Monday, 29 May 2006

X-Men 3

caught X-Men 3 at The Cathay today...

after watching M:I:3 there, i totally fell in love with the seats... i mean, where else would u find seats tilted at a perfect 45 degrees angle where the head in front of u wun block ur view, a headrest high enough for u to really rest your head on (unlike Lido), and with ample leg space for u not to step on pple's feet while u're getting across to ur designated seat...

shucks... i'm really supposed to be talking abt the movie, not raving abt the wonderful seats...

ok...

so, X-Men 3...

good job on all the special effects and all, but it seriously lacks alot in character development... introducing lots of new characters like Beast and Angel, yet not being able to develop most of them... sure, Halle Berry wants more screen time, but still...

and why is Jean Grey disintergrating everything in her midst? my gosh! she's supposed to be the all powerful Phoenix, not the Disintergrater... and the X-Men with the shortest screen time has to be Cyclops who was the first one to be disintergrated...

den there's my favorite character, Rogue, and they made her such a weakling too... i was still hoping she might join the team when they were at the island, but they made her take The Cure (drug that makes mutants normal again) instead...

no wonder the comic book fans are angry at the movie... overall, like M:I:3, it's a movie for watching the action...

for more story plot, please refer to the original Marvel comic books...

Saturday, 27 May 2006

One Piece #264

Ohtani Ikue is back from maternity leave...

finally! i hear her voice voicing Chopper once again in ep. 264...

Ohtani-san... i missed you...

another rendition of the Usoppu's Soge-king (Sniper king) theme song also include in this episode... this song is so funny... almost as nonsensical as Luffy's baka song in the Skypiea arc...

kekeke...

oh! new opening and ending songs also featured... the opening song is called Brand New World by D-51...
NICE!

Tuesday, 23 May 2006

driving test, among other things...

driving test

more on my God-sent miracle...

friday morning, house phone rang at around 8.30am... Raymond, my driving instructor, couldn't get me on my mobile since i switched it off...

imagine shock and horror when he told me some student of him got a last minute test slot at 10am!!

10AM!!!!

my test was at 11am and i was to have my warm-up lesson (plus circuit practise) at 9.30am!! b'cos of that student of his, that meant, i couldn't go for my circuit practise...

i was in a state of panic... really really panic... especially when my S-curve was the one thing i think abt every time i wake up... and i woke up alot of times the previous night too... >_<.``

he actually wanted to juz meet me before my test, without any practise or wat so ever! like i would ever pass if that happened... my circuit was already compromised, and he still wants to juz meet me before the test??!!!

in the end, he got another instructor, a Mr. Lai, to take me for 1hr, juz driving around the test routes...
well... at least that was better than nothing at all...

and thank God i did haf that 1hr of practise... b'cos the last route that Mr. Lai led me through was the exact route that i took during the test... though i had more marks this time compared to my 2nd attempt, the important thing was that i PASSED!!

i really really PASSED!!!

WOHOO!!!!!

other things...

went for a Dick Lee musical on sunday night with the hong sisters, Man of Letters, staged as the grand finale for NUS' centennial celebrations...

inspired by Professor Arthur Lim's "From a Doctor's Diary", Dick Lee wrote the music and lyrics, while the script was written by Jean Tay... set in the politically unrest Singapore in 1955, the story tells of a geeky medical student who falls in love with his childhood friend once again when they meet during their freshman yr... of cos, in comes his best fren who juz so happens to likes the girl too...

i love the musical... really really love it... Dick Lee is a genius... hands-down... there's no question abt it...

and i have to thank Ike for getting free tickets for us... heehee... Master See was invited to play the violin in the orchestra...

and of course, Lydia for asking me along for it when she was told we could get free tickets...

another of Dick Lee's musical, "Forbidden City", is having its 3rd rerun at the esplanade in Sep... and it seems like Kit Chan will be reprising her role as the young empress dowager...

hmm... i'm thinking of whether i should go for it... since i missed her in Snow.Wolf.Lake...

Saturday, 20 May 2006

3rd attempt

PASSED!!!!

3rd attempt for my driving and i passed!!!!!

WOHOO!!!!!

i'm so so happy...

but seriously... i think it's a God-sent miracle... more abt wat happened in my next entry... needa go sleep now...

it's past 12am and i'm still not asleep yet...
i have work tmr!!!

arghhh........

but... i PASSED!!! i really really PASSED!!!!!!!

^_^.``

Sunday, 14 May 2006

ARIA the NATURAL

i love this series...

sequel to ARIA the ANIMATION, it continues the story of trainee gondolier (a person that operates a gondola), Akari, as she learns her trade, while making friends and encounter moments in the beautiful backdrop of Neo Venezia...

if u like series that leaves u with WAFF (warm and fuzzy feeling), this is definitely one to watch...

episode 3 left me reminiscing about my meteor shower experience when i was in malaysia for church camp many years back... how my friends and i try to find the perfect position in front of the bungalow car porch, lying on mattresses or sofas we lug out, and then looking intently for shooting stars as they whizzed across the sky...

think my highest record was more than 10 or so... and it was nearly 6am when we finally decided to stop...

*grins*

thinking back, it really was a fun night...

as much as i love anime with indepth plot and stuff, sometimes, it's good to watch things that doesn't have to get u to think too much... juz to enjoy the nice scenery, laugh at the funny antics and have fun...

after all, "slice of life" genre-types of animes are supposed to make u feel good...

and leave u with a warm and fuzzy feeling...

^_^.``

Thursday, 11 May 2006

20 Big Lies in the DaVinci Code

something forwarded to me by jessica... even though i did pass down to a few pple, thought it better to paste the link here... so more pple can haf access to it... even those that randomly juz happen to pass by...

article taken from May 2006 issue of the Charisma magazine...
20 Big Lies in the DaVinci Code

for Da Vinci Code fans, better to get your facts straight than to trust the book wholeheartedly...

ps. nope, i haven't read the book myself yet... will do after i eventually watch the movie...

Tuesday, 2 May 2006

taiwan summary

ok, since moo moo/her dog is writing all the details for the trip, i'll juz do a summary... for those that is interested in reading details and see photos of our trip there, go take a look at her blog (link available at the side bottom).

RAIN

if i were given 1 word to describe the whole trip, that would be it...

RAIN!

RAIN!!

RAIN!!!

seriously... the only day it didn't rain, was the day we came back to sg... other days, it was juz raining on and off... it wasn't those heavy downpours, light drizzles that u still have to use an umbrella type...

so u can imagine my whole trip was me, moo moo and our umbrellas... opening and closing, opening and closing, opening and closing... very very irritating...

it's also probably cos of the rain that when we went to the nite markets, there wasn't as much people as expected... the whole atmosphere was already dampened by the rain... the only nite market that still had alot of pple regardless of the rain was shilin nite market... guess it really is the most popular one...

regardless of the rain, we still went out everyday... no use staying in our hotel room since there's nothing much to do except watch TV... should still call it a blessing that at least we weren't hit with typhoon rains cos that will really mean we have to stay in...

taiwanese are really helpful...

throughout our trip there, we keep meeting very nice people... maybe we really haf a tourist look, but whenever we look lost looking at our maps, they'll juz simply approach u and ask if u need directions... this is something that singaporeans will never go... approach someone to help them...

big thank u to the many taiwan folks who haf helped us with directions... thank u all very much...

taiwanese are environmental-friendly...

like japan, taiwan is very pro-active in recycling... everywhere u go, whenever u see a trash bin, there's always 2 types... one recycling bin, and another for normal trash... but not that u would see alot of trash bins too... many times, we haf to hold our trash for quite long before we actually see a bin... and yet, looking around us, we hardly see any rubbish littered on the ground...

going into convienent stores, like watson's or 7-eleven, u actually haf to pay if u want a plastic bag... and for boutique stores, most will prefer to use paper bags instead...

how encouraging is that?!

this is the type of things that singaporeans should be adopting... using less plastic bags and helping to reduce the amount of rubbish we're burying every year by recycling more...

ever since the article on the TODAY newspaper that states how much plastic bags singaporeans are using per week (estimate 100,000/wk), i've been trying my best to use less... now, i'm more determined to do so...

EATING

ok, i dun think i ate alot during the whole trip... taiwan is full of push-cart food... every corner u turn, every nite market u go to, there's food everywhere... but after going so many places, u'll realize that actually all the food they haf are all the same...

and probably cos we were always walking around, we din really have proper meals, except the last nite where we went to Yong Kang Street and had shabu-shabu (japanese steamboat)...

we did try most of the interesting food though... most memorable was the HUGE takoyaki that was the size of 3 normal ones... moo moo will probably haf that photo in her blog...

SHOPPING

spent money on both clothings and manga...

heehee...

when me and moo moo said we were going to lug manga back, we really lugged them back... besides the 5-6 books i helped meow meow buy, i bought like 12 books for myself and of cos, my PoT 30.5 artbook!!

the trip to wufenpu wholesale was more beneficial for me than for moo moo... though i din spent as much as i expected... taiwan fashion now is all lace... lace is everywhere and anywhere... being a person that doesn't like too much lace, that about cut half the amount of clothes i could haf bought... much worse for moo moo i would say, who totally DO NOT (!) do lace...

ONSEN

last but not the least, our onsen (aka hot spring) experience!

went to Xinbeitou instead of Wulai... if it weren't raining, we would haf gone to Wulai so we could walk the conservatory area too... anyway, the hot spring at beitou was quite good also lah... not that i haf anything to compare it to...

u know whenever u see japanese lounging around in the hot springs for long periods in the movies/series/anime/manga... well... in real life, that doesn't happen...

i could only soak in for a maximum of 10min before i had to get out because of breathing difficulties and the fact that it's too hot to stay in any longer... and even den, i had to get out slowly cos i would be feeling giddy...

for those that are hot spring amateurs like me, 15mins is the max u should be staying in... get out after that for a 5min breather before attempting to go in again...

maybe it would haf been better if it was those open-air rooms, or even the public baths... cos there'll be more air circulations and u probably wouldn't have problems with breathing... it gets very stuffy in closed rooms...

-------------------------------------

all in all, it was still a good trip...
except for the rain and the otherwise terrible scooters we always have to dodge everywhere...

mom was asking me yesterday where is my next destination after taiwan...

hmm...

japan is definitely somewhere in the next 2yrs... an AU trip hopefully...

there's also the cruise trip i'm hoping some might be interested...

redang island? need some major suntan-ing...

bali? my weekend biao-mei was hoping for a Hong and Toh sisters trip...

hmm....

but before any of these can be achievable...

let's stock up on my travelling savings first...

=P

浪迹天涯小狗 hacks into RR's blog to bring u..

Taiwan Expedition Day 1
Taiwan Expedition Day 2
Taiwan Expedition Day 3
Taiwan Expedition Day 4
Taiwan Expedition Day 5
Taiwan Expedition Day 6
Taiwan Expedition Day 7
Taiwan Expedition Day 8