Zero Dark Thirty

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Secret War Journal[26 January 2012][Spoiler Alert]
Chinese New Year is round the corner! Most of my friends have already bought their Chinese New Year clothes but I had not finished my shopping yet. Thus, today we are gathered to get some last minute shopping. Hahas.

With me as advisers are Marcus, Keller, Qi Xiang, and Meldon to accompany me. Originally, I planned to head to Bugis to get a pair of pants for Chinese New Year. I had thought of buying a light brown pants for a very long time, since last year. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, we ended up in Ion Orchard. As I had thought about it for so long, I purchased a pair of Chino pants after trying it out immediately. Meanwhile, Marcus and Keller attempted to find clothes to buy too.

When we were finally done, we had lunch at Pepperlunch while Meldon ate out at Subway since he is vegetarian. Keller had to go after lunch for Reunion dinner. Thus, the rest of us went to play LAN without him.

Discrepancy

After two hours of gaming, it is time for a movie! Marcus wanted to watch Zero Six Thirty so here we are, heading into the theatre with 2 large drinks and a small-looking popcorn. Without realising we were actually late, causing us to miss out the introduction of the movie. As it turns out, it is actually quite important because the omission of the very beginning took me some time to understand when the movie actually started in.
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Review
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At this point, I feel that I should include the synopsis of the movie or else I am afraid some people who get lost here. :P
Synopsis
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May 2011.

Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. She is a reluctant participant in extreme duress applied to the detainees, but believes that the truth may only be obtained through such tactics. For several years, she is single-minded in her pursuit of leads to uncover the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. Finally, in 2011, it appears that her work will pay off, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent to kill or capture Bin Laden. But only Maya is confident Bin Laden is where she says he is.

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Perhaps the first thought that would come to mind when the movie finishes would be that the movie was a bit too long. Designed to be slow-paced movie to allow the audience to ponder and reflect through the process of finding Osama bin Laden to his imminent death, the lengthy film has a tendency to tire out the audience as they strain their brains for a good 157 minutes. Not very gentle for the causal moviegoers, I would say.

One of the highlights of the earlier parts of the movie would be the treatment of the confinees. Captured terrorists were held in black sites. There, they were 'tortured' and brutally interrogated. Treatments include depriving them of food and beverage, physical punishment and water torture. Tactics such as occasionally being nice to get information were also used to obtain intelligence on the extremist movements. These continued to be used in the war effort against terrorists until President Obama put an end to it due to the public uproar over it.

While it is a serious breach on human rights, let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves: Why did the Intelligence Branches have to resort to such inhumane acts? I am not supporting nor sanctioning such acts but they do have a point, which Kathryn emphasize quite brilliantly. Without the threats that they can issue to the confinees, how are they going to 'persuade' them to leak vital information that would help to prevent terrorist attacks, hence saving countless lives in the process? The principle "kill one to save many" is a cruel mandate but if one is given a choice to kill one to save many or kill many to save one, I believe the answer by most would be the former.

Meanwhile, the movie then goes on with their struggles with obtaining information without the conventional means. As terrorist attacks grow rampant, it became a race against time for the operatives to obtain useful leads to guard against future attacks. On the other hand, Maya, the main lead in the movie, with the help of her aide got hold of a terrorist who seems to be willing to sell the terrorist network out for money. On the promise of information about the elusive network, they decided to meet face to face in a camp supposedly named Camp Chapman. When the convoy comes into the camera view and a sad music plays in the background, you already know full well that the outcome is not going to be pretty. In the end, the informant turns out to be a suicide bomber (no surprise, is there?), killing Maya's aide and a task force with him.

That was a setback that almost broke Maya. However, she instead decided to turn it into a force of hatred, driving her to find the heart of the network and hunt him down, Osama. Not much progress was made until one fateful day, they found the real identity of Osama's most trusted courier. Seeking him finally led them to the whereabouts of Osama and the rest, as they say, was history.

New Year Meet-up

Sunday, January 27, 2013
Secret War Journal[12 January 2013]
A new year! Always a good reason to meet up with everyone again. :) Today it is time to do some catching up with 10S101 clique after not meeting them for so long! It has been what, a year since we last met? LOL

Coming today are Debbie, Laura, Lai Yin, and Pei Shi. It was a meet-up that almost took ages to materialise. I guess it was mostly my fault due to the fact that I did not have whatsapp? That did slow down the process on confirming on a date. Compounded by the fact that my work schedule was a big question mark then, not much decision-making could be made then. Things were finally decided when my schedule for January was finalised. Thud, today is the day we decided on.

Apart from me, the rest of them are attending university. It made me feel that I am under-performing at first because everyone else seems to be learning something immediately useful to their future career. I feel so useless since I could have signed up for some class during the weekends. Hmm, on that note, I am currently thinking of taking up driving.
Come to think of it, each of us are pursuing a different degree. Debbie - Business; Laura - Law; Lai Yin - Mathematics; Pei Shi - Psychology. Myself? I am set to pursue a double degree of business and computing. Guess at least I am also pursuing a business degree as Debbie but I am taking a double degree. :(
Most of them are smarter than me but I am the only one gunning for a double degree. At times, I have second thoughts of my compatibility with my chosen course. Hmm...

Pasta De Waraku
Without sidetracking further, we met up at GongCha first in Central. (I was not late! Yes!) Earlier that day, Debbie wanted to meet up at Outram Park first. No reason were given then but Pei Shi guessed that Debbie needed to buy something first. I could not give an accurate guess on what Debbie wanted to buy because all I know about Outram Park are a hospital and a park. As it turns out, Debbie forgot that there is a MRT station in Clarke Quay! Hahas! That could be quite embarrassing! Fortunately, that was rectified before we actually met at Outram Park or else it would be really funny then. :p

From my memory of my past visits to Central, I recalled having difficulty choosing what to eat. Today, we had quite a bit of a dilemma on which restaurant/stall to dine in. (Deja vu?) After walking around the whole shopping mall, I realised there were many more places to eat than I previously thought. Heck, I did not even know that there were so many Japanese cuisine restaurants here! Fortunately, we narrowed our choices down to non-fast food and no Korean, which helped to allow us to decide our lunch. In the end, we found ourselves seated in Pasta De Waraku, a sort of fusion cuisine I would say, of French and Japanese. All the while, they were trying to get me to treat them for lunch. (I was actually prepared to treat them, within my budget, of course. It felt like a deja vu moment where I treated them to lunch. Hmm, maybe that happened in an alternate dimension.) Anyway, they felt bad so I did not treat them. LOL?

I cannot vividly recall what each of us ordered but Laura ordered a oyster clam soup pasta, lai yin another soup pasta, Pei Shi cream pasta, Debbie seafood pasta? while I ordered Ham & Egg pasta. For myself, I find the pasta a tad too salty. However, the serving is decent (not enough for me but enough or normal people.)

Long Walk
After our meal, we loitered around the mall, trying to decide on something to do. (We only planned to find a place to eat and catch-up, but it was a bit bad to stay in a restaurant when we all but finished our food. LOL!) Along the way, we had this crazy idea to walk to Suntec City Mall and off we went!

Walking out of the shopping mall, only to realise that the weather is kind of harsh today. Yet, we pressed on. It is quite a journey actually, being my first time walking from Clarke Quay to City Hall. I had a lot of fun coming with crazy theories about NUS Faculties with Laura.

Mall of Old
Reaching Suntec at last, we were shocked by the amount of renovation works it is undergoing through. Ever since Carrefour left Suntec City Mall, , Giant and Cold Storage has taken residence in it. Some way or another, other places are also experiencing change. The entrance which I normally took to enter the mall is now going through revamp, causing it to be sealed. Even before entering the mall, I felt as though I do no know this Mall anymore; It feels so foreign now. Thankfully, the interior still resemble the old mall I knew. We stopped by Oldtown White Coffee since I was feeling hungry.
I was not exactly sure why but our food took quite some time to arrive. Lai Yin's came first but our food still did not arrive when she finished it. I could understand why the half-boiled eggs would take some time but toast? In any case, as there was a long delay before my food actually arrived, I could eat my toasts as dinner. (Not very healthy to eat just two toasts with kaya spread for dinner but I just lost the appetite to eat dinner after consuming them.)

Shortly after, we headed home.

Her Iron Throat
Somehow, we should thank Pei Shi for making this gathering possible. Did you know? Pei Shi actually had a pretty bad sore throat today but still she came. She should be resting at home instead but I guess it is hard to get us to meet up so she decided to come at risk of worsening her condition. That made me feel a bit bad.

Tells you something huh? As we all advance to the next stage in entering the working society, it would only get so much harder to meet up. I can only hope I do not lose anything when I enter the working world.

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. "Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun." - Charles R. Swindoll

Kokoro Connect

Sunday, January 13, 2013
Secret War Journal[7 January 2013][Spoiler Alert]
I seldom talk about anime because Randomc.net does a very good job writing about them. However, I believe that Kokoro Connect deserves a special mention because of its characters.


With the last 4 episodes airing marathon this month, the anime had officially concluded. In a way, it is a pity that it ended though I have to agree that the anime should end this way instead of dragging it. Otherwise, the effect that allows it to be so impactful would be lost. What captivates me to really watch it is the way how the characters relate to me.

I feel so cold

Take inaba. Her initial personality before revealing her feelings for Tachi reminded greatly of myself. She was a character who actually keeps many things to herself. She keeps her fears to herself and is a little bit cynical about life. From her first impressions, one would actually think she is a dark character. This stems from her ideology that there is no one else to rely on but herself. On occasions, I cannot say that is wrong but being an one-man army sergeant can only bring one so far. It was no surprise when Inaba broke under the pressure of heartseed. Given the unpredictable phenomenon of Heartseed's intervention, it is hard to hide your thoughts from others. In normal circumstances, Inaba would had been able to pull if out and live her life as before because no one would probably find out about her secrets.

Iori and Inaba
Towards the last 4 episodes, it was her best friend Iori that relate to me the most. Midway through the anime, we discovered that her cheerful personality was just a false front and she told her then boyfriend Tachi that she was afraid of how people would judge her when they see the true side of her. During the final arc of the story, Heartseed caused thoughts of a random one of the five to be known to others. This initiated a breakdown of Iori as her actions and thoughts are not in sync. When others heard her actual thoughts, they were shocked, and when Iori heard the thoughts of others judging her through the act of Heartseed, she realised that she can no longer keep up the false front. Forsaking her cheerful self, thinking it is only a idealistic impression of herself, she progressively became a cold person. Similarly to Inaba, she would had been able to keep up the facade if not for Heartseed's intervention. However, in case you are wondering, in the end, all is well with Iori accepting that she should not try to live up to other's expectations but live life as how she wants it. :)

Iori's case does prompt one to wonder. How many of us are actually not being honest with others when we socialise? It is unlikely that there would be some supernatural phenomenon which would cause our darkest secrets to be revealed but is continuing on this track detrimental to our mental well-being?

Something to ponder on huh?
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Finally, Aoki and Yui. Probably the most smooth-sailing happy ending in there? Hahas. Granted, the couple also had some hurdles, especially getting Yui to like Aoki! It was not originally that difficult since I suspect Yui already has some feeling for Aoki. However, relevations! Yui actually turns out to be suffering from androphobia! No wonder she always hang out with girls only.


With that said, the couple ultimately benefited (as do others, though it is not apparent immediately) from the deeds of Heartseed. With the end of the second arc, Yui decided to stand up and fight her androphobia. By the end of the anime, Yui explicitly hinted that she took a liking to Aoki. (A good sign, in my opinion!)

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I must say, even in the end, I was rooting for Iori x Tachi but I guess by the final arc, when Iori broke down so badly, it is quite impossible. This is especially so when Tachi realised he never really knew Iori. When you realise that, it is quite hard to get a relationship going when Iori hinted a break-up too. Not that bad, they were really dating to start with, with Iori keep asking Tachi if he can see her real self or only the personalty that Iori is showing to everyone. (which we found out later that Tachi cannot, he thought he could though.)

Inaba x Tachi
I guess, in the end a Inaba x Tachi ending would be more appropriate. I wonder what hidden message the scriptwriters are trying to relay here. Everyone has secrets? :P

Do not understand what I mean? Watch the anime! Hahas!


Credits: Randomc.net

IKEA Tampines

Sunday, January 6, 2013
Secret War Journal[5 January 2013]
I must admit, this is not the first time I dine at the food restaurant @ IKEA Tampines. However, I never really tasted the specialities of the restaurant until this night.
 I would therefore have to thank Sally and Marcus for suggesting IKEA to dine at, creating an opportunity for to try those out! Gahahahahas!
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Meatballs!
It is no wonder that it is everyone's favourite. This swedish recipe really sets itself apart from the meatballs that we normally consume outside. The tender meat along with the just the right amount of salt allows one to enjoy the great taste of the meatball with every bite. Coupled with the (I presume) mushroom sauce, it is already perfect. Of course, most people would spread it with jam to complement the taste. (I did not do that though, I do not like jam. XD)

Chicken Wings
This is sinfully nice. Hahas! I sort of felt guilty after eating but who cares! It is nice!

Fries, Nuggets, and Onion Rings!
This comes as a set. I like the nuggets. :)

"So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being." - Franz Kafka

Oh when I can see you again

Thursday, January 3, 2013
Secret War Journal[January 2013]
First MV post for this year! Enjoy! :)



Year 2013 Goals

Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Secret War Journal[Year 2013][Edited 29 December 2013]
It is also a resolutions of sort. I never really believed in resolutions but I do set goals.

As a result, I do not really know how this "New Year Resolutions" thing work. I found that most people make them on the New Year's Eve. Hmm, I guess that means I am late by a day? :P

So let's see...

  • Pass / Silver in IPPT 
  • Become a Detachment Commander
  • Get a driving license
  • Receive a Tarot card deck
  • Buy a pair of pants
  • Get the scholarship!
  • Buy leather shoes? 
  • Buy a pair of causal shoes
  • Save $5000 $6000 $7000 $8000 $10000
  • Learn Basic C programming
  • Get 3G mobile plan
  • Get Whatsappp 
  • Be more decisive (I wonder what's the KPI to know that I had achieved this though, it is so subjective) 

UPDATE: Score 8/13

Success Indicator

Indication

Secret War Journal[1 January 2012]
They say your body is an reflection of your life.

From the surface, everything seems fine.
But within, it is rotten.

Even nature had decreed I am corpse. I wish this body is immortal too. Healing is taking longer, all the wounds caused by parasites feeding on my flesh just seem to worsen.
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