Were you one of those gullible beings who participated in Earth Hour 2010 last Saturday?





Please spare me the details, because as far as I'm concerned, I honestly don't believe in what, Earth Hour?

So we turn out the lights for that one single hour in a year and that's supposed to make a huge difference? The way I see it, the whole cause only seeks to contradict the whole saving the environment plan, don't you think? Just look at the copuis promotions all abuzz the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, telly etc and tell me that isn't a waste of power. I've even taken the liberty to visit the Earth Hour website - complete with stunning videos, write-ups, flash and animation.

But Jerms! Saving an hour of power all around the world really makes a huge difference! That's a lot of energy saved and a lot less carbon and harmful emissions to the environment!

Yeah, it does. But what's the whole point of the programme in the first place? It's to create awareness, and unfortunately the only awareness that's been created resulted in more power generated. Back to square one eh? And besides, who will remember Earth Hour one week from today? Who will actually make a conscious effort to save energy after all that marketing?

Saving power for an hour out of 365 days is as good as a fat boy eating salad for just one day and having McDonalds all the other days of his life. Being a saint for that one moment in your life doesn't equate to having all the qualities of the saint.

So Jerms, what were you doing at 8.30pm on Saturday night when Earth Hour was being observed?

I was on a plane, and thankfully the pilots didn't decide to turn off one of the engines to save fuel.


And because I'm feeling hungry now, here's the quote of the day - to all my lovely friends!



And if that dessert happens to be apple pie a la mode from Ben & Jerrys, then you are my bestest bestest friend!

*PS - yes I finally have music back on my blog and I know how much people hate having music on blogs. Heck, my friend even sent me an article about it. But because my taste in music is impeccable, I'm sure the soothing sounds of the 80s will definitely brighten up your day so no complaints about music please! If it's any consolation, you are more than welcome to request for songs to be added in the playlist (subject to my approval, of course. You'd probably won't have much luck with Spice Girls)

So I'm finally back in Cairns now, which I really consider my second home because that's where I always flew too when I was starting out. Had many plans to go out an swim in the lagoon and do some shopping but the weather's been pretty rough. I can walk into Cold Rock and grab an ice cream and when I walk out, I'm stranded in the rain. Yeah pretty much wondering how we gonna fly out to Narita tomorrow!

Just a few more reviews on the movies I caught last week. Don't pretend, I know you guys love my reviews because if it's shit, it means the movie is good and if I say the movie is good, you'll probably hate it. See, how accurate! You'll never find another reviewer like me!

When In Rome



Ivan and myself have exactly the same sentiments about 'When In Rome', not the movie but the 80s band with an extremely pleasant hit called 'The Promise'. Other than that, the movie is about stealing coins from a fountain in Rome and not being able to reverse the ill fortune. Alright seriously, haven't we grown too old for nursery rhymes and Goldilocks?

the-promise-o-meter: 0/5

The Lovely Bones



With quite a number of storybooks being adapted into movies (and doing pretty well, I must say), didn't want to miss this either. A simple and endearing plot about a murdered girl narrating her killer's and father's life from heaven got undone by a very B-grade filming. The whole point about creating heaven in a movie should never be attempted by even the most honorable film makers, because no one's ever gonna come close to know what heaven is really like. I'm pretty sure heaven is not even a hundreth of what I see in the show. No wonder the critics were saying this should never haven been made into a show.

heaven-is-a-place-on-earth-o-meter: 1/5

Rememeber Me



Of course, the only reason why anyone would see this movie is to see a vampire being transformed into a knight in shining armour. It had a very indie feel to it and I kinda preferred Robert Pattison to act in more love stories like this instead of being ridiculously vampired with fangs. Alas, though, nothing much about the whole plot to crow about and it ended dramatically with what must be the worst ending I've ever witnessed in a love movie. What a pity.

do-you-remember-do-you-remember-do-you-remember-o-meter: 2/5

PS - Finally got my tagboard up and running, if you can find it, below the 2 photos of the best midfielder in the world now. Sweet! I am a genius after all. And for those of you supporting Newcastle next season, just a little note we're no longer sponsored by Adidas.




Welcome the Black Cats to the family!

So it's inevitable that I have to start loving cats from this day on. SOMEONE BUY ME A CUTE KITTTTTTEH.

Some photos from my recent Narita trip!

This is dinner at our ramen place down the road from our hotel. It's not my favourite one but probably second best, because it's just 5 mins away.

Shila and Peter





Chiaki and Karien







Next day was our shopping trip to the mall and there was a pasar malam! How exciting. A pasar malam in Japan! Really interesting stuff there. LV bags were going for JPY$2000, but I really can't tell if it's authentic so no go for me.







But how on earth can they be there the whole day in the freezing cold? It's beyond me. Probably used to it by now.

Just came back from my poly gathering at Marche and TGIF Friday!





Goodness, how much we've grown over the years. We've got bank managers, event executives, insurance agents, law firm employees, travel agent reps and some have got married too! Gosh, I miss those days in TP where we'll hang in Business canteen for hours just doing nothing and sipping on concentrated teh ping.

Need to meet up more!

*PS - I know you guys are desperate to write on my tag board and tell me how good-looking I am but not sure why it's been down. Heck, I think this blog is cursed or something. Just changed my whole layout and now no music and no tagboard. It's bloody frustrating for an IT-illiterate person like myself! So hang in there folks. And don't tell me I should not have music on my blog because my taste of music rocks. If you think I have horrible taste in music, I AM NOT YOUR FRIEND ANYMORE. BOOOOO.

So today I finally went for my wisdom tooth extraction! Took out my right one first because it's the most troubling one. Definitely one hella experience! Initially it was quite painful with the injection, think I almost blacked out but the dentist was really encouraging and didn't feel much pain after that. Went home, popped some painkillers and tried to sleep but the swelling started and oh my, it was the worst feeling ever. Felt like someone just punching me repeatedly on the right cheek. Well it's much better now! Although it's quite torturing to have porridge all day long but hopefully it'll get better in 48 hours. Flying on Thursday so I believe it's enough time for it to heal. And I'm $800 poorer!

So If I'm feeling better, will be going down to the Jetstar recruitment to help out and having dinner with the poly mates at Marche. I think I'll be gulping down mushroom soup the whole time! Zouk is on for Wednesday night and the dentist warned me, NO ALCOHOL! Gonna be a lady and drink virgin pina colada again :x

One last movie before my flight!

DEAR JOHN



Before watching the movie, Sarah told me that I'm not gonna enjoy it. Turns out, I'm probably gonna say this 10 more times down the year but for now, it's the best movie of 2010!

Love the whole plot about war and love - would you choose to fight for your country over the love of your life? Such a simple show but it's just so moving and real, I don't see why anyone would not like this! I'm gonna read the book!

hey-jude-o-meter: 5/5 !

Off for my Japan trip this whole week. Enjoy the school holidays kids!

Today's Perth flight was quite quiet, other than the one incident where I really scolded a Singaporean passenger! So I bought my own New Paper and put in behind the last row and did my own stuff, preparing the food etc. This guy just walked up, saw it's today's papers and just walked away! Like hello! Your grandfather's aeroplane? Or you think this is SIA First Class? Sorry but you are travelling on a budget airline. Irregardless, shouldn't you ask before taking something? Again, back to my Zouk post, whatever happened to basic courtesy in the world together? Whatever happened to saying please and thank you? It's atrocious. Well I scolded him left right center and I think he was quite embarressed but he deserved it! So rude to just grab my New Paper without asking!

Touched down at 6am and I had a soccer match just now at 3pm so didn't really sleep much! Second match of the year for my team and it was very heartbreaking. Lost 1-0; conceding the goal in the last 5 minutes of the match and scored by none other than our own player who was playing for the opposition. Felt really bad seeing the empty expressions on the faces of the young ones at the end of the match; we certainly didn't deserve to lose after toiling so hard for the entire match in the pouring rain. This was by far the best match we've played and while the feeling of losing like that sucks, I think we've improved a lot over the past few months so hopefully the next time, we'll get our elusive win!

So anyway, was back from Narita this week and when I was there, it got me thinking; been to Japan almost every month and I haven't even eaten a single piece of sushi! No doubt the ramen's so good here that I will ramen OD myself the entire trip but what's Japan without sushi? It's like coming to Singapore and not having chicken rice or nasi lemak.

So it was my first trip of tasting authetic Japanese sushi and there's no better place the the 100 YEN sushi restaurant!



They have a very innovative way of serving the sushi. Here's how it works -

STEP ONE - select your sushi on the computer screen



STEP TWO - select quantity



STEP THREE - wait for the light and sound from your table



STEP FOUR - your sushi is delivered straight to your table via a sushi train!













STEP FIVE - Bon Appetit!





And let me just say that without a doubt, it was the best sushi in the whole wide world. Not some soggy sushi from NTUC or stale ones from Sakae Sushi that have gone round the conveyor belt 200 times. This was FRESH sushi - I'm talking warm japanese rice and sliced salmon that literally melts in your mouth. And the wasabi, OOOOOH. The feeling when it sucks up your nose is just incredible. It's the best feeling ever; like it's so painful and unbearable but yet it gives you that sense of euphoria. And did I mention it's a quick remedy for blocked nose? Wasabi always does the trick.

Zouk-ed yesterday! Arrived very early for drinks with Sarah, Calvin and Paul.











No alcohol for me as I'm driving so call me a sissy because it was all the women's drinks for me!

Shirley Temple.





And a virgin pina colada.

Sarah, what happened to your orange and cherry?







The second time I ordered my pina, I quarrelled with some bloody waiter. Zouk needs to ensure their servers are well-versed with their product knowledge because this idiot didn't know what a virgin pina colada is. And for the record, it's the second time I've had to explain that; the first was in Timbre if you remember my post a few months back. And I'm never going back to Timbre again.

So anyway, this bloody idiot kept telling me there's no such thing as a virgin pina colada and I screamed and said I've been drinking this almost every week so don't give me that crap. He replied that maybe I was drinking at Wine Bar as some drinks are only available there and not at Zouk. What rubbish man. In the end Wei Kiat gave up and showed him where the drink was on his POS.

Is it any wonder why our service levels are so poor in Singapore? Like the worst in Asia? Zouk, such a reputable club in the world and the servers have no idea what a virgin pina colada is. I'm kinda worried now because if the servers don't know what that is, how about the bartenders? They'll probably think it's some alcoholic drink and mix some random vodka and rum in it? And yes, that's what happened in Timbre.

Zouk, I love you and your great music but you guys are horrendous in terms of service man. Gotta buck up.

Oh well the the three of them defected to Wine Bar for some serious drinking the rest of the night. It was like graveyards and flaming lambos so if you wanna see their drunk photos, head over to facebook. Drove everyone back at 4am.

Okay lots and lots of movies the past 2 weeks or so! Here we go again!

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE



Not sure why John Travolta is deviating from his dance movies to act in all these serious shit but hey, it was pretty good man. One of the better and more original movies that's quite a joy ride.

Eiffel-Tower-o-meter: 4/5

PERCY JACKSON & THE LIGHTNING THIEF



From the creators of Harry Potter comes this movie! Well dear producers, instead of coming up with such lame shows, why don't you just get your ass to the studios and make the next Harry Potter movie! You're just wasting everyone's time. And Pierce Brosnan? As a half man half horse? Seriously? I think I'd rather see him cringe his way through Mamma Mia again.

grease-lightning-o-meter: 0/5

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN



Not much screen time and publicity given to this movie starring and partly directed by Gerard Butler. By far, this has got to be one of the best movies of 2010. Extremely relevant in today's world where the justice system is more screwed up than impartial. I highly recommend this! You will not be disappointed!

love-in-the-first-degree-o-meter: 5/5!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND



So much about Tim Burton and Johnny Depp again, quite surprised that I actually liked this movie a lot. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to see Johnny Depp in the next dance movie because the Mad Hatter dance was just absolutely wicked!

men-without-hats-o-meter: 4.5/5

BEING HUMAN



Jack Neo needed his affair to help him work his magic around this movie and while I'm not sure what the effects are, I advise you, being human, not to watch this. I've never been a fan of his highly-emotional and senseless movies that are just created to make you tear at every scene but this one is just beyond bad. It's completely ridiculous, amateurish acting and just utterly nonsensical. In fact, I'm gonna do something that I've never done before and GO DOWN ON BOTH KNEES AND BEG ALL MY READERS to avoid watching this movie. Yes, it's THAT bad.

the-human-league-o-meter: -100 / 5


Can't wait for my soccer game on Saturday! Been too long m.i.a!

Back again!

Well it hasn't been a very fruitful 3 days for me. Got called up to operate Perth immediately after finishing my Melbourne course so it was a full 7 days of flying. What made it worse was that after returning on Friday night, I played cage soccer with Caleb and co and had a bad knee injury. Initially I thought it wasn't as bad as I expected but the next morning it swelled a bit and started feeling a little numb. Saturday morning soccer with buddy gang was planned well in advanced too so I didn't cancel and drove down to watch them play, unfortunately I was already struggling to walk so I couldn't get into the action. By then it was about 5 hours to sign on and I made the decision not to take MC but just soldier on and hopefully with more ice, it will clear up.

Back home today and glad to say, things have improved. Been able to walk without much pain and more importantly, the flights weren't too cumbersome so that's a relief.

ANYWAY, quite a bit of stuff to blog about in the second week of CNY so we'll start with buddy gang part 2 at Clarence's house!

RED was the order of the day!
















Contradicting mugs?









We almost crushed Caleb's legs!



Tigers unite!



The best bags in the world don't cost a thing.



I have no idea what he's trying to do.



Clarence and his yearly buffet outside his house! I wonder how his neighbours will feel!








Let the games begin!



The aces came fast and furious, but everyone who had pocket aces that night lost to all the shitty cards. Yeah kinda resembles our life sometimes eh? Feels like you've got a huge advantage over something and then you fail to see the other party's perspective.







And he is the big winner!



Everyone!



First flight after 3 weeks of holiday and off to Melbourne for my annual refresher exam. Seriously, you can't think of a worse timing to take an exam - after 3 weeks of not flying. I'm not kidding when I say I mugged in my room the whole night.





I wrote out all my drills by hand, I drew the aeroplane out and memorised all the equipment locations and I had my batchmates crash my place just to give me some moral support. It was like being in ground school again.

BUT WHAT THE HECK, OF COURSE I PASSED.

And so we celebrated by going to Crown Casino, which I never gambled because the stakes at the casino are just too high. Unfortunately, everyone lost so we adjourned for supper instead.

Cakes galore!















Stood outside for a whole 10 minutes deciding what cake to eat and then I went for a slightly less fattening option - large strawberry tart w ice chocolate!





Blueberry cake for Terance and Jamie!



Perth trip was very quiet for me as I wasn't mobile enough to walk around after icing my knee. Met Belinda at her place for a bbq with her housemates to end CNY 2010. It was poker after that and on the last day of CNY, the Lady Gaga power finally shone on me.



Wahahaha. Indeed, diamonds are a girl's best friend. Or a guy's. Da San Yuen in mahjong and straight flush in poker. If this is not my year, then....it'll probably be 12 years later. Hahaha.

Japan trip in 3 days!