Iota Epsilon

7 months... and I'm back again.

2010-12-11T20:24:00.002+08:00

There have been times in within the last 7 months that I've had the urge to come here and rant about my life, but everytime I come here, I realised how long I have forsaken this blog that I shy away from it.

It's like feeling a bit guilty for ignoring something that had been sort of therapeutic for me in the past.

But why am I back here again now?

I dunno, I don't have an answer to that. I just feel like writing. And so I'm here.

Incidentally this is the first time I'm writing from my R480. XD

How to extinguish an unattended cooking fire

2010-05-05T18:24:00.002+08:00

My station overlooks mainly residential areas. Therefore fires such as this is very common. Don't leave your cooking unattended. Even if you are able to extinguish the fire yourself after calling us, I still have to write a 8 page report. -_-"

I miss you.

2010-03-27T19:17:00.003+08:00

I miss you...

as i turn the dial on my padlock, drowned in the smell of smoke and morning coffee, the blaring music from my earphones, the laughter and chatter in the locker room...

as we form in line, our names called out one by one, the faint smell of dried sweat mixed with ashes from each other's gear...

as the lockers of the appliances are opened, the air filled with exhaust fumes, the red blinkers flash, my hands dirty with hydraulic oil...

I miss you...

as the weight of the air cylinder bogs me down, legs aching from climbing flights of stairs, the hoses are laid, breathing in the stuffy air of the face mask...

as i put on my molding grey training suit, hating the calisthenics, enduring the itch on my brows...

as we gather in a circle, sitting on the carpet, savouring our lunches, sharing one another's cold teas...

I miss you...

as they start to talk about their relationships, their dramatic encounters, their sexcapades...

as i try to close my eyes, but fail miserably, ending up just rolling around in my sweaty shirt...

as i go through my seemingly never ending inbox, deleting and deleting, filtering the junk...

as i stare blankly at my paperwork, wondering why some people won't carry out things that they are supposed to...

as i lift the weights in gym, my reflection staring back at me, the all too familiar smell of air-conditioning and sweat...

I miss you...

as the warm water falls on to my skin, the sweet scent of body foam refreshes my body...

as i breathe uneasily in the after dinner puffs, listening to the senseless banter, the smell of starch is still present on my uniform...

as i half listen to the lecture, my mind wanders, my eyelids start to droop...

as i lie in my bed staring at the white bars in the dark dormitory, trying to ignore the stuffiness, envying those who are closer to the fans...

as i set my alarm and close my eyes...

i miss you.

Half a year...

2010-03-26T22:58:00.002+08:00

It has been half a year since I wrote anything on my blog.

That is a bloody long time.

I put the blame on facebook.

Somehow facebook has taken away a lot of my reasons to blog despite all the bloggable things that has been happening throughout the last 6 months.

Besides, I've got a new camera and a fast internet connection... and better attention of facebook...

the downside is my writing abilities deterioriates... and i become less expressive... besides, my job doesn't allow me to write freely without somehow affect the force's professional image...

maybe i'm just giving excuses... i dunno... after years of writing blogs, i dunno for sure if any of my readers really liked what i write or take my blog as something important to them...

Of rubbish fire, birthday and raya

2009-09-19T20:54:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I was on duty at Choa Chu Kang Fire Post. We had 2 calls. The first one was a case of children playing with sparklers which was pretty lame. The second one was my first fire involving contents of CRC (Community Rubbish Chute)... in other words, rubbish fire.

CRCs are those chutes behind the big shutters you can typically see on the ground floor of HDB flats. When we arrived at the scene, my firefighters did all of the work... since I dunno anything about these chutes. The shutter was raised by pressing the button outside. Behind the shutter revealed this huge contraption, a machinery with a huge hole filled with rubbish. In the middle of the hole was a drill like mechanism. When one of my firefighters fiddled with the buttons next to the chute, the machine whirred and the drill turned and vomited the putrid contents of the chute. Some of the contents were black, burnt. But there was no fire. I guess the fire extinguished by itself before we arrived and the smoke coming out from the chute alarmed someone to call 995...

Well, now I know how dull rubbish fires are like. But for once, I really felt like a section commander on the ground during yesterday's duty. I did everything right! ...well almost. Ah well, there's always room for improvement.

Thankfully although technically 8 hours of my duty is spent on my birthday, people at work didn't rag too much. I guess I was lucky not to be thrown into the legendary pump well...

And now part of malam raya coincides with my birthday... *shrug* I am not sure how to feel... Happy Raya everyone!

One year of National Service!

2009-09-08T23:30:00.001+08:00

Time flies so quickly that I am at the one year mark of my National Service.

Wow. I still feel like I have not done any great service yet!

Ah well, who cares, cos the next phase would be ORD-oh!!

Sakura reply by RSP!

2009-08-30T11:19:00.003+08:00

It has been more than a year since I posted the song 'Sakura' by Takano Kenichi on my blog (click to see post). And apparently, the Japanese R&B group RSP (you might recognise them as the group that sings 'Kansha', one of Bleach's ED theme songs) has made a sort of a reply song to the melancholic song!

The title of RSP's reply song is Sakura - Anata ni deaete yokatta; loosely translated means "I am thankful to be able to meet you". While the original Takano song is sang in the perspective of the grieving father, the new RSP song is sang in the perspective of Sakura herself!

Here's the vid

sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
daijoubu mou nakanaide watashi wa kaze anata wo tsutsundeiru yo
sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
arigatou zutto daisuki watashi wa hoshi anata wo mimamori tsuzukeru
anata ni deaete yokatta hontou ni hontou ni yokatta

koko ni mou irenakunachatta mou ikanakucha honto gomen ne
watashi wa mou hitori de tooi tokoro ni ikanakucha
doko e ? tte kikanaide nande ? tte kikanaide honto gomen ne
watashi wa mou anata no soba ni irarenakunatta no

itsumo no sampo michi sakura namiki wo nukete yuki
yoku asonda kawa mo no ue no sora no hikaru hou e to
mou aenakunaru kedo sabishii kedo heiki dayo
umarete yokatta honto yokatta anata ni deaette yokatta . . .

sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
daijoubu mou nakanaide watashi wa kaze anata wo tsutsundeiru yo
sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
arigatou zutto daisuki watashi wa hoshi anata wo mimamori tsuzukeru
anata ni deaete yokatta hontou ni hontou ni yokatta

anata no kaeri wo matsu gogo anata no ashioto na nigenai koto
watashi wa sou ichiban no yorokobi wo shirimashita
anata ga hanashite kureta koto ichinichi no koto iroiro na koto
watashi wa sou ichiban no kanashimi mo shirimashita

sore wa anata no egao anata no namida sono yasashisa
watashi no na wo yobu koe dakishimeru ude sono nukumori
mou furerarenai kedo wasurenai yo shiawase dayo
umarete yokatta hontou yokatta anata ni deatte yokatta

sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
daijoubu dayo koko ni iru watashi wa haru anata wo idaku sora
sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
arigatou zutto daisuki watashi wa tori anata ni utai tsuzukeru

sakura no mau sora no kanata me wo tojireba kokoro no naka

sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
iindayo hohoende goran watashi wa hana anata no yubisaki no hana
sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
arigatou zutto daisuki watashi wa ai anata no mune ni

sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
daijoubu mou nakanaide watashi wa kaze anata wo tsutsundeiru yo
sakura sakura aitai yo iyada kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
arigatou zutto daisuki watashi wa hoshi anata wo mimamori tsuzukeru

anata ni deaete yokatta hontou ni hontou ni yokatta ,
hontou ni hontou ni ... yokatta

If you would like me to provide a translation, please write something in the comment box!

Working hours

2009-08-24T07:39:00.003+08:00

I work 24 hour-shifts followed by 48 hours off. In simpler terms, I work one day and off for two days.

At a glance, it seems like it's brilliant cos I only work 10 days a month.

But in actuality I work 60 hours a week.

Typical office workers are only allowed to 42 hours a week according to labour laws. Anymore than that is considered overtime.

Furthermore, my work doesn't end at the 24th hour of duty. I still need to hand over the appliances to the next Rota on duty. Sometimes there would be fire reports or other miscellaneous things to settle and it can devour the entire morning of my first day off.

Of course, firefighters do not actually do strenuous work the entire 24 hours - a good fraction of our duty is being on standby. But still, I define work as being away from home and family, away from your comfort zone and being strictly governed by working rules and regulations (eg. we are expected to be in uniform for the whole 24 hours).

When the duty is finally over, the feeling of emancipation from work translates into mental fatigue and when I reach home, the only thing that will be on my mind would be having some quality sleep.

And I will be lost in slumberland until afternoon comes... which leaves me with only one and a half day of free time before my next duty comes.

Rota Commanders have it worse. They work on average 66 hours a week! Yikes!

And don't even get me started on Station Commanders... although they are expected to be in station at office hours, they are on standby 24/7!

ああ　なんて苦しみなんだ

2009-08-06T23:42:00.000+08:00

Despite having a nothing but a very eventful life, I have forsaken writing anything on this blog for a very long time.

Why? Poor readership and response are some of the factors, but the greatest reason of all is that a very eventful life comes with a hefty price.

The Force values its image and as a proud member of the Force, I am forced to remain discreet when it comes to how the Force operates. This results in how limited I can tell about how funny things actually are in this life-saving business.

Secondly, the fire station is manned not just by people like me, unfortunate souls who are doing work, but inevitably just waiting for time to pass and be emancipated by the burden that was entrusted to us rather unwillingly, but the fire station is also manned by people who chose this path to save lives and property as their rice pot to feed themselves and their hungry children at home. Such inevitably causes conflict of interest between people who takes their jobs light-heartedly (but not unnecessarily without seriousness) with people who takes their job with utmost seriousness, perhaps too seriously to the extent that it exasperates people in the surrounding. In other words, and I believe as with all other workplaces, it is a squalid world of politics.

Everyone ultimately selfishly desires to take care of only their own asses. Frequent cat-and-mouse games and put-the-blame-on-someone sickens me. People seem to have lost their integrity. Sadly, these ugly ways are creeping into me. It is hard to keep holding on to the values that you have uphold your entire life when everyone is piling on you, slowly pushing you inch by inch into the pit where horrible fate awaits the unlucky soul, especially when you are not exactly at fault but merely the victim of circumstance, or a victim resulting from the error of a different person that is unidentifiable.

Why can't just anyone stand up and admit their wrong-doings? It is cowardice. The fear of loss. There is so much to lose - promotion, allowance, money and rapport to name a few. What is there to gain if one admits their mistake? Such 'virtuous' act would gain nothing from this materialistic and apathetic society. Perhaps you'll get a pat on the back for your courage, or a little more respect from your peers. But can such things bring you more wealth and advancement in your career? Such is the view of the majority.

It is hard to name anyone at my workplace as my 'friend'. I can go as far as calling them brothers at work, but that is the limit. I stress on the 'at work' part of 'brothers'. On my off days, the 'brethren' seem to vanish and only reappear once every 3 days. My handphone becomes eerily silent for 48 hours. No sms, no calls only occasional chime of the alarm clock at various moments of the day filled mostly with the solemness of slumber.

People here tend to condescend rather than commend. I feel so unjustified when they mock my origins and the way I way I was brought up. Especially when I never say anything to put them down. It's just unfair. And all I can do is have patience. I know that all I have to do is concentrate on the people that appreciates me for who I am. But where are these people? They are not here, not in this place.

Somehow lonely travels here are more depressing. I could chronicle about my lonely travels in my old blog posts in a cheerful tone. But I find it hard to do so here. People give disdainful looks on the streets. They avert their eyes proudly when I look at them. There is rarely a smile, what more a casual 'Hello'. There is no opening for me to be friendly and greet them. Strangers are strangers. Even in such a comparatively safe society paranoia prevails. Pretty girls strut the streets and look at me appraisingly on the trains and turning away 2 seconds later with disapproving looks. Maybe it's just me, but this part of the world could do with a little more friendliness and warmth. It is perplexing to think that the scorching climate of this country has bred such cold
people. How do people make friends in this place? Or are all 'friendships' superficial in this place?? I shiver at that thought.

This is the country that I was born in. But I don't feel I belong here. I don't feel that I am welcome here. Even at my grandparents' place I don't feel welcome. It's terrible. It's depressing. I love my job, but I hate my life right now...

Rescue and Evacuation

2009-06-24T21:20:00.002+08:00

In drills we would typically use dummies as casualties. These dummies can be very heavy - up to 120kg. But some of the firefighters in my station are strong enough to lift one of them on their backs and carry them down flights of stairs with their heavy Breathing Apparatus sets on. (I've never really tried doing that before)

Anyway, during yesterday's morning drill, my section was assigned to do R&E. After going in around 40m into the basement, we come across a casualty. But this time, the controllers of the drill decided to use a live casualty. And it's no small one.

Live casualties are soooooo much different from dummies! By just touching the casualty you can know that it's pretty much impossible to lift him by yourself. Furthermore, unlike dummies, which are hard, live casualties are soft and much more flexible. This makes them much more difficult to stabilise when lifting and carrying them. When you swing them around, you can actually sense their pain if you accidentally hit them or see their heads dangling in an awkward position or place them on sharp edges on your body. When evacuating a dummy, you usually don't give a damn even if you hit the dummy on to the wall or if any of its limb caught itself in any obstruction.

It all boils down to mental strength, communication and good decisions to successfully evac a particularly heavy casualty...

I just hope if I ever encounter a similar situation in a real operation, I wouldn't cause the person to die if I had initially found him to be alive in the smoke...

Station 44

2009-06-21T20:14:00.003+08:00

My beautiful, beautiful station.

The sight of the falling yellow leaves from this tree while I await for the bus home calms the spirit after a long day of duty...

Dispatch!

2009-06-15T21:12:00.005+08:00

It was a seemingly peaceful night in the watchroom of Bukit Batok Fire Station...

*Bzzzkrt!*

The watchroom personnel was unceremoniously awaken from his slumber by a violent buzz coming from the intercom.

The intercom beeped thrice loudly. With his many hours spent in the watchroom throughout his career, he immediately recognised the tone of the beep.

It was a fire call.

Surely enough, the fire coding alarm blared throughout the station.

*Piii~ Poo~ Pii~ Poo~*

The watchroom operator glanced at the wall clock. Dammit! It was barely 2am in the morning. But duty calls.

"Station 44, turn out DO pump, CPL and 2 Fire Bikers," said a sharp female voice from the intercom. "Location... Block XXX, Bukit Batok Avenue X, smoke showing from unit, over."

Calmly, he took the intercom mic and responded to the message from the HQ Control Room. Squeaks could be heard from the sliding pole as the firefighters descended from the dormitories and scrambled on to their appliances.

"Roger... PL441, CP441, Fire Bike 441 and 442 responding, over."

The shutter doors were opened.

"Roger..." replied the voice from Control which was followed a flurry of beeps.

The watchroom operator pressed a button and the fire coding alarm blared throughout the station again.

"Good morning Station 44!" greeted the watchroom operator almost cheerfully. "Turn out PL441, CP441, Fire Bike 441, Fire Bike 442 to location..."

He glanced at the cubicon screen for the newly retrieved incident from HQ. Loud roars could now be heard from the engine of the Pump Ladder as the driver warms up the engine. Beacon lights started to flash throughout the engine bay.

"Block XXX, Bukit Batok Avenue X, smoke showing from unit," announced the watchroom operator before activating the fire coding alarm one last time.

With a press of a button, the traffic lights turned red and within a single minute, all four appliances were out racing towards the incident site.

As the siren from the appliances died out from earshot, the watchroom operator closes the shutters. Hoping it was just another false alarm, he slumped on to his chair and monitors the incident closely on his computer screen...

***

And that is how things are usually like for a watchroom operator.

One interesting point that I would like to note is Callsigns. Why is Bukit Batok Fire Station is given the number 44? And how do appliances get their callsigns?

Well, let's take an example - PL441.

The first 2 alphabets represents the appliance. There are all sorts of appliances in the Force. PL refers to a Pump Ladder, your typical fire engine. Following this fashion, FB refers to Fire Bikes and CP referes to Combined Platform Ladders (CPL).

But wait, why CP441 and not CPL441? Cos apparently the cubicon system can only accomodate 2 alphabets for callsigns, so the "L" had to dropped. Same goes to Breathing Apparatus Tenders, Fast Response Paramedics and Tracked Fire Vehicles (Guess their callsigns?)

The first number in the callsign refers to the Division in which the station is in. The whole of Singapore is divided into 4 Divisions.

1st Div - East
2nd Div - South
3rd Div - North
and 4th Div - West

The second number represents the station number in that division. Therefore, the first 2 numbers on an appliance's callsign determines which station does the appliance belong to. In our example, the 44 in PL441 means that PL441 is from the 4th Station of the 4th Division which is non other than Bukit Batok Fire Station.

The last number represents the appliance number in the station. For example, in Station 44, there are 2 PLs, PL441 and PL442. The 1st PL is usually under the command of the Duty Officer of the station while the 2nd PL is under the command of a Non-commissioned Officer. There also 2 Fire Bikes, FB441 and FB442 and 3 ambulances- A441 (pronounced "Alpha 441"), A442 and A443. With exception of the ambulances, appliances are numbered according to their importance ie. who will be in charge if they are dispatched together for the same incident.

Now, by combining all this, we now know that PL441 is the 1st Pump Ladder from Station 44.

Well then, I hope the next time you see a Civil Defence appliance on the roads you can somewhat determine the type of appliance and from which station does it come from!

Here's the list of all the current 13 station callsigns;
11 - Central FS
12 - Alexandra FS
13 - Clementi FS
14 - Jurong Island FS
15 - Bishan FS

21 - Payar Lebar FS
22 - Changi FS
23 - Tampines FS

31 - Yishun FS
32 - Ang Mo Kio FS
33 - Sengkang FS

41 - Jurong FS
42 - Tuas FS
43 - Woodlands FS
44 - Bukit Batok FS

Question: You see A311 zooming along the street. What appliance is that & where does it come from?

Tracked Fire Vehicle

2009-06-15T20:58:00.004+08:00

For those who were wondering how in the world a TFV actually looks like (which is barely visible in the pic in my previous post), I'm not going to show you pictures of one, but an entire video about the Tracked Fire Vehicle!

Features TF211 from Payar Lebar, but somehow in this video, it's in Station 23, which is Tampines...

Actually it's a 2 part video, but I'm only going to emb part 2 since they talk more on the TFV in the second part. For those who are interested in watching part 1 before part 2, here's the link.

Pretty cool, ain't it? Lemme recap some of it's cool features.

- It's actually a left hand drive.
- Has a drenching system in front that sprays the ground and tracked wheels to stamp over the fire to completely extinguish the fire.
- Has a monitor on top of the vehicle which is controllable via a joystick. The monitor has 2 modes - fog and stream.
- Able to carry 1700 litres of water. Mounted in the rear locker is a Tohatsu water pump.
- Contains fire fighting equipment related to bush fires like canvas beaters and chainsaws.

Well, I hope that enlightened you guys a bit about SCDF's capabilities in tackling bush fires.

Standby...

2009-06-12T17:50:00.006+08:00

Recently, I almost did not go for any incident at all. Which is good, but also makes my duties sort of repetitive and boring.

But still, if everyone is safe, everyone is happy!

As you can see in this crappy picture, in times of peace, our proud fire engine, PL441 (PL - Pump Ladder) will be on standby. The shutter in front of the pumper is always closed unless there is a dispatch to prevent trespassers...

The motorcycle on the far side is FR441, or more affectionately referred to as "Romeo 441". It belongs to the Fast Response Paramedic. Yep, paramedic on a bike! This enables us to administer pre-hospital treatment as fast as possible even during peak hours. These paramedics ride crazy fast! But safely, of course! It's a Super 4 after all.

The picture closer to us is FB441, one of the Fire Bikes in station. Fire Bikes always go out in tandem. Typically, control will dispatch FB441 and FB442 together. If only one Fire Bike is available, then the Fire Bike will go out with a pumper. Fire Bikes are cool... I like the smooth noise that they make, especially when the ignition in turned on and the silent vroom when they dash out of station. Not to mention that they have pretty lights too. Anyway, like the FR, the FB was also introduced for fast response even during peak times, which will enable us to get fire ground info and mitigate whatever is going on as quickly as possible.

In this other crappy picture are the other 3 appliances in station. (The third one is barely visible at the back on the right of the picture).

The closest to us is the Combined Platform Ladder, CP441. Probably one of my favourite appliance for various reasons. This rig is dispatched for high rise fires, ship fires etc. Anyway, this the cage can reach a working distance of 32m, which theoretically is about 10 storeys high. This appliance is a hot favourite for station visitors. If you come, you might be lucky enough to get a ride in the cage!

Next to the CPL is the Breathing Apparatus Tender, callsign BA441. As the name implies, it carries a great number of breathing apparatuses and air cylinders. It is dispatched when there is a fire involving premises with high fire load eg. factories. In other words, it only goes out when there is a potential that the fire is going to be big. Therefore, the BAT rarely goes out of station, which is one of the reasons why the BAT is my least favourite appliance...

The appliance that you can barely see at the back is the Tracked Fire Vehicle, TFV, callsign TF441. This thing goes out of station even at a rarer frequency compared to the BAT. Why? It is designed to fight bush fires. It's actually quite a cool appliance, imo with it's tracked wheels akin to a tank and the water monitor perched on top of the cabin. Since most bush fires in Singapore are of negligible scale (eg. small patch of grass on fire), this vehicle is rarely tested under the scale that it was initially built for. It did do it's bidding during the recent Bukit Batok bush fire earlier this year, but apparently throughout the end, its performance was a bit disappointing. Maybe it's because the hill was too steep anyway. And most of my seniors seem to agree that this vehicle has a lot of room for improvement.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoyed my little Station 44 virtual trip. Come to my station on Saturdays! We are open 9am to 12pm. Do come early or you'll miss the good stuff. Maybe next time I'll risk showing other pictures of interesting stuff in the station...

2nd boots!

2009-05-16T22:51:00.002+08:00

Finally received my second pair of boots yesterday...

Why do I need a second pair of boots? One pair is to be used in station, and the other for drills and turning out. Having a second pair of boots enables me to put my leggings in proper standby mode, which in turn enable me to suit up faster...

Station life has gradually start to sink into me. I'm getting a fair share of incidents and pretty thankful that no big accidents has happened so far.

Anyway, I wanna show pictures, but *sigh*...

strange life

2009-04-26T16:20:00.002+08:00

Okay, so now I'm a fully fledged rookie firefighter and so far I am still trying to get used to the change.

Many people thinks we just sit in the fire station waiting for an emergency to happen and only then we spring into action. Unfortunately this is a common misunderstanding. Our entire day is regimented. We have a packed schedule for the entire 24 hrs of duty. We check and maintain the equipments, train in the morning, clean up the place, go to the gym, have night lectures...

It's pretty stressful if you ask me especially when you are new. It's even more stressful when your seniors leave you alone to become 'independent' when you know nothing and needed some guidance! And summore, being a sergeant, you need to gain your firefighter's respect. And I am yet to gain their respect enough to listen to my instructions if I need their help on the fire ground. So far, the opposite is happening! At the end of my last duty, they splashed soap water while I was bathing in my cubicle. I hope it's just a welcoming gesture rather than them not liking me. *gulp*

However, being at work and around people is still pretty okay to me. Worse is when I am off duty and return to my grandparents' place. You see, although there are people there, the place is dreary, empty. Half of the time, there isn't even food (it's a mystery how the people there sustain themselves) and I will have to make something to nourish myself. Although I must say that my pay is prolly more than enough to allow me to eat out on every off duty day, I need to save money for my university expenses.

I try to revise my A Levels stuff during my off days. However, it's really dull and the fact that many of my exclassmates in secondary school are now learning all sorts of new and advanced stuff keep shouting at the back of my head decimates my motivation.

I don't have many friends in Singapore. In fact, I don't think I have anyone close there at all. I lie down on the bed sheet (ah yes, I don't even have a bed on my own there, I sleep on the carpet, covered with a bed sheet. My grandfather don't like me sleeping on th couch. He thinks that it will destroy his sofa) during the warm, humid nights, scrolling though my contacts on my phone wondering who can I sms, wondering who can I call, wondering who would listen to my rants, wondering who would tell me interesting stuff. After scrolling through the numbers for the thrid time, I will give up and force myself into slumber.

I am lonely.

I am alone in the big city and it's stressing me out. I know that other people have worse problems than myself. Some of the people from my batch have to go through worse training and treatment in their respective stations and I probably do no have the right to complain about anything at all.

Yet, if only I have someone to talk to freely, at any convenient time... that would alleviate my pain so much...

Daydream

2009-04-23T22:53:00.003+08:00

I had this dream this morning.

In the dream, I had this power where I can jump superhuman distances!Imagine that you are at the ground floor of an atrium of a shopping complex. Then you jump from the ground floor right up to the fourth floor. That was the power that I had in the dream.

It was an amazing feeling everytime I make a jump... but as the saying goes, with great power, comes great responsibility.

In the dream, people were after me because of my strange ability. As I desperately try to escape from my pursuers who possess extensive resources and numbers (regrettably, the main pursuer was someone dear to me), I took hostage hundreds of people and caused the death of 3 people (one of which was a family member).

It was a really stressful and sad dream... I jumped into air vents and small tunnels, attempting to escape from someone I loved... accidentally caused the death of 2 people, and actually killed a person along the way...

The dream ended when I was given a chance to end everything by running out of the country.

How does one interpret this dream? I take this dream as a caution to myself that I am now a Sergeant. I have been constantly reminded that in my line of duty, the lives of the people under me are partly in my hands. Entrusted to me are powers that could affect people's lives and possibly death.

I must be constantly alert. A second of negligence may cause great jeopardy and deep regret.

-_-"

2009-04-23T17:07:00.003+08:00

off days are so boring...

so much free time but no one to spend it with...

sigh...

how do people make friends again? I seem to have forgotten how it works...

First 24-hour duty Over!

2009-04-19T16:22:00.002+08:00

If nothing happens, Saturdays are pretty much a very peaceful time in my fire station.

People within the boundary of my station were fire safe last night.

I thank you all for letting us sleep peacefully last night...

Sergeant Jamil and his Random Vacation

2009-04-11T19:39:00.005+08:00

On April 1st 2009, after a very long and gruelling 24+2 weeks, I successfully graduated from the 31st Emergency Response Specialist Course.

I am now... Sergeant Jamil!

[insert dramatic music here]

A picture from the reception after the graduation ceremony

The cute girl is my friend's younger sister, if you can see in the background between us is the jealous Sergeant Sun, one of my instructors. Lolz!

In the end I got to be posted to the station that I wanted;

I am now a proud member of the Bukit Batok Fire Station!

I am given a week's break after my course. Since almost everyone in my course went for some sort of vacation, I decided to take off up north to KL again to visit the places I wasn't able to go to last year.

On the first day I went to Chow Kit and got myself some cool apparels. I also visited the Chow Kit Firehouse.

On the second day I went to the Genting Theme Park!

The Space Shot was awesomeness. I went on it twice. The rest of the rides were great too. Honourable mention would be the Flying Coaster... too bad the Cyclone was under maintenance on that day... *sigh*

On the third day, I wanted to go and have a dip in Sunway Lagoon not knowing that they are closed on Tuesdays... So I went ice skating for the first time instead.

On the fourth day, I went to the Hang Tuah Fire Station, the oldest and biggest station in KL.

Fellow SCDF comrades, I understand that we are very proud of our job and organization. And I know very well that the mention of the Malaysian Bomba will most probably elicit derisive and condescending remarks from most of you, but believe me, after seeing their 'jentera' (aka appliances) and equipments, they deserve great respect for doing what they do under the circumstances that they are in.

They have some cool equipments that we don't have in the SCDF - like this Fire Extinguishing Bomb!

Most of their rescue equipments are from ResQtec. Their spreader and cutter are combined. Their power unit looks smaller and lighter. Their airbags can be connected and stacked via the metallic component you see in the pic below.

There are also some equipments in their pumper that they develop on their own in their backyard lab.

On their Rapid Intervention Motorcycle (RIM), they have floating pumps, which can do suction simply by throwing the tiny pump into the water. There is also this small cutter which is battery operated, but have enough power to cut up an entire car in the hands of a proficient user.

According to Pak Cik Naga, the proud, seasoned firefighter who gave me the tour, 3 RIMs is equivalent to one pumper. One carries rescue equipment, one carries firefighting equipment and the other carries water supply equipment. That, in my opinion is just fantastic!

Pak Cik Naga also explained to me how do they operate. They do 12 hour shifts although some stations do practice the 24 hours shifts. All bomba are proficient in rappelling and first responders do it very frequently. In suicide cases, bomba is the incident manager!

Of course there are aspects that I think SCDF does it in a much better fashion, but nevertheless, these men deserve the respect that all firefighters and rescuers from all over the world deserve.

I spent the night on the 27th floor of Vista Komanwel C, which was the athletes' village for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. The insanely tall apartments are now used as hostels by the students of IMU.

The next day, I sneaked into IMU and joined the morning medical lecture for the 1st sem students!

After the morning lecture on Friday, I made my way back to JB...

And that was the end of my random adventure.

It's back to fire and rescue for me now!

My next a year and a half is at stake

2009-03-28T21:47:00.002+08:00

And right now I can do nothing about it. It's all up to HQ. And the Major.

But these two are factors that I cannot do anything about.

So in reality, in whose hands is my fate in?

結局今…祈るしかない。

Lots of things in a very short post

2009-03-08T10:43:00.003+08:00

Been a couple of weeks since the last time I wrote. Becoming quite busy and tired very easily...

My training is going to end soon. 3 weeks away from POC. Only about 6 tests left...

Right now I'm pretty lethargic because of lack of sleep. Just had taste of station life when I was attached to Bukit Batok Fire Station since yesterday morning till this morning. So far I went for I fire call and 5 ambulance calls... The last ambulance case that I attended involved a dead body...

Well, wish me luck with stuff! Once I have more time, I'll write more!

Sakura

2009-02-22T09:05:00.001+08:00

Spring is approaching again in Japan and it seems that they have made a music video for the very sad song 'Sakura' that I blogged about last year.

Valentine's Day and Bush Fire

2009-02-22T08:04:00.004+08:00

Last weekend I was unable to return to JB because I was assigned to do duty on Saturday. Since the Home Team Code of Conduct dictates that I am not supposed to discuss about my job, I'll just tell you that that day was a gruelling one. In other words, it sucks like hell. Super tiring with little honour in it. Just horrible... I returned to my grandparents' place and slept like a log.

Anyway, other news. You have prolly heard about the bush fire in Bukit Batok. Here's the newspaper report;

***

Bukit Batok bush fires keep firemen busy

Sujin Thomas & Kimberly Spykerman, Straits Times 18 Feb 09;

FIREFIGHTERS have been virtually camped out in a vegetated area along Bukit Batok West Avenue 3, where pockets of fire have been breaking out over the last 11/2 days.

Soon after one blaze is brought under control, another springs up.

The fires have been breaking out atop a hill, which sits on land about the size of five football fields. It is a steep slope, rising on a 70-degree incline to a height of between 50m and 60m.

Officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) have been taking 45 minutes to clamber up it using long retractable ladders.

The incline aside, they have had to carry tools to cut through the undergrowth.

The first fire broke out at around 4.45pm on Monday in two areas there, each the size of half a basketball court.

Fifty officers brought the blaze under control in half an hour, but they ended up being on standby for the next 17 hours on the chance that embers, fanned by winds, would re-ignite.

The SCDF officers left the area at 9.35am, but barely five hours later, twice the number of firefighters were back battling flames in four fresh areas, each about the size of two basketball courts.

Between Jan 1 and Monday, a record 292 fires had erupted in bushland and forested areas. The spate of fires in Bukit Batok is believed to be one of the longest bush-fire operations in recent years.

Those living nearby have been finding ways to cope with the choking cloud of thick smoke. Many have kept their windows and doors shut to keep out the fine white ash.

Some have had breathing difficulties.

Canteen helper Fauzlinda Tahir, 44, who lives on the ground floor of Block 123 in Bukit Batok Central, said: 'My husband has even joked that it is snowing outside. His asthma started acting up on Monday evening too.'

A minor traffic jam built up along Bukit Batok West Avenue 3. Thick water hoses were lying on the streets, some as far as 30m from fire hydrants.

Republic Polytechnic student Ganesh Murusamy, 20, said he had not seen bush fires this big in his 12 years living there. 'From my flat on the fourth floor, I saw a tree on fire. The flames were huge.'

For some residents, it is business as usual. They have been jogging and walking their dogs amid the smoky haze.

Sales engineer S. S. Chua, 52, was not unduly worried: 'There is nothing for us to be scared about as there have been many firemen in the area trying to put out the fire.'

***

I was there.

Yes, it was technically my first turn out, my first real operation! Lolz! I won't elaborate further though... Dun wan to risk getting charged!

Oh, here are some pics from the incident...

Back from Brunei

2009-02-07T22:59:00.002+08:00

Did I mention that I had to go for a one week training in Brunei?

Well, I'm back from that. My past 7 days were like a roller coaster ride with an insane rating of unpredictability.

Right now I'm just totally exhausted. Frankly, I've never felt this tired ever since I've started my NS. Even the gruelling week that I talked about about a couple of months back pales in comparison.

Brunei was not HTA. Brunei was hell.

For 4 days and 3 nights, me and another 18 people from my group plus 2 instructors trekked the deep ruthless Bruneian jungle with very little to expect. We bathed in mud, crossed many cold rivers, walked in wet boots, bitten by God knows how many kinds of insects, ate canned food, slept in wet tents... Our uniforms got wet and dried up in the sun dunno how many times...

Well, I don't mind doing all that actually, but what bugged me was that I didn't know that I will have to go through that! I wasn't exactly mentally prepared. Before I came to Brunei, I was not told that we are going to trek in that kind of terrain. All the camping trips that I went to was never as bad... at least we get to bathe last time.

But during my land expedition in Brunei, I only washed myself once at the river on the second night. I only powder bathed on the first night, and didn't bother to bathe at all after the third day.

The trekking was crazy! We pitched tents under the heavy rain while under the attack of invisible sandflies! We walked for many days in our wet boots until our feet became so pale like that of a corpse! We got blisters, ankle sprains, red dots all over our bodies!

When we finally reached back at the main training center on the afternoon of the fourth day, I thought that finally we will be able to relax a bit. I was wrong. The fourth night was our solo night. Solo night is the night where they make each and every of us sleep alone seperately deep in the forest.

Well, you might think - Well, that isn't so bad, at least you can rest under your tent until the next day. That was exactly what I thought initially as well when I was pitching my simple tent which consisted of a ground mat and a tent cover (it was called a Baadshah). But when I lied down under my tent and was about to sleep, it started to rain heavily. Rains in Brunei are nothing like in Malaysia or Singapore. Once it rains, it rains for hours and hours and you can expect flood.

That fateful night, it rained not once, but twice till the first daylight. I was very unfortunate that my ground was concave. When it rained, the cover of my tent shielded my head from the rain, but the concave ground caused the water to pool onto my ground mat. In short, I was forced to sleep in a pool of water!

But it's impossible to sleep in water! So I sat on my life jacket and tried to sleep in the sitting position. I could barely sleep in that position. My legs cramped up after awile. Then, I didn't care and lied on my back and wetted my whole body. I shivered uncontrollably and sat back up. When I got tired, I lied on my back again

It went on and on the entire night for what I think over 8-9 hours. I wasn't provided with any lights or any watch. I was deprived of my vision, deprived of the knowledge of time... That night was horrible. I was so thankful when daylight finally came...

I was mentally and physically exhausted when I had my breakfast after my instructor picked me up from my campsite. But the day didn't end there. After lunch, we went 3km river kayaking followed by another 3.5 km run. By the end of the day, I was hoping so much that I would at least have a good night sleep at the teratak.

I was wrong again. There are no beds in the teratak. I slept on the hard wooden plank with my thin sarong as a blanket. It rained hard that night as well. I curled myself up like a prawn and shivered throughout the night.

We all had to wake up before 5 on that day. At 5.30 we had a very simple breakfast before taken away by a bus at 6am to a place about 10km away. What do you know, we had to run back to the main training center!

This 10 click run or commitment run or whatever it is known as must be completed within one and a half hour. So I ran under the slight drizzle and bone chilling wind. After the 7th km, my stomach ache for not shitting at all during my land expedition forced me to walk. So I walked for about 2km before started to run again. In the end I was one of the last people to finish the run...

When everything was over and I reached my grandparents' place, I slept like a log. My exhaustion drove me into a very looong dreamless slumber. When I woke up, my entire body ached, but I forced myself to go back to JB.

I was so lucky that I came across I Lyn this morning on the way home...

owatta...

2009-01-25T08:07:00.002+08:00

HTA week is over. HTA, by itself wasn't as amazing as expected, but the friendship that was forged there was priceless. It's really sad that we had to part and go on our own paths on the last day...

As much I want to talk more about my 8 day stay in HTA, I am not allowed to do that due to the sensitive nature of the course content. By doing so, it might compromise the safety of some of the friends that I made there...

Anyway, last Friday I finally received my senior bar and fire badge... pictures later.

The last week has been a roller coaster ride for me. It was by far the most mentally and emotionally challenging week to me personally. However, I even say anything about it here!! It's so frustrating!

I really want a channel to complain, to vent off my frustrations, to explain my decisions and to defend my pride! It wasn't easy you know!

でもわかってくれないよね…

In the end, it all boils down to this - of all the people in the world, who can sense the pain in my heart? And who loves and care me enough to bother to listen to it?

wasted weekend

2009-01-18T15:59:00.002+08:00

Ugh... this weekend is supposed to be quite special but I just wasted it by sleeping most of the time.

Why?

aih... 説明したくない…

Last week was spent entirely at Home Team Academy. The place is more heavenly than my Academy, but I still prefer life back in Civil Defence Academy.

There are girls in HTA... Girls!

But somehow, I can't gather the courage to make a decent conversation with them. Instead, I have an annoying fly bugging me around most of the time. Ugh...

Actually, I had a good time over the weekend in HTA, but right now I just can't recount the fun moments I had there, because my weekend is so damn soporific that I have no semangat at all to write them down!!

やれやれ…

色々ことを…

2009-01-10T09:05:00.004+08:00

俺はさ、

シンプルな人生を生きていたいんだ。

悩み事がなくて怖いものもなくて心配こともない…

この世の中には拗らせたがる人が多い。事実上はシンプルにすることができるんだ。

Don't you agree?

あけましておめでとう！

2009-01-01T09:34:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year 2009!

Wow, it's already 2009... time flies way too quickly. This year, I'm turning 21! wth...

Anyway, my new year was pretty quiet. After receiving a call from Natsue, I fell asleep with my computer on. I tried to message some New Year messages to my friends only to find out that I was out of credit. -_-"

I had a great New Year's Eve though. hmm...

I've got more tests this Monday! They suddenly decided to put IPPT on this Monday. Although I was supposed to go jogging this morning, I didn't. I'm still trying to decide whether the reason is because I had a tummy ache, or because I was just plain lazy.

Maybe I should return to camp earlier so I could do some running...

A rather fun week

2008-12-28T07:13:00.002+08:00

I am now trained in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation and the use of the Automated External Defibrillator. I now understand that CPR is more than chest compressions or mouth to mouth ventilations. It is actually more on what to do after making several observations on the unconscious victim in front of you. For example, when you detect no breathing, what should you do, or no pulse is detected, what should you do... Judgement on these matter is crucial because giving chest compressions or mouth to mouth ventilations when you are not supposed to could be detrimental to the very life you are trying to save.

It is indeed an art to perfect the CPR. I myself failed twice before barely pass the practical test of the CPR. The sensors on the mannequin that I worked on were very sensitive. When I pressed her chest slightly away from where I was supposed to put the heel of my palm, the detector will light up to indicate my error. In a real life situation, an error in chest compression can result in broken ribs. The error will show up in the final graph that the detector will plot as well.

Giving mouth-to-mouth ventilations is also not easy. Blow too much and you risk your victim vomiting on the spot and further complicate your rescue attempt. There is almost no romanticism in mouth-to-mouth ventilation, that much was what I learned. On my third attempt, I was tired out from my first two attempst that my blows into the mannequin mouth resulted in strange bumps on the final graph -_-". But I passed the test anyway.

The theory part of the lesson somewhat crushed a little dream of mine. It is very unlikely for me to give CPR to a beautiful lady unless I am posted to a seaside (but still there are lifeguards there...). Most likely, I have to do CPR to an aging person because they are the more likely to suddenly fall unconcious due to heart problems. When the medical instructor recounted an occasion where CPR needed to be carried out on a fat Indian lady, my dream was further obliterated into infinitesimal pieces.

:P

However, during my AED practical test, the paramedic gave me a scenario where I discovered an unconcious girl in a closed up unit which smelled of gas. That was pretty fun. I did quite okay too.

***

It was a bummer that I had to do guard duty on Christmas Day. I would've liked to spend the holiday slumbering at my grandparents' place. Instead, I was a Saikang warrior for the day and slacked away watching movies and eating junk food during my break time. Ugh... I have been eating a lot of KFC and McD and have not been excersing much this week. I can feel that my fitness plummeted a bit... I should work out harder next week!!

***

This weekend was rather fun. I was in Pelangi on Saturday afternoon... It wasn't where I intended to go, I was there... by mistake. Lolz! Anyway, even after realising that I am in the wrong place, I decided to saunter around the top floor. As I slurped my Orange McFlurry happily with Halcali music blaring into my ears, I approached a souvenir booth. There were quite a number of interesting stuff there - figurines, keychains, necklaces...

The girl from the shop who was following me around was making me rather nervous and embarrased cos I didn't intend to purchase anything initially. She was quite pretty imo... So anyway, after staring at the merchandise for awhile, I thought that I had enough of her following me around. So I looked at her and she looked back and me and I offered her my Orange McFlurry.

Her reaction was just as I expected. With an embarrased smile, she shook her head vigourously. I burst into laughter and left the booth.

Later, I came back to the booth to buy a lanyard for my phone after remembering that my phone could accomodate one of those...

***

I really should buy a USB Bluetooth... that would make file transferring between my phone and computer much easier. Right now it's so troublesome with the USB wire... *sigh*

***

GAH! My term Theory Test is coming up and I haven't touched my notes at all! Instead, I watched Cowboy Bebop - Knockin' on Heaven's Door the whole of last night. It is unlikely for anyone to fail this test, but the score will affect my overall performance in the course!

***

End for now.

Flashover

2008-12-14T00:50:00.002+08:00

I could feel sweat tingling down my brows. Perhaps it was normal since my entire head was covered with a Panorama Nova facemask, a Nomex hood over it and an MSA Gallet to top it all up. Perhaps it was also because of my 4-layer fire jacket and leggings plus my gloves that I was wearing. But I am more inclined to believe that it was perspiration of excitement, of anticipation of what is going to come.

My right hand was gripping tightly on the handle of the nozzle while my left hand was resting on the nozzle valve. Even though it was only a 38mm diametre hose, the water pressure inside it was 8 times the atmospheric pressure. I struggled to hold the hose under my armpit.

To conserve as much oxygen in the 9kg tank resting on my back, I tried to control my breath. The eerie drawls of air gushing out from the mask was the most audible noise to my ears. Through the blurry visor of the facemask, I could see my partner tapping the door of the huge metal container with the back of his glove.

It could be understood that it was hot as he gave me the signal to spray the door. I pulled the nozzle valve and water gushed out and splashed the maroon metal door. The pressure in the hose kicked in and tried to pull me backwards, but I fought it and prevented myself from falling.

The door bathed for three good seconds before I switched off the nozzle. My partner then approached the door and held the handle with his right hand. On the count of three, he opened the door slightly enough for me to poke my nozzle into the container and give 2 good sprays inside the confined area. Without wasting any time to prevent backdraft, my partner then quickly slammed the door shut again.

This was it. On the next count of three I will rush into the container. There wasn't much time to think, or to be afraid, I just have to do it.

Right after my partner's hand showed 3 fingers, he swung the door open and I rushed into the container. In the squatting position, I turned to my left and saw scathing red flames rolling across the ceiling very close to my helmet. For a few moments my eyes were transfixed upon the dancing red tongues. It was both a beautiful and frightening sight.

"What are you waiting for?! Shoot!!" I heard my nervous Sergeant bellowing at me. I came back to my senses. I glanced to my back, searching for my partner to feed me the hose, but he wasn't there. I turned back to the fire and started to pulsate water at it while hoping that my partner would arrive soon.

The flames were pushed backwards on my water pulse. I felt a gentle tug on my hose - my partner has arrived. I let out a small sigh of relief, and charged forwards and gave another two good sprays at the rolling flames. The flames were pushed further back. I continued the cycle, charge, spray, charge, spray.

Water from the ceiling spattered down on to my jacket. Hot! The water that seeped into my jacket was really hot! It felt like having a shower with the temperature set too high. I ignored the pain and continued to charge into the fire.

Soon after, two loud bangs of the suction spanner against the container wall signalled me to retreat from the fire. I obeyed so and retreated from the fire while still pulsating at it. I exited the door, relieved and looking forward to remove my irritating facemask...

Long Weekend

2008-12-08T09:11:00.003+08:00

Because of Aidiladha, I have off days until Monday. However, this long weekend wasn't as fun as I thought it would be... too many mixed feelings throughout the past couple of days...

Anyway, I used most of the time at night to watch anime. On Saturday night I watched Tora Dora! The anime has not ended in Japan yet. So it's a very new anime. I did a 10 episode marathon on that night. Lol! Looking forward to the last 3 episodes... The character of the main female character of the anime - Asaka Taiga resembles a classmate that I had last time in secondary school. Haha! Taiga reminds me of her a lot!

Last night I watched Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo - The Girl Who Leaped Through Time. I saw the DVD a few months ago at the shop where I bought my YUI CDs. It didn't look very interesting at first. Later on, I think it was on Saturday, Okto aired the anime movie. So I thought I'd download and watch it. I must say that the story is amazing! I've always wondered how do people come up with such intricate plotlines that is still palatable.

Last week in camp is pretty boring and effed up. My dislike towards the people there has probably multiplied a few times. Argh... Why does a country with such amazing advancements in technology house people with such despicable personalities? It is a wonder, a shame, a disappointment... Perhaps it's just me who is still naive. But I think that has little to do with it.

Meh, it's raining now, in the morning, but it's not dark. Apparently the sun can still peek through the rainy sky...

Hell week - OVER!!

2008-11-29T23:25:00.002+08:00

I'M ALIVE!!!!!!!!

I survived my hellish week!

Last week consisted of 3 tests and one arguably the freakiest, most feared, most loathed training of all. And I survived them all!

I failed one of my tests. But it's okay, I'll do better the next time. I'm pretty proud on how I performed during that test though. I show marked improvement although obviously it's not enough...

I'm just so glad that last week is over now. Next week is going to be pretty relaxing, despite the two tests that I have to sit...

ah~ I'm halfway to my Fire Badge!

Pointless stuff

2008-11-16T00:21:00.002+08:00

When I reached my grandparents' place from camp last Friday, the food in the kitchen was terrible (the rice has gone bad)! So I decided to go and treat myself to McDonalds.

I had McSpicy Chicken Mega Mac. Fulao! The Burger is damn thick! 2 slabs of thick spicy boneless chicken patties stacked together between the two slices of burger bread. Halfway through munching it, my jaws felt tired. Lol!

In the end, I managed to finish the whole thing along with the fries and coke anyway.

I think that would prolly be the last time I'm buying a Mega Mac. It's waaay too big for me.

A number of things crammed together

2008-11-09T08:52:00.003+08:00

I can run!

The human body is amazing. Give it some training and it will develop very quickly. To think that it took me 15 minutes to run my jogging route last time... yesterday I did it in 8 minutes 40 seconds! I ran non-stop!

Gold is very close to me!

***

Last Friday, there was an event at the Padang. My Rota was lucky enough that we were sent to the event. There were games and stuff. But most importantly, there was Fiona Xie!

Fiona Xie is even more amazing looking in person. I took a picture of her while she was about to try the Wii Fit.

Sorry about the size, haha! If you want a bigger version, you can ask me personally.

Later on, I got even luckier: I got to take a group picture with her!

Don't be jealous okay... Lol!

Oh btw, I got to see the Prime Minister in person too.

***

Training is getting tougher, but more fun as well. New stuff everyday! Hope I won't get injured or worse, die during training. Pray hard for me!

Nichima Festival

2008-11-02T00:10:00.002+08:00

Every year around this time of the year, there will be a Matsuri (festival) held at the carpark in front of Giant (previously Xtra). The event is only a short walk away from my house and so far I have went to the festival for 3 consecutive years.

I am pretty lucky this year cos this year's festival was held yesterday night! Actually, although the name of the festival held each year is different, the content of the Matsuri is pretty much the same each year. There'll be booths selling food, booth with Japanese traditional games, displays of Japanese traditional stuff, demonstration on how to make and the selling of Japanese rice cake - Mochi, lucky draw, Yukata Idol Contest and the Bon Odori dance to conclude the night.

It was the same stuff all over again this year. And the fact that I went to the Matsuri alone makes it even more dull than ever.

However, using my brand new W580i, I managed to snap some interesting photos of the event.

Mochitsuki! Demo on how Japanese Rice Cakes are made.

This year Origami was on display. Last year it was the Tea Ceremony.

BLEACH Cosplayers!!! I had to summon my courage to permission to take a pic of them (in Japanese!). Their costumes are of pretty good quality. The plates on their shoulders are actually made of cardboard. Notice Rukia in the center of the three Shinigamis. Lol!

The entire event culminated on the Bon Odori dance. Pardon the poor video quality. I didn't know that it sucks this much.

Well, that's about it.

Sick

2008-10-26T14:54:00.002+08:00

I've been sick for awhile, but my coughing worsened about 3-4 days ago especially at night. I was coughing so hard that I was unable to sleep. But I feel better now after taking some medicine. Hopefully I will be able to run again soon because in the past few days, everytime after I run a certain distance, I will start coughing like mad.

Although Monday is a public holiday, I landed myself with rotten luck that has made me to return to camp early in the morning of that day. *sigh*

But I do have things to be happy about over the weekends. For example, yesterday I had probably the best date ever! We watched High School Musical 3! Imo, the plotline is the best of the 3. However, I feel that the songs in the first movie are more memorable. Regardless of the movie, the day was great.

And oh, I got myself a new phone - a W580i. The phone that I have been using previously took a plunge from the top bed of my double decker bed on Friday morning. -_-"" Anyway, I'm loving my new phone right now and really hope that it won't disappoint me for at least 2 years. Now that I can take pictures with my phone, you can expect to see pictures of things going on around my life more.

You can't expect pictures of me at work though. Sorry about that.

BUT!

I can show them to you personally over MSN or something provided that I trust you enough not to be stupid and distribute it around the world.

Delete

2008-10-19T00:04:00.002+08:00

You probably have noticed that I've removed my NS posts. By right, I am not supposed to reveal anything at all about SCDF to the public. Such action is a chargeable offense that could land me with a severe punishment. I was taking a risk when I was writing all those stuff in the past few weeks.

Furthermore, the stakes are higher now because if I am caught, I will never be able to become a hero. So I'm taking the safer route...

I don't feel like writing much today, but I have thoughts that are worth penning down. Maybe I'll write it next week...

Kore wa Sayonara

2008-09-06T23:53:00.002+08:00

The time has come for me to leave.

Today is my last day here in JB, hence this is my last post.

Starting from this Tuesday, I will begin my life as an NSman. I am not sure what exactly to look forward to, nor I know how to feel anymore, whether I should be sad, or happy or mature.

Goodbyes are painful. The word "goodbye" itself is probably one of the words that I hate to say the most.

But this time it can't be helped.

After almost 20 years living in Malaysia, this is possibly the point in time where I will return to my birthplace. I might sound exaggerated or even melodramatic, because I can possibly come back to Malaysia every now and then (although it will be a great hassle and it's definitely going to be on rare occasions), but as I have repeated to a few people, once I cross over the border tomorrow morning, I will become a there person and not a here person anymore (although technically I have always been a there person, but the people around me here treat me as a here person, which I am very happy about).

I visited the playground in my neighbourhood where I used to play basketball today for the last time. It's that time of the year again where the dragonflies pirouette happily in the air. I said goodbye to the kids who I played with.

This is also goodbye to this computer at home where I spent most of the time with day by day. This computer has been the window to the cyberworld that had allowed me to be in touch with acquaintances far apart.

Therefore this is also goodbye to you readers as well... until I get myself my own computer, that is.

To all my loyal readers who always leave tags, I value you guys the most, thank you very very much!

To the lurkers (if there are any), I wish you guys leave something on the tag box once in awhile.

.........

.........

I really do not know what to say anymore...

Arigatou!

and

Sayonara!

Randoseru: ランドセル

2008-09-06T15:36:00.004+08:00

If any of you have ever read or watched Doraemon, you probably would've noticed Nobita's black backpack. And if you have a keen eye, you will notice that all Nobita's friend had the same bag as well.

The reason is, in Japan, for most elementary schools, the backpack itself is part of the uniform. Traditionally, the randoseru for boys is black in colour while for girls, its red. It's made of leather and usually given on the first day of school by the parent to the child. And it's supposed to last for the whole 6 years of elementary school. Many people will take good care of them into adulthood as a momento of their childhood.

The thing is, randoseru (randoserus?) are VERY expensive. One made out of genuine leather can cost over 30,000 yen (~RM960)! Even on sale, the cheapest would cost 10,000 yen (~RM320).

This one is 80,000 yen (~RM2570)

Wth, that's even more expensive than my phone, or my specs, or my scanner, or anything that I possess!

In comparison, my bag in college was only RM60 which is a mere 1867 yen. And it's a Converse bag which I like very much!

I can't imagine entrusting a 6/7 year old with something as expensive as that. I mean, you know kids! They'll throw their bags roughly onto to the floor, or step on it, or scribble on it, or poke it, and all kinds of stuff that would only elicit a horrified face from me!

You can probably save entire family in Africa from the brink of starvation with that kind of money, for God's sake!

Kindergarten

2008-09-04T21:06:00.003+08:00

I remember quite a number of things from my kindergarten days, most of which are too embarrassing to tell today.

Anyway, what I would like to share in this post, is this fading picture of my kindergarten class that I found in my drawer while cleaning up my stuff.

Click on picture for a larger version

Can you spot which is me? Lol!

I never got to know all the kids in my class... but some of them ended up in the same school as me.

The most interesting bit about this picture is the girl sitting third from the right.

OMG, is that the young JT!?!?

Actually, I've seeked confirmation when I was in Form 2 but she vehemently denied that the girl is her.

However, even now, I still am not quite convinced although I remember her shaking her head vigorously when asked about it... The young girl in the picture looks too much like her to not be her...

Rain

2008-09-03T00:57:00.002+08:00

Today I played basketball in the rain. It was an amazing feeling. It's like playing basketball in a giant shower! It's not really my first time doing that, but this is probably the first time I played in the rain not by myself. I was accompanied by a few neighbourhood kids and we had a good pickup game.

Yappari Johor no kikou tte saikou da.

Felt a little blue on the court since it's my last week playing there.

Why Do I Write

2008-09-03T00:19:00.002+08:00

This post will attempt to explain the reason for the lack of proper posts on this blog recently.

Why do I write?

When I started to blog the reason was chiefly to prevent my written English to drop in quality due to lack of use. And indeed, blogging has helped me prepare for my SPM English paper marvelously in almost a direct manner. Post SPM, my topics of writing included my little 2 month trip to west Java and later, chronicles of my A Levels life.

I noticed that the number of comments I received has dwindled because some of my more regular readers seem to become very busy with their lives. Some of them seemed to have stopped reading entirely. I can't really blame them because it's not exactly their fault and they are working hard pursuing their respective dreams.

However, it is a big blow to my motivation to write. Writers strive for attention. Their responsive audience are the fuel for them to continue writing. Or so I believe. The response I receive to my post has become so low that I can just tell to the readers individually about my thoughts instead of posting a blog entry. Thus the first reason why am I not writing much recently.

Secondly, after A Levels, I have been most of the time confined in my house and not going out. Therefore I haven't been making new friends. Friends are my number one readers and without friends there will be no readers of my blog.

Thirdly, my recent live is boring anyway.

Anyway, I have a lot that I wish to write and share to the world, but I wish I have more readers. In the end, this post is just another grumbling from me about something that I could remedy on my own and if not because of myself being overly selective when looking for friends, I would've had a lot of readers by now.

Oh, add a fourth reason to the lack of posts - I'm lazy.

A Tag in a language I barely understand

2008-08-31T23:12:00.006+08:00

Got tagged Jon in Chinese. *sarcasm*yay*sarcasm*

Maa, I'm bored anyway... I'll just try and do it.

So here it is... with its terrible translation and all.

1.知道被点名后的心情？What is my feeling when I'm being tagged?

Wth? This waaay toooo loong!

2.09年的第一个愿望？What's my wish for this year?

to be healthy

3.09年的情人节打算怎么过？ How do i intend to have my 09 valentine day?

To save a bishoujo's life and rewarded handsomely

4.09年最想收到的礼物？What kinda present do I want for the year of 09?

Health. Or perhaps a castle. I'd settle with an island if you can't give me a castle.

5.最想对父母说的一句话？ What would I wanna say most to my parents now?

Don't forget to wake me up for sahur later.

6.最难忘的是哪次恋爱？When was your most memorial date?

erm... the one where we got lost in the city.

7.自己最大的缺点？biggest weak point?

Like I'll tell you.

8.自己最大的优点？What's your biggest strong point?

I really don't want to brag... but if you have to know... down there is pretty strong...

Eh? not that kind of strong?

9.心目中的理想对象是什么样子？What is the impression I have for the girl I like?

I have a lot of girls that I like... I mean, "like" only right?

10.你的同性朋友多，还是异性朋友多？You have more friends of the same sex or different sex?

I don't count the number of friends

11. 你在乎别人的眼光？会为了众人的反对放弃自己想要的东西吗？Are you conscious of peoples view on you? Will you dunb things you want to mend peoples view on you?

I am concious but I don't really care much. As for 'dunb'ing things I want, it really depends

12.最难忘的恋人是哪个？Who is your most memorable gf/ bf

The one I met in Paris. Oh, that one I came across in Vienna was good too... But that girl from Australia had mad skillz!
Let's see... I like the one in Papua New Guinea too..

13.当你的爱人骗你时，你会怎样做？If you are cheated by your love ones, what will you do?

Feh, cheat on me? No girl would cheat on an amazing guy like me.

14.什么时候会想恋爱？When do you intend to start dating?

Question does not apply to me

15.什么时候不想恋爱？when will you not wanna date?

When I'm already dead

16.理想的结婚年龄？When will you wanna get married by?

Tomorrow. Or maybe yesterday.

17.选朋友的首要条件？What's the one thing your friends must have to be friends with you?

They must not be stupid.

18.最喜欢做什么事？What do you like to do most?

sleep

19.遇到心仪对象会主动追求吗？If you met the person you like will you go and try to get to know them?

Of course, what kind of stupid question is that. The questioner definitely cannot be my friend.

20.你最期望什么样的爱情？What is the kind of love life you hope for?

uh... passionate? simple and logical.

21.你以为分手后可以做朋友吗？Do you think after breaking up you can still be friends with the person?

Heh, no sane girl will want to break up with me.

22.被爱幸福，还是爱人幸福？being love or loving others, which is better?

both are equally nice

23.你放学回家是不是经常出去玩，节日时也往外跑？After sch do u go out to play often?

I play in dreamland.

24.最想感谢的人？Who is the person you wanna thank most?

My parents

25.最讨厌的人？Person you dislike most

myself

26.08年最开心的一件事？What's the best thing that have happened to you in the year 08?

Hmm...probably when my manga was published in a magazine.

27.08年最不开心的一件事？What's the worse thing that has happened this year?

so far when i spilled my ink twice.

28.爱情同面包你选哪个？心和胃呢？love or bread(idunno any inside meaning in this) you chose which? What about heart or stomach?

I'll take both, thank you.

29.发现被背叛了，你会怎么样？When you realize that you been cheated what would you do?

You seem to get cheated a lot to ask these questions, don't you? You must really suck.

30.喜欢暧昧关系吗？What do you think of crushes?

you mean relationship superposition? only nasakenai yatsura are like that.

31.最痛恨女人的什么缺点？What's the weakness of the girl you don't like?

Not using their brains to think and being stubborn.

32.最痛恨男人什么缺点？ What's the weakness of the guy you dislike most?

Arrogance when reality they suck.

33.觉得人生什么时候最幸福？When do you think a person is living a happy life?

when he is smiling.

34.觉得点名人是怎么样的人？What kind of person is the tagger?

a friendly guy

35.如果点名人说喜欢你你会怎么样？What will you do if someone says he/she likes you?

Wtf!?

36.觉得点名人最大的缺点是？What do you think the taggers weakest point is?

he thinks he's a great chess player when he's just average.

37.不开心会想起谁？Who will you think of when you are unhappy?

myself

38.最想和爱人做的一件事？What's the one thing that you wanna go with your gf/bf?

hmm... fly to the moon.

39.失去和错过哪个更让人心痛？Lost or wrong someone. Which is more painful?

heh, neither would happen to me.

40.如果家人反对你现在的恋情，你怎么办？If someone ask you not to date what will you do?

What a lousy translation of the question...

41.互相都很相爱，但是经常吵架，怎么办呢？if your love life is all quarrel now, what would you do?

sleep. that'll quell the quarrel

42.大家怎样看待花痴？How does people view girls crazy over guys?

I understand... girls are crazy over me.

43.对于未来，你有怎样的规划？What are the plans you have for the future?

to build a levitating house.

44.我杂那么漂亮（帅）呢？

this phrase got error or what

45.你最害怕什么？What are you most scare of?

fear

46.你会用什么方法去挽回一段可能失去的感情？What kind of methods will you use to get back relationships(love one) that are about to be lost?

use my sexy voice.

47.你觉得这个游戏有没有很烦啊？Do you think this game is annoying?

very.

48.这个假期有什么打算? What is your plan for this holiday?

got holiday meh?

49.你相信你的身上会有奇迹出现吗？do you believe in miracles?

yes

50.你相信缘分吗？do you believe in fate?

define fate.

51.你喜欢晴天还是阴天？you like sunny day or rainy day?

somewhere in between

52.你相信日久生情吗？Do you believe people will develop (feelings) for each other after knowing each other for a long time?

sure.

53.你相信天长地久承诺吗？do you believe in lifelong promise
between lovers?

i have doubts.

54.你为什么而存在?Why do you exist?

because of the exister?

55,现在的你，开心么? Now, What makes you most happy?

It's ramadan again

56.你最想去哪个地方旅游？Where do you wanna go to for a holiday?

Let A be the set that represents the places I have been. Let B be the set of places that I would not enjoy. Therefore the answer to the question would be (AUB)'

57。如果地震，你只能带一个书包，里面有你的生存用品，如吃喝药钱证件手机等，再拿一件物品，大小要在书包的范围之内，拿什么。If there is an earth quake,you only have a bag with your daily needs, what is the next item that you will take with you?

my life.

57.What is rubbish?

this thing

***

Done. I'd rather not tag anyone.

don't take my answers seriously though.

Zoo Adventure: Part I

2008-08-23T18:55:00.002+08:00

Hello all, my name is Farhan. Last Thursday, my eldest brother took me to the Singapore Zoo and I am going to tell you about my trip!

We started our adventure from The Treetops Trail.

Among the first animals that we saw were the otters. The smell really bad! Otters are territorial animals and they use their scent to mark their territory.

The otters were swimming playfully when we saw them. This one was doing a diving backstroke! Look at how beautiful it is! Its streamlined body and powerful tail help them to propel themselves with agility in water.

I wonder if Michael Phelps learned his backstroke from the otters...

The Singapore Zoo does not have tigers, but they have this;

Yes, it's a White Tiger! There were 3 of them and they were absolutely gorgeous.

White Tigers are not albinos, they only inherit the recessive genes that eliminate the orange colour of their fur. True albino tigers will be completely white without stripes.

White Tigers are so beautiful! They have sparkly blue eyes and cute pink noses and paws.

I also learned that all the White Tigers in captivity descended from a Tiger named Mohan who was the was a White Tiger taken into care by an Indian King in the past.

Tigers are endangered species and their number is gradually declining in the wild due to human activities! White Tigers are even rarer in the wild! We must protect them from extinction!

In the "Australian Outback", I said hi to the resident kangaroos.

This one may look small, but adult kangaroos and grow up to 2 metres tall! Kangaroos have strong long tails that helps them to stabilize their jumping. As a result, they can jump 13 metres in a single jump! That's like jumping the distance of 6 cars laid side by side!

Kangaroos are marsupials from the family macropods. They are marsupials because they have pouches like Koalas and Wallabies. They are macropods because they have humongous feet (macro=big, pods=feet).

One of the signs in the exhibits tells the tale of the origin of the name "Kangaroo". According to the sign, Captain James Cook and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks were exploring Australia when they happened to come upon the animal. They asked a nearby local what the creatures were called. The local responded "Kangaroo", meaning "I don't understand you", which Cook took to be the name of the creature.

But according to Wiki, this story is just a myth and that The word kangaroo derives from the Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru, referring to a grey kangaroo.

Well, that's all for now. I will bring to you more animals soon!

Egesting Quagmire

2008-08-22T09:16:00.002+08:00

After I went to the dentist the other day, I went straight to Singapore. I wrote that dentist post in the library.

This time the trip is because my house is installing a sitting toilet. So while the installation is being done, it's better to be some place with a working toilet. So almost all of my family stayed at my grandparents' place for a couple of days. Anyway, my mum had some work last Thursday, so I took my youngest brother out to the Singapore Zoo! The Zoo was amazing as always. Took hundreds of pictures which I will blog slowly.

So we got back home today but the toilet is still not done.

Damn! How the hell am I going to shit now?

And I fucking hate sitting toilets. I wan squatting ones!!!

Pardon the profanity, but this is preposterous...

Dentist visit

2008-08-20T12:43:00.002+08:00

Before I write anything, I would like to note that the previous post was actually the 100th post of this blog. *applaud*

Today I visited the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. It wasn't as painful as I thought, in fact, the second half of the cleaning process was rather soothing. Lol!

At first, the dentist took out his drill and pulverized the plaque surrounding my teeth while his assistant sprays the coolant (prolly water) into my oral orifice. At one point, while working on my teeth, he told me to lift the mirror I was holding in my hand and take a look at my mouth myself. There were a lot of blood gushing out of my gums while he pointed out a massive plaque that he just extricated from lower front teeth. -_-" But the pain was minor, I only felt some singes when the drill touches my gums.

On the second half of the procedure, he told me to put on a pair of brown tinted plastic goggles. I was perplexed and wanted to ask, but my mouth was full with a drill and hose in it. Then he was spraying some stuff that caused my gums to feel a cool stinging sensation. The doctor apologised and told me to bear with it for a moment. I thought that it wasn't that bad, he didn't really have to apologise for anything.

My curiousity overwhelmed me that I had to ask the doctor what was he spraying into my teeth. But all that came out from me was something like "Awe wende ni?". He told me that he was removing stains. Not really answered my question, but that's nice to know anyway.

After spraying and a little more drilling to obliterate the plaque, it was over. The whole thing took a mere 15 minutes. Waiting for my turn took longer than that. -_-" After cleaning my teeth he showed me videos of a few of the procedures that he shot in his operating room. They were gory... but the doctor assured me that they aren't painful. I believe him, cos after a few shots of anaesthetic with the huge dental syringe, there shouldn't be anymore pain.

When I got out from the doctor's room and went to the counter, the lady behind it politely said to me: "That will be RM100."

15 minutes and a hundred bucks? Doc, that is one thing you have to apologise for.

A funny thing that happened...

2008-08-19T22:45:00.002+08:00

So today in the bathroom in the evening and looked down to my track pants, I realised that I have been wearing them wrongly - the back was in front. The thing is, I've been wearing the pants since morning and no one seem to realise that I had them on backwards!

The funnier thing was that before I went into the bathroom, I had jogged around the neighbourhood and played basketball for half an hour. Still, not a single person pointed out anything about my pants. -_-""

I won the basketball game though.

The Fastest Man on Earth!

2008-08-17T00:08:00.003+08:00

Today in Beijing marks the day the coronation of the new fastest man on Earth. Yes, the Jamaican Usain Bolt has broken the 9.7 second barrier and finished the finals of the 100m sprint in a whopping new World Record time of 9.69 seconds!

The man, Usain Bolt. Well, with a name like that... obviously...

It was an amazing run. He was already well in front when he reached about 60m and already started to celebrate 15 metres behind the finish line with his jig.

Damn! Had he really ran even though he is sure he is already far ahead from his fellow competitors, he probably could've got below 9.6 seconds...

Tsumari... aitsu wa BAKEMONO da!!!

Beijing Olympics

2008-08-10T23:14:00.004+08:00

Actually, I wasn't really looking forward towards the Olympics because I thought that things are going to be boring and stuff repeating itself. But I guess I was too naive and ignorant about the true nature of the Olympics. One day spent watching some of the games changed my impression entirely.

But first off, the opening ceremony. I think I enjoyed the opening ceremony, but some people in a certain forums criticized the ceremony as being grossly subpar in comparison with the one in Athens 2004. Honestly I don't remember anything about the Athens opening ceremony...

Anyway, I don't really wanna talk much about something 4 days back, so I'll just tell what really changed my impression of the Olympics yesterday. So at 11pm yesterday, I caught Today in Beijing on Channel 5 and was bombarded with an avalanche of miraculous performances by athletes of the day.

There was Michael Phelps and his US relay team that broke the World Record for the Mens 100x4 Swimming Freestyle Relay by almost 4 seconds. I thought that was really astonishing! Cos 4 seconds is like the team swam more than 10 metres faster than the previous World Record holder team. At the final moments of, Alain Bernard of the French team was leading all the time, but Jason Lezak of USA inched closer and closer and took the gold away from the French team by being faster by a mere 0.08 seconds! That's faster than you can blink! (Blinking takes on average 0.3 to 0.4 seconds.) And what's even more amazing that the runner up French team and the third place Australians also finished faster than the previous World Record. Simply simply amazing stuff. And I do hope they didn't dope themselves. That would be heartbreaking.

Then there was the great upset in Womens Badminton Doubles where the Japanese duo Suetsuna Satoko and Maeda Miyuki eliminated the defending gold medalists Chinese duo Zhang Jiewen and Yang Wei! In the first set, things didn't look good at all for the Japanese team when the Chinese girls cruised almost effortly winning at 21-8. Then, somehow, 奇跡に, the Japanese team took the next two sets 23-21 and 21-14!! It's just ineffable! That's how much grit the Japanese duo showed against probably the greatest boulder in their quest for gold! The moment they got match point, the Japanese girls were overwhelmed with emotions, fell on to their knees and started to well up in tears of joy. 泣けたんだぞ！

Another thing that I thought was amazing happened in Men's 73kg Judo where the Azerbaijan Judoka Elnur Mammadli defeated the Korean Wang Kichun for the gold. What's incredible about this one is that it only lasted for 13 seconds!! Mammadli won by ippon (whatever that means). Imagine from Wang's perspective... you are standing on an international stage, ready to have a good fight with your opponent. But then, only after 13 seconds it has ended and you lost. If I were in his shoes, I would be shocked and painfully disappointed! Mammadli was very happy when he won that he gave Wang a hug and a pat on the butt after the winner was announced.

Well, I guess from now on, I am going to keep an eye on the Olympics and report more incredible stuff that's happening in Beijing.

And oh, btw, Wong Choon Han is doing pretty well. A gold medal for Malaysia perhaps? Who knows. I watched World No 1 Lin Dan played today too. (I'm talking about Badminton here, if you are still oblivious to what I am talking about) He can do strange stuff with his racket. I wonder again and again how does he manage to drive the shuttle into such acute angles. His smash is scary too, it's like a whiplash. I guess that's why he's the World No 1 right now.

A long explanation

2008-08-09T11:05:00.002+08:00

So what happened was, the hard disk of my computer was corrupted. I have a little confession to make though... it was probably my fault.

It was Monday this week and I was sitting on my computer chair and turning around and around and I accidentally hit the side of the computer. Suddenly, the screen froze up and the speaker started to make a unpleasant vibrating noise.

I shut down my computer and restarted it but for some reason, the computer isn't sending any signals to the LCD screen resulting in a blank screen. I must admit that I got a little scared and decided to run away and ensconce myself in Singapore until Wednesday.

When I got back home on Wednesday morning, the computer is still there and my dad has not sent it for repairs. -_-" I was sorta hoping he'd send it anyway without me around. In the evening, I decided to operate on the computer. Nothing seemed wrong when I looked into the insides of the computer. Even so, I had an inkling that it might have been the hard disk, since the region of the casing that I accidentally hit was close to the hard disk. So I poked and prodded the hard disk, taking it out, putting it back in, adjusted the cables a little bit and tried to switch on the computer.

And it worked! Everything seemed fine, except for the internet connection which didn't seem to want to connect. So I decided to play Halo for a bit. After getting very frustrated because I kept getting myself killed by a rocket launcher, I restarted my computer and OH NO! the screen prompted that one of the files are corrupted. I got out my Vista DVD, but the DVD player wouldn't read it. I did know how to get my DVD player work in BIOS so I decided I should send it to the shop anyway.

Later thay next night, my stupid brother did something that totally screwed up the contents of the hard disk. I think he deleted everything in C:! ばかやろう！So on Thursday, my dad and I sent the computer to the shop and the guy confirmed my guess that it was a hard disk problem.

The hard disk was replaced, and I got back the computer last night. Since the computer's warranty has expired, the total cost of replacement was a whopping 160 bucks! And 100 bucks of that had to come out from my own pocket. T-T The shop charged 20 bucks as service charge. What a rip off, I should've done the replacement myself. -_-" So I spent a huge portion of last night reinstalling stuff...

The corruption of my previous hard disk is not without serious ramifications.

1. I lost the doc file my previous blog. Means I wasted time and effort copying and pasting it into my computer.
2. I lost my anime files. Luckily I got most of them backed up. Unfortunately, I lost the last episode of Ouran and all the episodes of Fate Stay Night which I was in the middle of watching it.
3. I lost all my manga files. Means I'll have to rescan and reedit everything from scratch! But I am more experienced now and willing to try something new during editing, so I'm not really that scared. Besides, I've got the most important file backed up somewhere online anyway.
4. I lost Halo. I haven't even finished that game yet. I haven't even blogged about it yet!

So that's the story of my computer. I hope the next time this machine breaks down is months from now.

***

Now about my mp3 player. When I brought it to the shop on Wednesday, it seemed to still be working fine after being plugged into a sleek pink Vaio. So I went home without getting a replacement. But later on, I realised the problem with my walkman.

It has now gotten very delicate. It can play songs but if I press on of the sides of the casing of the walkman a little too hard while it's playing, it will freeze up and I'll have to press the reset button at the back of walkman. Argh! Damn... I didn't know it gets old that quickly... I wonder if the warranty covers that...

more ranting

2008-08-06T11:32:00.002+08:00

Ugh... What a terrible course of events. Did I mention that my mp3 player suddenly went haywire since Saturday? When I try to press the ON button, the screen will flash the "Walkman" logo, then "Create Database" and back to "Walkman" alternately a few times before turning off completely. Wtf?? Sometimes, it wouldn't even turn on no matter how I press the ON button. Damn!

So today I decided that I'll pay a visit to the shop and claim the warranty of this thing... Mendoukusai na...

Another really terrible thing happened on Monday:
MY COMPUTER BROKE DOWN AGAIN!!!

U(Q#)B)$&()@BH$&*#^$CB@#*^$*!!!

The screen froze up when I was using it before I left the house for my trip to Singapore. Damn! I hope it'll come hope soon and whatever is wrong with it is not very serious. Because I haven't finished my manga editing yet.

That Monday night while I was in Singapore, I started to feel a little warm and feverish. My nose started to become runny. The next day was almost entirely spent in slumberland, plagued with alternating nightmares and good dreams.

***

Despite the series of unfortunate events that continue to haunt me in the past few days, there were some great things that happened as well. But I don't feel like telling them right now cos 1. I'm in a foul mood and 2. I'm at the library and the feel is different here, if you get what I mean. Besides I have to leave soon anyway.

I'll somehow procure internet connection back at home if the computer at home isn't there and write something nicer later.

Ohisashiburi

2008-08-04T12:04:00.002+08:00

Hey all. I know it's been awhile since the last time I updated my blog. The reason is a mixture of indolence, lack of time, lack of motivation, lack of response, lack of good writing material and indolence.

Of course, many interesting things has happened since the last time I updated my blog, but I don't know whether or not my readers will appreciate them as much as I do. However, a big event happened in the past 3 days, which was the PC Fair and I will chronicle a little bit about that in a couple of days time. I am going for a little trip today, so I don't have the time to write the post and then edit and upload the pics that I took.

I'm just writing this short post because some people have been telling me that it has been a long time since I wrote anything. So lemme tell one thing that has been happening lately.

Recently, if I engage in activities that will lead me towards exhaustion, I will almost inevitably plunged into a very deep slumber with very vivid dreams. Once, I was so deep in sleep that in the dream, I myself do realise that I WAS in the dream. I mean, I was in the dream and I KNOW I am in the dream. But I didn't wake myself up, and opted to stay in the dream for a bit. And it was quite worth it.

But last night I had all sorts of dreams, one about me having Superman powers and able to jump like 5 stories high effortlessly. I can still remember how the wind felt like around my ears in that dream. I also had an insight of how it feels like to have such powers... It was a great responsibility that I am not sure that I will able to undertake...

Meh, enough about me and my dreams. I know you think they are stupid anyway. But to me, they reveal deep emotions and thoughts that teaches me a few things when I wake up in the morning (or rather, noon. Lol!). I rarely discuss the significance of them with anyone because no one seems to take it seriously. Which is rather sad. Which is one of the reasons why I stop writing. Ah well...

Btw, I watched The Dark Knight with Natsue on the day after her birthday and Heath Ledger was AWESOMENESS!! A definite must-watch movie. Here's a spoof of the interrogation scene between Batman and Joker made by some people on Youtube. I tell you, it's hilarious!!

Deleted

2008-07-16T21:35:00.002+08:00

Okay, I've deleted my friendster blog despite saying that I was just going to leave the nostalgic past drifting in the virtual world for eternity in the last post. But circumstances has changed and I had to delete it. It's okay, cos I've saved the entire blog into my hard drive. I also got to read some my earlier posts. How nostalgic...

大変！

2008-07-16T19:21:00.002+08:00

Wth?! My mum's on Friendster! And she tried to add me! Should I approve the request?

The reason why am I worried is because there lies my old blog that contains deep, dark secrets that my mum should never, EVER know!

Well, there is the option of deleting the blog entirely, but then I will risk all the precious contents.

The only way around this is to slowly copy and paste everything slowly and THEN delete the blog.

Mendoukusai na~~~~~!!!

Kritical Phase 002!

2008-07-12T23:39:00.007+08:00

The English version of Kritical Phase 002 is up on deviantART.
Go and read it, damn it!

Here's the link to Phase 001 if you missed the first part...

新世紀エヴァンゲリオン - Neon Genesis Evangelion

2008-07-10T22:14:00.002+08:00

From left to right: Third Child, Asuka Soryuu Langley; Second Child, Ikari Shinji; First Child, Ayanami Rei

This morning I finally finished the 26th episode of the TV series of Neon Genesis Evangelion. And tonight, I watched the first part of the movie - The End of Evangelion. I have yet to find the second half of the movie. It's available for download somewhere, but the one I found was too big to the extent that it's making me lazy to download it. Anyway, I'll somehow find a way to watch the last part anyway.

So now I somewhat understand why NGE is regarded as one of the greatest anime series ever. To me, I can't really say that NGE is the great. But that doesn't mean NGE is bad. Neon Genesis Evangelion is definitely a rare gem among the many crappy anime that come out these days. NGE is legendary.

Honestly, after watching the last episode of the TV series, I feel very depressed. Or maybe I have been feeling bad ever since I woke up early in the morning and the ending of NGE just made my mood worse. The last 2 episodes were almost incomprehensible, vague and ambiguous. It can be interpreted in innumerable ways from the way I see it. I seems like the producers of NGE were trying to write a Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet of modern times. What I mean is, the anime seem to be deliberately written in such a way so that people will continue to debate and talk and discuss the true meaning behind the absurd ending of the TV series.

And the producers has somewhat succeeded in doing so. According to a blog that I came across a short while ago, NGE has and still being discussed in forums all over the place even now, over 13 years since it's initial broadcast. That is the mark of influence NGE has over the audience.

The plotline is simple yet complex. Although NGE can be considered a mecha series (although actually the Evangelions (those robots you see in the anime) is partly biological), this series is nothing like Eureka 7 or Gundam. In Eureka 7 and the Gundam series the pilots are heroic, valiant. In NGE, it's quite different. The protagonist of NGE, Ikari Shinji is a coward, pathetic kid. Throughout the story, Shinji continues to exasperate me with his propensity to run away during times where he is needed the most.

The characters of NGE are well developed, deep and enigmatic. I now somewhat understand why Gendou, the moderator of the famous gendou.com chose Gendou as his screen name. In NGE, Ikari Gendou is the father of Shinji. Gendou is a really rare bastard. I can't even start to describe his personality! He's just ineffable.

Anyway, to summarise, if you wanna watch NGE, watch it. If you don't wanna, it's okay as well. To me, NGE is depressing, but still quite a story...

バトン

2008-07-05T19:53:00.003+08:00

Got this from 子心's blog... Go and visit her blog for fun, although you probably won't understand a thing... it's pretty interesting to see a blog from a different country and how do they do it there.

I thought this baton/tag thing is pretty intersting, so I decided to try and do it...

ルール
Rulez~!

１：回す時はちゃんと相手にメールする
(Must tell the people you pass this around to do this)

２：回す人数は絶対５人
(This must be passed around to exactly 5 people)

３：必ず正直に答える事
(Must definitely answer truthfully)

■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□

いちぉ聞いて置くけど名前は？
(Name?)
⇒MJ is fine...

何かめんどくさいと思わなぃ？バトン・・・
(Don't you think these Baton (tag/questionnaire) are a bother?)
⇒Actually I do think these stuff are a bother sometimes, especially if it's just full of crap load of futile non-thought provoking stuff or repetitive stuff... But some are pretty interesting, I guess? Like this one? The questions are phrased in a rather intriguing manner...

ネットの世界で大事な友達ってぃたりする？
(Do you have important friend(s) on the net?)
⇒Yes, yes!

好きな人・・・ぃる？
(Do you have a person that you like? [Note: The question is more like to 'Do you have a particular person that you particularly like? In the sense of love kinda... thing. I mean, your mum wouldn't count.])
⇒Yes, yes!!

君の性格を一言で言うなら？
(If you were to describe your character in one word?)
⇒Err... complicated? Lol!

へぇ・・・じゃぁ好きなアニメor漫画は？
(eh... So what's your favourite anime or manga?)
⇒Well, nothing in particular really... as for anime, I'm trying to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion recently. Nicest anime I've watched recently is prolly... Haruhi? Ouran was kinda nice too, I guess. FMP... I wish they'll have a proper third season.

As for manga... I'm waiting for the continuation of Deadman's Wonderland... But favourite manga for now would prolly be Eyeshield and School Rumble.

好きな音楽とかぁたりする？
(Favourite music?)
⇒YUI!

Recently tried to listen to Final Fantasy music....

その曲のＣＤとか持ってたりする？
(Do you have their CDs?)
⇒Well, I do have 2 of YUI's CDs... Trying to find the first one. But she's the only singer whose CD I buy. Haha!

じゃぁ最後に質問。君って男？女？
(Final question... Are you a guy or a gal?)
⇒A Guy. *checks* Yup, still a guy.

そんじゃ誰に回す？それと回す人にはちゃんと連絡しなょ
(So who are you spreading this around to? Must definitely contact that person to do this, okay!!)

Bryan! Try doing this one for the first tag on your blog!
Howard先生！Yokattara, douzo!

Yeah well, I can't think of any others that would actually do this...

It's a lonely world.

***

Btw, I notice that in Japanese batons, the question about 'favourite music/anime/manga' come out a lot. Is that question THAT important? It's pretty strange... Why don't they have more interesting questions like 'If you are stranded in an island, what 3 stuff do you want to have with you?' or 'How do you imagine your funeral would be like' or 'Are you gay?' or 'What's your dream house/car/phone?'

Surely they are more imaginative that this? Or maybe it's just the batons that 子心 picks...

Meh.

Class Pic 2005

2008-07-03T11:45:00.007+08:00

Well, I guess many of you should recognise this picture. This is 5 Science 1 of 2005!

Larger pic here.

Ah, we look so young at that time. Everyone has went their own different paths... Some of them I have no idea where did they went.

I really wish I can be back to that time... It was my Zaman Kegemilangan... Lol!

Warning: Very bad Japanese ahead.

みな元気かな？あぁ、あのころに戻りたいな～！

前列左から；

Guan Haoくん…機械工学を学んでいるよね？MMUに…人間のような知能的なロボットを作ることを目指してると言ったんだね！今、その夢に近づくことができるかな？

Philipくん…クラスのジョーカー！お前の冗談もう一度聞きたいな！今、オーストラリアのUNSWに化学工学を学んでいるよね…前、勉強が大嫌いと言ってたんだ。今、もう好きになったかな？

Shau Chongくん…あ、この人から俺の去年の誕生日に始めてチースケーキをもらった！JTと買ってくれたんだね？それが絶対忘れない！今、Philipくんのように化工を学んでいるよね？KLに？

Wai Yanくん…今Guan Haoと同じ大学に通ってるよね？学科も同じか？覚えてない～

この俺様だ！Aiks...　毎回この写真を見たら「それは本当に俺の髪か？」と思う。Kinda ugly.

校長先生。もう辞めたんだ。今海外に奥さんと一緒にお茶を平和に飲んでいるかな？皆は先生を「ドラえもん」と呼んでいたぞ！最初から気づいてたかな？

担任先生Bob。英語を教えてくれたんだ。いまその学校でまだ働いてるよね？クラス楽しかったんだよ！いつもありがとう！

Jean...ちょっと前上海から帰ってきた…今シンガポールでInternshipしてる？なぜ言ってくれなかったんだよ？？

Hafizahちゃん～今国の北の大学で医者になるためよくがんばってるよね？GAH!お前に会いたいんだよ！！！俺たちは親友だったんだろう？Aih...

I Lynちゃん…勉強はやっと終わったよね！そろそろシンガポールで働く。お前はこのクラスから一番社会人かも…

Wei Tingちゃん…Jeanと同じPolytechnicに通ってる？俺知らない。Stay可愛いas always!

中列左から；

Yi Veanちゃ－I mean,　Yi Vean上級総長！ちっちゃイ…でも怖い！今中国でまだInternshipをしてる？俺のお土産を忘れるなよ！

JTちゃん～あぁ、大好きなJTちゃん～その真正な笑顔はこの写真だけ見えるよ。他の写真の中に見えない。来年オーストラリアへ勉強に行くよね？がんばってね！

Seik Yeeちゃん…今何やってるの？５年同じクラスのに…お前は俺にめったに話しかけたよ。

Suk Yenちゃん…転校生だったんだね。Form 6の後で何やってるの？

Ee Lingちゃん！お前がいないから俺は落ち着ける…学級委員はこの方だぞ！なぜお前の命令を奉じなきゃ？！でもね、お前のパンチを何故かもう一度感じたいよ…

Chuang Xuanさん…同じクラスは一年だけから、君のことをよく知らない…ごめん！今何やってるの？

Xiu WeiさんとSing Lingさん…めったに話しかけた。二人も口が重そうだったんだ。Xiu Weiは去年俺と同じCollegeに通ってたんだけど…今何やってるのはわからない。Sing Lingも去年同じCollegeに通ってたんだ。今オーストラリアに学んでいるそうだ。よくやってるそうだね？

Sitiさん…Hafizahさんの隣に座ってた友達だ。今大学に入ることができた？どれ大学かな？

Aliciaさん…Alicia伍長のほうがかも…声量が小さい…ほとんど聞こえない…でもいい人だな。シンガポールでよく学んでいる？彼氏とまだ一緒に？

Sheet Yenちゃん…昔俺に聞きたい質問が多かった。今イギリスの大学に入ったそうだ！うらやましいな！

Ching LingさんとLeng Enさん…めったに話しかけた。二人のことよく知らない…

Carelynちゃん…MMUでGuan HaoくんとWai Yanくんと同じ学んでいるよね。でも学科は違うの？

後列左から；

Young Chowくん…Guan Haoと俺と一緒に工学競争に入ったよね。二番ができた！いい記憶だな…Form 6の後でどれ大学に入る？

Qiくん…一年下年が、頭が良くて、ギターとピアノが上手な器量人だ！今NUSに機械工学を学んでいるよね。そこでおとなしく待ちなさい！俺は２０１０年にそこに入るぞ！

Han Linくん…俺の前に座ってたやつだ。今何やってんだろう？

Jia Minくん…お前は迷惑だったんだよ！今その偉そうな態度をまだ持ってるかな？シンガポールで学んでいるよね…でも何を学んでるのは全然忘れちゃったんだ！

Hong Tingくん…今いっぱいガールフレンドいっぱいできたそうだ。昔お前の声めったに聞こえる。何の魔法を使ったの？

Boon Engくん！バスケットボールのコートで俺の相棒とライバルだった！今までもバスケットをよくやってるかな？UTMに入ることができたそうだな…大学のバスケット部を入部しないか？

Zhen Longくん…お前は今何やってるの？最後の会ったときからすごく久しいよね…

Ming Songくん…お前は俺の近くに座ってたのに、お前のことよく知らないんだぞ。今何やってるかな？

Hon Yongくん…医者になるため、ロシアに学んでいる…夏休みにもう帰ってきたの？

Fauzanくん…獣医になるよね！どれ大学に学んでいるのは忘れちゃったんだ…

Bryanくん…Roflmao!!それは本当にお前の昔の顔か！？今と比べて、超違うんだ！いい児みたいだったぞ！

Xin Youくん…ちょっと…お前のSeating Positionは…どこだった？へ～忘れちゃった！お前もForm 6を受けたそうだね？大学に入ることができる？

Yikiくん…昔「ジゴロになるつもり」と言った…変体野郎！でも今大人になったよね？オーストラリアに学んでるか？

以上！

皆さん、いつか、できたら、また会いましょうね！

俺はもう一度「起立！」と叫びたいよ！

すごく懐かしい…

Dream

2008-07-01T15:24:00.002+08:00

Maybe it was because of last night's match that I was plunged into a very deep slumber this afternoon. As a result I had a very intense dream. So I'm going to share a little bit about this dream that I had although of course ultimately, it's probably just another of my crazy dreams.

So go and read something else if you think my dream isn't worth knowing (which is something I'd do if I were you).

***

In the dream, I was back in secondary school. I was donning the nostalgic secondary school uniform - white shirt and green pants. However, the people around me wasn't exactly the people from my secondary school. They look a lot more from the people from my PRIMARY school, except that they've grown up into secondary school students.

I don't quite remember much of the beginning of the dream, but it has something to do with a girl... But I'm not exactly sure who she was or whether I've ever met her in real life. We seem to quarrel a lot but we are still 'friends', I think. In a sense, it's something like the relationship Kaname and Sousuke has in Full Metal Panic!. Maybe I WAS dreaming about Kaname. But then again, the girl didn't have flowing bright blue hair like Kaname.

Anyway, in the dream I have established an organisation, a brigade you might call it, that will respond to emergency situations and save the day. I was the leader and the members of the brigade was comprised of a number of male companions. Anyway, this brigade/team thingy has a code language that the members will understand and react according to my instructions. I know this sounds really pathetic and childish. However, I do remember establishing such a thing back when I was in primary school! But of course, at that time, there weren't exactly a case where we could act as heros.

At one point in the dream, that girl was kidnapped by one the students in the school and held hostage in a class. The school announced state of emergency and everyone was instructed to go to the school hall. When the news reached my ears, I was horrified and ran to the school intercom to communicate with the other members of the brigade. They were unresponsive. I was lost. Then I saw Mel running towards me with her friend. They were about to tell me what happened but I cut them before they could even start to tell me;

"MJ!-" she started.

"She was kidnapped... right!?" I said.

I threw down the communicator and ran out of the room. I wasn't sure where am I supposed to head. The brigade members had betrayed my leadership possibly because of fear. I was close to tears as I darted down the hallways. I was halted by a teacher (looks a lot like my primary school science teacher when I was in primary 6). Wielding her menacing rattan, she barked at me, trying to make me go to the hall. I screamed at her - "I'm not going to listen to you!!" and ran past her. I could feel a sharp pain as her cane hit me a few times.

After running for a bit, I calmed down and found myself near the class in which the girl was kidnapped. There was a large commotion near the class. But the class doors were locked and the windows were closed. I could hear the people near the class screaming and pleading the kidnapper to release the girl. There were even echos from the hall, which was quite a distance away of students demanding the kidnapper to relase the girl. Although there were a lot of people near the class, nobody dared to get too close to it. The kidnapper is probably armed.

Whoever the girl in the dream was, I must have loved and cared her very much because the next thing I did was that I picked up two long wooden rods (They look like broomsticks, but they aren't... more like a galah or something), marched up to the entrance of the class and demanded the kidnapper to open the door.

He unlocked the door, backed away and I entered the dark class. The girl looked unharmed. She was seated silently somewhere in the middle of the class, paralyzed with fear. The kidnapper stood near her and there was also a similar wooden rod in his right hand. The kidnapper looked a lot like one of my classmates when I was in Form 5. I don't exactly hate this guy, but he's a little annoying online, so I don't quite like him either.

I stopped in front of the class. With the blackboard behind me, I pointed one of my rods to him and demanded an explanation for his absurd behaviour. And he gave me an equally absurd answer! In turns out that he has been waiting for me to show up. He had kidnapped the girl to lure me to the class. He said that he can't stand me anymore. He has to kill me.

Why?? He then explained a very bizzare reason that made me felt a little guilty. He said that because I forgot to give him the handouts from the teacher when he was absent, he was harshly reprimanded by the teacher many times. Therefore, he decided I should hold the blame and die.

That made me really uncomfortable because I kinda remember that I've really done something like that back in secondary school.

He then took out what looked like a butcher's knife from his back pocket. The blade didn't have a handle like a proper knife and he was holding the knife on the blunt side of the blade. He threw the blade at me. I easily blocked the rather gentle throw with my rod and the metal blade fell on to the floor with a clang.

He took out more and more blades and started to pelt me with them. I blocked every single one of them. But that forced me to stay still where I was while he got closer and closer to me. When he was close enough, he swung one of the blades in his left hand in an attempt to slice me up. I caught his wrist just in time to prevent the fatal blow.

But his right hand was quicker. I wasn't able to stop his right hand quickly enough. I felt a sharp searing pain in my left palm and left abdomen. Blood spilled onto the floor. The kidnapper laughed maniacally. But somehow, I was able to get my hands around his throat and strangled him. It took a painfully long 3 minutes to choke him until he was out of breath and on the floor. When he finally fell on to the floor, I let him go. My fingers were numb because of the surprisingly large force I needed to exert to strangle him. I was breathing loudly and perspiring profusely.

But he wasn't dead yet. He suddenly jerked back into life! He had a horribly frightening near-death expression on his face as he tried lunge at me. I quickly picked up one of the rods that was lying on the floor and clubbed his head hard with it. He promptly fell back on to the floor.

With the rod still firmly in my hands, I carefully observed him expecting another attack. Sure enough, with a bloodcurdling moan, he jerked back up, flailing his arms to reach me. I didn't take any chances this time. Summoning every ounce of strength and will that I had, I let out a yell and bludgeoned his skull continuously.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

Blood started to fountain out from tiny holes in his skull like a leaking pipe. But I didn't stop. I continued to bat him with a battery of violent blows. When I realised the large glistening red pool of blood that was forming beneath his head, I stopped. Letting out a loud breath of relief, I slumped on to my knees.

The girl never came up me even though her kidnapper is now lying dead on the floor. Her behind continued to remain stuck in her chair because of fear. She didn't thank me, she didn't even made sure that I was okay, she didn't even made eye contact with me.

I was taken out from the class by a woman. A sexy woman. But I wasn't interested in the woman at all. Even when the sexy woman kissed me on the lips (okay, now the dream starts to get a little random), I was really concerned over the girl.

Time passed (in the dream) and I was never celebrated as a hero. There wasn't a single congratulations, a single thank you, single 'oh, I'm so relieved now'. Rather, I was treated more like a monster. After awhile, the incident was completely forgotten. The girl never talked to me ever again. It was utterly dejecting.

***

There were more random events in the dream before I woke up. But I must say that this is a rather rare dream because it actually has an ending before I woke up. And furthermore... I wonder who was that girl...

No, it's not you, Natsue. I don't know you when I was in secondary school!

Kritical Online!

2008-07-01T01:16:00.002+08:00

The English version of my new manga Kritical is finally uploaded on my deviantART page!

Read the first chapter here!

ドイツ敗れた！ Euro 2008 Finals - Germany 0, Spain 1

2008-06-30T05:17:00.003+08:00

As a supporter of Germany, it pains to see the Mannschaft had to concede to the Matadors in the epic final match of the Euro 2008 campaign.

Without looking at the professional reviews of the match, here's how it went through my eyes;

I felt that the Germans played rather sluggishly from the start having some trouble getting the ball past the midfield. They seem to play rather too cautiously. Perhaps it's because of Ballack's and Fring's injury. Also, their flow was somewhat impeded by the resolute Spainiards causing them to not play as smoothly as how I saw they played against Turkey.

Anyway, at 23 minutes, the Germans had a scare when Torres's header hits the low left post of the German goal. I started to become rather nervous right about that moment when I saw the Spain's pace.

At 33 minutes, Torres beat the smaller Lahm down the right side of the field to chip the ball over Lehmann. Lehmann, who rushed forwards, was a split second late as the ball sails into the left side of the net, giving the Spainiards the lead.

I let out a scream as anguish along with the German supporters which I think woke my mother up because I think I heard her grunting or sth. 気のせいかな？

Later one, Ballack's volley was blocked and another missed the goal by inches. It was heartbreaking! The German attack looked rather weak. Nervousness start to creep into the faces of the white jerseyed Germans and their fans as time wanes towards full time.

The Matadors are a pretty violent bunch! They pushed, kicked and headbutted the Germans throughout the game. At one point, following a contact with Senna (I think), Ballack received a nasty cut near his right eyebrow. He played with a bloody jersey throughout the rest of the match. There was also an occasion where one of the Spain players (I forgot who) headbutted Podolski in a little quarrel between the German striker and the said Spain player. Ballack was absolutely furious as he went on a rampage, jumping around madly, complaining to the official on the sideline. The Germans were awarded a free kick but failed to take advantage of it.

One funny thing that happened during the match was both team captains were awarded a yellow card after arguing with the referee near the outside of Spain's penalty area following a foul. I am not sure of the reason though, but Casillas looked like he spoke to the ref nicely. But then again, he came out the penalty box just to argue, which he wasn't supposed to do.

Throughout the end, there was one occasion where the Germans furiously attacked the Spainiard's defense but ultimately failed to convert. As full time loomed even closer, the German defense looked weak and demotivated. It was fairly evident that either fatigue or demotivation caused Metzelder to lose the ball when he wasn't supposed to which lead to a fast counter-attack by the Spanish team.

However, Lehmann, the oldest player standing on the field, was resolute and gallantly denying the Spaniards a second goal. He made a number of spectacular saves, a triple save during the time where the Spain's offense was raging in the second half. He also rushed in time when Torres was about to score in the same fashion as he did in the first half.

In the end, the German's attack failed to score and Torres's goal remains giving Spain a 1-0 victory over Germany. Thus ends Spain's 44-year drought without an international trophy. As the Spanish team celebrated and danced with their fans when they raised the Henri Delauney trophy, Lehmann can only watch with a dejected face and be disappointed that his valiant effort of the night didn't exactly pay off they way it should have.

***

Waaaaaaah~ Apsal Jerman kalah~~!!! Tak guna betul!! Celaka! Sepanyol cam sial! Diorang bukan main bola! Main kung-fu aderla! Langsung tak gentleman! Habis semua pemain Jerman kena sepak terajang. Sedih sungguh!

***

Well, as for now, we can only wait for the World Cup South Africa in 2010.

交響詩篇エウレカセブン - Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven

2008-06-28T19:06:00.004+08:00

Well, I've just finished reading the manga version of Eureka 7. Here's the cover of the first volume;

Eureka Seven is a sci-fi action mecha anime that was was aired back in 2005-2006. I tried to stream the anime online, but many of the episodes were corrupted and it seriously deterred me from continue watching.

So I switched to the manga version instead at onemanga.com.

And it's damn awesome!

I fell completely in love with the art at first sight. The strokes are just perfect! It's the kind of manga art that I love and would want to emulate. The use of tones... the anatomy of the characters. The cool LFOs... everything was amazing. I would buy this manga just for the art if it is ever published in this part of the world.

As for the story, it's rather complicated and I don't really feel like telling at all. The manga version only has 6 volumes which comprises of a total 23 chapters. Each chapter is pretty long... about 50 pages each. I must admit that at times, I do experience fatigue while reading the manga. But I plough through anyway.

Eureka 7 has a proper ending, although a rather melancholic, as the characters continue their lives with hope.

Anyway, I really hope the manga version will be published here sometime in the future so that I can buy it and study the art carefully and ultimately improve my inking skills.

Rants rants rants

2008-06-26T23:31:00.004+08:00

I am tired. I just got back from Singapore (thankfully the journey was smooth unlike last time when I had to encounter a rather impertinent immigration officer [he's probably tired]) to return and borrow more book from the library (as usual). Hence the past two days that I spent at my grandparents' place where filled with nothing but reading.

There's nothing over there for me really. I have no friends there and my cousins who I used to play with when I was younger has all grown up and scattered all over the world. What's left are just annoying children (but sometimes amusing) and grumpy adults.

I stayed up to watch the Germany-Turkey match and it was good. The biggest Singapore tabloid asserted that Turkey will play a defensive formation as "it is their only hope if they were to defeat the Germans". I thought this is garbage. Turkey has nothing to hold back, why the hell would they play defensively and let the Germans dictate the play? Sure enough, I was correct and Turkey did play a fast offensive confident game. They had 3 times shots on target compared to the Germans! It was a pleasure to watch their midfielders confidently harrass Lehmann from long distances. I particularly liked Altintop's looping free kick that caught Lehmann by surprise and Lehmann had to rise up into an awkward arc to tip the ball away.

Although with that said, I am actually rooting for Germany. I am not sure why myself. Perhaps it's because someone I liked in the past is an avid supporter of Germany. Maybe it's because the German sported white uniforms - my favourite colour. Perhaps it's because it's fun to watch their skipper, Michael Ballack play (btw, I just realised what does 'skipper' means while watching that game. The 'skipper' refers to the captain of the team. In the past, I was under the impression that the 'skipper' is the playmaker or someone in the midfield. But then Reckber, the Turkish goalkeeper was said to be the Turks' 'skipper' last night. Then I remembered that 'skipper' can also mean 'captain' on a ship (esp a pirate's ship). There you have it, mystery solved).

The Turks scored first but the Germans equalised just after 4 mins (the Turks has the reputation for not able to maintain their lead long. Historically, the longest they hold their lead is 9 mins). During the second half, there was suddenly an interruption in the broadcast where the television screen went static! My friend told me that they have circuitry problems at Basel. *shrug* Consequently, I missed seeing the third and fourth goal! But with some luck, the broadcast resumed and I was able to catch Lahm's game winning goal at injury time. (the broadcast was interrupted again right after)

All in all, Germany wins as expected, but not easily as expected. It was an enjoyable game except for the broadcast interruption.

***

My manga has not been progressing so well in my opinion. For some reason, there are always interruptions. Whether it's a girlfriend demanding for a date, or a crush pleading for help, or books that needs to be returned or anime seducing me to watch, blog updates which feel obliged to read, mails and messages that need to be replied, tutor work during the weekends or books and manga that is waiting to be read!

I am not really complaining, but my manga is progressing too slowly. All I wish is a week or two without any distractions so that I can really get my work done quickly and smoothly. Right at this moment I am to start pencilling the 30th page and I am really anxious about getting my manga done very quickly now that it is almost July. What kind of mangaka takes 7 months to draw a 40 page manga?? A very incompetent and easily distracted one, I guess.

Even with that said, I still enjoy and feel that it is very important that I go and see Natsue whenever I can now especially when chance will become very scarce in the future. I really hope we can travel together up north next week but chances are slim... I love you, dear...

***

If I have so little time to spare, what the hell am I doing writing here?? Ngah! ngah! ngaaargh!! Because I feel a little stressed out that I really feel the need to write and to annoy those people who update their blogs a little too frequently against my convenience so that they will be bothered to read this post right till the end. Mwahaha.

But perhaps I will fail from doing so because I don't think anyone in their sane minds would scrutinize on every single word in my posts.

***

I am also slightly bothered by the fact that I didn't get as much feedback on my manga as I did last time. Maybe I really should've included my phone number with my manga. But I don't want to fill up my inbox with crap... What a dillemma.

Again, much thanks to people like 子心, AB, usagi for their continuous 応援...

PUBLISHED!

2008-06-21T13:34:00.003+08:00

It's finally out! Yay!

My manga, Kritical, is finally serializing in Kreko! The first chapter (Phase 001) came out today in Kreko's 18/08 issue!

Support me and Kreko by buying the magazine!

Here's the cover;

Here's a sneek peek!

To all those who has helped me in the production of this manga, especially Bryan as proofreader, thank you very much!

これからもがんばります！

Doki Doki Shichau

2008-06-17T11:52:00.004+08:00

Today, I'm going to talk about the heart.

In the English language, when speaking anatomically, the heart refers to the organ in many complex animals that pumps blood throughout the organism's body, thus sustaining its life.

However linguistically, the heart has always been connected to human emotions. Examples of sentences includes the following;

"My girlfriend ran away and broke my heart."
"His piano performance was heartfelt"
"He welcomed his guests into his home with an open heart"

etc, etc.

However, as science progresses, it is better understood now that the central body part that controls the human body is in fact seated in our thick skull, the brain. In other words, it is more technically correct to say that our emotions come from our brain and not from our heart. Our heart only does the pumping.

So why was the heart taken as the center of our emotions in the first place? The answer is pretty obvious. When we are excited or frightened, the reaction of our hearts is the most obvious. What I mean is that the rate of heartbeat became the yardstick of human emotions. In the past, even the Greek philosophers (Aristotle and Co.) believed that the center of human emotions are born from the heart.

Although now almost everyone knows that their emotions are product of their brains, no one says "My girlfriend ran away and hurt my brain".

In Malay, when talking anatomically, the word for 'heart' is 'jantung'. However, the word 'jantung' is never used to relate to human emotions. The sentence "Teman wanitaku lari dan menyakitkan jantungku" will mean "My girlfriend ran away and gave me a heart attack".

When referring to emotions, the word 'hati' is used instead. For example, "Hatiku hancur apabila aku mendapat tahu akan perbuatan sumbangnya itu".

Strangely, anatomically, 'hati' is in fact the largest internal organ in the human body - the liver! This always makes me wonder. The people in the West chose the heart when they relate to their emotions but the people in this part of the world chose the liver??

It is a peculiar choice indeed, because the liver, unlike the heart does not beat nor react to fear or excitement - it is perpetually unmoving.

A further odd phenomenon is that I have observed is that in Malay dramas, when a female character declares that "hati saya sakit", she will always touch her chest (somewhere in the middle of the breastbone. That's not where the 'hati' is! The 'hati' or liver is in fact positioned a little below the sternum (breastbone)!

The only hypothesis that I can think of as for why liver is the choice of the center of human emotions in this part of the world is that because of the size of the liver. As you might know, there is the phrase "berbesar hati". Hence, perhaps the choice is because of human emotions tend to be melodramatic and exaggerating, the size of the liver nicely captures how big and elaborate our emotions can be.

***

Footnote: In Japanese, the word for 'heart' is 「心」 or 'kokoro'. As with English, it can refer to the organ that beats and also the center of one's emotion.

So close, yet so far...

2008-06-14T21:08:00.007+08:00

今日近所のコートでバスケットボールをやってた。小さい頃ときあそこでよくやってたが近年勉強のために止めた。

スコールは１７－１８。うちのチームは負けそうだった。ボールは俺の手にあって、相手のチームのバスケットに速くドリブルした。ジュンプショットをしてディフェンダーにファールされた。

フリースローだった。一番の企及をミスした。けど、二番のｔｒｙは成功だった。

スコールは１８－１８になった。「もうひとつだけ勝つはずだ！」と思った。

相手はまたショットをミスして、俺は即刻リバウンドして、高速に相手のバスケットへドリブルした。またフアールされた！チャンスだったぞ！コートの周りの観衆はよく応援してくれてた。

「がんばれ！！もうひとつだけだぞ！」と叫んだ。

残念だったが、あの時俺はもう堪らなかった。疲れきったんだ。それぞれの企及もミスした。

総身がすごく痛かった。右足から血が流れてた。全部徐々に白くなっていった。走れなかったんだ。

その後何とか相手はボールを取って・・・

結局俺のチームは敗れた。Ｆｉｎａｌ　Ｓｃｏｒｅ　１８－２０。

「ドスン！」

俺が硬いコートの上に落ちた。痛い腹をぎゅっと握ってた。いつだってきれいな青空を見て俺は泣きそうになった。

もし・・・あのフリースローをよくやったら・・・

Necessary Rant

2008-06-11T11:23:00.002+08:00

What? It's already Wednesday, June 11th?

My manga is going to be published in Kreko in 10 days! I'm very happy about that but, I still have a lot of pages to draw! What the hell am I doing in front of the computer now?!

Oh right... I'm downloading and watching Full Metal Panic!. -_-"

I was in Singapore yesterday and wanted to buy YUI's first album From Me To You. But the copy that I saw last month was gone from the shelf! Aieee~~ What rotten luck!

So I bought myself a new pair of Pnasonic clip-on headphones to replace my now damaged headphones. It cost twice the headphones. But I've always wanted to know what it's like to wear clip-ons so... I bought it anyway. My broken heart after not being able to purchase YUI's album needed to be consoled anyway.

Finally!

2008-06-02T20:27:00.002+08:00

やっと戻ってきた！！

Yes, finally my computer is back! I was out when it returned. My mum told me when I got home that they had to replace the entire motherboard (!). I haven't performed a surgical inspection of this machine yet, so what my mum said is yet to be verified.

As expected, the C: drive was reformatted and gone was all the multifarious programs that I depended on so much (MSN for example). Now I have to redownload and install everything again. Luckily I've backed up my song files and art files and the art files in D: wasn't affected. But the worst thing was that Photoshop is gone!

Damn! I don't have the CD with me, so it looks like I'll have to purchase it tomorrow if I were to continue with my manga. Also, I will have to reinstall the driver for my deskjet. What a pain...

But I'm still thankful that it finally returned!

Official Acceptance

2008-05-30T19:11:00.002+08:00

Dear Jamil,

ADMISSION TO THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
ACADEMIC YEAR 2010

Congratulations! I am pleased to offer you admission to the National
University of Singapore (NUS) in acdemic year 2010 for the
following course of study:

Science

Your academic achievement, hard work and determination have earned you a
place in NUS, a university widely acknowledged as amongst the best in the world.
NUS has a vibrant and dynamic community bla bla bla....

万歳！！
BANZAI!!!

There you have it. The long waited epistle finally reached my grandparents' apartment's mailbox. I finally have been accepted into NUS. But as said on the letter, I am only going in 2010. Damn NS...

Seems like I have abandoned this blog for awhile. The reason remains - my computer hasn't returned! As Bryan would say - Shinjirannai!! (sic). (Though, it should've been "Shinjirarenai") Everytime when I feel the urge to write, I became rapidly demotivated when I sit in front of this ancient computer. -_-"

***

I slept at Mount Elizabeth Hospital (a hospital at Orchard) yesterday night, keeping my grandfather company who came out from surgery that morning. It was a hellish experience. I could barely sleep in the biting coldness of the air-conditioning (okay, maybe it wasn't that cold, but I am adverse to cold temperatures) on that fancy but non-reclinable chair. But I get free food the next morning, so it was cool.

***

Bought myself a really cool pair of jeans today. I have always seen guys wearing these type of lower appendage garments and have always wished for one. Can't post a pic of it now, but when I tried it on again when I got home after the purchase, I discovered when I keep the back zip open, the pants accentuates the curvature of my sexy posterior. Lol! But I don't think Natsue would like me flaunt that around.

So sleepy...

Bad mood

2008-05-18T11:31:00.002+08:00

I'm in a terrible mood right now. I feel like yelling at everyone I talk to. Like today, while tutoring one of my students, I was teaching in anger. For one thing, she can't seem to absorb such simple math operation. Or maybe whe was just startled with my anger. Perhaps the ominous aura that I radiate petrified her to the extent that it caused her brain to become paralyzed.

What is this source of anger you ask? The answer is, MY COMPUTER HAS NOT RETURNED YET!

What the hell is that shop doing?? Why is it taking so long?!

And my stoopid brother put a password on his computer yesterday and so I can't use it today. I am trying really hard to restrain myself from splashing water on to that ancient machine... Now I'll just have to wait my father to go ballistic over my brother for putting a password on his computer when everyone needs to use the only computer left in the house.

Chikushou!!

I'm so angry that I am cursing in Japanese, but only able to write it in Romaji. WHICH SUCKS!!

Furthermore, my tag football team is suffering a chain of consequtive losses. Yesterday I lost again and it hit hard on me. I HATE TO LOSE!

If there is any compensation, I've just received my pay today and now I'm at the main branch of King Surf. Aah... this place has evolved so much since its genesis about 7,8 years ago. This place is so nostalgic to me because I used to skip extracurricular activities and opt for shooting practice here instead.

I should stop writing now or I'll use up the two hours I paid for this computer...

The Aftermath

2008-05-12T20:44:00.002+08:00

Back in JB again. Tired...

Start with some good news. I finally bought YUI's new album, I Loved Yesterday! The album design was very simple. YUI looks more matured in the lyrics book. Her mole under her lips is also more prominent compared to last time. Has she always have that mole? I haven't exactly played the CD yet because...

First bad news - After 7 days, my computer still hasn't returned from the shop! DAMMIT! I'm still stuck with this pathetic machine... But it's good enough to surf, so I shouldn't be complaining.

The moment I got home today, I quickly emptied my pockets, too my football and went to play. Only to lose for the second time in the row. GAH! I hate losing. Maybe I was unlucky. Maybe I suck. Maybe my teammates suck. Yeah, I think the last reason is the reason why I lost. Then again, I was the one who chose them to be on my team... NyargH!!!

Todays interview went through smoothly. I reached there early so the interview started early. It turns out that the so called "discretionary" interview is because I applied under Category E, which is oddest of all 5 category. Anyway, although it isn't official yet, I have been accepted into the NUS Science faculty. The interviewer was a Professor... I think his name was Professor Chan or something, because when he introduced himself, I was still in a half-prepared state.

Yeah well, I really hope that my computer will return soon. Onegai! Sugu kaette kudasai!!

Big Big News

2008-05-09T11:12:00.002+08:00

I have big BIG news.

It was a strange conincidence that my presence in Singapore the last few days turned out to be probably the most monumental life turning event in my life.

Anyway, let's start with trivial news first. While searching for a cybercafe near my grandparents' residence (the search was in vain), I stumbled across YUI's new album, I Loved Yesterday, at Causeway Point. I also found YUI's first album, From Me to You at the same shop! Yay! I am definitely going to buy them once I have the money. Strangely, the price for the new album is cheaper ($19.90) compared to the older album ($20.10).

Okay, now you're probably dying to know what's the BIG news is.

1. I went to Singapore last Tuesday. It turns out that I have selected the perfect time to visit my grandparents because on the day I reached there, my cousin told me that I received a call from NUS. I wasn't able to take the call, so she told me that I will have to contact them at office hours as soon as possible. Although I intend to call them the first thing next morning, I didn't have to because NUS contacted me first. I was half awake and groggily answered the tantamount phone call. In the most urgent of voices, the guy told me that I am to attend an interview this Monday at 2.20 pm! When I asked the guy what is the interview is all about, he only said "you applied into Science right?". I said "Uh-huh?" but he didn't elaborate.

I almost went crazy over the next few days wondering what the hell is the interview is all about. without the internet, I am pretty much clueless. This is my first interview ever and who wouldn't be nervous about their first interview especially when they have no idea what's the interview is about.

Finally today, using this crappy computer of my brother I do a little research and found out that probably the interview is going to be about what major do I intend to do and with my A Level results, they might recommend me to take the Advanced Placement Test. If I pass my APT, I can skip lower level modules and straight away learn the more advanced stuff, consequently decreasing the time that I will take to graduate. Or so the website says.

The test is in June, I think. Which means, if I ever intend to sit for the test, I will have to start studying. Sonna!! Sore wa muri da! Benkyou shitakunai yo!!

Anyway, the fact that NUS called me for an interview kinda implies that I am already accepted into NUS. Yay! Which is the first BIG news

BUT!!!

2. On the next day, my aunt brought to me 2 pink official letters. One addressed to me and the other, to my dad. I quickly tore open the letter, almost ripping the whole thing up and literally screamed like a girl.

The dreaded letter of doom has arrived!

I have been enlisted into the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) for my National Service!

Starting this September 9th, I will start serving my 2 year full-time NS.

Trying very hard to resist the tempation to disgorge vulgar words of anger, I could only curse in my heart. This is really bad. This means I will not be able to attend university for the next 2 years... and I dunno what will happen to my academic performance until then. This also means that I turn 20 in camp! And of all Forces, I have been enlisted into the SCDF!? It was written on the letter - "We are pleased to inform you..." which is obviously sarcasm, and also "we want to extend to you a warm welcome..." which is bullshit.

SCDF is prolly the lamest of the three forces (the other two being the army and the police). Aih... maybe my ECG really did screw me up...

So there you have it, the BIG sad news.

Now if you will allow me to lament the state of my life right now....

Quick updates

2008-05-05T21:50:00.002+08:00

Warning: Rated PG-13 for mild language

DammiT!~~~

My computer is all fscked up that it had to stay at the shop for a freakin week! Apparently something is wrong with the motherboard. The guy said that it damage is repairable though...

But the point is, I can't use my computer for a whole week!

GAAAH!

This is just going to kill me...

Now I'm at this an excuse of a cybercafe in near my neighbourhood. The computers here are crappy and looks like they come from the stone age. The connection is damn slow and I think that they purposely make it slow to lengthen the time I will spend in front of this pathetic machine they call a computer longer and consequently have to pay more.

Argh~ Shikatanai na~~ sore ni, kono pasokon wa nihon moji ga dekinai nda. Mukatsuku!!

Yare yare...

An epistle from Nanyang Technological University

2008-05-04T00:39:00.003+08:00

Dear Jamil
Application No: EXXXXXXXX

We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for admission to the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in Academic Year 2008-09 for a programme of study in Physics & Applied Physics.

The the letter of offer will be send to you separately by post. Please let us know your decision on whether you wish to accept our offer of admission by logging on to:

*some website*
The deadline for your acceptance is 21 May 2008.

We extend to you our congratulations and look forward to your participation in a challenging and stimulating academic future at NTU.

Assoc Prof Loh Nee Lam
Dean of Admissions
Nanyang Technological University

****

*tears welling up*

I am accepted... to a university... I am so touched... A university actually like a person like me to come and study at their place...

Sakura, sakura aitai yo!

2008-04-30T21:15:00.011+08:00

There are those rare moments when one stumbles across a song and completely falls in love with it at the first listening. Last night while Tubing, that happened to me. While hunting for clips of Yui's interview, I stumbled across this video of a song called 'Sakura'. This is probably one of the innumerable songs with 'sakura' as the theme. I am not sure why, but almost all the songs that has a mention of the word 'sakura' are amazing. Take for example Ikimonogakari's first single 'Sakura'. It was amazing!

This song is by Takano Ken'ichi, a singer (prolly the composer of the song as well) that I have never heard off before. Even Google failed me when I searched for more information about the person who sang the song. Enigmatic indeed.

So here's the video of the song; the lyrics to the song in kanji and romaji below it. I'll try my best to translate the song as well, which you can see at the bottom of this post.

***

さくら、さくら、会いたいよいやだ君に今すぐ会いたいよ
天に召します神様、お願い僕の胸つぶれちゃいそうだ
さくら、さくら、会いたいよいやだ君に今すぐ会いたいよ
天に召します神様お願い僕の息止っちゃいそうだ
sakura sakura aitai yo iya da kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
ten ni meshimasu kamisama onegai boku no mune tsuburechai sou da
sakura sakura aitai yo iya da kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
ten ni meshimasu kamisama onegai boku no iki tomacchai souda

春に生まれた君を「さくら」って名づけた
かわいらしくひらがな3文字で「さくら」
親指くらいの小っちゃな手を握ったら
まだ開かない目で君はクシャクシャ笑った
いつもいつも僕は君と一緒だったなぁ
あきれるくらい写真をいっぱい撮ったな
君と僕が似てるって言われてうれしかったな
君と同じふうに僕はいっぱい笑ったんだなぁ
haru ni umareta kimi o 'sakura' tte nazuketa
kawairashiku hiragana san moji de 'sakura'
oyayubi kurai no chicccha na te o nigittara
mada akanai mede kimi wa kushakusha waratta
itsumo itsumo boku wa kimi to issho datta na?
akireru kurai shashin o ippai totta na?
kimi to boku ga niteru tte iwarete ureshikatta na?
kimi to onaji fuu ni boku wa ippai warattanda na?

さくら、さくら、会いたいよいやだ君に今すぐ会いたいよ
天に召します神様お願い僕の胸つぶれちゃいそうだ
さくら、さくら、会いたいよいやだ君に今すぐ会いたいよ
天に召します神様お願い僕の息止っちゃいそうだ
sakura sakura aitai yo iya da kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
ten ni meshimasu kamisama onegai boku no mune tsuburechai souda
sakura sakura aitai yo iya da kimi ni ima sugu aitai yo
ten ni meshimasu kamisama onegai boku no iki tomacchai souda

五月の風追いかけっこした土手の道
六月の雨窓越しに見ていたアジサイ
八月の庭ホースで描いた小さな虹
九月の朝おそろいのミッフィーの食器
一月の雪毛布にくるまっていた君
二月の星遠くのじっと見ていた君
三月の街背中が大きくなった君
四月の夢毎年祝った誕生日
gogatsu no kaze oi kakekko shita dote no michi
rokugatsu no ame mado goshi ni mite ita ajisai
hachigatsu no niwa hoosu de kaita chiisana niji
kugatsu no asa osoroi no miffii no shokki
ichigatsu no yuki moufu ni kuru matte ita kimi
nigatsu no hoshi tooku o jitto mite ita kimi
sangatsu no machi senaka ga ookiku natta kimi
shigatsu no yume maitoshi iwatta tanjoubi

いつもとは違う声で君は泣いていた
僕は泣きながら病院へ連れて行った
お医者さんはとっても優しい人だった
「さよならできる」と僕はちゃんとうなづいた・・・。
itsumo to wa chigau koe de kimi wa naite ita
boku wa naki nagara byouin e tsurete itta
o isha san wa tottemo yasashii hito datta
'sayonara dekiru' to boku wa chanto unazuita

さくら、さくら、会いたいよいやだ君にホントは会いたいよ
天に召します神様お願い僕の瞳濡れちゃいそうだ
さくら、さくら、会いたいよいやだ他に何にもいらないよ
天に召します神様お願い僕の心消えちゃいそうだ
sakura sakura aitai yo iya da kimi ni honto wa aitai yo
ten ni meshimasu kamisama onegai boku no hitomi nurechai souda
sakura sakura aitai yo iya da hoka ni nan ni mo iranai yo
ten ni meshimasu kamisama onegai boku no kokoro kiechai souda

『消えちゃいそうだ・・・。』

春に生まれた君を「さくら」って名づけた
かわいらしくひらがな3文字で「さくら」
明日、晴れたらどこか遊びに行こうよさくら
きっと桜がいっぱい咲いてきれいだよさくら
haru ni umareta kimi o 'sakura' tte nazuketa
kawairashiku hiragana san moji de 'sakura'
ashita hare tara dokoka asobi ni ikou yo sakura
kitto sakura ga ippai saite kirei da yo sakura

***

Please note that it's really difficult for a novice Japanese student like me to do a decent translation. Some of the translation below may not be what is intended to mean in the original lyrics. But I've tried my best to make sure it's accurate. Another problem is that some Japanese phrases make no sense or have no English counterparts, so parts of the original lyrics has been altered accordingly when I made the translation. Anyway, I'm doing this so that you can have an idea of what the song is about.

My crappy attempt at a translation;

Sakura

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my chest feels like it's being smashed

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my breath feels like it's stopping

You were born in Spring and I named you 'Sakura'
With the three cute looking 3 hiragana characters 「さくら」
With your tiny hands you grasped around my finger
With unopened eyes you gave me a crumpled smile

We were always, always together right?
We took a lot of rather shocking pictures too, right?
You copied what I was saying and I was happy
I laughed a lot seeing you doing the same thing as me

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my chest feels like it's being smashed

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my breath feels like it's stopping

In the May wind you ran around by the road bank
In the June rain by the window sill you watched the hydrangeas
In August you drew a small rainbow using the garden hose
In the September morning you used matching Miffy tableware
In the January snow you came and waited in the blanket
In February you looked silently at the faraway star
It the March city, your back has grown
In the April dream we celebrated your every year birthday

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my chest feels like it's being smashed

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my breath feels like it's stopping

You were always crying with different voices
While crying I brought you to the hospital
The doctor was a really nice person
He said "You can say goodbye now" and I perfectly nodded

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
I really want to meet you
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my eyes seems to be wet

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I don't need anything else
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my heart feels like it's vanishing

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my chest feels like it's being smashed

Sakura, Sakura, I want to meet you
Yes, I want to meet you right now
I call upon God in heaven
Please help, my breath feels like it's stopping

You were born in Spring and I named you 'Sakura'
With the three cute looking 3 hiragana characters 「さくら」
If the weather is clear tomorrow, let's go and play somewhere, Sakura
Lots of cherry blossoms blooming are surely beautiful, Sakura...

***

Hope you found the song moving...

Scrubs

2008-04-24T20:53:00.002+08:00

I'm not sure if many people cares whether or not I update my blog or not, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable everytime I see my Feedjit traffic feed shows increasing number of frequent visitors that might feel disappointed with my blog which has remained static for like... a week.

So here I am attempting to explain my disappearance and some of the news might surprise you.

Reason Number 1:
My family is moving. The details of this sudden relocation I will elaborate in a proper entry with a video and perhaps a few pictures. As for now I can only say that it has been hectic with moving all the old furniture to the new house and saying goodbye to the old house and getting used to a different place etc etc. This move is also disrupting my usual timetable and affecting my sleep.

Reason Number 2:
I'm busy with my manga. Right now I'm at page 13 and the move has halted my progress. I should start working on it again tomorrow. But tomorrow I have work and my dear Natsue seem to need my counsel (not to mention I need to get stuff from her) so I'll probably be pooped by night time. Argh~ I really want my manga to be done as soon as possible without compromise in quality.

Okay, here are some updates on my life:
1. Yesterday while walking to Landmark to purchase a printer cartridge, a pigeon made me its toilet bowl. The air strike missed inches away from the top of my head and landed with a disturbing splat on my left shoulder. When my eyes landed on the site of the bombing, I could not help but to mutter the literal 'shit' under my breath. Thus I continued my walk to Landmark feeling the warmth of the avian dropping on my articulatio humeri seeping its foul juices on one of my favourite shirts. Luckily for me, the part of my shirt that the faecal matter landed had green printings on it which made the similar green shade of the dropping not very obvious.

Apparently the diet of city pigeons do not include anything malodorous as the turd do not reek any sort of smell even when I bring my fingers close to my nasal organs as I scrape the bird shit off my shirt at the dreary Landmark toilet. When I reached home, I immediately immersed the shirt in a solution of aqueous detergent. During the first few minutes, I tried to scrub off the viridity of the stool, but that move is ruining the nice green printing on my shirt. So I abandoned the shirt and bathed. When I returned to my shirt, I discovered that the green poo was gone! I surmised that it takes time for the enzymes in the detergent to react on recalcitrant stains such as the feces of an animal from the Columbidae family.

2. Some of you might have noticed that recently my personal message on MSN is "I bought it! An Amefuto ball!" Some of you might not give a damn, but I'm going to annoy you anyway by telling you what in the world is an Amefuto ball. Amefuto (spelled アメフト in Japanese) is the Japanese word for American Football. Yes, I bought an American Football... ball! You might be wondering why would anyone be so estatic over a ball that isn't even spherical although balls by definition are round and that American Football balls are only called balls because if we don't call them balls, we don't know what to call them, and if you still can comprehend this painfully long sentence, I would applaud your cognition, is that American Football balls or American Football itself is almost non-existent this this part of this Earth. Luckily for me, I stumbled across one at the sports shop while shopping with Natsue. So I purchased it for 159 bucks.

So I've been playing tag football with the neighbourhood kids at the concrete basketball court. It was fun, but then I bruised and suffered perhaps millions of scratches (if you take into account the microscopic ones as well) on the soles of my feet (I ran around barefooted). And also, although I was the one who taught them how to play, my team lost twice. That's the nature of American Football, I guess. No matter how good you are, if you teammate sucks, the whole team is going to crumble. It's not like basketball at all. Even if I am the only one who can play on the court, I still rule, because I can do everything from dribbling to rebounding and scoring on my own. But in American Football, I can do so little and need to trust my teammates skills. If I play Quarterback, all I can do is either pass or run. If I pass, I need to trust my receiver since I can't catch my own pass.

Okay, enough about Amefuto.

That's all for now I guess. In addition to the moving, the manga and Amefuto, I've been a little ill. Once my body recovers to a satisfactory state, I'll update this thing properly.

Although I do not always explicitly say it, I appreciate all the tags I receive from my readers. Thank you very much.

To you lurkers out there, TAG, DAMMIT! TAG!!

What I have been doing recently.

2008-04-17T22:27:00.004+08:00

Although I really wish to sleep at least 12 hours a day, I have been occupying myself with my manga. Anyone that draws manga can tell you that it is really time consuming, which explains why have I not come with an update for Part IV of my KL Adventures.

Furthermore, apparently, there is one person who misses seeing my art online, therefore I have decided to post this entry.

This is the top half of page 12 of my upcoming manga Kritical. Its' done entirely using ink and whiteout only, no screen tones what so ever. Also, I have done minimal digital editing with it in Photoshop. The only digital editing I did was threshold, gaussian blur and adding in the dialogues.

This is the scene where Mel is at the airport, about to leave the country. She's on the phone telling MJ about her departure. Of course, in the final version, the dialogues will be in English. But for now, I'd leave it this way to add to the enigma, suspense and anticipation of my fellow readers.

I'm a little dissatisfied with the airport background in the first frame. Something just does not feel right there... Maybe I'll repair it later. The second frame on the other hand, is marvellous. Haha! Check out the tail of the plane in the middle of the frame! It's the 'e' from Kreko!

Hope you have enjoyed this!

P/S I hope my Japanese doesn't sound weird.

Yet another tag!

2008-04-16T20:09:00.005+08:00

Now this tag is interesting. I do not under normal circumstances consider myself an otaku, but in the Malaysian context, I do perhaps exhibit certain characteristics of a classical otaku. Anyway, I'll just do this for fun.

Again, I'm not sure how accurate my translation is...

【オタク３択バトン】
The Otaku 3 Choice Baton!

◇次の３択から一番好きなものを正直に答えて下さい
Choose honestly from the three choices the one you like the best.

メイドor執事orウェイトレス?
Maid or Butler or Waitress?

Honestly I do not comprehend as to why otakus are crazy over maids. I mean, a lot of people here in Malaysia and Singapore have maids at their houses. Duh~ I guess it's more about cute girls in cute french maid costumes which seriously contradicts what the maids here look like. Lol~

Of the three... I would choose... a maid, the otaku version. Since a butler is a guy and waitresses are too common and plain. Unlike Mayumi though, I am less concerned about what the maid wears. Lol~

生足or絶対領域orストッキング？
Bare feet or [I have no idea what does "zettai ryouiki" means] or Stockings?

Bare feet. Cos of skin.

　

ネコミミorイヌミミorウサミミ?
Cat ears or Dog ears or Rabbit ears?

Rabbit ears on humans are the easiest to draw. So I'm going with that.

年上or年下or同い年?
Older, younger or of the same age?

Young, but not too young. (if my understanding of the question is correct, that is...)

ツンデレorヤンデレor無邪気?
Tsundere or Yandere or Innocence?

Under normal circumstances, Innocence... I think. But I like Narusegawa from Love Hina as well. And stories with tsundere characters are far more action packed compared to the stories with innocent girls. As for yandere... I still don't get what kind of girl is that even after reading Wiki.

女性向けor男性向けor同人興味なし?

I seriously do not understand this question... Pass.

エロor純愛orギャグ?
Hentai or Pure Love or Humour?

He... i mean, humour, definitely humour - ahahahahaha~

*cough*

ツインテールorポニーテールor三つ編み?
Double ponytail or single ponytail or braided?

Actually I prefer it to be untied. But I'd go for single ponytail since double ponytail tend to be too childish and braided hair is a nightmare to draw.

黒髪or茶髪or金髪?
Black hair or dyed hair or blond?

Black hair. Dyed hair tends to be ugly. Blond hair is just no tmy cup of tea.

乙女ゲーorギャルゲーorBLゲー?
Young maiden type or Girl(?) type or BL(wtf is this?) type?

I dunno? Wiki says BL is "Boys Love" aka Yaoi which is... *vomits*

巨乳or貧乳or微乳?
Big boobs or poor(?) boobs or small boobs?

In real life, I'd say they should be proportionate to the body of the possessor. But if artistic license is taken... big boobs?

学ランorセーラー服orブレザー?
[what's that?] or Sailor uniform or Blazer?

Blazers look smart. Sailor Uniforms are cute. I wish the school uniforms here are cooler... I'd go for uh... blazers I think.

NARUTOor忍空or忍たま?
Naruto or Ninkuu or Nintama?

Naruto, since I dunno the others.

MAJORorおお振りorバッテリー?
Major or Ookiku Furikabutte or Battery

I've never heard of them until I wikied them just now. Except for Ookiku Furikabutte though... I've heard of that because Ikimonogakari's song, Seishun Line is used has its OP.

マジレンジャーorボウケンジャーorゲキレンジャー?
Power Rangers: Mystic Force or Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive or Power Rangers: Jungle Fury?

You must be kidding, right? I've stopped watching Power Rangers after I get into Secondary school.

響鬼orカブトor電王?
Hibiki or Kabuto or Den-O?

I don't watch Kamen Rider anymore... The only Kamen Rider I watched was the American version years back and that's it.

Masked Rider is another otaku craze that I fail to comprehend.

うる星やつらorらんま1/2or犬夜叉?
Urusei Yatsura or Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha?

Oh, Takahashi Rumiko-sensei's work, is it? I'd have to go with Ranma, since I have never read Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha is plain boring (with the exception of the first few episodes).

るろ剣or銀魂orKYO?
Rurouni Kenshin or Gintama or KYO?

Kenshin. Since I have yet to read Gintama and KYO is just too gay for me.

コナンor金田一orネウロ?
Conan or Kindaichi or Neuro?

Conan. Kindaichi cases tend to be lengthy. Neuro isn't exactly a detective story...

ハルヒorらき☆すたorみなみけ?
Haruhi or Lucky Star or Minami-ke?

Definitely Haruhi. Lucky Star is too slow and plotless. I would've chosen Azumanga Daioh if it's among the choices...

ファンタジアorシンフォニアorアビス?
Fantasia or Symphonia or Abyss?

What are these? Games? Sounds more like music...

三國無双or戦国無双orBASARA?
Sangoku Musou or Sengoku Musou or Basara?

I've heard of these, but frankly, I have little idea what they are about.

ふたりはプリキュア(Max Heart)orスプラッシュスターorプリキュア５?
We are Pretty Cure (Max Heart) or Splash Star or Pretty Cure 5?

Are they really THAT popular?? I didn't know... I mean, I watched a few episodes from the first season and I thought that well... they seem to be for kids.

I'm afraid that of the three, I can't pick any of them since I am totally oblivious about the subsequent seasons of Pretty Cure.

お疲れ様でした

最後にこのバトンを回す人を５人指名して下さい
Finally, please pass this baton to 5 more people.

Well, I'd like to see Teddy do this one. Haha! But I wouldn't tag anyone else since I am sure they are even more clueless than I am if they attempt to do this tag.

KL Adventures Part III: Times Square, Petaling Street and KLCC

2008-04-13T22:26:00.006+08:00

Before I go any further, allow me to introduce to all of you my fire breathing friend, which for convenience we will address him as Chad.

My host and guide for the entire adventure. I owe a lot to him. He has stopped smoking before, but things happened and he picked up this... uh... shitty habit (as JT would describe it).

Before continuing, a gentle reminder;

So Chad picked me up at the Masjid Jamek LRT station at 9 in the morning. Yes, I had to wait for 6 hours! -_-" We walked back to Pudu, this time taking a slightly different route. He had his breakfast at the same mamak stall I was at 4 hours before while I sipped my teh and fiddled with the camera.

After the short breakfast, we started to walk to our first destination - Berjaya Times Square!

Times Square as seen from the path we took to get there.

The first place that I visited in this mall was the bookstore which I have forgotten its name. The shop spanned two floors and even had Starbucks in it. The manga section was freakin' large! It has at least 12 my-neck-high-shelves dedicated solely to manga. The manga section in Kinokuniya Singapore or that Comic Shop next to it in Bugis Junction both pale if you compare the size. There were all sorts of titles that I never heard of or imagined to exist. Almost all of them are English translated manga and published by American Publishers.

I came across one of my favourite titles - School Rumble. But when I saw the price I was like WTF? It's 32 bucks!!! That's more expensive than the price in Singapore! I gingerly placed the tankoubon back on to the shelf to avoid damaging and having to pay for it.

Many of you might already know that Times Square is the mall with the indoor amusement park. As the ninja from Ask A Ninja might describe the place, it was flippin' awesome! Well, at least it looked awesome, because I didn't actually went and play in the amusement center. Yeah, yeah... I was stupid. The ticket was 30 bucks and I thought that I'd save my money since it was only the first day.

One of the two coasters there. Aiks, I kinda regret not getting on this monster...

Another distinctive feature of Times Square was that it has two floors dedicated to hip hop apparel. The 6th and 7th floor were called 'Hip Hop Street'. The stuff sold were indeed cool, hip, hop and tempting but like all the cool, hip and hop stuff in CS, we felt that they were rather overpriced.

One of the shops at Times Square had this full costume of a bigfoot in front of the shop. I wanted to take a picture of it but unfortunately, the bigfoot was wearing a cheap sign made out of cardboard saying "Please don't take picture" on its chest. I would've ignored the sign if the bigfoot was here in JB, but since I was at unfamiliar grounds I did not dare to stir any trouble.

After KLCC, we had lunch at another mamak stall and walked to... Petaling Street!

One of the two gates that leads to this legendary street.

This place is pure awesomeness! It was bustling with all kinds of people from all over the world bargaining for the almost ridiculously cheaply priced stuff there. There are an eclectic choice of merchandise sold ranging from shoes to handbags to even telescopes! This was also the place where I purchased my awesome blue cap that you see in my PC Fair pictures. Yep, I bought it at Petaling Street and I am not embarrassed about it.

When I saw the full caps lining on the shelves of on stall, I approached the stall and inquired the price. RM25 said the rotund 40-something Chinese shopkeeper. I was like Wow, that's half the price in those shop back in Times Square! But hmm... 25 bucks... I was about to turn away from the shop when the shopkeeper whispered to me;

"Berapa awak nak?"

"Eh??" I raised an eyebrow.

"Saya jual RM15 untuk awak" he said, still whispering.

How can I not buy the cap if it's priced at that preposterously unbelievably cheap price?? Thinking about it now, I may have fallen for one of the regular gimmicks all the shops there put up to entice their customers, but I like my cap, so all is fine. (Although I wish my cap is just a little wider...)

Chad told me that if once you've agreed on a price, you should buy the item or risk being beaten up by all the people on the street. He said that a friend of him bargained for a pair of shoes and didn't buy it in the end suffered physical torment from not just the shopkeeper of the stall, but also the shopkeepers from the nearby shops.

It is obvious that almost all of the merchandise that lined the shelves are imitation goods despite the tags on the goods saying 'Nike' or 'Louise Vuitton'. There is no way that Lebron James basketball shoes lying beautifully on the top shelf is an original merchandise. However, ironically there was this sign right in the middle of the street;

English Translation: No Selling of Imitation Goods.

ROFLMAO~ Wtfh is this sign for??

After Petaling Street, we walked to the Pasar Seni LRT station and took the LRT to KLCC. It was my first experience of the LRT system in KL and it was priceless. I will not go into detail here as I will dedicate one special entry just about the train system in KL and places surrounding it.

The rows of shops in KLCC were immediately visible once we exited the underground LRT station. So off we went sauntering the place level by level. I took more pics here than in Times Square. Here are some of my discoveries;

A shop selling ancient Chinese artifacts. I can't help but to take a pic of this cute terracotta baby dragon behind the glass window.

Bling Bling! I don't think Motorola sells these out of the box. I have a feeling that they are just plain Motorola phones decorated with the studs you see in the pic. Pretty neat though.

The shop that I wanted to visit the most at Suria KLCC was of course Kinokuniya. From my hours of internet surfing, it came to my attention that proper manga equipment was sold there. I hope to purchase IC Black ink to replace the bottle that I spilled the other day. I was also told that they sell quality books for Japanese language students and I was hoping to purchase this particular book that I have been eying for a few weeks.

Kinokuniya was situated on the topmost floor of the shopping arcade and it was huge. And lively too.

This exhaustively long row of shelves are dedicated to manga. Even the end of the row is not perceivable in this picture. Their collection is even more massive compared to the collection in that shop in Times Square. And this is not the only manga section in the entire shop.

Unfortunately after half and hour of searching and even using the cool electronic database they have to look for specific titles of books, I could not find the book I was looking for. I surmised that the book was sold out. T_T

It took sometime before I finally found the stationery section of the shop. The section was huge, it's like the size of a typical 7-Eleven shop dedicated solely to stationery. But frustratingly, when we inquired about the ink, it was also sold out! ARGH~ Kinokuniya has really failed me on that day.

So the information I received was true. Kinokuniya Malaysia does have a section for manga equipment. The shelves looks similar to the ones at A'n'BC in Bugis Junction, Singapore.

After a long day of walking, we sat and rested near the pond outside KLCC. I took a number of pictures.

A definitely must-take picture for any tourist to KLCC. This picture was taken with me lying on my back. It perfectly captured the majestic twin towers rising up, reaching the high altitudes of the sky in KL.

Taken before we reentered KLCC to take the LRT home. Battery was running out at that time...

Chad's place is in Klang. I didn't know how far exactly Klang is from KL but I soon learned that Klang is really far from KL. Plus, he lives in Pandamaran, which is practically in the middle of nowhere. That explains why it took so long for him to reach where I was in the morning.

From KLCC, we took the LRT to Sentral and then took the Komuter to the Klang Station. Komuters and LRTs are glaringly different. LRTs are at least a thousand times more efficient than Komuters. At the Klang Station, we walked and got kinda lost before finding our way to the Klang Bus Station. There were no buses that can take us back to his place at that time of the day. If not for his Chinese friend and his Kelisa, we would've never make it back to his place that night.

When I entered his 3-room apartment, I was greeted with loud music and a sight nothing like I imagined before...

To be continued.

KL Adventures Part II: The Gruelling 6 Hour Wait

2008-04-12T22:50:00.007+08:00

Foreword: Sorry for the late update. Recently I've been under the weather and busy with other ~~futile~~ stuff.

I was again risen from my slumber unceremoniously sometime near 3.15 in the morning. When I opened my eyes, I saw many people descending from the bus. However, some of them stayed put in the bus.

Then it struck me - I had made a naive assumption that everyone is going to descend at the same place.

Worse, I had no idea what Pudu was supposed to look like.

When I saw many people descending but some stayed in the bus, it set me thinking - "Am I there yet?"

I looked outside the window. The place looked nothing like the Larkin Terminal. It's just a street with shops lined up on it's side. So I thought Hmm, maybe I'm not there yet and decided to stay in the bus.

That turned out to be my pitfall.

The bus started to move again. I became anxious and peered restlessly outside the window, wildly searching for street signs. A few minutes later, I spotted one street sign and went;

Shit.

The word 'Pudu' emblazoned on the sign with an arrow next to it, pointing towards the direction where I was several minutes before. That street WAS Pudu!

So when the bus stopped at the bus stopped at a traffic light, I asked the bus driver to drop me off there.

So there I was, in the middle of KL, at 3.30 in the morning, unsure where exactly I was. I decided that I should walk back to Pudu. My mind flirted at the idea of visiting the Tugu Negara since the nearby signboards indicate that the historical monument was just nearby. However, I was not sure how near exactly the Tugu is, and it was 3.30 in the morning, dark and highly precarious from the stories that I hear about 3.30. Therefore I opted that I should at least keep myself alive until the last day of my trip.

A large deserted street that I tread upon in front of what I think is the Dataran Merdeka. Reputedly the site of the drift scene in KL. No drifting at 3.30 in the morning it seemed. Furthermore, the road was barricaded at the T-junction making drifting impossible.

I made it safely back to Pudu and took refuge in the mamak stall right at the end of the street. It was like any other mamak stall, cheap food, oily table. I sat down at one of the tables and ordered hot milo before ordering 2 roti canai.

My breakfast at 4 in the morning. As you can see on the bottom right of the pic, I brought along my Japanese vocabulary book.

So here's the deal. My friend was supposed to pick me up once I reach here. After a few smses with him, he said that he'll leave his place around 6 and reach where I am in an hour. So I had no choice but to wait - another blunder: I should've taken the morning bus instead. I told him that I'll wait for him at Masjid Jamek which I passed by during my little morning saunter just now because I'll need to pray anyway.

So at 5am, I left the mamak stall and walked to Masjid Jamek. From the information outside this historical Masjid, the place is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. The place was really just a plain unelaborate masjid unlike other masjids that I have visited. But I thought that it was perfect.

After Subuh prayers, I hanged around, revised my vocabulary and charged my phone. But around 7, I was told to leave the premises because they are closing the place until Zuhur comes. Strange. I didn't object and promptly left the place and waited at the Masjid Jamek LRT station that was right next to the Masjid.

The wait was really painful. After awhile I got fed up of my vocabulary book and started to listen to my mp3 player and fiddled with the camera. But I got bored too soon. 7 o'clock came and went but there weren't any sign of my friend.

The ennui was slowing murdering me as I sat watching the early commuters and the previously empty streets now filled with transport vessels.

It was like this.

A few hours later it became like this.

I took a lot of pictures during the wait, but most of them aren't worth seeing. Perhaps this one is worth putting here;

The famed twin towers are visible from the Masjid Jamek LRT station.

I was waiting and waiting, tapping my feet restlessly, completely off the beat of the song I was listening to. It has been too long! I thought. But then a fated encounter happened.

A pale yellow van stopped in front of me. An old woman descended from the vessel. She was Japanese. So was the rest of the passengers of the van. The old woman looked quaintly familiar.

Then the door flew wide open, revealing a woman inside it. She was really beautiful. Her beauty was... luar biasa. Those were the words that came into my mind at that moment. She had a green scarf around her neck. A white blouse with elbow length sleeves that was made of thin fabric that was revealing hints of her equally white top underneath covers her slender body. I was paralyzed on the spot, failed to even get the camera. What on earth a beauty like her doing here? I couldn't get my eyes of her. No straight guy would. Her radiant face was too mesmerising. I continued to stare at her as she checked her hair in the mirror.

When I came back to my senses, I realised that the rest of the passengers were unloading stuff from the back of the van and heading towards of all places, the Masjid. They were carrying what looked like filming equipment. I was like Huh? A Japanese Beauty + A Masjid, what kind of film are they making??

Once I was back in complete control of my senses, the crew was already deep inside the masjid and I was separated from them by the steel gates of the establishment. I tried to take a picture of her. But she was too far away. These are the best pics that I can obtain by setting the camera to the take pictures at the highest quality possible and zooming at her;

I know it's blurry, but at least you can get an idea that she is beautiful and I am not lying.

I apologise for the abysmal quality of the pictures. But if you were in my shoes, you would understand how paralysing the aura of her beauty was.

I spent the next hour trying to figure out what kind of film are they making. I hope it's not a porn movie. Most importantly, she was definitely not your everyday Japanese person. She carried an air of importance and looked famous. But who was she? Who was she?

Before long, my friend arrived and I was saved from being brutally murdered by boredom.

Hamster: Cuteness Alert

2008-04-10T23:37:00.005+08:00

A rodent have been raised in captivity in my grandparents' dwelling since late last year. I believe it is a gift from my cousins to my elderly and sickly grandfather and it seems that my cousins are the ones who look after the creature time after time. My grandmother seems to be either oblivious of the creature, or she chose to completely ignore the existence of the tiny mammal.

My recent visit to the apartment in Admiralty has enabled me to gain some footage of this animal in subject. Armed with my dear's Olympus digital camera, a few high quality pictures were captured. I have chosen one to share here -

Overwhelming cuteness!

*ehem*

I also took a few clips which I assembled on Premiere. Here it is;

Sorry, I kinda dropped the hamster at 0:45...

And finally a candid pic of the hamster;

I hope the flash didn't give a heart attack or anything...

Well, that's the end of my hamster presentation. I hope you guys enjoyed it (especially Mayumi).

Note: No animals were harmed in the filming of the clip.

P/S The nickname of the hamster did not come into my knowledge. I am inclined to believe that it is still unnamed.

KL Adventures Part I: Bus Ride

2008-04-07T21:10:00.002+08:00

On Sunday, March 30th 2008, my dad sent me to the bus station where I reached there at 10.30 pm. After a short phone call with Natsue, I sauntered the area before going to my platform. And I saw this;

A long queue line for the bus service to Singapore, even at 10.30 at night...

My family almost never take the 170 service into Singapore anymore since there is now the cheaper yellow Causeway buses. We also don't go to the Larkin Bus Terminal anymore these day. Seeing this was quite an eye opener to me.

After walking around senselessly, peed in the pay toilet and treated myself to a packet of Twisties, I head towards my platform.

Platform A9... not nine and three quarters...

While sitting on one of the benches, listening to my mp3 player, I observed the people who were patiently waiting for their rides that night;

Silent and patient to-be-bus-passengers...

My pessimism half-expected the bus to arrive late, but to my delight, it arrived right on time;

My ride of the night.

I was also pleasantly surprised that for a mere 24 bucks, I could get super large and comfy seats like these;

The seat next to me before it was occupied. I got a window seat!

When I sat in my seat, I had my wallet out because I had to take my bus ticket out to show to the conductor before I board the bus. I forgot that my wallet was resting on my lap and when I bend forwards, my wallet fell on to the floor and spilled my coins into the dark abyss underneath my seat. It was such a pain to only use my sense of touch to pick up the coins. I wasn't sure if I picked all of them up too...

The Five minutes into staring the monotonous night scenery from the weather beaten window of the bus, sleep overwhelmed me.

My slumber was interrupted unceremoniously when the bus came to a halt at the Perhentian sometime around midnight. At first, I thought that I'd just stay put in the bus. But then I decided I should get down the bus and pee at the pay toilet. Ugh... why must we pay for toilets? They should be free!

When I was finished with my minor business, I returned to the bus and started to fiddle with the camera again. I took this;

I forgot to turn off the flash! I quickly ducked after taking this pic. Luckily none of them arose from their sleep.

The bus started to move again after about 20 minutes and rocked me back into slumber land.

And the journey to Pudu continues...

Psst.

At that time, I had no idea what Pudu looks like.

PC Fair report!

2008-04-06T23:39:00.008+08:00

The three day April PC fair at Persada Johor ended today, Sunday, April 7th 2008. It was a lively event as usual but compared to the last PC Fair, I felt that this time round sales were a little sluggish and it didn't feel like there were as many people as last time.

What I wore on both 2 days. Imo, the shirt is freakin fugly. When I asked Xian what's up with the colour, she said "Because it's very bright!"
-_-"

Our booth, which was located stategically in the middle of the convention area.

As this was my second time working at the PC fair, I was more comfortable with the job and knew what to do better. I did my job in a more relaxed manner and chatted with the customers with lesser desperation compared to last time. However, I felt that I should've been more persuasive to get my clients to actually buy the merchandise.

Err... Xian's back. She wouldn't turn around even though I was hollering her name. Taken before the door into the convention area was opened.

This time round I only worked for 2 days, today and yesterday and my sales totaled to a pathetic number of 7 (3 on Saturday and 4 today). I sold 4 laptops and 3 desktops. There were 2 occasions today where I was stuck with very difficult customers. The first one was this guy who wanted to buy a desktop. I had to entertain him for 2 whole hours! I also missed selling high-end laptops to two German blokes that I was entertaining before this fussy guy came along(the girl who sold the laptop to the German guys got a one buck tip from them). Thankfully in the end the this testy customer purchased the desktop or I would've probably strangled him on the spot.

The second difficult customer was this guy who was eying our Core 2 Quad desktop computer. He kept wanting a discount that my boss (Xian's mum) couldn't afford to give. He was so difficult that in the end it was the boss who opened the bill and he ended up buying the 17 inch super laptop (which was more expensive than the Core 2 Quad desktop). I wasted a lot of precious time because of this guy.

Anyway, Xian's mum helped me a lot as I was more comfortable asking her assistance this time round. For my first 2 sales I practically stood next to my customers and Xian's mum was the one who explained everything to the customers. Haha! For some reason during the PC fair, Xian calls her mum by her name - Sally. Dunno why... Anyway, Sally was ultra persuasive. I don't think I can be as persuasive as her. At moments, her selling methods felt more like coercion (eg. opening bills before the customer really agrees to buy etc.). But I learned that this skill and power is essential to actually score sales in the hubbub of the PC Fair.

There were 2 other occasions where I failed selling to high potential customers. The first one was this large family which intended to purchase 3 desktops. But when I introduced to the head of the family to the specs of our desktops, he didn't really like it and decided to buy hp desktops instead. Dammit! I could've gotten 3o bucks worth of commission just from that family!

The second occasion was even more frustrating. There was this large guy in a purple shirt that came up to me. I quickly introduced to him the cheapest CPU we've got to him and he was like;

"Aku dah penat pusing-pusing ni..."

"Oh," I said.

There was a short pause where he wiped his face and said to me;

"Okeh, jadi."

That easy!? I entertained him for merely 3 minutes! I was beaming broadly and was ready to open the bill. But then he told me to wait for awhile while he went and look for his wife.

It wasn't that easy after all.

He never turned up afterwards.

Ian worked for 2 and a half days and sold 11 computers, 1 short of last time. Just like last time, his ability of being trilingual gave him a great advantage over me. Dammit! Wo yau gei yi jiang hua yi~ One funny thing happened at the end of the PC fair though. There was this mak cik and Ian was trying to convince her to buy the RM1999 laptop. I was standing next to him and observing his methods. I was rather pessimistic - I thought that it was rather impossible to sell anything anymore at 9.30pm. 5 minutes into explaining the product, the customer was showing signs of disinterest because time was running out and there is the possible option of going to the PC Fair in Melaka later. Ian got a little desperate and started to lie to the customer. He said that that particular laptop is going to be more expensive in the next PC Fair. I burst into laughter and the mak cik really didn't want to buy from Ian. Naturally Ian was infuriated with me, but I can't really let him lie to the customers, can I?

Other than the Intel Ninja in my last blog entry, there was also the Energizer mascot at the fair;

Companies at the PC Fair spent huge sum of money to print brochures of their products. They end up as rubbish strewn on the carpeted floor which the diligent cleaners at the Persada pick up periodically. The amount of trash peaked throughout the end of the fair;

I came across a few friendly faces. Some from college and one from my secondary school. Mein stopped by after work and we took pic together;

And now I will reveal the most fun part I had during this PC fair - after selling my 4th computer of the day at 9 at night, I gave up and went around the convention area with Ian to... take pictures with random pretty girls!!

Wakakaka! I myself could not believe that I would actually do this! Most of the girls were very sporting. We just went up to them, asked whether I can take a picture with them and they agreed. Maybe my cool cap was the reason why they don't mind taking pics with me.

Of course there were girls who rejected my request. One girl coldly said "Tak nak" and "Tak mahu" to me. But that doesn't matter. There were tons of other girls to take pictures with anyway. A few of them were shy but after I persuaded them, they agreed to take a pic with me with another friend of theirs.

Special thanks to Ian who helped me with this possible-but-no-one-really-does-it endeavor.

Without further ado and further bullshitting, here are the results in chronological order;

One of my colleagues/rivals. I can't remember her name. There was actually another guy in the picture, but I cropped him out of it. Lolx~

This girl was selling hp laptops. Ian and I went to her booth, started to fiddle around with the products and then asked her to take a pic with me.

A very sporting girl from the Maxis broadband booth.

Two girls from the same Maxis Broadband booth.

A girl from the other Maxis Broadband booth. She was very sporting and quite pretty. But the pic turned out kinda ugly. Aiks...
I have a funny feeling that I know this girl though. I think she was from my secondary school...

Another colleague of mine. Her name tag says "Hamizah", so we can safely assume that that's her name.

Two very sporting girls from the Streamyx booth. They were passing by our booth and I quickly popped the question to them. Curse the auntie's head.

I took a pic with Grace, another colleague, but she took the camera and deleted the pic afterwards. Argh~

This is Min from the Melaka branch. I think she's a she... but she might be a he... I'm not sure. Her... I mean, his... I mean, this person's voice sounds like a girl but this person's chest is flat. So I dunno. But she/he's nice.

Well, that's the end of it. Thanks again to Ian who took the pics for me. And also much gramercy to the girls who took pictures with me.

Don't be jealous, okay~ Wakakaka!

Too many things happened!!

2008-04-05T22:49:00.005+08:00

Yo minna!

Too many things happening these days. I just got back from my KL trip yesterday where I endured an 8 hour train ride from Sentral to JB. -_-" More about that later.

And also today and tomorrow I'm working at the PC fair. Right now I'm tired and I don't really have time to write anything although there are lots of things to be written.

For the KL trip I have about 140 Megs worth of pics. Processing them will take time, so I will chronicle my trip in a few episodes.

I'll also tell about the PC through my eyes with pics. But I'll probably start to write seriously only on Tuesday or Wednesday, since I'm going to go to Singapore to return a few library books on Monday...

Till then, here's a preview of one of the interesting stuff I saw at the PC fair;

Yes, an Intel Ninja! When I first saw the get up, I thought there was a cosplay competition in the convention area. But when I looked closer the suit looks more like those anti-static suit those engineers wear during manufacturing of electronic devices.

Yet another tag...

2008-03-30T17:55:00.005+08:00

Mayumi trapped me with another baton. Since it's part of the rules of the baton, I'll have to do it. I'm not going to translate it this time cos I think it's just better if you guys don't understand it.

Nota: Aku tak kisah wat bende2 nih, tapi aku tak suka susahkan org lain utk wat bende2 ni, sebab sbhg drp diri aku menganggap benda ni membazir masa jer... Tapi kekadang best gak, sebab bleh dpt info seseorang itu melalui jawapan yg ditulis...

＝罠バトン＝
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
→ルール
見た人は全員やる。
嘘つきは足跡に証拠が残っちゃうからダメ。
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Ｑ01
フルネーム： Huh? This is the internet, I can't give out that information that easily... But my full pen name would be Keiichi Arakazu
生年月日： Safar 9th, 1409H
血液型： Last time I checked, O. Rh status unknown.
住んでいる所： As for now, JB. Gonna move out soon.

Ｑ02 名前の由来は？

My real name... I am not sure who gave me that. But 'Jamil' means 'beautiful/handsome' in Arabic. Fueheheh.

As for 'Keiichi Arakazu', I just use it because it's the alternate reading for 工藤新一, my childhood hero. Haha~

Ｑ03 家族構成は？

A dad, a mom, me, 2 brothers, 1 sister.

Ｑ04
身長：67 inches
体重： about 3 x 10^28 times heavier than a hydrogen atom.
靴のサイズ： US 9.5

Ｑ05 幼稚園（保育園）～大学の出身学校は？

幼稚園： Eeto... what was its name again? er... I remember green shorts and that's it.

小学校： 6 years in SK Majidi Bahru

中学校： In Malaysia there isn't 'middle school' or 'high school', but 'secondary school' where students spend 5-6 years after 小学校. So essentially, I spent 5 years in SMK Sri Tebrau.

高校： Read above. However, I spent a year and a half in Sunway College JB.

大学：NUS, maybe. Or some other place.

Basically my educational pathway is like this;

Some kindergarten I forgot (2 years) ---> SK Majidi Bahru (6 years) ---> SMK Sri Tebrau (5 years) ---> Sunway College JB (1 and a half years) ---> university... maybe like 4-5 years. ---> I'll decide later.

Ｑ06 現在の職業となりたい職業

今： A bum. Part time tutor. Internet surfer. Pathetic mangaka.

なりたい職業： Hmm... slack life but moolah still comes in.

Ｑ07 習い事はしてる？

Erm... I dunno... Imitating an F1 engine?

Ｑ08 自分を動物に例えると？

A dinosaur. A Ptrenodon or something.

Ｑ09 好きな女性

My mum.

My dear.

Those with long shiny hair. Those with slender bodies are fun to draw.

Nice and polite ones.

A little crazy, but not too much (or crazier than me).

Ｑ10 嫌いな女性

Those noisy and mengada-ngada ones.

Poyo.

Stubborn ones who doesn't want to listen. Overly opinionated when it is so obvious that their opinions are false. (actually this applies to guys as well)

Ｑ11 好きな男性

I'm not gay. So I'd say... myself.

Ｑ12 嫌いな男性

Hmm... quite a number. For instance, those snobbish arrogant pathetic fools who think that they are smarter than me when they can only dream of being smarter than me. I wonder who tops my list...

Those who doesn't cooperate.

Lazy bastards.

Ｑ13 好きになる人は何型が多い？

Erm... I don't quite get the question... I'll pass. Hahax~

Ｑ14 初キスは？

Erm... I think I was in kindergarten.

Ｑ15 カット

Huh?

Ｑ17 恋愛経験豊富？

Maybe? Depends on what exactly constitutes 恋愛 and how much do you define a lot.

Ｑ18 結婚と恋愛は別？

They are different things, but I think they should be together for a marriage to work. I think.

Ijou desu!

Random pics before leaving...

2008-03-30T14:57:00.008+08:00

Here's a photo of a building that can be seen along Jalan Tebrau. I've always ALWAYS wanted to take a picture of this. I can't help smiling (some other times, laughing) every time I see this building. This was taken on the way to work today.

roflmao~

Later, I noticed a signboard above a chinese restaurant along the way. It had Japanese characters at the bottom of the sign (presumably to attract Japanese customers). But when I tried to read it, it sounded funny.

If one reads the sign as it is, it will be pronounced as 'Churakaryori', which in Japanese is complete gibberish. I believe that it was supposed to be written as ’ちゅうかりょうり’ (pronounced 'Chuukaryouri'). As you can see, whoever made this signboard made 2 mistakes - the hiragana ’う’(u) is wrongly written using the katakana ’ラ’(ra) and also ’う’(u) is missing after the small ’よ’(yo). The kanji for ’ちゅうかりょうり’ is ’中華料理’, which is 'Chinese dishes' in English.

Here's another random pic, taken while waiting for my student who was bathing at that time (*grumble*...why didn't she wake up earlier?*grumble*).

Yup, this is my work station. Simply tables and chairs.

While slinging my bag over my shoulder getting ready to go home, I accidentally knocked my glasses. The screw came off and the right lens fell on to the ground akin a n00b board diver diving into the pool. Luckily the lens was okay, but the screw disappeared from sight. So I decided to stop by at xtra to get new screws.

The screw hole has worn out so, I got the hole sealed with a longer screw and a nut. I didn't bring along my wallet today. I only brought 2 bucks, all for bus fare (1 buck to go, 1 buck to return). And when I was at the specs shop, I didn't have a single cent with me. I thought the service was going to be free since I bought the lenses from that shop but surprisingly, the guy tried to leech 3 bucks from me! Wth? 3 bucks for a tiny screw and two nuts? So I told the guy that I don't have any money with me and he should let me go for free since I bought the lenses there. Luckily the guy was a little of a pushover and he actually conceded to my hustling. Lol!

***

Yes, if everything goes as planned, I will leave for KL tonight. I might be able to do an update while I am in KL, but I might be too tired or too busy to do so. But once I come back, there will be a lot of pics! Pray for my safety, okay!

新しい旅に行く！

2008-03-29T20:38:00.004+08:00

Today, after my tutoring job in the morning, I went to the city to visit Xian for the PC Fair briefing. Seems like this time, the stuff that we are supposed to sell are similar except that some models received minor upgrades (increase in processor speed) and the prices has dropped (quite a lot). Ah well, I hope I can sell more stuff compared to last year next weekend. がんばるぞ！

After the short visit, I took the bus to the Larkin bus station to purchase this -

Yup, it is almost confirmed now that I'm going to travel to KL on my own starting from tomorrow night till Friday. Really looking forward to it. Gonna crash at a friend's place and go wherever I want and do whatever I want within my budget and time. Haha!

Natsue (still haven't changed her nickname) was kind enough to lend me her digital camera, so I'll be taking a lot of pics and will be uploading them here. So stay tuned for that! Perhaps a video or two as well...

I also bought the new Meitantei Conan tankoubon Volume 60;

This volume was not disappointing. [SPOILER]The number of confirmed people that knows Conan's real identity has increased by one in this volume which is Hondo Eisuke. While crossing the road with Conan, Eisuke told Conan that he has fallen in love at first sight with Ran. Eisuke plans to go to America and wants to take Ran with him. But Eisuke knows that Ran is in love with Shinichi, so Eisuke asked Conan whether Conan knows how to contact Shinichi so that Eisuke can ask Shinichi's permission to take Ran with him. Then Conan gave Eisuke a cold, angry reaction while saying;

Yes, that's the original BM translation, which I think is kinda lame...

So I decided to re-translate the dialogue! Jya~n!

Lolx~~ So that was how Eisuke confirmed that Conan = Shinichi. It turns out that Eisuke has been researching Conan for months. And Conan/Shinichi is pretty stupid/arrogant when it comes to keeping a low profile. Imo, he's getting too much attention. The fact that he has not been murdered by the Black Organisation until now is a miraculous wonder. If the clumsy Eisuke can figure out Conan's identity, it would be absurd that the Black Organisation has not figured that out. Either this is a mistake on Aoyama-sensei's side, or the Black Organisation is being lenient to Conan. Or maybe they are observing him as a continuation of Haibara's APTX-4869 experiment.

Also in this volume, it is proved that although Conan is a real genius when it comes to solving mysteries, but when it comes to love matters, he's a total dork. Why the (insert very rude word here) did he interrupt Inspector Takagi and Inspector Satou kissing?!?! I would've reacted more violently than Sonoko if that happened in front of my eyes...[/SPOILER]

I also went around the apparels shop in Larkin. The shops there sell cool stuff at a much cheaper price than in CS. I think I'm going to buy my new pair of shoes there. Also perhaps get a new hoody, a long sleeved shirt and a bucket cap... I've always wanted a bucket cap... *continues dreaming*

Anyway, that's all for now. After deciphering another tag that Mayumi has bombed me, I'll post it here.

Sushi

2008-03-28T23:12:00.004+08:00

The other day, Natsue (note: apparently she's going to change her nickname again soon.) and I went and eat sushi at Sushi King... It's my first time eating sushi at a sushi place...

She brought her camera, so this blog is going to be quite interesting.

Anyway, when we were entered the place, we were greeted with the warm and loud "Irasshaimase!" from I think almost all of the staff there. We didn't waste any time and sat at one of the tables next to the conveyor belts.

She had trouble picking what she wants to eat... If I didn't ask her to just pick anything, we'll probably be sitting there the entire day.

Among the things that she chose was this...

...which I'm not sure what exactly it is. If I'm not mistaken, it's half a boiled egg, coated with that yellow thing around it and topped with mayonnaise. I don't remember it's name.

Among the more expensive stuff I told her to take off the belt is this...

It's basically made of rice, topped with deep fried shrimp coated with batter and blanketed with that film of seaweed. Two of these cost 6 bucks... when I had this, I was thinking that sushi is just normal food, only that it's served in a fancy manner. (I get to eat rice + deep fried shrimp coated in batter every once in a while at home. For free)

Right before we had this, we had the Ebi sushi (prawn). She didn't like the taste of the raw shrimp, but I thought that it was nice. Succulent, juicy and kinda squishy. Lol~

We also had Tako (sotong aka Dr. Oc).

And this was my reaction -

Yup... squishier than the Ebi. I couldn't bite the Tako into half, so I just devoured the sushi whole (actually that's how you're suppose to eat it, if I'm not mistaken).

However, of all the sushi we had that day, I like Unagi the best.

Yeah!~ Eel! I love em...! Here's my reaction -

Yeah! Unagi = Saikou!!

This was how much we ate that day...

and this is the receipt that I got -

Walau~ 46 bucks! And we didn't even feel that full at all! We didn't even order drinks! (except for the mineral water you see int he receipt) And when I left the place, I couldn't help feeling that sushi can and should taste much better than what they served there...

Here's a misc pic after we finished eating...

Her expression here is pretty unfathomable... There is a contemplating look of "Hmm, what should I eat next". But she also looks a little constipated there... Or maybe it's just her Don't-aim-the-camera-at-me! look or I'm-shy-so-dunwan-to-look-into-the-camera-look. What do you think?

Btw, notice that soy sauce down there. It's really salty to me. I like my soy sauce to be viscous and sweet. This soy sauce is really not my taste...

The feared has happened...

2008-03-26T12:56:00.010+08:00

I was happily inking my manga while listening to Home Made Kazoku's 夜中に書いたラブレター (Yonaka ni Kaita Love Letter).

It went like this,

...会いたいんだよと今すぐ
キミの元へとスラスラペンも走る
臭いセリフすらも平気で吐ける

“愛して ―

しまった！！

[EDIT]Note: I didn't take this pic, I stole it somewhere online.[/EDIT]

When I looked up, I realised that I have accidentally spilled my Black Ink!!! ARGH!!!

DAMMIT!!! Almost all of the ink in the bottle was spilled! And the bottle is NEW!! WAAAAA~~~~~ 10 dollars disappeared just like that!!!

Anyone who has worked with Indian Ink before should know that they are such a pain to clean up if it gets on to your fingers.

Shit~!! I ruined my table! There's now one permanent huge blob of ink that is indelible unless I scrape the ink off.

What's more is the manga page that I was working on also received one Pacific Ocean sized ink blot right in the middle while I was trying to clean up the mess. ARGH!!! But I think that blot could be fixed... but it's a freakin tedious and messy job!!!!

What's left in the bottle is probably enough to ink 2 pages that I am currently working on... Aih, what a motivator killer... I should've been more careful...

Any tips?

[EDIT]
Okay, I just took pics of the aftermath of the ink tsunami, and here's two pics to show you how much damage the spill did on my table.

Terrible, huh... T.T

[/EDIT]

Ekonomi

2008-03-25T20:22:00.002+08:00

Today, I shall blog in Malay... crude Malay.

Okeh, aku tak pasti kalau korang yg baca ni bleh paham ke tidak mende yg aku tulis kat sini. Tapi aku tak pedulik la, aku tulis jer ikut suka ati aku, okeh? Huhuhu...

Bahasa Melayu memang sebuah bahasa yg indah. Selain itu, bahasa ni juga sgt senang dipelajari lagi straight-forward (eh, terguna English pulak). Aku rasa sebab tu la BM merupakan lingua franca waktu zaman Parameswara sampai Portugis datang.

Tapi sebenarnya kalau nak memperhalusi kebolehan BM kita memanglah bukan perkara yg senang. Kalau senang, mestila aku dapat A1 waktu SPM dulu! Walau bagaimanapun, rasanya takde org yg guna BM baku cam utk jawab soalan pekse utk kegunaan seharian. Mungkin dlm bisnes atau tulis surat yer la kot, tapi kalau bual2 ngan member kalau cakap benda cam "Itu tidak benar, pada pendapat saya..." memang gentel kena gelak punyer la~ Org mesti ckp "Itu salahlah (masukkan kata2 kesat di sini), aku/kita/saya rasa..."

Baiklah, utk post ni kita akan konsentret pada Bahasa Melayu pasar. Ikut pengalaman aku, loghat seseorang tu bergantung pada dari mana dier dtg dan bangsa dier (dgn beberapa pengecualian). Org dari Kelate, Ganu ngan Kedoh BM diorang mungkin pada org JB bunyi cam bahasa alien. Selain tu, kalau ikut pengalaman aku kat skolah dulu, BM bdk Melayu ngan bdk Cina lain giler. Tutup mata pun leh tahu saper yg ngah cakap.

Kalau dak Melayu sesama Melayu, diorang akan guna kata ganti diri "aku" utk rujuk diri sendiri dan "kau" utk rujuk kepada org yg sedang dia bercakap. Kalau dak Cina sesama Cina... mestila ckp Cina atau Inggeris. -_-" Tapi kalau Melayu cakap ngan Cina, diorang mesti guna "saya" dgn "awak". Cthnya aku, tak pernah lak guna "aku/kau" ngan mana2 member Cina aku. Ngan Qi ker, ngan Philip ker, ngan Guan Hao ker, ngan Bryan ker (eh, aku pernah berbual ngan dier kat skolah ker?), mesti guna "saya/awak". Pelik tul, cam otomatik jer boleh berubah.

Aku tak pasti sama ada cuma Melayu ngan Cina kat JB ni jer bila ckp BM guna "saya/awak". Kat tmpt lain entah la, mungkin kat Perak diorang ber"aku/kau" antara satu sama lain.

Walaubagaimanapun, memang ader byk pengecualian. Cthnya bila aku ckp ngan Hafizah, aku (terpaksa) guna "kita" ngan "awak" walaupun dari segi tatabahasa, penggunaan "kita" merujuk pd majmuk. Pastu plak, Guan Hao akan guna "kamu" dan bukannya "awak" bila bercakap tak kira siapa pun. Ngan cikgu pun dier guna "kamu". "Kamu" dari segi tatabahasa sebenarnya digunakan oleh org yg berpangkat lebih tinggi bila bercakap ngan org bawahannya. Cthnya bapak ngan anak atau cikgu ngan murid. Tapi Guan Hao terbalik pulak.

Kalau aku cuba ingat betul2, JT pun guna "kamu" bila bercakap ngan aku. Hmm... rasanya kesimpulannya ialah, menurut pengalaman aku kat skolah, bila Melayu bertembung Cina dan bercakap Bahasa Melayu, si Melayu akan guna "saya/awak" manakala si Cina akan guna "saya/kamu".

Pengecualian diberi pada budak Eugene sebelah kelas Form 5 aku dulu tuh. BM dier memang Melayu sungguh. Ngan ader lagi sorang budak Cina (rasanya dier ader masalah skit kat atas tuh) beberapa tahun lebih muda dari aku. Fuh, mati2 aku ingat dier tu Melayu... last2 Cina.

***

Sekarang ni aku akan terangkan advantage BM pasar nih.

BM ni leh shortform lebih banyak drp English. Oleh tu, leh jimat lebih byk ruang dan masa bila sms/chatting
Cth:
Esok aku nak pergi Kuala Lumpur jumpa member kau yangg kita jumpa hari itu.

bleh disingkatkan kpd

Esk ak nk pi kl jmpa mmbr ko yg kta jmpa ari tu.

Tengok! Jimat hampir separuh daripada kepanjangan ayat asal tanpa hilang maksud pun.

BI takleh wat sesingkat camni.

Tak percaya? Aku buktikan.

Ambil cth ayat ni: What are you doing?

Kalau disingkatkan, paling singkat akan jadi: Wat ru doin?

Kalau dlm BM: Kau tengah buat apa?

Disingkatkan: Watpe?

kalau kita kira nisbah perkataan (termasuk space) dlm ayat asal kpd ayat singkatan, BI ialah 1.58 manakala BM ialah 3.33!! BM jauh lebih ekonomi dari BI!

Tapi BM pasar jer yg lebih ekonomi drp BI. Kalau guna BM baku, ayat2nya memang jauh lebih panjang dari BI disebabkan oleh imbuhan2 pada perkataan. Leceh...

Okehla, sampai sini jer aku membebel. Tulis panjang2 pun bukannya korang faham. Aku pun tak paham apekebendenyer yg aku tulis nih...

Random but rather Important Updates!

2008-03-24T18:47:00.002+08:00

I've just finished reading the Crayon Shin-chan manga I bought yesterday this morning, which is kinda late, because I usually can finish a manga in under 2 hours (or even faster on a good day). Anyway, what I want to say is that... I can't believe Usui Yoshito killed off Dr. Tokuro's character just like that! Poor Matsuzaka sensei... losing her beloved boyfriend in a terrorist attack that took place in a hotel in a country named Bobosarumata (don't ask me what's with the name). Argh, why must this love story end in a sad manner? Maybe Usui Yoshito just doesn't want Matsuzaka to get married, I dunno...

Anyway, enough with Shin-chan.

Here's the bigger news - YUI's coming out with a new album!

Yay!!

The title is I Loved Yesterday and it will be on sale in Japan on April 9th. I wonder when will it be released in Singapore...

YUI also came out with a new single recently called Laugh Away. I'm not sure when was/will the single be released.

If you are lucky, you might be able to see the PV of Laugh Away on Youtube. Why 'lucky', you ask? Because the people at Sony Records has decided to take down YUI's PVs from Youtube! Most of her PVs have been taken down and the PVs with the best qualities are gone. Argh! Damn you Sony! Oh wait, but Sony is YUI's label... not to mention my mp3 player is a Sony... Aih, I guess I can't get too angry...

Champloo

2008-03-23T22:36:00.002+08:00

I went to the city today. I wanted to buy a Jawi sticker for my mum. Or maybe that's just an excuse to get out from the house. So I went to Landmark... Xian wasn't there. She said she's in KL. I guess she's on tour again because of the PC Fair.

Actually I went to Landmark partly because I wanted to get my earphone changed. Remember the Sony Walkman that I bought last time? After about a month, the left earpiece kinda lost its base. The drums doesn't sound as loud from the left earpiece compared to the right. However, the difference is very very slight. Even though the difference is slight, I can still detect it and it really gets on my nerves. It just feels unbalanced. But when I reached the Sony shop there with my warranty card and all, I didn't ask the earphones to be changed... I dunno, the difference between the left and right earpiece is really small... I wonder if they would even listen to such a petty complaint.

*sigh*

I should've had at least asked.

Anyway, about the Jawi sticker, I bought it from the shop right opposite Xian's shop for a cheap price of 3 bucks. Xian wanted to sell me the sticker for 8 bucks! Are you trying to deceive me?? Mattaku...

On my way home, I bought the new volume of Crayon Shin-chan　（クレヨンしんちゃん）! Yay~ This new volume, Volume 47, is kinda thinner than the previous volumes... it also seems like they are using different kind of paper now... a softer, thinner kind of paper. However, the price is still the same - RM4.80. -_-" The price of manga has risen in recent times because of increase in fuel price. Aiks... last time I can enjoy a volume of manga for only RM4.50 or less. But now...

Tonight I finally finished watching the last episode of Samurai Champloo. Wahaha! It was really fun. A little gory... sometimes kinda boring, but still a lot of fun. As expected from the creators of Cowboy Bebop. Too bad that Fuu, Mugen and Jin just split up like that in the end... Kinda disappointing ending (or maybe, all endings are disappointing). But I think it can't be helped.

Here's a pic of the main characters of this anime. From the left is Jin, Mugen and Fuu. Basically, ひまわり臭いお侍さんを探してるのために一歩に旅に出ていた。Uh, right. It sounds nicer in Japanese. Basically, what I mean was that the story is about these 3 people going on a journey to find a Samurai that smells of Sunflowers...

Anyway, check it out if you have the time. The music is really nice too. Imagine, hip hop in ancient Japan. Haha! A weird mix, but surprisingly, it works very well. Of all the songs in the anime, I like Shiki no Uta by MINMI (why do all the good musicians in Japan come from Okinawa?). It's not a hip hop song, but it has a unique beat.

That's it for yet another futile post of the day.

Takoyaki

2008-03-21T23:37:00.004+08:00

Okay, many things happened but I'm too lazy to write.

Like last Wednesday, I went to Leisure Mall to have Takoyaki with Ch... uh... I guess I should start using the nick that she chose from now on.

Natsue and I went to have some Takoyaki at Leisure Mall.

It was pouring heavily, even my large umbrella couldn't really keep out the rain. But we were already halfway there, so we (or rather, I) decided to brave the downpour and continue walking. We were walking on the side of the road when a car passed by and splashed water on to our pants... The bottom part of my pants were completely drenched but I didn't really care. It was kinda fun, at least to me.

Not to her apparently.

She squealed and complained about her favourite shoes getting wet. Haha, my bad, I guess.

But once we got there, the air con slowly dried our clothes. We ordered our food and devoured the octopus balls happily. After we finished the first 4 balls, I ordered another 8 balls. The woman who made the takoyaki suggested other stuff to put in the balls like chicken and crab. I agreed and we had 'takoyaki' filled with slices of chicken sausages and those cheap crab meat that you usually buy frozen at the supermarket.

This was weird in many ways.

For one thing, Takoyaki is technically octopus dumpling. (The kanji: 蛸焼) If you take out the 'tako' and put in chicken or crab, it wouldn't be takoyaki anymore. It would be uh... Toriyaki (鳥焼) and Kaniyaki (蟹焼) both of which do not have formal existence in the culinary world! Yakitori, yes, but Toriyaki, no!!

The 'Takoyaki's are nice except the one that I had which had completely nothing inside. What now, Karayaki (空焼)??

But still, we enjoyed the meal and went home feeling a little sick because of the sauce and mayonnaise...

君がくれたもの

2008-03-21T00:40:00.002+08:00

会いたくて会いたくて
どうしようもない程　好きだった君が
思い出に変わってゆく
今なら言える　君への言葉　溢れ出す
ありがとう　“君がくれたもの”

Err... yeah.

Don't listen to it if you don't want to go deaf.

I've been tagged!?

2008-03-18T23:38:00.005+08:00

Uh... Mayumi tagged me! To be a good sport, I'll have to do this... thing. *gulp*

Okay, the original thing is in Japanese, so I'll do my best to give a translation of the text.

セブンバトン
Sebun Baton

Seven Baton

一、まずは自己紹介を七項にまとめて
Ichi, mazu wa jikoshoukai o nanakou ni matomete

I think this means I'm supposed to list 7 things as a self introduction...

1. I love my scanner (nyahaha!)
2. I love my n3kk1d manga skillz
3. I wish I understand Japanese better
4. I listen to my mp3 player at max volume. I realised that people start to listen to their mp3 players at max volume at the onset of a depression. Like this friend of mine... he was like "Isn't your mp3 a little too loud?" But several months later, he himself was listening to his mp3 at max volume after he broke up with his gf.
5. I'm pretty much normal physically.
6. I am unemployed and broke.
7. I am kinda employed and not entirely broke.

二、自分の性格を七つあげて
Ni, jibun no seikaku o nanatsu agete

Okay, I think this one tells me to tell 7 things about my character...

1. Apparently, I can still laugh when I am freakin angry. Or perhaps I can only do that in front of a special person.
2. Most of the time I am pretty restless. I can't sit around and do absolutely nothing. I must move! Think! Punch someone's face or something...
3. I am proud of my n3kk1d $k1llz! All the skills that I have accumulated all this while... very proud of them... Thank you to the people who have contributed to them.
4. I check whether the toilet door is really closed 3 times or more before I pee to be really sure that a woman will not accidentally see me peeing ever again.
5. Wow, this is tough... it's only the 5th point and I'm running outta ideas... Lemme see... I enjoy good arguments, especially those arguments where I win. Haha!
6. Hmm... I don't like waiting... but no one likes waiting... so I dunno...
7. 俺のgfが大好きだ！！

三、好きな曲７つ挙げて（歌手名も一緒に）
San, suki na kyoku nanatsu agete (kashuna mo issho ni)

This one tells me to list 7 songs that I like and the singer of the song.

Which is kinda tough, because the songs that I like kinda changes all the time. So I'll write what have I been listening recently...

1. Hana wa Sakura Kimi wa Utsukushi by Ikimonogakari
2. Himitsu Kichi by... I dunno, but it's Eureka 7's 1st ED Theme.
3. Oboeteru by Home Made Kazoku
4. HOME SWEET HOME by Home Made Kazoku (the newer version rocks!)
5. Kimi ga Kureta Mono by Home Made Kazoku
6. Ashita e no Tobira... the original version by IWISH and also the instrumental by 12 Girls Band.
7. Swing of Lie by YUI

Most of the songs are pretty old... but... I like 'em anyway.

四、好きな芸能人、有名人、スポーツ選手を七人上げて
Yon, suki na geinoujin, yuumeijin, supootsu senshu o (uh... not sure how to read that kanji) agete

Oh, this one tells me to list out 7 performers/celebrities/athletes that I like.

1. YUI
2. Ikimonogakari
3. Home Made Kazoku
4. Allen Iverson (although I don't really follow him nowadays... I guess I like his story in the past.)
5. Kevin Cooney (not really famous on TV... but he's on Youtube and his clips about Tokyo are really cool)
6. Ack! I'm stuck! I can't think of anyone! I've gotta say... Michael Jordan?
7. Uh... um... err... I really can't think of anyone anymore... So for number 7, I'm going to state... myself. Lol!

五、このバトンを七人に回して
Go, kono baton o (again, not sure how to read that kanji, but it means '7 people' anyway) ni mawashite

Ah, this final one tells me to to pass this baton to 7 other people... Fufufu...

1. Buraian. (Since He likes doing these stuff on Friendster so much...)
2. Qi. (Sorry...)
3. Xian. (Again, sorry... because I don't really know many people who have blogs)
4. Mein. (Gomen!)
5. Eugene.
6. I Lyn.
4. Teddy (Not sorry.)

Of course, you can always ignore the baton (or use the baton to decapitate me or whatever), I don't care. You don't have to feel obliged to do this thing because I know many of you don't really have the time to do this... except perhaps Buraian and Teddy.

1337

2008-03-13T22:42:00.002+08:00

Today I shall speak in 1337.

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oh crap, my english is becoming really bad...

Another lonely peregrination

2008-03-12T21:28:00.004+08:00

Last Monday, I traversed to Singapore. Recent excursions in the digital realm has revealed to me information about a certain art shop at Northbridge Centre in Bugis. This shop claims to have served artists in Singapore for over 30 years. However, that information is not the main reason why I decided to pay the shop which is located SGD$1.70 worth of MRT fare from my grandparents' place. The main reason was that, it has come to my knowledge that they sell manga equipment.

Curious about whether it is more economical to obtain my manga tools from that shop, I braved the drizzle from the Bugis MRT station to Northbridge Centre, which was a place I've never been to before. After consulting the lists of businesses that run in the building, I found the place without much difficulty.

Indeed, their claims seem to be legitimate. Omnifarious art related materials imaginable were abound. They were sorted systematically and displayed neatly. I saw a mannequin sold at a ridiculously cheap price of 4 dollars! I did not purchase it however, due to my pathetic funds.

I sauntered around the rather quiet and smallish shop (think Ollivanders!) of 3 workers trying to locate the equipment I was looking for. When I finally spotted the inks and nibs, I was greeted by whom I suppose is the wife of the owner of the shop. Her polite questions were answered by my search for pen nibs. When she took out the box and showed nibs before me, I was dejected when she told me that they are selling them for $1.80 per nib...

That is expensive! I usually can obtain 3 nibs for $4.20 with a 5% discount at the usual place I get my equipment. However, the shop does offer nibs from brands that are not offered at the place where I usually purchase my stuff. In the little magical box, I saw assortments of nibs from Zebra, Hunt and Nikko. However, it was rather odd that they aren't selling any Maru nibs...

The shop offer inks at a much cheaper price. They are of different brands... and I have grown fond with the brand I am using now. Nonetheless, I am considering trying these low quality looking inks in the future. Hey, they are $5.50 per bottle compared to the almost $9 per bottle that I use now!

After leaving the shop empty handed, I headed towards Bugis station. However, when I saw the National Library building on my left, I decided to tarry there. After depositing the books that I loaned in the bookdrop, I walked quickly into the lending section (which I did not notice on my first visit).

There, I discovered one whole shelf dedicated towards manga! There were many popular titles such as Naruto, EyeShield 21, and Bleach. These manga are translated in America by JUMP Comics and was brought here. They are pretty expensive... about $14 per volume (about 6 times more expensive than the price of one volume here in Malaysia). So it was great to be able to read them for free at the library. It is little disappointing however, because none of the titles there interested me.

The arts section delighted me. There was one row full of books from the popular How to Draw Manga series ready to be borrowed. Without wasting much time, I started to pull out 4-5 books with the intention to borrow them. Next section that I visited was the language section where I decided to borrow a kanji textbook and a beginner's Japanese vocabulary book. However, when I tried to borrow the heap of texts at the machine, I was restricted to only 4 items! What a bummer... only last month, the quota was twice as big. And now they've axed the number into half... So I ended up borrowing the two Japanese texts and 2 How to Draw Manga books.

The next day, I came back to the same library. Having read the two tutorial books the previous night, I disposed of them at the bookdrop and preyed on the books I couldn't borrow the day before. I spent about an hour of my morning there immeresed in the history of manga and the negative western preconception on manga (I didn't know they were so antagonistic towards manga... so it was rather interesting)

Afterwards, I took the MRT to Orchard to visit the Japanese Embassy. This is actually the main reason why I came to Singapore in the first place - to make enquiries about the Monbusho Scholarship. I don't remember walking along Orchard road before, so when I perambulated along the pavements, I marvelled at the hustle and bustle, the busking musicians, the unique architecture of the complexes and serpentining underpasses.

I had the impression that the Japanese Embassy would probably be just this small old building with a few offices. However, that imagination of mine dissolved when I walked past the Royal Thai Embassy. The Thailand Embassy was immense. It covered a great expanse of land with exotic greenery. The edifice appeared to be rather old, but the entire place still looks impressive. If the Thai Embassy is this huge, how huge would the Japanese Embassy be?

It was a pretty long walk to the Japanese Embassy, which is located in a rather isolated area. Nassim Road sported condos on one side of the road and embassies of other countries on the opposite side. When I reached the Japanese Embassy, I was greeted by two behemothic steel gates with the security post perched in between the gates. The three meter tall, half a meter thick gates made the place appear rather forbidding. Apparently, new security measures were instilled in which all visitors must present their IDs to the guards and wear visitor passes while in the embassy.

The Embassy building is split into two. The left gate is for visa collecting and enquiries, while the right gate leads to a majestic edifice with a large Imperial Seal emblazoned at the top of the entrance. I suppose the right gate is for the visiting VIP from Japan and not for curious normal people like me.

After negotiating my entry with the guards, I was admitted past the intimidating automatic gate and made my way up a small bridge into the Culture Center. There were books, magazines about Japan. There were also dolls on display. After consulting the woman behind the counter, I was told to wait for awhile as the counselor whom I am supposed to talk to has not arrived.

While browsing the books to kill time, a woman entered the room. She looked to be in her late 20s... she didn't approached me or anything, so I thought she's not the counselor. Only when this guy who came into the room and started to talk to her about his intention to study in Japan that I confirmed that she's the counselor...

So I sat next to the guy and asked her my questions... This woman... I didn't know her name while I was there. It was only today that I discovered that her name is Pauline Lue. Haha. She was under the scholarship before. She's also a Toudai alumnus who got through the entrance exam in one try. Smart and lucky!

When I finally ran out of questions and wanted to go home, it started to rain terribly. So I was stuck there. I browsed through the books uninterestedly (because I was tired) and restlessly walked around the place. A Japanese guy came into the room and started to talk to Pauline in Japanese. So I really got to hear her speak Japanese... she sounded so natural.

Anyway, the rain finally stopped. I grabbed my bag and half whispered

"Kaerimasu!"

She looked up at me with a rather startled expression. I had been speaking exclusively in English to her all day long. As I slung my bag around my head, I said to her cheerfully;

"Kyou wa arigatou gozaimashita!"

She was like "Ha..." and gave a little nod. Nice.

And so today I got home... I made a few more calls regarding the scholarship and most probably I'm going to pay Mdm Lue another visit...

Nice Hair

2008-03-07T22:25:00.003+08:00

While walking to the bus stop for work today, I saw a head over a fence.

The head had really nice hair!!! It was long and silky... it can rival JT's hair.

But it really shocked me when I discovered that the possessor of that almost ethereal hair... is a FREAKIN' GUY!!

WTF?!?!?!??!?!

But I tell you, the hair was really nice...

but the face... it disgusted me... it looked... incongruent...

like in some horror manga...

Stupid slippers...

2008-03-07T21:01:00.002+08:00

I was crossing the road today in a pair of sandals/slippers/flip-flops, what ever you call them...

The velcro strap of the right pair is spoit. So when I was crossing, the velcro came off in the middle of the road.

So I watched the right slipper being rolled over by all kinds of vehicles before being able to retrieve it.

Thankfully the strap didn't get permanently damaged after all that tormenting...

Iota Epsilon

7 months... and I'm back again.

How to extinguish an unattended cooking fire

I miss you.

Half a year...

Of rubbish fire, birthday and raya

One year of National Service!

Sakura reply by RSP!

Working hours

ああ なんて苦しみなんだ

Rescue and Evacuation

Station 44

Dispatch!

Tracked Fire Vehicle

Standby...

2nd boots!

strange life

Daydream

-_-"

First 24-hour duty Over!

Sergeant Jamil and his Random Vacation

My next a year and a half is at stake

Lots of things in a very short post

Sakura

Valentine's Day and Bush Fire

Back from Brunei

owatta...

wasted weekend

色々ことを…

あけましておめでとう！

A rather fun week

Flashover

Long Weekend

Hell week - OVER!!

Pointless stuff

A number of things crammed together

Nichima Festival

Sick

Delete

Kore wa Sayonara

Randoseru: ランドセル

Kindergarten

Rain

Why Do I Write

A Tag in a language I barely understand

Zoo Adventure: Part I

Egesting Quagmire

Dentist visit

A funny thing that happened...

The Fastest Man on Earth!

Beijing Olympics

A long explanation

more ranting

Ohisashiburi

Deleted

大変！

Kritical Phase 002!

新世紀エヴァンゲリオン - Neon Genesis Evangelion

バトン

Class Pic 2005

Dream

Kritical Online!

ドイツ敗れた！ Euro 2008 Finals - Germany 0, Spain 1

交響詩篇エウレカセブン - Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven

Rants rants rants

PUBLISHED!

Doki Doki Shichau

So close, yet so far...

Necessary Rant

Finally!

Official Acceptance

Bad mood

The Aftermath

Big Big News

Quick updates

An epistle from Nanyang Technological University

Sakura, sakura aitai yo!

Scrubs

What I have been doing recently.

Yet another tag!

ああ　なんて苦しみなんだ