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. -_-

… that Mr Bean’s Soya Bean Ice-Cream + Roti Prata = Awesomeness.

… that Dropbox is one of the best free apps (who still spells ‘applications’ nowadays?) ever. It has made sync-ing (and the word ’synchronising’ too) and sharing large amount of data across  computers so much easier and pleasurable. Why haven’t you started using dropbox too?

… that Gindaco @ Ion has the BEST TAKOYAKI IN TOWN. Seriously. It is so nice all over, a baby can probably learn to spell n-i-c-e after eating it. Like what ahdui from headphonehaven describes, it is “Crispy on the outside, moist in the inside with a rather decent cut of octopus meat, accompanied with the right amount of okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and katsuobushi. *orgasmic*”

… that the food court at Cineleisure sells biáng biáng noodles! Haven’t tried it though. The Chinese word biáng is made up of 57 strokes, and is one of the most complex Chinese characters in contemporary usage.

… that I just watched two Asian movies (one from China, one from Taiwan) about dreams and passion.

Hear Me is good. It’s the kind of movie that makes you feel warm and happy inside. It reminds me of Cape No. 7. It explores themes such as sibling love and overcoming obstacles (in this case, being deaf) to achieve something in life. It’s a movie that requires a bit of patience and effort from the audience to read the subtitles as most of the dialogues are presented in sign language, but the sincere performance and much-welcomed comic timing of some supporting casts eventually makes you forget about the read and draws you intothe enjoyable light-hearted story. The female lead, Ivy Chen, is so cute! =D

8.5 / 10

The only obvious evidence of Stephen Chow’s involvement in the comedy Jump is during the opening credits, when it said ‘Stephen Chow presents’. However, I couldn’t help but feel the whole movie has his signature ‘Mo Lei Tau’ style stamped all over. It’s a straightforward story about a village girl who enters a modern city to learn how to dance. She encounters quite a fair bit of obstacles along the way but eventually manages to impress the right people with her gung-ho attitude towards dancing. It’s quite entertaining and well-shot, but you can’t help but feel empty when the credits start rolling and wondering why the movie didn’t have more dance sequences.

7 / 10