My Love For Life Review

I received an EMS parcel from Japan again yesterday. This is the fastest shipping so far as the seller posted the parcel on Friday and I got the delivery arrival notification slip the next Monday afternoon. I am surprised that the parcel got delivered via international flight during the weekend as I previously had thought that they only deliver during work days.

Here is the photo of the EMS parcel. Looks intact with no visible damage here.


From the diagonal top to bottom view here you can see the wordings "The Fastest and Most Reliable International Postal Service".

From the right side of the EMS parcel, it is evident that it has been opened up by the customs department for checking. The brown tape used by the customs department to reseal the parcel is applied rather sloppily though.

My Xecty out of the EMS parcel. It is good that the seller has bubble wrapped my Xecty for some protection but I rather he used some hard cardboard too. I have left the seller instructions to protect my item using cardboard material but obviously he has ignored it.

My Xecty finally out of the bubble wrap. From the front view there seems to be no visible damage.

The back view of my Xecty box. I cant help but notice some stress marks at the top right of the box.

A closeup on the stress marks on the box. I think this is already present before shipping as based on the condition of the EMS parcel, the content should not have suffered this type of damage during transit.

An overview of my Xecty together with the EMS parcel and packing material. The EMS parcel is made entirely of paper and therefore it is rather fragile with no water protection. It makes me wonder why a premium postal service would use a flimsy parcel to delivery goods with...

Closeup of my Xecty. There are some nub marks on the transparent plastic sides due to depression and handling during transit probably. This could have been avoided if the seller added a piece of cardboard to shield this side of the box.

Expect a detailed review on my Xecty in the future. Generally I am quite satisfied with the delivery of my Xecty from Japan. As I have mentioned before, I am a repeat customer of this seller who is located in Japan so I can be sure that my purchase is genuine rather than a sub standard knock off. I am glad that my Xecty arrived in better shape than my Figma Rin and Figma Ren which are also from the same seller.

My Love For Life Experience review rating for Xecty S.O.F.T. normal version delivery: 3.5/5

My Love For Life Review

It is almost time for the Mid-Autumn Festival or more commonly known as the Moon Festival. This festival takes place every year on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and one of the more prominent feature of the festival is the mooncake. My sis is kind enough to send us some mooncakes from the capital and we decided to sample one. The mooncake we sampled was the lotus seed paste flavor (one of my favorites). The typical packing of a mooncake consist of a translucent plastic cup to house the mooncake and an outer layer of plastic bag which seals the mooncake.

This photo shows the mooncake unwrapped from the outer plastic bag but still contained in the translucent plastic cup.


Shot of the mooncake being sliced in half. The lotus seed paste can be seen clearly here. Also notice the outer plastic bag wrapping being used as a cutting mat here.

Since mooncakes are kind of pricey, we usually cut one into 8 pieces to be shared among family and friends.

Freshly cut mooncake pieces ready to be served.

This particular lotus paste flavored mooncake is nice and sweet. Luckily it did not contain any salted egg yolk in the center crust as I prefer it to be plain lotus seed paste.

My Love For Life Experience review rating for lotus paste mooncake: 3.5/5

My Love For Life Review

I got my second Ikea lamp, the Lersta Floor Lamp thanks to my sis. The Lersta was brought back to me by my uncle who was visiting the capital for some leisure time at a major entertainment resort and as you can see from the photo it was checked in during his return flight. Luckily the Lersta box did not suffer any damage during transport.


Ikea is renowned to have good packing for its products and the Lersta is no exception. From the side the packing box of the Lersta is shaped like the letter "L".

The head of the Lersta is housed in the bigger portion of the shipment box on the left where as the base and connecting neck are housed in the right portion.

Opening the shipment box can be done from either side. Just carefully lift out the securing flaps from their respective slits and open up the side box panels.

With the box opened, you can see the head of the Lersta and the other components housed inside the box.

An overview shot of the Lersta components which consist of the circular base, the lower neck, the upper neck and lastly the head. The power plug and the on/off switch are built into the upper neck component of the Lersta.

A closeup on the completed picture on the Lersta found on the packing box. The inclusion of this is a very nice touch as anyone can clearly see what the content of the box is.

Front page of the Lersta assembly instruction manual.

The 1st and 2nd page of the Lersta assembly instruction manual which highlight the warnings and precautions during assembling and operating the Lersta.

Pages 3 and 4 of the Lersta assembly instruction manual containing easy to follow instructional diagrams for steps 1, 2 and 3 of the assembly process.

Pages 5 and 6 highlight the fourth and fifth steps respectively.

The last page 7 of the Lersta assembly instruction manual details step 6 which is the last step of the assembly process.

This is the base of the Lersta. It is quite heavy so it can keep the Lersta sturdy. I really like the steel finish.

The lower neck of the Lersta is attached to the base via a screw joint.

Photo of the lower neck joint attached to the foundation base of the Lersta.

Next is to attach the upper neck component to the Lersta. The lower neck component is attached to the upper neck also via a screw joint.

Overview of the Lersta assembly progress so far: base+lower neck+upper neck assembled.

The Lersta can be assembled with or without attaching the head. To assemble without the head, just unscrew the securing plastic ring from the light source holder...
And place the white plastic ring on the light source holder...

Before securing it in place by replacing back the securing plastic ring.

To assemble the head, just place the head on the light source holder before placing the white plastic ring and the securing plastic ring. Again I really like the polished metallic finish on the head of the Lersta.

View of the inside of the Lersta head without any light source installed.

View of the inside of the Lersta head with light source installed. I have installed an energy saving light bulb onto the Lersta by screwing it in place firmly.

The moment of truth, time to switch the Lersta Floor Lamp on! With the presence of the Lersta Floor Lamp in my living room, I think my living room has just gotten classier.

So far I am not disappointed with any lighting products from Ikea. My Lersta Floor Lamp is a great addition to my living room which provides both functionality and aesthetic appeal to my home. I highly recommend it.

My Love For Life Household review rating for Ikea Lersta Floor Lamp: 4/5

My Love For Life Review

It has been a while since my previous shipment of HCM Pro Gundams. I thought I was not going to purchase any new HCM Pro (High Complete Model Progressive) Gundams unless they are marked down in price. The HCM Pro Gundams are very small in scale which is 1/200. They stand roughly 8CM-10CM in height but they are well articulated with fine details. I just could not resist my buying impulse when I came across a few HCM Pro Gundams being sold at really low markdown prices. After waiting for about a week my parcel finally reached my office. The seller used domestic parcel postage for my shipment and based on the stated postage fee I was overcharged by the seller in shipping fees. I guess he has to cover for his handling and packing fees as well.


The seller used a medium sized box which was previously used for shipping Ginvera bath lotions. I think the box condition on arrival is OK with mild battering on the surface.

The brown tape sealing on the sides of the parcel box is kind of sloppy though as a portion of it has come off.

This picture shows the most damaged are of the parcel box. Notice the squashed damage on the side.

Upon opening the box it is good that the seller stuffed the open spaces in there with newspaper to prevent the HCM Pro Gundams from rattling and moving inside the parcel during transport.

My HCM Pro Tieren Ground Type. This thing is tiny compared to my TT Hongli HG Tieren Ground Type which is of scale 1/144. Definitely will do an in depth review of this in the future.

Here is the odd one out: MSIA (Mobile Suit In Action) Miguel's Ginn. MSIA figures are scaled at 1/144 hence they are larger in size compared to HCM Pro Gundams. MSIA figures lack the fine details though and they are made of rubbery plastic and feels more like a toy than a model kit. I got this as a PWP (purchase with purchase) special with my HCM Pro Gundams because I was curious about the MSIA line.

My HCM Pro Gouf Custom which is from the series Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. I watched the series during my University days in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom but didn't finish the series.

This is my favorite in this shipment: HCM Pro G-Box EFF Mobile Suit Platoons "The Front Line Set". This set contains the RX-79[G] Gundam, the support hover truck and a Magella-Attack tank which are also from the series Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

A noteworthy point is that the seller used Japanese newspapers to stuff the box with. This is the first time I have encountered this and it is a nice surprise.

An overview of my purchases in this shipment: 3 HCM Pro Gundams and 1 MSIA figure.

All in all I am quite pleased with this purchase. The prices are cheap and since its from a domestic seller I didn't have to pay more for shipping. My Love For Life experience review rating for delivery of HCM Pro and MSIA Gundam: 3.5/5

My Love For Life Review

I watched O Jerusalem with my cousin last Saturday. He just got a new car and he drove by to my house for a spin. I was not going to watch O Jerusalem on my own so it was good timing that he came over.

O Jerusalem is a Belgian war drama movie directed by Elie Chouraqui and produced by Jeffrey Konvitz. O Jerusalem stars JJ Feild and Saïd Taghmaoui as strangers who became the best of friends. Bobby Goldman (JJ Feild) is an American Jew whereas Saïd Chahine (Saïd Taghmaoui) is an Arab and their relationship became tarnished soon after the U. N. voted for the Partition Plan for Palestine, essentially dividing Palestine into two provisional states, one Jewish and the other Arab.

Even though I generally do not watch war historical movies, I find that O Jerusalem can appeal to the general audience in the sense that it focuses on human emotional drama. The lives of the friends, families and lovers of the two main protagonists are very well depicted and compliment the main story plot very well. The violence and brutality of war and human conflict are not over glorified and provide a close to reality perspective and a sense of realism to the audience.

O Jerusalem Movie Trailer


If you enjoy historical dramas like my cousin then you will like O Jerusalem. If you are just curious about the movie I recommend that you watch it on a rental. My Love For Life movie review rating for O Jerusalem: 3/5

My Love For Life Review

I was asking my boo to choose which movie to watch last night between Crank: High Voltage or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. To be honest I was more inclined towards X-Men Origins: Wolverine but my boo has a mild dislike towards comic super heroes movie adaptations. Based on the title of this movie review its a giveaway answer to which movie she chose to watch last night: Crank: High Voltage.

Jason Statham returns as Chev Chelios in Crank: High Voltage which is a direct sequel to Crank (2006). Crank: High Voltage is a 2009 American action/thriller movie written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor who both also did the same for the previous movie. Crank: High Voltage is rated R due to the strong pervasive language and nudity as well as graphical sexual content and not forgetting the huge amounts of blood and gore found in the movie.

For those uninitiated, Chev Chelios is a super tough guy one man army who is at the top of the triads and mobsters most wanted list. Someone stole his heart (literary) and he has to find it and get it back inside his body before his implanted artificial heart runs out of power. I think the directors and producers wanted to make Crank: High Voltage a super extreme "Pushing it to the max!" adrenaline rushing action movie in which they succeeded.

I must stress that Crank: High Voltage is strictly not for the younger audiences and those who are offended by onscreen nudity. And every minute in the movie you are bound to hear some pervasive language in the dialogue. Here is a excerpt from the imdb parental guide on Crank: High Voltage: "200-something f-bombs and over 2-dozen s-words lead the pack. In addition, there are 4 or 5 uses of c**t."

Crank: High Voltage Movie Trailer


If you enjoyed the first movie then you will feel right at home with Crank: High Voltage. Generally Crank: High Voltage is an extreme action movie which is tailored for the more mature audience in mind. I personally feel that it has overused the f-bomb too much but seeing the nature of the movie it is unavoidable.

My Love For Life movie review rating for Crank: High Voltage: 3/5

My Love For Life Review