19 Aug 11 -- Ubin Adventure! :D

Haha, finally a post in Aug! It has been a busy for me, hence things have been pretty quiet here. But at least, I am BACK! XD

Anyway, just last Friday, my department went to Palau Ubin for a branch cohesion. Admittedly, I was both a bit apprehensive and excited about going to Ubin. Such mixed feelings were due to the fact that I have not stepped on the shores of Ubin since 12 years (hence the excitement) and the prospect of cycling there scares me (I told you I can't cycle -- hence the apprehension!). Luckily, the organiser decided that we should just walk all the way to Chek Jawa, and that had me heave a sigh of relief.

Anyway, we set off for Palau Ubin via speedboat at about 9am, and it took up a 10 minute ride to reach the shores of Palau Ubin. Palau ubin has changed massively since the last time I had been here. All the residents have since moved out, and all that is left on the islands are just the eateries and bicycle rental shops to cater to the visitors of the island. Hence, it was as though this is my first time here.

A 40 odd minute-walk from the jetty into the depths of the well-preserved rainforest brought our group to an information counter at the heart of the forest, where a tour guide offered to bring us futher into the forest and to our destination Chek Jawa.

As we made our way towards Chek Jawa, the tour guide shared with us many stories as well as information on the plants and animals that still live in the forest. After a 15 minute trek, we finally reached Chek Jawa. It is very different from the last time I was here! Back then, when I was on a cycling trip with classmates and teachers (of course, I am not the one cycling.), there was no proper road for cyclists or trekkers, so it as a pretty muddy trip for our class. Fast forward 12 years later, shelters and elevated walkways have been built for people to walk/cycle and at the same time, look out for the natural wildlife living in the rich ecosystem there. As we reach Chek Jawa at about 10-10.30am, the tide was about 1.1m high and hence, we missed out on a lot of creatures like the Noble Volute (a large, beautifully marked snail sometimes encountered on sandy areas near seagrasses and coral rubble, but frankly, they are all buried in the day so there was no way we could have seen them around at that time) and the Common Sea Star (which is ironically not very common given the fact that the tide was pretty high and more importantly, the massive flooding in Johor during early 2007 nearly wiped them out). However, we did manage to catch a glimpse of Fiddler crabs and mudskippers.

After enjoying the scenery at Chek Jawa, we travelled back to the jetty via the same route. We had lunch at an eatery near the jetty before we travelled back to mainland Singapore.

Personally, this is an enriching experience as it is near impossible to observe such wildlife in mianland Singapore, where everywhere is surrounded by buildings, vehicles and roads. A pristine, natural habitat in Ubin cannot be found in most parts of Singapore anymore, and this is a sad fact.

Wild Idea Indeed... T.T

Recently I came with a wild idea to write my stories... and I thought the best way is to write it via a blog.

I admit my English is not outstanding, but hey, I've always thought it is worth a try.

So off we go...after various crashes to my 4 year+ computer, and stupid errors like forgetting to save my drafts, the first chapter is finally out!

Enjoy!

Note: If any resemblance of the characters is observed, it's a coincidence.

Flash Games FTW! :D

Flash games are always my favourite. Compared to other games, they are much easier to download, and they require little waiting or hassle. Most importantly, some of them are actually pretty fun and worth playing. Hence, whenever I am tired of my Nintendo DS, flash games are always the next in line as my source of entertainment.

As usual, I always like to go to sites like Armor games and Newgrounds to search for newly-released games. This week, I found a couple of awesome flash games that kept me well occupied!

1. Kingdom Rush
Ah, strategy games. I am not very good at strategy games (and hence my dislike for them) but this one caught my full attention. Produced by Ironhide Game Studio this year, this games bears resemblance to a typical Tower Defense game. However, it stands out on its own because of its creativity and graphics. In Kingdom Rush, you have to defend your realm against hordes of orcs, trolls, evil wizards and other nasty fiends; armed with a mighty arsenal of warriors and mages of your own.

The controls are fairly simple; all you have to do is click on a plot of land and you can start building your tower. There are four different types of tower, each having its own set of advantages and upgrades. My favourite towers are definitely the Musketeer Tower, which can hit high area damage when equipped with the ability Shrapnel Shot, and the Arcane Wizard Tower, which can penetrate physical defenses and comes with a Death Ray special.

Adding to the fun are the many types of enemies you can fight against. Ranging from the simple, weak Goblin to the tough, powerful (but luckily slow) Yeti, the game provides no end to the types of enemies available. Kingdom Rush is also user-friendly such that it provides the description of each type of enemy and gives you tips on how to deal with them effectively. My personal favourite is the Spider Matriach, which can be ridiculously hard to defeat for novices due to its high magical resistance and its ability to spawn spiderlings. And I never liked spiders anyway.

In additions, here are many types of terrains available, ranging from a town to the frosty icelands. Each terrains has own challenges, hence the same strategy cannot be applied across all the stages.

However, one downside to this game is that it restricts where you place the towers. Plots of lands have already been allocated for you to place your towers, so it reduces the flexibility of your set-up. But other than that, it is overall a cool game to play.

2. Achievement Unlocked 2
Always dying to unlock all the achievements in a game? This is definitely the game for you! Achievement Unlocked 2 is the sequel to the original game and has definitely increased in difficulty level. You will be playing as an elephant, and your objective is to be able to touch all the squares in the playing field and of course, complete all the achievements to win the games. The graphics are fairly simple, but it is the challenge of completing all the objectives that leaves you wanting for more! There are in total 250 achievements, ranging from a simple (but dumb) Playtastic (unlocked by finding the Play button) and Rollout (rolling the mouse off the game) to Best of all, you can either play alone, or you can play together with your friends in a single game!

P.S. Dying is also an achievement! Cool story bro!

What are you waiting for? Get started now! :)

Drawing Using Com Is A Challenge!

Recently I started to draw using editing software.

It's very much different from freehand drawing, and the challenge is that you need to know and understand how to use each of the functions before you can get down to drawing.

And I used what I have self-taught to draw my favorite singer.

Presenting the HOTTEST, BADDEST female from Seoul! :D












Perhaps, if I even have the time, I might even draw all four members of 2NE1. Hmmmm....

COOOOL Body Facts That You May Not Know!

I was listening to a radio program the night before and learnt some new information about the human body. Piqued by my increasing interest, I went online to find out more. The following are the top 5 facts that I thought was the coolest and the most amazing:

1. 80% of the brain is water. So people keep describing the brain as the "grey matter" within your thick little skull. However, it actually is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ due to its high blood and water content of the tissue. So in Mandarin, people tend to use the words "大脑进水" to describe someone who is crazy. And unfortunately, they are factually correct.

2. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is the greatest! Another good reason to whine about Monday blues! A 10 year-study revealed that 20% more people die of heart of heart attack on Monday as compared to any other day of the week. Perhaps it's the stress of getting back to work after partying too much during the weekends.

3. Women with larger breasts "have higher diabetes" risk. To the well endowed ladies, you have been warned. Young women who have a fuller figure are at greater risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes only occurs when the body becomes non-responsive to the insulin produced by the pancreas, hence unable to bring the glucose level down. The fatty tissue in the breast, known as adipose tissue may have contributed to the percentage of fat in the abdominal area. And as we all know, obesity, especially fat storage in the abdominal area, has long been pegged as a key contributor to the ailment.

However, there isn't much to worry about yet! There are many other factors that contribute to diabetes, including an unhealthy lifestyle. So as long as you eat healthily and exercise regularly, you should be able to steer clear of many health risks! :D

4. A normal human produces enough saliva to fill up two swimming pools during his/her lifetime. Saliva plays an important part in the digesting system by keeping the mouth lubricating and breaking down the food via the enzymes present in saliva, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis. But two swimming pools worth of saliva...? Ewwww...

5. We are about 1cm taller in the day as compared to in the evening. Our cartilages between our bones get compressed by standing, sitting and other daily activities throughout the day, making us a little bit shorter by the end of the day. Darn, I bet I always took my height measurement at the wrong time of the day! I knew I was taller! :D

Rushing With Your Best Buddies! :D

This was purely coincidental, but guess I got a lucky break. :D

After getting tired of my collection of games, I decided to look for greener pastures. And I finally found myself new entertainment.

Top on my gaming list currently is Buddy Rush, a single-player, action role-playing game application available on Facebook. This means that so long as you have a Facebook account, you can play the game - simple. There are a couple of reasons why I almost fell in love with this game.

1. First of all, it's 3D! This makes it stand out among most of the games on Facebook, as many of them are 2D. and the characters are so cute!!!! ^.^

2. There are many fun quests for you to complete, and they can done together with your friends on Facebook or with NPCs, so this makes the gaming experience more interactive.

3. Other than playing on a computer, you can also play Buddy Rush on your iPhone and iPad, so you can go rushing with your best buddies no matter where you are.

4. Out of stuff to do? Well, you can go challenge in the arena or dungeon at higher levels, or go fishing! In addition, if you have completed the quests once, there also the Hard version of the quests which you can attempt. Believe me, they have stepped up a notch on the Hard version, so it's not as easy as previous attempts.

5. Finally, it's simple and user-friendly. All you have to do is click! Many new players prefer to start and stick to a new game if it is easy to understand and the controls kept simple.

However, I felt that there are certain things that still need to be sorted out, as these niggling imperfections reduces the gaming enjoyment slightly. Firstly, the inventory items cannot be sold , and this means you have to clear out your inventory spaces for more stuff. It would have been cooler if iems that players no longer want could be exchanged for chips to buy stuff or new rushers. Next, the game tends to have some connection problems when saving one's status after clearing missions. It can get a bit frustrating after a few times.

But overall, despite the slight problems it have, it is a pretty fun game to play on Facebook! What are you waiting for? Start your rushing today! :)

Interesting Read -- Boom! + In The Miso Soup

Recently, I have made a trip to Kinokuniya to search for good books to read.

I think I definitely made a few good purchases in this trip, which is why I am going to introduce 2 books in 1 post this time.

First up is the book "Boom!" which attracted me due to its neon orange cover and a very simple picture of a rocket in front. It turns out that it's a pretty interesting book for a light, leisurely read. It is written by Mark Haddon in 2009. This was originally adapted from "Gridzbi Spudvetch!", another of his works. However, due to the complexity of the name, it wasn't really very well known when it was published then and rapidly went out of print thereafter ( as Haddon puts it in his foreword, "It was a ridiculous thing to call a book. No one knew how to pronounce it... As a result only twenty-three people bought the book."). In 2007, he received feedback from a teacher on how her students enjoyed it everytime it was read to them and was finally persuaded to give the book a total revamp. And "Boom!" was born.

The story is about a boy called Jim, who was fearful of being sent to "that school in Fenham" because of his poor performance in school. To confirm his fears, he along with best friend Charlie went to tap in on their teachers' conversation, only to find them speaking in a strange language. After some detective work by the two boys, they realized to their horror that their teachers were aliens all along. At the same time, Charlie was also kidnapped by the aliens, so Jim and his 16 year old sister Becky went on a chase to rescue him...

I like the book because while the plot is simple (and perhaps a bit illogical), the writer's humorous and witty style of writing caught my attention. This is definitely a good book for a light read. (Note: just don't think too much while you are reading this. have fun and enjoy the book! :D)

The next book, Ryu Murakami's "In The Miso Soup" takes on a darker and more mature theme, as it explores Japan's pink industry. The story's protagonist, Kenji, is a "nightlife guide" who specializes in sex tours for foreign tourists. A day before New Year, he was hired by an American tourist, Frank to take bim on a guided tour of Tokyo's night spots. At the same time, it was also reported that a high school girl had been murdered and her corpse dumped at a trash collection site afew days before. Frank's odd behaviour causes Kenji to suspect that his latest client may be linked to the murder. As the tour progresses, Kenji finds himself embroiled in greater trouble...and greater peril.

I like this book because of the surprises it gave me throughout the book, but the horror parts left me a bit shocked and a bit hard to digest. But this book gave me an insight of Japan's sex industry and some of its traditional cultures. Infused with horror akin to a slasher film, this is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

So make your pick, the fun, entertaining "Boom!" or the dark, ambiguous "In The Miso Soup". Whichever you pick, you are bound for an entertaining read! ;)