Rant 1112 / Affordable 3D Printing? Yes Please.

So 3Doodler is a big hit on Kickstarter. It's really just a glue gun modified to use plastic instead.

Still, it's a great toy to me, particularly when it's associated with 3D printing.

People look at the pictures there and say it's impractical, too flimsy for anything useful.

I don't see why I can't build anything solid with it.

What I currently have in mind is the spiral pillar.

Except with the 3Doodler, I'll have to create flatter spirals.

That is how I think I can use the pen to create real practical furniture.

I'll most likely begin with little things like a tray for documents, and eventually I will build something to replace one of my current laundry racks. Unlike most households, I hang my laundry indoor at my balcony - one of the benefits of having too much space.

People say that hanging laundry inside will make it take longer to dry. I say this is Singapore, where 30 degrees Celsius is the norm during the day.  All I have to do is keep the windows open and the door ajar for ventilation.

Anyways, anyone who can't see the potential of this 3D printing gun is too unimaginative. Heck, I could even draw a toilet roll hanger for my bathroom if I use toilet rolls in there, or a soap tray if I can keep my hand steady enough to draw a flat bottom. Y'know, because a rough surface might catch the soap or accumulate it.

From what I've read, it uses ABS and PLA plastic. While I've been too lazy to read up on PLA, ABS is a great material for all these except for one major flaw - sunlight damages it. Although it's not like the sun will burn it to ashes in a day, it will probably not last more than a year in sunny Singapore unless I keep it in the bathroom or closet or something.

A hanger would be the perfect object to make using the ABS plastic.

As for the PLA, I'll have to google it up later on.

Anyway, it's clear I'm not the one who's excited about the possibly infinite practicality of this toy - it's currently a week since the launch of the KS project on the 19th of this month and it's already hit 6000% of its original target of US$30k.

Personally, I'm throwing in US$109 for the $99 option plus $10 shipping which will get me the gun plus 10 bags of plastic. I'd take the $75 option with just 2 bags if I know where to get more of the plastic. I have a rough idea but exploring Singapore is really not my hobby. I prefer to postpone that part for as long as I can.

As for when I'm getting it, since I pledged late, mine will only be delivered early next year. It says January 2014 there but I don't expect punctuality.

All in all, I'm really really excited to try out 3D printing for myself. Can't wait till it arrives. I'll probably spend at least one bag making trash just to get the hang of it. Hopefully I don't hurt myself or damage anything during the process.


Edit: Eventually I'm going to get a real 3D printer. Eventually.























So the budget is out. The Singapore Budget 2013, that is.

Mostly none of my business but a few can affect me.

The PIC Bonus would have been great if it didn't require at least 3 local employees to allow a cash payout instead of a tax rebate. I don't need a tax rebate since I predict my accountant will be telling me that I really made a loss in 2012 anyway.

Otherwise I would buy a tablet for my employees. Would be great to have the entire inventory updated in real time online, and if any issue occurs that require my personal attention while I'm absent, they could just set up Facetime.

Too bad it's not subsidised in my case.

The WCS is another scheme I can look at but I'll have to consult my accountant before I do anything. I'm sure my staff will be happy to get a raise but unless I can afford it, it's unlikely to happen at all.







Another thing I learnt from this is how people misunderstand things and blame the government when certain changes turn out to be different from what they thought they would be.

For example, I observed people thinking that our property taxes have been lowered so they can expect to pay less of it this year.

That's not exactly true. For the lower income people, the group that doesn't pay property tax has been increased. It used to be that homes with an Annual Value of $6k and below would pay no property tax but for 2013, it's $8k, so the change is that people who live in homes of $6k-8k this year will pay no tax.

For people whose homes have AV of $8k to $55k, there is only a slight change. Instead of paying a flat 4% for the AV of their homes, they still pay 4% BUT only for the AV beyond the first $8k, ie instead of 4% * AV, it's now 4% * (AV - 8000) due to the progressive tax structure.

Those who don't understand this concept will think that the government had been bullshitting them.

Anyways, just found out that the Annual Value for HDB flats is the amount of rent I could get if I rented the whole place out at market rate.

This is my first time giving a damn about the budget btw.

EDIT: oops it wasn't  a flat 4% even before this.

Rant 1111 / PS4 Is AUD900???? Looks Like It Is Going To Be SGD900 Or More Here.

That's what I had been talking about!

http://kck.st/YjegPU



Now lights can be controlled via a smartphone app! What took them so long? It can't possibly be too complicated.

Too bad this particular project is too expensive for me. I want to get the 10-pack (to replace 10 switches) but it's US$499 + $25 for me.































Real North Korean propaganda! With the English subtitles, I can now fully appreciate the absurdity of the DPRK nonsense, and I wonder if the North Korean people actually believe this crap when they see it on TV.

Well, those who can afford a TV anyway.























So I've been sleeping poorly, party due to the old blanket and partly due to my blocked nose, hence my obvious irritation in my previous post.

I did my weekly bed-stuff laundry too late and couldn't get my housekeeper to hang the blanket, bed sheet and etc for me while she was around, and I wasn't in the mood to hang them.

Worse, the washer gave me that beeping problem I mentioned when it was washing them.

After that, I'd been using this huge towel as a blanket that I had used before for the same purpose back when I was staying in the NTU hostels.

Unfortunately, the towel had become so old it was falling apart. Not only does it have lots of holes, my ipad and phone were covered with a very visible layer of evenly spread dust the next morning. In other words, it wasn't very warm.

As for my blocked nose, it's the allergy returning and now it's finally reached the same stage as before I went to the doctor. Except now, I don't want to go back to the doctor because the next treatment I can try will be costing me thousands of dollars.

I'd rather clean my place more thoroughly. In the meantime, I'm wearing a mask (the kind with the wire above to shape around the nose) whenever I'm at home.

The sleep is still not very good though, and coffee isn't doing the trick by afternoon. Good thing business isn't very brisk at the moment, probably due to the poor economy, so I don't see myself going to the office a lot even though I went back on four of the weekdays this week.

But I think after two days with the mask, I'm feeling a little better, although that could have been placebo effect or something.

Rant 1110 / Asian Elves And Black Dwarves

So I've been playing DotA 2 after I got tired of the grinding I needed to do to advance in Path of Exile. After several farming trips with one of the Ledge farming parties, I decided this isn't what I want to do.

I've really lost a lot of skill in DotA 2 after such a long time away from this kind of games but I managed to get back some after several co-op matches with Easy AI bots.

Initially I wanted to play with the Undying but I found that, just like the guides told me, it's pretty bad in late game. Heck, it wasn't even particularly good in the earlier parts anyway.

Hence I'm with the Centaur Warrunner now. He's actually pretty good TBH. His Double Edge does great damage in early game and Return is really effective in late game. Double Edge does damage to both himself and any enemy within melee range, while Return does damage equal to a specific number plus a portion of his strength against each attacker.

As a tank, Double Edge is fantastic against weak Intel heroes. With a tank's health, the damage is not a lot to me while it's a lot to them.

To make things better, he has a stun. Great for ganks.

His ulti is probably one of the most utilitarian I've ever seen. Stampede increases the movement speed of the whole team on the map, removes unit collision (can't be blocked by any unit), slows down all enemies they Stampede over and does some damage.

This means that it can be used to chase enemies or run from them.

The only real catch to this hero is that in late game, if the enemies ignore him, he's worthless because by then, his worth lies mainly in Return which needs him to be attacked first. Double Edge is horrible in late game and barely hurts even Intel heroes, while Stomp is just a weak melee-range stun. This leaves just his Stampede which doesn't really hurt.

Therefore, guides recommend getting Radiance just so that the damaging aura can cause enemies to want to kill him just to stop the constant pain.

So far, I'm still practising on bots so this isn't necessary.























So this new pair of glasses is already falling apart. One of the rubber grip loosened and held on to my ear when I took my glasses off. I can easily slip it back but what happens if it drops outside?

I'm going to need a new pair from another shop.
























Found some really weird stuff from the old cartons I was getting my staff to clear to make space. Some strange vests made of some kind of plastic fabric material. Some only cover the chest. I have no idea what my mother was doing with these.

























So the conversations with my former teachers during CNY showed me a bit of what it's like to teach in Singapore today.

It also appears we are about to get some kind of crisis as we run out of teachers. I don't really know if it's true but it sounds like the turnover rate is rather high among young teachers, so most of them are either very green or around retirement age.

Worse is that other than the old ones, teachers and principals today are more concerned with their careers and bonuses than with the kids.

A teacher who used to be my PE teacher is now a discipline master in a primary school, and according to a former teacher of mine, he's practically impotent in that role. In one incident, the kid was so bad he pulled him by his collar to scold him, and the student kicked him multiple times in retaliation.

Despite his demand for the principal to cane him, the student got just a week of suspension plus counselling for that. I bet he took it as a holiday. The discipline master even threatened the principal that he would file a police report for physical assault, and even that didn't work. I'm sure he would have had a solid case, but that clearly wasn't enough.

I've been caned by a principal for a lot less!

The thing is that principals like that aren't uncommon these days, and it made me wonder about the point of having a discipline master at all if they can't use corporal punishment and principals don't support their judgement in meting out punishment.

If you want merely a loud voice, just buy loudspeakers for teachers.

If all discipline masters can do is shout at students, then the role is now obsolete. Keeping teachers in those jobs is only a waste of blood pressure medicine.

And since corporal punishment is no longer allowed, it's much harder to control students. Apparently, making students stand outside the class is not allowed. Neither is making them write lines. Nor are teachers allowed to make students walk up and down the stairs. Or running laps out on the track/field.

Basically, teachers are only allowed to shout at students. And counsel them, as if it works on everyone. Anything physical, even a hard poke with a finger on the forehead or a light slap (almost a pat) can possibly result in emailed complaints from parents to the Ministry, especially since students today are much more capable at exaggeration. Kudos to the English teachers for that... maybe.

Pokes have been turned into punches by students before when they tell their parents what happened in school, and parents trust their children to tell the truth, often enough that they would send the email without clarifying with the school or the teacher.

One of my former teacher claims to be able to handle them with his ferocity, and I don't doubt that. He'd taught me for 4 years out of the 6 in primary school, and I know he is fierce not just because of his voice. He's just got that attitude when it's necessary.

Another teacher is much more interesting - she simply tells the principal to sack her if he wants to. She's retired anyway. Moreover, like other retired teachers I know, she can easily get a job in other schools. From everything I've heard so far, veteran teachers like her are in high demand and schools are willing to bend over backward just to accomodate them, including really short single-semester contracts that do not require them to handle administrative work and attend meetings, and allowing them to leave (with advance notice) before the contract's over.

At worst, she could always move in with her children over in the US. The elder one is doing very well there, living in a gated community and sending her grandkids to private pre-schools ($800 a month per child! WTF?).

I only worry for the children today. If it is so obvious that the current incentive system for the teachers is a mistake, why does it continue?

I also wonder what happened to principals like the one who caned me back in my primary school days, the kind who would support the judgement of teachers and really drove fear into bad students simply with his presence.

I'm not saying the caning wasn't part of it, but it was not a major factor at all. No, it was something else, something more psychological. The caning was nothing; it was never particularly painful to me.

Rant 1109 / Fann Wong's Armpits Are A Myth

So I just discovered yesterday that my suede shoes are mouldy. MOULDY!
SHIIIIIIT!!

I didn't know that suede shoes can turn mouldy this quickly!

All I did was neglect them in the shelves since November or October. Can't remember exactly when and too lazy to search my blog. Now the back and the front are covered by this greenish-grey fluffy stuff that I normally see on bread.

Fortunately, google results assured me that this is a common occurence and it's easy to handle. All I need to do is wipe it with a vinegar-soaked rag and the acid will kill the fungus. After that, I'll have to do my normal maintenance to waterproof it and restore the nap.

These suede shoes are more trouble than I thought they'd be but they're just too comfortable to throw.

...

Cleaned them with a rag and some diluted white rice vinegar.

Tomorrow I'll see if it's fixed, and if it is, I'll do the usual waterproofing treatment and maybe I'll start wearing them again.

The mould was horrible. Not only was it outside and in the hard-to-reach gap where the shoe was sewn into the sole, it was also all over the inside of the shoe and under the shoelaces.

At least the shoelaces weren't mouldy, but despite being immune to mould, the shoe tree did get some of that fungus stuck on it.

I think the worst thing about this whole problem was that I underestimated the mould and neglected to wear a mask. Got an irritated windpipe for a while and now I wonder if there will be more consequences to come.

I'll have to remember to wear one next year.



















Meanwhile, my washing machine broke down. No idea why and I couldn't find the manual for it. It stopped at Rinse and beeped about 16 times. If I hit Pause and Start to make it continue, it stops and beeps again.

Now the wet laundry is in the basin next to it and I'm too annoyed to fix it. From what I've read, I'll have to open the machine with a screwdriver to troubleshoot it, and I'm totally not in the mood for something like that.

Fuck this. I have enough clothes to last me another week. Let the laundry rot for all I care. If my bro dares to ask me about it instead of trying something himself for once, I'll throw him the same lame excuse he gives me," I don't know how to."

In case anyone doesn't get how bad this excuse is, I'll just say it right here that with the internet, you cannot possibly not know how to handle 99% of the things an average person can encounter in life.

Rant 1108 / Is It Child Abuse If You Snort A Baby Recreationally?

So the bill came and it turned out that Starhub did not waive any part of my bill despite the emailed promise.

Oh well, that's just another reason to make the switch next month.





















So this CNY I managed to have yu sheng thrice just because I like the dish and it's not available for the rest of the year.

Bought the packaged stuff from Shop N Save, just the smallest ones, for around S$7 each.

For that price, I have to add my own carrot and fish, the only fresh ingredients necessary to complete the recipe.

Carrots were easy because of the food processor my bro bought last year. Still loving that grater it comes with. It leaves a bit of the carrot ungrated at the end but that's better than having to grate anything manually.

Fish was a little hard. The buying was matter of luck. I went to the market at around 8.30am on the Saturday before CNY which was the day before the eve to look for salmon without really expecting to. In fact I was already thinking of alternatives I can go for if I couldn't find it as I walked to the market.

Only one stall still had any salmon left and they only had the very tail ends. Moreover, they were smaller than the ones I usually buy from another stall. Cheap though, because the stall was closing. Yea, 8.30am on the day before the eve and they were closing.

The stall only had 7-8 pieces remaining when I arrived and I initally asked for two. But when the guy said he was packing up already, I asked for one more. TBH I was tempted to ask him for all of them since they were small but I felt it was too much. Finally, the weighing machine said $18-something for the three but he charged me around $16-17 instead.

Skinning the fish wasn't easy because of the leanness. For some reason, the skin tends to stick a lot harder to lean meat. Not sure why. Unfortunately, the tail end is the leanest part of the fish body. In addition, I haven't done this for months already. Usually, I don't skin the fish because it's far easier to just strip it away after cooking.

But after some trials-and-error, I got the hang of it again.

Good thing they were all boneless fillets so I didn't have to remove bones.


The rest was easy. I gave a bit of the yu sheng to my bro to remind him of why he doesn't like it and finished the entire plate myself.

That was the first time. The other times I just ate them all by myself. Good times.




















Also made claypot rice the other day. Nothing but rice, preserved duck legs, fresh mushrooms and loads of dark soy sauce.

Wasn't as good as it could have been. Should have cut up the legs and bury them in the rice. Instead, I merely placed them whole on top of the rice. But I wasn't really interested in chopping them in case I get bone shards in my rice.

The duck legs were the preserved ones I got from Shanghai. Tasted less similar to preserved sausages than expected but were very salty.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that this is that new cheap rice I just bought. The size of the grains may make it look overcooked but it's actually not soft. Like I said, it's probably very old crop.

Rant 1107 / How Do People With OCD Handle Yu Sheng?

Found this Japanese TV show called "Yuusha Yoshihiko to Maou no Shiro", a really low budget parody of JRPGs and animes, although a large part seems to be based on the Dragon Quest series.

Very funny, probably the funniest show I've seen in years. The best thing is that unlike American comedies like Family Guy, the quality is actually consistent. The catch is that it only has 12 half-hour episodes, so it's really short.

Moreover, it's hard to find English-subbed versions so I had to get the raw Japanese ones and add in Japanese subtitles found separately. This led to some timing issues because the subs were meant for another version that I couldn't find, but luckily, VLC allowed me to manipulate the timing of the subtitles so for several episodes, I had to spend several minutes at the beginning adjusting it.

Still, it's well worth the effort.






















The best kind of school is probably one that allows the students to live entire lives in a simulated environment. Lot of people have probably wondered if our world is real. I feel that our world makes a fantastic classroom and it's really a terrible waste that people die and let all that experience and wisdom vanish.

In fact, some scientists have even published a paper saying that this theory is plausible.

Observable consequences of the hypothesis that the observed universe is a numerical simulation performed on a cubic space-time lattice or grid are explored.

The results, as translated by a journalist, are as follow:

The basis of the idea is that, if the universe is a simulation, then it would have certain observable constraints.

The laws of physics, which appear continuous, would have to be superimposed onto a discrete three-dimensional lattice which advances in steps of time.

This lattice spacing, says Professor Silas Beane of the University of Bonn, would impose an otherwise unnecessary limit on the energy that particles can have, because nothing can exist that is smaller than the lattice itself.

And, he says, precisely such a a cut-off in the spectrum of high energy particles exists: a limit to the energy of cosmic rays known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin (GZK) cut-off.

Someday, when virtual reality technologies get advanced enough, having something like this would be great. It's not just about school but also life experiences, so that you can go through the school of hard knocks without getting knocked hard. Not physically anyway.

This would also be fantastic for learning about the human psyche because you could simulate one person's life and throw lots of people into the simulation to get lots of different results.



























Path of Exile. Got to Merciless, the third difficulty, after finishing the 3 acts on Normal and then Cruel.

My DPS is now like crap although it was recently dramatically improved by my purchase of a Lightning Strike gem. My build was meant for this skill but I just couldn't find it, forcing me to rely on the stuff I found from the beginning, Heavy Strike and Ground Slam.

I also had Shield Charge and Tempest Shield but these worked great for their functions.

Heavy Strike and Ground Slam, on the other hand, do not benefit from my Lightning Damage passives so they eventually became obsolete as I went on.

I still keep Heavy Strike on though because in a 1-on-1 situation, Heavy Strike still does more DPS due to its higher level. Until I can get my Lightning Strike gem to catch up with my level, Heavy Strike will still have a place in my inventory.

Still, Lightning Strike produces 3 projectiles together with my initial hit, so it's great against groups.

Good for farming.

Also got the gems for increasing drop quantity and drop quality. Fantastic stuff. I immediately kept them on as much as I could to get their levels up even when I can't link them to my skill gems. Only used them when I join farming parties since my damage doesn't really matter as much.

Still, my DPS is not as great as everyone else.

Rant 1106 / Forbidding Dirty Talk But Condoning Pre-marital Sex

Met the weirdest taxi driver the other day. I asked him if he could turn up the air-conditioning a little, and he replied with,"Why? Not cool enough?"

Apparently my driver was Captain Obvious.

Of course I said," Yes. It only drizzled for 2 minutes just now and it's not even cloudy. In fact, the road's dry already."

Then came what could be the most unexpected reply I've ever heard," That's not enough? Must it rain really hard to be cool enough?"

The first thing that came to my mind was "Duh, check your rear view mirror and look at my wet forehead, just in case you didn't notice me wiping my sweat with my handkerchief before. This is just typical Singapore weather; it has to have a thunderstorm or something for it to ever go below 27 degree Celsius on sunny afternoons."

But I figured he must be one of those crazy people who's not crazy enough to stay in a mental institution. I mean, any driver who refuses to turn up the a/c on a hot afternoon for a passenger has to have a screw loose unless he's wearing a windbreaker, which he wasn't. I've met female drivers who have though, and I don't make the same request in their cabs.

But this guy, he didn't seem to be feeling cold, so there's no reason he would risk anything for such a minor issue. What else could it be?

Since he wasn't right in the head, it could be a bad idea to argue, so I just stopped saying anything and pretended it never happened.

It's just weird. I wonder what his life is like.























So the reason why urban planners rarely ever merge multiple residential blocks into a single giant complex is due to Sick Building Syndrome.

From Wikipedia, this is about the air quality in the building due to poor ventilation.

Moreover, green building technologies are rather new in Singapore, so utilising any in public housing could be hard and expensive.

In addition, I guess there's also the issue of sunlight from the ones living on the lower floors near the centre of the structure. Unless they can legally force those residents to get out regularly (hard to enforce) or spend on costly lamps that can simulate the full spectrum of sunlight, it's going to be a health hazard just to live there.



























So the cheap rice does have a very distinctive feature that may be the reason why it's priced at $6.80 for 5kg.

Although it does not look any different from other rice when before cooking, the grains really expand a lot when cooked. Yet despite the size, it is not particularly soft, so it's not due to being cooked in too much water.

Strange because the grains look like those found in porridge, like they're all burst open.

I'm not sure why, but I feel that this may be the reason they're cheap.

Probably very old crop.

Practically speaking, I like this rice. The cooked rice is not soft and the grains don't stick to the pot as much. Less wastage and may possibly be great for making fried rice.




















Don't feel like going out recently. Not sure why. Went out today only because I recalled only this morning that I promised a supplier I would pay him this week, and I really don't want to encounter the horrendous Friday queue at the bank. Worse, it's the last weekday before the Chinese New Year, so everyone's trying to withdraw cash for red packets.

ATMs are not useful because there are lots of people who are taking out large amounts of cash (at least 5 digits) and the machines only handle up to $1k per transaction.

I'll have to go out tomorrow again for work. I don't know why but I just don't like the idea at all.

Also planning to go back to the office during the CNY week even though we officially reopen only on the Monday after that.























Been playing Path of Exile, but not a lot. Just finished the 3 acts on Normal so I'm on the next difficulty now, whatever that is.

Found out about the vendor recipes so I did a lot of farming before I realized how pointless it has to be. I should be farming when I'm done with all 3 difficulties, not now. So what if I get a lot of valuable orbs if my gear isn't going to be used for very long?

Rant 1105 / Low Hit Rate Is An Annoyance.

Somehow I have this feeling that the most popular class in Path of Exile is the Witch, just because that's the easiest path to becoming a summoner.

Any class can be come a summoner, but the Witch's starting point in the skill tree is the closest to all the minion passive skills.

I could too, since the Templar's right next to the Witch. I'd need to go through the elemental damage region of the tree to get to those, but it can be done. It will take longer and the final build will be slightly different because the skill gems I get from quest rewards are different from what a Witch can get.

But I'll go with the Lightning Templar, basically a mace-and-shield melee fighter with lightning damage and uses lightning spells.

Still waiting for the Lightning Strike gem but I'm only in Act 2 of Normal difficulty.

With my current set of skill gems, I'm also wondering if I should go Lightning or Fire because I seem to have a lot of Fire-based skills and only 2 Lightning ones - a support gem that adds Lightning damage to my attacks and a Tempest Shield which raises my shield block chance and does Lightning damage to melee attackers.

So far, I still have yet to add any points in Lightning-specific passive skills so it's not a real problem yet, but I worry about the future.

Actually my current issue is my hit rate. I miss a lot more than I'd like and I don't really know how to fix that. I can add like two more points into that kind of passive but beyond that, I don't have a lot of such passives near the skills I really need.























So I really went back to get another 2 5kg-bags of rice. This time, there was another stack of rice of the same brand and weight but with a different name. Instead of "Fragrant White Rice", these are called "Jasmine Fragrant Rice".

I'm sure they're the same stuff.

Also realized just now that they're not airtight so I'll need to seal them up with the vacuum bags I got a long time ago. My rice tends to get weevils around the same time I almost finish a 10kg-bag. It used to be even faster back when I didn't know I had to clean the tub I use to hold the bag every time I take out the empty bags.

I'm still not sure where they're coming from, but weevils aren't toxic and they're easy to rinse off so they're not an issue until the infestation gets really bad, which generally doesn't happen anymore nowadays.




















Watched someone stream Saya no Uta. There were a few sex scenes but the streamer had "masterfully" censored all the naughty bits with video-game-related images so we could only read the text and hear the Japanese voice-acting.

This visual novel is really weird but I guess it's normal for a Japanese product.

The story is about this guy who went under an experimental brain surgery after a near-fatal car accident that turned out to have an unexpected side-effect: it made his senses go haywire. Everything normal looked grotesque to him, walls are covered by fleshy stuff and people appear to him as monsters, and even food tasted bad.

Just when he had decided to commit suicide, he encountered Saya whom he perceived as a normal pretty girl when in fact, she was a man-eating alien whose appearance alone could drive people insane and whose purpose is to mutate all humans into her race.

This is probably the only kind of romance that couldn't possibly have a good ending, and none of the game endings were good: she dies, both die or they never see each other ever again.

I like the concept and I feel that more could be done with the idea, like a full-fledged horror game, although these days the horror genre is pretty dead.
























I have a feeling I will be going to work on Wednesday and I'll be the only one there. If they can finish packing everything tomorrow and if all the stores have sent their orders during the weekend already, I'll tell my staff they can stay home from Wednesday onwards for CNY and I'll handle the rest.

I really hope all the orders are in but I'll find out later.

Rant 1104 / Path Of Exile Looks Good So Far

Path of Exile was a little different than expected. I knew it was like a MMO version of Diablo 2, but what took me by surprise was that the active skills were all derived from crystals that I could equip (and unequip at will) on my equipment.

Basically, the FF7 Materia system.

The skill tree is only for passive skills and all classes use the same gigantic map of a skill tree, albeit from different starting locations.

Due to the size of the tree and the speed at which players gain level, the starting locations really matter a lot for a large portion of the game. Maybe the effect will be diluted enough at much higher levels but respeccing is not easy in this game.

The trading part was also quite strange in that it was a barter system when trading with the NPC merchants. Instead of buying my loot with cash, they give me things like Scrolls of Wisdom (for identifying items). In other words, these little items become some kind of currency.

Very interesting.

Right now I'm trying to be some kind of battlemage as a Templar. I'm going for melee damage for now and then elemental damage later. Main focus is on mace-and-shield combat and some proficiency at magic.

I could also be a summoner but I might as well start as a Witch if I wanted that, especially since a mace-and-shield guy with summons can't be very effective - one is focused on melee damage and HP while the other is on MP and buffs. I could be good at summons but I'll suck at doing anything myself (might as well be a Witch), or I could be good as a warrior but my summons will be just for decorative purposes.

That's how I see it anyway.




















So I found this website that I thought was a Chinese pirate site. Now, I don't think it was.

The game I found there came with several games I didn't want and a launcher filled with ads.

I think the site's legitimately providing free downloads of old games and making money through ads, and I really like the idea.

This could theoretically take the place of the indie bundles.

On the other hand, it's China, a country where I feel it's easier to find counterfeit products than originals, so I could be wrong about it being legit.

























Holy crap! Shop N Save is selling rice at 5kg for $6.80!

Promotional price but still, that's way cheaper than anything I've ever seen.

The cheapest was its housebrand 10kg bags at about S$16 like early last year or something, and they're now going at about S$18.

But today, the housebrand 5kg bags are priced at $6.80! The only reason I can think of is that they're trying to clear stock desperately for some reason.

I kinda doubted it was true when I first saw it but bought 2 bags anyway just to see if it was a typo error. At worst, their normal prices are still below $20 for 2.

There was no typo. The rice really costs $13.60 for 2 bags of 5kg.

I've never seen rice going below $16 for 10kg since I started buying groceries, so I'm definitely going back to get another 2 bags tomorrow. Hopefully they don't get sold out by then.























After cooking at home for so long, I finally thought of using the Lee Kum Kee hotpot soup bases. Can't believe I've completely forgotten about them for so long. My mum used to use them and she left like 7 packets of those in the fridge. One of them had been neglected for so long it was covered in some dried black powdery stuff that I believe used to be raw meat juices.

But it was unopened so I just rinsed it to get rid of as much of the stuff as I could so that none of it drops into the pot when I pour the contents in.

I'll be needing more of those in the future so that I can make easy soups. I just buy some cabbage and fishcakes and fishballs and throw them all in with the soup base, chicken bones optional, and I get dinner.

Rant 1103 / Every Village Has An Idiot

Avadon: The Black Fortress has so many elements from the Geneforge games!

Though I've only played the first and half of the second, I can already recognize so many sounds Avadon ripped off from them.

It's seriously confusing because my ears tell me it's Geneforge while my eyes tell me different.

Whoever made the game must have been a huge Geneforge fan.



















An email from Starhub arrived to tell me I'm getting a week's worth of this month's internet bill waived.

Here I come, M1.

This also made me rethink my own business's way of handling such an issue. Before, I didn't know what to do when there's a really serious complaint from an angry customer, so I agree with whatever the store's people suggest.

It's usually just a 1-for-1 replacement, no different from any other complaints.

Now I think I need to go further the way the Apollo shirt people did, but not to that degree. They refunded me my entire order's worth of credit when I only requested for a third of it, and there's no way I'm going to do that unless it was really bad.

I'll just see if I could go with double. Not sure how things work exactly in the stores, so I don't know how I could go about giving that kind of store credit.























So business dropped quite abruptly this month. I don't really understand why but I'm not seriously concerned. It's nothing compared to what I failed to accomplish last year anyway.

Still, it has been better than 2011 so I gave my staff a bigger bonus. After 2012, I certainly see why the elder one was pissed when I gave them both the same amount for 2011, and why it's fair to give her a bit more.

For one, she's the first person I turn to when I have minor logistical issues. In fact, I always have something to ask her everyday and most of the question are quite retarded, like stuff she had already told me at least once before. I'm surprised she never said anything about it; almost everyone else I know wouldn't be so patient with my level of absent-mindedness.

I don't really know how I'm going to handle 2013 because I've been failing at sweaters. I may appear to be doing well from my suppliers' perspective, but they don't know I've been selling mainly my mother's old stuff while the new goods I ordered are constantly accumulating.

I just suck at picking wool, for example. At first, I thought I should look at the smoothness. Turns out that wasn't the most important quality. Next, I discovered that some of the new wools I've been using pill like crazy, and in some of the stores where the salespeople are lazier, they look terribly old despite being brand new.

Heck, I recently even bought some sweaters made of wool that feel seriously itchy. Fortunately it's not a huge amount so I don't really care if they don't sell. It only matters if they do.

At the moment, I think I'm getting it after discovering a few other things I should watch, but I don't believe this is going to be the end of it.

People have told me I'm doing quite well for someone in my situation. That is not true - I have no idea how I'm doing at all.

Hence, I'm giving myself a five-year period to judge. Two years have gone, one in which I didn't actually do shit and another that I spent figuring out what to do, so there are three years more to go.

Then, I'll be able to tell with some degree of confidence whether I'm doing well or I'm merely delaying the end.

And jackets. Wow. I've been neglecting that area for so long because my results there are even worse than sweaters. To be honest, I've got this feeling I'll be doing a lot of donating later this year.

I think that's going to be like tens of thousands of dollars going to charities.

I only hope the stores will keep supporting me despite these issues.




And my bro. That's something I don't understand.

He can't find a job and he hesitates at my job offer. Whenever I ask him if he wants to come over, he always replies with," I don't know."

I don't even understand why he can't say "Yes".

There is no obligation to stay; I don't even plan to hand any serious work over until after a year or two.

So where's the catch? Ego?

He could just work over here while waiting. Yet he prefers to stay at home to play.

I don't care if he's discouraged. Shit, I was discouraged and still am, but it's not like we have a lot of choices in our lives.

Eating into his inheritance like that is just bs, but I can't do anything about it because it's not my money.

Worse, the more he "doesn't know", the less I want to let him come over. By now, I'm already seriously in doubt if he should ever work with me. He may be my brother, but do I really want someone like that in my business?

He's most likely going to be a husband and maybe even a father within the decade, but the way he behaves disappoints me.

Choices, man. Is he even looking at where he's going?

Does he think I can protect him or something? Because I can't; I can barely handle things on my end.