Yeh~Just finished reading the novel. This is the 2nd time I've read this novel, and I can now understand everything.
I've forgotten like 80% of the stuff since the last time I read it was like when I was Sec 3. Now re-read again, really 别有一番风味.
Basically, the story protaganist, Shi Po Tian life underwent a major transformation after he was mistook for a evil man that look similar to him. There's no "true villian" or "problem" in this story, so it's really interesting. How can a story like that be good?
It talks about how Shi Po Tian lost his dog Ah Huang and his mother. In a twist of luck, the prized "Xuan Tie Ling" was in his hands when he met the owner Xie Yan Ke. A relatively short story compare to another Jinyong works but I like it a lot. There are some very sweet portions, and some funny parts. My favourite is when Bai Wan Jian arrives to confront Shi Po Tian and he kept making comments on Wan Hua Zi.
I hate that ***** Ding Dang who killed Chi Jian. It's really like what they said, 令人发指! Even though Chi Jian is only a minor character that serves no purpose, the description of how Ding Dang killed her, took off her clothes and try to put it off as Shi Po Tian attempted to rape her and she suicides. That part just makes me hate the Ding Dang character to the core.
Written very well. Although it was not explicitly mentioned, Shi Po Tian finally managed to find out "Who I Am" at the end of the story.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Some funny stuffs on the internet.
Some very interesting stuff I read on the net that I wanted to record down:
1) Kennysia - He is one of the most hilarious bloggers around:
Girls On Valentine - So true about Singaporean girls and the Valentine's Day culture...95% of singaporean girls are just 爱慕虚荣 that want to suck your......money dry.
PMS Poor Man - "Why do they call it PMS? Well, that's because Mad Cow Disease is already taken".
WWE Wrestling - Hilarious to me because I watch Wrestling. Haha.
Weight Loss - Kenny endorse silming products.
Computer In Real Life - Literally...
Most Irritating MTV Ever - Must watch!
2) Talking Cock
I was really surprised to see it being mentioned during the National Day Rally. The news about the "NYP Event" is really hilarious...and gross at the same time.
3) Others
I also found a very interesting site listing "extra-ordinary" local style ring tones. And who can forget this 10 worst company url. There's very pro flash animation that shows you why "Men don't care about quality" when they're drunk...
4) Music
Not funny but I just want to record these down. Talk about some of the most famous songs of the 90s.
台湾音乐大纪事(1980-1990)
90年代以后歌曲回忆录
Yeh! Finally cleared all the junk that is piling up my bookmarks and I don't want to just delete them away.
1) Kennysia - He is one of the most hilarious bloggers around:
Girls On Valentine - So true about Singaporean girls and the Valentine's Day culture...95% of singaporean girls are just 爱慕虚荣 that want to suck your......money dry.
PMS Poor Man - "Why do they call it PMS? Well, that's because Mad Cow Disease is already taken".
WWE Wrestling - Hilarious to me because I watch Wrestling. Haha.
Weight Loss - Kenny endorse silming products.
Computer In Real Life - Literally...
Most Irritating MTV Ever - Must watch!
2) Talking Cock
I was really surprised to see it being mentioned during the National Day Rally. The news about the "NYP Event" is really hilarious...and gross at the same time.
3) Others
I also found a very interesting site listing "extra-ordinary" local style ring tones. And who can forget this 10 worst company url. There's very pro flash animation that shows you why "Men don't care about quality" when they're drunk...
4) Music
Not funny but I just want to record these down. Talk about some of the most famous songs of the 90s.
台湾音乐大纪事(1980-1990)
90年代以后歌曲回忆录
Yeh! Finally cleared all the junk that is piling up my bookmarks and I don't want to just delete them away.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
5 Months Of......Nonstop Collection
Some of my most "proud" achievements and ones that took up most of my time. I reckon 20% is spent on the "Hard Work", 40% on the "Gaming", and another 40% is spent here...
I did a lot of collecting during these 5 months...
1) My MC Skyrocketed
My MC rised from about 729 in March 2006, to a whopping 1110 (and still increasing as of now). That's almost a 35% increase. I first got my computer during Secondary 2, which is like 6 years ago. That means 6 years of time I collected about 729. But in 5 months I managed to collect 300+! That's godly achievement! Even I cannot believe it. On average I think I add about 10 of them per day. Heh...Now I have a very extensive and wide library. In addition, I manage to dig out a lot of old discs when doing my spring cleaning. I'm gonna place them all into my computer and throw the old discs away. Heh. They include some of the rarest ones that it is almost impossible to find nowadays already. At least they won't be lost forever with the passage of time.
2) Media-Monkey
Best music management software ever. I'm so glad I discovered this during my ITP. Thanks to it I manged to complete the tagging of all my files. Year, rating, artist, title, occassion together with lyrics. Sweet. I don't know how I got the energy to do all of these. I searched through the forums and got the best scripts for the program. Favourite nodes, Startup node, Advanced Report, Detailed Info Panel, Song Preview... I edit the export script (Stupid VB) to replace the lame original one...Now it's freaking cool and I can see everything on one single, neat HTML page. It increased my enjoyment of listening to music immensely.
3) Zhou Xing Xing
My favourite comedian actor! Well well...
All Stephen Chow Movies Rated By Class
Top 10 Stephen Chow Hilarious Scenes
All fo them~All of them. Wasted lot of time but it's definitely worth it. About old dramas, here's a list of ALL old Mediacorp dramas. Their name alone brought back lot of memories...
4) Animes
I re-watched 2 of my favourite animes during the holiday season! Ah My Goddess (Melt when I see Belldandy) and Rave (When is Season 3 coming out!) And...Happy Tree Friends! Yep. Heh Heh...Also watching Card Captor (Ahh......still think it's a super sweet anime)
5) S.H.E Video Clips
Ahh...I've really been lagging behind in my S.H.E Collection over the past 1 year. I recently found out that my niece is a great fan of S.H.E, and what's more, she got a whole bunch of their clips...Haha. Really is 踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费工夫. I spent a lot of time filtering out the clips from hers, so that I do not duplicate ones that I already have. Have to rewatch the clips. Adding her new ones together with my already massive collection, I now got a whole mountain of S.H.E videos. I don't think anyone can finish them even if they watch non-stop for 3 days and 3 nights.
Talking about S.H.E...Haiz...I think they're facing their greatest crisis yet. I never felt they were in any "danger" before. Not even when Ella fell. (Even though a lot of people speculate that's the end of them) This time though is a bit different, but I still have faith in them.
Haiz...don't know what's wrong with Ella...she used to be the most optimistic of the 3. Now she's like so easily depressed. Her problems began as early as Encore when she often cried when she went for show recording. Now it just become more prominent. I think it's largely due to her injuries and the massive workload, not to mention the recent Media rumors. The Taiwan media sucks like hell and do nothing but do harm to the celebrities.
H.I.M (Which really, is a small music company that has no other big stars that can roll in as much money as S.H.E) is really pushing them too hard. Way too hard. I hope H.I.M give them more rest. I don't need them to release albums at a crazy speed like they did in the past. 1 album per year I am more than happy. Just don't disband. Please don't.
I did a lot of collecting during these 5 months...
1) My MC Skyrocketed
My MC rised from about 729 in March 2006, to a whopping 1110 (and still increasing as of now). That's almost a 35% increase. I first got my computer during Secondary 2, which is like 6 years ago. That means 6 years of time I collected about 729. But in 5 months I managed to collect 300+! That's godly achievement! Even I cannot believe it. On average I think I add about 10 of them per day. Heh...Now I have a very extensive and wide library. In addition, I manage to dig out a lot of old discs when doing my spring cleaning. I'm gonna place them all into my computer and throw the old discs away. Heh. They include some of the rarest ones that it is almost impossible to find nowadays already. At least they won't be lost forever with the passage of time.
2) Media-Monkey
Best music management software ever. I'm so glad I discovered this during my ITP. Thanks to it I manged to complete the tagging of all my files. Year, rating, artist, title, occassion together with lyrics. Sweet. I don't know how I got the energy to do all of these. I searched through the forums and got the best scripts for the program. Favourite nodes, Startup node, Advanced Report, Detailed Info Panel, Song Preview... I edit the export script (Stupid VB) to replace the lame original one...Now it's freaking cool and I can see everything on one single, neat HTML page. It increased my enjoyment of listening to music immensely.
3) Zhou Xing Xing
My favourite comedian actor! Well well...
All Stephen Chow Movies Rated By Class
Top 10 Stephen Chow Hilarious Scenes
All fo them~All of them. Wasted lot of time but it's definitely worth it. About old dramas, here's a list of ALL old Mediacorp dramas. Their name alone brought back lot of memories...
4) Animes
I re-watched 2 of my favourite animes during the holiday season! Ah My Goddess (Melt when I see Belldandy) and Rave (When is Season 3 coming out!) And...Happy Tree Friends! Yep. Heh Heh...Also watching Card Captor (Ahh......still think it's a super sweet anime)
5) S.H.E Video Clips
Ahh...I've really been lagging behind in my S.H.E Collection over the past 1 year. I recently found out that my niece is a great fan of S.H.E, and what's more, she got a whole bunch of their clips...Haha. Really is 踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费工夫. I spent a lot of time filtering out the clips from hers, so that I do not duplicate ones that I already have. Have to rewatch the clips. Adding her new ones together with my already massive collection, I now got a whole mountain of S.H.E videos. I don't think anyone can finish them even if they watch non-stop for 3 days and 3 nights.
Talking about S.H.E...Haiz...I think they're facing their greatest crisis yet. I never felt they were in any "danger" before. Not even when Ella fell. (Even though a lot of people speculate that's the end of them) This time though is a bit different, but I still have faith in them.
Haiz...don't know what's wrong with Ella...she used to be the most optimistic of the 3. Now she's like so easily depressed. Her problems began as early as Encore when she often cried when she went for show recording. Now it just become more prominent. I think it's largely due to her injuries and the massive workload, not to mention the recent Media rumors. The Taiwan media sucks like hell and do nothing but do harm to the celebrities.
H.I.M (Which really, is a small music company that has no other big stars that can roll in as much money as S.H.E) is really pushing them too hard. Way too hard. I hope H.I.M give them more rest. I don't need them to release albums at a crazy speed like they did in the past. 1 album per year I am more than happy. Just don't disband. Please don't.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
5 Months Of......Intense Gaming
Ahhh...I've played a lot of games during these 5 months. The most important ones being...
Civilization IV - 2005 Game Of The Year and 1 of the most addictive game I've ever played. Never regret picking up this game and I've conquered the world using both the sword and the pen countless times since I brought it. Learnt a lot about the historical leaders of the past and of course the wonders. Quite disappointed with the Warlords expansion as it didn't really add to the gameplay. Biggest regret is my com specs is not good enough to go to the 18 Civlization World War...god, that's gonna be so cool. The best I can go up to now are 8 civilizations without the game lagging to 2 frames per second.
A true story was made by a famous book author, Iain Banks:
"It's all because I became a serial addict of the computer game 'Civilisation'," Banks said at this month's Edinburgh book festival. I played it for three months and then realised I hadn't done any work. In the end, I had to delete all the saved files and smash the CD. It is very unprofessional of me. I had to ask for an extension for the first time, which made me feel just like I was a student again."
Yes...this game is THAT addictive. Don't even go close to it if you don't want to waste your life away. There's even an organization which help free people from "Civ Addiction"...One more turn...one more turn...geez! The videos on the site are super funny...
Suikoden V - What can beat my favourite RPG series of all time. Great story, great characters and...OK gameplay. Attack on Sun Palace is still ringing in my head.
Try a lot of other games as well...
Heroes V - A great game but annoying bugs spell its doom...Limited towns and creatures, annoying 3D world navigation made it difficult to spot treasure. I still ilke Heroes 3 more, but then this game is way better than 4 already.
The Movies - Ahhh...I think I spent more than 1 week playing this none stop. From the moment I woke up till I go to bed. It was damn addictive at the start and I even made 2 movies on my old (and did the voice dubbing) which was damn funny. Sadly, this game faces many issues, especially late games when the micro-management of all the stars became so frustrating...
Warcraft 3 - Ahh...I can never get warcraft 3 completely out of my life. However, the recent "disbanding" (spirtually and physically) of my "OYA" clan (Haiz...and I finally got promoted to Shaman position after 1 year with them) eventually leads to me losing interest in these game. Still, I enjoy watching WC3 replays as much as ever.
- Grubby is still, the undisputed Orc King and 1 of the top 3 warcraft players in the world.
- Moon is still godly and reigning over all with his supreme power of Night Elves. Seriously he is the only one that can beat Grubby.
- The "4 King" clans lead by Grubby and his 4 Kings 4K.Fury, 4K. Tod and 4K. Zeus and 4K. Fov still rule over Warcraft as the number 1 clan.
- SK Clan experts Sky, Deadman,Insomnia and the dreaded Sk.Sweet.....
- SK.Zacard...I still remember the castastrophic battle between him and Grubby at the WCG Finals...He lost in the end but really great battle.
- 天王杀手 Gostop is still slaying the kings but losing to "no name" players...
- IGE.Remind and Lucifier are still battling over who's the King of Undead.
- Unorthodox players like Angry_Korea_Man are still using unorthodox methods.
Haha...nothing have changed in the WC3 scene after all these years, and I still enjoy watching their matches. Some legendary players have really retired...Madfrog (The former Undead King), Tillerman (He's a WC3 legend in 2003 already) and my favourite human play PerfumeWest are gone. Hope to see them play again some day.
Recently AMD Price Slashing - I was really attempted to upgrade my system. I mean...$459 processors dropping to $199?! Are you kidding me. A lot got more than 50% price cuts. Sadly the comments I got was that I shouldn't buy a system since I'm going into the army. I guess they're right...I swear I'm going to play a 18 Civilization World War one day.
Civilization IV - 2005 Game Of The Year and 1 of the most addictive game I've ever played. Never regret picking up this game and I've conquered the world using both the sword and the pen countless times since I brought it. Learnt a lot about the historical leaders of the past and of course the wonders. Quite disappointed with the Warlords expansion as it didn't really add to the gameplay. Biggest regret is my com specs is not good enough to go to the 18 Civlization World War...god, that's gonna be so cool. The best I can go up to now are 8 civilizations without the game lagging to 2 frames per second.
A true story was made by a famous book author, Iain Banks:
"It's all because I became a serial addict of the computer game 'Civilisation'," Banks said at this month's Edinburgh book festival. I played it for three months and then realised I hadn't done any work. In the end, I had to delete all the saved files and smash the CD. It is very unprofessional of me. I had to ask for an extension for the first time, which made me feel just like I was a student again."
Yes...this game is THAT addictive. Don't even go close to it if you don't want to waste your life away. There's even an organization which help free people from "Civ Addiction"...One more turn...one more turn...geez! The videos on the site are super funny...
Suikoden V - What can beat my favourite RPG series of all time. Great story, great characters and...OK gameplay. Attack on Sun Palace is still ringing in my head.
Try a lot of other games as well...
Heroes V - A great game but annoying bugs spell its doom...Limited towns and creatures, annoying 3D world navigation made it difficult to spot treasure. I still ilke Heroes 3 more, but then this game is way better than 4 already.
The Movies - Ahhh...I think I spent more than 1 week playing this none stop. From the moment I woke up till I go to bed. It was damn addictive at the start and I even made 2 movies on my old (and did the voice dubbing) which was damn funny. Sadly, this game faces many issues, especially late games when the micro-management of all the stars became so frustrating...
Warcraft 3 - Ahh...I can never get warcraft 3 completely out of my life. However, the recent "disbanding" (spirtually and physically) of my "OYA" clan (Haiz...and I finally got promoted to Shaman position after 1 year with them) eventually leads to me losing interest in these game. Still, I enjoy watching WC3 replays as much as ever.
- Grubby is still, the undisputed Orc King and 1 of the top 3 warcraft players in the world.
- Moon is still godly and reigning over all with his supreme power of Night Elves. Seriously he is the only one that can beat Grubby.
- The "4 King" clans lead by Grubby and his 4 Kings 4K.Fury, 4K. Tod and 4K. Zeus and 4K. Fov still rule over Warcraft as the number 1 clan.
- SK Clan experts Sky, Deadman,Insomnia and the dreaded Sk.Sweet.....
- SK.Zacard...I still remember the castastrophic battle between him and Grubby at the WCG Finals...He lost in the end but really great battle.
- 天王杀手 Gostop is still slaying the kings but losing to "no name" players...
- IGE.Remind and Lucifier are still battling over who's the King of Undead.
- Unorthodox players like Angry_Korea_Man are still using unorthodox methods.
Haha...nothing have changed in the WC3 scene after all these years, and I still enjoy watching their matches. Some legendary players have really retired...Madfrog (The former Undead King), Tillerman (He's a WC3 legend in 2003 already) and my favourite human play PerfumeWest are gone. Hope to see them play again some day.
Recently AMD Price Slashing - I was really attempted to upgrade my system. I mean...$459 processors dropping to $199?! Are you kidding me. A lot got more than 50% price cuts. Sadly the comments I got was that I shouldn't buy a system since I'm going into the army. I guess they're right...I swear I'm going to play a 18 Civilization World War one day.
Friday, August 18, 2006
5 Months Of......Dilligent Work
Blink of an eye...and 5 months have passed since the internship. Will be enlisting in about 3 weeks. Decide to do a summary of what I did during the past 5 months, to make sure I didn't waste (or at least "completely waste") my time away.
1) The Bluff Game
First "real game" I did on my accord. Game development was stopped twice but still mangaged to complete it in the end. Very happy with the results. Learnt a lot experimenting with the AI and most importantly Java networking. Did this throughout from April all the way to August.
2) The Comedian Zone
Another important work I focus greatly on during July and August. First site I made completely using CSS positioning. Really learnt a lot about CSS and I think it thought me much more than the WWWP module...Thanks to a great collection of jokes and aspiration stories I saw on Hardware-zone and Gamefaqs forum.
3) "Relearning" PHP
More like "Learning from scratch" because IWED have taught me nuts about PHP. Manage to experiment with the Open source "phpBB 2.0". Programmed quite a number of navigation functions that is not found in the built in Dreamweaver behaviours. Now I actually understand what the hell the Dreamweaver code is doing instead of blindly using its function.
4) MySQL...Again.
Picked up a very good book on SQL from the library call "Crash course on SQL". No bullshit stuff like "History of SQL" and the boring crap. Straight to the point, very practical and easy to understand. Didn't manage to use the more complex stuff in the website though.I also learnt about this thing called "URL-encoding" which did a very good job of frustrating me for days...
5) Originalize My Games
Replace all the "Kope from Internet" graphics from my older games and replace them with "Programmer Art" by me...
6) Update my Portfolio
Basically update my portfolio site to be more presentable...
7) Freelance for MOE
Did 4 flash games in total for MOE...probably for the last time...hopefully the last time.
I really could have done more if I hadnt spent so much time slacking, but "all work and no play" sucks...Can't say I have "fully utilize" these 5 months, but I sure didn't waste them all. I learnt some new skills, refresh my older skills so they don't become rusty, and earned some money...Haha.
1) The Bluff Game
First "real game" I did on my accord. Game development was stopped twice but still mangaged to complete it in the end. Very happy with the results. Learnt a lot experimenting with the AI and most importantly Java networking. Did this throughout from April all the way to August.
2) The Comedian Zone
Another important work I focus greatly on during July and August. First site I made completely using CSS positioning. Really learnt a lot about CSS and I think it thought me much more than the WWWP module...Thanks to a great collection of jokes and aspiration stories I saw on Hardware-zone and Gamefaqs forum.
3) "Relearning" PHP
More like "Learning from scratch" because IWED have taught me nuts about PHP. Manage to experiment with the Open source "phpBB 2.0". Programmed quite a number of navigation functions that is not found in the built in Dreamweaver behaviours. Now I actually understand what the hell the Dreamweaver code is doing instead of blindly using its function.
4) MySQL...Again.
Picked up a very good book on SQL from the library call "Crash course on SQL". No bullshit stuff like "History of SQL" and the boring crap. Straight to the point, very practical and easy to understand. Didn't manage to use the more complex stuff in the website though.I also learnt about this thing called "URL-encoding" which did a very good job of frustrating me for days...
5) Originalize My Games
Replace all the "Kope from Internet" graphics from my older games and replace them with "Programmer Art" by me...
6) Update my Portfolio
Basically update my portfolio site to be more presentable...
7) Freelance for MOE
Did 4 flash games in total for MOE...probably for the last time...hopefully the last time.
I really could have done more if I hadnt spent so much time slacking, but "all work and no play" sucks...Can't say I have "fully utilize" these 5 months, but I sure didn't waste them all. I learnt some new skills, refresh my older skills so they don't become rusty, and earned some money...Haha.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Bluff - Multiplayer Version!
I thought the Multiplayer version would never see the daylight. But it did, and I am so glad. Thanks to gamefaqs "Game Design and Programming" forum, their positive comments helped greatly in motivating me to complete the Networking version.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" Great Presentation. Found the choice of using 1 and a half deck and the ability to call out any value wierd. Guess the local style here is a bit different. I lost bad, but I'll see if I could develop some strategies. " -Grandtrain
" That was a great game, if not a bit easy. My score is 8338 points and my time was 6 mins and 2 seconds (second try). Anyhow, nice job. I'm just getting into programming and would be happy if I could someday create a game half as entertaining as this. ITs a refreshing break from solitaire and hearts :) " -Kram88
" Nice looking game. A little different than the BS I am used to. " -Imperfect Freak
" Great game although a tiny part of the bottom of the screen is cut out for me (can only see top-half of the contact text on main menu). Other than that it's very well done. " -DBZManiax
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But "motivation" alone is useless when I don't even have the knowledge to do Multiplayer. I posted on the forum again, asking for help related to sending game data.
And gosh...They introduced so many things that I never know in the past. I thought all there is are sending strings but and forth, but god was I wrong. They gave a loads of suggestions like designing a "protocol" to read the data, going "all the way" and use XML or using advanced stuff like RMI (Which I never heard of before posting there).
There's this guy called Sabuat who's very helpful. Really appreciate that he took him time to explain to a newbie like me, and give suggestions like how to send "minimum data" and make the client and server in sync with each other.
Anyway, just very happy that I completed the Multiplayer version, although I didn't use all the "advanced methods" (Which wasn't really necessary since Bluff is a very small game). Hopefully I will get a chance to use them if I do a "big scale" game next time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" Great Presentation. Found the choice of using 1 and a half deck and the ability to call out any value wierd. Guess the local style here is a bit different. I lost bad, but I'll see if I could develop some strategies. " -Grandtrain
" That was a great game, if not a bit easy. My score is 8338 points and my time was 6 mins and 2 seconds (second try). Anyhow, nice job. I'm just getting into programming and would be happy if I could someday create a game half as entertaining as this. ITs a refreshing break from solitaire and hearts :) " -Kram88
" Nice looking game. A little different than the BS I am used to. " -Imperfect Freak
" Great game although a tiny part of the bottom of the screen is cut out for me (can only see top-half of the contact text on main menu). Other than that it's very well done. " -DBZManiax
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But "motivation" alone is useless when I don't even have the knowledge to do Multiplayer. I posted on the forum again, asking for help related to sending game data.
And gosh...They introduced so many things that I never know in the past. I thought all there is are sending strings but and forth, but god was I wrong. They gave a loads of suggestions like designing a "protocol" to read the data, going "all the way" and use XML or using advanced stuff like RMI (Which I never heard of before posting there).
There's this guy called Sabuat who's very helpful. Really appreciate that he took him time to explain to a newbie like me, and give suggestions like how to send "minimum data" and make the client and server in sync with each other.
Anyway, just very happy that I completed the Multiplayer version, although I didn't use all the "advanced methods" (Which wasn't really necessary since Bluff is a very small game). Hopefully I will get a chance to use them if I do a "big scale" game next time.
Monday, August 14, 2006
A day off for myself, and why I don't like to go out
Ahhh~great day. Been a long time since I went out alone, without company. Frankly, I hate going out. I do not understand why people like to go out so often. It's hot, it's tiring and there isnt really much to do. I rather spend the whole day using the computer at home then go out. It's not anti-social, neither is it "no life". To me, going out is more "no-life" than staying at home. Basically, I get more "happiness" from staying at home, so why should I care what other people think?
Anyway, today I felt like going out, alone. Another reason I don't like going out with my friends is because their interests are different from mine. They go out to shop for clothes, look at branded stuff, sport shoes and generally clothings, or the latest phone gadgets etc...I have zero interest in these stuff. They don't appeal to me. I like to frequent book stores, CD-shops, games shops, comic stores and take my time, slowly browsing and basically enjoy the time. Going out with my friends is so darn boring. I basically "stand and 发呆".
Going out alone means I can really spend quality time doing what I want to do. Anyway, I first went to MPH and look around, but nothing caught my interest. Later on I went to Borders (heard there's 30% sales there) and spent almost 2 hours there. Very nice...pick a book and sit down...slowly enjoy. Unfortunately the 30% sales is fake...books too expensive. Went to Kino to shop after that...found the book I want! Woot! Brought it for $25 bucks. Very very nice!
After that went to Yishun to look around. Been a long time since I visited that place and everything has changed...The "Times" bookshop (My favourite hangout place during my Primary School) is gone! Noo~~~Walk around CD shops but spot nothing interesting.
Main purpose was to get a pair of spectacles for my army cause my downstairs ($120) there is quite ex...Then I got this "$50 off if you're a popular member" at "XYZ Optical Shop". I thought I will save a bunch. So I went there. Big mistake. I ask him to give me an estimate how much it would cost and I think he saw me holding the Popular book and asked me if I had a voucher. Then he took out a calculator and anyhow press some stuff. Then he say what "must do this" and "must do that" and turned out to $200. Then he say since I got the voucher he will deduct $50, then he minus $50 again as "extra discount" for me. Full of BS. I look and I know he is a 奸商...
Cause you don't know how they calculate these kind of things. I think he saw me got the $50 voucher, so he just jacked up the price to "eliminate" the discount. I left the shop immediately. I rather pay a little more for good services than let this guy earn. I hope the shop close down. Later went to Spectacles Hut to check the price. Very good service. The lady explained to me in great detail. The left eye is how much and how much because of short-sighted, right eye cost more because of the serious 闪光. Unfortunately the price turned out $165 in the end... Haiz...left the shop again.
Guess I'll just do at my house there. Cheaper and more convenient also. The service is also great. Rather let them earn then let the "evil merchant" earn my money. Heh...
Think it's pretty cool to go out alone once in a while...listen to my favourite songs while strolling the streets or reading a book. Think I'll make it part of my lifestyle. Put some money aside and every few months I'll just do this "ritual". Go out and shop for things I like~
Anyway, today I felt like going out, alone. Another reason I don't like going out with my friends is because their interests are different from mine. They go out to shop for clothes, look at branded stuff, sport shoes and generally clothings, or the latest phone gadgets etc...I have zero interest in these stuff. They don't appeal to me. I like to frequent book stores, CD-shops, games shops, comic stores and take my time, slowly browsing and basically enjoy the time. Going out with my friends is so darn boring. I basically "stand and 发呆".
Going out alone means I can really spend quality time doing what I want to do. Anyway, I first went to MPH and look around, but nothing caught my interest. Later on I went to Borders (heard there's 30% sales there) and spent almost 2 hours there. Very nice...pick a book and sit down...slowly enjoy. Unfortunately the 30% sales is fake...books too expensive. Went to Kino to shop after that...found the book I want! Woot! Brought it for $25 bucks. Very very nice!
After that went to Yishun to look around. Been a long time since I visited that place and everything has changed...The "Times" bookshop (My favourite hangout place during my Primary School) is gone! Noo~~~Walk around CD shops but spot nothing interesting.
Main purpose was to get a pair of spectacles for my army cause my downstairs ($120) there is quite ex...Then I got this "$50 off if you're a popular member" at "XYZ Optical Shop". I thought I will save a bunch. So I went there. Big mistake. I ask him to give me an estimate how much it would cost and I think he saw me holding the Popular book and asked me if I had a voucher. Then he took out a calculator and anyhow press some stuff. Then he say what "must do this" and "must do that" and turned out to $200. Then he say since I got the voucher he will deduct $50, then he minus $50 again as "extra discount" for me. Full of BS. I look and I know he is a 奸商...
Cause you don't know how they calculate these kind of things. I think he saw me got the $50 voucher, so he just jacked up the price to "eliminate" the discount. I left the shop immediately. I rather pay a little more for good services than let this guy earn. I hope the shop close down. Later went to Spectacles Hut to check the price. Very good service. The lady explained to me in great detail. The left eye is how much and how much because of short-sighted, right eye cost more because of the serious 闪光. Unfortunately the price turned out $165 in the end... Haiz...left the shop again.
Guess I'll just do at my house there. Cheaper and more convenient also. The service is also great. Rather let them earn then let the "evil merchant" earn my money. Heh...
Think it's pretty cool to go out alone once in a while...listen to my favourite songs while strolling the streets or reading a book. Think I'll make it part of my lifestyle. Put some money aside and every few months I'll just do this "ritual". Go out and shop for things I like~
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Click - Probably the most emotional movie I've ever seen
Went to watch "Click" today with Ben and Ken. First spotted the poster at causeway and thought Comedy was its selling point. Panadol and Toby both gave high opinions of this movie so I decided to watch it. Have to say it's well worth the money...
I give it 9 out of 10, simply because no movie is perfect. The best part is not the comedy, but the meaning behind the whole thing.
Not afraid to admit that I cried when I watch the show. Really cried. (Yeah I also got emotions) Click was the 2nd movie that made me cried in my entire life. Really very touching and thought-provoking movie...
First part was all comedic fun and did a good job of building up the characters. The emotions started to build when the remote foward everything by 1 year. At that time I was like..."oh no...please don't". I forgot a huge part but the scene that really touched me was when he rewinded back to the last time he saw his grandfather.
The man was like old and wrinkled already...then he slowly walked up to him and just want to spend some time with his son. Then that "bastard" shouted at him, "I know the coin trick long ago! Leave me alone! I need to work!"
Wah...tell you...my heart really sank...I can totally feel the effect, the position of the grandfather character at that moment of time. It was such a powerful emotion. It's like you can feel the disappointment, the sorrow and bitterness of the grand-father.
Then it went to a scene at the ball where he talk to his mother. He ran up and hug her, then told her "I love you, ma." and she replied "your father would be so proud of you"...Whew...that part got to me as well. Of course the final scene at the hospital where he ran out into the rain (climax), wanting to tell his son, "Family is more important", because he don't want his son to repeat his mistakes...His voice is all hoarse and he finally collapsed in the rain...Wah...cry like siao.
I think "Click" touched me so much because it is so true to life. There are many 'tear-jerker' type of movie out there, but they never get to me because they are so unrealistic that they're never going to happen in real life. I'm not a person that cry very easily but these things really get to me. Those 至亲至爱 people in your life. Like the parents unconditional love for the child etc...those kind of scenes really stirred up my emotions. Stuff like "Titanic" (Tragic love story) don't get to me so much. Maybe I feel touched but it isn't so strong till it made me want to cry.
"Click" is so...realistic, so real that I can relate to very well. You don't have to use poetic terms to relate to people. Who the hell use perfect words and "chimernology" terms when he's under an extreme emotion. No one converse like that in real life. The simple "I love you, son" (together with the expression, the body lanaguage) already contains so much emotion in itself. You don't need to add unnecessary stuff to it. 2 things I "learnt":
1) Experience all the Good and Bad things in Life - Whether it's pleasure or pain, happiness or sadness, even boredom, things that you hate to do and things that you love to do. Do not "skip" them. They are your experience, and all of them, good or bad, add to your life.
2) Family (Kinship) is more important than stupid work. Reminds me of a song that goes by like "就算站在世界的顶端，身边没有人陪伴，又怎样。" (Even if you're standing at the top of the mountain, what's the point if there's no one by your side)
Really really great movie. I love this movie.
I give it 9 out of 10, simply because no movie is perfect. The best part is not the comedy, but the meaning behind the whole thing.
Not afraid to admit that I cried when I watch the show. Really cried. (Yeah I also got emotions) Click was the 2nd movie that made me cried in my entire life. Really very touching and thought-provoking movie...
First part was all comedic fun and did a good job of building up the characters. The emotions started to build when the remote foward everything by 1 year. At that time I was like..."oh no...please don't". I forgot a huge part but the scene that really touched me was when he rewinded back to the last time he saw his grandfather.
The man was like old and wrinkled already...then he slowly walked up to him and just want to spend some time with his son. Then that "bastard" shouted at him, "I know the coin trick long ago! Leave me alone! I need to work!"
Wah...tell you...my heart really sank...I can totally feel the effect, the position of the grandfather character at that moment of time. It was such a powerful emotion. It's like you can feel the disappointment, the sorrow and bitterness of the grand-father.
Then it went to a scene at the ball where he talk to his mother. He ran up and hug her, then told her "I love you, ma." and she replied "your father would be so proud of you"...Whew...that part got to me as well. Of course the final scene at the hospital where he ran out into the rain (climax), wanting to tell his son, "Family is more important", because he don't want his son to repeat his mistakes...His voice is all hoarse and he finally collapsed in the rain...Wah...cry like siao.
I think "Click" touched me so much because it is so true to life. There are many 'tear-jerker' type of movie out there, but they never get to me because they are so unrealistic that they're never going to happen in real life. I'm not a person that cry very easily but these things really get to me. Those 至亲至爱 people in your life. Like the parents unconditional love for the child etc...those kind of scenes really stirred up my emotions. Stuff like "Titanic" (Tragic love story) don't get to me so much. Maybe I feel touched but it isn't so strong till it made me want to cry.
"Click" is so...realistic, so real that I can relate to very well. You don't have to use poetic terms to relate to people. Who the hell use perfect words and "chimernology" terms when he's under an extreme emotion. No one converse like that in real life. The simple "I love you, son" (together with the expression, the body lanaguage) already contains so much emotion in itself. You don't need to add unnecessary stuff to it. 2 things I "learnt":
1) Experience all the Good and Bad things in Life - Whether it's pleasure or pain, happiness or sadness, even boredom, things that you hate to do and things that you love to do. Do not "skip" them. They are your experience, and all of them, good or bad, add to your life.
2) Family (Kinship) is more important than stupid work. Reminds me of a song that goes by like "就算站在世界的顶端，身边没有人陪伴，又怎样。" (Even if you're standing at the top of the mountain, what's the point if there's no one by your side)
Really really great movie. I love this movie.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Farewell IDA......
Dear Applicant,
Thank you very much for your application.
Its heartening to receive so many applications from outstanding individuals like yourself. And much as we would like to award this scholarship to all deserving candidates, we have only a limited number of scholarship places available. After much deliberation and careful consideration, we regret to inform that you have not been selected for the scholarship.
Once again, we thank you for your interest in this scholarship and wish you great success in your future endeavors.
Regards
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bleh...guess I have to use my own money. :P
Not necessary a bad thing though...
Thank you very much for your application.
Its heartening to receive so many applications from outstanding individuals like yourself. And much as we would like to award this scholarship to all deserving candidates, we have only a limited number of scholarship places available. After much deliberation and careful consideration, we regret to inform that you have not been selected for the scholarship.
Once again, we thank you for your interest in this scholarship and wish you great success in your future endeavors.
Regards
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bleh...guess I have to use my own money. :P
Not necessary a bad thing though...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Happy 41st Birthday Singapore!
Old liao old liao...Happy happy day...went to run in the evening and manage to get a 13min out of the 2.4km run. Looks like I'll be back at 12min+ in no time! Wee~~
I realize you need some sort of leverage, else you'll give up very easily. Like, tell yourself, "If I don't get this timing, I will be subjected to XXX". Of course the timing must be practical also. But giving yourself some sort of stipulation (even though it might not happen) is usually enough to give you the willpower to run even when you're out of breath.
After that went to causeway to walk around, see games and stuff. Saw a bunch of uncles crowdnig around the electronic store......to watch......the TV...which was showing......National Day Parade! (And it's President Arrival)
What the......so Patriotic? Anyway, like one of my friend said, few years ago National Day, you see red everywhere and almost every household were hanging their flags. Now...you only see a few here and there scattered around, and the first impression is that they must be "RC member". Haha...
Watch the National Parade (a little) on TV, and caught the Fireworks...wah...The Fireworks Festival one is totally cannot compare (although it was longer) to National Day Parade one. NDP is super spammed. I wonder how many millions they spent on that 3 minutes long fireworks.
I realize you need some sort of leverage, else you'll give up very easily. Like, tell yourself, "If I don't get this timing, I will be subjected to XXX". Of course the timing must be practical also. But giving yourself some sort of stipulation (even though it might not happen) is usually enough to give you the willpower to run even when you're out of breath.
After that went to causeway to walk around, see games and stuff. Saw a bunch of uncles crowdnig around the electronic store......to watch......the TV...which was showing......National Day Parade! (And it's President Arrival)
What the......so Patriotic? Anyway, like one of my friend said, few years ago National Day, you see red everywhere and almost every household were hanging their flags. Now...you only see a few here and there scattered around, and the first impression is that they must be "RC member". Haha...
Watch the National Parade (a little) on TV, and caught the Fireworks...wah...The Fireworks Festival one is totally cannot compare (although it was longer) to National Day Parade one. NDP is super spammed. I wonder how many millions they spent on that 3 minutes long fireworks.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Singapore Fireworks Festival 2006
Hmm...I noticed that I've changed a lot in the past 3 months...as in...I'm doing some "crazy" things that I will never ever have done in the past. Like...erm...going out with near complete strangers. 2 times with online friends. I think maybe i cope myself up at home too long, or likely I going into the Army soon.
Outing was quite a "failure" cause many peopele that said they were coming but didnt came in the end. Haha. Outing group was SHEA forum members, and our main goal was to see the Fireworks Festival (suggested by Trenz). I think I've only seen Fireworks live once in my entire life, and that is during the primary school where we were brought to see the National Day preview. (Heh) So I was quite looking forward to it.
Some of them were totally different from what I had expected. First off went to KBox sing song. (Horribly expensive, outrageous remote control, small screen and sucky service) It was alright except it's pretty one sided. The only good point is you get to see lot of S.H.E songs being chosen and we all know how to sing. Haha.
After that went to Suntec, play Arcade and 'makan'. Chit chat and stuff. Then came the "Main Event" of the night...The Fireworks! Walked to Esplanade...geez that place is super crowded. The entire bridge area is filled with people and you can barely walk through path. (It's like Chinese New Year Chinatown)
After some delay by the sarcastic host the show finally began. 5th August one was the display by Italy (The festival actually last a few days with different countries on each date). Our spot was not very perfect and blocked by 1 freaking tree, but still can see quite clearly (But the angle is limited). Fireworks was splendid~(But too much air pollution)
Youtube Link
You can't really feel the impact by watching the video. When you're there, you can almost feel your heart beat thump along with every "boom" the fireworks make. (especially the super loud ones). Many surprises and the crowd will all go like "wooooo~". Best part was at the end when they basically "spammed" everything they got and filled the sky with all sort of colours. I still remember the final effect was they release lots of little red flares up, then they all burst and burst into some meteors and drizzle down. As they fall slowly they leave a trailing fire effect, very very nice. Unfortunately we didn't manage to record till that part... :(
That's all for the day~
Outing was quite a "failure" cause many peopele that said they were coming but didnt came in the end. Haha. Outing group was SHEA forum members, and our main goal was to see the Fireworks Festival (suggested by Trenz). I think I've only seen Fireworks live once in my entire life, and that is during the primary school where we were brought to see the National Day preview. (Heh) So I was quite looking forward to it.
Some of them were totally different from what I had expected. First off went to KBox sing song. (Horribly expensive, outrageous remote control, small screen and sucky service) It was alright except it's pretty one sided. The only good point is you get to see lot of S.H.E songs being chosen and we all know how to sing. Haha.
After that went to Suntec, play Arcade and 'makan'. Chit chat and stuff. Then came the "Main Event" of the night...The Fireworks! Walked to Esplanade...geez that place is super crowded. The entire bridge area is filled with people and you can barely walk through path. (It's like Chinese New Year Chinatown)
After some delay by the sarcastic host the show finally began. 5th August one was the display by Italy (The festival actually last a few days with different countries on each date). Our spot was not very perfect and blocked by 1 freaking tree, but still can see quite clearly (But the angle is limited). Fireworks was splendid~(But too much air pollution)
Youtube Link
You can't really feel the impact by watching the video. When you're there, you can almost feel your heart beat thump along with every "boom" the fireworks make. (especially the super loud ones). Many surprises and the crowd will all go like "wooooo~". Best part was at the end when they basically "spammed" everything they got and filled the sky with all sort of colours. I still remember the final effect was they release lots of little red flares up, then they all burst and burst into some meteors and drizzle down. As they fall slowly they leave a trailing fire effect, very very nice. Unfortunately we didn't manage to record till that part... :(
That's all for the day~
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Roar! 12 Rounds!
34 minutes...almost fainted from exhaustion at the end of the run. Throat was so dry and my tongue is like totally dried up. It reminds me of my "Secondary School Cross Country"...
Not to mention I spent 5 minutes in the changing room looking for my specs after taking them off...only to find it in my bag later...-_- (Run till "ki siao")
1 Thing I'm worried...I tried running the 6 rounds, 2.4km again last 2 days, and I took almost 14 minutes...geez.
So basically, now I'm at, 14 minutes for 6 rounds, 34 minutes for 12 rounds. I think I've been running the "more rounds at slower pace" for too long liao...now it's hard to go back to the 2.4km run speed.
I'll work my 2.4km back to 12 minutes first before I start doing 4.8km stunt again...
Not to mention I spent 5 minutes in the changing room looking for my specs after taking them off...only to find it in my bag later...-_- (Run till "ki siao")
1 Thing I'm worried...I tried running the 6 rounds, 2.4km again last 2 days, and I took almost 14 minutes...geez.
So basically, now I'm at, 14 minutes for 6 rounds, 34 minutes for 12 rounds. I think I've been running the "more rounds at slower pace" for too long liao...now it's hard to go back to the 2.4km run speed.
I'll work my 2.4km back to 12 minutes first before I start doing 4.8km stunt again...
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The Comedian Zone
This is my last project before I head for the army. Just to record down how this site is born...
Designing A Site Without Tables, Possible?
I first heard about designing web pages totally without tables during Year 2 of the Poly, but I have zero interest in it. What's the point? Yes, tables was not "meant" for alignment and presentation of web elements (Its original intend was soley to present table) but it was "abused" and gradually designing pages using tables became a "standard practice" for web developers. Further-more, web modules taught us to use tables as well, so there's no point to learn this new thing.
First exposure to CSS Positioning
It wasn't until like 2 months ago when I wanted to do some updates for this site and had to edit the source template. Total stun -_-...not a single table tag. Everything is using CSS Positioning. I tried to edit it because I wanted to add some new columns for the site but I realize I don't even know how to do that without the whole thing messing up, or text starting to overlap one another.
Later on, I went to the library and picked up some books on CSS Positioning, and that's when I come across "CSS Zen Garden" (www.csszengarden.com). It's a super pro site and you wouldn't believe it until you see it yourself. There were hundreds of different site designs, but they all used the SAME EXACT html page. Only the CSS file is different, and they can create such amazing and unique layouts. That's when I made up my mind to learn CSS-positioning.
Motivation to create a new site
Originally I create the byethost site because I try out the phpBB open source forum (introduce to me by my intern mate Nizam). Was successful and later on, I used that site as a practice site for me to learn CSS Positioning. Basically at the start I was taking S.H.E avatar and layering them one upon another. Haha. Doing only very basic stuff without learning much.
The idea came when I visited gamefaqs one day and saw this massive thread (300+ posts) containing lots and lots of jokes. So, ????, why not just take this chance to design a new site completely from scratch. I can apply and see how much I've learnt about CSS Positioning and also revise my PHP.
Re-learning Server Side Programming
Making this site made me discover something - IWED has taught me nuts about PHP. When I was doing that module, everything was just made through the Dreamweaver interface. It's not that Dreamweaver is a bad thing but you just can't learn much with it doing everything for you. I also realized what Dreamweaver can do is extremely limited. In the end I have to dig in the PHP code myself to get the results I want, and I realized I can't even do simple things like combining strings.
The Comedian Zone Birth
So basically, in order to not let those wonderful jokes fade out of existance with the passing of time, I have store and uploaded them into the database~Very good experience and I finally realize how cool CSS Positioning is. I dont' think I will ever want to go back to tables after making this site. Using CSS simply gives more control, is much more neater than chunk of table codes, and is faster as well. The only problem is that it is not supported by IE6. (Blame on Microsoft because Netscape, Opera and Firefox have incuded support for CSS2 long ago)
Designing A Site Without Tables, Possible?
I first heard about designing web pages totally without tables during Year 2 of the Poly, but I have zero interest in it. What's the point? Yes, tables was not "meant" for alignment and presentation of web elements (Its original intend was soley to present table) but it was "abused" and gradually designing pages using tables became a "standard practice" for web developers. Further-more, web modules taught us to use tables as well, so there's no point to learn this new thing.
First exposure to CSS Positioning
It wasn't until like 2 months ago when I wanted to do some updates for this site and had to edit the source template. Total stun -_-...not a single table tag. Everything is using CSS Positioning. I tried to edit it because I wanted to add some new columns for the site but I realize I don't even know how to do that without the whole thing messing up, or text starting to overlap one another.
Later on, I went to the library and picked up some books on CSS Positioning, and that's when I come across "CSS Zen Garden" (www.csszengarden.com). It's a super pro site and you wouldn't believe it until you see it yourself. There were hundreds of different site designs, but they all used the SAME EXACT html page. Only the CSS file is different, and they can create such amazing and unique layouts. That's when I made up my mind to learn CSS-positioning.
Motivation to create a new site
Originally I create the byethost site because I try out the phpBB open source forum (introduce to me by my intern mate Nizam). Was successful and later on, I used that site as a practice site for me to learn CSS Positioning. Basically at the start I was taking S.H.E avatar and layering them one upon another. Haha. Doing only very basic stuff without learning much.
The idea came when I visited gamefaqs one day and saw this massive thread (300+ posts) containing lots and lots of jokes. So, ????, why not just take this chance to design a new site completely from scratch. I can apply and see how much I've learnt about CSS Positioning and also revise my PHP.
Re-learning Server Side Programming
Making this site made me discover something - IWED has taught me nuts about PHP. When I was doing that module, everything was just made through the Dreamweaver interface. It's not that Dreamweaver is a bad thing but you just can't learn much with it doing everything for you. I also realized what Dreamweaver can do is extremely limited. In the end I have to dig in the PHP code myself to get the results I want, and I realized I can't even do simple things like combining strings.
The Comedian Zone Birth
So basically, in order to not let those wonderful jokes fade out of existance with the passing of time, I have store and uploaded them into the database~Very good experience and I finally realize how cool CSS Positioning is. I dont' think I will ever want to go back to tables after making this site. Using CSS simply gives more control, is much more neater than chunk of table codes, and is faster as well. The only problem is that it is not supported by IE6. (Blame on Microsoft because Netscape, Opera and Firefox have incuded support for CSS2 long ago)
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