what do you want to play?

oooo Pirate's Cove...
went to pitstop today with 3 other colleagues and we played Pirate's Cove. Always been wanting to try this and finally have the chance!
its a pretty fun game to play with you trying to be the YARRRRRest pirate (i.e. most notorious) one of them all to win the game in 12 turns :) fun fun!

oh and i bought my board games! Got Bohnanza, Dominion and Blokus :)

now this is dominion. Havent really tried it yet but ist primarily a card game where u build up yr deck which utlimately will give you victory points to triumph over the other players. Hope to be able to play it soon! :p

ah blokus.... heheh.. another fun game to play and its especially good for kids as it helps them to think out of the box. besides, its super duper colorful too! :D

everyone needs someone ...

that supports u,
that thinks for u,
that thinks with u,
that knows what u think,
that u know can help u
be it big or small problems,
that u know will love u no matter what
and that you can love, no matter what....


i'm glad i found my wife :P

the ones that started it all....

these are the ones that started the whole board game craze for me....

1) Fortress america
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/99
i remember we were shopping for my birthday gift and we were around the orchard area. I remember we had to go do the basement to this shop that was so crowded with then D&D stuff. I was instantly amazed and wanted to look and see everything. Then we asked the owner for a recommendation and he recommended this game to us. Little did we know how daunting it is for just 2 players to play this game given my limited understanding of how certain things work. I think this game din hold any interest for my brother as it essentially pitted us against each other and usually we dissolve into just playing the little plastic tanks and planes in our imaginary battles :P
isnt it interesting how such a game like this in today's context might be appropriate? not sure where the game went already...

2) panzer leader
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2639
This was bought i think due to my attraction to WWII. This one is rather tough to play (as a teenager) due to the authentic army icons that represent troops and the various calculations involved. That and of course the lack of plastic tanks for me to play with :(. It seems to have been passed on to my cousin who still has it and plays it. He told me it contributed to his interest in board gaming :)... Glad i helped!

3) talisman
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27627
This was introduced to me by my primary school friend Keith (american as i recall). This was very fun for us as it was my first D&D type game. I am thinking of buying the new version (just to remember how it was back then).. hopefully i can peak the interest of some of my frens to play this as well!

4) dragonlance
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/795
Another game introduced by Keith and involves us flying dragons and killing each other. I think i wasnt too good at this but well, there were plastic dragons (see the trend here?) and that was fun :)

5) car wars
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2795
Can't remember how i got this game but the content it has provided me with several hours of fun just by reading and designing cars and imagining. There was a PC version of this game if i recall correctly. Ultimately though, those cardboard 2D pictures of cars and oil slicks etc provided me with hours of fun! not sure where this went....

6) lost valley of the dinosaurs
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3149
ah this game brings back so many wonderful memories. This game we played also with my cousins and involves us as teams of adventurers venturing into a valley to a temple to retrieve gold pieces. Along the way there are quick sands, serpents in swamps, swooping Pterodactyl, roaming T-Rexes and of course, the flowing lava. All in all, it provided for many a good fun (even without the game we would play with the t-rexes). not sure what became of this though.. but i remembered this was a XMAS or Bday present. Good times... good times....

7) Pay day
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1797
ah.......another very fun game. I think this one my parents played with us before. Quite fun involving living through the calendar and trying to earn as much money as you can at the end of the month. Think there's property involved too.... heheh its been so long ago....

there is 1 more rather unique one which my cousins had which involves buying shipping companies, having ships and transporting goods and selling them. Can't really remember the name so no reference so far.... but it was rather fun too as i recall (and also there are plastic ships if it wasnt :p)

of course we have the usual monopoly and cluedo and chess and uno etc. :) but those above are a bit more unique so i decided to highlight them.

are you game?

recent gatherings with my cousins have triggered the board game bug in me again and i am so looking forward to an upcoming gathering where they can all gather @ my place and us "kids" play our board games whereas the adults do what they usually do :p
here are some of the games i've played these 2 months:

1) PANDEMICthis is a co-op game. Similar to Shadows over Camelot. Basically you and your fellow players are medical professionals out to rid the world of diseases. So as each turn progresses, the epidemics will spread around the world and may run rampant, depending on how well you and your fellow players deal with each situation and plan ahead. For me, this was ok, we only played it once so cant really judge too much but so far its avg for me. Wifey liked it better :)

2) Guillotine
i've always wanted to try this game but never had a chance to. My cousin had it to we tried it and it was quite fun! i then played it again with my colleagues and they had fun too. Its simple really and involves obtaining heads with the most points and trying to prevent other players from obtaining these high-pointed heads as well. Though it might seem morbid to some, but its a good game with some historical background as well (as all this did happen....) I loved it and i cant wait to introduce wifey to this!


3) UptownPlayed this with my colleagues the 2nd time we went to the board game cafe. its not as exciting and reminds me of blokus n GO. So its mostly just average to me. Maybe we just need to play it a bit more faster for a bit more excitment. But with not much depth and boring graphics, this is only so-so for me.

4) Bohnanza
this is a easy to learn and rather fun game that involves bits of planning + bargaining and trading which allows for a rather loud, noisy and fun game to play. Had quite a lot of fun especially with my younger cousins who picked up the game rather quickly and we had a whale of a time trying to bargain with the younger kids :) Very much recommended and I should be purchasing this soon! :P

When you wake all your troubles be gone

The weekend was filled with loads of laughter, hugs, and tears.

If I had described the atmosphere in that room to you, you'd think we were having a party amongst friends who haven't met in the longest time.

That room was one in a NUH ward, and the star was my aunty LF.

As she lay there, not being able to speak but still being able to respond, she continued to show us what a fighter she was.

And since she couldn't go home, we brought home to her - in the form of pillows, music, books and people. Even my aunt from US flew down to be with her.

In her best years, she was active, and adventurous. She'd try any food you threw at her, and climb every mountain she could.

She was the quirkiest aunt I've ever had, saying things you'd never expect to hear someone of her generation and upbringing would say.

She loved her nieces and nephews like she did her two sons - now married, one with child on the way.

I remember how she'd used to take us out for meals at Tony Roma's because she loved to chew on them ribs.

She was never one to be bitter, even though she had to grow up really fast to support her family. According to my mom, she was like a second mother to my aunties and uncles.

She was the epitome of a model citizen and a hard worker. She didn't have a bad bone in her body.

But what many people didn't know, was how hard she fought the cancer that came back time and again to try and take her.

Through all the fighting, she never let on the amount of pain she felt because she didn't want people to worry. Not about her. Because she felt we all had bigger things to worry about.

Today, it seemed like the cancer won out. Over the last week, it slowly took the rest of her body - organ by organ - until this morning, when it took her lungs, and her heart.

But even as she gasped her last breath, she wasn't one to have people worry about her. She went quietly, and peacefully.

The truth is that her body really couldn't have contained her any longer. She was just waiting to bust out of the vessel that's been tying her down.

She is bigger than her body.

And we celebrate her busting out of the thing that we all saw as an obstacle to her self.

She can now defy gravity, and nothing's going to bring her back down.

We love you aunty LF. Go be where you need to be, and we'll see you later.

We promise we'll keep laughing in your honor. =)

when the time comes.....

how does it all end?
how do u want it to end?
how do u want all those around you to treat the whole thing?
typically, in many tradditional families, its met with lots of sadness and this continues on to a drone like mode to perform a list of activities dictated by our ancestors.
This week, i was pleasently surprised at how wife's relatives are treating the whole thing when one of their own is taken away.
There is the usual sorrow and tears, but there is an unusual amount of sharing, caring, happiness, joy and even laughter.
Its because they think back on the happier times which they had shared with wife's aunt, how she used to be and how vibrant and caring she was before cancer's repeated attacks on her body.
Her aunt passed on Monday(09/02/2009) morning and the usual activities that are to be done are now being done. However there will be unusual tweaks to the norm that the family will be planning. For example, playing Aunt LF's favourite music and even another party to celebrate her life with all her favourite foods.
Such is their way of dealing with a passing of someone dear. Such is their celebration of life, celeration of her life and how our lives are enriched by hers.
Such is how i hope to be remembered as well when the time comes....

you dog has what now?

so in our estate there is this very smart n pretty dog that our Comet likes to play with. This dog's pretty smart n obedient. Whenever the owner calls, he will come running.. he even manages to stay still while the owner goes to 7-11 to buy. So cool!
Now recently we saw the owner had shaved off all the hair off the dog. Now he looks like a minature greyhound. I finally got to meet up with them last night for Comet's evening walk and asked what happened.
Apparently when they were not around (they had gone for a long holiday leaving the house vacated), the house has (or had!) a lot of ticks. And they had to shave the poor boy so as to remove all the ticks!
As he was saying this, i gasped (mentally) in horror as i see Comet all over the dog (body contact body contact!) and waved them goodbye as i brought Comet up.



i feel like a parent who's kid has just been exposed to someone else's sick kid...

AHHAhaa....