Awww.....

Just had to post this after seeing it ^^

Army daze...

I always feel a tinge of sadness, coupled with a few other emotions, when I think about my army days especially since they are at a closing. I never thought I will feel like this, but eh, 2 years might be kinda short sometimes when you think about it eh?

Maybe I go down in further details some time in the future...don't think I can handle this by doing it sufficient justice now.

On a totally unrelated sidenote, its quite fun peering into other people's photobucket album from backlinks. Sometimes, it places the person in an entirely new light. Secure your accounts!

AFA 08

Ok, this is kinda late. Anyway, AFA 08 was a really fun event. I took lots of photos (included some illegal **OMG** May'n concert prints and footages **double OMG**) which are on facebook. Pardon my poor photography skills. The camera wasn't really good and my photography skills were worse.

I spent almost the day there. It was really eye-opening in all sense of that term and it was really interesting. The sheer variety and quality of the nendoroids were stunning. The tags were equally stunning too. Stuff in SG are severely overpriced compared to their equivalent in Japan. Guess the import charges and the middlemen fees constitutes a large cut.

I didn't buy alot of stuff. Just a set of Last Exile (they are so hard to find, especially collector's edition nendoroids) nendoroids in a box set and some posters as well as various fan-arts. Just thought I might support the budding anime/manga industry in SG. ^^

Towards the end of the day, I stayed for the May'n (MAY'II'IN ok ok) concert. Her voice was really good, pity that the acoustics in suntec was really bad. Coupled with a terrible sound engineer....and an over-enthusiastic bass, you could almost guess the tragedy. Admirably, she carried on with her show despite the almost glaringly bad sound.

Right before the show closed, there were a lot of mini auctions going on. Booths were holding large price slashes and I saw some really nice stuff going at around 50% of their original price. Saw some really nice and cheap Gundam 00 stuff as well, but I don't follow the series so didn't get any. If you left early, well, its kinda a waste =(

Anyway, here's some link-drops which I found over the past few days. Mind you, they took over a large portion of my time.

Danny Choo -> Really great website/blog about this British Chinese living in Japan. Runs his own company, great fun all day.

World of Anime Music -> Great blog with nice anime music and links *)

"My heart has lead me to despair. Perhaps it doesn't pay to be loyal to one's heart but still, many people continued doing it and that makes us human"

The issue with wisdom tooth

Or the aftermath of the surgery to be exact. 

Its not the pain. By the 3rd day onwards or so, most pain should be gone, only leaving a dull ache from time to time. Painkillers, limited as they are, offer some kind of relief as well. Stiff gums/cheeks muscles, yeah sure, but its not really sharp killing pain, more or a constant stiffness kind of pain. Sure, there's pain, but that's not the main thing. 

Not the itchiness of the stitches as well. At times though, I really had it with the itchiness. The stitches are quite thick and tight, so yeah, its quite itchy especially since the open wounds are healing. At times, its really really itchy and u feel like ripping it out. Not that you should of course.

The answer is dry lips. It might sound innocuous but its really one of the most pressing problem as it really sticks with you the whole times, day and night. The issue is, with your stiff cheeks and sore gums, your tongue doesn't come out to lick your lips as often as it should. Previously, as in before the gawddamn surgery, your tongue comes out once in a while to lick your lips. 1 microsecond and its done. Its barely noticeable.

Now, your tongue barely wants to creep out because its just so stiff. As a result, you lips suffer. They get too dry and its peeling almost constantly. You are left with either using a lip balm, which is far far too troublesome to remember to do, using your fingers to wet your lips using your saliva/water/any available liquid, which leaves you constantly with dirty/smell (or both) hands. Or deliberately stick your tongue out every 10 minutes or so to purposely wet your lips. Its like a task....top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right.....

At least I'm getting my stitches out...hopefully soon

Avenue Q

I went to watch Avenue Q at the esplanade today, along with J and JY. It was the matinee on the last day of its run and I bought the programme as well.

The play was pretty good. Really funny as well. Maybe it wasn't as good or as funny as I thought it would be, but it was certainly thought-provoking and I enjoyed the entire play. Now at least I know what's marcus singing about all day long :D

Weekends

Had a terrible weekend. I started with a headache and sore throat on Saturday morning, which then bloomed to muscle aches, fever and other whats-not by later afternoon. My temperature was like 39 °C by the time it was evening. I made my way (really slowly) down to TTSH to get some medical help. After waiting for 1 hour to see the doctor and get 3 days MC, I went home and tried to sleep it off.

The plan didn't work out so well. I kept waking up every 2-3 hours and felt that my entire body was burning to the touch. But I felt really really cold at the same time, which was a bitch since I have to keep alternating between keeping my blanket covering me and pulling it off to increase ventilation.

I didn't go out at all during the weekends, TTSH not withstanding. I spent most of my waking hours nursing a really bad headache, which I still have now, in a drug-induced stupor. I couldn't really sleep and everytime I did, I woke up to find my headache worse. Also, I suspect one of my medication has the effect of making my entire mouth seemed dry. I drank glasses of water but it didn't help. My entire mouth was parched but I wasn't really thirsty.

Then today, I went to EYS to get my back looked at. Lying in bed over the past 3 days made it really sore, more than usual in any case. I expected to have a chinese massage session but the physician said it was a nerve problem, not bone nor muscle-related. So I went for the acupuncture session he recommended and took home some grounded up chinese herbs which I have to mix in water after meals and probably will taste terrible and smell even worse.

Anyway, if anyone tells you acupuncture doesn't hurt, they must either be lying or have a high pain threshold. Make that VERY HIGH. It was really sore when the needles go in, especially when it is near a bone. I had 8 needles inserted and it wasn't fun even when it was time for removal. The needles were attached to a wire which supplies electrical currents and had moxibustion as well. I had to lie face down on the bed for 30 minutes for the treatment to be over. I could go to sleep if I wanted to but the current attached to my left knee kept making my left foot jerk nonstop, like every 3 seconds. It was really frustrating to have your feet jerking uncontrollably on and on and on. I realize that once the needles are in, as long as you think about it and focus your attention elsewhere, you don't really feel anything. Once your attention comes back to the needles, the pain is really bad.

Got to go back camp tonight. Hope my back gets better. I don't think I will like to go for another acupuncture session next week.

crab!

Went for the famous crab rice noodles at AMK today for mum's bday. It came in a very big portion and the crab was freakily huge. Like really really huge. Like you-would-be screaming-for-your-life-if-it-ever-decides-to-attack-you-on-the-beach huge. The crab was pretty ok but the magic was in their soup/gravy. I think they have like coconut milk and normal milk and lots of ginger and some other secret ingredients in it. It was pretty good though. I would have come back again if only I'm a fan of crab noodles. But then I'm not, so that's that.

Anyway, somehow I started going through my hotmail inbox after all these years and there were like hundreds of emails which are ads about updates etc. And worse, about 70 odd chain letters and I went through all of them to see what they are all about. And it was bloody nonsense. After all this, I'm going to strangle the next person who sends me another worthless chain letter....argh.... is it just me or can anyone else see its absolutely no point in forwarding those rubbish? Although I must admit, putting in your own 'true accounts' and forwarding it in a chain letter sounds like fun. Heh...