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.
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.
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.
Title: Gotham Knight Starring: Kevin Conroy, Gary Dorudan, Ana Ortiz, Parminder Nagra, David McCallum Director: Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki, Toshiyuki Kebboka, Jong sik Nam
Several days before the Dark Knight was released in theaters worldwide, I came across copies of an animated Batman movie. It was called Gotham Knight, and I noticed that the animation for that movie was very similar to the Japanese anime. Initially, I wasn't really bothered about that movie as I thought it was for the younger audiences however after the excitement I got from watching the Dark Knight yesterday in my local cinema, I thought I could go for another Batman story. Consequently, I visited the video store nearby and rented a copy of Gotham Knight. I have to say that it was more than I expected and it was worth the money I spend on renting the movie.
Gotham Knight is an animated movie which takes place shortly after the events of Batman Begins and shortly before the Dark Knight. Kevin Conroy, the voice actor for the Batman cartoon series during the early 90s reprises his role as Bruce Wayne and Batman in the Gotham Knight. The animated movie consist of 6 short stories with its own plot and style, however some of the stories are linked.
Josh Olsen's "Have I Got a Story for You" which is the first story revolves around a young skater boy who meets up with three of his usual skater friends at an indoor skate park on a late evening. His friends than informed the boy that they had an astonishing encounter with the Dark Knight who was trying to apprehend a high tech criminal, on the way to the indoor skate park. Conversely each of them had different description of Batman. One of them described Batman as a living shadow that can disappear and reappear like a phantom while the others described Gotham's hero as a Man-Bat creature and a powered exo-skeleton combat armor. Having heard the exaggerated tales of his friends, the boy fret on his misfortune as he wasn't as lucky as his friends who had the opportunity to see Gotham's hero in action. As they were about to disperse, two figure crashed violently through the windows of the indoor skate park. One of them was the high tech criminal that all the boy's friends were talking about and the other was the legendary Gotham Knight. As the boy was about to encounter the cape crusader, it was time to determine how the Dark Knight looks like through his own eyes.
"Crossfire" is the second story featured in the Gotham Knight. Written by Greg Rucka, the second story in the animated movie tells the story of Detective Crispus Allen and Detective Anna Ramirez of the Major Crime Unit who were assigned by James Gordon to escort a high tech criminal who was apprehended by the Dark Knight, to Arkham Asylum. Detective Allen has been always skeptical about Batman and he feels like being an errand boy for the vigilante. On their way back to the police headquarters after transporting the criminal to the asylum, the skeptical detective informs his partner regarding his intention to leave the Major Crime Unit because of his impression of the Dark Knight. Shocked by the sudden decision over a petty matter, Detective Ramirez pulls the car over to an empty spot and confronts her partner claiming that Batman is reliable seeing that he has changed Gotham City for the better. In the middle of their debate, they noticed the presence of the Russian and Sal Maroni's gang. The detectives soon realize that they were caught in between the crossfire of both organized crime leaders who have a score to settle with one another. With guns blazing violently from both gangs which will spell doom for the trapped police officers, Detective Ramirez's stand for Batman's reliability is put to the test.
Written by Jordan Goldberg, "Field Test" begins with Lucius Fox (the character played by Morgan Freeman in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight)conducting a study and test on an electromagnetic device he believed to be responsible for the accident involving Bruce Wayne's satellite. He later discovered that the device could deflect small arms ammunition which prompted Bruce Wayne to use the device. Bruce Wayne later attends a charity golf tournament organize by Ronald Marshall, a developer who he suspects is involve with the death of Teresa Williams, a strong opposer to Ronald Marshall. Bruce manages to steal Ronald Marshall's Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) later on in the tournament knowing that it will be useful. Later on at night, the Batman uses the PDA which he stole earlier on from the tournament to hijack a boat owned by Sal Maroni before navigating it alongside with the Russians' boat (Maroni's enemy). Planning to force a truce between both the Maroni gang and the Russians who were ready to slaughter each other, Batman jumps into the confrontation expecting a heavy fire fight directed at him which he solely relies on the bullet-deflecting electromagnetic device he got from Lucius Fox.
"Darkness Dwell" is the next story in the Gotham Knight which was scripted by David S. Goyer. The story begins with a SWAT team responding to a violent disturbance at a church in Gotham City where Cardinal O' Fallon was giving a sermon. Lieutenant Gordon, Detective Allen and Detective Ramirez of the Major Crime Unit were at the scene investigating the disturbance. Witnesses claimed that the Cardinal was kidnapped by a monster which resembled a lizard. Additional testimony from the traumatized witnesses states that the monster headed down into the crypts below the church. Batman who was at the scene suspected that the outbreak of the violent disturbance was due to the fear toxin and he later concluded that the Scarecrow (the villain from Batman Begins)was involve in the Cardinal's abduction. He then hands Lieutenant Gordon an ear piece in order to establish a communication network before he descends into the crypt to search for the abducted Cardinal.
Brian Azzarello's "Working Through Pain" picks up immediately after the ending of "Darkness Dwell". Having a bullet wound in his stomach and losing a lot of blood, Batman's only salvation rest solely on locating the rendezvous location with his loyal butler, Alfred. Struggling in pain and fighting his way out of the maze like sewer, Batman grows weaker and eventually he surrenders and collapses. He soon experiences flashback during his days volunteering with a relief effort and assisting a doctor performing a gruesome surgery without anesthesia as well as his journey to India to learn the art of conquering physical pain from a female guru.
"Deadshot" is the final story in the Gotham Knight. Written by Alan Burnett, the sixth and final story revolves around the professional marksman assassin called Deadshot, who is hired by the Russians to assassinate Lieutenant Gordon. After receiving the news regarding the hit on the Lieutenant, Batman races against time to locate the deadly marksman before the lieutenant becomes Deadshot's hunting trophy.
I have to say that it was more than I expected and it was worth the money I spend on renting the movie. Gotham Knight not only offers a variety of animation style through its six different interesting stories but also maintains its dark and gritty presentation similar to Batman Begins. Apart from that, Gotham Knight also delivers a reasonable amount of violence and action that is sufficient to cater for the older audiences. Overall, Gotham Knight serves a great appetizer before the Dark Knight is served at the dining table; it deserves an 8 out of 10.
The call of the Gotham Knight
A bad guy puking after having a taste of the Bat fart.
.Batman getting ready to lay the smack down
Ready or not here I come!
Bruce Wayne learning the art of conquering pain through meditation under the guidance of a guru.
Brucie with a gat!? For real!?
Wooyah! Waatah! I'm Bruce Lee..Err I mean Bruce Wayne
Did you just called me a mummy!?
Arkham Asylum welcomes you with...a twisted smile.
Title: Dark Knight Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckheart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Teo Director: Christopher Nolan
Who can ever forget the cape crusader who patrols the city of Gotham fighting crime when Batman has been around for decades since Superman? Although I'm never really a big fan of Batman, I followed the series closely which was played every Saturday morning on TV when I was growing up. Probably its just because of the fact that there were hardly any costume strapped heroes aired on Malaysian TV back then. Although there was Superman back then, but the fact that the man of steel was almost invincible wasn't really appealing for me compared to a mere mortal behind the rubber suit of a bat who is scarred and constantly haunted by the death of his parents. Unfortunately, my taste for heroes and superheroes rescuing the-day-and-putting-the-bad-guys-behind-bars slowly disappeared as I grew older. Instead, I prefer the heroes (or vigilantes, most of you would address) who resorts to gruesome methods and even death as a way of reminding the bad guys that crime can be hell. Vigilantes like the Punisher catered my taste and I slowly drifted apart from the Batman series. Back in 2005 when a remake of Batman (Batman Begins) came out in theaters, I was not excited like most people I knew as I thought that the movie was going to deliver the same violent free routine of teaching the bad guys just like Tim Burton's Batman movies in the early 90s. Conversely after 2 hours in the theater watching Batman Begins, I was completely proven wrong and my perception of Batman quickly changed. The remake of Batman which featured a reasonable amount of violence together with a dark and gritty presentation of Batman redefined the classic cape crusader of Gotham. I was impress with the remake and I was hoping that there will be a sequel to the movie. Three years later and the Dark Night arrives in theaters worldwide. I was fortunate enough to catch the movie a day after its premier which I never thought I could, given the highly anticipated nature of the movie . Unlike its previous installment, the Dark Knight extends the violence and provides a darker and also disturbing theme than the previous movie. Despite its gruesome plot, the Dark Knight forces the audience at the edge of their seat throughout the movie only to receive two thumbsup at the ending credits of the movie.
Dark Knight picks up shortly after the ending of Batman Begins. With crime still on the rise, Batman sets out to annihilate the remaining organized crime that plagues the city of Gotham. His quest to defeat crime is greatly assisted by Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey. The unlikely triad managed to pummel the rate of crime forcing the leaders and major players of the remaining organized crime into a desperate state. Unfortunately for the triad, the advent of the criminal mastermind known as the Joker to aid the remaining leaders of the organized crime turn the war on crime against the triad's side. With devastating and disturbing tricks up his sleeves, the Joker forces a great challenge for Batman, when he delivers chaos, terror and anarchy on the city of Gotham. Although the plot behind the Dark Knight appears to be the simple typical comic book hero style, the unexpected twist and turns in the plot together with a dark and sinister background of the characters force the ratings of the story quality to sky rocket.
The content of the movie is simply spectacular in many ways. Aside from the usual good versus evil theme, the presentation of the characters were marvelous. Bruce Wayne still maintains his usual man-charms that often gets him triple dates to the ball while Lieutenant Jim Gordan and District Attorney Harvey Dent exemplify a convincing determination to annihilate crime and restore order in the corrupted city of Gotham. Batman's zero tolerance on crime which can be illustrated by his skull-cracking-punch-landing interrogation techniques makes the other Batman in the cartoon series soft gentle bunnies. This does not only instill a big distinction between the new Batman and the older Batman series but also forces a R rating which caters for the mature audiences. Despite playing the role of a villain, the Joker was the most astonishing character among the others in the movie. With his psychopathic behavior that illuminate a disturbing and traumatizing aura accompanied with his eerie giggles and his own unique "sense of humor" which never fails to deliver chills down the audiences' spine, the Joker is one character whom the audiences will find it difficult to forget. The music score for the movie is remarkable which wouldn't be any surprise seeing that Hans Zimmer was placed in charge for that aspect of the movie. Like the previous installment, Hans Zimmer smartly implements his ever thrilling Molossus masterpiece at moments of the movie that depicts high octane action sequences. Speaking of action sequences, the Bat Mobile chase scene which later highlighted the use of Batman's new high speed bike greatly accelerated the action of the movie. The use of Skyhook, a method of extracting special operators or CIA operatives from volatile positions behind enemy lines, was also featured in the movie which left audiences amazed. Heavy emphasize on SWAT action in the Dark Knight packs the movie with more high adrenaline action; my jaws reached the ground during the scenes where Gotham City's finest were rappelling and getting ready for some SWAT action. In the Dark Knight, Batman fans were pampered with new gadgets and weapons among the Dark Knight's arsenal. The new design of Batman's improved body armor (which is so strong that it can even out stand a Rottweiler's violent chomp), forearms guards which projects shuriken-like blades and a computerized eye visor which is slaved behind Batman's mask are examples of few gadgets and technologies which are truly impressive.
Despite most of its pros, the Dark Night still presents a couple of cons, nevertheless they are still forgivable. It was a shame that Katie Holmes could not reprise her role as Rachel in the Dark Knight. The new actress who replaced Katie Holmes in Rachel's role did a great job however; her mature looks (which look older than Bruce Wayne) wasn't really suitable for Rachel's young and charming appearance. Having a different set of voices for Batman and Bruce Wayne was unnecessary given the fact that Bruce Wayne wasn't suffering from a split personality; Bruce Wayne's rough voice behind the mask of Batman is simply cheesy and corny.
Although the plot behind the Dark Knight appears to be the simple typical comic book hero style, the unexpected twist and turns in the plot together with a dark and sinister background of the characters force the ratings of the story quality to sky rocket. Overall, the Dark Knight deserves an 8 out of 10 for its outstanding movie content. Judging from the ending of the movie, it is unclear whether there would be a sequel to the Dark Knight. If the directors, producers and writers plan to do a follow up, it is only the question of which villain the Dark Knight will be facing . The Knight in his shining armor (not exactly shining though...)
The bat flaps his wings
Batman playing bad cop on the Joker
The bat's new bike
The Joker trying to carve a smile on Rachel
A classic villain from the Batman series makes a cameo appearance.
So what is this Metal Gear Solid 4 that you've been hearing me talk about for the past few weeks and seeing constantly on my Facebook, my Window's Messenger's personal message and more importantly how did it made me cry at the ending of the game? This Metal Gear Solid 4 that I have been raving for quite a while is apparently one of the few wonders in gaming history not to mention, it is my MAIN REASON FOR GETTING A PLAY STATION 3. After patiently waiting for 4 excruciating years with several months of delay, the game which I describe as "a legendary masterpiece" has finally hit the stores in the middle of last month. As copies of the 4th Metal Gear Solid installment reached the shelves of my local video game store, it was salvation for hardcore Metal Gear fans like me. I was extremely hyped and excited about the final chapter of the Metal Gear saga and at the meantime, I had my finger crossed hoping that there will be good surprises and revealed links to the previous Metal Gear series. Instead of posting a review on the 4th Metal Gear Solid seeing you are aware of my final rating for the game I find to be legendary, allow me to share with you my good old days with the series that started 10 years ago.
So what is Metal Gear? Instead of going full head on with military jargons which will leave you blur, Metal Gear is simply a massive robot piloted by a human, which is capable of launching nuclear missiles regardless of the launch terrain and the position. In other words, a Metal Gear is a mobile nuclear delivery war machine that poses a serious threat to global security. What makes the Metal Gear series supremely outstanding isn't only because of the unique design of the gargantuan nuclear missiles equipped war machine, but also the controversial issues involving genetics, nuclear proliferations, terrorism, patriotism, world conflicts, politics, government cover ups and private military corporations which serve as the theme of the game. Such theme does not only forces the players to realize the consequences of the possibilities described in the game but to also highlight these important issues that are taking place around the globe. In the Metal Gear series, players will often take on the role of Solid Snake, a highly trained and experienced soldier in the field of combat, warfare, espionage and infiltration, who is assigned to infiltrate deep behind the enemy's lines to destroy the Metal Gear in order to prevent a global nuclear holocaust.
When Metal Gear Solid first arrived for the Play Station console 10 years ago, I wasn't really hyped about it as I had a very lousy impression regarding the game when I first saw it. If memory served me well, my first glance of Metal Gear Solid 10 years ago (even the time before I got my 1st Play Station) was from one of the TV displays at a video game shop in Sunway Pyramid which was playing the introduction of Metal Gear Solid. Initially, I thought Metal Gear Solid was something about ocean exploration as the introduction of the game which I saw back then illustrated a man in scuba diving equipment swimming around underwater. When I got my first Play Station on that year as well, most of my friends strongly recommended that I get myself a copy of Metal Gear Solid. However, seeing that I wasn't really into ocean life, I thought about passing on the idea of playing that game. Conversely, after much persuasion from almost all of my friends who own a Play Station, I decided to give it a try. The first Metal Gear Solid tells the story of Solid Snake's dangerous infiltration into a nuclear disposal facility in Alaska codenamed Shadow Moses, which is taken over by FOXHOUND operatives who have gone rogue. They threaten the U.S. government with nuclear devastation if the government do not hand them the body of their FOXHOUND leader within a given time. Solid Snake is then assigned to infiltrate Shadow Moses with the objective of rescuing the president of Arms Tech and the chief of DARPA (Defense Advance Research Project Agency) who are both taken hostage in the facility and to assess the nuclear launching capability of the terrorists. My perception regarding the game drastically changed after having a go with the game; unfortunately it became worst. Given that the Metal Gear series heavily relied on stealth game play instead of the usual run-and-gun game play, it wasn't long before frustration clouded me as I was often spotted by the enemies which later resulted in the screen showing "game over". Ever since then, I told myself never to touch a frustrating game like Metal Gear Solid .
4 years later (in 2002) when I got my Play Station 2, the 2nd installment for the Metal Gear Solid series, Sons of Patriots appeared for the Play Station 2. As usual, many gamers were raving about the game which I never understood why back then. A secondary school classmate who owns a Play Station 2 like me back then suggested that I get myself a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty. Like before, I turned a deaf ear on my classmate's suggestion as I could never forget how the first Metal GearSolid pounded me with utmost frustration. However, the moment he mentioned that the United States Navy SEALs (one of the few Special Forces that I truly admire) were featured in the game, I immediately realized I had a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2 in my hands ( I guess I am a real sucker for Special Forces). The introduction video clip of the game which featured GRU (Russian Special Forces) operatives fast roping from a helicopter, getting ready to invade a US tanker got me really excited like a kid who was on a trip to Disneyland. Taking place 4 years after the incident at Shadow Moses, former Navy SEAL anti terror training unit codenamed Dead Cell and a Russian mercenary force who are led by Solid Snake sieze the Big Shell Disposal Facility. With the American President and other hostages in their clutches, they demand a massive ransom from the U.S. government in exchange for the President and the hostages' freedom or they will level the entire facility with explosives. As the dateline to deliver the ransom grows closer, the U.S. government dispatches SEAL Team 10 and a rookie FOXHOUND agent codenamed Raiden, to liberate the Big Shell Facility from Solid Snake and his mercenaries. When I begin playing the first mission of the game, I became worried as I feared that I had to go through all the frustrating stealth game play just like 4 years earlier. However as I started the first mission with a M9 tranquillizer pistol, sneaking was made easy; with the M9 in my inventory, sneaking was like taking a candy from a baby. As the Sons Of Liberty was not as difficult as its predecessor, it wasn't long before I started enjoying the game and the next thing I knew, I was hooked on it. The exciting stealth game play with the company of long well choreographed action packed cut scenes then shifted my perception of the Metal Gear series; from that point on, I knew I had a masterpiece in my hands. As I dwell deeper into the game, I started to build strong connections with the game characters especially the hero, Solid Snake. Most of the time, I was on the edge of my seat with countless stylish high octane action sequences. On the other hand, tears and sorrow followed in as well seeing that there were one or two really touching scenes that even force the toughest nails (like me) to weep. As I was constantly stuck with my Play Station 2 back then which my parents weren't really fond of such idea knowing that there were other better things to do than to play video games all the day long, I finally finished Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty. Despite completing the game, I was still unclear about the entire story plot either because I was too blur back then to understand the twisted story line or some of the plots were vaguely presented.
2 years later (2004), the third Metal Gear Solid entitled Snake Eater came out for the Play Station 2. Joy was written all over me as I was glad that the Metal Gear Solid series didn't end with Son's Of Liberty's vague ending. However, the storyline for the third one took place in the jungles of Russia during the early days of the Cold War unlike the first two Metal Gear series which took place in the urban environment of the early 2000. Not only that, the origins of Solid Snake were revealed in the third one where Snake was referred to as Naked Snake instead of Solid Snake. Confusion then clouded my mind as I wondered how did Solid Snake remained so long until the early 2000s without even aging a bit. Stealth game play was still heavily emphasized in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, however the extensive use of different camouflage outfit depending on the terrain and environment was introduced. Refilling the character's life gauge wasn't restricted to the consumption of military ration procured by Naked Snake, but also the animals he hunts in the jungles of Russia. Furthermore, the challenge of the game which was exacerbated by the compulsory correct combinations of medical techniques to heal Naked Snake from a variety of injuries like broken bones, bullet wounds, cuts, burnt wounds and even food poisoning innovated the game play greatly. The ability of sending your enemies to sleep with the tranquillizer pistol was still available; however, that wasn't the only method of sneaking around your enemies as the realistic techniques of Close Quarter Combat (the unarmed fighting techniques of today's Special Forces) were introduced in the third Metal Gear allowing Naked Snake to perform choke techniques, stealth kills and take down methods on his enemies. As I ventured deeper into the game, there were plenty of cut scenes which started to clarify the confusions presented in the Metal Gear saga. Finally at the ending of the game, the true identity of Naked Snake as Big Boss, the father of Solid Snake send everyone who followed the Metal Gear series into an extreme state of shock. The ending of the game also revealed the origins of key organizations that played an important role in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty which further clarified the confusion presented in the second Metal Gear installment.
It wasn't long before the follow-up to the third Metal Gear was introduced: Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops. Unlike Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 which came out for the Play Station 2, Portable Ops was solely restricted to the Play Station Portable, hence the "portable" word in the game's title. This was the one and only reason for me to get a Play Station Portable and risk going through the long lectures and wrath of my parents. Portable Ops journalizes the account of Naked Snake aka Big Boss six years after the events of Snake Eater. Rogue members of FOX who are led by Gene, plans to deliver a nuclear missile to the heart of America in order to prolong the Cold War and to fulfill his dreams of building a mercenary nation. In the midst of chaos, Naked Snake is also accused by his own government for assisting the rogue members of FOX and the only way to prove his innocence is to take out the leader of the rogue FOX soldiers. Hoping to provide die hard Metal Gear fans something new in this installment, the creators of Portable Ops decided to introduce a new innovative game play: capturing and recruiting soldiers. So instead of just procuring weapons on site, Naked Snake aka Big Boss can now capture enemies by knocking them out cold with his fancy CQC moves before bringing them back to his hideout for some persuasion. After persuading the enemies to fight for Naked Snake's side, Naked Snake won't be performing sneaking missions alone as he will have his "new friends" to assist him. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops was a great game overall, however its sluggish camera angle tainted the ratings of the game to an 8/10 instead of the usual 10/10.
Guns of the Patriots, the latest and possibly the final chapter in the Metal Gear saga was released a month ago. Taking place 5 years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Guns of the Patriots revolves around Old Snake dedicated to take down his long time arch nemesis Liquid Ocelot while struggling to cope with his physical breakdown due to his premature aged body as a result of his artificial genes. In the 4th Metal Gear Solid installment, players are given the opportunity to use the Octo Camo suit, a smart camouflage outfit that allows the wearer to blend in with any surface he or she touches, courtesy of Old Snake's old friend and sidekick, Otocon. The sophisticated gadgets doesn't end there as Otocon provides Old Snake with Solid Eye, a monocular device capable of providing zoom-in and night vision capabilities as well as real time battle data. Last but also not the least, the Metal Gear Mk 2 is also at the disposal of Old Snake to aid him in his sneaking missions. The Metal Gear Mk 2 is a robotic drone with the same physical design of Metal Gear RAY that aids Old Snake for his reconnaissance and communication needs. Besides the fancy military technologies at the disposal of Old Snake, the cut scenes and the briefing sessions which offers flashbacks from previous Metal Gear series as well as the opportunity to view the scenes from predetermined camera angles make Guns of the Patriots one of its kind. Weapons customization which is featured in this game deeply aids Old Snake's sneaking missions as silencers, scopes, flashlights, laser pointers, grenade launchers and rifle grips are attachable to the firearms he procures on his missions. Players who are not up for the challenge to locate every single weapon throughout the missions can purchase the weapons from a gun launderer with credit points; this does not only allows players to try a variety of assault rifles, pistols and SMGs but also lightens the difficulty of the missions which most of the time is challenging. With a great final story to the Metal Gear saga accompanied with high replay values and superb graphics. The fourth and final Metal Gear Solid is as equal as its legendary predecessors (except for Portable Ops).
Words itself are not enough to demonstrate how great this saga is, therefore allow me to provide a visual presentation of the game which I describe as a "legendary masterpiece". Here are the trailers of the Metal Gear Solid series.
Metal Gear Solid (aka Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes for the Game Cube version)
Shenjiism-Understanding issues and concepts through the beliefs of Shenji
An old classmate of mine from Malaysia bumped into me online. After trading greetings with him, he shared his new hobby with me; creating your own motivation posters. Initially I wasn't so hyped about it as I know I could never think about any motivational words, not to mention thinking how hard it could be to produce and edit my own poster given the fact that I'm almost computer illiterate. However after taking a look at his collection of posters that he came up with, I realized that it was not necessary to come up with motivational posters as most of his were full of jokes and sarcasm. So I thought maybe this was a great way of shaping some of my Shenji"ism"s in an interesting way. I asked my classmate to help me developed one of my ideas and he did it in no time. Amazed with how fast he came up with my poster, I asked him how did he do it. He then gave me this website where you can create your own motivational posters in just a few simple steps. It was indeed fun and I wasn't surprised why my classmate could take this up as his new hobby. He told me that it was really satisfying to come up with your own punchline and I couldn't really agree more with him as it features your originality and how brilliant you are. Thanks to him, I found myself a new hobby and I know how to express my ideas and thoughts in an interesting way. Here are some of the few posters of Shenji"ism" I came up with:
The very 1st poster I created. I used a random North Korean propaganda poster to exemplify my point as I thought the Soviet and Nazi Germany ones were overrepresented .
For my strong beliefs in a Totalitarian regime, I used Norsefire England from the movie V for Vendetta as an example since I find it to be one of the most appealing fictitious police state given its stylish presentation.
A simple image to represent what I wanted to point out. This is what I believe a government should be.
If there are no citizens, who are there to govern? I picked up an artistic representation of the citizens from Google image. This is what I believe the citizens of a nation should do.
Inspired by one of the authoritative land marks in Sim City Societies, I thought about posting the state amphitheater. It is basically a theater which plays videos that remind the people to be loyal to the government and how evil or ruthless the enemy is. For this one, I used George Orwell's 1984 to exemplify the state amphitheater.
This was a bit humorous but I wouldn't mind doing if I happen to be a high chancellor of a police state. If I'm not mistaken, this Lego set was based on the movie 1984; I thought it was a cute way of representing totalitarian. Also inspired by one of the authoritative actions in Sim City Societies, I thought it was something worth sharing. I added a little humor in my punchline to make sure nobody throws rotten eggs and tomatoes at me at the end of this post.
Another authoritative landmark inspired by Sim City Societies. This is a must for every police state to prevent the people from thinking differently
Why let the people vote? They don't know what is good for them
My views regarding National Service and I totally support it. It was slightly inspired by one of Metal Gear Solid 4's theme that discussed about the gargantuan size of private military corporations in the near future which is starting to remove the boundaries between civilians and soldiers.
Most of my Fridays over here in Kamloops will be occupied with dinner and gathering with my usual hang out friends. Sad to say, today didn't appear to be any of my regular Fridays as most of my friends had their own plans. Cindy, one of my Hong Kong friends was invited by her Hong Kong friends over for a drinking party while Maaya, my Japanese buddy had to attend her friend's hip hop concert. It so happened that my Korean roommate was away in Vancouver until this coming Sunday, so I decided to volunteered my place for my usual friends to party and make lots of noise; but seeing that most of them had plans of their own, such rare opportunity was wasted down the drain. Fortunately for me, today wasn't as boring and dull as I feared it would be when Kentaroh, one of my Japanese friends took the effort to hang out with me.
At first, I never thought about asking Kentaroh over to hang out with me since Maaya reminded me once that Kentaroh is always busy. Just this morning, I wondered how I was going to ensure that today will be a good day. I had plans to study my dreadful Statistics today but I never thought about studying the whole day as I knew it would be so lifeless. A chapter of Statistics will do fine today but knowing that a chapter wouldn't occupy the entire day, I had to figure out how to fill my remnants of the day. Knowing that walking might give me some ideas, I decided to stroll my way to the university's computer lab which was located not far away from my residence.
On the way to the computer lab, I bumped into Maaya's new roommate from China. Bei Di is her name and she's a year younger than me; I happened to know her at the beginning of this summer semester at a dinner gathering organized by Maaya. After exchanging greeting, she asked me where was I going. I briefly told her that I was on my way to the computer lab and since she took the effort to fired up a conversation with me, I was tempted to ask her out for dinner today. On the other hand, after realizing that there's a Chinese guy who's always hanging out with her (which she always regard as just a mere friend), I decided to drop my intention of asking her out for dinner as I didn't want to be a "thorn" in the potenial courtship between Bei Di and this guy who's always hanging out with her. So after exchanging good bye, I continued my way to the computer lab.
At the computer lab, I fired up a computer before checking my mail and updates on Facebook. I then logged onto Meebo's MSN Messenger to see who was online. It so happened that Kentaroh was online so I decided to say "hi" to him as we haven't seen each other for a while. Although I knew that he is usually busy, I still decided to ask him whether he was free to hang out with me today. 3 minutes later there was no reply from him so I thought, there goes my Friday all by myself. Fortunately for me, things didn't turn out the way I fret it would be; Kentaroh eventually agreed and he told me that he will drop by at my place at 3:30pm today. Joyfully, I told him that I will be looking forward to seeing him later before I logged off Meebo. I left the computer lab and returned to my apartment to begin my studies for Statistics.
As 3:30pm arrived, I went down to the lobby of my apartment and waited patiently for Kentaroh's arrival. I had my Statistics text book with me, so I decided to read while I waited for him as I thought time waits for no man. 10 minutes later, he arrived and we greeted each other. He was curious about what I was reading so I immediately showed him my Statistics text book. Realizing that Kentaroh is a 4th year business student who was graduating very soon, I asked him a couple of 2nd year probability questions which I had problems solving. Fortunately for me, he solved my problems and at the end of his brief tutoring; I realised how careless am I not to notice the little details he pointed out which I ridiculously missed. After finishing my Statistics, I went up to my room to leave my book behind before the both of us headed for the nearest bus stop.
We took a bus ride to downtown mainly to visit this video store which rumored to have very rare international movies on its shelves. I was looking for a new movie (shown last December) about the Chinese civil war entitled Assembly and I was hoping that this video store has it. Unfortunately, the shop keeper regretfully said that there is no title in his stock. However, I still insisted on getting the movie as I wanted to watch it badly, so I asked the shopkeeper whether he could place an order for me. Fortunately, the shop keeper said he could make a few calls to get a copy of the movie I wanted. After giving him my name and my phone number, I thank the shopkeeper before Kentaroh and I left the video store.
Our next visit at downtown was an electrical appliances shop which was located not far away from the video store. Kentaroh wanted to get a digital camera, so I accompanied him to the electrical appliances store. While he was browsing for his digital camera, I was at the High Definition (HD) TV section checking out prices for a HD TV. I thought about getting a small HD TV for my Play Station 3 but after a lay down of prices on an average HD TV by the sales man, I know I had to pray for the sky to rain money if I wanted to get a HD TV. I then asked the shopkeeper at the store regarding my investment on a Blu Ray movie for a standard telivision set only to be told off that it wouldn't be a wise investment. Unless I had a HD TV with me, I wouldn't be enjoying the high definition video quality and great sound quality of the Blu Ray movie. Kentaroh wasn't happy with the variety of digital camera offered at this store, so we left shortly.
As the day was getting late, we decided to go for dinner. Mexican food was on our mind for dinner, so we visited my favourite Mexican restaurant in downtown: El Mariachi. It has been a while since I visited this restaurant and my visit today surprised me a little when I noticed they had new staffs running the restaurant. The staffs at the restaurant weren't the only change I noticed but also the food price. Frustrated to know that my usual dish just sky rocket by $4, I felt reluctant to come back again to this restaurant. The dissapointment didn't end there when I was told that the hot Mexican waitress who happened to be my favourite server was not working there anymore. I was tempted to change place for dinner but since one of the waitresses handed me a menu waiting for my order, I thought it would be rude to just walk out. Eventually I had my dinner over there and I ended up paying more than before. Well, at least the meal was still good and I thought it was slightly better than usual; so I guess it wasn't so bad after all.
After dinner, Kentaroh and I visited the park next to Thompson Rivers. Before that, we got ourself a cone of ice cream from the dessert store not far away from the river. Over there , we took a seat on one of the few benches in the park, enjoying the beautiful scenery of Thompson Rivers while feasting on our ice cream. There were a dozen of ducks wondering near the river and Kentaroh was tempted to catch one of them. Kentaroh wanted to lure one of the ducks with my ice cream but seeing that was my ice cream he was using as bait, I rejected his suggestion. We were observing the interaction between the ducks only to be interrupted by a speeding cyclist who ran through the ducks violently. Despite witnessing such ruthless behavior, we couldn't help but to laugh at the way the ducks avoided the cyclist desperately. When we finished our ice cream, Kentaroh taught me how to bounce a pebble on the surface of the river. Initially I had difficulty sending the pebble bouncing through the surface of the river but after a few tips and advice from Kentaroh, I managed to pull it off. After a few minutes of stone throwing, we left the park and headed home via bus.
Fortunately, today wasn't as boring and dull as I feared it would be when Kentaroh, one of my Japanese friends decided to hang out with me. As mentioned earlier, Kentaroh is going to graduate very soon which I couldn't be any happier for him. At the same time, it's also hard for me to know that he's graduating soon as I will be missing a good friend. All I can do right now, is to spend as much time with him before he graduates and return to Japan.
It's been a while since I last blog. If I'm not mistaken, it's almost a month or maybe even more since I left my blog all by herself. Honestly, I've been slightly lazy to share what has been going on in my life recently but I'm not totally to be blame for as sometimes it can be discouraging to blog when there are spammers sending rubbish to my comment box or worst still, anonymous assholes whom "flame" my comment box if they are unhappy about what I post. Just in case you're wondering why all of your comments require approval recently, its because of what I've just said seconds ago; spammers and anonymous "flaming" assholes. Another reason why I've neglected my blog for quite some time can also be explained by the typical busy university life that I've been undergoing the past few months which revolve around studying and also playing (maybe too much of the latter). However, the biggest reason that explains my absenty from the virtual space of my blog is because of my unlucky fate which costed me my laptop. How did my laptop ended up broken? I'll narrate the tale later on in this post. I'm sure some of you might be wondering what prompted me to return to my neglected blog after a long time. Well, it alll happened today when I logged onto my Facebook only to discover that I got a message from a complete stranger who wanted to know me all because of my blog. I guess she read one of my posts on the blog which somehow interest her to know more about me. Knowing that if a complete stranger even bother to read my blog, most of my friends would most probably keep up with my blog from time to time. Since I realised that it wouldn't be nice to dissapoint my friends who visit my blog frequently only to find out that there is no new posting, I've decided to continue blogging. So here am I back on "What's on Shenji's Mind". Just in case you're wondering how am I while I was "away", I had my ups and downs for the past few months but nevertheless I'm doing alright so far (could be better though...).
Shortly after the date of my latest post, I visited Kelowna for the first time ever with my usual hang out friends. Kelowna is also another small town not far away from Kamloops. It was only a day trip on the other hand, the visit was surprisingly not bad given that our climatical (and only...) itinery for our visit was this big shopping mall which was bigger than the one over here in Kamloops. The girls were hyped about shopping which I can't really blame them seeing that there are more variety of goods to shop over there in Kelowna's shopping mall compared to the one in Kamloops. Instead of following them around, looking at them spending their green bills on clothes and accessory hoping to "upgrade" their "display', I visited Kelowna's Chapters, which is a chain book store. Although there is also a Chapters outlet over here in Kamloops, the one in Kelowna is way bigger with a better variety of books. So while the girls were shopping for the clothes, I was browsing different books in Chapters mostly about political issues. We spent nearly 5 hours in the shopping mall which I thought was a waste of time seeing that we could visit other intresting places over there in Kelowna, but seeing that I manage to indulge myself with books for a long period of time in the bookstore, our visit wasn't so bad after all.
It was shortly after my visit to Kelowna did my laptop started to demonstrated symptoms of permanent malfunction. My Ben Q laptop frequently restarted automatically whenever I was running any computer program. It wasn't long until one day that it just "died" off when I couldn't turn on the laptop ( yes James, I had my laptop battery intact and my laptop was connected to a electric socket when I tried to turn it on...just in case you try to "help" me with my problem). Initially, I was perplexed about the reason behind the "death" of my laptop. Seeing that I was unable to figure it out, I decided to "drop it" and move on with life. The worst part about losing my laptop wasn't the loss of my personal files as I had it backed up on an external hard drive but the fact that I lost my entire writing for my 4th installment of the ficticious Inter Continental Paramilitary Unit (ICPU) series; that just devestated me. I thought I wouldn't survive without my laptop and internet for the next few months, therefore I was deeply worried. My streak of bad luck continued when I discovered after my final exams that my Play Station 3 was also "out of commission" which forced me over the edge. I nearly broke down but instead of whining about my miserable misfortune, I decided to do something about it as I always strictly believe to control my luck instead of having my luck control me. Without wasting any time, I called up Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) the next day and I told them about how dissapointed am I with them regarding the break down of my beloved Play Station 3. Seeing that my video game console was under warranty, SCEA promised me to repair my Play Station 3 free of charge. They told me that they will even pay for my shipping fee but the bad part about it was that I had to wait for a month or more to get my Play Station 3 repaired. Anyway, seeing that it was better than not getting it repaired, I decided to wait patiently for it.
My winter university semester this year was surprisingly great...in terms of academic. What thought to be a streak of bad grades given the fact that I hated Economics and Accounting surprisingly turned out well when I scored A+ for the overall grades for both subjects. I'm not smart as you think I am, in fact I have to admit that I lack of knowledge and I even let stupidity take over me at times, nevertheless I always try to scoop up knowledge especially from books (although I hate them) as I strongly believe that ignorant is mostly not a bliss. The reason why I scored A+ for both the subjects I dread about was mainly because I only took 2 subjects compared to the average students over here which take mostly 5. So this gives me more time to focus on those 2 dreaded subjects. Well if you're thinking that I'm lazy since I only took 2 subjects last semester, you're mostly right. However, another reason why I decided to take up only 2 subjects was also because of the fact that I wouldn't be coming back for my summer holidays this year. Instead, I will be taking up classes during that period so I thought why pressure myself with 5 subjects for one semester when I'll be also taking up summer classes. I thought it would be wise to focus on 2 subjects and score well for them instead of taking on all 5 subjects at the same time with the hope of graduating faster only to do badly for all of it; afterall, my main goal for university is to achieve merit results when I graduate. I'll definitely agree with you if you conclude that I'm lazy, but then again don't you think that I should also receive credits for managing my courses smartly?
Surprisingly with the absence of my laptop, internet and my Play Station, I survived until today. Ironically, life became better without the laptop and the Play Station as I spent more time doing beneficial activities. Usually with the laptop around, I would surf the net mindlessly like a virtual zombie. However, since my laptop is "decommissioned", I started watching CNN more often to know what's happening around the world and to find out who's taking the lead in the 2008 American Presidential election, as an alternative. With my Play Station away, I frequently visited the book store almost on a daily basis and I recently started reading books about World History to learn more about past events which shaped today. I've even signed up for daily kickboxing classes over here in Kamloops as a supplement to my source of entertainment while the Play Station is away. Although it's expensive but nevertheless with the straineous work out and drills, it's worth the money and it's a better alternative than spending most of the time in my room playing video games and becoming unfit.
During the holidays, I visited Vancouver alone mainly for the variety of food which I couldn't get over here in Kamloops. At first, my usual hang out friends were suppose to accompany me for the trip but due to bad planning and last-minute-cancel-the-plan attitude, the trip was called off. Knowing that I had enough with my friends incompetancy and last-minute-cancel-the-plan attitude, I decided to visit Vancouver nevertheless. Lucky for me, James one of my comrades I use to serve with at ICPU (International Canadian Pre University for this case) a couple of years back is currently studying in Vancouver, which makes him the perfect candidate to accompany me during my visit to Vancouver. My visit was just a day trip and both James and I went around Vancouver for food hunting. In the morning, we had Chinese egg tarts together fro breakfast followed by Mexican food for lunch and Singaporean cuisine for dinner ( I was hoping for Malaysian food though...). In between our food hunting, I visited my regular military surplus shop to get myself a police jacket and also a Bruce Lee t-shirt which happened to be on sale that day. As usual, I visited Chapters again with James and we spent a couple of hours reading books there. James was occupied with some book about mythical creatures which happened to be written by a wizard (Oh, come on...) while I was kept busy with a book about Bruce Lee's philosophy on martial arts which James smartly reffered to as "Bruce Lee ism". Seeing that I've been into Bruce Lee lately until the extent of trying to watch all of his movies and even mimicking his battle cries, I eventually bought the book as I thought it would be a helpful tool for my Bruce Lee imitation kit. James didn't buy the book on mythical creatures but he bought a couple of books on magic which was as old as him from another book store. Overall, my trip to Vancouver was fun despite it was just a day trip.
A few days later, my summer semester began. I got myself enrolled in Managerial Economics and Statistics for the 1st session of summer classes (there are 2 sessions for summer semester, each session comprise 6 weeks. It's basically a crash course). Things are not looking too good for me this summer as the subjects I've enrolled do not conform with my expectations, thus throwing me into a volatile position where doing badly is very possible. Furthermore, my bond between my usual hang out friends are not as strong as before mostly because I can hardly talk to them online as I don't have a laptop unlike before. In addition to that, the fact that all of us have different class schedules excarbate the problem. Conversely, I managed to make a new friend this semester; my new Korean roommate introduced me to his Korean girlfriend. She's pretty nice and very generous as she bought me lunch and dinner a couple of times; I'm pretty lucky to know her and I'm hoping we can be good friends soon. Things just got better when I got my Play Station 3 back from SCEA; the machine was working like brand new and I was reunited with my gaming world.On the 2nd week of the summer semester, my usual hang out friends and I visited Vancouver. My good Japanese friend Maaya wanted to get her hair fixed by a proffesional hair stylist that can't be found in Kamloops, so we all follwed her to Vancouver. We stayed there for a night and I managed to introduce James to my friends; however, James was pretty shy, so he didn't talk much to them. It so happened, that Victoria Day was approaching when we visited Vancouver and we managed to witness a convoy of the Canadian army with their Armored Personal Carries and army jeeps preparing for the Victoria Day parade. The 1st sight of soldies and army vehicles appearing on the streets of Vancouver alarmed me with the thought that Vancouver was under state of emergency. I knew that Canada's was once a target for terrorists not to mention that country has been suspected of harboring Al Qaeda operatives, but I didn't expect that they (the terrorists) would strike Canada so soon which triggered the state of emergency. James later calmed me by informing that the presence of Canadian army on the street was solely for the preparation of the Victoria Day parade which was coming very soon. Basically, that wraps up what I've been up to while I was away from my blog.
So here am I back on "What's on Shenji's Mind". Despite not having a laptop with me right now, I will continue blogging and I'll try my best to upload any photos on the university's computer. Hopefully I don't get caught for that by the university staff as they are very sensative to people attaching external hardware to the university's computer. Despite having a difficult beginning for this summer semester, I hope that things will get better and I hope to improve my academic performance like always. For those of you who are wondering when I'll be coming back to Malaysia, it'll be on the August 10th this year. I'll be only back for 3 weeks the most as the main reason of my return is to settle my travelling documents, passport and student visa that are on the verge of expiry. In other words, my return would be for business purpose but hey, I can always slot in a space in between to hang out with you guys. Anyway, mamak will be on me when I come back and I look forward to seeing you guys soon. Keep in touch.
British Columbia, Kamloops, the Silent Hill of Canada, Canada
My name's Shenji, I'm 19 years old and I'm originally from Malaysia. I'm a university student in the business program and I'm currently studying at Thompson Rivers University. The reason behind this whole blog is to share with you interesting issues and events that take place in my life . For those of you who don't know me but have visited my blog before to know what's revolving around my life, allow me to express my gratitude for your visit. I love playing the PS2 a lot especially games regarding special forces(eg.SOCOM 1&2,Rainbow Six 3). Besides that,I also enjoy reading books regarding counter-terrorism.To sum it up,I'm a military fanatic.I spend my free time watching movies(mostly action and comedy) and listening to music(gangsta rap and country music).
