Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Bubble Tea?

Ah~ nothing beats having a nice cold cup of bubble tea in the hot afternoon.
Was at East Point this afternoon for grocery shopping with mum when I decided hop over to the Bubble Tea kiosk outside and buy a cup.

We all know there are many combinations… you mix and match.

Base:
Red Tea, Jasmine Tea, Ice Blended, Yogurt.

Flavors:
Apple, Banana, Coral, Kiwi, Lychee, Mango, Orange, Oreo, Peach, Peanut, Peppermint, Pineapple, Raspberry, Strawberry, Sesame, Yam, etc, etc….

Well, I have an inclination towards Yogurt based drinks, and I have tried most of the flavors with Yogurt already…

So when I approach the counter, I ordered “Peppermint Yogurt”.

The girl at the counter gave me a blank look…then look at her partner beside her…

“Peppermint Yogurt?” I said a little audible, look at her and nodded my head.

The next girl at the counter asked me in amusement, “好喝 Meh?!!” while her partner proceed with preparing my drink

“Yea, why not? Try every flavor mah~”. I must have ordered something they never prepared before, or never thought anyone would order.

Okay, my review of the drink…. Hmmm, the peppermint is refreshing, and the Yogurt gave off its sourly taste… thinking back, its kinda weird a combination. But I finished it anyways.

Never try before right?! Go try lah~ (~.^)

Everyone's Combo

I have always wanted to share this with everyone else. Skate slalom, it can be fun! This is "Everyone's Combo", easy to learn once you have the right pair of skates.
Oh, and I love the song too!

Jolly Roger?



We are all familiar with this Skull and Bone ...
(wait, when you see this, do you think "Pirates"? or "Poison"? Interesting point to ponder huh?)

Now, I was walking home one night and I happned to pass-by one of the apartment blocks near my place. The rain-shelter was finally completed and opened to public use. Close-friends of mine will know where this block is, and where I took this photo).

Something interesting caught my eyes... look at the shadow casted on the building...
Bad sign eh?


Its kinda interesting capturing what you see everyday. Thats why I have my camera with me most of the time.

MisterMint Vs Shukey

We all know Mistermint and Shukey, where you deposit your shoes or keys for repair / duplication, while you shop for a while, then collect back on your way to the car.

Heres a real-life account from me.

Went to Mistermint to duplicate a key. An important one that opens to a drawer where I keep all my goldbars..., my pistol, some pornographic Dvds, my CIA agent identification card, and my Swiss bank account Id and password. xD

It was a Friday, and I was at Simei Eastpoint having lunch with my colleagues. So I hopped by the MISTERMINT counter and have this key duplicated. $4.00

Went home and tried... can go in, but cannot turn. Basket. I wun go back to Eastpoint intentionally just to settle a $4.00 case.

Next Friday, was at East point for lunch again, head to the counter and ask the uncle to re-grind the key for me again. Went home and tried. Again, cannot.

NExt Friday, was at East Point for lunch again, headed to the counter and demanded a refund. Uncle says whether I kept the reciept. (=_=) I asked him back, "Will you keep the reciept for a $4.00 key and EXPECT it to NOT work!?" So uncles digs from his rubbish bin for a similar receipt for me. Then search around for the refund-form. Cannot find. He says he ran out of the form and passed me a dirty piece of card for me to write down my particulars. Says will help me fill up the form and submit to his company once the forms gets replenished again.

He still dare to ask me that the refund will be in "cheque", ask me whether can anot? Need 2 weeks to process.

($4.00 Cheque? $4.00 only and you want your company to go by cheque and all the administrative stuff? Fine~)
Okay, cheque is okay with me. 2 weeks I can wait (its $4.00 anyways).

And so, after I went to HK and back, and after another week, it was FRIDAY again and I was at Simei Eastpoint for lunch~ headed to the counter again. Uncles sheepishly says he just submitted the form "last" week, so I have to wait for another week. Fine~

NEXT Friday, I was at Simei Eastpoint again, I walked up to the counter and sternly look at him, without a word. He immediately dig into his pocket and handed me my $4.00 in cash, then ask me to remember to return him the key. I took the notes, smiled, and leave. My colleagues, who were waiting at a distance, thought I was collecting protection fees. Haa~~

Return the key? Hmm, you think I care?! Such a simple stuff and it took me over a month to chase down, when he only need to just pass me back the $4.00. Wah Kaoz!

I finally went to Shukey at Tampines Mall (not an intentional trip) and got this key duplicated at just $1.80. YES, $1.80!!! instead of the bloody $4.00!!!

And you know what? Mistermint used their own in-house brand (that could explain why the key didn't work), while Shukey used the exact key-brand.

Anyways, I was at Eastpoint again today. Took mum grocery shopping. Okay, since the Mistermint key is still with me, I returned it and closed the case.

No more Mistermint for me. Banned.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Mina Majikina <真鏡名ミナ>

Finally got my first figurine!
1/5 scale of MINA MAJIKINA, from Samurai Spirits, manufactured by GoodSmile Company.

Took me half an hour pondering over it before I made this decision to bring her home.
I made a decision on Kureha and Mina, since they are both Archers, but I wasn't really in the mood to be buying anything that day... somehow Kokuhen-san spotted this babe and passed it into my hands. My hands shiver a bit as I took it into my hands.... OMG...



Last one left. Forget about pre-ordering, once the deadline is up (which it is up), no more orders means no more order.

Thinking through, even 1/8 scales figurines can fetch as high as SGD 99.00, so this 1/5 scale MINA isn't that expensive afterall - 7,400.00 Yen... plus the shipping and the profit margin of the retail shop... minus Kokuhen's member discount... the SGD price is "Okay lah~~~"

Besides, I live by one (of my many) principle - Live my life without regrets. I'd rather have this baby in my room, then NOT have this baby in my room. I would rather buy it then regret, then regret NOT buying it. I hate the scenario where I finally decide to buy it, then head down to the shop only to realise someone else has bought that last piece.

Gently took her out of the box...
Mount it onto the beautifully designed circular stand...
Place the little monkey (whats its name again?) on her skirt...Mount the Bow and String...
And there we go!

Beautiful isn't she?

Kokuhen-san kept pestering me to open a blog and "digirama" Mina. Well, I guess I will try my hands on some photoshop works. But first, must find a beautiful background befitting of her archer image... I was thinking Cliff edge or some Japanese green bamboo forest environment...

Well, watch this blog for more updates... I am slightly poorer, but I am definitely more happy. Can't wait for Kureha to arrive...

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Heading for China?

Lengkong Tiga Short Cut... Conquering it...

1st Try...


U-turned back and go for 2nd Try... Made it! xD

Friday, October 26, 2007

Q's Mind

Proclaimer: Today is when I just finished an examination paper, so I reach home feeling bloody tired. I dun feel like doing my usual routine of wat-i-usually-do-at-night stuffs, just have this feeling of “finally-got-time-to-sit-down-and-type-crap”.

Recently, I was chatting with my friend over at kopi… somehow, the topic came to discussions like “intellectual-level” and what kind of persons we really are… and how a simple thing like blogs and msn can be used to illustrate the situation. Then again, my thoughts might not really be true… its my own mind anyway, its my blog… Q’s Mind

Just speaking about myself, I told my friends before about how my own blog has “no depth” – the contents are mostly pictorial and whatever I type are kinda bimbo; no-brainer stuffs, tabloids, gossip, copy-n-paste contents. No serious stuff.

And immediately after saying this, I defended myself (from within my Q’s mind) with something similar to what is to follow:

There are 5 categories of people about blogs:
1) Normal bloggers: those who write about anything under the sky they feel like writing about (since it is their own blog) and telling every friends of their blog address. Nothing wrong about them.

2) Double standard bloggers: Those who spend hours after hours doing up BEAUTIFUL posts, then got too lazy after that and stopped posting for god-knows-how-long-more-before-the-next-post.

3) Lazy bloggers: Those who just lamely post pictures with an excuse of “a picture paints a thousand words” kinda stuff. Alternatively, just an occasional short post. Well, I suppose I fall under this category. Got to defend myself a bit; I blog for fun, for leisure, so I do not spend much time on a post. Time is precious, I rather save it for something else then wasting time typing out my life-story again. Kaoz.

4) Exclusive bloggers: Those who blog only for themselves, but shares only with good friends. So it is kinda of limited readership or if you would call “exclusive membership”.

5) Hypocritical bloggers: (Ah~ here is the main highlights.) Those who blog with ulterior motives. They spend time composing long~~~ essays, then perhaps thesaurus here and there (okay I thought this up), and translate the entire essay into something poetic, something high class, something “intellectual”, so they attempt to portray to readers that they are actually of this kinda “intellectual level”. Or perhaps they really ARE that intellectual after all. THEN they hope someone would READ their post.

Then, as I was typing the above 5 categories, it dawned on me that: “hey, aren’t myself composing long long essays? I DO hope some of my EXCLUSIVE readers will READ this post though. And after this post, I think I will be so tired from writing any new post that I should be out of action for a while. Or I will be back to posting lotsa pictures only.

Perhaps we all have traits from all the above 5 categories… just that our inclination differs and fluctuates.

Then I remembered one of my assistant as saying he saw this Japanese film… about how people in the society wear a mask… except for the lead actor… nice film… cannot remember the title… will lend to me once he burnt out. I understood what he meant. We all wear masks. Different type of mask as we face different set of people. I do that too. Humans are all hypocritical mask-wearers. But not that you or I can do anything about it. Life is perhaps about “patronizing others for your own future benefits”.

Coming back to blogs and msn, MORE specifically MSN, and about pretense, I noticed an increasing amount of MSN-users changing their nicks to something / some-matters which they want the WHOLE WORLD to know about, yet remained low profile over the exact same matter. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? I honestly confess that I am guilty in this.

When I first started off with MSN, I actually declared that my nick is ONLY going to remain as “Kenneth” and it WILL NOT change, so friends can recognize me immediately. Just look at my nick now…. “[24631-SIN-10M-OLC]”. Makes no sense right? Yes~ that’s the idea, a certain part of me wants friends to be curious and ask what it means. So I can brag about it. Perhaps it is my way of seeking for attention and concern from my friends. What about you? Aren’t we all a bunch of pathetic no-life Singaporeans? The very fact that YOU are reading off this blog, and that you have seen my MSN nick, would indicate that YOU have nothing to do at home thus reading off my blog, and that YOU have your own MSN account.

I have this friend whom I personally admire. His life is so meaningfully preoccupied with outdoor activities that he does not need to blog, nor read others blog, nor surf or MSN. Not logging onto the Internet for a week will not kill him, unlike us, or perhaps it is just me.

Returning to the topic on “intellectual level” and what kind of person we really are… I can’t really say much about how HIGH a person’s intellectual level is through just their blog’s content. Likewise, neither can anyone of you out there determine how HIGH my intellectual (geez, I kept typing this word wrongly!) level is from just my blog (okay, I dun like negative comments about myself, so you can save your breath).

But for sure, one can determine a person’s CALIBER for intellectual writings from their blog contents, just as what I feel from a particular blog I came upon recently.

In short, these people have shown that they CAN BE intelligent, but they are in fact NOT. (Well, maybe they really are high in IQ.)

In short, I have NOT (purposely) shown that I am intelligent, but I never say I am NOT.

At the end of the day, IQ is not what I am bothered about these days. EQ is more important.

And as to what kind of person I am? I dun know about myself either. I dun like to talk, but I like to think. When I have the time, I may perhaps pen my chain of thoughts, and then you decide for yourself what kinda person I am, and please, tell me.

Next post, I will be writing about “Friends”. How I classify them. My perspective. If I have the time, that is…

My thoughts might not really be true… its my own mind anyway, its my blog… Q’s Mind.


Its 1:54am. damn!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Friday, October 19, 2007

Parking Problems?

TOKYO, Japan – A Nissan Motor Co. staff makes the top part of the Japanese auto maker’s electric vehicle Pivo 2 swivel 180 degrees to get out after parking it into a tiny parking space during a demonstration of the “concept” car in Tokyo. The bell-shaped car can squeeze into tight spots without backing up or tight steering because its wheels turn 90 degrees and the cabin part of the car turns full circle (10/09/07 AP photo).

Sunday, October 14, 2007

La Bi Xiao Xin~!

Way to go boy! You make every men envy!

The Power of Cosmetics

Pretty girl? ah~ the sweet sweet baby face, so adorable, the kinda girl many guys will fall for...
But....

This is her without the make up!
Here's the process... pull back the hair... lay the foundations... do the eyebrows... eyelashes...
Eye-liner... mascara...powder... etc, etc... Do the hair... and...
There you go~!

So... becareful guys... know the girl underneath...
hahaha

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Of Bows and Arrows...

Archers... gotta love'em.

Nope, not Legolas... nor Orlando; Elven Archers are SUPPOSED to be purely an elven-ladies job-class, at least in my opinion. Perhaps too much Warcraft influence.

But on the figurines and toys category, I have been wandering around the market in search of the nicest complete figurine around. Got to be cool, weapon holding, nice costume, not (too) skimpy, and dun protray any sort of suggestive/erotic/ demeaning pose of the character.

Well, until a couple of days back, I finally came to decision... for a start - Archers category. There aren't much on the market to begin with, so it will more or less restrain me from spending too much. Unless we're talking about Katana wielders the likes of the Natsume clan.

Kureha is the number one character that I can say "love at first sight". Its the costume I like.


Mina Majikina is the second Archer character around. The figurine designer did a good job. But I am comtemplating between the fair or tanned version of Mina. Her skin tone is supposely tanned, but I prefer the facial expression of the fair-version one.


Oh, and here's Kokuhen's works I took from his site.
Shimca super-imposed on a real Japan-scene. Its not just a simple shop-job of cut and paste, although the concept is like that.
I have personally seen Kokuhen do a quick-demonstration of his photoshop skills (without his template-pen). I tell you, 5 minutes of him working on the photos, with just his mouse, I need half-an-hour on it. I wonder how much he can do with his template-pen.

And here's a 1/8 Kureha. Collectors' and no longer available on the market.

Sometimes, I wonder why am I glued to these toys...

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Saw Very

Mum came back from Perth with this big box of strawberries!
Then i faintz when she tasked me to put them into the fridge... that is already filled with mooncakes.

Ate 2 boxes straight away~ one with sugar icing and one without! Yummy~

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Mazda Taiki...

Not very realistic for the rear wheels i would say...
Made a mistake on the name... Taiki's under Mazda... Takai's under Honda (o.O)>



I would jsut be contented with a MX-5

Thursday, October 04, 2007

BLEACH

For the Bleach fans:

1) Bleach, the Diamond Dust Rebellion, coming on screen this 22nd December...


2) Bleach Muscials
For once, Rukia is chio here.

Hard Water

Yes, water can be hard….

Tuesday evening, on the 2nd October, I got one favour on hand to complete – deliver my friend’s Quilt / Pillow / Bolster set to her place. And since I was doing so, might as well sent her home at the same time. And since my car still has another 2 seats, I picked up another 2 friends to send home along the way.

So Yi Hong alights, then to Fiona’s place. She stays at street 43 in Tampines, those newer housing board designs where the carpark is like a labyrinth type. Turn and turn and turn and I finally slowed to a stop near the central refuse chute behind her block, that’s where the lifts are, and were everyone stops for alighting passengers. And right at this time, I spotted something dropped down, 2 meters ahead of my car.

“Water-bomb prank” I presumed…

After Fiona alight, I reversed my car back by 2 car length. “Safer spot” I presumed. And true enough, what came down earlier is a bag of water. One big patch of water on the floor.

I waited as Fiona went upstairs to retrieve an empty luggage to return to Siang Yee. As Fiona came down again, I alighted from my car and opened the passenger door behind, took the luggage from Fiona’s hands and placed in nicely into my car. And as I was about to close the door… “WHAM!” and a splash of water blinded me momentarily.

As I regained my sight and composure, I came to realized it was another water bomb, and it hit my car this time round. And what a big dent it did! Shocked, I looked up and saw a guy, all the way at the top most level, pointing towards a direction and shouting: “There! There! Over there!”.

Great! I got eye witness. By this time, a lot of people had gathered over. Its 6:30pm, people are returning home from everywhere, and most are at their kitchen having dinner. The loud bang alerted the attention of the neighbors and many peered out from their windows.

I dialed 999, and was greeted with the “all our operators are busy at the moment, please hold.” (Luckily it was not “… for English, press 1; 讲华语, 请按二…”).

Concerned neighbors came downstairs and checked me out. And they told me it was not the first case already. 2 Fridays back, another car had its windscreen shattered, and the culprit was not caught.

The eye witness upstairs shouted down: “10th floor! 10th floor!”

Fiona went upstairs and helped me checked it out. I stayed with my car and Siang Yee was nice to help me take photographs with her phone.

Fiona came down shortly, and told me they have zoomed in onto a particular unit – #10-360. I was delighted to hear that; that fellow is gonna get it.

After a 30 minutes wait and a second phone-call to 999 to rush them, the efficient police officers finally arrived in a long-time-never-had-a-car-wash Toyota. Alighted and I related my case to one of them, and the other take a couple of photos on my car and the surround areas.

The eye witness came downstairs, with his mum. Thanks to his mum, who dispatched the kid upstairs to keep a watch-out after the first bomb came down. The kid witnessed the culprit in action when the 2nd water bomb was thrown.

Well, the officers recorded our statements individually. It was an irritating wait, they were like writing composition on a paper, like students in an exam. My statement was 1 full page long; the officer squeezed in the last few words to avoid reaching a second page. I glanced over to the other officer – he was already at one-and-a-half page with the eye witness. Geez…

Then we proceeded upstairs. Knocked on the door. My friends and I was asked to wait one side as the officers carried out the questioning. The maid answered the door, then just so coincidentally, the big sister came home, appeared shocked to find police officers at her doorstep.
One big round of questioning ensued, the suspect was a little girl – primary school age, a bit ah-lian ah lian. I overheard their questioning and answers. Friend called… just known him… dunno name… no phone number… called from public phone… dunno which school… switched school… was sleeping… heard loud noise… came out to corridor to check out the noise…

The girl was subsequently invited out to the corridor and stood near the parapet. On the other hand, the other officer has gone to fetch the eye witness to the same spot where he saw the act took place. They reenacted the scene, and the eye witness confirmed the girl was the one he saw earlier.

More talks continued, and we told the police officers that we are going downstairs to wait. I treated both my friends to ice-cream. Good O uncle was ringing his bell again downstairs. $1 each ice cream. I had Yam flavour. It was 8:30pm already.

Finally, the officers are done and came downstairs to meet us. The officer told me the girl denied the act all through. And her big brother wishes to talk to me. The officers then told me that since the girl denies the act, they are no further action both officers can do on the spot.

They advice me that I got 2 options: to settle the case externally with the family on my own, or to file a magistrate complaint to the subordinate court. They provided me with a form and told me that should I pursue the latter course of action, I will have to go down to file the case myself, with a nominal fee of a couple of dollars. The officers then told me that they have passed the case over to the Tampines NPC and the I/O will take over the investigation and call me the next day. The little girl will be required to file a statement at the station the next day. The officers took their leave.

Off I head upstairs to the unit, to look for that big brother. One fat fellow in his twenties. I told him that I have 2 options: to settle the case aside with him, or I will file the case to court. The big brother replied that he will not settle aside with me and would choose to bring his sister to file her statements at the police station tomorrow.

I offered the option again, citing that to avoid all the hassle and time wasting, if he wishes to settle aside with me, and I will let the matter rest. He gave me a stuck-up attitude and say: “I was a police too” and insists on not wanting to settle the case aside with me.

Fine then. “I will see you court then” and I took my leave.

Shiok feeling. Never know I actually had the chance to say this line.

Sent Siang Yee home. I reached home and parked my car. Then shifted my seat back and push back up from the inside: “POP!” it went back up. I happily hopped out to check out the surface. Still a little dent there. In I went again to push up that spot. I knock and knock and knock. Went out to check again. But I can still see faint signs of dents. Heart ache. Grabbed my briefcase and head home.

I missed my dinner appointment and went home to eat instant noodles. No time for food, need to rush my report, which is due the next day. I went to bed early, mentally tired, and disturbed by the damage.

Wednesday, 03 October, today, I was typing my report halfway and I recalled the incident yesterday. That damn officer still hasn’t called me. Fine, I called up the police station and was told that the officer was due on night shift today.

I continued my report.

11: 00pm, I was done with my dinner, after submitting my report by 10pm. I called the station again, and the I/O hasn’t came in yet. Geez… the operator told me they can call me back by 12am and if I am willing to wait. I said fine.

Halfway typing this journal, 11: 45pm, my handphone rang. They called. Was told they have record the little girl’s statements at the station today. The girl said she was asleep at that point in time and the maid was witness to this (yea, of course she will shield the girl lah, I did not have the chance to warn her that if she makes a false statement, she will get into trouble too). The girl said it was a school friend of hers, looked similar to her and also wearing the same school uniform as her, who had shown up at her place looking for her and it was this friend who threw the water bomb (ya right, where did she get so much water and where did she get the plastic bags from?).

And so the police officer told me that they will conduct further checks and try to find out the identity of this “friend” of the little girl. In the meantime, asks me to wait a few more days. Nope, strike when the metal is hot. I will file the case to the subordinate courts by this Saturday.
I will see them in court.