Went for a stayover at Huimin's place together with Team 100 + Caelan. Called it an exile because her place located in an ulu place near Boon Lay which is on the other end of the island for me. Nevertheless it's a nice house and was impressed with the tons of photos and soft-toys in her room, especially with the Koala Bear which took a seat back on the flight back to Singapore.
Started off with a year book sharing session as we took out our JCs year book (ACJC, HCJC, YJC, SRJC, VJC) to look at the good looking guys and girls. It's quite fun to see the reaction of people who saw the SRJC year book as it's a natural reaction to say stuff like OMG, WA, $%#@, etc while browsing through it. Unfortunately it's not because there's plenty of pretty girls there but rather for the opposite reason which I need not elaborate further. I thought that I was already in the worst case scenario but after browsing through the SR year book, I felt like sending Demong my greatest sympathy.
Next started with a series of card games initiated by Roger. Wonder how did he know so many type of card games and this make me wonder is playing cards one of his favourite pastime. Play quite a few intellectual games as well as Daidee and the session lasted till around 4+ in the morning. Lights off for a talk in the night as we K.O one by one with Huimin being the only survivor. Think I slept for around one hour but it was the type of on and off sleep. Even so it's a good feeling to wake up and the first people I saw was my beloved teammates and for the instant had the family feeling. Had a team breakfast of Mac bought by Huimin and Mum and there's a home feeling while eating with them. Took a short nap after that and took a 2hr journey bus-ride home and continue to K.O.
Too bad good things never last and this may well be one of the last outings that we can have as Team 100. After 1 week Roger and me will be gone and the rest will go one by one as well. I suppose the more happy shared memories that we have together the harder it will be when we go our own ways. Even while typing this post I have the 'can't bear to leave them' feeling and guess this is the first time I have such feelings before. 1 week is all I have left to cherish you guys. Team 100, we have to be strong okay?
Working at StarHub is going to be a trilogy for me, as I'll be transferred to the callback team with effect from 7th May. Started off as IX, then proceeded to Green and finally going to Callback, which I hope will be the final chapter of the trilogy. Quite a sudden 'decision' for me, as had originally planned to retire quietly at the end of may. I suppose I did not make the decision afterall or is it that the chain of events happened so fast today that I had forgotten that I agreed to it. It started off as Fred telling us about the callback team and asking for our commitment. He did mentioned that we have a choice but I do not recall saying 'yes' and the next thing I saw is Fred sending a confirmation e-mail to big boss, that's it.
Nevertheless, I would have agreed to it if I had a choice. Retiring in May is a little bit too early and with the eventual split of Team 100 there's no much of a reason for me to stay in Green. Huimin and Demong will be leaving in May too so I guess it's better to leave first so that I would need not be sad to see them leave one at a time before I do. All good things come to an end and out of a sudden everyone seems to be going earlier and earlier, must really cherish the moments that we have together in the next 2 weeks.
Looking back it's really unbelievable that I've actually went so far in StarHub. Started off with an innocent looking 2mths contract at IX, tempted by the $9/hr pay. Tempted by the M-factor again extended the contract till May and now further extended to mid-June. From learning to teaching others, from sending escalations to retrieving escalations, I'm contented with my progress at StarHub as a Temp Staff. It comes with a price though, got to put on hold my musical dreams and my entrepreneur dreams. Hope that the passion will stay with me after I quit my job.
I believe the Callback Team will be the most exciting and challenging phase in StarHub. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I believe I'll grow to have a stronger character at the end of the trilogy. It's time to prepare for glory! Callback, here I come...
Labels: Movie Review
Watched Nightmare Detective with ZX, Wilson and SM just now, SOP style. Before starting the review I would need to declare some stuff first. It was me who suggested watching this movie and after this movie I was blacklisted from suggesting movies to watch the next time even though I personally quite like this movie, therefore this review may be subjected to a certain degree of bias.
For some background knowledge, this is a manga-inspired Japanese movie which won award at Venice Film Festive. Basically it is a thriller involving a detective and a man who is able to penetrate into other people's dream trying to solve suicide cases where the victims slashed themselves in their nightmare.
This movie does have the compenents of what a good movie should have, which include suspense, action, humour and a reasonable plot. The male lead actor is supposingly also a very famous pop idol in Japan though I've never heard of him but I feel that he gives me the Jay Chou impression in terms of looks and expression.
The movie mainly revolves around the theme of suicide and to a large extent it is discouraging suicide which I believed is rather common in Japan. It shows that those who attempt to suicide is actually afraid to die even up to the last minute which they decided to take their own lives even though it's too late. However it also exposed the fact that everyone will have a certain level of suicidal thoughts within them, either consciously or sub-consciously which makes us prone to manipulation. On the otherhand, the movie reminded us that we should also remember the happy moments that we enjoyed and realised how fortunate we are and should not take suicide as a quick solution.
Award winning films are often more difficult to understand or appreciate unlike the normal Hollywood or Hong Kong shows. Therefore a fair statement I would have for this movie will be that you will either like it a lot or find it very boring. From a personal point of view it's a 3.5/5 movie.
Suddenly life had come to a standstill. So still that most of the time I do not know what day and date it is. For last week due to the OTs I could not even tell the difference between weekends and weekdays. Perhaps it's a withdrawal syndrome from the relatively more hectic schedule that I have in the last few weeks and life seems to be slower and less exciting these days. Even have this feeling that I have too much energy and too little to do.
In terms of work, I've reached sort of a plateau. Have learnt most of the things I wanted to learn and have grown to be a more stronger me. Nasty customers' cursing and swearing at me does not affect me and their unreasonable reasoning merely made them appear more stupid. After all from the start I'm not someone with too much emotions and somehow this makes me rather suitable for this job. Not that I'm tired with the job though, thanks to my fun teammates but when it's time for me to leave I'll be able to leave without much regrets.
It's easier to manage Nomadic Technology now since it's suffer from heavy recession and is at the stage of liquidating. After all the PSP era is almost over and it's time to move on to the next stage but as of now I'll still wait till June before I do some re-organisation and start afresh.
I'm living a more healthy lifestyle now with more frequent jogging sessions, trying desperately to prevent my tummy from popping out. Music-wise it's still not the time to get proper lessons due to the shift schedule. Other than that there's nothing much to note regarding my current lifestyle.
At a crossroad now to decide which direction should I take now. Should I be a workaholic businessman having sideline? Or should I be an opportunist investor in HYIP again? Or should I be a gym rat? Or even a song-writer for myself? I need inspirations...
Scheduled to meet up with boon and biao at 1030 but of all the buses I took 158 and dropped off at fort road. Took a long long walk from katong park to marine cove and finally reached at 1100 and the adventure begins.
Passed by Dunman High en route to Old Airport Road and we managed to took some photographs of it before it got re-constructed. It's a place which brings back fond memories and afterall this is where we met each other in the first place. Everything is changing so quickly and the Old Airport hawker centre is currently undergoing renovation as well. Fortunately the stalls are relocated to a temporary hawker centre and for lunch we had char kuay teow and mutton soup. Not too sure if it's me or the stall but the char kuay teow does not taste as nice as it was 4-5 yrs ago. Wow, time really flies.
Dunmanians @ Dunman High
Cycled and met up with Xin Wei and continued our adventure to Changi Village. The long road down to Changi Village was tiring especially when the sun is scorching by then but that makes the deserved break at Changi Village Food Centre more rewarding though. Next cycled up the hilly road to the Changi Chapel. Should not use the word 'cycle' since most off the upslope journey are completed by pushing up the bicycle. Unfortunately we arrived too late at the Chapel and it's closed for visitors but that does not stop us from taking pics outside the Chapel as well.
Outside the Changi Chapel
Finally it was time to return to east coast to return the bicycle. I decided to try the park connector route back to east coast. Originally thought that the park connector is quite a good idea as it actually can lead us on this bicycle trail from Tampines all the way to East Coast Park. It was a smooth ride from Tampines to Bedok Reservoir but slowly the directional signs got more complicated and finally at Siglap the directional sign pointed across a bridge and there was no other directional signs which can lead us back to East Coast. Gave up on the park connector and took the conventional route back to East Coast Park. Returned the bicycles and went to Parkway Parade for a Bak Kut Teh meal which makes the cycling trip more like a food trail and I won't be surprised if I gain weight during the cycling trip but at least I've tanned a bit.
Another off day today with no programs planned for today, so decided to go to the facial session which I've been pestering my mum to bring me to. Had my virgin facial at a neighbourhood saloon near my place and it's an interesting but painful experience.
Started off with a simple cleansing and a facial massage which was quite comfortable. Afterwhich came the painful part of extracting the blackheads and impurities from the skin. The beautician squeezed and did the extraction like my face is a piece of lifeless flesh. It was especially painful when she did the extraction at my nose and chin but as a man I need to act tough and said that it wasn't painful when she asked me how was it. This gave me a greater respect for the females who I believed went through much more pain than I had today in order to look better. After the extraction had a soothing mud mask and shoulder massage. The whole session took about 90mins in total and cost $40 and that's time and money well spent as my skin looks less listless after that.
This facial is part of my attempt to transform into a Sensual New Age Guy (SNAG) which can be quite tedious at times. Had got myself more accessories and future plans would be to improve my fashion and clothing sense and more importantly build up a better figure. Current also thinking of doing some changes to my hair as well as my hair is quite long and I suppose that ives me more room for creativity in terms of styling. Guess that will burn a hole in my pocket and I hope it will be money well spent.
It all started with a scheduled sub-team outing on Thursday night but since it's Theodric's last day we extended the invitation to all. Had a sumptuous seafood dinner then followed by a drinking session at Brewerkz. Did not manage to drown my sorrows with alcohol but some of my peers are exceptionally 'high' under the influence of alcohol. It's quite fun actually hearing the nonsense that people blabbered after drinking as the contents are hilarous though they do not link at all. As for myself, I did not drink much and turned red but still remained sober. This fun-packed drinking session lasted past midnight till 1+ am and when I reached home it was around 2am.Woke up at 8 plus the next morning as I have to go to the cemetery to offer respect to the ancestors and was so tired. The same procedures as every year, offering respect to my late-grandma and late-great grandma. However this time round I notice that the attitude of people who were offering respect to the ancestors were slightly different as they were more concerned about the well-being of themselves other than the ancestors'. For example the throwing of the white strips were meant to signify that the ancestors will have a smooth life in the other world but I saw groups of people shouting loudly 'Huat Ar!!' when they threw the strips. Guess everyone is just more posssessd by money than anything.
Before
After: Notice my colour difference
Took an 1-hour nap back home then proceeded to Tampines Sports Hall for a badminton cum table tennis session. Perhaps the session is a bit too short therefore did not really sweat out much but no choice as well since the courts were fully booked. Afterwhich some of us went to Jacky's house for a mahjong session. I did not joined the first game as we had excess player and watched Chai Lai Angels instead. Paid $10+ of tuition fees again for the one round of mahjong last night. Guess that the only way for me to get rich is through hard work and looks like luck is not on my side when gambling.
Labels: Movie Review
Watched TMNT on Sunday before the dinner with Wilson and ZX. Originally wanted to watch Mr Bean's Holiday at Tampines Mall but somehow movie seems to be free that day and the queue went all the way from the cinema to Pastamania. We decided to head to Century Square to try our luck. However there's only first row left for Mr Bean and therefore decided to watch TMNT instead.
Could vaguely recall watching TMNT when I was very young and therefore did somehow looked forward to regaining some of the childhood memories through this movie. Actually I did thought that TMNT the movie will be played by real human like Power Rangers and only when the movie started I realised that it's actually a cartoon.
The plot was boring especially in the start where there's no action and no emotions as well. Then the cartoon-style action begin but no real surprises. There was the effort to make the plot slightly more complicated than the usual TMNT vs bad guys story and place emphasis on the theme of teamwork, nevertheless it's still to childish for older children like me.
Can't really say more about the movie. In short, it's just another cartoon. For grown ups, it's time to grow up.
Today had a birthday celebration for Xiao Wei and Weishan @ Yuki Yaki, Marina Square. Would say that this is a less exagerated form of celebration. Nevertheless it serves the point of gathering everyone together especially Ngok Fung who did not manage to join us for any NP outings for the past few years.
My first time eating at Yuki Yaki and only today did I realised that it's a DIY restaurant like Seoul Garden. The food there is rather standard for a DIY buffet but in terms of the variety and taste of the meat Yuki Yaki slightly outperforms other DIY buffet restaurants. On top of that it gives a cleaner and less smoky image.
An unique selling point for Yuki Yaki would be the DIY ice-cream. We have to pour the 'ice-cream solution' onto the cold plate and wait for it to solidify become ice-cream. However, I would have to say that the creativity and effort is there but the taste is not. It sort of taste weird and looks weird as well.
After the dinner had a simple cake-cutting before leaving but by then I was too full to eat the cake. Actually felt sinful after thinking of much exercise I will need to do to burn the fats I absorbed tonight.. Haiz.. On a side note, Weishan and Xiao Wei, thanks for the treat and happy birthday!!!
