Be kind. Rewind.

Of all people, I had to catch this show with Berd da Anaconda.
I realised the only thing to keep him quiet was a tub of popcorn.

Good show.
I recommend watching it. (though Berd claims its not funny and he doesn't understand it at all)
Me?
I think its a rather charming show. Well worth my time.
Since it's worth mine, I suppose the rest of you can go catch it too.

There's something I want to say.
Loads actually.
About the whys and the hows of watching this show.
But apparently, I'm unable to put it into words.
Seems to be happening to me quite recently.
I wonder why.

Maybe I know why, but its not the time nor the place to say it.
Till then, just a short post from me.

PS: Remember to catch this show.

Of candies, dinner and elephant...

Was out with Mr & Mrs Snake last night.
Supposed to be a simple affair, dinner and movie.
But I guess we can't spend an evening without doing something exciting, eh?

So here's what we, or more specifically, they did:

Some bleddy mad looking candy scooping jackpot machine.
All for the grand prize of...............

Dumbo the elephant.

Apparently, the aim of the game is:
1. decide when to scoop the sweets/tibits/what-nots
2. drop them into some pushing tray thingy,and prays hard that something will hit a li'l knob of a lever (actual term: CLICKER) the size of... my thumb.
3. Once the clicker is hit, the jackpot will be activated, where scores of 1, 2 or 3 are given. Then a meter will move according to the score.
4. Repeat steps 1 - 3.
5. When the meter hits A, B or C, something kickass happens. That you'll have to find out yourself.
6. When the meter hits JACKPOT, you get the prize.
PS: There is one short cut to hitting the jackpot. Pray damn hard then when the clicker activates the jackpot thingy, you score JP = hit the jackpot straight. Charge to the counter/nearest attendant and demand your prize. NOW.

And so, there we were, 3 smartly dressed adults behaving like li'l kids.
Or maybe that was just me?

Snake with an intense look of concentration plotting the next 'daring plan' with subtle touches of cunning thrown in for good measure.
And the result?
The less said about it the better.

PS: Me was alternating between trying to take pictures discreetly(cos Lady Boss claims that the management doesn't allow photo taking. She tried before) and understanding how the machine works.

Here's the 'prizes' for the whole of say... 45 minutes?
A plastic bag FULL of sweets and yes, Dumbo the stuffed elephant.

Lady Boss posing happily with her catch for the night.
Someone certain looked happy last night.

And the most kick-ass line(those kind of things say already people wanna kick your ass) uttered last night must be from Mr Snake:

Snake in cinema, with the bag of sweets nestling somewhere on his thighs but somewhat between the legs: "Hey Tim, later you take the sweets that time don't DIG TOO DEEP AH, later you grab some other THING instead."
I rest my case.

But I never knew such a machine could bring us so much joy.

Barter. Trade...

bar·ter:
–verb (used without object) 1. to trade by exchange of commodities rather than by the use of money.
–verb (used with object) 2. to exchange in trade, as one commodity for another; trade.

Was clearing up after dinner when I caught some snippets of the Channel 8 variety show "Barter Trade 2".
In a nutshell, the show is about people bringing things to exchange for whatever the show is offering, ie: tv, camera, computer etc etc.
But there's a catch.
Apparently, you must first go onstage to say what item you hope to get, why you want to get that particular item, and what is the history of the item you're trading. At the end of everything, the judges will decide the lucky ones to spin the wheel to see what they can get.
It goes something like that. If I'm not wrong.

Sounds like a good idea for a show?
I thought so too.
Until I heard what some of them had to say.
"Oh this one was the first present my wife gave to me..."
"I got this from my boyfriend, when we first got together..."

WHAT THE F**K?

Forgive me for being silly and naive but shouldn't things like these be kept like: forever and ever amen?
The sheer audacity of the situation hit me full in the face when some of them related stories like: "oh this item was part of the company Xmas presents exchange thingy, we traded gifts and that's how I got to know her, we started dating later blah blah blah..."
&
"my boyfriend scrimped and saved to buy this PDA for me, so now i want to give him something back, but I can't seem to save so I hope I can win something in this program..."

Oh. My. Friggin. Gawd.

Have these people no heart at all?
Do they even understand the meaning of sentimental value?
Have they become so pragmatic and practical that these items loses their emotional values?
Are they that DESPERATE?!?!?

I was at a loss for words.
These things, these items, these gifts.
They all mean something don't they?
For my case, I know mine did.
I know.
Cos I kept them, the items that mean something to me.
The notebook that you gave me, the baby bib you bought for me, the doggy keychain I got from you, the straw star you made for me, the cards that I received, the scrapbook of pictures that you took time to made.
I kept them all.
Yes, I did threw some of them away, only because looking at them reminded me of you(s).
But I will NEVER, EVER use them to TRADE for something else.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange."
-- Alphonse Elric, "Fullmetal Alchemist"

Nothing can be of the equal value as those items.
They're something that's unique, each and every one of them.
They tell different stories, they invoke different feelings, and they are the locks, the locks that trap the times, the times that have long since past. Us.
By throwing them away, I'm throwing away parts of myself, and maybe li'l parts of you(s).
But by trading, I'm passing them to someone who has no rights or connections whatsoever.
And that, to me, is the greatest insult.

Maybe its just me.

The long, and the short...

Finally met up with Horny this evening.
Didn't manage to get the bugger for quite some time, and the last time I called, he was in Vietnam.
Viet-friggin'-nam?
I promptly hung up after telling him to call us when he's back.

So there we were.
At Wheelock place having Japanese food that was neither cheap nor filling.
Moved on to Long Bar.
Always like the place.
Maybe it's because I can shower the floor with peanut shells. Openly.
I'm such a sucker for stuff like that.

Horny suggested we bar hop, but me & Wee wee veto-ed it.
We were too broke, and too tired.
Coffee and Bedok 85 sounded just nice.
And before we knew it, it's almost 2, I just got home and because of the advance in technology, I can blog, and sh*t at the same time. :)

"With or without you" is still ringing in my head...

Hot off the Press!!!

Woo hoo!!!
The wait is over, and the next instalments of the RECCOS Chronicles are here!

Work. Life. Balance.

Work Life Balance.
The magical words that we all love to hear.
But know deep inside that that's a rather thin life between work and life.
If you hadn't notice by now, work seem to be stepping over and into life most of the time.
I for one never did get to enjoy life after work.

Let's do the maths.
You start your day at the grand time of say... 730(me for example), you brush, shower, shit, whatever.
You reach the office around say... 830.
Your engines start running after the morning coffee and ciggy so we put it as full steam ahead from 9 onwards.
Lunch break is a one hour affair from 1300 - 1400.
You come back to slave through the mundane hours of 1400 to 1800 (bless you who has no OT!)
That leaves you free from 1800 onwards.
But wait.
Let's say if you are conditioned to knock in a solid 7 hours of sleep, and given the fact that you need to wake u at 730, the absolute latest you need to touch down at home is probably... 2300?
Leaving 2300 - 1800 = 5 hours.
We are assuming that you don't drive, so travelling might shave an hour off the 5 hours, coupled with a stopover for dinner that will take the better part of an hour,
leaving you with a grand total of 3 hours.
So where's the work life balance?
I certainly cannot see what I can do in 3 hours that will counter the labor I put in for a good 7 - 8 hours of work in a day.

So, is it any wonder why I try to make the night last as long as possible?
I'm trying to achieve the balance, in my own little ways...

Crime, Punishment and Sorry, that's my Dinner you're looking at...

Seems like I'm rather preoccupied with crime these today.
Just finished watching "A Clockwork Orange" this evening after blitzing through "Minority Report" in the afternoon.
Somehow, the notions in these 2 mediums interest me.
Notion of "aversion therapy" and "Precrime" somewhat appeals to me.
Maybe it's my work, maybe I'm just bored.
But one thing is for sure, I shouldn't be preoccupied by such stuff in my free time...

On another note, I realized I'm pissed by a certian breed of people in the foodcourt.
You know, those bunch of bleedy stupid blighters who will, when your food is just served to you and you're busy picking out the chopsticks and spoons, comes real close to you, sniff at your food, and take a real long time to ogle at it.
Sorry but excuse me, that's my friggin' dinner you're staring at.
If you want to leer at some food, here's f**king $5, take it, buy some food, and leer all you want. If it pleases you, you could actually polish your brass monkey while you're at it.
I mean seriously, if you're curious as to what the food a certain stall is selling, all you have to do is look at the pictures they have on the stall.
If not, at the very least, you could steal a glance at what others are getting without intruding into their private space and mentally ravishing the food right in front of them.
Some people are just born stupid.
And I mean it. These are exactly those kind of people.
I tell you, if STUPIDITY was a crime, I'll probably pay to be in the police force...