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.

A Weak Week

It seems like ages since i last updated. As my X360 Achievement Points inches every nearer to the 10k mark (176 more to go!), i'm thinking of how i should celebrate this milestone. Maybe a Suki Sushi buffet. The problem is there anyone willing to celebrate this with me? Actually i'm just using this as an excuse to pig out. I do so love (cheap) buffets w/ free flow of drinks. And speaking of Suki buffets, some guy, initials DT, still owes me for 1 buffet since last year.

Recently Brandon has been giving me a lot of 'comments' about my appearances, if it isn't my puny biceps, it's my double chin etc. Today it's my dress sense. Yes i will be the first to admit that i have a bad/non-existent dress sense, but i also have to point out that aside from my Aston Villa jerseys, everything else in my cupboard are either hand-me-downs or bought by someone else. Buying/thinking of clothings is like the bottom-est of my priorities, although with Japan coming up i should probably get some nicer clothes (winter stuff too) to go abroad with. And it's just so like Brandon to only criticize someone on his outward physical appearance (I think that's the only thing he can criticize). All these brawny people are so one-dimensional..
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J-Movies: A whole Bundle!

Recently i managed to 'find' a lot of good movies (that i've been searching for to buy) to watch, in no particular order:

• Sugar and Spice (Erika Sawajiri)
• Metro ni Notte (aka "Riding the Metro", the time travel plot looks interesting)
• Tegami (Erika Sawajiri, Takayuki Yamada )
• Neigbour No. 13 (Shidou Nakamura, Ryuhei Matsuda)
• Loved Gun (Miyazaki Aoi!)
• Kamikaze Girls (Kyoko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya(i love her songs))
• Sinking of Japan (starring someone i know in TMC and Kou Shibasaki)
• Honey and Clover (Aoi Yuu)

Gonna start with the 2 Erika Sawajiri shows tonight first. But they just look like typical teen romance movies so i'm not gonna get my expectations up.
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Game: Guitar Hero 2 (X360)

Well i've played through the 8 new career songs enough to comment about them, and aside from 1 (maybe 2) the songs are really catchy and great to listen to again and again. My ratings:

Top Tier (4-5/5 stars):

• Life Wasted - Pearl Jam: Only the 2nd Pearl Jam i've ever listened too (the other is Last Kiss), both are great
• Dead! - My Chemical Romance: According to the people on GameFaqs, anyone who likes this is an 'emo fag'. Well i like it. Amusing lyrics as well.

Middle Tier (3-4/5 stars):

• Hush - Deep Purple: Didn't take notice of this song when listening to their discography but it's nice as well
• Possum Kingdom - Toadies: Don't judge a song by it's title or by the bandname. Catchy.
• Salvation - Rancid: I'm not too crazy about this but it's not bad i guess
• Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo - Rick Derringer: I love them RnR songs.

Bottom Tier(1-2/5 stars):

• The Trooper - Iron Maiden: The song (original) is great don't get me wrong. This cover (and i'm solely blaming the singer) is just horrid.
• Billion Dollar Babies - Alice Cooper: Some bad sounding songs have thoughtful lyrics at least. This has neither. And isn't Alice a girl's name?

The remaining 2 new songs (bonus tracks) were instantly forgettable, so i won't comment on them (actually i will, 'Drink Up!' is another bloody lousy song). Add 'FTK' to the thrash songs list too. And yes, 'Yes We Can' still sucks.
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One last note: I just realised 1 more benefit of having a bathroom in my new room: i can walk out of the shower naked! Previously if i ever forgot to take a towel in to the bathroom i would have to sneak the 3 steps to my room butt naked and risk being seen and labelled a flasher. Now if anyone comes into my room while i'm naked he/she must be some kind of pervert. I can do all the flashing i want in my own privacy now!

Seasonal Sunday

Went bowling with Alex yesterday. As with the previous time i bowled with him at Civil Service Club, i got thrashed again, 4-2. You would think i would feel lousy about losing, but i feel there's no shame in losing to a celebrity:

Yup, as you can see i was actually bowling with John Travlota in disguise. Looks like he has not lost the Saturday Night Fever touch.

To cap off a poor day, due to over-playing Guitar Hero 2 on the controller over the week (and especially on Friday with Bert), my right hand is aching and cramping real bad. So bad that i can't even depress the shoulder buttons properly. Probably due to a combination of too many hours every night playing and also being too tense while playing. So for the night i switched back to playing on the guitar and making sure i was relax doing it:

Unfortunately i was too comfortable and couldn't make much headway through the game. Looks like its time for an extended break from gaming.

TOW No Pictures

If it's not one thing it's the other: been wanting to update for the past few days but some stupid script error on Blogspot has prevented me from doing so. Even downloading Firefox failed to help. So until something on someone's end (and if you believe me it's Blogspot's fault!) gets fixed i'll be stuck posting just unformatted text, since i can't even hit the edit HTML button.
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After much uneventfulness, i managed to gather nearly all of the signatures for my ORD clearance form. What a letdown for my final 'quest'. I actually thought (hoped actually) that filling up the form would be harder than this. Sort of a final hurdle before they release me. As it stands now, the final hurdle is covering the Navy Open House 2007. I don't wish to put my waning medical skills to the test.

Went bowling with Nigel and Melvin (2 fellow ORDers) today after my dental FFI at TMC. I managed a pretty respectable (to me) average of 129.6 over 5 games (TP: 648, L113H153). Nigel is a pretty good bowler once he finds his spot! He had a low of 92 and high of 182 but lost in total pinfalls to yours truly. He managed to coax me into buying a bowling ball after our next payday. Saw a nice pink ball for a straight bowler like me for $125 at the CSC shop. I don't swing 'that' way but i think pink really stands out from the usual black balls. Anyway, we'll have a lot of free time on weekdays to go bowling once June comes around.
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True to self, i have nearly already overspent my entire next month's NS allowance. Besides some bowling, some pigging out (Cafe Cartel w/ Alex on Saturday, Swensen's w/ Nigel/Melvin today) and some taxis here and there, i also bought 5 X360 games this month (Dead Rising, N3, Spiderman 3, Test Drive Unlimited and Splinter Cell Double Agent) not to mention some DVDs (Nada Sou-Sou, Spiderman 2, Little Britain and Spring Snow).

And to top it off, Guitar Hero 2 is finally confirmed to be released on May 14th (Monday). The odds of me tightening my purse-strings looks to be pretty slim till at least after this purchase. It's not just PS2 Guitar Hero 2+new songs+HD graphics, MOST importantly, it's Guitar Hero 2+new songs+HD graphics+1000 shiny ACHIEVEMENT POINTS! Oh yah, i added my XBL gamercard underneath my profile.
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I thought the day would never come again: my BT download list is finally empty! And vice-versa, my 550GB HDD is nearly full! I usually take my time to re-encode and burn my stuff but this time round there's too much new stuff so i'm going to have to practice watch and delete for those 'average' dramas. Even Ishihara Satomi wasn't a big enough pull to stop me from deleting Nurse Aoi off. Gonna finish the last 2 episodes of Nodame Cantabile

One last side note for this update: Liar Game 4 is out! Gonna watch it tonight!

Communication Breakdown Part Deux

Sunday was my last duty at TMC (the only place i know where toilets stink less than the sleeping area)! Jia Da and Jun Yan played God of War 2 from 9am to 9pm and managed to complete it. Poon and I played on my X360 and thanks largely to his assistance i managed to squeeze some more achivements points and overtake his own total. Ha! I'm sure he's regretting helping me now.

Went to replace my modem(again) at 2Wire Service Centre after duty. There was a big commotion when i reached there because apparently all the people were there with the same problem (DSL signal unable to sync) so they were asking what was the use of replacing their modem with the same model when the problem was an inherent design fault. So after much bickering, the manager agreeded to supply everyone there with a newer modem model and an extended warranty. So he asked if anyone knew how to setup the modem themselves or else they would still have to queue and let the engineers assist them. Turns out everyone is an IT idiot so lucky me, i managed to jump everyone's queue(even though i just arrived) and do the 1for1 exchange immediately. A big thanks to the people who bitched and moaned on my behalf and effectively helped cut my waiting time to a few short minutes.

Went on a mini-shopping spree around AMK after that:
DVD/VCD
-Little Britain 1st Season, $10 from Cash Convertors
-Hotman 2, $3 from Cash Convertors
-Spring Snow, $10 from Video Ezy

Games
-Enchant Arm, $35
-Dead Rising, $50
-Ninety Nine Nights, $25

I rebought Dead Rising and 99 Nights because i regretted selling them off before fully completing them. Previously i bought my X360 to tide me over till i bought a PS3 so i thought i would get rid of games once completed so that i won't be stuck with a huge library. But after all the Sony bullshit and the sheer quality of the X360 games i decided that i will no longer sell away games. All the better for me to max out the achievement points for each title.

2 days of Firsts

Things that i've done for the FIRST time these past 2 days:
- Ate at Waraku on Thursday, thanks to Ah Chew for the treat
- First time to VivoCity! But no time to explore what i wanted to see. That's the problem with going with a big group. Gonna go back there someday to have a better look-see.
- Ate at Carl's Jr today, ate something that looked like an oversized BK Turkey Bacon Double, and tasted as such. Nothing special. Not worth it.
- Ate at Ben & Jerrys, can't believe i paid $8.90 for a chocolate milkshake. Taste like a sweetened version of Macs milkshake. Not worth it.

Went to Vivo for a mini Ninja Coy gathering. Suprisingly i managed to remember all the names of the people who came, considering i forgot one of the name of a girl in my class after a 1-month semester break. I really detest travelling with such a big group because simple decisions take so long to make. But it was fun for a while. And we agreed to arrange a bigger gathering to watch Spiderman 3 on Friday, May 4th. Gonna have to book very early for the tixs i guess. Well, such gatherings are fun once in a while (i guess..).

And back home (thankfully it ended at 9+), it was back to things that actually interest me. Started new picture folders for Miyazaki Aoi and Ishihara Satomi but i doubt that it will surpass my Toda Erika collection.

I'm on leave till Tuesday. Gonna enjoy a long slow weekend of slacking and most importantly, slacking without having to feel guilty. Thankfully guilt doesn't take away what i feel is now divine rights due to soon-to-ORD personnel to slack and sleep in camp while others are working. But i'll probably feel guilty if i Ah Chew goes ahead and nominates me for the Gold Practitioner Award, in which case i now pledge that i will use that $100 award to treat the branch.

And just because i feel a post feels bland without pics i'll just post 3 random pics i found today: