The Top Five List of Top 10 Lists of 2008

Its that time of the year where top ten lists of 2008 start appearing in magazines, newspapers, on television yadayada. So I thought I'd do a lil' half spoof of it =)

Why 5? Because 10 would entail much mindless scrolling down.

Well as you can fathom from the title this is going to be one loooong and quite pointless post, but I'll just go ahead for the heck of it.

Note: All lists are purely of my personal opinion.

Top Ten Geeky Things That Happened to me

1) Deciding to take the plunge into Linux (Ubuntu) and discovering a brand new world
2) Trying to learn how to use the terminal to improve my Linux experience (and failing)
3) Zhnging my Compaq laptop so it dual-boots with Mac OS X and Ubuntu. Which is really Windows XP zhnged to look like Mac OS X.
4) Upgrading my Compaq laptop to 2 GB RAM with a cheaply bought used 1GB RAM module
5) Upgrading my monitor to a 22 inch LG one
6) Researching for days for a new printer and ended up buying one totally different from the initial selection
7) Starting this blog afresh
8) Ordering DVDs online from Amazon.jp and Yesasia.com
9) Printed T-shirts for an online forum
10) Eagerly devouring Digital Life (the newspaper add-on) every Wednesday
11) Surviving 2 weeks without touching a computer in India

Top Ten Green Things That Happened to me

1) Sleeping without air-conditioning since who-knows-when
2) Cycling at every possible opportunity as long as destination is within 5km.
3) Walking home from the MRT station in the wee hours of the morning just for fun
4) Turning of power socket switches at home with rabid obsession
5) Constantly adjusting office air-conditioning temperature higher, even as others turn it down
6) Recycling and sorting garbage if bins are in sight and trash is at hand
7) Declining plastic bags whenever possible. Even returning them
8) Tried to reduce toilet paper used when attempting bombing runs and found it to be near impossible
9) Starting this blog afresh
10) Watching "An Inconvenient Truth" at home instead of a movie theatre
11) Getting my license to drive

Top Ten Video Games that I've played

1) Far Cry 2
2) Fallout 3
3) Team Fortress 2
4) Portal
5) Red Alert 3
6) Crysis Warhead
7) Fifa 09
8) GTA San Andreas
9) The Frozen Throne (Battlenet)
10) Assassin's Creed
11) Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3

Top Ten Artistes (Albums/Singles) that I've heard
I've discovered lots of Japanese artistes this year, so lots of unfamiliar names =)

1) Chatmonchy (Miminari + Seimeiryoku + Somaru Yo)
2) Asian Kung-Fu Generation (World World World + Mada Minu Ashita Ni)
3) Tokyo Jihen (Kyouiku + Adult + Variety)
4) YUI (I Loved Yesterday + My Short Stories)
5) FREENOTE (Shuuden Master + Introducing the popline + Otonoha Triangle)
6) Mika Nakashima (Voice)
7) Ayumi Hamasaki (Guilty + Mirrorcle World + Days/Green)
8) Kimura Kaela (+1, SCRATCH)
9) Olivia Ong (A Girl Meets Bossanova + AGMB 2 + Fall in Love With)
10) Coldplay (Viva La Vida)
11) Money No Enough 2 Soundtrack

Top Ten Things That Happened that affected me in a big way

1) QUIS
2) Barack Obama = President
3) Overseas Exercise in India + Mumbai Bombings
4) The economic meltdown
5) Japan trip in April
6) Beijing Olympics 2008 (In particular, Team Singapore)
7) Manchester United being crowned Champions in England and Europe
8) Facebook
9) Passing my driving test
10) AHM
11) ORDDDD!!!

Goodbye 2008, a year of top tens

AHM (A "Hiong" Marathon)

And so I completed my first ever (and probably last) marathon. Oh all right it was a HALF marathon, if u wanna be picky. It was one hell of a marathon. And it wasn't because of the impeccable timing of the date (doors closing soon!).

I reached Padang on a wonderful Sunday morning with a lil' drizzle, around 5.30AM. Wonderful if you're still in bed, snug and comfortable with the blanket drawn over your heads. My first step into Padang was welcomed with a very satisfying *splat*.

That's right, the Padang had turned into Pa-dung overnight. Great way to start a Sunday eh? It was pretty dark (it WAS 5.30am) so I wandered around like a lost child before I finally found a bunch of people wearing the same singlet as mine. Met Ben and JH, before we started to hunt for a place to dump our bags. Funnily enough, all the bag deposits refused to let us deposit our bags (even the paying ones!). After running around like a bunch of confused chickens, we found some familiar faces and put all our bags together.

Thereafter was the start of the 21km run, which yours truly took part in. The run itself wasn't that bad. Hmm. Typo. The run wasn't that bad until I crossed the halfway 10km point. Up till then I was still sane, listening to my mp3 player, mouthing lyrics, looking at all the interesting people running past me, overtaking the slackers who were walking even before the first water point, and in general feeling rather good.

Once I turned the 10km corner in ECP, my left ankle screamed out "dude! this is the furthest I'll go!". My brain failed to heed its warning and told my legs to keep running. After awhile the pain dissolved into plain numbness, as I tried to concentrate on the music. Then around the 12km mark civilisation turned into wilderness as we wound through the forested area that is Marina Bay. Suddenly marathon wasn't an approprate term for the run anymore, x-country more likely. Mud! Uneven tracks! More mud! Potholes! Everyone slowed down during this segment. I think I went crazy and just overtook as many people as I could. Maybe it was the fresh air coming from the forest.

After crossing the Marina Barrage (around 15km), my knees started to complain. 16km. Thump thump thump. 17km. First sign of cramping. Ok, slow down, chill, don't use the calf muscles. 18km. ARGHHAGFHG where the hell is 19. 19km. OMFG finally 2km more. CRAMP. Ouch wtf. Ok lets walk then. walk walk walk. damn everyone is overtaking me. 20km. oooh yeah. F*** it just run. Run run run. 20.9km. AHA I CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE! *drools rabidly*. Run run run. 20.98km. CRAMP CRAMP CRAMP. Why are my legs dragging? wtf not now. hobble hobble hobble. Beep. Hmm I crossed the line? cool. am I supposed to feel euphoric?

That sums up the run. And I'm still having chui legs, ankles and knees.

ping and pong.

I haven't been blogging a lot, have I? I've had to dust away several dead spiders and their webs before I could find the "NEW POST" button.

Ok suddenly global warming stopped for a second.

Anyway! Today our born-in-China-play-for-Singapore table tennis mercenaries will fight for their own personal glory, and ours, for the flag that goes up has white instead of yellow stars. If you ask me I'll say it'll be easier for the 3 of them since the burden of winning for the team and our first medal has been lifted.

People have been playing down the significance of the silver they won last Sunday mostly based on their birthplace. But hey, weren't we all from the same 'ol China (if you're Chinese, that is)? Sure, Chinese Chinese talk like machine guns (or rather, we're the ones who maul the language), but deep down inside, the blood, the DNA, the roots, the culture, its all the same. Its the same phenomenon that happened way back after a certain ang moh spoke cheem English to our Tunku, made him sign some dodgy documents and declared that Singapore was open. And in rushed all those kiasu (mostly Chinese) immigrants, our great great great grandparents, queueing up since the previous morning, wanting to grab the best bargains of the Singapore Dream.

Its the same thing, only faster (LOTS faster). We go where the money is. We're all Boba Fett at heart. Boss pays good, we do it. And if we do that something really well to make Boss really happy, why not?

So erase that niggling thought (yes I know you have it nestled in your brain cells somewhere) that the efforts of Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei (even Tao Li) will be lesser than if they were to be replaced by "pure" Singaporeans.

The medals are for all of us.

NDP weekend!

Singapore celebrated her 43rd birthday last Saturday (damn!)
somehow this year feels like the previous year's one, with all that water stunts, floating balloons and stuff.

Anyway, me and XJ celebrated our 3rd year together with Singapore. 3 years seems long huh? Time flies real quickly...

Somehow I managed to get hold of cheap SG Flyer tickets, only to find out they could only be used before 6pm. There went the chance of catch the fireworks.
Once there (in some ulu part of marina bay, on a plot of land obscured by ECP), I was reminded of the purpose of the Flyer as a tourist magnet (money changer, check. expensive souvenier store, check. luxury stores, check). Nice atmosphere though, with live music and a tropical garden. The viewing deck was crowded with people waiting to watch the fireworks (it was only 6pm!).

We got into the same cabin as a bunch of tourists (Bangla, Japanese, Ang Moh, Indo, maybe Chinese). I felt like a tourist in my own country.



We could see the parachute segment, tiny dots spiralling down to the floating platform, the water performance segment, followed by the 25 pounder guns lined up below (the guns kept in my camp garage!) and the gunners from Charlie (the battery I'm attached to!). Never saw NDP upclose before until now (unless u count P5).

Then we headed off to Lau Pa Sat for some zhi char BBQ seafood! yum yum. Standard hotplate tofu, cereal prawns and pepper crabs!



not bad at all! though the crabs were kinda messy, my brand new shirt kena black splats. We missed the fireworks though, and had to make do with distorted reflections off the glass surfaced buildings and lots of booms.

Caught a late night movie after that. Our plan was to catch the 9pm Mummy show, but we missed it so we "sneaked" in at 9.40 with legit tickets (only wrong time LOL) to make the most of the 8 bucks. In the end had to settle for Money no enough 2 front row seats.

Good show! Cheesy laughs at the beginning, serious heartwarming and teary stuff near the end. Predictable plot, good acting (from the Ah Ma), usual jibes at the government, and issues close to our hearts.

Feeling rather lazy today. Bummed around the house sweating it out in this crazy hot weather (another sign of global warming!! al gore +1)

Just realised my last post was 2 weeks ago, which is quite pathetic. Since then I've done lots of stuff (which probably explains my neglected blog lol)

1) Watched the Dark Knight

Really good, dark movie. The Joker (I know, all that hype surrounding him) was portrayed really well, considering the skeptical view I took while watching the movie. Sadistic, insane, cunning, ugly. Now the phrase "Why so serious?" is popping up everywhere, even on my TF2 games. Looks like everyone feels the same way. Too bad Two-Face died though, I was expecting him to be the baddie in Batman 3 or something. I couldn't understand some parts probably due to the twisted storyline, involving Batman vs Mafia, then Joker vs Mafia, then Joker + Mafia vs Batman, then everyone vs Batman. The ferry scene was the best IMO, I would have been terrified to be in those people's shoes.

2) Stayed over in camp

Can't say much about it, except it involved a really cold night. Brrr. And some noisy rats/lizards.

3) Got burnt by ash

Friday was the first day of the Chinese Seventh Month and so we burnt some incense in camp for safety and protection. I had hot ash fall repeatedly on my finger while trying to stick the incense into the pot, which hurt like hell (pardon the pun). I hope it didn't mean anything else.

4) Ate Muthu's Curry for the second time + Bought a new pair of ear phones

Went with XJ to eat Muthu's at Suntec on Saturday. The naan and briyani were delicious, though the main courses were so-so. The mutton curry in particular didn't agree with my stomach, I felt uncomfortable the whole day. Pappadums! *crackle*

We both went to Creative and got a pair of in-ear earphones each. I've been wanting to get one for ages, and I aimed for Audio Technica, until I learnt of their prices. My Creative one cost only $45 (ok, 45 may seem abit expensive, but its the real deal). It works like a charm - I couldn't hear a thing outside while plugged in (except baby screeches which I don't think even the best ear plugs could block). I even fell asleep on the bus without noticing it. And it keeps sounding better and better the longer I use it. No wonder my recently failed Hyundai mp3 player earphones sound sooooo good despite being 4 years old. Quite sad to throw it away T.T

1 week to NDP! And boom (7% GST!) boom (so many ERP!) boom (Public transport fee increase!)

Whew.

After 1 and a half weeks of tinkering, configuration and troubleshooting, I've finally enabled a near-perfect Ubuntu cum Windows XP dual boot on my laptop. Lots of problems cropped up initially - No wireless, no sound (which was took the longest to solve), no youtube, no video, songs with screwed up ID tags.

Now its complete! The only buggy thing left is the viewing of certain videos with dodgy encoding. I was surprised that I could almost do the same things I normally do in XP, from using MSN to viewing Guitar Pro tabs, even more. The only thing I haven't tried is installing the games which reside on the XP half of my hard drive. At the very least I'll boot XP if I ever feel the urge to play Sonic or Starcraft =)

On the downside, I think I lost many hours of gaming time while trying to solve the linux problems. Its time to catch up LOL.

In other news -

I've passed my driving practical test! Finally I've got that coveted license-to-pollute-and-contribute-to-global-warming. I'll stick to my personal preference of driving only when absolutely necessary. I still relish the feeling of sitting comfortably (if I get a seat) on a bus or MRT with my Zen plugged in and just dozing off, waking up just before I arrive at my stop.

Now do that in a car and I'll prolly wake up in CGH, or even Mandai Crematorium. Touchwood.

Ubuntu for fun!

Weekends fly by so quickly, they barely even registered on my calendar before they're gone. Well I suppose I can attribute this to a well-spent weekend?

Saturday was spent in usual fashion, playing soccer in the morning (albeit with still-aching legs from the weekly dose of 10km runs at East Coast). Then I came home, intending to chill in front of the computer when Kheng Yong popped up with an offer of free tickets to Hellboy II. Hell, who can resist an offer like that? So I headed down with Wenyang and KY to Suntec for the movie. Free popcorns and drinks to boot lol. The movie was average, not as much action as I would have expected, but it was compensated for by the free-ness of it all LOL.

Then we headed to Marina Sq food court for dinner where we saw the fireworks for the NDP rehearsals. With each explosion goes our higher ERP charges. When the actual day comes our transport fares will probably end up having the same fate, as well as any surplus from that 7% GST.

Milled around the place before I went to meet XJ at her Yoguru workplace in Raffles City. We had supper/dinner at Brewerkz in Kallang (nice ribs man! tender, juicy and bbqy!). Then we sat along the Kallang river and had a nice long chat. Really nice place to hang out, away from all the noise and crowds of the city.

And when I woke up late on Sunday morning, I suddenly had this urge to either fix up my spoilt PC or condemn it to the scrap heap. So I stripped it up, randomly plugged components in and out until I reached a conclusion - the motherboard's fried. Then I had another urge - to install Linux in the old 20gig hard drive!

So I slotted in the otherwise-condemned hard drive into my other not-so-old Compaq PC.

After several hours of backing up and research and configuration and troubleshooting and installation, here I am, typing this post on Ubuntu Linux!



Cool right? Only problem is, its not compatible with a whole host of (Windows) programmes. The font is also kinda woozy (they don't support any "commercial fonts" like Arial). Right now I'm contemplating converting my laptop to Ubuntu, which would be a drastic move. Maybe once I've gotten the hang of Linux.

But damn, its so cool! With this I have reached another level of geekdom. *cue Final Fantasy Fanfare*

I. Have. Hydraulic. Oil. In. My. Hair.

And I can't get it to wash off completely even after 5 shampoos. ARGH. Just another non-typical day at work.

Oh well, guess I'll have to make do with perma-wax for the next 2 days. Hey, at least my hair looks spiky now.

the fat green pipe is getting clogged

Torrent + TF2 + video streaming + peak hour

and you get this - 900ms ping on Team Fortress 2.

I die a second before I actually see it. Doors take 1 second to open. My screen flies everywhere during intense battles. I can actually miss a pointblank because the guy already moved when I clicked.

12mbps? more like 12microbytespersecond.

Too many greenies in my block man.

I've just ran 10km at East Coast today as part of AHM (army half marathon) training. In slightly more than an hour, which is not too bad considering I've never ran any distance more than 6km, much less 10km.

Strangely running at ECP seems to take away muscle fatigue or something, I felt as if I could just go on and on (yes, my pace was rather slow, so it could be that). Maybe its the wind, the fresh air, the change of scenery (compared to boring army camps), and maybe another kind of scenery for some LOL.

Anyways my legs feel like agar agar right now.

These past few days were spent discovering some great new (and not so new) funky music from Japan! After much delay I finally decided to listen to Tokyo Jihen and Kimura Kaela, 2 very different and talented artistes with distinct styles of music. Jazzfunkrock for TJ, quirkyrockpop for KK. Can't get TJ's "Ringo no uta" and "OSCA", and Kaela's "Yellow" out of my mind for the whole of today.

At the same time thanks to some good people at a chatmonchy forum I unearthed some pretty solid indie J-rock bands and other musicians who didn't make it commercially, but really sound good! Bugy Craxone, FREENOTE and lots lots more.

"get over myself, so get over myself, so get over myself, so 1, 2, 3, 4"

Been some time since I blogged eh?

Don't feel like doing a long post now, so...

In the past week I...

- went outfield for exercise for the second time
- slept in a tonner
- did flag marshalling for AHM training at ECP
- despaired when Germany beat Portugal
- played soccer until sunblack
- finally bought and downloaded Team Fortress 2
- played bowling and had highly fluctuating forms
- almost fainted when Holland lost to Russia
- went for combat shoot and had loads of IAs
- passed combat shoot despite the IAs thanks to my buddies
- had a niggling bad throat

That's it.

Lots of stuff happened this past week. Lets see which had most impact on me...

The 2 NSFs who died while training.

I can't say much about this piece of news, except that its sad that 2 guys my age died for no apparent reason. Especially when it could have been anyone, even me. That's the scary thing about this whole sudden cardiac arrest thingy. Already I'm a bit paranoid walking in open spaces when there's heavy rain =x I don't know how the SAF is gonna come up with a "solution" or whatnot, people are still gonna die of this, no matter how thorough the medical checkup is. Kinda reminds me of "Deathnote".

The PC Show 08.

The sole reason why I'm going to brave the crowd later on is to grab that LG 22 inch widescreen LCD monitor for $359. Hopefully, today being the last day, it'll cost even less.

Euro 08.

Its a great feeling when both your favourite teams, the Portugese and the Dutch (strange, weren't the 2 fighting for control over the colonisation of Southeast Asia?) are doing so well in the tournament. Finals - Portugal vs Holland!

An update of what I've been up to:

Playing Sonic the Hedgehog!



Remember this? My childhood was spent playing this great game! Feeling nostalgic all over again =) I even have Sonic 2, 3 and Sonic and Knuckles! Now if only I can find that aeroplane game...

And so it ends... But its just the beginning for us!

We didn't win anything yesterday, but at least we walked away with something much more valuable - experience and advice! Plus we had (or at least I had) a great time on stage.

By the time we got up on stage (we were the first band, quite stressed), I think most of us had the mentality "ah heck it, finals liao, just whack ah." And whack we did. I wouldn't say it was our best performance musically, but image wise I think we did our best to work on our showmanship (we were practically jumping around).

Seeing other bands play on stage was quite enlightening , and it really showed the many ways in which we have yet to improve and work on. The top band Xcalibur totally owned everyone with their technically sound skills and crazy showmanship. They had the real classic "rock band" vibe that you don't see much nowadays. Supernova were not spectacular, but what impressed me was that they looked good on stage, the so-called "tai fong" or stage presence. Although the songs they played were relatively simple, they were tight and in tune with each other. The 3rd band Hidama was the usual Tokyo Jihen funk style, unique and refreshing (though I still can't appreciate the vocals lol). To be fair she had that natural, "look-at-me!!" singing style.

The other band which didn't win, Xbred, was quite a surprise actually since I thought they'd at least get something. But their guitarist was quite right, without a vocalist they already had a disadvantage from the start. Still the stuff they did was crazy! I've still got a long way to go before I even touch the tip of their iceberg.

We were disappointed of course. But like Joe the soundman said, there are many opportunities out there for us. Really gotta thank him for all his advice and comments since the Jrock festival 2 weeks ago. Hopefully we'll get a chance to work with him again. And thanks to everyone who was there to support us!

For now I think let my Cort take a lil' break and give my accoustic some attention. Been ages since I touched it =.=

Something random, tagged by XJ =)

#1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
eh. be damn sad and move on. no guts to whack the other guy (maybe knock into him when he waiting for train, den drop onto the tracks LOL sadistic)

#2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
for the earth to be clean, free of all pollutants, no global warming, all life living in perfect equilibrium. and the widespread adoption of green technology.

#3. What will your dream wedding be like?
hmm. somewhere cozy without much hype, with a jazz band playing, no sharks fin!

#4. Are you confused as to what lies ahead of you?
not really. ORD!!!!!! that goal is very clear in my mind LOL. go uni, get that degree, work in some green company, save the environment, get married have kids, get a green house with a green car, live like a greenie (with the only sin of having a super ultimate powerful gaming machine). I'm green da ba dee da ba da...

5. What's your ideal lover like?
interesting, outgoing yet knows when to stop, smart dresser (not too outrageous), attentive and fun!

#6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone ?
the latter. the former is hard when that someone doesn't reciprocate.

#7. How long do you intend to wait for someone u really love?
not very long? dont wanna remain single for too long den become some 40yr old virgin.

#8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?
find someone else to secretly like.

#9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
hmm. disappointed at not winning anything yesterday, but rather short-lived. camp politics.

#10. What do you want most in life?
personally, just have a comfortable life, nice family, rather normal. no need to be rich or famous or what. although I sometimes dream of being a rock star.

#11. Is being tagged fun?
well, sometimes. when the questions are interesting (and no need to spill too much brain juice to answer)

#12. How do you see yourself in ten years time?
married, possibly with children. with a comfortable career. godly guitar skills. (LOL) inventor of some radical new green technology.

#13. Who is the current most important person to you?
everyone who is close to me.

#14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
one heck of a girl =)

#15. Would you rather be single & rich or married but poor?
too extreme sia. married but average ok anot? i know everyone wants to be rich, but i don't. (too much) money is evil.

#16. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be?
parrot. den i can train it to answer my calls.

#17. What are one of those things which you would prefer not to do?
sai kang.

#18. What kind of person do u think u are?
normal, unassuming, slack, relaxed

#19. What do you define as a bad day?
when everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

20. If you have to choose between love (as in boy-girl relationships) and friendship, what would it be?
love. not that i'll throw my friends aside. its all relative.


The 8 lucky people to be tagged are
???????? i dunno who reads my blog so if u feel like doing this just do la

we're in.

FINALS @ PLAZA SINGAPURA, SUNDAY 7PM!!!!

whirlwind!

Pretty interesting weekend!

Met up with XJ at Central on Friday after work for a Japanese dinner :) The restaurant we wanted to go (Ma Maison) initially had a waiting list of 45mins, others like Waraku had uber long queues and the only choice left was this curry udon restaurant Wakashachiya, which was relatively "empty". Not surprising, considering that Japanese curry + udon makes a strange combination. I ordered the standard Tonkatsu curry udon while she had the salmon. It tasted pretty good at first, but after awhile the sourness of the curry overpowered everything. Looks like mee rubus too lol. Not bad, but for the price it wasn't that worth it. Went for a nice walk along Clarke Quay :)

Saturday was the big day (sort of). Went jamming in the afternoon before heading down to Orchard Cineleisure for the SSF WOW! band competition qualifying rounds. Just before we headed out to *scape youth park for the sound check it POURED. Had to chiong across 2 roads, getting totally soaked as a result. Luckily our instruments weren't affected by the rain, though I had to walk around in wet shoes ><. Thankfully the rain stopped which allowed us to grab a quick dinner before the actual competition. I was quite impressed with 2 bands, the first one which had a charismatic vocalist, and the one before us which did a wicked sick instrumental (the guitarists pwned all of us LOL). Hidama did a pretty good cover of Tokyo Jihen songs, though I can't appreciate the vocals. Then it was our turn. We did Big Machine by Goo Goo Dolls, followed by Stay Away. It was all over in a flash. I can't really remember what happened heh. Anyway the big news is - we got in!!!

Semi - finals @ Plaza Singapura, this Friday (6th June), 7pm!


Met up with atheon from Malaysia on Sunday with some Singaporean YLs for lunch at Ma Maison (this time the waiting was 15mins lol).



Yup that's the fabled "It's happy line" single! Finally got a chance to see it (thanks to Danny).

The food was good, although rather expensive considering the portions were quite little. I ordered the beef stroganoff omurice set. Man the omelette covering the rice was damn good! I think I finished the plate in 10mins. benzwong had the strangest item on the menu, squid ink spaghetti! It tasted like char kway tiao haha. Although not exactly Japanese food, I think 80% of the customers (and even the staff) are Japanese, which definitely says something about its fame.

After that we started our guitar shop tour, first to Peninsular shopping centre, followed by Swee Lee at Bras Basah complex. I didn't realise there was a new guitar shop called Blackwood Guitars, they sell rare guitars! Imagine the entire shop selling stuff you can find only in the special room in Swee Lee! It also sells stomp boxes (besides the usual BOSS) and amps of never-seen-before brands.

I was pretty tired after walking around the whole day. Sigh. Lately I've been feeling rather sleepy when I wake up in the morning, I probably need to start sleeping early again zzz. Its tough especially since you wanna make the most of your time out of camp.

Tokyo! (part 8) - END

About time I concluded my Japan trip lol.

Headed out to Harajuku station for the 2nd time on Saturday morning, to show my sis around the place. Since it was still rather early, we decided to visit the Meiji-jingu shrine just behind the station! It took a good 15mins before we finally reached the shrine. Along the way we ran into a large group of elderly Japanese tourists who were excitedly making their way to the shrine. Quite an amusing sight =)



The huge torii gates! The wood for the 2 pillars came from a tree on a mountain in Taiwan. The largest torii in Tokyo I think?

And... we were in luck! I counted at least 2 couples getting married in traditional ceremonies!





The first couple!



A pair of huge, beautiful trees connected by a rope.



The actual shrine itself, built in memory of Emperor Meiji.





The 2nd couple!

It was my first time seeing this so it was quite exciting for me, and for the other tourists that were busy snapping away. I suppose the bride and groom felt as if they were celebrities or something. And those kimonos! They looked so exquisite and elaborate! If I were a Japanese girl I'd probably want to wear one of those XD

After that we walked a short distance to take a picture of the Yoyogi National Stadium, where Ayumi Hamasaki always holds her finale and countdown concerts =) I could hear a street band performing in nearby Yoyogi Park but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to investigate.



Shibuya AX is located behind the stadium, where the likes of YUI and AKFG have performed before ^^.



Harajuku's Meiji-dori street. Not many of those gothic dressers walking around, probably because it was still early in the morning. I could spot several groups of normally dressed youths pulling luggages <- filled with their extravagant clothings!



The crepes! This time I ate a simple one - vanilla and blueberry. Delicious! And cooling too, on a sunny day despite the time of the year.

We walked all the way to Shibuya from Harajuku , where we headed back to the hotel to get ready to visit my dad's old colleague and friend from Hitachi, Fujita-san!

We took a long train ride all the way to Mobara station in Chiba (about 2 hours, even on an express), where Fujita-san met us with his nephew-in-law, Yuichi-san. Really nice to see them again after 5 years, with that same wide smile. Unlike the last time we had some time to spare before dinner so they showed us around their quiet hometown.



Fujita-san and us.



Yuichi-san (don't you think he looks like the guy who acted in the Trick series?)

We followed them around Mobara park, where we walked to a Buddhist temple surrounded by cemeteries (contrary to the obvious it was quite tranquil instead of scary). Then they brought us to Fujita-san's sister's house/salon for a drink and some snacks. Small and cozy place! Exactly the same as I remembered 5 years ago. I didn't get a haircut though XD. Met a couple of high school boys getting their hair styled in the salon. Yuichi-san then brought us to the old Hitachi factory where my dad used to work at.

Once it was time we headed off to this cozy little Italian restaurant for dinner, where the entire extended family turned up!



Everyone was quite delighted that we were there, including Fujita-san's daughter Aya-san and niece Soko-san who bombarded my sis and me with questions about life in Singapore and other random stuff. Quite amusing when trying to understand their English while at the same time phrasing the answers so that they'd understand. Tried my hand at speaking some Japanese (and failed, sadly) although Soko-san said I was very good XD. Then we had this lively discussion about kanji vs chinese characters and names. They were quite intrigued by our chinese names, and were very amused when we translated their Japanese names into (rather bad-sounding) Chinese ones. Too bad we had to leave relatively early to catch the last train going back to Tokyo.

The next morning on Sunday, me and my dad headed down to Akihabara to take a quick look around before we flew back to Singapore. It was drizzling slightly so there wasn't much activity outside the station (I missed the cosplayers and street performers! T.T).

It's really a geek heaven! Huge buildings filled to the brim with electronics, computers, consoles and games, anime, figurines and many other random (geeky) stuff. Too bad I didn't step into the famed Maid Cafes (I didn't know what to expect, especially with my dad around =x) and that 7 floor building filled with porn mentioned by depyon XD



And the ultimate geek nostalgia:



I haven't seen one of those in ages! Ever since I stopped playing my SEGA console I thought cartridge game consoles were dead (minus the Gameboy). Apparently someone resurrected the Nintendo 64 and its available for sale! If it wasn't for the high prices of the cartridges I'd have bought one for old time's sake =)

After that half-satisfactory visit to Akihabara we bade farewell to Japan, back to Singapore.

Somehow I get the feeling that I'll want to go back again. Someday, when I have the money XD

ROCKKKK!!!!

And so the day of reckoning finally arrived on Sunday, after weeks of practice and preparation.

We had a short run-thru before heading down to Suntec City, where all the action was. I was actually expecting the Cosplay and Jrock event to take up the entire atrium, so I was kinda disappointed when I saw the Sony exhibition area XD. Anyways, there was a crowd which grew slowly, including those in the upper levels, so it wasn't bad at all.

There were a few bands playing before us, one in particular obviously loved Shiina Ringo. Pretty impressive, especially since Tokyo Jihen songs aren't the easiest. Another had a female vocalist singing male vocals which was kinda weird. Couldn't make out the lyrics for most of Luna Sea's Rosier since the song was pretty low. LOTS of cosplayers walking around, decked out in maid costumes, frilly dresses, anime characters (I saw Naruto, Bleach, Ragnarok Online, Ryuk from Deathnote) and other fancy gothic outfits. I liked Ryuk the most heheh. Too bad he didn't have an apple on hand to much on.

Soon it was our turn to go onstage. A bit nervous while setting up, but after awhile during the sound check (Sweet child 'o mine, baby!) it sort of melted away. We started with Rewrite by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, then ALONES by Aqua Timez, Driver's High and Stay Away by Larc and finally Storm by Luna Sea. Quite hard to describe how I felt, it just felt so good to stand on stage and blast on my guitar. It was fun, despite dropping my pick and stepping on the wrong pedals ^^. A pity the audience wasn't that enthusiastic, although I could tell most of them enjoyed the more popular songs (ALONES, Driver's High and Storm). Somehow Luna Sea has a lot of fans in Singapore?

Some photos and videos, credits to Helixius from YL.com =)



ALONES
Driver's High

Really high after the whole thing. Hot and tired. Sweaty. Hungry. But satisfied.

confetti

Manchester United: Champions of England, Champions of Europe!


update: the performance timing for tomorrow has been changed to 6.45 instead of 6.15!

Hot right?

That's global warming for you. Go on, keep that air-conditioner turned on.

I'll be waiting for the rains to fall.




In another note, I've not read a serious book in a loooong time. Kite runner was probably the last one I read (which was a few months ago). My brains are rottinggggg.

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Suntec City Tropics Atrium (outside MANGO).

3 - 9 p.m.

Singapore Street Festival D'J party.

Cosplay.

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6.15 - 7pm.

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Tokyo! (part 7)

Early on Friday morning we went to the outlet mall in Makuhari located in the Chiba prefecture for some bargain shopping XD Took a loooong train ride which took us past Tokyo Disneyland. Really brought back memories of my first ever trip to Japan.

The whole Makuhari station area was surrounded by huge suburban malls, including the outlet mall which housed brands like Nike, Aasics, Adidas, Columbia, several girlish clothing brands, and strangely, Triumph and Wacoal lingerie stores.

Bought a new pair of sneakers at the Nike store for only 2999yen!! That's only about 40SGD!

I grew tired of shopping so I took a long walk through the town park and surprise!



Unknowingly, I had walked all the way until I reached the beach! Great view of Tokyo Bay =)

After lunch I rushed back to Tokyo to meet depyon, a fellow Singaporean who had just started studying in Waseda University. He showed me around the Takadanobaba area before leading me to the SILS faculty of Waseda. Really diverse place! There were foreign students as well as Japanese who had studied overseas, and most of them could speak really good English! I was equally impressed by the modules they could take as part of the course - A wide range of languages, sports, music and even community service! Makes me wanna study at Waseda for a semester or 2 as an exchange programme XD

We met up with a few Singaporean Waseda students before heading off to Harajuku where we met another group from Todai.



Harajuku Station.

We walked up and down Takeshita dori as well as Omotesando Hills.



The entire Omotesando Hills shopping mall is built on a slope, which explains the unique sloping design of its floors!

Sadly I forgot to take any more photos as the company was simply too interesting XD Heard lots of stories and jokes about their experiences of living and studying in Japan, including dates, girls, drinking, keitais, weird characters and whatnot ^^. There was a mix of the newbies, the (relatively) old birds, the and the outsider - me. You might say I was slightly envious of them =) We had such a long chat even after a long and filling dinner of ramen that we went back to the Ma-cu-Do-nal-do at Harajuku for supper and more chatting. That was where I saw my first McPork (or Ma-cu-Po-ku). I can dare say McDonald's would close down if they ever introduced that here in Singapore.

Soon the curfew times for those staying in hostels beckoned and everyone took the train back, which was still packed like hell (it was already 11pm!).
The whole experience was kinda surreal - I never expected to speak Singlish so openly and with so many fellow Singaporeans my age in Japan, of all places! It was a refreshing way to relax and just talk loads of cock especially after a long and somewhat quiet tour.

I learnt a lot about university life in Japan that night! Not to mention the life of a Singaporean student in Japan... Will definitely consider going for an exchange program in Japan in the future!

Champions!!

This picture says it all.

Tokyo! (part 6)

First thing on Thursday morning we took the subway to Tsukiji Fish market. However we made a very big mistake - rush hour!!!

The Ikeuburo train station was packed! People were squeezing and pushing to get past the barriers, as well as into the trains. We were lucky to get into one, although the relief lasted only a second as people continued to pour into the carriages. I finally experienced how it felt to be a sardine squashed in a tiny can - wedged between 2 towering salarymen in black coats. To make matters worse there was an accident in the Oedo subway line, so our train was stuck for a good 10minutes.

When we finally reached Tsukiji at around 11, it started to drizzle. Since we arrived too late, we missed out on the actual fish market and decided to just take a walk among the narrow alleys filled with lots and lots of stalls selling fresh seafood!





We had a hearty brunch of ramen and beef bowl!!







My dad was feeling partically peckish so we started to hunt for this stall which sold freshly grilled shellfish -



I saw lots of weird shellfish, including this box of "uni" or sea urchin. My parents absolutely loved it (I just don't get the idea of eating the meat of a spiky ball thingy)



A visit to Tsukiji wasn't complete without a taste of its fresh sushi! So we entered this sushi shop, and I was rather surprised to see a female sushi chef! You don't see many of those around.





A fishmonger slicing up a huge piece of tuna meat.

After that rather filling visit to Tsukiji we went to Kamakura, a few stops away from Yokohama, to visit the famous Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha.



The bus ride from the station to the temple.



Daibutsu! According to history a huge tsunami swept into Kamakura, killing lots of people and destroying nearly everything - everything except the Daibutsu. Even the temple that housed it was swept away.



A cute map probably drawn by one of the locals, as we walked down the sloping and winding streets of Kamakura towards the beach. On the way I was lucky to see this



A train crossing!

After a long walk we finally found Yuigahama beach! The song by AKFG Yuigahama Kite was probably named after this beach, considering their Yokohama roots.



We took the small train in the above picture back to the station and to Yokohama! By the time we reached Yokohama the sky had already turned dark and the rain was super heavy! Not the best weather to go walking about in the streets but we did anyway. My shoes were soaked ><

After a 15min walk we reached our destination - Chinatown!



Thanks to the weather there wasn't much activity in Chinatown, though most of the shops were still open and brightly lighted up. Saw a number of stalls selling GIANT BAOs. And those buns were really huge! Even bigger than the da bao you can get here in Singapore.

We went into this Chinese restaurant (there were plenty of those, they practically lined the streets) for some comfort food. Though the food tasted less salty than what I was used to, they were quite good! Ate supaiku (sweet sour pork), fried rice, fish and some dimsum. The staff could speak very good Mandarin, and the manager even spoke in Cantonese! Not sure if they were Japanese though =x

More coming in part 7!

A Random Essay

The Impact of Economics and Industry on the Environment

This debate crossed my mind as I was taking a shower (of all places). It floated in my mind as I fumed about the incessant rumble of several air-conditioning systems running from my neighbours’ flats. Having studied the basics of economics back in JC, I formed a pretty logical argument regarding the link between economics and the increasingly urgent problem of global warming.

I’m sure the first reaction to the title would be to think of all the negative impact that economics and industrialization has on the environment. Until today my stance was that the Industrial Revolution way back in the 18th century was the spark that created the demon called environmental degradation. It’s not an illogical one; in fact nearly all evidence of environmental damage today point towardthe overzealous Man, his never-ending thirst of economic and social progress. The burning of fossil fuels to create energy was a major factor in inspiring the improvements Man has made to his way of living, as well as empowering him to exert his influence over the previously all-powerful Mother Nature.

The main principle of economics is the law of demand & supply, something which we all know and love. It’s deceptively simple: somebody wants something; another will provide it – at a price. The first signs of this probably emerged ages ago, when tribes of pre-humans engaged in the primitive version of barter trade, probably exchanging meat for firewood etc. Fast forward to 18th century humanity. Populations were relatively high then, so naturally there would be a high demand for anything that would enhance their standard of living. Then came the miracle drug called Energy (in the form of steam), powered by the seemingly endless supply of coal, oil and wood. Mankind greedily fed on this Energy, driving an insatiable demand for everything that burns fuel. The suppliers gladly obliged, profiting from the feast. Science and engineering came into the picture, churning out a Pandora’s Box of applications for Energy, from clothes to cars, from light bulbs to planes. And all this while, the atmospheric carbon dioxide content, as well as the myriad forms of pollution, started to climb.

On this note we can point the accusing finger at Mankind and economics for engineering the rise of the global warming phenomenon. It’s a simple equation: HUMANITY = Economics = Demand + Supply = Industry = GLOBAL WARMING. That places economics in a rather flattering role, does it not? With Mr. Gore and so many other scientists and environmentalists placing the blame on it, it seems a guilty culprit.

However, economics has the potential to undo the wrongs, to reverse what has already been playing out. Thanks to greater enlightenment and spotlighting on the subject, there has been a sudden change in ideology, spurning millions of people to create what I call the Green Economy. All over the world, there is a small but growing group of people willing and able to subscribe to a greener way of life, which in turn sparks off another group of highly entrepreneurial people to create products which supply exactly just that. And the driving force behind all this? Technology, the offspring of science and engineering, the 2 factors which spawned the problem in the first place. The examples today are countless – the increasing popularity of hybrid/fuel cell vehicles, solar power (and just about any other form of greener energy), biofuels (though the debate still rages on about its greenliness), more efficient appliances, blah blah blah, green this green that. Unfortunately price still remains a high barrier to mass adoption of these products. This is where economics has the potential to exert itself again – when supply increases, price falls, demand rises. With advances in technology, production costs will fall, resulting in manufacturers increasing their outputs. This is already evident in the photovoltaic industry, where the costs of producing solar cells are slowly falling, coupled with a surge of firms into the industry.

The problem with all this is that technology takes time; time which is slowly ticking away the rise in the alcohol. Here is where another aspect of economics takes centre stage – scarcity. Scarcity may seem like a bad thing – who wants to run out of oil? That is precisely the permanent fix to the impending global warming disaster. As we all know, fossil fuels do not last forever and take ages to replenish. The day the last drop of oil burns may be the day we stave off our thirst for the black gold. Fortunately economics may hasten our change of taste – oil is already becoming its nickname. At more than 100USD a barrel, people around the world are feeling the pinch on their wallets. Not only does it affect fuel prices, inflation is also closely linked to it. More often than not many are forced to change their way of living, a greener way of living, even if it may not be that obvious. Consumers aside, the industry is also panicked into looking into cheaper, alternative ways of firing up their factories and plants. One negative fallout would be the proliferation of cheaper, dirtier coal burning power plants, already evident in rapidly developing China. The other, more optimistic view would be the motivation for firms to invest in R&D, to accelerate the magical but slow technology. Already, clean burning coal plants and possible nuclear plants are replacing existing ones in China, while Australia wants to test carbon sequestering. People are rushing to buy hybrid cars which translate to huge savings on the ever rising petrol prices while leaving behind a smaller carbon footprint. Electricity prices will rise in the short term, forcing people to cut down on usage. In a not-so-nice-but-green kind of equation: SCARCITY = Reduced supply = High prices = Reduced demand = GREEN.

Not everyone welcomes high prices of course. While the US slips into recession and prices of oil and commodities skyrocket, everyone will have to lead less lavish lifestyles. Hardest hit would be the poor, and more will slip into poverty. I do not wish to be insensitive to them, but humanity will have to make some sacrifices in order for us to be able to combat global warming. If you think about it, if all of us were still living the way we lived a few centuries ago, the Earth would be a much cooler place. At the moment probably a few pockets of us still live off the land and I respect them for that. But for the rest of us, the life that we’ve always led is hard to change. We can always hope for the economy to bring about greener technology, but what we can do NOW is to sacrifice a little here and there. Trust me, you will feel better, once you believe that you have made AN impact. And that in itself is economics – Earth needs something and WE shall provide it.

Lim Hong Yi
29/04/08

Tokyo! (part 5)

Time to continue the Japan story...

And so we went off on our own to Tokyo on Wednesday!

We took the Keisei Subway line first thing in the morning from Narita airport direct all the way to Nippori station in Tokyo, after which we immediately transferred to Ikebukuro, where our hotel, Sunshine City Prince was. Must be quite a spectacle, 4 foreigners hauling 4 huge luggages through the crowded station. The 3rd most crowded (and complicated) station in Tokyo apparently, after the Tokyo and Shinjuku stations.



A typical densha (electric train) station in Japan.



The view from inside the train. This was taken just after the rush hour, so we were lucky to escape the canned sardines feeling. Lots of ads hanging from the rails! One thing that impressed me - no one talked on their mobile phones in the train! Although I don't see the reason for doing so (I suppose its irritating to some), it really contributes to a relatively peaceful train ride.



Ikebukuro, outside the station! This became our home in Tokyo, walking through the same street every morning and night. Although not as hip as Shibuya, there's alot of small shops that sell all kinds of stuff hidden in the narrow alleys! I found 2 used CD shops (where I spent most of my free time), a guitar shop, a tiny ramen stall, lots of Pachinko shops and random others from porn to Italian cuisine. Aside from the huge Mitsukoshi, Seibu and HMV stores of course =)

After checking in and settling down we headed down to Shibuya for some retail therapy.





The famous "Shibuya crossing". Hordes of people!! Irrespective of the direction, whenever the traffic stopped everyone just poured onto the road, crisscrossing here and there.



The famous Shibuya "ichimarukyu" 109! 7 floors filled with ladies fashion from top to bottom! And there's a 109 for guys too haha.



I just had to take this. Hahaha.



The not-so-famous Hachiko statue! The story goes something like this - Hachiko was a dog who followed his master every morning to Shibuya station to send him off to work. One day his master died, but he never failed to show up at the station every morning, hoping to see his master, until he himself passed away. After he died the residents of Shibuya built a statue to remember the dog's loyalty and love for his master!



A "Safe & Clean" campaign, featuring YUI! The lamp posts were blasting her songs throughout the streets of Shibuya. I was kinda puzzled with the connection though haha.



The skies turned dark as I explored Shibuya. Didn't really buy much stuff since most of the things there were geared towards the ladies and the really fashionable (neither of which I belong to). I did pop into the major record stores Tower Records and HMV though. Its a unique concept really, individual buildings owned by entire stores with multiple floors catering to their customers. You simply don't see that in Singapore, everything's located inside a shopping mall. I suppose its the lack of land here (but then again, Tokyo's not exactly spacious either lol).

After that we went to Roppongi Hills for dinner.



A great view of Tokyo Tower from the top of Roppongi Hills! Besides being known for its nightlife, pubs and clubs, Roppongi Hills also hosts most of the foreign embassies.

Which is probably the reason why I saw this:





ZOMG CARROT CAKE! HOKKIEN MEE! CHICKEN RICE!!!! At horrendously inflated prices.



We dined at Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo.



The huge beef burger I ordered. Finally, something sinful after all that super healthy Japanese food. Muahahahahaha.



There were lots of foreigners (i.e non-asians) hanging around the pubs and clubs - I spotted Americans, British, Russians, French, and some others which I couldn't identify the languages.

And so this concludes part 5!