Sanity… is for the Weak

… seeing a broken down pickup truck on the way home from work… owned by one MacGyver Engineering company (no, I’m not making this up)!

I suppose the driver didn’t have any duct tape and paper clips on him.

Sion at 1.5 months. Hanging out with Grandma.

The society was in the news again recently, this time in the form of a TV segment by RAZOR TV of the Straits Times Interactive.

The good thing is, the segment does show the society accurately as a Martial Arts group and not a bunch of cosplayers. Hopefully, we can attract more interested people to the art.

Kudos to reporter Mark, who was willing to jump in and get his hands dirty by following the class (and also willing to have a 15 year-old girl man-handle him in unarmed combat!)

The videos in full post.
(more…)

Round and round we go,
When it ends we’ll never know.

Season’s Greetings from the Loh family:

It has been a roller-coaster ride of a year, which ended with a bang, or rather, a baby’s wail as our new overlord and master demands for his feed. Despite being shat, pissed and puked-on, taking care of our little bundle of joy somehow brings more of the sense of achievement and job satisfaction than I get anywhere else. Here’s hoping he grows up tp be a fine upstanding young man and make his parents proud.

On the work front, things are looking much brighter. Work is still never-ending, but at least we’re getting a handle on things and my future is looking decidedly less murky. Here’s hoping to an end to durance vile, and hello to sunrises and sunsets next year.

On the home front, we’ve finally sold our place, and are now in the process of looking for a new one. Sadly, the negotiations for a new dream home kind of fell through because of a certain seller’s delusions of home-grandeur. A fresh coat of paint does not justify a $50,000 price increase, idiot. Unfortunately, the housing bubble doesn’t look to burst anytime soon, despite a general slow-down in transacted units, the prices remain high - so the current boom will likely slowly deflate rather than crash like many predicted. Oh well, I guess we’ll go crash with family for a few months and see what happens from there.

2009 Resolutions
+ More sports and a healthier lifestyle - It’s been challenging, with with the work schedule and all; but I did squeeze in some exercise.
+ Travel! For fun and not work! - Only managed a short holiday; the rest has been mostly work travel
+ Continue gaming. Oh yeah….
+ Go to Helsinki again and improve my swordsmanship. - Didn’t happen. As a matter of fact, between work and baby, I’ve been missing training for several months now.

2010 New Year’s Resolutions
+ Continue learning to be a great dad!
+ Exercise, exercise, exercise

Happy New Year, everyone.

Merry Christmas everyone!

from Daddy, Mummy and Baby Sion

Now that we’re more or less used to the baby, it’s time to bring the furkids back home ~ while they’re usually more than happy to camp out over at the in-law’s place, we’re usually along for the stay unless it’s for a vacation, so this time they seemed to be rather upset to be left there for almost a whole month.

We were worried that the two furkids may not accept the baby, and so tried to smooth them in, but saturday came and the first meeting went without a hitch.

We’ll continue to watch the dogs around the baby, but it seems that they’ve accepted the baby as part of the family, except when the baby is wailing for food… at that they run for cover; not surprising as the baby has a vocal range that starts at “LOUD” and goes up from there.

Baby Win!

LOL

On a separate note, all the confinement food that that we’ve been taking for the last two weeks have been taking a toll, so it’s off for a run I go.

The pacifier; it does nothing! Nothing!

It’s been almost a week since Sion has come into the world, and these are the things I have learnt:

1. When he’s hungry, it means: “Gimme my milk *RIGHT DAMN NOW!*”

2. Baby menu for the past week has been the following: a starter of mom’s milk, main course of 100ml formula, and followed by another suckle with mummy for dessert. That’s one hungry baby. (The confinement lady we hired predicted that he will be at least 5kilos by the time he’s a month old.)

3. He doesn’t like pacifiers, spitting it out after a couple of sucks and crying even louder. Probably feels that he’s being cheated of food or something…

4. Contact rate per day in diapers is 2-3 solids and 4-5 liquids. I think I need to go on another diaper run again soon - frigging diper companies here don’t sell newborn sizes in those huge economy packs of 48, but in smaller lots of 8-10.

5. Baby has two states of existence: asleep and hungry; occasionally asleep while suckling. What it means is that, “If I’m sleeping, *DON’T PICK ME UP!*” Apparently (as I learnt about an hour ago), he’s perfectly content to continue sleeping in a soiled nappy. That, is not good; for guys the minimum standard should be clean underwear and a fresh tee-shirt - everything else is negotiable.

We’re still getting used to one another, but the process has been enjoyable and we look forward to learning from the baby as much as from ourselves in the days and years to come.

*Gamer Dad has gained 100XP*

*DING!*

*Gamer Dad has gained a level! Gamer Dad is now Level 2.*

*Gamer Dad has learnt the following skills: Change Nappy 1, Swaddling 2, Feeding from Bottle 2, Language (Baby) 1*

Please welcome our little bundle of joy, Sion, who was born on 30 Nov 2009 at 2245Hrs.

It’s a little early to tell, but I think he’s got lots of potential. If nothing else, he managed to escape from his daddy’s weak swaddling skill with a near-perfect execution of the first remedy.

And now, where to get me one of these?

We caught the second Evangelion movie at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard this afternoon, and the only way to describe it is: “This is not the Evangelion I watched, lo these 20 years ago as a teenager”.

And it’s not just the addition of a totally new character, Mari Makinami, the entire sequence and character relationships and interactions between Asuka and Shinji have been both changed and compressed. (Is it just me, or is it starting to look like some harem anime?)

*Spoiler alert!*

Signficant changes off the top of my head are:

1. The fight on the ships against Gaghiel which debuted Asuka has totally been deleted/modified to a solo takedown in style by Asuka.

2. The tag-team fight against Israfel (”Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!”) by Asuka and Shinji was nowhere to be seen.

3. The story of the infected Unit-03 where the Dummy Plug was used to take over a reluctant Shinja has been changed to have Asuka instead of Toji as the test pilot.

4. Kaworu Nagisa makes his apparance in what looks like Unit-06 at the end of the movie, spearing Shinji in the act of saving Rei who was absorbed by the Angel.

Recommended, though the movie felt somewhat rushed, as if to introduce all the critical characters that did not appear in the first movie, so much so that so many of the original character developments that we expected did not appear.

+Official Site

Went out for ice-cream at Udders today and came across the best local adaptation of the two cow joke I’ve seen so far:

Singapore: You have two cows. One is cow-peh, the other is cow-bu.

Yes, it’s lame, but my sense of humor tickles me that way.

+List of Two Cow Jokes

Sadly, nobody caught the reference, despite a class of 16 consisting of men and women between the ages of twenty-somethings to over forties.

Meh.

Counting down in the losing fight against entropy. At least I have something to really remember the birthday by ~ a headshot in a Pain(t)ball game in the morning:

Remember, boys and girls, Firendly Fire - Isn’t!

And I most assuredly do

Thanks to Huiyi for the package! We love it!

So, with a little over a month to go, we waddled off to the shops armed with a shopping list and advice as long as my arm….. only to be bewildered by the range of baby products available.

Standard neck, wide neck, teat size (stop sniggering!), vented, non-vented, plastic bottles, glass bottles, BPA-free etc the list just goes on, and that’s only for the bottles!

In my confusion, one lable leapt out at me: Starter Pack, or rather the Avent Newborn Starter Pack to be precise.

I wonder why the salesgirl gave me a funny look when I asked if there were Booster Packs available?

And what better way to spend it than over a game of Zombies!!! this dark and stormy night?

Happy Halloween everyone!

Audio/Visual Update

Audio:Slave
In the B&O:
+Quincy Jones: Big Band Bossa Nova
+Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
+Café Tel Aviv - Middle East Chillout
+DragonForce: Inhuman Rampage
+The Killers: Sam’s Town

Visual:Slave
In the DVD:
+Mama Mia! The Movie
+Journey to the Center of the Earth
+The Good, The Bad, The Weird
+A History of Violence
+Paprika
+The Usual Suspects
+Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
+Akira
+The Princess Bride
+Watchmen Missed this!
+Reclaiming the Blade

Animania:
+イヴの時間
+ToraDora (とらドラ)
+To Aru Majutsu no Index (とある魔術の禁書目録)
+Rideback
+K-On! (けいおん!)
+Eden of the East (東のエデン)
+Strike Witches (ストライクウィッチーズ) DVD
+Seto no Hanayome (瀬戸の花嫁) DVD
+Beck: Mogolian Chop Squad
+Kimi ni Todoke (君に届け)
+Nyan Koi! (にゃんこい!)
+To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (とある科学の超電磁砲)

Movies to Catch - ‘09:
+Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ)
+Slumdog Millionaire
+Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
+Full Battle Rattle
+Terminator: Salvation
+Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
+2012
+Star Trek
+Up
+Angels and Demons Missed this….
+Fanboys
+Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
+Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
+Fast and Furious Missed this.
+G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
+Zombieland

WTF, Hollywood? WTF?
+Astroboy
+Dragonball: The Movie I *so* regret watching this…..

Movies soooo bad, it’s gotta be gooood
+Zombie Strippers
+Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer
+Robo Geisha

Current Reads
RAWs
+謎の彼女Ｘ - Chapter 38
+魔法 先生 ネギま! - Chapter 267
+会長はメイド様! - Chapter 42
+ソード・ワールドRPG 2.0 (SW2.0)
+Bakuman (バクマン) - Chapter 59

Dead Tree
+Homework for Grown-ups: Everything you learnt at school… and promptly forgot
+Dragon Warriors RPG 2008
+The Book of War
+Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
+Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
+The Price of Admiralty

Online
+Questionable Content
+Real Life
+The Order of the Stick
+Turn Signals on a Land Raider

Here’s hoping that this week will be a quiet one…

We were going through some of the wifey’s old photographs and found this little gem.

Which immediately brought to mind this:

Is it any wonder I love her so?

Oh, and if the baby comes out a girl…… heh.

It’s been 12-hour work days for so long, that I forget there’s life beyond the computer screen. Sadly, with the amount of chair parade I’ve been getting, my toes are starting to be eclipsed by my tummy and the sword muscles are getting rather soft.

But that’s not what the title of this post is about.

Rather, there’s been a bit of a storm in the teacup over how some of the roles and responsibilities and additional workloads have been parceled out at work, that have left people grumbling and muttering things about their primary and secondary workscope.

Personally, what I feel is that work is simply work. If the boss gives me something to do, I’ll just do it; it’s not a matter of whether if it’s something in my terms of reference or not…. it’s just *work*

That said, there is something that should be quantified along with the first statement: I am not superhuman. In life, as with all things, there is a matter of bandwidth. If the management is willing to drop more work on me, then they should be equally willing to accept that with the time and effort diverted to other new projects, less resources can then be spent on what I was working on originally, with it’s consequent drop in quantity and/or quality.

As a professional, I’ll do things to the 100% of my capability; I may not have to like it, but I’ll do it. But that does not mean that with 100% in project A and 100% in project B, it adds up to 200% output in total; it’s just 100% of effort to whatever that has been allocated the time and resources.

TANSTAAFL, people, TANSTAAFL.

Note to self:

The next time the boss asks if there are any questions, the correct answer should, in fact, be:

“How the hell do I get out of this shitty outfit?”

Alice came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?” she asked.
“Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire cat.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Working till tomorrow morning on this glorious Saturday.

F***

So, yeah.

Now that we have a baby on the way, we’ve been thinking about getting a bigger place for ourselves. Although we’ve been staying in our current place for more than five years now, it was a house that we transformed from a cramped run-down little place that had pink floors, pink walls and even pink-coloured cornices (which made it look rather like a chinese brothel!) to our dream home filled with memories. However, now taking a good hard look at our current and future requirements, it will be rather difficult to house us, the baby and probably a maid in our current premises, especially in years to come. And so, it’s a-househunting we go.

Some might think that this probably isn’t a good time to buy properties, especially with the property market as mad as it is now, but if one is willing to look (and willing to accept long commutes to work!) there are affordable gems to be found.

However, I’m not writing to to wax lyrical about how to find cheap property in a property boom market (after all, it’s buy high, sell high; buy low, sell low). It’s about people have come knocking on our door, peering into our living room and asking if we’re selling our place, EVEN BEFORE WE’VE PUT IT ON THE MARKET!

It’s wierd, like there’s some kind of sixth sense in investors and agents who know when people are going to sell and they swarm in like a feeding frenzy. It’s annoying and an invasion of privacy when total strangers simply waltz up to your front door and just try their luck. I mean sure, we’re going to be showing our place to people, but it better be when we’re good and ready, meaning we’re happy with the cleaniness with every thing in it’s place, or heck, when I’m properly dressed and not in some tatty old tee-shirt I use to lounge around at home.

/end Grumbling/

Staying home today and tomorrow drugged out of my mind.

At least I’m not coughing as much after the first hit of meds.

Zzzzzzz…..

Current Read:
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

Listening to:
DragonForce: Inhuman Rampage

Mood:
Well-fed & happy

Clair de lune

La lune était sereine et jouait sur les flots. -
La fenêtre enfin libre est ouverte à la brise,
La sultane regarde, et la mer qui se brise,
Là-bas, d’un flot d’argent brode les noirs îlots.

De ses doigts en vibrant s’échappe la guitare.
Elle écoute… Un bruit sourd frappe les sourds échos.
Est-ce un lourd vaisseau turc qui vient des eaux de Cos,
Battant l’archipel grec de sa rame tartare ?

Sont-ce des cormorans qui plongent tour à tour,
Et coupent l’eau, qui roule en perles sur leur aile ?
Est-ce un djinn qui là-haut siffle d’une voix grêle,
Et jette dans la mer les créneaux de la tour ?

Qui trouble ainsi les flots près du sérail des femmes ? -
Ni le noir cormoran, sur la vague bercé,
Ni les pierres du mur, ni le bruit cadencé
Du lourd vaisseau, rampant sur l’onde avec des rames.

Ce sont des sacs pesants, d’où partent des sanglots.
On verrait, en sondant la mer qui les promène,
Se mouvoir dans leurs flancs comme une forme humaine…
La lune était sereine et jouait sur les flots.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) - Les Orientales

What? Ne parle pas français?

Fine…. here’s a pretty good translation.

Hmm. Got tagged again on Facebook

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you! (or so this pre-scripted message reads)

1. I’m a Scorpio with all that it implies.

2. I’m a dreamer, with an imagination that runs riot even in my waking hours.

3. Despite #2, I seldom remember the dreams I have when I’m asleep.

4. I love to eat. Never refuse food may as well be my life’s motto.

5. I don’t exercise enough.

6. I enjoy cooking, but not washing up afterwards.

7. I think I have a pretty high tolerance for physical pain, which probably explains why I swing swords.

8. I’m aggressively non-confrontational. I don’t like arguing and heated tempers. Nothing constructive gets done when passions run high and people lose perspective when heated up. (Head shots with a sniper rifle at 1km is another story….)

9. Probably because of #8 some people think I’m a coward.

10. I have a mean streak. And it’s probably pretty wide.

11. I’m bad at remembering faces and even worse at remembering names. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like you if I don’t remember you. I just need reminding sometimes.

12. I love to read. Give me a book and a place to snuggle up and I’ll be content.

13. I prefer the company of my own mind. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy socialising as well.

14. I love the sea!

15. My favourite place is probably Plymouth, England where i spent the best three months of my life.

16. I don’t watch my spending, and so I have never built uip savings until I met my wife.

17. Faced with a squat or sit toilet, I’d choose the squat.

18. I’m a folder, not a crusher.

19. Ever since I’ve discovered the Zombie Squad organisation, I’ve taken to carrying a multi-tool, torch, and compass with me where ever I go.

20. One day, I hope to buy a 25′-30′ pocket cruiser to sail to Tioman/Phuket for dive trips.

21. I love bags. I probably have too many for a guy.

22. Many of my friends are not straight. However I am very much so.

23. I probably have too much anime; some stuff which I’ll never get around to watch.

24. I probably play too much video games as well.

25. My wife calls me a grubby boy. Probably for good reason.

Audio/Visual Update

Audio:Slave
In the B&O:
+Quincy Jones: Big Band Bossa Nova
+Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
+Café Tel Aviv - Middle East Chillout
+DragonForce: Inhuman Rampage

Visual:Slave
In the DVD:
+Mama Mia! The Movie
+Journey to the Center of the Earth
+The Good, The Bad, The Weird
+A History of Violence
+Paprika
+The Usual Suspects
+Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
+Akira

Animania:
+イヴの時間
+ToraDora (とらドラ)
+To Aru Majutsu no Index (とある魔術の禁書目録)
+Rideback
+K-On! (けいおん!)
+Eden of the East (東のエデン)
+Strike Witches (ストライクウィッチーズ) DVD
+Seto no Hanayome (瀬戸の花嫁) DVD
+Beck: Mogolian Chop Squad

Movies to Catch - ‘09:
+Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ)
+Slumdog Millionaire
+Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
+Full Battle Rattle
+Reclaiming the Blade
+Watchmen Missed this!
+Terminator: Salvation
+Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
+2012
+Star Trek
+Up
+Angels and Demons Missed this….
+Fanboys
+Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
+Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
+Fast and Furious Missed this.
+G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

WTF, Hollywood? WTF?
+Astroboy
+Dragonball: The Movie I *so* regret watching this…..

Movies soooo bad, it’s gotta be gooood
+Zombie Strippers
+Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer
+Robo Geisha

Current Reads
RAWs
+謎の彼女Ｘ - Chapter 35
+魔法 先生 ネギま! - Chapter 257
+会長はメイド様! - Chapter 39
+ソード・ワールドRPG 2.0 (SW2.0)
+Bakuman (バクマン) - Chapter 45

Dead Tree
+Homework for Grown-ups: Everything you learnt at school… and promptly forgot
+Dragon Warriors RPG 2008
+The Book of War
+Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

Online
+Questionable Content
+Real Life
+The Order of the Stick
+Turn Signals on a Land Raider

Owwwwweeeeee
I am in pain. My body aches.

Used to be that I can take the annual fitness test in the morning and still go about my work with just a short rest…. but not anymore. Though the requirements to pass have gotten lower as I get older, the body seems to be getting slower and stiffer as well.

But still, to complete the 2.4km run in 12min 15sec at 37 years old is pretty good eh?

Remember the little gems like The Machine Girl and Oneechanbara?

Well, here comes yet another “Quality” production from the same guys who brought you The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police - Robo Geisha!

Geisha Missile! Geisha Dance! Geisha Army! Geisha Chainsaw! Geisha Transform! And of course, Fried Shrimp!

Seriously, WTF Japan, WTF?

:Links:
+Website
+IMDB Listing

June has been a month of travelling for me; probably the most since I’ve started working. It started with a working trip to Yogyakarta, Indonesia:

This was followed by a road trip up to Muar, in support of preparations for a friend’s wedding and finally to KL for another working trip last week.

July looks pretty heavy too, with another trip up to Muar again this weekend for the wedding proper and followed by a week-long working trip to Surabaya at the end of the month.

I don’t really mind the travelling, as it’s one of the things I like to do. And the great food that goes along with the change in scenery is a plus in my books:

It’s just that with all this travelling, especially over the weekends, simply means less time with the sword. I can feel my stamina falling and joints getting stiff again… not to mention the extra inches the good food has been putting on my waist. The occasional runs I do in what ever time I can steal do not make up for the lack of exercise.

Sigh.

So, there we were in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on a Friday afternoon, having missed our connecting SQ flight because of a delay on the GA flight from Yogyakarta.

No problem, right? Just hop onto the next flight home; it’s only a couple of hours’ wait right?

Eh? It’s full up? And the next one and the last plane out too?

So, now what? Waiting list? Okay, so when will we know?

Whaddya mean we gotta wait till our names are called?

*Breathe*

Ooookaaaay. No biggie. We’ll just stay an additional night and go back first thing tomorrow.

Eh? You’re fully booked tomorrow until Sunday night?!?

*Panic*

Okay, okay. How about we pay the difference and go onto Business class?

It’s fully booked too?!? WTF?!?

Seriously folks. If the airlines are crying about poor performance, I just don’t see it on the ground.

What freaking recession?!?

Going to Yogyakarta ~

See you guys in a few days >_<”

Thank you to all our friends, who kept us in your prayers and thoughts. We’ve waited a long time for this to come, and we’re giddy with excitement.

Three months down, and six more to go!