Easy Go

Productivity and Goal

2012-02-11T16:48:00.004+08:00

Saw this above pic on Facebook recently.

This really struck me.

It taught me something.

Or rather, it made me realised what I have not been doing.

Let me tell you about the "8 Habits of Highly Unproductive People".

Habit 1: Keep all the unimportant

(And don't care about the important)

Habit 2: Take break anytime you want

(Just have fun!)

Habit 3: Do not care about productivity pitstops.

(Things that limit your productivity? Never mind, let them be!)

Habit 4: Forget about inspirations.

(What's inner muse anyway)

Habit 5: Do not set up barriers to entry

(Make yourself as accessible as possible!)

Habit 6: Do things last minute

(Just have fun first!)

Habit 7: Do not set timelines

(Just do things whenever you want!)

Habit 8: Think that everything is automated.

(Yeah all problems will be solved by themselves)

Well this is not really exactly what I have been doing but it's more or less the same.

I think Habit 1 is the No. 1 culprit. I do way too many unimportant stuff.

So many that I often lose track of what's important and what's unimportant.

I do set timelines, but I often forget about them.

Those unimportant stuff always take away much of my time, leaving less time for important stuff.

Maybe the question here is, what exactly is my goal?

What do I want to achieve?

I realise that question is not clear to me.

That's why every night I still sleep late, and I still oversleep on some days.

Because I'm not sure what I want to achieve.

What I want to do.

So I think from now, I need to write down my goal very clearly.

And paste it on my wall, so that I can see everyday.

Yes, I need to be reminded everyday.

Otherwise, I really don't know what will happen.

Mistakes

2012-02-05T14:18:00.002+08:00

Every day we make mistakes.

And this week I've already made 2.

Most likely I've made more than that. It's just that I only acknowledge 2.

Why?

It's not that I don't know it's a mistake.

I knew it deeply in my heart.

But I still committed the mistake.

So what should I do when I commit a mistake?

Punish myself?

How?

I remember how many people said we should make more mistakes so that we can correct ourselves.

But what if we become so indifferent to mistakes that we don't care anymore?

What if we just make mistakes but don't bother correcting them anymore?

I think the important thing is to CORRECT the mistakes, and not make them.

If you keep making the same mistakes then it's never good.

So, what I can do now, is to prevent myself from making the same mistake ever again.

If I do again, then I really have to think of a punishment for myself.

Now

2012-02-01T22:09:00.003+08:00

2012 is here.

2011 seemed like a sleeping year.

I seemed to almost sleep throughout the year.

What have I done?

What have I achieved?

I don't know.

In fact some things seemed to have worsened.

What's the reason?

What resulted in this?

After much thoughts, I found out the culprits.

They are the words "tomorrow" and "later".

I realised I keep saying "I'll start from tomorrow", or "I'll do it later".

Ending up getting nothing done at all.

I should say goodbye to "tomorrow" and "later".

I should welcome "now" and let him be my good friend.

I realised that's the most important thing.

Or at least that's what's important to me now.

So.

"I'll start now."

CEASE

2011-10-31T23:14:00.001+08:00

I DECLARE.

STRICTLY NO MORE ENTERTAINMENT UNTIL THE END OF EXAMS.

PERIOD.

Akiby and MAF and Korea

2011-09-13T19:36:00.002+08:00

So once again we got champion for SP Chess Challenge.

Or is it called SP Open now? Or Battle of the Wits? Whatever.

Our team won most of the rounds without any problems. Except the round against SP Team A. If Xiaojuhua had lost that game the result would be hard to say.

This competition was also a good chance for me to test out my new toy, the Akiby.

It's the EOS 7d which I bought in Japan long ago. I bought it in Akihabara, that's why I call it Akiby.

It's much harder to use than the previous one. The controls are almost the same, but the settings can vary a lot, hence it's hard to manipulate.

So far I'm still using the AV mode a lot.

I need to learn how to start using the manual mode.

I need to learn how to evaluate the correct settings in different situations by my eyes.

And also, how to compose better.

My friend told me post-editting is very important. But I think it's something which is very hard to learn.

I guess I'll touch on it when I have the time.

Yesterday was Mid-Autumn Festival.

I almost forgot about it until Lin Xi told me on Saturday that they were going HwaChong for MAF.

Had dinner with my parents yesterday at home.

MAF reminds me of friends.

It also reminded me something I seemed to have forgotten.

Perhaps I've been too engrossed in my own stuff.

Last time I used to organise gatherings a lot, but ever since the last holiday, not much.

This is quite a sad thing... Maybe I should've used this MAF to organise a small gathering.

Nowadays I'm losing motivation and determination to do stuff.

It's like I'm... tired.

But nobody cares... Life still carries on.

And I still have to fulfill my duties.

To study.

So, in the end, I still decided to go for the tournament in Korea.

Yes, I will miss school.

But I think it's a rare chance.

What if I don't get selected next year?

What if they don't hold it next year?

It's also a good opportunity for me to gain more experience.

What I need now is more experience.

That's what I lack most.

That's why I'm still weak in many areas.

I lack playing serious games.

Therefore, I chose to go.

Of course, I need to be prepared to face the consequences.

Which is much less time to study.

I suddenly realised I have 3 CAs coming up next week.

This week there are also many activities.

I need to start studying right away.

NOW.

SAF and Tickets and Form

2011-09-10T00:49:00.004+08:00

Not much studying was done this week.

I was quite frustrated over many things.

One being receiving a letter from the SAF, asking me to report to NSCC for a charge.

Because I didn't clear my IPPT/RT in time.

Huh??

Ok, I don't even want to talk about this anymore. This is so ridiculous.

Luckily, I managed to contact my unit about this, and this kind lady said she will get them to withdraw the charge, and I won't need to report anymore.

And also the good thing is I would not need to do RT anymore. I just need to complete my IPPT before my next birthday.

Another thing is about air tickets.

Air tickets to Japan, air tickets to Korea, air tickets to Thailand...

So many air tickets to worry about...

Especially the one to Thailand and to Korea. Because Thai U-Go and KPMC are just after one another, this is the first time I'm travelling from a foreign country to another foreign country, so I'm not sure what it would be like.

Should I get 3 one way air ticket, or should I get 2 round trip tickets?

And just today I received a email saying that I can join another competition after the KPMC.

It's also held in Korea, and there is prize money involved.

Should I go for it?

If I go, I'll be missing whole 2 weeks of lesson...

Is it worth it?

But then, I'm already gone for 10 days, so another 3 days doesn't matter much...?

I guess I'll discuss this with Mikyung tomorrow.

She will most probably ask me to go though.

Third thing is my off-form-ness.

I still think I'm off-form.

Even though I beat Wei Ran and Xiaojuhua to get selected for the Thai U-Go, my game against Li Chao was very bad.

I didn't have any clear chance from the start.

Just played another tourney game against him today. It was also very bad.

I was leading at middle game, but at one point I played a gote move, and he managed to get more than 20 points in the centre because of that.

I still had time... Why didn't I think properly?

That's the bad thing about thinking ahead... If you already have the move in mind, you tend to play it and not rethink about it.

If I didn't think about it, I would definitely not play there and end up gote.

Haiz... So in the end it's still my own problem.

And the byo-yomi problem. I'm still very weak at byo-yomi.

The Thai U-Go, and the KPMC are all 30 seconds byo yomi.

I must try to do something before that.

One person on KGS actually gave me some advice. He said I should get enough sleep and exercise. Only then will my brain function well.

Yes, of course I agree. But it's just difficult for me to sleep at night... All these years of not sleeping early has made it almost impossible...

But then, that's not an excuse!

Working hard always come with sacrifice.

And I definitely think I should sacrifice some of my playing time.

Only by putting 100% effort, can the impossible be achieved.

Yes, I will do it!

Anybody wondered why studies is not in my list of things to worry about?

Well, I'm also wondering about that.

Library

2011-09-01T01:41:00.002+08:00

Instead of staying at home, I decided to go to library to mug today.

The result? I wouldn't say it's much more effective. Only slightly better than at home.

Why? Because I don't have my annoying laptop beside me, which is my main distraction.

My iPhy is also good enough to be a distraction, but it is not as strong as my Asy.

I can look at my Asy all day if I'm at home, but if I'm in the library, I would be slightly motivated to study and stop looking at my iPhy eventually.

That's the slight difference.

I really miss the days I spent in Beijing.

Those days were so carefree. Playing Go and other stuff everyday.

But holidays don't last forever. And they have already ended 4 weeks ago.

Reality is harsh. But you have to face it.

A cup of coffee really works. It drove most of the laziness away and brought me some determination.

I hope this determination will grow, and last me through the semester.

And I will visit the library more often now.

You know what? It closes at 9.30 pm!

Today's Tsumego:

White to kill.

What's the best white can get?

Attacking on the 2nd Line

2011-08-30T15:56:00.002+08:00

From a professional game. Iyama Yuta (White) VS Kono Rin.

Black wanted to live inside white's moyo by playing at A, but white immediately played at 70!

An amazing move.

I never knew this group could be attacked this way.

If I played this kind of move I definitely would be scolded by my teachers.

Normal moves I would consider are maybe C9 or B13.

I think Iyama found this move the most effective.

I think he's really a prodigy.

I'm already officially his fan. :)

Moving onto last day of the long weekend.

Today is Hari Raya? Omg I didn't realise.

No wonder so many people stayed at home to facebook instead of going to school.

Selection for Thai U-Go this year is held this weekend.

I really hope all the NTU guys could go, even though it's quite hard to achieve.

After losing to Xiaojuhua by time, I realised I really must buck up on my time management.

Let's see how it goes in this selection...

Today's Tsumego

White to live.

The usual problem made slightly more difficult and much more interesting.

Time to Update

2011-08-28T16:23:00.002+08:00

I just realised that I haven't updated this blog for sooo long!!

It's almost becoming non-existent...

Year 2 Sem 2 has started, and is already moving onto its 4th week.

Before I start intensive mugging, I think I should update about my Beijing trip this time.

On the whole, I would say the trip was really fruitful. Even though there weren't many strong players, and there was only one guy whom I lost to other than the professionals, I have to say I learnt a lot. I learnt how the pros think, how they play, and most importantly, I learnt my weaknesses.

One of my main weakness is learning to play fast. One of the teachers, Peter said that if I play a game without time limit, I will play well, but if there's limited time then I have trouble playing. If I play 10 second Go with them I think they can give me 3 handi.

That's a problem I always had. Not being able to read fast enough. I always use up too much time in competitions and end up losing. In WAGC this year, I was also leading in many games but in the end lost due to Byo-yomi. What I tried to do was to reduce my thinking time in easier situations and use more of opponent's time, but that's not easy to achieve. I always end up using time at the wrong place. Time management, is really important.

But then, thinking about it, that's just making up for my weakness. I'm not solving the root of the problem, which is not being able to read fast. I can do tsumego, but sometimes it takes very long. I think being able to play fast like a pro really requires vigorous training. All the shapes are already etched in their mind, and hence they just need to find the first and read for a few seconds and decide where to play. It's amazing.

I know that I will never learn to read as fast as them, but I can at least try. Now that I know my weakness, I'll start working hard on it, other than thinking of ways to make up for it. Many people say playing on the internet is detrimental, but I think since many people play fast game on the internet, it is a good place to train my byo-yomi skills. Last time I was scared of losing hence I didn't play a lot. But now I know that I need to play. I need more experience, so that I can learn.

Of course there are other parts which I need to work on, such as fuseki, middle game, and yose. Actually that's everything, lol. My another weakness is attacking. I am always unable to attack opponent's group effectively and end up losing. Everytime when I'm required to attack or kill I always don't know how to play. Therefore from now onwards I will try to play more messy games so that I can learn how to attack.

And yose. I have trouble counting territory everytime, and if it's a close game I always count wrongly. Sometimes I think I'm winning, but in the end I lose by 1.5 points or more. That's quite a serious problem. Because if I knew I was losing, then I should've tried harder to win instead of playing normally. The teacher told me they always do a rough estimate within 20 seconds. And it is often done through comparison. That's one thing I need to learn. And of course, calculating the value of each yose and finding out the best sequence. I also need to train on that.

I think that's about all I want to say. Will update more next time.

By the way, Singapore has a new President now!

P.S.

Since this blog is called "Easy Go", I think I should post something related to Go everytime. Hence I will post a Tsumego in every post. They are all taken from my facebook page.

Tsumego of the day:

White to live.

100%

2011-06-22T18:28:00.003+08:00

I don't know why I haven't updated for so long.

I think it's becoming a bad habit of mine.

And there's so much spam!! ------>>

Anyway, I think I'd better update before I fly off again...

World Amateur 2011 is over.

The result was far worse than I expected.

When somebody interviewed me on the first day, I said I was aiming for at least 6 wins.

Bulls**t.

I didn't even know how difficult it was to get 6 wins.

And I just said that without any determination.

In the end? Only 4 wins.

And the worse thing is, all my opponents are those that I should've won.

I'm not saying I'm definitely stronger than them. I'm just talking about the games.

Almost all the games I lost I was leading at one point. But one stupid mistake and the lead is gone.

And I only realised that I was losing until near the end.

What am I becoming?

Someone who just plays for fun and doesn't care about win or lose?

Someone who just randomly places stones on the board?

Getting this result made me very upset.

However, being upset doesn't solve any problems.

I had to make a decision: Give Up? Or Continue?

After much hesitation, I decided that I would

Continue.

I would continue to put in my best effort to learn Go for another two years.

BEST EFFORT.

If within these two years, I still do not get any decent results in international tournament, then I will give up, and just be a Happy-Go-Player.

Somebody told me, that if I just aim to get into top 10, I will never get champion.

Maybe that's why I got such lousy results.

I didn't aim high enough. I wasn't preparing to give my best from the start.

I didn't put in enough effort to prepare.

I overestimated myself.

From now on, I will acknowledge the fact that I am weak.

And since I am weak, I must put in more effort to study.

Play every game seriously.

Never play a move without thinking.

Through this Beijing Trip, I will build up my 100% determination, and 100% concentration, to continue this tough path.

And of course, 100% courage.

Jump and Body and World Amateur

2011-05-26T04:04:00.002+08:00

Finally, the day is here.

For me to take my RT-IPPT.

However, to my huge disappointment, I failed again...

There goes my plan of passing my IPPT before my Japan trip.

And I have to call up the NS Call Centre to extend my RT cycle because I'm not able to complete in time.

All because of the stupid Standing Broad Jump.

I passed it last time, why did I fail it this time!!??

Maybe it was due to a wrong choice... I shouldn't have left it to the last... I should have done it first...

Yeah, that was the losing move.

Now I don't know what's going to happen.

I'm just waiting for my unit to call me.

It's impossible for me to complete the remaining RT sessions within these few months.

Let's just hope I don't get charged...

I know I've said this so many times.

But really... something is wrong with my body.

I can feel it.

I can feel something going on inside my body.

Just that I don't know what it is exactly.

Puberty?

I sure hope so.

Flying off to Japan for World Amateur really soon.

Sorry for not uploading so many of the photos...

I'll get them settled either in Japan or after I come back.

I don't really think I'll do well this time.

My Go really sucks recently.

I don't know my level drop until where already.

If I can play every game seriously and enjoy them, I'm happy enough.

I wish myself good luck.

The Battle

2011-05-06T01:38:00.001+08:00

Starts.

And I'm MORE unprepared than usual.

Mug

2011-05-02T12:34:00.002+08:00

Zen is in the process of mugging.

Please do not disturb.

Please disturb, however, if you discover he's not mugging.

Please also disturb him in the morning so that he'll wake up.

Please also celebrate together with him when his exam ends.

Because he may only enjoy the happiness for a while.

Before the results come.

Exam, Knife and Love

2011-04-27T00:26:00.004+08:00

Had my last CA for FE1007 today.

Screwed it up.

Maths is supposed to be fun.

But careless mistakes always ruin the fun.

I forgot to do a simple step, and just sat there for 15 minutes without knowing how to start the question.

How stupid can I get?

I have another speech and Korean listening test coming up.

After that it's the finals.

I look forward to the life after exams.

Only if I'm in the mood to enjoy it, though.

I was going to draft my speech before I sleep.

But two things caught my attention.

One is the news of an NTU student attempting suicide today.

Apparently she was found with knife inside her head.

KNIFE INSIDE HEAD??

That's like some horror movie.

Now she's in the hospital.

I wonder what caused her to try to die in such a gruesome way...

Stress?

I don't know...

But I hope people can treasure their lives more...

You only get to live once...

Another thing was Miaojing's updates on her birthday event.

Sadly, I have been so busy mugging that I forgot about her birthday.

Apparently I haven't been checking facebook recently.

I don't know why but I'm just bad at remembering people's birthdays.

And names.

The only thing I'm good at remembering are faces.

Anyway, so she shared some pics taken during her birthday party.

Apparently her bf had given her a very huge surprise.

And she was touched.

Yeah, it was just like a scenario that I thought would only happen in a love drama.

If I were a girl, I'd be touched too.

Not to mean anything, but she really became very beautiful after finding a bf.

So it's true that women get prettier when they are in love.

I feel happy for her finding the right guy.

At the same time, I'm also a bit envious, despite me being a guy.

I don't think I would be able to do to someone I like what her bf did.

Thinking about it made me a bit sad.

Once again, congrats!

And happy belated birthday!

Soy Sauce

2011-04-25T00:18:00.002+08:00

Ok, sorry.

I take back what I said in my previous post.

I think I am a very bad guy.

So bad that sometimes I'm totally disgusted by what's in my mind.

Yes I'm a very dangerous person.

Come near me if you dare.

Nothing much to update nowadays.

Just still busy mugging as usual.

Next week is the last week before exams.

Doomsday is coming soon.

Yeah, I know I'm totally doomed already.

But thinking that way won't help.

So it's better to spend more time mugging.

Do as much as I can.

I find it quite ironic that I need HMK1 Korean Language, which I intended to S/U, to help me pull up my grades now. That's the module I'm doing best so far...

Played another day with pink stones at HwaChong.

Somehow I got champion.

But the Go I played was utterly bad.

One game I was leading by a huge amount, but in the end I screwed up and had to resort to winning by time.

I hated it.

The game I played with Yifei today also.

I was winning but made a move without even thinking.

In the end almost lost.

I'm not happy with almost 80% of all recent games I play.

Another off form period for Sadaharu?

I don't know.

And I don't really have time to worry about this now.

Good and Bad

2011-04-13T18:28:00.002+08:00

Sometimes.

I think I am a good guy.

Just that.

It may not be a good thing.

Only less than 1 month left to END of my exams. And I'm still busy catching up on all those I've missed.

All the Z monsters and King Laziness seem to be attacking me at the same time.

Will I make it?

Last sem was very bad. I seriously don't want this sem to be worse.

It's time for me to put my mugging mode to full throttle.

For that I will need to reduce my distractions.

Reduce my entertainment.

Just for this month.

If somebody finds me slacking, or playing too much, please scold me.

Please punch me.

Hit me, kick me.

I'm serious.

1 month.

Let me achieve God-Mode!!

Random Updates

2011-04-07T15:11:00.003+08:00

Just thought I'd post some random updates on my life since I hadn't been blogging for so long.

Got first for pair go.

Yay.

Ok, yeah there weren't many participants, but I'm still quite happy.

And pair go is quite fun, because there are many more possibilities than just playing alone.

I hope they will still hold the international pair go competition this year, so that I can participate.

Next thing.

My CAs.

I think I've screwed up almost all my CAs.

Especially MoM.

For that I didn't know how to do the question totally.

And for almost all my modules I'm lagging behind by a lot.

Except maybe Korean.

What to do?

Final exam in 1 month's time.

I really really really REALLY need to buck up.

Seriously.

And my sleep cycle.

I'm starting to sleep too much again.

So much that I will think it's a waste to sleep the next day.

I know it can't go on like this but sometimes it's hard to control.

Sometimes I just can't sleep.

Sometimes I just can't wake up.

And I had a 17 year old tell me I don't have enough willpower.

Yes maybe.

That's true.

I also think so.

I need more willpower.

I mean I need to generate more willpower.

やるき。

Good thing is that I recently discovered a good way to wake up.

Still in the midst of testing it out.

Hopefully it works.

The KBOX we went after pair go.

It was very crazy.

Crazy House Chuah.

Crazy and fun night.

However, I think next time we need to set some ground rules.

1. Each person can only put 1 song at a time. DON'T put soooo many songs that we can't even sing finish.

2. Only one person should be singing at a time, except for those songs that require two persons. Wouldn't it sound nicer that way? And it's also a form of respect for the person singing.

3. PLEASE DO NOT SHOUT INTO THE MIKE.

Yup, other than the stuff mentioned above, it was still quite fun~

22nd

2011-03-20T23:59:00.000+08:00

I'm 22 years' old now.

I have two 2's, and yet I'm still a 1.

But that doesn't feel so important right now.

This year's birthday was kind of... gloomy.

I didn't even have the mood to hold a birthday party like last year.

I didn't even invite my friends to my house.

Because, I feel that, so many people are suffering out there, how can I be so selfish as to enjoy myself?

Yes I really felt that way.

Tsunami, earthquake, Nuclear Leaks, disaster after disaster...

I'm glad my friends and their families are alright, but there are many people still suffering.

Death toll increases day by day.

Nuclear problem still not settled and many people still living in fears.

Many people can't even find the bodies of their loved ones.

Tell me, how can I enjoy my birthday in such a situation?

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes.

But I really can't say that this year's birthday was a happy one.

I really really hope that all these will be over soon.

Pray for Japan.

Tokyo 2011

2011-03-06T21:29:00.006+08:00

I'll just skip the introductions and briefly write about my trip this time in chronological order.

2011.02.28 Day 1

Reached Tokyo at around 8 am in the morning. The announcement said that it was 6°C, which really scared me. I didn't even dare to walk out of the airport. The cold wind from outside prevented me from even going near the doors.

I needed to wait for Wang Zhuo and Zhao Wei from China, who will be reaching in the afternoon, before making our way to the hotel. So I just walked around, bought Shonen Jump and Magazine, sat down to read, and took some rest. It was then that I realised that things like Shonen Jump was one of the cheapest things I can find in Japan. Amazing.

Food at airport was not cheap. Some 900 yen for a soba plus small bowl of rice. But it was very delicious. It made me realise that I've not been eating delicious stuff for very long. It was also the first time I ate soba contained in soup. Kitsune Soba. Yummy~

Wang Zhuo and Zhao Wei arrived at around 2 pm. I was so worried that I missed them because their plane arrived quite early but they were still not coming out. Luckily I managed to see them. I was able to recognise Wang Zhuo with one look, but as for Zhao Wei, he didn't look like a guy who play weiqi and get champion. I've heard about him before, but... Maybe he was just too skinny...

Getting to the hotel was easier than last year. The information counter gave me clear directions on how to get to Ginza. It took us about one hour plus to get there. Ah, back to this expensive place again. I think if not for this competition, I wouldn't even think about stepping into Ginza.

As far as I can remember, the room was kind of smaller than last year's. Other than the bed and table, there was almost no more space. I'm guessing this year the organisers don't have enough money to go around, so they chose a cheaper hotel? But well at least there's still internet connection, and as long as I have a place to sleep I'm content.

Opening ceremony started at 6pm. I was glad that I saw many familiar faces, and all started calling me kazuki. They also recognised Zhao Wei, the champion 2 years ago, immediately. Among the other players there were also some I've seen before, such as Yang Po Chun and Pan Ning from Taiwan. I've seen Yang Po Chun not long ago in the Thai U-Go, while Pan Ning I've seen her during the Asian Amateur Baduk Championship in 2007. The representative of Japan were also the same people. The world is small indeed.

The day ended with self introduction by everyone and interactions among the players and organisers. I was surprised that the Korean representative, Ham Young Woo, could speak Chinese. My Korean was still too lousy to be able to talk to a Korean. The Korean female player could only speak Korean and a bit of Japanese, so I had difficulty talking to her. I definitely must learn my Korean well after I go back.

2011.03.01 Day 2

Start of competitions.

As usual, I didn't manage to wake up for breakfast.

But that's not important.

Competition venue was the same as last year. Ginza Internet Forum. I still don't know why it's called internet forum though. It's a very nice, cosy place. It was so warm inside that it made me forget about the cold wind blowing outside. Miranti, the player from Indonesia, said that it's still very cold inside the room. We were all kind of shocked.

My opponent for the first round was Sekine Reiko from Japan. She's the Female Oza of last year, and the year before. And according to Zhao Wei, 2 years ago she was also the representative. It shows how strong she is. It seems that she also trained in Korean dojo for about 3 months. I think I also should do that sometimes, and I can practise my Korean there as well.

The game started with a joseki I had forgotten. I thought for sometime but still didn't make the correct move. Luckily she also didn't make the correct move and the game was able to continue. I made some problem moves in mid-game and was quite dangerous, but due to byo-yomi she made some serious mistakes, and as a result I was able to win in the end.

Lunch was bento, which was same as last year. It never fail to amaze me how delicious these bentos can be. I don't think I can find such bentos in Singapore.

My opponent for the next round was Song Yeseui from Korea. Sadly I could only do a bit of self-introduction in Korean. The game started out quite normal, but nearing mid-game I started to make mistakes, and my groups were all very weak. In the end I was unable to withstand her fierce attacks, and lost. No offence but it's amazing how such a cute person can play so well.

Another thing to take note is that Zhao Wei and Ham Youngwoo, two persons who should be fighting for champion, met in the second round. It was totally unexpected for both of them. After a fierce fight, Ham Youngwoo managed to win. Zhao Wei seemed extremely unhappy, and kept replaying the game over and over. It also made me see what the 'champion' level is like.

Night time was free time as usual. Me and the two players from Taiwan and Zhang Yue from US went to a nearby Ramen shop. They used machines to take orders instead of verbally. More effective? Well at least it saves them the effort to write down each person's order manually.

Because I didn't get to eat ramen the last time I came, I just ordered the ramen that looked the most special and with most ingredients. It was very yummy! Much better than the ramen you can find in high class restaurants in Singapore! Japan is indeed a place with great food everywhere.

2011.03.02 Day 3

With the help of Wang Zhuo, I managed to wake up for breakfast. Breakfast at our hotel was simple, just like a full course, the waiter served us each dish one by one. The variety was not as great as last year though, but we could have chosen to go to the other hotel for a buffet breakfast. Too bad even until the last day I didn't manage to eat the buffet.

My first opponent for the day was Wang Zhuo... again. Last year we met in the first round, and this year we are playing again. And then I realised that for the first three rounds I had been playing the female players from the 3 strongest countries, Japan, Korea and China. Is it good or bad luck? I don't know...

This game again started out normal. I was black but I didn't play the same fuseki as last year because I lost that game. However in mid-game I was too eager to start a fight even when white is thick. In the end I didn't gain anything from the fight and ended up with a weak group in the middle. There was nothing much to be played after that.

Second game of the day was against Zhang Yue from US. I thought then that maybe this year I will end up only winning one round... Because Zhang Yue used to aim to be a pro in China, and is quite strong. However it seems like he has been out of touch, and played many problem moves since the beginning. I was also dangerous for one moment, but he made a severe mistake in mid-game, and I was able to win the game.

And that was the end. In the last round, Song and Ham, both from Korea, met each other. It was the champion deciding match. Ham managed to win in mid-game. Song seemed quite upset, because as a result of losing the game she got 4th. Yang Po Chun from Taiwan was 2nd, while Wang Zhuo was 3rd.

I always think that 4 games is a bit too little for a competition. But considering that there are only 16 players, and they have limited resources, I guess it's still reasonable.

After the award presentation, it was the much awaited drinking party. Sadly, Wang Zhuo, Zhao Wei, and Song didn't join the party. This year the place was smaller than last year, but nevertheless it was still very fun. The japanese players were trying very hard to get Ham drunk, but Ham seemed very strong in drinking as well. Even after drinking so much he could still stand up straight. Dirty words and jokes flew all over the place, and there was laughter everywhere. I really enjoy this kind of parties. I should've let go of myself, and allow myself to go crazy together with the rest. Hmm maybe I didn't drink enough =p

After the drinking party there was still the second party. We went to the same place as last year for Karaoke. Personally I didn't sing enough but all the weird and crazy dances really made me laugh. These people really know how to have fun!

There was one person who lost consciousness and kept vomiting though. I wonder if she's alright now.

2011.03.03 Day 4

After a night of crazy dancing and singing, day 4 was the day for sightseeing. Of course not as fun as drinking, but it was necessary. We went to the National Park (I don't know how to call that place). It was sort of like an imperial palace. Nothing much to see there actually. Just nice scenery. And a very big Sakura tree! A very nice to place to take group photo.

After lunch we went to a shrine nearby. I drew lots there, and it came out 大吉, which is the best one can get. It was 恋みくじ (lots that will tell how your love life goes) actually, so I was a bit happy. But as for how it will turn out in real life, I'm not sure.

In the afternoon we went to the Nihon Kiin, and it was free time from then onwards. This year I didn't buy as many books as last year, because last year I bought so many that I had difficulty carrying them home. I only bought two fans and some small books.

Even though it was free time it seemed like everybody didn't know where to go. So basically we dispersed into two teams. One visiting a dojo nearby, and another going Karaoke. I of course joined the dojo group, because I have never seen a dojo in Japan before. It was quite a small place, somewhere I wouldn't expect a dojo to be. The goban also seemed very old, and when we reached there was nobody there but a girl playing out professional games.

There, we got a professional player, Mr Ohashi, 5p, to review Ham's game. He seemed to be on good terms with Ham, and very actively gave opinions. A very small kid, who was a student of the dojo, also joined in the discussion. From the opinions he gave, I could see that he was very strong.

After that we went to join the rest in Karaoke and dinner. It was more like another drinking party rather than dinner though. We played many drinking games, including the I Love You game. Just like one of the staff said, there was no boundary at all in drinking games. =)

After that we split into two groups again. One going back hotel, and the other going for second party. I of course joined the second party group. We made our way to another Karaoke place, and stayed there until 5 am. At around 3 am nobody was actually singing already, and some were playing Go, me included. Mr Ohashi also gave some tsumegos for us to solve. It was a fun and crazy night~

2011.03.04 Day 5 (Last Day)

The last day.

The day we had to leave.

On this day I reached the hotel at around 6 am. Slept for a while and woke at 10 am to pack my stuff. We had to check out at 11 am.

The staff was waiting for us at the hotel lobby. They passed us our Kifu collections, which includes some of our photos printed out. It was a very elaborate job. I like it very much. After taking a group photo with them, it was time to leave.

Me, Zhao Wei and Wang Zhuo's flight was at 7.30 in the evening, so we went to Akihabara to take a walk before making our way to the airport. We reached the airport quite late, so I didn't really have time to buy many things.

I have to say, the trip this time was much more fun than last year. I think it's mainly because I was able converse more with everyone, especially with the staff in Japanese. And all the staff were calling me by my Japanese name, Kazuki, so I felt that I'm recognised. I don't think many people can understand my feelings, but I really felt happy. =D

There are some regrets though, one of them being the fact that I was still only able to win 2 games out of 4. Yes my opponents were strong, but that doesn't mean I don't stand a chance and I should lose. The difference between me and people like Zhao Wei is still quite huge, and I must strive to close this difference. I hope by next year, this gap would have closed by a little.

Yeah, I definitely hope to come again next year =D

Oza and WAGC

2011-02-28T22:56:00.004+08:00

I actually got selected for WAGC this year.

I think luck played a great part. Players like Jc and Yuxiang didn't even join the selection.

But still, I'm still quite happy, as it's the first time I'm going for this competition.

It's held in end of May, right after my exams.

I will definitely do my best.

But first, I must deal with this Student Oza.

I was intending to do at least better than last year, which means win more than 2 games.

But after seeing so many strong faces, I found out that it's quite hard to achieve...

So I guess I can only do my best.

I'm glad, though, that there are many familiar faces.

I think this year's gonna be quite fun again~

In Memory of Mr Yeo

2011-02-25T03:12:00.003+08:00

One of the people who has been working for Singapore Weiqi Association for a very very long time, has just passed away.

It was due to a heart attack.

Many of us were shocked.

I went to his wake yesterday.

I can still remember his laughter, his smiles that he always carries around.

I still can't believe they are gone.

I'm not really that close to him, but he was the Team Leader for 2006 Go Goodwill Tournament. He brought many Hwa Chong 'kids', including me, to Thailand.

At times he was fierce and strict, but overall he's a very nice person to get along with. He managed to take care of us 'naughty kids' quite well.

His unique loud laughter is something I will never forget.

I heard from Yuri that he was a very helpful and friendly person, and was very nice to her.

He has also contributed a lot to the Singapore Weiqi Association.

The last time I saw him, he was still holding his Samsung Galaxy Tab, 'fighting' with the iPad happily.

But, all of a sudden, he's just gone like that.

Life is just like this. You never know what's going to happen next.

That's why you should treasure every moment. Every second.

Look at people around you. Smile to them more. Treat them nicer.

When you wait until you can't see them anymore, it will be too late.

Rest in peace, Siao Tian Uncle.

Lazy Saturday

2011-02-20T11:34:00.000+08:00

The whole of today was sort of spent lazing around...

I'm very sure I woke up at around 8 am. I looked at my alarm clock, realized it's going to ring soon, so I switched the alarm off, and continued sleeping... Wow, I'm surprised that I could actually do that... Amazing...

Haiz my days have not been very productive... The very first CA coming soon, and I'm lagging behind by quite a lot in studies... I'm still not totally familiar with Korean vowels and consonants yet... (What's the difference between 가 and 카??)

Went to SWA today to teach my students. Then one of my students say he forgot and never came... What kind of attitude is this?? I came all the way to Bugis and you say you forgot???

I'm not taking control of myself... My laptop is controlling me... Yeah and my bed... I need to take back ownership!!

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

2011-02-18T23:14:00.005+08:00

Sleep.

This word.

Has troubled me so much over the years.

I don't know why.

Some people can sleep so well.

By the way this picture on the left doesn't reflect the total number of hours I slept.

Some people can function so well after sleeping so little.

Some people can wake up even just after sleeping for one hour.

I can't even wake up sometimes after sleeping for 6 hours.

It happened again this morning.

Yesterday I was really tired so I slept at 12am.

Then this morning I didn't even hear the alarm clock ring.

I didn't hear at all.

Usually when it rings it's so loud I want to switch it off immediately.

But it just couldn't wake me up.

Yes I didn't sleep at all the previous day.

But does it mean the next day I need to sleep so much??

14 hours straight??

Many times this sleep thing will just screw up my schedule.

It's screwing up my life now.

How I wish we don't need to sleep at all.

Mental Strength

2011-02-16T23:51:00.003+08:00

I watched many dramas, watched many animes, read many mangas, and realised that most of the main characters are mentally very strong. They are very determined to achieve what they want to achieve. Watching them will always make me very motivated and make me want to become like one of them.

However, I just discovered one very sad fact: I'm mentally very weak.

I can't even find the determination to do my school work properly. Until now I've missed so many lessons already. And yet I'm still not working hard.

I hate stress. I will try to avoid stress as much as possible. No matter what I do, I will always find the easiest way out, because that will result in least stress for myself.

I will leave many things to do at last minute, and sometimes even think that some stuff will settle by themselves. I believe in 'time' too much.

I always thought I'm happy-go-lucky, but now that I think about it, I'm just being extremely lazy and lackadaisical.

Many times I use 'I don't know' as an excuse, but actually it's a matter of whether 'I want to'.

Sometimes I would think what a coward I am.

Had a great dinner with Yuri, her parents and some other friends today.

Yuri's mother kept complimenting me, saying how good I am and that many girls will like me.

But no. I really don't think so.

Because even I myself hate this character of mine, why would others like me?

School has already entered the 4th week, yet I'm still in holiday mood.

Only if there's a pill that can switch me into Study Mode. A pill that can make me more determined.

A pill that can make me more mentally strong.

Too bad it doesn't exist.

君さえいれば

2011-02-15T20:47:00.001+08:00

君さえいればどんな勝負も勝ち続ける

どんな時も守り抜く

Another Lonely Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T22:53:00.002+08:00

Today is International Friendship Day.

In other words, Valentine's Day.

Again, I'm spending this day alone.

To me, this day seems to have lost it's meaning.

I see so many couples in school, so many couples on the street, so many couples on facebook, it's making me very sad...

This morning I wished someone Happy Valentine's Day, and that someone asked me to go and die...

I went for my HMK1 tutorial without knowing there's a quiz, and I ended up not being able to do a single question...

I think this could be one of my saddest days of the year...

Will next year be the same?

2010 - 2011

2011-02-14T01:42:00.005+08:00

To those who may have been wondering, I am still alive, though I may not be kicking...

I know it's already February, but since 2011 has come, I have't said a proper good to 2010. Hence I want to take this chance to do a quick recap of what happened in 2010, so that I can face my 'new friend' in a better way.

January

2010 actually didn't start out very well for me. We were enjoying our holiday in Hawaii, when this unfortunate accident happened. I still find it hard to believe that I escaped this with only minor injuries. Look at the picture above! How could I have survived that! Well, anyway because of this accident my aunt was hospitalised due to serious injuries and there was the problem of her hospital and operation fees, and we seriously were not in the mood to enjoy our holidays anymore...

February

I don't know if it's because of the accident, but after I since I came back from Hawaii I feel something is terribly wrong with my body. Memory getting worse, cannot sleep and wake up at the correct time, unable to concentrate, etc... Even the new KGS account I created, Sadaharu, was getting very bad results...

February is the time for Chinese New Year. I think it was the first time I joined the celebration at SWA. There was this Group Go (lianqi) which was super fun, even though we didn't manage to win any games in the end.

I think I also held a CNY celebration at my house as usual, but sadly I can't remember anything that we did...

March

In March 2010 I went for the World Student Oza held in Japan for the first time. I went through a series of selections in 2009 end of year before getting selected. I was very happy, simply because of the fact that I can get to go Japan again! I think it has almost been 10 years since I last went back...

The results of the competition wasn't very good... I only won 2 out of 4 games. And one of the games was against the Thailand player, whom I beat during the selections. I don't know what was wrong with me but I didn't seem like myself in that game, and lost... But I also got to meet many people from Japan and other countries, and I even got to enjoy a meal with Takao Natsuko, the famous Takao Shinji 9p's wife! After the competition I stayed at Yuri's house for many more days. I'm really grateful to her for providing accomodation and bringing me around.

This month was also the first time I held a birthday party for myself. I don't know but I suddenly had the idea, and I invited almost all my friends including those from weiqi, MAC and astro. I'm really glad that many people turned up, and they seemed to be quite happy. The only regret is that I wasn't hospitable enough though. But like I said during that day, I was just providing a chance for everybody to get together, that's all~

April

Since I ORDed in November 2009, my mum has been bugging me to get a part-time job. Other than the tuition, I didn't have any other jobs at that time. I also wanted to find one, but was always too lazy to go and look up the internet or newspaper... One day my mother suddenly told me that there's a Japanese restaurant looking for part-time workers, and asked me to give it a go. Even though they didn't put the pay, I decided to give it a try. And I got it.

April was also the month which I feel it started.

May

And so my work at Ippudo continued. At first I really wasn't used to it. I was very slow and the manager kept yelling at me to go and do my stuff. But after a while I got used to it and I thought I was improving. But I was quite sad that I was still doing work that a rookie did and wasn't given any 'higher' tasks... Well, somehow I managed to stay on though, and the ramen there is really nice.

It went on as well.

June

Work at Ippudo continued. There was also this Sports Awards thing, and it made me realise I don't have any formal wear that I can wear. I wore my father's shirt in the end, and my friend criticised it and said I suck. It made me care more about my appearance...

There was also the Mind Sports Festival held at Iluma for the first time. It was held together with the Qiu Ping Cup. I was given the task of a photographer, but actually I feel I didn't help out much... Even the posters I designed was editted totally by someone else... I wanted to help out more actually, but didn't know what I could do... But well, anyway I'm glad that the whole event turned out smoothly. And I hope more people know about weiqi now.

July

Some outings here and there, while it continued in the background. I was really happy, but I'm not sure about her. Maybe she has forgotten already...

Weiqi League also started. This year Yuri was in our team. She said she's happy, and I was also happy that I could play together with her. My university team, though, wasn't very happy because I was playing for another team and not the uni team. I explained that I already promised Mr Pooh to play in his team, and I promised to play in the uni team next year. Luckily it didn't result in any permanent damages...

August

Didn't get any prizes in Weiqi Tourney again... Was seriously doubting my weiqi skills... I was really not up to standard, but the worse thing is I didn't do anything about it...

August was also the month Tianyu left. Tianyu is also an amazing person. I've got lots to learn from him.

As for my Ippudo, I was moved to the kitchen. I don't know if it's because they really lacked people or I was incapable as a waiter. Doing inside the kitchen is less tiring, but I have to say I enjoyed my days as a waiter more...

Ramen and stuff, it still continued...

September

My uni finally started.

After 3 years of blank, I really wasn't used to this system of tutorials and lectures. At first I still attended every lecture, but after a while I got lazy and started to skip lectures. As a result I always did tutorials last minute and wasn't able to do many questions...

Went to the Universal Studios for the first time, not to play but just to have dinner at one of the conference rooms. When I was taking the picture, I really hoped to come back again with her, but I guess that wish is not going to be fulfilled...

Weiqi League came to a conclusion. My team got 2nd. Although I think we could have gotten better results, but I'm still happy with this result. After all, the joy of playing as a team itself, is good enough for me already.

October

Still not used to uni yet... I think I have lost all my 'studying spirit'... I can spend so much time doing a single tutorial, it made me wonder whether I've really gotten stupid over the years...

Went for Thai U-Go again. Going for overseas competition is really fun because I can get to meet lots of people. This time I was in the same room with Koh Song Sang from Malaysia, and I'm glad because he held party almost every night! Talking to the Japanese was quite fun also~ This kind of experience is indeed unforgettable~

November

Was having some serious trouble studying while I continued going out...

If I'm not wrong this is also the month I got my new house...

It was also a sad month for weiqi people, because we couldn't get to go for the Asian Games... We tried and tried, appealed and appealed, but still couldn't go... It shows how stubborn the Singapore Government is... To let go of such a good chance for us to gain glory for Singapore...

December

Finally the exams were here... As expected I did very badly... That's the result of not treating my studies seriously...

My exam ended quite late, and after the exam was already almost Christmas. I decided to hold the first Christmas Party in my house, and I even got a Christmas tree! There were about 10 people in total and we exchanged gifts with each other. Having friends is really a blessful thing~

There was also a sad event. My teacher, Yanglaoshi, was leaving for good. I will talk about this in a separate post...

So, yeah, that was my 2010... Doesn't look very fruitful, huh? But that's how I spent my one year... There are many things I really regret... Why didn't I spend my time more effectively... Why didn't I do my job properly... Why didn't I study more... Why didn't I practise my weiqi enough... Etc... And I also want to sing "Baby" by Justin Bieber...

Ah I remember I also set my resolutions for 2010 around the same time last year... Let me take a look at the resolutions again...

1) Do well for overseas competitions
2) Get into top 100 on KGS
3) Beat TJC
4) Get a decent job and do it well
5) Learn how to manage my time properly i.e. don't be lazy, don't procrastinate
6) Be more organised in every way
7) Improve in my piano and photography skills
8) Have a good head start with my uni life in August
9) Treat my friends and others well
10) Be a better man

Strictly speaking, I don't think I have achieved any of these... What was the point of setting all these resolutions when I can't achieve a single one? I don't know... Hence I'm not going to set any resolutions this year... I just hope I can do my stuff one by one...

Last year I said 'Determination 2010!' And that's still the same thing... I still lack it... If there's one thing I've improved then it may be my happy-go-lucky-ness...

But well, time waits for no man, and it's already 2 months into 2011. What's waiting for me is tomorrow, and not yesterday. No matter what happens, I need to look forward. And the important thing is to keep improving. Ganbare to myself!

Somebody

2010-10-25T03:47:00.001+08:00

Please kill me...

Not Ready...

2010-10-24T03:23:00.002+08:00

I'm flying off to Thailand tomorrow for Thai U-Go. However, I must say that in all aspects I'm not ready for it at all... Haven't been playing many serious games recently, I have already lost some touch... Sometimes I look at the board, I don't even know what to think about... And the most important thing is I totally screwed up the IV League today...

The first game... I must admit I underestimated my opponent. One move that he played so fast, I didn't even doubt for a second what he was thinking, and in the end my stones got eaten through ladder... In the later part I still had chance but I had already lost my fighting spirit... I wasn't able to recover from the shock even after the game... Until now I still can't believe it happened...

I feel even worse because it's a team competition and not an individual one... I didn't take the game seriously enough. In the end our team lost by 2-3 in the first round. Technically we still had chance, but I felt that our morale was down already...

In the end we lost another round and got Team 2nd... We were all aiming for first...

This must not happen again. NEVER.

I swear, as long as I'm playing for NTU, I will not lose any more games. NEVER.

We will do well for the next competition!

On another note, today one friend told me that I need to be more expressive... Yes, actually I know that, just that I don't know how to achieve that. He said that people who have the technical skills but are poor at expressing and presenting themselves don't stand a chance of getting a job. And leadership skills are important too. That's where CCAs come in... So far my only leadership positions are in Weiqi, MAC and Astro, but all of them were not done very well... I do hope I can expand my portfolio further by joining other CCAs in Uni... I guess I will think about that problem in Sem 2.

I have to say I suck at expressing myself. Everytime I would run out of words. Is it because my language skills suck, or what? Can a person like me be able to talk more freely and socialise more? If anyone could give me some advice it would be great...

All in all, I'm not ready for so many things... Life is tiring...

And once again... I've been told that I've grown skinny...

Dying to Live

2010-10-21T02:35:00.002+08:00

It's amazing how everyone of us live to die in the end, but most of us are dying to live as well...

Anyway, haven't updated this blog for so long, thought I'd better write some stuff about my uni...

Now I'm halfway into recess week, but I seriously don't feel like I'm having recess at all.

If only it could be recess weekS instead of recess week.

My Thai U-Go trip starts this coming Sunday, and hence I'll be missing one whole week of lesson after my recess week... And that includes one CA and one lab report.

Yeah many people say I only take 16 AUs so should be quite slack, but somehow I have a hard time managing my studies...

Well I can say I brought it upon myself because I've skipped some lectures, but the rhythm just has not been right since uni started...

And now I'm already half-way into the semester... So many things unsettled...

I think after I come back from Thai U-Go, I shall spend most of my time on my studies, and catch up on all those that I'm lagging behind... I shouldn't be worrying or troubling myself with anything else... Yes...

Mind Awaking

2010-09-13T22:28:00.003+08:00

So, university has started.

Without me even realising it.

I wanted to do full mental (and physical) preparation before uni starts.

But it seems like I have failed.

Because until now, I've still not perfectly organised my uni life...

How should I study?

How should I prepare for my lectures and tutorials?

How should I make new friends?

All these are the things I've seem to forgotten through these 3 years.

Though maybe point number 3 was never clear to me.

Sometimes I really feel like going back to secondary school.

Or JC also can.

Those days were just great... I didn't have so much to worry about...

But, unless there's a time machine I can never go back in time.

Which means that I need to face reality.

And the fact that, my UNI LIFE has started.

No more staying up until very late (or not sleeping at all) and not being able to wake up.

No more FBing, checking my email, or reading manga the whole day.

I need to get myself organised, and start studying, and do what I should do.

For the first semester, what I hope to achieve is just to settle down first, and make sure everything goes on smoothly....

Once that's done, I'll start considering about other important things...

Eyes on me

2010-08-26T23:41:00.005+08:00

"I saw you smiling at me

Was it real or just my fantasy"

"I kind of liked it your way

How you shyly placed your eyes on me

Oh did you ever know?

That I had mine on you"

Such a Sorrow "First Love"...

2010-08-25T01:44:00.002+08:00

After listening to this song many times, I still think that this song is too sorrow to be a song about "First Love"... Tears almost came out of my eyes every time I listen to this song...

Why must being in love with someone be so sad and sorrowful?

初恋 (First Love)

Song: Oku Hanako (奥華子)
Lyrics: Oku Hanako
Music: Oku Hanako

I thought I knew everything about you
Your clumsiness, sensitive tongue, awkwardness on the phone

But there was one thing that I didn’t know
And it was the fact that you didn’t love me anymore

When did we start drifting apart?
Why couldn’t I see it?
We had so many memories together
I thought we’d be together forever

You’re a friend, a friend from today onwards
I won’t say I love you anymore
Don’t go so faraway, I'm contented as long as I can see you
I won’t call your name, I won’t walk beside you
I won’t call you without any reasons
So don’t say that we’ll never see each other again, please

I still have that old habit of taking photos
When I find something beautiful so that you can see it too

I imitated the way you walked and talked on the way to the bus stop
I’m sorry that I sulked or got angry over small things
I should have been more honest

Your face, the way you talk
I hate how much I still love them
Don’t go so faraway, I don't mind as long as I can see you
We can be friends, it doesn’t have to be anything special
I won’t cry in front of you
So don’t say that we’ll never see each other again, please

You’re a friend, a friend from today onwards
I’ll keep telling myself that
That place that you will smile
Is somewhere we can’t go anymore

Walking past the cherry blossoms, Looking up at the fireworks by the sea
When the dry leaves fell, and on days of pure white snow
You were always there for me, I wouldn't want to forget that
I won’t call your name, I won’t walk beside you
I won’t call you without a reason
So don’t say goodbye anymore, please

The Original Japanese lyrics:

あなたのことは何でも知ってると思ってた
不器用なことも猫舌なことも電話が苦手なことも

だけど私の知らないことが一つだけあったの
あなたがもう私のことを好きじゃないということ

いつからすれ違ってしまったのかな
どうして気付けなかったのかな
二人で過ごしたたくさんの思い出
これからもずっと一緒にいると思ってた

あなたは友達今日から友達
もう二度と好きなんて言わないから
これ以上遠くに行かないでもう見るだけでもかまわない
名前で呼んだりしないから隣り歩いたりしないから
用事もないのに電話したりしないから
だからもう逢えないなんて言わないでお願い

綺麗なものを見つけるとあなたにも見せたくて
すぐに写真撮る癖がまだ今も消えないまま

歩き方やしゃべり方を真似してバス停まで歩いた帰り道
小さなことですねたり怒ったりごめんね
もっと素直になれたら良かった

あなたの横顔あなたの口癖
悔しいほど好きなままだから
これ以上遠くに行かないでもう見るだけでもかまわない
友達でいいから特別じゃなくていいから
あなたの前では泣いたりしないから
だからもう逢えないなんて言わないでお願い

あなたは友達今日から友達
そう自分に言い聞かせてみるよ
あなたが笑顔になる場所は
もう二人では行けない場所

桜並木を歩いて海辺で花火見上げて
枯葉散る時も真っ白な雪の日も
いつもあなたがいてくれたそれだけは忘れたくないよ
名前で呼んだりしないから隣り歩いたりしないから
用事もないのに電話したりしないから
だからもうサヨナラなんて言わないでお願い

My Neighbour Totoro

2010-08-08T23:56:00.004+08:00

Played "My Neighbour Totoro" theme song on piano...

Very very tough one... I'm not referring to the difficulty, but the length... Because the song is so long, it's hard to avoid making mistakes, especially for an amateur like me... Well finally I managed to take one video without many major mistakes, but sorry for the sound at the beginning... It was totally unexpected... If I get a new piano, I may retake this song again.

I watched Totoro (The Movie) when I was a little kid. Until now, it's still fresh in my mind. It's still one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies (actually I like all Ghibli movies, haha). I remember I used to sing this song anytime, anywhere. Will play other songs from Totoro in the near future.

Well I said that there are no major mistakes, but there are still a lot of minor ones... I know exactly where they are. And the dynamics... I listened to the original piano solo, there weren't much dynamics, so I decided to add in some myself, but I guess it wasn't very obvious... If anybody has any idea how to improve the sound quality, please tell me! I really appreciate it.

If you realise, the mood of this piano solo is totally different from the original song (with vocals). The pace is much slower, and that's what I like about this also. (Slower so I'll be able to play with less mistakes, hehe~) If gives you another feeling from the original song, but nevertheless it's still a nice song.

Silvestar

2010-08-03T02:51:00.004+08:00

Please meet my new canon compact camera, called Silvestar, or Silvy for short.

Actually, initially I wanted to buy the Canon IXUS 300 HS, because the design looked cool. But after some consideration, I decided to take this smaller one, which has a higher resolution than the 300 HS. Well I know that higher resolution doesn't mean better picture, but I feel that this camera has a better picture quality than 300 HS. I heard 300 HS doesn't give good picture quality also. And most important of all, this camera is so small!! It's so flat and tiny that I feel I can lose it anytime...

The picture quality really seemed quite good after some testing. Well it doesn't have certain functions like burst and panaroma, but I don't think I would be using them anyway... Actually my main reason for buying this camera is because I needed a video cam to record my piano videos... My previous Canon compact camera Ixy is lost... But well, now I can basically take this anywhere and take as many snapshots as I want, without having to bring around my bulky DSLR, Canny. But of course, for serious shooting I will still bring my Canny along. This one is just for leisure~

There are still some interesting stuff which I haven't test out yet. Will post the pics after I've tried them out~

Dream

2010-07-31T22:45:00.000+08:00

Maybe, I'm still in a dream.

Will I wake up?

Fate or Regret

2010-07-31T02:41:00.002+08:00

Will it continue?

Or will it end here?

PLEASE HELP US!!!

2010-07-17T23:26:00.004+08:00

I know not many people read this blog, but if you happen to read and you haven't seen the following website, please take a look at it now...

http://www.petitiononline.com/weiqi/petition.html

This is for the Singapore Weiqi Team. It's about the Singapore National Olympic Council not letting us go for Asian Games even though we have enough evidence to show that we can get into top 6. Besides, we don't even want them to spend a single cent, why don't they still let us go?

So, please support us by signing the above petition if you haven't done so. Thanks!

I seriously hope that we can go. Not only for myself, but for the whole Singpore Team. It's such a rare chance...

http://www.petitiononline.com/weiqi/petition.html

Seriously Naughty Organisation Committee

2010-07-06T00:57:00.002+08:00

Why? Why won't they let us?? We are confident that we will get at least the 6th place, and it can also be seen from our past performances, but why?? Why are they so strict and stubborn??

I can pray to any god, but maybe praying to TCH is better? Oh I really hope they will change their mind... I don't want to see such a good opportunity gone... It's gonna be so fun for so many reasons!!

Onegaishimasu...

Reminiscence

2010-06-15T22:31:00.003+08:00

After watching certain videos of the recent Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in Michigan, I started to recall my secondary school days... What was I doing when I was secondary 4? The only overseas school trip I remember was the one to Perth, and I think it was end of term camp. But it wasn't fun at all... I really regret not creating better memories during that time... What have I done?

Anyway, I think this kind of trips are very nice, especially because you can go with your friends. Seeing all those winners jumping and running around and shouting excitedly makes my heart feel warm. I like this kind of "touching" scenes. But sometimes I also hope that I was the one in these scenes...

I also suddenly recalled my trip to Thailand during the SEA Games 2007. It was really a fun trip, especially the part where we rode the police truck back to our accommodation. I wish to have this kind of experience one more time. If we only Singapore would allow us to go for Asian Games...Can I say "please"?

I know that I can start by creating more memories from now on, but sometimes I feel I may not be up to it. The reason being that my brain is really kind of getting slow... I have problem thinking. Don't know whether it's related to my accident in Hawaii, but I really think there is a problem. Nowadays I have a hard time organising my stuffs, and my weiqi level is also not going anywhere, if not down. Sometimes I would just stare at the board blankly, without being able to think of any moves. That's why I'm kind of worried about my university life, whether I'm able to cope with it...

If there's a solution, I hope to find it before my uni starts.

Recently my work at IPPUDO has been quite smooth. Though sometimes people still call me slow, but at least I'm getting less scoldings now. Actually I don't know why people call me slow when I don't see a lot of people walking faster than me. Maybe I just give other people the impression that I'm slow... It also shows the importance of first impression. Anyway, now I'm seriously thinking about whether to quite IPPUDO early, since I need to time to prepare for my uni...

Have been thinking about many other stuff too, but I shall not write about them here today...

Smile

2010-05-23T21:31:00.002+08:00

My manager asked me today whether I'm happy working at IPPUDO. I said yes. And then he said if I'm happy, then I should smile.

I felt weird. I always thought that I was smiling, but apparently others did not see it that way. My tutee also once told me that I'm a very dull person and did not laugh a lot. Maybe I was just smiling in my heart, and did not bring it out. Other people can only see what's on the outside, and cannot see what's inside my heart. Hence the only way to let others know what you are thinking is through your expressions, body language, and words.

I thought that maybe I need to learn how to smile. I know that smiles are very important. They are the antidote to many problems, and just a simple smile can bring happiness to everyone, including yourself.

However, in Japanese, there is something called 作り笑い, which means "forced smile" or "fake smile". You use it to show others when you want to achieve certain motives, and they are not smiles from your heart. I don't want to learn that. I know that after I go out to the society, I will need to do that many times, but I don't think I will like that. It's just too fake. What's the point of smiling on the outside when you are pulling a long face on the inside?

I want to smile right from the bottom of my heart. I want to smile because I feel happy. And I hope my smiles can bring warmth to everyone around me.

Smile! =)

All the Best

2010-05-22T22:27:00.002+08:00

All the best to Mikki for her competition in Michigan! Hope it will be a fun and enjoyable one.

All the best to Sadaharu for his conquest on KGS! Hope the rank graph won't go down again.

All the best to the knight fighting the Z Monster! Hope he has a swift victory.

All the best to... myself?

Hmm

P.S. Congrats Yuri for finishing the 10 km run even after drinking the previous day. Haha~

The Attack of the Z Monster

2010-05-20T20:22:00.004+08:00

I realised that there is a more serious problem to solve other than Sadaharu's problems.

It's the problem about Z Monsters.

Every morning, after I wake up and shut off my alarm, I would be attacked by Z Monsters. They would either pull me back to bed, or make me fall asleep on my chair. I would wake up again after a while, but this cycle continues, sometimes until late afternoon.

Recently the power of the Z Monsters have been getting so strong that I can do nothing to resist their spells. I'm absolutely defenseless. I've tried many things, such as putting the alarm clock far away, setting many alarms, drinking alcohol the night before, switching off air-con, etc but all never seemed to work. I thought that it's about the time I sleep, but last time I tried sleeping before 12 am, and the same thing happened. It's just like a level 10 hero fighting a level 100 monster. There's nothing I can do.

Well that's not the only weird thing. Recently the Z Monsters will start attacking me at around 8 to 10 pm, but after 12 am they will just disappear. All my will to sleep will be gone after 12 am. Why?? Z Monsters are sleeping also?? They never attack me at the correct time...

Seriously this problem has been bothering me for quite long... Sometimes I wonder whether I should go see a doctor...

I think if this problem is solved, many of my problems, including Sadaharu's, will be solved as well.

Slay the Z Monsters!!

Sadaharu Off Form

2010-05-17T13:28:00.002+08:00

Recently, the poor Sadaharu keeps losing... And as a result he's getting further and further away from 7d... I can only say that he's off form, but is that the only reason? It seems that he can't really think properly now, the way he used to. He's not able to concentrate on the game, and will misread on a lot of situations. Judgement skills are also deteriorating. A lot of games he was actually winning but made a mistake at the last moment and lost. Something has terribly gone wrong. I don't know since when but it's like suddenly, he doesn't know how to play the game anymore.

Solution? Hmm, I don't think there's any quick solution to this problem. He just have to deal with it slowly. Restart from the basics. Revise through all that he has learnt and make sure he remember. Because I think his memory is getting from bad to worse... And he has forgotten a lot of things that he has learnt already. Do more tsumego. Make sure to read through every move, and never look at the answer unless he has done that. And try to concentrate more in games. Once he starts playing, he shouldn't think about anything else. Just the game. Look at the game, and the game only. Never stop thinking. Never stop reading. Hopefully by doing this for a period of time, the mighty Sadaharu will come back.

PS. As for my work at IPPUDO, it's still fun, just that there are some problems. My manager once jokingly told me that if I stop moving in the kitchen, I die. That taught me that I should always be doing something. The other manager also told me that I move too slow, and that's the reason I'm not given as much work as the others. Well knowing that is kind of sad, but I must take it as a lesson. It just shows that I'm not doing good enough. If I have a negative attitude and start thinking that everybody don't like me or something like that, nothing will change. In fact things will get worse. Hence I think it's important to keep a positive attitude. Take other people's criticisms as a chance for you to improve. And once you improve, things will get better.

Service

2010-05-04T00:11:00.004+08:00

Now I know why the service fee is kind of so high. Because we the service staff have to serve other people food while being hungry ourselves!!

Ok, that was a joke, but really that's one of the things we have to endure as a service staff. Serving and smelling all the delicious food makes us even hungrier, but still we cannot do anything. We still have to serve our customers with a smile.

Anyway, having worked at IPPUDO for several days, I must say it's quite fun. At first I was worried that things might go wrong, but it went quite well. All the staff and managers are very nice, and taught me from the beginning how to do staff. Whenever I have any queries I can go and ask them also. I do make mistakes, but they guided me patiently. At peak hour, there are a lot of customers and the queue outside is very long, hence there is almost no time to rest(by rest here I mean stand around and do nothing). But then that's also the fun of it. I feel pleasured every time customers say "Thank you". Maybe I haven't met any difficult customers yet, but so far I like it here.

Communication is also very important, because you won't be able to do a lot of things at once. Hence in the restaurant there will always be people shouting around. I think that's one good way to make people do things. Without all the shouting, there will be much less motivation to do well.

Now I only hope that I won't create trouble for the rest, and will be of help.

Oh yeah, and the Ramen here is really nice! Definitely recommended for those who like Japanese food~

PS Gotta go register for my driving soon...

IPPUDO

2010-04-26T22:21:00.002+08:00

Registered for part-time work at this restaurant called Ippudo. The pay is not considered high, but I just want to gain experience while killing time, so it's ok. I heard some people say that if you never work in a restaurant or convenience store, you are not a man. So I'm going to become a man now? They say that it's good to work at these places and get scolded by the boss. It will be good experience. Well I don't really want to get scolded, but no choice if I do something wrong...

Getting kind of really nervous now. Serving and greeting the customers, settling the bill, showing them the menu, I have never done all these before. Well, since I've never done before, all the more I should go and do! I believe my stay there will be a valuable one.

Something Wrong With Body...

2010-04-22T19:00:00.002+08:00

3 days ago I had a headache after playing 2 games on KGS. So I decided to stop and go to sleep. But the headache persisted until the next day. And my whole body felt weak. I felt better after a nap, but still I decided to cancel my tuition. Wednesday was quite ok, but today symptoms of flu start showing up... My rubbish bin was filled with tissue paper in an instant.

Oh god, I hate getting this kind of illnesses and the thing is I don't even know how I got it. I don't believe playing games on KGS can make me ill, and neither do I think I have eaten anything wrong. Maybe I magically breathed in the ash clouds from Iceland? I don't know...

I desperately need to exercise... But I can't exercise in such a condition...

Let's hope it will get better tomorrow.

Nice Day

2010-04-10T23:59:00.000+08:00

Went to Japanese Association from Bugis after the Asian Games Training today. There weren't any direct bus, so I took a cab. I told the Taxi driver: Japanese Association, and he said ok. At the cross road between Adam Road and Farrer Road, he went to Farrer Road. At first I didn't realise, but I did find it weird why the roads were not familiar. Furthermore there was a huge jam at Farrer Road, and it took us very long before we got out. He suddenly asked me: "It's the Japanese Association at Holland Road right?" And I said calmly: "No, it's at Adam Road." He looked a bit stunned, and said had to make a big circle. Even though I was kind of angry, I still kept my calm as usual. He said he won't count from the meter, which had gone up to $16, but I was prepared to pay like $10. What I didn't expect was that... He actually meant I don't need to pay!! He told me: "It's okay. Sorry for wasting your time."

Such a nice driver!! I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about this here, but I've never seen such a driver before. I think any normal driver would still claim a bit of money, and would try to argue a bit, but he didn't. Besides, I also some fault, because I didn't state the road name and just simply said "Japanese Association". But he didn't say anything about that. It's good to see this kind of nice people around. I said "Thanks.", and got off the car.

And congrats Mikki for getting into the World Finals!! You should be happy!! Michigan!! Woo hoo~

trunter's Best Sakura Song

2010-04-08T21:17:00.002+08:00

April is the month of Sakura (or is it?) Sadly I don't have any memories of seeing any Sakura even though I lived in Japan before. I hope I can go sometime.

Among all the "Sakura" songs, I feel that this song is the best. The melody is very nice, and it fuses well with the hip-hop/rap style of the group as well. You can really picture the scene in your head if you close your eyes and listen.

さくら

歌：ケツメイシ
作詞 & 作曲: ケツメイシ

さくら舞い散る中に忘れた記憶と　君の声が戻ってくる
吹き止まない春の風　あの頃のままで
君が風に舞う髪かき分けた時の　淡い香り戻ってくる
二人約束した　あの頃のままで
ヒュルリーラ　ヒュルリーラ...

さくら散りだす　思い出す　意味なく
灯り出す　あの頃また気になる
変わらない香り　景色　風
違うのは君がいないだけ
ここに立つと甦る　こみ上げる記憶　読み返す
春風に舞う長い髪　たわいなことでまた騒いだり

さくら木の真下　語り明かした
思い出は　俺　輝いた証だ
さくら散る頃　出会い別れ
それでも　ここまだ変わらぬままで
咲かした芽　君　離した手
いつしか別れ　交したね
さくら舞う季節に取り戻す
あの頃　そして君呼び起こす

花びら舞い散る　記憶舞い戻る
花びら舞い散る　記憶舞い戻る

気付けばまたこの季節で　君との想い出に誘われ
心の扉たたいた　でも手をすり抜けた花びら
初めて分かった　俺若かった
この場所来るまで分からなかったが
此処だけは今も何故　運命(さだめ)のように香る風

暖かい陽の光がこぼれる　目を閉じればあの日に戻れる
いつしか君の面影は　消えてしまうよ　何処かへ
あの日以来　景色変わらない
散りゆく花びらは語らない
さくらの下に響いた　君の声　今はもう

さくら舞い散る中に忘れた記憶と　君の声が戻ってくる
吹き止まない春の風　あの頃のままで
君が風に舞う髪かき分けた時の　淡い香り戻ってくる
二人約束した　あの頃のままで
ヒュルリーラ　ヒュルリーラ...

そっと僕の肩に　舞い落ちたひとひらの花びら
手に取り　目をつむれば君が傍にいる

さくら舞い散る中に忘れた記憶と　君の声が戻ってくる
吹き止まない春の風　あの頃のままで
君が風に舞う髪かき分けた時の　淡い香り戻ってくる
二人約束した　あの頃のままで
ヒュルリーラ　ヒュルリーラ...

花びら舞い散る　記憶舞い戻る
花びら舞い散る

How To Train Your Weiqi

2010-04-04T16:55:00.002+08:00

Went to watch this movie called "How To Train Your Dragon" yesterday. The title of the movie sounds like it's for kids, but I heard that adults will be able to enjoy it as well. Other than the simple storyline, it was quite a decent movie. The movie is about friendship, courage, and changing people's lives. And most importantly, about dragons. However I'm not really pleased with the main dragon's (the night fury aka toothless) designes. It is cute, yes, but I feel it can be improved. I do like the small little dragons which bite people. I would like to keep one of them as a pet if possible.

But other than training my dragon, I would like to know how I can train my weiqi... Don't know if it's because I've been playing too much games, recently my attitude towards weiqi has changed. I'm not so serious anymore, and plays as though win or lose doesn't matter. The game against JC yesterday was also like that. The whole game I didn't even bother to do much counting of territory, and only realised I'm losing nearing end-game. The game against Ms Cho also. Made 1 stupid mistake in early game and that's the end of it. Really felt like slapping myself after I played that... It didn't use to be like that...

Seriously I'm kind of stuck on how to improve now. Everytime it's the same problem. Unable to read properly, unable to count properly, unable to judge properly. I had my goals in weiqi, but at this rate I'm not gonna achieve it.

I think currently I need to think of ways to change my mind set... I'll try to play more seriously from now on, be it online games or games in real life. But at the same time I must train not to use so much time. Haiz, weiqi is so hard...

Dancing Duck

2010-03-25T11:44:00.003+08:00

Went to watch Duck's Chinese Dance performance at NUS yesterday. There were 10+ performances in total, and Duck appeared in 3 of them. Although I don't really understand Chinese Dance, I could see that they danced beautifully. There were some modern dance in between too, and some of them were quite funny. Although in some parts I felt that they were a little bit out of synch, but I guess it's alright since they are not professional.

After the show Duck was like a star with 2 major fan clubs fighting over her. In the end we managed to reconcile our differences and and take a picture together with the star. (Though the above pic is not one of them...)

I'm starting to get envious of people who can dance... How I wish I could dance like them... Even a little bit...

21st

2010-03-22T19:50:00.002+08:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165010&id=545686096&page=6

This year, it's my first time organising a party for my birthday. The previous years were just small gatherings, but I've decided to do a BBQ party this year.

But I didn't expect so many people to turn up!

WOW!

I apologise for being a bad host, because it's kind of my first time organising such things.

But I'm really glad that all of you came.

Thank you everyone!

As I have said, even though it's a birthday party, but all I wanted to do was to create a chance for many of us to get together.

So I hope you all enjoyed your time as well, like me.

It's a pity we didn't take a group photo together... Maybe I drank too much.

Probably I'll try to organise this kind of party every year.

If there are any suggestions feel free to tell me.

And... I think you all know what my birthday wish is...haha.

But I do have another one which I never said out...

And that is...

Well I don't think I'm saying it out because I'm scared it won't come true, haha.

Anyway, so I'm 1 year older now.

I'm off to doing what a 21-year-old should be doing.

Thanks for all the presents!

Tokyo 2010

2010-03-10T23:59:00.001+08:00

(For the full photo album check out here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162793&id=545686096&page=7)

Was quite busy with other stuff after my return, and hence this post was delayed...

Still, I want to write something about my trip to Japan this time.

Some of you may know, but I have always considered Japan as "home".

In fact, to me Japan is more like my hometown than China, even though most of my relatives are in China.

Therefore, the moment I reached Japan, everything looked familiar to me.

The people, the buildings, the trains...

Everything was so nostalgic.

It almost made me forget my objectives of coming here...

However, since such a long time has passed since I've last been here, there were some things I was not familiar with. An example is the train system. In Tokyo itself has tens of different train lines, and there are so many different companies. Other than the trains there's also the subway called Tokyo Metro which operates the same but using different stations. It's kind of confusing unless you are very used to it... In fact on the first day when we reached Tokyo, it took us about 3 hours to get to Ginza from Narita...

The hotel was called Hotel Monterey Ginza. Didn't look especially good on the outside, but the rooms where nice. They also had LAN cables, which made my laptop useful. Too bad I forgot to bring the cable to transfer photos from my Canny...

The streets of Ginza were quite new to me, as I've never been there before. I heard that that this is the most expensive region in Tokyo, and from the price tags in shops I could see that. Still there were some shops that were affordable, like UNIQLO.

After the Opening Ceremony, every one of the 16 players were required to go up and do a self introduction and show "determination". I wasn't exactly sure what show "determination" meant, as I also didn't hear the Japanese part, but well, that wasn't very important. In fact this is the first overseas competition I've attended where everybody had to do self-intro. I think it's a good idea, but it's only achievable in this kind of small competitions.

Honestly, before seeing the participants list, I still thought that maybe I could achieve good results. But after the opening ceremony my confidence was totally gone... I could only hope for good luck.

Competition venue was at an Internet Forum nearby. Nice, comfortable environment. They even assigned people to record down each and every game. Maybe because there weren't enough laptops, some of them had to record down manually on paper. Quite a hard work for them...

My first opponent was Wang Zhuo from China. Apparently she was one of the girls who was aiming to be a professional but couldn't. She was once training in Wuhan for sometime, and claimed to know Jerry. Indeed she was very strong, but not the type that I would lose straight away. In fact I think this was the highest quality game among all the 4 games. I was even leading at one point. But after mid-game, I made a wrong move, and couldn't catch up no matter what.

They provided us Bento for lunch. I just like this kind of Bentos. They are for you to eat outside your home, and yet so many things are packed inside. And they taste good! I must say Bentos in Japan are the best.

Second opponent was Nuttakrit from Thailand. This game wasn't very good but I had many chances of winning. In the end because of the byo-yomi I couldn't see properly and made a serious mistake and lost. 2 straight losses... I didn't expect my results to be so bad.

Night time was free time, and we could dine at whatever place we wanted with 1500 yen. Sadly, it was very difficult to find a restaurant cheaper than 1500 yen per person... But it's ok. In the end we went to this Shabu Shabu restaurant where they have free flow of meat and vegetables for 90 minutes, and each person only has to pay 2000 yen. Not bad.

My 3rd game was the most meaningless game. It was against Mile, whom I could play against anytime in Singapore... 4th game was against Emil from Mexico. Although I won both of these games, the content wasn't very good... Seems like I could only give my 100% in my first game...

4 games and that's the end. In the last round, Meng Xiao Long from China beat Seo Yu Tae from Korea and claimed champion. Lai Yu-Cheng from Taiwan got 3rd. Even though I think it would be better if there were more games, but still it was a good experience.

After the closing ceremony, we had the "drinking party". The phrase made me think that it would be held in places like a bar or pub, but it was actually in a normal restaurant where there were several tables to sit around. Then I remember, it was the 飲み会, which the Japanese always have after the completion of big events to celebrate. Indeed it was very fun, with many people drinking until they lost control of themselves. Yuri joined as well. Of course I remained sober. Some of us even went to Karaoke after the party. It was such a great time. This is what I like about Japan. =)

Next day was sightseeing. Places we went include Tokyo Tower, Asakusa temple, and Akihabara. Didn't buy a lot of stuff, since I would be staying in Japan for a few more days. Akihabara was really the home of Otaku. They brought us to a maid cafe. They maids there really greeted us as if we were their masters. Too bad there were only 2 of them, photos were prohibited, and they also didn't do any special stuff...

After Akihabara some of us went to Karaoke again. Since it was the last time, everybody didn't seem to want to go back to hotel so early. Some even went to a pub! While some people just stayed at the hotel to play Go until very late. Either way we all didn't want to say Sayonara just like that.

Because I woke up quite late on the last day, I didn't get to see a lot of players before they left, and hence couldn't get their contacts. What a pity. Luckily I still get the contacts of the remaining players and the organisers. I have to give a big thanks to the organisers. If not for them, this even wouldn't have been possible. Hope to see them again next year.

And next year, I will do better.

That's the end for the competition part.

Now for the free-loader part.

Once again I took the wrong train when going to Yuri's house. Her house was in Itabashi, and it was quite far from the station. But both the house and my room was quite big. Almost comparable to a hotel room. Took a bit of rest, and went out to Harajuku and Shibuya that night. The Harajuku station looked very familiar. I remember going there every week with my parents for some gathering. Shibuya on the other hand wasn't really in my memories. Spent some time in a club called Gas Panic, before going back home.

That night, outside Itabashi station, I happened to see a singer called Aeka giving a street live performance. She was just playing the electric piano and singing, but her voice of really beautiful. And the songs were really nice too. Didn't know such a singer existed! I immediately bought her album on the spot, and was lucky to get a signature from her as well. I will definitely support her in the future! Those who are interested can check out this website: http://aeka-web.com/pc/index.html

Next day Yuri brought me to Keiou University. They were having some sort of invitational competition between Keiou and Ensei University in Korea. The Korean players flew all the way from Korea. Last year the Japanese players went to Korea. It was quite a big scale event. It would be nice if Singapore universities could organise this kind of event also, but I don't think it's possible...

Because I couldn't play I was just walking around taking pictures. The level of the games were also quite high. Yuri played the same person as when she played 2 years ago. All the other players were very serious in their games also.

At night went drinking with 2 of Yuri's friends. One of them is the famous Takao Natsuko, the wife of Takao Shinji. She was really a very nice person with good character. She also taught me a lot about...life. I really admire the couple and the trust between them.

The next day we had Shabu Shabu party at Yuri's house. Before that in the afternoon I went Shibuya again to shop around, but couldn't find anything much. Having Shabu Shabu at home was totally different from having it outside. With 3 other friends of Yuri we had a nice time eating, drinking and playing Go.

The rest of the days I was more or less on my own. Most of the time was spent shopping around at Akihabara or Shibuya. I also visited Nihon Kiin once. Bought quite a lot of books there. Saw a lot of people playing too, though most of them were uncles. Both the inside and outside reminded me of what I saw in the manga Hikaru No Go. It was exactly the same, even the station entrance outside.

Yuri left on the 9th while I left on the 10th. Time was too short, hence there were many places I wanted to go but couldn't go. Yuri told me about a Go Salon called Shuusaku in Shinjuku, but when I went there I forgot totally about it, so didn't go... But one good thing is that it snowed on my last night in Tokyo. Quite romantic, but too bad there wasn't anyone to share with me (saw this sentence in someone's status...). But still, it was nice to see snow after so many years. Maybe it's the best gift I got from Japan.

10th March. Time to leave. I really wanted to stay longer, but it's hard to change the air ticket. And because I woke up quite late, by the time I woke up all the snow were gone... Well, at least I've seen it. Took Narita Express and got to airport quite fast. Did some shopping before boarding the plane. Ah, time to leave this place and get back to life...

For these period of time, I really must thank Yuri and his parents for providing me such a good accommodation. Especially Yuri, who brought me around even though she was busy taking care of her child.

Japan.

Goodbye.

I will definitely come again.

JAPAN!!!!

2010-02-28T22:38:00.002+08:00

Finally, the time has come... For me to fly to Japan!!!

Or should I say, go back to Japan?

Sometimes I kind of feel that's where I belong...

But at the same time, I'm kinda feeling nervous too, because I've never been there for so long already....

I wonder if things are still the same...

I wonder if I'll get used to Japanese people surrounding me...

But I guess no worries. As long as I enjoy the trip, it's ok!

Gotta fly now~

CNY Party at SWA

2010-02-21T19:57:00.002+08:00

It was Rengo! Seems like they had this last year also. 4 teams, 5 people in each team. It's pretty hard to win this kind of game, and unless the average strength is very different, I must say it depends a lot on luck...

Our team VS KLS team

James team VS YLS team

Our team VS James team

In the end, sadly, my team lost all 3 games and got 4th... But never mind, win or lose is not important. It's just for everybody to enjoy.

4th

3rd

2nd

1st

Lesson Learnt

2010-02-18T18:19:00.002+08:00

One lesson learnt from this incident:

Never ever bring too many important stuff when you go drinking.

Oh yeah, and it made me realise one thing too.

这世界上，其实还是有好人的。

=D

又过一年

2010-02-14T17:08:00.002+08:00

转眼之间，又过了一年了。

不过这一年发生的变化，比往年多了很多。

最重要的就是，以前一起度过新年的朋友们，大部分已经不在新加坡了。

这让我难免感到有点寂寞。

不过呢，看到他们一个个都生活得不错，我还是挺开心的。

反而还没有开始上大学，生活还没有完全安定的我呢，就有些令人担心了...

不只是工作的问题，我现在也有点担心上大学之后的生活，怕自己适应不了...

不行不行，好好的一个新年，心情不可以这么低落，要往好的方面想！事情一定会有所好转的。

今天是2月14，在此除了“新年快乐”，也跟大家说一声“国际友谊节”快乐吧！

今年もよろしくおねがいします。=)

The End of Portgas D. Ace

2010-02-11T02:02:00.004+08:00

I felt the need to make a blog post about this... I was very shocked at this week's ONE PIECE chapter...

I'm sorry if this becomes a spoiler...

Ace is DEAD!!

OMG!!!

This was totally unexpected... I thought he would be saved successfully... After all, so many chapters were spent on this arc, from Amazon Lily to Impel Down to Marineford... So many people came to save him, including Whitebeard and his pirates and most importantly, his brother Luffy. They managed to stop his execution, and even freed him from the Marines. Luffy was about to bring him out of the place, but then at the last moment, he died white protecting Luffy...

OMG...

Seriously after reading so many chapters of ONE PIECE this is the biggest twist I have ever seen... There's nothing like this before... After all Oda never kills characters, and this is the first time... And it's such an important character...

From the flow of the manga Oda must have planned this all along...

I'm not saying that Oda did something wrong... It's just... very shocking...

What will Luffy do after that? Well no matter what happens, one thing can be certain... He will never be the same anymore...

Looking at Luffy's expression on the last page, I just don't know what to say... He... doesn't seem to be himself anymore...

This might just be a huge turning point for ONE PIECE.

One more thing.

The title of this chapter is :"Portgas D. Ace Dies".

In actual fact, Gol D. Ace is the name his mother gave him.

So some people speculate that he didn't die.

Well, what I think is that Gol D. Ace indeed lives on, but in their hearts... and our hearts... forever...

Let's look at Ace's last moment one more time:

(Right click and click "view image" if you can't see the full picture...)

Rest in peace, Ace.

My Resolutions for 2010...

2010-02-05T13:17:00.003+08:00

I know that one month has already passed since the start of 2010, but I never got the chance to say this, so now let me state my resolutions for this year...

(Not in any order) In 2010, I would like to:

1) Do well for overseas competitions
2) Get into top 100 on KGS
3) Beat TJC
4) Get a decent job and do it well
5) Learn how to manage my time properly i.e. don't be lazy, don't procrastinate
6) Be more organised in every way
7) Improve in my piano and photography skills
8) Have a good head start with my uni life in August
9) Treat my friends and others well
10) Be a better man

I think the keyword for me currently is "Determination". That is what I lack. That's why I'm always avoiding things and giving myself excuse not to do things. However, that is not what a 20 year old man should be. I should be brave and responsible enough to face I need to face, and do what I should do. Avoiding and delaying would just result in a waste of time and youth. I should be spending my time more wisely. I need to be more "determined" in what I do.

I know some of the things listed here sounds very vague (like No. 10), but I hope that by writing them here, it will serve as a reminder to myself, and hopefully it will give me more determination.

Determination 2010!

P.S. Will be flying to Japan in March for Student Oza competition... Need to prepare for that trip also, not because of the competition but because of the place...

New Year Travel Logs (Complete)

2009-12-29T15:11:00.016+08:00

So, it was time for me to travel with my family...

2009.12.28 Monday

Plane was at 10.30 am, and the flight was to Taiwan. The final destination is Hawaii, but on the way we need to transfer plane 2 times: once at Taiwan and once at Tokyo. Surprisingly, the plane was small, but there were TV screens and controllers on every seat! Wow, I thought only SIA planes would have this kind of system. However, as I didn't sleep the previous night, I slept through the whole journey, and didn't get to enjoy the games or movies. But never mind. When I'm coming back, I will.

Anyway, arrived in Taiwan 桃园机场 at around 3 pm. After that took bus to our hotel, 国光大饭店, which was situated in 西门町. My mum picked this place because she knew this place was very popular and would be very crowded. I also always saw on Taiwan shows many mms walking around in these area. And I really found a lot! Almost 1 in 3 girls I saw on the streets were good looking or cute. Haha, I didn't do anything, though.

西门町

After we settled down in our small hotel, we took MRT to Taipei 101. I didn't know in Taiwai they also called it MRT. I thought the name was exclusive to Singapore. Actually Taipei 101 is just another big mall, just like ION. The goods sold inside are not meant for people like me. But it was nice to walk around the area and take pictures using my Canny. Unfortunately, when I wanted to take picture of the whole tall building, my Canny ran out of battery...ToT I should have brought my spare battery along...

Taipei 101

Beautiful buildings

We had dinner in a food court in the mall. The food court was very similar to Singapore's, just like Kopi Tiam! There were a lot of different stalls available, and they even had 海南鸡饭. But we wanted to eat some Taiwan specialties, so we chose the 担仔面. My set contained the noodle and 鲁肉饭. The rice was ok, but the noodle was quite nice, especially the soup! Recommended for those who come here~

From Taipei 101 we took MRT back to 台北车站. And after that walked back to 西门町. There were a lot of nice shops there, and a lot of illegal food stalls outside too. Even though they are illegal, the food they sell is not bad. I tried the 地瓜球, which was made from potatoes I think. And also a lot of different types of food bought in a famous 鲁肉 shop, and 煎饺. They were all not bad! Just when I wanted to buy the sausage, the police came, and all the stall-owners ran away with their stalls. The stall selling sausage, I don't know whether if it's because she couldn't run away in time, was made to show her ID to the police officer. Because of that we couldn't buy stuff from her anymore. Was it my fault that she got caught? I don't know... But I can see that they are leading quite a dangerous life.

At around 11 PM we went back to hotel, and because there was wireless we were all settling our stuff, and slept at 2 am. End of first day.

2009.12.29 Tuesday (Taipei Time)

Woke up at around 6 am. Travelled straight away to 桃圆机场 through bus. Had a few 小龙包 for breakfast. It was very nice! The taste of the meat and the soup inside was very delicious. Actually I could find food with similar taste in Singapore, but it's not so easy, I think. The plane was at 9.30 am. It was a bit pity to leave Taipei after such a short time. I hope I get a chance to come back again!

They served us food again at 10.30 am Taipei time. I was so full that I couldn't finish... And hence couldn't enjoy the meal. This time the plane was a bigger one, but they didn't have screens and controllers on every seat. I was wondering why, because even the smaller planes have them, why don't the bigger planes? Maybe it's a matter of old and new. Therefore I could only sleep through this plane trip. (Actually I slept through the previous one also, didn't I?)

Reached Tokyo at around 1.30 pm local time. Even though I say Tokyo it's only the Narita Airport. We never got a chance to visit the city. (ToT) After so many years since I have been there the last time, I'm going to leave just after 6 hours. That's so sad... Everything here is so nostalgic, even at the airport. The people, the words, and the services. It's so different from other countries. For example, because we were transferring to a plane to Hawaii, they even sent a lady with a signboard which have our names written on it to wait for us outside the plane from Taipei. The lady then kindly explained to us how we should go about doing our transfer procedures. I have never seen that happened before! Usually we need to go around asking around on our own, but here they send people to tell us! Maybe because we are going USA so they are being a bit more serious, but you can't deny that the Japanese do have a different way of doing things.

A familiar face! Didn't know she still did this CM

After going through all the procedures smoothly, it was free time until 7.30 pm. We first went to see the Akihabara shop that we found at the airport. Despite having the name Akihabara, it was nowhere near as crowdy and as 'otaku' as the real one. Though I have never been to the real one, I have a rough idea what it looks like. Here they only sell a lot of different items such as food, books and electronic equipments. I saw that the prices of some stuff such as cameras weren't so bad. I was even tempted to get an EF-S lens, haha. We decided we'll come back later and since there weren't other shops worth going in, we went to a Yahoo! Japan net cafe to surf net instead.

Pic of the airport taken from the net cafe (That's how all the lights came about...)

That's where I wrote my first part of this log. Browsing through my facebook, I saw my JC classmate posting a diary on his trip to Japan, and how be toured to places like Hokkaido. I also heard from one weiqi friend how she went back to Sapporo recently. I was sooooo envious. I want to go to all those places, but I just don't have the chance to. Hopefully, next year... Either for competition or other purposes, I hope I will get a chance to get there. My other hometown, Japan!

Interesting toy...

At around 5.30 pm went to an Asian Cafe to eat nice Japanese food. And after that we boarded onto the plane. I heard they have shower toilet here. I only heard of them, and never seen them before. I also didn't get a chance to use, because the cubicle was occupided... Next time then. Anyway, our plane was a bit late, and added on to that they actually did body and baggage check on everybody who boarded the plane, so it took us very long before all of us got onto the plane. The way they did the body check was very courteous, and they did the proper greetings. It was so different from how we did stuff during my NS time, haha. We were courteous too, but the level was different. The methods used was similar though. After the check I wondered, do they do that to all planes who go into the USA? If that's the case, they are going to take so long everytime? Wow, USA is so strict...

The flight was very long... About 6 hours. The time difference between Singapore and Hawaii is 18 hours! And since it was night time, we had to sleep. We will be reaching at 7.30 am Hawaii time, hence we will definitely be having jet-lag. Added onto the fact that they served us meals 2 times on the plane, so we couldn't really get a good sleep...

2009.12.29 Tuesday (Hawaii Time)

7.30 am Hawaii time. We reached Honolulu Airport. Let me just talk about the time difference a little bit. It's the first time I'm actually travelling so far, and it's the first time I'm experiencing such a big time difference. The time in Singapore is GMT+8, whereas the time in Hawaii is GMT-10. That's a almost 1 day! In actual fact the time in Hawaii is 1 day earlier than that in Singapore. That's why I felt as though I had gone back in time. Actually I did, as I'm supposed to be going through Wednesday right now but I'm going through Tuesday again. If I did this everyday I would be able to have 2 of everyday! (Who would be so free to do that, haha.)

Another important problem is Jet Lag. I always didn't know exactly what jet lag is. I'm assuming it's a kind of disruption to the body clock, making you unable to adapt to the time zone in the new country as you are already used to the time zone in the old country. This flight is also the same. Our plane left at 7.30 pm Tokyo time and reached Hawaii at 1.30 am Tokyo time. But the time in Hawaii was 7.30 am. By right we are supposed to be sleeping according to Tokyo time, but in Hawaii everybody has just woken up. That's the reason we couldn't get used to it. At first I thought it's a small matter, but it didn't turn out to be...

Back to topic. The checks at Hawaii was quite ok. The officer only asked us a few questions and asked us to leave our handprints as well as thumbprints. After that we successfully collected our luggage and left the airport. After a while, my aunt, who is my mum's bigger sister, and her husband, Michael, came to pick us up. He said "Aloha!" and gave us a flower loop on our necks. Haha, I heard people talk about it, but I never thought that I would actually be wearing it. I also saw a lot of Japanese as expected, including some nice looking ones. There was even a Japanese who was being interviewed just outside the airport, but I couldn't recognise who he was.

We reached Michael's house very fast. It was quite a small house with 1 room, but there were a lot of decorations, so many that I couldn't believe my eyes. It was almost like a museum! Everyone you could find some displays. I guess he likes to collect this kind of stuffs. He has been staying in Hawaii for 25 years.

Wearing the flower hoop Michael gave me...

All the small and big toys...

After a small rest and some talks, Michal drove us onto the streets. I suggested we get some sleep first, but my mum said it was okay. We went to many places, mainly big department stores. The stores here are really big. It's a bit like Ikea, but the range and the size of items are much bigger. The price of electronic items were also quite ok. In general, most of the items here were cheaper than that in Singapore, especially those on sale.

Since my father's handphone was not working, we also went to the AT&T company. Michael has some friends there, who recommended us some of the plans we could use. AT&T seemed to the largest telecom company in US, just like Singtel. Many phones were familiar, but there were many ones which I have never seen before. Of course there was the popular iPhone, and my aunt and Michael each owned one.

We had lunch at this place called Coscos. It was also a department store, but outside there was a food court, or rather a place where they sell food. They had pizzas, hot dogs, ice creams etc, just like any other western eating place. In the end I chose to eat Hot Dog. Actually it was just a sausage put on a bread, and we can choose to add onions and any sauce ourselves. I added some onions and a little of each of the sauce. It tasted quite good! I tasted some pizza also and it was also very nice. And the drinks were free flow! That was the first western meal I had, and was quite a nice one.

Coscos

In the afternoon Michael drove us around again, and we also bought some stuff for dinner. In the department stores, everything was sealed in a big container. It shows that the Americans have a very big appetite, because in Singapore you won't be able to find these things easily. Maybe that's why they have such a high obesity rate? I also saw many "big" people on the streets.

We went back to Michael's house to get some rest and cook dinner. I was surprised to know that the population of Asians in Hawaii was about 67%! That's more than half! And most of the Asians are actually Japanese, not Chinese. Some people actually said that the Japanese are almost taking ver Hawaii, haha. But that's nice also, because I like Japanese =).

After surfing the net I also slept for a while. Actually on the car I was the only one awake, and my parents both fell asleep. I was kind of tired also. Though the difference is just 6 hours (excluding the day difference), it does play a very big part. After the nap we woke up to eat our dinner which was cooked by aunt. It was not really western, but it was still very nice. After that we started preparing for the next day's trip to Kona, or rather the big island.

2009.12.30 Wednesday (Hawaii Time)

Since our flight was at 7.30 am, we had to wake up at 5.30 am. It was kind of a difficult task actually, considering we were still suffering from jet lag. But all of us seemed alright, and the four of us including my aunt boarded the plane together after bidding goodbye to Michael. Since it was inter-island flight, it wasn't as strict and we got onto the plane quite quickly. It was a Hawaiian plane, and it was quite small. The flight took less than 2 hours, and they only served a cup of drink.

Taken on the flight to Big Island

The plane that we took

The airport at Kona didn't look like an airport. It was more like a resort. Or rather the whole place looked like a resort, and looked like this place was made for people to enjoy. We had already booked our car online through a company called Avis, so we boarded the us to pick up our car. It was left-hand drive, (as in the steering wheel was on the left side of the vehicle), but my father managed to get used to it quite fast. Our first destination was the volcano, but it would take us some time to get there. The whole island was so big that it's almost impossible to tour around the whole island within 2 days, so we could only the places we wanted to go.

The car that we rented...

The drive was quite smooth. On the way we stopped many times everytime we saw some nice scenery. The view there was very very nice. And the weather was also very nice. It was almost as though using my Canny to shoot the pictures was a waste. Well, wait till I bet a better one.

A farm on the way

Horses eating

We had lunch at a western restaurant. the food we ordered was called loco moco, and basically it was eggs plus rice plus burger or pork plus gravy. The gravy was the most important part. Without it it wouldn't have been a decent dish. Our aunt also reminded us that we need to give some tips, which is usually 10 to 15% of the whole cost. My mum wouldn't really sure, so she asked the waitress. I think we are supposed to just give them a certain amount greater than the cost and ask them to keep the change. Tipping is so diffucult..

Outside the restaurant

Beautiful scenery

Along the way to the volcano we stopped several times to take great shots. At one moment, I don't know if I fell alseep or what, lost idea of what was happening around me. When I woke up, I think I was on the ground, and I saw our car being toppled onto it's side. The passers-by were asking us whether we were alright, and soon we were carried onto stretchers and onto the ambulance. Me and my father were sent to the same hospital while my mum and aunt were sent to another one which was further away.

Last pic of the day...

It seems that at at one point of time, our car hit a boulder on the side of the road, and flipped over as a result. I was having aches everywhere, especially my head and my lower back. My father seemed ok. After we reached the hospital, I forgot what kind of treatments we underwent, but the doctors said we were basically alright except for some superficial injuries. I wanted to get an X-ray because my head and my back hurt a lot, but the X-ray machine there was spoilt, so we decided to move over to the hospital where my mum was in through a nurses' car. It just happened that she was going there as well.

At around 4.30 pm we reached the other hospital, and we quickly went to take a look at mum and aunt. Mum seemed ok, except the fact that she was bedridden and couldn't move around. Aunt was in a bad shape. She seemed to have a few bones broken at the shouder and legs, and needed to be moved to a hospital in Honolulu. Poor her. I doubt none of us expected this to happen. We were all expecting to enjoy a happy holiday, and ended up in a car accident. This is my first car accident as well, and I'm glad that all of us survived. It could have been worse... Maybe we really should have rested for a few days before we came to the Big Island.

Since X-ray was available here, I requested to take a few pictures of my head and my lower back. My mum also did some X-rays but the doctor said everything was alright. She was just beaten up, that's all. After a while 1 police officer came to take our statements, and after he left another person from another organisation came. They said that they were there to help us in exchange for our medical information, and we gladly accepted their help. There were simply too many things to settle, and we couldn't have achieved it by ourselves.

At around 11 pm all the check-ups had finished, and my results came back as well. They said there was nothing wrong with my bones, but if I wanted some medicines I could get it from the pharmacy. Thank god. Though I was still in pain, if everything's alright then that's ok. I just don't want to get any permanent injuries because of this. Since we lost our car, one of the nurses helped us call a taxi to the nearest hotel, Hilo Hawaiian. Hilo is basically another part of the Big Island which is quite far from Kona. They even have another airport in Hilo. After taking a quick shower, we quickly fell asleep as we were all tired from the day's happenings...

2009.12.31 Thursday

I didn't really have a good sleep. It's not because of the accident. It was just because I have difficulty sleeping. Maybe the effects of the jet lag were still there, as all of us felt sleepy in the afternoon. When I woke up, my body aches were still there but they were much better. My headache was still quite serious, so serious that I couldn't fall asleep. In the end I took a Panadol and decided to buy some medicine from any stall nearby.

The day was New Year's Eve. Me and my father went down to eat breakfast first, as my mum still had difficulty moving. My father also couldn't move his head and could only face one direction. I really hope all these effects are only temporary, and hope everyone will get well soon. The breakfast was quite nice, just that we were not in a condition to enjoy it. For me, there was another problem, which was that it seems like my teeth had been moved and I can't seem to bite hard food. It would be a big problem if the teeth start dropping off...

After breakfast my father went up to call mum to come down to eat, while I went to a nearby store to get some Tylenol, whose effects were similar to that of Panadol. After that we went back to the room and decided to call the person from that particular organisation to help us solve our problems. A lady called Jenny (I don't know whether this is the correct spelling...) picked up, and she said she couldn't come over and preferred to solve the problem through phone. In the end we manage to convince her to come, and many issues (mainly the issue of getting back to the airport) were settled. She also brought us to the car rental company nearby and got us to take a look at the crashed car. It was still in one piece, though it has lost it's shape already. We took back some of our belongings which were still inside, took some pictures, did some paper work, and went back to hotel.

Looking at the car one more time, I really can't imagine how I survived. The car was tilted to its left, and I was sitting in the right back seat. I don't know how I managed to escape with only minor injuries. (Well, maybe some prolonged injuries...) I also feel that it's a good thing I don't remember what happened exactly, because if I did it may end up being a trauma for me. Currently I have no problem getting on the car. As for driving I don't know yet.

What our car looked like after the accident...

How did I even survive this?

Bought some miscellaneous stuff from a nearby department store before going back to the hotel. The lady, Jenny was really nice. She even directed us when inside the supermarket. After we went back to the room and had our lunch, it seemed as though it was time to sleep again. It seems that aunt had to go through an operation before she can be released. The most important thing is that she can recover back to normal. Nothing else matters.

After an afternoon nap (or maybe evening nap) we decided to go out and walk. Our hotel was just situated by a beach, so the view was really nice. And it was full moon on that day also, hence I took some pics of the moon. In the end we couldn't find any restaurants that were open, so decided to go back and eat the stuff that we bought in the afternoon. After shower and some internet, it was bed time, the one which we were not accustomed to...

Moon in btw the leaves

2010.01.01 Friday (Hawaiian Time)

It's first day of the new year. Everyone is wishing everybody Happy New Year. But somehow, my family doesn't feel so happy...

I have to apologise to all those who happen to read this post... It's becoming less and less like a travel log, and it's becoming more and more boring... But since I already started this I don't want to end this so fast... So please bear with me for a while...

Anyway, on this day, we woke up at around 10 am. Apparently we were still not used to the time zone, otherwise my parents couldn't have woken up so late. Went out to take a walk and take pictures of the nice scenery at the same time, but couldn't find any restaurants that were open. All seemed to be on holiday. Hence we could only walk back to our hotel and buy some snacks at the convenience store nearby. I realised that I had a hard time eating bread, or rather all sorts of hard stuff. My tongue hurt, and my teeth also seemed to reject hard stuff. Looks like I need to stick to soft stuff for the time being...

Those people there were seemed to be having a party

Nice park

Took an afternoon nap until 2.30 pm before we checked out. By right we were supposed to check out at 12 pm, but the organisation helped us bring it later to 2.30 pm. After we went down to the lobby a tour bus came to pick us up and bring us to Kona. Even though there were a lot of other people on the bus, it was good enough. We just needed a transport back to Kona Airport. Of course all these was arranged by the organisation.

On the way we stopped by at several locations such as Rainbow Falls. The view was also beautiful, especially the sunset, but I didn't take a lot as I was afraid of getting carsick. We reached Kona at around 6.30 pm, and another driver came to bring us to a nearby restaurant to eat. We chose a Japanese restaurant. Though it wasn't very authentic, I think it would be better than a Western meal.

Rainbow falls

Our flight was at 10.45 pm. As usual the plane reached Honolulu very fast. Michael came to pick us up. We went to pay aunt a visit first. She was bed-ridden, but her condition was better than we had expected. We would go visit her again the next day.

When we reached Michael's home, I was simply too tired, and just fell asleep on the bed...

2010.01.02 Saturday

This post is getting rather long and boring, so I'll try to cut to the point instead of wasting so much space (which may be impossible to achieve though).

Well, basically nothing much was done on this day. We woke up quite late, as I assume all of us were quite tired. At noon we went to visit aunt in her hospital again. We stayed there until about 6 pm, and talked about quite a lot of things. Looking at my mother, I really felt sorry for her, because it was her close sibling. But I must remain strong. Otherwise there wouldn't be anybody to protect her. I'm a man!

After we left the hospital, my father decided that he will cook the dinner for that night, hence we went to Sam's Place to get some meat and vegetables. Sam's Place is just another big department store where they sell big stores. I really wonder, since all these food in big quantity are relatively cheaper, is that the reason why the obesity rate in US is so high?

The dinner was just like what I had everyday at my house in Singapore. Michael seemed to like it as well, even though he usually doesn't eat Chinese food. After dinner we discussed a bit about the next day's plans, and then it was bed time again. Not much travel done on this day.

2010.01.03 Sunday

Visited 3 main places today. First one is a place near a stadium. It was called something like a "Swamp Meet", and it's sort of a flea market, where everybody simply displays their stuff and sell. I used to go to this kind of market a lot back in Japan. And what I bought the most was of course toys and SNES cartridges. Things here would definitely be cheaper than those found in shopping malls, but the quality cannot be guaranteed. If you are an expert, you may even be able to find gold here. Anyway, for this day, we only bought some sovenirs and Aloha shirts.

The Swamp Meet

The next place was the church. It was an United Church. I'm not a Christian, but my parents wanted to pray for my aunt, therefore we went there. Talked a bit to the people there too. I could feel that my parents were really worried about my aunt. This trip really took a turn for the worst. I just hope it will get better.

People using their 'spiritual power' to heal others

After visiting the hospital in the afternoon, we went to the Ala Moana shopping centre. It was a very big place, just like Orchard Road. Most of the things sold were branded. There was a store dedicated to the Japanese as well, but the things were rather expensive. In the end we only bought one doll and some Japanese snacks.

The view outside the hospital was quite beautiful

One bird spotted on the signboard

The car park outside Ala Moana shopping centre

The busy streets

A river on the way back

Since this is a travel log, I guess I shouldn't be talking about all the personal stuffs. So today's entry ends here. (I also wouldn't want to talk about the KGS games I played at night, lol~)

2010.01.04 Monday

As I've said, this is supposed to be a travel log, so I shouldn't be talking about personal issues.

This day was basically a tour around the island. From the city of Waikiki (the one which I stayed in), we went anti-clockwise around the whole island of Oahu. It's quite hard to describe, so I guess I'll use pictures instead (when they are ready...). We went to mountains, agricultural areas, beaches (a lot!), and the rural streets. Had lunch at a restaurant beside the beach.

Taken from the top of the mountain. It was kind of hazy...

Btw, it was this lady Jenny who brought us around the island. I realised that all who live here are very open and very friendly. They can literally talk to anybody on the street. I like that, and I hope I can be like one of them too.

A real volcano

The city, beaches, seas and mountains were very very beautiful. Actually we could have just spent our days on this island. Even though it was small, it was about the size of Singapore, and there were a lot of things to explore. Watching those people on the beach, I wished I could be like one of them, lying there and enjoying the waves and everything.

Nice beach, but too bad it wasn't free. The mountain behind it is part of a volcano, and to me it looks like a sleeping dinosaur...

Another beautiful beach with many people

Nice 'sun-rays'

The beach nearest to Michael's house

Taken from the rooftop

2010.01.05 Tuesday

Was supposed to visit Pearl Harbour today but due to some last minute reasons it was changed. In the end nothing much was done during the day. At night, however, we went out to take a walk on the streets. It was much more lively than Singapore's. The busy part of the street was like Orchard, but there were many more interesting things. One of them is the number of people performing on the streets. In Singapore you almost won't see anybody doing that, but here they have no restriction hence anybody can just set up a stall and do anything on the streets. We saw all sorts of people, from drummers, musicians, artists and performers. There were even people who disguised themselves as statues and waited for people to donate money. And when they donate they will move a little bit. It was really hard to tell that they were real people!

A drummer playing with kids

You can only tell he's a real person by looking at what's under him...

We didn't buy a lot of things though, as they were quite expensive. So only window shopping was done. But it was definitely an interesting night. US is indeed an interesting country.

2010.01.06 Wednesday

Paid a visit to the famous Pearl Harbour on this day. I was told that it was the no. 1 tourist attraction there, but the scale disappointed me a little bit. There were only a few ships and museums, nothing much actually. The displays were interesting though. I even went into one of the ships to take a look. It reminded me of my Navy days...

USS Bowfin

The most important part of Pearl Harbour must be the Arizona Memorial. It was a memorial created for those ships which couldn't be retrieved after they were sunk and all those people who have died. I don't really know the history very well, but I can see that the Americans are all quite patriotic.

Arizona Memorial

Flowers dedicated to those heroes who died

Torpedoes

Went to Coscos, one of the huge department stores, to buy some gifts to bring back after we left Pearl Harbour. The fast food there was also really cheap. $1.99 for a huge slice of pizza, and $1.50 for a hotdog plus free flow of drink! I don't remember finding any place cheaper than that.

In the afternoon went to the hospital to say goodbye to my aunt. She was feeling much better and seemed much more lively. They say they will take her X-rays the next day to determine whether she needs to go through Operation or not. I definitely hope she will get better.

Sunset seen from the hospital. That was actually the best place in town to view sunset

At night I decided to go to McDonalds and Burger King to take a look, because I wanted to see what they looked like in the US. Well these fast food restaurants there were not very well decorated, but the food was quite nice. I tried something which can only be found there, and it tasted quite good. As for the burger, I preferred the McDonald one to the Burger King one, haha~

BK and McDonalds burgers...

Went to this ABC Store to buy some sovenirs. After that went back to pack our stuff. That was our last night in Hawaii. Even though it was sad, when the time comes we had to leave...

2010.01.07 Thursday (Hawaii Time)

Finally it was time to leave this island... Our flight was at 7 am, so we had to wake up at 4 am and reach the airport at 5 am. As usual Michael sent us there. We passed through all the checks quite fast, and ended up waiting for around 1 hour though. The flight to Taiwan took 11 hours. After that stayed in Taiwai for 3 hours, and then flew back to Singapore.

Hawaii was really a cool place with cool people. I seriously can't see this place as a place to work in. To me this place is for people to enjoy and have fun. Michael also told me about this Hawaiian time which roughly means to work and have fun at the same time. Michael was really a cool guy. At first I thought he was only 40 something, and I was surprised when he said he's more than 60 years old! He said he's a kid who refused to grow up, and it was really true. I hope I can see him again.

Even though without the accident we could have had a better stay, but what's done cannot be undone. Let me wish my aunt good luck again, and hope she gets well soon. And with that I shall end this travel log here. Thanks to all those who read everything. (Or are there any? Lol)

To Hawaii!

2009-12-27T23:59:00.001+08:00

Christmas this year... Hmm, ok, it has been quite fun. Partying at Yuri's house, SWA party, and Introductory Weiqi Talk by 田博士. As I'll be flying tomorrow, I don't have time to write down all the happenings, so I'll just summarise by posting some pics...

You can visit my facebook profile for the full gallery.

Tomorrow, I'll be flying for the first time to Hawaii with my family. It was my mother's idea, actually. We won't be flying straight of course. We'll first fly to Taipei, stay 1 night there, and then to Tokyo, stay for a few hours, and then to Hawaii. When we come back we'll bypass tokyo and go to Taipei and then Singapore. Walking around in Taipei can be quite fun too. Just don't imagine me doing the Hawaian dance...

So everyone, I wish you a Happy New Year, and see you all in 2010!

The Land of Smiles Once Again

2009-12-25T23:59:00.002+08:00

It's already Xmas, and it has been more than 1 month since I last updated my blog. Wow, time really flies. It's not that I was lazy... I just didn't have the mood to. (Actually, yeah, I was kind of lazy...) I don't know how many people still read this blog, but I'll still update anyway. I think it's sort of... meaningful(?).

And before that, let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Let me start with my Thailand trip in December. I just came back this Tuesday morning from the Land of Smiles. Basically I went there for 3 country friendly tournament, but the results were not really satisfactory. This is my second time participating in this tournament if I'm not wrong, and the last time I got champion. And this time, I was aiming to get it again, and I had some sort of confidence. However, I didn't manage to do it... Anyway, here's what happened...

17th December Thursday

The competition started on the 18th, and we went to Bangkok one day earlier. This time it was Singapore airlines, so the flight was much more comfortable. Again it took us 2 hours to get there. Those in the Singapore team include me, Karen, Munyi, Shi Hao, James, Zhixiong, Genial and Hansiong. Mr Poh and Mr Chua came along with us. Actually I wanted to spend the time on the plane to relax, but James and Shi Hao had a very nice Life and Death book, so I spent the time doing questions on the books.

When we reached Tara Park it was already quite late, but we were not ready to sleep yet. Immediately all the guys went out to the 7-Eleven to buy food and miscellaneous stuff. While myself, being lazy to walk, just stayed inside the room to browse through the database. When they came back, I told Genial that this database is very good, and asked him whether he could give me. He said by right he will need to charge people for the database, but if I got champion for this compy he would give me. I said, why not, I've got nothing to lose. Well, in the end, I failed to meet that requirement...

Anyway, we were still not ready to sleep! After taking a shower, James, Hansiong, me and Genial gathered in James' room to play cards, which were apparently bought in 7-Eleven. At first we were playing Tai Tee (Big 2), but Genial suggested we play bridge. I agreed, but the problem was James and Hansiong didn't know how to play bridge. So we tried to teach them how to play. Shi Hao joined in also, acting as the advisor for James and Hansiong. They were all smart people, and learnt the rules quite fast. (Well, maybe it took them some time...) Very soon the bids were getting higher and higher, with Hansiong bidding until 10 no trump (lol, classic =D). It was a fun night with all of us laughing away. In the end we slept at 2 plus am.

18th December Friday

The competition only starts in the evening, so basically we had nothing much to do during the day. The staff there told us that breakfast is at 7 am, so we all woke up before that and gathered in the hall. However, we waited until around 7.30 am before the staff came out and said breakfast is ready... To think I actually woke up so early. Usually I don't even wake up before noon, you know. But luckily the breakfast was good enough to ease our anger. After breakfast all those who stayed up late the previous night went back to sleep...

Woke up again at around 11 am. All of us including Mr Poh and Mr Chua went to this place called Health Land nearby to get a full body thai massage. Yes, the very same massage that I had the last time I came, just that it was done in a different branch, and that time it was done at night. Maybe because this time I was really tired, and the TV was also not switched on, so I fell alseep. What I didn't expect was not I didn't even realise the massage lady was turning my body over! I didn't feel a thing! When I woke up the lady had left already, and I felt as though I had skipped the whole part. But Shi Hao, who was having the massage beside me, said he saw me flipping over. What a weird experience...

After the massage was shopping time. We went to the Central Plaza nearby and shopped until 4 plus pm. Had lunch at a restaurant which was meant more for Chinese people. There were a lot of interesting dishes there, such as Gyoza Samurai and The Bomb... I tried the Yellow Curry with Rice, and it tasted quite nice. Apparently all the dishes were spicy to some extent, and Munyi couldn't take it.

For the shopping, I didn't buy anything much except for Luffy's strawhat. Zhixiong bought one also. We are comrades indeed, haha. Suddenly there were 2 Luffy's in the Singapore team. Shi Hao bought 2 shirts, and it was almost time to leave already.

Went back to Tara Part for the opening ceremony. All the usual faces were there, including Ms Vantanee and Mr Shi. Some professors whom I saw during the last competition joined this time as well. And the strongest player from Thailand was undoubtly Mod, or Apidet Jirasophin. If I'm not wrong, he got quite a high ranking in the Asian U-Go Tournament, and I didn't get a chance to play him that time. This time, I would definitely get a chance. But I didn't expect the chance to come so fast... I actually met him in the first round! If it's not fate, then it must have been pre-arranged... I can say that this game will almost decide who will be the champion... I wasn't really mentally prepared... But it's ok, as the next day we will be playing 4 games, so it'll be better to play him while I'm in a good condition. I started our game with that thought in mind.

The game was progressing quite smoothly, and even though I didn't make the best moves, I was still leading. But maybe because it was too smooth, I always had the thought that I was leading, and when I realised that I may lose it was already too late. This shows my judgement problem, and it was a weakness on my part. In the end I could do nothing to salvage the situation, and watched as the game ended with me losing by 8.5 points. That's a huge loss... I didn't expect to lose by so much... I was too careless in the middle game. The feeling was like my whole purpose of going there was denied...

Well, what's done cannot be undone. Since I lost 1 game, it's almost impossible for me to get champion already. Therefore the rest of the games didn't really matter to me anymore, and I could play with a more relaxed mind. That night I also slept quite late, playing cards, watching James, Zhixiong, Shihao and Suzanne from malaysia play pair go and eating cup noodles.

19th December Saturday

This day was a busy day. We had to play 4 games and after that there's still closing ceremony. For that day, I wasn't prepared to lose, but I wasn't prepared to win either. (Sounds chim, huh.) It was more of the "anything lah" attitude. I had a hard time for some of the games, but luckily still managed to win all 4. Some of my team mates also did quite well, but on the overall, we still lost to Malaysia and Thailand. Hence in the end Singapore got Group 3rd, Malaysia 2nd and Thailand 1st. What a big difference from the 1st time I joined this comp...

Anyway, this was just a friendly tournament, so the results didn't really matter. What matters is that we had a wonderful time playing Go together, and having a great chance to come to this wonderful place. As for my Go skills, all I need to do is to train more!

After the closing ceremony there was a teaching game conducted by Mr Shi. From the Singapore team me and James played. Actually I wasn't really serious in this game also, and in the lost by a lot. But it was nice to see other people trying their best to beat the teacher. Once again, that night concluded with us playing bridge.

20th December Sunday

This day is the day we toured around Pattaya. We left Bangkok quite early with all our luggage, and reached the hotel in Pattaya called Zign at around 10 plus am. It was a very beautiful hotel which was just near the sea, and from my room you can get a very nice view of the beach and the sea. The swimming pool was also very beautiful, so beautiful that we even played bridge beside it. I also went to swim together with Shi Hao and Genial, and walked along the beach after that. What a nice way to spend a holiday.

We also went to this place called the Floating Market, where many of the things were sold on boats and the whole place was filled with water. Had traditional chinese dumplings for lunch, and walked around the place. Too bad we didn't get a chance to ride on the boats. At night, we went to a restaurant along the beach to have dinner. The sunset was very beautiful, and having a dinner while hearing the sound of sea waves is so romantic. If I had a girlfriend I would definitely bring her there. The dinner was also very yummy with lots of sea food, some which I never even see before. Poor Zhixiong who couldn't take seafood... Haha.

After dinner we went to watch a show called Tiffany's show. It was performed by "Thai girls", who were... not really girls. I don't think there were any real girls on stage. Nevertheless their beautiful costumes and the elaborate set-ups still earned our applause. After the show James and Shi Hao even went to take photo with 2 of the "girls".

Went back to hotel after that, and once again it was bridge time. It was kind of a waste to sleep, especially when you know that you'll be leaving the next day...

21st December Monday

I wanted to wake up for breakfast. In fact I did wake up at 8 am. However after that I went back to sleep, and when I woke up again it was too late for breakfast already... Both me and Hansiong missed the breakfast, which was hyped to be very very delicious. Indeed, I shouldn't have missed any meal in such a nice hotel...

We played bridge until 11 plus am, before we packed our luggage and checked out of the hotel. We had our lunch at this MK restaurant, and the food was steamboat. Strangely they just used boiling water and didn't put any base inside, but well it was still quite nice. At one moment there was music and the waiters and waitresses started dancing along the music. It was so funny.

Went to shop at this Outlet Mall after that. We were all separated, and I bought a Jeans and 3 shirts. At around 4 plus pm, we proceeded to the air port.

At the air port we bid farewell to Ms Vantanee and Mr Shi. After that we checked in and did our last shopping inside the airport. Actually there was nothing much to buy, because most of the stuff were branded... I only bought some tibits. In the end I was still left with a few thousand bahts...

This time, I could really relax on the flight. I watched a movie called "Accident" because it looked quite good, but in the end it proved to be a lousy show... I could have spent my time watching a better movie. But well, the graphic is not so good anyway.

22nd December Tuesday

Reached Changi Airport at 12.30 am. Back to Singapore.

All and all, this trip was very fun and enjoyable. The food was nice, the people were nice, the accomodation was nice, and the scenary was nice. We also spent many fun nights playing bridge and eating potato chips. The only regret I have is the game... Maybe if I had done better in the first game, our results could have been better. I had disappointed Singapore once again... Hopefully, next time, I will be able to do a better job. And next year, let us clinch the Group Champion!

Fruitful Week

2009-11-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

This week was relatively quite well spent. Tuesday night went to Japanese Garden to watch meteors, but only saw 7 of them after sitting there for 6 hours. But it was a nice picnic! I think it will be nice to organise some night outing~

Thursday went Takashi's house for... party. Drank beer and cocktail. And the food was nice!

Friday morning first Yanglaoshi lesson. It was quite bad... Somehow when I play with pros the feeling is different from when I play with other people. Could have done better in many areas... Next lesson I will try my best!

Saturday Jurong Green Weiqi Championship. There were only 30+ people in Group A, and Zhou Xiang and Xie Tang didn't come. I thought I had a chance to get champion after I won Li Chao in round 3, but in the end I lost to Wang Jing in round 4 because of a mistake... I still got 2nd due to my high SOS though. But it doesn't feel good to lose a game I could have won... Must continue to work hard!

Sunday evening was a lecture conducted my Kanglaoshi. He talked about the game between Kong Jie and Piao Yong Xun (I don't know the English name...), and also about the game between Xie Tang and Yang Qian played in Thailand. Kanglaoshi always impresses me because he could talk non-stop and also in a interesting manner. It was also funn when Xie Tang and Kanglaoshi exchanged ideas and in the end almost became another game.

Watched <2012> with SWA people after the lecture. It was a 2 and a half hour movie! The movie was ok, just that the things happening are so unrealistic... Maybe it would be better if the movie was made into a game. And I don't know whether it's the director's motive or not, but I find it ironic that some characters escaped from so many natural disasters and in the end died because of a man-made machine...

And that's how I spent this week. Looking back, maybe it wasn't so fruitful after all...

National Service -Looking Back-

2009-11-10T23:59:00.008+08:00

10th November 2009.

Taking my last sip of fruit juice, I walked out of Tuas Naval Base, through the gate which I used to stand at.

My feeling was very complicated.

I thought I should be happy, now that army life has finally ended. But it turned out that I wasn't.

Or rather, there were too many good memories for me to leave this place with a smile.

There were hard times, but there were also good times spent with nice friends, and I would never forget some of them.

They say that army enables the boy to change into a man.

I'm not pretty sure whether I'm considered a man now.

What I'm sure of is, I definitely gained something through this 1 year and 10 months.

Now let me take this chance to look back at the times I spent in the SAF...

Basic Military Training

When I was enlisted, I was just like a student who had just started secondary school: I didn't know what to do. All I knew were the items to bring and the place to report. My mother accompanied me to Pulau Tekong on the first day. I still remember on that day we took MRT, and in the middle of the trip I had a stomache and had to get down the train to go to the washroom. My mum was very angry because we were running late already. After that we took a taxi to Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, but still couldn't reach in time. Fortunately, the SAF personnels there didn't say anything, and we still could board the bus to Tekong. Was it because my mum was around? I don't know.

Before I even knew it, my pink IC was gone. One guy had asked us to place it down on a table, and at that moment I had no idea I wouldn't be seeing it again until today. There was a lecture, and before that our company sergeant major spoke to us. It was the first time a military personnel actually gave us instructions. He had a very strict tone and was very stern. He even taught us how to sit properly! At that moment I thought, wow, this is no joke. Everybody is so serious about this. I got to be serious also...

I said goodbye to my mother right after the lecture. Very soon we were separated into our individual platoons and sections and given our rooms. It was such a coincidence, that there were 3 guys including me who were from Hwachong! That enabled me to get into the community faster(initially...). My bed buddy, Sam, was also very nice(initially...). And our section commander, Sergeant Au, was... a funny person. I mean, he tried to sound serious, and look serious, but on the inside he's very funny. Later on I'll realise that, almost all the commanders in the SAF are like that...

The beginning of BMT was quite tough. It's just like first day of school (did I mention this before?), you have to get used to the system. The accomodation and the food was okay, but the discipline was something that took me time to adapt to. I still remember the harsh punishment given to us by Mr Goh, my secondary school teacher, when I was secondary 1. He made us do things such as moving our tables to the grass field and touching the tree and coming back etc... Through BMT I was able to understand how all these came about...

And that's how my 9 weeks of BMT started. I was in the enhanced batch, hence my BMT duration was shorter than some of the people. I guess that's because I got Silver for my NAPFA and got PES A for my health screening. Very soon I was able to get used to the system, such as waking up early everyday, doing exercise every morning, and taking colder showers every night. But there was one thing I couldn't get used to even until the end: showing off.

Since I was in the enhanced batch, all of us were expected to go through commander course and become commanders after BMT. Therefore we were expected to display our abilities without any reservations. That's how I came to know about the word, "wayang", which basically means to show off. That's something which I didn't like to do, and wasn't used to doing. I didn't like to do things just to show others, even if you didn't know how to do, and showing enthusiasm even when I'm not interested. But what I didn't know was, in the army world, everybody had to do that.

Because of that, added on to the fact that I wasn't a good speaker and couldn't communicate well with the rest, I didn't make a good impression on others and my commanders. The only things they knew about me was my name and the fact that I knew how to play weiqi. I also fared badly for my SIT test, and my peer appraisal was also quite bad(though I didn't really know the results but that's how I think they turned out...). As a result, I didn't get into SISPEC or OCS, and only got a vocation known as Sea Soldier Leader...

I was also very hesistant about whether I wanted to become a commander. Initially I didn't want to become one, because I thought that if I became a commander I wouldn't have time competitions. That worry turned out to be redundant though, because in the end I also didn't qualify for any competitions... Anyway, nearing the end of BMT I changed my mind and decided that I want to become a commander. Being a commander, I would be able to learn how to give others instructions and how to manage people. I would also indirectly learn how to manage my time, and most important of all, commanders will get more money. Hence when they asked me whether I wanted to go command school, I said "Yes".

And my next phase of NS life started as a Sea Soldier Leader...

Sea Soldier Course

3 months of BMT has ended. Now I will move on to the next 3 months, when I went through the Sea Soldier Course(SSC).

Initially when I was made known of my vocation called Sea Soldier Leader, I didn't even know what it meant. What's a "Sea Soldier"? It sounded quite cool, but after that I found out that it was actually no other than guard duty... And a very "siong" kind of guard duty, unlike normal RPs. Basically we are RPs belonging to the Navy, but we do much more than other RPs.

Anyway, the 1st 2 weeks were spent in 2 PDF Camp at clementi doing some RP course. The first day was the worst... Suddenly the sergeants in charge of us told us that we had to stay in at Changi Naval Base(CNB), which was like damn far away. After the day's lessons they brought us there for dinner, and then because we didn't bring any of our stay-in materials, we had to get home from Changi and then come back with all the necessary stuff within 2 hours! Not considering the distance from my house, CNB is a place where there is almost no traffic. Other than the shuttle bus which comes once in a while, the only thing you can take is taxi, and you have to call one... In the end everybody was frantically calling cabs, and I also barely made it in time... That was sort of the worst experience I had...

So for the whole of the 2 weeks we were expected to go to Clementi Camp from Changi and then come back after the day's lessons are over... It sucked... However for the 2nd week we were allowed to go home because apparently the Warrant Officer from 2PDF went to talk to the boss of SSC. That was cool, but then why couldn't have released us from the very first day? Haiz...

One thing I was happy about is that I still had a chance to become a sergeant. The sergeant in charge of us that time told us that Being a Sea Soldier "Leader" is something like going to SISPEC, just that they already had too many people there hence they posted us here. Hence at the end of the course, if I performed well, I will have a chance to go through the Sea Soldier Leaders Course(SSLC) to become a sergeant. Apparently some others were just Sea Soldiers and not leaders. I actually believed what he said, and believed that I could become a sergeant. But most of the time, reality doesn't go the way you want...

SSC officially started after the 2 weeks RP course. Coincidentally, there was one Hwachong guy in my bunk again! Anyway, before it started many people said how "siong" SSC will be, but actually I didn't think of it that way. It's very demanding both physically and in the disciplinary aspect, but I actually liked it. All the physical exercises can help you keep fit, and all the while I liked discipline. What I meant is, I preferred a place with a lot of discipline than a place with none. That's why I didn't like my school days: there wasn't enough discipline! Students were doing what they want, and sometimes the teacher didn't do anything!

However, most of the people in SSC only knew how to complain how tiring it is, how demanding the sergeants are, but I didn't say a word. I just aimed to do what I was supposed to do. I was given 3 appointments, and I always carried out my duty without fail. When I was the Platoon IC, I also did my best and performed whatever the sergeants asked me to do. But there were no results. Or rather, the results showed that I still lacked something...

Yes, in the end, I wasn't selected to go for SSLC. To add on to it, I was the only Sea Soldier Leader who wasn't selected. Why? I kept asking myself. I did all that I was supposed to do, why wasn't I selected? Instead of me, some random people who couldn't even give proper commands got selected. My sec com told me that I was capable, just that I didn't like to do work with others, hence I wasn't recommended for SSLC. I guess my peer appraisal was very poor again. But at that moment, I only had anger and jealousy in my heart.

What I didn't realise was that, there are some things which are more important than capability and discipline. And that's human relationships. Especially in the army, it's very hard to succeed on your own. Since everyone like to complain so much, when they talk bad things about you, your reputation goes down, no matter how capable you are. The same also goes for relationship with your superiors. Just blindingly following their orders is not good enough. Sometimes you have to joke with them, and even lick their boots. And when you do things, you must do things so that others can see, unlike me whose efforts can never be seen. And that's why I didn't "suceed" in SSC.

But knowing that is not enough... It's just very hard for me to communicate with typical singaporeans. It has always been like that. They either make fun of me being born in China, make fun of my name (cos a lot of people have the surname Zhang...), or there are no common topics to talk about, making it very difficult for me to communicate with them. I could only talk to those who were very outgoing, but I was never the no. 1 friend of anyone. I think I should change myself, but that's very hard to achieve. Hence, how to improve this situation, is still unknown...

And that's how my SSC life ended. I had no regrets. Only hatred. Hatred for my sec com for not recommending me, and hatred for the others whom I didn't think were capable but were still selected for SSLC.

Tuas Defence Squadron(TDS)

My next phase, and the remaining phase of life in the army was spent at Tuas Defence Squadron(TDS), which is situated at Tuas Naval Base(TNB). Most of the sea soldiers were either posted to TNB or CNB, and luckily I was posted to Tuas, because Tuas was nearer to my house, even though it was still very inconvenient to go there. And at that time, the system at Tuas was better than that at Changi, as we were allowed to go home more frequently. Duty at Tuas also didn't require LBV, except for some stations. I thought "Wow, this is a nice place, I can enjoy my life here!", and it made my anger which I carried on from SSC soothe down a little.

Life at TDS started with being an OJT. We were supposed to follow our seniors there when they are doing duty and observe what they do. Luckily for me, my OJT was quite smooth. There weren't many turnouts, and the seniors were nice to us. After 3 to 4 weeks of OJT we started mounting duty officially. I was posted to platoon 1, with 4 others. There was a choice of going to land-side or sea-side, and I chose land-side. That was because at land-side we had to deal with more people and more situations, and I wanted to challenge myself. Life at sea-side even though is slack, I felt that it would be too boring to spend the rest of the time there.

Being only a man, initially I didn't like most of the sergeants. I thought of sergeants as those who only knew how to wayang. That's why my relationship with the sergeants were quite bad, especially the first batch. Also, because I was still a new bird, my duty was very "siong", hence I also didn't have the energy to go and improve relationship with others.

Things started to get better as the next few batches of sea soldiers came in. Well, actually there are things which got worse also, such as us having to wear LBV and the introduction of 7 days duty. But as you rise in seniority, your duty will get less "siong", so it was still okay. My relationship with the sergeants didn't change though, even when those from my batch became the platoon sergeant and guard commander. I could see that they also didn't like me, and they also tried to tekan me by giving me more duty. When that happened, I just took it without complaining. In fact I never liked to complain. I believed that complaining is a display of weakness, and it shows you can't achieve things on your own.

Well, but in life, you have to depend on others. There are times when I wanted to talk more to the rest, but I just couldn't bring myself to. Only when I became an old bird then the situation started to improve. Being a laojiao(old bird), I had my position and hence I could talk to the juniors more freely. Even though I had to stay-in for 7 days, I started to enjoy life there, by doing exercise, watching movies and playing PSP. Slowly those anger started to fade, and whether I was a sergeant or man didn't matter to me anymore. I had already accepted reality, and the fact that it was my fault. I didn't do enough.

Through TDS I also learnt how the whole Guard Duty system works, and how to deal with people. I never regretted choosing land-side. It also allowed me to observe people, and it was funny to see some trying to bluff us or smoke their way through by hiding something. It was even funnier even when we catch these people. Night duty was boring, but I also found my way to survive by finding things to do. As long as you never get caught, you can do anything. That's one "core value" in the SAF.

There were also many different situations, and it was interesting to see how my superiors deal with these situations. Some even involved high-ranking officers, and some even resulted in people getting extras or going DB. I also got extra twice, and when serving the extras I kept cursing my commanders, but after that I thought that actually it didn't matter, 'cos it was my fault that I got caught.

Time started to pass really fast with the introduction of 7 days, and in a blink of the eye my ORD was coming closer. The last few months at TDS was actually quite enjoyable. Duty was very little, and hence I could enjoy my PSP. I didn't manage to play finish a lot of games though. The duty system also turned for the better, with the introduction of Sea Troopers who shared our work load. In fact I think my batch of Sea Soldiers suffered the most. After we joined all the bad changes started coming in, and when we were about to leave all the good changes came in. But who cares. I was going to ORD already. However, surprisingly, for a moment I thought that spending more time here wasn't so bad...

After I came back from Thailand, it was already my clearance week, and I had almost nothing left to do except to get a few signatures. Got my ORD plaque and ORD cert last Friday, and got back my IC today. Suddenly sadness started sprouting within in. Oh, I'm about to leave this place. Even though I may be coming back again, but all those times, no matter good or bad, will never come back.

Conclusion

1 year and 10 months in the SAF.

Not long, not short.

I have to say, the time wasn't very well spent.

I wanted to achieve something, to learn something, to make myself a better person through this 1 year 10 months.

And it seems that I have failed.

I have never even visited the Chevrons ones! What a waste of membership...

However, I definitely have brought something home with me, other than my pink IC.

Something which cannot be expressed in words.

Something, which will definitely be useful to me in the future.

Something, which hopefully, can make me grow into a man.

Good bye TDS.

Good bye, friends.

Good bye, SAF.

Till the time we meet again!

PS I can't believe it took me 7 days to write all these...

MODE: ORD

2009-11-01T23:59:00.000+08:00

Today is the 1st of November.

In other words, it's the start of November 2009.

In other words, strictly speaking, I've got 10 more days before I'm going to get my pink(not blue!) IC back.

In other words, I should be completely in ORD mode now.

Actually, I think I am, just that maybe somewhere, I'm not content with myself.

1 year and 10 months of NS has made me such a lazy person.

I don't even know whether I'm ready to go back to civilian life.

Should I go for a Civilian Conversion Course?(there is really such a course!!!)

Still got so many clearance to do, so many things to settle.

Maybe I'm just tired of life.

But too bad, life goes on.

And I must start preparing for my next phase of life.

Before that I must plan what to do during the 9 months before I go uni...

PS Ok, my karaoke competition is next sat, and I haven't done any preparations... Haven't even memorised the lyrics! OMG, even if it's free, I don't want to make a fool of myself... Gotta prepare this one first...

Amazing U-Go

2009-10-27T16:35:00.004+08:00

2009.10.17 Saturday

It was the day that we set off for Bangkok, Thailand. The flight was at 7.30 pm, and I was supposed to reach the air-port by 5.30 pm. I was surprised to see only James and Mile there, because I didn't know that the NYP people had already left for Thailand early in the morning. Seems like they found the air-ticket too expensive, haha. The flight was a bit delayed, and we reached Bangkok at around 9 plus. But the funny thing is that even though the flight to Bangkok takes around 1 hour, the time in Bangkok is also slower by 1 hour, so in the end it will seem like you didn't spend any time flying. Ironic, huh?

Boarded a coach to Tara Park immediately after we left the air-port. The weather was not as cold as I imagined. Guess I shouldn't have brought 2 jackets... After some time, we reached Tara Park, where we would be staying for the night before going to the actual competition venue. I didn't expect they actually prepared dinner for us, cos it was quite late. The last time we went there, I remember, they gave us cup noodles as supper. But this time they gave us yummy dishes!

They also distributed the booklet for the competition and the shirts that we were supposed to wear for the next 2 days. Haiz, if I had known I wouldn't have brought so many shirts along... The booklet also let us know who our opponents could be... Some were quite... scary...

2009.10.18 Sunday

Today's schedule was full of lectures and "tutorials", which made the day very boring. Well, having a lecture at the resort wasn't such a bad idea, just that maybe the lectures could have been more interesting, haha. Or maybe the team leaders could attend the lectures, while we players go play?

Basically the lectures were about research on Go and it's effects on people. In the afternoon we even had a guy come and teach us how to meditate! It's not impossible though, but a bit hard to achieve in a lecture theatre, isn't it? In the end I think almost everybody fell asleep...

We spent the whole day at the resort. For the lunch and dinner, the environment was ok, but the food... I'm not really sure. I can't really get used to Thai food, even though I came here so many times. While Xie Tang kept complaining that the food sucks and he wasn't able to fill his stomach, haha. For dinner we even had to go to a riverside restaurant despite the fact that it was raining heavily, making everyone drenched when they reached there...

Oh yeah, in the evening every team were supposed to make a presentation on how they came to know about Go and what they feel etc. Singapore team was first, followed by Malaysia, Taipei, and Hong Kong. I don't know why the other teams didn't present, haha. The officials even told us that if we didn't finish they wouldn't send us to the air-port on the last day! Really?

At night we proceeded to our accomodation, which was something like a school hostel. But the rooms were very nice, just like a hotel, except maybe there were too many mosquitoes... The beds were very soft and very comfortable! I was tempted to just lie down and rest, but James went to play a friendly match with the Japanese, and I was also curious to know how well they were, so I went to watch.

2009.10.19 Monday

Finally the competition was going to start. We were going to play 6 rounds swiss rule, 2 rounds per day. It's actually an individual competition, just that your individual scores will contribute to your country's team score, just like Lanke Cup in Singapore. The competition hall was divided into 2 parts, one for the Thai U-Go and one for the Asian Go Tournament. Mile, me and Xie Tang joined the Asian Go, while the other NYP people played the Thai U-Go, against other Thailand universities.

The opening ceremony included some big shots talking, some performances, and all the country flags going onto the stage. The performances were nice, especially the Hip-Hop dances, and it was also nice to see the head of 7-eleven giving a speech.

Our first round's opponent was Vietnam players. All 3 of us won. It was a good start, considering that Mile's opponent was 4d, their strongest player. But of course, everybody's attention was on the fierce fight between the China and Korea players, who played against each other in the first round.

In the end China won by 2-1. I didn't expect the professional player Yang Qian to lose! But well, this shows how strong the Korean players are...

We packed food for lunch, but I don't know why I feel it tastes better than the food we had at the restaurants... Oh well, never mind. In the afternoon we 3 played against players from different countries. Mile played Ho from Hong Kong, I played Tsai from Taipei, while Xie Tang played Yang Qian, the pro 6d from China! Unfortunately Xie Tang lost that game in the end. He said that he wasn't mentally prepared, and played a lot of bad moves, other wise he would have had a chance. I also lost my game, due to making a wrong move during the opening. Mile was the only Singaporean who won both game during the first day! Wow...

During the dinner at the competition hall, there was a muay thai performance. We were very anxious to see the fight, but it only started after about 10 minutes of warm-up, haha. Nevertheless it was still very exciting. Just when the NYP teacher in-charge Mr Wilfred who came with us was complaining that back in NYP the don't even allow food inside the hall, a black dog roamed into the scene and among our tables. Looks like they allow anything to go inside, haha~

I think it was on that night, that we and many others were invited to the Korean players' room to drink Shochu after we got back to our hostel. The alcohol level was like... 40 degrees? But I was still alright after drinking it. Guess I'm getting stronger now, haha. It was a fun night when we introduced ourselves and got to know more about each other. The Koreans also taught as a new way of eating Nong Shim noodles. Open the packet, break the noodles, pour out the sauce, and just eat! Don't even need to cook! We were all amazed by this method, but surprisingly it tasted quite good. There were also magic performances by Yukihiko from Japan and Ho from Hong Kong. They were very professional! I hope to learn from them if I had the chance, haha.

2009.10.20 Tuesday

3rd round of competition. I played Dong from Vietnam, Xie Tang played Peng Bei from Macau, while Mile played Tsai from Taipei. Xie Tang and me won, while Mile had his first loss. There was also a close match of Yukihiko VS Chen Xiao Chen from China. In the end Chen won by a bit. The review with Xie Tang after the match was very funny. Everytime the players were reviewing game, they would talk about if Xie Tang was around he would be able to kill this group, make this group alive etc. And when Xie Tang really came, they made him prove to them that he can kill a particular group. In the end it became a let's-all-gang-up-against-Xie-Tang instead of a game review anymore. LOL

In the afternoon I played Ding Ding from Taipei, Xie Tang Yukihiko, and Mile Shogo from Japan. I was surprised that my opponents for the 2nd day are from the same country as my opponents for the first day, in the exact same order! And my results were also the same... I lost again... Even though I lost by only a small margin, It still shows that I wasn't up to standard. Xie Tang won by killing off one group, while Mile lost, but he kept saying that he could have won.

Dinner was at this place called Texas Steak House (or something like that?). It was outdoors, so everybody wondered what would happen if it were to suddenly rain. But soon everybody started to worry about something else... The mosquitoes. Just as Mile said, we were well fed, so were the mosquitoes, who started appearing in swarms when the sun set. After a while everybody was literally running away from the dining tables... You can see how powerful the mosquitoes are!

At night we went back to the competition venue for a teaching game... by us! Or rather by the high dan players, and apparently I was one of them. Each of us had to play against 9 to 10 players, all giving a handi of about 6 to 7. However it was more fun than I thought, and Xie Tang apparently enjoyed it. The other players were playing teaching games with the Korea and Thailand coaches. They also provided us with tasteful porridge after the games. What a nice evening!

2009.10.21 Wednesday

For the 5th round of competition, my opponent was Patcharapol from Thailand. Xie Tang played Shogo, and Mile played Peng Bei. Two Taipei players were playing against two Korean players, so it was like a match between the 2 countries. In the end it was 1-1. Congrats to Tsai for beating a Korean player!

For the final round, I played Yukihiko, Xie Tang played Cui Chao from China, and Mile played Jimmy from Malaysia if I'm not wrong. Since it was the last round, I wanted to play a good quality game, but it ended up in a very bad one... Xie Tang won his China counterpart with a smile, and Mile also won. There was also a final fight between Chen Xiao Chen from China and a person from Korea (sorry, I forgot his name...). In the end Chen Xiao Chen won, and as a result of winning all 6 rounds he got the individual champion.

Xie Tang got 2nd, and even he himself was quite surprised, as he thought his SOS couldn't make it. For the team rankings, China was first, followed by Taipei, Korea, Japan, and Singapore. As for my individual ranking... I don't want to mention anymore... I actually got the lowest from my country... Haiz...

Prize presentation ceremony was carried out at night in the same competition hall. They first gave out tokens to those who played the teaching games, followed by dinner and some performances, and then the prize presentation. The food was nice, and the performances also had beautiful girls and guys and... those who belong to neither category. Haha, but they were fun to look at, and everybody was laughing.

After the ceremony instead of leaving everybody was busy taking photos with each other. As if no one wanted to leave, people were just crowding outside the hall flashing their cameras. The officials even had to come and ask us to hurry up before we moved up the bus. This shows how unwilling we were to part from each other...

That night back at the hostel was spent playing table tennis, drinking, and playing Go. Even though we had to wake up at 6.30 am the next day, no one wanted to sleep. Sleep is such a waste of time! Everybody wanted to spend more time with each other instead. That applied to me as well. In the end I played pair go with Chien Chong, Mile and Lok Yan until about 3 am before we really went to sleep.

2009.10.22 Thursday

This day was spent touring around Thailand. We went to the Grand Palace and some other places which I cannot recall the name... Thailand is nicer than Singapore in some ways. For example when boarding the MRT (they have another name for it) people actually queue up in front of the doors, unlike Singapore where everybody fights to be the first to get in. And their trains also look better than Singapore's.

Night time was free time so the Singapore Team went to Siam Paragon, which was incredibly far away. Furthermore it was peak hour, and the traffic jam was at it's maximum, hence it took us more than 1 hour by taxi to get there... After dinner we had only 1 hour to shop around before we went for Thai traditional massage. It was actually the first massage that I had, and all I can say is... very painful. Yes, while Xie Tang said it was very comfortable, I kept holding back my screams during the massage... I really can't understand why people pay so much for these things...

The night won't end there. After we got back to Tara Park we joined the rest in drinking and playing games. The Koreans taught us a very fun game called the "I Love You Game" or something like that, and everybody enjoyed playing it. The video can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?comments&v=515299086528 After that I played pair go with Chien Chong, Jimmy and Mile until about 6 am before we slept.

2009.10.23 Friday

Left for Singapore very unwilling at 1 pm. Was back in Singapore by 4.30 pm Singapore time.

On the whole, I feel this was a very fruitful trip. I didn't do well for my games, but I didn't plan to achieve any good results, and I only treated this as an ORD trip, so it was still okay. Memories and friendship is much much more important, and I still regret not creating more good memories. But I hope the friendship I gained in this trip will always be there, and also hope that one day we will gather together again.

PS My photography skills didn't improve much during this trip... I wanted to take nice photos, but all of them ended up very dark... The external flash I brought also screwed up and the photos didn't turn out as bright as I wanted... How can I shoot better without flash? Was it my settings' problem? I tried by increasing the ISO but that would just increase the noise level... Decreasing the shutter speed would also make the picture more blur... I don't know. The officials did a very good job. I'm definitely going to do some research next time... And guys, sorry for some photos that were very badly taken... ><

Off to Chiang-Mai

2009-10-17T16:03:00.002+08:00

Finally finished preparing for my Thailand trip...

So, tonight, I will be flying off to Chiang-Mai, Thailand, for my Thai-U-Go weiqi competition. It's quite surprising that until now I still don't know what the competition is about, how it goes and who's going, but who cares. As long as I get to go for overseas competition, I'm happy. It has been so long since I last went overseas...

I'm not really hoping to achieve anything. I just hope to do my best. This is also something like my ORD trip, except I haven't ORD yet! Haha~ Oh yeah, I'll also be bringing along my dear Canny this time, so I hope to bring back great pictures. Haven't touched Canny for a very long time also...

Ok, Chiang-Mai, here I come!

Marksman and Confinement

2009-09-29T23:54:00.003+08:00

Just came back from my SAR 21 range today.

And to my surprise, I actually got Marksman! Even though it was a group effort, and my group seemingly consisted of random people, we still did it! The first batch of Marksman from TDS, haha. I guess I should be proud of it.

The happiness from getting $200 and 2 days off didn't last long. After the range my PC told me that I need to serve 2 x confinement. Why? Because my rifle was stunned by him... Okay, I admit it's my fault. I went to throw rubbish and it just slipped my mind. But 2 confinement? Haiz...

Didn't think I would still need to suck thumb when I'm going to ORD soon...

Countdown to ORD

2009-09-28T18:56:00.002+08:00

<--- 42 more days to go...

Going for my last range tomorrow. Hopefully I will get marksmen since it's SAR 21.

Will be going for my last 7 days this Thursday. Must really prepare well, since after that I won't be staying in anymore...

And I got to start planning my life after ORD... Getting back to normal Civilian life is no easy task, you know.

Goodbye, Usui-san. Goodbye, Shinchan

2009-09-26T02:35:00.002+08:00

先日軍にいたとき、新聞をよんで、クレヨンしんちゃんの作家、臼井儀人がなくなられた事を、知りました。

とても、ショックだったです。

シンガポールに来た後は、漫画とかアニメとか少ししか見てないんですけど、日本にいた時はほぼ毎週見てました。オレはしんちゃんが大好きでした。あこがれてました。真似もしてました。友達との話題にもなっていました。しんちゃんの姿をみて、感動もいっぱいありました。

笑いもそうですけど、何よりクレしんが好きだった理由は、しんちゃん一家が、ずっと幸せな暮らしをしていたからです。ちょっと下品なところもあるけど、クレしんはすごく家族の愛をあらわしてる作品だとおもいます。オレもそんな家族がいたらいいなあ、いつかそんな生活したいなあって、いつも思ってました。

多分もうこれでしんちゃんとはお別れだとおもいます。すごく残念です。

今後クレしんをみるときは、涙がこぼれるとおもいます。

臼井先生、これまでの笑いや感動、ありがとうございました。あなたがいなければ、多分オレは、あんなに楽しい子供生活をすごすことができなかったと思います。

ご冥福を祈ります。

Having booked out on Thursday, I thought I would be happy. But it seems that I'm not. Because too many sad things are happening around me.

The mum of a friend of mine just passed away due to Breast Cancer. It must be a huge shock for him. To lose a person so close to you, no matter how much tears you shed it won't remove the pain. I can't imagine what I would be if I were to lose my mother suddenly like that. So guys, please treasure your family.

When I was in camp a few days ago, I read the newspapers, and found out that Usui Yoshito, the author and creator of the famous manga, Crayon Shinchan, was found dead under a cliff in Gunba-ken. It seems that he accidentally fell while climbing the mountain.

It was a huge shock to me also.

After I came to Singapore, I didn't read or watch much Shinchan anime or manga, but when I was in Japan I watched it almost every week. I loved Shinchan. I admired him. I imitated him. He was the topic of discussion of everyone. I was also touched by his actions many times.

The manga/anime is funny, but the main reason I liked Crayon Shinchan is because the family of Shinchan is always leading a very happy life. There maybe some parts which are a bit indecent, but overall the manga is about family love. I always thought of being in such a family and leading a life similar to that of Shinchan.

It's a pity that probably I will have to say goodbye to Shinchan.

The next time I see Shinchan on book or TV, I think I won't be able to hold back my tears.

Usui-sensei, thank you for all the laughter, joy and happiness you have brought us over the years. If it weren't for you, my childhood would have been half as fun.

Rest in peace.

Stay-in for 10 days

2009-09-13T23:59:00.000+08:00

From tomorrow onwards, I won't be around for 10 days... And I do mean it. It's the time of the year again, and we will be tested for 5 days followed by another 5 days of normal duty. Haiz... I feel sianz, but thinking that this is the last thing I will go through makes me feel better. Yes, after this week, I will be the king!

So today, basically I was preparing for the 10 days stay-in for the whole day. I was doing things like looking for my PSP charger and putting games into my PSP. Yes, I'm going back to using PSP again, because I feel that this time iPOD Touch will not be enough. I will try to do some reading, though. There are so many books that I have read halfway... I'll also continue to do my weiqi training in camp, using the magnetic Go board.

Hopefully by the time I come out, I will have more freedom, and will be a happier person. But for now, let's hope this thing goes smoothly first...

Sharing some funny videos here. "Ideal" for those who wants to learn Japanese but are lazy to go and learn the words... LOL Watch the last one especially... It's damn funny...

National "Youth" Team Selection

2009-09-06T22:44:00.003+08:00

Saturday and Sunday was the selection for the Weiqi National Youth Team. Even though there was a word "Youth" inside, people who are older than 20 and even one guy who was older than 50 joined the competition... Well, never mind about that, since I think the definition of "Youth" can vary. Anyway, we played 5 games in 2 days, and for the high dan group 12 out of 13 people will be selected to be in the National Team. It also means only 1 person will be eliminated. Upon knowing that, I was able to play with much less stress, though I still wanted to achieve the best result possible.

In the end I won 4 games out of 5. I lost 1 game to JC, by 3.5 pts. This game was quite smooth for me and I was sort of leading until middle game. Even after I made a serious mistake I still had a chance to win. But then due to byo-yomi I played a move that became a gote and after that I also lost some more points in yose, resulting in him leading the game. Haiz, I got to improve more in byo-yomi and judgement skills... Always cannot calculate the points properly...

I was able to win Sionghwai, Yuxiang, Damo, and Mr Zhao. Some games were really dangerous, but luckily I still managed to win in the end. As a result I got into Group A of the National Team. If I'm not wrong, those who are also in Group A include Sionghwai, Yuxiang, Shihao, Chee Hiong and JC. Alvin unfortunately got 7th so he got into Group B. Sad...

When the training starts, I guess it's also time for me to seriously start honing my weiqi skills...

Recent Events

2009-09-02T21:27:00.002+08:00

There has been so many things happening recently... And due to my addiction to this game called Red Alert 3, I haven't been able to update my blog... I really like the C&C series, and RA3 is really a nice game. I like to use Empire of the Rising Sun. It's units are really versatile, and Yuriko Omega is total Ownage... From what I see Soviets are more on the offensive side and Allies on the defensive side. But some units are really fun to use. I heard Command & Conquer 4 is coming out next year. WOW... I guess it's time for me to start playing my C&C3...

Ok, back to topic... First event is the Farewell party for Yanglaoshi @ Hwachong. This one is organised by our Juniors for Yanglaoshi. While it was a chance for them to say goodbye to YLS, I also happened to meet most of my Hwachong weiqi friends. With everyone busy with army etc, it's very hard to find a time when everybody is free... After the party we went to KAP to eat, and promised to have another gathering for the weiqi people at the end of the year.

Next event is the Japanese Summer Festival (夏祭り) at a Japanese Primary School at Changi. This is the first time I went to this event. Last year I think due to Army I couldn't make it. It was quite fun! Even though there were a lot of people and it was almost impossible to move around without bumping into anyone, the whole mood was there. I also managed to rent a yukata to wear. Kind of hard to walk about though, and I could have picked a better one... But some people really looked nice in yukata. I also did a bit of bon-odori before going back. Hope I can go again next year! And if I possible I want to go to the real matsuri in Japan!

ゲゲゲの鬼太郎！

Very nice mood~

People dancing on the stage~

After the Summer Festival I rushed to this place called Amaranda Gardens to celebrate Teacher's Day for YLS and KLS. It was organised by SWA. Kind of early for Teacher's Day, but since I was outside camp, I decided I should go and drop by also. Who knows the moment I reached there, YLS filled me a small cup of XO. He said he had been keeping this bottle for very long, and everyone drank 1 cup already. Having no choice, I had to drink the XO sip by sip, because I really couldn't take it... It was kind of... spicy. Anyway some people were playing weiqi, and the moment I reached they started taking photos. Zhixiong got into trouble again, by being thrown into the pool... Haha. But this time he brought Sionghwai along with him, who sadly had his phone, mp3 player and wallet inside his pocket...

Happy teacher's day, YLS and KLS! (KLS left before I reached there...)

Last Thursday, there was a platoon BBQ organised by our PC. It was held at East Coast Park, which was very far from my house... And since it was on a weekday, it was even harder to get there... I tried to take bus from Bedok, but it seems that I had alighted at the wrong stop. I couldn't find the underpass at first... And after I found it I reached ECP but it took me around half an hour to walk to the BBQ pit... Haiz~

But the BBQ itself was nice! Some people kept eating, some people kept cooking, while some people just sat there to chill around. There were also people there whom I didn't expect to see. It's nice to have this kind of cohesion once in a while~

Singapore Weiqi League 2009 concluded on last Sunday. Even though it was the last day there were still a lot of happenings. I thought that after the previous few rounds, the final ranking wouldn't change anymore, but things didn't turn out the way I expected. First of all Yaxin lost to Song Yufeng from NTU, which of kind of unexpected. This way 棋局弈山河 lost 1 小分 and I think they lost another 小分 after that, and became on par with us. Hwachong on the other hand lost 2 小分 due to FCC losing 2 matches, and we were leading them by 1 小分 before the last game. And as if to make the finishing move, in our last match against 酒, Li Chao won Zhou Xiang by 1.5 points, and we managed to finish the day without losing a single 小分！Since our 小分 is the same with 棋局, and we won them by 2-1 when we played them, we actually got the team champion! Woohoo! 3 cheers to 长春二队！I'm sure Mr Fu will be so happy that his team finally got champion. This was our only chance to get champion, and it actually came true. I'll have to thank Li Chao for that also. Also not to forget my other team mates Sionghwai and Shiaw-yen. Good work, guys!

On this day, I let Meiyu help me take photos while I was playing games. I told her to take more because I will select among them, but I didn't expect her to take hundreds of photos... Haha, nice photos though. Maybe next time I'll look for her help again. In the end I became lazy to choose, so I uploaded almost everything to facebook. The gallery can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116929&id=545686096&l=dc8e4390c6

酒VS棋局弈山河

Probably one of the highest level games there

Wonder what she's looking at and what she's thinking...

Photo of us 3!

Ah, finally I have someone to help me take photo~

Is he thinking about the game or about the Prelims...?

So many audience...

Another high level game...

Good one， Li Chao!

Yay! Team Champion!

长春二队rocks!!

I guess I was kinda happy also~

League Champion trophy. This year it's quite nicely made~

Lastly, due to her request, I'm going to post this online... Last Friday, I celebrated her birthday, and bought her an ice-cream cake because she said she wanted to eat one. Well, the cake was quite nice. It was just cake made of ice cream, but it was really not bad. Both of us enjoyed it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! =)

Ice cream cake... Yummy!

Weiqi League Day 4

2009-08-16T22:52:00.002+08:00

Sorry guys, I didn't manage to take any photos this time. The matches were very crucial, and I was too busy playing games to take out my camera. Maybe I should hire a photographer next time to help me take photos... Any takers?

Anyway, today our team played against 可爱小兵, 棋局弈山河 and Hwachong. 棋局, Hwachong, and my team haven't lost a match until now, so today's games could very well decide the first 3. I managed to win all the 3 games, and we managed to win 棋局 by 2-1. I could say that we are lucky, 'cos sionghwai played again Wang Yaxin, I played Zhang Yimo and Li Chao played Wang Jing. I won Yimo by 5 points and Li Chao won by 1 point.

During the last match against Hwachong, I won FCC, but Li Chao lost to Jian Zhongfan. He was winning but made a mistake at late game and lost a lot of points. Haiz... feel sad for him now that his 全胜奖 is gone. Subsequently Sionghwai lost to Gong Xinchi, also because of a serious mistake. He did not realise that his group of seeds would be killed after a certain exchange. It was really a pity because Xinchi was already running out of time and Sionghwai still had about 20 minutes, and the game was very close, so he had a high chance of winning. Nevertheless, it was a good game.

In the end, we lost 1-2 to Hwachong and it was also the first match that we lost in the League. Maybe if the match-up has been better, we could have won, but no point talking about it now. Since 棋局 and Hwachong both lost 1 match each, now what we can hope is that they will lose more individual games so that we can win them by 小分. In order to do that we need to try to win all the remaining games...

Fight on, guys! It's not over yet!