Friday, October 31, 2008
Back in the not so distant past, in early October:
And how much difference a revolution makes:
It doesn't take much observation to realise what has changed in AuditionSEA.
Yes, Audition Season 2 is finally launched in Singapore during a major patch on 29th October 2008.
And one major surprise during this Version 6056 patch is that the older Korean songs are all back!
Well, not all but the majority of them, apparently.
In addition to the changes in screen resolution (800x600 to 1024x768 - needs some accustoming to for now) as well as user interface, a new mode has also been released: Beat Rush.
Well, basically Beat Rush is a mode that tests your reaction time to press the arrow keys in each of the four zones just as the rhythm bead passes by each zone.
Pretty idiot-proof I would say, but difficult to master.
I guess many Audition players will finally heave a sigh of relief after such a long wait (over two years?) for the restoration of the older songs.
Hopefully they're here to stay this time round. :)
those memories. 09:09
Sunday, October 12, 2008
It sure is hard to be optimistic nowadays, what with the US credit crisis entering its 14th month and there's still no end to the mess in sight.
While the scale of the current economic turmoil is nowhere near that of the 1929 Great Depression, it definitely is still a major cause of concern for ordinary folks.
More succinctly put, the middle-class like myself will feel the pinch most severely for the months to follow.
Besides the fallout from stock markets all over the globe - the STI was down 15.2% in the week ending 10th Oct, probably the worst showing in recent memory - jobs, in particular white-collared ones, are becoming increasingly vulnerable with each passing day.
It is not a sure thing either that costs of living will be lower even as Singapore's economy goes into a technical recession (negative growth for two consecutive quarters).
And the list of issues can go on until like there's no tomorrow, but hey,
Life goes on!
While it's necessary to appreciate the nature of this crisis, there's no need to be overly worried about it in the long run.Black Monday in 1987, Asian Currency Crisis in 1997, 9-11 in 2001, SARS in 2003 - Singapore has emerged from each and every one of the aforementioned crises in one piece, so let's just take a back seat for now and continue with our daily routine. Crisis talk can always come later.
Well, enough of current affairs. Something more interesting please~
Fast forward to the present, I'm presently stuck in camp cause today's my mounting day. =/
For the past six weeks of duties, quite a number of incidents and near misses have occurred that could have landed myself in some serious trouble.
Doesn't matter, guess I'll have to be more careful in the future and avoid unnecessary mistakes for good, cause serving extras isn't a fun thing (as most NSFs should know).
Nowadays, it's getting increasingly difficult to manage my finance and aim to break even.
The rising living costs have a part to play here for sure.
However, the main reason would be post-trainee life.
From going to the canteen to section outings, everything requires much more cash compared to trainee life, where a large portion of costs had been covered.
Guess I'll need some discipline to prevent going bankrupt at the end of the year.
those memories. 16:10
