Portal 2

I don't usually write about games so when you see me writing one, you can be darned sure that it's a good piece worthy of my ever-packed schedule and effort.

These days, most PC games come in a package of deemed-as-must-have-features: High-definition graphical rendition, adrenaline-pumping actions, explosions everywhere that would put Michael Bay to shame, damsels in revealing clothes distress and mind-boggling titles such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age, just to name a few. Both installments of Portal are none of these. Heck, even the title itself is pretty lame and boring. Portal? Meh~

I admit that I'm guilty of being an extreme cheapskate. I got my first taste of Portal when Steam gave it for free in conjunction with the release of Steam for Mac. Well, you don't expect me to pay for a game which even the developer themselves were not confident of selling well, do you? A year later, I received Portal 2 - also for free - by joining an ARG (alternate reality game) which I must say, was very well-written by fellow lowyat.net forum moderator, frags. I won it, so yes, I'm absolutely positive that it's a well written article, no denying that. ;)

Joke aside, allow me to brief you through on what Portal is all about. The premise is simple. You're a test subject who was being jolted awake from deep stasis sleep to run some experiments, all in the name of science. No no no... throw the Bunsen burners and all those secondary school's chemistry class peripherals out of your mind. The aforementioned science experiments involve you making your way from Point A to Point B which sounds pretty simple, except for the various obstacles in between that would not hesitate to remind you that you're no God. However, thanks to the portal gun, you're one step closer.


Point B = exit.

The portal gun is able to open 2 portals, a blue and an orange. Enter the blue portal and you will emerge out from the orange portal. The same goes the other way.


Need a mirror? Shoot yourself a pair of portals at perpendicular walls.

As you delve deeper into the Aperture Laboratories, you will come to learn on how the portals can be abused to propel you to unreachable heights and distances.


Thanks to Newton for gravity.

Plot-wise, Portal 2 picks up from where Portal ends and apart from introducing a whole lot of new mechanisms, the staggering jump in price is evident enough to reflect the game's successful transition from a mere experiment in the first installment to a full-blown game in Portal 2. This in turn echoes the developer's new-found confidence in not only fulfilling, but to surpass the expectation that has been levied by Portal fans worldwide!

I'm not entirely sure what others seek or feel when they play Portals but personally, I was able to relate the games' puzzles to my daily real life. In each of the chambers, it has been made clear to us that there is only 1 exit and we have all the equipments required to get us there. In short, we're totally aware that all the puzzles are perfectly solvable and the only thing preventing us from walking through that door across the room was the lack of solution or the know-hows. Just like in real life, we encounter complex problems all the time and when it comes to that, we either spend quite some time solving it or give it up altogether. It can't be helped as more often than not, there is no clue on whether we have the necessary hardware or skill-sets to take us through. In fact, we don't even know how many exit points do we have or worse, perhaps there was none at all? This is the very reason I don't look for walkthroughs whenever I was stuck in some chambers for hours. If I couldn't solve these puzzles with such big handicaps, I'm pretty sure my future would be nothing short of bleak.

-sigh-

Anyway, that was just me and myself. If you happen to stumble upon this entry based on the 2 piece of clues that I planted in the lowyat.net forum, give yourself a pat on your back and treat yourself to a piece of this delicious and moist cake.


And yes, I'm afraid that the cake IS a lie.

As a token of gratitude to fellow forum members who has showered me with support and also to commemorate my success in attaining the Safe Trader tag, I'm giving away a copy of Portal (not Portal 2!) to the first person who repost the URL that brought him / her here, in the forum thread where the clues were found. Remember, nothing but the URL or else your attempt will be forfeited!

To be fair to readers who frequented this blog of mine as well, I shall post another set of clues below and just like the above scenario, go to the URL and post the same there. If you have owned a copy of Portal, I shall leave the decision to you on whether to withdraw or keep / pass the game to someone else. To avoid any misinterpretation, I need to stress that I only have a copy for reward, not 2.


Clue #1.


Clue #2.

As a curtain closer, please enjoy this beautiful song and I sincerely hope that you'll enjoy the game as much as I do. :)

Standard Four

Today marks the first day of the tenth year we've been together. Ten years are not short and if someone were to tell you that ten years are just a blink of an eye away, please feel free to pummel him into a pulp for me.

Like all couples out there, we've been through a lot. The road we've treaded on together for the past decade is full of obstacles but we endured. We prevailed. Friedrich Nietzsche once said "What does not kill me, makes me stronger" and I couldn't agree more.

For the first few years, we had to keep our relationship a secret. I would wake up in the ungodly hours and ran out to the main road just to catch a glimpse of waifu waiting for her school bus. To the other girls across the road, I may looked like an idiot. Waifu couldn't acknowledge my presence by waving her hand or anything but her smile certainly made me a happy idiot. From a blue pinafore to a blue skirt, these were our good mornings to each another.


The first time we were photographed together.

We seldom got to go out together. For the few times we managed to sneak out, we had to avoid the crowd and keep it low. Shopping complexes were a big no-no and they were too noisy anyway. We needed somewhere quiet to talk, to open up to each another.


Large boulders make good couple seats.

Initially, we tried hiking. It was fun but tiring and time consuming. By the time we found ourselves a good spot, the sun was almost up in its glory. Lulled by the cool hill breeze, waifu soon drifted into her own dreamworld, pillowing on my shoulder. The sun was not letting up and being the gentleman, I shielded her with an umbrella, only to suffer from sore shoulders for the rest of the week. To see her snuggly sleeping face up close, that was indeed priceless!

We then tried the beach and it remained our most favourite rendezvous for many years to come.


I build and she demolishes sandcastles.


Dancing in the shades.

Neither of us can afford a camera so we pooled our savings and once we had accumulated enough, we bought ourselves a single-use camera. Even though the quality was laughable - the body itself was made out of cardboard - the photos it captured held a lot of memory for the both of us.


Our first picture perfect came from the very last film frame.

Ahh... reminiscing the good old days sure feel good, eh? I can go on forever but I have to put a stop here or else I shall have nothing to write when we hit another decade later. :D Anyway, waifu just gave me a humongous surprise two weeks back.


A platinum ring to pair with the solitaire ring that I proposed her with.

Judging from the width of the ring, I'm pretty sure it cost her a bomb and being the kind that appreciates financial stability more than anything, she must have hesitated for some time before taking such a big leap of faith. It was something so unexpected that my face almost went BSOD.

And did I mention that the ring was of the right size and required no further alteration? Awesome!

I guess I'm not too bad either. Among the many things I pride myself in, one of them would be to correctly guess the right shirt size for waifu without having her around to test them out.


A Hush Puppy baby tee...


... and a matching box.

Mind you, it wasn't easy for me to go around hunting for these gifts. I was literally fidgetting all over the place before I finally came out like Mr. Parker below:



Happy 10th Anniversary WAIFU!

I look forward to the many years and decades to come. :)

Are you retarded? Common senseless

It has been a while since I last scribbled something here but I'm afraid I'm going to start off the very first entry of 2011 in an extremely negative light. Before you read any further, I'm warning you, this is a rant entry so go no further if you don't want to spoil your good mood. If you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, do feel free to compare your experience with mine and leave me a comment or two if it somehow made you feel any better, knowing that I had smellier shit smeared on my face or the other way around.

Ahh January! The month where everything starts anew and what better way to go about it than being promoted to a new job position? Old colleagues were all smileys with congratulations being uttered here and there, only to be replied by a sheepish thank you from yours truly. Hmm... what did you say? Treat you guys to a meal? Oh sure, why not since Chinese New Year is just around the corner and we really should have a pleasant dinner together, in the hope that some of my good fortune will rub off on those deserving of luck.

Nevermind the fact that my new salary is actually lower compared to my previous position's salary plus overtime. Also nevermind the fact that you guys kept insinuating and harping about my new salary, even though at the back of my mind, I'm pretty much aware of how much higher some of you actually went *ka-ching* at the end of each month. They're all done in good jest and I can accept that but tell me; WHY THE F*CK did you have to complain about the restaurant that I suggested in front of the very person whom I actually hold in high regard but didn't dare to invite - because he was not exactly in the same team as we were?! Can't you pry your eyes open a little wider and take a look at the list of email recipients before you open that foul mouth of yours? Announce all you want about how sky-rocketing high my new salary is but please understand that I can't invite everyone I wanted to as I still have mouths to feed, loans plus bills to pay off and not to forget, a wedding to plan. If I was given the liberty to enlist a group of colleagues who had been influential to my ascension, you can be darned sure that you are nowhere to be seen at least 100 kilometers away. Well, perhaps with luck, you would stumble upon the common sense that you've dropped approximately 97 kilometers away... minimum.

I know I used to come from the same team as you guys, therefore it's easier to have me step into your shoes and understand the predicaments you're facing from your very own perspective. We were and are still friends, right? But why oh why can't you do the same and understand my limitations? I'm on training but you're insisting to have me assigned for your escalation cases. Oh sure I can do that, just got to sacrifice some of my training time and what do I have in my inbox? You dumped me the whole logs, pretty much untouched without any analysis and with all the curls nicely done too. Yes, shit has always been depicted with a spiraling curl to the top, no? So now I'm just a tool to pass the shit onto when you have no idea what's going on with your cases? One of these days, I really have to borrow your dictionary and flip around to check for your definition of friend, friend!

Next, the person who always did things 180° from what I requested and yet, had the nerve and audacity to claim that I requested him to do what he did...

-sigh-

I think I'll stop here. Writing about these common senseless people only serve to make me feel retarded myself. Like what Stephen King wrote in the Dreamcatcher, SSDD.

Same shit, different day.

Mobile Phone: Liability Or Necessity?

It's a wonder how much we're relying on our mobile phones these days. Approximately a decade ago, it was something that I deemed as an icon for the rich and wealthy, no thanks to those Hong Kong films back then where the filthy rich were always portrayed with a big fat ass 大哥大. Fast forward a few years down the road, I think it's no longer an exaggeration to claim that all the people I know today own at least one mobile phone. In fact, when I went to Singapore for the first time last month, I was pretty shocked to see every single young commuters in the MRT had their eyes totally glued to their mobile phone display, either playing games, chatting or listening to songs. Physical communication was almost non-existent, save for the aged uncles and aunties of course.

Singapore is just around 2 hours away but with such a stark contrast between them and us here on how we utilize the mobile phone, I really can't fathom what to expect if I were to visit Japan - the land of the weird and bizarre - in the near future. Slurping ramen out from the mobile phone display, anyone?

I accidentally left my mobile phone charger in the office last Friday and my antique Nokia 6600's battery went flat on me a day later. Even though I do have a cordless phone at home - which I've been subconsciously trying to fit into my jeans pocket one time too many - it really struck me on how much I've been dependent on my mobile phone. Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia 6600 has very limited features and I only use it mainly for calls, SMS, recording daily expenses... and alarm.

Yes, I'm one of the cheapskates who refused to wear a watch or get myself an alarm clock. Nice to meet you.

-sigh-

It was not until Sunday evening when I realized that I had nothing to wake me up on Monday morning at 5.30am. Well, of course I could hit the bunk early but I would need a better insurance policy so I turned to waifu, who agreed right off the bat. For the record, we don't stay together under the same roof so she would be giving my cordless phone a call as a replacement alarm.

Somehow or rather, I managed to get myself out of the bed on time and after numerous failed attempts to register her mobile phone with a missed call - to indicate that I was up and about - I left for office, hoping that she would miss her own 5.30am alarm.

Around 30 minutes later and within 3 seconds of powering up my mobile phone, the ringtone rang out loud. Waifu's name danced on the display.

She actually rang my cordless phone a few times until my father picked it up and told her that I've left the house. Not satisfied, she rushed 13-storeys down her flat, jumped into the car and drove to my house, all these in the ungodly hour of 5.45am with her mobile phone by her ear, trying to reach me as soon as I've got my mobile phone booted up. It was just barely a few hundred meters away from my flat when she managed to get hold of me.

To think that a person who appreciates sleep above everything else would do all these just to ensure that I was on time for work... DAMN YOU STUPID PHONE! If only your battery could sustain itself for 2 more days. I'm utterly speechless. Penning this down right on the spot was the best course of action I can think of to log this down as one of the many memorable moments in my life. :)

I'm quite sure you've read this line before: every cloud has a silver lining. It is always this kind of sticky situation that reveals to you how important or how big of an influence you are in the eyes of the others. All you're required to do is just to move a step or two and take a look at the situation again, this time from a different perspective.

Dearest waifu, I promise to sing you Dido's Thank You for the rest of my life. <3