"I walk towards the magical season and realise just how happy I can be."
Fans of comic books and American science fiction television and movies must make that pilgrimage to Comic-Con at least once in their lifetime. Okay, granted it should be just about comics as gleaned from the convention’s name but one just cannot deny the major screenings and previews there! I was there in San Diego this year.
This photo says it all!
"Perhaps I too have been cooped up for too long. Perhaps something just came over me today."
I put it across to you I am random. Yet I also point out the following to you:
Yes, there are more but if you’ve been keen-eyed, you would have already noticed them. So perhaps I may not be so random after all. A creature of habit, prone to cycles and repetitions.
I say the downfall of criminals committing serial crimes is the cause of their crime, the pattern of their motives. Is this the crime-fiction-loving aspect of me speaking?
* The title is a reference to Same Character Theme from the game Guilty Gear XX #Reload.
It’s confession time! I have never read a single chapter from the classic manga, DRAGON BALL. Neither have I followed the Mandarin-dubbed anime when it was showing on local screens during the nineties. That didn’t stop me from catching Dragonball Evolution =)
February gone, March arrives. The things we do today become memories of yesterday.
Is it okay to be by myself?
A mere faceless entity in a crowd?
What of those who validate my existence?
Am I but a fleeting thought?
One of the most powerful lines I recall from a Season Three episode of Grey’s Anatomy was by Alex to Addison: "I would notice. If you went missing, I would notice."
Yet…
I cannot deny that it is inevitable we are but fleeting thoughts.
* The title is a reference to the song by Liberty X.
28th November. A distant memory is jogged. Seven years ago on this date, the final hurdle of my pre-tertiary education was completed.
I am not that kind of guy — the friend who takes the initiative to ask another person along for company on activities. Well, not for most of the time anyway. It’s true and it’s a sweeping generalisation across all friends. Here’s an example: I’m perfectly fine with going to the movies alone.
I don’t recall if I was always like this. Some memories have no worth in their recollection.
I wonder under what circumstances do people change or if it is just a natural evolution of life. Are we shaped wholly by life experiences or can there possibly exists greater powers that affect us? The hurtful, enriching, inane and the affecting all rolled up with many other facets of life into a package and constantly being digested by the denizens of everyday life.
I think I really am different from that self of mine years before. But the question begs whether I am thinking so because I want to or perhaps in reality I have not evolved radically at all.
I position the question to you as such that if it is a lie that sometimes I have no idea the things I do, then what might the truth statement be? I am a fan of details, of stuff that no one will notice, of subtleties that lay deep and dormant. I am also a fan of human interpretation, of how one’s mind works whether against or for oneself. If you were to perceive an insulting or complimentary innuendo, then it’s your perception. Don’t blame or look up to the storyteller. But the mind does work to find associations, even if blinded and looking for them in the strangest of places. That much I am sure.
I live and exist. Medically, I am alive.
I have always wondered about the different lives of an individual be it dual, triple or even multiple identities. "Two-face" doesn’t quite cut the defintion here since that will imply to a certain extent some negative connotation to it. Why and what do we reserve that one particular group of friends may know of but not another? But of course there are things I am not told of. While I appreciate not knowing the lifespan of the third cat my neighbour had from her days in university, if she had a cat at all, I sometimes do wonder if there are proper guidelines one draws to define his or her own privacy or is everything just a fuzzy hazy mess that winds and turns at one’s whims.
I come to terms. But despite all this, I know come next year I will unravel again and that I do not wish to know why I am really unravelling.
28th November. A fresh memory is coalescing. I will be attending my company’s Dinner and Dance event later in the evening.
* The title is a reference to the song by Jack Johnson.
Ah… The persistent question-child returns with another topic. What’s the difference between blogging and writing an article? Is one a subset of the other? Would you consider writing an article a formal and constrained way of blogging?
Branching down another line of thought: television shows. Season 2 of The Noose recently concluded its run. I am going to miss all of Michelle Chong’s crazy antics this season: portraying Barbarella whatever-her-last-name-be, reporter Goodwood, maid Laticia amongst her many starring credits! And if you, like me, can’t get enough of this spoof-show, check out their official webpage for more goodies and feature videos!
Worklife in my current office environment dictates a formal attire consisting of pants and long-sleeve shirts. These twenty-four odd years of my life, long-sleeves have never been a staple. So life takes a turn here. My point here being I got this new shirt recently which looked slightly beige-ish orange under the light and also mostly pink at other times which has gotten me rather confused as to its actual colour! A colleague pointed out, correctly I believe, the colour is peach. Whatever the case, the colour is rather pleasing to the eye and oh, that I bought new shirts =)
20th Century Boys is an odd show, not bad, but odd. It’s like you enter the theatre knowingly watching the first part of a trilogy, and then actually watch the show, only to leave the theatre somewhat dissatisfied with some of the unanswered questions. That didn’t happen when I caught ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序, or better known as Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, earlier this year. Maybe it was because I knew the rough plot beforehand. Nevertheless, 20th Century Boys had its comic moments that made me chuckle at times. By the way, the official English title of the second film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series has been announced as Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance =)
* The title is a reference to the song by 欧得洋.
Yet another quick question. Suppose you lack a time-keeping device but you wish to estimate the time it takes to walk from the bus stop you alight, to your work building, what would be a possible way one can go about solving this problem?
Electronic Road Pricing gantries! Start from one and end at another assuming the gantries remain active for the duration of the walk. And of course assuming there are gantries there in the first place.
Survivor: Gabon Episode 4 — Curveball episode. Well, it’s no surprise someone always ends up on the losing side given a tribe switch of odd-numbered members. The contestants took a risk and it remains to be seen how that will pan out as we head further into the game.
* The title is a reference to the song by 松澤 由美.
Quick question. What is the one factor that you look for in work?
Is it the benefits? Is it the money? Is it about the development? Is it the work environment? Someone else was hoping for a "work-life balance" option. Another commented the factors are not mutually exclusive. I chose development and don’t you look at me funnily in a friendly manner because I got my fair share last week, haha. It’s only my opinion =)
Episode 3 of Survivor: Gabon certainly provided its fair share of surprises. Fang broke its losing streak and sent Kota tumbling behind. Things are certainly picking up, at least for the time being. I have yet to find a favourite tribe or contestant to support though.
* The title is a reference to the song by Take That.
Magic: The Gathering Prerelease weekend and lucky me got to play in the first flight of the tournament at a card shop near my place. The great thing about de-centralising the tournament is that I can to walk to the venue instead of having to take bus to the Business District. If you haven’t guessed it by now, the flipside is that due the limitations of the size of the venue, some latecomers are bound to get turned away =( Oh and I think the event registered a hundred percent male audience. Where have the female gamers gone?
All in all, of the four rounds played, I won two and lost two of them where most, if not all, of the rounds ended in a score of 2-0 in the winner’s favour. Necrogenesis and Bone Splinters were superb savers, allowing me to generate free Saproling tokens as blockers and then sacrificing the tokens to Bone Splinters to destroy the opponent’s fatty creature. Flameblast Dragon was definitely a blast, turning the tide for me in a game where I was down to 4 life points and the opponent had a hefty 37 due to Rhox War Monk! Puppet Conjurer’s homunculus-producing engine didn’t really see much play since the colours of my deck was Jund-centred (Black-Red-Green) and I only splashed minimal Islands for it. I was hoping for some Esper-play but the distribution of cards proved otherwise during deck construction.
The multicolour nature of Shards of Alara is not without its drawbacks. I have witnessed a match where one player threw in the towel because he had every other type of land in play but the one he wanted because all the cards in his hand needed that specific type of mana! Land and artifact destruction proved useful in instances where the opponent destroys your only much-required Island (I still lost though land-destruction wasn’t the direct cause).
Of all the cards in my possession by the end of the tournament, I had no Mythic Rare card (Some other player actually managed to open two!) but overall, I would say the experience was a good one still, given the last I played at a Prerelease was four years ago! This time, I eagerly await the Prerelease of Conflux, come end-January 2009 =)
Just something aside, watching the debut episode of Survivor: Gabon – Earth’s Last Eden made me cringe, a lot. Oh, the players this time round… What can I say? Could Fang be the new Ulong? Only time will tell…
* The title is a reference to the song by Liberty X.
The title is a reference to the opening theme of the American reality television series, The Biggest Loser.
Season finale of Season 2 of Dirt. 2 deaths and the return of Leo Spiller. Why does seem as though no one cares who really killed Julia Mallory?
Lucy Spiller: Death. I get it. It’s guaranteed. I understand that. But why does it seem that everybody is so oblivious to the fact that they are swimming in deep water until they drown?
Don Konkey: ‘Cos we’re stupid. We all do stupid things, Lucy. I have, you have. We just don’t think they are gonna kill us.
Don: See. See I like it when you smile. Makes me believe that everything’s gonna be alright.
Lucy: Well I also smile when I wanna rip somebody’s head off.
Don: Yeah, but I believe everything’s good when you do that too.
Reality TV unveils yet, another pop group… This time, it’s Girlicious, spawned from the second season of Pussycat Dolls Present:. 1 video each floating around on the Internet for the songs, Like Me and Stupid S***. The songs are okay. And no, do not ask me to comment on the videos. I wouldn’t even know where to start…
Since Ozzy’s boot on Survivor: Micronesia, the show has definitely taken an interesting turn. I still think it’s a bit too early to tell if a Fan or a Favourite will win.
Cycle 10 of America’s Next Top Model has also been throwing a few curveballs of its own, but not to the extent of it getting more interesting. A group of girls living with and having to compete with each other. There’s bound to be drama. I’ll just keep watching since I am a TV addict anyway.
Channel 5 is showing the sixth season of The Apprentice on Sundays and will be premiering the latest season of Lost and Prison Break come May. Meanwhile, I patiently await my dose of Grey’s Anatomy…
