theCollectiveUs

Travel agencies have vacation photos plastered all over their walls and we walk in to purchase a trip to those places. Bridal shops have photos of couples plastered all over their walls. Why can’t we walk in to purchase a husband? Or wife. Or both if you’re into swinging.

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Why doesn’t anyone make bikinis that look like this -

Apparently, I learn that committing something like 20 random names and their associated details to memory is not such a good idea because I forgot one and trying to recap 3 months of daily events hurts my head. I then did the next best thing and went off to play this new Wii game I got, de Blob.

It’s a pretty interesting game, very casual and kid-friendly. The controls are a bit sketchy at times but it’s acceptable. I’m trying to 100% levels on my first playthrough and I’m surprised it doesn’t get boring despite each level taking something like 45 minutes. Still, definitely not a $40 game; $30 would be fair. Maybe it’s just me but I’m not convinced that any Wii game should cost more than $40 and that’s the only reason why I haven’t bought any Mario games yet. Super Mario Galaxy for $70? That’s a bit steep. I’d pay $50 for it. The New Super Mario Bros costs between $70-80 in stores. I could get No More Heroes and de Blob with that and still have a bit of change.

I finished Lego Batman for the 360 last week and am trying to unlock everything. It’s still as fun as the previous Lego titles but I remember being much more impressed with Lego Star Wars on the PSP. I was actually quite wary of breaking the game and made an effort to play through the levels the expected way just so I don’t screw up my progress. A very real fear mind, considering that I managed to freeze the last game I played and encountered a non-progression 10 minutes into Batman.

Batman came as a dual disc set with PURE, this ATV race/stunt game. I don’t quite know what to make of it – I’d usually like games like that but I got impatient after about 15 minutes.

In the last fortnight, I also got to try out Kingdom Hearts 365/7 which bored me immensely from the onset. I don’t think I can ever play a Square RPG anymore without evoking bad memories of FFX-2. Yeesh.

I meant also to talk a bit about The Force Unleashed. I popped the Sith Edition disc in my 360 and wondered why I stopped playing the game when it was quite a fun shoot-em-up. The level ended and the load screen showed some details about a later level. And then I remembered the massive headache the cameras in that level induced. THAT was why I stopped playing.

There seems to be this recent phenomenon where people like to overuse “open-inverted commas” on every other “word” whether or not it “makes sense”.

I propose starting a movement where we correct random blog posts and repost them in the comments.

We need a Facebook group. Who’s with me?

This vid’s been around for some time but it pretty much sums up why anyone would unicycle. There’s an OCD streak in all of us. Which also explains why I’m *still* playing LEGO Batman.

My knees feel pretty rotten today after a 30km ride on Alice’s 24″ Miyata. The wheel’s a bit crooked so the balance was (more than) a little off and that resulted in my having to rest my weight on my knees more than I should. That also meant that my seat chaffed against every bit of skin it was in contact with. I was dead slow too – apparently the cranks are 140mm, not 125mms.

I’m quite convinced I should stick to the original plan of bringing my 20″ unis to Unicon instead. At least I’ll have use of my knees at the end of the day.

1 more month to Unicon!

While fixing a unicycle, I walked into the frame and sliced off a bit of my toe. There’s this 0.2cm thick chunk hanging from my toe. I think it’s mostly skin though but I didn’t want to examine it further so I pressed the bit back into the gaping hole and held it there with a plaster.

So anyway. We had this training session at work this week where one of the components was a personality test. I found it particularly interesting that the summary stated that I “may have difficulty relating to people she (I) see as over-concerned with health, safety and comfort issues. There’s also a point that states that I “should avoid china shops”.

It’s also worthy to note that today’s the first day in a WEEK that I can move my arm in circles, use a spanner, scratch my back with no pain and open a door without using both hands.

As I look to my ceiling right now, I notice there’s a piece of it missing after my dad fixed up new curtain rails. I think some things run in the family.

So wakeboarding today wasn’t much fun when it started to rain 10 minutes and three faceplants into the session. We learn that (by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’ but I like referring to myself in the plural form so it sounds like we’ve a general opinion going) wakeboarding is thus called because sea water in your nose really does wake you up.

Oh, and fresh scabs really do sting when in contact with sea water. Salt HAS antiseptic properties right?

But we learn, we learn.

This is actually a game I’ve wanted to try out since I read its review. It sounded really like my sort of game on paper. It’s minimalist to a fault with no fancy-pansy story or graphics and no need for instructions or complicated button combos. It’s one of those games where you hit Start and get down to business. IGN gave it a 9.0 in its one-page review too if that’s the sort of thing that’s sway your vote.

In it, you play as a ninja dude who runs and jumps his way across a 2D maze filled with coins (get), mines (don’t get) and simple enemies (don’t touch). Your objective is to activate a switch somewhere in the level to open a door so you can advance.

Sure enough, it is pretty fun. Each level is a 30 second affair – good because my attention span is usually only 1.5 times of that – and when you’re through with it, you can create your own levels and laugh hysterically as Ninja Dude falls to his doom for the n-th time. Pun intentional. What I really hate is that the Suicide button is just slightly away from the Jump button – X and A respectively so there’s a good chance you’d hit the wrong button mid-level.

Nonetheless, I quit about 6 minutes into playing the game. As my luck with games go, in Minute 5, I managed to produce a bug that cause controls to be disabled. Restarting bored me.

Last weekend, we spent a LOT of time teaching almost 30 strangers to unicycle. There were quite a lot of kids which was quite cool since I’ve always been under the impression that too many parents are over-protective and we maintained our track record of ZERO injuries. It’s really a myth that unicycling is dangerous and falling will cause you to break anything from teeth to legs to toes.

It’s hugely tiring – I think I spent something like 14 hours over 2 days moving unicycles and teaching unicycling for free, no less, but it’s very rewarding when you have people who’re interested enough to turn up and who’re appreciative of the sessions.

On a related note, this video has inspired me to spend a good part of today playing Mechanic on my unicycles.

The vid rekindled my interest to learn crank rolls which I found out was quite impossible on my freestyle uni because it’s got really short cranks and a crazily-slippery tire. My trials uni has loose bearings which caused the frame to shift left and right when I’m riding. One of the pedals also has a loose axle which meant my pedal would shift left and right as well independently of the frame and the wheel as I ride. I found a spare hub with good bearings attached which made me quite happy until I realised I had no bearings remover and I can’t get the cranks out of my uni anyway because my hub had a hollow spindle and my crank extractor goes right through it.

In non-technical terms, my uni’s spoilt

I’ll be riding my pimped up freestyle uni to work tomorrow. It’s gonna be fun.

Today has been random.

I had the best conversation ever with a cab driver today while going to work. My workplace happens to be at an eastern location with the word ‘business’ in it.. As we were turning into the building, this happened-
Driver: You don’t need to work today ah?

Me: (thinking it’s probably a reference to my casual tog) I AM going to work.

Driver: Oh, I thought you’re going to the polo club.

Me: Uh no, what’s that?

Driver: You look like you’re going horse riding.

Me: Har? No. I didn’t know you can do that in Singapore. Where’s it?

Driver: Thomson (which is kind of north-ish).

On a related note, the cab driver on Saturday was certain I worked in Sales. He also stopped for us because I had a ‘Pick Me’ sign hung around my neck.

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Someone called me up inviting me for a lunch this weekend because “we’ve got a new sponsor and they’re throwing a welcome luncheon”. Sorry, what sponsor and WHAT?

*cue verbal diahorrhea at 65mph*

Excuse me?

Caller: Are you single or married?

Me: Married

Caller: Oh great. You are entitled to *random free stuff and vouchers* What time will you be here on Saturday?

Me: Oh, I’ll have to check with my husband first to see when he’s free because he’s driving.

Caller: Can I put you down for Sunday then?

Me: My kid has tuition on Sunday so I’ll have to confirm it with you at a later date.

Caller: *more undecipherable verbal vomit*

We politely say our goodbyes and hang up.

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