Exile
So I have to go up to Genting again tomorrow. ): Its 10pm now, I have to leave at 8 in the morning. I'm going to be in Genting for at least 2 weeks, even more, this time. But I _might_. Just might come back for good at the end of the month. It depends on whether I have told my boss where he could shove that grande cup, and join the ranks of the noble unemployed.

Oh well. Its inevitable, I guess. This is probably the longest time I've worked with the same place. *yay me!*

I am a real believer of the Starbucks Experience, afterall, how difficult is it to serve a great cup of coffee with a smile? Very difficult, apparantly. It is when the managers themselves, that do not live the Experience, that forget that Starbucks is all about a perfect cup of coffee, as opposed to politics and useless paperwork, that seem to think fear and threats are the only way to get things done... this is when the Starbucks Experience can never, ever be achieved. But most important of all, its just a cafe!

Or I COULD stay up in Genting, enjoy the weather a lot, languish a little, perhaps even work a lot less.

Oh, who knows.

I was playing on Darkening Suns today, when I overheard some of those palsied RPing going on around me as I tried to get healed at the town's only healer. That brought me back to the days when Taig was still around. (:

Now
Random 1 (trying to fall asleep to get healed faster) : Hey Random 2, put me to sleep will you?
Random 2 (casting Induce Sleep spell) : Will do!
Random 1 falls asleep as Random 2 beams with a job well done.

Then
Me (trying to fall asleep to get healed faster) : Hey Sasha, put me to sleep with another of your boring stories will you?
Sasha (bonking me repeatedly on my head) : Will do!
Me falls unconscious as Sasha beams with a job well done.

Outwhine Outcurse Outcry - Part 1
Thank god for The Amazing Race. I was just about to tear my hair out waiting for the 3rd series of Survivor. The Amazing Race comes along and fills this void in me. (:

"On September 5, 2001, 11 Teams of two people, each with a pre-existing relationship, will set out on THE AMAZING RACE around the world. They'll never know where they're going next or what they'll have to do once there. Each pair's relationship will be forever impacted by their experience in this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

At each destination, the Teams will compete in a series of tasks, some mental and some physical, before learning their next destination. Restricted plane travel and strict budgets will add to the tension, as Teams are forced to rely on wit and ingenuity, perhaps sleeping on park benches or in bus stations and traveling on buses, trains, boats, taxis, bicycles, even camels. Teams farthest behind will be eliminated as the race progresses, and the first Team to arrive at the final destination wins $1 million!"

*cackle* The episodes are telecast in various countries within hours of each other, so there will always be an element of surprise in each episode. The teams rush towards each destination, doing various tasks, etc. The last team to reach the final destination is eliminated and sent home in shame.

Camera men follow the 2 person teams everywhere, catching every word, every facial expression, every little dirty deed. The teams are chosen from all walks of life. There is a happily marrried couple, a just-engaged young couple, a couple of grandparents, a couple of men who are 'Partners in Life', a recently separated couple, a mother and daughter team, a couple of fraternity brothers, two best girl-friends, a dating couple, two mothers, and two lawyers.

The actual race is just a arena where disagreements, petty catfights and confrontations actually take centrestage. In today's episode, we were witness to countless quarrels between couples, an unfriendly shove, a tension-filled scene of a queue jumper, a threat of 'a whack on the head' and a manly tear from an abused boyfriend.

Outwhine Outcurse Outcry - Part 2
In an almost legendary segment, Lenny and Karyn, the dating couple, find another clue at the base of the Eiffel Tower. The clue says (in 'cryptic' badly written rhymes) that someone has to run up the tower and find, via telescope, a flag on a monument. Then they had to go to that monument.

Lenny painfully climbs the Eiffel Tower, and tries to look for the monument. Being the silly little fella he is, he did not ask any of the other people that were there for help or even look into the dozen telescopes mounted there. Instead, he runs around in a blind panic and finally, he climbs back DOWN the tower! Karyn yells at him, rightly so, and kicks his stupid butt up the tower again. Yelping like a wounded dog, Lenny climbs up the Eiffel Tower, painfully, yet again.

This time, he actually asks for help from the people around him. (Score ONE for men all around the world.) So the helpful people around him pointed to Notre Dame, but does he look into the telescope to confirm the existence of the supposed flag? No. He runs off, like a happy puppy and with Karyn in tow, and hops into a cab. "To Notre Dame, Jeeves." If only he took a peek through the many telescopes, and a closer look at the Arch of Truimph, he would have seen the yellow flag on the Arch, waving gaily in the wind, and the other teams dancing just below it.

Of course the doomed couple go to the wrong place, and the scene where Karyn made Lenny cry was just too painful to watch. (:

I can't wait for next week's episode.

Its incredible what can be done in 12 hours

Sim Lim Square
Braving the wildes of the Causeway, I reached Singapore at around noon. Dodging the merciless sun, and running between sheltered walkways from Bugis, I finally arrived at Sim Lim Square. The Mecca of all things Electronic. After checking around a few shops, I placed an order for the VisorPhone for the cheap, cheap price of SGD $799. Cheers all round, please. Just as I was about to leave the mall, Reuben called me. He needed an IR / Serial port. That man has impeccable timing, I tell you. So back to the shops I went, and not knowing what an IR / Serial port actually looks like, buying one took a really long time. *whap* Reuben.

Komala Villas
Later, I met Alice and had a fantastic South Indian vegetarian lunch at Komala Villas. We ate enough to feed a small village. (: And of course, a meal at Komala's is never complete without one of those tooth-decaying, diabetes-causing, hypertension-inducing candies in a trillion colours. Nibbling on a piece each, Alice and I did the tourist thing down Little India.

Incense Shopping
Walking around the quaint little stalls, we found a most beautiful teak incense holder. After bargaining the price to nearly half, I bought it. (: A few stalls later, I found the cutest steel incense holder. Ack. What to do? I bought that too, of course.
Now with two new nifty incense holders, its only correct that I bought some new incense to burn, isn't it? After sniffing DOZENs of incense scents from a few stalls, I finally decided on Serene Sandal and Nature's Mystique. By this time, we were wilting. We needed a smoke and a drink.

Qoo - The Drink of Choice
The Japanese are marketing geniuses. Get some tiny plastic bottles, fill them up with white grape juice or orange juice. Label the bottles with cutesy little labels of tiny blue creatures, and call them Qoo. It'll sell like hot cakes!!

The white grape juice I had was nothing to write home about, but damn, I want those bottles. I want them all.

HMV
Trudging downtown, we seeked sanctuary from the sun in HMV. Also, I wanted to buy myself a copy of Shivaree. Horror of horrors! SOLD OUT. So, for the second time today, I placed an order. This time, for both the Single and the Album. You can't go wrong. (:

Feeling slightly unfulfilled, I had to buy a couple of CDs to justify the torture I suffered just to get there. After browsing through almost every shelf of 5 floors, I decided on The Verve - Urban Hymns and a double CD of Essential Trance - 20 Massive Uplifting Trance Anthems.

Slacker Dream come True
Neek did it. Neek has gone and bought over Leisure Craft. Neek, probably Singapore's only professional Magic the Gathering player has fulfilled what every Gamer dreams of : Owning a Game shop. Not just any game shop, but Leisure Craft. I bought my first AD&D module from there. My first Warhammer Minature was from there. My favourite set of dice are from there. My 2nd Starter pack of M:tG was from there... (I can go on forever.)
From its humble beginnings at Katong Shopping Centre, through countless moves and handovers to different owners, the shop is now in the hands of Neek.

Marche
Oktober Fest at Marche. I had supper later, with Neek, Terance, Hoon and Alice. I had this humongous frankfurter. Contrary to popular belief, its the size, definately the size that matters. And to wash it down? A pint of beer, of course.

Days of Our Lives
Squeezing in a board game of Aquire before going home, I actually made it back in time to watch Days of Our Lives. ( In this episode, Kate is kidnapped by the Captain of a fishing boat which found her adrift at sea after her plane crashed because the pilot drank some coffee which was drugged by Vivianne who wanted to stop Kate from meeting Victor and telling him about Vivianne's vile deeds of switching Kate and Vivianne's embroyos in a fertilization clinic.)(Whoa, a DoOL episode in one sentence!)

And I did all these, in 12 hours. (:

It's a _Need_, not a _Want_.
Just when I thought I have run out of toys to buy. I find something I _need_ to have.

VisorPhone. Yup.

Why? Because then, my Visor would be a cell phone, handheld and wireless Internet access in ONE!

"Transform your Visor™ handheld into a powerful communications tool with VisorPhone™."


Not only is it a powerful dual-band world phone, it's also a wireless modem. So I can make phone calls, surf the web, check email, chat online and more—wirelessly. Dial any number directly from your address book. Speed dial with a single tap of my stylus. I can even check my calendar while talking on the phone! Not to mention sending SMS will be a breeze!

Using VisorPhone as a wireless modem I can check my email from Genting, surf the Internet from anywhere, instantly message family and friends and more.

No more carrying multiple devices, Visor, cell phone, etc. No more reading numbers from my Visor while trying to dial them on my cell phone. No more entering numbers into my cell phone and Visor seperately.

All I need to do is just snap it in and it works!

I _need_ it. Now, if only I can find one in Singapore tomorrow.

I'm back! (:

I have Good News and Bad News.
Bad News :
I'm here at the cybercafe again.
*sigh* My MUD's down.

Good News :
I'm not at the casinos losing money.
I'm obsessing on Shivaree instead.
I have four more days left before I go home (:
Tim passed me a sack of VCDs to tide me till then.

Shivaree
Goodnight Moon

Threats
When I go back to JB and finally do check my mail, there better be tonnes of messages telling how much I've been missed. (:

Weather Report
It hovers around 19-20 degrees Celcius in the day, and at night, the temperature dips to 14 degrees or so.

They call me Bats
I've been wasting my life gambling at the casino. (: I'm trying not to go so frequently now, but a couple of weeks back, I was there almost every night.

I sit for hours at the tables, betting crazily on 'Casino Wars'. ( Casino Wars - No skill neccessary, just luck. (Since I'm a beginner, I was banking on beginners' luck.) You place your bets and the dealer deals everyone a card. As long as your card is larger than the dearler's, you WIN! ) The game is fast and furious, and you can bet as much as you like. The dealer pays 1:1, so, bet lots and win lots, but then you MIGHT lose lots too.

When at last my heart gives up, I move on to the slot machines, drawn like a moth to a lamp. In large neon lights, the prize money of a MILLION dollars flashes just above me, egging me on in my quest to hit JACKPOT! Again, again, again!

If I lose a lot of money there, I need to recoup my losses back at Casino Wars! or even Bacarat. (Yet another "No Skill, Just Luck Needed" game.) So, back to the tables, I go, rubbing shoulders with the other unfortunates like myself.

Till the wee hours of the morning, I'd be in the casinos, moving around the different tables if the going got bad. And marking out my spot if I found a place particularly lucky.

With a pack of Cartiers in my bag, and a stack of 50 dollar tokens in my hand, I was set to go. (:

By the third night, some of the hardened gamblers actually recognized me as one of their own, and would gave me a slight nod, asking me 'how goes the night?'

In which I replied, (in perfect gambling protocol and lingo) 'Its been ok, I've not won, but then, I've not lost either.' (It sounds so much better in Cantonese, I swear.)

Ahh...the things I do for entertainment up here where Hell has frozen over.