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.

Tadaima!

It is the last day of 2017, it is the end of my holiday, and I am finally home. We had so much fun on our own in Tokyo that we literally did not buy anything to give to our parents at home or our colleagues at work. Lol. So no choice but to do last minute shopping at the airport. It is quite ironic that after spending a week in Tokyo, the best meal that I had was the meal in the airport. That is Japanese standard that even their meal at the airport is fantastic. I had okonomiyaki and kushiyaki (beef skewers). I had been craving for okonomiyaki after seeing it at one of the kombinis when we explored Shinagawa in the first night. Unfortunately the 7-11 nearest to the hotel never carried okonomiyaki. The kushiyaki was fantastic. I almost wanted to get 1 more stick and I was glad that I did not. I went to the waiting area during "final call" so if I had another stick, I would be late.

The flight back was less enjoyable than the flight to Japan. I decided to try sake during flight and that knocked me out. I knew I could not drink but I just quickly wanted to finish the cup so that I could sleep. So I was flushed, woke up a few times to go toilet, and then finally woke up for real because a stupid kid was screaming. I can understand if it was an infant or a baby but this was just a bratty toddler. Jeez..

Before reaching home, I asked my dad to drop by at Multi Toys first. Finally my toys are ready for collection. Fiuh.. After this I swear that I will never ever pre-order from here anymore.

After dinner at home, I went to Mal Kelapa Gading with my sisters and my dad. My dad wanted to get screen protectors and changed his sim card for his iPhone 8+ while I wanted to buy tidbits to bring back to Singapore since I am lazy to go out tomorrow. The current food fad in Jakarta is this mango juice that has mango pieces, mango juice, and mango smoothies in a cup on top of each other. I felt so full after 1 big cup. It is actually quite nice but I still prefer bubble tea.

Back at home now, all I have on my mind is about doing laundry. My winter clothes can wait but my jeans and shirts must be settled by tomorrow or I have nothing to wear to go back to Singapore. My luggage cannot be properly packed yet since all the clothes are not ready yet. Tomorrow will be a tiring day.

So that marks the end of 2017. Usually my last post of the year is my reflection of the year but I think I am too tired for that now. For now, wishing everyone a happy 2018 :)

Japan Trip Day 8: Disneysea and Disneyland

So this was our last day at Tokyo Disney Resort and we had not used any of our Fast Passes from the Vacation Package yet. I made up my mind that I would use it for Tower of Terror but still not sure what to do with the other one. What bugged me more was planning check out time and the plan for the rest of the day.

The day started with breakfast at Chef Mickey. Since it is Saturday, it was busier than yesterday and Mickey and friends were obviously in a rush. After 8am, it was not so crowded anymore and they were not so much in a rush. This morning we were given in a seat at the center of the restaurant which was bad: every angle would have random strangers at the background of the photos. Sigh.. Yesterday I was wondering why we got a secluded corner just next to the cleaning station. Yet that was a better spot as we could take photos with the wall as the background.

We maxed out our 90 minutes stay and to complement yesterday's session, we were lucky to get 2 rounds with Mickey and Donald today. I wore the newly bought Aladdin t-shirt yesterday yet I still looked fat. Sigh.. sometimes I don't know if I am being too critical of myself because I think my chest and arm look so big/fat now. By right they should be more muscular after gym but I can't help to think that big = fat.

After breakfast, I decided to be thick-skin and asked if we could still leave our luggage at the hotel after we checked out. That was allowed so less headache for the planning. Initially I thought we would have to go to Disneysea, play 1 attraction, then come back to the hotel to check out. Unfortunately the hotel will only deliver luggages to the Welcome Center for a cost. That is a bummer.  Everything was so nice during check-in but now after everything is over, all the fantastic service also disappear.

We went to Disneysea first and surprisingly the Aquasphere was not too crowded and we could take some photos there. We used our Fast Pass for Tower of Terror and it really felt good to move in so quickly while the standby queue was for hours. I don't know if it was luck or bad luck but we got the first row at the carriage which I supposed was the most exciting and scary. Tower of Terror was nowhere as scary as Battlestar Galactica (USS) or Flying Dinosaur (USJ) but it was thrilling enough to make scream lol. The movement up and down were alright but the free fall was definitely impossible to survive without screaming.

As we continued our journey, we saw Cruella de Vil but unfortunately she had to leave so we could not take photo. It was nice that as she was leaving she was still interacting with the people around. She offered her hand to shake and I jokingly wanted to kiss it. Lol. She pulled away because of course could not allow the gloves to be dirty. Still it was nice to interact with a human and in English after the past few days using only body language with Mickey and friends.

We proceeded to the Mysterious Island as I made up my mind to use the second Fast Pass for Journey to the Center of the Earth. We were stuck for photo taking sessions at the fort of the Mediterranian Harbour. As we came closer to Mount Prometheus, I was actually getting a bit scared about the ride. From far it looks really cool to think about the ride at the top of a mountain but from near it looks quite daunting. Again Fast Pass made me feel like a VIP. The ride was actually quite boring. I was about to tell my sister that we could ask our parents next time before it came the mountain plunge. Lol. The acceleration was quite thrilling the plunging down was actually scarier in imagination than in reality. The distance was actually quite short and not from the top of the mountain all the way down.

Since it was still quite early, I suggested that we might as well check out Ariel's Grotto. With waiting time of only 35 minutes, I might as well go. This was my first Princess greeting session hahaha..I am not a fan of Ariel or Little Mermaid but I was happy to interact with a human and in English. Lol. It was nice that she initiated conversation like asking where I was from etc. While waiting for the photo to be ready in 15 minutes, we just walked a little bit further until back to Arabian Coast. After collecting the photo, I decided that it was time for lunch.

We went back to Ikspiari but the restaurants all had long queue. I was not going to waste half to an hour just to queue for food so we collected our luggage from the hotel and traveled back to Tokyo. Just nice we reached Shinagawa Prince Hotel around check-in time but that also meant everyone was queueing for check-in. Gosh.. it was like queueing for another ride at Disneyland.

After staying at Disney Ambassador Hotel, we found that Shinagawa Price Hotel room was small. So ironic as the first day when we arrived, we thought the room was wow. Lol. I quickly bought lunch from 7-11 and started packing my luggage. I was so emo that the packing box that I bought at Disney Ambassador Hotel was too big!! 400 yen wasted T_T I was so happy when I bought that box because I thought the box would nicely fit into my luggage. Oh well :( The main reason why I did my packing was to see if I would still have space for more shopping tonight. Hahaha...

We went back to Disneyland for the Electrical Parade and it was just nice that we reached at about 630pm so we could start choping space for the parade. We decided to just sit down and wait for an hour. After 15 minutes, I could not take it anymore. I told my sister that I would go to toilet but I ended up going shopping. I wanted to buy Peter Pan figurine by Arribas (12960 yen) so I might as well buy it now than waiting for later. I am amazed that my sister could sit down there in the cold for so long. I only returned at about 10 minutes before the parade began.

After the parade, my sister still wanted to go shopping as she had not visited the shop nearest to Winnie the Pooh attraction. In one of the shops, I was contemplating whether to get Peter Pan plushie key chain (similar to Aladdin and Jasmine that I bought yesterday). I decided not to and then my sister pointed to me a 2000 yen medium-size Peter Pan plushie! Haiz haiz haiz.. It was a no brainer to get that plushie instead of the plushie key chain.

We quickly went to Disneysea and sadly Toy Story was too crowded that they did not allow people to join the queue anymore T_T There went my dream to try this attraction with minimum wait. After that basically I had no other plan so we just spent the rest our time finding attraction that did not require queuing so much.

We tried the Electric Railway and after alighting, we continued on foot to Arabian Coast. We tried Jasmine's Flying Carpet which according to reviews is not so bad in the evening to see the evening lights of the surrounding area. Sadly we were on carpet number 8 which did not seem to be moving up and down like the other carpets. Bleah.. It was really a waste of time. I wanted to take picture with Rajah statue while standing next to it. I did not manage to do it yesterday because it was already so difficult for me just to get on in a sitting position on the pedestal. My jeans was also not convenient for me to stand up and I did not want to risk myself falling in daylight in public. Since this was evening and there were no other people, I dared myself. Sadly the cast member of that attraction told me that I should not be standing because it was dangerous T_T Why liddat...

Sinbad's attraction seems to be getting the worst review online. Since time was running up and that was the nearest to Jasmine's Flying Carpet, I decided to just try it out for the sake of trying out. I am very glad that I did because seriously it was NOT BAD. This was the longest attraction (10+ minutes) and although it was just like a doll house, the song was amazing. Chandu was also very cute and this attraction made me want to get his plushie. Haha.. Seriously I do not mind repeating this attraction the next time I visit Disneysea because it is relaxing and enjoyable. And that marks the end of the last 3 magical days that I had.

Japan Trip Day 7: Disneysea

I slept at about 2am last night and this morning I had to wake up very early to get properly dressed up for breakfast at Chef Mickey at 710am. There was a long queue although we went on time but the queue moved pretty quickly. Anyway eventually we were given 90 minutes after we entered. I don't have much comment about the food since I paid for the breakfast here not for the food but for taking pictures with Disney characters. It was nice that the characters were simply going around the restaurant and did not care if they already came to our table earlier. So within that 90 minutes, we got Daisy, Minnie, Donald, Mickey, and then Daisy and Minnie again. With this breakfast basically our Happy 15 Entry was just wasted. Instead of taking the train, we took the shuttle bus from the hotel to Disneysea.

Disneysea really feels entirely different from Disneyland. I prefer the more magical Disneyland though. The Aquasphere which is supposed to be an icon of Disneysea is not iconic at all. It looks like a copy of Universal Studios' globe. Anyway as we entered there was already a long queue for photo taking with Minnie in Disneysea costume. Unfortunately Minnie and Mickey were taking turns so by the time my turn came, it was with Mickey. Mickey was also in Disneysea costume so at least I don't have the photo yet.

The layout for Disneysea is very similar to Disneyland. Mount Prometheus is the center of the Disneysea, similar to how Cinderella's Castle is the center of Disneyland. Surrounding this center are the various regions. Although I felt a bit underwhelmed by the Aquasphere, I changed my mind after seeing the Mount Prometheus lol. The whole Disneysea also has some magic as if bringing me to another part of of the world like Venice, Atlantis, Agrabah, America, and so on.

Similar to yesterday, taking photos with Disney characters was my main priority and my sister pissed me off again by wanting to take photos with those loitering around. We went for Goofy, Minnie, and Mickey first at the Lost River Delta. The queue for each was about 45-60 mins so in total we spent almost 2.5 hours waiting in open winter air. I had fun with Goofy the most as he suggested really crazy poses. Sadly the end result was not good because instead of raising my arm UP, I raised it backwards so it looked as if I only had 1 arm. Bleah.. In addition to that, when I was checking the photo in my camera, Goofy was playing to tickle my tummy.

We were cold and just went to the nearest eatery we found. I don't think under normal circumstances I would eat Mexican rice and pork chop but at the brink of getting cold like yesterday, survival came first. Those kairo/heat pads bought yesterday were not strong enough to fight the cold. Brrr... We continued to Arabian Coasts to see which character would be present for character greetings as it would be random. Sadly it was Stitch so we gave that a miss. Surprisingly this region was really the most crowded. I think partly because the Arabian atmosphere was done really well and people would just take photos with seemingly ordinary items which became unique when they were done in Arabian style.

Since we skipped Stitch, we went to Donald. We had about 1 hour before our reserved Big Band Beat show and the queue for Donald was about 45 minutes. It was a gamble that I decided to take lol. I did not look straight at the camera and I was allowed to repeat another photo. With this, we completed all the characters for today. I am not a fan of Duffy and I was not planning to get photo with Duffy. From there, we had rush for the Big Band Beat. It was quite a distant walk and I wanted to pee. Luckily in the end we were not late.

Yesterday my sister complaining that I did not reserve ticket for Minnie Oh! Minnie and today I could tell her that I made the correct decision. Big Band Beat is definitely a much better production. It is really like watching a Broadway production and the performers on the stage were performing live (unlike Minnie Oh! Minnie which was obvious that the instrument players were not playing live). The arena is also like a Broadway concert hall. I am not a fan of jazz so while I enjoyed the glam and glitz, I would enjoy it more if they were performing something more Disney-ish. Anyway my sister fell asleep in that comfy concert hall chair. Lol. Anyway it was a great half an hour break from the cold winter air outside.

It seemed that I was the greedy one as I was the one constantly initiating meal time. Haha.. So same thing as dinner. This time it was before our body ran out of natural heat. After dinner, we still had plenty of time before Fantasmic! at 8pm. As mentioned above, I am not a fan of Duffy but my sister mentioned Duffy previously. So I asked her again if she still wanted Duffy since we had time to kill. No answer -_-" In the end I was the one who "forced" her with the reason might as well we do it now so that next time there is no need to mention about Duffy anymore. The wait time was 80 minutes and I was okay with that since it would still be too early for Fantasmic!. Anyway they only allowed people to start chope-ing spots only 1 hour before the show. When asking the cast member, we were told that Duffy might be taking a 20 minutes break. Oh my god, we were so lucky because after done taking photo with me, Duffy was taking that break. Heng sia! Duffy looks expressionless in the photo so I do not regret that I am not a fan. I am just taking the photo as a proof that I have been here and done that.

After done, we quickly put on layers ready to combat the evening winter cold again for Fantasmic!. We managed to get a prime position too: a corner just behind the string demarcating the reserved area. In front of that corner was plants so essentially there was no human heads covering.

Fastasmic! was great but and quite genius to have the show on the water. Unfortunately the distance is too far and everything looks too small from where the people are watching. Because of that, I still enjoy Disneyland parades more although this Fantasmic! actually has better effects. Genie is another show stealer here but the most awesome scene was Mickey vs Maleficent Dragon fight.

The dragon creates sea of fire

Sorcerer Mickey vs Maleficent Dragon

The scheduled fireworks show after Fantasmic! was unfortunately cancelled. We spent the rest of the time exploring the regions we did not manage to visit during the day: Mysterious Island and Mermaid Lagoon. Triton's Castle looks amazing from a far and I was very curious to see it from closer. It looks even more amazing in the evening and the whole Mermaid Lagoon has great decoration to convey the atmosphere. I find it weird that Ariel's Grotto is located outside the Lagoon though. Unexpectedly I bought Rabbit and Owl's plushies from Winnie the Pooh. I am not a fan of Winnie the Pooh but plushies of these 2 characters are rare and hence the decision to buy.

We also went back to Arabian Coast as I wanted to buy Aladdin t-shirts. I looked damn fat in this morning photos at Chef Mickey so I wanted to look better for tomorrow. Haha.. I wanted to wear something Disney and unexpectedly there are Aladdin t-shirts. I hesitated to get the black one that was so expensive (4900 yen) but in the end I decided to just YOLO. Of course I bought the small Aladdin and Jasmine plushie keychains that I had been eyeing since the visit to Bon Voyage.

After done with shopping, we went to the Magic Lamp Theatre expecting it to be a Aladdin and Genie show. The Genie is right but there is no Aladdin. It is not really a full 3D show as there are a lot of interactions in Japanese that I hardly understand so it was not really enjoyable. In fact, I found it to be a waste of time and the show was not short either :( After that it was already very late and we decided to go back. It was interesting as people were running around to maximise the remaining time for one last attraction. They inspired me to suggest that we chionged to the Nemo & Friends SeaRider which is considered one of the more popular attractions at Disneysea. We reached there almost 950pm and they still allowed people to go in. Great! Honestly I still find this quite kiddy and I wonder what the hype is.

I took a lot of photos along the way back as it felt like spending an evening in Europe and that marked the end of the day. It is a sad realisation that not only tomorrow is the last day at Disney Resort, it is also the last day of this holiday.

Evening scenery. Beautiful isn't it?

I want to stay here forever

Japan Trip Day 6: Disneyland

Tokyo Disney Resort Welcome Center opens at 730am and our initial plan was to reach there at that time so that we could quickly enjoy Disneyland once it opens. I was quite irritated with how slow my sister was in the morning. I knew it was winter and we might not be so early but to be 2 hours behind plan was just too much. Luckily we could leave our luggage at the hotel for the next few days.

At the Welcome Center, we dropped by our luggage that we will use for our stay at Disneyland and then collected our Vacation Package: maps and guides, multi-day pass, Disney Resort Line pass, the fast passes, ticket for Chef Mickey breakfast, ticket for Big Band Beat, ticket for free drinks, ticket for exclusive items, and ticket holder with lanyard. The way they handled and showed the Vacation Package really made me feel like this was a VIP stuff. Lol.

Since we have the Resort Line pass for unlimited train ride, it was a no-brainer to take the train to the Disneyland. There were some decorations at the stations that I wanted to take photos with but I skipped them first as I was more excited to go to Disneyland as soon as possible.

When we entered Disneyland, there was already a queue for photo shoot with Minnie at the front garden. Unfortunately the queue was stopped for this session and we were told that the next session would be at 1130. I was pissed with my sister who wanted to take photos with those loitering characters. I am not a fan of taking photos with many photobombers behind and I really wanted to take photos with Mickey, Donald, and Daisy who have their own character greeting house or room. The queues for them could be many hours and that was why I felt so rushed. Donald and Daisy are especially important since I have never have photos with them whether from Disneyland Paris or Disneyland Tokyo.

As usual my sister did not eat breakfast so I suggested that we ate early lunch before the crowd at the eateries became crazy. After lunch, it was past 11am so I told my sister we should go back to queue for Minnie. Although I hate taking photos outside, I also have no photo with Minnie so we shall do it. I honestly am very impressed with whoever inside the costume as s/he really plays the character very well and genuinely. Tokyo Disneyland is still very stingy with the photos: only 1 from official photographer and 1 from own camera. Thankfully the character will always think different poses for the 2 shots.

From there, we went to Westernland to look for Donald and Daisy. Of course we got distracted for photos along the way with Cinderella's Castle, Snow White's well, etc. I still could not get a photo with Cinderella's Castle background devoid of people but the crowd was definitely much less than when I came here 2 years ago. We also passed by the stage for the show Minnie Oh! Minnie which will be discontinued permanently from March next year. It was almost show time and there were still seats so my sister went in. I chose to watch from outside because I wanted the sunlight to warm me up. I find the show quite great since the singers were singing live. Sadly the audience gave a rather muted applause for them. I also think that I made the correct choice not to have our free show ticket from the Vacation Package for this show since we managed to watch it anyway.

The queue for photo taking with Donald and Daisy was about 40-45 minutes each and I really enjoyed taking photos in this setting: without people photobombing. I enjoyed the interaction with them as they were really trying to personalise the pose and would think of various poses. I was very conscious with my attire and I was deciding between zipping up my jacket fully which would make me look plain vs unzipping the jacket so that my white inner heat tech would be visible for more colors. I went with the later and sadly my tummy showed :( I am damn fat can T_T

After photo with Donald and Daisy, it was time for the parade. It is winter and I felt relieved when I saw the crowd waiting for the parade was not as mad as 2 years ago when I went in summer. We started waiting quite late but we could still get a nice spot and generally the seated people were only 3 layers. I remembered 2 years ago, it was full of people all the way until people could be standing on the bench and on the hedge. I suppose these people are still sane after all. The parade is still the same as 2 years ago although I am not sure if there are changes here and there. Nonetheless I still took photos of the parade.

I was freezing by the time the parade was over but I wanted to get it over and done with taking photos with Mickey. Waiting time was 80 minutes which was definitely better than 2-3 hours that I expected. I felt quite disappointed as Mickey was wearing the conductor's attire and I already had a photo with that attire. However, Mickey was very friendly and was stroking my shoulder where he put his hand during the photo taking. Kawaiii!!! Hahaha.. When I was checking the photo taken with my camera, he also pretended to want to take a look.

By this, I really thought I would already die because of the cold. I put on an extra layer with my ultra down jacket and put on my gloves yet I still could not get myself warm. It was still 5pm+ so I wanted an early dinner to avoid the crowd but it seemed that everyone was also getting cold and the food court was full! Thank goodness we were lucky to get an empty tablet. After the meal, I still could not get warm. I told my sister that I really wanted to check in to the hotel first to get myself warm. I was not going to wait for the Electrical Parade now and I did not mind missing it since I already watched it previously. She was also freezing and hence she agreed. We collected the exclusive gift for Vacation Package (I chose the picture frame) and the photo prints with Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Mickey today before going to the hotel. I also bought heat pads or kairo for standby.

Disney Resort Line operates in only 1 direction: from Welcome Center to Disneyland to Bayside Station to Disneysea and then back to Welcome Center. It might be quicker to just walk back to the Welcome Center and to the Disney Hotel Ambassador than taking the train trip for 1 round but with this freezing situation, survival came first. Lol.

The check in process at the hotel was pleasant and efficient. I was pleasantly surprised that a bellboy escorted us all the way to hotel room and with the luggage. When showing us the room, he tried to be friendly by striking conversation that he noticed that I like Mickey while he likes Donald. I felt bad for trying to end the conversation quickly but we were really in a hurry to go back to Disneyland so that we did not miss the Electrical Parade.

We reached Disneyland back at about 740pm and the Parade already started. It had not passed the central area yet so we still could watch it. With warmth (and life) back to our bodies, this was the first time we utilised our free drinks! With all that, we just found the most convenient open space that we could find. However there were already so many people and I could not take any photos from that spot. There are some differences with the Electrical Parade that I watched 2 years ago as now there are Frozen and Beauty and the Beast. Because of this, I decided that on the last night in Tokyo (aka 2 days later), I will be back for this parade to take photos. Lol. I made the right call to get the Kit Kat Tokyo Banana yesterday or otherwise I would have no time to buy it.

The firework show was more amazing that I remembered. It was unimaginable that there would be firework which appeared like flower or Mickey's head. Really amazing.

The crowd seemed to thin down from here on. Thus there were a bit more space to take pictures with Cinderella's Castle at night. Still it could not be totally empty and I was absolutely angry at my sister. I had no problem taking her photos but when her turn to help me take, it was always dark :( Seriously fuck it sia.. We were using exactly the same camera, standing at the same spot, and the only difference would be the photographer's skill.

The full benefit of staying at the hotel at Disneyland finally showed. As we did not have to quickly go home, we had the time to explore now that there were less people. We managed to play several attractions: Cinderella's Castle Tour, Mickey's Philharmagic, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and Pooh's Hunny Hunt. Usually I will not spend time to queue for the rides but for each of them it was about 5-10 minutes wait only so I might as well make use the time to the maximum until the closing time.

I enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic the most although it was actually just a sitting down and enjoy a 3D clips of various Disney movies and songs. Cinderella's Castle Tour is not as wow as I thought. It did not feel like a walkthough in castle and decorations are quite random. Well partly because I am not a fan of Cinderella. The main attractions here perhaps are to take photo pretending trying to fit into the glass shoes (which as a guy I did not try) and to take photo at the king's throne. Pinocchio's ride is just normal and I don't expect much since Disneyland is said to have kiddy rides as opposed to Disneysea which is targeted more for adults. Pooh's Hunny Hunt is one of the more popular rides in Tokyo Disneyland so it was good that we experienced that with minimum queueing time and without using our fast pass from the vacation package. It is still kiddy but I can understand the hype because the ride is trackless so in some of the rooms it feels like we are spinning randomly.

The closing time is 10pm but they do not chase out people. They still admit people into attractions even at 959pm which I think is really fair for the park attendees. As we were going out, we got another free cocoa drink and that marks the end of the first day at Disneyland. 

We reach the hotel back at almost 1130pm and although we were very tired physically, we were very excited with the hotel room. Before we messed up the room, I wanted to take some shameless "commemorative" photos first for this 200000+ yen. Lol.

This hotel room is even bigger than Shinagawa Prince Hotel room as it can accommodate up to 4 people. Thus the toilet, bathroom, and sink are separated. The toilet is quite small but the bathroom is amazing: there is bathtub, there is shower, there is stool for Japanese-style bathing too. The room also has a balcony although I don't think we will enjoy that in this winter cold. Each day 3 bottles of Evian drinking water is also free. Sweet.

We felt really blown away and this 200000+ yen is really well spent for a YOLO experience haha.. We were so tired but when we played with the TV, we were glued like little kids watching what Tokyo Disney Resort has to offer to squeeze more money from us. Haha.. This is going to be a long night and tomorrow we have to wake up early for Chef Mickey breakfast but who cares about sleep when happiness is here :D

Just the sleeping area is already this huuuuuge

The design of the thing that covers the bedsheet (I don't know what this is called)

Some decoration

Another picture to decorate the room

Mickey pattern on the wallpaper

Mickey pattern on the lamp

Mickey at the mirror

Toiletries

Japan Trip Day 5: Tsukiji, Akihabara, Nakano

I wanted to just do shopping at Akihabara today and because the shops would only be open near noon, I wanted to sleep in. Of course the idea of going to the Imperial Palace in the morning crossed my mind too. I guess my engine was already geared towards shopping for the rest of this holiday that never mind about the sightseeing anymore.

I am not interested in Tsukiji Market and my sister was the eager one. I told her that I did not search on the way to go there so if she wanted, she should find herself. So on the train we just sat all the way until Akihabara and I was like "what??" I thought she wanted to go to Tsukiji? If we just went to Akihabara, I would not leave so early as the shops were not open yet. So we back-tracked to Tsukiji. Well my sister was the one more disappointed than me. I told her already that there was nothing much to see. It was human packed and the sushi places that we passed by were so expensive. 3000 yen for 1 bowl of whatever don?? The both of us spent less than 3000 yen in total when we ate the don at Asakusa.

I lost a bit at Akihabara as I mixed up between Central Gate and Electric Town Gate. Not to mention that there are Atre1 and Atre2 which makes me even more confused as I remembered there was only one Atre. Lol.. Anyway the mix up brought me to Square Enix Cafe. I did not eat there although there were still tickets for the next hour because there was nothing exciting shown in the advertisement outside the cafe or with the internal cafe decoration. I entered the shop and the decoration was mostly Play Arts figurines and the only thing I was tempted to buy is the Dissidia acrylic stands. I like character designs in Dissidia but 1440 yen for each of this is still quite a price that I need to think many times.

I feel bad for saying this but I was really wishing that my sister would go somewhere and did not follow me in Akihabara. It is not that I do not want her to see what I am going to buy but I know the sucky feeling of following someone shopping when yourself has zero interest in it. It is just a waste of time and I can imagine she is feeling that way. I also could not concentrate when I went to Book Off. I could not even find the section on anime books because I worried that my sister would be left behind and then I would waste more time trying to find her. Or perhaps my Japanese ability is slowly getting rusty as well.

After going round and round, I finally relied on google map to lead me to the correct side of Akihabara that I was looking for. After going to several shops at the side of Animate, I suggested to have lunch first before I crossed the road to continue shopping. We ate at Tendon restaurant and after that I suggested that my sister just went to Donquijote while I went around and split our way for the rest of the day.

I wanted to go to Nakano Broadway and hence I tried to be quick with Akihabara. Obviously that did not happen lol. I was aiming to leave at 2pm but in the end I only left Akihabara at 4pm. I actually did not go to a lot of shops: Mandarake, Kotobukiya, Lashinbang, and Mulan. Of course it was not a one-way trip because I had to see what things I could buy and what I eventually would buy.

I am very happy that I bought Final Fantasy Chrome figures to complete my collection 2 years ago because there was really very few Final Fantasy stuff at Mandarake this time :( I thought I could get the display box haiz. I was deliberating to get the newly released Fullmetal Alchemist Illustration book but I made up my mind when I passed by the glass cabinet with the special edition version. I also bought Fullmetal Alchemist Book in Figure ~Red~ for 600 yen. The ~Blue~ version was 2500 yen so I gave it a pass. I am also happy that now Mandarake allows purchases from different levels to be combined for tax free.

At Lashinbang, I bought a few Free! books and I realised that I might be purchasing without thinking much since I did not even have the time to look at the books I bought in Osaka few months ago. Surprisingly Kotobukiya shop did not have anything to buy and even the Final Fantasy merchandises were not as complete as in Animate or Square Enix Cafe. What a disappointment.

I went back to Animate and I was seriously considering to get all the FF Dissidia acrylic stands and 1 Kaito Kid acrylic stand. I already queued for the cashier (which was long) before I remembered that when I was in Osaka, there was Square Enix shop at Yodobashi and the purchases made there would be eligible for additional 5% for visa payment. In the end I went to Sofmap that initially I did not plan to visit but nope I found nothing. As it was already 4pm, I did not even have the time to see Yodobashi or visit Donquijote as I already decided that no matter what I would go to Nakano today.

Nakano Broadway is where Mandarake main store is located. Nakano Broadway has 4 levels and there are so many Mandarake stores scattered everywhere as each store is specialised e.g store A only sells anime books, store B sells figures, store C sells tokusatsu stuff, store D sells fujoshi stuff, and so on. There is Lashinbang too and many other anime shops. It is really amazing experience lol. Again I did not find any FF stuff and I found 1 Free! book that I bought earlier at Akihabara much cheaper here. Haiz!! It was not a wasted trip as I managed to get the only Free! Mook that I was missing out. There was a complete set of Sailor Moon artbooks including the elusive Volume Infinity and Materials collection. I braved myself to ask the price and unfortunately there were not for sale yet. They would be put for auction from 1 Jan :( I also bought Squall Theatherhytm plushie here since I did not manage to get the Dissidia version at Akihabara earlier.

The journey from Akihabara to Nakano took me about 40 minutes but thank God for express Chuo line (rapid) and I was back to Tokyo Station in just 20 minutes. I already felt tired with the heavy loot from today but since I was already at Tokyo Station, I decided I should just get the Kit Kat Tokyo Banana instead of waiting to buy it on the last day. The plan was just go get the Kit Kat and that was it. Things did not turn out that simple as I forgot where the heck the shop was! Bleah!

The shop was located outside the gate and I had to tap out. Since I already tapped out, I might as well go back to the Character Street to get Conan karuta cards. I passed by JUMP shop again and saw only 2 Saint Seiya otedama was left on the shelf. That means there are people buying and I decided to just buy it before regretting if it is sold out by the time I come back here on the last day. 4630 yen for 5 pieces of tsum tsum-like plushie is pricey since tsum tsum is only about 600 yen each. But oh well..

Unexpectedly there was 1 box of Prince of Tennis kutsurogi complete set (7000 yen) which was a no-brainer for me to buy. Because of these unexpected purchases, the tax-free amount would be quite significant and I decided to try my luck at the tax-free counter. "Try my luck" is because the instruction pasted at the shop is to go to tax-free counter first before shopping but I tried to do the reverse. Good news was I could still get tax-free but the bad news was I had to back to those shops to get my barcodes scan. Oh my God T_T The back of my knees were dying and I swore I almost fell down a few times. The Kit Kat was from a non-tax free shop so all the pain and hard work was just for about 800 yen tax return. Thus still in the spirit of free and easy trip, what was planned to be a quick visit to get Kit Kat Tokyo Banana became another 1.5 hours torture shopping trip.

I returned to hotel almost 9pm and I had not eaten anything since lunch. Now I can understand how ladies can get special energy and endurance when they are shopping. Well no complaints since I don't mind getting 7-11 food as meal. I decided to buy the Ippudo ramen cup for breakfast tomorrow although I am worried since it is spicy flavour.

I just finished packing my luggage to prepare for the next 2 nights at Disneyland. I am so tired but I am pretty sure the excitement for Disneyland tomorrow will sustain me through :p