Holy Cows & Killer Penguins

Secrets

2009-12-01T00:54:00.002+08:00

There is a reason why I don't openly let people know my blog address. Well, actually... there is more than a reason really. I mean, in a way, one's blog is one's secret hiding spot from everyone else; a place that no one else is able to see except the really, really close ones or the ones whom you allow to see into your inner thoughts. You may argue that what I am referring to is actually the brain, where no one except the brain's master is able to gain excess into, and not a blog. I agree with that to an extent but you have to agree with me that sometimes there is just so much on our minds that we have to jot our thoughts somewhere, anywhere. Hence, the existence of personal blogs: a place to jot thoughts down.

I feel that by blatantly telling the whole world your blog address, you are trying to gain the whole world's attention. Perhaps, it's just me but I would rather stay quiet and be in the shadows. Letting everyone know your blog address would only be letting your inner thoughts be allowed to be pried by unwanted eyes; In a way, you are now an open book which is 'predictable' and 'boring'.

Then again, everyone is entitled to their own thoughts. I'm merely sharing my personal opinion on blogs. Feel free to disagree with me.

I'm happy in this secret haven of my own.

“Give me a break, God. I’m about to do a great service for you.”

2009-12-01T00:50:00.000+08:00

It was quiet. I sat there on the toilet bowl, appreciating the rare silence. It seemed to me as though God was finally on my side. Then, the bell rang and all hell broke loose. Demons of all kind emerged into the corridors. Imps ran out towards the doors, shrieking an unknown evil language. Succubi were scattered along the hallways, waiting for their next victims. Leviathans stood in the middle of the corridors, eagerly anticipating anyone who crossed their paths.

I looked up at the brightly glowing light bulb on the ceiling and murmured, “Give me a break, God. I’m about to do a great service for you.”

As though acknowledging what I said, the light bulb flickered and I knew that God was trying to show me his gratitude. I gave an elaborate bow and continued to stare into space

Now, it was my free time. I could think whatever I wanted before I executed my mission. God had chosen me to do a favor for him. Not anyone could be chosen; only a select few were special enough to do favors for God. I was grateful that God had thought of me so highly. I will definitely not fail him. I wondered how God would reward me, how heaven was like. As I continued wondering, thousands of questions raced past in my mind. The chosen ones had their names on the newspapers all over the world. Would my name be there too? Would the other faithful followers of God worship me just as how I worshipped the rest of the chosen ones? Would there be a church named after me after my service?

I shook my head violently, attempting to shake these questions off my mind. Thinking of the rewards now would only distract me. I had to stay focused on the mission at hand. There was one thing I was sure though. I would definitely take down more demons than the chosen ones before me. When I had seen reports of these chosen ones on the newspapers, I was at first in awe but over time, I sneered at their feeble attempts to appease God. There was only one of them who I had the deepest respect for. This particular person was Ax Ishmael.

Ax Ishmael, also known as Seung-hui Cho, had taken down thirty-two demons and wounded twenty-five others in his duty for God. He was a brave soldier of God and I was sure God was pleased by his acts. I was particularly impressed that he managed to escape into the heavens before the demons got to him. I had studied his strategies and methods extensively in hopes that I would be able to achieve the high standards he had set and more.

Even though I had done thorough examinations and thought I was prepared, I could not help but to feel nervous. There were butterflies in my stomach and I could not seem to move; I was rooted to the toilet seat in nervousness. Doubtful questions crossed my mind and I gave myself a tight slap, scolding myself for thinking these silly thoughts. My hands felt shaky and I almost lost my grip on Sanctimonia, my demon-killing weapon. I was losing control of my body due to nervousness. This was not good. How could a soldier of God lose his touch due to some stupid human emotion? I looked around desperately but there was nothing I thought could be useful to regain control of my body. In an urgent attempt, I kicked my foot against the cubicle door, moaning as I felt the intense pain in my foot that began to grow with each second that passed after contact. I was relieved though. I could feel myself regaining control of my body.

I thought about the demons that were lurking in the corridors. These demons had tried to bring me to the dark side by pretending to befriend me. However, my faith in God allowed me to see their true colors and I was not tempted by their attempts at all. When they realized that their plan was not working out, they started showing their true colors, thinking that by bullying me, they would eventually convince me to join their side. However, they were wrong. I was not swayed from leaving God’s side. These disgusting naïve fools that tortured me endlessly and mercilessly for the past few years… Soon, I will have my revenge on them. I remembered a particular incident, just months back, when they put my head into the toilet bowl and tried to flush it off. In fact, the toilet bowl in which they used to torture me with was the exact one I was sitting on right now. The thought of that incident made me see red and I spat at the ground in anger. I took deep breaths and tried to keep myself calm.

I made my final preparations. I jumped on the spot to loosen my muscles, allowing me the much-required reflexes to combat these demons later in the battle. I took a look at Sanctimonia, making sure that it was in working conditions and that it was ready to drink the blood of the demons I would slay soon. I said a short prayer and took a deep breath, opened the cubicle door and slammed the toilet door open, bracing myself for the battle that would ensue very soon.

The slamming open of the toilet door alerted the horde of demons and they stared at my direction.

‘Shit!’ I exclaimed as I realized my mistake.

However, this was not the time to pause and reflect on my mistake. I gripped Sanctimonia hard and aimed it at the head of the nearest imp. With a pull of the trigger, blood splattered everywhere. The imp stood still with a hole in his head before he finally collapsed in defeat. Adrenaline rush flowed into my head and I began to gain momentum and rhythm.

With a swirl of my hand, I took down three other demons, their blood splattered all over me. I licked my lips and savored the taste of demonic blood. It was fresh and delicious.

“AHAHAHAHAHAH!” I exclaimed as I aimed Sanctimonia wildly around me.

The demonic blood seemed to have the ability to make me look intimidating as the demons started fleeing.

“DON’T RUN! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? I THOUGHT YOU GUYS WANTED TO BE MY FRIENDS?!” I shouted in their direction.

They refused to turn back and acknowledge my questions. This made me feel angry and I held Sanctimonia with a vice grip. I reloaded Sanctimonia and started hunting down the demons. Whenever there were any movements around me, I would turn and shoot at that particular direction, hoping to take down a demon or two. I was in a mad rage by now. I started to fire Sanctimonia wildly.

I heard a creak of a door behind me and I swirled around.

“COME OUT YOU FOUL DEMON!” I shouted madly at the door.

There was no response. I walked slowly into the room and saw a male imp hiding under a desk, shaking in utter fear. I laughed in a savage voice and approached him.

“Come out boy… don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you.” I whispered to him, smiling evilly.

A calm, familiar voice came from behind me unexpectedly, “Stop, Aries. Put that gun down.”

I spun and to my horror, it was my form teacher, Mr. Silva.

“…hello there… Mr. Silva” I whispered.

“Hello, Aries.”

“What are you doing here, Mr. Silva?”

“Stopping you. Now put down that gun.”

His words made me remember the job at hand and I aimed my gun at the imp.

“This is my mission, Mr. Silva. God gave me this mission! To eradicate the demons in this school!”

“Rubbish. Just put down that gun and we will talk about this, okay? Don’t harm the poor boy.”

I aimed a shot at the wall and fired, “Do you think I’m kidding, Mr. Silva? I said God gave me this mission!”

“Don’t be stupid, Aries.” he said softly and approached me.

“WHY ARE YOU HELPING THESE DEMONS, MR. SILVA?” I was furious by now. Why was Mr. Silva helping these foul beasts? He was the only man of God in this entire school. He should be helping me terminate these demons instead of standing on their side.

“Now, Aries, I know that your fellow students haven’t been the nicest bunch of people around. They have been bullying you for years but you should have known better. They are just immature. They don’t really mean any harm.”

“STILL…” I began in a feeble attempt.

“Just pass me the gun, Aries.” He approached me gently, nearly reaching me by now.

I knew that if he was to reach me, I would surrender and the demons would eventually get me. I would rather die than let the demons get hold of me. There was only one way out of this. I took the gun in my hand and aimed it at my throat, closing my eyes as I fired.

Journal Entry 12

2009-12-01T00:49:00.001+08:00

Monday, November 2^nd 2009

Gwahah! I felt like being in an evil mood today. I have finished the required 10 journals for ‘Creative Writing’, whereas, my classmates have yet to finish it. Hence, I could not help it but to laugh at some of them, especially poor old Deborah who was unfortunate enough to become the target of my teasing. She got so annoyed by me that she slapped me across my stomach. Doing that did not help her situation at all; it merely made me tease her even more.

Today, I went for ‘Orientation Training Camp’ interview with QiMing. ‘Orientation Training Camp’ was a camp where you were required to attend to be able to help out in events such as ‘TPRawks’ and ‘Freshmen Orientation Camp’. We both signed up as ‘Group Leaders’. Our interviewee shocked me though; before the interview, she came to us and leaned against my shoulder, texting away on her cell phone. I did not expect the interviewee to be so… friendly.

The interview went smoothly. I thought I had done quite well in the interview. With each question she shot at us, my trusty mind raced at nanoseconds to cough up a satisfying answer. Though I had to admit, I did not expect the interview to be filled with so many questions; I was half-expecting my mind to fail me. However, my trust pal surprised me, yet again, by how well it could function under pressure.

After the interview, I rushed to class, expecting myself to barely make the 15 minutes grace before I was counted as late. To my surprise, the whole class was waiting outside the studio. Apparently, the 12 pm class before us had started late and they were still occupying the studio. We waited patiently and by the time we started class, it was already 3.30 pm. The lesson today was rather dry and I struggled to remain awake. At 4.30 pm, Pat, my lecturer, announced that class was over for the day. We remained transfixed in our seats. ‘Did we hear correctly?’ we wondered. She repeated her words and like magic, we recovered from our frozen state. Today was a pretty relaxing day!

Journal Entry 10

2009-12-01T00:48:00.006+08:00

Saturday, October 31^th 2009

Today, I woke up early to go around town taking photos of food-related signage. After that, I headed to school to work on my ‘Typography and Layout’ assignment. On the way to school, I fell asleep and missed my stop. When I woke up, I looked around me and found myself in an unfamiliar area. I panicked and rushed down the bus at its next stop. A young lady stared at me as I turned around and took a good hard look at my surroundings. She was probably thinking that I was an idiot who took the wrong bus and found myself lost. I crossed the road and took the bus back to Temasek Polytechnic.

After I was done with my assignment, I went out with the usual bunch to Sentosa for a Halloween event. We were supposed to meet at the Harbour front MRT station at 5.45 pm, however, as expected, some of them arrived late and by the time we finally arrived at Sentosa, it was already 8.15 pm. When we arrived at the location, the sheer number of people there took me aback. It seemed as though the whole youth population in Singapore was there. We rushed to collect our tickets, which were sold to us at a student price of $16, fearing that we were going to have to queen for an extremely long time.

Indeed, we had to queue up to enter the ‘haunted house’. We made the dreaded walk down the queue, our sense of horror increasing with each step we took; the queue was just terribly long. It seemed like ages by the time we reached the end of the queue.

In the end, we queued for 3 hours straight. Expecting the ‘night walk’ to be good due to the large amount of time spent queuing, we entered the ‘haunted house’ in an excited mood. However, it was a major letdown; even the Design Orientation Camp’s night walk was better than it! It was my first time celebrating Halloween and it turned out to be a major disappointment… just great.

Journal Entry 11

2009-12-01T00:48:00.005+08:00

Sunday, November 1^st 2009

Today, I woke up early to do my ‘Typography and Layout’ assignment which was due the next day. However, the desktop refused to start up. I was on the verge of panicking. ‘What do I do?’ I asked myself desperately, ‘I’m so screwed! Shit!’

As I was about to break into a panic attack, my dad suggested that I went to his office to do my work. I agreed with much gratitude.

At his office, I worked for 9 hours straight, I was quite surprised by how quickly time passed; it seemed to pass with a twinkling of the eye. It seemed like noon just minutes ago…

The speed at which time flew made me contemplate though. My friend, Bane, had told me the night before that I was being a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd’ by working so hard and ‘not having a social life’. I was not offended by what he said. In fact, I was pretty amused by his words. However, at that particular moment, while sitting in front of my dad’s desk, his words came back to me and made me wonder. ‘Am I workaholic?’ I wondered aloud, ‘… I hope and think not. Hey… wait a minute. I’m only 17. An age when I should enjoy life and not think so much! Why the hell am I thinking about this?’

I guess though, the reason why I am working so hard is because I think a lot for my future. I do not want to be an ordinary designer struggling to make ends meet with his freelancing jobs. I want to be an accomplished graphic designer… or at least, have people think that my works are great and refreshing. I think that life is short… why waste time? If I want to accomplish something with my life, I should start working on it now. I do not want to be forgotten just like that after I pass away. I want to be remembered.

Yes, I know. I sound stupid but that’s just me… and my over-thinking brain.

journal Entry 9

2009-12-01T00:47:00.001+08:00

Friday, October 30^th 2009

I had a real scare today. I came to school early to add the finishing touches to the assignment that was due at 3 pm. After that, I went to the print shop to get my work printed out. However, after printing them, I forgot about my external hard drive and left it there on top of the computer. I conveniently forgot all about it until the ‘Typography and Layout’ class nearly ended. I panicked and asked Pat to excuse me for I had left my external hard drive in the print shop. She immediately let me go and I made a mad dash for the print shop.

I asked the lady who worked at the print shop whether she had seen an external hard drive left on top of the computer. She shook her head. My heart sank. All the work that I had done since the start of school was in it and I had not made a backup copy on the desktop at home. A huge portion of work which I could use for my portfolio in the future was gone and all the blood, sweat and tears put into working on them had gone to waste. I walked dejectedly out of the print shop and back into class.

Seeing my body language, my friends asked me what had happened. I told them about it and they suggested that I should go back to the print shop one more time to ask. Thinking that they were right, I rushed to the print shop yet again. This time however, I noticed a familiar-looking external hard drive on top of a mountain of thumb drives at the corner of the print shop. Indeed, after further inspection, the external hard drive was mine. I heaved a sigh of relief and then, politely asked the print shop lady whether I could take back my external hard drive. She gladly asked me to take it back.

On the way back, I felt my chest. My heart was pounding madly. It felt as though it was going to beat out of my chest. First thing I do when I get home later is to save a backup copy of the contents in my external hard drive on my desktop. I should have known better that after the last time I lost my thumb drive. Let it be a lesson learnt, yet again.

Journal Entry 8

2009-12-01T00:46:00.001+08:00

Thursday, October 29^th 2009

Sometimes I feel as though life is a mean joke. You may have a hundred ways you want to live it but since you only have one life, you can’t live your life in all one hundred ways. Even if you have a hundred years to live, an age most people are not able to live up to, you can’t possibly do all one hundred things you aspire to be; it’s an average of one lifestyle per year. You may want to be a graphic designer, a writer, a photographer, a traveler, a game designer, a tattoo artist or a filmmaker but due to only having one life, you can’t do it all.

Many a times, we have heard about stories of people who dreamt of being an architect, for example, and yet, they ended up being an office clerk at some unknown company. It makes you think that life is a mean joke. A lifetime is almost gone and nothing you have done in it is really what you wanted. Well, its cruel reality, my friend. Sometimes, to survive in this world, we have to abandon our little dreams and do things we are not interested in. Of course, there are always the exception here and there of people who were able to survive working as what they had always dreamed of being but these lucky ones are few by the number and most people are better off being told to forget about their dreams and ambitions.

Yes, I know I sound really bitter now for no apparent reasons. I have no complaints about my life; it’s been a hell of a ride on board the rollercoaster tracks named ‘Life’. It’s just me and my thoughts… or maybe it’s just the morning grumpiness.

Journal Entry 7

2009-12-01T00:45:00.003+08:00

Wednesday, October 28^th 2009

‘I hate school. I hate the Sun. I hate the pillow. I hate the bolster. I hate this bed. I hate this room. I hate this house. I hate this street. I hate this country. I hate this earth.’

These were a few of the things I muttered grumpily to myself when I woke up this morning. Well, obviously I don’t really hate any of the things I mentioned above. It was all said in a moment of impulse when you wake up and you feel terrible; as though anything and everything that happens on that day would turn out bad.

Today was an extremely tiring day. I helped out as an actor in my friends, Anisa and Ratnam’s filming for a ‘Moving Images’ module. I shall never look down on actors ever again after my first and, most likely, last day of my ‘acting career’.

In the short film, I was an ‘emo’ kid who was going to commit suicide. This kid writes a suicide note in his school canteen, then runs to a high level in his school to commit suicide. Sitting on the latch, he throws the suicide note into midair and jumps off. The final scene shows him dead on the ground floor with the suicide note landing gently on the ground beside him.

The initial parts of the film were pretty easy. All I had to do was sit there and write a suicide note. After that, it got tougher and tougher. For the scene where the kid runs to a high floor in his school, there were 3 shots. For each 3 shots, I had to run 5 or 6 times to make the film look fine. There was also a scene where I had to run up a flight of spiral stairs. I did a good job on the first cut, however, I had forgot to run with the suicide note in my hands, and hence, I had to take that shot all over again. I also had to lie on the ground, just in front of the lift, with my body contorted for the final shots. It was pretty amusing lying there on the ground listening to what the people, who just got out of the lift, had to say when they saw me. It was a tiring experience, however, I had lots of fun and I had picked up a few things about filming. I was particularly interest about the filming equipments. I had always wanted to try my hands on making a film, yet I did not even know some of the functions on filming equipments. Now however, I can proudly say that I know a thing or two about filming.

I’m now going to start reading a book called ‘A Catalog Of Type: Hand Job’ that I purchased from the stall which set up in school today. Now… I know that the title of the book suggest something dirty but in truth, if you look at the title with a pure perspective, you will realize that the book is actually all about typography done by hand. My ‘Typography and Layout’ lecturer, Pat, recommended it. Can’t wait to start reading now!

Journal Entry 6

2009-12-01T00:45:00.001+08:00

Thursday, October 27^th 2009

Today was a hectic day. After the Creative Writing class, I headed to the area outside the library to help the Design Studies Club in the launch of ‘iCool’. It was so chaotic there that I could barely locate any Design students, much less locate Lijin, who I thought I was suppose to find for instructions. In the end, I found her and realized that my help was not needed anymore. Thus, I hang around with the rest of the Design students I had managed to come across.

I was so worn out by the day’s activities that by the time my ‘Typography and Layout’ class started, I could barely keep myself awake. Fortunately, today’s class was just a summary of the Typography aspects of the module and I did not miss out on anything important which I had not taken note of yet.

After class, I had to rush to level 3 to help organize things for the Design Studies Club’s upcoming recycling event. We did work quickly and efficiently, exchanging a few laughs whenever we chanced upon something amusing in the pile of materials to be organized.

It has been a tiring day for me but I must press on. After doing this journal, I would be working on my other assignments. I know all too well about the consequences of pushing work to the late minute. This time, I am determined to learn from my mistakes and not let work ‘snowball’ over and overpower me. I sound determined and hardworking, don’t I? I wonder if I really would do work later…

Journal Entry 5

2009-12-01T00:44:00.000+08:00

Monday, October 26^th 2009

Today, on the way to school, I thought up of a few ideas for the young adults’ essay I was going to write for my Assignment 4. As I stared out the window, I let my train of thoughts carry me into a surreal world that was created by the creative juices flowing within me. Some of the ideas I came up with were simply too common and I dismissed them immediately. However, there were a few ideas, which I felt was less common. One of these ideas involved a villain who controls people’s inner demons, using them to overpower them. The ideas were all a bit sketchy though. There was not really a plot. I felt that there were a few missing pieces to the story.

Fortunately, during the Creative Writing class today, more ideas started to form in my mind. As I was doing the ‘Imagining a Character’ exercise with my partner, Deborah, solutions to the loopholes in my story started to pop up in my mind. I am going to keep my story a secret for now though. Wouldn’t want to spoil the story now, do I?

I have to admit the more I read ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, the more doubtful I was about its storyline. It felt to me as though the story lacked a climax to it, however, by some supernatural force, I was compelled to carry on reading the story. After today’s Creative Writing lesson, I realized that the characters were the ‘supernatural force’ that was compelling me to carry on reading. I felt that what was said in class today was true. The characters were indeed guiding the readers onwards from one part of the story to the next. I have learnt that if I wanted my story to be interesting, my characters must have strong traits that can attract the readers.

I feel that today, I have learnt much on how storybooks attract readers. Hopefully, I will be able to apply these skills on writing projects I do in the future.

Journal Entry 4

2009-12-01T00:43:00.001+08:00

Sunday, October 25h 2009

I just received a phone call from Anisa, a year one student in ‘Moving Images’. She asked if I was willing to act in a short film for the current module that she was taking. Normally, I would find it a compliment when someone thinks of me when they needed help but for this particular favour, I was reluctant to lend a helping hand. She wanted me to help out as I fitted the ‘emo’ character she needed in her short film.

Now, not that I am being a spoilsport but how am I ‘emo’? Do I slit my wrists or wear black eyeliners? I’m not offended though. It’s refreshing to hear people’s opinion of me once in a while. Anyway, I agree to help them out so expect Wednesday’s journal entry to be all about it!

Anyway, today was spent cutting up newspapers and magazines for my ‘Typography and Layout’ journal; I had to cut up typefaces from newspapers and magazines and classify them according to what kind of typeface they were. I left a whole landscape of newspapers and magazines around me. Strangely enough though, I was kind of fascinated by the mess that I had caused and was extremely tempted into taking a snapshot of it all. In the end, I did not do so. I could imagine the horror on my mom’s face when she gets home and sees the trail of ‘destruction’ that I had left. I started to feel a tinge of guilt in me and I made sure that I cleaned up after I was done.

A fine Sunday afternoon spent just like that. Damn…

Journal Entry 3

2009-12-01T00:42:00.000+08:00

Saturday, October 24^th 2009

I woke up this morning with a mission on my mind: to find a topic to base my assignment 3 on. I took a quick glance at my bookshelves. Towers of books loomed over me. My task seemed impossible. I told myself not to give up so quickly and started my daunting task. Somehow, my quest for ‘the Holy Grail’ was easier than I had anticipated. Within minutes, I found a book that fitted the bill perfectly.

I had bought the book based on the recommendation of my secondary school Literature teacher. However, based on reading the first page, I had decided that the book was boring and thus, I threw it aside. Now however, I realized that it merely did not appealed to me then. I felt that I was now ready to take another attempt at reading it, to take the plunge into the world of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’.

I had a dilemma though. I was also tempted to base my assignment 3 on Gerard Way’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’. I felt that it would be fun to research on the ‘My Chemical Romance’ vocalist and his writings. Should I do something fun and which I can relate to or should I do something that would be safely classified as ‘literature’?

The rest of the day was spent in school struggling with my ‘Typography and Layout’ assignments. For some reason now, every time I see words on the streets, I become obsessed with whether the typeface of the words were suitable for whatever it’s designer was trying to achieve. Sometimes, I feel that I am going mad and that I should just bang my head against the wall to stop my mind from commenting on any more typographic works I see. Well… obviously I know better than to do that. I’m not that insane to attempt to bang my head against the wall.

Journal Entry 2

2009-12-01T00:41:00.001+08:00

Friday, 23^rd October 2009

It’s been a long day today. I feel so worn out now. Two pieces of work were due for submission today: Assignment 1A and Journal Exercise 1. I’ve handed them up on time. I hope that I did well for them.

For some reason, a phrase from the list poem, ‘A Market At Ueno’, that Paul printed and handed out to the class, has been bugging me since I laid eyes on them. The phrase is ‘hour-glass pears’. The adjective ‘hour-glass’ describes the shape of pears perfectly, however, most people would not think of using this particular adjective to describe pears. It made me think of something that Mr. Mark Low, my secondary school ‘Design and Technology’ teacher, used to say about inventions that I felt was very true. He said that most good inventions are inventions that make people say, “Hey! I could have thought of that! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s like… common sense!” However, the fact is that they did not think of it, if not, they would have become the inventor of whatever they were referring to.

I felt that what he said could also be applied in how we write our compositions, journals, etc. We can use adjectives that most people would not think of but which would describe the object we are referring to perfectly, so as to stand out from the crowd. An example would be the adjective ‘hour-glass’ which was used to describe pears! Suddenly, I can feel enthusiasm for English flowing within me!

However, I feel a bit worried about my Creative Writing assignments. I don’t know what to do for assignment 3! I wanted to do my assignment 3 on Alan Moore and ‘Watchmen’ but apparently, Stanley, my classmate, was going to do his assignment 3 on them too. Hence, I am stuck here thinking of who and what to base my assignment 3 on. Maybe I should just try to relax and take a breather from work for a while. I feel so panicky. I sure hope that I would be calmer tomorrow and be able to think of a subject for assignment 3!

Journal Entry 1

2009-12-01T00:39:00.000+08:00

Thursday, 22^nd October 2009

I don’t really know how to start this journal as most journals I have done for school work in the past are all related to class activities or homework. However, for this particular journal, Paul, my lecturer for Creative Writing, wanted it to be more personal and about my own life. So yeah… I’m going to try doing just that. Here goes nothing!

Rays of light emerging through the window facing my bed awaked me this morning. I jumped out of bed in shock and looked at the time. It was already 7.30 a.m.! I was going to be late! I ran out of bedroom, grabbed any pair of shirt and jeans that were within my sight and dashed into the bathroom. As I took a quick shower, my mind wandered, searching for the reason why I was late. After a minute or two, I remembered what happened the night before. Doing the heavy workload given for my ‘Typography and Layout’ module exhausted me and by the time I got home, it was already past midnight. I collapsed on my bed with the intention of taking a rest and before I knew it, I was deep in slumber. I cursed myself in my mind as I turned off the shower tap, dried myself with a towel and put on my clothes. My mom looked at me with great amusement in her eyes as I ran around the house like a clown looking for things that I may need for the Creative Writing class. I knew what she was going to say as she opened her mouth in a seemingly slow motion. Before she spilled the words out, I relied her, ”Yes, yes. I know! I’m going to be late! Can you don’t rub salt into my wound?!”

She immediately closed her mouth and gave me a disapproving look. I pretended I didn’t see the look on her face and hurried out of the house to hail a cab…

This is the only event that I can think of writing into the journal so I guess this is the end of my first entry. Hope I have much things to write about tomorrow!

Blind

2009-10-13T17:56:00.004+08:00

Today, I was doing a poster for one of Design Studies Club's events in the MacDonald's at Bugis Street when something caught my eye: a man in his forties lighting his cigarette.

At first, it didn't register in my brain but after a few minutes or so, I realised that the man was attempting to smoke in MacDonald's and there was a smoke detector just above him.

I was starting to panic. The MacBook that I was using didn't belong to me. It belonged to Hilary Jane and I knew that if anything happened to the MacBook, she would kill me. I was thinking of what to do. Should I keep everything and place the MacBook on my lap (under the cover of the table)? Should I tell one of the MacDonald's employees?

The most ridiculous thing was that none of the MacDonald's employees noticed that he was smoking. This despite him lighting the cigarette several times. God, are they blind?

Even if they were slightly blind, they should have at least been able to sniff the smoking smell! God! Fortunately, the smoke from the man's cigarette wasn't detected by the smoke detector and that he left quickly.

People these days... why are they so non-observant?

Music

2009-10-13T17:54:00.003+08:00

An empty house

A feeling of being trapped

Must Get Out

A deserted street

A feeling of emptiness

Must Shout Out

A music player

A rush of emotions

Feels much better...

Passage of Time

2009-10-08T01:38:00.006+08:00

Happy Birthday Ma-Ma. I miss your milo a lot! Hahah. Yes, although you have aged a lot and it is evident on your skin, you are one of my pillars of strength..

Mommy! Thanks for always supporting me in everything I do! Although sometimes I do things that you may not like, you still support me no matter what. Thank you.

Although I have grown and matured, I am still that small and naive boy of yours! :)

27th September 2009, 3.30 AM

2009-09-30T00:28:00.002+08:00

Again... Hilary Jane's favourite hobby: writing blog posts for others. Enjoy (or at least try to... haha).

Disclaimer: What you read below is not the opinion of PENLERS. It is the opinion of HILARY JANE. (Hahaha! I'm bolding this in case people can't read this!)

27th September 2009
Location: Bane's house

I'm playing Supermario Car racing with Bane. Very fun yet childish. WII ROCKS! It was an awesome day today. Indeed. I went to my dearest Hilary Jane's church for her youth anniversary celebration! Fun only! She acted as a crazy witchcraft, she is good at acting! Awesome! Next, it was bbq time. Food was not tasty but it was lovable dinner because my hearty Hilary Jane cooked for us. BANE, BOBBY, JOWIE & QI MENG! AWESOME. I shall stop here because my phone sucks! I use my phone to type a post for my personal blog as a draft first :) Love you deep deep! <3

A Lifeless Ordinary

2009-09-27T22:21:00.001+08:00

Song from the new Motion City Soundtrack record. Can't Wait!

19th September 2009, 01:59

2009-09-25T12:51:00.009+08:00

This is what happens when you're bored at 2 in the morning with a bunch of friends and one of them decide to write a blog post on your behalf:

Disclaimer: What you read below is not the opinion of PENLERS. It is the opinion of HILARY JANE. (Hahaha! I'm bolding this in case people can't read this!)

19th September 2009, 01:59
Location: Sherlene's House
People: Bane, Bobby, Hilary Jane, Qi Ming, Sherlene's cousin

We're watching ORPHAN right now. It's damn thrilling and exciting. But I'm tired. Idiot myself. I don't allow Hilary to use my phone to type a draft for my blog. And I didn't tell her my secretive blog too. Am I cruel and mean towards her? Yes... I think so? Today we kept doing the <3> Hope that she will allow me to date her. Oh, 26th September 2009. Her Church youth anniversary. I wanna go! Cliff go! Kay, go. Time to stop! ;D love you deep deep people. Bye <3 <3 <3

Message From The Dead

2009-09-13T20:59:00.002+08:00

Message from the late Heath Ledger via Modest Mouse's 'King Rat'. He wanted to tell people about whaling. Feels surreal to see one's creations after one's death. Wonder if this video will work... if people will stop whaling...

Nah... they won't.

Untitled 13/9 8:56PM

2009-09-13T20:36:00.004+08:00

Are we all hiding behind a mask? Unwilling to show others our true feelings? I thought I knew and understood people but I realised I didn't. Not even a tiny bit.

I feel sick of myself now. Doubts are filling my mind. I don't think I even know myself anymore. What am I? What do I really want? What do I want to do with my life? I feel uncertain... I feel purposeless.

Sitting on the swing, I wished I could be on this swing forever. It feels reassuring and yet insecure at the same time. For once, I was totally alone. It felt calming yet lonesome at the same time. I plugged in to my iPod and immediately, I felt better. However, after awhile, the feelings came back.

This feeling within me... I loathe it, but at the same time, I'm... enjoying it. Am I sick in the head? I don't know.

I'm not hurt.
I don't need help. I don't need 'saving'. I don't need people to sympathize me.
I just need to be leave alone by myself.
I just need people to fuck off.

Emotionless

2009-08-17T23:59:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel heartache from sad blasts of the past.
Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel fear from being afraid that our future will be fragile.
Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel nervousness from presenting our ideas to an audience.
Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel jealousy about someone who did something better than us.
Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel regret about a close one that died.
Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel heartache, fear, nervousness, jealousy, regret.

Sometimes, I wished we humans would not feel.

Kid, Once Again

2009-08-16T18:00:00.003+08:00

I feel like a kid once again. Today, home alone and feeling bored, I decided to melt chocolate to use as spread for my bread. I placed a bar of chocolate on a plate and put it into the microwave, setting the timer to 5 minutes. After that, I went to bath. While bathing, I heard loud cracking sounds emerging from the kitchen. I grabbed my towel, fastened it around my waist and ran towards the kitchen. As I suspected, the sounds were coming from the microwave. I immediately turned off the microwave's power supply and opened the microwave. I realised that the plate had cracked and bits and pieces of the plate was flying everywhere in the microwave. Guess I haven't grown up yet. Can't wait to see the look on my mom's face though. Its been awhile since she last scolded me for damaging something in the house. Wonder what she will say... hmm.. Man, I feel so dumb now... but at least I had fun. HAHAHAHAHAH!

(Penlers apologises for the temporally short fuse in his brain. He will be back to his usual self soon.)

Shown Passion

2009-08-06T01:09:00.003+08:00

A series of my photographs are up on exhibition at the Cybercentre in Temasek Polytechnic. Although it only features 10 photographs and is located deep inside Cybercentre, it is a huge step for someone like me who did not know how to use a DSLR camera 2 years ago. Hopefully, this isn't the last people see of me and my passion for photography.

Baby Steps

2009-08-04T02:44:00.003+08:00

I took my 'baby' steps in my quest to master Photoshop during the free block I had 2 weeks back. Here are the fruit of my labour:

First artwork done on Photoshop with help from an online tutorial. I wanted to show vines entrapping the person but it didn't come out as I wanted it to.

This was done with help from an online tutorial as well though it was way more complicated than the above one, giving me a headache in the process. For some reason though, I managed to finish this one up faster than the above one.

Initially wanted to create a new website template for this blog but ended up creating a 'background' picture of a silhouetted cow and penguin.

I did this without any help whatsoever, so you can say that this is my first real created artwork. This artwork was initially about me. I used Domo to represent me as some people say I look like Domo. The things emerging from Domo are my interests: Camera representing photography, Headset representing music and Gun representing virtual shooting games.

Surprises

2009-06-27T23:13:00.005+08:00

Tonight while sitting alone and looking at the city by the sea near Esplanade, my attention was broken by a loud sound and bright colors in my peripheral vision. It was fireworks from the National Day Rehearsal. As the fireworks display went on, the people around me were transfixed by it. The man beside me stopped puffing his cigarette and called a close friend to share his delight. The kids just behind me screamed in delight every time the fireworks appeared. The couple on my other side hugged each other. I could not help it but to smile. It is small surprises like these which makes me feel that life is precious...

King of Pop

2009-06-26T23:02:00.003+08:00

Michael Joseph Jackson

29 August 1958 - 25 June 2009

Always will be remembered as...

The King of Pop

The End.

2009-06-26T01:25:00.002+08:00

I open my eyes and wondered
Why is there colors in the world
When the world is going to end...
It should be black and white
Like the ending credits to a movie
That is critically acclaimed
But never appreciated by the viewers.

The City

2009-06-24T22:03:00.006+08:00

I love exploring the city during the weekends, especially the business districts. During the weekends, the business districts are extremely quiet, often with no soul in sight. Walking in the business districts gives me a sense of peace.
Who says there is only peace in the countryside? There is even peace in the city... it's just a matter of whether you can find that peace or not.
Walking in the silent business districts gives me freedom. On these streets, I don't feel constricted by the people around me. I feel like the king of the world with the freedom to do whatever I want.
Yet on the same time, walking among these 'giants' make me feel insignificant... like a speckle of dust.

The city can be lonely during the weekends.
As it turns dark in the city,
The darkness tries to engulf the lone figure wandering the streets.
Entrap the figure the city tries...
To make him a companion for the night...
Before they return to him for the weekdays.

17 June

2009-06-23T00:51:00.001+08:00

All photographs taken on 17 June 2009.

Girl in the Summer

2009-06-23T00:37:00.007+08:00

PENLERS PRESENTS A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS TITLED "GIRL IN THE SUMMER":

Stare

Hair

Look

Shades

Photographer

Cover

Wind

June 15/16

2009-06-22T00:08:00.003+08:00

Childhood Memories

Sunshine Through the Leaves

Car Meets Nature

Anthony Road

It's A Hard Day's Work

Up The Steps

Through The Gaps

House Meets Nature

Connected

Friendships That Last

Zooming Past

The Long Walk

Support Youth Troops

Prison Break

Skull Graffiti

Dogs in Shades of Black

Robot Graffiti

Peace Within A City

Building of Graffiti

The Wait

Grr...!

The Stare

Grimace

Photographs

All photographs taken during photography trip on 15/16 June 2009.

CCA Awards Day

2009-06-21T23:56:00.004+08:00

The Rhythm of The Dance

In Music They Trust

Where The Lights Lead

As The Bottle Watches...

All photographs taken during Temasek Polytechnic's CCA Awards Day 2009 on June 12 2009.

Basic Photography Workshop

2009-06-21T23:13:00.003+08:00

The Umbrella's Spin

The Display of the Phone

From The Ground

All pictures taken during Temasek Polytechnic's Visual Central's Basic Photography Workshop on 6 June 2009.

Zo Gang

2009-06-21T22:25:00.003+08:00

I find this short film very interesting. I find that it accurately shows how Singaporeans in general treat local films and music. The short film also shows references to more well known local films like Eric Khoo's Be With Me (note the part in the short film where 2 guys in black and white hold hands). I find this short film something that foreigners curious about Singapore can watch. Everything in this film is very Singapore. From the language to the references made to the Singapore mentality towards local films and music, it is very much a made-in-Singapore (and made-by-Singaporeans) film that should be shown to everyone.

Think Family

2009-06-15T00:13:00.001+08:00

No words needed, just Kleenex.

Wake Up in the Morning

2009-05-30T23:21:00.003+08:00

Eyes open
Blink a few times
Sit up on bed
Stretch arms
Get off bed
Open door
Walk off
Legs stopping
Eyes closing
Brains unresponsive
Systems shutting down...
Nose detects an aroma, warm bitter-tasting fluids enter mouth
Brains start operating once again, eyes are wide open, walks with bigger strides
Aah... the wonders of coffee.

Above is just a description of what happens when I wake up in the morning everyday. The drowsiness when I just awoke makes me do things one-by-one in a robotic way. Fortunately, coffee exists and is able to save the day for me! Or else, I would probably be a robotic dead man walking around in school. So here's to coffee!

...no wonder millions of people drink coffee everyday...

Word Art

2009-05-17T21:52:00.005+08:00

Equipped with a notebook, a pencil and an eraser, I came up with these 2 'word art' during my free time in my Indonesian holiday.

These words were a part of the lyrics from MGMT's 'Time To Pretend'. As you can see, I was listening to the song as I looked at the blank piece of paper. Haha...

I can't remember what inspired me to form this statement... I think it was the word 'Helljumper'. I was thinking what if there was an occupation called 'Helljumper' and viola! The words magically formed in my mind.

Creep

2009-05-17T00:18:00.003+08:00

I know it's been around 15 years since Radiohead's Creep first hit the radiowaves but I feel that it still has an effect on many people. To me, it's a song about the 'creeps' and 'weirdos' of the world who see a special girl (or guy...) they like but do not do anything to woo her because they feel that they will never be accepted. If only they were encouraged to accept themselves for who they are..

Here's a home-made (I think...) video for the acoustic version of Radiohead's Creep. Hope everyone can get accepted for who they are...

We Are All Alone

2009-04-27T22:33:00.003+08:00

All it really takes is for one to sit in the corner of a popular meeting area to realise how totally alone we all actually are...

Enjoy your friends' company while they are still around because in the end, we'll go separate paths and be alone again...

...In the end, we all die alone. Who will be at your funeral?...

P.S. Welcome to the Cliff's Steps... ahahahaha (for those who know what they are...)

Franz Ferdiand Covers "Womanizer"

2009-04-09T17:41:00.006+08:00

The video below is a clip of Franz Ferdinand covering "Womanizer". As you will hear in the video, Franz Ferdinand has made the Britney Spears' comeback single sound distinctly like... well, Franz Ferdinand. Love it or hate it, it's still really interesting to see an artist cover songs by other artists you would normally never associate them to... like Franz Ferdinand and Britney Spears. It may give you a shock at how different the same song sounds like in the hands of different artists initially but perhaps... you'll be pleasantly surprised at the end of the listening experience.

World of Music

2009-04-06T23:55:00.006+08:00

I chanced on this particular website that does weekly 'music videos' with various artists. It was really interesting because the artists performed live (unlike real music videos), sometimes in a borrowed studio, sometimes while walking down the road to a pub. The videos were never edited and showed the artists' ability to perform live. It was really amusing to watch the expression of the passerby in the videos... sometimes they were shocked, occasionally they were annoyed but often, they were in awe at the sight (and sound) before them. Well, a video paints a bigger picture than my words. Perhaps then, you'll have a clearer view.

Below is The Kook performing 'Ooh La' while walking to their gig in Paris.

If you liked what you saw and want to see more, you can head on to their English website: www.takeawayshows.com or you can view them on their YouTube channel here. I'll recommend you guys to watch Priscilla Ahn's and OF Montreal vs Axe Riverboy's videos.

Trip to Indonesia

2009-04-05T15:54:00.008+08:00

None of my ramblings today... just pictures of my trip to Indonesia. :)

Imagined World of Hat Wearers

2009-02-19T10:01:00.002+08:00

The first set of drawings isn't really about the title of this post. It was just something I had drew a few weeks ago. However, the last 2 sets of drawings are! I was just doodling about when suddenly I had an idea of drawing characters with hats on. Hope it isn't too complicated to comprehend like the last time around.

Let me explain the middle picture of the drawing of a coffee cup. I was basically trying to say that when a person is lethargic or not feeling like his brains can function properly (note the 'face' of the coffee cup), all that he/she need to do is drink a cup of coffee and he/she will have the energy to talk (note the 'blast' on the left of the coffee cup), carry out activities and have his/her creative juices running (note the stuff that are flying out of the coffee cup).

Blink-182

2009-02-15T13:59:00.003+08:00

God. I can't believe it. I'd thought today was a normal sunday but noooo... today was the day I realised Blink-182 was back and already recording an album. Hell yeah. If you don't believe me, just look at their website here. Really looking forward to their new works. Hope they are as good as last time.

Here's to Blink-182's return.
Cheers!

Hey Monday and Fall Out Boy

2009-02-11T12:23:00.010+08:00

Went to catch them live last night. Their performance wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.

Before the Show

Hey Monday performing their first song

Cassadee Pope (Hey Monday vocalist) starts off a song via acoustic guitar

Hey Monday performing

Hey Monday performing (pretty sure they were playing 'Arizona' then)

Hey Monday performing

Changes made to the set

Fall Out Boy banner being risen (bringing bloodcurling screams from the crowd)

Fall Out Boy performing their first song

Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman trying to get the audience EVEN MORE high

Fall Out Boy performing

Pete Wentz talking to the audience

Patrick Stump answering a question of Pete Wentz

Fall Out Boy performing 'Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet' (or maybe not... forgot)

In-between songs

Fall Out Boy performing

Patrick Stump and Cassadee Pope performing a short duel

Fall Out Boy performing

Fall Out Boy's crew egging the audience on to make Fall Out Boy perform one more song

Fall Out Boy Performing

Pete Wentz, minutes after throwing himself into the crowd

The Last Song

All the memories of last night's concert is fuzzy now. Though, I thought it was great that Fall Out Boy was willing to bring a new band like Hey Monday to perform with them on stage. And I finally know why Patrick Stump never speaks to the audience now.It wasn't because Pete Wentz was an attention seeker like what I heard but it was because Patrick had made an imitation of some famous guy playing baseball on and on for 10 whole minutes and it was so bad that he decided not to address the audience anymore. Pretty glad I didn't miss out on this concert..

Competition

2009-02-10T15:41:00.007+08:00

Last Sunday, I went for my first ever LAN competition (the competition was played in Counter Strike:Source or CS:S for short): The Steel Series Singapore Pro Shootout 2009. It was all a mixture of feelings for me. Nervousness, obviously, as it was the first time I was taking part in a LAN competition and excitement as I was about to meet the various Source players I had encountered in-game. My team (element 5) and I arrived at the venue at the allocated time (... just barely. Markus, my team mate, conveniently overslept and almost didn't make it in time). When we were told that we would be facing Xtreme Chaotix (they are one of the Singapore CS:S giants) in the first round, we were puzzled. We were expecting a coin toss between the team leaders to either pick the opponent or the map for the first round. Turned out we misinterpreted the tournament rules and that the coin toss was only used to pick the map for the first round. Live draws were held to decide which teams would face which teams earlier before we had arrived (according to something I just read a few minutes ago...).

Xtreme Chaotix (or XtC for short) won the coin toss and decided on playing the map, de_nuke. My team, element 5 was then allowed to pick which side we would play the first half on (either Counter-Terrorist or Terrorist). Since de_nuke was a "Counter-Terrorist" map, we had chosen to play Counter-Terrorist first. We played better than I had expected, winning the first half 9-6. Though, I have to admit that I made a few mistakes in the game and felt that my personal performance was just... above average. It could have been better. Then, came our... problem. My team didn't really practise any tactics for de_nuke (actually... we didn't really came up with ANY strategies for the tournament at all). Thus, we had to come up with plans on the spot. Expectedly, we lost the second half 10-4 to lose the match 16-13. We all ended up thinking,"So close yet so far..." However, to think back now... the score could have been worse for us. It was just that we picked the correct side for the first half, Counter-Terrorist (there isn't much tactics for the Counter-Terrorist side... just prevent the Terrorists from planting the bomb and letting it explode) If we had picked Terrorists, we would have lost at a bigger margin. Then again, even if we had won, we would have to face team TitaNs, one of Singapore's most recognized teams, in the next round and there was no way we were gonna be able to beat them.

Nevertheless, I stayed on to watch the other teams in action. This was when I was a disturbing scene. In the match for 3rd/4th placing, 'Mankind', of team Synergy, was screaming his head off at 'Pandemic', of team Synergy too. The shocking part was that 'Pandemic' was 'Mankind''s younger brother and that in almost every sentence, there was vulgarity. I too have a younger brother but I would NEVER scream profanities at him. It just wasn't right. Besides, all the screaming was bound to demoralize 'Pandemic' and in the process, he wasn't able to play well. He even quit CS:S after the LAN tournament. Man... what 'Mankind' did was not right...

Fully Illustrated

2009-01-29T22:42:00.005+08:00

Below are 2 drawings that I featured on the blog a few weeks ago, fully illustrated.

Well, I'm gonna explain what the 'Turtle' picture is about since many of the people I asked to comment about it didn't get it. Its basically about a turtle who got so lonely all by himself that he imagines objects (that he seen before previously in his life) with eyes and mouths. Eventually, his imaginations go into overdrive and he pictures the objects talking. Hence, he exclaims," For my imagination, you guys talk too much." See?! Perfectly easy to get what the drawing is about! :/

Sensitivity Training

2009-01-21T23:23:00.005+08:00

Saw this video off one of those chain e-mails which people normally find ever so irritating. However, this chain e-mail sent by Mengxuan really cracked me up (well... except the last part which was lame...). Kudos to the person who made this video. ;)

World Without Colors... pt. 2

2009-01-14T21:15:00.003+08:00

World Without Colors... pt. 2 taken in Taiwan. For full photo description, visit my deviantart profile.

PENLERS PRESENTS: ARTS OF A CHINESE TEMPLE
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: ANOTHER WORKING DAY...
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: DRIVING ON A DUSTY QUIET ROAD
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: AS STURDY AS A POST
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: LIGHTS AND BAMBOO
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

Da Best and Worst of 2008

2009-01-14T17:19:00.005+08:00

I know it's kinda late to talk about 2008 but well... I'm always lazy to blog :/
At least I'm talking about it now... :]
As stated in the title, this post is about the best and worst of my roller coaster-like 2008 year.
I'll start with the worst first since I have very little to say about it...

Da Worst of 2008
Can't say too much about the worst parts of 2008 since I tend to put the bad parts of my life away. However, on of the worst parts of my 2008 year is perhaps having to rush my Design and Technology folio. It was bullshit really. For a period of time, we had to stay up till 3, 4 or even 5 in the morning while rushing our folio. Madness but I must say to think back, it was actually quite fun. Every few minutes while working on our folios, we would call each other to check on each others' progress. Its actually quite funny when I think about it. I mean we are suppose to be 'enemies' since we are all competing for the holy grail named 'Distinction', yet we are all concerned about the progress each other are making. Maybe we are influenced by Mr Low as he always say that we should be a team and help each other out or maybe its because we have been together for so long and we feel united. Whichever it is, I'll always remember the time we (...as in 4E4) spent together. Well, other than that there isn't much I can complain about 2008. Except, maybe... okay there is absolutely nothing I wanna change about it. There... said my peace for the worst of my 2008.

Da Best of 2008
2008 was great to be honest. I couldn't say what was the best out of the many great news in 2008 if you asked me a thousand times. Though I can easily mention what was memorable in 2008 for me. One of the most memorable things for me was dogs in Serangoon Gardens. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Serangoon Garden dogs are one of the sneakiest types of dogs I have seen in my life. There was once when James and I were walking to our tuition 'house' for a Christmas Party when a dog hid behind the wall and launched an ambush (where he barked at James and James jumped in fright) on James. I was left laughing my ass off while James started shouting hokkien profanities at the dog. Well, I should know how James felt since I was frightened by the same dog only a few months back. Well, the Serangoon Garden dogs are not only sneaky, they are also vicious. I remember once when I was really young when I was walking back home from the supermarket when a dog was set loose and it bit me on the butt. Oww. I had to go for an injection on my butt (to prevent rabies or something) at the doctor's after that. God. I hate dogs. :/ Well, another memorable part of 2008 was my teachers who were... pretty eccentric. Some constantly told us we were gonna fail our 'O' Levels (jokingly of course) while others made 'racist' jokes at some of our classmates. Some even had... 'spilt personality'. But I have to say it was them that motivated us to strive for good results. If they weren't our teachers, I dare say our results would be much worse.

Well, thats it for my conclusion of 2008. Well, of course it isn't as short as above... there is still alot of things that happened but sometimes... its better to keep things close to your heart and never out of your mouth. :)

Taiwan

2008-12-28T22:41:00.004+08:00

What can I say about Taiwan? Well firstly, Taiwan is an island populated by mostly the chinese. The main spoken language is Mandarin. When I first arrived in Taiwan, I was surprised by its weather. The weather in Taiwan is really erratic... one day it can be hot and humid and the next, it can be cold and windy. Though the only thing not surprising is the time the sun falls. Since it was in the winter season when I went to Taiwan, the sun falls very early at around 5 pm.

Taiwan is a outspoken country in my opinion. Everytime you visit a night market (which is a very popular thing among the Taiwanese), you can see stall vendors shouting and trying to attract customers to their particular stall. Sometimes, I really wonder how these stall vendors make ends meet since there are many, many stalls and they all seems to sell the same stuff. For every country, you can say a particular food that you can relate to that particular country. For Singapore, its Rojak and Durian (you may not agree with me but its just an example) and for Japan, its Sushi and Udon. As for Taiwan, I would have to say its Finger Food. Taiwan has quite a huge variety of Finger Food. Some like the Fried Chicken Fillet (I think thats what you call it in English) are surprisingly good while others like the Fried Fishballs are not so good.

Taiwanese are generally very friendly. Whenever you pass by a stall, the stall vendor would stop you and ask you to try out one of their products. What is commendable is that even if you leave after sampling and without buying anything, they would bid you farewell with a warm smile. Speaking of which, hygiene is a problem in Taiwan. Even in a restaurant which is frequently booked by tour groups, you can find dirt and stains on the utensils. However, that didn't shocked me. What shocked me was when I encountered a man barbecuing some fishballs while smoking. It was clearly obvious that the ash from his cigarette was landing on the fishballs yet there were still customers willing to buy from his stalls. After that incident, I was silently grateful that all stalls in Singapore had to pass a hygiene test before they could start selling their food. But hey, don't let my words scare you! I tend to exaggerate sometimes. Its perfectly alright to try out other country's local delicacies!

One of the first things I noticed about Taiwan was that their traffic police is really efficient (or so it seemed to me...). When I was on the tour bus, every so often I would notice a police car and another car parked by the side with a policeman questioning the driver of the other car. Really impressive... at least for the first day of my tour (the other days there were less police cars).

Taiwan is a big dog-loving country. Every time I'm on the streets of Taiwan, I see passerbys with dogs by their sides. Some of these dogs had a leash on them while others did not and some dogs worn clothes while other dogs worn hats. Taiwanese generally treat their pets really well. In my short stay in Taiwan, I have never seen a stray dog or even cat, though I have never a cat in Taiwan actually.

Another thing to note about Taiwan is that they do not really celebrate western festives like Christmas. Throughout my stay during the Christmas period in Taiwan, I had only seen 1 Christmas tree. After knowing Taiwanese do not celebrate western festives, I was shocked to be informed by my tour guide that there are around 100+ days of holiday for the working class in Taiwan. That meant that roughly every 3 days in the year, there will be 1 day of holidays. Isn't that shocking?!

Well, I can say that I did enjoy my stay in Taiwan though I got a bit travel-sicked at the end (this always happens when I go overseas; I got stomach flu last year in Australia and diarrhoea the year before in Japan). There were some parts I didn't enjoy but hey, that's life! There are bound to be things you don't enjoy in every experience you undergo...

Identical

2008-12-28T22:33:00.004+08:00

Ever seen an identical pair of brother and sister? Well, I HAVE. Check below! :)

Wish me luck... hopefully I'll still survive when Mengxuan discovers this photo... ;P

Its A RIOT!

2008-12-28T22:14:00.003+08:00

There is officially a riot in Serangoon Gardens. I swear many people got pissed off. Not surprising though, I got rather pissed off myself. I've never got into a traffic jam in Serangoon Gardens yet I was stuck in the '317' bus for an hour. Actually, I wasn't really pissed off... By the time I realised I was stuck in a traffic jam, only the elderly ladies with huge bags by their sides and me were left on the bus. Fortunately, I got off the bus quickly after my big 'EUREKA!' discovery... the roads were sealed and there was no way of reaching home via that bus. Sigh... guess that's the problem with a place so... remote. When there is a traffic jam in such a place, its gonna take a long, long time for the traffic to clear. Well, don't mind me... I'm just... expressing my ermm... emotions. I hardly have a place to just... EXPRESS MY EMOTIONS...

God...

Just don't mind me...I'm just having a breakdown :)

A Turtle & His Imagination

2008-12-17T19:50:00.002+08:00

A drawing I did yesterday about a turtle and his imagination. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed drawing it. :)

Closer looks on the the characters and speech bubbles:

A Sleepless Morning's Work

2008-12-15T21:09:00.003+08:00

Wasn't able to sleep the whole night, decided to do a bit of drawing in the morning. Here are the results... of a sleepless morning's work:

Closer looks into the drawings and their speech bubbles:

Black and White Signs

2008-12-15T20:59:00.003+08:00

PENLERS PRESENTS: NO FOOTWEAR
BEING A PART OF "BLACK AND WHITE SIGNS"

PENLERS PRESENTS: DANGER
BEING A PART OF "BLACK AND WHITE SIGNS"

A World Without Colors...

2008-12-15T20:48:00.003+08:00

PENLERS PRESENTS: SILENT STREET
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: PEEK IN
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: COLORLESS LEAVES
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: COLORLESS FLOWER
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: THE TRUSTY MAILBOX
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

PENLERS PRESENTS: WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIRDS GONE?
BEING A PART OF "A WORLD WITHOUT COLORS..."

The Gym

2008-12-11T21:12:00.002+08:00

I hate The Gym
Its strong smell of disinfectant
The air which reeks of sweat
I just hate it

I love The Gym
Equipments that keep you occupied
The opportunity for time to fly pass
I just love it

I hate The Gym
The immense strength needed to carry weights
The aches and sores after a workout
I just hate it

I love The Gym
The pain from working out
Is like caffeine in coke
I just love it

Do I hate The Gym
Or do I love The Gym
Frankly I don't know
I just don't know

Maybe I do hate The Gym
Or maybe I do not hate The Gym
Perhaps I do love The Gym
Or perhaps I do not love The Gym

But one thing is for sure
I will continue going to The Gym
And hopefully
So will you!

Just a poem about my love/hate affair with The Gym. :)
I hoped it made you laugh... it was meant to make you laugh. xD

In The Spotlight... Fable 2

2008-12-05T13:31:00.008+08:00

Being a huge Fable fan, I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a sequel to the popular role-playing game ever since I first heard rumors of Lion Head Studios working on Fable 2. I have to admit that my cravings for Fable 2 resulted in me daydreaming of playing the game while I was supposed to study for my 'O'-Levels. Well... that's a bit exaggerating but still... you get what I mean... Now, I have already played the game and I'm gonna give my honest opinion on the game below but before I do that, I have to warn you people. Everything below is my personal opinion on the game so before you starting flaming me for something I wrote below, please remember that I'm not trying to offend others with my remarks; You can choose whether you believe/agree with me or not. Another point to note: the last time I played Fable was ages ago, thus, some things I write about it may be inaccurate. A piece of advise: If you haven't played both Fable and Fable 2, chances are you won't get what I'm saying. I apologise for this.

Expectations
Fable was one of the best role-playing game I've ever played. It's storyline was filled with rivalry, revenge and betrayal. It was very much like reading an excellent book except that instead of you imaging what happens in the story, you actually 'experience' it yourself. Yet there was a flaw in this jem of a game: It was incomplete. Due to impatient fans, Fable was released too early. What do I mean? Well, heres an example: In Fable's Bowerstone Market, there was a water fall with a ship in the waters. It was extremely clear that these waters were meant to be a path to another region but due to pressure from the all too impatient fans, they eventually turned it into a waterfall. Thus, Lion Head Studios had to release an expansion: Fable: The Lost Chapters to make the game more 'complete'. However, this was just something minor in my eyes and Fable eventually became one of my favourite games. When I heard of works on Fable 2, I was skeptical. Fable was incredible and I had doubts that Lion Head Studios could release a sequel that was near the standards of the first game.

Oh my god. Is this happening?! That was fast...
Fable 2 was in the same storyline mould as Fable, with the main character losing his family, getting taken under the wings of a powerful person and then, embarking on a journey for revenge. I was rather impressed with the game initially. The cutscene at the very start of the game was magnificent and it showed of things to come with a landscape shot of the vastly changed town we grew to love in Fable: Bowerstone. However, things begin to go downhill from then on. I'd previously read on a forum that Peter Molyneux, the man who had promised great things for Fable 2, had made a promise to gamers that the childhood days of the main character would take at least an hour to complete. However, I took a mere 10 minutes to complete it. Another big disappoint for me was that the game cuts straight from the childhood days to the main character's early adulthood. The apprenticeship days were a crucial part of the story in Fable for me. It kind of strengtens the storyline and makes you engrossed in the game as you 'experience' everything the main character experiences. However, Lion Head Studios decided to cut this part from the storyline in Fable 2. Immediately, I was not as drawn to the storyline as I was to Fable. Lion Head Studios made up for this by making the maps more detailed and items harder to obtain. The main character's companion/dog was also a cool addition to the game and it soon became a vastly important part of the game for me since it was capable of finding treasures and digging spots. But I felt that it was absurd that there was only 1 dog in Albion which was that of the main character's. Another aspect of the game I felt ridiculous about was that you couldn't die in the game. This meant that no matter how many times your health points ran out, you were NEVER gonna lose. I was excited about facing new enemies in Fable 2 but when I played the game, there was not many new foes; just a revamp of the old foes. This was another major disappoint to me. The storyline was also a letdown... it was not as great as Fable's storyline although I was surprised that Peter Molyneux exclaimed that it was better than Fable's. This led me to wonder whether I had actually really finish the game and whether I was missing something in the game however after searching online, I realised that was not the case. In the end, I ended up murmuring to myself, "Oh my god. Is this happening?! That was fast...".

Conclusion
Many would say that I am not neutral enough to talk about Fable 2. Others would try to remind me that Fable 2 was created for casual gamers in mind. I agree with them to a certain extent. However, I also have this to say... Fable 2 is a sequel to Fable. This means that you would expect the same features that made Fable a success to be in Fable 2. But where were the legendary weapons in Fable 2? Where was the amazing and lengthy storyline? Where were the huge and invincible-looking bosses in Fable 2? Fable was a game for 'hardcore' gamers. By making its sequel more for casual gamers, it made all the gamers who enjoyed Fable vastly disappointed. Besides, you wouldn't expect casual gamers to play a role-playing game. I hate to say this but in my personal opinion, Lion Head Studios was too greedy. They wanted both hardcore gamers and casual gamers to buy Fable 2. Fable 2 was a bad experience in my opinion. However, if you forget that its a sequel to Fable, it would be an alright game. But in my case, it was a bad game that brought back fond memories of playing Fable... how I wished Fable 2 matched the brilliance of Fable...

Rabbit Fiesta @ Yokohama City, Tokyo

2008-11-17T22:03:00.003+08:00

A proud owner shows off his rabbit, which is wearing a Thai-styled attire, during the Rabbit Fashion Contest at the Rabbit Fiesta in Yokohama City, Tokyo

Aftermath

2008-11-17T21:26:00.003+08:00

I ponder on what to say on the aftermath of my personal war for academic results. Yes, the 'O' Level Examination was tough and... mentally straining. I admit that I felt like giving up on studying midway through it all but somehow, I made it through. Ironically, while I wanted the examinations to be over as quickly as possible before, I feel at a loss of what to do now. Its funny. For the whole of this year, I had a goal: to get through the 'O' Levels Examination as quickly as possible. But now, goalless, I really feel lost... Maybe, its just my head hurting. Hey, your head would hurt terribly if you played as much as I did the past few days...

From the open wastes of post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C. in Fallout 3 to the ever-changing lands of Albion in Fable 2 (Yes, you saw the vast difference in Albion from Fable to Fable 2...) to the Orc's homelands of Durotar in World Of Warcraft... I came, I saw and I conquered (somehow this phrase came to my mind... its oddly familiar...). Okay... so I was kidding about the '... I came, I saw and I conquered' part... it was more like I came, lag struck me, my headache hit me full-blow and I got slaughtered. And YESSS, DO I HAVE PLENTY TO SAY ABOUT THESE GAMES!

Okay. My headache is killing me. I swear, this one is much worse than the one I had during Prelims. I'm gonna rest and try to get this pain outta my head.

Ta-ta!

Scenery Just Under Our Noses

2008-10-31T21:17:00.003+08:00

We live hectic lives. Sometimes, we are so busy that we are unaware of our surroundings. Sometimes... we just need to stop and look around us. Who knows what we will discover? Perhaps, we may find a water fountain in a drain. ;)

Freedom

2008-10-31T21:08:00.002+08:00

We all yearn for freedom. We all want the freedom to do what we like. But sometimes, when we gain freedom, we tend to spend too much of it on our interests and hobbies... to disastrous results. Sometimes... we just need to be given freedom bit by bit.

Tama the Stationmaster

2008-10-06T14:06:00.003+08:00

Was flipping through the New Paper when I was aroused by an article on Tama the Stationmaster. Tama is no ordinary stationmaster, in fact, she's a cat! The unbelievable thing is that Tama has an economic impact of 1.1 billion yen in a year! Below is a picture of this incredible cat:

(photo taken from vinka*'s flickr account)

4E4...

2008-10-03T21:25:00.004+08:00

Today was the last day of our secondary school days. How fast time pass! I can still remember the first day of school. I was all shy and timid. With a twinkling of an eye, I'm already secondary 4. Even though time may slipped away from our hands ever so quickly, 1 thing's for sure. I won't forget my secondary school days. All those times we had... ahh!!! I never want this to end. But all good times come to an end sooner or later. Here's a tribute to the class I have grew so attached to: 4E4. I won't forget you guys!~ (...I think)

p.s.: Sorry for those who can't find themselves in the video. I don't have everyone's photo. :)

And here's the class video I will proudly remember for the next 5 years at least! (Haha...I'm not confident about my memory)

Cheers! Here's to all the memories! Thanks for all the joy, sorrow and much, much more!
Hopefully, I'll cross paths with you guys again!...

Carl the Scare-me-to-death Dude, Kenrick the Kidnapper

2008-10-03T19:36:00.002+08:00

Carl. He can really frighten someone. What can I say about him?... Hm. Let's just say hes shy and when I say shy, I mean REALLY SHY, like being shy to friends. I've known him for 2 years now and yet, hes still shy towards me. He can barely maintain eye contact with me when he talks. Another thing about Carl is that he has a really scary sense of humor. What do I mean? Well... just carry on reading and you'll know...

Just yesterday, Damian, Kenrick and I brought him to the McDonald's outlet at Serangoon Central. When we finally got our seats, we began discussing on what to order...

Me: What are we waiting here for? Order!
Damian: Kenrick, you order!
Kenrick: The shortest order. Everyone stand! We see who shortest. DAMIAN YOU SHORTEST GO ORDER!
...After a moment of debate...
Kenrick & Damian in harmony (...incredibly): Carl, what you want?
Carl, with a worried expression on his face: UH! Um...burger!
Damian: What burger?!
Carl: Burger...

Even when we were in queue, Carl didn't look like he knew what he wanted to order at all. It was as though he had never ever stepped into McDonald's. Yet somehow, as though there was some kind of miraculous help from above, he managed to order a Fish Fillet Burger when the cashier asked for his order.

While eating...

Damian: Eh, Carl. You know how to go back home right?
Carl: Uh... no.
...A moment of gasps later...
Me: You know where your house is right?!
Carl: Uh... no.
Damian: Oh my god.
Carl: ...I'm just joking, guys...

Can you see what I mean by scary sense of humor now?... I was so worried that he would get lost while going home that I sat him down at the bus stop and gave him a step-by-step list of instructions: Look straight at approaching vehicles for bus number 22, flag down the bus, board the bus...

Only after giving him those instructions that I felt safe to leave him at the bus stop. Yet on the bus on the way home, I suddenly remembered that he did not bring his hand phone. Butterflies started to form in my stomach. I had a bad feeling about Carl.

I had told him to call me when he reach home yet by 8 at night, there was no news from him. I began to text Damian and Kenrick and discuss what we should do. While Damian became more and more panicky, Kenrick was relaxed and didn't seem to care at all. To add oil to fire, Kenrick even texted me and told me to make Damian even more panicky. I was curious what Damian would think of the text message and so I forwarded it to him. Thus, came Damian's conclusion (...or should I say incredible imagination...) that Kenrick kidnapped Carl.

The weird thing was I began to believe Damian, especially when both Carl and Kenrick didn't appear in school today. I kinda believe its just Carl forgetting to text me that he was safely back home... hes probably playing Conquer Club at home now. But I still have a nagging suspicion that there is something up with Kenrick. I would prefer to think its my writer's imagination though... :)

Poke-Fever

2008-09-26T21:08:00.003+08:00

Nowadays, the class has been addicted to Pokemon. It started from a 'Pokemon Adventures' comic book and rapidly turned into something else altogether. You can often see people crouched on their tables, looking at something underneath it. What is this particular thing I'm referring to? Well, let's just say it's all about Pokemon - from Pokemon on the mobile phone to Pokemon comics.

Can't say that I'm not affected by this thing I like to call 'Poke-Fever', after all I was the person who started lending out the 'Pokemon Adventures' comic books. Damn... to think about it now, why didn't I charge them?! Anyways, been searching the web for more things related to Pokemon and I found this particular video. The graphics isn't perfect but it looks exciting nonetheless. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present... 3D Pokemon Crystal (or so I think...)!!!

Hopefully, you enjoyed that. Well, I just wanna explain the Short Stories About Children I'd written the past few days. You see, it's just that when I was really, reeeaaallllyyy young, I always dreamed to be an author. You can't really blame me for having a jab at it, right?

Okay... I really have lots to blog about but its been an extremely hectic time for me with the 'O'-Level Examinations just around the corner and all. I'll post about the talent show at Republic Polytechnic Ryan had brought me to just last week another day. That night... let's just say... I will NEVER FORGET that night. (Damn Ryan!... *Laughs Out Loud*)

Short Stories About Children (Part 2)

2008-09-26T20:25:00.002+08:00

Penlers presents: Short Stories About Children Part 2.

Incredible Imagination

I chuckled as the memories of that day came back to me. That day was so long ago, yet I could still feel the embarrassment coming back to me. I was starting to get red-faced. I could now remember every tiny detail...

I was seven years old then, an age when children were innocent and had incredible imagination. I could remember how I always used to drive my mother crazy. She had often got mad and shrieked angrily in the household. Till today, many of my ex-neighbours thought the shrieking was from some sort of beast my parents had kept in the garden.

There was this particular night when my parents went out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They had left my two younger brothers and I at home with the nanny. As usual, as soon as my father's car drove off, the nanny laid on the sofa and fell asleep. I had decided that this was enough and that the nanny needed some punishment. I took out my prized black marker my father had given me as a birthday present two years ago and started scribbling on her face.

Suddenly, the lights went off. I shouted in alarm.

'Is this a terrorist attack? Are warplanes bombarding Singapore like in those Channel 5 drama series?' I thought to myself excitedly. A train of thoughts entered my mind. A voice brought me back to reality soon after.

"What's happening?!" the nanny shouted angrily, having been awaken by my shout.

"Terrorists have invaded Singapore! They have cut off the electricity supply and have planned to attack us in the dark!" I screamed back at her, narrating the scenes that were shown on Channel 5's drama series "Price Of Peace".

"T-then, w-what should we do?" she stammered a weak reply.

I thought about "Price Of Peace" and what the good guys in the drama series did. An idea came into my mind. "Get Phuay Hao and Phuay Sheng! We have to barricade the house! When you get them, start to move bulky things out of the house. Now go!"

I started to feel good. It was great to be in charge of things for a change. I was never ever the one to call the shots in my household but now was not the time to act like a boss. We must defend our home. I pulled the comfy sofa in the living room out into the garden. Imagined screams of pain echoed around the neighbourhood. I could even hear the gunshots in the distance with the sound of warplanes in the background. My heart pounded loudly.

"Nanny, quickly! They've almost at our doorsteps!" I shrieked as I ran into the house.

I pulled the shoe rack lying just beside me and dragged it into the garden. Before I knew it, we had a huge pile of various stuff lying in the garden. I ordered Phuay Hao, Phuay Sheng and the nanny to make a barricade out of the pile as I rushed into the kitchen for any weapons we could use.

When I got back, the barricade was already completed. I passed the egg beater, the fork and the knife to Phuay Hao, Phuay Sheng and the nanny. I grabbed the eggs that were left in my hands, ready to launch at any moment.

Suddenly, the street lights came on. We stared in bewilderment at the street lamps.

"The Singapore Armed Forces must have defeated them! Hooray!" I shouted in utter delight. We gave each other high-fives as we jumped about in celebration. At that moment, my parents' car stopped in the driveway. My mother came out of the car and screamed, "Phuay Wei! What have you done?!"

I made a run for it.

'I'm so screwed.' I thought to myself.

Short Stories About Children

2008-09-18T22:57:00.004+08:00

Penlers presents: Short Stories About Children.

The Wedding Crasher

The suns rays painted the clouds brown as the golden sun set into the horizon. I breathed in the fresh air and stared at my surroundings in amazement. The countryside was tranquil and beautiful.

"Mesmerizing, eh? It took me a long, long time to find this beauty of a place!"

I spun around. It was the man of the hour approaching me: Uncle Ezekiel, the man who was getting married tonight.

"Why did you have to find a place so beautiful?" I asked, puzzled. "Wouldn't any place be all right? I mean it's just a wedding..."

"What do you mean just a wedding? A wedding happens once in a lifetime!" Uncle Ezekiel retorted in shock, "You'll understand the importance of a special wedding in the future."

I shrugged in reply and continued to stare at the horizon.

Soon, it was dark and the wedding was about to begin. I watched as the place began to get packed with people. I still did not understand what Uncle Ezekiel told me. An idea came into my mind.

"What if... I disguise myself as an intruder and crashed the wedding?" I asked myself, in whispers. "Why not? It's going to be fun! I bet no one has tried to crash a wedding this big! Why don't I be the first one to do so?"

As I imagine the looks on the guests' faces, I began to get excited and wild ideas began to come into mind.

"I know!" I whispered to myself excitedly, "I'll disguise myself as a suicide terrorist! Perhaps then, I will understand what Uncle Ezekiel said!"

I decided to take my ideas into action and began to look for pieces of cloth I could use to make a turban...

I marveled at my masterpiece. Surely, no one will be able to realise that this is a 12-year-old's piece of work! I picked up the 'turban' and carefully put it on. Next, came on the 'bomb' that was hung on my body. There, I was a suicide terrorist!

I hurried to the benches and got ready. My heart was pounding loudly.

'What if I said the words out wrongly?' I wondered.

However, there was no time to rehearse, the bride was already walking down the red carpet. I rushed to the front, pulled down the jacket I was wearing and shouted in my loudest voice "I'm a suicide bomber! I'm going down with this place!"

There was a moment of silence, then laughter erupted.

"What are you doing, Gabriel? That was really funny!"

"Ezekiel! What's your nephew doing? A suicide bomber?!"

All around me was people who were laughing. My face turned red. What a intruder I was!

Light

2008-09-14T14:46:00.001+08:00

Music Heaven

2008-09-14T13:59:00.004+08:00

I'd recently discovered Last.fm to my utter delight.

Why? Well, it scrobbles (don't really know what this word means... think it means something like collect data?) songs you played on your iPod, iTunes and on the Window Media Player and using these data, they will recommend other artists you may like.

It even recommends free songs available on Last.fm you may want to download, which is something blissful for a free music junkie like me. :)

Another cool feature is 'Neighbours'. Last.fm would search for people with similar musical tastes and add them to your 'Neighbours' tab in your profile. Wouldn't it be awesome to speak with people who have musical taste similar to yours? Unfortunately for me though, its been 6 days since I registered and they haven't found me a single neighbour. :(

Something that frustrates me though is that you can't listen to tracks by one artist only. When you type in an artist name and listen to Last.fm's radio, the station will play tracks by the artist you typed in AND artists similar to the one you typed in. It would have been better if they allowed people to listen to a single artist only.

Still, Last.fm is a cool site you may want to check out. If you're gonna join, add 'Eupasia' to friends! xD

Won't You Sing Along...

2008-09-10T14:40:00.002+08:00

Greg Laswell. Many have not heard of this man though his songs have been featured on popular shows such as Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill. I've never heard him too until I saw him featured on the homepage of RCRD LBL.

Above is a video of 'How A Day Sounds'. It features Elijah Woods, most famous for his performance as Frodo the hobbit in the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. Surprised me a little... fancy that, eh? An A-list Hollywood actor appearing in a music video of someone not many have heard of. If you liked what you heard in the video, head on to his RCRD LBL page and download some of his tracks.

Sense Of Home

2008-09-08T11:06:00.006+08:00

Can't say I'm not looking forward to the new Drama Anthology Series on Channel 5 - 'Sense of Home'. It would be interesting to heard about the experiences of Singaporeans living abroad and what they miss most about Singapore (even though its acted out!). I wonder if I would live abroad in the future. Yes, I've always wanted to travel the world but like my mum always says, "Home is always the best". Besides, the world's too big. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to see every sight in the oh so gigantic Earth. Hell, if only I was Hiro Nakamura (from 'Heroes'; God, I love that show :P). Then I would be able to see everything this world has to offer in a twinkling of an eye. It wouldn't be so unforgettable though, like I always say (or at least THINK to myself :S), " It's the process that counts, not the end result."

Anyways, my brother recently got a 'Spore' creature creation starter kit. Been fiddling around with it yesterday. Even though I don't really know what 'Spore' is about (Hell, my brother didn't know how to explain the game when I asked him. Man...), its kind of fun. Reminds me of 'the Sims' (same creator by the way, I think...) but nevertheless, it's refreshing. I'm sooo gonna try the game (the real edition I mean). If you do play it, gimme a ring, I'll be glad to play with you. :)

Ta-dah! Here's my creation. I call it a Purplet. Basically, it's a purple mean little cross-breed between a pig and butterfly. Can't wait to try Purplet out in 'Spore'! xD

Weird.

2008-09-02T21:37:00.002+08:00

Dad's been acting weird... again. Just went to buy a bottle of red wine for his birthday (with him selecting it of course; I know nuts about wine). On the way home, he said "Thanks ah, boy. You know we love you."

... Which kind of made me feel... awkward. My dad is a man who doesn't really express his emotion. For him to say that is really... quite a feat. Wonder what's gotten into him... if I were him, I would find it very hard to verbally express my love for my son.

Anyways, heres wishing him happy birthday and many more happy birthdays to come. :)

Juno Fever

2008-08-29T23:18:00.003+08:00

I caught on the 'Juno fever' real late. All year long I heard advices to catch the film but only today did I really feel like catching Juno, which I did.

Loved every moment of the film... even watched the credits, which was a first for me; The song selections were brilliant in my opinion. I loved the songs in the film so much that I'd even made the effort to learn one of them; the very last song in the show which the leads Michael Cera and Ellen Page played together: Anyone Else But You (originally by the Moldy Peaches).

Heres a clip, taken from the film itself, of Michael Cera and Ellen Page performing the song (or at least a short version of it) :

I'm so going to buy that Juno Original Soundtrack CD!

Reopening of Old Wounds

2008-08-16T23:40:00.002+08:00

Just watched Money No Enough 2. The movie was humorous and yet serious at times. I wasn't able to fully enjoy the movie though; I was seated right in front and I had to keep my head raised in order to have a good view of the movie screen. I had heard good things about the film from Charlie during the wait for my turn during the GCE 'O' Levels English Oral Examinations and so I had great expectations of the movie. Maybe it was because I had to keep my head raised (which led to a major headache on the way home) but I wasn't impressed by the computer-generated imagery. It all look quite amateurish to me... but then again, this may be because of the high levels of computer-generated imagery displayed in recent movies such as Transformers. The editing could also have been done a bit better; I got lost a few times in the movie. However, the thing that impressed me most was the level of reality in this movie. In Money No Enough 2, director Jack Neo had decided to not only film about the financial problems faced by Singaporeans but also the family issues of some, if not many, of the families in Singapore. The story line of the movie was extremely real (if not a bit exaggerated); in fact, it was so real that it was almost cruel. Now, I wouldn't want to spoil the movie for those who haven't watch it yet... but let's just say that it has happened to my family before... only 2 years ago. The wounds from then had just began to heal when my family and I went to catch this movie. Towards the end of the movie, I began to regret our choice of catching Money No Enough 2 as the wounds... had reopened. The drive home was a silent affair; only the sound of the radio could be heard. Since leaving the movie theatre, my dad hasn't said a word. I hope he'll be alright after a night's sleep and be back to his usual bubbly self. However, we weren't the only ones affected by the movie... while squeezing through the exit of the movie theatre, I looked around me and there were people with grins and people with puffy red eyes. This movie has definitely made a impact on a number of people.

Sir Nils Olav

2008-08-16T23:28:00.003+08:00

Was flipping through the New Paper when I saw this tiny article about Sir Nils Olav. What aroused my curiosity was not the knighting but the fact that Nils Olav is actually a penguin. Fancy that! A penguin being knighted! But don't look down on Sir Nils Olav though, he has been an honorary member and mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard since the 1980s and was made Honorary Colonel-in-Chief in 2005.

Heres a photo of Sir Nils Olav inspecting soldiers of the Norwegian King's Guard regiment.

(photo taken from Deadline Press & Picture Agency's flickr account)

"Superior Intelligence"

2008-08-15T20:39:00.007+08:00

I stumbled into an IQ test online and decided to try it out.

According to an IQ score guide from the same website (http://www.free-iqtest.net/iq-score-guide.asp), I'm a part of the "Gifted" which is a group that consists of only 2.3% of the test-takers. Never crossed my mind that I was "gifted"... well, until today.

Had my GCE 'O' Levels English Oral Examination today. While waiting for my turn, I wasn't nervous actually... only till it was almost my turn that I started to shake my legs nervously. Perhaps, this lack of nervousness was due to me preparing for the Oral Examinations the previous night. Or maybe, it was because I was beside a talkative bunch while waiting for my turn (Yes, Charlie and Damian, if you so happen to be reading this, I'm referring to you! :P) Anyways, I can proudly say that I've tried my best. I've talked till my lips were dry and till I had to lick them ever so often just to be able to continue my conquest for that elusive distinction in English Oral. No regrets though, if I don't get that distinction in English Oral. What is more important is that I tried my very best.

It was a kind of trying week for me. I'd finally completed my Design and Technology (DnT) artifact (YES!!! AT LONG LAST! GODDAMN-IT!). Now, all I have to do for DnT is to focus on my journal and presentation boards. Though I have to admit that after all that hard work on the artifact, I don't quite feel like in the mood to do my journals and presentation boards. And of course, being that perfectionist I am, I still have that tinge of regret that my artifact wasn't as perfect as I'd wanted it to be...

Then, there was the GCE 'O' Levels Chinese Results. I'd obtain a B3 which is quite good considering that my school is labelled as one of the 'Top 10 WORST schools for Chinese'. I was relieved by my results but somehow, I wasn't quite able to smile. Just that thought of narrowly missing out on that distinction for Chinese... it kind of made me angry at myself? I can't quite describe my emotions at missing out on that distinction but... just understand that I was quite sad. Still, I had tried my best during the Chinese examinations and I was contemplating on whether I should just settle on my results. After many tossing and turning on the bed, I eventually reached my decision to retake the GCE 'O' Levels Chinese Examination papers. After all, maybe some years down the road I may regret not retaking the papers? I just didn't want to remember my secondary school days as my 'Years Of Regrets'. Hopefully this time I would be able to achieve distinction...

Less of my typing now! Here are some photos from the trip to the Singapore Discovery Centre in celebration of the nation's birthday:

Before I go, heres a shout-out to the Singapore Ladies' Table Tennis team in reaching the finals of the Table Tennis Olympics. This means that Singapore would have its first medal in the Olympics after 48 years! Woo~! Go Singapore~!

Spokesmen

2008-08-09T23:00:00.004+08:00

Vijay and me, we can really be spokesmen for folios. I'm not sure about others but I am certain Vijay and me, we work on our Design and Technology (DnT) folios EVERYWHERE. From inside the lobby of a country club to the poolside to even beside some renovation works, we have done our DnT folios diligently (Umm... the diligently part referred to me, not Vijay ;P). I've even worked on my folio in the toilet!

Even though I've worked so hard on my folios, whenever I'm waiting for the MRT train, I can hardly resist the temptation to just dump the folios I'm holding into the gap between the platform and the MRT train tracks. Why, you may ask? Actually, I'm not certain why I have this huge urge too. Perhaps, I just want to see just what would happen if I ruin my DnT folios. Kind of... weird, huh? Well... that's just me, like it or not.

Working on the folio with Vijay at the Serangoon Gardens Country Club has been the most 'enriching' experience on my folio-doing 'journey' so far. We have been chased out of the air-conditioned lobby, told off by a lady in the study room and yet again, chased out of our seats in the lobby. The first time we were chased out, we settled to work beside the pool under the SCORCHING (and damn, do I mean SCORCHING...!) sun. Well, it was still a fruitful experience though. At least, I managed to hear Vijay crack a joke:

Me: It's bloody hot, Vijay. HOW?!

Vijay: What how? You see me. I'm black right? And a good radiator of heat!

Me *after a moment of silence*: Oh my god, Vijay! You made a joke! First time, man!

*Bam!* And I got a whacking.

And why oh why did we get told off by that lady in the study room? We always get scolded because of Vijay. Vijay the idiot who couldn't keep his mouse shut when I'm teaching him something on Physics. Hopefully, he doesn't see all this. He's probably going to kill me when he sees this.

Hopefully, we get that much-wanted A1 for DnT. All that work and effort... it'll be a waste if we don't score in DnT. Sadly though, hard work isn't always reflected in the report books. Hopefully this time round it'll be different.

Singapore Television

2008-08-09T21:37:00.003+08:00

Was looking forward to this day. Firstly, obviously because it's national day. Secondly, because after the live telecast of the National Day Parade there's a whole range of exciting television shows.

Calefare.

The trailer for Calefare was amusing and it really made me want to catch it. Unfortunately, I was out for dinner and missed most of it. Still, the last part was funny enough to make me roar with laughter. Vadi Pvss, the man most commonly known for his part in the M1 advertisement (Remember 'Mumbai Dah'?), was hilarious. Hope the remaining episodes are as hilarious.

Below is the M1 advertisement, just in case you didn't get what I mean. ;)

First Class was also nice... though the teachers are a bit... how do I say?... unrealistic? Even though I'm from a school where the teachers can sometimes be a bit wacky, I couldn't believe the behavior of the teachers in First Class. I mean... can you have someone who 'senses' emotions by pulling her hands out in the direction of a person as a teacher? I suppose that's what makes television so addicting I guess... reality-defying things which you really want to see.

Heroes: Season 2's pilot episode is on air now. Can't type! Gotta watch it! :)

C-VAT Results

2008-08-01T23:31:00.007+08:00

Took a C-VAT Personal Value Assessment at breezeto5.com a few days ago, just curious to see what a computer would say of my values. I actually learnt something about myself that I find untrue, which according to Mengxuan was extremely true. Here are the findings of the C-VAT:

Mr SuHuai is prepared to put in hard work moderately but he may at times prefer to work at his own pace.

Mr SuHuai is relatively dependable to deliver results on time. He may sometimes be late in meeting deadlines.

Mr SuHuai initiates plans and ideas easily but may not persist with the tasks until completion. He is prepared to leave tasks unfinished; hence he may prefer short-term assignments as he is more likely to complete these tasks. He may lose interest and focus when working on long term assignments.

Mr SuHuai is likely to be quality-conscious and achievement-oriented. He is motivated to produce work that is of a high standard. He is observant, quick to spot errors and critical where work is concerned. He is likely to be meticulous, careful and pre-occupied with detail.

Mr SuHuai is an emotional person. He finds it difficult to conceal his feelings. He is likely to seek attention from others. Mr SuHuai is passionate, romantic and warm, and needs to be with people. As his emotional needs are high, he is often the 'taker' in a relationship. He tends to make decisions based on his own feelings and opinions.

Mr SuHuai is sympathetic and considerate towards others. He is also likely to be tolerant, understanding and forgiving. Mr SuHuai lends support and offers help readily. He often lends a listening ear to others and is concerned about their welfare. He is also charitable.

Being a shy, quiet and reserved person, Mr SuHuai prefers his own company and feels awkward when meeting people for the first time. In social gatherings, he tends to stay in the background.

Mr SuHuai is the sort of person who forms long term bonds and attachments. He is faithful, trustworthy, and devoted in such relationships. He tends to be trusting, dedicated and protective towards those he loves. Patriotism and sense of duty is a significant aspect of his character.

Positions of power, influence and authority are not Mr SuHuai's concern. He does not mind letting others assert authority over him. He is accommodating, laid back and easy-going.

Mr SuHuai is concerned with position and status. He cares about how people view him. Prestige, quality, rank and reputation are important to him. He is likely to be brand-conscious and would attach significance to status symbols. He takes pride in his appearance.

Mr SuHuai sees people as friendly, reliable and honest. He is trusting and believes what people say. He tends to be unsuspecting of people.s behaviour and motives. He is uncomfortable when he has to wheel and deal.

A good supporter to the people around him, Mr SuHuai does not desire to lead or influence people. He is uncomfortable taking charge and does not feel the thrill of challenge in leading others. He prefers to responds rather than initiate. He looks to others to provide direction and does not naturally want to persuade or motivate others to take a certain course of action.

Intellectual matters do not interest Mr SuHuai. He is more concerned with practical issues than abstract theories. Mr SuHuai prefers to talk about useful and workable solutions than discuss hypotheses and concepts. He is more likely to build on ideas rather than generate them.

Mr SuHuai puts in effort to plan ahead some of the times. He may at times not be as detailed in his planning.

Mr SuHuai is generally able to express himself although not to a high degree of eloquence.

Being one who needs clear and thorough instructions before he can proceed on action, Mr SuHuai resists when conditions are uncertain. He does not adapt easily to changes. Before he embarks on a new project, expect Mr SuHuai to find out more and probe deeply.

Some parts, like me feeling awkward when meeting people for the first time, I felt were so true while others, like me being emotional and finding it difficult to conceal my feelings (are they trying to say I'm emo?), ... let's just say I laughed my head off in disbelief.

The results even had a pie chart with different aspects ranging from 1 to 20. My highest aspect was 'Empathy' with a score of 18 and my lowest was 'Politics' with a score of 8. Guess this means I'm gonna be bullied in my future workplace... Well, at least I know early... I'll have the time to mentally prepare myself...

Here's the pie chart:

Kind of interesting, isn't it? Well, if you're curious to discover more about yourself, do register at breezeto5.com and try out the C-VAT test. In fact, Mengxuan is gonna try it soon... I'm excited about discovering his results. Will he get bullied in his future workplace like me?

Dollars and Sense

2008-07-27T13:23:00.003+08:00

Here are some photos I took at the 'Dollars and Sense' Financial Literacy Carnival held at the Frontier, Jurong (by the way, I woke up at 5 in the morning just to reach there on time...)

July 25th, At Home

2008-07-25T22:46:00.003+08:00

July 12th, Taken at Home

2008-07-25T20:36:00.003+08:00

There's a first time for everything

2008-07-25T19:11:00.002+08:00

For the first time in my life, I played pool last Saturday. With much persuasion and reasoning from Moe, I eventually agreed to follow them. After all, it's not everyday that Joshua is in town. So why not spend some time with everyone's favorite friendly giant?

I rushed home from tuition, got changed and set off to Serangoon MRT station. Nowadays, I have never been able to meet up with people on time and this time proved to be the same. I was late for 30 minutes, leaving Joshua, Moe, Bryan, Justinian and Tian Chen waiting impatiently. On the bright side though, I learnt something new on the way there: Moe is an extremely responsible (... and somewhat irritating, especially when you're the one late) guy. Especially when he's the outing organiser. I can swear to Masala Dosa (It's one of my favorite Indian food) that he called me at least 7 times in a time span of 4 minutes. That's responsibility to you.

Joshua seemed to have a short-term memory, forgetting what certain words mean in Hokkien and Chinese. He could actually forget what the Chinese characters 'Ji' (meaning Chicken in Chinese) and 'Ya' (meaning Duck in Chinese) meant to Singaporeans (in this case, it meant prostitute and gigolo respectively). Other than that, he seemed like the same old giant I remembered him to be... just more gigantic this time.

After some instructions from my shifus of the day, Bryan and Moe, I eventually managed to play properly. At the beginning, my hands were shaky and I hit the ball weakly with no confidence at all. However, as time grew, I began to become confident and the balls started to roll into the pockets. I was having fun and time just flew past. Before I know it, it was almost dark and we were going to leave.

After the fun we had at the pool table, I decided to follow Joshua and Tian Chen to Balestier for Kovan's 'Pot-Luck' birthday party. Moe had wanted to go home but I couldn't help but to drag him along. It was funny on the MRT train from Dhoby Ghaut to Toa Payoh. The train was packed and there was hardly any space between the standing passengers. Joshua and Tian Chen somehow managed to get into a position where Tian Chen was facing Joshua's back. Due to the lack of space, Tian Chen couldn't help but to push the front of his pants onto the back of Joshua's pants, causing him to shiver at the touch. He yelled out that Tian Chen's dick was poking into his butt and struggled to move away from Tian Chen but the people around him refused to budge and he was stuck there with Tian Chen. Tian Chen decided to tease Joshua by pulling his shirt till his shoulder was showing. From where I was standing, it really looked like a Chinese molesting a Caucasian. That really cracked me up.

We had lots of fun at Mark's place in Balestier, playing water volleyball, water polo and then attempting to throw each other into the pool. Everyone had brought a little something to share with everybody else. However, due to the rain that was starting to pour down, Yu Hui and gang decided to finish up all the food with an excuse: "Cannot waste the food. If the rain pour down, the food will spoil and then, no one can eat. We might as well finish everything." I got on the losing team in the water volleyball challenge and we had to do 10 push-ups each. In the end, everyone blamed Moe for the loss. We were so close to victory. If only Moe had not missed his serve, we would have won.

I eventually left the place with Benjamin and Moe (without eating the birthday cake! ... damn!). By the time I reached home, it was already 11 p.m. and I collapsed on the bed, completely exhausted. I had kind of lost contact with my secondary 2 year friends but after the birthday party, it felt that they had not forget me. It felt good to spend time with them again...

'Magic' happens late at night

2008-07-19T23:52:00.005+08:00

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to make good use of the school's tablet PC by drawing something wicked... or cool at least. After these attempts, I realized my 'magic' happens late at night. Here are some things I've drawn in the past 2 weeks:

Hope you're able to read the caption on Ronald the Dog. If you can't, it says "... why can't I walk on all fours?...". Hopefully you would understand the joke.

2008-07-19T23:52:00.000+08:00

RCRD LBL

2008-07-18T20:48:00.002+08:00

www.rcrdlbl.com

RCRD LBL is a site where users can download free tracks from emerging and established artists. I never really know what RCRD LBL stands for (hell, am I curious what it means...) but I love this site. I mean, who doesn't like free music?! What more, it's legal! The only downside is you probably won't be able to find the more popular artists such as Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance on the site. But RCRD LBL brings about freshness... some materials you might not find on the radio waves any time soon. The authors on RCRD LBL also introduce artists and songs regularly, some of which has become my preferred songs on my iPod. Be sure to check out Duchess Says, Less Than Jake and Shugo Tokumaru. They are some of my favourite artists featured on the site

New Pants

2008-07-06T13:01:00.006+08:00

I chanced upon this band from Beijing, China in an issue of Arena (Singapore). The band has been around since 1996 but not many outside China knows about them until, perhaps, recently. According to the band's MySpace information, they were influenced by New Wave, especially the Ramones, in their early days. However, in recent years, their music has tended towards 80's disco and electro. The band has released 4 albums with the latest, Dragon Tiger Panacae, released in 2006. Below is a music video of the song "Bye Bye Disco" (one of the few English songs they have) taken from Dragon Tiger Panacae.

Their music is refreshing and very different from the so-called "Bubblegum" Pop music that has been dominating the Chinese Music scene for years. Hopefully, we'll see many more musicians like New Pants emerging into the Chinese Music scene.

New Pants
www.myspace.com/beijingnewpants

Members:
Millionaire Peng - Guitar/Vocal
Lobo - Bass
Pang Kuan - Keyboard

Discography:

New Pants (1998)

Disco Girl (2000)

We Are Automatic (2002)

Dragon Tiger Panacea (2006)

Pictures taken from Rock In China Wiki

You, Me, And Everyone We Know

2008-07-05T13:31:00.007+08:00

I stumbled upon this band on absolutepunk.net after googling "Motion City Soundtrack". You, Me, And Everyone We Know is basically an unsigned band hailing from Washington DC, the United States. Appearing 14th on the absolutepunk.net charts, I was curious what made them more popular than bands I frequently listen to, such as Taking Back Sunday, Saosin and Green Day. I downloaded the free Party For The Grown And Sexy EP and gave their music a go. I liked what I heard. From what I heard, I felt that they should have been signed by a record label ages ago though they don't seemed concerned at all about not being signed yet as seen from the shoutout on their MySpace account: "unsigned and just fine." I recommend listening to Livin' Th' Dream and Carolina Heat for those who want to know just what You, Me, And Everyone We Know sounds like. These 2 songs, especially Carolina Heat, have been struck in my head for weeks. Give their music a go, you won't regret it.

Absolute Punk says

"The songs of You, Me and Everyone We Know seem to emerge from the shadows, alternating monologues of spite and discontent with rhapsodies of inordinate joy. But peer through the veil of havoc, and it's clear this band seeks a new, if unnerving, way to rock its way to the truth."

Eric Smith says

"They have a live show that rivals a lot of the signed bands I’ve seen performing lately, and these dudes have only been together for a year. A YEAR. One of the members, Mike, used to be in a group called The Alpha Couple that had a fantastic EP out on British Records. The members come from all over the country. Illinois, Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia… and still manage to sound tight."

Sputnik Music Says

"...vocalist Ben Leibsch & Co. pull in influences from Say Anything, Brand New, and even a little Gatsby’s American Dream, but what the guys lack in originality they make up for in tongue-in-cheek maturity and confidence."

Free Indie Says

"You, Me and Everyone We Know is an indie powerpop band from Maryland that has been pleasing their listeners with simplistic, addicting melodies and catchy lyrics. "

Limewire Says

"Despite the bad haircuts, YMaEWK shouldn't be judged as an average emo band. Rather than screaming and whining, the band boasts earnest vocals and smart lyrics, which revolve around deeper topics than heartbreak. "

alternative link (all credits go to absolutepunk.net for the link): http://www.sendspace.com/file/vl32zk

You, Me, And Everyone We Know

www.youmeandeveryoneweknow.com

www.myspace.com/youmeandeveryoneweknow

Discography:

Party For The Grown And Sexy EP

Euro08: The Upsets, The Defeats, The Triumphs

2008-07-03T17:03:00.004+08:00

Euro08 has ended for awhile now. I know it's pretty late now for me to express my thoughts on it but I've been busy lately and well... better late than never...

I'm pretty proud of myself for watching EVERY single match in the Euro08 finals (Hey, that's no easy feat for a person living on the other side of Earth!). Despite almost dozing off in some uneventful parts of matches, I still managed to pull through and watched every match. From the upsets by Turkey to the class of Spain and to the surprises from Russia, I've watched every moment. Here are just some of my feelings about Euro08:

Disappointments:

There's bound to be disappointments in every tournament and Euro08 is no different. In terms of teams, France and Italy were major disappointments. France, despite being named as major contenders by many, were extremely disappointing in this tournament. They managed to score only 1 goal and concede 6 goals; A very shocking goal scored/conceded ratio for an European powerhouse such as France. A pity that Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira were injured and unable to help much; Their presence on the pitch may have been just what France needed to qualify from their Group of Death. Thierry Henry showed the world just what an excellent player he is from the goal he scored against Spain despite just getting back from an injury. Pity that he wasn't able to participate further in Euro08; He may have more tricks up his sleeves. I felt that perhaps France is still missing the influential Zinedine Zidane. He was the star of the show in France's run-up to the 2006 World Cup Finals and to me, his grace with the ball was simply mesmerizing. He could have created much better opportunities to score, which France seemed to lack throughout the tournament. Italy was almost as disappointing as France. Conceding 4 goals and only scoring 3 goals, Italy seemed a pale shadow of itself back in the 2006 World Cup Finals. They were almost impenetrable in defence back then and yet, they conceded an average of a goal in every matchin Euro08. Andrea Pirlo didn't seemed able to be as dangerous as he was for AC Milan and Gennaro Gattuso and Daniele De Rossi failed in helping to stabilise the Italian defence. Although I'm a fan of both Gennaro Gattuso and Daniele De Rossi, they didn't manage to dominate the midfield as much as they could have. Perhaps, Italy was missing their captain, Fabio Cannavaro's assurance in defence? Possible but I'm not sure if it's true. What I am certain is that 1 player can sum up Italy's performance in Euro08: Luca Toni. The 193 cm striker came to the Euro08 finals full of confidence after helping his club, Bayern Munich, win both the Bundesliga and German Cup with 24 goals in 31 league appearances. However, his performance in Euro08 was lacklustre and he never quite seemed able to score. Similarly, Italy won the 2006 World Cup and came up tops in their Qualifying Group, yet, they were unable to perform in Euro08. Perhaps, both Luca Toni and Italy felt the pressure from the press to perform in Euro08. Or, did they felt too overconfident...? Petr Cech, too, disappointed for the Czech Republic. He started the tournament well, making saves that he was well known for in Chelsea. However, the world class goalkeeper shows that he too is prone to mistakes by making an error that allowed Turkey to eventually score a 3-2 defeat over the Czechs. However, he has admitted to letting down the Czech Republic and I believe he will never make this mistake again. How bitter he must felt, making a mistake, in a crucial match, that caused the Czech Republic to fail to qualify. Another to begin the tournament brightly was Cristiano Ronaldo. He amazed during his first 2 matches, creating 2 goals and scoring a goal, and seemed deadly with freekicks from almost anywhere on the pitch. However, his failure to perform in the 2-3 loss to Germany has made many believe he is more interested in discussing a move to another club than in playing for his country after rumours before the match that he was interested in a move to Real Madrid. He simply failed to perform when his country needed him most. Mario Gomez was another major disappointment. The 2007 German Footballer of the Year failed miserable to impress and never seemed to be able to score. Despite scoring 19 Bundesliga goals for Stuttgart, he never showed why Arsene Wenger had set sights on him and only seemed able to miss easy chances that he should never have missed. Perhaps, he is too nervous in his first appearance in a major International Football tournament...afterall, he is only 22 and his future is still bright.

Surprise:

The biggest surprise to everyone is perhaps the upsets by Turkey and the performances by Russia. Turkey were fortunate in a 2-1 victory over Switzerland and didn't seemed to have much hopes winning against the Czech Republic. To everyone's surprise, they did not just scored a fortuitous 3-2 victory over the Czechs, but they even beaten the mighty Croatians in a penalties showdown to face the Germans in the semi-finals. They almost scored an upset over Germany too, despite having many of their star players out. However, it was not to be and they crashed out of the championship after conceding a 90th-minute Philip Lahm strike, losing 3-2 to Germany. Russia had a disastrous opening match against Spain, losing 1-4 and getting outmuscled in every department. However, they bounced back after that defeat and went on to win their next 3 games, with the help of the safe pair of hands from Igor Afinfeev, the overlapping runs by Yuri Zhirkov and the threats up front: Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko. They beat Greece 1-0, Sweden 2-0 and even the Netherlands 3-1, before being taught a lesson by the mighty Spaniards 3-0. However, their performances before the game against Spain caught the eye of the world and everyone was amazed by them, especially the match against the Netherlands who seemed unbeatable prior to the match. Their performance caused clubs to be in a frenzy and suddenly almost every club in the world wanted Andrei Arshavin's signature. Igor Afinfeev, Yuri Zhirkov and Roman Pavlyuchenko, too, found themselves on the shortlist of scouts around the world.

Triumph:

Spain has failed to reach beyond the quarterfinals of any tournament in 24 years but they have finally ended this wait for glory after Torres' lone goal in the 1-0 victory over Germany made them European Champions. They truly show that they deserved to win Euro08 after scoring 12 goals and conceding only 3 goals throughout the whole tournament. A player who impressed me alot was Marcos Senna. I felt his presence helped Spain to break down attacks and allowed his more known team mates such as Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta to attack the opponent's defences without worries. The twin terror David Villa and Fernando Torres also proved too much for their opponents as they scored 6 goals in 6 games between them. Iker Casillas proved his abilities as a world class goalkeeper as he only managed to be beaten twice. But what impressed me was his penalty saving prowess. He actually managed to dive in the right direction for every penalty kick in the penalties showdown against Italy. Cesc Fabregas, too, showed his class everytime he touched the ball as he had the unbelievable talent to pick out team mates who were in the free. Sergio Ramos played brilliantly throughout the tournament and his overlapping runs were a joy to behold. He impressed particularly in the 3-0 victory over Russia, tormenting Yuri Zhirkov with his terrifying overlapping runs and cool defending. This is the first time I've seen the Spanish national football team work so well together, it just seemed that everyone's style of play complemented each other. Even the subs, such as Daniel Guiza and Santi Cazorla, who were relatively unknown prior to the start of the tournament, performed ever so well. I hope this Spanish side will stay united for many years to come. This Spanish side sure look ever so likely to contest for the 2010 World Cup.

Euro08 has been an enjoyable experience for me. However, all good things have to come to an end. Although Euro08 has ended a little too early for my liking, I've enjoyed every single minute of it. Now, just a few more months before the English Premier League starts again...

Great Teacher Onizuka!

2008-06-18T15:50:00.003+08:00

Recently, I've been watching a lot of television shows. In fact, I finished the whole GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) drama in one day. Seems like my memory isn't as good as I thought it was; I have watched GTO back in my Primary School days and yet, I have forgotten most of it's contents. I wouldn't even remember it if Meng Xuan didn't show me the music video of the GTO theme song (it was taken directly from the drama series). But I'm glad he reminded me of the drama show; It has brought back memories of watching it with my aunt when I was still young. Surprisingly though, GTO even have a movie, which I just watched. But it wasn't as good as the drama series; most of the cast from the series wasn't there and it just didn't feel right watching Onizuka not getting into trouble with his co-workers at Seirin Academy (hopefully I didn't get the school's name wrong).

So, what's GTO about? As the name suggests, it is about this guy named Onizuka Eikichi whose one ambition in life is to become a teacher, even though, he has only graduated from a third-rate college and is also a bike gang leader. Despite not having the necessary qualifications to be a teacher, he is hired by the seemingly eccentric director of the Seirin Academy. However, he is faced with a notorious class and doubts from his fellow co-workers. Through many difficult situations, he eventually wins over the class and convinces everyone he is a great teacher.

The series has only 12 episodes and I found it a bit too short. Luckily, GTO is based on the anime of the same name and I have heard that it is better than the drama series itself. Maybe I will look into the anime...

Mighty Germans Stunned By Hardworking Croatians

2008-06-13T19:39:00.003+08:00

A game that many Croatians will not forget.

The mighty Germans were stunned by the hardworking Croatians 2-1. Prior to the match, Germany was regarded as comfortable favorites against Croatia. And from the recent Group B matches, it seemed that Germany had too much quality not to win against Croatia, who had failed to impress during their narrow 1-0 victory over Austria. Despite scoring in the early stages of the match against Austria via a penalty, Croatia had not impress many and, in fact, frightened a few Croatia supporters with their heart-stopping defending. Austria had seemed close to scoring in a number of occasions, yet, Croatia held firm to deny Austria from getting a point out of the game, which they deserved. On the contrary, Germany had impressed in their 2-0 victory over Poland and made many believe that they could very well be this year's Euro 2008 winner. The Germans looked dangerous whenever they got the ball and they just seemed unbeatable.

Yet, Croatia were able to get away with a result that they must be delighted with. This seemed the first time in ages that Germany's defense was so deeply threatened and Croatia must be given credit for their much-deserved victory. Their passing seemed precise and such a joy to behold, especially in Germany's side of the field, and they closed down on their opponents quickly and efficiently. Ironically, their impressive display reminded me of Germany in their win against Poland; The opposing team's players didn't seem able to travel far with the ball before they find players surrounding them.

Perhaps, Germany were getting complacent and they underestimated Croatia. But after conceding the opening goal, the Germans never really seemed to get going and they began to get anxious and edgy as the match progressed. Even after a half-time talk with their coach, Joachim Löw, the Germans never seemed to be able to overturn the match, even after their late rally which resulted in a consolation goal by Podolski. This match did certainly remind me that Football is unpredictable and that no team is invincible. It would be interesting to see how Germany pick themselves up after this shocking loss. But in the meantime, I'm be rooting for the Netherlands in their match against France tomorrow morning. I wonder if France have some tricks up their sleeves against the Netherlands, considering their poor 0-0 draw against Romania...

If You Come Back To Me

2008-06-09T22:35:00.003+08:00

Recording.amr -

Above is a recording of me playing If You Come Back To Me by Bowling For Soup. This is the first song ever that I'm playing with the guitar, so please forgive my lousy guitar playing. The recording above was somehow cut in half when I uploaded it onto imeem, my apologies on that. But from the short music clip above, you can already hear that I'm not really good with the guitar nor do I have a good voice. So I'm going to keep practising till I can do it better. I'll definitely upload a much better version of this song one day.

Football Fever

2008-06-09T20:29:00.003+08:00

Finally, another major international football tournament. It's been quite awhile... around 2 years since the World Cup Finals actually. That wait just seemed too long. Well, fortunately, the wait is now over for Football fanatics like me. Another month or so of insufficient sleep but all that is worth it to me. Unfortunately for people living in Singapore, the free-to-air TV channels don't show the Euro 2008 Finals but by hook or by crook, I'll watch it. Even if I have to squint at the Malaysian TV channel that seems to jump every second or so. I'm not going to make another prediction though; my prediction always seem to go wrong. But I'll be rooting for Spain. The current Spainish team is just oozing with pure class. Casillas, Abiol, Puyol, Ramos, Xavi, Fabregas, Alonso, Silva, Torres, Villa. Nothing seems able to stop this team filled with superstars on paper. However, they just can't seem to bring the silverware back home. Perhaps, this will be their turn to bring the trophy back home.

Well, enough about football for now. I just liked to mention that I finally learned to play a whole song on the guitar! If You Come Back To Me by Bowling For Soup. Bowling For Soup is one of the bands I've been listening to since young and I'm just glad that the first song I've learned to play is one of their songs. Maybe I'll record myself playing the whole song but not now though. My wrist is still sore from being in the same position for so long. Perhaps, another day.

A Nice Change

2008-06-07T22:14:00.004+08:00

Was awoken by a phone call this morning. Apparently, I was late for tuition. I took a shower and got on my way. Shockingly, it was rather cooling and there was plenty of wind when I got out of the house. Weather like this is rather rare in Singapore. It is either raining or extremely hot. Actually, thinking about this for a moment, this is the first time I felt so cooling when I'm outdoors in Singapore. It kind of reminded me of the time 2 years ago when I arrived in South Korea. I was so delighted at the nice change in weather. But when there is such a drastic change in weather, things can't be going right. Perhaps, the nice change in weather was due to global warming? What other changes would happen due to global warming? "Daremo shiranai"...

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Sunset In The Distance

Waterboys

2008-06-06T19:21:00.005+08:00

I've just watched Waterboys again and boy, did it made me laugh. The movie held my attention for the full 1 hour 30+ minutes of its duration and it is by far, the only movie that made me laugh so long and loud (almost throughout the movie I reckon).

The movie starts off with a scene of Suzuki (acted by Satoshi Tsumabuki) taking part in a swimming competition. He ends so terribly that he thought he won the competition when in fact he was last!

As the story goes, we find out that Suzuki is the only member of the Swimming Club in Tadano Boys High School and that no one cares about swimming in the school. However, the appearance of a young and pretty new female teacher, Mrs Sakuma Megumi (acted by Kaori Manabe) changes that and hordes of students begin joining the Club just to get close to her (She was the new teacher-in-charge of Swimming).

These new members soon quit though as they discover that they were not signing up for swimming but rather, Synchronized Swimming! After this discovery, only 5 remained in the Club and with these 5 remaining members, Mrs Sakuma signs up the Club to perform during the Tadano High School Festival. However, they soon discover that Mrs Sakuma is 8 months pregnant and she leaves them just as sudden as she joined the school, leaving them to train by themselves to prepare for the Tadano High School Festival.

Through many twists and turns, the 5 members soon become close friends and together, they work hard to prepare for one of the most memorable "performance" (in my opinion actually...) of their lives.

Above is a summary of Waterboys though I missed out many things in the story too (I won't want to spoil the story for those who didn't watch it yet!). Another thing that I liked about the movie was it's Theme Song (I assume...): Gakuen Tengoku by Finger 5. It was a very lively song that just made you feel like going out into the Sun and have fun; Just perfect for a movie like Waterboys.

gakuen tengoku - finger 5

Hope I can encounter another movie that made me laugh as hard as Waterboys...

I Like Watching Movies

2008-06-06T12:56:00.004+08:00

I like watching movies.

Whether it's in the comfort of my home or the comfort (or sometimes lack of it...) of the cinema. Whether it's with friends and family or alone. Irregardless of how I'm feeling, I like watching movies.

Watching movies is the only time when ordinary people (like me...) are able to experience something that they may never ever experience in their lives. May it be an unforgettable first love, going on an adventure or seeing one of the wonders of the world.

It momentarily relieves our stress and worries in this world and allows us to just sit there and enjoy ourselves for the next few hours or so.

I have to say that I enjoy watching Japanese movies. I remembered that the first Japanese movie I watched was the Waterboys. It was so hilarious that I can still remember some parts of it even till now. I hate to admit this, but I'm a sucker for Japanese Romance Movies. I'm not the type of guy who weeps after watching a really sad scene but Japanese Romance movies can really touch someone deep down in their heart. Movies like Ima, Ai Ni Yukimasu (Be With You) and Sono toki wa kare ni yoroshiku (Say Hello For Me) have really impacted me...

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Traveling On The Highway At Night

A Block Of Flats