Friday, April 07, 2006

The Episode where I got lost, Revisited

It's been a while since I've been so so lost. I've always made it a point to refer to maps before I went to places I have never been before.

I'm very infamous at getting lost in the city, especially during the night, when almost all bus services are down.

But I swear, this is the first time I got lost in the city, in daylight. Wah lau seriously...

Before setting out for town
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Tried looking at hints for the way to Timbre, where Gen is celebrating her birthday...

Some of which include:

"it's beside Substation, is the ex-Fat-Frog, lies opposite the famous char kwey tiao stall on Armenian Street, right behind the old S11 hawker stalls, metres away from the old National Library and ... whatever. trust us, it's there! )."

"Somewhere opposite SMU, the old fat frog, besides substation"

A map of Armenian Street:


First Assumption: location X shows Armenian Street. Apparently, it looks like a very small street, and location Y shows Queen Street. A big hint to take the bus 170.


I was out in the west wearing my formal shirt and jeans to settle some business. After which, I took a the bus 190 down to the city. And that's where all the confusion started.

Upon Alighting from the bus
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I didn't know.... I simply alighted from the bus upon seeing the words SMU on the building.

The Bus Stop

Yeah, I'm now at bras basah Road. Got into a call with Nigel, and it starts.

Nigel:"Where are you?"

Me: "Eh.... I'm opposite SMU...."



Opp Bra Basah Posted by Picasa

Nigel:"What school, dude?"

Me: "Well, let me see.... *squints* I think it's school of Economics and Social Science"


Beside School of Social Science Posted by Picasa

"And the School of Information Systems..."


Construction on my far left Posted by Picasa

Nigel:"What? Over here it's the School of Accountancy... got any other clue?"

"Oh, oh, oh, And there's also some LTA construction on my left, ..................and i think it's the Plaza Singapura on my right."


On my right, PS. Posted by Picasa


Beside Bus Stop Posted by Picasa

Nigel: "Dude, I can't really help you leh, there's also construction on my side..."

Me: "And there's Kopitiam across the road!"

Then I did a 180 degree turn, and PS is now on my left, and the construction is on my right.

....



Singapore History Museum Posted by Picasa

I forgot to mention that the Singapore History Museum is north of me.

Ok... on to the Singapore Arts Museum.


Detour to SAM Posted by Picasa

It's a freaking detour!

Cannot cross the road!


SAM Posted by Picasa



water cooler Posted by Picasa

And I'm at the Singapore Art Museum. Might as well take a swipe at free water here.

And in the middle of crossing by the SAM...


Queen St Posted by Picasa

!!! Queen Street? Am i near? Am I not? I looked left and right of the street.

On my right is... obviously construction near the SAM, and on my left, doesn't look like the Larkin-like bus interchange I always see before I go home...

Oh well... I finally crossed the construction bloackage. and Nigel came on the line again...

Nigel: "Yo, where are you now?"


NTUC House Posted by Picasa

Me: "Err... I'm now at NTUC house...."

Nigel: "NTUC house? what's that? got more clue?"

Me: "Woo! I see another SMU around here.... It's the administration building...."


smu admin Posted by Picasa


Carlton Posted by Picasa

Me: "And the Hotel Carlton is across the road....(junction)"


Cathedral Posted by Picasa

I forget to mention the cathedral of the good shepherd across the road....


Nigel: "How is it now?"

Me: "I'm at ...Chijmes?"


chijmes Posted by Picasa

My current Location:

Afterthoughts: Armenian St, Marked by X is soooooo near my current location! LOL, and I missed my clue for Queen St. wah liew...

And It's just the beginning of my hor-lan journey......

To be continued....

Things I'll do once I ORD

I realise there are a lot of things that I can do once I ORD. Call it the rant before I cut botak and 'training to be a soldier' again...

Might as well list it here...

1) keep long hair
2) get a fringe, and from there...
3) get dreadlocks (yeah yeah i ripped it off from derek's idea...)
4) get an ear piercing...
5) get brazilian wax
6) get a tattoo
7) dye hair (subject to parental approval)
8) play frisbee like crazy
9) play beach frisbee like crazy
10) get my class 3 license (if i can't get my 7000km in time)
11) drive someone's car once I can drive
12a) get into a uni
12b) go to work (if 12a is impossible)
12bi) as a frisbee instructor
12bii)as a IT programmer

Anything worth looking over on this...?

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Random Rants

xxxHolic TV Promo is out: but the animations does not seem to be as good as the manga.... the manga is better, as with most of the other CLAMP series...


The new Bleach Op is out!
Kuchiki Byakuya looks like Laguna in the OP, and Urahara looks great in casual wear.... Surprise me man Kubo-san....

HYDE's Season's Call is my current fave of Anime OP/EDs...

Mai Otome just finished airing, and it seems to be a hot show... well except for some stuff...

-lolicon lolicon everywhere
-sailor moon like transformations
-melodrama at the end...

Nagi's sick-o quote:
"If we need a new Shinso, we'll have plenty soon enough..."

You are sick man Nagi! Luckily you lose the war...

Quickie Movie Review

Ultraviolet is not nice.

Tyhoon is a good action movie, despite what others think...

Ice Age 2 is way better than Ice Age 1.

Transamerica is a good movie, with its cold yet witty humour, and it really goes in deep on the queer relationships, and dysfunctional personalities.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Field Trip

Last Friday....


The only free exhibit, at the entrance, the many types of ball propellersPosted by Picasa

Went to Singapore Science Centre with Peter... Well, I'm MC, and there's really nothing to do at home, thus the educational trip.... The main thing was to visit the Star Wars Exhibition, and take a look around the Centre itself.

$18 dollars.

There must be something worth of so much money, so I brought my digital camera along for the ride, and take some photos while I'm at it.

Here are some photos:


star wars model Posted by Picasa

white soldier Posted by Picasa


dead star Posted by Picasa

Hell, disallowing photography with flashes can be a pain in the ass, and my film exposure rate cannot be set to a longer time... So I gave up taking the pictures, well, except for one..

reaction game Posted by Picasa

Peter got a high score of 48, but he couldn't get any higher than that.... As you can see, the highest score is the maximium of 99.

"One light spoilt lah~"

haha... okok ok I know, it's just a game....


fat x wing Posted by Picasa

On another note, do you know about the game, X-Wing VS Tie-Fighter? It actually got me thinking it's a spinoff of X-Men VS Street Fighter!

Now you see that I'm oh-so-not a Star Wars fan?

There are some photos that I could have taken, but the irritating phone calls are already distracting me... Really regret man..

Boring stuff
----------------

Then there are the commentaries on the tiny LCD monitors whispering its way out on the tiny speakers....

Do something about the volume man... I had to lean near the monitor, and people were thinking I'm actually paranoid...

I can't believe I paid that much money to look at a bunch of 100 : 1 models.

But yeah, of course, there ARE some stuff that is interesting...

Foley Studio
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Foley -- Machine used to generate sound effects for movies, the effects nowadays usually prerecorded or electronically synthesized but originally created using mechanical noise making devices such as springs, flapping cards, beaters on wood blocks and cloth, etc. Named after Jack Donovan Foley (1891-1967) who pioneered the art of adding sound effects to movie soundtracks.
Basically, it's a studio where improvised sound overwrites the movie sounds that actually happen.

In scenes where massive amounts of people are interacting, it's simply impossible to position a microphone right above the action. Well, that's when objects are used as noise instruments to substitute for the sounds that are needed.

A simple foley act would require:

-1 ang moh rustling leaves
-1 ang moh banging the hot plate with it's wooden base
-1 young man stepping on a foot pump lookalike
-2 young men and a school girl making 'war cries' on the mike
-3 other school girls carrying two sponges in place of swords, as well as pieces of stone from a broken spice pounder to encourage the war cries from the school girl

-1 big guy making solid claps on mini cymbals (reducing the resonance/echos)
-1 big guy banging the hot plate with it's wooden base

-A scene where tons of rebels are fighting tons of white soldiers in the forest

And we make the noise.

The school girls started throwing the stones at the school girl who started shouting 'Ow', one of the young man making a donkey ass sound near the end of the scene, and the rest make their sounds at their own pace.

What's surprising:

-Whatever sounds we have made, actually hits a note with the whole thing!
-The actual sound, is actually some kind of music playing in the background, as well as the director giving word that they fight more seriously, and vague, vague sounds of plastic clashing against plastic...

Woo........

Ball Game
---------------

ball game Posted by Picasa
Like a concentration game... where two players relax, sleep, daydream to get a tiny ball along a line, moving their their way to either end.

The relaxed ones will emit some brainwave that the headband will pick up, and cause some kind of response to the ball.

Peter and I were trying to get a deadlock, but it's freaking impossible... I was way way too excited, and Peter seems to be damn relaxed.

*Laughs Out* I think in the end I lost, as the ball ended up on my side.

But funny lah, the game say, whoever is the most relaxed will get the ball on his side, and the person taking care of the station said that Peter won, and he's the most relaxed.

Wat Da Fark?

The Force
---------------
Oh and there's this screen game, where you make movements with your hand, getting rid of the baddies on the screen, and getting some lame quotes out of it.... the losing quote wasn't so bad.... it's quite creepy in fact.

YOU LOSE
I sense much fear in you


Reeks of Gollum...

But when you win:

YOU WIN
Already reached your highest level (it's something like that for the first part)
No more further training that you need


Wah Lau! The winning part is so, so lame.... doesn't sound victorious at all loh!



The Science Centre itself
----------------------------------------

And after which, we went to the Science Centre to take a look at the existing galleries... Well, to see if there are any new stuff...

I've got free access to the place, but not Peter, because his entry to the exhibition was a hush-hush matter, and no tickets were involved.

So Peter, with no tickets nearly lost the chance to enter.... until I smoked the counter girl that he had free access...

Peter also joined in on the smoking.

Hahaha... the girl seemed to relax the whole thing, and let us enter.

Ah, the Singapore Science Centre.... a place where no one will really pay to enter.

Luckily, there are some stuff that are actually catches my eye:


peter pixelated Posted by Picasa

This image of peter, is made up of many many images. trying it best to blend in. But it fails, ultimately looking like the crystalized version of him.


me before Posted by Picasa

Oh well, it won't hurt, but I forgot about the 'after' photo.... wah kaoz


hydro power Posted by Picasa


splosh Posted by Picasa

The splashing power of the block will cause an increase in water pressure, causing the dynamo in the tube to move, creating electricity! wow... amaze me man...


circus stuff Posted by Picasa


me this time Posted by Picasa

Peter and I getting turns to try out the hammer.... old circus thing you won't really see in singapore amusement parks.... lol


dunes Posted by Picasa

Dunes! Another one of the exhibits that caught my eye.... wooo... nice sand.. so that's how dunes are formed... now let's try directing the sand at one side to create a tornado!

Now the interesting part... the water playground! interesting crap...

Now there's one part where there're these boxes, with questions about water on the front covers.

Don't open it! If you do, water will spurt out from the insides, and the box will make sounds of baby giggling. People will take notice and look at you, and children will laugh out at how you fell for such a simple thing. Later on, passerbys will think how the hell you got so wet on your pants.

On my scientific attraction of the day!


air blower Posted by Picasa

You start with this air blower: a tube with warm air, that propels a ball into a cylinder looking like the next...

water puzzle Posted by Picasa
The cylinder, has an eye in the middle, and the ball goes through without a hint of trouble...hmmm....


The Launcher Posted by Picasa
And after which, it ends up here... to get propelled by a jet of water.... into the cone...


the rod is straight! Posted by Picasa



no it's not Posted by Picasa
and the hell..... i know how it happens, but it's seemingly impossible man, like some trick picture coming to life....



guess the numbers Posted by Picasa

And guess the number on the second row, 1st in line... If you can read something out of it, it can only mean one thing:


You're color-blind loh!!