Wednesday, December 29, 2004

The One about my Christmas

I had a nice Christmas eve gift exchange. Really. I loved 'The Rape of Nanking' (Applicable as I just returned from Shanghai and was told the lady author committed suicide after she got so depressed from researching and writing the book). I loved the bigger edition of the Bling Bling scooter/bike that Ziliang got me. Now my Navy STIKFAS figure has a bike! I loved the Barbie Wonderwoman. This means I have to get off my butt and score my own BATGIRL and SUPERGIRL Barbie too. I loved the little plush clock. Mine's always malfunctioning. I also received a lovely little pair of yellow trunks (I'll be flashing em tommorow), a iMac mouse with Mac magazine and finally, the most important present of all, $200 cash from my aunt.

God I love Christmas.

(If I left out any gift, do message me. I have a 3 second memory. Like a fish...)

The One with my HDB Letter

Another one...

I would like to appeal against the summon I received on 23/12/2004 @ 11:25AM. When I returned home at 12:55AM the night before the summon and was unable to find a parking lot outside, I turned into the multi-storey carpark as we did pay the additional fee which enabled us to park inside. As I proceeded down the carpark, I was dismayed to find that it was full until I chanced upon the lots at the end of the carpark. It was, as I later realized, the car wash bay. However, I was unable to tell that it was so as there was a car space between the final lot and there was another car already inside the bay and when approaching the lot in a car, I was unable to see the marking of ‘car wash bay’ as it was simply not prominent enough. The red words on the floor were quite identical to the season parking lots and there was no extra indication that it was indeed a car wash bay. As I slotted the car into the space between the 2 cars, I noticed too that there were 2 blocks of concrete present at the end of the lot as per normal with other parking lots. Hence I didn’t think for a moment that it wasn’t a parking lot. After emerging from the car, I glanced to my right and checked the markings to ensure that it was for season parking as it was a continuous red marking all the way from the other end of the carpark to my lot. Satisfied that it was fine, I locked up and left. As I had no work the next day, I only reached the carpark at noon and found the summon. Apparently the other car parked next to me had already left.

I wish that this appeal would be granted as it was not my intention to purposely park in a designated car wash bay. However, I find that there was inadequate notice given to drivers and as a result, I had unknowingly parked there. If I could suggest that the markings be of a different color or that the words ‘car wash bay’ be painted in yellow in the lots themselves, it would surely make a great difference. I also strongly suggest that the white lots on the opposite side of the season parking be painted red too so that residents have a priority in parking as sometimes I do find that there are a few overnight parking cars using coupons taking up space in the sheltered carpark. After my summon, I notice every night without fail that there would be cars parked in the car wash bay. This problem could be solved had the markings been more prominent or that the current public lots be converted to season parking. It’s not fair that residents pay for sheltered parking and yet have to park in the sun due to the carpark being too small and sheltered lots being allocated to the public as well. We understand that there is another carpark under construction, hence when it is completed there would be more sheltered lots for the residents. However, as it is still a transitional period, it would not be very fair that residents paying for sheltered lots be penalized for this mistake of unknowingly parking in the bay as we did pay extra for having the sheltered season parking car park and the error was made due to (i) unknowingly parking as there was another car in the bay and I sincerely thought that it was a lot; (ii) there was inadequate signs to illustrate the car wash bay; (iii) every single night there would be cars parked there hence my illusion that it was a lot and (iv) there are simply insufficient sheltered lots for the residents with half the lots in the carpark available for the public. As such, I sincerely wish that this appeal would be granted and the summon waived.

Thank you and Regards.

It was really my fault for being blind. But then, it doesn't hurt to try as HDB did contribute to my blindness..

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The One with my DBS Letter

Since we're into the spirit of complaining... here's my complaint letter to DBS. Unreplied of course.

I would like to comment on some problems I encountered when I was on a recent trip to China; Shanghai. When I tried to pay for my purchases at 2 shopping centres there, they rejected my Mastercard which was a debit card. I was perturbed by this as after paying cash for those purchases, I was low on funds and I recalled I had not activiated my replacement card's PIN yet. Hence I wanted to call the 24hr Customer Service Line (6563272265) located behind my debit card to find out (i) was there any problem with my card as I still had to pay for some hotel bills and (ii) whether I could retrieve my PIN number to withdraw cash in the event that my card had further problems and was rejected by the hotel. I made a total of three calls on 11/12/04 alone at 7:03am, 7:05am and 11:37am totalling 17min 24sec of which the entire time I was put on hold awaiting an operator to attend to me. The blocks were 1min 17sec, 5min 29sec and 10min 38sec respectively. I was desperate as you can see on the final call as my situation was 'urgent' and required 'immediate attendance'. Of course, I was not given any service and when I received my Starhub bill after I returned from Shanghai, I was not amused that I had to pay a total of $49.3822 for this non-service. Is there any way I can claim this sum back from DBS? I can produce the necessary documents and the time of call has been stipulated as above so you can check on it to verify for yourself. I await your timely reply.

And yes DBS, I'm still waiting.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

The One with the Phantom of the Opera

Hmm. The film version actually made me cherish my 24K Gold Disc Manufactured in Japan PHANTOM OF THE OPERA CD which was been gathering cobwebs in my CD drawer. Otherwise, it kinda disgusted me. Don't get me wrong. You can't go wrong with Andrew Llyod Webber's music and/or Charles Hart's lyrics. I guess that fact that it was directed by Joel Schumaucher. To educate the general public, here's the lowdown of the esteemed director courtesy of Wikipedia Encyclopedia:

Schumacher's Batman & Robin offered a campy description of Batman, which many fans saw as a mockery to the Batman Legend. After Schumacher's failure, the Batman film series was suspended, until a new wave of serious comics-based films such as Spider-Man (movie) and X-Men (movie) proved to be a hugh success. That film damaged hard Schumacher's reputation as a serious director.

Destroyed Batman. Destroyed Phantom.

I dunno, he didn't have alot of vision I guess. If he didn't realise it, having two people interacting onscreen when there's so much empty space just doesn't work. I'd think shots should have been tighter when there's nothing to see in the background cause all the wide shots just makes the phantom look idiotic prancing around. Sigh. At least he didn't give him nipples.

But the product placement. So obvious. So horrendous. So Schumacher. Swarovski crystals anyone? Ugh.

And trust me when I say ignore the black and white fill ins. It just doesn't make the story any much easier to understand for a non-phantom watcher and even for one that had caught the musical live onstage. It doesn't help. It confuses. So who's the old lady standing there looking tired. Yeah, we know the old geezer's Mr R. So does that mean Christine is dead? I prefer ambiguity. Explain away everything and the magic is gone.

Case in point. The Phantom being a runaway gypsy boy.

Fuck.

How low can he go? Seriously. Screwing up the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera by explaining him away as a violent little gypsy ugly son of a bitch (literally) kinda spoils the entire mood that the story tried so hard to build up from the start doesn't it? So now our Phantom's a little stuck up snotty brat whom treats the theatre as his playground? A brat you say? Thank you very much. Magic gone. No mystery. No point. Next please.

This isn't even a film. This is a movie. And it's not gonna garner any oscars or globes this year (other than for score, but then again it's not fair is it?) ... this much I can predict.

If anybody else says otherwise, do flame me. I'm bored.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

The One with the Shanghai Afterthoughts II

Enough Shanghai bashing. Let's see what I liked about Shanghai..

1) The Low Value of the RMB. Yeah I know. Like damn cheapo right. Budden it makes alot of difference when your SGD $1 = their RMB $5. Especially so when like a bowl of shui jiao is like RMB $3 which makes it like SGD $0.60? Or when we ate at restaurants with the bill totalling RMB $50 for 3 people, it means we spent less than SGD $10 combined for 3 people. Making out to $3.3333333333333 for a feast fit for a king! Amazing stuff. CDs (original) cost RMB $25 which transalates to SGD $5. A metro ride RMB $2 = SGD $0.40. A box set of DVDs which I was eyeing in SG cost me RMB $50 = SGD $10 and they were selling the exact same thing here for SGD $60. Taxis start at RMB $10 in Shanghai, RMB $7 in Nanjing, and we rarely exceed RMB $20 for a 1/2hr ride.. which makes out to SGD $5! Whew. I think you get the idea. Same pricing but divided by 5. Lower value of money, I like.

2) The Food. Food in Shanghai is awesome. I don't understand why people complain its too oily. It isn't! It's magnificant. Heh. We spent quite a tidy sum on food alone as my travelling companion refuses to eat at roadside stalls which I really wanted to try. Oh well. I'll get another time to try it. Maybe next year. But the food's really traditional. Cannot ever find such food in Singapore! I've never had a vegetarian meal so sedap.. using mushrooms in replace of squid. Deep fried. Mmm. Perfection. I've never eaten before many of the dishes we ordered. Everything just tastes different. Tastes better. I even put on 2kg and gained a tummy from 8 days of non-stop gourmet food. But I don't regret a single bite. Damn I miss the food.

3) The Taxis. There's an abundance of taxis in Shanghai. It's damn easy to get a cab, and some even make an illegal U-turn in the middle of the road just to get your business! Plus, you can also NOT pay the driver if you encounter such scenarios (really!): (1) If the driver fails to greet you, (2) If the driver smokes in the car, (3) If the driver refuses to accept your travel card (It's sorta like an ez link card for transport!), (4) If the driver is unable to print a receipt for you, and (5) If the driver spits out of the car. Plus, they all wear formal suits! Zai. Now what do Singapore taxi drivers wear? Hmm.

4) The Eye-Candy. I don't know why. But the Shanghainese are just so damn chio. A majority la. There are of course some ugly ones. But majority are chio. Especially the female police and the female army people. All so ladylike. But in uniform. Chio chio! I guess it's attributed to how they dress. They do dress very fashionably. Envious sia. Look at them. Then look at how we dress. I should have packed a suit to Shanghai. Instead, I wore a polo t-shirt and jeans. Once I take off my jacket, damn obiang. Sadz. Singapore lacks eye-candy and good fashion sense. We should wake up. Haiz.

5) The DVDs. I bought so many DVDs. Original and non-original. Original Japanese anime ones are really hard to get by in Singapore. And those found in Singapore are seriously marked up in price. Hence getting them direct from China is really a bargain. Like 5 times cheaper. Where else can I find the entire set of Samurai X, Naruto or Shaman King? Best of all, these are expensive items (luxury goods!) in China and nobody buys them.. so they're all sitting in the shopping centres waiting for me to buy them! Happy happy joy joy. Pirated ones lagi best. No pirated Japanese anime, but plenty of TV series. Especially the ang moh ones. I was particulary happy to obtain my copy of SPACED, a british comedy by the guy in SHUAN OF THE DEAD. Good stuff and amazingly available in pirated format. Just cost me SGD $1.25 each! Malaysia still costs SGD $5 each! So obviously the cheapo greedy pig in me bought plenty. Which I will give away after I'm done with em. Got stuff like CSI seasons 3 & 4, The Family Guy, Garfield & Friends, Powerpuff Girls and some award winning documentaries just to name a few. Love my DVDs.

6) The People. Yeah. Despite them being loudmouthed and sometimes scary, they're actually pretty friendly when I stopped them and asked for directions. I was even stopped by others to ask for directions twice. Of course, I had to say I didn't know where the place they wanted to go was.. but I could have been a bastard and given wrong directions. Could have. Heh. Anyway, as I said, they're darn friendly when you actually talk to them. I guess we've approached at least 2 people everyday just to ask for directions. That's the penalty for not bringing a map around with us. Amazing eh? No map still can survive. Ask people lah! Sometimes we even engage in little small talk, like when we stopped a guy on a scooter (yes! on a scooter!) and asked for directions to a certain pub, he actually recommended us other pubs. Ha! See, friendly people. Nice nice.

7) The Weather. Nice and cool. 24/7 air con. I like. But at night, I prefer to be warm, which can be achieved by the heating in the hotel room. So basically I loved the weather every minute I was there. Afterall, I was adequately prepared for it. Gloves, thermal underwear and a nice snow jacket. Abit overkill actually but it's damn comfy. And rarely do I sweat. Actually I didn't even need to bathe everyday. Budden. Formality sake. And also to keep myself clean. Heh. The weather helped my pimples much. Many of them went away! But I suspect they'll be back soon. Grrr.

8) The Buildings. Shanghai has an amazing mix of traditional shophouses, colonial buildings, modern skyscrapers and also buildings with such far-fetched designs that one would think .. is that real? Heh. Obviously the traditional shophouses take the cake for me. I love the original antique design of such shophouses. The more worn down the better. Reflects the history of the place I'd say. And they haven't been restored! Government no money la. So basically what you see is 100% authentic! I like. We wandered around some back alleys too to take pictures. Very interesting contrast between the modern buildings which are just like next door. Though some may think their urban planning screw up, I think it's nice. You see the development of the city right there. Through their buildings. The colonial buildings include the famous PEACE HOTEL. That entire stretch (The Bundt) is simply fabulous. Reminds me of London. I also like. Finally, they have the Pearl. Which is like an observatory thingy. However, it just seems like another phallic symbol to me. Got 2 balls summore. I couldn't believe my eyes at the ridiculous design. But the Government liked it. I prefer the other phallic symbol (Eiffiel Tower) so I got nothing to say.

9) The Communist. The main attractions in Shanghai for me weren't the museum nor the boat ride up and down the river. I preferred the free Young Communist Party Museum to the National Museum of which I fell asleep amongst the jade and bronze statutes. Too tired la. Anyway, the CCP museum is damn zai. Propaganda has never been so interesting. I'm sure PAP has a tiny museum locked up somewhere too, and schools will one day be forced to send their students there on compulsary outings (we met a group of schoolkids there). We also had the priviledge of visiting the HQ of the CCP near Xing Tian Di. Where Mao Zhedong held his first CCP meeting. Damn shiok reading their history. But they blatently left out the cultural revolution. Hmm. Oh well. But they're very updated. Got Yao Ming and recently the China guy that got shot up into space. Plus, I loved the way they write about their members. Eg. Our hot-blooded (direct translation) young man died valiantly at the war front in battle against the evil conqurers. Something to that extent. Think you guys get the gist? Communists. Interesting read. For modern day CCP parties, look no further than our very own PAP. I actually wanted to get a Mao Zhedong bust and statute. But no money! Had to buy stuff for you people first. SIGH.

10) The Gardens. Amazingly, they have some kick-ass gardens there with some virtually flawless scenaries. No bluff. They're so beautiful that I think I took over 50 photos there. Unfortunately, many had other people inside as there were TOO MANY BLOODY TOURISTS in the garden. Cannot get a picture without any outsiders. Damn. Such is the problem when visiting tourist locations. Sigh. But they were beautiful. And once my photos are up, I'm sure you'll all agree.

11) The Toilets. Apparently the rumor that China has the worst toilets are unfounded. The shopping centre toilets, tourist attraction toilets and even small toilets in mini restaurants were pretty ok. They actually fared better than the local coffeeshop toilet downstairs of my house. Speaks volumes eh? Oddly enough, the worst toilet goes to Pu Dong University. The best local university in Shanghai. Their male toilet cubicles consisted of nothing but an open pipe. You shit into the pipe, flush at the end of the cubicle and your shit travels past everyone else and goes into a bigger pipe. Whoopee. And they have no toilet paper. Acck.

12) The History. Nothing beats Chinese History. I mean, afterall, we're chinese. It's like our roots. (I even picked up a phamplet for 1 RMB explaining the origins of my surname!) But nothing touched me more than the Nanjing Massacre Museum at (where else) Nanjing. That alone made the 6hr to and fro ride from Shanghai to Nanjing worth it. At the museum, we got to see pictures of the atrocities the Japanese did (Fucking Japs!) to our humble ancestors. It's really not for the faint hearted. And really really heart wrenching. There were bodies there. Real actual skeletal remains of the victims which illustrated the cruelty of the japanese. A bullet hole in the head of a middle aged woman. A baby's head found severed in his own lap. A man with steel spikes attached to his skull. Another one with no legs. The list of torture just goes on and on. Which brings me now to a story one of the local students told me regarding their visit to the museum. Apparently when they were there, there was a Singaporean tour group present. And in this group, there was this fat (plump, fat, what's the difference) girl whom was standing looking at this wall inscribed with the names of some of the victims of the massacre. I think they said she was about 18-19? And she looked at every single name one by one, before turning to her mother and asked loudly, "How come don't have my name arh?" Heh. Later lagi worse. When she went to visit the tomb with the remains of the victims (Which I took pictures of and will post up) her first remark was "Wah! All these bones look like dog bones!" I don't care if she's chinese. Or if she's Singaporeans. She has no respect. She has to die. (For more details on Respect, look to "Shark Tale" specifically to the 2 hilarious jellyfishes) I feel for the poor victims. If given a chance, I would do something about it. But I'm just a lousy student tourist. Maybe next time can start a pentition to make the Japanese Government to own up to Nanjing. Apparently there was a victim whom was pregnant and a Japanese soldier tried to rape her. She bit his hand and he cut open her belly. He child dropped out. He then killed the child (duh) and slashed her over 20 times. Amazingly she survived. And gave anti-Japanese speeches since the war ended and tried to make Japan own up to their wrongs in Nanjing (you guys know they actually had killing competitions? The fuckers.). Unfortunately for her, the Japanese government didn't. And she died just 3 days prior to my visit to the museum. I respect the survivors. I for one am interested to find out how my grand-uncles survived during the war now (I know my granddad ran to Singapore and subsequently into the rural villages in Malaysia). Maybe all of you should ask how your grandparents survived the war. My companion's grand-uncles were all killed by the Japanese (Granddad also came to Singapore). It's time to know your roots ask. I'm sure your parents will be willing to tell you.

That's about all for now. I'm quite beat. If I recall anything else I shall just add on to the post.. Afterwhich it'll be a new post.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

The One with the Shanghai Afterthoughts I

Some things about Shanghai I disliked:

1) The Air. I love the cold weather. But the air. It's really bad. Atrocious even. Every night I'll just dig through my nostrils and discover they're like black, Really black. Like soot black. Pollution is really bad there.. though others swear Beijing is worse (I'm gonna bring a gas mask there) and Hongkong isn't that swell, but I still think currently Shanghai's air is bleargh. Amazingly though I read in Times that some Beijing people moved from Beijing to Shanghai on the account of the better air quality. Go figure. We've taken our clean air for granted all this while. It's really great to be able to breathe in deep without choking. The air pollution can be attributed by a few factors some of which will be covered below..

2) The Smokers. It's really scary where they can smoke. There are like no limits. People smoke everywhere. Hotel lobbies, shopping centres, lifts, on the streets (duh) and worst. In restaurants. Nothing like having 2nd hand smoke for like 15hrs of your day. Everywhere we went it was smoke, smoke and more smoke. Except the metro. But once they got off the train and onto the platform, it's smoke smoke and more smoke. You're enjoying your wonderful traditional chinese food, and you smell smoke. You're in the lift with nowhere else to go, and you kenna smoke. You're jostling to get into the Train station and you smell smoke. You're happily shopping in the store and you smell smoke. In this aspect, I'd have to thank Singapore for being so FINE.

3) The Construction Works. Shanghai today is like a giant construction site. Everywhere is underconstruction in the city. Which is weird coz I thought the Games in 2008 were in Beijing. Maybe they're finally building giant air filters? But basically every single place we went was under construction. Which accounted for much for the dust flying around in the air. That coupled with my sinus problem basically gave me a hell of a cold and a whooping cough.

4) The Spitters. Shanghainese love to spit. Everywhere. But this time limited to out in the public places and not in buildings. Thank God. It's like walking on the street, and you'll hear someone clearing their throats and going KA-PUI. It's not just the old foggys doing it. I personally saw a pretty 20+ year old girl dressed rather fashionably walking along the road, when suddenly she gave out a loud KAAAAAAA.. and PUI'd right infront of me. I would like to believe it wasn't intentionally aimed at me though. I attribute the spits to the air. I felt compelled to clear my throat all the time too.. but I limit myself to the toilet.

5) The Lack of Dustbins. They have zilch dustbins on the streets. Maybe they have some. But so well concealed that I was unable to find them and sometimes even spent up to 1/2hr holding onto my rubbish. Sad. Due to this lack of dustbins, people threw stuff everywhere. They can be peeling oranges, then the next minute, just dumping it on the street.. the skin of course. If you think MRTs removing dustbins on the platforms and from the stations were bad, you'll hate having to search high and low for a dustbin.

6) The Crowds. Oh I hate crowds. I hate rush hour traffic in Singapore. I hate being stuck in a jam. I hate countdowns where I'm stuck in a mass of 1,000s of people. I hate squeezing onto a cramped MRT train with other commuters and being unable to get a seat. I hate squeezing onto a crowded bus. Basically. I hate crowds. Which is why I detested taking the metro, train and bus in Shanghai. (Ok, bus not so bad) But the metro and train were like FWAH. It's hard to describe how it's like to get into a metro station, on the train, then out and back onto the street. It's also hard to describe how I get onto a train to get to other provinces. But I will try. Imagine this. Imagine the Christmas shopping crowd at orchard roads this past weekend. Got it? Now. Imagine the same amount of space, yet multiply the people by 4x. That's the crowd you'll get at the metro station. 24/7. (Until they close at 10pm that is) Every single time I took a train at different times of the day, I kenna this giant mass of people. You don't get much space and people are frequently shut out of the train due to lack of space. Worse. Before the train doors open, you'll have to position yourself strategically or you'll be left out. The train station for travel to other provinces is slightly worse. You do get assigned seats. So seats aren't a problem. But as my photos will attest, the crowd is similar in size, if not, more than those in the metro stations. When entering the station to get to Shuzhou, we weren't walking along. We were pushed along and shoved along through the entrance and through the gates before being able to walk to our designated carriage. Scary. But coming back, I love being able to walk with so much space. I love space. Oh yes.

7) The Shoving and Cutting of Queues. A traditional aspect of the Shanghainese is to shove and cut. Shove people to get where they want. And in the process, cut the queue. There is also the peaceful option of just cutting the queue without shoving. I shall illustrate my point. They love to shove each other to get to the trains (metro and train) first. At the metro station, they'll shove each other rather violently to rush in and get seats. And the train stations, they'll shove the entire crowd along until they get into the gates. It's really shoving due to the entire mass of people, and it's justified shoving. To them anyway. This isn't the shoving you get in zouk from horny guys trying to get fresh with the girls trying to justify that there's a crowd behind them (which there isn't) but in china, there are people everywhere. So it's kinda justified. But the shoving for the train seat abit extreme. There's another way of cutting the queue. And that's pretending not to see the person infront. Like for example, we were waiting outside a cab for the passenger to alight after he was done paying the fare. Once the person stepped out, a middle aged auntie promptly came out of nowhere and opened the door infront of me and basically shoved her big ass into the cab and ordered the driver to drive off. It left me screaming fuck! fuck! fuck! after her but I think she didn't recognise english. She also didn't understand hokkien hence my barrage of hokkien was useless. I was extremely pissed. But I let it pass. It's their culture to cut. So, give in la.

8) The Shouting. When Shanghainese talk, they shout. And when you bargain, they shout. Basically I don't like to be shouted at. And all of them remind me of my dad. So I don't really like it. I'm not deaf, don't shout at me. Simple as that. It's kinda annoying when people keep shouting at you. Another reason they shout is because they're kinda open in the aspect that they will speak their mind. Case in point: An american was walking along the street with his arm around a china girl. A guy goes up and offers to sell watches. The girl tells him in chinese to bugger off. He practically shouted after her "Chou por niang! You think this road is yours? And let loose lotsa chinese verbal abuse" It's cool that they speak their mind. But just don't shout so much. Even on the cell phone. Argh. Shout shout shout. So much noise. So many people. So cannot take it.

9) The Traffic. Their traffic lights are kinda useless. Even when the green man is on my side, I'm still obligated to let cars pass. It's an unwritten rule. And apparently after consulting one of the locals there, they have no such traffic rule that the cars can't pass when the green man is on the favour of the pedestrian. Then what's the bloody light for? It's really quite dangerous siaming traffic. But one gets used to it after a few times. Heh. And we like to cross with locals. Use them as shields. Kenna knock also they buffer for us. Evil!

10) The Horning. Amazingly in Shanghai, there's another traffic rule. Unspoken. Unwritten. And that's the bigger your vehicles is, the more you have the right of way. Hence here, bus drivers reign supreme. The very first day I took a shuttle bus service from the airport to the city and the blaring of horns along the way by the bus driver alone far exceeded the number of times I horned the car in Singapore for one year combined! Everything also horn. Horn horn horn. The horning is so bad that they even put up "no horning" signs on certain streets. Crazy but true. Every other second confirm can hear horn one. I don't like. I prefer the peaceful way of letting the guy pass and that's it. Prior to Shanghai, one stupid china woman tried to cycle and cut my car when I'm turning. I dunno why she thought she could pedal faster than me pressing the gas pedal, but i had to e-break to avoid hitting her. Yet I didn't horn. But the car behind me did. horned her like 10 times when I swerved into the other lane and he was stuck with her infront of him. Heh.

11) The Traffic Lights on the Expressway. I mean. It's the expressway. Can't they build a flyover? We were held up more than 6 times along the way back to the airport on the last day due to the red lights on the expressway. And we were almost late for our flight! It's crazy, I mean, suddenly from 120km/h break. Wait for 2mins or more, queue accumulates, and later kenna stop again. They should wake up their idea and make the expressway a true blue expressway with no lights. Silly people.

12) The Credit Cards. They rejected my Mastercard. Ouch. The department stores actually rejected my Mastercard. Boy did they lose out. I spent 800RMB combined in two stores and if I could use my card, it'll easily have been 2,000RMB. Silly silly people. Amazingly they prefer cash to credit cards. So you'll actually see people using thick wads of cash instead of cards. Those that do accept cards, only accept local credit cards. It's quite dumb. We take for granted that any Giordano in Singapore accepts credit cards. But not there. Similarly, a damn posh high class restaurant NOT in the tourist district also doesn't accept credit cards. These guys are really losing out and making my pocket thin out. I could have spent so much more. But then. Sigh. Silly silly department store.

13) The Touters. It's not that bad really. Which is why I mention them last. At Xiang Yang Night Market, we were bombarded by touters. Damn scary, they'll chase after you and attempt to sell you that LV bag or PRADA wallet from an authentic catalog. Very persistant buggers but I choose to decline them politely instead of telling them to bugger off. I mean, must give them credit for "working" instead of sitting on their bums and begging. Will be easier to illustrate all my points with pictures which are coming soon!

Shanghai isn't that bad. It's quite nice actually. Next post will be about nice stuff in Shanghai! 24hrs later that is..

Sunday, December 05, 2004

The One with the Wireless Post

I'm posting this whilst lying on my bed using my newly set up wireless connection. It just rocks to be able to use the net anywhere in my house especially the toilet (don't ask). It was kinda hellish trying to get all the settings correct and finally after calling singnet to secure some vital numbers, it actually worked. (I don't know why it worked prior in the morning, but it didn't really work because it was lan based when my brother used it, but now it's WIRELESS BABY!)

Yes. Wireless.

And I can't enjoy it to the max until I'm back on the 13th from Shanghai. Oh darn. Anyway, I will be as stated going on a trip to Shanghai. It's too late to receive want lists and I will try to remember as much as I can from those that actually wanted stuff. To tell the truth, I have an extremely bad memory and I can vaguely recall.. almost nothing of what anyone said. Von Dutch Bag? Cap? Mont Blanc Pen? DVDs? Handbag? Wallet? That's about it. But who wants what? Can't remember. Nevermind.

Going to pack now. 5hours later I'm leaving and I still haven't packed. I have like 5hrs on the flight between BBK and PVG (It's supposed to be some china airport) and I only brought a mac mag. Looks like I'll have to dig up some trashy entertaining novel to bring. Damn.

Seeya all in 8 days.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

The One with the Sex Bunny

http://www.madman.com.au/tism/bunny/

Everyone else has had more sex than me
Does anyone else get that feeling?
Teenagers, naked, couple in threes;
Grandparents swing from the ceiling;
Corporate capers and office amour;
Shenanigans outdoor and in -
Resist, and then later you find out there's more
Regret in not doing the sin.

All loves have to die - of that there's no help;
My favourite way to end em'
Is the orb-weaver spider's, whose pedipalp
Enters the female pudendum,
Then dies on the spot, his corpse there still stuck,
Left for his rivals to curse it.
He would rather die than not get to fuck:
Personally, I reckon it's worth it.

The One with Steven Lim

Ok. This isn't even considered a post. I wanted to post a reply in wmx's blog but dunno why Blogspot fucked up.

http://stevenlim.net

I am strongly advising people NOT to go to the above-mentioned website. This is for wmx to check out as he was mentioned by the guy on his website.

Again, this site is not for the faint-hearted.

If you thought Wubing was bad.. ha. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Goodnight people, it's 4:20am.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

The One with the Classic Captain America

I got him. I really got him. At retail!

Today I went down Spawnasia to camp. Budden after 1hr plus, received a call from a contact and was told Paragon had variants! Bloody hell, if only I hadn't hesitated and went there first at 12 I would have gotten the ENTIRE set! That's right. ENTIRE SET of variants at retail. And if only Gilson had gone down when I called him but we shouldn't digress.. haha.

Yeah, so the deal was, by the time I went down, the entire set was reserved and sold right in front of me. Sad. Budden I went through the shelves and found a VARIANT CAPTAIN AMERICA! $14.90!

Happiness.

Now I'm paying for it by mugging till probably 7? 8?

I suck.

But Captain America Rocks!

Saturday, November 20, 2004

The One with the 3hrs of Sleep

Woke up at 9am today. Finally had breakfast! Didn't help that it was a great weather to SLEEP IN. But having a nightmare considering being alseep for 3hrs (or less) made me really cranky.

Threw on Superman III just to cover my breakfast and started on Nuisance.

I SO DO NOT NEED THIS RIGHT NOW.

Will do some self-reflection after the exams. I think my nightmare can be good material for a short film. Need to get a script out though.

#$%^&*@!

I feel that my day has been ruined.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

Let's see how the day goes.

The One with the Healthy Lifestyle Change

Today, I am implementing a healthy lifestyle change for myself. I shall sleep earlier and wake up earlier. Not at 6, but at 5. Or earlier. Wanted to go jogging too (sorry Moli) but I expect that I won't be able to walk least jog at 6:30am after only 1.5hrs of sleep. I'm setting my alarm clock for 9am, hopefully I can finally catch breakfast.

Then again, why am I still up blogging?

I need to get my life in order, after my papers are over, I expect that I shall be given adequate time to unwind before revising for Contract again for Semester 2.

(yah right)

At least I do have some semblance of activities planned out for the December holidays. I hope.

Dec 1st paper ends, PARTY (Wherever, whatever)
Dec 2nd Kbox!
Dec 3rd (Free?!)
Dec 4th Zoukout
Dec 5th Hangover
Dec 6th (Possibility of flying to China for 1 week)
--insert trip to KL to visit Wernie's house
--insert Hall Activities (snicker)
--insert Misc. commmitments (e.g. Christmas)
I'd say I'm packed.

But I'm not complaining, at least there's something interesting to look forward to..

Thursday, November 18, 2004

The One with the Misrepresentation

5:46AM

Actually, there's nothing on this post about Misrepresentation. Other than the fact that I'm done with it. Heh. Mistake too. Frustration too. Though that's not being tested.

Anyway, somebody says I'm nice! Yay! But I dunno who! Boo!

Oh well. That little light at the end of the dark tunnel of mugging was nice when I heard it after like 12-13 hours of non-stop mugging.

Perked up my morning it did.

Post more later I will.

Sleep now I shall.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

The One with the Ex-Girlfriend

The Ex-Girlfriend

Written by: Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld
Directed by: Tom Cherones
Broadcasted: January 23, 1991 for the first time.
Stars: Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards,
Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Tracy Kolis (as Marlene).

[Setting: Jerry's car]
GEORGE: She can't kill me right?!
JERRY: No, of course not.
GEORGE: People break up all the time.
JERRY: Everyday.
GEORGE: It just didn't work out. What can I do? I wanted to love her. I tried to love her. I couldn't.
JERRY: You tried.
GEORGE: I kept looking at her face. I'd go: "C'mon, love her. Love her!"
JERRY: Did you tell her you loved her?
GEORGE: Oh, I had no choice. She squeezed it out of me! She'd tell me she loved me. Alright, at first, I just look at her. I'd go "Oh, really?" or "Boy, that's, that's
something." But, eventually you have to come back with "Well, I love you." You know, you can only hold out for so long!"
JERRY: You're a human being.
GEORGE: And I didn't even ask her out. She asked me out first. She called me up. What was I supposed to do? Say no? I can't do that to someone.
JERRY: You're too nice a guy.
GEORGE: I am. I'm a nice guy.. (realizing) And she seduced me! We were in my apartment, I'm sitting on the couch, she's on the chair - I get up to go to the
bathroom, I come back, she's on the couch. What am I supposed to do? Not do anything? I couldn't do that. I would've insulted her.
JERRY: You're flesh and blood.
GEORGE: I had nothing to do wtih any of this! I met all her friends, I didn't want to meet them. I kept trying to avoid it. I knew it would only get me in deeper. But
they were everywhere! They kept popping up, all over the place. "This is Nancy, this is Susan, this is Amy.. This is my cousin.. this is my brother.. thisis my father."
It's like I'm in quicksand.
JERRY: I told you when I met her..
GEORGE: My back is killing me.
JERRY: You gotta go to my chiropractor, he's the best.
GEORGE: Oh yeah, everybody's guy is the best.
JERRY: I'm gonna make an appointment for you. We'll go together.
GEORGE: Please. They don't do anything.. Look, do I have to break up with her in person? CAn't I do it over the phone? I have no stomach for these things.
JERRY: You should just do it like a Band-Aid. One motion! Right off!

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

The One with the Tag Board

I admit it. I'm stupid. I still can't figure out 1) how to add a link to another webpage in my post, 2) how to link my blog to other blogs and 3) how to add a tagboard. When I tried to access the free sample tagboard via http://www.tag-board.com/, I got this rude message:

Gateway Timeout - The following error occurred: A gateway timeout occurred. The server is unreachable. Retry the request. (GATEWAY_TIMEOUT) Please contact the administrator.

Whoopie.

Anyway, it's 3am and it's officially 2nd November 2004 (Singapore Time). In another 8 hours approximate, it'll be the morning of 2nd November 2004 in the States. Time to vote America. Interestingly, this is one election in which neither side know whether for sure, they are going to win. With Bush edging in at 50% of the votes and Kerry at 47% and if you add in the marginal error of 3%, we pretty much have a tie. Which way will it go? To the Incompetent Bush or the Incoherent Kerry? Whatever the result, it will probably be pretty interesting. I shall quote Wayne on this one:

" I will try to update all of you on the US Elections as it unfolds. Four more days! Minnesota is a swing state and everyone is coming here to grab the votes.The stepsons of Kerry with ashton kutcher came to Carleton yesterday and this was the biggest pol event that Carleton has ever seen. (So many girls supporting ashton rather than kerry i think..but the kerry brothers are models too..so) I think this election is really important to both parties,candidates and the people generally. Nader (Green) came to St Olaf too. Unfortunately, seems that Bush seems to be destined for the White house again.. Things dun look good for Kerry Edwards.

Minnesota would probably vote Republican president for first time in many years. Bush is leading in almost all the swing states, florida, penn, minnesota, wiscosin... Local/State elections dun seem good for the democrats too...

Bush for four years~! REALLY Food for thought....Kerry Edwards 04 is almost gone... "

Though the 2004 election is the hottest topic right now, I think it's interesting to note the The Economist in their article gave a possible line-up for the 2008 elections. John McCain, Chuck Hagel, RUDY GIULIANI and possibly MR SCHWARZENEGGER. I shall be looking forward to that in four year's time. Which is when it'll be my pupilage year. Interesting.

I actually wish that Arnold would be able to pull a Reagen.

But - (MSN - Incoherent Quote) Maybe its not meant to be.

Friday, October 29, 2004

The One with the Interesting Post

I found this pretty interesting post from claudine's blog at http://claudinej.blogspot.com/

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

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

"procrastination is like masturbating. its cool until you realise you're fucking yourself!"

posted by claud @ 11:42 PM

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

Keep in touch Claud!

The One with the Talentime

Officially, I have seen the worst the world has got to offer me today, and it was C Block's excuse of a skit for talentime. The most recent shitty performance I saw prior was the TWINS EFFECT 2. It was just wrong. Atrocious. Words cannot express the nervous shock I got from wasting $8.50 for watching such a disgusting show. C Block managed to achieve the impossible. They managed to intrude my senses despite me keeping my eyes closed and basically stomped on my brain and threw it out the door. It was such a painful watch. Transition was bad. Setting up of scenes took quadraple the time the length of the actual scene itself.. and the lead actor was so stone that he would actually make Benedict Goh blush. I have nothing else to say. It gave me a headache just sitting through the entire length of the skit. I had hoped that there would actually be redemption as I saw Nick involved in it quite a few days prior, but well .. no go. I've still got the headache now. And the block meeting didn't help. Argh.

I think I need to learn how to play the guitar soon.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

The One with the Overrated Director

"Patrick Khoo aka Careless Whisper, a nickname he received for quietly mouthing the lyrics to the Wham! classic during the Singapore Idol auditions, is the subject of Royston Tan's next short film. And yes, he will sing in the movie.

The two short films will premiere next year in Chicago at 0104, a Royston Tan retrospective show that will go to London and Tokyo before coming to Singapore. The show is curated by Tan and represents his short films from 2001 to 2004, hence the title."

I don't know about the general public in Singapore. But am I the only one that thinks Director Royston Tan is overrated?

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

Sons (1999)
Runtime: Hong Kong:11 min (Hong Kong International Film Festival)
Language: Hokkien

Hock Hiap Leong (2001)
Runtime: 7 min

Mother (2001)
Runtime: USA:6 min
Language: Mandarin

24 Hours (2002/I)
Runtime: USA:2 min
Language: English

'15' (2002)
Runtime: 25 min
Color: Color

15 (2003)
Runtime: Singapore:90 min
Language: Hokkien / Mandarin
Certification: Singapore:(Banned) (original rating) / Singapore:R(A) (edited for re-rating)

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

Let's see, if they were to showcase his short films on his so-called tour, it'll probably last a total of 26 minutes without the two '15's. That's a little short. Unless IMDB is wrong, we're really barking up the wrong tree by showcasing him as a talented local director alongside Eric Khoo. Methinks Tan doesn't even come close.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that this guy can't direct and hasn't produced anything film worthy. I'm judging him (Yeah I know it's wrong to judge. But then again, I did pay premium to watch 15 at the SFF) based on what I've seen him do, and what's he's fucked up. If anyone begs to differ, do let me know.

I must specify too that I've NOT watched some of his shorts, namely: 24 Hours (2002/I), Mother (2001), Hock hiap leong (2001) and Sons (1999) basically because I didn't get a chance to do so. Now on with the crtiq.

I did manage to download a copy of his initial short of 15 from Kazaa a few years back. It was one of those interesting pieces that you get to know by word of mouth. I remember that I liked it. Liked it alot and even converted it to VCD to pass around to my friends. Sometimes you find a gem, you just want to share it. So obviously I was ecstatic when I heard they were making an 'extended' version to be screened in its full uncensored glory during the SFF.

Unfortunately, Tan's creativity was severly affected by the prospect of having a load of cash to blow on his extension of 15. I guess it's one of those cases where there's limited or no budget, you tend to be more concise and film what is necessary and relevant as opposed to being able to play around and basically fuck up your plot.

The first film had quite beautiful visuals. Really. The second was just wrong. One expects an extended edition to be something like what we can catch on DVD. Ya know, like the LORD OF THE RINGS EXTENDED EDITION with 45 minutes more footage. Cuts that were left on the floor were like integrated into the show and hence made the film more relevant, e.g. Frodo getting the Evenstar from Arywen. But nope. He had the brilliant idea of.. 'why don't I attach about an hour of totally new film AFTER my initial short film and count it as a full blown 90 minute movie?'

Seriously, I don't know if that's called lazy or was there any actual reason behind the addition. Why not just leave the first '15' as it was? 25 minutes of beautiful film and not horribly disfiguring it with the 'higher-budget' but fucked up poor excuse for a film extension which was 15 (2003).

Maybe Tan has stooped to the level of Jack Neo and has resorted to making poor tasteless films. Perhaps the only redeemable aspect of Jack Neo's film career was Home Run. But even that was a poor remake of an originally brilliant film and the biggest factor was his overexcessive peppering of local issues in it. Unfortunately the poor denizens of Singapore have an almost zero appreciation for real film and embraced his integration of local material in Home Run as brilliant. Well. Fuck them. But I digress. I believe that Tan just suffered from having little or no ideas on how to extend his initial 15. It could have been very well done. Given what we've seen in the first 25 minutes. But an extension was really unecessary. Why not just make a separate film? (Actually I felt that the main reason it didn't work was because it felt really different and the transition was bad between the short and the hour long addition. And also the reason that the second part sucked.)

I'm always one for Dick jokes. I loved the episode in the hilarious british comedy THE UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE where they basically made the entire episode a giant dick joke. Really. It was funny. Tasteless but funny. Somehow, I don't see how relevant the measuring of a dick and well showing a giant dick on a full sized movie screen can be considered film art. I mean. Yeah, that's about as huge as a dick joke can go. But was it necessary? Perhaps it was homage to Fight Club. Perhaps he was just into gay porn. I dunno. But I felt it was wrong. Don't put something into a film just for the sake of being able to do it. What does it show? What does it prove? You're just fucking up your movie. (Case in point, Pikachu in a supposed horror movie which ended up as a comedy) Ya wanna show male bonding, go masturbate on a swimming pool diving board (Yu Tu Ma Ma Thumbien) for god's sake. Disturbing jarring images do not make good film if there is no reason behind it.

I guess the main downfall of Tan's film was the relevance of his images. We've seen people go for piercings on film before. Is it necessary to actually film it in all its gory? If you're using gore to woo people to watch your film, then do it a la Battle Royale. Was the piercing for realism? Go film reality TV instead. Forcing your actors to swallow condoms with pills is a little over-excessive. Sure, you've got the reason of realism. To show what these people are going through. But is it necessary? Can not simulation do the trick? Maybe that's because they're actually not good actors. Hence having to go through the real stuff. Ha.

Finally, his extension suffered too from its lack of direction. Transition from the first 25 minutes to the next 60 minutes was pretty bad. I don't feel for the characters much and I don't feel compelled to feel for them. I didn't even feel a thing when the kid self-mutilated himself. That shows how detaching the last 60 minutes was.

Maybe I'm sounding too superficial by focusing on the visual aspects of the film. But that's recollecting my thoughts after viewing the film last year. It was so forgettable script wise that I can't remember anything except the giant dick and the physical torturing scenes (Was that the point?). If anybody wishes to forward me their write up of what they think of Tan's films and/or post their comments, it'll be great.

Anyway. That was about 15. Realising his 'potential' after '15' (Due to much media hype and publicity), I recall they pulled him in to do some commerical or ad shooting for.. something. Something which involved people dancing around onscreen. It was supposed to be comedic. But really. It was low taste. Now we're treated with the new material he's gonna use for his next shorts. Singapore Idol rejects. One comes to think how good he really is at spotting material and actually playing around it it. His decisions and films really reflect his mentality. In this case, does it show that he's stooped to an all time low? (Was he ever high?) Has fame gone to his head?

Or have his 15 minutes just come to an end?

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

The One with Von Dutch

What you kids don't know about the racist alcoholic genius behind Von Dutch.

Yeah. You heard me right. Racist. Even those who admire Von Dutch don't call him a nice guy. No, they use words like bitter, racist and violent. They describe someone who was jaded young and spent much of his life hiding from the world. His name was a reflection of that, the very symbol of his obstinacy, anger and distrust of the world.

So is it ironic or just cruel that his name wound up co-opted by what one calls the booboisie, stitched onto hats and baby doll T-shirts worn by an army of pretty girls like Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Ashton Kutcher? Is Von Dutch doomed, as one admirer put it, "to be forever remembered for his name in 4-inch letters on someone's ass"? I believe so. Nobody really knew who he was here in Singapore. Right April?

"He was quite a racist; didn't like anybody. He had all the trappings of being a neo-Nazi. He could not tolerate black people," were just some of the comments his friends had of him.

In one 1965 painting, Dutch faded in the words "Fuck You," visible if you look long enough.

Girls, wearing his name over your chest is pretty much the equivalent of wearing a white robe and proclaiming that you're from the Klu Klux Klan. Hope you're all proud of yourselves now.

Now go burn some shirts.

The One with the TOSHIBA TV

Many things have happened over the past week. But I believe the drowning of my ibook pales in comparison to this:

An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, Oregon, 110km south of Portland.

"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I think we all were."

Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with a replacement set for free, he said.

I guess this staples my impression of the Toshiba brand.

By the way, I'm using a Toshiba laptop now.

Ho Hum.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

The One with the $5

Again I found myself back in the library. But it was more interesting this time around. Dunno whether I'll have the opposition members browsing my blog (as if I'm so popular) but if so, I dare not reveal too much into my research folder case and the cases we've pulled up.

Currently, we're doing medical negligence, in that a lady kenna sterilized, still managed to give birth. How much can she claim? That's the gist of it and we had a pretty fruitful research today. Now juz waiting for LAWR tutorial tomorrow!

After I got back, amazingly I managed to finish my TORTS tutorial and could go out to chill out. Wanted to catch a movie but I had to go over to Eusoff for awhile. (Me bad. Must be punished) So after that we went ta have supper at Somerset the stretch there and chilled out at ACID BAR. Very comfy chair.

Ta pau'd Sting Ray for Jo whom is sadly guarding the bazaar stuff. And I withdrew $50 but only got $5 left! Where did my money go to? Damn. So tired. Can't think now.

I have to sleep.

Now.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

The One with the Canteen Lady

I have made some adjustments to my Blog, censoring some juicey details regarding ODP and also some remarks regarding Jo. They were quite insensitive and I didn't even realised I blogged that as I was so tired at the end of the day. Point to note, need to be more sensitive. Sorry Jo.. I feel damn bad.

On to lighter things. Or more interesting matters. There's a bazaar today. Under Central Library. Thought that ComicKART was there. But it was ComicMART. Big difference in price. Sigh.

Anyway. As with the title of today's blog. The Canteen Lady. It was like this, we went over to grab a bite after Contract Lecture. I took a can of Tea and a Cream Puff and placed it on the counter. Alongside this container with plastic spoons. When it was my turn to pay, the Canteen Lady swiped my items to the middle of the counter and knocked out a few of the spoons. Immediately she accused me of taking spoons when I didn't need them. "WHY YOU TAKE SPOON? WHY YOU TAKE SO MANY SPOONS?" I was like.. WTF? I was really boiling inside. Wanted to erupt. Cause the one thing I hate most is for people to accuse me of something I didn't do. But I kept calm and replied "IT DROPPED BY ITSELF" and again she said "WHY YOU TAKE SO MANY SPOONS?" I think this is another valid reason for me not to patronise their stall. Fucking customer service.

Oh well. Just gotta get it out of my system since we're waiting for Jackson's group to start the SLS presentation. Heard that they sabo'd the projector? Truth?

The One with the Library Research

I had a pretty interesting day today. I'm feeling attached to the LAW LIBRARY cause I've finally figured out how some of it works. That's good considering I'll be back tomorrow for an encore performance when I'm going to look for relevant cases for my research binder..

Think it's amazing why they have so many books in the library. I mean. I probably won't touch Indian Legal Reports in my 4 years here. (Plus they kinda have a funny indian smell) And I certainly won't be reading 1888 English Law Reports either. Are these books really necessary? Did I spell that correctly?

Been talking to Grace abit. Hmm. Maybe I should cut down on all the fucks. I mean. Though nobody gives a fuck what the fuck I say on this blog. It's still not nice if they come across the blog and see all the cuss words that I've used here. I guess I need a fucking disclaimer here. I am not so fucking vulgar in real life. As said. A blog is for one to vent out frustrations. And in whatever fucked up language one chooses. At least I don't say alot of fuck in real life. Which is good. I'm good. Usually. And I kinda picked up all the fucks from this book my brother gave me a while back. The gist of the book was how to add the word fuck into basically any sentence. Kinda interesting. But I forgot the title. Lemme give an example.

That was a cool performance wern jhien. You guys rock!

Can be fuck-tified to become:

That was a fucking cool performance wen jhien. Fuck. You guys fucking rock!

Yeah. Something like that. Ok. From next post on I shall cut down on the words. Make my little blog more family orientated.

I'm quite amazed in my chat with Eunice that her parents like to put her down too. I mean she's gorgeous and yet her mum actually said "eunice, you're quite pretty. If you change your face and body" well. I wouldn't mind if my mum puts me down on how I look.. i'm sloppy enough and I know it. But I was pretty stressed when they commented on my studies. It made me think that university was the only fucking thing worth living for. (Oops I did it again) That was after they made me think secondary school and junior college were the single most important things in my life.. respective stages anyway. Since I am now staying in hall. I've come to have the great satisfaction of not having to listen to their nagging. But they do that to me anyway on Sundays. Damn.

Maybe now that I've branched out from my brother's shadow, things might actually look up for me. On a lighter note, I've since applied for some committees after missing out on a whole bunch of them the first time round:

Welfare Committee
Recreation Committee
Archives Committee

and waiting DESPERATELY for Hall Annual Magazine Committee to open up their Sub-Editor position. If I don't get in all, I can kiss KR goodbye! (Or I can run for other dumb committees. Dammit.)

Then there's also Law Matric Week Camp which I was too slow to respond. And hence. No position. Oh well. OGL lor.

I really need to go sleep now. There's more research to be done tomorrow. Argh.

And torts.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

The One with Christopher Reeves

Before I fell asleep last night I was hit with this shocking news..

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

Superman' Star Christopher Reeve Dies
 
BEDFORD, N.Y. (AP) - Christopher Reeve, the star of the ``Superman'' movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52.

Reeve fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night. His family was at his side at the time of death.

Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.

``On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband,'' Dana Reeve, Christopher's wife, said in a statement. ``I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years.''

Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.

Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.

``Hollywood needs to do more,'' he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. ``Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can't meet.''

He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of ``Rear Window,'' a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor.

``I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story,'' Reeve said. ``But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count.''

In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body. He had vowed to walk again.

``I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery,'' Reeve said.

Reeve's support of stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry earlier this month during the second presidential debate.

His athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural, if largely unknown, choice for the title role in the first ``Superman'' movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts.

Although he reprised the role three times, Reeve often worried about being typecast as an action hero.

``Look, I've flown, I've become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I've faced my peers, I've befriended children and small animals and I've rescued cats from trees,'' Reeve told the Los Angeles Times in 1983. ``What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn't been done?''

Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, ``escape the cape.'' He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play ``Fifth of July,'' a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie ``Somewhere in Time,'' and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller ``Deathtrap.''

More recent films included John Carpenter's ``Village of the Damned,'' and the HBO movies ``Above Suspicion'' and ``In the Gloaming,'' which he directed. Among his other film credits are ``The Remains of the Day,'' ``The Aviator,'' and ``Morning Glory.''

Reeve was born Sept. 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. About the age of 10, he made his first stage appearance - in Gilbert and Sullivan's ``The Yeoman of the Guard'' at McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, he landed a part as coldhearted bigamist Ben Harper on the television soap opera ``Love of Life.'' He also performed frequently on stage, winning his first Broadway role as the grandson of a character played by Katharine Hepburn in ``A Matter of Gravity.''

Reeve's first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie ``Gray Lady Down,'' released in 1978. ``Superman'' soon followed. Reeve was selected for the title role from among about 200 aspirants.

Active in many sports, Reeve owned several horses and competed in equestrian events regularly. Witnesses to the 1995 accident said Reeve's horse had cleared two of 15 fences during the jumping event and stopped abruptly at the third, flinging the actor headlong to the ground. Doctors said he fractured the top two vertebrae in his neck and damaged his spinal cord.

While filming ``Superman'' in London, Reeve met modeling agency co-founder Gae Exton, and the two began a relationship that lasted several years. The couple had two sons, but were never wed.

Reeve later married Dana Morosini; they had one son, Will, 11. Reeve also is survived by his mother, Barbara Johnson; his father, Franklin Reeve; his brother, Benjamin Reeve; and his two children from his relationship with Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21.

No plans for a funeral were immediately announced.

A few months after the accident, he told interviewer Barbara Walters that he considered suicide in the first dark days after he was injured. But he quickly overcame such thoughts when he saw his children.

``I could see how much they needed me and wanted me... and how lucky we all are and that my brain is on straight.''

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In the words of Chris Rock "Superman can't walk! Superman can't walk.."

Superman's dead.

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BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Reeve was born September 25, 1952, in New York City. His mother, Barbara, a journalist, divorced his father, Franklin, a professor and writer, in 1956, and relocated to Princeton, New Jersey, with four-year-old Chris and younger brother Benjamin.

Reeve began appearing in school plays at age eight, and at nine, was chosen to play in the local professional theater's production of Yeoman of the Guard. At 15, he received a summer apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. Following his graduation from high school, he toured the U.S. in The Irregular Verb to Love, which starred veteran actress Celeste Holm.

BEGINNINGS

Reeve entered Cornell University, majoring in Music Theory and English. He also spent some time studying theater in England and France, and worked at the prestigious Old Vic theater in London and the Comedie Francaise in Paris. He studied under John Houseman at The Juilliard School in New York City, where he was Robin Williams' roommate. To help pay for his education, Reeve got a role on CBS's Love of Life, a daytime soap. In the meantime, he was cast in A Matter of Gravity, a Broadway play starring screen legend Katharine Hepburn. He was forced to quit his final year of study, as his professional career was beginning to take off.

Reeve ventured off to Los Angeles in late 1976 and landed a small role in the submarine adventure flick, Gray Lady Down. He then went back to New York to appear in My Life, an off-Broadway production. During that play's run, he auditioned for the part of Superman, which he won, despite his then skinny physique. To gain muscle for the role, he underwent a strict bodybuilding program supervised by David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original series of Star Wars films. Reeve's portrayal of the Man of Steel was more believable than any of his screen or TV predecessors, as a hero with a brain, a heart and a sense of humor.

THE MAN OF STEEL STEALS THE SHOW

Superman: The Movie became one of the most successful films of the year following its December 1978 release. Reeve was honored with a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award as Most Promising Newcomer for his performance. During the film's 18-month shoot in England, Reeve met Gae Exton, a modeling executive. Their children, Matthew and Alexandra, are the fruits of their 10-year relationship. The couple parted in 1987, retaining joint custody of both children.

Reeve next appeared in Somewhere In Time (1980), a tale of time-travel and romance, co-starring Jane Seymour. He continued performing live, spending the summer of 1980 doing theater in Williamstown, and appearing on Broadway in Fifth of July. Superman II was also released that year.

More movie roles kept him busy throughout the '80s. In 1982, he played Micheal Caine's playwright lover in Deathtrap, and an American priest in Monsignor. He returned to the role that made him famous for Superman III in 1983. He appeared in two period dramas, The Bostonians (1984), a Merchant Ivory production, and a CBS-TV adaptation of Anna Karenina (1985) opposite Jacqueline Bisset.

In 1987, Reeve starred with Oscar nominee Morgan Freeman in Street Smart, and reprised his role as the Man of Steel for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That same year, he traveled to Chile to lead a demonstration in support of 77 artists that faced death sentences from the Pinochet regime. In 1988, he received a special OBIE Award, as well as an honor from the Walter Briehl Human Rights Foundation for his courageous crusade to free the artists.

By the early '90s, Reeve's commitment to advocacy work was competing with his professional career. Environmental issues were of particular concern to him. He married actress/singer Dana Morosini in 1992; their son Will was born the same year. Reeve reunited with the Merchant Ivory team for The Remains of the Day (1993), and in a clever bit of casting, the Superman actor fought Batman star Michael Keaton for Geena Davis' affections in Speechless (1994).

TRAGEDY STRIKES

In May 1995, Reeve was thrown from his horse during an equestrian event in Virginia. His hands had been tangled in the horse's bridle, and he seriously fractured the upper vertebrae of his spine after landing head first. He was immediately paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe. On-site medics saved his life, and after he was rushed to hospital, surgeons literally reattached his head to his spine.

To help increase public awareness about spinal cord injury and raise money for research, Reeve made his first public appearance just four months after his accident, in a 20/20 interview with Barbara Walters. In 1996, he accepted invitations to appear at the Academy Awards, to host the Paralympics in Atlanta, and to speak at the Democratic Convention.

Reeve returned to acting with a role in the made-for-TV movie A Step Toward Tomorrow in 1996. The following year, he made his directorial debut with In The Gloaming, starring friend Glenn Close. The HBO film received five Emmy nominations, and won six CableAce Awards, including Best Dramatic Special and Best Director.

Random House published Reeve's autobiography, Still Me in April 1998. His recording of the book took the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 1999. For his performance in Rear Window (1999), his first major role since becoming paralyzed, Reeve was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. He also served as executive producer of the film.

REAL-LIFE SUPERHERO

Reeve found himself on the frontlines in the debate over stem cell research into various medical conditions. In 2001, he joined scientists in a lawsuit aimed at overturning a U.S. government decision to stop funding the controversial testing. In 2002, Reeve urged President Bush and Catholic church leaders to reassess their opposition to research that might free him and others like him from their wheelchairs.

In May 2002, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center was opened. In September, Reeve announced that he had regained some movement and sensation in his hands and feet. He's now able to move his right wrist, the fingers of his left hand, and his feet, and can breathe without the aid of his ventilator for 90 minutes at a time.

Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life, his second book, was released in September 2002, in time for his 50th birthday. Reeve ended 2002 and began 2003 by helping lead the New Year's Eve countdown in Times Square along with his wife, Dana, and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In February 2003, Reeve can add a guest-starring role as scientist Dr. Swann in an episode of the WB's Smallville, wherein the silver screen's Man of Steel offers TV's young Clark Kent "revelatory insight into his superhero destiny." Having played the superhero four times already, Reeve certainly has the qualifications for the part, which may turn into a recurring role for the actor.

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

More readings of Reeves available online. It's quite a pity. Will be rushing for contract and SLS now. Library research later. Whee. So happening.

Sigh

Monday, October 11, 2004

The One with the Ladykillers

It was a fast Contract Lecture morning followed by an equally fast LAWR lesson. Makes me realise that I am sorely needing to finish reading my case file. Shit.

Immediately after the LAWR tutorial, we rushed off to orchard for a movie. Bought tickets for The Ladykillers at 3:15pm and had lunch (a pathetic ham steak) at Cafe Cartel. Basically sat there until almost 3pm. Super sleepy. The show was nothing like the trailer. Which is fine. I trust the Coen brothers. And it's true. They're sick. But I was worried that Grace and Eunice might not have liked the film. Hmm. I guess here are some points I have for the film.

The tagline for the movie was:
The greatest criminal minds of all time have finally met their match.
I believe it should be:
Crime doesn't pay. Praise the Lord.

It's true that this film flops on the fact that Tom Hanks is too heavy weight and that some of the actors are just plain bad. Another pet peeve I have for the film is its predominantly black extras cast.

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Some trivia:

This is the first Coen brothers film where Joel Coen and Ethan Coen are both given directing and producing credits. They have shared these duties on all of their films, but Joel has always been listed as the director, and Ethan as producer.

Cameo( Bruce Campbell): at the dog food commercial shoot.

Irma says throughout the film that she donates monthly to Bob Jones university, citing it as a "good Bible College." Viewers unfamiliar with the college may not understand the reference that Jones is a radical right-wing institution that banned black students up until the 1970s, and up until 2000 did not allow interracial couples to openly date while attending classes.

When the group is debating various methods methods to kill Mrs. Munson, Professor Dorr suggests shackling her in an earthen recess in the wall and enclosing it with the leftover bricks and mortar they have available. This is a reference to "A Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, whom Dorr cites frequently throughout the film.

The first piece of music that Dorr's band pretends to play is Boccherini's minuetto: it was the same piece of music that was played by Dorr's band in the original Ladykillers, The (1955).

Prior to filming, Tom Hanks had not seen Ladykillers, The (1955) as he did not want it to prejudice the way he acted in the remake.

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A review from the IMDB website which to a certain extent I agree with:
tedg (tedg@alum.mit.edu)
Virginia Beach
Summary: A Glorious Failure

I really appreciate artists willing to push the envelope. They're not pushing if they don't fail at least a third of the time. This is a failure, but an interesting, glorious one and in its way is more interesting to watch than, say, `O Brother.' You know something worth knowing is up when the most nuanced actor in a high level project like this is a painting.

These guys are cinefiles, enthusiasts who examine what they and others do with meticulous detail and grand vision. They reach for a specific tone, different for each project, and then engineer the pieces to support.

What do you think? Was the original vision too ambitious: a takeoff from the Shakespearean actor from Huck Finn? In this case, it is a Coen-like folding: an actor playing an actor playing Twain who writes the riverboat plot using a previously written skeleton (something recently done by PS Hoffman in `Cold Mountain').

Or is it that the vision was as apt an reachable as any they have had, but they erred in the engineering? I think it is this latter. Some of the blame is theirs: they have come to be hypnotized by the power of themed music in their films. Here it is a distraction, saps resources and fails to support the quirky vision. Tbone failed them.

But they were stuck with some bad casting. Once that happens, you're lost. Hanks is such a heaviweight that he forces the vision to bend to what he wants to do as an actor. Big mistake.

The old lady Marva Munson is capable of playing only one sort of character. We've seen her do it in several dreary projects. She just couldn't ever get the joke and really believes she is in an Eddie Murphy movie.

And third, and almost incidentally, we have Wayans. He also knows only one way of swinging.

None of these three was capable of getting on board the twisted vision the brothers had. Dozens of real actors have. But these three are, alas, characters now, not actors.

Still, you can see what they had in mind, and still be amused by it even though it never appears on the screen

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Later on came back to hall. Collected books from library and like rushed back for dinner. Saw Jo on the way. Feel bad again. Darn. I'm sleeping early today. Read some Wizard. Then wake up tomorrow early and read my case file. Heh.

Goodnight.

The One with the Phasing Vision

It's a Sunday. And I've finally gotten my Phasing Vision! Wahoo. Think I paid about $120 total. But. No more thinking about the price. What matters is I've got him. My life is so complete. Or rather my Marvel Legends 7. My life is far from complete. Sigh.

9am. Rushed out to head off to Haig Court. Gilson's new house. Quite nice. Dropped off his Castle Greyskull and Strawberry Shortcake. HIS STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE. Not mine. His. (and he's 24..) Then we went off to Taka. Grabbed himself an Ice Armour Skeletor and a Hamtaro Angel. HIS HAMTARO ANGEL. Not mine. His. (and he's 24..) Had breakfast a Mac's where I signed up for the ezlink thingy. Apparently I can claim a free meal immediately. Cool. I had the Succulent Beef Burger (I'm just making it up coz I can't remember the name) and then .. I made the mistake of buying the Prawn Fritters. They suck. Waste $.

Headed off to Clark Quay after spending $2.48 on parking (Bloody cutthroats. Next time I will tailgate), 5 min reach liao. Damn fast I am. Met the guy (whom turns out to be working for Rebelbase) and got my grubby little hands on my elusive Phasing Vision. $120 well spent. (My wallet's moaning now) Next called the guy to pass him my Iron Man. But he was late. So... walked around.

Picked up $5 finger puppets for my angel mortal game. Also picked up a $5 letter bear for the angel mortal game again. $10 spent on this. Argh. Walk walk walk. Spawnasia had nothing new. Very tempted to pick up S6 to open. But no. No $. Rebelbase had a giant STIKFAS figure which is DAMN COOL. But no. No $. Tf.com.sg ignored me. Just as well. Not buying from them again.

Met the guy downstairs and moved off from Clark Quay. Went ta Parkway to pick up Jo. She got me Char Siew Sew.. (Dunno the hanyu ping ying!) Then we went swimming. Up until 3:40pm at Gilson's condo. Then headed to Simei to makan.

Istanbul cusine. MMMmmmm. Followed by Robinson's Expo sale which I grabbed 4 MOTU figures at $8 to open and like a bunch of the cute Marvel Wind up toys. Think they cost me $15. For like. 6. or 8? Can't remember.

Reached home late. No time to sleep. Eat and zhao liao.

Busy busy day today. Got an email after reaching hall which requested for me to call my LAWR tutor and arrange a meeting before Sunday. Damn. I am so dead. Monday nowhere to hide face.. And still gotta do TORTS now!

After my blog. Ugh.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

The One with the Catching Up

09/10/04

I'm trying to catch up on my posts. I realised I'm super lazy and don't usually post on weekends. Haha. That's cause I'm always home late.. And never use the computer to update my blogs. But then again. Who reads my blogs?

Sat was as nice day. Woke up giddy and all hangoverish from the night before. At 10am. Ugh. That's early. Reached home at about 11am. Went straight out to ship my ebay items. Cheap surface mail. $10USD covers a single figure with $2 extra summore. Happy. :) Had miserable lunch. Bought Angel Heart 10 (Shit! Left it at home..) and almost helped out a lunatic with some StarHub problem.

Well, it was like this. I was sitting at the void deck waiting for my mum ta call me after she's done cleaning up all the concrete dust (thanks to the FUCKING HDB, drill concrete without warning. Make all my fucking bags covered in concrete dust. Slippers, shoes and toys outside ALL COVERED in your FUCKING LIFT LOBBY CONCRETE DUST. I hope you're FUCKING HAPPY YOU FUCKING HDB people. If I could sue I would.) when this middle aged guy came up. Asked me to call 100 and ask for Starhub's address at Albert Complex.

I mean fine. I don't even need you to pay me back. But this guy was weird. He told me he had mental disorder which I was like. Ok fine. How can I help you, Mr Nutty? And he went, 'my friend used my IC to register hp, then use already never pay. so starhub sent me a lawyer's letter. i need to bring my doctor's certification that i'm nuts to go to them and they will cancel it.' So I'm like, StarHub doesn't have an outlet or branch in Albert Complex. He then said it was the firm that he was referring to. I said '100 is useless without the name of the firm. which you had said you misplaced. why don't you go to tampines mall, they have a starhub, use your ic, let them check your account status and let them advise you on which firm you're supposed to go to?'

And obviously being a mental nutcase, this fucker just went like 'no no no.. pollice will catch me..' and 'i will go to xxx and settle this..' I was fast losing my temper. Luckily, his friends came. And I advised his friend what I told him. And hoped that he could tell his nutty friend what I meant. His friend tried. But the guy was really stupid. So. I fucked off.

Went home and had a good sleep and dinner. Gf asked me out for supper. But can't go. Coz I have to be out early the next morning.

Am I paying too little attention to her?

The One with the ODP

08/10/04

The last post stopped when I rushed off for Operation Dead Penguin (ODP). Well. It isn't much. It's just a funny codeword for Operation Drunken Party. Where we basically get people together and get drunk. It was a funny day cumulating up till drunken party.

As I headed home to await Jackson's pickup for ODP, we made a pit stop at NTUC where my brother had to buy some cookie dough thingy to make shit. Apparently one of the upcoming episodes features an actor eating shit. So they were going to make nice yummy brownie shit. (I always thought brownies looked like shit) Anyway, we were discussing the interesting subject called sponsership (He did call me up a few days ago and asked me where they sold Ultraman toys). Apparently he had headed down to Clark Quay to seek for sponsership for some Ultraman display for the show. But well. The level one anime shop didn't want the free publicity on a MediCorp show. But upstairs Ng's Collection (or is it Collectibles?) was damn nice. Very shuang kwai and juz ta pau'd the figures he needed for him. That is called SHUANG KWAI. We need more of such people. And less narrow minded bitches. Now that was for MediaCorp. If only I can find sponsers for Re[pro]..

Anyway. Got home a wee bit later than expected. Sorry to Jackson for waiting for me.. But we headed down to fetch Melissa. Whom was late. Ha. Picked up Castle Greyskull and Strawberry Shortcake shit from my room whilst Jackson went to change to specs and we headed back to PGP to pick her up again. Finally successful. Went on our 'Jackson & Zhiyou go to KFC' hunt. Sadly, Bukit TImah Plaza closed early. It was just gonna be a simple drive over from Bukit Timah Plaza to Colleen's place. But it was made interesting by Melissa's awesome display of arm strength. When she SLAMMED the door shut, I swore I heard breaking pieces of .. something. Cracking and breaking. So bad that I asked her to open and check the door. It SEEMED fine. But after moving off, the window started dropping down. Hmm.

So we pulled over at the nearby gas station and checked. Quite jia lat. Window really gone case. Melissa kept whining she was sorry. Over and over again. It was kinda funny. Luckily it's not my car. Or I'd being 'hopping' mad. (Inserted a Hoppy joke!) We just grabbed some drinks and moved off. Ordered KFC on the way. Asked for Thighs and Drumstick. They actually dared to slip in a Wing. The bastards. But we didn't know that till much later.

So we got to Colleen's place, Melanie arrived soon after. Since we had a decent crowd, I started screening "SHUAN OF THE DEAD". As I feared, the first half hour was confusing to them. Though it contained some of the most brilliant jokes I've ever seen. Sigh. Had to forward to the zombies. I think it was partly cause they couldn't really hear the dialog. Must rectify that at the next screening in E Block with disclaimer.

After the show, we started off with Jack Daniel's and Coke. Which. I didn't really like. Haha. Preferred it straight.. and we started the silly Uno stacko game. Went only one round.. Uno with a twist! Then followed by Indian Poker and Spin the Bottle.. All the while, Melissa was like drinkning non stop and taking shot after shot after shot. No wonder she was totally red by the time April and Ziliang came.

*CENSORED*
--Due to policy considerations. The Blog admin has decided to censor certain details in the blog--

By 5:30am, almost everyone knock out liao.. I had to force myself to puke 3 times until I felt the bile then I could sleep.

Did I mention I hated drinking?

Friday, October 08, 2004

The One with the Ouch

I am really quite unfit. And quite a pig too. Woke up late and like had lunch at 2pm. Then everything was a blur up till 3:40pm. That was when I actually started work. Re-edited my client's letter. Apparently my 'facts' were misleading. Ya right. So I dumped in alot more information but I think it's the same in the end. Still bitter about my closed memo. C++. Just give me a B- la. Kaoz. Make me so sad.. sigh.

Well, after uploading the client's letter, had ta rush off for basketball trials. Think today more fun. But apparently I didn't get to touch much of the ball. Hmm. Oh well. I pretty much suck as compared to the other school team players. What to do. Army slack. Body slack. Not responsive. Amazingly, I managed to twist my left ankle this time round. Now what are the odds of that.. hmmm.

Too bad Jo can't come back with me. Think she'll be disappointed. But think of it this way. If you really wanted to watch webcast, it'll take 2hrs. And I'd have left by bus anyway. Can't afford to be late for Operation Dead Penguin (today!).

Grabbing a lift home and later getting a lift to colleen's place from Jackson. Did I leave out anything? Hmm. Oh yah. Didn't manage to watch Singapore Idol Live yesterday. And I managed to get FF4 Variant boxed set at $135. Superb markup. Also managed to call Sengkang to reserve ML8 and ML9. Think that I'll be able to get something. I hope.

Will be bringing Contract back to mug. Tomorrow will be shipping parcels day. Argh.

Sunday will be going to Gilson's place for a swim. Hmm.

I hope there's nothing to buy this weekend. I've got Unmasked Wolverine on snipe. Auctionsniper is really not bad. Highly recommended. Heh. Oh yah.

Getting my phasing vision on Sunday! Wahoo. Another step closer.

Make mine. Marvel (Legends).

Home for the weekend!

The One with the FF4 Variant Box Set

Got news during an otherwise boring and sleepy Torts tutorial today that the FF4 Variant boxset was out at Sengkang. Metro Sengkang. The new place where collectors are flocking to, to get their variants at retail. Not surprisingly, me being more learned in such a situation immdiately messaged back to ask the guy to reserve 2 sets for me. But I don't know if it was just me, or did he not understand. I wanted 2 sets. One to open and play and subesequently put into custom elektra - sue storm packaging as well my dr doom and torch opened packaging. The guy said that Spawnasia was cheaper. Asked me to head down to check. Basically refusing to help me make a simple 10 cent phone call. By the time around 1hr plus later when I got confirmation that there were no variants at Spawnasia, it was too late. My only chance at the FF4 variant box set was gone. I was pretty pissed. But could only blame myself for not leaving my class to make a phone call. Or to call between lessons. I had 2 minutes of break. But the fucker at Sengkang refused to answer the phone. Irritating sia. Due to all these DUMB factors. I shall have to source for it on the secondary market for $100. Thanks very fucking much. Not being able to use it to do custom packaging isn't that bad if I have ONE. But I have NONE.

Sigh.

Update on my Phasing Vision trade. I've offered Goliath Series 4, Giant Man with Ant man and Wasp, Hobgoblin and $65 in exchange for a Phasing Vision and a Goliath Series 7. I roughly make out that I'm paying $100 for Phasing Vision and exchanging the Goliath 1:1. Sad. Devaluation. But I NEED IT.

This makes me one step closer to completing my Marvel Legends Series. Now I've just got Unmasked Wolverine Series 3 left. Currently there's one on ebay. I intend to win that. :) On a lighter note. I am seriously considering getting single carded figures for Series 6. If so, I will probably sell off my Series 6. I'm already going to pay $50 for 3 figures. I estimate myself paying $25, $20 and $10 USD for Phoenix, Deadpool and Juggernaut respectively. (USD) And maybe $50USD for Phonenix chase. Followed by $15USD for Cable chase. Total $120USD. Which is like. $200. Fuck. Abit not worth it. Better take it slowly.

Went straight to eusoff after lesson to get Joann to go clark quay. Why am I not surprised that I had to wait close to 1/2hr for her? Especially after finding her sleeping when I reached. Sigh..

Good thing was that I did go down to Spawnasia today. Disappointed abit la. No variants. Paid $39.90 for FF4 and $59.90 for Sinister 6. Then paid a further $59.90 for LOTR: Gates of Mordor. Quite bad. Decided AGAINST an additional $68 for Mazda RX8 white to open. This weekend I'm paying: $65, $50, $8. That's bad. Not making a profit. At all. Should start my auctions soon. Maybe I should call DBS bank tomorrow and ask about the paypal thing. I have like $90USD sitting there. Hmm.

Had a nice chicken rice dinner at Harbourfront the MRT there the hawker centre. Nice and cheap. $3.50 for chicken, rice, veggie and soup. Value meal sia. And met auntie Emily there. Nice to see her and pooh bear still together. Ha.. 30 and still going strong! You go auntie! Gf was feeling very jumpy today. Quite dangerous. 1) She might fall and disfigure her knee again 2) She might bang into me and disfigure my toys (which she did). But what to do. I'm not supposed to be angry. Suck it up.. suck it up..

Harbourfront was pretty boring. And sad that we were lugging the 3 box sets around. Or it'll be a tad more interesting. She wanted to go walk around and lang man lang man. (romantic) But seriously. How romantic can I get whilst I'm carrying my huge boxsets and walking around? I feel that I disappoint her sometimes. But she has a choice.. she chose a toy fan and well. This is what she gets la. When I'm not carrying stuff I'm better. Really. But subjected to certain conditions. 1) Don't whine at me too much. It'll turn me off 2) Repeat number one. Basically I find myself having a short tolerance for whiners. Not that I'm targetting her. But those in law also. Whiners. Turn me off. Real off.

So we had a nice dinner. After kai kai abit in Harbourfront (I wouldn't mind walking more, but was carrying stuff) I opted to be lazy and take cab. But cab queue damn long. No choice. Took bus. Took quite fast actually. But had to stand. So we got back to school. All's well. She fell asleep again whilst I was taking a bath. And she had to leave asap coz I had the Sheares Kent Ridge Mooncake Festival thingy on at 9. It was like 8:30. Right after she left, I went up to 7th floor. Still didn't know alot of the people. So it's was abit weird. But later they all came down to visit my room. So it was slightly better. At least today I didn't have to clean 20 dishes. I basically took a bath after that event and slacked. And made a call to Gilson to bitch about my FF4 Variant. Sigh.

Why's Toybiz doing this. I am so fucking pissed. And how can I get rid of the unwanted stuff I have at home?

And later gf is coming over for a sleepover. Will be a hot (not the pervertic kind, but the weather kind) night again.

Sleepy. Basketball trials at 5-7 tomorrow. Plus Operation Dead Penguin. Will I be sober enough to post?

Time will tell.

The One with E202's Open House

Bad start of the day yesterday. Only set one alarm the night before instead of the usual 3. So I basically slept, alarm ring, wake up. Press away, then slept. Until past lecture. Shit man. Contract lecture and I missed it. Pretty bad. Afterwards, SLS was pretty much a blur as I was damn hungry. Damn hungry. Had lunch.. then went to film the RETURN CONCERT. It was pretty good. But the camera was pretty bad. Battery ran out after 40min. Tape ran out after 1hr. Ridiculous. Mental note. Get adapter with extension cord. Get longer tapes.

After RETURN CONCERT, damn shack. Finally had a toy encounter. Or rather a lack of one. Arranged to pick up my Series 6 Unmasked Wolverine for $55 at 7-Eleven. Thing is. We both were waiting at the wrong 7-Eleven. Waited from 6:10pm to like 7:10pm before I got fed up (coz hp battery died cannot call) and went back hall to get spare battery. Good thing was that the guy was pretty nice. And we ended up talking cock and toys until like 9pm.

So I ended my toy escapade for the day and headed back just in time to help decorate the lights for the floor and subsequently help the chef Ron cook. Cooking was the easy part. Clearing up was bad. Washing the pot was difficult in such a small space.. damn. Then open house started at 10:30pm. Interesting note. Everybody liked their rooms and shelves empty. I like mine packed. And got my room picked as best male room in E block. Never thought of my room as best room. Just like it being cosy. That didn't end the day. The day ended with me cleaning 20 dirty dishes and a tray because nobody wanted to do it. Then subsequently doing torts. Until 3am. Argh.

New day, new post.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

The One with the 2:15am Reflection

It's 2:15am and all is good. Finished my Client's letter and shall be moving off to sleep soon. When I'm done with Torts tutorial tomorrow, i should be home free for this week! Operation Dead Penguin is coming up, Friday if I recall. Before that it'll be a busy week what with Singapore Idol filming on Thursday. Busy bee busy bee..

The day passed rather eventfully. I had a pretty good nap in the afternoon after my heavy lunch of Chicken Chop and Yung Tau Fu. Apparently my gf was piggish again and I had to deliver lunch. Hot day to do delivery. Sometimes I really pity the poor delivery people. But then again. Can only blame themselves for screwing up their own lives and having to resort to working for such low wages. (OooO.. touche..) My bad. Feeling cranky after doing my letter. Lemme see what we have to cover today.

Had a points system thingy meeting at the MPSH. Which went rather well I guess. Considering i was going for International Chess trials and ended up there and realised that there were better things to do (eg. Newsletter editor) and gets more points than to play bloody chess. Finished my SHUAN OF THE DEAD before and after the meeting. It was pretty funny. But took awhile to get off the ground though. Pretty worried that the people here won't be able to grasp the wonderful brit accents in the film. But well. We'll see. If they can appreciate the FULLY MONTY, I'm sure they'll appreciate this.

Gf got another scar again. What am I supposed to do? Be caring and spend the night in Eusoff? Sigh. Stressssssss when it comes to such stuff.

Enough bitching .. (man, blogs really does make one bitch) I shall be turning in now. Probably will be filming RETURN CONCERT tomorrow.. and have to also clean up or tidy me room abit for open house. 1030pm.. man.. don't people need to study? I've got my bloody torts tutorials to do.. ha..

Until tomorrow. I am still one sick dog.