Goodbye 2007

Just as every music album needs an emo song, every year needs a proper closing.

So here it is.

~

2007 has been a year of change. More seismic change than last year.

I watched a dozen more Japanese dramas! Including future classics like Densha and Hana Kimi.

I dipped my toe (just the tip of it!) into song arranging. And what little I did was quite tough for me already!

I got myself an electric bass and it's really quite fun to play.

I'm still single. Erm...

My house got much messier.

My newly-renovated office has come to have this very "self-help" atmosphere. Our "resident psychologist" CPL (NS) Yichuan who decided to offer a bit of help with his newfound knowledge on the Enneagram... I still remember the words of the earlier "resident psychologist" (my upperstudy YY) to Yichuan, "There're many in this office who are in need of your services". How true.

Jon baked more cookies and tarts while Mdm made more kuehs. Kelvin changed his synthesiser 3 times and Reuben pushed his push-up limit up to 60 when I last checked.

The Wii was launched and it turned Kenneth's place into the Arcade. It certainly didn't help when Jon and I got a DS.

Many of the colleagues I've worked with for almost a year went ORD... my understudy came as well! And I turned DDF.

Next year will probably bring greater changes for me. When my IC turns pink again I'll be jobless and this time I'll really have to fend for myself. Come Uni I'll be living a totally different lifestyle altogether... I just hope I can still keep my interest in music alive. I didn't buy my synthesiser and MIDI controller for nothing.

10x+y days to ORD. Come tomorrow, x=1.

Ni~ Zai Na Li~

I was so glad I got MyPaper this morning.

I haven't heard any news about Z Chen for ages... not on the HIM site, not on Wikipedia (at least it told me he left HIM)... nothing.

I'm considered a belated fan... when he was at his peak I was too poor to buy CDs.

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this.

Wow! This Power Men concert at Taiwan... I decided to do a web search.

Yahoo.tw article

So the concert was supposed to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the New Stage in Taiwan... and I was quite elated to see...

He'll be doing a new album soon!

Good. I'll be waiting.

I hate it when

I hate it when outsiders who don't know a thing come and tell you what to do. I really hate that.

I hate it when religious people don't understand atheists and tell them what to do, and also when the reverse happens.

Long Vacation

Good afternoon.

Today is Christmas!!!

And also the last day of this long break since Thursday.

Holidays, chalets, potlucks and services... had my share of fun lah.

Gotta make full use of this last day to clear up the mess...

Retail Therapy: Dec 07

Isaiah (Level 25) is on a SHOPPING SPREE!!!

Again.

This time, I was going by Peace Centre to get my keyboard soft case since they're having a Christmas sale at City Music.

It's indeed the case for the X-50. It fits snugly.

A trip to Peace Centre means a trip to Sunshine Plaza across the street as well. Duh. Got some Eva figurines there, and ran into Kwok Onn at Nandemoya. The number of Anime shops there have decreased to such an extent, I think Sunshine Plaza has already lost it's uniqueness.

~

They say God helps those who help themselves. The wiser few say God helps those who help others. The latter's probably right.

Dropped by Funan to pick up the X-mini portable speaker for Jon (one for him and one more for Peng's ORD gift). It's really selling like hot cakes as it has a very mature and trendy design compared to most portable speakers. Ended up picking up loads of other good shit. Happy treasure hunting.

My own X-mini connected to my iPod-

"Black?"

Yes... my, erm, black iPod Nano... haha-

"Something's amiss. The click wheel!"

Ah yes yes... it's still my good ole' 4GB Nano... with a new case!

Meet my iPoser!

Not bad... it's quite a good case compared to my $10 one, flush-fitting and all. Just that the stupid finish makes it look like that fake iPod we see on the market nowadays... remember, mine is original iPod OK? Got cover flow some more haha!

Got to thank Chris for introducing the X-mini to us.

~

Besides that I found a good silicone case for my DS!

Original product huh!

~

Was helping Kai Guan look for Hero DVD (he loved the drama after I lent it to him!) and at the same time I found the DVD for Hana Yori Dango 1. A rare find as they now package the 2 seasons together, but I want to buy season 1 first to make sure it's good before I buy the 2nd season.

And yes, Hana Yori Dango is your "Meteor Garden".

I reckon it will be good. Watching Hana Kimi Jap version taught me a lesson: The Japs can do their own versions of f___ed up Taiwanese manga-adapted idol dramas really well.

December Boys

Goodbye guys. Yes, you who go ORD in December.

Peng... you're really a nice brother in Christ and, erm, a nice K buddy. Can imagine seeing a Dr Huang in about 6 years time, haha. All the best!

Yichuan, fellow type 9 haha... I was very glad you shared your knowledge on the Enneagram. Glad to see you being able to finally do something meaningful to you. You're probably the first friend of mine who came into my house! Keep up the enthusiasm for music. You can do it!

Yi Heng & Robert (LOL), Pwn my head for 250 gold, again. You guys are a fun bunch.

Edmund, It was really too late that I knew of your hobby of writing songs, but come to think of it it's not really too late. Let's work together still!

Chad: You do plan for your ORD haha. Kino is quite a nice idea...

Wanting

Argh! I was just doing some random image search on the Net, and found this model that got me wanting!

Punk'ed

I feel so punk'ed.

When they do some stupid new version of their albums. 所谓的 改版。

Tsk... What happens to loyal fans who go buy albums as soon as they launch?

"Jay Chou On The Run Special Edition - Comes with exclusive album figurine! Only at $33.90!"

Erm... can the figurine be bought separately, 'cause I have already bought the albu-

"No."

I feel so PUNK'ED!

Platoon fall in!

I was playing this Keroro game on the DS which I couldn't figure out the time I got it (too lazy to read in Japanese haha). It basically involves unlocking mini-games with each episode (like all Japanese conversational waste-of-resource DS games), and the mini games are quite entertaining! And you get to see Keroro at his best!

... Or maybe, worst.

House party!

It took place quite sometime ago, but I'm only blogging about this now 'cause I was waiting for Jon to upload his photos.

One fine day, Kelvin and Jon decided to hold some sort of house party... since Jon and I have been to Kelvin's house umpteen times, and Jon had sort of a good impression of Kelvin's kitchen, it was decided that the party be held at Kelvin's house!

Alex lives in Tanah Merah, and I live in Tampines, so we're invited as well!

And so it begun... with our shopping for ingredients at Sheng Siong (what with all the temptations of chocolate and ice cream and all)... it was relatively easy, since most of us were not exactly experts at choosing the prime picks.

At Kelvin's house it was where the whole drama began!

Jon's quiche prepared beforehand.

For the burgers

Pardon the cutting.

The first wave of sensory assault came when the bacon made its appearance. Dear me, I was assigned to cut the bacon, and... and... the temptation to have a small piece of it was about as strong as the salty bacon aroma. We did have our pieces of it - leftovers from those already fried in the pan.

My nose... argh my nose!

*Sniff Sniff*

The bacon-mushroom mix was to go into the quiche along with beaten egg.

Before

After!!!

The meat patties for the burger looked a bit gross, especially when we still had to wring out the water & blood before frying it. Kelvin did a good job getting them done, though. They were very nicely cooked.

Awaiting the pan.

Kelvin at work.

Ta-dah! Topped with cheese!

And with Kelvin as the host, there's no worry about surround music. Want some Jazz?

With the table set, it's time to tuck in!

"Toast to good food!" (Taken by Jon. Why did Jon choose to upload the one without him in it?)

Another shot at the full setup, also taken by Jon.

Usually, Kelvin and Jon and I together in a place with a musical instrument lying around... means JAM!!!

Jon took a shot of Kelvin playing his M3, from a very nice angle.

Quiche, burgers, wine and instant Cream of Mushroom soup... and nice red wine. What more to ask for?

Bailey's Irish Cream, of course!

Cheeeeeers!

Weather

With December comes Christmas and Peng & Yichuan's ORD and... the weather!

My camp is on a hill, so we get some really refreshing wind... during muster parade the wind was almost constant!

The rain today was a bit extreme, though. At least it left the whole evening cool.

Udon

The little things in life are really giving us important lessons.

Udon, the seemingly normal (maybe only to me) and not-so-filling noodle dish, was once available at the food centre opposite my office. As I said, I dismissed it as not really filling, so I only had it like, once... when I wasn't really looking to eat much for lunch.

It was quite filling, surprisingly. And delicious.

Just when I was basking in the joy of finding a new "friend"...

...

The stall MOVED.

ARRRGH!!!

After that was NUS, where I attended a talk on Special Term. I had a very good impression of the Science canteen (Canteen of the year!!) and I had Udon there once again. It was good!!!

I was happy. That there are so many opportunities to have Udon near my house. The shopping centre food courts, for example.

Until I tried them.

...

I will, erm, cherish the coming days in Science fac more, and have lots more of Udon.

The secret to good Udon is the soup. And you can't find the sweet-savoury soup everywhere. Don't take it for granted.

P.S. God is the potter, and I am the clay. Yes, and I can feel the Potter's hand break me down and reshaping me once again.

Cross-over

Back to playing Pokemon Ranger these days... and I was quite glad when I had a Heracross in my party at some point!

"At some point" 'cause in this Pokemon game you can't keep a caught Pokemon for long, you've got to release it after your current mission is over.

"Love it, Need it, Heracross!" -- Some NPC girl in PKMN Fire Red

Someone send hate mail to Nagaru-san, please...

Today there was a Chuangyi warehouse sale near my workplace... Chiang Wee told me about it and since I haven't bought manga for quite a long time, I decided that it's time to refresh myself about new developments in the manga stories I've been following.

Initial D was available up to volume 35, and Pokemon up to 25. It was quite hard to tell whether the girl on the cover of Ini D 35 was Mika or Natsuki making a comeback... on a closer look, it was indeed Mika. Maybe.

Vol. 1 Natsuki: I had something to look forward to, until Shigeno changed his pen and ruined Natsuki's hair

I've decided to go for School Rumble. I was hoping it was going to be a genuinely funny series as I will love funny high school stories a lot. Moreover, Nicholas told me it was good. Let's just hope it's not the Haruhi kind of "humour" (I mean, goodness, you call that "humour"?) 'cause I've had reservations on recommendations from manga fans ever since Haruhi.

Pokemon. The manga doesn't follow anime storyline, and that means huge relief from Rocket clowns. I do hope the Fire Red Leaf Green storyline can make more sense than the Ruby Sapphire one (which featured 2 terrorist groups with equally lost causes).

This evening I had a wonderful Tim Sum dinner with, erm, "Chick" Chong (tired of telling you which Kelvin I'm talking about) after which we met Jiansheng on the train (small world!).

A little more weight

I needed a weighted keybed, somehow.

I couldn't get a stage piano (closest to piano weighting) as that would be too expensive... so I just got a Midi controller instead. Now I've really run out of power sockets...

The weighting of the keys wasn't as shiok as I tried it the last time (raised expectations, maybe) but it sure beats my X-50 keys.

Matsu

I was talking to Kai Guan about the Hero movie... and the topic subsequently moved to Matsu Takako (she starred as Amamiya in Hero), and *poof!* pasted on the dialogue was a link to Matsu's Wikipedia entry.

... that was fast, man - I mean, bus-man!

Below are some excerpts which got me LOL

Argh I'm so jealous of her... I want to be born a Japanese too!!!

When I first saw her on Long Vacation she made an impression on me 'cause... her beauty is... ok what's the Chinese word... 脱俗.

Ah that's it. Even her music is also quite different from the others... not exactly modern-sounding (even in her latest album launched this year), but soothing I'd say.

Shinnosuke~!

That Edmund...

Now he wants to write a song about Crayon Shin-Chan 'cause it sounds like quite a nice theme... but he hasn't watched Shin-Chan before... neither have I!

Well... here comes Youtube!

Some of the episodes are really funny... you see Shin-Chan holding the flower with his butt cleavage and waving it around... haha and there's this episode about the Japanese expression "mendou kusai" (which means something like embarassing)...

Kusai means smelly. That's why.

To add to the fun, the videos had no subtitles.

HERO

The Hero movie followed the tradition of the drama... the introduction (good thing there's no more of that awkward right-left scanning shot) the whole theme of that story, and Kuryu's "there's no case too small" attitude.

It's just that those who haven't watched the drama before (yes I'm also talking about Korean Drama fans who will be watching the show because of Lee Byung Hun's special appearance) probably won't find the movie that nice.

Lee could have gotten more screen time, though.

And the ending was sure abrupt!

In quietness

Amidst the wave of "free", unreserved, "on fire", vocal, graphical, loud, screaming, freak-you-guys-out kind of worship, I shall hold on to the tiny little Bible verse which says,

"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength"

I was talking to Peng (as I always do) about my worries over Charismaticism scaring people away... I've been through it, I have people close to me involved in it... but it just gives me a very unsettled feeling even now.

What to do but trust God?

To me, perhaps I can never associate the acts of Charismatics with intimacy. Even when I was once told to do so.

Anyway, I'm in this very shitty situation right now and it's all my fault, and my faith is put to the test, or rather, what's put to the test is what I can do with my faith.

I've always thought I was humble. But I found out I'm only selectively so.

HO Chalet 2007

The farewell for Sec 4 members this year took place at Aranda. I heard Edmund say that place was quite shiok but never got to go in one of their chalets. So this year when they invited us there I was quite delighted.

Kelvin (Heng) and I (along with the usual alumni) went for the whole thing... farewell and barbecue (that happened on the 2nd day) and all... they're still a fun bunch and Mr Chen is still the Teacher I/C (he lives in Tampines too haha!).

We were initially feeling quite awkward when we got there, but there were people to talk to and we managed to "locate" our juniors (from sections like 1st Chromatica and Octave).

The organising members prepared the food for day 1 by themselves! And the gifts exchanged between the outgoing and incoming Exco members were quite impressive too.

Members of Octave spanning n generations

They watched lots of movies on the first night, including Jay Chou's Secret. It was then when I realised some of his songs from his latest album (like "Pu Gong Yin De Yue Ding") originated from the Secret soundtrack.

Zzzzz...

On the 2nd day we had cycling with some of the Sec 2's... all the way from Pasir Ris to Fengshan 85! Too bad I didn't manage to take any shots from the trip...

Along with barbecue came bloopers like Wenrong's 2-sided Satay (one side was totally charred)... and there was this cat loitering around the pits, and some of us were figuring out what the cat would eat, trying to feed it all kinds of food items (picky cat, huh). I sort of recalled feeding sausages to cats a few years back, and this time round it worked too! It's still quite creepy feeding it off my hand, though.

Lucky cat... found the "Promised Land" overflowing with mlik and honey unfinished BBQ food.

From left: Wenrong, me, Kelvin and Wenjun. Pardon the lighting (not my cam phone anyway haha)

Indian Poker on the 2nd night was quite, erm, action-packed. Originally the penalty was pulling off a strand of hair, but somehow we've decided that for guys, a kick in the ass will suffice. I mean, try pulling out hair this short... Ouch!

It eventually evolved into whacking-ass using 1L bottles! Double ouch!

---

Every year when I go for HO chalet I'll learn something new. Last year was cycling and this year it was mahjong! On the first night I tried to play a bit and managed to win 1 or 2 games. No match for Kelvin the mahjong king, of course.

Kelvin's "Qing Yi Se".

In the end it was nice that they appreciated our presence. Now I'm even more excited about the combined performance. Be seeing them soon again!

Advert attack

When Kelvin (Chong) showed me this brochure at Timbre I was totally LOL.

Hangover

I really had too much to drink.

Goodness Bailey's was good man, but I drank so much that I could hear my heart beat after getting home...

My head's gonna burst... hangover tomorrow I suppose... hope not.

Keh Kiang

We Hokkiens have a saying, "Kiang teo hoh, mai keh kiang".

So what's Keh Kiang?

It's when you think you can play basketball barefooted, and you really do it. Then when blisters started appearing, it's all to late.

That's Keh Kiang.

Deepavali

Happy Deepavali!

Somehow a public holiday within a work week is always welcome!

DE-fferent

Last Friday there was no basketball; instead there was some Cap's ball and soccer with your provision shop $1.50 ball. Kind of brought me back to the days of primary school soccer which was one of the root causes of my near-autistic childhood... they scolded me everytime I played with them...

"STOP!"

Well, after that we met up at Downtown East to do some recce for the upcoming CPC chalet. The whole carpark at the front became a -

...multi-storey carpark. I was quite upset as the old carpark at night time used to be one of the memories I held dearly of DE... memories of cabbing home with Mom 'cause I couldn't stay overnight...

Tsk. Getting emo all of a sudden.

The carpark looked quite impressive, though, from the chalet area. At night.

Touring round the chalet area, Edmund and Kai Guan were remeniscing about their stays here n years ago... and kept expressing their amazement at how they managed to squeeze Wild Wild Wet into the space between DE and Aranda.

OK they haven't been there for a really long time. Everytime HO has a chalet at DE, it wouldn't be complete without WWW.

Well, it really won't be too nice if the only thing we can swim in is Poo, would it?

The chalet is decided! We would be taking the Christmas holiday package. A bit expensive but it's worth the holiday mood. So we thought.

Unexpected

We went to Wala Wala again on Saturday to watch the Unexpected Band... we had to wait a bit due to some technical difficulties, but once they started there was no more questions about why we came!

I took a photo of Jon in sepia effect... kind of liked it.

ORD

It's difficult not to think of ORD. And even more so when landmarks are chanting the 3 letters in your face.

Ord Bridge. It was apparently named after some official of old by the surname of Ord, but... what a nice surname to have!

Even less easier it becomes, when magazines entitled NSMan start appearing in your pile of subscribed magazines!

Until you discover they're actually June/July issues, kept by your Dad who thought you ain't going to read it anyway.

Operation Katong

Kelvin, Jon and I (we're really going out quite often huh) went for lunch at Aston's at Katong... the steak was good! I ordered this Prime Ribeye Extra cut, for the quantity and for my emotional attachment to that "E" word. The subsequent trip to Cold Storage was almost equally protein-charged.

After that we went for pool. It's really quite stressful, playing with Kelvin. Haha.

Kelvin was full of praises for Jon's posture... well...

Kelvin in action! I Kind of liked the white ball "caught in motion"

Following that was a shopping spree at Parkway. Thirst probably got to us so much that we decided to buy this budget fruit juice drink, 1 litre each. I was initially a bit repulsed by the bottle 'cause the transparency sort of gave me this "detergent" feel, but the mango flavoured one caught my attention, so, Cheers!

P.S. Feeling a bit nostalgic now, watching GTO...