The One on Old Place

After a whole busy week of of packing and unpacking (which accounts for the absences of so many posts over the past few days), Sotongball has successfully shifted to his new fridge. And he want to give thanks to the Old Fridge that has housed him for one and a half years. 

Let me give you a little tour of the old place especially to those of you who did not have a chance to visit me before, for one reason or another ;) :

Once you walk into the house, you'll be greeted with a rather empty but spacious living room. Of course the PLU magazines on the rack at the bottom left hand are at your disposal to entertain yourself as a guest in STB's place.

A slightly different angle from the door, toilet on your left and kitchen on your right. STB's room is just right to the kitchen door.

Yet another different angle on the living room. You can see the dining table and of course the infamous balcony where Romeo meets Juliet... not.

Here's the balcony where STB used to smoke at, I mean, get smoked. No no no, STB don't smoke cigarettes, and neither is he adventurous enough to "smoke" at his balcony too.

Now here's something true: that's the white "Glass House" whose occupant is a bachelor in his early 40's tops. During Christmas the guys were standing at the balcony overlooking a bunch of guys who were in the Glass House. I guess either side is just waiting for each other to display their rainbow flags so that we can cross over.

Here's Sotongball's room, it is as neat as it can get and I'm sure a lot of the BWers has seen the worse of it. Really, why STB likes his room so much is because he rarely spent any time in the room. It's for him to sleep, change, surf, TV and tabao sex. 

Last words to my old place,

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to experience what is it like to pay for my rent and expenses.

Thanks for being very close enough to town yet spotting a low rent.

Thanks for giving me a neighborhood full of queers, especially the good friend living diagonally across.

Hope the next tenant will love it as much as I did.

Farewell

Sotongball wants to thank the friends who had helped him to move: Chat, Buaya, Seekstock, LupCheong and OralB.  And also NFB for giving STB a gift for his new house ( of course more gifts are always welcomed from the rest ;P )

The One on Chat's Birthday

Yes he does not want me to interview him for whatever reason, but Sotongball thinks this good friend of his deserves to be mentioned in STB's Blog during his birthday.

Of course it's none other than Chat, aka Btm40/41/now 42 :) Those of you guys who do not know him probably do not go into the IRC channel. As Chat is not a registered member in the Blowing Wind Forum but he is always logged onto the chatroom thanks to 3G connection and Nokia E Series.

So, the four of us went for dim sum brunch in 幸福飲茶 (Fortunate Restaurant) in Toa Payoh on a Sunday morning, after torturing him to stay up together with us who were playing MJ. In the evening, bunch of us went to having 崇慶火鍋 at Beach Road. Followed by coffee in Starbucks.

Here's the makeshift "cake" we came out with for him:

As secretive as he is about himself, even the closest 3 of us did not know about his birthday till half an hour before midnight, well it also revealed how "unconcerned" we are, so the other Two please tell me your birthdays like NOW. I hope Chat has truly found a place where he belong, no more loitering alone in Orchard Road (as we can always hang out with him), no more church hopping (he's too occupied to do that now).

To make up for the absence of Singing Saturday this week, Sotongball will dedicate a song for Chat my good friend. May you prove to other gay men in Singapore there is a happy ending for singles over forty afterall. :)

光良－勇氣

Verse 1

终于做了这个决定
别人怎么说我不理
只要你也一样的肯定
我愿意天涯海角都随你去
我知道一切不容易
我的心一直温习说服自己
最怕你忽然说要放弃

Chorus
爱真的需要勇气
来面对流言蜚语
只要你一个眼神肯定
我的爱就有意义
我们都需要勇气
去相信会在一起
人潮拥挤我能感觉你
放在我手心里 你的真心

Verse 2

终于做了这个决定
别人怎么说我不理
只要你也一样的肯定
我愿意天涯海角都随你去
我知道一切不容易
我的心一直温习说服自己
最怕你忽然说要放弃

Chorus
爱真的需要勇气
来面对流言蜚语
只要你一个眼神肯定
我的爱就有意义
我们都需要勇气
去相信会在一起
人潮拥挤我能感觉你
放在我手心里 你的真心

Bridge
如果我的坚强任性
会不小心伤害了你
你能不能温柔提醒
我虽然心太急 更害怕错过你

Chorus
爱真的需要勇气
来面对流言蜚语
只要你一个眼神肯定
我的爱就有意义
我们都需要勇气
去相信会在一起
人潮拥挤我能感觉你
放在我手心里 你的真心

Happy Birthday, STB will make an effort to remind you of your "mission" by singing this song every KTV session we go to. ;)

The One on Rent (the movie)

For any modern musical fans, you should have heard of Jonathan Larson's Rent. Sotongball is not those atas and civilized type who attend all these productions in the Esplanade, (though he had the privillege to perform in the concert hall numerous times) but he does enjoy a couple of good cinematized encores of musical productions.

Sotongball first chanced upon Rent's Seasons of Love in his college choir farewell practice. The intro never fails to captivate you right at the start:

link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Py_HRW-zg6k

Then, like any gay man with good taste, STB's soon-to-be-ex housemate has a vast collection of non-porno gay materials. So on a bored Sunday afternoon, STB decided to borrow his Rent DVD.

Rent reminds me of the camaraderie in the sitcom series Friends, it talks about the lives of 8 friends staying in modern New York City. Instead of the hehe hahas all the way, Rent encompasses a darker tone with bunch of outcast characters.

The story touches on the harsh reality of life. From the fear of eviction (we know how burdensome rents can be when we live outside), to being a carrier of HIV/AIDS from drug abuse. In the midst of all this abyss, it is comforting to watch the characters not living in despair and whine about their sad sad lives. But they are filled with hope and even the motivation the make a song out of every situation (duh, it's called a musical...)

People like us will love this movie for the fact that it features two homosexual couples, two men with AIDS, 1 black + 1 drag queen); and a bisexual slut with her Harvard grad lawyer girlfriend. Their relationships are quite apparently not the perfect happy-ending ones but one that most of us can identify with: tolerance for your bf's compulsive behavior, acceptance for who your other half is and sticking together no matter how bad the current situation is.

Besides, the soundtracks in the movie are quite listenable and each fits into the mood of different scenes nicely. STB's favorite soundtracks from the movie includes: Seasons of Love, No Day but Today, I Should Tell You and I'll Cover You.

In conclusion, Rent touches on many aspects of emotions. For sure, it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Nonetheless, if you're interested in watching the movie or listening to the soundtracks, do feel free to drop STB a message.

The One on Rating

On the scale of 0 to 10, 0 being a total put off and 10 being an object of worship, how would you rate Sotongball in terms of him in bed?

Yes, similar question had been posted to me during the potluck on Sunday and of course I would not answer the question in front of everyone especially when the person is around too! So in the end I had to do the alternative forfeit which is to gobble down two curry puffs.

It is rude, utterly RUUUUUDE to rate someone. Because to each his own, one can be a 10 in someone's scale and a 0 in another's. It all boils down to the evaluator's taste and preference (and fetish perhaps). To make life more interesting, even someone's taste and preference can change over time as he grows more experienced, accepting, wise, self-aware or even desperate.

Ok morality aside, sometimes we just want to know how Sotongball rates his beaus (kaypoh!).

So I've came out with a template that you can follow too, let you guys rate yourself lah:

===============================

First impression
Physically, is he my "type"? +2

If he is my type and I am his, does he play hard to get? +1 if no

During the sex, does he...
Have a clean minty breath whether or not he smokes? +1 if yes

Know how to use less teeth and more tongue? +1 if yes

Flexi? +1

Moan manly at the appropriate time? +1

Have cheesy hotdog? +1 if no

Have backsides that give skid marks? +0.5 if no, +1 if no and hairless

Have a gold mine? +0.5 if no

Know Sotongball's 2-flexis-who-top-who-btm rule? +2 if yes

Bite my titties? -1 if yes

Tickle me at the wrong time? -1 if yes

Have BO and do not know how to mask it? -1 if yes

Only expect me to "service" him and just lie there like dead fish? -2 if yes

Say he's flexi AND he's scared of pain so don't do anal or that sort of excuses? -1 if yes

Even suggest to do it raw? -2 if yes

After I came, does he...

Cum quickly shortly after? +1 if yes

Want me to jerk him off and take his own sweet time to cum? -2 if yes

Ask me whether want to swallow his cum? -1 if yes

Ask me to swallow or lick my own cum? -10 for "swallow" or -5 for "lick"

After the session, does he...

Give me a really good, satisfying and not too long smooch and say "I enjoyed it" +1 if yes

Just disappear into the shower? -1 if yes

===============================

Score capped at 10, there you go, now you see how can some people get a zero from STB. But that does not mean that STB hate you, it just meant that you're not his type and stop trying to hit on him. Well, you'll be surprised how some of STB's zeroes turn to out to be more close to him than STB's 10s.

The One on Nintendo Wii

If you do not know what is the Nintendo Wii (pronounced as "Weeee", not "why"), you must have probably been living under big gigantic rock for the past 2 years or so. Even old folks around the world are hooked onto the Wii (I'm dead serious!) Sotongball is so proud of his mum who has zero IT knowledge and interest when she finished her first game of Wii Bowling.

Since its worldwide launch in December 2006, the Nintendo Wii has sold more than 10 million units up to date, Nintendo outsold its competitors (namely the PS3 and Xbox 360) to become the leading console of this generation's console war, walk-in-a-park style. It is also the only console that has sticked to its US$250 price tag since launch day.

A quick look at this humble console's specs does not really explain well why is it selling like hotcakes everywhere:

• Outdated graphics card only on-par with XboxV1 and PS2
  
• Lack of High-Definition image - maximum output of 480p resolution
  
• Only a SD Card slot, lack of storage
  
• Limited multimedia capabilities
  

The points just mentioned above shows the Wii's limitations in even catagorizing itself as a next-gen console just before it was launched. However, Nintendo took the term "next-gen" towards a different direction, by introducing the motion sensing controller aka WiiMote.

Just like how the click wheel of the iPod does to MP3 music players, the Nintendo WiiMote make new interactive ways of controlling games feasible. The WiiMote can be a sword, gun, baseball bat, steering wheel, golf club, tennis racquet, magic wand, cue... ya you should get the drift.

I may as well just let the video below do the explanation:

For graphics whores like STB, the Nintendo Wii is definitely out of the question because the graphics are nowhere near the realistic HD graphics of the PS3 or even the Xbox360. Wii truly shines in the games that utilises its motion sensing WiiMote, games like the bundled Wii Sports will get you hooked for a week or so and can easily entertain your guests at home, hence the term "casual gaming".

For serious gamers, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart and Resident Evil 4 will keep your lust for the AA list games fulfilled. Full backward compatibility with all the classic Nintendo and Sega consoles allows you to relive the nostalgia of playing Street Rage or Golden Axe via the Virtual Console in Wii.

Though much cheaper than its counterparts in countries like the US and Japan, the Nintendo Wii is not that much cheaper than a PS3 or a Xbox360. A Wii bundle in Singapore can easily cost SG$500 while Xbox360 Arcade and Pro sets are only SG$399 an SG$499 respectively, while a PS3 40GB cost SG$570~599.

All in all, if you like hosting people for parties at your place or you want to get yourself or just anyone into the gaming world, get a Wii and hope that you won't accidentally break a jaw or two with the violence swinging of the Wiimote.