Wednesday night blues

Hop on board! It’s not going to be a short ride. Not that long either, so worry not. Three hours. Or less, depending on how smooth the flow of the journey is. So grab all you need and be here at eighteen-thirty, sharp. You won’t want to be left out, right? It will be interesting. Promised.

The cabin is an enclosed environment. Meaning, there won’t be any chance for any of us to look outside. Yes, I know. We all like window seats, especially with how splendid sunset view it can possibly offer. Do have my apologies for this. There are protocols. However, you can always take the ones along the aisle. It will be easier for you to leave your seat if any urgency arises. And trust me, you will have urgencies. Even if you don’t, you will wish that you do.

There will be entertainment provided so please be reminded to bring along a larger amount of attention span. It will be highly edutaintional. However, I understand fully that the entertainment provided might not be appealing to all kinds of audiences. As such, you are reminded to bring your own entertainment, such as portable electronics, a good book, or even some blank papers to doodle one. Do be reminded that if you require personal sound entertainment, you will need your own headphones as they will not be provided. You can choose to sleep, please be reminded that the lights will be switched on throughout the ride. You will need your own sleeping mask; though sleeping mask is not recommended due to security reasons.

Food and beverages will not be provided. Please be reminded that you have to bring your own food and beverages before boarding. Also, do note that only snacks and bottled drinks are recommended. It will be at your own risk if you decide to bring anything more, and we will not be responsible of any unpleasant events, such has the confiscation of your meal.

Having said all these, you will be wondering where the flight will be heading. Wait! Who said it’s a flight or train/boat/bus ride to begin with? It’s not! It’s my Wednesday night’s lecture! Isn’t it the same as some short-distance flight on a budget airline? The environment is more or less the same; the amount of time spent is more or less the same, and even the cost! It costs the same, or even more! Of course, there are differences, like how we don’t have to go through security checks or arrive horrendously early (thank god!). However, at least we get somewhere with a budget flight, and not three hours of presentation mayhem, straight. Oh wait. We do get somewhere. The sky did turn dark after watching people struggling with their powerpoint for three hours straight! . .. … … …

To all girls:

Japanese Nuke.

How many of them do you know?

War is peace

This seems more like a ghost town than anything, or that’s what I thought when I stepped out of my vehicle. The buildings, intermittently spread and haphazardly arranged, let off a faint flush of grey, laminated by sunlight. No sign of livelihood or animation apart from the few whirls of winds that elevates a few scrapes of paper and dust. The backdrop, barren and all, is of no help to this morbid cityscape. Less than a decade ago, on this exact same spot lays a city that is inhabited by millions. People of different class, race, age, gender (of course) and all kinds imaginable used to live in this city. It was prosperous. It was, but not now.

For some reasons, the sign of a nearby metro station exit caught my attention. Staggering in the wind, trying to grasp onto something but never succeeding, the sign was held only by a thin piece of wire. Why did it not fall apart, and how long has that sign been struggling, are mysteries to me. What I am certain of is, nevertheless, that the room on the second floor of the building directly beside the metro exit is where I used to live. The building, like many other constructions in the city, laid bare, battered, and in ruins.

I went up and through the door of what used to be my apartment, or, to be precise, the arch that used to be a door. Most of the items are gone. Furnishings, decorations, stacks of books, and even my prized collection of action figures that are made of synthetic materials (plastic). The only image that corresponds with my understanding of the room is the position of the large furniture such as the metallic bed frame that had gathered rust, the bookshelf that looks like it is about to collapse, and the writing desk that is full of holes and splinters and with a corner missing. The whole apartment is filled with rubbles and splinters and all kinds of imaginable rubbish. I should have moved, I told myself.

I tried to savage whatsoever I can find. Not much. A small crystal ball the size of a thumb, a spoof book on English learning written by some Taiwanese guy, a necklace of no whatsoever symbolic meaning apart from the fact that I used to wear, and a pack of unopened gum. Considering how ravaged and devastated the entire state is, I should be more than satisfied with my finds.

As I started my way back across the desolated street, a poster plastered onto the building on the other side fluttered in the wind. It bares a large figure with a solemn yet intimidating might towering forward, and a forefinger pointing at my direction. On the top of the poster, three words are printed with serious fonts:

“War is peace”

If I am any less apathetic towards this “war” in general, I would be rushing over with rage, trying with all my might to annihilate with everything I got. But no. I didn’t. I stood there, staring at the blank eyes of the figure in the poster. I am too used to seeing that nincompoop’s face. Too used to the idea of war that it strikes me as something I live with everyday. What if I destroy the poster? There will be millions of similar posters out there. How many more can I destroy? The act of destroying that poster will prove to only be as pointless as the war itself.

Just as I am about to go, a stray hound, a black one, walked towards the poster. He lingered around the spot below the poster, sniffed a bit, and raised one of his rear legs. A stream of fresh urine gushed out of his rear and landed directly below the poster.

“Way to go, pal. You sure know your peace.” I said laughingly to myself.

Rosie Rosie Rosie~

Was looking at a friend's short essay on the poster below.

Just a good afternoon's work

What stroke me interesting was actually the phrase "Just A Good Afternoon's Work". If you have noticed, there can be two similar yet distinctive meaning to this phrase. Considering these:

Just a good "afternoon's" work

Just a "good afternoon's" work

When we consider the phrase (or word) inside the double inverted apostrophes as the sentence's primary object, with the subject being "work" itself, we can have to separate meanings when we consider the sentence structure in these two different senses. The first version, with good as a premodifying adjective, describes the afternoon's work being good and "just" (as in simple and brief). On the second version, however, the sentence describes the simple and brief work being the task of "good afternoon", or simply saying it. Of course, the second version doesn't suggests that the actual work is saying "good afternoon" itself, but rather the work is as easy as saying "good afternoon". Anyway, I'll leave the reason behind for you to decide for yourself, because I don't feel that the reason is necessarily important. After all, this ambiguity here might most likely be accidental and, if it is incidental for some unknown reason, it is there simply to capture your (and my) attention. Full stop.

And there's this little thing that strikes me odd. The color theme of Rosie is actually red bandanna and blue worker's uniform (see below). So why is the Rosie in the poster in red (or pink)? Some how the red theme makes this feel like a Soviet poster. Well, there are quite a few possibilities that I can think of. One is, like what my friend has said, related the the theme of red and brotherhood. But then and again, it's SISTERhood here. Hello? I don't know if red is appropriate for SISTERhood, but yeah, a point worthy of taking note. Another possibility will be that they wish to portray Rosie as a nanny or nurse. Of course, when we consider Rosie the Riveter, she is a metal work worker in a lathe factory or something, but when we consider the whole of British-America's female population, we'll realize that there are quite a number of females who join the war efforts as nurse. It's obvious as nurse is quite an obvious job for females, and lets not forget that the soldiers will heal a lot faster when attended by a pretty nurse :D One last simple reason why the poster is themed in red may be due to the printing technology at that time. From what I've known, technologies for printing and lighting technologies comes from the order of Rainbow - first red, then orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. So it's not surprising if, at that point in time (year 1941), there's only red orange and yellow paint (and black of course).

Anyway, a little poster of our heroine, Rosie the Riveter!

We can do it!

But I personally prefer the real-life Rosie. Kind of cute, isn't she?

A Rosie at the women factor

What friends are for

Saw this today. Looks interesting :)

Seated

Some places call it Metro. Some places call it Metro. We call it the MTR in our city, which abbreviates for Mass Transit Railway. These are basically railway systems with stations and stops at every few hundred meters or at every inhabited area, and the whole system will be comprised of a number of railway lines, depending on the size of the city. For railway systems such as the MTR, the frequency of trains is also another important issue. The frequency of the trains arriving at various stations is usually set at around 4 minutes per train. Of course, this timing of train frequency differs between various lines and time periods of the day, but it is still true that the MTR has one of the lowest average waiting time of all public transports. Most people who live or have lived in a metropolitan will have experience travelling with one of such railway system, or even commuting with it. Nevertheless, even with its speed and convenience, there are certain social issues, or complications, that the MTR has brought about. One of such issues is the sharing of seats.

Due to a design that focuses on the conservation of space, the number of seats in each MTR train compartment is relatively limited. The seats of the trains are normally occupied by passenger even when it is not peak hours. So what will happen when all the seats are occupied and someone who looks like he is in need of that spot walks in? Someone that is physically challenged, such as a old man or a pregnant lady, or a child. It is not uncommon for one of such person to walk in. So if you are the one seated, what will you do? Will you stand up and offer your seat to that person? Or will you remain seated, since it doesn't really concern you?

I have seen one of such person in almost every week. An old or pregnant lady or some little kid will walk into the train compartment of which I am seated, look around and find that all the seats are occupied with people. I am more than willing to offer my seat, and I normally do so because it is perfectly fine if I have to stand for twenty or so minutes of the remaining journey. For someone who is twenty odd years old and in good health, I won't find that anything near tedious. However, I have two concerns. One is that I'll normally wait a couple of seconds to see if someone is willing to offer their seat first. Not that I am trying to see if I can keep my seat or anything, but I will feel awkward if me and another person stood up simultaneously just to offer a seat to another person. Don't ask why, that's me.

Another concern I have is that the person I am offering my seat to might take it personally that I am stereotyping him or her as old or physically impaired. It happened once, when an old man got angry when I tried to offer him my seat. He screamed at me, saying that I shouldn't treat him like an old fart because he is only fifty plus. From then on, I normally won't look for an empty seat if the train ride is something less than 10 minutes. If I don't have it, I can't offer it, simple.

Nevertheless, the scene of someone offering their seat to others, apart from myself, is quite a rare find in the area that I lived. It has happened, of course, but not common. Many a time I have seen people of my age and physique remaining seated at their MTR seats when someone old walked past, sluggishly with a walking stick. I am normally standing somewhere in my own corner when that happens. Not that I can offer anything to that particular old person, and I won't give a public lecture to the people who are seated. Who am I to cause a scene for something that many people take as something trivial? I have my morals and they have theirs, and I have no intention of intruding other's inner self. But anyway, I guess I'm thinking too much when I wait for someone to offer his or her seat first before me. That won't happen in my society.

I was talking to a friend of mine, Suni, about this. He smiled and gave his reply.

"That's why I read." Suni gave his reply half-smilingly.

"What? What do you mean by 'you read'?" I asked, not really understanding what Suni meant.

"When I find my own little comfy seat on the MTR, I'll normally take out a book and stare hard at it. Not that I am really interested in what the book is saying, but at least I won't look at the old person standing in front of me and feel guilty. Yea, that's why I said I read."

After hearing that from Suni, I couldn't find the right words to reply him, so he continued.

"But you know what? There are quite a number of old people who will stand in front of you can cough real hard to capture your attention. I really hate those kind of people. I mean, can't you see that I am concentrating on my little novel? And let's not forget that the train compartment is noisy enough without your coughs."

At that point in time, I realized that something is wrong with what Suni is saying. I'm not talking about his moral values, because, like what I've said earlier, I won't give others moral lectures or anything. Just don't be offensive and I'll be okay with it. Still, there is a certain something that seems quite out of place.

"I didn't know that you are into reading. Glad that you're finally into books." I've finally found what's wrong with what Suni has said.

"I read, but not from a book." Suni replied.

"Then from what?"

"Before I answer you, think about this. Why do you think that smart phones are so popular nowadays?"

After saying that and giving his usual grin, Suni took out his phone and started reading the news from it.

Apple's i

Apple Inc. The company that made its products and services, such as iPods, iTunes, iPhones and iMacs hits in today's society. Apple is a company that sells and manages computers and high-end consumer electronics. Noticing how Apple name all their products with an "i" in front? What will Apple name their products/services if the follow were to be manufactured?

A pair of sports shoes?
iRan

A masters degree course on business administration?
iMBA

A basketball team or tournament?
iSlam

A cubic electronic device?
iSquare

An "English Language Teaching" school?
iELTS

A football club?
iFC

Notes:
Iran = a country in middle east.
Islam = a religion.
Imba = imbalance.
iSquare = a shopping center in Hong Kong
ielts = a British English qualification examination
ifc = international finance center, a building in Hong Kong

I believe you can try.

Henry's friend, John, made himself a pair of wings out of paper and thin bamboo sticks. It took John almost a week's time to make those wings, and he is very proud of himself and his handicraft. John spent the entire week talking to everyone about nothing but those pair of wings, and it is certain to everyone, including Henry, that John is obsessed. One reason is that it looks ridiculously flimsy. But then and again, since it's his friend's work, Henry forced himself to give compliments on it.

When the pair of wings is finally completed, Henry, dragged alongside John, went to a nearby hillside for a test fly. When they reached a cliff of a few meters tall John, beaming with ego and all, strode towards it with pride. Henry stood behind, watching like one of John's lackeys. This looks like trouble, Henry told himself in silence. Before long, John stood at a spot a couple of meters away from the edge of the cliff, with the stance similar to that of a runner right before the start of the race.

"Hey. You know what?" John said, gazing hard at the edge of the cliff.

"No I don't. What?" Henry replied, trying not to look at the imbecile figure right in front of him.

"I have been waiting for this moment since I was 4. This will definitely be the greatest achievement of my life. I will fly. I definitely will fly. I will set a new record for humanity. Me, John, flying. I will succeed. Do you know why?" John said.

"No."

"Because ..." John took a deep breath after saying, and started moving forward. " ... because I believe I can fly!"

Right before John finished his sentence, he reached the edge and leaped into the air. John's last word echoed, and for that split second, Henry thought that he saw John soaring into the air and embracing the sky like a child running towards his long lost mother for the first time in years. Henry wasn't sure why, but that is definitely the image that he saw. Maybe it is a sudden rush of adrenaline in his body, or maybe time has entered its parallel counterpart for a split second and got stuck. Henry wasn't sure it's which. The only thing Henry was certain, as he believed, was that what he was seeing cannot be true.

Whether it was for the good or for the bad, Henry was right in his disbelief. After what seemed like a second or two of flight, John's physical body could not fight the charisma and elegance of Mother Nature and her gravity. No matter how hard John flapped his arm, or rather his wings, John accelerated towards the hard and forbidding ground. John's echo turned into a high pitch shriek, one that made Henry thought, for the first and last time of his life, that John was a female. John was falling. 

All these ended at an instant, and John's one sided fight with the invincible Mother Nature is soon over. He landed with a thud and started to moan in pain. Henry went over to the edge as soon as he realized that John has landed and, from his moans, is still alive. Henry's eyes met with the blood stained John, who lost the ego, the pride that he was previously carrying with him into the air. John was utterly defeated. Henry sighed, and said the following.

"I don't believe you can fly, but ... I believe you can try."

We are cannibals

American: Asians are evil.

Asian: Why?

American: Asian eat cats.

Asian: Huh? On what basis did you say that for?

American: I know they eat cats. I have seen that on movies.

Asian: Oh. But you know what? Americans eat cats too.

American: No we don't.

Asian: Yes you do.

American: What are your basis for saying that?

Asian: Do you eat fish? And beef?

American: Yea, we do. But whats that got to do with cat eating? We don't eat cats.

Asian: There you go, you've admitted it yourself. You eat "cattle" and "catfish".

American: Oh someone is trying to be a smart ass now, is he? You know what? Asians eat dogs too.

Asian: Not all Asian does that.

American: Oh yea? Many Asian cities are famous for their dog meat. Asians are evil.

Asian: Americans too.

American: No we don't. We don't eat dog meat.

Asian: What about hotdogs?

American: Are you trying to be funny? [Shows fist]

Asian: We are civilized, so lets not get physical.

American: Whatever. But you know what? Asians are cannibals. They eat humans!

Asian: True. I can't deny that.

American: Ha, so you agree that Asians are evil.

Asian: No. What I am trying to say is that we eat men because of you westerners.

American: What? What are you trying to say?

Asian: Who do you think invented "mentos"?

American: What???

[Asian sneaks away and ran off before American figures out what happened]

L4D Tips for Noobs

There are many Left 4 Dead players out there who keep saying that they don't care if someone is new as long as that person is cooperative. I have seen and heard this many many many times, and to be frank, I am pretty sick of it. Why? The reason is simple: saying that someone is ok even though he's new as long as he's cooperative is the same as saying that it is ok if I shoot you in the head as long as you don't die. Don't know what I mean? Of course, I meant it figuratively, but the thing is, most newbies don't cooperate, or at least they don't cooperate in our way. I know I am trying to write a little set of tips here, but I don't mean anything personal. They just don't know the game well enough to be that cooperative. So here I am, writing a few little tips for anyone who's interested.

      Communicate with others

Do some talking. The "y" button isn't there for nothing. I don't mean it by typing long sentences such as "Hey guys, there's a Molotov here. Who wants it?" A simple word like "go?" or "stop" or "wait" can be very effected in most occasions.Or simply use the "z" or "x" button voice commands. Get used to those voice commands such as "yes" "no" "let's go" and etc. They're useful, especially when they're normally translated into the other player's language on their own screen in the captions (more on this later). Of course, if you have hands free, go ahead and use your mic. But don't abuse it, because some people won't like it and you'll most likely get muted. So what happens if you've said or typed something but the message isn't getting across to the other players? Don't bother playing with them. Normal players won't ignore you.

     Have Captions on

Switch full captions on in the options menu (It's somewhere in the audio). It's simple, most of the times the audios will fail you, especially special infected/Tank voices. It's easier to detect them with captions. Another thing is that it will "literalize" the z and x voice commands, regardless of the vocal volume. Pretty useful in most times. But then what happens if the caption fails you? Good luck ...

     Keep in Pace

Keep up or slow down so that you are with your team at most times. Try not to run too far ahead of your team or lag behind in all occasions. The reason is simple: if you run into some kind of trouble, such as being restrained by special infecteds, or suddenly facing a large amount of hordes, you can have your teammates to help you. Keep in mind that you need another player's help if you want to free yourself from special infected.

     Keep your Health in Check

Before anything, make sure you understand how does a first aid kit works. When you use a first aid kit, your health points will change to the number in the follow equation: (80 + (hp before use / 5)). This means that your hp will be (80 + (80/5)) = 96 if you used a kit when you have 80 hp. Likewise, you will have (80 + (0/5)) = 80 hp when you use a kit with no hp (as in all your hp are temporary health points). Remembering that you will only get one first aid kit in each saferoom (unless you steal other's), it is better to heal when your health is lower than 20, or if you are near saferoom, just bare with it.
Apart from first aid kits, another healing item will be the pain pills. They give you up to 50 temporary health points, and these heal points will degenerate as time pass. They can help you to get past troubled times because it takes less than a second to consume a bottle of pills, and you can regain your speed right after that, but, again, remember to keep your health in check.
Two other health related items will be adrenaline and defibrillator. The adrenaline gives you only 25 temporary health points, but you will run faster, shoot faster, heal faster and use items faster when under adrenaline's effect (which lasts for something like 10 seconds). I personally prefer pain pills, but adrenaline is useful if you're on a spot which requires you to run at full speed. As for defibrillator, I won't recommend it because it takes up a first aid space and you can simply open closet doors to save your peers. But then and again, if you have nothing on your first aid slot, and you see a defibrillator lying around, just take it.

     Know Your Position

Every map is unique, and every map has their best defensive spots. It takes time to understand which spot is better for defending panic events in which map. I won't be going into detail about each and every map, but, considering that you don't know the map well, there are a few things you can keep in mind while defending zombies in a panic event.
One very basic concept in almost all zombie games is that, one fort is always better than two. It's always easier to fight with zombies coming from one side than zombies coming for two sides (front and back or left and right), or, worse still, zombies coming from all directions. The reason is simple, you can focus on your firing.
When you want to face zombies only from the front, one good way is to pin yourself up against a wall, or better still a wall corner. But that only solves half the problem, because there will be quite a large angle for zombies to come in (180 if you're up against the wall or 90 if u are up against a corner). Another good way to narrow down the inflow of zombies will be to make use of the doors. Most doors are the width of only one to two zombies and the zombies will have to squeeze in to get to you. It will be easier to kill the zombies, be it with a blade or a gun.
One other thing about zombie defending in panic event is to climb high. Scale high a bit, like on a table or a bookshelf. The reason is simple: it's easier to aim for their heads. Of course, it takes some extra time for them to reach you as well, as they might be climbing the table or shelf or whatever.
Of course, it is important to be familiar with the maps. You won't want to get lost that often, right?

     Know your sidearm.

The main weapon is important, and I won't touch on that. Some people like AK, some like military sniper, and some are better with auto shotguns. It's up for you to decide what you want to use. But the thing I want to talk about is side arm. There are two types of side arms: pistols and melee. For pistols, and for most new players, I will recommend the magnum, or desert eagle depending on what you want to call it. The reason being is that the desert eagle can kill a normal infected with one shot in most cases (except for police) and it has 8 bullets. Though with a slower firing speed, it has more kill per reload and kill per hit ratio when compared to glock or dual glock. For glock, you'll only be better off if you can get head shots for more than half of your shots, and it's very clear that most people can't. So just use a magnum and its a trustworthy side arm. As for melee weapons, I'll recommend those with blades, such as machete, Katana and (less preferably) fire axe. Machetes and katanas have the fastest swinging speed of all melee weapons. They can kill normal infecteds with one hit, of which this applies to the fire axe as well. Although they don't have push back capabilities, unlike other melee weapons, they are the only melee weapons which can kill zombies with just one hit at a wide angle. So what I'm trying to say is, if you can get a magnum, go for it. If not, grab one of those melee weapons with a blade.

     Reload!
Like all shooters, it is important to keep your ammunition count in check, especially side arm. Most people often forgets to reload their side arm when they are done using them for clearing off zombies in panic events.

     Special infected got your teammate? Shoot!

I have seen countless of people chasing another person who has been grabbed by a charger or jockey or smoker with a melee weapon (and that person being grabbed is usually me ...). Do you have any idea how much it hurts when some special infected grabs a survivor? The health points are ticking away like the clock and you're still chasing after the survivor, pushing away infecteds along the way. Come on, you have a gun, so shoot it!!!

These little tips should be enough for new players. I got all work up thinking about idiots chasing a jocky-mounted survivor with a baseball bat. Anyway, that's it, for now.

Why...?

Why do people still blog when there's facebook?

Hmm... good question. Maybe I'm just sick of typing hundreds or thousands of words here...

Ouch!

My throat has been hurting quite bad for these few days, and I though "hell, is the nuclear spreading THAT fast?"

... ok, so I've got a little ulcer at my throat, fine. What's next?

真的太久沒有進來這寫東西了

說起來 好像有好幾個月都沒有進來這裡寫什麽
真的好像把這裡給遺忘了
還記得以前每次有什麽心事 每次有什麽不愉快的
都會進來這裡來發洩 來出氣 來呻氣
沒有好好地把你個記住
抱歉 是我錯
而除了這抱歉 我真的什麽都講不出了
因爲 我懂我已經沒有什麽可以用來補救這一切

錯...
這次我也錯了嗎?
我懂我不應該抓得那麽緊
雖然是真的真在乎
也很怕 怕失去
可就是越怕 才會越容易失去
就是抓得越緊 才會越容易溜走
其實這我也明白吖
越是放得開 越會握得住
可是 懂歸懂 就是做不到
就是不能夠接受自己這一套
因爲我真的很怕 怕失去
怕到一種不能把這感覺埋沒的程度
就是放不開
是我錯了嗎?
如果不是我的錯 那又會是誰的錯呢...

我懂 我很好勝
每次都不認輸
每次都太認真
是好是壞 我不懂
可這次就是因爲這樣而泡湯了吧
我懂我不應該抓得那麽緊
我懂我不應該那麽問
我懂我應該懂得去讓 懂得去放開 懂得認輸
懂...
我 真的懂了...

相遇 肯定是偶然
無論發生什麽事
我都會尊重那個決定
也許那條路不是我應該走的
也許我該學會冷靜
雖然越冷靜 會越感到害怕
但 我也時候學會放開了
未來怎麽樣
就讓未來來決定吧
現在就冷靜一下
給自己一點點空間來呼吸吧