It’s funny when we catch up with old friends and ask each other about other friends’ whereabouts and statuses. You know, the usual where-are-they-now and what-are-they-doing stuff.

And then when we talk about couples, we sometimes ask, “Are Mr B and Miss A still together?”

It’s as if we’re always not very supportive of their relationships, and sounds so mean but that’s how people usually ask questions and I don’t know why!

Maybe 20 to 30 years later, we’ll all ask “Is Mr B still alive?”

- - - - - - - - - -

Movie review!

Summer Wars

I’m already pretty confident that this movie will be in my personal mental list of top 10 movies of this year. The concept of the movie mainly revolves around this global virtual network (called OZ, something like our Google/Facebook, but way cooler and more interactive) that the world pretty much relies on for business, gaming and almost everything else. The problem comes when this supposedly super secure system gets hacked and chaos ensues.

What’s really awesome about this show is that, the director and screenplay writer have brilliantly married the two worlds that we live in (the young virtual world and the traditional real world), brought in a entire family of more than 20 interesting characters and still managed to tell an entertaining, original and meaningful story about love, family and technology…. and keep you engaged from the start to the end. The usual formula/approach for save-the-world stories like this is to have just one or two main characters to save the day, but here we have the Shinohara family, no wait, or even the community from all over the world, working together like a huge family to fight against a common enemy.

What a touching and epic movie this is. I’m SO going to get the DVD of this and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (same director and animation studio) this time!

This time!!

8.5 / 10

If you ever have the opportunity to pop in to my workplace, most of the time you will see me sitting in front of a 15 inch widescreen Dell laptop, with headphones plugged in to my ears, working very hard on something.

Or at the very least, look like I’m working very hard. Afterall, I’m very good at displaying the ‘looking intense and serious’ look.

It’s worked well for me during my Studio Project and Final Year Project in school, during my internship and during my short term job before my enlistment.

Sometimes even when I’m just casually surfing the net after working hours (around 8pm to 9pm-ish), I still have concerned colleagues (who have already changed into their pyjamas) walking past me in the office, greeting me with a “Wow you’re still working at this hour?”.

I reply with a.. “Yea. Too much work to do. What to do?”, shift a little on my seat and carry on hopping around tumblr sites.

I can’t stand being rooted to my seat for too long either. I frequently stand up to stretch myself, walk around the office to make small talk or look at myself in the mirror in the toilet to make sure I don’t unknowingly turn into a freak with drying eyes with dark circles.

Tuning in to Azure Ray on my laptop in this environment full of men helps fuel my imagination.

The elements of alt-country and folk Americana from their music transform all the men wearing green uniform around me into a big grassland with trees swaying to the rhythm, not without the imaginary gentle breeze blowing into my face, reminding me of the kind of the freedom and dreams I currently pursue.

With only about 66 days left before I leave this place, never look back and risk becoming unemployed like what happened to me two years ago after my graduation, I seem to have reached a zen status in my1 year 10 months short military career. It feels like I’m sitting on top of a hill, smiling and thinking about all the things I have done that have earned myself so much respect and trust from my commanders.

The juniors who have just joined my department seem to have a long long way to go, before reaching where I am today.

“Desmond, I need your help on something,” my superior asked as he gently tapped my shoulder.

And I’m gently thrown back to reality. -_-