Yesterday there was an office email announcing that we have a celebration in the facility. It goes on to tell us where this celebration is and makes it sound like a grand event.

Then it concludes with “we would like to ask you to be mindful that we have guests in the facility and avoid these areas as you travel through the studio this evening.”

Mean.

I almost always feel bad in situations like this but they still annoy me a great deal regardless.

Today I was unicycling back. I did the model cyclist thing and pushed my uni across the traffic crossing. Then I moved to the side of the path before mounting and riding off.

As I got up my uni (the standard procedure is for my arm to be slightly away from my body so I can get my balance), my arm made contact with someone. So I apologized straight up. That’s the first thing that came to me. Say sorry. And this lady, she started by exclaiming “Ouch!” which is totally understandable. Pause. Then she continued with an “Oh my god, that bla bla bla” in this loud blaming voice.

So I told her off and informed her that she was the one who hit me first.  Which is true.

Because see, when you cycle or walk INTO someone, that person would have to be ahead of you. She walked into me. Or at least was dumb enough to walk so close to me I made contact with her. It really didn’t matter if I were on a unicycle or a motorbike or a tractor. She walked into my arm and yes, it hurt but it’s not my fault.

My point to this is that situations like this happen. Not frequently but every now and then, it happens and the cyclist (unicyclist) will be blamed simply because there are wheels under him/her. As both a pedestrian and a (uni)cyclist, I know that there are bastard-cyclists around who zip by and don’t watch where they are going. I have had bikes nearly crashing into my unicycle because the riders don’t like looking in front of them. But pedestrians should NOT automatically be in the right because they seem more vulnerable. It’s common to see pedestrians hogging the cycling paths because it’s shady while at the same time, complaining (whining) that cyclists are not using the cycling paths.  In today’s incident, if I were to be on my feet instead, the lady would probably be peeved at my hitting her but would likely stop at that. Any subsequent exchange of words between us would likely be greeted with an unbiased opinion by passerbys.

Not when you’re on a bicycle/unicycle.

The other day I found some cupcake wrappers (I don’t know what they’re called) and thought it’d be a great idea to bake cupcakes. I used this recipe with a bit of variation - more cocoa was added and I used a ganache top (or what faintly passes off as that) instead of the recommended chocolate rum cream cheese frosting.

It’s actually pretty decent. You can’t taste much of the rum and cola though (I think I overloaded on the cocoa) but the lime provided a pleasant contrast to the richness of the cocoa. You’d probably want to eat them fresh from the oven because after a day or two, the piece of lime needed a facelift.

This was sold at one of those health supplement shops around town. Not very surprisingly, it’s for men.

Now if I didn’t have such thick skin, this would actually count as being rather embarrassing.

I went to get my glasses adjusted yesterday because it was crooked. The guy at the shop, being rather inexperienced (understatement), told me that he couldn’t fix it because - get this - my eyes were crooked. I told him no, you just had to twist a ear of my spectacles higher up and it’d be fine. He adjusted the nose piece. 10 minutes later, it was worse than ever and seeing how it was going nowhere, I told him it’s fine and left.

Today I went back to the same shop hoping to see my usual optician. I scanned around for the same guy because I didn’t want him to be touching my specs. Nowhere in sight.

Good.

I thought I saw my optician at the back of the shop so I walked in. I turned to my left and there was that same guy from yesterday. We had eye contact. Time froze and I believe ‘Shit.’ escaped my lips before I could stop myself. I looked away and took two more steps hoping he’d leave me alone. No luck. He asked me what I wanted so I told him my glasses were crooked.

Sensing my reluctance in letting him do the job, he rather graciously referred me to the guy beside him who helped me along. He was as incompetent but got my glasses fixed after almost 15 minutes.

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Disclaimer: I know EXACTLY how to fix my spectacles because it’s not rocket science. All that was needed was to ensure that the lenses were parallel to my face, THEN work on the nose piece to get it to be perpendicular to my nose (which isn’t crooked by the way). I don’t want to do it myself because the last time I tried, I snapped my frame. 

I’d be the first to admit that costumed pets are a little unsettling.

Then I came across this: 

Maybe it’s just me but the notion of cats having a fully head of hair than say, Danny DeVito is VERY scary to me (the word describing animals having human-esque attributes escapes me at the moment). But hey, if that’s your thing, you now know where to go to satiate your fetish.

These things are in shops everywhere and are called ‘bicep bands’. Nike has a whole selection of them. Now I understand wristbands and headbands but bicep bands? What do they do?

The friend I was with tells me it’s like a cock ring and puffs up your biceps.

Uh yea. Anyone with a better punchline?

This is yet another fine example of how our nation doesn’t make sense - before entering uni, we had an option of either going through this scheme (which I had assumed was interest-free always because after all, it WAS your parents’ hard-earned cash that they were forced by the govt to deposit into this pension account) or borrowing money from a bank. The latter option had seemed ridiculous because the words ‘borrowing’ and ‘bank’ sound sullied and taboo when put in the same sentence. The terms for borrowing was that it’d be interest free for the 3 (or 4) years you’re in school for and you will only accumulate interest at the bank’s interest rate starting some months after your graduation.

Thankfully for me, I took some classes in logic and math during my (PAINFULLY PRICEY) university years so I can come to this conclusion, marked in bold to emphasize impact (another thing I learnt in report writing class)

IT IS MORE EXPENSIVE TO BORROW MONEY FROM MY PARENTS THAN FROM THE BANK.

 To be perfectly fair, education here is cheap. My degree cost roughly US$11k which is about how much a year’s education would cost in the west. But it’s unremarkable if you also consider the fact that starting pay for fresh grads here averages at about US$1.7k before taxes and deductions. Which means that a good proportion of fresh grads are taking home US$1.2k a month to spend on necessities in a country that’s the 14th priciest country in Asia to live in. And don’t believe in the bullshit employment surveys where local universities claim their students average a US$2.8k starting pay - the ONLY people I know who have starting pay like that are lawyers.

But hey, pricey or not, this is beside the point which is the issue of how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-pay-off-$16,964.10-in-debts-before-interest-kicks-in-again?

So I have a plan to save myself from the clutches of the evil CPF board (the statutory board that I owe my school fees to; the cold unfeeling pension system that will dole out OUR money to us Singaporeans ONLY when we’re old like what your parents do when you’re 10). Sort of.

It isn’t that bad, I assure myself. All I’d need is to find an extra $600 a month and I can pay off everything by October. Oh wait, November, since January is almost gone. $600 isn’t THAT much right? Right?

Precisely.

I’d just need 30,000 people to click on an ad on the side every month. Or sell half a kidney every 2 months or so - I heard they’d grow back and you’d be good as new. Or work full time every night at McDonald’s.

It’d work out.

Today I see why people are so poor from school loans.

First, you get the assurance that you can use money from your parents’ retirement accounts and pay them bit by bit in installments after graduation. This account, mind you, is not one of those bank accounts that your parents can merely withdraw money from as and when they like but rather one that ’saves’ up money for you right until you’re too old to have use for the dough anyway (except for dentures, hip implants, etc).

So the system has you repay money starting from a year after graduation. Makes total sense. I started my payments last year at a rate of just under $300 a month. Today I got my first ever bank statement - I apparently am still $16,964.10 in debt. But hey wait a minute, wasn’t my school fees roughly just under $6,000 a year to begin with (I had 3 years in uni).  Math wasn’t my major but doesn’t that mean I’ve paid barely $1,000 so far?

My eyes scrolled up the page and

INTEREST FOR THE YEAR 2007 ………….. $446.91

TOTAL PAYMENT FOR THE YEAR……….. $1,692

Please correct me if I’m wrong and misguided but HOW THE FUCK CAN I EVER REPAY MY DEBTS IF 25% OF MY REPAYMENT GOES INTO INTEREST?????

In a strange twist of deja vu, my standard of writing has been commented on four times in the past 2 days in separate conversations (critique ranges from pretty decent to very well).  Someone had also mentioned that 18-year-olds can’t write and I had agreed. I thought it’d be interesting to repost one of my earlier paid articles here (complete with grammar errors). It’s a review of Brute Force (game really doesn’t matter) and I was barely 19. There were a few from earlier on when I was 18 but at that time, there was a word limit to adhere to (1,200) which I had - and still do - maintained is a rotten idea for game reviews. It wouldn’t be fair to bore you with that much text.

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Mars Attacks

Waiting for Halo 2? You might want to try out Brute Force in the meantime.

Sometime in the future, cloning technology has ensured the longevity of an elite team of soldiers, the Confederation’s only defence against evil alien invaders. The game allows you to simultaneously manage all 4 teammates by pressing appropriate buttons and ordering them to perform tasks like firing at will or covering your tracks. You will however, have to take control of a character and lead the rest of your team from point A to point B while slaying all that stands in the way according to the level objectives.

Up to four can play but when there are fewer players, each will have the choice to switch characters as and when he or she wants to.  If team-based play isn’t for you, there’re always the Deathmatch options where you get to duke it up with, again, up to four friends.

 Forces of Nature

Although the level design is rather repetitive, the impressive AI more than makes up for it. Enemies will try as best as they can to avoid gunfire and are likely to leave their hiding place only when you’re within shooting range or are in a more vulnerable position. The easy-to-master controls means you won’t lose battles because you’re busy finding the right button for a certain function, something which can be terribly frustrating especially coupled with competent enemies.

The camera system is very well done and doesn’t get stuck at the oddest of places like what those in some third-person shooters are apt to do. Graphics are never a problem and despite having rather limited character models, the enemies are detailed and having smooth texture models. 

Environmental effects and explosions made by the wide array of weaponry (from unique guns like the feral cutter to gas and energy grenades to missiles and laser weapons) are nicely done. It is commendable that the game moves at a steady framerate and seldom stalls despite the intensity of the onscreen action. 

Sounds Great Doesn’t It?

The voice acting in the game together with the game’s instrumental soundtrack makes the game sound like one of those really cool sci-fi cartoons. The lighthearted conversation between the characters reinforces that image. The realistic and intimidating noises of the weapons is also a highlight of the audio department. 

Overall, Brute Force is an enjoyable game that doesn’t try too hard at overtaking the big boys out there. It is a good game on its own merits and if you need something to pass your time with, try this out.

This puts all my past week’s laptop woes in perspective.

I’m using an R40 by the way.

*edit* THIS IS NOT MY BED. The text at the top links to someone else’s blog. The bed belongs to the guy. Sheeesh.

It started with a single virus. It didn’t do anything other than to slow down my system, presumably to leach off my connection to spam a few hundred unknowing people with random emails. I could still surf the net and all although this slowed to a crawl at some points.

But I could still use my computer.

Some day last week, the sight of having the entity - Fun.exe - appear on my task manager despite not having triggered it, annoyed me a great deal. Sure, it was relatively harmless but knowing that my hard drive was ‘unclean’ and potentially stocking up on useless files (my hard drive was almost full) nagged at me. So I downloaded an anti-virus program that gets rid of it. It was called AV SystemCare or something like that.

Virus got wiped, hooray.

Then I realised that my hard drive was still bursting and having the anti-virus logo on my system tray was a little annoying. I uninstalled the program.

Bad move.

Apparently, as I later read more on forums, that particular program screws up your system by implanting well, a virus. The one I described earlier on was more a worm than a virus when compared to this one. This… thing froze my system at intervals before freezing it permanently, lets loose a flurry of illegal operation or memory error messages and populated both my main drive and My Documents with useless tmp files that seem to refer to very specific areas of the hard disk’s memory so you can’t delete them.

I had clicked on ‘Ok’ in a vain attempt to get rid of the illegal operation windows before realizing that it was unlikely that official Windows error messages would have such blatant bad grammar. Turns out some of those messages were virus-controlled too. I went to download a bunch of ‘fixes’ but none of them worked. Some quick research showed that the virus disables installation of quite a few popular anti-virus software. The fix I got worked partially - some of the tmp files got removed but all other symptoms remained. And no, restarting in Safe mode doesn’t disable the bug.

3 days of frustration later, I formatted my computer.

And now, I’m on day 2 of sitting here trying to get my wireless adapter to work. I’m using a ThinkPad and apparently, Lenovo’s not very up-to-date with its software since the takeover. Some of the updates I’ve tried getting can’t be installed without Windows SP2 which is taking AGES to download. It’s a very in-your-face reminder of why I tried so hard not to have to reformat my computer to begin with.

Big reason why I should get a Mac next.

My friend Aw laments my lack of MSN - now he can’t whine about how his friends are getting married. I asked him to marry me.

He didn’t talk to me anymore

p.s: I think he’s playing hard to get. 

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I found out another two of my friends are getting married soon - to each other. Not really a surprise but I thought it was funny considering the above anecdote.

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I thought this was really funny:

Friend: Open your present. It’s a board game.*

Me: Is it Risque?

*can’t remember exact statement but it’s along those lines 

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I need to buy a new computer because my laptop is taking too long to start up and it freezes up too often and I can’t use MSN at all when I’m home. The latter is probably fine because I actually intend to read more instead. That’s a good thing because we all know how illiterate I am.

I’m inclined to get a 20″ iMac. The one that’s 2.4 GHz with 320GB of hard disk space. But that’d put me clean off PC games for the next 4-5 years. Which actually doesn’t seem like such a big deal because I’m more of a console person anyway (I need a new TV too but I digress). The only reason why I’d prefer a PC might be so that I can FINALLY get to playing the mint and wrapped PC games I have in my cupboards for the longest time. Then again, it’s not like I’ve all the time in the world (I want to be a bum. That’s another story too).

So an iMac would make sense. I’ll get it for about SGD$2.2k which is about 2.2 times of what a PC set up would cost, minus an LCD monitor but I guess that’s not that unaffordable - it’s cheaper than a new laptop. It’d be used for mainly word processing and surfing the net although I’d want to use it for graphics and video editing work too. Not that I do any of those but I’m just saying. And since I’m going to have a kickass visuals rig, I’d want a DSLR camera too.

I’m increasingly tempted to get a DSLR camera. I’m not keen on spending a fortune on it but I’m fine with something in the region of slightly below $1k (that’s a realistic cost for the lower end ones, right?) but it would be more logical to get a 2nd hand kit from someone who wants to upgrade to a newer model. After all, photo enthusiasts don’t and won’t treat their cameras too badly so even 2nd hand ones ought to be reasonably good.

Anyone wants to recommend a camera to me? I might get one in half a year…

Remember the recent craze on those ‘I’m not a plastic bag’ tote bags that people were clamouring to buy and imitations (that cost as much as the originals no less) became commonplace?  These ones are even better:

Picture taken from here

Created by this Japanese label Porter (which has lots of rather minimalistic clean-looking bags; very Japanese), this is one bag that won’t look out of place in well, the supermarket.

Why settle for mere paper bags that you can get off the counter with your grocery purchase when you can spend approx US$100 buying a fake grocery bag stitched from real fabric with that little Porter brand stuck on it so people in the know can tell that you’re brand-conscious?

Get yours here