Let the sleeping dog lie

Retail Therepy and San Marcos Factory Outlet

Round round get around, driving around!!!

San Marcos Factory Outlet, ranked as the world 3rd best place to shop. Approx 241 miles, approx 4 hours drive from Dallas to reach the factory outlet. Its will be a wasteful trip not to buy anything after traveling for such long distance. Been a long long time I last splurge money on shopping (The last was during my LV trip) and although the rain slow us down during the shopping spree, I still manage to get what I want and a bit of extra. Spend almost US$300, a portion of the bonus we got during May.

Oakley Half Jacket Array, Fire and Ice lens, US$185

Oakley Skull Pants US$30 each

Polo Ralph Tees, US$9.99

Timberland Sandlers (very very comfy for my flat foot), US$29.90

Timberland Surf Shorts US$19.90

Piglet to complete my Winnie the Pooh collection plus Mickey and Minnie
brought it because buy 3 for US$20

SATISFACTION OF THE SHOPPING TRIP?
PRICELESS

For everything else there is the VISA and Mastercard :)

Money sitting in the bank is useless unless you materialize it since you can't bring it to heaven or hell when you are dead. Materialization of money is shopping and shopping is retail therapy. Why not spend some of it rather than leading a miser life. No I'm not depress of something and of course not filthy rich too but occasionally spending money for something you like can make you feel good. At less its not on drugs or alcohol addiction or outrageous gambling.

Of course everything must have a budget right? I am still focus of saving up before I head back to Singapore. Have set S$20K as my minimum saving target.

BBQ evening

The weather forecast rain and thunderstorm tonight at 80% but thank god nothing happen in my apartment estate and that makes tonight BBQ session smooth and sweet. Yesterday it was dizzily the whole day while we were having our farewell party for the couple of guys heading back to Singapore at the end of this month. Although there is lots of BBQ food the match the crowd, the rain means most of them have station themselves in the club house rather than heading out to BBQ in a small crampy sheather beside the swimming poor. Eventually there was lots of BBQ food and supplies left over. So I took it back home and organized a mini BBQ at the mini-golf course behind my place. So the weather looks pretty bad but not a single drop of rain water fell from the sky tonight to extinguish the flame we prepared.

Tried to invite all my RT guys over today. Only Encik Sin, Gary, Garfield and Master Andy turn up. Jason got a dinner appointment, Encik Ravi was MIA, Dave and Leng Chuan are still in Las Vegas trying to win back their holiday expenses. Edwin came along and joined us with his family to join us as well. And lets not forget Ricky, my housemate who unhooked himself from his usual computer game to join in the fun. A small crowd today but not too big that anyone or everyone can't speak to each other conductively. Spend about 30 bucks to get the beer and some extra supplies for the BBQ but its all worth it and I am already intending to organize another mini BBQ after coming back from Joint Thunder Exercise.

Gary the fire starter

Gary cast blaze level 3

Andy, just sitting waiting to be serve

Ricky smiling for the cam

VIP of the day, RAY!!!

Small little corner we got for the BBQ. Its free! Come with Pit.

Our cooking crew.

Chef of the day, Garfield....no cat meat please.

Quality check by Encik Sin and Gary. Taste check by Edwin...drooling.

BURN!!! Mallow!!! BURN!!! We use the pork fats as fuel to BBQ Mash Mallow.

After the BBQ, some of the guys played a few round of Gran Turismo 4 at my place. I got the racing seat and the steering wheel. An Arcade setup in the comfort of the home... I kinda like the picture I took of Garfield while he is at the wheel, the motion blur of the hand and the TV screen shows the pace of the game. Sure hope the seat is easily adjustable cause Gary seems to have a hard time bending his longer leg from the pedals.

Fujilampa TakoPachi a.k.a Garfield.

Phonenix Wright Ace Attorney

Recently felt a bit boliao and 无所事事 thus decided to make Desktop wallpapers of the most played game on my Nintendo DS Lite, "Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney". This game played in a typical linear style stars a young defense lawyer name Phoenix Wright who always land himself with client wrongly accused with murder. Whats worst is that the Prosecutors are mainly top notch in their field of profession and will go all the way to have a guilty verdict and even worst is all the evidence that pile up against his client (or it seems to be).

Played in a typical manga comics story style, with animated character, thought provoking investigation and humorous dialogs the player (like me) follow the character through the investigation phase to collect evidence and witness account. Next is the court trial stage where the objective is always to gain a not guilty verdict for the defendants with the power of evidence and sniffing out contradiction in witness account through cross examination in court.

The player have a life bar, presenting the wrong evidence will result in penalization by the Judge thus sucking a portion of the life bar. When the life bar is zero, the defendant will be found Guilty and its game over. So a good observation of clues in the game and a careful mind to spot contradiction is essential in clearing each trial.

So here are 3 wallpaper suitable for 1280 x 800 monitor resolution for you guys to download. Credit have to go to the RPG FAN WEBSITE which published the pictures I needed to make this wallpapers. Click on each picture to enlarge it, right click on the enlarged pictures and set it as desktop background. Cheers!!! :)

Rock, Heavy Metal and Ballad

I love electric guitar bass and rhythm in Rock, Heavy metal and rock ballad song. Sometimes in 7 month "Ge Tai" hokkien song as well. Alas, my left fingers are no longer that fast and flexible to press those six strings and numerous chords and my right fingers are not that fast strumming and fretting and plucking those strings. Well, I still wanna play to the tune of my favorite rock song though and now...finally there is a game call Guitar Heroes that let me do so without the six strings. Just 5 buttons and a fret key. Tons of nice official rock song in the game and 4 difficulty to play with, EASY, MEDIUM, HARD, EXPERT. I am already facing a challenge in MEDIUM level with just 4 buttons, lets not even dwell about using all 5 buttons or moving on to the real guitar stuff!!!



Now this game really earn my respect for all those great guitarist out there. Beating the game is hard enough and playing the song in real life sure takes a lot of talent and practice so as not to miss a beat. I am even contemplating getting an electric guitar after playing the game but I also want to be a good neighbor :).

Brought this game at a deal, 60 bucks only compare to 79 bucks in store. Brought this because my favorite gaming song when playing the game at Fry's Electronic Outlet in the past is in there.... Gun N Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine. Here is the in game cut scene not done by me since I have not tried playing 5 buttons yet (haven't grown a sixth finger yet) and the actual MTV.

Spring flower bloom

Last week was a week of serious thunderstorm, heavy shower and minor flooding. This week is totally hot and humid. Not that good of a combination for creature comfort but its sure does wonder for the dormant seeds of my potted plants.




I actually have replant the first two pot in the picture when a strong gust of wind knock it over and spilling the dirt and the seeds. Now look at how fast those two daisy seedlings have grown!

Must not miss a single plant watering cycle to ensure their survival. Summer coming and its gonna be very hot.

Sun Rise after work, shag leh...

Wah...so long never stretch the working hours. Today, on my way back home after night shift work.. I have the chance to admire the dawn sun rise while driving 70 mph back home along the highway. Should have been 90mph if not for the early morning slight rush hour traffic.

So shag. Did lots of stuff at work but still don't feel any sense of achievement at all. Suddenly work felt routine again, life felt stagnant, everything seems like a deja vu of yesterday...a repeat episode. Haiz...no break through recently and thats kind of boring.

Just got an e-mail reply from my sis and glad to know she is doing super fine in her career and Hong Leong Bank and also her sideline in MLM. Guess she one of the success story in Network marketing among the dozen of failures. To be frank, even though her salary is 1 extra digit compare to mine... I don't feel inferior at all even thought I am the elder brother. Just felt really really proud and honor to have such capable sis. Well, she is gonna mod her Mitsubishi Lancer and I guess its gonna look like an EVOLUTION the next time I get back home.

Felt that life is stablized now. No chaos but also no windfall...just natural equilibrium which is good and I hope it can maintain this way. Talking about future plans, my mind is a blank. Haiz...where is my ambition and objective in life??? Somehow it looks like I am in a rat race right now... been controlled by a boss and not minding my own business, a donkey following the carrot (my monthly salary). NEED A BREAKTHROUGH!! NEED A BREAKTHROUGH!!!

Today I play Nintendo DS "Brain Age" and realise my Brain Age is 80 when I am on 26 years old. Thats the result of stagnantation. So I tell myself, must play my Nintendo DS and the Brain Age game everyday to exercise my brain.

Tired liao...sibei shag...no wonder I feel like I am writing nonsense. Zzzzzz

Texas Hold Em...I lost today.

From left: Garfield the "Predictable", Yishun the "Chip Illusionist", Kok Meng "The Paralyzed Analyzer" and Ricky the "Giant Killer".

Yes man, admit defeat for the lack of concentration and lack of bluffing, counter bluffing and counter counter bluffing in the game. Lost 4 out of 4 TEXAS HOLD'EM games today but at less the buy in for each games is only US$5. Such small among is trivia to me when I consider that its a good way to have social gathering at my house and also get an insight into my fellow psychological mindset when they are under stress. Also, I learn how to be a good host too!!!

Kok Meng as usual like to analyze and analyze till he become paralyze sometimes. Like to "ALL IN" for NOTHING.

Ricky is cool as cucumber and as usual the biggest winner for the day, 2 out of 4 games. Nick name the giant killer for his "against all odds" of crashing player with overwhelming amount of chips.

John is pretty quiet at the table, not much of trash talking like me. A calm player. Did better today grabbing the 2nd place twice. Luck getting better and better each week. Like to keep chip under the table in an effort to trick others that he is low on chip.

Garfield never bluff. So it make him predictable but not today... he evolve into another creature and all past trending of his playing style does not work today. Lost all my chips to him twice by a 3 pair and a 2 pair... worst suit for him to win but he did it.

As for me, I hope I could one day get an Oscar award for bluffing my way through the games.

Audit is the world...

Audit in our empire is consider the World Biggest Wayang show. Every year its all about putting up a smoke screen of deception and hiding compromising stuff away from the auditors. Not that we guys are guilty of any wrong doing or what but if we were to strictly follow the policy word by word, we will never get the job done at all.

Some policy are extremely bullshit and full of inefficiency, others are stupid. There are organization policy that is important and have value to our daily work while there are others which are there in words but not in practice for they are simply too much of a hassle and no value added at all.

Sometimes I think whats the point of getting whatever ISO awards, Productivity award or PSB cert when we are all actually a military organization where focus is on defense? Adding salt to the wound is the fact that every audit is about hiding things from the auditors and manipulating paper works to adhere to policies because it was a problem to follow in the past. Everything I see is just a so call a deliberate public image.

The only solution I see to make the Empire a better place and not having to hid here and there like some creature of prey is a collective effort by everyone to bring up issue of our work process policy and challenge the higher authority on the rationale behind every conflicting lines. Sometimes its all about asking why why and why. To comply, you first need to be convince and to be convince there better be a bloody good reason for rule 1,2 or 3.

Come Monday is the start of a week of Wayang show against the auditors who came all the way from Singapore...

Scarborough Renaissance Festival

After much planning and postponement, we finally made our way to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival located many miles south of Dallas. The festival is like the Japanese Cosplay but instead of Anime character, the people dress up in costume of medieval or Renaissance themes and participate in activities held in a Renaissance theme town. So other than the patrons like us who are modernly dressed, everything in the festival town brings you back 100 years back in time, bit of a English town here, Spanish town there and French in the Center.

The Fairy

The Knight

The Priest

Lots of games stall, gift shop, novelty store and food around the town. There are also several performing stage scatter around the festival town and my favorite is definitely the Jousting arena. At less now I could see a real Jousting instead of watching it on TV or the game Heroes Of Might And Magic. Not much of a blood and gore or death but the whole performance was very elaborated. There is a mock-up King sitting in the center while two rival knights competed for glory with their charging lance. Even before the fight begin, both sides are already taunting each other but in a very gentleman manner like "Sir, I will fall you from the horse and lay your pathetic weak body under my horse". I 'm sure its more vulgar in the past like "Prick! I knock your ass of the horse and you eat the crap while my horse lay upon you!".

Attention! Rise for the national anthem

Sir Hairy and Lord Metal Head

Gear up....

CHARGE!!!!!

Did I mention that those who came here, dressed for the occasion are call Play-tron instead of Patron? Sure hope I have a Chinese Emperor costume and come here as a Play-tron though. Maybe the Jade Emperor will be really cool. Anyway, at noon time it was the Grand Parade where all the representative of different shop in the town and Play-tron could join in for a march around the town. Interesting sight, like Chingay without the floats and lights.

The Grand Parade lead by some Irish Knights

Next comes the Begger Sect.

Very discipline Scottish warrior, Left right left in cadence

How can we leave out food in such occasion!?!?! One of the food highlight here is the giant Turkey leg... So big I can hardly finish it.

I can't finish it...

Shirlene can't finish it too

Ricky have a hard time chewing it...

Aaron can't even bite it!!!

But Garfield finish it!!! Incredible...

Favourite game at the Festival where everyone of us played? Shooting arrow, thats what we military personal are best at...

Munkit showing off his years of RSAF arrowing skills

Stay tune next time when I upload the Festival photo album online and post the link right here. In the mean time, leave you guys with my favorite character at the festival, this warrior that never smile.

Somewhere out there...

You know how sometime, while you are bathing a song just suddenly pop into you mind and you start huming it? Today it was this song from a very nice animation I watched when I was in primary school. The animation is "An American Tail" and the song, sung by this cute little mouse name "Fievel" was call "Somewhere Out There". Very sweet voice of a mouse...

Run as fast as I can

My favourite part of the Annual Military Physical Test was the 1.5 miles/2.4km run. Not only am I good in it but this test always send me an andrenaline rush. I hope I could have run faster today if not for the stupid protein powder drink I had for breakfast this morning which give me a quirky stomach through the run. Still came in second place today at an astonishing 8mins 13secs, losing only to Staff Sergent Beck who have a amazing breath during the last 100m stretch, zooming past me and taking the glory. hahah. I am sure there is something wrong with the stop watch cause at my prime, I was only running like 8mins 45secs. I sure sense the run today is much more slower thanks late nights and protein powders. Should have taken steroids instead. of protein powder..hahah

Nevertheless it was nice to reach the finishing line first among my RSAF colleagues. Suddenly I thought to myself, when was the last time I got this feeling than I was better than others, I am first and I am confident? Sure is a long time ago, maybe during poly time when I can feel ya ya papaya about my academic ability. Ever since after Poly times, things just went down hill for a while. Even getting a certificate of merit for my performance in Air Force School did not make a good difference to the trouble I met in the past. Oh Riccardo, let bygones be bygones.

Now I was ask if I will be interested to take part in the Dallas White Rock Marathon by the American guy. To be honest, even completing the 21km half marathon twice in the past, I am still skeptical about my ability to complete a marathon. Thinking back on my running milestones, I did a 3km cross country in Primary school, 5km cross country in secondary, a 10km run in Sentosa, 5km and 1.5kim competion in Air Force School where I got 2nd place in both of em (a pilot win) and two 21km Half Marathon. Think about it, I should be more than ready to tackle a Marathon right now with adequte training and preparation. WHATS HOLDING ME BACK?

I guess its the work commitment I have back in the Base, at the end of the day I am just too tired to really go to train let alone waking up earlier than the other guys and heading to base earlier in the morning to train with the Ang Mo. There is laundry to wash, housekeeping to do, cooking to be done, bills to be settled, TV series to be completed, books to be finish reading... Lots of those excuse to shy away from something that could actually enrich my life better. Well representing my peers in PP Det to run in the Marathon sure is a good thing and even better still, the first guy from the Logistic side to run in USA. So now I got the chance to be the first again?

Am I afraid of failure for the reason why I don't consider taking part? Maybe.... I just don't wanna commit with the pressure of expecatation from people who knew I took part. Fame and glory? No... Every run I did, I do it for myself and I don't like the feeling of not finishing a run even if I came second, third or last. I will consider the Marathon in US (how many people got the chance to run here and share the story back home) but for the mean time, I Run as fast as I can...

Lynyrd Skynrd - Free Bird

Chance upon this wonderful old rock song by Lynyrd Skynyrd, titled FREE BIRD. Saw this band album while working at Sembawang Music Center many years back but never heard their song untill today. Thought they were just another ordinary band but after the hearing this song, the guitar rhymtm kept playing in my mind over and over again.

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on,
now,cause theres too many places Ive got to see.
But, if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldnt be the same.
cause Im as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I cant change.

Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.
Though this feeling I cant change.
But please dont take it badly,
cause lord knows Im to blame.
But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldnt be the same.

Cause Im as free as a bird now,
And this bird youll never change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I cant change.
Lord help me, I cant change.