Harry Potter and the Goblet of Nonsense...and Some Other Stuff

I went to school in the morning today for a campcraft competition briefing and brainstorming session, which lasted from 8.30 am in the morning to about 11.30. Went home after that to take a quick shower before going with Wei Bin, Hao Bin and Jonathan to catch Harry Potter. Finally. Unfortunately, I must say, I wasn’t really impressed. I mean, the CGI was pretty good and all, but parts of the story, which needn’t have been cut or modified were. Since when did Harry’s first task, which involved retrieving a golden egg from a dragon result in Harry getting battered? Since when did the dragon chase him all the way out of the school and back, before crashing into a bridge and falling into a gorge? That was bullshit. Since when was Cedric Diggory like that? He was supposed to be a really nice guy in the book. Guess the director wanted Harry to be the only real “good guy Triwizard Champion”. Wait, that can’t be right. If that was so, why did Harry hesitate to save Cedric when he got ensnared by vines? And since when was Harry first to reach the Triwizard Cup? The parts that the director could have kept to the book and have been well rewarded for it, he didn’t. Take for example the fight with Voldemort. I mean, come on, the scene when Harry returned clutching Cedric’s dead body was crap. If you’ve read the book you’ll know what I mean. There are a lot more scenes like this one, and I’m kind of disappointed.

Went home after the movie. Didn’t eat dinner as I was stuffed full of tortilla chips and biscuits, not popcorn, mind you, we decided to bring in “contraband” items into the movie theatre; this we achieved by buying our snacks from the supermarket downstairs of the theatre and shoving the stuff into our bags so the attendant wouldn’t know. I’m still really full now, and when your stomach is bloated from eating snack food like chips and cookies, it’s not a good sign. *burp*

...

Going out with Hao Bin tomorrow to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (no, I haven’t watched it yet, and right now, I’m really hoping I don’t have to break my running routine. You see, I’m also supposed to go running at the stadium tomorrow with Zi Xian at 5pm, but the problem is, the movie starts at about 2pm, and it’s a solid three hours. Looks like I’ll have to rush back.

Anyway, played Halo 2 again today and managed to bring my Team Slayer level up to 16, up from 15 previously yesterday by just winning 3 games straight. I now positively suck at sniping, my skills have gone down the drain since I stopped playing due to exams and my battle rifle skills have also deteriorated a little. Thankfully I’m still able to hold my own although I play only a measly average of 4 times a week, about an hour each time. That’s absolutely nothing compared to the rest of the guys, who spend at least a few hours every time they play, almost every day. I’m going to have to play more if I want to get better, though.    

My Uncle's Big Day

Went with my Mom to the Registry of Marriages today for my uncle’s marriage registration. The moment we stepped out of the car at the ROM, we saw my aunt in her wedding dress (I wouldn’t call it a gown, as it wasn’t long and billowy), together with the new in-laws. After the ceremony itself, which consisted of the marriage vows, lots of photo taking and a lot of clapping, we went over to Fort Canning Club, where there was a tea reception held. I’m really glad for my uncle. It’s not over yet, though. This was only the civil part. The actual Church wedding is still to come.

After the tea reception, we went home and I turned on the TV, only to watch Singapore hold Indonesia to a goalless draw in a SEA Games football qualifier match. Singapore wasted a LOT of chances. They’re going to need to buck up if they want to win.

Oh! Woe is me!

Feeling really disappointed as I’m typing this. On Tuesday night, Aaron asked whether I would like to go watch a movie with the others tomorrow, and I agreed readily. The whole gang’s going, and I thought I’d be a part of them until just now, when my Mom reminded me that it’s my uncle’s ROM day tomorrow. I had clean forgotten. I mean, I knew when my uncle was to get married, I knew it was Thursday and all, but I clean forgot that tomorrow is Thursday.  Dammit. Looks like I can’t go after all. To think I’d been having nothing much else on my mind as the stuff that we’d do tomorrow: First catching “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” on the silver screen, then going on to play a couple hours of LAN Gaming (I was really looking forward to playing Footmen Frenzy with the others) before ending the day off with a game or two of bowling and dinner at the food court. *Sigh*. What I’m feeling now is the feeling you get when a door’s being slammed into your face. Go figure. And worst of all, it’s not as if my Mom didn’t tell me beforehand that my uncle’s ROM day was tomorrow, and don’t you for a second think I’m not happy for my uncle – I really am, it’s high time he got hitched anyway – but I really feel like kicking myself right now (no I won’t do it so stop hoping if you wanted me to). How could I forget? How could I not have made the connection that tomorrow, the Thursday that I was to go out and have fun with my friends, was the same freakin’ Thursday that was my uncle’s big day?

Bored...

Nothing much going on today, but I am feeling rather bored, so I guess I’ll just say what comes to mind.

Two nights ago, I watched Singapore play Vietnam in their SEA (that’s South-East Asian) Games Group Stage soccer match, and not that I’m good at soccer, but I must say, Singapore played rather dreadful football in my opinion. The score was 0-0 when suddenly, in a moment of magic in the 23rd minute, Singapore scored. I can’t remember who scored, but the goal was magnificent, putting Singapore 1-0 up. The scorer picked up a pass that was unlikely to end up in anything, and made a fantastic chip past the helpless keeper into goal. However apart from that one glorious moment, Singapore pretty much played pretty badly, giving away balls to the opponent with poor crossing and passing. Then, 4 minutes into stoppage time into the first half, Vietnam scored with a deflected free-kick. Why there can be 4 minutes of stoppage time in the freaking first half is beyond me. Things went downhill after that, with Singapore eventually losing 2-1. It was bound to happen, with the play that Singapore kept up (or rather didn’t keep up), but still that really sucked. I mean, we were leading man!

I’ve nothing else to talk about, so I think I’ll do a cliché and talk about the weather. It’s monsoon season over here in Singapore, and it’s raining practically everyday, giving me a convenient excuse not to go for a daily run nowadays. Not that I’m happy, mind you. I’ve become lazy all over again.

Intellectual Property should be respected!

Today was my grandmother’s birthday. So to celebrate, our extended family gathered over at my grandmother’s house for a birthday potluck lunch. There was the usual finger food, assam fish head, chicken curry, my Gran’s trademark fishball soup…yum. Come to think of it, the curry was pretty good. Anyway, while I was there, the movie “Stealth” was playing on the DVD player and I managed to watch most of it. Now, my aunts and uncles love buying pirated DVDs (in the past it was VCDs, but that kinda went out of fashion a long time ago). Why? Simply because they get to catch a movie for a mere couple of bucks each. They get their DVDs through friends who go over to Malaysia, as you can’t really find as many pirated DVD and VCD sellers over here and it’s much cheaper over there. A true testimonial to the “cheapskateness” of Singaporeans, no? Anyway many who read this may argue that there’s nothing wrong in trying to get the best bargain, and I agree. But personally, I’m the type that doesn’t buy pirated games and stuff, simply because I’m into the “Intellectual Property belongs to their creators” idea. It’s one of the principles I abide by. I don't download music, I don't buy anything that's pirated. I mean, the producers of games and movies work so hard to get their product out, and a mere weeks later, they see pirated copies being sold on the streets. Seeing money gone right before their very eyes is a big turn off to coming up with a sequel, if you ask me. So why the hell did I watch the movie if I knew it was pirated and pirated stuff’s against my principle? Well, I figured since the damage to the intellectual property’s been done, might as well not let a free movie go to waste…. =)

Anyway, on to the movie itself. Jessica Biel, I must say, looked hot. In one scene, she's wearing a bikini (hold your horses, nothing R rated here), and you can see her muscles. Nothing obscenely bulging out (I mean her muscles, you perv), but still visible nontheless. "Holy shit", I thought when I saw her quadriceps. Her quadriceps are bigger than mine! I must say I feel a little ashamed, haha. But then again, she apparently worked out a lot for that movie role just so she could show off.

Old stuff & Some New Stuff Too

It's been a long while (again) since I last blogged, and I'll try to compress everything that's happened that I can remember into as short a post as possible.

Some older news:

I was confirmed as a Catholic two Sundays ago at the Church of St Annes. I went dressed in a long sleeved shirt, trousers and leather shoes. No tie, though. I was really afriad that I was the only one who would turn up looking like this, making me look like a total dork, but thankfully, everyone was dressed like me. Well almost. One guy came in his school shirt which was a size too small, a pair of long pants which looked suspiciously like part of his school attire as well and, *gasp* horror of horrors, sandals. Go figure. Another came dressed rather okay, except that his shirt was short sleeved, and the design of both his shirt and pants made him look like he was an undertaker at the funeral home. Fashion faux pas.

Just came back from two camps on Tuesday. First up was ATC. Pretty fun, with activities like rafting, orienteering and ATF (that's the high obstacle stuff), but I left early on the second night (it was a 3D2N camp) to go for my second camp, a Catholic retreat. That's as short as I can keep it.

Now, on to today's new stuff. Went for the WCG Grand Finals today with Ker Yu, Hao Yuan, Lian Kai and Aaron. Got a free Playworks magazine and basically looked around and watched a couple of matches. Saw Lestat and dcosta playing in a training match. Damn, I should have joined. Went for lunch before comnig back to watch the matches First up, watched a Starcraft match between a Brazil guy (forgot his BattleTag) and Silent Control from Korea. Surprisingly, the Brazilian won. Next up was a WC3 match between 4K Grubby from the Netherlands, the top player in the world, and LamWilliam, the best in Venezuela. Grubby, of course, won. Finally, watched one last WC3 match between Gosubay, our very own Singapore player and Avatar, some guy from Korea. Gosubay pretty much got pwned. Ouch. Singapore needs more good players.    

Sorry I haven't been posting anything lately. I've been busy. Doing...erm..all right, so I've been lazy. What can I do? DotA calls to me...

Anyway as such, I've got a ton to blog about today. Again. It seems my blog posts are always atrociously long, aren't they? Well right now, I'm going to attempt to explain why this is so, along with the benefits or both you, the reader and myself. Firstly, one of the reasons why each post is so obscenely long, so much so that my friend Calvin refers to it as a "storybook" is because I spend a ton of time explaining myself, as it is in this case. Secondly, if you've noticed, my posts are full detail, if I were to talk the interesting things about my day, I would go on about everything that happened in chronological order. No point leaving out parts that provide linkage to other events. People might say it's just bullshit, but I beg to differ. Finally, my posts are so long-winded simply because I sometimes, I don't blog every day because I'm lazy, even if something interesting happens on that day. What happens in the end is that you get a "weekly digest" of sorts, detailing my experiences over the week. What do I YOU stand to gain from all this? You get to read more stuff. I don't know whether it's good or bad. What do I stand to gain? I get to workout my writing skills. Talk about mutualism.

Just came back from my class chalet yesterday. Went together with Ker Yu, Song Yuan, Wei Wen, Panda and Aaron in the morning to Marina Square for some LAN gaming. After that had luch, which was basically tasteless stuff that cost a bomb. Reached the chalet at about 5 plus. On the first night we had our BBQ. Standard stuff for a chalet. Went bowling and had a score of about 100? Crap. Went home on the second day. Then Chin Hao called, told me that the chalet was booked for 3D2N and ask me whether I would like to stay again. I agreed and ended up staying for two nights. I stayed over for the second night only 'cause Gabriel was staying over. Not much fun without him. That's as short as I can put it, I guess.