by | Jun 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
Wanna know why gaming is so much fun? Because, its the only time and place where you can hear an 11 year old curse and swear!
I mean its like perfect education for these kids when they mix around with us no-social-life gamers and learn the valuable language of life and socializing skills.
For example when your hero in-game gets killed, you’ll generally moan and curse your killer and thus let the people around you know of your disappointment and lack of luck. Why is this useful? You see, the lesson about moaning your bad luck allows you to alert others of your fortune, or misfortune, and consequently you’ll perhaps get sympathy in return! Brilliant!
Another example of a life-saving characteristic of a gamer would be the tendency to skip meals, not only saving money but helps create less garbage for the world too! In this current economy, this is an excellent skill to possess and should not be ignored easily.
That partucular 11 year old probably won’t last long in a round of DOTA or Counter Strike and I doubt he’s enjoying straight A grades at the moment, but he’ll make a great gaming companion at the very least.
Whoever says gaming for long hours is bad for education? Oh, and it’s a hell lot of fun too.
Pfft, I’m just posting this to feel good about the lost hours spent gaming away. Please do not point this article to teachers or bosses in case you’re trapped and need a backup/excuse for that non submission of homework or project. In such cases, you’re on your own buddy. Happy gaming~
by | Jun 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
And I’m still stuck on 2.7 only because Vooju (my domain+hosting supplier) doesn’t allow automatic upgrades for wordpress installs. I hope they jump on the bandwagon of thousands of other hosts and adopt wordpress as their baby. Anyway, not that it’s gonna harm me or anything ‘cos I think I’ll be fine without it — for the time being — but it does sucks to not be able to have your hands on the latest upgrades.
Such as not having the chance to get an Apple iPhone 3G S. I’ve been an Apple fanboy ever since my primary school days, no thanks to my uncle (who now has his own website, check out Rekasutra.com for more info) who introduced the PowerMac to me when I was still fazed by the Nintendos, the Genesises and the Saturns.
Remember those old gaming systems? I think the games available on the iPhone today trumps them all, except for this particular Genesis game, called Herzog Zwei — I daresay the grandfather of RTS games!! If only it is ported onto the major consoles of today.
Anyway, WordPress has been a good servant and I’m glad I migrated away from Blogger and onto it. Drupal? Forget it. Joomla? Too extensive and complicated. Livejournal? Too messy and restrictive. I’m sure there are views that wish to differ mine but I suppose after trying these I’ll confidently stay with WordPress as my blogging system of choice — and in case wordpress goes bust, then there’s always Posterous to fall back on.
Oh, why am I blabbering about blogs and their system? Just because.
Yups.
by | Jun 8, 2009 | Uncategorized
Walking out of the theatre, it felt like I had just finished a roller coaster ride. Upside down.
That was how it felt like after watching Terminator 4: Salvation, but no it wasn’t the movie that made me dizzy and nauseated, and disconcertingly I can’t really pinpoint what’s causing this splitting headache.
I remember feeling a little headache as I walked into TheCathay and made my way up to level 6. Dal had bought the tix earlier so I didn’t have to queue or anything and the theatre we sat in was really big, and plush, and sort of empty too. Before the show even began, I contemplated lying down onto the floor and just get a good shuteye.
Thank goodness I didn’t lie down and sleep away ‘cos Terminator 4: Salvation, or T4S, was really good. I think I read a review somewhere which gave a an average rating and labeling it humourless. Indeed T4S was humourless — which made it even more amazing cos throughout the show a few girls were giggling uncontrollably over almost every dialogue — but it wasn’t an average show. It’s a damn good installment of the Terminator franchise and I dare say that it’s the next best outing since Terminator 2.
Christian Bale was gooooood. Even the guy who took on the role of Cyborg T800 was equally damn good too. Now T800 was the supposed Terminator, but in the end it become the Salvation of the human race. I won’t spoil it any further by explaining how but let’s just say that everything clicks towards the end of the show. Well paced, well directed, well acted, well scored, well edited (good special effects!), well scripted and well plotted, I sure don’t mind watching it again.
But not with this splitting headache for sure. I don’t know how I manage to stay focused watching with a mini-migraine, but I did and I’m glad Dal invited me to watch it. Now I’m sure that these robots can never quite compare to the one that’s coming up on June 24th, i.e Transformers 2, but for now, I guess it’ll suffice.
Terminator 4: Salvation. Go watch it.
by | Jun 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
This morning, a Malay AngKong guy (that’s what Bob called him cos he was full of tattoos on his arms and legs) picked a fight with me, but I was too calm to retaliate.
Long story short, I guess he was not prepared to receive my shoulder barge during the NSSL street soccer tourney earlier. He was red hot and fuming, even his teammates were, but I guess I stood firm and the more I ignored him, the more agitated he became. He was red-carded for elbowing me in the follow-up, not once but twice and I’m not sure if I should be happy that I didn’t return the compliments.
He was super fuming, super mad, super aggressive too. A part of me wanted to give him the return blow or a good tongue lashing but somehow I managed to restrain myself, which I suppose was partly because his blows were likened to being pinched, and I wasn’t hurt enough to retaliate.
We left the court with that Angkong fella still foul-mouthed and challenging me to meet him outside. Pfft. Childish. My team may have lost the game, but I think we won the psychological side of it.
So yeah, the whole of last week was spent preparing for this tournament and it has been an exhaustive week indeed. And not to mention lacklustre too. Lacklustre as Skopets finally lost a league game. Though i tried to pull the strings, we just couldn’t find the cutting edge to our game last Saturday. I’m beginning to binge on our rueful possession play, short-changed passing and poor ball control.
Losing half the squad to injuries and other commitments, we still had enough for a fight, but I guess we never could deliver it to our opponents who ran all over us. Dejected, regretful, disappointed, wretched and miserable I’m not, but rather I am enlightened by the fact that my team are humans after all — and though humans fall at times, they get back up again, and get ready for the next rumble and tumble that comes.
And after a week of late night trainings, not helped by a surprise Saturday gaming session with non-gamers1 and an early morning Maggie Goreng binging (hmm, I’ve used the word binge twice already now!), I think its ripely time for me to rumble and tumble in lalaland already. So wish me luck, as I prepare to battle the sea monsters2.
Feeling peaceful,
Mar
1Sea Monsters: Lecturers and teachers, though mostly Army Sargeants, would refer to ‘sleeping’, usually during lessons, as fighting sea monsters.
2Non Gamers: Homo-sapiens who are not used to the keys w-a-s-d for player movements and using the mouse for anything other than opening folders and files. These creatures usually get dizzy and experience pains in the wrist after an hour or 2 of intense gaming action. Definitely non-nocturnals and usually have girlfriends.
by | Jun 1, 2009 | Uncategorized
As always, whenever it’s Linkin Park, I’ll never get over it without repeating the song for a thousand times and somehow the chorus is stuck in my head and it goes like this:
So give me reason / to prove me wrong / to wash this
memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason / to fill this hole / connect the space
between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide
[more lyrics here]
I won’t even go into what possible meaning that it has but I thought one of my interpretations that I could connect with occured this afternoon, during a visit at a friend’s wedding.
I think the song is about someone looking for an answer to his experiences of something that’s causing a ‘barrier’ or some sort of ’emotional or conversational gap’ between parties. Perhaps this someone is looking to erase the past ( or dramatically even end relationship ties perhaps?) and is frantically seeking a reason, or any reason that will prevent him from doing so. Like he/she is in a 50/50 mindset where the slightest assurance from a friend or family will bridge the gap, while a stoic response or a nonchalant abandon of concern will burn the bridge away.
Wow, what an interpretation of mine right? I wonder how it applies to Transformers 2? Can’t wait for the show da!
Anyway, I wasn’t about to burn any bridges today, or anytime for that matter, but I was rather keen on bridging the gap. Everytime me and my Secondary school friends gather, it feels like we’re communicationally-challenged, hindering any lasting conversations. It’s like we’re on a different channel most of the time. I’m all about taking things as they come, enjoying the moment and simply staying silly. I’m just not that keen about corporate bureaucracy and unknown jc/uni faces.
I wonder if it has anything to do with me going into a Polytechnic? All my secondary school classmates have now a degree or better, and most of their topics are about university life or JC life — or basically barely 10 mins past without mentioning a topic that involves a university/jc fella or teaching/engineering/researching work.
Fact is, being the only one of a Poly background, I’m lost among their conversations. Granted I love the intellectual exchanges, but I can’t help feeling lost everytime they go into a uni/jc/work related debate and as hard as I try to keep up, I’ll eventually space out. For certain this will never cause me to regret choosing Poly over JC, but I do wonder if the elitist culture of my JC/Uni-ed friends could sometimes float on the same platform with my already imbued laid back Poly culture.
In contrast to that, during an earlier wedding it was a totally different scenario. This time round it was Juffry’s wedding — my NS buddy. Most of my NS buddies are Poly-educated though many have gotten their degrees by now. I may have spent a shorter timespan being with my NS buddies (malay/chinese/mixed) but everytime we meet, we have a good time! Here noone is trying to outspeak, outmanoeuvre or even appear patronizing. Here noone quips you with a betterment remark. Here we make sure that everyone has a good time, and everyone does have good time.
I guess everyone connects on so many levels, even though we’re all now on our different life paths of young bosses and dodgy employees (LoL!). I guess when we’re together we’re simply buddies. Nothing divides us. I don’t insinuate that Uni graduates are such and such ‘cos my NS buddies are Uni graduates too! So nopes, it’s not about I-have-a-degree-I’m-better-than-you mindset, but more of, and of which I’m supposing, the educational culture that we’re brought up in that defines how we mix around in life.
You see, there’s no corporate bureaucracy shenanigans and certainly not much elitist ego in Poly life, while there’s certainly nothing laid-back, nonchalant culture about the driven Uni life. Hmmm, is this the new divide that I’ve been experiencing all along?
Anyway I wish all my Uni-excelled buddies, congrats on your achievements and keep working hard.
To all my poly-trodden buddies, rock on brothers and sisters!!! \m/
Hmmm, do you have a take on this Poly VS Uni culture thingy? If you do, beep me and I’ll include it as a link here! Beep!
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