TGIF!

The valuation report for my current place is back! It's, gosh, worth higher than we expected!! :O!! :D!!

The valuer of course took lots of photos of the place when he came for the inspection. However, he only chose 5 photos to include in the valuation report.
One of them features my BIG mucc poster... XD XD XD XD XD
Yes, with the smudgy make-up in its full glory!!
Geez.. I wonder how this might affect potential buyers' opinions! *big sweatdrop*

ps: Included a new link to 500fan's Taiwan Journal , journal of a fellow 500&cb fan who recently moved to Taiwan from the US. :)

Fandom deepens!!

Went to KKnM today and bought myself these!!

Kawaii ne~!
Had a fun time popping them out of their capsules and fitting them onto their bases. Renji somehow refuses to stay put *struggles* I thought it's cool that his Zabimaru is bendable, just like in the manga! Oh but then again... *meddles with Zangetsu*.. so's Ichigo's. Had to put the Captains in the first row since they're...well, Captains after all! *respect* (wonder if we'll see the rest of the Captains & vices!)... though, Kenpachi's hair looks like a cupcake base~~~ XD

You can get them individually or all 10 in one set (for $20). Luckily the shop people checked the whole set again before handing them over to me.. i had double Ichigos & missing Kenpachi! But can't blame them lah.. they said they had to pack like 600 of them in the shortest time possible. It's amazing they didn't get cross-eyed O_o;;


Mercian 巨峰サワ- from Cold Storage. It's alright, but not very exciting... my search continues~~~

Fandoms of late

Am on a Bleach-high after finishing all the chapters up-t0-date. I still feel a bit guilty, actually, for succumbing to curiosity and reading the chapters after Vol 16, but...but... i really couldn't stand it waiting in suspense!

Favourite character? Am slanted towards Renji at the moment (*sheepish look*... it's always the ah-beng types, huh..), but really, there's almost something about every single character in there that is intriguing. I like Kubo Tite's art style too!

& I am... ... ...

Which Bleach Character Are You?

Been also wanting to blog about this:


Satoshi Kon's [Paranoia Agent]. One of the things I picked up in HK in March. (Isn't the packaging cool? All hail Sino Centre~!)

It, is EXCELLENT. Satoshi Kon is a genius -- with plot and especially at creating the right kind of atmosphere in an anime. I've yet to see any other anime series that can portray the same kind of atmosphere that I see in all his works. You know how, for some of the other anime series, you can tell when the animators are lazy and try to get away with things? (eg. I hate anime series which have like 30 seconds in one scene where all you see is the character's mouth moving to say the dialogue. What shoddy work!) But this series is the total opposite. It's very professionally done.

In a nutshell, highly recommended for Satoshi Kon fans. In fact, it's better than a movie since there are full 13 episodes to enjoy! I wonder why it has not gathered as many fans as I thought it should.. maybe not everyone likes this type of dark & satirical, yet contemporary anime series? I like the series so much I think I'd place it at No. 2, just after Millenium Actress, still my favourite work of his. Perfect Blue would be No. 3 for me and, unfortunately, Tokyo Godfathers at a distant No. 4.

May is approaching..

And soon I shall be leaving this current job. While it had somewhat been of a roller-coaster ride of sorts in the last 2-3 months, I can say I've now reached some sort of equilibrium.

No regrets on this lecturing stint in the last half year. It had its ups and downs, and I just might come back to it in future. The school is treating me very well despite my departure. It's just that right now, I feel I've got to move on to do something else (unfortunately, corporate whoring again). Reasons are too personal to elaborate on here.

On the other hand, I seriously doubt whether I've evolved much at all since my very first day as a working individual. Heck, I don't even know whether I've progressed mentally since my primary school days! *looks round at my massive collection of useless items in room* Many of my decisions are still so impulsive, so unreasonable, so incomprehensible (even to me). Darn, maybe I really need a hubby and baby to make me wisen up!! (hey wait a min, that's what my swarm of relatives would say to me, not something i should say to myself ey!)

Nonetheless. Things are ay okay. I can live with such a me (actually I have no choice). And since that's the only barrier I should learn to overcome, then there's nothing else to worry about!

On to less emo things. May has a ton of holidays, yay!! Labour Day, Mother's Day, Vesak Day.. & guess what, it's also National Masturbation Month! ;D Yes, the whole *stretches arms out* month! Let's celebrate! (or should i say, celibate??)(uur..okay, bad joke, sorry!) So.... come (<-no! i shall not crack another bad joke now!), join in the masturbate-a-thon!

Giving themselves a bad name

I hate to say this, but I think Chinese nationals in Singapore are giving themselves a bad name. You know I always give people the benefit of doubt (sometimes too much), so for me to express such a sentiment means they've really pushed the edge of the envelope too far.

The school I'm working with deals with many foreign students, out of which a large proportion are from China. However, amongst all my students, China students exhibit the worst behaviour. No matter how I look at it, I cannot give them a good explanation for the way they behave. I'm not talking about things that almost any student will do to some extent in class, eg. nod off/eat/sleep/chat/SMS. I'm talking about how they can be so unreasonable to the extent that even if they are in the wrong, they will complain about things to make it seem as if they are wronged instead! Is it in their upbringing to think that as long as they insist they are right and argue loudly about something, they will win the argument??

Is it so difficult for a person to admit that you are in the wrong?

Students on student permit to study here are not supposed to work. Period. Yet it is so obvious to me that some of these students are moonlighting outside. Some show signs that they are prostituting. Yet when they are caught, they turn the tables round and kick up some ridiculous complaint about sexual harrassment from their landlords or something. So many such cases floating around.. sometimes I wonder whether it's more cost efficient for the school to restrict the number of such students and save on staff employed to handle such cases. But... no way... it would be foolhardy for the school to ignore the large pool of (filthy rich) Chinese students.

Even Chinese nationals that I see outside of class reinforce that image. Case in mind: I went to MOS burger for lunch today, and halfway through I had to put my Bleach manga opened face-down on the seat for a while, as I unwrapped the burger. At this moment, a Chinese national came over and sat down next to me. That would have been okay if not for the fact that she SAT ON MY MANGA!! O_o; Naturally, I gave a squeak but guess what she said :"Hey relax... it's just a comic!" Well fine, if that's the case, can you lend me your purse so that I can place my bum (which is by no means small XD) on it, cos "it's just a purse??" Helloooo...who's the one who should be apologizing here?? (& btw, her bum is not small either, k) >_>

& because I was in a bad mood today, I gave her hell. & you know what? It gave me such a kick I'm going to do that in the future for every such encounter.

it's been a long time since i did a quiz..

You Are a Dachshund Puppy

Loyal and playful - with a good hunting instinct. You sometimes go a little crazy and need to chase down a rabbit or two.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

Does Kenshiro need a mate? :P

Damnit, I want him back!! ;_;

@_@...
Alright, I'm obsessing about Death Note again... (yes it's all BH's fault!! :P)

Yep I've just finished all current 59 chapters of Death Note and am dying of curiosity here... just when is the next chapter coming out...

Halfway through reading the chapters after Vol 5, I realized that one key sentence in my previous entry about Death Note was horrendously wrong! (I can't say what that is without giving away spoilers, but whoever's read the manga would know which sentence I'm talking about!!) Boy, when I realized that, the motivation to read on increased by hundred-fold. The twists in the plot are amazing!! *in awe*

Read some translations of the "how to read" interviews with the author & artist and...

[spoilers]

...they said that the plot for the next instalment begins 4 years after where chapter 59 ended off... uuurrgghh...so no use wishing for L to come back...it's gonna be Mello and Near instead (what kind of names are that! & is it pure coincidence that their names are in running alphabetical order??).. okay, actually both of them seem quite interesting, but damnit, I want L back!!

some other thoughts..
- wasn't really convinced initially about why Rem has such strong feelings for Misa.. couldn't quite sense that from when Rem first related to Misa the story of how one particular God of Death died because he fell in love with Misa. But I suppose Rem's feelings for Misa just became fact after that..

- what's L's real name? did Raito (Light) look into Rem's death note and find out?

- at first Misa didn't irk me so much, but by the time it got to the chapters after Vol 5, I felt like *schmwacking* her little head everytime she uttered something stupid. kept wishing she'll trade off so many years of her life that she'll just suddenly drop dead in one of the panels -_-; Like in the first place, how many years does she have left?? Assuming her original lifespan was 70, no, say 80 years, after trading for the eyes twice, isn't her lifespan just 20 years?? No wait, *goes back to check the pages*... I see, when she does the eyes trade, it's for half of her remaining, not total, lifespan... darn. Still..

- wonder how Mello and Near will start their investigations... like, how much data did L and Watari leave behind for them to pick up from? how much do they have to figure out themselves...eg. how the Death Notes work? gosh, just how many more chapters of Death Note will there be!!??? O_O;;

[/spoilers]

And does this (right at the bottom of the page) mean that they're looking at making an anime out of the series?

Untitled

I live near the sea, but don't often hear the ships' horns, except on New Year's if I happen to be home.

I don't know why, but one ship has just sounded its horns. It was definitely from a ship, and the horns were not just sounded once, but a number of times, each time long and drawling. It took me by surprise.

Can't help but wonder if there's any significance to this.
Happy Birthday Kazuki!

Restless

Restless @ work...
There are 2 days in the week where I have morning + evening lectures, so in between I have quite some time to either prepare future lesson plans or to stone...& today I'm obviously doing the latter...-_-

Ah what good joy it is to be able to stone...
La di dar~
La di daaaarr~~
di daaaarrrrrr~~~~~

Okay, some serious questions here...erm...anyone looking for rosewood furniture? Or knows anyone who wants to buy some rosewood furniture? I'm selling the current set in my house (or just parts of the set - that's okay too), so if anyone is/knows anyone else interested to buy it, do email me! :)

Deathnote

I was piqued by BH's blog entry about Deathnote, so I picked it up today.

... ... ... & promptly finished up 4 Vols. -_-; Man, it's addictive!!

The only reason why I'm not reading on (well, at least not for the moment...) is because, according to BH and Satsuki, L dies! uurrgh, what THE??!

Well I preferred the first 3 Vols anyway, when Raito and L were pitting their wits against each other on opposing sides.

& yes, I like Ryuuku! (he reminds me of a certain band's vocalist XD XD)


Here's a description of Deathnote from a blogger that I chanced upon, which I thought was quite funny:

"Death Note is a current manga series about a book that holds special powers. If a person's name is written in the book, s/he will die quickly in the manner specified. If no details are given, the cause will be a heart attack. Naturally, this book was found by a Japanese highschool boy near Tokyo, as such things normally are.

Actually:

Death Note is a current manga series that holds special powers. Anyone who starts reading it will be unable to do anything else until all 59 current chapters are read. To fill the void until the next installment, readers will do little else but obsess over Death Note, to the possible annoyance of their real and imaginary friends, colleagues and muses. "

Hahah! XD

MacRitchie tree-top walk

Went to check out the MacRitchie tree-top walk last Sunday with girlosopher & ken (boylosopher? =D). Haiyaiyaiyai...fun, fun, fun... I thought my legs would ache after the 11km walk, but surprisingly they didn't! Must be the stretches before & after the walk.

Gotta do it again some day! ☆
Some pics:

The suspension bridge, made of metal & ropes, was quite stable, actually. It only sways when some people (specifically kids!!) stomp or march on it.


The view was great, since the bridge connects the two highest points (Bukit Peirce and Bukit Kalang) of MacRitchie. Ahh...doesn't it make you want to burst out into song? *the hills are aliiiivvveee~~~~~♪*


We took an out-of-track path back, and part of this path allowed us to look up towards the suspension bridge from below. Geez, why is it that it looked more daunting from the ground than when we were on it!


It was the canoeing/dragon-boat competition that morning, so us kay-poh onlookers joined in the cheering, hehee.


龍的'船'人!!

We ended the morning with lunch at the famous Jalan Sultan Prawn Noodle stall @ Geylang. Shucks, forgot to take a picture of the food before we sunk our teeth into it (or rather, slurped up the soup!). We couldn't wait, lah! ;D

Songs in list format

I thought this was like totally funny (& creative!) :D, so I tried it on one of my favourite songs:

[The Living Years] by Mike & The Mechanics

• Every generation:
  • Blames the one before
  • Beats their frustrations on your door
• I know I am:
  • A prisoner to my Father
  • A hostage to his hopes and fears
• I just wish:
  • I could have told him
    • In the living years
• All we've got:
  • Crumpled paper with imperfect thought
  • Stilted conversations
• You say:
  • You don't see it
• He says:
  • It's perfect sense
• You can't get:
  • Agreement in this present tense
• We all talk:
  • A different language
  • In defence
• Say it:
  • Loud
  • Clear
• What to say:
  • You can listen as well as you hear
• What is too late when we die:
  • To admit we don't see eye to eye
• What we do:
  • Open up a quarrel between the present and past
  • Sacrifice the future
• What lasts:
  • Bitterness
• Fortunes:
  • You sometimes see as fate
  • Should not be yielded to
  • May have a new perspective on a different day
• You may be OK if you:
  • Don't give up
  • Don't give in
• When my Father passed away:
  • I wasn't there
  • I didn't tell him the things I had to say
• Later that same year:
  • I think I caught his spirit
  • I'm sure I heard his echo
    • In my baby's new born tears

did anyone else feel it?

..the earthquake tremors, i mean?

It was around midnight... in the midst of talking with my mum in my room, I suddenly felt that the apartment was shaking. Heard a shout from outside.. my dad was yelling about how it was most definitely shaking! Then some alarm went off from one of the neighbouring apartment blocks, and when we peered outside, we saw a number of people coming out from their homes, some even scurrying downstairs with children in their arms!

My mum didn't feel a thing...and the first thought that ran across our minds wasn't really the safety issue... *sheepish look*... it was actually envisioning how the value of our MP apartment will plummet to great depths after this... cos you see, we didn't know then that almost all of Singapore could feel the tremors, we thought it was just the MP area or at least the Eastern part of Singapore. And no, we wouldn't normally be thinking of something like property prices, it's just that tonight was the night we signed the contract for the new place in Sengkang (yes, we have found a satisfactory apartment and finally finished negotiations today!), and in fact my mum and I were just discussing about what would be a suitable selling price for our current place.

Can't imagine how it was like in W Sumatra...8.5 on the Richter scale... so scary! :O

apartment hunting

Hola! So it turned out to be quite interesting. Though the second apartment was better than the first, I doubt we'll be considering either one of them seriously. But now we have a better sense of which flats are better, which particular direction in each of these flats, etc. Am appalled by how disconcerned my dad was throughout the whole thing. Guess what, he decided not to even go for the apartment viewings. Just shrugged it off and said he'll go with whatever we choose. (Oh but you can be sure to hear grumblings from him later! But luckily now there's someone who will help over-ride all other matters for him - why the grandchild of course! XD)

Anyway. I have a 預感 we will be moving to Sengkang -- it's a matter of time. Feel a bit more assured after today's apartment viewings and after analyzing the situation with my mother and brother. Next few weeks will be busy with more apartment viewings and getting our current place viewed as well! The property agent for the second apartment today was smart, slick and professional, and when he heard that we are currently staying in MP, his eyes lighted up immediately.(-_-;) Luckily my mother (who's shrewd too y'know! XD) told him we'll arrange for viewings of our current apartment only after we come across a new apartment that we are satisfied with.

Talking of apartments, don't you think that a person's room or home is quite a reflection of the person's character? *looks around room* The books, CDs, magazines, bedsheets, decor.. whether the person's a stacker (i confess!) or a discarder or a cataloguer (sp?).. everytime I see someone's room, I feel like I'm invading their privacy. And often I discover new things about the person too.. *nods* So today I felt like a peeping-tom, haha. :D

the power of the grandchild

Never, EVER under-estimate it! *nods gravely*

Yes... believe it or not, my parents are now thinking of moving to Sengkang, where my brother, sis-in-law and their child (the grandchild) stays. This is an amazing 180-degrees turn of events from their previous "Marine Parade neighbourhood's the best!", "Katong rules!" and "Don't ever suggest staying near the grandchild cos we don't want to revolve our lives around her!" mentality.

Nowadays my email-box is constantly bombarded by emails containing videos of the little one... now, of course that's much more delightful, I must say, compared to emails from people wanting to be your sex friend (talking about spammers here, k) or offering ways of enlarging certain erm, body parts. Still, it gets slightly irritating when my parents come up to me every other hour during the night asking me if I've received anything new from my brother. Hey I'll definitely alert the whole neighbourhood (alright I'm exaggerating), if I receive the newest video of the grandchild!

No, no, don't misunderstand me... Of course I love my niece! Love every tiny little pore of hers. I look forward to receiving the videos too! (and playing them on repeat on WMP...although...my parents don't seem to realize they're watching repeats of the SAME thing sometimes...) But... there's a limit, k? Can't help but think that my parents could be having a rather idealistic view about the prospect of moving house. I worry that my parents will miss the familiarity of the neighbourhood. I worry that my dad will miss his chess kakis and my mum, her auntie-friends in Marine Parade. I worry that I will miss the sea & Katong food, Wah! -_-;

In the meantime, we're going ahead to check out 2 flat units at Sengkang later today.

====
On a totally unrelated subject, this made me burst out laughing just now... Siew Mai, Tempura and Takoyaki thumbdrives!! They're just missing the Har Gao ones! XD But seriously, I wouldn't mind if it's something cool (like an action figure of Boba Fett or something..), but plastic food??