My Gamecard

Xbox 360 - Halo 3

Just got hands on the latest Xbox 360 game, Halo 3. Yep, as usual I got it second hand again for $45 and this is a Limited Edition that comes in metal tin box. Cool man!

Lots of things inside, I have yet to go through the items thoroughly. Can't wait to start playing on-line with other players. Anyway I am still busy with the Oblivion. I will start gaming probably after next month, stay tune for my review.....

Xbox 360 - Status Update

Check out the cool screen from my Xbox 360. I selected 'Gears of War' as my console theme, kinda like the futuristic war scenes and soldiers. I am sought of addicted to this gaming liao. There is this Gamescore that tracks the player's achievement for each played game. Points are awarded according when I achieve the respective game's requirements. So far my score is around 600 but with the Oblivion, Halo 3 and N3, I will be scoring more than a thousand, I guess.


Next there is this Xbox Market Place, whereby it allows the player to download stuff like classic games, graphics, videos and themes. However all these are not absolutely free! Firstly, to be on-line, one needs to subscribe to the connection to the network that cost around $100 per year to stay connected (I got a one moth trial free period for this elite set). Secondly, nothing is free for download except game demo or trials. One would need to acquire 'microsoft points' (MS pts for short) to enable to shop for these stuff. These are the usual Microsoft gimmicks that are finding all ways to suck dry your money till the last coin. Anyway I am a willing sucker to embrace this fantastic Xbox gaming world!


The next cool thing is the MSN! Yes, I get to use the MSN on my console. Can you imagine that such technology exist in game console? Wow, communicating with your friends while gaming, this is awesome. But I have to consider getting the Xbox Messenger that connects beneath the controller. Using the controller to select the alphabets to send a message is definitely not cool.

5 Singaporeans died after boating accident

From Channel News Asia:

PHNOM PENH: The bodies of all five Singaporeans were recovered from the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh on Sunday morning, following an accident involving a Singapore dragon boat team.

They have been identified as 20-year-old Chee Wei Cheng, 24-year-old Jeremy Goh Tze Xiong, 31-year-old Stephen Loh Soon Ann, 23-year-old Reuben Kee En Rui and 27-year-old Poh Boon San.

Their family members are presently in Cambodia.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry and Singapore's embassy in Cambodia will make the necessary arrangements for the repatriation of the bodies to Singapore.

The five men went missing after their boat capsized as it tried to dock on the Tonle Sap River after competing in a race during the water festival.

A holding area was set up outside the mortuary at the Calmette Hospital where the bodies were brought to.

Earlier, emotions ran high when family members went to identify the bodies.

The Singapore ambassador to Cambodia, Tan Yee Woan, and the president of the Dragonboat Association, Kwek Siew Jin, were on hand to render support to family members.

"We have provided facilities to try to help the families through this very trying time. I understand that they are in a very difficult situation. With the help of our ambassador here and the other embassy staff, together with support from many ministries back home, we will make all necessary travel arrangements," said Mr Kwek.

Deputy Secretary-General of Cambodia's National Disaster Management Team, Nhim Vanda, laid wreaths and offered prayers for the victims earlier in the day.

Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon also came to render help to the families of the victims.

A representative from the Indonesian dragon boat team offered wreaths for the deceased as well. He said the Indonesian team was saddened by the accident and added that the dragon boat teams from various countries are actually one big family.

More than 200 Cambodian navy sailors and fishermen, joined by seven divers and a medic from Singapore, scoured the river over the weekend in search for the missing men.

The Singapore boat was carrying 22 men when it capsized. Seventeen Singaporeans were also injured in the accident, which happened on the first day of races.

These members are expected to fly home on Monday morning as scheduled.

Singapore's foreign ministry said in a statement that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had written to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to convey his "shock and sadness".

Road Trip to KL - Day 1

This our second road trip to KL since Irene is organizing a seminar for their Asian customer held in Westin Kuala Lumpur. Early morning I drove over to pickup Irene at 8am from my place. Out of the blue, I suddenly notice my 'Engine Light' has lighted up. Aaaag...

I was completely losy and was cursing for this to happen before the trip. After picking up Irene, she suggest that I drove to her workshop to let them check it out first, but they operate only from 9am. So we had to wait around the Sim Ming area for the time to pass.

They servicemen start to jack up my car to check the bottom, kinda of funny to watch my car above the ground. Anyway they followed using a diagnosis tool to check my engine ECU. I was complete amazed that they have such capability and that also the most amazing thing is that I have a serial port underneath my dashboard all along that I not aware of. Despite he did a reset the engine lights returns when he drove the car. After 2 trials he concluded that my 'O2 sensor' is faulty and is giving false signal to my car. They do not have the replacement and need to order new stock for my model. Bottomline he says I can drive up to KL, that's good enough for me. Anyway I told him I will come back on Sat to settle the rest with him.

Without further delay we quickly sped up to catch up with our schedule. The journey was about 330km to KL and we took the second link since we were more familiar it. I kept my speed limit to 110km/h as I do not wish to receive any speeding tickets again. We made only 1 stop for our breakfast at the usual place where we had nasi lemak and beehoon soto. From then it was non-stop towards KL in which the duration for the whole trip was about 4.5hrs.

Traffic in the city was not as bad as the first trip so we manage to reach the hotel without any detour. Pretty nice lobby, looks very high-class. I purposely kept away from Irene at the reception since we did not register additional guest for the room. I remained as anonymous.




Entering the room, I was completely amazed with the room. Big, spacious, luxury looks and hyper clean condition are the only thoughts in my mind. Love the bed that feels so solid and cooling, definitely will get a good sleep tonight.

Last Day for ATEC I

Finally my two weeks of reservist has come to an end. It was very 'boliao' to go back to camp on saturday for breakfast and listening to CO's closing speech as we had returned our stores back to the camp-in-charge on Friday.

Anyway, the closing speech included a photograph montage of some candid shots for the past two weeks. Pretty professional shots, wonder who is the photographer, can ask him to handle my wedding shots.

The announcment of the result was 'Redcon 1', the highest grade that can possibly bestowed. Then they went through every single test category like each weapon handling tests, Knowledge tests and Platoon missions, etc. Everyone went clapping went those category scored 'Redcon 1' and the best company goes to the 'Lightstrike' whom scored 100% during the platoon mission where they 'one shot one kill' the enemy with their ATGM. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway we are going for our ATEC II on Jan 2009 where the emphasis is on the company exercise and to score 'Redcon 1' is not going to be easy. But our CO is all out for it as he had planned the approach on how to achieve that.

We managed to book out from camp around noon and I sent Anderson (ex platoon runner from my previous batallion) to AMK. Picked up Irene and went back home.

Makansutra Eating House

Today very 'jo boh' as I am on day off, given from my OC. The reason is because I performed my BOS (Battalion Orderly Sergent) during last Thursday which was Deepavali holiday. See the 8 Nov post.

Morning breakfast was eaten at Tampines Ikea together with my Mum. Pity we missed the breakfast timing so had to order from the lunch menu. But still worth it despite paying slightly more price for it.

In the evening we around visiting some hotels like Merchant court, Raffles City Hall, etc. Met up the banquet team to discuss on the package. We were pretty keen on the Merchant Court but that guy 'Royston' seems to be a tough nut to crack for additional perks. Very much reluctant to compromise and charges every item as per our request. But we were impressed with the Suite and the view of the Clarke Quay river was fantastic. Looks like we are going to be the Merchant Court broom and bride to-be.

Dinner was eaten at the 'Makansutra Eating House' next to the Esplanade. Always wanted to visit this place but never had the chance till today. Ordered a Fried Carrot Cake, Fried Prawn Noodle and some drinks. To be honest the carrot cake is really out of this world! I will give it a 4.75 out of 5 for its crisp and flavour. The prawn comes with mini pork lard and 3-layer meat which are my die-die-must-have when I eat this, I will give it a 4 out of 5.

I even met the Makansutra man, Mr Seetoh, having his dinner with another friend. Nearly couldn't recognize him without his hat. I was actually trying to stare at his table to scout for the food that he ordered so that I could order similar. But I noticed that he was looking at me so I wouldn't want to be considered to be rude to stare at people's food, I quickly look away after only noticing the carrot cake.

Xbox 360 Games - N3 & Oblivion

Thanks to one guy, I bought the above used games at a pretty good price. N3 for $10 bucks and the Oblivion for $30 bucks. Muhahaha, can keep myself busy for the holidays............

Safra Club & Satay Club

Today is suppose to be the relax day for the battalion prior to the ATEC 1 next week. So the program states that all must attend the recreation activities in the Yishun SAFRA. As part of competition, there were games like water sports, land tele-match and captain-ball where each company dispatch one team to compete.

As usual Bravo swept all the awards except the tug-of-war where it was claimed as the as expected best company in recreation activities. For those not involved were to participate in the bowling game. Pretty entertaining for most. We had light lunch before the event called an end.

Took my parents and Irene to go hotel shopping as we are finalizing the selection of the hotel to host our wedding. We visited places like Swissotel Merchant Court, Swissotel Standford (City Hall), Novotel Clarke Quay, Marina Mandarin, River View and Regent. We were pretty much impressed with the Merchant Court for its pillar-less ballroom, the accessibility to the MRTs the decoration theme and its branding.

Dinner was at Lau Par Sar where we had our satays from the Fatman No.1 Satay Stall. It has always been our favourite stall and we ordered other stuff like BBQ stingray, buttered sotong and stir-fried clams. The sotong was a surprisingly good food and we actually love it.

BOS Duty and Kelvin's Wedding

I booked out on Wednesday evening as it was Deepavali the next following day. I had a traumatized experience with the camp that night. The story goes like this:

During the serving of this two weeks of reservist we had to perform the usual duty like COS and BOS. Luckily my name was not mentioned in the plan list so I felt pretty lucky of not doing any duty. Then my OC came to me and ask if I can do the Sunday BOS duty. In my heart I know he wants me to do it since I am a lobo in the company line. After I agreed to it, he began to narrate his story of why he wants me to do it. "Pls don't misunderstand that this is not due to yur performance or wahtever, but I want you to do it so that the Sunday BOS (Eddie) can have enough rest since he need to participate in the ATEC." Anyway I old him not to explain further as I understand and demand no explanation. He was pretty surprised that I agree so easily. He then agree to give me one day off in return for the favour. I received a call from the duty clerk that he request me to swap my Sunday BOS duty with Thursday BOS as he was on MC. 'What?' I told him I can't as I had to attend a wedding dinner on that night and cannot do it. Later he called me again and told me that the DO suggest that I take that night period off to attend the wedding and come back again in the night time to resume. Quite a good deal to me since I still get to book out during my duty. So I called up the RSM to double confirm this deal as I do want certain assurance. That F#$%^ did not pick up my call but instead he sms me to communicate. What an idiot (you will know why I call him that later). With his agreement to my condition, I assure him that I will report back to camp the next day.

I felt bad for Irene as we planned to go hotel shopping on Thursday but because of my duty we had to reassign till next week. I drove back to camp at around 8am and took over the duty from the previous day BOS. I met up with my companys' COS and chat with him in our office till lunch time. Anyway there wasn't much to do since no one is in the camp except 4 COS, 1 BOS, 1 Duty clerk and 1 DO. I spoke to all the COS and assigned them some duties before going backto my office to play with my PSP.

Lunch time I jio my COS to lunch and we were surprised the portion that was given to us. The meal consist of chicken wing, crackers, sambal prawns, currey mutton and curry veggies as main course and ice-cream as desert. What a spread! As we were enjoying our lunch a Warrant Officer came to us and suddenly raised his voice. "Who are you and why are you doing here?" Hmm, pretty tough question so I told we are the COS and BOS and having our lunch before we do our cookhouse duty. He replied "I don't need you here, I only need the duty clerk and DO. The rest can go homewith the battalion as you only need to lock all dors and submit the keys to operation office!" We gave him the blank face.

He told us to lock the doors and prepare to go home and he will inform the batallion in-charge to release us from our duty. Just nice the DO arrived and after he was spoken to, he came back to us saying that we can go home and he told me that the guy was the Camp DO for thay day. So apparently he was higher rank than the DO and our RSM. So I sms back to RSM and my OC that we are leaving our post as per the instruction from that Warrant. They replied backto me saying that they thank me for the support and acknowledged my sms. That's it? No aplogies? Waste my time here? This is so rediculous.

Anyway, I left camp around 1pm and went over to Irene's place to rest till evening time. I made my way to Kelvin's wedding held at Raffles Hotel. Met YK, Simon, Julie, LiNi, Lyn, Bryan Tan, Ken and Rodney. It was a small event with about 20 tables but the decoration was very glamourous. Kelvin and wife also sang duet during the dinner and as usual we alway say Kelvin sounds like 'Andy Lau' but cant say same thing to his wife.

XBox 360 Elite

I can't believe that I'm a proud owner of a Xbox 360 Elite console. I paid $780 for this game console that comes with HDMI cables, 120GB harddisk, 1 wireless controller and LAN network cable. Did my market research for the past few weeks which I found that this model sells $790-$799 in most major store. The difference between this elite model vs the normal model lies with the 120GB vs 20GB harddisk and the HDMI inputs. Beyond the eyes that can see would be the upgraded disc player and a 2nd cooling sink. Its easy to distinguish both types of console since the Elite comes in black colour whereas the normal console comes in white color.

I have read in the forum that there is a technical problem for Xbox 360 and they call it 3RROD. Wonder what does that mean? Check the link. This is still a persistent hardware failure where the console gets over-heated easily. If within the warranty this happens, one will get a new set plus extended 3 years warranty. Sounds pretty scary, so I decided not to get a used set since the warranty may expires.

I bought a game called "Gears of War" that cost $39.90. Usually a Xbox game cost around $70 plus but this game was renewed under the platinum hits so was sold lower, not sure any difference with the original. But I sure love such shooting game in a war-like environment. Really worth every single penny. Muhaha.........

Back to Camp for ATEC 1

Today is the first day for my ICT (In-camp training) and was held in Jurong Camp. Thank goodness we need not go into the Tanjong Gul Camp located in Tuas, this place is much nearer to civilization.

I drove to camp and reach at 7.30am according to the stipulated timing. As usual not much people had arrived (lateness has become part of their habit) but luckily I met Ho whom was there early too. After a while my old camp mates like Eddy, Wong, Lewis, Daniel and Neo also arrived and all of us started to chat for the latest update of each.

Today there was not much program as we need to familiarize with the IPKT (Individual Proficiency Knowledge Test) as this is one of the test items for our ATEC1. The whole day was just like back to school where each of us hold the notes to go through it as we need to be tested when using the computer system. What a boring day.

Around 5.30pm we were being released to go back home since there was no program in the night time. But we need to return to Pasir Lebah Camp to take the mock test just for trial tomorrow morning. Sian................