Saturday, June 24, 2006

Life's simple pleasures

Yet another meme. I feel very bored. >_>

Name 10 of life's simple pleasures that you like most, and then pick 10 people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.

In no particular order:

1. Walking against the wind (Windwalk >_>)
2. Stargazing
3. Lying in the grass
4. Singing in the rain
5. Watching others happy
6. Observing the little things
7. Looking up at the sky
8. A nice cup of tea
9. A good conversation
10. Hearing the silence

And people wonder why I don't talk that much. >_>

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Riezz and the Teacher

Student: Teacher, I have to ask for an extension to my work.

Teacher: But why? It is the June Holidays. Surely you must have had much time to have completed the work which was not much to begin with. (Surely, indeed, 20 is a small number you are perfectly capable of handling?)

Student: But ma'am, I have had activities for school, activities that take up time, activities that use up whatever remains of that which I must use for my work. Three weeks of the four I have been given are gone already, and that final is split into segments, segments ever so fragmented, just like my mind. Surely I cannot be expected to have such concentration to do my homework effectively in a day, and remember the ideas I plan out a week from now when my next temporal peace comes?

Teacher: Pure balderdash! Surely you must understand that I, as a teacher, am prone to far tighter schedules, far more unreasonable deadlines, far more stressful nights and days for me to complete my tasks. I am most certain that you are capable of doing the 20 that you have been given my me to complete in that one week you have for work.

Student: But the twenty you have given me has only been from you. Surely there are other teachers? Surely there is other work to be done? If other teachers had given as much work as you I may very well have more than a hundred pieces of work to pass up to everyone, teacher. Surely you are being somewhat unreasonable to ask of me to pass up my homework, knowing well that you have been the only teacher to give so much homework to the rest of the students? I still have other work, ma'am, and I doubt that I could finish your work alone during these so-called holidays with only 1 week of true peace inside, let alone carry the burden and stress placed upon me by other teachers.

Teacher: What does not kill you can only make you stronger, student. If there are ten more pieces of work given by other teachers you must merely complete them all, by hook or by crook. If there are twenty, do likewise. If there are thirty, do likewise. Do you not understand by this point? This cannot kill you. It can only make you stronger. You will understand that in time it is through acceptance and stress that one survives in our current world. My work is here to guide you through to that world, that one which you may very well consider more cruel than your current, but also one which I very well consider more realistic than your current.

Student: Ma'am, it may not kill us, but bringing us to the point that we may very choose so is not such a good choice either, is it? Even before the holidays have started we have all lamented at the huge amount of work you have placed upon us. Is that not an apparant sign that-

Teacher: Already you have admitted that you have had more time to carry out your work than you stated you had! You certainly did not just have these allegedly fragmented days to work, you had every hour after school, after clubs and CCAs, after UYO and drills, after remedials and tuitions, after gatherings and meetings, to carry out your work! Time is what you make of it. Surely you have procrastinated much. If you had spent every hour optimistically thinking that you could finish a part of the work and headed towards a goal instead of instantly crying in defeat and asking for an easier opponent or challenge, you may very well not be complaining or lamenting in front of me right now. Tell me, what have you done during these breaks apart from doing homework?

Student: Well, I have been going out to the arcade with my friends, going out to watch movies with them, going out to the local LAN centre to play DotA with them, and maybe head to the badminton court at times too...

Teacher: Then student, are these not recreational activities that are not embraced nor needed within our work ethics? Surely you could have spent this time doing homework instead. Holidays are holidays, but one must complete the work set out for him in that time as well.

Student: Ma'am, one must complete the work set out for him during the holidays, but before that the holidays must be holidays first! Surely you jest when you say that this time I spend for my precious friendships should be forgone and forfeited, instead using said time for meaningless work that makes me nothing but a more efficient worker in tomorrow's society? I still care for my friends, ma'am, and I still care for my holidays.

Teacher: What is this 'friends' and 'holidays' that you so overly obsess about? Surely you understand by now that those are but euphemisms, synonyms for words which when used immature children like you would not tolerate nor accept. Your friends of today are only going to be your colleagues, workmates, fellow sufferees in this web of life, and nothing more. Your holidays will soon be non-existent, as they already are going to soon become. Treasure the time you have left not by having fun, for then it will fly and soon be gone. Treasure it instead by doing work, for then you will learn your lessons, spend your time slowly, and ready yourself up for tomorrow's challenges. You have not understood true stress, child. When you become an adult you will understand what stress is. And when you become an adult you will thank me for readying you for the stress you will face in the world. Do your work, student, or your holidays will end without any being done.

Student: If I do, ma'am, my holidays would have ended before it could begin. It has been too long since you have understood and felt what a holiday was like. You have been bound by these chains for too long and have forgotten what it felt like to fly.

Teacher: And I am afraid soon the case will be for you too. You must learn that you cannot hate the chains that bind you. It is only through Stockholm's that you will survive in the world. Embrace your stress, child, or you may never get the chance to do so.

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A simple question. Who would you embrace and sympathize with?

(Despite similarities, Teacher is not anyone. And if you think that Student is me, you are dreadfully wrong. Both are just creations. But somehow I doubt Mel nor Sis would get that >_>)

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Random meme

#1 Full name? Herrick Ong
#2 Name backwards? Gno Kcirreh. Uh.
#3 Were you named after anyone? Nope
#4 Meaning of name? Herrick: War-general or something like that. Zhi Ping: Peacekeeper. >_>
#5 Nickname? Self-given or other-given? >_> Demel Riezz Herr Demelong Hewwickysaurus (Ever courtesy of Darrell >_>)
#6 Screen name? Demel/Jokerus2001
#7 Date of birth? 1st Aug 1991
#8 Place of birth:? Kuanyewland
#9 Nationality? Kuanyewese
#10 Current location? Home
#11 Star sign? Leo. Saber ;_;
#12 Religion? Christian
#13 Height? 171-2 or so
#14 Weight? 60-61?
#15 Shoe size? 8.5
#16 Hair colour? Black
#17 Eye colour? Black/Dark brown. I don't note. Probably the former though >_>
#18 What do you look like? Me
#19 Innie or outie? Either
#20 Righty, lefty, or ambidextrous? Lefty
#21 Gay, straight, bi, or other? Straight
#22 Best friends? Might as well say group >_> Klow Kwong Jarr SZ Gid ZQ Mike JY at current thoughts. Maybe I forgot some >_>
#23 Best friend you trust the most? Not much to trust with in the first place
#24 Favourite pals: SZ Cleon Kwong Jarr
#25 Best friends of the opposite sex? Uh. Mel/Wensi >_> Si Jia/Hui Yun/Jia Yun (Actually everyone here's more of an acquaintance >_>)
#26 Best buddies? SZ Cleon Kwong
#27 Boyfriend or girlfriend? None
#28 Crush? None (What >_>)
#29 Parents? Both
#30 Worst enemy: None really.
#31 Favorite on-line guys? JY SZ Cleon
#32 Favorite on-line girls? Mel/Wensi >_>
#33 Funniest friend? More than enough
#34 Craziest friend? More than... wait, SZ
#35 Advice friend? More than enough
#36 Loudest friend? Gid / Zhang
#37 Person you cry with? Demel
#38 Any sisters? chgong >_>
#39 Any brothers? Gwin >_>
#40 Any pets? Kitty. Used to have alot more
#41 A disease? Left handedness doesn't count right
#42 A pager? No
#43 A personal phone line? No
#44 A cell phone? Yes
#45 A lava lamp? No
#46 A pool or hot tub? Not anymore
#47 A car? Toyota Camry 1.6 I believe. Not sure on the 1.6 part
#48 Personality? Uh, everything
#49 Driving? Meh. Daytonas only
#50 Car or one you want? Lamborghini Diablo/Murcielago
#51 Room? Fair enough
#52 What's missing? Me
#53 School? ACSI
#54 Bed? Single bed, matress. Used to have queen-size airbed, meh =#55 Relationship with your parents? Mom is good, Dad is meh
#56 Believe in yourself: Quite well
#57 Do you believe in love at first sight? Nope
#58 Consider yourself a good listener: Nope
#60 Get along with your parents? Somewhat
#61 Save your e-mail conversations? MSN Plus does it anyway
#62 Pray? Yeah
#63 Believe in reincarnation? Heaven
#64 Like to make fun of people? Hurt them at times, but yeah
#65 Like to talk on the phone? Despise
#66 Want to get married? Not sure
#67 Like to drive? Daytona >_>
#68 Get motion sickness? Nope
#69 Eat the stems of broccoli? Yeah
#70 Eat chicken fingers with a fork? Chicken fingers is?
#71 Dream in color? I'd like my dreams to be sepia, personally. But yeah colour
#72 Type with your fingers on home row? Yeah, but my thumbs aren't on spacebar
#73 Sleep with a stuffed animal? 60, and I can name almost all I've given names to >_>
#74 Right next to you? No one
#75 On the walls of your room? Slam Dunk poster, Air con, not much else
#76 On your mouse pad? Mouse >_>
#77 Your dream car? Lamborghini Diablo/Murcielago
#78 Your dream date? Any date that is peaceful and serene
#79 Your dream honeymoon spot? Multiple
#80 Your dream husband or wife? Dunno
#81 Your bedtime? 11.30-12 midnight
#82 Under your bed? Floor
#83 The single most important question? Why?
#84 Your bad time of the day? None in particular
#85 Your worst fears? Dislikes, but not many fears. Most are horror-related I guess.
#86 The weather is? Ever breezy
#87 The time? Midnight
#88 The date? 18 1/2 June
#89 The best trick you ever played on someone? None really
#90 The weirdest food or drink that you like? None in particular. I'm rather normal
#91 Theme song? Terra - FF9
#92 The hardest thing about growing up? Turning into an adult
#93 Your funniest experience? My existence suffice
#94 Your scariest moment? Seeing JK beat me at B4U Heavy
#95 The silliest thing you've said? Hmm
#96 The funniest or most desperate thing you've done to get the attention of the opposite sex? I replied to them when they said something
#97 The scariest thing that's ever happened while with your friend(s)? Saw JK play DDR
#98 The worst feeling in the world? Angst
#99 The best feeling in the world? Serenity
#100 5 people to do this quiz? Hmm

I wonder why I did that. Probably because I could. >_>

Saturday, June 17, 2006

3rd Week

偶然じゃない 二人出会えたのは
ずっと前から決まってた運命

目を閉じるたび 空を見上げるたび
幻ようなあの日々が蘇る
虹は進むたび遠くなる
だけど歩くよ このまま

私には見える君との明日が
君にもわかるよ いつだってそう
必ず守るよ 約束したから
悲しい時にはそばにいたいよ

偶然じゃない 二人出会えたのは
ずっと前から夢見てた運命

- Fate/Stay Night Final ED (Name not stated =\)

Just finished Fate/Stay Night It's definitely been a nice show to watch (<3 Ilya and Saber). And it's also a nice change from the immense retardedness of Suzumiya Haruhi (I can't take too much random at one shot. Which is also why I haven't started on book two of that Plue thingammo). The ending is very serene, something you never see when you play things like *ahem* Final Fantasy *ahem* Kingdom Hearts *ahem* Any darn game Squaresoft/Enix makes >_> It was much like Wild Arms 4 and Chrno Crusade in terms of the ending. Sad nonetheless ;_;

Still wondering about what anime to watch next. Haruhi is ending soon as well, so =\. Considering G-SEED Stargazer's a 3-ep series like Astray instead of an actual series, doubt that'd be any replacement. Maybe Eureka 7? Or maybe School Rumble 2, haha. Meh. Ll'think about that later.

Tsukihime the manga looks pretty nice. Certainly more gory than whatever I've been reading (Slightly worse than FMA/Flame of Recca), but just like what Cleon said, it's not deserving of the M18 rating. Oh well. Doubt I'd be able to read Book 2 nor 3 anytime soon.

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I've asked my mom whether she opposed to me learning about philosophy when I was in university. She was fine with it. That makes my father (Giving sis the benefit of the doubt as I don't talk to her much >_>) the sole member to actually oppose me in choosing philosophy as a course in university. With that in light I'm reconsidering whether to hold off persuing philo as a master's instead of taking it earlier. I mean, I don't know what conditions must be met for taking philo at master's level, and I can't be sure if I even get the chance to take anything at master's level. So now, what should I do? Heeding any advice from my father is not much of an option, considering that behaviour like his is what killed philosophy in the first place. It's like telling someone not to do something because no one else does it. And why does no one else do it? Because they were told not to do it. Someone has to bloody break the cycle one of these days.

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Term is starting again in one week. Damn, time really passes when you have camps. >_> Oh well, might as well relax for the chalet. Since I'm no person who likes to LAN I'm sure to have some free time off. Might as well do some work then haha. >_>

Ng Yew Hong is staying in ACSI till the end of the year. Pretty grateful for that. Klow however has not made any mention of this whatsoever and is continuing to angst. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. >_>

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Sam showed me the Student's NKJV Bible today. I commented that this could either be a very good book or a rather problematic one, and that the book might have problems on two issues. He told me to not question but rather accept. Then I told him if people did that, I'd be dead. He didn't get why, so I shook my left hand. He still didn't get it. >_>

Sometimes, Kwong, you shouldn't take things for granted. Had this been a few centuries past I wouldn't be here talking to you ;)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Committee Camp

Back from committee camp 2006. Definitely going to be the best camp I went for this year.

Since some of the stuff is confidential, I shall stick to the cooler stuff of the camp.

*Playing truth or uhh truth*
SZ: Sir what's your favourite pokemon
SZ: Sir what's your favourite digimon
Everyone else: SHUT UP LAH SHEU ZHI

*During TOC*
SZ: Assume 2-man formation!
Ming Hao, Lester, KWong assume 2-man formation except for SZ
SZ: Samula!
*They move back into position and then assume 2-man formation correctly*
SZ: Number 2 and 4, move past the obstacle!
Ming Hao and Lester: OK! *runs past obstacle and jumps around* No.1 what next?
SZ: Come back come back
SZ: Number 3, move past the obstacle!
Kevin: *Holding one end of the stretcher* I'm number 3!!!
Ming Hao and Lester: Number 3 go! Number 3 go!
SZ: Wait, Number 2 and 4 go support Kevin!
Ming Hao and Lester: KEVIN KEVIN ARE YOU ALRIGHT
J Ang, Swami and I: SZ, ask Number 2 and 4 to support Kevin's end of the stretcher
SZ: *Kena pressured by Ming Hao, Lester, Kwong and everyone around laughing at him*
SZ: TEAM LISTEN UP
Ming Hao and Lester: YES IC!
Us: *dies*

*Commanding*
KWong: SQUAD SEDIA!!!!!!!!!
Sirs: *nod* Go up
KWong: Yay, *skip skip skip*

(And yes you must hear him command. It's scary. He can actually do it. o_O)

K.Ho: Ezra, your turn
Ezra: BARIS, DAHAC SEDIA, SEDIA! 2-3-Up
K.Ho: Eh, don't do timing lah. Nevermind, go up. Herrick, your turn
Herrick: BARIS, DAHAC SEDIA, SEDIA! 2-3-Up
K.Ho: YOU STAY THERE!
Herrick: ;_;

K.Ho: Herrick, your turn again
Herrick: SQUAD, KEKANAN PUSING!...
K.Ho: Hey, that was pretty
Herrick: ...turn-check
K.Ho: YOU STAY THERE!
Herrick: ;_;

There are more, but they are generally confidential. >_>

I shall blog again soon; my body is still aching quite badly from camp.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Gaming and sianness

一人歩く道はてしなく長いけど
チャリンコなら三十分バスなら十五分

振り向けば Lonelines
振り向かなくても Loneliness
今友達募集中
恋人ならもっと Ok!

--> Puni Puni Densetsu Poi!

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And I am off from playing the cult game of Wild Arms 4 and gone back to playing more mainstream stuff or more obscure stuff. Enter Kingdom Hearts II and Touhou >_>

KHII is pretty fun so far, all the attacking comes off very stylistically. Prologue was teh lagz0rz though. >_> And Proud Mode is WAAAAAAY too easy. =
Touhou is immensely fun, but for some reason Klow thinks it's mad >_>

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I still have not completed my homework. I still have not STARTED on my homework. I still have not ATTEMPTED to start on my homework. I am lying in an immense aura of procrastination waiting for someone to pull me out. Meanwhile I lie on the bed playing KHII or just stoning, or am in front of the computer for unknown reasons. I am a total slacker.

I think I'm becoming more like my cat. >_>

Well, then again, seeing as how Kwong has only done his Fu Xis and not started on the 15-piece work, I guess that's slight comfort. >_>

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*Actually written on 11th July and not 9th July >_>*

AAAAAND once again I am leaving for another SJAB camp. How ever annoying. The previous one didn't leave much to like about (I dislike camps in general) and probably neither would this one. I'm just too much of a slacker to want to move myself outta this house and live in school for a few days >_>

At this rate I'll be blogging once next wednesday/thursday when I get back, and not again until sunday again, then leave for chalet. This is good, hahaha >_>

...argh. Just too sian to want to say anything at all. This sucks. >_>

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Post-NCOC

To Kwong: Haha this year's NCOC is so slack >_>
To SZ: Haha you missed campfire >_>

If you're wondering why I didn't decide to blog yesterday, meh. I'll explain later. 5am is an ungodly hour to work. >_>

NCOC was damn tiring, but damn worth it for the 2nd day. It's been some time since I actually did pumping in camp, lol. >_> But hey, who cares. 100 pumping isn't alot to worry about anyway.

First day was quite sian. Come in, get into barracks, learn firefighting and TOC (Which I've already done last year >_>) then some talk by Zone 4 Commisioner Eric Koh (It is inspiring somehow for me. I think I'm very weird. >_>)

After that some tiring footdrills, then eat dinner, then ZOMG NIGHTINGALE. Damn sian. Forgot how to treat a pelvic fracture (Heck couldn't even diagnose for pelvic fracture in the first place, Jone Lum had to do it for me. ;_; What the heck is the automedian or whatever he called it anyway o_O)

Then sleepz0rz.

Then 2nd day, pure ownage. Wake up, go for this immensely short hike. Meanwhile Ben Tan (Being one of my group instructors, w00t =) and I torture Jone Lum to death about mehmehs jumping over the wall and other associated lame tricks >_>

Ben Tan: bangbangbangbangbang who died
Jone Lum: You died!
Ben Tan: No you died
Jone Lum: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYy

Ben Tan: 3 mehmehs jumped over the wall 3 mehmehs jumped back. How many?
Jone Lum: 5!
Herr: No, 3 >_>
Jone Lum: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Ben Tan: 375268 mehmehs jumped over the wall 345309 mehmehs jumped back. How many mehmehs jumped over the wall?
Jone Lum: ZERO
Ben Tan: NO NINE
Jone Lum: NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Herr: 1/3 mehmehs jumped over the wall 1/4 mehmehs jumped back. How many jumped?
Jone Lum: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jone Lum: Eh, Herrick, can explain the mehmeh thing ornot? I really dun geddit leh.
Herr: cannot, otherwise Sir will pump me 600. >_>
Ben Tan: Eh Jone Lum wanna play black magic?
Jone Lum: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ben Tan: 3000 mehmehs jumped over the wall 340 mehmehs
Jone Lum: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ben Tan: okokok we try something else. bangbangbangbangbang who died
Jone Lum: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

We <3 mehmehs =)

Came back played games, and Ben Tan got owned by eggs lol >_>

After that we went sing song (Never do YOUR SIDE YOUR SIDE etc ;_;) Then go do some drills then take photo then, w00t, we went for campfire. SZ got owned becoz he left just before the campfire. >_>

Campfire was srsly ownage. Mass chicken dance ftw >_>

Then during admin time, went to bathe. Go into toilet cubicle, take tap fill up 1.5l waterbottle then wash over head. Rinse and repeat geddit arharhar. >_> Then went to sleep, and woke up again.

LAST DAY W00T.

Area cleaning sux >_>

Proceeded to go Macs with Vikram and Jerome Quek. Around 4 something, got back home. Played around until 5, when I was too tired and decided to take a nap before eating dinner.

Woke up at 4am the next day completely confused. Tried to sleep again and was unable to. And now you can see what that got me. I am here now blogging in the middle of the night. >_>

NCOC was pretty fun lah. The instructors were pretty nice. Ben Tan and Melvyn Sir rox. Zelda was pretty nice to us as well, but she usually wasn't around with my group.

Best things about NCOC:
Talking/gossiping with Ben Tan Sir and Melvyn Sir
Mass chicken dance
Torturing Jone Lum with mehmehs =)

Worst things: Aah you know already. >_>

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Wild Arms 4, OM and more

And the bunch of immensely coffee-drugged hence extremely creative mad folks back at America have returned, bringing back with them a Gold, Silver and Bronze. Readers would probably be most familiar with the team that got Silver, so w00t to you guys. Congrats =)

And back to my immensely boring life that no one would traditionally care about except that... I dunno what makes you guys read my blog. >_>

I hath finally completed Wild Arms 4 (En route to completing Golden Sun soon, probably after NCOC). Though extremely short, it was a fine and satisfactory game. Though I believe had I got a working copy (IOW original) of WA: ACF I probably would've enjoyed it more.

Characterization on the party's part was pretty decent, though I found myself only actually liking Raquel, the others are rather meh >_> It's also nice to see for once a pacifist that -zomg- actually chooses not to fight once in a while (Unfortunately in games, pacifists tend to scream their ideals of not fighting and getting along while simultaneously slicing up the enemy/casting random spell/summoning random entity/doing random skill that hurts enemy. Then they whine about how they're forced to fight and all that then proceed to angst. Aah, gaming archetypes. >_>)

It is however rather sad that none of the villains got any deep (Or should I say deserving) characterization. I know the creators intended to put focus on the party instead of the antagonists, but to have 11 members of some elite force, all very well capable of a decently thought-out backstory, and none of them get one, instead turning them into characters who go "Hey I'm Hugo. I can stop *Blargh*" and repeating it 11 times, you could like have had maybe less of them with deeper storylines. =\ And having them die off in extremely lame fashions does not a good game make. My impression of Mwu La Flaga (Not including SEED Destiny) was that he was cool up till the end when he got shot by Dominion. My impression of Gawn from WA4 was that he was cool up till the part where he said "An 11th Missile? ZOMG" and proceeded to sacrifice himself by shoryuken-ing said missile. Like, try to give them some cool ways of dying that doesn't ruin the character ;_;

It is also simultaneously amusing to note how 14 (including 1 from the ending) characters can die in a game that took me 3 days to complete. After a while they just lose their effect and become pure comical >_> Oh well >_>

Thematically I guess I liked it, it's for once not some good-vs-evil (Gosh how cliche can it get, Square?) game. For once the villains actually have -zomg- NEUTRAL motives you're against and wish to stop o_O

Meh. Don't think I'll be doing the post-game stuff 'cause due to mistranslations in porting the game I am screwed out of getting the Voice Library and the Character Library. ;_; Guess I won't be working hard =
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I am ever so addicted to seeing so many leaves fly around aimlessly in the sky, somehow vain yet somehow inspiring, somehow idealistic yet somehow hopeless, somehow dreadful yet somehow beautiful. It is a pity that Singapore rare hath such sights, but if ever they are such beauty. It's the same feeling as drinking a nice cup of tea, haha. Ne'ermind. It's hard to talk about this feeling. =
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In two day's time (Well technically tomorrow since it's midnight as I type) I will be at NCOC. Why the heck do I let this kind of stuff happen to me. =
Would write more, but I think I'll leave that for tomorrow (Or later, whatever)