Maze Runner: The Death Cure

It has been a long wait for the ending of the Maze Runner trilogy. I am actually not too sure why I am quite eager for this (after knowing the movie had delays because Dylan O'Brien was injured during shooting) after finding the second one complete rubbish. I actually cannot even remember the plot or anything from the Scorch Trials. Lol.

Thank goodness the Death Cure is more similar to the first Maze Runner movie than the Scorch Trials. The plot is simple enough to follow although it is kind of dumb from the overall movie perspective. In this movie, essentially Thomas wants to save Minho from WCKD no matter what the costs are: from hijacking train, entering the Last City, and entering WCKD headquarters.

The action scenes are actually quite exciting and I felt like having a hell of a ride in a theme park: from the excitement of hijacking a train, being scared by zombies and trying to escape from them in a dark alley, the crazy bus escape and the bus being hooked by a crane which in the end falls down.

Other than the fun with the action, the story is really stupid. I do not know how Thomas feels after realising that his blood can actually treat the Flare. If only he just follows Teresa and WCKD. Yes WCKD is not 100% good but at least if he were to follow them, Newt and Teresa will survive. He can potentially save so many people instead of the ending of secluding everyone in an island while waiting everybody else who is not immune or is already infected to die. I can't help but feel how "gay" the movie is because Thomas seems to be more into saving Minho and Newt instead of Teresa or even a bigger picture of human redemption from the Flare virus after all.

The movie is almost 2.5 hours and my bladder tortured me. I went to the toilet like 5 times thanks to the green tea during dinner. Yesterday I wanted to have McDelivery for the new beef prosperity burger but the online portal did not allow me to proceed. So I tahan until this evening to have that. Before the movie, I watched Black Panther trailer for the first time. I know there is a lot of hype about this but I honestly do not feel excited to watch the movie after the trailer leh :(

FF cafe

The hype is real when I saw the announcement of Final Fantasy pop-up cafe at Watanabe Coffee, Shaw House. It turns out to be quite disappointing after the details are out: there is only 1 menu which is Moogle curry rice and special drink. Initially I wanted to wait until yesterday but I could not wait longer and went on Friday evening after gym instead. The special menu was already sold out. Sibeh sian! Some of the merchandises were already sold out too and that was only on the 3rd day from opening sia. I bought 2 Squall mini-plush that I did not buy in Japan and Lightning. Cloud was already sold out. Not surprising considering his popularity. The price is $30 which is a few cents cheaper than the price at Latendo if I were to pre-order these few months ago.

Another big disappointment after big hype is for this Digimon artbook that was just delivered yesterday. The paper quality is actually good but what makes me super disappointed is it does not have a complete list of the Digimons. Yes bolded and underlined to emphasize my irritation. Gomamon (and his further evolution) is not even featured and he is one of the digimons from the first Digi-destined sia. Lucky I only bought 1 book.

With this constant shopping, I have really given up on storage space. I enquired about the storage space facility and I have decided to spend additional $100 a month for the storage when Tsume Aiolos statue is delivered. I know it is stupid to spend that just for boxes but oh well T_T This hobby is really expensive but ultimately what's the point of earning money sacrificing everything if not to enjoy it.

That brings me to the latest headache at work this week. 1 staff is having family issues and would like to work in a more flexible hours. It sucks when HR and HQ cannot make any decision and leave the decision to me. Sigh.. It always the case: pass all the shit decision making to us at the branch while they keep all the decision making power for the good things like promotions.

It is a difficult decision because on one side I think the staff is in a pinch but on the other side I have to manage the rest of the staff. What if everyone also starts finding reasons (or perhaps "excuses" is a more suitable word for the rest)? Surprisingly I am the one who is more inclined to give while the rest which are usually nicer people have more reservations. It is quite irritating to get people to think and vote if they are simply sitting on the fence. My boss already said that this is not a decision to made on my own but must be a team's decision and hence I need others to vote. Yes you can ask questions, what ifs, etc but ultimately what I need is a yes and a no, not "anything" and not "follow you all lah". This may sound arrogant but I guess this is another reason why I am given this shitty leadership position as I still can somehow make my mind and decide on a vote when shit like this happens. I ask them to think over the weekend for final vote taking tomorrow. I am really praying that the staff somehow can solve the problem without the need of this flex arrangement. May God hear me since I have been good and miraculously manage to attend Sunday masses for 4 consecutive Sundays.

I received a note book from Red Cross earlier this week and I saw that there is a medallion for the 10th and 25th donation. I was only contacted to get my 5th donation many years ago. So this afternoon during the blood donation, I decided to be thick skin and asked anyway. Hahaha. The medallion for the 10th donation is available there so the person gave me one. For the 25th I was asked to contact Red Cross directly. Alamak.. I hate to ask things like this because it looks as if I am asking for recognition when in reality I am just a sucker for medallions sia. Lol I treat the as some collectibles. And that just reminds me that I somehow misplaced the completion medal for the Spongebob run a few years ago sia. Haiz..

Winter in Singapore

The weather this week has been very unusual with temperatures dropping to the low 20s. I can do without the rain but I certainly enjoy the cold weather. Hehe.. I can even sleep comfortably under blanket with my fan off. I can't believe that there are people complaining about such a nice cooling weather. I certainly enjoy cool weather as it allows me to wear nicer clothes. Too bad that I work on weekdays so I only had the chance to wear my long sleeve t-shirt today.

Last year I bought Singapore Mint coin rather late and I missed out on the Treasure Cove set :( I overlook that rooster is dragon's best mate and in a society that is crazy about having dragon babies, there are definitely a lot of dragons and rooster will be in high demand as well. Learning from that, I decided to buy the coin for Dog Year early. The unexpected surprise was the Abundance Dog set that contains a medallion with a silver foil of Mickey. They claimed that the original price is $108 and only for this weekend the price is $68. Since the set is cheaper than the prices of the medallion and the Mickey silver foil separately, I bought it.

I was so tempted to skip volunteering yesterday because the weather was so nice to sleep. Despite grudgingly going, I left feeling happy. This is not the first time and it really just proves that when we give ourselves to others, we actually receive something even more in return. That happy feeling is just priceless.

If I did not go, there would be nobody to dispense yesterday. It is another reminder that I am volunteering for this because I can make use of my license and not everyone can contribute in this role. I am happy that there were 3 PTs and 1 pharmacy student to help me dispense. I was basically just checking, intervening, and passing the cases to them to dispense. 1 of the PTs remembered me because she was once attached at my workplace a few years ago. I felt so bad that she remembered me but I could not remember her :( The student was a volunteer during Paragames in 2015. I remembered him and he still remembered me.

This week I learnt a new word: POR. It is a dialect that means boot lick or suck up. The list of January promotion was out this week. While it is never a surprise to see pets being promoted quicker than others, it is always a sad reminder that this company does not value hard work. So why the fuck am I still around? ... because noone else wants me. It seems that the holiday effect already disappears into thin air and I am back in FML mode especially when it is about work.

Counting the damage

With the end of holiday and unpacking, it is time to tally the receipts to see how much I spent for the few days in Japan for the goodies which were not budgeted for. I spent more than 100k yen in total and almost a quarter was just for photos. I spent 4x 1500 yen for photos with the Unicorn Gundam while Disneyland set me back by 10x 1540 yen + 2000 yen. The rest went for anime-related stuff and books which were not unreasonable individually. Photos seem to be huge waste of money but perhaps I am already growing old and I find that spending on memories and experience ultimately gives more happiness than actual material things. I only took photo at Mickey's house during my trip in 2015 and now the photo size is smaller and the cover is also different. Nice that they change things but not nice because it means that the next time I visit, things may change again which means I will buy again. Hahaha..

As expected work sucks and it is a torture to get back to work. Surprisingly the inertia to go back to gym is even bigger. The saving grace is that I feel more motivated because I did not gain weight after the winter trip so there is a bigger chance to lose weight now especially when I can resume my L-men dinner although I do not know how long I sustain the momentum.

I completed 12 months payment for gym and with the bonuses and suspension, my membership will still last until April. So it seems that paying for 12 months to get an actual 16 months is not that bad. A problem that I will face now will be how to clock the monthly $500 for my UOB One account. Hmm while talking about money, surprisingly the advertisement for DBS Multiplier account pop-ed up and I clicked on in. I knew they updated it a few months ago but I did not bother to check because previously DBS Multiplier account requirements to earn any higher interests were way too unattainable for me. Thank goodness the update makes it even better than OCBC 360 so instantaneously I decided to switch. Now I shall just wait for switching back my GIRO arrangements to DBS and I can say goodbye to OCBC 360. That reminds me that I need to chase after DBS about my missing miles. And while all these $$$ are not settled yet, I also need to start planning for the May trip to Japan with my family.

After away for 1 year, I managed to drag myself to go to church today. Let's hope that this will not just be a new year resolution that will go down the drain a few weeks later. But since it is a new year, it is just nice to adjust my Sunday schedule to fit in both gym and church commitments.

Reflecting 2017

I am too lazy to even to type and decorate my own Happy New Year lol

Better late than never. I refused to go out for dinner because I am tired and I want to rest for my flight tomorrow. So now while waiting for my dinner, I shall do what I should have done yesterday. Lol. 2017 was a super busy, happening, and tiring year for me.

Although I traveled more frequently this year, I spent so few days at home this year. My April holiday was spent on the road travelling to get e-passport and to apply visa waiver to Japan. My December holiday was essentially the Tokyo holiday. I certainly enjoyed the trips to Osaka in September and the recent one to Tokyo but no matter how fun these overseas trips are, nothing beats slacking at home with family. The trips allowed me to try several new experiences such as traveling solo (although it was only for 1 day at Osaka), bathing in onsen, experiencing winter, and staying in Disneyland. In fact, I dare to say that doing these are like dreams come true.

Of course the frequent trips put a dent in my finance lol. While my spending for toys is greatly diminished because I have little time to pick up new series as well as space issues, the money has to go somewhere and it was the traveling. On top of that, I am sad to admit that I lost about $4000 for my crowdfunding investment at moolahsense. It is a price and lesson for taking risks. Although it certainly helps to have a mentality "to invest what I can afford to lose", it is still painful. 

2017 is perhaps a year in which I managed to fulfill my new year resolution: gym. Somehow I survived gym and am still going for 4-5 sessions per week. I have not achieved my weight loss because controlling diet is impossible for me :( But definitely gym helps to maintain my weight and prevent it from going to 70. This year I also joined a public run event. I have always wanted to experience it once and I am glad to do that this year.

Another record I made in 2017 is not going to church at all. Gym really takes up precious time and on Sundays I have to sacrifice church. Of course this is just an excuse actually. Deep inside, I have some resentment towards God for things which are happening in my life. Some things about me just do not change. When things do not go my way, I run away from God instead of turning to Him. I don't know if I will maintain this or if I should repent in 2018. Having said that, I surprise myself that I am still able to maintain my once a month volunteering. There were times that I really felt like just not go but after dragging my feet, I always felt refreshed at the end of the session. Again and again I am reminded that I signed up for this volunteering activity because they need healthcare worker and I should really play this role as others (without license) will not be able to do this role even if they want.

The biggest bummer this year is work. I hate my job, I want to quit, but there is noone else wants to employ me. I sort of gave up finding job earlier this year after getting sick of adjusting my CV and cover letters at least 4x and getting nothing. In the middle of the year, I had not choice but to become "manager". It sucks doing more work that I do not like and there is no benefit like higher pay. With all the favouritism that is going on, what is the point of working hard? I was so happy and excited with my project before it became a big failure and a big shame. Sigh.. These things were pulling me away from what I like the most: teaching. I feel so bad to my preceptee because I did not spend as much time as I should have been.

The only good thing about work this year will be my involvement in media. For the hypoglycemia project, I volunteered to act for a video showcase. I volunteered before the arrow came to me eventually so it would be a bit more dignified to volunteer myself. The surprise was when I was asked to share the interview portion yet. Gosh.. that was really not easy and a reality check that I cannot be a famous person lol. I watched the video and while the acting was okay, the interview was horrible. My accent is actually still very thick. I had another video about fall prevention which I never managed to watch. A part of me is curious but another part of me does not want to see how embarrassing it is as this one had the unscripted speech being recorded as well. The last one was about being asked to be photographed for the pharmacists' day. I am actually quite vain so I was quite sad that noone tagged me and shared it on my facebook so a lot of people would not know that I was there. I know that is very thick skin of me to say this. Hahaha..

The ultimate biggest shit that I have in 2017 goes to my Dell laptop's death. Although it is revived now, the greatest loss is my excel file about my finance records for the past many years. I basically lost all my investment records and I will not be able to track if they are making profits or loss. I lost all the prices of my toys so if I want to sell some of them, I will not know how much I should sell to get how much profit.

2017 was a year of adventure and exploration for me although for most of the year, I am basically drowned with the negativity from work. I guess 2018 cannot be worse than 2017 so I am hoping that I can still maintain my gym and my volunteering while improving on my diet and my acceptance towards all the daily work shit. I also will not think too much about saving my leave as I really want to spend more time holidaying at home this year. Going back to church? I suppose that will be the hardest decision to make.