...so I can watch the fucking Final Fantasy Concerts!!

It started with 20020202...

http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/20020220/index.html

The response was very good in Japan, and with the hunger of the Americans for Japanese stuff (anime, PS2) and no doubt also the lure of their shiny green dollars, Uematsu unleashed the power of game music played live once again...

http://www.square-enix-usa.com/uematsu/concert/dear_friends.html

And of course it's a huge hit! So they decide to do....a TOUR! In bloody US only though....sigh....

What spark this post? First thing: an incidental find on a bittorrent site led me to this:

http://www.square-enix-usa.com/uematsu/concert/more_friends.html

It's one of the 'tour' concerts but what's unique is that it has a CD recording! Owls arranging a medley of FF VII songs (he promised...) should need a copy of this for some inspiration. The CD started with the usual applause, then the errie but yet familiar long, high notes, echoed by a harp...the starting theme one hear when one play FF VII! I didn't think it was nice when I played the game (oh well, not as 'outstanding' as FF VIII opening theme at least...) but here it's brilliant!

The second reason? Haha...because Masak played a Final Fantasy theme song not too long ago, last saturday at Genus concert! And yes, it's because I was searching for that version of Suteki Da Ne (the one I had has a different solo) that I chance upon More Friends....

On a side note, I must say our performance as a whole it's quite alright, though we were a little too fast (my fault I think!) and the sound balance is not right. But who cares, as the audience is mesmerised by the fine flute playing from Owls and flawless solo by Shu Hann?

ps...support original! Buy one for me here!

Well, not those Jack Neo's type, but the indie or rather smaller scale production that for some strange fucking reasons, never got publicised nor distributed around.

Except the Tammy video of course....

Well I think the hype for local produced short films started with Royston Tan's 15, a story of young ah bengs or punks. Won some prizes of course, but how many people have watched it? I have the 30 min if you want, email me, or you can watch a slightly low res version at http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZXcpTjNUPp8

But what spark this blog is the new short film by Jacen Tan. He was slightly well known in his previous successful short film Tak Giu ('kick ball') and now he has another one call Zo Peng ('enlist army').

Must watch! Too bad for those with no broad band though...

Yup, yesterday was my 27th Birthday. So just in case you're desparate for a gift and also more desparate to get into my good shoes, here are some nice little playthings you may wanna consider....

Update: I am so tempted to buy this (click link).... but S$135....OMG...

Presenting..... Final Fantasy Advent Children toy set!

The Bad guys....

The good guys...

And the cool guy...

*rubs hands with glee....*

Well Michelle said she did some 'magic' to her blog and that I can't locate it in google or technorati....well she's right!

Anyway, as usual curiosity got the better of me and I tyoe 'snowparang' into technorati...and found this: http://cowboycaleb.liquidblade.com/index.php/archives/2005/10/18/liddat-still-can-blog/

But still I'm still left wondering how she got to know your blog....anyway, have you done the meme? Mine is done but I do not know who to link to....

Ah dui, dear Karen tagged me with this disease called Meme but didn't give specific instructions...but somehow I managed to understand..

Five weird habits of mine:

1. I bite my nails and tap my front tooth using my thumb nail when I'm thinking
2. I WILL fall asleep in a moving land vehicle (bus, car, taxi), even if the journey is only 5 minutes.
3. I breath through my mouth.
4. No matter how badly dried up, bloodied or painful my lips are I do not use lip balm!
5. I can fall asleep (and comfortable so) in a kneeling position, body curled over and head on the ground in front of my knees. My friends call it the 'Mecca sleeping technique'! I've used this to great advantage on uncomfortable long distance bus rides, wet and cold moutain hikes and any other places where I find it a little too hard to fall asleep...

Unfortunately I still have not though of who to link this to....so this is incomplete ok....

Well for those who don't know, I'm actually allergic to Paracetamol or Panadol. So please don't feed me with these common medication!

But that's only slightly relevant to this post. I'm still in Thailand, and as you can see from my previous blogs good food is abound in this Land of Smiles.

So are some.....Fear Factor food...

In a nutshell, the worms (those they buy in aquarium to feed the Jin Long Yu and LuoHan) taste quite good actually when fried well, with a strange nutty taste. The slightly fatter worms, though, has a slightly squishy centre which may not be THAT palatable to the common man.

But that's nothing compared to what I'm going to try:

The pincers are very hard! And crunchy as expected. I do not know what seasoning they used to fry the bug, but it taste vaguely like....chicken essence? The head though, is nice, with the right blend of crispiness and taste.

The adomen part, however is TERRIBLE! Soft and bitter, it fit the taste of what I imagined an insect will taste like!

The best part is, after eating the 2 pincers, the head and half the adomen, I began to feel an itch around my lips and mouth! OMG. Then I began to feel dry in the throat......I had a similiar situation when I ate an innocent looking sandwich, which later developed into red rashes around my whole face....

So I just gulped own a bottle of water and 'detox' with some mangoes and fried bah kua....seems to help! Lucky ah, else cannot imagine the consequences when they knew I report sick because...I ate a scorpion!

Who wants? I can pack a few from here to Singapore...

A typical biker's outing goes like this....

• Forum/SMS/whatever info is passed: Meet at GP (Geylang Patah) Esso, which is basically the first Esso petrol kiosk you'll see northbound from Singapore on NSHW, at xx:xx time.
• xx:xx time plus 30 minutes, all except one is present.
• Contacted the lost sheep - KNN first time in 2nd link and lost the way!
• xx:xx time plus 50 mins, finally everyone here.
• Travelled in convoy (bikes in zig zag formation, around 100 km/h). Because most of the bikes are below 200 CC, we took the leisurely pace. Else it will be 'clear carbon' session, whereby all bikes will hit top speed in around 15-25 seconds (and that's around 180 km/h - 300 km/h depending on what bike)...
• Reach the place, secure a good parking slot (with the help of the restaurant owner preferably.)
• Take 20 minutes to order food...and irrespective of where or what restaurant, they will ask for their favorite Malaysian food. Like Yue Guang He Fen, Ma Lai Feng Guang etc.
• Food arrives! What was a supper session turns out to be a feast...as shown:

Cereal prawns, sweet/sour pork, fried fritters with fishcake.

Chili crabs - it was a promotion period, at RM$26 per kg! Cheap!

Mee goreng and sambal fried rice
 

Crab fried with salted eggs. First time eating this, nice! Did I mention crabs were at promotion rate?

Last but not least, frog legs with chicken essence. Yes they poured one bottle of chicken essence into the boiling frog legs. Suppose to match tongkak ali...

And after everything is gobbled up and paid (about RM$27 per person), photo time just before we suit up and head home.

Yes it rained while we were taking the bloody photo. But reached SIngapore uneventfully. This blog is late because the person who took the photos were unable to post it up on time. And for some reason the fantastically taken photos (Nikon D50, no less!) was posted with a measly 320 x 213 resolution...hence the small size.

So who wanna join me in the next Biker's makan trip?

This is actually my first time spending CNY away from Singapore. Quite sad actually....how I long for the ba kua, the pineapple tarts, the mahjong...

Anyhow, the Chinese population here do have some sort of celebration. Instead of Chun Dao He Pan �i�t"ž‰Í"È�j, they set up stalls along the monsoon drain (or river, depending on your perspective) near to their landmark the Yah Mor (a statue of a female warrior). In true Chinese fashion, they have a big getai here with live band, and even a Chinese wayang show!

I read ShuHann's comments about food....and here I find more! But before that I've already been to their biggest flea mart/night bazaar called (you gotta love the Thai's english!) - Save1. Although only like half the size of Chatuchuk's carpark there's still plenty of interesting things to see. Plus since it's at night, it's cooling. The biggest attraction (which I think Chatuchuk do not have) is food! I just list down what I had and you be the judge:

1. BBQ chicken kebab and chicken backside (1 stick each) for 20 THB
2. Dried pepper beef for 20 THB (not very nice but I though it might taste like ba kua...)
3. Fresh orange juice (250 ml bottle) - 10 THB
4. BBQ squid with fucking spicy sauce - 5 THB
5. 3 x baby crabs fried until only the pincers are too hard to eat - 10 THB (best!)
6. Kiwi ice drink - 15 THB

So total of 80 THB, which I did not finish 1 crab and the dried beef! For comparison, the New YearBlack Pepper Pork Sandwich with Curly fries I just ate from MacDonald's cost me 99 THB!

Anyhow, yesterday along the stores we bought:

1. 2 packets of dried dumplings - 10 THB each (cannot finish)
2. Guava and green mango slices (very nice! And 1 whole fruit each pack) - 55 THB
3. Fried carrot cake without the carrot and replace it with shrimp roe - 10 THB (a bit hard, but nice)

There's still oyster omelette but no tables for us so we didn't buy. We took the food to a nearby bar/restaurant and ate the food with Heinekken Beer and a plate of Sweet and Spicy chicken with cashew nuts. And watch Chelsea get thrashed by Newcastle 2-nil at FA cup. Oh btw 'they' are my drivers that drive me around the town and to camp....

So Gong Xi Fa Cai to all!

Greetings from Nakhon Ratchasima (also more commonly known as Khorat or Korat)! It's has been a hectic 4 days since I landed here (although I still manage to sneak in 2 thai massage session!).

Unfortunately, against my better judgement I decided not to bring my bulky camera. I have a smaller one but 'ahem, ahem' spoiled it while on her Europe trip. Not that you guys will miss much though. Korat is basically quite a small town that has been developing quite steadily, no doubt from the help of frequent foreign armed forces (US, Singapore, Malaysia etc) coming here for exercise. The weather here is definitely dry and usually cool.

I'm surfing the net only after 4 days since landing here because I've been searching for a cheap internet booth. The one in hotel cost 60 THB/30 min. The wireless service cost 200 THB per hour. This one, a small 'lan shop' concept (most lan shop no internet) not dissimiliar from Singapore's in the largest mall in Korat called....THE MALL, offer internet at 20 THB per hour! Yippee!

Language is definitely a barrier for me. Fortunately, I'm saved by the large horde of sergeants and warrant officers that can actually converse in Thai. Things in Korat is cheap but you have to search for it. Things in THE MALL, however are not cheap. I just ate a KFC 2 piece meal using metal fork and knife, and it cost me 95 THB. I ate my dinner at road side stalls yesterday: crepe with banana (yes it's true!), 15 pork satays for 30 THB (I showed them 5 fingers when ordering, and they gave me 15...I think minimum is 15 sticks lah), one stick of deep fried stuff which is good. And a can of Lipton honey lemon tea from 7-11 (which is everywhere here, just like Bangkok). I was searching for hot tea but couldn't find too. All these for 20+30+10+13=73 THB.

Besides food, there's some shopping to be done too. Here is where THE MALL shines. Especially clothes, where even the design for men is quite caried. But price like Singapore leh...

Today is also the day my 53 colleagues flew back to Singapore to celebrate CNY, leaving me and one SSG. So sad....only my 1 kg (now left 800 gm) of Xiang Wei ba kua to accompany my lonely CNY. But then not complaining, cos it means I have more time to do work!

Please send me your gift request!

Well yes, poor me has to take the 0800 C-130 flight to Thailand to prepare for the exercise there. In fact, because I'm Logs and Finance (which basically encompasses everything except Flying) I've the privilege to spend my CNY there! Fuck... I'll try to update the blog if I can get a decent internet connection there.

Knowing my untimely trip, my family decided to have the reunion dinner earlier, 2 days ago.

It's was quite ok food, as usual 'healthy' by my mother standards but most people will though some of us were vegetarians. The soup is pretty good though.

Ah well...some cute gifs and pics...might be offensive!

Ok bye bye! As you know from the Alaska Experience, pls email or leave a message here on your choice of gift! Or else elephant droppings! I'm not allowed meat stuff so don't ask me for pork floss...