Meet my Daemon

Cab Prices

I got an sms from Jonathan the other day, he had first dips on the Comfort Cab raising prices thing. Yes it was shocking, and my immediate reaction (to quote from a reader on Mr Brown) was "And if you have voted the people who have increased the prices of everything - you don't have a say, just shutup and pay...".

Cab fees are ridiculous now.

So if you call for a cab from the city, at 8pm on a Friday night, you are going to pay $10.30 even before the cab moves off ($3 City Area surcharge, $2.80 flag down, $3.50 call charge, $1 or 35% of metered fare for Peak Period surcharge).
- from the Mr Brown article

Peak hour transport is a necessity, and this whole price-raising is just pure exploitation of the consumer. People ask why there are no cabs where they are needed, so Comfort (CDG) raises the surcharge in order to entice cabbies to go to town. Does that stop them from indicating "On-Call" even though they are in town? The problem still exists! It's a roundabout way of saying - we just wanna charge you more cos there's nothing you can do about it.

A post entitled "83% Hike in Taxi Fares not Comforting at all" from theonlinecitizen pointed out that the local taxi industry is NOT a competitive market but a cartel, an oligoply, with the main supplier being CDG of course. So we have more cab companies now. Big deal. When CDG raises prices, the others follow suit, encouraged by the Taxi Operators' Association (quoted from said post) who say CDG's move is "fair and timely". They're all just riding the taxi boom, not providing an alternative for choice.

So what now?

Stop taking cabs. We HAVE a say. We don't NEED to pay those fees. And we're not going to get hauled away under ISA for that.
Do it!

Links:
- Mr Brown: Complain about taxi somemore?
- 83% Hike in Taxi Fare not Comforting at all

Zoids Assembly Line Activated!

So now that Shermy has completed her undergraduate obligations as a student, she has much time on her hands. Part of what she does in her day now includes sleeping in till 1030am, playing games (from CoH to Zoids Legacy), and baking. As she foresees a steady income in future months ahead, she has commenced with one of her other passions - Zoids..
Mark brought us to the toy fair at China Square Central on Sunday, and Shermy was lucky to spot one particular stall selling Zoids, and at marked down prices too (apparently he's clearing stock and not planning to bring anymore of those in). She got some bargains from there and has been happily preparing their manufacture. She also bought a Lanstag at just $10 from Robinsons the other day.
Pictures follow:



The completed Lanstag (which incidentally is japgrish for "Lance Stag"):


Watch this space for more updates on completed models!

McFarlane Dragons

I've long been an admirer of dragons - european style ones, not the oriental ones - and when McFarlane toys came up with their first Dragons series, I badly wanted to get my hands on those. Some time back, Sherm and I almost purchased the entire Series 1 set for over $100. At that time I thought it was already expensive, but looking at recent prices (due to the rarity of Series 1), it was definitely worth it then.

This week when we went to the toy bazaar at CSC, we saw another series (albeit a more recent one - Series 6) that we each liked two of, so decided to purchase the set. Later we found we paid $12 more than the retail (since it was still somewhat new and SpawnAsia still had stock at the retail prices) in total.. But prices aside, the detail and artwork just makes it easy to overlook the mispricing. I finally have my dragon collection, and will look forward to when I can display them. =)



Link:
Click here to see a really great-looking review for the Series 1 Dragons

Awry Ad

An advert seen on the side of a cab - (Quoted from memory)

(For a DBS ad themed 'Living, Breathing Asia')
"Sometimes in life, there are risks worth taking.
I am Kevin Choy and I work at DBS"
(words subtitle his large mugshot)

So.. what the ad is trying to say is >>> DBS employees like to take risks by putting their face and name on cabs so people will know who they are.......??

On further research, I found the explanation here.. then I understood that my impression was wrong... lol

Mospeada Genesis Cyclone Toy!

Pre-orders for Mospeada Genesis Cyclones are out!!
Take a look at what this is here and here!

Shermaine's ordering it for me as a delayed Christmas gift (delivery in Feb 2008)! Yay! I've been waiting for this since I was 7 yrs old.. When it cost $14 only. Its $80 for these remade ones by Megahouse. But still... brand new wor! Yay!

30% Borders Voucher

My sister forwarded this link. Print it and go on down to Borders by the 15th Nov.
Click here for Borders discount voucher.

Mission Accomplished!

Shermy has finally completed her Honours Thesis! So many books read, so many new insights, new ground in thought explored by her in Japanese theatre! And on top of that, a great Profs in Prof Scot Hislop (and his wife Dr Lim BC) to help mentor her..

Congratulations Shermy on a job well done! I'm so proud of you and your piece de resistance!

=D

Reminiscing

Found this shot while sifting through my HDD after a reformat.

I guess this is a really meaningful pic to me. =/ Jerry, myself and Chih Hsien, enjoying ourselves at the appropriate time, at the close of the ASEAN Kendo Tournament in KL '04.

Sure, we didn't win. But that wasn't all that mattered then. Hard to say the same now I think.

Tatarah.com.sg

Imagine this:

Apple iMac 24" (2.4 GHz core2 duo)
Retail:$2988.00
Min Bid:$0.01

You can win this brand new item by bidding lower than everyone else..


That's what Tatarah.com.sg does.

How does this work?
I believe it came from wanting to catch all the bids that bidders at an auction make. In the end, only 1 person pays for the auction won right?
In Tatarah, they're so-called Singapore's reverse autioneer. The lowest unique bidder (who happened to be the first bidder) will win. But how can it be? a $140,000 item for just $1.00++? Well, that's why they're advertising - to generate interest in the website. The items for offer will likely be stuff that will everyone want and will definitely pay any amount under $10 for it (for example). So its like 4D - you pay a minimal amount to give you the chance to win big. So EVERYONE pays cos the administrative fee will likely cost less than a toto stub. And because its cheap, bidders may use a "spread" strategy, of covering all the possible low prices so that they have a larger chance to win the item, afterall, the lowest unique bid wins. However, because all the low prices will be heavily bid on, the winning bid will probably be found higher up than you might expect (they will go with the lowest bid price with the least number of bidders on it, and pick the first in line), the unique winning bid having been driven upwards.

And instead of online auctions where ppl wait for the last few minutes before bidding (so as not to drive the prices up early), the 1st bidder in queue for the winning price (or lowest number of bids) will win the prize, so everyone will want to bid early! This will fulfill their requirement of a minimum number of bids needed. Since Tatarah is a business, the excess bids make up their profits. This guarantees their returns = pure profit (except ad costs)! Calculate for yourself if you're interested (min processing fee for a Benz is $38, while min for a PSP is $1).

Will it work? I think it actually might. Cos in the end, bidders only stand to lose a few dollars for a chance to win big items, like iMacs, Mercedes Benzs, Prada bags/phones, PSPs, Wiis etc etc. And we know Singaporeans don't mind losing a little, or paying a little more. That is, IF they feel that they're not being cheated la. Kudos to a good idea!

Yay mini-lottery!

statement:

that which comes not in contact, remains at peace
conflict arises from the emergence of an opponent

Discuss..

Desert Waterless Urinals

This may seem like a strange post but.. I'm gonna comment about a "waterless urinal" system.


I was at class yesterday, the Starhub building behind Centrepoint, and was using the urinal when I noticed a blue sticker that said "Desert". I later realised it was part of the informative/advertising sticker to educate users on how the newly-implemented waterless urinals work. And what an interesting concept it was!

The idea was that the presence of water in urinals exacerbated the problem of odours resulting frm bacteria nesting in wet, dark urinals. So if urine (which is 98% water) is left to dry quickly (by elminating the constant flushing), bacteria (everpresent in toilets) will not have a chance to fester when its necessary festering requirements are not met. Does it work? Well, there are several testimonials on their website, and a quick search on the web will reveal how several organisations have commenced trials of this system. I guess we'll know in time if this is all bullshit or not (and I've still got 3 weeks of class to check out the urinals there too!). But just considering the amount of water saved - that in itself is a huge bonus!

www.desert.com.au

The Apprentice Adept

Just finished the 2nd book in the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony, one of my favourite science-fiction/fantasy authors. It's called the Blue Adept and it follows the protaganist, Stile, in his quest to find the murderer of his other frame's self, juggling questions of integrity, fidelity and mortality, along with his friends like Neysa the imperfect unicorn, Sheen the machine (I love that name!) and his Lady Blue.

Amazingly, this series was introduced to me by Shermaine (no surprise?), during the period where she felt I wasn't reading much, preferring to stick with graphic novels myself. What began with young-Shermy instructing her Filipino maid to pick up any book with a horsie on the cover for her when she was a kid, is now a pleasure that has since become mine as well! That book was the Split Infinity, and it was a great introduction to the worlds of Proton and Phaze. There's humour, puns, action, adventure, intelligence, magic and much nudity! I'd live there (well, maybe not)!

I will now be moving on to the next book, Juxtaposition! The ending of the previous volume was such a nail-biter that I spent about 10 minutes standing at a bus stop (as opposed to making a 5-min walk to get home first) just so I could conclude it and know how it ended! Dying to start soon!

Yay Piers Anthony!


Links:
- Sypnosis of the series (pardon the typos within).
- Apprentice Adept Wiki - spoiler warning!

The Hire

"You know what I really hate..?" yea.. I have a lot of gripes.. If I could do what Clive Owen could in Shoot 'Em Up..

Anyway, that brought back a few memories of the BMW "The Hire" film series that commissioned several famous directors. Click here for why this came about. Clive Owen stars as the nameless "Driver" who takes on somewhat impossible tasks including saving the world, chauffeuring Madonna, all in a BMW or two.

Ambush
(Tomas Milian, Directed by John Frankenheimer)


Chosen
(Directed by Ang Lee)


The Follow
(Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke, Adriana Lima, Directed by Wong Kar-wai)


Star
(Madonna, Directed by Guy Ritchie)


Powder Keg
(Stellan Skarsgard, Lois Smith, Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Innarita)



And the newest series that has come after:

Hostage
(Directed by John Woo)


Ticker
(Don Cheadle, Ray Liotta, Directed by Joe Carnahan)


Beat the Devil
(James Brown, Gary Oldman, Marilyn Manson, Directed by Tony Scott)

Fun baking!

Last night, we did something fun! No, it wasn't more gaming, not more swimming, but.. BAKING! Sherm chanced upon a great idea on the floggers about a dog biscuit - we got everything together and got our hands dirty after dinner.
Pictures you see are the pre-oven err.. animal-offspring, labour of love, etc etc hehe.. Dark ones are the milo-mix, light ones are the horlicks mix. Shermy decorated the cute Horlicky ones, while I made the Milo Monsters =D
After last night's trial, we'll be improving on the method and doing it again soon! fun and tasty!
She put the cookies in a box on my table, I couldn't help staring at em and going "awww...." =P

Hooked!

Shermaine and I visited this great find tucked into the right-end corner of the Rail Mall off Upper Bukit Timah Road, near Bukit Batok. It's a fish-themed/kiddy-themed restaurant called Hooked! Just wanted to showcase the great baby-back ribs that Sherm ordered. It was HUGE! Tasty! and so very worth it! Yes, I did mention fishy place, but Sherm had a porky craving, so it was a welcome surprise when the meat tasted just as great as the fish was renowned for!



I had a baked salmon fish rice thing that had everything in it! Definitely recommended!

Read more here, map here, and here!

3rd (17th Sep) Anniversary!

Shermy and I had our 3rd (17 Sep) anniversary tonight (cos we have 2 annivs to celebrate, don't wanna confuse myself). We commemorated it by skipping class to watch Ratatouille and have pizza/pasta at Pizza Hut =P
Justin msg'd me some weeks back urging me to watch that cartoon, and I can see why, it's an excellent movie! I've never ended a movie smiling so hard before! Pleasurable, funny, filled with laughs, good food, bad french accents and even a car-chase scene (on a vespa, chasing a rat)!
As for Shermy and me, we just had our little "scandinavian" holiday together in the 2 weeks before this, ahh.. "shiawase" rekindled =)

Girly Man!

Hairspray

Shermaine's dad gave us a pair of exclusive tickets to watch Hairspray at Vivocity, Golden Village. First jaunt for Shermy to that mall, we especially loved Page One bookstore for its unique layout and variety of books.
So we went into the theatre not really knowing anything about the show; on the way in, we stopped by a poster to check out the cast listing and to our surprise, noticed John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer. I only knew this movie was supposed to be akin to a current version of Grease - Travolta was the bad boy hero in Grease 1, and Pfeiffer was the bad girl in Grease 2.
Movie started with a large girl singing a song in a nice 60s-type town setting. I was a bit uncomfortable, altho the song was nicely done. As the show progressed, Shermy mentioned that Hairspray was like an english-version of "881".. I laughed at it at first, but the truth dawned on me. She was right.. it was kinda similar, but somehow, 881 was better! lol.. ok, it wasn't about getai, but it was about a singing/dancing tv program that the "nicest kids in town" wanted to get on. It was also about big issues like integration and segregation (of whites and blacks). And it was also about embracing the feminine and big side of you (John Travolta). It was about casting the right ppl for the right roles (James Marsden's smiley teeth and good looks is just perfect for the 60's feel!).
Personally, I felt that it was entertaining enough as a movie, but not entirely great. John Travolta was the shocker. He kept drawing laughs from the audience, from me, it was mostly nervous laughter. Not entirely comfortable with a huge lady-man on screen, even if it is THE John Travolta..
I also felt the finale was overly long and drawn out, Shermy says the pace of the movie just doesn't keep things going, there were some "boring" parts (esp the love-duet between Christopher Walken and Travolta.. oh pls don't show Walken and Travolta do it on the outdoor deckchair! *phew*), altho the rest of the movie had its lively bits as well.
Final point, all the cans of aerosol hairspray.. is this an environmentally safe movie..? haha

Shermy goodness

What would I do without Shermy?
Was feeling hungry this evening, torn between Twisties and other such junk food, I needed some solid food.. my tummy was twisting in hunger, just drinking water and hoping for daybreak wasn't gonna satiate these pangs anymore.. and then.. I rem'd Shermy's cheesy meat patties that she packed for me this week, there was excess and I had some in the fridge!!
Ran down, zapped it in the microwave, and voila! ready-made shermy snax for the hungry boy! *rubs happy belly*
What would I do without Shermy..? =D

881

Caught Royston Tan's "881" with Shermy yesterday, been looking fwd to it cos I've always wanted to go watch getai, but cos I dun live in HDB, I never ever had that chance before! I'm glad to say we were rewarded, cos it was spectacular! I now want to buy the 881 soundtrack and learn to sing some of the hokkien songs in there!

The show's more like a broadway performance, with the singing on and off stage. The hilarious spoof scenes, and the hokkien on screen is just a laugh riot. And when the sad parts came, they got really emotional too. That's a great show!

Mindee Ong (Small Papaya) stood out and really carried the show (and the singing), really convincing me that her character really REALLY loves to perform.

And I just LOVE Liu Ling Ling's performance as Auntie Ling, she's Singapore's answer to the bad-ass mama with the piercing voice in Kung Fu Hustle. Apparently she's a getai performer herself.

Qi Yuwu's Guan Yin character just loves to play with his cock. (hahaha, I had to say it!)


Other links:
- You can read an in-depth review of the film at A Nutshell Review, dated 07 Aug 2007.

- Royston Tan's blog entry on 881 here.

- Giant 881 poster currently on afore-mentioned blog here.

Devil

so last nite, I was at Jon's Loft watching a horror movie. They picked a movie called Stay Alive (immediately came up images of 70's BeeGees hits and Saturday Night Fever movie), anyway, its about a beta computer game - if you die in virtual reality, you die in real life, in a similar fashion.

So the movie itself was a little scary, trying to incorporate elements of the Ring, Ju-on and I Know What You Did Last Summer in it. I was still sick; halfway thru the screening, I got chills, despite being all wrapped up in track pants and a warm windbreaker I had brought along. So I left after the show, it was late, and the long walk home didn't help things, I kept turning around to make sure a horse-drawn carriage wasn't bearing down on me.. lol.. ok I was somewhat affected..

You know how it is when you get frightened by scary movies, u start seeing things where there's none? So there I was brushing my teeth when I happen to glance at this tee I've worn for almost 3 years. It's a cute image of a kid dressed up like a devil, with the words "Children of the Revolution" and behind it, it says "Don't be a child". Innocent enough ya? I just happen to wonder, what if this was one of those double-image kinda things.. So I started by staring at one point, and soon enough, a nose emerged, then some kind of bondage mouth with a 5 o'clock shadow, then an eye, and a horn perched on a forehead..

I got so excited at that point, this was a shirt I bought thinking it was innocent and somewhat cute (from Uniqlo, Japan), and after these few years, I suddenly see a second image! woot!

Had a great day off Thursday! Spent the morning just relaxing, reading the papers, playing with the dogs, watching tv. Shermy came over about lunch-time and we had a great lunch (last lunch cooked by Narti- my maid who is leaving for another job location) of saucy chicken and salad (eergh why do we have to eat western Parsley!? - east/west also taste terrible!).
The relaxation carried on till after 4 where we bugged mom to bring up to the club for a swim. Tried to get a tan unsuccessfully, I believe Sherm is getting slightly darker than me already..
After that we got driven to Sun Plaza to do some chores and mom volunteered to drive Shermy home from there, yay mom!
In retrospect, it din look like we did a lot, but it was a just a really great break and time off, haven't had one in a while. Gives one a pep and go for the last day of the week *LOL*!

Business Success May Depend on Gaming Skills

Check out this article.. Now how do I put this article into my resume....?
haha

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Sherm and me!

My darling and I celebrated our 2nd official anniversary just 2 days ago! This is the anniversary which marks our officially being together, her back from Japan, me growing to be a more responsible and committed person (she says I wasn't prior to that =P).

Anyway, its been 2 years, my time flies, but I feel that we're growing more each day. Her recent stint in Japan helped to consolidate our feelings for each other. I'm glad that our future together is looking clearer with each passing day, becoming more solid and fleshed out.

On the day, Sherm made me a special bento of meatloaf cupcakes. It was different from the recipe she used cos it had less bread and more meat, choosing to mix pork and beef similar to her previous win, the Hamburg steak. Her meatloaf cupcakes were really really great! and nicely decorated too, with tomato heart patterns and swirls as well as her star-shaped sliced eggs! Not forgetting the lovely mashed poteto sidedish. Everything went well together, and fit into a nice bento which I had before class (which I eventually pontang'd cos I couldn't get there in time).


Thanks dear, I realy appreciate you and how you've really contributed to the great changes in my life, changes for the better. I'm happy too that you're with me, and that there's no one else like you. Cos you make me proud =D

Goodbye

Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me
She sailed at the dawning, all day I've been blue
Red sails in the sunset, I'm trusting in you

My grandfather was a great man. A lot was said about him over the past few days at his wake. The family was brought together and we spent a lot of time, knowing more about each other, and about my grandfather. I'm glad I managed to spend some time with him before he left us. I know he has lived a great life, he did everything he wanted, and he lived without regrets. Though among his brothers, he was probably the one who had the least, I do not see in them the same gentleness, love and magnanimity that I knew he had. I'm proud of him.
He was always so happy for me. When I got my first bike, he saw it, when I got my Ducati, I told him about it, and he had such a great smile (he was in hospital at that time). Then when I got the van, I remember showing it off to him as well, cos I loved the support he always gave.
I told my cousins a few days ago, that my granddad was the one who probably stopped me from smoking. When I was about really young, I stumbled onto a pack of his cigarettes, at that age, anything foreign could only be verified by the put-in-mouth test. Yes, I ate a cigarette, didn't like the taste of it, and have not gotten hooked on smoking since then.
I have decided to pick up my guitar again, cos that was one hobby he started me on. This way, I will keep his memory alive.

ex-NUSKK members gathering

Met up with the old NUSKK kendo people tonight. One of the many good knock-on effects of starting Kendo way back when.
We shared a lotta good things this evening, we discussed topics pertaining to the mother ship, our alma mater and other political and financial stuff. We debated on problem-based-learning, we made fun of the mad mat and the gordon. Man that was fun.

Congratulations are extended to father-to-be (who still reads my blog - yay!) Mr Wong! great news to us all, we've been speculating when, and now we know! It will be a January baby!

This is an excellent bunch, and I'm glad we were part of the great history of NUS Kendo Kai together. Logistics issues aside, perhaps our discussed idea will come to fruition in the near future =) And yes, none of these guys will ever say training at NUSKK was a waste of time.

Best wishes to Fendy on his 1.5 yr stint in Hawaii, don't terrorize the grass-skirts too much. =)

Anti-NETS

Something I would probably do now, though I have a feeling they won't feel the pinch:

I think for the moment most establishments have stated that they will not raise the price of their goods inspite of NETS raising the transaction fee. It will not be too long before they will have to adjust their prices upwards.

I would like to suggest that we the consumers do something about this. We should try to pay cash whenever it is convenient to do so, such as paying bills less than a hundred dollars. There must amount to quite a large amount in a day. Anyone can give an estimate? Let us deprive NETS of 1% to 1.5% of that. Let us not depend on CASE alone and that Competition Board.

I do not know how much impact but I am going to do my bit.

Come on my friends. If you agree with me, please forward this to your other friends. If you don't agree, tell me why and I can learn something.

Another of my dad's forwarded mails! lol

13 July 2007 - a GREAT day!

The long-awaited date 13 July 2007 is finally here. When I go to bed tonight, I know that when I awake, I will be eligible to register for basic theory! I will be able to sign up for class 2B classes!
No I am not turning 18 again.. the damn 1 year license disqualification will have lifted by tomorrow! In about 6 months or so, I will be able to drive my yellow van again!

One observation I've made, of all the rides I've provided for people, all the people I've ferried, all the help I've offered to people, I find that its not all returned. I had thought after so many years of offering goodwill that when the time came for me to ask (that I even had to ask!), it would be given willingly.
But I found that being independent resulted in less embarrassing situations among friends and not so familiar friends. Of course, there are those who willingly return the favour, I'm just saying that there's a lesser proportion than I had expected. Something to think about eh? I guess you really do good out of the goodness of your heart, and also, that when u give, don't expect any return (cos you'll be pleasantly surprised when you DO get it! lol). Also cos most of those I helped still need rides themselves! haha

ok, this is supposed to be good-hearted, so don't take it wrongly! Cos when I'm riding/driving again, I'm still gonna be pimping out seats on my ride! haha

Don't wake me up till tomorrow morning! woohoo!

p.s. It's Friday the 13th! =B

First Impression

Just went to AMK Hub's new food court - NTUC Foodfare. Spanking new, looks good, lots of food..
Unfortunately, our first visit re-affirmed what we already noe about NTUC Foodfare, and that is, Kopitiam is definitely better. Koufu is better.. NTUC is the worst
For one.. its damn expensive. For two, the portions are damn small. For three, organization always seems damn haphazard.

1) Chicken rice - I had a craving for chicken rice, went to look, there was no queue and I found out why, the chicken just didn't look appetizing, it was dry and strangely coloured.

2) Thai food - I ordered Beef Hor Fun Thai style, paid $4. Portion came served on a small flat plate.. and it was like.. 1/3 the normal size of hor fun I could get at any other zi cha place. Majority of it is greens to fill up the lack of depth.


3) Yong Tau Foo - Sherm ordered 7 items, 1 over, so extra $0.50 on top of the base $3 for 6 items; the lady asked if she wanted beansprouts (most other places give it complementary), she was charged $0.50; asked if she wanted curry soup (more like laksa) and was charged $0.50. And get this.. she asked for bee hoon (so that it wouldn't just be a soup) and she was charged.. u guessed it.. $0.50. So in total, she was charged $5...

Here's the worst part - 10 mins after finishing the meal, we went down 2 stories by escalator and.. that's when the initial food poisoning symptoms surfaced.. the poor dear..


So yea, if in AMK, go down to the basement food street and buy all the tidbits, those are highly recommended. If you want to eat, the restaurants at level 1 are all good. But if you feel like heading to a food court for more choice or cheaper food perhaps? DO NOT GO UPSTAIRS to the NTUC Foodfare.. Check out the Zhao1 Pai2 Shou3 Gong1 Mian4 instead at Red Star, just about 10 mins walk towards the old theatre, AWAY from AMK Hub. Excellent dish! Even the S11 at Jubilee is better.. And if u just HAVE to go there, avoid the above.

We're not going back, that's for sure.

Mky returns from Hiroshima

For those who don't know by now, Shermaine is BACK! =D

She's been back for 1 week and a day, and all I can say is woohoo! So very glad she's safe and sound and within reach now. And I am whole again =)

Not to mention the nice assortment of great presents she got for me!! =D

a smart Mky

Congratulations to my darling Shermaine! She did very well this past academic semester, managing to climb onto a certain revered "list"! This should put her in good stead for the challenge of her last and final semester!

Visa or Mastercard?

OMG.. check out this pic of a fat cat!

NETS Fee Rate Hike

NETS, which is owned by DBS, OCBC and UOB, said the hike is necessary to stay competitive against international debit cards, which have higher charges and offer more attractive returns to card issuers.

From CNA website here.

so in order to stay competitive against other cards that have higher charges, Nets raises their charges so they can have more attractive returns. Typical of a monopolistic approach, assuming that everyone will pay more just cos its the "basic infrastructure". We want more money, so we charge u more.

Not just GST increase, now cost of spending just went higher AGAIN. Tell you what, maybe Nets should just reduce their advertising costs? This explains why they've suddenly upped their advertising profile of late. Get in cosy with people before unloading a loud smelly one.

This means GST will now be effectively more than 7%. It's not just about avoiding Nets usage, as Prit mentioned, stores will likely just raise prices on everything instead of just levying extra expense on those who use Nets. With the recent so-called economic boom, salaries remain the same (only ministers' salaries and civil servants have gotten a raise), but prices of everything have risen. Businesses can just raise prices and hope to meet previous expectations. But what can consumers do la? Consume less?

I do hope your year-end bonus makes up for the difference.

Back in the day

Too skinny, too much time. But I had a bike then. And we did many fun border runs. =D

Rilakkuma doing what he does best... goro... (apparently he's not as big as the pic implies - its a very tiny pillow.. )

I miss my mky... =(

Jumbo Rilakkuma

I "bought" this from Japan for Shermy! heeheehee! it's so cute! Her favourite "Rilakkuma" (Relax Bear - super lethargic n lazy bear, pictured here clutching rb)!

My mky has escaped to a post-apocalyptic hideaway hundreds of miles away from me. She's gone to live the life of Mad Max, taking train after train, day in, day out, to become part of a zen culture. Yep, she did this voluntarily, with only a hint of fear and trepidation, very few tears were shed. Along with her went her life-time pal n bitch-buddy, RB. Linen-in-paw, they ventured out into the great English desert alone.
There she rendezvous'd with her pack of similarly-fated adventurers. Though a little less clean-shaven and uplifting, they would prove to be good company for the task that she's putting herself through.

It's only been two days, but I really miss my mky already. I catch myself in mid-thought wondering about her well-being, suddenly recalling interesting anecdotes that she spoke of previously. I find myself inhaling the remnants of what she left behind, to get a whiff of her scent that slightly pervades the space we shared.

I keep her constantly in my prayers as I await the next 28 days pass me swiftly by, and maybe, just maybe, a welcoming visage of the adventuring mky will return, and jump back into my arms where she truly belongs.

I got this off Midorinosora's blog. At first I thought it was funny, u noe, just a funny clip showing how silly Americans can be. If I were put in that situation, where there's a camera in my face and I've to answer a question, I'd probably say something stupid too. But as I got further n further into the clip, I came to a different realisation - the bottom line is that Americans seem to have a very inside-looking worldview. The world revolves around them, and everyone better bow down or be made to submit. That's why there's so much trust in the government's decisions, that's why Bush can get re-elected for a 2nd term. It's all to to with this lack of awareness that's all.
Believe it or not, I think Singapore's headed that direction too. Though to a different degree. Singapore still depends very much on the outside world to survive. But people just need to get entrenched into a comfort zone, and if this zone happens to be very small and self-centred, then its gonna be a them or us polarization before u noe it. If it doesn't affect me, I don't care. If it starts to encrouch on my comfort zone, bomb it all and see what lives.

Samsung Z720

See this phone? It's a nice-looking phone. It's got a great O/S. It's easy to use. It's a slider too! It's 3.5G, supposedly faster transfer rates (if u're into that). Big screen, good pics n camera. MicroSD slot etc. Sherm can tell you a lot of great stuff about it, she very much loves it actually.

2 Problems:
1) Extremely short battery life: there're common complaints of customers not even able to get by a day without needing to charge it again. This came from Samsung Customer Service officer 'Donald' too. Straight from the camel's mouth. Here's something to think about - this phone's manual does NOT state the estimated battery usage life. No where in the manual says it. Kinda gives a hint of something afoot ya?

2) Heats up fast: the back of the phone will start heating up within 3 mins of usage. We're not even talking about high-intensive phone utilities here, just text-messaging for instance, will cause the phone to get warm. Sherm mentions having to hold it with her fingertips! From my personal experience, most other phones I have used only heat up when making prolonged calls.


Here's an online forum discussing the pros n cons.

So, considering getting this phone? Here's 2 reasons why not. If you can live with that, however, you won't regret it.

The Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology

Try it out here.

Questionnaire Results:
Based on your answers, you are AEKS.
Breakdown: Achiever 66.67%, Explorer 53.33%, Killer 46.67%, Socializer 33.33%

AEKS players are interested in the player-versus-environment aspect of the game more than anything else. They are often soloists who want to achieve and see what the world has to offer. Often, they find groups cumbersome and PVP to be more an annoyance than a feature.


and this is Shermaine's result:
Based on your answers, you are KEAS.
Breakdown: Achiever 33.33%, Explorer 53.33%, Killer 80.00%, Socializer 33.33%

KEAS players are often individuals who like to feel immersed in a virtual worlds and see themselves as a great villain or crusader within that world. They seek out challenges against other players, but they are going to find all the areas of that world. They'll often know about the best hiding places and ambush points.

I'll have to mention tho that the first time Sherm did this test, she got the exact opposite of mine, and we discussed that it really was true - she tends to socialize and be funny more in teams where I tend to quip to her and not talk much otherwise, she tends to wanna rush from mob to mob and enjoy the kill where I tend to wanna build really powerful toons and scare min/maxers. Ah well, she DOES have a 50 spines/regen who can tank and got quoted as Best Scrapper EVER by several others.. =D

The Bartle Test was originally designed for players of MUDs (multi-user dungeons) but continues to have applicability to virtual worlds of all kinds--especially MMORPGs. The test attempts to measure a player based on what they enjoy most about a game, based on four axes:
The Four Bartle Catagories

* People with high Achiever scores tend to prefer collecting points, levels, treasure and accomplishments that set them apart from other players--or simply present challenges.
* People with high Explorer scores tend to enjoy finding all of the unique areas of the world, often enjoying the immersion of the experience. Finding a place with unique monsters and seeing what those monsters do is usually more fun for an Explorer than defeating the monsters themselves.
* People with high Killer scores prefer the player-versus-player aspect of any game more than anything offered by the environment. They often relish the adrenaline and challenge of pitting themselves against real players.
* People with high Socializer scores enjoy interacting with other people, forming organizations, and finding cooperative solutions to the challenges within the virtual world.

Thanks to Eastpaw for this link.

CoX Costume options

Just a video showing the kind of costumes and costume options you can have in City of Heroes/Villains. See here!

NUS is 19th!

Just found out - NUS is ranked 19th out of 200 in the world. And its behind all the big names.. imagine all the big names BEHIND it.. wow

And we keep belittling our alumni/uni and say how it sucks.. we're actually getting it good, and that's why all the foreign students are coming here (apart from the generous subsidies/grants the govt gives la).

Click here.

You Are a Boston Terrier Puppy

Aggressive, wild, and rambunctious. Deep down, you're just a cuddle monster.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

Shermy however, disagrees.. and I think she noes me better than a random online test. hehe, just for laughs

Here's Sherm's:

You Are a Rottweiler Puppy

Powerful, smart, and protective. You're eager to growl at anyone you hate - but you're a big sweetheart inside.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

Damn, that sounds spot on.. =)

Just wanted to blog about Shermy's wonderful "Poteto au Gratin". Sherm and I put this dish together with her usual play-it-by-ear fine tuning and it turned out tasting damn good! Eating it at work last week was fab! The excess sauce that was a mistake, was made thicker with corn starch and it became a top-up for an already great dish! mmm mmm! Still thinking about it =)

ambition vs satisfaction

How far do you wanna chase for a dream that keeps getting away when you can find some measure of satisfaction in what already is in front of you?

Someone told me once that she didn't want to hold out for a possibly better catch cos she already had something she could be happy with. Maybe she was immature then, and materialism that pervades even the ranks of our esteemed government hadn't yet sunk in till now.

Where do you want to go? How far do you wanna reach? What are you doing to get there?

Insecurity is a tricky subject. Better to rid yourself of any possibility of it than live with the prospect of having your insecurities come to life.

Dook in the wash! =) so cute!! reminds me of Zen..

28 years later

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a great birthday Wednesday. Shermaine and I went shopping the day before, and on the day itself, she prepared a really nice chicken wrap meal with sweet potato chips and baby carrots! All this (prunes and onigiri) came presented in her cute Donald Duck Bento Box (cos it was bigger than all her other bento boxes) which garnered a lot of enquiring looks from passers-by that day. I needn't mention tht it was great! cos all of Shermy's bento's have been great! If you have her Flickr account, check out the pics there!

I got a 3-pronged surprise birthday gift - the presents include a new deo from Body Shop (unfortunately my old one doesn't seem to be on the shelves anymore!), a vcd of Yoji Yamada's The Hidden Blade (no, its not a euphemism for anything!) and surprise - a new Tanker toon on CoH (lvl 4) created and named after my beloved bike iL Piccolo Mostro! Woot! I received a cake as well, Shermy got it for me on our way home so we could share it with the family. Unfortunately we agreed that the Polar cake we got couldn't match the wondrous truffle cake from Prima Deli that we got for my mom during her birthday. THAT was a great cake. We're trying Bengawan Solo's Black Forest this Saturday at Jon's place! WooT! Sherm's getting that one too! Aww..

All in all, its been a great lead-up to this, I've had a really sunshiney (the movie review below!) week and I'm really looking fwd to Sat's potluck dinner at Jon's and Sun's beer-lunch reunion with the Kendo people from my batch.

I don't usually play up my birthday, but I guess after several quiet years, I wanted this year to be a celebration, its good to have it once in a while ya? =)

Sunshine

Sunshine is a really beautiful movie. Haven't seen something poetic like that since Thin Red Line. Just like TRL, Sunshine is simply a story abt humanity and human-ness, set in a lonely spaceship on a doomed trip to save the solar system.


You can also watch it for its theoretical astro/quantum physics in motion, tho the movie does downplay the intelligence of it a little so as to make it watchable. In fact, I'd advise against bringing your brain in (tho its not a stupid movie la). There were several points of contention that came up during the movie where I just had to shelve the rationale for post-movie dissection/ discussion with Shermy after. So just go watch it and enjoy =)

It's finishing its run in the theatres soon, so if you haven't seen it and want to, I would advise you to do it soon. And make sure you DON'T miss the opening narrative - I feel it really contributed to the beauty of it. =)

Maybe our politicians should go watch it. There're several good examples of self-sacrifice in there. And I really don't think the crew of Icarus 1 or 2 would have signed up for that mission even for a $2 million paycheck. I believe the "saving our world" ideal would have sufficed enough as reward.


SPOILER-WARNING:
Also, minor bone to pick with the producers - it became obvious that all the Asians died first, leaving the 3 whites to complete the job. Bleah.. ya, more Asians in film now, but they're still the cannon-fodder, the fuck-ups and the cold-hearted matter of fact ones. Ah well..
Also, that Benedict Wong "Trey" actor in the show could very well have been a Singaporean.. hahaha.. Shermy says he's a Makansutra Seetoh look-a-like!!

Update

fell sick this week. Haven't been down like this in 3 yrs at least. Fever/Flu/the works.. chills. Anyway, Shermy took great care of me, even today, getting me appropriate medication for the cough that has suddenly appeared when everything else has subsided. Was planning a bash of some sort this weekend, but my sickness totally made it null. Maybe next weekend.. Happy Easter ppl!

Ohyea.. Silent Hill is a pretty good horror.. I love the art direction! very very gory background and effects. And a great story too, IMHO.

--

As for the Ministers' Pay issue.. It is a sad sad situation in which we find ourselves. I have sincerely wondered if this is really the kind of country I want to keep living in. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em? or leave 'em..

looking forward to retirement =) upcoming birthday marks the day of the deed.

I'm not gonna give any excuses, they're the very same reasons I pulled out of the NTS. And I think I got disillusioned along the way. Maybe I'll restart again in the future, if the cards are ever aligned the right way. *wistful* ah well..

Free Wireless @ Home with Google TiSP

Read it here!

How it works!

The power of FIBRE! lol

I feel real insecure now.. anytime, they drop the bomb on you, no warning.. and you're gone.

---

In other news, I made a choice some time ago, to step away from a friend, a really good friend, for some reason I cannot even recall now. Recently, I've really regretted that decision. I now see where I've missed out and am missing out in his life. We've known each other for 1/2 our lives, and for over 2 years, we alienated each other. I'm just happy for him that he's moving up in life, and wish him the best for the years ahead. I'm also glad I made the move to reach out and grab the lifeline that was offered several times before too. Some friends are keepers, and its sad I couldn't differentiate that even till now.

Great Ad

ok, we all try to reduce ads on our browsers, but this ad for Intel vPro is just too cute! Move your cursor around and watch those poochie heads follow it, and watch out for the middle dog!

Click here!
(ya, this is the right one now.. mite need to let it load, or click-prod it)
Thanks to Shermy who spotted it!

Seoul Garden: Revisted

I've never liked Seoul Garden. I nvr liked table BBQ. Why? Cos I've been enough times to know that:
1) the crowds and their piling raw meat on plates to bring back
2) cooking is ok, but it dun taste tht great, and more likely to burn stuff, leave burnt bits on the BBQ, spatter from water/oil.
3) tummy ache from inadvertently eating food that isn't handled well, cooked well, mixed accidentally with raw food.
4) bloody expensive on top of that.

So when Shermy showed me her $10 discount for a/m place, you can expect that I was filled with apprehension - our initial jaunt to the AMK branch was foiled by its closure (very recently - they were just cleaning out the signage etc that day) - which made me secretly very happy..

We finally made our way to the Causeway Point branch some days ago. To my surprise, the experience turned out really good.

We arrived at abt 1725hrs, so the place was relatively quiet. At the counter, don't get conned into paying $3 more for their "exotic" soups, there's actually a "normal" chicken powder soup that is part of the cost. We could choose a seat, so we got one beside a wall. Once our seating was arranged, Shermy went off to choose a range of meats to sample first so we could easily just re-pick the better tasting ones when the crowds came. For our normal soup, she picked up some wintermelon slices and tomatoes and tossed them into the soup, giving it a twist! If it were possible, I'd probably have asked for just plain water, the chicken powder one seemed to be MSG-intense, so we didn't drink it, just cooked some food in it.

Then the magic began - Shermy began cooking.. it was perfect for her:
1) no need to wash-up
2) all food prepared already
3) unlimited usage of fire
4) a skillet that could be replaced on demand where necessary (if the oil runs thin)
5) drinks provided
6) sit down to cook!



All I did that evening, was eat and help her with stuff, do walks to see wat other stuff they brought out, and peel prawns! =)
Shermaine cooked things, making use of the sauces, her experience with certain meats, experimented with others and made stuff like tasty fried veggies then.. the piece de resistance - she made yaki soba!
Taking some noodles from the buffet, mixing it with chicken strips and the veggie, frying it all together, then with a raw egg on top, cooked within the noodles itself. It came out great!



We were there for over 2 hours, we watched the couple next-table who arrived later than us stack their plates, flash-fry the food, and gobble it all down, seemingly in record times. At one point, they even mixed the cooked food with the uncooked - to our astonishment - so the helper could change the skillet for them. In the time we were there, we probably took about half their food. I guess its the "singaporean" mentality abt taking as much as you can at a buffet - i saw the full-tub of prawns empty into the plates of the 2 ppl in front of me!
Oh and in place of rice, I had sushi! They now have sushi there, mostly crabstick and rice, but still, it kept me happy, and ya, tamago sushi as well! my fave. cheap tastes. =)
So yes, Seoul Garden BBQ Buffet.. I no longer look at it in apprehension, cos I noe a good way to enjoy a meal there now =) thanks to my Shermy!

I live near an 18th century street. 18th C not by design or decor, but that the dog-walkers particularly, have 18th century thinking. They leave their dogs' doodoo on the street.. When u walk down that road, it feels like a throw-back to when horses were the way to travel - you'd find the roads littered with horsie-poop, and that was an acceptable public stain, like pollution to gas-propelled cars today. Near this street where I live, u can experience what it is like to walk on roads used by horse-drawn carriages. Would u like to live there?

Asian stocks drop on weak US performance

Here we go again..

No doubt this fall isn't as great as the recent one on 28 Feb, but its odd how the market is behaving like a bear market (very quick to sell) in a supposed bull market - another indication of a market about to turn? Note tht the recovery from the previous fall wasn't exactly a weak one. Let's see how many more reports come out in the papers over the next week about market punters (we were flooded with those last week).

Holiday in Paragon City

Just came back from a holiday in Paragon City. It was great! There's so much to see and do! Enjoy the pics!


Hemingway in the Red River Boat Ride! See how he cutely waves? Aww..

If you visit, be sure to stop by Talos Beach - Spanky's Boardwalk - The girls in bikinis... walau... peng san! Damn jude ah!

My fren Hardo Gey found many friends in Paragon City - a lot of the people there wear tights and look like muscle marys - just like him wor! This picture taken at customs, already got someone come up to make friends with him!

Now I can truly say - "I've been to hell and back!" I got the t-shirt at the Natural Gift Shop!

Part of the tour took us to sights such as this, amazing hor? How did the car end up there!? I still wonder if the driver was ok..

The cow, err.. the goat DID jump over the moon! Quite often too! Only in Paragon City..

The wind can be quite strong sometimes, this is something you should take care of if you visit. If you don't have super-powers, can jump and let the wind carry u a bit - machiam like Hulk leaping siah..

Did you know the best way to see the famous Giant Monster Lusca is by air? Can buy Zero-G jump packs or Raptor flight packs at the Arena. Don't get too close or you'll wind up as dinner tho - long tentacles..

Paragon City's Fire Brigade employs flying aliens called Kheldians too! Never have a problem getting to those hard-to-reach fires anymore!

Paragon City's so safe! These fire and ice elementals took down this crook trying to rob us! He had just drawn his BB gun when the elementals descended on him!

Took some pics over at the Rogue Isles - here's us posing with an Arbiter, he was too busy issuing enhancements to sniveling would-be-villains, kinda like those stoic London bushhat guards-men, minus the issuing enhancements to would-be-villains part.

Came across some school girls having a party under the Atlas statue, I joined in too, it was fun!

Also in Talos - The Dirty Duck Bar & Grill! Woot!

Found in Daiso..

This "adult" toy was found in the same rack where "children's toys" were hung.. I guess the shelvers thought that only kids would use such immature gags...? Oh come on, it's a japanese product afterall, did u see the Japanese man on the cover? lol

EARTHQUAKE!

woot.. just felt my first Singapore tremor! There's been a few in the past, but I've never felt any before. Today in office chair, I had initially thought my headache was getting worse, then realised that the stuff in the building were moving too! that was just before 12noon today..

Looked out the window, most other buildings have people swarming the streets as well, evacuated their offices for the safety of the base of surrounding tall buildings.. makes sense. Quake was felt from Raffles Place, all thru to NTUC building near mine, the Globe. Let's see what the news says soon =) Fear the crumbling building...

Edit:

Reuters - Slight tremor was felt in Singapore on Tuesday. Tall buildings in Singapore's business district swayed slightly, witnesses said. The tremor was also felt in other parts of the island. A spokesman for the Singapore's Civil Defence said his office was aware of the tremor but had no idea what had caused it.

Apparently it was a quake in Southern Sumatra measuring 6.2 on the richter scale. awesome..

01:52pm - 2nd one!!! apparently there's been a 2nd quake in sumatra, 9 dead so far (there, not singapore).

Why City of Heroes is a good MMORPG

Following the 10-day trial of WoW, I've gone back to playing City of Heroes and was able to make a direct-feel comparison. The following is just what I feel abt CoH. I have made a stand as to my preference. Just read it if you are interested, skip it if it doesn't matter to you.

Pros:
1) Playstyle - u can follow targets, keeping them in melee range if u need to; u can't walk into and through the baddies leading to a "target must be in front of u" msg, so its very easy, and tolerant of any lagspikes.

2) customisable looks - creating a character can take over an hour if you're really fussy - and that's a good thing! There's just so many options to fiddle with, so many different looks - I've seen Wolverine lookalikes to Princess Amidala types.. I've made 2 more toons since returning to CoH!

3) Multiple archetpes (ATs)/ classes - Tank, Blaster, Scrapper, Controller, Defender, 2 types of Kheldians. And you're not limited to a certain way to play either because of the different skills available.

4 i) Multitude of skills for each archetype - There are several archetypes to choose from, further customisation allows a mix of different primary and secondary powers within each. For example, for a Tank's primary powers, he can choose: Fire, Ice, Earth, Invulnerability - different looks and defence methods. For his secondary, he can choose: Fire, Ice, Earth, Super Strength, Energy, Mace, Axe. Another example is: a blaster with range need not only play at range, he can choose to max his secondary powers and make a blapper instead (a blaster/scrapper), putting him in melee and causing massive damage to single-targets.

4 ii) Customisable enhancements/ slotting of skills - players can choose to enhance different aspects of their skills which produce slightly different effects. For example, Short-Circuit can be 3-slotted for pure AoE-DoT damage or 3-slotted for end-modification; the latter drains baddies around the blaster of endurance, forcing them to stand still unable to do a thing, whereas the former contributes to damaging them for eventual arrest.

5) Constant rewards - You get special significant powers/skills, click toggles/temporary travel from doing certain mission arcs. On top of this, after attaining uberness at the max-cap level, you are given an "Epic Archetype" to play, a whole 'nother 2 skillsets to play the game all over again (and again). Every boss you hit gives a high chance of dropping valuable enhancements that can be used immediately or sold for influence (u get drops from minions too). Player-run costume contests, where other players reward you for a great-looking costume or well-written background character bio! It's definitely a rewarding experience. Events like Halloween n X'mas get special mission arcs and environments (they put in a ski slope for Xmas!).

6) Intelligent forum - I find the CoH forum to be a much better resource for information, guides, discussions. Having visited other games' forums in search of similar information for the respective games, I find the relevant information is hard to find, rather, coming across, more often than not, threads that turn to flaming, 733t-speak or even just lame tagging, without providing anything useful. In defense of WoW, there are MANY other online resources for that game, and the official forum is not the defacto site to go to.

7) Developers are forum participants - this means player contribution of ideas and suggestions do get picked up and implemented by the devs!

8) Avoids insane grinds - When they say kill x number of abc creatures, and u choose to do it with 2 partners, it doesn't mean u now have to kill 3x number of abc creatures to complete the objective (ie. u have to split the drops between the 3 of u). Instead, any of abc killed by the team contributes to the quest objective, and ppl with the same quest have their numbers reduced at the same time too! THAT makes sense (Edit: there are usually 2 options from any contact at any time in CoH: a door - like a WoW instance, and a numbers mish; u can choose NOT to do the numbers). The only insane grind that happens is when you fixate on getting one toon to 50 (been there). If you play several toons over time, having fun with the toons you created, customizing it to your preference and seeing it work effectively (solo or with others) is all that matters. Cos you're really enjoying your game then.

9) Mentoring/exemplaring system - enables players of different levels to team-up on the same field without sacrificing experience points. So a level 50 can play with a bunch of lvl 10s by exemping down to their level to gain prestige, while a 10 can be sidekicked to lvl 49 by a 50 and still earn influence, while contributing still.

10) Evolution - the game constantly evolves and adapts. NCSoft is looking to retain the player-base by adding new Issues (expansions) every few months. These upgrades adjust graphics, powers, etc. It adds new content, redesigns less-popular cityscapes, adds special events (like Winter, Valentine's, Halloween etc). Every so often, the devs will drop a small update to improve the game bugs etc (bugs are cleaned up quickly - they're really efficient)

11) Mature community - a lot of the players I've come across are mature and older. I mean, a lot of em were older than me when I first started! U hear *afk, kid crying* *have to feed the kids* *gonna send hubby to work* etc.. once in a while u get the occasional kid, but otherwise, tht can't be helped. We're all there for the same reason - to relax n have fun after work. Granted u get the kids and the flamboyant, or the distracted too, but majority rox!

12) You don't need an in-game profession - why do I have to work in-game after I'm done with work in real-life!?


Cons:
1) If you build a team-oriented toon, and are looking to play during the late afternoon to early evening SG-time (weekdays), it can be quite a pain getting a suitable team, since majority of player-base is in US. But I've discovered that if you play on a busy server like Freedom, you don't have this prob at all!

2) If the game crashes, it takes 5 whole mins just to get back in due to auto-verification of game files after a crash, and the load screen takes almost 1-2 mins, excluding the map-loading.

3) Server maintenance takes 2 hours, and usually occurs at the time when I most likely will play, almost 2-3 times a week (9-11pm, SG-time)

4) As with any MMORPG, you'll get all sorts - the opiniated, the young kids, the stupid, the vulgar/crass, the spammers, the idiots who have useful powers but refuse to use them, the idiots who have annoying powers and refuse to use them situationally (these lead to the oft-heard term "PUGs from Hell" - pick-up groups means a team put together at a point in time without having coordinated beforehand) and the fake costume-contest runners

5) You have to subscribe to a monthly payment scheme on top of a once-off payment for the actual game itself.

6) The game is set in cities. A good buddy of mine dislikes CoH just because it isn't fantasy. Others may not like it just cos its not Warcraft or Blizzard.

Conclusion:
And so ends my comparison. I've come to the realisation that I really still do enjoy CoH, and that its spoilt my expectations of other MMOs (the lack of click-travel in WoW really irked me, non-customisability of looks in several others eeergh). All I really needed was a detour, to set me back on track again. I'm not saying CoH beats other games, WoW's 8million gamers is unbeatable. But I'm saying the above reasons (and flaws) are why I prefer CoH over any other current game so far (over 15 months of paying must say something abt it). I'm not saying you gotta make the switch, I'm just offering an alternative viewpoint.


Disclaimer: author has a 50 in CoH and a multitude of other alts there, has an "ascended" 20 in Guild Wars, has played over 4 weeks of WoW, a couple of hours of A3 and SilkRoad.

CoH Humour: Warhulk Spoof - DkyMky

Switching from WoW to CoH

I found a good thread from someone regarding making the switch from WoW to CoH. More like an overview of CoH actually.
Read about it here.

Genting doesn't have license to operate IR yet

a quote from Reuters -

... MHA"s statement that Genting has yet to qualify for a licence to operate a casino in the Sentosa IR which it is building... it is possible that the project could be in jeopardy if Genting fails to qualify for the casino licence as the viability of the entire IR project is predicated on using profits from the casino to subsidise other non-profitable parts of the resort.

Possible signs? Anyway the licence in question can only be applied for when "half the proposed gross floor area has been completed and ready to receive visitors". I'm sure the government is on it. The same way they got Mr Lee KY to make a statement abt the entire Shincorp/Temasek deal, currently under investigation on whether it is kosher.

Stocks Have Worst Day Since 9/11 Attacks: Global Mkt Plunge

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks had their worst day of trading since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Tuesday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 400 points on a worldwide tide of concern that the U.S. and Chinese economies are stumbling and that share prices have become overinflated.

A 9 percent slide in Chinese stocks, which came a day after investors sent Shanghai's benchmark index to a record high close, set the tone for U.S. trading.

"This corrective consolidation phase isn't just going to be one day, but we don't believe this is going to be a bear market," said Bob Doll, BlackRock's global chief investment officer of equities.

Still, traders' dwindling confidence was knocked down further by data showing that the economy may be decelerating more than anticipated.

(excerpts of a report on Yahoo!)

Maybe there was some strange correlation between this and the aforementioned awards blooper. LOL!

The Departed - Awards Blooper

is NOT "based on the JAPANESE film Infernal Affairs"... its a Hong Kong movie for gosh's sake, made by Media Asia Group!

And those who bothered to watch it, should really watch the original Infernal Affairs. I've watched both and by far, the original was better! It was more emotive and gripping, whereas I was tending towards hitting the FORWARD button on the DVD of the American adaptation. Gosh..

Asians aren't all the same!! sigh.. you can't just categorise yellow-skinned "oriental" people as one race! When I was young, i tot all whites were Americans, but I believe that's changed when I grew up and acquired more knowledge. Can I say the same for the uninformed Americans?

Pls join me in..

Wishing Shermaine a Happy Birthday!
She turns 23 this year! Many surprises await you today dear, hope its a great day ahead for you!

Bento Favourite

Shermy made an excellent bento for my dinner yesterday! It was supposed to be Ochazuke, a kind of err.. rice with sauce, but she couldn't find a way to dabao it, so she decided to make Bento instead - rice with food, packed.

It turned out really well! There were 5 succulently fresh prawns in there, boiled veggies (zucchinni, broccoli and carrots - in cute shapes), 2 salmon-flaked onigiri and abalone (leftover from CNY). Prawns were basted with some light terriyaki sauce and cooked in a toaster for abt only 4 mins, but when u bite it, the skin is freshly tense, my teeth sliced it easily, and I enjoyed the perfect cross-section of each tasty bite! Then there were the veggies.. I actually dun like veggies at all, but I really enjoyed these (all the veg tht I would eat, not the stringy/beany/leafy types) as Sherm prepared a light miso soup to pour over them, flavouring them mildly, but complimenting the other food. The rice was the mixed onigiri kind, with salmon flakes tossed in a possibly fried rice, then compressed into onigiri shape and pressed into her bento box, garnished with seaweed strips - YUMMY! And abalone - tho Sherm dislikes this expensive delicacy, she included it into the bento, and it was a great complimentary taste to the other foods, lending its chewy texture and pungent flavour to the taste-balanced bento. Sherm had thought that the food would be less than tasty for my salt-licked palatte, but she was wrong, I thought the delicate balance of everything worked very very well, and I didn't need any of her thousand-island sauce or (was it?) ketchup that she packed together with it.

It was great! One of the best bento so far dear! Looking fwd to the next one hungrily =)