The Blue Fox Alley

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Things one has to blog at all cost

1. Lame ass attempt to attract attention

2. A post of outdoors shots and silly confessions of one’s poor skills with photography

3. My Otaku Room

4. A trip to the Holy Otaku Mecca and take pictures of purchased goods all spread and laid over a bed.

5. Post pictures of my cat.

Well then….

Hi people! I shall be delivering a special edition here at The Blue Fox Alley! It is called -A Day In Singapore-! I am so creative.

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Well Singaporeans have a variety of pass times to spend their weekends. I started this day by going down to a reservoir [translator's note: a water catchment] to offer support to the dragon boat team I belong to at this event known as the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival. Schools, companies and even the public sector sent their teams to participate in it.

Because it is a dragon boat competition, I was expecting myself to be overwhelmed by the asphyxiating air of PASSION, LOVE, COURAGE and FRIENDSHIP. Is it not the spirit of competition that brings out such emotions? Well the entrance into the reservoir park did not show much of PASSIONS, LOVE, COURAGE and FRIENDSHIP as there were only a few people loitering around there. And there were some food vendors trying cash in on the crowd that was attracted and gathered there.

Alright, I was starting to get a feel of the event when I saw a particular team pass by me. Panting and sweating under the hot sun, those were the sights I had been expecting to get me excited. It was not long before I was greeted by the booming voice of the commentator, amplified by speakers. A race was taking place so I increased my pace to join the crowd.

But by the time I found a spot, the race was over and the participants were returning with their boats. And no I shall not make an silly reference to ‘Nice Boat’ because I am a vegetarian.

With a shrug, I decided to wander around to get a feel of what was going on in the park. Things got lively upon reaching the heart of the event. The participating teams had tents allocated for them as shown from the banners. Even American, German and Australian teams took part in this competition so it was not really limited to just the locals.

So it was at this point that I figured out that perhaps I ought to stop taking pictures of the those resting at their tents as some people were getting uneasy.

Eventually I found my way to the tent where my dragon boat team was at. Unfortunately for me, I had missed their race and everyone was already having their meals. A diligent manager, whom I had never met since I am pretty new to the team, had made the tent a comfortable area to recuperate and chill so everything was fine. After speaking to some of the teammates, it appeared that we had lost terribly to the other teams. But I reckon this competition was a good experience for those who had competed, and it was a valuable lesson for them to take home to reflect on what went right and wrong. Let us move on now that I am done with my obligatory attempt at euphemism. *hopes no one from the team reads this*

After chatting for a while, I carried on with my explorations and found quite a few people armed with cameras. I guessed they were after a piece of the action as well, capturing the moment of heated competition in those shots. The sound of the drum suggested the next race had begun so I got as close as I could to check it out. I was not alone as there were others happily snapping away with their wicked looking cameras. They are called DSLR, and are the epic final weapons of hobbyists of photography or boys who love to take pictures of PVC figures under the hot sun.

Noticing that I was surrounded by DSLRs, I gave a chuckle as I took out my tiny digicam. It was not long before I started to hear sounds of rapid clicking and it turned out to be this white dude holding a DSLR.

I could have gotten a better shot of him with his big toy but he would have noticed and get the wrong idea of some sort.

So anyway the above picture presents an accurate portrayal of my feelings as I stood next to the white dude with the DSLR.

An hour after arriving at the reservoir park, I noticed that I was not really getting pumped up by all the action going on despite having seen quite a number of races. But I assure you it would be different if you were on the boat instead of watching from afar.

After spending about two hours at the place, I decided it was time to leave. Saying my goodbyes, I headed to another destination.

ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWAH. Get it?

Ta-da! What a drastic change! From the great outdoors to a crowded convention. After having lunch and a bit of wandering around, I moved on check on the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention that was taking place. Without any clue of what I could expect, I joined the rest of the crowd as they swarmed into the convention hall.

As there was no specific entrance or exit, it was pretty difficult to either enter or leave the hall as they were pretty clogged by the stagnant flow of people. Hey but who am I to kid? Conventions are all about getting frustrated at how screwed up the management is and whining about the lack of consideration from others.

The first booth I came across was actually Nintendo’s but since it was just next to the entrance of the hall, I reckon I make it the last stop after touring the rest of the place. Moving on, I got lost and found myself in the centre of the hall where Ban Dai was displaying a collection of Master Grade Gunpla models.

Before I forget, allow me to profess about my poor photography skills! I suck!

I resumed my act of getting lost among the crowd, passing by more stalls. There were a few foreign artists/designers/whatever who were invited to the convention as well. Because I do not know them (I only know Britney Spears), I moved on after taking a glimpse of those booths.

Hmm…

Well said.

Fancy stuff. Someone is pretending to look busy.

A familiar sight.

Bravo! Very familiar indeed.

Ha. It was interesting to see Odex setting up a booth to promote some new game and a show based on the game itself. Seriously it would have been awesome to see them put up some banner with a message like ‘Let’s Be Friends’ or ‘For Fans By The Fans’. Even a ‘LOL’ is fine. That would have given me a boner.

As intended, I returned to the Nintendo booth. The DS and the Wii were displayed and the crowd were welcomed to try out the demos offered.

Back in my days in Army, I was introduced to Guitar Hero 2 on the PS2 and easily it was for me to get addicted onto it. I had the urge to try out a song from the Guitar Hero 3 game but decided not to since the only song I am interested in playing is Sweet Child Of Mine by Guns and Roses. That song is really fun to play on Hard or Expert mode.

And this picture brought me to realise I was probably standing right next to AN celebrity anime blogger by the name of Double! Oh my mind clitoris was tingling when I read his post and saw a picture of the same cosplayers having a go with Guitar Hero 3.

So that concludes A Day (Saturday) In Singapore!

Note: This post was intended to be published on Saturday but it was delayed because I wanted to obtain a screenshot of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa by all means.

Note 2: Did I mention that I suck at photography! ^^

MADDOX!