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Seems like I've not been blogging as much anymore. Well it's mostly because I've been on Quora more.

I get the emotional catharsis while having a respected audience there. And that feels good for once, to be acknowledged as a flawed person. I dunno. I'm rambling a little while watching The Last King of Scotland.

Still jarred by that one scene at the hospital, in the show. Not gonna spoil it, but I will probably be scarred for the next few weeks.

Either way, I'm already looking forward to the three-day weekend (Labour Day is on a Sunday) and for next weekend's World Youth Jazz Festival. Gotta love my prioritization.

posted from Bloggeroid

Effort

This has bothered me for a while now. It's about time for me to want to put it out there.

Many people, family, friends, colleagues, whatever, tend to ask the same question upon learning that I did my Bachelor's Degree in The United States of America:

"Why didn't you just work in The States?"

Seems harmless, but the implications are so infuriating. Oh, here comes the rant.

Why didn't YOU work at The States yourself, if you thought it was that easy? I don't see you complaining for not being able to ply your trade over there. What, you think just because you want to work there means you're entitled to a job there as well? You think I didn't realise that opportunity, that I didn't give a rat's ass of remotely trying to get a job there?

I applied for 104 jobs. One hundred and four fucking jobs. I got 3 interviews out of the lot, and that's already a good number for most International students. Out of that, I had a single job offer, with a Fortune 500 company.

I worked hard to get there. I busted my ass time and time again, even when I didn't need to or shouldn't have to. So you can sod off with your harmlessly condescending question.

Let me set this straight. I am much more qualified that most of the fresh grads out there, and that's not because I'm cocky. I know for a fact that I am because I toiled to realize my ability and potential. Don't you be thinking that I couldn't get a job there. I did.

And it's shitty that I had to turn it down. It's gut wrenching. It's depressing. And I've had my grovel about it, and I won't let that weigh me down. Not anymore.

So why am I upset by it? Is it due to my missed opportunity at working with one of the biggest companies in my industry? Perhaps it's down to the fact that I can't justify my involvement in all those philanthropic work over my college years?

Or mainly because, I fucked up my best chance of working there. Ever.

Either way, that was the card I've been dealt. Now I need to reassess, and bounce back. Just you wait until I get better.

That, I can be bullish about. Rant over.

posted from Bloggeroid

Tumblers

Having recently watched a super-informative video on how to pick a lock, I was inspired to try and learn how to do so.

I figured that it was a useful skill to have. But I have no Bobby pins, nor a practice lock. Oh well then, I guess I can try it out on a simpler lock first.

I made myself the two-part lock pick by breaking apart two paperclips at my workspace. Although they aren't as sturdy as Bobby pins, they should still work on simpler locks which require less tension to twist.

I'll probably try some of the locks back home when I return this weekend. The padlock at the hostel is way too heavy and intricate.

Here's to another side project to feed my eccentricity.

posted from Bloggeroid

Tactics

Well, work has been slightly more fun now, since the external audit is over.  The Microbiology team and I are working on a new in-house method to reduce expenses for one of our products.  Hopefully it will turn out right on the first try, and I'll only know for sure on the coming week.

I've also come to the realization (well... for the past few weeks) that I'm currently living in my physical prime.  That's crazy!  As such, I've been slowly incorporating some exercise into my daily routine.  I say "slowly" because as of now, it's a weekly routine.  It's mainly doing star-jumps, high knees jogging and burpees.  I'm trying to develop my own weight training regime to predominantly work on cardio.  Consider it a side project, as running is tough to manage around my hostel, and futsal is very inconveniently timed.

Anyway, that's a minor update of work and life.  I'm mainly here to talk about XCOM 2.  Yes!  Here comes my second review of the year!  Honestly, I'm running out of interesting games/movies to consume as I just finished said game, and Marvel's Daredevil Season 2 (which was above average, review not included).

Back to the game, one of its selling points was the added feature of character customization.  I quickly poured hours into it, revamping my squad to resemble my closest friends.  While it isn't the most comprehensive customization tool out there, it does the job in somewhat resembling the people I have in mind.  By the way, I loved the idea of editing their nicknames (although they had to be a certain rank to get them).

Many improvements were made from its predecessor, and the alien unit designs were unique and terrifying.  XCOM 2 carries over its tightrope tactical feel, with every move feeling like a tense roll of the dice.  Sometimes your elaborately planned move could flounder tremendously, and with the same token, executed with near flawless beauty.  There are still some minor problems from the game which did snare my gaming experience a little.

My gripe was the problematic camera angles when it comes to elevation, as one wrong click could send your unit to a completely different tier of a building, to an unintended location.  Another problem was the amount of bugs in the game, like having a unit fire with his/her back towards an enemy, or having random appendages protruding through walls.  Furthermore, the Psi Warrior class (revealed in the later stages of the game) can be overpowering even if they're trained with only half the Psi skills.  Like... unfairly omnipotent.  

Lastly, the endgame sequence was rather underwhelming.  I recall having hair-pulling, teeth grinding deliberations when doing the final mission of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (or the expansion, Enemy Within), with every turn growing increasingly harder as the final boss was just that powerful.  That wasn't the same case with XCOM 2.  Don't get me wrong, it was tricky, but just didn't feel as dreadful as the first one (and it honestly wasn't due to my preparedness).

I was also confused by the lack of an alien offensive towards The Resistance.  For a guerrilla-like outfit turned symbol of humanity's hope as the game progressed, my ship and its crew were never threatened by idea of an entire army of aliens hunting us down.  There was no fightback.  The aliens were just waiting to respond to the next supply raid or facility attack, while fiddling with their confusingly-numbered digits as I trained up my squad.  That didn't make sense.

I ended the campaign with quite a number of casualties.  Believe you me, I had to reload numerous times to try and save them from their impending fate, but I grew tired towards the end and resorted to damage control instead.  Here's the full list of "deaths".

Adli (and later Kevin) got shot because they went all gung-ho, Savannah got killed because Hanan panicked, Yen Fei got knocked off a ledge for doing absolutely nothing wrong, Yan Yao was ganged up for no reason, Atia met her maker because she helped Fang instead of saving herself.  Hanan was KIA shortly after that, and Naufal had a very bad stroke of luck. Yan Chee was poisoned and Pauline blew up. Life... 

Due to some bugs, Joyce and Suzanne were permanently "injured" and can't be recalled into the squad.

The entire squad roster included: 

Ranger

- Fang Hao (Fangerz) Lim

- Devinia (Sunshine) Owen Devan

- Joyce (Jozelano) Wong

- Gaby (Maple) Choo

- Savannah (Savvy P) Putnam (KIA)

- Hanan (Akana) As'ad (KIA)

- Yan Chee (Pickle&Fig) Chong (KIA)

Specialist

- Sabrina (Yama) Jamaludin

- Jordan (JDogg) Larson

- Gayithiri (Shasta) Kunathasan

- Suzanne (Zak) Chan

- Yan Yao (Prastic) Chan (KIA)

Grenadier

- Danny (Playa) Obermiller

- Danny (Fenix) Voon

- Allen (B2) Robles

- Kevin (Kable) Chuah (KIA)

- Roger (RaticatEX) Ng (KIA)

Sharpshooter

- Chin (Benchwarmer) Jitki

- Juana (Bengal) Castelli

- Justin (Reus) Oon

- Yen Fei (Boss) Chung (KIA)

- Naufal (Rainman) Razin (KIA)

Psi Warrior

- Zhe Xu (Warurr) Oeh

- Celine (B1) Robles

Unranked

- Atia Zainal (KIA)

- Adli Shah (KIA)

- Pauline Tan (KIA)

I'm doing another playthrough on the second-hardest "Veteran" difficulty setting, but there doesn't feel like a lot of replayability value offline.  We'll see if I am crazy enough to go on the hardest difficulty setting.

Regardless, I love what Fireaxis has done with the XCOM reboot and will look forward to XCOM 3, or whatever it's called.

Sooner or Later - N.E.R.D.

Allure

There's this... Draw that you have. It's just... So fascinating to me. Crazy as it sounds, I think I would like to date you. Or at least... Attempt to.

You, and all your obvious eccentricity and craziness. I find that chaos somewhat calming. Perhaps because it's the polar opposite to my current mellowed state.

Shame that we're at least three continents apart.

I need to sleep. I'm obviously spouting dribble from a random shower thought.

Regardless, you're still ridiculously cute (that extends to you, fellow reader). Goodnight, now.

posted from Bloggeroid

Make

Sometimes I wonder why people can't be more like me.

Did that sentence make me sound like a I've some delusion of grandeur? Okay, then.

What boggles my mind is how people don't make time for others as much as I do. Oh, this is part rant, part self-loathing. So bye now, audience.

Sure, everyone has different priorities and it varies from person to person. Unfortunately I set myself up for disappointment. When people make effort to meet up, at least write back.

Make time for others when time is still an interchangeable currency to your youth. Because I'll definitely be tight on expenditure once I'm older. And some people won't make that list, arguably.

I hate being strung up and led on. Even more so if one makes false promises.

posted from Bloggeroid