...

Cambodia

2011-07-20T18:09:00.001+08:00

I am grateful for what i have.

sleeeep

2011-06-26T16:27:00.001+08:00

first time 自然醒 in many many months :)

first 11-hr sleep in this half of the year! sleeping has once again regained it's position as my number one favourite hobby. but my back is now stiff and aching.. signs of ageing

ROAR

2011-06-25T09:03:00.000+08:00

I don't know what all these rituals stand for but would appreciate some advance notice if it were to involve my mother and the rest of us.

The older generation in my family have no sense for planning. we're not kids anymore, we can't just skip a day of lessons. it's a whole day of responsibilities.

i'm on leave!

2011-05-11T22:57:00.000+08:00

but why do I have to think of excuses for not going back to work..
this is not how it should be :(

it's not easy to be me

2011-03-28T20:09:00.000+08:00

it's not easy for me too

refusing to sleep

2011-02-28T23:56:00.000+08:00

cos it'll be Monday again

emo nemo

2011-02-21T08:49:00.000+08:00

jack of all trades but master of none.. the best description of me.
all i do is screw things up. I suck.

well, at least I'm alive

so near yet so far

2011-02-21T08:15:00.000+08:00

is it me, or is it the evil?
I think it's me.. sighhh

:)

2011-02-12T10:30:00.002+08:00

one month into peak. tough..

the other day when we were having a discussion on the number of kids to have, wanyong asked how many we would want to have. I very excitedly said 4 and told them my logic of having a perfect gorgor jiejie didi meimei in the family. Yuwei, as usual, said in his very slack mode "up to you la, not I give birth wat". and instead of giving this face -_-" like mine, wanyong said "well said" for respecting the woman going thru the pregnancy.

(whether he meant well or not) I shld be more appreciative of the things going thru his mind, even when they come out of his mouth in that bo chup tone of his..

2011-01-08T23:13:00.001+08:00

Sorry for my obsession over efficiency
but I wish you were more mature

2010-11-21T17:33:00.001+08:00

Peak is coming!!!

2010-09-26T10:13:00.001+08:00

Thank you friends, for maintaining the interest in my life...

2010-08-02T20:44:00.000+08:00

I stopped, I think...
when will I start again?

Back on popular demand...

2010-07-07T22:02:00.006+08:00

Due to popular demand for my blog entries (refer to my 99% spam-filled tagboard), I'm going to write about the holiday!

It was a relaxing and well-paced trip. We enjoyed ourselves. AND experienced how it was like to be stranded in a small town cos we missed the train and there were not much english-speaking souls at the train station. all these for a demi-bottle of red wine =\ but the wine was really good! Would very much like to visit Europe again. It's a different feel and experience each time.

For the best photo of the trip, it would unquestionably be... ... ...

My eyes are glued...

2010-05-02T21:34:00.001+08:00

to the free HBO channels these few days. I'm so gonna get the channels when i become a taitai...

Small things made me happy today.

2010-03-18T22:51:00.005+08:00

Getting a tea break a 4pm (instead of skipping breakfast and lunch to meet deadlines, and have dinner at 9pm when my stomach finally cannot take it)

Getting off work at 730pm (instead of my past 2 months' average of 3am)

Getting a lift home from daddy smelling the exhaust fumes from the highway cos his aircon broke down (instead of squeezing in the train with my one-hundred-kilos laptop bag smelling heads of fluffy hair)

We should all be more appreciative of things in life. Instead of whining about how tired i am from the late nights, i'm glad that i'm healthy enough to withstand the workload. Instead of complaining about how many emails that comes "FYA", i'm glad that the people trust me with the work. Life is beautiful, and i especially like the view of the evening sky on the highway today. i'm grateful for being alive.

Stress is...

2010-01-10T23:11:00.001+08:00

when you cant fall asleep even when you're super duper tired cos your brain automatically runs through the things you have to do the next day for fear of missing them out.

Avatar

2009-12-24T00:53:00.005+08:00

I cant help but emphatise with the 'sky people' even when they are the bad guys, cos I belong to the same race afterall. I didnt know who to side with when they were at war. I just wanted them to stop fighting and stop hurting each other.

Me (enthusiastically): Maybe they should show this to the terrorists and then maybe they will stop fighting?
Yuwei (flatly): Yups. (Obviously replying me for the sake of replying cos his head din even turn and there wasnt even a slight pause to digest wat I said.)

Okay, I'm being childish. It doesnt work this way. But anyway, less the goggles slipping off my nose every other second, great show.

2009-12-17T22:28:00.001+08:00

It's finally better now. A big sigh of relieve..
And i'm glad that there are such things as friends. It certainly proved useful this time.

2009-12-08T09:51:00.000+08:00

I think I just screwed up my life.
emo MAX.

Double sadness

2009-12-07T23:35:00.002+08:00

Agents are agents afterall. Period.

2009-11-21T01:34:00.000+08:00

You will never know how painful it is until you've been through it.

5 months

2009-11-01T21:51:00.003+08:00

Today, we found out that mum gave up hope even before she was admitted to the hospital. She made a note in her bedside notebook reminding herself to sort out her photos for funeral.

She was unwell for about a month at home and was getting forgetful. It was also getting harder for her to keep her balance, but she didnt mention how bad it felt. I was very angry, that she didnt think her family could share the burden. But then again, if it was me, I would do the same..

Ribena!

2009-10-07T00:18:00.003+08:00

After 10 minutes of my whining on Ribena cravings, resourceful daddy made the drink using the flower (or fruit) of the wierd-looking plant that he waters conscientiously everyday. And it really tastes like Ribena! Now that it's been 2 hours, and we're still very much alive, i declare that it's safe to drink!

New msn no difference from old one wat...

2009-09-30T23:15:00.000+08:00

I can only clench my fist...

2009-09-22T00:39:00.000+08:00

家家有本难念的经

I think...

2009-09-16T00:15:00.011+08:00

... it's a blessing to be able to confide in others. It's so much easier to just ramble on and on, then to embrace the advices given; or to remain stubborn and continue grumbling. It takes the burden off! But, being a traditional asian chinese, I am embarassed to share my problems. To me, I'm inflicting my pain upon you and you'll have to go through the trouble of pacifying me. Sometimes I feel that if you probe further, I might tell. But I guess I drew my line too deep inside that you tend to give up before crossing it. Even when I very much love to listen when others share their troubles, I still find it difficult to speak up. I truly understand how it feels for people who keep to themselves. We're not being selfish nor trying to "mislead others into thinking that everything is peachy and rosy". It's just easier to say "I'm fine". For me, it helps by appearing to be outgoing and taking charge of conversations because that wouldnt give others a chance to ask about me. So deep down inside, I'm a true blue introvert haha.. (though Hang will definitely disagree with my definition of an introvert)

... it's a blessing to be a confidant too. I'm not good at it. I'm so impatient that I either second-guess their thoughts or finish up their sentences for them (which I suppose can be quite irritating). And being insensitive doesnt help at all as I'm normally clueless after listening to the stories, picking up none of the issues hinted at. Okay I admit that sometimes I feel that their problems are not even problems to begin with (like being fat or having squabbles or hating jobs) because when compared to matters of life and death (even more so when i've just been through one recently), these are what I would label as immaterial (suggest to leave). By penning these thoughts, I risk losing the only few friends that are willing to confide in me. But not to worry, even fewer would be paying this blog a visit (probably only ms lim and ms chan, and sometimes ms seah, and maybe ms siew). To the few friends, I enjoy being and would love to continue being your confidant. It shows that my views matter and you feel your secret is safe with me. I will try to offer my very best advice; if not, just a listening ear!

Note that this entry was inspired by ms seah's post (which she copied from a newspaper article and successfully tricked me into thinking that she was indeed that cheem to write such a beautiful essay).

you have no idea

2009-09-15T12:20:00.002+08:00

When I say there are MANY roaches, you dont wanna imagine how MANY my many is... trust me, you dont wanna know

One step closer

2009-09-06T20:45:00.007+08:00

Yes! Third class today! Slightly hectic with the sudden rush of children into the studio at 2pm and the pile of cash and cheques thrown behind the counter (okay, exaggerating abit here).

When will the day come that Legato be able to hire me? and pay out profits? and have our own space?

Meanwhile, my desktop is filled with Yuwei's resumes and cover letters.

2009-08-31T14:52:00.002+08:00

I love the afternoon breeze at home. There's a "home-cooked food" fragrance in the air. Not from my kitchen, of cos haha.

On toil and at work at the same time.

Updates

2009-08-01T23:06:00.010+08:00

First MYC Thomson class last evening! We have alot more to learn and improve on, so ganbatte!!

After a good long 5 months, Yuwei's back! I'm glad he didnt abandon me for a 中国妹 muhahhahah (okay i know i know i'm like 90% a 中国妹 and it would be the same for him and bla bla bla).

L&E for work next week, should be rather free. Please jio for lunch!

Lastly, try not to ask me if i'm okay or not. I know you're just concerned but because no matter what, my reply will be "i'm fine, thank you"; it kindof serves no purpose. Thank you for the concern, really. It takes time, and i'll be fine soon. oh and i'm fine if you wanna talk bout it so dun be afraid to ask if you want to know more.

Bejeweled is addictive.

古人真厉害

2009-07-24T21:21:00.003+08:00

It reallie takes 49 days. then I guess it's gonna take 3 years more

A picture speaks a thousand words (part II)

2009-06-11T19:34:00.003+08:00

2009-06-03T14:30:00.009+08:00

According to old chinese sayings, cremated bones will have shades of pink, green or blue when a person's done many good deeds in her life. Then again, I read that if bones was exposed to copper during cremation, the bones turn pink too. It's probably due to the bags we placed in hahah.

Either way, she was undeniably a good person, be it wife, sister, 阿姨/姑姑/舅妈/婶婶, teacher, or friend. And to us, the best mother ever.

I will get use to speaking to pictures. I will get use to burning things.

2009-05-26T21:18:00.000+08:00

Please pray for her...

It's not well

2009-05-09T23:43:00.003+08:00

It's still the same... and I thought the situation got better...
I know she's referring to me, but i refuse to surrender my dignity... or rather, i was saving my "face".
It sucks. This is so not cool..
I suck. Time to change for the better.

A picture speaks a thousand words

2009-05-04T23:51:00.001+08:00

Lousy doctor

2009-03-31T12:11:00.012+08:00

I had a bad flu since last week and so I finally decided to see a doctor last night. I left work early at 830pm (yes this is considered early) and reached the clinic near my place at 910pm. The receptionist insist that she cannot take in any more patients as the doctor was suppose to leave at 9 SHARP and they do not pay the doctor for overtime. You would imagine that she was explaining to me kindly, but NO, she was shouting at me over the counter while packing her stuff. Totally opposite of how you would treat a customer, especially when it's a sick person. I believe I appeared sick enough, with my sneezing and sniffing, to show that I needed immediate consultation and medication. And I only needed the medicine for a common flu (ermm, and mc of cos) so it's gonna be fast. Plus I just got off from work, how to reach anytime earlier?
And so after 3 minutes of my 死缠烂打, she finally grabbed my parkway health card and punched in the codes, mumbling (out loud) how she should not accept anymore patients. She found my records and chucked it through the window to the doctor. And I thought yes, I did it! But NOOooo, the evil doctor pushed my card back out and said he DO NOT WANT TO SEE ANYMORE PATIENTS! WTH! And this got the receptionist rambling (a.k.a. shouting) on and on again on how they close at 9 and I should have went earlier and they do not pay these doctors OT so they shouldnt make him stay and bla bla bla.. Lousy part-time doctor! Must be one of those who just graduated, running extra shifts at clinics to increase their miserable pay at the hospitals. What if I was dying? What if my flu worsen at night, developing to pneumonia? And you, lousy doctor, rather I sneeze and cough throughout the night than to leave 5 minutes later because you were not getting any OT? I was really pissed and was SO ready to complain once I get an email address.
After visiting the clinic again this morning, I couldnt find any email address or namecards in the clinic =\ I wasnt sure if the doctor was the one last night, so I didnt dare to open my mouth as that would risk my mc (other than when he had to check my throat). And I couldnt find any Greenlife Clinic & Surgery group email online either. So here I am, writing it down on my miserable blog which nobody would read. I truly believe in WOM (word-of-mouth) so if you do read this, please help to spread the message: IF YOU ARE A DOCTOR, PLEASE HAVE SOME 医德.

2009-03-29T00:31:00.007+08:00

Marley & Me, License to Wed, and Bride Wars.. Been watching too many wedding and family shows recently. Makes me feel like getting married, starting a family, have kids, and a dog too (inspiration from Marley & Me)! I wanna be a young, cool and hips mum. And I dun wanna be working; I love to slack. Then I can go for my yoga lessons, walk the dog, yum cha, play mj, do some reading (always a "hobby" on my resume that is never really performed consistently), pick up the kids at school, go shopping, do facial, and play Wii..

I know I know, I'll dream on..

Counting down 69 days to my holiday! =)

2009-02-26T00:37:00.005+08:00

Today i left work early. Not only were there sunlight, there was rainbow! Two, in fact! A very faint one parallel to this one which my 3.2-megapixel Carl Zeiss failed to capture . The cab uncle offered to stop by the side for us to take pictures. We said no need and later on he was secretly juggling between the steering wheel and his handphone. So funny!

Yay, rainbow! Tomorrow must be a good day (since there's not much of today left).

I am looking forward to June. =)

2009-02-19T21:44:00.001+08:00

In a crisis born of greed and recklessness, pity is in short supply.

Booo~

2009-02-07T23:30:00.004+08:00

My thousand AU is leaving for Shanghai in 2 days' time and wont be back for half a year.. Dear friends, do include me for all kinds of outing, i'm going to be so free.. (Err that's if I have no work on hand)

Ahhh~~ I wanna be tai tai..

My Retirement Celebration

2009-02-04T21:53:00.000+08:00

2009-01-13T23:15:00.006+08:00

If you happen to be at Robinson Road junction on the Capitol Tower end, look for the green roadsign that says "Robinson Road". Unlike the other roadsigns around Singapore, it's rounded on one side, but straight on the other! (The other roadsigns are all rectangles with rounded sides.) Hmmm, wonder what happened to the straight end. How observant of me to notice so. =) (edit: I realise it jus means Robinson Road ends here =\)

Bangkok was fun. Didnt get to shop much, but had fun hanging around with friends (or colleagues). No pictures, cos i'm lazy (sorry Ms Siew hahah).

This current job is killing me. Typical client-not-ready-yet-tight-reporting-deadline situation. No motivation from team as well cos they're all quitting soon. I reallie hate this job, and i know i did a bad job, i'm so not raising an appraisal hahha.. The only plus point is that the seniors are chio and nice =) Wonder how the normally buzzling financial district will look like on weekends. See you if you're working on Saturday too!

我的第一次

2008-12-08T22:05:00.013+08:00

Okay, less the one time long long ago that my cousins and I anyhow whack, this can be considered my first time playing squash... Me, yuwei, wanyu, and wanyu's new scandal. (oooo guess who guess who? But blame wanyu for the lousy picture quality.)

Two tallies.

One tall one short.

Still one tall one short. Oh but i look kindof taller here =)

My socks!

Yayyyyy

2008-11-18T21:46:00.003+08:00

My thousand AU's joining the slave camp in Raffles Place for winter internship. Yays~ Not to forget Miss Siew too. Welcome to the club, both!!! Though wanyu just reminded me that I wouldnt be in office very much during the period =\

Well, still good enough news to keep me happy for the whole week =)))

4 Deserts Race

2008-11-05T23:20:00.004+08:00

Known as the 4 Deserts Race, the event takes in the salt plains of the Atacama in Chile, the riverbeds and hills of the Gobi in China, the undulating dunes of the Sahara in Egypt and the icy flats of Antarctica. Participants can tackle all the deserts or just one if they choose. And while organizers provide water and lay on tents and bathing facilities each night, everyone is expected to carry their own food and other essential gear.

People from all walks of life compete. Some just want to cross the finish line, others want to win; the time difference between the front runners and the back of the field can be in excess of 50 hours by each race's end. The number of competitors on each leg of the 4 Deserts Race is strictly limited (up to 180 on the Gobi March, but capped at just 80 for the Atacama) so early registration is essential. While your fitness levels dont have to be tip-top (you can stroll the entire legth of the course if you wish), you had better have deep pockets. Each leg in 2009 will cost you about USD3,100 to enter.

http://www.4deserts.com

Hmmm...

2008-11-02T19:17:00.005+08:00

Addressing an HP management-training session, computer pioneer DAVE PACKARD says:

"Many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company's existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being... People get together and exists as... a company so that they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately - they make a contribution to society."

Have you seen my new posters?

2008-10-06T19:13:00.002+08:00

MYC Dhoby Ghaut Open House

2008-09-18T21:54:00.007+08:00

Music for Young Children (MYC) - Dhoby Ghaut Open House on Sunday (21/09/08)!http://www.mycsingapore.com.sg/

Mamma Mia - The Movie

2008-09-18T00:59:00.006+08:00

If you've seen the stage musical (which I haven't), this is probably just another chance to experience it without having to pay the much-higher stage musical admission price. And perhaps if you are a big ABBA fan, then hearing wall-to-wall tunes by the Swedish uber-band will elevate your 108-minute viewing experience. I'm not sure, though, what else there is to offer the rest of us.

Mamma Mia is not a bad movie. It's just not that good either. Still, despite the mostly-less-than-average singing, the lack of symmetry or story arc, and the impossibly sun-splashed sense of glee that permeates the film, it has the weird power to alter moods. It doesn't matter how you start off when you sit in your seat. By the time you leave, you get the sensation that you're totally at ease, swinging barefoot on a hammock, and listening to the sound of ocean waves in the near distance. Mamma Mia isn't so much a musical as it is therapy for the curmudgeon in need of a smile.

The film benefits from a cheery performance by Meryl Streep, who plays single-mom Donna Sheridan, owner of a gorgeous little hotel on an out-of-the-way Greek island. Her work is hard, the surroundings are crumbling, and her mortgage is crippling. Her equally cheery 20-year-old daughter, Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, is about to get married but doesn't know who her father is. After reading through her mom's diary, she surmises that there may be three possibilities - Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), Sam (Peirce Brosnan), or Harry (Colin Firth). She invites them all to her wedding, hoping that her intuition will tell her who it is when they meet. But singling out her Dad is much harder than she had imagined.

The worst thing from the entire show was Pierce Brosnan's voice. Sorry, 007. He can ably hold a gun, but he has no ability to forcefully carry a tune. But the absurdly beautiful setting of the movie did truly amazed me. Consider it a super-showy travelogue - vibrant colors, breathtaking views, and the weather is always sunny.

2008-08-27T21:37:00.004+08:00

"Is that Grandpa?" a four-year-old wondered.

"No, honey," her mother told her. "He's not here anymore. That's just his body."

She worked at this, how the arms that held her and the lap she sat in were no longer him.

"You know how when we go to Florida, we leave our winter coats at home because we won't need them there? Well, he just left this behind because he doesn't need it anymore." And this appeared to make perfect sense to her, and she went to play, full of love and certainty.

Quarter Life Crisis

2008-08-12T21:47:00.001+08:00

Yes, i think i'm having a quarter-life crisis.

Information

2008-07-16T00:07:00.014+08:00

Nearest MRT: Yio Chu Kang MRT Station

For drivers: You can either park at Grassroot Club ($3/entry) or at NYP Carpark A (free parking but have to walk over)

We are expecting around 100 guests, including Jill's secondary, JC, university, work friends and relatives. The best present to bring along would be yourself!

Please R.S.V.P. with Jill at 98288204 or gohjill@yahoo.com by 21Jul'08!

Pictures from Europe

2008-06-24T00:56:00.005+08:00

I promise to upload more Europe pictures soon (I hope). I'm still in the process of collating them. Meanwhile, please refer to yuqin's. hahahah. At least she started on the Doha ones le.

Sorry for making use of you friend, but that's what friends are for right. heh heh

Home!

2008-06-14T16:22:00.013+08:00

Back from the long breakaway. Sightseeing, photo-taking, eating, map-reading, walking (ohh LOTsa walking), shopping, and now jet-lagging.. Waking up at what was 4am for the past 5 weeks aint easy.

Long Beach, Nice

Lessons learnt:
#1: Never trust people when they say "everywhere in this city is walkable".
Of course it's walkable, it's just HOW LONG you can take to walk. Actually, they ARE walkable la, but never underestimate the distance you will need to cover.

#2: German trains are never late.
Yes we happily sat at the platform and watch the short train leave at the other end, thinking that our train was late. Thankfully there was another one an hour later.

#3: Always leave enough time to get to the train station.
- Ran to the train station with our backpacks and many other chapalang bags
- Checked out which platform to board (and if the train has left)
- Hopped on to the nearest cabin door
- *pants*
and the train starts to move.

#4: Never plan shopping days to be on a Sunday.
We were lucky enough to not had any shopping days clashing with Sundays till the last Sunday of the entire trip. We SO wanted to shop-till-we-drop in Nice and even woke up early that day. Finally accepting the truth that the shops are not going to open up, we went to the beach to tan instead, with Ms Lim under her umbrella. Even the ah-mahs were staring at her (they must be thinking "stupid chinese" again).

#5: When they tell you "beware of pickpockets", you better beware of pickpockets.
Especially so in Italy.

The psp is in Bintan and so no new games for me. TV's not as interesting now. I'm gonna (attempt to) upgrade my brain and read business magazines =) oh and i'm including exercising as part of my daily life now. Time to pick it up again. I can't believe how lazy i was to clock a record of not-jogging-for-3-years (excluding the one time that i ran, gave up after the distance of 2 bus stops, and walked back). "I-need-to-study"'s an excuse, friends! Let's get some tan too!

Surf's Up

2008-05-03T01:50:00.005+08:00

Yet another game made out of a movie, Surf's Up is a racing game in which all of the participants are penguins riding atop surfboards. In the game, you complete laps around courses situated on ocean or river environments. You get to perform a variety of tricks in the air by pressing the correct sequence of buttons when projected upwards on certain obstacles or ramps. There are also weapon boxes scattered around the track, although you don't have much control over the tricks. The attractive 3D graphics generally put the system's horsepower to good use. The frame rate also remains smooth, even when waves are crashing down and the characters are performing somersaults in midair. Characters bounce around constantly as their boogie boards pass over waves. That, combined with the splashy landings, gives Surf's Up the same sort of look and feel as Wave Race or Jet Moto. The sound effects mainly consist of generic splashing noises and brief repetitive character comments. If you don't like the soundtracks that come with the game, you have the option of making a playlist using your own MP3 files by placing them into the game's folder on the memory stick.

Races are still loads of fun despite not being able to control your character's acrobatics. The real question is how much play time you'll actually get out of the game before you're done with it. The single-player championship mode consists of five meets that contain four courses each, for a grand total of 20 races. A three-lap race typically takes roughly five minutes to finish, which means you'll only need about two hours to finish all 20 courses and earn the championship. Going through the championship unlocks courses for use in the free surf mode, as well as additional characters that you can use in all play modes. The free surf mode is nothing special as it simply contains one-off races, time attacks, and survival races using the standard courses. The multiplayer mode offers different options depending on whether or not your friends have their own copies of the game. As many as eight people can compete in races and in Mario Kart-style arena matches if everyone has a copy. However, if there's only a single copy to go around, you'll be limited to two players and have half as many locations from which to choose. The multiplayer isn't compelling enough to compensate for the sparse single-player offerings, but if you can find some people to play with, you will definitely get a few extra hours out of the game.

Overall, the game doesn't offer much in the way of content. If you're a great fan of the movie, you'll appreciate the way the characters are portrayed and enjoy speeding through races with them. Just don't expect to get more than an afternoon or two out of the game before you're finished with it.

Yuwei's gonna be in Bintan for a 3mth internship! So excited for him, even though it's only a 40min ferry ride away. It's still considered an "overseas internship" k. Anyway we just read about Xiaxue's entry on her bad experience at Angsana Resorts Bintan. We dont really read her blog all the time (yes, i refuse to contribute to her ads dollars) but because of the internship, yuwei better read up on any news about the resort. It was really bad publicity for the resort but some stuff wasnt really their fault (like when the tar on the beaches stained her clothes, it was a common beach and they cant stop the tar from coming onto the beach rite..) From the way they reply her, they probably dont care about her swearing them upside-down haha. I'll still visit Bintan anyway, to visit Yuwei =)

By the way, 5th May is a Monday, not Tuesday. 60hrs before the flight, I just realised that I'm leaving on a different day that I've always thought so. It's on 5th May 320am!! It changes alot. (1) I cant talk to Jiakai online anymore because by the time she reach home, we'll already be on the plane. So she better access internet somehow and reply my how-to-get-to-ur-place-in-paris mail. (2) I cant collect our train reservation from STA on Monday because we're already on the flight (again). Luckily uncle's there to help. Thanks uncle Gary! It's gonna be his 5th trip to STA, opsy! (3) We're taking the same flight as Kah Yong! Yay more in-flight entertainment! haha (4) I only have half a day to pack my stuff after sending yuwei to the jetty on Sunday. Yes I wanted to start packing only on Monday but it seems impossible now. I better start tomorrow. (5) I need to reschedule things I plan to do Sunday and Monday all on Sunday! (picking up walkie talkie from Jingwan, buy snacks/sweets/biscuits, remove my half gone nail polish from my toes, settle credit card bills etc.) *Panicks*

Flower Stand Tycoon

2008-05-01T12:38:00.006+08:00

Flower Stand Tycoon is about a chic urban floral business with some hefty profits to be made. In the game, your Uncle Pott's has a dream of nurturing a great florist business. Fortunately for you, however, Uncle Pott's is more of a bioengineer than a businessman, and would rather spend his time inventing new flower cross-breeds than being a salesman. He hands you his van, $700, and an old flower cart to start, and you're sent out to make your fortune as a budding Flower Stand tycoon.

To start, you'll need to stock your cart with inventory. Inventory includes both flowers and merchandise. The variety of flowers you can sell will increase with further research. Merchandise (like balloons, teddy bears, and wind chimes) is earned as you reach certain objectives, such as taking over competitors territories. Until you've bought the refrigerator upgrade, your daily supplies can not be carried over the next day, so select carefully. While restocking, you can also adjust your prices to meet with customer demand.

Once you've gotten your cart stocked, you are ready to select a target neighbourhood. Your flower stand is mobile, and can travel to a different neighbourhoods each day. You may purchase more carts later on in the game, allowing you to visit different neighbourhoods at the same time. The features of each neighbourhood and its customer base are unique, so you'll find differences in the amount population and customers' favourite flowers. After selling flowers in a neighbourhood, demand will go down temporarily. It may take several days for demand to replenish, which is why its a good idea to visit different neighbourhoods each turn.

As the day is being played, you can observe your carts on display monitors. The customer's reactions give you vital feedback on your business strategy. Satisfied customers are market with a happy face. Disgruntled customers may be upset over high prices, long wait times, or lack of flower variety. At the end of each day, you will get news article hinting at things that affect the following day's sales. As you'd expect, you may buy a variety of upgrades for your carts. Lights attract more customers, and music makes them more patient. Calculators improve your speed, and refrigeration allows you to roll over unused supplies. Larger carts can handle more inventory, plus have a bigger presence and attract more customers. Allocating more money towards Uncle Pott's research means you'll have faster access to new flower types. Advertising means more customers and better market share. You'll also have regular access to research which can assist you in making strategical choices.

Later in the game, you will begin to have competitors. Each neighbourhood will give you a statistic on your market share, along with the competitors'. When your market share is higher than all competitors, the neighbourhood will be highlighted in your colour - orange. Competitors will also have their own highlighted neighbourhoods. You can take over by getting a higher market share, but they can likewise take over your territories, so its important to keep an eye on market share trends.

You'll notice numerous similarities in Flower Stand Tycoon to both Fairy Godmother Tycoon and Ice Cream Tycoon. The concept of market share and competitors is a nice twist that makes the game more interesting. While not unique in mechanics or theme, it is relaxing and never turns the pressure up too high. All things considered, its fairly easy to learn how to play, and most of the rules can be figured out as you go. However, while tycoon games always have an audience, Flower Stand Tycoon doesn't seem to offer anything special or interesting to the player. The game play also appears open ended, with no real goals outlined for the player other than "becoming a tycoon". There aren't any major twists, the plot is rather minimalist, and the game play can be somewhat predictable. In contrast to Fairy Godmother Tycoon, which was full of humor and clever cutscenes, Flower Stand Tycoon is a bit more plain. There are no jokes or interludes or anything of the sort, short from the cute newspaper headlines shown in between each day. While it's tough at times to figure out what the main point is, other than earning a daily wage, Flower Stand Tycoon does offer accessible tycoon gaming with a no-pressure attitude.

Cabela's African Safari

2008-04-29T22:57:00.004+08:00

In Cabela’s African Safari, you can choose from 7, 10 or 14 day safaris including open safari, game tracking, baiting and herd hunting missions. The game features over 30 exotic species of animals including sable, kudu, gemsbok, eland, waterbuck, impala and much more species that you've never heard before, as well as all new African waterfowl and upland bird hunting. Cabela’s African Safari also features an unlockable Big Five Trophy level where gamers can experience the world’s most dangerous animals (leopards, lions, elephants, rhinos and Cape buffalo) at their fiercest. You can also gather hunter points for good trackings and great shots.

Hunters will have access to an arsenal of authentic firearms including big caliber weapons they will need to bring down charging rhinos and thundering elephants. In addition, all-new shooting controls and features including Adrenaline Mode, Hunter Sense and Shot Cam, allow gamers to hone in on their prey with more accuracy and ease. Hunter Sense, slowing down the animal's movements, is the most useful to me, even when it's only for a few seconds.

This game is not exactly interesting unless you enjoy animal-watching, but overall, it's still entertaining as a different kind of shooting game.

Mr. Bigshot

2008-04-07T16:23:00.007+08:00

http://www.mrbigshot.com (click on the demo tab)

This is a simple investment game using real stock performances on the history of New York Stock Exchange. There are four rounds in the game, with each round set in a different year, ranging from 1977 to 1990. Given $100,000 to start with, you are to gather more wealth than the other computer players to be "Mr Bigshot". You will then have to pick one of the two stocks, "Big" or "Shot", and decide how much you want to invest in. Some simple description, such as construction firm or precision instrument producer, and figures of the stocks will be given. You will be given three chances to revise your portfolio each round/year, taking into account the performance of the stock in the quarter and recalling what happened in that year. For instance, prices of oil may increase due to a war in the last quarter so you better sell your stock by then if your company is sensitive to changes in oil prices. Also, when the Black Monday's coming up, do take precautions not to invest too much or to sell off your stock before that quarter. Some of the actions you can take after each quarter include holding on to the stock, switching to the other stock (you'll have to incur switching costs, of cos), and selling the stock. Dont worry about not being able to recall what happened in 1977, there will be short The company name of the stocks will only be revealed after the end of each round.

It's rather interesting and you can play the game for as many times as you want without getting bored too soon. They have quite a variety of companies and it is unlikely that you will get a repeated stock in the same period. Pity the game allows for only buying and selling of one stock at any one time; it would have been better if players are allowed to state the percentages of each stock to purchase, creating their own portfolio. Afterall, it's just a simple game hosted online using flash platform. It's rather noisy as well (the "host" of the game likes to chant funny phrases and the background music irritates me) so do remember to turn down your speaker if you are playing the game in the office or during a lesson. The game reminds me of the AA206 project hah. Now that exams are round the corner, it's a good game for a study break.

It takes some time to load, hanging most of the time. Closing the browser and clicking on the link all over again for about thrice should guarantee you a try on the game. So please be patient. Have fun!

SNGS Fiesta

2008-04-01T18:21:00.018+08:00

Jiehui says everyone who went back to st nicks will blog about it. I'm a st nicks girl and I went back, so I must post something...

"The Traffic Light" with "Macs" at the back.

(The person in the background looks like my cousin! Right, jie? Right, hang? Look like ting jie right?)

There was a big glup going around for photo-taking. It even tried queueing for the run. The school was trying to make two Guinness World records - one for doing a 4x100m relay continuously in 24hrs and the other, I forgot (something bout having the most people covering the longest distance in 24hrs?). Dr William Tan was there doing a 24hr marathon to help in the fundraising. He's disabled since young and now he's a athlete, educator, professional healer and researcher. Didnt manage to catch him on camera.

With two SNG dolls outside the library.

While waiting for shawn in the hall... and trying very hard to take pictures with the full crest in the background...

This is the really cute horse ride that bobs up-and-down when you step hard enough to make it move. But the kids taking the rides were all so tiny that the horses wouldnt budge if the girls in-charged didnt go around pushing the horses. It looked really funny, each of them with a horse buddy making the horses bob.

Ms Foo Say Lian! Yay she could remember my name! I still have the little blue whale toy that she gave in primary 2! It was a present for scoring full marks in this math test but when she went thru the answers I realised she marked one question wrongly and I only got 98. I 挣扎 for very long before going up to her to tell her the truth cos I thought I would have to return her the whale. (I was only 8 okayy..) But ms foo very nice, she said I could still keep the whale. I've been an honest girl from then onwards =)

St Nicks primary girls...

More pictures...

Then I left at one plus cos I had to study for ... ... ...
AUDIT QUIZ!!!

Ok la, at least the quiz didnt turn out too bad. Hopefully I can get more than 5/10 this time round. I've been too slack this sem, thinking that I'm already stuck in my class. BUT I'm wrong! My 3 lousy quiz grades CAN drag me down one class =\ better work harder!

Am-I-Dumb.com

2008-03-28T12:18:00.003+08:00

Am-I-Dumb.com - Dumb Test

The Sims 2: Castaway [Cheat Codes]

2008-03-25T19:06:00.007+08:00

from IGN

Enter these codes during gameplay without pausing:

To unlock Cheat Gnome: R1, L1, Dpad Down, Square, R2
The Cheat Gnome must be activated before any other cheats will work.

Fill All Motives: R2, Dpad Up, X, Square, L1

Max Current Inventory: Dpad Left, Dpad Right, Square, R2, Square

Max Relationships: L1, Dpad Up, R2, Dpad Left, Triangle

Give All Resources: Square, Triangle, Dpad Down, X, Dpad Left

Give All Plans: X, Triangle, L2, Square, R1

Set Skills: Triangle, L1, L1, Dpad Left, Triangle

Enter this after going into Fashion and Grooming panel on the Pause Menu:

Unlock Vest and Tanktop: Square,R2,R2,Triangle,D-pad Down

GTA: Liberty City Stories [Cheats and Guide]

2008-03-18T12:25:00.011+08:00

CHEATS from IGN

Note: These are direct prints from the game's internal files. There is no L1 or R1 for the PSP, but these refer to the PSP L and R shoulder keys repsectively. Also, some cheats cannot be toggled. Save your game before trying them or you may get stuck with a cheat you don't want!

Weapon Set 1 UP, SQUARE, SQUARE, DOWN, LEFT, SQUARE, SQUARE, RIGHT

Weapon Set 2 UP, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, DOWN, LEFT, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, RIGHT

Weapon Set 3 UP, X, X, DOWN, LEFT, X, X, RIGHT

Get $250000 L1, R1, TRIANGLE, L1, R1, CIRCLE, L1, R1

Restore Armor L1, R1, CIRCLE, L1, R1, X, L1, R1

Restore Health L1, R1, X, L1, R1, SQUARE, L1, R1

Increase Wanted Level L1, R1, SQUARE, L1, R1, TRIANGLE, L1, R1

Wanted Level Never Appears L1, L1, TRIANGLE, R1, R1, X, SQUARE, CIRCLE

Weather: Sunny L1, L1, CIRCLE, R1, R1, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, X

Weather: Clear UP, DOWN, CIRCLE, UP, DOWN, SQUARE, L1, R1

Weather: Overcast UP, DOWN, X, UP, DOWN, TRIANGLE, L1, R1

Weather: Rainy UP, DOWN, SQUARE, UP, DOWN, CIRCLE, L1, R1

Weather: Foggy UP, DOWN, TRIANGLE, UP, DOWN, X, L1, R1

Spawn Rhino L1, L1, LEFT, L1, L1, RIGHT, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE

Faster Clock L, L1, LEFT, L1, L1, RIGHT, CIRCLE, X

Destroy All Cars L, L1, LEFT, L1, L1, RIGHT, X, SQUARE

Random Pedestrian Outfit L, L1, LEFT, L1, L1, RIGHT, SQUARE, TRIANGLE

Pedestrian Riot L1, L1, R1, L1, L1, R1, LEFT, SQUARE

Pedestrians Attack You L1, L1, R1, L1, L1, R1, UP, TRIANGLE

Pedestrians All Have Weapons R1, R1, L1, R1, R1, L1, RIGHT, CIRCLE

Faster Gameplay R1, R1, L1, R1, R1, L1, DOWN, X

Slower Gameplay R1, TRIANGLE, X, R1, SQUARE, CIRCLE, LEFT, RIGHT

Perfect Traction, Down=Car Hop L1, UP, LEFT, R1, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, DOWN, X

Media Attention Meter L1, UP, RIGHT, R1, TRIANGLE, SQUARE, DOWN, X

Commit Suicide L1, DOWN, LEFT, R1, X, CIRCLE, UP, TRIANGLE

All Green Lights TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE, R1, SQUARE, SQUARE, L1, X, X

Aggressive Drivers SQUARE, SQUARE, R1, X, X, L1, CIRCLE, CIRCLE

White Traffic X, X, R1, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, L1, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE

Black Traffic CIRCLE, CIRCLE, R1, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE, L1, SQUARE, SQUARE

Spawn Trashmaster TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, DOWN, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, UP, L1, L1

Cars Drive On Water CIRCLE, X, DOWN, CIRCLE, X, UP, L1, L1

Unknown X, SQUARE, DOWN, X, SQUARE, UP, R1, R1

Follow Me DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, L1, R1

Bobble Head World DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, X, L1, R1

Upside Down DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, X, X, SQUARE, R1, L1

Upside Down X, X, X, DOWN, DOWN, RIGHT, L1, R1

Unknown UP, UP, UP, SQUARE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, R1, L1

Unknown UP, UP, UP, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, X, L1, R1

Unknown UP, UP, UP, X, X, SQUARE, R1, L1

Unknown UP, UP, UP, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, L1, R1

Change Bike Tire Size CIRCLE, RIGHT, X, UP, RIGHT, X, L1, SQUARE

Display Game Credits L1, R1, L1, R1, UP, DOWN, L1, R1

All Vehicles Chrome Plated TRIANGLE, R1, L1, DOWN, DOWN, R1, R1, TRIANGLE

by Edison Carter

Infinite Ammo CIRCLE, SQUARE, L1, L1, TRIANGLE.
by RCOOL93

Disable Collision Damage UP, UP, UP, L1, L1, R1, R1, UP, UP, UP. (Unverified)
by Deano.G7_buzzin

GAME GUIDE from IGN

Gives clear instructions on how to go about completing the missions: http://guides.ign.com/guides/723575/index.html

EuroTrip update: 3 meetings and we're up to Vienna nia.. still got Italy and rest of France. whooo excited bout the trip, but damn sian of planning..

Patapon

2008-03-16T01:00:00.005+08:00

If there is one genre that has really flourished on psp, it would be rhythm games. Titles like Lumines, beats, Parappa the Rapper, and Gitaroo Man have made the handheld a must-have for any fans of the rhythm genre. While all those games were fantastic titles, Patapon manages to blow them all away with some of the most unique rhythm-based gameplay you'll ever experience. Combining gameplay from a wide swath of genres, the developers managed to create a game that is part rhythm-based, part RPG, and part RTS. It's not always easy for developers to successfully combine genres to create a greater whole, but Patapon absolutely nailed it. There has never been anything quite like Patapon.

You play the roll of a long missing deity to a tribe of big-eyed warriors, called Patapons, who have been banished from their land and have lost the will to fight. In order to help the Patapons regain their former glory and achieve their final hope of seeing the mysterious 'it' at the end of the world, they need you and your mighty war drums to whip them into shape and get them motivated for some serious combat. To get the Patapons moving, you need to issue commands by pounding your war drums in the appropriate combination. Each drum is mapped to one of the psp's face buttons and require that you tap them in 4/4 timing to successfully issue your command. For instance, to tell your little warriors to attack, you would have to tap O,O,Square,O, or to advance, you would have to tap Square,Square,Square,O. As the game proceeds, you learn new commands. At least the game is smart enough not to throw them all at you at once. By the time you learn a new command, you'll already be fully adept at all the previous ones.

The core of the gameplay in Patapon revolves around three types of stages: hunting, battles, and boss fights. During a hunting level, your goal is to defeat as many animals as you can in order to get valuable ka-ching (the game currency), meat and resources needed to make new troops for your army. During a battle level, your goal will either be to fend off an enemy attack or invade their territory. It's during these levels that you're the most likely to find weapons and armor to upgrade your troops. The last stage type is the boss battle. Every four or five levels, you'll be confronted by a massive high-level boss who towers over your troops and laughs off their puny attacks. This is where you will have to be strategic about what types of troops, weapons, and tactics you will use, since the wrong choice can end up with all of your poor Patapons painfully eaten or crushed.

There are 6 types of Patapons in the game: archers, infantry, javelins, cavalry, huge brutes, and musicians (with deadly tubas). Each type has its own specific strengths and weaknesses, making each group deadly in some instances and next to worthless in other. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to figure out which troop type to use, thanks to the ridiculously detailed stats screen. There is a huge variety of funky weapons and armor in the game and 'rare item hunter' gamers will have a field day trying to track down all the rare and unique items buried within the game. The world in which the Patapons live is also packed with unique and fantastic looking venues, from flaming deserts to dilapidated ruins haunted by huge dinosaurs.

One major frustration with Patapon's gameplay is the lack of explanation of what to do. It is not uncommon to hit a level where you cannot proceed unless you have a specific miracle or item, and the game tends to do a horrible job at explaining where to go. I spent an hour trying to defeat a massively fortified castle, only to find out that I needed to go back a couple previous levels and kill a random gold bird which would give me a miracle I needed to destroy the fort. There was no indication from the game itself that I needed to do that though.. Still, this only slightly lessens the enjoyment of the game.

While much of the game is quite silly (especially the mini games), the way the game handles the actual conflict between the Patapons and their enemies is extremely interesting. Though you are out to regain the old glory of your tribe, the enemies are trying to stop you because they honestly believe you are savages, trying to bring around the end of the world. They will plead with you to stop, curse you for destroying the world, and will display acts of courage, selflessness and worry for their companions. In their eyes, you are the one trying to destroy the world. Watching the enemy soldiers refuse to retreat so that they can help defend their friends is surprisingly powerful. Patapon makes you think about the reasons behind your actions and the reality of your unending swath of destruction.

The maturity and intelligence in which the developers handed the story is worthy of applause and is yet another reason why Patapon is so amazing. In the end Patapon is a surprisingly long and deep game that is half the price of most psp games. A surprisingly potent story, mixed with the most unique and addictive gameplay, makes Patapon an easy recommendation to any psp owner.

Concert

2008-03-14T21:54:00.010+08:00

concert last sat was great! yayy.. the juniors are good, i think we can dont go back to help le muhahah. we're not really needed anyway, feiling's just missing us haha..

me and yuqin really want to be at the reservation/ticketing counter next year. pls employ us, ntuco! afterall, we're accountants-to-be..

planning for the europe trip is harder than we imagined, from google-mapping to translating foreign phrases on babelfish.. 2 sleepless nights and we're only halfway thru the 13 cities to visit. but still... it's gonna be so *quotes jiakai* eggciting!!

The Golden Compass

2008-03-07T13:15:00.006+08:00

Like Narnia, The Golden Compass is a game based on a film based on a fantasy novel, and it even goes so far as to summarily lift hunks of gameplay directly from the older title. Yet for some reason, the designers picked all of the bad stuff while leaving behind the good. And just for good measure, the psp version suffers from incomprehensibly awful glitches that essentially break the game.

If you aren't familiar with the accompanying film or the novel on which it is based, you will probably be rather confused by the game. As Lyra, you seek to save your friend Roger from the grasp of evil folkloric kidnappers known as Gobblers. Lyra is accompanied by her daemon, Pan, who is the physical embodiment of Lyra's soul, and she is occasionally joined by a hulking armored polar bear named Iorek. Lyra also possesses an instrument (the golden compass of course), which can answer any question that she asks it. You'll figure out what's going on piecemeal and with the help of short clips from the film. Yet, you'll likely never care about Lyra or her companions, and important chunks of exposition are completely glossed over, leaving you wondering what's going on or why you should care.

Gameplay is a mess. There are a lot of ideas at work here, but none of them pan out particularly well. First, exploration. You spend a lot of time roaming about doing busywork, particularly in an insanely long and boring sequence on the Gyptian vessel. The highlight during this level is... ...mopping the deck. =\ In other levels, these tasks may have you hiding under furniture or throwing snowballs, but none of them are interesting. They are also generally sliced up by cutscenes and other gameplay mechanics. Platforming ushers in more mediocrity. Granted, there are some nice ideas here. Lyra can use Pan as a grappling hook and latch on to poles for simplified Prince of Persia-inspired swinging, which allows the duo to glide for short distances. There are also beams to keep your balance on as you cross, though these moments seem to take forever because Lyra walks across them so slowly. The controls are superloose, which is deadly on the dock level--one of the dumbest platforming sequences ever concocted. Not only do the slippery controls make Lyra a pain to maneuver, but you can't manually control the camera, which makes it impossible to judge distance. Even worse, the camera has a tendency to move on its own in the middle of jumps and balancing acts. Expect to reload this level countless times while cursing the designer who created it.

The game relies heavily on timed button sequences, already one of the most overused mechanics in modern-day games. Attacked by a giant bee? Press some buttons in the right order. Need to push over an ice bridge? Press some more. Even some boss fights are won in this manner. There is some action buried in here, though it's found mostly in the game's first and final levels. Playing as Iorek, you'll paw through three types of enemies: witches, Tartars, and wolves. Once you build up enough rage by using standard melee attacks, you can pound the ground to do extra damage. You can also hold two buttons down to grab an enemy and fling it around, but for the most part, you can defeat this tiny assortment of foes by mashing a single button. Some levels are capped by boss fights, which aren't hard, but thanks to the lack of player camera control and the shoddy hit detection, they're plenty annoying. There are still more elements at play. Sometimes Lyra will try to deceive other characters, which requires you to perform a set of minigames. Some of these games function properly, at least, such as one where you push the left analog stick in a whack-a-mole variant. Others are simply terrible and so poorly explained that you may have no clue how the minigames even work the first few times they appear.

At their best, the production values simply fail to capture the fantasy magic of the film or novels. At their worst, they're broken. Animations and environments are crude while there is absolutely no imagination to be found in the bland art design. There are also some weird graphical bugs, such as blinking polygons and pixelated seams. These issues are less noticeable on the psp's small screen than on its console counterparts. Sound fares even worse. The musical score is fine, if unmemorable, but most sound effects are either embarrassingly clunky or missing entirely (and this version is missing even more than on the console versions). The only consistent audio comes from the spinning of the umd as the system is forced to constantly pull data from the disc. Loading screens populate the game with wild abandon – you'll find them between levels, during levels, while engaged in conversation and, astonishingly, even in the middle of combat. Furthermore, sound is often not synched with the onscreen events, to the point where unrelated noises, such as the noises of Iorek fighting, will occur when something else is happening onscreen.

Initially, the wide variety of gameplay elements make it seem like there's going to be a lot to do in the game. Unfortunately, most of these facets are too repetitive, too frustrating, or too boring to keep anyone's interest. The fact that the psp version suffers from a string of unimaginable technical problems makes it even more embarrassing. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, the game is just the latest in a string of movie tie-ins that sacrifice good gameplay and proper quality assurance for the sake of a quick buck. It's without question amongst the worst games to be release on psp.

Me and My Katamari

2008-02-27T23:43:00.007+08:00

As a portable interpolation of Katamari Damacy, Me and My Katamari pretty much makes good. With hundreds of unlockable items, plenty of new challenges, and some downright zany environments, the Katamari series is surely going out on a good note.

At the beginning of Me and My Katamari, the King and the rest of the royal family go for beach-blanket fun, splashing about in the ocean. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of a chain of small islands nearby, the King gets a little too rambunctious, causing a tidal wave that wipes the islands off the map. He then makes amends by sending his son, the Prince, out to collect matter out of which to create new islands. This is where you come in. The opening cinematic sequence for Me and My Katamari establishes the delightfully irreverent and mildly insane tone that the series is best known for, though the game is pretty lean on cinematic sequences through the rest of the game, which is a little disappointing.

The game uses an island interface that allows you to view the islands you've created while also allowing you to see what needs to be done. Animals will start popping up on Prince Island asking the Prince for help. Every mission you receive on said island has the same objective; you'll have X amount of time to get a katamari X meters wide. Even though it seems like this would get repetitive and boring, the diversified environments generally help the game stay fresh. The Prince can also travel to the Volcano Island, where creatures will present him with strange requests. Instead of constructing a katamari of a certain size, these missions require you to build a katamari containing the right products. For instance, one gorilla needs enough energy to fuel his rocket, so it makes much more sense to run over power plants than trees. Even so, it doesn't hurt to build up a large katamari simply because you'll be able to obtain more objects, which therefore adds a whole new element to the game. The final isle is the Beanstalk Island, which allows you to switch between characters you've collected throughout the levels.

While it might not have as many wonderful cinematic sequences as the Katamari games for the PS2, Me and My Katamari nails the overall look and feel of the series almost perfectly. The environments, which start you off inside a tiny room in a tiny Japanese home and eventually reaches the scope of a decent-sized metropolis, feature purposely blocky designs and a random selection and placement of items, both common and exotic, and often straight-up imaginary. The game has an incredible color palette of bright primaries and subdued pastels, and its unique sense of design saturates everything from status screens to the bear that walks around wearing a T-shirt that says "bear" on it.

While it almost perfectly captures the Katamari style, it makes also a few technical sacrifices in the form of midlevel load times, but are never more than a few seconds long. During these loads the game also kind of fudges the scale of the katamari to its surroundings, making the ball itself bigger while shedding much of the complicated geometry of the items stuck to it. Me and My Katamari's sound design matches suit, providing a catchy and eclectic soundtrack for the surreal action. A lot of the music is identical to that found in past Katamari games, which makes it an easy fit, though it would have been nice if the game featured a little more original music. Though the soundtrack is largely dominant, it's regularly punctuated with the confused, panicky cries of people and animals that you pick up with your katamari, which can be hysterical.

If you know what you're doing, you can play through Me and My Katamari in just a few hours, and it feels slightly shorter than its predecessors. Part of the sense of brevity can probably be attributed to the fact that there just aren't that many different environments, and they get recycled often, so that by the time you get to the end, you've pretty much had your fill. If you're looking for a reason to go back, there are gifts from the King hidden throughout the game that you can pick up and outfit the Prince with, as well as a small army of cousins that you can pick up and then choose to play as. There's also a pretty simple multiplayer mode, in which up to four players, each with their own copy of the game, can play a competitive game in which everyone tries to collect more items while knocking items off the other players' katamaris. Or, for the less competitive, you can exchange royal gifts with the other players.

The paltry number of levels in Me and My Katamari proves to be its biggest shortcoming, as the game otherwise does a pretty phenomenal job of re-creating the Katamari Damacy experience on the psp. The game's refreshing aesthetic, fun and simple gameplay, and its unhinged sense of humor is unlike anything else on the psp. If you've never played a Katamari game before, you owe it to yourself to try this one out. For fans of the series, this is a must-have.

Chocolatier

2008-02-25T21:27:00.011+08:00

Gone are the days when we could fire up a game of our choice and spend hours toiling away, now we seem to game in stolen moments here and there. With that in mind, perhaps it is no wonder that casual games have become such a popular gaming choice (especially with women who make up the vast majority), as casual games allow us to either jump in and get those quick fixes of gaming bliss or either play them for as long as we want when we do have the time. In honor of casual games, we have Chocolatier, where a chocolatier sim that has you jet setting around the world, trying to find the best ingredients, and selling off your product to make the highest profit you can. Thanks to Sheya for the game =)

The story is that two sisters who have been fighting over their family's chocolate business, but neither could decide on what the other wanted to do. So, they splintered off, becoming business rivals, though one wants to restore the honour to her family. To do so, she is passing along what she knows to you, so that you may make the family business grow and prosper once more. In the beginning you will be handed a factory and a recipe for simple chocolate bars. With the recipe in hand, you will need to gather and maintain ingredients, ensure the fatory is in production, and sell the products to increase wealth and ranking in the chocolate world.

Ingredients can be found at every port city in the game that you can land at, though they would not offer the same goods. Though sugar is constantly prevalent, other ingredients like cocoa beans, coffee beans, cashews, lemons, vanilla sticks etc. can only be found at certain specific ports. You can choose to pay the full price for what the merchants are asking for, or you can attempt to haggle with them, but too much haggling can anger them them and cause their prices to soar. Prices at the various markets are also determined by things such as shortages or too much supply. Get news of demand and supply shortages or hikes from random characters at the bars or inns. In the factories, you will get to determine how many chocolates of that type that factory will make each week. You will have various revolving circles on a machine moving around, and how many complete firing of the required ingredients into each circle determines how many boxes of chocolate that factory will produce each week, as long as you have all the required ingredients. With the goods on hand, you can now head to the chocolate boutiques to sell them off. Now, there are several factors at play when selling your goods. For starters, sometimes people just get tired of eating your same chocolates over and over, so the longer you have one single chocolate bar going over and over, the lower and lower the cost you will be able to sell them at. Also, though people from an area might still love a specific type of chocolate, another port like London might be tiring of them. Throughout the game, you will be able to purchase some shops as your own, and there you will always get better than usual prices.

Along the way in the game, you will be stumbling upon odd quests, such as delivering a letter to someone or producing certain amount of chocolate boxes for a person and delivering them to them. Completing quests will net you more money or things like new recipes. Recipes come in four different flavors, such as bars, squares, infusions, and truffles, with each generally more valuable the one before. Still, you will have to spend quite an amount at each factory for upgrading to allow the making of more valuable candies.

Switching between ports costs you money and weeks , so plan your inventory full of supplies before you wander on an adventure. Graphically and visually the game is alright, simply doing what it needs to do to get its gameplay across. Music comes in several forms, such as the tense "factory out of cocoa beans" quickened paces to the more leisurely "explore as long as you want" background sounds. The sounds are pretty good though, featuring things like trains and ships going on voyages, the sound of a ringing cash register, and others. I found myself throwing away hours (one full day =\) to this game when I really should have been doing some work. I'm sure that not only will you have fun with this casual tycoon game, but you might just learn something too (chocolate history and facts).

I have also tried a few hours of the sequel to Chocolatier, which is called Chocolatier 2 (obviously). You can even get to create new recipes in Chocolatier 2 using secret ingredients from hidden ports around the world. And the game now track prices of chocolates and ingredients for you so a mouse-over would reveal past transactions. Also, instead of spinning circles in the factories (which made me dizzy), the circles don’t spin and instead flow differently on the product line. The game is as addicting as chocolate, and I’m all for a third edition of the game if it’s done right.

菊花台 Lyrics

2008-02-24T23:20:00.013+08:00

This is for me and angl and yuqin so we can sing during practices! (yes, huangsheng is doing the pop thing again)...

你的泪光柔弱中带伤
惨白的月弯弯勾住过往
夜太漫长凝结成了霜
是谁在阁楼上冰冷的绝望

雨轻轻淌朱红色的窗
我一生在纸上被风吹乱
梦在远方化成一缕霞
随风飘散你的模样

菊花惨澹地伤你的笑容已泛黄
花落人断肠我心事静静淌
北风乱夜未央你的影子剪不断
徒留我孤单在湖面生霜

花亦相挽飘落了灿烂
凋谢的石道上命运不堪
愁没都江秋心在两畔
怕你上不了岸一辈子摇晃

谁的江山马蹄声慌乱
我一身的戎装呼啸苍苍
天微微凉你轻声地叹
一夜惆怅如此委婉

菊花惨澹地伤你的笑容已泛黄
花落人断肠我心事静静淌
北风乱夜未央你的影子剪不断
徒留我孤单在湖面生霜

菊花惨澹地伤你的笑容已泛黄
花落人断肠我心事静静淌
北风乱夜未央你的影子剪不断
徒留我孤单在湖面生霜

credits:
song by jay chou
菊花 by angl and chryssie

Brave Story: New Traveler

2008-02-20T20:35:00.006+08:00

Yuqin's been playing Brave Story: New Traveler recently, yes, neglecting her school work hah... I've caught quite a few glimpse of the game when she's playing and thought it looked interesting enough. Will try it out soon, it's recess week after tomorrow!!

On a day that starts out like any other, an 11-year-old boy's life is changed forever. As the main character, Tatsuya, and his friend Miki pass a leisurely afternoon, Miki suddenly collapses from an unknown illness. When the girl shows no sign of waking, the main character grows distraught over not being a better friend and not having the means to save her. Suddenly, a strange voice offers him a second chance: "Beyond the door you can change your destiny!" He soon leaves the real world and journeys to the world of Vision, where, as a novice "Traveler", he will surmount myriad ordeals in hopes of ultimately meeting with the Goddess of Fortune to have a single wish granted. The would-be hero quickly makes friends both strange and fascinating as he finds himself blossoming into a successful Traveler. The battles you'll run into (there will be a lot as you crisscross forests and beaches) are set up for the traditional turn-based, party battle. You'll have three slots to fill on your team, and as you get used to the game you'll get used to having Yuno (a half-kitten/half-girl) and Sogreth (a beefy lizard) as your backup.

Although your sword, Yuno's bow and Sogreth's battleaxe will be the primary way you crack the skulls of the gimblewolves and seductresses you come across, Brave Story features three concepts, friendship, courage and growth, that will greatly affect the way you beat baddies. The longer you toil away with the same set of combatants, the better friends your group gets to be. That sounds nice in the lovey-dovey way, but what it means is that the longer you're together the more ways you get to kick ass together. Unity moves open up as you go and involve everything from Tatsuya and Yuno pulling a pick-pocket, or stab routine to Meena and Tatsuya running to one side of the screen and bombarding the enemies with craziness. These team-up moves will be critical to beating dungeon bosses, but need to be implemented with some forethought because they drain your Brave Power (BP) meter. BP is the light pink meter onscreen that governs what kind of special moves you can pull off, which is that courage thing in the game. As you battle, the pink meter fills. When it's your turn to attack you can select one of those cool unity moves, or Bravura moves, which are similarly devastating attacks that you can do without another party member. The final element of the battle system is growth. Sure, your characters are going to get bigger and better through experience points and new equipment, but for Tatsuya to get an audience with the goddess, he has got to find these magical gemstones that fit into the faceplate of his sword. Each time he finds one, the sword changes forms and gets stronger.

The graphic during battles is something different in a normal RPG game. You get to see 3d views of the characters' strokes and moves instead of the typical top view of their heads. Still, after a few battles you get sick of them, especially when you're simply training them to be up for the boss fights. Sometimes you would wish that the noisy half-kitten would talk lesser. Afterall, Brave Story's pastel color scheme and menu system is that it makes me feel like I could be playing any RPG. Enter a dungeon, beat the randoms, beat the boss, upgrade your weapons and so on... Well, it's a solid RPG that's sure to appeal to fans who want a fun yet simple romp through the genre they love.

For walkthroughs: http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/game/932265.html

Ultimate Block Party

2008-02-15T21:58:00.007+08:00

We finally booked our tickets to Paris! Reserved actually.. And we didnt even need to produce our passport or ic at STA -.-" Tentatively we're flying off on 6th May, and coming back on 10th June, but the dates are flexible so we can extend if we really want to stay there longer! The lady at STA was really nice and she made us excited about planning the trip all over again. She even taught us how to swear at scary londoners if they try to rob us..

Yuwei got his interview slot to major in Hospitality and Tourism Management le! It's on coming Tuesday. I really hope he gets in. BnF is so boring; marketing and HR are abit too bimbo; he cannot make it for IT and Actuarial.. Please say good luck to him whenever you see him!

Now for the game.. Similar to Tetris, Ultimate Block Party is an addictive and extremely frantic puzzle game with a bright, flamboyant style to match. The focus of this game is on competitive battles, not solitary point chases. And those battles tend to get heated quickly, serving up quick and intense matches without forcing you through a protracted progression of levels.

Ultimate Block Party is a very simple game, starting out with a screen that is about a third of the way filled with colorful blocks. Every so often, a new row of blocks pushes up from the bottom, and you lose when the blocks reach the top of the screen. As time goes on, the blocks start adding up a lot faster. You can remove blocks by lining at least four blocks of the same color together in a square, at which point they'll disappear. There is a slight delay between when you match up the like-colored blocks and when they disappear, and during this time you can attach other blocks of the same color to make them disappear as well. That's all pretty simple, but the game offers a lot of room for advancement once you're ready to move beyond the basic four-block strategy. As blocks disappear, any blocks above will fall down, and if they're properly arranged, they'll create chains of disappearing blocks. Creating chains will get you various magic blocks. Arrow blocks will turn all blocks in their path the same color once they are activated; bomb blocks will change all adjacent blocks the same color; and flush blocks will clear all like-colored blocks on the screen. These magic blocks can be used simultaneously as well, and once you learn to use them to their full potential you can clear dozens of blocks at a time.

Clearing several blocks at a time not only helps keep your screen clear, but it launches attacks at your opponents. There are several different types of attacks, depending on the color of the blocks you clear. Clearing several red blocks will make your opponent's cursor bigger, which makes it difficult to arrange blocks with any precision; clearing orange blocks will turn the inside of your opponent's cursor black and white, making it difficult to match up colored blocks; clearing yellow blocks will prevent your opponent from seeing the bottom few rows of his or her screen; and so on. There are six different attacks in all, and while they're difficult enough to handle one at a time, things really get crazy when you get hit with several attacks in rapid succession. When your screen is almost full, and you're struggling with some odd-shaped or immobile blocks while your cursor is showing only black and white, and all of a sudden your controls are reversed, it's easy to get overwhelmed and quickly lose a match. Each attack varies in severity as well, so while you may be able to survive smaller attacks without much difficulty, the more powerful attacks can stop you in a matter of seconds.

There are several modes to choose from in Ultimate Block Party, but a lot of them are identical. You can play the game single-player, in which you forget about the attacks and just clear blocks to reach the highest level possible. However, the best way to play is in multiplayer mode. You can play against the computer in arcade mode, campaign mode, or versus mode. Arcade mode and campaign mode are almost identical, except in arcade mode you get to choose which character you want to play as, whereas in campaign mode you're stuck with Kollon, the generic main character. In both modes you play through a series of battles against the game's eight characters, who each have their own style of play. The characters are silly and generic, and they don't seem to behave much differently from one another. There's Kollon and Marinne, who are sort of little-girl versions of Ken and Ryu, an overweight superhero, a hitman, a burglar, an actress, an aristocrat, and the president of wherever it is this game takes place. There are some brief pantomimed skits between battles in campaign mode, but otherwise the characters don't interact.

The visual style of Ultimate Block Party is quintessentially Japanese. The characters are obviously inspired by the lighter side of anime, with humorously disproportionate bodies and exaggerated expressions. During the battles they dance in place on the side of the screen until you're about to lose, at which point they start to get nervous. The backgrounds consist of simple city skylines and such, and you could easily play the entire game without noticing them. The blocks themselves are bright and colorful with happy little faces. The special effects that accompany the various attacks all look good, but they aren't so flashy that they detract from the game. The sound here is about what you'd expect from a puzzle game. There are the requisite blips and beeps as you flip blocks and move the cursor around the screen, as well as an annoying but probably necessary alarm to let you know when you are in danger of losing. The music has a very arcade feel to it, with catchy electronic beats that keep the action moving without getting annoying or repetitive. There are only a dozen or so different tunes, so it doesn't take long to hear them all. Regardless, the sound is good here, but if you play it muted you won't miss out on much.

Ultimate Block Party is a fun and addictive puzzle game that will keep you entertained for five minutes or a couple of hours, depending on how much time you have to burn. It's a refreshing change of pace since you can pick it up and get right into the thick of the action without plodding through a lot of tedious buildup. If you've hit the level cap on Lumines and are looking for a new puzzle game to while away the time, you should definitely check out Ultimate Block Party.

I MISS JIAKAI

2008-02-12T15:12:00.000+08:00

I miss jiakai so muchhh. It's only been about a month and I've been sobbing under the sheets every night since she left for paris. My eyes are so swollen they can match jingwan's abalone. I feel sickly if I dont talk to her online at least twice a day. I only had one phone call from her and that was since many many weeks before boohoohoo. Jiakai will you call me more often pleasee.. I cant concentrate in class cos i'm too busy missing her. And on weekends, I cant concentrate on playing psp too, my spongebob keeps falling into spiky plants =\ When are u coming back, siew jiakai, my bitchy fren??

muahhhahah so lame..

Busy day today.. Woke up late. Fetched mummy to admiralty pri school. Went to airport to pick jiejie up. Thought I was 10min late but in the end it was 35min early (noted the wrong time plus flight delay). Met xizhu at T1. She's interning there and she spent half her lunch time waiting with me. Jiakai: pls note, another NICE fren of mine hahahah. Rushed jiejie back home cos meeting yuqin to go down to STA to get our flight tickets and student pass. Yes, we're going europe to visit our dearest jiakai.. BUT.. *thunder and storm (晴天霹雳)*.. yuqin suddenly realise her i/c, together with her passport, are all locked up in a drawer, which she lost the key to last week =( Searched around for locksmith number. Too late to make it to bugis now le so.. postpone again muahahaha. We should really book the tickets soon, the prices are as volatile as the stock market..

Will wait for jiejie to return so I can wash her car. It's seriously in quite a bad shape from squeezing 7 people in for half a day of travelling muahhahah. The carpets are grossss, there were even cigarette butts and random paper/plastic strips stuck to it. Managed to remove most of them before going to airport today. Shhhh dun tell jiejie =\ Meanwhile, will mug for next week's audit quiz. 7 seminars of readings more to go, with about 2 chapters + 2 SSAs per seminar.

Enough updates eh?

Khaiqing and grace, I miss you guys too!

Work Time Fun

2008-02-06T02:09:00.000+08:00

Naming your game WTF (Work Time Fun) will surely get attention. That is one of many things D3 Publisher did right when bringing this Sony-developed game stateside. This quirky mini-game laden game has you playing a temp worker. You visit a placement office where your goal is to earn money. And that's it.

There are 40 mini-games in all; you start with a menu of four. One of the game, Pendemonium, has you capping pens on an assembly line. Sometimes the pens are backwards, so you must flip them over before you can cap them. This game, as you will discover after awhile, does not end! You just play it until you get tired of it. It's seriously just a no brainer game if pressing the same few buttons.

By earning money, you can visit vending machines that dispense capsules that either get you a new mini-game, a useless trinket, or a tool. The tools you unlock in the game are really lame. Handy Light is nothing more than a white (or other color) "light" for your PSP. It just brings up a white picture on screen. You can turn the light on/off, and change the light pattern. Really handy hurr.. Eye Spy is another one you unlock. You can hold this up to your eyes, pointing away from you. Using the shoulder buttons, you can blink (move the analog nub to move the pupils, too). Use Eye Spy the next time you are in a long queue.

You will also get random emails from co-workers, and sometimes, bonuses from WTFNet. Your co-workers ramble on about useless stuff, just like in real life. It's the type of game that makes you scratch your head in amazement, wondering how this made it out of Japan. But the reason the game is a success is because it is so offbeat and is a total time waster.

WTF also supports ad-hoc multiplayer. You can trade trinkets, but the most fun comes by "outsourcing" work, where you can subject your unsuspecting friends to doing menial tasks from the Sub-Contract menu. You can perform single or multiplayer jobs in ad-hoc mode. Keeping with the nonsense of it all, you "interview" potential workers, and can even reject them if you wish.

As with a lot of great software that rarely makes it stateside, this game is going to be a total turn off to some. Work is hell, part-time jobs are hell, but what better way to get through your day than by counting chicks into baskets? Yes the game is odd, and funny. And it gets a little more challenging as you start unlocking more and more games. This is definitely not a game for everyone. It's one of those love-it-or-hate-it games. If you're fascinated by the wacky side of Japanese culture, you'll definitely want to have a go at this game. Likewise if you prefer your games easy to learn and playable in short sessions, or if you adore retro gaming. However, if you like a little more complexity or brain work in your gaming, this is probably not the game for you.

City Shrinker

2008-02-03T23:01:00.000+08:00

This is so cooooolll... dont they look like some super detailed models of some cities... wonder how they do the ripples..

more at http://www.cityshrinker.com/

hahahh and the answer is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_photography

**************************************update**************************************

whooo pekpek can take pictures like these too!

picture by pek when he was PR-ing in Bintan (courtesy of pek):

not bad huh, i thought all pek knew was taking flowers muahahhaha =p

The Sims 2 Castaway II

2008-01-31T20:57:00.000+08:00

Special entry on The Sims 2 Castaway for psp regarding common questions asked/problems faced when playing the game.. Note: the game may be different if playing on a different console.

1. How many islands are there?
There are 3 islands in total, Shipwreck Island, Airplane Island and Volcano Island.

Shipwreck Island - First Beach, Deep Jungle Pier Island, Shipwreck Lagoon

Airplane Island - West Beach, Airplane Jungle, Dark Cave, Skull Rock Jungle, West River Plains, East River Plains, South River Jungle, East Beach, Hidden Lagoon, Pirates Cove

Volcano Island - South Volcano Beach, Volcano Jungle, Geyser Plains, North Volcano Jungle, North Volcano Beach, Temple, Temple Exterior, Volcano Summit, Volcano Overlook, Tidal Pool, Ancient Theater, Crystal Island

It's rather easy to figure out how to cross the islands so I shall not elaborate on it.

2. How to meet other crewmates? How to increase social ratings?
I cannot say this for sure, but for my game I could only find crewmates on the second island, probably because I had only 2 other crewmates. Dont worry about searching for them on the second island, they will just appear.

Other than socialising with crewmates, your sim can also increase their social skill by interacting with chimps. By befriending chimps, you can even ask them to gather food/resources for you. The fastest way to make a chimp your friend is to give him a banana, entertain, entertain, hug, and hug. If you happen to ignore a chimp when it returns with resouces, just hug him again and he will go on collecting stuff for you.

3. How to shower when I cant build any shower facilities?
Just go for a swim! Swim meaning your sim must be doing some stokes or at least trapping water. If you're waist-deep in the water but standing, the hygiene bar will not get any greener.

4. If your game is stuck and you cant progress beyond the Dark Cave on the second island, the path is in the dark cave. There'll be a path with an explore sign (the footprints) to the right of the 3 pools in the middle of the cave. The path will lead up to Skull Rock Jungle.

When entering a new region of the game for the first time, you will need to fill up the energy bar to the max (dark green). If you find that you cant cross to the new region even when your bar is almost full, then it's time to build to new bed.

5. I dont know if it's a bug with my game data or it's the game but there limited number of items to build in an area, even when I've deleted some items built previously. And when you delete an item, you dont get back money like in the Sims 2. You dont even get back the resources put in =\ What you can do is when you decide to move your "home" to a new area, keep everything you have in your inventory (everything except shelters, walls etc. can be kept), build whatever you new things you want to build in the new area, then take the things out from your inventory. There are no max cap for the amount of things you can take out from your inventory.

6. How to increase mechanical skill?
You will have to craft many many many things eg clothes or light the fire many many many times. If you run out of things to craft and still haven hit the mechanical skill required, try gathering sisal and crafting twines and ropes. They'll come to use when building bridges later.

I would suggest you begin with a doctor sim because that will give you one logic skill and one mechanical skill to start with. The rest of the skills are rather easy to gather along the game.

7. How to fish/catch chicken using traps?
To fish, go to an area along the beach that has a pool of fish (similar to when you want to spear fishes) and set a fish trap. To catch chicken, leave a chicken trap over area that you can find chicken feathers or chicken feed. To successfully catch something in both traps, you will have to leave the traps there long enough. Fish traps takes at least half a day but try to check on them at least once every 2 days. Else the waves will destroy them. Chicken traps takes at least a day.

Oh and to spear fishes, click on stab once you see a fish leap. For fishing using pole, reel in after you see 2 or 3 tugs on your pole.

8. How to hunt a boar?
Boars are most commonly found on the third island in the Geyser Plains. However, there are reports of boars on East River Plains and East Beach as well. To hunt the boar, you must follow it around and irritate it with a spear in hand. It might leave the screen though and if it does, find another boar and try again. It's easier to get the boar to attack if you can get it cornered. You can also try to lure it by leaving food out, or by building a garden and not fencing it in. Most importantly, you must have very very high (almost, if not 10) body skill to successfully hunt the boar.

Once it attacks you, you will see a brown dust of cloud. If you win, you will receive some leather, some boar tusks, and a ham.

9. How to find/make dye?
I haven found out how to make dye but I do know that if you can send a sim that you're not controlling to go gather resources, he/she may return to home with some. To send a sim to collect resources, set up a home tiki (available in one of the options at a fire pit), then make a sim sign up for the job "collect resources", feed the sim well and make him happy, then control another sim in the tribe. The happy sim will have nothing to do except to "work", which is to collect resources. Hopefully he'll return with some dye. Mine returned with black, blue and red dyes on 3 occasions.

Another way is to ask chimps to gather resources for you. (Refer to point 2 above)

10. The Sims 2 Castaway Hacks
I haven got the chance to try out the hacks, my gamesave got corrupted when i'm halfway thru the third island =( So be careful when you're using mods with outdated firmware! I was so upset that I deleted the hack codes that I found online =\

If you want to search for some hacks, try searching for the keyword "gnome hack". Cant exactly remember the hack's name but it's suppose to give you alot of resources. Update me if you tried.. Other than this, there are very limited hacks regarding The Sims 2 Castaway on psp.

Lastly, if you need a more specific guideline (not hacks) to the game, you can find it here: http://www.cheatcc.com/psp/sims2castawaycheatscodes.html

Bad Parking Day

2008-01-29T22:24:00.001+08:00

Hall 11 is a freakin difficult place to park. This is the “carpark” (pardon my lousy drawing skill on mouse):

It’s not exactly a carpark but cars normally park around the the grassy roads here. As you can see there are limited lots (not in picture but 3 nia...) and only for the hall fellows. Note also that the roads are not very wide, enuf for only 2 cars abreast. Both roads lead to dead ends so not very easy to navigate when you are stuck at the end, gotta “many-point-turn” to get out. Really quite cramp.

Incident One:
On a bright and sunny day, I arrive at hall 11, once again, to nap at hang’s hall since I have quite a few hours’ break. There’s an orange yaris parked at the entrance of a dead end road. (The yellow car is a orange toyota yaris but I cant find any top view of orange cars online. The orange yaris is always there so it’s worth mentioning.) Since it’s a dead end and there are no cars behind, I assumed that I can safely park beside the yaris without blocking anyone. (I’m the white picanto.)
When I was leaving the hall, I was stopped by an uncle (the janitor, I think). He said I should park along side so that that road can house 3 or 4 more cars, and so he can park his lorry there. Ok, I admit, my fault. I said sorry and left.

Incident Two:
On another bright and sunny day, the white picanto is back in hall 11 again. This time yuwei drove. I told him bout the parking incidents so he parked here:

The place I parked the last time was actually a slope. As a typical driver, we are all reluctant to park on slopes, you know, in case you did not pull the handbrake properly and the car rolls back. Also because our car is manual drive so more difficult to engage the gear when moving off later if we left it on upward-sloping ground. BUT when yuwei was leaving, a hall fellow stopped him and said he was blocking the heavy vehicles from coming in to the construction site. True true, our fault again. He said sorry and left.

Incident Three:
On a not so bright and sunny day, I arrive at hall 11 again. The orange yaris was there again. In order to not block the heavy vehicles, and not block cars that are going to park along the side, I parked here:

Yes, so I parked in front of the orange yaris that was parked along the slope. Amazingly, the space he left in front of him fitted mine nicely. Heh heh. Not blocking heavy vehicles, not blocking other cars, not so deep into the sloping dead end =)

Just when I was leaving… this blue car (did not notice car model) came along and parked here:

Wah uncle so bad, block the car behind. Should I ask him to shift? Haiyah nevermind la, not blocking me. Perhaps he’s not staying for long.. So I left…

After a couple of hours, I came down and found a piece of drawing paper on my windscreen, with thick black marker ink saying

“PLEASE USE COMMON SENSE WHEN PARKING NEXT TIME. TY.
THE CAR BEHIND YOU.”

(All the other cars had miraculously disappeared. Poor me, all alone with a piece of drawing block.)

Not me fault!!! There's no where else to park in hall 11 unless you dont mind walking a-blk-and-a-canteen-away to the proper lots. And i mind walking so far! Also, how can you say I have no common sense. Booo.. I understand that it can be very frustrating when your car is stuck and you need to get to lessons or wat have you (*quote mrs tian), but still, cannot anyhow say people no common sense! and it wasnt even my fault =(

I turned the paper around and wrote the whole story of how the uncle in blue (car) came along and park beside me AFTER I parked. Yes, and I did sign off as "the car in front of you". Hang promised to put the paper back on that orange yaris for me when it’s back at night.

Then I went for lessons, feeling so misunderstood and pissed, and yet I had to attend this boring lesson about database systems. Cannot find parking lot anywhere. Too pissed to drive around. Anyhow parked. Just when I kindof forgot about the unfriendly msg on the drawing block, stups yuqin had to ask me this question. “What if I don’t have the COMMON SENSE to identify the entities in exams?”

COMMON SENSE AGAIN! Grrr… and auntie lim you better not get an orange yaris next time.

Bad parking day.. (you know, like bad hair day..)

Anyway it happened quite a few days ago and Hang just called to update me bout the yaris. She finally found it! Parked somewhere near the crime scene.

Yay the driver will finally hear my side of the story. Thank you hang for helping (she asked for an explicit thank you, for checking out the hall 11 parking lots at least twice a nite for the past few days). Not my fault k. and I think I have quite some (not alot, but still not bad) common sense k.

Sonic Rivals

2008-01-28T11:02:00.000+08:00

When you boot up Sonic Rivals, you would not be disappointed by the sleek menu layout, quick load times, and very very pretty graphics. On psp, Sonic Rivals attempts to blend traditional 2D gameplay with impressive new 3D graphics, unlike on nintendo consoles where the game stayed strictly in 2D territory. Still, it seems like Sonic does best when trapped in two dimensions. The trademark Sonic features are in the game, but poor design choices hold back the game from being as good as it can be. The game manages to emulate the feel of the original games very well, especially in the first set of levels, as you run around green checkered levels. Also impressive is the sense of speed, and the dynamic camera angles. Sometimes, the camera will move at an angle, attempting to make Sonic's journey through the world even more dramatic. While there is still some framerate slowdown, and blocky backgrounds at times, the game's fantastic color palette and speed really make it an eye-catcher. The controls themselves feel very much like old-school Sonic, and that's a good thing.

The levels are designed to have multiple paths, and at the blistering speed that the characters can reach at times, decisions will have to be made in a split second. Alternate paths will whizz by, and it is interesting to think that you can take a completely different approach to a level. It is very rewarding when you manage to discover a whole new way of racing through a level. One of the surprisingly nicest additions to this game are the boost areas where you press circle to dash forward, or x to jump up. It is simple, but learning to make the right choice at a moment's notice will certainly take some practice, and some memorization. The later levels come up with challenges that revolve around simply pressing the right button, and it is strangely satisfying. Another great aspect of the game are the boss fights. Although the encounters are short, they change up the formula slightly, and usually take place within a circular arena. It's your goal to land successful hits on top of the enemy's weak point, and the obstacles that prevent you from doing this easily can be engaging.

Although there are many great classic Sonic elements in the game, players will find themselves frustrated at many other poorly executed designs in the game. Firstly, the story is absolutely ridiculous, and actually detracts from the experience more than it helps. Dr. Eggman (instead of Robotnik!) for one reason or another has a camera with the ability to transform any photographed object into a card, and through sequences of awfully written dialogue, you race as one of four characters to stop him. The four characters (Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver) all have their own stories, but they are absolutely painful to go through. Thankfully, the text explaining the story is very short, and can be quickly skipped. For some reason, it appears that the character you choose has no choice but to win in a race through the levels. This is the core premise of the game, and it is where many of the game's flaws become apparent. Each level is supposed to be a race, yet it will rarely feel like you are interacting with a character. The great branching levels in the game actually make it difficult for you to ever really be near your rival. This immediately removes a sense of competitiveness, and it also gets rid of any fairness. In later levels, you will find that a significant lead that you build over a character can mysteriously disappear. Characters will seemingly speed past you, and there is no way for you, as the player, to know why or how. There are power-ups throughout the level that can be used against your foes and, theoretically, this will allow players that are trailing to catch up to the leader. Unfortunately, you rarely see the effects of your mischief. However, if you get hit by a power-up, prepare to be annoyed; the effects can be severely race-destroying, as they send you to a crawl, which last for a fair amount of time. It is certainly not fun to get hit while racing up a hill. Not only does the power-up make you lose time, but you'll find yourself unable to progress further, without backtracking a bit too gain momentum yet again.

Still, with enough practice (me and yuqin was stuck at a particular stage for more than 5 races!) and memorization, any level can become entertaining, even with the dodgy racing system in place. You will find yourself choosing better routes through levels, boosting better, attacking more efficiently, and getting higher rankings at the end as a result. The game encourages repetition quite a bit, as the four different story modes go through the same levels, with no difference in how they play. All the characters control exactly the same, and with the exception of inconsequential signature move that each character possesses, there is no difference in playing as one of the characters. Although there are collectible "cards" that players are vouching for, with only one additional playable character and some bonus outfits available as rewards, there's not much incentive to collect the 150 cards. With slightly over a dozen levels, this game certainly won't last anyone a very long time. There are other modes, but they offer nothing new or interesting to the single player formula. Hopefully it is better when I try out the network mode with yuqin.. soon..

Circuit Cup looks to alleviate some of the problems with its out-of-order track selection, but one circuit requires advancement within Challenge Mode for access. Through its specific conditions for victory, Challenge Mode represents the biggest flaw of the game. Given its fast-paced and frantic nature, attaining a certain number of rings, attacking an opponent a certain number of times, or beating a level under a preset time will take numerous tries. That's good for replay value, but hiding a quality mode behind arbitrary goals and forcing players to repeatedly play through a level in their quest for variety doesn't indicate an intelligent design decision.

Sonic Rivals builds potential for a great return to true Sonic form. If Sega approached the series with this engine and removed the racing aspect, Sonic fans would have a true gem of a game to celebrate. However, Sonic Rivals is merely an frustratingly entertaining romp that's a bit too short for its own good.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

2008-01-21T11:13:00.000+08:00

Rockstar did a great job of pulling off the same experience that we are used to and love from the full console releases. And better yet they managed to fit it on an UMD making it fast and easy to download. While the load times in GTA: Liberty City Stories are obviously not as brief as you would expect from the ps2, the load times are still fairly quick and you aren’t left at long loading screens. Again I’ve got to give the makers credit for creating probably the best free roaming action games to ever hit a handheld system. And if you are like me, who loves the GTA series, then you will love this continuation of the story. Though the storyline may seem mundane in much of Liberty City Stories, it still manages to carry on Toni Cipriani’s story, even though the cut scenes leave much to be desired. However if you are new to the GTA series, the story will still make sense and not knowing the story won’t hold you back in the game in anyway.

If you stick to the missions and not mess around too much, you can finish the story mode in 10-12 hrs. But the deceptive game progress counter will only report around 40% completion. The game has some rampage side missions and the standard pizza delivery, vigilante, taxi service, and ambulance missions, too. You can seek out ringing pay phones to get into street races. You can report to car lots to sell cars or motorcycles by test-driving vehicles for prospective consumers. And, of course, there are 100 hidden packages to find. If you get into all this optional stuff, there's a lot more city to see, and plenty of different cars to see it in. The radio stations are still one of the most entertaining features; the djs and commercials are as hilarious as ever.

Where Rockstar falls short is in the gameplay. Missions are usually one tiered and do not offer that much variety. The psp’s weak controller scheme makes taking out a large number of enemies far from pleasant, and you would be better off picking off targets from a distance which makes you miss the fun of the fire fights we have grown to love from the previous installments of the GTA series. But the lock-on target aiming functionality does help a little. Also, the game's mission path does not deviate into crazy territory, and most of the characters are fairly lifeless. This dulls the game's personality, preventing its characters and events from becoming as memorable as we have come to expect from GTA games and their excellent storylines.

Overall, GTA: Liberty City Stories is a well put together game and is a must have for any GTA fan.

Also, check out the links on the right! All you need to know about psp, and a couple of coool sites hahaha. Tagboard coming up, upon jiakai's request..

The Sims 2 Castaway

2008-01-18T22:32:00.000+08:00

Huichuan suggested that we (me and yuwei) can buy Wii so we can exercise while gaming, since all we do is game muhahaha. Ok we'll do it, when we get that desparate.. I'll jus stick to psp for now. My HotBod plan will never come true boo hoo hoo..

I've always enjoyed controling pple's life and dictating wat shld/shld not be done. and hence Sims has always been one of my favourite games. Played a little of Sims Pets but not very fun. So moved on to Sims 2 Castaway =) The basic principle of the game is that you are castaway on an island. You'll have to try to discover the other islands arnd, so that you can escape and tell the story of your amazing adventures.

The game starts with creating the characters/crew on board; as usual, it's pretty bland choosing hairstyle, clothes (which they are going to lose soon), names (the same old Newbie or Goth) etc. The adventure begins on a very simply named beach called First Beach, and you know the meaning behind it. In fact, every single part of the maps has a dead simple reason connected to it. The game has a basic story, to survive, and the books provide more of one, but how you play the game is up to you. Your first step away from the beach is in the brambles towards the forest, which rips you clothes, and the tears look incredible, along with hair miracously growing while going through brambles. Sims pick many berries/veges/fruits to live, as well as gather many many drift/hard/soft wood for shelter. Befriending the chimps on the islands increases social rating fly and speeds up gathering process. Don't try to look for the rest of the crewmate on the first island, i tried, but to no avail. (probably because I only have 2 other crew mates =\) There is an incredible amount of stuff to do on the islands (three islands in all), such as building rafts or canoes to get to all islands. And you can flick back to any island as easy as a boat. Neither storm nor fire will destroy you boat, which is very good if you don’t want to waste resources re-building them though. And to increase mechanical skill (the most tedious part), you will have to craft many many things and light the fire many many times. It will be good to start your Sim as a doctor or mechanic..

The biggest difference between this and other Sims games is that players have to construct everything their Sims desire or need. Money is nonexistent in the game, forcing players to search for and gather the actual materials that are needed to make everything. If you want a bed or a shower, you had better be ready to chop down some bamboo, trees, vines, and everything else you might need in real life. There are no frame rate issues; it isn’t the fastest frame rate of the Sims games yet, although it is a very steady one. The load times are very short and decorative as well, no loading time apart from start up times, should last more than 15 seconds.

The biggest complaint with the game is how boring and repetitive the Sims' action animations can be. We will have to wait while your Sims perform each of their given tasks before moving on to assign another task. Watching your Sims construct an item or hack a tree has a certain novelty to it the first time you see it, but becomes tedious as you do it over and over. Ohwells, there are always pros and cons to everything.

If you need a game walkthrough or strategy guide, it's here.

Jiakai's leaving for Paris in 3 days' time! Met up many many many times with her over the week, since we're common frens in different cliques hah. Dear khaiqing is already in Bristol and dear gracie macie already in somewhere in Sweden (i forgot where exactly, opsy). Yup, both nicely settled. I miss my frens! they're so far away frm me. not that we meet up very often, but the feeling of them being far away for SOOooo long (6 mths is long k).. wierd =\ Anyway i have clocks to track the their timezone! Everyone can go checkout clocklink.com, they have really cool designs..

Have fun and be well, friends! =)

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars

2008-01-15T00:02:00.000+08:00

I finally get to play network-ed games on psp. We tried our best on DJ Max2 but due to the limited ability, we can only play songs that are below lvl 5, which is like abt 6 songs? hahahha.. too lousy. I'm glad yuqin got her console now, during our slack semester haha. more network gaming coming up!

Tried Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars. You can choose to play Crazy Taxi or Crazy Taxi 2. Haven tried 2 before but 1 was exactly the same as the PC one. I guess 2's the same as 2 on PC ba. The goal is to control one of four different cabbies and drive around the city picking up customers and getting them to their desired location. The more knowledge you have of the streets, the faster you can get your passenger to their destination, and the more you can earn. Speed plays a big factor. Also, the more crazy combos (drifting, jumping, squeezing between vehicles on the streets) you make, the more your passengers enjoy themselves, the fatter their tips. You can even steal passengers from other cabbies by bumping your opponent's car creating chaotic competition on the road! Navigating through traffic, hills, and obstacles isn't easy; it reallie takes a skilled cabbie with no fear to earn the big bucks.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars offers a few different single player modes, including the mission-based arcade mode (where good drivers earn time bonuses), and time trial mode (where drivers collect the highest fares possible in the time allowed). There is also training modes where drivers can record and save game-play replays of their driving performance in Crazy Taxi 2. Overall what you get with this title is a good old classic game. The graphics and controls are not cutting it in this day but it doesn't reallie affect the game. If you were a fan of the original then you will enjoy this game, like I do.

DJ Max Portable 2

2008-01-13T15:05:00.000+08:00

I'm too lousy to handle the dropping bars in DJ Max Portable 2 alone with only 2 hands, so I've been playing the game either together with yuqin or hang, you know, each taking a few buttons muahhaha. I dunno wat's the difference between DJ Max and DJ Max Poratble, or DJ Max 1 and 2. Probably jus different songs huh..

Take the position as DJ and attempt to hit the correct buttons (from 4-6 keys) at the right time to complete the song. With more than 50 tracks of different genres to choose from, every music game fan should find a tune of his taste. There are several options available too, such as speed & fader adjustment, mirror mode selection and more. After completion of a song, you will receive a summary of your performance, including a combo & break counter, rating and score. New tracks and items can be unlocked as you progress in level. Special missions link 3 songs together and you'll have to hit a certain score, or maintain a certain % of accuracy to pass the missions. Haven tried the network battle mode, waiting for yuqin's psp to arrive on MONDAY! yay~

Overall, the game's quite kinetic and rather forgiving for early or late button presses. But those seeking out a challenge need not worry as well; the game is definitely hard enough. In fact, even on the easiest of difficulty settings, the game mounts incredible pressure on the player, with multiple bars scrolling down at once that become hard to keep track of.

Button mashings are not an option as it will only ruin your enjoyment of the song. Unlike some music-based games, each button in the game plays the sound of the notes and button mashings will create distorted flows of the songs and it will only end up ruining the song, though it's still possible to pass the stage itself. Still, it's not just play to get a rank, but to feel and play along with a song.

Diner Dash

2008-01-11T14:36:00.000+08:00

Been playing Diner Dash, kindly sponsored by yuqin. There's been qte alot of different versions arnd by now (Diner Dash 2, Diner Dash 3, Diner Dash Hometown Hero etc.) but yuqin only managed to get the very very first version of diner dash. Well, better than nothing. And it's only for less than 10 bucks.

The game is about Flo, a former stock-broker, building her new diner career. The flow of the game is rather simple; customers enter, you seat them at appropriate tables, take their order, bring them their food, take them their check, and finally clear the table. Happy customers, indicated by the length of the row of hearts, earns you more tips, which means more equipment, and eventually, more restaurants.
Customers wear different coloured outfits. To earn bonus points, you need to sit a new customer dressed in the same colour as the previous customer over the empty slots, so increase customers' happiness.

First part of the game was ok, but after level 2, the challenge increases significantly through a series of new game wrinkles. You will have to juggle a lot while serving customers. Customers don't like to wait for anything and you'll have to give them a free drinks to buy a little extra time before the row of hearts dissappear one by one. The queue gets longer and longer; you will have to stand at a podium near the queue to keep customers happy. By level 5, customers can ask for different snacks when looking at menu or dining, and Flo needed an extra pair of hands to handle them.

The game g0t frustrating when I was a little stuck at level 2-10, 3-4, and now 5-6. I'm still stuck at 5-6. The queue is ridiculous, and i'm suppose to "find the right rhythm" to serve them cos they appear in batches. But the customers dine at different speed! Will find the "right rhythm" soon =\ Then i can complete the game, return it to yuqin, and start mugging.

Spongebob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger

2008-01-10T11:53:00.000+08:00

Hello. This is my first entry. Today is my birthday, how boring. I'm another year older *screams and freaks out*

I dunno wat's going on in 304 seminar and 306 lecture. The seminar sounds like 205 and i dunno if i shld be glad the fierce-and-like-to-anyhow-arrow-pple lecturer is not teaching this sem anymore. I bet he got complains for shouting and scolding in lectures. The new lecturer is supposedly "very nice", but cant teach. So hard to satisfy everyone. Like how they changed the shuttle bus routes in school 4 times since when i'm year 1.

Anyways, i recently completed spongebob squarepants: the yellow avenger on psp. Looks childish at first, but reallie qte fun haha. It's about spongebob trying to remove the dirty bubbles in bikini bottom cos the superheros were too old to do so (I know, sounds lame). Plenty of things to jump onto and plenty of quests to complete.

The citizens run arnd with red bubbles flying about their heads and jumping on them knocks off the bubbles, but if they hit you you'll lose a bit of life in the process. Even better, the citizens will all be back if you leave an area and come back to it. So expect to be jumping on heads by the hundreds. And then there's the squeezing of jellyfish jelly that you can store for extra game life. I'm not exactly good in controlling spongebob arnd, gotta squeeze every single jellyfish i see. There's also plenty of floating bottles, moving platforms, and conveyor belts to jump on. It's all abt jumping arnd =\

There's lots and lots and lots of backtracking involved in the quests and much of it can't be skipped. Qte a few new areas are opened up by super powers that SpongeBob picks up along the way and these are the more interesting parts since each power is started on a special pad on the grnd and activates for only a limited time. But still, way too much of the time SpongeBob's being the errand boy and most of the game is running back and forth to find every knickknack and doodad that others have lost.

The biggest challenge is in figuring out where the quest items are. The game rarely gives many clues and i'm not exactly a fan of the cartoon to *lightbulb lights above head* come up with an idea of where someone's house or job is. Yes, once again, i cheated a searched for game walkthru online. Even though it got reallie boring towards to end when i had to go back to the same few places all over again but still, jus cant leave an incomplete game lying there.

I nv knew the characters in spongebob cartoon before this. I think i can name 90% of them all now. And it's amazing how the game looks exactly like the cartoon, even the homes! Like sandy's home, a big jar with green grass and an exercise wheel hahaha. And this game got yuqin gian on psp. Her red psp slim's on the way, subject to jingwan's approval.