ZEPHYR

Virgo

2007-09-13T23:57:00.000+08:00

So much to write about, and so little time. I've been pretty busy lately. It's holidays and I've been playing quite a lot, getting myself broke (AND GOT SMASHT ONCE) these couple weeks. It sucks to feel poor, and I haven't even done my shopping and grabbed a PSP Slim&Lite yet.

I'm a little addicted to PSP and MHF2 (Monster Hunter Freedom 2) lately. It entertains my long bus journeys though. I'd even stay at home just to lie down for some epic monster slaying and outfit myself with some sexy armor. You see, in MH your gear feels like it came right out of MU Online but without the BLING.

Tonight I logged on to WoW for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was a little depressing. I felt just like years ago when I've quit WoW the first time for 6 months - knowing all my achievements would just fade with time as the endless MMO progresses on while they introduce new content. And while I'm deciding if I should return to play arenas or quit for good, I tried to fetch a quote on my sexy account from an account buying/selling website.

Chat InformationPlease wait for a site operator to respond.
Chat InformationAll operators are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An operator will be with you shortly.
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with 'Hayden'
Lee: hi
Lee: I wish to get a quote on my account.
Lee: 94829
Hayden: We rejected your account, please provide the correct informations

(Because the gear is so amazing they think I was just pulling a fake)

Lee: Those are the correct details.
Hayden: So you may re-submit the form, please
Lee: Why are my information incorrect?
Hayden: You may just re-submit the form truthfully
Lee: It is the true information.
Lee: Which information is not true? Those are the details of my account
Hayden: i see, please re-submit the form and the quote will be given in shortly
Lee: k
Lee: submit a new form u mean?
Hayden: Yes, please
Lee: ok
Lee: 94837
Lee: resubmitted.
Hayden: One moment please.
Lee: l
Lee: k
Hayden: Sorry, we are not interested in your account
Lee: why?
Hayden: Due to our company polciy, sorry for that
Lee: Which policy is that?
Hayden: sorry, we do not accpet your account at this moment, you can re-submit the form later

It's hard to even sell an account. Theres another site that allows us to put it up for bid. I can prolly net a few K USD at best. It's hard to let go of this achievement. I need awhile to decide.

Anyway there's too much to write. I'll keep this one short until after my two chalets. Just 6 more days and I can get some rest! This holiday month is pretty damn active. When I return I'ma right a long article about my perspective of PSP vs. DS. Stay tuned.. I GueSs?! ┐(´ー｀)┌

P.S. I've never actually blogged on a friend's birthday - but for the first (OMFG FIRST!!) time I'll give a shout-out to our dear birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Valerie!

平时不用功，临时抱佛脚 !

2007-08-20T15:54:00.000+08:00

你或许以在想是否来错了布鲁克。没有啦，打英文变无聊了，换换口味罢了。

我可不完全是 "红毛派" 哦。其实在布鲁克写过中文。还记得巴士上的小弟吗?

这几天可是我的 "中文日" 哦。身为台湾人，我还真是满配不上呢。从小就喜欢讲英文，去美国学校读了一口流利的英文，对中文一点丝毫的兴趣都没有。但虽然如此，我的华文成绩一向都不错。我想应该是因为身长在国语环境的关系吧。老实说，中文的确是满有趣的。可惜需要死背字。

写作，写作。其实我天生喜欢写写文章 - 却被个 " 懒惰 " 的个性给辜负了。我这种个性，一拿起笔(说 "键盘" 应该比较实际一点 :P) 就想写出一篇好文章，但如果懒得把它拿起来，可能几年连一个字也写不出来。正让我想起当年中一的时候。。。被老师逼着去参加学校作文比赛还得了冠军，不知到应该高兴还是觉得糗。参加华文作文比赛。。我的天啊。(OMFG!)

还有啊 - 我最讨厌新加坡的国语。这可说是我不常跟朋友讲华语的原因吧。大家不太听得懂我那 "怪怪的" 台湾标准国语。除了和家人讲华语，很少说啦。变得越来越菜了，所以我才来练习练习。

一想到国语，就想到台湾。好久没回去了。见见家人，好好地休息一下。最重要的就是到处去吃东西还有购物啊!! 西门丁。。去过一定舍不得离开。

阿，让我转移话题一下。。相信大家一定同意:
中文实在是没有爆发力。不管怎么骂人还是听起来像在开玩笑。他妈的王八蛋! 你看 -_-。至少英文可以全部大写。 (FUCK YOUR MUM)

华语也可以。。。用来讲冷笑话!

小明一向数学很差，但老师却说他数一数二。为什么?
应为他数一，数二，数到三就不会了! :D

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随着中文日的来临，我倒是听了满多MPOP的。周杰伦的新歌也不错，但我觉得没有一种。。突破感? 好像不太会让你有深刻的印象。听说那部电影不错，可是每个人的讲评都不一样。自己看了就知道。

好啦，本来想用中文写一些魔兽世界 (world of warcraft expansion lol) 的东西，读来笑一笑，但没时间了啦，肚子饿了。那就改天吧!

中国农夫万岁!!1!11111

(老实问。。到底 "noob" 的中文版本是什么啊?!)

Sims. LOL!

2007-08-06T00:00:00.000+08:00

Hi! No moar filler posts!

It's been a couple of hectic weeks. I've far exceeded my personal 'work quota' and its pretty tiring. Projects and assignments are mostly over, so I can now take some self-proclaimed off-weeks from classes before the exams commence.

A little rant on life - it's kinda like Sims 2. Okay it must sound wierd why I said life was LIKE The Sims 2 when the game itself is meant to be a sandbox of life. Will Wright has designed a game so frighteningly like 'life' itself it gives us an enlightening perspective of reality. After all, it's always a clearer view from up there, looking down on ourselves going about our daily business.

Time is ultimately the main factor. Living in this busty and modern environment, we barely have enough hours a day. Sleep, food, play, socialize, work and everything else. Any Sims 2 player who've played the game for awhile would tell you the hardest part of the game is being able to do everything in such an accelerated game-time. Sure we could reach the top of our career, fall in love with a hundred sims and max every single skill without cheating. We could fill up every single need of our Sim. But there wouldn't be enough time for everything else.

It's a true and the most complete simulation of life itself. How one plays it probably determines what they truely want in life unless they just wanna screw around with some sims. It's a display of their 'perfect' life. If given divine control of myself in real life, would I command my character to develop himself into some ultra over-achieving, extremely popular and talented genius with a bunch of real-estate and business buildings? Yes I would.

It is kinda late to blog about a considerably old game. How much have I played The Sims? I hate to admit it, but come to think of it I've been quite a fan. I've played every expansion up to Unleashed in the first Sims and followed up by playing Sims 2. I've stopped playing a couple of times but always having this sudden itch to install and play it over again. The last time I've played was with all the expansions until Seasons.

Theres a trend in the way I play Sims. First I'll always RP and like create some friends, girls and family, but I'll just play myself. Then, I'll take a couple months living in deep solitude in some kinda cheap house to train up my skills like some kinda uberdork and reach the top of my career making minimal friends. After I'm 'all perfect', I'll start to build amazing dream mansions to enjoy the building part (the best part imo) of the game while building up relations and lovers. Finally, after everything is set and I'm already some kinda demi-god, I'll marry one of my 99123913 lovers and start a family.

At least that's what I intend to do - but I always stop playing and got bored right before the marriage part. Oh boy is marriage scary even in some game.

Next up: World of Warcraft 2nd expansion revealed - Wrath of the Lich King, life with a PSP!

Meez.com

2007-07-19T23:25:00.000+08:00

This fun site where you design animated avatars.

Choose from like, heaps of clothes, hair, animations and backgrounds.

Lets see, everyone's Meez are like jamming on the guitar and dancing, so I came up with something retarded..

The Female Element

2007-07-13T01:02:00.000+08:00

.. QFT.

Isaac Singing

2007-07-07T12:57:00.001+08:00

Isaac singing "Aerosmith - I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" at KBOX.

Taxi fare to CCK - $8
KLunch - $13
Isaac's singing expression - Priceless.

(Of course, I got caught singing but I'm not gonna link vids obviously!)

Initial D Arcade Stage 4

2007-07-07T11:55:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a busy week. In my driving fever I've re-watched Initial D Fourth Stage (anime). And being the arcade camper that I am, I've decided to try the new Initial D Arcade Stage 4.

It shall become the most expensive hobby I'll ever have.

Arcades are extremely expensive. Sure, if you camp there to challenge people on fighting games its cheap, but if you play the large machines it's gonna cost a bomb. Initial D Arcade Stage 4, like all the previous stages, gives you a "license" to start out with. It saves your game progress and car(s). In this version we get a new hard card with our character portrait that can be customized EVENTUALLY after playing heaps of games. Our portrait on the card changes to reflect the customization too. The game mechanics has changed quite a bit - in previous versions it's purely grip driving and it's quite impossible to drift. Now it's all about drifting and yet feels more realistic. We also get new cars such as my dream Evo9.

The addictive nature of this comes from the element of progression, in upgrading your car, customizing your character, clearing the story mode and fighting for the fastest timing. Yes, it's all linked up online so the fastest timings are all ranked. It's typically $3 for one play and $2 for each consecutive 'continue'. A new license costs $5 and it all adds up to an easy $40 per day if we just camp there for a couple hours.

Initial D's official english website has lots of details including cars, story mode characters, courses and stuff.

Coming back to IRL driving, I've progressed faster than I wished, having completed all but 4 practice sessions long before my test on 28/Sept. This means I have about 3 months to take 4 lessons, so I can just do it at my own leisure when I feel like driving. A couple days ago I just went for my last boring auto car lesson. Manual learners need to take a compulsory two auto car lessons. It's just so easy, I don't understand why anyone would need to learn it at all. It's like playing Daytona - any kid can just pick up an auto car and drive it.

WoW: Arena Season 2, Gladiator Zyphyris.

2007-06-30T12:35:00.000+08:00

This post is long due, but it can't be blamed seeing my two 'Stars' posts has received 100+ hits in like 2 days.

So, two weeks ago the Arena Season 1 has ended. I've received my eminent rank of Gladiator and the impressive arena reward, Swift Nether Drake.

Currently, I'm quite at the peak of my WoW experience, being #1 Ranked in 3v3 and #25 2v2 across the battlegroup after the first week. It's nice to sit at the top, above over 12000 other teams in each ladder, even if it's just for awhile.

As for the new Merciless Gladiator Set, let's take a look at its upgrades over season 1's Gladiator Set (and a completely pointless downgrade).

Piece	Price	Agi	Stam	Crit	Res	AP	AEP
Helm	1875	3	5	4	2	8	18
Chest	1875	4	7	1	2	10	19
Pants	1875	5	6	2	4	0	17
Shoulder	1500	3	6	(8)!!	2	6	6
Gloves	1125	4	6	2	1	4	15

As you can see the armor upgrades are very small, what you should aim for is getting the set bonuses asap. 35 res itself is as good an upgrade as two pieces added together. The gloves are obviously the biggest upgrade comparative to it's low arena point cost, as shown in the above table. Unless you can afford the 1875 pieces, just grab the Shoulders as your 2nd piece if you can although its a pathetic upgrade due to having 8 less crit rating than the S1 piece. So the developers decided rogues are doing too much dps and just had to nerf something. Nothing new here.

Anyway, I'm intending to focus on my 2v2 and 3v3 ladders. I can't help but feel like I'm pulling the team down with my class in a 5v5 setting. Personally I prefer 2s/3s too, since it's much more entertaining to play.

P.S. Rest in Peace, Chris Benoit.

Stars (cont.)

2007-06-27T21:00:00.000+08:00

My previous post has received quite some mixed reactions. One one hand, I'm having dudes getting all mad at me for blogging stuff like horoscope instead of some kick ass gaming insight. And on the other hand I'm having the ladies and non-gamers telling me stuff like, "I finally understand your blog!"

Man it's hard to please both sides.

Without further ado, let us move on to the second part of my horoscope countdown..

The top 3 most masculine horoscopes. (LOL TOMBOY)

3. Sagittarius

The outgoing, cheerful, free and (too) honest Sagittarius. If you know a Sagittarius, chances are he or she's the faithful and happy friend in the group that livens up the mood of everyone

And you'll also know him or her as the honest guy who's simply too straightforward. Sagittarius are known for being just that. We'd picture girls as more reserved, less active and much less opening speaking their thoughts. Well, a Sagi will tell you that you suck in bed, they'll tell you how intelligent OR stupid you are. Unlike a Gemini who fill conversations with sweet little white lies, a Sagi speaks his/her mind directly - sometimes even tactlessly.

"Sigh. Am I ugly?"
"Yeah. You're kinda fat too."

2. Aries

Another Fire horoscope makes the countdown. The ever-energetic, powerful, dynamic and impulsive Aries are usually the kind people you'd see behaving like a typical bossy friend who're egoistical and impatient.

Arians, if it ain't obvious enough, are tomboyish in their general demeanor. Specifically, they're tomboyish due to their straightforward, no beating-around-the-bush attitude. You won't often see Aries negotiating prices with people or second guessing their own decisions. They are decision-makers and when they say or do something, it's a simple YES or NO. Their short-temper is hard to consider feminine, if at all.

"Can I have this bag for 2 dollars?"
"No. 2.50 or no deal"
"Fine."

Omfg thats the worst fucking example ever. I sincerely apologize for that :<

1. Aquarius

Aquarians are curious, friendly and independent people who crave freedom. They to make lots of friends yet having lots of freedom to drift around and wander on their own during their much needed personal time.

Aquarians are dynamic, with a wide range of interests and a creative mind. What makes an Aquarian masculine comes from their 'unisex' personality. Due to their free-spirited nature, they do everything and mix with everyone.

It's common to see an Aquarius girl always hanging out with a bunch of guys even in grade school. Chances are she's not a stunning beauty, but more like she's become a buddy to the guys, taking up activities such as skating and football, fighting like the tough tomboy she is to protect the weaker boys.

The Aquarians take the top spot because while they may not act directly masculine through certain very distinguishable behaviors, they tend to directly involve themselves in a masculine environment through sheer interest.

It's rare to see girls as motorbike racers, studying in engineering courses by choice, e-gaming competitively, etc. And when there ARE girls involved in these, look out for the Aquarians - cause most of them are.

Stars

2007-06-25T00:57:00.000+08:00

Have your friends ever told you about your horoscope and you went "OMG ITS SO TRUE" ? I've always been intrigued by horoscopes, chinese zodiacs, and fortune-telling. I can't say I'm superstitious - but although it's hard to rationalize how the arrangement of stars in the sky can affect our personalities during our birth, I see and witness a very accurate depiction of human personalities in horoscope books.

Since I was a kid, I've been watching shows, reading up and observing people around me to pretty much boost my own knowledge on astrology. It's mostly true. Over time, it has reached the extent where I could just tell you all about yourself and every little detail like love compatibility. Well, that's the famous topic everyone would first ask me about. "Heyyyy how's me and a gemini?!?!!?!"

When faced with such questions I'll usually tell you how to pursue a gemini, some tricks and methods to deal with em, and some specific guidelines. I will NOT, however, tell you every strength and weakness of a horoscope. Just go browse some swoon.com or something. You can easily read them up instead of having me waste so much breath!

With that said, I'll give everyone some insight on the masculinity and feminism of horoscopes. Let's put it this way - we've all seen androgynous guys who are, simply put, feminine. Guys who go for manicures make me cringe. And then we have girls who are just... tomboyish. It's hardly homosexuality, that's another story. But why? Let me just jump straight to..

The top 3 most feminine horoscopes.* (GAY LOL)

3. Libra

Let's just put it this way : the sign of beauty, elegance, friendship and love. If your friend is a Libra, you'd most likely remember him as the gentle, friendly guy who loves to be free and has a great sense of fashion, beauty and art.

Isin't that GAY or what?! A Librian's feminism comes from his sense of beauty. They are very wary of their appearances and, likewise, tend to judge things from appearances. Being with a Libra man is like dragging along a vain girlfriend and waiting for her to dress up before a date. Oh the agony. In an extreme case he'll be the type that will probably pick the cosmetics for his girlfriend or dress up the kids.

2. Cancer

The shy emos. Their mood swings like a swing. Perplexing and complex, switching on and off between melancholy and happiness.

The feminism of cancerian men comes from their family-guy and emo personality. Cancerians prioritize family above all else. They love their home and children. They are the type of guys you see staying home to take care of the children, decorating their house with probably flowers and sweet little objects. As for their emo.. think of that friend who appears to be all happy and at some point starts to reminisce about the past and get really sad all of a sudden.

1. Pisces

What? You haven't guessed it yet? The patient, sweet, nice and timid pisces. Picture two aimless and indecisive fishes swimming against each other. Complex yet irresolute, they are what guys will usually label as having "no backbone". They would always prefer others to make the decisions and just go with the flow.

Their feminism comes from.. erm.. well.. everything! The shy, dreamy pisces is what you'll often see as the little princess in fairy tales. In a relationship, their feminism is even better demonstrated through their sweetness - a willingness to assist in little chores. Contrary to an Aries who'll just walk out the door with a laugh, pisces men are the type who display their affection by cooking up a nice meal, washing the laundry and buying the groceries.

(Continued next post: The top 3 most masculine horoscopes)

*YT shall not be held responsible for including but not limited to your crush, girlfriend or wife deciding to avoid or dump you or any relationship problems / emotional damage / loss of self-esteem / erectile dysfunction / change in sexual orientation / development of violent tendencies that may incur upon reading the article.

Busy. I am now a car nerd.

2007-06-14T22:46:00.001+08:00

Haven't been updated or doing anything much recently except going for drivings and hanging out whenever I have windows of time before or after.

Yes, refreshing the driving website every hour or so just to grab last minute practical lesson sessions and browsing sgcarmart.com every now and then obviously means I'm desperate for a car and license.

Check back soon.

First driving experience, No Starcraft 2 until 2008

2007-06-02T20:39:00.000+08:00

So last night I went for my first driving practical lesson. Time slots are usually fully booked, but people tend to just hoard the slots up and cancel the booking last-minute when they've something on. So yeah, I saw the free slot, booked it and immediately headed down to BBDC. I'm pretty excited about the lesson. In fact, I'm all hyped up about driving and stuff. About time I stopped procrastinating, since if anyone remembered, my last post about going to driving lessons were probably six months ago.

That was my first manual car experience, and it wasn't as easy as I thought. For me, the difficulty comes from having to get used to the stepping pressure. For first timers, it takes a bit of practice to maintain the very low pressure on the accelerator and hold it there while dealing with the clutch with the left foot. I've learned pretty fast, or so the instructor praised, as I've properly moved and stopped the car on my second try. Ran out of lesson time when I'm about to drive around the circuit, though I was sorta getting addicted.

So, a small update on my life. What am I doing now? Nothing much. This month I've pretty much been just playing WoW arena with hopes of attaining the armored netherdrake and raiding SSC when I have the chance. Also playing some misc. games that I've bought like Smackdown vs. Raw 2007, Rogue Galaxy and Spiderman 3 on the PS2 and hanging out with aug and company, playing some Drum Mania.

Out of boredom I've created quite a nice World of Warcraft wallpaper for 1024x768 res. I don't usually use wallpapers, as it makes my packed desktop look even messier. But anyway, it's featuring non other than myself, Zyphyris, on his Frostsaber gazing upon the Statue of Elune in Darnassus. I'd have to say, it sure looks as good as any official wallpaper! (Click on thumbnail for large image)

Oh, and a bad news for all the Starcraft 2 waiters out there - there would be NO Starcraft 2 at least until 2008. Refer to this article for more details.

Claymore

2007-05-30T03:10:00.000+08:00

I don't easily accept and start chasing series. A series, be it an anime or drama series, is quite a long affair of which requires you to catch every episode. I also wouldn't be bothered watching something from the middle, missing out on all the plot before where I've started, especially if I can't access the old episodes. I'd always be skeptical of what's popular - having a weird general impression that "the show everyone's talking about" is most probably just overrated until I actually watch it myself. To start stacking series means we'll end up with heaps of shows to download every week. In worst case scenario we end up restricting ourselves to the TV during their show times. I don't like schedules.

Come to think of it, I'm watching a lot less anime than I used to. It's pretty much just Bleach, Naruto and Death Note. Perfect time to check out for new, well-acclaimed series.

Then I'm introduced to "Claymore". Hot female warriors, anyone?

Plot Summary from Anime News Network: In a world where monsters called Yoma prey on humans and live among them in disguise, humanity's only hope is a new breed of warrior known as Claymores--silver-eyed girls who have willingly become half monster to destroy the predators. But the more the Claymores call on their supernatural strength, the closer they come to losing their human sides forever. (image: Clare, main character.)

After watching the released 9 episodes so far, I'll have to say its pretty decent. Not your typical shonen bish and bash violence. It's no-bullshit limbs and blood well-choreographed swordplay with some nudity and an interesting plot. Also, the animation is near movie-quality, contrary to animes who get away with terrible animation like Naruto, at least pre-Shippuden especially during the fillers. What else could I say? Hot females warriors. K go.

On World of Warcraft: GMs has announced that arena Season 1 ends June 12, which means it's most likely the date for arena titles and rewards to be bestowed upon the deserving. New Arena, honor rewards would also be made available. The official thread as follows: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=106771822&sid=1

Due to our warlock having to deal with IRL issues and not renewing his account anytime soon, hopes of climbing the 3v3 ladder are slim. Hence I'm currently working on my 2v2 with my full focus on maintaining the top 25 spot for my Armored Netherdrake with my Paladin, Leonardo. Problem is, the nature of 2v2 combat inevitably means there would be counter-combos. It's hard to climb steadily unless we end up playing safe and avoiding certain combos. A Warrior/Pally for example, details aside, has too huge an advantage over a Rogue/Pally to make it worth the risk. Now that poisons are easily dispellable, it makes it much harder for rogues to control the game. Mathematically speaking, it is an impossible matchup assuming both teams are of equal standards.

I don't often bother about PvE news - but it's impressive to see guilds already killing Kael'Thalas. According to the feedback from those hardcore pve guilds themselves, the content is actually fun. I do feel kinda bad tho, as I sorta hoped deep down he doesn't die and just kinda bails out at 1% :). He was one of my favorite heroes back in WC3, along with Illidan who I hope doesn't die either. But then again, following the end of Frozen Throne, he should have been killed by Arthas already.

Here's my summary of World PvE Progression:
Serpentshrine Caverns cleared. (Lady Vashj slain)
Tempest Keep cleared. (Kael'Thalas slain)
Mount Hyjal 4/5 killed.
Black Temple 5 bosses killed.

Check out the boss kill videos at www.warcraftmovies.com

My respects to Nihilum guild for their astounding chain of world-first kills. PvE is not hard, but it sure requires each and every member to provide their full, professional commitment and prowess to the guild and much more.

I'll leave other topics for next. Going off to sleep, Ciao!

P.S. Check out this legendary female player recruiting post here.

Gay Expressions While Drunk are Serious Business

2007-05-23T00:39:00.001+08:00

I just had to interrupt my blog to bring you this special, special post.

P.S. That is not me.

Starcraft 2 New Units, WoW Patchnight

2007-05-22T22:16:00.000+08:00

Heaps of Starcraft 2 gameplay and demonstration videos has been posted up on gaming websites and youtube. I can't remember the last time a game generated this much hype. This is serious epic business.

Instead of discussing about the details and giving unit analysation, I'll just give a couple of links to useful footages and professional coverages.

Gamespy's Starcraft 2 Coverage Index

Starcraft 2 Units Part 1

Starcraft 2 Units Part 2

On World of Warcraft - tonight's the patch night. The rogue buffs are welcome, although once again I don't feel like going into details tonight. I'm pretty sick of the limitations of dagger builds. It's frustrating when one can easily negate the entire possibility of a backstab/mutilate happening. Most rogues are so frustrated they don't even speak about it so as not to spread that cheap, dirty trick.

I may just pick up the gladiator mh sword next season due to the sword spec buffs this patch. With but not limited to swords spec being a yellow damage proc that no longer resets your weapon swing and the existence of resilience, it's easy to argue that swords would be superior to fists.

Come to think of it, I've lost at least 1k gold thanks to following my regular morning routine of creating flasks in bulks this afternoon. The patch greatly reduces the materials and potency of flasks. Since I haven't sold what I have in hand, it'll be making a huge loss on all those flasks. Can't say I welcome the buff to alchemy discovery chances. I've made at least 25k pots since TBC and worked hard for my 3 discoveries, climbing up since ages ago as the Alchemy monopoly on my server, being able to make all elixirs, all flasks (except arcane & shadow) and most potions. The alchemy nerf would, I estimate, cut my income by at least half of what it was.

I'll be enabling comments for my blog. Please do contribute and make this blog feel more alive.

Next Post: An analyzation of the "famous" blogs in our local Singapore blogging scene. The condemnation begins.

P.S. Pardon my poor grammatical standards compared to my usual posts. I've hastily wrote up this blog.

Live from Korea: Starcraft 2 announced

2007-05-19T15:34:00.000+08:00

So much speculation since the word spread about Blizzard going to announce their new game. Gamers hoped it was the much-anticipated SC2. And then there were confusing sources about it being a new MMO, possibly eating into Blizzard's own market. They've also cancelled Starcraft: Ghost. Apparently they have issues making good FPS. It's better off that way than releasing a shit game to taint the franchise.

Over the past days, the Blizzard website index has been updated once a day with a past Blizzard title, starting from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994). It ended up with World of Warcraft (2004) and the next title being a question mark, which is supposed to be revealed in the Blizzard's WWI (Worldwide Invitational) event in Korea today (19 may). Don't be too happy tho - they have yet to announce an official release date. It may probably take ages.

I'm having some issues directly posting youtube vids up here. I'll hotlink em for now.

Below is the announcement trailer at WWI:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXoekeDIW8

Gameplay Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3980165796053569246

First ever released screenshots of SC2:
http://media.pc.ign.com/media/850/850126/imgs_1.html

Personally, as hyped up as I am about SC2 I'm not sure if I won't be disappointed. The screenshots and new units sure look impressive, but it may just be the exact same game after all. Apart from shiny graphics and pew pews, I wonder how deep it's core gameplay would be.

WC3 introduced the hero system and made micromanagement a huge factor. It revolutionized RTS and changed the graceless aspect of unit spamming. Without a hero system, SC2 would probably feel dull, tho I feel it's rather inappropriate and may throw the game off-balance if the heroes were as game-breaking as in WC3. It's sheer customizability has led to countless custom maps that many play more than the melee game itself (DotA LOL). I'm sure most would try and compare SC2 to WC3. It has to play differently to make an impact.

Official sources has announced a couple of new features upcoming for World of Warcraft as shown below:

I've some other stuffs to write up, but I'll leave it for next.
Signing off.

World of Warcraft Blog? No wai!

2007-05-15T23:23:00.000+08:00

As usual, it's WoW maintenance night this tuesday. It used to be worst - every tuesday was the maintenance. It was a much needed break for people who simply need the downtime to convince themselves to take a break and do something else.

I'd be the last person to admit being good at time-management. I would never spend these kinda free time working on tasks that I've probably been procrastinating months for. If I have my mind on something, it frustrates me having to deal with something else before I've had my fun with it. Same goes with anything I guess.

Yeah. I've played WoW for probably two years? Started in Feb 2005. Including the 6-month period in which I quit (but am still paying for the subscription), it's actually slightly more than two years. The longest MMO I've played, and it sure is worth the fun, although it pretty much consumed an entire chunk of my life.

I'm not intending to move on to any other MMO in the near future. What attracts me most in playing an MMO is it's background. Moving on to waste another part of my life on a new MMO in a universe I don't already know is pretty much a waste of time. That's precisely why I'm not showing too much interested in Warhammer.

So, nowadays my focus is on WoW arenas - the only aspect of the game keeping me going. It's competitive nature and level of depth has exceeded what I ever imagined an MMO could achieve. Balance issues are still a problem, despite a very welcome next patch that would solve a bunch.

To provide everyone with some extra information on gladiator titles and rewards by the end of the season based on the battlegroup for EACH ladder:
top 0.5% will receive the armored netherdrake mount (310% spd) in mail and the "Gladiator" ranking.
0.5~3% will receive the "Duelist" ranking.
3~10% will receive the "Rival" ranking.
10~35% will receive the "Challenger" ranking.
Above information confirmed by blue post.
Also, in order to receive award/titles, a player needs to have played at least 20% of the team's total games for the entire season.

Based on the above percentiles and armory information, bg9 (Bloodlust) has 4994 2v2 teams, 4997 3v3 teams, and 2767 5v5 teams to date (16/5). If I'm not wrong, it means you have to either be in a top 24 2v2/3v3 or top 13 arena team. I like how this distributes - the netherdrake should be an absolutely rare reward only made available to the most competitive. However, since it's based on battlegroup, many realms especially the PvE ones will be left out and probably never get to see it.

And as the title answers: Should I convert this blog into a WoW blog? Should I literally convert an account of my life, tainting this source of reminiscence into a bunch of nerdy theorycraft, guild drama and arena techniques? No I don't think. Despite the possible fame, hits and shit. I'd much rather keep it more personal for the time being. But then on the irony, everything here's about the MMO. Guess I'll leave these posts far and few in between.

Ciao :)

Blog, K GO.

2007-05-15T22:10:00.000+08:00

No more long and boring comeback posts.
Everything from then and now I won't bother summarizing either..
With that said, I'm blogging again now!

So like, driving lessons...

2006-12-12T19:26:00.000+08:00

^Team X3G, 2nd Runner up of GXL 2006

So like today I boarded the bus and sat behind a mother and her 3 noisy children. Presumably they were hongkongers due to speaking cantonese and mandarin. The kids were probably around 4 years old, 2 boys and a girl.

As cute as they were, they're so extremely irritating. The bus was filled with high pitch screams and cries from the children, talking about shit dolphins and whatever candy LOL. Now I knew why the other passengers were sitting far behind. I'm just too tired to shift.

And that was probably a mistake. You guys know how kids in the bus like to turn around and face the stranger behind, observing him really carefully and making you feel totally awkward? The second time that boy turned around, he began to talk..

Kid: 哥哥，你去哪里? [Big brother, where are you going?]
Me: 我回家。 [I'm going home :) ]
Kid: 你的老婆在哪里? [Wheres your wife??] ( I was thinking, what the fuck?)
Me: 哈哈，我没有老婆啊。 [Haha, I don't have a wife!]
Kid: 你有姐姐吗? [Do you have a sister?]
Me: 有啊。 [Yep]
*AND HERE COMES, AFTER A SHORT PAUSE*
Kid: 我想你耶。 [.. I miss you]

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. It literally sent CHILLS down my spine as the kid says it innocently but with, i swear, a very WIERD grin. I just forced a smile, hoping the kid would like turn around before he says ANYTHING else. He did, and his family didn't notice anything cause they were all busy making noise to piss off the bus passengers.

Yes, kids blabber stuffs. But saying I miss you to a stranger of the same sex - SIGNS OF CHILDHOOD GAYNESS?!

Alright. Back to a life update. Been busy with CS lately. I've joined Team X3G and participated in the Singtel GXLeague Season 2. Over a few weeks, we've finally achieved third placing and won us $500 during the LAN finals at Zoukout, Siloso Beach. Check out the team site for more, including pictures of the event. Zoukout was fun btw. I love Soulwax Niteversions.

It's an exam week for poly, so like nobody's coming out. Guys and girls staying home to study and stuff, killing me with boredom. Hence why I'm blogging!

Something to add : I've finally enrolled for my driving license after a long procrastination. And believe me, it was funny. The lessons are just so corny. Everything is common sense. Maybe I'll just upload these and see it for yaselves.

It may just be my sense of humor, but don't you guys find this funny? Found in the basic theory handbook, I read it and started laughing uncontrollably. And some typical lousy artwork in textbooks below..

AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA.
The smiling tire, the drawings and stuff. ROFL.

That's just one of the numerous funny shit in the textbooks.

Ima call an abrupt end to this, gonna go play FF12. Ciao.

The absence of evidence doesn't mean the evidence of absence.

2006-08-24T16:50:00.000+08:00

Sup. It's a new blog address, but pretty much gonna be just an archive when i get my site up for the billionth time. I reckon my old blog which was used as just an archives contained way too much emo content to be bothered with. And hey, it's much neater. Some shit random girl took liquidfusionz.blogspot.com tho, much to my rage when i discovered while trying to register on blogspot ages ago.

Where do I start? As usual, I've skipped blogging for quite some time. In fact the gap increases with each new "Hey I'm back!" entry. Three, six, then twelve months. It's an uncanny ability I find pretty beneficial at times - to abandon/quit something merely by just dropping it and walking away, coming back ages later and resuming from wherever I left off with an obtuse indifference. With all the shit things that I'm prolly gonna eventually rant about that's happening around us, you can't say it's detrimental, ya?

So, everything has been more routine than before over the year(s). Like everything settled down. Pretty much just go for lectures that I must attend to keep myself at a passing grade while squeezing every free minute for outings and gamings. Much more of the latter though Oo. As I've just finished my final exam yesterday, I pretty much finished this semester and having almost a two month holiday. That's secks. And it basically calls for everything else that I havent been able to do - picking up skills, fitness, and whatever.

WORLD CUP 2006. Yes. If I wrote this during or even before the event, you'd see countless cheers and random shout outs to Italy, coupled with lots of analysis. We don't ever want that happening. It's pages and pages of soccer shit! Won a little cash to fund some of my wishlist things, and rooted hard for Italy. As disappointed as I was 4 and 2 years ago, I genuinely felt Italy could make the champion. Thankfully, they did and more - took my voice away during the Finals. Sigh at Christian Vieri though, guess that's it for him. On a sidenote: TELEVISION SETS IN CHALET ROOMS NEED TO INCREASE IN SIZE, PLEASE. I'd pay a few bucks more! rly!

Gaming. E-sports. A culture. Some are in it, some are just taking strolls along its border. But either way it's what I do most, and probably eminently well. I've returned to playing World of Warcraft. Since Feb 05, I've been going down on it hardcore till about May and stopped. Let's just say I 'dropped' it as usual. I did welcome the break, but some time later after clearing up things that I wanted to do, I've resumed playing approximately April 06. Since then I'm pretty much all the way in - joined a great guild (www.eleventh-hour.org) and progressed pretty well into AQ40 and Naxxramas now. Prolly making a PvP video just to see how it'll turn out :). For anyone who's curious about Zyphyris - http://ctprofiles.net/760543

The most recent event was WCG2006. I've been called back from my quiescence to compete (CS1.6) for Team CsN , an old school team with great prestige ages ago that's looking to re-establish its former glory. To be honest, I've never expected to CS again upon my fading from the scene. It's hard for me to utilize the word "play" for this.. it really issint a game anymore. A game is CS:S, WoW and every other top game. CS16 is a sport. We did considerably well, seeing as the team was formed at the eleventh hour (pun intended with WoW guild, but no association at all. sigh!) and we had only a single training. Lost both games during group stage to see us removed, but played a great game losing by 2 against an opposition that went on to win last year's Singapore Champion.

(Wait, I should fucking save this blog.. if my com crashes I'm gonna /wrists. oh noes im emoT_T.)

Come to think of blogging and its entire scene, what purpose does it serve? To insult and hate on things, rant about random shit, blog a topic, blog about how emo, /wrists, and i lurrrveee euu they are, or just really an online diary? It's funny to read blogs and gather lots of perspective albeit most are shit. Some serve as humor. Off the top of my head.. I can recall tons of rehab blogs. You know, sometimes it's good to stay anonymous on blogs so you can talk shit about people whom you actually know. Blogs that hate on things. It's -potentially- funny, and a witty post about such shit cunts often crack me up. An example is that museum of twits blog. Pretty funny, speaks my mind exactly sometimes. I'd like to write shit like that but hell, how could i stand searching for such shit bimbos and things to diss about! I've already had a fair share of fun from invading Habbo and owning the little bitches. Someday I'll upload the screenshots of channel/ msn/ game invasions for entertainment.

I'll stop here, starting to get bored (ABOUT TIME). Sif write so much. I'll get lots of "TLDR!!".

edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to add this. There'll be a foam party on 1st Sept, Sentosa (KRUNK@Sentosa). There is NO age limit unless you wanna get drinks. Tickets at $20 each, with a free drink and shuttle bus service. Booth price is $25. It's on friday, btw. Let me know if you want tickets. Cheaper if you've got a whole group. Drop me an SMS or PM if interested. More information at www.youthempire.com

Cheers.

P.S. I love Alizee!