A brand new and unforgettable experience described in the most dramatic fashion

It has been a painstakingly long time since I last blogged. My last few posts have been really negative and i did not find the significance in continuing.. but since today is a special occasion (I am a year older), I couldn't have been more pleased to pen my wonderful experience last night.

Sure, work is still very stressful and horrendous, but at this point, it's just a waste of energy and so exhausting to elaborate on work. Instead, I am vey eager to spread the positivity in my post to compensate all those past hideous stuff that I blogged.

It was 5.30pm when I rushed out of my office quicker than before. I thought to myself: a few days ago, my good buddy suggested out of the blue that we relive our childhood memories by pre-ordering Pokemon sun and moon and more crucially, the sacred device which is the NEW Nintendo 3DS XL. To be honest, at first I was sceptical of his idea, because it was just so expensive for such a small device (though it is "XL"). But somehow, I agreed, because I was predicting the wonderful possibilities that could happen, and.. YOLO. Sure, I had played few Pokemon games in my life, but I had never, ever, played it with a handheld device in my life. It used to be all emulators and auto saves.

After conducting intensive research, my Friend decided that we should go to Funco games in West Mall to purchase the stuff. I highly recommend as the device is really cheap @ $299. Plus warranty if you buy from a trusted seller. I want to thank my Friend from the bottom of my heart. When I held the all New Nintendo 3ds XL, he told me something highly motivational- that we have worked hard to earn our salary just to buy this, and we should enjoy "the fruits of labour". At that time, I did not regret my decision. I felt that it was worth it, worth enjoying life.

So I last said that it was 5.30pm and all that remebering took around 1 hour till I eventually arrived at West Mall and met my Friend. So off we rushed to funco games, and paid $55 for the game - he took the sun version while I chose the moon version, better so we could trade Pokemon to improve our pokedex. After dinner I immediately, without any hint of hesitation, unboxed the game cartridge and slotted it into my device. This was a brand new and unforgettable experience that words cannot fully describe - it was a dream come true, I never had the courage or drive to do these kind of things, and now I'm doing it with my good Friend.

It has to be one of the best pre-birthday experiences of my life, amid all the work depression. Now looking forward, I just want to cast all worries aside and enjoy this game as much as I can.

THANK YOU MY FRIEND.

Fingers crossed for fyp..

I have been worrying the whole night about tomorrow's presentation. I simply have to nail this, as it is graded, and I do not want to let my teammates down. I am in the mood to write a post after such a long time, as I have edited a whole report on ironically, mood reading.

It has been quite a rough week for me as I still cannot recover from the barrage of comments thrown at me by my dear Professor. My fyp presentation was way below par and I was still confused of the concepts in my project. I stammered throughout and I hope the same incident will not happen again tomorrow. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and hope for the best!

Confessions of my favourite pastime - Watching anime

Like they say, it is difficult for one guy to always have the spotlight to himself, usually he/she will not be able to survive in the long run. In any anime, featuring just one person throughout the entire season can get really boring to viewers. Every hero needs a sidekick, maybe even more! Having teammates will boost the confidence of the main characters, and that applies to real life as well!

What makes great teams? Here I will be listing prime examples of anime teams that have untapped potential, and will be explaining why they are so formidable along the way:

Cream of the crop:

1. Hunter x hunter

Gon - Kurapika - Leorio - Killua

These four people form an unstoppable alliance that viewers simply adore. So what makes this alliance so highly successful?

First of all, in the first few episodes, a solid three of Gon, Kurapika and Leorio had been established. The amazing thing about the solid three is that the 3 heroes met together by fate. Immediately, they had no problems bonding with one another. The appealing factor is that although 3 of them are very unique (each has their own background and personality), they share a chemistry that cannot be taught in schools. They are always there for one another and thus could get past obstacles without breaking a sweat.

Then in came Killua. Killua is sort of an outsider, but straight away forms a 'bromance' with Gon. Killua then was introduced by Gon to Kurapika and Leorio. Killua then starts to accept the both of them gradually, although not as close as Gon. Kurapika and Leorio start to reciprocate Killua's mutual respect and also help Killua in times of need (nevertheless Killia didn't need help anyway since he's so imba).

The bottomline is this - Killua has to overcome all odds (coming from an assasin's family he was not allowed to make friends) in order to establish an unbreakable bond with the three others. The fact that they are constantly encouraging and believing one another - to the point where they risk their lifes - makes me so emotional. Seeing the smiles on their faces when they reunite and joke about their hilarious experiences, make their friendship so believable. All of the members are outstanding in their own unique way and definitely a force to be reckoned with. The fact is - I cannot think of a team more formidable than the current one.

Good but not great

2. Beyblade and 3. Crush Gear

Tyson - Kai - Ray - Max

The good thing is that this is not your typical TEAM 'JAPAN'. Rather it is TEAM INTERNATIONAL, featuring 2 members from Japan, 1 member from China and one member from USA. Well all of them met together in Japan. The anime gives the impression that it was fate that brought them together after all. Reason is being each of them is in possession of a mystical power known as a bitbeast, and the fact that these bitbeasts were actually together at one point but dispersed to the ends of the world. It just so happened that they were at the same place at the same time. The four of them were in the semifinals of the local tournament and thank goodness, the organiser put them together in one team.

I have mentioned about the good part, now for the 'not so fantastic' part.

As the days passed by, the team did not show enough chemistry. The fact that Kai had quit the team for a rival team just showed jealously amongst the team mates. Reason being Tyson was perceived as the person to beat after having the spotlight all along. Now his teammates want to beat him one day to prove their skill. This shows that a team that appeared to have so much promise is now so fragile and has zero potential. Putting together egoistic characters as a team is a recipe for disaster.

Looking back part 1 - My toddler days- It's all about cars

I remember certain events in the past rather vividly but strangely, I have no recollection of my days when I was 1 to 3 years old. All i know is that I used to live in a cosy bungalow in Novena, where my grandparents used to live, and that my father owned a grey Hyundai car. I used to complain about the car door handles, simply because I found it a hassle to pull it. Thinking back, I wondered why my father changed his car to an Alfa Romeo. It was probably due to my complaint, because one obvious difference was the door handle. In fact, there wasn't any handles, just something that you can press on to open the car door- something unique.

Anyway, I secretly took pride in the 'new' Alfa Romeo. It was not just because of the special way of opening car doors, but also the absolutely gorgeous car logo prominantly engraved in front. The logo was shaped like a snake and a flag side by side and I thought that was pretty cool. From there on, I became obseesed with cars. I remember that I had a stack of cards with all the statistics of the car listed. I always paid close attention to the speed ratings, and I rated Porsche, Lamboghini and Ferrari as my top 3. I also knew all the car brands at my fingertips, like Saab, Audi etc. It was a fantastic childhood memory that I would forever cherish because I may never experience the relaxing and innocent life of a toddler again.

One of my bleakest days 28/10/10 (part 2)

I remember the date, time and location vividly - 28 October 2010, 1300hrs, NUS Sports Drive 1. I had committed a grave mistake that I should have avoided after all.
But as for now, I'm lost for words. :( This horrible memory shall be etched in my mind forever.

One of my bleakest days 28/10/10 (part 1)

Phew, it has been quite a while since I have written my last post. Well, I have been busy with some 'stuff'.

I prefer to forget this horrible day- 28/10/10, but decide to write it anyway so that I can read it while I'm emoing =.=. That day was a huge moment for me, as I had to give two successive school presentations in my university, something that I never accomplished before.

First off was a presentation that I had put my utmost effort in. CS1010E is a computing module and I was given the task of explaining one of the tutorial questions in powerpoint slides. I appeared to be very confident as I had rehearsed my lines rather thoroughly, but in fact, my hands were involuntary shaking with nervousness. Like I have said, I had never presented for a long time and it was heart above matter at that time, which got me so nervous. My reluctance to present started to show when I could not display the slides from my laptop onto the big screen. I started to panic a bit, but the tutor was kind to help out. After 5 mins, I started my presentation. My tutor had to stop me halfway as he thought that I was not clear and concise enough in my explanation. After presenting, I was slightly discouraged as I felt that I did not perform up to my expectations.

After which, I had to routinely rush off to the next tutorial venue. It was crucial as I had to give my second presentation. I was late but my presentation was around 5 minutes later. I was not sure how to answer the tutorial question. Ironically, the answers were given out via the ivle website prior to that day. Like a rebellious 10-year old schoolkid, I presented what I thought was the correct answer (which was totally different from the answer provided). I was already in a bad mood and wanted to end this chaos as soon as possible. Perhaps my mind wasn't thinking straight.

After the tutorials finished, I still needed to attend a lab practice. I drove my car around NUS so as to relieve my frustration, but to minimal effect. After that, at around 1pm, I entered a carpark to find a parking space. It was then when I realised that my nightmare became a reality.

Reflections of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)

I have become a huge fan of the WWE recently. Or rather, should I say it more accurately.. my passion for the WWE has been reignited. Most of my friends may not realise this.. but I used to watch WWF way back in my Primary school. It used to feature Masked Kane, The Undertaker, Big Show, and best of all, THE ROCK. When I first saw him, I started idolising him- cause he had the charisma, poise and swagger that I found very attractive. He was the reason why I watched WWF in the first place. Consequently after THE ROCK quit the WWE, I no longer followed up on the show. I also had to concentrate my studies in sec school as I was a bit of 'a study freak' at that time.

However, as fate would have decided, an event made my eyes open wide- exposing me to the WWE. A few months back, Starhub had decided to broadcast a free sports channel called Supersports Plus, and one of its shows was the ever popular WWE Superstars. I was bored at home and I thought: why not(watch WWE)? I tuned to Supersports plus and was immediately engrossed. I then thought to myself again: It's not just the ROCK who I liked, in fact, it was the wrestling action that I really fell in love with.

As the days went by, I started gaining access of RAW and Smackdown through Youtube. I found the shows to be more spectacular than Superstars and thus committed myself to watching them as well.

A few things that I liked about WWE during these few months.. first of all I like Kane's evil laugh and vengence. I also like new-boy Alberto Del Rio's submission which is an absolute killer. I also quite like the idea of the Nexus, as it makes the storyline a bit more interesting. Last of all, Laycool is super cool.

There is this debate currently as to who the RAW mystery GM is.. I am so hoping that it is the ROCK, as I wish that WWE can roll back the years and bring back one of the greatest WWE stars in history.

Pulau Ubin Part 4 -This is overshot!!! lol.

My friend and I were cycling continuously for 20 minutes long and still no sign of the obstacle course. We had seen the map earlier and had agreed to try out the obstacle course in order to challenge ourselves. I did not take note of the scale of the map and thus did not realise that the course was several miles further than I expected.

After exactly half an hour, my friend and I stumbled upon a rocky path ahead of us. We figured out that that was the start of the obstacle course and rode towards there without hesitation as we did not cycle all the way there for nothing. A short while later, we came across the map of the obstacle course. We realised that we were in the blue zone, which is supposingly the least treacherous in the whole course. My good buddy and I decided to take a detour on the left. For a moment I thought that I was in the black zone, the most dangerous of all, as I struggled a bit to ride through the grass patches, and up/down slopes. To my horror, I discovered that guess what.. I was in the blue zone.. My reaction? =.=" and T.T...

My friend was not bothered and decided to test himself to his limits, or rather, over my limits. I was already panting at that time and someone else would think that I am absolutely hopeless. But not my friend. Through his encouragement, we braved through the pebbles, grass and steep slopes to arrive at the notorious..BLACK zone. The first obstacle we witnessed was the overshot. Basically, there is a huge rock and in front of the rock, is a hug. e plunge down a few metres to the ground. To us it was impossible to complete as it is only fit for a stuntman. I made a very short video intro about it.

To my horror(again), i realised that i had lost my last packet of eyedrop. I was frantically searching for it in my pockets, but to no avail. I knew at that moment that I had to go back home asap, moreover I felt some dryness in my eyes. Consequently, my friend and I decided to head back to the jetty. What was only 30 minutes of journey seemed like an eternity, as I mustered all of my remaining energy to pedal back to the bicycle shop.

After returning the rented bicycles, I was thoroughly exhausted and bought a bottle of water to hydrate myself. We did not have to wait long(or at all) for the ferry. My friend and I then took bus to the mrt station and we bid adios. In light of the events, I thought of my mother's advice. Maybe I should have waited until my eyes have fully recovered, before organising the trip. However, if it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it was worth it. I smiled to myself before ringing the doorbell outside my home.

Pulau Ubin Part 3 - zzz... My bicycle chain got detached!!

Well it was 3pm and I got the feeling that we were just getting started, and that my friend would not call it quits. I accessed my situation and permitted myself to spend a few more hours in the island. Anyway my friend, being the more enthusiastic one, led the way with his bicycle.

However, a few hundred metres from our starting point, the unthinkable just happened. I was furiously peddling my bicycle when we were going upslope. Out of the blue, my bicycle chaine just became loose. I could pedal no further and again, my friend had to stop for me. My friend must have been thinking: OMG! as we resolved to head all the way back to the bicycle shop, with me pushing the bicycle. When we reached the shop, the owner said no problem and lent me a replacement. I thanked him and my friend and I set off to a perilous journey. How perilous and treacherous the journey is later I will tell you. Anyway, we wasted a good half an hour because of that annoying bicycle chain!!!

Pulau Ubin part 2 - Only trainees allowed :((

I could immediately sense that my friend was much more enthusiastic than me, although I suggested the Pulau Ubin trip. He had not ridden a bicycle for 6 months. More importantly, he said that he wanted to see something very, very mysterious (will be revealed later on). We passed by bicycle shop after shop until we realised that someone was renting out bicycles for only 5 dollars every 3 hours. Without the slightest hesitation, my buddy and I decided to rent the low-quality bikes and off we went.

We were riding happily for around 15 minutes, when I experienced a bit of difficulty. Dust had apparantly entered my vulnerable eyes and I waved to my friend urgently, telling him to stop. I had never expected the area to be so dusty because like I said, I had not been to Pulau Ubin for a very long time. However, that did not deter me as I just applied eyedrop to minimise the pain.

My friend was desperate to find the map of the area, determined to arrive at the mysterious place. After successfully searching for the map, we realised that we had to ride up an extremely steep slope in order to get to our destination. I mustered all my energy and was panting already before finally conquering the slope.

After 30 long minutes, I began to realise that the mysterious landmark my friend was referring to was in fact an adventure camp. From a distance I could see a lot of challenging obstacles, the ones that I used to attempt during my adventure camp days in sec school; such as abseiling and flying fox. My friend and I were grinning in excitement as we proceeded up the slope to get a better view of the place. Unfortunately, a wel-built man stopped us in our tracks. He explained that only trainees are allowed within the premises. Considering that my buddy and I had seen a couple went up without being halted, we felt very sway...:(.

Anyway, we cycled down and rode all the way to the eatery to take our well-deserved break...

Pulau Ubin Part 1- Nasi Lemak tasty but probably not the best..

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning last week, 14 of July. I was still doubtful whether to go to Pulau Ubin to cycle. My mother had earlier discouraged me from going to Ubin as she was worried that I may hurt my eyes, which i had operated on nearly a month ago. After some consideration, I decided to go against her and planned a cycling trip with my good buddy. Although I have been there b4, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to expect...

We met at Tampines MRT station at around 11am, then boarded bus 29 to Changi Village. I recommended the very famous Nasi Lemak stall to my friend. The queue was so long that one cannot count the number of people using his fingers and even his toes. After 15 minutes, my friend and I started munching away. I thought that I had impressed my friend with my recommendation. However, he calmly said that it was 'not the best that he had tasted'.

After makan, we proceeded to the ferry terminal. I feared that we would have to wait for a long time as the ferry could only take off with 12 passengers inside. However, we did not have to do so, as many adventure seekers were already waiting to sit in the ferry. The ferry took around 15 mins to arrive at Pulau Ubin. My friend and I walked towards the island with much anticipation, as the REAL fun and adventure awaits...