Who are you?

Caught X-Men3 on Friday and i must say, this could be the worst film in the trilogy. It seems the director is desperately trying to achieve some closure in the franchise. As if it was not enough killing off Charles Xavier, the director decided to bump off Cyclops and Jean Grey as well. Damn, Marvel Girl died, just like that. There are some many deficiencies in the whole show that i can't even begin to list them all; stuff such as Juggernaut wasn't even a mutant to begin with, Rogue never did lost her powers,etc. and you know whats the worst part?

Magneto turning into some crusty old man.

IMHO, the only redeeming grace of the movie was the Danger Room scene, where there is at least some semblence to the Genosha arc, good combat scenes and a nice looking set. i think the producers did quite a credible job depicting the Sentinels, although you only see one Sentinel(and its head) for a few seconds. i guess the primary aim of me watching the show was to see how well the director can make the transition from print to screen, since i don't really think they can come up with a better storyline than Stan Lee.

And after watching the show, i think i'm right.

Anyway, went to my friend, Ah Foon's place for housewarming today. Nice house, big neighbourhood, although it was a little bit deserted. We even losted our way although we had somewhat clear instructions. And since his place is in JB, we had to clear customs. One strange thing that happened was, at BOTH the Singapore and the Johor checkpoints, both the immigration officers do not believe the picture in my passport is me. what was hilarious was both had the same suspicous look on their faces and had the same actions when they came to my passport. Both times i had to clarify that i am, in fact, really the guy in the picture.

Apparently, this tickled my mates pink. And needless to say, it was quite a topic once we arrived. By the way, my picture was taken just about around the time i finished NS, maybe about 2001 or so. My hair was shorter, i had different specs, but that was about it. OK, maybe my face is a bit fatter now but i think i still look at least 90% similar to my pic. What was more amazing was in the same car was a Malaysian friend who used a passport photo taken back when he was TWELVE. and immigration had doubts about whether my picture was me??

Singapore Idle

Went for a class outing on Friday. this time, the turnout was somewhat more respectable. there were close to 10 of us compared to about 7(i think) the last time. i met Lizhen, who i think if memory serves, I have not met since college graduation. anyway, this was sort of a sending off meetup for Sock cos for some of us(me), it might be a long time before we're gonna see her again since she's gonna be posted to HongKong for 2 years and she's flying next week. well, i hope she has fun there. and find a boyfriend while she's at it.

why do i say that? cos everytime she sees me, she starts to grill me on why i do not have a girlfriend>_<

anyway, just watched the inaugural epsiode of this season's Singapore Idol and man, some people are so lame. I'm aware that those delusional people i see are but only a small fraction of what the idol judges had to endure, and its so sad, really. I mean, do people who can't sing really need people to tell them they can't make it? its fine if they have some semblence of talent but some people have nothing at all! No voice, no looks, no style, nada, nothing. And you're telling me they don't know it?not even one lil bit? I applaud their courage but really, it seems thats all they have, the courage to showcase themselves, the courage to flaunt what they don't have.

i guess i'm being overly critical, since they have the guts to do it and i most certainly do not. but somehow i guess i just need to get it off my chest, or its gonna be stuck there like a fishbone for a nong nong time.heh.
i'll like to add a disclaimer that i don't think all who were featured sucked, some were actually fairly good, just not star-material.though they'll definitely kick my ass anytime we go k-box.

Anyway, i'm getting really pissed with the knocking sound coming from the suspension. I had the impression that the stock suspension was built to last. its quite obvious something's wrong, since i can only hear said sounds when i do hard turns or the road's really bumpy. and its only coming from the rear left. i've been having this problem for a while now and what's holding me back is I don't really have much faith in Mazda Singapore's service. i'm gonna be real pissed if they're gonna take one whole day and can't find out whats the problem(which just might be the case).

sigh. i guess i'll just have to take my chances.=(

Run Forrest, Run!

i finally decided to drag my ass off the floor and went for a jog today for the first time since dunno when and i'm glad i did. i seemed to have forgotten the joy of running and the familiar feeling of the lactic acid working. however, on the flip side, it was simply pure agony. It's really painfully obvious(pun intended) that i haven't gotten any(much) exercise in a long while. i was wheezing and puffing, and my head was starting to spin after only about 3km or so. so that's about how far i went.=(

i remember the times before i entered U and during the third year when i moved out of the halls and back home; i was running 5km consistently almost every day. back then i even kept a log of my timings. in the beginning i took about 30mins to complete 5km(yeah i know i slow).took me a while before i improved to about 24mins plus(5mins off!). Nothing much to shout about but it felt good to know that i'm at least making progress in something.

anyway, i think i took about 20mins or so to run about 3km today. wow.
i guess its a good thing i forgot to time myself today. it looks like i'm gonna need a lot of work in order to get back in shape. hopefully, it will be in time before the next IPPT rears its ugly head.

Road Trip!

well, me and my family decided to drive up to Malacca over the weekend. booked a hotel and off we went the next day. kind of a rush-rush thing. we just got into the mood and decided that a road trip would be fun. maybe thats why we dint really know what to do and where to go in Malacca besides the usual places;big red church(loads of churches there),trishaw rides,etc. i reckon we oughta do some more groundwork before we drive up north the next time.

this was totally different from the last road trip i had with my brother, i think that was a few years ago, when we drove up to KL for some driving thingy. almost hit 200km/h on the then subaru TS. kinda fun. did some shopping too and that was good. only thing that wasnt good was the fact that i cracked my front lip(the car's, not my face) at Sepang. no biggie, but that sure sucked. spoilt my day. i can still remember that.

anyway, remember that jap movie i was waxing lyrical about a month or so back? found a clip of the last few minutes of the film at youtube.com, and here it is, do enjoy.

Swing Girls Finale

still really cool to look at even though i have seen it before. if after seeing the clip, you're wondering why the alto sax and the trombone are looking so beat-up and why there's a stuffed mouse attached on the trumpet, i guess you'll have to see the movie. ;)

anyway, been busy and free the last few days, malacca trip non-withstanding. i've been thinking, this is probably a good time to train for my IPPT, with the lull and everything. i've got loads of time, what better way to make use of it then to keep myself fit? i can FEEL myself getting soft and feeble already. though its always a problem of the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. i just need to find the willpower to put my lazy ass in motion, and right now, that is one scarce commodity i am in dire need of.

Nothing to do

Was at Mak's(Otar!) wedding the day at the Conrad Centennial the day after my last paper. i was sorta in a hurry so i went in a shirt with JEANS. well, turns out this will be the first and last wedding i'm invited to that jeans will ever form part of my dress code. there was even one old guy who was giving me the eye. looked at my jeans, then gave me the "big eye, little eye" look. what the hell. i got despised over denim.

just so you know, that happens to be a nice pair of levis.

this also happens to be the first wedding i've ever been to that has the groom making the longest ever thank-you speech with the least words. Mak was acting like he wasn't sure he was being interrogated by the Gestapo or being interviewed by a bunch of clowns. Nerve-wrecked would be an understatement. he was speaking at the astonishing rate of about maybe 3 words per minute? took a while for him to finish but we could all feel that every word was heartfelt.

well, i would be too if i had to walk down the aisle crossing 5 pairs of swords looking like they're about to poke my ass anytime.

anyway, I think i'm having too much free time nowadays. but the thing is, i just don't feel like doing anything with it. i guess its only a matter of time before i get tired of being a bummer. i hope it happens sooner cos now i simply can't be bothered to do anything constructive and i guess that can't be good.

終戦。

Well. my exams are over. As a friend of mine remarked as we were finishing lunch, we are now officially part of the unemployed. Well, not strictly. we're all still students as long as the results aren't out and the convocation ain't over and you don't see those tassels doing somersaults in the air.

Anyway, i can see and feel the emancipation on everyone's faces as they stream out of the exam hall. Everyone's really relieved that its all finally over. in a way, i feel it too. it has been a very big weight off my shoulders and it has been a tremendously long and ardous journey for me. but i do not feel the sense of euphoria that i thought i would. It was really something to look forward to but now that the end has come and gone, it seems that it wasn't that big a deal after all. at least, thats the case for me.

anyhow, i din't think i did too well for my second paper, although it was an openbook examination. A really apt description for my situation then would be an old Duran Duran song called "Too Much Information". i had so much reference materials that i find myself checking my answers almost all the time, from different sources. I think i spent more time doing that than the actual paper itself. Not knowing how to do about 25 marks worth didn't really helped me there either.
As for today's paper, it wasn't that bad, but wasn't as good as i would have wanted it to be. What set this one apart from the first two was that there were loads of time. i finished the paper with about an hour left on the clock. the thing is, there were tons of theory questions and i think i scored with at most half of them; it was basically smoke bombs all the way. i hope the examiner takes it easy on me once the smoke clears.

it seems the next logical question people ask me will be what are my plans now that this phase is over. well, to say the least, i hope to find a job. Though i think i will probably take about a week or so to relax and soak in my new found "freedom" for a bit; indulge for a while, read a book, get some much-needed exercise, finish up the audio project,etc. Hmm...looks like i've got quite a list there. Maybe a week isnt enough.^_^