WWE in Singapore, 28 July 2007

Finally, The Rock has come back... to Singapore!

Not exactly, as The Rock doesn't really wrestle anymore. But WWE is coming back, on 28 July 2007! I am so going to be there.

Details have not been released yet, but there are some big names on tour. The Smackdown and ECW brands will be coming, and the wrestlers slated include: Batista, Chris Benoit, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam and CM Punk!

I was there for the very first WWE show in Singapore ever, almost 6 years ago. It's been so long that I don't remember exactly when it was, but I think it was in 2001. Honestly speaking, the production values of that show were pretty low: low-impact fireworks, dimmed yellow lights that made everything hard to see, limited roster of wrestlers. But hell, I didn't care cos it was FUN! Everybody was up and jumping and screaming, and the atmosphere was electric. There was an excitement in the air that was palpable, and for that moment, everyone felt vindicated for even liking pro-wrestling; there were so many other crazy fans there.

Tickets go on sale 21 May 2007, at SISTIC

Original Sin

Audrea and I went out to dinner last night at a rather decent restaurant: Original Sin, at Jln Merah Saga. It's located near Chip Bee Gardens, near Holland Village. It serves vegetarian food, done in a mostly western style, meaning pasta, pizzas amongst other stuff.

Decor

It has a very pleasant decor, with a slight Mediterranean feel to it. The walls were painted a warm orange, tan coloured floors and dimly lighted with candles on each table. The kitchen and bar are both visible to the dining area. There's also an alfresco dining area. The overall setting makes the dining experience a more relaxed and comforting one. The thing I didn't particularly like were the seating arrangements, particularly the indoor seating. What I didn't like was that there were a couple tables set right at the door, and there'd be people milling about at all times.

Service

Service was excellent, and each person that served us was very attentive. They were prompt with requests, and were very polite. Plus they were easy to pick out in a crowd, as they were dressed in blue. Their uniforms clashed in colours with the rest of the restaurant, but it did make them easy to spot.

Food

They had quite a varied menu, which slightly surprised me as I didn't really think you could do quite so many things with vegetables. The appetisers looked rather interesting with a selection of bruschettas and salads. They also had a couple novel items like an Eggplant Tofu Gratin. Mains included vegetable stew, baked tomatoes, and moussaka. Audrea ordered the lasagna, and I had the Quattro pizza.

The lasagna was layered with spinach, onion, zucchini, mushrooms and capsicum amidst sheets of pasta. It was quite tasty, though I did find the tomato sauce a little over-powering. When a particular mouthful wasn't full of veges, you could only taste the tomato and pasta. But overall, a decent dish.

The pizza was quite good. It was served with 4 quarters of different ingredients, including feta cheese, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, asparagus, roasted capsicum, tomatoes and olives, on a tomato sauce and mozzarella base. The pizza bread is not the super thin type that you find at some Italian restaurants (like Al Dente Trattoria), but it was still quite good. Having 4 distinct flavours was quite delightful, and I enjoyed this one very much.

Overall

The meal was quite a good one, within a comfortable setting and excellent service. The entire meal cost us $52 (including tax). It's not overly expensive, but it does place itself in the upper tier of eateries. One other review I read noted that the ambience was a romantic one, but I'd have to disagree; it feels more casual, relaxed, and unassuming. A good choice for a quiet evening, and pleasant conversation. Not a place to impress the ladies with, but it real nice place to get to know someone. But do not get that table by the door; it's a real buzz-killer.

Virginia Tech

My heart goes out to the friends and families of those killed in the shooting at Virginia Tech. It is a real tragedy, and I can only begin to understand the pain and sorry that they are going through at the moment.

And not to make light this particular tragedy, but it brings to mind all the other tragedies that occur daily, that do not garner the same sort of news coverage that this one has. Stories of abuse, destitution, hunger, and suffering that affect thousands of people everyday. And you don't see these stories being covered in the news, not on the level that the VT incident has.

And why not? Because the news isn't sexy? Because it happened in a place that no one knows, let alone cares about? Because it didn't happen in the biggest country in the world?

My heart is heavy with sadness for those affected by the VT shooting, but it is also weighed down by the many that suffer daily, without a voice to speak on their behalf.

On leave

I'm on leave at home today. It's 10.30am, and I only just got out of bed. I haven't brushed my teeth even. I love days off.

Last week was particularly long for me, and I'm glad that it's over. I had to put together another event, and I was very anxious regarding the success of it, considering that there were significant problems 2 weeks back.

But things went smooth, and I'm glad that it's over. But the week had taken it's toll on me, to a point that I wasn't even looking toward organising SOG this weekend.

But I'm glad that I did. Because despite having to run around a little to put things together, SOG was another extremely enjoyable experience. We had a total of 47 people turn up for games, and there were all sorts of games being played. I met with some old friends, and met a bunch of new ones. One of the new persons to come game actually lives in the same block as me. I've see her a number of times in the morning whilst going to work, so I was surprised to see her stroll in on Saturday afternoon.

I managed to play a game of Imperial (though I got a major rule wrong), which I've been wanting to do since I bought the game a while back. I also managed to play a bit of Pitchcar and A Game of Thrones. All in all, I'm glad that SOG went on without a hitch. Of course, I gotta thank Mark for coming by to help out.

I'm meeting Alexis to play Combat Commander tomorrow. Ah... Good times.

Thinking about what I just said...

Wow. That post beneath just sounds like a sales pitch, no? But I am keen on that game, and am looking forward to it.

Pacman VS

Namco will be releasing a collection of their classics for the DS in a few months time. Usually I'm not too concerned with such compilations of classic video games, but this impending release has me quite excited.

Pacman VS. will be a part of this compilation, and I'm really keen on getting my hands on it. Originally released for the Gamecube, Pacman VS was a multi-player version of Pacman whereby one player plays as Pacman, and the other players played as the ghosts. Whilst one player attempts to eat as many dots as possible, 1-3 other players try and hunt that one person down. What made is difficult to play on the Gamecube was that it required each player to own a Gameboy Advance, which was linked to the 'Cube.

With the upcoming release, and through the use of its Wi-Fi capabilities, I'll be able to enjoy multiplayer mayhem on my DS with my friends. So I'm watching this one really closely.

Meanwhile... here's a geeky image for your enjoyment.

Super Mario 2

Some friends and I will be going to Play! A Video Game Symphony sometime in June, and in view of that, I present to you here, a percussionist performance of a musical piece from the old classic game, Super Mario 2.

Enjoy!

April Fool's Day

I hate April Fool's Day. Absolutely abhor it. I can't stand it, and I detest it, and I think it's a horrid day.

Why? Mostly because I'm a stupid gullible fellow who gets tricked easily.

As we all know, people take this opportunity to play tricks and pranks on friends, and to have a good laugh. That, in itself, is a worthy endeavour. I'm fine with that. One should always take amusement at someone else's expense. Unless the victim is me. Then it's just not right.

I've had friends tell me tall stories and I totally believe them. Because I trust them, and wouldn't have expected them to tell me a bald-faced lie. I've had people pull tricks on me and it would totally work. Because I'm not quick enough.

But the one I hate the most is when people take my stuff and hide it. That just burns me up. I really can't stand it when people do that. Because it takes me forever to find it, and I never do. I'd be scrambling up and down, and I never could figure out where it is. And the longer I take, the more frustrated I become, and the more pissed off I get.

April Fool's Day is the culmination of all those things that I hate, and as such, I hate this stupid day. Death to the pranksters! Unless I'm the one pulling the prank. Then... Yea Ken!!

BGG.Con 2007

Work has been a whirlwind for the past 2-3 weeks. I've been working late almost everyday and the pile does not seem to get any smaller at all. It's really quite horrible.

But there has been one single shining beacon of hope: BGG.Con 2007.

Registration for the con opened a few days ago, and the moment I saw it, my heart was aflutter. My breath drew short, my cheeks flushed, my heart quickened its pace. I have such sweet memories of the last one, and I want to re-live those moments again.

I am sorely tempted to make a trip to the States again to attend the con. Crazy? Maybe just a little. But I want to spend days playing games with people I barely know in a foreign city. And the friends that I had made at the last Con have asked if I'll be able to make my way up again. That's really heartening to see, and it makes me long to go even more.

And it's also a good reason to visit Shyam and Div again. I love those guys, and I wish we got to meet up more often. It's just not possible with them living there, and my being here. I miss them dearly, and wish they would move their frickin' asses back here to Singapore.

Silent War

Silent War is a single-player boardgame, published by Compass Games in 2005. The game simulates the submarine war of the US against Imperial Japan, with various scenarios depicting different stages of the war.

It's a game that I have been contemplating on purchasing for many months now, and I think I may just finally bite the bullet. And why is that? There are 3 factors.

1) Premise. I enjoy anything that is related to submarines. I enjoy reading about them, watching movies that revolve around them, and playing games based on them. My favourite movie of all time is The Hunt for Red October. I have pictorials of submarines in my personal library. I have a few computer games that simulate operating submarines. Submarines are one of my most favourite things in the world.

2) Single-player. The thought of a single player boardgame appeals to me. Now that may sound a little odd, considering how I've always purported that boardgames are a social activity. But there are times when I'm really keen on playing boardgames when no one else is able to. I also think that a single-player game offers quite a different experience that I may find myself enjoying. That thought, of playing alone, appeals to me. I never had problems doing things by myself, and playing alone does not put me off. I have been looking into single-player games for a long while now, and I even bought Ambush, a solitaire game based on tactical squads in WWII. I never got around learning the game, but that's cos the premise didn't interest me as much.

3) Shipping. It's awfully expensive to get the game shipped to Singapore. It's a small publisher, and shipping costs are prohibitive. Other discount online stores are either out of stock, or real pricey on the shipping too. But I have a colleague who will be going to New York in a month, and I think I can get the game shipped to an address that she can pick it up from. And that has me severely tempted.

Oh, what a night!

That was an awesome evening I just had. I just had dinner with Ivan, Coreen and Audrea and it was a good good night. It's a little weird, but it's almost as if I'm on a bit of a high.

I had the car tonight, and drove the 3 of them to dinner at Turf City where we had an extensive seafood meal. Items on our menu included mango clams (?), bamboo clams, fresh scallops and crabs. All very well prepared, and fresh, good quality ingredients. I was thoroughly satisfied by the end of the meal.

We then procceded to Holland Village for some coffee and dessert, which was an excellent way to top off an already exceptional evening.

Of course, the fact that I was stuck in a traffic jam for about 30mins, had work dumped on me in the evening, had to meet colleagues on work in the afternoon, and answering emails in the morning despite being on leave, did not put a damper on this evening.

One less item off the ol' wishlist

I went to a boardgame meetup this evening, and managed to play a game that I've been eyeing for a while now: Vanished Planet.

I generally enjoy cooperative games, and this one had an intersting premise: What used to be Earth is now a horrific growing mass that is ever expanding into the fartherest reachest of space. 6 alien races must now band together to try and survive, whilst hoping to contain the monster.

Each player gets a chance to collect resources, trade with other players, and then move their ship whilst building all forms of advance technology to fulfil quests, and to delay the growth of the monster. Each player is threatened by a ever-enlarging tendril of the monster, though the rate of growth is slightly different for each player. Once the tendril over-runs a player's homeworld, they are considered to be eliminated from the game. Each player is simultaneously also trying to fulfil quests to earn victory points. There is an overall cumalative total that each player's completed quests would contribute to, and all must work together to combat the monster.

It was a fun game, and I enjoyed myself very much. We played this twice, and we were totally slaughtered in the first round, at normal difficulty. We took it down a notch, and only just barely squeezed a victory. I felt that the game did promote a sence of urgency and desperation, when you see that one player's homeworld was about to be swallowed, or if we knew that we had to finish a number of quests before we would even be close to winning. There is alot of interaction, as each player would trade resources, and also help each other out with the building of various technologies.

But I have to suspect the longevity of the game, as I think that some players may become bored with after a few plays of the game. The problem with cooperative games is that after a while, players know what to do to beat the system, and then the game loses its appeal after that. We managed to do much better in the second game, and I suspect that if the same group were to play a third or fourth time, we would have very little trouble with the game. As such, I've taken this game off my wishlist. Cos I know it's available if I want to play it again (it belongs to Adrian Peh), but I don't think it's a game I'd like to own.

Nintendo DS Lite

Well, my birthday wish from so long ago is slowly coming true. I had mentioned before that my wish was for everyone around me to get a DS Lite.

Now counting the number of people around me, there are a total of 6 immediate friends who have gotten a DS Lite:

Audrea
My older sister
My cousin, Adrian
Mark
Ivan
Shaun

That is just frickin' awesome. I'm just waiting for the day we can all play Mario Kart, or Bomberman together. And write silly little messages in PictoChat.

And to everyone else... What the heck are you waiting for?

Radical Ideas Spreading Through the Internet

DPM Wong warns of radical ideas being spread through internet

In the article, DPM alluded to self-radicalising groups that acquire their ideas/theology/ideology from various sources from the Internet.

While I can see the possiblity of this happening, I do not think that the internet is the one to shouldar the blame.

The internet is a tool that provides information, regardless of its source or nature, I agree. And this has led to contentious material becoming readily available to the public; Information on how to make explosive devices, or discriminatory information can be found easily.

But I believe that a person who becomes severely affected by this sort of information to move beyond just reading and into action, suggests that there is something wrong with the person, and not the tool. It's not fair to say that the internet is to blame, when it is the person who choses to accept or reject whatever material they come across.

This is akin to blaming a hammer, because it could potentially be used to cause bodily harm.

So where do we go from here? Inevitably, there will be persons who are susceptible to radical ideas, regardless of its source. As such, it really falls onto the people around that person to detect warning signs, and to initiate early intervention. Look at the people around you, your families, friends and communities. Are there people that could potentially cause worry? While I'm not saying you should "rat out" a friend, it really takes effort on the part of each person to help ensure that one does not fall into the wrong crowd, or become an easy target to radicalism. This is something that any consientious person can do, as part of the larger community.

Gaming Day

I had a short gaming session at Bernard's house yesterday, with 3 other people, and we played through quite a selection of games. Most games were pretty light, as you can see from my current "Games Played" list: Niagara, Coleretto, Gulo Gulo, etc. It was a very fun session, and there were many laughs around the table.

Most interestingly was that I had an oppurtunity to meet 2 new persons: Andrew, from Perth, Australia, and his Singaporean friend, Toni.

Andrew had contacted me over at Boardgamegeek, informing me that he would be in town for a few days and was keen to get into some gaming. I invited him to join me at Bernard's, and we had a heck of a time. Andrew really is quite a fun fellow to play games with. And so is Toni, with her constant taunts and jibes. Their presence really added to the session overall, and having the chance to meet 2 new people is an absolute blast.

I like to play games, that doesn't need to be said. But having be able to do so, whilst meeting new people at the same time is really something that I enjoy on an entirely new level.

A year of change?

Chinese New Year is almost over, and I'm looking ahead and I wonder what a year it would be for me. Would there be many changes or upheavals? Or would it be smooth sailing over calm waters for me?

There has been changes at the workplace, and I'm hoping that it will have a positive effect on the office environment. As with any office, there often are disagreements or conflicts, but things have been becoming a little uncomfortable. But hopefully things will look up from here.

I recently met Audrea's parents and family over the New Year, in my official capacity as "The Boyfriend". It was a little nerve-wrecking, as I'm often not comfortable in new social settings. But I think I passed the interview.

My gaming group is officially one year in, and I think that's quite an accomplishment. And of course I couldn't have done it without some help. It's great to have a strong group together, and I think that we'll only grow more from here on in.

This year, I'm looking forward to having the group grow, and establish itself as a fixture within the boardgaming community. I'm also looking toward investing my money, and starting a portfolio, as money in the bank is just stagnant and depreciating. I'm also hoping to make another trip somewhere, though I haven't decided where yet. Taiwan sounds like an intersting place to get to, though I'm tempted to get back to Brisbane, Seattle, Dallas and Hong Kong. I'm also interested in doing some backpacking. I'm also hoping to get back in Taekwando, because I've stopped in the past month. Work has been crazy and I've been missing classes.

So that's what the year looks for me. I hope it's a good one. What I should do is go and look at my fortune, and have a look at what these soothsayers have to say. I might go to a bookshop later and check out some fortune-telling books.

Chinese New Year

I've always enjoyed the Chinese New Year period. There's something about it that appeals to me alot more than either Christmas, or regular New Year's.

I guess a part of it is that it speaks directly to my Chinese heritage. I find the traditions and practices to be more meaningful. I enjoy meeting with family, going on home visits, wishing everyone a happy new year, waking up for breakfast with the family on the first day.

A typical day would involve us meeting at a relative's home, with multiple aunts and uncles, and having a meal. And then later in the day, all of us would meet at my place, have a meal... and then rotate amongst all the homes of the gathered relatives for the next couple days.

There's always alot of cheer at these gatherings, and we're always exchanging jokes, having many kinds of food, and playing games/mahjong. There's always a feeling of strong family bonding at these gatherings, and I guess that's one aspect that I enjoy alot.

Of course, it helps that each New Year brings along a whole slew of edible goodies. Aside from the typical pineapple tarts and the like, there are a number of dishes that my mother would not make any other time of the year.

Each Chinese New Year signifies a new beginning, coupled with constant feasting, family gatherings, red packets and gambling. It's awesome.

Entrepreneurship

I was talking to Mark last weekend about business ideas again, and he commented that I've been talking about this topic more often recently. I hadn't noticed, but looking back, I guess I must have been.

I've been thinking more and more about starting my own business, and I've been running ideas through my head on possible things to do. I haven't really fleshed anything out and it's all just abstract thoughts in my head at the moment.

I've always thought about doing my own thing for a long time now. Shaun and I used to talk about opening a restaurant/cafe/pub when we were in school together. And I've often thought about starting a retail business in whatever hobby I was interested in at any particular time (comics, boardgames, photography, etc).

Recently I've been having even more thoughts about starting a business. And I guess this has been due, in part, to me hosting my most recent visitor. Daniel works at the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Resources in Australia. And during his visit to Singapore in January, I accompanied him on a number of briefings at various agencies and economic bodies, dealing mostly in Small and Medium Enterprises. Sitting in on these meetings really gave me an interesting insight into the world of SMEs. And it's tickled my fancy even more now.

I have a couple concepts in my head right now, but I'm not sure if it'll be able to fly. I've got to find out more about how to minimise my risk, should I choose to go down this path, and I've got to work out a business plan. But do I have the courage to take the plunge?

What is a guy to do?

I still haven't been to a nice restaurant since the last time I updated the blog. Of course, there's only one person I wanna go to a nice place with, but that one person has been fairly busy at work recently. And by 'fairly', I mean 'very', and by 'recently', I mean for the past few months.

So what is a guy to do? I guess I can just talk about my forte: Games.

I recently went to KL for a weekend with a couple of buddies. We took a bus both ways there, and spent our nights at a reasonably priced and decent hotel. All other waking hours were spent walking around, having a coffee, chatting or any combination of the 3.

I did manage to meet some local gamers and played a few games on Saturday night. It was an enjoyable experience because the gamers there were friendly and gracious. The venue itself left a little to be desired.

The venue was within a shophouse block located on the outskirts of the city. It's fairly difficult to get there, and if it wasn't for the good graces of a fellow gamer, I would have never been able to make it. The layout of the shop was mildly chaotic, as it essentially is an empty room with tables and chairs. In terms of retail space, there was no recognizable organisation of products. There were shelves lined with Warhammer products, and boardgames placed on top in a random order. Tables were occupied with people painting and playing games. In terms of geekery, it ranks pretty high. Which it totally fine with me, I enjoy such an environment. I like hanging out with geeks for most part.

What struck me as odd was the pricing structure for people to enjoy the premises. There's a yearly membership charge for each person, paid in full and up front. If a person desires to use the venue on an ad-hoc basis, it's about RM$10 per hour per person. Now that's a little crazy. While I guess it makes sense to the proprietor to secure finances, this seems to discourage people who may only be mildly interested in games, and not ready to jump into the deep end yet. The way I see it, this model draws a clear line between gamers and non-gamers. And that distinction is RM$120 out of the pocket.

My feel for that situation is that it's hard to build a gaming community if entry into the hobby is a little restrictive. The cost is prohibitive, and the venue is fairly inaccessible. Added on top are the irregular operating hours, and lack of retail product.

I guess a proprietor has to cater to his crowd, and if he has an interested customer base, then that's fine. I guess that for myself, I find the store policies a little restrictive and I'd probably do things a little different.

On a related note, I'm real glad that I met Jeff, Kestor, Nick, Sook Juan (*spelling?), Ainor (*spelling again?) and Alan. I had a real good time hanging out with you guys, and I hope to game with you all soon again.

My next blog entry

I've decided that my next blog entry will be a restaurant review. And I will not add entries to this blog until I've done so (although I may add-on to this one). And I've made such a decision because I'm a little tired of doing geek posts, and I wanted to do something different. AND I'm using it as an excuse to go eat something real good.

I haven't decided on which restaurant I would want to go yet, but I have some criterias. It's got to be a really nice restaurant, somewhere along the lines of modern dining or fine dining. I expect high quality food in little portions, coupled with terrific ambience and fantastic service. You know the type I'm talking about.

Give me suggestions on restaurants that I should try. I'm definitely thinking western cuisine, maybe French or Fusion. I'm not keen on Japanese, Chinese and generally Asian food, so I won't entertain those suggestions. Cost is not a factor.

On a related note, the following blog is very well written on food places to try: http://ieatishootipost.blogspot.com/