Once every four.

It's leap year today. Considering it's something that only happens once every four years, you'd think that something more awesome would have taken place. But nothing did. It just rolled on by, like any other day. No celebrations or fanfare. Not even on the internet. I guess we're all too caught up by the things that are already there to recognize this occasion.

Anyway, it was my maid's birthday today. She's 40 this year...but since her birthday has only occurred ten times in the course of her life, strictly speaking, she's actually thirty years younger than that. I've had a few maids in the past, but Cynthia has been with us for the longest. She came to our family about 8 years ago. Because of her I've no need for an alarm clock, there's Milo waiting for me in the fridge every morning, and no matter what state I leave my room in, when I come back home, somehow, it'll always be presentable.

Being almost 22 now, some might say that I shouldn't be relying on my maid. Indeed, I should take care of my own stuff...but it's just troublesome. That's no excuse haha, but it's certainly more convenient.

I bought her a simple cake. My two younger brothers pooled in money for the purchase of the cake, too. My parents are out of the country most of the time, so it's just me, my brothers, and her. We really owe a lot to her. She's keeps the house in tip-top conditioning and she goes the extra mile to make sure that the three of us are taken care of.

This post is dedicated to her. If you have a maid at home, let them know that you appreciate what they're doing. Yeah, they get paid and all, but it's not much, right? And they're leaving behind so many things too; they're families, husbands, friends, and children. At the very least, say thanks.

Here's the cake! Bought it from Breadtalk. Taste-wise, it's okay. There were macaroons, which I liked. I bought the flavor that I liked most, because I knew she wouldn't be eating much of it, even though it's for her. Wish I had Instagram to make the photo look nicer, but life doesn't always give you the chocolates that you want.

My Real Test

I'm sure you've played Pokemon, or at the very least, heard of it. I certainly have. I've been through all 5 generations, traveled through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and even Unova. I'm a Pokemon master in all of them, having beaten all the gym leaders and the Pokemon league. Still, I feel like I've never lived up to the true spirit of the game, because I've never truly caught them all. I've tried my best, but it's just so damn difficult. And to make things worse, I always end up asking myself: What's the point in catching them all?

Why are all these esteemed professors sending you, a ten-year-old on an epic quest to become (a) become a Pokemon Master, and (b) catch all the Pokemon? I was running one day, and an explanation struck me. It's a simple explanation, but upon closer consideration, you'll see that it makes complete and total sense.

Why Catch Them All

What other significant event in history involved "catching them all"? In actual history, there's no such thing. But how about the Bible? Ever heard of the story of Noah and the Ark? Noah basically "caught" a pair of every single animal and stowed them in his Ark. This was due to the coming of a flood of epic proportions which would wipe out the wicked humans...or something like that. I'm not very clear on the story.

So if we draw parallels here to the Pokemon mythology, we see that the Professors are all "Noahs" in their own rights. What if they, in their infinite wisdom as professors, found evidence that a great flood, or natural disaster of an epic scale was coming. And this will potentially wipe out all the Pokemon and humans in existence? They love Pokemon, and see their values as awesome creatures, very much like how God in the tale of Noah looked upon animals. Of course they'd want to save them. Moreover, the power of certain Pokemon, especially legendary ones, might also make them a pre-requisite for rebuilding the world.

Once you've caught them all, in the event of the great flood, the Professors will take you some place safe. There are already Arks in the Pokemon world (SS Anne etc). You, with the professors, and any other worthy human being will successfully survive the flood. The burden of restarting society will fall upon the humans...and the burden of renewing the Pokemon ecology will lie on the Pokemon themselves.

If we go with the assumption that a great disaster is coming, then we see that quite a few details within the game actually fits, and perhaps make more sense because of it.

Pokemon Storage.

Let's take the very mechanism of the Pokeball and PC Storage for instance. If you love Pokemon, would you want to keep them cooped up in a tiny ball or as PC data? Most certainly not. But...storing one specimen of every single Pokemon in a boat would need for a pretty huge boat. Gigantic Pokemons, like Wailord, Onix and Dragonite can't simply squeeze onto a boat. So maybe...just maybe, these were constructed as a means of conveniently storing them.

A Ten-year-old's Quest.

Some people wonder too why a ten-year-old is chosen to go on a quest. Why not get someone older and more experienced? Ten-year-olds are pure. They haven't hit puberty yet...okay, let me rephrase it: kids are just more pure in general. They don't have the evils and wants that adults do, which is the primary cause of this disaster, as in the Bible. This is symbolically represented by the presence of evil organizations in every single Pokemon game: Team Rocket, Team Magma and Aqua, Team Galactic and lastly, Team Plasma. These organizations are devoid of kids; only adults are capable of evil deeds.

A far cry from paradise.

I guess if you look at it, the Pokemon world isn't a pleasant one. On top of the many evil organizations, the current status quo is that Pokemon battles are glorified cock-fights; I'll raise this Pokemon and then I'll make it fight yours, and if I win, I get your money, and if you lose, you get mine. There's a whole economy and way of life revolving around the practice. PokeMarts sell potions and supplements dedicated to making your Pokemon even stronger...like steroids. If a place ever deserved condemnation, it's this one.

The Existence of Ditto.

You only need to catch one of each species. The issue that arises now is the fact that...can you breed Pokemon when you only have one of each? This is where Ditto comes in. Ditto, a Pokemon which can transform into any other, is capable of breeding with any Pokemon, regardless of their sex. Unlike in the biblical story, this way, you only need one of each gender.

The need for strength.

Is it possible to catch all the Pokemon without getting all the badges and beating the Pokemon league? Most certainly. So then what's the point in getting the badges? But let's think about the different levels of Pokemon for a second. They range from as low as 2...to the dizzying heights of level 70, as with Mewtwo in the original game. The primary purpose of going through the rigours of Pokemon battle is for the trainer to become stronger. Attaining a certain level of strength will then allow them to catch this strong Pokemon. The gym battles and the Pokemon league are merely means to an end: to get stronger in order to catch the strongest of wild Pokemon.

Concluding Words.

At the end of the day, I guess we can't really tell for sure whether it's the creator was indeed inspired by Noah's Ark. There is compelling evidence, however, within the game itself. We also have to recognize that the Pokemon world is inspired by Japan itself, a country wrecked by many natural disasters. If there ever was a country living in fear of a great flood, it's Japan. If you look at the game through that lens, it gives it an added dimension; one of urgency, and a sense of foreboding.

Word Count: 1006. What. The. Shit. I think I got slightly carried away. And I lost the plot halfway through. Thanks for reading lol.

This shit is gold.

Been doing filming recently. It's my directorial debut, in a sense. And I came up with the idea of the short film too. It's the sort of idea only my mind can come up with, I swear.

The Shituation

A guy runs into a toilet. He takes a dump which requires all the energy and concentration he can muster. The sheer mental force he exerts bends the very fabric of time and space. Suddenly, he discover that even though he's still seated on a toilet bowl, he's not in the same toilet anymore. He's teleported to the girl's toilet! Outside, he hears a pair of girls talking. They knock on his cubicle, wanting to use it. How's he going to get out of this predicament now?

Can't wait until I get Oscar-nominated, and stuff.

The Tweekly Howtoraymond (20-26 February)

Wise words.


My recess week starts tomorrow, supposedly.


Long story.


True story.


A fisherman with master bait will catch all the fish.


There is still hope.


It was a good day.


That chapter also had Dodurian Bombs.


They always start out so young.


I spent a whole day on this thing. I mean, I procrastinated a whole day.


Statistics has also taught me that nothing is for sure.


It's like the universe and NBC colluded, or something.


I was literally watching Community and then I saw the awesome announcement.


Wait, what.


Overall, this week was a good week. :)

Done and Tired.

I've been very tired lately. It's nobody's fault but my own, really. It's not that I've got too many things on my plate. And I'm not really inefficient with my time either. I get things done, and I produce quality work. It's more of my habits which has brought about this waves of lethargy upon me.

You see, everyday, I wake up before 8. When I have an 830 class, I'll be up at 630. Without it, I'll be up slightly after 7. I'd still be tired, but I can't possibly go back to bed. It's not something I can simply do. So I'd be up and getting ready for the day at 8. And then I'd go to school sometime before lunch, or slightly after.

Once I get to school, I stay there for a while. I'm most productive in school, so I socialize, work, read, have meetings all in the time that I'm there. When I reach home, I slack around, go for a jog, and then go back to work. This means that effectively, I go to bed after 1, and then wake up at about 7-8 the next day.

That's about 6 hours of sleep? And this is my normal schedule. Lately I've been sleeping even later due to one reason or another.

I'd take naps, but as you can see, I'm in school most of the day. Even when I do have the time to take a nap, there's no facility for me in school to do so. So I force myself to stay awake with plenty of coffee. At least 3 in a day. It's not a sustainable way of life. I'm not sure whether I can keep this up for the next 7 weeks, where things will only get more busy. See how lah.

For now, I'm holding on.

Bonus content! Here's a little something I did for my leadership presentation on Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group. It was quite well-received. And it's accurate too. Needless to say, our presentation was good.

Hot like Mexico.

Today was a hot day, wasn't it? Seriously. I left my house at about 9 in the morning. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I had to go back home to settle some unfinished business (which is still unfinished). When I looked into the mirror, I saw that I was drenched in sweat. The heat had gotten to me. I promptly changed my t-shirt for a fresh one.

Which of course got sweaty soon enough. I had lunch at Holland Village. I took a cab there...because of the unfinished business which I don't want to go into, because man, it's stupid. So anyway, I had breakfast, and then I found myself waiting for my friend to go to U-town together. I wandered around the outside. Even in the shade, I could feel the heat radiating from the ground. I could have gone into one of the air-conditioned establishments, but I didn't want to spend any more money that I had to. Like a Jew.

So I sat at the outdoor food court, fanning myself.

When we finally got to U-town, of course, the air-conditioned Starbucks was full of people. Sitting outside on the study tables, I felt like I was inside some sort of oven. I was hot, and sticky...in the worst way possible.

Later on, we got a room at one of the Halls. It was air-conditioned, and from there, the day started looking up considerably. I didn't do anything productive, in terms of school work, but it was time well-spent. I played a lot of Buritto Bison Revenge.



You play some sort of...Mexican wrestler. From what I gather, he's wallet has been stolen by gummi-bear-like creatures, and as such, he has to body slam his way through a whole army of them to look for his wallet. Of course, a whole bunch of power-ups is available to him. It's on Facebook, if you're interested.

Check out this screenshots. Word of warning: It's addictive.







:)

Packaging works.

I spent all of yesterday night doing my TWC paper review. Okay, maybe to say "all of yesterday night" would be an exaggeration of sorts. I was doing some other things on top of the report...but the report was my end-goal for the evening.

It's only two pages; I had a lot of things to write. Content-wise, I had many things to say about the paper. To compound on my problem....well, you've read my blog, you know how long-winded I can be sometimes. And I always speak from my own standpoint, with my own voice. Distancing myself from the article, and not saying "I think", and "I feel" was difficult. After writing more than three pages of text, I struggled for a long time to cut it down to the two-page limit. But I did it eventually!

Below is my final product!



I've come to realize that in life, most things lie in the packaging. Without the cover page, and the header and the footnotes, it looks like two pages of text. There's nothing sophisticated about a wall of words. It's the little touches which give your report the "zing" that it needs. Sometimes, the book is judged by it's cover.

Community Fans

Animated Community


X-men: Spanish Class


Streets (Ahead) Fighter


The Dark Knight Rises and Goes to Greendale


Inspector Spacetime


Community Peanuts.


Modern Warfare.


It's official! Community, after a long and painful hiatus, is finally returning to our screens on March 15. Awesome Coincidence Alert: March 15 also happens to be my birthday! It's like the universe conspired to make my 22nd birthday more awesome. I'm so glad to have the show back.

Community's about a bunch of misfits in community college who form a study group. They start of simply as people trying to pass a class. As the 1st season goes on, they become actual friends. It's nice to see that develop, and over the course of Seasons 2 and 3, we see their friendship deepen, and the characters grow too. The characters are all equally lovable, and complex, and the relationships between them are also something worth watching.

It's a very well-layered show. The characters are all trying to achieve something - it's a college after all, and they have their own journeys. This journey is tied lovingly into well-crafted episodes. peppered with funny lines, popular-culture references and visual gags.

It's ambitious as well, in that it tries to defy a viewer's expectations of a sitcom. With HIMYM, we always expect a bunch of friends, hanging out at a bar and having adventures. With Modern Family, we expect...well, a family. With Community, we see a school. Only in this school, absolutely anything and everything will happen. Zombie attacks, gay bashes, paintball wars, dungeon and dragons...These escapade, although highly conceptual, remains faithful to the premise of the show and it's characters. It doesn't do gimmicks for gimmicks' sake.

On top of these are dedicated and talented actors, a group of genius writers and a fan-base who will do all sorts of crazy things for the show. When the hiatus was announced, fans rallied behind the show and staged flash mobs, created posters, sent mails to NBC, tweeted incessantly about the show. On my part, I put on a black goatee.



So come March 15, we'll be hanging out with our favourite study group once more. Okay, maybe it won't be everyone's favourite show. Not everyone will "get" it. The jokes aren't LOL-funny, some may find the characters too weird, and the situations too unbelievable to be taken seriously. But I think you should give it a shot anyway. Because if you do "get" it, you'll love it to bits. And if you bother to delve more into the show and watch it a couple of times and read up on it's background and stuff like I did, you'll love it even more.

PS: Omg, I was planning to just post those pictures but I got carried away. To make it worse, this isn't the first time I'm posting something like this. I did one a Community-related post a couple of months back. Ahh, there's more important things on my to-do list. I've a paper review due tonight.

With this out of my system, let's hope that I can focus more.

Shopping fails.

I didn't have school today, and I didn't have any more examinations and presentations left. I do have one assignment due tomorrow, which up to now, I haven't started yet, but there should be enough time to do it, I think.

So thinking that I was more free than I actually was, I went to Vivocity to do some shopping and to have a look at the PageOne sale. It was a miserable trip. It's the last day of the PageOne closing down sale, so all the good books have been taken. There wasn't a single book written by a renowned author left. It was just a bunch of no-name books which will gather dust and be forgotten forever. I walked away from PageOne dejected.

I had always liked that book store. It was spacious, stocked every single kind of book possible, and it actually had reading spaces. Whenever I went to Vivocity, PageOne would be where I headed to if I'm waiting for my friends. Today, looking at it's present state, I felt a heavy stone in my heart. There were endless bookshelves...all empty. Like bodies without souls, you know?

So after that, I went looking for clothes. I'm always very standard in my shopping. I go by brands. So, from PageOne, I went to the first floor and went to the following shops: Uniqlo, Topman, Zara and then Gap.

Uniqlo's good for their very basic stuff, and sometimes they stock tees which are actually quite cool. Didn't see anything to nice over there. Then I went to Topman...which has overpriced but nice-looking hipsters stuff. I found a nice collar-tee, but then I realized that my membership card entitles me to a 20% discount on my birthday month, so I decided to wait until then. Zara...didn't have anything much. Actually, they did, but they look a bit too fancy for me.

I went to Gap and I felt at home right away. They were playing my kind of music (some indie shit where the singer is out of tune), and the clothes were plain and simple and...pleasing...and understated. Kind of like me. Not too loud, but there's a lot of substance there. Gap's on the pricey kind, but you get what you pay for, I think.

I found a nice pair of shorts, and two t-shirts and one shirt which went with it really well. I'm trying to go for the shortish shorts look. Some might dismiss the look as gay, but I think I can pull it off with my uncontrollable masculinity. Donald Glover looks great in his shorts:





So anyway, I went to the counter to pay...and my card was rejected. Perhaps I entered my pin incorrectly, so I tried again. Once more, it was rejected. Maybe the salesperson did it wrong, so I asked whether I could try again. Same result. Funny, that's never happened to me before, I told the pretty girl at the counter. I wasn't too worried, because I was assuming the fault was on their side.

I walked to the nearby ATM. I keyed in my pin number...and it was correct. I then went to check my balance. "Transaction not allowed". And then I was brought back to a moment yesterday when I had received a message from DBS. Many times, when they send me a message, it was to tell me I had made a withdrawal, so I dismissed it. Upon reading it again, I realized that it contained information which is of a certain level of significance.

"We are mailing a new ATM card to you. For added security, your card ending **** is deactivated."

Sigh. So yeah, there went my plans of treating myself a bit for the day. I was really looking forward to actually spending something on myself, for once. The past few months, I've had to be slightly stingy with my money. I paid for my Laos trip out of my own pockets, and my dad hasn't paid me back for some of the things he owe me. Last week, he finally wired me some money, and....the waves of relief and sudden financial freedom I feel is amazing. I couldn't wait to exercise this new power afforded to me by money...and then this happened.

I was down. Did some more other stupid stuff, and that got me down even more, but I'm okay now. I'm at Rochester Park Starbucks with a hot coffee in front of me. I have a good book, I'm chatting with good friends on Facebook, there are hot girls around and I have the rest of the afternoon to myself. True, I have a paper review due, but that'll take care of itself, I think.

Okay, I'm out.

What's Up, Tuesday?

Secondary school was fun, like a stack of chairs.

The Tweekly Howtoraymond (13-19 February)

It's exams season.


Bad-ass literature.


Cups <3.


There's a lin somewhere I've crossed.


Avoiding the issue is one of my fortes.



Shaved it off. Not meant to be.


My two-cents.


#PLOTTWIST :)


Got my matric card back. Tapping on ALL the gantries, even the ones I'm not entering.


Yo Llama jokes.


Love's a funny thing.


Letters from Watanabe to Naoko.


#raymondlogic