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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I'm Out of the Top 10 EPP!!

I've been dropping by my favourite gameshop to ask them when the latest expansion for Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess would be delivered. It was due in on Saturday, but due to production issues, the US PC version was delayed for launch. Urgh and everyone not using US PC version has gone off in the new expansion!

Well, the expansion apparently shipped to retailers last Friday, but last Friday was Thanksgiving in the states! It's a holiday and doubt people were gonna send stuff to us over here.

I was going to drop by the shop yesterday but I figured the expansion wouldn't be in till maybe thursday so I didn't. Today, I HAD to ask. I walked in, asked the owner ..... and he said they receive TEN COPIES TODAY.

T E N

If you missed that.

TEN COPIES

Got it? Ten freaking copies of the expansion on tuesday after Thanksgiving! That's almost as fast as what my friends in the states are getting! Amazon.com 1 day shipping only gets the stuff to them on the 26th of November and we get it on 27th!

Now. Why am I not really all that happy and hopping around on vanadiel, or cursing at the registration server, but instead sitting down here and typing all these out to you so that you can share in my .......... joy?

The reason is simple.

I did not get a copy.

I DID NOT GET A COPY

I DID NOT GET A BLAZING COPY!

They allocated the 10 copies to the first 10 people in the list. I pre-ordered the expansion like almost 2 months ago. Yet I did not make it into the Top Ten EPP (Early Pre-order Placer) list.

What the....

Anyways, the next shipment is on thursday and it's gonna cost about $59. Apparently the ten copies MAY have been more expensive as they were sent via a more expensive route and over Thanksgiving. So I'm hoping those copies were actually more expensive and I saved a bit of money getting it on thursday.

I'm not all that upset about it actually, but how can I not make it on the top 10 list when I pre-ordered two months ago ?? ; ; So sad. They better had reserved a copy for me or I'm casting Flare II on them! With the Moogle Company!

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Saturday, November 24, 2007

Stardust

Well, I had been thinking about watching this show, and so I finally watched this show.

This is a very good show. It is kinda funny in a way that I had just watched Enchanted, about people going to the real world from a world of magic and Stardust is the other way around. The effects were great, the storyline was absolutely lovely.

It has been quite some time since the show has been showing but there were quite a lot of people watching it still. The show is currently on one show every weekday and two shows on the weekends

Absolutely lovely. It's a must watch. If you have $9.50 to spend, THIS IS WHERE YOU SPEND IT!

I don't really want to discuss the show here because I don't think I will be able to do enough justice to it. Watch the show and enjoy it yourself.

Well, I've watched three movies so far this month. Quite a record for me! Might watch Beowulf (still considering), 27 dresses, Alvin and the Chipmunks!

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Friday, November 23, 2007

Enchanted

And so, the start of the year end movie season. Everyone loves Disney right? (You there! I know you don't love Disney but you just nod your head along with me) What better show to start off with than to watch a Disney movie?

So I went to watch Enchanted today. It was definitely..... enchanting. Heheh. I'd say that it is a movie worth $9.50 to watch. All the essential Disney elements were in there and it's fun seeing Disney laughing at themselves. It's funny how some things we always accepted in a Disney animated movie are absolutely ridiculous in a real life setting.


If you don't want any spoilers, don't read beyond this line!

Turn back now and never regret.



A brief run through

So, our story starts with the typical Disney setting. A prince and his evil stepmother who wants to keep the throne as Regent and happens to be a witch. In order to keep the throne in her grasp, she tries very hard to not let the prince meet a girl and get married as that would mean that the prince would become king and she would no longer be in power.

Miraculously, the prince meets a girl in 5 minutes and decides to get married and live happily ever after. Well, that's the key tenet to all Disney stories. Happily ever afters. Even The little Mermaid had a happy ending (which I must say I do prefer over the original tragic ending).

So, of course the stepmother is not happy and plots to send the girl to the real world. Now this is where all the fun starts. The princess to be tries to find her way back home and continues behaving as she always did and... well, with very interesting results. She meets this very practical lawyer who doesn't seem to believe much in love, having been divorced once with a daughter. He is currently in a relationship though and

I particularly loved the huge scene in which she did the song and dance number in the park. What Disney movie is complete without a song or two? I believe that song is titled "That's how you know", it gets really big and becomes a park event!!



Ah and because it is Disney, the prince comes for her, complete with a talking squirrel. He is followed by a minion of the evil stepmother (hopeless sod in love with the stepmother) who tries to kill the princess to be with poisoned apples.

Yadda yadda so the prince finds her but by this time, she is in love with the lawyer.

Awwwwww..... I was quite disappointed at that!

Anyway... she gets poisoned by a poisoned apple and the only thing to save her is true love's kiss. The prince kisses her .. but .. ooops. This is Disney with a twist! The lawyer is the true love... Iwas wondering if we'd see a jealous prince (eeeew) but what do you know? Once the lawyer saves her, the prince is happy! I guess it's Disney after all lol.

Ah and this is where there the evil stepmother turns into a dragon and prepares to make off with the princess but ..... um... runs off with the guy instead. So the princess gets to save the guy this time round.

Oh the prince gets a wife too.. the lawyer's fiancee. Heh. Happy ending!

I love the songs, as usual!

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Thursday, November 22, 2007

When Medicine and Religion must be separate

I came across this letter sent into The Straits Times.
Community hospitals must not aid conversions

I AM a primary health-care doctor involved in the care of older people in the community.

Sometime last year, I referred a woman under my care to a Christian-supported community hospital for rehabilitative care. Not long after she was discharged, she came to see me and expressed confusion over her faith.

She said that she was visited by young people whom she said were related to the staff in the community hospital, bearing gifts and repeatedly asking her to convert to Christianity.

She said she has been a devotee of Kwan Yin (the Goddess of Mercy) for most of her life and it was hard to give it up. I told her that whatever gave her peace of mind would be the 'right' religion.

Some time later, she said that she had decided to stick to Kwan Yin and had politely asked the young people not to visit her again.

Recently, she was admitted to the same hospital for convalescence from a life-threatening accident. During her stay there, she experienced much physical discomfort and fear.

She was approached by a woman staff member who told her that it was God who saved her from death during the accident. She decided to convert. However, she said she would try to postpone the baptism.

The holistic management of an older person includes a spiritual component. Hence pastoral care in a community hospital is important.

However, those engaged in pastoral care must be trained to empower a patient to draw on his religious affiliation to deal with the physical suffering. It should not be an opportunity to convert the patient to the religion of the sponsoring organisation.

In the past, I allayed the occasional concern expressed by either a patient or the caregivers on the possibility of religious conversion in a community hospital. I am not so sure if I could now give the same assurance.

I appeal to the Ministry of Health to come out with guidelines on pastoral care for all the community hospitals so that the religious affiliation of patients is respected and protected.

There must not be any coercion to convert to another religion, especially when one is in pain and vulnerable.

Dr Tan Chek Wee


I fully agree with the views of the author. All medical practitioners and adjunctive caregivers must be professional in conduct and not utilise their position to influence people who are vulnerable.

These sort of actions can very quickly destroy all goodwill that the others in the community hospital has built up. To provide charity with an ulterior motive, is not to provide charity at all. I understand that this is not a charity but the basic idea is the same. If a community hospital is set up for the good of the community, then it should be so. Should the recipient of the services provided by the community hospital feel that they would like to convert to the particular religion, then that would be great and it makes both the patient and the hospital happy.

Brainwashing and scare tactics using a professional position is deplorable.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Zowie-Wowie!

So, it's maintenance for FFXI. I'm bored at home with no FFXI. Very very bad combination I tell you! It's ok if I don't play... but not when I can't play in the face of a huge expansion update (even though the expansion won't go live till Thursday).

So I was browsing the usual FFXI forums, reading up on the bilities for the new jobs, job adjustments for the current jobs, speculation on which current job will be adjusted so that it can tank and other such expansion related stuff.

While doing so...... I saw a thread posting about the newly released FFXI goods. OMG. Nation rings and keychains! I so want the San d'Orian ring and keychain!



















Baby Chocobo Plushie!! YAY!!
That's so gonna go into my office. Mandragora and goblin mobile decorations!

What's more.. I now have at least one place I have to go to when I visit Japan. The Square Enix Character Goods Store!

Address
SQUARE ENIX Hatsudai Bldg. 1st Floor 4-31-8 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

They are only open on weekends so I guess that's gonna have to be worked in.


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Thursday, November 08, 2007

Doraemon

Ah. I didn't even notice this movie was available till my friend called me up yesterday and said she wanted to go watch a movie and we checked the schedules. It was a no brainer once we saw this listed. It was a really fun movie. All the memories from back when we were children! We're like old geezers now. Sigh.

Doraemon was always the perfect cop out. He always has something neat to save the day. I noticed they don't call him 小叮当 anymore. They went to using 多拉A梦 these few years and this was true in the movie as well. Oh and they changed the names for the fat guy and the buck toothed guy. 静香 and 大雄 remains the same.

I think it was a pretty nice movie. I would say it was worth the $9 I spent on the ticket.

Next movies that look to be on the "To Watch" list:

1) Alvin and the Chipmunks
2) Enchanted

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Saturday, November 03, 2007

Yipes!

Ok, it's the third of November and I have not written a word of my NaNoWriMo novel. I currently am 5000 words behind schedule.

Oops. Then again, that's exactly me.

Perhaps I'll get some writing done in a while. I'll be away till Tuesday night so that means another 5000 words on tab.............

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