Blast from the Past.

Today was like any other Saturday Sojourn, cherished and immensely enjoyable but oh too short. I did snag myself a good buy (other than a new pair of studs) from while we were walking about Marina Square tonight.


I'm usually a sucker for compilations unless it's a band/group/singer I really really like. That value for money mentality is still hard to shake off in certain areas, plus the fact that this was basically 10 bucks per CD first caught my eye. But more importantly, a quick scan revealed that I knew and adored most if not all the titles, classic hits by female artistes from the late 70s to the early 90s. Songs I'd heard and bopped to since I was a tyke, stuff like Belinda Carlisle's Heaven is a Place on Earth, The Pointer Sister's I'm So Excited, Bananarama's Venus, Tiffany's I Think We're Alone now, Gloria Gaynor's I will Survive, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna have Fun, Jane Weidlin's Rush Hour... the list goes on.

Back when lyrics were meaningful, the rhythm was infectious and the singing stellar. They were selling some High Society series of CDs with different compilations to reflect the different mood like Lust, Love, Watching the Girls go by and from what I heard it sounded good so that'll probably be next. But for now I'll be happy with this unexpected gem.

About the Kumar the Queen flyer, they slipped it into the bag with the purchase but we'll be catching that next Saturday with Gavin and Edwin and from the way Kumar's past performances at the now defunct Boom Boom Boom went, I expect the show to be an utter blast. I'd only caught one of his cabaret performances before but it was so amusing. Kumar's really in your face, with his witty wisecracks and sharp tongue that cajoles but never offends. And of course his over the top costumes. ^^ So that and the thought of another Saturday to look forward to is certainly incentive enough to get through the hellish week of tutorials and FMS crap.

Sing along now..

I'm so Excited - The Pointer Sisters.

Tonight's the night we're gonna make it happen
Tonight we'll put all other things aside
Get in this time and show me some affection
We're goin' for those pleasures in the night

I want to love you, feel you, wrap myself around you
I want to squeeze you, please you, I just can't get enough
And if you move real slow I let it go

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
And I know I know I know I know I know I want you

We shouldn't even think about tomorrow
Sweet memories will last for long long time
We'll have a good time, Baby, don't do worry
And if we're still playin' around boy that's just fine

Let's get excited, we just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
I know I know I know I know I know I want you, I want you

I want to love you, feel you, wrap myself around you
I want to squeeze you, please you, I just can't get enough
And if you move real slow I let it go

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
I know I know I know I know I know I want you

The Little Things.

I was reading 'Stars' by Keiko Konno, one of the two new yaoi manga I bought the other day. I'm glad I did, even though the cover work didn't look very attractive initially. It dealt with the complexities of a working relationship rather nicely and the main characters and their reactions were something any gay guy could relate to. To sum it up shortly, not your usual Yaoi fluff but a more in depth look at the problems two gay guys would face in their relationship as it progresses and how they handle it.

But the last two pages at the end really did hit home the axiom that in a relationship, the little things are what make up the whole and it so nailed the 'Morning After Sleep In' situation, it's a snapshot almost. We've done that too, in some of those rare sleepovers together, repeated almost the exact same words ( well except about the BO part) : your breath stinks, I'm so hot - move a bit, your bristles hurt and yes let me sleep a little longer.

(Snapshot from 2nd Last page of Stars by Keiko Konno- Read from Top right to bottom left in the typical manga style) Click to enlarge.

But inspite of the complains, to wake up beside the one you love is a simple but beautiful thing. A comfort sometimes taken for granted, even if only in the bleary-eyed mildly grumpy moments of half-awakeness.

(Snapshot from last page)


And the mangaka sums it up nicely, we do what we can for each other (something all lovers gay, straight or bi would), doing the little things together to pass the time while enjoying the other's company. Then when I realised I was happy, I knew surely that I could call this bleary eyed man beside me, tousled hair and prickly bristles, my one true love.

Spell by Fujiyama Hyouta

Magnet for Madness.

I don't know why but I seem to have a lot of encounters with the mentally unsound, ranging from the dotty to the stark, raving mad ones. They just gravitate towards me like moths to a flame as if I'm wearing some billboard sign declaring in bold print "Come Talk to Me if you're MAD." Probably cause deep down, you're a little mad yourself, Anthony declared when I asked him this question. Right, very insightful.

I know, they're really ill and they can't help their actions or what they do. We shouldn't blame or overtly ostracise them. But it's always easy to analyse it dispassionately from a distance but when you're actually caught up in the situation or worse still, the focus of their attention, all you're thinking at that moment is "OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT, MAD PERSON XIAAAAAM! SHOO!" while desperately looking for potential avenues of escape should he/she go berserk and in the absence of any object on hand to clobber the person should he/she go ballistic.

I've had tons of experience but the 'oh shit' feeling never goes away, especially if their attention is focused on me. I've never been very emphatic as a person and when in such a situation, the welfare of the said mentally unstable person who is addressing me isn't my top priority, mine is. So I've experienced a lot (thankfully none that ended up in physical violence of some sort being inflicted), from the usual ramblings and incoherent but insistent mumbles directed at me by the _____(insert rough age and sex) on/at the ______( place: train, bus stop, etc) to violent yet comical outbursts against inanimate objects by the mentally unstable to the threat of real damage to personal property by a mad woman.

The most memorable and sustained display of insanity was a very very public one by a young indian man way back in Secondary 3 ( I remember cause I was doing my homework for Chemistry on the MRT when the noise roused me from my reverie). This chap suddenly started raising his voice like one would in a heated quarrel. Annoyed (because I could hear it over my enya), I looked up only to see other gawking passengers and an otherwise perfectly normal indian man yelling and shouting, wagging his finger at.... the metal post. You know the vertical metal pole in your average train, this guy was yelling at it and cursing it with great gusto.

Getting over my shock, I rapidly settled into Spectator mode (cause thankfully this was one of those 'Free Show' kind of displays where you are (very thankfully) not the protagonist) and picked up what he was yelling. Because his english wasn't too terok, it was quite easy. The cursing basically amounted to a fight over telling the 'Pole' to stop staring at him and that if it was not happy it (the pole) should get 'the motherfucking hole' out of the train and 'never to let me see your motherfucking face' again. Whereupon he started kicking the pole quite viciously.

I'm sure someone (perhaps) was quite ready to call the train driver (but then again maybe not, it was pre-911 then and that chap was obviously a looney, and being Singaporeans we just think 'Oh free show, watch lo.' and we do.) Then the guy suddenly stopped and lowered his voice while bending close to the pole as if listening attentively. 'Huh, what did you say? No money to go home?' He growled. Before bellowing, "I don't care, don't give me this kind of fucking excuse. You think I'm stupid!!?" Vicious kick to the pole. "Stop crying!" Kick. "You better stop crying!" Kick.

Pausing he continued smoothly. "I don't care! Next stop you're getting off and getting the fuck out of here!" "No Money? I have!" Fishing about in his pocket, he digged out twenty cents which he whacked the pole with a resounding thunk. "Here! Twenty Cents! Go take Taxi home! Go GO!!!" That loony yelled whacking the pole even harder. It was just at this time that the train pulled into Toa Payoh station and the doors opened. The guy stomped to the entrance of the door and waving his twenty cents menacingly out of the train, yelled," And don't you ever come back again you mother fucker cheebye. I see you I will whack you!" A lady who had been waiting outside the very same door turned green and scooted away faster than you can say xiam. Not that I blamed her. The mad guy got off at the next stop ( and everyone in that carriage studiously avoided looking at him during the remainder of his journey) and that was that.

But the worst by far, probably because on hindsight there was a very real chance that the mad lady would have smashed my laptop, was the relatively recent incident at Funan Delifrance. I was waiting for Sean for dinner, so since I was a little peckish I figured Delifrance would be a cheaper even if less pleasant alternative than TCC. Which proved to be a bad choice. So I ordered my crossiant, sat down and since I had the laptop with me, made good use of the free wireless internet.

Shortly after, this fat puffy bleary eyed woman, her hair grey and dishevelled came up to me and said, "Can I have $2.50?". I barely spared her a glance, took it all in one look and uttered the standard, "No, sorry." and went back to surfing, imagining she would obediently disappear like all the unwanted hawkers usually do. She didn't. "Can, I have $2.50 please ?" She asked again, rigid and immobile, the particular emphasis on please like it was some magic password. " No, sorry" I replied, emphasis on the word sorry just to show her 'please' had been considered and rejected within the space of 1 nanosecond. She didn't react, but only repeated the question with the exact same emphasis.

Which bothered me somewhat, this didn't seem to be the average harmless dotty potty. I didn't bother replying this time and studiously avoided making any form of eye contact. "But I already said PLEASE, why won't you give me?" that mad fat woman raised her voice and slammed her hands down on the table giving the laptop (and me) a jolt. Annoyed and aware that silence didn't seem to have the usual deterrence effect, I looked firmly into those flashing twin orbs and said NO in the firmest voice I could muster, all the whole looking out from the corner of my eyes, wondering why the hell the Delifrance staff was blissfully ignorant to this unfolding drama.

"But I said please already and you still say no. How can you be so bad!" She continued angrily while muttering some incomprehensible mumbo jumbo under her breath. At this point, I decided that firmly ignoring her was the best option because switching tables didn't sound so good as I hadn't finished my crossiant yet and god knows what she would have done had I stood up and turned my back if even for a while. So I did, focusing hard on my yahoo mail while she hovered menacingly over my laptop screen. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she muttered what sounded like dialect profanities and moved away to harass other people.

On hindsight, there was the very real possibility that she might have gone berserk or simply just smacked the laptop screen with the same force she slammed the table. Which would mean $2k plus down the drain. I guess I should be thankful that she didn't, though if she really whacked my laptop, I would have gone berserk and probably bitch slapped that woman to the high heavens, mad, mentally unstable or not. No one messes with my laptop.

So yes, sad to say mad people seem to have some particular affinity for me, either that or I'm just unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time too many times. From the harmless: the shrunken middle aged guy pointing to the milo offer in the bill board outside Shop n Save and laughing uncontrollably in a wheezy asthmatic kind of way, to the bizarre: this fat (yes another one or possibly just pregnant) lady in white bursting into church during the worship session and shouting Devil be gone! Demons be gone! as she advanced to the pulpit before being subdued by panicky ushers and pronounced to be 'possessed' by the pastor, to the comical: that indian chap and the pole on the train, to the scary: being the focus of attention of a mad fat lady who thinks please is a magic word and with the potential to go berserk.

Hmmm with all this exposure, maybe 50 years down the road, you'll see a blabbering idiot seated in the park, drawing signs in the air who offers imaginary coffee to you and that could be me. Choy! Hammers wooden table violently.

Eternal Sunshine

For the Other Half, who has always stood by and never given up on me even though I have been a veritable and absolute jerk at times. And yes Dear, I promise to check my phone to see if its on silent mode or the battery is flat in the future. ^^

The fog clung tenaciously, gloomy and clammy, its oppressive presence like some malevolent entity. Tis quiet, the muffled rustle of crushed leafs underfoot the only disturbance in this souless place.

Walking between the barely visible symmetrical rows of oaks in a sea of damp grey is strangely normal, as if it has always been done. Mind numbingly resigned, echoes a disembodied voice. Yet neither turning left nor right seems to be an attractive option.

After all, these perfectly aligned trees seem to extend in all directions into the deepening gloom. So inertia reigns and moving forward remains the direction of choice.

And there you were. Like an oasis in this grey desert. Waiting, receptive. My ever reliable but cruelly overlooked succour in times of need. Eternal sunshine of the clouded mind. For sunshine and its warmth is most sorely missed and appreciated when absent in this cold dank world.

Unwavering in its steadfastness amidst the brief flares of distraction. My eternal sunshine. Forgive me.

City of Villains

I started playing City of Villains again at the behest of Anthony and Kevin but mainly because the entertainment value of DOTA is really short-lived, a couple of games a day and one gets bored. Plus if you have retarded allies who buy the wrong stuff for their heroes and keep 'feeding' the opponents, it's basically game over.

Which is why sometimes MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) offer so much more bang for the buck. They entertain for longer, game concepts are certainly more complex and interesting plus it provides a level of game play simply not found in your average RTS (real time strategy) games. City of Villains is basically the evil nemesis twin (it's like a different game, not a mere expansion) of City of Heroes, where instead of running about dispensing justice and saving the innocent from thugs; you create and customize your very own Villain after choosing a class from 5 archetypes and then proceed to wreck havoc on citizens, robbing banks and kidnapping people in missions as you claw your way to supremacy and infamy.

Which is immensely fun, if anything beats being a hero (which was really fun), it's being able to run amok, wrecking mayhem and terror, doing all the things you'll never be able to do in our sanitized city state. Forget chewing gum, kidnapping politicians for ransom, ripping through police squadron cars to rob the bank, blowing up other thug's bases is the norm. You even get to slug it out against enemy human Heroes in special PvP zones or conduct large coalition raids on enemy's bases.

The graphics is excellent, City of Heroes was the first MMORPG game I played and till this date, it remains unsurpassed in terms of lush graphics and realistic effects, World of Warcraft does not even come close in this aspect. The price you pay for this though is the need for a decently suitable video card, preferably at least 64 MB. And there's one other thing that still attracts me to City of Villains and City of Heroes (basically if you have CoV, you have access to CoH), the sheer unparalleled ability to customize your villain and hero, from his or her look right down to the different powers and the craft able enhancements and special powers.

You will literally never ever find two lookalike characters in City of Villains(unless the players themselves agree amongst themselves to do so), everyone is unique; the different powers chosen and the kinds of enhancements slotted to the powers only serve to reinforce this fact. And this is totally unlike WoW where customization is nearly non-existent, it's like Blizzard wanted everyone to look the same. Basically in WoW, as long as you have the same gear and spec your talents in the same way, you'll be identical to the other person. A 0/41/10 Fire-Frost speced Mage in full Netherwind regalia was virtually a sight you'd see everywhere throughout the game. And we all looked the same. Your name was literally the only distinguishing factor.

So anyway, I'm just having a blast while it lasts. Which should be till the exams come round, I did after all grind Sister Spite to level 50 2 years ago, back when levelling was a pain and debt xp was horrific after the two of them abandoned the game for a long while. And because I'm lazy and the server's coming up I'll just post some pics.

What's a Villain if he/she doesn't look like one? Introducing Butchia the Butch-er. All that's missing is a pair of bone wings, that can wait for now.

Left to Right: Kevin as Chlorophyillis the psychedelic mamasan (dominator), Anthony as Seraphim Raphael the unholy angel (corruptor) and of course yours truly as Butchia the resident butch succubus (corruptor).


Robbing the bank and slaughtering the backup SWAT team and hero sent to stop your team.



Another common past time, walloping bodyguards/other thugs to kidnap hostages.

For the latest game update, the alien Rikti invasion started, hordes of Rikti Motherships appearing with scant warning on the different cities (zones) with multiple bombing runs and aliens warping out of thin air, which naturally means a gangbang of sorts.

Big, Fat, Ugly. Villains banding together to repel the aliens.

Take that! Power Blast. Close Range head shot.

And That! Laying the hurt: The Orgy in full swing.

Which certainly reminds me of the good old times spent playing the level 50 and currently semi-retired Dark Defender, Sister Spite.

On one of those beloved portal missions, back when mission XP sucked and the experience debt upon death was horrific. We'd basically dig ourselves in against endless waves of demons for a couple of hours. It was in all senses of the word, truly epic.

Hmmm so if I seem a little pre-occupied these days (other than the upcoming deadlines), you'll know why...