Hot Summer Nights

Ever had one of those hot summer nights when you had one too many beers and all your old childhood ceral box friends suddenly started showing up? Dammit! What did you guys do to Captain Crunch?!?

Hot In The CIty

Hey, I'm back! Is it just me or is the weather really, really hot these last couple of days ... just out of the shower and I'm already sweating. Geez, I don't know about you guys but I say we could really use some of these, just like in Japan.

My Addiction?

How should I start this...one of me earlier posts was bout this four main vices of me younger days. Well, of those four, one of them is still haunting me to this day. It's the one on gambling and do I have a gambling problem? I dunno. Maybe I do and maybe I don't.

The reason I'm writing this now is cos this weekend is the the start of the new british soccer EPL season. And that's what I used to bet on. I have always loved playing games, almost all kinds of games and puzzles, and to me, betting on soccer was a kind of game, a kind of mental challenge. You study the facts, analyse the tables, look at the stats etc. And you try to make your guess. And when you win, the feeling is great, simply exhilarating. You tell yourself you are smarter than the system and you outwitted it. Of cos, when you lose, the feeling is really sucky.

I started out with little five dollar bets and that became hundreds later, er...much later. I used to bet hundreds every weekend. I have won lots and have lost lots too. Fortunately, things never got to the point where I had to borrow money or anything like that. I still paid all my bills on time, bought the things I wanted, ate and drank well, gave my folks money etc. Nothing much changed in terms of living expenses. So why did I stopped? Or at least am trying (and succeeding so far!) ....cos I know if I didn't it's only going to get a lot worse.

I used to spend hours searching the betting forums online. Not the online gambling sites but a particular Asian forum where people exchanged tips. I think almost every local soccer gambler knows this site. Hehe. I have seen guys surfing the site in public on their laptops numerous times! I stopped visiting the site months ago. Looking back, I do have some pretty funny gambling stories to tell.

I'm just writing this to remind myself to not gamble or place any soccer bets this season. It's gonna be a long season so wish me luck.

Hmmmm....maybe next time I'll talk bout me other three vices. Definitely not as somber as this one.

More Geek-ing Out At Home

One of the cool things about having your own place is the chance to do it up however you like. Don’t think most of you remember me very first post. Anyway, here’s the wine rack part of it. See that guy behind it, guarding the wine rack? That’s my X-Men Sentinel action figure. One of the best-looking and detailed action figure ever. Simply amazing sculpt! It was released last year and become one of the most sought-after, best-reviewed Marvel comic book figures around.

In the comic books, the Sentinels are giant mutant-hunting robots that fought the X-Men on a regular basis. If you watched the last X-Men movie, you might remember the opening scene with the X-Men fighting in the Danger Room. They were under attack by some huge thing and Wolverine leapt (aka Fastball Special) at it. Then this big purple metal head dropped outta the sky and crashed to the ground. That’s a Sentinel head. I guess the movie budget wasn’t big enough to put those guys in.

Anyway my point is if I was still living with me folks, I sure doubt if I could get away with incorporating me action figures with the rest of the furniture! Hah. I just thought it would be neat to have him looming above the wine rack. What you think of the wine rack? I kinda like that too, got it on offer at Takashimaya last year too or was it the year before? Its got a nice leathery feel and I thought it looks kinda classy as well.

Geek-ing Out At Home

It's Tuesday nite and you know what that means to a World of Warcraft player. Server maintenance nite! Figured I'll just update here a little while waiting for CSI: NY to start. So here’s how I spent part of me Saturday.

Decided to get a second bedside table at IKEA on Wednesday and was putting it together on Saturday. Didn’t have much trouble with it except the hinges were kinda wonky.

A Hydrangea By Any Other Name

Here’s one of favorite non-food pix from my last trip to Japan. It’s the beautiful Hydrangea flower or Ajisai in Japanese. Snapped this in Kyoto at the famous Kiyomizu-dera Temple.

My aunt actually grows the flower here in Singapore too, funny thing is when I first heard the name ‘Hydrangea’, and I heard it as ‘Night Ranger’. I remember thinking to myself ‘that has got to be the coolest name for a flower ever!’

And here’s how it looks with a snail munching on it! I'm trying to make this a food blog so I had to show someone or something eating!

Singapore In Pole Position

Tomorrow's our National Day and I guess nothing says it or more local-like than this.

That's right, it's still out there! I can’t help it, I took this latest pix yesterday. Every time I walk pass the wash pole flag, I feel like saluting to a pair of freshly rinsed undies or washed sheets. Over three weeks and counting! I gotta admit, I’m surprised it’s still out there for everyone to see.

Can anyone come up with a better title?

Ah Crap!...I Mean...Crab

Guess what we had for dinner? S$11.50 for about 850g. Cooked it at about noon and served it cold for dinner later. Not as much meat as I expected even though it was one of the bigger crabs in the tank. Forgot to snap a pix of it being served...heh...it wasn't bad. Maybe next time, will try doing some white pepper crabs which is one of me favorites.

Bet you thought I forgot but it's now five down and one to go! Haven't been eating much ice cream at home cos of all the Japanese snacks I brought back.

Hotel Security

Seen one of these in your hotel rooms before? This here is my hotel fridge in Tokyo. The moment you take one of the cans out of its slot, the check-out desk would immediately know about it, even if you replace it a minute later.

So when you check out, it'll be reflected in your bill and you have spend probably a few minutes explaining that you only took it out cos you never seen one of those before. I guess it's a little harder to explain than the porn channel in your bill.

So ...er.... does this count as a food or drink entry?

Things Not To Talk About On A First Date

Ah, looks like this is a good time to geek out. Pretty damn sure I’m not going to get much comments here, if any at all. Hehe…but that’s cool.

Some really geeky stuff (aka things you DON’T want to talk about on a first date) that I’m currently overloading on…

Been back to reading Batman comic book series again. Picking it up cos its written by Grant Morrison with art by Andy Kurbert. One of the best and most surrealist comic book writers in the biz today, Morrison has taken Bats back to his roots. After the events in the Infinite Crisis storyline, the entire DC universe has been rebooted. DC’s holy trinity Bats, Superman and Wonder Woman are back in the main spotlight. Written the way they should be! The current Superman titles have already been getting rave reviews. The last Batman story arc One Year Later with the return of Gordon as everybody’s favorite Commish and Two-Face as the villain was great too. Great ending with Bruce Wayne officially/legally adopting Tim Drake (3rd Robin) as a son. Dick Grayson (1st Robin) was only his ward.

By the way, the new Wonder Woman comic book is written by Allan Heinberg, the television writer and producer, on shows like The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy. He’s also the writer on Marvel’s Young Avengers comic book and that’s already a certified sales hit.

Oh yah, there’s another Kinokuniya book sale this weekend. Will finally pick up the best-selling The Astonishing X-Men Vol.1 hardcover written by Joss Whedon, producer and writer of Buffy, Angel and Firefly TV shows.

Still on the super hero bandwagon, got back to collecting the new Marvel Heroclix figures from the latest Sinister Expansion. Although I don’t play the game, I sure as hell enjoy collecting them. They not cheap either as it’s a tikam situation to guess what figures are in each box but damn, those little critters are just so irresistibly detailed!

Ah crap, there goes my original plan to make this a food blog again….and I haven’t even gotten to yakking about me World of Warcraft character….yet.