Double tickets

The year just began and the thought that this Fire Rooster is not a good year becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I did a compilation for my January spending and I realised I bought a duplicate air ticket for my trip in April. FML! I can't cancel, I can't refund, and changing dates will cost me 2-3x more. Basically I have to suck it up with $185 going down the drain. I do not mind donating that kind of amount to the needy but not to corporations out there which are always ready to suck people's money dry.

When this kind of bad thing happens, the first reaction is always to find a scapegoat. I try to justify by saying that I repeatedly changed my mind for my April trip. Initially I did not want to go to Pontianak, then suddenly I had the idea to extend my holiday a little bit to spare a few days in Pontianak, before finally back to the first plan since I would be going to Pontianak in March for my grandma's birthday after all. Sadly, reality shows that I only have myself to blame. I actually bought the first ticket in 2 Jan. All the thoughts of changing plan came after that which means that I simply had FORGOTTEN that I already bought a ticket. So yes, I can only point that middle finger towards myself.

For no reason, I had trouble sleeping for the past 3 nights. I did not oversleep and I tried to blame Starbucks on Saturday. But nothing was unusual yesterday and yet I still had difficulty sleeping. I realised about the ticket mishap only past midnight and despite all the negative emotions, I still could not sleep. I even completed a rosary prayer and I was not sleepy. Not sure eventually what time I fell asleep. Short of cash and short of sleep is definitely a disastrous combination.

It is normal for humans to make mistake but I am so unforgiving towards myself. Today in a hurry I texted a wrong information about Rivaroxaban and I felt so embarrassed and ashamed because of it. Honestly, there is no big deal about it but it is all just me.

I feel so drained and negative right now. Physical tiredness can be easily overcome with enough sleep but I don't know how to improve on my mental resilience at this current stage. It is usually easy to fly to prayer but I don't think it works for me this time :(

Welcoming the Fire Rooster

I am not usually a fan of Chinese New Year and I am even less excited for this year since Rooster is the 'ciong' sign of my Rabbit zodiac which means things will not be very good for me this year. So the year started with me falling sick after my MMR vaccination on Wednesday. It seems that the 3-5 days delayed vaccine-related side effects really came as suddenly I just had diarrhea, headache, and flu. Because of that, I declined my aunt's invitation for CNY eve BBQ on Friday evening. I was pretty sure I would be worse with the heat and all that. Not to mention that I did not have proper meal as everywhere was so crowded. Even the queues for fast foods were crazy.

The first day of CNY was quite eventful for me. At last minute, I had a friend who was here for his family gathering. The Gundams for January shipment just nice only arrived on Wednesday so I passed him a few to bring back for my friend's shop. It was my first time to visit East Point at Simei. Only the fast food restaurants were open and I had lunch at Long John's Silver while waiting for my friend. We chatted for a while since he had to continue to another family gathering. It has been 15 years since we met but yet it was nice to catch up like the old days.

This year I will be 30 years old and I can't help but feel old. Age and time are cruel. Those "All the best for your studies" in the past are now "May you find a girlfriend" and my parents think that I should go back for CNY although it is short holiday when in the past, they made no issue of me not going back for short holiday. Receiving angpaos from cousins at this age feels rather embarrassing too. Sigh.. I am still thick skinned for those form parents and uncles aunties though. Hehe.. At the church today, the family seated in front of me was inspiring and makes me think that it must be nice to have a family too. Yet, at the same time, I feel so tired of my life or thinking of the future. Suddenly I have the idea if I should be thinking a religious life. There is no need to think of money or to plan my own life and just follow God's calling and plan.

After about one month, I am glad that my 2017 resolution for exercising is still going on track. I went for 19x already so each visit to the gym costs me about $15. I have not seen any improvement yet and I only keep going by reminding myself that it is still better than doing zero physical activity at all. I still have a desire to be involved in volunteering activity but the chance has not come yet. Sigh.. I am hoping for a day when a friend randomly just ask me.

1 more day to slack yesterday before life is back to normal. Just remember that for this Fire Rooster what I need to do is to KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT as it is predicted that I will have a lot of conflicts with people. Haha..

And this completely random but before writing this, I just followed Australia Open final live feed. I had been seeing Federer vs Nadal things since yesterday so I was surprised that the final was only today. I am rooting for Federer so I am glad that he won :) Another history made with his 18 Grand Slams.

Tokyo DOGS

Synopsis:

Takakura So witnessed his father, who is a detective, being murdered in front of him by a crime lord (Jinno). Vowing to take revenge, So grew up to become a detective in New York. At one failed ambush, a woman (Yuki Matsunaga) who seemed to be related to Jinno survived in amnesic state. Restoring her memory may be a key to reveal more information about Jinno. So was transferred to Tokyo and was partnered with Maruo Kudo to restore Yuki's memory and to follow the lead that Japanese police has on Jinno.

My opinion:

Action drama is not a genre that usually I am interested in. I give this a try due to good reviews but since my interest on this genre is so so, I watched this only in 2016. There is a good mix of comedy here which makes this more bearable to watch although it still took me a few months to complete this because my soft sub for episode 5 was faulty. I waited until end December to get the correct soft sub and then finish the show. Thus it is interesting enough to make me watch episodes back to back but it is not good enough to make me chiong for the faulty soft sub earlier.

The first few episodes which focus on restoring Yuki's memory are rather boring. The excitement starts to build up halfway as more information about Jinno and the conflict with him begins to show a clearer picture. I think the build up towards the climax is pretty good although the investigations and the shoot outs are pretty tame and lame for an action drama.

I enjoy comedy but I think having too much comedy in the middle of the supposedly action-packed investigation or shoot out with criminal scenes make the action scenes lame. The type of comedy here may not be everyone's cup of tea. I personally only like the funny scenes when So act or say things in a 'too serious' manner. For example, when Yuki hugged him from behind, So flip throws her because his fighting reflex. This is repeated at the final episode which I find damn hilarious as Yuki repeats the same comments that she got thrown even though she is a woman. Or when So sleeps next to Maruo on a single bed because ít is common for soldiers at war to share the same bunk bed. Lol. Sadly, funny attempts from Maruo, So's family, and the members of Japanese police department more often fall on the corny side. They are funny initially they tend to repeat the same jokes and slowly become repetitive and no longer funny.

Being used to teenagers/school-themed genre, it is quite interesting to see character development in a more mature or adult genre. These adult characters do not simply 'çhange' as the story progresses and that is something quite realistic. Despite personality mismatch between So and Maruo, So does not lighten up because of Maruo's influence and Maruo's does not become more serious like So. I am also quite surprised that Jinno, despite being a crime lord, actually loves Yuki. It is not a cliche that the antagonist is an arse who just makes use of the main female character bla bla bla. There is a love triangle between Maruo, Yuki, and So but nothing really romantic happens which I think fits into the theme of the drama and the characters.

One disappointment for me is that there are so many characters which are underused. I am referring to the Japanese police departments. In fact, I think there are 2 guys who usually appear during briefing but throughout the whole series, they do not even say anything or even interact with the other characters in the team. Similarly with So's family. These characters seem to be present just for comic relief. I feel that the police departments should have gotten bigger role in the investigation and action aspects of the drama.

My afterthoughts:

It is official, I AM OLD! Dang!! Haha.. I have been looking for a more grown-up drama about working adults bla bla bla. I find Tokyo DOGS pretty okay. I know my younger self would think that the characters are one-dimensional because they remain the same personalities right through the end of the series, I would be disappointed with no romance and how the relationship between the characters are very 'professional' rather than 'personal'. But my current self thinks that the drama is reasonable and realistic enough to show the adult life. We no longer change our personalities overnight and relationships with colleagues, no matter how close we are, always remain business-like rather than personal.

Weak

It has only been a weak and I already lost steam for my attempt to lose weight. Gym is okay. I mean I don't hate it and I don't find it like a chore to go. I guess I am getting pretty used to it. But at the same time, I start to grow impatient and tired of it. I don't see any improvement in my endurance, body shape, or weight. I know it is quite unreasonable to expect a weight loss (even 1 kg) within a week. But perhaps I am just finding excuses to quit. Last night I just came to a realisation that even those exercise regime videos on youtube also shows changes in a 1 month period. So yeah, 1 week is just unreasonable.

Anyway I still hate push up and I don't see that I am improving on that. I forget the correct posture for the squat pull up so I am getting worse for that. But I do notice an improvement for the overhead press. Now 5kg does nothing for me and I am progressing to 7.5kg weight.

The quitting thought was also affecting my diet. On Tuesday, I was so tempted to just give up on my diet. I spent half an hour to visit around to consider among MOS Burger, McD, Long John Silver, or Subway but I still had the will power to choose none. The temptation came again on Wednesday and this time, I surrendered. I bought the double prosperity burger. Lol. Anyway it is a yearly menu for Chinese New Year so it is just a matter of time before I have it once for this year. On Thursday, I continued with 2 bags of potato chips. Sigh.. Thank goodness no more desire yesterday and today haha..

There is a sad news this week that Chiaki Ito will be leaving AAA :( Sigh.. I am really so lucky to attend AAA concert and fan club event in Singapore last year. Perhaps that is the only live pop star concert that I will ever attend. Co-ed pop groups are rare nowadays and with now 1 girl left in AAA, the female voice in the group will definitely be affected. Again it is very sad but then again, they are also humans. They are going into their 30s so it is unavoidable that they will start their own family. So yup, just enjoy whatever songs and performances they had done previously.

Rimi Natsukawa is going to have a concert in Singapore. After hesitating for a day, I decided to buy a ticket. It will be my first time attending an artist's solo concert so I am hoping for another great experience.

Shop and eat

My holiday is official over and this is my last post before going back to work tomorrow. Sigh.. When I came back on Monday, I was considering to cancel and save my leave. Well, laziness got the better of me. I decided to just use my leave and be a local tourist for the past 2 days.

Recap to Monday first regarding my return flight. There was a friend who was at the same flight. I saw him during boarding but I did not call across the aisle as I was not sure if it was the correct person. I only texted him when we landed. He actually saw me at immigration but was also not sure if it was me. Lol. We caught up a bit at the luggage belt and hmm.. it was actually quite good meeting someone unexpectedly.

SQ quality is getting worse. The stewardess asked me if I wanted lunch. WTF! My preferred lunch also ran out. I was sitting near the galley and yet was not served early. Damn. I watched Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) and I did not finish it! Damn it! I should have watch it instead of Civil War on my flight to Jakarta earlier. I tried to find it online to finish it to no avail. Sianz.. Spoilers mention that the ending is quite sad so I suppose the good thing of not finishing it would be I need not to hide my tears in the plane. Haha..

On Tuesday, I went to Canon service center to get my camera checked. I am not sure if the problem is with the camera or with the battery. The camera will show full battery but after few shots, it rapidly dropped to 2 and then 1 bar. But after restarting, it shows full battery again. The investigation was pretty fast as I already got an update today. They assured me that the battery is dirty at the point of contact with the camera. They cleaned the surface and everything should be okay. They better be right that nothing is wrong with the camera. It is only 3 years old and is only used 1-2x a year. There is no reason for it to get spoilt that fast.

2017 is not very friendly for my wallet. Right from the first day of arrival, I already spent close to $500 for my March and April flight tickets o_0 I also bought Sailor Moon proplica from Premium Bandai ($125) although I was already aiming for it since December but decided to buy it only in January to meet my monthly spending. The item is called Tuxedo Mirage Memorial Ornament. It has music box, lights, and Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity figures standing on top of it. Thank goodness the preorder was still open. When I saw it for the first time, I was tempted to buy 2. Unlike the previous Proplica that can only play certain voices, this is much better with more features. But after realising how full my room is.. never mind.

I also paid for the balance of Squall Final Fantasy Dissidia Play Arts Kai. In total, he cost me $187.20. It is quite scary that as compared to the one released in 2011, he is almost 3x more expensive. That much just for slightly bigger size and a grouchier face. Damn.. But then, he is Squall so I can't resist :(

My mum wanted to buy something from eBay and the side effect is I ended up spending. Sigh.. I shopped from Amazon. I was planning to get Proplica Cosmic Heart Compact which I did not see in any local shop, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book, and Fantastic Beasts screenplay book. The total did not quality for Amazon free shipping. Today I decided to add Fantastic Beasts movie books.

Books are relatively easy to store so it did not take much hesitation despite my lack of space. But here comes my next headache: figures related to Aladdin 25th anniversary. Shit man! Aladdin was released in 1992 and 25th anniversary should be in 2017. Why did they start producing things since 2016? Gosh.. There is Prince Ali (Disney Couture de Force). Disney is all about princesses so it is very rare to see Aladdin. I also came across another Bugs Bunny figurine (Jim Shore) in his signature post, lying on his back and biting his carrot. These 2 should be relatively 'small' to store. My biggest problem is Aladdin and Jasmine on Magic Carpet by Britto. I usually dislike Britto style but I am just a sucker for Aladdin stuff. This magic carpet pose is so generic and I already own several version of it, but then this is Aladdin!! I am giving myself 1-2 days to cool down if I should jump to get this. Arrgh.. but then it is easier to think of storage rather than regretting missing an item: Disney Parks Medium Big Fig of Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, and Magic Carpet.

Singapore is actually not so bad as a tourist place on weekdays. Haha.. The shopping malls are lull, there is no queue for food, and there are good lunch deals. Yesterday, I saw Kuishinbo 60 minutes lunch buffet for $24.90++ but I was there 30 minutes before their lunch time end. I ended up eating at Kohaku to eat tendon. It is just next to Kuishinbo and the tendon reminds me of the one I had in Osaka. The price is very reasonable. $15++ for the tendon that comes with 2 ebi, 2 pieces of chicken, some pieces of seafood (I don't know what as I just ate them all without thinking), and vegetables (the mushroom is damn good!).

Today I went back to Suntec for Kuishinbo. It seems that time is not really a limiting factor. It is my stomach. I went out after 45 minutes and I did not even get to try everything. But it was still very good and I like the carpaccio thingy best. One is Tai carpaccio, and the other one (which is nicer) is not named. I wanted to take again before leaving but I really could not take it. My highlight was to try oden for the very first time. Haha.. Yes I am so easy to please. The takoyaki was very good too as I could feel the big piece of octopus inside. Sadly, my stomach only had space to try 1 piece. I tried to try all their winter special food except for the dessert. The only thing I really wanted but did not get was the sharkfin soup.

That's all for the good time and good food. It is back to usual grind tomorrow and back to usual diet and emoness. Sigh..