LTA near city hall

Always had a fascination with long corridors.

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

OK, did Sweeny Todd break the series of bad movies? I am a little mixed with that. As a musical, it was reasonably interesting. But the songs aren't as catchy and engaging as say Moulin Rouge and Hairspray. The two actors played their role well, I did like Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter in the lead roles. It was also fun to watch Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Timothy Spall (Wormtail) together in a movie other than Harry Potter. Sacha Baron Cohen (of Borat fame) was also great as a rival barber.

But the sum of good performances didn't strike the gold for me. I think the movie was just too dark (Tim Burton's favourite colour scheme) and I must admit I am getting sick of gornography (excessive gore in movies). There were so many throat slashings and blood spurting in the movie. Kinda turned me off.

I guess you could say the movie is among the better ones that I've seen in comparison to the recent others. But on it's own, I think it's just passable. I really need some gore-less movie right now. Something lighthearted and fun and maybe even heartwarming. Enough with the blood splatters and see-how-much-worse-i-can-kill-a-person scenes. I might even just go for something totally chick flick like 27 dresses.... yes, I am that desperate.... :-)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Boy, is the title of this movie long. And like many reviewers have said, the movie title pretty much tells you the entire story of the movie, spoiler included. For me, the movie is just like the title. LONG. VERY LONG.

I went to the movie expecting some sort of a western - horse-riding, gun fights, etc. All I saw was a long drama set in a western. I can't say the movie is bad. It's just that it takes soooo long to tell a simple story. In fact, I pretty much enjoyed the last 20mins after Jesse James got assassinated. But the 2h 10min that preceded the assassination was very long. Long, with very little action. One reviewer on the web summed it up well, this was like literally watching a book being read. It reminds me how important a screenwriter is in translating a book into a movie. You just can't do everything that's in a book. I have to compliment the writers of the Harry Potter movies. They don't follow the books page by page but are able to pick out the best and most important parts for the movie-goer.

The high point during the movie came when a group of teenage school girls left the cinema about 1hr into the movie. They obviously thought they were going to get to ogle at their dahling BRad Pitt. Little did they expect that all they got was a long movie.

Kinda sad. So desperate for a good movie. My last few movies were quite disappointing. I wonder if Sweeney Todd will turn the tide....

Cloverfield

By now, much has been said in the media about this movie. I'm gonna keep this review short and say that I didn't like this movie at all.

Firstly, yeah, I was one of those who had a severe attack of motion sickness 15mins into the movie. It was really bad. Felt really giddy and wanted to throw up. Had to watch the rest of the movie by keeping my eyes closed and opening them only at the portions when the camera wasn't swinging wildly around. I've watched Blair Witch Project and I didn't feel sick watching that even though it was done in a similar video-cam style. I think the diff was that in Cloverfield, the camera was wildly swinging around all the time. Really made me sick.

Secondly, even as I thought about the story, I found that on the whole, it was not very exciting. We don't really learn anything about the monster. No background, no ending. The movie just felt like one of those 3D rides in a theme park.

Yeah, some reviews are saying how excellent the movie is. For me... YUCK. Nuff said.

Paprika

Finally got around to watching this movie. It's pretty highly rated and some reviews place it as the top anime movie of 2007. I've been looking out for it at VideoEzy and was glad they finally had it last week.

I've watched Satoshi Kon's previous movie, Tokyo Godfathers and thought it was a very warm show. Told a simple story but left you feeling warm and happy at the end. Paprika on the other hand, is kinda weird. I know it's about dreams mixing into reality, but I just didn't find myself getting into the characters much. In fact, although I normally prefer listening to the english dubbing, I actually changed back to the original jap track coz I felt the voicing of the characters just sounded wrong.

The animation is pretty interesting and I did find the dream sequences mildly hypnotic and engaging. But the story just wasn't very interesting to me. On the whole, I found the movie a bit of a yawn. At some points, I had to force myself to continue just to reach the end.

Maybe Paprika is just not my kind of anime. I usually prefer something with a bit more fantasy element. Personally, I wouldn't think it was that fantastic to be the top anime last year.

Was leaving the house today when i noticed these flowers in my own garden. Thought they looked really beautiful. Isn't it sad that i've never noticed then before?

Lego Star Wars T-16

Nah, I didn't spend money to buy a new Star Wars lego. Took apart my Imperial Star Destroyer and found the instructions on the internet for Luke Skywalker's T-16. The build isn't too difficult. Got it done in about 2 hours. The model is pretty big, easily more than half a metre tall from the base of the stand to the top wing tip. The only thing that I don't like about it is that the weapons (the roundish thing at the bottom) is not really connected to the ship. It's actually part of the stand. So the whole model can't be separated. It's the stand+the ship. Might try to see if I can use some parts to make some changes so the weapons are properly connected to the ship and the ship can be separated from the stand.

New Lego Stuff

OK, I've got this addiction to Lego that comes and goes. When it hits, I'll like have to get my hands on new stuff until the 'kick' dies off. Then I'll lay off it for a while until the new series comes in and I get addicted again.

It all started with the new Star Wars series that came in last week. When I saw the new stock at Novena Bricksworld, I couldn't resist it. Ended up with the new Rogue Shadow which belongs to the Star Wars Alternate Universe series. They are the vehicles which didn't appear in the movies but elsewhere like in the cartoons. Anyway, I enjoyed building the Rogue Shadow. Here are two pics of it. The only thing that pissed me off was when I found out how much it cost in the US. The original price is US$50 which works out to less than S$75. Lego Singapore had set the price at S$130!!! Even with my discount card, I paid about S$117 for it the set. Even with some shipping cost thrown in, I can't believe I should be paying so much for it. Turns me off buying the other new sets. Might end up waiting for some frenz to come back from US and getting them to bring back a set or two for me.



Well, after building the Rogue Shadow, my lego addiction kinda kicked in so I had to get another lego. But I refused to buy any of the overpriced ones. Ended up with the helicopter from the creator series which can be reassembled into 2 other models. Paid about S$41 for it. Checked the US price and it was going for US$20 which is about S$30. I guess paying S$10 more isn't too bad.


Anyway, I've been hooked on Star Wars Lego for the last 2 years or so. Here's a part of my collection of the figures from the Lego sets. Some are not displayed here, like the slave girl leia figure... too hot!! lolz...

New Gundam Megablok

Two weeks ago, my brother told me about the new Gundam Megabloks which was on sale at about S$100 at Takashimaya and Toys 'R Us. Went down and I could only find the MS-06S Char's Zaku II. The RX-78-2 Gundam was sold out. Despite my fear of Mega Bloks, I decided to give it a try coz the models looked pretty good.

Spent a few hours (almost 4hrs i think) to complete it. But, I was quite disappointed with the entire process coz:

1. Megablok bricks feel plasticky. Compared to lego, the pieces just feel lighter and cheaper. Add to that, the blocks are also matt coloured, giving it an overall cheaper look when compared to Lego's shinier/brighter looks.

2. Megablok bricks don't fit as well. A few times, the bloks dun fit properly and end up being a little loose. I rarely have that problem with lego.

3. Very bad instructions. Lego's building instructions are really very clear. When I looked at Megablok's instructions, I was often confused. Firstly, they dun list the parts required for each step clearly. Secondly, they also dun show how the bricks are joined very clearly. More than once, I had to go back because I had used a wrong brick or I had joined the parts wrongly due to the unclear instructions.

4. The building process isn't as fun. Maybe I'm a little biased. I found that the building of the model was not very interesting. Many parts were just stacking bricks over each other. For lego, the way the sets are built are much more interesting and I often find myself a little 'wow-ed' by the way they build up the model.

On the whole, while the end product looks decent, I really didn't enjoy building the whole thing. Probably will stick to Lego from now on....

Anyway, here's how the boxes look. There's a third set, but I can't find the pic...

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To those still going to school
May your new year be filled with experiences that will last you a lifetime. Enjoy schooling (yes.. even though you have tests/projects/exams/etc) while you can.

To those going/in NS
May your new year pass as fast as possible and may your liberation draw ever nearer.

To those who are working
May your work life be fulfilling and may you enjoy what you do.

To All
Good health for the new year!

ORIGINAL HAPPY VERSION

Saw the above cartoon in the newspaper concerning the increase in tariffs. See how chirpy they are! I thought the version below is a slightly more accurate cartoon. :P

ADJUSTED REALITY VERSION

Celebrate Life by riding SMRT!

Wow... I love these publicity slogans. I never knew that by riding the SMRT, I am celebrating life!! heh. I really wonder where these marketing companies come up with their slogans. I guess it must be from the same place where they come up with names like 'Marina Bay' for Marina Bay, 'Budget Terminal' for our Budget Termina and 'Science Centre, Singapore' for our Singapore Science Centre.

Attack of the Gurmit Clones

Loved this comic in today's TODAY. Totally captures the state of our English entertainment channel. If it's not Gurmit Singh, it's Adrian Pang. It's like, there are no other English actors in our little red dot?

Bus Fare is too cheap! Must charge more!

Strangely, this is what our Public Transport Council told SMRT when it wanted to launch a feeder bus service in Yio Chu Kang. Below is the excerpt from TODAY (26 Dec 2007):

"When the proposal was submitted to the Public Transport Council (PTC) in June, it was rejected because the fare proposed ($1.30 per trip) was not appropriate for a premium bus service, usually priced between $2 to $3 per trip."

So... isn't it no surprise that our bus/mrt/taxi fares only go up and up? Even the PTC, who is supposed to help regulate the fares, tell the companies that they are charging too low! lolz.

No more tubes

How time flies. I've been on the tube for about a month and finally, the doctor has decided that it's time to remove the tube & bottle from me. After a series of blood tests and a very expensive CT scan (costs close to $800), it seems most of the infection has subsided. When he took out the PICC, which is basically the 'plug' inserted in my upper arm, I was anticipating a painful experience, especially since the insertion process was not the most pleasant experience . It was with much relief when he simply pulled the tube out and I felt nothing. The tube was easily up to 50cm long.... kinda scary actually. Well, I'm finally liberated from the liquid antibiotics and have moved on to tablets, which I'm supposed to be on for another month. Problem is, it seems I might have developed some form of allergy to the drug. Just before the plug was taken out, some spots and a bit of rash started appearing on parts of my skin. It's kinda itchy and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll go away soon.

Christmas has been kinda low-key this year. I guess it's partly due to the fact that I was/am recovering from the MRSA infection. I stayed away from the main shopping areas as much as I could and laboured to finish my Christmas shopping more than a week before Christmas (a first for me!) so as to avoid the last minute crowds.

My office has moved to Toa Payoh. At first, I was pretty psyched that I would be so much nearer to home. But then I realized that our 'excellent' public transport system is such that travelling from Serangoon Gardens to Toa Payoh by bus took me just as much time as travelling to Shenton Way!! It's really weird, but I have to leave my house at pretty much the same time in order to reach my office in Toa Payoh HDB Hub on time. I think it's due mainly to the fact that the SBS bus is caught in at least 2 jams along the way to Toa Payoh and there are plenty of stops. When I took the 'private' bus service, it zipped along the CTE. The advantage of the private bus is I had a nice seat all the way to work/home. For the SBS bus, I have to rush for a seat and squeeze with the others on the crowded bus. Not a pleasant way to get to/from work.

Of course, the stupid increase in taxi fares don't really make things easier. I still can't believe the addition of the 35% surcharge during peak hours. Well, it's driven me to make an effort to wake up a couple of minutes earlier so that I won't need to take a taxi to work. I've also started thinking thrice before flagging down a taxi. It's not that I've given up on them. In fact, I think taking the cab during off peak hours (from around 10am to 4.30pm) is pretty ok. There is some increase which I think is reasonable. But if it's the peak hour, I'm gonna stay as far away from the cabs as possible. Congratulations to the rich folks who now find it easier to catch a cab during peak hours. My sympathies to the cab drivers who my have lost some income due to the crazy increases.

It's sometimes frustrating to live in a country where everything is spoken in terms of dollars and cents. Roads too crowded? Charge more to use them. Not enough taxis? Charge more to get them. Need better ministers/public servants? Pay more to hire them. Want to get faster service (like in the hospitals)? Pay a premium for the ease & speed. And the thing is, everyone in any position of authority just seems to nod their heads and say it's the only solution. And we (including me) obedient citizens just grin and bear it. Sigh.

Sorry for the somewhat disconnected post. Haven't posted in a while so just decided to have some writer's diarrhoea todae.

Hope your Christmas was a memorable one!

Sigh... back to work

Sigh, finally, it's back to work for me... My mc ends today and tomorrow it's back to the office. It's definitely gonna take plenty of will power to get up at 7am in the morning and drag myself to the office. Good thing is, my office has moved to Toa Payoh, which means significantly less travelling time to and from work. Food and shopping there is much better than Shenton Way too! Bad thing is... I've gotta go to work. Doesn't help that I've gotta bring my little bottle everywhere I go. SIGH.

The Golden Compass

last day of freedom before I return to work tomorrow.... what better way to spend it then to catch an afternoon movie...

The Golden Compass has been getting mixed reviews. In fact, in my favourite review site, metacritic.com, the scores aren't very fantastic. I've not the read the book so I went for the movie with no idea what it's about.

The actors in the movie are pretty well chosen. Nicole Kidman is excellent in her schizo role. I love her sudden outburst and how she suddenly switches from a bitch to a caring nun. Chilling! Daniel Craig has less than 5min screen time so it's pretty hard to say much about him. But from what little time he had on the screen, he seemed to be cast in a role well suited to him as well. Of course the big question is whether the new comer, Dokato Blue Richards, can pull off the role of her life. I gotta say I'm impressed with her acting in this movie. She comes across as being very gutsy with a hint of slyness. As mentioned in some reviews, when compared to how kids like Daniel Radcliffe first appeared in their movies, Dakota Blue Richards is way ahead of them in her professionalism.

Of course, the big stars here are also the special effects. I loved the world they created in the movie. It draws you into the story and makes you look forward to more whimsical creations. The animal/daemon CGI is also very well done. Other than the little morphing daemons, I was blown away by the awesome polar bear CGI. Look out for the big fight between the two polar bears... and watch out for the brutal end. I couldn't believe the movie was rated pg-13. heh.

I also enjoyed the story which was pretty fast moving. I'm sure there's much more in the book, but just like in the Harry Potter movies, you really can't have everything faithfully reproduced or each movie would be a 10hr ordeal. Until I read the book, I'll have to say the scriptwriters managed to put together a good story which held my attention from beginning to end.

The Golden Compass was not a disappointment. In fact, if you asked me to rank it together with the first movies of the other big franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, I might even say that it beats the two of them. LOTR 1 sets up a beautiful world but I didn't care much for the first story. Harry Potter 1 was a little shaky with the young actors and so-so story line. Golden Compass seems to have gotten the formula right. This is a great movie to start the December movie season!

Recovery's a bore

OK, it's been 3 days since I've been discharged. I've basically been resting at home except for Sunday morning when I had to report to the hospital for a new bottle of antibiotics. After that, I took the opportunity to drop by Funan to get some DVDs and then to Kinokuniya at Taka coz they were having their 20% discount sale. Phew. It was really tiring to move around since I've been hospital bound for 2 weeks. It's gonna take some time for me to get back to normal... if that ever happens.

At the same time, I'm also getting used to life with my little bottle. Here's a pic of it. The blue pouch is a thermal pouch which the hospital graciously gives so that we can carry the bottle around while preventing extreme changes in temperature. You can see the balloon/condom in the bottle which basically contains the antibiotic. As time passes, the balloon gets smaller as more of the antibiotic is pressured into my body.


The bottle's with me all the time, whole day long. I've gotta constantly remember to bring it along with me and at the same time, make sure the tube doesn't get tangled or caught somewhere. When I sleep, there's also the fear that I might rip the tube from the plug in my body. When I bathe, I've gotta waterproof the bottle and the plug in my right arm to make sure it remains dry so that the plug doesn't get infected. Sigh. Sounds fun right?

Anyway, tomorrow's my second refill visit to the hospital. Second day of outing! Hooray! I might just go catch up on a movie.

Two weeks

That's how long I've been away. Two long weeks. Not on a holiday, mind you. How I wish I was on one. The two long weeks were actually spent in Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

As my faithful readers might remember, I've been going through a tough time with a fever which refused to go away. I seriously mean a 24hour fever, everyday. All I could do was pop 2 panadols every few hours to try to keep the fever under control. Of course, I was seeing my normal doctor who was putting me through tests and antibiotics to try and tame the fever. However, 2 weeks ago, on 9 Nov, I knew I had to get myself admitted when my fever crossed the 40 degree limit and refused to come down. So on 10 Nov, I went over to Tan Tock Seng A&E and got myself admitted.

There were many needle proddings, blood drawings, body scannings. And after about 4 days, the doctors reached the conclusion that I had caught MRSA, also commonly known as the dreaded Superbug. Simply put, MRSA is a bacteria which is resistant to all normal antibiotics. For me, the MRSA had attacked my right kidney which apparently was filled with pus due to the infection. So, for the next one and a half weeks, I had a tube stuck to me right kidney to drain the pus from it, and I was put on a strong antibiotic called Vancomycin which is one of the drugs used to tackle MRSA.

Everyday was a dead bore. All I had was Channel 5, 8 and U and my Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, having a tube stuck to your kidney greatly decreases the pleasure of playing on my DS. So I'm left with the mind-numbing programmes on the free-to-air channels. I tell you, I still cannot believe how mediacorp can come up with programmes like 80s Rewind and The Noose.

Staying in a hospital is every bit as horrible as you can ever imagine. And this is coming from someone who paid to stay in a B1 ward. Other than the constant needle poking, or the misery-inducing groans from the other patients with painful/more serious problems, I must say that I cannot understand why the hospital can't make a half-decent cup of milo. Someone must have read the instructions wrong and decided that it was like one teaspoon of milo for every cup of milky hot water. The milo was miserable. Food was not too bad. But when I was put on a liquid diet for a day, I could not believe how they could mush up everything to make it 'liquid'. yuck.

Well, after two weeks, I'm finally out. But it's not quite over. Due to the strong infection, I have to be on the intravenous antibiotics for another month. So basically, I now carry a bottle with me everywhere I go. The bottle is filled with the antibiotics which I have to refill at the hospital every 2 days. Whoopee. So now, I have the pleasure of finding ways and means to camouflage the bottle and tube when I go out... which I am dying to do since I've been cooped up in a hospital /home for 2 weeks.

On a positive note, I am feeling much better since the treatment began. But it's kinda scary to find out that I've caught MRSA. It's a pretty strong bug and can be life threatening too. Well, here's hoping for a proper recovery.

80's Rewind

i must admit it. I wanted to watch this because I wanted to find out how much it would suck. And disappoint me it did not.

Main storyline A: Mother & Father obsessed with tree-planting & starting a neighbourhood watch.

Main storyline B: Two brothers trying to get tickets to watch Return of Jedi. They end up getting it from a 'scalper' called Obi Wan Neo... :S Helloo..... Neo is Matrix.... didn't even happen till 1990s.

Both storylines suck.

The acting sucks. Talk about 80s rewind. The acting standards are probably 80s standard too.

Jokes suck. Father threatens sons with.... MOTHER! wow! no one must have ever thot about such a joke. Son says he was robbed. Everyone still keeps asking 'Were you robbed?'. funny hor.

It's been 20mins, I've not even broken into a smile. It's a seriously sad show. I didn't dare to watch The Noose last weekend. I think I'm glad I didn't.

okok.. now got romantic twist.... wife thinks of how a tree helped her get over hubby went he went for NS. That's why tree-planting so important. OMG!!!! What a contrived story!

Thank God. Advert time. Some decent storylines/filming. Please adverts, please dun end....

Sigh. Adverts ended. Soppy round up. Something about planting a bean for wife to see it forever and remember him all the time.

Wow... HILARIOUS ENDING. They all got tickets to watch Return of Jedi and just as the movie started, their sister tells them the twist at the end that Princess Leia is Luke's sister. SO FUNNY.

What is wrong with Mediacorp? Seriously.... Who on earth can think this is even near funny? This is more proof of the death of Mediacorp local programming.

Movie Reviews

OK, I'm kinda in the mood for it, so here are some quick reviews of movies i've watched recently. I've placed them in order of positive reviews to crappy reviews.

STARDUST is a pretty good movie if you are into a decent fantasy story. There's a good balance of action, romance, magic and most importantly, humour. The movie doesn't try to take itself to seriously, and the big names like Michelle Pfieffer and Robert De Niro appear to be having a whale of a time in this movie! Michelle is excellent as the old ugly witch trying to get the heart of a star in order to be youthful again with her 2 other sister witches. De Niro is a sky pirate whose name strikes fear to those who hear it. What's so fun about the two roles? Well, Michelle has got some excellent jokes when it comes to her aging. Just watch what happens when she tries to cure a mole or something on her chin. As for De Niro, I will not spoil it for you... He springs a surprise which is pretty hilarious too. For some, Stardust might be a little slowish. For me, I don't think it's an academy award winner, but it was an enjoyable movie, especially since I watched it after watching THE DARK IS RISING.... (reviewed below)


If you are offended by vulgarities, SUPERBAD is definitely not for you. Almost EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE is filled with at least a vulgarity, a reference to a sexual organ or some other offensive word. Essentially, it's a movie about how 3 nerds try to buy liquor for a girl's party so that they can 'get-the-girl' despite being social outcasts. My brother warned me that the show was pretty vulgar coz he watched it before me. But after I watched it, I told him it's sad, but I know of not a few students who do talk like this, especially when a teacher is not around. SUPERBAD is quite fun coz it pokes fun at some American institutions like the police. The whole side story with one of the nerd befriending two policeman is really funny. 'McLovin' as he is called in the movie really steals the movie from the other two kids. Watch it, but be warned that it is not for the faint of ear.


I went to watch The Drummer only because I do have some interest in these huge drums. I've always been fascinated by Japanese Taiko Drum performances and here was a movie about Chinese drums. I was also interested to see if Jaycee Chan would be as irritating as his father, Jackie Chan. Well, to answer my last question first, I thought that Jaycee Chan did a decent job and he didn't irritate me like his father does. Every since Jackie started acting in Hollywood, I have just lost all respect for him and pretty much hate most of his shows. Even his latest visa ad where he pokes his head through Yao Ming's arms and starts clapping reminds me so much of a monkey. Anyway... back to the movie... I was kinda disappointed that the movie was quite slow and limp. As much as the director wanted to showcase the drums, you just don't get the heart pounding feel of a good performance/filming. We rarely see any good performances by the troupe. Then it also tries to be a gangster type movie and again, it's so disjointed that you don't feel that the two parts are really forced together. I think the movie would have been so much better with a stronger story line and a better director/cinematographer. On the whole, sadly, a missable movie. Don't watch it unless u absolutely have no choice.


OK, down to the bottom of the post and hence the bottom of the barrel. THE DARK IS RISING is another in the long chain of Harry Potter wannabes, and it fails sadly. The other two movies that come to mind are Eragon and Narnia (although Narnia is more of a Lord of the Rings wannabe). The good news is, I think this movie is mildly better than Eragon. The bad news is, I think it still sucks. I've not read the books so I didn't have any expectations when going in for the movie. But you can't help but feel that there's nothing very magical or exciting about the worlds created through the time-travelling. And it all zooms by so fast! Each visit to another time to seek a 'sign' lasts no more than 10 minutes! The special effects are nothing to be excited about. And the evil Rider isn't very fearsome at all. On the whole, the movie just plods along and the story just doesn't excite. As I was watching this movie, I couldn't help but wonder at how the different directors of the Harry Potter series have been able to capture our attention and imagination and keep the movies fresh over 5 movies! That must really be some accomplishment. Anyway, back to this movie, I say skip it. Save your money for The Golden Compass, another HPwannabe.... but this one is showing some promise.

Medical Frustrations

Looks like i've kinda lost some interest in blogging doesn't it? Just realized it's been a long time since I posted any movie reviews. It's not that I've not been watching movies, but I guess the movies are either not very good or I usually only get to watch them on weekends, coz it's kinda hard to watch movies when I'm at work.

I don't think I've lost interest. But as you would have realized from my last few posts, I'm kinda going thru a lowish point right now. A large cause of that is this fever/infection which simply refuses to go away. I've been to the doctor a couple of times and I've pretty much been surviving on continuous panadol and antibiotic intake. I think this is the longest I've felt so sick and it's frustrating. The wonder of medical science is that when it comes to antibiotics, it's kinda trial and error. Doctors let us take those which more or less tackle most kinds of common bacteria. So if you've got some weird strain, those antibiotics just might not work... like in my case. I can't tell you how many courses of antibiotics I have taken in the last few weeks. And things get a little better before they return to the same old pattern. I am so tired of it!

So, right now, I basically keep myself panadoled-up so as to keep the fever at a manageable level. As for curing wateva's messed up inside me right now? Just gotta leave the doctors to carry out their tests and hope for the best. What else can I do, right?

Rants

This is not a happy post. I've been in a bluesy kinda mood in the last few days and I just feel like letting off some steam.

For some reason, I'm just tired of everything. It's not to say my thots are real/factual. They're just how I feel about stuff right now.

Everyday feels like such a drag. I drag myself out of bed. Drag myself to work. Drag myself to lunch. Drag myself to see clients. Drag myself back to office. Drag myself home. Drag myself to bed. I think it's sad to live like that, no?

I've been trying to understand why I feel like this. Maybe coz I'm not in the best of health (still recovering from the effects of my operation). Maybe coz I'm not terribly excited by my work. Maybe I'm tired that I'm settling into a routine that I can't imagine for myself. Maybe it's just that time of the month... lol...

Hopefully I get out of the blues soon.

a day of fun, a week of pain

It has been a painful week. But before talking about that, let me talk about something more pleasant.

Last Monday, I took some time off work to go back to visit 2M. It was Children's Day and I thought it would be nice to drop in with some goodies since it would probably be the last time I will see them as a class. sniff. It was a short but really nice visit. Great to catch up on all the juicy gossip. I think I've said it before, the one thing I've really missed about RI is the interaction with all the students. Well, I think this will probably be the last time I will visit RI on my own accord since after this, 2M will be divided into different classes and I think by next year, most of the students I really know would be out of the school. Kinda sad really.

OK, back to painful matters.

Last Tuesday, I went in for my operation to remove a kidney stone. I actually have two that need taking care of. One big one up in my kidney and a smaller one in my... shall we just say body's plumbing system. So this op was to remove the smaller one first. Anyway, got to Tan Tock Seng Hospital at 8.30 and it was good that there was no line so I was attended to quickly and moved into the prep room. Changed into the operation gowns and couldn't understand why they were designed like that. Someone should seriously look into improving those silly gowns. Anyway, within minutes, the nurse finished keeping my valuables and asking me repeatedly who I am (as if the person in front of her would change identity in a wink). Got wheeled towards the Operating Room. It's always a strange sensation, lying on the bed and being wheeled around. YOu just get to see the flourescent tubes overhead zooming by, and I just don't know what I should be thinking about. After being wheeled around like a supermarket trolley, I arrived in the prep room of the Operating Room (that's what I think it is anyway) and then began a couple minutes of waiting as the operating team/anaesthetist/doctor get ready. I finally got wheeled into the OR and that where they start prodding me with needles and monitors and stuff. Then came the best part... the mask. They put this gas mask over me and say 'it's just oxygen, take deep breaths', so i comply. Can't do anything else rite since the mask is in my face? Then this time round, the anaesthetist didn't even tell me she was injecting the drugs, i just knocked off.

About 2.5 hours later, I opened my eyes to the sound of the nurse asking me to take deep breaths again... something about filling my lungs or something... quite tough coz it feels so good to just go back to sleep. Then the worse thing happened. I had to pee. Believe me, this is not something I want to do after a kidney stone removal. For the sake of my male readers, I shall not describe the ordeal. Anyway, I found out later that the doctor had cleared the first stone fairly quickly so he made the decision to go after the bigger stone in the kidney. There's kinda mixed feelings although it would mean I probably need not go for another big op for that stone, it also meant that the doctor had to put in a stent (a tube from the kidney to the bladder)... so that means I have to go for a stent removal procedure... which I will describe at another time....

Anyway, finally left the hospital at about 2.45pm.

The past week has been painful coz of (1) sharp pain on my right side, probably due to some stones moving through the system and (2) peeing out sand... lolz... yes, i've had to pee out sand at times. It's not really painful but I think the thought is quite scary. But seriously, the first few days after the op, going to the toilet was something I had to but didn't want to do.

It's been 6 days since my op and things seem to be slowly going back to normal. Still have some pain, but it's becoming more manageable. Have MC until Monday, so it's back to work on Tuesday.

Might talk more about the past week of pain if i feel like it... but I think I've given enough info for now...

Weird poster

Have you seen this poster on our buses? I find the way they insert little 'lessons' creepy. Sorry for the blurry pic, hard to take a pic in a moving bus. Anyway, for your ease of reading, here are the 3 steps listed above:

1. Take SBS Bus and/or Rail Services. (No eating on bus and train!)
2. TITO: Tap-in-tap-out to accumulate e-tokens with your monthly e-stamp. (Give up your seat for the needy!)
3. Login and redeem! (Remember to study hard too!)


Can someone explain to me the relevance of the little 'lessons' after each instruction? It almost feels like some form of brainwashing! What does tapping in and out have to do with giving up my seat for the needy?

A question of control

I've been thinking about how important is the issue of control to me. I'm talking about this ideal state where I get to call the shots and decide how and what happens to me. I'm not talking so much about control over others (though I admit it's one area I've had to work at in especially in my last job working with students). In this case, I'm talking about control over my own life.

I realize I hate it when I feel helpless. This could be in the case where say, I fall sick. Like right now when I'm working through my kidney stone problems (yep, got a couple of them swimming around my plumbing system rite now), I feel frustrated because this is something that I can't control. I mean, I can't get rid of them, I can't stop them from giving me other related problems like infections. I just have to sit and wait until the doctor blasts them out of my system, one way or another.

Another example is when people force me to do what I don't want to do. I don't know if I sound pompous, but I kinda feel that I've reached an age/point in my life/career where I shouldn't need to do what I really don't want to do. Haha, I can think of so many examples with respect to this. In fact, this contributed partially to why I left teaching last year. I was feeling hopelessly powerless with what I was doing in my job. When I was younger, I'd think about patience, tolerance, etc. But somehow, for me, personal fulfillment/satisfaction seems much more important than just doing something for the sake of doing it.

Right now, I'm still struggling with this issue of control.

It's a frustrating life when I'm controlled by a clock and a card.

It's a frustrating life when I'm controlled by what others want me to do.

It's a frustrating life when I don't find myself doing stuff I find meaning in doing.

I guess that's partially why I'm irritated by those little government things like the longevity insurance, etc, etc. Our governments gives me the idea that we are powerless in making decisions for our lives. Only the government knows best. MPs can say all they want in the 'debates'. You can make all the noise you want at 'feedback sessions'. But in the end, government knows best. The decision was already made anyway. It's just nice to let you rant a little, to let it out of your system.

How? Like that can go crazy rite?

Cloudy skies

I love bright and cheery mornings, but I must admit I also like dark cloudy and breezy mornings provided the rain hasn't started pouring. This is how the sky looked today at about 7.15am. It wasn't raining yet and there was a wonderful wind stirring up the air. Not a bad way to start the day.

In that kinda mood

For some reason or rather, I've been in a kind of buay song mood over the last few days. Reading the newspapers & surfing the blogs on singapore issues just reinforce this buay-songness. It's like, there are just so many weirdish things going on in our little red dot and we littlereddotians just seem to live with and tolerature them (myself included).

One example is the silly Odex 'demonstration' where a couple of people got together and placed some toy figures carrying little banners and toy flags to protest against how Odex had handled the whole issue. I just can't understand why our dear authorities had to send police to go and 'control the crowd'.... I mean, don't they have better things to do? And what's really wrong with people just trying to make a statement? And as some blogs have mentioned, it's interesting to note that despite having all sorts of news on the Odex court case, there was virtually no reporting in our local papers about the mini-protest. It's all just messed up, imo.

Well, I believe that as a consequence of my mood, I'm a little more irritated with little things that I see around me, stuff that are less political (dun really intend for this blog to make big political statements).

So the thing which I can't understand is this totally silly road crossing between Bugis Junction and Bugis Village. I dunno which wonderful civil servant designed this zig zag crossing but I marvel at how they can connect two MAJOR large road crossings with this tiny strip between them. Everytime I have to cross this place, there's this huge clash of people moving from Bugis Village to Bugis Junction and vice versa. And there's this huge jam as you can see from the pic below resulting in people pushing and shoving and trying to get off the road before the red man flashes on.

Wonderful quirky examples in our efficient little city. My next rant... butt-rests. Be back for it.

Two things on my mind

Two things that happened over the last weekend are kinda weighing on my mind.

First. I was at 7-11 buying some sweets for the movie when I saw this teenager taking two boxes of sweets and putting it in his pocket. Basically, he was shoplifting. Of course, it was disturbing to see this teen behaving like that. But what got me more disturbed was.... I didn't do anything about it. Yep. I just stood there, saw him put the sweets into the pocket and did absolutely nothing except walk out. The point is, I dunno why I didn't do anything. As a former teacher, I talk about doing the right thing always. The right thing would of course be to either stop the teen or immediately inform the store staff about it. But I just did nothing. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Ok, at the end when I was paying for my stuff, I did tell the cashier that some teens had shoplifted some sweets. But that's kinda too little too late rite. So i've been kinda stewing on why I didn't do anything when I saw the fella taking the sweets. Was I apathetic? Was I scared? It's really weird. Talk about moral reasoning and moral action. ie. Knowing what's right and doing what's right.

And in some way, this is kinda connected to the next thing on my mind.

As some of you might already know my now, Mr Otto Fong, my former colleague, apparently posted a letter on a blog telling everyone that he is gay. Wow. I've known him in my 5.5 years in RI and he's a real nice guy. But I admit that I've never thought he was gay. In fact, I'd thought he was married. lolz. I think it's incredibly brave for him to come out of the closet and tell everyone that he is gay, especially in Singapore and in RI. For that, I salute him. I know he is in for a really rough ride coz he now has to face both MOE and RI, not easy at all. For me, the question is... why did he do it? Why now? It's interesting to read all the comments in Tomorrow.sg and The Online Citizen. My response comes in two parts. First, from Otto's point of view, I can see how he might want to do what he did. But of course, I'm sure he's thought through it thoroughly and knew he could be martyred for this. For whatever reasons he might have I'm not here to judge him. But I must say he is incredibly brave to do it.

My second part has to do with what the school/MOE is gonna do to him. I am of the stand that a teacher's sexual orientation has nothing to do with his suitability to teach. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with moral values. It's ridiculous to equate gay with immorality. So, do we take a lousy teacher who is immoral or do we take a good teacher who is gay but moral? hmm. It's interesting to read about moe's stand that it “does not condone any open espousal of homosexual values by teachers in any form, in or out of the classroom”. As mentioned by many netizens, what exactly are 'homosexual values'? Is there even such a thing? Otto is an excellent teacher in my opinion and has mentored many students well. If he gets fired just for saying he is gay, then it goes to show the school/MOE's priorities.

It's been an interesting weekend.

Hairspray

Last weekend, I took the chance to go catch up on some movies which I'd not been able to watch since my 'incarceration' due to my sickness. I've wanted to watch Hairspray.. it's got raving reviews and I'd just finished watching the latest season of So You Think You Can Dance, so I was in an extra 'dancey' mood.

OK, before I talk about Hairspray, let me tell you what happened before. I went down to The Cathay at Dhoby Ghaut to catch it, but unfortunately, when I arrived, the seats were really bad, like first row bad. So I decided to catch a later screening at AMK Hub. In the meantime, how to past the time? I looked at all the movies screening at The Cathay and I saw the poster for Azur and Asmar. It was kinda eye-catching coz it was an animation not in the usual Disney/anime kinda way and of course, they had those 'First Prize in blah blah blah film festival' flashed all over the poster. So I looked at the screens above the counters and it said it was in English, so I thought, what the heck, how bad could it be.

Yes, how bad could it be.... sigh. First off, to be fair, the animation was interesting in that it really wasn't your typical Pixar or Anime-style. So it was eye catching for a few minutes. What got to me was that it wasn't in English. In fact, I frankly don't know what language it was in. I think is was French and Arabic. Yep... Arabic. I have nothing against the Arabic language. I just never imagined I would go watch an arabic cartoon. My point is, as much as I want to enjoy the animation, how do I do it if I am focussed on reading the subtitles? So, basically, I lost concentration and kinda fell asleep towards the last 1/3 of the movie. I definitely must stop being a sucker for the 'Won First Prize in blah blah blah festival' trick.

OK, back to Hairspray.

This is a real 100% feel good movie. I've read in some reviews that this movie is supposed to be the 'GREASE' for the current generation. I don't think I agree but I think it comes close. Hairspray is a musical. So of course, those who hate shows which break out in singing every 5 minutes better give this a miss. The singing in the movie was not bad. Everyone did a pretty fine job. I even liked all the songs John Travolta sang as a woman. lolz. The songs. Hmm. I don't think the songs were that memorable. Other than the last song, 'You Can't Stop the Beat', I think the rest of the songs are fun/nice but not very memorable. Next, is the dancing. I enjoyed the dance numbers but I can't say that the choreography was very fantastic. It was nice to watch and all that, but I think it lacked some bang. To some extent, maybe it was the filming coz often, we can't see the whole dance move but bits here and there.

For me, one of the highlights was John Travolta. I think he did an excellent job playing the mother of Tracy. Of course, many say it's just a gimmick, but I was checking it out and apparently, in the original musical version on broadway, that role is always acted by a drag queen and usually done in an over-the-top kinda way. I saw a video on youtube and saw this really flambouyant drag queen in the role. I guess it could be interesting, but I think I like the way John Travolta played it, more subdued and in a non-drag kinda way. In fact, I find his quite believable as the mother who was scared to go out. And his dance numbers were quite exhilarating, especially when he/she decides to go for it and does the Tina Turner-like number at the very end.

Overall, like I said, Hairspray is a nice feel good movie. The singing, dancing, acting were done well and it's nice to leave the cinema feeling warm and fuzzy. :P

Long silence...

Yeah, sorry for the long silence, faithful blog readers....

It's been a miserable two weeks and it's only getting marginably better. I've been down with a viral infection since two saturdays before and it's been terrible. First and foremost.... out when my appetitite. For more than a week, all I could stomach was porridge and kway teow soup. OMG... after the 3rd day, I almost wanted to just inject the stuff into my veins so I didn't need to force it down my throat. Those who know me how important it is for me to enjoy my food. Forcing myself to drink porridge and kway teow soup was just plain cruel.

Then there was the constant fever. Yes, I mean CONSTANT. This time round, no matter how many panadols I took, I constantly had a fever of at least 38 degrees and it just wouldn't quit. Fevers are no fun. They sap the energy out of you from doing anything and everything. So while I may be home on medical leave, i can't do anything coz I simply dun feel like doing anything. Add to that the fact that my baby nephew comes over every afternoon, I had to pretty much hide in my room to prevent passing the virus to him. Fever finally started coming down three/four days ago. It still comes and goes, but at least it actually goes down to a normal 37 degrees some times.

Stomach cramps. It was some kind of stomach virus. So it led to really uncomfortable stomach cramps. And to make it worse, it also led to constipation. Sigh. Actually, I guess there wasn't much for me to... shit out... since I was only taking porridge and kway teow soup anyway. This also persisted for about a week.

Miserable, miserable.

I pulled myself to work this week, partly coz i was really getting too bored at home and partly coz it really wasn't good to be gone on such a long long mc since I'd only start working there for about 2 months. It's been quite uncomfortable coz it's kinda hard to focus on preparing a proposal when you head just doesn't seem to be screwed on right. Add to that the cold sweats due to the occasional fevers and I've got a super uncomfortable day every day.

Silver lining on the grey clouds.... I appear to be able to ingest more solid and palatable food today. Can't take food that's too oily, but I was at least able to have some better food today like chee cheong fun (without sesame oil). Fever is still there, but seems to be less frequent.

Gotta make my way to the hospital next week for some shockwave blasting. Doctor says there's a kidney stone blocking my system so I gotta need to 'blast' it. Sure beats having a scope go up your manhood to attempt to crush and break up the stone. Trust me, it's as horrible as it sounds.

On a more positive note, I was really glad that one of my former students invited me back to RI for his installation ceremony just before I fell sick. It was nice to visit them in RI and I really felt proud of him for being appointed the president. So to my dear Zongyi, congratz again and I'm sure you'll do a marvellous job! (PS. Ernie, if you're reading this, you did great too! Never imagined you as an emcee but you did it really well!).

So that's about it. Sorry for the long delay in posting. Like i said, it was just a long moody two weeks.

Lunch Options... YAWN

One time of the day I almost dread now is... Lunch time. Yeah, surprising rite? Especially considering the fact that I enjoy food. But that's exactly it. Because I enjoy food, I am kinda picky when it comes to stuffing it into my mouth.

There are some nice options for lunch around Shenton Way, but the problem is, there are only so many places (which I do get bored after frequenting the shop often) and I hate it when the places are super crowded coz I don't get to enjoy my meal. I hate it when people are staring at me when I am eating, wondering when I will finish and vacate the place for them. I hate it when the tables & chairs are cramped to allow for maximum seating and minimum space. It just doesn't make for an enjoyable lunch experience (yeah, it sounds kinda spoilt I know).

I don't like to eat at Lau Pa Sat. Most of the shops are selling cookie-cutter food at higher than average prices. There's a cheaper market at Amoy Street but it's really crowded and has long queues. Recently, I've taken to eating sandwiches coz I can't seem to find anything else I really want to eat. Sandwiches are not bad, but BOY ARE THEY EXPENSIVE! I can get a plate of chicken rice (with extra rice) at abt 3.50 to 4 bucks. A sandwich (like the one u see below) with a soup and drink, costs about $10!! The sandwich alone is about $6. Sigh. If you think about it, two slices of bread + lettuce + tomatoes+chicken... cost price can't be more than $2.... These shops really know how to make a profit.

My office is moving to Toa Payoh at the end of the year. Can't wait! More interesting (and economical) food choices! Thinking of the yummy char siew & roast pork rice shop liaoz... and also the katong laksa shop... Ooh-la-la!

Yep, the meal above costs $10.

Biscuit World

Was at J8 today and saw the biscuit models of famous landmarks. Tbh, it was not very impressive. It looked nice, but the biscuits were pretty big so it's like simply glueing big bricks together.

I was a little disappointed at the way the event was held. As you can see from the pic, other than the sculpture in the middle, the rest of the place was pretty sparsely decorated. Not very festive.

On the whole, a nice distraction I guess. :P

I want to puke....

Sorry for the 'strong' title, but that's exactly what I'm feeling right now. I was happily settled in my seat on the bus when suddenly this lady sat down in front of me with a totally overwhelming pungent odour. OMG... Learn some moderation lady! Since I started work, this is the first time I've had such a puking experience. I've had to shift the air-con vent to blow directly at my face to try and blow the odour away. So it was a choice between stinking to death or freezing to death. It worked a little, but every once in a while some of it escapes and I want to gag...

What a wonderful way to start my day.

A Nice Way to Start the Day

Wonder how many of you ever read the line under the title of my blog. It's kinda like my mantra in life ever since I learnt that poem in secondary school. For the working person (and for students definitely), I think it's like a constant reminder: what is life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.

One thing I realized when I leave for work every morning is that the sky can be really beautiful. No, I am not being poetic or anything, I just think it really looks nice. Have you looked at the sky lately?

JMAG Tour

Feeling kinda proud... I've fulfilled one of my dreams in planning a Manga, Anime and Tokyo Game Show tour. It's being launched under the name JMAG (Japan Manga, Anime & Games). I'm not too sure if people are gonna sign up for it, but I think it's a start!

Take a look at the blog I've set up for it: JMAG2007.blogspot.com

Here's the flyer(updated).

Disturbia

Disturbia has been getting some decent reviews in the media. So when I was given the chance to go catch a special screening tonite, I jumped at the opportunity.

The movie stars the golden boy of the season, Shia Labeouf (of the recent Transformers movie fame) as a kid going thru a rough patch and ends up undergoing house arrest with that thingamajig tied to his ankle to prevent him from leaving his house. To pass his time, he starts observing his neighbours closely, learning their habits and their secrets too. Of course, as with any Hollywood movie, there has to be the obligatory love interest and the act-cool asian sidekick. Thru his spying, he ends up suspecting that his neighbour is actually a serial murderer. The remainder of the movie is basically an edge-of-the-seat ride that ping pongs you between 'yes he's a murderer' to 'no he is not'.

The movie really follows the typical paranoid-thriller formula. You know, the sudden shocks with someone touching your shoulder or breaking through a door kinda cliches. But surprisingly, it all works. And it works very well. Despite knowing that these things were going to happen, the director still manages to catch me off guard and gives me a few shocks along the way. And the edge of the seat moments are really good - at moments, the tension is so tight I almost felt my blood vessels bursting.

So what makes this movie tick? I think I must give credit to Shia Labeouf. He really does a pretty credible job of acting (and not over-acting) his role. The supporting roles are also fleshed out nicely. The cliched asian side-kick was not too irritating and manages to draw some laughs, especially at the start with his 'kick-ass' spanish. And taking the role of Shia's mom is non other than the Matrix-woman, Carrie-Ann Moss. She looks so motherly and... fleshy... that it's kinda hard to imagine that this was the same woman in the Matrix. Last but not least, we have the suspicious neighbour, portrayed by David Morse. David who? Haha.. he has actually acted in many movies, but never really in the A-list roles. I remember him best as Jodie Foster's dad in CONTACT. He's pretty creepy in Disturbia.... keeps you guessing if he is really evil... or not...

Disturbia is a surprising hit for me. I thought that after The Simpsons Movie, there would be a slump of good movies. Don't miss this thriller. Highly recommended.

Grey skies

On my way home... Look at the dark skies. Hoping to rush home before it pours.


Looks kinda ominous. Maybe Voldemort's coming? lolz..

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This weekend was dedicated to Harry Potter's new book, all 607 pages of it. I am quite impressed with myself that I managed to finish the whole book by 12.30am on Monday morning (basically Sunday night, 30mins past midnight lar).

So how was the last book? I've given my comments below but have whitened them out coz they are full of spoilers and I dun like to ruin the book for any of you who are still reading it. So simply use your mouse to highlight the paragraphs below to read my comments...

SPOILER ALERT

Who dies?
The biggest question on everyone's minds is who dies? I think JK Rowling (JKR) noes everyone is guessing like mad so she was kinda notti coz she makes sure there is more than one death. So as I read the book, I kept wondering, is this THE death everyone is talking about. It starts of with Mad-eye dying... I was like.. hmm.. ok... so he dies. Then a surprised for me was when Dobby the house elf appeared in the story to save Harry and his friends from the Malfoys and ends up getting killed. Having read the two deaths, I thought.. ok lor, Harry won't be dying liaoz. Then more deaths occur... Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin and his new wife Tonks. Then came Severus Snape. That caught me offguard a little. And finally, JKR decides to kill Harry too!! For a few pages anyway. He comes back to life and kills Voldemort (of course). Quite alot of deaths I must say. For me, the most stirring death was a fight between Dobby's and Harry's. But since Harry doesn't realli die, I must say I really like how Dobby's death and burial was handled.

Is Harry a Horcrux?
Yeah... this was pretty much guessed by everyone. It wasn't difficult to guess that Voldemort has a piece of his soul in Harry since Harry survived his attack as a baby. So, I kinda also knew that Harry would somehow had to get rid of that piece of Voldy's soul at the end. The onli question was would Harry have to die.

Will Dumbledore come back?
I was betting that Dumbledore will pull a phoenix and resurrect somewhere in this last book. Well, I lost that bet. He does appear to chit chat with Harry at the end but he doesn't come back. Guess that might have been just a little too cliched if he did.

Is Snape evil?
Up till the very last few chapters, Snape is still seen to be evil. So, although I was guessing he was actually good, I had given up on it 3/4 way through the book. But, that was all resolved when Harry picked up Snape's memories when he died and looked thru them in the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office. A nice back story I think. Kinda sad to learn about the relationship between Snape and Lily (Harry's mom).

Best section?
I realli liked the battle at Hogwarts. The whole battle lasted around 100 pages out of the 600page book. I thought it was done very well, very epic. It had everyone coming back to help, it had good vs evil, it had giants and gigantic spiders... very exciting stuff. I can't wait to see how they handle this in the movie. It will really be a fitting end to the whole movie series if they did this on the scale of LOTR battles.
Coming in a close second is the whole Gringotts affair... how they break in to how they escape. I can just imagine the dragon guarding the vault (awesome image) and how they had to hunt for the Horcrux among all the treasures. Good stuff.

YAWN parts?
Some parts were a little slow but it doesn't realli spoil the pacing too much. The sense of time through the whole book seemed just a little off to me coz they sometimes spent weeks just thinking of where to go to look for the next Horcrux. Sounded like an awful waste of time. I also didn't really get the last section '19 years later'. So we find out who marries who and wat they name their kids. But.. so what? It's a little hard to try to imagine Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny 19 years later and the short section doesn't do much to give them much character. I thought I could do without that part.

So is it any good?
The simple answer is yes. I enjoyed the book and it was a decent ending to the entire series. I think JKR has mentioned that she won't be writing anymore Harry Potter stories, but I think it might be interesting for her to tell other stories like maybe Dumbledore's adventures? Well, books may have ended but still have two movies to go. And I'll probably have to reread Half-blood prince and Deathly Hallows one more time to try to understand the stories better.

Pottermania

Yep, I'm also caught up in the whole pottermania. I know... not small kid liaoz... but hey, I'm not gonna miss out on the last book after reading the first 6... more than a few times each! lolz.

I didn't want to pre-order my book coz I wasn't really very attracted by the pre-order gifts. I was quite amused with the article in LIFE on Friday about the different incentives the bookshops were offering to get people to go to their shops at 7.01am in the morning to get the book. Most shops were offering T-shirts, vouchers, free gifts, etc, etc. This one shop (I can't remember the name) was offering..... the chance to open the box and get your picture taken with the first book from the box!!! WOW! ROFL.

Anyway, I decided that Carrefour was giving the best offer... a $20 carrefour voucher, free vcd and a goody bag. My friends and I then decided, what the heck, let's go blow our Saturday morning by waking up at unearthly hours (for a Saturday morning) to queue up for the book.

Woke up at 5.30am on Saturday morning and took a bus and MRT to Plaza Singapura. The usual entrance from the MRT was closed... mildy irritating... so we exited by main MRT exit and entered Plaza Sing to find that the book launch was at basement 2.... kinda stupid, considering the entrance at B2 from the mRT was closed. It was already 6.40am so we were kinda wondering if we would get our voucher coz it was onli for the first 200 customers. When we reached the entrance.. we found to our amusement, that there were onli about 20 customers ahead of us. lolz.


So, we waited patiently in line for abt 20mins, and they promptly opened at 7am with no fanfare and started selling the books. I was mildly disappointed at the lack of any event... I mean.. no music.. no atmosphere... no effort. Quite lame. The goodie bags were piled in a carrefour cart, and the whole place was just quite YAWN. But, nevermind lor, my purpose was to get the voucher and the book. And I achieved both happily! When we left, there were about 50 people in the queue. I thought it was a little sad until I went to Suntec...

My frenz and I decided to go to the Burger King at Suntec for breakfast. We remembered Harris (the upmarket version of Popular) was having their launch at Suntec so we decided to pop by for a look. It was even SADDER than Suntec. They had two people dressed up in what appeared to be Hagrid and Dumbledore, but it was seriously pathetic. They looked like they hadn't eaten in months. And we found out from a salesperson that they had less than 10 people there when the doors opened. lolz.

I guess Harry Potter is popular, but not much that Singaporeans will go head over heels to buy the book. I wonder how good were the first day sales.

Well, it was fun queuing up with my friends and having breakfast at BK. And the book... well.. that will be my next post!

Lovely weather

Out for lunch right now and I must say I love the weather. There's a slight rain (not heavy enough to get you drenched) and a light wind. And it's not humid. So shiok.

Morning musings

It's 8.05am right now and I'm in the 572 bus on the way to work. Feeling a little sleepy as usual, but I thank God that I have a comfortable direct bus to work. Of course, I wish I didn't need to wake up so early but hey, we gotta sacrfice something to make some money so we can enjoy other things in life yah?

I've been a little under the weather lately. have this persistent blocked nose and a somewhat sore-ish throat. Gotta go get my ingrown nail cut again today... Sigh... Pain pain. Work's fine but I do miss my freedom. Wonder which I value more....

Irritations - Taxi Drivers

I've wanted to blog about this for a long time but kinda held back. But over the last few days, I had a few unpleasant experiences which 'motivated' me to blog now.

This week alone, I've encountered 3 types of drivers which really get on my nerve.

1. The know-it-all
I had this driver who was bringing me to Temasek Poly. We weren't sure where the lecture theatre was, so I asked him to ask the guards. This fella just REFUSED to ask anyone. He kpet saying 'Aiya, I know lar, it's around here lar...' and come on... Temasek Poly is a huge poly. Worse still, he started following another taxi coz he said that taxi was going the same place I was going!!! And he didn't even ask the other driver or anything. I was so irritated coz he was so adamant about following the other driver when he didn't noe where the other driver was going. Through it all, he was laughing and joking as the meter jumped and jumped. ARGH. Finally, on my insistence, he asked a guard who showed us which way to turn, which happened to be on the OTHER side of the campus. Sigh.

2. The talker
I'm not an unfrenly guy. But oftentimes, when I am in a cab, I just want to rest/play my psp/read my magazine. I don't mind chatting with the driver some times, but if I don't want to, I wish the driver would get the hint and stop. I think sticking two earphones into my ears is quiet a clear indication. Anyway, yesterday, I had this driver who was so interested in my media player. Here was I trying to watch a programme on my media player and there he was, asking me question after question about the media player... 'what is that', 'what does it do', 'where did you get the programme', 'do you need a computer to make it work', etc, etc ,etc. Of course, there are other drivers who try to engage you in the all kinds of topics. And they pry into all areas... 'what do you do', 'why are you not in office', why are you going here', 'when did you leave NS', 'how old are you', etc, etc, etc. SIGH. These are really irritating.

3. The stinker
This is probably the worse kind. There are a select few taxi-drivers who really, seriously have a body odour problem. I dunno if the cab companies give personal grooming courses to these drivers, but sometimes, when I step into a cab, I get totally overwhelmed by the stale scent of the driver's BO. The worst thing is... I can't get out! Because, before I can even react, I would have already closed the door. It doesn't help that Singapore is a warm and humid place and we are undergoing our warmest period of the year right now. Today, I had just such an experience. I was waiting for a cab for almost 20mins and was so glad when I saw an empty cab coming in my direction. I was thinking 'Finally... Some luck!'. But when I slipped into the cab... Oh-My-Goodness.... there was this wave of odour which just invaded my nostrils. So for the next 20mins or so, I had to just pretend that everything was ok and try to take real shallow breaths.

So there you have it... Taxi-drivers which drive me up the wall.

Transformers

This is one AWESOME movie.

AWESOME robots kicking serious robot ass.

WATCH IT.

Nuff said.

PS. If you are interested only in story, this is so NOT the movie for you. Go watch something like... 'Little Women' or 'Lord of the Flies'. This is a summer popcorn movie. And a pretty good one too!

Loooong Day

Wow, it's only my second day on the job and I left my office only at 10pm! Heh, a sign of things to come?

I've been thinking about posting about food... maybe I'll start talking more about places with yummy food.

My New Workplace

Here's where I'm working right now. Smack in the middle of Shenton Way (actually, it's Robinson Road) and just diagonally opposite Lau Pa Sat.

Today was my first day at work. My biggest challenge? Getting out of bed at 7.15am. lolz.... It has been many many MANY months since I'd had to wake up that early and believe me when I say I had to drag myself out of bed. Worse still, I couldn't sleep at an super early, ungodly hour of 1am last nite! I just laid in bed for what seems like 2-3 hours before finally drifting off to sleep. Miraculously, I stayed awake the whole day at work!

It also seems that I'm quite lucky that I have pretty easy transport options to work. I can either hope on the MRT (super crowded this morning) or pay $2.50 for a one-way trip on the school buses which do a run between Serangoon Gardens and Shenton Way via the CTE. Very convenient indeed!

Working hours are kinda long... 9am to 6.30pm... phew, looks like no more weekday afternoon movies. lolz. Sigh, already missing my slacker days.

Now to find good places for lunch!

Sunday Paper Blooper

Saw this in today's New Paper (Yes, I do read that thrashy paper... it's a handy lunchtime reading material). At first, I thought.. wow... must be a real amateur competition to offer $23 for a top prize... but of course, our dear New Paper made a mistake... is was supposed to be $23m (as in $23 million) US dollars. heh.

New Day New Directions

It's the start of a new chapter of my life so I decided a blog template revamp would be a right way to go. Furthermore, spending time setting up the new elements will keep me busy after work (other than wow-ing of course).

Tomorrow, I will be starting a new full-time job. Well, I guess it isn't new as in totally new, but new as in it kinda marks a decision on my part to put my commitment into something for the next couple of years.

It's hard to imagine, but it's been almost 10 months since I left RI. And I've actually not had any full-time job since then. Scary actually. Of course, my income has been severely cut but I've still been living a fairly comfortable lifestyle (Lego, movies, travelling, etc) from the freelance work that I've been doing. As a friend of mine reminded me, being jobless is very addictive. And the longer I stay unemployed, the harder it gets to get back to the grind of a full-time job.

So why did I decide to start working full-time again? Well, I guess to be very practical, I do need to start getting a more stable source of income. Let's face it, no money, no luxuries (like Lego, movies and travelling). So that's one factor. Another factor is the opportunity has presented itself for me to take on something on a slightly more entrepreneurial nature. My new job (while similar to my freelance work) will give me the opportunity to do logistics management, event management, planning of new travel programmes and a host of other stuff. It's hard to pass up the chance to work in an environment where I will be allowed to explore doing whatever I really like.

I'm gonna miss slacking. And for now, I'm also missing teaching. But I'm excited to take on the new challenges and try to make something of this opportunity.