Latest news from around the world

After sooo long, I finally was able to read newspaper yesterday. There was so much that I had missed for the past few weeks.

Firstly, I am not sure with the latest development of the unrest in Thailand. Was there still demonstration? I knew conflict finally broke out between the demonstrator and the army few weeks ago but I don't know the extent and the aftermath of that. I read that some of the building (read: shopping malls) were burnt down. Aaah.. it was just less than 2 years ago that I visited Bangkok and I had great time walking around and taking photo of Central World etc. Aaah.. But anyway according to wiki, it was just some part of the buildings that were burnt. When I read the newspaper, I thought the whole building was burnt down.. Woa.. that was really very shocking.. Bah politics is always like that.. But what I don't understand is what the demonstrator expect by burning and looting buildings bla bla bla.. They just ruin their own country reputation, ruin their own people livelihood etc..

Next, let's go to Korea. Lol.. Few weeks ago, I knew that one of the ship was sunk and bla bla bla.. Apparently the consequences are pretty bad.. Haiz.. I just hope that there is no war whatsoever ba.. Oh well, an interesting thing this time is that China feels the pressure whether to defend North Korea or to maintain stability in the region by following UN, US, South Korea in this matter. This time, it was evident that the bad guy is the North.. Oh well.. I hope all is well since I just paid my ticket to fly there in July T_T

Oil spill is everywhere.. The one at Mexico (or is it USA?) apparently is still not over yet and BP (British Petroleum) is currently on the heat.. But in Singapore, there is also a spill and I think many places like Changi Beach and East Coast are affected too. Hmm.. It must be quite terrible at these places right now.. Not to mention that the current weather is so HOT! Bah.. Okay I start to digress from the oil spill topic lol.. Anyway the spillage near Singapore is due to a tanker, but the one near USA is from the oil rig.. Seriously it is quite scary.. In Indonesia, due to mining activity, somehow they accidentally caused mud to spill from the land.. And now (after 1 years+) there is no sign of stopping. The mud is simply 'invading' the land.. If the oil spill cannot be stopped like this mud too, I think it is very scary.. Perhaps it is time to be more environment-conscious?? Lol..

World Cup fever is creeping in haha.. I am not so interested in reading the sports section.. Seriously, come on, I don't really care about where and how this team is training or that team is training bla bla bla.. Can't the reporters just wait for the World Cup to start and then write appropriate news? Bleah.. I am sure that there are more interesting sport news out there..

From LIFE! section, I learnt that Martha Steward was in Singapore (or perhaps she IS still here). But I am more interested about American Idol. Yep the latest season was just over last Thursday. I was hoping that the woman would win (though I actually never follow this season at all haha...). Too bad the winner turned out to be the guy. But the my interest is regarding Simon Cowell's departure! Aaah.. There goes AI I guess.. After Paula left last year, it was Simon's turn this year.. Looks like there will be less and less fun..

Tribute to Simon.. Haha.. Quite sweet but too bad there was no David Cook. It feels incomplete.. Carrie Underwood rocks!! Haha.. Was suprised that suddenly got Paula too.. Anyway, I thought it was a nice gesture from her to get Simon to the stage but she didn't go up. It was his departure after all LOL..

The original singer.. Reminded me of Celine Dion's 1996 Olympic Finale.. Of course Celine's voice and song is better ^^ But this one has nicer performance with all the pyrotechnics haha..

WAR at workplace..

Another week is just over yay!! Haha.. The bitch is getting bitchier and yesterday, the war finally broke out. It was not sort of a bitch war la.. It was just a further proof how fucked up the bitch is. We were discussing prescriptions and at one point of time, maybe she thought I did a shitty work. Lol.. So I was trying to explain that she should know that she was trained elsewhere, she didn't know about what we learn here or what they teach here. What we learn at school may not be totally applicable and that's why it is the chance now to find out what is important for counselling.. Bleah.. I could not finish my sentence and she kept cutting me.. Perhaps she thought I was getting angry and wanted to shoot her already.. So she kept on saying that she always got bad feedback about being strict, not nurturing, mean etc from year to year. I was like "wtf -_- I didn't even wanna talk about that". Lol.. She is totally fucked up I guess haha.. "Strict" is a positive word. But "not nurturing" and "mean" are certainly negative. So even after years of those things if she decides not to change, then I just have no comment...

Well, I have to admit that our expectations are just totally different. Perhaps she expects me to know many things or eager to learn many things etc etc.. Unfortunately what I want to learn are the topics taught at school last sem. I have no interest in learning things I have not learnt before. That explains my sucky attitude towards learning: I only want to learn what I want.. You force me to learn things I don't want is as good as me not learning anything. To me she failed in doing her work. She didn't teach what I wanted to teach. She didn't teach what she wanted to "teach" also. Her pedagogy is like super fucked up. She made students feel inferior and tell me how that is good for learning environment?

Well seeing the bright side, perhaps now I know how people are irritated with me most of the times. LOL.. Perhaps I am just as impatient as bitchy and as mean as her. Karma is such a bitch.. Now I am faced with myself.. Oh well, take it as a challenge! If I can overcome her, means I can even overcome myself LOL. Haha.. Another lesson I learn is that I am not all-good-boy kind. I literally cannot stand her. Even "grades" is not a good reason for me to put on a fake smile and act nice to her. Everytime she grilled me, I would give her black face, "wtf" face, bla bla bla haha..

Oh well, but after the "war" yesterday, she seemed to be friendlier today. Perhaps she knows that I am not that "bulliable" afterall. Haha.. Well I don't care.. I know I suck. But I know I suck because of her.. When she was mean in the process of helping me to dispense, I didn't actually take offense. Why? Because I want to learn!! But when she was mean about things I am not interested, then bye bye.. That is just calling for war!!

Here comes the good news ^^ She would be off to overseas for 2 weeks. Yay yay yay!! So rather than having 1 last week with her, I am left with TWO DAYS!! Mwahahaaha... Don't care liao.. I am expecting an 11/55. So since it cannot go any lower than 11, my expectation will be met anyway haha.. For someone who just wasted my holiday, wasted my opportunities to learn, I am not gonna give in and let her treat me like some shit..

Many many things..

It's been two weeks.. Many things have happened.. And only now that I have the mood (or rather the energy) to actually blog.

Last week was pretty hellish to me. My attachment started and I totally hated it.. I hate the person being in-charge of me. She is just a bitch. She has no life, she has no husband, she has no manners, and she has no ideas on what or how to teach.. It's just terrible.. My stubbornness just makes things more miserable to me I guess. While my friend chooses to suffer in silence and just bear the storm for a few more weeks, I am on the offensive side. On the third day, I braved the storm to ask her about possibility of ending attachment earlier since I stayed back everyday. The answer was a no and I didn't even bother to hide my displeasure. Haha.. after that, I chose to just ignore the bitch. Lol..

To makes things worse, I had 3 days of Angklung practice last week. And I hate to go late etc because of the bitch bla bla bla.. I think everything that I did in Angklung for the past 2 sems just went to a waste because of this week since I proved to be not much different from the rest: going late for practice and skipping etc..

My teeth were also giving me a problem. I was worried of holes or teeth becoming loose that I sacrificed my beauty sleep on Saturday morning to see a dentist.. Thank God there is no problem T_T Well, I guess from here, I shall write more positive things..

That saturday proved me that retail therapy indeed worked. Lol.. I spent over than $100 in just one day to buy Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Postcard Book (though a bit disappointing) and various Japanese dorama DVDs. Lol.. I also indulged in good food etc :) Too bad some of the DVDs were giving me problems that I went to exchange and refund on Sunday (there went my beauty sleep again!). And even so, now there is still 1 disk which is problematic. Sigh.. perhaps I should go exchange it tomorrow. Anyway that Saturday walk walk was good. I guess I have been spending too much time with my computer that I hardly have the time to have fun alone with myself.. I had a great time discovering various places in Orchard Rd after the massive makeovers. The 313@Somerset is pretty nice and boasts many interesting food at B3 that I really want to try.. Slurp..

My other purpose of going out on Saturday was actually to get a birthday present for a friend. I was tired that I was thinking of not going to her party. But lucky I did go.. I decided that I should try to "rest" by having fun instead of by sleeping. Well, it worked to a certain extent. The dress code was school uniform. I usually hate and refuse to go parties with dress code. But this one, it's so easy. LOL. I am surprised that I still can fit into my old uniform!! Lol.. My pants feels looser also (was I that fat 3yrs ago or am I imagining things right now?) haha.. There is another party this weekend and I have a headache on what to buy already.. And I skipped a rehearsal and a practice on Saturday.. That's so embarassing but I just could not help it.. I really needed a break..

Sunday was another rehearsal but this time it was in the concert hall. It was damn embarassing. People could not play for nuts. Since I missed like half of the extra practices, I was also not quite familiar with the stuff and I had to conduct. OMG!! Ok it was kinda cool to be able to conduct in an empty hall.. It was empty but who cares.. I had like 15 audience LOL.. That was quite scary because the concert was like in less than 24 hours. Lol..

Anyway yesterday the concert was good. I am usually being very critical but I have to honestly compliment that yesterday my ensemble played flawlessly ^^ The extra item was great too. I am glad that I chose the correct people. We all could have fun and did not find it embarassing to swing to the groove. During the last minute (and only) rehearsal for the combined items, people were actually saying that we were very lively!! That was like so OMG.. We are so well-known in performing boringly: no movement + bored faces. So that was really like good. Too bad I came quite late so I was not in the group photo.. Oh well =x kinda sad but I guess it's okay.. Haha.. Not very inclined to keep pictures with them anyway OOPS haha..

Kokomo
The combine item ^^ I had fun

This week I am rotated outside the bitch's den and it feels much better. Other people treat me well and appreciate my help even though I am slower in packing etc (and I am not sure that actually I am helping). They made the effort to teach me, help me, and interact with me: a total contrast of the bitch's den.. Even if some wanna defend her by saying "busy" etc, it is all bullshit. Everyone is busy. But during my rotation these 2 days, even the "busy" people made the effort to say and teach as much things as possible in between the 3minutes that they could spare in the midst of all busyness. So "busy-ness" is not an excuse. I think this week will be quite okay but next week I will be back in the bitch's den and just the thought of it makes me really sad.

Ranting is over ^^

Rookies -Sotsugyou-

Synopsis:
A year after the series, the team members are now in their graduation year. Together with their teacher, this is the last summer. Will they be able to realise their dream of Koshien? Will they be able to graduate with smile?

My opinion:
Considering how good the series is, my expectation is quite high for the movie. Sadly, it is somehow disappointing to me: the plot is rather weak, the match is not as exciting, and I never cry leh! Perhaps, it is just a good conclusion for the story and that's all.

Firstly, the plot is rather weak. There is not much storyline. The fact that the whole team is from the same year (and now they are in the final year) leaves a problem in the continuation of the baseball theme. The movie presents the search of the new members rather hastily and badly. To make things worse, the 2 new members feel like only outsiders. Not much interaction or friendship with the senpais etc. Even during the joyous after match celebration, they are somehow feel left out. The way how the 2 new members eventually join is also quite cliche.

This photo is put next to the photo of the school team which went to Koshien 40 years ago. But where are the newbies? In the match, one of the freshman actually contributes more than the seniors tsk tsk..

Secondly, the match is not as 'well-planned' as the matches in the TV series which are more touching etc. The idea of using injury (again!) is no longer that touching. Isn't there any other way to let the injured Mikoshiba able to play without making another person injured too? The feeling of desperation is not quite there when the team is trailing. That makes the comeback less touching. And the final ball is kinda expected. So no matter how dramatic the build-up leading the to it, it is a sure thing that Aniya will strike out the enemy. So yah I'm wondering how come for every match Nikogaku always plays first. If they play second, their comeback will be more last minute and would be more tear-jerking.

But still, it is good to see that finally these reformed delinquents are able to achive their dreams and graduate with a smile. I would still recommend the series ^^ It is quite rare to see a sport-themed story to have a lot of nice things to watch. Haha.. Usually sport-themed story will focus on winning and skills bla bla bla.

My afterthoughts:
The theme of chasing after dream may not be that realistic in real life after all. I am glad that here, the questions of "What are we gonna do after we achieve that dream?" and "What are we left with after we achieve that dream?" are raised. The answer given is "Our dream will never end" and "We will find a new dream to keep us going". Change the word 'dream' to 'purpose' and that works for everyone more or less.. Without purpose, people will be doing something without drive. People will just do it out of 'necessity' and life will just be a chore..

Another important thing raised up here is luck. Luck is something very important and makes a big difference. During the match, people try their best and sometimes they fail. The comeback is triggered by pure dumb luck. At first try, this player swings the bat too slowly. Thus his friends ask him to swing faster and he does it. However, the swing is too fast even before the ball is thrown. But the ball is somehow hit when the player is 'frozen' in the pose after he swings. Hmm, sounds to good to be true, but in real life luck is important. In real life, people have to work hard to create the opportunities for luck to come. Lazy me, I am only expecting luck.. Sigh.. to me luck is still the most important thing :(

Rookies

Synopsis:
Koichi Kawato is the new Japanese Literature teacher at the ill-famed Futakotamagawa high school, whose baseball club is composed of thugs and bullies who have been suspended for a year from all school competitions, for causing a brawl during an official match. The newly appointed teacher finds that the club members left are only interested in women, smoking and doing nothing until, under Kawato's guidance, they discover their dream of going to the Koshien high school baseball tournament. However, the road to Koshien is far from easy as many obstacles await them. (From wiki.d-addicts)

My opinion:
When I downloaded this, I only thought this as another high school sports drama. I did not expect it to be similar to Gokusen which centres at the teacher who actually inspires the good-for-nothing students. Another thing that I certainly never expect is the graphic and verbal representation of the bullies' attitude. Honestly I was kinda grossed out with all the blood (the colour of the blood is really dark red, not fresh red, which makes the blood seems very real) and all the bruises+wounds after everytime the people quarreled and hit one another. I was initially quite bored with all the delinquents' attitudes and all the shoutings etc. But on the other side, I think the actors are great. When they cry or fight, their faces really become so contorted and red (flushing). Thumbs up from me for the realism.. Another thing which I find great about the actors is the contrast between the earlier and the later episodes. The change in the face (from damn attitude problem kind to a normal) is damn obvious. And more surprisingly, I have seen some of them in other movies with totally different characteristic. Many played a friendlier and more shy characters elsewhere and here they become total gangster.

Story-wise, I was kinda bored for the first 3 episodes. The trend is obvious: the teacher is slowly 'winning' over the students one by one to change their hearts. It is like so cliche and the teacher is like damn kepo lor.. But then the trend just stops for a few characters. For some, it is really their own decision to change them, no longer because of the teacher being persistent to convince them.

After that the story proceeds on their baseball journey. And it's very different from typical sports drama where the aim is to win this competition or something. Here, the point being emphasised is the development and maturity of the character through sports. They don't even waste time in explaining the way the sports are played etc. The emphasis is really on the characters. The way the sport being presented here is really non-cliche (and thus I like it). In other sports shows, usually it is kinda guessable when the team will win or it is kind obvious that the ace of the team will be the one helping the team to win bla bla bla.. It is not the case here. At the 'climax', the team always failed and desperation comes in.. I always wonder whether in the end the team will win or not because typically, the protagonist will always win but then here, the possibility of losing (for the goodness of the story) is highly probably too. The final match scene is very good to create the suspense. In the second chance, the guy managed to hit the ball very far and high, but the ball was out. In the last chance, he managed to hit very far and high too.. Then suddenly the movie became quiet and the faces of the players and spectators were unguessable. Really cannot tell whether the ball was in or out.

Another deviation from the cliche is the "main character". Well obviously the main is the teacher. But among the players, usually the ace will always be like the "main" and the "savior". It is not in this case. Surprisingly the most timid and cry baby one is the one being appointed as the captain. It is more surprising that the other more outspoken guys actually approve it a.k.a they don't mind to follow and being led by this guy they always bully. And to top up with everything, the winning score was actually done by this guy.

The ending is way from cliche too. They actually lost, the team (and the teacher) was suspended for two months. Since the players are still in second year, they still have the opportunity to achieve their Koshien dream in the next summer. But then after two months, the teacher did not come back. Wew.. Totally don't know what happen until it was revealed that the teacher decided to re-take his professional teaching license. Wow..

The music is also good. I think there is only like 2 instrumental music and 1 ending song. The tunes quite nicely fit with the story as they are quite mellow and emotional. One thing that I actually like about the ending song is that it is always played while to show is still going. So while the characters are still fighting/crying or while the match is still playing, then the ending song already kicks in to build up the atmosphere. Hehe..

A good summary of the series. Warning: blood and fights ahead.

The SP is a disappointment though. I thought it would be the finale of the series. Apparently it is just a filler since the finale will be in the movie form. The SP takes place about a year after the series. It is just a recap of the events from the series as told from Mikoshiba's point of view. The underlying theme in this SP is just Mikoshiba's keponess in wanting to find out what Kawato wanted to say before he left (because Kawato appeared as if wanted to say something but he just said goodbye and sorry eventually). There is only about 10mins worth of new scenes lol. It also bridges the series and the movie since there is a sneak peek about freshmen recruitment. But still, I think the SP is rather useless. The extra scene about the freshmen recruitment could have just been squeezed into the movie anyway.

My afterthoughts:
The way the guys are depicted here is very true. Guys are not honest. They will always appear naughty, defiant, and stubborn. They want to appear cool and strong. No matter how much they wanna change, they will never admit that they sincerely want to change and keep saying "I change for your sake, not because I want it". When they appear don't want to be bothered with something, they actually are waiting for someone to ask them to talk about that or to ask them to do that etc. The friendship depicted is also quite true. Even though when they fight they would really whack each other, after the conflict is resolved, they would become friends again. No sorry is needed and no explanation is required. And who says guys don't bitch? Lol.. We do tell each other "our friend is having this problem etc" even though that friend may not share the problem in order to appear strong and not worry others. And my biggest nod is: the guys are crying like shit here! Lol.. Well I guess guys do cry and need to cry too haha.. I am honestly quite surprised that some of them really cry damn badly (the whole body trembles and drinking own tears etc).

Despite the many crude language, the irritating "Baka" and "Urusai", the fightings and the gore, surprisingly I like and am touched by the series. The teacher actually had a bad past of hitting a student (it was depicted that the student was hit until got thrown out of a window from 2nd level class room o_0), making him not much difference from the bullies he is facing now. Perhaps, that is why he understands how these gangster think. While initially I also find the message of "chasing your dream" everytime the teacher wants to change these guys to be damn lame and unreal, it becomes more plausible after knowing why the teacher has this kind of conviction. It is not because of mere cliche thing but he got all of this from his own personal experience.

I don't play sports so I cannot comment on how real the sport is being depicted here. But from the character development side, I think many parts are damn real. For example, there was a misunderstanding that the ace of the team does not seem to trust in his friends. He will even go sacrifice his body (wounds bla bla bla) to help the team to score. His teammates got angry because he does not seem to believe in the rest. While from his point of view, as long as his body is still able, he wants to help the team no matter what. But he fails to understand that his teammates don't want him to sacrifice his body and his future. Who are right and who are wrong? I guess both ways of thinking cannot be wronged.

Another great team spirit shown is how one guy who has the lousiest batting skills have to sacrifice his place in crucial times to another person who may have the chance of hitting the balls better. It's a hard decision from the teacher but eventually the guy came to realise that's the best for the team and he did that gentlemanly. Hmm.. I guess this is what makes a difference between males vs females or mature vs immature persons (i am not implying that males are mature and females are immature though). Sometimes someone has just to sacrifice his/her pride for the team.. Example: someone has to be an antagonist to take the initative to tell that person that he/she has to be out.. Similarly, someone must also learn to graciously swallow his/her pride for the best of everyone. I am saying this because from my own experience doing group work, I am quite pissed with some people. Lets say we are only given 2000 words and everyone wants to get A. The situation now is we have 3000 word and our choice is clear: delete someone's part or take the risk of submitting a 3000 word report to fail or something. Some people should just learn that his/her part may not be very relevant. By removing his/her work, it does not mean that the effort goes wasted and unappreciated. It's just that out of the 3000 we have to choose the "most relevant" 2000 words to achieve the A everyone wants.

There are many self-reflections that I can do after watching this. Firstly is anger management. While I am not that prone to fighting and smoking etc, I am pretty much as fucked up as the guys here in terms of managing anger and ego. It's amazing to see they all never retaliate to provocation etc because that will cause the team to get banned. Just imagine you are someone who always gets thing done your ways and suddenly you have to restrain yourself for the sake of your friends etc. And imagine that usually people are 'scared' of you because you are well known for your fighting skills and now suddenly you have to let other people beat you.. Wow.. I have a looong way to go haha..

Another thing I need to work on is to realise that sometimes I cannot change the past and I cannot change the things around me. What I can do is only to change myself, change the present, and work towards the future. This is what happen to Aniya. He did not join the fight 1 year ago, but now he has to suffer for the stigma associated with the baseball club. To make things worse, now the team is threatened to be disbanded if they lose (the reason simply is because the past and the history of the teacher too). And he was injured before the match due to some fight which again he chose not to retaliate. Everything is just so doomed. And haiz sometimes I live in the past.. I waste my time on thinking how I could change and undo the things I cannot change, instead of focusing my effort on how to proceed from now on.

And lastly and the most important for me is: I need to be more positive. The teacher always smiles and encourages others no matter how hopeless the team is during the match or be it when the students disapprove and always being defiant, he will always smile.

To close with some non-sense, now I am wondering that the thing that I played in primary school was baseball or softball ah? Is there any difference? Lol.. I still remember that I am quite good in hitting the balls. There was one time that I actually hit the ball over the roof to the backyard of the school. There was another time when I hit the ball up high to the sky before it finally dropped again. But the most traumatic one was when the ball flew in the direction that it could have break a window and entered a classroom. Thank God that the ball actually hit the roof though after that I was again scared what would happen to me.. Did I have to climb the roof to retrieve the ball? Lol.. Childhood memories :)

A deceptive clip. Lol. It shows more of the emotional parts of the series.

Not much time left..

Only had a few days left before attachment begins haiz.. I wish it could be longer though so far I have been quite productive. I managed to file my notes for this sem properly. I threw away pharm prac I stuff because many of the stuff are repeated in pharm law and pharm prac II. That saves a bit of space in my tiny box which is no longer enough for the coming 2 semesters worth of notes.

In the middle of my packing of notes, I found the result slip of last year's medical check up! Hehe.. I shall share it here as a comparison and just in case I lose them next year, I can come back here to see LOL.

2009
Weight: 60.8kg
Height: 1.64 m
BMI: 22.60
Blood Pressure: 121/68
Waist circumference: 79cm
Total Cholesterol: 180
HDL: 57
LDL: 114
Total/HDL ratio: 3.2
Triglycerides: 47
Glucose: 4.8

2010
Weight: 59.3kg
Height: 1.65m
BMI: 21.78
Blood Pressure: 100/62
Waist circumference: 76
Total Cholesterol: 158
HDL: 49
LDL: 99
Total/HDL ratio: 3.2
Triglycerides: 55
Glucose: 4.6

Quite surprising to lose weight and lose weight circumference although I hardly exercise lol.. Maybe I should aim for 70 next year ^^ I am getting worried over my BP because clearly something is funny with the 20mmHg drop within a year.. Sigh.. I am getting fat due to the increase in TG, that's a reason for me to eat more sushi perhaps :p hehe.. Cholesterol-wise, I cannot say whether indeed the values drop or there is a change in the measurement perhaps, since all are dropping.. And I don't know whether I should be happy over the drop in LDL or I should be worried over the drop in HDL. Bah..

While talking about my craving for sushi, for the past 2 days I have been eating quite a lot.. No buffet though, I don't think my stomach can accomodate buffet nowadays. On Wednesday, I had baked salmon sandwich with wasabi from Fish & Co. Hoho I did not make a wrong choice. It was yummy. The baked salmon looks red (is it tuna?? lol) though.. dunno why.. And it still looks raw (transparent) rather than the cooked faded orange kind of colour. No complain since it tasted like a sashimi. The wasabi is in just nice amount. Can taste it but it is not until burning the tongue. Yesterday I went out to Seoul Garden with my cca exco. Bah, the food is not very nice. I ended up eating like the spagetti.. The cream sauce is damn good.. But oh well, I never like to eat with restrain like to wait for the food to cook or wait the food to cool before eating. Since it was a treat from a president, I guess it was okay lor haha..

I finally dug out my working attire. And I could not find one of my ties. Bleah.. Lucky the one I found is the blue one. I think that one at least goes well with black, gray, white, etc. The only problem is with my brown shirt because I cannot find the brown tie. Bah.. Tried the free sponsored white coat too. The size is not as small as expected but the cutting is just EEEEW! Damn gross.. It is shapeless and ugly..

And lastly, I just finished another JDorama titled ROOKIES. It's something I never watch if I know what the story is beforehand. But I guess I was lucky that I got it last time simply just because I wanted to squeeze in as many torrents as possible before I come back to Singapore where I don't have that luxury. Lol.. I will write about it later or tonite..

Yukan Club

Yuri, Karen, Noriko, Miroku, Seishirou, Bidou

Synopsis:

Yukan Club consists of: Shochikubai Miroku, a son of police commisioner, he has a lot of connections and great skills in gadgets; Hakushika Noriko, whose father is a famous painter and whose mother is from a traditional tea ceremony family, she is 'allergic' to guys; Kikumasamune Seishirou, a son of a rich hospital owner, he is intellectual and skilful in martial arts; Kizakura Karen who lives with her rich jeweller mother, she dreams of marrying a rich husband someday; Bidou Granmanie, a playboy who is a son of Swedish ambassador; and Kenbishi Yuri, daughter of the successful Kenbishi Corporation, she loves to eat and outclasses men in physical activities. They are a group of bored students who spend their free time finding and solving mysteries.

My opinion:
The first thing I thought when I started watching was: OMG why are the names so long and mouthful? Lol.. The description of the characters alone warrants a comedy but I am expecting that there is some storyline involved. Apparently, this is just like a Doraemon: there is no storyline, each episode is just telling about a different story. So essentially, it is just a comedy, and hell yeah, I had a good laugh :)

One thing that amazes me is that the series cover a lot of different genre. Some episodes are about "love dramas", some episodes are "action movie", some are "horrors", etc. And the effects are good and convincing. I especially love the horror ones. Though I know this is a comedy, during the horror episodes, the music etc really gave me goosebumps. Something which I think lacking is the absence of music and sports-related episodes.

In each episode, different characters are made the "lead" characters. Thus everyone has an equal portion of stage and I don't feel as if one character is more prominent than others. Another plus point from me.. The characters' background is also involved in the various story. However, I feel that Karen's and Bidou's background (as a daughter of famous jeweller and son of Swedish ambassador respectively) does not really come into the story. The other 4 characters have their parents and relatives etc involved. Other than that, I guess the show is cool.

Some of the stories do not quite make sense a.k.a unrealistic. For example, these 6 people can defeat a terrorist attack. Hey that's too much.. Another episode is about them defeating a Minister who uses dirty tricks in his attempt to be a Prime Minister. Their effort to gain info was totally trashed by the mafias but eventually they manage to 'defeat' the minister just by simply drugging him. So lame again.. But then, since overall there is no plot, I take this series as a comedy. Thus, I will put realism aside.

The comedy portions are very funny too. The most memorable one would be during the terrorist attack, the terrorist shot a gun and the bimbo (Karen) fell down. Everyone thought she was shot etc and suddenly all the tears and sad music came in.. Then it was revealed that she fell because her high heels broke. I was like ROFL.. sooo lame.. but then it fits nicely to her bimbo character. I initially expect that Jin Akanishi (Shochikubai Miroku) will be the typical act cool irritating guy. I am wrong! His character is quite lame too. He actually cried to lame things like a sad story of a boy and a father etc. No act cool guys means good haha..

Just a trivia, in the show, the disguise car of the Yukan Club has a label "You-Can dry cleaning". Yukan = You Can? Haha.. Quite appropriate because their slogan is: there is nothing impossible that Yukan Club cannot do (something along that line.. I forgot already).

My afterthoughts:
I wish the reality can be as what the series portray. These 6 people are very different in personalities and yet they can be very good friends. In real life, I seriously doubt that a people can tolerate bimbos and narcists well unless they are also bimbotic and narcistic. I also don't think smart people will mix with dumb people or the cool and modern types will be good friends with the traditional ones. Something not every possible right? But I guess that's what true friendship is. Lol..

While usually, I loathe love story, surprisingly I am quite touched during the episode when Noriko (a high class Japanese girl who is anti towards any guys) actually fell in love with a rough gangster-kind of guy. I find the love story is quite sweet. Both are quite akward to each other because their different background but the way they interact with each other is very sweet ^^

This movie makes me want a dog! Lol.. Miroku has a dog called Otokoyama (again a very looong name) and the dog is very cute! Lol.. The dog can actually tap to wake Miroku up. I was like waaa so cute haha. Though usually I prefer a golden retriever to a lassie :p

This movie also makes me want to learn martial arts! Gosh.. haha.. I think it's quite cool to be able to fight.. erm.. or maybe to defend myself at least. Lol.. Come to think of it my parents did offer me when I was a kid.. But I guess they value English and Music more than martial arts. That's why they forced me for English course and Organ course only.. Haiz.. perhaps if I got do martial arts before, I would be a totally different person now.. Definitely not like a pig I am today.

And a few things that I learn from is that: firstly, I know how irritating it must be for other people when they listen to me at times when I am being shamelessly narcistic LOL.. I am quite -_- when Bidou always boasts his looks etc. Haha even though the actor is a funny guy. Secondly, again I am shown that pride is one of worst vices. Pride can turn even your friends to enemies. Pride shuts the heart and distorts the mind. Oh well, why am I still being so proud even though there is nothing that I can boast actually? :(

And lastly I would like to say that other than comedy, what attracts me to this show is the fact that the school is so high class, there are many high class mansions, party, etc bla bla bla.. Hehe.. It feels so good to be able to see beautiful buildings and people wearing beautiful dresses. Haiz.. I hope someday I would be able to become an elite too.. wishful thinking.

PR 3103: Pharmaceutical Analysis II

Okay this is like 2 days late. Haha.. but oh well, the paper was cruelly evil! The MCQs were so difficult. They really tested on concepts etc instead of rote memorisation. Die.. many could not be done by elimination alone because there was always teacher's favourite option: None of the above. Sigh..

The section B were pretty bad too. The good thing was the teacher expected quite short answers. That's why I am very worried. How can the second question just asked molecular structure for certain m/z values? No need any explanation?? I was quite surprised that NMR came out (thank God I didn't just ignore it because I thought there was no way that the teacher who only taught 1 topic would want to mark 100+ scripts). The Soxhlet extractor was the worst though. Never thought that it was important. I hardly could remember the diagram and just anyhow drew as much as I can remember.

Oh well, the good thing about the paper is: it was so difficult that I am sure everyone is slaughtered together. At least I can hope for the bell curve to save me.. Haiz.. unlike in some other papers where I did fatal mistakes while I am sure other find it okay.

At least exams are over ^^

PR 3105: Pharmacotherapy I

Fuck fuck fuck.. I am just fucked up.. All the hardwork for the past few days were wasted just like that T_T

Section A was surprisingly doable.

Section B killed me. I totally mixed up COPD and asthma. Haiz.. That makes all my doodles worth 0 marks :( At some parts I wrote from asthma parts and only at 1 part that I was writing correct about COPD stuff. Fuck.. I totally crapped for the last 2 parts.. So that's 25% of the whole paper gone..

Section C half-killed me.. I could not crap 5 differences between hypertensive urgency vs emergency.. I like the maximum 3 sentence thingy.. But it's too late for me to realise that I just suck. I don't know when to increase dose or when to add a new drug..

Sigh.. What's the use of studying?? :( Now what I can do just pray.. So that the marker is as confused as me.. Or perhaps he would give me pity marks...

Haiz damn.. I am really in a foul mood.. Even ranting here doesn't help me to dissipate my anger..