Which one would you choose?

You walked into an antique shop. You saw two clocks whose designs were fantastic. However, you only had enough money to buy one of the clocks. Both clocks were a bit spoilt. The first clock (A) showed the correct time only two times every day, while the second clock (B) never showed correct time in the past 10 years. Nevertheless, you were still bent on buying either one of the clocks.

The question is, which one would you choose? A or B? (must choose either one)

又生病了...

我以前很少生病的。在初中和高中加在一起的6年内，我生病几乎不超过5次吧。而且就算生病，我也不会去看医生，等那个病自己消失。但不知道为什么，在这两个月内，我已经去看病看了两次了...两次都是感冒。是我的身体越来越弱了，还是有什么其它原因？对了，一定是NS害的...

本来今天回去就要在兵营呆上7天的，但我昨天开始就感冒，头疼，泻肚子，所以我决定今天去见MO（Medical Officer）。本来也没有奢望可以回家，但那个MO竟然让我回去休息一天，于是我马上就从兵营走出来了。除了我之外，貌似还有其他人生病，不过他们更厉害，连来都没来，直接在外面看病。我在这方面还是经验不足啊~不过那个MO也真是的，要给就直接给两天嘛，干嘛只给一天呢。咳...

这是我第一次去了兵营之后因为生病而回来。以前我一直不想去见MO，是因为我怕别人以为我CK（Chao Keng:装病），影响我的声誉，不过现在已经不管了。我也要学一学新加坡人的思想，可以免费看病，又可以回家，不看白不看呀~我也发现，去看病的那些人当中，CK的占多数，像我这样真的生病的其实很少。有些人还甚至会在大家面前故意拖着脚走路呢！听我今天见的MO的语气，他似乎也以为我是CK，就随便应付了我一下，给了我一天的假。咳...算了吧，能回家就不错啦。

转移一下话题。在近几天举行的第七届春兰杯三番棋决赛当中，常昊直落两盘以2比0击败李昌镐，夺得冠军。常昊又赢了！他最近势头很猛，近期包括这两盘已经取得了10连胜，近几年也囊入了不少世界冠军，而李昌镐却颗粒无收。万年老二的绰号，似乎要转给李昌镐了...

我当然替常昊感到高兴，但我也难免觉得李昌镐有点可怜。从这两盘棋的内容可以看出，李昌镐的体力和计算力明显有下降，在关键时刻总是看错棋，导致崩溃。身为棋迷，我也不希望李昌镐就此衰落。曾经夺下那么多世界冠军的他，现在竟然落到这种下场，真是有点可悲...

常昊，恭喜你！李昌镐，加油吧！

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...