The free tablet cover I got from the first Philips Carnival Sale I visited turns out to be less easy to use than my really cheap $11 one from Dealextreme.
Although the material was great, nice soft with suede inside, I'm not even sure if this was meant for an iPad.
First, it was too big for my iPad. At the normal horizontal rest position, it would go too low so that it covered about 2mm of the bottom and the front camera would be blocked, causing the screen to darken since the front camera detects the brightness outside.
Second, there isn't a hole for the back camera, which I do use sometimes for convenience.
The latter is the main reason I suspect this wasn't designed for the iPad.
Sure I have a third cover ready but what a waste it would be if I just throw this away. I like the material. It feels more luxurious than the old PU leather one that I had been using.
This means I need to find some way to fill the extra space inside and cut a hole for the camera. Easier said than done.
Fifth run on Don't Starve. Things are going very well in winter. It's day 24 and I have absolutely no problem at all, except maybe for the oversupply of monster meat that I use as a filler for cooking in my three crock pots.
Crock pots and drying racks are awesome for winters because of this loophole I found on the wiki: food does not rot as long as it has not been harvested from them.
In addition, food cooked in crock pots tend to last much longer than everything else, like at least 10 days.
This means I have plenty of jerkies I can use to cook in my crock pots later on from my 7 drying racks.
The reason for my big supply of monster meat is because I've been trying to use my traps to catch spiders for webs, and the probability of meat being dropped is way higher than that of webs.
I've also learnt the usefulness of having lots of traps: rabbits! Now I have like 15-20 of them covering rabbit holes all over this savannah I'm staying at. No baits because carrots grow too far away to be wasted like this. I just put them right on top of rabbit holes to catch those that accidentally get close to them.
Too many things were too far away, like stones and gold. I had spent 3 days searching for gold before I finally decided to leap into a worm hole and voila! Gold found! Without gold, I wouldn't have been able to build a science machine, which meant no straw roll to sleep in, which mean sleep deprivation. The 4th night before I slept, I actually went insane and a dark hand tried to reach my fire from the darkness as I ate.
Now I only worry about those rare events that I've read from the wiki.
Day 51. I've got a large farmland of about 8 advanced farms, and a well-stocked kitchen of 8 crock pots and probably 10-15 drying racks. As for meat supply, I've got like 20 rabbit holes covered by my traps.
Food is no longer an issue. I even have to resist the temptation to harvest my traps whenever I walk pass one that has something inside because I can't finish them all before they rot and every single farm, rack and pot is already full.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. Maybe I'll get a backpack and explore further, or a piggyback.
Encountered a deerclops, a boss monster, on day 33 or so. It wandered around my base for some reason and trampled over two of my racks, yet it never destroyed anything else when I watched it from day 35-37, after which it left and never appeared again.
On day 49, I died. It was stupid. I panicked when spiders tried to attack me just as night arrived and I couldn't stop to light a fire while they were chasing me. Probably should have just destroyed their nests nearby earlier but I thought they were good for distracting the hounds and also made convenient sources of web.
Oh well, now the two closest ones are destroyed. One got burnt down by a red hound while the other was already planned for demolition when I deliberately planted three trees close it it very early into the game. All the second nest needed was a light on one of the trees.
Spiders won't be bothering me anymore but the touch stone very conveniently located near my base has been spent for my resurrection. The next closest stone is about half a day's walk away and has been activated.
Maybe I should start on killing bigger animals to make a meat effigy instead of relying on the stones since that's the last one that's within a day's walk to my base.
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Sunday 28 April 2013
Rant 1131 / Don't Starve Is Good
Playing Don't Starve because NWN is getting a little dry in Chapter 2.
Two attempts so far and I haven't got past 7 days. I got a little careless the second time and tried to do too many things at night, so I barely missed relighting my fire on the 6th night by a split second. If I had survived that, I'd have time to make a few farms.
...
4th attempt has been great until winter set in, at which point everything went to shit.
3rd attempt was silly. Like the 4th, everything went smoothly until the 8th day when I felt adventurous and decided to attack a Tallbird. Died in 3 hits.
I wasn't wearing armour because I had underestimated it, which in turn was because the backpack and piggback seemed to much more useful that I didn't think this game was that combat-oriented.
My 4th try has not finished yet but it's about to. It's the 27th day and I was caught completely offguard by the dramatic changes in the environment. I was still focusing on finding manure to build more farms and had neglected to hoard food, especially since I already had 5 farms and there were ponds nearby.
More importantly, I didn't know about the sources of charcoal until the 25th day when I accidentally chopped a burnt tree that had been struck by lightning. Without charcoal, I had no idea how to build a drying rack, which would have allowed me to produce food that didn't spoil quickly.
Since all the food I knew about rot within days, hoarding food never felt like a good idea. Until now.
It's the 27th day and I have run out of food. My hunger level is almost at the level where I get HP damage and all I have left is 3 pieces of monster meat that will cause me a little more HP damage.
But that's not important. What is important is that I have no way to find more food. I have no bait for my traps and I can't fish from the frozen ponds. I can't kill monsters for their toxic meat either because my HP is too low even with the log armour I'm wearing. Seeds aren't being dropped by birds anymore and berries aren't regrowing at all.
I don't really want to give up but I don't think I have a choice. Next time, I'll get charcoal and start making jerkies.
Two attempts so far and I haven't got past 7 days. I got a little careless the second time and tried to do too many things at night, so I barely missed relighting my fire on the 6th night by a split second. If I had survived that, I'd have time to make a few farms.
...
4th attempt has been great until winter set in, at which point everything went to shit.
3rd attempt was silly. Like the 4th, everything went smoothly until the 8th day when I felt adventurous and decided to attack a Tallbird. Died in 3 hits.
I wasn't wearing armour because I had underestimated it, which in turn was because the backpack and piggback seemed to much more useful that I didn't think this game was that combat-oriented.
My 4th try has not finished yet but it's about to. It's the 27th day and I was caught completely offguard by the dramatic changes in the environment. I was still focusing on finding manure to build more farms and had neglected to hoard food, especially since I already had 5 farms and there were ponds nearby.
More importantly, I didn't know about the sources of charcoal until the 25th day when I accidentally chopped a burnt tree that had been struck by lightning. Without charcoal, I had no idea how to build a drying rack, which would have allowed me to produce food that didn't spoil quickly.
Since all the food I knew about rot within days, hoarding food never felt like a good idea. Until now.
It's the 27th day and I have run out of food. My hunger level is almost at the level where I get HP damage and all I have left is 3 pieces of monster meat that will cause me a little more HP damage.
But that's not important. What is important is that I have no way to find more food. I have no bait for my traps and I can't fish from the frozen ponds. I can't kill monsters for their toxic meat either because my HP is too low even with the log armour I'm wearing. Seeds aren't being dropped by birds anymore and berries aren't regrowing at all.
I don't really want to give up but I don't think I have a choice. Next time, I'll get charcoal and start making jerkies.
Friday 26 April 2013
Rant 1130 / BK's New Burger Isn't Impressive.
Tue
So my bro said we could just stop ordering deliveries. I'm not sure if I can do that even if he can.
Anyways, I think he's spending more than I do on food during his dates, so even if I ask him if he wants something when I make an order, he'll probably say no. I don't know if it's right to just order my food while he's around; it just won't feel nice.
Complications. Just what I don't need. I think I'll forget about this and think of another crappy way to cut down my expenses.
THU
So I've just gone through almost an entire day without food.
I got up at 9.30am, did 20mins of cycling, took my health supplements with a mug of water and then went to work without eating.
I also drank a mouthful of water during the course of the day after that.
The most interesting thing I observed is that my stomach only growled at 8pm when the seminar I was attending got a little dry. It was a seminar on the basics of investing and I had no interest in contra trading.
But after that, even during my long train ride back, I did not feel hungry. Not even the smell of the six burgers from BK that I was holding really tempted me. Not even now as I'm typing this.
Thirsty though. I could barely speak by the time I got home. When I told my bro to make time this weekend to go to HDB with me, the loudest I could speak at was a whisper.
Now I can honestly say I know how Muslims feel during Ramadan.
Heck, I went even further than Muslims since I didn't eat before dawn and only ate a single meal at 11pm.
Then again, it was only for a day.
It also proved to me again that not eating does not make one particularly weak or dizzy. It's probably just a psychological effect from the belief that a couple of hours of starvation would cause those symptoms.
Busy day. Rushing stuff. First was the latest shipment. Although it was too late for some significant sales, I'm treating this batch as preparation future sales. Also sped up my ordering process for the same reason.
It's getting late and I still don't have enough windbreakers ready.
Worse is that I'm getting complaints that my woollen sweaters still have an issue that never really went away. Now I'm finally sending the manufacturer a good one to make sure I get that kind of wool in the future.
Busy but exciting.
FRI
Oh fuck! Last night, I thought I merely missed one set of GSL games last night.
Now I just recalled there are 2 things I also missed at the same time.
First, that's the last GSL for the week! I'll have to wait till the coming Tuesday to get my GSL fix.
Second, that was the first Ro16 group! Argh!
I think I actually like this sort of seminar. I'm signing up for more. They're free anyway, just cost me the extra transport fare.
So the new Italian Chicken Crisp Double from BK is actually KFC's Double Down with bread.
So my bro said we could just stop ordering deliveries. I'm not sure if I can do that even if he can.
Anyways, I think he's spending more than I do on food during his dates, so even if I ask him if he wants something when I make an order, he'll probably say no. I don't know if it's right to just order my food while he's around; it just won't feel nice.
Complications. Just what I don't need. I think I'll forget about this and think of another crappy way to cut down my expenses.
THU
So I've just gone through almost an entire day without food.
I got up at 9.30am, did 20mins of cycling, took my health supplements with a mug of water and then went to work without eating.
I also drank a mouthful of water during the course of the day after that.
The most interesting thing I observed is that my stomach only growled at 8pm when the seminar I was attending got a little dry. It was a seminar on the basics of investing and I had no interest in contra trading.
But after that, even during my long train ride back, I did not feel hungry. Not even the smell of the six burgers from BK that I was holding really tempted me. Not even now as I'm typing this.
Thirsty though. I could barely speak by the time I got home. When I told my bro to make time this weekend to go to HDB with me, the loudest I could speak at was a whisper.
Now I can honestly say I know how Muslims feel during Ramadan.
Heck, I went even further than Muslims since I didn't eat before dawn and only ate a single meal at 11pm.
Then again, it was only for a day.
It also proved to me again that not eating does not make one particularly weak or dizzy. It's probably just a psychological effect from the belief that a couple of hours of starvation would cause those symptoms.
Busy day. Rushing stuff. First was the latest shipment. Although it was too late for some significant sales, I'm treating this batch as preparation future sales. Also sped up my ordering process for the same reason.
It's getting late and I still don't have enough windbreakers ready.
Worse is that I'm getting complaints that my woollen sweaters still have an issue that never really went away. Now I'm finally sending the manufacturer a good one to make sure I get that kind of wool in the future.
Busy but exciting.
FRI
Oh fuck! Last night, I thought I merely missed one set of GSL games last night.
Now I just recalled there are 2 things I also missed at the same time.
First, that's the last GSL for the week! I'll have to wait till the coming Tuesday to get my GSL fix.
Second, that was the first Ro16 group! Argh!
I think I actually like this sort of seminar. I'm signing up for more. They're free anyway, just cost me the extra transport fare.
So the new Italian Chicken Crisp Double from BK is actually KFC's Double Down with bread.
Monday 22 April 2013
Rant 1129 / I Did Not Know It Was Possible That An Adult Would Have Difficulty Using Our Kitchen Knife.
Oh the monk. He's getting closer and closer to becoming a one-man-army.
But Tomi's starting to have trouble disarming traps. Locks are fine, but his ability in disarming traps just isn't as perfect as his lockpicking skill.
Fortunately, the monk has got good reflex and fortitude and high HP, so I can just spring them while Tomi's standing far away. No problem.
Still, some places are pretty hard even on Normal. These are all in the sidequests so far but the perfectionist in me wants to clear them all, so sidequest or not, I'm completing them all at any cost necessary.
The first difficult battle was with the mummy in one of the Halueth crypts. That thing could absorb more damage than most of my blows can do, so it was practically immune to my attacks. I had to use a Bull's Strength potion to get 1-2 damage per blow on it, otherwise I'd have to rely completely on Tomi to kill it since he could do more damage than its absorption threshold.
The latest was the final Halueth crypt under Blacklake. WTF? 4 Swords of Never (difficulty: Challenging) simultaneously?
First attempt: so raped.
Second attempt: tried using healing potions and Bless potion, still raped.
Third attempt: used Bless potion, Barkskin potion beforehand, Tomi died quickly but I managed to survive till 2 Swords were down and I ran out of Moderate and Serious Wounds potions.
Fourth attempt: went all out on potions and used Bless, Bull's Strength, (my one and only) Cat's Grace, Barkskin, Endurance and Aid, then used healing potions to maintain almost full HP instead of merely keeping it above 50%. Tomi still died quickly regardless but I was able to kill the Swords at the cost of all my Moderate Wounds and most of my Serious Wounds potions. I still had a single Critical Wounds potion so that was ok.
Fortunately, the henchman's resurrection only cost me the 50 gold to take the portal back from the temple (or wherever that place was in Chapter 1) and I had in excess of 11k gold by then.
So I'm not sure if I should consider the insurance premiums deducted from my income as 2012's or 2013's. Technically they were for 2012 but if they were deducted from the money I'm spending this year, then it doesn't feel logical to treat them as last year's premiums.
So I found a way to use multiple vouchers for Domino's Pizza. Since they only allow 1 voucher per order, it kinda put me off until recently when I found that new promotion of $22 for 2 regular pizzas. Got two sets of those last week.
That was when I got more interested in the different offers they have and discovered I could easily get around that limit by using multiple accounts. Since I have 2 phones and my bro has another one, I could theoretically make 3 orders simultaneously, ie 3 vouchers.
I tested this yesterday by making ordering through 2 accounts and it was fine. Better still, we get a free side for every online order.
And to top it all off, both orders were delivered by the same guy who arrived late, so we got 2 vouchers for one free regular pizza each.
Next time, I think I just get 6 regular pizzas. Even with my total order of 3 regulars and 1 extra large plus 3 sides (2 free and 1 paid), we could only finish the extra large and 2 sides, leaving 3 regular pizzas and 1 side for other meals. I wonder how long 6 regular pizzas and 3 sides (again including 2 free) will last.
My shorts and boxers and pants from Jshoppers just arrived. DHL is awesome for delivering even on Sundays and best of all, the shipping was free.
And they fit! Even for the pair that was slightly too small, the elastic cotton material was still very comfortable, even if it's not suitable for wearing outside due to perceived tightness.
I didn't buy them because they were cheap. Far from it. That pair of shorts cost me S$25 while the boxers cost me either $25 for 3 or $35 for 5. The difference between the two boxers is that the more expensive 3-pack one is softer and more elastic while the cheaper one is rougher.
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=CM13B0981&PageNo=1&bunrui1=6&bunrui2=4&bunrui3=1
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=CM13B0963&PageNo=1&bunrui1=6&bunrui2=4&bunrui3=1
Still fantastic though. I haven't worn underwears this comfy since a very long time ago.
It's not really urgent either because although a few of my current boxers have huge gaping holes and all of them have black spots all over, it's not like anyone is going to look at my underwear. Well, except during my ICTs but I don't care.
I'm actually planning to keep these new ones except for 1 of each type of boxers until my current boxers are not long wearable. One of them is going to be exactly that very soon.
The reason for buying these now is because Jshoppers never offers discounts for men's items. I literally waited through the entire 2012 for a sale but it never happened. Since I'm sure I'm going to buy them, there was no reason for me to wait.
Btw these are summer items so they're only available from this week till somewhere in September. I basically bought them as soon as they became available.
As for the pair of pants, it's awesome. Finally, I have something to break the monotony of wearing nothing but black and brown pants to work. This new pair is navy.
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=CM13B9081&PageNo=1&bunrui1=6&bunrui2=2&bunrui3=2
It costs about S$43 but after wearing the other 2 pairs, I know this pair is also going to be worth the money.
Sure, they're all made in China, but it's common knowledge that Japanese quality control is the best in Asia, hence the high prices and my trust. It also helps that the store offers my size and beyond.
I had also considered buying other stuff from Jshoppers, like traditional crafts, but the prices are insane! For example, this little glass-and-wooden cup that I like costs over S$115!
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=RIN0034R1&PageNo=1&bunrui1=12&bunrui2=8
WTF?
It's not even big - the horizontal diameter is only 48mm while the vertical is 95mm.
Even the cheapest glass cup there costs over S$60!
The horror!
So yeah, Jshoppers is only good for nice clothes unless you've got hundreds of dollars to spend on this sort of things.
Also, the yen has been weakening a lot recently so it's a good time to buy Japanese stuff.
I'm thinking of asking my bro to help pay for half of the food deliveries. It's the same as asking him to contribute to the utility bills except it could allow more flexibility when his girlfriend is around.
Right now, my budget is $50/delivery always. In addition to not having to pay more than $25, it also lets him order more for both of them when need be. It can get a little hard to find something nice and filling for 3 people of our appetites. Especially her. Despite her skinny appearance, she's the kind who can eat more than me and remain underweight.
It's amazing because she doesn't even have the strength to use the cleaver we have at home. Just a few days ago my bro told me there's a piece of boiled chicken in the fridge because after making chicken soup, she was unable to chop it up due to the weight of our cleaver and she didn't want to eat it whole like I would.
And this is the kind of cleaver we use:
It can't be that heavy.
But anyway, I also considered asking him to split the utility bills but that might lead to one of us feeling unfair. It's the same with the food deliveries except with the additional benefit of flexibility on his side, it's kinda worth the risk.
But Tomi's starting to have trouble disarming traps. Locks are fine, but his ability in disarming traps just isn't as perfect as his lockpicking skill.
Fortunately, the monk has got good reflex and fortitude and high HP, so I can just spring them while Tomi's standing far away. No problem.
Still, some places are pretty hard even on Normal. These are all in the sidequests so far but the perfectionist in me wants to clear them all, so sidequest or not, I'm completing them all at any cost necessary.
The first difficult battle was with the mummy in one of the Halueth crypts. That thing could absorb more damage than most of my blows can do, so it was practically immune to my attacks. I had to use a Bull's Strength potion to get 1-2 damage per blow on it, otherwise I'd have to rely completely on Tomi to kill it since he could do more damage than its absorption threshold.
The latest was the final Halueth crypt under Blacklake. WTF? 4 Swords of Never (difficulty: Challenging) simultaneously?
First attempt: so raped.
Second attempt: tried using healing potions and Bless potion, still raped.
Third attempt: used Bless potion, Barkskin potion beforehand, Tomi died quickly but I managed to survive till 2 Swords were down and I ran out of Moderate and Serious Wounds potions.
Fourth attempt: went all out on potions and used Bless, Bull's Strength, (my one and only) Cat's Grace, Barkskin, Endurance and Aid, then used healing potions to maintain almost full HP instead of merely keeping it above 50%. Tomi still died quickly regardless but I was able to kill the Swords at the cost of all my Moderate Wounds and most of my Serious Wounds potions. I still had a single Critical Wounds potion so that was ok.
Fortunately, the henchman's resurrection only cost me the 50 gold to take the portal back from the temple (or wherever that place was in Chapter 1) and I had in excess of 11k gold by then.
So I'm not sure if I should consider the insurance premiums deducted from my income as 2012's or 2013's. Technically they were for 2012 but if they were deducted from the money I'm spending this year, then it doesn't feel logical to treat them as last year's premiums.
So I found a way to use multiple vouchers for Domino's Pizza. Since they only allow 1 voucher per order, it kinda put me off until recently when I found that new promotion of $22 for 2 regular pizzas. Got two sets of those last week.
That was when I got more interested in the different offers they have and discovered I could easily get around that limit by using multiple accounts. Since I have 2 phones and my bro has another one, I could theoretically make 3 orders simultaneously, ie 3 vouchers.
I tested this yesterday by making ordering through 2 accounts and it was fine. Better still, we get a free side for every online order.
And to top it all off, both orders were delivered by the same guy who arrived late, so we got 2 vouchers for one free regular pizza each.
Next time, I think I just get 6 regular pizzas. Even with my total order of 3 regulars and 1 extra large plus 3 sides (2 free and 1 paid), we could only finish the extra large and 2 sides, leaving 3 regular pizzas and 1 side for other meals. I wonder how long 6 regular pizzas and 3 sides (again including 2 free) will last.
My shorts and boxers and pants from Jshoppers just arrived. DHL is awesome for delivering even on Sundays and best of all, the shipping was free.
And they fit! Even for the pair that was slightly too small, the elastic cotton material was still very comfortable, even if it's not suitable for wearing outside due to perceived tightness.
I didn't buy them because they were cheap. Far from it. That pair of shorts cost me S$25 while the boxers cost me either $25 for 3 or $35 for 5. The difference between the two boxers is that the more expensive 3-pack one is softer and more elastic while the cheaper one is rougher.
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=CM13B0981&PageNo=1&bunrui1=6&bunrui2=4&bunrui3=1
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=CM13B0963&PageNo=1&bunrui1=6&bunrui2=4&bunrui3=1
Still fantastic though. I haven't worn underwears this comfy since a very long time ago.
It's not really urgent either because although a few of my current boxers have huge gaping holes and all of them have black spots all over, it's not like anyone is going to look at my underwear. Well, except during my ICTs but I don't care.
I'm actually planning to keep these new ones except for 1 of each type of boxers until my current boxers are not long wearable. One of them is going to be exactly that very soon.
The reason for buying these now is because Jshoppers never offers discounts for men's items. I literally waited through the entire 2012 for a sale but it never happened. Since I'm sure I'm going to buy them, there was no reason for me to wait.
Btw these are summer items so they're only available from this week till somewhere in September. I basically bought them as soon as they became available.
As for the pair of pants, it's awesome. Finally, I have something to break the monotony of wearing nothing but black and brown pants to work. This new pair is navy.
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=CM13B9081&PageNo=1&bunrui1=6&bunrui2=2&bunrui3=2
It costs about S$43 but after wearing the other 2 pairs, I know this pair is also going to be worth the money.
Sure, they're all made in China, but it's common knowledge that Japanese quality control is the best in Asia, hence the high prices and my trust. It also helps that the store offers my size and beyond.
I had also considered buying other stuff from Jshoppers, like traditional crafts, but the prices are insane! For example, this little glass-and-wooden cup that I like costs over S$115!
http://www.jshoppers.com/shohin.asp?shocd=RIN0034R1&PageNo=1&bunrui1=12&bunrui2=8
WTF?
It's not even big - the horizontal diameter is only 48mm while the vertical is 95mm.
Even the cheapest glass cup there costs over S$60!
The horror!
So yeah, Jshoppers is only good for nice clothes unless you've got hundreds of dollars to spend on this sort of things.
Also, the yen has been weakening a lot recently so it's a good time to buy Japanese stuff.
I'm thinking of asking my bro to help pay for half of the food deliveries. It's the same as asking him to contribute to the utility bills except it could allow more flexibility when his girlfriend is around.
Right now, my budget is $50/delivery always. In addition to not having to pay more than $25, it also lets him order more for both of them when need be. It can get a little hard to find something nice and filling for 3 people of our appetites. Especially her. Despite her skinny appearance, she's the kind who can eat more than me and remain underweight.
It's amazing because she doesn't even have the strength to use the cleaver we have at home. Just a few days ago my bro told me there's a piece of boiled chicken in the fridge because after making chicken soup, she was unable to chop it up due to the weight of our cleaver and she didn't want to eat it whole like I would.
And this is the kind of cleaver we use:
It can't be that heavy.
But anyway, I also considered asking him to split the utility bills but that might lead to one of us feeling unfair. It's the same with the food deliveries except with the additional benefit of flexibility on his side, it's kinda worth the risk.
Saturday 20 April 2013
Rant 1128 / Eggs And Money
This is terrible. Now that I know I made a profit last year, I'm beginning to notice more things that I want to spend money on.
Bad bad bad.
For one, I want to get a bicycle. Not sure if I really ride it much but I just got this strong feeling that I would, the same gut feeling I had when I bought my current pair of suede shoes. Except a typical decent bike would cost me at least S$600-800. Bad.
Another is a trip to Canada. This is even worse but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time; it's just that now I feel the temptation more strongly. A week-long trip there would cost S$2.3k minimum, according to Expedia. That's really painful for a trip that's less practical than one to Seoul. I mean, sure, Toronto's got some good shopping areas and it's cold, but Canadian fashion isn't exactly famous here nor does Singapore fashion follow it to any significant degree.
My 4D3N trip to Seoul in 2012 only cost me a thousand bucks.
Another reason for choosing that place is because I wanted to thank my aunt and her husband personally for coming over to my mother's funeral. I don't speak to any relatives but I feel that I shouldn't completely ignore all of them. I'm planning to fly to New Zealand too for the same reason but that will come later. New Zealand has far less to do with my work than Canada.
But an extra $2.3k expenditure is still painful for my income level.
The thing is that even if I save on the hotel fees by staying with them, I still won't be saving much. $1.9k of that $2.3k is for the air ticket with taxes and etc, while the cheapest hotel cost S$67/night. Saving $400+ isn't much relative to the overall cost.
Sure, I can put it under my business expenses since it's true that all my overseas trips always have to do with my work, but it's still going to cut into my net profit while the income tax exempted for that $2.3k will only be 2% of that, ie $46. Meh.
Anyway, while checking the prices to Toronto, I thought of checking the Korea prices.
Fuck! $1k for 7D5N in December!
Fucking booked!
Best of all, I managed to get one of the last three Business Single rooms left at Skypark Myeongdong 1.
Woot!
According to Expedia, this includes a total discount of over S$900. I have no idea how this is possible but it can't be such a huge difference compared to last year.
There are a few catches though.
First, it's a business single, meaning not only is it a tiny room, I'm not sleeping on a double bed anymore.
Second, the flight is going to be on Vietnam Airlines.
Third, I won't be getting a full meal on half the flights.
Fourth, and probably the worst of all, I'm going to arrive at Incheon at 6am while the check-in time is 2pm.
Still, I'm basically getting two nights free compared to last year's trip so it should help me endure these issues.
I just hope the smaller bed isn't also shorter.
I also checked the members' rate for this hotel but as before, the prices are ridiculous. No business single and 110k wons per night Sunday to Friday, ie S$121/night. I have no idea why anyone would book directly with a hotel when I have yet to find an instance where the hotel offers a lower rate than travel agents.
Yea I know there's that tension over in the Korean peninsula but I don't think it will go beyond tough talk, now that the DPRK has set pre-talk conditions, regardless of how ridiculous they are. Jong Un doesn't want to fight; I think he's just testing the waters.
Also checked China. This time, I'm not going to Shanghai anymore. Twice bitten, so no way I'm returning. Moreover, one of the shops told me they got their stuff from elsewhere. If the Shanghainese themselves don't get their goods locally, why should I?
Too bad Chinese hotels aren't all very eager to offer their rooms too early, so I'm going to have to wait a bit to try again.
As for Hong Kong, I have a reason for going there but I think I'll lump it together with my China trip.
Then if I take into consideration that I've just spent roughly S$800 on the 3D printer, the 3D printing pen and the plastic spools, and S$60+ on Bioshock Infinite, I don't think I should spend anymore for as long as I can. It's too early to be spending that much; I still have another 8 months of 2013 to go.
And my bro and I are beginning to switch on the air-conditioners at night. Well, my bro does it almost every night when she's around so it's probably her request. Can't blame her; she comes from a wealthier background and it's a small thing to ask for. I do it too only when it's above 30 degrees Celsius at night and they have switched theirs on. Moreover, I always set it to 25 degrees with max fan speed for the 3-5 hours before I sleep and 25 degrees with lowest fan speed when I go to bed, and the timer set to switch off at 5am and my fan to turn on from 5.30am onwards.
Yet regardless of what I do, my last utility bill told me that my home's electrical usage exceeded the national average slightly after all these months of staying below the line. $170+ in total for power, water and gas for March-April, an increase of $30 from the previous month, and I had only been using the air-conditioner 6-7 times up till the date the meter was read. Probably $5-10 of that $30 was mine.
Then there's the internet. I paid over $200 in penalty charge for the pre-mature contract termination, and about $100-$150 for all the little fees between Starfug and M1, the latter for administration charges for changing mobile plans during the recontract, the new mobile data contract and the SIM cards.
The latest was the purchase of pants, shorts and boxers from Jshoppers. That order cost me a total of almost S$150, despite the recent weakening of the yen. At least they were all shipped for free.
So yea, 4 months into 2013 and I've already splurged about $1400 on things that are not strictly necessary, and this is excluding the weekly food deliveries of $50 a week.
With 15 weeks passed, this should come up to $750 so far, so the total would be S$2150.
At this rate of $537.50/month, I'll be spending $6450 by the end of this year.
Assuming I make roughly S$20k this year, I'll only have like $7000 to spend on food, transport, utilities and etc. That's bad. I've got to at least leave some buffer for things like a new PC or whatever furniture.
So definitely no bike and probably no Canada.
As for food, I'm really cutting down recently due to some kind of stomach issue. Frequent diarrhoea. Could be stomach flu, could be infection, but whatever it is, it's mild.
Made some extra-salty steamed meat cake using the last 800g of frozen minced pork and 60% of a jar of mei cai (pickled mustard but preserved in oil instead of dry as described in the Wiki article). Salty enough that I only need two tablespoons of it to down a whole bowl of porridge. It's even saltier than any salty preserved vegetables.
I only worry about my fibre intake now, so I guess I need to go down and buy some fruits soon.
The 5 hours transit time at Hanoi will mean I'll have like 3 hours to look around. I wonder what it's like at Noi Bai International Airport.
Will probably mean that I will also need to change some Vietnamese Dongs to get dinner, then treat the inflight dinner after that as supper. Which would be right because the flight begins at midnight.
I think for the first day in Korea I'll just get a lot of food at the airport then stay in the hotel room for the entire day since I don't think I'll be able to sleep much during the 6-hour flight.
Looks like an entry level bike will cost me only $500, less if there is a sale. Still tempted to try the clearance sale at Ubi but again, it's too early 2013.
I think I'll wait a couple more months. Maybe during the GSS or Christmas.
Monk in Neverwinter Nights is alright, I guess. I've only reached the graveyard beyond the Beggar's Nest, still looking for the source of the zombies. Fortunately for me, Charisma isn't that big a deal in this game because I'm only limited to one companion, aka "henchman" in this game.
With the Persuade skill maxed out, I'm only having speech issues in a few instances.
For the henchman, I decided on the thief, Tomi Undergallows, because I'm greedy and I'm never happy to find doors and containers I can't open. Tomi's great because he can open any lock and disarm any trap that isn't scripted to be unpickable, and he's doing more damage than me so far.
If the monk class in NWN is similar to the one in NWN2, then I've got to be patient about the combat. IIRC the monk only shines at higher levels, so right now the only fun thing about him is that my high Wisdom is getting me a lot of Insights during conversations with NPCs.
So I just saw my terrapin eat its own egg just now.
Eating its own eggs is fine, it's the egg-laying part I'm a little worried about. The only positive thing is that it's been so many years and it's still alive, so it should be able to handle this.
The trouble that I'm talking about is that I do not have a place for it to lay eggs in and clearly, it's got some eggs inside waiting to come out. According to some stuff I've read online, egg retention might cause health issues and even death. Without the proper environment for egg-laying, it tries to hold on to the eggs for as long as it can, and this might lead to all sorts of issues.
But like I said, it's probably been doing this for many years, so it should be fine.
Maybe I'll find something later this year, after I'm done printing walls to create an enclosure for both terrapins.
In the meantime, it's going to have give up and lay eggs into the water. These eggs will never hatch so there's no problem with her eating them.
I didn't actually recognize the egg since I've never seen it before. It was a white oval shell containing a semi-solid yellow goo. I had always thought that eggs should have whites and yolks but that egg clearly was a whole yolk in a shell. That's what I saw from the half that the terrapin was eating; it was like a white coating on the yellow stuff. No space for the invisible egg white as far as I could tell.
I was thinking that it was some trash a neighbour upstairs threw out of the window and somehow managed to hit a window pane at the right angle to drop into the tank, maybe cheese (looked really like cheese with the white part being the mould), and it was only after picking out some of the yellow stuff that fell out of the egg and smelling it that I found that it smelled like yolk. Yet it still didn't make sense because it was solid enough for my fingers to grip and pull out of the water. Unless it was boiled?
It took another minute for me to finally conclude that it couldn't have been anything but an egg despite the lack of white.
There's no way an egg can fall into the tank with half the shell still visibly whole and sticking out of its mouth, so it must have been its own egg.
Slightly disturbing but apparently quite normal.
It ate the entire egg, including the shell; I found no trace of it when I returned later except the water was slightly cloudy. No wonder I've never seen it before.
Bad bad bad.
For one, I want to get a bicycle. Not sure if I really ride it much but I just got this strong feeling that I would, the same gut feeling I had when I bought my current pair of suede shoes. Except a typical decent bike would cost me at least S$600-800. Bad.
Another is a trip to Canada. This is even worse but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time; it's just that now I feel the temptation more strongly. A week-long trip there would cost S$2.3k minimum, according to Expedia. That's really painful for a trip that's less practical than one to Seoul. I mean, sure, Toronto's got some good shopping areas and it's cold, but Canadian fashion isn't exactly famous here nor does Singapore fashion follow it to any significant degree.
My 4D3N trip to Seoul in 2012 only cost me a thousand bucks.
Another reason for choosing that place is because I wanted to thank my aunt and her husband personally for coming over to my mother's funeral. I don't speak to any relatives but I feel that I shouldn't completely ignore all of them. I'm planning to fly to New Zealand too for the same reason but that will come later. New Zealand has far less to do with my work than Canada.
But an extra $2.3k expenditure is still painful for my income level.
The thing is that even if I save on the hotel fees by staying with them, I still won't be saving much. $1.9k of that $2.3k is for the air ticket with taxes and etc, while the cheapest hotel cost S$67/night. Saving $400+ isn't much relative to the overall cost.
Sure, I can put it under my business expenses since it's true that all my overseas trips always have to do with my work, but it's still going to cut into my net profit while the income tax exempted for that $2.3k will only be 2% of that, ie $46. Meh.
Anyway, while checking the prices to Toronto, I thought of checking the Korea prices.
Fuck! $1k for 7D5N in December!
Fucking booked!
Best of all, I managed to get one of the last three Business Single rooms left at Skypark Myeongdong 1.
Woot!
According to Expedia, this includes a total discount of over S$900. I have no idea how this is possible but it can't be such a huge difference compared to last year.
There are a few catches though.
First, it's a business single, meaning not only is it a tiny room, I'm not sleeping on a double bed anymore.
Second, the flight is going to be on Vietnam Airlines.
Third, I won't be getting a full meal on half the flights.
Fourth, and probably the worst of all, I'm going to arrive at Incheon at 6am while the check-in time is 2pm.
Still, I'm basically getting two nights free compared to last year's trip so it should help me endure these issues.
I just hope the smaller bed isn't also shorter.
I also checked the members' rate for this hotel but as before, the prices are ridiculous. No business single and 110k wons per night Sunday to Friday, ie S$121/night. I have no idea why anyone would book directly with a hotel when I have yet to find an instance where the hotel offers a lower rate than travel agents.
Yea I know there's that tension over in the Korean peninsula but I don't think it will go beyond tough talk, now that the DPRK has set pre-talk conditions, regardless of how ridiculous they are. Jong Un doesn't want to fight; I think he's just testing the waters.
Also checked China. This time, I'm not going to Shanghai anymore. Twice bitten, so no way I'm returning. Moreover, one of the shops told me they got their stuff from elsewhere. If the Shanghainese themselves don't get their goods locally, why should I?
Too bad Chinese hotels aren't all very eager to offer their rooms too early, so I'm going to have to wait a bit to try again.
As for Hong Kong, I have a reason for going there but I think I'll lump it together with my China trip.
Then if I take into consideration that I've just spent roughly S$800 on the 3D printer, the 3D printing pen and the plastic spools, and S$60+ on Bioshock Infinite, I don't think I should spend anymore for as long as I can. It's too early to be spending that much; I still have another 8 months of 2013 to go.
And my bro and I are beginning to switch on the air-conditioners at night. Well, my bro does it almost every night when she's around so it's probably her request. Can't blame her; she comes from a wealthier background and it's a small thing to ask for. I do it too only when it's above 30 degrees Celsius at night and they have switched theirs on. Moreover, I always set it to 25 degrees with max fan speed for the 3-5 hours before I sleep and 25 degrees with lowest fan speed when I go to bed, and the timer set to switch off at 5am and my fan to turn on from 5.30am onwards.
Yet regardless of what I do, my last utility bill told me that my home's electrical usage exceeded the national average slightly after all these months of staying below the line. $170+ in total for power, water and gas for March-April, an increase of $30 from the previous month, and I had only been using the air-conditioner 6-7 times up till the date the meter was read. Probably $5-10 of that $30 was mine.
Then there's the internet. I paid over $200 in penalty charge for the pre-mature contract termination, and about $100-$150 for all the little fees between Starfug and M1, the latter for administration charges for changing mobile plans during the recontract, the new mobile data contract and the SIM cards.
The latest was the purchase of pants, shorts and boxers from Jshoppers. That order cost me a total of almost S$150, despite the recent weakening of the yen. At least they were all shipped for free.
So yea, 4 months into 2013 and I've already splurged about $1400 on things that are not strictly necessary, and this is excluding the weekly food deliveries of $50 a week.
With 15 weeks passed, this should come up to $750 so far, so the total would be S$2150.
At this rate of $537.50/month, I'll be spending $6450 by the end of this year.
Assuming I make roughly S$20k this year, I'll only have like $7000 to spend on food, transport, utilities and etc. That's bad. I've got to at least leave some buffer for things like a new PC or whatever furniture.
So definitely no bike and probably no Canada.
As for food, I'm really cutting down recently due to some kind of stomach issue. Frequent diarrhoea. Could be stomach flu, could be infection, but whatever it is, it's mild.
Made some extra-salty steamed meat cake using the last 800g of frozen minced pork and 60% of a jar of mei cai (pickled mustard but preserved in oil instead of dry as described in the Wiki article). Salty enough that I only need two tablespoons of it to down a whole bowl of porridge. It's even saltier than any salty preserved vegetables.
I only worry about my fibre intake now, so I guess I need to go down and buy some fruits soon.
The 5 hours transit time at Hanoi will mean I'll have like 3 hours to look around. I wonder what it's like at Noi Bai International Airport.
Will probably mean that I will also need to change some Vietnamese Dongs to get dinner, then treat the inflight dinner after that as supper. Which would be right because the flight begins at midnight.
I think for the first day in Korea I'll just get a lot of food at the airport then stay in the hotel room for the entire day since I don't think I'll be able to sleep much during the 6-hour flight.
Looks like an entry level bike will cost me only $500, less if there is a sale. Still tempted to try the clearance sale at Ubi but again, it's too early 2013.
I think I'll wait a couple more months. Maybe during the GSS or Christmas.
Monk in Neverwinter Nights is alright, I guess. I've only reached the graveyard beyond the Beggar's Nest, still looking for the source of the zombies. Fortunately for me, Charisma isn't that big a deal in this game because I'm only limited to one companion, aka "henchman" in this game.
With the Persuade skill maxed out, I'm only having speech issues in a few instances.
For the henchman, I decided on the thief, Tomi Undergallows, because I'm greedy and I'm never happy to find doors and containers I can't open. Tomi's great because he can open any lock and disarm any trap that isn't scripted to be unpickable, and he's doing more damage than me so far.
If the monk class in NWN is similar to the one in NWN2, then I've got to be patient about the combat. IIRC the monk only shines at higher levels, so right now the only fun thing about him is that my high Wisdom is getting me a lot of Insights during conversations with NPCs.
So I just saw my terrapin eat its own egg just now.
Eating its own eggs is fine, it's the egg-laying part I'm a little worried about. The only positive thing is that it's been so many years and it's still alive, so it should be able to handle this.
The trouble that I'm talking about is that I do not have a place for it to lay eggs in and clearly, it's got some eggs inside waiting to come out. According to some stuff I've read online, egg retention might cause health issues and even death. Without the proper environment for egg-laying, it tries to hold on to the eggs for as long as it can, and this might lead to all sorts of issues.
But like I said, it's probably been doing this for many years, so it should be fine.
Maybe I'll find something later this year, after I'm done printing walls to create an enclosure for both terrapins.
In the meantime, it's going to have give up and lay eggs into the water. These eggs will never hatch so there's no problem with her eating them.
I didn't actually recognize the egg since I've never seen it before. It was a white oval shell containing a semi-solid yellow goo. I had always thought that eggs should have whites and yolks but that egg clearly was a whole yolk in a shell. That's what I saw from the half that the terrapin was eating; it was like a white coating on the yellow stuff. No space for the invisible egg white as far as I could tell.
I was thinking that it was some trash a neighbour upstairs threw out of the window and somehow managed to hit a window pane at the right angle to drop into the tank, maybe cheese (looked really like cheese with the white part being the mould), and it was only after picking out some of the yellow stuff that fell out of the egg and smelling it that I found that it smelled like yolk. Yet it still didn't make sense because it was solid enough for my fingers to grip and pull out of the water. Unless it was boiled?
It took another minute for me to finally conclude that it couldn't have been anything but an egg despite the lack of white.
There's no way an egg can fall into the tank with half the shell still visibly whole and sticking out of its mouth, so it must have been its own egg.
Slightly disturbing but apparently quite normal.
It ate the entire egg, including the shell; I found no trace of it when I returned later except the water was slightly cloudy. No wonder I've never seen it before.
Thursday 18 April 2013
Rant 1127 / The Terrans Are Not OP; Flash Is.
This is so true. After reading the trilogy, I find this movie to be so lacking in basically everything that's important in the story.
Watched Group H in the WCS Korea GSL Season 1 2013.
Flash, despite using only 1 strategy throughout all 4 games, managed to steamroll both his opponents 2-0 each, particularly his first opponent, BBoongBBoong.
It got kinda boring to watch by the 4th game but his MMMM strategy worked regardless of whatever Soulkey did. One important thing to note is that Soulkey did not do anything stupid nor make any major mistake. In fact he played very well and even managed to stop Flash's neverending aggression in the last game for a while, yet he lost.
Flash was just that good.
In another game, the first losers' match of Maru vs BBoongBBoong, Maru showed some sick micro when he got a bunker in the attack range of BBoongBBoong's spine crawler and 2 reapers that were attacking the crawler but failed to kill it before it hatched.
Maru actually microed his reapers so that they went into the bunker whenever the crawler attacked, then got the reapers out to get in range to attack the crawler between the crawler's attack.
*reapers get into bunker*
*crawler hits bunker*
*reapers get out of bunker, shoot crawler once or the nearby zerglings if they try to attack, run back into bunker*
*crawler hits bunker*
and repeat.
Everyone, including Tastosis, just went "WHAT?!"
The 2 reapers got the crawler down without getting hit by the crawler at all while the zerglings were repelled at every attempt to attack the reapers and soon Maru won that game.
Rant 1126 / Learning To File Income Tax
So I just tried Marmite. It's not as disgusting as some make it out to be but it's too strong as a spread, just like Bovril.
I'm going to have to find another way to eat it.
Finished Bioshock 1. Got the good ending, then I watched the other 2 endings on Youtube. They turned out to be the same ending except the narrator spoke in a softer tone for the not-so-bad ending.
A little disappointed by the length of the ending cinematic but it's probably the age.
Thought about going back to finishing Chinese Paladin 3 but the combat is just bad. I'll have to finish it at a slower pace, like one area a day.
Installed Neverwinter Nights. Been rotting in my GOG account for some time now and after watching someone stream the beginning of the game, I thought it was interesting enough.
Not really used to having an average Charisma but I felt like playing as a monk and IIRC it's not an easy class so I thought I'd need all the points in the correct places.
Apparently NWN2 recycled A LOT of music from this first game too. Quite surprising to me.
Filed my income tax for real this year. Last year (2011's tax) was not really a big deal because I made a loss anyway, so I didn't actually give a fuck about what I should enter other than the 4-line summary for my business.
This year, however, I'm in the lowest category that needs to pay income tax, so it's common sense that I should be serious about finding out what claims I can make and etc.
Turned out to be pretty troublesome. Had to read up a bit on stuff like life insurance claims.
I didn't know I could claim relief for my insurance policies and since I have more than the maximum number of policies I can claim, I picked the two highest ones for this to claim the maximum of $5k. Adding in the $3k NSman relief, CPF contribution relief (another thing I was not aware of until I started filing the tax) and etc, I ended up with no tax again.
Yay!
I'm going to have to find another way to eat it.
Finished Bioshock 1. Got the good ending, then I watched the other 2 endings on Youtube. They turned out to be the same ending except the narrator spoke in a softer tone for the not-so-bad ending.
A little disappointed by the length of the ending cinematic but it's probably the age.
Thought about going back to finishing Chinese Paladin 3 but the combat is just bad. I'll have to finish it at a slower pace, like one area a day.
Installed Neverwinter Nights. Been rotting in my GOG account for some time now and after watching someone stream the beginning of the game, I thought it was interesting enough.
Not really used to having an average Charisma but I felt like playing as a monk and IIRC it's not an easy class so I thought I'd need all the points in the correct places.
Apparently NWN2 recycled A LOT of music from this first game too. Quite surprising to me.
Filed my income tax for real this year. Last year (2011's tax) was not really a big deal because I made a loss anyway, so I didn't actually give a fuck about what I should enter other than the 4-line summary for my business.
This year, however, I'm in the lowest category that needs to pay income tax, so it's common sense that I should be serious about finding out what claims I can make and etc.
Turned out to be pretty troublesome. Had to read up a bit on stuff like life insurance claims.
I didn't know I could claim relief for my insurance policies and since I have more than the maximum number of policies I can claim, I picked the two highest ones for this to claim the maximum of $5k. Adding in the $3k NSman relief, CPF contribution relief (another thing I was not aware of until I started filing the tax) and etc, I ended up with no tax again.
Yay!
Monday 15 April 2013
Rant 1125 / It Is Already April!
So I've been looking for accessories for my Lumia 520. Surprisingly, there was none to be found at DealExtreme. I only managed to find one shop selling screen protectors and casings for this model on Qoo10 that charges around S$8-9 for both silicone casing and screenguard.
The price might be decent but I'm not interested in silicone casing. After using this flip cover for so long, I realize I need something to cover the screen but more convenient than a pouch.
Must be less popular than I thought, these budget phones.
Not urgent though, unless I buy on DealExtreme, which is why I searched for it now. I still have 3 months to go before I can switch telcos and start using the new phone. DealExtreme is very slow at shipping stuff sometimes, hence the haste. If I'm ordering from a seller at Qoo10, I feel safe enough ordering a fortnight before I can use the phone.
The best thing about this video is the grade at the end.
Just finished Fontaine's home in Bioshock. Interesting twist. As I went through the game, I started thinking about how the protagonist simply followed what Atlas said without questioning anything. Something didn't fit. If you've just survived a plane crash and find yourself in an impossible underwater city, there have to be more important things than saving some guy's family or killing a stranger. For example, you might want explanations.
One thing I've learnt from Bioshock is to never fuck with the guy with the incendiary shotgun.
I like them fiery shells.
Been watching the GSL and GSTL recently. Though a number of details were lost on me, one thing really stood out - the Terrans can last a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time without minimal harvesters (SCVs)!
Like Fantasy's games. Despite the fact that he lost in the end, he showed how durable the Terrans are even with 12 SCVs in late game. In his last game iirc, he was able to defend against late game full-supply Zerg attacks at least twice even though he only had 12 SCVs lefts. At the very end, he even managed to muster enough forces to mount a counterattack, although it failed.
Everyone was like "WTF?" at that point.
Sure, he lost, but he played far better than anyone else who had dropped out of Code S this season.
So my bro asked me today if we have anyone we should invite to his wedding.
Nope, so it's just going to be relatives from her side.
I wonder if there's supposed to be any sort of family tradition for this sort of thing on our side but I guess we'll never know. I don't even know if any of my mum's jewellery are heirlooms because by the time I asked her, she couldn't remember anything about them anymore, not even what her wedding ring looks like.
Since both sides have no religion, it also probably means it will be a simple process. His in-laws simply asked for 6 tables. Not sure what else they're going to want. My bro doesn't give a damn and knows nothing but this is one occasion I had to tell him straight up not to do that. Logic says blatant nonchalance to his wedding preparation might result in long term issues in his marriage. I just told him that at the very least, he had to pretend to care.
Whether he listens is another matter but regardless, it's his marriage, not mine.
The price might be decent but I'm not interested in silicone casing. After using this flip cover for so long, I realize I need something to cover the screen but more convenient than a pouch.
Must be less popular than I thought, these budget phones.
Not urgent though, unless I buy on DealExtreme, which is why I searched for it now. I still have 3 months to go before I can switch telcos and start using the new phone. DealExtreme is very slow at shipping stuff sometimes, hence the haste. If I'm ordering from a seller at Qoo10, I feel safe enough ordering a fortnight before I can use the phone.
The best thing about this video is the grade at the end.
Just finished Fontaine's home in Bioshock. Interesting twist. As I went through the game, I started thinking about how the protagonist simply followed what Atlas said without questioning anything. Something didn't fit. If you've just survived a plane crash and find yourself in an impossible underwater city, there have to be more important things than saving some guy's family or killing a stranger. For example, you might want explanations.
One thing I've learnt from Bioshock is to never fuck with the guy with the incendiary shotgun.
I like them fiery shells.
Been watching the GSL and GSTL recently. Though a number of details were lost on me, one thing really stood out - the Terrans can last a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time without minimal harvesters (SCVs)!
Like Fantasy's games. Despite the fact that he lost in the end, he showed how durable the Terrans are even with 12 SCVs in late game. In his last game iirc, he was able to defend against late game full-supply Zerg attacks at least twice even though he only had 12 SCVs lefts. At the very end, he even managed to muster enough forces to mount a counterattack, although it failed.
Everyone was like "WTF?" at that point.
Sure, he lost, but he played far better than anyone else who had dropped out of Code S this season.
So my bro asked me today if we have anyone we should invite to his wedding.
Nope, so it's just going to be relatives from her side.
I wonder if there's supposed to be any sort of family tradition for this sort of thing on our side but I guess we'll never know. I don't even know if any of my mum's jewellery are heirlooms because by the time I asked her, she couldn't remember anything about them anymore, not even what her wedding ring looks like.
Since both sides have no religion, it also probably means it will be a simple process. His in-laws simply asked for 6 tables. Not sure what else they're going to want. My bro doesn't give a damn and knows nothing but this is one occasion I had to tell him straight up not to do that. Logic says blatant nonchalance to his wedding preparation might result in long term issues in his marriage. I just told him that at the very least, he had to pretend to care.
Whether he listens is another matter but regardless, it's his marriage, not mine.
Thursday 11 April 2013
Rant 1124 / Phones And Cheese Balls
For those who can understand Mandarin.
So the other day when I was on a cab home from camp after an IPT session, I met this driver that made me feel a little angry.
You see, I don't shower after IPT. Instead, I merely change my shirt and spray some deordorant before leaving the camp. The smell's still there but not as much.
So when I boarded this cab, he asked me if I was there for IPPT. I just said it was for RT, since most people are more familiar with the old system and the new IPT system would have required some explanation that I wasn't in the mood to give.
Like several other drivers I met before, this guy said some things along the line of what a waste of time it was. I don't know why but guys like me who view these compulsory annual training sessions in a positive light must be damn rare.
So I replied that it wasn't so bad since I probably wouldn't exercise if not for it. Then like the other cab driver I mentioned previously who boasted about not attending a single IPPT throughout this post-NS life, this guy told me that it wasn't important. If you die, you die. Moreover, few people have jobs that allow them free time to exercise unless they're "above average".
Then he went on to say that life is pointless anyway, why bother trying to preserve it? If he could, he would get a gun and go pew pew pew.
I'm quoting his words as much as I can here.
Fortunately it was getting close to my destination so I interrupted his self-pity rant to tell him where to stop.
Being busy is an excuse. Few "average" jobs are that hectic. Even for cab drivers, they only work 12 hours a day, but they don't sleep away the other 12 hours.
And the "life is pointless" crap, I don't even know where to begin. I think I've said everything I ever want to say on that topic in the last thousand rants in this blog so I won't say more here.
He does remind me of my past self though, the one who didn't run a business. He could be what I might have turned out to be in 10 years if things didn't go the way they did. Maybe that's why I felt angry. He is what I imagine myself to be if I had continued living life without pride in myself.
Speaking of cab drivers, another time I met this guy who turned out to be an ex-manager of the Shop N Save near my place. Apparently he was there for 3 months and then he couldn't stand how the upper management was trying to push Giant's hypermart concept to a small supermarket such as this, so he left.
I think it doesn't work but I'm not even into retail.
The difference is that Giant's into selling things in bulk to the public. They look at the volume above all else. A small branch like the one in my neighbourhood doesn't have the space for that; it barely had the space for a bit of everything. In fact they always keep a lot of unopened cartons stored outside in the public corridor and have to rely on their own staff to keep watch. Giant's style won't fit a place as tightly packed as this.
But like I said, I'm no expert in this, so we'll see.
So I have cancelled my Starhub fibre. Apparently, they also automatically cur off my mobile broadband that was bundled with it.
I didn't have to return the USB dongle, which is a good thing because I forgot about it and had only brought the modem itself and not the cap nor the USB cable.
I might be able to reuse it someday if I ever get just a USB card that I'm only going to use for internet. Unlikely.
This means I will need to subscribe to a mobile broadband plan soon. Probably at M1 which offers the lowest prices at $12 for 2GB.
At the same time, I'm picking a new phone and it's kind of a problem.
I'm preferring the Nokie Lumia 520 but both this and 620 are free for the plan I'm about to recontract with. 520 is better in terms of battery life (the only difference that matters to me) but 620 is more expensive, ie 620 is a better deal in terms of cash value.
This is pretty stupid. I know I should take the 520 but my greed tells me 620 is a viable option.
....
So I got the 520 but now there's a minor complication: it uses a micro-SIM while my main phone uses an old big SIM card.
I chose to recontract using my secondary phone because its contract had ended and I'm planning to share the talktime and SMS between both the phones. The extra charge would still be cheaper than getting a separate plan.
This means that for a few more months, I'm going to have to continue to use my old phone till the contract's up and I can switch it to M1, at which point I'll get a new SIM card (I hope). If I don't get a new SIM card, I'll have to request for one.
Or I could just find some way to cut it but I don't have something to allow my old phone to use the microSIM.
This is epic! I actually managed to turn a profit last year!
Of course it's mostly thanks to someone who advised me on pricing and etc. I feel that it's mainly the new aggressive strategy that's keeping my goods moving despite their age and if I had followed my mother's way of doing things, I would have definitely made a loss. It's not that her method is inferior but that it relies on actual artistic talent, something I have yet to acquire.
This strategy I currently employ leans more on the "business" side than the "art".
However, now that I've almost run out of old stuff to sell, a new problem arises. I no longer have the baby fats to buffer my lack of new goods so I'm bucking up this year and ordering more samples.
2013 did not have a good start at all, so again, I don't have a high expectation for it.
I don't expect a loss anymore, unlike last year, but I don't expect it to be any higher than 2012's, during which I made less than the average fresh university graduate.
It's pretty damn low by most standards; I'm just surprised that I made any money at all in my first year.
Bioshock is a mildly scary game. The constant scraping/footstep noises in the background keeps me nervous while the sudden spawns in areas I have already cleared serve as a lesson that I should never let my guard down.
The atmosphere is dark and all the areas are quite enclosed. Moreover, enemies tend to try harder at dodging bullets.
Quite a different game from Bioshock Infinite. In fact, the only things they have in common are the combination of magic and guns and the impossible environment.
In other words, when I can't snipe when I feel like it. On the bright side, I get to use the shotgun a lot more than in Infinite.
Playing this game also made me understand why some people say that "hard is the new normal". I played on Hard difficulty on Infinite and finished the game without too much trouble, yet within 10 minutes into Bioshock, I had to switch to Normal, and this really feels like Infinite's Hard.
Hard is indeed the new normal!
The main reason for switching is that I could never find enough ammo and had to always resort to using my melee, which I didn't like to. According to the wiki, not only is ammo harder to find on Hard, they also have 55% more health, ie 55% more ammo required per kill.
Melee is a bad idea on that difficulty because melee does not stun or knock enemies back, so they can also attack me when I'm attacking them. I don't think there's even a way to avoid this. The only thing I can come up with is to stun them with that shock skill but the stun is removed the instant I hit the target, at which point it could attack me before I can leap out of melee range.
The only consolation is that there doesn't seem to be a penalty for dying, although running out of health kits all the time is no fun.
This reminds me of this really stupid thing regarding Infinite. Apparently, I had missed something important throughout the game: there is a shortcut key that lets me change my equipped Vigors.
No wonder the bottles didn't work near the end!
Friday 5 April 2013
Rant 1123 / Roughly S$1000 To Get A Small Object Cloning System
So I finally came upon a Singaporean company that sells plastic filaments for 3D printers. Hard to find because 3D printers are rarely bought by anyone other than companies that use them for prototyping.
My first find, but definitely not the only one, is Romscraj.com that sells 1.75mm PLA filaments at S$24/kg.
The Rigidbot's creators sell them at US$20/kg which is almost exactly the same price.
So I think I'll use this as the benchmark.
However, I was able to find cheaper prices from Chinese manufacturers that offer the same at price of up to US$12.90/kg, or almost S$16/kg. The shipping can't be cheap but I might be able to get one of my Chinese suppliers to hide it into one of my shipments to take advantage of the lower shipping rate.
Might hit S$18 net per kg depending on the amount of cargo is involved in that shipment.
But even at S$18/kg, it's not going to be cheaper to print objects we use at home compared to buying them.
For example, my plastic mug weighs 100g. This much PLA plastic will cost me S$1.80, probably about twice as much as the price of the original mug. A clothes hanger weighs about 45-50g, or S$0.90 of plastic, while I can easily get them at slightly over half the price in the neighbourhood stores nearby.
As far as I know, PLA plastic is also food-safe, but this article pointed out 2 things that might make things a little more complicated.
Another thing is that because everything that is printed are mostly porous, they are not suitable to be reusable dining utensils because the pores will make it almost impossible to get them clean, just like cracks.
The solution to these is to finish them with food-safe lacquer, eg polyeutherane which should probably be found at hardware stores. I think most people who have watched Breaking Bad may remember how safe it is.
Anyways, ordered the 3D printer for about S$500 net.
And then we have the S$600 3D scanner. It was S$500 but the C$349 option ran out. With an extra S$30 for surface shipping, the cost will be roughly S$600.
So nowadays, S$1000 can get me a system that can clone simple objects at home. Maybe not the larger ones like chairs since the scanner's only 19*19*25cm large.
I will definitely NOT be buying it since I don't see how I will use it, but it just looks interesting.
Starcraft 2 HoTS's new evolution system is impressive. It adds a new level of depth to the strategy but won't it also make players less flexible with their tactics?
I'm very interested to see how professional players handle it in the GSL. Some of the mechanisms I might even regard as game-breaking, like the fast zergling strain that spawns in trios instead of duos. With banelings being so popular among Zerg players, 3 zerglings mean 50% faster baneling production. Then with the Baneling strain that leaps, if that's not game-breaking I don't know what is.
And now with those swarm hosts and lurkers, I feel that the Zerg race is fantastic at turtling, and that's a huge contrast with the Zerg in the first Starcraft. In fact, when I picked the swarm host strain that can tunnel to any spot that's covered in creep and chose the ability that enables their locusts to attack both air and land, defense felt so incredibly easy. I don't even need to place individual sets of defenses for every base, just a queen for each and a single army of swarm hosts.
But I've only played the campaign and I haven't even finished it, so this is just the impression I'm getting from playing in scripted battles.
My first find, but definitely not the only one, is Romscraj.com that sells 1.75mm PLA filaments at S$24/kg.
The Rigidbot's creators sell them at US$20/kg which is almost exactly the same price.
So I think I'll use this as the benchmark.
However, I was able to find cheaper prices from Chinese manufacturers that offer the same at price of up to US$12.90/kg, or almost S$16/kg. The shipping can't be cheap but I might be able to get one of my Chinese suppliers to hide it into one of my shipments to take advantage of the lower shipping rate.
Might hit S$18 net per kg depending on the amount of cargo is involved in that shipment.
But even at S$18/kg, it's not going to be cheaper to print objects we use at home compared to buying them.
For example, my plastic mug weighs 100g. This much PLA plastic will cost me S$1.80, probably about twice as much as the price of the original mug. A clothes hanger weighs about 45-50g, or S$0.90 of plastic, while I can easily get them at slightly over half the price in the neighbourhood stores nearby.
As far as I know, PLA plastic is also food-safe, but this article pointed out 2 things that might make things a little more complicated.
- Many 3D printer hot ends contain materials that are certainly not food safe. The only exception being the new all stainless steel model by Prusa. So if you are not using an all stainless steel hot end, trace amounts of nasties could find their way from your printer hot end, into your model and eventually into your food.
- Most PLA is coloured. So other additives have been added to your PLA to give it a funky colour. If you are printing things that contact foods, you should stick with ‘virgin’ or ‘natural’ PLA like what you can find at Diamond Age Solutions.
Another thing is that because everything that is printed are mostly porous, they are not suitable to be reusable dining utensils because the pores will make it almost impossible to get them clean, just like cracks.
The solution to these is to finish them with food-safe lacquer, eg polyeutherane which should probably be found at hardware stores. I think most people who have watched Breaking Bad may remember how safe it is.
Anyways, ordered the 3D printer for about S$500 net.
And then we have the S$600 3D scanner. It was S$500 but the C$349 option ran out. With an extra S$30 for surface shipping, the cost will be roughly S$600.
So nowadays, S$1000 can get me a system that can clone simple objects at home. Maybe not the larger ones like chairs since the scanner's only 19*19*25cm large.
I will definitely NOT be buying it since I don't see how I will use it, but it just looks interesting.
Starcraft 2 HoTS's new evolution system is impressive. It adds a new level of depth to the strategy but won't it also make players less flexible with their tactics?
I'm very interested to see how professional players handle it in the GSL. Some of the mechanisms I might even regard as game-breaking, like the fast zergling strain that spawns in trios instead of duos. With banelings being so popular among Zerg players, 3 zerglings mean 50% faster baneling production. Then with the Baneling strain that leaps, if that's not game-breaking I don't know what is.
And now with those swarm hosts and lurkers, I feel that the Zerg race is fantastic at turtling, and that's a huge contrast with the Zerg in the first Starcraft. In fact, when I picked the swarm host strain that can tunnel to any spot that's covered in creep and chose the ability that enables their locusts to attack both air and land, defense felt so incredibly easy. I don't even need to place individual sets of defenses for every base, just a queen for each and a single army of swarm hosts.
But I've only played the campaign and I haven't even finished it, so this is just the impression I'm getting from playing in scripted battles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)