Friday, October 2, 2009
A Good Reminder on how the West is not Necessarily Universal
Title: The West Unique not Universal
Author: Samuel P. Huntington
Publication Date: 1996
"The West Unique Not Universal" is an article written by Samuel P. Huntington which details his argument against the idea that Western countries like North America and Europe are very influential until the extent that their culture is universal. In his article, he begins with how the Coca-Colonization has gave the wrong impression that Western culture is universal as well as how the idea global modernization is directly linked to Westernization is misguided, false and even arrogant. Later in his article, Samuel P. Huntington described the core characteristics of Western civilization which makes it a unique civilization compared to other civilizations in history. Huntington later explained how different countries around the world modernize yet adhere to their traditions and culture, which further enforced his argument that modernization does not necessarily mean westernization. He even stated a point on how modernization and economic development actually produced a cultural backlash as non Western countries who modernized renewed their commitment to their indigenous culture. Finally he described how Western countries can secure their influence in the global arena by strongly emphasizing on unity through multilateral policies. Seeing that the author made a lot of good points, we mostly agree with his main premise that the West is unique but not necessarily universal.
The author's first point on how the consumption of Western products by foreign consumers does not Westernized their mentality as the heart of culture consists of language, religion, values, traditions and customs is indeed correct. Language, religion and especially values have been embedded into an individual for most of his or her life and it is just difficult to believe that foreign products is capable of eroding the culture, values and customs of an individual. Of course one might argue about the Westernization of Japan during the Meiji era where most of the Japanese population embraced western culture to the extent of not only adopting their technology but also dressing and behaving like a Westerner, nevertheless, that did not change their way of thinking and there were always more than a handful of Japanese who remained loyal to their traditional roots and culture.
The author’s second point on modernization as a means of embracing Westernization which is not only flawed but also misleading is another idea that cannot be debated. Many believe and some even try to promote the idea that modernization equals Westernization can be explained by the historical roots of Western civilization as the first civilization to modernize. By studying the definition of modernization, the phenomena itself can be described as the industrialization, urbanization, expanding education, mobilizing the social structure and diversifying the occupational structures of a country. Many developing Eastern countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China have modernized their countries and in fact they continue to do so to keep up with globalization, nevertheless these countries remain loyal to their traditions and in fact are against Western policies, cultures and beliefs.
The authors points on what makes Western civilization a unique one compared to other civilization is mostly true except for a couple of points. The author was correct on how Western civilization was the only civilization to adopt the classical legacy, to embrace Western Christendom, to separate spiritual authority from the state, have multiple European languages and was the pioneer of individualism. The authors point on how Western civilization's tradition of rule of law which laid the basis for constitutionalism and the preservation of human rights is true; however, the author's emphasis on how this criteria made the West unique due to the fact that "other civilizations law has been much a less important factor in shaping thought and behaviour" is not only questionable but ignorant at a certain extent. Rules and laws itself regardless of which civilization it is embedded in serves the main purpose of maintaining peace and order as well as upholding justice in society through the means of punishment if they were violated or broken. The idea of punishment as a way to ensure every individual abide by the law is sufficient enough to shape the thought and behaviour of the people to obey the law at all times as the thought of experiencing punishment is dreadful and even painful. Of course this does not mean that there will not be any law breakers but the main idea here is that punishment itself would suffice to influence the thought and behaviour of the people within the circle of society that the law applies to. Another questionable point that the author made was how Western civilization was the first one to feature social pluralism where there were plenty of diverse autonomous groups not based on blood relationship or marriage such as monasteries, monastic orders and guilds. In Eastern civilization like ancient China, there were plenty of organization where members had no blood relationship like the boxers associations (Kung-Fu clans), trading guilds, performing troupes, opera groups and even pirates; this was enough to contradict with the author's point on how social pluralism is a unique attribute of Western civilization.
The first civilization to use mercenaries and the only civilization that extensively hired mercenaries is a core characteristic of Western civilization that the author left out. Western civilization was known for their affiliations with mercenaries to settle regional conflicts. This can be illustrated through the use of mercenaries in the Hundred Years War, the Punic Wars and the Battle of Thermopylae to name a few. In fact, not many are aware that before there were state armies in Europe, there were private armies employed by European kings as the kings were afraid that the state armies would turn against them. Another remarkable point to note about Western civilization and their mercenaries is the fact that how mercenaries from medieval European slowly evolve into today's more structured and ethical Private Military Companies that are operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia or other conflict-ridden hot spots. What is even more amazing is that most Private Military Companies in the world today originated from the countries of Western civilizations.
As Huntington proceeds further into his article, he mentioned how modernization and economic development produced cultural backlash. The idea alone was difficult to understand initially; nevertheless the author gave not only a logical explanation but also a good one. He mentioned how modernization enhances economic wealth and military power of the country as a whole which later leads to confidence and cultural assertiveness. This greatly makes sense as when an individual or a nation achieves success, it not only gives them the confidence but also a certain amount of ego and arrogance which explains the cultural assertiveness. The author made a very good point on this part of the article; however he could have added how a country's nationalism can be enforced through the confidence and cultural assertiveness upon achieving economic and military success. Nationalism from Eastern countries can itself be another reason to defy Westernization.
Before Huntington ended his article, he recommended how Western countries can secure their influence in the global arena by strongly emphasizing on unity through multilateral policies among Western countries. It is not difficult to understand why unity is required to enforce Western influence in the global arena. However, ideas like forbidding non-Western countries to participate in NATO is a bit disturbing especially when NATO is an influential military alliance in the world. Such idea presents a significant form of segregation in the global security community and especially with the war on terror escalating, the last thing the world wants is the hiding of military and counter-terrorism intelligence from one another.
In conclusion, Huntington's "The West Unique Not Universal" is a good article and it deserves attention as it is an eye opener to many who agrees that modernization is Westernization in addition to the thought that Westernization should be universal. Furthermore, this article exposes the unique characteristics of Western civilization that not many are aware of.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Movies I've Watched During the Summer Holidays
Despite my "house arrest" in Malaysia during the summer holidays, I was fortunate to catch several movies in the cinema as I was invited by an old friend from college for a movie outing more than once. To be precise, I managed to watch a total of four movies during my summer holidays; they were Blood: The Last Vampire, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra and Vengeance. Unfortunately this time, my visits to the big screen this summer wasn't as exciting and enjoyable as there are plenty or rants to make nevertheless, there was at least a movie which I greatly enjoy and the ones I didn't were at least passable.
The first movie I watched in Malaysian cinemas on the second day of my summer holidays in Malaysia was no other than Blood: The Last Vampire. This movie is based on a Japanese horror animation film released in the dawn of the new millennium which I once watched when I was in my first year of secondary school. I enjoyed the animation for its fast-paced action despite its overwhelming gore, therefore I was eager to see a live-remake of the animation I once enjoyed nine years ago. Directed by Chris Nahon and produced by Ronny Yu, Blood: The Last Vampire tells the story of Saya, a 400 year old human-vampire hybrid, on her endless quest to hunt vampires masquerading as humans and their mother-of-all vampires, Onigen. Saya's hunt for vampires and Onigen is assisted by a group of Illuminati-like covert organization known as "The Council" which bears an endless strings of network and connections around the world in locating the vampires. With intelligence reports from "The Council" pointing to the presence of Onigen in Japan, Saya goes undercover as a student in a school near the Yokota Air Base to carry out her ultimate duty in slaying Onigen and the vampires alongside her. Blood: The Last Vampire presents a simple and straight-to-the-point story; nevertheless there are few unexpected scenes of betrayal, explanation and surprises which does a decent manner of twisting the plot. The cast of the movie which consist of Gianna Jun, Allison Miller, Masiela Lusha , JJ Feild, Koyuki and Lian Cunningham did a great job in delivering their respective role as their acting were simply authentic and convincing. Despite featuring a group of cast whom were rarely heard of, Blood: The Last Vampire offers grade-A acting performances equivalent to the big names in Hollywood. However Blade: The Last Vampire is restricted from entering the "must watch" categories due to several aspects that holds the movie back. First of all, the special-effects in the movie fails to impress the viewers as it clearly resembles the standards used by action movies in the mid ninety's. Second of all, the martial art choreographing which was orchestrated by Cory Yuen (the action choreographer for most of Jet Li's action movies) himself was disappointing as it demonstrated a lack of effort and originality. Lastly, the climatic battle with Onigen is simply ridiculous and it clearly shows that the film crew are so eager to end their film project without placing much dedication in presenting a good ending to the fall of the villain, Onigen. Blood: The Last Vampire gets a 6 out of 10 from me. Despite its low ratings, Blood: The Last Vampire is still passable as a movie to watch for action fans.
A few days later, the same friend of mine who took me out for Blood: The Last Vampire, had free tickets to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I thought of passing on the movie as it was just another overrated sequel to me, in addition to my lack of interest in the Transformers saga. On the contrary, I decided to go along with my friend and watch it as she wanted someone to accompany her and also it was because I had nothing interesting to do that day. I've watched the first one with another friend of mine who dragged me along as he was a Transformers fanatic, four years ago. Surprisingly it was not bad despite the ultra fast paced action which left me confuse of what's happening on the big screen back then, so I thought maybe the second one could be better thus giving me another reason to watch Revenge of the Fallen. Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, Revenge of the Fallen revolves around the evil Decepticon's quest to resurrect their long-trapped leader and unleash their vengeance by activating a machine on Earth that would channel the Decepticons a massive amount of energy called Energon, at the expense of all life forms on Earth. Standing in the Decepticon's way is an alliance which consist of the Autobots and the United States government. Trapped in the conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons, is Sam Witwicky a university student who recently had visions of Cybertronian writings and is in the wanted list of the Decepticons under the orders of their long-trapped leader. Revenge of the Fallen greatly excels in its story as it does not only provides an arranged chronology of Sam and the Autobots in their fight against the evil Decepticons but it also explores the historical background of the Transformers which further enriches the story of the movie. In addition to that, the movie also details the living nature of the Transformers which makes the movie even more interesting. The cast of the movie comprise of Shia Le Beouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro did an outstanding job in performing their respective roles although there were a bit of overacting especially by Shia LeBeouf's character which slightly leaves the audiences feeling awkward at times. The special effects are truly amazing as the robots and their interaction seem very real and convincing which makes Revenge of the Fallen a must-watch for action fans who love being amazed by today's computer generated images. Soundtrack for the movie is good as it ideally compliments different scenes of the movie; the best music score for the soundtrack which is saved for the climatic battle of the movie illustrates high production and editing value of the movie. Revenge of the Fallen did a great job for its overall presentation of the movie; however there are a couple of dents that prevents the movie from getting a full score. As mentioned earlier on, the casting group's performance was simply outstanding nevertheless there were a bit of overacting especially form Shia Le Beouf's character which leaves the audiences awkward at times. The humor of the movie is most of the time difficult to laugh which further exacerbates the sense of awkwardness especially among mature audiences and there are a couple of Transformers which are dreadfully annoying as they break out lame and excruciating jokes which can be deeply annoying. It also seems that the producer and director of the movie did not learn from their previous mistakes when it comes to the combat of the Transformers; no doubt that the action choreographing is top-notch, on the other hand the pace of the action scene is too fast leaving audiences perplexed and confuse as to who is throwing their metallic fists or blasting who away. The same problem was illustrated in the previous Transformers movie and apparently audiences who suffered the same problem in the first movie have to re-experience it again in the sequel. To sum it up, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen gets a 7 out of 10 from me. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is something the kids will definitely enjoy; however the same cannot be said with mature audiences. Nevertheless, for those who are a fan of the saga and for those who enjoys a fast-paced action flick, Revenge of the Fallen caters what they need.
A month later another movie based on a cartoon series like Transformers hit the theaters in Malaysia; it was G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. I've watched the teaser of the movie when I was still in Canada and my first impression regarding the movie was bad as I thought the movie was going to be an absolute exaggerated and ridiculous portrayal of the Army Special Forces. When I was back in Malaysia the same friend of mine asked me if I was interested at all to watch the movie with her. Of course the answer was no but as always, seeing that I had no other plans for the day and since I was a sucker for anything Special Forces, I eventually followed my friend to the movies. Furthermore, my interest in flak masks was growing and apparently the flak masks worn by the villain commandos were just awesome therefore, I had an extra reason to watch the movie. After approximately an hour and a half in the cinema, I was completely amazed by the movie and I felt like an idiot the second I reflected on my first impression on G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. Directed by Stephen Sommers and produced by Brian Goldner , Bob Ducsay and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra tells the tale of a diabolical Irish arms dealer and his plans to take over the world with one covert multinational counter-terrorist organization code name G.I. Joe, standing in his way from allowing him to unleash his sinister plans. As simple as the story may sound, rest assure that Rise of the Cobra has an enriched story as it can be exemplified by the main villain's family history, the operating nature of the villain's doomsday device and the structure of the G.I. Joe organization. In addition to that, almost every character in the movie has his own story or agenda which not only explains the unconnected dots of the movie but also ignite the interests of the audiences. Rise of the Cobra is one of the few great action movies that keeps viewers at the edge of his or her seat leaving him or her blown away ever since Live Free and Die Hard . The action choreographing is simply superb especially with the ninja fight scenes between eternal rivals Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. The movie's special effects and computer generated images are above average as they are convincing. The B-grade cast of the movie which comprise Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Dennis Quaid and Lee Byung Hun did a fairly good job in delivering their roles. There is nothing much to rant about Rise of the Cobra except for its disappointing cliff hanger ending which contradicts with the title of the movie; other than that Rise of the Cobra is one great movie that excels into the "must watch" movie category. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra gets a two thumbs up from me with a rating of 9 out of 10. Rise of the Cobra is a must watch for action film junkies and definitely for the big fans of the G.I. Joe saga.
Just last week, I happened to watch the fourth movie entitled Vengeance. This movie came to my knowledge after I saw the trailer on public television a couple of times. A quick glance of the trailer which featured a slick and stylish presentation of gun action was just sufficient to get me excited. Did I mention that Vengeance is a Chinese movie? Unlike the other movies I have mentioned earlier on, Vengeance is a Chinese movie with a mix of English and a little bit of French. Directed by Johnnie To, Vengeance presents a dark and gritty story of a French chef who seeks to even the score with those who were responsible for murdering his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. Traveling all the way to China, the country where his loved ones were murdered, the French chef begins his own investigation to determine those who were behind the brutal murder. However, as he begins to feel lost in the foreign land, the French chef employs a triad of Chinese assassins to help him in his investigations and his quest to return the favor on those who were responsible for the murder. Just like any action-flick regarding redemption and revenge, Vengeance itself does not present anything new as movies like these has been in the market for a long time. Nevertheless, the movie which features a bit of surprises that turns the plot inside out makes Vengeance a movie worth the watch. Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet and Simon Yam are the cast of this action crime film. Like any other professional actors in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, everyone did a great job in portraying their characters. On the contrary, the dialogues between the characters which happens to be monotonous makes the movie slow and slightly boring. To make matter worst, the movie tries to deliver a stylish presentation but fails to impress the audience as there are previous Hong Kong action films which did a better job. The shoot-out scenes are simply boring and it clearly shows that no effort has been invested in the movie's action choreographing. Somehow, the trailers which I saw made the movie even interesting than the actual movie. Overall, Vengeance did not impress me and I have to say that I was disappointed with Johnnie To this time. To sum it up, Vengeance receives a 5 out of 10 from me. Perhaps those who enjoy slower paced films might find Vengeance worth watch; as for me, once is already enough.
Unfortunately this time, my visits to the big screen this summer wasn't as exciting and enjoyable as there are plenty or rants to make nevertheless, there was at least a movie which I greatly enjoy and the ones I didn't were at least passable. Compared to two years ago where I visited the cinemas in Malaysia during my summer holidays, I managed to watch a lot of great movies and I watched them more than once in the cinemas. Unfortunately for me this time, there aren't any of them which prompt me to watch it again in the cinemas except for G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobras. This fall, there are more great movies coming out and I'll be looking forward to watching it with my friends in Canada. Lets just hope the streak of movie disappointment does not continue for me this fall. Here are the trailers of the movies, I've watched. Enjoy.
1. Blood: The Last Vampire
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
3. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra
4. Vengeance
The first movie I watched in Malaysian cinemas on the second day of my summer holidays in Malaysia was no other than Blood: The Last Vampire. This movie is based on a Japanese horror animation film released in the dawn of the new millennium which I once watched when I was in my first year of secondary school. I enjoyed the animation for its fast-paced action despite its overwhelming gore, therefore I was eager to see a live-remake of the animation I once enjoyed nine years ago. Directed by Chris Nahon and produced by Ronny Yu, Blood: The Last Vampire tells the story of Saya, a 400 year old human-vampire hybrid, on her endless quest to hunt vampires masquerading as humans and their mother-of-all vampires, Onigen. Saya's hunt for vampires and Onigen is assisted by a group of Illuminati-like covert organization known as "The Council" which bears an endless strings of network and connections around the world in locating the vampires. With intelligence reports from "The Council" pointing to the presence of Onigen in Japan, Saya goes undercover as a student in a school near the Yokota Air Base to carry out her ultimate duty in slaying Onigen and the vampires alongside her. Blood: The Last Vampire presents a simple and straight-to-the-point story; nevertheless there are few unexpected scenes of betrayal, explanation and surprises which does a decent manner of twisting the plot. The cast of the movie which consist of Gianna Jun, Allison Miller, Masiela Lusha , JJ Feild, Koyuki and Lian Cunningham did a great job in delivering their respective role as their acting were simply authentic and convincing. Despite featuring a group of cast whom were rarely heard of, Blood: The Last Vampire offers grade-A acting performances equivalent to the big names in Hollywood. However Blade: The Last Vampire is restricted from entering the "must watch" categories due to several aspects that holds the movie back. First of all, the special-effects in the movie fails to impress the viewers as it clearly resembles the standards used by action movies in the mid ninety's. Second of all, the martial art choreographing which was orchestrated by Cory Yuen (the action choreographer for most of Jet Li's action movies) himself was disappointing as it demonstrated a lack of effort and originality. Lastly, the climatic battle with Onigen is simply ridiculous and it clearly shows that the film crew are so eager to end their film project without placing much dedication in presenting a good ending to the fall of the villain, Onigen. Blood: The Last Vampire gets a 6 out of 10 from me. Despite its low ratings, Blood: The Last Vampire is still passable as a movie to watch for action fans.
A few days later, the same friend of mine who took me out for Blood: The Last Vampire, had free tickets to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I thought of passing on the movie as it was just another overrated sequel to me, in addition to my lack of interest in the Transformers saga. On the contrary, I decided to go along with my friend and watch it as she wanted someone to accompany her and also it was because I had nothing interesting to do that day. I've watched the first one with another friend of mine who dragged me along as he was a Transformers fanatic, four years ago. Surprisingly it was not bad despite the ultra fast paced action which left me confuse of what's happening on the big screen back then, so I thought maybe the second one could be better thus giving me another reason to watch Revenge of the Fallen. Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, Revenge of the Fallen revolves around the evil Decepticon's quest to resurrect their long-trapped leader and unleash their vengeance by activating a machine on Earth that would channel the Decepticons a massive amount of energy called Energon, at the expense of all life forms on Earth. Standing in the Decepticon's way is an alliance which consist of the Autobots and the United States government. Trapped in the conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons, is Sam Witwicky a university student who recently had visions of Cybertronian writings and is in the wanted list of the Decepticons under the orders of their long-trapped leader. Revenge of the Fallen greatly excels in its story as it does not only provides an arranged chronology of Sam and the Autobots in their fight against the evil Decepticons but it also explores the historical background of the Transformers which further enriches the story of the movie. In addition to that, the movie also details the living nature of the Transformers which makes the movie even more interesting. The cast of the movie comprise of Shia Le Beouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro did an outstanding job in performing their respective roles although there were a bit of overacting especially by Shia LeBeouf's character which slightly leaves the audiences feeling awkward at times. The special effects are truly amazing as the robots and their interaction seem very real and convincing which makes Revenge of the Fallen a must-watch for action fans who love being amazed by today's computer generated images. Soundtrack for the movie is good as it ideally compliments different scenes of the movie; the best music score for the soundtrack which is saved for the climatic battle of the movie illustrates high production and editing value of the movie. Revenge of the Fallen did a great job for its overall presentation of the movie; however there are a couple of dents that prevents the movie from getting a full score. As mentioned earlier on, the casting group's performance was simply outstanding nevertheless there were a bit of overacting especially form Shia Le Beouf's character which leaves the audiences awkward at times. The humor of the movie is most of the time difficult to laugh which further exacerbates the sense of awkwardness especially among mature audiences and there are a couple of Transformers which are dreadfully annoying as they break out lame and excruciating jokes which can be deeply annoying. It also seems that the producer and director of the movie did not learn from their previous mistakes when it comes to the combat of the Transformers; no doubt that the action choreographing is top-notch, on the other hand the pace of the action scene is too fast leaving audiences perplexed and confuse as to who is throwing their metallic fists or blasting who away. The same problem was illustrated in the previous Transformers movie and apparently audiences who suffered the same problem in the first movie have to re-experience it again in the sequel. To sum it up, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen gets a 7 out of 10 from me. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is something the kids will definitely enjoy; however the same cannot be said with mature audiences. Nevertheless, for those who are a fan of the saga and for those who enjoys a fast-paced action flick, Revenge of the Fallen caters what they need.
A month later another movie based on a cartoon series like Transformers hit the theaters in Malaysia; it was G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. I've watched the teaser of the movie when I was still in Canada and my first impression regarding the movie was bad as I thought the movie was going to be an absolute exaggerated and ridiculous portrayal of the Army Special Forces. When I was back in Malaysia the same friend of mine asked me if I was interested at all to watch the movie with her. Of course the answer was no but as always, seeing that I had no other plans for the day and since I was a sucker for anything Special Forces, I eventually followed my friend to the movies. Furthermore, my interest in flak masks was growing and apparently the flak masks worn by the villain commandos were just awesome therefore, I had an extra reason to watch the movie. After approximately an hour and a half in the cinema, I was completely amazed by the movie and I felt like an idiot the second I reflected on my first impression on G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. Directed by Stephen Sommers and produced by Brian Goldner , Bob Ducsay and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra tells the tale of a diabolical Irish arms dealer and his plans to take over the world with one covert multinational counter-terrorist organization code name G.I. Joe, standing in his way from allowing him to unleash his sinister plans. As simple as the story may sound, rest assure that Rise of the Cobra has an enriched story as it can be exemplified by the main villain's family history, the operating nature of the villain's doomsday device and the structure of the G.I. Joe organization. In addition to that, almost every character in the movie has his own story or agenda which not only explains the unconnected dots of the movie but also ignite the interests of the audiences. Rise of the Cobra is one of the few great action movies that keeps viewers at the edge of his or her seat leaving him or her blown away ever since Live Free and Die Hard . The action choreographing is simply superb especially with the ninja fight scenes between eternal rivals Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. The movie's special effects and computer generated images are above average as they are convincing. The B-grade cast of the movie which comprise Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Dennis Quaid and Lee Byung Hun did a fairly good job in delivering their roles. There is nothing much to rant about Rise of the Cobra except for its disappointing cliff hanger ending which contradicts with the title of the movie; other than that Rise of the Cobra is one great movie that excels into the "must watch" movie category. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra gets a two thumbs up from me with a rating of 9 out of 10. Rise of the Cobra is a must watch for action film junkies and definitely for the big fans of the G.I. Joe saga.
Just last week, I happened to watch the fourth movie entitled Vengeance. This movie came to my knowledge after I saw the trailer on public television a couple of times. A quick glance of the trailer which featured a slick and stylish presentation of gun action was just sufficient to get me excited. Did I mention that Vengeance is a Chinese movie? Unlike the other movies I have mentioned earlier on, Vengeance is a Chinese movie with a mix of English and a little bit of French. Directed by Johnnie To, Vengeance presents a dark and gritty story of a French chef who seeks to even the score with those who were responsible for murdering his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. Traveling all the way to China, the country where his loved ones were murdered, the French chef begins his own investigation to determine those who were behind the brutal murder. However, as he begins to feel lost in the foreign land, the French chef employs a triad of Chinese assassins to help him in his investigations and his quest to return the favor on those who were responsible for the murder. Just like any action-flick regarding redemption and revenge, Vengeance itself does not present anything new as movies like these has been in the market for a long time. Nevertheless, the movie which features a bit of surprises that turns the plot inside out makes Vengeance a movie worth the watch. Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet and Simon Yam are the cast of this action crime film. Like any other professional actors in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, everyone did a great job in portraying their characters. On the contrary, the dialogues between the characters which happens to be monotonous makes the movie slow and slightly boring. To make matter worst, the movie tries to deliver a stylish presentation but fails to impress the audience as there are previous Hong Kong action films which did a better job. The shoot-out scenes are simply boring and it clearly shows that no effort has been invested in the movie's action choreographing. Somehow, the trailers which I saw made the movie even interesting than the actual movie. Overall, Vengeance did not impress me and I have to say that I was disappointed with Johnnie To this time. To sum it up, Vengeance receives a 5 out of 10 from me. Perhaps those who enjoy slower paced films might find Vengeance worth watch; as for me, once is already enough.
Unfortunately this time, my visits to the big screen this summer wasn't as exciting and enjoyable as there are plenty or rants to make nevertheless, there was at least a movie which I greatly enjoy and the ones I didn't were at least passable. Compared to two years ago where I visited the cinemas in Malaysia during my summer holidays, I managed to watch a lot of great movies and I watched them more than once in the cinemas. Unfortunately for me this time, there aren't any of them which prompt me to watch it again in the cinemas except for G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobras. This fall, there are more great movies coming out and I'll be looking forward to watching it with my friends in Canada. Lets just hope the streak of movie disappointment does not continue for me this fall. Here are the trailers of the movies, I've watched. Enjoy.
1. Blood: The Last Vampire
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
3. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra
4. Vengeance
Friday, August 28, 2009
Seoul Raiding 2
"Earlier this morning, a military convoy was ambushed at the 32nd south highway by unidentified gunmen resulted the death of 2 military officers and 12 soldiers in addition to the missing shipment the convoy was transporting. The unexpected massacre at the 32nd south highway shocked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Yoo Byung Tae. At the press earlier today, the chairman disclosed all details regarding the military convoy as classified information and expresses his condolence to the families of those who were killed in the convoy raid. The chairman added that the public should not be concerned as the stolen shipment does not pose a major threat to national security. He concluded his speech at the press by assuring the South Korean public that the Ministry of National Defense will conduct a thorough investigation into the daring raid and bring those responsible to justice. The National Intelligence Service with the assistance of the Korean National Police Agency (KNP) has already begun a joint-investigation on the convoy ambush. This is Yoo Jun Sikh reporting, SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System)."
Cheju Island, South Korea
2130 hours
Day 2
A F470 combat rubber raiding craft storms through the cold waters of the sea under the darkness of nightfall; aboard the rubber boat were mysterious individuals dressed in black skin- tight rubber suits equipped with pocket vests that held several ammunition magazines and grenades. The identities of the individuals were masqueraded with black light-weight metallic visors equipped with built-in computerized goggles, mini cameras and microphones. The passengers grabbed tight on the ropes of the craft as it accelerated further through the waters; in the middle of their hasty boat ride, one of the passengers received an incoming transmission. As the mysterious passenger tuned into the transmission, a Heads Up Display (HUD) appeared on the goggles of his computerized visor which later illuminated an image of the sender. "Peter, report in" the sender began. "We're all good to go, Jacqui. By the way, this is one slick wet suit we've got here. Kinda tight though..." Peter commented as he carefully observe his rubber suit with amaze. "Oh yeah, what's wrapped tight around you guys is a Mk. 26 sneaking suit. Our friends at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) recently produced this suit for their spy boys at the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and apparently, they had extras so they generously donated to ICPU (Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit). This isn't any ordinary rubber suit as it contains sensors that monitor the surrounding temperature thus cooling or heating the wearers' body for his or her comfort. Given such capability, the Mk. 26 sneaking suit is also an ideal wet suit especially if you're swimming in ice cold waters." Jacqui, the information officer explained. "Great! I was beginning to worry about the cold waters that we will be swimming in later on." Melissa, another passenger of the craft replied with relief as she nervously peeked into the dark cold sea water. "The Mk. 26 sneaking suit's temperature sensors unfortunately comes with the expense of absent body armour unlike the standard ICPU combat gear; in other words, you guys are practically very vulnerable, therefore extra precautions should be taken." the information officer regretfully warned. "There's always a trade off huh?" James chuckled nervously as he was not fond with the idea of going into a mission without protection. "I guess it's like doing it without a condom on but hey, it'll be more comfortable given that we don't have to deal with the weight of the body armour unlike before." Rachel chuckled as she gave a friendly pat on James's back. "Interesting metaphor Rachel...Oh guys, you've got incoming transmission from the commander. Patching you through." Jacqui alerted the ICPU operatives. Shortly after, an image of Commander Moaz, the team's commanding officer appeared on the ICPU operatives' HUD.
"Team, before we get into the mission briefing, allow me to congratulate everyone of you for the amazing job you guys did back in Seoul." Commander Moaz complimented proudly as he began. "Thank you sir!" the team replied simultaneously with utmost pride. "I hope you girls and boys had a good rest yesterday night as you're all gonna need every ounce of energy for your upcoming mission. Shit just hit the roof and our friends at the South Korean Ministry of National Defense are pissing themselves wet when their military convoy was ambushed earlier this morning." the commander explained. "Oh yeah, it was all over the news today" Soo Tian interrupted as he immediately reflected on the news flash he caught this afternoon. "So what was the convoy transporting which had our Korean friends here freaking out?" Peter asked curiously. "You won't believe it, team; the military convoy was transporting the same weapon caches you guys intercepted at the arms deal which took place at the abandoned mall yesterday." Commander Moaz surprised the ICPU operatives. "You gotta be fucking kidding me..."Rachel replied in disbelief. "How did the weapon caches ended up in the hands of South Korean army? Moreover, how did the details regarding the military convoy got out?" Peter perplexedly wondered. " Given the specifications and standards of the confiscated weapons, the Ministry of National Defense thought that it would be better if the weapons were in the hands of South Korean soldiers instead of police officers; I mean, it would be outrageous for a police officer to be enforcing the law with a heavy machine gun or a rocket launcher right? Therefore, under national orders, the KNP immediately transferred the weapons to the army which the army gladly picked them up with their own military convoy. KNP speculated an inside job within the ranks of the army which caused the ambush on the convoy. Conversely, the Ministry of National Defense immediately denied, regarding such speculations as simply ridiculous." the commander explained. "So what does ICPU speculate at the moment?" James asked curiously. "Although we hate to take sides in the blame game, ICPU could not help but to speculate that an inside job within the ranks of KNP's Interpol caused the convoy massacre. We believe that the South Korean Interpol undercover agent who tipped us on yesterday's arms deal has switched sides by leaking the information regarding the convoy to Cho Min Hae and the Red Sickle mercenaries ; his reasons for switching sides are yet to be confirmed." Commander Moaz explained. "A rogue agent huh? That's interesting". Soo Tian commented. "Shortly before your departure, our intelligence analysts discovered trails of transmitter signals captured by our radar. After carefully studying the trail, they developed a locus of the transmitter signal which originated from the 32nd south highway, the location of the convoy massacre. The last transmitter signal ended up in Cheju Island where our satellite procured magnified visual of a mansion which happens to belong to our crime diva, Cho Min Hae. We have every reason to believe that the stolen weapon caches were transported through sea before ending up in Cho's mansion given the locus of the transmitter signal that crossed through the sea on our radar. There is a high possibility that Cho will be at the mansion therefore, your mission priority will be to apprehend her alive as usual. If luck is on our side, Cho might continue the arms deal at her mansion which will prompt the presence of Sergei this time, giving us the opportunity to take him in as well. Taking in Sergei alive will be as important as taking in Cho alive, so watch your fire, team. Seeing that this weapon caches have cost the lives of South Korean soldiers, your 2nd objective is to destroy the weapon caches. Finally, your last objective is to apprehend the South Korean Interpol double agent for further investigations on his actions; we want him back alive so make sure you engage with discriminate. Details regarding the double agent will be transmitted shortly to your HUD." the commander explained. As the ICPU operatives received the data regarding the double agent in subject, they studied it carefully. "Bae Dong Min, our wanted double agent, was with the the National Intelligence Service and KNP's SWAT team prior to his transfer to Interpol department; this means that he is well versed in tactical engagement and marksmanship, thus making him a deadly target. Apprehend him with utmost caution." the commander warned before he continued. "Given the size and scope of this operation, your team will be working along side another ICPU strike team which will be led by Harmeet. Jacqui will brief you on the mission plans shortly. Good luck team." Commander Moaz greeted before he disconnected from the transmission. Shortly after that, the image of the team's information officer and Harmeet later appeared on their HUD.
"Okay here's the plan: Peter, your team will be given the call sign, Bravo. Harmeet, your team will be acknowledged as Lima. Bravo team will infiltrate the compound via the mansion's wharf. Satellite imagery shows that the wharf is not heavily guarded; nevertheless, given that the wharf is in an open area, you will be very vulnerable to direct attacks, therefore, maintaining total stealth is vital. This means you'll have to abandon your combat rubber raiding craft 2 clicks away from the mission location and swim your way to your designated insertion point, team. Lima team will infiltrate the compound through foot; additional intel which pointed out a crack in one of the walls which leads to the mansion's garden will be an ideal insertion point for your team, Harmeet . Like Bravo team, maintaining stealth is important, therefore, your Black Hawk will drop you off 2 clicks away from the mansion. Bravo team, upon reaching your designated insertion point, you will sneak into an underground passage which leads to the basement of the mansion where intel believes the weapons cache are stored. Upon clearing the basement, you'll rig the weapons cache with the C4 explosive which have been provided for this mission. Once you've rigged the weapons cache, you'll move to the balcony of the mansion which leads you to the upper levels of the residence, and standby for further orders. Lima team, you will proceed to the power house which generates electricity for the mansion, 20 paces northeast of your insertion point. Rig the power house with the explosives provided and proceed with stealth to the back doors of the mansion next to the swimming pool. Once both teams are in position, detonate the explosives which will then cause a big diversion before entering the mansion. Lima team will clear the lower part of the mansion while Bravo team will take care of the upper levels. Strike them hard and fast; remember: speed kills. Apprehend Sergei and Cho and escort them to the extraction point. That's practically it. Any questions, people?" the information officer concluded her mission plan. After a short moment of silence, Jacqui knew that the operatives clearly understood what she briefed earlier on. "Okay teams, lets get this right and go home. Good luck!" the information officer wished the ICPU commandos before she disconnected from the transmission.
"Harmeet, it’s been a while. Great to know I'll be working alongside with you and your team" the Bravo team leader said. "Likewise, my friend. Be sure to keep each other posted on the field and be careful out there, Bravo team" the Lima team leader reminded before she disconnected from the transmission. "Boss, approaching diving point in five" James informed as he checked the GPS on his HUD. "Okay people, let's load up!" Peter ordered as he cocked his MP5SD. The operatives of Bravo team wasted no time in arming their silenced sub machine guns, putting on their flippers and checking their oxygen tank; as they armed themselves, they braced themselves feeling a bit nervous. "Diving point approached! Disembark!" James informed as his GPS alarmed him him with a small beep; the commandos leaned back and threw themselves into the dark icy water of the night. As they splashed and submerged deep into the water, they were welcomed with a strong pierce of the ice cold waters of the sea. Nevertheless, comfort immediately welcomed them as their Mk. 26 sneaking suit heated up to the ideal temperature and warmed their shivering bodies. "Praise the Lord for the Mk.26" Peter gratefully mentioned as the warm heat embraced him with comfort. "I wouldn't mind substituting our standard assault gear for something like this" Melissa chuckled as she started her swim. "Be careful of what you wish for, Melissa. Keep in mind the sneaking suit isn't bulletproof. It’s mostly for stealth infiltration hence the name, "sneaking suit"". James sarcastically reminded the purple hair sniper who started to forget the countless times where the standard ICPU assault outfit saved her and her team from serious combat injuries. "Thanks for bringing up the obvious, professor" the sniper replied with annoyance despite knowing that her fellow comrade made a good point. "Cut it out, you kids!" Save the chatter for later and keep swimming" Soo Tian firmly ordered his comrades as he flipped his leg repeatedly trying to swim. "Boss, you think there'll be sharks around?" Rachel worriedly asked her team leader as she carefully scouts the dark waters while she swims. "For our sake, I hope not. I'm sure none of us intend to be shark food . Stay sharp, just in case, team" Peter ordered his team as he shared Rachel's concern. "Rather end up dead like the shower scene from The Rock then those poor bastards from Jaws ."Rachel shivered in slight fear the moment she remembered Steven Spielberg’s horror movie. The team of commandos continued their night swim, increasing the pace as they did not want to reach their insertion point later than Lima team. In the middle of his swim, Peter received an incoming transmission from the team leader of Lima team. Harmeet's image appeared on the HUD of Peter's visor, "Bravo Team, we're at the insertion point. What's your status?". "We're still kicking the flippers here. We're thirty meters away from our insertion point, Lima team." Peter responded as he carefully looked at his GPS window on his HUD. "Copy that, Lima team. We'll hold our position and recon the area while we wait for you to get into position." Harmeet replied before her image disappeared from Peter's HUD. "Okay team, lets increase the pace. We don't want Bravo team to keep on waiting." the Bravo team leader ordered before his comrades started increasing the pace. Seeing that the swimming commandos pushed themselves harder than earlier on, it was not long before they reach the insertion point; they were ten meters away from the wharf. "We've reached the insertion point" James informed while he took a quick peek at the GPS window on his HUD. The commandos then slowly emerged from the dark surface of the water with the sub machine guns pointed to the front in a stealthily manner.
As the night was dark, the commandos suffered from low visibility. Nevertheless, their state-of-the-art visors allowed them to toggle to night vision mode. The second the ICPU commandos activated their night vision, the once dark scenery than illuminated into a clear dark green. Melissa the peeked into the reflex scope of her MP5SD before she scouted the wharf for enemies. "All clear?" her sniper buddy,Soo Tian whispered the question quietly. "Negative, I see three tangos patrolling on the wharf. One's on the far right end facing the waters while the other two is at the center with their backs facing us" Melissa whispered as she observed the wharf carefully. "Okay, here's the plan: Rachel and James, you guys will take the two from the center of the wharf. I'll handle the one on the corner. Keep it quiet though. Sniper team, hold your position and provide cover." the team leader ordered. "Roger that!" everyone acknowledge as they got themselves ready for their enemy engagement. "Let's move out" the team leader whispered before he, James and Rachel returned underwater. Soo Tian and Melissa continued observing the wharf with their gun sights on the patrolling gunmen. As Peter, Rachel and James were all at an ideal distance from their "prey", they withdrew their combat knives getting ready to kill. They carefully looked at their targets and got themselves prepared for a stealth kill. "James reporting: Target in sight.". "Rachel here: ready for the kill.". "Take them down!" Peter ordered before he emerged quickly from the waters and grabbed the surprised gunman. He then pulled the gunman into the water, drowning him before he stabbed him with his combat knife. At the same time, both Rachel and James burst up from the water, grabbed the unsuspecting gunmen before pulling them down into the water. Immediately, the both of them quickly trusted their knives into the heart of their victims. Shortly after eliminating the sentries, the three commandos climbed up onto the wooden platform of the wharf and reported, "All clear!". As James and Rachel secured the wharf, Peter ordered the sniper team to regroup; Soo Tian and Melissa quickly swam their way to the location of their comrades. As the commandos regroup, they removed their oxygen tank and flippers. The Bravo team leader then contacted Lima team via his computerized visor. "Lima team, we've reached our insertion point. Commencing operation!" Peter reported. "Copy that, Bravo team. Let's get this done quickly and go home. Be careful out there." the Lima team leader reminded Peter and his team. "Likewise." Peter replied before he disconnected himself from the transmission; the commandos left the wharf and made their way for the underground passage.
The ICPU commandos of Bravo team crawled their way slowly behind bushes and foliage, avoiding the walkway to the underground passage to maintain their stealth. Unfortunately for the operatives, a handful of patrolling gunmen armed with Micro Uzis and assault rifles whom were keeping the area safe, made their infiltration slower. The commandos carefully observed the patrolling gunmen, making sure they were out of the gunmen's line of sight before quietly advancing further. Occasionally, the members of the ICPU had to silently remove any sentry or gunmen which made advancing impossible with their combat knife or their silenced weapons. A few minutes later, the commandos spotted the underground passage. In the middle of their observation, the commandos received an incoming transmission from their information officer. “Bravo team, report in” Jacqui ordered as her image appeared on every Bravo operative’s HUD. “We’ve spotted the underground passage that leads to the basement. It seems to be lightly guarded.” Peter reported as his visor’s camera zoomed into the entrance of the underground passage. “Copy that, Bravo team. Continue with the mission.” the information officer acknowledge as she received the team’s updated report. After a few minutes of careful observation, the Bravo team leader started giving orders, “Looks clear. James and Rachel, the both of you are on me. Sniper team, cover our six while we advance to the entrance”. “Got it, boss” Soo Tian acknowledged his team leader’s order as he and Melissa scoped the area with their sub-machine guns. Peter, James and Rachel ran with their heads down to their designated position. As they reached the entrance of the underground passage, they hold their position and kept an eye out for any gunmen before giving the sniper team the green light to advance. After receiving the permission to advance, the sniper team quickly regrouped with their teammates under the watchful eye of their comrades who were providing cover. The underground passage to the basement was clear of gunmen which made the commandos’ infiltration easier. After slowly and carefully scoping the underground passage with their guns, the ICPU operatives came to a steel door which led to the basement. “This must be the place” Peter thought as he got himself ready next to the door. Rachel then approached the bottom of the steel door and sneaked in a snake camera which was connected to her computerized visor via Blue Tooth. As she rotated the snake camera around, she got a full picture of what was behind the steel door. She spotted several weapons cache and a couple of armed guards sitting on them, chatting in Korean to one another. “That’s our weapon caches. We’ve got two tangos guarding them.” Rachel reported. “Okay team stack up and prepare for an entry”. The Bravo team leader ordered as he finished observing the visual presented by Rachel’s snake camera. “Flash and clear?” James asked as he reached for his stun grenades in one of his vest pockets. “Negative. We want to keep it as quiet as possible. By the way, it’s just the two of them. An enter-and-clear should do the trick.” Peter had an alternate way of entering. The commandos got themselves ready at the door, standing by for their leader’s order. “Go! Go! Go!” Peter barked before the ICPU operatives opened the door and rushed in with their silenced MP5 blazing. The surprised gunmen dropped dead to the ground before they could even raise their weapons. “All clear!” Soo Tian reported as he and his teammates secured the basement. “Rachel, plant the explosives. The rest of you secure the basement.” The Bravo team leader ordered as he moved to one corner of the basement to secure the parameters. The other ICPU commandos made sure the basement was secured as Rachel set the charges on one of the caches. “Charges set!” Rachel reported as she activated the C4 explosive on the weapons caches. “Jacqui, we’ve rigged the caches.” Peter reported to his information officer. “Good job, Bravo team. Proceed to your next objective” Jacqui replied before she shortly disconnected herself from the transmission. Shortly after that, the commandos received an incoming transmission from the leader of Lima team, “We’ve already rigged the power house with the C4s. Making our way to the back doors of the mansion.” “Copy that, Lima team. We’ve already set ours and we’re heading to the balcony of Cho’s mansion. We’ll let you know once we’re in position.” Peter replied. “Roger that.” Harmeet acknowledged. The commandos of Bravo team then regrouped and left the basement as they continued their infiltration.
Upon reaching the outer quarters of the mansion quietly, the team of commandos were welcomed by the luxurious and beautiful sight of Cho’s gargantuan mansion, flowery gardens and a huge swimming pool; the commandos had their jaws reaching the ground in amaze for a second as they witness the “garden of Eden”. “Gosh, it’s beautiful...” Melissa admired. It was unfortunate that she could not walk freely around the beautiful gardens and swimming pool; instead she had to crawl around infiltrating like an earthworm. “Okay, maybe we should consider a criminal career.” Rachel joked as her eyes toured around. “That’s the stairs that lead to the balcony.” Peter informed his team as he spotted his team’s designated entry point. The commandos continued making their way to the balcony quietly. In the middle of their infiltration, the team of commandos spotted Lima team entering the backyard of the mansion. “Boss, Lima team in sight” Soo Tian inform. The commandos of Bravo team halt their infiltration as they kept an eye on their comrades from another team. The operatives of Lima team cleared the backyard of the mansion as they systematically and quickly sweep forward killing every unsuspecting gunman in their path quietly; Peter and his team was amazed with their professionalism and skills nevertheless they weren’t surprised with Lima team’s performance as they are aware of the rigorous training every ICPU operator have to undergo which made them an efficient and effective killing machine. “Lima team reporting in. We’re in position.” Harmeet reported as she and her team got themselves ready to storm the mansion. As the Bravo team reached their entry point, Peter radioed in, “Bravo team here. We’ve reached our entry point.” Shortly after that, the information officer’s image appeared on every operative’s HUD, “Very well, both teams are in position. Detonate the explosives before making your entry. Remember to check your targets as you clear the mansion. We want Sergei and Cho back alive. Keep in mind for the suspected double agent as well.” Jacqui reminded. Rachel wired the door with a breaching charge while James had the explosive detonator ready; the rest of the commandos got themselves in position for a close-quarter-battle. “Countdown to assault” Peter informed every members of Bravo and Lima team as he got a flash bang ready. “This is the moment of truth. In five...” Peter started the countdown; the others braced themselves. “Four...” Peter continued. “Three...Two...” Peter gripped the pin of the flash bang. “One...” he pulled the pin out while James laid his finger on the detonator’s trigger and Rachel got herself ready to blow the door. “Hit it!” Peter finished the countdown; James and Rachel pressed their respective detonator. A loud boom followed by a huge fireball violently erupting from the basements and power house, alarmed the occupants of the mansion. As the door exploded and slammed open, a flash bang was tossed in before a white spark and a loud bang echoed the upper floor of the mansion.
The ICPU commandos of the Bravo team rushed into the mansion with their guns sweeping the area. With their adrenaline pumping, time around them seem to have slowed down giving the commandos the advantage to react faster to their slower moving environment. As the power to the mansion was disrupted, most of the lights in the huge residence were off, giving the occupants in the house low visual. Unlike their host, the commandos who had night vision on their computerized visors allowed them to see through the dark clearly giving them a better advantage. As the commandos sweep through the hallways of the mansion, several gunmen armed with pistols appeared before opening fire. The commandos took cover behind walls and flipped over furniture before they returned fire, killing them. The ICPU operatives then came to another hallway of the mansion which houses several rooms. “Lets all split up and clear each room! James and Rachel you’re together. Soo Tian and Melissa, you’re another team. Move out!” Peter screamed as he fired his silenced sub machine gun at the incoming gunmen. “Copy that!” the others acknowledge as they quickly form into their new teams. Peter rushed to the living room on the upper floor and tossed in a flash bang before clearing the area of enemies with his weapon. At the other end of the upper floor, Rachel and James got themselves ready at a door of the bedroom before they kicked opened the door and tossed in a flash bang. As they rush into a room, they encountered a gunman who was holding one of the maids working in the mansion, as a human shield. “Stay back or the bitch will catch a bullet in her brain” the gunman warned in Korean as he rested his pistol on the temple of his sobbing hostage. “Please let me go...” the maid pleaded in Korean. “Shut the fuck up!” the gunman ordered his human shield. “Let her go!” James ordered the gunman in English as he could not speak Korean. “Fuck...I’ve got not shot...” Rachel whispered as the gunman’s hostage was perfectly shielding him. Shortly after that, the gunman’s head burst before he dropped dead to the ground; someone fired a round to the gunman from behind. The maid immediately ran to the corner of the room before a Korean man came to comfort her. Rachel and James shifted their gun sights to the Korean man and to their surprised it was Bae Dong Min, the suspected double agent.
“Dong Min! Drop the gun! Now!” Rachel screamed as she aimed her MP5SD at him. “Hey, hey, I’m with you guys! I’m Interpol!” Dong Min immediately identified himself in perfect English. “No! You’re the fucking traitor who sold your country out to that bitch, Cho!” James denied as he grabbed onto Dong Min’s collar. “Hey you watch your fucking mouth! I did not betray my country!” the furious Interpol agent pushed James’ hands away from his expensive suit. “So how the fuck did Cho knew about the military convoy?” Rachel raised the question as she found it difficult to believe that the Korean Interpol agent was on their side. “One of Cho’s men hacked into the South Korean Army’s network to obtain the traveling log of the military convoy that was transporting her weapons” the Korean agent explained. “And you did not inform your superiors about it!? You dumb son of a bitch!” James responded with rage. “Hey fuck you, asshole! I had to stay off the grid or I would risk blowing my cover! Never mind that, our years of hard work trying to nail Cho would be down the drain. Who the hell did you think planted the transmitter on the weapons cache that led you to her mansion?” Dong Bin argued angrily as he could not accept the barrages of insults and speculations from the commandos. “So you took part in the ambush? You killed your country’s soldiers?” How could you?” Rachel questioned the Korean agent in disbelief. “I did not kill any of them! Yeah, I was there but I did not fucking kill any of them! I could not stop Cho’s strike team from killing them or they would have suspected me! Look, enough of this shit already. You can interrogate my ass once we get back to HQ but right now, I’m going to nail Sergei and Cho. You’re with me or what!?” Dong Bin asked impatiently. “You’re coming with us! If I catch you turning your gun on us, I’ll fucking bury you myself. You got that!?” Rachel warned the agent fiercely. “Yes ma’am!” Dong Min acknowledge angrily as he cocked his pistol. “Boss, we’ve found the agent in subject. He’s with us” James reported as he continued keeping a watchful eye on the Korean agent. “Copy that, James. Soo Tian, Melissa, report in” Peter ordered the sniper team. “We’re all clear over here, boss” Soo Tian reported his status through the transmission. “Copy that. Team, regroup on me” the Bravo team leader gave out his next order. As everyone regrouped, Peter immediately reported to the team’s information officer, “Jacqui, we’ve neautralized all hostiles on the upper level of the mansion and secured several unarmed civilians in the process. The Korean Interpol agent is with us. However, there is no sign of Sergei or Cho.” . “Good job Bravo team! Lima team, give me your sit rep.” The ICPU information officer requested. “Lima team here, we’ve secured the lower level of the mansion. Both Sergei and Cho are in our custody, Jacqui.” Harmeet reported. “Outstanding job Lima team. Guys, your next objective is to escort the “precious cargos” to the extraction point; I’m sending you the coordinates of the extraction point.” the information officer continued. A few seconds later, every ICPU operative’s HUD gave a soft beep as they received an updated information. “Coordinates received. Moving to extraction point now. Peter, I’ll see you and your team at the extraction point.” Harmeet said as she checked the location of the extraction point. “Copy that. We’re almost home” Peter acknowledged. All of a sudden Jacqui interrupted the commandos seeing that she had alarming warnings for them.
“Teams, this is not good: Our satellite just picked up multiple tangos converging on your position. I guess Cho’s backup got attracted to the fire display you guys put on. The number of them seems to be overwhelming. I suggest you guys get the hell out of there right now and head for the extraction point on the double or there’ll be hell to pay.” . “Fuck! How long do we have before, Cho’s men arrive?” Peter nervously asked. “Given their pace, more or less ten minutes” the information officer answered as she calculated the speed and distance of the converging tangos. “Okay team, you heard the lady! Lets head for the extraction point on the double!” Peter ordered his team; however the Korean agent interrupted his intentions to leave hurriedly with a suggestion. “There are several cars in the garage. Inform the other team to transport Sergei and Cho on one of them. We can take the helicopter from the mansion’s helipad. The helicopter is armed with a M60 heavy machine gun; we can provide cover for the other team from the air while they move to the extraction point.” Dong Bin brilliantly suggested. “Who the fuck asked for your opinion!?” Rachel interrupted the agent rudely. “No he’s right, Rachel. That’s the only way we can reach the extraction point quickly. Hey Harmeet, are you getting this?” Peter asked the Lima team leader through the transmission. “Loud and clear. My team and I will head for the garage now!” the Lima team leader replied before she disconnected herself from the transmission. “ I’ll pilot the chopper. I’ve flew it many times before” Dong Bin volunteered. “Okay, let’s head for the helipad now” Peter agreed as he and his team of commandos rushed to the helipad which was just a stone’s throw. As they reached the helipad, they were welcomed by the sight of a black UH-1N helicopter armed with an M-60 machine gun on the right side of the chopper; it was the Bravo team’s ticket out of the mansion which would soon be swarmed with Cho’s backup. “Quickly! Everyone get on board!” Peter ordered; his men wasted no time in embarking the helicopter. The Korean agent hopped to the cockpit of the helicopter with the Bravo team leader before he put he fastened the pilot’s helmet on and started the helicopter’s engine. “Rachel, man the machine gun. The rest of you sit tight” Peter ordered as he fastened his seat belt; Rachel immediately posted herself to the mounted heavy machine-gun. As the propellers span faster, the helicopter was about to take off. “Lima team, what’s your status?” Peter contacted the team leader of Lima team. “You gotta be fucking kidding me. We can’t find the keys to this goddamn Hummer” Harmeet expressed with frustration as she continued looking everywhere for the keys to the Hummer she and her team was in. “There’s no time to look for the keys! You’ve got to hot wire the car! Cho’s back up would be hear any minute from now!” Peter warned Harmeet worriedly. “Okay, but this is gonna take us a minute” Harmeet replied over the transmission. Shortly after, Jacqui’s image appeared on every operative’s HUD as she tried to contact the commandos. “What the fuck are you people still doing there!? Cho’s men are just seconds away from your position. You won’t leave the mansion alive if they reach there!” Jacqui warned the commandos. “Fuck! I know! I’m wiring the goddamn car right now! Is it the red and the yellow wire or the blue and the red wire!? Fuck!” Harmeet panicked over the transmission. Not far away from them, a long convoy of black sedan and SUVs smashed through the front gate; it was Cho’s men ready to storm the mansion and rescue their captured leader.
“Fuck! They’re here already! Get this chopper in the air right now. We’ll have to draw their fire and buy some time for Lima team!” Peter ordered. The helicopter soon lifted and it headed straight for the intruding convoy of black sedan’s and SUVs. Dong Bin flew the helicopter to an ideal altitude before he turned the metallic big bird where its right side, the part of the helicopter with the mounted machine gun, was facing Cho’s backup. “Rachel, waste them!” the Bravo team leader ordered. “My pleasure!” Rachel replied as she squeezed the trigger of the mounted machine gun; hails of bullet started pouring on the first wave of sedans and SUVs which forced the occupants of the vehicles to stop and exit. “Die motherfuckers!” Rachel screamed her lungs out as she continued firing the M60 heavy machine gun on the SUVs and sedans. The gunmen immediately returned fire but they missed most of the time as they could not proper themselves for a proper firing position seeing that they were constantly on the run , trying to avoid being showered by machine gun rounds. “Circle around them! We’ve got to distract them from entering the house!” Rachel suggested while she continued hailing rounds of machine gun bullets to the trapped convoy. “Got it!” the Korean agent acknowledged as he flew around the convoy, presenting Rachel more targets to engage. Several feet below the ground, the Korean gunmen continued firing their assault rifles and their sub machine guns, trying hard to hit the chopper but to not much effect. “Fuck! We’re wasting ammo here!” one of them cursed in frustration. He then went to his bullet ravaged SUV to withdraw a rocket launcher. Soo Tian who was observing outside of the chopper as how his sniper’s habit would usually prompt him, spotted a gunmen with a rocket propelled grenade. “Fuck! RPG! Watch out!” Soo Tian warned with alarmed; however it was too late as the gunman from below launched the rocket. “Eat this bitches!” the gunman screamed in Korean as he squeezed the trigger of the RPG-7 rocket launcher. “Oh fuck.....”Dong Bin struggled to evade the incoming rocket which nearly left everyone on board obliterated. “Someone take out that goddamn RPG!” the Korean agent screamed as he was threw into a state of deep panic. “I’m on it!” Rachel responded as she continued firing the mounted machine gun; she managed to spot the RPG wielding gunman before he showered him with hails of bullets killing him instantly on the spot. The chopper continued circling around the convoy at the same time pinning them down with machine gun rounds; Bravo team was doing a great job as none of the gunman managed to reach the mansion seeing that they were busy taking cover behind their bullet ravaged vehicles for protection. As Rachel concentrated her machine gun fire on one of the SUVs, the bullet-riddled vehicle then burst into a huge ball of flames killing the gunmen nearby. “Whoa fuck! Its just like Vietnam!” Rachel laughed with excitement. “I’m out of machine gun rounds!” she informed as she noticed the M60 was not projecting any more bullets. “Here’s the reload” Melissa dragged a box of 7.62mm rounds from the back of the helicopter. James assisted Rachel by loading the belt of ammunition into the machine gun. A short while later on, Peter received an incoming transmission from the Lima team leader, “Lima team here. We’ve managed to hot wired the Hummer. We’re moving!”. “Its about damn time Lima team! We’re taking lots of heat for you out here. Use the side gates of the mansion to exit. The front is barricaded with tangos. We’ll cover you from above.” Peter suggested. “Copy that, Bravo team. We’re moving. We appreciate you taking the bullet for us” Harmeet replied before she disconnected from the transmission. A black Hummer then rushed out from the wooden gates of the garage before it drives through one of the gardens, ravaging its beauty in the process. The Hummer then violently smashed through the side gates of the mansion as it attempted to escape. “There’s our “precious cargo”. Let’s get them” Peter spotted the black Hummer accelerating through the dusty roads of the island. “Copy that!” the Korean agent navigated the chopper to close in on the Hummer’s position.
“Lima team, Bravo team has your six covered. Head to the extraction point on the double” Peter informed his Lima counterparts moving fast on the ground. “Roger that, Bravo team.” Harmeet replied with relief as she felt safer since a gunship was escorting her and her team to the extraction point. The Hummer accelerated its way through the dark dusty night of the islands' quiet road with a helicopter escorting it hundred feet about ground. The ICPU commandos who were on the run later received an incoming transmission from their information officer; like before, she had more bad news to present to the commandos. “Guys, I’ve just picked up multiple tangos converging on your trail. They’re moving in fast!” the ICPU information officer informed. “Damn it...These guys don’t give up, do they?” Rachel dreaded as she remounted herself on the machine gun. It wasn’t long before three SUVs appeared in their sights, catching up with the Hummer; The gunmen then popped from the side windows and sun roof of the SUVs before they started unleashing rounds of assault rifle ammo on the Hummer. As the Hummer caught several rounds of bullets, it swirled left and right trying desperately to avoid more incoming rounds. “We’re taking heavy enemy fire here! Bravo team, do something about it” Harmeet shrieked in panic over the transmission. The helicopter then flew pass the pursuing SUVs before its machine gunner repeatedly fire upon them. The trail of 7.62mm rounds smashed through one of the SUV’s wind shield killing the driver instantly, before forcing it to swirl out of course. The remaining gunmen then shifted their line of fire to the helicopter; they started releasing burst of assault rifle rounds to the helicopter forcing it to retreat. Rachel who was manning the machine gun caught a round to her head; she was immediately pushed back before she hit the deck of the helicopter. “Oh God! Man down! Man down!” James screamed with alarm as Rachel lay unconscious in the deck. Bravo team was in a state of chaos the second they knew their teammate was down. Soo Tian and Melissa pulled the unconscious Rachel to the back of the helicopter, while James took over the mounted machine gun unleashing more rounds of bullets. Jacqui then interrupted as her image popped up on the commandos’ HUD, “Bravo team, report your status!”. “Fuck! We’ve got a man down! I repeat we’ve got a man down! Its Rachel” Peter informed hastily as he started to sob. “Jesus Christ...Medical units are standing by...”the information officer responded in disbelief. “Checking her vital signs...” Melissa reported as her computerized visor scanned the anatomy of her fallen comrade. “No signs of bleeding or wounds. Just head concussion. The bullet is in her visor but it did not reach her head. She’s just knocked out. She’ll be alright” Melissa reported with utmost relief. The rest of the Bravo members then shared Melissa’s relief. As James concentrated the machine gun fire on the front SUV, the land vehicle then exploded into flames; the rear SUV which was following it then crashed violently into the front SUV which was covered in flames before it discontinue its pursuit. “ All tangos have been neutralized” James reported with relief. “Outstanding job, James” Jacqui complimented. Shortly after the dramatic action, Bravo team received an incoming transmission from Harmeet. “We’re already at the extraction point” the Lima team leader informed as she witnessed a Black Hawk helicopter on the ground with its rotors still spinning fast.
The Hummer then stopped to a corner of the dusty road before its passengers disembarked; Bravo team continued providing cover from the air for their comrades on the ground as members of Lima team secured the extraction point and escorted both Sergei and Cho to the Black Hawk. As all the commandos from the Lima team were on the Black Hawk together with their prisoners, the Black Hawk slowly left the ground before it flew off with the escort of the UH-1N helicopter. “This is Bravo team. We’ve left the extraction point with the “precious cargo”. The mission was a success. Heading back to HQ” Peter reported with joy and relief to his information officer as he knew the Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit just achieved another victory for the day. “Outstanding job team! We’ve got incoming transmission from the commander. Patching you through” Jacqui informed. The image of Commander Moaz reappeared for the second time on the commandos’ HUD. “Excellent work out there, everyone! South Korean Interpol can’t wait for the arrival of Cho and Sergei. With the arrest of Cho, you guys just topple one of South Korea’s biggest organized crime syndicate in addition to preventing further illegal flow of weapons around the world. As for Sergei, we hope to learn from him the whereabouts of the Red Sickle mercenaries in South Korea. It’s about time we push this goddamn mercenaries off South Korean soil. Report back to HQ for debriefing ,boys and girls.” The Commander proudly concluded. The Bravo team then received an incoming transmission from Harmeet. “Bravo team, we really appreciated the support your team has provided a few minutes ago. If it wasn’t for you guys we wouldn’t have made it to the extraction point with the prisoners in one piece. Beers are on me once we get back”, the Lima team leader insisted. “The success belongs to everyone who risked their lives for this operation, Harmeet.” Peter responded as he took a quick peeked at Rachel who was still unconscious. The helicopters then disappeared into the darkness of the night; the Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit was done for the day.
Later on that day
“Members of the Korean National Police (KNP) SWAT team and the 707th Special Battalion Unit stormed the residence of South Korea’s infamous crime diva Cho Min Hae hours ago in Cheju Island, under a joint-operation between the Korean National Police Agency and the National Intelligence Service. Cho Min Hae was responsible for the military convoy ambush at the 32nd South highway yesterday which cost the lives of 2 military officers and 12 soldiers. The joint operation came to a conclusion with the arrest of Cho herself and the death of twenty five gunmen who were killed during the dramatic assault on the mansion; no casualties were reported on the side of the authorities indicated the assault was a success. The director of the Korean National Police Agency, Yong Minh Wok once again praised the courage and professionalism of the men and women of the KNP’s SWAT team and the 707th Special Battalion Unit who took part in the raid. He extended his appreciation and compliments to the National Intelligence Service for their effort and dedication in solving the investigation regarding the military-convoy ambush. Yong Minh Wok added that the arrest of Cho will deal a huge blow to organized crime in South Korea, given her massive influence in such underground affairs. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Yoo Byung Tae applauded the successful joint-investigation between the Korean National Police Agency and National Intelligence Service, stating that the success has reassured the Korean public that the authorities are always capable in preserving national and public security. This is Min Jae Soon reporting, SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System).”
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Blockbuster Preview: Seoul Raiding 2
INTEGRATED WITH DIVERSE SKILLS IN SPECIAL OPERATIONS AND CUTTING EDGE MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, GLOBAL TERRORIST AND CRIMINALS FACE A NEW THREAT---THE INTER CONTINENTAL PARAMILITARY UNIT (ICPU)
When a military convoy transporting army-grade weapons in South Korea was ambushed leaving no survivors, the South Korean government is thrown into turmoil. Knowing that the fire arms are in the wrong hands is alarming, but imagining the consequences of it being used is a nightmare for South Korean national security. To make matter worst, a double agent within the ranks of South Korean Interpol is keeping those who are responsible for the ambush one step ahead of the authorities. Despite the emergence of chaos, hope once again shine when ICPU intelligence analysts manage to discover the location of the stolen weapons to a mansion on one of the Korean islands which belong to a familiar adversary. Once again, Commander Moaz and his team of elite Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit commandos are required to go deep behind enemy lines to destroy the stolen weapons that cost innocent lives. The commandos are ready to pay a surprise visit to the enemy's mansion and they are bringing war and a lesson on treachery as their house gift.
When a military convoy transporting army-grade weapons in South Korea was ambushed leaving no survivors, the South Korean government is thrown into turmoil. Knowing that the fire arms are in the wrong hands is alarming, but imagining the consequences of it being used is a nightmare for South Korean national security. To make matter worst, a double agent within the ranks of South Korean Interpol is keeping those who are responsible for the ambush one step ahead of the authorities. Despite the emergence of chaos, hope once again shine when ICPU intelligence analysts manage to discover the location of the stolen weapons to a mansion on one of the Korean islands which belong to a familiar adversary. Once again, Commander Moaz and his team of elite Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit commandos are required to go deep behind enemy lines to destroy the stolen weapons that cost innocent lives. The commandos are ready to pay a surprise visit to the enemy's mansion and they are bringing war and a lesson on treachery as their house gift.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
SAS Survival Guide: Zombie Crisis
I was trying to look for any free online horror first-person shooter games yesterday afternoon, but luck was not on my side as no one has created one yet or my internet browsing skill is just simply horrible. However, I managed to come across a list of online horror games in the form of flash-games. Knowing that flash-games are low budget online games that doesn't have a rich content of game play and story, I thought of passing it on until I came across an interesting one from the list of horror flash-games available; it was called SAS: Zombie Assault . For those of you all who are familiar with my personal interest, it would be very obvious to you that I am a sucker for anything that relates to the Special Forces or SWAT team despite how bad it might be. So seeing this was something to do with Her Majesty's elite Special Air Service, I thought I should give it a go. To my surprise, this flash-game actually presented a simple yet steady gameplay which somehow makes the game fun and later slightly addictive. On the other hand, in terms of story, nothing much can be knowned about the game except for the obvious impression that you are a SAS commando who has to defend himself from the overwhelming hordes of zombies hungry for your flesh and brains. Nevertheless, a flash-game like SAS: Zombie Assault should be worth your time not to mention it should at least keep you occupied especially if you got nothing better else to do.
As mentioned earlier, the game itself does not present any solid storyline as to what trigger the uprising of the dead or how was the lone SAS commando involve in this unspeakable nightmare; afterall its just a flash-game. Nevertheless, if you are the kind of person who needs a solid story platform to motivate you to play the game (like me...), let me simply create one which hopefully might entice your "appetite" to play the game. So here goes:
A viral outbreak somewhere in the outskirts of the United Kingdom caused by a top-secret government project mishap, infected those who were involved turning them into flesh-eating zombies. Of course the British government tried to contain the situation by authorizing a total lockdown on the science facility where the top-secret project took place. The government's lockdown plan involved sending in several teams of highly trained SAS commandos into the facility to eliminate everyone (or every"thing") in the hope of not only containing the situation but to erase any trace or evidence that could illustrate the goverment's screwed-up project. Just like what the government had carefully planned, the SAS commandos were deployed into the facility and it wasn't long before they started engaging with the flesh-eating hosts of the facility. There were problems though; the commandos were outnumbered by their hungry hosts and it seemed that they won't die easily. To make matter worst, those who were bitten by the zombies if not violently mutilated and eaten up alive, would soon become one of them in a matter of minutes. Slowly one by one, the commandos were either eaten up alive or transformed into what they were shooting at earlier on; such containment plan was a total failure. On the contrary, the government did not give up just yet and in fact, they had plan B up their sleeves: to nuke the facility and have the story covered up on BBC with lies of Al-Qeada cells in United Kingdom responsible for such devastation. Despite heavy casualties among the commandos, only one SAS operative is still alive and he just found out about the government's Plan B through his trusty information officer who is always updating him with the mission objectives few hundred miles from his position. Left for dead and betrayed by the government he served, this SAS commando is not going to go down without a fight. He has recorded the massacre in the facility and he intends to let the public know the truth...that is if he can leave the facility before the bombs hit the ground. With the recorded evidence in one hand and a machine-gun in the other, the lone SAS commando must fight his way through the onslaught of flesh eating-zombies and race against the countdown of the air strike of his demise. His information officer has secretly designated an extraction point for him next to a fortified house a few clicks from the facility. Barely escaping the zombie-infested facility, the SAS commando finally reached the house and he patiently waits for his extraction helicopter. However, it seems that the hosts at the science facility are not ready to let their guest return home just yet as they persistenly pursue the commando to the house. Now surrounded by overwhelming hordes of hungry zombies, the SAS commando must fend of the flesh-eating cannibals with whatever he has until extraction arrives. Escaping the zombie-infested facility was only the beginning...
As mentioned earlier on, the gameplay itself is simple yet intresting. The game is a bird-view-third-person-shooter which closely resembles Grand Theft Auto 2. The controls are simple, easy to apprehend and steady (most of the time...although there's a bit of glitches here and then). The game pits the player to survive the almost never-ending waves of incoming zombies eager to break in to feed on his or her flesh. Every zombie a player kills presents cash in his or her wallet allowing him or her to access a menu where he or she can purchase a variety of weapons ranging from shotguns to machine guns where each of them have their respective attributes in terms of damage inflcited and range of attack. In addition to the array of firearms on the "menu", additional support hardware like reinforced barriers, sentry guns and proximity mines are also available to help players survive the endless zombie onslaught for a little longer. There are also a variety of zombies ranging from the normal ones, infected SAS commandos to unidentified creatures which are harder to kill compared to the usual zombies. Practically, the gameplay itself is above average which makes it fun to play.
The presentation of SAS: Zombie Assault is surprisingly good given the fact that the game is just a flash-game. The gun fire sounds are convincing and so are the constant moans of the zombies. Furthermore, the game's graphics is similar to Grand Theft Auto 2 which is actually amazing for a flash-game.
To sum it up, SAS: Zombie Assault receives an 8 out of 10 instead a full score as the game ocassionaly has a few glitches and there is no solid story plot (which I had to come up one myself). Nevertheless, the game is definitelty worth playing. I have posted the game here for your convinience, so give it a try. I'm sure you'll come back for more "zombie assault".
As mentioned earlier, the game itself does not present any solid storyline as to what trigger the uprising of the dead or how was the lone SAS commando involve in this unspeakable nightmare; afterall its just a flash-game. Nevertheless, if you are the kind of person who needs a solid story platform to motivate you to play the game (like me...), let me simply create one which hopefully might entice your "appetite" to play the game. So here goes:
A viral outbreak somewhere in the outskirts of the United Kingdom caused by a top-secret government project mishap, infected those who were involved turning them into flesh-eating zombies. Of course the British government tried to contain the situation by authorizing a total lockdown on the science facility where the top-secret project took place. The government's lockdown plan involved sending in several teams of highly trained SAS commandos into the facility to eliminate everyone (or every"thing") in the hope of not only containing the situation but to erase any trace or evidence that could illustrate the goverment's screwed-up project. Just like what the government had carefully planned, the SAS commandos were deployed into the facility and it wasn't long before they started engaging with the flesh-eating hosts of the facility. There were problems though; the commandos were outnumbered by their hungry hosts and it seemed that they won't die easily. To make matter worst, those who were bitten by the zombies if not violently mutilated and eaten up alive, would soon become one of them in a matter of minutes. Slowly one by one, the commandos were either eaten up alive or transformed into what they were shooting at earlier on; such containment plan was a total failure. On the contrary, the government did not give up just yet and in fact, they had plan B up their sleeves: to nuke the facility and have the story covered up on BBC with lies of Al-Qeada cells in United Kingdom responsible for such devastation. Despite heavy casualties among the commandos, only one SAS operative is still alive and he just found out about the government's Plan B through his trusty information officer who is always updating him with the mission objectives few hundred miles from his position. Left for dead and betrayed by the government he served, this SAS commando is not going to go down without a fight. He has recorded the massacre in the facility and he intends to let the public know the truth...that is if he can leave the facility before the bombs hit the ground. With the recorded evidence in one hand and a machine-gun in the other, the lone SAS commando must fight his way through the onslaught of flesh eating-zombies and race against the countdown of the air strike of his demise. His information officer has secretly designated an extraction point for him next to a fortified house a few clicks from the facility. Barely escaping the zombie-infested facility, the SAS commando finally reached the house and he patiently waits for his extraction helicopter. However, it seems that the hosts at the science facility are not ready to let their guest return home just yet as they persistenly pursue the commando to the house. Now surrounded by overwhelming hordes of hungry zombies, the SAS commando must fend of the flesh-eating cannibals with whatever he has until extraction arrives. Escaping the zombie-infested facility was only the beginning...
As mentioned earlier on, the gameplay itself is simple yet intresting. The game is a bird-view-third-person-shooter which closely resembles Grand Theft Auto 2. The controls are simple, easy to apprehend and steady (most of the time...although there's a bit of glitches here and then). The game pits the player to survive the almost never-ending waves of incoming zombies eager to break in to feed on his or her flesh. Every zombie a player kills presents cash in his or her wallet allowing him or her to access a menu where he or she can purchase a variety of weapons ranging from shotguns to machine guns where each of them have their respective attributes in terms of damage inflcited and range of attack. In addition to the array of firearms on the "menu", additional support hardware like reinforced barriers, sentry guns and proximity mines are also available to help players survive the endless zombie onslaught for a little longer. There are also a variety of zombies ranging from the normal ones, infected SAS commandos to unidentified creatures which are harder to kill compared to the usual zombies. Practically, the gameplay itself is above average which makes it fun to play.
The presentation of SAS: Zombie Assault is surprisingly good given the fact that the game is just a flash-game. The gun fire sounds are convincing and so are the constant moans of the zombies. Furthermore, the game's graphics is similar to Grand Theft Auto 2 which is actually amazing for a flash-game.
To sum it up, SAS: Zombie Assault receives an 8 out of 10 instead a full score as the game ocassionaly has a few glitches and there is no solid story plot (which I had to come up one myself). Nevertheless, the game is definitelty worth playing. I have posted the game here for your convinience, so give it a try. I'm sure you'll come back for more "zombie assault".
Friday, July 17, 2009
Blockbuster Preview: Красная шапочка (Krasnaya Shapochka aka. Little Red Hat)
REVENGE KNOWS NO NATIONAL BOUNDARIES
Scared for life after witnessing hundreds of innocents and his colleagues mutilated by a bio-weapon released by a local fanatical cult, Agent Lim is thrown into great depression and sorrow. However within his sorrows, the hunger for utter redemption slowly grows and Agent Lim intends to serve it cold to the ones responsible for the lost of his loved ones. When he learned that a Russian player by the name of Galina Makarov, is responsible for supplying the cult with the modern-day "Pandora Box", Agent Lim expands his scope of vengeance beyond the national borders. After receiving intelligence regarding Galina's intention to sell the same dreadful bio-weapon to a right-wing Japanese terrorist cell in Japan, the vengeful Interpol agent is given the opportunity for redemption when he is assigned to lead the case to apprehend the Russian bio-weapons dealer. In addition to that, Agent Lim prioritizes his intentions to fulfill his blood lust for redemption over Japan's national security. Relying on his animosity, vengeance and obsession at the same time leaving his ethics behind, the agent with a huge vendetta begins his hunt for his Russian prey in the urban jungles of Tokyo and he intends to paint it red if he has to.
Krasnaya Shapochka or also known as Little Red Hat in Russian, is a modern day tale of bio-terrorism inspired by the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood. It explores how one man's vengeance forces him to lose his ethics in his line of duty, forcing him to resort to cunning and questionable methods of achieving his goals similar to the wolf in the famous fairy tale.
Scared for life after witnessing hundreds of innocents and his colleagues mutilated by a bio-weapon released by a local fanatical cult, Agent Lim is thrown into great depression and sorrow. However within his sorrows, the hunger for utter redemption slowly grows and Agent Lim intends to serve it cold to the ones responsible for the lost of his loved ones. When he learned that a Russian player by the name of Galina Makarov, is responsible for supplying the cult with the modern-day "Pandora Box", Agent Lim expands his scope of vengeance beyond the national borders. After receiving intelligence regarding Galina's intention to sell the same dreadful bio-weapon to a right-wing Japanese terrorist cell in Japan, the vengeful Interpol agent is given the opportunity for redemption when he is assigned to lead the case to apprehend the Russian bio-weapons dealer. In addition to that, Agent Lim prioritizes his intentions to fulfill his blood lust for redemption over Japan's national security. Relying on his animosity, vengeance and obsession at the same time leaving his ethics behind, the agent with a huge vendetta begins his hunt for his Russian prey in the urban jungles of Tokyo and he intends to paint it red if he has to.
Krasnaya Shapochka or also known as Little Red Hat in Russian, is a modern day tale of bio-terrorism inspired by the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood. It explores how one man's vengeance forces him to lose his ethics in his line of duty, forcing him to resort to cunning and questionable methods of achieving his goals similar to the wolf in the famous fairy tale.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Красная шапочка (Krasnya Shapochka aka Little Red Hat)
"To protect the sheep, you gotta kill the wolf. And it takes a wolf to kill a wolf"
Tokyo, Japan
2230pm
Present Day
The darkness of the night barely shadows the sleepless town of Kabukicho as the countless neon commercial billboards illuminate throughout the night. Despite its late hour of the day, the red light district of Shinjuku is swarmed with sleepless youngsters and office workers, enjoying the remaining of the day wildly in the variety of pubs, host bars and brothels Kabukicho has to offer. Among the crowded entertainment district filled with people hoping to have a great time, a handful of triad members and Yakuza thugs station themselves around the key points of Kabukicho keeping a close eye for their criminal rivals and the police. On one of the sidewalks of the district, a parked black BMW houses two suspicious and mysterious individuals; one of them was a rugged man in his early thirties with a rough and sharp goatee who bears a visible scar next to his left eye which houses a nightmarish memory that continues to haunt him until today. Riding shot gun next to him was a Japanese woman who shares the similar age but looks a decade younger than him; with long straight hair and eyes of a fox with tanned yet soft skin, she is the exact opposite of the man sitting quietly in the car next to her. The mysterious partners had been resting their eyes on one of the hostess bar in the red light district for hours. Their persistent observation was interrupted for a moment when a patrol officer knocked on the sedan's window. The Japanese women in the car winded down the window and smile before the officer addressed his suspicion. "You've been in this spot for more than the permitted time. I'm going to have to ask you for your license and registration, ma'am" the police man politely asked. The rugged man who was next to her immediately flashed his Interpol badge with a threatening glare at the policeman. "Interpol!" Fuck off!" the rugged man warned. The police man immediately stepped away from the vehicle with a brief apology before he hurried away. The edgy rugged man than slid his badge back into his coat before he continued observing. "Agent Lim, I guess this case is pushing you over the edge huh?" the Japanese woman wondered. "Who wouldn't be if they knew that a lethal viral weapon capable of stripping human flesh in seconds is on the loose? How can you expect me to be calm when I actually witnessed my colleagues mutilated slowly by this fucking viral weapon in my own country?" Agent Lim replied as he was reminded of the tragic incident in Malaysia where a flesh eating viral weapon was released in the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers by a fanatical cult which cost the lives of more than a hundred innocent people and his colleagues who happened to be his friends.
Ever since the unforgettable massacre, he was engulfed with rage and hatred for the ones responsible. Moreover, he hungered redemption like a starved beast and he actually got it when he managed to nail the leader of the fanatical cult during a dramatic and daring jungle raid on the cult's main hideout in one of the remote forests in Malaysia. CNN described the raid as a controversial take-no-prisoner commando raid that left every cult members dead even the women and children. Unlike his followers, the leader of the cult was the only survivor to the vicious raid which he later dreaded for not dying together with his followers when he was later subjected to CIA style interrogation and torture methods which were personally carried out by the vengeful Agent Lim. His hatred later went beyond the cult leader when he learned that a Russian arms dealer was responsible for supplying the viral weapon that caused the nightmarish tragedy at the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers. The figure responsible for the man-made Pandora Box was no other than a beautiful Russian vixen by the name of Galina Makarov. She was a tall lady in her mid thirty's with long curled blond hair and had ocean blue eyes of an innocent girl; many could not believe that a goddess like her would deliver so much pain and suffering. Agent Lim, on the other hand thought of her as a hideous demon bitch masquerading within the flesh of a beautiful mortal that he personally wishes to strip. His hateful redemption was later rewarded as he was appointed by his Interpol superiors to apprehend Galina Makarov who is believed to be in Tokyo supplying a Japanese right wing terrorist group. Agent Lim's superiors did not have to think twice to exclude him from this case given his personal vendetta, nevertheless they were choiceless as he was the only Interpol agent who was the most knowledgeable about the viral weapon given his dreadful experience not to mention the Russian target, who he has been obsessed with recently. The mission to apprehend Galina was a joint operation between Malaysian and Japanese Interpol which later landed Agent Lim in Japan.
"Once we nail Galina, the innocents and your friends' death will not be in vain..." the Japanese woman reassured the agitated Malaysian agent. "Damn right it will!" Agent Lim replied. A while later, a group of shady Yakuza thugs came out from the hostess bar whom caught the attention of the partners; one of them looked wealthier than the others not to mention that he dressed differently from his company who were all in black suits and slacks. It was Miyamoto, a local agent for Galina Makarov who has been scooping interested customers for the Russain bio weapons supplier; the Interpol recently received intelligence regarding his connection to Galina and his whereabouts in Japan. "Agent Goto, that's Miyamoto!" Agent Lim alerted. "He knows where Galina is. I'm calling back up!" Agent Goto replied hastily. "Fuck that! Let's go after him now!" Agent Lim disagreed immediately. Miyamoto and his goons later entered into a white Audi sedan car before they left the district. Agent Lim immediately started the car and tried to tail Miyamoto's car but he was slowed down by the overwhelming crowd; he immediately hit the car's horn repeatedly and yelled rudely, telling everyone to move aside before he speed off. The Interpol agents tailed Miyamoto to a dark secluded road. Agent Lim then accelerated his car before slamming it violently into the rear of Miyamoto's car. Agent Goto grabbed onto the safety handle of the car nervously as Agent Lim slammed his BMW to one of the rear side tires of Miyamoto's car. As one of the tires of Miyamoto's car burst, his car flipped and crashed violently into the sidewalk of the road. Agent Lim then brought his car to a halt before he and Agent Goto drew their Glock side arm. As they cocked their pistol, they exited the car; Agent Goto took cover behind the opened door of the BMW to provide cover while her partner walked casually to the crashed car. As the passengers of the crashed car crawled out, they started to draw their guns but they were shot dead by the Interpol agent before they could pull the trigger.
Miyamoto shattered in fear as he saw his bodyguards taken out viciously by the ruthless agent. Agent Lim smiled sinisterly at Miyamoto before he grabbed the Yakuza up and rest the hollow tip of his gun on Miyamoto's head.
"Where is Galina!?" he demanded. "I...I don't know..." Miyamoto sobbed in fear as he started crying for his life. Agent Goto watched the interrogation helplessly: although she never approved police brutality, she made this time an exception as she realize that she needed to reach Galina before she sells the viral weapon. Agent Lim then laid the hollow tip of his Glock on one of Miyamoto's eye. "Look into the gun! Look in it! Do you see the bullet!?" Agent Lim asked furiously. Miyamoto continued stammering in fear. "Where the fuck is Galina!?" the impatient agent asked again. " I...don't know...please..." Miyamoto cried desperately. Agent Lim then turned to his partner and demanded, "Toss me your cuffs, Goto!" . Agent Goto was confused before she asked, "What!?". "I said toss me your fucking cuffs!". Agent Lim screamed before his partner threw her hand cuffs over. The second he caught his partner's hand cuffs, he dragged Miyamoto harshly to his crashed Audi before throwing him onto the hood of the car. Miyamoto grunted in pain before each of his wrists were cuffed to the side mirrors of the car. "What the fuck are you doing!?" he asked frantically as Agent Lim went into the Audi and slowly reversed it from the sidewalk. He then drove the car closely to the edge of a cliff which was not far away before he got out. "You crazy motherfucker! Stop it!" Miyamoto pleaded desperately. Agent Goto just stood by and tried to stomach the horrors that were about to begin. "Last chance, asshole! Where the fuck is Galina!?" Agent Lim shouted as he prepared to release the brakes of the car which will send the vehicle over the cliff. "A safe house in a nightclub in Shibuya! Uhh..." Miyamoto finally spat Galina's whereabouts. "There are plenty of clubs in Shibuya! Which one!?" Agent Lim continued angrily. "Ice Blade! It's called Ice Blade! Now let me fucking go, you maniac!" Miyamoto demanded. "Okay..." Agent Lim chuckled before he released the brake sending the car over the cliff. Miyamoto's screams echoed as the car headed down into the darkness shortly before it reached the ground with a big explosion.
Agent Goto who was shocked by the unexpected behavior of her partner then screamed, "What the fuck is wrong with you!? Why did you do that!?". "He told me to let him go and I did..." Agent Lim replied. "Freeze, you son of a bitch!" Agent Goto aimed her sidearm at Agent Lim. "I'm booking you for police brutality! Drop your gun!"Agent Goto demanded. "Arrest me!? Are you fucking out of your mind, you bitch!?" the angered agent then pointed his gun back at his partner. "Don't make me pull the trigger, asshole!"Agent Goto warned. "If he was left alive, he would have alerted Galina and we can kiss this case good bye!" Agent Lim asserted some sense into Agent Goto furiously. Before he continued, he lowered his weapon and approached his car. "We now know where Galina is and I'm going to apprehend her. Either join me or shoot me right now. That's your call, Agent Goto" Agent Lim said. Agent Goto paused for awhile before she lowered her weapon and rejoined her partner. "Let's go! This time, I'm driving!" Agent Goto suggested as she took the driver's seat of the BMW. The Interpol agent than left the scene and they headed for Shibuya without wasting anymore time.
As the agents drove under the silence and darkness of the night, they gave a big thought into the case. "You know, we won't find the viral weapon at her safe house" Agent Goto warned. Agent Lim who was reloading his side arm then paused for a moment; he looked at his partner before she continued. "It's not like as if she's stupid enough to keep the weapon with her. If we arrest her right now, we won't have the evidence to prosecute her."Agent Goto speculated. "Then I guess, we'll just have to beat the shit out of her until she speaks" Agent Lim replied. "By the time we manage to get her to say a word or two, that weapon would have been detonated somewhere in the capital." Agent Goto said. Her partner was speechless as he knew that she was right; he couldn't think of any other way to solve the issue at hand. "Any ideas?" Agent Lim asked as he gave up figuring a way. "I got one..." his partner replied confidently.
Meanwhile at a small apartment somewhere in Tokyo, a Japanese woman in her late thirties with short hair is sitting on a sofa in the living room alone. On her hands was a twenty by fourteen photo frame which housed a warm and happy family photo of herself, her five year old son and Agent Lim. She has been holding the photo frame looking at it for quite a while however, she never gets bored of it at all. Shortly after that, a five year old boy with short hair, small eyes and rosy cheeks approached her; he climbed on her lap before she placed the photo frame aside and squeezed him with love. "Why aren't you sleeping yet, sweety?" the woman asked her son. "I'm waiting for daddy." the son replied. "Daddy won't be back early tonight. You should sleep first" she later suggested. "But I want to see daddy while he is still here... It's not like he comes to Japan every time to see us" the son resisted. "Why doesn't daddy stay with us?" he continued. "Well, that's because he is busy working in Malaysia" the woman replied with a smile. "I miss him a lot. I wanna see him tonight!" the son further insisted. "Daddy will be still here tomorrow, don't worry. You should sleep now so that you will be fully rested tomorrow to play with daddy" she continued as she patted her son's head. "Okay..." the son eventually agreed. "How about a bedtime story for mummy's little prince?" she generously offered. Her son didn't have to think twice to say, "yes". "She later brought her son to his bedroom and laid him on his bed before she went to the bookshelf to pick a storybook. "So what shall it be for tonight, sweety?" she asked. "Little Red Hat" he replied. She then removed the book from the shelf and sat next to her son on the bed before she started the story:
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who hadn't seen her mother in seven years. She was forced to dress in iron clothes and was told "When you wear out those clothes, you can go back to your mother". The girl rubbed her clothes on the wall trying desperately to tear them. When she finally torn them, she got some milk and bread as well as a little cheese and butter and set out for her mother's house. In the woods, she met a wolf who asked her what she was carrying. "Milk and bread...and a little cheese and butter," she answered. When the wolf asked for some, the girl said no, saying it was a present for her mother. The wolf asked whether she'd be taking the path of pins or the path of needles.
As the agents arrived at the night club, they went into an alley which led them to the back of the club. Waiting there were huge mean looking Russians equipped with AK47s and Uzis which they secretly hid behind their winter coat. "Remember to smile and keep it cool" Agent Goto reminded her vengeful partner. "I'll try my best" her partner joked. "I'm serious! Don't fuck this up!" Agent Goto angrily whispered. "Can I help you?" one of the Russian brute asked in Japanese with his thick Russian accent. "We're here to see Miss Makarov" Agent Goto said. "There is no Makarov here" the other Russian man said. "Miyamoto send us" Agent Goto replied nervously as she tried her best to not blow her cover. The Russian looked a bit surprised; he then whispered into his comrade's ear. "Okay...this way..." the Russian brute said before he escorted the undercover agents to the front of Galina's safe house door. "Hands up, please" the other Russian thug requested as he was ready to search the undercover agents for any weapons. After a thorough search on the agents where no weapons were found, the Russian thug let them in. As they entered the cozy safe house, Galina's man invited them to have a seat and make themselves at home. The small and cozy safe house was not fully furnished; it had only a couple of chairs and a wooden table in the living room. The walls were dirt black and the floor was dusty. A woman then appeared out from another room in the safe house; she wore a long red winter coat with a hood. It was Galina; she gave a warm smile and a friendly welcome to the undercover agents. "How is Miyamoto and his family?" she wondered. "They're all fine, Miss Makarov" Agent Goto tried her best to lied when she remembered what her partner did to Miyamoto a while ago. "That's good. So, what brings you here?" Galina started getting down to business as she ordered her men to bring her a bottle of vodka and a couple of cups from the kitchen. "Miyamoto wants to know when and where will you be selling the viral weapon to the right-wing terrorists?" Agent Goto asked. Galina then paused for a moment as she began to fell suspicious. As she opened the bottle of vodka and filled the cups with a little, she curiously asked, "And why would Mr. Miyamoto wants to know?". "He doesn't trust the right-wing terrorists. They usually come in huge numbers to any dealings and it has not been the first time that they actually rubbed out the other party at the deal. He is concerned about the safety of you and your men and he insists that his men should back you up." Agent Goto explained. The Russian vixen then served the vodka to her guest before she continued, "That is what I like about your boss. He knows how to take good care of his customers. Indeed, I am short of men and I have thought about the terrorists' treachery a couple of times. Tell Mr. Miyamoto that I accept his help. The deal will take place in Warehouse number 13 at Kokoji's Shipping and Storage, 2 hours from now". "Understood, Miss Makarov. I will immediately inform my boss and we will ensure the safety of you and your men during the weapons deal." Agent Goto reassured. "Very well, let's drink to our success!" Galina and her guest raised their cups before they chugged down the strong Russian vodka together.
When the girl said she was going to take the path of pins, the wolf hurried down the path of needles and ate up the little girl's mother.
As the agents drove off, they immediately wasted no time in commencing the next phase of their plan. Agent Lim drew his cellphone out and dialed the Interpol Head Quarters in Japan. "We've got a fix on the location of the weapons deal. The deal is going on at warehouse number 13 at Kokoji's Shipping and Storage in 2 hours time! We strongly believe that the viral weapon will be there" Agent Lim reported hastily. "I need you to scramble two ICPU (Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit) teams to the designated location immediately. Get them to recon the warehouse and stand by for my further orders. I want them to report to me." he continued before he hung up. Half an hour later, Agent Lim received a call; it was from one of the ICPU teams. "Bravo team reporting, sir!" the Bravo team leader reported. "Our recon indicated twenty to thirty right-wing terrorists appearing at the warehouse. They're all heavily armed." the ICPU team leader continued. "Copy that. Good job Bravo Team" Agent Lim complimented. "Patch me through the second ICPU team" he ordered. "Alpha reporting, sir!" the other ICPU team leader reported. "Alpha, have your men ready to storm the target! Take no prisoners!" Agent Lim barked his orders. "Sir yes sir! We're moving to position". the Alpha team leader acknowledged as he ordered his men to move out. "Bravo team, continue your observation. I'll rendezvous with you ETA 20 minutes." Agent Lim continued. Shortly after that, Alpha team reported, "Alpha team approaching the target....getting into position...Alpha team in position" the ICPU team leader reported. "Hit it!" Agent Lim ordered. "Go!Go!Go!" the Alpha team leader shouted before he and his men stormed the warehouse and empty their machine guns on the unsuspecting occupants. The rattling sounds of the machine gun and screams of death echoed Agent Lim's cellphone. "Clear!" the ICPU team leader reported. "Outstanding job, Alpha Team!" Agent Lim complimented. "Time to role play, Alpha team. Put on the terrorists' long coat and dump their bodies." the agent continued. Shortly after that, both Agent Goto and Agent Lim arrived at the observation post of the ICPU commandos which was not far away from the warehouse. As they entered the observation post, the ICPU commandos of Bravo team saluted the Interpol agents before giving them a detail report on their mission. Both the Interpol agents were impressed with the outstanding performance of the ICPU commandos. "The Russians should be here in thirty minutes time. Bravo team, I need you to take key positions outside the warehouse which is ideal for an ambush." Agent Lim ordered. "Considered that done, sir!" the Bravo team leader acknowledged before he and his men moved out. Agent Lim then picked up the walkie talkie and radioed for Alpha team, "Alpha, what's your status?" the Interpol agent asked. "We're all dressed up, sir." the Alpha team leader replied. "Copy that. Hold your position and wait for further orders." Agent Lim continued.
The girl finally reached the mother's house.
Half an hour later, Galina and her men met up with the undercover agents half a click from the warehouse; as they got out from their car, they were greeted by the undercover agents. "My men are in position. They have remained hidden to maintain an element of surprise which will give us an advantage should anything goes wrong." Agent Goto reported to Galina. "Very well. I suppose the both of you will be accompanying me and my men to the deal." Galina requested. "Of course. It will be our pleasure, Miss Makarov" Agent Lim acknowledged sinisterly as he was excited for redemption. "That must be the infamous viral weapon" Agent Goto commented as she looked at a small machine that housed a glass container filled with green gas, which was lying in the back seat of the car. "Yes indeed. This is going to make me rich tonight. Of course, Mr. Miyamoto's initiative and effort will not go unnoticed. He will be rewarded handsomely for it." Galina assured the undercover agents with a grateful smile. "Then let's not waste anymore time. Your buyer are waiting eagerly at the warehouse, Miss Makarov." Agent Goto replied before she ushered Galina back to her car. The motorcade then proceeded to the warehouse which was later welcomed by the ICPU commandos masquerading as the right-wing terrorists.
"Mother, open the door," she said. "Push on the door. It's not locked," answered the wolf. But the door still wouldn't open. So the girl crept in through a hole into the house.
A couple of masqueraded ICPU commandos approached the dealing table and placed a couple of briefcase loaded with money while Galina and her men exited their car. The undercover agent who was escorting them got out from their car as well before they took a brief peeked around the warehouse. "I believe you have what we want" the Alpha team leader started. "Only if you can pay for it, my friend" Galina replied as she removed the viral weapon from her car. The Alpha Team leader ordered his men to opened the briefcases full of cash before he continued, "Eight million US dollars in total. Four in each briefcase just as you wanted". "Here's the viral weapon which you so strongly believe that will assist in your organization's cause" Galina presented the weapon on the table for the ICPU team leader to inspect. "Outstanding! This weapon will make the 1995 Sarin subway gas attack look like a cream puff." the Alpha team leader inspected with amaze.
"I'm very hungry, mother," she said. "Have some meat in the cupboard," answered the wolf. It was the flesh of her mother killed by the wolf. A big cat jumped up onto the cupboard and said, "That's your mother's flesh you're eating." "Mother, there is a cat on the cupboard and it's saying that I'm eating your flesh" she said. "That's a lie of course, throw a shoe at the cat,"the wolf replied. The little girl having eaten the meat, was thirsty. "Mother, I'm thirsty". she said. "Drink some wine from the pot, answered the wolf". When she did a little bird, came flying in and perched on the chimney stack. "That's your mother's blood you're drinking" the bird said. "Mother, there's a bird perched on the chimney stack and it's saying that I'm drinking your blood" she said. "Throw your cloak at the bird" the wolf said. Having eaten the meat and drunk the blood, the little girl turned to her mother and said 'Mother, I'm feeling very sleepy". "Come over here and get some rest" the wolf said.
One of Galina's men then noticed something strange as he witnessed several blood stains on the floors and walls of the warehouse. "I thought this was supposed to be a warehouse...not a slaughterhouse" one of Galina's men chuckled nervously as he looked around the slightly bloody warehouse. Galina couldn't help but to notice the bullet holes on the winter coats of her buyers which had a little blood stain on them. "Your organization should maybe think about getting their men proper clean coats first before spending so much on weapons like this. After all, how can an organization succeed without high morale?" she joked as she approached the ICPU team leader before she dusted off his dirty coat. "This is a setup!" she later screamed in Russian before she took the Alpha team leader hostage. Galina's men then withdrew their assault rifles and sub machine guns out before they pointed them at the buyers. The masqueraded commandos then pointed their machine guns at the Russians and they demanded them to drop their weapons. "You drop your fucking weapons or I'll blow his fucking head off" Galina threatened violently as she rested her Desert Eagle on her hostage's head. "Wait! Stay cool! Don't do anything yet!" Agent Lim whispered quietly to his partner, telling her not to blow her cover yet. "Bravo team reporting in!" the Bravo team leader tried reaching Agent Lim secretly through the agent's concealed ear piece; the extra ICPU team were getting ready to conduct an assault on the warehouse at the bark of the agent's order. "Hold...hold..."Agent Lim whispered quietly ordering the Bravo team to do nothing yet. "You're not the terrorists. You're all fucking cops!" Galina continued as she waved her gun around. "You've been surrounded! Drop your weapons!" another ICPU commando of the Alpha team warned, as she pointed her rifle at Galina. "I'm not going to tell you again, pigs! Drop your weapons or Tempura over here gets it." Galina further threatened as she rested her gun on her Japanese ICPU hostage. As she noticed that the commandos still had their weapons raised, she shot off her hostage's right ear lobe, forcing her helpless hostage to scream in pain. "Ahh!!! You fucking bitch! I'll kill you! Fuck it team! Just shoot her! Just shoot the fucking bitch!" the wounded Alpha team leader cried in pain as his right ear poured crimson water. "Can it, Tempura! Or the next one goes right in your fucking head! Drop your weapons now, you fucking pigs! I'm not going to ask you again" Galina continued warning the ICPU commandos to disarm themselves. The commandos eventually dropped their weapons and raised their arms submitting defeat to the Russians as they did not want their team leader to suffer further. "What the fuck are you guys doing!? Shoot her! Shoot her! Goddammit!" the Alpha team leader ordered. "The both of you! Get the money and the viral weapon. We're out of here!" Galina ordered the undercover agents. "Bravo team, hit it!" Agent Lim ordered as he knew now it was the time to have his back up to come in seeing that Galina and her men were about to leave. A couple of stun grenades were tossed into the warehouse by the invading Bravo team; Agent Goto and her partner quickly rolled into cover to avoid the stunned grenades. As the the stunned grenades exploded, the Russians were stunned and both the agents opened fire on their disoriented adversaries. The commandos from the Alpha team rearmed themselves and fired upon the Russians. A sniper from Bravo team who was located twenty meters from the warehouse shot Galina's gun wielding arm; she screamed in pain before she dropped her gun. The wounded ICPU Alpha team leader elbowed her in her stomach before he dropped and kick her away. The Alpha team leader than ran to safety where he was later retrieved by his teammates. Several ICPU commandos from the Bravo team fast roped through the warehouse's windows before the opened fire; within minutes Galina's men were all shot dead. The wounded Russian vixen was all alone, surrounded by her enemies. Agent Lim and Agent Goto then appeared in front of her with their guns pointed at her. "Miss Makarov, you're under arrest" Agent Goto said while she aimed her Glock pistol at Galina. "You can either come with us peacefully or you can die here and join your friend, Miyamoto" Agent Lim said. "So it was you who set me up...and it was you... who killed Miyamoto..."Galina cried in disbelief as she learned the harsh fate that she now faced. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she was saddened by the death of her men and her friend, Miyamoto. "Take her away!" Agent Lim ordered the ICPU commandos before he holstered his sidearm, turned away and walked off. "I'll fucking kill you! You bastard!" Galina then quickly drew a Walter PPK from her coat and aimed the small pistol at Agent Lim. However, before she could pull the trigger, the Alpha team leader shot her in her head killing her instantly. Agent Lim was a little stunned but he knew he was safe thanks to his trustworthy ICPU commandos. Galina fell to the ground and she laid motionlessly on the floor with blood pouring out from her head; the Russian vixen was dead.
Then the wolf ate up Little Red Riding Hood.
As the Japanese woman finished the last page of the story book, her son was almost asleep; she then covered him with a blanket. Before the little boy slept, he whispered something into his mother's ear which slightly surprised her. After wishing him goodnight, she switched off the lights in his bedroom before she exited his room. Back at the living room, the Japanese woman picked up the photo frame which she was looking at earlier on, and she placed it back neatly at the original place. She gave out a brief sigh hoping that the man in the picture standing next to her will come home safe. Shortly after that, the front door of her apartment was unlocked and a figure then entered her home; it was Agent Lim. "Okaeri! (Welcome home)" the Japanese woman wished him with joy as she was happy that her man returned home safely in one piece. "Tadaima (I'm home)" Agent Lim replied before he ran to the woman and hugged her tightly. "Is he already asleep?" Agent Lim asked the woman with a smile. "Yes" she replied with a warm smile. Later that night, both Agent Lim and the woman were at the apartment's balcony looking up at the dark skies gazing for stars. The woman was wrapped around Agent Lim's arm. "So what did the both of you do earlier on?" Agent Lim asked curiously as he continued holding her tightly. "I was reading him Little Red Riding Hood" she chuckled. "Ha, that's cute" Agent Lim laughed. "Before he slept, our son whispered something funny into my ear" she continued. "Really? What was that?" Agent Lim asked with interest. "He told me that you reminded him of the wolf in the story" she laughed. "Is that so?" Agent Lim paused for a moment. As he reflected on his job earlier on, especially with what he did to Miyamoto, he said "Maybe he is right..."
-The End-
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
While I was Away for a Long Time...(Part 2)
New Arrivals from the Land of the Rising Sun
As summer approached, the snow and ice in Kamloops started to melt away slowly. Like the snow and ice that pass by, the same could be said for some of my Japanese friends; Eiji, Pamella and Yasutaka returned to Japan for their summer holidays. Knowing that great guys like them were not here to accompany the remaining of us here in Canada, we knew that summer would be slightly quiet than usual. Conversely, when Yoshitaka received "intelligence" stating that sixteen new students from Japan would be coming to Thompson Rivers University for the summer, all was not lost as this could mean possible expansion of my social network. On top of that, Yoshitaka reported that all of the new Japanese students were apparently girls. Like the rest of my Japanese guy friends, I thought that this would be interesting. Yoshitaka and Teppei volunteered for the university's orientation program of the new Japanese students, for some obvious reasons. The orientation lasted for two days and on one warm morning, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with them in front of the Campus Activity Center building, where we sat on the soft green grasses (which we hoped had no dog shit on it) and talked about their orientation experience. Teppei and Yoshitaka had a guest with them who apparently participated in the orientation as well; her name was Ran and she was from Japan as well. Like most of my friends, she usually hangs out at my "pub" every Saturday night in the previous semester but I never talked to her back then due to my shy behavior. However, that day she initiated a conversation with me and the next thing I knew, we were already talking. The three of them informed me about a lunch to welcome the new students that will occur a couple of days from now; in addition to that, they extended the invitation to me which I thought was generous of them. According to them, the lunch would be held in an Indian restaurant in downtown. I had mixed opinion on their decision to organize the welcome lunch in an Indian restaurant.I can see the robust idea behind allowing the new Japanese students to try something new. On the other hand, I was worried about whether they could handle the spiciness of the Indian cuisine since most of my Japanese friends whom I know is unable to eat spicy food. Initially I wanted to raise my concern but since I was not the one who participated in the orientation or the one who helped in organizing the lunch, I thought it would be wise for me to shut up.
Japanese in Taj Mahal
On the day of the lunch, I took a bus ride with Yoshitaka from Thompson Rivers University to the main bus stop in downtown; once we reached there, we rendezvous with Ran and Teppei. It wasn't long before all sixteen new Japanese students arrived and it was then I finally saw them with my own eyes. Of course I did not approach them and introduce myself immediately to them seeing that I was a nervous wreck and a shy guy. You might be wondering what's the point of attending the lunch if I don't talk to any of the new students; let's just said that I wanted to spend more time with Teppei, Yoshitaka and Ran. Getting to know the new students would be a bonus for me which I didn't expect. After the new students exchanged greetings with one another, Teppei, Ran and Yoshitaka coordinated the group and before we knew it, we were on our way to the Indian restaurant. Once we reached the Indian restaurant (which I vaguely remember the name...), we had a problem welcoming us at the doorstep of the restaurant; it was a full house and there were not enough seats for all of us. We decided to wait and after patiently waiting for five or six minutes, several of the restaurant's patrons left and we had empty seats coming in. Soon after that, we had seats for everyone and lunch commenced shortly after that; the Indian restaurant that day were serving buffet and boy was I lucky to be there. With just fifteen dollars, I could eat all I can which wasn't any problem for me seeing that I am a veteran when it comes to eating spicy food unlike my Japanese friends (which I was worried...). During lunch, conversations in Japanese echoed throughout the restaurant and instead of joining in the conversation (seeing that I can't speak Japanese fluently), I listened carefully to them and identified the Japanese vocabulary that I've learned in my introductory Japanese class last semester. The only time I decided to join in the conversation was when someone mentions my name and when I asked either Yoshitaka, Teppei or Ran about what they said about me (it's not like as if I'll get an honest answer all the time...). It so happened that I wasn't the only non Japanese at the buffet as there was also this girl from Thailand who joined us as well. She was Ran's roommate and her name was Kwahnchanok; she appeared to be very quiet which I wasn't surprised given her similar state as mine. Although, the both of us could have talked together since we were the only non Japanese speaking students, I decided to pass on that thought and continue remaining quiet seeing that I'm not very keen of initiating a conversation. After 2 hours of buffet, the most of us knew we reached our limit and anything beyond that would have us throwing up or changing for new underwear. Each of us paid our bill separately before we left the restaurant. Before we dispersed, Teppei came up with another interesting plan later that day; he informed everyone that there would be a drinking party at his place and he invited everyone to come. However, only three of the new students could make it while the rest had their plans of their own later that day; I thought three was good enough...better compared to nothing. Shortly after that, everyone wished each other goodbye and they went home. Yoshitaka and Teppei followed me back to the New Residence after lunch as we received a call from Maaya who needed our help to move her stuff out (Maaya was also living in the New Residence).
Heavy Duty
The second the three of us arrived at Maaya's doorstep, we were welcomed with a load of work waiting for us for the remaining afternoon (you know how girls have lots of stuff with them...). Without wasting anymore time, we began working knowing that the sooner we start the earlier we get the job done. Maaya was supposed to move from the eight floor down to the 3rd floor and given the nature of the amount and weight of her stuff, we knew it was going to be a long and tiring afternoon which we will end (if we were lucky...) with back aches and muscle sores. Nevertheless, instead of thinking negatively, I told myself this would be a good workout for me, not to mention this would be an excellent way to test my gym training all this while. We carried and unload her stuff from top to bottom and it took us a total of four hours to transport all her stuff. It took 4 guys to transfer Maaya's stuff from one room to another approximately 4 hours; I just couldn't imagine how long would it take if it was just me helping her out. Anyway, it was great to know that Teppei and Yoshitaka could help out and I was grateful for their assistance. Moreover, I was pretty sure that Maaya was even more grateful than me seeing that she would have been in a world of suffering moving her stuff on her own if we decided to decline her request for assistance. As the afternoon ended, the evening in Kamloops for summer that day had another plans for the three of us; it was time to go and get some beer and ignite the party at Teppei's house. Shortly after leaving Maaya's place, the three of us took the bus to downtown before we marched towards the liquor store under the scorching sun.
A drink with the Japanese
After getting two dozens of Budweiser and a bottle of Kahlua from the liquor store, we headed for the bus roundabout to rendezvous with Ran and the other Japanese students. While waiting for the correct bus to come, we were chatting with one another in order to get rid of the boredom that usually came along the ever late bus services. As the bus arrived later than usual (as always...) we hopped on the bus and headed for Teppei's "crib". After a five minutes bus ride and an eight minutes walk, we were already at Teppei's place and we were impatient to get the party started. We were welcomed by Eiji's dog, Jack (Eiji, Pamella and Teppei are roommates) which were always excited of visitors; of course everyone especially the new Japanese students were excited as well to meet the cute fury canine. The canine wasn't the only one who welcomed all of us as Teppei's Japanese roommate and her Japanese friends gave us a warm welcome. Seeing that all of us were already here, we immediately kick started the party and we let fun took over the remaining of the evening. Apart from having cans of beer and snacks, Yoshi made us his home made pasta which I really had to say was delicious. We snapped a couple of photos together and everyone was happily chatting to one another except me as I was the only non Japanese who couldn't really speak any Japanese. Instead, I just sat down and watched TV with the company of Jack who some how seems to like me a lot. Yoshitaka and Teppei whom noticed how isolated am I, then told me to get up and talk the new Japanese students. Knowing that now was a great time to practice my eight months of Japanese classes, I took the courage and confronted the new Japanese students with a greeting in Japanese. The new Japanese students were shocked to hear me speak Japanese nevertheless our following conversation continued in Japanese. As everyone heard me speaking Japanese, they were surprised and they started asking me questions in Japanese which I could somehow answered back; next thing I knew, I was in the center of the party's spotlight unlike a moment ago when I was totally isolated and invisible to others. The party lasted until nine thirty at night and by then we all had to leave; we were planning to party all night long but since most of us had to take the bus home (last bus in Kamloops was at eleven pm that night)we had no choice but to end the party early. Despite the party was shorter than expected, everyone had a great time that night.
Last day of fun before school starts again
A day before the summer semester started, I received a call from one of my Indonesian friends in the morning while I was still sleeping. According to my Indonesian friend, he and his group of Indonesian friends were planning to go to Paul's Lake for fishing and picnicking; he later extended the invitation to me which I couldn't resist since I've never done either of those in my life before. Consequently, I said "yes" right on the spot without hesitating or thinking twice. However, it didn't take me long before I realized that I promised Yoshitaka that I would hang out with him on the same day. Quickly, I called my Indonesian friend and asked him whether was it okay if I could bring Yoshitaka along. My Indonesian friend was excited for Yoshitaka to join us; nevertheless, he had only space for me in his car for transportation to Paul's Lake as the rest of his friends had occupied the available space. Knowing that it would not be nice to shatter my promise to Yoshitaka, I reluctantly told my Indonesian friend that I would not be joining him and his friends for the trip. Realizing that I missed my chance to actually go fishing and picnicking, I was a bit disappointed. On the contrary, after being persuaded by my insistent desire to have a picnic, I told myself that if I can't join a picnic, I'll just have to make my own.
The picnic
The problems were where would be the ideal place to picnic and who will join me for it. Finding out the ideal place to picnic wasn't a difficult task as I noticed that Riverside Park in downtown Kamloops is a common spot for Canadians to picnic. The difficult and challenging task was who would even bother joining me for my picnic. Yoshitaka, was the first one to raise his hand since we were suppose to hang out together. However, it would feel awkward if it was just the two of us having a picnic together unless Yoshitaka was a sizzling hot Japanese babe like Hamasaki Ayumi, then it would suffice (in fact, I'll immediately close and restrict the invitation to just her...ah, I mean him...No! I mean if he was a she). Seeing that Yoshitaka isn't a hot babe like Hamasaki Ayumi in reality, it was compulsory for me to extend the invitation. Knowing that I usually hang out with Teppei as well, I thought he would like to join us for the picnic. Consequently, I gave him a called and told him about the picnic and just as I thought, he wanted to join us. However, our picnic required more participants...preferably girls this time just to make it look well-rounded (*ahem*). Yoshitaka shared the same opinion as great minds think alike so it didn't take us long to come up with a list of girls we can invite. Yoshitaka had several girls in mind and he immediately started making calls. He told me to call Ran and invite her for our picnic while he called Yuuki; the second he told me to make that call I was a nervous wreck. Extending invitation to girls through e-mail is already hard enough for me given my shy nature what more extending it orally through phone. Not to mention, I just knew Ran back then so I thought that asking her to join me for a picnic would freak her out. Nevertheless, seeing that if I don't do it, our picnic is going to be an all guy picnic only; therefore, I sucked it up and gave Ran a call. The second her phone was ringing I was worried that I would freeze or stutter so before she picked up, I quickly rehearsed what I wanted to say. When she picked up and said hi in Japanese, I was stunned for a couple of seconds. However, I quickly got myself back together and told her about my picnic invitation to her. I was ready to get rejected with whatever excuse she can come up with just to get rid of me, consequently I braced for impact. But instead, she asked me who else is coming. I replied by saying Teppei and Yoshitaka would be joining us as well. Unexpectedly, she said she would like to come and she asked me whether was it okay for her to bring her Thai roommate, Kwahnchanok which I immediately replied, "of course" before she could finished her question. After telling her the place and time of rendezvous, we exchanged good byes and hung up on each other. I immediately reported the great news to Yoshitaka and later asked how was things on his side. Like me, he had good news and we later exchanged high fives in joy before we got ourselves ready for the picnic. We were all suppose to meet at the main bus stop in downtown. Yoshitaka was at my place earlier when we were deciding who to invite for the picnic, consequently we had to travel together to our rendezvous point by bus. The bus service was late and we knew everyone was already at the rendezvous point waiting for us. Yuuki called Yoshitaka wondering where were we. After Yoshitaka explained our unfortunate situation, Yuuki informed us a new rendezvous point at Frank's Coffee, a cafe in downtown. Everyone who were waiting for us wanted to sit down and have a drink which explains why they changed our rendezvous point. Half an hour later, the damn bus finally came and the both of us were on the way to downtown. Once we reached downtown, the both of us immediately dashed to Frank's Coffee as we did not want to let the others wait for us any longer. The moment we met up with Teppei, Ran, Yuuki and Kwanchanok, we were welcomed with a warm greeting...and also a reminder that we were later than expected. Since everyone already started drinking, Yoshi and I thought we should order something to drink as well. Knowing that I was late, I decided to make it up to them by treating them to a chocolate cake from the cafe. Everyone like the cake more than me as I thought the cake was too sweet and I wasn't really into chocolate. Ran seemed to like the cake the most compared to all of us given her sweet tooth for chocolate. Apart from having casual conversations with one another and snacking on the food and drinks we ordered, we snapped a couple of photos together. After spending an hour at the cafe, we decided to carry on with our picnic as we planned from the beginning.
Plan A
Riverside Park was just a stone's throw from Frank's Coffee; it was just a 5 minute stroll from the coffee house we were at earlier on. On our way to Riverside Park, Yoshitaka (who's our usual photographer) decided to snap a couple of photos of us with his two thousand dollars state-of-the-art camera (which I always believe was the one usually used by the CIA for intelligence gathering and espionage purposes). In addition to that, he took several photos of the scenery along the way to our designated picnic spot. Teppei brought Jack along with him and seeing that the hyper active Jack Russel Terrier was wearing him out, I decided to help him walk the dog. Initially, I wondered how could a small puppy like Jack can drag someone like Teppei into submission; however, it didn't take me long to finally understand it once I've experience walking the puppy. Jack's fondness for running off and wondering into restricted places where I had to constantly pull him away wasn't as easy as it looks. Even with my gym training, I had to say that walking a dog like Jack was challenging. Just before we realized it, we were already at Riverside park; there were a number of people at the park that day seeing that it was on a weekend. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to secure ourselves a nice spot for our picnic. As we settled down, Ran rolled out the snacks she bought for our picnic which mostly comprise chocolate cookies and candies (since she is a big chocolate lover). Fortunately for me, there were a couple of bag of chips as well seeing that I wasn't really fond with chocolate. We were enjoying the beautiful scenery of Thompson Rivers compliments of the nice spot we got at Riverside Park for our picnic. As usual, our picnic was accompanied by casual conversations among one another. Seeing that the conversation was in Japanese most of the time, I told myself to take this as a learning experience for my Japanese language instead of dreading and complaining about feeling outcasted. Over at the park, Yoshitaka decided to take more photos while Teppei had to walk Jack who couldn't bear the boredom of sitting still. Ocassionally, Teppei will hand me over Jack's leash when he is tired of walking the energetic puppy; it's not a bad thing at all as I'm actually working out at the same walking the strong and hyperactive puppy. After spending three to four hours of picnicking, we thought it was time to leave. On the other hand, we didn't want to call it a day as we thought we should spend more time together seeing that today was the last day of our holidays before the summer semester began. Consequently, we had a "group meeting" to establish our following plan for the day before we left the park. After half an hour of discussing and brain storming, we concluded our Plan B was to have coffee again; only this time at a different place.
Plan B
This time we went to another coffee place called Jack's...or something like that...Everyone ordered a mocha, cappuccino or a latte while I was the only one who ordered a vegetable cocktail. It wasn't long for my choice of drink to raise everyone's eye brown. Like chocolate, I wasn't really a big fan of coffee or latte. In fact during our earlier visit to Frank's Coffee, I had juice instead of coffee or latte. In the middle of our chit-chat at the coffee house, Yuuki handed me a small envelope. According to her, it was from Yuka, my Japanese instructor's assistant. As I opened the envelope, I saw a short purple string which I thought was cute. On the contrary, I had no idea what was the purple string for. Yoshitaka then explained that according to Japanese culture, this string is suppose to be something like a bracelet where if the wearer wears it until it is snapped, his or her wish will come true. I thought it was a sweet gift from Yuka but I regretted for not being able to thank her in person for this nice gift as she already returned to Japan for good, a couple of days ago. After spending hours in the coffee house, the day was getting darker however, the most of us thought that the night was still young. Consequently, we thought of having plan C instead of going home. Seeing that I was the one who came up with "Operation Riverside Picnic", everyone shifted the responsibility of coming up with Plan C to me. As there was nothing else to do for the day, not to mention the lack of variety of things we can do over here in "Silent Hill", I just came up with a simple plan to have dinner together. Everyone thought it was a good idea except for Teppei as his roommate had already make dinner for him, therefore Teppei could not join us for Plan C. The next question was whether to dine in or dine out; given the nature that dining in was cheaper than dining out not to mention that most of us had been dining out the passed few days in a row, we thought dining in would be ideal for our soon-to-be-empty wallets. After agreeing on Plan C, we wasted no time and we left the coffee house, excited for our next plan.
Plan C
We took a 45 minute walk back to Yoshitaka's house instead of taking the bus as there were no more bus services that day. Walking back wasn't a problem for any of us; instead, the problem was that it was cold and windy that evening despite it was already summer and non of us wore extra clothes as we did not anticipate the unexpected change of weather. Nevertheless, if it wasn't for the sense of companionship that accompanied us during our walk back, this walk would be miserable and hellish for us. As we drew closer to Yohistaka's home, we immediately rushed to his place quicker than a mouse after a bit of cheese. The second we reached Yoshitaka's home, we were so relief as the warmth of his house never felt so great. After taking a five minutes rest, we did an "inventory check" on Yoshitaka's kitchen to determine if we had the availabe ingredients for what we wanted to cook for dinner. Yoshitaka thought about making pasta while Yuuki decided to make some kind of stew. Kwahnchanok on the other hand, wanted to prepare her country's cuisine, Tom Yum Goong. Knowing that there wasn't enough ingredients at Yoshitaka's place to cook, we had no choice but to make a visit to Superstore under the harsh weather which was getting worse by the hour; thankfully, Superstore was not that far away from Yoshitaka's place. Everyone went on their own to get their respective ingredients for the dish they were going to prepare that night, the minute we reached Superstore. Seeing that Ran and I were the only one not preparing anything for dinner that night, Ran was assigned to help Kwahnchanok carry her ingredients of her choice while I was in charge of deciding dessert. Knowing that ice cream was the only dessert I can think of, I thought about visiting the ice cream aisle to take a peek at the variety of choices available. The Oreo ice cream box initially look tempting, however Yoshitaka and Yuuki thought it was not worth the price for its size. Instead they suggested an alternate brand of ice cream (which I couldn't remember) which was twice the size and half the price of the Oreo ice cream box. Knowing that the their suggestion would allow us to save more money, I didn't have to think twice before I went for what they've suggetsted. Less than half an hour in Superstore, we were done with our ingredients collecting and we were ready to return to Yoshitaka's home. We did not waste anytime preparing dinner the second we reached Yoshitaka's home as we were all starving. Everyone was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen except for me as I hardly have any experience when it comes to kitchen work. Realizing that I was the only one not doing anything, I started feeling guilty. Consequently, I volunteered to clean the dishes after dinner. Almost an hour later, dinner was ready and we were impatient to "tuck in" as we grew hungrier from time to time that evening. Everyone's dishes tasted great and on top of it, it was also cheaper for our wallets as we shared the cost of our grocery shopping earlier. As dinner ended, everyone laid back lazily except for me as I had dishes to wash. After taking care of the dishes, everyone called me over to join them for dessert. We had the ice cream we bought from Superstore and despite its affordable price, the ice cream still tasted good. In the middle of our dessert, Ran suggested that we come up with plan D. I thought she was just joking as it was already twelve in the morning and everyone would have class in eight hours time (except for Yoshitaka,Yuuki and me). On the contrary after witnessing how eager she was for plan D, I knew she wasn't joking. I then asked her what can we do at this hour of the day as I realized that almost everyshop in "Silent Hill" closed 6 hours ago. Yoshi than suggested that we could go for karaoke as he thought it was still opened at this hour of the day. Initially, I was doubtful about Plan D as I was worried Ran would not be able to wake up the next morning for her classes. Ran on the other hand, informed everyone that she intend not to sleep and she insist that we visit the karaoke lounge. Yoshi and Yuuki had no problem with it as they were not taking any classes for the summer semester. As for me, seeing that I had no classes in eight hours time, I had no problem joining them for karaoke. Besides, knowing that it was fun hanging out with them "yesterday", I would be an idiot to miss out another oppurtunity to have fun with them again. Ran telephoned Teppei to join us for karaoke. Initially, Teppei immediately said no thinking that Ran was out of her mind but for some mysterious reason, Ran eventually managed to persuade Teppei to join us for karaoke. Ran later informed us that Teppei would take a taxi from his place and meet us at the Greyhound bus station which was on the way to our karaoke lounge. As Plan D was decided, it was time to execute it without wasting anymore time.
Plan D
The four of us started walking to the Greyhound bus station under the cold weather of the early morning. After ten minutes of walking, we finally reached Greyhound and Teppei was there waiting for us. After having Teppei rejoining our party, our next task was to locate the karaoke lounge. It has been ages since all of us last visited the karaoke lounge and because of that, we weren't too sure about the place. Consequently, it didn't take us long before we took the wrong turn and ended up being lost a couple of times. We even debated with one another regarding the correct way to the karaoke lounge and we took almost an hour before we actually discovered the correct way to the karaoke lounge. By the time we were there, the karaoke lounge was closed and dissapointement were written all over our face, especially for Teppei who spend more than ten dollars on taxi coming up here for no reason. Seeing that everyone was really dissapointed, I thought I had to come up with Plan E to made sure nobody walked all the way here under the cold weather for no reason. Realizing that Mc Donalds was just a stone's throw away from where we were and since it was opened twenty four hours, I suggested that we should go there and have coffee...again. Although it wasn't a new idea, we had no choice as Mc Donalds was the only place opened that early morning; therefore, we all decided to go with my plan .
Plan E
At Mc Donalds, everyone was with a cup of coffee and tea. I had more than a cup of tea as I ordered a cheeseburger to everyone's disbelief as I was hungry again later that early morning. As usual, we had our usual casual conversation together and as usual, they were in Japanese most of the time. This time, I was too tired to pay attention and learn more Japanese from their conversation as it had been a long day for me. I nearly fell asleep until Kwahnchanok started talking to me; it was just the two of us who were talking in English while the rest were conversing in Japanese. Our coffee chat stretched till five in the morning that day and seeing Mc Donalds were serving breakfast at that hour, we all decided to just have breakfast there. After our breakfast at Mc Donalds, it was already six thirty in the morning that day and we thought it was time to leave as both Ran and Teppei will have classes in two hours time. I accompanied Yuuki, Teppei and Ran back to the Old Main while Kwahnchanok and Yoshitaka decided to go home as they were overwhelmed with fatigue. The second we reached Old Main, the four of us went to the computer lab to kill some time. I was almost "dead" but I tried my best to stay awake as I promised my Japanese friends that I would accompany them until seven thirty. While we were at the computer lab, we were surfing the internet and seeing that I was nearly asleep, I tried to keep myself awake by browsing for horror movies on YouTube. I randomly picked a Japanese horror movie called Suicide Club and the opening scene of that movie where a group of high school students commited mass suicide by jumping in front of an incoming monorail train was sufficient to keep me awake on my toes. As the clock struck seven thirty morning, I knew I had fulfilled my promise to accompany my friends and I was free to return home. After wishing everyone "good morning", I left Old Main and headed back to my apartment. I then took a nice hot shower and immediately threw myself on the bed before I hibernated for God knows how long.
To be continued...
A group photo at Teppei's drinking party
A photo with Kenji at the party
The new exchange students I met at Teppei's party. Mai and Sayaka
Our pre-picnic at Frank's Coffee
Chocolate cake compliments of me...for being late...
Its just coffee but we're still enjoying ourselves
On our way to Riverside Park
Pretending to be models...
Trying to keep up with Jack...
Our group photo at Riverside Park...
The little hyperactive puppy
Big Smiles!
Our post picnic coffee
Yoshitaka's kitchen work I think...
Dinner compliments of Ran, Kwahnchanok, Yuuki and Yoshitaka
The dishwasher
Plan E: Breakfast at Mc Donalds 5 in the morning
As summer approached, the snow and ice in Kamloops started to melt away slowly. Like the snow and ice that pass by, the same could be said for some of my Japanese friends; Eiji, Pamella and Yasutaka returned to Japan for their summer holidays. Knowing that great guys like them were not here to accompany the remaining of us here in Canada, we knew that summer would be slightly quiet than usual. Conversely, when Yoshitaka received "intelligence" stating that sixteen new students from Japan would be coming to Thompson Rivers University for the summer, all was not lost as this could mean possible expansion of my social network. On top of that, Yoshitaka reported that all of the new Japanese students were apparently girls. Like the rest of my Japanese guy friends, I thought that this would be interesting. Yoshitaka and Teppei volunteered for the university's orientation program of the new Japanese students, for some obvious reasons. The orientation lasted for two days and on one warm morning, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with them in front of the Campus Activity Center building, where we sat on the soft green grasses (which we hoped had no dog shit on it) and talked about their orientation experience. Teppei and Yoshitaka had a guest with them who apparently participated in the orientation as well; her name was Ran and she was from Japan as well. Like most of my friends, she usually hangs out at my "pub" every Saturday night in the previous semester but I never talked to her back then due to my shy behavior. However, that day she initiated a conversation with me and the next thing I knew, we were already talking. The three of them informed me about a lunch to welcome the new students that will occur a couple of days from now; in addition to that, they extended the invitation to me which I thought was generous of them. According to them, the lunch would be held in an Indian restaurant in downtown. I had mixed opinion on their decision to organize the welcome lunch in an Indian restaurant.I can see the robust idea behind allowing the new Japanese students to try something new. On the other hand, I was worried about whether they could handle the spiciness of the Indian cuisine since most of my Japanese friends whom I know is unable to eat spicy food. Initially I wanted to raise my concern but since I was not the one who participated in the orientation or the one who helped in organizing the lunch, I thought it would be wise for me to shut up.
Japanese in Taj Mahal
On the day of the lunch, I took a bus ride with Yoshitaka from Thompson Rivers University to the main bus stop in downtown; once we reached there, we rendezvous with Ran and Teppei. It wasn't long before all sixteen new Japanese students arrived and it was then I finally saw them with my own eyes. Of course I did not approach them and introduce myself immediately to them seeing that I was a nervous wreck and a shy guy. You might be wondering what's the point of attending the lunch if I don't talk to any of the new students; let's just said that I wanted to spend more time with Teppei, Yoshitaka and Ran. Getting to know the new students would be a bonus for me which I didn't expect. After the new students exchanged greetings with one another, Teppei, Ran and Yoshitaka coordinated the group and before we knew it, we were on our way to the Indian restaurant. Once we reached the Indian restaurant (which I vaguely remember the name...), we had a problem welcoming us at the doorstep of the restaurant; it was a full house and there were not enough seats for all of us. We decided to wait and after patiently waiting for five or six minutes, several of the restaurant's patrons left and we had empty seats coming in. Soon after that, we had seats for everyone and lunch commenced shortly after that; the Indian restaurant that day were serving buffet and boy was I lucky to be there. With just fifteen dollars, I could eat all I can which wasn't any problem for me seeing that I am a veteran when it comes to eating spicy food unlike my Japanese friends (which I was worried...). During lunch, conversations in Japanese echoed throughout the restaurant and instead of joining in the conversation (seeing that I can't speak Japanese fluently), I listened carefully to them and identified the Japanese vocabulary that I've learned in my introductory Japanese class last semester. The only time I decided to join in the conversation was when someone mentions my name and when I asked either Yoshitaka, Teppei or Ran about what they said about me (it's not like as if I'll get an honest answer all the time...). It so happened that I wasn't the only non Japanese at the buffet as there was also this girl from Thailand who joined us as well. She was Ran's roommate and her name was Kwahnchanok; she appeared to be very quiet which I wasn't surprised given her similar state as mine. Although, the both of us could have talked together since we were the only non Japanese speaking students, I decided to pass on that thought and continue remaining quiet seeing that I'm not very keen of initiating a conversation. After 2 hours of buffet, the most of us knew we reached our limit and anything beyond that would have us throwing up or changing for new underwear. Each of us paid our bill separately before we left the restaurant. Before we dispersed, Teppei came up with another interesting plan later that day; he informed everyone that there would be a drinking party at his place and he invited everyone to come. However, only three of the new students could make it while the rest had their plans of their own later that day; I thought three was good enough...better compared to nothing. Shortly after that, everyone wished each other goodbye and they went home. Yoshitaka and Teppei followed me back to the New Residence after lunch as we received a call from Maaya who needed our help to move her stuff out (Maaya was also living in the New Residence).
Heavy Duty
The second the three of us arrived at Maaya's doorstep, we were welcomed with a load of work waiting for us for the remaining afternoon (you know how girls have lots of stuff with them...). Without wasting anymore time, we began working knowing that the sooner we start the earlier we get the job done. Maaya was supposed to move from the eight floor down to the 3rd floor and given the nature of the amount and weight of her stuff, we knew it was going to be a long and tiring afternoon which we will end (if we were lucky...) with back aches and muscle sores. Nevertheless, instead of thinking negatively, I told myself this would be a good workout for me, not to mention this would be an excellent way to test my gym training all this while. We carried and unload her stuff from top to bottom and it took us a total of four hours to transport all her stuff. It took 4 guys to transfer Maaya's stuff from one room to another approximately 4 hours; I just couldn't imagine how long would it take if it was just me helping her out. Anyway, it was great to know that Teppei and Yoshitaka could help out and I was grateful for their assistance. Moreover, I was pretty sure that Maaya was even more grateful than me seeing that she would have been in a world of suffering moving her stuff on her own if we decided to decline her request for assistance. As the afternoon ended, the evening in Kamloops for summer that day had another plans for the three of us; it was time to go and get some beer and ignite the party at Teppei's house. Shortly after leaving Maaya's place, the three of us took the bus to downtown before we marched towards the liquor store under the scorching sun.
A drink with the Japanese
After getting two dozens of Budweiser and a bottle of Kahlua from the liquor store, we headed for the bus roundabout to rendezvous with Ran and the other Japanese students. While waiting for the correct bus to come, we were chatting with one another in order to get rid of the boredom that usually came along the ever late bus services. As the bus arrived later than usual (as always...) we hopped on the bus and headed for Teppei's "crib". After a five minutes bus ride and an eight minutes walk, we were already at Teppei's place and we were impatient to get the party started. We were welcomed by Eiji's dog, Jack (Eiji, Pamella and Teppei are roommates) which were always excited of visitors; of course everyone especially the new Japanese students were excited as well to meet the cute fury canine. The canine wasn't the only one who welcomed all of us as Teppei's Japanese roommate and her Japanese friends gave us a warm welcome. Seeing that all of us were already here, we immediately kick started the party and we let fun took over the remaining of the evening. Apart from having cans of beer and snacks, Yoshi made us his home made pasta which I really had to say was delicious. We snapped a couple of photos together and everyone was happily chatting to one another except me as I was the only non Japanese who couldn't really speak any Japanese. Instead, I just sat down and watched TV with the company of Jack who some how seems to like me a lot. Yoshitaka and Teppei whom noticed how isolated am I, then told me to get up and talk the new Japanese students. Knowing that now was a great time to practice my eight months of Japanese classes, I took the courage and confronted the new Japanese students with a greeting in Japanese. The new Japanese students were shocked to hear me speak Japanese nevertheless our following conversation continued in Japanese. As everyone heard me speaking Japanese, they were surprised and they started asking me questions in Japanese which I could somehow answered back; next thing I knew, I was in the center of the party's spotlight unlike a moment ago when I was totally isolated and invisible to others. The party lasted until nine thirty at night and by then we all had to leave; we were planning to party all night long but since most of us had to take the bus home (last bus in Kamloops was at eleven pm that night)we had no choice but to end the party early. Despite the party was shorter than expected, everyone had a great time that night.
Last day of fun before school starts again
A day before the summer semester started, I received a call from one of my Indonesian friends in the morning while I was still sleeping. According to my Indonesian friend, he and his group of Indonesian friends were planning to go to Paul's Lake for fishing and picnicking; he later extended the invitation to me which I couldn't resist since I've never done either of those in my life before. Consequently, I said "yes" right on the spot without hesitating or thinking twice. However, it didn't take me long before I realized that I promised Yoshitaka that I would hang out with him on the same day. Quickly, I called my Indonesian friend and asked him whether was it okay if I could bring Yoshitaka along. My Indonesian friend was excited for Yoshitaka to join us; nevertheless, he had only space for me in his car for transportation to Paul's Lake as the rest of his friends had occupied the available space. Knowing that it would not be nice to shatter my promise to Yoshitaka, I reluctantly told my Indonesian friend that I would not be joining him and his friends for the trip. Realizing that I missed my chance to actually go fishing and picnicking, I was a bit disappointed. On the contrary, after being persuaded by my insistent desire to have a picnic, I told myself that if I can't join a picnic, I'll just have to make my own.
The picnic
The problems were where would be the ideal place to picnic and who will join me for it. Finding out the ideal place to picnic wasn't a difficult task as I noticed that Riverside Park in downtown Kamloops is a common spot for Canadians to picnic. The difficult and challenging task was who would even bother joining me for my picnic. Yoshitaka, was the first one to raise his hand since we were suppose to hang out together. However, it would feel awkward if it was just the two of us having a picnic together unless Yoshitaka was a sizzling hot Japanese babe like Hamasaki Ayumi, then it would suffice (in fact, I'll immediately close and restrict the invitation to just her...ah, I mean him...No! I mean if he was a she). Seeing that Yoshitaka isn't a hot babe like Hamasaki Ayumi in reality, it was compulsory for me to extend the invitation. Knowing that I usually hang out with Teppei as well, I thought he would like to join us for the picnic. Consequently, I gave him a called and told him about the picnic and just as I thought, he wanted to join us. However, our picnic required more participants...preferably girls this time just to make it look well-rounded (*ahem*). Yoshitaka shared the same opinion as great minds think alike so it didn't take us long to come up with a list of girls we can invite. Yoshitaka had several girls in mind and he immediately started making calls. He told me to call Ran and invite her for our picnic while he called Yuuki; the second he told me to make that call I was a nervous wreck. Extending invitation to girls through e-mail is already hard enough for me given my shy nature what more extending it orally through phone. Not to mention, I just knew Ran back then so I thought that asking her to join me for a picnic would freak her out. Nevertheless, seeing that if I don't do it, our picnic is going to be an all guy picnic only; therefore, I sucked it up and gave Ran a call. The second her phone was ringing I was worried that I would freeze or stutter so before she picked up, I quickly rehearsed what I wanted to say. When she picked up and said hi in Japanese, I was stunned for a couple of seconds. However, I quickly got myself back together and told her about my picnic invitation to her. I was ready to get rejected with whatever excuse she can come up with just to get rid of me, consequently I braced for impact. But instead, she asked me who else is coming. I replied by saying Teppei and Yoshitaka would be joining us as well. Unexpectedly, she said she would like to come and she asked me whether was it okay for her to bring her Thai roommate, Kwahnchanok which I immediately replied, "of course" before she could finished her question. After telling her the place and time of rendezvous, we exchanged good byes and hung up on each other. I immediately reported the great news to Yoshitaka and later asked how was things on his side. Like me, he had good news and we later exchanged high fives in joy before we got ourselves ready for the picnic. We were all suppose to meet at the main bus stop in downtown. Yoshitaka was at my place earlier when we were deciding who to invite for the picnic, consequently we had to travel together to our rendezvous point by bus. The bus service was late and we knew everyone was already at the rendezvous point waiting for us. Yuuki called Yoshitaka wondering where were we. After Yoshitaka explained our unfortunate situation, Yuuki informed us a new rendezvous point at Frank's Coffee, a cafe in downtown. Everyone who were waiting for us wanted to sit down and have a drink which explains why they changed our rendezvous point. Half an hour later, the damn bus finally came and the both of us were on the way to downtown. Once we reached downtown, the both of us immediately dashed to Frank's Coffee as we did not want to let the others wait for us any longer. The moment we met up with Teppei, Ran, Yuuki and Kwanchanok, we were welcomed with a warm greeting...and also a reminder that we were later than expected. Since everyone already started drinking, Yoshi and I thought we should order something to drink as well. Knowing that I was late, I decided to make it up to them by treating them to a chocolate cake from the cafe. Everyone like the cake more than me as I thought the cake was too sweet and I wasn't really into chocolate. Ran seemed to like the cake the most compared to all of us given her sweet tooth for chocolate. Apart from having casual conversations with one another and snacking on the food and drinks we ordered, we snapped a couple of photos together. After spending an hour at the cafe, we decided to carry on with our picnic as we planned from the beginning.
Plan A
Riverside Park was just a stone's throw from Frank's Coffee; it was just a 5 minute stroll from the coffee house we were at earlier on. On our way to Riverside Park, Yoshitaka (who's our usual photographer) decided to snap a couple of photos of us with his two thousand dollars state-of-the-art camera (which I always believe was the one usually used by the CIA for intelligence gathering and espionage purposes). In addition to that, he took several photos of the scenery along the way to our designated picnic spot. Teppei brought Jack along with him and seeing that the hyper active Jack Russel Terrier was wearing him out, I decided to help him walk the dog. Initially, I wondered how could a small puppy like Jack can drag someone like Teppei into submission; however, it didn't take me long to finally understand it once I've experience walking the puppy. Jack's fondness for running off and wondering into restricted places where I had to constantly pull him away wasn't as easy as it looks. Even with my gym training, I had to say that walking a dog like Jack was challenging. Just before we realized it, we were already at Riverside park; there were a number of people at the park that day seeing that it was on a weekend. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to secure ourselves a nice spot for our picnic. As we settled down, Ran rolled out the snacks she bought for our picnic which mostly comprise chocolate cookies and candies (since she is a big chocolate lover). Fortunately for me, there were a couple of bag of chips as well seeing that I wasn't really fond with chocolate. We were enjoying the beautiful scenery of Thompson Rivers compliments of the nice spot we got at Riverside Park for our picnic. As usual, our picnic was accompanied by casual conversations among one another. Seeing that the conversation was in Japanese most of the time, I told myself to take this as a learning experience for my Japanese language instead of dreading and complaining about feeling outcasted. Over at the park, Yoshitaka decided to take more photos while Teppei had to walk Jack who couldn't bear the boredom of sitting still. Ocassionally, Teppei will hand me over Jack's leash when he is tired of walking the energetic puppy; it's not a bad thing at all as I'm actually working out at the same walking the strong and hyperactive puppy. After spending three to four hours of picnicking, we thought it was time to leave. On the other hand, we didn't want to call it a day as we thought we should spend more time together seeing that today was the last day of our holidays before the summer semester began. Consequently, we had a "group meeting" to establish our following plan for the day before we left the park. After half an hour of discussing and brain storming, we concluded our Plan B was to have coffee again; only this time at a different place.
Plan B
This time we went to another coffee place called Jack's...or something like that...Everyone ordered a mocha, cappuccino or a latte while I was the only one who ordered a vegetable cocktail. It wasn't long for my choice of drink to raise everyone's eye brown. Like chocolate, I wasn't really a big fan of coffee or latte. In fact during our earlier visit to Frank's Coffee, I had juice instead of coffee or latte. In the middle of our chit-chat at the coffee house, Yuuki handed me a small envelope. According to her, it was from Yuka, my Japanese instructor's assistant. As I opened the envelope, I saw a short purple string which I thought was cute. On the contrary, I had no idea what was the purple string for. Yoshitaka then explained that according to Japanese culture, this string is suppose to be something like a bracelet where if the wearer wears it until it is snapped, his or her wish will come true. I thought it was a sweet gift from Yuka but I regretted for not being able to thank her in person for this nice gift as she already returned to Japan for good, a couple of days ago. After spending hours in the coffee house, the day was getting darker however, the most of us thought that the night was still young. Consequently, we thought of having plan C instead of going home. Seeing that I was the one who came up with "Operation Riverside Picnic", everyone shifted the responsibility of coming up with Plan C to me. As there was nothing else to do for the day, not to mention the lack of variety of things we can do over here in "Silent Hill", I just came up with a simple plan to have dinner together. Everyone thought it was a good idea except for Teppei as his roommate had already make dinner for him, therefore Teppei could not join us for Plan C. The next question was whether to dine in or dine out; given the nature that dining in was cheaper than dining out not to mention that most of us had been dining out the passed few days in a row, we thought dining in would be ideal for our soon-to-be-empty wallets. After agreeing on Plan C, we wasted no time and we left the coffee house, excited for our next plan.
Plan C
We took a 45 minute walk back to Yoshitaka's house instead of taking the bus as there were no more bus services that day. Walking back wasn't a problem for any of us; instead, the problem was that it was cold and windy that evening despite it was already summer and non of us wore extra clothes as we did not anticipate the unexpected change of weather. Nevertheless, if it wasn't for the sense of companionship that accompanied us during our walk back, this walk would be miserable and hellish for us. As we drew closer to Yohistaka's home, we immediately rushed to his place quicker than a mouse after a bit of cheese. The second we reached Yoshitaka's home, we were so relief as the warmth of his house never felt so great. After taking a five minutes rest, we did an "inventory check" on Yoshitaka's kitchen to determine if we had the availabe ingredients for what we wanted to cook for dinner. Yoshitaka thought about making pasta while Yuuki decided to make some kind of stew. Kwahnchanok on the other hand, wanted to prepare her country's cuisine, Tom Yum Goong. Knowing that there wasn't enough ingredients at Yoshitaka's place to cook, we had no choice but to make a visit to Superstore under the harsh weather which was getting worse by the hour; thankfully, Superstore was not that far away from Yoshitaka's place. Everyone went on their own to get their respective ingredients for the dish they were going to prepare that night, the minute we reached Superstore. Seeing that Ran and I were the only one not preparing anything for dinner that night, Ran was assigned to help Kwahnchanok carry her ingredients of her choice while I was in charge of deciding dessert. Knowing that ice cream was the only dessert I can think of, I thought about visiting the ice cream aisle to take a peek at the variety of choices available. The Oreo ice cream box initially look tempting, however Yoshitaka and Yuuki thought it was not worth the price for its size. Instead they suggested an alternate brand of ice cream (which I couldn't remember) which was twice the size and half the price of the Oreo ice cream box. Knowing that the their suggestion would allow us to save more money, I didn't have to think twice before I went for what they've suggetsted. Less than half an hour in Superstore, we were done with our ingredients collecting and we were ready to return to Yoshitaka's home. We did not waste anytime preparing dinner the second we reached Yoshitaka's home as we were all starving. Everyone was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen except for me as I hardly have any experience when it comes to kitchen work. Realizing that I was the only one not doing anything, I started feeling guilty. Consequently, I volunteered to clean the dishes after dinner. Almost an hour later, dinner was ready and we were impatient to "tuck in" as we grew hungrier from time to time that evening. Everyone's dishes tasted great and on top of it, it was also cheaper for our wallets as we shared the cost of our grocery shopping earlier. As dinner ended, everyone laid back lazily except for me as I had dishes to wash. After taking care of the dishes, everyone called me over to join them for dessert. We had the ice cream we bought from Superstore and despite its affordable price, the ice cream still tasted good. In the middle of our dessert, Ran suggested that we come up with plan D. I thought she was just joking as it was already twelve in the morning and everyone would have class in eight hours time (except for Yoshitaka,Yuuki and me). On the contrary after witnessing how eager she was for plan D, I knew she wasn't joking. I then asked her what can we do at this hour of the day as I realized that almost everyshop in "Silent Hill" closed 6 hours ago. Yoshi than suggested that we could go for karaoke as he thought it was still opened at this hour of the day. Initially, I was doubtful about Plan D as I was worried Ran would not be able to wake up the next morning for her classes. Ran on the other hand, informed everyone that she intend not to sleep and she insist that we visit the karaoke lounge. Yoshi and Yuuki had no problem with it as they were not taking any classes for the summer semester. As for me, seeing that I had no classes in eight hours time, I had no problem joining them for karaoke. Besides, knowing that it was fun hanging out with them "yesterday", I would be an idiot to miss out another oppurtunity to have fun with them again. Ran telephoned Teppei to join us for karaoke. Initially, Teppei immediately said no thinking that Ran was out of her mind but for some mysterious reason, Ran eventually managed to persuade Teppei to join us for karaoke. Ran later informed us that Teppei would take a taxi from his place and meet us at the Greyhound bus station which was on the way to our karaoke lounge. As Plan D was decided, it was time to execute it without wasting anymore time.
Plan D
The four of us started walking to the Greyhound bus station under the cold weather of the early morning. After ten minutes of walking, we finally reached Greyhound and Teppei was there waiting for us. After having Teppei rejoining our party, our next task was to locate the karaoke lounge. It has been ages since all of us last visited the karaoke lounge and because of that, we weren't too sure about the place. Consequently, it didn't take us long before we took the wrong turn and ended up being lost a couple of times. We even debated with one another regarding the correct way to the karaoke lounge and we took almost an hour before we actually discovered the correct way to the karaoke lounge. By the time we were there, the karaoke lounge was closed and dissapointement were written all over our face, especially for Teppei who spend more than ten dollars on taxi coming up here for no reason. Seeing that everyone was really dissapointed, I thought I had to come up with Plan E to made sure nobody walked all the way here under the cold weather for no reason. Realizing that Mc Donalds was just a stone's throw away from where we were and since it was opened twenty four hours, I suggested that we should go there and have coffee...again. Although it wasn't a new idea, we had no choice as Mc Donalds was the only place opened that early morning; therefore, we all decided to go with my plan .
Plan E
At Mc Donalds, everyone was with a cup of coffee and tea. I had more than a cup of tea as I ordered a cheeseburger to everyone's disbelief as I was hungry again later that early morning. As usual, we had our usual casual conversation together and as usual, they were in Japanese most of the time. This time, I was too tired to pay attention and learn more Japanese from their conversation as it had been a long day for me. I nearly fell asleep until Kwahnchanok started talking to me; it was just the two of us who were talking in English while the rest were conversing in Japanese. Our coffee chat stretched till five in the morning that day and seeing Mc Donalds were serving breakfast at that hour, we all decided to just have breakfast there. After our breakfast at Mc Donalds, it was already six thirty in the morning that day and we thought it was time to leave as both Ran and Teppei will have classes in two hours time. I accompanied Yuuki, Teppei and Ran back to the Old Main while Kwahnchanok and Yoshitaka decided to go home as they were overwhelmed with fatigue. The second we reached Old Main, the four of us went to the computer lab to kill some time. I was almost "dead" but I tried my best to stay awake as I promised my Japanese friends that I would accompany them until seven thirty. While we were at the computer lab, we were surfing the internet and seeing that I was nearly asleep, I tried to keep myself awake by browsing for horror movies on YouTube. I randomly picked a Japanese horror movie called Suicide Club and the opening scene of that movie where a group of high school students commited mass suicide by jumping in front of an incoming monorail train was sufficient to keep me awake on my toes. As the clock struck seven thirty morning, I knew I had fulfilled my promise to accompany my friends and I was free to return home. After wishing everyone "good morning", I left Old Main and headed back to my apartment. I then took a nice hot shower and immediately threw myself on the bed before I hibernated for God knows how long.
To be continued...
A group photo at Teppei's drinking party
A photo with Kenji at the party
The new exchange students I met at Teppei's party. Mai and Sayaka
Our pre-picnic at Frank's Coffee
Chocolate cake compliments of me...for being late...
Its just coffee but we're still enjoying ourselves
On our way to Riverside Park
Pretending to be models...
Trying to keep up with Jack...
Our group photo at Riverside Park...
The little hyperactive puppy
Big Smiles!
Our post picnic coffee
Yoshitaka's kitchen work I think...
Dinner compliments of Ran, Kwahnchanok, Yuuki and Yoshitaka
The dishwasher
Plan E: Breakfast at Mc Donalds 5 in the morning
Sunday, May 31, 2009
While I was Away For a Long Time...
Revival
Just yesterday when I was talking to one of Japanese friends online, she told me that she saw my blog. The second she mentioned about my blog, I finally discovered what was the missing link to my life all this while; it was my blog! By looking at the date of my last posting, it's been quite a while (half a year to be exact...) since I updated my blog. As ridiculous as it may sound and as embarrassing as it is to know, I can't believe I totally forgotten about my blog for six months. My sincere apology to all those who have been following my blog all these while for giving you a false impression that What's on Shenji's Mind has reached its "season finale" at the last posting; I wouldn't be surprise if any of you wondered if I ended up brain dead all this moment since there were nothing new on my "mind" for the past six months; anyway, rest assure that your good ol'Shenji is back with his constant postings of what he finds interesting which he hopes that will be your source of online easy reading and comical entertainment. I've also just realized one more thing; What's on Shenji's Mind is already three years old...well more than 3 years old, I believe. Anyway, for today's posting I will briefly summarize what happened to me for the past 6 months while I was absent from the blogging community. To start it off briefly, rest assure that I'm doing fine (surprisingly) and I'm still in one piece; in fact, things are getting better over here in Canada for me. For the past 6 months, what thought to be a dull and boring year in Canada turns out the opposite.
Heavy Load
During the winter semester of last year, I started my third year in my Bachelor Of Business Administration. Given the fact that the courses for third year business students were more interesting not to mention the courses' time table were perfectly fitted in my university week, I decided to take five course (the full load for every students here in Thompson Rivers University) for my fall semester. Initially, I thought it was an act of suicide seeing that the last time I took five courses per semester two years ago, nearly left me dead in the gutter of failure. On the contrary, given the constant reminder from my parents that it would be a waste of money not to take five courses per semester (seeing that international students like me pay six to seven thousand dollars a semester regardless of how many courses we take), I decided to suck it up like a man and deal with my fear of doing badly in university. The courses I took last semester were Introduction to Human Resource Management, International Business (my favorite), Operations Management, Business in Society (another interesting one...) and Introduction to Japanese 2; I was lucky enough to have great instructors for all my courses last semester and in addition to that, I enjoyed most of the courses unlike the previous semesters.
New Friends
Social life for me in Canada was surprisingly better than before. At the beginning, I was expecting that the only person I would be hanging out with most of the time back then was me, myself and I. You might be wondering about the platoon of Indonesian students over here who celebrated my twenty first birthday with me last year; however, as unfortunate as it may sound, the majority of them returned to their country and the remaining are not very close to me, except for a few of them. I wasn't really bothered about the fact that I will be alone for the rest of my winter semester of 2009 since I was so used to being alone; however with God's graciousness, he blessed me with loads of new friends from the land of the rising sun. Talk about miracles happening when I least expected it. It all happened when Yoshitaka, my good friend from Japan invited me to join he and his Japanese friends for a friendly Counter Strike match which was illegally organized at the university's computer lab on one late evening. There, I was reunited with another good friend of mine from Japan, Teppei Sakuma, who skipped the fall semester of 2008 due to his student visa problems. In addition to that, Teppei and Yoshitaka introduced me to their Japanese friend whom I've never met; he was Eiji Hayashi. He was a big guy and because of that, I was a little intimidated; on the other hand, it turned out that he was a nice and friendly guy. We did have fun together at our illegal Counter Strike tournament (despite losing the game badly...) and I knew that the probability of expanding my social network was high. Later on that night at a dinner with Yoshitaka and Teppei, I decided to throw a drinking party at my place on the following night and I asked Teppei and Yoshitaka to invite Eiji to join us. Both Yoshitaka and Teppei thought it was a great idea but they also thought that I should invite some girls to my party as well. Initially I had difficulties facilitating Teppei's and Yoshitaka's request since I did not know many new girls; nevertheless, the second I remembered Maaya and Yuka (the new Japanese instructor's assistant from Japan), I knew that my problem was solved. Maaya was an old friend of mine in the university, however, Yuka on the other hand was someone I recently knew at my Japanese class last semester. As mentioned before, Yuka was my Japanese instructor's assistant from Japan; the both of us share something in common which I like to believe was one of the reasons that made us friends: our mum. If you were thinking that she is my long lost sister from my mum's ex-Japanese husband who's her father, I hate to disappoint you but you are wrong! I know you wish it was that dramatic but what I meant from saying that we have something in common in terms of our mum is that both of our mums are from Malaysia. So back to the drinking party story:Eventually, I had my drinking party on the following night with my Japanese friends and although some of us ended up drunk and unconscious ( I was one of them) on the remaining night, we still had plenty of fun. From that point on, I knew it was the beginning to a good relationship with the Japanese students...as well as more drinking party at my place.
The Pub.
It was inevitable that more drinking party were thrown at my place every Saturday night and my place was soon transformed from a living dormitory to a make shift pub (which gave me the idea to open my own pub later on when I'm old). I happened to know a couple more Japanese students thanks to Teppei's birthday party which I attended in the middle of the winter semester this year. Seeing that they were nice people, I decided to extend the invitation to the new Japanese students I met at the party, to drink at my place every Saturday night. Of course it didn't take long for us to became closer especially when we had a couple of beers and vodka to help extend the friendship. Unlike my previous years in university, I drank a lot this year until the extent of getting drunk at almost every party and making my friends and family worried about my drinking habits. Of course I wasn't worried about it at all seeing that I strictly adhere to one of my personal principals which goes by "work hard and play hard"; since all of us had been working hard throughout the week with five courses on our hands for that semester, we should enjoy ourselves once a week to balance our lifestyle.
Operation Final Winter
It wasn't long before the final exams for the winter semester arrived; time passes so fast especially when you're having fun. Moments like these are the most dreadful experience any student can have seeing that burning the midnight oil and spending more time at the library becomes compulsory rather than optional. To make matter worst, with five courses to prepare for, my level of anxiety increases day by day as time draws closer to my examination's date. Despite having a tactical plan easily devised for the preparation of every subjects, the execution of the plan which involves strict compliance to the preparation schedule is not an easy task. Nevertheless, deviating from the plan was not an option for me or I would have risk a chaotic preparation which would eventually lead to my academic demise. To sum it up, it was extra work and less sleeping hours for me that time of the semester. Nevertheless, my "pub" still opened every Saturday night as usual; the only difference about it was there were not many "customers" as usual seeing that they were all busy preparing for their exam. Eiji and his girlfriend Pamella (who's also from Japan) continued to be my "regulars" during the final exam season.
We've got a man down!
I still remember there was one night after a long day of studying, Eiji, Pamella and I were drinking together as usual. We had a card game of "high low" where the loser will have to drink a shot of vodka and guess who was the biggest loser that night? Yes, you guessed it right; it was me. Consequently, I ended up finishing most of the bottle of Russian vodka and it wasn't long before I was wasted. That night didn't end despite I was dead drunk; Eiji and Pamella asked me to accompany them to MAX, a dance club in downtown Kamloops to spend the remaining of the night. Seeing that I always try my best to please my friends in any way possible, I decided to follow them in my drunken state. When I reached the dance club I could barely walked straight and both Eiji and Pamella had to keep a close eye on me. Instead of dancing and having fun in the club, I spend most of the time in the men's toilet puking; it was so bad until one of the bouncer noticed it and he kicked me out from the club. That night, I was outside the club sitting on the sidewalk trying to straighten myself out while both Eiji and Pamella were in there partying. However, it wasn't long before they noticed I was outside the club therefore, they decided to take me home. As they were carrying me to their car, I vomited more and I immediately dropped to the ground before vomiting more. The second Eiji mentioned something about changing the place to Thirsty Dog which was another dance club, I panicked frantically seeing that I couldn't continued with my current state or misery. According to Pamella (which I doubt she was telling the truth...) she said I started screaming for my mum saying how much I miss her and I wanted to go home so badly. She even said that I tried to walk home and she had to bring me back from wondering the streets aimlessly. Eventually they all brought me home and the second I reached home, I started to puking more again. I was puking in the toilet bowl and my worried roommate had to made sure I didn't hurt myself. Eiji carried me to my room but just before we reach the room I needed to puked more so I immediately rushed to my room's kitchen sink to throw up more. Pamella was patting my back while I was puking and after I finished unleashing the entire 3 course meal for the day from my stomach, the both of them tucked me into my bed. That was one hell of a day but I was so grateful that I had good friends like Eiji and Pamella to watch my back when things took a disastrous turn for me.
Operation Final Winter pt. 2
Despite getting wasted a day before, the preparation for the final exam continued as usual. As the days grew closer to the final exams, so was the completion of my preparation. Despite that, I felt the lack of confidence mostly because I was afraid that I might not be able to remember what I studied. More over, there were a couple of courses which I did not get A for my midterm exams therefore, to achieve at least an A- for the overall course would require an A+ for the final exam. The problem was what were the chances of me pulling an A+ for the final exams? Not good, I thought. My Operations Management was the first course to come back with an overall grade; to my surprise, I did horribly wrong and I only got a C+ for the overall course. Devastated and sorrowed, I knew that was the end of my academic for the semester. I was so demotivated to perform well for the other courses; I knew that it was going to be difficult to score at least an A- for the remaining subjects. When all means fail, the only last resort is the act of God; I then prayed so hard that God will be merciful to me and bless my remaining courses with at least an A-. I eventually sat for the remaining exam and I did my best for them; the rest was up to God. Several weeks after the exam, the results were back and I was a nervous wreck the moment I checked my results online. To my biggest surprise, I scored A for the remaining courses and my GPA increased. I was filled with utmost joy; I remembered throwing my right arm in the air, gaving a loud victorious cry and thanking the Lord for his miracles. The war on the final exam was won and I was glad to know I did a great job. Mission accomplished!
To be continued...
My first few customers at my "pub"
(From left to right) Teppei and Pamella
Yasutaka Okabe
(From left to right): Eiji, Yasutaka and Pamella
Dinner at Yoshi's place one evening
(From left to right): Kazutaka and Scott
Another night in the "pub"
A full house in the "pub"
Just yesterday when I was talking to one of Japanese friends online, she told me that she saw my blog. The second she mentioned about my blog, I finally discovered what was the missing link to my life all this while; it was my blog! By looking at the date of my last posting, it's been quite a while (half a year to be exact...) since I updated my blog. As ridiculous as it may sound and as embarrassing as it is to know, I can't believe I totally forgotten about my blog for six months. My sincere apology to all those who have been following my blog all these while for giving you a false impression that What's on Shenji's Mind has reached its "season finale" at the last posting; I wouldn't be surprise if any of you wondered if I ended up brain dead all this moment since there were nothing new on my "mind" for the past six months; anyway, rest assure that your good ol'Shenji is back with his constant postings of what he finds interesting which he hopes that will be your source of online easy reading and comical entertainment. I've also just realized one more thing; What's on Shenji's Mind is already three years old...well more than 3 years old, I believe. Anyway, for today's posting I will briefly summarize what happened to me for the past 6 months while I was absent from the blogging community. To start it off briefly, rest assure that I'm doing fine (surprisingly) and I'm still in one piece; in fact, things are getting better over here in Canada for me. For the past 6 months, what thought to be a dull and boring year in Canada turns out the opposite.
Heavy Load
During the winter semester of last year, I started my third year in my Bachelor Of Business Administration. Given the fact that the courses for third year business students were more interesting not to mention the courses' time table were perfectly fitted in my university week, I decided to take five course (the full load for every students here in Thompson Rivers University) for my fall semester. Initially, I thought it was an act of suicide seeing that the last time I took five courses per semester two years ago, nearly left me dead in the gutter of failure. On the contrary, given the constant reminder from my parents that it would be a waste of money not to take five courses per semester (seeing that international students like me pay six to seven thousand dollars a semester regardless of how many courses we take), I decided to suck it up like a man and deal with my fear of doing badly in university. The courses I took last semester were Introduction to Human Resource Management, International Business (my favorite), Operations Management, Business in Society (another interesting one...) and Introduction to Japanese 2; I was lucky enough to have great instructors for all my courses last semester and in addition to that, I enjoyed most of the courses unlike the previous semesters.
New Friends
Social life for me in Canada was surprisingly better than before. At the beginning, I was expecting that the only person I would be hanging out with most of the time back then was me, myself and I. You might be wondering about the platoon of Indonesian students over here who celebrated my twenty first birthday with me last year; however, as unfortunate as it may sound, the majority of them returned to their country and the remaining are not very close to me, except for a few of them. I wasn't really bothered about the fact that I will be alone for the rest of my winter semester of 2009 since I was so used to being alone; however with God's graciousness, he blessed me with loads of new friends from the land of the rising sun. Talk about miracles happening when I least expected it. It all happened when Yoshitaka, my good friend from Japan invited me to join he and his Japanese friends for a friendly Counter Strike match which was illegally organized at the university's computer lab on one late evening. There, I was reunited with another good friend of mine from Japan, Teppei Sakuma, who skipped the fall semester of 2008 due to his student visa problems. In addition to that, Teppei and Yoshitaka introduced me to their Japanese friend whom I've never met; he was Eiji Hayashi. He was a big guy and because of that, I was a little intimidated; on the other hand, it turned out that he was a nice and friendly guy. We did have fun together at our illegal Counter Strike tournament (despite losing the game badly...) and I knew that the probability of expanding my social network was high. Later on that night at a dinner with Yoshitaka and Teppei, I decided to throw a drinking party at my place on the following night and I asked Teppei and Yoshitaka to invite Eiji to join us. Both Yoshitaka and Teppei thought it was a great idea but they also thought that I should invite some girls to my party as well. Initially I had difficulties facilitating Teppei's and Yoshitaka's request since I did not know many new girls; nevertheless, the second I remembered Maaya and Yuka (the new Japanese instructor's assistant from Japan), I knew that my problem was solved. Maaya was an old friend of mine in the university, however, Yuka on the other hand was someone I recently knew at my Japanese class last semester. As mentioned before, Yuka was my Japanese instructor's assistant from Japan; the both of us share something in common which I like to believe was one of the reasons that made us friends: our mum. If you were thinking that she is my long lost sister from my mum's ex-Japanese husband who's her father, I hate to disappoint you but you are wrong! I know you wish it was that dramatic but what I meant from saying that we have something in common in terms of our mum is that both of our mums are from Malaysia. So back to the drinking party story:Eventually, I had my drinking party on the following night with my Japanese friends and although some of us ended up drunk and unconscious ( I was one of them) on the remaining night, we still had plenty of fun. From that point on, I knew it was the beginning to a good relationship with the Japanese students...as well as more drinking party at my place.
The Pub.
It was inevitable that more drinking party were thrown at my place every Saturday night and my place was soon transformed from a living dormitory to a make shift pub (which gave me the idea to open my own pub later on when I'm old). I happened to know a couple more Japanese students thanks to Teppei's birthday party which I attended in the middle of the winter semester this year. Seeing that they were nice people, I decided to extend the invitation to the new Japanese students I met at the party, to drink at my place every Saturday night. Of course it didn't take long for us to became closer especially when we had a couple of beers and vodka to help extend the friendship. Unlike my previous years in university, I drank a lot this year until the extent of getting drunk at almost every party and making my friends and family worried about my drinking habits. Of course I wasn't worried about it at all seeing that I strictly adhere to one of my personal principals which goes by "work hard and play hard"; since all of us had been working hard throughout the week with five courses on our hands for that semester, we should enjoy ourselves once a week to balance our lifestyle.
Operation Final Winter
It wasn't long before the final exams for the winter semester arrived; time passes so fast especially when you're having fun. Moments like these are the most dreadful experience any student can have seeing that burning the midnight oil and spending more time at the library becomes compulsory rather than optional. To make matter worst, with five courses to prepare for, my level of anxiety increases day by day as time draws closer to my examination's date. Despite having a tactical plan easily devised for the preparation of every subjects, the execution of the plan which involves strict compliance to the preparation schedule is not an easy task. Nevertheless, deviating from the plan was not an option for me or I would have risk a chaotic preparation which would eventually lead to my academic demise. To sum it up, it was extra work and less sleeping hours for me that time of the semester. Nevertheless, my "pub" still opened every Saturday night as usual; the only difference about it was there were not many "customers" as usual seeing that they were all busy preparing for their exam. Eiji and his girlfriend Pamella (who's also from Japan) continued to be my "regulars" during the final exam season.
We've got a man down!
I still remember there was one night after a long day of studying, Eiji, Pamella and I were drinking together as usual. We had a card game of "high low" where the loser will have to drink a shot of vodka and guess who was the biggest loser that night? Yes, you guessed it right; it was me. Consequently, I ended up finishing most of the bottle of Russian vodka and it wasn't long before I was wasted. That night didn't end despite I was dead drunk; Eiji and Pamella asked me to accompany them to MAX, a dance club in downtown Kamloops to spend the remaining of the night. Seeing that I always try my best to please my friends in any way possible, I decided to follow them in my drunken state. When I reached the dance club I could barely walked straight and both Eiji and Pamella had to keep a close eye on me. Instead of dancing and having fun in the club, I spend most of the time in the men's toilet puking; it was so bad until one of the bouncer noticed it and he kicked me out from the club. That night, I was outside the club sitting on the sidewalk trying to straighten myself out while both Eiji and Pamella were in there partying. However, it wasn't long before they noticed I was outside the club therefore, they decided to take me home. As they were carrying me to their car, I vomited more and I immediately dropped to the ground before vomiting more. The second Eiji mentioned something about changing the place to Thirsty Dog which was another dance club, I panicked frantically seeing that I couldn't continued with my current state or misery. According to Pamella (which I doubt she was telling the truth...) she said I started screaming for my mum saying how much I miss her and I wanted to go home so badly. She even said that I tried to walk home and she had to bring me back from wondering the streets aimlessly. Eventually they all brought me home and the second I reached home, I started to puking more again. I was puking in the toilet bowl and my worried roommate had to made sure I didn't hurt myself. Eiji carried me to my room but just before we reach the room I needed to puked more so I immediately rushed to my room's kitchen sink to throw up more. Pamella was patting my back while I was puking and after I finished unleashing the entire 3 course meal for the day from my stomach, the both of them tucked me into my bed. That was one hell of a day but I was so grateful that I had good friends like Eiji and Pamella to watch my back when things took a disastrous turn for me.
Operation Final Winter pt. 2
Despite getting wasted a day before, the preparation for the final exam continued as usual. As the days grew closer to the final exams, so was the completion of my preparation. Despite that, I felt the lack of confidence mostly because I was afraid that I might not be able to remember what I studied. More over, there were a couple of courses which I did not get A for my midterm exams therefore, to achieve at least an A- for the overall course would require an A+ for the final exam. The problem was what were the chances of me pulling an A+ for the final exams? Not good, I thought. My Operations Management was the first course to come back with an overall grade; to my surprise, I did horribly wrong and I only got a C+ for the overall course. Devastated and sorrowed, I knew that was the end of my academic for the semester. I was so demotivated to perform well for the other courses; I knew that it was going to be difficult to score at least an A- for the remaining subjects. When all means fail, the only last resort is the act of God; I then prayed so hard that God will be merciful to me and bless my remaining courses with at least an A-. I eventually sat for the remaining exam and I did my best for them; the rest was up to God. Several weeks after the exam, the results were back and I was a nervous wreck the moment I checked my results online. To my biggest surprise, I scored A for the remaining courses and my GPA increased. I was filled with utmost joy; I remembered throwing my right arm in the air, gaving a loud victorious cry and thanking the Lord for his miracles. The war on the final exam was won and I was glad to know I did a great job. Mission accomplished!
To be continued...
My first few customers at my "pub"
(From left to right) Teppei and Pamella
Yasutaka Okabe
(From left to right): Eiji, Yasutaka and Pamella
Dinner at Yoshi's place one evening
(From left to right): Kazutaka and Scott
Another night in the "pub"
A full house in the "pub"
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Older I Get the Better the Celebration
My 21st birthday pose which resembles the victory of an elected parliament memberThe thought of celebrating my birthday this year was often vague with little expectations as it was just around the corner of exams and quizzes. In addition to that, almost all of my usual hang out friends either graduated, transfered to another university or even dropped out; therefore this semester for me is pretty lonely compared to my previous one. Furthermore with ruthless courses like Statistics 2 which has never been kind to my grades, my mum urged that I should focus more on my studies instead of thinking much about my birthday. Initially I thought I had many reasons to cease any plans for my birthday this year but as I remembered one of my friend's personal message on Windows Messenger that went by, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow" persuaded me that maybe it wasn't a good idea to skip my birthday celebration as I might not have a chance to celebrate it anymore since life and death can be very unpredictable. Consequently, I decided to throw a birthday celebration as usual this year. However unlike the previous year, I had to postpone my celebration 4 days later as I had to prepare for my dreadful Statistics exam which was on the following day. Despite delaying my celebration, things weren't all that bad as I had the opportunity to feel young for 4 more days. The biggest problem that I had to deal with for this year's celebration was to determine who to invite; practically, there was no one to invite at all since most of my friends were not studying in TRU anymore, as mentioned before. Despite the lack of friends I had over here in TRU now, I still had many acquaintances who had the potential of entering my circle of friendship; therefore I decided to extend my invitation to them unlike my usual celebration which were strictly limited to friends only. One might say that I was desperate to have people coming to my party which may be true but nevertheless, it never hurts to make new friends. It wasn't long before I started spreading out my invitations and it wasn't long before I received many declines due to religious or work reasons; the worst ones were the one not even bother replying or giving false promises. At the beginning, things didn't go too well seeing that hardly anyone bothered about my birthday celebration; however all hope was not lost when I reflected on the Indonesian students over here in TRU who somehow showed some interest in me due to a past social event with them where I decided to be friendly and talkative for just a day. Knowing that they were also nice, friendly and humorous people, I thought inviting them to my birthday party would make my celebration an unforgettable one. My instinct was right and having my Indonesian acquaintances at my 21st birthday dinner was not only a great blast but also a celebration filled with utmost joy and laughter.
A week before my birthday dinner, I was lucky to bump into my Indonesian acquaintances in campus; I informed them about my upcoming birthday celebration and most of them looked forward to it. I even told them to invite their other Indonesian friends along too as I might know some of them seeing that I shared several classes with some Indonesian students in my previous semester. The invitation was not only restricted to the Indonesian students but also my Japanese friends especially Maaya and Yoshitaka as I have known them longer than anyone else and we have been good friends. Realizing that Maaya introduced a couple of her Japanese friends like Mai Furuya and Emi Kato, I thought I should invite them as it wouldn't hurt to extend the acquaintance further into possible friendship. Consequently, it wasn't long before I started verbally inviting them to my upcoming birthday dinner when I happen to bump into them in campus.
As I had invited enough people, my next challenge was to decided a venue to hold my birthday dinner. Knowing that 15 to 20 people will be coming, I had to look for a restaurant big enough to accommodate the "platoon" of people I invited. Fortunately for me, it wasn't long before I solved the problem when I remembered that my roommate's girlfriend's dad owns a Korean-Japanese restaurant. I consulted Jihae who was my roommate's girlfriend and I asked her whether she could help me with my birthday dinner's venue. Knowing that I would be bringing plenty of customers to her dad's restaurant, she immediately informed her dad and it wasn't long before she said that she could give me the entire restaurant for the night of my birthday celebration. Eventually, I had that problem solved and I was on my way to organizing a great birthday dinner.
On the night of the dinner (which was just last night), I somehow became nervous and worried as I feared that I might receive a lot of last minute bail-out on from my friends I've invited. To make matter, worst the reminders I sent to them earlier that day via SMS weren't even replied or acknowledged. An hour before the dinner began, I became more nervous as I could not help but to think for the worst. However, Maaya who's always by my side playing the role of my best friend, reminded me that there's still her, Randy (her boyfriend),Yoshi, my roommate and his girlfriend (who was working at the restaurant that night) to celebrate my 21st birthday with me regardless of whether the Indonesian students turned up or not. Knowing that she had my back, I was slightly less worried than before.
When Randy, Maaya and I arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted by my roommate and his girlfriend who was working there that night; however, there were no sign of the Indonesian students I invited or even my good friend, Yoshi. I told myself to be patient, not to freak out and I even began feeding myself with good reasons on why they are not here yet. Fortunately, my patience was rewarded when Gary, one of the Indonesian students turned up. I welcomed him in before I introduced him to Maaya and Randy. Gary and I chatted with each other as we wanted to catch up on one another seeing that we haven't seen each other for the entire week in campus. In the middle of our conversation, my Japanese friend, Yoshi entered the restaurant. I then knew that it was a good sign seeing more people are turning up and it wasn't long before the rest of the Indonesian students turn up one by one. That night, I had 18 people celebrating my 21st birthday with me. It was 3 times the size of people at my 20th birthday party last year and since then I knew that it was impossible for my 21st birthday to be dull.
That night, the restaurant were filled with loud chatters similar to a parliament debate and wild laughters similar to the one in a comedy club. We were all having such a great time together and I really felt great knowing that I managed to introduce my good Japanese friends ,Maaya and Yoshi to my Indonesian friends. Later on that night at the dinner, we started shooting our cameras, taking photos together and just as we were about to leave, one of my Indonesian friend, Adi surprised me with a big birthday cake. Songs of "Happy Birthday" were sang in 3 different languages comprising English, Indonesian and Korean which touched me real good that I almost shed a tear. After making a wish and blowing the candles of the cake thunderous applause rumbled the restaurant.I personally serve the cake to all of my friends and even the owner of the restaurant. The cake tasted great and it tasted even better when I realized that my Indonesian friends took a lot of effort to make my 21st birthday celebration an unforgettable one.
My instinct was right and having my Indonesian acquaintances at my 21st birthday dinner was not only a great blast but also a celebration filled with utmost joy and laughter. After that night, the Indonesian students who attended my birthday dinner weren't my acquaintances any longer; instead, they became my friends as they showed how much they appreciate me by making my 21st birthday a remarkable one. As for my good Japanese friends Maaya and Yoshi, we became closer than before as we all celebrated together the day I grew older.
A week before my birthday dinner, I was lucky to bump into my Indonesian acquaintances in campus; I informed them about my upcoming birthday celebration and most of them looked forward to it. I even told them to invite their other Indonesian friends along too as I might know some of them seeing that I shared several classes with some Indonesian students in my previous semester. The invitation was not only restricted to the Indonesian students but also my Japanese friends especially Maaya and Yoshitaka as I have known them longer than anyone else and we have been good friends. Realizing that Maaya introduced a couple of her Japanese friends like Mai Furuya and Emi Kato, I thought I should invite them as it wouldn't hurt to extend the acquaintance further into possible friendship. Consequently, it wasn't long before I started verbally inviting them to my upcoming birthday dinner when I happen to bump into them in campus.
As I had invited enough people, my next challenge was to decided a venue to hold my birthday dinner. Knowing that 15 to 20 people will be coming, I had to look for a restaurant big enough to accommodate the "platoon" of people I invited. Fortunately for me, it wasn't long before I solved the problem when I remembered that my roommate's girlfriend's dad owns a Korean-Japanese restaurant. I consulted Jihae who was my roommate's girlfriend and I asked her whether she could help me with my birthday dinner's venue. Knowing that I would be bringing plenty of customers to her dad's restaurant, she immediately informed her dad and it wasn't long before she said that she could give me the entire restaurant for the night of my birthday celebration. Eventually, I had that problem solved and I was on my way to organizing a great birthday dinner.
On the night of the dinner (which was just last night), I somehow became nervous and worried as I feared that I might receive a lot of last minute bail-out on from my friends I've invited. To make matter, worst the reminders I sent to them earlier that day via SMS weren't even replied or acknowledged. An hour before the dinner began, I became more nervous as I could not help but to think for the worst. However, Maaya who's always by my side playing the role of my best friend, reminded me that there's still her, Randy (her boyfriend),Yoshi, my roommate and his girlfriend (who was working at the restaurant that night) to celebrate my 21st birthday with me regardless of whether the Indonesian students turned up or not. Knowing that she had my back, I was slightly less worried than before.
When Randy, Maaya and I arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted by my roommate and his girlfriend who was working there that night; however, there were no sign of the Indonesian students I invited or even my good friend, Yoshi. I told myself to be patient, not to freak out and I even began feeding myself with good reasons on why they are not here yet. Fortunately, my patience was rewarded when Gary, one of the Indonesian students turned up. I welcomed him in before I introduced him to Maaya and Randy. Gary and I chatted with each other as we wanted to catch up on one another seeing that we haven't seen each other for the entire week in campus. In the middle of our conversation, my Japanese friend, Yoshi entered the restaurant. I then knew that it was a good sign seeing more people are turning up and it wasn't long before the rest of the Indonesian students turn up one by one. That night, I had 18 people celebrating my 21st birthday with me. It was 3 times the size of people at my 20th birthday party last year and since then I knew that it was impossible for my 21st birthday to be dull.
That night, the restaurant were filled with loud chatters similar to a parliament debate and wild laughters similar to the one in a comedy club. We were all having such a great time together and I really felt great knowing that I managed to introduce my good Japanese friends ,Maaya and Yoshi to my Indonesian friends. Later on that night at the dinner, we started shooting our cameras, taking photos together and just as we were about to leave, one of my Indonesian friend, Adi surprised me with a big birthday cake. Songs of "Happy Birthday" were sang in 3 different languages comprising English, Indonesian and Korean which touched me real good that I almost shed a tear. After making a wish and blowing the candles of the cake thunderous applause rumbled the restaurant.I personally serve the cake to all of my friends and even the owner of the restaurant. The cake tasted great and it tasted even better when I realized that my Indonesian friends took a lot of effort to make my 21st birthday celebration an unforgettable one.
My instinct was right and having my Indonesian acquaintances at my 21st birthday dinner was not only a great blast but also a celebration filled with utmost joy and laughter. After that night, the Indonesian students who attended my birthday dinner weren't my acquaintances any longer; instead, they became my friends as they showed how much they appreciate me by making my 21st birthday a remarkable one. As for my good Japanese friends Maaya and Yoshi, we became closer than before as we all celebrated together the day I grew older.
Followed by my authoritative salute...which many refers to me being a teapot instead of a fascist dictator...
It's always great to know that Maaya is always by my side...with the watchful eye of her boyfriend, Randy of course
Yoshi and I always roll together. Having him at my 21st birthday couldn't be any better.
My roommate Kim Bum and his girlfriend Jihae who were working that night at the restaurant, fitted some space between their work time to celebrate my 21st birthday with me
Chantel Kim, one of the Indonesians' crew member from South Korea happened to work there that night as our waitress. Knowing that she worked hard to keep my birthday dinner going that night, I thought of appreciating her effort by snapping a photo with her.
Adi my Indonesian friend(the guy on the far right) and his Korean girlfriend Jinnie were there to watch me turn 21.
Presenting the 1st cake to Adinda, the female comedian from Indonesia who kept everyone laughing the whole night.
Funny man Jansen was the other comedian from Indonesia
Dimas, my former Statistic 1 classmate who's not only sharp with his looks but also with his voice. That guy has the accent of an American.
Adinda's cousin, Andra, a bio student from Indonesia 
Adinda's roommate, Romaero putting on a big smile with me in this photo shot.
Joseph from Indonesia tagged along as well
A photo shot with Ari with the watchful eye of Jansen
Gary, the Indonesian rocker
The Indonesian cousins
The platoon at my 21st birthday celebrationWednesday, November 12, 2008
Seoul Raiding
Seoul ,South Korea
0300 hours
Day 1
20,000 feet above the ground, a V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft screeches across South Korean air space under the darkness of the early morning. Aboard the unique looking double rotor helicopter were not US Marines but the valiant men and women of the Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit (ICPU). Dressed in black assault fatigues, state of the art oil based body armour and ballistics helmet with build in computerized goggles, the members of this covert elite unit are more than prepared for their upcoming mission. Despite their recent special operations in LA which involved rescuing a wounded US Senator from the gun sights of highly organized white supremacists and mercenaries which occurred 48 hours ago, Peter and his team of ICPU commandos were good to go for their upcoming mission in South Korea. Instead of feeling nervous and pressured worrying about their lives on the line, the ICPU operatives were exchanging their accounts of their own perspective during their rescue mission in LA; most of the time, they were stories of how their training and experience saved them in the operational theatre. Although it almost sounded like the typical special operators bragging, moments like that were not all bad as it distracted their minds from worrying about getting terminally wounded or killed in their upcoming operation. In the middle of their chatter, Jacqui, the team's information officer alerted her teammates regarding an incoming transmission. The ICPU operatives immediately halt all chatters before they tweaked their computerized ballistic helmets to tuned into the incoming transmission; the image of Commander Moaz, the team's commanding officer, then appeared on their computerized goggles.
"Welcome to Seoul, ladies and gentlemen. Before we begin your mission briefing, allow me to congratulate everyone of you for your excellent work back in LA. Outstanding job, people" Commander Moaz complimented proudly before he continued. "While you were away in LA on your rescue mission, South Korean Interpol reported several interesting characters appearing on their soil." the Commander began. A recorded video of airport security cameras together with several profile data then appeared on the goggles of the commandos. "The men you see on the airport security video are Russians; however, they are not just any ordinary Russian tourist enjoying what South Korea has to offer. According to our sources at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), these men have ties with the Russian criminal mercenary sect known as the Red Sickle." Commander Moaz explained. "The Red Sickle?" Rachel, one of the commandos asked curiously. "The Red Sickle was the KGB's elite covert combat task force during the Cold War. The organization mostly consisted of specially picked battle hardened and experienced GRU operatives to conduct the KGB's most secretive and dirtiest biddings which were beyond the limits of the Soviet government back then. In other words, they were the blackest of the blackest. Rumours has it that the Red Sickle were the ones who annihilated the CIA-sponsored Cuban rebels for Castro. Later in the Cold War, when Castro declared Cuba as a satellite state of the Soviets which later prompted the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Red Sickles were the ones who safeguarded the missile base. Despite their military expertise, they failed to protect the missiles when President Kennedy and UN Secretary General U Thant established an agreement with the Soviets which forced them to dismantle the missiles. Moscow was told that there will not be any invasion on Cuba in exchange, but they were still not convinced. In fact, with Kennedy's wisdom which kept the UN big shots in his pocket, Moscow knew he was a big threat to the Soviet's fight in the Cold War and he had to be rubbed out. That was how the JFK assassination happened. Of course the world knew that Lee Harvey Oswald was the man behind the trigger; however, they did not know that the Red Sickle taught him to pull the trigger. It was well covered up and there were never any trails leading back to Moscow. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation spearheaded by President Yeltsin immediately dismantled the Red Sickle due to the organization's controversial and scandalous history. President Yeltsin disbanded the organization not only to preserve the image of the Russian armed forces and the KGB but to also protect the man and women of the Red Sickle whom played a key role in the Cold War from being prosecuted by the Americans. With the files of its members erased from the Russian military databases, the Red Sickle technically doesn't exist. Disowned by the Russian armed forces, the former members of the Red Sickle wandered aimlessly unemployed like Ronins. However, it wasn't long before they reunite under the same name only to operate as a band of highly trained mercenaries working for the highest bidder to conduct assassination, robbery, smuggling and even guerrilla training for terrorists. Just like in the early days, today's members of the Red Sickle mostly comprise of former Russian special operators and commandos who enjoy the outstanding pay and reward that can never be obtained in the Russian Armed Forces." James, another member of the ICPU commando narrates. “The man with the neat looking coat in this picture is Sergei Gurlokivich. CIA couldn't find any military training history on this chap so we're thinking that he is just an ambassador for the Red Sickle. CIA added that the men travelling with Sergei are former member of the Russian Armed Forces; they must be the Red Sickle's foot soldier protecting Sergei. Instead of apprehending Sergei and his men, South Korean Interpol and law enforcement agencies have been notified to stand down in order to discover their motives which could lead to a bigger picture. Although it was a big risk to let them roam freely in the streets of Seoul seeing that they could stir up a messy event, it was a risk worth taken when we finally realized their main purpose of visit. Just yesterday, South Korean Interpol notified us that their undercover agent within the ranks of a Korean arms dealer cum gangster reported that the Russians in subject were planning to deal with them. It seems the Red Sickle is planning to expand their arsenal; however, it is still unclear regarding their motive of weapons expansion. That's why Interpol needs us to bring Sergei in to reveal that mystery. The Korean arms dealer cum gangster mentioned earlier on is Cho Min Hea. As pretty as she is, this criminal diva packs a long history gang related violence and arms dealing with international organized crime syndicates and even rogue regimes. What makes her even more interesting is that she doesn't only deals with small firearms but also the military hardware and weapons which are mostly restricted to armed forces only; which logically explains why the Red Sickle is interested in doing business with her. Intel suggests that her source of weapons mostly originate from Sierra Leone, Germany and even North Korea." Commander Moaz continued. "That's one high profile player we've got here. Why isn't she apprehended yet if she sounds so dangerous?" Peter asked. "South Korean Interpol have insufficient evidence to nail her, which explains why they planted a mole within her ranks to accumulate enough evidence to take her down." the commander explains. “Although ICPU's main objective is to bring in Sergei, South Korean Interpol would be very grateful if we can assist them in taking down Cho at the same time." he continued. "All we have to do is nail both Sergei and Cho at the deal at the same time. It'll be like killing 2 birds with one stone. No problem" Rachel boasted confidently.
"The undercover agent just reported that a deal between the Koreans and Russians is taking place shortly in a 5 storey abandoned mall in Seoul's shopping district. They’re using an abandoned mall and the darkness of dawn to cover their deal. These guys are smart." Jacqui updated the team while she browsed through her laptop. "Peter, your team will be conducting a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jump on top of the mall. You'll be landing on top of the mall's rooftop parking lot. We don't know which part of the mall the deal will be taking place but I hope it's not at your landing point or you'll be target practice for the hostiles. From there on, you'll work your way into the mall and neutralize the deal." Jacqui explained as she prepared an ideal method of entry for the team. 'Sounds good, Jacqui. Let's just hope the deal doesn't take place at the rooftop parking lot." Peter acknowledged. " Soo Tian and Melissa are already in position providing sniper fire and observation for your team. They'll keep you inform on the enemy's action." the information officer added. “Did the undercover agent say anything about the size of hostiles we would be facing?" James asked. "Good question, James. Expect a size between 20 to 30 armed gunmen at the operational theatre." Jacqui replied. "Sir, what are the rules of engagement?" Rachel asked specifically. "Everyone on sight is expandable except for Cho and Sergei. We need those two back alive." Commander Moaz warned. “One more thing guys, seeing that we will not know which part of the mall where the deal will take place, any burst of fire will alarm both parties to cancel the deal and leave immediately without the possibility of trace. Consequently, I strongly advice that you guys go silent throughout the mission until you have identify the whereabouts of the deal." the information officer warned. "Roger that. You heard her, team. Keep your suppressors on all the time and make every shot an instant kill." the team leader commanded. Upon reaching their drop zone, the pilot of the V-22 Osprey drop ship informed them, "ETA 3 minutes, guys! Get ready!". The commandos then pulled themselves up before going into a single line formation. "Team, good luck on your mission. I'll be keeping in touch with you guys from the drop ship. Be careful out there!" Jacqui reminded with care. "Peter, go get those sons a' bitches and bring me back Sergei and Cho" Commander Moaz said. "Consider it done, sir" the team leader replied before he disconnected his communication with the commander. "Red light!" Peter continued as the lights in the ship turned red; the ICPU operatives were about to conduct their HALO jump. As the final second passed by, the lights in the ship turned green before the parachute ramp of the drop ship opened. "Go, go, go" Peter screamed before he and his team took a leap from the drop ship.
The 3 of them rushed down like meteorites as gravity did the job. "Fuck yeah! It's like having sex in a car crash!" Rachel screamed in excitement as she rolled around in mid air. "Oh fuck...I think I'm gonna shit in my pants, boss..." James worried as he wasn't very pleased with the idea of conducting a HALO jump. "Deploy your chutes now team!" Peter demanded as he realized it was time the right time to pull the string. As the 3 of them deployed their chutes, they were immediately dragged back by their open chutes. "Let's not break our legs when we land, team. Oh James, I hope you didn't shit in your pants. We don't want that smell of yours to compromise our stealth" the ICPU team leader chuckled in humor. "Hehehe, at least we'll all go down together as team once we're compromised. After all, there's never an "I" in "team", right?" James replied sarcastically. As the ICPU commandos were slowly floating down to their designated insertion point, they received an incoming transmission from their sniper team which was already at the operational theatre before them. "Boss, a convoy of black SUVs has just entered the basement parking lot of the mall. It's got to be them!" Soo Tian, a member of the sniper team reported as he observed the mall from an opposite building. As the passengers of the SUVs exited their vehicle, they immediately unload several caches of weapons before transporting them into the mall. “Our targets in sights appear to be the Koreans. They ‘re unloading their box of goodies for their Russian friends” Melissa, another member of the sniper team reported. “Any sign of the Russians?” Peter asked while he manoeuvres his parachute in mid-air. “Negative. No signs of the Russians yet. They’re either late or the Koreans are ahead of schedule”. Soo Tian reported. In the middle of their observation, the sniper team noticed that the once dark and shadowy abandoned mall then lighted up from inside. “Guess what? They just activate the power grid in the mall to brighten their shady deal” Melissa reported. The descending commandos who were approaching their landing zone than received an incoming transmission from their information officer. “Our satellite has completed procuring a precise virtual schematic of the abandoned mall; it’ll be uploaded to all of your PDAs shortly. Satellite imagery shows scattered heat signals throughout the mall; I’m guessing the Koreans have started their own mall patrol.” Jacqui reported. “Thanks Jacqui. Sniper team, continue your observation and stay out of sight” the team leader commanded. “Roger that, boss” the sniper team acknowledged. “There’s our mall, Peter”. Rachel immediately reported the moment she got a glance of the mall. “Okay team, this is it...” Peter braced himself as he and his team of ICPU commandos were about to touchdown. The moment the commandos hit the ground, they immediately picked themselves up and folded their parachute. The sniper team who were observing from the opposite building under the cover of shadows managed to spot their comrades who recently landed on the rooftop parking lot. “Strike team in sights. Nice landing, boys and girl.” Melissa complimented as she spotted Peter and his teammates through the scope of her SR-25 sniper rifle. Soo Tian who was observing the virtual schematic of the mall was then alarmed when he saw multiple heat signals approaching the landing zone of the commandos, “Fuck! Strike team, be advice. You’ve got hostiles converging on your position.” Soo Tian reported fearfully. Peter noticed a room with elevators that connected the parking lot to the mall; he knew that the gunmen would appear from the elevators. At the same time, he also noticed a higher platform of the parking lot which was located 70 meters opposite from the room. “Team, we’ve got a welcome party, get ready! Rachel, take position on that platform and keep your sights on the elevator doors. James, take cover behind that truck. Sniper team provide covering fire.” The ICPU team leader barked out orders hastily before his teammates got into position. “Suppressors on and make every shot count. We don’t want to compromise our element of surprise here.” Peter reminded as he attached a silencer to his M4A1 assault rifle. Shortly after attaching a suppressor to her SR-25 sniper rifle, Melissa shifted her scope on the rooftop parking lot, getting ready to provide her comrades with covering fire. It was not long before 6 gunmen appeared from the elevators; as they approached the parking lot, they carefully scout the area with their submachine guns pointed up. “Target in sights...” Melissa reported as the gunmen entered her crosshairs. “Everyone, hold your fire...” Peter whispered as he observed the incoming gunmen behind a wall. “Fuck! Our chutes! They’re gonna fucking spot our chutes!” Rachel panicked as she realized the team could not dispose their chutes in time. “Calm down Rachel...Our chutes are gonna help us deal with these fuckers.” James whispered as he carefully observed the gunmen. “James is right. Once they discover our chutes, they’ll gather around them. From there, we can take them out silently.” Peter explained. “Sounds like a plan, boss.” Soo Tian complimented while he observed the parking lot with his binoculars from his position. Just as Peter predicted, the gunmen spotted the team’s abandoned chute and immediately approached it with curiosity. “Sights are hot...” Rachel reported as she obtained a clear shot from her position. “I’ve got them in my crosshair, boss...” James whispered as he peeked out from the truck with his silenced HK G36C. “Stand by, team. Wait for my go...”the team leader ordered. As the gunmen approached Peter’s M4A1’s telescopic sights, he knew he was good to kill; consequently he gave the order to open fire. “Take’em out! Take’em out!” Peter commanded before he and his team opened fire on the unsuspecting gunmen. The muffled shots of the commandos’ silenced assault rifles struck the gunmen killing all of them instantly; as they dropped to the ground covered in their own pool of blood, the gunmen were all history. “Area clear! Well executed, boss!” Soo Tian complimented as he witness his comrades taking out the gunmen tactically. “Hehe, those poor motherfuckers didn’t know what hit them” Rachel chuckled. “Excellent marksmanship, team. Regroup on my position.” the team leader ordered as he came out from his cover. With a split second, Peter unexpectedly saw another gunman approaching the parking lot; unfortunately, the gunman spotted Peter and his team. “What the fuck!” the gunman screamed in Korean before he pointed his Uzi at Peter. “Oh fuck...” Peter mumbled as he knew it was too late for him to aim at the enemy; he knew he was good as dead. “Boss, watch out!” James screamed as he caught the glimpse of the gunman who was ready to empty his clip on Peter. Before the gunman could pull the trigger a bullet struck the temple of his head, bursting his skull like a watermelon. Bloods and pieces of brain splatter all over the floor as the gunman dropped dead to the ground. Peter who was in shock dropped to the ground seeing that he nearly fainted; his teammates immediately ran towards him. “Target down...Fuck... that was bloody close...”Melissa whispered as she watched her target on the floor from her sniper scope. “Good shot, sniper. You’ve just saved the boss” Soo Tian proudly complimented his partner at the same time giving her a warm pat on her back. James picked his team leader who was still shocked, “Boss, are you all right? “. “No gun wounds...You’re all good, Peter”. Rachel concluded after checking her team leader for any signs of injury. The shocked ICPU leader finally came back to reality after receiving a slap from his comrade, James. “Fuck...I thought that was the end of me...Jesus Christ!” Peter whimpers as he still could not believe he survived the confrontation with the gunman. “Don’t worry boss, he’s down. You’re all good. ..Come on, get back up on your feet. We’ve got a mission to finish”. James reminded Peter as he got his leader back on his feet. “Thanks Melissa...” Peter gratefully thanked his sniper once he got himself back together. “I hope you didn’t shit in your pants for that boss. Cos’ you know that smell of yours will compromise the whole team, right?” James joked hoping to cheer his traumatized team leader. In the middle of Peter’s psychology recovery, Rachel received an incoming transmission from Jacqui. “Is Peter all right? I saw him collapsed through his head cam...” Jacqui asked worriedly. “He’s physically injury free...Not so sure about his mental state though.” Rachel explained anxiously. “I’m fine, Jacqui. I’m good to go...Don’t worry about me. Anyway, what’s up?” Peter interrupted immediately as he did not want his teammates to doubt his ability. “Significant heat signatures coming from the information and reception booth of the mall which happens to be the ground center of the mall, suggests that the arms deal will be taking place at that location. I’m uploading the location to your virtual schematic map.” The information officer informed. “Any news on the Russians’ whereabouts?” Peter asked. “Negative, Peter. Our satellites have no visual on the Russians yet. I’ll inform you ASAP once we’ve got a lock down on the Russians.” Jacqui replied. “Copy that,” Peter replied before he discontinued the transmission with his information officer. The ICPU commandos exited the parking lot sneaked their way in with utmost caution.
As the team descends carefully into the 4th floor, they spotted two unsuspecting gunman patrolling the emergency stair case. “You are weapons free” Peter commanded. “Roger that. Engaging tango...” Rachel replied excitedly as she was impatient to get into action. Both James and Rachel took out the gunman with their silenced primary weapon as soon as their leader gave them the green light to engage. “Tango neutralized!” James reported immediately after the both of them successfully took down their targets. “Continue sweeping” Peter said before he and his team proceeded deeper into the 4th floor. The team entered the maintenance hallway of the 4th floor after exiting the emergency stair case; they spotted 4 more gun man in the area but they successfully neutralized them quietly. Peter than spotted a gunman in a store room who was taking a rest from his patrol. “Team, hold your position and secure the hallway. I’ll deal with this tango” he ordered before he slid out his K-Bar combat knife. “Copy that, securing the area” James acknowledged before he and Rachel held their position. Peter stealthily sneaked into the store room keeping a close eye on his unsuspecting victim; he slowly approached the gunman with his knife and the moment he was close enough, he grabbed the gunman by his mouth from behind before slitting his throat. After killing his victim, Peter cleaned his blood soaked knife and exited the store room to regroup with his team. In the middle of their mission, they received an incoming transmission from Jacqui; as soon as they answered the transmission an image of Jacqui appeared on their computerized goggles. “Team, electromagnetic imagery of the mall shows that there is a central power grid at the maintenance hallway on the 3rd floor. Taking out the central grid will disable the lights in the mall making it harder for the tangos to spot you.” Jacqui suggested. “Got it, we’re on our way there. Thanks for the heads-up”. Peter replied. The commandos reloaded their weapons before proceeding to the 3rd floor for the central power grid.
As they approach the entry doors of the maintenance access of the 3rd floor, they heard several chatters behind the doors; they knew there were more gunmen in the hallway. Instead of blasting their way in, the team held their position and devise a tactical method of entry. James sneaked in a snake camera under the doors to get a good view of the enemy’s position. A visual of the enemy’s location was then displayed on James’ Personal Digital Assistance which was attached to the snake cam. “ 5 tangos spotted. 2 stationary sentries with their back facing us while 3 more patrolling the hallways” James described to his team as he controls the snake cam. “Flash and clear?” Rachel suggested as she carefully studies the scenario. “Negative, it’ll compromise our stealth.” Peter replied. “Here’s the plan: as soon as the 3 other sentries disappear, the both of you quietly take down the 2 stationary sentries. I’ll then finish the remaining 3 as they come around the corner” the team leader continued. “Sounds like a plan” James replied.”James, hand me the PDA and get into position.” Peter whispered. After taking over the PDA, James and Rachel got into position; they took out their K-bar and prepared themselves for a stealth attack. Peter observed the situation through the snake cam and when 3 of the sentries disappeared from the hallways, he gave the go-signal to the team; both the commandos quietly opened the door and grabbed whole of the unaware gunmen before slitting their throat. Peter immediately moved in with his silenced M4A1 at guard, to the corner of the hallway; as the remaining gunmen were about to come around the corner, he popped out from the corner before spraying the gunmen with his silenced assault rifle. “Tango down” he whispered. “Area clear” James reported. “The central power grid is just around the corner. Continue sweeping, team” Peter continued. The team of commandos regrouped before they proceed further into the maintenance hallway. Just outside the room which houses the central power grid, the team made sure that no one was in the room. However, things were not as easy as they hoped when they spotted 4 more tangos in the room. Like before, the team was restricted from using flash grenades as it would reveal their presence; consequently, they had to figure out a clever way of clearing the room with minimal noise. Fortunately for their tactical convenience, the room had 2 doors allowing the team to strike from multiple directions simultaneously. Peter saw the advantage and utilized it by directing his teammates to stack up by the 1st door while he stood by the 2nd one. As the team was in position, the team leader gave the green light to enter and clear; the ICPU commandos executed their room clearing professionally when they managed to eliminate their adversaries quickly and stealthily. After securing the room, Peter approached the fuse box of the central power grid. Instead of destroying it immediately, he attached a remote detonate door breaching explosive to the power grid. “Once we’ve got both the Russians and the Koreans at the negotiating table, we’ll blow this sucker out before we ambush those motherfuckers”. Peter explained while he attached the remote explosive on to the fuse box. “That’ll get them wet” Rachel chuckled as she complimented Peter’s brilliant idea. As soon as the explosive was set, the commandos regrouped and head for the 2nd floor of the mall.
Upon entering the shopping area of the 2nd floor, the team spotted more gunmen on patrol; they were taken out one by one quietly by the commandos from both far and close range. As they cleared the 2nd floor , an incoming transmission paused their mission progress; the transmission this time was from the sniper team. “Boss, I’ve just spotted an additional convoy of SUVs entering the parking lot of the mall. I guess the Russians have finally arrived. The deal is about to commence.” Soo Tian reported. “This place is gonna get crowded with tangos and I don’t think the 3 of us over here can pull out a proper ambush without a sniper watching our back. We’ve just cleared the 3rd and 4th floor and I noticed the atrium on the 3rd floor has a good view of the location of the arms deal. Soo Tian I need you at the position to watch our six”. Peter demanded. “Got it, boss. I’ll sneak my way in immediately.” Soo Tian replied. “Melissa, I need you to move to an OP (Observation Point) that’ll give you the good view of the basement parking lot’s entry and exit. Just in case any of these fuckers try to escape through that way during the ambush, you can intercept them” the team leader continued. “Copy that. I know a good spot” Melissa replied. The sniper team abandoned their current observation immediately upon receiving Peter’s orders; Soo Tian fast roped from the building he was observing from and immediately ran into the abandoned mall through the back doors. Melissa on the other hand, hopped into her car and drove to an office building with a rooftop parking lot that provided her a good view of the mall’s basement parking lot. It wasn’t long before the Russians entered the mall; Peter and his team separated from one another and took cover behind the covers of the railings and wall which provided them a perfect position to pull off an ambush. Both James and Peter were at the atrium of the 1st floor looking down at the deal while Rachel on the other hand remained at the second floor; the 3 of them observed the arms deal very carefully as the Russians were approaching their Korean arms dealer. Peter who was observing the deal secretly then contacted his commander. “Sir, I hope you’re getting what I’m seeing” Peter whispered as he used his computerized goggles to zoom in on the arms dealing. “Don’t worry Peter, I’m getting high definition visuals over here. Continue observing” Commander Moaz said. Peter then enhance the magnification of his computerized goggles on the Koreans hoping to spot out Cho Min Hea. “Sir, no sign of Cho. She’s not there at the negotiating table.” Peter reported as he could not identify his Korean target among the group of Koreans. “Damn it! Continue observing. Is Sergei at the scene?” the commander asked. “Scouting...” Peter replied as he shifted his visual to the Russians who appeared to be looking at the merchandise the Koreans had for them. “Fuck...there’s no sign of Sergei either...”Peter reported disappointingly. “Son of a bitch...those 2 are smart. They’re not stupid to risk themselves over a deal...” the commander added. “Sir, seeing that both of our targets are not at the scene, should we bail out?” Peter asked. “That’s a negative! Not with the trail of bodies you left behind!” Commander Moaz replied firmly. “Right, sir...” the ICPU team leader was then reminded of the body counts. “AT-4, M60 Heavy Machine Gun, Stingers, Claymores, signal jammers...fuck...these guys are planning something big with such armaments and it ain’t gonna be pretty” James fearfully commented as he magnified his computerized goggles onto the weapons cache. “My God...We can’t let the Russians procure such weaponry. It’s gonna be hell if they use it right here in South Korea. Peter, your new objectives are to apprehend both the Russians and Koreans dead or alive. Understood?” the commander asked. “Copy that, sir” Peter acknowledged as he continued observing secretly. “Unless we want to piss the South Korean government, we can’t afford to have any of them escaped or they’ll compromise the Korean Interpol’s case which they’ve been building for years. Is that clear?” the commander strictly warned. “Don’t worry sir, none of them are getting away...not on my watch” Peter reassured his commander. “The fate of ICPU’s relationship with the South Korean government rests solely in your hands. Don’t fuck this up.” The commander concluded before he discontinued his transmission. “Okay team, Commander Moaz is gonna rip our balls if we let any of these assholes escape. We’ve got to make sure we take them all in dead or alive” the team leader reminded. “Boss, I’m in position. I’ve got your six covered from here” Soo Tian reported as he got into position. “Melissa here. I’m in position. I’ll make sure none of them leave the parking lot in one piece” the sniper reassured while cocking her Barret M82 anti-material long range sniper rifle. “Okay here’s the plan, so listen carefully. Once I’ve detonated the explosive which I attached to the central power grid earlier on, darkness will fall. Those fuckers are gonna feel insecure since they won’t be able to see us. We’ll tell them to drop their guns and if they don’t ,we’ll waste them good. However, try to spare some of them if it is possible. Interpol could use some of them for interrogation later” Peter explained carefully. “Fuck yeah, let’s do it then!” Rachel replied excitedly. “Suppressors off. Let’s go loud” the ICPU leader added. “It’s about fucking time, I miss those screams of death which my rifle makes” James added. “Right on, brother!” Soo Tian agreed while he excitedly removed the silencer of his SR-25 sniper rifle. “This is it, team. Let’s get this right and go home”. Peter concluded before he grab whole of his remote detonator. “James, in position” James reported. “I’m in position. I’m locked, cocked and ready to rock!” Rachel reported as she prepared her light machine gun. “Sniper ready!” Soo Tian reported as he got his trigger finger ready. “I’m ready!” Melissa reported while she keeps a careful eye on the parking lot. “Night vision on, everyone! Let’s do it!” Peter concluded as he activated night vision for his goggles before hitting the remote detonator for the explosive.
The second the explosive went off, the central power grid was destroyed thus disabling every light in the mall. The commandos then popped up from their cover and screamed their lungs out in Korean and Russian demanding the gunmen to drop their weapons. The gunmen were then surprised with the sudden darkness; they could not tell the location of the commandos. One by one they began to panic but at the same time they refused to surrender. “How the fuck did this happened!?” one of the Korean gunmen screamed in anger. “Hey you fucking pigs! Take this shit!” screamed the Russian gunman before he opened fire blindly into the darkness. “They’re somewhere above! Let’s fucking take them out!” another gunmen screamed before he joined the gun fight; soon the remaining gunmen joined in hoping to kill their ambushers. “Take’em out! Take’em out” Peter ordered before he opened fire with his assault rifle. “Engaging the enemy...” James reported as he opened fire. “Die motherfuckers!” Rachel screamed maniacally as she laid her finger on her light machine gun which slaughtered the gunmen below her. “One down...two down...” Soo Tian reported as he stacked up his head shots. The gunmen tried fleeing but most of them were showered by bullets before they could even reach the exit; a handful of them managed to escape while the remaining pleaded for the bloody massacre to stop. The remaining traumatized gunmen who were curling cowardly on the pool of their comrade’s blood pleaded for mercy; they threw their weapons away and repeatedly mumbled “I surrender” in terror. “Fuck, they’re getting away! James, Rachel and Soo Tian, secure the area. I’m going after them.” Peter screamed as he noticed a handful of gunmen trying to escape. He immediately rappelled from the 1st floor to the ground floor before giving pursuit. Soo Tian, James and Rachel approached the surrendered gunmen and cuffed them up before securing the weapons caches, the bag of money and the area.
The gunmen were heading for their SUVs at the basement parking lot; the ICPU team leader ran as fast as he hope to chase up with the gunmen. In the middle of his pursuit, he contacted Melissa telling her to prepare herself. “Melissa, I’ve got several tangos on the run! They’re heading for their vehicles, get ready to stop them!” Peter screamed as he continued his pursuit. The moment the commando entered the basement parking lot, he was welcomed with a barrage of gun fire from the gunmen; Peter immediately took cover behind a concrete pillar. He immediately popped up from his cover before returning fire; he managed to kill several gunmen in the process but the firestorm did not subside yet. As he returned more fire which forced the gunmen to take cover, he sprinted to a car nearby and slid down into cover; after reloading their submachine guns, the gunmen returned fire at Peter. “You’re not gonna take me in alive, SWAT!” screamed one of the gunmen in Korean as he fired his MP5K at the car Peter was taking cover. “Hey you! Cover my ass while I get this shit started” the Korean gunman continued as he hopped into a SUV before hotwiring the vehicle. “C’mon piggy! Come get some! Hahahahah!” the other gunman insulted in Russian before he continued firing his weapon. Peter blind fired from his cover but it hardly hit any of the gunmen. “Why you shooting the wall, bitch!?” taunted another gunmen in Korean. Peter tossed a flash grenade from his cover; as the white flash blinded his adversaries, Peter immediately rolled out from his cover, got himself up and opened fire on the gunmen. “Oh fuck! I’m getting out of here!” one of the gunmen panicked before he jumped into the SUV. The gunman managed to hotwire the SUV and he immediately hit the gas; Peter fired at the SUV but it did not help much in bringing the vehicle to a stop. He ran after the SUV while firing his weapon but he was too slow to catch up; he immediately stopped running and ceased fire before he contacted Melissa. “Fuck!, they’re getting away! Melissa! Fucking stop them!” the frustrated commando screamed. Melissa who was on the opposite building providing sniper fire with her M82 sniper rifle then spotted the SUV on the run; she aimed her crosshairs at the SUV before pulling the trigger. A .50 calibre round then struck the back of the SUV forcing the vehicle to flip and crash violently. “Bulls eye! Target down! He’s all yours, boss!” Melissa reported as she witnessed the SUV crashed. Peter slid in a fresh magazine into his M4A1 and approached the crashed SUV with caution. The injured occupants crawled their way out from the turned over SUV and one of them tried to point their pistol at the ICPU commando; Peter released a burst of shots into the persistent gunman’s chest thus killing him instantly. The other two immediately dropped their weapons and pleaded for mercy. “Oh fuck! Don’t fucking shoot us, man! We give up!” cried one of the terrified Russian gunmen. “Oh god! Please! We surrender! Don’t shoot!” the Korean gunman begged. Peter immediately kicked their weapons away before he cuffed the gunmen violently to the ground; he was later joined by Melissa who helped him secure the gunmen. Peter gave out a sigh of relief knowing that he completed the mission without any of the gunmen escaping. “Commander, Peter here. We’ve secured the mall...No gunmen escape...Mission accomplish” the ICPU commando reported. “Excellent work out there Peter! I knew I could count on you. Stay put for now, the police are on their way right now.” Commander Moaz replied with relief.
Less than half an hour later, a platoon of Korean police arrived at the scene; they apprehended the gunmen and secured the mall. Peter and his team of ICPU commandos regrouped with one another and they congratulated each other for the outstanding job. “So I guess we’re gonna be here for a little while longer seeing that we don’t have Sergei and Cho in custody” James said. “I guess so...” Rachel replied with regret. “Anyway, you guys did an outstanding job today. I couldn’t have done it without all of you. Oh yeah, Melissa! Thanks for watching my back...I owe you...” Peter gratefully thanked his teammates. “Don’t worry about it, boss” Melissa replied as she gave a pat on her team leader’s back. Shortly after that, a SUV arrived at the scene; Commander Moaz and several Interpol agents exited the SUV before they approached the ICPU commandos. “Excellent work, team. South Korean Interpol will take it from here for now” the commander began. “So what’s next, sir?” Peter asked. “Right now, you boys and girls need to get some chow and rest as you all look like shit. At the mean time, we’ll get acquainted with our Russian and Korean friends over here back at the Korean National Police Agency’s HQ ; hopefully they’ll cooperate with us. You’re all dismissed for the day. Go home and get some rest. You all deserve it” Commander Moaz concluded. “Thank you, sir” the commandos replied before they dismiss from the scene.
Later on that day
“Residents of Seoul’s downtown shopping district were awakened early this morning by the exchanges of gun fires when the Korean National Police (KNP) SWAT team conducted a courageous raid on an abandoned mall based on an anonymous tip, which was believed to be housing an arms deal between one of South Korea’s infamous crime syndicate and the Russian mafia. The raid which resulted in 18 deaths and 10 seriously wounded with no casualties or injuries on the police’s side concluded that the raid was an absolute success. The police discovered several weapon caches containing standard army assault rifles and a briefcase of $2 million at the crime scene; the director of the Korean National Police Agency, Yong Minh Wok was surprised that the crime syndicates in Seoul were capable of obtaining such firepower. At the same time, the director is also proud of the effort and dedication of the KNP’s Organized Crime Department which managed to detect and prevent further dangerous organized crimes which could jeopardize the safety of the public. Moreover, the KNP SWAT division which conducted a successful raid on the arms deal received the director’s applause for their professional and outstanding work. Despite the increased gang-related violence in Seoul, Director Yong Minh Wok firmly reassured the Korean public that the Korean National Police Agency will continue their fierce suppression on organized crime activities in Seoul; he added that this morning’s raid was just the beginning. This is Yoo Jun Sikh reporting, SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System).”
To be continued...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
A Date That Made Me Feel Like A Million Bucks
It’s been almost 3 months since I went out with a girl and knowing that 3 months is long, I thought I actually lost my appeal and charm to the ladies. Losing my appeal and charm is something I can live with as I accept the fact that my appeal and charm diminish as I grow older; to even begin with, I was never really the ladies’ prince-charming type so I’m hardly bother by the fact that I’m still single until now, unlike most guys I know. However, curious of how much my appeal and charm have already diminished through the sands of time; I’ve decided to find out through a delicate social experiment: by asking a girl out on a date. My social experiment did not only give me an unexpected conclusion but at the same time, it made me felt like a million bucks.
Throughout this semester I hardly knew any new girls in campus seeing that I’m never the social type and I’m already contented with my current friends; however, I managed to know a new girl in university from a Japanese class that I enrolled this semester. I wouldn’t say she’s a girl as she’s 7 years older than me but since she looks younger than me, this time would be exceptional. This girl I knew in my Japanese class isn’t a student; in fact she happens to be my instructor’s assistant. Saori is her name and she’s a Japanese (which also explains why she isn’t a student in my Japanese class). Saori is a very helpful assistant as she does not only ensures that no one is having difficulties in their work but also offers great help to those who need them. Initially, I hardly paid any attention to her as I realized that it would be difficult to know her seeing that she’s a boy magnet which attracts plenty of competition; however occasionally, she’ll ask me if I’m alright with my work and if time allows, we might have a chat for 1 or 2 minutes the most. The fact that our interaction is mostly restricted within the limits of just “hi” and “bye” , I never really thought of becoming more than acquaintance. However seeing that we managed to have a long talk with one another after a coincidental meet up in the campus hallway, we somehow extended our relationship into the “potential friend” zone. After that long conversation with Saori which ended with the exchange of our Windows Messenger’s e-mail, I knew we could be friends if we continued like this. When I thought of which girl would be suitable for my social experiment to determine what a turnoff I am, I had difficulties in the beginning as there were almost no girls for me to ask due to my anti-social behaviour. Saori was the only one in my list and I thought of asking her on a date but I was afraid that I might freak her out seeing that I’m taking things too fast. On the other hand, maybe a first impression would give an accurate conclusion so I decided to cowboy up and ask her out for a date. To my utmost surprise (and joy), she said “yes” the moment I asked her whether she would like to go out on a date with me; so I guess I still have some of my appeal after all.
Despite having a solid conclusion to my social experiment, the next problem was served when I was clueless regarding what to do on my date with Saori. I knew I had to come up with something solid as I did not want her to regret saying “yes” to me, consequently I spend the remaining days before our date, figuring out what to do. Luck wasn’t really on my side as I had no solid plan of what to do on my date but fortunately I briefly knew how to begin.
On the day of my date, I was nervous but I constantly reminded myself to stay calm and relax; unfortunately, it didn’t help much. I met Saori at the lobby of my apartment in the afternoon and I greeted her with a smile, which I hoped was not hideous enough to scare the crap out of her. We left the apartment and on the way to the bus stop, I asked her whether she’s into Mexican food or not; the second she said she was a big fan of Mexican food, I knew the both of us already had something in common. While waiting for the bus at the bus stop, we exchanged accounts of what we did for the long weekend. We also traded our own perspective of Kamloops and our experience in Thompson Rivers University. Seeing that she never met anyone from Malaysia, Saori had plenty of questions regarding my country and I was happy enough to oblige her enquiries. When the bus arrived later than usual, which I couldn’t be bothered seeing that I was enjoying my time with her, we hopped onto the bus and headed for the Mexican restaurant which was in downtown. On our way, we continued our chatter and this time we discovered each other’s hobby and interest. Less than 20 minutes later, we were already in downtown; after getting off from the bus, we stroll our way to the Mexican restaurant which was just a stone’s throw. At the restaurant, we discovered our second thing in common when we unexpectedly chose the same Mexican dish---Chimichanga, which later had us both laughing together. Over lunch, we exchanged our interest in the kind of books we read, the type of movies we see and the genre of music we listen to. To both of our pleasant surprise, we had a lot in common in terms of books and music. After our splendid lunch at the Mexican restaurant, we took a walk together at the park alongside the river at the same time enjoying its tranquility and the relaxing scenery. We snapped a couple of photos together and as the wind became stronger and colder, we were forced to leave the park; despite our short stay at the park, it was still pleasant. We later hit the comic book store and we browsed the Japanese mangas together. I later introduced my favourite comics to her and she did the same too which couldn’t be any more enjoyable for the both of us. After half an hour of comic browsing in the comic book store, we headed for a nearby coffee house where we continued our chatter. To top up the fun, we even traded jokes with one another which simply made our stay at the coffee house better. As the day was getting late, we decided to call it a day; consequently, we left the coffee house and headed for the bus stop. On our way back to the bus stop, the wind which became colder and stronger had us both running together to the bus stop. Although we had to miserably run our asses off, we somehow enjoyed the run due to the companionship that escorted it. It was a shame that we could not take the same bus back together as we were living in 2 separate places; nevertheless, we told each other that we will be looking forward to seeing each other again. My date with Saori was the best thing that ever happened to me so far this semester.
My social experiment did not only give me an unexpected conclusion but at the same time, it made me felt like a million bucks. I guess I got more than what I wanted and boy, it sure feels good. Despite the fun and joy I experienced with Saori, the fact that she will be leaving for Japan for good next Wednesday deeply saddens me. It is a shame that I did not know such a wonderful girl like her earlier on.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Blockbuster Preview: Seoul Raiding
INTEGRATED WITH DIVERSE SKILLS IN SPECIAL OPERATIONS AND CUTTING EDGE MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, GLOBAL TERRORIST AND CRIMINALS FACE A NEW THREAT---THE INTER CONTINENTAL PARAMILITARY UNIT (ICPU)
The sharp increase in gang related violence in Seoul which is further exacerbated by the presence of a deadly foreign mercenary sect with a long list of international crime and terrorism, forces the South Korean government to seek assistance from the Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit. The South Korean government is thrown into a state of alarm when their Interpol Division reported a major arms deal going on between Seoul's biggest arms dealer cum crime lord and the foreign mercenary sect. Unlike any other illegal arms deal that the Korean National Police agency has dealth with in the past, the weapons on the negotiation table this time are beyond their comprehension; the abuse of such firepower in the wrong hands would breed a fatal consequences which would cost more South Korean lives. Commander Moaz who is in charge of assisting the South Koreans demonstrates utmost curiosity and even anxiety in the intentions of the mercenaries' arsenal expansion. Fearing that the mercenary sect could excarbate further tensions and conflicts beyond the border of South Korea, the commander immediately scrambled a strike team of ICPU operators led by Peter, into Seoul with the objective of intercepting the arms deal in order to apprehend both the Korean arms dealer and the mercenaries. With the deadly alliance of both Seoul's most ruthless arms dealer and the terrifying foreign mercenary sect, can Peter and his team of ICPU commandos apprehend both deadly targets in the aim of averting further violence or will they die trying? Find out more in Seoul Raiding.
The sharp increase in gang related violence in Seoul which is further exacerbated by the presence of a deadly foreign mercenary sect with a long list of international crime and terrorism, forces the South Korean government to seek assistance from the Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit. The South Korean government is thrown into a state of alarm when their Interpol Division reported a major arms deal going on between Seoul's biggest arms dealer cum crime lord and the foreign mercenary sect. Unlike any other illegal arms deal that the Korean National Police agency has dealth with in the past, the weapons on the negotiation table this time are beyond their comprehension; the abuse of such firepower in the wrong hands would breed a fatal consequences which would cost more South Korean lives. Commander Moaz who is in charge of assisting the South Koreans demonstrates utmost curiosity and even anxiety in the intentions of the mercenaries' arsenal expansion. Fearing that the mercenary sect could excarbate further tensions and conflicts beyond the border of South Korea, the commander immediately scrambled a strike team of ICPU operators led by Peter, into Seoul with the objective of intercepting the arms deal in order to apprehend both the Korean arms dealer and the mercenaries. With the deadly alliance of both Seoul's most ruthless arms dealer and the terrifying foreign mercenary sect, can Peter and his team of ICPU commandos apprehend both deadly targets in the aim of averting further violence or will they die trying? Find out more in Seoul Raiding.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Swatting
I still remember the bliss which clouded me when my parents got me very own SWAT gear (yes, the same one you saw in my Facebook profile picture) back in secondary school after performing well on my SPM examination. To top it up, they even got me a p Glock 18C pellet pistol to go along with my SWAT outfit when we visited a BB Gun Store in Japan several years ago. Of course back then when I was still young, my mischievousness was almost limitless due to my immature behavior. I still remember pulling a prank on my unsuspecting parents by going "full gear" and arming myself with my pellet pistol before storming violently into my parents bedroom and screaming "Police! Get down on the ground now!". They were scared nearly to death and one of them almost piss themselves wet when I charged in unexpectedly, masked with a black balaclava, dressed in black paramilitary outfit and equipped with a pellet gun that perfectly resembles the real one; talk a bout how effective the element of surprise is. The prank was not only extremely humorous but also very exhilarating as I was given the opportunity to get a "taste" of my dream career (and boy, I love that taste). Of course, my naughtiness did not go unpunished when I got a fierce lecture from my mum regarding my immature behavior that got my dad's high blood pressure climbing and later ended with my SWAT gear and my pellet gun confiscated for almost a month. Knowing that the SWAT prank I made was seriously bad, I thought that was the worst prank I've ever did in my life but I was proven wrong today when I noticed that there were worst versions of the SWAT prank out there.
During one of my video search on SWAT teams in YouTube today, I came across a special video in a form of an American news clip that highlighted a new type of dangerous prank called "swatting". This prank involves making a false call to the police with fake reports of hostage taking or any serious crime reports that will later force the police to dispatch a SWAT team at the residence of the prank's victim. Such prank can be extremely deadly as the victim armed with a weapon for defensive purposes getting ready to confront what thought to be a robber or thief, only to realize that it is a team of highly equipped SWAT officers, can be killed. According to the FBI, "swatting" is not only restricted to the use of telephones but also computers that are capable of hiding the caller's ID.There were several recent cases about this deadly prank in America.
An innocent couple from Salinas in America came face to face with their local SWAT team who were pointing their assault rifles at them. The prank call which the Salina police department responded to was actually made thousands of miles away. According to the 911 operator who received the call, three armed gunmen with AK 47s tried to break into the residential complex in Salinas. The SWAT team were sent to the scene of the reported crime only to find out it was a prank call.
A couple of years ago in Alvarado of Johnson County, the victim of a bogus 911 call, Jim Proulx was apprehended by a SWAT team at his own home. He was cuffed and dragged into a squad car immediately after the SWAT team confronted him. The SWAT officers were informed by the 911 operator that Proulx was armed with an AK 47 rifle, getting ready to kill his hostages if he's demand for $50,000 and a transportation to Mexico was not adhered. After the SWAT team conducted a thorough search which lasted 4 hours, they concluded it was all a hoax. Eventually, the traces of the hoax led to Stuart Rosoff and 5 of his accomplices who called the police and misled them by modifying the caller's ID making the police think that Proulx was the one who made the call. Stuart Rosoff and his accomplices pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.
Knowing that the SWAT prank I made was seriously bad, I thought that was the worst prank I've did in my life but I was proven wrong today when I noticed that there were worst versions of the SWAT prank out there. Anyway, my parents ought to be grateful that their son did not resort to such a prank on them. At the same time, I should also be grateful that I wasn't dumb enough to think about calling up the police and telling them that my dad wasted a clip of M-16 on my mum for telling my dad to cut down on his smoking and alcohol consumption. I just couldn't imagine the consequences of having a Malaysian SWAT team breaking into my house to neutralize the situation. Unlike the SWAT teams in America, the SWAT teams in Malaysia are trained in a different nature which permits them to shoot first and apprehend the suspects later (that is if the suspects are lucky enough to be alive). I wouldn't want to tell my dad lying paralyzed in a hospital for catching a bullet in his spine, that my prank was the root of his unlucky fate.
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