Photos are credited to gamebooks.org. We prefer our cover to be number two, where you can see Lone Wolf standing on the pedestal (and not looking scary, waif-thin and unheroic...come on, he's trained for battle, why is he looking so fragile?!).
We can't say we like the cover art for the Lone Wolf books that were distributed in Bolehland (which is cover art three), but we didn't know that there were alternate cover art until we saw the books at an old schoolmate's house. Compared to the ones we've got, we were impressed with the artwork and the fact that they actually drew out the character of Lone Wolf. Turns out, those nice artwork covers were the American release edition (with grayscale map instead of colour maps and, in some cases, abridged) while the ones we got were by the UK publisher showing some artsy perspective of a monster.
It was only after some 15 books that the UK version came out with art depicting Lone Wolf...but a faceless Lone Wolf it was. Perhaps it was so you can stick a photo of your own face in place, since you'd actually be playing the role of Lone Wolf.
While the US cover art were drawn by different illustrators so Lone Wolf looks different from cover to cover (yes, yes even after factoring in age as he goes on to becoming Kai Grand Master).
Recently we were just in Mage Cafe and came across the Legends Of Lone Wolf Omnibus, covering the first two novels based on the gamebooks (hmmm we should check if 'Ward still has most of the novels) and that brought on the nostalgia for the gamebooks. Our collection of the Lone Wolf gamebooks (and the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks) were all given away when we shifted, and we've not gotten back to buying those books because, honestly, who actually honestly plays those gamebooks?
We've tried. But at some point or other, we lost track of which section we were supposed to turn to, or died in combat, or died out of nowhere, we went, "Ahfuggedaboutit!" and just read our way through the books.
And now, since we're feeling nostalgic, we feel like playing reading them through again. But we're lazy to do it at Project Aon (which is a cheaper and easier way to play the Lone Wolf gamebooks) and we're rather not keen on buying the books again yet (for collecting purposes).
We just came back from watching Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen and boy, the show seemed a tad too ambitious in what they were trying to do. There was Chen Zhen acting as the Prince of Persia at the start of the show, then moonlighting as a masked crusader, there were Brits and Japanese forces in China, there were resistance fighters, plenty of gratuitous kungfu violence, and Donnie Yen making those high-pitched yowls and taking off his shirt for added strength.
We were thinking that the focus was going to be more on Donnie Yen pulling off a secret superhero identity while dressed like Kato from the Green Hornet (we think it's some kind of nod to Bruce Lee, since this show was suppose to be the sequel to Fist Of Fury), but somehow there were too many things going on when they have to add in the somehow-required Chinese Movie Formula script.
Oh yes. The CMF. Something we've been noticing in the kungfu films. For that, throw in the following:
One. A historical time of oppression, when China is under the iron fist of some other country.
Two. Some form of resistance, probably led by a newspaper editor. Said newspaper editor, and his office may at some point in the show be attacked by the oppressors and they may beat him up and probably say, "Write nasty stuff about us, eh? Let's see you write like this!" while crushing his hand.
Three. A Chinese police officer forced to work under the oppressive government. Probably able to speak their language too, but most of time is able to speak in rapidfire Cantonese or Mandarin and still be understood. And Chinese officer will be accused of being ineffectual and the oppressor's lackey.
Four. Chinese propaganda about how the Chinese will never give up and become slaves to the oppressor, and people saying about how it's okay to die as long as it's for something honourable.
Five. Oppressors are always shown to be violent, heartless and cunning, resorting to underhanded measures especially for point six. Unlike the honourable and compassionate Chinese.
Six. There will be a showdown finale between the martial arts savvy protagonist and a martial arts savvy oppressor. The oppressors, even though confident that they will crush the protagonist with ease, will either drug or poison, overwhelm to weaken with underlings, or cheat one way or another. Protagonist will still win in the end.
Seven. The show ends with text telling slightly more of what happens to the protagonist, and that the war is far from over...
Perhaps we're exaggerating but there's a familiarity that bores a bit after a while. The best thing we can do to enjoy the film?
Switch off brain. Enjoy gratuitous violent kungfu battle scenes. Applaud that Donnie Yen's allowed to go even more freestyle compared to his affable and reserved Ip Man role where he doesn't kill everyone. After that, remember only the fighting scenes and don't question the script.
So during the end of last month we made a trip down south to Sporeland with a few things in mind, and among the planned activities were paying a visit to the two new casinos and Universal Studios! Even though we'd planned for a nice long weekend there, the days were packed with walking and commuting and games from morning till late night, that we were quite grateful that we'd arranged our trip to leave on Monday night (by the overnight train, of course) and arrive back on Merdeka Day, giving us a day of rest before starting work again.
Imagine. By Monday our legs and feet were aching even after a leisurely stroll and by noontime we were considering heading back to our sis' place to rest instead of going about shopping. If we stayed till Tuesday, and headed back on the overnight train and arrived home on Wednesday, we would be in no condition to do anything productive.
So anyways Thursday night we made our way down, arrived in Sporeland on Friday morning, headed to settle our luggage and freshen up and our sis' place before heading out to have lunch at Kuishin-Bo. We were starving when we left our sis' place that we would have stopped for lunch at Suntec's Food Republic, where we did stop for a while to take photos of the decor.
If we recall this is not the first time we'd noticed the library-like decor at the Food Republic, but it's the first time we're paying attention to it. The Chief hurried ahead to leave us alone to suaku take photos like some awestruck tourist.
Propaganda attack: Dollar for dollar, you can enjoy a nice Japanese buffet lunch for $20-something, unlike back here where you have to break a fifty, or two.
Kuishin-Bo Suntec had this lunch offer where if you're done eating in under an hour, you pay only SGD21.90++, otherwise it's SGD28.90++ (we think we got the prices right). Certainly had our fill as we were already starving! A lesson learned here is to avoid the little chocolate desserts if we plan to make full use of the buffet spread in under an hour.
A leisurely walk around Suntec City (and our first hands-on on a working, jailbroken iPad) and Raffles after that, and by night we were back at our sis' for boardgames with the bro-in-law and his group of friends.
Till...3am.
Saturday noon was off to Marina Bay Sands! Only, we forgot to bring our passport along, and so wasn't allowed entry into the casino. So we walked about the shops, took photos of the rain oculus, and like many other people, threw coins. Except we weren't throwing it at the eye, but trying to roll the coin in a spiral towards it. Fail.
Then later inside we saw the rain oculus from below. There were boat rides going on, and we wondered if anyone in the boats got hit by coins (honestly we keep picturing rich tai-tais screaming in pain as a coin pierced through one eye). The Epicentre there was full of people so we didn't get another chance at the iPad, and so we made our way to Orchard before heading back to get our passports. The night before's gaming session told on us as every time we commuted or whenever we sat down to eat, we would go into standby mode now and then. The Chief, patient martyr, let us rest and either played Mega Jump on the iPod Touch or looked out for when to get off the MRT/bus.
The Marina Bay Sands Casino was nice, and quite modern in some ways too - like for Baccarat Punto Banco, the croupiers at Genting Resorts World had to key in the results, while in Marina Bay Sands the system somehow catches the results (we're not sure how, the Chief suggests via CCTV) and displays it automatically without the croupier doing anything. After about nearly an hour on the main floor, we explored the upper floor and discovered the non-smoking section. Bah.
As we had to make our way back to get our passports, we ended up at Marina Bay Sands rather late, and so left rather late too (no, we missed out on heading up to see the infinity pool on the rooftop) and had to catch a cab (fairly quick and easy from the hotel) back. Where we found our bro-in-law and friends having another night of boardgaming.
We showered, played Starcraft a while on the bro-in-law's pc, joined them for a round of Agricola when they started a new round, and ended up sleeping at 4am.
Sunday was to Universal Studios! Initially we planned to go Universal Studios on Saturday but they were sold out for then, so Sunday it was. And since we were going to head on to the Resorts World Casino after Universal Studios, we packed along an extra shirt, predicting our time at Universal Studios to be rather sweaty.
The Universal Studios Globe.
And the Store, where we spend a long time inside but ended up with not much.
We'll say that Universal Studios Singapore is actually not that large if compared (rather hazily due to poor memory) Universal Studios LA, but it worked to our favour as we could cover everything in one trip. We arrived at noon (thanks to yours truly who stayed up late gaming) after brunch, and managed to go for all the rides, save the kiddy ones found at the Madagascar and Lost World bit and the Battlestar Galactica rollercoaster as it was under maintenance. If we arrived when the gates opened, we could probably fit in extras like taking photos with characters (we'd only managed to get photos with Beetlejuice and some Egyptian guard as it was) and seeing a few other shows.
What we really liked about Universal Studios was how thematic it was, down to the small details! Umbrella stands were made to look like a barrel to hold weapons in the Far Far Away, in the walls of the Lost World you see amber with mosquitos in them. Of course, if you never watched the shows, you might not appreciate some of the details, but there's lots of other stuff like how toilet signs and decor differ depending whether you were in Madagascar, Far Far Away or in Ancient Egypt, that help make you feel like you're in some fantasy land and more importantly, feeling like a kid again.
We went trigger happy with the camera taking photos when in Far Far Away!
And the stuff we came across the Lost World were a tickle, from their clothes shop...
To the refreshment counter!
When we arrived at Ancient Egypt, we were quite taken in with the effort in making monuments and impressively large statues. And then we came across guards on stilts that reminded us of fauns and satyrs.
We'd no idea who he was suppose to portray, since he was off duty and was heading elsewhere ignoring a gaggle of girls who chased after him.
We didn't find anything we'd buy from the souvenir shop, and we wonder who will actually buy this throne for SGD2,800.
We went crazy at Sci-Fi City's souvenir shop buying a few Battlestar Galactica themed souvenirs. Didn't get anything that read What The Frak, though. There's more souvenirs we're keeping track off that we didn't get this time, well, because we thought the Universal Studios Store near the entrance would have all the stuff we might come across in the other stores at their respective areas (obviously not). Good thing we decided to get the BSG souvenirs when we did, otherwise we'd have to run all the way back to Sci-Fi City to get them!
After Universal Studios, our legs needed a rest and we headed for dinner, and then we were off to the casino! A quick stop at Bread Story just outside the casino showed that thematic settings didn't just stop at Universal Studios...
Resorts World Casino doesn't have that posh feel that Marina Bay Sands has, as seen by the less formal way the gamblers dress, but at least upon entry we were in the non-smoking section. And we came across the Star Wars: Light Side slots machine there! Genting has the Star Wars: Dark Side slots, and we weren't sure if there was a Light Side version till then! And we won SGD50 playing it!
That night, once home, we played Street Fighter 4 with the bro-in-law until somewhere 2am, we think. After that, we helped him get his iPad up and running, which he bought that day and left to charge till night. There was the installing of iTunes and setting up and account which took a fair bit of time, and after that we left him to play with his new toy while we went to bed.
Come Monday, it was supposed to be a rather free-and-easy day and the Chief took us around town. First up, to Sporeland's Ikea for a look-see. We haven't been there for some four years now since our sis took us there once, and remembered it differently (perhaps because our sis brought us there at night), but we found it smaller compared to the Ikea here.
After that, we crossed the street for the Katong Laksa, ate using only a spoon. Even though our legs were hurting by the afternoon we still managed to cover Queensway Mall and Chinatown before heading back to pack up our luggages!
Sis and bro-in-law then brought us to Oasis for Taiwanese porridge dinner. The place is situated at a rather nice park, and would make for rather scenic walks if not for the humid weather.
After dinner it was time to rush to the train station! It was a close call as we arrived on time with only a few minutes to spare, and we were held up by our own customs people until another officer hollered to them to let us go and stop holding up the train.
Can't remember. Think we slept throughout Tuesday. Heh. We'll be heading back to Universal Studios probably in a couple of years, when the Battlestar Galactica and Transformers rides are up and running!
As in, just how many iPhone 3GS casings will we buy before we stop? 'Cos right now, we're at number three:
Meet the Battlestar Galactica iPhone 3GS casing, which we picked up while at Universal Studios Sporeland for some SGD14 (honestly we can't remember if it was SGD13.90 or SGD16.90 but it's cheaper than any original covers found here). The BSG cover differs totally from the Watermelon and the Chocolate, not only in colour scheme but also in terms of size and feel.
With the Chocolate, it's big and rubbery, offering a good grip when we're playing games in landscape mode (especially with Robot Unicorn Attack and Minigore) and we can hear sound clearly because our hand won't cover the speakers. However, it does cover the camera lens slightly, so we'd have to remove the cover (very easy) if we want to snap a shot. Also, the rubbery texture worries us - will dust and dirt end up sticking and forming a rather difficult-to-remove layer in the future?
The Watermelon? Sturdy. Covers every part of the iPhone except the screen, preventing scratches, offering a fair amount of protection against drops (we've experienced that a couple of times already, and each time after our heart resumes beating at a normal pace, we found our iPhone unharmed). The only issue with the Watermelon cover is that it's the hardest to remove, and occasionally we want to remove the cover to give the iPhone and the covers a wipe.
The BSG case, now, makes the iPhone feel small! There's some sort of texture to the cover which belies its plasticky look which makes it nice to hold. When we were at Universal Studios Sporeland the first cover we noticed was a yellow Jurassic Park one. We thought, "Okay, so Universal Studios is also selling iPhone 3GS covers. No need lah." Then we arrived at the Sci-Fi area and upon entering the gift shop totally geeked out at the BSG stuff there and picked up a few souvenirs, including the iPhone cover. Too bad the cover doesn't cover up the bezel, so that might get scratched, and for landscape gaming we're not too happy with the grip. More than half the time we end up covering the speakers and we can't maintain a good steady grip as our thumbs will be busy tapping the screen rather than holding the bottom of the iPhone.
So. Three covers for different occasions and needs. We've been rotating them to suit our fancy.
We're wondering if we will end up getting a few more if the price drops drastically when the iPhone 4 gets in. Especially the Watermelon (Switcheasy Capsule Rebel) covers in different colours to mix and match, if they fit. Or maybe we'll go take a look at prices in Sporeland, see if it's cheaper there.
With the wifi down and the modem a minor hassle when it comes to connecting to the Internet (unplug splitter from main phone line, fix phone line directly to modem, turn on PC, click on 'Connect To...' to connect to the Internet), we've been keeping to the occasional Facebook and email check via our iPhone.
And there were times when we switched on the PC, fired up iTunes, tried to get onto the iTunes Store or check for app updates only to be told we couldn't connect to the server, only to discover after a while that we forgot to connect to the internet. Using a wireless modem router has really spoiled us, but it's the way to go, is it not? What more when we have iDevices (admittedly we are looking at the iPad too regardless of the limitations we've mentioned but we're giving ourself the excuse that it's more for the parents to easily check emails at home) that does well with wifi (think iPad without 3G or wifi access, what for?).
We had considered getting a second wireless modem router while waiting for our Belkin, which has already been sent back to the store thanks to a lifetime warranty and will take about 2-3 weeks before we get a replacement. Our Chief read our mind on that idea and veto'ed us before the idea managed to lodge itself to some serious extent in our head, heh.
As for using Maxis' data plan for getting online? Honestly, sometimes it's a pain when all we see is the loading sign and no progress. But it suffices for getting all our emails in, a bit of Facebooking and checking the blogs, Googling stuff up and checking Maps when it works. Otherwise we seem to do well without being connected. We suppose the Chief may beg to differ as we always seem to peek onto our iPhone whenever we're together.
And yes, we're blaming our lack of wifi for our tardiness in sorting out the photos taken at Universal Studios Singapore or doing anything on the PC!
Since we've relocated we've yet to get internet connectivity up and running, and as of a couple of days back we've already received a text from our telco telling us we've just reached 400mb out of our 500mb data plan (propaganda hard at work here: Sporeland gives 12gb data every month!).
We were away to Sporeland to see our niece and to merrily play about at their two new casinos as well as Universal Studios, and upon our return home we found out that we'd left our Belkin on throughout the long weekend. Throw in the fact that we were informed on our way back that our home's electric gate wasn't working due to some thunderstorm, we feared the worst. And when our iPhone didn't seem to be loading any content on Safari on wifi, we decided to try surfing from the desktop.
The desktop wouldn't start. Suspicion? Power supply and Belkin is now zapped in said thunderstorm that took out the gates.
Sigh.
Checking Bloglines (which we somehow prefer over Google Reader, since we started using Bloglines first) now and then and we see the number of new posts rising. Not keen on using NewsRack to download the blogposts/articles since who knows if some posts may turn out chock-full of photos, so it's reading certain posts and articles on Bloglines based on interest. Thankfully there's an Engadget app which gives us the headlines, and we suppose quite a fair bit of our data plan was sapped following the liveblog where Steve announced what was new for the iPods (along with the magic to make us go, "Ooo we want!"), especially since the liveblog has this auto-refresh option which refreshes the page every couple of minutes or so.
Thankfully there weren't many emails pouring in, but with sites like Engadget and Lifehacker having articles every day (and with limited internet connectivity we're not going to go through everything in our blogroll every day) we decided to be more productive offline instead, throwing away really old stuff, refiling other stuff and trying out a new layout for our workstation.
Just gotten a new power supply from Low Yat today, and now that our pc's up and running once more using the modem TMNet provided us when we signed up for Streamyx, we're slowly clearing out that backlog. Admittedly there'll be a fair bit that we'll just skim over so that we'll stay sane.
It's probably the case of the holiday blues, as with most trips back from Sporeland, but this trip we're feeling something more than just the blues from a holiday ending. Not to mention, the Chief was with us pointing out advantages about Sporeland just like how our sister tried to get us to migrate over before, but the Chief has an easier job due to knowing our likes and all that.
While we won't day that the Chief's spiel succeeded, it certainly is making us wonder and thinking unpatriotic thoughts today. Especially when on the issue of currency, and dollar-to-dollar comparisons, and how with us being an Apple fanboi we'll be able to satiate our Apple product needs much easier (an argument our sis never did use as we haven't started looking so much into iMacs then, and was already satisfied with our iPod Video, and there were no such things as the iPhone or iPad.
Speaking of the iPad, our brother-in-law got his during our stay there last weekend. How did it feel? It definitely reminds us about the first time we surfed online using webchitect's iPhone or the first time using our iPod Touch: surfing the web was wow. Typing's a breeze so long as we put it on a surface in landscape mode, and everything's fleshed out even more that it doesn't look like we're looking on a magnified version of the iPhone. Too bad surfing the App Store only leads to iPad-only versions. But we'll still wait and see what's new coming for the next generation iPad.
Anyways we're in the case of grass being greener (and honestly cannot find any reason why not prepare for changes asides from our friends being here), and we're wondering if it's all for not really correct reasons too.
So here we are in Suntec City blogging from an iPad. A display set in Epicenter jailbroken and running Cydia with the fonts replaced with horrible Times New Roman, but goodness it's a pleasure to type on this heavy baby when it's resting on a surface in landscape mode.
Also, the screen on the iPhone 4! Gorgeous. We had a side-by-side comparison with our 3GS and it was like comparing a plasma telly to a LED telly.
The things we do to walk off a heavy Japanese buffet lunch at Kuishin-Bo!
If there's a bane about collecting anything, it's the amount of space available for whatever there is to collect. From the usual stuff like books and pens to caps and cups and playing cards (okay we sorta described the stuff we've collected in our lifetime), we've reached a point where we can't really just buy whatever we want on a whim.
All covered by a single phrase: "There is no shelf space left!"
Which holds true when it comes to books, caps, and cups. As for pens, well, the pharmaceutical industry is one with multinational companies generous enough to hand out gimmicks so pens are ever plenty to the point where we've stopped collecting, unless we come across a nice unique pen that's worth keeping (like the bone-shaped Fosamax pen, or this large pen filled with numbered balls for a quick game of bingo or lotto, or souvenir pens). We've some three venti-sized Starbucks cups now filled with pens that most of them have dried up without even being used much (or at all).
Sigh.
Our Starbucks City Mug collection has reached its limit now that Kepong Biceps has brought back the Scotland City Mug (with the new design) for us (seeing how our old Scotland City Mug got chipped and mum immediately trashed it for us before we could stow it away, chip or no), and we may be expecting a London or Amsterdam City Mug from another friend too. There's also other coffee mugs we've gotten stowed together with our City Mugs, waiting for the day when they finally have a showcase/shelf where they can be displayed individually.
Books? We actually now blame BookXcess for considerably filling up the bookshelf we had installed under our cubicle, and am now considering a second bookshelf if we can find that particular model again. We actually find ourself walking into the store almost every single day of the week just to have a peek at what's new on the shelf (even if there hasn't been any new arrivals!) just in case we spot something that would be snapped up quickly, like Calvin & Hobbes treasury comics or The Art Of Discworld, and we don't care we're going to blame them for the fact that we have two copies of The Hounds Of The Baskervilles.
But we love them anyways. Where else can you find the complete set of Little Miss series (we'll wait until the complete Mr Men series are out before we buy 'em!) or audiobooks at the cheap? We'll be drowning our little niece with books from here!
Anyways. We sort of find that we need to cut down on the collecting especially after we've relocated and find that to our shame we have ten cups/mugs/glasses in the office, out of which we only use three - our KL City Mug for our drinks, a glass that looks like the A&W Root Beer stein from Chatuchak, and the third one technically a cafetier but take off the cover/plunger/filter bit and we can use it to drink water. As for the rest, well, they've just got to be stacked nicely into bags and stowed under the cubicle desk...
We're in the midst of relocating, and it's at this time where all the old stuff comes out into the open. Stuff that we've sort of shoved into a cabinet and left till times like spring cleaning or relocating when we have to take it out and organize it into boxes, files and folders, or the rubbish bin.
And to our shame we'd come across a large bag (the largest plastic bag you'd get from the supermarket), filled chock-full with letters, letters, more letters, claim forms, product inserts, pay advice, magazines, and even something far more intimidating than enlarged lips pasted on a mask...
In those stacks of letters, we find our missing phone and credit card bills from 2006. Statements, blank envelopes for cheques, brochures and rewards booklets still in the envelopes. An archeological find indeed, of an era when Janvier had yet to develop the technology of filing! Much discovered today helped to fill in the missing gap of missing bills and statements, and now our archiving is far more complete than it ever was before!
Everything else, like old Guardian punch cards and claim forms, magazines, product inserts, credit card reward booklets and envelopes were either shredded or binned. Finally. Clearing up space and giving us some ease of mind.
Now that Technology: Filing has been discovered for over a couple of years, next in line is Technology: Digital Filing. This once we've relocated, gotten ourself a new PC and a second external hard disk and set up the scanner with paper feeder. Then we'll start transferring all our work dossiers and documents into digital copies, even though admittedly we prefer actual hardcopies.
The current method of anti-piracy prevention where you need an internet connection to play games irk us terribly. Not that there's a lot of games that do this, really, so far it's only with Steam that we have our gripes against but with games like Assassin's Creed 2, C&C4 and now even Starcraft 2 requiring an internet connection to play, we get a serious case of the irritables.
You're paying some RM250 for an original copy and there's still more hassle? In order to install, you need to connect once and create a Battle.net account and link your CD Key to your account, then you're able to play? In order to save your achievements in the campaign, you need to be connected. In order to play multiplayer, you need to be connected because there is no more LAN multiplayer.
Well. At least it's a mite improvement compared to C&C4, where in order to play even the single player campaign you need to be connected.
We have this notion that if we buy Starcraft 2, we're buying a game that we can play as we like at any time we like provided we have a PC that can support the hardware requirements. We kinda see Starcraft 2 as a single-player strategy game with additional multiplayer options, hence we think of it as a game where you can play offline and only connect online should you want to play with/against other players. Not, as it partly looks like, a multiplayer online game with a single player campaign story mode thrown in. Perhaps if we think of Starcraft 2 as a multiplayer online game then we wouldn't gripe over the internet requirement for gaming. But it's hard to think of it that way when Blizzard is releasing Starcraft 2 over three campaigns for the story!
So what happens if internet connectivity goes down again? No multiplayer then, yeah?
It's interesting how Starcraft 2 gets our goat while C&C4 doesn't. Sadly after Red Alert 2 we haven't really had any of the Command & Conquer games make us feel like how Starcraft 2 does - like we're back in college or university and off to visit the cyber cafe after lectures almost every day. We put this down to nostalgia and the love for Zergs.
You can label us as being 10 years in the past where 'connecting online' was an option limited by the speed of the modem and data charges, nowadays everyone is on broadband. But we don't like to take our internet connection for granted as being 'always there'.
Right. It's been a month now since we've waxed, and convenience-wise waxing definitely tops shaving. While we may like the feel of short prickly stubble, chafing stubble is no fun at all (especially when they're prickly enough to prick through clothes!) and we can only take a week at most before having to shave again. While post-waxing hair is soft and does not itch as it is not prickly! Also only need upkeep after 3 weeks! And we're told that after a few sessions the regrowth rate will slow down even more!
The only problem is, waxing will wax our wallet free of cash too if we keep at it every three weeks, compared to shaving. And we could just let hair grow back again, that would be even more wallet-friendly.
Oh well. If we didn't like it we would have stopped shaving a year back, heh.
So. Stewerdess Sal opens her own aesthetics shop, and she needed help from her friends. Specifically, she needed volunteer models so that her staff could practise their techniques when it came to brow treading, manicures, pedicures and waxing. Volunteer male and female models.
Everyone was apprehensive about the waxing thing, whether it was the axillae, the legs, nose hair, and most balked at the idea of going brazilian. The private bits, open for viewing, subjected to scrutiny, and soon shorned of shrubbery.
The thing is, everyone has this idea that waxing brings about an entire world of pain never felt before. The closest we think waxing may feel like, is like having a Handyplast plastered to the leg where there is hair, and yanking it off. Already as it is, peeling the bloody plaster off slowly may sting, what more will waxing feel like!
Since it's for a friend, most of us agreed to lend a helping hand, or in this case, helping arms and legs. We had the impression that it would be just us and the trainee after all. A trainee that we didn't know.
We were ok with volunteering, so our only question we needed to ask Stewardess Sal was, "What's the minimal hair length required for waxing?"
'Cos it's no point us volunteering when the hair length isn't long enough to wax off, isn't it? We've been shaving for close to a year now and it's been taking a toll in razor blades, as we have to shave every other day. If we leave it, at the most after a week it'll start getting prickly and we'll have to do something about it. And we were curious about two things about waxing: just how painful waxing really is, and how long does it take before hair grows again.
And so we made an appointment, and as the day drew closer we received and email from Sal saying that we're the first male model for waxing and that she would be the one to attend to us as the other trainees are working on other volunteers. If we weren't comfortable with that, we can come in later that day after she's done with another volunteer.
Naturally we hesitated. It's one thing having a complete stranger wax you, it's another when it's a friend that you aren't that, er, close with.
It's also a good thing Sal told us this earlier and not on the day we arrived, 'cos we had time to think it over and in the end we thought, what the heck, let's get this over with. If she told us upon arrival we might just have chickened out for good, or else gone through with the thing but felt as if we were doing it against our will.
So when we arrived we got a quick tour of the place, and when it was time we were shown into a room where we changed and waited for Sal. Sal then tried a brand of hot wax on our right axilla. Smelled of rose, and while we couldn't see her applying it we could definitely feel something warm there. Not searing hot, but comfortably warm.
Then we felt a slight pinching feeling.
Then she yanked. And immediately after that, using a gloved hand, pressed on the area waxed.
And in our opinion, it's not that bad. Certainly nothing to scream about!
Then she informed us she was trying a different brand of hot wax on our left axilla (the, well, advantage of being the first volunteer, you get to try a few different stuff!). This time we felt it sting a bit more, so for the rest of the session Sal used the rose-smelling wax.
It was all professionally done. And the pain nothing that would cause us to take pause and breathe or whimper. All the while the two of us chitchatted about this and that. And in under an hour we were finished! With, admittedly, bits of beeswax stuck here and there on our skin, as there was no shower room to clean up after a session.
So our take on waxing? Not the horrifying scream-inducing painful experience that you hear about, probably because hot wax was used and not wax strips. And we're now three weeks past without feeling prickly!
And we gather we had an easier time after all - Rambunctious Ron was the next to be waxed, and in his session he had Stewardess Sal overseeing two trainees waxing him! Turns out he was ticklish during his session, and his laughter could be heard outside the room! Would have made anyone wonder just what was going on in there. Well at least it wasn't the three girls who were laughing!
Back when we stayed in our old house, there was a time when we also had some problems with pests (can't remember if it was a mouse or a rat) and we had a mouse cage set up to catch it. Can't remember if we did caught it, but we guess we did in the end, because of this: somehow or other we heard that you'd to kill said pest by means of boiling water, this will discourage further pests from infesting the house.
We're not sure just how true this is. The idea that its death squeaks will frighten its ilk far away had some appeal, though. But we must have caught it, because if we didn't this form of ridding said pest wouldn't have been a topic, and we wouldn't have heard of such a thing.
In fact, we'd actually forgotten about the whole thing, until we mentioned about our mouse problem to a friend. We told her that we were not sure of the mouse's fate once it was caught but we did consider releasing it somewhere far from home rather than killing it. She then told us to make sure to wash the cage with hot water so that the mouse can't smell its way back to our home. When she mentioned hot water, that reminded us of the hot water killing method and we suppose that that was the fate meant for the little tyke once it was caught.
Yes well the prospect of actually killing it didn't really appeal to us, not when it's in a helpless state, but we'd rather that than it infesting our house, piddling and pooping all over the place. Ted already showed us the methods he took to combat his rodents, and we were considering what to do with the mouse depending on what was used...
With the mouse cage, there was the option of releasing it somewhere far away once we've caught it, keeping it as a pet, giving it to someone else as a pet, killing it via boiling water, letting it die of exposure and starvation by leaving the cage out in the back lane, typing up the mouse in a bag once caught and dumping it into the garbage truck, taking it to a vet to be put to sleep, or by attempting to stab it with a sharp and pointy metal stick.
Then there's rat glue. Once stuck we thought of leaving the trapped mouse out in the back lane for the cats to play with it, releasing it in the nearby park for the snake to go for it (and probably get stuck in glue too!), or to swiftly hammer its skull in for an instant death, or set fire to the thing, or stab it with a sharp and pointy metal stick.
Then again, we don't have a sharp and pointy metal stick...discussing the merits of life or death and a few methods of death with the Chief, the Chief too was against releasing it and rather the boiling water. In the Chief's opinion, it's an instant death. We don't think so - we sort of likened scalding to boiling tar poured on soldiers sieging a castle. It scalds, the eyes pop, the skin peels, the heart rate shoots up and the body goes into shock, and somewhere along the way it dies. The Chief reacted far worse to our suggestion of rat glue and leaving trapped mouse in the back lane, though. And thought that our releasing it elsewhere would just make it someone else's problem, and delay its inevitable death, heh.
So when the mouse was caught the other day, we left its fate to be decided by our parents. We could have taken the initiative to take the cage, drive all the way to Klang or somewhere far enough to necessitate paying toll, then setting it free to scavange and survive, but thought against doing so because our parents may assume that the mouse remained uncaught or there was the possibility it will return (you never know). Plus our car might smell in the end. So all we did that night when we saw the mouse in the cage?
Asked (in English) if it understood us. And if it knew how to cook. Nod its head or shake its head if it understood.
It did neither.
So, instead of leaving it in the kitchen where it would continue piddling all over the newspaper laid underneath the cage, we took it out to the back yard and left it to the parents. And jiggled the siew yoke bait off the hook for it to enjoy its last meal.
Surprisingly mum actually thought to release it somewhere far away! Seeing how the pest has been causing mum to go into a furor cleaning the entire kitchen and areas affected by mouse droppings we thought mum would rather end her troubles there and then. But dad commanded for the water treatment, and so the pest was scalded to death.
Mum later on found the mouse's nest somewhere in the store room, by the look of it the mouse was running a solo gig and there was no family of mice to worry about.
So we came home after a rather heavy dinner today, and as we walked into the kitchen we see the mouse cage set out once again, this time with a piece of char siew as bait! Mon Dieu! Pourquoi? Pourquoi??? Merde!!!
The troop sat in a circle, ears pricked as they paid attention to the scoutmaster.
"There is a story long ago that involved another scout troop when they were out in the wilderness, foraging supplies for their camp. It was getting dark, and they were in foreign territory that looked unfriendly and rather scarce on readily available food. But the troop perservered and managed to find water, and survived on their remaining rations, and managed to gather a few fruits. For three days they camped out in the wilderness, waiting to earn their badge after a week's camping out."
The scouts ooohed their admiration.
"Then on the fourth day, a scout brought back meat. Part of a cooked chicken. This worried the scoutmaster, although the rest of the troop cheered because four days of dry rations and fruits left a lot to be desired in their diet. A few things worried the scoutmaster, where did the cooked chicken come from, who else was staying in the wilderness for the scoutmaster saw no sign of any other life around, and if there were others out here did the trooper steal from them."
"So the scoutmaster questioned the little one, and the scout reported that he found it in a metal cave."
"A metal cave?" asked Frank.
"Yes. Specifically, an iron cave."
"Did he mean a mining cave where there's iron, scoutmaster?" asked Nancy.
"Very sharp of you, Nancy, but no. What the scout meant was a cave made of iron. As it was late already, the scoutmaster told the little one to bring him to the cave the following day."
"On the fifth day, while the rest of the scouting party went on with their duties at camp, the scoutmaster and the scout headed to the place where the cave was to be found. Instead of having to go through the woods, the scout led the scoutmaster through the grasslands further away from the camping site, until they reached the stone grounds that lie past the edge of the grasslands."
"And lo and behold, there stood the iron cave."
The scouts aaahed their amazement.
"Now, here's what happened...the reason why this story is told around campfires."
All the little scouts leaned forward, as the scoutmaster's voice dropped to a whisper.
"The scout had already told the scoutmaster that he found the chicken hooked up on a wall near the back of the cave. There was nobody else in the cave, and the cave did not have an inhabited feel, so the scout assumed that someone else must have brought the chicken to the cave to eat, and not being able to finish it, left the rest in the cave."
"Left it hooked up on a wall?" blurted Joe incredulously, eyes wide.
"The very same question the scoutmaster asked! However, standing outside of the cave, the two of them could smell roast pork coming from inside the cave. Very mysterious. The scoutmaster looked in and, would you know it, he saw a slab of pork hanging on a hook at the far wall of the cave! He told the little one to wait outside while he went in to investigate."
"He inspected each wall near the mouth of the cave, then moved deeper into the cave tunnel. There was no sign of anyone staying in the cave, no tracks at all, no scent...the scoutmaster arrived at the slab of pork. He touched the pork..."
The scoutmaster's voice here was barely a whisper.
"When BANG!"
Some scouts squeaked in surprise.
"The cave mouth started falling in! The little one got a shock of his life as the scoutmaster was trapped! "Go get the others! Don't try to do this yourself, in case you get hurt!" ordered the trapped scoutmaster. The frightened scout rushed off to gather the rest of the troop, and assembled outside the iron cave. Tried as they might, they did not have equipment that could pry an opening big enough for the scoutmaster to escape."
"The troop stayed by the iron cave all night, sharing the pork and thinking of ways to rescue their trapped leader. But the scouts were not strong enough and soon they were all tired out, and slept."
"They did not sleep for long, however, because all of them were woken up by the sound of something approaching. Something large. The earth shook and there was a loud whistling heard in the air. The scoutmaster, concerned for his troop's safety, ordered them to hide. The troop did so quickly, but it was too dark to see what it was. All they could see was the iron cave suddenly rising up and floating in midair, the blocked entrance angled upwards."
"And then, as the whistling sound stopped, a waterfall of boiling hot water rained down into the cave, billowing steam rising from the entrance."
The eyes of the scouts listening grew wide and some gasped in shock.
"The little scouts ran in fear, the sound of their scoutmaster's dying shrieks following them as they fled the grasslands, back to their camp to gather their belongings, then running for their lives."
"Scoutmaster, is it true?"
"This was a long time ago. The story has been told from generation to generation, as a lesson to be learned: when foraging for food, use the knowledge you've learn and do not simply pick food where it does not naturally belong. As for the troop members, all of them emerged from that incident with hair as white as snow. Their families believed their story, for apparently even from their homes they could hear the final screams of the poor scoutmaster. None dare return to that place, and all were warned against going there."
---
Too late, a forager remembered this story told in his younger scouting days...
It scarpers up and down the stair, We have no idea where's its lair, It's got us all pulling at our hair, We've got to learn to fight unfair!
'Cos now we have to watch out for our food, Leaving things as they were's no good! For this mouse can be hygienically rude, It doesn't care for where it's poo'ed!
A mouse! A mouse! There's a mouse in the house!
We saw it last night in the hall, It came and stood, a mouse-height tall! On two feet it looked at us with gall, This mouse, it really has some balls!
A mouse! A mouse! There's a mouse in the house!
We're wondering how to rid this pest, Which way, we wonder, is the best? Cage, trap, glue, or poison; lest, It brings it's family and all the rest!
A mouse! A mouse! A frickin' mouse is in the house!
Well, actually CDRs did. Our original CDs, once converted to MP3s to fill our iPod, sits safely on our shelf while we burn our own selection of songs onto CDRs to keep in our car. To be honest why we opt for CDRs is because we don't have a radio with an auxilary cable port, otherwise we would be lugging our iPod Video along with all our music.
And the FM transmitter that we got? Best used during our road trips. Otherwise, we get interference sometimes from other stations sharing the same frequency occasionally and that irks us, although by the time we'd gotten a mobile windscreen mount and fixed up our iPod Touch to play BBC's Pride And Prejudice on it via the transmitter, we haven't been experiencing intereference any more.
Ayup. Happiness was finally being able to watch videos on the iPod Touch, instead of being limited to Happy Tree Friends and Dilbert video podcasts and whatever free videos the iTunes Store had for us. The availability of good DVD to video converters were rare (or we just didn't know where to find them, or we had to buy them) and we didn't have much video files to convert, too, the only videos we had were some funny ads our friends sent us a long time ago and videos we'd recorded using our iXus.
Then YouTube Downloader came along and gave us more videos to store on our iPhone! And otousan suggested Format Factory, which did the same thing but with two additional features: the ability to convert certain files that YouTube Downloader couldn't, and mass conversion!
And so, our iPhone's finding less and less space for music, to make way for more videos to keep us company during red traffic lights at peak hours, during our meals when we don't have a book to read, or even in bed before we call it a night.
From book juggling, we now add on video juggling, on the go! From episodes of the Sailormoon anime to YouTubes of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, to episodes of series we're helping the Chief to obtain, and in the future we'll be thinking of using Handbrake to convert Sailormoon S and Super S into video format, not to mention what other shows we've yet to watch, and the free episodes of old sci-fi tv series currently available on the iTunes Store, we've considered removing more music from our iPhone to make way for the videos...
...then again, that's what our 30GB iPod's for! And it's far better than what we hear on the radio some times!
You know, it's rather a fortunate thing that we have YouTube now, because we can see what we're missing. And it's a good thing too, because what we see on YouTube so far really, really, helps us hesitate when it comes to buying the DVDs of the live action version of Sailormoon, otherwise known as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
Perhaps we were looking for a lot more realism, where their sailor suits don't look so bright and their bows aren't so big, or for Sailor Mercury to have a much darker wig in blue...or the four Shitennou to actually keep the costume design they had in the manga or anime, rather than have totally new radical costumes...or their poses. And we haven't seen enough to decide if Luna is supposed to be an animated doll, or that, not being able to use a real life cat as Luna, substituted a doll instead but everyone has to act as if it's a real life cat...And Tuxedo Mask's tuxedo, instead of looking refined, was spoilt by a cheap mask and shiny costume cloak.
Perhaps it's because we want the live action series to be a serious, realistic and rather yau yeng kind of live action series, rather than a more playful show...
We remember the first time we saw the transformation scene on YouTube. We almost died of embarrassment and almost went blind, figuring that Usagi was going to perform some ecchi scene but thankfully she was clothed, and instead horrified us with a less-than-elegant transformation scene with a far too bright background. Tuxedo Kamen's transformation, however, was so bad it should have just been done away with!
Took some gnashing of teeth and a change of perspective of what we expected from this live action series, but we sorta braved our way through the transformation scenes and snippets from the show and we must say, it probably isn't too bad.
Some plus points (based on what we've seen on YouTube, that is):
The characters don't have the hairstyles as in the original design (Usagi with blonde hair or Ami's blue hair etc) but only after they transform (it's funny watching Ami transform, she looks so serious until she waves her arm past her head, and then there is this suddenly bubbly cheerful face with blue hair), hence it's not like the manga/anime where it's odd wondering why people don't recognize that Usagi is Sailormoon in costume;
Luna does have some funny expressions (we think there's a few dolls with different eye expressions!);
There're more different attacks, like in the manga! Jupiter's Flower Hurricane, Venus's Rolling Heart Vibration, which never made it in the anime, get screen time here! Plus, we're not treated to stock footage of their attacks every time;
The script is rather different from the manga/anime, so there's something new to watch here! There's a Dark Mercury for one thing, although dressed far too weirdly!
Well, from reacting rather badly the first time we watched it, we're getting even more curious as to how the series really is.
It may be that the show could be bad enough to tear our soul apart and absorb it, turning the series into a Horcrux for us. It may turn out to be quite ok (but honestly, we kinda liked how the anime portrayed Zoisite and this new white, slit-eyed piano playing Zoisite isn't doing it for us just yet...). First, we gotta do some more teeth-gnashing and part with a pretty hundred or more to buy the DVD set.
There's something about the Sailormoon anime that bugged us: the different art styles found in different episodes. Initially we didn't bother much, as we continued watching, there would be episodes we would happily rewatch and enjoy and some that we wouldn't bother with unless we were going to rewatch all the episodes in a season, like what we're doing with season 1 on our iPhone now.
All because of the artwork: how the characters look, how they move, expressions, and sometimes even the jokes.
So for four seasons, from Sailormoon till Sailormoon Super S, there are four art styles that we commonly see.
The 'Smooth'. Because of the way there are no sharp edges and everything is slightly rounded. More obvious is when a character is facing off-center to one side but not totally sideways, the face looks absolutely flat. Rei's hair seemed extraordinarily large for her head! When we first saw this artwork we weren't too affected by it, we had not built up high standards for anime artwork for Sailormoon then (not like how we expect the Dragon Ball anime to really mimic the manga!). But when the other, far more aesthetically pleasing art styles became more frequent, we began to dislike this style.
The 'Stocky'. This was another style frequently seen from season 1, although there's been quite a fair bit of refinement in Sailorstars (by then they'd actually come up with an artist's guidebook we think). Thick lines, and everyone seemed shorter. While rather different compared to the other art styles, the movements in these episodes were rather fluid, and some of their expressions were enjoyable (meaning funny) too.
The 'Svelte'. The faces had a certain shape to them, legs were longer somehow, the details stood out, everyone had perfect pose and posture! These episodes were a pleasure to view! We don't recall which episode this artwork appeared, we were only aware of it from the second half of season one (also because the two comic books we had featuring anime stills featured a number of episodes with this art style!).
The 'Sharp'. We think this art style only appeared from Sailormoon S? We'd bought the anime stills comic books for this season when Popular sold them at one point, it didn't matter that the books were translated into Chinese (whether Chinese or Japanese we wouldn't have understood it anyway), and happily enjoyed looking at the pictures to see what we were missing because due to the lack of merchandise the only two seasons we never got to watch were Sailormoon S and Sailorstars.
Anyways, reading (figuratively) the comics we noticed quite a lot of good artwork, which made us even more keen to watch it. Now that we've watched them all, we think this art style appeared most only in S, and less so in Super S and Sailorstars...we think. Will need to rewatch them all!
Still, the question is why?! Why are there so many styles when other anime had one standard art style? Wait, we think the Naruto anime also had a couple of art styles. It was because of the differing styles that, when it comes to recording episodes onto VHS tapes, we were rather selective, often overwriting 'Smooth' art style episodes for other episodes (because we couldn't afford to buy VHS tapes by the dozen).
Then in Sailorstars we noticed that there's some sort of standardization: character faces followed the 'Svelte' style, and legs sometimes were ridiculously long...
...but overall Sailorstars were much more aesthetically pleasing to watch!
As with all the transformations and attacks! We think Moon Princess Halation was done in a refined Stocky style, and Moon Healing Escalation is in Svelte, but the rest could be Sharp or Someother for all we know. What we're thankful is that they're not Smooth.
Yes, well, there were some other art styles seen in the series (like that one-off style in episode 29 where Zoisite attacks Motoki's girlfriend for her Rainbow Crystal) but those four are the common ones seen. And we appreciate it's no easy task to draw and produce the cartoons. But why couldn't there be some standardization much earlier, to have, say, every episode look more Sharp or Svelte?
And we're not sure which one Hyperion means when he refers to 'bloated, bun face'.
We were wondering, if Sailormoon was a recent manga/anime instead of appearing in 1992, whether we would have been interested. We suppose, if the artwork never changed, we would have given it a miss. 'Cos, currently we're rewatching the episodes of the first season and we're thinking Usagi is rather difficult to like sometimes in the early episodes because of her immaturity, and with the storyline progressing slowly every episode we might have just stopped altogether.
But we started when Sailormoon was aired on...goodness, what was that tv channel called?! It wasn't Metrovision, that was the Justice Bao period. TV8? TV4? Maybe it is Metrovision!
We could check it up, since we've recorded episodes of Sailormoon, but they're on VHS tapes and we don't have a VHS tape player any more, and we honestly don't want to look at the tapes just in case they are now overgrown with fungus. Sigh. All that hard work we did recording, copying from tape to tape, the money we've spent buying more VHS tapes to record most of the episodes, the one or two VHS tapes we bought from the comics store...
Oh well. At least they were well watched during its time.
So we got hooked onto Sailormoon, mainly because of the anime. If we just read the mangaka, we might have stopped halfway. Ever seen the artwork? Honestly, not the kind of artwork we appreciate, especially when at the same time we were hooked on Dragon Ball. Reasons why we got hooked?
Introductory exposure to animes. Asides from Doraemon, we haven't watched any Japanese anime before this. Ultraman and Mask Black Rider doesn't count as they weren't cartoons (we don't think when some ridiculous situation comes up characters will fall down or lose their footing!) and the high-pitched Malay dubbed Doraemon was a bit trying even for our young patient selves. We survived on a healthy serving of American cartoons during our youth, and when Sailormoon and Dragon Ball started airing on tv we lapped it up readily. And the Japanese humour was a novelty to us then! Expressive actions! Falling down at odd situations! Tears streaming down eyes like rivers!
Faithful Cantonese dub. Unlike Doraemon which had high-pitched Malay dubbing (shudder) Sailormoon (and Dragon Ball) were done in Cantonese! Now it turns out that there were two Cantonese versions, one by TVB and another that isn't (what we find on YouTube tends to call it the 'VCD' dub) - we were lucky to watch the 'VCD' dub as the characters there were very much similar to the original characters.
Usagi is loud and expressive, Zoisite was very effeminate (you'd expect limp wrists as well), senshi attacks were shouted rather appropriately. You should hear the English dubs, we get goosebumps and often enough cannot watch an entire episode in English because the dubbing and script was terrible. Outer senshi attacks always sounded like an echo from far away...
Translated manga. BM-translated mangas were on the raise, and we were buying the Sailormoon and Dragon Ball mangas when they came out (at RM3.50 per book then!). Of course, the Chinese translated mangas were probably out much earlier but then again we don't understand a single thing so why bother, eh? The fact that the manga was so different from the anime kept us interested in both ie Jadeite would send his youmas aka Monster-Of-The-Day again and again rather than fight Sailormoon head on, while in the manga he dies straight away. That, and that the other sailors had more attacks in the manga compared to the anime...
Censorship caused curiosity. Fairly obvious when Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars made their appearance. They'd raise their transformation pens, shout out their transformation phrases, and -pop- we'd suddenly see the final tranformation bits along with a skip in the background music. And then in one episode, they'd forgotten to snip off those bits and we went, "Oooh so that's how it looks like!" And of course, we wondered how Jupiter's and Venus' transformation scenes look like. Oh not to mention what we missed in the episode where Zoisite dies.
Lack of merchandise. No such thing as the internet then, and there weren't many Japanese comics stores selling posters, DVDs and soundtrack CDs then as you can find nowadays (not counting the Chinese comic stores). Then, whenever we came across any Sailormoon merchandise we would have pounced on it, whether it be Japanese comic books using stills from the anime (which we bought during our stopover flight to LA!), or a soundtrack CD with all the songs used in the opening and closing scenes, or even the Cantonese-dubbed VHS tapes of Sailormoon episodes. We never did get to buy any VHS tapes (until Form 5, when the Chinese comic store near one tuition centre suddenly brought in Cantonese Sailormoon Sailorstars episodes and we bought a couple), but we did get to borrow tapes from a friend who had a fair number of Sailormoon Super S episodes!
Knowledge about future seasons. When Sailormoon was on telly, we were wondering if they would continue airing Sailormoon R, or they'd just stop there. Then Speedy Video had VHS tapes and VCDs of Sailormoon R in Cantonese, but the dubbing was by TVB which unfortunately made Usagi less livelier and the entire thing sounded muffled. And then there was Sailormoon S, Super S and Stars to think about too! What if they didn't air those seasons? We'd read the manga and wanted to see how different those seasons were from the manga! How does Uranus's and Neptune's attack look like?
The transformation scenes and attacks. The one thing that made Sailormoon (the anime), well, Sailormoon was the transformation scenes and the attack scenes. Almost every episode, they'd transform, Sailormoon will give her speech (in some episodes this was made fun of!) and they'd do their signature attacks and the Monster-Of-The-Day will die. On YouTube we've come across some kids trying to do transformations scenes and Sailormoon's Moon Spiral Heart Attack using ribbons and honestly we felt embarrassed for these kids even if they do not feel it themselves - they were asking to be ridiculed in our opinion.
At times we do wonder about how long she actually takes to perform her attacks - her Moon Princess Halation takes ages!
Anyways, we think what really helped keep us watching Sailormoon was that we were young and had all the time in the world!
Dengarlah kisah persekutuan si nona Pengembara Dunia dan jejakanya Penginap Laut. Dalam perjalananya untuk menyelamatkan dunia sebelum masa tidur, dia pun menemui temannya, dan selepas beribu-ribu lemonkini bila bulan menjelangdi akhir pengembaraannya
Frak that shyte. This is why we stick to writing factual BM essays for school exams, our vocabulary and flair was limited. We still remember our Form 5 BM tuition teacher giving an example of how fictional BM essays need to be written to really score well: "the leaves danced in the currents of air under the ceiling fan" or something along those lines, it sounded much fancier in BM.
So anyways, HL and JT tied the knot last month (yes, late posting...), and while invites were handed out a couple of months before, due to forgetfulness on our part we've only received the invite (via Lad Express, the impressions were still fresh on the card when we got it cos he sat on it, haha) after the wedding dinner. Thankfully HL texted us a reminder and we could check with the others regarding dress code and dinner venue, so we weren't to worried.
A quick check online as to where Subak was and we were initially quite confident we could get there easily - it was a straight road from TTDI into Kampung Sungai Penchala. We knew we were checking up the correct place too because the website informed that they were closed for a private function in the evening!
It was only when we were on said straight road that we had a slight niggling doubt that we might be missing some bit of direction. Puddy even made a U-turn back at first!
Finally we arrived at Subak! Could tell we were at the right place when there were rows of cars parked on both sides of the road.
The setting was certainly a different one! One thing we knew beforehand was that we were to expect a outdoor garden dinner setting, so there was no need (for us guests) to come in black tie. Which was fine, Subak made sure that there were plenty of fans fixed up and the drinks were all chilled. What we didn't expect was them handing out insect repellant patches. Not that we got bitten any time at all during the night!
We were unfortunately late and missed out the speech that had HL with damp eyes...
But in time to appreciate the effort put into the venue and celebration.
We're not too sure how Subak is on normal occasions, and am a bit afraid it doesn't live up to this anymore.
The food, however, was enjoyable. And colourful! Of note is their Balinese Chicken Soto soup, because...because it's the only photo we took with a label and we remember it as being good.
There was the band, who slowly made their way from table to table to serenade us all with songs (and have the more tipsy guests sing along with them).
And after dinner and speeches and the toastings, it was time to dance.
Certainly it was something different. If we concentrated we could probably convince ourself that the dinner was held in Bali and we were all invited guests each with their own private villa, where at the end of the party we could head back and ease ourself into the outdoor jacuzzi pool that comes with each villa, surrounded with scented candles and nothing but a scenic view and undisturbed by other guests...
Ok, maybe not. And the Chief and us didn't dance.
But as wedding dinner goes, HL and JT's goes to show that you don't really have to go to the end of the world to have a beautiful wedding.
Congratulations on finishing one journey, and on beginning another longer one!
And this:
And finally, this:
Photos are credited to gamebooks.org. We prefer our cover to be number two, where you can see Lone Wolf standing on the pedestal (and not looking scary, waif-thin and unheroic...come on, he's trained for battle, why is he looking so fragile?!).
It was only after some 15 books that the UK version came out with art depicting Lone Wolf...but a faceless Lone Wolf it was. Perhaps it was so you can stick a photo of your own face in place, since you'd actually be playing the role of Lone Wolf.
While the US cover art were drawn by different illustrators so Lone Wolf looks different from cover to cover (yes, yes even after factoring in age as he goes on to becoming Kai Grand Master).
