Saturday, November 27, 2010

Lucky Day! Step 7 Complete! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, and Dinner at Shangri-La's The Line

Wow I guess the day after my birthday was luckier than the day itself, just this morning when she went to jog with her friend at Bedok stadium she found a $1 coin as she was on her 3rd lap on the outer track!

After which I met up with her to go catch a movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, at Tampines Mall because I had free GV Movie Money from my company.

While there, because there was time to spare we went ahead to the arcade and found our current favorite game, "Fishing Season" (a Toami Gyo clone). This time we both played and she is really into it now, before she just used to watch me but now is more willing to part with the $$ to play a game. She had a better day than I did and got like 100 e-Tickets cashed out when we had to leave for the movie.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was long but expected, running at 146 minutes. The movie was good but a little slow at the few intervals when the rag tag trio were alone escaping the snatchers. Overall thou it was good, filled with fight scenes, chases and even the odd "hot under the collar" scene with Hermaine and Harry kissing. The ending was of course left on a more intense mood with The Dark Lord desecrating Dumbledore's grave, so can't wait for the last movie next year.

After the movie with the credits rolling and people getting up to leave the cinema, I heard the all too sweet sound of coin/coins dropping directly in front of me! And to my surprise the couple in front of me just up-ed and left without looking back so I just peered over the seats and there it was! Another $1 coin!

So after the movie we headed back home to change and left for dinner. She had booked us a wonderful buffet spread at The Line at Shangri-la. Heard great things about the food there so was eager to try it. The fare was plentiful and good, seafood was fresh and the desserts delicious according to her, I was too stuffed at the end that I even struggled to finish my single scope of passion fruit sorbet. Service was good as they cleared any empty plates within a minute of spotting them and filled our glasses fairly quickly. The overall experience there would have been perfect if not for my own gluttony... stuffed myself so much that I had to relieve myself a little by up chucking after we left the restaurant.

Overall the day was nicely spent with her and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Thank you dear for 2 days of awesome fun!

Started with $5.85

Ended Step with $7.85
Time Taken to Complete Step - 14 Days
$1 from her and $1 from me

Into Step 8 Now!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Friday, November 26, 2010

Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!!

Off to Universal Studios later!!!

M$Penguin

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Rants - Insomnia , Aokigahara Forest , Gang Violence

Been having bouts of insomnia these few weeks, not sure what is causing them but in the end I just can't fall asleep... tried readjusting my body clock by staying up straight for 2 days then crashing for something like a 16 hr stretch... but that didn't help at all, got up and stayed up for the next 36 hours again... Not too sure why this is happening again, I've experienced this before but there was always a reason why it happened, usually when I'm troubled by something. But this time it kinda feels different. Its the end of the fiscal year for me and I've cleared my requirements so I'm pretty sure its not work. I've not had any fights of late with anyone, so its not relationships. So what is it? Maybe its due to me feeling lost lately? Been having this feeling of emptiness for some reason, like nothing is behind me, like theres something missing or theres no reason for waking up in the morning? Gotta look for something to occupy my mind.

Anyway I've been whiling this extra time awake by watching videos and researching on things that have peaked my interest.

Being like this kinda reminds me of a, independent movie I watched a few years back called 'Cashback', in which the protaganist is also suffering from insomnia and instead of wasting his time staying awake, he cashes in by taking part time jobs at the local 24 hour supermarket, thus the title, but he also has this special power of stopping time and uses this power for some really whimsical deeds, like stripping the shoppers at the supermarket and drawing them nude. I guess the thoughts of the young can't really stray far from sex right?

Anyway of the many videos and clips I've been watching, one really stood out. Its a documentary about the Aokigahara forest at the foot of Mt Fuji in Japan. It has become widely known as the 'Suicide Forest' because of the extremely high number of people that head there to end their lives, which is partially due to a book that labels the forest as "the perfect place to die".

The documentary itself follows a forest guard that trawls the forest looking for the unfortunates that have decided to end their lives and succeeded. He walks the paths less traveled and looks for signs that someone had once been through the area so that he can retrieve the bodies that they've left behind.

It also touches on why the number of suicides in Japan is on the rise and how the locals feel about their forest being such a draw to suicide seekers. One local commented that the Japanese now are like 'economic creatures' that derive personal value from money, so when one is out of a job and has no money, they feel they have no further value in this world and decide to end it.

Watching this documentary at the witching hour that I did really sent chills down my spine.
It also comes on the heels of a young Japanese male that streamed his suicide live over the internet which caused quite a stir in the online community.

Lately there has also been plenty of news on youngsters in my country as young as 17, hacking and slashing each other with knives and choppers because of so called 'gang related' activities or because they didn't like how they were stared at.

Is the value of life really non-existent to them?
Has society come to a point, where our personal value and self-worth is so linked to how much money one can earn that failure and the loss of a job can lead one to suicide? where because someone looks at you the wrong way it ends up in a slashing?

And to boot, now that North Korea has a new leader he's trying to prove his metal by striking out at the South and showing that he is not afraid to use force. Kinda reminds me of George W.

War for the sake of pride, fighting because of a stare and suicide because of money.

Is it worth it?

M$Penguin

Monday, November 22, 2010

Memories


Found this drawing that a friend of mine drew 2 years ago to represent our group. O does it brings back memories....

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Sigh... As good as gambling..

Well it seems our fishing season / Toami Gyo dream is no more... After spending an additional $50 on the game, we have concluded that our chances are really better if we were to gamble it off at our local casinos, Resort World Sentosa or Marina Bay Sands... even after the $100 entry levy...

The odds are really not in the player's favor and I can understand why they made it so... But we were seduced by the one time success and now have paid for it, luckily it can be considered entertainment and an activity that we do together so not entirely wasted.
Just no more dreams of winning big from playing these games...

O well, back to the drawing boards for us, need to search for more sustainable growth models. So far the comic is still sitting there on my ebay listing.. so nothing that is really done for the sake of increasing the fund through business has succeeded but not to be dismayed as it seems our luck for finding loose money is still there to support us through the next few steps!

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Trolley Money!

Yay! We found our first dollar from supermarket trolleys!

Was driving up the multi-storey car park with her on our way to having dinner when we drove past a trolley just parked there at the side of the car park, I asked her to get out to check if there was a dollar inside, she was skeptical at first but once I got closer she got out and saw that the lock was still in.

So she got out and wheeled the trolley back to the trolley bay which was only like 10 metres away and retrieved the dollar.

She was so happy that she got it and even commented that it was such a shiny dollar coin too. Well since she did the work of wheeling the trolley back to the bay, it shall be counted under her share.

Wonder why someone would just leave a trolley with the dollar still in it when the trolley bay was so nearby.

Guess they were in a hurry or something but hey we're grateful for you trolley abandoners!

Started with $4.85

Ended with $5.85
$1.00 From her

Wish me Luck

M$Penguin

Friday, November 19, 2010

Rants - Lawyer Shows

Not sure what is it with lawyer shows but I love them. From the time Boston Legal aired to now with stuff like The Defenders, The Whole Truth and Outlaw. Not sure what is it with them but I just love them!

Maybe its because lawyers are just normal people with the right wit and a little talent here and there, so it makes us feel like 'hey, we could do that' and when they spin their tales at the opening or closing for a jury hearing, well its like listening to a great story teller trying to get your attention to certain points in his story and make you feel more sympathetic towards either the plaintiff or the defence.

But what I find most intriguing is how they are able to interpret what is written into what is relevant that truly makes a great lawyer at least for the TV. I am lucky to not need any legal assistance as yet so I am not in no position to comment on what is happening in real life, but I do know that practicing law is not as glamorous as TV would put it because well, mundane life has no place for flashy lawyers but only the hard working corporate lawyers out there brokering deals between companies, drawing up paper work for making things easier for the rest of us when we need either loans, insurance or to help the grieving settle estates.

I salute the hard working hidden lawyers out there that whom without our daily lives would be chaotic to say the least.

And to TV stations for commissioning such wonderfully entertaining shows to tickle the boredom of our systems whenever we turn on the TV to unwind.

Been sick the past 2 days, even though it was a public holiday on Wednesday, so have been catching up on TV Shows... Hate being sick, especially when it renders me totally useless with a fever and a cough that doesn't go away..

My friends often laugh when they hear me complain that I have, as I put it "a delicate throat". Its true, every time I eat something fried or crispy like potato chips or fried chicken, the next day my throat gets all sore and I cough to no end, my breathing is laboured and I feel like I'm getting an asthma attack when I don't even have asthma! Just wish that my throat doesn't just sucker punch me like that all the time...

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Arcade Game Fishing Season / Toami Gyo

Did the most unthinkable today, went to the arcade with her to play 'Fishing Season', considering that it was my 2nd visit to the arcade to play this game, I did pretty well.

We have those 1 for 1 vouchers so I changed $5 to get another $5 worth. Managed to only use $3.60 for the entire 2 hours that we were there and managed to get slightly over 500 tickets to redeem for stuff, I actually got a lot more like 700 tickets because I got to the bonus stage with the shark that is worth 500 but because I didn't cash out when I was at my peak, I dropped back to 500, so I essentially wasted my shark...

I'll be able to get my hands on another 1 for 1 voucher so I'll most probably try to sharpen my skills for what is the big leagues of this arcade game.

Right now the tickets that I got can only be exchanged for simple toys like coin-banks, board games and other small stuff, the big leagues are the arcades that you can redeem stuff like Apple iPods, iPads, even the iPhone 4, Sony's PlayStation 3, Nitendo's Wii etc, the High End Stuff.

And those 3 tokens that she found on Sunday are for those Big League Arcades.

Well I guess this will be counted as putting work into the endeavour so I'll see what I can get with those 3 tokens. Won't be using the fund to buy tokens because well to be honest this is kinda like gambling, with stuff instead of money but if I'm able to grow the 3 tokens then it'll be counted.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Monday, November 15, 2010

Enjoying The Night Out And Finding Stuff

Been kinda great the past few days with everything going so well with the endeavour and all.

Today we went to see the musical A Little Night Music which was not a bad stage performance with wonderful actors and actresses, whose voices are extraordinary. They've done a great job with the script but there were the lows in the performance when the fillers took the stage... at one point I almost fell asleep during the solos...

After the show we went walking around the arcade to look at the new arcade game "Fishing Season" in which you are suppose to shoot a whole swarm of fish ranging from small fish that you can kill with 1 shot or a whale shark which needs like 100 shots to kill. The game is kinda like a fruit machine for the younger generation as you get a point that you can redeem for a token if you choose to withdraw the points accumulated, as each token costs 10 cents. It costs a point to shoot once and if you hit a small fish you get a point, if you hit bigger fish and kill them you get from between 2-100 points.

We spent well over an hour there just looking at people playing the game and we got to see a couple get to the bonus stage in which you get a chance to kill a shark worth 500 points! It was really interesting and I may just try my hand at this game the next time we're free.

While there she found 3 tokens so I suppose its worth $0.30? O well, will be chalking them up under the Limbo section for now.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Another Lucky Day!

Wow looks like lady luck is really giving me a nice great smile lately!

Found another $0.95 in total today. 10 cents while shopping for my mom's birthday present with my partner, yes I know my mom's birthday was yesterday but my partner wasn't able to get her a present yet so we went shopping.

It was just there under the rack of clothes on the outside of the rack. I was really happy because I've passed the $4 mark! And needless to say, she was none too happy because her share is slowly shrinking!

:P

Then while walking past the bank's row of Automatic Teller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines and Coin Deposit Machines, I saw at the corner of my eyes that there were coins left in the return slot of the Coin Deposit Machine and Wala! a 50 cent, an old 20 cent, a 10 cent and a 5 cent coin.

The queue at the ATMs must have been surprised that I found money in there as I was just walking by while they were just standing in line waiting.

Opportunity comes to those who look for it, and that was in ways part of this endeavour in the first place.

:)

Started with $3.90

Ended with $4.85
$0.95 From him

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Step 6 Clear!

Wow last night was a really lucky night! I was out with my partner and friends and while we were walking around Borders Bookstore at Wheelock Place, I found a total of $1.30!!!

First a 20 cent coin in plain sight beside a stack of books, then a Dollar coin tucked under a bookshelf near the cashier and a 10 cent coin just in the middle of the walkway. My friends were nice and supportive of me looking for money on floor and one of my best bros even tried dropping coins to mess with me, he is such a clown sometimes but he knows I love him so he gets away with it...

Borders is really my GOLDMINE!!! I've not found so much at 1 location so far, I shall try my luck and visit other Bookstores too! I suppose why I was able to find so much was because Borders Bookstore is fully carpeted so people don't realise that they've dropped coins.

:D

After stating that this blog is now split through the amount that my partner and I find, the competitiveness in her is in high gear and she was really rilled up with my find as it meant that I pulled the gap further between us. She was so close to overtaking me....

:P

So yeah! Into Step 7!

Onward to Glory!

Started with $2.60
Found $1.30 at Borders Bookstore at Wheelock Place
Ended Step with $3.90
Time Taken to Complete Step - 18 Days

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Dad and Mom's Birthday

Today is my dad's 62nd and tomorrow is my mom's 58th birthday and I got them this diabetic friendly chocolate fudge cake from Delcie's Desserts which is a specialty shop for sugar free and vegan cakes, it was really difficult looking for places to get diabetic friendly cakes so thank goodness I was able to find them. It was my first time ordering a diabetic friendly cake so not sure how it would taste like, and how expensive it was.

My parents were pretty surprised that the cake that small was so heavy(1kg) but they soon found out why after they sank their teeth into it.
The chocolate fudge was nice and thick but I guess due to the ingredients used, being unprocessed food, was a little on the oat-ty side. I mean it was delicious and all, just that you could smell the oatmeal, which in my opinion is kinda taking away the pleasure of just biting into the thick chocolate goodness.

I'm fairly certain that my dad has not had chocolate cake in a long long time due to his diabetes so this was a treat as he actually took a second helping of cake! My mom on the other hand wasn't very impressed, even though she also developed diabetes last year, her taste buds I suppose still isn't used to having less sugar in cakes.

But my main concern was for my dad, so the $85 was well spent. Expensive but worth it for his birthday.

O and when I picked my parents up from the train station, my mom told me she found $15 while entering the station in town, 3 $5 notes lying together, some poor dude must have dropped them while taking his EZ-Link card out from his pocket or something.

She thought they was leaves at first until she took a closer look and luckily she did because after noticing the money, she saw that a man further away noticed them too and rushed towards her to get them, but as my mom was closer so she just picked them up and the man stopped in his tracks, with disappointment clearly on his face and walked back to his friend.

I'm sure that it wasn't his money or else he would have approached my mom and said something. I guess I'm not the only person looking out for stray cash. But hey who could blame him, it was $15!

I guess people do get luckier on their birthday.

Wish me Luck and Happy Birthday Dad & Mom!
M$Penguin

Fine Fine Fine

Zzzz got the letter from the traffic police last night for my parking ticket that i got on the 31st of October... really hate losing money like that especially when its $70!!!! What an expensive dinner that turned out to be.. Guess my gig $$ just went to the government...
zzzzz

Wish me Luck

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

More work coming in

Wow its really amazing how fast word of mouth spreads, now I've got another project to complete for my on-and-off gig.

Weet~! here comes another $75! Not bad for an open-sourced based conversion software, some time and a little internet know-how.

If only the projects came in more often, this could really be a great business venture. But sadly the projects are not as prolific in nature as a business would need it to be, so it shall remain a nice side income.

Credit has to be given to my partner for asking for my help a year ago to extract the clips and now for helping spread the word of my services.

Happy :)

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Walking with Dinosaurs

Finally made up my mind to catch Walking with Dinosaurs and I can't wait!!!

Saw the trailers and commercials for it and caught the latest episode of CSI featuring it and IT LOOKS AWESOME!!!

I want a picture with the Raptors and the T-Rex! bwahahha its gonna be so cool!

Can't wait for next month! Gonna be watching it on the 8th so will be posting pictures if I can :)

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Monday, November 8, 2010

Complaining Works!

Haha it seems that lady luck has really kept her eye out for me once I started complaining about the lack of her favor.

I've gotten another request at my on and off gig and that's another 50 bucks! Happy is the person that gets easy good paying work!

:)

But still the task of building up the fund is coming along slowly but surely.

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

How Wonderful the Favor of Lady Luck

Its amusing how when I was just lamenting about the lack of favor from Lady Luck that she decided to grant my endeavor a smile.

My partner found a dollar this afternoon! The minute she picked it up she messaged to say how lucky she was and proceeded to describe to me blow by blow the events that lead to her finding it.

She was rushing out of the house and up the hill when she stepped on something and it went 'cling', she then curiously looked back to survey the area and found a weathered round shape which is thought was only some washer but after a careful look it turned out to be a dollar! She quickly picked the hot piece of metal up and dashed off.

She gave me the coin when we met and showed me where she found it when I sent her home, it was beside a row of parked cars that she found it which I guess is not surprising but what luck!

Now she jokes about how much she's contributed to the endeavor and how she'd one day find more money than I do and this blog would have to change its name due to the hostile take-over.

Its a possibility, but hey isn't competition more fun? So in the spirit of competition, I'll be adding a His and Her count at the Progress Tracker so she'll be able to see how much she has contributed to the endeavor.

Hope I find my next coin soon!

:)

Anyway the cheque for my on and off gig came in the mail yesterday, glad to have an easy gig like that. Hope more opportunities come my way in the future.

Started with $1.60

Ended with $2.60
$1.00 From her

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The Dry Spell Cometh

There really hasn't been any luck for me recently, no findings, no sale of the comic.. even no surveys to do.. which I find really annoying!

Will probably need divine help if this dry spell persists...



Fortuna - Roman Goddess of Luck

Will really need lots of it... O let me catch a glimpse of you O Goddess of Luck...

Wish me Luck
M$Penguin

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Stagnant

*Sigh*
Its been over a week since my last find.. at the office no less.. no loose change has been forth-coming my way and when the opportunity struck for the dollar.. my laziness took over...

What is wrong with me?

Work has been slow, this endeavor has been slow, the only thing that isn't slowing down is the stupid pain in my lower back...

Saw the specialist yesterday with no clear answer, just a suspicion that it might be a spinal disc herniation because a confirmation would need a MRI and it just doesn't justify the cost. Anyway nothing can be done but rest, so just gotta take the pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds... hope it goes away soon, wanna get back to practicing karate.

wish me luck
M$Penguin