Christmas

A wish list? Well, sice i've already got a music player that i have no intent on losing, i just want a trilogy. The Black Magician Trilogy at that. And if that's not possible, then a triller will do fine.

Not demanding, aye?

Personally, talking bout christmas reminds me uncomfortably that the end of the year is drawing near and soon Form 5 will start. Then i'll have to begin studying like mad, and doing homework till i'm half dead. I don't really like that, but i guess its inevitable. But before that happens, i guess i'll just enjoy the rest this year has to offer, and that includes the Undergroundsquare gathering tonight, coutesy of the Big Boss Kenny. Lol.

Janus

The above picture is Ichiro Shishiya sensei, an Aikido master, using a Katate series sword strike. I'm still not fluent enough in Aikido language, but i like the picture - really cool photography.

HP and the G of F

Well, it was in some ways good, and in someways bad. The movie itself, if not compared to the book, was great - better than the first three ( i completely skived the second and the third), but as i left my seat i was wondering why exactly it could'nt meet up to the charm of the books. Everything in the books seem to be cloaked in one permanent diffuse glow - a wonderful sheen that makes every foray into Hogwarts breathtaking (including the fifth book - i yawned a lot)

Well, they modified the script quite extensively, with whole chunks of the book missing - the Quidditch World Cup, for example. But acting was good, and i personally like the darker theme. Too bad Cedric died - things like this, when you know a character would be killed off, every second of screen time is a question of what-if? Much like Star Wars Episode 3, then, watching the inevitable spiral downward. Maybe that's why i prefer games - you control your own fate.

To my surprise, everyone in the film could pronounce Cedric properly. Well, kidding there. I know Ced's a common name in England, and even then 'Ced' was a surprise - nicknames are universal, aye? That about wraps up my summary of the film - i went home satisfied with the RM9 spent, and then downloaded She Says by Howie Day.

Oh, almost forgot. Fleur looks nice in a swimsuit.

If shopping bores you

Then you're a boy. Like me. Oh, whatever. My parents were in Parkson, hunting down god-knows-what, and since i show no particular interest in looking around at the various graphic tees or jeans, so zip i went into Times bookstore, whittling away time by reading whatever catches my eye. And i seriously found a good one. A novel on par with Artemis Fowl and (well, better than) Alex Rider.

It was The Magicians Guild (cover on the left), the first of the Black Magician trilogy. Again, it was light fantasy, not the deep stuff with unpronouncable names that Paul and Ling read. And again, it was character driven, not whizzbang magic that gave no credence to the plot.

And best of all? The entire series was wriiten out, so i needn't wait for the sequels like i'd been waiting for Harry Potter (since i was 12) and The Bartimaeus Trilogy (since i was 15).

Still haven't gotten it though - just read through 5 chapters in about an hour at the bookstore (call me a thief, whatever), and well, all very promising. So wish me luck. Perhaps a little amount of begging, complete with sad puppy dog eyes during the christmas season would help. ;D

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Well, its Sunday, and i've just gotten kicked out of Gunz due to an untrustworthy Streamyx line. Not that it really mattered - my ping was so low all the guys were owning me, even though i was using the B-fly that Ling recently taught. Had no choice ... you'd know it was really bad when i had to resort to k style moves just to dodge bullets.

Anyway, that's not the story. Church, there was this priest holding service, and during his notices for the day he held up some VCD, documentary on how evil Harry Potter is and to stay away from all the hidden symbolism embedded within. Aaron T. beside me was nodding his head in agreement (if you think i'm THAT holy, with being so involved in organising church activities, think again). I have a personal relationship with God, true, but somehow i don't agree with this HP is evil thing.

Oh, and i'm going out with friends, sooner or later, to watch the movie. Heard that it was better than the last few lousy attempts. Hey, it has Cho Chang. And Fleur Delacour. And Krum. And, urm, Cedric Diggory. Right. Cedric Diggory.

Anyway, this is what they say:

Christian pastor, Steve Wohlberg warns of "the dark spiritual forces" festering beneath Rowling's narrative, drawing Potter in a new book with visions of secular and religious America.

Well, trust the Americans to take something British and tune it to their various problems, of which obesity, violence and 'gayism', caused by kicking religion out of their lives and now blaming it on the darkness of literature.

And there they go worrying about the new wiccan religion springing up, and that Harry Potter is fostering a generation that there is such things as good and bad wizards. Well smite them. If there is such a worry,

• Teach the bible to kids, instead of just blaming it on books. If you wanna blame all the books with magic in it, then you mind as well kill off Lord Of The Rings and Narnia. (But of course, ridding religion in the education system over there causes a problem, doesn't it?)
  
• Make sure all the fans know that its just fiction, and that in real life magic isn't all good and nice and whatever HP makes it seem like.
• And if you DO want to criticise it, which is the freedom of press, then at least read the book first, and not just repeat what your priest/influential community leader/fairy godmother tells you.
  

Kids aren't dumb. I know the difference between a good, nice, well written story, a form of entertainment, and real life magic, that is connected to the devil. And as long as you know that, and that God is always there to protect you, there's no need to blame books and burn them.

Which, by the way, causes air pollution.

*winks*

LoL

Quote for November

The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of motivation, among other functions. The hypothalamus controls the "Four F's":

1. fighting;
2. fleeing;
3. feeding; and
4. mating.

Psychology professor in
neuropsychology intro course

My Blogs Birthday (!)

kidsgames
Originally uploaded by shadowsun7.

Its nearly a year now since i first set up this blog. Scroll back down the archives and you'd see a medley of funny posts (of which this one is not), melancholic posts, super serious posts. You wouldn't have realised i was capable of serious thought, aye?

Well, the Kids Games this year is drawing nearer by the second, and as my first few entries in this blog were on the Kids Games, you betcha i'm going to record this event in its entirety. Of course i'll be tired - who wouldn't when about a hundred kids are screaming and running and you're part of the teens in charge of them. I dunno, but i like kids. They're easy to talk to, easy to understand, easy to work with. Although sometimes when they scream you wish you brought mufflers.

The Kids Games would be held in St Thomas's agian, and i sincerely hope i'd not get roped in to be a group leader. Its hectic work, and although i was pretty involved with the kids last year, i'd like to be the backstage guy again. Well, almost. Last years closing ceremony was a backstage disaster, although thank God not many people knew that. Mikes were going on and off, lights just couldn't be turned on, and we were sweating so much i stunk up my mom's car after the event was concluded. The laptop and the disk player were all in haphazard places - on an organ and a chair, of all things! Crazy, crazy stuff. Also great fun. I only yelled once throughout the games, compared to all the other group leaders that had sore throats at the end of the day.

I can't wait for it. Strepsils on the ready, of course. ;D

PiCk

This i picked up from PostSecret. its cool, and it does sometimes reflect my mood. Boring hols, huh.

Tuition and hols don't mix, y'know

Okay. There it goes, the start of the holidays (and i didn't know it then - big bad boredom. About one week, one blissful week of computer gaming, something i have starved for since i was brought up in an underground laboratory with mice as food and pieces of gaming mags strewn over as, urm, my toilet. Perhaps reading all those and without a decent rig to play made me so psychologically imprinted that i yearn for these polygonal delights. I dunno. Interactive fun. TV doesn't quite do it for me, though at home, the TV is more highly regarded as useful entertainment than the computer. Like bad to worse.)

Ahh forget it.

I'll not plough you down with my woe, (okay, maybe just a teensy little bit) but hey, everybody'd go half crazy when you find out that Add maths tuition is in full force.

There's this endless barrage of questions teacher throws at you, but while its for my good and all, i can't stand it. So me and Kok Wee regularly turn the focus away from Add Maths, like,

"Hey, you hear the WCG happening in China?"

"Nope." I replied, "What about?"

"They're really good - counter they switch weapons so fast no gunshot sound. And warcraft? Click until crazy. Build up army so fast"

Or dirty jokes,

"You heard the one about Tarzan and Jane and the beehive?"

Or even on things as mundane as Ah Bong's (Kuching High's principal)'s double barreled vision.

"Sometimes you wonder whether he's looking at you or at some cicak at the ceiling. Scary lah."

"Yalor. Sometimes i assembly he yell at the people making noice."

"You sure he didn't see cicak talking?"

Its harder to do work when in the holiday spirit. If you can consider studying during the hols holiday spirit ... Sigh.

I like this one

Why i didn't update

Like i have to answer to the readers of this blog.

Anyway, you guys want to understand the current situation? Hmm. I'll try to wrap it up in a nice little story for you.

Sam Fisher was just approaching his objective - a drop zone for a SC207 (i think that's what it was called, don't care, really) and there was this tricky business of the backup generator in the CIA headquarters. Sam could've shot out the lights or shoot the workers there if he'd been given the gun and was really pissed, but since he didn't have a gun on that particular mission, he'd have to live with just being pissed. By the time he figured out the exact timing to knock the workers out, he was happy and saved the game. Then Sam approached the storage room behind it, eager to complete the latest objective and get on with it.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO TURN OFF THE LAPTOP!!!"

That was my dad. The rest is predictable.