Celebrating Holi

It's the festival of Holi, something that I won't forget after my first experience with it.

Go out there and share in the fun of throwing colours at each other!

LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter set

After all the fun with the X-Wing starfighter, we finally got the LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter (set 9492), which is the "sister" set. Although the two sets cost the same, the TIE Fighter has less pieces, and is actually easier to build. My son was able to build the set all by himself, unlike when he was building the X-Wing. All in all, it took slightly more than an hour to put together this set.

Besides the pilot, this set comes with an Imperial officer (the gray guy), a Death Star trooper, and R5-J5 (the black droid). Now we are all set to play out the epic battle between X-Wing and TIE Fighter.

Before we got the set, we made a small one out of LEGO blocks too. I guess it is time to retire this little guy and recycle his parts for something else.

Frozen (film)

I finally caught the show "Frozen" today at the theatre. I think today is the last day it is showing on the big screen in Singapore. And I am glad I did.

"Frozen" is a very good show on sisters and their relationship with each other. The sisterly rivalry, the sister fun that is shared, the sisterly love. Elder sister watching out for younger sister, younger sister getting over her head on things like love.

There is also the part about being free to be oneself. About being alone so that one can be oneself. About how a person can run away from others, but cannot run away from herself. And it takes courage to let it go, to be oneself and not care about what others may say.

The movie also deviates a bit away from classic fairy tales. We don't have princes coming to save the day and rescue the princess here. And the Ice Queen (Elsa) in this case is not the villain. Instead, she has a gift that she was told to keep secret, to keep hidden.

The movie also brings back the tradition of musicals within the animated film, like "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Pocahontas". Using songs as part of the story, such as "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", "For the First Time in Forever" and "Let It Go" adds an emotionally powerful perspective to the story.

Now I can't wait to get my hands on the DVD... :)

"Let It Go" (English version)
"ありのままで" (Japanese version of "Let It Go", my favourite rendition of the song)

Let It Go (Japanese version)

Let It Go (Japanese version)
performed by Matsu Takako (松たか子)

降り始めた雪は 足跡消して
真っ白な世界に一人の私
風が心にささやくの
このままじゃだめなんだと

戸惑い傷つき
誰にも打ち明けずに
悩んでたそれももう
やめよう

ありのままの 姿見せるのよ
ありのままの 自分になるの
何も恐くない
風よ吹け
少しも寒くないわ

悩んでたことが嘘みたいね
だってもう自由よ
何でも出来る

どこまでやれるか
自分を試したいの
そうよ変わるのよ 私

ありのままで 空へ風に乗って
ありのままで 飛び出してみるよ
二度と涙は 流さないわ

冷たく大地を包み込み
高く舞い上がる思い出描いて
花咲く氷の結晶のように
輝いていたい
もう決めたの

これでいいの
自分を好きになって
これでいいの
自分を信じて

光浴びながら
歩き出そう
少しも寒くないわ

Let It Go (English version)

Let It Go
performed by Idina Menzel

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,
not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside.
Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I tried.
Don't let them in, don't let them see.
Be the good girl you always have to be.
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.
Well, now they know!

Let it go, let it go!
Can't hold it back any more.
Let it go, let it go!
Turn away and slam the door.
I don't care what they're going to say.
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway.

It's funny how some distance,
makes everything seem small.
And the fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do,
to test the limits and break through.
No right, no wrong, no rules for me.
I'm free!

Let it go, let it go.
I am one with the wind and sky.
Let it go, let it go.
You'll never see me cry.
Here I'll stand, and here I'll stay.
Let the storm rage on.

My power flurries through the air into the ground.
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back; the past is in the past!

Let it go, let it go.
And I'll rise like the break of dawn.
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand, in the light of day.

Let the storm rage on!
The cold never bothered me anyway...

LEGO troop transport

A LEGO creation by my son. When I asked him what it is, he said it is the one that Yoda rode. I think he meant this:

This is actually a Low Altitude Assault Transport, used to transport troops.

LEGO has this as the Republic Gunship, set 75021.

LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter set

We got the LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter (set 9493) recently. It was a bit too difficult for my son, but with a little help from me (mostly to hint if he put the pieces in the wrong places), we managed to put together this great LEGO model of the X-Wing starfighter in about 2 hours.

He loves playing with it, especially with the wings snapping into attack position by turning a knob at the rear. And the set comes with a lightsaber for Luke Skywalker (depicted as a pilot), and his favourite R2-D2. In this set, R2-D2 has to sit sideways; he solves this by turning R2-D2's head sideways so that R2-D2 continues to look ahead when sitting behind the canopy.

Only problem is that this set comes with only the front landing gear. There are no main landing gears; something which I will probably make good by fixing a few pieces of LEGO blocks near the engines.

All in, this is a great set, easy enough to put together in a short time, simple yet effective way to open and close the wings, and 2 pilots (one of them is Luke Skywalker) and 2 droids (one of them is R2-D2).

10 years

10 years. How time flies! Thank you for standing by me all these years, especially when things were not going as expected. And thank you for bringing Ren and the joy he brings, and for bringing him up to become such a fine kid.

Looking forward to many more 10 years.

Stuck in front of a desk

Haha, it is official. I hate being stuck in front of a desk, staring at a computer screen. Unless it is playing games, of course.

Being given a desk job is torture. 8 hours a day, within 4 walls, looking at the computer. That's not what I want. I really prefer being with people, interacting with them, talking to them. Not all the time, just to brainstorm ideas, talk through solutions. Eventually, things still needs to be put into documents, to be documented down by typing at the computer. But it is very different because there is that people-to-people interaction.

Let's see how it all works out.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today also happens to be the 15th day of the first lunar month, traditionally the "Valentine's Day" of the Chinese. So it is a double Valentine's Day, something that happens every once in a while.

Probably see a lot more weddings today...

Broke upgrade to Linux Mint 16... sigh...

Okay, my bad, I tried to upgrade my system from Linux Mint 15 to 16 using apt, and I think I broke the installation quite badly.

Have been trying to fix it for quite some time now. Still doesn't work.

Anyway, what I did:
Replace the repositories to point to Linux Mint 16 instead.
apt-get update
apt-get distro-upgrade

I don't remember much after that. The system couldn't boot properly, first giving problems with X. Tried to fix that, thinking it could be problem with Nvidia drivers... and now, it just shows a black screen on boot up.

Guess I may have to reinstall the whole things from scratch... ouch.

The LEGO Movie

Just caught this movie the other day. The LEGO Movie. Being a LEGO fan, with my son also very into LEGO recently, it was something that we both wanted to watch. Go catch the movie, you won't be disappointed, especially if you are a LEGO fan.

The minifigures move like minifigures, with arms and leg moving only along one axis. You will recognise some items from the various LEGO series. Even the LEGO Star Wars series had a short bit in the film, with the Millenium Falcon turning up with Han Solo, Chewbacca, C3PO and Lando.

Most importantly, my son was taught that he doesn't need to buy every LEGO set there is. He can use the parts that he has to build things that he wants, without having to follow the instructions each time. Well, not that he does, anyway. Just look at his Imperial shuttle. And he even has a TIE fighter and X-Wing now (okay, these were built with quite some help from me).

But while you can use LEGO parts to build your own stuff, minifigures are harder to "configure" on your own... and thus the recent craze is to get minifigures...

LEGO Imperial shuttle

My son showed this to me the other day. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was the spaceship that Darth Vader has in Star Wars.

I think he was referring to this, the Imperial shuttle that he saw at Legoland California.

Kids can be so creative.

A different path

Today, I officially ended a journey that started in 2005, and tomorrow, I will be embarking on another journey, a different path. No fanfare, just a simple thank you to the people who have been with me.

I will miss the life at sea. The sunrises and sunsets, the beautiful night sky full of stars. The rough seas, the sea breeze.

Most of all, I will miss working with the people.

Welcoming the year of the Horse

The year of the Horse is here again! Wishing everyone a good year ahead. May fortune smile on you, and success come your way!

According to the fortune teller, this is not going to be a lucky year for me. So for myself, I just hope that I will be able to live peacefully through the days, and get by the year without ups and downs.

Anyway, did the usual walk around the floral centre nearby. This year, things are a lot quieter. The crowd was less, the atmosphere not as lively. It has been like this since they converted half of the floral centre into an open air car park, leaving half the shops in place. I wonder how long things can last... it is a bit sad, since Chinese New Year's Eve brings back a lot of memories about how I used to help out at the shop. Selling plants, helping out with the last-minute deliveries. I miss riding at the back of a lorry in the middle of the night as we did our delivery rounds. Time really flies by.