If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love, because we fear the pain of loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater...

Sudden changes in routine

How do you deal with changes in your routine? Are you the type that accepts it in stride, easily adapting the new activities to your current routine? Or are you the type who struggles with the changes?

What about having something disappear suddenly from your routine, something you usually look forward to, but for one reason or another, you aren't able to do it anymore?

I've had to deal with such a situation recently. Mostly, I am able to accept such changes in stride. Mostly...

This one, I've had to take lots of time to adjust and despite my efforts, I keep thinking of the loss in routine, which admittedly was due to circumstances beyond my control.

Move on! Move on!

Moving on...

A possible new addition to my routine, once I get my work act together, is to run an RPG campaign. I've delayed for so long, and have people breathing down my neck because of it. I think that maybe I'm just trying too be too well-prepared. I remember the times when I used to just wing it and I recall I didn't do too badly.

My breakfast routine will be changing as well, because I just ran out of the Vegemite Rudy got me from Australia! So what's left on the menu... Think I'll go get some tuna this time! Yum!

My dear ex-KPMG cubicle-neighbour-gal Lim Soo Ling (I call her Sllimie) just phoned me. Whenver I hear her childish, whimsical voice I just wanna smile, considering that she's older than me! She's so darn cute and funny! I remember back in those days whenever she had something private to ask she'd write it on a little piece of paper and slip it through the gaps between our cubicle. We could just whisper but for some unfathomable reason we preferred this method. Hopefully will catch up with her sometime.

Falling asleep...now. Night night or, er, siang siang!

Scrabble, Uno Stacko, Puerto Rico, Bohnanza !!!

Four players. Four games. Four golds.

Ironman. Sleepy Jedi. Sunrise. Swedish.

Scrabble and Uno Stacko were played on Tuesday Night. Puerto Rico and Bohnanza Last Night!

SCRABBLE
I had an amazing Scrabble game actually. I knew it would be a fight between me and Dawn although I never really expected to win. I believe our vocabulary range is roughly equal but she can spot the placements far better. But somehow or rather I was leading most of the way and I was kinda surprised. Especially the fact that I felt I was having too much fun!

Nonsense I did:
1. Getting distracted by a number of good-looking gals passing by (not to mention Shaz sounding me for doing so during my turn, which cracked the crowd up!). Hey, I had the best seat!
2. Asking the judge if Dawn was allowed to do the killer looks she was giving me (Ha ha!). Answer: Of course she was!
3. Throwing Ian coquettish glances (tactic learnt from Locs!)
4. Discussing with Swedish about Chen's solo activities in the shop. Swedish even went on to predict successfully what Chen would do next!
5. Screwing myself in the final turn of the game by challenging Dawn's ES!!!

Not to mention Ian's hilarious attempts at plugging the Z in every space for all its worth!

Result. I said mostly, I was leading throughout the game. Mostly....

Yeah, Nonsense No.5 cost me the game, allowing Dawn to finish with a slight lead! But I couldn't really be upset about it coz I just had WAY too much fun!!! So silver for me!

Status:
Azmin 2 g 2 silver
Dawn 2 g 1 silver

Uno-Stacko

Forget gold, as long as I got one medal I knew I'd be content with any medal, what with my shaky nervous fingers! I insisted we play this next because I thought we would all screw up quickly. Funnily, the only person who screwed up quickly was me!!!

Yes folks I was first one eliminated, getting too hasty! After that, I joined the commentator box with Ahmad (commentating in Malay) and Triona (English). Me? In Indonesian of course, ha ha!
And I was definitely amazed, coz the game went for ages once I was out of the picture. I was totally impressed by Ian who seemed to pull the tiles out so easily he almost looked lazy at the same time!

Swedish had to eliminate himself next coz a schoolfriend of his had disappeared and he had to help look for her!?? In the end it came down to Ian and Dawn, and Ian's casualness finally got the better of him as a wrong move collapsed the structure!

Two Golds for Dawn!!!! In a night! Congrats!

So now the status after 5 games was:

Dawn 3 g 1 s
Azmin 2 g, 2 s

Swedish and Ian had 1 silver each and shared the bronzes.

Thursday came...

Puerto Rico!

I needed to win this. I knew I was good at this, but only in certain strategies. Fortunately, I got off to a good start, with a solid building strategy and never looked back. I was rather alarmed at the rate of Dawn's corn shipping though (with the awesome hospice strategy which I can't seem to frickin' figure out!), and her victory points were stacking up really high. I had to steal her building (the customs house I think) to prevent her from zooming to victory!

In the end, me and Dawn tied for 1st place at 57 points. BUT I had 5 more doubloons (coins)!!! So I stole the gold!!

Status of Azmin-Dawn war:
Azmin 3 g 2 silver
Dawn 3 g 2 silver (Tied!!!)

And finally:

Bohnanza

Not exactly a game I master. And at the start of the game, I felt I was so behind. I kept making the wrong decisions, and ended up burning bean field after bean field without getting money. Not to mention some inane bad luck drawing cards. It got to an extent that by the end of the 1st round (of 3) I was bashing my head against the glass walls of the shop in frustration!!!

During the 2nd round, I decided that begging for help from the deck would be a good idea, and amazingly, it seemed to work! I started getting what I wanted, and was able to pull some favourable trades, but I had to admit I never thought I would be in the contest for 1st place.

Yet at the end, Swedish had 16 coins, Ian had 17, Dawn had 20 and I had.......20!!!

Talk about tight competition!! Urk...

We had to find some way of breaking the tie and we both weren't keen on having it decided by chance. After a while of searching for the rule book (which was accidentally shoved into the Puerto Rico box by Yours Truly) , we read the rules of the 2-player game and fought it out. There was quite a bit of confusion at first but we soon settled in.

After an intense, concentrated duel, I was able to pull out the win. I was fairly lucky though, but I'll take a win from luck anytime, no prob!!

That took our current medal tally to:

Azmin: 4 g 2 silver
Dawn: 3 g 3 silver

While Ian and Swedish had 1 silver each and still shared the bronzes.

7 games down, 8 to go, it's getting hot!!!

(Phew, marathon post guys!)

What kind of person...?

Yesterday, I met a friend I hadn't met for months. I was never really close to her before, I just knew her casually. But I always knew her to be a happy cheery person, not hyperactive happy, just generally happy, sweet, always with a smile on her face.

Yesterday, she was different. Yesterday she had this sad look on her face. She was still smiling, but it was a sad smile. I felt sorry for her, yet not being close to her, I couldn't really help her. Fortunately, she had another to talk to, someone warm and sweet in her own unique way .

Later, I found out that her boyfriend, just turned ex, had been treating her like crap. Yelling at her. Calling her names. Making her feel useless. And worst of all, beating her.

I know I don't have all the facts, but if it's all true...

What kind of asshole is this? What kind of bastard gets off hitting their girlfriends, treating them like dirt? What kind of fucked-up prick can change that friend of mine so negatively? Is it possible at all to justify such behaviour?

Maybe I'm too judgmental here, I don't know. Maybe I don't know everything that's going on. Maybe I'm not used to hearing about these situations... Maybe I'm wrong to react like this...

But...

I'm not one for violent behaviour, but if I ever find this piece of shit...

Monday... :)

Wait, what about Sunday, you say? Haven't watched cinema for awhile, went to watch Meet the Fokkers. Nothing exceptional, but then, haven't even Met the Parents yet!

Had three interesting conversations today with three different people.

Triona guest-starred today at my workplace in the afternoon. Everything was great, up until she started imitating me in Yahoo! Chat!!! Ya little twit, ya'll get what's coming to ya!

Oh, I wanna dedicate this song to two of my Indonesian friends, Fina and Firman. Remember this song, you two? Ha ha... Just heard it on radio immediately thought of you:

SUPERMAN - Five for Fighting

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me

I'm more than a bird: I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see

It may sound absurd: but don't be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed: but won't you conceed
Even Heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me

Up, up and away:away from me
It's all right: You can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy:or anything

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me

It's not easy to be me....

Have a good week folks!

Saturday Highlights (mostly from TV ha ha!)

#1 Watched a recording of Bjork's performance at Royal Opera House London. This concert reminded me of how much I love this singer! Her Hyperballad in particular was amazing!!! As long as you ignore her bewildering outfits though ha ha!


Lovely, isn't she?

#2 Received an sms from a friend I made a month back, a pretty young lass by the name of Erlina. At the time I wasn't sure we'd stay in touch. Now that she's provided a phone number however, it would be easier :D

#3 Watching Trish Stratus getting choke-slammed by Kane in WWE RAW. For sure, the highest choke-slam Kane's ever done to a wrestler!!! As much as I am a fan of Trish, she got what was coming to her!

#4 (Okay this is a low light) Liverpool going down to Southampton 2-0, I didn't see the match what the heck happened?!! Only consolation is Everton lost as well, so the gap is still 7 points...

#5 I finally caught a Ten 2 Five music video on Astro. For those who don't remember, Ten 2 Five is a talented Indonesian group I am now a fan of. The song was "My world is full of you" and I couldn't help but smile all through the song!

#6 Mmm... donuts. Ayu's family came for 'makan-makan' and they brought donuts! Mmm... donuts....

This is getting serious...

I was walking down to Bangsar Village last night, minding my own business. On my way I passed this construction area. Suddenly someone yelled, "Look out!" I looked up, and to my horror saw huge tiles falling from the sky above me. They hit me with a crunching sound, and I was smothered. Before I lost consciousness, I noticed puzzlingly that the tiles were coloured either blue, red, green or yellow, and each had a number on it...

Then I woke up!

Wokay, we're getting a bit too obsessed here with this Boardalympics. I think I'm thinking too much of how my big chubby fingers are gonna ease away those tiles from the structure. Oh crap!

Anyway, since my last post, I have secured another Gold, i.e. in Battleships, after winning against all three of my opponents. As for the Group of Doom, Sleazy Andy managed to win in Monopoly (!!!!! I still can't freakin' believe it!!!) before Triona finally made it into the Gold tally, winning two in a row for Settlers of Cataan and Munchkins! It's gonna get rough people!

Vegemite running out!!!

Anyone who has been to Australia or has Australian friends *wink* will know why running out of Vegemite is such a tragedy!!!!

I realised it this morning as I went to make breakfast! Arggghhh!! Need to get more before it runs out!

Anyway, my first gold medal for the Boardalympics is... well.. ehem... Paper-Rock-Scissors!

Clean sweep! 3-0! Ha ha...

Unfortunately, but not unexpected, Dawn took the gold in Boggle. Although I believe our vocabulary talents are pretty much equal, she has a much better penchance for finding words quicker.

So in our group, me and Dawn have one gold each, with me leading slightly thanks to the Boggle silver.

We had a few practise Settlers of Cataan . I am incredibly rusty, I'm afraid. This was followed by Puerto Rico madness which I think I am getting better.

We shall see....

Reedeeculousssss!!!

Boardalympics update!!!

My worst nightmares are coming true!!! After 5 games, the two people in the group of doom whom I did not want to see leading are... well... LEADING!!!

Andy 2, Ahmad 2, Loco 1, Triona 0 (10 games more to go)
(C'mon Triona, justify my.. er... predictions!!!!!)

Games played: Bohnanza, Boggle, Paper-rock-scissors, Battleships and Uno-Stacko!
Highlights:
Boggle - Ahmad winning by finding 5 words, while the rest found ...um... ZERO?
Battleships - Andy applying a nonsense strategy by firing whatever the opponent fired! Such a lazy bum! Problem was, this forced his opponents to work harder, i.e. making sure not to fire at their own coordinates !
Uno-Stacko - Andy able to stop the whole structure from falling over by pushing the tile he wanted to pull out back in!! Naturally, he had to take a puff to calm his nerves!

I'd really like to see these jokers when they play Risk and Munchkin, should be interesting :D. And have I mentioned I'm glad these jokers aren't in my group?

None of the other groups have finished any games yet, although I did manage to have my paper-rock-scissors and battleships duels against Ian. I won both, first game 3-0, latter came down to one ship.

I had some Settler practice games with others from diff. groups, which unfortunately included Chen, who naturally tries to impart his so-called wisdom and style of play onto others. Mostly we all ignored his words and his grim head-shaking. Mostly...

Lady Aurora...er... Dawn has just warned me of her immunity to mind tricks as well. Ha ha... we'll see about that...

P.S: I've never seen Paper-Rock-Scissors look so intense as it did yesterday...
P.P.S: Andy is full of sh*t!!!
P.P.P.S: So's Ahmad!!!
P.P.P.P.S: Seriously! They are!

Analisis pertandingan 'Boardalympics'

Berikutan artikel yang sblumnya, kepingin pula saya buat analisis tentang kumpulan-kumpulan dalam Boardalympics yang bakal dipertandingkan. Menarik banget apabila pikirkannya...

Trusnya:

Kumpulan 1: gw, Ian, Dawn, Swedish

Harus dinyatakan, yang paling berpengalaman bermain di sini adalah Ian. Pastinya! Cuma, masalahnya kekadang strateginya agak ngelirukan, sehingga yang nontonnya nggak tahu apa yang dilakukannya! Dawn pula dikenali Ratu Scrabble, dan gak kurang hebatnya dalam permainan sperti Settlers of Cataan dan Puerto Rico. Trus terang saya nyatakan, Swedish saya kurang ketahui caranya bermain, kerna jarang saya ngelihatin dia bermain. Manakala gw pula, sejujurnya rasanya gw agak cerdik bermain, cuma kadangkala 'distracted' atau hilang kawalan gitu.

Juara kumpulan 1: Antara gw dan Dawn, tapi rasanya gw! Kerna gw pastinya menggunakan Sleepy Jedi Mind tricks ha ha!!!!

Kumpulan 2: Andy, Ahmad, Loco, Triona

Seperti saya nyatakan sebelum ini, inilah kumpulan Maut! Perang yang dahsyat banget nggak pernah dilihat akan berlaku di sini!!! Kesemuanya hebat-hebat ! Andy, wakil Malaysia pertandingan Monopoly dan bijak dalam semua permainan lain, meskipun nampak agak males dan tidak berupaya! Ahmad, yang punyai semangat menang yang tinggi, walaupun dia nggak begitu tinggi (ha ha!!!)! Loco, veteran Magic yang aplikasikan semua yang dipelajarinya ke permainan boardgames, dan siapa yang bisa lupakan Triona, yang sentiasa bermain gak untuk menang, tapi menang juga gitu! Kumpulan yang pastinya menghiburkan dan seronok untuk disaksikan!

Juara kumpulan 2: Fiuh, siapa ya? Gw bajet Triona yang menang, kerna pengalaman lebih daripada Loco, dan kerna gw nggak mahu lihatin Andy dan Ahmad di pusingan akhir kelak!!! Gw simpan dendam gede banget dengan mereka berdua!!!! Moga-moga mereka saling bunuh-membunuh!

Kumpulan 3: Dennis, Is, Chen, Shop Entity (Raj)

Assumpsi di sini adalah Shop entity adalah Raj ya. Hmm... Pendapat gw, Dennis agak kurang berpengalaman dibanding yang lainnya kerna dia lebih kepada RPgames dan BoardGames yang tidak dipertandingkan. Is? Pengalaman tinggi permainan Settlers of Cataan, tapi jarang kelihatan dalam permainan lain. Jadi harusnya antara Chen dan Raj.

Juara kumpulan 3: Raj, kerna Chen nggak fleksibel dalam strateginya, manakala Raj walau kelihatan tidak bersungguh, bijak atur strategi yang bisa menang juga akhirnya!

Kumpulan 4: Shaz, Norman, Rob, Jonathan

Bagi gw, Rob dan Jonathan nggak mungkin menang, kerna mereka jarang bermain. Jadi kejuaraannya antara Shaz dan Norman, rakan rumah! Agak lucu jika dilihat begitu beda Shaz dan Norman, Shaz yang gila dan Norman yang serius 'cynical'.

Juaran kumpulan 4: Norman, dengan lojik sejuknya!

Jadi pusingan trakir akan begini: Azmin, Triona, Raj, Norman

Masalah gw ialah gak bisa guna Sleepy Jedi Mind Tricks di sini kerna semuanya gak bisa dipengaruhi! Jika Raj tidak bersungguh juga di sini, dia gak akan menang juga. Jadi antaraTriona dan Norman.

Pemenang akhirnya: Triona! Pengalamannya yang luas adalah pasport kemenangan baginya!!!

Kita saksikan ya!!!

Back online :D

Figures that my ridiculous usage of the Internet would end up screwing the Internet connection at me office from last week. But now, we're back!!!!! Could have updated at ccafe or in Bangi but just no time! No Time! Yes, Rudy, no time!! I am innocent I tell you!!

Anyway, BoardGame Olympics is starting up at WGS and woo hoo! Here are the teams:

1. Azmin, Ian, Dawn, Swedish

2. Andy, Ahmad, Triona, Loco (Killer Group of Doom!)

3. Dennis, Chen, Is, and Shop Entity

4. Rob, Norman, Shaz and Jonathan


Ha ha, not only did I get my wish of not having Andy or Ahmad in my group, I also got a bonus! They ended up in the same group! With Triona and Loco too! Woohoo!

Should be a lot of fun starting this Tuesday! For the illumination of non - wolf game shoppers, the BoardGame Olympics is an extended competition of multiple boardgames to be played to determine a Champion. Winner gets a BoardGame! Puerto Rico, here I come!

Aye, without a doubt, if I had to choose among the games one to buy for myself, it would be Puerto Rico. I also highly recommend it to everyone. It's a very interesting game which forces players to continuously adapt to situations, taking into account opponent's strategies all the time.

Will do a proper review of the game at a later date kay!

Now, if I can only figure out that ridiculous Hospice strategy...

P.S: Hmmm... keep forgetting to bring my Sampoerna's... maybe that pack may last me till the end of 2005 .... ha ha...

The Quest begins...

" It was originally friendly banter. Two friends having light conversation, in a comfy atmosphere. Nothing serious, nothing terribly important, reminiscing of old times and past successes.

Then, the talk became heavier. Discussions of serious matters began. Some views were hard to accept, but were listened to anyway. It was to be a conversation of dire importance. A mission to become strong, and to establish a presence for the future.

"Are you serious about this?" one asked.
The other nodded serenely.

They were joined in the conversation by a third, one whose past successes in the field far outweighed the two combined. He agreed to assist the two in their quest. A tally began of the old group:

Raj, Azmin, Rudy, Hafiz, Azmady, Zul, Shamsul

This was to be the core group of people, those believed to have the drive to push themselves to succeed, those who believed and were willing to work hard for it. They were to also recruit a Fahim to the fold, a young prodigy who had shown himself to have high potential and prepared to go the distance.


The challenge begins..


How would it go? Time will tell... as the air was charged up with Magickal power..."

Extracted from the Core logbook

Tired !!!!

Man, exhausting day!

Timetable scheduling can really be mentally challenging sometimes.

Color coding doesn't help either when the guy preparing it can't differentiate colours very well either... ha ha...

Note to self: If you know it's gonna be a full day, don't play Risk 2210 AD the night before! ha ha

Highlights of the game:

Ian's diplomat in the middle of nowhere
Andy's bloody Australians taking over the moon
Triona's backstab-con job combo
Ahmad's late moon invasion in order to invade back Earth!

Funny thing is, we were supposed to be watching TV. Thanks to Hafyzan for hosting :D

Practise! Practise! Boardalympics on the horizon!!

Sunday Morning song

Woke up this morning, had this song in my head. Not sure why, and can't remember if I dreamt anything either that would implant this song in my thoughts.

Still, have one good memory with this song ha ha

Carole King's You've got a friend

When you're down and troubled
and you need a helping hand
and nothing, whoa nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me
and soon I will be there
to brighten up even your darkest nights.

You just call out my name,
and you know wherever I am
I'll come running, oh yeah baby
to see you again.

Winter, spring, summer, or fall,
all you have to do is call
and I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've got a friend.

If the sky above you
should turn dark and full of clouds
and that old north wind should begin to blow
Keep your head together and call my name out loud
and soon I will be knocking upon your door...

Today is Jan 9, 2005. It's quite a while to go, but I have learnt the art of patience :D

Feeling down again...

Not sure how to describe my 'down'ness:

Frustrated?

Hurt?

Tired?

Disappointed?

Maybe a mixture of all...

Cause: all these little things that aren't supposed to matter...

maybe I am too sensitive...

It's probably due to lack of sleep..

A return to Magic: The Gathering!!!

That's right, folks, last night, Sleepy Jedi finally returned from one realm of magic to another, back to a realm where he can utilise his Top-Decking power skills! And last night, it was 6 man draft!!

At first, it seemed he had never left, as he powered to a overwhelming win over The King of Bling - Bling, using his typical method of success, that of mana-screwing his opponent... ha ha...

However, his forays into other realms began to show as loss of concentration accompanied by numerous brain farts brought him down, and a game involving not missing a land drop for 9 turns! Fortunately, he rallied well to finish behind Fahim and Zul.

On hindsight, it appears that Sleepy Jedi needs to incorporate both realms of magic into winning formula 14, as he almost succeeded in doing back at Grand Prix: KL. If he can do so, not 1 will stand in his way!!!

Congratulations!

Congrats to Fina's family!

Her sister Dina gave birth today to a baby boy, Muhammad Fadhillah Hirzi Iskandar, weighing 2.7kg, height 47cm.

Both mother and son are in good health.

Congratulations Ferry and Dina!