This week proves that I have a terrible luck when it comes to queueing. I mentioned about the queue for LKY lying in state yesterday. On Wednesday, I went for Penitential service. I chose a wrong queue which was only served by 1 priest. There was another queue which moved faster because it was being served by 3 priests. I changed queue at the last minute which was not exactly helpful because I was still the last few to remain in the church.

My last confession was 2 years ago and I was looking forward to a good one this year. Obviously that did not happen as I was very irritated about the queue. My irritation was especially towards the wardens. I really have no idea what they were doing. If they had brains, they should realise 1 queue was moving very slowly as compared to the other because they were served by different number of priests. They should do something to even up. That just reinforced my impression that these church volunteers are usually stupid, incapable people who are just there for pride and glory. Idiots! Yes, I left the confession with such thoughts and it was as good as not confessing. Having said that, it is shame of me for saying and having such thoughts. If I really feel that I am better than them, then I should be volunteering my service to church. But nope, that is not going to happen because church people are weird.

Although I have "returned" to church this year, I have not fully returned. In fact for this Lenten, I did not observe any fast or abstinence at all. I see no point in fasting when I am on diet and I only have 1 full meal a day. I don't think I can survive cutting that down. I intended on abstaining from my toy online shopping which obviously did not happen. It was not even possible for me not to open those toy websites for this 40 days. Shame on me! Haiz.. With holy week coming ahead, I don't know if I will have a meaningful Easter this year.

It was pouring heavily this afternoon when LKY's body was brought from the Parliament House to the University Cultural Centre for the state funeral. I am not being a superstitious but usually the passing of great person always coincides with heavy rain. This trend at least happens once a year at every Good Friday around 3pm. That is the historical time when Jesus died on the cross. I had spent Good Friday both in Jakarta and in Singapore and regardless of the geographical location, it always rains. Anyway, I am glad that I went to the Parliament House yesterday. If I planned to pay my last respect by lining on the street today, I would end up not doing so because of the rain. I am still sad that I no longer worked at UCC but I am thankful for the live streaming. There is only 1 thing missing today: I could not hear the sirens from my place!! If there is any national emergency, I guess I will be the first to die!

The Great Singapore Queue

This week Singapore mourns for the passing of her founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, on 23 March 2015 at 318am. His body was brought to Istana for 2 days for private wake before being moved to the Parliament House for public to pay their respect. Initially, the lying in state was planned to open only until 8pm daily. However, the support from public was really tremendous that even when the lying in state was changed to 24 hours, the queue grew to as long as 10 hours. Yesterday was the peak that the authority had to close the queue from midnight and only reopened it at 615am this morning.

Considering a lot of negativity from keyboard warriors online, the support for LKY is really beyond expectation. I am not going to say what he has done and what he has been criticised as these are available online. Personally, I think that Singapore is a proof of his life and success, regardless of what people say. Take a look at the facts and compare Singapore with the other countries in South East Asian region. It is simply amazing that the smallest country with zero natural resources can be the most successful nation in the region. Seeing the surrounding nations, I cannot not admire what LKY has done to Singapore. Sadly a lot of Singaporeans are so narrow minded and more foreigners, who have experienced shitty living conditions in their countries of birth, are actually impressed with LKY and what he has done to Singapore. Nothing is perfect in this world and everything has its pros and cons. I prefer a safe and rich country to chewing gums and freedom of speech.

When I was younger, I hated to be here. As I grow older and more understanding to world affair, I am thankful for the opportunity to study and to live here. None of this is possible without LKY and for that, I am really grateful for him and I pray that he rest in peace and God will welcome him into His Kingdom.

Moving on the Queue itself, I planned to go on the wee hours of this morning for a possibility of shorter queue. Anything more than 4 hours is beyond my endurance. Since the queue was closed at midnight, I decided to sleep. I did not sleep well as I kept waking up. Haha.. I woke up at about 8am and read that the queue was reopened at 615am. People were saying that the queue was much faster. I contemplated to go but I decided that my invoices at office was more important. After leaving office, the latest update was 4 hour estimated waiting time. From my friends who went and people who commented on facebook, most of them waited 40% less than the estimated waiting time. This morning/noon, even though the estimated waiting time was 4 hours, people were saying that they finished in 2.5 to 3 hours. I thought this was okay for me and so I went.

I reached City Hall at about 3.45pm. I was so happy that I could breeze through all the way... until Padang when I saw estimated waiting time of 5 hours. Bleah... I stayed at Padang for 2 hours before proceeding towards Esplanade. The organisers were trying to shorten the queue and I got to skip the Marina Bay Floating Platform. It took about 1 hour from Esplanade Bridge towards MBS and then a U-turn back towards the Esplanade Bridge. It was another 1.5 hours from there to the Parliament House and I finished at about 9pm. 5 hours wait just for a 5 seconds bow but I think it was worth the memories. I am grateful for the great weather (no sun and plenty of wind), the opportunity to watch sunset and to explore Singapore on foot in a way that I never did before in my 10+ years here. Some complained that they were being hurried inside the Parliament house after all that queueing. I choose to have the opposite school of thought: there are still tonnes of people queueing so it is better to be quick for the benefit of others too.

This event also brought the good sides of Singaporeans which are often drowned with all the negative uncivilised acts reported in media. I would like to say a big thanks to the organisers and all the volunteers (drinks and food are given on the way to ensure people are energised throughout the wait). Unfortunately, the queue got a little rowdy at the security screening as people started to jostle and rushed.

The Fullerton Hotel tribute to LKY

So near yet so far... just about to enter the Parliament House

After surviving this historic queue, in the future, I guess I don't need to be afraid when queueing for SEA Games, concerts, or marathon events :p Tomorrow will be the state funeral. As an ex-usher in UCC, I feel a pang of sadness. If only I am still an usher and can participate in this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

Expensive lesson

I just lost another $250 in cash. I do not want to accuse the other tenant in my house for doing it as I think it is crazy for him to come inside my room when I am showering. But this is not the first time. The first time, I lost $100 in cash from my wallet inside my bag. Since it was in my wallet, I doubted myself. Was it really lost? Could I have accidentally dropped it outside? Thus I decided to let it go and keep extra cash in my drawer instead. Looks like now $250 is the price I have to pay to learn to lock my drawer when I am not in the room.

This time, I am very sure that my $250 went missing. On Sunday night, I was looking through and throwing my old receipts. I usually keep some receipts until the points for the purchase are credited to my account. As a habit, I always rip all paper that I throw into small pieces, so there is no way I could accidentally be tearing apart 5 pieces of $50 note. I remembered counting the cash and told myself to take 1 piece when I went to collect one of my toys.

Sadly yesterday I was too tired. I took out my alarm handphone from the same drawer but I did not check or see if the cash was still there. I woke up from my nap and took a shower at 12am. Yesterday night, the other tenant happened to be awake still. Same thing as this morning when I took a shower. When I wanted to take a $50 note this morning, I realised that they were all gone.

I sort of getting nudging from the Heavens last night which I chose to ignore. I got the "urge" to prepare the cash for the toy payment last night but I was too tired and decided that I could do that in the morning instead. The "urge" came a few times. Another "urge" was to check for my iBanking status. My iBanking device was just beneath the cash and the receipts in my drawer. Again I chose to ignore that thinking that I might as well check all my bank accounts on the 25th after my payday.

This morning I was so upset and emo about this. Surprisingly, I am feeling much better right now. $250 is not a lot. But I still do not want to accuse anybody. I still think that it is unthinkable and crazy for the other tenant to enter my room when I am in the toilet. There is no proof that he did that. There is no explanation about my missing cash. I can only accept and suck it up.

Budget busted

I read an article shared on facebook that 1 thing that people should do in their 30s (I am not there yet) so that they don't regret in the future is to travel with their parents while they are still healthy and strong enough to travel. As much as I want to do that very often, I feel that I don't have the patience and energy to face family quarrel and conflict daily during travel. Sigh.. my family came to Singapore over the last weekend.

As expected, there were quarrels because people were too selfish and only thought about themselves. Food was an issue as my dad and elder sister die die also wanted to look for rice. I hate people asking me for food recommendation when obviously my taste is way beyond theirs. Quarrels over shopping also happened. My mum had a bad habit of black facing when others were shopping but all her tiredness would disappear when it was her turn to shop. But obviously I don't want to travel with my elder sister. She is not only problematic about food, she also does not like to walk, gets tired easily, and basically only wants to do or go whatever she feels like doing.

I was upset that in the end my dad refused to bring back the soda maker I won from Standard Chartered Bank. He mentioned that the machine came with CO2 tank and noone sells it in Jakarta so no point of bringing it over because after we use finish the CO2, the machine will be useless. Haiz... I am giving it to my cousin here and I am glad to hear that likely her dad will be happy to play with it. At least it will not be wasted. I also wanted to use $100 Sentosa Voucher that I won to eat something good and expensive. Again it was not used because of the troublesome people over food :( Since the vouchers were expiring on the 27th March, I just used all of them in Universal Studios souvenir shop. Bleah.. the things are so bad that it was difficult to spend $100. I had to force my parents to get a pair of ugly looking polo for $50 and I spent the other $50 over rubbish such as the replica of the revolving Universal globe and a mug. Wasted wasted wasted... If only this is a Disneyland voucher, it will not be a problem to even spend $1000 :p

Accompanying my sister shopping resulted in me buying things which I initially did not know about. T_T First, I bought Nyanko sensei and Kuro nyanko plushies from Natsume Yuujincho that I am currently watching. They are quite big that I can't fit them into the largest ziploc bag available. I usually put my plushies into ziplog bags to prevent dust. Less space for me on bed but as long as it makes me happier, it is a good trade off. As other prize figures, they are $36 each.

I prefer opened eyes for Nyanko Sensei as well

My new sleep mates :)

I did not know that there was a Japanese toy fair at Takashimaya. After waiting and hoping for a sale for 1 year, I decided not to wait any longer and just buy Figuarts Zero Atsushi Murasakibara. He is the only one from the whole set that I don't have. It is very pricey at $40 but since I want to utilise my $10 voucher, I decided to just bite the bullet. Bandai.. Bandai.. your quality is really damn shit. The paint job is even worse than some prize figures. But again, it was too late. I already had the rest of the cast so might as well get this to complete.

After 3 months of waiting, finally Kinokuniya 20% Members Sale is here. Hahaha.. The sale 2 weeks ago was only for Main Store so I did not want to buy those items available in Bugis since I can earn Capitastar at Bugis. I bought 2 Kuroshitsuji books and 1 Free! Eternal Summer. And talking about Free!, I am quite pissed with Kinokuniya. Kyoani often release exclusive Free! artbooks. Last year when I pre-ordered from Japan (which cost me a bomb because of the proxy fees), Kinokuniya brought in these exclusive books. I thought they would continue do that for subsequent exclusives and I did not pre-order from Japan again. Guess what, when I did not pre-order, Kinokuniya also did not bring in! Damn it. I have to hunt at secondary markets which usually have inflated prices.. Don't even talk about proxy fees which will inflate the prices even more.

This is the spread front and back covers. The book is still A4 in size.

Lastly, thank goodness for the reprint of Cardcaptor Sakura's Clow Card book. I missed the January print and I did a special order at Kinokuniya. I was surprised that they arrived quite quickly and then I realised it was because they were getting the reprint in March. The price was about $5 more than the January one because of exchange rates perhaps. And lucky that this week also the members sale so I can still get 20% discount for this. If only Kinokuniya sale happened last week, I could send all these books to Jakarta via my family also. Haiz.. Now I have to carry heavy luggage this April.

I stopped following Ayumi Hamasaki for a few years already but I could not help but curious when my friend shared her new song The GIFT which featured JJ Lin. My first thought was: what the heck he was doing! After watching the PV, I was like: how come he did not sing but only played the piano? Any guy could have played the piano. He was actually the composer =x Lol.. Haha.. Well, I have to give him credits because this song is quite awesome, not the generic J-pop/J-rock type that usually I avoid.

I think I can use this song as my wedding song. Haha.. That is provided I can find a bride as pretty as Ayu.

Thank God..

I have to thank God for the continual blessings throughout this past week. It is quite amazing that I completed 7 x 1 hour lunch time talk in a week without losing my voice or hurting my throat. I have one item less in my "to do list" with the completion of the public talk last Saturday. I hated it so much. 2 years ago when I was approached for it, it was promised that I only needed to up there to do the talk and that was it. In the end, I also had to do the various admin stuff. Pfft... It was not even my responsibility or anything. The worst was the HQ person who was supposed to help me completely forgot about it. I called her 15 minutes before the registration began and she was freaking out. It was obvious that she completely forgot about it.

I nearly had a dispensing error a few days ago. It was the last patient and as the patient was queue-ing for payment, I went to look at the prescription again to see a discrepancy. Oh my God!! I think it was really a miracle. God really nudged me to check the prescription again because usually I don't have the habit of re-checking after I completed the dispensing. That happened to be the last patient as well. If there were still patients after that, I would definitely not check the prescription again. It was a huge wake up call for me to remain careful and not to rush even when it is busy or it is close to going home time. It is quite ironic to conduct talks to nag at my staff for safety bla bla bla when I myself still fall into similar at-risk behaviours.

Money is the root of all evils. I always thought that it is how the quote go. Apparently according to the bible (1 Timothy 6:10), the statement is "the love of money is the root of all evils". Money itself is not the problem but the greed, the obsession, and the desire to hoard money are what driving people mad. I met my friend yesterday to pick up my S.H Figuarts Sailor Uranus and Sanford 2014 book as we combined our purchase from Amazon. I realise how stingy I am when it comes to money. My friend still has to pay his university study loan i.e higher expenditure than me but he seems to be more generous when it comes to money. Haiz.. I have something to learn from him.. and I have to be grateful for able to get a scholarship to fund my university. Otherwise I will still be serving my loan now and don't even think about saving for the future. A part of me thinks I am overspending and I need to save. Another part of me thinks that such thoughts are what making me stressed and obsessed with money.

Anyway I redeemed my $50 Robinsons voucher and I am very happy that it can also be used at John's Little or Marks and Spencer. I was expecting 5 x $10 vouchers and was planning to buy new sets of underwears. Since it is one $50 voucher, my underwear has to wait. Haha.. I am not going to spend on $50 worth of underwears. My family is coming over on the coming weekend and I hope they are buying something and I can exchange the voucher with cash. Lol... Of course if they are not buying anything, since I can use the voucher at Marks and Spencer, I can spend it on their tidbits. Fuuuh.... gotta hang on for my avoidance of tidbits, bubble tea, and fast food.. I survived 2 months without it. I have avoided Starbucks as well and as a result, my studies suffer :( I simply cannot study at home..

Lucky?

I finally decided to sign up for Passion Card sometime last week. Part of the pulling factor is the SG50 special design although the main pulling factor is the free Skechers bag worth $59. My current Converse bag was near its end with the velcro no longer sticky and the broken zipper. I brought the redemption slip to work today but I felt lazy to go to redeem. But on the bus, I realised that my current bag was torn and had a hole. Win liao lo... Die die must change the bag already.

The free bag is available in 3 colours: blue, green, and orange. From the start I have been thinking of getting blue. As much as green is my favourite colour, I have too many green things so a variation will be good. Hmm... I guess I am destined with green after all. Blue is no longer available. Haha... Obviously I did not choose orange. At the very least, I am happy to be able to get the bag. Since the day I registered, I was always worried about the 'while stocks last' terms and condition.

Upon reaching home, I received 2 surprise letters. The first is about me winning a Sodastream Genesis Titan soda maker (worth $155) from my credit card. Waaaa.... The second one is about me winning a $50 Robinsons shopping voucher from my insurance. Wooohooo ^^ I have never felt this lucky.

As a homeless person, I am not too excited in getting a household appliance as I have nowhere to put. In addition, my stomach is weak so soda drinks are not something that I like. But since my family is visiting me in 2 weeks time, I guess I can redeem the gift and ask them to bring them home. I could not remember what this promotion was all about. After searching for it, instead of being lucky, I think it is ironic that this soda maker is the result of my surgery. The first 1700 persons spending $10000 - $15999 during the promotion period will definitely get this soda maker. If only my insurance did not reverse the hospital bill (and just did the refund via cheque), my total spending would exceed $15999 and I would get the next tier gift: a digital camera instead! Damn it! That one then I want..

I keep telling myself not to be such an ungrateful jerk. So I decide to be happy and thankful about this instead. Similarly with the $50 voucher. I don't usually shop so I don't know how I can make use of this. I hope I can find someone willing to exchange it with cash. Hehe... This $50 is even more mysterious. The letter mentioned about an insurance plan that I purchased but I did not purchase any insurance plan in the past 6 months leh...

CNY is over and life is back to its monotonous cycle of rinse and repeat. I was hoping to use the holiday period to catch up with my studies but obviously that did happen. Other than blogging about my toys, I continued with watching Natsume Yuujinchou and currently I am at season 2. I also decided to watch the 3 concert DVDs that I had in my laptop since 2012. Ooops. Haha...

The first one is Sexy Zone Arena Concert 2012 which I find to be very boring. Haha... Well can't really blame them because it was not long after their debut so they had limited song choices. The second one is Sexy Zone Japan Tour 2013 which is slightly better because by that time they had released their first album and thus they had more songs. I follow Sexy Zone since their debut but as much as I want to like them, ultimately they are just not my cup of tea. From their concert interaction, I think they are trying too hard to be "cool and sexy" which is not too appropriate considering their age. In the attempt to be cool and sexy, they end up being too generic and similar with other Johnny's groups. I don't know why but they really remind me of KATTUN lately, in terms of music and personality. It does not help that none of the members really have a unique/recognisable voice.

The third concert DVD that I watched is Hey! Say! JUMP - JUMP World 2012. Perhaps I am biased but I really enjoyed watching it. It is my first time watching HSJ concert and it reinforces my liking towards them. They strike a good balance between "cute genki" songs and "cool dance" songs. Most of their songs have the unique JUMP feel while those few that don't have are usually those I don't really like. Lol. And it definitely helps that HSJ has so many members with strong and unique vocal.

After Come On A My House, I don't really like subsequent HSJ singles. I did not realise that their latest single is actually double A-side with 2 songs: Weekender and Asu e no YELL. Not long after the release, I was only aware of Weekender which is not my cup of tea. Yesterday I tried to listen to Asu e no YELL and wow, this is the typical JUMPy song that I like. I don't like PV which only involves dancing in the studio but Asu e no YELL is an exeption as it seems to be a fun video. The feel that I get is that they are dancing for fun, and not dancing seriously to impress others and to act cool.  And I guess blond or bleached hair does not suit Asians that well. Yuto and Ryosuke look ridiculous with their new hair colors.

Just enjoy the PV

WDCC Aladdin: A Whole New World

WDCC Aladdin A Whole New World was released in 2002 as Gold Circle Dealer Exclusive (which means that it was only available from retailers with Gold Circle Dealer status) to commemorate 10th Anniversary of Disney's Aladdin. As a numbered limited edition, it is kinda expected that the edition size is 1992 which is the year of Disney's Aladdin release. The original retail price is USD 395 which makes it one of the more expensive WDCC figure. As a 2002 release, it bears Sombrero mark.

The figurine comes in a box measuring 37.5cm (L) x 37.5cm (W) x 37.5 cm (H). The figurine itself stands 23.2cm tall and its largest dimension (which is the carpet) is about 23.5cm x 16cm. That is considered a big piece. In addition, semi precious stones are used for Aladdin and Jasmine's headband decoration and the flower that Jasmine is holding is made of metal. This is rather unique as usual WDCC figurines are just made of porcelain. Do these gimmicks justify the high price tag? Hmm.. I honestly don't think so.

The box, the figurine, and the certificate of authenticity

The box is not exactly in mint condition

The price tag condition is driving me mad!

Ample room for the packaging to minimise possible damage

I can show you the world...

The texture of carpet, Jasmine's hair, Aladdin's cape and feather on the headgear  give a very realistic feel of wind blowing against them as they fly

I love the cape. It makes Aladdin look like a super hero.

Aladdin's face looks a bit too thin here.. I like the golden linings on his attire but the semi precious stone on his hat is disappointing

Pretty Jasmine.. nice golden earrings but another disappointing semi precious stone on her bandanna

The voluminous hair

A bit of imperfection on the stem of the flower and Jasmine's fingers

I am glad that they do not neglect the Magic Carpet.

I am not a fan of the finger-shaped tassels

Great details for Magic Carpet too

The bottom side of the carpet is also painted in full! Splendid

Shading creates great effect for the cloud but I feel that lighter blue will be better

Can you see the Sombrero mark?

Should be able to see now?

A card for Disney's membership, the certificate of authenticity, and an advertisement booklet

The limited edition number is also written in the CoA

The advertisement booklet to tempt you to buy other WDCC pieces

After looking at the details, I think USD 395 is justified. This is truly a masterpiece with the amount of details and craftmanship put into every aspect of the figurine: Aladdin, Jasmine, Magic Carpet, and the cloud base. I am glad that Aladdin and Jasmine have a dark skin colour here which is true to the cartoon. I mentioned the wind effect above already and they are not lazy with the effect for Jasmine's hair. After 10+ years, the gold effects do not flake off and I hope they will never flake off. I still don't understand why the advertisement puts emphasis on metal flower stem and semi-precious stones on the headgears when these things do not actually stand out on the figures. Lol...

Now comes the heart-breaking part. How much does this cost from secondary market? It is typically between USD 700-1000. I was impatient and I bought it from a seller for USD 925 but he only shipped in USA. Thus I had to use comgateway which incurred me an additional 5% service fee. With the subsequent tax and international shipping, everything cost me USD 1143.52 in total. It broke my heart when a week later, there was another seller selling for 700+ bucks and he also shipped internationally. Haiz.. that is what happens when you have been looking for an item which is rare and most of the time you see a damaged one on sale. The moment you see an undamaged one, you just lose control. Oh well.. it was more than 6 months ago. At least I have to be grateful that I can get this safely in one piece and I don't need to camp on eBay looking for this item anymore. But still, remembering those USD 300+ still makes my heart and wallet hurt.

Swarovski Disney's Christmas Tinker Bell Limited Edition 2012

It has been almost 6 months since the last time I wrote anything about my toy collections. I already took pictures but I was too lazy to re-size the pictures and write the post. Haha.. Before I go to my Aladdin collection, I shall finish my Peter Pan collection first with Swarovski Disney's Christmast Tinker Bell Limited Edition 2012. In reality, this was bought after these loots.

The box, the certificate, and the figurine

I mentioned here that I was not sure that I would ever purchase this because of the price. But surprise, not too long after that, I purchased this piece for USD 303.03 inclusive shipping which is considered cheap as the usual price from secondary market is somewhere near USD 400 and above. At the price that I bought, it was even cheaper than the retail price. Hehe.. It is still a bit more expensive than the normal green version but I gladly paid the extra 50 bucks for a limited Christmas edition because who does not love Christmas?

Retail price USD 315

Although Tinker Bell is irritating and not a character that I like, I have to admit that this figurine is gorgeous and more beautiful than Peter Pan who has a boring pose of just sitting down on a rock. Tinker Bell is posed with beauty and grace in the pose which also boasts the intricate details put into the figurine. Christmas limited edition thingy is not only a gimmick of just changing the colour of her costume from red to green. Her dress is Santa's dress, Santa's hat, the pompoms at the shoes, and the stars decorations on the base. Everything just 'shouts' Christmas!! Without further ado, let's enjoy the pictures.

Starting with 360-degree views:

Zooming in to the details

Her wings look brownish because of my table top. It is actually as clear as the main body

Love the sculpt of the hair

Could have been better if she grips the wand..

Another great details for the hand and fingers

Want to show how the wings are attached to the body but I guess cannot really see anything :p

The pompoms on the shoes

I can only think of 2 negative things about this: it will be better if the wand is gripped on her hand instead of just being glued to her palm and the base should be wider/bigger. As you can see, the wingspan makes her weight distributed rather 'widely' to the sides. Although the figure is stable, it feels and seems 'unstable' with the wing's centre of gravity falling outside the base. Yes, I prefer a wider base for a peace of mind. In addition, a wider base can potentially utilise more snowy Christmassy elements.

If you notice, I did not put any size and dimensions. I forgot to measure and all my Swarovski pieces are already in Jakarta. Haha.. I am giving them to my mother and I want to put them in her display cabinet together with her other Swarovski collection. Putting these in my action figures cabinet will not be wise as sometimes some action figures will just fall. Haha..

To end this, I will consolidate all my Peter Pan collection thus far with the photos below. Enjoy!

Swarovski Disney's Peter Pan set

Showing off the wings results in dissymmetry

With their boxes

With other Peter Pan figurines

With other Peter Pan figurines

Swarovski should have used a lighter green for Peter Pan's clothes...