Down goes the financial markets... Hey, i'm hit right?

I'm giving myself a pat on my back for my third consecutive day of blogging. It nice to have an avenue to vent my frustration and views so on it shall go.

Today's kao peh topic is $$. There never seems to be enough money for me. For as long as i can remember, i've been in financial troubles ever since the day i started working. Wait... That seems to have began when i was still studying.

I remember well the stock market bull run back in 1999, when we seems to have recovered from a recession. The stock market was easy. Simply just buy any stock and watch it reap a profit. That was my first foray into the stock market (also happened to be my last). My first stock pick was UOB bank, which i brought and sold within a couple of days (Short selling). I earned $420. Heck, i didn't even have a trading account. I got a friend of mine to help me buy and the money just came. Imagine, for a university student who didn't fork out a single cent and made a couple of hundred on his first trade. That's easy money.

The bull went on and i made quite a bit. of course, none of the profit stayed long. Me and my girlfriend spurged it on resturants, movies and such. We had the time of our lives for that 6 months. Until the market started to crash again... We lost almost everything... Well, it was great when it lasted...

Then came gambling... That's even worse than stocks... the money was again good when my luck held. i made thousands, spurge it on anything possible. Of course, of all the gambling lessons, we know that we can never beat the bookie. I came crashing down again. Owe thousands of dollars in debts (bookies and credit cards) and i even had to get my sister to bail me out.

My first pay from my first job was used to pay my sister back for the loan i took from her. This continued for like almost 3 years. Every pay day, my account was cleared out the next day. damn... i can't remember a month where i was debt free...

After a 3 year stop to soccer betting, i fell to it again, accumulating debts again... sigh... that was the last straw for me... hate feeling broke.

I spent my years after that paying for my mistake. Mostly refusing help from family cos i firmly believe that i should pay for my own mistakes. Without the pain, i won't repent.

At last, i can finally say that i'm free from the gambling lure. Perhaps an occassional bet on TOTO or 4D. Or even a single bet on the world cup or euro championship. I am no longer a hardcore punter i was.

Of course, came the wedding, then the house. I've been clean out of all my money, and the suffering returned again... With all the past experience in mind, i look forward to a day where i can finally feel financial freedom...

ps: just got my pay yesterday. paid bills, pay committments, i'm left with $158.42 till the next payday... Life sucks...

Kelvin vs PC

Personal Computer. I always thought that there was a nice ring to it. It is the product that changed the face of the world. Without technological personal computers, we would still be playing paper and pencil RPG games. Hey... maybe that's too superficial to look at it from a gaming point of view. But hell, you get the idea.

I always like PCs, so much so that all i wanted to do when i was in secondary school was to become a programmer. I always wanted to do comscience, for the purpose of advancing the future of mankind. Okay. That's bull shit. :)

Anyway, I alway have a love-hate relationship with PCs.

Back when i was living in Simei, I decided that I needed a new PC. So i brought one from Sim Lim (self assembled), with my brother's help of course. It was weird stuff... The PC has a habit of switching itself on and off. Or even a slight knock on it will result in it refusing to start up for 2 days.

When i shifted to my new place in SengKang, i decided it's time to get rid of the old PC and get a new and more stable one. Splashing out a thousand, i got another one. With my brother's help again from Sim Lim (where else?)

This was supposed to be good. same model which my brother is using, cool look, dual core, window media center and of course running on Vista.

This time, it was worse. After one month, media center refuses to work. and just a week back, the PC will run for an average of 1 minute 30 second and then hang... I'm at my wits end now... To attempt to reformat and lose all my movies? Or simply just junk it and get a Mac...

Time to shout for help!

ps: Somehow, this post is not showing up on my blog despite of me publishing it... weird... let me try to fix that.

RPGs anyone?

Let me get this straight. RPGs are great games. For as long as i can remember, i've always been an RPG fan. Think back to the days of Ultima (yes. I started from Ultima I until 6??), Knights of Legend, Fallout and etc... It's always a great way of stepping into an alternative world.

Recently, Japanese RPGs on xbox360 are really killing me. It's not so much about grinding through endless hoard of monsters to level up to complete the games but more of getting the 1000 achievement points that the game have to offer for xbox. Being an achievement whore, I can't resist the urge but to try. However, those japanese game makers are really insane... To imagine clocking like 200 hours and playing the game through 5 times just to get those achievements? It's killing me...

I think i need to take a different approach. No more gunning for full achievement points. Just play through and enjoy the story.

Oh yeah... Even Viva Pinata (Trouble in Paradise) is crazy...

down goes the walls

This is an interesting turn of events. My company seems to have lifted the ban on blogspot. I suppose this means i'll be blogging much more frequently. I checked the firewall and it's still up so it shouldn't be some kind of system down thingie. Anyway, doesn't really matter cos i don't think anyone actually read my blog. More later. Maybe I'll blog twice a day on weekdays now. :)

Here i go again

Damn... My blogging frequency sucks. I've came to realise that the only time i blog are the times when my company's firewall goes down. Other than that, i can't seems to be bothered to blog...

Anyway, just a bit of what i've been up to recently...

3 interviews to 2 different companies and none wanted to hire me... For 2 of the interviews, i was pretty sure i've nailed it. The age old saying of not counting your eggs before they hatch held so true. I guess i figured how it works... The more you want the job, the less chances of you getting it.

Work sucks... apart from having nothing much to do, there's really nothing much for me to do. I spend countless hours in office thinking of what to do, acting busy doing nothing. Hell... I even felt bother getting paid for not contributing much.

It's a cruel world out there. thousands lost their jobs (with the big companies in financial troubles) and here i am with a job but living life aimlessly.

Perhaps i should not think so much. It's thursday and it's my games day. can't wait to get home and lose myself in the gaming world with my friends. A brief reprive from reality...

Blood ties

Last night i had a dream... I was telling someone that my brother is not talking to me anymore. I turned around and saw my brother sitting in a chair. I lost control and hugged my brother and started crying...

Then I woke up... Tears in my eyes... It was but a dream.

Things have not been good between me and my brother. I always thought that blood ties are stronger than anything else. We used to always rise above petty quarrels and made peace.

Just the other day, i was watching an episode of "Supernatural" on TV. It was the episode where the younger brother Sam was killed and the older brother Dean was overcame with sadness. After much thoughts, Dean summoned up the devil and made a pact with it to bring Sam back to life in exchange of his life (Dean will only get to live another year).

I was pondering if my brother would do the same for me until i realised that we ain't on speaking terms anymore. At this point... the tears came again...

With so much uncertainty in my life now... i only know 1 thing that's certain. He'll always be my brother...

Eons ago...

Can't remember the last time i blogged... What the hack. That seems to by my opening line everytime i blogged. Bottom line is that i'm simply too lazy to blog?! Although i like to blame it on my company for blocking blogspot.com, the truth is that i always felt that blogging should be done in office.

It was only during times when the company firewall goes down that I manage to add in a post or 2. damn it... Perhaps i should just shift over to wordpress where i can access in my office.

Anyhow, much have happened during my last post (as usual, many moons ago). Rather than list them all here. Just take it that i'm still alive. :)

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. :)