Withdrawal Syndrome

Recently I read of an article about a group of ppl in Japan who confine themselves in their rooms and have zero or little social contact with the outside world for long stretches of time, sometimes ranging from months to years, to more than a decade on end. They survive only on instant food from convenience stores and pocket money given by their parents' (who are too soft-hearted to kick them out)

The Japanese have a term for this lost generation and it's called hikikomori which means "withdraw" in japanese.

A brief look of their rooms reveal stashes of comics, DVDs, CDs and Games in which they indulge themselves in while they're moping around in their rooms, unable to face the pressures of society.



Last night, I bought 3 comic books and a Jay Chou DVD. Besides that, I've got a few other DVDs and CDs which I've yet to listen to and games I've not touched in years... yes years... Some of them are still in their shrink wrap. This inlcudes, to name a few on the list, my Battlestar Galactica Season 1 dvds, my ORIGINAL US version of Macross, and Mospeada (old mid-80s anime of transforming motorcycles; old-timers out there should have an idea unless you live in a closet all your life) DVDs, FFX, Gungrave, and many many more, which I think I've already forgotten about, probably stashed somewhere in a corner of some cupboard together with rotting carcasses of cockroaches and rodents... and a skeleton of a neighbour...

whatever it is, I've got a whole stash of media materials for me to consume while I'm officially unemployed for the next 2 months...

yes I'm ready for my hikikomori* lifestyle, stocking up on DVDs, comics, CDs and Games so that I won't feel bored in my 2 months of confinement, constantly injecting myself with excessive dosages of adrenaline to keep myself stimulated... :P

drool.....*

"Wonderland, here I come!!" :)

brainwashed

recently I have this feeling that I'm not myself.

or should I say, I don even know if I'm myself or has something changed.

yeah, I'll be leaving my job in 3 week's time, but I also promised my little boss to help them revamp the road shows so that it's more suitable for implementation on a less labour and talent intensive basis.

well, I had more than half a mind to turn it down until I got the deal that I can do it on my own time and I don't have to report to the office to get it done.

In effect, I'm like a vendor contracted to help them develop the new product and I have nothing to do with the organisation anymore. WOOT! :) it's called freelancing...

well, at least I can put some of my talents to good use. :)

at this period of my life, my head seem to be swimming... I'm not sure if it's due to the late nights I've been having (which had been a prolonged period of time) or it's just cos I'm so busy I lost track of time and space... and reality...

yeah, I can't seem to think or feel straight these days... always in a state of limbo I'd say...

but I'm coping well... think it's probably just a lack of space to think and reflect and give my heart some space to breathe.

yes, ppl, if you're reading this, pls... pls... take some time off to give yourself a little break, be it shopping, catching a movie, or just simply sitting on your couch at home binging on Korean drama serials, whichever works for you... pls go and relac one corner, alright??

I'm so stuck with so many to-dos that I'm like a speeding bullet train heading towards....... God-knows-where!

the next 2 montths while I'm off my job will be a good time for me to just slow down, and pick up the pieces that I've left behind, dust them off the shelves of my brain and crank up my brain for some soulful processing before moving on to the next phase of my life in which God has called me to...

I've a feeling I'll be preparing for my "OUT of the BOAT experience!" (read Peter walking on water when Christ called him)

it'll also be a time of personal house-cleaning and consolidation as I go through my experience working in the last 4 years with the Lord and asking Him to reveal what are the right values to keep and what are the rubbish ones to delete and send them to the bin.

Right now, I'm just going on status quo, purely by the grace of God, taking little snippets of time to bring my head above the water for a breather. :) wooT!

rock on \m/ :)

Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Sorry, guess I was too busy preparing for Chinese New Year and collecting the ang baos to even rem to blog... oops...

think I had the most memorable Chinese New Year's Eve this year.

Me, Chao Yang, his gf Jeannie, Ben, Pei Ling and Say Keat went to cheong at China Town. Super happening neh!

Before we went in, we had to mentally prepare ourselves. Cos every year, if you know, there are hoards of ppl hogging chinatown; some to get the 'FEEL' of the atmosphere, some to pick up cheap goods just hours before the countdown cos prices get slashed right after midnight, so everyone like crouching tiger all go there to wait and pounce on the new year goodies. Cheapos! (actually Chao Yang sugggested doing that...)

some I suspect were heading for Little India but got sucked into the whirlpool of people streaming in... "eh, deh, I tot we going to Serangoon, how come we end up with so many Chinese ppl around us?" (one Indian to another Indian)

It's like Bermuda Triangle, once you go in, you enter another dimension. But the good tthing is, this Bermuda Triangle got food eat while you're happily being sucked in...

"noo... I'm being sucked in... HELP!! .............

hey, got cheese sausages... munch munch... yum yum... hey chocolate coated strawberries!! mmm... nice... coconut drink! wa... slurp...

HELP............"

so, yeah, there we were, being sucked in... *burp... and tthen we got to the centre of the whirlpool which was the vortex of the whole mass congregation of bodies... if you'd think sardines in a can are packed... think again...

we were like meet stuffed in a SAUSAGE!! Imagine human meat SAUAGES! get the image??

ahem, ok let me first explain what this human whirl pool vortex is...

it's a place right smack in the middle of Chinatown where 2 roads meet as a cross junction. So imagine ppl from the north, the south, the east, the west, all come together to meet at this very important place... how important it is? I don't know, I just know that everyone will meet there and cluster. BECAUSE EVERYBODY ENTER NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST INTO THAT PLACE!!!!!

yup, I said my peace...

so we had something like...

Jeannie: "Chao Yang Ge (chinese for brudder)... where are you?"

CY: "Jeannie mei mei... I'm here!"

then the star crossed lovers meet right smack in the centre amidst all the pushing bodies as they stare lovingly into each other's eyes...




Ah Beng: "OI! *$&%($%$^@!! DON BLOCK DE WAY LA!!!"

and there I was happily under the armpit of some beefcake wearing some polo shirt with the TIGER beer logo... yeah baby... it truly is tigerrr... time... bleah...

Well, nuff said about the smelling pushing, flesh pressing against flesh scenario.

We fortunatel or unfortunately did not get from the SOUTH side to the NORTH side through the vortex, we settled instead to traverse the less crowded sidewalk... which minus the stalls and such makes it a bit more stale and atmospheric, but nonetheless we were quite happy to be away from the human sausage making machine... (fully automated, just add people)

We went up to the top of a building which overlooked the place where the firecrackers would go off at the stroke of midnight... this is where the most exciting part happened.

as we stood atop the building with the night breeze blowing in our faces, we counted down with friend and strangers around us as the clock ticked away.

then came the loud splattering sound of the firecrackers going off... it sounded like a string of fart going off, but only louder and better... :)

as we watched the firecrackers go off, out shot the fireworks into the sky.

It was just beautiful to behold, like a painter splashing colours across the black night sky as his palette. One by one they came with different patterns and rhythms of explosions.

Now, I've seen fireworks on TV, but to see them in real life, it's a whole different story... :) it's like you can only stand there and stare cos it's so beautiful.

the whole explosion thingy lasted for like close to ten minutes and us guys just sat at the top of the roof and chatted.

It was a nice way to end the night, just chilling with your closest buddies and enjoying the night breeze.

although I was wondering why we talked about the different ways of doing your laundry and how to wash your laundry in such a way that it doesn't spoil your clothes, which then led to how to iron your shirts... the weirdest topic, if I must say...

but whatever, the fireworks and the firecrackers really made this the most memorable CNY's eve ever