usual marinating stuff: soy sauce, salt, pepper, chinese rice wine, BUT add more honey than is the norm. Voila, you now have a dish that's more like CANDIED DRUMLETS. Lol! But it was still yummy. Hee.

I'm already thinking about what to cook next already....mwahahaha.

Weekend Bliss!

In order of occurrence...

1. The Proposal - It's so right...things should be like that.

2. Meeting - Productive and quite exciting.

3. Catching up with old friends - Priceless

4. Weston's 1880 Cider - Absolutely HAWT! One of my new favourite drinks!

5. Making up - Always nice. =)

That was my weekend, in a nutshell. Hee! =)

Psyched!

http://www.comexshow.com.sg/

I should right?

Great Friday Morning!

Let's see...

1. Woke up on time.
2. Decided to wear a PINK T-SHIRT just for the heck of it to work.
3. Watched animes on the bus ride to work (this was super shiok... i.e. satisfying...mmmmm...)
4. Came to work and greeted all my colleagues happily.
5. Went onto tastespotting.com to get my fix. (I'm an addict, I swear)
6. Logged onto Twitter and saw an important update on GuildWars2 Concept Art! *excited*
7. Spent about 15mins going through the lot and downloading it!
8. Blogging about my wonderful morning!

I'm feeling happy this Friday morning. And love seeing SMSes from important people...mwahahaha.

Ciao!

Blogging

As you all can see, I have been fiddling with the various features (widgets, template, etc) on Blogger.

It's been quite fun, tedious, but fun.

I have ported most of my old stuff over from my previous layout (links, old significant posts etc.) I just have one gripe left.

I think the blog is a little too 'skinny' with only two columns! Does anyone know to how 'insert' a third one on the left? I'm quite happy with the current skin (albeit one of the ready-made templates on Blogger), but I just want that third column!

I would go online and Google about simple HTML-ing, but I just can't be bothered. (yes yes, lazy me)

On a side note, I really do hope that my application does get through...it would be so exciting if it did!

More challenges, more manoeuvres, more excitement!

Mwahahaha... 

An Epiphany...

I was reading The Name of the Wind on the bus when this hit me:

An excerpt from The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~

"Master Elodin?"

"Yes?" His eyes followed a squirrel across the road and up a tree.

"I still don't understand about names."

"I will teach you to understand," he said easily. "The nature of names cannot be described, only experienced and understood."

"Why can't it be described?" I asked. "If you understand a thing, you can describe it."

"Can you describe all things you understand?" he looked sideways at me.

"Of course."

Elodin pointed down the street. "What color is that boy's shirt?"

"Blue."

"What do you mean by blue? Describe it."

I struggled for a moment, failed. "So blue is a name?"

"It is a word. Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. There are seven words that will make a person love you. There are ten words that will break a strong man's will. But a word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the the fire itself."

My head was swimming at this point. "I still don't understand."

He laid a hand on my shoulder. "Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself. Impossible. Confusing. Frustrating." He lifted his hands high above his head as if stretching for the sky. "But there are other ways to understanding!" he shouted, laughing like a child. He threw both arms to the cloudless arch of sky above us, still laughing. "Look!" he shouted tilting his head back. "Blue! Blue! Blue!"

~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~

This was after the moment young Kvothe came into awareness of his own powers and abilities. A truly amazing moment. Makes me remember and connect back to a time so long ago. It's important to remember certain things...they hold within them endless perspectives and avenues to tap into them time and time again.

Excellent Sunday!

Let's see...

What did I do yesterday...

9am - 12noon = Tutor-ed the brother & sister in Sembawang

1pm - 4pm = Trained/Coached two people for event preparation

5pm - 6pm = Slack at Raffles City Starbucks

615pm - 815pm = Sat at the Comics Mart on Level 3 and did the following:

1. Dug through the Magic common box. Shiok!
2. Chatted with the guys there about Magic.
3. Made a new friend.
4. Spent $17.50 on 3 packs + 50 protectors to play two-man draft.
5. Won the draft and first-picked a FOIL Empyrial Archangel! Shiokness!
(Here's the picture)


I think it's worth quite a lot...should be enough to cover my costs. But then again...it's so damn pretty! Argh! Pretty pretty pretty!

9pm - 10pm = Dinner with A

Then I head home and that was that....nice nice. =)

Great Day!

GuildWars 2

Whew...my first ever off day, and I just started my day on the right now. I'm super excited right now.

Information on Guild Wars 2 is finally out! And I just watched the freaking trailer!


Official Website
http://www.guildwars2.com/en/

Official HD Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em0Sd60iI2w

I am so so SO So sO SOOOOO EXCITED! (Argh, I know I've said that a few times already, but I just sorta can't stop)

I'm definitely going to be playing a Sylvari character, and best of all, it's going to be FREE ONLINE PLAY (like the original GuildWars)!

No crappy WoW business model that totally pisses me off! Hahahaha.

Here's the concept art!



Nice right?

Alright, enough of the initial excited energy has been properly channeled into this post. =)

Have fun everyone!

The best things truly are worth waiting for.

The Name of the Wind

It's been a while since a novel (or any book in fact) had the ability to keep me giggling/laughing for a good whole minute, ALOUD.

=)

On a totally unrelated note, I just want to say that I love the ambiguity of anaphoric referencing. LOL.

Damned it be to meddling strangers! Hah hah!

Overheard on the MRT...

Dragonboater A: "I thought 'pre' is 'after'?"

Dragonboater B: "No. 'pre' is 'before'."

Dragonboater A: "Not 'after' meh? I thought it's 'after'."

Dragonboater B: "No, it's 'before'. 'Post' is 'after'."

Dragonboater A (muttering to himself): "Hmmm....'pre'..'pre'...'Prepare'...yeah, should be 'before'."

Dragonboater B (to Dragonboater C): "Actually, is it 'before' or 'after' ah?

Dragonboater A: "Wah lau! I thought you say you know?!"

At this point, I decided to stop listening to spare myself the laughter that would have inevitably killed me. Fortunately, I arrived at my stop already...so all was well. Does too much physical activity really do this to a person's brain? I remember once, I heard that some other dragonboater didn't know that raisins came from grapes...

I'm glad the dragonboaters I know aren't like that. =)

Work Work...

3rd day of work...

It's been pretty relaxed thus far.

People have been nice, work has been nice, place has been nice (enough).

Still got quite a few food places to explore, and I am thankful for friends who are just as new as me.

I get to use an eMac (yes yes, it's not an iMac, but it's good enough), so I foresee myself getting converted pretty soon.

Just that there are so few games on Mac! Argh.

Having an internet connection that allows me to use Gmail is great as well. Can Gmail chat...

That's the way to go in my company. Hehs.

I just hope they hurry up and complete the construction ASAP. I really REALLY hate walking amongst half-finished concrete. It certainly sucks big time. :(

PS: I am updating this blog too because there are certain important people who need to know how I am doing in life. (it's not YOU Su! lol...I'm referring to my RELATIVES...OVERSEAS. Hah!)

At your request....

I am writing this post because of the dire lack of updates (and sufficient bitching from my lovely EL friends).

As such, here are the updates surrounding my life & random thoughts:

1. I have found a job at a publishing house in the East (God Bless my long and boring travel time) and I start work on Wed!

2. I am contemplating what to spend money on when I get my first paycheck (I wanna buy something techie! Like a PSP/PS3!)

3. I miss my friends, and am wondering how in the world am I going to start making time for them again.

4. I don't get why blogging and Twittering and 'social-media-ing' are such big deals.

5. I am thinking of remodeling/redecorating my house...it's getting BORING.

6. I wanna get a bigger bed! I feel like a big kid stuck inside a baby cot.

7. I am beginning to appreciate the differences I have with certain people, and I am glad that we share the common goal to WORK THINGS OUT, such that everything can keep moving forward. Love y'll.

8. I am currently at tuition and am leeching off their internet connection (I am such a cheapo).

9. I am sick of trying to think of something to write, so yeah...suck it!

And that...

was that...

Authenticity

If you can't be real, so be it.

Don't come and try to absolved your myopia by according it to an entity that no one can actually see.

So don't come and pretend to be something you're not, it's just plain annoying.

Lunch at Fish & Co.

Just more food pictures...make everyone hungry...MWAHAHAHA!

Seafood Noodles!

I was in the middle of training today when I received an SMS from my tuition kid's mother. This is what it said:

德禹七点上课，那么六点半你可以到我家吃海鲜面吗？

(Teyu's class with you is at 7pm, so would you like to come over at 630pm for seafood noodles?)

I wasn't able to make it at 630pm, but she insisted that she would leave a portion for me anyways. So when I arrived at the place at around 720pm, this was served to me...



Prawns (3 medium sized ones)
Squid (approx. 1 medium sized squid in rings)
Salmon (2 small fillets)
Cockles (I think I ate about 10 of them)
Silken tofu (half a standard supermarket block)
Taiwanese rice noodles (she said they brought them over from Taiwan, but they just looked like plain noodles to me)
Shredded ginger (garnish)
Minced coriander (garnish)

The soup was basically water, and a little salt.
Everything else was flavour from the seafood!

Amazingly simple and yummy!

=)

I is happy!

And now I know how to cook a simple seafood noodle soup dish, that's practically foolproof. Mwahaha.

PS: I LOVE the old school metal spoon!

Veggies Rock!

Yay-ness!

*pouts*

I wish I had more clarity, so that I am able to create more clarity for those I truly care about...