Bipolar

It is another emotionally-charged week for me although sadly, there are more down moments than the up ones. Firstly, I lost the battle against the v(uck)POST. I finally got someone capable to give me an explanation. I really appreciated her effort to explain to me. The company is just too fucked up that further argument is simply wasting my breath.

Below is the summary of the explanation given to me and I do hope if people are reading this (or reading my post in the forum), they will think twice.. or rather they should ban.. vPOST altogether. vPOST has nobody to sort out mails so small items (weighing less than 2kg are dumped together in the same  shipment with items weighing 5kg and more). Not surprising that my items looked like they had been run over by a truck.. Ironically (I would say ridiculously), normal post (be it normal mail, registered mail, and of course EMS) is better than vPOST. Why? Because normal post is sorted based on the size and there is no way that small items will be damaged by large items in the same shipment. I also asked whether it made a difference if I insured my items and the answer was NO. Insurance claims will only be accepted if the package seems to be ripped open. Yes, even if the envelopes arrive torn, if the tears are not due to someone ripping it, insurance claim will be denied. I also asked what is regarded as "sufficient" packaging and for vPOST, a "sufficient" packaging is something which can withstand their lack of sorting. So what did I get in the end? (Useless) apologies, refund of shipping fee (a pathetic $30+ compared to $300 items), and 20% off for next shipment. Yeah, as if I am going to use this v(ucked-up)POST anymore in the future. Hell no!

My credit card bill was due on 15 July. I tried to make payment on Sunday and to my horror, I could not make a full payment because the total amount exceeded my debit card limit!! It was not because I spent a lot but it was because I set my own pathetic limit! Haha.. Kiasu just in case I lose my card ma.. Haha.. Anyway, the expense was a bit more than usual as I helped my family to purchase air tickets and train tickets for our trip to Europe. I paid the remainder on Monday. I was worried that I would be slapped with late payment fee and I sent an email. The reply freaked me out: it took 2 working days for payment via AXS machine to be processed. Die liao!! Not funny if I am fined $60 x 2 even though I paid on time.. I asked for waiver but the bank could not "waive" anything when there was nothing shown in my bills yet. I was asked to wait another 2 days. And hallelujah, my payment was not considered late!! Fiuuh...

I have less than 2 weeks to prepare for my trip and I am absolutely unprepared. I am glad that I did not think twice and immediately bought 1000 Euro and 300 Swiss Francs last week. I heard that Euro is getting more expensive this week. I thought I got the money matter done. Guess what: my dad psycho-ed me that 1000 Euro is not going to be enough -__- Sigh.. Should I change more??

I have borrowed some winter clothes from my aunt but I am still undecided with what to bring. Sigh.. Still waiting for that green pants from Uniqlo getting discounted also. I still have not purchased my tablet yet. And digital camera was giving me headache on Sunday. I was absolutely irritated with my sister over the weekend. Everything has its pros and cons. I don't need to hear what are the pros and cons of each camera that I suggested, what I needed was a decision on which model to buy! Jeez.. 

I had no issue with whatever model because I am a pretty good photographer. The issue is I can't take photos of myself. I wanted my sister to choose and try the cameras to find the one which suits her lousy photography skills. I need her skills to take good pictures of mine. Lol.. No point choosing the camera which can't withstand her shakiness and poor angles. Right till the end she could not make the decision so I made it. I bought Canon Powershot S110 from Harvey Norman on Sunday. The main reason was it was put on sale and it also came with lots of bonus. Just tried it yesterday and I am swooning over it. Hehe.. It beats any camera phone hands down!! Even when I switched off all light in my room, the pictures taken are still so bright. I hope it shows equally good results outdoor too.

And today was the mother of all emo-ness. I am absolutely disappointed with my pay rise of 3.6%. I think inflation rate is even higher than that. Sigh.. I think it should be called a pay EXCREMENT instead of increment. In addition, I only received 0.9 months for performance bonus. I expected at least 1 month. Sigh.. I heard issues that the bonus is lower this year bla bla bla but I heard that it was 1.25 months last year. The drop can't be that much so the only explanation is that I suck at work. Call me shameless but I think I am not faring badly as compared to the other first year staff. I was given a lot of shit stuff that someone has to do. Necessary for daily things but not good enough to score brownie points. I am extremely sore, angry, upset now. After doing so much shit, I am given a shit increment and shit bonus too! Sometimes I wish I can just take revenge and quit.. and perhaps commit suicide.

My life sucks.. I suck.. my work sucks.. everything sucks...

vPOST = vomitbloodPOST

I have been using vPOST many times and have always been pleased. My latest experience, however, simply changed everything. Ultimately, vPOST is a subsidiary of SingPost and when problems arise, what I get is simply shitty customer service.

My latest shipment with vPOST contains 3 items. Each item containing 1 book: Young Avengers Present (paperback), Young Avengers Ultimate Collection (hard cover), and Sailormoon Art Book 5 (hard cover). All 3 arrived damaged and I am particularly upset because the last 2 items are rare and out of production. Not to mention that they are expensive too.

Here comes the horror story. Upon receiving the damaged item, I sent a feedback to claim for compensation. I only received reply after 2 weeks and after 2 separate feedbacks requesting an update on my case. My claim was rejected on the ground "insufficient packaging". Of course, I am not satisfied. Prior to this, I purchased several books from overseas be it via registered mail, EMS, Amazon.com, and Book Depository. These books arrived in perfect condition and they were packed in either cardboard envelope or padded envelope (envelope with bubble wrap in the inside). Thus I don't see why this time around vPOST regarded padded envelope and cardboard envelope as "insufficient". In addition, I asked them what, then, they regard as "sufficient packaging" just to ship a book.

I also pointed out about the state of the envelope upon arrival: bent into two in the middle (despite a big warning DO NOT BEND by the sender), gross folding and crumpling on all 4 corners, torn envelopes, and black dirt all over the envelope. To me, these are signs of poor handling and I can't accept that vPOST refused to see these sings of poor handling and simply blaming on "insufficient" packaging.

I explicitly stated twice that I wanted to know what constitutes "sufficient" packaging. The first reply totally ignored my question while the second reply stated "lets not go into details". Great, they are not going to explain their "insufficient" packaging and they are also unable to say what they expect as a "sufficient" packaging.

Initially, vPOST refused to look at the fact that even the envelopes arrived damaged. In the latest reply, they admitted that my items should had been handled more carefully. Great.. finally they admitted their mistake. So if it is their mistake, where the bloody hell is my compensation??

It is getting ridiculous when vPOST always changes their answers with each reply. One thing that remains constant is their avoidance to explain their stupid packaging sufficiency. Initially they offered 15% off for future shipping. Go eat shit! As if I will ever use their stupid service anymore. Then they increased the bar to refunding of the shipping fee (which is only about $32). Lastly, they upped the stake to shipping fee refund + 25% off for future shipping.

I am not gonna give in so quickly when I am not in the wrong. I spent close to $300 for my items and I would get a $30 compensation for their incompetency? No way!! Not sure whether I should go down to a post office to ask for alternative feedback channel as their email and phone service are just bullshit. Not sure if I should involve external party such as CASE. I wonder if that is useful. And the most drastic measure will be the use of media. Sigh.. I hope I can get my $300 peacefully.

Here are the pictures to show how shitty the envelopes look upon arrival:

Come on a my House

About 2 months ago, I posted a video of Hey! Say! JUMP performing a new song called Come on a my House in Shonen Club. I am not linking this post to the previous post as the video has been removed from Youtube due to copyright issue. Yes, Johnny's Entertainment and NHK are so anal for this kind of thing. Apparently, I was wrong to say the title is not grammatically corrent. In fact, there is another song with similar title "Come on-a My House" released in 1950s sung by Rosemary Clooney. I still don't quite get what "on-a" means anyway.

The song is chosen as a new single released on 26 June. Yay! It is another number 1 single so that's another yay! It has been quite sometime since HSJ released a single and it has been a looong time that they have a cutesy single and PV which I enjoy. Their most recent cute single prior to this is Magic Power which I don't particularly like as a song. The PV takes place in HSJ's house. Typical to an all-boys environment, the house is messy and they have to tidy things up because this "jumping girl" is coming over. I am sure the fangirls are going ga-ga over the prospect of seeing their idols' house. But I can tell you that based on my personal experience, guys' share house is definitely not a nice place to be in. Haha.. especially if the guys are messy and unhygienic.

Great acting from HSJ here, especially Yamada's expression when receiving the phone calls. I like the text bubbles which depict a story. The home clothes and pajamas are quite realistic and I find them better than the formal clothes they wear at the end of the PV when welcoming the girl. And it is definitely nice to have all 9 members get plenty of exposure here. Previously in SUPER DELICATE, Keito and Inoo only get like 5 seconds of air time each -_- But Keito seems like humming, rather than singing, in the PV. I know that in PV making, singers are always lip-synching but when audience watch the end product, we always want to see as if the singers are really singing mah. The dog is cute but I find its lack of response to be very irritating. Despite being cuddled, pet, etc, the dog remains emotionless and does not even look at the person holding it o_0

The house itself does not look realistic. It is just messy but it is not dirty. That is an impossible combination in real life. Haha.. How can things be messy but not dusty? And how can clean crockery being piled up on top of each other? Haha.. When I went to my friend's house, it is always a pile of dirty and unwashed plates, pots, etc. Complete with the smell and certain flying insects. Lol.. And as messy as we boys are, we certainly do not throw our clothes up to the windows ledge. Haha.. But overall, still a great and enjoyable PV. In fact, I was tempted to purchase the single because of the PV but unfortunately, the first press was already sold out. Not the best quality here but enjoy it before Johnny's claims for copyright infringement again.

I was pretty excited to read positive reviews on the other songs in the single. But I was disappointed. The other songs are just not my cup of tea I guess.

Some updates about AKB48, their latest single (which I thought was horrible) almost hit 2m in sales so it seems that their stars are still shining brightly. I am growing ambivalent towards them as I don't quite enjoy their last few consecutive singles. According to latest news, Mariko Shinoda is graduating from AKB48 in a month time. With her and Tomomi Itano leaving, I don't think there any other girls which I like. It is great to see Yuko Oshima and Minami Takahashi still around but they are not my favourites. They had their 5th election and surprisingly Yuko was not number 1. The number 1 is Rino Sashihara. I have no idea who she is. I googled her pictures and I really cannot recognise her face from previous PVs. So that was a bummer for me. Lets see how good or bad their next single is to decide whether I am still a fan of AKB48 fan :p

Tick tock tick tock..

My biological clock is ticking and I feel that I am becoming old really fast. Today I went to the newly opened JEM. I felt uncomfortable after alighting the MRT as I had no idea where to walk. I actually had no idea where the shopping mall is located or how near. Haha.. This was a contrast with my younger self. The first time I come to Singapore, I was adventurous. I loved going to places I did not know or I had not visited before. My younger self felt excited with the possibilities of losing ways and travelling to roads unknown. I wonder if I would enjoy my coming trip to Europe if I feel uncomfortable, rather than excited, to see new places and experience new things.

My friend was 30 minutes late so I had the chance to loiter around. There is still no sale for chino pants and jacket which I have been aiming at from Uniqlo. I went to H&M and I thought their jackets were of comparable price with Uniqlo's. In fact, H&M's feel more "atas". However, it does not really suit my purpose. With a relatively thick and heavy material, I think I will sweat and feel uncomfortable when I am wearing it to go outside on this sunny island.

My reason for going all the way to JEM is to get Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Challenger is having store opening promotion and is giving away free battery, free memory card, pouch etc, while stocks last. The promotion began 2 weeks ago and I came on the 2nd last day. Lol. The staff told me that they only had 10 sets for promotion and they were wiped out on the first day. They brought in another 15 which were gone by now. Oh well, promote until so big big but only 25 sets?? Tsk tsk tsk.. I am actually still undecided whether to buy a tablet or not. Sigh.. That's me.. Always think so hard for gadgets while I spend money like water when it comes to toys. Ironic indeed.

I had a meet-up with 2 friends on Friday. As age is slowly creeping, we grow more and more desperate to look for our partners in life. Haha.. I am feeling rather heartbroken lately. I mean I know that the girl I like since like 6 years ago is already attached. After seeing her picture with her boyfriend on facebook, I feel a bit jealous :( Anyway, a part of me feels happy that they look happy together.

When I see my secondary school friends who are married now, I always wonder why their husbands are not the super duper handsome type and rather plump too. And these girls are the quite pretty types in my opinion. Haha.. Seems like girls don't always look for the looks and body. Not saying that I am good looking or what la but I think I am better looking than some of these guys.. And yet I am still single.. No wonder people always suspect single good looking males are gays -__-" 

I admit I am still very self-centered and I am very choosy. I want a good girl, with good family, comparable social status, comparable brain power, Catholic, and the list goes on and on. Not to mention that I am very conservative too: I hope find the right one, date her, marry her, and have 4 kids (2 sons and 2 daughters). Haha.. I don't want to play around as I do not want to waste money and time for failed relationship. Sigh.. But perhaps the biggest hurdle for me to find the correct one is my limited social circle. I hardly have friends so how am I going to find a girlfriend in the first place? Haiz..

Despite how thick my skin is, I have a rather low-self esteem when it comes to having a girlfriend. I am not the romantic type and I don't think I am comfortable with public display of affection. Every time my clique friends are "playing" by holding my arm when we walk, I feel a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps I am uncomfortable because we are just friends la, I don't know. Haha.. But when I have one girl on one arm and another on the other arm, it felt embarassing too. Maybe people would think I am gay or what. Lol.. Perhaps it is another sign of aging: to get bothered about how others view me. In the past, I just can't be bothered as I am comfortable in my own skin and I know we are just holding arms for fun. Lol..

But honestly deep down in my heart, I am praying hard that God will send me a soulmate quickly. I don't mind getting married young actually. Haha.. And I do hope I can have first son, second daughter, third daughter, and fourth son. Although my "ideal" family is 2 sons and 2 daughters, I will stop if my first 3 are sons... But if my first 3 are daughters, God save me!!

Teaching

Teaching is my passion and I am glad to have ample opportunities to teach at my work. However, things are not as rosy as it seems. Lately, I am feeling angsty at work rather frequently, particularly towards some staff with poor work ethics. Anyway, their annual competency exam is coming and I was tasked to give a mock exam to see their preparedness. Obviously, it would not be easy as I am a rather evil guy. As expected, with a passing mark of 60%, everyone failed the paper. Lol.. I was quite disappointed that some people still managed to hit above 50%. My aim was to make it so difficult that everyone did badly and bucked up for the real exam.

As expected, after the paper, most of the idiots were cursing me: too difficult, so many things not in the notes, so many things never see before, etc. Today was my time for revenge and smack them back to reality. As evil and cunning as I am in setting the questions, more than 80% of the questions were based on their notes. If they did not know, it was because they did not study, did not study hard enough, or they were too dumb. Another 15% was based on real work life practice. If they found these difficult, then they have been working brainlessly everyday. Only 1 question was totally out of nowhere although the information was available in our drug resource. I hope I delivered my message today: most of the things are in the notes and if you fail, it is because you suck! I hope that makes you realise why at times I have to sit in my own room for some duties which require "higher level of thinking" and I cannot possibly be covering your duties so that you can slack at work! Bleah..

I knew I sounded angry, arrogant, and irritated when going through the answers today. Lol. Because I wanted to drill the message that they did not study hard enough. Some of them are just plain ridiculous. Complain about things not kept in store or not in the notes and expect everything is easy vomitting from notes. Even when 80% of things are directly found in the notes, they still fail. Of course there are still a few idiots who constantly refuse to admit their own stupidity with "excuses" such as: why only test the not important stuff. Hoho.. I wonder what are the things they deem "important".

Seriously I don't know how these "kids" survive their school days sia.. Doing exam takes a skill. You need to know the important things. You also need to know the "not so important things" which are likely to be tested. Basically you should think about what the examiners will be interested in knowing. That is called exam smart. Haha..

I still have no mood to write about my 6-week precepting experience. Haha.. Was attempting to write about it initially but could not string the sentences to tell an engaging story. Lol.

Oh hazzy day..

Oh hazzy day..

Oh hazzy hazzy day...

That's lame but the haze is just getting worse. Records are made to be broken and yesterday PSI hit 401 to create another highest in the history. Things were chaotic as the interest for masks even beat Hello Kitty craze. On Thursday night, the government did a press conference to mention that 9 million masks have been distributed. Reality was on Friday, even the suppliers were still unable to say when the stocks were coming. Up down left right centre we were scolded, screamed at, and abused. Seriously, if by screaming the stocks would come, we would join you in screaming too. And we were not playing Easter mask-hunt with you.. What's the point of hiding the masks only to get shouted at? Bleah.. By the time I reported for work, my retail staff was already on the verge of tearing of all the abuse and it was only 930am in the morning. And mind you, we, the workers, were not even given a mask!

In the afternoon, worse news came. It seems that all pharmacies were swarmed by public. It was decided that masks would be distributed to the retail chains first. Good reasoning because hospital and polyclinic pharmacies are not open on the weekends and with retail stores everywhere, it sorta helping on the accessability to the public. Reality check: people are expecting the reverse! That public institutions should get priority over private and profit-making pharmacies. Sigh.. I thank God that I was off today. Could not imagine how chaotic it would be.

Prior to this, despite all the chaos, I thought the government managed the crisis pretty well. But that press conference changed my opinion. It was like sabo-ing all healthcare workers in the nation by saying that masks were available when they were not available yet. And to be fair, I think this nation is full of pathetic and non-resilient people. They are so dependent on the government and all they can do is to criticise. In other countries, if there is any natural disaster, people have to take their own action. If they wait for government aid, they will die first. Imagine if a volcano erupts and you decide to run only after there is warning (if there is any) from government or imagine if you see the tsunami rises from the see and you still wait for government to issue "RUUUN!!", you will be the first to die.

The haze dissipated yesterday afternoon and I had high hope for a good weekend. After all, those who burn surely would like to enjoy weekend too. I was wrong. This morning was bad again but things returned to normal at about 2pm. Yay!! I believe it was God who blew the haze away. I was joking to my friend that I would not go out to attend mass tomorrow if the haze was so thick! Looks like God won't let His people skipped mass because of haze. Haha.. 

Anyway, I went out because Uniqlo put slim jeans on sale!! Yay.. I bought navy-coloured slim jeans. This is the first piece of clothing which I bought every since I started working 2 years ago. Lol.. And as much as I think how fat I have become, it was a surprise that I could still squeeze to number 31. That is the same size as my currently "tight" jeans. Haha.. 31 was tight on the groin but just nice on the legs. 32 was just nice on the groin but too loose on the legs. Nothing is perfect. I chose 32 in the end. Now I am waiting for the Chino pants to be put on sale! Hehe.. Love the green. And of course the $99.90 jacket too! Please have it on sale next week :)

Talking about fat, I have decided to forgo any potato chips and cafe until the day I return from my trip to Europe. That is still in August. Haha.. I don't want to look like a pig in the photos. I had fulfilled my cravings for Cheeton (on Thursday) and Spinelli (just now) so it is time to start this abstinence. Haha..

And lastly, pictures speak a thousand words. Rather than saying PSI this and PSI that, let the pictures do the talking.

Yesterday at 9am before I went to work

Today at 230pm when the PSI dropped to double digit

I think the burners will have a Sunday break and tomorrow will be fine. They will go again on Monday and I pray that bloody stock of masks better come in!

Bloody sun

Let's start with a good news first. My aircon was fixed on Monday instead of Tuesday. That was a huge surprise and made me really happy. Hehe.. The new aircon is awesomely cold. I am freezing even at 28 deg Celcius. That's all for the good news.

It got kinda hazy since last Friday here in Singapore. Conditions gradually worsened and the current "hot" abbreviation in Singapore is PSI. PSI stands for Pollutants Standard Index which measures the air quality and higher number means poorer air quality. On Monday, things started to get worse but most people were still optimistic that "it was not as bad as 2006 or 1997" yet. PSI was 226 in 1997 and that was the highest for Singapore. Yesterday afternoon was the worst that I experienced and it was kinda scary. In the late afternoon, the sun looked bloody red and traffic lights shined with eerie glow. It was like a scene from a the-end-of-the-world movie. Brr.. When I thought things could not get worse, guess what: yesterday night a record was broken with PSI reading of 321 at 10pm

Amazingly, despite the record high PSI reading last night, people were still queueing for latest McDonald's Hello Kitty plushie at midnight and it was sold out within a few hours. Amazing.. I simply can't understand all the hatred directed at Singapore government's. Seriously, these keyboard warriors should think what they think the government can do when the fire is happening in other country? The government can't simply send airplanes and start throwing water bombs to the raging fire right? I know most people want the Stop Work Order to be announced. But then... why is there an issue with going to work when there is not any issue with queue-ing for Hello Kitty? Haiz..

Anyway, the record was short lived as PSI hit 371 at 1pm today. I was having an impossible hope for public holiday to be announced but that hope was dashed when an email about haze contingency plan came. Even at PSI >400, the instruction was to wear N95 mask indoor. Sigh.. no mention about stopping work T_T Oh wells...

The scary thing is that this is less than a week! From previous years experience, the haze usually ends some time near the 7th month. I can't imagine how bad things will be. I am already having cough and chest discomfort. It never crossed my mind that I would ever consider getting salbutamol. I wanted to get the tablets but my friend suggested against it due to the possibly bad systemic side effects. I ended up getting the inhaler for standby!! Not even in my wildest dream that one day I will use an inhaler sia.. I have no asthma history by the way. If I am feeling this comfortable, I can't imagine how people with asthma or elderly will feel. God have mercy on us.

Okay, as promised, just to lighten up the mood, here are some of the funny and "dirty" jokes during Britain's Got Talent.

"Playing with yourself" and "the organs". Lol.

Anyway, it was very unfortunate that the other guy left. I thought their audition was entertaining and I am sure the semi final performance would be much better if there were 2 people playing.

Let's talk about the balls now. Haha.. "Absolutely mesmerised by your balls" and "You don't like my balls?"

Hot as hell

Whenever I feel emo, my first thought is always about dying and so be it if I am going to hell. Today I stand corrected. My air con broke down since the middle of last week and it is damn bloody hot inside my room. Sigh.. If I can't take this heat, how am I going to survive hell?? Bleah.. The new air con will be installed on Tuesday and I do hope there is no delay whatsoever.

The heat makes me constantly craving for ice cream or cold drinks to cool me down. Today I planned to skip mass and have dinner and dessert at Swensen's. It was a constant battle throughout the walk from my home. One part of me felt angry at God for the spoilt aircon (childish and unreasonable I know) and I did not want to faint because I did not have any lunch. I met my landlady before I left and I told her I was going for mass. So another part of me was like: hey dude, don't lie.. you just said you were going for mass! and there is aircon in the church anyways. So yeah, for first time, the good side of me won. I was surprised. Lol..

I consider myself unlucky because the aircon broke down on the weekend when I was not working. Although after knowing that my early shift colleague left only at 230pm, instead of the usual 1pm, I don't know if that was better than sweating my body off in my room.

I spent yesterday watching Britain's Got Talent Semi Finals and Final. I knew I was late because the final was last weekend. Haha.. As usual, singers and dancers dominate but I am glad that for this year, there are a lot of awesome variety acts such as ventriloquist, shadow performance, and stand up comedies/impressions. I don't usually like singers but the group Luminites is simply awesome. After their great audition which I shared here, I also love their semi final performance. For singing acts, usually they will sing their audition song for the finals and I always think that is sort of boring. It is the same for Luminites but I thought their final performance topped their audition. One thing which I think makes them special is that they did not change much from the day of their audition. Still as humble, no hints of arrogance, and the friendship they displayed after each performance is heartwarming. They emerged in the 5th position in the final but Simon Cowell offered them a contract. Will be looking forward to their release.

Semi final performance

Final performance

Moving on to my personal favourite this year is ventriloquist Steve Hewlett. He was only featured for less than a minute during the audition so he was sort of out of radar initially. I think he is not only a ventriloquist but also a great comedian. He has a great witty script and I thought it was creative to always have an interaction with the judges. And that Simon Cowell's puppet was hilarious. You know, if a performer had to stop somewhere in the middle to get himself heard to wait for the audience's laughter to subside, he is a great performer! He really brought the house down! He did not pass the semifinal but he went to the final with a wild card. His final performance was even more mind blowing and he really took it to another level of comedy. Brilliant guy!

Semi final performance

Final performance

I will be disappointed if Steve's great act is beaten by another singer/dancer group. You have lots of talented singers and dancers but you hardly have a talented ventriloquist, you see. Anyway, the winner is a shadow performance group from Hungary called Attraction. Despite all the controversies about foreigners joining the show, the Britons voted for them to win. Did not bump into their performance during the audition before this. But their audition and semi final performance were awesome. They just used shadow but it was so powerful and touching that people actually cried watching it. The semi final performance was based on one of the member's life story. The final performance was not actually better than the semi final but as what Simon said, it was a smart choice to do something "British" to tug into the heartstrings of the public. But the fact that they win also shows how open minded the Britons are.

Audition

Semi Final

Final

 

The group actually consists of 12 members but the group only brought 8 members for Britain's Got Talent entourage. With all these amazing things they can do with 8 people, can you imagine what more they can do if all 12 were to perform? Wow..

And I thought the 4 judges have a good dynamic. It is very interesting to listen to their comments and their interaction can be, at times, more interesting than the acts. Lol.. Although this time a lot of the jokes are a bit "mature" in theme, I still find them funny. There are still interesting videos out there but save it for another day.

Upcoming toys

 

I managed to sell my damaged Seifer and Tidus statues for $130. Yay!! That is the good news. The bad news is I still made a loss. Don't even talk about breaking even. I spent $150 for both of them :( Yes thanks to my stupidity that I was so engrossed with Seifer that I did not realise the damaged gunblade. I broke the wrist as I was trying to squeeze in the gunblade. Thus I decided to buy another one and sell the damaged gunblade. The new Seifer had oily face! Sigh.. Yes in the end I keep the broken wrist but not oily face Seifer + undamaged gunblade. Emo.. Tidus is solid, heavy, and sturdy. I love the figure even though I don't play the game but again, because of the oily texture I had to let it go. Oh wells.. Anyway I still have Yuna. Not sure whether I should sell it or "try another luck" to get Tidus.

I am sure whether I mentioned anywhere in my blog previously that I bought Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini Vol 2: Lightning, Tifa, and Tidus. Yeah.. after complaining so much about the poor quality volume 1 figures. Lol.. Well, these chibi figurines are just too cute too resist. But the ultimate thing which made me buy these is my soft spot for our furry friends. Lighning comes with Odin (which I take it as a horse lol), Tifa comes with Red XIII, and Tidus with a Chocobo! Kweh!!

Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini Volume 2

Volume 3 will be released sometime this month and I will definitely buy it. Volume 3 consists for Sephiroth, Aerith, and Rinoa. Not a fan of FF VII but Aerith comes with Cait Sith. Nya!! And Rinoa of course is accompanied by Angelo. Hoho.. Rinoa also gets an alternate body of her dance dress. I did not pre-order this time as I can get them from local sellers with a cheaper price, just like how I got the 2nd volume. Unfortunately, no "combined" picture for the volume 3 so I shall not post. Perhaps when I have the items, there will be a lot of pictures floating around and I can post it.

With volume 3 is going to be released, the announcement for volume 4 and 5 is also already made available since months back. Volume 4 will be Yuffie, Tifa, and Cloud from Advent Children. Looks like I will give it a miss since I am not a fan of the 3 of them and they do not have any pets. Sigh.. Not sure if in the end I will buy just for the sake of completion. Volume 5 is a definite buy for me! It is rare to have the less popular characters such as Warrior of Light and Zidane. Volume 5 also has Ace from Final Fantasy Type-0 which is not even released in English. Bleah..

Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Volume 5

It seems that the interest in these items is sort of going down after the first volume. Otherwise, why isn't there any big "combined" pictures like the ones available for Squall, Cloud, and Yuna??? Grr.. One bad news about these toys: the price is getting more and more expensive. Jeez bloody Square Enix. Volume 1 and 2 figures are about 2000 yen each. Volume 3 and 4 will be 2400 yen each. And volume 5 will be 2800 each!

And finally, the biggest surprise will be: KOTOBUKIYA IS RELEASING A NEW PRINCE OF TENNIS FIGURE!! Kyaaa~~~ It's Ryoma in his Japan jersey. I did not want to get it initially because I already have 2 Ryoma figurines in his Japan jersey just that I have not shown them off here yet. Haha.. But the moment I saw Kotobukiya figure will come with Karupin: I WILL BUY! Haha.. The price is quite steep at 6800 yen.

Latest anime books!!

It's been a long while since I wrote about my anime book collections. In fact, when I went home in April, I took pictures of all my anime book collection but I have yet the time to upload and show it off here. Well, today is still not the time. As I was tidying up my treasures, I finally decided to write about the few books which I bought for the past few months. Too lazy to take pictures on my own so the pictures here are taken from a lot of places around the net.

Firstly, Hikaru no Go Illustration Book [Sai]. This is an oversized and gigantic artbook measuring 37cm x 26.5 cm. When it first came out, I was still a poor dumb student who thought $100+ something for an artbook was too much. My threshold during that time was still $50-$60 per book. I even bought the bootleg version (shame on me!) as a compensation. The bootleg is in Indonesia so I am unable to compare how it fares against the original. I finally got this book from Yahoo! Japan for $60.66 including shipping and middleman service. Good price so I have no right to complain about the dust jacket which is not up to my "good" standard. But still, what's the meaning of few dollars? If I bought the book first-hand initially, I am sure I will still own a book which is still in top condition. Anyway, this book is quite interesting: the pages run from 0 from both front and back covers! They meet at the center at about page 90. The art and drawing inside are gorgeous. My only complain is that the actual hard cover is just plain white! Meh..

Next book will be xxxHolic Kocho no Yume artbook. I almost missed this but I can proudly say that I bought the last available copy in Singapore's Kinokuniya!! Haha.. The book is simply: orgasmic! On the surface, it looks disappointing with an external cardboard box with a large picture of Yuko and a large picture of Watanuki at the other side. Yes, cardboard material does not justify the high price tag of 6900 yen. But hey, don't judge a book based on it's external box. Inside the box, there is a three-way hardcover material with Yuko (the picture below). Upon opening, beneath it is Watanuki. And wait.. this three-way hardcover material is not even the book cover!! It forms sort of a cage and the actual book is still inside.

The actual book cover is sort of a disappointment after the gorgeous Yuko and Watanuki book cage. However, it fits the traditional Japanese theme. The paper also has this funny Japanese smell which I commonly smell from old books I imported from Japan. Haha.. The first half is full-colour illustration while the second half is black and white illustration. To be honest, words do not do this book justice!! Seeing is believing but I am too lazy to take picture. Haha..

I can't remember how much exactly I paid for this but in total I spent $129.20 for the book and New Prince of Tennis TV Animation Official Visual Book. I am not particularly fond of buying books with digital artwork from anime. But with a lack of Prince of Tennis artbook (as far as I remember, I can only recall Prince of Tennis 30.5) and the fact that Prince of Tennis is one of my favourite anime, it was a no brainer for me to buy. Ah, I did not remove the price tag for this ($37.50). With 20% sale, you can calculate back the price of xxxHolic book. Anyway, as per usual TV animation book, there is nothing much worth mentioning about this.

Next is Fairy Tail Illustrations -Fantasia-. I love Hiro Mashima's artwook in Rave but I find a lot of changes with his style with Fairy Tail. While the drawings inside are fantastic: hand-drawn and fully coloured, my enjoyment is ruined because of 2 factors: the oversexualisation of the female bodies and the exaggeration of male abs. Too many pictures of ladies in "compromising" poses and the lack of clothes make this book more like a "soft-porn" art rather than an anime/manga artbook. A bit sad actually. He is talented (good writing and good drawing) and I suppose he will be as successful without sexualising the ladies. However, in the end I still think that this is a $33.94 well spent. Haha..

Back to another book which I already own the bootleg version: Dear Boys. I was not being stingy when it first came out. I did not buy it because I was still oblivious to the manga back then. Haha.. Yup I bought the bootleg for about $20+ and guess what, I bought the real one for $28.91 inclusive shipping! Ridiculous isn't it? Content-wise, there is actually no issue having the bootleg. Haha.. However, the original trumps the bootleg with the cover. You see the picture of the cover below? The actual book cover is actually full grey in colour. The picture of Aikawa is actually on the transparent plastic dust jacket! Heh! Cool.. This was released during the first Dear Boys series. With the manga reaching Act III now, I think it is just time for Hiroki Yagami to release another artbook. If he does, this time I will definitely buy the original right from the start!!

Moving on to my favourite series now: Gundam Wing. With Endless Waltz ended more than a decade ago, I totally never expect there will ever be any Gundam Wing artbook. I was jumping with joy when I saw Gundam Wing Sunrise Art Works TV Series. But I was too late.. only 3 months late and the book was already sold out in many places. Surprisingly, I never even saw it in Kinokuniya! Bah.. I was on the brink of giving up when I saw eBay sellers were selling at USD80-100+ when the original retail price was only 3800 yen. I was very lucky that I could manage to snag one from Hobby Link Japan with original retail price! Yay.. $62.34 gone in total. The book is purely in black and white and the content is all sketches. I am being biased here but no complaint about that as I bought it simply because it is Gundam Wing! Haha.. But to be more objective, it did not reach the "orgasmic" level like xxxHolic artbook did! Lol..

I imported Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Character Guide I and II from Amazon.com. I am not a big fan of Tsubasa but I am totally confused about the story so I suppose these books will be able to help me understand the manga better. The 2nd book was on Bargain Price from Amazon so it was dirt cheap. Amazon claimed that Bargain Price books are over-stock from supplier and not second-hand items from customer. It was rubbish! When it arrived, the condition was atrocious. Bleah.. No issue with the volume I. Luckily, Amazon refunded me the price of the first book (the non-bargain price one) and the shipping so my faith in Amazon was restored! Haha.. The books itself are so-so. And I don't know why the size of the first book is about A5 while the second one is more of a B5. Simply weird.. And nope, the book did not help me to understand the story better. I need to re-read from the first book when all volumes had been released in Indonesia. Anyway, $15.61 for both books, I should just suck it up.

I reach the final one which just arrived today: Valkyrie Profile Material Collection. I did not buy when it was first released for the same reason as why I did not buy Hikaru no Go. Lol. Shame on me! It set me back about $70 I think. But lucky me, the condition is near mint, unlike the Hikaru no Go. The item consists of 2 books housed in a slip case: the first one is illustration book and the second one is more like the game walkthrough. Similar to xxxHolic, I thought this book was "orgasmic" too! Haha.. The art is damn good (for sure!) but its bonus point is: reminiscence of my teenage years. Oh yeah!! Why didn't I buy this earlier? Haha..

These are all my latest loot. Hmm.. come to think of this, I am quite shocked: I bought all of these within April-May only!! ZOMG.. No wonder how I run out of money so quickly.. Haiz..