Halloween 2009

Over the years, it's been a tradition at Gamebrains to dress up for Halloween. This year, there was even a themed lunch to match the celebrations.

Unfortunately, only 4 people wore costumes this year... This would be the first year I'm dressing up as something, and I decided to dress up as:

...my boss.

Unfortunately, Brett (the boss) wasn't around that day, which robbed us of a chance to take a side-by-side photo. Maybe next year, i suppose.

And then, there's Jeff:

...dressed as a butcher from Cheras.

And there's Javier, who dressed up as:

...a gay elf (Link)

Jeff asking for a raise.

And then, there was Eugene, who's photo I haven't got. He basically wore a fake dagger poking through his head.

We then walked to this restaurant called Departure Lounge for our themed lunch.

The only drawback with my costume, is that i had to remove the mask to eat.

Elaine and James joined in as well. Elaine's supposed to be a Jester and James is a tiger.

Eeeeeee... so cute!

We were offered severed fingers/penises for appetizers

Jeff eating the said severed finger/penis

Our swampy beverage...

So, yes... that's my Halloween.

Complicated injuries...

I played basketball last night for the first time in... ages, and managed to get myself a little souvenir within the first 5 minutes of play:

"Oww..."

Looks rather nasty but it doesn't really hurt that much. In fact, it doesn't really bother me at all - until you ask me how i got it.

I fell on a net.

...

And yes, this is precisely when people start asking, "How the hell did you manage that?"

And that is exactly the trouble i've been getting with injuries, lately - i seem to be getting injured in such incredibly complicated and unusual ways, that I often end up sounding like I'm making things up. Which is annoying, of course. Don't believe me? Try this:

I intercepted an inbound pass but tipped the ball out of the court. So i ran for the loose ball, jumped before the out-of-bounds line, caught the ball with one hand and tried swinging it back into the court before my foot touched the ground. Which would have happened without incident if there wasn't a futsal court next to the basketball court. Now you see, futsal courts have these nets wrapped around them to keep the ball in - and i was about to land on one of these nets. Usually this wouldn't be a problem if I was approaching the net square on since i could just land on it. Unfortunately, i was approaching it at an angle, which meant that I'd scrape diagonally across it unless i landed on my feet. Which I couldn't because of a long, thin, wooden plank that fastens the net onto the floor. i couldn't step on anything without risk of breaking my ankle because - with the hard and strong net fastened to it, it had formed a VERY uneven surface beneath my right foot. So i tried shuffling my feet as i was falling, but still couldn't get a foothold - and all the while, my whole body weight was supported by my right elbow, which was now scraping itself diagonally across the net as i fell down into a crumpled heap. Which is how i got this massive scar...

There! You SEE? It sounds like I made it up!!! The problem is that I can't just say "I fell on a net" and leave it at that because it sounds stupid, and I can't just say "I got it while playing basketball" because people will then ask if I fell down, I'd say no and I'd then have to tell them about the net, which would lead me back to square one.

AAAAAARGH~!!!

My previous injury was also basketball-related: I sprained my ankle because someone fell on me...

...

"How the hell do you sprain an ankle that way? Don't you have to step on an uneven surface or jump and land wrongly? Or trip while running?"

"No," I'd respond. "My teammate ran into a screen, bounced off it and landed on my leg right below the knee - laterally. With his whole body weight."

You see the trend here?

And years ago, I managed to fall into a huge drain because my mum or dad (can't remember) parked too close to the drain and as i got out of the car, my mum told me not to fall into the drain, thus diverting my attention from the ground at the precise moment where paying attention to where i was stepping would've been quite important.

You see?

Why can't i just slip and fall like other normal people? Sigh...

The year that was. The year ahead

2008. Where do we begin?

Looking at the statistics on the right column, it appears that I've only posted 14 blog entries in 2008, which is a record low (and about a third the number from the previous year). While the casual observer may see this as a sign of this blogs demise, i have a a couple of good excuses:

i) i DIDN'T have a convenient Internet connection at work for most of 2008 (due to security concerns, our office desktops were isolated from the Internet).

AND

ii) i actually got a proper job - meaning one that actually requires your full attention from the moment you step in at 9am right till you walk out at about 7pm. Or 8pm if there's a deadline. Or later...

So yes, this blog is still very much alive and kicking-ish. And to make up for all the lost time, here's a summary of the most significant things I've done in 2008 - in approximate chronological order:

1. I got a new job.

Gee, did I mention this yet? On a more serious note, this was probably the biggest fear I'd ever overcome in my whole entire life. Not only because I was leaving a very nice, comfortable job, I was also setting myself up for possibly the biggest failure in my life.

You see, I'm deeply passionate about videogames - all aspects of it. From playing them to making them. As a kid, I used to scrutinize my Sega Megadrive games and tried to make sense of why the games were designed the way they were - from an artistic and technical point of view. I even went to university and studied software engineering for the sole purpose of making games when i came out.

The problem, however, was that this was a dream job for me. What if I didn't like it? What if it turns out I'm a rubbish programmer? I was really dreading the prospects of living my dreams and actually hating it.

"This office is dark..."

Well, it's been about a year since I first joined Gamebrains and so far so good. I've done one Nintendo DS title (though it's still in the process of being translated into several European languages and published) and played a rather big role for a first-timer - I did most of the user-interaction and gameplay logic in the actual game. Although whenever i look back at the code, I'm quite horrified at some of my early architectural decisions (it was after all my first game - and thank God I'm a fast learner!)

Since then, I've dipped my toes in Wii development and have since moved over to PC/Mac casual games - because it makes a lot more economic sense than console titles these days. I would love to do iPhone/iPod touch games because of the possibilities that platform provides and I've been dropping hints to my boss every now and then. Hopefully, he'll let me give it a shot.

The working culture here is also completely different to my previous job too. From the moment I step into the office, I'm running at 100% until I go home. Although it sounds stressful, it's actually quite addictive, because programming is like playing a giant game of Sudoku - after you've finished one puzzle, you just have to do another one.

And if it seems like I'm hiding stuff, it's because we have non-disclosure agreements. Yep. 

2. Tipped the scales at an all-time high of 98kg

Not exactly sure how it happened but I managed to get really fat at the beginning of the year - to the extent that my shirts weren't fitting and I could wear my size 38 trousers without a belt. The following photo was actually taken quite recently - after I've put on weight again (due to me eating the stuff that Elaine can't eat during her pregnancy). 

At my peak, I was worse than this....

"Goo goo gaa gaa dee dah Han Soooolo..."

3. Voted at the general elections for the first time.

Yay! I helped make a difference this year and managed to deny the ruling Barisan National party a two-thirds majority in parliment for the first time in 50 years.

Usually, I wouldn't have bothered so much. Until I started seeing ad campaigns like this in the local newspapers by Barisan.

The best advice from BN ever. There was really only one choice, but it wasn't BN...

The level of arrogance shown by the ruling party was incredible - they even listed a whole bunch of things that they've done for the country, as if to say "You should be grateful to us" rather than "Here's what we can do to improve the country"

They also clearly had more money than the opposition, and had ads like this EVERYWHERE, each costing tens of thousands of ringgit. And so, it was obvious that a power shift had to happen. It didn't matter if the opposition parties were inept, the fact is that it had come to a point where the ruling party were behaving like rulers rather than public servants.

I was also spurred by a movie, of all things: V for Vendetta. In particular, the one quote from Hugo Weaving:

"People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."

And so, I voted for change. Hopefully, in four years time, there will be more like me - first-time voters who decided that enough was enough, and that our country needs to change. That's because I love this country and I cannot stand idly and watch it continue to rot.

Holy crap, I'm patriotic! Who would've thought...?

4. Ran a half marathon with Elaine.

This was a rather funny experience because - for some reason - Elaine and I thought that practicing on a threadmill for 20 minutes would prepare us for a 21km run. It didn't.

"My gawd, my knees hurt..."

And yep, we'd like to do this again. It seems like every year, we must put ourselves through some sort of physical test as a couple. We climbed Mount Kinabalu in 2007, ran the KL international marathon (half-marathon group) in 2008, and in 2009, Elaine shall experience childbirth...

...and she'll be squeezing my hand (possibly crushing it into itty bitty little pieces) while she's at it.

5. Drove a bunch of fast cars...

Did a bit of freelance motoring reviews throughout the year, though it seems to have slowed down recently - I simply don't have the time. Didn't drive anything particularly good this year apart from the Civic Type-R (which I drove up to Ulu Yam, but didn't blog about it - there might be some photos floating around in my Flickr photostream).

Bone-shattering though it may be (it's got a similar suspension set up to a pair of roller skates), I absolutely love the Type-R and it is still the car I'd buy if I had about RM200k to spare. In any case, it's much better than the Jaguar XF I'm kicking here:

"Take THAT, you stupid British car..."

6. Married Elaine.

Yippee! As I write this, we've been married for about 8 months now and things have been great. While it's a good thing being able to get along with someone you're dating - that we've been living under the same roof and still look forward to horsing around, talking, laughing and having $#% every day since is great.

Us and our frens...

Oklah, not every day. Of course, it also helps that I love Elaine to bits. Feel like squeezing her now... :)

7. We moved out into an apartment.

We've been living together in this apartment ever since we got married. It was previously inhabited by my brother but he moved out just as we were looking for a place to stay.

Me moving in a birthday present from the wife :)

Although we're finally settling in, the funny thing is that we'll have to move back into either of our parents' houses soon because we'll need loads of help once the baby comes along.

8. I learned how to cook steak properly.
Pan fry for 3 minutes, drain juices, flip to the other side, fry for another 3 minutes... and you're DONE...!!!

9. I got Elaine pregnant.

Grow, my spawn. GROW!!!

(photoshop courtesy of soon-to-be-aunty Joy)

10. Flossed my teeth for the first time.

I never knew it, but flossing your teeth can be one of the most satisfying things you can do to yourself - apart from something that's frowned upon by most religions...

11. Didn't go on our honeymoon (due to the aforementioned pregnancy)
We were hoping to go to either Japan or Europe for our honeymoon during winter (so we could catch some snow). Looks like that'll have to wait a bit...

12. Finally bought a new Mac
Yes, I finally took the plunge! In spite of being a self-proclaimed cynical proponent of the Mac, I've been banging around in my ancient Power Mac G4 since 2001 (which was my 2nd Mac - the first one was destroyed after an unfortunate incident with some bitch).

It's the new, late-2008 MacBook! My first new Mac in 7 years!!!

The new Macbook is brilliant - it's got this new, fantastic multi-touch trackpad that's almost easier than using a mouse. It's also got amazing colours from its LED-backlit screen, though the viewing angles are a bit poor. It's also pretty damn fast - been doing some HD video editing on it, RAW photo editing and some programming on it and it's been, well... fast.

Oh, and it's also super light and portable. Only thing I hate is the lack of a FireWire port, which more-or-less makes my DV camcorder obsolete...

End word

So that covers just about all of the important bits. Except for my brother and Michelle giving birth to Ethan, which would of course make me an uncle. And me shifting to a new office (with the rest of the company, of course).

Ooh... ooh, how about 2009, then? Predictions? Resolutions?

Well, let's just see what happens, shall we?

What's on top of your monitor?

One of the biggest problems with LCD monitors is that you can't put your toys and action figures on top of them - simply because they're too narrow.

Which is why I'm glad my company is too cheapskate to buy new LCD monitors for the office. This is what the top of my monitor currently looks like:

Old monitors: good display cabinets

Starting from the left, I've got a solar-powered "Maneki Neko", a Tomy Flip Flap solar-powered plant, two Kiwi tiki dolls behind it, a dancing hamster that sings Kung Fu Fighting, a Tomy Bit Char-G remote controlled Ferrari F40 in front of it, an AV-98 Ingram Unit 2 from Patlabor, the remote control for the Bit Char-G behind it and Asamiya Athena and Mai Shiranui from the King of Fighters series.


The latest addition to my collection is the AV-98 Ingram. It's part of the Revoltech series of action figures made by Kaiyodo. It's a fully posable figure with ball joints all over the place, which is good.


bang!

If you've not seen the Patlabor TV series before, I highly recommend it. It was one of the pioneering Anime in the late 80s and early 90s, and had a huge pool of talent working on it - including Mamoru Oshii of Ghost in the Shell fame.

Unlike most other robot Anime of the time, the show was written largely for an adult audience and had rather sophisticated humour and themes. Plus, its cute to see big ass robots doing mundane stuff like directing traffic and helping old ladies cross the street.

Anyway, what's on YOUR desk? :)

I fire some guns...!

The guys at the office were invited to Hari Tentera Darat Ke-74 (That's the 74th Army day to you non Malays speaking people), where members of the media were invited to shoot some guns and to basically muck around with their gear.

Wah... so long!

The thing is, I was expecting to be blown away by firing guns (figuratively, not literally). However, it didn't feel any more menacing than firing a paint-ball gun. I like firing paintball guns, btw - but I was expecting it to be more shiok. Never meet your childhood heroes, I guess....


There was a competition among members of the media - where each team of five faces off with another team to hit down 10 metal plates per team. The first team to finish goes to the next round. Of course, this was very cool :)

Edwin, Ron, Kelly, Ravind and me - preparing for our exit from the shooting competition.


We were beaten by some extreme posers from Berita Harian or something - damn annoying, the bastards wore bandanas, did stretch exercises and had battle cries and shit. All for a simple session in a shooting range. What's even more pathetic was that we lost to them by less than a second. The bastards...

Yes, this post is a little overdue. But rather than write more about it, I've posted it up on YouTube as a video... Enjoy :)

The Tip of Borneo...

This is the Tip of Borneo, located at the Northernmost tip of Sabah. Apparently, the local government didn't know about this place until fairly recently.

And when they realised the enormous potential financial gains from an remote, untouched, tourist spot, they decided to build some sort of monument and to erect a flag to remind people that this is, in fact, Malaysia.

And this ball-shaped thing here is the Nip of Borneo...

The thing is, the local government forgot to include shops, malls, hotels and other stuff to reap the benefits of such a tourist spot, which is GOOD!!! I hate it when you go to some nice holiday destination and end up being bugged to death by people selling glass paperweights with little crabs stuck inside them.

And here are a couple of tourists from the mainland, still charmed by the quaintness of it all.

And this here is the tip itself! Head north from here, and you'll end up in Taiwan or something...

And to spice things up a bit, there are a small collection of funky rock formations by the shoreline.

One thing nice about TTOB (The Tip of Borneo), is the really nice, empty beach next to it. So far, nobody's thought of corrupting the area with some tasteless beach resort. The water's really clean too - can use to brush your teeth!!!

Wanton acts of violence...
Adrian: "Kick!"

Michelle: "Aaargh!"

Yes, this is the Tip of Borneo. Visit it now. It's a 3-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu but I'm sure that any Sabahan with a 4x4 (i.e. all of them) would know how to get there - and would happily drive you there too!

Sabahans are nice.

What is Hokkien Mee?

Forged in the fires of hell...

...but tastes like heaven.

And enjoyed by Singaporeans crossing the border (and also one particular Malaysian living there who misses the food here, which is much much MUCH better by the way)

Yum... ^_^

Home RUN!!!

A day after Deepavali, we decided to celebrate the Indian festival of lights by batting the shit out of some balls at the new Baseball thingy in 1 Utama.

It's a bit hard to find - you need to go to the elevators near Parkson (1 Utama new wing) and get to the upper roof, where you'll see something like a miniature driving range.

Elaine: "Mmmm... Big stick... I like!"

A few packages are available - we chose the "Home run" package for RM45, which gives you an unlimited number of balls to hit for 30 minutes. And with that, we headed for the batting cages.

This is the panel that controls the ball-launcher thingy. Select between 40MPH to 70MPH balls, press "baseball", wait for red light to come on and watch in horror as a yellow ball comes flying towards you.


Being the one who studied in America and is most in-tune with popular all-American sports, Alex shows us how it's done.

Well, erm... sort of

At first, we found it incredibly difficult to hit the balls but after a few tries, it gets easier. It's also real important that you set the height of the ball (via the control panel), otherwise you'd end up missing a whole lot of balls. Like this, actually:

Aloy steps up to the plate

Ack! Too low...


The other thing we learnt that day is that baseball can be a very painful sport. The massive shock/vibrations sent up through the bat and into your arms is enough to make it hurt. Kinda like tennis elbow, only whilst not playing tennis.

But it's not like we sucked (*really!*), after some time, all of us started to get the hang of it:

Elaine steps up to the plate

The evil yellow ball launches towards her...

CRACK!

Strangely enough, I found myself more comfortable batting left-handed. Probably because I'm more used to backhand motions (i.e. slapping people with the back of my right hand).

Kinda like a wife beater, actually ("Hic, where's my beer??? I take out my belt then you know!!!")

Hmmm... I need a haircut

Lousy hair style or not, it didn't stop me from getting the job done:

CRACK!

Needless to say, it was a blast. I think I'll be spending lots of lunch hours here in the future...

TWO THUMBS UP!!! ^_^

Basketball!!!

Been meaning to put this up for a week, but kept procrastinating. It's BASKETBALL AT SPORTSBARN.

This is Dennis beginning a drive to the basket. This is normally very bad news for the opposition.

For the past couple of months or so, we've been playing basketball about twice a week. A pretty nice group, this - competitive, yet sporting enough to have fun.

On this particular occasion, I couldn't make it (sis' birthday) but could catch the tail end of it. Decided to pack my camera along.

Charles swatting one away

It's bloody hard to shoot inside with Charles in the middle -- one minute you're open, and then this really long arm descends from the heavens and gently whacks the ball out of your hands.

Say Hong getting personal with Dennis -_-

The thing about playing basketball is that - unless you've got a film crew following you around, chances are you have no idea what you look like while you're playing (i.e. whether you look cool or awkward).

Andrew launching one of his wonder shots. As in, "I wonder why the hell it goes in all the time...?"

I guess the best part about all this is that it's also good for your health. Exercise is good. Yes it is. Yes. Right.

Nigel showboating

I took this shot with a slow shutter speed and tracked the camera on Nigel - this allows me to keep Nigel relatively sharp while blurring out the background. And yes, this looks better on film than it does in real life. (P.S: Don't burn my house down. Please.)

This is Charles. Say hi to Charles.

After the game, we're all hot and sweaty from all that action. Erm... yeah. And thirsty too.

Andrew with a very gay Nigel snuggling up to him...

Right. Next picture:

And the best part of bball, the mamak sessions after... :)

Thus ends the photo essay. I'm sleepy and hungry. And you should be too.