Tuesday, 18 February 2003

WinAmp Now Playing ~ Only The Young by Paul Young

Good day, and may the birds sing when you wake up every morning! It's been a while I last update my outstandingly modest blog. I almost didn't want to continue with this as almost gone were my days of enthusiastic blogging and the divine inspiration by looking at the bright white moon up in the dark night sky. But I believe I can still blog while the touch of flame is still there inside me, and so here it is.

Chinese New Year fever has already past and I hate to hear it's over now and to wait for next year. Always been a groovy mood during CNY till the 15th day. So as the festive season is already over, now it's time to get on to my life as a late-20something city lifer but with the knack to enjoy life whenever I could and practice a decent sporty way of life. I could just eat, eat and eat but struggling to gain a single kilo of weight. Chocolates and cookies, cereals and bread, these are my favourite snacks for my late nights, and I tell ya...I could easily make fat people feel jealous of me for this!:)

Two weeks ago I was heads over heels on MMOGs, and now I am already hacking giant ants and zombies off in Helbreath. Such a modest game design and yet addictive to many players. I was hoping for Ragnarok to be up for international players and not just for Koreans and Japanese:( As for books for bedtime reading, I dug through my sister's collection and found GS Mikami. Now reading it at volume 9 and there's about 9 more books to go. Also rereading Melanie Rawn's The Dragon Prince, which I believe her books are one of the most underrated fiction fantasy novels in the world. Her ideas and theories of magic powers were simply unique! Heard of using magic via sunlight, moonlight and starlight? And one noteworthy thing about her books; they are so hard to find in bookstores these days, perhaps if lucky, just 1 or 2 of her books and that's it.

I happened to catch half a loaf of Extended Play on its website and found out that they gave Guilty Gear XX a perfect 5 out of 5!

Tuesday, 4 February 2003

WinAmp Now Playing ~ Besaid Island (Final Fantasy X soundtrack)

Time flew by real fast, and it's already the 4th day of CNY. I got a little hooked on a trend that has been going on for some time, which I was aware but never really took serious about it until lately, the Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG)! This was something I delved into since my college days when they were onced called MUD (Multi-User Domain), and everything was text-based. Now with MMOG, it's all like Diablo-esque hack n slash n even merchandising! I am talking about Ragnarok and particularly Helbreath, which has been making a strong wave in the Internet cafes in Malaysia. Previously free of charge but now it's pay-to-play (P2P). Oh, why I seemed to like something at the wrong time? But after checking out some websites, the fees aren't too expensive anyway if you consider spending RM10 a week to play CS with ur frens at the cafes is reasonable. The P2P concept is around RM40-ish per month of unlimited access for most MMOGs (Ragnarok is RM49). Someone who has been or had played MMOG, please do post your experience or comments at the Tag Board.

Monday, 3 February 2003

WinAmp NOT Playing

What impression do I have for this year's CNY? Hmm, a kinda mixed feelings of joy and contentment. Haven't witness a lion dance yet or the sound of firecrackers being let off. It seemed like people play more fireworks during Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Deepavali than CNY! Oh, the traditional spirit of CNY is a little dying off ever since the government imposed ban on firecrackers and fireworks, but people still played them and though one couldn't really notice the display of fireworks on sale unless you know where to find them and going thru the proper channel. I dare to say if I were to burn some crackers, I could just feel my instinct driving me to the location to look for them :)

A few friends were supposed to come over to my place for CNY but they were still in kampung or got tied up with things. No worries, I have set this coming Saturday to be 'come to my place for CNY' day. When night fell, so did rain, but it only drizzled around my home unlike KL and PJ where some friends told me it was r aining like cats and dogs. I sms two friends for late night yum cha and Counterstrike but only 1 turned up and since he didn't have transport, I took him up at his Kepong home with my Waja Economy class. And boy my perception of CNY immediately changed the moment I arrived at Jalan Taman Bukit Maluri in Kepong. Rails of Chinese red lanterns (tanglung) hung along the street and some others in a romantic fashion, and as if somebody had known my arrival and let off some loud fireworks off the sky. This is what CNY environment ought to be! Picked up my friend at around 10.40 pm and arrived at Restoran Syed Abu in Damansara Jaya. It's still lotsa people but the big tv mounted at a corner of the restaurant wasn't working, which reminded me of the World Cup quarter-final match between England and Brazil that I watched with my friends at that time. Then, off we went to a nearby Internet cafe for some CS action until our eyes were half-closed, and later took early breakfast at another nearby food outlet before going home.