Price of Food Up, Satisfaction Down

The latest food price rise is started to affect me... At least three of the eateries place I venture raise their price by five to ten baht... And I am not happy.

I wondered if things will get back to the great before or not. I hope so but I doubt it... People will just tough it out and before long it will became a norm... **sigh**

At least I finish the required assessment form yesterday, what a relieve!!

Now I have to hit the bed soon because I will have to be up at 6:30 for work...

I will also went to submit my visa application on Monday... I hope I can get it without much fuss...

Also... There is a new teacher in my office, he is Uber cute. And there will be a welcoming party for him as well as farewell party for the leaving one. I must say I am quite looking forward to that as well

The Closer Affairs

I had became a fan of the TV series 'The Closer'. After watching a few episode of the first season I was hooked!

Although I must say that Kyra Sedgwick character's accent is very southern and perhaps can get on your nerve, her acting (the accent included) make the character seems real and believable. The chief was sharp and cunning at times and can also bequite clumsy and bumbly acted as well. Not the mention neurotic, still worried about what her parents' opinion of her, and not to mention an ex-CIA to boot!!

Her team is also a collective group of police with different specialties in addition to their ages, ranks, and even race. Which allow the show to play with the interactions between the team members, their contribution and facets.

Just like any good shows, the writing is very good, each episode was quite fresh in their story and context.

I will certainly watch it till the end :)

Moving On To Another Topic

It seems that none of my fans (little as they are) are in London... So I guess I will moved on to another topic...

I recently read some more infos on Final Fantasy Tactic A2, due to be release late June, and I got the urge to play it right away :P Since it is not release yet, my thought went to the GBA version that I still have not finish since a few years ago. I was at the point where I need to finish several more missions and then I will clear the game but I do not have the items required for those missions.

After reading up on the mission requirement and such, it still take me a few more days and frustrating moments to tricker the mission availabilities. Once that's done the rest is a breeze. Especially after adding level cheat code :P

It was enough to sate my hunger for the game for the time being, but it still be almost a month away from the release. The new season of House would also help :)

I am also struggling to complete my self assessment form required by the office. I am drawing blank on what I should write about... I think I will ask to see this form from one of my colleague...

Materializing the London Plan

I am planning to visit London, for the first times. This will be my first trip on my own as well!

I am finalizing the details of where I will stay and the plant ticket. I am, however, only have the general ideas of what to do and where to visit. I admit I am not a 'culteral tourist', rather I am the... usual gay tourist :p A Single gay tourist :p

Anyhoo, I am still planning to the visit the usual tourist traps. Like Covent Garden, Harrod, and perhaps Sherlock Holmes club. And then a few gay places.

Anybody could recommend places to visit? :)

My Fear Had Come True

It happen just as I feared... Now my weekends are Sunday & Monday. I do not like it but there is other choice... I guess it iwll be like this until next year. At least I can still take day off when I wants to, albeit, one week notice is required. This will also be the second times when I have to work 6 days straight because of the shift. Next times it would be better... Hopefully

I am still planning my visit to London. Although I still have to look out for hotel or B&B. I am tempted to just buy a tour trip and go. But I still do wants a freedom to let loose and see the people :p

The Great Shower

Today was a rather unbelievable day in Bangkok.

It was raining since morning, then stop, then rain again, and then stop, and rain again. So today I choose to buy my lunch from the wanton noodle stand near my office. I do not think I will do so again tomorrow... I might just brace the rain and went out to eat.

A few of my regular eating place, the noodle stand included, had raise their price. It kind hard to stomach this when you actually felt the pinch of the situation. The news today even stated that it hits the *regular folk* quite hard, judging by the pawn shop business. And if I remembered correctly, the news said that the pawn shop business went up to 600 mils now in comparison to 100 mils last year. That just sounds rather depressing.

It is the beginning of the new terms in my office, thus, my Sat-Sun weekends also comes to an end. The boss wants to put me on Sun-Mon weekend instead. I do not think I can object this times around... Especially when the new coordinator will has Thu-Fri off.

General Rants

There is not real news to post about so I guess I will just post a rather generic rants of late.

The weather is now back to the old pattern, blazing hot if it is not raining. I guess it will be this way for a few months, before we will be hit with rainy season.

The harddrive that I recently bought, merely almost a week ago, now reduced in price by 100 baht... I know I should not take this personally but it still sucks.

I recently got started to play Jump! Ultimate Stars on my DS, after I found the one with partial English translation. It is oddly satisfying to be able to control your favorite manga characters and have them beat each other up. The annoying parts are the winning conditions. Some are rather hard to achieve and that will determine whether you can unlock certain characters or not.

I still have not made any progress regarding my trip to London. I just wants to know my new weekends before sending request to get my paper from the office. I am still have no idea where to book for hotels and such... I still have not research all the... 'decadent' activities I can have fun with... I should really began doing those things now... July is approaching, Fast!

Out with 200, In with 750 and Delayed Devotion

I finally made the purchase I have been itching to made. I bought 750Gb Hitachi S-ATA II harddisk. The day was certainly long, a lot longer than I would preferred for sure.

I began the day by taking an a/c bus to Zear rangsit, to claim my mouse. The right button was working half the times, and I thought there was something wrong with the computer at first. After wasting sometime at the claiming process, as the person in charge was out to lunch (I was there around 13:00). It was 14:00 by the time I left.

Then I took two buses to the shop that have the harddisk I want. It took me quite some time to actually reach the place. It was located in a village/resident area. I realize that they must do wholesales as well as there were about 10 or more customers waiting to get their orders.

When I finally got home, I began open my computer case. I began by brushing out the dust, and then began switching things. That when I realize that I do not have spare S-ATA II cable. Luckily, though, that an IT accessories shop near by have it. I began the data transferring around 18:00. However, I finally go to bed at 7:00. That's right seven effing AM in the morning. It was freezing up when I choose a lot of files to copy away. I ended up having to copying only a few GB at a time to help ease the problem. Finally, when I have had enough I select the last 21GB or so to copy and go to bed.

Then my office call, around 9:00... To ask if the cable TV, which have problem with late payment and results in signal disconnection, will still show the local TV. I said I don't think so...

I finally woke up, by myself around 11:30, about an hour ahead of my alarm clock. It was rather hellish...

On the brighter note, I found a new favorite song. 'Delayed Devotion' by the up and coming welsh singer Duffy. I was watching 'Tonight's Show with Jay Leno' and Duffy was the musical guest, performing her current single 'Mercy' The way she sang it, it reminded me of the older generation soul singers. She also rocks at singing live too :D I recommend you search on youtube for her live performance ;)

Some Decent Sleep

I finally manage to get at least 8 hours of sleep last night. It would have been a bit longer if my office has not called but I am glad I got that much sleep after being sleep deprived over this and this.

My XP is pretty much done. I am still deciding whether I will use WindowBlinds or not. It looks nice and all but Vistual Style is also ok without any load to the memory.

I am looking forward to this weekend. It will be 3-day holidays, including a national holiday on Monday. I will have the time to buy the new harddisk, transfer data and install it. Then finish cleaning out my room. Pretty much a quiet weekend I suppose.

A New Day's Dawn

I finally finish re-install XP. The rest is to re-install the required softwares, make a few tweaks, and setup some defense mechanisms.

It was a tiresome process... I went to bed around 4am last night which is not nearly enough for me now. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, reminding me that I give myself high blood pressure by being sleep deprived.

At least it is mostly done, I can watch TV and sleep before midnight tonight, Hopefully.

My Doomed XP

My windows is now inflicted with vicious trojan or virus... Something that the anti-virus and anti-spyware software did not detect...

I tried several things but none works.

So I guess my only option left is reinstall XP... Good thing I still have my XP CD.

Tonight I will do the installation... Not something I look forward to but at this point I have no other choice.

I suppose this is the high time to do some clean up to inaugurate my soon to buy harddisk. This weekend will be the high time to buy for sure.

Feeding The Demon

It finally finish. It took me four days to perfect the conversion. Finally 'Charles Pierce's Legendary Ladies of The Silver Screen' is ready for the Demon.

If you are interested, please click here.

And a message for Torn, I think this movie would be great for the advance adult class :) If you teach one ;)

Arrived Package and Another Short Circuit

The DVD I bid from eBay finally arrive today :DDD I just finish watching it and well... It still Very funny but I still have trouble getting all the references. Some I still know but some just seems too old. It was recorded of the 1982 show anyway...

It will be ready for Demon soon...

Today I brought my DS charger to the office, just in case I need it. And when I need it, it short circuit... For the third times... Luckily, I am scheduled for training in Siam Square office, it will not be long for me to go to Silom from there. **Sigh** At least they are nice enough with the warranty that I can trade it in without any cost.

Although I am contemplating an alternative...

The World Ends With You

Here is a brand new Action-RPG DS game review that I currently play (although it was not so new for Japan... it's been first release by Square-Enix a while ago in Japanese language)

Our main protagonist, Neku, find hihmself in the middle of Shibuya district when he was attacked by strange creatures. Then a young girl grab him and ask him to make a pact so they can fight off the creatures. Although he still daze by the situation, he accept the girl's request and began to fight off the attacking parties. Afterward, Neku realize that he has no recollection of his past, other than his name. He is more of a loner and tend to shut other people off, saying they are dragging him down.

The girl, Shiki, then informed Neku that they are in a 'Reaper's Game'. The objective is to survive for a week or face being erase of existance. A mission will issue each day, the players must complete the objection or face erasion.

This game is very unique in that you actually fight in both screens on DS. You control the upper screen with either D-pad or buttons and the touch screen with stylus. It was quite overwhelming at first but you will get used to it after a while. There is also an auto setting to let the upper screen fight automatically as well (or manual mode if you can Really multitask ;P). Neku fight with a variety of pins. Each pin represent a psych, each with a different way to stroke or touch the screen with stylus to execute. There are a total of 304 pins to collect and each pin has cool design as well :) Click here to download the pins images.

The soundtrack of the game are J-Pop style and modern music, which set it apart from the usual orchestra music found in most RPG game.

It is a really good game, with surprising story and characters growth. The fight sequence are fun and fractic. There are many things to collect and 'New Game +' mode to replay the game with all your stat and inventory intact, which added the the replayabilities.

If you have DS, this is certainly a game to have :)

Trio Songstresses

I just got around to watch 'The Triplets of Bellville' recently, and I must say I am quite enjoying it.

It is certainly different from the usual American and Japanese animations that usually on TV or in theater.

Each character looks almost caricature with their bodies exaggerated to emphasize the characters' characteristic. There was almost no dialogues, to the point where it only happen at the beginning of the movie and at the end. The story, however, manage to move along without a single dialogue which is quite an achievement.

Overall I like it, even though it ended rather abruptly. The car chase scene is very entertaining to watch while the dinner scene with the triplets is quite... disturbing :p

Summer Cleaning

Today my mom call me real early questioning me about my plan to move the bookshelf to the outer area and the plan to move the washer and dryer to where my younger brother room used to be.

I was not in a cheerful mood to discuss that at 7:45 in the morning, not after I was only woke up at about 6am from uncomfortable sensation after drinking a drink that my younger brother brought me. Afterward I woke up with a strange itchiness on my left knee, when I woke up again around noon I notice angry red patch on my arms, left knee, and the back on my neck. I am not sure if this is sunburn or not... Since I am pretty sure I was not out in the sun that long plus the red patch also happen in the area under my upper arms too. Anyway I already make an appointment with the doctor tomorrow... Although now it felt like a sunburn... Tomorrow I will know for sure.

With the help and instruction of my mom and a helping of hands of a maintenance guy, we manage to sort the comics books I no longer wants to keep, move out the bookcase and closet, cleaning the room, change the curtain in my room, install a shower curtain, take out the trash, etc.

It took us whole afternoon to finish, my legs felt like jelly and I felt tired as hell. At least I won the auction of the DVD I have been longed to have :D. Although my plan for tomorrow would have to change a bit, it would be ok... I was planning to go to have Buffet tomorrow but with doctor appointment and follow up on the clean up. I guess I will just go the day after tomorrow instead and perhaps go buy the new HDD on Sat.

Resurrection of The Demon

I had just found out, just now actually, that Demonoid site has been revived and now up and running.

I am so happy I have to make this little post for it :D I guess it just a great news in time for Songkran ;D

Another Heating Post

Last night I had a revelation that Summer is finally here, for real, when I take a shower before going to bed around midnight without turning on the hot water.

Good thing though that after the shower, a breeze blew into my room and make it a bit nicer to turn in and fall asleep. The heat starting to became a bit relenting, the office is real quiet before Songkran, and I have literally nothing to do...

I tried to curb my habit of sneaking a bit of DS time while at my desk but it is hard to do so when I have no work.

I am looking forward for my Songkran holiday... I will be off for 5 straight days :D

From Phoenix to Apollo

After finishing two of the Phoenix Wright series and starting on the third one, I tried the fourth game as a change of pace and continue to see it through. I finish it just last night :p

This game take place 7 years after the third game finish. Instead of playing as Phoenix Wright, we played as Apollo Justice. At the beginning of the first chapter Apollo is a rookie attorney defending a client. The client is non others than Pheonix Wright who also have a daughter, a gifted magician name Trucy!! Who was disbarred and became a pianist as a front for being a mster poker player. During the first chapter, as it turns out, Apollo's boss was the murderer of the case!.

You will meet few of the old casts from the previous games who are all grown with new sprite, sans one quirky character :p,.

There are four cases in total in this game. The first one is also involved with the fourth one and the fourth one tied up all the circumstances involved with how Wright got disbarred seven years ago, how Trucy became his daughter, and how the murder in the fourth case involved with the murderer in the first case. The fourth case is probably the best case of the series, with all the twists and turns and complexity of a good crime novel. It is all unfolded to shows how each events links together which results in the downfall of Phoenix Wright and his scheme to find the truth and turns againts the plotter/murderer. As it turns out, the motive of the murders stem from pettiness of the murderer that started by that seven years ago case.

The game, however, is not without flaws. In my opinion, it still suffers the same slow texts, linearity, and tricky trigger events that make me stuck unless I read walkthrough. There was, literally, no back story on Apollo at all. No friends, families, or backgrounds mentions. Except for a little mention, in passing, from another character.

Overall it was an enjoyable experinece. While, the gameplay is nothing new, the story is very strong and since this is a story driven game it compensate for other weakpoints.

Hold It, Take That, Objection

The title meant that I am reviewing another DS game that I had just finish today, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, in case most people were wondering :P

Despite its, in my opinion, weak beginning/tutorial chapter, the game real episode began a real intriguing court drama and story soon after the prologue finish.

You will play as a novice defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, on his first case ever under the guidance of your ample-chested boss, Mia Fey. The first case involved Wright's long time friend, Larry Butz, who got arrested in a murder case. The goal of the game is to get the client acquitted and get the verdict of 'Not Guilty'. The court system will sure looks unfamiliar to many people who are used to see the American Court Drama TV shows as it is based on Japanese system. The game even up the stakes by having game played in the near future where the court system has been revamped to finish within three days!

Anyway, after the rather bland prologue case, the first chapter began with a bang. The boss, Mia Fey, was murdered and her little sister got arrested for it!! During the course of this chapter you will learn, from the sister, Maya Fey, who dressed somewhat like a Miko that the women side of Fey family are gifted as spirit medium. Then during the course of the remaining chapter, Mia will came back and give guidance through Maya who, although in training, invoked the spirit of Mia when she became distressed.

The game soon weaving the tales of corruption, evidence forgeries, and murders by the prosecutors and police no less. Each chapters played out in 4-5 hours, I guess it could be less if the texts are faster to display. The text should be *pressable*, like when pressing one button the text came in full instantly.

In the end, the stories that unfold are very intriguing tales of lies, deception and redemption. It is a fun endeavor that I eventually play till 4:00am last night... Which is not good, it was a work night after all. But it sure was Fun :D