My New Room and Random Items

Since this book-out, actually, I've moved to a new room. Actually, it's not a room, just a space created for me to do my stuff and sleep. The main reason is because somebody wanted to rent a room in our flat urgently and our tenants have not moved out yet, so I was "forced" to give up my room... A bit cram, but since more than half of the time I won't be at home anyway, and I'm able to carry on my life as usual, I guess it's okay? 

This is my living room, and the space at the corner is my new "room"...

This is how it looks like...

Bed + Computer

My bed (sorry, didn't notice about the shadows at the 4 corners...)

My "working" table...

And my Go board...

And finally, after a few weeks, I've collected all 6 coca-cola bottles! Those who doesn't know about it please refer to the McDonald's Website: http://www.mcdonalds.com.sg/index.html

The 6 coca-cola bottles! From left to right: Green, Pink, Blue, Lime, Purple, Cobalt. Yah, I know the pink and green doesn't look pink and green, but well, at least they are coloured...

I think this is the best picture I could take so I won't bother taking anymore... Anyway, my favourite is the blue bottle! And why do I want to collect? Actually, it's just because I couldn't collect all 5 Olympic bottles last year, so I just felt like collecting all 6 this time... Yah, I ate so many McDonald's just for these bottles...

And here's my favourite rabbit: LOVE

Posting some more pics of random items in my house:

A very cute alarm clock. I bought it at a Pasar Malam for $10

BOSS coffee. This one was taken sometime ago. I went to try this coffee because Ayumi was in the commercial of this coffee once. Doesn't really taste special...

Got some new stuff to complain about, but I think I won't write it here since it won't solve my problems, and it doesn't fit this entry also...

Gonna disappear for 10 days from tomorrow onwards... Sigh...

Afternoon at Japanese Association

Since there was no selection tournament held today, I went for the monthly weiqi gathering at Japanese Association of Singapore. There, I can play weiqi and read comic and drink beer. What a wonderful place!

Li Chao is sleeping?

And Yurica is laughing...?

When I reached there there were only 4 person, so I started reading the weekly Go magazine first. I saw the news about World Amateur Championship, and on the front page was a picture of Hu Yuqing carrying the Champion trophy. It was so big! Will I get this kind of trophy one day? And JC's photos were also found on the magazine. Haiz, if only it was me going there...

I was posing but my head was cut off...

Played 1 game with Mori San and after that was reviewing the game Li Chao played with Xie Tang for tourney. I realised that Li Chao like to play those kind of very messy games! Hmm, I don't really like messy games... Must be more careful the next time I play him, haha.

Hollister...

After Yurica came and Li Chao started playing with Mori San I went to the Manga Room downstairs to read my manga. Yay! I read 6 volumes of Detective Academy Q. Actually I already watched the anime, so I flipped through the pages quite fast. I feel the manga is nicer, as the sequence of events in the anime is a bit messy. After that, had dinner with Yurica and Lichao in the lounge at 7.30, and went home straight away.

Yurica is obviously eating something...

And she has finished eating...

Tomorrow I will be doing something for the first time... Wonder if I will be able to do it well...

Chain of Unhappiness

Is this month meant to be my unlucky month? So many things have happened, so many things have made me so sad...

Firstly, at the start of the month, I was told that we are not allowed to take leave during the 7 days when we are mounting. The reason our officer gave was that they do not want the duty to be disrupted. What the... Who would be so stupid as to take leave on a stand-by day, when we can book out at 5? I still have so many days of leave left, and I wonder how I am going to use them...

On the Sunday 2 weeks before, when I was at home, I received an SMS asking me whether I can go for Yanglaoshi's birthday celebrations on the coming Saturday. It was a surprise party, and would be disguised as another person's birthday. I said I wouldn't be able to make it, but actually I wanted to take leave so that I could attend. If I took leave I would be able to make it for the PC Show also. But I couldn't, as stated in the previous paragraph. So, on Tuesday, I asked for Yanglaoshi's hp no. so that I can call him on the actual day to wish him happy birthday. It's sort of making up for not being there. But... he wasn't willing to give me! He kept saying that keep this a secret and don't tell Yanglaoshi about it, and he only gave me the number after asking another person to call me to make sure I won't tell Yanglaoshi before the actual day. Do I really look that suspicious? Am I such a person? Would I do such a thing to spoil everyone's show? I mean, I also know it's meant to surprise Yanglaoshi, and I want him to be happy also, so why would I tell him? Why can people doubt others so easily? I don't know whether he feels, but I'm kind of hurt by this incident...

It was then I realised that people, or rather I can be hurt so easily...

Then, on last Sunday, Yurica told me that there was a Samsung cup selection on this Saturday. And she said that I may be able to join. Wow, I thought it was a good chance to play with the teachers. So I called James on Monday to register for the competition. He said okay and will put down my name in the participants' list. What a good opportunity! I even changed my schedule on Saturday, including the Weiqi tourney, so that I can leave my Saturday for the competition. But on Tuesday night, Yurica suddenly SMSed to say the teachers are not participating anymore. I immediately called to ask about it, and I was told that only Singapore born Singaporeans are allowed to participate, and SWA has already selected a person to go for the Samsung Cup, hence the selection was cancelled. Never mind the fact that there's no selection held (I still think that a selection tournament is necessary to make it fair, even though I won't be  able to attend even if there's one), but why wasn't I informed? If I didn't call and ask, would I find out that the selection is cancelled only on Saturday when I go there? Well, I haven't paid the registration fees, but I'm still a participant, right? Am I really that unimportant...? (I just checked the Official Website of SWA, and the news wasn't there also...)

Thanks Yurica by the way.

That's not the end... Next week due to some Ops I will be staying in camp all the way from Tuesday to the Thursday after that! That's 10 days! As if staying in for 7 days is not enough, now they want to extend 3 more days, and we are not even compensated. I have to change my schedule again, and so much of my time is taken away... 10 days of things to prepare... 10 days of army food... 10 days of unhappiness...

Haiz... I think I should stop complaining and start doing something useful. To all those whom I mentioned in this entry, I mean no offence and have no hard feelings. Really. I just wanted to say out my thoughts. That's all...

烂柯

太失败了...上一些照片，写一篇日志，竟然花了我一个礼拜的时间...而且我是昨天才开始做的...我真不愧是KOP (King of Procrastination)啊~

Anyway，一年一度的烂柯杯又来了！（也已经结束了...）好不容易请到假，跑去赛场支持我的母校，当然得带上我的Canny啦~谁知道我一到了那边，宝贝相机就被某人给抢走了...结果大部分时间，我的相机都被他霸占，我没有得到很多拍照的机会...不过算了吧，反正他也帮我拍了不少（其实这次的大部分照片都是他拍的...），能达到目的就行了！

今年的赛场还是照样在NYP的Multi-Purpose Hall。这个地方的好处就是地方大，再多参赛者也容纳得了。貌似今年参赛者比去年很多，也多了不少陌生的面孔。不好的地方就是没什么风景...唯一可以观览就是后面的Rock Climbing还有收起来的篮板。想当年，我们在Chinese Garden里下棋，虽然用的是塑料棋子，不过还是蛮有情调的。

去这个比赛也让我认识了一些新的高手。以上就是其中一位。他虽然是参加中学组的秋枰杯，但能够过关斩将把我校的高手都给一一击败并拿到个人冠军，也算是不容易的。正在进行的Singapore Weiqi Tourney网络比赛的第一轮我碰到他，虽然我因为网络不好所以超时了（-_-），但是他的棋明显很厉害。在以后的比赛中我可能会再碰到他，看来我要加倍努力啊~

最终的结果和预想中的一样，华中有惊无险的拿到了中学低年级组，中学高年级组（秋枰杯）和大专组（烂柯杯）的团体冠军。我们蝉联秋枰杯几次，我已经都数不清了。至于烂柯杯，这已经是我们第四次夺得此奖杯。按照惯例，每年到了比赛之前，获冠的学校必须把烂柯杯交还给围棋协会，然后颁给下一个获冠学校。但如果有某校连获三年的话，它将有机会永久保留这个奖杯。而去年，我们就永久性地获得了第一个烂柯杯。就是说我随时回去学校的办公室，应该都可以看到它了。而我们第一次获得烂柯杯，就是在我J1参赛的那一年...看来我的功劳也是蛮大的吧！哈哈~

虽然我们获得了所有的团体冠军，但是个人冠军除了中学低年级组以外全都被其他学校的人夺走了。（中学低年级组前八名都是华中的...）很明显其他学校的围棋水平有所上升，高手也多了不少。所以Junior们，你们还要再接再厉啊！

比赛完了之后，我，WL和TY跟着NTU的一帮人去吃麻辣火锅，也认识了一些围棋社的人。NTU在这次的比赛获得了团体亚军，也算是不错的成绩。说不定明年我帮NTU打比赛的时候，烂柯杯就会到我们手里了！哈哈~

下半年还有很多围棋比赛，我也不可以再坐视旁观了。一定要好好努力，把失去的棋感找回来！

不过我最近还是想去玩~~谁有空去唱K啊?

The remaining photos can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97870&id=545686096&l=4b36a93a47

Sorry, I'm lazy to post a gallery here... Here's one last funny photo:

LOL =D

Night at the Army

Booked out today. Got a bit of scolding when we were dismounting, and as a result our book-out was delayed, but this is small matter. Went to eat Pizza Hut and watched Night at the Museum 2 with my friends at night. Actually, I seldom go out with my army friends, and since I had nothing on today I thought it would be good to go and hang out with them.

The movie was quite nice. I watched Night at the Museum several days ago, and I can say that the content was as funny. However there were also significant differences between the first and the second movie. The first one more of a pure comedy, while the second one comprises more romance and adventure. And the second movie was more predictable than the first, as we already know more or less what's going to happen. Nevertheless, I feel it's a movie that everyone will enjoy, and I would definitely recommend it. Go and watch if you haven't! You can learn some history too!

This duty cycle was quite smooth. Nothing major happened. On some days I did more duty, but I still tried to go and exercise every night. Otherwise I will just keep on growing fatter... There was once when one of the NSmen was talking to us about our officer. He said when you scold people too much, people will definitely take revenge on you. Usually I would agree with him, but at that moment I seemed to sympathize with my officer. He wasn't doing anything wrong by scolding people. Those people getting scolded were doing the wrong things in the first place. He was merely asking them to be more by-right, i.e. do the right things. However in this society it seems that asking people to do the right things, or even doing the right things seems to be wrong... What has happened to all the traditional values we believed in?

The more I stay in army, the more I learn about the ugly side of life... Oh god, why is the world like this?

Reporting Sick

Yesterday, I reported sick for the first time in my army life. Before that, I have never seen an MO (Medical Officer) before, neither have I been to the MC (Medical Centre). Actually I didn't want to report sick initially, but I said I'm not feeling well and my superior forced me to go and report sick, so I had no choice...

I didn't like to report sick, because I was afraid that others might say I chao keng. I didn't want others to have this kind of image, because I'm not the kind who see doctor even when I'm not sick. But now that I realised everybody does chao keng in one way or another, why should I be left out? Yes, nobody wants to do work and want to push all the work to others. That's how army is.

Anyway, so I went to MC to see the MO, and was prescribed some medicine for slight flu. I had this flu for several days already, so it was good that I could get medicine for it in camp. At least I don't need to go and see a doctor outside. And it's FREE! Hmm, I have a feeling that I want to visit the MC more often in the future...

Going back to camp tomorrow... Hope nothing bad will happen in this 7 days...

Always with me (Piano) ~to my dear mum~

いつも何度でも (Always with me)

Music From "千と千尋の神隠し" (Spirited Away)
Composed by 久石譲 (Joe Hisaishi)

This is the piano solo version of this song. It can be found in several albums, one of them being "Piano Sings Japanese Animation Themes". Honestly, I like this piano version a lot, more than the original song. The movie is also one of my favourite Miyazaki Hayao Movies.

I slowed down the pace a little so that it's easier to play and I won't rush at the later part. Still, I made a lot of minor mistakes here and there (minor based on my level). I also tried to bring out the dynamics, but I guess this is the best I can get.


昨天是母亲节。在上个礼拜，我一直在想要给我妈买什么礼物，要怎么给她庆祝，但怎么想也想不到。到了礼拜天了，我还是没有主意...看来我平时留意她留意得不够啊~于是最后，我决定做一顿饭给她吃，然后给她买了一块蛋糕，算是尽一点孝心吧。

蛋糕是在Break Talk买的。前几天我有看到一个更好看的蛋糕，一小块一小块那种，有点像Strawberry Shortcake的，不过我礼拜天去的时候已经没有了。其实我以前无论买什么东西，总是会被我妈说一顿，说什么太贵啊，没必要买啊，为什么没有先问她啊之类的。所以这次呢，我也有点怕被她骂...但后来还好，她还是吃得挺开心的，毕竟我也附了一张写了贴心话的卡片。

我做的饭是咖喱饭，因为不需要炒很多盘菜所以很方便。我用的是日本的咖喱。费了我们九牛二虎之力，终于完成了。但可能水放少了，所以煮出来的咖喱味有点太浓了。不过第一次做成这样，也算不错吧。以后我可以自己做了，也可以做给别人吃了！Yay!

亲爱的妈咪，我希望您以后永远身体健康，过个快快乐乐的生活。上面的这首曲子，也算是我给您弹的！让我再跟您说一声：“母亲节快乐！”

呼んでいる 胸のどこか奥で
いつも心躍る 夢を見たい
かなしみは 数えきれないけれど
その向こうできっと あなたに会える

Reasons Of Extra Confinement

This mounting had been very peaceful and smooth. Not only do we mount one day less, the first 3 days are either public holiday or weekend, so there is much less duty to do. There was one day when I slept the whole morning and another day when I slept the whole afternoon! It's that relac... Furthermore a new batch of Sea Soldiers just joined us during this mounting, so we have more manpower and hence less duty for lao jiao like me. However, just when I was enjoying my time here, the worst thing happened...

It happened on Monday night. Suddenly I realised something is amiss, and I immediately went to check whether it's still there. To my horror, it wasn't... I've lost it... I've lost the most important thing one can lose during mounting, other than rifle and rounds! OMG...

I've almost lost it before. That time my platoon mates helped me look for it, and it was eventually found. But this time, I couldn't find it anywhere... I searched all the places it could be, all the places I've been to and walked through, but it was nowhere to be found...

I'm very sure I placed it in my pocket. Even though I changed uniform on Sunday, I definitely transferred everything to my new uniform, unless my memory fails me. Due to my previous experience, I even buttoned up the pocket to prevent it from falling out accidentally. Therefore, it couldn't have been an accident... At least that's what I think.

Of course I told my immediate superior about it immediately. He asked me to go and search for it first. After another day of fruitless searching, I gave up... The next day, I told him it cannot be found anymore.

I did an incident report, and my other superiors knew about it as well. Currently I'm still waiting for my sentence, as they need to wait for the investigation report to come out first. I don't know how heavy it could be... Probably can put me inside for many many days...

Why am I so suay? Why must it happen to me? If it was someone who took it, I don't think there would be any use even if he returns it to me now... I will still be punished... But still, I want to know who. Why do you do this to me? Do you really hate me that much?

And me getting confined isn't my own problem alone...

KBOX + Gathering + Birthday

女生上了大学，男生入了兵役之后，大家都个忙个的，很少有时间聚在一起。上个星期六，这个机会终于来了，真是开心。

拜六早上，我，MJ和LX先去了附近的NTUC买菜，以准备在晚上食用。过后，我们坐车去Clementi跟WL和MY回合，然后去那里的KBOX唱K。本来也叫了TY来的，谁知道他临时告诉我要留在兵营值班，所以出不来。晕...

我们从下午两点半唱到6点半左右。我记得以前是一点开始的，不知道为什么现在改到两点半了。难道地方不一样时间段也不一样？其实MJ有提议过要不要去玩点别的，不过除了唱K以外我想不到其他好玩的东西...（是我孤陋寡闻还是新加坡生活就是这么无聊？）而且大家也有一段时间没有唱K了，所以我说干脆就去KBOX吧。

其实我这个人比较适合去唱日语的Karaoke。我知道的日语歌的数量跟华文歌的数量根本没法比，而且华文歌每次唱来唱去都是那几首，没有新鲜感。当然唱是唱得痛快啦，不过还有很多别的歌是我想尝试的...

忘了说了，上个礼拜我的口腔里一直有很多毛病。一是舌头起泡，而是不小心咬到自己而起溃疡。直到星期五，我嘴巴一直痛得说不了话，吃不了饭...其实星期六的时候还是有一点痛，不过已经好多了，没有碍我唱歌。幸运啊~至于为什么舌头气泡，我也不知道。可能那几天热所以上火了吧，不过我是那么容易就上火的吗？

某人不敢出现在镜头里，所以我只好偷拍...

Magic: Floating iPOD

WL因为晚上要去看黄城所以中途就走了。本来我以为过了时间也可以再唱一会儿的，谁知道一到时间他们就把我们点的所有歌给删掉了，而且也不能再点了。于是我们就一直按“下一首”，看随机播的MV里面有没有我们会唱的，谁知道播来播去都是同样那几首。咳，现在KBOX的管理员变聪明了...

唱完K过后，我们一起回到了我家吃火锅。过不久HX，ZW，和ZH就来了，于是我们就开始准备料理。女生们负责剥皮，切菜，男生们负责...给他们打气。用兵营的话说就是所谓的"eye power"吧，哈哈~我开了一罐午餐肉，不过挖出来的时候没有弄好，结果弄得乱七八糟...还好后来MJ及时挽救，把午餐肉切得似模似样的。

两位小厨师



准备菜料

没过多久我们就开始吃火锅了。因为ZW不吃辣的，所以我们给她准备了另外一个锅。要是当初买一个鸳鸯锅就好了，不过那种锅似乎很贵...早上买菜的时候，我还怕买少了，后来才知道我是过于担心。桌上那么多盘菜和肉，到最后几乎一半都没有吃完...下次我应该多叫一点男生啊~

这是什么pose...?

虽然我们用的是重庆麻辣火锅的底料，但不知道为什么我不觉得这次的火锅辣。我是一直在擤鼻涕，一直在冒汗，不过我还承受得了。当然白菜那些事吃不了啦，不过其他菜我还是吃得津津有味的。这要感谢准备菜单的MJ!

收拾了吃剩的菜之后，就是吃蛋糕的时间了。前几天MJ因为考试而没庆祝生日，所以那天算是补过吧。她应该是第二个在我家过生日的人。生日蛋糕看起来很普通，而且好像在哪儿吃过，不过这些都不重要啦~最重要是大家有机会聚在一起嘛~

为什么ZH每次都没有看着镜头...

许了愿，吹了蜡烛过后就开始切蛋糕了。不过还没有切完就看到两个馋嘴的人不停地在旁边偷吃，而且被我拍下来了...哈哈。聊了一会儿过后，他们因为第二天有事所以回去了。要不然我们可以玩通宵的...不过算了吧，能找个大家都有空的时间，一起玩一玩，吃一吃饭，已经够开心的了。女生们现在是放假期间，个个都要回国了...所以可能我们这些当兵的男生要寂寞一段时间...不过没关系，以后还有的是机会嘛~况且我自己还有那么多事情要做，时间是永远不够用的...

其余的照片：http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89965&id=545686096&l=e634d6d0db

PS 顺便给韩路宣传一下他的新videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zj4AYp3Rfo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7YzjUB_z-8

Castle in the Sky - Innocent (Piano)

Innocent

Music from 《天空の城ラピュタ》 (Laputa, the Castle in the Sky)
Taken from the Album 《Piano Stories》 by 久石譲 (Joe Hisaishi)


Basically this song is a rearrangement of the main theme song, 君をのせて (Carrying you), but is much easier. The main melody is the same, and I like this melody a lot. I also like the piano version of Carrying you, but that one is a bit harder to learn, so I learnt this one first. I should be moving on to Carrying you in the near future.

Again, it took me a lot of time to film it... The song is easy to learn, but filming it is another thing. After about 10 tries I finally got it right. The dynamics part somehow cannot be shown in the film clearly, or rather with this piano and camera it's very hard to catch the dynamics (not that I played it very well, though...).

I think this piano of mine is really old... I hope to get a better one if I have the chance.

And I just realised that many people have played this song and posted on youtube already... Many of them play better than me (of course), haha. But never mind since I've already posted it. It's sort of gaining experience, you know.

I've also watched the actual movie some time ago. I believe if I were a kid, I would be touched by it, but watching it now doesn't give me a lot of feelings. The idea of a castle floating in the sky for many many years is very interesting though, and the music is also very nice, just like all the songs composed by Joe Hisaishi. When he composed the Soundtrack for this film, I wasn't even born yet! LOL

Took IPPT today. For those of you all who don't know, IPPT is sort of Physical Fitness Test in army. Last year I got Silver, and this year I am aiming for Silver again. However, just after the test started to rain. And the rain got heavier as time passed... We still took the indoor stations, but the last station, 2.4 km run, had to be carried out outdoors. Hence we waited, and waited, and waited for the rain to stop... But God was so harsh that he didn't blow the rain clouds away... So, the IPPT today was void and I need to come back to take next time...My one day off and the $100 that comes with a Silver is also gone... for now.

Tomorrow I will be booking in for another round of 7 days. After this round a new batch of Sea Soldiers will be joining the platoon, so there will be more manpower and duty will be less siong. Yes, just a bit more to endure...

Ok, I shall go and tidy up my room now... I have not done that for...hmm, weeks? Haha...

Here's a funny video I found: