Here it comes....

Sigh.

Judgement day, has come upon us.

(Only those who control the central altar will be spared. Rofl)

All the best for the A Levels!!

Mai HiME > Mai Otome. Notes: Spoilers ahead

After spending 13 hours watching the entire season of Mai Hime, I can safely say that Otome's predecessor is so much better than that of the current show, even though Otome has yet to end.

Why?

1) The storyline.

Hime's storyline gets you off immediately, while Otome starts off pretty shaky. While Hime has a boat accident, and gets you introduced to the main characters immediately, Otome junks you with around 6 characters, some monster with a penis cannon (a point noted by many. LoL). As the story goes along, Hime has only 1 objective, before switching around. However, the plot stays on course, which is "I'll protect those that I love with the power I have." The switch around in Hime was the change of enemies, as friends have been turned into enemies (sunrise speciality...). Otome, on the other hand, has a muddled plot up till episode 17, before the whole thing blows up to hell. Even now, the whole plot is standing on twigs, all ready to snap any time. In Otome, you have these bunch of girls learning in a school to become elite "MaiSter" Otomes to serve kings and stuff. The whole thing blows up by a country suddenly invading the school (and it's country), and our main characters are forced to run.

Confusing, right?

Hime scores easily in the Storyline portion.

2) Characters



Mai, main character of Mai Hime, in the center.



Arika, main character of Otome, the one with her arms spread wide.

Nuff said on main characters. Mai >>>>>> Arika. I'm a huge fan of pink coloured hair, but pigtails are bad. Very bad. If you have long hair, let it flow, or at most, a simply ponytail. Mai's short hair caught my attention almost immediately, because it's simple. In Arika's case, her pigtails are like helicopter rotors which can swing around at will.

Definately...bad.

Into the characters themselves, roughly the same for both our main cast. In fact, Otome has some of the Hime characters, although it's in a different universe. However, while some characters changed, some have taken a turn.

For the worst.

Like Natsuki. In Hime, she was fantastic. Calling her weapon, Duran out, everything of the main character. However, in Otome, she's a mere subcharacter, all her talents wasted, as she sits in a chair being the principal.

Yukino is the other one, who has turned from a cute loveable girl, into a girl who does nothing but Voodoo.

Also, the general thing of Otome is a lack of guys. While I'm not saying this is bad, I feel that it is one of the points that's killing Otome. Hime was successful, because the girls have something to protect, the one they love. However, in Otome, the girls are protrayed as characters who just follow their master's will, even if it is meaningless. What exactly are the otomes fighting for?

Hopefully, time will tell.

The music and voice talents on both sides are rather of the same quality (Thank god). Music for both comes from the famous Yuki Kajiura, one of my favourite composers, and the voice talents on both animes are all pretty famous people. Still, the story and the character developments on Otome makes it look so horrible when placed along side Hime. Sunrise, can make a good anime when they need to.

However, Otome just isn't it.

1st of March is the D Day.

Here we go. Next wednesday is the release of A level results.

Time for the sleepless nights to come.
---

There's this guy on Straits Times whom I'm a little pissed with. Ever since Anders Frisk resigned due to death threats from Chelsea fans, he has been blaming Jose for the referee's resignation, some one whom he had worked with.

While his report said everything bad about Jose (What he said after the match) and Del Horno, nothign was said about Messi's play acting. It was so obvious, on slow motion and else where. Messi looked up, realised that he could get Del Horno sent off, then started rolling around as though the pitch had suddenly obtained a 50 degree decline.

C'mon, Jose isn't exactly the best loser out there, but why focus on him? The attention Arjen Robben had when he fell after being punched by Reina was all over the news, but Messi rolling like a doughnut didn't do that much "effect"? It's almost as if the world is against the English Champions, people who says that Jose is getting boring. His team play "boring" football. Chelsea tapping up players. Chelsea, without the help of Russians, would had been relegated. Chelsea, would be the next Real Madrid (Ignoring the fact that Real Madrid has like 8 Champions League titles to their name).

Chelsea this.

Chelsea that.

Frankly speaking, I'm absolutely disgusted with the reports on Chelsea these days. The fact that Chelsea has not decided to play 10-0-0 after the sending off has said everything about the spirit of Chelsea. It could be very easy to go to Nou Camp with 0-0, with 1 goal from Chelsea signaling the need for Barca to score 2. No, the news was not on that. It was how Del Horno made that dangerous tackle moments ago, how he body checked Messi, what Jose's comments are. It's just the same thing every time something huge happens to Chelsea players. The media gobbles them all up, spitting it in a way that would, as usual, bring further shame to the name of Chelsea.

Right now, SportsCenter has happily announced that Chelsea fans are calling for the head of the referee. As if this is the only club with fans who have said "I hope the referee burns in hell" when something bad goes against them. No, to the media, Chelsea is the only team in the world who has fans who issues such death threats.

Whatever happened to the game? It seems as if the off-pitch things are attracting more attention these days.

I'll still stay focused on the game. Maybe, some how, without a decent left back and Essien, Chelsea might some how, scrape it through.

Maybe.

Chelsea 1 - 2 Referee

Seriously, that wasn't even a match. >_>

I guess Barca players listened to Limp Bizkit a little too much.

Oh well.

But the fun part was having Ron and Sean over to watch the match together. At first, when Chelsea scored, I was like "Yay, $22, come to papa". Then Barca scored, resulting in them celebrating.

Then, Eto scored.

So, we all lost our money to Singapore pools, since I brought a home win, and they brought a Draw.

Rofl.

I should open a betting shop and stuff elsewhere.

Job Interviews....=O

Finally, I've decided to go on a job interview, after deciding that I've spent way too much time in front of the computer.

Appartently, there's this IT expo coming up in Suntec on the 9th to the 12th of March. The IT expo, however, isn't one for gamers, which left me rather bored when I visited it last year. It's more for the professionals, selling things like PDA, Wireless Modems and stuff.

And of course, to sell them, they need people like me who will do the dirty work so that they can take care of "other" important matters.

The interview went on pretty well, on first glance. Rule number 1 said that you should greet the person, but that was thrown out of the window since the interviewer just led the people to her office, and not you going into the office. Rule number 2 is to make some sort of formalities, done by saying "Nice to meet you" with a firm handshake at the end of the session.

I thought everything went well.

Until, I went out of the office.

I forgot about rule number 3! >_<

Rule 3 states that you should learn the name of the interviewer, by asking if not said at first.

And I totally forgot about it.

Oh well. Doubtful that I'll get the job, since there are like another 50 people behind me. Lan jie went with me. I think she will get the job, as female promotors > male promotors, some how. LoL.

Bah.

Results on friday (Not A levels...lol), not too optimistic.
---

Song of (whatever) changed to Crystal Energy by Kuribayashi Minami, which is Mai-Otome 2nd Opening Theme. Her first didn't really stick on to me, but the this one was absolutely fantastic. It broke my record for "all time listening on the loop", as I've listened to it for almost 10 hours straight. Kuribayashi Minami also played Erstin in the anime (Mai-Otome..duh), but of course, Sunrise are a bunch of sad lifers....

So...*shugs*

Hospitals.....

After heading out to "enquire" as to why the damned system won't let me book my car lessons, a HOTD 4 game (still having troubles getting past stage 3. Need more training, I guess).

Then, once I reached home, all tired and stuff, I was about to start work on learning Karaoke effects, when the phone rang.

We are going to meet Joelson at SGH.

Some how, (after some persuation to get my lazy ass out of my house) I tossed food into my mouth and some how, made it to Simei by 7:14.

And (as usual :P), the girls were late. It was my first time meeting Fengzhi this year, and she still looked great, despite looking rather tired and overworked.

Still hanging on, like everyone else. Hehe.

Keith came on board later (without noticing us. Rofl), and we made out way to SGH.

When we arrived at the correct ward and the correct bed, we saw Joelson.

Who was in a pretty bad shape.

Appartently, he fell down, which hurt his spine. Then, he was forced to carry like 16KG (or was it 30? :O) and march. Of course, to those who are uninjured, 30kg is like...nah (or is it? Ask yourself).

But to one who has an injury, that is seriously bad.

Result? He can't stand up right now, and his muscles kept twitching uncontrollablely. The doctors said that they will check up on him again tomorrow as they have not really confirmed what had happened.

Man, it seriously was bad. But, he seems cheerful enough to talk about his NS life, at least.

Hopefully, he gets better soon.

I think he will.

And hell, I'm tired.
---

Singnet and not keeping customers

So, right now, Singnet has this pretty nice plan, 3.5mbit at $47 a month. $88 for a 10mbit plan

Sounds like an absolute steal, right ($58.80 for a Starhub 2mbit plan)?

Wrong.

Why?

Simple. Existing 512kps are paying THE SAME AMOUNT AS A 3.5MBIT. Over in the SGSB forums, the existing customers (especially those who had recently renewed their contract) are swearing their asses off. This isn't like a fantastic upgrade offer where free gifts (Xbox 360..:D~~) are thrown in. This is basically slashing prices.

Way to go, Singnet, because after your 512kbps customers' contracts expire, expect them to defect to Starhub. Of course, the ones whose contract expires soon will be cheering.

As will people who have Starhub connections. Singnet has made their move, now to see Starhub. Ultimately, the company wins, because they will get more new customers. Maybe it's time for me to hit 10mbit download speeds too (Yeah. Right. 1mbit and I'll be surprised, although I did hit 5mbit last week when I was downloading SnS 19 RAW. Hoping for a repeat this week. :o)

And the old ones loses.

Oh well. Business. Hell with the customers?

Hmm...

NTU talk....aka Smear Campaign FTW.

Went for the NTU talk on Business, since I am eyeing a degree in Accounting, at Hotel Intercontinental today.

While the talk was quite informative, as in, what courses they offer, minors/double degrees, it was also hella funny.

The presentator must have at least worked on a political campaign before, because this talk doubled up as to why NTU > all. For instance, NTU is like, the only Asia school to have been awarded the IDKSGY and (insert some other random letters here). Also, because they have the JILJY, the job prospects of a NTU student is much higher, compared to a NUS student, as NUS is still applying for that JUILAD. Also, in some super duper magazine ranking, NTU business school is number 3, NUS number 14, and SMU was lost in the sandstorm.

Of course, the room of roughly 900 people muttered and made noise when those facts were mentioned. Other than that, nothing much. Pretty good talk by NTU to persuade their future students.

And also, while we were there, Lin Pin suddenly appeared in front of us, sitting right in front of us (The consequences of not joining us, Chaos...=P I told you to join us, but nooo~~). I must admit that short hair isn't my style, but I doubt Energy boy would mind.

Long hair FTW.

Not sure when she's going back, as she isn't saying anything.

Oh well.

As for HOTD IV, I finally found S2SR2. Man, stupid graphics. Got the closest to rank S today with 66% accuracy (Just 4. More. Percent..). But I still fail in stage 3.

Need to train more, I guess.

The national Library was my next stop, and I must admit that Singapore did do a much much better job than Hong Kong. The HK national Library has only the looks, but it lacks the cigar. One huge hole in the center for a 10 story building (Think Tampines Mall/WhiteSands)? A total Wastage of Space. The Singapore's national library had plenty of space for reference and research. I was browsing through some maths books for a bit of headache inducing treatment (If we can prove that F(E) = F(E>1), then we can also prove...).

But over all, I'm rather impressed, even though the fiction areas isn't as well stocked as I would have liked.

But hey, those are for community libraries.
---

Song of (Whatever) switched to Oogantai Saigo no Tatakai by Sahashi Toshihiko, from the Gundam Seed Destiny Original Soundtrack IV. A good soundtrack, although it's missing the extra "something" that was present in the other 2 soundtracks which I've obtained. This is my favourite track in the entire Soundtrack, probably the only one which I can call "really good".

I've also obtained More Friends music from FINAL FANTASY ~Final Fantasy Orchestra Concert in Los Angeles 2005~ Soundtrack. I must admit that it is considered poor when placed against the other concert album that I have (Final Fantasy 20020220). Emiko Shiratori, in particular, sounded like an old hag in her song "Melodies of Life", which was so lifely and enjoyable when it was sung in the game and in the concert.

I can drive! Somewhat...

Basic Theory passed. Bwahaha. Simple stuff. Took it together with Lan jie, who passed as well. \o/ Congrats. Hehe.

Time to book stuff and start to drive...

Also, HOUSE OF THE DEAD 4 HAS ARRIVED IN CENTURY SQUARE! WOO HOO!

About time too.

Safe search = No checking of Toto? XD

A forum post in the Straits Times today was very very interesting.

It was Starhub responding to a person who wrote to the forum, saying that he cannot access the Singapore-pools website, which is for people above the age of 18 only.

The response from Starhub was hella funny, because the first half of it was explaining what "Safesurf" does (As if we can't tell.) *coughpromotecough*, and the other half, explains why he can't access Singapore Pools website.

Reason: It's 18+.

So, assuming I have kids and only 1 computer at home, and since I don't want my kids to view sheep porn, I applied for Safesurf, which comes with my internet connection.

And whoa, because of that, I can't check toto.

Hella funny. The only other option is to opt out of the program, and let my kids stumble into a site showing rabbit porn.

Seriously, although there is a need to protect the kids, why does this "safesurf" thing hamper our usual daily surfing? Won't it be better if I had brought those Norton stuff instead? It does the same thing, while allowing me to go to sites which I want. Hell, I can disable it as and when I prefer. Why is such a service so unflexible?

And after this, they expect people to sign up for it?

I'll pass. Thanks.

Xbox 360, when compared to PS3, still fails.

Xbox 360 was released in time for the Christmas rush, as thousands queued up over night to get their hands on the new silver machine.

Yet, a straw poll with friends found that most would wait for the release of PS3, instead of snapping up a Xbox 360, despite Square-Enix allying itself to Microsoft, and all the hype for the Xbox.

Why?

Simple.

Microsoft didn't do itself any favours by having a "shortage" of 360s, and all those defective 360s isn't going to go down well with gamers. Also, in where I live, the 360 isn't officially "released" yet (March release, date has been pushed back from early to late march). Hence, those who imported their 360 and wanted to play it on HDTV sets (CNY sales. LoL) got a rude shock when their 360 simply did not respond. Note that we are talking about Samsung HDTV sets, a 360 partner, not some junk you get from a hardware store. Samsung blamed it on the different TVs of the different countries (NTSC vs PAL or something). Gamers, obviously, isn't going to like it, and even more so, when Samsung said that they can "upgrade" their sets to match those using NTSC for $400.

In short, Microsoft wanted more customers. They ended up getting less. If you are going to release early, make it a way that you can at least "support" your rushed release. Don't get screw ups later.

Go Sony! \o/
---

One thing is getting me a little pissed this days.

And it isn't me not doing anything on Valentine's Day.

It's the fact that our beloved "ex", I should add, principal is going to tear down the rooms of the clubs to make one huge ass room for the "performing arts" people, relegating the clubs (Chess Club, Maths Society, Interact, Gravel) to other areas.

For chess club, that's in a D block class room.

No real place to put the cupboards. No more air-con.

Pretty much, just a class room.

Which is stupid, IMO.

I mean, to expand the rooms to "help" the performing arts "perform" better would, of course (some how), make a name for the school (Again, some how). They are the ones getting the SYF golds, silvers, honours, whatever else they can grab. The rest of the clubs isn't getting much, although the Maths Society does produce people who obtain gold each year.

However, it does show the myopic view of the college.

Whatever happened to the student's interest? Just for the sake of the college's name, the college has happily torn down places where we clubs have called home, relegating us to the classrooms. Not that it's totally bad, but a switch over to the classrooms does show the biasedness of the college. Why take us down so as to help other CCAs do better? Why not take others down to help US get better? Bloody hell, our funds each year are so pathetic that we can barely get a coach for one chess division. At a friendly at MJC today, the juniors are saying that the Bridge people there are having a bridge test, something which even I don't have. Lacking the funds, what do you expect from us? Some how, there are funds for those people to knock a wall down, refurnish the entire place, and help the "performing arts" prosper.

If the school has it's sights on performing arts as a way for the college to make a name for itself (some how), why don't they get more students into these areas? The neglect on the other CCAs makes them close to useless at times. The rot can only grow deeper, unless it is taken off in the first place. Leaving them to die in the desert is NOT the way to go. If the administration isn't going to help, no one will. We seniors are doing our best to come back and supply what the college lacks, experience. However, we ourselves are not exactly fantastic (one true example here. XD), and the way we teach can only lead the club downhill.

But hey, if that's what the principal wants, I doubt anyone can change her mind. However, I must admit that I am disappointed that the juniors have not submitted a letter to the principal, protesting against this nonsense decision. Even though it won't work, as the paper would be used to fold paper aeroplane (out of the window), every bit counts.

If the juniors don't care, I doubt I will either. After all, I've already enjoyed the room. If they are not going to help keep it, they can do that.

Just don't expect my help in the future, I guess.

Valentine's Day.

...

14th of February.

Instead of planning something fantastic, here I am, in front of my computer, timing some karaoke.

Sigh.

Maybe next year.

Maybe.

And that's one hell of a crappy work by me. Lack of feelings, I guess. Heh. But I wanted to do one that has something to do with REC the animation, which owns Binchou-tan any time.

Nero, Tech support, and Coasters.

After my initial Supply of DVDs ran out, I've got out to buy some new ones in Sim Lim, ready to store all the Animes/games/whatever else you think I have on DVDs, saving my hard disc plenty of space.

However, to my surprise, for the first time in a long long while, Nero did not burn the disc. Some sort of an "Invalid block" or something was causing the error.

Naturally, I gave it another shot, thinking that it could be simple computer error.

Again, same damn thing.

So, I turned to my next solution, google.

On google, while I was expecting at least some sort of a response from the NERO website, I got, instead, all sorts of other websites, offering all sorts of wierd solutions.

Thinking that Nero should have it some where, I headed down to their website to check. However, their damned user guide or something took so damn long to load, I decided to just try around those websites, after all, they do work.

Sometimes.

After reinstalling, renaming, checking drivers, and god knows what else, I finally found the solution.

Burn at a lower speed, and stop all other programs that are running.

Which is wierd, because I have recalled playing games and burning at the same time. No idea why it does not work this time.

But yes, it got solved, although I got like, 2 new coasters, since the DVDs won't work anymore.

However, that didn't annoy me.

The fact that I can't get any quick answer from Nero annoyed me.

Nero is one who many believes produces the best software in CD burning, and this is how they treat their customers?

It isn't Nero, Microsoft is another famous one who's tech support is rubbish. Singtel is famous for saying "It's not our fault. \o/", and the list simply goes on. It's like people just chuck the CD to you, if your program get screwed, too bad. How about a new version instead, sir? That will be $69.90.

Bah. It's so hard to find programs with any sort of decent tech support. Either you need to pay, or you are better off not using it.

Too bad these companies will never find me as a future customer.

The outing where we had fun with Jane's Dick.

Uh...

Yeah.

I finally decided to pick up driving, since everyone i sort of doing it. Signed up with Lan jie. Basic Theory Test is next friday. Hopefully, we won't get screwed by the release of A levels.

The registration was surprisingly fast, although we didn't get the counter girl that we got last week, who was way more cheerful then the one we had this week.

Ah well.

Bugis was next after parting ways with Lan jie, to meet up with Sean and Ron for movie. Since it ended unexpectedly fast, I was there a full hour before the movie began.

When I got there, there were 2 HOTD 4 machines.

When I left, there was only 1 left.

Some how, I spoilt one, and I have no idea how I did it.

Training began horribily, because Bugis's difficulty of the game was at Very Hard, higher then what I am used to. However, after dying once, I got the hang of it, and went all the way to the 3rd stage, while discovering all the secret rooms in Stage 1 and 3. Wierd thing is, after getting S1 R2, I keep missing it in the next 3 games that I've played.The grenade just cannot fly into the room.

Perhaps, my aiming sucks. LoL.

Soon, the rest of the platoon arrived, and me and Ron played HOTD 4. Was a first for Ron, and hence, such a difficult level was tough, even for me, who had to defend him once in a while. Haha. Got to the 3rd stage before he died, and I had to go on. However, after going to S3 R1, the gun screwed up after the part where you get to choose the path. No idea why. It was working perfectly till then, and I did not bang the gun even once.

Ah well. Wierd machine.

Went for the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane", funny at times, but ultimately, rather boring. Oh well.

We decided to meet up with the girls for dinner at 7:30, seeing the time at only 6+, we thought we should have a bit of time before we met the girls.

Wrong.

Those damned machine hoggers are at it again! Even the need for dollar coins did not thwart their attempt to hog the machine as much as possible. They are basically hogging that whole damn thing, even though they need close to $6 for one stage, and The World's 2 forms probably took at least $12 from each player.

Man, I should open an arcade.

However, thanks to those morons, the line grew, and hence, everyone was holding a stack of coins, ready to hog it as long as possible. It almost reminded me of Initial D, where people will hold a money sack, before playing like 10 stages of the game or something.

Rich asses.

Hence, we decided to play it another day.

Reached Tampines Mall at around 7:20, and knowing the distinguished traits of 4E1, we knew that we have more then enough time to mess around.

We were right. Ying Han was still taking a bath at 7:30. \o/

Hahaha.

Soon, by 8, we got seated, by 8:30, Kui Siang appeared, when everyone was preparing to eat their main dish. By the time we are done, Kui Siang is preparing to eat his own bowl of noodles. Rofl.

Arcade came later, since the girls have to be back by 10, giving us only 1 hour. After an unsuccessful try to get the girls to play World Combat/Ghost Squad, I played it with Kui Siang.

And hell, it was boring. Ever since I got to level 99, memorised every route, the whole thing got boring, especially since HOTD 4 came out.

HOTD 4 is like...a new kind of drug or something. Once you take it, it captures you, and you find everything else boring. Hell, I don't even play TC2/3 any more.

HOTD 4 is just too amazing....

All in all, a pretty fun outing that was supposed to have a little more people, but thanks to a particular person meddling, the whole thing got shredded. At least, while we did go to a movie, his plan disintegrated like a piece of space carbon on a direct path to the sun. The K box outing never materialised.

What do you expect, when you plan it 1 day in advance, with over 7 people, and in an attempt to change other's plans?

Ah well. LoL.

Sometimes, why can't people just accept what others have planned?

Instead of adding his or her own damned suggestion, happily shredding a carefully laid plan to pieces?

Seriously, planning an event for anything more then 4 person is tough, unless everyone is sort of in sync, i.e. that everyone has a free time at THAT particular time. If not, it's tough, since you got to shift times around to suit A, because he has work and whatever rubbish.

Of course, some morons just cannot accept that we are doing something that he, somehow, feels is "Uninteractive".

Sorry, we just happen to enjoy a movie more then K box.

And for god's sake, we have planned it towards watching a movie eons ago, and here you come in, 1 day before the outing, saying that the world should go K box instead.

Hence, successfully messing everyone up.

Even for me, I got rather fed up, with all sorts of promises not coming together (one of my fansub team is happily in chilled ice, because the project leader is MIA. Fantastic. Episode 18 is aired, and episode 17 is no where near release. Bah. I'll just do my job. **** the world.), and hence, I didn't really care when that dude called in a possible attempt to suay me towards going to sing karaoke.

So, in the end, it's down to the three of us again.

Bwahahaha.

Screw the world, I guess.

Site updates.

New banner, finally. This time, Banner girl is Saber from Fate/Stay Night, the BEST anime in the whole lot of January Animes. Basically, it's...7 magicians and their servants fighting against each other to gain the Holy Grail, which can grant any wish. The main character is one who is unlike the rest, i.e. he's a normal kid who goes to school, and knows the barest of all magic.

But who cares. Saber FTW! \o/

For this banner, I was testing out the "mirror" effect on the words. Worked out pretty well, I think. And this is also the first time I'm satisfied with the colour curves. Wasn't too hard for this one, just had to make a little harder. What I'm not too satisfied with was the render itself. I just can't find the perfect size for Saber.

But still, turned out pretty well. Again, no border for this one, since it looked wierd as hell with a black border.

Song of (whatever) changed to Aka no Seijaku, by Ishida Youko, Shakugan No Shana's 2nd Ending theme. A pretty decent ending theme (preferred the first. Had more kick. But this one is more peaceful, which sounds more like an ending theme), which was made even better in this single version.

Ah well...

No Valentine's Day for me this year again.

As it is every year these days.

Superbowl XL

As I always had done ever since I got Cable TV, I woke up early to watch Superbowl, not falling asleep half way through the match because I'm getting...oh, 12 hours of sleep everyday or something.

However, for the first time in my 3 years of watching Superbowl, this is the most unsatisfying Superbowl to date.

Blame the Referees.

Yeah yeah, the Steelers won it fair and square.

However, look at the game properly. Ever big play that the Seahawks had was called back by a penalty. It's almost like "Big play! Whoops, just kidding. Bring the ball back. Thanks".

On the other side of the pitch, a Touchdown that isn't supposed to be was given. The steeler's first touchdown was clearly isn't one, since the ball didn't break the line. I've no idea how the referee saw it differently, even after replays.

In fact, I was so annoyed with the referees making the Superbowl almost one sided, robbing me of hours of sleep, I almost thought that they were going to rule in Steeler's favour (again) during a fumble that clearly isn't a fumble.

Bah. A waste of time.

However, it isn't as if the Seahawks were helping themselves either. Penalities are bad, but you don't have to give the referees a chance to call it on you. Their receivers seem to be unable to catch most of the things tossed at them, and their clock management is just horrible.

But still...

Refs for MVP!

People who hog the machines....

Well, I think I finally see the reason behind the insane price of New arcade machines.

People who hold up the queue of the machine by inserting dollar...after dollar...after dollar.

And that's just the first stage.

I was in Great World City's Time Zone today, checking out the latest shooting game, House of The Dead 4. However, since I was given only 20 minutes of spending time, I wanted to test out the bonus rooms (they worked for stage 1. Can't get it for stage 2 and 3. Nub me).

But, there are two girls in front of me, happily spraying the Uzi like there's no tomorrow.

On first impression, I was like "Wow, gamer girls. Leet.". Never mind that they are nubs who happen to be playing it for fun. The fact that they are actually THERE speaks volumes, since I know of females who have visited an arcade...oh, twice or something in their 18 years or so of life.

Arcade isn't a female thing, I guess. No idea why, but hey, I'm male.

So, the two girls in front of me are happily peppering zombies with bullets. However, as we all know, House of The Dead is a headshot game, i.e. headshots = bonus = more points = the way to survive since instead of 10 body shots, all you need is like 2 head shots. Even if you do survive all the way to the boss, the way you play will easily say how long you can survive against a boss.

When they finally reached boss 2, which to many of us vets, is called the "filter" boss (Stage 1 boss can be grenaded to hell, assuming you don't waste them all), for you need true experience and practise to get past it. I knew the girls won't last till part 2 of the boss.

I was right.

They died at part 1, since they had only 1 life left before the boss.

To my horror, they continued.

Never mind. Maybe they just want to waste a few more dollars. Besides, the card said that they are out of credit to play ($1.50 for normal. $1.40 for VIP, probably the cheapest in the whole of Singapore).

So, they somehow managed to get past the boss, even though all they have left is 1 miserable life each.

Needless to say, they suffered badly in stage 3.

Right went down first.

She swipped her TimeZone card, only to find that she's out of cash.

Instead of standing aside and wait for her friend to go down as well, she took the card, went to the counter, and topped up $10.

>_>

<_<

And the whole line was kept waiting.

Again.

It took them 15 more minutes till the Stage 4 boss before they were truely out of money. To their credit, they did (horribily) defeat stage 3 boss, and some how got past stage 4.

However, what annoys me is the people who just keep playing on. If there's no one behind, sure. But, if there was a huge line, as the case was for today, then you should think about the others. It's your game, but should you not call it quits? You are simply wasting your money, holding the line up, and getting laughed at for your nubishness. You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief by the people, despite the noise of the arcade, after they realised that they were out of cash, and they did not top up any more. All in all, I think they took up at least 8 credits each or something, but still failed to complete the game.

Do the math.

Another thing which I frown on, but something which I cannot prevent, for in ways, it help me as well, is people who can't aim worth nuts, but join in my HOTD 4 game. Like I've said, the stage 2 boss is the "filter" boss. If you can't aim, bye. On single player, the boss is a little too easy to beat (assuming you know where to shoot and when to reload). However, with 2, the boss has a lot more life, making it tough when you can't aim worth nuts.

Solution?

Grab all the life bonus. I used to be generous and tell people where the life bonuses are, even if I'm at 4 lives (Max 5), and they are at 1. However, I realised that it is bad, because since they have 2 lives, they can survive 2 attacks of the boss.

Which means, I too, lose 2 lives.

So, hell with them. \o/. I'll grab all the lives and stuff even though I'm maxed out.

Speaking of Time Zone, why is there a huge difference between TimeZone, and E-zone? The latest game of E-zone is...um...Star Wars Episode 1 Pod Racer or something, while TimeZone in both Causeway point and Great World City (A lot less crowd compared to the likes of Causeway Point, Bugis and Suntec) has Ghost Squad, HOTD 4 and Time Crisis 3 (All pretty new games, although TC 3 can't be new). I simply cannot understand why E-zone cannot buy any decent games. In the arcade business, new games is the key to earning money. Just look at bugis junction's arcade, probably the best arcade in Singapore, according to many arcade goers, including me. When Maximum Tune was hot, it had 10 machines (more than 8, IIRC). Result? People flocked there to race each other and gain "mileage points". 1 Maximum Tune machine costs around $40k or something ($20k US when it was new), yet it can have 10. To succeed, you must invest heavily, and the rewards are huge. I'm so insanely bored with World Combat, that I abandoned my game half way just to meet up with Ron and friends who were waiting for me, something unthinkingable just 2 years back when I was seriously into the game.

Bye bye E-zone. I doubt I'll play TC 2 for a long long time.

HOTD 4 is just way too addictive.

A job! /o/

Or, something of that sort.

Some guys in china screwed up, photocopying the OTAS sheets instead of actually buying them and using them. Hence, the scanner can't read them.

And so, manual labour is needed.

As everyone in my Dad's office is busy, that leaves up to people who are insanely free who can do it.

Namely, me.

The job is boring to say the least. Just starring at survey forms after survey forms. Hammering in the selections into Microsoft Excel.

It reminded me of the time when I had WITs with Ron, Sean and Kui Siang. XD. The days when we came back to school on a cold saturday morning to count survey numbers. She got the promotion, we got nuts.

To date, I still can't believe my CCA score was B3..>_>

Ah well.

After a long day of hammering the keyboard, I realised something. For manual data entry, just selecting the same option in the entire form gives lazy asses like me an easy time. The tough ones are those who skipped questions, or answered in a manner which they jumped choices (Agree, Strongly Disagree, Neutral, something of that sort of order).

Hell, the best ones are those who left the thing blank.

But the worst ones are those who simply cannot read instructions, even though it was in Chinese. It tells you specifically to SHADE, not to tick, cross or whatever.

Even then, there are plenty who do so. No idea why.

In the office, it was pretty fun as well. Plenty of "radio" chatter around. Office politics, bad mouthing, scolding of "the stupid teachers who have no idea how to handle the machines", and much much more.

Man, I kinda like my job.

No pay though. Volunteer jobs FTL. XD
--

Song of (whatever) changed to Theme of Rogue Galaxy, Arranged Version, composed by Tomohito Nishiura and arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda. A great song, arranged by some one who has the albums "Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Xenosaga, Xenogears" to his name, and many more, you will definately get a fantastic track.

One more reason not to play World of Warcraft.

According to the Straits Times today, it seems like the English speaking World of Warcraft (WoW) players are hating the players which hail from china.

Reason?

Because the people from China spoils the game, as they farm the gold, then sell if for real cash on sites such as ebay.

And because the people from China do that, they are hence defined as "people who destroy the game, for they sell the gold to people who will hence use the "gold" brought, via real cash, to buy weapons and armor, and hence, will put players who spend 21 hours a day farming and/or grinding at a disadvantage."

...

Seriously....

Even though a game should be taken seriously, this is simply ridiculous. First of all, the "farmers" from china exist because there are people out there who actually buy the "gold" for cash (US$100 for...10k? Not too sure. I'm not a WoW player). They won't be around if there arn't people around to buy the gold. Sure, they inflate prices and such, but hey, this is part of the game. Unless Blizzard actually does something, you can't actually complain. They want the gold, and they have the cash. The China people are simply smart enough to see that, and hence, are very willingly to spend time in a Lan cafe, happily mining for hours while having packets after packets of smoke.

In fact, to pinpoint China players as the source of the problem is rather stupid. Sure, a large number of them are from China, but do all of them hail from China? Doubt it. Just look at Virgoods (add a .com), and you know what I mean. 1000k Guild Wars gold for $100. And people actually buy them, which is why they are still around. Does that look like a China run site to you? I seriously don't think so.

However, what surprises me is the immaturity of people in the WoW game. The ability to type a full sentence via IM before you can join their team/guild? Wow. Although most of the players are english speaking, not all are. There are people who have English as a 2nd or 3rd language, and hence, cannot type a full sentence. So, are you going to go "CHINA. THOU ART FRM CHINA!"? No way. In Guild Wars, Koreans are among the best players every one knows. Just look at the Guild ladder. 2 in 5 are from Korea. We just accept them, use the in-game functions, and play Tombs, even though they speak limited English, and probably cannot form a full sentence, except for basic ones.

In fact, money for gold has been around for a long long time. Guild Wars bans it, but it still happens, underground, of course. However, games like Conquer Online, hell, even Gun Bound, allows you to obtain good items as long as you have the cash.

In the end, it's the players of WoW who's going to suffer. The China people arn't going to care about people who don't want them. They will just keep on farming. As long as there are customers, there will be farmers. The solution is not to ignore the people from China, but to simply get rid of the buyers. Some how. Arenanet, creator of Guild Wars, are branded "Nerfnet" when they nerf things that get way too easy to obtain, i.e. make the drops more rare, or to offer other ways to reduce the price. There were Runes (Power ups) which cost over 100k (Superior Vigor, for those who care), but thanks to Nerfnet, they cost merely...hmm...30k? Hell, for PvP players, you can simply unlock it using Faction (Obtained via PvPing) or during PvE unlocks. No need to head to Ebay, for out $100, just for an in-game item.

Hence, if the players want this farming to stop, they got to petition to Blizzard to stop it. However, it will be hard, as WoW is a grind game. Other then the need to defeat the strongest monster, wear the coolest items, level up, there isn't any real need to actually play the game. Oh, there's always the PvP part of WoW, Alliance verus the Horde. We all know that the Horde rules...so...*shugs*.

Hell, if you want PvP, go play Guild Wars. WoW is a freaking Grind game, for god's sake. Don't want farmers? Don't play Grind games.
--

http://girldoll.org/hod4/

Time to complete House of the Dead 4.

With 1 credit too. Hehe.