Saturday, March 18, 2006


Knowing what the dogs are up to today, Kaiser gets his own photo shoot at home. Posted by Picasa

Friday, March 17, 2006


Got the dogs professionally shot at Pets Cover Looks as we got a coupon for a free photo shoot at their studio. The shoot was indeed free, but we paid $388 for the photos on a CD. Made a nice pressie for June! Posted by Picasa

A few more of their better shots, click here.

Kaiser checks out this ku niang Japanese limited edition "cherry blossom" flavoured Kit Kat which I picked up to sample. It really is very sweet. Posted by Picasa

Met up with Adrian at Northpoint. While waiting for him to arrive, I bought "The Constant Gardener" and Gaiman's "Mirrormask" on DVD.

Then we went for dinner at Bottle Tree Village (pix above). Very ulu, very dark and narrow road to drive down to get there, but the view across the Straits of Johore is quite something to behold. Food's quite good -- Chinese restaurant zi cha stuff. We had their homemade tofu; fresh, crispy French beans; beef with spring onions; and half a huge fish head cooked with bitter gourd which we couldn't finish. Quite reasonably priced too: $61 for the 3 of us, considering the location. Posted by Picasa

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Unpleasant news in the ST Obituaries today. This kid who occasionally came over to my place to play with my sister has passed on. The two were best friends since kindergarten (SVDP), in primary school (CLGC), secondary school (SJC), then college (CJ). Then finally their education and career paths took them in separate directions, though they still kept in touch quite frequently.

In Beijing, she caught the flu but thought nothing of it at the time. Before long, it developed into pneumonia. Further complications brought her immediately into ICU and that was it.

No, I didn't know Erica well. To me, she was just my kid sister's playmate. And I didn't recognize the photo in the papers either. I knew her as a child, but never as a career woman nor as a mother. And I didn't expect the child to go so soon...

Someone I knew; someone I might have got to know better, but didn't.
I think I'm losing the patience required to be a real PC game player. Either that or I'm a total loser for getting my butt handed to me on a plate so often, and hence resorting to cheating with GOD mode just to finish Q4.

I no longer have the dedication to try and try again, slowly figuring out the right combination of tactical maneuvers to help me survive the next onslaught of beasties. This is especially taxing in the later levels when bigger, tougher, heavier armed enemy critters continue to respawn without end. As soon as you down one, another pops up and goes immediately for your jugular.

Forget it. Just invoke "invulnerability" mode and finish the game. Done. Now I can go back to normal life again.

Normal life, for example, means meeting up with real people like Amy for lunch, then having Vince join us for another quick bowling session at the CSC.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

NY conneXions only has 1 article this week 'cos it's the March hols, but yesterday's futsal event was too big a deal to leave unreported. Read the story here.


Spent the afternoon cycling Ubin with Vince, NBS, Lucy and Mr B. Posted by Picasa

Here's our reward -- the reason for delaying our expedition till the late afternoon. Posted by Picasa

More pix here.
Whoa! Spending too much time on Stoggos, not enough time on Bloggos.

Anyway, the college hosted a joga 3 futsal event for the students yesterday. It was quite exciting to watch the organizers set up 4 futsal courts in the parade square and from there build up a carnival atmosphere with lots of happy, pumped-up kids running around and actually having fun.

I would have liked to participate, but people worry for me and my doctor's orders, even if I don't worry so much for myself. So I contented myself with my digi-cam snapping shots for NY conneX instead.

The highlight of the event was a special guest visit from the Brazilian futsal squad. They showed off their ball skills in a number of exhibition matches against our student teams. The Brazilians were clearly there to give us a feet-on demonstration of "joga bonito," or "play beautiful," and not to massacre their challengers like they might have.

Missed the close of the event 'cos of other work commitments, so I don't know which student team won the tournament eventually. Bah. Information incomplete.

Finally got some company for bowling in the evening. Vince and me, and we both seem quite out of practice, ending a 6-game session with decidedly average averages. We've received our invitation to sign up for the Ministry league again, but we really have to consider whether such a commitment is feasible this year.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

It's been a long 2 days wandering around the planet Stroggos fraggin' Stroggs. What? They'd do the same to me too, if they saw me. Actually, they have been rather kicking my butt in turn, and making me quite annoyed. Loaded up Quake 4 on Friday night and I'm still working my way through the levels.

Dunno why, but I'm enjoying this game more than Doom 3. Many scenes are as gory and disturbing -- the waste processing plant was particularly horrid -- but maybe it's because there are more NPCs to interact with and who are actually helpful that makes the difference. Characters you come across either restore your health or armour, upgrade your weapons or offer new ones, and join you in firefights, so you don't often feel completely alone. Also, it doesn't give me motion sickness when I play, so I can enjoy the game for longer stretches than the previous one.

This year so far has been great for my wallet. I don't get so many opportunities to go out at night now, seeing how busy everyone is. Even June's new job makes her keep much longer hours than she likes. And with my own schedule, it's really hard to find common leisure slots in which I can have a proper go-wild-and-crazy time with the Boyz. The upside, of course, is that I get to save on expenses. This month I was surprised that payday seemed to have come earlier than usual. Maybe it's a good opportunity to build up my travel fund again...

Meantime, there's always Watson for company. 'scuse me, there's an ex-commanding officer of mine who's been captured and transformed into an unstoppable killing machine by the Makron. They're all after my blood now so I'm gonna have'ta smack'em all upside the head with my BFG an' show'em who's boss. Back to the trenches...