Tale of Two Cities

"Tell me what you can hear

And then tell me what you see

Everybody has a different way to view the world"

2 events in the past 2 days kept making me think of this refrain from the song 'Different World' (Iron Maiden):

1) About the football i watched 2 nights ago, i wrote that i thought our team played like crap. Newspaper and S-league.com (and even the Saudi coach) gave rave reviews on our performance. I must have been at the wrong stadium watching a different game. And i always thought i had low standards and expectation in football. I am an Aston Villa supporter after all.

2) Strait Times today (29/06/07) had an article on 2 newly promoted 1-star Generals in the SAF. One of them was my old boss COL John Wong. To quote from the papers:

"Navy Colonel John Wong Chee Meng is not your typical career military man - he is also a doctor. True, he stands ramrod straight and looks lean and fit"

I really must commend the Strait Times, that they are doing their bit for the society by hiring blind reporters to write their articles. I don't think anyone with eyes will describe John Wong as lean and fit..
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Spent an hour painting something on my Subaru WRX STI '05 last night in preparation for an online Forza 2 tournament later on (11pm). What do you think?

Brandon says it looks childish. Which is probably one of the least insulting comment he has ever given me (it's my birthday that's why). But i kinda like the plaster design w/ the car number on the bonnet and the sides.

Coicidentally, this birthday post happens to be my 100th post as well! So Happy Birthday and congratulations to me on my century post!

The Big Three

Ikea Tampines is BIG (first time there, besides Ikea, there's a gigantic Giant and an enormous Courts Megastore just across the road. )! I feel tired just walking through it twice. Spent the entire afternoon there buying some of my furniture, but mainly to assist and advice my dad (who doesn't really listen to me anyway so mainly to accompany him..)

And of course the management are clever enough to place the Hot Dog bistro right at the exit. So walking 2 rounds meant i ate 2 hot dogs (w/drink, only $1.70!) at the end of every lap. 4th time to Ikea (3 to Alexandra branch) this week and by my count this must be the 12th hot dog set they've tricked me (and my stomach) into buying..

Went to meet Zhaoliang and Sau Kit at Kallang after that to watch the Singapore vs Saudi Arabia match. Disappointing crowd and atmosphere at the national stadium. And Singapore played the same old long-ball style again, to no avail against the Saudis (who are one of the top 5-6 teams in Asia and have featured in the last 2 World Cup).

We lost 2-1 which is a respectable losing score on paper but we were dominated the entire game. Can really see the gulf between the 2 teams calibre. Furthermore they had a man sent off in the 2nd half. Our freak goal came seconds before the final whistle. Pretty funny goal. Ashrin Shariff shot a point blank shot straight at the keeper and the rebound just happened to glance his head and drop into the goal (off the post too..).

Let's hope we play better (doubt it) against Australia this Saturday. Didn't bring my camera out so no pictures today.
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Like i predicted, Transformers got a poor 2/5 rating (the 2nd opinion gave it a 3/5) in today's Life reviews. The ONLY saving point for the movie now is that the review was written by Ong Sor Fern, someone whose opinions i will never trust. In fact i loathe her reviews. She is the type of person who can criticize an action flick for having too much action. And she always give poor and biased reviews on our local movies.

Cheers for No. 1!

Guess what? Looks i'm ranked no. 1 in Singapore for Guitar Hero 2 for the X360 in terms of achievements. And no one else has completed Expert on GH2 yet (or Jordan, i can't complete only 1 song in career on Expert; Misirlou). So i can either conclude 1) Herbert is the best GH player in Singapore in GH2 or 2) Everyone who owns a X360 can't play GH2 for nuts.

And for what it's worth, i'm ranked no. 2 in Forza 2 (achievement wise) as well.

Battle of Bukit Timah

The Bukit Timah Mountain Bike Race took place yesterday. Brandon was taking part but warned all of us (in our family) not to go see him race (weirdo..he also refuses to take off his shirt in the presence of anyone in the house, but everyone of his friends have seen him half-naked except for us..). Anyway i still went cause i wanted to go take some pics as well. Besides the entrance to the trail is just behind my house and down the road.

As expected, even though he told us not to go see him race, he invited his friends over to watch him. Race for his division (Boys 'A' 14-19yrs old) was 2 laps around the trail (2 x ~7km). He managed to finish a respectable 3rd for his first race, but at this rate (read below) he's going to mess up my plan to be the brother of 2 former Boys 'A' champions. (Kevin won 2 seasons of the Boys 'A' about 8 yrs ago).

Brandon (351), eventual 1st place (343) and 2nd place (the blue guy in the back)

The first 2 finishers (both malays, Brandon claims they are not locals) were in a league of their own. After winning the Boys race, they took part in the next race (Mens Open, a category for National riders and semi-pros) and finshed 3rd and 5th. And the Mens Open race was 5 laps! That means they rode approx. 49km altogether and 1 of them managed to get on to the podium against the pros as well.

Crashed twice (ha! small cut on left knee) due to chain problems

Brandon's excuses for finishing 3rd was because he crashed twice due to some chain problems. And after the 2nd crash he lost sight of the first 2 guys and then didn't bother to chase anymore. Yeah, whatever. There's still quite a bit of races left in the season but unless he improves on his technique and especially the mental portion of racing he's not going to win.

FULL GALLERY OF MTB RACE PICTURES (must have a FLICKR account, ask me for an invite to view my photos)
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I decided to scrap the Erika Toda photo gallery at the bottom of the site; instead i've move it to the sidebar. It'll randomly show 30 of her pics with every reload with a link to the bigger picture.

Diamond in the Rough

Movie: Rough (starring Masami Nagasawa, Ichikawa Yui, Hayami Mokomichi)

As much as i hate to give away spoilers, any idiot should already figure out that the two (pic below) are going to end up together in the end. Now of course a savvy movie viewer would expect something to come between them and ruin their fun before the big happy ending, but that's just it. There's no plot twist, no sudden revelations and no death/illnesses (thank goodness for that; since too many films with diseases and sickness recently). Kind of ironic to call it 'Rough' when everything's so smooth sailing...

Without a doubt, the BESTest part of the movie is watching Yui and Masami in their bikinis and swimsuits.

One thing that also caught my eye is how tall Masami is (she's 171cm, that's taller than Ee Wei, Ming Wei and Alex!) and how awkwardly short Yui (158cm) looks when they're in the same scene. (below pic)

Did i mention that the movie revolves around swimming? And swimming doesn't exactly make for the most exciting sport subject for a movie (the same goes for tennis or golf). I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you really want to watch a bland sport-romance flick. Rating 5/10

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Before i forget, here's a poster of the actors in the live-action Bleach musical:

Besides the rather flat singing, i enjoyed this stage presentation very much. Most of the actor/actresses playing the characters are about as close as i would imagine them to be if they were real. Entertaining stuff.

Up and Coming

Some interesting dramas to look out for come July. And by 'interesting' i mean the actors/actresses i like or just know are starring in them:

-Ushi ni Negai wo: Love & Farm (official site; starring Erika Toda!): Makes me mad to see her name listed 5th in Dramawiki... Start Date: July 3rd Tuesday

- Yama Onna Kabe Onna (official site; starring Misaki Itoh and Kyoko Fukada): Been a long time since i've seen a Kyoko Fukada drama. Start Date: July 5th Thursday

- Papa to Musume no Nanokakan (official site; starring Yui Aragaki): Still deciding whether or not to track Yui Aragaki's shows.. Start Date: July 1st Sunday

- First Kiss (official site; starring Inoue Mao (from Hana Yori Dango) and Ito Hideaki): No screenshots or promo pic! Start Date: July 9th Monday

- Doubutsu 119 (official site; starring Ichikawa Yui): Ichikawa Yui's back! Or is she? It's only a one episode special like her last drama.. Air Date: June 30th Saturday
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Another all-too-cute Erika screen capture...from Bomb Vol 6 DVD.

Back to Basics

Left to right (clockwise): Avengers Disassembled TPB, Kindai July 07 issue, Love and Honor DVD, Brotherhood DVD, Tsukihime Vol.4 (total: $80+)

Went out on my monthly shopping trip to Orchard today to the usual places, HMV and Kinokuniya. In keeping with my plan to buy 1 Marvel TPB a month, i bought 'Avengers Disassembled' (a review here, i read the book prior to reading the review and i have to say i agree fully with what is said). Quite disappointing but i guess i had to read this as a prelude to 'House of M' which i will get next month.

Thankfully i managed to spot July's Kindai (w/ Erika Toda on the cover) just as i was about to pay. The cover photo is terrible but there's a nice article and shots of her inside.

Bought 2 DVDs at HMV, Love and Honor (now i have all 3 movies in this 'trilogy'!) and Brotherhood (Taegukgi), which i only bought because it was on sale at $9.95. Also saw L'arc en Ciel latest single, Seventh Heaven (the reviews are quite bad..) but as i'm not really a single kind of person i'll wait till their next album gets released.

Making Myself Busy

So i didn't go to the Japan Embassy today as i orginally planned, or to Kinokuniya (my Plan B) to buy books but i sure as hell kept myself busy today doing (as usual) rubbish.

First thing i did was to accidentally erase my blog's template HTML and suprise! i didn't save a backup of it. Alex found a cached version of my site on Google and sent me the HTML, which of course didn't work, but i used it to track down the site where i originally downloaded the template from (here, because i forgotten where) and so if you noticed, the template's (almost) back up. Of course there are some changes to the sidebar (no blame/prizes if you can't/can spot them) and i'm still in the middle of deciding what i should put (back)on it. Lost my bowling score tracker though...

Since i was redoing my template i added something right at the bottom of this page. It's an Erika Toda photo browser! As of tonight i have uploaded 117 photos to it so feel free to browse through it if you have nothing to do, or if you need to show a friend who Erika Toda is.

Despite the hiccup, i managed to make a slight progression for Ja-plan, namely i signed up at Flickr for a year plan so that i have a place to upload my photos to when i'm in Japan. Why Flickr and not Photobucket (the online album site i've been using all this while) you might ask? What sold me what the interface of Flickr and also the fact that you can map your photo (that is drag them to locations on a map to show where you took them) which will be handy when i'm in Japan.

Plans for tomorrow: Follow my dad to the new house to speak to renovators-> Go to Kino to buy 'Avengers Disassembled" and any Erika Toda mag i can find. Plan B is to meet someone who wants to buy my One Piece Comic, but hasn't contacted me back to confirm the time/place as of now (2:06am).
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Found this very interesting show; Bleach Saien (Bleach Rock Musical) which is a live action musical on the first SS arc of Bleach. Looks very interesting, and most of the male actors they picked look spot on for the role. As for the females, well there's Rukia, Orihime and Hinamori and on first impression only Orihime looks 'alright' (but as someone on a forum observed, "Where's the package?")

If it's any good i'll post some screenshots and character comparisons after i watch it.
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Strangest thing that happened today was me pulling a back muscle while reading the newspaper. Don't ask me how. Still feeling a little sore now.

Out of Track

The only reason that i would get up at 7am on a Sunday morning is because i am OFFICIALLY broke as of this week, and Kevin promised to pay me $50 to take photos of him at Pasir Gudang circuit. It's a win-win situation for me cause a)i need money, b)i need practice with my DSLR so i agreed to go with him. At the last minute he managed to persuade dad to join us on the track as well, a bad decision as he would later discover (read on..)

It was pretty fun being a photographer but as expected my skills sucked. Good thing the weather was alternating between cloudy and very mildy sunny because as you know, i hate the sun.

Left: Kevin on his Honda CBR600; Right: Dad on his Suzuki K6

The track session ended with a unoffical race for 2 classes of bikes, 400cc and below and 400cc and above. Kevin and dad took part in the 400cc and above race. It is at this point that i want to mention that dad was riding a 2nd hand Suzuki GSXR1000 K6 that he JUST bought yesterday. And he crashed it on the first lap of the fun race. Ouch.

I didn't see the crash but i suspected something when i didn't see him with the front runners at the start of the 2nd lap. Kevin saw him walking around in the sand trap on lap 2 and was debating whether to stop or not. He decided 'not' and went on to finish 6th. I believe i would have done the same.

Dad plans to repair his bike this week so he can ride again next Sunday..

Thankfully all the damages were really 'minor' (he reckons a $500-700 repair bill) and only injuries sustained was a big chunk of skin scraped off his right shoulder. He still managed to ride back to Singapore (and we stopped for KFC on the way too), amazingly in a good mood. I think the track medic injected some 'mood' drug into him while treating his wounds.

"I crashed! Weeee!"

And of course all this just had to happen on Father's Day. What a perfect gift to receive. Happy Father's Day dad!

Turning Point

Finally me and Herbert managed to get 1 million + points in Guitar Hero 2! Took 3 tries (because i messed up the first 2) but what a turnaround from the first time both of us saw the Achievement List for GH2 and thought we'll never be able to get this or the 500k awards.

I hereby official resolve to start my shopping and buying of essentials for my Japan trip on Monday. And as a sign of my conviction, i registered a new blog URL just for my trip, http://japancyclingtrip.blogspot.com/. (For those of you who are DYING to check it out, it's still void of content as of now, and will be till i start shopping). I plan to buy my ticket sometime this week to Fukuoka Airport (7 hour flight), tentative departure date to be 17th or 20th August, a Friday or Monday depending on flight availability.

Also on the cards this week, a visit to the Japan Embassy in Singapore (http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/about.htm) to learn more about what i need (visas etc) to stay in Japan for 3 months. Wish me luck with my planning!

That's...depressing..

Today is my week ORD anniversary, and despite bowling terribly yesterday and this afternoon, i didn't think today was totally shitty until half an hour ago. (I'm writing this at 0330 in the morning..)

Basically i saw this car on Forza with a gorgeous looking Suzumiya Haruhi design on the bonnet, and a beautiful looking Mikuru Asahina and Nagato Yuki on the sides (the car was a Nissan 350Z), which i knew i JUST HAD TO HAVE (the things these Forza artists can do simply astounds me).

So i bidded. And bidded. And the bidding went up to 3.5 million game credits (which was everything i had earned so far in Forza in 40+hours) and as we were nearing the 3 million mark i already had this sinking feeling that i was not going to get the car. It's difficult to describe how utterly devastated i felt when i saw the auction resolve and the car go to someone unknown (probably a Japanese otaku...that bastard).

If i happen to see him and that car online i will be sure to bury them both in the gravel trap. I'm so seriously depressed i don't think i will be able to fall asleep tonight until this feeling washes over.

Surf's Up

Movie: Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer

Somehow they managed to make the Silver Surfer un-cool.

I told Alex before i went into the show that if i kept my expectations of the film low i would probably enjoy it more. Boy, was i wrong. I think i would enjoy the film much more (like Alex) if i didn't know a thing about the Silver Surfer. As they say, ignorance is bliss (and the subtext 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' is so misleading; watch the show and you'll understand why). I just wish they didn't make him so weak, or dependent on his cosmic surfboard.

Of course everything (wrong) about the Silver Surfer pales in comparison to the depiction of Galactus, who looks like a cosmic dust cloud pillar thingie... Galactus, by the way, looks like this:

Is it too much to ask to see a few shots of a proper Galactus?

With the CGI of Mr Fantastic's stretchy hands already looking so bad, i wonder why they couldn't just make Galactus in the same way. I think a giant, CGI planet-devouring super-duper villain would look more menacing than a cloud of dust (also in CG).

Last but not least, as in part 1, Dr Doom did not make for a very interesting villain. Despite the action which was significantly more than the first movie, i still found myself bored throughout all 92 mins (and i was thinking before the show that 92 mins was too short for a movie). To me, this just confirms that Marvel are already incapable of releasing good superhero movies. Them ruining Spiderman 3 was already an omen. I think the last Superhero flick i actually enjoyed was Batman, but that was DC, not Marvel. Rating: Low 6/10
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Some Liar Game news:

"Fuji TV's "LIAR GAME" drama series is getting an extended final episode. On June 23, instead of running in its regular 11:10-11:55 time slot, the program will air from 9:00 to 11:55.

This is a first for a drama series. There have been many cases where a final episode is extended (generally by 15 minutes) or a series gets a later special episode, but no serialized drama has ever had a finale extended to 3 hours.

"LIAR GAME" has attracted decent ratings and has become very popular among young viewers. In an Oricon survey early in the season, it had the second-highest viewer satisfaction rating behind "Kaette Kita Jikou Keisatsu."

Actor Kinya Kitaoji will make a guest appearance in the final episode as Hasegawa, the head of the "game."
- From http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-1117

The viewership for Liar Game may not be that high but i'm glad to hear that those smart enough to watch it (11pm on Saturdays) are enjoying the show. Since the comic is ongoing i hope this means a 2nd season (more Erika/Nao!) as well. And thanks to this news i picked up Jikou Keisatsu to watch as well. I'll probably write a short bit about it when i'm done watching the first season.

Welcome to the Jungle

First day of packing my room: and look at all the junk i threw away:

Yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full..

It's funny how things that i once found unbearable to throw away, suddenly became so easy to let go off. Except for a few things that have some sentimental value, everything else just had to go. I decided to put some of my comics (and some other stuff) on sale at 2 forums (here), but if no one's interested i'm quite resigned to carting them to my new room.

Thank goodness Brandon is away for Church Camp. He won't like what i've turned his bed into. (But then again, he never likes anything i do.) Most of my stuff went into those boxes on the left of the bed, and i'm going to put off packing the comics till about Friday (to see if anyone wants to buy them before packing).

Tomorrow begins day 2 of packing, which would include mostly loose trinkets and computer accessories, and maybe my NS stuff (which i'm very very tempted to just dump). I'm not exactly moving off next week (more like first week of July officially) so i hope the spirit of procastination doesn't overwhelm me and i will get some more packing done tomorrow.
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Movie: Hatsukoi (aka First Love, starring Miyazaki Aoi etc)

I would love to be biased and say this show was not bad, but i'm really disappointed with this way it turned out, all the more so because i expected more from a Miyazaki Aoi film.

The premise of the film (summary here) had so much potential to be really interesting, but there's too many scenes where people just sit around in silence, or in the case of Aoi, just look pretty, when i feel there should be more screentime to develop the other characters. The last part of the show ends with an epilogue on how the different people ended up after the incident, but i'm struggling to remember (or even care) about the characters who barely appeared in the show.

What a letdown, ne, Misuzu?

And i really don't get the point of having so many nude scenes in such a movie. It just distracts more from the story (and the girls are very ugly as well) and makes this movie unwatchable in a family context. Did i mention this was supposed to be a love story? It's neither very romantic or very tragic so i think it fais in that aspect as well. The only good parts are the robbery and the preparations, but overall, the pacing, lack of character development and too many unneccesary scenes means i don't recommend this film. I pray that Virgin Snow will be a better movie. Rating: 5.5/10

Something Wicked This Way Comes

There's a whole bunch of new movies/dramas coming out this next 2 months. Some shows i want to highlight and will probably catch/buy:

Transformers Movie
There have been many takes on Optimus Prime since the original cartoon/comic design but by far this movie incarnation is the f'ugliest i've ever seen. I consider myself a decent Transformers fan and it pains me to see what they've made Prime into. Except for his head which is fairly recognisable, the rest of the body (flame art..*pukes*) looks like mechanized crap.

And i'm being very kind when i say that Prime's design is the most 'faithful' (in the loosest possible sense) to the original. The rest of the Autobots (Bumblebee, Jazz, Ironhide) are completely alien to me and the Decepticons (Megatron, Starscream) look like a bunch of shiny CG pipes twisted together.

I'll bite my tongue (for 5 seconds) if this turns out good. Unfortunately the "Transformers" branding alone is enough to make me line up like the idiot i am to watch it on opening day, June 28th (which happens to be the day before my birthday).

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (official site, Tokyograph annoucement) (starring Horikita Maki, Shun Oguri etc)
The title might sound unfamiliar, but this is actually the Japanese version of the Taiwan drama 花樣少年少女 (starring Ella of S.H.E). Like Meteor Garden/Hana Yori Dango before, the original story is based off a Japanese manga of the same title (Hana Kimi for short). Being biased (and because Horikita Maki is starring in this), i will of course say that this will be much more faithful to the manga and better than the Taiwan version. Hopefully it's as good as Hana Yori Dango. No pics as of yet of this drama on Wiki or the official site. Air date is every Tuesday starting from July 3rd.

Sad Vacation (starring Miyazaki Aoi etc.)
Frankly i have no idea what this movie is about. I don't even know who are the leading actors/actress in it. What i do know is that Miyazaki Aoi will be starring in it, possibly in a non-leading role (i deduced this from the amount of shots of her from the website and the fact that her name gets 3rd billing on the credits; don't take my word for it). I'm willing to bet that this movie will never get shown in Singapore theatres, which means i probably have to import it if i want to complete my Aoi film collection.

NANA 2 (DVD) (Full Trailer)

Official release date for Japanese version is June 22nd. Can't wait to get my hands on a HK or local release of this. I know i badmouthed Ichikawa Yui before on taking Miyazaki Aoi's Hachi role but after not seeing her in any shows for so long i'm excited to see her act. I guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. And to be fair, it was not like she slept with anyone to get the role from Aoi. (Aoi rejected the role in NANA 2 herself due to either a) other projects (Heavenly Forest) b)because there were bed scenes in NANA 2 for Hachi; take your pick)

Pretty in Pink

For the 4th consecutive time, i got the same flavor drinking Anything. If i could i would shake my own hand. That makes it a 1/2196 chance that i got the same flavor 4 times in a row, out of a possible 6 different flavor. I like those odds. This higher those odds go, the more confident i will be that i can somehow by chance meet Erika Toda in Japan.

I collected my pink IC on Friday morning! Every cockster i showed on the way out of camp pretended to try to snap my card into 2. What an original prank. Oh well, that's the end of one phase of my life. Went bowling at CDANs with Alex straight after that. What a good feeling it was to leave my IC as the deposit. I bowled some OK scores by my standard but what irks me is the difference between my High and Low score (194/196). That's just terrible inconsistency. And i somehow managed to ruin a fantastic chance to hit 200+ in my 194 game. Grr..

Added some statistics on my sidebar to track my bowling averages and scores. Target: To push my average over 140.
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Drama: Liar Game Episode 8

The big annoucement at the end of Episode 8 is that the final episode of Liar Game will be a 3 hour special! Considering that 1 episode is 30 odd minutes, that equates to a 6-episode finale.
Anyway this episode ends with the end of the Resurrection Round and the immediate commencement of the Third (and what i believe to be the final) round of the LGT. Can't wait to see how this ends.

Found this pics of a gameshow with Matsuda Shota and Erika Toda (and the other cast of Liar Game) appearing in it. Had to share this cause Erika looks too cute (click to see the bigger version):

Curtain Call

I have officially fulfilled my 2 years of NS duty! All that's left is for me to pick up my IC tomorrow, and after that, bowling with Alex (the '224 man'). I wonder if it will be a case of 3rd time lucky because i've been losing to him the last 2 times we have bowled together. But any competition can only be good for both of us to improve our scores. I'm looking to bump my average from 120-130 up to 140-150 and progress from there. That means more consistency and focus!

I've been drinking Anything the past few days and i must say i'm extremely unlucky cause i got the exact same flavor(Cloudy Lemon i think, the one that tastes like Mountain Dew w/lemon) thrice. Since there are officially 6 flavors, the chance of me getting the same thing thrice is 1/216? Ok, maybe those odds means i've been lucky but i want to try something different! But since the taste is not bad (though not exactly original) and i LOVE sugary stuff, i'll continue supporting our local product. Ee Wei was speculating that there is some hidden ultra rare flavor waiting to be found but that's just more of his usual crap i guess.

As part of my plan to help reduce plastic bag waste, i've been buying those reusable bags from NTUC/Cold Storage ($0.95). Ok i lied. There is no such plan of mine. I just bought the bags because it was in green. But they have been very useful for carrying whatever (no, not the drink) in it. Except that every auntie going to the market has the same bag. I'll just lie to myself this time that it's all for a good cause.
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Ichikawa Yui has a part in an upcoming drama! Not much info about it yet on Dramawiki except for 4 cast members and it's title, Doubutsu 119. Yui will probably be the main female character from the looks of the cast billing. And i managed to pick this up while reading her blog. Some pictures of her from the set (at least i assume it's from the set from the looks of it, except the last one):

Prelude to the Pink Parade

It's finally here: tomorrow is my last official working day in the SAF! Of course i should be bursting with joy but somehow on the eve of this momentous day i feel a little..empty. Maybe the expectation of getting to my ORD exceeded the actual thing itself. Or maybe i'm too happy that i can't face the reality of the situation. Just to make tomorrow a little more interesting i already told myself i am going to try all the items on Seng Fatt's menu that i have not eaten before. And i'm going to drink tons of soft drinks, again anything that i haven't drunk before at Seng Fatt. Here's to a happy stuffed final day in camp!

..but where do i go from here? I've only been able to see my 'future' as far as my Japan trip. After that, it's all ??? and ??. I'm pretty sure i am not going to study (but don't bet on it, overseas U is still an (undesirable) option). I can't think of a job that i want to do and can do with whatever qualifications i have now. Maybe the logical step will be to get my long overdue driving license. I've put it off since poly and i can't think of any other reasons that i haven't got it besides me being lazy, and that every Tom, Dick and Harry has it so there's nothing special about having one (not having one at age 22 does make me feel a bit unique though).

Well as long as my parents don't suddenly disown me i think i probably have another half year to think what i want to do.
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Drama: Liar Game Episode 6 and 7

I did say that i didn't like Matsuda Shota when i first heard he was going to start along Erika Toda, but after the countless time he saves Erika's sweet gullible self he's way into my good books. He does play the part of the super-confident, genius swindler extremely well (in fact he's really cool when he's into his stride).

I don't think i'm going to summarise this series anymore (too many spoilers, too many characters to keep track off) but the clincher for this 2 episodes was when all the contestants takes out food from their bags, and Nao (Erika) pulls out... a teddy bear. Ok that wasn't really the best part but i found it hilariously cute. And the series continues to get better and better. I hope it doesn't end at 11 episodes.
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With my NS allowance gone once again i have to depend on my parents again for day to day money. So this past month might be my last 'heavy' spending spree. ('Heavy' of course, being relative. If i took home more than $560 a month i'll probably be spending a better proportion).

Last thing to buy to commerorate the end of this era (technically my longest period at a job) is the bowling ball i've been meaning to buy since last month. Going to buy it together with Alex on monday and the trade-off is he comes to help me pack my room for the move. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

Flying the Flag

Movie: Flags Of Our Fathers

Another fantastic movie from Clint Eastwood. (Or should i be complimenting the scriptwriters?) Very much the epic (like it's companion film Letters From Iwo Jima), i found the story sadder(than Iwo Jima) but the pacing slower. If you fell asleep during Iwo Jima then this will probably leave you in a coma. But stay awake (even Brandon managed it) and the film's message is really meaningful. Rating: 8.5/10
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Changed my site's top picture back to Erika Toda..And 4 more days to ORD! 'Nuff Said! My Erika Calendar is coming home with me this Friday Whoohoo!