Dinner at Seoul Garden TM [26 Jan]

Late on post-entry by 3 days, but I was b-u-s-y~

Last Friday evening had a small gathering of Student-Cafe helpers meeting up for free (sponsored) dinner at Seoul Garden. It was previously a toss-up between that or Pizza Hut, but the guys were going for a meat-frenzy ala 'Fresh Meat' buffet.

Naturally, Seoul Garden got the pick with 100% agreement.

Andrew posing for a photo that has no relevance to the topic

The gather-point was at the TP Game Centre (or whatever the name is), and the number of show-ups there were no more than 10. A sizable group, and big relief for the lecturer sponsoring the dinner. ^^

Jun Wen, the spammer, (sucks for him) was not one of the SCafe helpers, so he got no free dinner. Well, I was no better, but at least I was a helper by name~ =P

Jun Hong was invited, though the lad turned down the offer due to personal reason. While on the other hand, similar invited Chris totally 'fly-kite' us; throughout that night he was entirely uncontactable so god-knows where he was.

So final count, our brave party consisted of me, Shawn, Damien, Zul, and Andrew, his wife, cousin (Stephie), sister + girlfriend(s). Yep, really around 10.

Planning our ultimate attack on Seoul..... Garden

A bit of dily-daly, and we eventually got to Tampines Mall at 6:30pm. Obviously by bus transit, though a walk from TP could have been a good warm-up for the feast to come.

Fourth floor of TM, and we found ourselves outside the Seoul Garden restuarant. Hesistation ran abound among the members, as we did a last minute man-count on the surviving members to partake in this potentially stomach-exploding food activity.

With no significant problem, we ventured deeper into the destinate place where we will inevitably gain a couple more pounds upon going out again.

We paid up-front. I believed the total price was up at the S$200 region. One big hole in your wallet for you, Mr. Albert. ><

Didn't I say we were going all-out on meat?

Prior to our trip, the trio Damien, Shawn, Zul (all 3 = Delta Force) had an agreement that they will be having a biggest-eater competition. I think one of the conditions was to eat strictly meat, but then again, it is probably because meat is the choice food preference for them.

I sat at their table, so I automatically came under the meat-ruling. Not that I had any complaints on that.

on the other side of the field lies more meat extravagance

One hour into the dinner, and we were still feasting on meat. Damien was our lead-man in the 'arts of bbq', while Zul and Shawn won us as the biggest eaters by the long shot.

The other table were leisurely going about their eating. It is notable that Andrew occasionally got random beating from his wife, though more out of fun than not. More wastage on food too on their side, but the diners were '85%' girls, so leftovers were definitely not unforeseen *cough*.

an hour later, we are struggling to finish up

The initial plan/aim/wadever was to eat till 10pm. Dinner sponsor Mr. Albert will appear briefly at that time to do the payment. Yep, he didn't join us for the meal, and yet has to come to foot the bill. >_<;

Eating till ten kinda ended up as a too far-reach goal - majority of us surrendered before 9:30 with bloated tummies. I actually stopped partaking in our meat fest, and switched to vegetables (yum) early on, but still I too had reached my limit for the night.

Cutting straight to ten, Mr. Albert appeared for payment. Busy man he was, he went off as quickly as he came. Satisfied with our successful strike on Seoul Garden, our valiant group took a trip to neighboring Century Square for window-shopping.

...More like arcade-viewing actually. Turned out we hit straight at the top-floor arcade arena. Most shops were closed at that point of time anyway, but whatever so, the gals weren't THAT happy about that. As for the guys; Soul Caliber III and Time Crisis 2 gaming. I didn't participate, so I just loiter around to watch Sangokushi Taisen battles (the Romance of three Kingdom arcade card game). From what I heard, Jun Hong & Christopher are playing this game. Too expensive for me, though it sure looks fun.

The last game of that night involved a Time Crisis2 tag with Shawn and Andrew. The latter got 'killed' mid-game, so the rest of us was waiting for the timely dismissal of Shawn too, so we could all finally head home. However, the dude actually went all out and complete the game...landing a overall 6th rank. Walau.

11pm was closing in and for our group, it is time to head home and hit the sack.

Erm...so that's it. Maybe another group dine-out next time? It was pretty enjoyable...sort of. LoL

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Eternal Fighter Zero : best KEY fangame~?

Last week had been a tough time for me. The week before as well. And I forsee that this week and the weeks to come will be just as tiring as ever.

Life almost sux with poly-crap up at your neck.

Well, even with work pressured on me 24/7, I managed to squeeze out ABIT of time - to try the latest game I got my hands on (finally).

What is it, you ask? Hint: Look at the post title ^^

Tsukimiya Ayu: EFZ cover girl

It is none other than the 'great' 2D fighting fangame based on KEY characters!!

YES! 10 mins prior to typing this, I had been doing some 'hands-on' trial on this awesome fighting game. Even for just a fangame, it is not exaggerating to say EFZ can give commercial series like Street Fighter a run for their money. =P

Or maybe coz I get to play many of my favourite anime characters from KEY games. Bias-overload...!!

have Mai bash the crap out Sayuri - something you won't see in the anime

No thanks to some random dudes playing this game in TP cyber centre (and not being friendly enough to tell me where to get it), I decided to source the internet for this piece of gem myself.
Few weeks later, and I eventually got it. And worth it, it is.

All I can say is that EFZ latest installation is a great bundle. I believed there are close to 20 characters to select, and each is very distinctive/unique in terms of fighting style and controls. Of course there are bound to be a few characters being rather similar to other staple fighters (e.g. Kaori's flaming moves = KoF Kyo's), but identical or not, they are all fun to play out.

ice-girl Misaka Shiori : my current best EFZ character

What is definitely LACKING is the standard story mode. Being a fangame, I can see that a storymode isn't the most feasible idea. Unfortunately, with the absence of that, EFZ is basically reduced to a mindless fight-fest that could only be enjoyed 100% if you have a friend to play and laugh at the whackiness of the game with.

Without doubt, I will surely pack this game along to school - for multiple showdown with fellow peers in TP.

Except that EFZ total to more than 200mb. And my thumbdrive only goes up to 128mb.

Oh well, I guess I will just have to wait until I save enough money to buy a pocket harddrive.

Friends, we shall fight it out in EFZ.....someday soon. Mark my words!!!

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TP Openhouse Day 1 & 2

no openhouse is without stages, and we got not one, but two...with crowds!!

In the previous blog entry, I did mention about Temasek Polytechnic having a 3-day openhouse event, and I am directly involved in two roles simutanously; EPS representive, and openhouse commitee helper.

With two days of the event over, I can assuredly declare myself a job well done for watching over my EPS booth. But as for the latter..... let's just say I had to spend my entire time looking after the booth that I just cannot even spare a single second helping out at the event. =(

I quite expected that to happen anyway.

Well, here are pics of my group's pathetic....erm, impressive EPS booth. Enjoy~

"GPS Lifesaving Kit": our project poster brimming with overwhelming awesomeness

...and the actual prototypes. Notice the embarrassing contrast between this & the poster

Bah. That's what I had to keep an eye on for two straight, full working-days. The booth can really just accomodate one person, so I am glad for once that I am alone on this job. Teammates Andrew and Jun Wen (yea, you blog spammer) were away/busy with openhouse stuff too, so I got to sit in for the whole group.

Things do get absolutely boring when you got no one to talk too. The role of the EPS displayer actually is to go out and attract people to your booth. But with a messed-up project like ours, I have my reasons in wanting to NOT get attention. One seriously needs to doubt TP's standards, if even a half-past-six project can get into their annual 'grand' EPS.

many visitors, but not a single soul at my booth

The first day was definitely hectic. I had to get use of things, like standing infront of my booth, for hours, while staring blankly at either my own boring project, or random passer-bys.

There were the occassional interested onlooker who would stop by and ask about the project. Though so few, that I could probably count them all with two hands. Still beats idling aimlessly.

I only got a chair on the second day, so I stood throughout the first. Salespeople, I am glad I can fully sympathize with you now.

My booth's direct neighbour was a pair of BZE (I think) girls with a case-study project. We were pretty much complete strangers till the end of the initial day, but I am glad with got over our differences (whatever it is) on the second day. Sweet people, they are.

Now, besides the dozens of secondary school girls about (drool, all you lolicons), there was some other eye-catching individuals walking around. Really interesting, and out-of-this-school ones.

Look who I spotted:

Simca of Air Gear cosplayer!! Ignore the idiot that is me on the left

WOW! A Simca cosplayer, and in TP!

I only went for a solo shot of the pretty (and sexy; Andrew approved) cosplayer with my handphone, but Andrew happened to be around at THAT very moment and so he literally pushed me over to her for a pair-photoshoot.

And that photo was the end-result. I truly appreciate the fact that she got nicely-close to me for the take, even attempting to put her hand over my shoulder...but alas, I was just too tall for her.

So with even a Simca in TP, I guess the L-lookalike (Deathnote) I saw earlier was probably a cosplayer too? Perhaps ^^

I think the most tense moment for the majority of the EPS representives was when the enigmatic TP principal made his tour on the second day. But whatever left of my enthu was already taken away by Simca, so the principal gets none from me.

He won't mind though - seeing that he was one who didn't even bother taking a glimpse at any of the regular EPS (ours') displayed booths. The merit ones at TCC probably fueled all his interest-needs already.

local LAN shop raided by mobs of sec-sch boys!! omgwtfbbq

Jerome, E-guides, wanted to bring his friends over to my booth. But tough luck for him, as closing hours was right in front of our faces. "Too bad, come again tomorrow." All fellow EPS participants, time to pack up for the day!

Everything cleared, I stopped by at my usual hangout; the TP game shop. Co-owned and now run by the same Andrew I mentioned before. And guess who were there, my gosh - secondary school boys, by the dozens!

Remember their faces. Who knows if they will be reappearing as TP freshmen in the next semester. =P

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A couple of WoW tcg matches (complete wins with my deck), and I was finally ready to get my butt back home. There is still a third, and final day of openhouse/EPS tomorrow, and I may just slip away from the booth to do some looking around.

I wanna check out design school! Their openhouse decorations are just amusing to see~

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Dark Koji's FIRST entry relating to school

'Temasek The Polytechnic Place to Be'..err oops me?

Temasek Polytechnic is gonna have a field day with its Open-house starting tomorrow onwards till coming saturday. And for the first time in my 3 years life as a TP student, I will be directly involved in the school's biggest annual event.

I am soooooo excited~


- yea, like real >_>

For the upcoming 3 days, I will be attending the openhouse as a member of the 80+ selected groups under the Engineering Project Show (ala EPS). Nothing to do with the actual openhouse, but the school committee thinks visitors coming for the openhouse WILL actually go take a look at our project display booths. =P ...ahh, to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Fair enough.

In reality, I bet my project's booth will not attract any sincerely interested looker, and just be there to collect dust. And that is really what I am hoping for.....because I definitely won't want any attention at the booth when I got to take care of the openhouse stageshow at the same time!

You guess it. I got a more important job to do; to oversee stage activities as an openhouse student committee member (leader). Who gives a damn about some puny EPS thingie, when you can be at the center of the event, looking at chiobu's? Erm...nvm.

That too applies to the Web Services lab test I will be sitting tomorrow. Chances of me passing that paper isn't looking really positive, so the choice to NOT take the paper and fall back on my Leave-of-Absence seems real appealing.

I will take the paper like a real man though. And in my formal attire. Yea, that. I am tempted to put on my free student openhouse shirt, but my new long-sleeve shirt takes priority. If you happen to read this before the event, try and see if you can spot me.

I don't think it will be that hard to find someone in formal dressing while running the event show. =)

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LAN-fest!! of the 'Invisible-34' [6 Jan 07]

Saturday. 19:30. The night the proud nerd force stormed the IRC lan shop.

That above quite summarized this topic. Yep, a large group of local anime-bloggers/fans got together for an offline meeting to play counterstrike in Parklane mall.

The local anime-blogger superstar TJ Han (riuva) had organised this event, with support from various other bloggers, such tsubasa, DarkMirage, bj0rn and many others. When the event plans were publicized on the blogs, I immediately confirmed my attendance. No one know me, but who cares, I will get to play (and frag) my favourite local anime-bloggers~

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The day finally came. Pretty much excited, I rushed down from home and barely made it 10 mins before the actual meet-up time. 80% of the peeps were already there and cheerfully talking away. Didn't attempt to introduce myself, but well, that's how I am. >< (Cannot reveal my sacred identity behind the nick Dark Koji, eh?)

We were supposed to commence 'operation-csraid' at 7:25pm, but our favourite star was nowhere to be seen. None other than the organiser; TJ Han, of course!

TJ Han; lord of riuva

Amidst the waiting, someone suggested we sms TJ Han on his whereabouts. Though that soon changed to everyone sms-ing him with the exact, same message, and at the same time...
Talk about mass-spammage. 'First-blood'~

Regardless the sms was effective or not, TJ Han arrived not long later. While everyone was just 'sweeped' by his presence, I spotted a bag with 'Banana is a Snack' model inside. (Ah, that's why he was late~ last-minute shopping?)

the march; "To the lanshop!"

We were finally ready for some heavy virtual-bloodspill. With a 34-strong gang, we proceed to the 'IRC' lan shop- probably one of the very few places capable of accomodating such a huge group. It was 24hrs operational too, but that doesnt matter.

Alas, but the shop wasn't ready for us. Advanced bookings had been made, but it seemed that the counter didn't arrange the booking, leaving us no choice but to head to the other branch in Pennisular Plaza to try our luck there.

huge group crossing road

I typically just followed the gang, as no one told me about change of plans, nor did I bother asking. So roughly 10mins of blind-following and halfway through, one of us decided to ring up Parklane IRC again, and surprise! they got vacancy again. ><

And that is where we trek back to Parklane again.

me as 'look-out'

Back again, we scrambled to the puny IRC shop. Quite disorganized already, tsubasa decided we should queue up '2-by-2'. Apparantly that didn't seemed like a good idea, but we managed to squeeze in anyway.

Like the sign outside had stated, it was $2 per hour. But a $10 deposit has to be paid upfront first. Probably to assure we won't run away (even if we do, they get to keep $10). Nice idea, but that means poor sod who don't have $10, cant play. Boo.

Once pretty much everyone got a computer, we began the first offline lan battle; in the form of BattleField2 Special Force... YES!! My first time playing with 31 other players NOT bots!!!

In-game ::

First map was way-lame. It was the Britain-map thingie invading the palace, and I got stuck on the terrorist (defender) faction. The map was already Britain-advantage, and to make things worst, 2/3 of us were on that side. =P

Obviously, the opposition side won. And barely under 15mins.

But that was a warm-up for me. For the next 3-4 maps, I would be owning left and right like crazy, topping the highest fragger list on both sides. I rulez~

Okay, that was slightly exaggerated, but I managed to maintain at least a 3rd position throughout. Granted, majority in the group know nuts about BF2 (newbies), but there were also a few good players apart from myself. Honourable mentions were Soulshift (geng-medic), and Kwok (gave me the most trouble).

Counter-strike Source ::

CS was next, and probably the main highlight. We played Source, as 1.6 wasn't playable for some unknown reason. With around 34 players inside, lag was sure to followed.

And I totally suck at CS now... I blame BattleField2 for my huge drop in skill. Players who were owning in the previous BF2 matches were also noticibly fragging next to nothing. Whereas Bj0rn, who was like sitting duck in BF2, became god-like with his awp, to such extent that we all declared him 'imbalance'.

LianYL was playing host for our CS matches, and to be honest, his was a fairly terrible server. He didn't know how to stop map from changing, and thus we would end up switch to weird maps every 10mins or so. There was also the case of strangers entering our maps, which most of us weren't so pleased about. That pretty much warrant a new host server.

'Tsubasa Gay' was the new server name. But with password-enabled : 'tsubasagay'. Things were finally fine for us, but definitely not the non-invited strangers, who well...couldn't get in, despite the password just right under their noses.

And to throw in a quote of what tsubasa heard from a random stranger who got frustrated by the password:
"WAH LAN, A PRIVATE GAME WITH 32 PEOPLE? NABEI ALL FRIENDS?"

Anyway, lag still ensued, but not in any serious form. I still get kicked in my arse more times than I frag though. The only times where I actually stood a chance was those weapon-specific rounds; such as pistols-only and the hilarious knife-only fightout.

Imagine you rushing into enemy base as forerunner, only to then see yourself suddenly being surrounded by 10+ crazy people ready to knife your throat. LOL Pure-fun.

Around 11:30; 4hrs later, we finally throw in the towel. After so many hours of mindless graphic killing, I felt like I just got a mild hangover from being drunk. It didn't help that IRC had really bad ventilation and air-con, so my mind was quite fuzzy when I got out. But to play with so many players offline is definitely well-worth the trip.

So it was time to depart from the group. But what is an event without the standard groupie-photo??

the survivors of the original Invisible-34: "tsubasa-buttseck!"

TSUBASA BUTTSECK!!! Some smart-alec decided it was more fun to shout that out instead of the usual 'cheese/smile', so we all followed with that as our battleshout, much to orange-shirt tsubasa's despair (or delight? ^^).

Heck later, half the group only went home straight. The rest headed for the Maid Cafe Cosafe. I of course was in the former. I am a good boy, so I go home heh.

All photos captured and provided by our only event-photographer; Windbell~

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Urban Attic SALE~ [31 Dec 06]

"Somewhere in Funan Centre at the very last day of the year '06, there was a sale going on. In a humble anime-figure shop called 'Urban Attic'. It had stuff going for as low as $15, so many people came...including me."

Urban Attic: before the crowd

That's the summary of my first trip to Urban Attic. I got a tip-off from several local anime blog sites that a sale would be held on that specific date, and with things going for such a cheap rate, I would have been out of mind if I passed that opportunity.

So armed with a fat wallet of $150, I shoved myself to Funan IT mall at 1030. The sale (and shop) was to be open at 1130, so I was an hour early. I knew there would definitely be some early-birds (campers) ahead of me. And so there were; at least 10 ppl already loitering outside the store.

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[Off-topic]
The gal who cosplayed as Nagato Yuki at EOY06 was present too, and boy, she looked cuter in casual outfit (and in real-person). But that's just looks - I read somewhere that she was a rabid (yaoi) fangirl. Oo
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Unlike most of them, I wasn't a dirty-camper, so I instead scouted the mall floors. It has been a long while since my last visit to Funan, so the many-new stores excite me. EsPeCiAlLy-WoW-tHe-ShOp-WiTh-WiI-&wAcOm-TaBlEt!!1!....ahem.

Strolled back to the outskirt of Urban Attic at 1100 and bam!, the number of people waiting had doubled. New faces, but they all shared a hintly-'otaku' look.

Urban Attic: the sale is ON!!

With everyone eager for the royal moment to arrive, tension was up in the air. There were only limited stock for all items, so it would be a competition to see who get to the item first. Which explained the crowd suddenly focused on the entrance of the shop when the storekeeper arrived at 1120.

When a queue was called to be made, being the weird-ass I was, I didn't bothered to zerg-rush my way to form a line. I finally decided to get into the queue 5mins later, and found myself as the 20th person in line. ><> Aishia (Da Capo S.S by MaxFactory) $25
> Banana is a Snack -Striped panty ver. (by White Canvas) $25
> HMX-17a Irufa (To Heart2 by Kotobukiya) $30
> Evangelin (Magister Negi Magi by Konami) $25

Banana was the steal of the day. Not only is the sculpture pretty, the original price was going at $1oo+. Big discount!!
Time to head back, and Yuki-gal was outside. Despite having no conversation, we walked to CityHall MRT station. Sweet bonus, I guess? ><

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