Wort! Wort! Wort!

Lucky Charms!

2007-04-27T17:10:00.000+08:00

Do you believe in good luck charms? I'm beginning to think that they do work. Take my "Nugget/go for gold" RYLA band thingy for an example...

Wore it to my friday interview. I did an impressive job. Too impressive. Let's just say an unsuccessful one was in my favour. How about this reasoning instead? I ain't beating myself up over it.

OK... now... wore it to the "dinnterview". I'd say that was a success. WOOT! Scored a job!

Midsems. They felt tricky, but I guess I did ok. We'll find out next week for the other 2.

Which brings me to today.

3 things...

Lunch: $3.50 shitty fish and chips. Normally, it's dried up crappy tail end or just non meaty bits of fish, if you could even call it fish. This time, it was nice meaty and juicy. Real fish. For $3.50. Very rare for main cafe's shit to get my thumbs up!

Exams: "oh shit, screwed that up, didn't do that... blablablbla" *checks results* "90%? Nawww.... Really? FULLY SICK!"

Wages: After the stories I heard, I was feeling really down. Why the heck would I study for 3 years only to work at a job that pays $30k p.a.? I can get that flipping burgers! More if I packed chips! But, taking JB's word, right now, market rate is $40k, expecting to go up next year. SWEET! That works out to be $20/hr roughly. Which is what I reckon to be the minimum! I'm happy. As long as I ain't being paid slave labour rates, I'm happy.

So yes, lucky charms work. Or maybe they just make you focus on the good, and ignore the crap.

Pre emptive strike

2007-02-19T22:34:00.000+09:00

I'm going to be pre-emptive and by being overly positive, I will say.

Woo hoo! I got the offer!

(This is a woohoo in advance)

Special Song

2007-01-26T14:47:00.000+09:00

To me, music is music- most of the time. I rarely associate it with an event or emotion in life. Well, at least I don't believe so. I might, but I probably am not aware with it.

So instead of going with feeling, let's go with logic and pick a special song. For this year's RYLA, it is Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild".

It's got that kind of tune to it which is appropriate for driving. So one day, I would like to have this playing while I'm cruising down some winding road in my "dream" car.

So you could consider it a motivator type of song, where I associate it with a goal/achievement and it's there to motivate me to achieving it.

But that would be very superficial, wouldn't it?

I see it as a little bit more than that. Try, independence?

If you look at the list of cars I would like to choose from, they're not very high up the price ladder. I'm a practical person. So if they're in the very affordable range, why is it still related to dreams and independence?

I've got other plans for my money. A car's a car. They lose value. You sink money in it and it still loses value. So I can't get my "dream" car until I can afford its extravagance. You have to take into consideration its higher insurance, maintenance and heftier petrol bill, not to mention possible less practicality than a small hatchback.

So when I finally have everything in check- get my own place, my money making money, a sweet job, or no job due to the former, I'll have Born to Be Wild playing whilst I'm cruising around. Provided there's still petrol.

On another note, I have found the song that is played in Forza Motorsport- "La Grange" by ZZ Top. That too, shall be playing when I drive in my "dream" car.

RYLA '007

2007-01-25T23:00:00.000+09:00

WOOOO!

It's been about half a week since RYLA '007 has finished. And I'm still recovering.

Some things I went in, aware of. For example:
- You live the RYLA week, once. You can never relive it again.
- As a facilitator, do NOT attempt at reliving the RYLA experience.
- It's all about the participants.

So from that, I inferred:
- You're not going to grow much from this.
- Enjoy the ride.

What I didn't realise was:
- You can take a RYLArian out of RYLA, but you can never take RYLA out of a RYLArian.
- You do relive half the RYLA experience.
- It's just as hard on you mentally, physically and emotionally.
- You still break down and build yourself up.
- You never stop learning something about yourself. (when will it stop!?!?!)
- Salad rolls day after day for 9 days makes me SICK!
- No rice for half a week, makes me SICK!

AANNDDD, you can't really talk about the RYLA experience. I tried. It don't work. It's an experience that can only be experienced, and I would love to facilitate again. Meanwhile, I think I might go and enjoy some precious sleep.

Solution to a problem

2006-09-27T19:38:00.000+08:00

"Beginning in the late 1990s small cars, especially in the European market, really began to pick up a lot of new technology that had previously been reserved for larger, more expensive cars. One particular incident that precipitated this was the bungled launch of the first generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Shortly after the initial launch of the A-Class some auto journalists conducted an "elk test". This is a common test for new cars in Sweden where elk are fairly common on the roads particularly in the northern part of the country. The test is essentially an obstacle avoidance test with a double lane change. The A-Class did not fare well in this standard test. It ended up wheels up. Mercedes went back and did a crash program to add electronic stability control, to the A-Class and the smart fourtwo which was due to be launched just a few months later. Less than a year later, all the early production A-Class cars were retrofitted with ESC."

Their solution was to add stability control and whole lot of other electronic whizz bangery, which I couldn't be bothered ctrl c ctrl v'ing. I have a much simpler solution. One that wouldn't have resulted in a wheels up conclusion.

You know what it is?

Don't make the car as tall as a fucking van/4wd/truck/ whatever other tall car there is!

Centre of gravity. You who designed the damn ugly thing. You're an engineer. Remember your basic physics? Low cars have low COG. Low COG = harder to flip.

By having a car that is naturally harder to flip, means you don't need to add the ESP. And since you don't need ESP, you don't need all the extra hydraulics and electronics that operate it. Thus reducing weight. You can probably skimp on the other features like butt warmers, and everything else that unncessarily adds weight. And all these weight reductions mean that the car actually has some grunt.

Oh, and consume less petrol too.

Don't let me get started on the new cheaper petrol prices. I love the cheaper petrol prices. But I hate the fact that now it means people might decide not to downgrade their suburban assault vehicles of mass destruction. You want us to conserve this limited non renewable resource? That's all gone out the window.

Damn you performance oriented goals!

2006-09-02T20:53:00.000+08:00

Damn you, damn you I say. GRAAARGH

Society sucks. People suck. What goes around comes around? Utter bullshit.

Way to go. Kill my frickin self esteem, and what remains of my confidence. I hope you people are happy.

You've come a long way

2006-07-28T11:28:00.000+08:00

To think. At the beginning of the year. I was hopeless.

After RYLA, I changed. I could see the hidden "crazy ninja pirate" within.

Now. I can see the improvements, and the recognition I have.

I can lead a team.

I can get people come to me asking "what do we do next?".

I got people older than me, get a shock when they realised they've been led by a kid (in comparison).

People think I've got it made- that I am the ideal candidate for a job position.

Apparently, I DO have really good interpersonal skills.

I got to shake hands with Richard Court. That man has rubbed shoulders with some pretty damn powerful people.

At the awards ceremony...
I'm bloody famous- "OMG you're that guy Glen keeps talking about... Mister 98"

They thought I was a bigshot- Yeah, I was wearing a suit, I got some good reputation, I handed out business cards. I've got no

affiliations. I have no influence. But I'm still a bigshot to those who don't know!

I felt proud to be representing Curtin- students asked, "what uni/course?" I was giving them my honest opinion that I believe Curtin offers the best.

And I've been asked to write something for the school newsletter. A past student... writing for the newsletter about their experiences since highschool! Normally that's reserved for some successful person.

What else? *shrugs* Perhaps I've finally assimilated these changes.

Kachow!

2006-07-05T23:57:00.000+08:00

Cars. Another Disney Pixar movie. So you can tell. It's got the good moral type of storyline. The standard chain of events. Yada yada. You can go read a synopsis of it. Or read a generic newspaper review. Here. Google it. Wikipedia it. BWAHAHAHAH! Go do it yourself. No linkies for you!

Oh, if I didn't make myself clear. It's a good movie. Shame it's gonna be overshadowed by the next lot of hits. *cough* Pirates 2: Call of Cthulu.

So yeah. Cars is excellent for all ages. Kids get the wholesome happy movie atmosphere. Adults get the car jokes, the retro good times stuff, and just being able to appreciate a work of art. So many issues. Many related. Take it slow. It's not getting there, but how you get there. Good sportsmanship. Mateship. Don't judge. Forgiveness. Take the road less traveled. etc.

But what you would be more interested in are the car jokes and other references. For without it, yes, Cars would be pretty average.

"We're Mia and Tia and we're your greatest fans! KACHOW!" *flash*
Miata, MX-5, the gay poofter girly car. Well, they certainly aren't gay. They're groupie fangirls, and the bigshots love them.

"I'm gonna float like a Cadillac and sting like a Beemer"
Yeah. It's pretty cool how they stick car names into non car things.

The VW Beetle bugs.
Self explanatory.

The Commentators
Their names! Darrell Cartrip, and Bob Cutlass. Car TRIP! Oldsmobile CUTLASS! Get it? :( Guess not. It's a Yank car, idiot.

Mack
Mack is a Mack truck. And the cab is shaped like a trucker cap!

Doriftuuuu
Doc Hudson teaches Lightning McQueen how to drift. By talking cryptic- to go left, you must turn your wheel right.

Luigi and Guido
Hehehe. Those loveable Italians. The Cali rematch had Guido doing them cliched Italian hand mannerisms. Oh, and their love for Ferraris!

Jay Limo
Jay Limo, Leno. A limo. Har har!

The Ricers
Can't have car culture without ricers. Wingo, a Nissan Silvia with waaay too many spoilers. Boost, a Mitsu Eclipse, with NAWWWS! *ahem* N20. Snotrod... a uh... 'cuda with breathing problems. Also seems to have handling problems. Hmmpf. Typical. DJ, the boom box Scion xB.
They're the reasons why Lightning ends up in Radiator Springs. And it's great to see justice brought to those idiots in the credits where they get arrested by Sherriff, and forced to retar the road. Hehehe.

SUV Bootcamp
"You're gonna have mud in places you never knew you had!"
Sarge, the ol' Willys Jeep forcing Hummers to go offroad. "Ah I got dirt on my rims!" Did I mention those Hummers were modified like the ricers? Hell. They were the offroad equivalent of racing rice. Spinnerz yo!

"Dude, did you know yoga will help like, lower your RPM?"
Hehehe. Hippy Kombi van.

The #58 "Octane Gain" racecar in the film's first race appears to be a Toyota Camry, which NASCAR will start using in 2007.
I didn't know that. Wow.

The stupid minivans.
Hehehe. 3 funny bits. Where the minivan tries overtaking Mack, making such a funny sound "meepmeepmeepmeep", struggling... Where the 2 minivans stumble into Radiator Springs, and in the credits where they're bloody lost.

The Japanese news reporter.
Kawaii!!!

Toy Car Story. Bug's Life. Monster Trucks Inc.
Yep. Just add automobiles.

The scene where Lightning almost gets hit by a train is a reference to The Fast And The Furious, also the scene with the three Import Scene cars surrounding Mack.
O yeah. That makes sense. Plus the Baracuda is a bit like the beast that Vin Diesel drives at the end of TFaTF.

Hostile Takeover Bank
Hehehehe. Hostile takeover.

Radiator Springs
Should have been called Coilover springs. Oh well. There's actually a place along Route 66. Instead of giant cones, they're teepees.

Tractor tipping
Cow tipping? Hehehehe.

I can't think of anymore. But I tell you, there are!

Just for all that, I give 4/5.

shudder

2006-06-29T21:45:00.000+08:00

I encountered gay magazines at Borders. Scary. Daniel was reading some film magazines, and I was browsing the shelf right next to the film mags. The label said "fashion, lifestyle" and stuff like that. So I thought, OK, these should be interesting.

Or so I thought.

This is what happened in a matter of a few seconds:

Arm control, this is brain command, you have new orders
Proceed brain command.
Retrieve and extract magazine from the 2nd top shelf. Go go go!
Affirmative. Moving to objective.
Halt! We've received new intel. Those three mags show muscly men in underwear.
I'm assuming it's a health mag, sir. You know, those that give you work out tips and such.
No... we got previous intel. Those mags are waaaay over there.
We're going to proceed.
Negative! I repeat, Negative! Do NOT proceed!
Hmm... "sports the new gay porn"... ok...
Ignore it, we are proceeding.
Is that what I think it is? Gay what? "Gay M *letters covered by man's face* (an)"?
It's a gay mag!
Are you sure?
Half naked men, words saying gay, fashion and lifestyle section... These are gay mags!
Oh shit. Gay porn.
ABORT ABORT ABORT
RETREAT!

I want a report of the mission.
Sir, we did not reach the objective area. Recon and intel showed that the zone was hot... not that kind of hot. We averted heavy casualties sir.

blah

2006-06-27T00:22:00.000+08:00

Not happy. I'm a little ticked off at life. Categorise me if you wish.

I just feel like I'm outside the loop of things. No. I'm not going to write out what is going through my mind right now. And no. Not on here. Sure... how many people actually read this? Those that do, fuck it, you ain't gonna read what goes on deep in my mind.

Ok fine.

Basically, I'm just lazing around doing nothing. I'm sure people are up to something. Out there doing something. How come I'm not part of it. Yeah. You can answer that, or give a solution. I don't want to hear it. I'm working on it. And it's not going well. I keep getting angry at the situation.

And how come nobody randomly drops in and visits or calls me? WHY? Sure, sometimes it can be an interruption. But it's nice. Shows that somebody cares. OK, I admit. I rarely call people or drop in on random visits myself. But I got excuses :). I don't call unless I have a purpose for calling. That idea has changed a bit, but it still stands. But again, I'm not sure if I'm interrupting. Or they're out working, or just plain out. Without me. Same goes for random visits. I tried doing that. But they're either not home, or I'm inconviniencing. Uninvited visits that result in that are discouraging.
But yeah. How can people respect and love you if you don't do the same to yourself? Oh I love myself. (and respect) I'm just not happy with a few circumstances. And I want to change it. You got a problem with that? Where's the love y'all?

Got my timetable done. Not very happy with it. I got heaps of breaks between classes. Long breaks. I could use that time to study. But chances are, I'm going to be too exhausted to do anything in that time. And when I get home, again, tired. Joy. Not doing any work, and getting royally screwed come exam time. I guess I could use that time to also go meet people.

Did I mention, despite planning to pick classes with my friends... it didn't work out. Bugger. Last semester I had classes with randoms... There were some nice people, but they were just acquaintances. And the other, some of them were just mean. Ignore me eh? Fuck you!

exams are over

2006-06-20T15:59:00.000+08:00

Yay! Exams are over.

Terrible.
Law, couldn't write much. Forgot my cases. Probably answered a few questions wrong and off topic.
Bus Stats, was alright. They threw in theory!
Finance, was alright. Not too sure about some of the questions.
External Reporting... FUBAR. That was really bad.

Anyways. Time to send off resumes and get me some better jobs.

the internet is for porn

2006-06-02T23:06:00.000+08:00

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5430343841227974645

The internet is for porn!

It's a funny musical sung by muppet like puppets. Except in this vid, its by WoW characters. Hillarious.

But think about it. Who created the internet? Geeks in the military. Uh... quid pro quo?

fuel tank readings

2006-05-29T16:57:00.000+08:00

Somebody told me that petrol is generally cheapest mondays/tuesdays, and go up in price by the weekend. Well, I'm screwed. See, I'm a little over half tank, which probably means I've used up about 20L. The last quarter, which will see me about 100km, will be another 10L. Wait... that doesn't add up.

See, my car's fuel gauge is pretty innaccurate. The first bar will see me about 150km. The next bar will see me to about 270km. The third bar will see me to around 350km. It's not constant!

Another problem is that I've been varying how I drive. Lead foot, pussy foot, high revs, low revs, a bit of everything...

I can't tell how many km's I have left on my tank! Hell. I don't even know how my L I have left in my tank.

So now, 270km, a little more than "half"... I better be able to get to the fabled 400km mark. The last time I got that, I had the little red indicator flashing!

Between now and next top up, hopefully, I'll be getting the rolla a service. Hopefully a new airfilter will be put in. And top up with some premium. Clean out those injectors.

Go fish.

2006-05-22T15:18:00.000+08:00

This just fucking sucks.

I like fish. Fish is good. Fish in batter, with chips, is very good.

Thanks to Indonesian fish poachers/illegal fishers/whatever, that's going to come to an end. You see, the sustainability of the north west fisheries has become... well, unsustainable. Why? Because fucking idiots, that is the above mentioned Indos, pillage these waters. Why? Because their waters don't have any fish. Gee, I wonder why. Because they wiped out their waters and polluted it to hell and back? Oh yeah, and the fact that the Australian warships that are supposedly protecting this protected fishery area can't do anything but fire warning shots at the invading fishing... rafts.

So it's ironic. Australia keeps telling the Indonesians, "you can't fish here" and now Aussie fishers can't fish there because its become unsustainable. But... there's nothing to stop the Indonesians to continue raping these waters.

The fishermen complain that the Aussie government hasn't done anything serious because they do not want to anger the Indonesian government. You know what? Fuck them. The Indonesian government got so pissed off when Australia took in those Papuan refugees (they were Papuan, right?) so if something as small as not turning back a bunch of people who wanted to escape a predicament where their heads would be chopped off would make a government turn into a hissy fit, I say who cares. Blow the crap out of those invading fishing boats.

That's right. Shoot them. Blow them up. Fire away with .50 Cal machine gun rounds. Hit them with naval artillery. Helicopter gunships, submarines... arm the fishermen with rocket launchers.

I want cheap snapper. Fish and chips that costs twice as much as normal would not be nice.

good skillz

2006-05-19T14:36:00.000+08:00

" Learn to dance. It takes about four hours to be passable, and it's a life skill you won't ever regret having. This goes for cooking, playing an instrument, driving manual, shooting hoops and changing a flat too. All skills a guy should have. It's tough for a lot of us, but you can pick these things up later in life, with the possible exception of basketball."

Hmm... I agree on the dancing bit.
I can cook, that is, make something that is edible :)
I can play piano and guitar... well, could.
I drive manual! w00t!
I suck at bball.
I can change a flat. Using the piddly little supplied carjack and the weird ass midget tool... that would be trickier.

Siesta time. Haven't heard back from EY yet :(

Bigger Boobs (with content)

2006-05-14T20:27:00.000+08:00

After getting approval, here it is...

Hehehe. Harold & Kumar goto White Castle.

Katie Holmes is a good, wholesome girl... and I'm going to see her boobs

So how was Katie Holmes' tits?
You know the holocaust?
Yeah?
Picture the exact opposite...
Nice!

I think you might know where this is headed...

She's so gonna murder me in my sleep...

(edit)
Girl B: your left boob is bigger!
Girl A: is not!
Jello: it is? *stares*
B: is so!
*SLAP*
J: or is the right bigger? hmm...
*SLAP*
B: omg J's just staring at your boobs, A
*looking in the general direction* *looks up* (doesn't notice any difference)
J: hey, you pointed it out *keeps looking*
A: aargh...

(not entirely accurate... hell much of the above events were reconstructed)

Lessons to be learnt:
- girls are self conscious about their boobs
- I will be murdered in my sleep for writing this
- when someone brings up the topic, it's a good opportunity to look
- I'm sorry, it can't be helped. Please don't murder me.
- A possible humourous remark could be, "I don't know... perhaps if you take your top off"... The results could be funny... What would happen?
- there's nothing wrong with your boobs!
- a lack of good topic ideas to write about leads me to write about this death warrant

(all in good humour ok?)

On other matters...
I have finally realised why I can be so pessimistic about myself. The people I hung around with. That's the reason.

You always read in those motivation books, "surround yourself with positive people... ditch those that put you down" I can finally see who the negative people are. Also I now don't give a shit about what people say, especially if it's just negative (rather than constructive criticism). Yeah. So I suck horribly at singing. That doesn't stop me from challenging a pro and doing a hard song... after failing horribly at the first one. Come on, boo, heckle, you guys suck! Thanks to you guys, I can really appreciate the whole RYLA spirit. If it weren't for your poisonous comments which I must have taken since... who knows... I would never have cried when I listened to The Nuggets making my affirmations tape.

I don't dance, because a) I suck and b) I don't know how to which leads to potentially, making a fool of myself.
But you know what? Who gives a fuck? Just because I can't and don't doesn't mean I won't.

Lessons to be learnt:
- if you got really bad, negative friends... ditch them
- if they're good company except for the whole poisonous comments bit, learn not to take those comments to heart
- "ah fuck it", "just do it", "confidence, cohen, confidence", "oi! do it... do it" are really good sayings.

PS:
I thought it was funny...
Well, since I've already dug myself a hole... you got nice boobs.
Before I click on Publish Post, it seemed like a good idea.... *click*

PSS:
Edited for more anonymousness

Bigger boobs

2006-05-14T01:07:00.000+08:00

EDIT

I don't want to be murdered in my sleep for writing about this funny conversation that happened...

So, off to the drafts this entire thing goes!

Australian Whatchamacallit ism

2006-05-04T22:55:00.000+08:00

What does it mean to be Australian? We are a motley crew. Descendants of settlers/convicts, migrants... we're talking about the British/Irish/what have you... then there's the rest of the migrants and their descendants from the rest of the world. Yeah. We have a common background to make ourselves unique.

I was being sarcastic. Don't you dare conclude that its because we're all migrants or descendants of migrants.

Argh. I'm losing my train of thought here... Basically, our identity... of being Australian is defined by the good old "Aussie Battler" stereotype. I still think it stands true.

It is often said that our nation was born during the Gallipoli campaign of WWI. Since it was the first major international battle Australia fought in. Also because Australia fought under their own army. Oh shit, I can't remember. Sure, the ANZACs (can't forget the New Zealanders) were basically the cannon fodder battalion for Churchill, but important never the less. There are so many stories of how we* went against old school battle tactics to secure victories and all that. Great stuff, go read some history books, mate. If only I can remember some specifics... some of it made me really mad.

Anyways, ANZAC day was not too long ago. Cue the special features on TV and in the newspaper where they have a surviving veteran, or their grand kid talk about the war, what they did, what it means to them, etc. Same old, same old.

Don't get me wrong, it's good that we're honouring them, commemorating them, I respect them.

What I would like to see, is a migrant, not of European origin or caucasian, present their point of view on ANZAC day, the ANZACs, Australia's participation in theatres of war in the past, and all that other stuff I can't think of but are significant. I wouldn't mind giving my 2 cents!

I could talk about the young men who went off to fight for Australia. They sacrificed their lives so that we can live in a free world.

Bugger, I forgot what else I could say.

But what makes many words is the fact that I have zero connection to those great people. My parents migrated here, and I was born here. I am Australian, I am Asian. I am also neither. I am halfway between the two cultures, you could say I might be on one of those rickety wooden boats floating off WA's northern coast... except I am actually an Aussie citizen and not an illegal boatperson. Ok, dodgy analogy. Anyway, what I'm trying to say, is that I have no connection to what happened in WWI, Gallipoli, whatever. None that I know of. But I can say that it is an important part of Australia's young history, and I believe in it's importance. That is why I would be able to say similar things to what some veteran's grandkid would be saying.

Which brings me to my next point. Political correctness. OMG, this pisses me off so much. I can't remember if the whole "we don't celebrate Easter and Christmas, so why do you have to ram it down our throats" minority groups also complained about ANZAC day. OK, let's assume they did. Those bastards.

There's that old saying, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". This is Australia, majority do this n this, so YOU, as a minority, a visitor (a permanent one), should do as they do. If that was to happen, there would be no Cronulla crazy bashings. I mean, FUCK YOU, don't change the culture of Australia because it doesn't suit you. You don't fit into the mold? Well, that's your bloody problem, find a solution that does not involve you bludgeoning the mold so that it fits around you.

Yes, I agree with some form of testing or education about the Australian way of life/culture/history for migrants. It will weed out those who really cannot fit. See, I include education, because the tests might be bloody hard, and the good people can't come in. *shudder* Imagine if I grew up in the UK...

Now the Tasmanian miners entombed in... a mine. True Aussie mentality. "get us out of here by saturday! I got a footy match to goto" Or something like that, I haven't been following the news. The way the media portrays those miners in their predicament, their positivity and their she'll be right mate attitude. That's unique. (Edit: Someone said something along the lines of showing strong spirit, I guess that's a better description)

In Gallipoli, there's stories of how the soldiers would play two up, or even go swimming in the bombarded beaches. That's also spirit. "We're getting the crap blown out of us, let's go swim and gamble!"

Maybe because when they get out, they're gonna sue the company for all kinds of reasons. That's... American.

* We? I don't think anyone from my family tree went off to war... I have no connection, but you can see how much it means to me, when I say "we".

Overthinker

2006-05-03T00:41:00.000+08:00

I can't fucking sleep. My brain... my mind... it's got turbo lag... the turbo just spooled up and I've now got boost... when I least needed it. And the funny thing is, I've never driven a turbo car.

Anyhoo... I tend to over analyse things. I think too much. It's not the good kind of over thinking. It's kind of like a whole lot of pointless processes happening in the background of your computer. If I stop to pay attention to what I think about, I think I would blow my mind. I'm not even going to bother putting down what's on my mind. Well, you can tell that over thinking and thinking about over thinking is one of them.

Even at RYLA, my team noticed I over thought things. It's good and bad. Good because you hit the ideas that are never thought of. Bad because you get bogged down. Half the time cancelling out your ideas by testing those thoughts. Ugh.

Well, I don't think writing before trying to go back to sleep will help in me sleeping. It will just keep the engine that is my mind running. Videogames won't work, because I would start thinking of strategies and tactics. Continue watching my movie? I might start analysing it. Forum trawl? No! I have to stop looking at tricked out cars. Perhaps divert my thoughts to something else?

Realisations

2006-04-21T19:10:00.000+08:00

I've made a few realisations...

Cheap food, that fills you up good... is always going to be Chinese food. Yep, that includes Chinese food in Japan... even if it's with a Japanese twist.

Chinese food made by nonChinese, is not the same. Hainanese Chicken rice by Malays... not nice. BBQ pork noodles in Japan... you call that lump of fat pork?

Clothes that keep you warm, are cheap. Clothes that keep you warm AND look l33t... are more expensive.

Little old ladies, though a good source for awesome old cars, are hazardous. *using a David Attenborough accent* "in the natural habitat of urban Kyoto, the little old lady will either waddle, destroying anything in its path... or when on a rampage, charging forward... causing traffic to halt and grant her safe passage"

There are car modifying magazines for any kind of car... including people mover vans... and tall box kei cars!

When you have an idea, but don't say or do anything... it turns out that if you had, you would have avoided a lot of back tracking and fixing up mistakes.

Umm... you always forget all the good ideas the moment you start writing!

food desu

2006-04-19T19:17:00.000+08:00

Miso is horrible. Cooking stuff on top of hoba leaves is a rip off, and doesn't enhance flavour. In short, miso sucks.

I think from now we'll be buying packaged food from 7-11 (for half the price) and heating it up ourselves.

O yeah. Damn MSG. That shit keeps me awake all night with a dry mouth. Or maybe my mind is full of things... I'd rather blame the ajinomoto though.

Takayama was pretty awesome. Went to the alpine region for the onsen. Quite an experience I must say. In Kyoto now. Will be visiting various temples (more of them) and either the imperial palace or nijojo castle. Also day trips to Hiroshima and Himeiji.

I'm running out of ideas for funny pseudo jap titles....

Which button is to post this? It's in JAP!

That's right...

2006-04-16T20:56:00.000+08:00

That's right...

Tomorrow, we're waking up early to take the shinkansen to Takayama. Then after a day or so... to Kyoto. If there's no computer there for me, or if I never find myself some flat pin adapter. That will be all.

Japan - Day 2

2006-04-16T20:39:00.000+08:00

Day 2

Super Happy Fun Photo Takey Time
Half the day was spent visiting gardens and temples. So lots of time spent walking everywhere, taking photos as though we were Japanese tourists in Australia... except we're the other way round :P. So we went to the Imperial Garden, some place in Asakusa (including some street mall that is much like Bugis St, but cleaner and more open, and less fake stuff), Ueno garden, and the Ueno market. Saw some BB guns there. Going for around 2000 yen. Didn't get any. Shame.

Happy Pointy Lunch Upstairs
We had lunch in Asakusa. Tempura. What sucked was that the menu only had 2 pictures. Udon and tempura fish, and the same but with prawn. Guess what we had?
It was pretty nice though. Not as good as the chicken katsu we had at TonKatsu the other night at Akihabara.

Funny Looking People Place
Harajuku... the place where kids dress up in all kinds of funny outfits. Some being outrageous and undescribeable. Others being outrageous but describeable as maid outfits, animeish cosplay, gothic, punk... etc.

I got me a whacky hat there. Well, it's not really whacky. It's a bowler hat or something. Quite formal, really. But who the hell wears it with a suit like a Mafia mobster? My point exactly. Whacky.

Super Red Light Crowded District
Shinjuku is what we usually imagine when we think of a crowded and modern Japan. Neon lights. Lots and lots of people. Strip joints, karaoke bars, etc etc.

We had dinner here. At some dingey looking sushi train place. Everything was raw :(.

Can't think of anything else to report.

Japan trip (day 0 & 1)

2006-04-15T21:34:00.000+08:00

Yeah... I'm in Japan now... using a computer with a keyboard that has some of its keys in different places. And I suck at touch typing to some extent. I know where the letters are, but symbols... I don't. Doing emotes is tricky.

Anyhoo

Day Zero
Umm... the whole day was packing my bag, going to church, filling out application forms for winter vacation. Exciting stuff.

Nothing much was exciting for the day.

Except for the guy at customs. His name was Girish. Mother Fucka!

Day One

Arrived at Narita Airport at about 10am. Took one of the trains into Ikebukuro. Long journey. Slept for a bit of the ride. I did look at the scenery for the first 15 minutes til I got bored. OMG. All the boxy JDM cars. Why can't we get the bB in Australia?

Lunch
We ate in some tiny little pokey restaurant that had a name written in jap... and had a smiley face. Ordinary food, but the way the place was designed was... interesting. Except there are plenty of other places that are just like it.

Cars
Nothing much noteworthy. Mostly new cars. A lot of them tall narrow boxy cars. Lancer coupes are actually Mirages here. Toyotas have a different logo. And there was an ordinary looking sedan which had the letters SKYLINE on it... that can't be right.
Then there's the usual pimped out body kitted, lowered, bling bling rims on... VANS! And bB type boxy cars. I love those boxy cars... they're just so... boxy... and... probably not fun to drive.

Food
I think I have found the fabled melon bread! I'm a bit full now, so I'll find out tomorrow. Bread dough and cookie dough combined into one l33t bread... mmmm....

more jammage

2006-03-20T16:33:00.000+08:00

Sigh.

I've already vented some frutstration of the shittiness of some drivers' ability to merge into another lane. It adds extra time to one's journey. Not to mention driving in 1st/2nd gear sucks in my car. I can't shift into 1 if its still rolling significantly, and if that's the case, sometimes there's not enough torque in 2. Not to mention I shift back to neutral when I stop.

Apart from that, it's not too bad. Listen to morning radio. Hehehe. Nathan n Nat's Nearly Amazing Race.

But what sucks is when some bloody idiot does not pay attention and causes a fucking accident. On the bridge. Yeah... get a 3 lane highway, merge it into a 2 lane bridge.... and merge that into 1 lane. Jam ahoy! Some idiot lady crashed into the rear of some guy's shiny Mazda 3. I reckon she was on the phone. Why else? Hmm... maybe fiddling with her iPod (with iTrip, no less).

That's one reason why I support the continual support for manual as standard transmission. Idiots can not do something else when driving. When you drive, you drive. You do not eat a burger, talk on the phone, send a sms, cut your toenails, read a book, drink coffee, fiddle with your mp3 player hooked up to a fm modulator, scratch your ass... etc... uh... pick one, or all of them. Why? Because these distractions will cause inconvinience to everyone else when you crash. Weigh up the costs here. You don't get to do one thing, everyone else gets to goto where they want to go, on time, and without any scratches. You lose.

I tried eating a sandwich whilst driving. I guess if i used my right hand to hold the sandwich, I might have been able to pull it off, steering with the left and also shifting gears. But seriously, it's not worth it. Drinking... well, that's easier since you can put it back in the cup holder. Or if you have a very long straw.

Playing with your iPod. You are a bloody idiot. I imagine most of you with iPods in your car would have it lying around in a place where you can pick it up, rather than forking out $40 on a special fancy holster. Then again, you are iPod owners. Anyway, with an iPod you have the urge to not only change tracks, but playlists. And not only change playlists... fucking CREATE and EDIT one. Yeah... spin your fingers around in a circle, look down to see whereabouts you are on the list, press around to go elsewhere... *CRASH*

I don't have anything against you people who hook up your iPods via iTrip (or other mp3 player with a fm modulator) to your car stereo system, except if you go modify you head unit... and dont get a mp3 head unit, because you have an iPod. You. Are. A. Fucking. Idiot. *looks at Alicia* I don't care if you read this or not... Even worse if you upgrade your speakers, and continue to iTrip it.

Why? Because the quality of the fm modulated sound is SHIT compared to having the mp3 read directly from the cd.

Also coz the head unit is easier to use.

Long story short, iPods in cars... are dangerous. Talking on the phone when driving... dangerous. SMSing while driving... dangerous^2.

Mazda Kabura concept
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/newmodels/automotive/22581/

Awesome car. Low height, light weight, RWD, and "cheap". One problem

"Look carefully at the passenger’s side, and you’ll see it features an extra door directly behind the main one. Von Holzhausen calls it a “bonus door’; in fact, it’s more of a hatch that slides in and backwards at the touch of a button. However, it grants access to an interior that is totally asymmetrical, and can seat three adults in unexpected comfort, as well as a small child.

“Our aim was for a car that could seat three, but was no larger than absolutely necessary,” says von Holzhausen.

What he has created is exactly that: a car with a wheelbase only 4 inches longer than the two-seater Miata’s, but that is roomy enough for three. Impossible, you’d think: how can you fit a full-grown adult into a space no longer than a candy bar?

Here’s how. First, you move the glovebox from its normal position in front of the passenger to the centre console and design a fascia that allows the front passenger seat to slide into the space you’ve liberated – 6in. further forward than the driver’s seat goes, to be exact. Then, you place the fuel tank directly behind the driver’s seat, so that the passenger side rear seat can be mounted as far back as possible, right in front of the rear wheels. Your passengers then have the entirety of the car’s 100in. wheelbase in which to stretch out. It’s a solution designed for those who buy two-plus-two coupes because they need more than two seats, but who would willingly swap two half-usable rear seats for one proper one, plus a child seat."

Uh... have the passenger seat a few inches forward of the driver's? Doesn't that hinder the driver's side view visibility?

that's more like it

2006-03-12T17:40:00.000+08:00

I'm a Mazda Miata!

You like to soak up the sun, but your tastes are down to earth. Everyone thinks you're cute. Life is a winding road, and you like to take the curves in stride. Let other people compete in the rat race - you're just here to enjoy the ride.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

zoom zoom!

uni, parking & merging traffic

2006-03-11T20:51:00.000+08:00

It's the start of a new uni year. I hate 8am/9am ish starts. Wake up early, deal with the little jam where traffic merges on the bridge, get to uni and find zero parking...

Boring lectures

Lectures that have way too much content

And not enough time to take notes

Or lectures that cover the lecture notes word for word (and isn't that much to start with)

Yeah... uni's great!

Parking sucks. Parking in the dirt... I don't like it anymore. Too many horrible experiences which I never had last year, all in the span of a few days. First, i get blocked in by a bloody Volvo driver. And every other time I find my car covered in a really thick layer of dust. I might as well walk an extra 100m and park in the hockey stadium. No limestone dust, no bloody Volvos.

And the public has to be re-educated about how to deal with merging lanes. Seriously, how hard can it be? Keep about a 2 car distance between you and the car in front of you, and stay behind the car thats on the other lane... that way you all don't have to slow down whilst you filter through. Everyone wants to get in first, creating a jam that makes everyone late. Space yourselves out, no jam, no cutting in, you maintain your speed, we all get to where we want sooner. Fucking greedy and selfish bastards.

I want a Sachs Madass. That THING would get me through the fucking traffic, and I won't have to worry about bloody parking.

This one time, at RYLA (the rest of it)

2006-02-09T22:21:00.000+08:00

And this is the rest of it... I got some speech notes which is a mk2 of the intro... but like all my writing, it's all over the place. So you ain't gonna see it. And although I thought I might as well cut back on the posting of each day... it seems like the amount of writing I did for each day became less and less, either because I got tired of it, or those days had less stuff crammed into it.

Wednesday: Lazy day

Sleep in

Oh precious sleep. Being relieved of carrying the stretcher and sent to fill up the remaining seats of the bus to go back to camp meant dibs on the bunks in the dorm. Being scrawny does have its perks. Since all the guys had to carry the stretcher, and a few of us were relieved of this duty, we got to pick the good bunks- in the corner away from heavy traffic, and shelves! MUAHAHHAHA I could finally unpack my stuff and not in a ready to go state.

And we got to sleep in til 12pm.

Values walk

This was just a look inside yourself and determine what are your values activity. There were just a bunch of hypothetical scenarios and how would you respond, such as reporting a fellow athlete for performance enhancing substance abuse, doing the same as him, punishing a child, and dealing with illegal immigrants. There were a lot more scenarios, but we got bogged down on these. I would have liked to gone through the other scenarios.

Games night

As though we haven’t been having enough fun- we had a games night, where we had to compete with the other groups to complete a quiz/random acts thing. Man, the facilitators would help us if we did favours for them, like bringing them coffee (precious stimulating caffeine) or giving them a backrub. The end result- a 5 way DRAW!

Oh, one of the random acts we had to do was a scene from a movie. Tip: battle scenes involve the entire group, and not a lot of lines are said. We did Braveheart. Well, bits and pieces of it pieced together- “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” *flash kilts* *fight*

This was also the start of The Nuggets’ use of funny accents.

Thursday: quiet day

Leadership Panel

We had guest speakers come in to talk to us about… LEADERSHIP. Well, actually we had following your goals, inspiration and finding a mentor, communication, and some other random blabbering. I’m afraid that a lot of us were zoning out since we were sleep deprived for the past few days. However, some parts of the speeches did sink in and had an impact on us.

Adventure Journey

This was fun. The adventure journey was a series of puzzle games that tested the teamwork, leadership and problem solving abilities of our small groups. Each puzzle had about 10 minutes for it to be completed.

First puzzle- the spiderweb. We had to pass all eight of us through the gaps in a net. Pretty difficult since each gap could only be used once, and you couldn’t touch the edges of the rope. And we killed the net by trying to dive through it. Oops. I think our game plan for this was to get the coordinated and stronger people through first, so that they could support the heavier and larger people from the other side, followed by the lightest. That was a very slow process. And Rachel was always eager to go next, taking her loose top off and having to put it back on because someone else would go through. “We don’t mind you taking your top off!” Why do I open my mouth…

The swinging rope was quite easy. Get all 8 of us to swing on a rope and land on a tiny space… and stay there. We had to huddle up in order to fit on that tiny rug, and Tim did not like the intimacy of it.

I don’t want to know what the groups before us did with the pipe with holes. We had to fill a big leaky pipe with water and grab a rubber ducky. Since it was leaky with holes, we had to block the holes with whatever part of our body- including our tongue.

The walk of doom, was a puzzle much like one in Broken Sword. There was a grid, and you could only walk on a defined path, which is not marked. Slow and steady wins the race for this. Well, only after you rush through it to determine which squares are safe to step on, and mark with minty wrappers.

The Towers of Hanoi type puzzle was one I am proud of, as the Nuggets were the only group to actually solve it. And it was tricky as there were 4 to each side instead of the usual 3, and we were the puzzle pieces. It’s a lot harder to solve a puzzle from that view point, and also when everyone wants to do the directing. Who’s the genius who decided to step back and plan the manoeuvres before actually doing it? Me! Mind you, I couldn’t figure out how to do it with 4 a side, but my initiative to get everyone to step back and plan (using our shoes to represent us on the pathway) got it solved.

RYLA Photo

Here we found out I was the shortest guy at camp. -_-"

Rotary Dinner

I couldn’t find my sponsoring Rotary official to have dinner with, so I leeched onto Jenni R’s. Learnt a bit about how Rotary clubs are organised and what they do. Hehehe- Fork and knife Rotarians are those who just attend the Rotarian dinners and not take part. And apparently there are other youth and leadership related programs organised by Rotary and Rotaract, but RYLA is the best and for the best. That made me feel really good about myself. And you can see that the RYLArians were either really good people that oozed with confidence and leadership traits, or were strong in other fields and have the personal growth potential.

Sarah, Tim and I went around doing evil glare faces. Heheheh

After the Rotary officials left, majority of us started messing around having fun and dancing, with the minority taking up the slack and cleaning up the hall. Good fun. No sleep for many of us tonight.

Friday: Zombie day

Wakeup call

I’m pretty sure it was today, otherwise it would have been Thursday. We were woken up to a refreshing change. Sweet Home Alabama. No more Shine! WOOHOO!

We later found out it was one of the Rotarians who hid the CD.

Blur

We were all bloody tired, and many of us could not concentrate. Trust games were cancelled because of safety concerns. Most of us went swimming instead ^^

Last night event

Let’s see… This was organised to be a talent show combined with a funny awards ceremony. Very well executed. Kudos to the guys who planned it.

For some reason, majority of the groups had a thing for cross dressing, and also for that acting where there are 2 people acting as 1 (person behind uses their hands). And worst of all, they all put managed to use Shine, in some form.

With the exception of Purple Monkey Dishwasher, I’d say our Pirates, Ninjas and Aztec Gold was the most original (in a completely plagiarised manner). PMDw was long. And had a bloody script! But Mario was hilarious with his little kid acting. He even made forgetting his lines, funny. Unlike Nathan who had to refer to his script before saying MUAHAHAHAHA!

Why was our pirate/ninja act plagiarised? We took bits from Russell Peters’ act, and Little Britain, the name Steve from Dodgeball and we used tshirt ninja masks. But it was original since we didn’t do that arms with a mind of its own, or use Shine. Plus the entire thing was relying on pirate YARR jokes.

And we pretty much made it up on the spot.

But here’s the general script:

Steve the ninja starts hearing voices in his head, much like in the schizophrenia exercise.

“You do not want to be a ninja, you want to be a pirate, go look for Aztec gold…”

“What shall I do?”

“Get a cutlass and goto the port”

So Steve goes to the sword shop. Where we then use the Russell Peters “50c is a lot of money” act, but using a British accent like from Little Britain. Tim couldn’t do a Hong Kong accent, and I couldn’t do a Japanese accent convincingly, hence him doing a weird British accent. I just kept changing the way I spoke.

Steve then joins the Pirates who then ROW to where the Aztec gold can be found. Crack a few YARR jokes. Steve cracks a dodgy one.

Then the Ninjas confront the Pirates to get Steve back, because he left the Ninja order. Instead of fighting, they end up “debating” with the Pirates coming out superior because they have “oarsome” pirate jokes.

The Pirates find the treasARRR, but it’s gone… time for another adventchARR!

No soup rest for you!

More dancing tonight. I showed my eagerness to learn, ignoring how embarrassing I am, and tried copying, observing, doing whatever. Unlike Tim and Angela who stood around, and did not try. No game.

Since it was the last night we would all be together, some of us stayed up for as long as we could physically muster. We actually did that on Thursday night as well, hence the zombiness during the day.

Saturday: last day

Affirmations/Warm Fuzzies

Throughout the week, we were supposed to be writing warm fuzzies for everyone. Warm fuzzies, are… warm fuzzy positive comments. And affirmations are, pretty much the same, except more personal, I guess. Everybody in the small groups give affirmations for each other on cassette (which I now converted to MP3… don’t trust that ancient technology… quality can degrade) so basically, we can listen to it anytime for a morale boost. Basically what we all said to each other was what we thought of them throughout camp, how they performed and their growth, advice, and anything funny or meaningful. It was a very touching moment. You don’t get this kind of feedback in reality, and this is really positive. After all, you can’t maintain growth if you keep getting cut down.

Farewell

We kind of ran overtime with the affirmations. So before we knew it, it was closing ceremony, and home.

We were going back into reality.

Thanks for letting me share this amazing experience with you, and thanks for putting up with my dodgy writing. I had no idea which audience I was going to cater to so.. .yeah... (It was originally meant to be just a hard copy of what I remembered for myself, so it would have been pretty much full of coarse language)

This one time, at RYLA (part 3)

2006-02-05T14:38:00.000+08:00

Tuesday: (Edit: removed)

Surprise visit (not!)

Mario was the daily coordinator for today. One of the roles the daily coordinator does is setting the evil Shannon Noll alarm. Signs of insanity began to show when some of the guys in our dorm thought Shannon paid a surprise visit to give us a live performance for the wakeup call. That’s because Mario kind of looked like him.

High ropes & egg drop

This is the alternative activity to abseiling. As there was not enough room for the ~20 of us to climb around the high rope obstacle course, we split into 2 groups with half doing the high ropes and the other half launching eggs.

The task for egg drop was where we had to design a mars lander with the egg as the precious cargo and straws, balloons, and paper as the materials for the lander. Ours (Dan C, Jeni R, me) was the only egg that survived. We used a combination of principles- slow down the approach and increase the impact time. Most groups did either of the principles, not both. So some had landers that just plummeted but absorbed all the impact, and others had ones that floated down. Good fun. We never got to do any of that in TEE physics.

High ropes basically involved climbing up a ladder, or rope ladder, or a knotted rope, and then monkeying along a horizontal rope, pole, wobbly bridge, or cargo net, and then let down by your partner(s) who were controlling your safety line. Holding the safety line sucked. You had to keep looking up, so that and wearing a helmet led to a sore neck.

The highlight of this would be the “Leap of Faith”. You had to climb up a pole- much like a power pole, onto a small platform. When you’re at the top, the pole wobbles… A LOT. Then you had to jump off and grab a trapeze thing. This was another challenge I got all wimpy on in primary school. Back then I managed to get to the top, got freaked out by the height n wobblyness, and simply walked the plank. This time round I got up, got freaked out by the wobblyness, but ignored the height and jumped. W00t! I got hold of the trapeze. Oh, and the superman harness had to be fastened really tight coz I’m a “skinny lil bugger” as said by the supervisor (forgot her name =( ).

Disability Awareness

This activity gave us a more involving view on what certain disabilities are like and how to deal with them. It was a role play activity where we were in small groups of 3 or 4 and rotated between the disabled and the person interacting with the disabled. The disabilities we looked at were blindness, being wheelchair-bound, ADD, cerebral palsy, and schizophrenia. The ADD one gave birth to the RYLArian injoke, well… a Nugget/Clare joke:

How many ADD kids does it take to change a lightbulb?

I wanna ride my bike!

(EDIT: Removed)

wheeeee drivey drivey!

2006-02-04T14:27:00.000+08:00

I'm a Honda S2000!

You live on the edge, and you live for the adrenaline rush. You don't need luxuries, snob appeal, or superfluous gadgets. You put your top down, get your motor revving, and take all the curves that life throws at you at full speed. So what if you spin out occasionally?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Hehehehehe... Mind you, I got the RX-8 last time, but I couldn't be bothered posting it.

Check out the new 2006 civic sedan line up. Bloody awesome. Fancy scifi looking dash, and they say its "longer, wider and less tall" That's gotta be way better than the previous generation. Damn that hatch was ugly. It's a shame they're only bringing in the one body style- sedan. But on the other hand, this streamlining of models will allow more of what we "want" in the dealerships, and maybe lower costs.

In fact, this whole streamlining of model ranges is something that these car manufacturers are doing. It would make a good case study for either economics or accounting. Hell, even marketing. Leave a comment if you care to explain this...

What's got my attention is the Civic sport. 2L twincam ivtec engine... I believe it's the same as the Civic si. And for under $30k... Looks like I've got some saving up to do. Dude... it's got like twice the power of my rolla, and about the same fuel consumption.

This one time at RYLA... (day 1 cont & day 2)

2006-02-02T01:06:00.000+08:00

Tent
This is the first activity involving all 40 of us. We found out the meaning of “too many cooks spoil the broth”. Well, it was quite hilarious. We didn’t have enough tent poles, and made it worse when some people decided to use the poles to peg down the tent walls, on an angle. Then we had to make a 2nd tent. More improvisation, using a log as a centre pole, and rope tied around every tree that surrounded the tent. Talk about risk management, it was risk central. Oh, it didn’t make things easier with the fact that the facilitators took great pleasure in being “Nazis” and disabling people by blindfolding, muting or tying up their hands.

RLQ
Rotary Leadership Qualities are lectures, no questions asked. You can’t hide the fact that we are sitting in a room listening to a facilitator speak about the elements to leadership and looking at a projector screen. There were also activities that demonstrated the theory covered.
We would have one or two RLQs a day.

Tunnels
The tunnels are a maze of concrete pipes laid out on the ground and covered in dirt. That’s right, artificial tunnels.
I would say the tunnelling activity was more about taking on a challenge rather than building teamwork and leadership. However, there was still a leader who would determine which direction to go and at what pace, as well as negotiating traffic with other groups. In the tighter adventure tunnel the budding adventurers had their nerves tested, with some cramping up and the others giving encouragement to get them to continue forwards.

Showers
After the tunnels, everybody wanted to go shower as we were covered in mud and sweat. Tim ran off to the showers so that he could beat the crowd. He also beat the roll call. The missing number 24 became famous for the rest of the week.

Monday: Day 2
The rude awakening
Being woken up at 5am, after about 4-5 hours of sleep, to the sound of Shine by Shannon Noll at max volume was not a pleasant experience. By Saturday, I think we all went insane. And breakfast was 1 hour late. We were not happy.

Abseiling
Abseiling… what can I say? I’d say about 20 of us took the buses to some place which used to be a quarry. There we met Yuri, who showed us the ropes on how to abseil. Nothing too special about abseiling. Except I was determined to go crazy going down since I chickened out on abseiling in primary school and regretted that since. So basically, I was facing my previous fear of heights. That wasn’t too hard as I was already determined to overcome it. Or simply because the approach to the top of the quarry face did not reveal the height. Probably it was all mind over matter. A lot of these tasks required mental strength to overcome fears and break comfort zones.

Rafting/Crates
If I had known Monday would be a really hot day, I would have signed up for rafting first and then abseiling. This is because rafting had limited numbers for Monday only whereas abseiling was either a Monday or Tuesday activity. Rafting involved the group to split into 3 teams and building a raft from limited materials. I was told the team that only used two barrels instead of three won because they were lighter. However, they were pretty much submerged under water.

The crates activity just brought nightmares back to me. A few weeks earlier I was playing Broken Sword for Xbox. And that game was filled with crate puzzles. Every area you went, you had to shift crates to get access to a door, window, grate, trapdoor, you name it. In this activity, we had to stack milk crates into staircase designs and climb up to whack a rubber chicken. There were 3 difficulty levels. On the easiest level, we had just enough crates to climb up on and reach the chicken. But the other 2 required us to pull apart the crate staircase and rebuild it with someone standing on top of it.

I’d say the crates activity brought out a lot of leadership, management and teamwork. This is because we needed a general overseer to watch over the whole construction, allocation of tasks such as having the tallest (Paul) to lift the crates high so that more crates could be stacked underneath, and everybody working together to make sure that the bloody safety hazard doesn’t come crashing down on top of us.

It did, by the way.

This one time, at band camp...

2006-01-30T21:52:00.000+08:00

No. I did not goto band camp.
But I did goto RYLA, which was one awesome life changing experience. And it's a camp.

I would post up a diary of my experiences... but it's currently on hold. I guess I'll get started on the intro part again tomorrow.

Jack Thompson is an idiot. Who has no life? You do. Stop coming up with ridiculous arguments.

Meh... here you go

Between the 15th and 21st of January 06, myself and 39 other RYLArians participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). RYLA is a life changing experience. They weren’t exaggerating when they made that claim. RYLA created a unique, positive, close knit community, which was the breeding ground for our personal growth. The camp gave us mental and physical challenges, activities that pushed us outside our comfort zones, and lectures and activities that focused on the elements of leadership.

To me, the most important element of RYLA is the positive, supportive and friendly environment. It is this environment that inspired us all to take actions which we normally wouldn’t do. Be it because we weren’t afraid of being embarrassed, or because we were inspired to be like the others. Everybody commented on my growth from being quiet and reserved to being out there, giving it a go, exerting more confidence, but also still standing back to examine situations, and how it inspired them to grow as well. The way I see it, is that in reality, our actions and behaviour can be stunted because we fear. There was no need to fear in RYLA, so we could be what we wanted to be. How we grew, and what we got out of RYLA was entirely up to us. But the environment we were in, and the others who inspired us were equally important in getting this life changing RYLA experience.

Sunday: The Beginning
The introductions

Like with any situation involving a large group of people who don’t know each other, it was awkward. Did I mention we started fairly early? So, for the morning, we had ice breakers. The standard stuff. You have a sheet of random questions and you go around asking fellow RYLArians and facilitators those questions, and learning their names and various stuff about them. Then there we stood around in a large circle, more properly introduced ourselves, got assigned a roll call number, and had silly name remembering games. I think I made the mistake of saying “My name is Justin, but my friends called me J.Lo...” because that nickname stuck, as well as variations such as “Jenny from the block” accompanied with “shake that ass!”. But on the plus side, I stood out more.

Small Groups

The 40 of us were split into 5 groups of 8 with 2 or 3 facilitators. I was assigned to the yellow group, with Benn (with 2 Ns) and Rachelle (someone who can’t spell Rachel) as our facilitators. I love my yellow team. Benn made things so exciting with his funny antics, and made it easier for us to open up to each other. Jade, with his passion for lengthy discussion topics in the wee hours of the night. Clare and Rachel with their YARRR pirate jokes, and “I wanna ride my bike” ADD kid joke. Manda and Jean-Marie with their ability to open up to us. Everybody in our group in one way or another contributed to us forming very close bonds.

We decided to give ourselves a team name and team chant. Benn had a little mascot, a little rubber chicken which we passed around during discussions. We decided on “The Nuggets”. Either because of gold nuggets, or chicken nuggets- it doesn’t matter. And our chant, was actually one which Benn’s facilitator used when Benn was a RYLArian. It’s a long one, and made absolutely no sense. For all we know, it could be “I need to goto the toilet badly” in a foreign language.

OOH CALELA

A PERI TIKI TUMBA

A MASA MASA MASA

OO ALLA EI ALLA AH ALLUEI

eat meat

2006-01-14T12:13:00.000+08:00

It's been a while, so happy new year, yada yada *gets random administrative matters out of the way*

What is wrong with meat? Forgive me for being insensitive, but who the hell is allergic to meat? Allergic to egg, sure, but allergic to all kinds of meat, other byproducts of animals (eggs, dairy etc) and even extracts of the essence of some animal sourced flavouring? Yeah... I had to deal with a bunch of VEGAN customers the other day, who claimed they were allergic to anything animal.

In a society where many of us eat meat, well... there are quite a few vegitarians, but vegitarians are tolerable as they aren't as fussy, we don't really cater to vegans. From what I understand, a vegan is someone who does not eat meat, egg, or dairy products. A vegitarian is one who eats no meat. Then there are those other vegitarians who eat fish. Fish are not meat?

I do not see what the problem is with Sam Kekovich's adverts for lamb on Australia Day. Vegitarians and vegans found offense to it. For fuck's sake, take things with humour. He poked fun at Asian food, and being Asian, that is what we eat on Australia Day. Unless we decide to roast some lamb, which is what we may end up doing this year. The webber pwns!

This forum post from the somethingawful.com forums just affirms how vegans are evil.

"So, here's the setup. I recently moved out to western Washington state (from eastern Washington state, a hellhole I'm glad to be out of) to live with my brother and help him pay rent and stuff while he goes to school. I don't regret this decision in the least; the other side of the state is very not-good for alternative thinkers (see me be so witty, ha ha.)

In any case, my brother has somehow got it in his head that being vegan is the way to be. Realistically, I have no problem with this; it's his lifestyle, its his to modify and change as he will. However, there are a few things about my brother it is... prudent to mention.

Fun Facts About Dr. Bones' Brother (With important parts underlined!)

1. As already established, he is a vegan
2. He is a self-proclaimed Socialist
3. He sees the world in black and white... if you're not part of the solution, you are the problem
4. He argues vehemently about that which he believes is true
5. He is unbending in his ways
6. He gets his news filtered (usually via http://www.veganporn.com) so he can build 'stronger arguments for the right cause'
7. He has a Utopain worldview which I'll get into later
8. He takes pride in everything he does
9. He claims to be a pacifist...
9a. ...except when it comes to animals, in which case he's a guerilla militant
10. My brother has turned gray (as in, skin tone... he's quite ashy) from what I'm guessing is malnutrition. Sure, he eats 'protein-enhanced' soy, but... it's not really working, since he's rapidly losing pigment.
11. He's trying to convert me.

Now that that's taken care of, let me tell you a little story. I knew there'd be SOME tension in the household with me, the meat-eating heathen, living here and playing more than half the rent and utilities every month. Ever since I got here, however, everything I eat illicits gags and threats of vomit from him. Just yesterday, he spent two hours proselytizing to me about how I shouldn't eat meat. And he asks all these questions that I cannot answer, because he plays on ethics. Some examples include:

"Do YOU think that killing animals is correct? Do you think that MURDERING animals is correct? Should we murder them? Why? Because they taste good?"

"There's no reason to murder anything. Why would we want to induce pain on another living creature?"

"If you don't have an argument against veganism, why are you still eating meat? Does it make you feel better?"

"Slaughterhouses and meat packaging plants are just like the concentration camps in Nazi Germany! Did you think those Jews had to die?" (Fun Fact: He likes to equate cows and pigs and chickens to the Jews in Nazi Germany a lot. Like, constantly.)

"Why are you supporting the houses of murder?"

It's just... nn. For him being a devout athiest (ha ha), he sure does have some real near-religious moral compunctions about this entire thing. He's convinced that meat is murder and all this other stuff... but because he's playing an ethics angle constantly, I have no arguments. Do I think murder is right? No. Do I think killing the Jews was right? No. Do I think rounding all the homeless up and slaughtering them all is right? No, I really don't. So why do I still eat meat? I have no rebuttal to this, really. I'm convinced he's still part Catholic with the way he's guilt tripping me(no offense to Catholic goons; I was part of the faith for a long time, just have broken away.)

Have any similar stories? Feel free to share. I need some ammo to use against this guy, because having someone try to vomit all over your food, having someone in your face telling you that you are a murdering bastard every single day, having someone threaten to toss all your food in the trash on a regular basis? Gets old.

Meanwhile, I just bought a packet of bacon. I think I'm gonna go smear it all over his pillow before I cook it."

I know some are vegitarian for religious reasons. Vegan, I'm not so sure... Also for health reasons. But then they still need protein and iron, which is found in *drumroll* MEAT thus needing to take supplement tablets. But what I'm trying to get at is if your dietary preference is different to ours, do NOT try to change us. We choose to eat a balanced diet of fats, meats, dairies, veggies, fruits, cereals... and you chose not to. Don't tell us to change. Don't preach to us about how killing animals is wrong. I am against the killing of whales. They are not bred for our consumption. They are endangered species. I am rooting for the hippies and their little boat with a can opener attached to it and that they sink those so called "scientific whaling ships"

Don't make our lives difficult where we have to cater our meat/egg/dairy oriented dishes to your needs. You're vegan/vegitarian and the menu doesn't have enough vegitarian/vegan friendly dishes? You're in the wrong restaurant buddy. There is only so much pimping to your meal the cooks can do. Pimp my meal... adds stuff onto a meal, not take stuff out.

Hmm... if a vegan eats a substitute to meat, like those gluten or tofu fake chicken/bacon/whatever, are they hypocrites? Like the quoted example, that vegan is against the killing of animals (not because they are allergic to meat) so if eating animals is wrong, eating fake animals is alright?

Allergic to meat... BAH! Meat is flesh... muscle... we are made of muscle... we are meat ourselves... does that mean they are allergic to themselves? If it's allergy to DEAD meat, then would they flame up with a massive allergic reaction at a funeral?

Killing animals is wrong? I sure hope you protest against the war in Iraq, and are planning your own guerilla war against cowardly, sick, evil, terrorists. Hell, vegetables are living organisms too. Go argue with fruitarians you against animal killing type veggoes!

The moral of the story: have a fucking balanced diet. You know the food pyramid? Follow that. I believe that meat, eggs, dairy, fats, cereals (carbs) and fruits and veggies are on there. Those stupid fad diets that shun carbs and promote fats... they are not balanced. 3 meals a day- breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make that wholesome balanced meals. And you'll do fine.

Once again, apologies if you are vegan or vegitarian and took offense at my random ramblings.

Jello's car review: echo vs corolla

2005-11-02T14:34:00.000+08:00

I should've gotten an Echo. Damn me and underestimating a 1.3L, short, stubby, tall car. I drove Cynthia's Echo to the airport and to uni. It's a good car.

For roughly $10000, maybe take $1000, one can get either a AE101R Corolla Seca or a 1.3L Echo hatch. Manual of course. It's the only way to drive an economy car. I can say that both cars a good options.

Age & Mileage:
As of now, 2-11-2005, you could get the later half of the AE101 generation and the early Echos at the $10K range. That means 1996-1998 for the Corolla, and 1999-2001 for the Echo. Mileage should be around 100000km. It's awesome to see the odometer tick over from 99999 to 100000 =P.

Actually, most of the AE101's would be over 100000km.

Exterior:
Being older, the Corolla looks like its... old. I don't know why but the front of the AE101 reminds me of the Camry of similar age. I guess that's why I didn't like the sedan version- it's a mini Camry. The Echo... ignore the sedan... that's butt ugly, and more expensive because it has a larger engine. The hatch Echo, took me a while to like. It looks quite nice actually. It's an EGG! Try googling EGG80X for photos of his Echo. He supercharged it, lowered it, put on a carbon hood. I actually looks quite nice...

It's your opinion...

Interior:
I like my Corolla's interior a lot more than the Echo. That's probably because Cynthia's is a light greenish colour. Makes it look really cheap. There's a darker interrior trim for the Echo (I think). Ooh! Echo has lots of storage bins and a really cool centre mounted dash with digital stuff! Steering wheel feels smaller. No foot rest either. My Corolla seats are actually pretty crap. It's just cloth trim. Easily corrected with a $50 seat cover pack. Scorpions ^^

Seat covers make both cars look nicer on the inside. I don't like the aircon vents in the Echo

Performance:
Just because my Corolla is 1.6L doesn't mean it is decent. It's an old technology 4AFE. Power and torque wise it's about inbetween the 2NZFE (1.3L) and 1NZFE (1.5L) engines in the Echo. But in the AE101, the 4AFE is pulling a larger heavier body. Folks, don't get the 1.6L Corolla, unless it's the 4AGE AE92-SX model. Or the AE82 Twincam. But those models would be thrashed by P platers who have been infected by the Initial D bug. (Damn hachiroku and the almighty 4AGE) Get the 1.8L Corolla. AKA AE102. Or the AE112. But that's the next generation and slightly more expensive. But it looks so much nicer. The 1.8L 7AFE is pretty much the same as the 4AFE but its got a little bit more torque, and it comes in lower. 3000rpm sounds about right. That means better acceleration under normal driving.

What this means is that the Echo is about as nippy as my Corolla. Just because it has a puny capacity, and it doesnt have much kW, I reckon it can pwn my Corolla. Don't forget that with smaller capacity comes small fuel consumption. I can get around 400km with 35L light driving shifting at 2500rpm.

Clutch and gear change in both feel about the same. In comparison to my dad's 2002 323 Protege, it's a lot nicer. I can't change gears fast and the I have to press really far on the clutch in his car.

*shock, horror!* Echo wins on zippiness and fuel consumption. If you're lazy and try moving from 2nd gear in the Echo... it doesn't like it... Corolla wins on that! =P

Handling:
The small steering wheel on the Echo is nice. Then again, it could be psychological. I put a steering wheel cover on mine because it came with the seatcovers. There's a fair amount of body roll. As expected. It's shorter, narrower and taller than the Corolla. Going round bends a little faster than what a driving examiner would like results in hearing the wheels skid. And getting tossed around.

I would imagine that the handling on the Corolla would be about the same as any other basic hatch/sedan.

I'd say about the same, after you weigh up pros and cons.

Safety:
My Corolla doesn't have ABS and airbags. I don't know about the Echo but it does have airbags. Echo is smaller and lighter, but all that RnD at Toyota should make it safe. Who cares if there's no ABS. Pump the brakes. You can make it skid. Thats fun.

Overall:
Meh. Get the Yaris YRS. 1.5L. Leather steering wheel and gearknob. MP3 player. More features than the basic 05 Corolla.

Oh, right. We're talking about $10K budget. Both are pretty nice cars. Don't bother with the Echo's predessor, the Starlet- it has even less oomph and less features.

Note: I wanted a 96 Civic Gli hatch. Same price, higher mileage, better equipped. When you're not paying for the vehicle, don't complain. However, if you're paying for the maintenance and general upkeep of whatever car you're getting, don't get an old beater. I was going to get an older Corolla. Insurance would be roughly the same. Same petrol bill (same engine), same if not more maintenance costs. Smaller, older, and bleh.

Hari is so unreasonable... guildwars pwns btw

2005-11-01T22:24:00.000+08:00

*sigh*

Hari is such a demanding person. I mean... Jack's only unreasonable request was "OMG I have to PAY for this game?!?!" Well... that is UNREASONABLE. OMG! I HAVE TO PAY FOR MY PETROL? I have to PAY for that chicken kebab? I could go home and make one and not pay for it. /end sarcasm

~ pRiYaN(f) : howz guild wars goin?
~ pRiYaN(f) : *cough* i mean studies :P
Jello: i spent all my money on armour
Jello: :(
Jello: so i had to pilfer my mule character for loot to sell
~ pRiYaN(f) : lol
Jello: :(
Jello: and coz i was strapped for gold
Jello: but needed better equipment
Jello: i mixed n matched
Jello: coz i didnt have all the materials
Jello: n cbb buying them
Jello: hopefully mr wraith can withstand some more blows before death
Jello: :P
~ pRiYaN(f) : lol
~ pRiYaN(f) : with gw du u have levels n stuff?
~ pRiYaN(f) : is there a purpose
~ pRiYaN(f) : or du u just exist
Jello:
http://forums.toymods.org.au/index.php?t=msg&th=85344&start=0&rid=&S=
fa93e429a8ecdbff89a86287890be084
Jello: theres a story
Jello: u adventure through the continent
Jello: first u start of in a happy place
Jello: then some tauren like monsters attack
Jello: so they call to arms citizens
~ pRiYaN(f) : lol :P
Jello: ooh
Jello: plus as a background story...
Jello: theres guilds
Jello: basically the continent was divided into factions
Jello: aka guilds
Jello: hence guild wars
Jello: but in time of peacce...
Jello: yada yada yada
Jello:
http://forums.toymods.org.au/index.php?t=msg&th=85344&start=0&rid=&S=
fa93e429a8ecdbff89a86287890be084
~ pRiYaN(f) : ahhh
Jello: CAPUCINNO!
Jello: (sp)
~ pRiYaN(f) : lol
~ pRiYaN(f) : the back looks shit
~ pRiYaN(f) : its too dinky for me man
~ pRiYaN(f) : i need long and sleek
~ pRiYaN(f) : but thats a hell good prive
Jello: hell small too
Jello: i'd rather get a miata
~ pRiYaN(f) : esp for wat u get
~ pRiYaN(f) : yea cos this is too gay :P
Jello: its so initial d
Jello: except its not pink
Jello: :P
Jello: yeah...
Jello: so u join the ranks
Jello: then the charr (tauren monsters) unleash an apocalypse spell
thing
Jello: the entire kingdom becomes rubble
Jello: fast forward to the main story/map
Jello: the kingdom is overrun
Jello: u spend a while fighting them off
Jello: then prince rurik decides to lead a bunch of refugees over the
mountain ranges to the next kingdom
~ pRiYaN(f) : ok ;P
Jello: who in the past have been unfriendly
Jello: u go thru the mountains n face xenophobic dwarves
Jello: who r hellbent on killing u
Jello: they kill rurik
Jello: then u goto kryta
Jello: n fight the undead
Jello: and a bunch of rebels
Jello: also...
Jello: i think they have a corrupt government
Jello: as ur hired to assassinate someone
Jello: for no real reason
Jello: if u think about it
Jello: and thats about where im up to
Jello: its so much better than most mmorpgs
Jello: i imagine WoW is this
Jello: u r a peon in the horde
~ pRiYaN(f) : hahahah
Jello: u r at war with the alliance
Jello: to become a grunt... u must train
~ pRiYaN(f) : ok but wat is ur goal?
Jello: go kill 5 slimes and give me 5 jellies
~ pRiYaN(f) : to make orcs rule?
Jello: thats WoW for u
Jello: guild wars... got 2 goals
Jello: pvp- make ur guild number 1
Jello: rpg- the story i just told u dammit
Jello: its like baldurs gate
Jello: a romp around the countryside with a bunch of party members
Jello: doing quests
Jello: that do not invlve collecting x of y creature
~ pRiYaN(f) : mmmm
Jello: play gw
Jello: when u get ur paycheque from work
Jello: i'll start a new character
~ pRiYaN(f) : lol
~ pRiYaN(f) : im crap at rpg dude
Jello: u can have a pretty female elementalist to nuke monsters as an
ally
Jello: c'mon...
Jello: u cant say no to a pretty elementalist
Jello: especially if she can fireball stuff
Jello: :P
Jello: mmmm
Jello: fireball
~ pRiYaN(f) : hahahahahahah
~ pRiYaN(f) : HAHAHAHAHHA
~ pRiYaN(f) : :P
~ pRiYaN(f) : nah i want an old grampa wizard character :P
Jello: ooh
~ pRiYaN(f) : like gandalf
Jello: the male elementalist dances like elaine bennece
Jello: from seinfeld
Jello: :P
~ pRiYaN(f) : hahaha
Jello: male mesmer... riverdance
Jello: male necro... heavy metal
Jello: u would like gw
Jello: there r 4 types of casters
Jello: 3.. ignoring monk...
Jello: hate playing monk
Jello: u spend most of the time watching the right side of the screen
where ur party members health bars r located
Jello says:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/takioni/gw040.jpg
Jello says:
WHOA
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
lol
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hu the hell goes monk?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
john wud
Jello says:
i thought most of the mesmer armour was crap
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
that medical genius
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
that is armour?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
that looks soo seductive
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
dusnt really provide much protection though....
Jello says:
its the maximum caster armour
Jello says:
seen the female gladiator armour?
Jello says:
its a metal bra
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
HAHAHAHAHHA ;
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
is there a wizard?
Jello says:
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1715/gw0121cx.jpg
Jello says:
thats a suit
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
wizards rock
Jello says:
wizard = elementalist, mesmer, necromancer
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hehehe snazzy
Jello says:
mage
Jello says:
mr suave n sophisticated
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah but like an old dude wizard
Jello says:
no long beards
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
aww that sux ass
Jello says:
who the hell wants to be an old fart?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
i du!!
Jello says:
ur weidr
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
old farts rock
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
gandalf!!
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
saruman!!
Jello says:
be gandalf when he was young
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahaha
Jello says:
where he got all the hot metal bikini clad warrior chicks
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahahahahahahha
Jello says:
and wore a suit
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
is there a beefcake character?
Jello says:
rather than raggy robes
Jello says:
yep
Jello says:
warrior
Jello says:
he's chunky fat
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
like a beefcake killing machine
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
with pecs the size of a DD cup
Jello says:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/nos482/rizngirl2.jpg
Jello says:
THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
woah....
Jello says:
and this isnt armour
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6876/gw1608jk.jpg
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
wait...u can start relationships?
Jello says:
no
Jello says:
its just a command
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
then??
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh.....
Jello says:
/hug
Jello says:
etc
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahah
Jello says:
http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=353675
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ok if there is no gandalf type wizard
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
how abt....
Jello says:
Nah, he's just using the Mesmers /kneel command and the Warrior is simply sitting. They just got in the right position ^^
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
a giant?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
with a club
Jello says:
u can only play as humans for now
Jello says:
coz it wouldnt fit the storyline if u were a dwarf/elf etc
Jello says:
u could make a uber tall warrior
Jello says:
with a big ass hammer
Jello says:
close enough?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
aww cool!! u can get a knight
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahaha yea fair enuff
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
i want a knight
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
how abt a priestess?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or a thief
Jello says:
rangerish character
Jello says:
priestess... female monk
Jello says:
remember
Jello says:
u can dual class
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
o kewl!!
Jello says:
so im a necro warrior
Jello says:
which is morel ike an assassin
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
so u can be a mage/knight
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or a monk/knight
Jello says:
thats warrior u fool
Jello says:
not knight
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or a monk/beefcake
Jello says:
mmm
Jello says:
but its better to be beefcake/monk
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh that wud rock
Jello says:
which in otherwords is a palladin
Jello says:
noob
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
monk/beefcake
Jello says:

Jello says:
no
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea thats the one
Jello says:
monk/beefcake aint smart
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
paladin
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
y not?
Jello says:
u spend more time healing than beefcaking
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u can choose rite?
Jello says:
coz ur a primary monk
Jello says:
u have primary n secondary
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
fine
Jello says:
if ur a primary monk
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
beefcake./monk?
Jello says:
u have to heal ur party
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
happy??
Jello says:
or they will hate u
Jello says:
yes
Jello says:
thats how things work
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
that way u can beat the shit out of sum1
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and then heal urself
Jello says:
yep
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
without potion
Jello says:
thats the idea
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
saves moolag
Jello says:
no potions
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
*moolah
Jello says:
coz u regen after battle
Jello says:
thats y monks r so important
Jello says:
theyre ur human potions
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but they cant attack?
Jello says:
they can
Jello says:
they can smite
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
like full monks
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahah wat is that?
Jello says:
but most of the time they have to heal like mad
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
-1 damage?
Jello says:
BLAU! holy damage!
Jello says:
quite a lot actually
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
rangers suck
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
bow and arrow is just gay
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
its ok in mass warfare
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
one on one its just crap
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u gotta buy arrows
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
it takes time to fire
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
shit short range
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
etc etc etc
Jello says:
nope
Jello says:
unlimited arrows
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
well thats actually good
Jello says:
its awesome
Jello says:
bows r strong too
Jello says:
plus u get pets
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nice
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
wat?
Jello says:
u can get a chocobo
Jello says:
lynx
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahahah
Jello says:
some other cat
Jello says:
wolf
Jello says:
spider
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
du they attack?
Jello says:
and lizard
Jello says:
yep
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or du they just look cool
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
why didn u go a ranger?
Jello says:
chocobo!
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u get a free pet
Jello says:
i got a ranger
Jello says:
he's my mule character
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
lol
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
he carries all ur equipment?
Jello says:
nah
Jello says:
my crafting loot
Jello says:
and runes
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ah
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but if he dies?
Jello says:
and weapon upgrade parts...
Jello says:

Jello says:
u havent been playing many mmorpgs have u
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
then u loose it all no?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or du u just pick it up
Jello says:
1 account = 4 character slots
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
from his carcass
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea.....
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but if he dies in battle??
Jello says:
u dont lose ur crap if u die
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u drop it rite/
Jello says:
nope
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
thats sux
Jello says:
i say thats good
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
how else do u rob ppl?
Jello says:
coz i die a lot
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
i always hide and attack innocents
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
to take their stuff
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or n00bs that are more n00bish than me
Jello says:
just take it from monsters dammit
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but money?
Jello says:
u get ur leet stuff from the story neways
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh ok
Jello says:
*sigh*
Jello says:
ur so demanding
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
lol
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
i want to rob ppl dammit
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh and battles
Jello says:
u cant exactly use a *pick pocket* skill
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
is it turn based?
Jello says:
no
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or is it in real time?
Jello says:
real time
Jello says:
baka!
Jello says:
*walk walk walk*
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
well i guess thats a good thing
Jello says:
*battle music*
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
turn base takes waaay too long
Jello writes:

Jello says:

Jello says:
dumbass
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea like final fantasy dude
Jello says:
thats just square's problem
Jello says:
hardly any mmorpg is turnbased
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah i like turnbased in final fantasy
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
in other games its crap
Jello says:
it might be dnd style turnbased
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
in turnbased u can plot and scheme
Jello says:
http://migol.com/images/rogues.jpg
mesmer rogue armour
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
in real time its button bashing
Jello says:
click on ur target
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
man the chix in gw are hot
Jello says:
use ur 8 skills
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
omg that really sux
Jello says:
react to their skills
Jello says:
counter
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
at least button bashing is sorta fun
Jello says:
it takes skill to play
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
clicking...
Jello says:
AARH

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oops i missed the target
Jello says:
ur not getting it right
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
cos he is moving
Jello says:
u select ur target
Jello says:
ok
Jello says:
mr mage
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ok...
Jello says:
lets say ur an elementalist
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ya
Jello says:
and in the story...
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ya
Jello says:
ur fighter member is swamped with monsters
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yepp
Jello says:
u target the area and cast whatever AOE spell u have
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ok....
Jello says:
basic rpg fair there
Jello says:
as a fighter
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
have u playd sudeki?
Jello says:
u would be fighting one on one
Jello says:
nope
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
ill lend it to u
Jello says:
thats button mashing
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
the game pwns
Jello says:
u know baldurs gate
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah but i like the casting in that
Jello says:
gw is like baldurs gate
Jello says:
and diablo
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u get kewl uber spells
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but u have like a range line
Jello says:
and warcraft
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
better than clicking
Jello says:
u can play using the keyboard if u like
Jello says:
but clicking is easier
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
when u fire ur spell u get em in ur range
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and BLAU!!!
Jello says:
and i dont mean click click click click click to hit 5 times
Jello says:
its just a click to select ur target
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
i noe thats wat sux
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u dont get the pleasure of delivering every shot
Jello says:
click*5 is diablo
Jello says:
*sigh*
Jello says:
i'll let u play on my account then
Jello says:
or observe
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea ill observe
Jello says:
so hard to persuade u
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but i dunno man
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
gw looks kewl
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
they shud be innovative though
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
du a sudeki
Jello says:
sudeki had a crap story
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea it sorta does
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but the game play is awesome
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
fighting rox
Jello says:
http://server3.uploadit.org/files/lordseifer666-necrotic.jpg
Jello says:
http://forums.gwonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=116
Jello says:
goo read the strategy forums
Jello says:
if it was mindless click to select ur target then goto the kitchen while ur bashing away
Jello says:
there wouldnt be a strategy forum with build discussion
Jello says:
and how to use the skills
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
the pyromancer looks awesome :
~ pRiYaN ~ says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh du u get cool spells
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
like putting urself on fire
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and flying around
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and shooting fireballs
Jello says:
no flying
Jello says:
but fireballs
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
mmm
Jello says:
meteor storms
Jello says:
lightning
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
can u put urself on fire though?
Jello says:
yep
Jello says:
and ur enemies
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
kewl
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
so u can look like the human torch
Jello says:
when ur standing on one spot
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and can u transform
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
into like a werewolf?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or a werebear
Jello says:
ur a fucking human dammit
Jello says:
no super powers
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or a bat
Jello says:
except that u got mana
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but dont u have spells n stuff?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea exactly
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
so no transforming spell?
Jello says:
but that aint exactly transform into the human torch
Jello says:
or elastic hands
Jello says:
or invisible
Jello says:
wait... thats stealth related
Jello says:
no
Jello says:
ur human
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
they shud have a vampire
Jello says:
humans dont transform
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and a werewolf
Jello says:
blood necromancer
Jello says:
vamparic touch
Jello says:
in essence
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea but u cant turn into a bat
Jello says:
no
Jello says:
y the fuck would u want to turn into a bat
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
cos that wud be kewl
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u cud fly places
Jello says:
but it does nothing to the game
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and run away from hard bad guys
Jello says:

Jello says:
then go play city of heroes
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea!!
Jello says:
and be a fucking super hero
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or matrix online?
Jello says:
where everybody looks like copy cats of marvel
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea
Jello says:
yeah... if ur willing to pay $15 a month
Jello says:
and GRIND
Jello says:
ie. camp a monster zone n kill for many hours
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
lol
Jello says:
u know...
Jello says:
jack's only complaint about guildwars was "OMG, i have tto PAY for this game?"
Jello says:
u...
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahahah
Jello says:
"oh it aint button bashing? it aint click? u cant transform? u cant be an old fart? u cant be the human torch? u cant fly?"
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah i wanna get it
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but i gotta ask all the important qns
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
im really dissappointed abt the gandalf thing and the bat thing though
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
*sigh
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
it wud have bin the perfect game
Jello says:
u cant transform into a bat in WoW
~ pRiYaN ~ says:

Jello says:
in fact
Jello says:
i dont know of any mmorpgs where u can
Jello says:
or fly
Jello says:
except matrix online
Jello says:
but thats coz its part of the matrix world...
Jello says:
and city of heroes
Jello says:
coz superheros fly
Jello says:
regular armour clad bikini warriors dont
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahaha
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but u gotta admit
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
its a kewl idea
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
the whole bat thing
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and gandalf
Jello says:
no
Jello says:
and no
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
cmon all classic rpgs
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
have a gandalf
Jello says:
u can get a beard
Jello says:
if u want
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
u can???
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
is it long and white?
Jello says:
but y be an old wizard if u can be a young one?
Jello says:
i dunno how long
Jello says:
but u can get white hair
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
cos they are cool
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
cmon gandalf is cool
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
admit it
Jello says:
http://www.gen0.net/images/imy_ra_msa.jpg

bone lace eh?
Jello says:
no
Jello says:

~ pRiYaN ~ says:
awww cmon
Jello says:
edwin the mage in baldurs gate was a young bloke
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
in lotr when he comes to hells deep
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
on that white horsey
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
how cool was that?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or when he was fighting the balrog
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
"you shall not pass"
Jello writes:

Jello says:
feh
Jello says:
screw u gramps
Jello says:
besides
Jello says:
remember the story
Jello says:
its gotta fit
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea
Jello says:
if ur an old fart
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hes an old wizard
Jello says:
u aint gonna be a level 1 noob
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
that wants to help
Jello says:
starting in an academy
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hes retired?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and he forgot?
Jello says:
no
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but hes goin to remedial classes now
Jello says:
if he's a l33t old mage... he's gonna be in a top position
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
shit that is a good point :
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
but tehy cud have altered the plot
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
to allow for an old wizard
~ pRiYaN ~ says:

Jello says:
no
Jello says:
i would go n run gw to see the character skins n stuff for the casters
Jello says:
but...
Jello says:
fuck you
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahah
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
gandalf!!
Jello says:
plus i would have to delete a character
Jello says:
1 got 4 filled already
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
mmmm
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or even saruman
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
im not too picky
Jello says:
theyre both old farts
Jello says:
with waaay too long beards
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah actually gandalf
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hes got the hat
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
oh can u get the hat?
Jello says:
no
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
awww wat
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
that really sux
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
if u get a girl mage
Jello says:
thats so stereotypical
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
they look soo cool with the hat
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
or even a guy mage
Jello says:
they wear some crown thingy
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
bah
Jello says:
if u want a stereotypical game with stereotypical gameplay with stereotypical costs... go play a stereotypical mass produced korean mmorpg
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
mmmm
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
nah i like gw
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
all im saying
Jello says:
ur too fucking fussy
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
is that they cud have done a bit more
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
to make it good for me
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
like add kewl hats
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and old farts
Jello says:
u want a pumpkin head?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and witches
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and bats
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
and werewolves
Jello says:
u could get some for the halloween event
Jello says:
*sigh*
Jello says:
i think halloween has infected ur mind a bit
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
lol
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
whne is it btw?
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
today no?
Jello says:
yesterday
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
well last nite
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
yea
Jello says:
im so gonna blog this convo
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
no trick or treaters this year...
Jello says:
u fucking demanding non mmorpg'er
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
lol
~ pRiYaN ~ says:
hahahah

I got readdicted to Guildwars, at the most appropriate time.

less talkey more drivey (cheap car audio)

2005-10-11T21:37:00.000+08:00

teeheehee

"Acquaintance, what is the current location of my automobile?" ("dude, where's my car?")

"Kindly actuate your cranium out of the way of the imminent projectile that will be discharged from my firearm shortly. I must note, however, that this assertion is delivered with an inflection of sarcasm under the pretence that your endeavour in this regard will prove fruitless due to the prerequisities of dexterirty required for such an effort" ("Dodge this." *BLAU*)

Who would have thought running a car was that expensive? I guess it's the once a year lumpsums you have to pay- insurance, rego. That being said, one would think I would be reluctant to spend more money on a car that has been eating up my entire paycheck for the past month or so. Actually, I guess I am. I wanted to put in a mp3 cd tuner... but now that I think about it... it's a bit too expensive if you add everything up.

Here's the evolution of audio in my Corolla
Radio: Wheeee! Groove 101.7, Nova 93.7
However, it's not always music... there's also news reports and stuff. I once heard a discussion (can't remember which station) about how some scientists managed to get a single egg cell (ova?) to divide... That's just creepy. If my predictions based on crazy anime plots are correct, feminazi's will kill off everyone, and "clone" themselves...
Cassette: Dumping music onto a cassette. Time consuming when recording the music. Also had to be careful not to make the computer make other noises when recording. It also sucked when I had the volume from the computer too loud, distorting the recording.
MP3 tuner: This sucker is going to be expensive. $250 for the unit, additional $300 set aside for speakers and amp. After a quick visit to ebay, I've decided to take a cheaper option.
MP3 player car kit: Griffin iTrip thingy that can be used for other players: $80. Generic ugly fm transmitter: $40. Generic on ebay: $20. But since they suck, cassette adaptor it shall be. Car charger for zen micro from Creative: $80. ebay: $5.

Realising that minimum age for registering and using ebay is 18: priceless.

What does your car say about you?

2005-09-30T11:12:00.000+08:00

Yeah, I got bored again and decided to forum trawl.

Particularly:
BMW M3 (17" DTMs & Remus Exhaust): I am a Curtin / UWA / ECU overseas
business student
Why? Because I am CBS student. Damn rich ass overseas students with richass cars.
Suzuki Swift GTi: I can't wait to get off my "P" plates
Why? Hot hatch. It's "quick" and could satisfy my need for speed. Too bad I got an impression its about as tough as a empty coke can vs a 4wd in an accident.
Nissan EXA: I have always said, half a convertible is better than no convertible at all
Why? Targa tops suck. It's funny seeing people removing or putting the tops back on in the car park.
Impreza WRX: I'm a herd animal
Toyota Echo: I like to pay more to get less.
Honda Civic: Be original... Just like your friends.
Why? Teeheehee. Butt ugly modifications, and DAMN OVERPRICED in the ReadersMart
Mercedes-Benz A160: Look! It has Mercedes badges!
Why? A CLASS!
Toyota Paseo: Hey at least it *looks* sporty
Why? I think even my Corolla has more power. And it's the almighty 4AFE
BMW X5: My car will never ever see dirt
Why? Offroad and luxury do not go together
Suzi Cino: God I hope this car holds together until I finish my Degree
Why? All those I see at uni really are falling apart.

BMW M3 (17" DTMs & Remus Exhaust): I am a Curtin / UWA / ECU overseas
business student
BMW 7 Series: I enjoy fixing "accidental" scratches down the entire length
of my car
BMW 850i: I have so much money it literally makes people vomit
spontaneously
Honda NSX: I cannot get an erection
Morris Mini: I enjoy taking radiators out and bonnets off
Mitsubishi Magna: I get sucked in easily by slick ad campaigns
Holden Commodore VL: I like being reminded my" big Aussie six" is really a
Skyline motor
Suzuki Swift GTi: I can't wait to get off my "P" plates
Mazda RX-7: I can't afford a Porsche
Mazda RX-2: I spend lots of time in my garage and enjoy getting dirty
Mazda RX-3: I live in my garage and enjoy staying dirty
Holden Sandman: I saw Mad Max 367 times
Holden Berlina: I'm a very good Amway salesperson
Holden Statesman: I'm a pimp
Holden Statesman HSV: I have a kilo of cocaine in my wheel well
Holden Commodore GTS-R: I'm in a mid life crisis and reckon Johnson is a
slow old codger
Volkswagen Combi: I'm leading a militia to overthrow the government, and
this is a car bomb.
Toyota Corona: I teach fourth grade special education
Holden Gemini: I delivered pizza for four years to get this car
Nissan Skyline GTR: I slow down to 120 in school zones and don't like Jap
Super bikes
Subaru Impreza WRX: I slow down to 160 in school zones and don't like Jap
Super bikes or GTRs
Mazda 323 4WD Turbo: I wish I could afford a WRX
Mitsubishi Lancer: This is faster than a WRX, honest it is
Toyota Celica SX: I mistakenly think this was the actual car that won the WRC, like on the ads
Holden VT Commodore (Pursuit Rims): I enjoy having people slow to 60kph
when I pull up behind them
Suzuki Sierra: I will start Year 11 this year
Suzuki Vitara: I will start Year 12 this year
Nissan EXA: I have always said, half a convertible is better than no convertible at all
Toyota Corolla KE: I have just graduated and have no credit rating
Hyundai Excel 1: I lack any originality and am basically a lemming
Hyundai Excel 2: I'm a receptionist and this is my first car
Ford Taurus: I'm sure this shape of car will catch on eventually
Volkswagen Beetle: I still watch Partridge Family re-runs
Toyota Tarago: I enjoy being reminded, every ten minutes, how much my car
looks like a wombat
Jaguar XJ6: I am so rich I will pay $60K for a car that is in the shop 280 days a year
Kia Sephia: I learned nothing from the failure of Daihatsu Corp
Lamborghini Diablo: I only have one testicle
Fiat X-19: This car is made in the same country as a Ferrari
Mercedes 500SL Stretched: I will beat your ass up if you ask me for an
autograph
Mercedes 560SEL: I have a daughter named Missy and a son named Ridge
Mazda MX-5: I do not fear being decapitated by an eighteen-wheeler truck
MGB: I am dating a mechanic
MGF: I've just dumped a mechanic
Mitsubishi Starion: I don't know what it means either
Nissan 300ZX: I have yet to complete my divorce proceedings
Holden Commodore VN: I just stole this car and I'm going to ram raid an
Adidas store
Honda Civic / Prelude with 17" DTMs: I have a switchblade in my sock
Porsche 911 Turbo: I have a three inch ****
Porsche 944: I am dating women that otherwise would be inaccessible to me
Subaru Outback: I never learnt how to drive, but AWD does it for me
Camira: So what if it breaks down all the time, at least I don't owe money
on it
1967 Mustang: Classic, not plastic.
Impreza WRX: I'm a herd animal
Toyota Echo: I like to pay more to get less.
Honda Civic: Be original... Just like your friends.
VW Beetle: I like putting out engine fires (see Audi 90)
Hyundai Excel: I'm going to increase its performance with a rear wing
Toyota Camry Wagon: I'm the new breed of Volvo drivers
2002 Monaro: I have no idea about cars, but all my rev head mates think I am a hero.
Ford Laser: I don't have a choice
351 GT: I like people from the next suburb to know when I'm coming around
Suzuki GTi: I spike my hair, wear lots of metal chains and bop to R&B music
Mercedes-Benz A160: Look! It has Mercedes badges!
Hyundai Accent: At least it's not an Excel
Commodore VK: Come steal my car, it's not as if the key's any ****ing different
Commodore VL: I'd like a Skyline, but all my revhead friends would laugh at me.
Suzuki Mighty Boy: You only need 3 Cylinders, any more and your being greedy.
Subaru Impreza RX: My car has Rally Heritage! I can pretend it's a Rex!
Suzuki Swift Extreme: I'm too stingy to pay GTi insurance
Toyota Paseo: Hey at least it *looks* sporty
Pre 1992 Lancer GSR: I'm hoping people won't know this isn't the 4WD Turbo version..
Ford Falcon EA-ED: Looks like s%$&, sounds like crap, goes like s%$&, but
you just can't kill the bastard.
Nissan R33 Skyline: Look at what my daddy bought me. It's even got an
original Nismo sticker!
R31 Skyline: No, really, it's fast. I think..
R32 Skyline: These won at Bathurst. Remember? No? Oh Well...
R33 Skyline: I bought a Skyline, hooray. What do you mean it's the slowest one?
R34 Skyline: My parents own a "small corner shop in Tokyo"
Hyundai Excel: So what if it's not a real car? It has a nice stereo. No wait! Come Back! Pay attention to me!
VH-VL commodore: You'd think my most valuable possession would not be easily
stolen with a screwdriver wouldn't you?
Land Cruiser: I went through some mud in the school parking lot last week.
Holden VN Commodore: I have 13 kids and receive indigenous payouts from
the government
Saab 9000 Turbo: I'm in a mid life crisis and can't afford a WRX
Mercedes E Class: My name can not easily be pronounced by anyone with English as a first language
Ford Maverick: It's a Nissan... really it is
Toyota Hilux (with big FOX racing sticker): I've never ridden a motorbike before but I think it would be fun
Toyota Prado: The women at child care laugh at my poor attempt at a land cruiser
VT-VX Clubsport: I just wanted one... like 50,000 other people did
HSV Senator: I'm not a very good pimp (see Statesman)
Falcon XR6 Turbo: I'm a VL turbo driver with too much cash
Commodore S: $8000 for spoilers is worth it, I swear
Astra Convertible: I'm an over paid sales woman with a wanky title like "Account Manager"
Toyota Lowlux: Totally defeats the purpose of a Ute but my mates think I'm fully sick
Ford AU Falcon: Built Ford Rough
BMW X5: My car will never ever see dirt
BMW 3 Series: It's got BMW badges... and its more common than Melbourne
police eating souvlaki
Audi TT: It's almost a Porsche...

Rav 4: All I do is drop the kids at school and do the shopping, but that wasn't why I bought the car.
Toyota Corolla Ascent: I had one while I was at uni, My dad bought this car, his dad before him bought this car...
New Swift: Isn't it so cute!
New Swift GTI: What! Have you seen it? Quick giveme a link I need a fix!
Suzuki Jimmny: Yeah well they don't sell Sierra's anymore and have you seem how much Vitaras are these days?
Holden Barina: Uh yeah like...it's a holden.. dint ya know?
Ford KA: Well at least it's a Ford, and I CAN TO overtake cyclists..most of the time
Ford Falcon: So what ford do you own?
Ford TS50: My ford will beat your holden anyday.
Ford Territory: It won some awards so it must be good.
Peugot 206: It's pronounced P-urrrr..geoo not P-EW-GOT
Kia Rio: I watch a lot of tennis
MG ZT: Anyone seen my Golf Bag?
Suzi Cino: God I hope this car holds together until I finish my Degree

Linky to save my arse from any "you stole my shit" complaints

17 sept 05

2005-09-17T13:21:00.000+08:00

It's been a while... no fantastic thoughts worth making "public" so far...

Just finished managerial accounting mid sem... not too hard... but I expect to see lots of stupid errors. I guess thats what you get for "relaxing" and playing Forza. Speaking about Forza, I can't drive in it for shit. If it's an ultra realistic driving simulator... I am FUCKED. I can drive way better in Sega GT 2002, PGR2, NFSU2 and Juiced.

Removed the coding crap for the chatterbox as inactivity pwned it. Now the page shouldnt be messed up. Happy?

Back to work... 2 more tests, 1 more assignment, all due in within 48 hours of each other.

3 more thorts

2005-08-04T21:11:00.000+08:00

Cell memory

I can’t remember if it was in a novel or TV show (but some form of fiction) that mentioned that your cells retain memories of what has happened in your life. Ah yes… that movie with Robert De Niro as that scientist who cloned a dead kid, who then started acting crazy and scary when he reached the age when his original self died. Anyway, if that cell retaining memory thing is true, then imagine the possibilities…

You could call upon the memories of your ancestors for advice. After all, you are made up from your parents’ cells, DNA etc, and theirs of theirs and so on and so forth. So you have so many generations of experiences tapped away inside of you. All you gotta do is concentrate, and communicate with them. You could consider it as talking to yourself, talking to some spirits out there… whatever…

OK, enough typing… 2 pages with a one paragraph into the 3^rd page on MS word. But I’m not sleepy yet and my mind is still running.

Jane Austen’s lost sex scenes

I picked up this book in the humour section in KL. I don’t know how legitimate it is, but there were some references to other texts that make it seem more real. Plus Austen lived a single life of a spinster (I think… she did, didn’t she?) So she would have had all sorts of crazy sex fantasies going through her mind. Now if they were legit, those scenes should make her novels make even more sense.

Take the bit about Jane going to Netherfield and sending a letter the Liz the next day saying that she’s ill and that she should come visit her ASAP as she cannot return home soon, or whatever (whoa… that looks confusing in hindsight, but I get the gist of it, so you should ^^)

Basically, the scene will tell you why Jane stays a little longer there, and is distraught after it all.

Starschmucks

Go visit www.illwillpress.com and see Foamy’s rants on Starbucks. They are overpriced coffee. Hell, the place doesn’t even have complimentary free internet computers unlike Pacific Coffee. (HK that is)

Actually, coffee at these franchises are overpriced fullstop. Eating food at the foodcourts, hawkers or those coffeeshops are even cheaper. I could get plate of charsiewfan and a drink for 2/3 the price of a “GRANDE” Frappacino.

Hehehe. Grande. What’s with their labels for sizes- short, tall and grandE? If someone, like my dad, were to order a coffee there they would be bloody confused. Just as well Foamy gave me a nice precaution in his rant =P.

And there should be more free wifi hotspots. Bloody pay for wifi by the minute junk. *grumble*

And that's it! That's all I wrote on the plane.

Age Restrictions

2005-07-30T10:29:00.000+08:00

(now remember, I was on a midnight flight when I decided to type away like a madman)

The lasting impression of Macau I have is in the last few moments of my day trip there- the casino. I just wanted to take a look at the inside of the casino/hotel, visit the buffet… all that jazz. But nooo! They had to have some stupid security measures in place where you had to deposit all your bags (backpacks, shopping bags, hand bags, suitcases, briefcases etc) at some baggage drop off point, and then go through some metal detectors. If this is due to terrorism, particularly 9-11, I am going to have to join Mr Dubyah Bush in his War on Terror. I certainly don’t recall all that crazy security shit in Las Vegas.

Now, depositing my backpack was no problem- the queue was short. However, I hate metal detectors. For some reason in the past, it would pick up the metal in my fly or my spec frame. (this time round on my way back from HK it didn’t beep even though my wallet was laden with coins and yeah… I had other metal objects on me) Damn security guard had to go “Hey! You don’t look like you’re 18… Hand over your passport” So I hand it over and he goes “87… that’s 18… December… you’re not 18… you can’t enter” “I just want to take a look inside, and besides I’m 18 this year” “Nup… you can’t enter” *points at sign (children under 18 cannot enter)*

That’s understandable… if someone under 18 goes into debt from gambling, they’re gonna be screwed. Hell, anyone would be screwed regardless of age. Anyways, that polite kicking me out is not the real problem. If I wanted to leave that stupid secure as hell hotel/casino, I would have to take the hotel-ferry shuttle bus. One problem. I noticed on the shuttle bus a sign that said “Children under 18 are not permitted on the vehicle” WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! So let’s say someone, like me, were to rock up at the casino ready to play some blackjack, but got kicked out even before they could enter because they got a kiddy face so decided to leave Macau, via ferry, but can’t take the shuttle bus because that too is off limits. For crying out loud, since when have there been age limits on riding a passenger vehicle, and I don’t mean driving.

Prior to the age limit on the bus notice, 3 old people pushed into the line. It would be more accurate to say ran and shoved, and shrugged. Just because they’re old… They just ran and cut in infront of us, and the people queuing were shouting in both Cantonese and English “Hey, don’t cut in buddy… Get back in line!” Well, that’s how it seemed. Some people even grabbed the old man’s collar but he shrugged them off and kept shoving. Meanie. Meant I had to wait another 10 minutes at that stupid place. If I have the opportunity to go back there next year, I would, just to go “I feel insulted… You thinking I’m trying to sneak in for underage gambling and drinking” then to say “Nah, I don’t feel like going in anyway… wasting my money on gambling and overpriced alcohol”

Now onto some deeper stuff (If you haven’t gotten bored of the first few lines and clicked on some other navigational button away from here)

If you eat the salad bar at Sizzlers’, watch a movie at Hoyts, or do something where there is a distinction in child and adult rates, there is a discrepancy. The casino consider child as under 18. But Sizzler considers child as 12 under, or something like that. Hoyts, under 16. What about 13-17? (Or any age inbetween) I guess that’s what student rates are for. But still… (I guess I was annoyed at the children cannot ride this shuttle bus sign… I was prepared to hulkify and go berserk thanks to those bloody queue cutters)

When Theresa said I looked “cute like a lil boy” I guess I really do have an immature face.

OK. Midnight flights are bad for the brain… time to hit the sack, or chair… Or I could OD on coffee and Coke and watch the inflight movies.

Those get rich books

2005-07-27T19:43:00.000+08:00

I’ve figured out how to make heaps of money… thanks to a bunch of books by some person called Robert T Kiyosaki, or something like that. And no, I did not figure it out from what he wrote about. Hell, I only skim read ONE book, and it was Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

I don’t want to get sued in the future for some form of defamation, but just from skim reading that one book, and looking at the many other “financial advice” type books by him, one can easily come to a conclusion that he got rich by selling those books, much like Allan Pease and his Body Language book and his “remixes”. Sure, they got to have some money to start with… who would by a “how to get rich” help book if the author was a poor bum? But seriously, if you want to make money like those people who write these how to make money books, do what they do, and not what they wrote. That’s write how to get rich books so that other poor suckers buy them.

The truth is, you gotta manage your money. Look after your finances. Watch your cash flow, make sure you don’t wind up in too much debt. Use your money wisely, such as investing them in assets that will make more money for you rather than splurging on stuff. But most importantly, you gotta enjoy yourself in the end game otherwise all that penny pinching and money watching is wasted. O yeah, and if you’re investing in the stockmarket, sometimes follow your gut feelings. Being too calculative or following the statistics too much can result in you kicking your own arse at the end of the day. Well that’s what’s happened to mum many times.

I went nuts and typed away on the plane, so I've got several more...

My best friend

2005-06-23T23:58:00.000+08:00

I define friends as those who stick with me in times of trouble. So I guess my best friend is Murphy, Murphy Law. Whenever the shit hit the fan, Murphy was right by my side. Sure, he may have been laughing his ass off, but he was always there. It's being with you that counts, right?

Is Murphy your best friend too?

milk + chilli

2005-05-29T23:52:00.000+08:00

Here's a lesson to you all. Milk + beer + food + chilli + stupidity = bad.

I have no idea where or how, but some people believe that drinking milk gets rid of the spiciness of chilli. That's pretty stupid if you ask me. Drinking milk with chilli and other food in your stomach is more likely to cause an unpleasant reaction. One guy ate a bunch of chillies as a dare... with a stomach fool of noodles and beer. He couldn't take the spiciness and chugged down 1.5L of milk. He shortly collapsed and vomitted A LOT of half digested food. It was gross.

Expect to see it on the internet. His mates took videos of him eating the chilli and vomitting using their mobile phones. I would have taken a photo of the aftermath, but I had to get mops n buckets n stuff for his girlfriend, who I must say is a very good person as she and her friends were the ones who were cleaning up the mess- his mates all ran off.

A few weeks back, there was a really bad customer. She ordered a beef basil, and specified no chilli and no pepper. The dish itself had no chilli and no pepper, except the sauce had something that had a bit of kick. I would hardly call it kick- I tried some today to see from her point of view. I would say that beef basil is not spicey at all. If there was anything you could call spicy, it was less than tobasco, and I find tobasco to be not that spicy and it has no staying power (drink water and its gone). And this bloody lady wanted a refund after eating the entire dish and complaining for 20 minutes that the spiciness of the dish prevented her from enjoying it. For fucks sake, if you can't take that little bit of spice (IT'S NOT SPICE) you shouldn't even be eating food.

(BTW I generally avoid curry and spicy food as much as I possibly can. If I got no choice or the choices other than it is poor, then I eat it)

Damn [insert colour] people and their chilli.

The dark side of the force

2005-05-26T19:36:00.000+08:00

Anybody remember this quote?
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."
You probably won't be that surprised how true that quote is. And you probably would be weirded out by the fact that I could incorporate it into conversations.

I'll just bold the relevant bits.

Jello: so how goes ur exams?
• §?lly ? [f: badly ^^
Jello: hahaha
Jello: what have u had?
Jello: lit>?
• §?lly ? [f: failing lit
• §?lly ? [f: applic was alright
• §?lly ? [f: thats it so far
Jello: failing lit?
• §?lly ? [f: calc n bio on thurs
• §?lly ? [f: yep
• §?lly ? [f: i swear
• §?lly ? [f: 3 essays
• §?lly ? [f: not even 6 pages
Jello: dw... i was like that
Jello: u'll pass overall (at the end of the year) at least
[BLABLABLA]
Jello: if u need a tutor, try margaret johnson
Jello: she's a legend
• §?lly ? [f: lol
• §?lly ? [f: we're
• §?lly ? [f: getting lit tute in school
Jello: does good for ur morale, unless ur morale has been broken,
killed, and..
Jello: o
Jello: damn rossmoyne
• §?lly ? [f: yeah
• §?lly ? [f: mrs williamson organised it
Jello: giving regular (ur a regular student right?) students tuition
when im gone
• §?lly ? [f: for those who are failing, but not so bad that they're
uncurable, was mr curtis' words
• §?lly ? [f: O_O
Jello: BAH
• §?lly ? [f: cept that i got an invite to go like, the day before it
was scheduled, cos someone pulled out
Jello: i hate curtis even more now
• §?lly ? [f: meaning im prolly incurable
• §?lly ? [f: ehehe
Jello: hahahahahaha
Jello: dont fall down that path
• §?lly ? [f: :P
Jello: the incurable path is dangerous
• §?lly ? [f: tis so
• §?lly ? [f: but
• §?lly ? [f: cant help it
Jello: nooo
Jello: don't fall down that path
Jello: incurability leads to anger
• §?lly ? [f: lol...
• §?lly ? [f: nah
Jello: anger leads to hatred
Jello: hatred leads to the dark side
Jello: i mean
Jello: bad grades in lit
• §?lly ? [f: the dark side has COOKIES (edit: where can I learn these abilities?)
Jello: not from a lit teacher (edit: not from a jedi)
Jello: a word of advice, if you ever believe what you write sucks, but
a teacher or academic says that what you have written has some good
points, or that you are capable, believe what they say

So what I said was not exactly the same as what Yoda said, but at least it's close.

Basically, when you suck at something you hate it. It does not help when others do not give you a morale boost, but kill it, as it makes you hate it more, or get angrier. Then you cycle through Yoda's saying and you end up with a horribly nasty dark result. Hate is bad.

AARGH I forgot what else I was going to write. I had so many cool ideas running in my head during lectures. I probably was running through job interview scenarios. I shall not fail again.

infantry vs tank- who will win?

2005-04-28T00:53:00.000+08:00

Just before I head off to sleep, I think I might try writing about this little hypothetical argument Hari brought forward the other night. I think it all started from some guy who mentioned to Hari that small arms fire can destroy a tank (like in Red Alert 2)

In a nutshell, who will win? WWII, 5 US paratroopers vs 1 Panzer tank (Panther or Tiger, makes no real difference except the Tiger has thicker armour and a big Flak 88)

Hari's version: Of the 5 infantry, 3 have M1 Garands, 1 has the Thompson, and 1 has the .30 MG. They do not have grenades, as they "used them all up the night before in some drunken bonfire". No mines, or anti tank weapons.
THe tank is in an open area and there is decent cover all around it. The infantry are in the cover. We discussed about wooded areas, but this can also apply to a town scenario.
BLAU! There was a heavy emphasis on the tank being able to waste large amounts of shells to eliminate 5 soldiers who can't do much but run.

The analysis: This is basically figures, nothing specified about where they are and who found who first. No grenades is a little strange, but sticking to Hari's restrictions, the 5 paratroopers have little hope of destroying the tank. Why? The 5 can't do much against it except circle around it until they can't be seen from the little portholes, mount the tank, pop the hatch and since they have no grenades, shoot the crew inside?

My version: The paratroopers had to have grenades with them. How the hell would they have used it all up? If we consider grenades to be precious, tactical, commodities they wouldn't have been used up completely. Now, 5 soldiers vs 1 tank. What's the reason behind it all? Are they going to charge at each other shooting away like crazy people? No. It's got to be more like 5 soldiers walk around the corner of a building to see an idling tank waiting for them, or the other way round where 5 soldiers were ordered to destroy a tank approaching via a road. Or something along those lines. If both were the case, then there would be more units involved.

Tank is waiting. 5 soldiers, 1 tank can still apply here. If the soldiers were in a high state of alert, checking every single corner, they probably would have avoided death by hail of bullets. At this point, after checking the corner and spotting the tank and ducking back behind the corner, the tank could fire a shell and spell the end for the squad. If not, they still stand a chance as they would be able to circle around the tank.

Tank is ambushed. Why the hell would one tank be approaching a certain place unaccompanied? It would more likely be assisting alongside other armour and a platoon of infantry, a platoon being 16-44 soldiers*. Since the opposing side now has more vehicles to deal with, plus a platoon of soldiers, I guess the number of paratroopers and equipment have to be re-evaluated. Let's boost their numbers to a full platoon as well. If we look at Sunzi's Art of War, we can see that the paratroopers have the possible advantage of being in an advantageous location where they can have make full use of the situation.
Equipment. Command ain't going to send out ill equipped men to take on a bunch of tanks and infantry. But we can't give the platoon any support. So assume that the platoon carries some mortars or bazookas, or mines for that matter, chances are the paratroopers will win, but probably with heavy casualties.

In a nutshell. It all boils down to which leader is smarter.

But, what do you think? You define and establish the restrictions/variables and your opinion on who will win.

*(http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blchancommand.htm)

More randomness

2005-04-25T22:27:00.000+08:00

OK, several things I must remember to write...
Me and bikes
The Emperor
More rice hillarity
Racist HP fans
Crap, forgotten what else I should write...

OK. Me and bikes. Here's a little math for you. Justin + bicycle = comedy on the scale that Justin puts his life at risk. Yeah... that's right. I'm the comedian on wheels! Seriously. When I rode to Kings Park, I had no brakes. So this was me going down hill- "WAAAAAGH! NO BRAKES!!!!!" *goes off road and plants feet into the ground in an attempt to slow down*
And today, my pedal fell off... So I had to cycle home with just one pedal. Hell... I think I've become a master at 1 pedal cycling, I could probably pedal a bike which has no pedals.

The Emperor. Don't you think the new pope looks like the Emperor from Star Wars?
http://darthbenedict.ytmnd.com/
Unfortunately, I can't find the picture which compares the two. Probably somewhere on www.entensity.net Just ignore the NSFW crap.

I still can't get over the rice eating habits of white people. One guy asked me for a BIG bowl. So I gave him the bowl only to see him get the rice and curry, and shove it all in the big bowl, and stir like mad. The green chicken curry rice turned into chicken curry STEW! If that specific culinary creation was meant to be a stew, don't you think you would be served that meal like a stew?

Read today's (Monday) newspaper (The West Australian) and there's some tiny article on some Scottish born Chinese girl who will be playing Harry Potter's gf or whatever. And the fans are not happy, making comments like "she can't speak English". Yeah, ignore whatever the journos say, they're always bullshit. But still... Not very nice.

O yeah, I'm excellent at scaring people away.

the customer is always right... pfft yeah right

2005-04-15T22:34:00.000+08:00

I really think we should revise the saying, "the customer is always right". Seriously. Are they ALWAYS right? I think not. If they were, then why the hell would they ask the shop assistant/technician/waiter etc for advice/recommendations etc.?

That was one piece of evidence in general terms. But just goto Ctrl Alt Delete and sift through their archives to find the strips where Lucas is dealing with customers coming in with computer "problems". Ignore those with Ethan as he usually ends up doing something crazy. Whilst you are trying to find my evidence, enjoy yourself with the gaming and geek references.

Tonight, a customer wanted to pick a fight with us. She thought we gave her the wrong food. So she phoned, to complain. Her complaints were totally weird so I suggested she come in with her "dodgy" food. She did. One quick glance at the food she brought back and we could tell that she was wrong. All that trouble phoning, complaining and driving all the way back to the restaurant, ready to fight for a refund or a free meal or something, for nothing! She got pwned. In fact, she got fowned! That's fucking owned.

Conclusion. The customer is not always right. As long as we ask for advice and recommendations, we will always be in the wrong.

And another thing. Don't give me the evil eyes. The evils gives me the creeps. *shudders*

Phasing out

2005-04-12T21:25:00.000+08:00

I feel there is little point in updating this blog. I mirror it in multiply and my audience is in multiply. Not to mention, the comments posts go crazy and my replies to the comments often add on and improve on my original post.

Anyways, here's a little amusing conversation with Hari.
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
jade empire?
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
hahahaha
<> says:
chinese kotor
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
oooooh
<> says:
without the lightsabres
<> says:
and no force
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
awwww
<> says:
but chi
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
awwww
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
*loosing interest
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
oooh chi
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
that sounds....
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
mystical
<> says:
its real
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
aha.....rite...
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
isnt chi like
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
energy or sumtin
<> says:
life force n shit
<> says:
its real man
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
oh ok
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
like soul
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
i get it
<> says:
a chi master can make stuff go up in flames
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
but dey make it into hadokens etc
<> says:
after EXTREME concentration
<> says:
yeah...
<> says:
chi = hadoken
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
kamehameha
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
hehehe KEWL!!!
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
so its like
<> says:
actually...
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
street fighter
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
meets starwars
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
*drool
<> says:
the kamehameha is more real than the hadoken
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
i like!!!
<> says:
coz the hadoken is next to spontaneous
<> says:
the kamehameha requires concentration and charging up
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
mmmmmm
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
but the electricty?
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
ground breaking...
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
odd grunting...
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
thats a bit...over the top
<> says:
thats just the crazy japanese
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
constipated faces...
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
hahahah yea
<> says:
hahaha
<> says:
the godzilla syndrome
<> says:
everything must be destroyed
<> says:
:D
๑۩۞۩๑«°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» The Lover's Gambit «°•●٠°˚˚°٠●•°» ๑۩۞۩๑- 10 Days says:
HAHAHAHAHAH

Final Comments:
I don't like IS100. The eportfolio requires us to do a summary of what we learnt. And we got a big fat book. Translation: summarise the book.
I look forward to buying: GuildWars, KotOR II, Forza Motorsport, The Godfather, Fallout 3, a Gamecube and the new Zelda, and a fancy steering wheel for my xbox. Will I be able to manage my time effectively?
Why doesn't Ford sell their Mustangs here? The 05 model looks so cool! And the base model is US$19800ish... sounds reasonably priced for such a cool car!

How to survive Mr Wieman's reign of terror.

2005-04-07T00:28:00.000+08:00

I know its a bit late for those who have Mr Wieman (aka Mein Fuhrer) (Hari K, 2004) this year, but after encountering a Mr Wieman lookalike at work, and got scared for a few seconds, a few memories resurfaced.

Mr Wieman is a great teacher. You gotta give him kudos for his unique teaching method/style. It gets the job done, and by that I mean you learn stuff. However, this style involves keeping you on your toes, scared shitless, and in fear of being ridiculed. I was always on my toes, and scared, and in fear, but I managed to avoid the spotlight, whilst Jeremy had to deal with it almost full on.

And because his surname is German sounding, and he runs a regime both in and out of the class, that is how he got labelled a Nazi by Hari. We meant no harm, it was all in good humour. "I vill ressurrect ze undead army of ze fourth reich!"

If you recall, I wrote something on How to be happy or something like that. Somewhere in there, I mentioned how NOT to be noticed, or as some people like to say, "fly under the radar". That is how you survive Wieman's reign of terror.

Flying under the radar allows one to survive those random "stand up/raise your hand/sit down if you can/cannot/know/don't know the answer to this question" orders. Master this art and for 95% of the time you can go through these scary moments without actually having to work your brain on the problem (he likes to make you do it mentally, well for year 11 he did. Not too sure about year 12).

How do you do this?
Simple. You attract attention by standing out from the crowd. Therefore, the first person and last person to respond to the "orders" will get singled out first. Preferably, act like you are calculating the problem in your head and keep your senses open to people standing up/raising hands etc and generally stand/raise your hand etc after the 4th person, or in unison with a few others around that number.

Case study time!
Poor Jeremy never got the hang of it. He was often the last person to respond. And by last, I meant that he was still thinking whilst everyone else had responded (whether or not they actually came to an answer or were still figuring it out whilst acting like they have) but upon noticing that everyone else had stood up etc, he quickly stands up etc, attracting even more attention, and suspiscion.
After telling him the little trick, he would stand up etc too eagerly.
And sometimes, he would respond in a bad way, ie. "stand up if you DO NOT know the answer"

Several things wrong with his technique. He responded too late. This means Wieman's eyes are already on you. By hastily standing up and all after being slow in thinking, there will be a great deal of suspiscion going through his head. Hence he will pick on you. Also, by hastily responding, it means you still don't know the answer.
Standing up too fast means that you really know your shit (which of course is not true because you are reading this for tips on how to avoid making a fool of yourself). Also, it doesn't allow you time to formulate a contingency plan incase he does ask you. You also won't have enough time to think through his order in case it's a trick. (Don't half stand up and then sit down when you realise you got tricked. You attract attention)
In fact, sudden movements attract the attention of the predator, and sudden movements of the predator alert the prey. Simple animal instincts.

Conclusion
I really should do a plan on scrap paper before writing ANYTHING.
Don't attract Wieman's attention. (Don't be the first or last to respond. No sudden movements, don't move too slowly either)
Don't act suspisciously. (No rapid changes in status from deep thinking to jumpy)
Blend in with the environment. (Move with the crowd[small crowd, not the main crowd])
After responding, start thinking. (You are not under his spotlight, but shit happens and you gotta be at least half prepared)
Wieman has a sixth sense for "contraband" items.

Why must the media emphasis that a psychotic killer liked to play videogames?

2005-03-23T23:06:00.000+08:00

Why must the media emphasis that a psychotic killer liked to play videogames? That is so not fucking true. It pisses me off to the extent that I want to go kill someone. (note the irony =P)

Most of the time, these killers who had emphasis of being a videogamer placed on them had some serious psychological issues. You see, it is the screwed upness in their head that causes such violent acts. Violent videogames do not cause or inspire someone, especially a normal person, to do such horrible things. Being teased, ignored, demotivated, tormented, coming from a unhappy background, in a nutshell living a shitty life, will cause almost anyone to go crazy. This is worse on people who cannot express themselves or vent their frustration. I like to think that videogames allows one to vent such frustration.

Anyway, an excerpt from my chat with Lawrence makes a pretty damn good argument about all this.

pisses me off
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
there is no correlation between videogames and murder
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
there isnt even causality
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
hehe
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
there is in taht case
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
stupid media
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
there are plenty of other reasons y he went killing ppl
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
lol not really
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
he got his grandpa gun
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
his family was fucked up
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
society treated him bad
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
he went to the goth side
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
here's a case study for u
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
yea hahaha
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
get 2 kids
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
u reli do care
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
make sure they have reasonable amounts of mental stability
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
acceptable set of ethics/morals/values
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
overdose 1 with violent games, movies etc
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
and abuse the other kid
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
make the abused kid feel sad, suicidal
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
even to the extent that he wants revenge
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
now, which kid would be more likely to kill a bunch of school kids and teachers?
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
hehe
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
especially since school kids who u attempt to hang out with make u feel like shit, and teachers just keep making u depressed coz they make u fail at lit
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
because the videogamer kid is mentally stable, he ought to know reality from virtual reality, and has no need to kill real ppl
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
theres nothing wrong with him mentally except for perhaps, being desensitized to violence, or has an addiction to polygon blood n guts
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
but the tormented kid...
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
he would be truly fucked up
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
he has reason to break out in a violent fit of rage
lawrence - ring2 any1? says:
be his lawyer
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
hahaha
<> why must the media emphasise that a crazy killer played videogames? says:
i got a very good case there dont i?

And another thing, ever notice how cliched these high school shooters have become? Many wore trenchcoats, they all claim, or the media claims, that there were some videogames behind it all, they were good students (A or B grades), generally quiet and marginalised, and had broken families or whatever.

Now if trenchcoats weren't so damn difficult to clean, (you have to dry clean them, which means money) and if there were more winter months, I would be wearing one. And you ought to be afraid. I would satisfy a majority of the cliched criteria to be a high school killer, except in uni instead.

Eat your damn food.

2005-03-19T22:56:00.000+08:00

I enjoy working at Han's Cafe. It's one of the rare jobs which allows you to look down on people, yet serve them. However, one thing still pisses me off, and that's uneaten food.

I could generalise and say that there are two ways to leave behind uneaten food. Firstly, theres the small eater or "just can't quite finish the meal". This is where a person who has just one meal (the $7.95 one which is an individual serving of rice and dish) can't finish the last piece of chicken. I don't mind cleaning that up because I can still easily stack the plates on top of each other, even with a piece of chicken making things off balance. However, it's JUST ONE FUCKING PIECE. Eat it damn you!

The other way to leave behind uneaten food is to order a fucking huge amount of food that the average person cannot eat. In an extreme case, some person orders a meal, noodles, dish and rice, and the other partner orders noodles, dish, rice and fried rice for the two to share. To make things specific, person A orders green curry chicken rice, mee goreng, beef basil, and steamed rice. Person B orders phad thai, lemon prawns, steam rice, and they share a pineapple fried rice. ARE THEY FUCKING INSANE?!?! Just because they are big white people, and I'm a short, skinny Asian in comparison, does not grant them the ability to eat that much food.
And once they've left, they leave behind many messed up plates still full of food for poor me to clean up. Yeah, they play with their bloody food. No wonder why they don't want to take it home.

Another big eater is the rice man. They order a meal, as well as noodles and rice. Well, the noodles are to share, but an additional serving of rice to go with the rice and individual dish? Not even a rice eating Chinaman will do that. That's like a 2.5 staple(rice/noodles) to 1 meat/veg ratio. Guess what is left when I go clean up? Bits of meat left on the meal plate, one whole serving of rice less one spoonful, and chunks of noodle left on the noodle plate.

Moral of the story, don't order too much. White people are strictly potatoe/bread/pasta eaters, so don't go rice/noodle crazy. Don't play with your food. If you have left overs, ask me nicely to put it in a takeaway container. And if there is a few chunks of meat left behind, just eat it. A few more bites will not burst your stomach. And why? BECAUSE I HAVE TO CLEAN UP.

If you are going to make a mess, make it a tidy mess. It takes a lot less effort to clean up. And you generally have to clean up even if you do not make a mess.

Hire a Hitman

2005-03-09T13:20:00.000+08:00

Hire a hitman at http://hitman.us/main.html.

Check out the testimonials. Interesting stuff.

The Master of Stealth's guide to being reasonably happy, or something like that

2005-03-04T13:37:00.000+08:00

Well, using aliases, The Lover's Gambit, considers me to be wise. Yes, some of my silly little "gems" of knowledge are actually quite useful.

Stealthiness has little to do with happiness. I am not too sure what impact it has on success either. But I do know that stealthiness allows one to avoid or get out of messy situations. A very useful maneuver in my books.
There are two main points on how to stay under the radar.
1- Make your entrances and exits silent. And while you're at it, make sure it doesn't attract any visual attention either.
2- In fact, staying under the radar requires silence. So shut up!
Do the opposite to this if you want to be detected on the metaphorical radar.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Subconscious patterns affect our lives. What goes on in our mind subliminally often ends up selffulfilling. In other words, if you firmly believe that you are poor and will never get rich, you probably will end up poor because whenever there is excess cash, somehow you go and spend it, or beyond your means. I just read about this in some book, so I'm guessing one should formulate a nice subconscious pattern that will get you far in life.

Nobody can make you miserable without your permission. Don't let other people tell you how to feel. For example, if you had a bloody long day at uni/work etc, and someone goes "you must be tired", DAMNIT! That is the last thing you want to be reminded about. Create a mental firewall, and don't take that kind of crap.

Honesty is the best policy. An honest statement is short and to the point. People respect you for being honest. Besides, lieing takes up more brainpower as you have to concoct a story and follow through with it. Unfortunately, this is very hard to adhere to, as lieing can often get us out of messy situations, temporarily.

The customer is always right. By this, I mean that at times one should admit they are wrong. Infact, most of the time, YOU are WRONG. (that had nothing to do with the brainwashing and psychological torture I received from the Lit Luftwaffe) Apply this to other situations.

Respect yourself. No one respects someone who cannot respect themself. You can influence people once you can respect yourself.

Just smile and nod like you know what they're talking about.

You can please people by letting them believe what they want to believe.

Show that you care. Give an empathetic response rather than an excuse, for example.

A fair chunk of this came from a book. So there's the acknowledgements... if only I could find the book for its title and stuff.

The X-Box and Gamecube collaboration

2005-02-25T17:09:00.000+08:00

The reason why both X-Box and Gamecube rule. The former because it is a sentient robot, and the latter for having such a nice description.

The Nintendo DS was released here yesterday, coinciding with Jo's birthday. But even though I support the DS, and the PSP as well, you wouldn't have seen me waiting impatiently to grab one from Myers. I think that's the cheapest store... Most shops sell the DS for $199 but I think Myers is selling it for $188. Sadly, my stash of cash is at an uncomfortable level. I must have some reserves to get KOTOR II and Guild Wars (when that comes out). Besides, being a supporter of both the DS and PSP, I really should wait and see which way I will get influenced over to.

On a similar topic, what would happen if Microsoft were to create their own handheld/portable gaming system? What would they call it? If they were to follow the likes of Sony, they would call it the X-Box Portable, XBP for short, or maybe the X-Box Handheld. Sticking with this formula, there are many possibilities. X-hand, X-pocket, Pocket-Box, Hand-box. BORING.

One problem which would need to be resolved would be the X-Box's image of being one big fat ass. The console itself is as big as my ancient VCR, and the original controller is often affectionately known as the sack of potatoes.

I still think that making a portable handheld rig of a large videogaming system is not a wise idea. (Translation: Get a console, shrink it, put a screen and buttons/thumbstick on it, attach a portable power source = no good) One major problem with this is the medium through which the game is stored. PS2 and XB have their games on full sized DVDs. Now, if you were to get someone who rips these games (damn console game pirates) they would tell you that practically the whole DVD is filled. A handheld with certain dimension aspects larger than a DVD is not very pocketable. Until technology advances, a handheld should generally be of a previous generation of gaming. The GBA was literally a pocket SNES with a little more power. The DS is literally a pocket N64 with other crap. The PSP claims to be a pocket PS2, but their UMD has a lot less storage space than a DVD. Hence, it cannot be a true portable/pocket sized PS2.

How to be a ninja

2005-02-22T15:13:00.000+08:00

Muahahahaha... How to make a ninja mask out of a t-shirt. Don't need to say much about that picture.

Batteries not included (crazy Japs pt2)

2005-02-14T11:15:00.000+08:00

For $2, I don't think I have managed to get such laughter. And for girls, I don't think they could imagine how much pleasure they could get from it. Sorry, batteries are not included.

What the hell are hand held massagers used for? I am pretty sure they are not used for solving shoulder aches. Just look at it!

This one actually is pretty good for massaging, and I do not mean "massaging" with the inverted commas. But on closer inspection, this "massager" has a removeable rubbery black nubbin. Why the hell would you need to remove it? And why is it a nubbin when you are supposed to be massaging a large surface area? My cousin's immediate guess is that the removeable black nubbin is for "massaging" the clitoral region.

You can clearly see that it looks like a friggin dildo! No further explanation required.

The power switch on this "massager" is quite hillarious. It's a smiley face when turned on, a moderate face when turned off, and a sad face when you open it. :) :| :(
I am sure you lot have enough twistedness in your imagination to figure out why its user would be happy when it is powered on.

Unfortunately, the build quality of this "massager" is a little dodgy. I would not suggest a curious "massagee" to insert it as it came apart relatively easy. It wasn't really designed for such use anyway, it just looks like it should. However, upon further discussion with my cousin, slipping a condom over it or wrapping it in gladwrap (aka saran wrap) should solve the problem of poor construction.

I reckon if you were to walk into an adult shop, you would see the exact same thing, but in "better" packaging.

Another thing, notice how on the packaging, there's a picture of a woman? Of all the vibrating hand held massagers on the shelf, they all had a picture, on the packaging, of a woman using it.

And another thing, both seem to vibrate at a strong level. Before you make any shocked faces, to conduct our study we powered them up and rumbled our skulls with it. Seems like we under estimated these little $2 laughter machines. Well, we found it funny. For $2, we expected it to be like those crappy hand held fans. And they required 2 AA batteries!

And now linking it back to the topic of crazy Japs, those two devices were in a Japanese store, in Japanese packaging. Now taking evidence that the parallels between manga and reality are not too drastic (clothing, and how it's always some other person who is extremely lucky) and some conclusion that they are crazy and sick, we can then come to the second conclusion that these vibrating handheld massagers are not what they seem. Hell, Yuhan managed to read the writing on the packaging, and said it means "handheld vibrator". All we have to do now is wait for someone to be curious enough to experiment with it. (it is no longer in my possession for I have given it away)

And to quote from Hyper, an excellent gaming magazine:
"It appears that the time you have spent living in the land of the Rising Sun and Probing Tentacle has left you with a complete inability to communicate with anywone not educated in the ways of dick-girls, hostess bars, drinking yourself up the ladder of success, dried squid snacks, really bad pizza, really good beer, painful game shows, panty vending machines, Chairman Kaga, businessmen reading hentai on trains, rampant loli fetishism, sleeping standing up, Puffy Ami Yumi, Hello Kitty, Tamagotchi, fruity creatures you capture with eggs and bukkake."
Crazy.

(Please note, I drafted up this and the previous 2 posts whilst in Singapore where the humour was still flowing. I just tacked on a few additional bits, which most likely messes up the chain of thought.)

Anime/manga and real life (crazy Japs pt1)

2005-02-14T11:09:00.000+08:00

Shounen romance manga, the stuff I download, has a lot of *ahem* fanservice. What do you expect when the female characters wear what I now identify as a cliched Japanese teenage girl's clothing- woolen vest/jumper, funny baggy socks, and an uber short mini skirt. As a continuation of my Adventures in Daiso, I encountered what is expected when a mini skirt is involved- panty flash. I can't believe I am writing this as I have a scary feeling some ninjas are now going to slay me. I think it will be the feminist ninjas this time round.

I didn't go out of my way to perve, I have a sense of honour, and all that jazz. Yeah, that Jedi stuff (must play KOTOR II) But so much fuss is made on these little "oopsies" in the manga I read. I reckon it all boils down to the fact that the person who designed the fashion trend for these girls was some middle aged man, or a perverted old man. This then inspired the mangaka (is this the correct term for the artist/story writer in manga?) to create really weird character traits and stuff. I think I am onto something. I mean, how else can the characters think of echhi thoughts every single time something tiny occurs? (just read Ichigo 100%, which can be found at animewaves.net)

Hmm... Seems like a good way to conclude this part, for the next and final instalment is truly hilarious. I apologise for failing to word all that crap above in a nice and funny manner. And don't kill me if I have caused any offense.

Adventures in Daiso

2005-02-14T10:29:00.000+08:00

There's a shop inside IMM at Jurong East called Daiso. It's a Japanese $2 store. Some of the stuff there is worth more than $2, others are a bloody rip off. Before I go on with my findings, may I say one thing, "Beer in a bottle-can? BRILLIANT!" "BRILLIANT!" (In an Irish accent of course, much like the Guinness adverts)

Well, for $2, you can find stuff for your kitchen, dining room table, study room, bedroom, bathroom, garage, barbeque etc. But can you buy yourself a Russian fighter jet? Ah HAH! You didn't see that coming did you?

Yeah... you can buy one of these for $2. It comes in at a grand size of about 10cm from nose to turbine. It's a model kit for crying out loud! Not bad for $2. I bought myself a M1 Sherman for $6 and it was a pile of trash. Well, the tank itself was a pile of trash back in it's days, in comparison to superior German and Russian but less numbered tanks. Well, the MiG model kit is excellent quality for $2. It even comes with it's own rubber cement! Though judging by the size of the tube, it's construction is going to be very poor. Good thing I got a "big" bottle of that stuff somewhere on my desk.

Induced Insanity

2005-02-06T23:46:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year brings about mixed reactions. On the plus side, there's the food, new clothes, sales etc. On the down side, there's all the bloody spring cleaning you have to do, large crowds of people (including kamikaze bulldozer prams) and music capable of causing insanity. Yeah, that's right. Those "catchy" CNY tunes they play on TV, radio, shops, restaurants, everywhere.

I'm not complaining, it's just a way of expressing the festive mood. But I'd rather have other "exciting" visages in that part of the brain where all your thoughts are organised. Right now it is just static with "GONG XI GONG XI GONG XI NI!" on a loop. It is waylaying my mental planning of the master plan... the one plan... TO RULE THEM ALL!

Remedy: Listen to some other catchy tunes, and replace that annoying crap with some slightly more tolerable crap.

On another note, Valentine's Day... It makes couples happy, singles sad, and those who don't give a damn feel left out of it all. But damn, I don't recall it being so commercialised now. "Splurge on this $2,888 watch for your significant other and show how much you love him/her"
What kind of society have we become? Are we making materialism a key ideology? (Seems like I have forgotten how to word it right... Excellent! I have erased yet another literature memory)

For those of you who care, which ain't many, or any at all. I got another photo to add to the "eating" series. hehehe Me eating yu-sheng. Now there's a video of me eating kway teow, and photos of me eating a cookie and yu-sheng. What's next Alicia? Eating cake? Drinking soup? Raw capsicum, Chairman Kaga style? That's the name of the Iron Chef host right?

I had some good writing material on my mind, but I guess it got erased and replaced by CNY tunes. So all you are left with is either a skeleton of my thoughts, or half of them. If you would excuse me, I either have to get off the computer so that my cousin can attempt to write some stuff to DVD (damn USB port is stuffing up) or I will go watch episode 11 of The OC (season 2 of course). And since that part of my brain which organises thoughts has gone MIA... GONG XI FA CAI, XIN NIAN KUAI LE!!! *bangs a drum and gong*

A search and rescue operation for that part of the brain will commence shortly after the 12th of Feb. (No more blogging til then) (happy, disgruntled readers?)

The Hit Man

2005-02-05T23:06:00.000+08:00

I got a good joke for y'all, but firstly, I'll just ramble on some crap first.

I've been throwing some flak at some people (I shall keep things anonymous) regarding blogging habits. We all seem to have found our niche when it comes to writing about something. For me, I tend to write about games, society and games, food, and various rants involving yours truly somehow. Someone put on their MSN nickname something along the lines of "blogging allows you to be a journalist, minus the legal responsibilities". This means that although a blog/journal in other words means diary, people often use it to express their opinions. In other words, be columnists (sp?) like Danny Katz, or actual journos reporting on news and issues and stuff.

Yes, freedom of speech is promoted. But the line has to be drawn to some extent. Cookie cutter blog posts can get dull. Especially of the daily happenings variety. By this I mean "8am- woke up, went online... chatted... 12pm went out for lunch... met some people... blablabla"
Yep, very dull. However, sometimes it is very interesting, especially those by the socially active blogger variety. Being an attractive female adds kudos to it all.

One method to spice up the "daily happenings" kind of blog entry is to add a funny touch to it. Turn it into a Seinfeld. After all, that comedy classic revolved around NOTHING. Each episode had no topic at all- just a bunch of people doing ordinary things, but so much funny stuff happens.

Mind you, my style is probably boring to some people. But like I said above, freedom of speech. Who cares? Write what you like.

OK... Now the joke.

A young golfer is about to tee off at the first hole when an old chap calls out to him
"Sir, do you mind if I join you- my partner hasn't turned up."
The man welcomes the stranger over and the pair tee off.
"So what is it you do?" the young man asks his new golfing partner.
"I'm a hit man," replies the old man, quite a matter of factly.
"You're joking!" laughs the younger man.
"I am not," insists the killer, reaching into his bag and pulling out a beautiful sniper rifle with a huge telescopic sight.
"That's some scope," says the young man, "mind if I take a look? I think I might be able to see my house from here."

The hit man doesn't mind and hands over the sight.
"Wow, I can see my house all right, this is fantastic," smiles the man, "I can see right in the window... there's my wife and... wait a minute, she's naked - and that's my neighbour with her! Bitch!"
Enraged, he turns to the hit man and says,
"How much do you charge?"
"It's a flat rate," replies the hit man, "a thousand bucks each time I pull the trigger."

The young man thinks for a moment, staring back at his house.
"I want you to pop two people for me now.:
The hit man agrees, asking, "Who's first?".
"My wife," says the man, "she's always been mouthy, so shoot her in the mouth. Then my neighbour; just shoot his penis off to teach the guy a lesson."

The hit man takes aim, standing perfectly still for several minutes.
"Well... are you going to do it or not?" shouts the young man angrily.
"Hang on," says the hit man, squinting, "I think I can save you one grand here..."

BWAHAHAHAHAH

Anything involving hit men have got to be good. Sniper rifles too! ^^ Collateral is a good movie. Phew... that was hard to type in proper English. I don't think there was any short hand up there.

'Til next time, happy blogging!

Collision Course

2005-02-03T19:03:00.000+08:00

Some of you may have heard of my self diagnosed invisibility complex. I now know why I made such a diagnosis. It originates from crazy, psycho people who collide into you as though you do not exist. It bloody pisses me off. They either stare straight at you then *WHAM* or they are staring at the sky/ground/any other direction, then *WHAM*. The worst are pram pushers. They full on kamikaze into you. Just because they got a baby as a meatshield does not grant them the license to bulldoze.

Guess I should stop wearing camoflaugey colours.

However, why the fuck should I move out of the way? It should be their turn to step aside and let the oncoming traffic move in a straight line.

If I could do something and get away with it, I would most definitely go out of my way to smash every single person walking in the opposite direction to me. After all, I said I would get away with it. *SMASH* "Watch where you're going jackass!"
Ooh! Also, those people who try to get into the MRT ahead of you, or at a terminating ride, those people who try to squeeze out before you. I mean, you are all going to get off the bus anyway. One example I am referring to is when I was in the bus to JB. When we were approaching the immigration thing, this guy sitting on the seat infront of me got up, when the bus was still moving, and made the notion for me to let go of the hand rail (infront of him) so that he could move closer to the door, which was still closed. For crying out loud, we all had to get off the bus, and it made no difference if you were first or last. If I could get away with something there, I would have given him a right hook to the jaw and go "SIDDOWN! asshole"

One of the great things about videogames is that your actions in it do not affect real people, except those who are waiting for you to stop so you can do your household chores. GTA is great for relieving such stress induced by kamikaze walkers. Chainsaw... yummy!

Yeah... I'm pretty cranky when it comes to these rude people. But I guess I am probably going to be proven a hypocrite where I too, do similar acts without realising it.

Inflight Entertainment

2005-01-28T23:35:00.000+08:00

You gotta love SIA's Krisworld entertainment system. Movies on demand? YES PLEASE!

Watched "Without a Paddle" and "New Police Story"... all I could fit in considering I had to eat, and deal with interruptions and occasional software freezes (very annoying).

WaP was a nice comedy dealing with bits of mateship and a carpe diem theme. 3 mates go off on a journey to find some guy's treasure (cash) which was actually a childhood dream of theirs. In a way, it was the legacy of their 4th friend, who passed away. Hijinks along the way, like with "H&K goto White Castle", and they get to a point where they finally realise that this "treasure" is life itself. BLablabla yadadada (get John or Brandon to do some deep philosophical and literary analysis of the movie)

"New Police Story" is another action slapstick comedy with Jackie Chan. I'm not too sure if it can have comedy as part of its genre as it is quite dark. Basically, Chan's elite squad gets slaughtered by a bunch of rich kids who have nothing good to do in life, and also inspired by violent videogames (who woulda thought?). This humiliates Chan, who goes into semi retirement. Some random guy poses as a cop to get Chan back onto the case, and REVENGE, and blablabla. What I like about Asian movies is that there's heaps of morals and stuff. There's the comradeship and loyalty- Chan sticking with his squad despite their being near dead, and even hauling them out of the building on a trolley when the building is about to explode. Kind of like the "leave no man behind" mentality of the Rangers in "Black Hawk Down". Then there's the one good deed deserves another, give and you will receive crap. You'll see right at the end what I mean. In fact, this is a deeper Chan movie than most. Probably because it wasn't directed by him.

bumming around

2005-01-24T13:45:00.000+08:00

Bah! Trying to shove me in a friday afternoon enrolment slot. What kind of fool do they think I am? If I went on friday, I would have probably zero choice for my timetable. Good thing I went in today, and good thing I'm going to Singapore on friday as that is the reason why I went in.

Considering most of the people I know who are going to do commerce, are doing a double degree of it at UWA, it's nice to see a familiar face at the enrolment. Sharon, who did the ABW thing with me in 2003 is doing commerce as well! And then there's Jin... That's two familiar faces, there has got to be more.

My timetable is strange. I've crammed in about 2 units worth of classes into monday, with breaks at 12-1pm, and 2-4pm. 2 hours worth of classes at 10am and 12pm with a break at 11am on tuesday, and a Management tutorial 10-12pm on wednesday. Thursday has another crappy 2 hour break in between a 2 hour lecture which is 12-2pm and a Managemetn lecture which is 4-5pm.

I think Management is a second semester unit, but I'm doing it first semester because I already done Accounting 100. The people manning the enrolment process don't want me to be lazy =(.

So, Curtin people, try structuring your timetable around mine ^^. That's monday from 10am-6pm, tuesday from 10am-1pm, wednesday 10am-12pm, thursday 12-5pm.

ctrl alt del

2005-01-19T10:13:00.000+08:00

Yet again, I have stumbled upon another funny web-comic. Well actually, I think I've stumbled upon it before but shrugged it off. Stupid me. It's hell good. Now if you know my vocabulary, those few words = a near 10/10 rating. Then again, if anything's hell good, it would deserve a near 10/10 rating.

Ctrl + Alt + Del is what I'm talking about. But before you click on that link, I should advise that it is recommended for it's target audience- gamers, girl gamers, geeks, the violent, the insane, and the violently insane, and some minorities that I can't think of right now. Oh, and lazy gits, you will have to click on the latest comic button to see (surprise surprise) the latest comic. Or here for the first one.

A few things that makes this comic so funny:
An Xbox used as a deadly weapon
Splashes of insanity
Videogame induced violence (and I'm trying to argue that it doesn't)
Stupid CS noobs (CS in general)
Bashing things senseless
"If America's Army is any indication of real combat..."
Sick acts of violence, in a humourous manner
A robot Xbox, like Apple Geeks iPod Eve, but male
MMORPG references
Did I mention insanity, violence, and gaming?

Band of Brothers

2005-01-17T16:03:00.000+08:00

Band of Brothers. Best. Miniseries. Ever. I finally tracked down a copy at Big W. Only $39.40, original price of $79.95. Nice one!

That's one piece of media that has been checked off my list. Now my remaining list, in no real order is: KotOR II, PGR 2, Brothers In Arms, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, and Spiderman 2 set. I gotta start getting more shifts per week if I want to afford all that and still have money to shove in the bank. mmmm interest...

More bushido nonsense

2005-01-15T13:16:00.000+08:00

I just remembered... people hate it when they get double teamed in Gunbound. Personally, I don't care whether I get double teamed, aka gang raped, or if I DT someone. To DT someone, is to gang up on them. In a game such as Gunbound, this means the victim will die twice as fast as usual. Hence the complaints by the victim. These complaints argue the fact that it's 1. annoying 2. cheap 3. noobish 4. kill stealing 5. breaks the bushido code and ultimately 6. ruins the fun of the game. However, their whiney complaints is what ruins the game.

DT is a legitimate strategy. It lies along the lines of superiority in numbers and firepower. It also involves teamwork as the players can work together in either just bashing the hell out of the victim's mobile, or one of them screwing with the victim's land whilst the other pounds away. Deciding who gets the kill also generates a fair amount of trust between the DTers. However, if one player did all the damage and then another player comes along and takes the finishing blow- that breaks the code of conduct.

The same thing applies to Warcraft and FPS, I'll have to use Counterstrike as an example (much to my disliking). Overwhelming an opponent in W3 with a larger army, either with the help of an ally, having a larger food army, or a higher tech army, is unfair. But that's how things go. Mind you, I was often on the receiving end of the big attacks. Orcs are just too hard to amass large numbers of. I tend to tech all the way to T3 so I can get heal wards and all the other goodies =P Man, it's been ages since I last played W3, mmmm blademaster that can walk through units...
Now CS, a skilled player would be able to take on several players at once, but it is those players who move as a team, covering each other, who end up alive at the end of the game (most of the time). There are no complaints about players working together, which can be seen as ganging up, as such a game involves teamwork. Likewise you always see that in any conflict, one side always tries to use a superior force to crush their foe.

I don't know what I'm trying to say here, but I'm just saying that some tactics are just cheap and n00bish(dishonourable), whilst others which give you similar results (the positive results) do not break the "honour" code of conduct. There ain't nothing wrong with camping a strategic location. It's known as holding a strategic location. Camping a respawn zone (here I go again) may be strategic, but that's a little TOO far. And it's dishonourable to continuously whinge about someone using a legit tactic during the game. I'm ranting about several examples AFTER the game, so I don't believe I am being hypocritical. (and hence I will cease this honour talk for the time being)

Gaming is to be enjoyed, and to relieve stress. Don't go and ruin it for others by spoiling the fun.

Honour

2005-01-14T23:42:00.000+08:00

Forgive me if I am using the following terms in an improper manner.

Basing actions on honour, is an excellent system. It can be followed anywhere, in everyday situations, even war. So in my opinion, being honourable involves being honest, true to your word, fair, being trustworthy etc. Dishonour or dishonourable actions involve backstabbing, breaking trust, doing in general bad or displeasing stuff.

Gah! I can't explain it.

The samurai however, are a good example of honour. Well, actually it's Bushido. The Code of the Bushido include justice, bravery, benevolence, politeness, veracity, honour, and loyalty. In fact, ignore all that crap I just wrote, Bushido is what should be followed by everyone. I don't even know what benevolence and veracity mean, but I'm sure it's very similar to the other elements.

I played Darkzone for the first time in AGES today. It brings back memories of the times we ran around like decapitated chickens rather than cohesive squads which we tried to do today. Blue replacing green has been a welcome change, but the 2 hand on gun rule is VERY annoying. The gun has sensors to make sure you are holding the gun with 2 hands. However, the sensors are not sensitive enough and you got to hold it awkwardly for it to register it. It's still fun though.

Now, I can bring in the honour and Bushido junk. In games such as this, players have to follow a set of rules. Rules are to be followed for either safety, enjoyment, fairness, or removal of the possibilities of a variable being screwed up. However, rules do not cover everything. In Halo 2 multiplayer, there are no rules about hogging 2 scorpion tanks in the middle of Blood Gulch (the middle is where the rocket launcher is) There are no rules about carrying an energy sword and rocket launcher in FFA games either. There are no rules about camping, and camping respawn zones either, in any game. What regulates these is the honour code. Gamers who do such things start receiving copious amounts of verbal abuse, and hatred by from other players. Such actions are considered dishonourable. It's also impolite and cowardly. (Also known as cheap noobish tactics)

When we were playing Darkzone, there was a large group of little kids, and one "pro" "league" player. Targetting the little kids, would be considered dishonourable as they are little (picking on someone smaller than you). But there's so many of them, and they run around together! They pose a threat in numbers. That's a reasonable excuse I reckon. After all, if your enemies are little kids, then you have no choice. So the league player tried to return the "dishonourable" action by stalking me. Now, I don't quite know the correct term, but it is similar to respawn zone camping. Basically, this player shoots you, your pack gets deactivated temporarily (giving you chance to hide behind cover) and then he follows you, stands there, waits for your pack to reactivate and shoots you again. NOT NICE AT ALL. The honourable thing to do is shoot them, and move on to the next player- leaving the "dead" alone.

A good example of the code at work would be when Jeremy and I both had deactivated packs. We could have easily sat infront of each other and blasted away, but there were reds on the other side of the wall. Calling a truce to take out the reds requires willpower as there is an easy target right next to you.

*shrugs*

Dishonourable actions can net you large rewards (eg. high score) but there are consequences. You get branded DISHONOURABLE. That is an expensive cost to bear. Lesson? Be virtuous people, follow Bushido, the way of the warrior!

And another thing. Christian Rock is scary. The lyrics just doesn't match the instrumentals and the fanaticism of the crowd combined... very strange and scary. Guess I got a bit of an old school catholic mindset.

How do you eat rice?

2005-01-12T22:42:00.000+08:00

I've seen some very strange rice eating habits at work. It truly is strange. I do recall however, on some TV show a few years back, that a good way to eat rice is having a 50:50 ratio of rice to dish(meat/veg/whatever) on your spoon. Unfortunately, you will hardly ever see an even split of rice to dish when you eat out.

What I have seen however, is bizarre.

One person ordered a green chicken curry, and a serve of steam rice. Normally, you would scoop out the curry and put it on your plate of rice. Not this person. He scoops the rice and puts it in the curry! Speaking of which, that could explain the many other bowls of curry that had rice in it. Oooh, I just solved a mystery.

Another person ordered a mee goreng, and a serve of steam rice. Rice is good, but isn't that a bit much? It's like ordering a hamburger, and 2 slices of bread.

Same goes for ordering some beef curry rice dish, and another serving of rice. If it's a rice dish, it means that the serving is for one person. Adding in another serve of rice totally screws up the ratio of rice to dish. I guess you could say it's like eating 2 hamburgers, but only one has the meat patty.

Ooh! Another funny eating habit, which isn't rice related, is mee goreng. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't yellow noodles the ones that are egg? Because someone ordered mee goreng, but specified no egg. It's like ordering pizza and saying "hold the cheese"!

If any reader actually does this, I mean no offense. Speaking of rice, I'm hungry!

Guild Wars Weekend Preview Event

2005-01-10T14:19:00.000+08:00

Guild Wars seems to be more complete now. If you choose to start at level 1, you begin in the tutorial stage, make your way to Ascalon City, do the Charr invasion missions, progress to the Ascalonian refugee missions, then the Kyrtian missions. That's about as far as I got. Story wise, it's quite interesting. If only they put in voice acting into the cinematics.

Guilds... I joined a guild. Quite fun. Although it's not too fun facing a party of level 20 players when your party is around level 10. There IS a difference between characters of different levels. I know I said before that there wasn't much, but there is. All classes gain 20 HP per level and 5 skill points per level. So you can imagine getting into a duel with a level 20 warrior who has maxed out their swordsmanship whilst you are a sword n00b. Not very pretty.

However, you can also create pre-made PvP characters which are level 20 (the max) with selected skills and items. Being PvP characters, they are restricted to these zones, and cannot take part in any story related stuff- which is quite a lot.

The interface has changed a fair bit. There's also more customization options for the characters. They also have commands, like in WoW, such as /dance. Rock on necros!

Doing the missions with your guild members is quite fun as they are less of a stranger to you in comparison to the other random players you can party up with. It would be even more fun to play with friends in the same timezone (for convinience), but SOMEONE couldn't be stuffed double clicking on gw.exe. Searching for an elusive N64 and a L permit was less of an effort apparently.

In the short amount of time I played WoW at a friend's place, Guild Wars shapes up quite nicely. The first several missions for WoW as orcs involved killing a set number of enemies- Prove your strength and kill this, a group of thingies threatens us so kill them, etc. I prefer the GW missions. However, make sure you have enough time set aside to complete the mission as sometimes it can be quite tedious to get past a certain point and then realise you have to quit and do something "more important".

To the MMORPGers out there, get Guild Wars when it comes out. You just have to goto the shops and buy the game. No monthly fees. My guess is that you need a cd key to play, so don't bother trying to scab the game off me or someone else, or download from BT.

blocked

2005-01-06T13:35:00.000+08:00

"Never trust a woman when she says 'BRB'"

Funny little flash music video thingy. Ever get that feeling you got blocked or someone's just ignoring you online?

MJOLNIR remix

2005-01-05T13:32:00.000+08:00

I found the Halo MJOLNIR remix... you gotta listen to it!
Basically, it's the Halo theme, with electric guitar over it. Nice One =P
Save it to hard drive.

.hack//sign

2005-01-04T17:59:00.000+08:00

I am not too impressed with this anime series. Well, having a series based on some guy trapped in a MMORPG should in my imagination, be pretty damn interesting. Sadly, it fails in its first episode.

Let's start off with what you see in the first episode. Some mage guy wakes up dazed. Please note he stays this way- timid, squeaky and dazed/stoned/zombified. OK, he's in some mage gear- note the funny rattle staff thing he holds (much like the Mage rattle thingy in Gunbound =P). Some female player in stereotypical female warrior gear (armour that doesn't really protect the body) appears and says hi to our mage protagonist, and is very friendly and lively unlike mage boy. If I were in a VR MMORPG and was stupid enough to be a weak mage that posesses incantations of mass destruction, I would most definitely forge alliances with any tanky warrior I can get my hands on. What does mage boy do? "huh?... leave me alone, go away" *teleports*

Eventually fighter girl finds mage boy again, and he tells her something about logging out... he can't. Even though its said in Jap, it sure doesn't sound like a freaked out person, or a calm one either.
"...I can't log out... so go away, leave me alone"
"I want to help you"
"...leave me alone"
"You're a loser you know..."
"leave me alone"
What a farking idiot? Wouldn't a more normal character go "OH MY FUCKING GOD, I'M TRAPPED!!!! I CAN'T LOG OUT! HELP!!"
"I want to help you"
"AIEEEE! Oh, you don't think I'm crazy?"

Come on, where's the liveliness in this series. The episodes better improve, and mage boy better get some life in him.

to new beginnings...

2005-01-01T17:33:00.000+08:00

Happy new year!

I'm so sleepy... slept at 3am on the 31st, woke up at 8.30am... bummed around, went to work, expected to end at 8.30pm, ended up staying til 10.30pm. Now I am obliged to treat someone out to a movie. Played NFSU2 til past midnight... yeah, I just glanced at my watch at midnight and went "woo!". Sad eh? Got unexpectedly dragged to Brandon's shortly after, and stayed awake til 9.30am. Or was it 10.30? All I can say is that I have only had a power nap since waking up yesterday.

Well, to new beginnings! May 2005 be an improvement over 2004. Or a fresh start, depending on how your life has been.

Upping the ante

2004-12-29T15:00:00.000+08:00

		Move aside money and card, or gift voucher, it's the thought that counts! Thoughtful gifts are more remembered, and seem so much more... special. Well, large sums of money will never be forgotten =P but when does that happen? It's worth a shot trying to make/give a witty gift. The reactions can be quite hilarious. Now, when it comes to stopping a blood nose, and I get them quite a lot, I tend to stick some rolled up cotton wool up the nostrils. So go and guess what John gives me as a joke- a box of tampons. Wrong orrifice, but damn funny. A little box gave a group of us about half an hour of laughter, hehehe. And Cynthia, she made a comic book, much like what Anna gave Seth for Chrismukkah in The OC. I'm not saying there was any copying of other sources, but it's so... (can't think of nice words)! I don't think I can top that.

the impossible

2004-12-28T15:30:00.000+08:00

I can happily say that for my birthday, I get to see the words "English Comptency: Met" on my TEE results. Well, I do know that I am competent in the English language, but thanks to evil teachers, scaling down, and a stupid 50% requirement, it didn't seem too good.

Now I am perfectly happy with my 55% for the exam, but not very happy with that in comparison to the school mark and scaling. Now, the teachers have been stressing that they will go hard on us- give us impossible questions, crappy obscure texts, negligible spoon feeding of information -in an attempt to get our marks scaled up insanely for the TEE. Now, this goes in favour for almost everyone. I've noticed a few people getting scaled up by 10%, from 81% to 91% (not that they needed it). I get average for class work- good in orals, average to bad in essays. And I get shit for exams. This all equates to a score around 50%. Now if my exam marks for literature are always around 50% or below, how the hell am I going to get scaled up? Stupid teachers, this kind of "Let's make things impossible so that students get impossibly high scaling ups" thinking does not work for people who really need the scaling up. Think of those who are right on the cut off line for the English Comptency requirements. Imagine how they would feel if they got scaled down.

My actual score... nice and averagely high. I'm not going to say any numbers, except its above 90. Good enough for commerce at Curtin. And not bad considering I was playing Gunbound, Halo, and Fallout Tactics during the TEE, and Guildwars the week before.

tis the season to be jolly

2004-12-25T01:51:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone.

Nothing much to say. Just keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas- the birth of Christ. And while you're at it, the bonuses that come with it- family, togetherness, happiness, selfless acts, generousity etc.

charsiewfan

2004-12-23T01:30:00.000+08:00

If you are in a restaurant/hawker cafe and have no idea what to order, hainanese chicken rice, bbq pork rice aka charsiewfan, and perhaps fried noodles aka horfun or charkuayteow are guaranteed to taste good and feed you well. Bbq pork and wonton noodles is also a good bet. Now what amazes me is that in Han's Cafe, nobody orders charsiewfan. They would rather go for the fried rice or ask for sweet n sour pork (which is not on the menu). Actually, its usually chicken or beef curries. Fools! Han's Cafe's bbq pork rice is one of the most wholesome of those that I have encountered. Most places just give you a hell of a lot of rice, about 10 slices of charsiew and some cucumber slices. Han's Cafe gives you the rice, the charsiew, and stirfried vegetables!! Sure, a direct translation of charsiewfan is bbq pork rice, that is pork that has been barbecued and steamed rice. But fan also means a dish or meal, and that should include vegetables, not just slices of cucumber.

Charsiewfan has no hot gravy that goes right up to the edge of the plate/bowl. By ordering it, it makes it easier on the waiter as there is no need to carefully balance it so that no gravy is spilt, and also fingers do not get scalded. Please order it, it's tasty. Some unknown guy says its "fully sick". =P

Another thing I noticed, a number of white people who come in cannot eat a bowl of rice. What's so hard? It's just a medium sized bowl of rice, and the dish they are eating is about 1.5 times larger. so in actual fact, the ratio of dish to rice they eat is something like 3:1. I tend to believe in a 1:1 ratio. Even then, some of them do not order rice at all!

Shopping

2004-12-18T22:34:00.000+08:00

I like shopping for electronic stuff. That is the stuff in the audio visual department and the computers/videogaming department in stores. I don't care if I can't afford any of it, call it a goal for splurging money on. Anyway, we went to Megamart today looking for a DVD player and widescreen TV. Yep, up until now, we never had a DVD player, my Xbox and computer served that purpose. Anyway, advice to shoppers, Megamart is an expensive place. I'm sure their stuff is competitively priced, but you can find cheaper stuff elsewhere if you take the effort to look. However, the Creative Muvo2 FM is available there! It's pretty good value.

In my opinion, the Muvo2 FM is better than the iPod Mini. Why? Let's see...
They both cost the same
The Muvo2 FM has 1 GB more HD space, has a built in FM radio, can record FM (I think) and voice, USB mass storage (no need for stupid software to transfer stuff), and has a removeable/replaceable battery. It also switches off, unlike the Mini which goes into sleep mode, slowly draining the battery such that it's flat the next day.
So for $399, kill Apple's market share! What I find stupid is that the 1.5GB Muvo2 also costs $399, and 256MB Flash players cost up to $300.

Back to the TV and DVD player search. We went to some discount place in Vic Park. Friendly salesman there, named Keith I think. He showed us this Samsung package- HD ready widescreen 76cm TV, stand, DVD player and set top box -for $1999. The actual label was all that plus a PS2 for $2499. Good thing he removed the evil Sony console, slashing the price by $500! Bwahahahaha. So we got that, and a Pioneer DVD recorder. And there goes Dad's xmas bonus.

Anybody willing to get me the "Band of Brothers" DVD box set, or "Seinfeld" box set to break in our new system?

zoom zoom!

2004-12-14T11:42:00.000+08:00

Had my first driving lesson today. Steering, signaling and accelerating/braking are stressed as the essential components to driving. So is taking the learning process one step at a time. See, if you are overwhelmed with a large amount of variables to control, the chances of disaster is very high. Now if you are a learner and you were to crash your car, imagine your emotional state. You would have lost your confidence and you would be badly shaken up. The reactions to my "Nightmares" post on multiply means that I will have to point out that this can be linked to it. Metaphorically, I crashed my essay, every time, no matter how much help I get. I'm sure you can apply your own context and other reading crap to it to make sense out of it.

Oh, and if you feel like ruining the action movie experience for some fellow audience members, try pointing out inaccuracies in weapons and such. WWII movies for example, not all the American soldiers carried Thompsons. I am pretty sure that they were expensive to manufacture and were mostly used by the sergeants. Characters often fire off more rounds than their gun holds. They also like to chamber rounds unnecessarily. Cars exploding real easily has definitely got to be a big inaccuracy. I guess pointing out how the main character seems to possess Reflexes +20 can't hurt.

phonetics

2004-12-11T23:43:00.000+08:00

I learnt about the phonetic alphabet in Operation Flashpoint. Phrases like "All move to Delta Foxtrot Six Seven!" got me interested. After looking around on the net, which didn't take long, I found the alphabet.

A	Alpha	N	November
B	Bravo	O	Oscar
C	Charlie	P	Papa
D	Delta	Q	Quebec
E	Echo	R	Romeo
F	Foxtrot	S	Sierra
G	Golf	T	Tango
H	Hotel	U	Uniform
I	India	V	Victor
J	Juliet	W	Whiskey
K	Kilo	X	X-ray
L	Lima	Y	Yankee
M	Mike	Z	Zulu

However, when watching the excellent miniseries, Band of Brothers, a while back, I was a little confused why they referred to the companies as Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, and Fox companies. I thought it was Alpha company, Bravo company etc. Well, now I know. The WWII phonetic system is different as what you see above is the NATO alphabet and is now universal.
WWII American Phonetic:
Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George How Item Jig King Love Mike Nan Oboe Peter Queen Roger Sugar Tare Uncle Victor William X-ray Yoke Zebra

Which one do you think is better?

Nightmares

2004-12-11T11:09:00.000+08:00

Sometimes you can remember what you dreamt at night clearly. For me, it seems I remember the really whacky stuff that pop up out of my subconsciousness. I thought I put everything about English Literature behind me, but apparently not. I guess now would be a good time to put an end to it, forever.

OK, this is what I recall from my nightmare. Some stupid psychiatrist/psychologist person who somehow got hold of my lit records and transcripts of conversations with friends. (weird huh?) Asks me "Why are you aiming to just pass literature? Why are you not aiming to achieve more? You are doing so with everything else." That was when I woke up in cold sweat. But awake, I started thinking, and not sleeping (I need sleep), why is that the case? By the way, anything related to literature at this point in time, is a nightmare to me. The TV show, Joan of Arcadia, got scary at the point where they mentioned chaos > logic (similar to the motifs/themes present in the play, Arcadia).

This is why. And by expressing my thoughts, may whoever is reading this and going on to do something with similar circumstances, understand what I and others had to go through, and maybe learn from mistakes.

Aiming to just pass is a sign of a lack of motivation. What motivation did I receive when doing two years of literature? I don't think there was any. Let's see. We were given hard and obscure texts to study. Other schools got more mainstream literature texts to study. Next, we were give no real guidance. We were taught to learn independantly. I guess I had to do my homework and learn how to do all that background stuff myself, but how can you do that with little guidance? For a subject where "nothing is wrong", guidance is essential. Then we are assessed on questions that make you answer something obscure, after you decrypt it on the enigma machine, whilst juggling another totally different obscure subject, through the perspective of a third obscure thing. Basically, juggling red hot pointy sharp knives, whilst riding a uniwheel on a tightrope, whilst dodging burning arrows. O yeah... these questions are often unseen questions, or those that mean you are not allowed to prepare for. Finally, you are marked harshly. Really harshly. In year 11, Mr Horner(One of the best lit teachers) gave me a constant 65% for all my work. No matter how hard I prepared and wrote and all that other stuff. Of course, all my other subjects were nice and high in the high 80's. This is what he said, "In year 12, 65% is considered high". My thoughts, "But it's year 11! Give me year 11 marks then!". Sadly, when I reached year 12, everything i got ranged from 45% to 65% with the exception of 80% (I can't remember and I don't want to) for an oral which unfortunately is given an extremely low weighting. It eventually got to the extent that I celebrated when I got a measly 50%. Much to the weird looks received from all those who were doing well.

Let me sumarize that.
1- hard subject
2- no guidance
3- hard and difficult assessments. That's 2 lots of hard things to deal with.
4- harsh marking
5- as an aggregate, it does not make you too happy. Where's the motivation in that?

When you are constantly failing, or receiving results that are close to failing, no matter how much work you put in, what's the point of working harder? Well, obviously if you put in zero work you get next to zero. This is how I see literature study:
Zero work: 0-40%
Some work: 40-50%
A little more than some more: 40-55%
A lot more: 45-55%
A hell of a lot more: 50-65%
Insane amounts of work leaving you to get poor marks in your otherwise good subjects: 51%-65%+

I call it the law of diminishing returns. The more time you spend on studying the wonderful world of the within the text (I'm sure some lit teacher will grill me for that statement as they would probably say that is WRONG (I thought there is no wrong in lit)) the less marks you receive. Well, per unit time that is. Plus opportunity costs such as sanity, and grades in other subjects. There we go, another reason why you should not aim higher, but rather to just pass.

Lastly, about "nothing is wrong". That is a fucking lie. Sure, they say that you must provide proof, but that's not enough. You see, when a marker does not agree with you, they immediately start reacting negatively to your essay. Instant loss of marks. Write poorly or in a standard manner, and lose more marks. Try to write uniquely or creatively and you run the risk of missing out important elements. I tried that, writing a different approach. I left out all the important bits that are usually discussed in a generic essay, I failed. And the quoting? I destroy something each time I get an essay back where there's the writing of "please explain" or "quote needed" when there clearly is an explanation IMMEDIATELY AFTER the "please explain" or a quote just after the "quote needed". The damages bill is greater than the losses in the Iraq war.

And I guess, I need to get to the point again. I usually not get to the point as I'm scared I get it wrong. Yeah, that's right. Literature killed my confidence in myself. If you ask anything, my instant reaction is "I don't know" or "I don't think". Lit is supposed to awaken the opiniative side in you. It killed mine as whatever I do seems to face the wrath of some evil. So the killing of one's confidence and motivation to work is the reason why one should just aim to pass. It also means that your expectations are so freaking low, that you feel happy for a measly pass. Just don't hope for a pass all the time otherwise they may catch onto it and mark you for less than you deserve. Once I wrote like 4 pages of quality crap. I was rambling on how Iago was a bloody backstabbing son of a bitch, in a very passionate manner, and I was including bits about context, and social/political issues- the whole curiculum for fuck's sake. I was expecting a REALLY high mark in comparison to my shoddy work receiving 50%. Wow, I ended up with 55%. All that heart and soul, blood and sweat, and I get 5% more than what I usually get when I have no motivation and no confidence.

Now kiddies looking for advice. Put in some amount of time studying lit. Not the bare minimum, not massive amounts. Just a moderate amount. If you put too little, it attracts the concern of parents, who then force you to spend massive amounts of time on it, at the cost of everything else. Massive amounts of time is just wasted. TEE Literature is MUCH easier than RSHS Literature. Only problem, you are so used to juggling whilst on a tightrope whilst being fired upon. The questions ask you simply to analyse a text. That is enough to fry your brain and it's OS. After 2 years of hellish torture, your brain develops algorithms to approaching complex juggling sequences. Give it a simple question and it is considered foreign, causing you to freeze up. So much for an accurate representation of skill and knowledge. If I fail literature, those demonic tormentors have a lot to answer for.

work work

2004-12-09T13:16:00.000+08:00

Whoa... work was hard. Well, obviously work IS hard, otherwise why the hell would you get paid? But really, the crowd that came in last night was large enough for 3 or 4 people working out the front. For $12.80 an hour, yeah that would be justifiable, but noo, I get $9.50 an hour for it. It's still good. Sure beats flipping burgers. No offence to anyone.

I now own all three of the Fallout games. That is, Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics. Fallout Tactics in my opinion is the more action packed game. After all, it is TACTICS, which means, get a squad of six soldiers and blast your way through the post apocalyptic wastelands. Fallout 1 and 2 on the other hand is just a romp through the wastelands where you are a chosen one seeking some device that will save your community. All three are full of gore, and humour too. Make an effort to track down these games in the used game pile in the shops. They're classics.

energy swords

2004-12-07T21:50:00.000+08:00

Bhav, this link is for you. Beat the energy sword addiction. It will do good for you in the long run. =P

On a slightly different topic, I was reading in Hyper that once again, people are blaming violent actions in society on the loveable violent videogames. This is one of many things that sickens me- people making ignorant remarks that a violent videogame is the source of all evil. Apparently, in Sydney, a "Counter-Strike Shooting" took place where a man was shot by two young men dressed in camouflage outfits, and I quote from Hyper who is mocking the Crown Prosecutor, James Bennet, ""Obviously" inspired by the game Counter-Strike, as no military in the world has ever heard of fatigues or balaclavas before" This is fucking stupid. There are plenty of other reasons why a man could be shot by other people in army fatigues. Let's see... the killing could be inspired by a novel, tv show, news report, movie, or videogame. It could also be inspired by the fact that the victim had done something to the killers (is inspired an appropriate word?). Why did they wear army fatigues? Could it be that they are war junkies? Or perhaps they thought the camouflage would let them get to the victim undetected, or perhaps it would have made a good disguise- no one would recognise them out of their costume. And my final point, why the hell did that prosecutor blame it on CS? Actually, I'm happy that he's blaming that bloody game, but why is he blaming it on that specific game? There's plenty of other games that involve killing innocent people, and not so innocent people as well, as well as other games involving guns and army fatigues. Don't forget the other forms of media that also contain these elements. To be a little more personal, CS has made me do one negative thing- "STOP PLAYING BLOODY CS AND TRY SOMETHING ELSE!!!" *smashes fists on table*

If prosecutors are going to blame crimes on videogames, I dare someone to put on hmm... a tutu, and rob a bank, do a few shootings and commit other serious crimes. That means they'll have to say "Ballet has inspired this person to steal, kill, and cause massive amounts of damage to public property."

Actually, I don't think I made my point clear. Gripe number 1: Someone blamed a killing on a videogame. Gripe number 2: Counter-Strike was accused as the main culprit because army fatigues were used.
Reasoning for GN1: There are plenty of other reasons why someone kills someone else. Hence blaming it on videogames is stupid.
Reasoning for GN2: Think about it, it's such a stupid accusation. Even if we did consider CS as the source of inspiration for killing, why would they shoot an unarmed civillian? The CTs are not supposed to shoot the hostages, they are supposed to rescue them. The Ts on the other hand have to guard them til the end of the round. There's nothing in the game that says gun down an unarmed man. No one is unarmed in CS, except for the hostages, and they are not meant to be killed.
Conclusion: Don't blame crimes on videogames, unless the suspect pleads guilty that that is the cause, because it is silly. Blame crimes on angst originating from society's poor treatment towards the perpetrator.

On another note. Damn you Peiran! You just had to save yourself $80 and copy Halo 2. Pay for the bloody game dammit. Bungie's staff have families to feed you know. Not to mention the sales could help increase Xbox's market share, which means more and better games for you (to pirate =P).

no hell for me =P

2004-12-07T15:03:00.000+08:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

w00t! No hell for me.

another monday

2004-12-06T23:05:00.000+08:00

After reminiscing about TinTin with Jo, I feel like going to the library and borrowing some of the comics. Hehehe... The Adventures of TinTin, funny. Unfortunately, I'm a little too lazy to make the effort to head out there. Till then, here's some web comics for any fool who stumbles across this humble blog and has a will weak enough to get addicted. Bwahahahahaha! Nah, these web comics are pretty funny. There's more in my bookmarks folder, but it's best not to overwhelm your minds, yet.

Code Ninjas
Applegeeks
Mac Hall
Counter Culture
Monkey Business
Anime Arcadia
Sore Thumbs

My shoulders and neck hurts. Either it's from the bike ride to Kings Park, or I am sleeping in a very uncomfortable way.

Got about another 1.5hrs til Knight Online finishes downloading. This server is apparently fully free. It's got PvP, clan system, an interesting way of selling items, and crappy quests. But its FREE! Can't complain when it's free.

stuff

2004-12-03T21:06:00.000+08:00

I generally tend to prefer certain clothes and certain shops. If you're observant, you would notice I wear a lot of Giordano and other miscellaneous HK brands which I get in Singapore. Reason? They're cheap, nice, and most importantly, they actually fit me. Being skinny has its disadvantages. Unfortunately, shopping in Giordano is getting dangerous. The last time I went there, men's clothing was getting the slim fit treatment whilst the women's was either the same or getting baggier. Anyway, the gendered clothing is NOT divided by a distinguishable line, and since the all the clothing looks pretty much the same at a glance, you could in fact be looking at stuff that could label you as a cross dressing freak! Enter Roger David. Since there's no Giordano in Australia, I had to find another place for good cheap clothing, Roger David has become my new favourite. The outlet at Harbour Town has proven to be quite a bargain place, with nice discounts (at times). Fancy suede jackets and other kinds of jackets at $50 down from $150, leather at $99 down from some insane price I would never bother looking at. Plus their slim fit fits me. Haven't tried pants though- I still trust Giordano and the other chains in Singapore. O yeah, I got my suit from Roger David as well. I think it was $100, or $150, but it has served me well on several occassions, and will continue to serve.
By the way, I'm trying to ditch my ratty old plain tshirts and upgrade to smarter stuff.

I got a job! Yay! Take that all you employers who insist on employees needing previous experience! Hans Cafe Southlands. I dunno if there's any more casual positions, but they pay pretty good.

Leavers

2004-11-30T10:08:00.000+08:00

Leavers for me wasn't wild and crazy partying. It was secluded and quiet. A perfect environment for crazy marathons, and coming up with wierd ideas.

LOTR trilogy marathons leaves you hungry, making fun of the homosexuality of Sam and Frodo, and Legolas (there's one really wierd look Legolas gives to Aragorn at the end of ROTK) and speaking like Gollum. Good thing I cooked the meals or we all would have starved or I going insane.

OC marathons are definitely a nono. It corrupts your mind to the extent that you start associating everything with The OC cast. Well, that's what John did. Oh, we also made fun of Ryan's speech. "uh.....yeah.... uh... ok" (watch some MGS spoofs on newgrounds.com to get drift) Seth is my hero. Anna is nice. I refuse to use big words and other literature techniques...

Halo 2 marathons are fun. You end up shouting "wort! wort! wort!" at the end of it. And multiplayer is real funny if your account name is "jello" or "a feather" because kills then become: "You got splattered by jello" or "you got crushed by a feather".

Other crap that happened, there's lots. We watched some poorly subtitled bali dvds, like Taxi for example. "You got punked" has "All of you is facking" as its corresponding subtitles. A spider, medium sized, was crawling around my neck without my knowledge. I only found out after smacking my neck and seeing a splattered spider on my hand. Ever try cooking everything in one electric frypan and nothing else? Pretty difficult. And walking to the beach which is a few km away means walking for more than an hour and a half.

Anyways, I'm hungry, sleepy, dirty, and this house is in a mess. When the funny stuff comes back into my memory, I'll post it. Oh, never question a short tempered person. They are usually right and they are short tempered! I think I proved it right when we were down there. You can trust me now on directions :D

insanity

2004-11-26T01:53:00.000+08:00

Don't mess with my mind. Don't do mind tricks on me. Don't concoct fancy stories that I may believe then screw me over later. I don't like them. It makes me go insane. If I find out that my mind has been messed with, I might go violent. You don't want that to happen. As a precautionary measure, I will now discount every single claim a specific group of people make. This means in other words, I will not believe a single word you say. If you say you are going to die next week due to finding out some cancerous growth somewhere, I will not respond the way I should, but instead point and laugh and say "bullshit, you ain't getting anything out of me!". Although, if you really are going to die of cancer, it's your own fault for making me respond this way.

Anywhoo, at Alicia's party 2 things come to mind- Halo 2 multiplayer and dangly bits. Firstly Halo 2 multiplayer. I owned all noobs! heheheehehe... Running over people in ghosts are fun, as well as pumping them with needles. Smacking them from behind gives you an "assassination" just what I like :P
Dangly bits. I don't know how the conversation got shifted to those mobile phone dongles, those little cute things that are attached to your phone on a little cord. Anyway, I saw this Jap movie where this person had a mobile, a small one, but "dangly bits" about this much *spreads out arms* (so mobile is the . and the dangly bits are the O relatively) Anyway, I went on to say that if someone were to lose their phone, they would say "aargh! I lost my phone!" but the person in that movie would be instead "AARGH! I lost my dangly bits!" because there's so much and probably cost more than the phone. The phone would probably be lost inside all those dangly bits. Now, if you have an innocent mind, you would not have gone "...ewwww!", but my phallic obsessed friend had to associate the mobile phone attachments which I called "dangly bits" with penises. Oh boy, now she's going to misquote me and out of context with the words "lost my dangly bits".

Can't wait for more carnage in Halo 2 multiplayer.

Bad videogame ideas

2004-11-23T18:36:00.000+08:00

Video games based on real life are great. However, they can only be of certain types. Racing sims, sport sims, flying sims, sim sims, and war sims are all good, but there's one in particular that is just wrong. Assassination of a president sim. There was a short mini news article on JFK Reloaded, some game made by a Scottish programmer where the gamer gets to take the role of the gunman who shot JFK. Games based on WWII where you are shooting the crap out of Nazis are fine. As long as the guys you kill are perceived as enemies in your society. But JFK was a beloved president of the US, you do NOT re-enact a killing of him. Other assassination games are fine, but not of heroes- fictional characters and villains only.

bloody

2004-11-22T23:57:00.000+08:00

Today was bloody hot. Hence a good day for iceskating. Woke up, still groggy from playing Maple Story at 1am, did the usual morning rituals and then rode off to John's. Then my nose started bleeding. Bloody hell! Ever tried riding a bike with one hand? No problem right? OK then, try that with blood gushing out of your nose with one hand trying to pinch it. It's no good, the blood starts dripping everywhere. Looks like with this hot dry weather I'll be needing to keep up with my regime of applying vaseline to my nose keeping it moist if that's how you can describe it.

Anyway, Iceskating- stayed for one session, which meant missing out on heaps of fun in the second session with Daniel's description of the big snowball fight and Cynthia's opinion of ice hockey. Oh well, Tim, Lawrence and I followed John to the city so he could lodge his citizenship application. Proud to have you an Australian, John! We went and ate lunch at Saigon inNorthbridge, had chicken rice. Damn that was excellent value. For $5.90 that's a bloody lot of chicken they gave me.

So, a bloody hot day, a bloody blood nose, and a bloody big lunch! What a bloody day! hehehe

rant time

2004-11-22T16:55:00.000+08:00

I think it's time to start ranting again. I got two topics on my mind, piracy and the army. Don't worry, they're not related whatsoever.

Firstly, in today's West Australian, there's an article on Commonwealth citizens working in the British armed forces being ordered to adopt British nationality or face discharge. The article name is Troops angered by UK loyalty insult by the way. Now, I find this disgusting! Commonwealth, as in part of the British "Empire", has served Britain, and is literally a state under British rule. Well, not really, but Australia's Governor General is some head of something (state?) and is the representative for the queen here. So there you go, a bit of British rule in our federated country. Now, I know this article refers to all the other commonwealth nations, but this is sickening. Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and so on have fought alongside and with the British in wars that do not concern them for a long time. To hell with them! Non Brit soldiers were nothing but cannon fodder for the British commanders.

Let's start from the beginning.
Boer War- The British were fighting oldschool with red coats and marching to the drums whilst the Boers were fighting guerilla tactics. Guess who owns who? Now, the commonwealth forces like the AIF fought fire with fire but soldiers like Breaker Morant end up being court martialed.

WWI- Gallipoli was a big failure. This is just one example, but it's been drilled into us as part of edjamacation :P. Why did Britain need to invade Turkey? They had to supply resources to Russia who was helping them fight Germany. OK, fair enough, but the Turks were in a way neutral, but a bit on the axis side. They only fought back because it seemed like the British were invading their soil, tresspassing- not a nice thing. Ever heard of diplomacy? "Mr Turkish Leader sir, I would like to help some Russian comrades by transporting some supplies through your country's roads, will that be a problem?" "No Pommish bastard, go right ahead, how nice of you to ask." Done, thousands of lives saved.
Instead, the British bombed the crap out of the Turkish shoreline, which gave them enough time to set up defensive perimeters, then sent in the ANZACs. Then did stupid things like "over the top" sending hundreds? thousands? of young men to their death, whilst the British commanders were in their cabins on board battleships drinking tea ignorant of their stupid decisions.

WWII- Uh... Tobruk? Most historical info available through the media is filled with American junk. Anyway, the Aussies and a handful of other nationalities fended off a big fat German tank battalion. I'm probably wrong on that- I think there was a British commander behind the credit for that.

All those examples are probably totally inaccurate so please don't go berserk. Anyway, my point is, The Commonwealth nations have been serving for Britain as they are part of one big "clan". Fighting for a country they don't call home is bloody loyalty(fighting for a country you don't call home but is an enemy of home is definitely the opposite though). Fuck you Britain, these soldiers are doing your country proud. Let them do their home country proud as well.

Now, piracy. I have recently gained a set of morals on this issue. My main focus is on videogames, but music is just as relevant. Videogames first. The team behind the creation of a game, a good quality game that is, spends several years in RnD creating a work of art. Whilst they are doing this, the developer/producer firm does not earn revenue but a whole lot of expenses helping these people feed their family. When they finally release a game, they want to see their game rise in the top 10 charts, with sales going crazy. Now this is where you step in. Buy the bloody game, support the company who fed the people who made this game that you are enjoying. If not, they starve and fail to deliver what you enjoy. Those who choose the cheap way out and copy games do not register as a sale on behalf of the respective game. This skews the market share figures. In a battle of which console is king, this is a big deal. Just look at the Gamecube- lack of promotion leads to lack of sales which means it becomes next to nothing and is ignored. You don't want that to happen to your modded up Xbox or PS2 which you spent hard earned money on voiding your warranty. Oh, and this often means that prices need to be jacked up so that the revenue is the same despite less units sold. Which results in a cyclical effect as people can't afford it and start obtaining pirate copies. Please stop your habits. You do realise game developers have merged and closed down as a result of this. You are killing the people who give you enjoyment! Have fun destroying virtual things, but not real people please.

And downloading MP3s through filesharing. Um... you've seen all those adverts.

Drought warning

2004-11-21T19:50:00.000+08:00

Despite weather predictions from several independant sources for wet weather and potential flooding, drought conditions were reported. By the way, I'm referring to "The Notebook". Yes, I was touched, and moved by this movie, but I did not cry. Even though this movie failed to achieve its intended effect on me, it is most definately a must watch. Most of you would have watched it by now though.

On another matter, I find it ironic how some people consider me to be both a spoilt single child, as well as being one hell of a stingey bugger. I mean, is that possible? This is an interesting thought. People reading this, give me your opinions on this.

a second halo? wtf

2004-11-19T23:15:00.000+08:00

YES! Exams are OVER!!!!
Been playing Halo 2, and I don't want to spoil it for any cheapass who's waiting for it to go on discount, but there's a second halo in the game. Ironic eh? It's called "Halo 2" for a reason. I like the new features, hate the cardboard shielding you get. New and improved? BULLSHIT! That so called improved Sangheili armour is more like Sangheili rice paper. I am now a big fan of dual Needlers. I hated that gun in Halo, only developing a taste and knack for it during exams, but now it rocks! 4v4 multiplayer system link will be fun. Live will be a little tricky considering my ethernet cables are all tied up and currently the box is plugged in my old TV, which goes fuzzy every 10 seconds and needs whacking everytime it goes fuzzy.

*sigh* all I need now is a job so I can get more games, more stuff, and start driving.

one more

2004-11-18T19:17:00.000+08:00

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to do a one ring joke.
I have one exam left,
It's one exam, the ONE EXAM TO RULE THEM ALL!!!

hehe

Applicable math, supposedly the "easier" math exam in comparison to calculus. Not true. Counting techniques and probabilities are freaking hard. There's so much reading to do and I always screw it up. Hence, my doom sensors are critical for tomorrow.

Hmmm... .what have I done today? I shifted my comp into my room! now i got a really long ethernet cable snaking around the corner of my room. It's so stupid, there's a wall separating me between my room and the study, where the router is, like only a few metres in a straight line, but I'm not allowed to make holes in the wall so I have to snake it AROUND the corner, and that probably too around 30m of cable. Bah!

I get to play Halo 2 tomorrow afternoon because exams will finally be OVER!!! WORT WORT WORT!!!

Assault on the Control Room

2004-11-16T17:39:00.000+08:00

You may ask, "what are you doing playing Halo? Especially since you got exams plus you have already completed it and own the sequal?"

Well, I need to re-educate myself on the storyline, plus relive the memories and other crap. Anyway, I can't concentrate on practice exam papers- doing an exam after an exam before an exam just ain't gonna work.

Anyway, I just completed Assault on the Control Room on heroic! Yay! I completed everything on normal, a few on legendary- Pillar of Autumn, The Library (Yes, that hellish dungeon crawl), and The Maw (do you know how hard the joy ride was? Just made it onto the getaway craft with 0.5 sec to spare!). A few others completed on heroic, but majority of the levels do not have all three shields.

wort wort wort!

2004-11-15T13:06:00.000+08:00

A big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Literature is finally over for me. For two whole years, I have suffered. Suffered from the poor teaching and poor backgrounding I received prior to those two years. I have suffered from lack of guidance and lack of motivation to do well, suffered from demoralising poor marks (fails and near fails not a mere 79% you fucking lit freaks). But now, I can finally bury the past, the torment, the rage, the anger, for English Literature has ended for me. Now I can pick up a book and actually enjoy it, think about it and form a response at my own will and not care about some evil bastard saying "NO! You are WRONG! Where's your evidence? Please explain??!?!"

WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Me so happy! If only I could say the same thing about economics. But that subject is what will let me become a merchant banker. Ooh Swiss Bank account, fancy.

Streak

2004-11-14T11:33:00.000+08:00

I spoke too soon, my winning streak is gone. I didn't get the ATO Cadetship, but in hindsight, I ain't complaining. In fact I think it's all good. Commerce at Curtin was what I wanted to do anyway, not Taxation in Northbridge(UNSW distant learning). So sorry for getting your hopes up on letting you live without paying taxes, I'll still offer a hand in managing your finances though. That's if I still choose to go along those lines.

Currently playing Halo: Assault on the Control Room, Heroic difficulty. Driving a warthog with no passengers is not nice.

Console wars

2004-11-13T21:20:00.000+08:00

Recently a kid asked me for my opinion on which console is better because he was thinking of buying the fancy "new" shrunken PS2. My opinion in a nutshell- why the hell did you ask me that stupid question? Just like how all people are equal, all gaming platforms should be treated with equal respect. Sadly this is not the case.

The Third Place
Sony's PSone, PS2, and soon to be released PSP, are the arch nemeses of Nintendo and Xbox fanboys...and girls for political correctness. Me, a Nintendo-child (NES, SNES, N64[though a Playstation rep convinced me to wait 4 friggin' years for the next gens and not get the N64 or PSone], GB, GBA) and Xbox owner, I should be very biased against Sony. Well, that's true in some aspects. I believe Sony is worse than Microsoft in their actions of taking over every electronic industry. Think about it, Sony is in more fields than Microsoft, so please hackers, stop screwing up our PCs and firebomb Sony.

Anyhoo... the PS2 is the market leader. It has the largest library of games, which means lots of good games and lots of crap games too. PS2 owners tend to own games belonging to the Final Fantasy series, Gran Turismo series and GTA series. This is a gross generalisation, but if you like those games then Sony is the way to go. Remember, most other games are now multiplatform. While I am on my soapbox, I would like to add: their controller sucks ergonomically- Gamecube and Xbox controller S all the way!

Teh Uber Box
Ah, the controversial Microsoft Xbox. It's got the highest specs, as well as size weight and ugliness factor. People hate it because it's by Bill Gates and it's a wannabe PC. Oh, and it's American. But put your differences aside, the box has its fair share of must haves. Halo, and Halo 2 are basically THE reason why you should own an Xbox. And if you own an Xbox, you should own either or both games. True, some people do not like the FPS genre, but *shrugs*. The trump card for the Xbox is its online service Live, as it sure beats suscribing to multiple services with Sony's NE.

Second in market share, the Xbox has a small library of games in contrast to PS2. Xbox owners tend to own shooters, racers and sports sims. RPGs, are not too popular as the popular Jap RPGs are absent- They just had to can True Fantasy Live Online, idiots. However, Xbox owners tend to own... shit, as an Xbox owner I don't even know what they tend to own. Well, noteable games for the Xbox are: Halo, Halo 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, Full Spectrum Warrior, Fable, KOTOR, Phantom Crash, Dead or Alive[I'll let you decide which one ;)] and other miscellaneous Live enabled games. I must say, Fable and KOTOR tell a good yarn, PGR2 and Sega GT 2002 are good racers, and system linked Halo is sheer blautastic.

The expensive paperweight
I like Nintendo, they make fun games. Too bad many people have a wrong view of this ancient company and their games. The Gamecube's only good use now is to whack people with. That's right, if people piss you off because you got a purple paperweight, you can use the cube to smash someone because of its shape and built in handle. No, the cube is good, it's just that Nintendo failed to market it well and people these days want fancy graphics, blood and guts, and fan service- NOT plumbers, cel shaded pointy eared kids, and "cute" monsters.

The Gamecube has a measly fraction of the market share. Not many people own the cube because of this. If they only released the Panasonic Q globally things may be different. The Q is a DVD player that can play Gamecube games, NOT a console that can play DVD movies which the other consoles are. I would have bought a Q- it looks awesome. Anyway, noteable games on the Gamecube are quite few. However, they are quality stuff. You can't go wrong with the Zelda series, I personally dislike the appearance of the cel shaded Windwaker but my friend (A PS2 fanboy) says its fun so go figure. Please note, a new Zelda game is coming out and it looks brilliant. Smash Bros, Metroid Prime, and Mario Sunshine are also noteworthy.

With the Gamecube at a hundred bucks, I say it's worth buying. Keep Nintendo alive, let them learn from their mistakes. Besides, you gotta get it for the new Zelda game.

The GBA on the otherhand, is the market leader in handhelds. I don't need to say anything about it, it owns the Ngage, and will step aside for its brother, the Nintendo DS.

My argument got lost somewhere up there, but nevermind I will conclude this first part of the console wars. Each platform has their special unique type of game. That should be the main factor in deciding which console is better. The PS2 caters for a larger and wider audience, but the Xbox satisfies just as well. The Gamecube is just a disappointment, but at roughly $100, it looks mighty appealing. I now leave you with the following thought: Xbox Live + Halo 2 or Mech Assault or Wolfenstein = Multiplayer BLAUfest = FUN!

Stay tuned for the next battle, between handhelds!

Procrastination

2004-11-13T14:46:00.000+08:00

Playing Fallout Tactics is an excellent way of combatting stress. Firstly, what stress am I talking about? It's got to do with 4 exams, three in a row, next week. My mind simply shut down at the prospects of having to prepare for an infinite amount of possible literature essays, economic theory, accounting principles and stupid counting techniques. When your brain shuts down, videogaming is your best solution, and since Halo 2 is currently not in my possession, the BLAU factor of FT will suffice. And making things go splat violently is good for your other forms of stress, it means you don't kill or hurt people in real life.

Post apocalyptic squad based gaming with excessive blood, gore, guns and more weapons at its finest. I suggest you look in the bargain bins at your local shops immediately and waste away the hours in the wastelands that are in Fallout Tactics.

It came in a shiny box

2004-11-10T09:10:00.000+08:00

Archiving of calculus knowledge...complete.

WHOA, Halo 2 is so cool! I only got to play about 15 minutes worth of game time because the beginning was mostly cinematics, but I can say it rules! There are heaps of changes from Halo classic. I don't know where to begin with.

Plot emphasis:
OK, Halo 2 is to be THE game for playing on Live, hence it is multiplayer focussed. Well, system link classic was equally multiplayer focussed, and VERY fun. Anyway, there's a more customization of MC (AKA Johnson) for multiplayer, such as primary and secondary colouring of his MJOLNIR MK-VI suit as well as a variety of badges/isignia. There's voice masking too, as with all Live enabled games(I think).

The beginning cinematic shows the Covenant home world, where the fleet commander Elite is facing trial for failing to protect Halo (I don't think the Covenant owned it to start of with) and screwing up overall. For the first time, we get to learn more about the Covenant apart from them screaming "aargh get it off me!" and "over there!". Plus they look a lot cooler in shinier, more detailed armour! You also get to see an elite without his armour, it looks like a worm! I can't say much plotwise, but I'm guessing more information is revealed about the Covenant and such. Well, you do get to learn the proper names of the covenant species/soldiers, but I'd rather call 'em grunts, elites, jackals, brutes, and hunters.

Weapons of Mass BLAU:
OK, everything has changed. The hud has changed a bit, I don't know about the health and shield meter because I wasn't really paying attention, but I think it was absent. Perhaps it was because I was dual wielding SMGs. Hehehe. The guns have changed quite a bit, with everyone's favourite the scoped pistol, GONE!

Battle Rifle- It's no longer the chunky FN-P90 like rifle that pisses out bullets. It now has a scope, 32 bullet clip capacity, and burst fire. Haven't checked out the melee pistol whip because dual wielded SMGs are too stylish. What's the rifle equivalent to pistol whip? Butt smash?

SMG- This li'l fella has a high ROF, and probably high levels of inaccuracy. It might be my imagination but I think there's recoil in Halo 2, unlike classic. Dual wield 2 SMGs and mmmm, nice results! Fire 2 at once for sheer firepower, or consecutively for a prolonged strafing run. Note, you cannot pistol whip nor throw grenades whilst dual wielding- I'd take firepower any day.

Plasma Rifle- This has changed from classic as well. I remember in classic it's ROF sped up as you held the trigger down, and overheated pretty easily. It now pisses out smaller looking plasma bolts, even has a pissier sound, but a lot more. Only gripe is that you still have to throw it away when empty, and it overheats (I think... I was going crazy with the SMG and not firing the plasma rifle as much).

Machine Gun- Sure beats the plasma turret from classic!

Grenades- who needs 'em when you got dual SMGs! Actually, I wouldn't mind dual wielding grenades :P

Other- There's a lot more weapons out there.

So far, my opinion of Halo 2 is pretty good. There were a few clipping problems, just watch the sarge walk(or maybe I was pushing him), but apart from that it's the return to good old fashioned kill the aliens before they kill you and the rest of mankind. I'm guessing that the marines will be more plentiful, since it is set on earth and various defence satellites, and hence will be helping out. This is by no means a review but some initial impressions from the first few minutes of playing. Now if only I knew where mum hid the discs...