Last day of 2011

Last day of 2011.. I feel that this is the longest year in my life. FYP, graduation, end of school, and beginning of worklife all happened in a year. Fiuh.. Still, overall I am glad and thankful for 2011. I feel that God is always with me and everything runs pretty smootly, except for the last few weeks of December of course.

I am at home now for a short break. My break is gonna end tomorrow so I am not particularly excited about the change of the year. Haiz.. Anyways, I had a haircut in Indonesia which turned out pretty good. The hairdresser managed to somehow spiked my hair. Wow.. Perhaps I need to find guys to do my hair, especially guys who usually do their own hair. It felt quite akward at first. A friend of mine said the hair looked like Tintin's. So no need a picture to show you how it looked like haha.. The saloon just opened recently so it was quite cheap. Rp 39000,- for a nice haircut and that made me happy.

My manga colllection finally slows down. A few titles ended, the ongoing ones are coming out quite slowly, and there are NO new titles to buy. And I am feeling quite happy about it because my cupboard is running out of space. 

My main activity for this break is Harry Potter movie marathon. I re-watched from the first one :) I decided to buy the VCD of the 5th and 6th. Too bad that I am running out of time to watch the final two so I have yet to buy the VCD. So why not DVD? I am actually planning to get the DVD set of the series provided that there are ample bonuses. Over here, the bonus is just some additional scenes. I am hoping that in Singapore, there are more bonuses like journey behind the film making, tour of Hogwarts or something like that.

Talking about Harry Potter, I purchased a terribly poor fake of Cedric Diggory's wand. Sigh. I saw the advertisement from Cinemags which previously always gave good bonuses for Harry Potter editions. Rp 100000 each or more or less the same as what eBay is selling, only that the China products sold on eBay are much better. I bought Cedric's (which is not even available on eBay) and Sirius' (whose design is my favourite). I discovered that I had Snape's wand from previous Cinemags. I don't think I have that one from eBay so I shall check my collection in Singapore and get one from eBay if I don't have. Heh..

Today I had another family photoshoot. To be honest, I am not happy about it. I was very very angry. Firstly, I was not told that only 3 sets of clothes were allowed. My sisters kept telling me that I could take as many shoots as I want as long as in the end, all of us did not exceed 10 shots for printing. I was only told about the 3 sets thingy at the place. I WAS FURIOUS! I wanted the white suit and white pants which obviously my ancient parents would disagree. I thought I would wear that for my solo shoot so I exploded when I heard about the 3 sets of clothes thingy. Fuck.. I hate liars.. And I hate my old-fashioned parents. Ok, I have no issue with being old-fashioned. My issue is regarding them forcing their old-fashioned styles to me. Fuck! Everybody can only think of white, black, and red for formal photoshoot. So why do we have to follow the other people? Sigh.. And they should know that they are all so fat, much fatter than me, that white top for casual shoot is a big NO NO! I was also initially told that the choosing of the photos can be done until March when I will be going home again. And today I was told NO. I don't think even FUCK can express my anger. What's the point of taking photo and wasting my time if I cannot even see the end products? Tell me whether it is right for me to feel very very angry about all of this.

What a "fuck"tastic way to end 2011 seriously... Happy new year.. Although I don't see anything happy from welcoming the year in which the world is supposed to end. Yay!

Awful things..

Life is like a wheel, sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down. Even though this saying is cliche, I believe that this is a fact of life. Looks like my "up" time is up :( Good time only lasts for few months and the year ends with bad things.

Firstly, I was so "lucky" to be trapped in the MRT during the massive breakdown yesterday. My train was on its way from City Hall to Dhoby Ghaut. At about 645pm, a few of the lights went out, a sign of trouble. After that, the train slowed down.. came to a stop.. more light went out.. and the aircon was down. Thank goodness the air ventilation was still working. SMRT did a very bad job. We heard nothing after 10 minutes, only having the driver walking from one end to the other end of the train. I decided to sit down on the floor (the couple opposite me already sat on the floor before me) because I just came back from blood donation. I am glad that I did not faint! To be honest, I was a bit scared of dying at that time but I was prepared. Only after 45 minutes that they decided to open the emergency exit and let us walk on the track towards Dhoby Ghaut. Sounds good! As we were all standing, more light went out and the air vent stopped giving any noise. Holy shit! That was really making more people anxious and worried to death. Seriously if there were any terrorist attack, we would all die there due to the lousy management. Seriously a big WTF! They did not even open the doors for ventilation. The reason given was due to safety concern. Wonderful! For our safety, we will be suffocated to our death??!! 

Anyway below are some pictures to proof that I was indeed inside (taken with my camera). Haha.. I was too paiseh to ask anybody ask my own picture in this kind of situation ba.

This is how MRT tunnel looks like

There's a light at the end of every tunnel!! From Dhoby Ghaut in this place

On the bright side, I think this is a memorable experience for me. Perhaps the most memorable one in my 9 years here. Lol.. When else could I see this underground tunnel! Haha.. Lucky I am not a fan of horror/thriller movies with zombies running amok killing people in underground train. So I was not very scared. This only reminded me to Harry Potter in search of Chamber of Secrets lol.. On the flip side, I imagine what if the breakown occurred at the parts where the track is above the ground. Will they expect the passenger to walk open air? Wow.. Imagine there is thunderstorm, that is really horror.. Stay and die inside.. or go out and die too. Reminds me of Kaiji movie.. Lol..

Anyway, I have to applaud Singaporeans to remain calm and not panicky despite the crazy situation. Well, most of them! There were some unreasonable ones like trying to cut queue while the rest slowly and quietly waited for their turn to exit. Some were still complaining about compensation! Gosh.. you were still thinking about your $1++ instead of your life in this kind of circumstances? That clearly showed how much you value your life. Of course the worst people are those making noise IN the station. Jeez... Count yourself lucky that you were not trapped underground, did not faint or did not brush aside with death!

Okay enough about the MRT thingy. After that, I had another bad thing with regards to bank. In the afternoon, I tried to buy something using Mastercard but the card was declined. I tried to withdraw money at Plaza Singapura but transaction failed (which I believe was because the ATM could not dispense any money). Due to the long queue, I decided to withdraw elsewhere, Takashimaya in this case. The card came out so fast that I thought my card was really having problems. After I left the ATM, the girl behind me chased after me to inform that I did not collect my money o_0 Gosh!! By the time I was back at the ATM, the money was already retained. It was only $100 but still it was significant. Wew.. gotta call the bank etc and thank God today everything was settled. Fiuh.. However, I really can't understand why the bank cannot tell when the money is retained.. Lets say someone really forgets to take the money and noone else behind that person, that someone will really lose money leh!

Next issue is regarding my rental. I am moving out this Sunday. I was extremely pissed and angry that the owners expected me to handover the key as I was moving out. WTF! I am paying rental until the end of the month so by right, it is MY right to decide when I want to handover. I even had to resort to saying things which I hate to say: "I am paying my rental until the end of the month you know.". It is her problem if she cannot follow my demand at this time. I am not gonna let bullying continue. I am not gonna let the movers wait downstairs while I settle this handover thing. I want the handover to be done in different timing. I somehow find this is their dirty trick to make sure that I follow whatever they demand (cutting my deposit for donkey reasons) because I am in a hurry and the mover is waiting. NO WAY MAN! I am prepared for an all out war this Sunday to get my full deposit.

Today I visited my new room and I somehow felt cheated again. Sigh.. I don't for sure whether really there is a leakage that they blocked the little extension in my room. That made my room tinier :( I am not happy sigh.. Cannot even open the window or the curtain.. And the worst thing is that I find that the room is quite dark! Sigh.. If really there is no ceiling light, I am gonna ask to change room sia..

To top it all, I did not get the bonus I was expecting. And I am preparing to bring up this issue. If the others are not supportive then never mind, I will just fight for myself and will not tell them about the outcome.. Haiz.. Sucks to be with these people with no balls. Just wanna maintain "good image" and be bullied. Oh please.. The bonus is our right!! Or maybe they are just too rich not to care about an amount perhaps close to $1000.

Oh God.. Please.. Enough of these :'(

Hell

It looks like the sure way for me to go heaven is to quit my current job. I just had my confession yesterday and today I sinned again. So much for the "promise not to sin again". People are being unreasonable and it is just impossible not to feel irritated, angry, and cursed them in return. At this rate, I believe I will go hell earlier than these people.

Anyway, I just would like to share Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You 2011 version. Mariah is singing is with Justin Bieber. I am quite surprised that Justin Bieber sounded pretty good despite all the haters haha.. However, I still think that this version is butchered. Justin's voice is just too "far" in range from Mariah's. His constipated look, especially at the parts sung together with Mariah, shows that the key is just too high for him. Mariah looks much younger here and she sounds like in her original version. They should have somehow made a new version of this. The current version is more like Justin Bieber singing karaoke to Mariah's song.

And I wonder how much Nintendo pays for 3DS to be advertised here haha..

Apple of the eye?

I have been watching movies for the past 5 weeks: The Three Musketeers, Tintin, Kaiji 2, Immortals, New Year's Eve, and the latest being You Are The Apple Of My Eye. I actually would not watch anymore if not for the 3 $6 movie vouchers which I got on Friday. I know that You Are The Apple Of My Eye has good reviews but to be frank, I am just not very interested in Chinese movies. Not to mention that since it is already more than 2 weeks old, it is shown in smaller cinema halls which I hate. To my great surprise, I watched it for free!! Haha.. I did not expect the price to be $6. Lol.. So I still have 2 more vouchers to go.. I wonder whether I should go watch Twilight and Muppets hehe..

Anyway, despite the good reviews, I find You Are The Apple Of My Eye is somewhat boring, especially during the first half. A bit overloaded with sex-related jokes and the main guy being half naked for many times. And what I mean by half naked is not naked on top half and clothed on the bottom half. The half naked here means naked from behind (yeah the guy was fully naked but only shown from the back side). Some of the "funny moments" were mostly about some pun involving vulgarities in Mandarin words. Since my Mandarin sucks, I did not quite get the jokes. But the story is very sweet :D And out of all the movies I mentioned above, only this one has a nice ending which made me left the cinema feeling satisfied. Ok perhaps minus the guy-guy kiss in the end which I thought was o_0 It does not have to go to that extend to make the movie 'controversial' to sell it or something.

It looks like my good lucky days are over. As the year is coming to an end, I feel that problems start to be-set me. Firstly, I heard that some people from my class (unfortunately I don't know who are these people are) who spread rumours that I am gay. I know we are all at the age at which we should think about having relationship and getting married whatsoever. However, just because I am not publicly airing my desperation of being single in front of the world like some of you are, that does not mean I am not interested in girls or gay. For one thing, I have more life outside pharmacy. Too bad for some of you whose life only revolves around school and that you have to find your other half from your classmates. That is PATHETIC. My circle is larger than that. And too be frank, why should I be interested in the girls from my class if they are mostly (xxxxxx -> insert any bad adjectives here). Too bad, I don't know. But I assume if the source is a guy, this comes from jealousy. Too bad that you guys spent your last 4 years sticking your dicks to fellow guys' assholes. I know many of you are jealous that I have access to 8 eligible girls in my clique. Perhaps you just suck in front of girls and hence are jealous with how well I get along with girls. If the source is a girl, then too bad that I have my own standard, I am not interested in bitches/sluts/whores, too stupid, or too nerdy like how most of you are. Not that because I am a guy that I am interested to any boobs and pussy. So sorry that I am not interested in any of you. Hoho..

Another reason on why I am not interested in "eye-ing" girls is because I have someone on my mind. It has been 5 years. But I have no confidence.. Yesterday I had discussion with my clique friends (all girls) and I came into the conclusion that I will never ever have a girlfriend. I think girls deserve better guys. It seems that all girls love romantic stuff, something which I cannot provide. And girls' definition of love is that you feel that you are happy only with that one person, will fear losing that person, only wanna be with that person etc. Bleah bleah bleah.. Perhaps I am too selfish and self-centred.. Anyway, I have to admit that the longer I stay single, the more difficult for me to be in a relationship because I will just grow more and more selfish =x Sad but true..

Enough about the rumours, I had another emo-ness today. I always thought my dental appointment date to be today. When I checked my appointment card (I was already on the train), I was shocked when it was written as 9/12 i.e last friday! Fuck! My dentist is already away for holiday. And the next slot I can secure is only in Feb! Fuck! That means I will be seeing him in THREE freaking MONTHS ever since the previous appointment.. Gosh! I wanna quickly take off this metal prison!

Black Cat

I finally finished watching Black Cat anime. I don't know why I only have 23 episodes while wikipedia states that the anime consists of 24 episodes. Oh well.. Anyway I can't remember the manga so I can't really compare. However, I certainly enjoy the story. I don't think the manga has the detailed story about Train and Saya so the anime is pretty good on this. I teared a bit on certain parts. I love the emo song always sung by Saya and I love the crazy music played by Creed. 

On the downside, I think the battles are disappointing and it slaughters the story which I think is pretty good. I can tell that they are lazy to think of battle scenes and create animation on them. The ending is somewhat disappointing. I thought Creed would be the final boss. So it was quite surprising to see him as a decoy. There is a more sinister plot which is done in mere 3-4 episodes. It is a nice attempt to try gathering everyone for the final fight but it is quite pointless since in the end, there is no nice action scenes for the final battle. Even up to the ending, it is not clear whether the enemies are killed and killed by who etc. Oh I almost forget that the comedy parts are a bit o_0 rather than funny.. And even though it is obvious that Kyoko serves as comic relief, she comes across as irritating rather than funny.

So yeah I have no idea what the producers are thinking when making this anime. Usually anime will 'boost' the action from the manga instead of toning down and making it dull like this.. Oh well...

Below are some pictures from DVD covers. I think they are quite lovely because they display almost all characters.

The Sweepers

Chrono Numbers

Apostles of the Star/Hoshi no Shito

Looks like the cover for the final DVD eh?

Rich people.. Poor people..

I gotta move place again because my contract is ending. The owner is gonna rent the room to her niece who will be coming back from UK. Initially I felt very sian. Haiz.. I planned to suan her that I only wanna rent for 3-4 more months until the end of my pre-reg. I don't want to stay any longer because it is too noisy here. Well, I am fed up but I have limited choice as I am going home from the 22nd Dec to 2 Jan. Thus preferably I don't want to be so busy with finding new place and moving for the holidays.. Oh well..

I don't wanna tell long stories but I am just glad and relieved that I have found a new place. Yup I just got it. Yes I am sore that I gotta forgo close to $350 because I am moving out in the middle of December. The new place is $20 more expensive that what I am paying now. But the room is bigger, there is internet, there is laundry, and there is neighbouring room so noise should not be a problem. And the most important thing is IT IS ON A LANDED PROPERTY. Yihaaa!!! My internet mobile plan is a waste now :( And since it is farther from my workplace, I will spend more on transport too. So in total, my new place will cost me about $100 more monthly than now T_T

I only met the lady owner and I think she is lovely. She makes me realised how shitty the people at my place now. I guess that is a huge difference between rich and poor people. Rich people don't count cents and dollars. The new owner is not even discussing about the rental fee. That is why I also do not make a lot of noise about the rental fee even though yesterday it was advertised as $650 and today as $700. It is just a bit of difference and is definitely worth more than the peace of mind and happiness that I get.

In addtion, she lets me choose what thing that I wanna put inside my room (I can even put 2 cupboards! Lol.. but for what.. Haha.. But I will take 2 desks and the huge cabinet to display my items hehe... Time to get more toys :D). She offers me pillow and bolster and bedsheet if I don't have. And she never even comes out with "Inventory List" to list out what items I would be given. So different with the people I am staying now. Even stupid things like mattress protector, bedsheet, curtains, also want to write down. As if I am gonna steal these items.. Zz.. And the new owners are Catholic too!! Hehe.. The Church of Holy Spirit is just across the main road.. It is even nearer than from my place to Risen Christ.. It seems that I am staying nearer to God's House. It is just a matter of time before I am together with Him in His House. Hehe..

I hope the uncle will be as nice too.. And I hope there is no noise problem this time. I am just feeling relieved now that I have found a new place.. Just need to find a mover and I can enjoy shopping while waiting for Christmas ^^

Oh ya.. not to mention that the agent is nice too!! This is the first agent who was actually EARLY for the appointment! He was not pushy too.. Interestingly, he brought another auntie along. Basically both of them are very nice. I did not bring cash or passport since I didn't expect that the place would be THAT good to immediately take. They accompanied me to Thomson Plaza to withdraw money. And the best thing is: NO GST AND NO STAMP FEE!

So now I know nice and bad house owners and agents. Thank God for the hidden blessings to let me out of the clutch of the current evil houseowners.

20.11.2011 20:11

It is surprising that so many were making a big hoo-hah over 11/11/11 thingy 9 days ago but nothing much this time around. I think 20.11.2011 is a nicer pattern. Anyhow, November is always a month with my worst spending. Christmas is just around the corner and I have always found very good reasons to have Christmas presents for myself. This year, it was really really early.

I went to extend my Kinokuniya membership on Tuesday. I think Kino is cool. My membership was expiring on the 19/11/11. I renewed on the 17/11/11 and the new expiry date remains as 3 years after the 19/11/11. Wow! That means it is not trying to cheat when asking members to renew 1 month before expiry. For my 3 year loyalty, I was rewarded with $5 voucher -___- So cheapskate!! Zomg.. Although it is still a nice gesture that there is no expiry in the voucher.

I used the voucher immediately. Haha.. I saw Manga Messenger. Yup this is the last one from the Manga Bible series. It covers the prophets. I find the story "choppy" and confusing (with all the similar-sounding names of the Kings) but I guess really that is the nature of the Old Testament.  However, I gained a new knowledge regarding the prophets. After the fall of Israel (which was divided into north and south), the various prophets were actually kinda "specific" in their site of preaching i.e north or south Israel. I never realised this from reading the bible alone. Haha..

I am not a fan (yet) of Final Fantasy Type-0 but I still bought the postcard book o_0 With the list of characters, it makes sense why the character names are so weird like Ace, Seven, King, and Queen. It is actually following the card deck Ace up to King. Ace is kinda cool, Deuce-Trey-Cater-Cinque-Sice are good attempt to "mask" the numbers 2 to 6, Seven-Eight-Nine are just not creative (imagine calling someone as a number!), and Jack-Queen-King is just normal. Yup so that's it. I will be looking forward to the game early next year (the US version)

As I was paying for these 2 books, the person in front of me was paying for Harry Potter Page to Screen The Complete Film Making Journey Book. It is basically a film-making book which covers all the Harry Potter films. $100+ Wew!! So I decided not to buy. I shall wait until next year when there is 20% storewide discount (additional 10% = $10 is quite significant!). Guess what, 2 days later, Kino is having Early Christmas Special 20% Sale. Aaargh!! My first thinking was SHUCKS! If only I was patient enough, I could save another $5 from the Manga Messenger and Final Fantasy Type-0 postcard book. But in the end, I went back to buy the Harry Potter book. It is awesome! Yes it is pricy but with close to 600 A4-pages, full of never-seen-before pictures, and lots of interesting read, I love it :D I am impressed with how much effort they put into making the props of the film as the directors "die-die" want to avoid CG as much as possible. Two thumbs up for that!!

Google-google-google and I found that last year, a Harry Potter film book was released with title Harry Potter Film Wizardry. Obviously it only covered up to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. Some reviews mentioned similarity of the content and pictures with the Page to Screen. $62+ for 160pages seems too steep of a price when compared to the gigantic 580pages Page to Screen for $100. The pulling factor was the various bonuses like the Marauder's Map, sample of Quidditch World Cup booklet and ticket, Yule Ball invitation, Hogwarts Acceptance Letter, the Weasley Twins' shop catalogue, and many more. Really amazing what JK Rowling can do with her imagination and her stuff. Since the sale is still on, I decided to take the risk and buy. I briefly look through and the pictures were not repetition leh! Lucky sia!! Hahaha.. The way the filmmaking is described is also rather different. With 160pages, you can expect a much shorter. So it is not a duplication ^^ Yay.. And that is my second Christmas present for 2011.. Hopefully it will be the last too!! Haha..

US version. UK version has blue cover and different faces.

 

So yeah.. Quite bankrupt for this month.. Oh wait.. Not over yet! I bought 2 coins from Singapore Mint!! Rrrrah... Only bought the cheapest coins bearing rabbits (my Chinese sign!) for $42 in total. Almost tempted to buy limited edition EZLink card to commemorate the rabbit year but $28 for a card which will expire in 2015? I give it a pass.

Ring master Rabbit Festive Pack 2011 (back), Rabbit 2011 Coin (front)

A zoom of the Rabbit $2 coin (left). It is made up of cupro-nickel (that's why cheap!).

On the right is the certificate of authenticity.

I lost my macro phototaking skills. I was frustrated after numerous failed attempt to get a close-up of the coin in the Ring Master Rabbit Festive Pack. And yeah, glad to be able to post this right on the 20:11 mark. Lol

Good people.. Bad people..

It has been emotional roller coaster for me for the past 3 days. It is all because of the people around me. Haiz.. really people around you can really impact your life. I shall try not to be so emo and start sharing the bad ones first.

1. My house owners

I know it is your house and you have the right to do whatever you want. However, I am damn bloody paying you and I deserve to get whatever I am paying for. It is really disgusting for these 2 people to act as if they are considerate and understanding and always ask me to be understanding. About a month ago, you wanted to paint my door and you only told me 1 day before. This time around, it was much worse. I was only told the night before that they were going to repair the bathroom tiles and I would not be able to shower for 3 days. They expected me to go to the swimming pool or friend's house.

Seriously the house has 2 bathrooms. Why the fuck are you being so selfish and can't lend me your bathroom to use? At most I only need to borrow it 10mins x2 daily. Fuck all your "pretentious understanding yada yada". Do you even give a damn about me? Zzz if it is not because I am going off at year end (when the contract is ending), I would find a new place and move already. Stupid shit! But now I can't do anything funny because I need to negotiate to at least extend a few more months before I want to move out.

This place is good. The owners are quite okay. But I just can't stand these calculative people. I can only hope God give his justice. I know this is bad but I am glad when one of them complained "Why the worker so dishonest never tell me they install new shower head in the other toilet? I pay them already and they still like that". Hah! Think about what you are doing to me! Fucker.

2. A dumb ass

I nearly exploded to this bloody guy today! Haiz wanted to mention the race but I think I should avoid being racist. Okay he had 2 external prescriptions so upon payment, everything was lumped into one basket. Initially I only found 1 invoice so I scanned that: $100+. He sounded so anal "Are you sure $100+? Not $500+". Only then I checked the items on the screen. Oops only 1 item was displayed on the screen. So my mistake. There should be another thing as his basket had at least 4-5 items. So I asked him "Did you see the doctor here or did you bring external prescriptions?". He answered so agitatedly that he did not see the doctor. Ok fine. I asked him how many prescriptions he had. No bloody answer. Fine, I dug the basket. Yes I found another invoice with $200+. So I told him total is about $300+. He became total shit up to this point: "Are you sure it is not $500+? You better check because I am not gonna pay more if it is more than what you said?". Holy shit! I wanted to explain about computer calculated already bla bla bla.. But nevermind, since he was an ass, I punched calculator to calculate the price from each pack of medicine. Tada it was really $300+. I felt like replying him cheekily "Then if it is really $300+ are you gonna pay me your $500+?". But of course I did not say that. But I would not want to back down to this piece of shit. So I waved the calculator in front of him and said sarcastically "Here is the calculator. Do you wanna count yourself to make sure it is correct?".

Oh yeah.. I won.. You were owned!!

Done with the bad ones. Moving on to the nice ones.

Yesterday, a lady almost cried in front of me. It was quite poor thing to hear her story. She is a very nice and gentle lady. Congrats for her completing the treatment for her cancer. Unfortunately, the effects of chemotherapy tend to be quite long lasting so she still does not feel 100% well. What made her almost cried is the fact that she could not really ask questions to clear her doubts everytime she had her chemo appointment. She had lumps at her neck and she was really worried about it. CT was done and everything was ok (in the sense it should not be cancer or something). But when I asked her whether it caused her some pain. That was when her eyes started to tear. I was like "OH SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!".

So that should be a lesson for the arrogant people in the hospital. Yes you may be smart and busy and bla bla bla.. But you see how you impact patients. Do not look down on us the community settings. Yes we may be more slack, more stupid, bla bla bla but thank goodness at least we have the time to give lengthy explanation and discuss whatever doubts the patients have. I really hope the lady will be strong and fine. God bless nice people like you.

This morning I had another surprise from the one of the aunties who distributes free newspaper daily. She recognised me and asked "Hey, you are working at the XXXXX (I don't want to reveal). I remember talking to you". Wow.. I can't even remember her. So yeah I don't know whether I should be happy or I should be scared. Due to language barrier, I can only attend to English-speakers and they are not very many of them. Most of the time at least I remember what I spoke to them previously. For the others, I always call my colleagues to assist. Since I can't remember this person, there is high likelihood that she belongs to the latter category! Ouch.. =x But looking at the bright side, she spoke to me in English today. So maybe I really did talk to her. I hope she is not one of those whom I gave lousy service and black face ba..

My only wish is that there are more nice people. And I really hope those people whom find me good and helpful would actually send in written compliments (nope I won't solicit compliments by giving feedback forms). Not that I want to be complimented or what. It is just for me to balance any complaints which I may get. It is to show the boss that there are people who give me good compliments and people who complain about me. Please do not blame me. Those complainers complain because of themselves! I am naturally a nice person. Unless you are nasty to me, I will be nasty back to you, and then you will complain lor. And nope don't ask me to be a "nice guy" towards this nasty unreasonable people. That will never happen! I will defend myself for the things I am not at wrong.

Anime Festival Asia 2011 (AFA11)

Anime Festival Asia 2011 (AFA11) was held from 11.11.11 (nice number!) to 13.11.11. Yup that was just the last weekend. I realised how dumb I am: I always thought last year's AFAX stands for Anime Festival Asia, actually it means Anime Festival Asia `10. Lol.. Anyway, this year it was bigger. And I had high expectations to be able to take more photos and buy more things.

This year I only bought the pass for the exhibition. There was AKB48 event but only 2 of the girls came and I am never a fan of cosplay competition. Watching once last year is enough for me to know what cosplay competition is all about. So there was no need to see the main stage events this time.

This year's ticket. It is still the same mascot!!

Upon entering, I honestly was quite disappointed to see so many One Piece stuff because I am not a fan of One Piece :(

Isn't this the same Chopper from last year's AFAX? Lol. He is out of his plastic prison this year.

However, next to the huge One Piece area was huge Bandai area. Yay for Gundams!! Although seeing the complete range of Master Grade Gundam Wing robots only made me emo. I want but I have no space to display already. Haha.. Too bad this year there were not many Saint Seiya stuff. There was a corner where people can 'pose' the Gundam models and took picture. There were Gundam Wing Zero Custom and Tallgeese III but when I realised this station, it was too late and crowded. So I gave it a miss.

Human-size Gundam (I believe from Unicorn) model.

My biggest disappointment was the lack of Final Fantasy Action Figures being sold. There were lots of FF XIII Play Arts last year. Grrr.. I was expecting them to come back with cheaper price, as well as Zack+Aerith from Crisis Core, and the latest Dissidia Duodecim Playarts. I only managed to get Aerith. I was unsure whether to buy or not because there was no Zack :(

$45

But surprise surprise: I found a rare Laguna 1/6 figurine! At first I only saw 1 box which quite a terrible dent at one corner. But then I saw another 1 box (still very nice box) at the other side of the display table as I was digging for Aerith-in-a-nice-box. So sad there was only Laguna T_T I want Quistis from this series. I did not want to buy Laguna as the face is rather longish. But hey, this item was first released in 1999. To be able to find something released 12 years ago still in this relatively mint condition is really good. And in eBay, this item is selling for USD60 and above, excluding shipping fee. So heck just buy! It is quite expensive nowadays because it seems to be some limited edition or something. Mine bears the serial number 3244. Maybe I should by 4D.

Taken with my camera because I can't find big picture on the net

From this AFA, I learn that next year I should come after 5pm because some shops will start to slash price. The shop where I bought Aerith and Laguna offered 10-20% off. Laguna was supposed to be $60. I bought it partly because of the sale too. Aah, I could have saved $4.50 for Aerith :( At this time, I saw Hope (FF 13) too. He was $40 i.e $36 after discount. And seriously it is damn bloody cheap! I have no idea what is wrong with FF13. The action figures are only about 1 year old and it seems that for this year only Hope and Sazh left. And they were sold much cheaper than the older Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core set.

I actually wanted to buy a step display case ($22). But since I already spent about $100, I decided to buy it another time. Anyway the stall selling that was Latendo and I think it has a shop somewhere at Funan IT Mall so I can get anytime. I also did not manage to find Sebastian Michelis (Black Butler) Nendoroid. But no worry, I found a seller on website selling quite cheaply so I shall settle that when I am back at home this year end. I also missed out Mickey Mouse Nendoroid for $35. There was one shop which was quite funny. It had 3 sets of this Mickey Mouse Nendoroid. On 2 sets, the price tag said $40 and on 1 said $35. The $35 was already sold.

If there is something I regret not doing at this AFA is that I did not pay to be drawn/sketch in anime style.. $10 only leh! Grrah.. I only saw the stall after lunch time and the queue was already long there. So next year, I have to go since early morning to be drawn and then stay there until 5+ to get discounts. Haha.. And for next year, I will be waiting for the price of Lelouch figurine to drop to $50 (this time around was $90-$120).

Bounty from AFA11

Tintin

This is a bit 'old' because I watched The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn on last Thursday. I am not a fan of Tintin. In fact I never read any Tintin book. I watched the trailer a week earlier before The Three Musketeers started and I was not every interested. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have big names but I am also not a fan. Lol.. the reason why I watched was because the good review in the newspaper o_0 Haha.. Or maybe because I was to free.

Anyway, the movie was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. The animation is like WOW.. I can even see the freckles and the pores on the characters' face! I love the details of the marketplace at the beginning of the story, the city of Barggha, as well as the port at the climax. These places look gorgeous.. seriously. The action sequences were EXCITING and I really had adrenalline rush during the chase-and-run sequence in Barggha and on the tanker. The battle between the 2 ships was (okay I run out of good adjective) even more exciting than the airship battle in The Three Musketeers. The climax (for me) was when the plane crashed at the desert. Even though I know the people would not be dismembered by the spinning blades, it was still very exciting.

Despite all the goodness, I still don't think it is perfect. I don't see the point of the pickpocket old man as he does not seem to be involved at all with the main conflict. And the final showdown at the port is anti-climatic. The worst part, perhaps, is the ending. I just hate it when stories are "hanging" there.. Sigh..

I just find it interesting that the last 2 movies that I watched bear so many resemblances. Firstly is the ship battle (one is airship, one is ship in the ocean). Secondly, the endings are 'hanging' suggesting possible continuation. For this, I think the ending for The Three Musketeers is more exciting. I can foresee (and will be willing to watch) for a sequel then Britain attacks France. Tintin's ending rather sucks as after the whole movie, what they manage to discover is just "another clue" for the real big treasure somewhere in the ocean.. Bleah..

But overall, I think it is a good watch. Perhaps rating will be 4.8/5. Lol. I will rate it 5/5 if not for the 'final battle which is overshadowed by the previous scenes' and the 'hanging' ending.