朽木百哉のブォグ

Another rainy day after the sunless weekend.

The rain had been so heavy that I could see a waterfall st the staircase when I made my way down. Puddles and puddles were formed everywhere ans strategic walking is to be done. Fortunately my shoes aren't made of hide else that would greatly affect the durability of it.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. With the festive season, it jusr makes me feel like staying at home or going elsewhere except office - many call this the holiday mood. I guess the best time would be to go on a break after the holidays.

Just hope to clearout early this evening.

Rainy evening as I made my way back from dearie's place; the rain had ascended at intensity when I made my way back. Since I didn't drive and no available private transportation, I had to set off early as I foresee a long journey ahead.

Bus was crowded. With the baggages I have on hand, it had better be so that I stay standing until there are easier accessible seats.

The walks had caused my new shoes to turn wet from the unstoppable rain. The wetted shoes had to be dried asap else I would be having another pair of defective shoes soon.

I expected the journey to be long. Considering the weather, the journey lasted 1:20hrs.

Another day to work tomorrow so i had better turn in. The resr of the world is shut for now.

Feeling a little reduced energy since the morning sneeze spell; it could be the chilled weather last night coupled with a fan for air circulation purpose that could have imposed the additional coolness.

Another day that I could not wake up on time for workout; so I had to resort to a partial exercise; aiming to complete it tonight.

Looking forward to seeing the sun when I leave office this evening; complete my workout and then the rest of things can go on schedule.

It has been quite awhile since I wrote after the end of the tsunami week; "post morten effect" or some would call it?

Back in SIM waiting for dearie to have her lessons while I catch up on blogging, as well as researching more on my digital shooting life.

The morning sun had been bright, yet warm, nothing proviking on the temperature side; bus had been filled with passengers who were quiet, some might still be in slumber, and pavements were filled with athletics who took a long run all the way from Lentor to Thomson.

Talking about school, I sure hope to settle in fast in my work so I can start the next phrase of my education enrichment.

Spent the day indoor as dearie wants to catch up on her studies so it'll be good time for me to catch up with my photoworks too. The Chinese New Year season is just around the corner and her house is already well decorated under the creative fingers of her mum who likes to bring up the ambience of the place.

There had been alot of times that I wanted to write on a daily basis, but it seemed that work had been taking up alot of my personal times especially when the tide sets in. Such are times where I can leave my thoughts of the day somewhere so I can keep my mind free to do other things outside work.

We ate one of the local delicacy, "gong gong" which dearie had been craving for since we were not successful in getting in over the past week at Sheng Song, but this time, it had been successful. The most challenging part is when we cooked them, those bad pieces will emit a pungent fishy odour that could send one to the longkangs of Sengkang after you smell it...but once you eat it, it's a different thing.

The best lesson learnt for us is to select the good pieces from the lot and to go early in the morning; by the time we found the branch selling them, those left were the pretty small ones which doesn't have much meat.

It was a good snack we had; but just wondering how is the cholesterol level of "gong gong"?

Finally, it's Friday.

The week had not been an easy one though Albert is back. Being more experienced now, I went on to quickly take on those new cases that had been filed in while handling existing ones.

A few followups need to be done for those injury cases as they are the ones which might cause further complications...so just keep tabs on those.

I had been wanting to do some shoots in Chinatown but looks like it isn't feasible tonight as I had been "blcoked" by work over the past week, and this evening, quality time is to be given to dearie.

Keep it going....one more full week after this before our big holiday comes...CNY 2011!

It's almost the end of the week and more mental grinding at work; CS is still an essential skill at the base of our work, so I just have to be patient with a "fly" I've encountered....

My ex colleague Cheng Chin hadn't even noticed that I had left the organisation...wait till she realises it. I guess my departure from that place had been quiet, low profiled or what you call, "cloaked". It wasn't something that had to be declared to the whole world; only those whom I hold close to my heart will know about it as I would only want to bring the good along with me in life.

I had been jokingly commented by Albert for grabbing all the new cases that had been filed in quickly; my primary purpose was not to let those cases pile up and quickly have someone to attend to it.

As time passes by, I had come to realise that this role I'm in requires more analytical skills than technical skills like my previous role. It has proven more interesting and at the same time, made my mind sharper...during this training phase, the mind will feel a little tired as it has not been fully tuned to be a more analytical function.

I must continue to pick up the ropes quickly!

Travelling in an unsheltered jeep through a village, I told the people I had on board that this used to be where my granny stays - the house is made up of bricks and stones and already halfway through demolishing. Strangely, it did not look exactly like how it was; wooden boarded house with zinc roofs on stilts. The whole town now looks like a village.

Next scene shows an indoor place where i saw many of my secondary school friends. That scene appeared to be the edge of a mini shopping centre like Loyang Point with the wet market just beside it. I saw familiar faces like Weijie (if I did not recall the name wrongly) who was from one of the neighbouring class who still spotted the same hairstyle during school days.

I could not make out what we had conversed but it appeared that we are good friends and having so much to talk about.


-- iPhoneから送信

I saw myself in a spaceship like environment, yet the crew were my usual colleagues and information were passed in from one workstation to another using a portable device, that looks like a harddisk and yet not, from it's undetectable rugged casing. The theme somehow reminded me of Morpheus' spaceship in The Matrix, The Nebachannaca.

I was tasked to work on my 2 personal PCs that suddenly became a part of the 'armament' for work.

Switchscene showed me outside Maybank at Tampines Street 11, which is now a Sakae Sushi restaurant; there's a big water dispenser outside that seemeed old and poorly maintained - so I went to collect water from another fresher source.

Later on Mingyao, my secondary school classmate appeared and we started talking about our employment term as permanent position, which both of us are in but I did share with him on the probation period that I had been placed under.

Soon I saw that the sky had turned blue; and time get ready for work since I had bewn slipping in and out of dreamland within the past 3 hours.
-- iPhoneから送信

I appeared in a dark MSCP and was accompanied by the '4 heavenly kings' in my platoon - the darkness seemed pretty uncomfortable with the old and dark building settings. We were on the run from some rumoured 'octpus fiend' that had similarly been heard many times in the past.

Switchscene showed me in a 3RM HDB flat which appeared to be a gathering; there was an antique PC which processor speed was not even Pentium 3; sound effects were made up of beeps that were emitted through the default PC speakers. There was a game that many people heard and wanted to play but seemed that it is system locked. I went to fiddle a little on the keyboard and somehow managed to launch the game; some mouse and bowl game. I called Sara (Wendy's husband) to come over to play since it's up and working.

Junhao was trying to do a power supply hack by flicking certain switches hidden behind this push-cart like artifect that he had to climb over to the rear which was a narrow gap that his build was advantageous towards. With a few flicks, this gave power to that old PC that was also power locked.

After the PC's up and running, I watched a self-filmed video in a home event that Shariffah's husband was also watching along with us - he just told us to watch quietly.

-- iPhoneから送信

Come tomorrow for the next 5 days and unknown extended hours will be the time where I will be stormed with work on a solo basis while my colleague's on a week's leave. This shall be good training time for me.

I hope I'll still be in time to book a short weekend gettaway with dearie as we seriously need a break.

Weather seems good today; let's hope the climate doesn't do a sudden switch for the rest of the day.

Cyberspace. I saw myself walking through these futuristic structures which were bluish silver, which there was a stealth unit, resembling the Saboteur from Dune, that landed on the deck of the starship. After its foot left the landzone, there was a vocal alert saying "motion detected" that appeared to be an electronic panel, which looked like a gel-bodied object when "Blade" - Wesley Snipes picked it up. He had spotted a quarry as he was doing his patrols around the place.

A flashscene showed that there was struggle between Blade and the quarry, who was dressed like on of the villins in Tron Legacy, glowing with orange line across the suit and black visored helmet which could not be seen through.

Next scene showed me and dearie walking through a back alley, which was an unknown shortcut which lead us to a neighbouring mall, that was even faster than walking through the MRT exchange underground, that was filled with shops, or walking on the outside where the sun could cook us. The accompanying person was a lady, whom dearie seem to know but I have never seen her in person.

All these took a moment of less than 3 hours to complete since I lay on bed at 6:30am. Before I knew it, it was already near 11am.

Dearie and I had dinner with her parents at Marina Square's Imperial Restaurant, a place we had gone before for a simple meal that was for a special occasion back then.

Although the quantity wasn't huge, those handmade noodles sure fill our stomach as if we had swallowed a tub of rice.

The place looked decently populated for a Saturday evening as we left shortly after some shopping, and made some desserts at home while I took the wheel back. Somehow, I wonder when will I be the one owning the Civic 1.8L?

I was returning home from a countryside drive when I suddenly saw myself at an inn, that reminded me of Dragon Gate Inn. The main gate has big doors and out came the innkeeper who then noticed the rug was made of exquisite material that was blue with yellow designs.

I moved in and suddenly it was changed to modern world, where the library shelves were made of wood that the whole library feels like those national archives in England.

This is a reoccurence. I was tasked to go to this same library the last time, obtain some code and passing through secret entrances in the library. Similarly, a girl was assisting me through; she appeared to be those anime characters with a hairband and pink coloured hair.

At the first turn from the side entrance, we passed 3 'guardians' who resembled race queens in white attire. After obtaining a code without the guardian's notice, my assistant proceeded to depress a certain part of the wall that looks just like the rest -it turned out to be the switch to the secret entrance.

Moving on. On the other side of the library, there was a tab we need to look out for which contains a certain series of number. By this time, the guardians were on the move already and we had to extract it quickly. My assistant hurried me to leave as I was replacing that tab with a phony copy.

Exit by rear entrance just behind the loan counters.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Eyes feel like they are on fire as I left office for the day.

Despite being busy at work although much quieter, it still was a mentally challenging day.

Weather outside had been rainy and made me sleepy at the extended fixation of eyes on the monitor.

I need a visual rest tonight.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Returning home being the last in my department in the evening, under the light drizzling sky which certainly has set me into some thoughts for the evening.

Work's piling up; a good sign for acclerating growth but also something which might rob me of my personal time to some extend.

I guess this is how this society is shaped over the years; for the sake of livelihood, I have to hang on.

Maybe the peak for this week had been conquered, so my mind is somewhat relieved for the moment...I'm anticipating how I will be working next week now, as I can foresee the incoming 'flood' that are arriving in fragments.

Fragments of memory? This has not occured in my mind for awhile as the tension of work simply directs me to seek some mental relieve by looking forward to fiddle with my gadgets, or getting something I like to reward myself.

But the rewarding part should come only after proving my worth.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dearie had asked me what is the occasion this comin weekend, seemingly hinting at something. I have not missed out the actual event that will be taking place next weekend.

I saw myself getting ready in a suit only worn for special occasion; just when I was about to leave our place, I realised that it's all badly wrinkled and I have to either press them neat or change to something else. For a moment it looked like a wedding but later it appears to be our ROM.

If it is a wedding, then dearie should not be with me at my place already 1st thing in the morning...dearie is dressed in a cream-basef dressed with chamfered from the right-bottomed dress, which comes along with a soft-materialed cover that gives a dreamy look.

Next scene showed us walking along the pavement, in an old town of Queenstown. Dearie was holding on to a bouquet and doing some calculations on the no of guests we want to invite vs the price per table.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Appearing in the same town, timing in the evening, with street light lighting up across the small neighbourhood, I wandered into an old school which was already after school hours. I noticed there was a special species of butterfly that was blue in colour, but the strange thing was that its legs are exceptionally long, drooping while it flys like the Zerg Overlord.

Shortly after, there was a frenzy of butterfly attack, which was spotted as those I've seen attacking people. According to a stallowner, these butterflies feed on a special scent which is bottled in a narrow-necked container. Apparently, there was a deficit of their staple fopd, thus resulting in them going around attacking people.

I saw dearie's uncle and aunties at a void deck from the same pathway that I was previously on. Her youngest uncle-in-law was dashing across the grass patch and met with them as he was pursuitee by 1 of the butterflies.

At this moment, I then noticed their size; 30 times bigger than the normal butterfly! Could they be genetically mutated species?

When dearie's auntie and uncle were gathered, suddenly, out of nowhere, a swamp appeared around and started to attack them. What puzzled me was that their movement to avoid being attacked, while feet-planted, were all in a looped sequence.

As I approached them, suddenly the pursuiter turned its attention on me; I was then told that they're attracted to strong odours as I was then wet with perspiration after a run.

I had to run; and on way received news that these mutated butterflies were gathering at the gates of the town and no one dared to go near.

Suddenly I found the bottle which contains the secretion which they will feed on, and approached the villa that they had been fluttering around at, and opened the container. One by one, they moved away from the lights, surroundings and stayed around the bottle while extending their feeding tube into the liquid.

The attack seemed to be over...

6:45am and it's time to do my workout.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Awoke at 5am even before the alarm clock rang; and by 530am, 3/4 of the workout had been pretty much been completed proper.

Deskbound run had kept me ongoing with many challenges and finally, the light of exit was at 7:45pm...I guess this could be ongoing for quite sometime if the worklpad continues to stay at this level. This is in preparation of next week's 'Hold e Helm'.

I was having at the back of my mind the question of when I can start my studies and fulfill my wish to complete my degree program. Hopefully I can turn full-fledged soon so I can delegate some time to my education enhancement.

The Work Ultimatium had been broken.

Quick dinner and I was off to pick dearie up from her class. For the sake of livelihood, I must hang on.

The scene of Kukup appeared as I was in a village that made its livelihood from the fish trade.

We were exploring around the houses built on stilts that appeared to be fully accessible. In one part of the village, there was a concrete house that appeared much sturdier than the rest around, but faded with age from its dilpidated condition.

Legend says that this house had been vacated for many years since the slaying of the clan many years ago. For a moment, I had thought it could be another regular story behind the hauntings.

At low tide, I approached that mansion. From the exterior upon closeup, I could see it was pretty dilapidated and my gut somehow told me and my friends to take caution when approaching. As we attempted to walk through the villa - which resembled those houses with a balcony just beside the main door, I saw a bedraggled figure standing on the higher beam of the house.

She had unkempt hair and wore a shapless dress that had been worn out through the years. Could she be rhe rumoured phantom who massacured the entire clan?

When we got nearer, it seemed to have alerted her as I could hear the sound of her dragging feet, along with a tool that appeared to be a flagpole pin that she used as her sole arson of defense.

Flashscene moved us to a place where it resembled my old village house where I could hear the gentle ripples of waves. There was a kid who stayed in that house and would want to play with everyone. However, whoever plays with him will turn into a kid in the sight of those around him, which means also a chance for hik o reincarnate. So I learnt the trick of not acknowledging his presence so as to avoid falling into the vicioua cycle of 'the replacements'.

It felt like a delayed recovery as I woke up at 737am.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finally we have reached 2011!

The previous year had just passed by quickly.

It came through my mind to think;

What have we achieved?
Have we achieved it? If no, how far are we at?
If yes, what next?

For me, it was a good move to another organisation where I can learn more things despite the steepened learning curve.

A new year of challenges await me ahead.

Dearie and I had a small meal together at her place just before the clock hits 0000hrs. A simple, yet warm event we had together and avoiding the crowd in those hotspots.