I saw Shang Tsung sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Past 3 weeks in a nutshell: I'm a student. I have a Student Visa. I've moved to a new place. I can solve 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube while taking a dump.
After 9 long months of doing completely nothing, I've welcomed all this changes with a verve and motivation. On October 31st, me and Yla moved to our new place. We're renting a whole unit in a renewed block in Lakeside area. It took us over a week to set up with all of our things, buy new furniture and basically give this place a feel of a home. The most important change is that we have a full access to a kitchen now. After over half year of eating canned food, we can finally cook meals that we actually like. 
Not that I'm a good cook or anything, but I seriously enjoy my time in a kitchen. 50% of my culinary creations are fried eggs, 30% is spaghetti (BTW, the most popular pasta in local stores seems to be Makaron Staropolski, a Polish product! ^_^) and remaining 20% are other failed experiments involving lots of potatoes, minced beef and eggs. Yla's into her local kitchen, like adobo or spring rolls. There's always some leftovers that we can bring to school or work the following day. Else than this, our room is noticeably bigger. We also made a lovely corner in the living room that we use for watching movies. Our neighbors are mostly Indians, which is equal to never-ending noises from left, right, top and bottom. But after a hard day at school and work, we don't really complain for problems with sleeping. Here's a view from our new place:
Other big thing - school. Day after we shifted houses, I started my education at MDIS. For now, I'm doing Advanced English classes, but I already have my Student Visa. ^_^ My first big exam is on December 15th, but I'm feeling quite confident about it. Most of my classmates are Chinese and they can't speak English well. If they stand a chance to pass their exams, then it should be even easier for me, right? So for now I'm just taking things easy and I'm doing my assignments faithfully. If I'll do fine, I should start my diploma course in January. :]
I was hoping to find a part time job, to help my parents and Yla with the expenses. I actually got a positive response from one of companies, but I'm still deciding whether I should concentrate on studies first, or sacrifice some of my time for work. Surprisingly, I don't have as much free time as I thought. I'm back home around 6pm every day. Before I shower, unpack and check/do my homework, it's usually 6pm. Yla comes back one hour later, and that's the time when we start cooking. Including small things like doing grocery, laundry or cleaning around, I'm left with just ~30 minutes for anything else, which is not enough to even start doing anything.
But I'm far from complaining. I love how our life has changed. :] Finally I feel alive, I feel that I'm doing something instead of wasting my days, browsing useless threads on forums. I'm slowly making future plans in my head, thinking what to do next after I graduate, thinking what else I need before I'll start working. It's good to feel useful. A new tempo of my life scares me sometimes, but wasn't this what I've been waiting for since I've moved here? I'm sure I'll get used to this quickly and soon enough I'll fine myself in all this chaos. I think I'm starting to already.
In meantime, I'm spending awful amounts of time watching movies and series with Yla. ;] This is actually one thing that never changed since I moved here. Except all new movie titles, we're trying to catch up with Fringe and we regularly watch The Big Bang Theory, Dexter, Criminal Minds and The Event. Today we're going to add The Walking Dead to the list. A series about zombies simply can't be bad. ;]
After playing with 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube for few months, I finally got myself a 4x4x4 version, which surprisingly isn't so much harder. In fact, I still need about 5 minutes to solve it, but I'm sure soon enough I'll get used to it and hopefully I'll be able to solve it under 2 minutes. I already can't wait to get 5x5x5 in my hands. 
I totally gave up on games, and this change scares shit out of me. It's like it's not me anymore. Games used to be a bigger share of my interests and my free time. In my work time, I used to play flash games on Kongregate alot. After work, I was checking random MMOs, playing single player RPGs or spending evening on Call of Duty: MW2 multiplayer servers. Now? Sometimes I login to Minecraft for 5-10 minutes to see, how's the construction of castle I designed going. Next week Super Meat Boy will be released for PC. It feels like a last chance to save some part of old me. You guys should also get it, it's gonna be around 10 USD in Steam preorder.
And that's it for now. I'm back to studying, cooking, planning and cleaning. I hope that in all this chaos, I won't lose myself. And if I will, someone please slap me hard and wake me up. Between all this duties, I still need some time to be happy. 
Breathe how you want to breathe.
Again, I was going to wait for things to straighten themselves out a little before I post anything, but... Come on! It's taking months already. ;< Currently I'm staying in Malaysia. How did this happen? Well, I didn't find work in Singapore on time, and even if I would, ICA most probably wouldn't give me a work permit. At least that's what they told me in Polish Embassy. They got overload of people like me looking for work, so they just cancel all applications. So I applied for studies. Yeah, I'm going to study (hopefully). It's mad expensive here, you see, and that's the only reason why I didn't try that earlier. I feel kinda bad about it, but my parents decided to support me with that. I'm going to study IT in general and my if I don't fail, I should be done with studies in ~20 months. Then ofcourse, I'll start looking for job again. I feel more confident here everyday. So 2 years from now, I will already know the place, culture and people and everything will be easier for me. Well, at least that's what I'm telling myself now.
So what I'm doing in Malaysia? Nothing really. I rent a room here, most of time I spend in a living room browsing, watching YT and flaming kids on forums. Yla is working in SG, so she only comes here on weekends. She finnish her school at 10pm on Fridays, so she usually arrives here past midnight. Then we spend whole weekend watching movies. We don't go out at all. Yla says it's because people here would kidnap white people. If they're rich, they would contact families and demand money. If they're not, they would harvest their entrails. Either way, they value white people here alot. But we're planning to go to Kuala Lumpur some of this weekends. It's a capital city in Malaysia, and people say it's a nice place to see. ;] Many people come to Malaysia for the same reason why I did. They are waiting for visa approval in Singapore. So usually, there are some other people living in this house. They stay over weekend, of for few days during weekdays. Usually I don't even know their names. First, 2 lesbians were staying in other room. They were both Filipino, so Yla didn't have problems talking with them. Then, 2 ladies moved in. I have no idea if they were 15 or 35yo, but I didn't feel comfortable having them around, so for few days I ran from the living room to my bedroom. Then some guy replaced them. He was around my age. I thought it would be nice and I'll have someone to when Yla's not here, but this guy happened to be MMO addict... He was only leaving his room 3 times a day to use the toilet. Whole day long, a sound of colliding swords and collecting coins was coming from his room, typical for multiplayer games. Then one day he just went out with his backpack and bag and asked to open the door for him. I never seen him since then, lol. Oh, a there's a huge Filipino transvestite cooking and cleaning for me. Isn't that cute? I'm not tolerant much, but somehow I got used to it quickly. ;]
And maybe few words about Malaysia as a country... Well, it's one, huge construction site. The strange thing is that I can't see progress ANYWHERE. It's like they're building a Jurassic Park. And areas that are not under construction look very poor. Dirty building, everything in old-fashion. Actually, I've only seen Johor area and I can't wait to see the rest. But from what I've seen on pictures, rest of the country is not much different. Good thing about this place is that life is less expensive here. And beer is almost as cheap as in Poland.
Else than this, I've found this advertisement lately on Kongregate boards, saying that FlashGameLicense is looking for experienced casual players for their Preview Player program. Since I got nothing better to do, I decided to join. And since very first day, I keep getting positively suprised. :] I just play unreleased games and post my feedback, so they can be improved before they go public. After I finnish my studies in SG, I'm hoping to find some game design related work, and this Preview Player thingie shoulds like a great piece of experience. For now, I'm still learning ActionScript everytime I feel like doing something creative, and this week I actually started making action/RPG flash game. We will see where it goes from here. For now, it's just another time waster.
And as I said, since I'm here in Malaysia, we really overdose movies with Yla. ;> We finnished watching all 9 "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movies, all 8 "Hellraiser" movies, all 6 "Saw" movies, all 12 "Friday the 13th" movies, all 4 "Alien" movies, all 2 "Predator" movies, all 2 "Alien VS. Predator" movies, all 4 "Die Hard" movies, all 2 "Short Circuit" movies, all 6 "Batman" movies, all 3 "Blade" movies, all 3 seasons of "The Big Bang Theory", first season of "Dexter" and LOADS of random movies with "Edward Scissorhands" on the top. Sadly, internet really sucks here in MY and I can't download movies. ;<
No pics this time. Maybe I'll take some pics around this weekend. I'll probably have my student visa results in last week of August. I'll update the blog as soon, as I have them. Or maybe even sooner than that. ;> Jah bless!
gotoAndPlay(1);
I've spent over 2 months looking for a job, digging through tones of offerts every day, sending hundreds of resumes, staring at my phone like an idiot. And when I thought I finally got something, I rushed with filling my documentation, neverending printing, signing, scanning, editing and sending. Then, after 3 weeks of waiting, all my effort went to waste. My Employment Pass application got stuck in Ministry of Manpower for some reason. Usually, it takes them 1-3 days to review the applicant and give the final decision. My documents were there for over 2 weeks. No one even called me for medical check. So last Friday company emailed me, saying they withdraw my EP, and they will no longer proceed with the application, because there's no chance to get me ready to work on Monday. Just like that. I was so damn happy to finally start earning again. Now it's all gone and I have to start from zero. Like it's my first day here. And it's not only about wasted time. Living here costs, and it costs much more than in Poland. My parents are helping me the best they can, but I can't always rely on them. Yla gives me all support I need too, but I know that this situation is depressing for her aswell. It's just a bit too much. I think we both expected all our problems to be gone in a moment when I move here. But it's almost as hard as it's been before. The only difference is that I have no reasons to give up anymore... I hope I'll get lucky soon. I'm considering looking for work again, or taking on studies this time. Actually, I really feel like studying... But it's mad expensive here, and I don't know if I can affort it. Work is a good option too ofcourse, but I'm scared that even if I find one, this will end exactly the same way as before. :/ Oh well. Time will show. For now, gotoAndPlay(1);.
In meantime, I'm watching Heroes. ;> Lost ends next week, so I need to find something to watch instead. The problem is that after 2 weeks I'm almost done with season 3. 1 week more, and I will have to look for another series again. I've been thinking of Dexter. I've only seen season 1, but I like it alot. Any other suggestions?
Yong Suck Mee.
It's been a while since I posted here... Over one month. And so many things happened since then. I don't even know what should I start with. Maybe I don't even remember what happened? ;]
One thing for sure is that it's been a job hunting month for me. Digging through hundreds of offerts every day. Emails, documentation, self development. For the first time ever I really felt guilty when I was doing anything else than this in my free time. Just a week ago I already foun a job. It's not really official yet, because we're still going through some paper work. But I'm sure everything will go great as soon as I get my Employment Pass. The job that I found is a very typical entry position here - helpdesk. I'll be working in a call center, walking consumers though their technical issues step by step. Sounds tiring... But someone with my patience will sure do fine. And I guess thiss will be my chance to finally get used to local accent. If everything will work out, I'm starting on 3rd week of May. I can't wait to start earning again... ;]
Else than this, I've been to few interesting places. 27th March we were supposted to go to Bintan in Indonesia, to spend a weekend in a resort. This plan didn't work for us, because Karen coudln't get her visa. Rest of us could go, but we decided to just reschedule this trip for some other weekend. Instead of Indonesia, we went to Malaysia again. ;] It's been long, tiring, but very fun day. All we did in Malaysia was shopping. I'm not that type of a guy who likes shopping, but for many other reasons, I enjoyed every single moment there. There was this funny store with decorations. It was actually funny for only one reason - the name of this store was "Yong Suck Mee". ;] We also passed through amusement park on our way back. It was fun to ride bump cars again and to remember why I hate clowns...
We went to Bintan just 2 weeks ago. It was honestly worth waiting, delaying and everything. Place was amazing, clean and calm... Really above my expectations. I wish we could stayed there a little longer than just one night. I really wish we can come back there some day. We had our own villa with a swimming pool and buggy for traveling the resort. Also, buffet was so awesome. I think I never had a 3 hours long supper before. I stuffed myself full and I finally learned what greed is.
![Main swimming pool. :]](http://ctsg.biz/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC01941.jpg "Main swimming pool. :]")
Oh, and we attended Syasya's 2nd bday party. Syasya is Yaya's daughter. It was funny to see how people celebrate bday here. Not much different from how we do that. There were kids, family, friends of parents. Chipmunk themed cake and fat-ass clown with huge Chuck Taylor shoes. He was boring, except the gross tricks, which ofcourse I enjoyed.
Also, I really enjoy going to East Coast with Yla. It's pretty far from our place, so we need to wake up early in the morning, if we want to make use of the sun there. ;] I really wish it's somewhere closer. I'm sure it's cool to spend evenings there. We even tried before, but apparently I can not camp there, because I'm on tourist pass. ;< BTW, I think I'm getting tan! ^.^
With the end of March, I had to move out from Yla's place, because her flatmates don't want a guy to live there. This lifeless bitches spend whole days in their rooms, so they didn't even really see me there, but still they needed to complain and make house owner ask me to move out... Oh wells. I'm living with 2 older guys now, Yla is moving in soon, probably next week. She can't stand her flatmates anymore too. I'm just a little worried, because we're going to share a really small room, even smaller than before. But it's much cheaper aswell, and for now, we really need to save...
"Plans" is my word of the month. I don't have any plans yet. But I need something I expect, something I can wait for, something I can go for or fight for. But it's taking me so long to deal with basic things... I want to start working already, I want to start earning, rent a flat, buy furnitures, TV, make my very own corner, a place where I can take a deep breath, hug my girl, close my eyes and tell myself that everything is going okey. I hope reality won't let me down. I just don't want to wait too long... Patience kills the excitement...
PS. Last part of this note might be confusing, so let me clarify... I'm happy. And I don't regret. I'm thankful for what I got and I don't need a replacement.
Infinite loop bug.
Yesterday me and Yla went to Johor Bahru in Malaysia, just to spend a day and do some shopping. At the border, I realized that I've left my embarkation card at home. Immigration officer asked me to follow him to the backrooms. Kinda scary experience. Especially that they didn't explain me what's going on. I was told to sit and wait, while they kept scanning my passport, going to some small room, coming back, talking in their language and repeating this sequence like 3-4 times before then finally gave me my passport back and said that I can now leave. As it turned out later, they were just checking if I was arrested or if I'm not allowed to leave SG.
This is not really related with the story, but it would be just wrong if I don't say it... Malaysia is pretty much how I imagined it to be. It's like a dirty version of Singapore. It's like Singapore with crime. It's like Asian city in Europe. Somehow this visit made me understand what Germans feel when they come to Poland, to shop and see places. I didn't really see much of a city. We spent whole day in a shopping mall, which is no different than malls in Singapore. Except that everything is cheaper. And people are different. People were staring at me all the time. Hard to say if they were just interested, worried, or maybe they were trying to show me they don't want me here. It is a good place to shop, but not to live at.
View Johor Bahru in a larger map
Coming back to our story - when we finally got tired and decided to go back home, I had to fill a new embarkation card, like I've just arrived to Singapore. To my suprise, my tourist visa got totally refreshed, and i was granted another 90 days to stay here! Is this some infinite loop bug? Does it means I can stay here as long as I want? Probably yeah. So just wish me to find a good job soon, so I can affort this amazing life here. 
PS. Things got better. Much better.
Living in a “fine” city.
Singapore is known for being the cleanest city in the world. In fact, my old room has never been so clean as streets are here. What makes people care so much about this place and fight their own laziness for bigger good? Rules. Very-strict-rules. Singapore is called a "fine" city, because this place is filled with posters telling people what things they can not do, and how much they will be fined, if they break the rules. Examples? Sure:
Yeah, 1000 SGD fine for littering or feeding birds sounds a little bit crazy, don't you think? No wonder why people don't even want to try their luck. I have really mixed feelings about this. I don't like to be told what to do by people who don't even know me. Especially when it comes to silly things like chewing a gum. If goverment here doesn't want people stick their gum in incorrect places, like under the chairs or tables, why won't they simply pt a fine on everyone who do that? Chewing gum ban is one step too far. In other hand, I have to agree, that living in a clean and safe place like this is a big comfort. I keep thinking and asking myself, what would happen if we have the same policy back in Poland. I'm sure people would start a revolution, just to be free to do what they think is right. Even if they know so well, that what they do is not right. ;]
Another funny thing is that there is no police patrols here... Can you imagine? People self-control themselves well enough, that there is no need for anyone to check on them. For all that time that I've been in Singapore (including 1 week in December), I've seen only ONE police patrol. My mentally limited Polish brain couldn't understand this at first, because if there is so many rules, then there MUST be someone to make sure no one breaks them, RIGHT? Then Yla said... Where would you feel safer? In a place where police is all around, or in a place where you see no crime and no control? Yeah, hard to imagine for someone rised in Europe, but this is how it looks like here.
I also have mixed feelings about how strictly drugs are prohibited here. There is a DEATH sentence for possession of over 20g of any drugs. This place is Anti-Amsterdam. I'm not really against death sentence, but for God's sake, only when it comes to murderers. And why cigarettes and alcohol is legal here then? It's all drugs aswell. Simply not called "drugs", because they are taxed and they bring profit to the country. It's been proven long years ago, that almost all natural drugs are less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol are. They are also less addictive. Not to mention, that some of them can even bring possitive effect to your health. But there is no one to explain this better to you than Bill Hicks himself. Just skip to 2:30 and listen to what he has to say:
What can I say... I feel limited, I feel somebody tells me what to do without even asking for my opinion, I feel controled and slaved. But isn't this the same feeling every kid feels during his rebel days? Sometimes we need to accept the fact, that some people know better. And that they organize us for better good. I guess I should be good with that, as long as I'm free to say that 2+2 is 4.
Ants?..
For few days now we had unwelcome guests in our room... Ants came to pay us a visit. Yla says this never happened before, so apparently I've done something to attract them. I cleaned the floor, made sure that all food is closed and in one place. But 3 days after, ants were still here... Really irritated already, I started watching them, trying to figure where they come from and what are they looking for here. It wasn't hard to find a gap in the window they use to come inside, but... I couldn't believe when I realized that ants are not crowding around wardrobe where we keep the food (don't ask xD), but around my small table, where I keep my laptop on... Yes, ants were climbing the table and going under my keyboard buttons. It's not a secret, I'm a messy guy. I used to live with this laptop attached to me for over 2 years. I've been taking it everywhere, eating in front of it, doing everything. So yeah, I believe that rests of dirt and food, slowly accumulating under my keyboard's buttons for past years were the reason why ants decided to put so much effort and risk into coming here. But their instinct led them to a wrong place. As I type this post, they slowly die being crushed by my keyboard's buttons. Who knows, maybe next time their fresh bodies, along with rests of food will attract something... bigger?..
A new life.
It's been almost 2 weeks since I moved to Singapore, but even back in Poland I was telling myself I will start writing a blog, simply to help myself get used to this new place, explain everything to myself once again. It's easier this way, I think. So here it is, my own place to complain and show off. I don't know who's going to read this, or if I will be writing this for myself only, but I hope this will give me a peace of mind that I expect.
So it all starts in the end of February. Friday morning I pack my things and wait for my parents to get back home from work. I was supposted to help them with so many things, which I failed to find time for... My grandma was sleeping, but I woke her up, hugged and said I'm leaving. I don't think she even understand that I'm leaving for good this time. I don't even think she will remember this situation at all. Then farewell with my parents. I tried to keep it as short as possible, to save them from crying. And in all this, I even forgot to tell them I love them. Oh well, but this was the last bad moment. After this, everything started getting better and better. First I passed by Gamelion's office in Szczecin, to take my work certificate and say goodbye to everyone there. My train was early in the morning, so I stayed at work over night and watched some movie. In Warsaw I spent few short hours with friends, had some beer and shisha. I came to the airport on time, but my flight was delayed. As it turned out later, lucky for me, because my rescheduled flight was over 3 hours faster. ;] At the airport I had problems finding Yla. :S She was waiting for me at some different terminal, and we had no way to contact each other. I asked some indian guy to let me use his phone (there's some bigger story about this... his wife was calling Yla in next days, asking her why she call her husband and so on... funny stuff, that turned to be a life drama of that woman).
Anyway, first days in Singapore were really difficult for me. Adjusting to new time zone, temperature and... style of life. I can not do things "my way" anymore, because people would look at me. Everything's new, everything's different... For first few days I was having a really hard time, to the point whhen Yla was even getting pissed at me. I felt lost and retarded, really... But thanks to my baby, I'm getting used to everything here. First week were gone so quickly. Yla was working, I was looking for work, then we were both together doing shopping or watching movies. First friday we went clubbing with Mary, Yaya, Karen, Cat and Kelvin. Place was okey, pretty much the same as every club in Poland. It's just that I'm not really used to places like this because it's... you know... noisy and... umm... noisy.
Then we changed club, a live band from Philippines were playing covers of modern rock/punk bands. Suprising. I liked it alot, except that they screwed up "Zombie". Then we had a small accident with some drunk white guy. I'm pretty sure whenever something like this happens here, it's always white people who start the fight. It's when I realized how fucked up we really are. Maybe Singapore is a little bit too much of rules for me, but at least I know that I can feel safe here. But this people... Europeans, Americans and Australians... They bring haos to this place. And I'm starting to understand why they are unwelcome here. Anyway, nothing really bad happened, but we had to leave the place, which is sad ofcourse. On Sunday me and hun went to the birds park, where we spend most of a day. That's funny... I'm not a big fan of places like this, but I really enjoyed it there. It's just endless walk that I enjoyed. 2 shows that we've seen there were great. Brids flying just inches above crowd's heads, brids trained to do tricks and parrots singing in few languages. Here's a short footage that I found:
And few pictures from that park:
Else than this, I'm working hard on my relationship with Yla. It's what I came here for anyway. Everything between us is suprisingly natural. Like for all this time we've been seeing each other in real, not just on our screens. My words can not express how much everything about me has changed in past few days. But I feel like slowly I'm becoming someone from here, someone for her... Sure, we still have some misunderstandings, but as always I believe that we will work things out. I'm happy here and it's only because of her. I know I made a good decision... I love and feel loved. I just wish we can stabilize things and be always and only happy. Now, I still feel like our mood is some crazy trigonometric function. But I know I'm not to give up. And I'll take the best of us. There's so much more to come. This first note is for Yla. Thank you baby for giving us this chance, for trusting me and helping me with everything here... I love you.