Video Games Of Our Lives: Populous

LIFE:\blog:

Just recently Populous DS was released for the, duh, Nintendo DS, and being the nostalgic feller that we are, we tried out the game to see how the portable version fared.

BLOG:\cd POPULOUS
BLOG:\POPULOUS>pop.exe

First time we ever played Populous we were only really interested in one aspect of the game. No, not winning the stage. Rather, we wanted to use all our godly powers available and watch our enemies' followers perish.

See, Populous is a game that belongs in the 'god game' genre. Be a god, nourish your followers to gain mana to smite others, sending your followers to raze enemy lands and finally bring about Armageddon. Gameplay is rather simple - you mainly go about landscaping, creating flat terrain for your followers to settle and populate. The more they populate the more mana you'll generate from their faith.

Back then we were satisfied to just play about long enough to gain enough mana, look for the most populated piece of enemy land and cast whatever natural disaster we had at our disposal, whether it be an earthquake or swamps or even a volcano. Never really had the patience long enough to win a game.

The game pretty much ran on 2 diskettes. And we remember discovering that POpulous Disk 2 actually had different themes, so rather than watching blue/red-robed men walking about some monotonous landscape, you could have lego characters walking about some lego landscape!

BLOG:\POPULOUS>cd..
BLOG:\cd POP2
BLOG:\POP2>pop2.exe



Then came the sequel - Populous II. Vast improvment from the first, this time the story being that you're one of Zeus' offspring, and you're fighting for a place as one of the gods on Mount Olympus. This time there were more spells, leaders could become Heroes, and of course, the graphics improved immensely.

There was a Greek theme to the game, men and women ambled along, fights were shown as a large cloud that resulted in either the Good follower uppercutting the Bad follower to the heavens, or with the Bad feller bopping the Good into the depths of the earth. No more Lego followers, tho'.

What we enjoyed about Populous 2 was the numerous spells there were. Now there were thunderstorms to fry people.

And rain of fire.

And volcanoes. And tidal waves. And plague. And summoning Helen Of Troy to drown enemies. And earthquakes. And Achilles to burn everyone. And once we have the upper hand, bring about Armageddon.

Hooo joy.

BLOG:\POP2>life:
LIFE:\life.exe

Lazyman's Wrapping 107

When all we have at hand was just a paperbag, some craft kit and no wrapping paper, we've to make do with what's at hand.

Requires:
Paperbag (we used our Starbucks paperbag)
Ribbon

Simply put the present in, fold down the bag, punch hole and tie ribbon.

A Wedding Dinner In Paris

On Saturday we managed to make it for the Tosh's and Tropicanan's wedding dinner. Even that was pretty much touch-go because initially when the Tosh called to invite us, we'd told him that we may be having rehearsals (based on a projection of our rehearsal schedule then) and could only attend for a while.

And here's us telling him that we could make it again after all.

In case you're wondering how we have to put rehearsals before our friend's weddings, it's because we'd to sign a contract in order to perform for the Lord Of The Rings Symphony. Must attend 90% rehearsals, must perform in all shows, et cetera. So given that there were other occasions where we would have been missing rehearsals already, there was only so many rehearsals we could miss.

Then so happened that on Saturday the rehearsal was still on, but from 10am - 4pm. So we could attend after all!

There was a bit of a hiccup when we arrived (late, of course). Seeing that we told the Tosh that we would only show up a while, we were taken off the guest list. Of course, by the time we arrived, the couple was going through their second dress change and everyone, ushers included, were already inside. So we thought to just go in and say hi to everyone and hope to catch the couple before leaving.

Turns out that there was a place for us to sit after all, because someone else was missing. So that landed us on the table 'Paris'. Every table was named after a country or city we thinks, with the couple's table being Glasgow.

Coursemate group pic, with the Tosh's brother inadvertently drawn in as well.

Should be a sort of warning that there's gonna be a trip down Memory Lane of our uni years then. Then again the two did get together then, during the final year thesis.

Didn't recognize Lil' Nicky (our ex-roommate) because he was in a suit. The poor bugger - throughout the whole time he emceed, no one realized that his mike wasn't tuned clearly. It was only when the Tosh took his mike to give his speech that the sound technicians finally fixed it.

As usual, once dressed up sometimes it may be difficult to identify some people, especially the girls. The emcees, for one. Ms Check-In we didn't recognize at first - 'cause we only had a glimpse of her as she snatched Lil' Nicky up on stage for some speech some time just after our arrival. That, plus her clear Mandarin accent made us thought she was a family friend initially. Only once she sat back down and we had a closer scrutiny did we recognize her.

As for Tropicanan, she looked very different. No glasses and we still think she somehow opened her eyes bigger. The Tosh still looked like he's never aged a day.

One thing we found a tad...disrespectful about the entire thing was that, regardless of whether the groom is giving a speech or something else going on, cries of YAAAAAAAAAAMSEEEEENG!!! could be heard continually at the back of the hall. And this, we gather, would probably be the friends of the couple's parents who'd come for the drinks. And this before the couple even gone around to drink with each table.

And well speaking of yamsengs - our alcohol tolerance has been on the decline, that after a few drinks we were tipsy and when we received a thank you text from the Tosh for making it for the wedding dinner, we'd replied (and we totally forgot about this text until we checked our Sent Messages folder, it's still there) "Congrats ya [Tosh] :) Morphine". No. We don't understand either.

And congratulations once more to the Tosh and Tropicanan. Here's to more memories down the road.

Singing Can Be Tiring

So for the past two days it was getting back into the swing of rehearsals, this time more towards brushing up for the Lord Of The Rings Symphony (which we were informed is now sold out! On all three days!) that's coming up in December. Only, instead of our usual place at the YCA, the lot of us were to rehearse 'at the MPO' as we were told.

Did that mean we were gonna be rehearsing with the orchestra? Or on stage? We'd no idea but what we did know was that we'd have rehearsals from 10am till 4pm, Saturday and Sunday.

While that sounds fine at first, it does mean that we've to be there early. There goes the opportunity for sleeping in the weekend (or staying up late as well!). But at least it finishes at 4pm, and being around KLCC meant we could always go walking about before anything else. And the weekend did see quite a fair bit of things happening.

On Saturday after rehearsals we somehow managed to make our way about to find Amiable Aix's place to have a threesome. That and to get some of his songs (hurrah more of Einaudi's music for us!). Then there was dinner, before we headed off for our ex-coursemates' wedding. Met up with uni coursemates, had a bit of alcohol only - we gather that our tolerance has dropped a lot, because after a few glasses we were already more than tipsy.

Then again it's been a tiring day. After the wedding dinner, it was off to lad's place for some Guitar Hero and catching up, but in our state we didn't last long. Next thing we knew, lad was waking us up from the sofa, wondering if we were gonna sleep over or go home. Good thing he did, if he'd let us sleep in we were in no way going to be able to wake up in time for rehearsal the following day.

So Sunday came in too soon, and after a wake-up call and our alarm going off, we were off to have breakfast with the Chief before heading for rehearsal (lesson learned after Saturday's heading for rehearsal without breakfast!). Headed to Kinokuniya after our lunch break, saw Gaiman's Graveyard Book paperback at 20% but ended up we'd walked away empty-handed because we thought of getting both Graveyard Book and Pratchett's Nation at the same time if possible. And after rehearsal we ended up mooching about in Marks & Sparks before walking away with this bit of what the Chief calls 'Indulgence'.

Honey Roasted Wiltshire Ham Flavoured Crisps. Oh goodness it was so good - crisps were thick enough not to fragilely crumble upon holding, each one of them bursting with flavour. Made us think of Walker's Sensations and Tesco Temptations. It certainly help pass the time while we made our way to Pavilion for the Epicentre's Mac + iPod Discovery Week at the concourse area.

Now if only we were rich enough to off-handedly just buy a Mac. And get whatever freebies that comes with it. But no, we weren't rich, and there weren't any discounts for Macs or iPods. But we still went away with a couple of these.

Breakaway earphone jack protectors. Because we tend to have our earphones yanked from the iPod's jack sometimes. Spent a fair bit of time there but couldn't find anything else that we would get on impulse. So we left for Madam Kwan's for dinner before heading back. It's been a long time since we ever eaten there and we'd forgotten that their sambal has quite a kick. Even our curry laksa wasn't an easy affair to finish. Thankfully, their cendol comes generously in a large bowl - we'd no qualms about pouring the entire small jug of gula melaka in - and eased the spiciness.

By the time we got home we were asleep the moment we were in bed. Gods it's been a tiring weekend!

Back-To-Back(breaking) Classes

Last week we'd promised Strawberry Swee that we'd attend her Pump class on the following Monday.

And last week, after months of having to forgo Monday's Jam with Riyo due to rehearsals, we returned to Jam only to find out that it's her second last class as she's not going to teach BodyJam any more. Imagine, the main thing we look forwards to every Monday, gone forever. Welcome home, Monday Blues.

So just last Monday we had to attend Riyo's final BodyJam class ever, and then Pump after that. We'd asked otousan to come along for Pump, only for him to ask us to join Combat before that. Now Fitness First Curve's Monday timetable goes as follows: Jam > Combat > Pump.

When we arrived, we were already late for Jam. Got in at track 4, danced the class away, then joined Combat with Peggy till track 5 before heading out a while to check on phone calls. Got back in after Muay Thai, stayed till the end, then prepped for Pump. So, well, technically we'd only did about one and a half classes in total so far.

It's been many many months since we last been in a Pump class. Thankfully we still remember which weights we'd use and what each track is about, and still thickskinned enough to ignore otousan's chiding look when we just lunked on the wee 1.0 weights for biceps/triceps. The killer tracks this time turned out to be lunges and shoulders. We think the squats track song was the same one as when we first experienced hell on squats (only, after that first time, we knew what to expect), "Bottom half! 8 times!"

With that much adrenaline rush on Monday, we didnt' feel the tiredness that came with having a long weekend.

It was only on Tuesday that hell hit in.

We Live On Avenue Q

Now when it comes to musicals there are a couple of ways to approach it.

Go with knowledge of the songs, storyline and/or other details. So that you'd be able to sing along and pay attention to other details like the acting, stage setup, stuff you don't get from just listening to the soundtrack alone. Like appreciating the 'rotating platform' in Les Miserables. Or the differences between the cartoon version and the musical version of Beauty And The Beast.

Did we mention singing along? You'll also be able to tell when parts are sung differently from what you've been listening to on the soundtrack.

Then there is the 'surprise us' method - watching a musical with no idea as to how the songs and/or synopsis go, or having only a rough idea of it. Sort of like going for a YKLS performance. Such an approach always brings back 3-Seconder's comment when she, NJAPF and friends went to watch Les Miserables - she couldn't follow the story (and lyrics) and so just enjoyed the scenes and singing (then again, Les Mis was never easy to follow especially if you can't make out what they are singing).

But well, imagine the surprise you'd get if you'd gone for a musical you'd no idea what it was about, only to have one of the characters sing, "Fuck! It sucks to be me!"

Yep, we went for Avenue Q over the weekend.

Took the early 6am Aeroline bus down to Sporeland, walked about Vivo City until noon, then we checked into Grand Park Plaza Hotel. A quick walk around Bugis, lunch at Ma Maison (French take on Japanese food), then it was back to the hotel to sleep a while before the performance.

Reaching Esplanade we were surprised to see some folks dressed in familiar clothes - and it turns out that New Urban Male were in charge of t-shirt sales. Um, it's still a NUM shirt and not the original tees tho'. So we settled for the CD (SGD25) and the programme (a donation of any amount).



How was it? Spectacular. There's bits that'll remind you of Sesame Street indeed, asides from the characters. The telly on the side of the stage will show clips, like suddenly counting from 1 till 20, and while everyone wonders and follows, it reaches 20 and states, "20 minute intermission!" Or how the word Schadenfreude appears on the telly, along with a pronunciation guide.

Bits to remember:
Carla Guevara-Laforteza's pouty lips and hip-swinging as Lucy The Slut.
Intermission count ("1! 2! 3! 4! 5!...")
The shocking intensity in which Felix Rivera uses Princeton to plow Kate Monster.
5 nightstands.
The vertical bed and five disco balls in 'Fantasies Come True'.
Lucy The Slut and Carla being knocked unconscious, and her ECG meter boob readings.
'The Money Song' being cut short.

Pic taken from Our Awesome Planet

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Truth be told, we were expecting an angmoh cast, heh. When we heard that it was a Filipino cast we were a tad apprehensive, but the cast did a spectactular job. Expressions were spot-on, the muppeteers did a great job acting different roles, and there was never a dull moment. Oh yes and the muppets and muppeteers were cute.

After the performance we'd dinner before heading to Equinox. Spent a while there taking photos, had some slightly-drunk angmoh lady hug the beads deco where the lifts were and saying how nice they felt and encouraging us to do the same, then we head back.

Next morning Chief brought us to Redhill for breakfast, where we had this wonderful porridge with raw fish in sesame oil, sliced ginger and lime. Utterly delish. Then it was back for a swim before packing up to check out.

Shopped a bit along Orchard before meeting sis and her housemate for dinner, where we had the Sporeland version of bahkutteh - in white pepper soup. Different, and well, it ain't herbal bahkutteh and will never replace it. Then it was the long journey.

We've always complained about Sporeland being hot. Without fail, within a couple of minutes of stepping out into the open air we would be sweating already, and the Chief knows this. That we had to lug our knapsacks from City Hall to Tanjung Pagar...well, all we could think of was reaching our destination and to stop sweating. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

The Chief took our silence and concentration to be being bloody pissed for having to go the distance. The poor dear.

By the time we got on board the overnight train back to KL we were dead tired, but not before a quick bout of camwhoring. See? We are angelic.

How was the overnight train? Our first time, and the bunk was actually quite comfy and relatively clean (read: to tired to nitpick). Our only warning sign was to use the toilets before boarding, and thankfully we managed to use the Woodlands Immigration checkpoint toilets...the toilet on our coach looked like something out of a horror movie - you know, the kind that you find in old, abandoned derelict houses with no sense of hygiene...

Even with a kid on the bunk above us hacking phelgm like he was choking on it, sniffling and crying at the same time, we soon fell asleep and wouldn't have woke up at KL Sentral if the Chief didn't wake us up. Then it was back home for a bath then onwards to work!

And to think that after a long weekend we'd take Monday off to recuperate? No...we'll tell more later.

Organized Chaos

Now just recently we'd gone and upload photos on Facebook. And one of these photo albums include scans of all the ambigrams we'd ever did.

Until sis messaged us asking, "where's mine? why you no showcase?"

When we gave sis her Christmas present last year, we'd not only made three pages to start her off, but we also did manage to do her a neat ambigram too! Only, due to rushing to get the present ready, we never did scan that particular ambigram into our pc.

And like how we stored our earlier sketched ambigrams, they all went into the book we were currently reading at that time. It was only sometime later on that we started storing certain sketches and ambigrams in a particular place (within a pack of graph papers). So when sis messaged us, our first thought was that her ambigram was filed somewhere in there.

Until we looked in, and failed to find it. Then we realized oshit it's somewhere in one of these books we don't know which. So the hunt began with the books that were stacked on our table first. If it wasn't there then it's probably in one of the books in the bookshelf. If it's not there, goodness knows where it is.

Our only clue was that, this was done by Christmas last year, it should be in one of the books we bought before 2008. Still not an easy task, since we'd no effing idea which book it can be in, and we'll have to sift through numerous bookmarks to find it too.

The process was a sort of walk down memory lane.

In our hardback Thud!, we thought we'd read it quite recently yet the bookmarks in there show that it's not been touch in quite a long while.
The Wit & Wisdom Of Discworld, that followed us to Sporeland last Christmas, when we had our first alcoholic eggnog and risked going through customs with three bottles of Baileys.
Cash rebate vouchers for Equatorial Cameron Highlands, expired since September 2007. We found ourself thinking that it was unused because we haven't anyone to go with (plus there were those terrible terms and conditions as to when the vouchers were valid etc).
Train Man, the book we brought along when we first met up with Sam, Adrien, Bunny and the rest of the bloggers.
Guns, Germs And Steel, that we bought from the Borders Book Sale held in Curve's concourse, together with Alex and Jin before heading for chocolate fondue.

Goodness knows how many other ambigrams and sketches we found in the books. It was in Guns, Germs And Steel where we found sis' ambigrams. Which was interesting. We bought the book last year because Rob recommended it back then, and when we found it in the Border's Sale we snapped it up. Just that, it being a more...factual nonfiction book, we never got started on it (we're still stuck on God Delusion!). So imagine our wonder when we found the ambigrams there. The general feeling was, "We never read you. We'd yet to pick you up, bring you about to read. What's this doing in here?"

Well, finally scanned it in, Photoshopped it, and posted it up.

Shoes Everlasting

The thing about this year's YKLS performance was that there was more showmanship compared to the one we watched last year. Michael's choreography had us moving lots especially for In The Mood and Mack The Knife. But choreography wasn't the only thing - there was the attire to take into account.

Now while we understand the importance of attire (and uniformity of everybody's attire), it was a bit of a sticking point where we needed to buy new pants and shoes. Would have thought that we would be able to find something that would match whatever criteria in our wardrobe, but when we were told white pants and light-coloured shoes...

We've only one pair of white pants, a linen pair from Giordano that we wear for casual use (and thankfully it was suitable enough) but knowing that it might not be able to withstand five sweaty performances we knew we had to get a spare pair of white pants. And as for our shoes, well, we were told that our Reebok cross-trainers were too dark (due to plenty of black areas).

OK, so our shoe collection is rather limited. One pair Crocs, two pairs of leathers, our Reebok cross-trainers, these be all we own and wear. Yes yes our gym shoes also be our casual shoes. Thankfully for all that we sweat we don't suffer sweaty feet and so our shoes never give us any problems. The main reason we've never bought any more shoes?

The shoe cupboards were all full. Serious. Oh well there weren't any nice cheap shoes that caught our eye as a 'must get' too.

Still. For the sake of the production, we'd to get new togs. And for getting new togs to match the production attire, comes the question: do we get something cheap that will do just for the production, or do we pay more for something that we would wear even after the production? You know how it is.

So we began searching at The Curve. Manage to get ourselves a pair of white pants from Orlando after walking around Curve, Cineleisure and Ikano about three times. The pants were comfortable and suitable for work or casual wear. The cheap, single-use alternative? A pair of white jeans we saw in FOS, which looked suitable until we tried them on. Low rise, skinny jeans are not us.

Shoes, however, weren't so easy. Seeing that we needed light-coloured shoes, we decided to go canvas. And asides from Bata and Crocs, all we ever found within those three malls were sports shoes. We were seriously contemplating the Bata school shoes at one point. But then we were suggested to try Sungei Wang for shoes, as some other members were also getting their shoes there.

We were a tad apprehensive. Sungei Wang is okay so long as we hide in the arcades or stay for a short while just to search for video games. But over four hours, having to hunt for shoes? Luckily we think all the lalas and ahbengs either have left to haunt Times Square, or maybe we were too concentrated on finding that perfect pair of canvas shoes, but we didn't have too much of an overdose of lalabengness. Mild rash maybe, no anaphylaxis.

And we found our shoes. Yay us.

Oh well there was that bit of undecisiveness between this pair and another slightly cheaper Converse ones (which didn't have the size for the colour we found suitable), and the Chief had to tolerate our running back and forth between the two different stores while we decide. And the Chief already knows us well enough that, from the first time we set our eyes on the Everlasts those will be the shoes we were getting. The rest of the day spent walking to different shoe shops was just filler.

Amazing that the Chief, accurate on the prediction, could still be so patient as to follow us as we browsed shop after shop for hours. Then again, we're talking about someone who made 56 missed calls in order to wake us up (shy and still dare bring up this topic). Don't think that would ever happen again tho', that amount of missed calls.

So anyways, now we'll have to make sure that new pants and shoes see a fair bit of use now that the production is done!

Ambiguous Ambigrams 15

Right, it's been some time now since we've done much on our ambigrams, and like we've said, we needed inspiration before we can come up with an idea of how to draw the ambigrams. The interesting thing this time is that all three are scribbled with a graph paper as the background (to help with gridlines), and we only did half of the ambigram, and we tried using Photoshop to overlay the other half.

Onwards to the story behind each ambigrams featured this time.

This one was requested, and suggested that as repayment for making the ambigram she'd draw us something. So we left that in our KIV list. Then we figured out how the S-N works, and scribbled it out.

Then we lost that piece of scribble, although we remember how it was suppose to go (thankfully!). We still think a little bit of refining is required, and probably will get to it one day. Oh, and we won't collect any form of repayment back yet. Not till we have something to request.

This one, we thinks was requested because she saw some of our other ambigram sketches during a meeting. Because out of the blue, she asks us to make an ambigram for her so she can make a tattoo of it. So this is considered MkI, because we still would like to make some adjustments (and see if we can make some musical motif with the thing too).

Finally, this one was really sort of spur-of-the-moment. Starts out with us thinking what could be done with the name, then suddenly we've our pen out and we're scribbling all over the KLM sick bag, much to the amusement of Netherland Noah beside us.

The only problem we face with this font is the ink pen we use - the edges aren't smooth enough unless we draw it bigger, which we're too lazy to. But maybe one day we will work on it again. This one also happens to be the only ambigram here not requested by anyone!

Gotta love Photoshop for making it much more easier to make symmetrical ambigrams and cutting half our work!

And That Is Jazz

And over the weekend, we did five shows.

Previous choir performances that we took part in during our uni days were the traditional kind, where we walked in, lined up, sing, walk off. Oh, there was that plainsong canty bit we did where there was singing during our procession in and out of the churches where we performed too. This time, it's singing, moving, dancing and even a wee skit.

From Thursday night's performance we learned a few things.

There's showers in the dressing rooms.
Which is a very good thing. Our sweat glands have taken a turn for the worse, especially now that the weather has been getting warmer with no rain. That the moment we step out of our front door and make our way to the car our back's slick with sweat is not a good sign, whatmore prior to performance where we would have more rehearsals. Stepping out on stage only to look all sweaty from the start is a big no-no.

We don't scan the crowds.
Or rather, we can't. On the first night we had our contacts on and we still couldn't make out faces in the crowd. Plus after the first night our eyes were so dry we'd to do without the following nights. That would help when it comes to performing because we won't be distracted and made to laugh. Only one bit nearly broke us down was on our last performance, where just as we were beginning 'Yesterday', we heard a girl gave a moan of ecstasy. Almost cracked, we did.

It's bloody sweaty work.
For us. After each show, photo-taking is terrible as we seem to be the only one with a sweat-stained shirt showing in the photos. And we've to send our clothes to the laundry every single day. We rather envy those who could easily reuse their clothes for the following performance.

Mealtimes are haywire.
Because you'll have call time in at 5pm, rehearsals till 7ish, then you've gotta be ready by 8pm for performance, there's only a short span of time for us to mooch down our food. Otherwise dinner begins at 11pm onwards. The poor dim sum store that had to drag some 6 tables together to accomodate the lot of us never looked more harried.

Then there was our Saturday performances, where after the matinee show and director's notes, a lot of us rushed like mad starving people to stampede the nearby bahkutteh store for dinner. The car wasn't even parked when the rest of us actually flew out of the car and ordered while the driver parked. Midway through the meal the bill was called for, and once we were all done, the stampede left the store to head back to KLPac.

Once on stage, it's all good.
Just gotta get out there and then everything falls into place. Have fun, sing out, move about and try to please the crowd. And each show can only get better.

And it seems that we'll be staying on, to see how next year goes!

We're Breakin' It Down

Yesterday night we had a full dress run-through, and the director had our performance recorded so we could see just what we were doing and all. Must say that asides from showing us bits that need correcting, it was rather motivating for us to be able to see our choreography as well as the lighting etc!

Today's the big day!

Time to get the clothes all ready on hangars, break out the new pants and shoes we'd to buy for this production (and taking on the tack that, since we've to buy new clothes, we might as well get good clothes that we'll wear regularly rather than just for a one-shot use only), and release them butterflies from our stomach.

Checklist!

Clothes and shoes
Hangars
Tickets for those we'd bought for
Shower kit to bath after show
Contact lens
iXus
Minor medication for just-in-case measures

OK. Off we go!

One Day More

Right. After ten month spent in rehearsals, we've finally come to the bit where rehearsals are done at the venue, and KLPac is a very nice place indeed, we would have our own place look something like that if only the cost of such a renovation wouldn't bankrupt us.

There's been scores to memorize (thank goodness for Noteworthy, we've been able to make midis out of the scores to listen too), there'd been choreography to work on where our work shirt was drenched after the first try (and subsequently we never showed up straight after work any more), there'd been extra rehearsals, there'd been extra extra rehearsals (this, coupled with the Lord Of The Rings Symphony rehearsals, meant that we'd rehearsals 4 - 5 times a week), there'd been weeks of staying for rehearsals till near midnight.

We've also noticed a drop in our other social activities because of this. While this year we'd expect a shift of social time allocation, what we didn't factor in was that 'extra rehearsals' would become 'extra extra rehearsals'. So from 'YKLS on Monday nights' and 'LotRS on Saturday nights' soon became 'YKLS Sunday/Monday/Tuesday nights' and LotRS Friday/Saturday nights'. And we'd to sign a contract for singing for the LotR Symphony, which meant we'd to make sure to attend rehearsals.

So lets recap, we've missed quite a fair bit of DotA sessions, there's been only one or two boardgaming sessions this year, we'd missed (and still will be missing) out a fair few birthday parties. We're hoping too that the performance makes it all worth while (admittedly, we still enjoy our time in the choir).

So tomorrow begins the Young KL Singer's Breakin' It Down performance, and it still haven't sorta hit us yet that tomorrow's the big day. We guess some people would have already been going, "Ohmygawdohmygawd it's almost the day it's almost the day I haven't memorized my script I still haven't gotten the pitch correct I still move like I got two left feet!" but it's still yet to hit us that it's TOMORROW.

Maybe when the super trouper lights find us. Then will die on stage.

Amsterdam Adventures

Now on our way back from Barcelona we had to transit at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam (we took the KLM). On our flight there we barely had time to spare on our 1 hour transit as we were finding our way from one end to another, not to mention we'd to get past a immigration counter.

This turns out to be something we'll have to remember everytime we stop at Schiphol.

See, on our way back our flight plan was as follows:
1730 - Arrival at Schiphol.
2100 - Departure from Schiphol.

This means we had roughly 3 hours of spare time in Amsterdam. Yep, we purposely chose for this flight, as we had one purpose for such a long transit: try space cakes.

Not that it's our first time trying out cannabis - the last time we were in Amsterdam we smoked some Smelly Skunk. Just headed into the smoking cafe as recommended by otousan, was greeted, brought to a dark billboard lighted up by UV, and asked what we would like. Got ourselves a packet, and then proceeded to ask the barman how do we go about smoking it.

Barman gets a regular who's smoking to show us how. Regular opens up a normal cigarrette, mixes the Skunk in with the tobacco, rolls it up again with paper provided for this purpose and there we go!

Our first joint was rather good. We'd that buzz akin to getting high from smoking or drinking, nothing extreme. After that, we were pretty much on our own to roll our own joints and all. Thankfully the Regular was nice enough to leave us a couple of cigarettes to mix as well.

Project roll own joint - FAIL. We didn't get any of that buzz after that. And since we were leaving Amsterdam to head to Paris the following day, the rest of our Skunk went to waste (no, we didn't dare bring it out of Netherlands!).

Lessons learned: how to roll own joint (needs practise), don't buy loose Skunk but buy ready-made joints.

This time tho', we almost didn't end up going into Amsterdam. During our flight over, we asked our fellow passanger sitting next to us (who put us in mind of a cross between Steve Jobs and Noah Bennet aka The Man With The Horn-Rimmed Glasses) how long it would take to get to Amsterdam Centraal from Schiphol. Turns out that it took no more than 20 minutes. Still, once in Schiphol we started calculating how long it'll take to travel back and forth etc, we got rather discouraged and thought to just take things easy and stay put happily in Starbucks.

In the midst of taking photos within the airport (and risk looking rather suaku), we happen to bump into a member of Team William - Bio Boy. Turns out Bio Boy was also on the same flight as us, so the two of us decided to hang out together until it was time. Seems that he, too, had the idea of making a quick stop to Amsterdam to take photos.

It could be that there was courage in numbers. Or having a partner in crime. Or also the fact that we passed by a luggage locker.

Because in the spur of the moment, we dumped our luggage in a locker and headed out to buy tickets to Amsterdam Centraal. Time was on our side as we a train was ready to leave when we boarded. And three stops later, we were in Amsterdam. Space cakes, here we come.

Lessons learned: don't forget to bring along passport and boarding ticket when leaving the airport while midtransit. Hell if we know how to get back in if we didn't.

The short of what we did in Amsterdam: walk through a couple of streets, take a few photographs, Bio Boy bought postcards, we bought a space cake, took pictures at landmarks we've yet to identify (we only know that they're near Madame Tussauds), ran back to Centraal in the rain.

The train back to Schiphol was at 2030. Which meant we would be cutting it real fine in making it back in time to catch our plane. Honestly, we really do wonder what would we have done if we had missed our flight.

It was hectic when we finally arrived back at Schiphol.

Imagine Schiphol's Departure and Lounges layout to look like a 'T'. Our departure gate was located on the left side of the horizontal line of the 'T' (Lounge 3). Our bags were in the right side of said horizontal line (Lounge 1). And we entered from the bottom of the vertical line of the 'T'.

Getting past an immigration counter where our passports were checked, turning into Lounge 1, past another immigration counter, finding the luggage locker, getting our bags and dump onto a trolley, out another immigration counter, into Lounge 3.

It was only then when we were heading towards our gate while in Lounge 3 that Bio Boy actually stopped to look at the announcement boards, and saw that our flight was delayed till 2200.

And no, that delay wasn't caused by us.

Paranomic Panoramic Ponderings

This is what happens when we have too many photos taken, too little time to rename them, and a lousy memory.

While having a digicam makes things much more convenient where all things now are just point and shoot and there's none of that worrying about having enough film or the horrors of exposed negatives, now even a simple trip can result in hundreds of photographs. Hmmm, the days where a trip would be recorded in one or two film rolls of 36 shots are hard to remember.

Anyway, to be honest it isn't as if we went trigger happy and took hundreds of photos a day. Like for our Barcelona trip, admittedly the first day saw -opens picture folder on Day 1, Ctrl-A, reads Properties- 184 photos, but it soon dwindled to about 20 photos a day after that. Even those taken in the half hour we had in Amsterdam numbered only 28.

Then again we were busy looking for space cakes in that short time we had there.

So. Plenty of photos, and rather short-term memory. Which is normally fine because in the first week upon returning and organizing the photos, we can remember enough details to rename them the way we like, which is:

yymmdd - Location - Description

Take, for example, this one. It goes 081003 - Amsterdam Centraal - View 06. Well if we were more hardworking we'll go look up the particular street (which we have no idea considering we randomly walked down alleys at that point) and instead of 'View 06' we'd call it 'Erotic Shop'. Screw it, we're getting a tad lazy after renaming loads of photos.

Goes to show why we sometimes blog about it too. That way if we can't remember the details from the pictures, the blog's there to help refresh the memory. Okay, so we'll have to blog about Amsterdam too.

We wonder, if we had a better memory would we have just left photos named 'img001', 'img002' etc?

Right - so now that we're done renaming all our Barcelona pics, we've also manage to stitch up some pics we took for panorama shots. Click on 'em to enlarge.

Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Sporeland. Very nice room setup. However, we've only ever slept on one-third of the entire bed. We dislike the fact that due to the heat and our copious sweating, we had to drape our laundry on the chairs, thus the room's aesthetics suffer.

Barcelona Marina views. We really. Really wonder how people can work with such magnificent views of the sea towards the south, and a view of the city to the north.

The quick drop-by into Amsterdam. It's been 5 years already. Sigh. No idea where's this called, just that we popped out of Amsterdam Centraal, crossed this bridge and decided to take a few photos first. Part of the IJ?

The bedroom in Resort Hotel. Nice cosy place. More interestingly, initially when we entered the room we shut the curtains so that we could take photos of the room. Then we found the room to be cosier with the lights on instead of bright daylight. So we left the curtains shut.

Roulette Dreamz

Just the other weekend the Chief and us went up to Genting for a quick weekend getaway. What was different this trip was that we stayed in Genting Resort Hotel instead of First World Hotel. The place was, of course, much better compared to First World - better view, better furnishing, better prices too (altho' not better in a good way, this one).

Both of us were taking slight notes on the room setup for ideas for when we have our own place next time. Of interest was the closet - instead of the usual built-in closet, their closet acted as a partition between the corridor and the bathroom, with sliding doors on both sides. This meant you could slide both doors open and get a view of whoever who is taking a shower in the glass shower booth. Or climb through and into the bathroom via the closet.

This made us wonder why they bothered putting a lock on the bathroom door in the first place. Don't know, but don't think we'll ever opt for that kinda closet. Keeping our clean fresh clothes in the same space as the porcelain throne isn't something that appeals to us.

This time our getaway included watching Dreamz. Interesting indeed but we don't think we'll remember much about the show save that it has acrobatics, dancing, magic acts, a white tiger, a white lion, a normal tiger, Princess Calafair, everyone in tights. There is almost no plot, there's no dialogue. In short we summarize the show as this - princess of mystical land wakes up, is surrounded by dancers, sings to Magician and Zookeeper, turns into White Lion. Er.

Still, since tickets were free, waste not.

Speaking of freebies, it turns out our hotel stay was also free.

What happened was that the two of us visited the International Room and sat ourselves down at a roulette table. Chief mainly chose the numbers, and we voiced out a couple of numbers for the Chief's discretion on whether to bet on those numbers or not. Yes - the Chief plays, we watch. We are poor, after all. Normally the Chief'll play small, betting a single RM10 chip on a number but betting on a few numbers a round.

However, on our first betting round, we asked for a bet on 23. Having the same number in mind, the Chief put two chips on that number instead of one (to our surprise). And the croupier flicked the ball onto the wheel, around it spins...and lands on 23. What we felt smug about was that no one else won that round, as no one else betted 23, or on odds, or on red etc. What we saw on the Chief's face (who turned to look at us) was a sorta WTF-what-just-happened-did-you-just-do-that kind of look. Roulette being a 35:1 payout, we won RM700 on our first bet.

And subsequently, a few games later, we won another RM350.

The following day we decided to take a look at the video slots, especially since they'd just gotten in a new one called Star Wars Dark Side. Caught our attention it did, not because of geekery but rather because atop each machine was a huge Death Star. Animated scenes, spinning Death Stars that determine free games and multipliers, touch screen...the Chief made RM50 which we lost.

After a bit of calculating, it turns out that our entire stay was for free as we broke even. Now we must resist the temptation of spinning wheels and rolling reels.

Buenos Dias Blablabla

Janvier: Attendance check!
January: Hmmm?
Januar: What's this about?
Janvier: We seem to have a new feller who'd somehow joined us.
Yatyue: Really? How can? Who?
Janvier: Come on, out here, you.
Xavier: Hola.
January: Whoa! Where did you come from?
Xavier: But I have always been here, amigo.
January: No you've not!
Janvier: All right, details now.
Xavier: Xavier Soler, at your service. That is pronounced, 'Cha-vi-air So-lay'.
Janvar: Hmmm. Sounds like a fan of yours, Janvier Soldat.
Janvier: Just because the name sounds similar doesn't mean the same thing.
Lanuarius: So what seems to be the problem with Xavier?
Janus: Oh yes, it was Xavier who had us in a bit of a spot when we were in Barcelona.
Lanuarius: Oh, were there troubles in Barcelona? I do not seem to recall them.
Janvier: You were probably too busy admiring the architecture and reminiscing about Europe.
Januar: Oh you meant that bit of awkwardness.
Janus: Every single day.
Xavier: Que?
Janvier: There you go again.
Yatyue: Haiyo. Shy only sometimes.
January: It was actually quite fun.
Januar: Yeah. Awkward but interesting. Still, how did Xavier came about?
Enero: Actually, it's me. Eh heh.
Janvier: Now it clears up. Had your bit of fun in Barcelona, eh?
Enero: Well you weren't any better in Brussels and Paris, we remember.

In preparation for our Barcelona trip we had brought along our Time Out guide and we also downloaded an application from iTunes - lastminute.com's Spanish guide. Very handy, both of 'em.

Now asides from our Spanish colleagues, the locals were notably friendly too. Always a cheery "Hola!" as we went about. So naturally we "Hola!" back. Just like how we'd go "Hiya!" when in Glasgow. Back here it's anything from "Zhou san," to "Elo," to just a wave of the hand.

So one morning as we were entering the pickup van that takes us all to our office, we greets the driver. The driver greets us back, and launches a long spout of Spanish (or Catalan) that made no sense to our limited vocabulary, what more the rest of our colleagues who aren't Spanish. We only understood his 'hola' and 'traffico'.

The driver probably understood that we all "no entienda el español" when the whole van was rather quiet after his friendly banter. And probably some of us were nodding our heads slowly with that uncertain smile one normally has when in a situation like this. But the rest of the journey that morning was rather uneventful thankfully.

The other incident involved our cab to Barcelona Aeroport. As we didn't manage to cover all Barcelona we had the cabbie make a detour to the Arc de Triomf for us to take some photos before dropping us off at the aeroport airport.

Janvier: Er, primero, er L'arc de Triomf, y... (somehow thinks in French, because primier is first, and deuxieme is second, and was thinking how to put it in Spanish) ...dosieme (and fails splendidly, checking back the Spanish app it's segundo)... er Aeroport.
Cabbie: [Quickfire Spanish].
Janvier: Er, (gives up, thrusts camera into cabbie's face) photo! Photo!
Cabbie: Ah! Photo!

Thankfully from there it was easy for us. A quick "Uno momento!" while we scarpered to take photos, and then, "Terminal B" when asked where he should drop us off, and no more Spanish.

Yet somehow, we think we'd be far better off in Spain than we would in Hong Kong/China. At the least, we could read some of the words.

Choir Commercial!

We're starting to feel a tad terse upon seeing "23 DAYS LEFT" printed in YCA as we went for rehearsal on Monday. Amazing how it's already been past nine months since we first set foot in there. Anyways. We now bring you a special awareness program - the YKLS Breakin' It Down Performance.

First the poster. Surely some of you have seen it elsewhere already.

There's loads more pictures - the choir had a photoshoot session for promo purposes (the opportunity to camwhore and to have your face in the media, who wouldn't want?) - to be found in the following media:

On Astro channels:
- Animal Planet
- AXN
- Cinemax
- Discovery Travel & Living
- E!
- Hitz.TV
- Star Movies
- Star World

In magazines (October 2008 issues):
- KLUE
- Expatriate Lifestyle
- Time Out KL
- Vision KL
- KL lifestyle
- Talents

On websites:
- Kakiseni
- TimeOut KL
- KLUE
- KLPac
- VisionKL

On blogs:
- YKLS
- Joery-Joery
- The Tracy Writes

OK. So to make things clear - we're not shamelessly plugging our face for everyone to see ya. See closely and you'll find that we're not in the pictures. The reason simply because we were at 'Nic's wedding, which was more important.

What we are doing is shameless plugging the YKLS upcoming performance. 21 more days to go! Now here's the cut-paste script of what it's all about. Read!

Just what do the Young KL Singers have up its sleeves this year? This diversely funky group of singers is set to mesmerise the audience yet again, with a taste of jazz in true YKLS flavour. The audience will be taken through a time warp of evolution, exploring rhythm, improvisation and syncopation in the simplest yet very catchy forms.

The Young KL Singers (YKLS) will be collaborating with renowned television & stage performer, choreographer, coach of the Malaysian Idol fame, Michael Xavier Voon, as its director & choreographer; Tay Cher Siang, an American music graduate with numerous commendable works and performances under his belt – locally and abroad, as its jazz music advisor; young and upcoming arrangers in the local music scene, strongly backed by an enthusiastic team of spunky jazz musicians – to showcase the essence of what makes jazz, well, jazz!

The YKLS will demonstrate how jazz can bring contrasting rhythm patterns and improvisation to popular songs. Amazing songs like ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles, ‘Warna’ by Sheila Majid, ‘Maiden Voyage’ by Herbie Hancock and a myriad of other popular tunes will be jazzed up in perky, modern and surprising ways!

The concert’s winning formula lies in its upbeat, youthful, and carefree approach towards the sharing, education and performance of jazz in a choral arrangement. So come share in the fun and experience the magic that is jazz!

Concert dates & time:
30, 31 October & 1 November 2008 @ 8.30pm
1 November 2008 (charity matinee - seats subject to availability) @ 3.00pm
2 November 2008 @ 3.00pm

Venue:
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac)
Jalan Stratchan, off Jalan Ipoh
Sentul Park
51100 Kuala Lumpur

Tickets:
RM45 (adults) & RM35 (children aged 12 years & below)

For ticketing enquiries, please contact the KLPac Box Office, tel: 03-4047 9000 or The Actors Studio @ Bangsar Shopping Centre, tel: 03-2094 9400

Or contact us.

Chained In Chapters

Well now it seems that we're now into Chapter Two of our chain story. This time we'll keep it short and sweet!

But first, the story that was so that it'll be easier to follow what went on....

CHAPTER ONE

It wasn't a dark and stormy night - that's really a clichéd beginning for a story.

For Julien, it was bright enough to see the faint outline of Philip's naked body. Philip was sleeping soundly on the silk satin bedsheet, but Julien just couldn't even get his eyes close on that full moon night. He was looking out the dusty windows, lightly holding the almost empty wine glass. Then, he caught a glimpse of a shadow... who was this stranger in the night?

Julien silently shut the window and kept in the shadows, to avoid being silhouetted in the moonlight. "Must get the job done quickly now," he thought while appreciating Philip's physique, "before he gets back." He downed the remains of the wine, then took out his garrotte.

Why do I always get the good-looking ones? he pondered as he got into bed, cradled Philip's head and slid the garrotte around Philip's neck.

Then Julien yanked and Philip jerked awake, only to have Julien flip him facedown on the bed and pressed his body down on his, his face smothered by the pillow and Julien still strangling him, when the bedroom door slammed open.

Julien retreat off of the bed leaving Philip's lifeless body. Swiftly he reached for his shirt, knocking the wine glass off the side table.

"What have you done?!!", a loud voice came from the door, "Not this one, not right here!!".

Julien stood by the bed quiet as a mice, with his head hanging low. The light from the door shine into the dark room, as if spotlighted onto Philip's body while a shadow grew longer reaching the face of Philip. But then it stopped. The creeping shadow halted, as if time stood still, and the approaching figures outside the door had frozen in place. Julien kept silent, his eyes and ears, vigilant, knowing that even the slightest of movements could trigger the shadows - the frozen figures that spoke of undesired calamity.

"For Hera’s sake, could you please keep that aside?! I strictly told you to refrain yourself from using the powerful one... Wait. He’s still in there. I can sense his energy. His fear. Even so, our beloved Phillip is far too devious to just play dead. Fine. Use it."

It was a man, and he was not alone.

One of the men produced a verrrry suspicious-looking phallic instrument about 8 inches long which he flicked on. Brilliant white light shone forth from it to illuminate the scene at the bed but Julien wasn't anywhere in sight.

"I really wish you didn't bring that obscene looking flash light of yours here. Couldn't you be a little more serious about work?"

"Oh, don't bother about me and keep concentrating on finding him."

"Just switch on light, dimwit!!"

Julien looked around him. Now he had to get a way out of the room, and it had to be quick before the guys found him. For the moment, jumping out from the windows was his only option.

After a minute of rummaging around, one of the guys managed to find the light switch....."I found it!" he says and flicked the switch but nothing happened. The light wouldn't turn on and both of them turned their attention to the faulty switch.

This was the diversion Julien has been waiting for. Swiftly, he sprinted fast and silently like a cat towards the opened window. It was freezing cold with winter winds but he had to get out of there.

"Stop right there if you still want to be in one piece."

Julien froze as his mind was turning quick about what to do next when the light suddenly came on.

"You idiot, told you to switch on the lights and you got the socket." The man had a gun in his hand, pointing straight at Julien. "So you think you can get away this time? I don't think so."

"You must know, bullets won't do me any harm," Julien replied calmly, while still thinking about a way to get out of this situation.

"Heh heh... I have the powerful one to help me this time. It's game over for you now."

"Is that so? Let's see how fast your bullets are," Julien replied and he dashed to the door with supersonic speed, knocked the second guy who is blocking at the door to the floor. The first guy fires his gun towards Julien continuously but all of them misses the target, and without any hesitant, Julien sped to the main door but his steps stopped there.

"Hi Julien."

"Freddie... Get out of my way."

"Awwww... Why the rush? How long we haven't seen each other? Don't you miss me?"

Julien was immediately stunned by that statement. Yes. Julien used to have a wonderful time with Freddie. Freddie, being a pilot, was required to fly around at least twice a month, for a period of two weeks each time. Whenever Freddie was in another country, he would definitely give Julien a call, started off saying, "Don't you miss me?"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY! I SAID!"

All of a sudden, the temperature of the room dropped drastically. 25… 22… 15… 5… 0… -10. Everything in the room became lifeless, frozen in a black thick sheet of ice. Julien's eyes were glowing in green and his lips curved into a sinister smile. "I told ya".

But even as he turned to make his getaway, Julien found himself tensing as he felt something cold and sinister slip between his ribs. Green eyes widened in silent astonishment as he slid lifelessly to the ground clutching at the slim dagger piercing his side, teardrops of scarlet dripping heedlessly to the ground.

"Tsk tsk... I knew you would betray me, Julien. I'm not the man you thought I was. Do you think I'd be such a foolish dupe? You're certainly not the first assassin who has tried. Ever since you first accidentally bumped into me, I've had your moves tracked. I know who you work for, Julien. And I decided to test your loyalty as Freddie as well."

That familiar voice was chillingly clear even as Julien's vision blurred with every moment that passed. "W-what? Phillip? But I killed..."

"Tried to kill me twice, didn't you?" Freddie's face changed like liquid metal metamorphosing into the face of the man he loved. Phillip?

As he lay dying, Julien watched his killer through blurred vision. First, it was Freddie, then now Phillip - but, but wasn't Phillip already dead on the bed, smothered under the pillow with the iron wire twisted so deeply that it cut into the flesh of his muscular neck? Unless this was all really a dream (and it would be a terrible ending for a story), then Phillip wouldn't really be standing before him now - would he?

But there was Phillip still - his muscular physique firm and clear, silhouetted in the glow of the full moon. Although Julien could hardly see now - the idea, the very aura of this twist of events was admittedly beyond his expectations. But then, he had never expected much anyway - it was always assignment after assignment of murder, from the very first day he was born. Julien was his name of course, but it was new - known only to the men the Fraternity's Loom of Destiny had ordered execution, and the members of the Fraternity themselves. But from where he once trained, there were no names. They were given numbers.

Suddenly there were rays of light and loud chants... that's the last thing he remembers before he passed out. The sweet smell of myrrh mixed with honey was the first thing that came to his mind as he regained consciousness. Julien couldn't move his body, an indescribable sense of heaviness surrounds his body.

"Don't move, I've put a healing charm on you... plus a binding spell."

"Who are you?.... where am I?...." asked Julien in weak voice, at the same time noticing that he is not having any clothes on...

"Foolish assassin, the Fraternity has betrayed you and left you for dead," intoned his captor who immediately wove another spell to break his mind. His mind reeling from the psychic attack, Julien scrambled to find his inner sanctuary, his center. "You are merely grasping at straws, assassin," taunted his captor as the chants intensified. "That voice... could it be?!" thought Julien as every muscle in his powerful body strained against the magical onslaught.

"Soon, my pet, you shall be the property of the Sorority..."

CHAPTER TWO

There stood Belinda, the Head Mama of the Sorority of Lesbianas, tall and proud. Her black, shiny hair flowed to her voluptuous breasts and a thin cashmere scantily covered her lean body.

Around her are the Sorority Sisters, who do her biddings with utmost loyalty. And they don't seem to like the presence of a man in their headquarters. But that might change soon, as Belinda has indicated that Julien to be inducted "to become one of them"... unless Julien comes up with an escape plan swiftly!

Julien, weakened under the spell, stared at the many breasts surrounding him. Soft, pale skin carressed by the silkiest of satins outlining every single detail of the women of the Sorority. His eyes trailed up their long, smooth legs all the way till satin barely covered their sex.

Julien felt a yearning, a fire burning in his groin. He wanted in.

Hola! Día Uno En Barcelona

You know, it sort of says something when, the moment we stepped out of the airport and took in cool European air of, what, less than 24 degrees, we go, "We're home!" We were immediately reminded of the first second (don't remember the first) time we stepped out of London Heathrow and took in that air.

Given that our first day in Barcelona happened to be on Sunday, and it being an European country where Sunday means shops are closed, the lot of us chose to take the sightseeing option of walking down Passeig de Gracia and taking in Gaudi's works first.

We've also been playing around a bit with our iTouch Maps. 'Course, the route they show are meant for driving.

Oh yes. The Metro so reminded us of the London Tube. Just as convenient, not as new and clean as Sporeland's MRT, altho' not as old and dark as the Tube. When we came out from the Passeig de Gracia metro station, it was cameras out and snapping at random buildings as we walked along Passeig de Gracia.

Not being able to identify all the buildings along Passeig de Gracia, we've called them by whatever brands we recognize on the buildings, like 'that Guess building' or 'that Lacoste building'.

To note were also the hexagonal tiles all along Passeig de Gracia. There were intricate patterns on them too.

The famous landmarks are pretty well known among tourists. As we reached Casa Batllo it was surrounded by people taking photos from all angles. Colourful walls, balconies that look like masks, we really wonder how it looked like inside. Sure, apartments, but if the design outside was one of a kind already we'd think the inside would be equally funky.

After Casa Batllo we headed for lunch - our first local meal. With the restaurant recommended by a colleague, the lot of us had trouble with the waitress until she asked us where were we from. Once she said she was from China, immediately our Sporeland colleague got along with her in Mandarin. Lunch consisted of tapas (bread and tomato, crab and seafood salad, preserved olives), four cheese pizza, and seafood paella.

Once full, it was onwards to La Pedrera. Also another apartment designed by Gaudi, this time a wavy design that reminded us of the sea.

From there it was the long trek to Sagrada Familia. Now if we were talking about walking in Sporeland, Bolehland or Bangkok for that kind of distance, with Metro stations near where we were and near our destination, we would have, without hesitation, jumped straight onto a train. But this was Europe in autumn!

Oh and we could also walk about taking more photos of random buildings on the way from Avda Diagonal till we reached Sagrada Familia.

Sagrada Familia is really, really different from your regular cathedrals. Our first impression? Marine Cathedral from Sailormoon S. Asides from that it's rare we see the words Sanctus on the cathedral walls, a massive overload of sculptures or statues depicting different scenes, even a Christmas tree with doves! Just too bad the iXus' battery was flat by that time, else we might have taken more detailed (as far as possible) pictures.

The lot of us headed back to the hotel after getting souvenirs from Sagrada Familia. Reason being, since we checked in at 11am, our rooms weren't ready and so we left our luggage with the porter while we went sightseeing. So at 4pm we headed back to check out our rooms, and by 5ish we were ready to head out for more. Our colleagues, however, remarked, "Still got energy?" so we left them and went out by ourself.

We started by dropping by Placa Catalunya to see the fountains, before heading to Hard Rock Cafe to check out souvenirs for sis, the HRC Tee Collector.

From there we headed down La Rambla. There were a flea market of sorts going on as it was the weekend. The entire stretch of La Rambla also had these newstands called Hola! Typical newstands selling souvenirs, postcards and magazines...including naughty magazines. And naughty DVDs. Not that we got any, innocent angel that we are.

From La Rambla it was down to our final target, Maremagnum. A shopping mall that's open on Sunday (as stated by our guidebook), plus it's at Port Vell. More sightseeing.

Just before reaching Rambla de Mar and Port Vell we were greeted by the Monument de Colom. Christopher Columbus atop the monument pointing...somewhere. Surrounded by lions.

We aim to walk down La Rambla and Rambla de Mar, in fact, all of Barcelona with the Chief one day.

After walking around Maremagnum we left at 9ish for dinner around La Rambla.

Then it was back to the hotel before ending Day One!

Happy Birthday, Dear

And so, taking into account for time zone differences, we're a couple of days behind in writing this.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

This year has been great with you. Let's have many more to come ya? Lots of love.