Start(ed) My Story

"Impossible is Nothing", that's Adidas tagline and there's even a whole campaign behind it featuring famous faces from the world of sports; David Beckham, Kaka, Muhammad Ali to name a few. They each have a story to tell about how they overcame their challenges. I'm posting David Beckham's story here but you should be able to see the others in YouTube:

Anyway, I found out that Adidas have further extended their campaign with a website to allow everyone to share their stories too. Which is kinda cool really as it is an interactive program where you can either choose Laila Ali or David Beckham to guide you in creating your own story. So I gave it a try (I'm sure it's obvious who I chose to guide me lol). First, Mr Beckham tells me that everybody needs a helping hand and he then introduces a little guy in a football attire (with no. 7 on it) who will help me with my story.

There are 3 parts to each story - What was your challenge? How did it end? What's your next challenge? Here it's all a white canvas and you can just let your creativity flow...there are colored pencils for you to draw stuff, write stuff, erase them if they don't look right the first time, and you can even click on the little guy to have him draw something for you. Very interesting. At the end of it, you can choose to save your story (together with a title) and it'll be in the startmystory gallery. You can preview it first too and I couldn't help smiling when I saw my end product...kekeke

Too bad we can't save the stories into a clip but you can always view mine here ;) [remember to allow popups in your browser]


Ready to start your story?


My Rating:

I'm alone ... not

Bizarro by Dan Piraro in The Star newspaper 8.28.07

If such a nation exists, I'm probably a long-lost descendant of the royal family. Surely I'm not alone... *big hopeful eyes ala Shrek's Puss in Boots

WOO-HOO to the long weekend just around the corner!

Tech Support Funnies

Can't resist posting this one up.

Was having lunch with a bunch of friends today (one of whom works as a customer tech support by the way) when hilarious real-life tech support stories crept into the conversation. And here I'd thought such things don't happen save for comedies or just-for-laugh comics.

But believe it or not there are people out there who thinks a CD-ROM also works as a cup holder! So happily they put their Starbucks grande/venti (I think short/tall would just fall through the CD-ROM hole, though you can try it out to be sure =þ) in it when oops.. coffee spilt, something got short-circuited *poof, and who do they call to complain about "lousy" products? No rewards for guessing it right - tech support!

Isn't it absurd? Okay, you can argue that I think its crazy only because I am from a technical background while these people know nuts about what should/should not be done. But what about those who think that they can make calls on their computer just because they have a SIM card? Or - here's the ultimate one - those who think that their monitors HAVE touch-screen technology just because there is a fingerprint on the screen or because there is a cable connecting the monitor to the CPU? What's more they have the cheek to call in and demand why their touch screen is not working LOL! Here we give respect to our tech support gal (none of us believe we could last 3 hours attending to these type of calls while she's into her 2nd year or more) who could still asked the customer to switch off the monitor and touch a finger to the screen and hey, you see a fingerprint there too thus it doesn't mean you'll only see fingerprints when the touch-screen feature is on - when it isn't even a touch screen to begin with.

All in all, we have to give credit to these people for such creative imaginations and hats off to tech supports, you've attained the highest level of divineness..keke. Also guess the manual has to be more detailed next time such as showing a big cross over of an image of a CD-ROM holding a cup =þ. A friend said that's what they have in lightbulb boxes - Do NOT put light bulb into mouth - though beats me why would anyone wants to put a lightbulb in the mouth.

Have a similar story to share? Let me know =)

My Rating: -for a good laugh.

P/S: Found this comic strip when I was surfing around, thanx to User Friendly ;)

3 celebrations, 1 occasion

Wow..what a happening week!

It all began on Saturday nite (Aug 18th) as we gathered at Peen's house for a night of BBQ-ing cum retouching base with a bunch of ex-skoolmates. Plenty of food, quite a few bottle of wines, a number of beers, and countless camera clicks later, we realized it was 1am Sunday morning. Karen then brought out a cake to celebrate the bdays of July & August babies (Shuey, Ee Lyn, Mei Fang, yours truly.) Too bad Ee Lyn left early (another function at QEII) while hardworking Mei Fang was still at WORK! Well, Shuey and I were kind enough to blow the candles on their behalf =þ

After Ritz rich chocolate cake, ppl started leaving for the night (or day) while Shuey, Pat and I remained since we'd agreed earlier to drop Shuey off at the airport at 6am. With Pat cold & half asleep, Shuey bz packing (& searching for our souvenirs), the night took a different twist when Peen started feeling unwell! Worried she could get worse, we drove (being the one only fully awake with almost zero alcohol in the system, naturally I was behind the wheel =þ) her to a 24-hour clinic at 4am, and straight to the airport after. [Shuey, hope it wasn't too pitiful having to wait 2+hours by yourself..we'll see you again in Oct!] The day officially ended when I left for home at 7.30am after an hour of sleep on Peen's cold hard floor (Nah..only Pat said it was cold, though no dispute on the hard part lol)

Fast forwarded to Tuesday (Aug 21st). It was a longer-than-usual tea break when colleagues had a cake prepared to celebrate yours truly's birthday. Eden's blueberry cake..hmm certainly a fresh taste from the usual chocolate and cheese cakes. Most notable is the smiling face on the cake...Nice. Didn't notice it? Scroll up and look carefully

Moving on to 7pm where its dinner with another bunch of friends. Nothing fancy but delicious meal nonetheless with dishes ranging from fried calamaries to steamed fish Teochew-style, from marmite pork to claypot tofu..mmm just mentioning the dishes are enough to want to eat them again. After the cake-cutting ceremony (Jenny's White Mud Belgian) as well as prezzie-unwrapping session (love the 2-in-1 GAP tote!), we proceeded to Upper Penang Road for a cuppa since it was still early..

That was when the night really started! We decided to try this new place called S2 (new as in none of us had ever been there,) which had a very interesting concept - record and make your own CD of songs. For a bill of 50bucks, you are entitled to a free membership (10% discount on F&B) which gives you access to recording studio kinda booths where you can record up to 17 tracks and burn them for 5 bucks. No time limit nor song limit because you can delete any songs and either re-sing or choose another number any time. What more the next time around, you only need to order 1 drink and hey you get another 17 tracks! Way, way, way cheaper than your neighbourhood karaoke. And trust me, you are put on a waiting list for an unoccupied booth but don't expect to get it soon - yes, nobody leaves a booth until perhaps an hour after they first went in. We almost gave up and left when finally an empty booth surfaced and we couldn't resist giving it a try. Certainly our BEST decision of the night!

Well, the collection of songs might be a little limited (who knows they might update once in a while) and you could only hear tunes with headsets on (since it was meant for you to record songs like you're some "real" artist) but no one said you couldn't have 5 people in a booth, 3 simply singing along to imaginary tunes, all in the name of good, harmless fun! Which was exactly what we did lol..we purposely selected outrageous songs that we normally DON'T sing - think sabai-sabai by Thongchai McIntyre, guys singing Oops, I did it again & My Hump, while girls sing Everybody (Backstreet's Back) - and before we knew it, it was 2am and our jaws as well as stomachs were aching from the constant laughing. We only managed 13 tracks though but it was an awesome night. I think we had never laughed that much in one night LOL!

You might think with 21st finally over my sleeping time would return back to normal but I had to cap it off by waking up at 2.30am on Thursday (Aug 23rd) for the craziest purpose some of you might say but very sane to me lol.. England vs Germany! Though they lost and 2nd half was actually kinda boring...but hey it was quite satisfying because Becks was there the entire game

Phew...now that I've posted this up, I'm contented to go back to my rot-at-home lifestyle, thank you.

My Rating: Isn't it obvious? A pro photographer for our BBQ shots, a passionate chef-to-be for all our grilling needs, delicious food/cakes, wonderful friends, lovely prezzies, and most important of all an absolutely fabulous time, what more do I need? (Well...I don't mind having a couple more stuff but that is a different story.)

Me! MiNdBOX - Avril ROcKs!

The first "real" concert I went to (and the only one thus far if you exclude MTV Asia Awards '05) was Avril Lavigne's The Bonez tour in Singapore back in 2005 and one word to describe it - AWESOME..this chick sure rocks!

However today's song isn't a stage-jumping, guitar-smashing tune. It's more of a sad song but still NICE nonetheless. Enjoy!

I always needed time on my own
I never thought I'd need you there when I cry
And the days feel like years when I'm alone
And the bed where you lie
Is made up on your side

When you walk away
I count the steps that you take
Do you see how much I need you right now?

(Chorus)
When you're gone
The pieces of my heart are missing you
When you're gone
The face I came to know is missing too
When you're gone
The words I need to hear to always get me through the day
And make it OK
I miss you

I never felt this way before
Everything that I do
Reminds me of you
And the clothes you left
They lie on the floor
And they smell just like you
I love the things that you do

When you walk away
I count the steps that you take
Do you see how much I need you right now?

We were made for each other
Out here forever
I know we were
Yeah Yeah

All I ever wanted was for you to know
Everything I do I give my heart and soul
I can hardly breathe I need to feel you here with me
Yeah

My Rating:

Azada

I'm sure each of us have played some form of puzzle before, be it putting jigsaw pieces together, solving crossword puzzles, finding matching items...the list goes on. Sure from time to time we might have found ourselves at wits' end, hands pulling at the hair on our heads (or what's left of it), but all's quickly forgotten once we manage to find the solutions. Ahh, that feeling of satisfaction...it's as though we are the smartest person alive :þ

So here's a chance to relive those moments...

Azada is made up of a collection of puzzles tied together by a story. The story begins with you waking up in a library and finding yourself attempting to release Titus, an old man who'd been trapped in a magical book for God knows how long. In order to do so, you'll have to find the missing pages of the book which can only be replaced by solving a series of brain teasers. There are 10 chapters altogether with ~9 puzzles per chapter. As you complete each chapter, a fragment of a painting is revealed and when the painting is finally whole again, Titus will be freed.

If you do the math, it looks like we have 90 puzzles to solve though in actual, there are only ~20 styles, which means you'll be seeing the same puzzle style every 2-3 chapters. However, Azada tries to make up for it by making some puzzles more difficult when you encounter them again in later chapters. An example is the marble game where you have to jump one marble over another on a board until certain numbers remain (you first have to leave only 4 marbles, then 3, then 2). Another would be the Simon-like color game where you have to memorize longer sequences as the game progresses.

On the other hand, some puzzles are superbly easy and remain so all the way (Perhaps there are just no way of complicating them?) Such puzzles range from basic picture matching (finding the identical butterflies), to memory games (overturn stamps to find matching pairs), to easy maths questions (?-?-?=X). I would call these "in-betweens" as they can be solved in mere seconds (yes, you have a time limit to solve each chapter and when the time runs out, you'll have to start the chapter over again) and I believe are just there to allow your brain to relax for a while before moving on to more challenging puzzles.

Let me give you a peek at what other brain teasers are in store for you:

- Typical point-and-click puzzles where you are given a scene, and you'll have to search for hidden items, combine them with other items or place them at correct locations in order to win. It might sound easy but some scenes can be pretty tricky. Take for example the flooded basement scene. You'll first have to stop the flooding, pump out the water before you can gain access to items needed to develop the winning photograph (which you can only do with the lights off.) If you think there is an easy way out through trial and error by simply dragging items to different locations to see which will fit, think again. Each incorrect item-location and you can see your time limit goes down - FAST!

- Sliding puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and rotating puzzles where you need to manipulate pieces/items - move or turn in a certain direction - to complete a picture, or complete a line from source to other. An example will be one that involves a bunch of pipe pieces which needs to be rotated to connect the gas tank to the furnace. Any open ends have to be closed off as well;

- Mastermind-like game where you guess the colors and their orders, as well as a sudoku-like game though they are in symbols rather than numbers;

- Last but not least, my personal favourite. Remember the old head-scratching puzzle involving matchsticks whereby you'll need to make X number of a shape from Y number of the shape by only moving N number of matchsticks? Yup, Azada has those too which are simple arrangements but can be difficult to resolve. [HAH..I plan to test those staying over at Peen's place tonight, with actual matchsticks of course, since we have a long night ahead :þ]

As you would know by now, I'm a victim of beautiful graphics and luckily, Azada did not disappoint. Like all casual games, you should be able to complete it in a weekend though if you do not have the luxury, you can always opt to save your progress to continue at some other time. Also, the reward for saving Titus is that you get to re-play all the puzzles whenever you like without having to go through the story-mode again. Better still, some of the puzzle layouts might not have been encountered during the course of the game thus adding to it's replayability. To wrap it up, if you are looking for that feel good puzzle-solving experience, Azada certainly has it all, and it looks like a sequel might be in the making

It's not over until it's over --Yogi Berra

My Rating:

ME! MiNdBOx - Dance in the rain...

I'm sure you remember that hit song by Daniel Bedingfield:

If you're not the one then why my soul feels glad today? If you're not the one then why does my hand fit yours this way?...

Well, today's song is by Natasha Bedingfield. Some of you might remember her as Daniel's sister, others remember her for her song "These Words". But MiNdBOx is playing the latest single, "Unwritten"..enjoy!

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just begining
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

(Chorus)
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten, yeah

Oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines, oh yeah yeah
Within condition
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way oh, oh

(Gospel)
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inner visions

The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten

My Rating:

ME! MiNdBOx - Song of the World

MiNdBOx's song selection for today is from the anime Black Cat, which I finished watching at the beginning of the year (even before there was this blog) so no reviews about the anime. Nevertheless, I must say it was quite a nice anime. The song has a sad tune to it so sit back, and enjoy.. ;)

The song's called Konoyo No Uta (Song of the World) by Iwasaki Taku, and was sang by Saya, one of the character in the anime. I'm including the English translation of the lyrics as well (in brackets) below.

Uta wo utaou
(Let's sing a song)
Daichi no uta wo
(The song of the Earth)
Kaze wo idakou
(Hold the wind in your arms)
Hikari abite
(Bask in the light)
Hoshi wa mata taki
(The stars are twinkling)
Mochi wa kirameku
(Shining down upon the streets)
Fuwa fuwa fururi
(Light and bouncy)
Negai komete...
(Be full of hopes...)

Uta wo utaou
(Let's sing a song)
Sekai no uta wo
(Let the song of the world)
Doko made ikou
(Travel forever)
Sora wo aoide
(Looking up at the sky)
Hito no ubugoe
(The sound of people talking)
Mushi no habataki
(Insects jumping)
Fuwa fuwa fururi
(Light and bouncy)
Omoi nosete...

(Taking my hopes with it...)
Fuwa fuwa fururi
(Light and bouncy)
Ashita wa kitto
(Tomorrow will definitely)
Fuwa fuwa fururi Sora ni todoku
(Light and bouncy. Reach the sky)

My Rating:

P/S: There is also a piano version of the song but without the singing.