More than half-way through the holidays. So far, it's been quite good. Spent first week preparing some school stuff and also preparing for the Expo trip. Spent second week in Japan. And now, hlaf way through the third week. Been busy doing some preparations for the Leadership Challenge Workshop next Monday. Have also been catching up on the movies! I watched Mr & Mrs Smith on Monday. Excellent show. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie really have chemistry. It's not surprising that Brad Pitt broke up with Jennifer Aniston after the movie. He and Angelina were hot! The movie is really quite funny and the action was good. Highly entertaining. Definitely a 'must-see'!

On Tuesday, I caught Unleashed. Thankfully, I had read the review before watching the show so I wasn't let-down by the non-action-ness of the movie. You go to a Jet Li film expecting only fighting, fighting and more fighting. I must say that Unleashed was quite different. Although there were sufficient fighting scenes, the show really focusses on Jet Li's relationship with his new 'family'. Jet Li played a real innocent role. I think he did pretty good. Better than whatever Jackie Chan has done in Hollywood anyway. But, Unleashed can be a little slow at times. For those looking for an action flick, give this movie a miss. But if you want to see a more dramatic side to Jet Li, give it a shot.

Today, I caught Batman Begins. The highly anticipated return of the Batman movie franchise. Was it worth the many years of hiatus? Well, the movie is really quite different from the previous movies. It wasn't campy and the tone was quite dark. Basically about people struggling with their fears. Christian Bale was quite credible as Batman and this is the second movie I've seen this week with Morgan Freeman (he seems to be everywhere!). At the end of it all, I think the movie was not bad, but unfortunately, there wasn't a 'wow' factor. I came out of the cinema satisfied but not floored. Quite different from movies like Spiderman & Star Wars III where I came out of the cinema wanting to go back for more.

Yepz, that's it for now. Fantastic Four & War of the Worlds next!

Learning Journey to World Expo 2005

Ok, it's been 2 days since I returned from the world expo learning journey. If I don't blog abt it now, I probably won't do it anymore. So here goes.

5 June
I kinda regret taking the overnight flight. I know it did save one night's accommodation cost, but I think the overnight flight was terrible. I couldn't sleep and I had to keep myself occupied through the entire 6.5 hours. It's quite different for my flights to US coz for those, I do sleep after sometime coz I'm just too tired out. For a 6.5 hr flight, there really isn't enough time to get tired. Most of the others did catch some shuteye I think. Well, the flight was uneventful. Kept myself busy with my PSP. Managed to watch parts of The Incredibles and also Shall We Dance. I was quite pleasantly surprised by Shall We Dance. Not a bad show at all. I think Jennifer Lopez plays these kinds of roles very well. Maid in Manhattan, Monster-in-Law, Shall We Dance, all pretty similar roles. Thinking of getting the DVD now.

6 June
Our first day. Arrival was fine. It was nice meeting Yamakoshi san again. The last time i met her was when I was working in Ken-Air and I organised some trips with her. I remembered her as being a very meticulous and careful tour manager and at the end of the whole trip, my memories were more than confirmed!
Anyway, we made our way to Tokyo Sea Life Park. It's not my first visit there. I was here during my second visit to Japan many years back. I loved the way the Aquarium was designed, the tuna tank and the horizon pool at the entrance were my faves. This time round, the thing which kinda spoilt the visit were the screaming children on a school excursion. Wished it was a more quiet experience to enjoy the fishes. It was also a pity that the boys didn't have time to go to the Observatory Tower and the Ferris Wheel.
After the Sea Life Park, we made our way to Odaiba for lunch and then to the Museum of Emerging Science & Technology. I missed this museum the last time as I had arrived there too late. One of the teachers in school, Mdm Kwek, visited it last year (I think) and highly recommended it. I'm glad we made the trip there. It was a pretty good museum. If not for my tiredness, I would have loved spending more time there. The globe with the LEDs was very nice. You can see it in my album. From the museum, we made our way to the pier (just a short 10 mins walk away) and took a boat across Tokyo Bay to Hinode Pier. I think the boat ride was an excellent idea. It broke the monotony of the coach rides and allowed us to take in some fresh sea breeze.
After a Shabu shabu dinner at a shibuya restaurant, we started on our 3-hr journey to our hotel in Hamamatsu. We reached the hotel around 10pm and were totally bushed. On the whole, a very busy first day.

7 to 9 June
The next 3 days were spent at the World Expo. You can't imagibe the crowds that were there. I shan't talk abou tthe various pavillions but just share some thoughts after the whole expo experience.
- queuing: this was scary. Queues after queues after queues. Everywhere I went, there were queues. And the japanese (which made up majority of the visitors to the expo) were just happily queuing for hours. I think this can be simply improved by having a better queue system. One of the teachers were commenting that it was ironic how the pavillions were so high-tech and we couldn't even come up with a better queue system. Hopefully something will be done for the Shanghai expo.
- high tech stuff: I loved some of the high tech displays. Yeah, I know queuing for hours to see a 5 to 10 min display sounds stupid, but some of these were really awesome. The 4000-line high def screen, the spherical screen, the VR-tech, the 'infinite-screen', all really cool. Pity I didn't get to see the World Larget seamless screen in the Blue Hall of Global House.
- shoes: My feet practically died everyday. The shoes I brought were really ill-fitting and my toes were constantly rubbing against the front of the shoes. It was really really painful. In all my trips, I think this was the only one where I wore such lousy shoes. Wish I had brought my sandals instead. I know it's a little late, but I'm gonna go out and get myself a much better pair of shoes sometime this week.
- recycling: it's amazing how the japanese really recycle everything. They even had people at the recycling bins to help people sort their rubbish into the bins. I think in this repect, Singapore is years behind.

10 June
We went on a half-day self-planned tour of Tokyo before we met at Asakusa for a Taiko Drum session. I think both were excellent plans. The self-planned itineraries were fun but too short. If I ever do this again, I would love to give the boys at least a full day to plan their itinerary. As for the Taiko drums session, it was definitely a unique experience. For me, it was like playing a video game.. heh. Before we left for Japan, I had been hooked on Donkey Konga, a bongo game on the gamecube. Playing the Taikos were a little like that coz I had to memorize the rhythms. The instructor used 'Dong' and 'Kong' to represent right and left and it was totally confusing. On the whole, a memorable and fun experience. Finally, we got ot visit Akihabara in the evening. The sad thing was, it was raining (really dampened the mood) and many shops were already closed! sigh... next time, Akihabara needs to be an afternoon experience, not a night one.

11 June
This was our last ditch attempt to shop before leaving for home. Luckily, Ikebukuro had plenty of shops around which pretty much met our shopping needs. For me, it was definitely one of the most rushed shopping I've ever done. In the end, I must say I'm quite satisfied with my purchases, some of which I have shared in earlier posts. Then, it's to the airport to catch our plane home.

There was quite a bit of apprehension as I was organising this learning journey together with the other teachers. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, this was the first LJ I'd organised since joining RI (not including the prefects' retreats lar). At the end of it all, i think it went on quite well. Hope everyone who went on the trip had fun!

Photoalbum Updated

Album updated with pics taken during the Japan Expo tour. Click on the link on the right to take a look. Will update my blog on the trip later (hopefully tomorrow.... ).

My second favourite purchase - the iDog. Yeah, it's one of those things that try to sound like an iPod. Other than the colour (white), there aren't any other similarities. The iDog moves its head and ears according to music, sings... and basically acts cute. Yes, yes, a waste of money, but too cute to pass up!

This trip was quite hectic. Managed to do some shopping only on the last evening before we left and the two hours on the last day. The is probably my favourite item - the Space Warp 5000. Basically, it comes with the poles and connectors and you have to put everything together into one of those ball-rolling-around-the-place kinda toy. I spent about 4 hours putting the whole thing together... Totally worth the 5000 yen!

Back from Japan! How fast a week passes. It's been a tiring but pretty fun week. Here's a pic of the crowd at the expo and the famous Hitachi pavillion where I queued more than 3 hrs for a 10 min ride... Just a teaser before I take some time for a full recount.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Off to Japan to visit the World Expo. Hope it is not going to be a human-traffic nightmare as I've heard! I'll probably find some time to blog while I'm there so anyone interested to find out more about the expo, check back during the week!

Cya!

Spent the day doing some admin stuff in school. Preparing for the Japan trip as well as doing some prep for the Leadership Challenge Workshop in the last week. It's rare for me to prepare things so far in advance, quite used to working at the last minute. It's a bad habit, I know, but I always need the adrenaline to get me working.

Probably take my time in doing some packing and room cleaning before i leave on Sunday evening. This is the first trip I've organised for students since I joined RI. Quite funny considering that in my previous school, I was quite keen in doing trips every year. Maybe things are just too busy in RI. Well, hope the trip will be a good one. Looking forward to the Expo. Sounds pretty exciting!

Maybe I can consider doing a US trip end of year! That's kinda like my specialty, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles... used to love doing such trips. I know there's already one going to the East Coast. But that's kinda career-centric. Would like to do my more science-centric one. Anyone interested?

PC Show - what a letdown!

Went to the PC show today. It was really quite disappointing. The show only occupied one hall and many of the major companies weren't even there. Canon, Epson, xbox... all missing.

There was very little excitement and frankly, the only thing I found remotely interesting was the Zen Neeon. The player was smaller and sleeker than I had imagined. And 5Gb for $329? Hmm.. sounds like a very good deal!

Well, I hate to say this, but if you are planning to go to the PC Show? Think otherwise. Go Sim Lim or Funan instead. More interesting.

Album Update

Uploaded some pics of class party into Photoalbum. Take a look!

Busy day. Watched Monster-in Law and H2G2 (or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

Before that, I went to school to do a bit of Admin stuff. Then I popped by the World Book Fair at Suntec City. I was really quite disappointed at the fair. The book selection was really bad and it felt more like a Chinese Book Sale cum jumble sale. I spent less than 15mins at the fair. I'm planning to go to the PC show tomorrow, so I'm hoping it won't be as disappointing as the book fair.

Since I spent so little time at the book fair, I found that I had enough time to catch Monster-in-Law before watching the preview of H2G2.

Monster-in Law was quite ok. It seems to be the 'return of the old actors'. I mean, we had Barbara Streisand in Meet the Fockers and now Jane Fonda in MiL. Mind you, Jane Fonda hasn't acted in a movie for 15 years! There were some hilarious scenes, and Jennifer Lopez was ok as the plain-jane daughter-in-law to be (although I thought she was acting in a very similar role to her other movie, Maid in Manhattan). On the whole, MiL has it's moments and it's kinda fun watching a 'distinguished' actress like Jane Fonda acting like a clown, but it's really just a mediocre film.

After MiL, I had a 10min break before starting on H2G2. As usual, I opted to watch it at an Eng Wah cinema coz Eng Wah cinemas are all equipped with digital projection. I don't understand why GV doesn't follow suit and equip their cinemas with digital projectors too. Anyway, H2G2 was weird. I read the book many many years ago as a student. If you've read the book, you know how weird the story is. The movie is not much different. For those who've read the book, you at least know where it's all aheaded and you're prepared for the wacky humour. For those who haven't, I think the movie will seem very odd. At times, you probably won't even know where the whole story is headed. In the end, I found the humour a little british for my liking. The effects were ok, and there are occasional laugh-out-loud scenes (far fewer than MiL, though). But I suspect, H2G2 will not go down well with most Singapore audiences.

Tomorrow is a bz day... have two meetings before lunch, then pc show, then class party.

Whee!

(By the way, did I tell you how much I like my new K750i?)

On Sunday evening, I was alerted by servant of the dark side that an object of my passion was finally released. Although I struggled with the strong emotions, I am pleased to say I finally gave in to the calling of the dark side. On Monday, I went down to Chinatown and finally set my eyes upon it. It was, simply put, beautiful. The matt-black finish, the vibrant colour screen, the LENS COVER, the auto-focus, the 2 mega-pixel camera... sigh... it was just too good to resist. Hence, I traded in my Siemens S65 and am now a proud owner of the Sony Ericsson K750i.

Please do not judge me. I'm just human. :-P

It feels so good...

It's the holidaez again, and yes... it feels so good...

It's great not having to wake up and go to school every morning. It's great not to be bugged by the thoughts of marking CTs, projects, assignments. It's great to just take things easier.

I think if not for the holidaez, many more teachers would lose their minds. I really think so.

The holidaez have been off on a pretty good start. Managed to finish some materials which I had to prepare over the weekend. Managed to start catching up on some DVDs which I had bought but never had the time to watch. Managed to start watching movies in the cinema again... sigh.. how i missed that.

Term 2 has been particularly tiring. Somehow, things don't seem to get any easier. It's my 5th year here and my 3rd year as PM. Yet, I would be lying if I said I found things getting easier to do. The last term was busy busy busy. FW, CTs, FD, OH, etc.... Next term is not gonna be any better. So, I think I shall enjoy whatever holidaez I have rite now.

Started with watching the new CGI Appleseed movie. It was fantastic! It had this fantastic CGI backgrounds with more traditional 2D characters. The action was really cool and the story wasn't anime-type-weird. It did have a decent story line. But the whole package was really good. That was one DVD I'm glad I bought!

Next, watched House of Fury, this chinese show which was pretty much a Spy-Kids copy cat except that the Kids were more teens. It had some decent CGI fighting scene and the story was ok. I just felt that the director had trouble deciding if he wanted to film a comedy, drama or adventure. It was just a mish-mesh of everything, in an incoherent manner. But ultimately, still watchable.

I'm looking forward to starting on my Astroboy and Rahxephon Series. Maybe I'll start tomorrow!

Today, I caught Madagascar. I was a little disappointed by it. There were funny moments here and there, but overall, it wasn't very good. The story was quite 'blah'... Sure, the lemurs were funny and the penguins were cool but I just didn't care much for the lion, the zebra, the hippo and the giraffe. Digital cinema was cool though.. as always!

So... what next.... I hope to catch Star Wars III in a digital cinema, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monster-in-law before leaving for Japan with the Expo tour. There's a class party on Thursday which is sounding fun and I've also got a new toy to play.... more on that tomorrow!

I'm watching this Channel U show on tv rite now where they go around taking polaroids of people. Anyway, I realize that I really find Fiona Xie very irritating. Some people say she is the next Kym Ng, but I dunno, her mannerisms & voice just irritates the hell out of me.

xbox360 = pseudo-PC?

Hmm, the more I look at it, the more the xbox360 just looks like a PC. While I don't think the PS3's design is fantastic (I like the slim PS2's design better), at least the PS3 looks like something I would place next to my DVD player, sound system, etc. THe xbox360 looks like it belongs next to my printer and PC monitor.

Meaningless activities

Found another totally meaningless site. There's this funny superhero-type character that dances to this totally irritating ringtone.

I think these westerners (looks like Americans) really have nothing better to do. But then again, it's also quite amazing how they are willing to just let go and do silly stuff like this.

Click here to take a look.

Actually, one of the things which I found interesting was the idea of flash mobbing. It's where people receive smses or emails which tell them to go do something somewhere at a designated time. The example that comes to mind is the M1 advert where peopl receive smses and turn up to do that chicken dance together. As long as it doesn't cause a public nuisance, I think the idea of flash mobbing is quite interesting. It's just a group of people spontaneously coming together to do something together. One example is as follows:

"The latest flash mob incident occurred at 6:01 p.m. on Friday in Berlin, where about 40 people in the middle of a busy street took out their mobile phones and shouted, "yes, yes!" and then applauded, according to The New York Times. "

Something silly, but i dunno.. quite fun too. BUt i think the chances of it happening in Singapore are pretty low, coz we're simply too self-conscious. Anyone out there want to try organising one?

The Saga ends

Went to watch Star Wars III today. It was something which I was really looking forward to. The trailers have been impressive and the reviews have been decent. After two not-too-exciting episodes, this was supposed to be the BIG one to end the trilogy and link it to the classic episodes IV, V and VI.

Went to GV Bishan to watvh the 7.10pm show. Now, for all you GV-goers, we know how famous GV is with the 20 to 30 min long advertisements and trailers. With a movie like Star Wars III, I had expected at least 30 mins of advertisements. Imagine my surprise when I entered the cinema at 7.15pm to find that I had missed the starting scenes of the movie!!! So to all of you who are thinking of watching SWIII at GV, you might want to try being on time.

On the whole, I think that SWIII is a pretty satisfying movie. Let me break it down a little.

Effects: Totally mind-blowing. From the opening scenes to the conclusion, you will be in for a visual treat. I must admit that Industrial Light and Magic has outdone themsleves. You can just sit and gawk and the battle scenes and enjoy every minute of it. The battleships, droids, creatures, are all just wonderful to look at. Be prepared to enjoy the effects.

Story: I think George Lucas did a decent episode to link the Episodes I and II to Episodes IV, V and VI. I guess he was able to show how Anakin finally turned to the dark side and how the emperor got rid of the jedi. I loved the little references to Episode IV. From the Wookies, to Chewbacca to Ambassador Organa, etc, etc, it was fun trying to catch the references.

Acting: I guess all the talk about Anakin being a little wooden and the acting being a little stiff is still quite true here. But I guess, you won't go to SWIII hoping to watch Academy-winning performances. Towards the end, I think Anakin's turning to the dark side was acted out reasonably well.

Directing: One thing that irritated me a little was how spaceships could leave one planet and suddenly, in the flash of an eye, appear at another planet. I never thought that light-speed was equivalent to instantaneous travelling. Throughout the movie, this happened pretty frequently and I found it just a little irritating. I also felt that George Lucas really doesn't know how to turn on the drama-quotient. Some scenes could have been really tear-jerkers, but in the end, turned out to be just mildy emotional. I thought it was a bit of a waste.

Conclusion: This is certainly a movie which I am going to watch again. The next time, I hope to catch it in a digital cinema to see how different it is compared to the normal film cinema. If you are any bit interested in Star Wars, make sure you catch this episode, you won't regret it.

Just take a look at this gorgeous new Gameboy Advance! It's basically the same as the old one with a smaller but supposedly much better screen. This year's E3 is really turning out to be full of goodies!

Hmm, the news are really coming out fast. E3 is so exciting. Well, here's an unconfirmed pic of the new Nintendo Revolution. Looks like a normal CD-ROM drive! Not very exciting. Nintendo will be holding their press conference tomorrow, so we'll finally have a confirmed pic of their new console.... hopefully!

Here's a pic of the xbox360 with controller. So, which do you think looks better? PS3 or xbox360?

Here's a pic of the PS3 with the new controller. THe controller looks a little huge. But then again, Sony has always had a good reaon for designing things the way they are.

Here's a view of the PS3 on it's side.

Wow...here's the new Playstation 3! It looks pretty good. I think it's definitely more sleek and cool then the xbox360. Sony designers still beat Microsoft handsdown!

Hmm... I can't decide if this is a scary pic or wat... The lights around the power-up button of the xbox 360 is quite cool. But Bill Gates has a very sinister look. Now I'm quite tempted to buy the Time magazine just to have a read. Maybe I'll go see it in HML instead!

Photoalbum Updated

Uploaded some pics of RIPB's Bowling Outing using my trusty 6670.

Yep.. Star Wars fever starts! Bought this M&M dispenser a couple of days ago. It doesn't look too good, but hey, the other options were even worse! They had this awful looking deathstar and a really scary looking Yoda. Yah, yah, I know it's a real waste of money, but, hey, that's what movie merchandising is all about, right? Now to get the Burger King Star Wars cup....

Jogathon today started off not very well. The morning did initially look bright and cheery, but the dark cloud rolled in at around 7.45am and before anyone knew anything, the rain came crashing down. Quite funny. People were apparently calling the Jogathon a 'walk-to-the-canteen'. lolz.

Business at our booth was not too bad. It was great to see so many board members helping out in selling the drinks & jellies to raise fund. Selling stuff can be pretty fun. Hmm, maybe I can seriously consider going into a retail business. Might be something interesting to try out. By 2pm, the crowd had pretty much cleared off so we closed shop as well.

Food at the food fair was of incredibly different standards. My faves were the Mee Siam at the RPA stall. Really quite yummy! I mean it has to be since I ended up eating two bowls. The fishballs at the stall nearest to the track were also very good. Ate 3 sticks if I remember correctly. I wonder what it is about fishballs that make them so d*** delicious. I mean it's just mashed up fish meat after all. It's probably the levels of MSG they put into it. Ate some satay from RICO (so-so) and some kachang puteh from NPCC. I'm sorry, but I must say that the kacang puteh was not very good. :-P Maybe it's coz the CCAL was too busy taking care of his 'cousin'.. heh.

Well, that means swimming carnival, house carnival and jogathon are over. Two more major events to go before the end of term.

Exciting exciting exciting!

So many things coming up!

HAPPY THINGS

1. Star Wars III
Yeah, I know it's the one show where we all know the ending. Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader! Whoa... must be the world's worst kept secret. I'm really looking forward to catching the movie next week when it opens. The trailers are awesome and even if the movie is utter crap, I'm sure it'll make a truckload of money around the whole world.

2. E3
To the uninitiated, E3 is this huge expo which is held in the US around this time every year. It's at this expo where the latest consoles, games, entertainment technology are announced. It's my dream to go and attend E3 someday. This year's E3 is all the more exciting as news about the next generation of consoles will be released. Microsoft has already revealed how the new xbox360 is gonna look. The specs are very impressive. Sony and Gamecube have been very very quiet about the PS3 and Gamecube-successor. All will be revealed in less than 3 days! The gamer in me is going totally ecstatic!

3. World Expo, Aichi, Japan
I'm really looking forward to visiting the World Expo. In less than a month, I'll be in Aichi with some teachers and students, visiting the expo. It really looks very amazing. Hope it won't be a let-down. But then again, Tokyo is always an exciting place to be... how can it ever be a disappointment!

4. Harry Potter
Sorry, I know some of you might puke at this, but I am really looking forward to the next book in the Harry Potter series. All the major bookstores are already putting up countdown charts. If I'm not wrong, it's probably 10 weeks to the release of the book. For the last two books, I've made it a habit to reread the entire series from start to end before reading the new book. Maybe I'd better get started!

Wow, I didn't even realise it's been almost 5 days since I last posted anything. My last entry seemed as if it was made just yesterday! I know it sounds cliche, but time in RI really flies by.

So many things happened this week. Some not too pleasant at all. But it does seem that the hot topic on many people's minds is this idea of the privacy of blogs. From the incidents involving the scholars to things happening in our own school, there seems to be this atmosphere of paranoia filling the air. Then there's this hue and cry over how blogs are private space and that we should be allowed to say whatever we want on the blogs. To those people who hold on this delusion of blogs being private space, I just want to say, if you want it to be private, keep a good old diary under lock and key. The minute you post your blog online, it really pretty much becomes public domain. I mean, why on earth do you blog in the first place? It's pretty much the chance to let others know how you feel about things. Where's the privacy in that? So, the minute we post something on a blog, we're making our thoughts and feelings available to the whole internet community. When I last checked, I think it includes everyone who has an internet connection, friends, strangers, relatives, parents, teachers, etc, etc.

The other thing is, just as you might have the 'freedom' to air your thoughts, people who read your blog will pretty much have the 'freedom' to act on what they have read. You can't deny that freedom to others.

The thing is, I get a sense that there are basically two responses that are coming from two groups of people. The first group are those who simply blog about their thoughts about things, funny anecdotes, interesting observations, etc. People who maintain these blogs aren't really bothered by what has been happening and their blogs are alive and well. The second group are those who blog to complain about life, about people and include plenty of stuff that they would never in their life say to another person, face to face. It's this group of people who are crying foul over how their 'privacy' has been invaded. Like I said earlier, maybe this group needs to realize that blogs are open to the public. They want privacy, start a pen and paper diary.

In the end (I was saying this to someone else) I think the term 'private blog' is an oxymoron. So if you can't deal with it, find some other ways to capture your private thoughts.

Yep..here it is! The new xbox was finaaly revealed in the US. It's officially called the xbox 360. Unfortunately, I think it looks too much like a PC. I know Bill Gates is trying hard to do this all-in-one media box thing, but I think the xbox 360 just doesn't look like a console. Nevermind, I guess the most important things are (1) price and (2) games. E3 is happening in US in about 9 days time. Can't wait to see the PS3 and find out more about the new Nintendo machine! Such exciting times!

Yep, marking for CTs finally over. Firstly, quite proud of myself that I managed to finish it all by Sunday evening. Quite a challenge coz I actually have up to Wednesday to finish so there was a strong temptation to procrastinate until then. But nope! I was strong!

Last Friday, some guys came over and we had another round of karting on the gamecube. You have to give it to Nintendo. Despite the fact that there are so few good games on the gamecube, Nintendo never fails to release games which are great for groups. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Bomberman, etc, etc. Most played tracks in Mario Kart must be Baby Park, DK Island and Daisy Cruiser. Someone tried really hard to regain his kingship of Baby Park, but alas, it was never meant to be. There were glimpses of hope occasionally as he tried to ascend through the ranks but unfortunately, it was just that, hope. Until our next race...

The weekend was pretty much spent holed-up in my room marking. I don't think I'm gonna talk about the marking. Guys concerned... you'll know how it went very very soon.

When I finally finished marking late Sunday afternoon/early Sunday evening, I decided to go down to Ang Mo Kio Central. It's there when I finally got my first bite of Rotiboy. Now, there is a certain blog which extols the wonder that is the Rotiboy, but I have never found the urge to try it. Well, on Sunday, I finally decided to give it a shot. Was it good? I must say the crispy crust was very tasteful. And the soft centres... mmm... very nice.. not too sweet, yet soft and moist. On the whole, I must agree that the Rotiboy is really quite yummy. At least this was a much better recommendation than a certain Nutella cake which really didn't live up to its recommendation. But the thing about the Rotiboy is, I didn't really feel the urge to have another one. I think this is really just a fad. Give it another month or two and I think the interest level will start to drop off.

Which brings me to today. Went for Board outing with the prefects. It didn't start too well coz the food (although pretty good) was not in abundance. Hence, I pretty much just had two plates of bee hoon, one piece of fried fish (which I had sneaked much earlier), remnants of lasagne filling, two shreds of chicken.. yeah.. that's pretty much what I got for $8. After lunch, we went over for bowling. It's been almost 2 years since I last bowled. Used to enjoy bowling quite frequently last time. In the previous school which I taught, bowling/pool/skating, were pretty common. Went almost every week with the students and it was reallyquite fun. In this school, such things really are rare. I guess it's just different kinds of students/different kinds of school life. Anywaez, I bowled 4 games today and I tell you, my right hand is probably premanently damaged from the ball throwing. I had stopped after the 3rd game, but due to my weak spirit, I gave in to a 4th game... boy, was it a mistake! Each roll was like TORTURE! I never felt happier to finish a game!! But on the whole, it was really fun to bowl again. Maybe can get some others to go bowling too, then next time no need to suffer so much!

Well, tomorrow, Post CT starts. Got plenty of stuff to look into. It's gonna be an exciting two weeks!

Calm before the Storm

Yep, the last couple of days have been fairly calm. Of course, for the students, I'm guessing it's been anything but calm. CTs/Exams, call it whatever you want, but I guess in the end, a week of intense tests simply means high levels of stress for all. Well, as the students slog away on their paper, it's just a matter of hours for me before I start slogging over the marking. That's just how the wheel turns. You slog I slack, you slack I slog... and the the world goes on. Well good luck to all the tests-takers. A couple of days more to go!

Took this a couple of days ago when I was still in crutches and on the back from seeing my doctor. Not sure why I had the urge to take a pic of this Scotts Tissue Dog's ..uh...'behind'... Well to those who uh.. .migh enjoy this... uh.. have fun? To those who don't I apologise for scarring you with this explicit pic.

Here's a curious picture I took a day or two ago. Apparently, this person (who head has been blacked out to protect his identity) was trying to select cabbage. It might be interesting to note that this is in relation with a series of events which show a sudden.. obsession with all things leafy and tomato-ey. From salads, to cabbages, to creepy cherry tomatoes arranged neatly with celery in 'cute' tupperware... I wonder if this might be the awakening of an inner herbivore with this person. Any thots any one?

IT IS HERE!

Yesterday, I did it. I walked (yes... WALKED! something which we really should not take for granted) into a Home Theatre shop in Sim Lim Tower and after about half an hour of demos and considerations, I've upgraded by old EPSON EMP-30 projector to a brand new SANYO PLV-Z3 projector. The Epson has served me very very well for almost 2 years, but it was really time to move on. And when the saleswoman gave me a super sweet trade-in deal, I knew that it was time for the Epson to retire and make herself useful to other masters.

I will not bore you with the details, but I like to compare this upgrade to a upgrade from a 1 megapixel camera to a 2 megapixel camera. It's like changing from Win 98 to Win XP Home Edition (not quite Pro edition yet...).

It was supposed to be delivered on Saturday, so imagine my surprise when I received a call earlier in the afternoon on Friday that they would be delivering on Friday itself. Once the Z3 was set up, I could not wait to load in a dvd and I must tell you... the differences were just jaw-dropping. The images were bee-yoo-tee-fool with the vibrant colours and added depth. I started loading DVDs after DVDs just to watch a scene or two. I went through scenes like LOTR: Battle at Pelennor Fields, Star Wars I: Pod-racing, Finding Nemo, Prince of Egypt: Parting of Red Sea, Star Trek First Contact: Enterprise fighting Borg Ship, Pearl Harbour: Attack on the USS Arizona.. and many others. And with each DVD, I knew my decision was a right one.

And all this using a normal S-video cable! The projector is capable of High Definition (HD) pictures so I must admit I am now thinking of getting a HD-compatible DVD player.

Yep... no regrets... at all... and in case you've not gotten the hint... the Z3 is really awesome!

IT IS DONE. (and I"m pretty darn glad it is!)

Wow... here's the Star Wars Edition of the Sony Ericsson Z500a... doesn't it look totally cool?! The phone may not be very good.. but the images are.. OMG - Gorgeous!

Wow... Nokia has release pictures of their new N70 phone which looks a little like the 6800, but has a 2 megapixel camera. Looks like I just might have to decide between the SE K750i and the N70.

I just can't get a break... (part 2)

Yeah, as the chinese saying goes, 祸不单行, or calamities don't strike alone. I can't think of a more apt example then what's been happening to me.

Monday, the gout in both my feet improved so I could actually start hobbling around with crutches. On Tuesday, I could hobble a bit without crutches so I was pretty much looking forward to going back to school on Wednesday. Then, on Tuesday evening, I suddenly developed a high fever of about 39 degrees. Sigh. I had apparently caught some viral infection in my intestines coz they kinda hurt too.l Much of Tuesday night was spent sponging myself and trying to get my temperature down. Some time later in the evening, I passed out a kidney stone. I don't think I'm gonna give the details here coz I know roughly who are the people who read this blog... anyway, the stone was probably the reason why I had the infection.

Well, this morning, I woke up and found that my temp had gone down to normal. So, I decided to risk it and go to school. It wasn't too bad. Finished my 4 lessons and then came home to rest. I'm kinda runing a slight fever now... hope it comes down coz I really can't afford to miss anymore lessons. Sigh... talk about not being able to get a break.

**WARNING**
This is certainly not for the weak of stomach.

If you click the link, you will view gratituous scenes involving faeces. I have no idea what the song means, so if any of you have a translation, I would love to have it.

If you like cute but dirty things, pleace proceed. If not, please skip this post. Thank you.

hmm.. this is believed to be the design of the new Xbox - the Xbox 360. Must say it looks much better than the old Xbox. Still think it's pretty stupid that they are naming it Xbox 360 instead of Xbox 2 coz Xbox 2 sounds like it's older technology compared to PS3. Maybe Xbox might really have a good chance to topple the PS3! Oh no!

Just found a pic of the new Superman costume for the upcoming movie to be released next year. For those who don't know, the new actor is Brandon Routh, a relatively unknown actor. Must say, the costume looks quite good!

Simple things in life

Today, a few people brought some cheer to the otherwise dreary day I was having.

First off, I managed to get a new old chair to roll around my room. You see, since I pretty much can't put any weight on any of my feet, my only mode of transport has been a really old and broken office chair which I use to roll around my room. The chair has served me well over the last few years, but it's really coming to pieces. More than once, I almsot slipped off the chair coz its hinges are pretty much gone. Well, this afternoon, estate office said they could give me a one of their spare old chairs. A student helped to roll the chair all the way to my block. And now, I'm safely mobile in my room again. Thanks!

Secondly, my mom dropped by to get lunch for me. While I'm in my room, my only source of food is pretty much frozen stuff or stuff which my assistants in boarding help me to buy. Well, my mom bought lunch and she helped me to buy my ever favourite 'Aw Chai Tau Kway' (or Black carrot cake to the dialectly challenged) from the Serangoon Gardens market. This has been my favourite ever since I was a kid. Since I moved into RI Boarding, I've not had much chance to eat it often. It was certainly a treat!

Finally, some teachers dropped by for a chat. It was good to hear what's happening in school and basically talk about anything under the sun. Thank God for friends, right?

Well, it's been a better day. Feet are still painful, but guess they are improving. Wonder how long more to go before I can go out.

Here's a pic some of you might appreciate. Introducing... the Amazing Bean Bag with fingers!

I just can't get a break..sigh

Well, this is a first.

It appears that as my right foot is getting better, my left foot seems to be gatting a gout attack too! This is a first time. Right & left foot at the same time. In the past, I could still roll around and hobble on my 'good' foot. So now, if my left foot gets any worse, I wonder how I'll get around in my room? Crawl using my hands and dragging my foot behind? Sigh. Dun ask me why and how cause I simply don't know. It sure brings cheer to me, knowing that my left and right foot are taking turns to cause me pain. SIGH.

On a positive note? hmm.. not sure if there's one. Guess I ought to be thankful I still have feet.

Oh... to stand on own two feet again....

Missed school today. I'm really quite sick and tired of this leg problem. First off, it didn't feel like a gout attack. When I saw the doctor, I could still hobble on the foot. Doctor said it looked like a strained tendon. So, all I can do is rest and let it recover slowly. That's fine, I guess. But then this morning when I woke up, the pain seemed kinda different. Felt more goutish. That kinda freaked me out a little. I took my gout medicine and just crossed my fingers that things will not worsen.

It's 2.30am now.. I'm not sure if the pain is better or not. I'm almost afraid to go to sleep, coz I'm not sure how it'll turn out when I wake up. Sigh. Really hope it's not gout. I can't afford to miss two weeks of lessons, especially with the common tests right around the corner.

And what's more... I'm supposed to go buy my new toy! Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh.

Well, hope everything will be better tmr.

Die. Leg pain. Dunno whether gonna get another gout attack.

Sianz. Hope not. Otherwise gonna miss many many lessons with Sec 1s... Sure die, cannot finish CT syllabus.

Worse still.. cannot go buy new 'toy'.

Hope by tmr, the pain will be gone....

It's only week 4. But it feels like it should be the end of the term. Not sure why there is this 'I've-had-enough' kinda feeling. Maybe it's just the deadlines that are on my back. Top of which is having to finish setting the Common Test papers.

Today, got angry with another of my classes. Dunno why this is becoming increasingly frequent. It's not as if I enjoy being angry. To some extent, it's this helpless feeling that nothing I say seems to get through. I really can't understand. How difficult can it be to just not talk for a couple of minutes??? Dunno lar, maybe it's me. Maybe it's them. Maybe it's just the planets in the wrong alignment.

Had some fun today going into a Sec 4 class to teach a bit of Physics. It's been about 16 mths since I stopped teaching a Sec 4 class. Teaching lower sec boys is quite interesting, but sometimes, it's refreshing to do some Sec 4 stuff. Haha.. irony is, if I were teaching Sec 4s, I would probably be thinking how relaxing it would be to teach the lower sec classes. Grass always seems greener on the other side.

Found a link tonite which brought me to a cool video of a choir group singing Nintendo theme songs in acapella! Tried sharing it with another guy, but the game music was lost on him. If any of you are hardcore gamers, you might want to check out the video. You can find it by clicking here. It's a streaming video. If you want the full downloaded version, drop me a note and maybe I can arrange to transfer to you via MSN.

Worked on the Friendship chains with the prefects until about 9.30pm. Here's a sneak peek for those who're checking this blog before Wednesday. I think it looks pretty good! Really appreciate everyone who played a part in putting the whole thing up!

PSP coming to Singapore!

Wow... this is a really aggressive move by Sony. In only 6 mths after the Japanese launch, and 3 months after the US launch, they will apparently be releasing the PSP in Singapore on 12 May. This is quite significant because Singapore has often been at the tail end of Playstation products.

In this aspect, Microsoft has been very successful with the Xbox in Singapore. There is a constant release of games and they are very reasonably priced, often $15 to $20 cheaper than the Japan or US versions. Microsoft has also maintained a very high profile by promoting the Xbox at every PC fair and having lots of advertisements in local magazines.

Well, hopefully Sony has decided to pay a little more attention the the local market.

So, should you get a local version, US version or Japanese version? For those still considering, as far as games are concerned, there are no differences. You can play PSP games bought from any country on the PSP. The only problem is movies. Movies sold in the US or Japan will not be able to be played on the local set. Actually, up till now, Sony hasn't revealed what movies the local PSP can play. So, if movies are not your concerned, then I would probably wait for the local PSP. It's targetted to launch at S$455, a little more expensive than the US price. But it will at least be covered by a local warranty.

Even though I already have a Japan set, I'm eagerly waiting for the Singapore launch! It's really quite exciting!

For those wanting to know more, visit Sony's official site at http://www.sony.com.sg/psp/.

I finally found the tray yesterday (Friday). Went to this supplier of kitchen/catering goods in Chinatown and found that they had the stupid trays. So, that's the end of one saga - The Quest for the Metal Trays. Wonder if it's worth making into some movie.

Last night, I watched a DVD which was really freaky. Not sure if any of you caught the show SAW when it came out in the cinemas. The strange thing is, in the cinemas, it was rated R21. On DVD, the (apparently same) uncut version is only rated M18. Shows the consistency of the censors.

Anywaez, SAW is a totally screwed-up show. It's gory but it also plays mind-games on you. Basically, it's about this fella who goes round putting people into situations where they have to kill others in order to survive. What's the big deal about that? Well, in the main story (*dun worry, no spoilers*), we have two guys, each with one foot chained to pipes. They are given saws and a time limit. To survive, they had to either shoot each other or if they like, saw off their foot to escape. That's totally screwed up! In another scenario, a guy as put in a corner of a room and the pathway to the door was obscured by a maze of razor sharp barb wire. He had a time limit before the door was sealed. So, the poor fella basically had to struggle his way through the wires... you get the picture... Those aren't the worst. I wun even start on the girl with the iron braces...

It's not really an A-grade movie. No big stars and not really very glizty like a big hollywood production. But I think it was quite a good movie.

After watching the show, I admit there was a feeling of unsettledness in my guts. I mean, it's one thing to watch a gory show. It's another when you have to watch people struggling with killing others in order to survive. I think that's the real brain-screwer. Imagine you are in a room with a ticking bomb and an axe. The doorway is blocked by a guy chained right across. The only way to escape is to use the axe to hack the guy blocking the door. What would you do?

A tale of a tray

Today, I shopped for 4.5 hours to look for a stupid metal tray.

I started off at 5pm at the concourse. Took a cab to Mustafa Shopping Centre at Serangoon Road, thinking it would be easy to find a metal try there. But.. no.. they didn't sell it. So I walked down Serangoon Road to Tekka Market, looking out for stalls that sell metal stuff. No luck. Decided to try something more up market, so I took a cab to Orchard, Paragon, where there's a Metro, remembering that they had a household goods section. Guess what, they had apparently closed down that section a long time ago. So, I crossed over to Takashimaya to try my luck. Nope, no tray there either. Actually, they had one, but it was too small. So where to next? I decided to try Seiyu at Bugis Junction. Their household section wasn't too bad. I took a can there, but... no luck. None there too. Maybe OG at Albert Mall opposite Sim Lim had it.... so I walked over. Again, no luck. It was already 8.15pm. I was hungry, but I needed to find the stupid tray. So I decided to go all the way back to Ang Mo Kio coz I remembered there was quite a good household shop next to the S11 food court. I tried to take a cab. Took me almost 45 mins. Sigh. By the time I got into a cab, it was already 9.00pm. Made my way to Ang Mo Kio, guess what? Right... NO LUCK. Went to the ultra-neighbourhoodish Four Seasons shopping centre for my last ditch attempt. NO LUCK AGAIN.

It was by then, already 9.30pm. I was tired. I was hungry. I decided, it was time to give up.

One would think it would be easy to find a stupid metal tray in Singapore. One would be wrong.

Wouldn't you say I had a meaningful day?

I'm not a casual music listener. You rarely see me with ear phones listening to mp3s or radio programmes. When I have my ear phones on, it's normally coz I'm playing some PSP or GBA game. Guess I've never been much of a music listener except when I need some noise, example, when I'm marking or studying for some test/exam (in my student days lar...).

Sometimes, when I hear someone I really like, I'll follow the artist for a while. A couple of years back, I really liked Alex To when his song '情人' was super popular. Then I bought a couple of his albums, but that died out in less than a year. I also liked Lee Hom for a while coz I first heard his song 'Julia' which was really catchy. For english songs, I thought Robbie Williams has got pretty interesting songs. Really liked his 'Rock DJ'. Caught my attention the first time I listened to it.

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed. Maybe it was coz half my nose (ie. one nostril) was blocked or maybe coz there were things going through my mind (like how sucky the last few days had been). As I laid in bed, two songs popped into my mind. Don't ask me why. They just did. So I got up, turned on my computer, went on the net to Soundbuzz.com and purchased the mp3s. Soundbuzz is really convenient and I think the prices are reasonable. Anyway, the first song was "Angels" by Sarah MacLachlan. The chorus was really nice. I wanted to blast the song through my lovely MX5021 but had to control myself coz it was like 3am in the morning and the boarders were already asleep. Maybe it was becoz of my mood that the song was exceptionally comforting.

" In the arms of the Angel far away from here.

From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear.

You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie,

You're in the arms of the Angel; may you find some comfort here."

The other song was kinda weird. Dun really know why I was thinking about it. It's "19-2000" by Gorillaz. I first listened to the song coz it had this really cool flash animation. Furthermore, the song had a computer-game-like rhythm. Very fun. Like I said, dunno why I suddenly thought of that song. Maybe I should introspect a little more and see if I can find the reason.

Since today has not been particularly pleasant, I decided not to blog about the day.

Instead, I shall write about the wonderful statement which Mr Bob Parr (ie. Mr Incredible) made when he was arguing with Mrs Parr (ie. Mrs Incredible). For the blur, Mrs Parr was making some statement about how Mr Parr never made time to go for his son's school functions, like when his promotion ceremony when he was moving from like primary 4 to primary 5. And Mr Parr simply replied about what kind of society have we become that we have begun to celebrate mediocrity.

Mediocrity is a scary word. For me, it's a word which I'm really scared of, but at the same time, it's a word which can be spelt 'stress-free'.

I've always been scared to be mediocre. I think it's something which I've tried never to be since my secondary school life. In whatever projects I have undertaken or responsibilities which I had been given, I have very rarely been satisfied to be mediocre. I've always believed that if anything deserves to be done, then it deserves to be done well. So, personally, I'm quite annoyed when I see others being satisfied with medicore efforts.

This has been both a bane and a boon.

Bane: you become a very critical person who tends to pick on others' performance. Nothing ever seems good enough. And sometimes, this can make others scared/annoyed /irritated with you.

Boon: it pushes you to greater heights. It ensures that your efforts are always you rbest, always 110%. So, the results are often fairly good, coz I can't settle for second best.

Well, that's why I'm scared of mediocrity. But like I mentioned earlier, many times, mediocrity is also something I wish I could settle for. It would certainly make things so much more stress-free. If I was willing to settle for second best, not to make things overly difficult for myself, and just do what is normal/expected, then I can envision a pretty easy life. No need to think of new ideas, new ways of doing things. Just repeat what was done earlier, and keep repeating it... ad nauseum. (heh, I like that term, 'ad nauseum'.) If I could do that and be satisfied with a mediocre performance, I 'd probably have much less stress.

Well, for now, I think I'm still quite scared of being mediocre. Maybe I need to find a balance? But if I find that balance, would it still be a state of mediocrity? heh.

Well, until then, I'll still agree with good-ole Mr Parr: 'What kind of society have we become if we've begun to celebrate mediocrity?'. Nice!

It's 9.15am.

And yes, the day is officially off on a sucky start.

Hooray.

Here's something that can brighten up my day... the Sony Ericsson K750i with a 2 megapixel camera! That's really very cool. I'm quite in love with the 1 megapixel camera in my nokia 6670 and I'm definitely excited to think about the quality of a 2 megapixel phone.

Funny kind of day

Today has been just 'one of those days'. Some might simply say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe I was just feeling a little down in the dumps coz I feel a hint of a cold coming. One nostril is blocked and my throat is kinda sore. Maybe that contributed to a crappy kind of day.

Funny isn't it? How one's mood can so simply affected by how one feels.

One thing that gets on my nerves is when people got behind your back to complain about you. I mean, if there are things to say, have the decency to say it to the person's face. I think it's a totally cowardly act to act as if everything is ok in front of the person, then go behind the person's back to his superiors to say otherwise. I won't really give any more details but I get very pissed when people do things like that. Ok.. deep breaths... happy thoughts... H27 in my room... :P

Plenty of 'fun' stuff coming up over the next few weeks. I'm quite looking forward to it. Yah.. sure.

Maybe a good night's rest will get me out of this crappy mood.

New Pics!

Just uploaded some pics from my class' mini-party today. Click on the link on the right to take a look.

New Photo Album!

Just added an online photo album at exzekestence.myphotoalbum.com

Not sure if it's the best place to do it, so if any of you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears!

Until then, feel free to click on the link on the right and take a look at a few pics which I've uploaded.

Oh yah, and I decided to lengthen the Tag Board too. Always thought it was a little short. I'm not really good at fooling around with the code, so I'm taking little baby steps here. Be patient with me!

In the news again

Found out that RI was in the news again, this time over the fact that the school does nothave a soccer CCA. It's really interesting to read the various points of views... from the coach to our Headmaster to former soccer stars from RI.

In case you missed the New Paper article, here's the online link.

Took this photo at Toa Payoh central. There was this large group of people doing some linedancing thingy. In many ways, it looks like a mass dance, except I think it's just footsteps and no hand choreography. Really don't know what to make of it. I mean, there's this group of people, probably in their late 30s to 50s, dressed in different outfits, some fairly skimpy..a few scary! There was a guy, probably in his early forties, wearing a fish net t-shirt! OMG. The dances looked interesting, but I can't imagine myself joining them! Maybe it's this 'beng' feeling or maybe it's the 'Ah Soh' feeling. It just feels wrong. But they do dance quite nicely. Many of them are pretty good at their steps. Haha.. maybe it's time to act like I'm in my thirties and join line dancing!



Oh yah, I took this photo with my Nokia 6670. Really like the megapixel camera on the phone. Maybe I'll be able to post many more pics from now on since I have a camera with me most of the time.

Here's my second-hand S65. Quite a nice phone. Reminds me of Star Trek! haha...I think that's one of the reasons I bought it. Well, time to let it go. Anyone interested?

Haha... looks like whenever term starts, blogging is reduced to the weekends. It's not that I don't check my blog everyday, guess it's just laziness that prevents me from updating my blog.

Well, the week wasn't too bad. A fairly good start to the term, I think.

A few highlights...

Went for my medical checkup on Monday to see if there are any new stones in my kidneys. It was good to hear that everything looked clear. Just last Saturday, I had gone to my family doctor to get the results of my blood tests. It was excellent to hear that everything was quite normal except for my triglycerides and uric acid. No problems with anything else. So, things really brightened up.

Maybe it's the good health results or maybe it's the delay in getting the Optoma H27, but this week, I was bitten bad by the handphone bug. I was reallyquite tempted to just get another handphone to try it out. After much struggle, I confess I gave in to the temptations and bought a second hand Siemens S65. It's not a bad phone, but after trying it out for a couple of days, I've decided that I didn't really like it. Guess I'm really too used to the Nokia interface. So, now I"m trying to sell it off at not too big a loss. Hmm.. should I try out the Sony Ericsson S700i? heh...

The other thing which occupied my time was the Japan World Expo trip. Had to spend time confirming the itinerary, the price, preparing the materials for the students... It really reminded me of my job when I was with Ken-Air when I had to plan tours, prepare travel brochures, etc. I met up with my old boss who will be handling the tour for us. It was nice to meet them again. And the thing is, the team working with her, was largely unchanged. I think that's really commendable coz I think it really shows what a good manager/leader my old boss is. She's one of the persons I look up to as a model of a good leader. Sure miss those days!

The round tin fits the UMD nicer. But the metal obviously not as good lar.

Went to Toa Payoh for lunch today. Popped into the Value Dollar shop at the MRT and found a nice round tin which fit the UMD too. It was actually filled with some aroma candle. So for only $1.05, I bought the tin, melted and threw away the wax, then lined it with the leftover soft styrofoam from yeasterday. So now, I have two cool tins!

Well, the UMD was a little smaller than the tin and would make clinky noises when it moved around the case. So, I went to Art Friend in Bras Basah (just cross the road from Bugis Junction) to see if I could find anything to put inside the case. I was looking for some thick styrofoam which I could perhaps cut a slot that fit the UMD nicely. In the end, I found these soft foam sheets which I could easily cut and use them to cushion the UMDs. No need to cut holes in them. So I cut out 4 to 5 sheets which I can use to separate the UMDs in the tin. No more clinky noises and the UMDs are also nicely cushioned! And to top it off, I printed a little PSP Logo, laminated it and pasted it on the cover... and now I have my very own PSP UMD case! (I'm very proud of myself!)

With the PSP being released in US, I now can buy more games coz they are now released in English. One irritating thing is that there are still no PSP UMD cases on the market except for a $15 plasticky one from Gamescore in Funan. Well, I went around today and found this cool metal tin from a shop in Bugis Junction. Cost only $6. Think it looks much better than the plastic case.

And here's a toadstool looking one specially for Vanquish.

Here's a cooler version. The design of the PS3 is supposed to be revealed sometime in May. So in the meantime, there are plenty of bogus designs going around.

Here's another interesting (though bogus) PS3 design. It's like having a metal dustbin next to your TV!

Relief.

Yep, it's over. I survived. 4 hours. I'm still alive and breathing. PHEW. (a huge, huge, HUGE sigh of relief).

What's the big deal? Like I said yesterday, it's my first time training adults. First time training fellow colleagues. First time training people who are more senior than me, who are my superiors. As far as I am concerned, it's a big deal for me. Furthermore, this was the first time I am conducting The Leadership Challenge Workshop in its entirety, albeit in a compacted form. So, yes, it was certainly an extremely stressful time for me.

I stopped my preparation at about 2am last night. There was more I wanted to do, but I had to tell myself to stop or I wouldn't have enough sleep and hence energy to conduct the workshop. Falling asleep was not an easy task. Thoughts kept floating in and out of my mind concerning how the workshop would go. How would the teachers react? Would I be a bore? Would they think it was all a waste of time? Would I make big blunders? Do I really know what I was going to do? The questions flooded me as I tried to sleep. I had to make a conscious effort to think of other stuff, like green meadows and cows. Hey, I'm not joking, I really tried very hard to think about green meadows and cows. Eventually, I fell asleep.

The workshop started off not too badly. The teachers were extremely cooperative and participated willingly in the activities and discussions. It really helped to ease me into my role. As the minutes and hours went by, I found myself feeling more and more confident. And I really have the teachers to thank for that. They helped to make my job very very easy.

At the end of the day, I was relieved. Glad that it was over, but also glad that it went fairly smoothly, without any major hitches. I think the teachers generally enjoyed the workshop. I hope I"m not just bluffing myself. I guess I'll know better when they send in their feedback.

In all, it was quite an experience. Perhaps things will get easier from now on. At least I know for sure that I'm much better prepared to conduct the workshop for students in June.

I'm all ready for a good night's rest today. PHEW....

Heh..here's a fake picture of the Playstation 3. It's quite interesting to see the weird designs people try to pass off as the real thing. Looks like a huge Sony Digital Camera!

Countdown to... Hell?

In about 7 hours time, I will be conducting a training session for teachers from my department. I'll be speaking to about 45 teachers. Scares the hell out of me. It's the first time I'm doing something like this for adults. It's so much easier facing students. Well, I've already spent more than 1.5 days planning for a 5 hours session and I still don't think I'm ready. Sigh. It's gonna be a helluva ride. Just hope there won't be a crash.

CEC Training

We had CEC Training today. This year, after supposedly favourable feedback from the Sec 2s from their study skills workshop, I thought it would be fairly safe to invite the same company to provide the training for the CEC. As I walked around the 4 rooms today, I don't know if it was the right decision.

Having a good training session planned is important to me. One reason is that alot of money is being spent. So, I certainly hope the money is well spent. But a more important reason is I really don't want to waste the time of the CEC members and prefects by making them come for a useless training. I get super-frustrated when people make me go for training which I think is haphazard and a waste of time, hence I do not want to inflict the same frustration on others.

My gut feel? I'll be honest and say I don't think the training was very good. It wasn't bad. But I wouldn't say it was good. I found some of the trainers really longwinded and some were even reading off the powerpoint slides. That's like a HUGE no-no as far as I'm concerned. I found the energy levels in the different rooms very varied. I think highest was in Room 2, followed by Room 1. Room 3 and 4 had a pretty low energy level. I dunno if it's because the older boys were there or if it's because of the two male trainers.

Sigh. To any CEC member who read my blog, I can only hope you've found the session somewhat useful. To those who thought it was a wate of time, I can only offer an apology.

In hindsight, I wonder if I should have planned the training on my own. But really, there are so many things on my mind, I don't know if I could have done a proper training. Sometimes I find it quite frustrating. Maybe I ought to prioritize what I really want to do. If I want to do more training-type stuff, then maybe I really should seriously do it more professionally. Well, I'll be doing a training for teachers (scary!) on Thursday. I think it's most difficult to train people you work with. I wonder if I'll be able to do a good job. I'll have to keep them involved for almost 5 hours... phew.

After the training, went for HITCH again. It's my second time watching it. Don't really mind, cause I like the humour. I think Will Smith and the Eva Mendes are quite natural. I quite like Eva.. think she suits the role very well. Kevin James is hilarious. It was quite funny the second time round too. I think it's one of those dramedies that I'll probably buy when it's released on DVD. About 17 prefects turned up for the show. Not a bad number really. But movie watching can be a little anti-social. Maybe next time we can go bowling...

Here's my new phone. I had wanted the one with the matt-blue finish. Unfortunately, they only had silver. No more keyboard phone... have to get used to typing SMSes like everyone else.

Retail Therapy

After a sucky Saturday, I decided today would be a day of retail therapy. To start things off, I got myself a new HP. At first, I was tempted by someone to get a Nokia 6630 last night. Not a bad deal really, $388 for a 3G phone. Unfortunately, it came with a 2 year contract. At $26 per month, it works out to a minimum of $624 (subscription) + $388 = $1012, which didn't really make sense. Furthermore, it would mean signing up with Singtel. So, I went down to Sim Lim today to take a look at some phones. I found the Nokia 6670 which I was quite keen on and the price was pretty good too. Then my eyes fell upon the new Nokia 3230... wow.. nice phone... It was really quite tempting but then I found that it would cost me about $300 more than the 6670. Well, I decided to be a little more prudent, so I went with the 6670. Quite a nice phone really. Only small complain, the buttons at the bottom are a little small. Other than that, I'm quite pleased with my new toy. Later on, I spoke to my brother whose business involves handphones and he kinda confirmed that 6670 was a better choice than 3230. Apparently, while it looks nicer, the navi buttons on the 3230 are quite badly constructed. Nice to get my choice validated!

That was retail therapy part I. The second part involved getting new speakers for my computer. Don't ask me why. I just thought I liked them and I'd been thinking about them for a few weeks. So today I decided... why not. So, sitting beautifully next to my monitor are my new Altec Lansing MX 5021 speakers.

Will there be a part III? Who knows. Comeback and see.

Bought this before I found out that I lost my handphone. It's by Megabloks. Basically, Megabloks is like a lego-clone. While the toy is not bad, I must say that the overall feel and quality is certainly not the same as Lego. Guess they must have outbid Lego for the license to produce Marvel characters. They also have a Wolverine toy. Maybe I'll go get it tomorrow.

S**t happens.

Sorry for the language. But it's been one of those days. You know, the kind where you wished you didn't get up and had just lazed in bed the whole day.

Well, I got up and went to see my doctor. Decided it was time for a blood test to see how crappy my body system was getting. Did pee-test first and that's when my doctor and his assistant gave this 'I can't believe your test results' look. Basically, there was supposedly alot of nitrates in my pee. Sorry, I'm quite bio-challenged. So as far as I understand from the doctor, I've got some urinary tract infection. Again. Then of course, he went on to tell me that it could be some kidney disease. Yeah, that sure brightens up my day. So he basically decided that I'd better do a full range of tests to see how screwed up I am. Well, he drew blood, lots of it. Then now I basically have to sit and wait for the results.

Ahh.. but the beauty of it is... it ain't the end of my s**tty day. It was but a start.

I decided to go home. That's home home, not boarding home for lunch and watch some much-missed cable. Guess what. When I reached home, I found out, my lovely TV was spoilt! So, no cable for me. Great right?

After moping around home, I decided to go funan to see if I could have some retail therapy. Managed to flag a cab, but the driver politely declines to drive me to Funan but offers to drive me to Bishan instead. He's plenty scared of the possible traffic jam in town. Fine. Go Bishan lor. Maybe can take train to Funan. Reached Bishan, I decided to wonder around for a while. Dropped by Bose, went to Action City, then Popular, then BEST... then discovered... MY PHONE WAS NOT WITH ME! Sigh. Tried calling my phone many times. For the first twenty or so times, the phone kept ringing, no one answered. Then suddenly, all I started getting was a dead tone. Guess someone finally found it and decided to keep my old, cracked 6800. Don't ask me why. Not as if it's worth anything, given the condition it was in. So, had to get Mr Chow to sign a letter to authorize me to collect a new SIM card from M1. Had to go down to the M1 shop to get it replaced. Had to then decide if I should get a new phone. Luckily, I have a Nokia 3120 which my brother had lent me sometime back.

Like my title says, sometimes, S**T happens.

My trusty Nokia 6800 appears to be on it's way to handphone heaven so it's time fo rme to start searching for a new phone. One thing I really hope to have is a keyboard again. They're really great for SMS-ing. Here's a cool one by LG (F1900). However, I doubt it'll ever make it's way here to our sunny island.

Herer's another cool keyboard phone, this time by Motorola (A630). WHY DON'T WE EVER GET THE NICE KEYBOARD PHONES HERE?

The same old story... temptations again

I went to the IT show again today. This time with a friend. I tried hard to tempt my friend to get a 19inch LCD monitor... but failed. However, my friend kinda turned the tables on me and tempted me with other stuff... and the biggest problem is, I have more expendable income than him, so now I end up struggling with the temptations! Here they are:

Temptation 1: New Video Projector (Approx: $1700)
I am soooo tempted with the Sony VPL-ES2 projector. It's just such a simple and beautiful projector. The projector I have now had a brightness of about 800 Ansi Lumens. The new projectors which have caught my eye average around 1500 Ansi Lumens. That's like twice the amount of brightness lor! OK.. I know it's an LCD projector, not a DLP one, but hey.. it jsut screams BUY ME! BUY ME!

Temptation 2: A Digital Video Camera (Approx: $1000)
This one is a little cheaper. Just thought it might be fun to play around with a DV Cam. The new models are really sleek and reasonably affordable. The Sony DCR-PC55E is really very nice. The LCD touch screen is awesome and the camera is just so unbelievably small! I've already got a digital camera so I thought a DV Camera might be worth trying. Sigh, Sony really needs to stop designing cool stuff.

Temptation 3: A Colour Laser Printer (Approx: $500)
I can't believe the price of this one. A colour laser printer for less than $500! Wow.. it's just too good to be true. But Epson's Acculaser C900 is really that cheap! We're not talking about a normal inkjet here, but a full 2400dpi Colour laser. This was one buy which I really really REALLY struggled with. The only thing holding me back? The fact that I can easily get a colour laser printout from school! If the school did not provide us with a colour laser printer, I think this buy would have been a no-brainer!

Temptation 4: New Graphics Card (Approx: $300)
One thing that irritates me is when I buy a new game and when I try to play it, I realize that the game's graphics settings has to be set to 'LOW'. Now, bear in mind, my computer was just bought last November and it's supposed to be one of the better ones. Yet now, when I tried to play PIRATES!, I still had to use LOW settings. Sigh. So, my friend tried hard to tempt me with getting new graphics card. Some of the high-end ones were really awesome. BUt those cost around $800. The cheaper ones which would still be a significant upgrade for me, would cost around $300. This temptation will probably get the better of me some time. But not until there is a game which causes to me ABSOLUTELY demand an upgrade in my computer's graphics card. The next must-play game is Civilization IV which will probably be out later this year. So my thoughts are, let's wait till the game is realized before decided on this upgrade.

Yeah, so you see, these are the temptations which I allow myself to get into. The IT show is now a good place for the weak-willed...
This is probably the least expensive

Movie Marathon

Today, I basically decided to start catching up on the movies which I had been missing the last few weeks. So, I went on a movie marathon at Eng Wah (Toa Payoh) , catching 3 movies! heh...

Started off with ROBOTS at 2.10pm. It was a so-so movie. It wasn't bad, but I guess the characters just aren't that endearing. The story was also just so-so. I didn't find it boring, but it certainly isn't in the same league as Nemo or Incredibles. I did find the animation very nice, and the robot world they created was quite interesting too. But, the one thing i really enjoyed was that one fart joke. It was really hilarious! Personally, I would go as far as to say that that one joke was worth the whole movie! haha.

Next was HITCH at 4.50pm. It was quite funny and really enjoyed it. There were plenty of laughs and it was nice to see Will Smith not in an 'action hero'-type role. The King of Queens guy was also pretty funny. Highly watchable, dun miss this one.

Finally, I caught LEMONY SNICKET at 7.10pm. It was quite an interesting movie. At least Jim Carrey didn't turn me off! The three kids were pretty natural and I enjoyed their different abilities. I've not read the books yet and I must say that after watching the movie, I'm quite tempted to pick up a copy and give it a try.

Well, that's about it... how I spent my first day of the holidays. I think it was pretty well spent, don't you? :-P

Track & Field Meet

Thought the other post was getting really long, so I might as well post this separately.

It was certainly a special day... first time in 16 yrs... Bayley House finally won the T&F championships. I know I'm no longer in charge of the house, but I still feel really proud of the house even though I'm just a normal teacher in Bayley. It was awesome to hear the announcer saying 'Champion House is BAYLEY!' and it was an almost emotional experience watching the house captain lifting the trophy. Let's hope that this is a good sign for the rest of the year! It's time Bayley reclaimed the Overall Champion House title after losing it for two years!

I'm however gonna be frank and say we kinda deserved getting fourth place for the cheering and stand decorations. Although we had a pretty large group of students cheering, our volume was really quite sad... And the cheers weren't as exciting and heart-pumping as Moor's or Morrison's. Morrison's Haka (is that how it's spelt?) was not original... but I do like their cookie monster cheer. Unfortunately, I think they didn;t do it in the right style. It was too 'shoutish'. With such a fun cheer, they should really have tried having more fun with it. Moor was quite powerpacked with their cheers. Really good team of cheerleaders AND cheerfollowers... heh.

Stand deco? Morrison won, hands down. Really creative and festive. Bayley's stand was really not very good. We had such a fun theme to work with, but unfortunately did not maximize the potential. The pyramids were quite sad... and the banners... hmm... actually, I think all the banners weren't very good. I think it would be useful to organise a banner course sometime end of this year! It's about time the students learnt how to do really good banners.

Finally, a quick (but heartfelt) apology to the H house... sori lah.. but to those who know what I'm talking about, I really couldn't help but come up with the cheer... it was just..... too..... tempting.....

Term 1: The End

This week went by really fast, thanks to the Sec 1 GE Camp, Track & Field Meet and all the other end of term stuff. As usual, it always seems that there is insufficient time for everything. I think we are simply people who are too busy. Oh well.

Monday was a 3/4 day holiday. I appreciated it. Thought it was great to take a break. Some of the teachers basically took the chance to have a long leisurely lunch and just forget about work for the rest of the day. I've not had much time for such chill-out sessions with the teachers this term. It always seemed to be one thing happening or another. So, this was a good time for us to just hang loose and be ourselves.

Tuesday to Thursday was Sec 1 GEP Camp. I must admit I went to the camp with mixed feelings. Last year, I was in charge of discipline, but this year, I wasn't asked to do it. Wasn't quite sure then if I should be actively involved in the discipline. Well, I decided that I should leave the discipline to the teachers who were assigned and try to enjoy myself. At first, it was a little hard. When the sec 1s were noisy, I was so tempted (out of habit) to stand up and ask them to shaddup... but I am proud to say I managed to subdue my habits and leave it to Mrs Neo and Mrs Maas. The main thing I was asked to help out with was the campfire. All in all, I think the campfire went quite well. It's still not the campfire which I think it should be, but it's better than the one I helped plan last year. I'll keep looking towards organising a really good campfire. Hope the sec 1s enjoyed the campfire. I thought the cheering competition and the dances were really fun. Kudos to the 8 Sec 4s who took the time to travel all the way to Sembawang to join the Sec 1s. To me, this was the best example of commitment.

The sec 1s are a really enthusiastic batch. And I must admit, the energy levels are really high. Some quick positive & negative points about this batch from this camp:

Positives:
1. enthusiastic (yep, I said this already)
2. energetic (ditto)
3. spontaneous
4. fun-loving
5. crazy about Carrot Juice is Murder

Negatives:
1. restless
2. doesn't listen when others talk (sigh... i really vomit blood with this point! esp in class too!)
3. many dun like veggies!
4. crazy about Carrot Juice is Murder

As for the Sec 3 PLs? I thought they did quite a good job. For one thing, I liked the fact that many of them did spend time talking to their groups, sharing their experiences and giving them advice. Yeah, some of them did walk the thin-line of almost tekaning the sec 1s, but I think they generally didn't cross it.

This is the 4th Sec 1 camp I've attended. First was Sec 1 camp 2004, second was sec 1 geo camp 2004, then sec 1 camp 2005 and now sec 1 gep camp 2005. I have never believed that you need to 'tekan' students to get their respect. I believe we should be strict. But I never supported this idea that students need to be subjected to constant punishment and humiliation then they will learn to be disciplined. Since I took over PM-ship and had a chance to make more of a difference, this was one of the things I set out to change. I know many senior boys don't like this change. But after these four camps where I gradually persuaded more people to accept this point, I am still convinced that what I believe is correct. I dun think that the Sec 1s who have undergone the 'tekan'-less camps were any less well-behaved than those who have. I know there are many senior boys who still disagree with me. But I hope this is one thing which I can leave behind when I leave RI.

Weekend over liaoz...

Yepz, the weekend came and went really fast. It's been a pretty fun weekend. Firstly, I got to catch up with some sleep. It's really glorious to sleep more than 5 hrs a day. I think optimally, I should sleep about 7 hrs. But it seems almost an indulgence. If I were to wake up at 6.30am, I would have to sleep at 11.30pm every night. Hmm.. maybe it might be possible... but what about TV??

The weekend got off to a good start. After having a lovely 8 hours or so of sleep, I was awakened by the ring of my handphone. It was two challengers asking if they could drop by to compete in a round of Karting. Well, always game for a challenge, I humbly accepted it. It was not long before someone deeply regretted his decision. He had one stronghold... Baby Park. He was the King of the Park and he was wallowing in his pride and confidence. Well, I believe it was an equally humbling experience as he saw the title slowly slip from his hand as his Kart fell behind the others... Yes, the king of Baby Park is no more. This was certainly a good start to the weekend.

Later on, had a meeting to attend. Not too bad... despite being a Saturday afternoon meeting, it was fairly productive. It was even more productive when we ended the meeting with a few rounds of... you guessed it.. Karting again! You know, you really have to give it to Nintendo. Although the Gamecube doesn't have very good support from other gaming companies, the party games which Nintendo publishes are really very good. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Bomberman... all examples of great 4 player games. PS2 and Xbox loses out in this area.

On Sunday, I made my first sale through a classified I posted on the net! So exciting... I had bought GT4 because of the excellent reviews it was getting. When I tried it out, I realised the game was just too realistic for me. I really prefer the arcade-y type racers like Burnout 3. So, I posted a classified late on Saturday evening and inless than 12 hours, I had sold the game.. losing about $15 from what I had paid. Not bad lar. Better to lose $15 than to leave the game rotting in my room.

After selling the game, I thought I would enjoy a nice lunch... so I decided to eat at NYDC at Wheelock place. What a disappointment that was. I had the potato salad first. Now, how wrong can a potato salad get? Well... very wrong! The salad came soaking in the mayonaisse. It was gross. Every mouthful was totally pukifying. Then came my main course. I ordered the 'chef's recommendation': The bbq chicken sandwich. What a mistake again. The sandwich just tasted... tasteless! There was some chili salsa sauce... some chreds of chicken... four HUGE slices of foccacia bread, but the combination was just wrong. I ended up leaving two pieces of bread uneaten, andinstead resorted to scraping the slivers of chicken meat from the bread. It was a sad, sad lunch. sigh.

Sunday afternoon was Boarding Sports Carnival. Hullett Block tried hard, but alas.. we're still enjoying 4th place out of 4 guy blocks. We did do very well in Volleyball, coming in first... but we pretty much sucked at the other games. Heh. But the guys tried hard and I hope they had fun. Perhaps we might do better in Term 3!

So in the evening, to make up for the sucky lunch, I went with the tutors to Magic Wok at Novena Square for dinner. Not the best of meals, but it was tasty and miles better than the tasteless slop I had at NYDC. I tell you, it will be many many many MANY months before I every step into NYDC again.

The week ahead is gonna be short. GE camp on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Then TnF on Friday. IT show starts on Thursday... yeah... looks like it might be time to start spending again! hooray!

Dunno why, but I've been feeling very drained this past week. It's like... there's no energy left and I'm like running on empty. I've been trying to grab a little more sleep, but somehow I end up sleeping about 5 hrs a night. Tomorrow is Friday, so maybe tomorrow night I can catch up on some glorious sleep.

Yesterday, I went videogame shopping with a friend. He was looking for the new Gran Turismo 4 and I was thinking of getting it or some other game. I'm not exactly a racing game enthusiast, but I've seen the screen shots of the game and they look awesome. Anyway, we first went to Funan to take a look. Unfortunately, although they had the game, they did not have the special Logitech Force Feedback Wheel which my friend was thinking of getting together with the game. You've gotta understand this, my friend is not a console gamer. He hasn't even played with his PS2 yet. His friend had loaned him the set indefinitely. Anyway, we asked around and found out that the Logitech wheel was more than $300 dollars! Phew... $300++ bucks for an accessory! He was a little discouraged when he heard that. You could feel his enthusiasm subside almost instantly. Well, since there was no wheel there, we thought we'd drop by Seow Choon games near Sim Lim Square. They're like a distributor, so we thought we might find the wheel there (even though my friend was pretty much set on NOT buying it coz of the price).

We walked into the shop and looked around and saw some other wheels. There was a $85 dollar one and we kinda fiddled with it. My friend was obviously not very impressed with it. Then, it happened. He caught sight of the Logitech wheel. He lifted the box and stared at the pictures lovingly. The $85 wheel was certainly NOT in the same league. The next 20 minutes were spent allowing him to convince himself that it was ok to spend that kind of money on a wheel. Mind you, he probably could have bought a real steering wheel for $300 bucks. In the end, (with a little of my prompting) he caved in and left the shop $430 poorer...but with the wheel & game in hand. Frankly, I couldn't believe he caved in. It was a real hoot to see him struggling over the decision. Yeah, guess I'm kinda evil for doing this to him. But it's good to see someone spending so much money on a toy wheel and game.

I wonder how long it will be before he gives up on the wheel. Maybe I might be able to get him to sell it to me at a 50% discount! haha....

This one's a composite of various characters in the movie.

Here's a pic of the heroine, Nausicaa, standing next to an Ohmu (King Insect).

Nausicaa at last

I've always loved reading comics, both english and chinese. Up to primary six, I read English Comics by DC and Marvel. Superman, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Archie... I usually went to the neighbourhood comic rental shop to rent them. As for chinese comics, they fell mainly into two types: Xiao Ding Dang (Doraemon) which I followed really religiously and Astroboy, which I got to read when I visited my cousins in Johor Bahru. In Secondary School, I kinda lost some interest in comics, though I still read them occasionally. I really got hooked again towards the end of JC, and that was when I started reading manga like Dragonball. One of my all time favourites is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

After reading the manga, I found out that there was a Anime version. I've tried to get hold of the English version but believe or not, I've been unsuccessful. Almost every trip I've made to the States would include a search at various video shops to see if I could find the movie. There's a japanese/chinese version available, but I really wanted to watch the English version. Why am I telling you all this? It's kinda hard to believe, but after almost 20yrs, I've finally watched the English version of Nausicaa. Walt Disney finally did a redub of the movie and released it barely a week ago. I pre-ordered it and finally received it yesterday. Tonight, I put almsot everything aside, sat down and enjoyed the movie. It was a pretty good movie. Although it only included about 2 volumes out of the 7 volume-manga, the animation was beautiful and the story was magical. Can't believe I've kept my interest in Nausicaa for so many years! Now, I'm gonna try and dig out the old comics and read through them again!

Wow, can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged. The week just kinda zipped past. I guess as the term comes to an end, more and more things seem to fill up the days and it's hard to realize that 7 days have passed. Don't think I'm gonna do a 'what happened this week' kind of blog. I'll just talk about some things that stayed in my mind.

1. Celebrating TC's bday on Monday was quite fun. I think the board should do more stuff like that.

2. I think I should consider starting a business in organising conferences/training programmes. It's really big business with all schools trying so hard to find good courses to send their teachers and students. Maybe this could be the change I am looking for.

3. Some people are just plain lucky at Baby Park. Maybe it has something to do with the simplicity of that track. Maybe some people just aren't wired to handle tougher, more complex tracks, so they excel in simple elliptical ones.

4. Shark Tale is very boring. Watching fish act like fish in Finding Nemo was fun. Watching fish acting like humans in Shark's Tale is just plain boring.

5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando is pretty fun. Certainly one of the better platformers.

6. WHY does it take Amazon so long to send a package!? It was apparently sent last Saturday and I've still not received it. I know it says 10 to 16 days... but.. I wanted to watch the stuff this weekend! Now I have to wait till next week. Sigh.

7. Mustaffa Shopping Centre is not that fantastic. Sure, the prices are not bad. But it really isn't rock-bottom-jaw-droppingly cheap.

8. My brother's going to GDC in SF next week. He's probably going to E3 in May. I hate him.

Yeah.. that's about it for now. It's week 9 next week. Holidays coming soon....