My fondue pwns. Just kidding. I found out why cheese fondue is not as popular as chocolate fondue the other day - it is quite oily. But it's cheese after all, so it's no surprise. What is surprising to me is that it makes me full faster than I expected. Couldn't finish all the cheese even with my bro. It's only 200g of cheese, half cheddar, half emmental.
Beer does add a certain flavour to the cheese. I'm going to try bacon cheese fondue some day. I have 300g of back bacon just waiting for me in the freezer. Muahahahahahaha! But there's no alcohol in bacon cheese fondue. Wonder when I'm ever going to use the little bottle of Burgundy. Probably never, with the expiry date approaching soon. Or has it expired already? Oh well.
The sliced roast beef at Cold Storage tastes just like the sliced ham they sell! The salt covered most of the flavour in the meat and the beef flavour is detectable only if it is eaten without anything else. And it costs $4.50/g! Wasted my $14!
Now I have the ingredients for cheese fries, I'm going to try someday soon when my bro finally books out for the last time. What would holidays be for if not for sinning?
I also have almost all the ingredients for bacon cheese fondue. Almost. I'm going to buy the parsley and etc on the day I make it.
And I've learnt why french toast is usually made from sliced bread even though french loaf tastes better - because unless you have a good bread knife, never attempt to sliced the loaf for the toast. At home, I have only 2 types of knifes - the meat knives for when my mum cooks steaks, and the omnipotent cleaver. What choice do I have but to slice bread with the mighty huge knife? And so I attempted 4 times and found out that the uneven surface is not conducive for proper frying of the whole surface. Sliced bread, on the other hand, is perfectly cut, so if the crust is removed, it is easy to fry. Good lesson, and at least the toasts taste decent, not burnt.
If I had burnt one of them, I'd have ruined another pan lol! How many years has it been since I burnt something on a pan... maybe 2, or 3.
Next time, I'm going to fry some of the bacon together with the french toasts, so that there will be something salty for the meal. Frying bacon is easy, especially since the no oil is necessary. I used to fry it in in microwave, but washing the plates I fry them in is hell... for the maid. :P Part-time maid, btw, not full-time.
Hellgate: London is just like Diablo in first-person view! Right now I have only a lvl 22 Engineer, and I've been playing in first-person throughout. According to my bro, and the online reviews, the two Hunter classes may be the only classes that require the first-person view. The other classes do not need to fight from far away, which I can tell from all those unusable weapons I've picked up so far. The weapons with the longest ranges (up to 40m) are available only to Hunters, while the Cabalists use short and mid-range weapons (20m or shorter). Templars use mostly melee weapons, but these are hard to come by. Most weapons in the game seem to be for Hunters, and this makes the two Hunter classes to be the most interesting.
Back to why HGL is like Diablo. Some monsters are very similar, like the small leaping thing in Diablo and its sequel, though in HGL it seems much larger. In first-person view, of course. The loot is also similar, except the names aren't as lame as those in Diablo, like "Scaly Ring Mail of Luck" and such. Bleh.
In fact, it is the variety of loot that makes the game interesting, since the story is quite minimal - you cannot understand the whole story unless you read beforehand the backstory. This is the one thing Flagship Studio is depending on the make it playable. Together with the MMO feature, it may just work, if not for the unimpressive bosses in the game. It could have made a good MMORPG, if not for the fact that the bosses are mostly normal monsters with different stats and names. Totally in contrast with WoW, where the bosses are bigger than normal and look different from the rest of the mobs.
There are some quirky minigames within, but those aren't enough. One minigame I've just finished requires me to fire cannons on a gigantic monster that constantly moves about. I cannot get near it or it'll either stamp on me or breath fire on me. I can't hurt it either unless 2 cannons are firing on it at once. These cannons only fire for a short while without me manning them, and they are placed some distance from each other. When 2 of them are firing on it, it will shrink and lose its immunity to my weapons for a short while.
And the minigame called Triage! It is just like the Triage quest in WoW Horde, except with mobs coming in while you save the dying soldiers within the time limit. Triage is the quest where there are eight beds in the room and Severely injured or Gravely injured soldiers suddenly appear on the beds and you have to save them while the clock ticks.
There really is little reason to play HGL offline, unless you are bored or you love loot. I love loot. :P When I finish HGL I'll leave it in my laptop so that I can play again, probably as a Summoner or Evoker. No way am I going to try Templars when my framerate can dramatically decrease at times, especially when things explode or many mobs appear. Not always, but often enough to prevent me from trying.
Or maybe I should just stop playing this and play Atelier Iris 2, then Xenosaga Ep III, and leave HGL for hall days. Hmm...
Valkyrie Profile 2 isn't a game that I like. The graphics are fine, but the gameplay isn't that interesting for me. Somehow I just dislike the combat style and the fact that I need to use things in dungeons that I may have left behind in previous dungeons. I hate replaying old dungeons in single-player games - feels exactly like my grinding days in Lineage 2, brings back bad memories.
Talking about Lineage 2, it is the first game that introduced to me the reality of gaming addiction. Before that, I always thought gaming addiction was meant the player loves gaming so much that he cannot stop. It was only through my experience in L2 that made me realise that love is not necessary for the addiction to persist. Something just holds me to the game, something I cannot explain that pulls me back from real life. I hate grinding, but I just want to play it, for reasons I cannot understand. Then with the help of a friend in the game, I moved to WoW, and I realised I hated L2. WoW is actually enjoyable because grinding isn't necessary to level, and the PvP games rock!
In L2, I grind 24/7 on the same mobs all the time. A small mistake can often lead to death and the loss of 4% of the exp bar. A small mistake can be running too far and agroing a high level mob accidentally. Worse is the lawlessness of the L2 world, where PKers roam free and farmers care about their quotas more than the area available for the other players. Because of the stingy loot drop chances in the game, demands for farmed gold and items are always in high demand, and thus the thriving farmer populations. These guys play like sweatshop labourers, never resting and always farming. Of course they most likely have shifts but I don't care. What I care is that they actually take up so many of the better areas that real players have only the worse rooms to grind in.
And it's boring as hell to kill the same things all day. Or watch your party members kill them anyway, if you're a healer like I was. All I did was watch their HP bars, and sit when nothing needed to be done. It was just like my 2 years as RP, doing nothing all day, but have to remain alert throughout - no sleeping, no other forms of entertainment even if you're bored of sitting, because the others may get seriously injured suddenly, and you have to spam the heal buttons right away.
Oh yes, I did manage to cause the party to wipe because I was watching tv while the tank suddenly died from a massive overdose of mob agro. And I got... shit for that.
WoW was heavenly compared to L2 hell, because there are so many areas I can roam, and so many unorthodox forms of entertainment I can find in WoW, like exploring unopened areas. But in a serious guild, it does get kind of like L2 because members will need to grind for materials for better items one is required to have. Which sucked. And made me quit. I hate grinding.
Time to go.
Thursday 29 November 2007
Saturday 17 November 2007
Rant 081 / Sustenance!
I have this sneaking suspicion that I may have pushed myself too hard. Yesterday I could not make myself do more than a few questions throughout the day. Everytime I look at the paper I couldn't think; my brain just refused to budge. And this is just when I'm starting my revision on my weakest subject: Chemistry. What luck!
And I'm no longer eating much since 2 weeks ago. Everyday I feel hungry only once, maybe twice, but I do not eat at those times. Instead, I eat only when I'm tired to doing work, and needed some relaxation. By doing my revision or playing some games, I have been ignoring my hunger everyday.
But I have nothing to worry about. I do eat 1-2 slices of cheap cheese daily. Cheap, because it is almost tasteless, and sold at $4+ for 36 slices. And with some fruit yoghurt and fruit slices I eat occasionally, I should be able to avoid scurvy, or any nutritional deficiency. The only thing really lacking may be sugar/carbohydrates, because the only real energy supplier is the fat from the cheese.
I still have a box of Laughing Cow Cheese that I eat once in a while. About 1 portion every few days, because it's expensive and contains an unholy proportion of fats. But it tastes heavenly compared to any food that I can obtain without taking a bus.
Plus I still have some canned food, like these 2 cans of tuna chunks in olive oil. One of my favourite canned food. And I have a few packets of instant bee hoon and hor fun, which helps when I don't feel like spending money - I have only $35 left that I can allow myself to spend until the 23rd. I started with $300 two weeks ago, and spend quite a bit on canned food and cheese( I started with three boxes of La Vache Qui Rit, but used one and a half boxes for my French presentation). My meals also cost $5-7 every time.
Of course I eat real food. I buy a meal from the Chinese food stall everyday, and sometimes they give me discounts. Once I tried the Western stall's food by ordering a roasted chicken leg and wing. It was good, and when I use the word "leg", I mean both the drumstick and upper thigh.
I have only 2 reasons to be dissatisfied. One, the black pepper gravy was totally unnecessary, and tasteless. Unnecessary, because the chicken was already roasted with honey or something sweet. Second was the price. The leg costs $3.50, the wing $1.10. That meal of leg and wing alone costs $4.60. Maybe it is comparable with the prices outside, but if that is true, improve that damned gravy! Or use something else! I can't taste the pepper unless I drink it! You might as well use a weak salt solution with black flecks in it.
Well, I must admit it's worth the price, barely, but it is not what I need. I don't need the fats and high sugar content. I need proteins, vitamins, and some carbohydrates. With cheese, yoghurts and fruits, I can get enough proteins and vitamins. With the rice I can get the carbohydrates. And I don't really care about dietary fibre since I don't have much to pass out anyway.
Maybe I just need seaweed or something, for iodine. I don't want to get thyroid diseases. Not till after exams anyway. Oh hell, I'll just risk it LOL! There are only 5 days more before I can eat like a king again. Not counting today, there are only Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday! On Friday morning I'll finish my last paper by 11.30am, and packed up by 1pm. Home by 2pm! Yes I'm planning to take a cab, because I'm bringing almost everything back.
And XL suggested that I ask some ladies to join us! LOL! When I used the phrase "I don't talk to much" I was trying to say I don't speak/chat to them at all, but I did ask them a question or two during the term, and I did speak to them during my presentation because my presentation was a game in which the whole class participated in.
Of course some of them are cute, but still, I merely know their names and have a vague idea of
which courses they're in. So no help from me there.
And I'm no longer eating much since 2 weeks ago. Everyday I feel hungry only once, maybe twice, but I do not eat at those times. Instead, I eat only when I'm tired to doing work, and needed some relaxation. By doing my revision or playing some games, I have been ignoring my hunger everyday.
But I have nothing to worry about. I do eat 1-2 slices of cheap cheese daily. Cheap, because it is almost tasteless, and sold at $4+ for 36 slices. And with some fruit yoghurt and fruit slices I eat occasionally, I should be able to avoid scurvy, or any nutritional deficiency. The only thing really lacking may be sugar/carbohydrates, because the only real energy supplier is the fat from the cheese.
I still have a box of Laughing Cow Cheese that I eat once in a while. About 1 portion every few days, because it's expensive and contains an unholy proportion of fats. But it tastes heavenly compared to any food that I can obtain without taking a bus.
Plus I still have some canned food, like these 2 cans of tuna chunks in olive oil. One of my favourite canned food. And I have a few packets of instant bee hoon and hor fun, which helps when I don't feel like spending money - I have only $35 left that I can allow myself to spend until the 23rd. I started with $300 two weeks ago, and spend quite a bit on canned food and cheese( I started with three boxes of La Vache Qui Rit, but used one and a half boxes for my French presentation). My meals also cost $5-7 every time.
Of course I eat real food. I buy a meal from the Chinese food stall everyday, and sometimes they give me discounts. Once I tried the Western stall's food by ordering a roasted chicken leg and wing. It was good, and when I use the word "leg", I mean both the drumstick and upper thigh.
I have only 2 reasons to be dissatisfied. One, the black pepper gravy was totally unnecessary, and tasteless. Unnecessary, because the chicken was already roasted with honey or something sweet. Second was the price. The leg costs $3.50, the wing $1.10. That meal of leg and wing alone costs $4.60. Maybe it is comparable with the prices outside, but if that is true, improve that damned gravy! Or use something else! I can't taste the pepper unless I drink it! You might as well use a weak salt solution with black flecks in it.
Well, I must admit it's worth the price, barely, but it is not what I need. I don't need the fats and high sugar content. I need proteins, vitamins, and some carbohydrates. With cheese, yoghurts and fruits, I can get enough proteins and vitamins. With the rice I can get the carbohydrates. And I don't really care about dietary fibre since I don't have much to pass out anyway.
Maybe I just need seaweed or something, for iodine. I don't want to get thyroid diseases. Not till after exams anyway. Oh hell, I'll just risk it LOL! There are only 5 days more before I can eat like a king again. Not counting today, there are only Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday! On Friday morning I'll finish my last paper by 11.30am, and packed up by 1pm. Home by 2pm! Yes I'm planning to take a cab, because I'm bringing almost everything back.
And XL suggested that I ask some ladies to join us! LOL! When I used the phrase "I don't talk to much" I was trying to say I don't speak/chat to them at all, but I did ask them a question or two during the term, and I did speak to them during my presentation because my presentation was a game in which the whole class participated in.
Of course some of them are cute, but still, I merely know their names and have a vague idea of
which courses they're in. So no help from me there.
Friday 16 November 2007
Rant 080 / Planning Holidays For Motivation To Go Through Exams
The Fountain is a pretty good movie. I still don't exactly understand everything(I believe the spaceship was a metaphor for his mind and his thoughts, but what was the meaning of him dying in the end and the tree reviving?), but it had a nice story and excellent music. In fact, without the music the whole film would be crap, because the music pieces seem to be composed for the scenes in the show.
I didn't know www.purepwnage.com was so famous that the Australian video game show, GG, invited them onto for a tournament. PP vs GG lol! So far PurePwnage has 15 episodes since their start in 2004, and they are showing their new episodes in cinemas! Plus they are sold out all the time!
But that's only in Canada. In Sg, I think I'm the only person who knows about them. Probably because many gaming Singaporeans can't understand non-local English. It's not wrong to speak Singlish, but you've got to learn to understand foreign accents if you want to get out of this island.
Other than some of the nerdy fighting scenes in the later episodes of the first season, the show is extremely humourous. They poke fun at the stereotypical gamer and many internet memes. I can never forget the villain in ep 15 saying,"You are on the way to destruction. You have no chance to survive make your time!"
ROFLMAO! For those of you who don't understand, this is part of the ultra-famous internet meme "All you base are belong to us." The whole scene that this line originated from was this:
Now to real life. Back when I was doing some research for my French presentation, I found several simple cheese fondue recipes that I thought I could use. I pinned 2 of the easiest in front of me now, so that I can test them when my exams are over. Not only that, I also found that there is "Beef Fondue" in which you dip bite-size beef into a pot of oil and butter. Something like frying, but DIY. Sounds interesting, but a bit dangerous for a n00b like me. I'll try cheese first. Maybe if its good, I'll suggest it for the BBQ, or replace the BBQ with fondue. You can dip many things in both cheese and beef fondue. In the cheese fondue, one can also use ham or anything suitable for eating with cheese. For beef fondue, any meat can be used.
Now there is only 1 problem - I don't know how much electric fondue pots cost... Some websites state prices ranging from S$200-450, while in ebay, there are prices ranging from S$10-60. Hmm...
www.freerice.com is a very interesting website. I found this bot for it via wikipedia that plays the game for me. In addition, since this website allows a separate game for each browser opened on it, even if they are on the same computer, I can thus open several bots at one go. The most I have tried using at one shot is 10. Yea, in 2 hours with just 5 bots, I've donated 100000 grains of rice. Taking 1 grain to be 25mg, 10k grains will be 2.5kg. If 1000 ppl do this for 8 hrs a day, they will be giving out 10,000kg of rice daily. The best thing is that this doesn't require much bandwidth, so I can run it together with this Folding@Home program, or with games running.
I didn't know www.purepwnage.com was so famous that the Australian video game show, GG, invited them onto for a tournament. PP vs GG lol! So far PurePwnage has 15 episodes since their start in 2004, and they are showing their new episodes in cinemas! Plus they are sold out all the time!
But that's only in Canada. In Sg, I think I'm the only person who knows about them. Probably because many gaming Singaporeans can't understand non-local English. It's not wrong to speak Singlish, but you've got to learn to understand foreign accents if you want to get out of this island.
Other than some of the nerdy fighting scenes in the later episodes of the first season, the show is extremely humourous. They poke fun at the stereotypical gamer and many internet memes. I can never forget the villain in ep 15 saying,"You are on the way to destruction. You have no chance to survive make your time!"
ROFLMAO! For those of you who don't understand, this is part of the ultra-famous internet meme "All you base are belong to us." The whole scene that this line originated from was this:
- Narrator: In A.D. 2101, war was beginning.
- Captain: What happen ?
- Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
- Operator: We get signal.
- Captain: What!
- Operator: Main screen turn on.
- Captain: It's you!!
- CATS: How are you gentlemen!!
- CATS: All your base are belong to us.
- CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
- Captain: What you say!!
- CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
- CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....
- Operator: Captain!!
- Captain: Take off every 'ZIG'!!
- Captain: You know what you doing.
- Captain: Move 'ZIG'.
- Captain: For great justice.
Now to real life. Back when I was doing some research for my French presentation, I found several simple cheese fondue recipes that I thought I could use. I pinned 2 of the easiest in front of me now, so that I can test them when my exams are over. Not only that, I also found that there is "Beef Fondue" in which you dip bite-size beef into a pot of oil and butter. Something like frying, but DIY. Sounds interesting, but a bit dangerous for a n00b like me. I'll try cheese first. Maybe if its good, I'll suggest it for the BBQ, or replace the BBQ with fondue. You can dip many things in both cheese and beef fondue. In the cheese fondue, one can also use ham or anything suitable for eating with cheese. For beef fondue, any meat can be used.
Now there is only 1 problem - I don't know how much electric fondue pots cost... Some websites state prices ranging from S$200-450, while in ebay, there are prices ranging from S$10-60. Hmm...
www.freerice.com is a very interesting website. I found this bot for it via wikipedia that plays the game for me. In addition, since this website allows a separate game for each browser opened on it, even if they are on the same computer, I can thus open several bots at one go. The most I have tried using at one shot is 10. Yea, in 2 hours with just 5 bots, I've donated 100000 grains of rice. Taking 1 grain to be 25mg, 10k grains will be 2.5kg. If 1000 ppl do this for 8 hrs a day, they will be giving out 10,000kg of rice daily. The best thing is that this doesn't require much bandwidth, so I can run it together with this Folding@Home program, or with games running.
Tuesday 13 November 2007
Rant 079 / Stone-Age, Bronze-Age, Iron-Age, Pwn-Age
A few days back I started playing this browser-based MMORPG Urban Dead, which is pretty low-tech, not time-consuming, but interesting. Being low-tech, it is a rare online game which my shitty dorm bandwidth can support. It is designed such that you cannot spend much time on it, making it ideal for muggers like me. It is interesting, since it is the only MMORPG I know of that has no NPCs. And the zombie-infested-city theme is also makes it more unique.
http://www.urbandead.com/map.cgi?logout
What is it about? The background story is that the city of Malton suddenly becomes filled with zombies. Before all residents can successfully evacuate, a quarantine was placed on the city. Meanwhile, researchers of the company, NecroTech, were ordered to stay within the city to study the zombies.
Players can choose to play as the humans or the zombies. As humans, there are 3 classes to choose from, with many sub-classes: military(Private, Medic and Scout), civilians(Cop, Firefighter and Consumer) and scientists(Doctor and NecroTech assistant).
Most of the sub-classes are pretty obvious, but some of them are rather unique. As a Consumer, you can find loots in malls more easily. As a NecroTech assistant, you can "tag" zombies and allow other players to spot them more easily.
But if you feel evil and want to try the zombie, there is only 1 class of zombies - Zombie.
Zombies seem quite easy to use, since you cannot die(you simply rise again by spending Action Points). Other than that, you also have a whole range of skills to choose from, like Scent of Fear and Infectious Bite.
The game doesn't have good graphics, and is turn-based. This means even if you lag, consequences are not as bad as if you are playing a real-time game. It uses a system of Action Points, in which you gain 1 AP per half-hours, or 48AP everyday. Every action you take(eg walking from one building to another, attacking or talking through the radio) consumes 1 AP.
There is no economy in the city of Malton. Makes sense, who'd want to trade while struggling to survive in a city of zombies? This is ensured by the game designers refusing to implement the trade/give function. Therefore, what you find(btw, "searching the area" takes 1AP) is always yours until you drop it, at which point it disappears.
The "search area" function gives you a chance of finding items, and your location affects what you can find. In police stations you can find guns, and in NecroTech offices you can find revival syringes(for turning zombies into people).
But the lack of AP really bugs me sometimes. Everyday, I get about 48 APs, and just walking to a building and entering takes 2 AP. Everytime I have to stop doing whatever I was doing and find a safe building to rest in before my AP runs out. Yes, you have to find a barricaded building to rest before logging off or you may get killed by zombies that sees you.
And as for barricaded buildings, barricades can be removed by zombies when they attack them enough times, but also can be rebuilt by anyone who has the right skills and enough APs.
http://www.urbandead.com/map.cgi?logout
What is it about? The background story is that the city of Malton suddenly becomes filled with zombies. Before all residents can successfully evacuate, a quarantine was placed on the city. Meanwhile, researchers of the company, NecroTech, were ordered to stay within the city to study the zombies.
Players can choose to play as the humans or the zombies. As humans, there are 3 classes to choose from, with many sub-classes: military(Private, Medic and Scout), civilians(Cop, Firefighter and Consumer) and scientists(Doctor and NecroTech assistant).
Most of the sub-classes are pretty obvious, but some of them are rather unique. As a Consumer, you can find loots in malls more easily. As a NecroTech assistant, you can "tag" zombies and allow other players to spot them more easily.
But if you feel evil and want to try the zombie, there is only 1 class of zombies - Zombie.
Zombies seem quite easy to use, since you cannot die(you simply rise again by spending Action Points). Other than that, you also have a whole range of skills to choose from, like Scent of Fear and Infectious Bite.
The game doesn't have good graphics, and is turn-based. This means even if you lag, consequences are not as bad as if you are playing a real-time game. It uses a system of Action Points, in which you gain 1 AP per half-hours, or 48AP everyday. Every action you take(eg walking from one building to another, attacking or talking through the radio) consumes 1 AP.
There is no economy in the city of Malton. Makes sense, who'd want to trade while struggling to survive in a city of zombies? This is ensured by the game designers refusing to implement the trade/give function. Therefore, what you find(btw, "searching the area" takes 1AP) is always yours until you drop it, at which point it disappears.
The "search area" function gives you a chance of finding items, and your location affects what you can find. In police stations you can find guns, and in NecroTech offices you can find revival syringes(for turning zombies into people).
But the lack of AP really bugs me sometimes. Everyday, I get about 48 APs, and just walking to a building and entering takes 2 AP. Everytime I have to stop doing whatever I was doing and find a safe building to rest in before my AP runs out. Yes, you have to find a barricaded building to rest before logging off or you may get killed by zombies that sees you.
And as for barricaded buildings, barricades can be removed by zombies when they attack them enough times, but also can be rebuilt by anyone who has the right skills and enough APs.
Saturday 10 November 2007
Rant 078 / Curiosity Gets Sued By SPCA For Animal Abuse
Sitting with a one-liter bottle of water, and two filled half-liter bottles next to my laptop, I type this blog knowing I will not be running out of water before I finish this rant.
I have no idea why I mentioning the water, but I just did.
The past week has been rather frustrating for me, not because of the approaching exam dates, but because of my horrible neighbours. I used to think that the guy in my neighbourhood who shouts that "wooot!" thing suddenly at any moment during the day was annoying. I was, as the Chinese idiom goes, frog in a well.
Just yesterday in the afternoon, the group of four were waiting outside a room a few doors away from me, and two of them were shouting to someone. From the lack of response to their shouts, I can conclude that their target was inside the room. But from the fact the they were actually shouting, I can also assume they were shouting to someone on another floor. So which should I choose?
Before seeing them, I was suffering their shouts in silence in my room. But when I got too distracted from my work, and thus remembered to eat, I decided to go out for some food.
That was when I saw them shouting there outside the room, like the scum of society that they are. I decided to avoid them by taking another route to the canteen, lest I feel like punching them too much.
Unfortunately, after buying my food, I was looking forward to eating so much I forgot about them and took the path I had avoided. As I took the corner and started to approach them, I got real pissed because they were still shouting things that most of the neighbourhood didn't care about but were still hearing anyway.
I didn't do anything foolish, but I stared at the guy in blue who shouted the most. Even in normal circumstances, I believe I look unfriendly though I never try to look fierce for no reason. But this time, I decided to put a little more effort in the stare.
Of course he stopped and looked at me, probably thinking I was going to do something to him. But it'd be ludicrous sight since I was holding my lunch in one hand. So I just walked passed him without a word, almost knocking into him (I'm big, but the corridor isn't much bigger).
Several moments passed before he spoke again. He was speaking somewhat softly (but still audible to me from my distance) to a friend in Mandarin, "那个人 很 凶 hor?"
Fucking morons. What did you expect, a smile and congratulations from me for attaining the rank of Asshole, First Class?
But of course, as they were morons, they did not quite seem to get what I meant and went on with their infernal screaming. Now you see what that Finnish guy meant when he said he was a "natural selector" before massacring in his school?
Not that he was right, but I sure can see why he felt like killing them. And with that gun of his, lousy model as it was, it was still a great temptation to use a gun on low-lives like these.
I'm also not implying those people he killed probably shouted a lot. I mean they are obviously human pests who's future is obviously detrimental to modern society.
But that wasn't all. On the same day, in the evening, a group of guy played some kind of video game in a room downstairs. From a few whistles I heard, I'd say they were playing Winning Eleven. The main problem isn't with that they were playing when exams start next week for most people. What pissed me off again was that one guy kept shouting whenever he scored a goal. And I could tell he scored quite a few goals.
That isn't all. Another guy was shouting vulgarities once in a while, and there were a few shouts from some others. I'm glad Singapore doesn't allow civilians to possess guns.
After 2 hours of the din, there started a few shouts from other guys who were trying to shut them up. To no avail. And from the persistence shouts from the same guy, I believe it to be the same person as the one I stared at that afternoon.
In addition, I feel helpless. I have no idea if the hall office have the capability to resolve such problems. I have no idea how to contact the hall committee and if they would help in such matters.
Worst of all, I feel embarrassed. They were obviously locals, and at least half the residents in this block are foreigners. It is bad enough that everyone knows the foreign students always get better grades than local students, at least in Engineering. Do they have to make things worse by making asses of themselves in front of so many foreigners?
Everyday?
Another reason to get out of this country when I graduate.
A month back, my roommate got dumped by his girlfriend. Very sad. I was quite surprised, since just a few days before it happened, she came to our room to visit him in the morning. They looked like they were at a very intimate stage, sharing his seat and stuff. And he isn't even ugly or anything; He's even the leader of his guitar ensemble. Cried quite a bit, but eventually stopped.
Then all of a sudden he was crying again last night. I'm not going to say anything this time. The last time I had advised him not to hold it in, and that's the only advise I will ever give to anyone who needs to cry. Any other advices may not be beneficial to him, especially since I'm not a pro in life anyway.
Wonder what he was crying about. Oh hell...
Democracy is the celebration of mediocrity. Why? Think about it this way:
The one with most authority, whether it is the President or Prime Minister, is changed regularly. I'm not talking about Singapore since it is not a true democracy. But when the ruler is changed, long-term plans are interrupted. If the ruler knows he will be replaced soon, he will not bother to plan anything for the far future , eg 20 years ahead. But in a government where the authority is certain to remain with the same person, eg in an absolute monarchy, the ruler can plan for the future.
Even if a President plans for the far future, it will very likely be changed according the ideas of later Presidents.
But in a government where a person is able to hold on to power indefinitely, like LKY, great benefits can be reaped by planning very far ahead.
But this is a gamble, as seen in the world's history. Though this is a possibility that democracy lacks, democracy is able to prevent serious damage if the ruler happens to be unfit for rule. Bush Jr is an exception.
What's more is that every several years, the government has to spend great amount of tax money for elections and keeping the people happy with the ruling party.
So in the end, democracy greatly limits the benefits of having a good ruler, but it also prevents the country from ruination. It is the celebration of mediocrity.
I have no idea why I mentioning the water, but I just did.
The past week has been rather frustrating for me, not because of the approaching exam dates, but because of my horrible neighbours. I used to think that the guy in my neighbourhood who shouts that "wooot!" thing suddenly at any moment during the day was annoying. I was, as the Chinese idiom goes, frog in a well.
Just yesterday in the afternoon, the group of four were waiting outside a room a few doors away from me, and two of them were shouting to someone. From the lack of response to their shouts, I can conclude that their target was inside the room. But from the fact the they were actually shouting, I can also assume they were shouting to someone on another floor. So which should I choose?
Before seeing them, I was suffering their shouts in silence in my room. But when I got too distracted from my work, and thus remembered to eat, I decided to go out for some food.
That was when I saw them shouting there outside the room, like the scum of society that they are. I decided to avoid them by taking another route to the canteen, lest I feel like punching them too much.
Unfortunately, after buying my food, I was looking forward to eating so much I forgot about them and took the path I had avoided. As I took the corner and started to approach them, I got real pissed because they were still shouting things that most of the neighbourhood didn't care about but were still hearing anyway.
I didn't do anything foolish, but I stared at the guy in blue who shouted the most. Even in normal circumstances, I believe I look unfriendly though I never try to look fierce for no reason. But this time, I decided to put a little more effort in the stare.
Of course he stopped and looked at me, probably thinking I was going to do something to him. But it'd be ludicrous sight since I was holding my lunch in one hand. So I just walked passed him without a word, almost knocking into him (I'm big, but the corridor isn't much bigger).
Several moments passed before he spoke again. He was speaking somewhat softly (but still audible to me from my distance) to a friend in Mandarin, "那个人 很 凶 hor?"
Fucking morons. What did you expect, a smile and congratulations from me for attaining the rank of Asshole, First Class?
But of course, as they were morons, they did not quite seem to get what I meant and went on with their infernal screaming. Now you see what that Finnish guy meant when he said he was a "natural selector" before massacring in his school?
Not that he was right, but I sure can see why he felt like killing them. And with that gun of his, lousy model as it was, it was still a great temptation to use a gun on low-lives like these.
I'm also not implying those people he killed probably shouted a lot. I mean they are obviously human pests who's future is obviously detrimental to modern society.
But that wasn't all. On the same day, in the evening, a group of guy played some kind of video game in a room downstairs. From a few whistles I heard, I'd say they were playing Winning Eleven. The main problem isn't with that they were playing when exams start next week for most people. What pissed me off again was that one guy kept shouting whenever he scored a goal. And I could tell he scored quite a few goals.
That isn't all. Another guy was shouting vulgarities once in a while, and there were a few shouts from some others. I'm glad Singapore doesn't allow civilians to possess guns.
After 2 hours of the din, there started a few shouts from other guys who were trying to shut them up. To no avail. And from the persistence shouts from the same guy, I believe it to be the same person as the one I stared at that afternoon.
In addition, I feel helpless. I have no idea if the hall office have the capability to resolve such problems. I have no idea how to contact the hall committee and if they would help in such matters.
Worst of all, I feel embarrassed. They were obviously locals, and at least half the residents in this block are foreigners. It is bad enough that everyone knows the foreign students always get better grades than local students, at least in Engineering. Do they have to make things worse by making asses of themselves in front of so many foreigners?
Everyday?
Another reason to get out of this country when I graduate.
A month back, my roommate got dumped by his girlfriend. Very sad. I was quite surprised, since just a few days before it happened, she came to our room to visit him in the morning. They looked like they were at a very intimate stage, sharing his seat and stuff. And he isn't even ugly or anything; He's even the leader of his guitar ensemble. Cried quite a bit, but eventually stopped.
Then all of a sudden he was crying again last night. I'm not going to say anything this time. The last time I had advised him not to hold it in, and that's the only advise I will ever give to anyone who needs to cry. Any other advices may not be beneficial to him, especially since I'm not a pro in life anyway.
Wonder what he was crying about. Oh hell...
Democracy is the celebration of mediocrity. Why? Think about it this way:
The one with most authority, whether it is the President or Prime Minister, is changed regularly. I'm not talking about Singapore since it is not a true democracy. But when the ruler is changed, long-term plans are interrupted. If the ruler knows he will be replaced soon, he will not bother to plan anything for the far future , eg 20 years ahead. But in a government where the authority is certain to remain with the same person, eg in an absolute monarchy, the ruler can plan for the future.
Even if a President plans for the far future, it will very likely be changed according the ideas of later Presidents.
But in a government where a person is able to hold on to power indefinitely, like LKY, great benefits can be reaped by planning very far ahead.
But this is a gamble, as seen in the world's history. Though this is a possibility that democracy lacks, democracy is able to prevent serious damage if the ruler happens to be unfit for rule. Bush Jr is an exception.
What's more is that every several years, the government has to spend great amount of tax money for elections and keeping the people happy with the ruling party.
So in the end, democracy greatly limits the benefits of having a good ruler, but it also prevents the country from ruination. It is the celebration of mediocrity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)