To all of you out there.

I want to meet everyone. I want to get together with all my friends.

It's quite unfortunate that many friends have drifted away for various reasons. Perhaps we have been too caught up with our own busy schedules, which I would have to agree is more commonly a simple excuse. Well, maybe some people just have too many friends to meet and too little time to spare. Ahh.

It would be really devastating to have to leave this country for five years without meeting up with older friends. Drifting apart is already quite unfortunate, and being seperated by a few thousand kilometres does not make it any better.

I want to re-live my entire VJC life. To stay back in school and hide away in the Choir Room, chatting, stoning, fooling around. I want to go down to Suntec after school, to Parkway Parade to simply hang out. I want to sing again with everyone I have sung with for two years (or more).

I don't want to grow up. I don't want to watch everyone around me disappear. But fact is I'll be away for four years and it is indubitable that we'll just forget each other.

So everyone who reads this post, please keep yourself free and let's arrange to meet up. One, two, three, everyone, whatever. Movie, shopping, dinner, anything. And anywhere.

Just drop me a mail or leave me a tag. I'll be more than willing to meet up.

Tired.

I'm tired.

I think I should start doing something productive. I should get down to my reading. And my driving.

I am very very tired.

Give me a break.

HTM-****ing-L

I hate HTML.
I gave up afterall.

Why fix it when it ain't broken?

Ahh. Adrian, Adrian.

Keep your hands to yourself alright?

Britain's Got Talent.

Happend to see these before going to sleep. Thought I'd like to share this with everyone. Absolutely splendid.

Watch them. No regrets.




Yes? Still able to speak?

Japan.

Another boring day at work. Spare me the torture.

Went to Raffles Town Club with the family for dinner today. Had dinner at Miyabi (Japanese Restaurant). Not too bad I guess. Service was quite good, and food was not too bad too. A little expensive though.

I miss sashimi. Fresh sashimi. Spare me the Sakura-buffet raw fish. It's hardly even edible.

Anyways, I might be travelling to Hokkaido at the end of the year with the family. Not sure if I'm really keen on going, but from the looks of it, I guess it should be enjoyable. (Hey, who'd complain about a short break from work?) Been to other parts of Japan before, but not Hokkaido. Heard it's quite fun there.

I want to travel. Time's a bloody big constraint. I'll be flying off for my studies right after (or even before) I'm done with my 'obligations' here. Shucks. That also means I won't have much time to play. Hmm. Oh well.

Aussie should be fun. Japan too! =)

Beats being stuck here I guess?

Game Review: Company of Heroes.

I recently "picked up" (Ehem!) a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game, "Company of Heroes" (COH). I guess I have to admit that my (unwilling) involvement in the organisation has actually sparked a greater interest in such games. Of course, my real interest in RTS started with Command and Conquer back in like 1995, and I've been rather 'loyal' to this genre of computer games. Let's not forget all-time favourites like Red Alert, Starcraft, Warcraft, etc.

COH is very much different from games like mentioned above. The campaign mode is set in World War 2, after the battle at Normandy. The game brings you to battles in Normandy, Cherboug and Ohama Beach, just to name a few, and to the eventual defeat of the German forces.

Graphics are definitely fantastic, and the physics in the game's unbelievably realistic. From projectiles zipping through the battlefield to the direction and distance debris fly when shells land in the battlefield. Grenades thrown into enemy clusters, rocket launchers striking armoured vehicles, snipers taking aim through garrisoned buildings, machine gun nest spraying at oncoming troops, all as real as it can get.

Sound quality is also remarkable. Rattling sounds of the HMGs, zipping sounds of rockets, and the roars of the artillery firing, all audible from every corner of the battlefield. And the explosions, orgasmic. Be sure to be equipped with decent speakers, and make sure you tune them to the maximum volume. You will not regret it.

The speed of the game is not too bad, with ample time for you to acquire more advanced units, yet not giving you too much uninterrupted time. Enemy troops harrass you often, and try to take over resources you have.

This game's not all about numbers. It's alot more challenging with terrain actually playing a very important role. Fundamental combat skills like taking cover are demonstrated in this game, with soldiers being able to hide behind sandbags and trees to aviod enemy fire. Knowing when and where to toss your grenades can really save your troops, same for the rocket barrages and artillery bombardments.

Simple tactics like flanking the enemy can also be executed with realistic results. Tanks take more damage from the rear, and soldiers being flanked are less efficient and more damage. Only problem I have is that tanks sometimes tend to get stuck when you move them all at once.

The variety of units may be lacking, but there is still no limit as to how you can deploy the few variety of units. Riflemen, Heavy Machine Gunners, Snipers, Motar Teams and Engineers form your basic infantry force, and a couple of vehicles to add to your armoured force. The game however, lacks a naval and airforce, which might actually add even more colour to the game.

Overall, a very fun game, especially for those who want to try having a more realistic battle as compared to games like C&C or Starcraft. This game's not just about speed, it's about knowing how to use the terrain to your advantage, and how to make efficient use of your scarce resources.

Anyway, after having played the game for some time, I decided to take a few screenshots from the game.

Enjoy.


Here's the almighty M2A1 105mm Howitzer. A special unit of the Allied forces.


Flexible camera angles, relatively clear even when zoomed in.


The carnage. Very detailed grahpics. You should see it play in real time.


What's left.
You would not want to be caught in there.









"We're sorry to interrupt this post with the daily Safety Message from THE ORGANIZATION."


A: "What the F**K?! Felix! Get the F**K in here!"

B: "Too late."



B: "Bless his soul."

C: "Huh?"



A: "Sigh. Poor Felix."

C: "Hey! Where'd Felix go? Cigarette break?"







See why they ask you to lay sandbags?

Ok. Back to my war. Hitler's hiding his sorry arse under the blanket in his momma's house.


How about a couple of 105s through whatever's left of the roof?
-GRIN-

My Rating

Graphics: 9.3/10.
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Oomph-factor: 8.7/10
Overall: 8.8/10

Sundays suck.

Yes, Sundays are as boring as ever. It's just a day where I spend like 9 hours in front my screen, not doing anything productive.

Been trying to fix my new playlist, but Imeem's a little laggy. Bah.

Anyways, here's a little something for all you a capella fans out there.

Shopaholic in the making.

Off from work yesterday, so decided to go shopping with Christian. Ahh. It's official. I'm kind of addicted to shpping. Sheesh!

Met at about 1, and we uhm, shopped. And shopped. And ate, and shopped. And shopped. Had tea at Coffee Club, then shopped. And shopped.

I think we more or less combed the entire Orchard Road. And Raffles Place, and Vivocity. And Suntec. And Citylink Mall. And... Yes, my legs are still aching.

Didn't get too much. Just enough. =)

What I picked up
Guess Tee $59.00 $29.50
FCUK Tee $69.00 $20.70
CKJeans Belt $99.00 $69.30



Adding in the lunch, tea-break, tea-leaves and present...
I think I overspent. =\

But hey! Once in a year. I guess it's fine. =D
(Not sure if my parents think so..)

Soft-Hard.

Everyone has a soft and hard side.

Just like a dick.

Tar·get·ed : To aim at or for.

It seems that I have caught the attention of a few people. Wooden pole in the grasslands. And somehow, I have become a target board. Not for (not-very-)harmless arrows, but for (damn-right-)harmful stabs. And no, it is not a game amongst fellow mates. Not amongst those who 'Serve and F***-Off', but those who decide to sell their souls (and whatever was left of their brains when they made their decision.)

And everything developed while I was away for two weeks. Two weeks and I have become a targeted personnel.

"He can work, but he talks too much."
"He can talk."

So because I can talk, you condemn me. Ahh. You cannot talk? You don't want to talk? Or is it just that you cannot talk because you have nothing to say to defend yourself when you realise that all you have done so far does not even equate to 1% of what you get back in return for your services (or whatever you want to call it)?

The only thing I ever spoke of in the office was regarding my previous course and my studies. Nothing else. So don't go on saying that I went in to stab at other people. If I had to do so, it would be with a three-foot-long katana up your asshole and out through the empty skull of yours.

Sigh. I give up.

Do what you want. I will respond as I deem fit.

The return.

Yes yes, at long last. After what seemed like years, I'm finally back home again. Not that I missed home that much, I just can't stand staying there any longer.

Good news, I was excused. Bad news, I had to stay under house arrest. Here's the week's activities.
Monday: Wake up, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep.
Tuesday: Wake up, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep.
Wednesday: Wake up, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep.
Thursday: Wake up, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep.
Friday: Wake up, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, go home.

You see, this is how we serve our nation. This is how we use our taxpayers' money. (Oh wait, I forgot to mention that 'eat' as mentioned above refers to the reluctant consumption of what one may deem as food only when placed under extreme levels of food deprivation.) And at the end of it all, all you get is news that you have to re-attend the next course due to your absence in the field.

Simply put, I cannot find a reason why I was 'requested' to live in a 'well maintained room' for five days. Not to mention, the television was supposed to be 'left untouched' because they felt that while the rest were suffering outfield, people with an excuse (I should clarify, a Medical Excuse) should be left to suffer in camp without any form of entertainment, except for counting lampposts around the block, or the number of tiles in the toilet, or the number of fishes the old man sitting on the other side of the fence manage to catch during his short (five-hour) fishing trip by the river (canal). And as you watch the old man reel in the fishes, you wish he would give you a helping hand at an attempt to climb that dumb fence that seperates you from freedom. Of course, fat hope.

Five days of rotting is no joke. I have a phobia of beds, horrible-tasting food, sleeping, and stoning. It's a mental torture. You fight to keep yourself from going insane. You tell yourself, "Come on! Get a grip on yourself!" You stare out at the river (canal) and try to calm your mind. But alas, all that surfaces in your mind's like whatever floats on the dirty river (canal, dammit). You stop yourself from jumping into the path of the occasional vehicle that drives past, thinking that you're better of dead, or that even a trip to the nearby hospital would be some form of an escape, even if it meant going there in a stretcher or an ambulance.

Enough about the boredom.

I was once again exposed to the oh-so-common inefficiencies of the organisation. Try having to wait for 3 hours for someone whom you've never met in your life, and will most probably never, to 'grace' some occasion. The person walks in saying "I'm really sorry, I was held up in a meeting." And you wonder to yourself, "If you have so many meetings everyday, why does it seem that nothing ever gets done?" It is as if meetings have become a very convenient, but hardly convincing, excuse for these people.

Today, a friend of mine told me about some problem he had while having to get chairs. Yes, chairs, the ones you sit on at home, which the organisation is unable to provide for despite spending a sizeable percentage of the nation's GDP.
My friend, together with his team, went over to location A to borrow chairs. They could not supply enough due to some ongoing event that used up most of the chairs. Apparently, three groups of people in three locations in Singapore have to share one (I repeat, one,) set of chairs. No, it's not anything expensive, it's just plastic.
So they headed off to the neighbouring B to ask for help, where they claimed that they did not have enough to lend us, and we had to go to B-2 to get more, which was hardly of any help. Finally, they went to the cookhouse in a desperate attempt to get more chairs to meet the requirements. It may sound like we needed a couple of hundreds, but in actual fact, all we needed was fifty chairs. Yes, only fifty. Fifty only. Fifty. Only.

And everyone wondered why we could not borrow it from the people where we were holding the course, till someone voiced out that the reason we had to trouble so many other people and travel all over the island was because one of the personnel in the conducting team offended a logistics officer in the camp. As a result, the logistics officer did not want to support us with the chairs we need.

Professionalism: Not helping members of your own organisation because someone steps on your tail.

I cannot think of any organisation that screws up in such a manner.
I cannot think of another similar organisation that can screw up so badly.
I cannot comprehend why this organisation is unable to prevent such screw ups.
I can only concluded that this organisation is the mother of all screw ups.

Idle-ology

What's wrong with doing nothing. What's wrong with not working when everyone else around you works (not because they want to)?

Let loose the laziness. Cut the busy act. You are working for no reason. You have no direction to work towards. You don't even have the desire to work. So, why work?

Is it a Western culture? Or is it an Eastern one? The values we picked up from young?

Bullshit. Everyone around you wants you to work only because they are doing so. It is as if people drag others along for fear of being left out. They want company. Vicious cycle? Yes. Viscious. In a circle.

The blind who cannot see the need to rest.
The deaf people who cannot hear the cries.
The mentally incapable who cannot take a stand of their own.
And the mute who cannot declare rest time.
Die.

You think that sitting around is a waste of time? Think again. In another perpective the blind cannot see and the dumb cannot comprehend.

It's sad when you don't have a chance to make choices. The choice to rest or to work. Not between coffee or tea after dinner. And it's even more depressing that you deprive yourself of the chance to work. You. Not any lame-ass circumstance.

And the imbeciles will tell you this is an excuse.
Let's see who's right.

Sick.

I'm sick again. Bah.

Practice today was horrible for me. The feeling really sucks. And I can barely talk properly. I feel my entire lungs filled with phlegm. Roar. I think I should consider voice lessons. But first of all, I need to settle this confidence issue. Hmm. I need help.

Well besides that, yesterday was great. Thanks to everyone for the company at Vil'age, and for the really nice wallet. Appreciate it alot. Thanks again. And yes, I shall go get the few photos we took yesterday (with one of me looking absolutely retarded.)

It's really warming to be able to get back with your old-time pals for a gathering. I hope everything will clear up soon. It sucks to have conflicts within a group of close friends.

Went for supper yesterday after the dinner with everyone. What a coincidence, but yeah. Haha. Thanks for supper as well Jovan.

Moving.

Hello everyone who's reading this blog. Yes, alot of changes have taken place. So it's time to make an official announcement.

We've started operations in Friendster.
We've moved to Blogger!
We've moved to Singtel! (You can still reach me on my old number.
We're moving to subbie_87@hotmail.com.

Yes, that should be all for now. Add me where necessary.

Updates

Just finished application for UniMelb. If everything goes well, I should be there next Feb.

I'm still quite lost. Hmm. I guess it's going to be really tough to leave everyone here behind. Only consolation's that people I know (Terry, Jiaren, etc.) are also going over. Hope that it helps. Besides, accomodation shouldn't be a problem since I'll most probably live with my cousins...

Well then, it's still a little early to worry about that now.

Starting a course on Monday. 5.5 + 4 days according to plan. I hope it's really 4.5 + 4. It sucks leaving for home only on a Saturday afternoon. I know, I shouldn't be complaining considering I already have it easy, but who cares, I just want to rant. At least I'm not overly pessimistic about it.

Read the paper about the poor chap who couldn't get into his desired course despite his (really) good results. Perhaps our local schools are demanding a little too much from our own students. It's really ironic how our government wants to retain the 'intelligent and capable' people, yet "unknowingly" force these people out of the country. Calling us 'Quitters' when they leave no room for us. How is 4 A's and 2 S-Paper distinctions by any standards inferior? Poor chap. Good luck in getting a place in another course.

Travelling to Pataya (Thailand) coming July. Voyage of Songs. Will most probably sing with EBChoir and VJChoir's male chorus. Not too bad, at least for now. Had my first practice with them both yesterday. Got to catch up. Bah. But yeah, looking forward to it. Shah Alam 2006 was quite a good experience, so yeah. I expect much more from this. At least it's something I can enjoy. Not to mention, a short break from work.

Ahh. Time to go pack. Hopefully, Friday night. At worst, Saturday morning.

Dedication

Dedicated to 'Ring'.

It's really shocking to be informed that someone you know succumbs to such a deadly illness. Even though I would consider him more of a gaming acquiantance, it is really sad to hear of such news. I guess it really is a misfortune for this to happen to someone so young. Unexpected, yes.

Respect. He was a good gamer.

I offer my condolences to close friends and family, and I hope that everyone would be able to find the courage to move on, especially his immediate family.

Must be horrible to see your loved one leave before you.

Ruihong,
On behalf of the many people you would have known in the numerous games you played:
You will be missed.