The Not-So-Big Chill

We’d been having some pretty weird weather lately. It’s exceptionally windy last couple of weeks. Icy, chilly winds in the evening when I'm back from work till morning when I leave. The flash storms have stopped but almost every evening till late at nite, the winds (can they be plural?) have been howling like a buncha banshees. Windows blown shut (and open), things flying around the house, just like in them ghost movies. Actually I’m used to the wind howling, reminds me of my old place when I was like 10 years old, the wind was making all kinds a noises in my folks’ first apartment.

Wonder if anyone else in the country is experiencing it? Some say when it's this 'cold' or windy in January, it's gonna be exceptionally hot later around April.



Anyway, finally gonna open this little beauty up. Got it at duty-free coming back from Hong Kong last year. I couldn't resist it when I read the line ... "A unique blend of premium French Vodka and Gourmet Coffee with a hint of vanilla and creme." Ohhh ... I can see this going into my morning coffee and after dinner ice-cream dessert.

Q Daze

Damn, they better be worth it. And they are....sort of. Not great but I still kinda enjoyed them. Yah, I waited in line at Raffles City for three hours for them. Didn't really planned it that way. The line wasn't that long so I got in the Q. It hardly moved cos the kitchen was small and folks ahead of me were buying boxes and boxes of them. Well, The last time I had a donut 'meal' was in New York seven years ago.

Here's something else I stood in Q for that day. That's an opened case of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Me and the guys PLUS the other guys from my online guild were at the launch 'party' (I use the term loosely) and altogether, we collected at least 60 boxes for everyone. It was fun standing in this Q cos the rest of the guys were there and we all talking crap together.

In other good news, the national library has FINALLY stocked up on new comic books! After a year of no new stuff, we got quite a lot over the last week.

Alright, remember I talked bout the reshuffling in the office? Well, as I expected, things aren't off to a great start. It ain't easy when your 'superior' can't seem to make up his or her mind and it sure as hell ain't helping me when he or she admits in my face, "I'm sorry but I know I'm really anal."

Bought A Buff

Weather's been pretty cool lately. Not bad, good excuse to wear all those sweaters and loong sleeved shirts for once. Actually bought this. Thought it was neat, not cos the weather or anything. Well, my hair's pretty long now, not cutting it yet. Waiting till it's closer to Chinese New Year, that's late February. Saw it and just ... wanted it, I guess. I can now look like a pirate! Yar!

My life in the last few days has been all bout work and some WOW card playing (which I lost mostly but made some new friends so not much to talk/brag about there). Anyway, Niki did this great list. so I figured why not.

Countdown
Ten Things About You
1: Am only child.
2: Carry a money clip but not a wallet
3: Hates tissue paper
4: Prays every nite before bed
5: Enjoys all kinds of game
6: Had my own newspaper comic strip years ago
7: Am told that I'm tone deaf
8: Fan of WWE wrestling
9: Wears glasses only at the movies
10: Will instinctively wake up at 7am no matter where I am or how late I slept

Nine Things You Love
1: Family
2: Japanese food
3: Internet
4: Writing
5: Fooling around (if you know what I mean)
6: Comic books
7: Long rides
8: Traveling
9: Constance

Eight Songs You Love
1: Born to run (Bruce Springsteen)
2: Those magic changes (Grease soundtrack)
3: Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams)
4: Johnnie b goode (Chuck Berry)
5: Miami (Will Smith)
6: Stayin Alive (Bee Gees)
7: Tonight is what it means to be young (Fire Inc.)
8: Burning Love (Elvis)

Seven Things You Wear Daily
1: Either one of two G-Shock watches
2: Boxers
3: Ring
4: Jeans
5: T-shirt
6: iPod nano
7: Smile

Six Things That Make You Smile
1: Winning a game
2: Reading a good book
3: Memories of fencing
4: Comfort food
5: Old photos
6: Comments left at my blog ;)

Five Things You're Looking Forward To
1: Tokyo
2: A drink
3: Weekends
4: Favourite websites' updates
5: Meeting my friends

Four Things You're Scared Of
1: Heights
2: Losing my $enses
3: Being alone in the world
4: Zombies (don't ask)

Three Things That Annoy You
1: Waiting for public transport
2: Telemarketing
3: Whimpy songs from the 70s

Two Of Your Favorite Books
1: The Dunwich Horror
2: The Hobbit

One Thing You Can't Live Without
1: Oxygen

Back At Work

By now most of us are probably back at work after the holidays, same here folks. But I still feel like I'm on holiday season mode. Can't wait for the Chinese New Year break again.

Official word is they are gonna split us all into dedicated (smaller?) strike teams. Yup, it’s a reshuffle. There’s gonna be a big meeting this coming Monday to explain how all that’s gonna work out. Well, we’ll see. It’ll mean I’ll be moving out of my room and into cubiclepolis. Anyway, that’ll be later, at least a couple of more months.

So with my Warcraft Internet connection moving slower than a dead turtle, I spent my last few nites downloading (or is it uploading?) a bunch of CDs onto the nano. I managed to get thin clear plastic protectors for the back, wheel and screen for the nano on Monday at that Apple shop at Cineleisure, they were even nice enough to paste it for me.

Anyway, here's me playing with the 'Food' mode of my new camera.

Duck from a famous duck rice stall from People's Park Complex in Chinatown. Yah, I always thought it sounds like some kinda commie HQ building or something. Bought it for dinner over the weekend. Looks like the Chinese New Year decorations are already coming up all over Chinatown. So what do you guys think of this 'Food' mode? Does the food look yummier?

Happy New 2007

Two long nites of gaming can really wear out a guy. Had the gang over for board games (Beowolf, Railroad Tycoon, etc.) on Saturday nite, till like 3am. Slept at 4am. On New Year's eve the next nite, another group showed up and played till about 3am too.

Yah, its been a pretty gaming holiday for me ... (must remember only the good things!) ... well, would have played more if the damn Internet connection my World of Warcraft wasn't lagging all the time, and kept disconnecting me for like, 3 days in a row now.

Coming up next, The Burning Crusade. Mark my words, come Jan 16, men (and some women I guess) from all over the world will vanish from the streets, social committments will not be met, dates will be broken, well, you get the idea ...

But seriously, its been quite past year of gadgets for me. First came the conventional microwave oven. then followed by a new Nikon camera, handheld vacuum cleaner and Philips DVD player (with Divx Video) all during the Great Singapore Sale.

And then it was happy birthday to me with this. Ended the year with a couple of good grabs during the office party and someone else's party gift.

The Spoils Of War Or How I Finally Got An iPod

Talk about your six degrees of separation. I finally bought a new 4GB ipod nano (2nd gen) for only S$250, about US$168 (retailing at S$348, about US$227).

The crazy part is how I got it. My gaming buddy’s wife got it from her ad agency’s creative director as a Xmas gift. She’s the agency’s client (BIG telco account). But since the couple already has a video ipod, my friend decided to sell it to me. I didn’t know the background behind it yet but I noticed the nano came preloaded with a ton of really obscure old songs (over 400 oldies!), I asked him if I could delete them. He said sure and told me about its ‘history’. So I deleted all the songs ‘cept for the Seinfeld album.

Now I knew folks who knew folks from the ad agency. Well, did some nosing around. Agencies giving ipods to clients? Wow, haven’t heard that one in a long while. So, to cut a long story short and to leave out the nasty details cos as this story clearly shows, you can never tell who knows who, the nano wasn’t exactly given out in the spirit of goodwill.

Ho Ho Ho! Now I have an ipod nano (see the first Die Hard movie to get this inside joke)

Well, since almost everyone in me office is a Mac/Apple fan. It wasn’t that hard for me to …er… ‘get’ a whole bunch of free songs from their playlists as our network kinda links our desktops/notebooks. Now to get one of those external speakers for me new nano.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Had a early Xmas dinner with friends on Saturday nite. Everyone prepared something so we had lots of food and later, leftovers. Anyway, we ordered one of those pre-cooked turkeys this year. Some of the things overheard before dinner was served...

"Are you sure it's cooked?"

"Are you sure you can fit it in the mircowave?"

"Remove the foil!"
"You don't need to remove the foil if you set it to 'conventional oven'!!!"

"This isn't rocket science."

"It's cooked but it's still cold on the inside. Put your finger inside the bird and feel it."

"Maybe it's supposed to be cold on the inside."

"Eeeewww. Why did you have to put your middle finger in it?"
"Cos it's my longest finger!"

"Why did you give me a dessert knife to cut the bird with?"

Well, I'm sure there were a couple others that I forgot. Anyway, I had leftover turkey sandwiches for breakfast 2 days in a row already.

Merry Christmas guys! Thanks for dropping by!



A little present I got that nite. A giant jar of mashmallows!

Christmas Reading

Should I be saying this? I guess most people kinda blog bout almost everything, like good times and bad. Me? I like to blog bout happier stuff, the little things that I get a kick out of. Yah, of cos not-so-good stuff do happen to me but I just rather not blog bout it.

Anyway here's my Xmas gift to myself. Been eyeing this since I saw it in an online catalog months ago. Remember reading all those old pulp fictions as a kid. I just love those written during the 1920s to 30s.

For more than 70 years, fantasy fans have followed the exploits of Conan through novels, comic books, and movies. This book, the first-ever illustrated guide to Robert E. Howard’s most beloved character, is a genuine treasure chest of Conan lore, following Conan through the ages, through his different careers, as he meets friends and foes and travels across the Hyborian continent. Written by none other than Roy Thomas of Marvel Comics fame, expect nothing less than an exciting tale, with art from some of the foremost Conan portrayers ever: Frank Frazetta, Mark Schultz, Gary Gianni, John Buscema, Cary Nord, and more. Created in full cooperation with Conan C and T 2006 Conan Properties International, LLC Foreword by Todd McFarlane. Features character profiles, maps, art from original paperbacks, comic books, and video games.

Finally found it at Kinokuniya a couple of weeks ago. Reading it was like stepping into a freakin’ time machine! All the original stories (in summarized form) were there in chronological order. I was going “I remember that!” Damn, it was sooo cool.

Speaking of books and comic books, here’s something new I found. Never was a big Archie fan, more of a DC and Marvel fan but if there are any women reading this who were Archie fans….this is for you. Archie and gang finally get a face-life after 60 years! Doesn't Veronica look like that Eva gal from Desperate Housewives?

The Aftermath

Saw all of the pix taken that nite. The innocent ones and the not-so innocent ones. Fortunately I wasn't in any of the more 'notorious' ones. Some with me arm around a couple of very attractive women although I must have been quite stoned by the time they were taken cos I don’t remember any of it at all. Really.

Ah. Here’s what I got from the nite’s lucky draw. Heh.

Office *hic* Party

Well, this year's party was definitely a lot better than last year's. Although I had to leave in the middle of last year's party cos of a family emergency. Everyone was saying that the one we had the previous year 2004 was crazier, wilder, cooler etc. And we had a handful of pretty scandalous pix to back it up too. You get the idea, us media folks for better or worse have a reputation when it came to parties, in and out of the office. Yours truly had the honor that year for throwing up and almost passing out at the steps of our grand ol' City Hall.

Along came this year's party at a tiny little bar, let's see now....what I do remember is...

At least 5 Scotch on the rocks
At least 4 shooters
1 bottle of beer

Now the last major drinking session was here. Looks like I got back (at least) one to my four original vices that nite.

Best part, we have all-new scandalous pix. The official photographer left after 10pm when folks were still pretty sober. Later, our 'unofficial' photographer made the rounds and rest is history. More than a few had to be censored before we could put them up on the public server.


The ol' mushroom cloud AKA what me head felt like the next morning.

Weekend Home Alone

So what do you do when you are a guy living alone on a typical weekend? Well, you might want to start with an hour-long vacuuming workout followed by non-stop mopping like me, on a Friday nite right after work. It doesn’t help when the radio station removed their Friday nite retro party hit program and replaced it with sucky love songs. WTF? I need me loud, rock music when I’m mopping!! Mop = Mircophone stand, geddit?

A home alone weekend means walking around unshaven (for two whole days!) and being glad that it’s a rainy Saturday afternoon, cos you now have an excuse for staying indoors and playing World of Warcraft online. Awww come on, it’s not as bad as it sounds. I did leave the apartment to have dinner at me folks’ place on Saturday nite.

Sunday morning is laundry morning. Hang them high! And hang them dry! That’s what I say…er, metaphorically speaking of cos…hmmm, no, I don’t normally talk out loud to my laundry either…

Weekend home alone also means whipping u p a cool dessert like this, anytime of the day! Vanilla ice-cream with new mint choc Bailey’s.

Hong Kong Foody

Well, finally found the time to post me Hong Kong food pix. Forgive me but I can't remember most if not all of the names of the places. I think it's a guy thing. Ever since the primitive hunter days, primate man would just remember the field where he hunted his dinner. Sure, he'll remember how to get there, climb which valley or cross that river. But name the place? Nahhhh. I don't think so. But I digress.

Some breakfast pix I managed to snap. Starting with macaroni and ham soup, a very thin ham omelet and of cos, me favourite milk tea - done Hong Kong style. But I got to say, I really enjoyed all the food there, all my meals. They were great!

Yes, they really loooove their macaroni here. Here, McDonald's muscles in on the lucrative macaroni market too!

Lunch was a little too hit-n-run for me to snap anything. So here's a couple of dinner pix instead. Something porky with pieces of bread to wrap them in.

A very, very nice (medium) steak at Suzuki cafe. Yes, that's mayo. Really.

Oh wait, I do have a lunch pix. Was the lunch I had near me hotel, just before heading to the airport. Wan Ton Mee with mango pudding dessert. Apparently the restaurant is pretty famous. Was there a previous nite for dinner and was told that the guy sitting behind my table was some TV actor. A minor supporting role kinda guy although I have no idea who he is or was or whatever.

A Shopping Spree

Instead of the food pix (next post!), I thought I'll post some of the...er...stuff I got in Hong Kong. Managed to grab some time off for some shopping, after finishing what I was supposed to be doing in Hong Kong. Since it wasn't the Sale season, I didn't do much heavy duty buying. Hit the Esprit factory outlet that's around the corner from my hotel. It's the kinda store where it's almost impossible to find any L outfits, every guy's outfit is either S or XXL.

Geek that I am, I finally found me Battlestar Galactica ship at Toys R Us at the Festival Walk mall. Happy, happy, joy, joy! Plus a ...er...'friendly version' of the new Doctor Who season one DVD in Mong Kok.

Speaking of Festival Walk, here's a pair of really comfortable shoes I got. Don't ask me how much they cost cos I don't wanna remind myself!

OK, now at the time when I saw these sirens, I thought it was a really cool idea to buy them!

Finally Meeting The Doctor

Am back from Hong Kong. Allow me to geek out a little first. Probably one of the most memorable things getting there was the inflight TV show on SQ. After almost 20 years, i finally got to watch a new sci-fi episode of Doctor Who. It's from the latest season, single episode called "The Lady in the Fireplace". Great story, brilliant twist ending. Always been a fan, remember reading a whole ton of Doctor Who paperbacks when I was a kid. Anyway, if anyone is flying SQ this month, be sure to catch it. Gawd, sounds like I'm working again.

And here's the view from me 4th floor hotel window in Tsim Sha Tsui. Man, you guys should see that United Colors neon sign light up every nite! Right smack in me face! I kid you not.

Anyway, coming back to Hong Kong after all years, I did noticed a few things that have or haven't changed.

1. There are no fat or overweight people in Hong Kong. Despite all the good food everywhere, it's hard to see anyone who's out of shape. Amazing but true. More on the good food in me next post.

2. There sure are a lot African touts at almost every street corner. Just like in Japan, there seems to be influx of them.

3. My Cantonese still sucks!

Return To Hong Kong

I'll be heading to Hong Kong later in the week. Its gonna be me first time back since like, before the handover to China. The last time I was there was a couple of months before the handover. It was when I was really young and pretty pissed off with some stuff back home here. Was sometime I always wanted to do back then, visit Hong Kong just before the British left. So I decided to pack me bag, bought me ticket for one and hopped on a plane almost immediately. No planning involved. Absolutely none. Only told me folks bout it. It was perhaps one of the most spontaneous things I have ever done. Sometimes I still can't believe me folks let me get away with it. Oh yah, best part of it, I couldn't speak a word of Cantonese!

Should I write bout what happened there? I dunno. Maybe one day I will.

Anyway, was wondering if anyone out there could fill me in on ...well... anything that you think I should keep an eye out while in Hong Kong. Thanks in advance!

Comfort Food Part II

Discovered a soon kueh stall at the opposite end of the hawker centre where I have my ‘occasional’ comfort breakfast. Silly me, never knew it was there all along. They were stuffed with the usual tasty turnip, mushroom fillings. Didn’t notice anything else special but it was all good. It’s served slightly ‘fried’ from a huge pan filled with other Chinese breakfast goodies like rice kueh. I had three soon kueh topped with the must-have dark sweet sauce plus my usual cup of tea. Not a bad deal for 80 cents each.


Ah…but the highlight of the day was the return of the old gang, thanks to the new WOW TCG. Went to Paradigm Infinitum that night and almost everyone was there. Some I haven’t seen in ages. Most were familiar faces from the days of LOTR and VS. It was pretty cool, looks like the old fellowship is coming back. But that’s gonna mean spending more money again as well as the neverending quest for more storage space. Sigh.

Royal Treasure Discovery

If you have seen an earlier Tokyo post of mine, you'll know that I love Royal Milk Tea. Now, here in Singapore, it's almost impossible to find the drink in almost any form. Imagine my surprise when I stepped out of the subway into Plaza Singapura shopping mall and found this (in a basement corner next to Carl's Jr). A Pokka drinks vending machine ... with Royal Milk Tea in it! That's not all. In Japan, the Royal Milk Tea from their vending machines are served cold but from this machine in Singapore, it's frickin' HOT! Check out the middle row with the red bar below it. Those are the hot can drinks. Far as I know, this is the first time I ever had a hot can of drink pop out of a vending machine here. Anyone else seen this before?

Weekend Dallies

What I'm watching on DVD:
Battlestar Galactica Season 1

What I'm playing on my Nintendo DS:
Clubhouse Games

What I'm listening to (and watching over and over again):
Take from 2003 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Gawd, it just doesn't get any cooler than this. Well, this one is pretty good too. The Boss and Chuck Berry. Aw hell, you can't talk about the Boss' best team-ups without this. Well, since we got on the topic of Roy Orbison, here's another of me favourite team-ups.

What I'm reading:
Bats goes hardcore this week in Justice #8.

Another Lazy Sunday

So here we are again on Sunday. Only this time there were 7 1/2 of us for breakfast. It wasn't as crowded as the last time but that's probably cos of the haze that has blanketed the entire island for last couple of weeks. Anyway, service was a lot better than the last time. No wrong orders and the food came real fast too. This time, I had the omelet with sausage, tomato, onions and of cos, mushrooms. So can anyone tell me the difference between a flat white and a latte? Everyone pretty much enjoyed themselves (including the mosquitoes again) and we hung around till about noon.

In a totally unrelated bit of news ... Gen Con is coming to Brisbane in 2008!

For those who don’t know what Gen Con is, it’s THE gaming convention event for the gaming industry. It’s been around for about 40 years and every year, there are two in the US as well as recently Europe. And knowing me and games, well, it's a given I'll try ne best to be there.

It’s the closest Gen Con has ever been to this region and after speaking to some friends, we are pretty hyped up about it even though it’s two years away. A couple of me friends were lucky enough to make to Gen Con in the US a few years ago and it’s definitely an experience.

Meat On A Stick

Trust me, this cheese sausage resting in that little heap of mashed potatos and gravy is a lot better than it looks. Although famous for their beer-battered fish and chips, their sausage on a stick is pretty damn good too.

After dinner, caught the Miami Vice movie on DVD. Well, that's almost two hours of my life I'll never get back.

What Gong Li said, "I am a business woman."

What we heard, "I am a piece of woman."