Replugged - Lesson 6

The hard part gets harder. Playing different inversion during the 4 beats, maybe 2 root + 2 second inversion or 2 first inversion + 2 second inversion or 3 root + 1 second inversion, the combination is endless and the deal is to be able to react and change while playing which is "Mission Impossible 4" for now.

2 new "friends", the A7 and E major key, 2 difficult "friends". The damn fingering for these 2 "friends" is neither impossible nor comfy, is in the region of quite difficult + cramped fingers. Traversing between the inverse of these 2 "friends" is even more challenging !

Anyway, yet a new song to learn and somehow didn't master the old ones

你怎么舍得我难过

对你的思念 是一天又一天
.
.
.
最爱你的人是我
在我最需要你的时候
没有说一句话就走 ....

无题

虽花已落 意难忘
视有若无 又何必
近水楼台 虽得月
从前不在 曾拥有
人生若只 如初见
春夏秋冬 不再变
繁华如梦 总无凭
人间何处 问多情

Dinner@Ellenborough Cafe

Has been there a few times for the buffet and was there on Saturday. Not sure if they expanded their selection as they have 2 more areas where there are spread like oyster, sashimi, scallops and some main dishes.


Of course their attraction are the black bean paste crayfish and the durian pengat if you like durian. The crayfish is like the kind of "Now you see it Now you don't" but the replenishment is quite fast. The salmon sashimi also vanished in the speed of light as people took them in bulk.


How do they make the durian pengat so smooth so consistent ?
One possible version is below ... ( Parental Guidance is advised )


Durians are pry opened by whatever *Not important*

The pengat extractor *The only guy*

a) eats lots of crayfish before he starts
b) will removed each seed and placed them in a big bowl
c) brings out the big bucket
d) warms up his mouth with numerous mouth, jaw and lips excercise
e) puts the seed into this mouth, tugging the seed left right up down using every inch every part of his mouth to remove the flesh, spit out the seed and then the flesh
f) repeats step e) till all the seeds in the bowl are finished or his mouth is cramped




Anyway, was bloated at the end of the feast though seems like we ate nothing much. AMEX card gets a 15% discount, quite good considering the total amount :)

Replugged - Lesson 5

Completed lesson 5 last friday night and was time to pay up another $90 for 4 more lessons :(

Now, the trick is to play 后来 with the left hand single note bass twice during the 4 beats right hand chords. It gets messy initially, as some bass is on the 4th beat and some on the 2nd beat. In addition, the inversion chords does not come naturally, I will paused and think this second inversion of this chord is which notes ? And where are the notes ?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice ... Practice .......

Waiting

I think this movie was in the cinema around July, but did not catch it as is that kind of B-grade "Dude where is my car ?" type of show. I watched it today from my backlog of movies and indeed is what it supposed to be. But quite funny and stupid in its way, I must say some scenes are really kinda of goon and slapstick.

It is a plotless movie about people working in a restaurant, mostly youngster except the manager who supposed had rot there for decades. Since it is plotless, there must be some kind of catalyst.

Firstly there are 2, a newbie who started work, Monty, the so called cool guy waiter was supposed to show him around and the ropes before he gets his hands dirty. Secondly, Dean who was waiting there for around 4 years already, now 22, was in a dilemma on whether he should continue to wait. And his mother broke a news to him that one of his old classmate just got a bachelor degree and got a good job ... blah blah. And on the same day, the manager offered him the assistant manger post !!!

But these are not important, below are the moments of the show :

They got some kind of "male frontal nudity" stupid game going in the restaurant where anyone that can make anyone look at their "genitals" anytime anywhere during work gets to kick his ass 3 times. And the newbie got introduced on the different methods he can present his "thingie".
Wah lau eh, what a script !!!

Calvin who got problem peeing after his phobic experience when someone stare at his genitals, so he gets "Good Luck" from colleagues everytime he go to pee.

And being a restaurants, they got a board in the kitchen counting how many bitches and bastard was in the restaurant !!! But why count ? Because each of their food will get "special" care from the kitchen crew !!!

This is what a bitch got herself on her steak !!!
Extra sauce on her mash potato + a warm and delicious round of "spit"
Garlic bread which got rubbed against the genitals of a crew
Fresh dandruff flakes on her medium steak
Don't mess around with people who handle your food !!!!!

Daily, they will geared up for dinner time, where the crowd piled in.
Foreigners who pretends not to know how to speak English to escape tipping
The manager who didn't know how to serve
Gay couple on the table
Table of high school girls for Monty
Old lesbian ladies on a table flirting with a waitress
Cook sneak out for a screw with the bartender
2 kitchen crew lazing in the cooler sucking whipped cream

And of course the kitchen crew will countdown and hoping nobody will come in at the last minute before they close as they cleaned up early. But those who turned up get "special" too :)
Basically, they get their orders "floored" !!!

Not a bad show for the holiday :)

How to watch free movie ?

GV@Vivo , the new super multiplex with very comfortable seats and ample leg room also allow people to watch movie for free.

The Prestige, 23rd Oct, 18:30, Cinema 7

There are 2 entrances to cinema 2 to 10, separated by only 1 stand. But at that time, only one uncle was there to check and tear away the tickets. As the toilets are inside the cinema, , so we just whisk through the other entrance with ease, either the uncle really "bo chup" or didn't notice us or twlighted us. After using the toilets, I though of going to the uncle to show him the tickets, but then on second thought, if I would have walked over and passed him the tickets, he would be shocked to see me showing him the tickets but in the opposite direction !!!!

So I dropped the idea ...

Eat like Pigs ?

The Food Republic in Vivo is similar to the one at Wisma, with "so called" famous hawker food selling their food there. The whole look and feel is 古色古香, and with everything in wooden, except the cutleries/utensils and staff. This picture was taken last night around 9+, not very packed but still crowded, with queue of 10 odd people at popular stalls. Between the 2 pillars, are stacks of used plates, bowls, cutlery and utensils, somehow no people was clearing it. But it was eventually cleared around 15 mins later. At other tables, unclear mess are also visible, maybe still understaffed or simply too slow or simply "bo chup".

There was an article weeks back in the Strait Times about a Singaporean trying to prove his foreigner friend wrong. Prove what ? Wrong ? About ? His foreigner friend says that Singaporean eat like pigs. During the days and weeks when they are out, scenes of above are evident. Not sure if he was really into proving his friend wrong but to me why is there a need to ? His friend's statement maybe abit too extreme but since this is Singapore, where people, culture, lifestyle and habits are diffrent from where he came from. I mean, if he somehow do not like the scenes he see at hawker centres and food courts, so be it, find another country.

In addition, say on a non-peak hour weekday, at a single table in a hawker centre, a person eating a bowl of noodles with a drink, how messy and dirty can it get ? He meant one will eat the noodles with his hands in public ? or eat till half the noodles are on the table ? or with his mouth smeared with sauces and noodles ?

But if this gets to a large scale, during peak hours on a weekend where many people eating lots of food on a table, it may looked messy and dirty as drinks/food spilt on the table, it get worse when clearing the mess is slow and not thorough enough.

Nonetheless, how serious is that ang moh with his comment only himself knows. And I believe most people here don't even care about what he thinks :) This is the ultimate when one doesn't care about what other thinks !

The Prestige

I believe most of us have seen magic show of some kind, whether it is on TV or on stage. Magic is some kind of illusory feat which considered magical by an audience which do not know the secret of how it was done. Equipment, timing, dexterity and packaging are all part of a magic trick. The Prestige, about 2 magician, initially friends then became enemy when their biggest trick goes terribly wrong, thus beginning their journey to outdo one another and when obessession to know the secret of each other's magic trick, one goes to extreme measures to make sure the other fails in life.

Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier, who wants revenge on Borden, who indirectly caused Angier's wife death. The movie started with the ending where Borden was to be hanged for murdering Angier, but the as the movie reveals what happened between these 2 man, it was more than meets the eye.

Angier shot off 2 of Borden's fingers when he was performing the "Bullet Catch" trick

With Michael Caine as Cutter's help, Angier's never done before "Bird in a cage" trick was suppose to be a success but till Borden sabotage him on stage, causing no theatre would
let him to perform

Borden came up with a trick called "The transported man", basically idea was the same man
to disappear and reappear within split seconds. This trick made him famous and angier was
all out to find his secret, sending the *stunning Scarlett* as Olivia to spy on him. Though cutter
was sure his secret was to use a double.

Angier who didn't believe the secret was a double, but had choice as he and Cutter had no
more tricks left up their sleeves, so use that idea and repackaged it. It was a success
nonetheless.

Olivia who was supposed to help angier find out Borden's secret fell in love with him. Led
Borden to Angier's double. Thus causing his show to fail again and broked his leg too.

This made Angier kidnapped Borden's assistant with Cutter's help, but he did not reveal the secret. But Borden who wanted to save this assistant so much, gave the so called secret out, but actually to mislead Angier.

So Angier's went to look for Tesla, a scientist who was experimenting some kind of teleportation with his machine, and Tesla's experimentation was lacking money to fund so he mislead Angier to believe that he did build something for Borden's trick. In the end, tesla did build something for Angier, and it worked but with a side effect. It was not really teleportation !!!! It was cloning !!!!

With Cutter's help again, Angier performed again, this time round was a huge success, how can one disappear, reappear within split seconds far away from where he disappear ?!??!?! Borden and his assistant was clueless on what was the secret. They only knew the spot where Angier was standing will open up so that he will fall to below but they never figure out how can he get up to the first row of the theatre that fast. Though on the brink of giving up, Borden need to go back stage to find his secrets, and to his disbelief, what he saw was a tank full of water where Angier will fall into and indeed Angier fell into it, locked immediately !!! Borden tried to smash up the tank but it was too late, Angier drowned and Cutter witnessed it thus becaming the main witness that caused Borden to be sentenced to be hanged

The parts finally came and the puzzle is pieced together. The person Borden killed was actually the clone which was the product of the machine !!! It was a plot to destroy Borden, take his daughter, and Cutter's not knowingly became Angier's accomplice.

But the twist did not end, Angier was shot dead in the end, by who ? The same person who was hanged in prison !!! Borden has a twin brother who was the assistant all along, performing the "transported man" trick all along.

Should have guessed it when he wanted to save his assistant so much, but the movie diverted the focus to other points thus leaving this doubt to the final twist. It was all along 2 identical man living a single life.

Moment of the movie :
When Angier told Olivia that all the effort to make sure Borden fail in life was not about his wife anymore, he just want to know the secrets of his tricks and outdo him, it has become an obsession that caused him dearly. Clearly, what a human is capable of.

Nice movie. 8/10.

Man U vs Liverpool@Chijmes

I thought Spurs was playing like "f*ck* this season so far, after watching liverpool played most of their "Live" EPL matches, is a relieve. Liverpool is in a mess, I really messy mess, their last season impeccable defence last season was no where near. Hyypia and company, somehow finally thought through that they should starting betting on Ladbrokes or they simply "Pa Jiao".

ESPN was at Chijmes for the match, Jamie Yeo and gang were there to boost the atmosphere, though was one of the "Clash of the Titans", the crowd and ambience somehow not "Power" enough. But Le Baroque was still fully booked outside when we reach there around 6:30 pm, even imposed a min $40 per head spending !!!! Lucky, we still managed to get seats inside Bobby's.

The match was a simple affair, with Scholes netting when he was given "Wembly Stadium" space to poke in Giggs's low cross into the penalty box. Match ended when Ferdinand scored a second, a superb strike into the top left hand corner when Liverpool failed to clear a corner. Liverpool was like a "headless" chicken running around the field waiting to be slaugther, Kuyt was aimless and powerless upfront, Double "G" Gonzalez and Garcia was "G"lueless on the wings, Gerrad who was considering leaving Anfield after a dismay display in the league was below par, Alonso who can only score before the centreline failed to capitalize on a shot just outside the penalty box.

Highlights of the day were the food. The BBQ chicken wings provide some delight, it came with a Blue Cheese dip which simply adds to the "Uhm" taste !!!!!! And the late night supper at Lau Pa Sat, the 新州米粉 which we tried before made us go back there. It was simply too "special" too resist !!! The stingray is getting tastier and tastier each time we visit. The 虾酱鸡 looks and smell of a supreme level "极乐ness" though we did not order. Sittiing behind us was a guy and a lady, sounds and looked like from China, the "Uhm" thing was the G-string she was wearing ! Too bad, quite difficult to take this picture, not sure if they were friends or she was the "service" :)

DOA

Though most kind of movies I will watch but this one, DOA makes the "list". Friend suggested watching because he was attracted by the advert or poster, "SaMe" suggestion by SaMe. Except for the pretty Holly Valance which was Christie in the movie, there is pratically nothing much to talk about for this show. The action sequence is so so though by Cory Yuen, each of the main characters, whom are girls are suppose to have unique fighting style which I have difficulty finding out how unique each is.

This plotless cheesy movie, one of the D-grade action movie with B-grade cast, neither violent nor sexual just could not be worse, even Kevin Nash, the wrestler in real life got a role.

Have to think hard for the moment of the movie, I think there is none. If there is one, it would be by the audience when a really small group of audience laugh at one of the scene of the movie where the detective asked Christie to tell him about the diamonds, then she started rambling about definition of diamonds, blah blah blah. Well, some people "unique" humour.

4/10.

Champions League - 19th Oct

Nothing special about the matches on another Champions League's day, but I tried my luck on the accumulator bets on Ladbrokes.

What are the possibilities of predicting 8 out of 8 ?

Anyway, I selected the "6 folds out of 8" bet, this bet will make 28 bets for you, the unit of bet is determined by you, say if you bet $1, so it will bet $28 for you.

Chelsea vs Barcelona, 0 0
Inter vs Spartak, -1.5 +1.5
Werder vs Levski -1.5 +1.5
Sporting vs Bayern +0.25 -0.25
Bordueax vs Liverpool +0.5 -0.5
Galatasaray vs PSV 0 0
Olympiakos vs Roma 0 0
Valencia vs Shakthar -1.5 +1.5

Those in red are the side that I took, the beauty of accumulator is you can put a very small bet and win big but the catch is a minimum number of bets you must win to at least win something. To win big, of course you have to win every bet.

I was almost there, Drogba !!! Why ?!?!??!?! Why ?!?!?!?!??! The guy who was in magnificient form this season, stealing the limelight from the $30 million Shevchenko who only netted once.

I betted $0.70 per unit, so 28x0.7=$19.6, with maximum winning of $1,488. It was that close.

And I tried it again on UEFA Cup on Thursday night, not a bad one to start.

Beginning to like accumulative bets ...

The Haze

天空铺满了灰暗
笑容再也不灿烂
哭还没完泪在淌
星星再也不闪亮
步伐没有了方向

阳光多了少许暗淡
花早已落心还在伤
雨打在不再开的窗
抬头遥望一片迷茫
烟雾它几时 .. 会散

Replugged - Lesson 4

Lesson 3 for me as I missed one due to reservists. Didn't miss much though but was thinking whether to make up for it ? This time round was inversion chords, basically is playing around with the noted that form the chords in their root positions. Like CEG can be EGC and can be GCE but few things to note,

Finger movements from chord to chord must be easy and smooth
Cannot go out of the range of notes that can be used
Most important, the chords chosen 要好听 !!!

Playing the chords and singing is real hard, the tempo, harmonization, fingering, singing must be so accurate, wonder how that will happen ? How much practice to put in ? Is like if you concentrate on the chords then you forget to sing or sing too fast !! If you concentrate on singing, then you play off beat or forget to play !!

Gotta to practice the 天黑黑 chords with inversion till I can play it with ease closing my eyes and of course must be 好听. And also have to play our next song, 刘若英's 后来, this one definitely harder.

后来
我总算学会了如何去爱
可惜你早已远去消失在人海
后来终于在眼泪中明白
有些人一旦错过就不再 .....

Sony Ericsson z610i

This calmshell caught my eye with the sleek and smooth finish !!! It looks so nice !!! The airy blue is the one, but somehow it is not available in Singapore yet. Checking online shows it only cost $485 without contract for this phone which is relatively cheap compared to other 3G mobile phones. But I just got my n70 around in feb with a contract, but if i can sell it off at around $400, $85 for a new phone is quite okay. There is something wrong with the n70, either battery got problem ( But NCC says battery no problem when i fixed my n70 weeks back ) or the battery indicator got problem or the charging got problem. Like fully charged one minute, when you wake up, it can tell you left 1 or 2 bars. Though feature wise, features in z610i is lacking compared to other models, but is the looks that makes it shine.

Australia

Seems like people are moving to Australia, maybe to work first and then possibility to stay there for long term, especially for most of my friends, though not close ones but still constituted to the overall number of people attempting to migrate there. And somehow you must be married already. So basically, you filled up forms and forms and forms, gets a referral letter and pay $3k+ for 2 persons and wait for the PR results. But if you are able to get a job there first, the PR should come easier.

Just met up with some friends because one of them is leaving for Sydney as her hubby will be working there. The cast :

The citibankian who is leaving
The citibankian who is "eyeing the CEO position"
The NTUsian who is also applying for Australian PR
The ocbcsian who always has been wanting to apply for Australian PR, he is also "eyeing for the CEO position"
The ocbcsian who is *assume* also "eyeing for the CEO position

What makes the decision easy or hard ?

Is Singapore too difficult to stay anymore ? Work too stressful ? Ineffective Education System ? Cost of living too high ? No nice beaches ? No mountains ? Simply dislike the P*P till you need leave ? ERP ? Monotonous lifestyle ? Hate the L**s till you need to leave ? Weather too hot ?
The haze ? *Anyway, the haze is getting that bad till you can't see an incoming MRT training arriving on the deck ! And Patricia Mok is getting prettier !*

Or both long to live in Australia, be it that they been there before long enough to decide that it will be worth it to leave everything here and move there to give it a try

And friends/relatives are not a core part of your life because moving there would really mean leaving them, though I believe this is not a problem if you are already married, the person in which you sign your life away will be the one to be with most of the time anywhere. And most of the time you will be at work also.

And if you have kids, esp if it is a boy, deciding whether to make him do NS is also crucial, because the boy have to revoke his citizenship if you decide not to let him don green and "chiong suah".

And many more factors which I may not think of or experienced ...

Dinner@Chomp Chomp

Chomp Chomp was definitely a better place after its overhaul, ventilation is much airy, there is washing area now as well, not sure if there are more seats. But is a place where you can get all the yummy local food. It was quite a late dinner around 9+, quite full after that. Hokkien mee, stingray, "tua tau", chwee kueh and satay. Somehow drinks stalls here sells drinks in "venti" size, sugar cane, lychee are the common ones I saw. It is huge !!! Not sure if you get them at other places or not. More for 2 to share, but not surprising some people can down it with no problem :)

The Departed

The hollywood version of the hongkong movie trilogy 无间道. The plot, scenes and characters sticked as close to the original as possible. Few notable differences between the two,

• Mark Wahlberg's character, Dignam. I couldn't recall who will this be in 无间道.


• There are 2 female characters in 无间道, while here we only got one which is Madolyn who got involved with both Billy and Colin.


• Colin got killed by Dignam in the end was like a twist.

Comparision cannot be made between the two, as 无间道 wins hands down maybe because the story originated from hongkong and was created for 黑社会, 卧底, 香港警察. The cast of 刘德华, 粱朝伟, 黄秋生 and 曾志伟 was just the right combinations at that time. A prequel and sequel was shot in quick succession after the success at the box office for the original movie.

Vulgarities really was a big part in the movie especially for Dignam who will have the word f*ck in almost every sentence he said. And the change from hongkong triads to american mob made a difference, and somehow the gang headed by costello doesn't seems to be as big as it seems, while in 无间道, the triad gang headed by 曾志伟 looks much more powerful and intimidating.

Moment of the movie :

As the plot is nothing new, the moment will be at the end where Colin got killed by Dignam which probably was tipped off by Madolyn who was told by Billy to open the enveloped he gave her if anything happens to him.

VivoCity

The much hyped ultimate shopping mall is into its 2nd week, quite a huge crowd but still walkable through the "people mountain people sea", maybe due to that it is big. Most of the shops are already opened, Vivomart, GV, Tangs, GAP, Zara, Topshop, Adidas, Espirit and many more. Food and beverage outlets are starting to open also, starbucks, pacific coffee, gloria jeans, swensen, sushi tel, carl's jr .... not sure if the food court is open though.




The open air sky park seems to attract people, maybe of the view. There is a pool out there as well where I saw kids walking through it. Went there in the afternoon to catch a movie at GV@Vivo, touted to be the biggest and most posh mega cineplex in Singapore. The ticketing and tidbits area did not really catch my eye, it was the cinema itself that was nice. The generous leg room of each seat will definitely be a factor for movie goers. The seat itself was comfortable.

ICT - 10th day

Thursday was out-process day, the day where all of us are waiting for, though this ICT was a very relaxed one. Lunch sucks as usual but was expected to be good because usually there are 2 good meals in an ICT, the first one and one towards the end of the ICT.

"Sports Day"
Morning was sports day where each company came out with teams to play soccer against each other. HQ was the so called favourite but not really when seen them in action. Drawing of lots decided who will play against who, and HQ whom was the so called favourite had to play one more match.

HQ vs 'A' 3-1
'B' vs 'C' 2-5
HQ vs Support 0-2

Final was Support vs 'C', we won 3-0 with swift counter attack and solid midfield, the resolute defence and good goalkeeping was also keys to victory. 'C''s main threat, a KL, was marked out of the game, as he was the one who scored a hattrick against 'B'.

"Out Process"
"Death wait" was a definite must during out process, it has become a tradition and culture. We managed to leave the camp around 16:30 :)

But then, now going back to work feels "sian" :(

ICT - 9th day

It was another "chobo" day as per what this ICT is all about, the next ATEC will be 14th May 2007 to 24th May 2007, which will be really "siong" for most of us. How fast can one walk ? How long can one walk ? With so many items heavy and bulky on your back ? In total darkness ? At the same time, manning communications ? *Finger crossed* that hollan and samura will not be part of the BME.

"Soccer"
Due to the choboness of this ICT, played soccer a few times. But this morning stint was regrettable, was just telling my friend, I don't really like to play with KTs !!!!! And then 10 mins into the game, the KT ! KT ! KT ! tackled me, raising his kneel as if he was doing thai boxing !!!! I controlled a bouncing ball and up went his kneel !!! Next thing i know, i was on the ground with a wound on my knee !!!! KNN !!! NB !!!!! Never mind that !!!! He crouched down holding his ankle !!!! KNN !!! Feint injury !!!!

1 minute later he was like Aaron Lennon on the wing !!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Off"

The whole ICT was shorted by 1 day so we can out process tomorrow, a nice gesture by the CO :)

ICT 7th and 8th day

"Monday Lunch"
As I walked up with my empty plate to get food for lunch, an uncle at the end called for me "来来, 这边 ... 有一盘 ... 好了", so I stroll over and watched in dismay ... "Boom" ... a portion of vege which could feed the population of bangladesh for a week !!!!

I couldn't see my rice !!!! covered with vege and a-char !!!! It has become "Mui Fan" :(
Monday's dinner was indeed the real "Mui Fan"

"Canadian Pizza"
We tried ordering that in last year and did it again on Monday night as foods sucks big time that day. 6241 0241 as we dialed ... 2 large pizza *Buy 1 get 1 free* and we got 20 pieces of chicken wings ... comes with 2 free 1.5 litres pepsi.

Food came ...
Spread on the table ...
Looks alot ... basically 32 pieces of pizza .... think we got hawalian, teriyaki chicken, classic and forgot the other one. It was the chicken wings that caught the attention ...

40 pieces of wings and drumlets in a pizza box !!!! Anyway, it tastes not bad. SFI should get the recipe from them.

"Cobra Canteen"
Somehow discovered for the first time despite several visits there during these years, their hor fun and fried rice actually taste quite good !!!! For the price of $2.50 and $3, worth the price and better than the food by SFI.

World Trade Center

Sept 11, 2001.

5 years had passed but a day in which almost everyone in the world would remember. That day is only around 2 yrs plus into my working career which seems far from it now. It was a day where an event which cannot be described happend, horrorifying ? catastrophic ? diabolic ?

An attack which cause unimaginable proportion of damage and was ascertain that it cannot be handled quick enough due to its rapid impact. It was a movie based on the true account of those who survive, especially the policemen. Nicholas Cage as Sergeant John McLoughlin and Michael Pena as Will Jimeno of the PAPD was part of a team that was formed to help evacuate people from the twin towers.

The team of 5 was pinned 20 feets below when the towers collasped upon them. Miraculously, John and Will survived but trapped underneath tonnes of rubbles, concrete and twisted metals.
They battled through hours buried and trying to stay alive with hopes of someone will find them and miracles do happen. They are discovered by US Marine Dave Karnes when he flew to New York and try to do his bits of help, his rounds of checks for lifes at night found them when he heard Will's attempt to ripple a sound from bending a broken pipe.




After hours of rescue efforts by Scott Strauss and other numerous members of other teams, both men are out. Under such adverse conditions, the will to survive is paramount in keeping oneself alive. That is why the movie also depicts the ordeal that the family members went through during these hours, it was something which they will not even imagine of. This movie has a "happy ending" from the point of view that it is based on the 2 surivivors.





Several moments of the movie :


When JJ ( McLoughlin's son ) insist to go to NY and look for his dad, Donna chided him that there is nothing they could do, JJ's reply of "You don't really care eh", though from the mouth of a kid, but do gives a thought that strikes through my mind.


When the rescue team burrows through to get to Will, with time not on their side. Will wanted the team to amputate off his leg so that they can get to John in quicker time.

8/10 for World Trade Center

ICT - 6th day

"死亡等待"
Quite a death wait on Saturday till they let us go off at around 3 plus pm. Will be more "死亡等待" next week, 1/2 a day of the actual test and 4 1/2 days of pure "死亡等待". Though thursday suppose to play soccer whole day, hope tuesday to wednesday can stay out to at least have a good night sleep. Another consolation, we get to book in on Monday morning.

"66 啤酒花园"
Went to this place on friday night for beer and food again this year, was there last year first time. It is beside the Jurong bird park and let people fish for prawns, sells tse char and beer. And somehow it has a stage with band equipment ready, is open air and hokkien songs belting out in the air. But this year, most probably because of 中秋, no aunties and uncles were on stage crooning hokkien ballads and dancing on the floor. We usually come here if somehow that night cannot stay out, or towards the end of the ICT. The SFI dinner on friday night was somehow 'Phew", so still got room for some food. We ordered "麦片豆腐", "虾酱鸡", "Bonvril 排骨" and "H ay Po" to go with the beers. This time round lesser people, maybe last year was after the end of the 4d3n "德光岛逍遥游", more people are craving for ice cold beer and decent food. We booze, eat, snack, talk cock, reminisce about old 2SIB days. I must say countless memories which till today we still will laugh at it once brought up though it had been told few millions times.

"Reading Materials"
Straits Times, Today, New Paper, FHM, SNAG, New Man, Maxim, 8days, Hot Stuff, etc. These are of utmost importance to tackle "死亡等待", though not of any help as time beats the materials handsdown in exponential proportion but at least reduces the "死亡等待" period. A single item will be read, browse, memorize, flip several times and over over over over again till a single sight of that item irks you !!! Last week material has dried up in terms of readability, has to stock up some for next week again :)

无

无情的战火灭又吹
满天风雨狂沙飞
你争我夺是是非非

无尽的陷害在周围
谁怕除非己莫为
你欺我诈难道不累

无辜的牺牲谁伤悲
若达目的何不为
你死我活从不忌讳

无穷的力量在后推
胜负最终会是谁
改朝换代谁下一位

ICT - 4th day

Got to stay out again :) At least can get a good night sleep, if not the "Commandos" mosquitoes, bed bugs and whatever insects in camp will never let you sleep because apparently they don't sleep at night !!!!!

Food is getting worse, today's meals was quite "Tok Kong". Lunch was packed out because we are outfield, it was nasi lemak. Green in colour but taste like plain rice, the rest of the items can simply ignore. Dinner in camp was a disaster or maybe simply the servers do not understand the basic rule that "Why do they have to put every dish item on the same spot on the rice ?".

*How can light soya sauce chicken mixed with deep fried fish with hoi sin sauce mixed with some vege with whatever sauce be nice ? The hoi sin sauce tasted like tomato sauce expired 3 years ago !!!*

Today was basically a de javu of yesterday but in a different location, still wondering why the actual test needs to take place at outfield ? Sometimes "SAF" is the answer !

ICT - 3rd day

The 7th ICT is basically the first part of a 2 part series where your unit is tested based on several areas. This first part, 12 days in total, test each individual on their skills which are required to be competent in their own role and vocation.

Time
Okie, back to the crap part. Though training program is filled with revision, mockup tests, revisions, mockup test, actual test and re-tests but a siginificant amount of time is free. The first part is a easy one, so 游手好闲 无所事事 虚度光阴 becomes mundane. Counting days, hours, minutes and seconds is a no no, therefore checkpoints/milestones daily is essential. Lunch, Dinner and Sleep are good checkpoints. So basically, there are 36 checkpoints in a 12 day ICT.

Food
Though gone are the days where the cooks are either active/regulars, basically eating food from people who do not know how to cook. Those days, food basically are 5 letter word, starts with "S" and ends with "S", it SuckS !!!! Very soon, SFI took over, and it gradually became more edible, though more improvements are needed. But since we only eat those food around 2 weeks in a year, usually not much complaints to those old days food.

Usually, the first meal and one meal towards the end has the better food items. This time round, first meal was fried spring chicken, french fries, beans, some kind of chowder soup, walls ice cream. I have to mention the fries, because it is basically taste like "slient stick", probably deep fried wrongly or maybe over and over and over and over and over ...... again

Nights Off/Stay out
Most people I knew, their reservists are stayed out by default. Somehow, ours is not. Meaning daily, a decision is made on whether it is a nights off ? stay out ? till when ? for married personnel ? for everyone ? This time round for the first time, everyone gets to stay out during a weekday. *Finally they decided that even not married personnel has a life outside*
And I got a ride home in one of my platoon's mate car whom stay close to me. Somehow, the 2 days inside made it like we have not stay out in the outside world for decades. And of course, you have to wake up earlier than the rooster so that we can get back to camp real early, somehow worth it as well because of the ride back to camp as well :)

To be continued .....

新歌介绍

最近发片的歌手好多哦, 张信哲 周杰伦 戴佩妮 江美琪 古巨基 陈慧林 蔡依林 F.I.R 等等. 动听的歌不胜枚举, 这些是我个人比较喜欢的 ....

张信哲 做你的男人

"东京纽约每个地点 带你去坐幸福的地下铁 散步逛街找电影院 累了我就帮你提高跟鞋
塞车停电哪怕下雪 每天都要和你过情人节 星光音乐一杯热咖啡 只想给你所有浪漫情节"

多么浪漫的词陪上张信哲雌性的歌声，好幸福的感觉.

跟 "做你的男人" 相反的故事, "说谎" 词句里写的是被背叛和对爱人的不变. 古典乐的曲式, 搭配无奈的词, 使歌曲听起来有很强烈的感觉.

周杰伦 退后
又多一首周式情歌, 从以前的安静, 倒带, 借口, 开不了口, 搁浅, 轨迹, 一路向北, 珊瑚海, 枫, 到退后, 都好动听.

"天空灰的像哭过 离开你以后 并没有更自由 酸酸的空气 守住我们的距离 一幕醉心的结局 像呼吸般无法停息
抽屉泛黄的日记 找到了回忆 那笑容是傻气 你我的过去 被深深真的忘记 缺氧过后的爱情 存心的眼泪是多余"


"千里之外" 专辑里的 心雨 白色风车 迷迭香 菊花台 都是好歌.

戴佩妮 一个人的行李
继 "爱疯了", 喜欢创作歌手戴佩妮的"一个人的行李", 词里描述着一个人无优无虑, 无拘无束的旅行.

"我要一个人去东京铁塔看夜景 我要一个人去威尼斯看电影 我要一个人去阳明山上看海芋 拍偶像剧
我要一个人去纽约纯粹看雪景 我要一个人去巴黎喝咖啡写信 我要一个人的旅行
我要一个人在希腊梦见苏格拉底 我要一个人的通宵看完鲁迅的背影 我要一个人呆呆的在浴缸里 思考阮玲玉阮玲玉
我要一个人的北京探望孟姜女 我要一个人的书局和志摩谈情 我要一个人的旅行"

我个人也很喜欢 "淡水河边" "小小" "逛街" "我们的故事" "窗外" "单身潜逃".

江美琪 难相处
难相处是戴佩妮的创作, Somehow 很适合江美琪来唱. 很喜欢副的德词 ....

"问自己要往何处 直到遇见你我才清楚 爱让我害怕荒芜 害怕生活只是单数
想问你要往何处 离开我是否会有帮助 还有什么比当普通朋友还残酷"

这张专辑里有好多名创作人的作品, 光良, 戴佩妮, 吴克群, 方文山, 林俊杰.
"路人" "我的他" "妹妹" "对你有感觉" 都是好好听的.

古巨基 爱得太迟
收录在 "Human 我生" 广东专辑里, 这首歌有两个版本, 一个是跟周慧敏和唱的，另一个是他自己独唱. 两个版本的曲都一样, 只是词不同. 琅琅上口的副歌, 是首很古巨基的歌.

"重复犯错" 也不错.

陈慧琳 得天独厚
很少听和注意陈慧琳的歌, 这次 "Happy Girl" 专辑里， 好喜欢 "得天独厚". 这首歌. 还有华语版本 "只因为你", 是金至尊珠宝店的广告歌.

"有血有泪" 是首轻快的情歌，听多几次也蛮不错的.

蔡依林 墓仔埔也敢去
继"舞娘" 专辑狂卖 25 万张, 蔡依林又出专辑了. 这次是为了她在香港 "惟舞独尊" 演唱会的鲜听版, 加上 Re-mix of 她在舞娘里的几首歌.

"墓仔埔也敢去" 是一首台语快歌, 听起来有蛮不错的感觉. 不过广东版的 "假装" 就有一点怪怪的.

F.I.R 眷恋
自从出道以来, F.I.R 每张专辑都有无数的好歌, 这次也不例外. "眷恋" 很有 F.I.R 的味道.

眷恋
"看窗外雨水 像泪流满脸 你离去那一天 心快要崩溃"

你很爱他
"其实你很爱他 对我的惩罚 说你没有想他 谁可怜我吧 我也没有借口 只能放手 不敢奢求 你说爱我
其实你很爱他 他很温柔吗 其实你很想他 就说出口吧 我也不想多说 捂著耳朵 不想再次听到你说 你很爱他"

雨樱花
"傻傻的微笑表情却无法言语 偷偷的像是记忆里幸福的相机 静静的呼吸身边有你的空气
我还记得你说樱花很美丽
不愿意在今夜从你身边离去 不忘记写下樱花飘落的那场雨 不放弃心中刻下了永远爱你
你说我和你都为了此刻着迷"