Back in Maple Story

Back In Maple Story :

After a long hibernation period of a few months, I am officially back playing Maple Story. Firstly, my apologies to my guildmistress and my fellow guild members because I was really too busy with my work and other personal committments in the past few months. Re-familiarizing myself with the commands in gameplay, however, took shorter than I expected and I presumed it has something to do with my subconscious learning due to the consistent playing in 2006. My guildmistress was obviously very happy because our guild's rangers are pretty much inactive recently and having my return means an additional deterrence force against the younger players in my guild who may need protection against some of the very aggressive and hostile players in the game.

Equipment in Maple Story are still pretty expensive, in my own opinion, even though my guild members said that prices have fallen drastically ever since I went into hibernation. Well, I personally still felt the pinch in my pocket when I paid 31 million mesos for a 10 Weapon Attack Work Glove. Anyway, the pair of work gloves manages to uplift as my attacks become much stronger and impressive against the monsters, frightening away potential map-stealing players.

Right now, I am working hard towards my next character level before I reward myself with the Samurai armour outfit that I had always wanted (see the image attached). Quite cool-looking, right? I like that outfit alot and it is probably because I am quite influenced by the costumes in the movie "The Last Samurai".

27 January 2007 End of the Day Post

Trial Gym Session at True Fitness:

I received an invitation and a free two weeks' worth of VIP pass to trial the facilities at True Fitness at Raffles Place on Friday and I decide to pop over and have a look to see what this new 3 month old fitness club has to offer.

I got over there at around 12.30pm and a young fitness consultant, Elle (IMO, quite an attractive-looking girl with big sparkling eyes), gave me a tour of the facilities and even talked quite extensively about the types of yoga classes they have in the club, hoping for me to join them. Throughout the whole thing, she was nice, polite and helpful with my enquiries and I was pretty pleased with her service (and it's not because she was better-looking than the rest of the consultants).

After the 40-minute talk and tour, I thanked Elle for her help and ventured out to try out the gym equipment in True Fitness. The things that I liked about the gym - The service is polite and wonderful, the grips on the free weights are a perfect fit and the music is not too loud for my ears. However, the things that I don't like about it are that the bench press is too narrow for my shoulders, the machines have too little padding for the impact and there isn't a proper place to put the towels when I am doing the free weights, and the cost of joining it is a tad too high even for most of the professional fitness clubs in Singapore - a whopping $850+ (joining fee + processing fee + 1 monthly fee).

My verdict - Not worth the value. My current neighbourhood gym provides older (even rusty) but more reliable gym equipment and weights and even though there aren't any towel services, personal trainers or even pleasant-looking fitness consultants around. Moreover, the environment at my current gym is still much more suitable for my style of training - full concentration, no-distractions, no-nonsense free weights training. I guess I'll will have to pass poor Elle the bad news that I don't favour True Fitness' gym facilities at this point of time.

Leisure Reading at Ngee Ann City's Coffee Bean:

I am pretty pleased to do something today which I had not done for a long time - a good magazine read at Coffee Bean on a nice Saturday afternoon with iced mocha and a slice of tiramisu cake. After the trial gym session at True Fitness, I made my way to Orchard MRT and had a quick lunch at Yoshinoya Japanese fastfood restaurant and bumped into one of my secondary school tuition student. She was with her friends so I ate my beef with vegetables alone and moved off to the Orchard Library to get some magazines.

I only managed to find an issue of National Geographic so I lugged it off to the Coffee Bean at Takashimaya Shopping Centre and thankfully found a single-seater even though the place is extremely full on a weekend Saturday. I ordered a nice small iced mocha and a slice of tiramisu cake and sat down for a full 1.5 hours there, slowly sipping my mocha and savouring my cake while reading about nanotechnology, Hutterites in America and the pelican at a nice, leisurely pace. Of course, I had to see many disappointed people walking past me because they could not secure any seats in the Coffee Bean outlet there. Lucky me. =P

Birthday Celebrations Part III:

One of my secondary school student insisted on celebrating my birthday today so I went to meet him at Cineleisure Orchard because he wanted dinner and a movie but we could not find a nice movie at around 6.30pm so I suggested a dinner at Pastamania until we decided what to do with the rest of the evening.

After a filling meal of pasta and pizza, both of us made our way to the K-box (again) at Cineleisure Orchard because I can't think of anything else to do since he is still underaged for many nightlife activities in Orchard. We took three fun and entertaining hours of singing off the evening time. It was, to my surprise, the first ever KTV visit by the student and he was happily experimenting with the songs over there even though his Mandarin is not very good. Seeing how enthusiastic he was, I gave him some pointers in holding the microphone and taught him how to breathe properly while singing the Mandarin songs he had always liked.

At around 10.30pm, I opted to stop singing even though he was still pretty high about continuing because I have morning lessons to cover on Sunday so we headed home. Overall, it was a good Saturday and I hope the coming week will be just as nice. Got to go bathe and sleep now. Take care, everyone!

(Image source: Al-Fassam, 7 Feb 2006, Flickr)

My Birthday Celebrations

Day One - Swenson's Lunch Treat By The Changed Man:

Yeah...how time flies...I have been quite busy in the previous two weeks trying my best to get the supporters of Teresa to go for the Hougang Mall Roadshow and lo and behold, my birthday has come knocking again. However, this year, I am doing a simple celebration this year, probably because I feel a little awkward doing large celebrations at my age.

Anyway, I started out with a simple lunch with The Changed Man at Chinatown Point and it had to be quite short because he has to clear some work on a Saturday afternoon. Poor thing. Swenson's lunch was pretty alright, considered that I had not really had the time to lunch there for some time now. I ordered a Caesar's salad and a Fish-and-Chips while The Changed Man helped himself to some of the salad, a chicken baked rice and some birthday sundae. We talked about his work and he mentioned some of his work plans for the coming year. We also joked about some of his scandalous adventures with the girls, which I shall not detail any of these here.

Day One - Comic Book Treat from Comics Connection:

After the brief one hour lunch, The Changed Man went back to his office to clear his work and I proceeded back to my place but not before going into the comics connections shop to buy myself a comic book to entertain myself for the remaining of the afternoon. I am thinking that the weather is still drowsy and lethargic today so a comic book reading session will be ideal. I chose my favourite Wind & Cloud comic series because I had been reading the series for a couple of years now. Recently, I didn't buy the series because my room is already packed with books, files and other miscellaneous stuff but since it's my birthday celebrations, I might as well reward myself with one of the volumes in the series. By the time I am done with this post, I finished the new comic volume and am a happier man with one more book to the collection.

Day Two - Birthday Cake Celebration with Family:

Even though at my age, my mother insisted a birthday cake celebration with the traditional red boiled eggs because she believed the ritual will bring good luck and peace for the new year in my life. It was a simple morning occasion in front of those birthday candles and a birthday wish, but it is still nice to have my family celebrating my birthday with me after all these years. I fed them with as much chocolate cake and red boiled eggs as they could stomach before I left for my afternoon lessons.

Day Two - Karaoke with The Changed Man:

After my afternoon lessons, I met up with The Changed Man because he wanted to make up for the hasty lunch he had with me the previous day. So both of us went to the Pasir Panjang Food Centre and we ordered a big round of dinner which included cooked sea-snails, fried sotong, satay, kangkong with some sweet sauce and barbequed chicken wings.

After filling our stomachs, The Changed Man opted for karaoke-singing and we headed off to the K-box n Clementi Central. And I had my longest ever karaoke session of more than five hours there from 7pm to 12am. My voice now is nearly hoarse from all the singing. We sang at least sixty songs between the two of us from singers like 李圣杰，张学友，陈奕迅，王力宏，陈伟联，张敬轩，光良，范逸臣，陶哲，张智霖，动力火车，周杰伦，张惠妹，梁静茹，飞儿乐团，梁咏琪，五月天 , 伍思凯，competing with a group of guys who were literally screaming atop of their voices a couple rooms down the line. It was really fun and it was also one of my most satisfying ktv session ever! The Changed Man was just as happy because he was able to practice with his falsetto and his rock renditions of some of the songs. =)

There is no cure for birth and death save
to enjoy the interval.

By: George Santayana, Soliloquies in England, 1922, "War Shrines" US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863 - 1952)

(Image source: http://www.spcnet.tv/tinha/wind.shtml)
(Quote Souce: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/572.html)

The Blood Diamond, Let It Shine Idol Drama, (再)与死神擦肩而过

The Blood Diamond:

After two weeks of procastination, I managed to get myself to the cinema today to watch this seemingly bland movie about a big diamond - how wrong I was. The movie turned out to be far more exciting than I could expected because other than the really intense acting, the setting of the story was very thought-provoking. A South African mercenary turned diamond smuggler + A fisherman turned diamond miner + A persistent human rights reporter + A 100 carat pink diamond + A dark and looming story about the atrocities behind the diamond wars.

Far too few people actually realized that diamonds originating from conflict zones brought sweat, blood and death to so many innocent Africans and most countries just watched it happen for so long before finally doing something about preventing the purchase of conflict diamonds. The movie was quite bloody in certain parts, especially during an invasion by the rebel forces on a city but it was quite realistic and adrenalin-pumping. I considered a good plot twist when the fisherman father tried to save his son who had been unwillingly brainwashed into a vicious rebel child soldier. This is yet another good movie that I watched and I am pretty happy about it.

Let It Shine TV Idol Drama:

I have finally got myself the new mobtv thing after one entire week of trying. There was originally some problem with the video streaming test but I finally resolved it two days ago and have happily watched the first two episodes of the highly-anticipated TV Idol Drama by a few of the Campus Superstars.

Although it may seem skeptical at first that the talented young singers from the Campus Superstar competition can act, but the viewing of the episodes so far has not been disappointing at all. The young singers were quite natural in their acting and bolstered by the presence of other experienced young and senior actors, the whole drama "Let It Shine" had, in my opinion, been entertaining and refreshing. If the drama manages to meet the expectations of the other supporters of the Campus Superstars and of the drama as a whole, I believe continued acting opportunities will be on the plate for the young singers.

Appealing enough to the cameras and having realistic-enough expressions to carry their screen personas (despite it being the first acting experience for some of them), it looks set that MediaCorp has finally succeeded in grooming a young generation of Superstars. What now remains is how well MediaCorp wants to develop them into true Superstars of Singapore so that their talents in both singing and acting will not go to waste. Way to go, Let It Shine!

（再）与死神擦肩而过：

今天早上一个不留神，差点就被死神用利器戳破喉。好像已有十次与死神擦肩而过了吧，每次都险象还生。这次，我还是不知道这次是死神又一时失手，或有天使看守着，还是是个警戒要我更把握我的生命。

无论如何，能再次闪开它的致命一击，还是值得庆幸的。可是死神的功力毕竟非同凡响，仍然能重创我的肩膀。虽然不致于断臂，但戳中了肩膀的要脉，红肿加麻痹加上瘀血，看来最快也要两三天的全力疗伤，方能康复。

生命是如此的无常，若不把握眼前人和事，更待何时？今天的空气特别清新喔...

(Image source: http://sg.movies.yahoo.com/The+Blood+Diamond/movie/13778/)

Report on the 13 Jan Let It Shine Roadshow at Hougang Mall

Below is my duplicate post from Teresa's Fanclub. Hope you have fun reading it!

Report on the 13 Jan Let It Shine Roadshow at Hougang Mall

Hi faithful supporters of Teresa!

Pre-Roadshow:

I arrived at Hougang Mall at 1230hrs and I already saw a small crowd of twenty people around the audience area waiting for the Style For Stars Roadshow by Monsoon.

I scouted the area and decided to skip lunch and book a suitable position to watch the Let It Shine Roadshow and I managed to take up a place right behind the judges’ tables in front of the stage.

Xiangrui joined me ten minutes and both of us started chatting until Jinfu arrived. I quickly made use of the opportunity to grab some burger and drinks before the Style For Stars Roadshow started and after a long and draggy show by the models, The Let It Shine Roadshow finally commenced at 3.20pm. Unfortunately, the organizing committee decided to shift some of the barriers and amidst the pushing, Jinfu, Xiangrui and I were pushed further back and instead of front row seats, we were then in the fifth row with one really gigantic guy in blue right in the front row, blocking our full view of the stage.

Start of Roadshow:

Shen Weijun, the mcee for the roadshow, started to warm up the crowd by asking who do the audience support and I was surprised to hear quite a murmur from the audience, saying “Teresa”. I was very happy when I heard that because although most of Teresa’s supporters are usually not that vocal, that murmur means a pretty strong presence of people who supports Teresa.

Appearance of Teresa:

Teresa got onto the stage with all the rest of the young actors in Let It Shine and the mcee began to ask all the young actors about their roles in the drama and what their memorable moments of the drama acting were. For those of you who were not present, you should have seen how most of the photographers began to train their cameras onto Teresa as she appeared onstage. Obviously, she was the fashion and camera favorite and she tried her best to smile at the cameras as they clicked away. Go look at the photo sections of the fanclub for a detailed photograph of Teresa’s outfit for the roadshow.

4.1) Fashion appeal and impression (4 out of 5 marks)
4.2) Suitability for song genre (Not applicable)
4.3) Suitability for stage movement (Not applicable)
4.4) Suitability for lighting effects (4 out of 5 marks)
4.5) Suitability for image of performer (4 out of 5 marks)

My grading For Teresa for her Stage Attire is 12 of out 15 marks.

Stage Activities of Teresa:

However, Teresa, in my own opinion, did not do quite well for the mcee question and answer section because she was like smiling and laughing away without giving any audible answer. A pity because I believe many people would be delighted to hear her speaking voice as they have had already been impressed by her singing voice. After a few murmurs, Teresa passed the microphone to Lirong, another female actor in the drama.

The mcee then started a game that involved the connecting of words as well as a recitation of all the connecting phrases made by the previous actors and so on and so forth. This time, Teresa did much better as she concentrated on the game and was one of the few who were not eliminated from the game. The game, however, was too long and boring and it featured very little about the young actors, other than their memory power. So part of the weak mcee interaction lies in the responsibility of the organizers. But I am penalizing Teresa heavily because I have already advised her on paying attention to questions and answers from the mcee quite some time ago.

3.1) Stage posture (4 out of 5 marks)
3.2) Stage movement (Not applicable)
3.3) Audience interaction (3 out of 5 marks)
3.4) Camera interaction (3.5 out of 5 marks)
3.5) Mcee interaction (2.5 out of 5 marks)

My grading for Teresa for her Stage Presentation is 13 out of 20 marks.

After the game, some prizes were awarded hastily and all of the young actors left the stage to make way for the senior actors in the drama. Jinfu and I decided to try to find Teresa at the backstage area because Jinfu had a gift for Teresa but the stage door was too far and the organizing staff was out of our reach to help Jinfu to pass the present to Teresa.

After the senior actors had their stage moments, Chen Fengling did a song performance of one of the songs in the Idol Drama. I was hoping for a theme song performance by the Campus Superstars but that never really happened and after Fengling did her song, all the actors, young and senior went onstage for the last time at the roadshow to appeal to the audience to watch the Idol Drama and they left for the waiting MediaCorp mini-bus outside Hougang Mall.

Teresa was walking way too quickly and Jinfu missed the chance to pass the present to her. I consoled the fellow that there would be other opportunities to pass the present to Teresa and all three of us parted company.

I would like to all the supporters who responded to my call to gather to watch the roadshow and even though some of them are too shy to turn up in person in front of the three of us, they were there alright because I was still in contact with them on the phone.
That’s all for my report. Stay tuned for more photographs and hopefully a video recording from idollic.com administrator. For those who wishes to read this report on websites other than this fanclub, I will duplicate this report on both idollic.com/teresa and on my personal blog at http://heaven-earth-human.blogspot.com/

Sean Ho
“Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul.”

(Image source courtesy from blanket of TFC)

Song Recommendation: 给自己的情歌 By 梁咏琪

In order to try and bring more variety to my blog posts, I decide to try my hand at song recommendations and I have the following song for listeners of Mandarin songs.

I like the song because its tune is not only catchy and smoothing to my ears but the lyrics are also very meaningful and insightful into the theme of love. I believe it is one of latest songs from Gigi and I personally think it is a keeper. Of course, don't take my words for it. You listen for yourself and decide. You can find the song at either my music playlist above at song number 45 or simply click on the hyperlink on the title of the song below. For those who don't know who is the singer, Gigi Leung, or prefer a visual treat of the song, I have attached a Youtube MV of the song at the top of this post. Enjoy!

給自己的情歌(國語版)
梁詠琪
原詞曲Original Lyrics & Composer：周杰倫、陳少琪
中文詞Lyrics：陳鎮川

妳是誰 怎麼一夜不睡
重覆一樣的音樂 不肯承認正為愛受累
早就過了 青澀歲月
卻仍然心裡有個空缺 便急著想要有人陪
無怨無悔 又忘了最後要受的罪
妳的美 有些憔悴
抿著嘴說不出抱怨 躲著偷偷流眼淚

最初那一句台詞 填補了寂寞位子
它不關年少無知 誰都高估愛的價值
平凡的女子
清醒一次一次 糊塗一次一次
不過是
再見那一個手勢 便明白到此為止
說穿了有些諷刺 從沒把握一生一世
痛難免真實
多出來的鑰匙 留給愛的堅持
下一次

聽妳的故事 笑得有些衿持
怎麼會和我那麼相似
開始結束 彷彿公式
是誰說愛情就該如此 失控哭一哭就會沒事
一個堅持 究竟容得多少次的迷失
讓過程 都像歌詞
不過短短幾行文字 當作紀念的心事

Hope you enjoy the song recommendation from me. Have a good day tomorrow!

(Lyrics source: http://www.haoting.com/htmusic/135515ht.htm)

(Video source: kubaobao, 02 Jan 2007, Youtube)