Anticpation.

So I caved in and got myself a Yamaha Blem GigMaker Acoustic Guitar Pack Natural, whatever that means. Hopefully now I can just strum along to favourite hits like King of the Road, Good Riddance (Time of your life), 晴天 and noob hit 对面的女孩看过来. It should be coming tomorrow or early next week. It's a lot more pick-up-able than an electric keyboard. And it's easier to out sing your own mistakes. Haha. But then again, it means that you actually have to get the tune right. Oh well, I'll treat this as karaoke practice for next time when I go back home.

Also, the Ambler Warning is a fantastic book. If you like the Bourne series, it's written in the same author's style. I would say it was written by the same author, Robert Ludlum, but it's not exactly true. I think he passed away in the midst of writing this one and someone was commissioned to take over. It's a book about a spy who's a walking lie-detector and he's been sabo'd to lose his memory and set-up as a hit man. So the superspy (Ambler) takes it upon himself to find out who did this to him and extract some revenge. It's an action packed book with a bit of whodunit at the end. Highly recommended for any one who likes action.

And to commemorate the latest Resident Evil movie, here's a history of Resident Evil, done to the NUMA SONG. Be prepared. I found it hilarious, but then again, that's just me.

1 more...

Night to (potential) pwnage! And in the meantime, here's an acid trip from Witch Doctor. Ah, the good times with DDR.



Let's hope I don't have to come back again. Although ... sianz.

Negative Demonstration

真是气死了。这个project的programmers是一群窝囊废。原本说好明天需要他们在工厂协助我们的project，可是他们老板目中只有钱这个字。只抱着一个"Show me the money"的态度，很贪小便宜。而且最岂有此理的事是他们本来就没有把事件做好就走了。现在，他们起先应该做好的事，他们要我们付钱？What the fuck. 幸亏除了我之外没有人听得懂中文。我听了那件事之后，就臭骂那个小人似的老板。真是。。。CENSORED.

And to those people interested, the company is based in Georgia. Be VERY CAREFUL in dealing with 喂前 (Process engineers might be familiar with the translated version.). They are... less than savory when it comes to responsibility and fiscal obligations...

Pics

As requested by Ken, and long promised, here are the pics of the night before the storm. If you ever see clouds that circle like that, be prepared for an 8 hour thunderstorm...

Also, this is a water tower I saw on the way home. I thought it was kinda cute, how many water towers have a smiley face? Adair seems like a friendly town.

Lastly, new pics are up.

Warning

What smells like bubble gum and tastes like shit? And yet will have lots people clamouring for it (at least for the first taste)?


Halo 3 Mountain Dew with Citrus Cherry.

Do not buy it. You have been warned. You must resist the Master Chief or let ur taste buds suffer.

Speaking of Halo 3, WK is one lucky dude. Gears of War, Halo 3, you can even get Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix on that Xbox 360 of yours. I would have gotten 1 if not for the craptacular failure rate of the 360 and the fact that I'm not at home like 50% of the time anyways... Sigh.

TenQews are in Order

To everyone who sent me their birthday wishes, in 1 form or another, thanks for everything! I really appreciate all the care and consideration you have shown. It's nice to know that even if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere, there are people thinking about you.

Anyways, another brief update. I'm back in Nebraska and damage assessment of our equipment gave us a pleasant surprise. Nothing was serious damaged and mechanically, we should be up and ready in 2-3 days. Which garners a huge "PHEW" from me since we could have been looking at half a million dollars worth of damages and a 3 week turn around time. It turns out that we had stuff stuck in our equipment and that pluggage meant that any fire water that entered the system ended up pooling in the equipment instead of flowing out. That meant that the actual damage was really limited to a small area. Thank god for small favours.

As some of you might know, there was a huge storm last week in Chicago. I was trying to get home when the brunt of it struck. City driving was never this scary in my life. The winds got up to 70mph (~100kmph) and visibilty was about half a block only. It was the first time I've ever felt that 20mph was a dangerous speed. I guess I shoulda known it was going to be a bad storm cos everywhere in the Midwest was suffering from the same thing. And it was raining the momemt I crossed the Illnois state line from Iowa. The previous night, while I was still in Nebraska, I saw the storm clouds circling in a very classic hurricane pattern. I'll post it when I get a chance to upload pics.

Well, other than that, my Chicago apt is now 50% cleaned, 75% livable (with 100% cleanliness tolerance, 90% if you have a 75% tolerance) and almost ready to receive my first guests next week. That's gonna be a fun, to have some time to spend with family. Oh the owning that we'll see.

Once again, thanks for all the wishes and thoughts guys (& gals)! Much appreciated! A real lift in a depressing place. QQQQQQQQQQ (and that makes 10 total)!!

Blearhg

It's been a rough week... The equipment had a little "incident" but luckily, it doesn't seem like we are too badly affected. Hopefully everything will be ok when we get a chance to really take a look. But besides that, I'm now sick and have to solve the problem of having 2 cars but only 1 driver... I have a car att he airport and a rental here. But only 1 driver, so it looks like I'm gonna ride the train tomorrow. That'll be an adventure...

Just a heads up to anyone wondering what happened to me, I'm still alive (barely) and kicking (baby kittens!!). But now, it's time to sleep.

Travelling

So I'm back in Nebraska and the stuff is up and running. So that's good news. The bad news is the true pros who know the system inside and out are leaving this weekend. Which leaves the rookie, i.e. Me, to run the system with another engineer. Hopefully, we'll get all the bugs worked out before they leave tomorrow and Friday, but... I'm kinda doubtful. So No Pressure. Haha. Oh well, I guess I've gotta get a list of things that need to be looked at and just plug away. Just keep working.

其实，现在已经不是这么烦了。虽然客人还是不能让我们增加我们的生产力可是现在已经不是我们的问题了。哈哈。只省我们的100%的生产力的production run了。真希望那能顺利的进行。

Travelling here was quite an adventure. I went home over the weekend to tidy up some stuff and on my return, I was slated to fly from Chicago to Omaha and then take a puddle jumper to the Central Nebraska Regional Airport. I made my Chicago flight on time, but then due to delays, I was sitting on the tarmac for 1.5 hours... And so I missed my noon connection. The next flight out of Omaha was at 830pm. So my options were to wait for 7 hours (I arrived at 1pm) for the next flight or drive. I ended up renting a 1 way car and drove 3 hours to get here. So at one point in time yesterday, I had 3 car keys. One for a Corolla, one for a Grand Prix and one for a Piece of Shit. Seriously, that Kia Rio ('05 model) that I got was an underpowered, poorly engineering moving heap of junk. The windows were hand operated and could not be sealed properly. Whenever I exceeded 40 mph, the windows would start rattling in the wind and you could hear whistling from the windows. Also, the RPM exceeded 2000 when I went over 50 mph. I was truly amazed that the car survived the 160 mile journey. And I got so ripped off by the rental company. For a 1 way trip, it was $2 per mile AND they charged me $50 for that piece of shit. Sigh.

In other news, here's a super uber cool video of Transformers cosplay, complete with ACTUAL TRANSFORMING COSTUMES. OH MY GOD COOLZORZ!!

战争

人的一生就是一串的争斗。为了自己的利益，享受或生存而斗。最近，我在Nebraska出差。已经出差了连续三个礼拜。出差的确是吸收新知识的最好，最快的方法，可是在这里三个礼拜，我已经开始不耐烦了。如果我们工作有进展的话，还算OK.可是现在应因为客人的设备不足，我们不能实现我们公司的合约。结果，又延长我须留在这鸟不生蛋的地方的时间。Si Bei Sianz.

可是,没法子,只能珍惜这个学习经验,而趁机用公司的信用卡来吃几个好餐.我真的希望明天会有更好的消息...

And just so it's not so depressing, here are some quotes I've heard from these Mid-westerners.

1. We're off like a prom dress (first time I've ever heard that, but I can see why people would say this)
2. Let's make like a tree and leave ( I was laughing quite hard at this one)

And lastly, I wanna dota!!!!!!!!!! Sianzzzzzzzzz.

Edit: Fixed typo. Thanks to Lemonteh.

Hypnotic...

As you might well notice, there's a new thingamajig on the top right hand corner of my blog. It's a very unique (as befitting of it's uniqlock title) clock. I can spend hours just listening to the trippy, jazzy music, watching the psychedelic medley of colours and dancing (kinda) girls, but why don't you try it out for yourself?

Power of rot, obscuring truth, What once was old restore to youth!

If anyone can tell me where that title came from without googling it, I'd say they know their 80's cartoons pretty well. And that they'd probably feel nostalgic about it now too.

Anyways, I'm still in Nebraska but I'd like to point out a couple of things.

1. I've moved to Flickr cos Yahoo Photos was going out of business (I presume). And I've uploaded 2 new albums there. Seattle 07 and Cubs Game. The link is on the right.

2. Ah Seng has a new post. 6 months after his last one but a new post nevertheless.

3. Bob has a new blog now. And he has some pretty cool stuff about modding your car (Corolla S). Go check it out.

4. The Simpsons is a funny movie, if you appreciate that kind of humour. I watched it for 6 USD in Nebraska. What a steal eh.

Awesome Video

Wow. I can recognise like maybe half the games shown here. But the blend of Kung-fu, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Mario is irrestible. A bonus is the white dude in the background when Sylvia walks around that says やらないか. That's how someone asks for sex (with prostitutes) in Japan. And who says video games aren't informational. Enjoy!

Rants

I feel that the internet here is stable enough to try to blog now. First off, big props to E.B.O.F. for hosting my previous rant. (A bit of incestuous cross self-linking there).

Anyways, aside from all the sentiments expressed there, I really wish I could be done with this place and go home soon. But the odds are good that I'm gonna be here till early August at least. That's... umm... gonna suck. A lot. But what can you do? A job's a job and you have to do your best, regardless of what kind of (mis)management and (a severe lack of)communications you have.

Lastly, I'm really looking forward to going home as I can finally start living in Chicago proper. Hopefully I can go jog/bike around the lake and meet new friends and just soak up the bustle and energy. 最后想说的就是算了吧，她不值得我烦. And that's the word.

Beer Song

What could be better than a song that exalts the virtues of "liquid bread"? And to top it off, it's done in stop-animation lego style. With a chicken!!

Interesting Video

The following is Rip Slyme's latest single. I find it fascinating for a couple of reasons.

1. There are 11 girls in the video.
2. Allegedly, 6 of the 11 are AV stars (aka porn stars). (Courtesy of www.japanprobe.com).
3. That dance routine looks damn gay. Even when the girls do it, it doesn't look good.

Enjoy.

Random Stuff

Ever been to Vegas? Seen the Bellagio fountain? Even if you've never been to Vegas, if you watched Ocean's 11, you'd have seen it. Now see it again, sweeter, more calorific and definitely more home-made. Kudos to Mei for that video.


So I was traveling back from a job site today. When you drive for more than an hour, chances are, even with a 6 CD changer in the car, you're gonna listen to the same song a couple of times. I was listening to Eason Chan's Bai Se Qiu Xie (White Sneakers). It's a really nice song, I wish I had memories like that. Here are the lyrics. Taken from baidu.com.

歌曲：白色球鞋
歌手：陈奕迅 专辑：认了吧

LRC歌词 HOT
• 搜索 "白色球鞋"mp3
打印预览
到一定年纪总算明白
美好的事物
好像大部分都在青春时候发生
那天无意中翻出了那双发黄的白色球鞋
依然还有心跳温度
和她一起走过这城市许多的路
她总低着头听我的梦和心事
那一天笑着对我说
随我的白球鞋的脚步好像可以走到幸福
忽然她让我感觉
自己已不再孤独
可以在未知的明天去天竺
美好青春的爱情和曾经走过的路
年轻城市换成另一种面目
如今大了那样感动难重复
幸福和那双球鞋放记忆最深处
这保留却又忘了的初恋纪念物
在经历几次恋爱后重新回顾
爱还依然清晰在梦中
让当时的街灯和书
有许多已不知去处
想起来我然感觉曾经自己不孤独
你是否已走到你要的幸福
美好青春的爱情和曾经走过的路
年轻城市换成另一种面目
如今大了那样感动难重复
幸福和那双球鞋放记忆最深处

当年的我还懂保留失落的爱情遗物
究其爱情现在想起来却面目模糊
却相信去感触
美好青春的爱情和曾经走过的路
年轻城市换成另一种面目
如今大了那样感动难重复
幸福和那双球鞋放记忆最深处

Here is a video. It's not a single, so there aren't any good vids of it. Just a concert footage.　It's about 4:23 into the clip that the song starts. Enjoy.

Man Vs Wild

I never really did any true survival skills training in the army since I never really was expected to charge hills in the forest anyways. However, recently, watching the Discovery channel show Man Vs Wild, I have an urge to train up and see what's it really like. Although I failed once during the adventure race in that park in the middle of Indiana, I think I would like to try again.

In any case, that show is so cool. The host even has a kick ass name. Imagine a survival show host called Bear? How awesome is that? And he shows you all kinds of neat stuff, from escaping quicksand to building a shelter in the snow. I just spent the last 3 hours of my life watching back to back to back episodes of that show when I should have been doing my laundry. Oh well, at least doing laundry is easier than eating maggots for lunch.

To people who have Discovery, I say give it a shot. I think you'll find it fascinating.

How to Build Your Own Rock Band (Or How 5 People Can Look Good Doing Nothing)

So how was my vacation some people might ask. And I can honestly say it was a heck of a good time. I managed to meet up with my cuz, E.B.O.F. and my friend from home. So it was really enjoyable.

One particular part of vacation that really stood out was when we went to the Experience Music Project (EMP) near Space Needle. It was there that I realised how manufactured bands are produced. Let me share some of the insight I gleamed from that place.

First, when starting a band, you need someone with passion, or at least someone who looks like they have passion when the camera flashes. So I present to you the Siao Zhar Bor Ardent Drummer Girl. She's literally ready to burst with fury.

So after you settle on the passion, you then need the flair. To accomplish this, you need to have a pretty face lead singer (who can sing, preferable). As they need to look good, most of the time, a female is selected for the task. In our case, it was simple. The girls simply looked better.Hence the SuperStar Wannabe Lead Singer.
Ideally, you'd want to have more than a single sex front the good looks section. If the best looking guy isn't much to speak of, then you transform the ordinary into the extraordinary by sticking an electric guitar in his hands. Thus creating Flair Number Two (For Female Eyes version). Or as I like to call it, the Act Seh Guitarist.

So after you covered cool, you now want to spin a little humor into your group. To do this, they employ the "Act Blur" persona. In this case, it was done by the a Koteh Back Up Singer. Incidentally, a male with a tambourine is the latest "hot" image with all the chicks. Or at least according to the population (me) surveyed. So I shall hear no arguments about that.
Lastly, after all that commercial appeal, you have to "keep it real" to give your band that edge. To that effect, you need a "homey"ish kind of band member. We decided to cast our keyboardist into that role. And the Homey Keyboardist was born.
Although each individual element might seem very "meh" at the moment, a rock band is truly greater than the sum of it's parts. Combined, the aforementioned members form a fluid, melodious and totally happening band. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present "The Engineers and Psychologist". And yes, no one had a better name at the moment of inception.

My apologies for the cropped picture but the poster was too big for my scanner.

I hope my readers have learnt something from this tutorial about how to create your own musical experience. And I would expect acknowledgements when anyone of you make it big. Till then, live long and rock on!

More Moving Appendum

So I'm moving my stuff bit by bit over time and I've come to the realization that moving heavy stuff after dinner is not really the best of ideas... I was moving a book-filled box (NEVER, NEVER, EVER[!!] FILL A BOX WITH JUST BOOKS) into my apartment today after a sumptious Vietnamese dinner. In accordance with Murphy's Law, all doors were locked, all elevators were on the furtherest floor and the there was no one around to help me open doors. I thus lugged/kicked/dragged/pushed this 20Kg Box the 500 feet or so from my car to the apartment. Upon reaching my apartment, I promptly felt like visiting the bathroom. Note to self, move big boxes BEFORE eating...

Anyways, I think I can move everything I have left in one more trip, so that's good news. Gonna enlist the help of my colleague and his truck to move the big stuff. That's even better news.

Kinda nervous about going to work tomorrow. I believe that since I'm going against traffic, it should only take me about 45-50 minutes to travel the 45 miles or so to work. I'm kinda betting my late nights on this hypothesis. Else I'm gonna have to wake up at 6am everyday. Which is even worse than secondary school... and jc... and army... and university... Which would suck. A lot.

Oh well, we'll see if I can get to work on time tomorrow!

Moving

Is such a pain in the ass... Especially after you settle into routine at home,it takes so much effort to overcome the inertia. But I think it's gonna be worth it. The new neighbourhood is decidedly more up-scale. My new place is 10 minutes from downtown and it's in the midst of a whole bunch of restaurants, shops and other ideal people watching locations. Also, it's next to the lake and park and even close to the zoo (how relevant is that, I do not know). So hopefully, I'll have moved most of the stuff over this week and then I can relax. So if anyone is considering vacationing around my area, you're more than welcome to stay over at my place. It's actually worth showing off now. Haha.

It's one of the things I have control over so I'm gonna concentrate on that. Other stuff... not so much, all I can do I hope and try my best. 时期快要到了。。。到底会怎么样呢？

Video Overload?

For your viewing pleasure, the Nintendo Short Film Top 3 Finalists.

#3. See the previous post.

#2. Koopa Force!


#1. Good vs Wiivil.


Also, what would you do if you had 1,000,000? Maybe you can understand this song better than I do, but you don't really need a deep understanding of hokkien to enjoy it's idea. Kudos to E.B.O.F. for the vid link.

For Those Suffering in Cubicles Out There

If you think you have it bad at work, try comparing your day to a day in the offices of Nintendo. I'm pretty sure the fireballs, piranha plants and thwomps will have any of the your office jerks/bullies beat flat. Although I can imagine the Boo's being the annoying co-worker that hovers around you while you work. And then when you confront them, they just disappear.

Congratulations are In Order

To the dude who suffers from "Tourette's", a hearty congratulations. You are the first among equals (for now anyways). May you be empowered in your future and overpower all obstacles with a primal roar. And if you do have the time, help this poor Zu31G set up an assist with a (fiend's) grip on some unsuspecting target please. Haha.

Seriously, you the man. I just hope my life can be as joyful as yours soon. Best wishes, and here's something I whipped up for you. Hope you like it!

Winds of Change...

You don't need to go to Africa or California to experience the desert. Just go to Nebraska. With it's 70kph(50mph) winds, vast plains of uncovered dirt, you'll be eating dust and cleaning your ears for dirt in no time flat.

I think this summer is gonna to be a period of change. I'm moving my apartment from Ulusville to downtown Chicago. Hopefully the change in scenery will improve my doldrumic life. Also, I'm going on vacation in July so I can't wait for that to happen either. Getting a chance to see some friends from SG then as I go Washington (State). An opportunity to get out of the wind and sand. And hopefully then, I'll have some good news.

I really wonder, why do people live here in Nebraska?

Invisible Mario Kart

Ah Mario Kart, the purveyor of many a good times. And now someone has done a stop-motion video of a real life attempt at mario kart. Enjoy.

Who's afraid of the rain?

So as some of my readers know (or have inferred from the post and comments), my car window was smashed last week and someone stole my GPS. The vandalism cum theft occurred during my japanese class and I was totally unprepared for the sight of glass shards all over my driver seat and floor. To make matters worse, about 5 minutes after I reached the car, it started to rain. It wasn't any kind of spring shower, the raindrops were the size of your fingertips. It was a localized storm.

So I scurried about in the rain trying to clear the glass shards (by dumping them onto the ground beside me) from my car, to restore some semblance of order to my suddenly chaotic vehicle. When it was somewhat cleaned up, I decided to seek cover in the backseat of my car. The rain was pounding the car and I had to wedge an umbrella into the driver seat window to try to keep my car dry. It was truly a sorry sight I think. An orange umbrella trying to shield a gaping hole. Why me? I already have to deal with being sent to the middle of nowhere and now THIS? Those were the only thoughts I could muster as I sat, soaked and feeling sorry for myself, in the midst of the pouring rain. But after a while, as I surveyed the interior of my car, I felt calmer. It provided an (imperfect) sanctuary from the howling rain. And I realized that I could only control so much in my life. I don't have any say in whether someone will break my window, but I can reduce the odds of that happening. I can sit around and bemoan my fate all day long but the glass isn't gonna magically disappear (sonic attrition perhaps?). You can bitch but bitching and taking action is so much more efficient at getting yourself back on your feet. And the hopelessness of the situation kinda receded. It was a $650 lesson in life that I don't think I will forget anytime soon. This was not to say I wasn't depressed nor that I didn't bitch about it as I drove 40 miles home with the wind blowing past me on the highway.

When I got home, I thoroughly cleaned up that mess and now my car is actually cleaner than before the incident. The next day, I went to get a replacement window and life resumed as normal (sans a GPS - anyone know about any deals?).

I think that the ordeal was made that much more bearable because I have good friends (a shoutout to R & Y & all the people I bothered on my drive home). And I think that the same applies to life. Even though I'm a semi-vagabond right now, it's not something I can control. What I can do is maximize my own skills and improve my fitness. And I'm thankful that I have good friends that I turn to when things like this happen.

So really, who's afraid of the rain? Not me. Not anymore.

You Know What They Say...

About doing things irrationally under duress, so I really shouldn't be doing this but...

FUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. I HOPE YOUR BALLS ROT AND DROP OFF WHOEVER YOU ARE.

I think balls are ambiguous enough to cover both genders. I will update again when I am rational. And poorer.

Be A Ma.....

As a sign of respect to E.B.O.F. (and because I fear for my life), I'm not going to finish that phrase. But I do believe, that the ability to distinguish cowardice and foolhardiness is essential in any form to confrontation. To do so will not only do your allies right in battle, but the thing is, the crux of any battle is attrition and to win, you must be able to brave the odds.

Today, I had allies who were like this during normal times.
But come battle, they became thus.
So remember, do your teammates a favour and when you are the f*cking tank, don't let the nukers suffer. The CM will thank you for that by disabling the people who are chasing you the next time.

Note - When the low health spell caster has more kills than someone that is build like a tank (Slardar), the only result is a "/ban XXX condemned!!!!". Sorry for the semi-cryptic in-game reference.

Musings

Spending a week in the wilderness that is Nebraska can really give a man some perspective. Before I start reflecting, just in case there are people out there who actually want to visit Nebraska, here are the things you can look forward to.

1. The speed limit is 75mph for the most part.
2. The skies are really vast and clear and blue (when there are no storms).
3. The clouds can do impersonations.
4. The speed limit is 75mph. (Get out while you still can!!)

Ok. With that out of the way, lets start the ramblings proper.

1. 人生最重要的可能是好友。爱人可以分手，同事可以辞职，好友会终生在你身边。I am really starting to miss everyone already. I think it's a cumulative effect of everyone being far away. Advice can be sought online, but the damn time differences always screw with the best laid plans of men. I'm sure that the safety net that is a cherished friendship will be put to use even more from now on, as most ties with college have been severed. Thanks guys & gals. You know who you are.

2. I think I won't complain about my place as long as I go to Nebraska. The place where I go to makes my current digs look like downtown Manhattan. I guess you make do with what you have and believe that however bad the situation is, you can find a dump that's worse. I know I did.

3. 在我的年龄,我是应该注重职业,可是还是觉得很孤单.甚至在一个繁忙的城市里住也会觉得孤单.这是没办法的吧.做朋友以往是不容易的一件事,但我真的希望能找多几个好友...

4. Bleah. I forgot what I wanted to write about already. So no 5. Not much of a 4. even. My bad.

Hope everyone had a memorable Memorial day weekend!

Pirates is a 3 hour long backstab fest. Leave your brain at the door and empty your bladder for maximum enjoyment.

Videos

A couple of cool videos for you viewing pleasure.

The first is Super Line Rider Bros. And it's amazing the amount of dedication Line Rider-er's put into crafting a course. I tried that a long time ago and never got the hang of it. My loop de loop would result in a suicidal crash after missing the gap by like half an inch...


The second is a little comparision of dance moves in World of Warcraft with their real life inspirations. Make sure to watch Peanut Butter and Jelly Time!


Enjoy.

One for the Road

I just can't enough of traveling it seems. After (finally) finishing with one job last week (Friday), I'm going to another job site 600 miles away this time.

But before I go (leaving at 6am tomorrow), I'm gonna say a few things.

1. It's really the end of an era for the Champions of Excellence as I know them to be. No longer will I hear the cross hallway shouting of explicits during late night Dota Extravaganzas. No longer will I be able to meet most of my friends around a table in the middle of the room and eat/steal other people's potluck food. I will miss those good times (not to mention times when people make a fool of themselves reciting the alphabets).

2. Shrek 3 is a refreshing change from the previous 2 in my opinion. It's not a straight parody of fairy tales anymore and instead tries a different kind of plot instead of just playing off stereotypes. There are definitely less jokes about fairy tales this time and more action/drama elements. I think the best of the trilogy was the first Shrek, but I doubt people will regret spending $8 to watch this.

3. STARCRAFT TWO!! If that didn't sink in, I'm repeating it again. S-T-A-R-C-R-A-F-T 2!! I wonder how many people who have forsaken gaming for other things like "life" or "significant other" will find themselves struggling with that pledge to stay clean from gaming after the release date for SC2 is out.

Ok, see you guys next time from Far Far Away...

When all teams are equal

Equally detested anyways. So now there's nothing left to watch in the NBA playoffs. It's really disappointing this year. All the teams that are left are either lousy (Cavs/Nets), whiners (Spurs, Pistons), arrogant (Suns) or have players who are backstabbers and look like serial rapists (Jazz - Boozer). So no more basketball for me til the Draft. Go Mavs!! Go Bulls!! Go Yao Ming!!

Jerry Falwell is dead. Long live Falwell...NOT!!

Haiku for n00bular

n00bular rests now,
Great pwnage was real fun dude,
M-m-monster kill!

Ok, so I might have cheated on the last line. But still, it's good to see a show of self-discipline. I'm sure you'll find other activities to do, like search for girls for me.

His retirement from the game set me thinking. Why do we play Dota? It's a waste of time to bully noobs so real challenges are few and far in between every time we go on Bnet. But I think it's cos we share a sense of camaraderie when we play together. And it's a relatively easy game to get into AND it's free (so WoW goes out the window).

To me, it all boils down to having fun with your friends and that's about it. If you can derive pleasure from that, I think you can game till you die.

Congrats to the Class of 2007!!

電話こなかったちょっとがっかりしてる。だから、来週またいってみて。なにかあったかな。We'll see what happens.

Since everyone I know has finally finished all their exams... CONGRATS TO THE CLASS OF 2007. You guys were fun and the memories I had with you peeps will probably last forever or till I get Alzheimer's (which ever comes first). I wish all of you the best in whatever paths that you choose and hope that you'll let me wash your car when you have made it big and I need employment! The skies the limit for you and I think the only thing you can't accomplished is to be the Class of 06 (the original Champions). Peace.

How Birdshit Can Be Erased With A Telephone Number Solicitation Event

So, I travelled down to visit the plant site again today. And in the 3+ hour drive down and the 5 hours I spent on the site, my car accumulated a total of 5 direct "hits" from avian bombers. I should try to see if someone can get a Warthog the next time I trade in my car. With it's attached GPMG, let's see if any birds try to mess with the Zu31Gm()b1L3.

BUT, all that animosity and belligerence just evaporated like liquid moisture in a 850 Celsius furnace after the encounter I had in the evening.

I was in the chinese buffet that I've visited a couple times during my time here and was chatting with a waitress that I've talked to a couple times before. And then cos I mentioned that I could be leaving for good since the job is (hopefully) coming to a close, the waitresses started talking to me and asking a lot of questions. Did I have a girlfriend? Did I live around the area? And then finally, the resident 大姐 came over to ask for my number to give the "四大美女" of the restaurant. My head couldn't fit into my car after dinner. And the fact that it's 12.30am and I'm still on this post means that it's probably still inflated. Haha. Life is good all of a sudden. Haha.

陈奕讯's "ADMIT IT" is a relaxing album

Comcast is screwing up my internet, I'm too nervous to follow the Mavs-Warriors game, so I need an avenue to vent. I'm kinda late in adding my $0.02 to this issue, but I think that perhaps an apt analogy would be that governance of a country is like a brain. Even though it contains 2% of the body's mass, the brain demands 20% of the oxygen, and hence the blood supply, that a body receives. I learnt that from Bodyworks. It was too expensive but kinda cool to see innards of a human being put on display.

But anyways, as I attempt to ramble to my point, which is that this arrangement works during normal situations. However, when the body exerts itself, it will reduce oxygen flow to other parts of the body while maintaining the same amount of oxygen to the brain. Hence you get anaerobic reactions when you exercise. A bit of anaerobic metabolism isn't a bad thing. It's a sign of a body at work which would be better (in the long run) than a body at rest. However, when the brain (in one of those mind over body instances) "wills" the body past its limit, the body generates too much anaerobic byproducts that could cause a total system failure. Which means that sometimes when the brain pushes the body to hard, the brain gets bitten in it's metaphorical ass.

I don't think there's a real point in that analogy. But I thought it was interesting. And the Mavs are down 8 at halftime. WTF IS WRONG YOU GUYS?!?!

Haha

“帅哥“といわられた“暗笑“しているぞ！Haha.HAHAHAHA. And it's for me to know and for you to ask.

And Happy birthday to Ah Seng! Almost time to "L,R,L,R" liao loh. Get your BKB ready...

On the flip side

I know quite a few of you have heard me complain about certain aspects of my work, but as this project (hopefully) draws to a close, let me highlight the fun part of being on a plant in the middle of corn fields.

1. The best part, I think, of being away, is the fact that the company picks up the tab for everything. In essence, the only costs I incur this month have been on weekends only. So that should save me a bundle.

2. Another thing I liked about being on a plant site was the ability to be up close and personal to the action. Sitting in an air-conditioned room might be better for your complexion and temperament, but it's kinda exciting to be able to crawl into 20m long drums and climb about inside it. I tell myself I'm spelunking. In industrial caves. And it sometimes feels like I'm running around in a jungle gym made of stainless steel and synthetic insulation.

3. I think I learned about the operations of the equipment quite a bit faster on the job site. Being able to see what a diagrammed equipment layout is in real life was a real plus. Also, I could see how an actual control scheme worked. Which was cool, for the first 3 hours or so.

4. Finally, it was kinda fun to be able to do some workshop kinda stuff. It was the first time I drilled holes into sheet metal (for ventilation) and buffed that same metal (to smoothen out all edges). It was tiring but there's definitely a sense of accomplishment after you manage to do something you've never done in your life.

All in all, there are positive experiences to be had working out of a trailer in the middle of nowhere for 4 weeks and counting. But that's not gonna stop me from complaining some more.

2 Taurens & An Undead ...

have too much time on their hands. And you get this as a result. Based on Mahna Mahna by the Muppets.

There's f*cked up & there's F*CKED UP

Well, the week was going along so smoothly until the freakin' equipment blew up in our face. And so the true process of comissioning begins. Working against the clock with limited resources to fix someone else's f*ck up. It's a times like this that I feel so alone, being the only rep for the company here. But then I thank my lucky stars that I'm insignificant enough not to be held responsible for mistakes.

Oh well, as my mentor says, there are good problems and bad problems. Good problems are not yours and bad problems are. That was a good problem for me but a bad problem was that I dinged my camera. Yeap, MoronsVille population: ME. ARGH.

But in the end, that's not as fucked up as this ad from craigslist.

I don't know which pis more loserish, the people who completed the transaction, or the people who made fun of them.

And finally, for those who follow the Dallas Mavericks. This is a hilarious video.
Some classics from that video include:
1. Why did Cinderella get kicked off the basketball team? Cos she ran from the ball.
2. What do you call a pig who plays basketball? A ball hog.

Also, for Starcraft fans, this is awesome.

Hosed by (Mis)Reading...Again...

Or rather, by a lack of research. Although I don't know how much research could have told me that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7 DOES NOT HAVE SPEAKERS. I googled the camera and went around to a couple of review sites but did not manage to pick up that bit of information. So now when I have videos recorded, I need to play them back on a PC for sound... What a drag...

Oh well, at least for a point & shoot camera, it doesn't look half bad. But I haven't really tried to do anything with it yet. Maybe I can get a return on it... That's not too much to ask for is it?

Would You Like Cheese With That?

Justs some thought that I had this week. In reverse chronological order.
1. Word of the day - Sombong. It means aloof/arrogant in Indo. Perhaps a more colloquial translation would be "dao".

2. Getting an engineering degree from a (relatively) presitigous university: Approximately USD55,000 per year

Getting a job with said degree: Having the best starting pay (so far) amongst your buddies back home

Getting paid to clean spray nozzles as part of OJT due to OTHER PEOPLE'S INCOMPETENCE: A very WTF feeling.

Translating all the experiences I have had on the job site into my own Knowledge: Priceless. (Also awfully hard to do)

3. Travelling so often has it's drawbacks, but food is definitely not one of them. I think I've eaten Waaaaaaay more luxuriously in the last 2 weeks than I've had in the last 2 months. The joys of dining with older collegues who appreciate fine wine and food...

最近比较烦?

Before I get into the post proper, I'd just like to point out that there's such a thing as Gummi Bears overdose (you have been warned). And you know who you are, you spastic dreamer =D.

Okie, to the post proper.

最近比较烦,比较烦,比较烦,总觉得日子过得有一些极端

So I've graduated and have started working. My friends are scattered all over the world. I'm stuck (till August at least) in a hole-in-the-ground place and the work just keeps getting harder and harder. I've definitely reached a different stage of life that's radically different from the last 15 years or so. And I guess naturally, during this transition, there's bound to be some trials and tribulations. I just never figured they'd come so fast. And so frequent.

最近比较烦,比较烦,比较烦,我看那前方怎么也看不到岸

It increasingly looks like I'm gonna be the designated test-site engineer for the company. And that involves a ton of travel to different job sites when we are starting up our equipment. In the next 4 months or so, I expect to be away from home for at least 8 weeks, or more, depending on how smooth a start-up goes. 8 weeks out in 4 months means that I can probably find someone to sublet my house for summer... That's a very depressing thought. Not only will I not see the comforts of home, but that kind of schedule just f*cks up your social life. Trust me, no one ever builds a ehtanol plant on the hip side of town. In fact, I'd be surprised if an ethanol plant was ever built NEAR a town... Man, travelling it this sucks.

不烦,我不烦,只有一点烦

Well at least that was how I felt. And in fact, I still do now (a little at least). But thanks to an email from a good friend, I feel better. Because no matter how bad the situation is, at least you know that you can always talk to your friends and there are people there who have worse situations than you =D. Like being called to travel to the other side of the world with only 3 weeks notice. (As opposed to 3 months). Thanks. And please don't kill me.

So I guess, in the end, this is a rather exciting transitional period. And I hope to emerge from this phase of life smarter, more well travelled and have a more complete resume. And thanks once again to all the listening ears out there. Cheers.

终于明白笑里藏刀的意识。。。

这个世界上能信谁呢？好友，家人，除此以外，其他人都得争取你的信赖。不能凭表面而说能信不信。由此是在工作方面的人。

这次不算什么大事，可是，某某人的真面目已经被漏出来了。。。

下次要谨慎一点。

P.S. 爸妈，不用担心。当我能用自己的电脑时，我会寄email给您们的。

How Unembaressing Is This?

Before you actually click the video, be forewarned that some of you might find it very OMG-ish. But if anything, I guess u have to admire their guts to be able to do something like that. No matter how small the stage nor what the setting, to do such a thing would entail a 100x critical strike on your dignity I think.

So enjoy?


P.S. I'm not gay.

The Many Faces of the Same Anime Theme...

The original.


The Action Figure version.


My current favourite, the MEGAMAN version.


The MEGAMAN version had me in stitches for quite some time. So I hope you guys enjoy the vids as well.

Appearances can be deceiving...

I'm going to show you a video of an ad. Before the ad is over, try to guess which company it's trying to promote. I'm pretty sure that unless unless you've seen it before, you'll not get it right.

Surprising eh. Even the name of the bank is misleading. When I first heard it, I thought its origins were from Asia. But it's not. (Woah, two examples of "its" and "it's")

Another thing that might be misleading is the concept that the government cares for you. Apparently, to certain government related individuals, the people who pay taxes to the government, but vote for the opposition, do not deserve the government's attention nor care. That's really f*cked up. I'd post the link, but I don't want to get tracked back. So I'll just copy and paste from the Young PAP Blog (www.youngpapblog.blogspot.com).

The self-intro:

I’m an activist in the PAP – Hougang Branch since 2002.

His point of view:

The residents in Hougang appreciate what the ruling party or the government has done all these years since independence. However, they felt that the ruling party did not show sympathy and empathy towards the feelings of the residents in Hougang. Many still bear grudges against the ruling party for its decision to relocate the farmers in Hougang/Punggol back in the 70’s/80’s. Hence, votes were given to the Workers’ Party (WP) all these years as Mr Low Thia Khiang, in their opinion, has shown that he empathized with them.

The kicker (emphasis mine):

This, to me, has to be put to an end. Politics is not a game. There is a price to pay for a decision to choose a political candidate and party. One cannot claim that he is a taxpayer and should benefit from the likes of those in a PAP constituency when he voted for the opposition. Have we taken our efficient and incorruptible system and political stability for granted? Can WP garner its own support and resources to benefit the residents of Hougang instead of whining and complaining that the government is not doing enough?

Holy shit. I'd like to say more, but that's neither here nor there. I leave to the reader to draw your own interpretation of the future of the country if people like that ever make it as a *cough*leader*cough*. I think I'd better start researching about that green card thingymajig.

影のように忍び寄り、霧のように消え失せる。。。

That damn cool quote has almost nothing to do with the post proper but I found it irresistible and had to stick it in somewhere. It came from last week's edition of Shounen Sunday and I must say, the Japanese version panders to a much different audience than the English version. For those who can afford to take a stab at the Japanese one, give it a go. It has far more variety I think.

Anyways, I'm gonna be leaving the house yet again. E.B.O.F. might travel far and wide, but I stay on a site for weeks on end. Since the plant is (finally) going to start up, I'll be heading down to (hopefully) learn as much as this college-adled mind can absorb... Cos someday, I'll have to do this stuff solo. And hopefully the notes I take now won't fade/get eaten by some random animal/get lost in a office reshuffle. But I won't be at home for the better part of next month. Just a heads up.

And finally, a big welcome back to Bleach_Deathgod, previously circa 2006. His presence invokes memories of younger, simpler times, when all you had to do was score well and try to get enough sleep while doing a project... The good old days eh. Also, if you have no time/are lazy to load your WC3, have a go at Desktop Tower Defense. It might be worth your time.

Edit - I just finished the game on Normal mode with a score of 5151. That means 39299 other people have had my score. See if you can do better.

Update

昨天，我下面谈的人已经被炒鱿鱼。真的很突然的一件事。他照样来上班可是9点就突然说声“好吧，我要去钓鱼了。大家保重。”而走了。起初我还以为他在搞笑但过后大老板寄一封email给公司，说他辞职了。

收到email之后，我想每一个新的人都有一点害怕。被开除的事实是很sobering。昨天，公司很冷。也很安静。。。

洋人和我的差别

我想先说好我不是看不起老外.单单只想highligh他们被上士司谴责的时候的反应。我想我一百年之后还是不能像他们一样。

让我先给一些background.在我公司，除了我之外，还有多一个新的化学工程士师。他和我一样，是普渡同一届的毕业生。他最近转换到我的部门，和我一起做projects.他最近的project犯了一个超大的错误，当上士叫他把公司想要bid的project的经济算术(hmm, not sure about this translation here)时，他忘了数一个equipment.如果上士没好好查他的数字的话，公司就会损失超过USD500,000.而且，他犯了错之后，就去旅行。不能联络到他。

那昨天，我们和上士开会时，上士为了这件事而大骂他一顿。他的回应是“我很了解我自己犯的错有多大。从此以后，不会有这种事发生了。“可是上士还不满而说“我相信你是不真真正了解你的错有多大。会害公司损这么大的一笔钱不是一件小事。如果你不加把竟劲的话。。。“

到了这种地步，如果被骂的人是我,我就会安静得点点头，再声说“对不起”。可是我的同事，他却说“我明白。我不会再犯这种错。”好像没什么内疚的样子。这就是洋人和我的差别吧。是好是坏，我不知道。只知道，如果是我，我不会那么有“balls"...

And a brief review of the DS-X for the interested. The DS-X is a brilliant piece of equipment that basically transforms the DS into anything you want it to be. A PDA, a game machine, a psychedelic MP3 player... Nothing is out of it's scope. And the best part is, it's just 1 piece of equipment. So no transfer is required between equipment before stuff gets onto the DS. In fact, I'm going to have a quick go at Robot Wars Taisen now. =D

Edit - Did some 改正。

More Melancholy (of Karate Ka)

This brings back memories... I never did manage to complete that game.

Early Morning Post

Because I was supposed to do this last night but was too tired...

Recently, I was asked by a supervisor a question about how gas flow changes with pressure. He just popped by my desk and said (and this is verbatim),"Process engineer extraordinaire, help me with this." I had 2 immediate reactions to that. The first was "Huh?" and the second was "Oh F*ck"... In the end, we googled that problem together and decided that DBoyle's Law (P1V1=P2V2) could be used to approximate the solution. But that sequence of events got me thinking about how far I've come in the last 6 months or so.

When I first started work, there wasn't any office space or cubicle for me. So I had to work on the conference table in the middle of my division. I also didn't have a phone, so when I needed to call people (vendors, colleagues) I had to "hijack" someone else's equipment. I was in that situation for about 3 months. In all fairness, I was given a laptop straight from the getgo. So I didn't have to deal with moving any desktop equipment. Then I was assigned my own desk in the division as spaces had opened up due to a office space re-shuffle. Shortly after that, I was given my own phone. So I could plead for help/information from colleagues/vendors at my own desk. And then, I even managed to "appropriate" an LCD screen from a colleague. So I was the only new guy with dual screens. Which is damn convenient when you want to compare spreadsheets. And now, I've been asked to help out in questions. So I guess my position is starting to get firmly established. That's kinda nice but I hope that I can still remember my stuff when I get called upon again the next time...

And now, I have a series of videos to show. The first is by someone from Muar, Malaysia (like you Bang). It's a pretty cool homemade piece of rap. Not very SFW as there's foul language (of the dialect sort).


The next video is DEFINITELY NSFW. It's by Dj Ozma, a japanese group that performed at the NHK 2007 New Year's special. Very very controversial performance. But I'm sure more than 1/2 my readers will enjoy it. In some form or another.


And finally, this is the same song, but done to an Anime theme. It was just hilarious to me. And I don't even know what anime this is either.

Enjoy.

Edit - Correct that error in Pa-jiaoness. Kudos to Ah Seng.

Before I get accused of Neglect...

Thankfully, it's the holiday/exam period for most of my readers now. So I don't think they're too pre-occupied with my lack of updates recently. But for the rest of you guys...

How much do I miss home already? Let me count the ways.

1. The family
2. The friends
3. The attempted hook-up
4. The food
5. The feeling of knowing all the jokes and local lingo

Still, I guess that not being home means that I get to enjoy cool weather 6 months a year, get to scold people in whatever dialect I choose with impunity and perhaps most important try to get into position to go home, but with an expat's pay.

Anyways, spring is finally around the corner. The day is noticeable longer now and daylight savings has kicked in. 3 weeks earlier than normal... So I have been robbed of an hour of my life 3 weeks earlier than normal. Not that I really care, since it signifies the start of nice weather (for awhile at least). Unfortunately, I am no longer living near a university campus. Hence I predict a distinct lack of females in short skirts... What a drag...

Oh well, maybe when I moved closer to downtown Chicago, I may be able to regal you, my dear readers, of my exploits. Or then again, maybe not. But all I can say is, "It's Spring Time for Hitler, and Germany!!!" Oh noes, aryanic references!!

It's Been...

Wow. A month since my last post. Well since I have to go to bed soon, I'll just say vacation was great. And I went to Atlanta, Georgia after I came back, so I really missed the brunt of the late Midwest winters. But enough talk. Pics are up. So enjoy. More commentary later.

Superbowl Afterthoughts

I was going to do a Superbowl Ad recap, but E.B.O.F. has done an admirable job already. My personal favourite was the Garmin Ultra-Man spoof. That's cos I hope to discover my Garmin holds the key to unlocking my ability to run around in Silver Tights and flash beams from somewhere near my crotch...Or not. But it was hilarious nevertheless. Anyways for the people who were not so fortunate to have been able to catch the game on TV (a far better preposition than to soak the 10+ inches of rain that fell in Miami that night), here's my recap of the game. Done Dota Style.

Manning: Okie, so this is for the nuts. -SB game. No leavers kk. GLHF all.
GAME STARTED...

About 1 second into the game...
Dungy: Vinatieri, wat u doing? Dun be so garang (brave)! No need to agro(aggressively aggravate) their special teams.
FIRST BLOOD(+50% Morale Boost)! DEVIN HESTER has just pawned the Colts Special Team for 7 points.
Dungy:... Nub (Newbie).

Apparently the Bears used that mojo they got from that kickoff return to power up their defense cos the Manning threw an interception on the very first Colts offensive series. However...

Manning: The plan is the bait them with Dallas Clark and Marvin Harrison, then when they engage us, Reggis Wayne will be sneaky and backstab their secondary.
Ball Snaps, Manning darts left and right...
WindWalk (Grants Invisibility) Activation Noise...
Bears Secondary: WTF, where did he come from?!?
Manning connects with a Wide Open Reggie Wayne to put 6 points on the board for the Colts.

For the extra point conversion,
Hunter Smith: Aiyah, I misclick. Instead of (G)ood Placement, I press (F)umble. Pai Seh (sorry) Vinatieri .
Manning:... OMG!! Potential ban...

So with the Bears leading 7-6 in the first, they attempt to run the ball (as they don't really ask that much from Grossman).

Thomas Jones: I got MoM (Grants increased speed). Just gimme the ball and watch me run.
Ball Snaps, Grossman hands Jones the ball and gets the hell out of the way. The Bear's offensive line parts a gap for Jones and then...
"OHHHHHHHH"(MoM's Activation Noise)...
Colts Linebackers & Secondary: Eh Jones, your -ms (checks movespeed) how much??!?!
Jones: -ms
Jones: 488 (fastest move speed is 512 522)

Jones would then run for 52 yards. Grossman made a 14 yard touchdown pass for another 7 points. The Bears would lead 14-6 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the momentum would start to swing towards the Colts as the Colts defense started to tighten up and the offense cranked it up to a higher gear. Vinatieri would kick a field goal and the Colts would run for another touchdown to bring the half-time score to 16-14 Colts. The half-time show of Prince was substituted for the Puppy Bowl (a television event that lasted for 3 hours) so I cannot really comment on the Artiste who has an Identity Crisis. In the third quarter, the Colts would make two more field goals, and the Bears would answer with one of their own to bring the score to 22-17 Colts into the fourth. Down 22-17, Grossman tries to play the hero...

Lovie Smith: Grossman, dun cross river alone. No need to try to hero. Sure will kenna (receive) gank (gang kill, i.e. outnumbered and killed by the enemy).

Grossman pays no heed and tries the high risk , high reward long play down the field. If the receiver catches the ball, the Bears would have gained about 30 yards and be in excellent field position to attack. Unfortunately...

Grossman: Okie, I will throw the ball down field to the right. Everyone come. We push into their territory.

Grossman's pass appears to be underthrown and the Colts secondary manages to get in between the intended receiver( Muhammad) and the ball. The result? An interception. Muhammad tries to tackle the interceptor (Hayden) out of bounds but Hayden activates his BKB (Grants immunity to most spells) and with a "KAZ MODAN!" breaks free of the tackle JUST before he steps out of bounds. The interception is returned 56 yards for a touchdown and the Colts lead 29-17. After the interception, the Bears were visibly deflated and the Colts were firmly in the driving seat.

(Allies)Manning:GG (Good Game) all.

At this point in time, the Bears get the ball back with about 10 minutes to play in the game. I have 100 dollars riding on a 29-23 final score. So I'm praying for divine intervention that the Bears can somehow score 6 more points. Alas, it was not to be. The combination of an inept Bears offense and a steady Colts offense ensure that 29-17 remained the final score. It was an exciting game in the first half and fairly entertaining for the 8 screaming guys gathered around the TV yesterday. So that ends my recap of Superbowl XLI. RM anyone?

SUPER BOWL XLI

It's SuperBowl weekend. Do you know where your 40 inch plasma Hi-Def TV is? Unfortunately, I don't. But still, nothing beats watching grown men smash themselves together over a pigskin ball together with some friends. And you guys have about 6 hours to make it so. So Just Do It.GO COLTS!

How Anal Can You Get?

Let's do a test. What does this picture remind you of?

A. A series of lights
B. An array of electronics that resemble an Adult Cartoon
C. A Bomb

If you choose A, you're probably not very familiar with American late night cartoons. If you choose B, you've probably watched the Milkshake, French Fry and Tomato Meatball (Kudos to E.B.O.F.) and uttered to yourself "WTF is up with that neighbour?" If you choose C, you've probably 1. A paranoid ignoramus who is culturally isolated from today's media 2. The Boston Attorney General. (You can probably guess which option I'd choose.)

Someone in that office apparently decided that the blinking lights were characteristic of a bomb and mobilized the entire city's police to defuse them. However, they failed to consider that said devices had adorned the city for at least a few days already and that other major cities had the same thing as well. Although in their defence, this appears to be a form of viral marketing, so not much information would have been available anyways.

And now, the AG is talking about suing the company behind Adult Swim (Turner) for restitution. That's right, I'm suing you for my stupidity (*Biatches* optional). Oh joy. The people who are supposed to serve the American public are just so atarded. It's a wonder that America is a superpower...

Totally unrelated but I WANT!! Who can resist rocket tits?

Bits of Nostalgia (Amongst other things)...

Well whaddya know, it turns out that one of the series that I want to actually follow up on (金田一 Kindaichi) was actually screened back home, like waaaaaay long ago. Back when the television station was still named Channel 8. That's a nice surprise.

Anyways, how much would you pay to go accompany this girl to the Superbowl (on your tickets)? She's a Chicago Bears fan and was trying to sell the chance to provide Superbowl tickets to her on Ebay.The going bid was 1.8K USD before the bids got ridiculous. And in the end, she got tickets from Axe (the deodorant company) and there's a now competition to see who gets to go WITH her (flight, accoms and food not provided). Shows you what kind of reversal of fortunes a cute face and a great body can get you... Now if only...

Edit: Re-sized the image to a (hopefully) more manageable size.

What Time is it?

In times past, the proper answer to the titular question would be "Tiger Time!" and the appropriate amount of hip wriggling and bad "ah-beng"-ish clothing. However, we shall not ponder on yesteryear's bad jingles that I bet are ringing in your head right now, but consider a new answer to the posed question.

I present : ADVENTURE TIME!! ALGEBRAIC!! And if you didn't understand that, just take a look at this video. Everything will be come clear (kinda).



Very mathematical right?

パっンク

The following clip is from the Japanese TV equivalent of Gotcha or something. The way the mob just overruns the poor saps is quite hilarious, especially the very first prank they attempt, where they completely missed the dude. In the last prank, the crowd yells "Danger!!" before squatting. Just so the non-Japanese inclined can get a little more understanding. =D

Laundry Power Rants...

Bears-Colts Superbowl!! I don't know who to root for, but I do suspect my neighbours might have been freaked out by the random cheering and hoots from a certain apartment in the estate when the Colts (FINALLY) made Bill Belichick suffer the "Disgusted & Stunned" syndrome when they rallied from 18 points down (21-3) to top the Patriots 34-38. Awesome game. But I can only confess to watching the 4th quarter only as I had semi-given up on Manning & Co when I saw the depressing 21-6 halftime score...

Now that I've gotten the good things out of the way, it's time to indulge in the title rant. The one really super thing about having a private washer/dryer in your apartment is that laundry NEVER goes missing. That sock that you thought got chewed up by the machines will turn up in the next load, you can probably afford a couple Mcdonald's Happy Meals with the loseloose change you can find during the once a month "check-the-washer/dryer" inspection. I had that luxury during my last year in college and I can honestly say that I really miss those good times...

On the flip side, now that I rent an apartment that has a common laundry facility, according to Murphy's Law, the rate of disappearing laundry is proportional to frequency of washing to the power of some yet to be determined constant... As a result, the MIA list of my laundry has been creeping at a more or less steady pace. However, today, when I did my laundry, those monsters consumed 2 socks (from 2 different matching pairs!). AT ONE SHOT!! I believe I will have to re-evaluate the constant in that equation. It seems to be a moving value, but I have insufficient data to make a concrete analysis.

What I do know is that I have to go and get more socks. Which really sucks on a day both teams you root for make the Superbowl... Argh...

もうすぐ怒りそう。。。

なんで返事しなかった？出来るか、出来ないかどっちでもぼくに返事してくれよ。もし出来なかったらぼくは怒らないよ。でも今長く返事しないことこれまで返事しないと、ぼくゼッタイ怒るよ。だからオネガイ、ぼくに返事してください。。。

Quick Puns

I really should be in bed by now, but I figured I'd finish these 3 jokes I've heard during my time in the office. The jokes may be embellished a little but are all true. I heard them all from friends and colleagues. They are all puns so you have been warned. Let the groaning commence.

1. Q: What did one Jap rocker say to the other?
A: Konnichiwassup

2. Q: How do you call an elevator in Portuguese?
A: Press the button

3. After an abysmal season, the Miami Dolphins have just hired a new coach from China.
What was his name? Win Wan Sun.

Okie with that, I bid you good night.

Rhythm is a Dancer

DDR, Donkey Konga, Guitar Hero. All these are games that aren't really in the Super Mario genre or the Doom first person shooter games but are nevertheless awesomely fun when you get down to it. Today, I present a few other ZOMG fast fingers in 2 other rhythm games.


Beatmania, which is a DJ kind of game with a faux disc that you can "spin".


Pop 'n Music, which is kinda like the Japanese version of Beatmania, but it looks like it was designed for people with really big or really fast hands.

Lastly, here's a link to travel tips from Yahoo. You can go check it out if you're interested. It might be of some help.

Birthday Alert!

Happy Birthday to ZhenZ. I hope that as you turn 24 25, that others can more easily understand the mysterious workings of your mind such that there will be less situations where I have to respond with a "Huh?". Other than that, I'm pretty sure turning 24 can only bring you much better stuff than what happened as 23 24 ended. Cheers mate!

Edit: Doh. Messed up the age. So 2006...

2006 in Review

Well I have to send my bro back home tomorrow so I'll try to make this brief.

For me, 2006 was a year of ups and downs. I'll try to recap the highs and lows here so we can laugh together at the good times and laugh at my bad times.

1. The Shanghai Girl thing didn't work out. I guess the 默契 just wasn't there. Next...
2. Realizing that having 9 credit hours in a semester meant a lot of slacking time. And time for a lot of video games.
3. Become a semi-pariah due to said semester workload.
4. Trying to cherish the last few months with friends that I might not ever see again in my life. Although I believe that in the end, 有缘相见, we will met again.
5. Rushed and jumbled through my final semester as a semi-lazy bum. Nearly died due to a lot of bad luck and misjudgment on my research. Which has taught me to always do your best. 做事要认真.
6. GRADUATION. Finally, after approximately 100K USD, 3 years, 20kg of caffeine, countless brain cells and about 2 solid months spent in the library lounge, I was pushed into the world. Kicking and screaming about how I didn't want to leave my friends and school. But if there's anything I learnt from previous graduations, it's that good friends tend to stick around. And I get the chance to get bragging rights to be the first to earn USD amongst the Fubar gang. Haha.
7. The frantic summer time search for gainful employment. I didn't have the foresight and doggedness of some of my classmates and I paid for it during summer. 20 applications a week for a total of around 100 netted me 4 interviews (phone & physical) which landed me 1 job offer. All in all, I consider myself lucky that I could land a nice job on such long odds. And now I had the bragging rights in the bag.
8. First job jitters. I went to work so nervous I forgot to remove the size sticker on my brand new khakis. (I'm sure Ebof will find that story familiar, haha). When I first started out, I was working from the conference table in the middle of the office. Now I have my own desk! And I have a monitor and keyboard to go with my laptop! Definitely moving up in the world... To top it off, I got my own phone! That means I don't have to hijack my colleagues' anymore.
9. First plant trip. The sights!! The smells!! And I think the smell is what will remain with you, even longer than the sights... The smells!!

And that was 2006 for me. I wonder what 2007 will bring but I'm pretty confident that I'll have more good than bad. How was 2006 for you guys?

I'll post my 07 resolutions another night. I need to hit the sack. Cheers!

Xmas Decadence...

So I hope everyone is enjoying/enjoyed their Xmas vacation. A couple of people I know are/were vacationing in rather exotic locations like Hawai and Kenya. A few others managed to get steals to vacation hot spots like New York and LA. As for me, since I have nobody to spend the money on but me, and nowhere to go but here, I decided to go on a shopping spree. And a makeover of my computer accessories.

So I have a new Garmin 350 Nuvi on the way. Hopefully this will cut down (significantly) all the desperate "Hello, do you have internet access?" calls some of my friends will be getting.

Also, now I've installed a wireless router in my house so that my bro (who lazes around the house all day long since he can't even drive...) can enjoy the internet without disturbing my surfing/gaming sessions. Setting the whole thing up was a lot easier than I imagined. And I just needed to make only 2 tech support calls in total. And Zee, I can now play Mario Kart DS on the Wifi. What's your friend code?

Lastly, I revamped my internet security since my Norton Suite, which was included in my Lenovo, expires in 2 days. I tried to purchase another year's license but the procedure was so confusing, I gave up and went hunting for freebies online instead. What I came up was the Comodo Firewall (free means free) and AVG Free Anti-Virus. The reviews look good and I'll update if they work okie or not.

So all in all, it wasn't a fantastically meaningful holiday but I'm not complaining. Any chance to rest while getting paid is a good time in my books.

May your New Year's Party be more happening than Christmas'. Party safe people!!

Happy Holidays!!

So, it's the weekend before Christmas and to me, it signals the end of the working year. WooTz. Cos my boss decided to let the whole office off till next year, it means that I have a full week of vacation that just appeared out of nowhere. Truly an awesome welfare move.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful year. Personally, the year represented a major shift in focus and life for me and I'm still treading very gingerly into the new year. But I'm pretty sure with hard work and some luck, things can only go up from here. May the new year bring more joy and happiness and moolah to all my readers.

Honestly, I wanted to work in 1 more post about drivers and noobs on Battlenet, but my blood pressure rose too much for me everytime I started thinking about it. Instead, I present a post about what Japanese kids want for Christmas, taken from Japanprobe.com. Enjoy and Happy Holidays Peeps!

Ironic

It's like raaiiinnnn.... On your wedding day
It's the freetixstoWicked when you've alreadymadeplanstogohomeforCNY....

Ah, the delicious irony of freebies when you've already have plans. The best laid plans indeed do often go astray. But anyways, at least I still have the dinner near Wicked that I won along with the tickets at the Christmas party last week. That was an awesome party. It was the first time I saw a salad that had descriptions 4 lines long. High class stuff indeed. The parking was already 41 dollars per night... In any case, a memo to my peers - during parties with people who are your elders, it pays to know retro (mambo) music since thats what they know. The music selection last Friday was very WednesdayNight@Zouk-ish. With hits like "Staying Alive", multiple songs by Belinda Carlisle and the occasional Ricky Martin tune. Unfortunately, no "Square Rooms".

Oh well, at least the weekend was kind enough to give me a free dinner coupon, the goodwill of a fellow colleague, and a treat from a graduate(d) friend. That would be a good weekend in anyone's books I should think.

To end it all, check out this flash animation. Me and my bro couldn't stop laughing for quite awhile after watching it. Unfortunately, I think non-Singaporeans won't fully understand its concepts but its still a good parody.

Wiisome!!

Why the Wii is awesome? Let me show you 3 videos. If they can make more games like these, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a winner. Raving Rabbids For The Win!! I especially like the 3rd video, smacking crazy rabbits. Everyone should dig smacking rabbits.







Also, there's another video for Warioware. The player has to imitate all the motions with the Wiimote (the white coloured thing) and the game has the irresistible appeal of smacking, not rabbits this time, but your butt in time with the music. Brilliant!!



そして、きみさいきんげんき？なんであうときあまりげんきがしなかったん？いまなにがこまってるか？もしメンドウやふあんなことがあったら、ぜひぼくとはなしてよ。だまっていてはだめだよ。しているだろ。”きみ”というのはいったいだれだ。じゃ、もしネートであえないなら、ぼくにメイールしてよ。

B4 Pple KB Mii Again...

So it's coming to the end of the exam period, hope everyone did reasonably well for finals. Just a FYI kinda update tonight.

1st up, is this post from Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, talking about his view about success and how to fight your battles. He's always an interesting read and this is doubly so as he's imparting lessons to the readers.

2nd thing is, new (as in, never before posted) pics are up. They can be found here,here and here.

Lastly, enjoy the Christmas parties people!! And try to stay sober... Tell next time.

LENOVO (IBM)'S DUBIOUS BUSINESS PRACTICES PART II

So I called Lenovo regarding a problem I have with my CMD prompt. Everytime I type any command in the RUN prompt, the DOS window opens and then immediately closes. Anyone has any tips/hints?

But anyways, as I was chatting with the service rep, they tell me that my warranty expires next year, 2007. I was shocked as I thought that when I purchased my laptop in Sept, that I paid extra for a warranty extension option. But apparently, I read wrongly again... I had purchased a warranty service upgrade, but no extension of service. WTF... I guess my next laptop isn't gonna be a Lenovo. As if I needed further persuading after that previous fiasco...

Making People Famous I

Well, with the proliferation of websites like Youtube, Google Video and Toudou, the self-made household superstar has hit it big. It has never been easier, nor cheaper to do an original production and attempt to promote it to the masses. However, what I am doing today, is not that. I have no ritzy self-promotion video to show you, but instead, would like to show others at their (questionable) best.

First up, please watch the koteh in the backrow, 3rd from the right. Notice his deadpan expression and distinct lack of displacement that so brings out activity of the rest of the band. After that, you can look at all the Asian mei mei's, if you're so inclined. They are the TrebleMakers, NU's only Chinese ACapella group. The song is “听妈妈的话“

It's a nice song, unfortunately, my camera can't record indefinitely, so it kinda gets cut off at the end. Here are the lyrics.

小朋友是否有很多问号
为什么别人在那看漫画
我却在学画画
对着钢琴说话别人在玩游戏
我却靠在墙壁背我的abc
我说我要一架大大的飞机
我却得到一只旧旧螺旋机
为什么要听妈妈的话
长大后你就会开始懂得这段话
长大后我开始明白
为什么我跑得比别人快
飞得比别人高
将来大家看的都是我画的漫画
大家唱的都是我写的歌
妈妈的辛苦不让你看见
温暖的事都在她心里面
有空就得多握握她的手
把手牵着一起梦游
听妈妈的话别让她受伤
想快快长大才能保护她
美丽的白发幸福中发芽
天使的魔法温暖中慈祥
在你的未来音乐是你的王牌
王牌谈个恋爱
而我不想把你教坏
还是听妈妈的话吧
晚年再恋爱吧
我知道你未来的路
干嘛比我更清楚
你因为太多学习的同学在这块写东写西
但我建议最好听妈妈我会用功读书
用功读书怎么会从我嘴巴说出
不想你输所以要叫你用功读书
妈妈交给你的毛笔你要好好的收着
因为不知道是我要告诉她我还留着
对了我会遇到我(周润发?)
所以你对跟同学炫耀赌神未来是你爸爸
我找不到你写的情书
你喜欢的要承认因为我会了解你会在操场上牵她
你会开始喜欢唱流行歌
因为张学友开始准备唱吻别
听妈妈的话别让她受伤
想快快长大才能保护她
美丽的白发幸福总发芽
天使的魔法温暖中慈祥
听妈妈的话别让她受伤
想快快长大才能保护她
长大后我开始明白为什么我
跑得比别人快飞得比别人高
将来大家看的都是我画的漫画
大家唱的都是我写的歌
妈妈的辛苦不让你看见
温暖的事都在她心里面
有空就得多握握她的手
把手牵着一起梦游
听妈妈的话别让她受伤
想快快长大才能保护她
美丽的白发幸福中发芽
天使的魔法温暖中慈祥

So Many Things, So Little Purchasing Power...

So it's finally December. That means that it's the festive season and sales abound. That also means it's the season for many impulse buys, cos there are so many things to buy... But I can't, not really, since I'm saving my moolah to go back and spend time with friends and family. And to have fun with friends in Japan along the way as well.

Yeap, I just got the tickets today. Feb 11 Japan, Feb 16th Home!! Now I gotta get me's a countdown timer or something... Maybe I'll kop (steal) one from my 学妹...