Too Many Moons

Been too many moons since I've last posted. The year is coming to a close. My new place is coming soon. And my clan got a new home (www.barcarism.com).

An extremely eventfully year. Let's round it off with a bang!!

Wife's gonna be back!

Dear wifey went overseas to USA for the past 2 weeks. During this period of time, It was all gaming until late night and instance of weekends, gaming until early morning. I guess this is gonna end once she's back.

I know my wife and my dad probably have something to say about my gaming habits but what the heck? It's better fragging at home than be out in some undesirable places right?

Think my wife brought some nice apple t-shirts for me. Can't wait to find out! :)

Halo3 is out! And I posted so late!! :)

25th September was the day of reckoning. Halo3 is finally launching on that day. It was time to finish the fight... Heck... That was like 2 weeks ago.

Before the launch, there was the believe events, where they gave out a piece of the Halo3 kit at each event. Here's a picture of us queuing up at the first believer event. (From left to right: SpideySky, Macbiff, AbbiyR, Unknown queue cutter and then me!)


Then, which event would be complete with Master Chief??


And of course, we can't really pass up the opportunity to take a picture with Master Chief right? (Right to Left: Me, Macbiff, Master Chief, AbbiyR, SpideySky and Xenoguardian)


All in all, I managed to collect all the 4 Halo3 kits and that, serves a sweet purpose. I'll let you know why in my future post! Here's a pic of the cool vest I've got!

Long Time No Post

Hahaa...

Been quite some time since my last post. The folks at the company I'm working for restricted access to blogger.com. Too bad... I always have the habit of posting during office hours. Somehow it made the time pass faster.

Anyway, quite a fair bit happened over these 2 months but I guess the highlight was the WCG2007. We lost but had some real fun there. I'll talk more about the event when I'm free. Here's 2 pics first.

From left to right: Stoener, Donut, Killerway, Me, SpideySky and Fantod
It was nice of Stoener and Donut to come down and support us even though they were not playing. Thanks to AbbiyR and Punkercut who came down as well but couldn't stay till the entire thing was over. :)


And this is me trying to play Woman (Hard) on Guitar Hero II

Time to get my arse kicked

The annual WCG is fast approaching. I still haven't registered for it yet. It's time to get my arse kicked the same way like last year's WCG Halo2 competition.

Last Friday night, I was playing Gears of War with my kaki on xbox live. We were doing quite well and played as a cohesive unit. We really gave it to our opponents. One of my friend Spidey mentioned that it would be great if we could find a team of opponent that closely matched our skills and form.

From the back of my mind, I was think... Perhaps we would really stand a chance this time round. With the all powerful Spidey, Shotgun King Fantod, AI Killerway, there's really a possiblilty that we could make a difference. However, I know that if I am to be the 4th person in the team, I would probably bring down the team...

I always like to think I'm good. However, I know deep down that there are so much more better player than me... I'm really torn. AbbiyR for example, would be a much much better player than me.

Sigh... meanwhile, I'll check the Internet tonight to see if the registration is still open...

300K Club

Okie. I lied. This post is still about Guitar Hero II. I can't help it but that damn plastic guitar is still so damn attractive.

Last night, I've joined the 300K club. That's an achievement that's unlocked by achieving 300,000 points in a single song. It had seems unattainable to me initially but somehow, I did it. There's no question about what song I did it with. What else other than Freebird???

I'm really running out of achievements for this game. 400K? I think not in the near future. 1000 note streak? Not really up for it. Although I know that both this achievements can be unlocked by playing a solid solid Freebird on medium, it's just too hard. There're part of the guitar solo that I just couldn't grasp the rhythm.

I'm experiencing a strong reluctance to try to clear the song 'Stop!' in hard. As the difficult level said it, it's so damn hard and it really literally 'Stopped!' me in my tracks.

Meanwhile, I'll just be contented to try and bump up my career score.

Pathfinder

Yesterday was pathfinder day. On my way to work in the morning, I had no less than 3 different tourists coming up to me asking me "You got any idea where is....."

In some strange ways, I am glad that I looked approachable enough for them to ask for directions from me. I always enjoyed helping people out who needed directions and I genuinely tries to help them. I'm sure all of them got to their destination via the fasted possible route anyway.

This reminds me of an incident in Australia, Melbourne a couple of years back.

I was lost... trying to find my way to this ticketing booth call '1/2 Tics' where they sold discounted tour packages and stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't have a map with me at that point of time I approached this seemly friendly Australian fellow asking for directions. He was kind enough to give me directions.

"Go straight, hit *** street, turn left. 2 junction later, turn left at the traffic light. Then go straight and turn in *** street and go all the way to the end."

I followed his instructions to the letter. And I ended up exactly where I started! Hahaa! It was a good walk anyway. Thanks for the directions mate!

And thus the rock ends...

This probably would be my last post on Guitar Hero II.

I finally did it. 5 star for 'Carry me home' in medium.

The moment the achievement for 'Most likely to succeed - all 5 stars for medium' appeared, I felt a sense of exhilaration I haven't felt in years...

At the same time, I felt a moment of sadness... Regardless of how good I think I am at this game, there are limits and I think I've reached them. To complete 'hard mode' is a really tall order for me. I'm not sure if I can ever achieve that...

Meanwhile, I think I'll take a break from trying to be a Guitar Hero... At least, my wife, nephew and niece already think that I am one.

I'll never need anyone to carry me home

It seems that most of my posts recently revolve around 1 topic. Guitar Hero II.

Unfortunately, this post is about that as well.

Last night when we finished dinner at home, I laid back on the dining table chair and watched 'God of Cookery' by Stephen Chow. That was after I finished the dishes. I looked around... Wife's missing... Must be bathing. After the show, I went to our room and there she was. Sitting on the floor, eyes staring at the screen, belting out 'Jessica' with pure concentration. She was rocking left and right, fingers flying on the fret button. Totally ignoring me.

When it comes to games, I'm finally glad that she's starting to realise and understand how much it can help you destress after a stressful day. I'm glad, happy and... FRUSTRATED!!!

Now I got to take a queue number to play?? What the heck? I wanted to start early while I'm still fresh! No... I wait... I got to be the understanding husband and let my wife belt away her stress and frustration...

It was a long wait. When it was finally my turn, it was 11.45pm. I don't have much time left. I did the best I could. 15 minutes into the game, my friend Spidey invited me to play Gears of War. I was tempted... But I ignored the invite despite getting 2 more message and 2 more invites... I need to shredd!!! Think this is a result of listening to too much guitar hero II sound tracks on my ipod... I did the best I could...

AND I CREAMED Institutionalized!!! 5 stars for that idiot song!!! And I cleared Jessica on hard!!

Now, only 'Carry Me Home' stands between me and guitar greatness. Rock on!

I wish I had 5 fingers and a thumb

Guitar Hero II is really driving me nuts. There's always this fucked up feeling when I fails a song. I got short fingers? Fat fingers? Butter fingers? Or just plain lousy motor skills?

I always tell myself, 'it's okay. I'm not exactly a young kid anymore. The kids have better reflexes. I don't really need to get a 5 star rating for this song...'

Truth is, I'm dying to get 5 stars for all the medium songs to unlock the 'Most likely to suceed' achievement. Being the achievement whore I am, it sucks.

Finally, after numerous weeks of shredding, I finally cleared Psychobilly Freakout with a 5 star rating on medium. If I have a gun, I'll seriously contemplate shooting the fellow who wrote this song. Thanks to him, I've got stiff and sore fingers now.

With Carry me home (4 stars) and Institutionalised (4 stars) left in my way to guitar greatness, I'll just need to pray harder.

This Bird You Cannot Change

If I leave here tomorrow, would you still rememer me?

These are the opening 2 lines of lyrics to the song Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynrd. This song was featured in Guitar Hero II as the last of the 8th tier song. It's the song to beat and considered to be the best song to play in my opinion.

My initial reaction when i encountered the song was 'what the f*ck???' cos the game asked me 3 times if I really want to play this song. I was thinking, how hard can this be? I completed the song in medium on my first try, and almost died in the process of doing so.

I was rubbing my fingers after the song trying to relief the cramps I got as a result from playing the song, thinking 'what the hell?? How do you even pronounce the damn band name if it doesn't have any vowels????' (thanks to Stoener, who told me it's pronounced as 'Leh-nerd Skin-nerd'... i think).

Recently, I've been playing that song over and over again. For the mere fact that it's so hard to play well (At least for me) and I came to love the song. A nice slow ballard intro which lasted for 4 1/2 minutes, followed by another 5 minutes of furious fretworks (the game version is only 9:12 long. Actual song is 12 minutes)! The song have been repeating on my ipod for the past 2 days. I simply love the lyrics and the guitar solos and duels.

2 days ago, I finally managed to complete the song on medium mode, getting 248,786 points and my 5 star rating. the sense of satisfaction is un-measurable. My wife was cheering for me while I as playing the song and gave me a kiss and a hug after i completed it.

At last, my doubts are gone. If I leave here tomorrow, I'll be remembered.

PS: Macbiff will get my 360, Stoener get my movies and Donut will get my plastic guitar.

Rock on!

Eat it Raw!! Maybe not...

I always liked to cook. Ever since young. Although I usually screw it up but it always turn out not so bad.

Was feeling adventurous during the weekend so decided to whip up something for my wife. What does she like... Toast and eggs? I've done that before... Sushi? Why not Sushi? It's easy isn't it? Just rice and with strips of egg on top. Okay. Sushi it will be.

I started up my trusty Mac, launch Safari and did a search for sushi recipe. God. There're tons of them out there. As i was pondering over which one I should use, my niece came over as asked me,"What are you doing? Not playing games?"

"Nah. I want to make sushi."

"I know how! I made sushi in school before!"

I gave my niece a weird look... Sure or not? Can eat one or those made of plasticine? She ran off and came back in 5 minutes with a colorful little book from her Montessori pre-school. Believe it or not, there's actually a section on sushi making! What the heck, I'll take it!

Went to cold storage to buy all the ingredients and back to home for the sushi making. I'll not mention the process except that it was fun. If you see the way we did it, i doubt anyone would dare to eat it.

All in all, we've had great fun. My wife, sis-in-law, niece, nephew and sis loved the sushi. Here's some pics of what we made.

The very first sushi i made


Preparing the eggs and cucumber


My version of the roll


Don't ask me what this is called. Hot dog sushi!


And this is the soccer ball that my nephew made.

Unleash the Rock God/Goddess Within!

My wife always tell me, "You play too much games dear..."

I wonder why as she already knew how passionate i was with my xbox360 before we got married. Heck. In fact, some of the games i have for my xbox360 are bought for me by my wife. Don't understand why she make this comment sometimes.

Until... Recently... I got to tell her, "Dear... can you stop playing Guitar Hero 2 and give me back my xbox?? I'm already lagging behind as it is..."

As the wife of a gamer, my wife sometimes watch me play games. When I knew that guitar hero 2 was gonna launch in xbox360, i was excited. I appreciate the fact that my wife was as excited as me. So much so that she brought the game for me as a birthday gift(yes, the game and the plastic guitar controller).

Recently, she had been playing guitar hero 2 with a vengence. I used to smirk in the background watching her struggle with the game on easy mode, thinking that she'll worship me when she watch me play.

Until recently, with all the practice she have been putting in, i starting to feel that she might have a remote chance of beating me in the game... I once remarked that if she ever beat me in the score of any songs in the game, i would sling my plastic guitar controller and walk around Orchard Road... Somehow, all those famous last words always come back to haunt.

Luckily, this old dog still got a couple of tricks up his sleeves. Till then, my dear wife, work harder. Someday, you'll get 5 star for Jessica on Medium. :)

Donuts Anyone

It's funny how Singaporeans have the patience to queue up for hours buying donuts but can't wait 10 seconds at a traffic lights without honking the fellow driver in front...

Last Sunday, I joined my buddy to queue up at Donut Factory in Raffles City to buy donuts. My buddy was kind enough to start queuing early with me joining him an hour later. It took me another hour to get my share of donuts, during this time, saw some very interesting scenes.

There's always the aunties who tries to join the queue at the front, trying hard to ignore the fact that the actual queue is behind her. There's also the typical aunties who goes around asking if anyone is getting less than the 2 dozens allocated so that she can long-pang.

Anyway, had found out that eating 8 donuts at one go is not the way to appreciate donuts unless you're ready for a stomach ache the next day. Having said that, the donuts are nice but not that fantastic that I would queue hours for them again.

Think i'll stay off donuts for the rest of the year. :)

Road to Recovery

Tiring day though i didn't do much except sleep. the fever still comes on and off. Spent most of my day watching my niece play Rayman's raving rabbids. Spent a bit of time fooling around with my ibook. Just realised from my wife that my ibook is actually the lowest range among all the mac notebooks..... Well, you can't complain about something that costed $95 right? Anyway, here is it. This is my maiden post using a ibook. Never had i thought that this day would come. :)

Wasted Time

I'm sick. Kept coughing, having fever and kept shivering.... All this have to happen on a weekend. Fine.... It's all a waste of time.

Wonders about Woman

Sometimes it's weird how woman think... I picked up my wife last evening from the airport when she came back from Sydney. Reached home and started to unpack. As usual, i got my 500gms of nuts and among that some other weird stuff...

Toilet paper. Nice 3 ply australian made toilet paper. I think it's strawberry scented... I'm not sure due to my insistance not to sniff at it... Is it just me or is it really cool to buy toilet paper back from overseas? I mean, if you like the toilet paper so much, what happens when they run out??? Weird.... At least to me.

My wife was also fascinated with this brand of kitchen wares called Wedgewood. This is probably just me being me but what the heck??? $50 for a plate? Even if it was lined with platinum on the edge and that it's designed by vera wang.... Heck! It's still just a plate to me! of course there's a couple of nice tea cup and saucer, fook and spoons but heck.... i could have gotten 5 copies of blue dragon from the amount she spent buying those...

However, one thing immediately shut me up. "I'm buying these for our new home next year dear... And I'm paying for in." Well, don't let me stop you. And don't get me wrong also. I DO appreciate it. :)

Testing Times

Can't imagine that it had been 10 months since I've last blogged. This little piece of my life had somehow eluded me. So much had happened since then.

To all my female fans out there (last count was 1, inclusive of my niece), i finally got married. As usual, my dad shed a tear for me (He couldn't believe it...... I can't as well). The wedding day and the dinner went past in a flash. I couldn't remember many aspect of it except for the highlights.

I still remember and I was preparing myself for the solomization, my brother pulled me aside and said to me "You still have 5 minutes. Are you sure you want to do this?". I couldn't understand what he meant at the point of time but now, I really need to let him know that I appreciated him asking me that.

Don't get me wrong. If I went back in time and was faced with the same choice again, I would have done exactly the same thing but I have no idea how tough it would be to be living in a confined space with someone for an extend period of time. I love my wife wholeheartedly and I love her more everyday. However, some of our differences are really pushing me off the edge.

Having said that, I have to admit that a large part of the fault does lies with me as well. Perhaps it's time to change. No in the sense of changing my personality cos I don't believe in that but more in the ways that it's time for some of my bad habits to go. These are testing times my friends and I'm all geared up to take on the challenge.

This post is too long and boring and i should stop here. Just to add a final word, I want to say to 2 of my good brothers, Stoener and Donut. Thanks for your patience and advices in the recent weeks. You have no idea how much they help. Cheers bro.