On My Birthday My Wife And Buddy

On my birthday my wife and buddy took me for a health check, at Universal Studios.  To see if my heart is still as strong as ever.  Oh, those mechanical rides.  I will get to that later.

Rewind to late last evening.  My mother knew that I would take leave on my birthday, like I always do, and hence I would be home late the next day.  So she called wishing me an early birthday.  How sweet of her.  I love you ma.

At the stroke of midnight, Cynthia and I were battling demons in Diablo III.  Act III, Hell difficulty.  Since we did not need to work the next day, we pushed on with our public game and completed the act.  We were ecstatic on this milestone achievement.  It was tough but we did it.  We went to sleep happy.

Since last weekend, my buddy TK and my wife Cynthia have planned what we should do on my birthday – a visit to Universal Studios Singapore.  How sweet of them.  While both appeared to be more excited than I was at the time of planning, once I stepped into the theme park, I was in high spirit, as excited as they were.  Adding three of our age up well exceeds a century, but yet we were like kids and tourists seeing the attraction the first time.  It was a weekday therefore the queues to most of the rides were under 10 minutes, which was an icing on the cake.

First stop, Transformers the Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle.  I am not really a fan of Transformers though I once held a contest here.  The ride was fantastic.  It is similar to watching a 3D movie and gets to experience the G-force as our vehicle dashed in and out of the battle between the super-sized robots.  I felt as though I was in the movie.  When will video gaming give us a forth dimension of experience, I wonder.

The Battlestar Galactica themed roller coasters are no joke.  They are intense, meant for the strong hearts.  Red is the Human ride while blue is the Cylon ride.  Both rides run in parallel with each other.  The main difference is that Human ride is the traditional roller coaster that boosts the speed up to 82.8 km/h while the Cylon ride is a suspended coaster that goes up, around and upside down in a corkscrew and cobra roll style.  The pamphlet says that the roller coasters are over fourteen stories high.  That is as high as the condominium Cynthia and I are staying.  Imagining such height sends a chill down my spine.

Three of us have completely different spontaneous reactions to the ride.  TK would go wah, wah, wah.  Cynthia would scream at the top of her lung, with her eyes closed.  It scared me a little bit because I have not heard her screams with such power and intensity before.  Even as the ride came to an end, when no one was screaming, Cynthia would continue to scream, with her eyes closed.  As for me, I would go hahaha, hahaha, hahahah.  It was a fun ride and a funny ride.  I could not stop laughing out loud, literally.  You should see Cynthia’s condition after the Human ride.  Her hair was moist, flying everywhere.  Possibly the most hilarious thing we have seen that day.

After the three intensive rides, we passed by Ancient Egypt that features the Revenge of the Mummy ride.  Cynthia has decided to sit herself out on this one.  Totally understandable.  TK hesitated but was convinced by my enthusiasm.  Basically, it is an indoor roller coaster somewhat similar to the Transformers one, but much shorter, without the 3D glasses.  There were some scary moments.  But nothing two grown men who have come, seen, and conquered the Human and Cylon rides cannot handle.  We skipped the Lost World and headed straight to Far Far Away.  Yes, three of us love Shrek and welcomed a more gentle form of entertainment.  The Shrek 4D Adventure is pretty fun, especially when you are a fan.  I had to keep my mouth shut throughout the show so as not to swallow the water of suspicious origin sprayed onto us.

We hopped into a restaurant when the rain started.  By the time we were done with lunch, the rain has stopped.  We reentered Universal Studios.  Just nice for a final family oriented ride – Madagascar: A Crate Adventure.  An indoor boot ride whereby we sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed watching the animated mechanical animals having a party together.

Then we headed out to the mall next door – Vivocity – for our Amazing Spider-Man treat.  That was my idea.  Though I dislike remakes, Emma Stone is too good to be missed.  And I love it, TK loves it, Cynthia loves it.  I wonder if there will be a sequel.  How would this story tie back to the original story whereby Peter Parker dates Mary Jane?  No idea.  And please don’t tell me.

By the time we reached home, after yet another sumptuous meal, I was shagged.  Time to watch F1 Silverstone online via ESPN Player.  mioTV did not broadcast F1 live last weekend, boo.  Thanks to ESPN posting a video thumbnail of Mark Webber opening champagne at the podium, before I watched the race, I could already guess who the winner was.  Common sense is indeed not that common.  Who would choose that as a thumbnail for the audience planning to watch the feed?  In any case, I am happy with the result.  Although I would want Alonso to win, Webber has a special place in my heart.

I seldom log onto Facebook ever since I have switched to Google+.  And I am thankful for the birthday wishes I have received from both social networks.  I am also thankful for God’s blessing in surrounding me with wonderful friends and families, and providing me with all that I need.  What a wonderful day.  That video of my 2 years old niece singing birthday song to me simply melts my heart.  Thanks Lora and Benny.