Green Lantern, sadists, and Munchkin

Secret War Journal[18 June 2011][Long Post][Photo-Heavy]

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Belated Birthday Celebration

Wohoo! Another morning, my parents ain't back from overseas yet.

Johnston, Keller, Qi Xiang, and Marcus have organised a birthday celebration for me. Actually, they intended to have it yesterday but I already agreed to go out with Christopher and gang to celebrate birthday. Hahas!

I guess we can't have everything squeezed into a day unless I decided to not sleep at all. Hahas.

Before that, I would like to say I'm really grateful for Cynthia, Pei Shi, Laura, and Debbie for planning to bake a cake. Hahas. Thanks for your thoughts. ^^

Alright, before I go completely off tangent, I was a bit late for today's outing actually because I was doing house chores before I could leave with ease. (you know, parents complaining the shit out of me when the house is anywhere but perfectly clean....)

Nevertheless, I met up with Johnston first at Daiso, Plaza Singapura. He was buying some textiles for Emelia because Emelia wanted some as decorations for her scrapbook (if I recall). The textiles there are really a challenging area, me not knowing what to do with them. Hahas!

Heading towards where the rest were, I had a hard time locating them because they were dining at a place where we seldom go in this shopping mall. Half-embarrassed myself for spending around 5 minutes looking around like an idiot because I ignored the possibility of them being there. Here's a lesson to learn. :)


Of course, there's a reason why we're all meeting up at Secret Recipe.

There was a cake!


My surprised face. XD




This is where we all got sadistic and tried to 'torture' the cake. The above picture is me trying to 'slice' the cake with my bare hands!


Close-up shots of the cake they bought for me!





Caught admiring the cake, oops? :p



Going in for the kill!


Excalibur!!!



Widening the wounds of the cake!



Look at my evil smile! O.o



A fellow sadist. With added sound effects.



His trophy!

Really appreciated the cake and allocating one day just for me. I'm really glad you all meet and organised it. Special thanks to Johnston. :)

Hahas, the cake was sweet. :P
You people gave me a hard time thinking of a wish! :O Hahas!

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Green Lantern: The Movie

Shortly after the clean-up of the corpse of the banana filled chocolate cake, we adjourned to the cinema above for a film of Green Lantern: The Movie.

I would say, this is a movie meant for hardcore Green Lantern Fans. Hahas!

Why do I say that? The climax was rather short. Worse, I thought that was a lead-in all along. Ah! Imagine how disappointed I was when one of the character did not become villain as I thought it would (according to the comics)

Oh well, not much cool effects. Average plot, not much action though.

Hahas, it's hard for a movie to satisfy me huh? :p

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Fort Canning Park

After the movie, we went hunting for a place to sit down to do something.

From Plaza Singapura we exited and headed towards the Fort Canning Park for a desolated sitting area.

Well..... we couldn't find one but that doesn't mean we didn't have fun in the process. XD

We're stuck in the Fort! Noooooo!

~Qi Xiang teleporting away or trying to get out of here.



Guys! Don't leave me behind!




Think Gongfu Panda.



The Three Wise Men







No Kellers were harmed in the process of developing this picture.
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This warrant a section of its own! Keller planking!

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Munchkins

If you're wondering why we were looking for a place with tables and chairs, it's time for me to reveal (while I open my birthday present!)


Presenting the birthday present (left), an expansion set to Munchkin!

Munchkin is a boardgame that adapts a RPG style that is rather fast-paced.

So yep, we decided to go to SMU study benches to play our boardgames. :)



The Munckin gang!



With the board games!
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Once again, I would like to thank you guys for buying this wonderful present! I had a lot of fun today! Thank you!

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Dinner @ Clarke Quay

Thought that's the end? No way! Hahas! After playing Munchkins, we headed down to Clarke Quay to treat ourselves to fine cuisine. Ah, it's been such a long time. I think it's the first time we all went together to eat there. :)

Ordering the dishes was very fun. We accidentally end up in a Sichuan Restuarant (which is known for their spicy recipes) and half of us can't take spicy.

Thus, we ended up ordering non-spicy dishes in that restaurant which was very queer by itself, and earned stares from the staff. Hahas, there was this point of time where the waiters were staring at us, looking worried. So funny. :P

I guess, we must had been the strangest customers ever and freaked the heck out of them. The boss even came over to make sure everything was all right. Hahas!

The Fish ultimately became our main dish. We had a relatively long debate whether to include a fish into our course meal as we didn't want to over-spend but it turned out to be a good decision as it really filled our stomachs. :)

To end it off, we're treated to fireworks! Enjoy!

June: Rite

Secret War Journal[17 June 2011][Long Post]

Kite flying

Hoo yeah! Second kiteflying this week! Awesome start for a day, no? (For a post too, hahas!)

Joining me today for today's meeting would be my 4D class clique namely, Christopher, Jing Ting, Lai Yin, Jing Ying and Guan Hui.

Despite Lai Yin asking us to bring kites for today, I didn't. Ha!

I wasn't intending to fly one since I just had one a few days back. Nevertheless, I still end up playing kite. Hahas!
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After much kiteflying without much result (since it was hard to sustain the height that our kites reach), we headed out of the fields for lunch.

There was much debate as to what we should eat for lunch (we had been discussing this for ages. Hahas!)

After taking a slight detour, we decided to stop by Anchorvale Community Centre for lunch. Since Jing Ying was a vegetarian, we had instant noodles for lunch at 7 Eleven. XD

A bit pathetic but who cares? Hahas! Meanwhile, we played Monopoly Deal!

A pretty long game at that too, I wonder why I was slow in playing just now? Must be mentally tired, I guess. :S

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Mr Popper's Penguins

Next up! We're now in Downtown East. As the heading above already revealed, the movie we're watching is Mr Popper's Penguins!

Actually, most of us had no real clue what movie was about (sorry for being an idiot? :p) and the idea was brought up by Lai Yin.

I can't really give much opinions about this movie since I had no real expectations.

Well, it's sorta funny? Hahas! But not as funny as Bruce Almighty.

Personally, I feel that the movie would look better if the Transformers movie trailer was not shown before this movie was played because the awesome action-packed scenes in the trailer really killed the mood for the actual movie because the contrast was too great.

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JustAcia

My second time here! Hahas!

Originally, we wanted to go play pool or arcade. But....

For the pool, the place was packed and hence there were no available tables for us to play. XD

For the arcade, we didn't have the card to play there. Hahas.


Therefore, we ended up at JustAcia for our wonderful dinner. :)

Three of us had Herbal Chicken Rice Set. Jing Ting had Spicky Chicken while Jing Ying had Kimchi. It was nice! You should try it in the future. Continued playing Monopoly Deal until it was time to go home. :)

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Alright, the time has come to shed an ounce of truth of what had conspired since last year. Since the event was officially over, I personally conclude that it is quite all right to disclose what happened.

Like one of my friend who recently revealed on my tagboard, there was a prank regarding my birthday a couple of months ago.

However, all these were anything but a part of the preparation for today.

You see, with the arrival of facebook, birthday greetings had been slammed with a feeling of insincerity since people would login into Facebook and find out that it's your birthday on that day itself.

Not much meaning is there? Thus, I conspired to hide my birthday on Facebook. Got a number of pals to post birthday wishes on my 'birthday'.

The objectives were two-fold - An excuse to hide my real birthday and mislead other people who didn't know when my birthday was into thinking my birthday was then.

The latter helps, in theory, to prevent people from getting cues from facebook posts on my wall later during my actual birthday. Thus, it serves as a form of confusion. Of course, it's only in theory, there are people who will vaguely remember and see through this amateur plot.

Nevertheless, today's post is actually meant to be a thanksgiving post. I would like to say my plan work relatively well and I would like to thank all of you for making my birthday so significant this year. After all, it's the thought that counts. :)

By chronological order:

1. My sister -- who had been wondering why my birthday falls on the same day as a certain event. :)
2. My dad -- Thank you.
3. Shereen -- Hahas, my 'daughter' who had been bugging me to know when's my birthday. Thank you for your well-wishes and facebook messages later with the funny greetings which really brightened the day. :)
4. Sally -- Thank you for remembering my birthday. Yes, I shall have a smashing year ahead! Hahas!
5. Cynthia -- Thank you for remembering my birthday. Still stay up so late? Hahas. Really appreciated. :)
6. Benjamin -- Ah fellow gemini whose birthday falls on the same day as mine. Thank you thank you. Hahas! :)
7. Emelia -- Your unique way of wishing me happy birthday really made laughed out loud. Great timing, if you ask me. Hahas! Thank you.
8. Shawn Teo -- Hey pal, thank you! :)
9. Janice -- Hi jie, thank you! :)
10. Bao Lin -- Thank you! It must had been tough sending to all three of us. Rest well! 
11. Qi Xiang -- Thank you! Don't feel too bad about the kiteflying yeah? What matters is that we have fun!
12. Francis -- Thank you expert cuber! Go break the Singapore record okay? I will be supporting you, hahas! ;)
13. Aunt Michelle -- Thank you! Have a great time in London! :)
14. Shi Ming -- Long no see, thank you. Wonder how's life on your side?
15. Jing Ying -- Hahas, you cute, facebooking me when I'm in front of you and sipping hot chocolate. XD Thank you. 
16. Eunice -- Yes, you got my chinese name right at last! Joking, thank you :)
17. Jia Pei -- Thank you, I see you post on the walls of all three of us. Hahas!
18. Yuki -- Hey! You tie with Jia Pei! Hahas, thank you, I really enjoyed today! :p
19. Travis -- Thank you Junior iCC chairman!
20. Rena -- Thank you Junior iCC Chairman! Hahas, coincidence much? :p
21. Sock Yii -- Thank you pretty junior! :)
22. Shi Jie -- Thank you junior!
23. Wen Rui -- Thank you. The conversation was funny to me. :p
24. Wei Jun -- Thank you junior! ;)
25. Johnston -- Thank you best friend! Hahas, thank you for coming up with such a unique of wishing me happy birthday! :)
26. Ivy -- Thank you!
27. Tze Yui -- Hey cousin! Thank you! Tap tap is fun, you know? XD
28. Joan -- Thank you! Hahahas! It's really fun whenever you join in the conversation. Hahas!
29. Qi Xian -- Thank you cousin! Mario rocks! LOL
30. Siew Yan -- Thank you for your attempt to send it at 11:59PM (which is now) :)
Update (18 June):
31. Gideon --Thank you junior! I will try to 'bump' into you more often in school! Hahas!
32. Keller -- Thank you, Johnston, Keller, Marcus, Qi Xiang for the cake and everything else! (More on my next post) Thank you emelia too for the present! :)))
33. Marcus --Thank you once again! Hahas! Thank you for sending me the pictures as well. ;)
34. Jie Sheng -- Hahas so creative! I hope my reply to you was just as creative. HA!
35. Yan Mae -- Thank you! :)
36. Ying Ying -- Thank you though why are you still calling me a geek? Hahas!
37. Pei Wen -- Thank you!
Update (19 June):
38. Jia Hong -- Hey long time no see! Thank you!
Update (20 June):
39. Clarissa -- Yes very late. Hahas! Thank you!
    
Update (21 June):
40. Timothy -- Hahas, it's okay I knew you had tuition. :) Thank you!
41. Erin -- Thank you Erin! BizClub President! ;)
Update (25 June):
42. ZhenYao -- Thank you! Ironically, that day was my sister's birthday...

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Actually, looking at this list now, I would say the operation was highly successful. Look at the date range. Hahas, I bet I never experience this before in previous years. Thank you buddies for making the operation so successful. Over and out.

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"I'm not telling you it's going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it." - Art Williams

June

Secret War Journal[13 June 2011]
It's been some time since I post a sad post. I think it's becoming a habit of mine. I feel as though a part of me is missing and I can only organise my thoughts via blogging. Sorry world, you would have to bear with me. Haha.

My affinity with June. So many things return back to the word "June". Some consider 11:11 of significance. Apart from one or two things, I think June is of more significance.

June. Where it all began.

June. The name of the first girl whom I caused her to cry. So immature then, so not innocent then. Such a black heart I have.

June. The bond between my sister and I share.

June. Where all fell apart.

June...

Hahas, and what luck? The school administration decided to have my mid-year examinations AFTER june holidays. Is my life great or what? Hahas, I had been having difficulty finding motivation to study. Some help here? Haha?

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What can I say? The Shadow King has grown old. His mental will has weakened. That, however does not mean he will stop his revenge.

I still walk the path of destruction.

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A path of no return.

A path of whispered promise.

A path of hardship.

A path of great despair.

But the question I seek now is...

Will someone provide light in this dark path? So many possible routes, so many filled with thorns. Where, oh where, lies the path that bears fruit?

Another step into the darkness, alone.

Double Whammy

Secret War Journal[12 June 2011]
Today is one freaky day. Okay, short post.

First, I think my computer's internal clock died. I went to use the computer at 6pm and the computer clock was showing 2pm.

I was like mind-f***ed. (partly because the surrounding is still rather bright as if it's 2pm. Thus, there was a slight chance all my other clocks are wrong. Heehee)

Of course, I'm saying this because I think my face expression was rather priceless then. Needless to say, I recovered fast. Sync-ed my computer clock back to the atomic clock. Guess I would be doing this more often if my computer internal clock really died. :(

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Next, I just login-ed into Facebook and the first thing Facebook informed me was that my anniversary was coming. (With a heart shape)

*Facepalm*

I have no idea where that came from. I immediately went to check my profile details and even some internal stuff and I couldn't figure out where I, if ever, placed such a date. (maybe my privacy setting is so strong, even I can't view it. Eh, wait, can others see that and misunderstand? Oh no...)

I swear, Facebook is becoming scary.

Raffles City Groove

Secret War Journal[4 June 2011][Photo-heavy]
Ok, we were planning to study at Starbucks at Raffles City but it turns out that there was a musical performance there. Keller said it was for the Singapore Arts Festival which started this week. Lucky us!

There were many performances but I especially like the violinist. I did not take photos of all the performances, my apologies. Enjoy whatever few I have.

P.S: I'm trying to get keller to upload the video on the violinist so you can hear the music. :)

Update: Here's the video!

Audience participation!










The one in orange pants is the violinist. He could play while doing stunts. Very impressive!






Let the music begin!























The violinist talking with the audience





A bow!

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Heading home, we decided to detour a bit, window-shopping a bit.

This particular scene is hilarious to me. Managed to convince keller to do this skit for me. Thanks! :)



He's standing in the middle of road! XD

May: The Month of a Million Birthdays

Secret War Journal[31 May 2011]
My good friend, the Czar asked me to post about his post so here goes!

By The Czar

So, the Czar is back in his second installation of a-post-a-week, a worthy effort on his part, and no doubt a reason for his recent mental fatigue. The intense concentration and discipline required for the fruition of this post has simply been unprecedented in nature. In fact, the Czar’s advisors have repeatedly warned against the plausible consequences of continuing on with this madness; the Czar just shrugged it off and trudged onwards. After all, the promise has been made.
And only the weak break promises.

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Here, as the end of May nears and June approaches, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. It’s not only due to the impending doom that many predicted would occur (the Mayans got it wrong; December 2012 is a lie. It’s September 2011, A’ levels period). Instead, I think it’s also because of the many events that occur this month.

Ah yes, this is the month with an absurd amount of birthdays. I had to congratulate many of my companions on their arrival to the world some many years ago. Not that it’s often worth celebrating (yes, to all my haters out there, I’m talking to you).

Probably a direct result of this monstrous behemoth of a birthday cluster is presents. The sending of presents. Of course, the Czar is not mindful of the number of gifts required; he is after all in possession of a large plentitude of wealth. Money simply isn’t an issue.
…is what I’d like to say. Sadly, things are quite the opposite — I’m broke.

Perhaps I’d better start saving up. Money management has never been part of my good points. Even so, I hope that my lack of material obligations are much made up by my mental and spiritual contributions. My well-wishes are all sincere and from the depths of my heart. And even if you have never (and probably will never ever) received a present from me in its physical form, you can be sure I have one for you. Emotionally. In my heart.
Yes, really.
Back to May; One thought often springs to mind — why are so many people born in this month? It is as though people decided to give birth en masse. I’m getting close to knowing someone with a birthday on each and every day of the month. And I don’t even have many friends (cues sad smile from the Czar)!
Interesting, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what is so special about the nine months prior to May.

Regardless, with a million birthdays naturally comes a billion birthday wishes. And the trend nowadays for birthday wishes are these little Facebook wall-posts. In fact, I dare say that you get more birthday wishes on your Facebook wall than in real life conversations. Or even conversations over the phone. Hell, even SMSes are rare.

That is … if your friends remember your birthday in the first place. Well, how tough can it be? After all, even if you forget it (or don’t even remember it in the first place, you lousy bugger), you will be reminded of your friend’s birthday on that day itself. Even if your date of birth is hidden, it will all be over when a close friend posts “Happy Birthday!” on your wall. Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war!

Here, think about it. What are the value of birthday wishes today? Before the inception of social networking sites such as Facebook, the average person has to remember his friend’s birthday by heart. Of course, some would cheat a little and mark it on their calendars, but that’s the most one can do, and even that would require some effort. Now, you don’t even have to do anything other than to log in to Facebook daily. Who knows if that person wishing you a happy birthday is doing it with sincerity or as a part of his daily log-in routine? In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say that 1 in 3 of those who post on your wall wouldn’t know about it if not for Facebook.

Don’t believe it? Try hiding your date of birth and getting a few friends to fake some birthday wishes. You’ll be surprised at the results.

Anyway, things aren’t all bad. After all, you do get a billion birthday wishes on your birthday; an effective ego boost no doubt, and a significant, though temporary, income increase if your friends are the gift-happy kind (hmm … the Czar needs more birthdays a year to cope with his financial crisis and feel less overwhelmed). Of course, all that pales in comparison with the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when your close friend celebrates your birthday with you. But, perhaps it all can’t be helped. We humans appear to be unstoppable in our thirst for a convenient and automated world. Maybe in the near future, even the birthday presents you receive may be generated automatically by some program. So before things like that happen, enjoy your birthday and it’s special meaning. Especially that one person who’s having her birthday today.

Yes, you! I’m talking to you!

spacespace

The point?
Look at the first letter of each paragraph.

From http://spiculated.wordpress.com/

In case you didn't get what the post was trying to say, it's a novel way to say Happy Birthday. Sorry, I had to spoil it because otherwise, I can't continue my post. Haha.

This post is to wish a number of people whose birthday falls in the month of May! Most of you would never ever see this post, but hey it's the thought that counts (in my opinion)

After all, if the Shadow King reveals himself, he will be very short-lived as a Shadow King, isn't it? ;)

By Chronological order:

1. Clarissa, :p - 5th May
2. Joan - 13th May
3. Siew Yan, you probably will never read this but... the speaker and card were by Johnston :) Meet up soon yeah? - 23th May
4. Zheng Yao - 23th May
5. Janus - 24th May
6. Marcus, well.... HAHAs, hope you liked it - 24th May
7. Simin - 24th May
8. Dion - 26th May
9. Gideon, my junior! - 26th May
10. Mr Quek - 26th May
11. Pei Si - 27th May
12. Angeline, just realised I don't have your mobile number. Hahas, had to use Facebook to wish you Happy Birthday after all - 28th May
13. Kelvin, hahas I really like our maths rep deal, win-win situation :) - 28th May
14. Last and foremost, my dad. Actually this post is dedicated to you, which is why I'm posting this today. Not bad for a closure yeah? (Nah, I will never tell my parent or siblings about this blog) - 31st May

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I know I don't have much left. I'm trying hard to continue my life. I know I still have two of you with me. I will try hard to stay happy and not worry you so much. Sorry. Ah..... sounds so emo, enjoy your special day today and don't too much. :)

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"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." - Jimmy Dean