All those classic books that we sometimes come across as textbooks for English or Literature-type courses were once just popular or critically acclaimed books of some long gone era. If so, will people in the year 2100 study X-Men comics as serious literature?
Damn the Starhub guys for making us users share IPs! I couldn't log into my Urban Dead account today! Because they limit non-paying players to 160 moves per IP, I can't get in to do anything. But I checked the wiki's FAQ and found that they reset the counter at 9am. That's another 5 hours from now.
Anyway according to the wiki's 29th March update for Dulston, the suburb I'm in, the mall is still holding. Apparently the zombies are now concentrating their efforts on just one corner. At the last count there were 167 zombies standing on that tile (or square). I hope the survivors won't just concentrate their efforts on only that corner.
No news about the building next to it that provides Revivification Syringes. It'd better be up and barricaded still, because the syringes are the only way to get rid of zombies and save out fallen comrades. You see, dead zombies don't die; they merely spend 10APs to stand up again. But revived zombies that do not want to be revived (this practice is known as combat revive) needs to be killed before becoming a zombie again. This takes more time than making them waste 10APs. However one can argue that they can easily get themselves killed, especially in sieges, where there are many zombies around.
Played Kane's Wrath since yesterday and finished the campaign just now. Now they have 3 different styles per race, almost like Generals. But this time the names are not as direct (like Tank General, etc), and sounds better (like ZOCOM).
The campaign on Normal mode is easy, especially for my style of anti-AI turtler. This will never work on a human, but against AI, I spend ALL my resources on static defenses in the early part of the game. NOD defense may be weaker than GDI's, but the turrets can spawn faster than a couple of well-fed rabbits. I just spam mainly laser turrets around my base, pack them so close they form a solid wall, and tech up. As soon as I get a solid wall, I spam Beam Tanks, using them on the Obelisks I place behind the wall of turrets. I was quite amazed by the Obelisks' power and range when there are 7 Beam Tanks focusing on each of them.
After a while, their tanks won't even touch me because the range of the Obelisks are about twice that of the turrets. So there won't be a need for repair. Once I've done that, I should have a Nuke ready by around that time. Meanwhile, I spam walkers with every factory I've got.
That is a definite win once I have that solid wall and Obelisks. Of course, I keep my base as small as possible to reduce the amount of space my wall has to cover. This strategy is brainless, and totally relies on the opponent not using Nukes/Ion Cannons/Rift/mass armies.
The units are nice too, just what you expect from C&C these days. The superheavy walker that is limited to 1 per player is very strong but not unvulnerable. My solid wall can kill a solo GDI one with severe damage, or only some losses if I hit it with 4 of my bombers first.
I find that the GDI's superheavy walker is the most useful of the 3. It can garrison four(I think) infantries, and its special ability is that it turns the Tiberium it walks on into instant cash. You can just make it walk around the Tib fields when it's in base.
Of course, the Scrin's version is cool too. It can turn tank wreckages into instant cash. But the best thing about it is that if the player includes the Mastermind (Scrin Commando Mind Controller) as one of the 3 garrisoned infantries, it gains the ability to Blink. A Blinking Superheavy walker! Holy Shit!
Last but not least, the Nod's Redeemer is the one I've been using all the while in the Campaign. It can hold 2 infantries, and its special ability is to make enemy troops attack each other. That may sound fantastic, until you realize that the area this affects isn't large enough.
Best of all for these walkers, Engineers can be garrisoned within, to give the ability to restore health gradually. Better than walking all the way back to the nearest factory after a battle. However I imagine this may be completely useless in a 1v1 match against a human. In fact, it is most unlikely to appear in a 1v1 match.
The campaign was not as well-designed as it could have been. On several maps, the player uses a different general of NOD, not the original, while not informing him/her of that. This got a little confusing for me when I realized that I couldn't use bombers in one of them. Later I read that the Black Hand has no air units.
And the final cliffhanger is quite interesting. Makes me wonder if they will make another expansion for each of the other 2 races. Kane's Wrath has only a NOD campaign. The next is probably for the Scrin, if it is even going to be made.
The Global Conquest adds a new twist to the old way of RTS gaming. It starts out with a Risk-like map, but when an unit fights an enemy, you can either auto-resolve or play a 1v1 match with the enemy.
Your units have to be bought, and come in "packages" consisting of several units. You can use the pre-made packages or make your own. And it seems that the Construction Yard is not necessary in them. You can make one that has only combat units and rush the shit out of the opponent. Of course, the bigger the units, the more expensive the package becomes.
You start with a sum of money and you earn more during the conquest. Therefore it is not useful to make a package of only Tripods and Carriers. This will really roll over most armies, but you won't have enough to protect all fronts.
My new curtains are so heavy they block the wind too. So its either a gradually warming but dark room, or I will have a comfortably cool but bright one. I take the former, but leave my door open when I take my meals. Aircon is not an option everyday. In order to shift to this room, I had to prove false the reason that I will use too much electricity by switching on the aircon all the time, which I did every night before the shift. These days, I make do with my fan at max power blowing right at me.
2-5am is the best time of the day to do everything that should be done in a quiet environment, eg reading, watching movies and falling asleep. Of course, if it wasn't illegal, I'd also include karaoke singing at home, especially for the more sadistic people. Imagine the din you'll make with your appalling singing-with-speaking-voice in the perfect tranquility of the deep night. You'll probably find your car smashed and door splashed with red paint the next time you go out.
By 6am, the birds will wake and the noise will begin. That will be the best time to be already asleep.
It is so sad to hear that another real Western cuisine stall is closing in the neighbourhood. This time, they stayed for only 1 month again. Good thing I ate their stuff many times during the month. Their prices are really decent for the food that they serve, but at 9-12 bucks per set meal, it is definitely too expensive for this place. But if I compare their beef steak meal with one of the old style Western stall, the new stall definitely is better.
Though their price may me a dollar or two higher, they include 4 large egg,ham,bacon and veggie sandwiches together with mash potato and etc. The old stalls only has a slightly fried bun, fries, coleslaw and beans. Bleh. And the new stalls actually use wine and herbs in their cooking!
In fact, I think it is quite cheap for the effort they put into the food. The old stalls serve shitty Western food, but the locals are used to the style of food.
I guess this must be the same with Chinese food in Europe or the Americas. Wonder if Chinese food is popular in Africa.
Another giant piece of ice has broken off the Antarctica. Whoever still thinks global warming is a myth should shoot themselves in the head.
Saturday 29 March 2008
Friday 28 March 2008
Rant 114 / Kane's Wrath Is Out!
And the zombie story continues from previous posts....
I'm still in Dulston, which may be the last major gathering of survivors in any malls. Malls are the largest and most valuable buildings in the game of Urban Dead because they allow players to find the greatest variety of items. The situation has been worsening in what is now identified as the Second Big Bash by all players.
In the past few day, I've been healing and reviving players while using all my spare Action Points (APs) on searching for First Aid Kits (FAKs). During this period, green(safe) suburbs have been decreasing, and while red(extremely dangerous) suburbs have not increased, they have mixed with both light and dark orange ( dangerous and very dangerous respectively) to form a giant patch of red with orange here and there. Grey(abandoned by both sides) zones are also sprouting in some areas but are also retaken by zombies gradually.
Yesterday, the siege of Treweeke Mall, where I am living in, began. It started with the destruction of surrounding buildings, and the broadcasts of terrifying news of numerous valuable buildings falling into ruins by zombie attacks everywhere in the suburb of Dulston. I stopped healing and walked around the building to check the situation. It was bad, with at least 20 zombies attacking every building around the Mall, and over 70 zombies attacking the south-east corner.
Ok, I think I need to explain again something here. The Mall I am in is a building that occupies 4 squares on the map, and we refer to these 4 squares as NE, NW, SE, SW corners. Zombies have been arriving from the south and the buildings there were the first to fall.
Back to my patrol, I found the building directly south of the SE corner of the mall in ruins with no zombies within (which probably means the zombies were satisfied with the ruination of its interior and were turning their attention to the mall itself), so I repaired the building and lightly barricaded before using 1 last AP to run back into the mall.
I logged back after 4 hours, and found that someone had barricaded that building to Extremely Heavily Barricaded( EHB) status, the highest level of barricade. So I went south to the next building and found it empty, doors opened but not ruined. So I closed the doors, lightly barricaded it, made my way back to the Mall and told everyone about it, in hopes that someone would go barricade it further.
Meanwhile, attacks on the Mall was infrequent despite the huge numbers. I believe it was because they had spent all their APs moving to the Mall. Nonetheless, there were some attacks on the barricades and some of the other guys had to reinforce the barricades in all 4 corners once in a while.
Today when I logged back in, the event log showed that zombies had broken into my SE corner 5 times, but they were repelled by the other 165 survivors in the same corner. So I stopped healing and spent all my APs checking the 2 southern corners' barricades. Twice I had to barricade my SE corner from Quite Strongly Barricaded back to EHB. I never ran out again so as to conserve APs to reinforce the barricades. Today, I've been logging in every hour to check on the barricades and it's a good thing that I did for the last few hours because the zombies are now constantly attacking the barricades.
I have run out of most of my APs long ago, and every time I log in I have only 2-4 APs to spare. This only allows me to reinforce a little, but constantly. As for now, 30 fellow survivors have died and their corpses dragged out of the mall( all dead survivors become zombies). I don't believe I will survive the night this time, but I will stay up as long as I can to hold the walls up.
Oh yes, as for the outside, according to the map and comments by other players, the other mall in Dulston has already fallen. Also, there are no green suburbs in the city at the moment. All of Malton is dangerous, so I am no longer running this time. Malton is doomed, but the survivors shall do all they can to save those who can be saved.
With this horrendous tide of events, even PKer groups, who are survivors who kill other survivors, have made a truce with other survivor groups. The Second Big Bash is changing the game from a stalemate all across the city to a imminent victory for the zombie hordes, and I believe this will make the game designers consider major changes to the game mechanics in the near future.
Re-reading Olympos again. Man, this may be one of the best books I have every read. I've only finished it just half a year ago and I'm finding it interesting again.
Found this blog of some guy who went to Japan and explored their adult merchandise. Absolutely hilarious, what he found there, like the butt funnel. Yes, I typed "butt funnel" correctly. It's a long and somewhat narrow, clear plastic funnel that comes with a small flashlight. The instructions are given in the form of a picture of a girl bending over, the funnel behind her and an arrow pointing at her ass from the funnel.
This is some sick scat fetish. No normal guy would want to see what's in her rectum. And check out what that blogger said about how he imagine a person would propose using it on his partner. Very funny stuff.
I'm still in Dulston, which may be the last major gathering of survivors in any malls. Malls are the largest and most valuable buildings in the game of Urban Dead because they allow players to find the greatest variety of items. The situation has been worsening in what is now identified as the Second Big Bash by all players.
In the past few day, I've been healing and reviving players while using all my spare Action Points (APs) on searching for First Aid Kits (FAKs). During this period, green(safe) suburbs have been decreasing, and while red(extremely dangerous) suburbs have not increased, they have mixed with both light and dark orange ( dangerous and very dangerous respectively) to form a giant patch of red with orange here and there. Grey(abandoned by both sides) zones are also sprouting in some areas but are also retaken by zombies gradually.
Yesterday, the siege of Treweeke Mall, where I am living in, began. It started with the destruction of surrounding buildings, and the broadcasts of terrifying news of numerous valuable buildings falling into ruins by zombie attacks everywhere in the suburb of Dulston. I stopped healing and walked around the building to check the situation. It was bad, with at least 20 zombies attacking every building around the Mall, and over 70 zombies attacking the south-east corner.
Ok, I think I need to explain again something here. The Mall I am in is a building that occupies 4 squares on the map, and we refer to these 4 squares as NE, NW, SE, SW corners. Zombies have been arriving from the south and the buildings there were the first to fall.
Back to my patrol, I found the building directly south of the SE corner of the mall in ruins with no zombies within (which probably means the zombies were satisfied with the ruination of its interior and were turning their attention to the mall itself), so I repaired the building and lightly barricaded before using 1 last AP to run back into the mall.
I logged back after 4 hours, and found that someone had barricaded that building to Extremely Heavily Barricaded( EHB) status, the highest level of barricade. So I went south to the next building and found it empty, doors opened but not ruined. So I closed the doors, lightly barricaded it, made my way back to the Mall and told everyone about it, in hopes that someone would go barricade it further.
Meanwhile, attacks on the Mall was infrequent despite the huge numbers. I believe it was because they had spent all their APs moving to the Mall. Nonetheless, there were some attacks on the barricades and some of the other guys had to reinforce the barricades in all 4 corners once in a while.
Today when I logged back in, the event log showed that zombies had broken into my SE corner 5 times, but they were repelled by the other 165 survivors in the same corner. So I stopped healing and spent all my APs checking the 2 southern corners' barricades. Twice I had to barricade my SE corner from Quite Strongly Barricaded back to EHB. I never ran out again so as to conserve APs to reinforce the barricades. Today, I've been logging in every hour to check on the barricades and it's a good thing that I did for the last few hours because the zombies are now constantly attacking the barricades.
I have run out of most of my APs long ago, and every time I log in I have only 2-4 APs to spare. This only allows me to reinforce a little, but constantly. As for now, 30 fellow survivors have died and their corpses dragged out of the mall( all dead survivors become zombies). I don't believe I will survive the night this time, but I will stay up as long as I can to hold the walls up.
Oh yes, as for the outside, according to the map and comments by other players, the other mall in Dulston has already fallen. Also, there are no green suburbs in the city at the moment. All of Malton is dangerous, so I am no longer running this time. Malton is doomed, but the survivors shall do all they can to save those who can be saved.
With this horrendous tide of events, even PKer groups, who are survivors who kill other survivors, have made a truce with other survivor groups. The Second Big Bash is changing the game from a stalemate all across the city to a imminent victory for the zombie hordes, and I believe this will make the game designers consider major changes to the game mechanics in the near future.
Re-reading Olympos again. Man, this may be one of the best books I have every read. I've only finished it just half a year ago and I'm finding it interesting again.
Found this blog of some guy who went to Japan and explored their adult merchandise. Absolutely hilarious, what he found there, like the butt funnel. Yes, I typed "butt funnel" correctly. It's a long and somewhat narrow, clear plastic funnel that comes with a small flashlight. The instructions are given in the form of a picture of a girl bending over, the funnel behind her and an arrow pointing at her ass from the funnel.
This is some sick scat fetish. No normal guy would want to see what's in her rectum. And check out what that blogger said about how he imagine a person would propose using it on his partner. Very funny stuff.
Rant 113 / Time Waits For No Man
Inspired by a true story
We were discussing about which part of a lady's body we usually look at first.
T: You know where I look at? I look at the top of their feet. The bottom of the feet is the sole, and I look at the top, you know, the part the connects to the shin.
Me: For what? You checking whether that part is hairy?? Coz if it's hairy......... Oh, I get what you mean... You're into hairy women! The thing is, I've heard of women with facial hair and even chest hair, but that is... overkill, man!
T: No! I look at it to see whether there is a lot of veins! No matter how a girl dresses up, no matter how much makeup she puts on, that is the one part she cannot hide unless she wears shoes.
Something strange is going on with my internet connection. Two nights ago when I left my laptop on with 20 freerice bots running, 19 of them crashed by the time I checked when I woke up, and the last one was not running properly. The next afternoon, before I took a short nap, I left it with 25 bots and half of them crashed while the other half were having errors. I think I shall have to limit myself to 15 bots.
Recently I found this blog of one guy who had written another freerice bot with Ruby, which I assume to be a programming language. This bot totally owns all other bots, because it runs 50 browsers of freerice.com simultaneously. On one update, it was donating at a rate of 600k grains/hour. That is a staggering 15kg/hr! Pwns the Java bot I'm using and the Python one I was using before.
Unfortunately, I will need to go find out what exactly is this Ruby and this "gem install mechanize --include-dependencies" and download them.
Furthermore, he also discussed the similarities between this and a DDOS attack, the hacker's equivalent of knocking out someone. What I mean is that if many people were to run this bot, say a thousand, this will be the same as 50k people playing the game at a speed of a question every 2 seconds simultaneously. If even more, like tens or hundreds of thousands of people run this, it may crash the server and render it temporarily disabled, which is basically a DDOS attack.
What he uses to defend the use of this bot is that there can't be many people running the bot at the same time. And if the server cannot handle that kind of internet traffic, then how can they expect to reach the popularity they are hoping for?
As for the part in the freerice.com FAQ discouraging people from using bots, he argues that they probably won't mind because it inflates the numbers they can use for publicity.
So I will probably find out more about this Ruby and get the bot soon.
We were discussing about which part of a lady's body we usually look at first.
T: You know where I look at? I look at the top of their feet. The bottom of the feet is the sole, and I look at the top, you know, the part the connects to the shin.
Me: For what? You checking whether that part is hairy?? Coz if it's hairy......... Oh, I get what you mean... You're into hairy women! The thing is, I've heard of women with facial hair and even chest hair, but that is... overkill, man!
T: No! I look at it to see whether there is a lot of veins! No matter how a girl dresses up, no matter how much makeup she puts on, that is the one part she cannot hide unless she wears shoes.
Something strange is going on with my internet connection. Two nights ago when I left my laptop on with 20 freerice bots running, 19 of them crashed by the time I checked when I woke up, and the last one was not running properly. The next afternoon, before I took a short nap, I left it with 25 bots and half of them crashed while the other half were having errors. I think I shall have to limit myself to 15 bots.
Recently I found this blog of one guy who had written another freerice bot with Ruby, which I assume to be a programming language. This bot totally owns all other bots, because it runs 50 browsers of freerice.com simultaneously. On one update, it was donating at a rate of 600k grains/hour. That is a staggering 15kg/hr! Pwns the Java bot I'm using and the Python one I was using before.
Unfortunately, I will need to go find out what exactly is this Ruby and this "gem install mechanize --include-dependencies" and download them.
Furthermore, he also discussed the similarities between this and a DDOS attack, the hacker's equivalent of knocking out someone. What I mean is that if many people were to run this bot, say a thousand, this will be the same as 50k people playing the game at a speed of a question every 2 seconds simultaneously. If even more, like tens or hundreds of thousands of people run this, it may crash the server and render it temporarily disabled, which is basically a DDOS attack.
What he uses to defend the use of this bot is that there can't be many people running the bot at the same time. And if the server cannot handle that kind of internet traffic, then how can they expect to reach the popularity they are hoping for?
As for the part in the freerice.com FAQ discouraging people from using bots, he argues that they probably won't mind because it inflates the numbers they can use for publicity.
So I will probably find out more about this Ruby and get the bot soon.
Tuesday 25 March 2008
Rant 112 / Veering Off Course
I was browsing through an internet forum on a certain website when I found this emo guy asking what they think about it being illegal to abuse animals while it is estimated by some scientists that humans directly cause up to 80 species of flora and fauna to become extinct everyday. He saw it as hypocrisy and he's probably ashamed to be human.
I see it as a matter to necessity. While it is completely unnecessary to abuse our pets, it is necessary that we expand. It is our nature to expand when we prosper, which humans have been throughout history. When we expand, it is inevitable that we come into contact with plants and animals that are specialized in the environment they live in and we are invading. At this point, the rule: survival of the fittest, comes into play. ( Wonder if I had used the punctuations properly in the last sentence)
If we were to stop negatively affecting any animal or plant, then we cannot expand, not even into the deserts where life does flourish in the shade under the rocks. If so, then we will still be living lives that mainly involve clubbing, painting and dying in cool, dry areas to leave perfectly preserved bodies.
If he really feels the way he does about the hypocrisy, then by using the computer and the electricity to troll in that forum, he is just one more hypocrite in the shithole called the Intarweb. He needs to stay under the bridge.
From dictionary.com
To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll."
For the first part, trolls don't necessarily exist exclusively on Usenet, and anyone who does such things in any forum is a fucking troll.
First time I see a guy dating a girl he know through a game. In the past few days while they were chatting in NS while killing each other, one of the female players (definitely female coz she uses a mic) mentioned that she was going to Chicago for something that has to do with her job. The just 2 days ago, both of them were joking about what they will do on their date when she arrives in Chicago, where he apparently is. My first time witnessing something like that. Hope it turns out well for them.
Now that I play NS on G4B2S server all the time, I'm getting to know the players better. Not all of them are schoolkids. Many of them have jobs or are in college (like me). Totally unlike what I expected. But then, having a job can mean many things, including grocery store cashier.
And people in that server says my nick is cool. Not that this is the first time I get this but I don't usually hear that sort of compliment about anyone anywhere. How many year have I been using this nick? Hmm.. probably ever since I started playing NS... many years I guess.
Need good movies. Reviews on IMDB says Superhero Movie sucks really bad. Sad.
My body clock is being altered as usual. No longer do I feel hungry at certain specific times. My sleeping hours are getting later and later. Now I feel really sleepy only at 4am. Last night I slept at 5am. I hope this will continue to change till it goes all the way back to 10pm as the time when I feel sleepy. LOL!
If not, I am already considering drastic measures, including my technique that involved sleeping very little for a week. Tough choice.
I see it as a matter to necessity. While it is completely unnecessary to abuse our pets, it is necessary that we expand. It is our nature to expand when we prosper, which humans have been throughout history. When we expand, it is inevitable that we come into contact with plants and animals that are specialized in the environment they live in and we are invading. At this point, the rule: survival of the fittest, comes into play. ( Wonder if I had used the punctuations properly in the last sentence)
If we were to stop negatively affecting any animal or plant, then we cannot expand, not even into the deserts where life does flourish in the shade under the rocks. If so, then we will still be living lives that mainly involve clubbing, painting and dying in cool, dry areas to leave perfectly preserved bodies.
If he really feels the way he does about the hypocrisy, then by using the computer and the electricity to troll in that forum, he is just one more hypocrite in the shithole called the Intarweb. He needs to stay under the bridge.
From dictionary.com
To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll."
For the first part, trolls don't necessarily exist exclusively on Usenet, and anyone who does such things in any forum is a fucking troll.
First time I see a guy dating a girl he know through a game. In the past few days while they were chatting in NS while killing each other, one of the female players (definitely female coz she uses a mic) mentioned that she was going to Chicago for something that has to do with her job. The just 2 days ago, both of them were joking about what they will do on their date when she arrives in Chicago, where he apparently is. My first time witnessing something like that. Hope it turns out well for them.
Now that I play NS on G4B2S server all the time, I'm getting to know the players better. Not all of them are schoolkids. Many of them have jobs or are in college (like me). Totally unlike what I expected. But then, having a job can mean many things, including grocery store cashier.
And people in that server says my nick is cool. Not that this is the first time I get this but I don't usually hear that sort of compliment about anyone anywhere. How many year have I been using this nick? Hmm.. probably ever since I started playing NS... many years I guess.
Need good movies. Reviews on IMDB says Superhero Movie sucks really bad. Sad.
My body clock is being altered as usual. No longer do I feel hungry at certain specific times. My sleeping hours are getting later and later. Now I feel really sleepy only at 4am. Last night I slept at 5am. I hope this will continue to change till it goes all the way back to 10pm as the time when I feel sleepy. LOL!
If not, I am already considering drastic measures, including my technique that involved sleeping very little for a week. Tough choice.
Saturday 22 March 2008
Rant 111 / Cry Moar, Bitch!
Again, the Olympic Games is dragged into politics. China is now mentioning the once sacred name in the dirty business of the recent Tibetan revolt. The Olympics isn't what it was supposed to be, the friendly competitions that all countries participate in no matter the situation. It is now a capitalistic remake of the holy event for the US and its allies. It is nothing like what it used to be, not just because it is affected by politics, but also because the participants are not truly amateurs. They are called amateurs only because they have not played in any professional games, but what about all that specialized training for their respective sports before they compete?
If you have trained specially in a certain game for months or even years, in ways that are just like those of a professional, are you really an amateur? They have made a mockery of the definition, of the rules, and of all who believe that the Olympics promotes world peace.
Getting really tired of Naruto's style of dragging all possible scenes. Like that part in special episode 51-52 where they found Sai's assassination (wonder why assassin has double double "s") list. Why did he just stare in shock when he saw Sasuke in the list, while others ask him why he was shocked? That was a really unnecessary one. There was no surprise, and there was no need to drag so many consecutive scenes! The plot is the only thing that makes me want to watch Naruto, and the desire is waning. I don't even feel like watching it if all I have is just one new episode. There is no excitement in watching just one lousy episode of Naruto these days. Bleach now totally owns it. Suck it, Naruto. You make my life miserable, like cocaine addiction but without ever experiencing the highs.
Just to correct what I typed in the past, I don't turn on the freerice bots every single night. My laptop needs rest, and I don't have that many reasons to leave it on all night. If I had typed that, I blame it on McDonalds. Don't ask why. I leave my com on only when I have good reasons to leave it on, and I turn on the bots at night only when I plan to have the com turned on through the night.
Apparently, more and more ladies are playing NS on G4B2S NS server. It first started with only one, but after half a year, there are now 3 that I know of. Or maybe there are more but they don't use mic. But at least one of them is a fat chick. If only she never told us her weight, things would have been much more beautiful. LOL! So bad of me, of all people, to say such bullshit.
I am ruined! The only way to go to a Canadian Uni is through the INSTEP exchange program, and according to one friend, the chances of someone over there willing to exchange with me is not high. But I will still try. RAWR!
From MSN's news page:
US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that China come clean on repression in Tibet.
"The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world," said Pelosi...
"What is happening, the world needs to know," she said.
This is bull. The world doesn't need to know. We have enough problems as it is. Let China do all it wants to the Tibetans. I want my chicken rice NOW, and I mean it!
I hope the sarcasm is noticeable.
If you have trained specially in a certain game for months or even years, in ways that are just like those of a professional, are you really an amateur? They have made a mockery of the definition, of the rules, and of all who believe that the Olympics promotes world peace.
Getting really tired of Naruto's style of dragging all possible scenes. Like that part in special episode 51-52 where they found Sai's assassination (wonder why assassin has double double "s") list. Why did he just stare in shock when he saw Sasuke in the list, while others ask him why he was shocked? That was a really unnecessary one. There was no surprise, and there was no need to drag so many consecutive scenes! The plot is the only thing that makes me want to watch Naruto, and the desire is waning. I don't even feel like watching it if all I have is just one new episode. There is no excitement in watching just one lousy episode of Naruto these days. Bleach now totally owns it. Suck it, Naruto. You make my life miserable, like cocaine addiction but without ever experiencing the highs.
Just to correct what I typed in the past, I don't turn on the freerice bots every single night. My laptop needs rest, and I don't have that many reasons to leave it on all night. If I had typed that, I blame it on McDonalds. Don't ask why. I leave my com on only when I have good reasons to leave it on, and I turn on the bots at night only when I plan to have the com turned on through the night.
Apparently, more and more ladies are playing NS on G4B2S NS server. It first started with only one, but after half a year, there are now 3 that I know of. Or maybe there are more but they don't use mic. But at least one of them is a fat chick. If only she never told us her weight, things would have been much more beautiful. LOL! So bad of me, of all people, to say such bullshit.
I am ruined! The only way to go to a Canadian Uni is through the INSTEP exchange program, and according to one friend, the chances of someone over there willing to exchange with me is not high. But I will still try. RAWR!
From MSN's news page:
US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that China come clean on repression in Tibet.
"The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world," said Pelosi...
"What is happening, the world needs to know," she said.
This is bull. The world doesn't need to know. We have enough problems as it is. Let China do all it wants to the Tibetans. I want my chicken rice NOW, and I mean it!
I hope the sarcasm is noticeable.
Friday 21 March 2008
Rant 110 / C'est La Vie
Hot nights. Need air-con.
Mentioned to my mum I was going to live in HKU hostel. She took out her map of HK (a book) and started searching. It's not like I care (at the moment) about where it is. She cared, apparently. So she told me it is near some places that I have heard before but don't know where exactly they are. There is not point. I can take the MTR to most places. If any problems arise, I can just ask a local in the hostel. At worst, I can bring the map book.
But I'd still prefer to live in a hotel. At least they have air-conditioning.
Been donating a lot these days. Never changed my laptop's power settings whenever I go away. Instead, I turn on about 15-20 bots before leaving. Usually when I do so for a long period of time, e.g. overnight, half of them will crash and vanish. I don't understand why, nor do I care, because with even 7 of them working overnight, I help donate a heck of a load each night. That is not counting the rice that have been donated by the bots that crashed in the middle of the night, nor those that were donated in the day ( I leave one on all the time).
Sad that no one uses these bots nor know about the website, but I guess I am practically donating more than their share of the rice had they known about this.
Though I cannot prove on my own that these bots really are doing what they're supposed to do, I have not found any websites saying these are frauds. Instead, I have found bloggers analysing some of the bots and making new and better ones. I believe this indirectly shows that these bots aren't trojan horses or viruses.
At a rate of 10 grain/s, I sleep 9 hours a day. That makes 9*3600*10 = 324,000 per bot. 7 of them makes 2,268,000 grains a night. I googled "rice grain weight" and found that a grain of rice weighs 20-30mg. Taking 0.025g, or 0.00025kg as the rice grain weight, I am donating at least 56.7kg of rice a night. And I haven't calculated all the times I went away for meals and etc.
I feel like I am a good man now.
Getting more people joining ntu tmc now. And coincidentally, someone in my French 1 class is joining tmc too.
Apparently, the NOD32 antivirus program I'm using now is supposed to be one of the fastest antivirus program in the world, and one of the best. No fancy awards, probably because it isn't made by some big corporation in the US (it's produced in Slovak). It is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, because it is written mainly in assembly code.
Assembly code is a low-level computer language, compared to high-level languages like C or Java. Low-level languages are more closely related to the basic codes that computers really use, thus making the processes run much faster and the programs smaller. However such languages are not as easy to use relative to stuff like C because they incorporate less syntax and words from human languages, making them more complicated and less intuitive to learn. Also, low-level languages can only be used on specific types of computers.
You can say that these codes are more "primitive", and high-level codes are more "evolved". All games are written in high-level languages because it will take forever to write and take lifetimes to patch up all the bugs. But it is also because of that that makes them so friggin huge.
Good thing it is fast, because I use it all the time, together with an anti-spyware program. Every time someone emails me something, everytime someone sends me something via Messenger, everytime I download something from an unfamiliar source, I scan all downloaded files with both. I may have them monitoring my computer all the time, but preventing them from activating in my disks is way more important.
This is not the only form of caution I employ. Every single link that someone sends to me, especially those that they suddenly send, I google them. Every single email asking for help/donation/forwarding, I google them. This may be the reason why I found out that ALL emails asking us to forward them so that someone would donate some money for each forward are frauds. This also applies to similar messages in Facebook.
There is no possible way to legally track the number of forwards for any email, thus it is lying when it says that money would be donated for each forward. Even when it says that I'd be heartless not to forward it, I don't care. I'm already donating over FIFTY KILOGRAMS OF RICE (or its monetary equivalent) EVERY NIGHT to the poor. No one can say I am heartless. I'm more helpful than anyone who has donated less than 100 bucks in a year. In fact, when I get such messages in Facebook, they're removed right away.
Anyway, so far the caution has saved me from viruses at least thrice, twice from friends through Messenger, once from my own downloads. My laptop has been clean since the day I turned it on the first time. That's not saying much, but I do my best to keep it this way till the day I get a new laptop.
Plus, I get to laugh at everyone who has gotten a virus for being so gullible in the shithole we know as the Internet.
C'mon, there is no police, no customs officer, no security on the Internet except those you set up for yourself. And don't believe in those bullshit Microsoft provides together with Windows, because Windows is notorious (apparently) in the hacking circles. All those Defender and shit only provides a false sense of security. Only the function of backing up your whole hard disks is useful, but that doesn't come with the Vista's Home Premium edition.
Therefore, everyone has to search for the best tools and fend for him or herself. Even NOD32 is not perfect. The time I found the trojan horse in a downloaded file, I was saved by the anti-spyware scanner, not NOD32. Of course, if you're never going to venture into the "dark side" of the internet, if no one is ever going to play a joke on you, if no one around you ever gets a virus, then go on and save that extra bit of disk space for something more meaningful.
Mentioned to my mum I was going to live in HKU hostel. She took out her map of HK (a book) and started searching. It's not like I care (at the moment) about where it is. She cared, apparently. So she told me it is near some places that I have heard before but don't know where exactly they are. There is not point. I can take the MTR to most places. If any problems arise, I can just ask a local in the hostel. At worst, I can bring the map book.
But I'd still prefer to live in a hotel. At least they have air-conditioning.
Been donating a lot these days. Never changed my laptop's power settings whenever I go away. Instead, I turn on about 15-20 bots before leaving. Usually when I do so for a long period of time, e.g. overnight, half of them will crash and vanish. I don't understand why, nor do I care, because with even 7 of them working overnight, I help donate a heck of a load each night. That is not counting the rice that have been donated by the bots that crashed in the middle of the night, nor those that were donated in the day ( I leave one on all the time).
Sad that no one uses these bots nor know about the website, but I guess I am practically donating more than their share of the rice had they known about this.
Though I cannot prove on my own that these bots really are doing what they're supposed to do, I have not found any websites saying these are frauds. Instead, I have found bloggers analysing some of the bots and making new and better ones. I believe this indirectly shows that these bots aren't trojan horses or viruses.
At a rate of 10 grain/s, I sleep 9 hours a day. That makes 9*3600*10 = 324,000 per bot. 7 of them makes 2,268,000 grains a night. I googled "rice grain weight" and found that a grain of rice weighs 20-30mg. Taking 0.025g, or 0.00025kg as the rice grain weight, I am donating at least 56.7kg of rice a night. And I haven't calculated all the times I went away for meals and etc.
I feel like I am a good man now.
Getting more people joining ntu tmc now. And coincidentally, someone in my French 1 class is joining tmc too.
Apparently, the NOD32 antivirus program I'm using now is supposed to be one of the fastest antivirus program in the world, and one of the best. No fancy awards, probably because it isn't made by some big corporation in the US (it's produced in Slovak). It is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, because it is written mainly in assembly code.
Assembly code is a low-level computer language, compared to high-level languages like C or Java. Low-level languages are more closely related to the basic codes that computers really use, thus making the processes run much faster and the programs smaller. However such languages are not as easy to use relative to stuff like C because they incorporate less syntax and words from human languages, making them more complicated and less intuitive to learn. Also, low-level languages can only be used on specific types of computers.
You can say that these codes are more "primitive", and high-level codes are more "evolved". All games are written in high-level languages because it will take forever to write and take lifetimes to patch up all the bugs. But it is also because of that that makes them so friggin huge.
Good thing it is fast, because I use it all the time, together with an anti-spyware program. Every time someone emails me something, everytime someone sends me something via Messenger, everytime I download something from an unfamiliar source, I scan all downloaded files with both. I may have them monitoring my computer all the time, but preventing them from activating in my disks is way more important.
This is not the only form of caution I employ. Every single link that someone sends to me, especially those that they suddenly send, I google them. Every single email asking for help/donation/forwarding, I google them. This may be the reason why I found out that ALL emails asking us to forward them so that someone would donate some money for each forward are frauds. This also applies to similar messages in Facebook.
There is no possible way to legally track the number of forwards for any email, thus it is lying when it says that money would be donated for each forward. Even when it says that I'd be heartless not to forward it, I don't care. I'm already donating over FIFTY KILOGRAMS OF RICE (or its monetary equivalent) EVERY NIGHT to the poor. No one can say I am heartless. I'm more helpful than anyone who has donated less than 100 bucks in a year. In fact, when I get such messages in Facebook, they're removed right away.
Anyway, so far the caution has saved me from viruses at least thrice, twice from friends through Messenger, once from my own downloads. My laptop has been clean since the day I turned it on the first time. That's not saying much, but I do my best to keep it this way till the day I get a new laptop.
Plus, I get to laugh at everyone who has gotten a virus for being so gullible in the shithole we know as the Internet.
C'mon, there is no police, no customs officer, no security on the Internet except those you set up for yourself. And don't believe in those bullshit Microsoft provides together with Windows, because Windows is notorious (apparently) in the hacking circles. All those Defender and shit only provides a false sense of security. Only the function of backing up your whole hard disks is useful, but that doesn't come with the Vista's Home Premium edition.
Therefore, everyone has to search for the best tools and fend for him or herself. Even NOD32 is not perfect. The time I found the trojan horse in a downloaded file, I was saved by the anti-spyware scanner, not NOD32. Of course, if you're never going to venture into the "dark side" of the internet, if no one is ever going to play a joke on you, if no one around you ever gets a virus, then go on and save that extra bit of disk space for something more meaningful.
Thursday 20 March 2008
Rant 109 / All Slow Drivers Are Women. All Fast Drivers Are Assholes.
After getting killed once by some asshole survivor in the Revive Point, I did not waste any Action Points (AP) doing anything else but stand back up and wait for someone to revive me.
I think I need to explain something here. Everything I do in the game uses 1 Action Point, except zombies when they move, which takes 2 APs per square. APs increase by 1 every 30 mins, or 48 every day. Standing up after dying uses 10 AP though. And Revive Points are areas where zombies go to to wait for someone to revive them. These are unofficial neutral zones and there is an unspoken rule that no killing is allowed there.
After a day of waiting, someone finally revived me! So I stood up, scanned the lone zombie standing next to me to make sure his skills are human ones (which would imply that this zombie is a fallen human, not a true zombie), revived him and ran to the nearest safe building.
And that's it for today.
A rough itinerary for the exchange program to HK was emailed to me today. We will be staying in HKU hostel...
I'd really rather get a hotel room..
If the hostel is within the HKU campus, then it is quite some distance from the nearest MTR station. This would make things hard. At least most of the R&R days are on weekdays, so Disneyland and Ocean Park will be emptier.
Good thing I have a map of HK that I can bring along.
My books aren't here yet! Still another 2-3 weeks of waiting ahead! I'm halfway through Tanequil, the 2nd book of the trilogy. I will need to reread another series again.
Just watched Last Hour. Really bad movie. The director was probably directing his first movie. To make things worse, the story was bad and the story was written by the director. The scenes were a mess. There were no effects or anything to show that certain scenes were flashbacks. Everything moved back and forth too rapidly. Some actions by the characters were hard to understand (like why Casino had to walk to the window when everyone else walked to somewhere else) , while some scenes were not very clearly linked with the previous ones (e.g. when they were searching the rooms).
The actors were pretty bad too. The CID agent might have been the worst actor I have ever seen, acting like a sulky little kid when, I assume, he was supposed to look fierce and bossy.
The end was atrocious. The reason for the whole plot just came out of nowhere. I think the director just pulled something out of his ass and threw it at the end of the script.
I can only compare this movie with Manos: The Hands of Fate, which is slightly worse than this. If you haven't watched Manos, that's because it wasn't produced in our era, but in 1966. It is supposed to be one of the worst movie ever made in the history of film-making. It was so bad, the actors left the theater halfway through its premiere. Quentin Tarantino keeps one of the original 35mm copy of the film because it is one of his favourite "comedy" (Manos: The Hands of Fate was released as a horror flick).
Overall, I wouldn't even recommend downloading it. It'd be a complete waste of bandwidth. But Manos would be an educational film to watch. It teaches its audience how bad films can really be and they should be thankful Hollywood hasn't reached its standards yet...
I think I need to explain something here. Everything I do in the game uses 1 Action Point, except zombies when they move, which takes 2 APs per square. APs increase by 1 every 30 mins, or 48 every day. Standing up after dying uses 10 AP though. And Revive Points are areas where zombies go to to wait for someone to revive them. These are unofficial neutral zones and there is an unspoken rule that no killing is allowed there.
After a day of waiting, someone finally revived me! So I stood up, scanned the lone zombie standing next to me to make sure his skills are human ones (which would imply that this zombie is a fallen human, not a true zombie), revived him and ran to the nearest safe building.
And that's it for today.
A rough itinerary for the exchange program to HK was emailed to me today. We will be staying in HKU hostel...
I'd really rather get a hotel room..
If the hostel is within the HKU campus, then it is quite some distance from the nearest MTR station. This would make things hard. At least most of the R&R days are on weekdays, so Disneyland and Ocean Park will be emptier.
Good thing I have a map of HK that I can bring along.
My books aren't here yet! Still another 2-3 weeks of waiting ahead! I'm halfway through Tanequil, the 2nd book of the trilogy. I will need to reread another series again.
Just watched Last Hour. Really bad movie. The director was probably directing his first movie. To make things worse, the story was bad and the story was written by the director. The scenes were a mess. There were no effects or anything to show that certain scenes were flashbacks. Everything moved back and forth too rapidly. Some actions by the characters were hard to understand (like why Casino had to walk to the window when everyone else walked to somewhere else) , while some scenes were not very clearly linked with the previous ones (e.g. when they were searching the rooms).
The actors were pretty bad too. The CID agent might have been the worst actor I have ever seen, acting like a sulky little kid when, I assume, he was supposed to look fierce and bossy.
The end was atrocious. The reason for the whole plot just came out of nowhere. I think the director just pulled something out of his ass and threw it at the end of the script.
I can only compare this movie with Manos: The Hands of Fate, which is slightly worse than this. If you haven't watched Manos, that's because it wasn't produced in our era, but in 1966. It is supposed to be one of the worst movie ever made in the history of film-making. It was so bad, the actors left the theater halfway through its premiere. Quentin Tarantino keeps one of the original 35mm copy of the film because it is one of his favourite "comedy" (Manos: The Hands of Fate was released as a horror flick).
Overall, I wouldn't even recommend downloading it. It'd be a complete waste of bandwidth. But Manos would be an educational film to watch. It teaches its audience how bad films can really be and they should be thankful Hollywood hasn't reached its standards yet...
Wednesday 19 March 2008
Rant 108 / Reading Tanequil Again
The night before, I couldn't sleep well. Before I woke up at 6am, I woke up somewhere in the middle of the night.
I had a dream, though I cannot remember what it was about. In it I somehow had the idea that it was important to wake myself up immediately. I did not question it. Perhaps I could remember the dream still at that point.
I tried to wake up by thinking about it, but couldn't reach the point where I could open my eyes. I was semi-conscious, knowing I was asleep and not dreaming. I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't. Fear crept in, but previous experiences in this allowed me to stay calm.
My body did not respond, so I attempted to think of something that would get my heart pumping. Any thoughts that would make me worry or excited was fine. But no, it did not work. Then came the idea of pushing my head with my hand. It took some time and a lot of mental force but in the end, I could move my right arm.
With my right hand, I pushed my face to the left.
I was awake... only to wonder why that was necessary.
Everyone around me wants to change the world. Everyone around me thinks that they can change the world. Perhaps by changing them, I can change the world.
What is the world to me, but a place to live in?
I do not ask for much, just a comfortable corner to rest in. Why does the world make it so difficult for me to find it?
It is not the fault of the world. There is no fault. There is no problem.
I will find it, but will it be what I think it will be?
Finished the Infernal Affairs Trilogy. Can't help but say that the first was the best. The second was very good, but not impressive. The last was pretty good, but the frequent switching between the past and the present of the two guys makes the film rather confusing at certain points. Plus I couldn't understand the end, where he was in the wheelchair and she shoots him from behind. What was the significance of that?
Played a little more of Loki. Rather hard for a Diablo ripoff. My laptop was only barely able to support it during combat when all video settings were set at low. At low settings, my nearly naked heroine looks like a marble statue that moves. The skin texture was all smooth and glossy. The gaming days of this com is approaching its end. Someday I may need to upgrade it. But before that, I better delete all those stuff... in the Recycle Bin. :P
Recently in the Urban Dead (www.urbandead.com) there has been a major coordinated attack by hundreds of zombies throughout the map. It all began when I was playing the nice medic in the suburb of Yagaton. A series of radio broadcasts informed us that zombies were everywhere and some suburbs were down. Nothing unusual; some survivors would go in, revive the dead and rebuild the area.
Then one day, Yagaton radio frequencies were filled with reports of zombie attacks on various hospitals and other resource buildings. I was hiding comfortably in the largest resource building in Yagaton - the Mall, and I was doing what I could to revive the zombies against their will while they attack out barricades.
The next day, I was a zombie.
I was shocked. There were over 80 people in each of the four sections of the mall, who would log in at various times to check on the barricades. And we were wiped out. The next thing I could do was either play as a zombie or find a Revive Point.
My skills as a medic would be of no use as a zombie, so I went to find a safe suburb. I clicked on the Urban Dead wiki, and looked at the map of the city. Thus came my second shock. Lo and behold! The whole northern region of the city was RED! Red here means zombie-infested region, and Yagaton was probably the last suburb in the north of the city to fall.
So I went south as a zombie. Zombie takes twice as much time to move as a survivor, but I had no choice. All the green suburbs were south.
At last, I was in Buttonville, a green suburb at the southern border of the map, with more green suburbs buffering it from the red at every direction. I was safe. The revive was quick once I reached the southernmost Revive Point, and I ran for the only Mall there.
3 days later, I was killed by zombies again.
The plague of coordinated zombie attacks had spread throughout the southwest of the city, and only a small cluster of suburbs in the southeast were still green. Meanwhile, the northwest corner was turning grey, signifying the near-complete silence when all zombies and survivors left the area. Perhaps there were no survivors left, and the zombies had left the region for the more active zones.
As a zombie a second time, I moved towards the east. After surviving the human headhunters and mad zombies, I finally reached the still green haven of Penny Heights. That was when the northeastern corner of the city was turning green again as the zombie hordes concentrated on the South.
Again I was quickly revived and behind the barricades of the easternmost Mall. This time, the Mall was different. Most malls occupied four to six squares on the map, but this mall took up only 2 squares. This means a smaller area to protect and fewer barricades to watch. With over 90 people cowering in each square of the mall, rumours of the invincibility of the mall were being spread over the various radio frequencies.
But things didn't look good. After just 2 days, it was a sea of red against the dark orange of Penny Heights. I stayed for one more day, logging in every four hours to check on things. Nothing happened where I was hiding, but news from the other mall in Penny Heights were disturbing.
Over 50 zombies were attacking the mall, the hospitals were down and there was no safe route to the nearest NecroTech office, the only buildings that provides Revification Syringes. I took one more look at the map the next day, and found the whole southern half of the map was pure red. All hope was lost. How could we, a mere 200 people, fight against over the unending waves of zombies? The 50 zombies were merely the vanguards, and with the survivors falling to join their ranks, who were we to say that we could stand against them?
S0 I went north. I ran till I was close to exhaustion and turned to finding a safe building to hide in before I collapse. But every single building I went to were Extremely Heavily Barricaded, which was the heaviest barricade status in the game but, unfortunately, survivor-proof. So desperately I searched, though my general direction was still north. In the end, I had to rest out in the open and I knew I was as good as a zombie then.
The next day, I logged in as a zombie. Even as a zombie, I was able to listen to the radios I carried, and the reports were not good. The mall I used to be in, was still good, but the other had fallen, with over 70 zombies rampaging in the southeastern corner of the building. It was over for the last 20 survivors still inside.
Once again, as a zombie, I searched for a new haven where my skills were needed. The northwestern corner's grey patch was growing as zombies and survivors alike abandon the dead suburbs. On the other hand, the northeastern green patch was gradually growing. What was once one green suburb had grown into a cluster of 8. North I went.
At last I reached Dunningwood, a green zone on the map's eastern edge buffered by a green suburb to the south and another to the west. So here I am, waiting for a revive in their northernmost Revive Point together with 4 other zombies. As of the last radio broadcast from Penny Heights, the southern half of the last mall there was breached, with a horde of 50 zombies doing what they could to wipe out the survivors. One zombie was in the northern half, facing 117 survivors who were probably going to be zombie feed soon.
And during all those times I spent away from my home suburb of Yagaton, what was happening there? According to the wiki, almost a week after I died, the survivors had coordinated an massive attack together with the last survivors from other nearby suburbs on the only mall in Yagaton, and had succeeded in retaking parts of the mall from the zombie hordes.
Within two days, the zombies were back again and heavy fighting ensued within the mall.
Another 2 days were gone before they finally managed to retake the whole mall, barricade it, power it and establish a new Revive Point.
Since 13th March, they have repeatedly lost and retook the mall. The situation is in an extremely precarious state and they have turned to setting up several Revive Points away from the mall to raise their dead. As of this moment, Yagaton is deep orange.
Will the whole city of Malton succumb to this massive zombie attack?
I had a dream, though I cannot remember what it was about. In it I somehow had the idea that it was important to wake myself up immediately. I did not question it. Perhaps I could remember the dream still at that point.
I tried to wake up by thinking about it, but couldn't reach the point where I could open my eyes. I was semi-conscious, knowing I was asleep and not dreaming. I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't. Fear crept in, but previous experiences in this allowed me to stay calm.
My body did not respond, so I attempted to think of something that would get my heart pumping. Any thoughts that would make me worry or excited was fine. But no, it did not work. Then came the idea of pushing my head with my hand. It took some time and a lot of mental force but in the end, I could move my right arm.
With my right hand, I pushed my face to the left.
I was awake... only to wonder why that was necessary.
Everyone around me wants to change the world. Everyone around me thinks that they can change the world. Perhaps by changing them, I can change the world.
What is the world to me, but a place to live in?
I do not ask for much, just a comfortable corner to rest in. Why does the world make it so difficult for me to find it?
It is not the fault of the world. There is no fault. There is no problem.
I will find it, but will it be what I think it will be?
Finished the Infernal Affairs Trilogy. Can't help but say that the first was the best. The second was very good, but not impressive. The last was pretty good, but the frequent switching between the past and the present of the two guys makes the film rather confusing at certain points. Plus I couldn't understand the end, where he was in the wheelchair and she shoots him from behind. What was the significance of that?
Played a little more of Loki. Rather hard for a Diablo ripoff. My laptop was only barely able to support it during combat when all video settings were set at low. At low settings, my nearly naked heroine looks like a marble statue that moves. The skin texture was all smooth and glossy. The gaming days of this com is approaching its end. Someday I may need to upgrade it. But before that, I better delete all those stuff... in the Recycle Bin. :P
Recently in the Urban Dead (www.urbandead.com) there has been a major coordinated attack by hundreds of zombies throughout the map. It all began when I was playing the nice medic in the suburb of Yagaton. A series of radio broadcasts informed us that zombies were everywhere and some suburbs were down. Nothing unusual; some survivors would go in, revive the dead and rebuild the area.
Then one day, Yagaton radio frequencies were filled with reports of zombie attacks on various hospitals and other resource buildings. I was hiding comfortably in the largest resource building in Yagaton - the Mall, and I was doing what I could to revive the zombies against their will while they attack out barricades.
The next day, I was a zombie.
I was shocked. There were over 80 people in each of the four sections of the mall, who would log in at various times to check on the barricades. And we were wiped out. The next thing I could do was either play as a zombie or find a Revive Point.
My skills as a medic would be of no use as a zombie, so I went to find a safe suburb. I clicked on the Urban Dead wiki, and looked at the map of the city. Thus came my second shock. Lo and behold! The whole northern region of the city was RED! Red here means zombie-infested region, and Yagaton was probably the last suburb in the north of the city to fall.
So I went south as a zombie. Zombie takes twice as much time to move as a survivor, but I had no choice. All the green suburbs were south.
At last, I was in Buttonville, a green suburb at the southern border of the map, with more green suburbs buffering it from the red at every direction. I was safe. The revive was quick once I reached the southernmost Revive Point, and I ran for the only Mall there.
3 days later, I was killed by zombies again.
The plague of coordinated zombie attacks had spread throughout the southwest of the city, and only a small cluster of suburbs in the southeast were still green. Meanwhile, the northwest corner was turning grey, signifying the near-complete silence when all zombies and survivors left the area. Perhaps there were no survivors left, and the zombies had left the region for the more active zones.
As a zombie a second time, I moved towards the east. After surviving the human headhunters and mad zombies, I finally reached the still green haven of Penny Heights. That was when the northeastern corner of the city was turning green again as the zombie hordes concentrated on the South.
Again I was quickly revived and behind the barricades of the easternmost Mall. This time, the Mall was different. Most malls occupied four to six squares on the map, but this mall took up only 2 squares. This means a smaller area to protect and fewer barricades to watch. With over 90 people cowering in each square of the mall, rumours of the invincibility of the mall were being spread over the various radio frequencies.
But things didn't look good. After just 2 days, it was a sea of red against the dark orange of Penny Heights. I stayed for one more day, logging in every four hours to check on things. Nothing happened where I was hiding, but news from the other mall in Penny Heights were disturbing.
Over 50 zombies were attacking the mall, the hospitals were down and there was no safe route to the nearest NecroTech office, the only buildings that provides Revification Syringes. I took one more look at the map the next day, and found the whole southern half of the map was pure red. All hope was lost. How could we, a mere 200 people, fight against over the unending waves of zombies? The 50 zombies were merely the vanguards, and with the survivors falling to join their ranks, who were we to say that we could stand against them?
S0 I went north. I ran till I was close to exhaustion and turned to finding a safe building to hide in before I collapse. But every single building I went to were Extremely Heavily Barricaded, which was the heaviest barricade status in the game but, unfortunately, survivor-proof. So desperately I searched, though my general direction was still north. In the end, I had to rest out in the open and I knew I was as good as a zombie then.
The next day, I logged in as a zombie. Even as a zombie, I was able to listen to the radios I carried, and the reports were not good. The mall I used to be in, was still good, but the other had fallen, with over 70 zombies rampaging in the southeastern corner of the building. It was over for the last 20 survivors still inside.
Once again, as a zombie, I searched for a new haven where my skills were needed. The northwestern corner's grey patch was growing as zombies and survivors alike abandon the dead suburbs. On the other hand, the northeastern green patch was gradually growing. What was once one green suburb had grown into a cluster of 8. North I went.
At last I reached Dunningwood, a green zone on the map's eastern edge buffered by a green suburb to the south and another to the west. So here I am, waiting for a revive in their northernmost Revive Point together with 4 other zombies. As of the last radio broadcast from Penny Heights, the southern half of the last mall there was breached, with a horde of 50 zombies doing what they could to wipe out the survivors. One zombie was in the northern half, facing 117 survivors who were probably going to be zombie feed soon.
And during all those times I spent away from my home suburb of Yagaton, what was happening there? According to the wiki, almost a week after I died, the survivors had coordinated an massive attack together with the last survivors from other nearby suburbs on the only mall in Yagaton, and had succeeded in retaking parts of the mall from the zombie hordes.
Within two days, the zombies were back again and heavy fighting ensued within the mall.
Another 2 days were gone before they finally managed to retake the whole mall, barricade it, power it and establish a new Revive Point.
Since 13th March, they have repeatedly lost and retook the mall. The situation is in an extremely precarious state and they have turned to setting up several Revive Points away from the mall to raise their dead. As of this moment, Yagaton is deep orange.
Will the whole city of Malton succumb to this massive zombie attack?
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Rant 107 / First Time In So Long That I Am Done Sleeping At 6AM!
I hate the bed in my hall. This is the only mattress I have ever encountered that makes me wake up at night. Every night when I sleep here, I wake up 2-3 times a night. Tonight may be the worst. I slept early because I was tired. I estimate that I fell asleep by 11pm. I woke at 6.20am just now. It is 7.23am now. I can't sleep anymore. Decided to go for the 9.30 lecture which I habitually skip.
I hate hard beds.
Finished Avencast last night. While it really is a decent game, it is nothing more than just that. It merely entertained. Its ending was unsatisfying and there was no bonus for completing the game, except for my character being displayed in the Hall of Fame. Bleh. I hope Loki turns out better. Will try it soon.
I realized I have a whole month of idleness for the whole of May. While waiting for the guys in SIM to finish their finals, I won't be able to organize much so as not to make it feel like we are ostracizing them. Therefore I have to plan for it. I won't be able to do much anyway, since my appointment with the specialist is on 2nd May. My surgery will come in a week after that, at most. Then 3 weeks of sling for my left arm.
This means 3 weeks of NO GAMING!! It will be worse than converting to a vegetarian diet for me. I won't be able to type while using the mouse. Therefore, good thing I have got my hands on all 25 episodes of Code Geass and all 50 episodes of Eureka Seven, both of which I haven't watched in a year. This should help stave off the boredom for a few days.
Also, I will try not to read the books I ordered so that I can make full use of them then. The one problem may be how I will flip the pages when I need to hold the book up...
Shit.
Serious considerations for an overseas trip during the long break as begun. We have almost confirmed that it will be somewhere in Malaysia. Chose Malaysia again since it is affordable by everyone in the gang and easier to organize compared to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. And it's cheaper than Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. This time it won't be Genting. We've been there twice, so it's time to go somewhere else. Fishing, snorkelling, rolling in the beach sand, whatever.
I hate hard beds.
Finished Avencast last night. While it really is a decent game, it is nothing more than just that. It merely entertained. Its ending was unsatisfying and there was no bonus for completing the game, except for my character being displayed in the Hall of Fame. Bleh. I hope Loki turns out better. Will try it soon.
I realized I have a whole month of idleness for the whole of May. While waiting for the guys in SIM to finish their finals, I won't be able to organize much so as not to make it feel like we are ostracizing them. Therefore I have to plan for it. I won't be able to do much anyway, since my appointment with the specialist is on 2nd May. My surgery will come in a week after that, at most. Then 3 weeks of sling for my left arm.
This means 3 weeks of NO GAMING!! It will be worse than converting to a vegetarian diet for me. I won't be able to type while using the mouse. Therefore, good thing I have got my hands on all 25 episodes of Code Geass and all 50 episodes of Eureka Seven, both of which I haven't watched in a year. This should help stave off the boredom for a few days.
Also, I will try not to read the books I ordered so that I can make full use of them then. The one problem may be how I will flip the pages when I need to hold the book up...
Shit.
Serious considerations for an overseas trip during the long break as begun. We have almost confirmed that it will be somewhere in Malaysia. Chose Malaysia again since it is affordable by everyone in the gang and easier to organize compared to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. And it's cheaper than Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. This time it won't be Genting. We've been there twice, so it's time to go somewhere else. Fishing, snorkelling, rolling in the beach sand, whatever.
Sunday 16 March 2008
Rant 106 / Since You're Talking About Cruelty, At Least The Pig Can Run For Its Life. The Zucchini Can't Do Shit!
Diamonds may not be for ever, but at least they last longer than an erection.
Just watched the 3rd episode of Pro At Cooking at www.proatcooking.com and it was quite hilarious. This time, though, Dave didn't sack his cute assistant. And this time she has an attitude just like his.
But the best part was when he announced that he was going to make a vegetarian pizza before the meat version. Then he added that "from a meat lover's point of view, this is fucking ridiculous."
So his assistant asked him," Don't you think it is cruel to kill a pig for his bacon?"
And he replied," Since you're talking about cruelty, at least the pig can run for its life. The zucchini can't do shit!" ROFL!
"Just because the zucchini doesn't scream in pain doesn't mean it don't got no feelings!"
The girl got pwned. LOL!
The math test tomorrow is on tut6. Did tut6, and it seemed pretty easy. He probably wanted to help us get better grades coz the final exam is known to be quite difficult. Nice guy.
Maybe I should organize something during the 3 month break for the TMC. Who knows how many are staying in Sg? Maybe they'll be bored enuf to go for FOOD!!
Thought about cycling again. Finally my motivation to cycle is back! Need to train up before going to HK or Malaysia. I predict I will be doing some walking in any of the trips.
Too nervous about the test to sleep now. Still feeling very energetic. But I need to read Jarka Ruus before I sleep! Better get back and finish the last part of my revision.
Bon nuit!
Just watched the 3rd episode of Pro At Cooking at www.proatcooking.com and it was quite hilarious. This time, though, Dave didn't sack his cute assistant. And this time she has an attitude just like his.
But the best part was when he announced that he was going to make a vegetarian pizza before the meat version. Then he added that "from a meat lover's point of view, this is fucking ridiculous."
So his assistant asked him," Don't you think it is cruel to kill a pig for his bacon?"
And he replied," Since you're talking about cruelty, at least the pig can run for its life. The zucchini can't do shit!" ROFL!
"Just because the zucchini doesn't scream in pain doesn't mean it don't got no feelings!"
The girl got pwned. LOL!
The math test tomorrow is on tut6. Did tut6, and it seemed pretty easy. He probably wanted to help us get better grades coz the final exam is known to be quite difficult. Nice guy.
Maybe I should organize something during the 3 month break for the TMC. Who knows how many are staying in Sg? Maybe they'll be bored enuf to go for FOOD!!
Thought about cycling again. Finally my motivation to cycle is back! Need to train up before going to HK or Malaysia. I predict I will be doing some walking in any of the trips.
Too nervous about the test to sleep now. Still feeling very energetic. But I need to read Jarka Ruus before I sleep! Better get back and finish the last part of my revision.
Bon nuit!
Saturday 15 March 2008
Rant 105 / MANGINA!!!
Heard this said last night on NS," You're a MANGINA!" (Pronounce by adding "man" and the last 2 syllables of "vagina" together)
Couldn't stop laughing. That is one crazy insult.
Noticed those US players tend to use "Your mom..." and "That's what she said last night" as insults.
For example,
(real example)
A: This sucks.
B: Your mum sucks.
C: In bed.
Extremely immature but still entertaining.
Got sick of Avencast. Once I got all the Soul Magic spells, it got quite monotonous. By this time, I was at the final dungeon and there was no story whatsoever. What's worse is that they started using the same model in different colours in the final dungeon.
Stopped playing it since 2 days ago. May finish it later. Installed Loki yesterday. Tried the Aztec lady. It felt quite similar to other Diablo ripoffs. So I stopped and played NS.
Now I have nothing interesting to play but NS. I think I will buy the Half Life Orange Box in the 3-month break. Team Fortress 2 looks good. And there are a few zombie mods for HL2.
Just ordered about 8 books from acmabooks.com. Got the 23% discount, but still it cost me $121. All the books but Nineteen Eighty Four cost about $12 each. 1984 alone costs $25. It's a very good book after all.
Think I have typed this before in a previous rant, but Fantasy and Sci-fi books have the longest shelf-life. These books can be popular in any year, as long as the book is in a language that people can understand. I guess those would be the best genre for young writers to go for, because despite their long shelf-life, they rarely become as popular as other genres. It's like a long and steady momentum, while thrillers and mysteries usually start damn well but lose their momentum after many years.
Just look at The Lord of the Rings. It was very popular back when it was first published. It got popular again in the past decade. It will probably rise back into the bestseller lists before I die.
Seriously tired of sleeping on the friggin hard bed. After they changed the mattress in my hall, it felt like I was sleeping on the floor, except cleaner. Can't sleep until about 4am every time even if I feel tired at 2. Now I am drastically reducing the number of nights I spend there. My roomie's happy because he get to bring his gf over whenever I'm gone. I am happy because I sleep much better at home.
Somehow I cannot stand hard mattresses. Soft and lump ones are fine, but I don't have back pain yet to need hard ones. Probably got used to soft mattresses in the army. Especially those that they used for guard duties in Tekong.
Need to think about where to go in the 3-mth break.
Couldn't stop laughing. That is one crazy insult.
Noticed those US players tend to use "Your mom..." and "That's what she said last night" as insults.
For example,
(real example)
A: This sucks.
B: Your mum sucks.
C: In bed.
Extremely immature but still entertaining.
Got sick of Avencast. Once I got all the Soul Magic spells, it got quite monotonous. By this time, I was at the final dungeon and there was no story whatsoever. What's worse is that they started using the same model in different colours in the final dungeon.
Stopped playing it since 2 days ago. May finish it later. Installed Loki yesterday. Tried the Aztec lady. It felt quite similar to other Diablo ripoffs. So I stopped and played NS.
Now I have nothing interesting to play but NS. I think I will buy the Half Life Orange Box in the 3-month break. Team Fortress 2 looks good. And there are a few zombie mods for HL2.
Just ordered about 8 books from acmabooks.com. Got the 23% discount, but still it cost me $121. All the books but Nineteen Eighty Four cost about $12 each. 1984 alone costs $25. It's a very good book after all.
Think I have typed this before in a previous rant, but Fantasy and Sci-fi books have the longest shelf-life. These books can be popular in any year, as long as the book is in a language that people can understand. I guess those would be the best genre for young writers to go for, because despite their long shelf-life, they rarely become as popular as other genres. It's like a long and steady momentum, while thrillers and mysteries usually start damn well but lose their momentum after many years.
Just look at The Lord of the Rings. It was very popular back when it was first published. It got popular again in the past decade. It will probably rise back into the bestseller lists before I die.
Seriously tired of sleeping on the friggin hard bed. After they changed the mattress in my hall, it felt like I was sleeping on the floor, except cleaner. Can't sleep until about 4am every time even if I feel tired at 2. Now I am drastically reducing the number of nights I spend there. My roomie's happy because he get to bring his gf over whenever I'm gone. I am happy because I sleep much better at home.
Somehow I cannot stand hard mattresses. Soft and lump ones are fine, but I don't have back pain yet to need hard ones. Probably got used to soft mattresses in the army. Especially those that they used for guard duties in Tekong.
Need to think about where to go in the 3-mth break.
Friday 14 March 2008
Rant 104 / To Plan A Plan To Plan A Plan
I have decided to go for the ntu tmc exchange program. I will be spending my time in hk from 9-16 June. I think I agreed because of a pretty face. Kidding. If only life is so simple...
I hope she's going too. Can't get her out of my mind.
Last night, I googled people's names out of boredom. Most names were pretty common. My name, as usual, brings up what used to be yauhing.com. It's now redblossomtea.com or something like that, selling expensive tea in the US. Her name was the most unique. It brought up results that consisted mainly of various blogs, all of which seems to mention her name in full, or almost full. One of them was a newsletter from her country, which mentioned her in the article of Singapore-sponsored scholarships for students there. And it had her photo from back in '05. Kind of scary because it made it sound so prestigious. Perhaps it truly is that prestigious, and that possibility just worsens things for me.
And that I am going on a 1-week-date with her makes things difficult for me. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing just like those before.
And it looks like I will be needing a visa this time, so that I can visit Zhu Hai during the trip. One of the tmc members invited everyone to visit his hometown and he promised to treat us seafood there. That might be one of the major reasons for my agreement to join this program. :D
I fear many things. I fear me when I lack sleep. I fear my door opening when it is a bad time for that to happen. I fear helplessness. Fear is normal.
So I fear the possible global recession. The USD just keeps dropping! Oil prices keep rising! If this goes on, it had better be resolved by the time I graduate.
Another tragedy strikes. The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul has been found dead. Shot in the head, at least that was a small mercy. But how can they kill religious people like that? Do they compare their own radical clerics with clerics of other religions? How can they, when these radical madmen incite violence directly from their own mouths? I cannot make myself use the words "their counterparts" when comparing these people with the others.
Of course, Christianity used to be like this too. Islam has always had such men. As long as there have been religions, there have been people who kill in the name of their religions or deities. Sad, but if I look at it from another angle, I see that it makes religious communities no less susceptible to the more primal natures of humanity than anyone else.
Civilization requires self-control. To have people who want to be truly themselves is to have uncivilized people. To say that we don't need to act like someone who isn't what we are, is to say we don't need civilization.
Rapists are sometimes described as showing their true colours. So are various other types of criminals.
See?
To be truly yourself, you do what you really want to do, regardless of social norms. And if everyone be themselves, the social norms would be chaos. Where there is chaos, civilization is absent. Therefore to say that you are a civilized person, you cannot be your true self.
And that is how I see the American culture. The entertainment industry is a reflection of their people, because if the people didn't like what they see, they wouldn't have supported it. And in all Hollywood movies, they send the message that people should do what they want to do. And in their movies in general, scenes depicting sex and violence are increasing, both of which are not the hallmarks of civilization.
American culture erodes their own civilization. They may be rich and powerful, but they look barbaric to other people. There is a certain limit to everything, how direct you should be, how much time you should invest in negotiating peace. All that culminates to how civilized you are. The US are toeing the line, if they haven't passed it already.
And on the other extreme, there is the Netherlands. One of the most civilized country in the world, if not the most civilized, it has already accepted euthanasia as a legal medical service. Instead of looking at matters through eyes tainted by fear and bigotry, they managed to see things objectively, and demonstrates what it truly means to be a secular state.
I hope she's going too. Can't get her out of my mind.
Last night, I googled people's names out of boredom. Most names were pretty common. My name, as usual, brings up what used to be yauhing.com. It's now redblossomtea.com or something like that, selling expensive tea in the US. Her name was the most unique. It brought up results that consisted mainly of various blogs, all of which seems to mention her name in full, or almost full. One of them was a newsletter from her country, which mentioned her in the article of Singapore-sponsored scholarships for students there. And it had her photo from back in '05. Kind of scary because it made it sound so prestigious. Perhaps it truly is that prestigious, and that possibility just worsens things for me.
And that I am going on a 1-week-date with her makes things difficult for me. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing just like those before.
And it looks like I will be needing a visa this time, so that I can visit Zhu Hai during the trip. One of the tmc members invited everyone to visit his hometown and he promised to treat us seafood there. That might be one of the major reasons for my agreement to join this program. :D
I fear many things. I fear me when I lack sleep. I fear my door opening when it is a bad time for that to happen. I fear helplessness. Fear is normal.
So I fear the possible global recession. The USD just keeps dropping! Oil prices keep rising! If this goes on, it had better be resolved by the time I graduate.
Another tragedy strikes. The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul has been found dead. Shot in the head, at least that was a small mercy. But how can they kill religious people like that? Do they compare their own radical clerics with clerics of other religions? How can they, when these radical madmen incite violence directly from their own mouths? I cannot make myself use the words "their counterparts" when comparing these people with the others.
Of course, Christianity used to be like this too. Islam has always had such men. As long as there have been religions, there have been people who kill in the name of their religions or deities. Sad, but if I look at it from another angle, I see that it makes religious communities no less susceptible to the more primal natures of humanity than anyone else.
Civilization requires self-control. To have people who want to be truly themselves is to have uncivilized people. To say that we don't need to act like someone who isn't what we are, is to say we don't need civilization.
Rapists are sometimes described as showing their true colours. So are various other types of criminals.
See?
To be truly yourself, you do what you really want to do, regardless of social norms. And if everyone be themselves, the social norms would be chaos. Where there is chaos, civilization is absent. Therefore to say that you are a civilized person, you cannot be your true self.
And that is how I see the American culture. The entertainment industry is a reflection of their people, because if the people didn't like what they see, they wouldn't have supported it. And in all Hollywood movies, they send the message that people should do what they want to do. And in their movies in general, scenes depicting sex and violence are increasing, both of which are not the hallmarks of civilization.
American culture erodes their own civilization. They may be rich and powerful, but they look barbaric to other people. There is a certain limit to everything, how direct you should be, how much time you should invest in negotiating peace. All that culminates to how civilized you are. The US are toeing the line, if they haven't passed it already.
And on the other extreme, there is the Netherlands. One of the most civilized country in the world, if not the most civilized, it has already accepted euthanasia as a legal medical service. Instead of looking at matters through eyes tainted by fear and bigotry, they managed to see things objectively, and demonstrates what it truly means to be a secular state.
Rant 103 / Indecision
Now I am considering going to Hong Kong on that Toastmasters Club exchange program. Ya, I have been invited to go along with the rest of the girls (and some guys). A total of nine slots. Should I go?
Positive:
Fooooooooooooooood. Foooooooooooooooooooood. Fooooooooooooooooood.
And the hot (scholar) girls going with me.
And I will visit the universities in Hong Kong.
Learning experience.
Negative:
Since everyone knows I am from HK, I can assume they will see me as their guide during the times when we are not visiting any clubs. My command of Cantonese is bad. I may sound exactly like a Hongkonger, but my vocabulary is severely stunted due to my lack of use.
And I don't know HK all that well anyway.
And some of the girls are scholars.
I will need to secretly do some research on HK before I go.
Decision at the moment: My heart says yes. My mind says no. And my mind says my heart has a history of going for rash decisions.
Positive:
Fooooooooooooooood. Foooooooooooooooooooood. Fooooooooooooooooood.
And the hot (scholar) girls going with me.
And I will visit the universities in Hong Kong.
Learning experience.
Negative:
Since everyone knows I am from HK, I can assume they will see me as their guide during the times when we are not visiting any clubs. My command of Cantonese is bad. I may sound exactly like a Hongkonger, but my vocabulary is severely stunted due to my lack of use.
And I don't know HK all that well anyway.
And some of the girls are scholars.
I will need to secretly do some research on HK before I go.
Decision at the moment: My heart says yes. My mind says no. And my mind says my heart has a history of going for rash decisions.
Thursday 13 March 2008
Rant 102 / I Needed To Shit Halfway Through The Blog So I Lost My Momentum And Decided To End This Rant Even Though It Is So Short
Tonight's speech was disappointing! My speech itself was terrific. Everyone said my speech was good, during and after the meeting. But the main problem with my presentation of the speech was... huge, to say the least.
All my bad habits appeared. I did not use my left hand again! But worse still, I was tugging my shirt with my left hand unconsciously, which is a distracting and pointless action. And the most glaring mistake of all was my walking to and fro continuously throughout my speech. It distracted the audience from what I was saying.
My speech was also unclear on the purpose. I did state the purpose at the end, but I was not as clear in the beginning. I started off by saying that everyone will die, and most, in pain due to disease. Then I stated my stand which is that everyone should be given a choice of whether we should die painfully but naturally, or be euthanized. The next part of my speech was on how to kill ourselves without pain and suffering, and yet can also be easily done by anyone. The final part was to compare this method with jumping off a building and breathing carbon monoxide, and end with a short conclusion.
It was only at the conclusion that I specifically said," The aim of my speech is..." and so everyone was somewhat confused until then.
In the end, I didn't win the ribbon (AGAIN!!!). At least I got pwned by a gorgeous young lady whose command of spoken English is one of the best I have ever heard.
And after the meeting, she shook hands with me saying she "really liked" my speech a lot. Well, she wasn't the only one to do that, but that was the first time I have ever shaken hands with her! I have been so shy I haven't initiated conversations with her before.
Beautiful girls make me nervous. Hope she didn't see that. But then, so what if she did?
And when I say I got pwned by her, I really did get pwned by her. I was the one who counted the votes, and she had almost twice as many votes as I got (10v6).
I think I shall reuse this speech for my next project in June. The theme of my next project is How To Say It. This means I will need to change the flow of the whole speech and use different tones and stuff to make it dramatic. Shouldn't be too difficult with a speech about death.
All my bad habits appeared. I did not use my left hand again! But worse still, I was tugging my shirt with my left hand unconsciously, which is a distracting and pointless action. And the most glaring mistake of all was my walking to and fro continuously throughout my speech. It distracted the audience from what I was saying.
My speech was also unclear on the purpose. I did state the purpose at the end, but I was not as clear in the beginning. I started off by saying that everyone will die, and most, in pain due to disease. Then I stated my stand which is that everyone should be given a choice of whether we should die painfully but naturally, or be euthanized. The next part of my speech was on how to kill ourselves without pain and suffering, and yet can also be easily done by anyone. The final part was to compare this method with jumping off a building and breathing carbon monoxide, and end with a short conclusion.
It was only at the conclusion that I specifically said," The aim of my speech is..." and so everyone was somewhat confused until then.
In the end, I didn't win the ribbon (AGAIN!!!). At least I got pwned by a gorgeous young lady whose command of spoken English is one of the best I have ever heard.
And after the meeting, she shook hands with me saying she "really liked" my speech a lot. Well, she wasn't the only one to do that, but that was the first time I have ever shaken hands with her! I have been so shy I haven't initiated conversations with her before.
Beautiful girls make me nervous. Hope she didn't see that. But then, so what if she did?
And when I say I got pwned by her, I really did get pwned by her. I was the one who counted the votes, and she had almost twice as many votes as I got (10v6).
I think I shall reuse this speech for my next project in June. The theme of my next project is How To Say It. This means I will need to change the flow of the whole speech and use different tones and stuff to make it dramatic. Shouldn't be too difficult with a speech about death.
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Rant 101 / If I Do Not Receive US$1,000,000,000 By Tonight, I Shall Destroy... CAMBODIA!!!
Now I am feeling the worry. The same gnawing worry that is the accumulation of all the unfinished homework I have so far. I guess I have been too lazy. I have reverted to my original self. I cannot blame anything and anyone but myself for not watching out for the attempts of Temptation to subvert me.
It is late. Not too late, yet. But how can I bring back the momentum?
Right now I am in the hall, typing this with full knowledge that my roomie did not keep all his girlfriend's stuff in his cupboard. He really should keep his personal life to himself... This afternoon when I returned to the room I found traces of beige-coloured powder on my desk. I cannot detect any smell from the powder, but didn't bother to taste it. It is likely she was applying facial powder on my desk.
Watched Infernal Affairs. It is almost exactly the same as its Hollywood ripoff. Damn good movie, and its ending is not as violent as the Hollywood version. Plus it presents a moral dilemma that Hollywood never puts in its movies.
I signed up as the Sergeant-At-Arms again for the meeting on the coming Thurs, but now I realize they expect me keep up with the ancient forgotten tradition of doing a warm-up with the audience before the meeting officially starts. Heck, I'm just going to do a One Line Story.
I guess Avencast is really just a decent game. I'm at level 25 and I have all but one spell in Soul Magic. This signals that the end of the game is approaching. This is seriously short.
The game's good in that it has some pretty nice spells, generic but interesting plot and decent graphics.
The game's bad because of its music, short plot, limited spells and general lack of anything impressive.
Overall, its something I play to entertain myself while better games like Starcraft 2 are being honed to perfection.
Before the buffet, I wanted to eat only until I was full, but the food simply was too hard to resist. Turns out the big orange globes of roe in the sushis are salmon roe. The tiny ones are probably flying fish roe. Foooooooood.....
Finally found a game that I cannot play. Assassin's Creed looks like such a promising game, but my graphics card was struggling to cope with the first scene in the tutorial. What a waste. And my bro isn't even going touch, with his addiction to Perfect World sucking him to the MMORPG 16 hours a day.
Maybe I should initiate a trip to Canada. My aunt is offering to drive me to Niagara Falls if I ever decide to go there. But haven't heard of much that I can do if I go, other than appreciating the scenery, which I admit I'm poor at. Hmm...
The spider guarding my door is multiplying! I let it live in its own web on my door frame to stop the ants from entering, and now I see 2 little similar spiders in the web! If they aren't simply male spiders trying to mate, this may be bad. I may need to bring insecticide after all...
The netting above my door is coated with dust. This is to allow heat to stay within the room at night, and to stop sunlight from entering during the morning when I am hibernating.
Bah! Who am I kidding? I'm just too lazy to clean it.
I need to buy a new pair of shoes and some bak kwah. New shoes because my present pair has smooth soles at the center of the shoes. Bak kwah because they make great midnight snacks. LOL!
Maybe I should choose to go for MAE, and specialize in Manufacturing, so that I can join one of my uncles' company, which deals in factory machinery. Or maybe not.
Why do people want to choose their course based on which friends they have in the courses? One guy told me he wants to join MAE because he has a friend in 3rd year there. I was thinking, what kind of logic is that? Of course if I had said that, he would have quickly denied it and made up some other reasons.
I was thinking of the markets for my choices, since I have no interest in any of the courses. Or perhaps I do have some interest in magnetic levitation applied in public transportations, which should fall under Electrical Engineering, but should I go for a career in research, knowing fully well that I don't exactly have the best grades out there?
Or should I go for Civil? Civil Engineering is good wherever there is growth, because where growth is, constructions of buildings follow. The job possibilities may include more "dirty" jobs, or jobs that involves much sun, sewers or etc, but if the pay is good and I don't mind, what, then, is the problem?
Mechanical Engineering may turn out to be the best choice too. But with my plans to go overseas in the future, Aerospace may not be my cup of tea. Maybe something in Design... Who knows?
Doing my 3rd project speech on Thursday, but haven't written a script or rehearsed. LOL! But that would be the same as my previous speech, for which I merely wrote a summary in point form and didn't rehearse.
At this rate, I may get my Competent Communicator by the end of next year. And maybe Advance Communicator Bronze or Silver by my final year. Muahahahaha!
It is late. Not too late, yet. But how can I bring back the momentum?
Right now I am in the hall, typing this with full knowledge that my roomie did not keep all his girlfriend's stuff in his cupboard. He really should keep his personal life to himself... This afternoon when I returned to the room I found traces of beige-coloured powder on my desk. I cannot detect any smell from the powder, but didn't bother to taste it. It is likely she was applying facial powder on my desk.
Watched Infernal Affairs. It is almost exactly the same as its Hollywood ripoff. Damn good movie, and its ending is not as violent as the Hollywood version. Plus it presents a moral dilemma that Hollywood never puts in its movies.
I signed up as the Sergeant-At-Arms again for the meeting on the coming Thurs, but now I realize they expect me keep up with the ancient forgotten tradition of doing a warm-up with the audience before the meeting officially starts. Heck, I'm just going to do a One Line Story.
I guess Avencast is really just a decent game. I'm at level 25 and I have all but one spell in Soul Magic. This signals that the end of the game is approaching. This is seriously short.
The game's good in that it has some pretty nice spells, generic but interesting plot and decent graphics.
The game's bad because of its music, short plot, limited spells and general lack of anything impressive.
Overall, its something I play to entertain myself while better games like Starcraft 2 are being honed to perfection.
Before the buffet, I wanted to eat only until I was full, but the food simply was too hard to resist. Turns out the big orange globes of roe in the sushis are salmon roe. The tiny ones are probably flying fish roe. Foooooooood.....
Finally found a game that I cannot play. Assassin's Creed looks like such a promising game, but my graphics card was struggling to cope with the first scene in the tutorial. What a waste. And my bro isn't even going touch, with his addiction to Perfect World sucking him to the MMORPG 16 hours a day.
Maybe I should initiate a trip to Canada. My aunt is offering to drive me to Niagara Falls if I ever decide to go there. But haven't heard of much that I can do if I go, other than appreciating the scenery, which I admit I'm poor at. Hmm...
The spider guarding my door is multiplying! I let it live in its own web on my door frame to stop the ants from entering, and now I see 2 little similar spiders in the web! If they aren't simply male spiders trying to mate, this may be bad. I may need to bring insecticide after all...
The netting above my door is coated with dust. This is to allow heat to stay within the room at night, and to stop sunlight from entering during the morning when I am hibernating.
Bah! Who am I kidding? I'm just too lazy to clean it.
I need to buy a new pair of shoes and some bak kwah. New shoes because my present pair has smooth soles at the center of the shoes. Bak kwah because they make great midnight snacks. LOL!
Maybe I should choose to go for MAE, and specialize in Manufacturing, so that I can join one of my uncles' company, which deals in factory machinery. Or maybe not.
Why do people want to choose their course based on which friends they have in the courses? One guy told me he wants to join MAE because he has a friend in 3rd year there. I was thinking, what kind of logic is that? Of course if I had said that, he would have quickly denied it and made up some other reasons.
I was thinking of the markets for my choices, since I have no interest in any of the courses. Or perhaps I do have some interest in magnetic levitation applied in public transportations, which should fall under Electrical Engineering, but should I go for a career in research, knowing fully well that I don't exactly have the best grades out there?
Or should I go for Civil? Civil Engineering is good wherever there is growth, because where growth is, constructions of buildings follow. The job possibilities may include more "dirty" jobs, or jobs that involves much sun, sewers or etc, but if the pay is good and I don't mind, what, then, is the problem?
Mechanical Engineering may turn out to be the best choice too. But with my plans to go overseas in the future, Aerospace may not be my cup of tea. Maybe something in Design... Who knows?
Doing my 3rd project speech on Thursday, but haven't written a script or rehearsed. LOL! But that would be the same as my previous speech, for which I merely wrote a summary in point form and didn't rehearse.
At this rate, I may get my Competent Communicator by the end of next year. And maybe Advance Communicator Bronze or Silver by my final year. Muahahahaha!
Sunday 9 March 2008
Rant 100 / ONE HUNDRED!!!
I'm not anywhere in the film. I'm the cameraman.
Still using the bot for freerice.com. Donating 100k grains a night. I feel generous.
Found this game called Avencast. So far I've played through the first chapter, and found it quite nice. Not impressive, but still interesting. In this action RPG, the player plays as a mage, but can choose between a ranged magic specialist, a melee magic specialist or a mix of both. There is also summoning magic, but so far I don't think it affects the game much. Kind of like a minor help, nothing more.
I prefer The Witcher to Avencast, because The Witcher is more exciting and the momentum goes at full speed from the start. And because the Witcher is cooler.
A new player begins as an apprentice who takes the tests that qualifies him to take the final exam. The story really begins after he has passed the exam. In fact, right after he exits the cave, the first chapter ends and the demons appear.
The combat system is quite innovative, taking what used to be the specialty of fighting games and incorporating it into an RPG. Instead of having to press shortcut keys that are quite far from the WASD direction keys to activate a spell, in Avencast, a player can press Forward Backward Forward and right click to activate it. One defensive spell that creates a shell around the player for a second only require Backward and right click.
I hope I get to go out of the Academy soon. I am halfway through Part 2 but I am still within the school. If the whole game is within the compounds of the Academy, it is going to give me a very poor impression of the game. Much poorer than the one I am having now due to its crappy music.
Ed may look like a moron, but I respect him for the fact that he dares to ask. He was just asking me for help because he lacks an activation code for his copy of Office 07. Apparently he had to enter it before he uses it 22 more times. I don't remember having this problem, and was going to give him my cd-key when I found out my copy of Office has been corrupted, probably due to environmental influences like heat or sunlight, or I'm just unlucky. So thanks to him, I realized this before I actually need to install it, and I am looking for a new copy. And of course, in the end I couldn't help him.
Who knows what I can rant about? I have nothing to rant about.
Girls like guys who don't keep staring at their tits. I prefer to stare at their tits if they, indeed, do have a nice pair. I am not a likable guy. But in the long term, I'd prefer that my partner doesn't have a large pair. In the long term.
Time for some NATURAL SELECTION. Or maybe Infernal Affairs 2. Hmm...
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Rant 099 / Magic Moments
I have found yet another bot for the www.freerice.com charity website. In case you didn't know, this website features a word game that allows you to donate 20 grains of rice for each correct answer. Basically, it helps you improve your English vocabulary while you help it donate rice to the poor.
This is how the game works: they give you a word, and you click on the correct definition. If you are right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the poor. If not, you learn a new word.
And this is how the donation system works: they have several companies placing their ads on the website. These companies, while earning revenue from people who are attracted by the ads, also pays for the rice. In short, they are the donators, and you are the one telling them how much to donate.
As you may know, a big sack of rice, at 10kg, contains millions of grains of rice. According to this website's count, they donate about a hundred millions of grains per day. That's like a hundred of bags of rice a day!
I have tried playing this game on my own at first, and managed to donate a thousand grains before getting totally sick of it. So I checked wikipedia on it, and found that there are bots for playing this game.
So now I have a Java-based bot playing this game for me, which makes a correct answer (99% of the time) every 2 seconds. That is an average rate of 10grains/s. I have set the limit to 1m grains, and at this moment I have 5 of them opened. 10 grains/s, for 1m, is going to take a hundred thousand seconds. That is 27.8 hours. According to the calculator, this means I will donate four million, three hundred and twenty thousand grains by in 24 hours.
----------------------------------------
9 HOURS LATER
----------------------------------------
Ok, the 5 bots with 10k grain limit that I didn't mention are closed. The other 5 1m-limit bots are still running. All of them have donated over 20k grains each. So far, that adds up to over 150k grains. I feel my conscience is clearing.
LOL
I suddenly want to read '1984' by George Orwell. Go wiki for this for more details. I should go order it on acmabooks.com, but I need to go back home to ask my mum for her credit card. And they're offering 23% discounts for purchases exceeding $50! That's 5% more than usual.
The NTU-NIE Speech Contest was interesting, even though I didn't listen to any speeches. My job was to guard the doors to make sure no one enters while any speech is in progress. But I get to see how things are set up, how they organizes the whole event and what protocols are needed for Toastmasters competition.
In this competition, the participants are not from any Toastmasters club, yet I heard that the speeches were impressive. This shows that Toastmasters are not the best speakers out there, but the people most willing to learn the techniques required to be the best. It is true that some people are just natural speakers.
Somehow I haven't found any motivation to want to find edc's scandal pics, but somehow the news have found their way into the forums I sometimes visit. According to one, there are over 400 pictures out there. If so, I think he had to send his Mac for repair back then because his hard disk was damaged by the pure hotness of the photos.
6th March. Today is the first time I've ever met a DTM!! A Distinguished Toastmaster, a Toastmaster who has completed all training manuals and has attained the highest rank in the club. According to the introduction given by the Toastmaster of the Evening (aka MC), he has also completed the advanced manuals more than once. Man...
After watching another needlessly violent Flash on newgrounds.com, I fell in love with yet another classic - Magic Moments by Perry Como. That guy used this song for his ending credits. It's magical indeed. Sometimes, you just never know what you can find in the trash.
Still using the bots to donate rice. Gonna open them every time I leave my laptop on overnight.
I don't pity Edison Chen, no matter if he was really beaten up by some kids, or if he attempted suicide. It is not that he deserves it, but that in life shit happens. I mean, if you're going to do something wrong, at least cover it up properly. Leaving it in your computer when you send it for repair with no means of security but the bullshit that comes with every OS is just asking for it. Hmm... I believe I should not say anymore. Whatever I said or will say has probably been said by someone far more qualified than I am.
I still want to read 1984.
This is how the game works: they give you a word, and you click on the correct definition. If you are right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the poor. If not, you learn a new word.
And this is how the donation system works: they have several companies placing their ads on the website. These companies, while earning revenue from people who are attracted by the ads, also pays for the rice. In short, they are the donators, and you are the one telling them how much to donate.
As you may know, a big sack of rice, at 10kg, contains millions of grains of rice. According to this website's count, they donate about a hundred millions of grains per day. That's like a hundred of bags of rice a day!
I have tried playing this game on my own at first, and managed to donate a thousand grains before getting totally sick of it. So I checked wikipedia on it, and found that there are bots for playing this game.
So now I have a Java-based bot playing this game for me, which makes a correct answer (99% of the time) every 2 seconds. That is an average rate of 10grains/s. I have set the limit to 1m grains, and at this moment I have 5 of them opened. 10 grains/s, for 1m, is going to take a hundred thousand seconds. That is 27.8 hours. According to the calculator, this means I will donate four million, three hundred and twenty thousand grains by in 24 hours.
----------------------------------------
9 HOURS LATER
----------------------------------------
Ok, the 5 bots with 10k grain limit that I didn't mention are closed. The other 5 1m-limit bots are still running. All of them have donated over 20k grains each. So far, that adds up to over 150k grains. I feel my conscience is clearing.
LOL
I suddenly want to read '1984' by George Orwell. Go wiki for this for more details. I should go order it on acmabooks.com, but I need to go back home to ask my mum for her credit card. And they're offering 23% discounts for purchases exceeding $50! That's 5% more than usual.
The NTU-NIE Speech Contest was interesting, even though I didn't listen to any speeches. My job was to guard the doors to make sure no one enters while any speech is in progress. But I get to see how things are set up, how they organizes the whole event and what protocols are needed for Toastmasters competition.
In this competition, the participants are not from any Toastmasters club, yet I heard that the speeches were impressive. This shows that Toastmasters are not the best speakers out there, but the people most willing to learn the techniques required to be the best. It is true that some people are just natural speakers.
Somehow I haven't found any motivation to want to find edc's scandal pics, but somehow the news have found their way into the forums I sometimes visit. According to one, there are over 400 pictures out there. If so, I think he had to send his Mac for repair back then because his hard disk was damaged by the pure hotness of the photos.
6th March. Today is the first time I've ever met a DTM!! A Distinguished Toastmaster, a Toastmaster who has completed all training manuals and has attained the highest rank in the club. According to the introduction given by the Toastmaster of the Evening (aka MC), he has also completed the advanced manuals more than once. Man...
After watching another needlessly violent Flash on newgrounds.com, I fell in love with yet another classic - Magic Moments by Perry Como. That guy used this song for his ending credits. It's magical indeed. Sometimes, you just never know what you can find in the trash.
Still using the bots to donate rice. Gonna open them every time I leave my laptop on overnight.
I don't pity Edison Chen, no matter if he was really beaten up by some kids, or if he attempted suicide. It is not that he deserves it, but that in life shit happens. I mean, if you're going to do something wrong, at least cover it up properly. Leaving it in your computer when you send it for repair with no means of security but the bullshit that comes with every OS is just asking for it. Hmm... I believe I should not say anymore. Whatever I said or will say has probably been said by someone far more qualified than I am.
I still want to read 1984.
Saturday 1 March 2008
Rant 098 / Microsoft Got Pwned By The EU LOL! 899 Million Euros Is No Joke, Not When The Exchange Rate Just Hit A Record High!
I really have no idea what to type now. Why am I blogging?
All of a sudden, my screen turns blurry. What's happening? Something wrong with my LCD monitor? Problems with my graphics card?
I googled for an answer, but found none.
I worry.
It has only been a year since I bought this, and I want this laptop to last till I graduate. I am already taking utmost care to maintain its present state, except for its appearance. I don't mind it getting dusty, other than in the filters.
But I want its software and hardware to last!
But 1 yr and the screen goes blurry for a few second all of a sudden?
NO!
Something is terribly wrong! There are another 3 years to go, my precioussssss!
So I mulled over it.
And bit my lips.
Chewed on my finger nails.
Licked my toe nails.
Finally, an answer was found.
The plug was not firmly pressed into the socket...
lol
I was looking at this game named Fly For Fun, and was interested in it. A free-to-play MMORPG, it was also kind of cute and stuff. I was bored, and downloaded the client.
Installation done, and I opened the game. Realized I have forgotten that these games need an account registered at the main website. So I clicked on the 'Registration' button.
"Sorry. We are unable to provided service to customers in your region."
Fuckers. My region isn't even in the ban list. So I googled, and saw that I'm not the only puzzled one.
So another game deleted from my laptop.
Now I see this Ragecraft, which is a private server of WoW. I can't find out how many players are online on average. I need to log in to see that. Maybe next time...
I have finally got all 25 episodes of CODE GEASS SEASON ONE! Now to keep them till the June Vacation starts...
NTU Toastmasters Club (TMC) is having an exchange program to Hong Kong during the June vacation. Secondhand information states that subsidies will hit $500, which basically means free tickets. Another fellow member from a part of China near Hong Kong announced that if he goes, he will treat the rest a meal of seafood in his hometown. However, since there are only 2-3 slots, he will go only if no one else applies.
But that is quite impossible since more than six people approached the organiser to ask about this... And this means I won't be involved too since I have the same reason for not going as the other guy - we must let the rest have a chance to visit Hong Kong.
Dang! There goes the free trip to good dim sum and free seafood...
It seems like right now Natural Selection is the most popular Half Life 1 mod out there. One reason would be that it's really better than the rest. Another would be that those guys behind this mod are really slow in producing a Half Life 2 version of this mod...
I wanted to try out this mod named Zombie Panic, due to my sudden interest in zombie stuff, but there are only 2 servers! And these 2 are usually empty, because they have produced a Half Life: Source version of the mod!
This sucks.
Just found out this afternoon that there's a Ulu Pandan Toastmasters Club here in Ulu Pandan Community Club. According to this flier some guy stuffed into my gate, Richard Sng is having a course there, and the course costs a whopping $120 per person for( I presume) non-members.
Richard Sng! The most sought-after Language Evaluator in Singapore! Wonder what the price is for members.
Some guys make finding a girlfriend sound like some kind of hunt. Like a girlfriend is something you can get if you work hard for it, similar to a degree and honours.
That's bullshit.
I heard this from one guy during one of my chapter meetings, who was commenting on love to another guy who just lost his girlfriend. And it so happened that I spoke on how gaming can be a career choice in the future, and conveyed my passion for gaming during the speech. So he likened love for a girl to my passion for e-gaming, that it cannot be explained, that there is no reason, and that it just is.
I agree with him completely. The fact that I haven't found the right girl proves to me that it is something I cannot work for until I find it, and not that I have to work for it to find it.
The first condition for the right girl would probably be that she is someone I can talk to. Most girls I know are interested in things I couldn't care less for, and it is hard to maintain a long conversation like this. And if I can't talk to her, then I wouldn't know her well enough to confirm that she is suitable. Doubt will offset whatever feelings I have for her.
That is something I have experienced several times before.
I understand if everyone I meet are not interested in computer games. I mean, I'm not in the right club after all, nor the right course. But no one I meet reads the same books as I do either. Well, there is this one gorgeous Filipino girl who seems to have read the Wheel of Time, but she's definitely not the right one.
My mother, on the other hand, believes that love can be cultivated, and that love is not the essential condition when looking for a wife. I kind of agree there, especially since she's a great example, but who on earth still understands this? We are all so Westernised and filled with expectations of marrying with true love! If I want to do that, I'll have to wait till I'm 30-40 before finding someone matured enough to see that and still be of suitable age. Actually, this is merely a guess, but I seriously don't expect any girl in Singapore to see the logic in marrying without love.
I personally don't mind staying single, since I haven't been attached before and thus not understand what the fuss is about. I don't need anyone to talk to, and definitely don't need to hear anyone talk about their troubles. What I need is some silence in my mind. Kind of like the crazy guy in Silence of the Lambs. When I graduate, I don't mind a job that entails much travelling. I like living in hotels lol!
Oh shit! It's 5am! I'm still quite wide awake! Oh shit! School starts in 2 days! Oh shit! Good night! Or should I say good morning?
All of a sudden, my screen turns blurry. What's happening? Something wrong with my LCD monitor? Problems with my graphics card?
I googled for an answer, but found none.
I worry.
It has only been a year since I bought this, and I want this laptop to last till I graduate. I am already taking utmost care to maintain its present state, except for its appearance. I don't mind it getting dusty, other than in the filters.
But I want its software and hardware to last!
But 1 yr and the screen goes blurry for a few second all of a sudden?
NO!
Something is terribly wrong! There are another 3 years to go, my precioussssss!
So I mulled over it.
And bit my lips.
Chewed on my finger nails.
Licked my toe nails.
Finally, an answer was found.
The plug was not firmly pressed into the socket...
lol
I was looking at this game named Fly For Fun, and was interested in it. A free-to-play MMORPG, it was also kind of cute and stuff. I was bored, and downloaded the client.
Installation done, and I opened the game. Realized I have forgotten that these games need an account registered at the main website. So I clicked on the 'Registration' button.
"Sorry. We are unable to provided service to customers in your region."
Fuckers. My region isn't even in the ban list. So I googled, and saw that I'm not the only puzzled one.
So another game deleted from my laptop.
Now I see this Ragecraft, which is a private server of WoW. I can't find out how many players are online on average. I need to log in to see that. Maybe next time...
I have finally got all 25 episodes of CODE GEASS SEASON ONE! Now to keep them till the June Vacation starts...
NTU Toastmasters Club (TMC) is having an exchange program to Hong Kong during the June vacation. Secondhand information states that subsidies will hit $500, which basically means free tickets. Another fellow member from a part of China near Hong Kong announced that if he goes, he will treat the rest a meal of seafood in his hometown. However, since there are only 2-3 slots, he will go only if no one else applies.
But that is quite impossible since more than six people approached the organiser to ask about this... And this means I won't be involved too since I have the same reason for not going as the other guy - we must let the rest have a chance to visit Hong Kong.
Dang! There goes the free trip to good dim sum and free seafood...
It seems like right now Natural Selection is the most popular Half Life 1 mod out there. One reason would be that it's really better than the rest. Another would be that those guys behind this mod are really slow in producing a Half Life 2 version of this mod...
I wanted to try out this mod named Zombie Panic, due to my sudden interest in zombie stuff, but there are only 2 servers! And these 2 are usually empty, because they have produced a Half Life: Source version of the mod!
This sucks.
Just found out this afternoon that there's a Ulu Pandan Toastmasters Club here in Ulu Pandan Community Club. According to this flier some guy stuffed into my gate, Richard Sng is having a course there, and the course costs a whopping $120 per person for( I presume) non-members.
Richard Sng! The most sought-after Language Evaluator in Singapore! Wonder what the price is for members.
Some guys make finding a girlfriend sound like some kind of hunt. Like a girlfriend is something you can get if you work hard for it, similar to a degree and honours.
That's bullshit.
I heard this from one guy during one of my chapter meetings, who was commenting on love to another guy who just lost his girlfriend. And it so happened that I spoke on how gaming can be a career choice in the future, and conveyed my passion for gaming during the speech. So he likened love for a girl to my passion for e-gaming, that it cannot be explained, that there is no reason, and that it just is.
I agree with him completely. The fact that I haven't found the right girl proves to me that it is something I cannot work for until I find it, and not that I have to work for it to find it.
The first condition for the right girl would probably be that she is someone I can talk to. Most girls I know are interested in things I couldn't care less for, and it is hard to maintain a long conversation like this. And if I can't talk to her, then I wouldn't know her well enough to confirm that she is suitable. Doubt will offset whatever feelings I have for her.
That is something I have experienced several times before.
I understand if everyone I meet are not interested in computer games. I mean, I'm not in the right club after all, nor the right course. But no one I meet reads the same books as I do either. Well, there is this one gorgeous Filipino girl who seems to have read the Wheel of Time, but she's definitely not the right one.
My mother, on the other hand, believes that love can be cultivated, and that love is not the essential condition when looking for a wife. I kind of agree there, especially since she's a great example, but who on earth still understands this? We are all so Westernised and filled with expectations of marrying with true love! If I want to do that, I'll have to wait till I'm 30-40 before finding someone matured enough to see that and still be of suitable age. Actually, this is merely a guess, but I seriously don't expect any girl in Singapore to see the logic in marrying without love.
I personally don't mind staying single, since I haven't been attached before and thus not understand what the fuss is about. I don't need anyone to talk to, and definitely don't need to hear anyone talk about their troubles. What I need is some silence in my mind. Kind of like the crazy guy in Silence of the Lambs. When I graduate, I don't mind a job that entails much travelling. I like living in hotels lol!
Oh shit! It's 5am! I'm still quite wide awake! Oh shit! School starts in 2 days! Oh shit! Good night! Or should I say good morning?
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