Our Ozzies and Kiwi Brothers Have Fallen, Too

Fellow Malaysian and Singaporean RFO players. All of you might be aware of Codemaster's (CM) tyrannical regionalist campaign against RMT (Real Money Traderism) and have banned all Asian IP addresses, leaving us with few choices of:

A) Wait it out and hopefully CM will unblock us
B) Forget about it and move on

C) Wait for the dedicated server
D) Uninstall the 4GB game and find something else
E) Leave death threats and flames in RF Forums
F) Forget about it and find a wife

And apparently our brothers in Australia and New Zealand were also banned just recently. And even more lately players from Canada, Europe and some parts in USA were affected. Let us have a moment of silence to respect their pain of undergoing the "mourning" stage for their losses (taken away from RF for 48 hours is pure torment, we've been there). Most of us has felt the pain along with South American and other Asian players last month. And even if we are in the "acceptance" stage by now, I guess most of us will still want to have a taste of RF grinding if we were given the chance. I'm not the type to post flaming threads, but I support all fellow Malaysian and Singaporean attacks on RF Forums, flame on brothers!

Threads links from our brothers fighting for our rights:
Malaysia
Singapore

Apparently CM came out with some sort of appeal where players can fill in in order to get unbanned. But mostly the replies are as interesting as watching snails copulate and were redirected here instead. Their reply:

Thank you for submitting your recent request to Codemasters Customer Services concerning RF Online.

After reviewing your account, we are unable to lift your ban unfortunately. This is due to the following reason...

You are attempting to play the game from a territory we are not licensed to operate the game in.

Just nice. That was really helpful considering I've poured hundreds of hours and loyalty into RF Online. Thanks a lot. You guys could've at least sent me an decent non-automated e-mail informing me properly beforehand instead of ma fanning myself trying to get unbanned. This is no different from racial profiling, except in this case it's IP address profiling.

R.I.P. 5!Я!/|\ (2007-'08)

Anyways, my condolences to RF players of other Asian, Brazilian and every banned countries; XVIII, WindowsXP, HelloMoto, Elranzer et. al. hundreds of other banned players.

P/S: CM (yeah in case you Google and stumble upon this post), not all of us Asians are involved in RMT. Most of us are honest players. Now I guess after banning us Asians, RMT was still rampant then you guys banned Oz and NZ in hopes of eliminating RMT for good (but RMT still there right? Most likely). Soon you'll ban the rest of the world. You've opened the Pandora's Box. You've doomed us all. Oh and I've boycotted your other games too. Cheerios :)

New Year of the Ratty

Gong xi fa chai! The Fire Piggy year has ended the previous 12th zodiac cycle, say hello to the new year of the Rat. I personally don't feel any different (minus the fact that I do feel this CNY was a bit less than mediocre level mostly due to the economy), but hey at least can get together with the family clan at the evening and enjoy the smell of gunpowder at midnight in Kampua Town.
This year's fireworks lasted from 11:55PM - 12:35AM. Not bad. Signs that the townsfolk are still able to be prosperous despite the price hike. View from my room facing the Civic Center before joining the chaos there. And no Tominaga-san we don't get saman here because even the cops join in the fray...

Okay let's see what will happen to us in the 4705th Chinese new year of the Earth Rat.

Rat
The Rat will practically meet with no trouble this year. He/she'll charm numerous members of the opposite sex, and can experience many love adventures. Moreover, his/her levelheadedness and wisdom will bring him/her the admiration and esteem of all.

Ox
The Ox will congratulate him/herself on feeling perfectly in his/her element. The New Year will bring him/her a pleasurable sensation of physical and mental well-being. Sufficiently wise not to make a drama out of every grain of sand, he/she will close his/her eyes on the faults of his/her close ones and will thus preserve his/her interior peace.

Tiger

A rather mediocre year will lie in wait for the Tiger. But the native can find the joy of living if he/she continues to devote himself/herself relentlessly to improving the fate of mankind, for it's by being useful to others that one can find happiness. Anyway, he/she will have an interest in getting out of himself/herself and to subscribe to a cause instead of remaining bored to death in a corner.

Rabbit
The Rabbit will find this year rather good. He/she will continue to win successes, especially in the field where creativeness is the key factor. But victory, however brilliant it may be, won't be enough for him/her and won't prevent him/her from having a painful feeling of emptiness from time to time.

Dragon
Luck will smile to the charming Dragon. He/she will prosper in many sectors of activity. And as far as amorous conquests are concerned, he/she will be among the luckiest ones. Will all that make him/her happy? It's little probable, for the native can't help having a feeling of dissatisfaction. He/she would have preferred, rather unconsciously most of the time, experiencing a profound and durable love instead of thrilling but transitory amorous affairs. He/she would also have wished to lead a richer and more intense interior life.

Snake
The Snake can expect some conjugal or family difficulties, just as many other people who'll go through this year. But, instead of taking the bull by the horns, that is, of trying to solve his/her problems with lucidity and aggressiveness, he/she may prefer burying his/her head in the sand - probably because his/her sign is also a winged creature like the ostrich!

Horse
This will be for the Horse the year of amorous fury. He/she will have a very hard time resisting his/her desire to indulge in foolish love affairs. His/her close ones will find it extremely difficult to keep him/her in the conformist path, not out of ethical considerations but out of concerns to spare him/her annoying complications. "Love, love, when thou holdst us, one can say: good-bye, prudence!" (La Fontaine). This will exactly be the case with the Horse!

Sheep
Eager for action, the Sheep may get somewhat bored this year and commit the worst foolish things. In order to canalize his/her energy into useful channels, he/she must join cultural clubs or participate in different debates and seminars.

Monkey
Profoundly convinced of the merits of traditional and conformist marriage, the Monkey will feel ill at ease in face of the free-and-easy attitude that will seem to prevail this year. He/she will probably react with much vehemence and awkwardness to this somewhat murky situation. His/her violent reaction might have undesirable repercussions on his/her general comportment, and particularly on his/her conjugal and family relations.

Rooster
The Rooster always considers life as a comedy rather than a tragedy, and this preserves him/her from pessimism and discouragement. He/she will therefore enjoy himself/herself this year, do foolish things, but will always keep a certain sense of measure. Moreover, he/she will study philosophers, particularly those who know how to make fun of philosophy, such as Montaigne and Pascal.

Dog
Some sentimental deceptions may be feared for this year. They'll be due not so much to human inconstancy as to a lack of imagination on the part of the Dog. Now everybody knows that routine and pedestrianism are the worst enemies of love!

Pig
The Pig may exceptionally encounter some financial difficulties, for his/her business won't be at top prosperity. But he/she should not wreck his/her health because of that by working excessively. On the contrary, he/she would better look for a good compensation in meditation and reflection.

Source: Chinese Astrology

New RM50

Whoa check out the new 2008 RM50. I got the limited edition with the 50 years independence logo at the back. And due to some kinda copyright stuff I photoshopped the word SAMPLE on them just to avoid trouble with the government.

Keroro K66

I caught a glimpse of this Keroro model while helping out with the CNY shopping. Being a sucker for model kits and Keroro, I bagged one home and I immediately realized my model kit tools were gone after my 2 years absence. All that's left is just my penknife and a pair of rusting pliers. The paintbrushes are still here but acrylic paint have hardened along with my Tamiya adhesives. It's not worth if I buy the tool kits again because I won't be at home assembling kits as actively as I used to. So this Keroro K66 here was made with whatever stuff I could get my hands on in my room. And since I'm in the topic, I'm gonna teach the real basics on model kit assembling for those wannabes out there. Nothing fancy.

STEP 1
After moments gazing at the box model arts, specs and the katakana you can't understand, remove the box plastic wrappers. Be careful though, use penknife, meat cleaver or anything sharp to do this as we don't want any damage on the content. Once opened take a whiff at the smell of a virgin model kit.

STEP 2
Count all the pieces to make sure you won't go back to the store to ask for a refund/replacement. But usually things from nippon rarely have missing parts.

STEP 3
Follow the instructions provided. Don't worry if you don't understand Japanese because the instruction are given in graphically easy-to-follow form.

CAUTION

DO NOT snap the pieces out of their frames forcefully as you'll end up with damaged parts and/or with hideous white snap-scar that will be noticeable up close.

Be a pro and patiently cut off the frames slowly with knife. Also you'll have to know where the weak point is (READ THE INSTRUCTIONS). Once you get used to it you'll only need to rely on your intuition to do this.




TIP
If your model kit is a mechanoid (have legs) try to start from bottoms up (ignoring the steps instructed). The sight of a leg standing is good enough to motivate you to continue. This is really good if the model takes 2-3 days or even a week to complete.


STEP 4
Once fully assembled, only then you can focus on sticking the stickers, air-brushing and other finishing touches to the model. Do the spraying and air-brushing outside. Various felt tip markers or even normal gel pen can be used to do the outlining.



Since almost all model kits don't come with the complete color of the actual thing several finishing touches are required. I have no need to explain the paint job part (just painting over the parts with the supposed colors). Outline stroking on the other hand is a method of applying black lines on the contours, just to make it look like the ones in the anime/manga. In other words, just click here.

Viola! A completed Keroro's K66.Outlining and paint job not yet applied. But hey, I love the model, and definitely Keroro piloting the K66 (he's fully articulated, except for the knees)

The $#!ttiest Week Ever

It's so $#!tty I have to revert the blog post date to when the whole thing started. Then I have to revert it back because the post pops up at the location with bad feng shui. Talk about series of unfortunate events...

R.I.P. 1/3 Ham
So my assignment was due on the 28th (Mon), and as of 26th January (Sat) I was 81.3% complete. Then I decided to have a quick lunch and leave the laptop on that noon, when $#!t started to happen...

Yes, it was one of those strange 3 minutes lightning storm that struck Senadin as quickly as I got my first sip of a cold chrysanthemum tea. I didn't mind it because these kinda storm is frequent of late due to climate change, plus me and my bud can stay a while longer ordering more food while waiting the storm to clear. And when it did I went home to find all, ALL complex electronic stuff died, DIED. The modem, the router, the laptop etc. Ham 1/3rd died on the spot, knowing my 5 days of blood, sweat and tears to complete the assignment gone in vain. Even worse the assignment was part of his 1 month long experimental project for his summer course unit. Ham 1/3rd lost it, and died at approximately 13:27 26/01/08, disconnected from the outside world for good.

So from 26th to 27th the remaining 2/3 and 3/3 of Ham tried to gain back what was lost by retyping his assignment from scratch, thanks to the help of a fellow clan member Gin-san who remained at Senadin until 30th. Ham 2/3 and 3/3 completed his rushed assignment at approximately 23:15 27/01/08.

R.I.P. 2/3 Ham
28th (Mon) Submission Day. That morning the remaining 2/3 and 3/3 Ham was still celebrating the glorious accomplishment from the previous night, until the Arrow 2" blue tint spectacles malfunctioned after they tried to put it on after shower. 2/3rd Ham died on the spot at 07:12 28/01/08. Broken, and literally blur about everything, the last 3/3rd Ham carried on the fight to complete the summer course, even if it means death.


To make things a bit better, there's going to be a last test worth 40% on 30th January, which will decisively determine the outcome of Ham's performance in the summer course. And the quickest shop is in town, or in e-mart on the other side of Senadin...

R.I.P. 2.5/3 Ham
The remaining Ham used whatever life force remaining to revise and do whatever the phuck he needs to. 1/3rd Ham was vital as it was the very part of Ham that makes Ham uniquely Ham, 2/3 was his sense of self-existentialism, the last 3/3 was cukup makan for him to behave like a human being. After 5 days of no update Ham was left decimated, lost his sanity and lost 2.5/3 of him. Another 0.5 came from a remnant of 2/3 with a pair of new glasses (and that would be the last time I buy a personal item from e-mart).

Fortunately I managed to go through the last test, and now resting safely back in Kampua Town. For now I'm gonna get myself back together and enjoying the short holidays and CNY with family and friends.

Alien vs Yakuza

Must watch! I give it 5 stars. Only in Gintama.

Featuring Jou-aniki and Aliens

Whoever wins, Edo will perish...

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Check out the meaning for the "Fruitful" trait (Click to enlarge). Hm... this Ham Julius XI very ganas haha XD. This is just part of what I do to keep myself sane while going through summer course alone. It's an old game actually, 2004 Rome: Total War, but this is the only 'latest' Total War game I can support (for the unaffiliated, it's similar Sanguo). I got severe lag with Medieval II: Total War, so what chances does my wee lil 5572 has against the monstrous upcoming Empire: Total War, guarantee this message will pop up:

I'll just get a new machine later lah using my own hard-earned cash, more value and love that way. For now I'll just stick to whatever I have and enjoy my own personal full scale war with my neighboring factions just for kicks.

Yeah, fights like the above are normal lately while I'm here spending the last moments of summer course. Sure I could opt for sitting here doing nothing but completing my assignment and revise for last test next week, but that's not the way of Ham. Hey, all work and no fun makes Ham a soulless boy.

Back to the title. Why can't we be friends? Someone inspired me to start this post, in addition to certain games I've been playing over and over again. Yeah, like the scenario that led to my 2nd Rome-Carthage conflict prior to the clash above was due to xenophobic attitude. I mean, we might seem 'friendly and peaceful' towards each other and have trade agreements, but that's it. When some countrymen like ambassadors etc. set foot on their land they act as if they're superior. Until certain point where they purposely blocked my men's path or even try to assassinate them. If only I could remind them that I'm generous enough to let my traders to spend and trade in their country. But I guess it can't be helped, if they don't like foreigners so be it. It's a human nature since the prehistoric age to be on the defensive when strangers comes in to their turf. And I think the same would happen to us if a new dude we don't even know asked permission to use our home's toilet. Things like these will run through our heads:

"Who the puck is this guy? Suddenly borrow toilet..."
"I hope he flush and won't leave an unpleasant aura"
"Your house no toilet kah?"
"Ok so he needs to go, but why here? Sienz..."

Those are just the issues when we're on foreign territory. Sadly though the same will/could/must happen with fellow countrymen in the foreign soil. Like in Rome: Total War where Rome itself is made up of 3 families of Scipii, Brutii and Julii (currently playing this family). We're all fighting for the glory of Rome, but in the end of the day I myself won't know the progress of the other families. Things like these often occur:

"Hi, I'm Decious Julius, from Julii capital city of Arretium. Where are you from Ham? Oh you're from Roman Empire as well, nice, which part? What, Sibu? uh, ok... you guys have paved roads, communal farming, Colosseum or Streamyx there?"

S*it. Fellow countrymen don't even know where another fellow countrymen hometown is. And usually those from the capital or big cities will have this perspective of the other lesser known small towns in the SAME country to be backward and mundur. From there onwards what used to be a respectful and friendly conversation will turn into an oppressive ignorant talk. No kidding, I mean how many Malaysians nationwide know where Sibu is? Sure i's a small town though but at least as Malaysians the should know there's a crater on Mars is named after Sibu. Sure I myself don't know 100% about the peninsular either, but that's not a reason to think Sarawakians still live in trees, and no need to show off what you have at your place. Which reminds me of a story of a lady getting a KFC coupon upon purchase in KL:

"Can I use this coupon in Miri?
"Sorry ma'am, you can only use it in Malaysia"
"..."

I found a way to answer people asking where I'm from. Like saying I'm from somewhere south, Sarawakian, or less loso Malaysian. Swat. Just trying to be as humble as possible like that will usually make the other big city folks brag less about their hometown. But over time my presence here have accidentally advocated the co-relationship of gangsters and Sibu, which resulted in me coming from Town of Gangsters and Kampua (sheesh thanks a lot guys XD but I don't mind lolz pretty nifty). I just wonder how long will this "my-place-have-this-s*it-and-yours-don't-have" scenario persist.

Live 12% Longer

Quote from THE BORNEO POST, Nature & Health section 19/01/08 p.2:

"LIVE 12% LONGER

How: Get less sleep
Why: A joint study from the University of California's School of Medicine and the American Cancer Society found that compared to people getting seven hours a night, people who slept for recommended eight hours a night were 12% more likely to die prematurely. However, one study also found that getting less than four hours sleep a night significantly increased the death rate."

The newspaper should reference the link, ma fan have to Google the article. Anyways the full article can be found here.

Ok so this means that a person should sleep for min 5 and max 7 hours only la is it? Well technically this is kinda good news for me and a couple of other late-niters (all students of course, maybe you're one of them) since our generation somehow managed to reduce the need for sleep and still able to live optimally. And who knows in the near future we don't need to sleep at all because of our biological clock 'evolution', and after that we also might not need to eat, drink, walk, breed (well that sucks) etc to achieve perfect evolution...

But logically I think the sleep less live longer only applies to teens and adults because little kids still need their 10 hours rest due to their hyper metabolism and I've seen them mutate into cranky monstrosities if they try to stay up. Speaking of which, from my point of view this is an evolving lifestyle. Back when I was 6-10 years old I slept at 8pm (wtf right?) then 11-15 years old it's 10-11pm, then at age 15-17 it's 12-2am and finally at 18-20 I hit the hay at 4am++ before waking up at 11am on no-class day and 7am on have-class day. And there's no addition from naps, I don't take afternoon naps because I'll always wake up disoriented for a minute. So that's 3-7 hours sleep for me and leaves me on the border of living longer-living shorter, which means I'll live life at 100% and not 112% or 88%. I think I should be happy with that percentage :)

Networking Challenge

Dear blog, this week I did a good job in networking. Last week I realized how limited my network was as most of the people are off during the summer course, and those who were here can be counted with my toes. So I challenged myself to expand my network in 5 days from Monday - Friday this week and until today (final day) I managed to hook up with 7 new people of different networks.

بروني دارالسلام
Brunei Darussalam
Friendly folks if you ask me, easy to open up. I got a few top tips from this Bruneian girl I just met on the things to expect when I go study in Oz.




ްMalaysia
You'll never get enough of your fellow countrymen lolz. They all know the s*it and stuff you're experiencing in the country. But yeah they are helpful in studies, since we all have this "don't leave a man/woman behind" spirit in this mini global environment. Always 'gotong-royong' in doing projects and assignments, you know what I mean lolz...


ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމުހޫރިއްޔާ
Republic of Maldives
Amongst the first few foreign network I established with way back when I'm in my Foundation times. If you ever want go to Maldives for a vacation, have them show you around the islandsss. A good place for a honeymoon or retirement if you ask me. Heck, they even have an underwater Hilton resort there, uber nice.



中华人民共和国
People's Republic of China
I networked with them only recently since one of my buddy's girlfriend is from the Mainland. Too bad I'm not fluent in the Mainland slang, maybe I should also get one Mainland girl to help me to network with them lol just kidding. They tend to stick to themselves, but when they do open up and welcomes you prepare to meet the rest of the big family, and their slang. 你好? :)



جمهورية العراق
Republic of Iraq
Despite the war back home, I admire these guys' determination to continue their studies. Most of them are adult students, and this new guy I hooked up with is 32 years old. Like they always say "It's never too old to learn". Really friendly folks after a quick 5 minutes intro, and the West can't be friendly with them after the long 5 years war.



اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
These guys also came from a country with fresh turmoil after Bhutto's assassination last December. They're willing to share stories about the internal conflict, and I feel their pain. Imagine you're here sitting comfortably in the air conditioned case study room while back home your family is living a state of emergency with riots just outside your kitchen window. Few Pakistani buddies came back for the studies, I hope they're doing alright.



இலங்கை ஜனநாயக சமத்துவ குடியரச
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
My first Sri Lankan connection that I made before the last challenge day ended. I like the dude, he shares a common insight as I do on government oppression on the economy. I'm surprised he assimilated to our local slang of adding 'lah' etc because none of the foreign students I know would do that, and this is only his first year. I see him as a potential neo-economist to work with when the West goes into a recession, soon.


So far so good, these new networks should be beneficial for me later. But next week I should expand it again during before the summer course ends, I have no connections to the Koreans and Vietnamese students here, maybe because there is only one student from each of those countries. They're all female some more, so you know how most girls would react if a guy suddenly sit with them for lunch at the cafeteria out of the blue and says "Hi :D". I won't worry much about this problem, since it was mentioned in the Hofstede cultural dimensions itself. But that's just another challenge that I have to find a way to counter wahaha...

Hey any stories on your networking experience you like to share? Drop it in the comment, will ultimately be useful for us students everywhere :)

I Am Ham

Sunnovagun. Now I'm disconnected for good in 3666, as if trying to survive here alone was not hellish enough for your average southern boy. I managed to jedi-mind tricked the landlord to help me cover the other bills so I can survive here for the summer course. But then again there's a limit in business, and ethically I decided not to burden him with the streamyx charges (either way the line in 3666 is dead-dead unstable, so no difference from now and then). All the charges are due 2 months ago, and I don't mind since my comrades will only return on March, so luckily the landlord was kindly enough to help me settle the basic housing needs payments until then.

Sorry for the crappy preview quality. Click to enlarge.

And talk about irony, I'm more like Will Smith in I Am Legend already for the past 2 weeks and most likely the remaining 3 weeks. Being disconnected left me with no options but to re-watch animes over and over again. Not only that surviving in Senadin in perilous (seriously), and now I got a Doberman puppy (but looks like a mutt to me) and all I need to do now is name it Sam to complete the ironical circle. I just hope there won't be a viral outbreak that will leave me talking to mannequins at DPS...

"I promised a friend I'd say hello to you today... so, 'Hello'... please say back hello... please... T.T..."

Dammit this situation already happened last Monday at cafeteria, except that the girl responded back, and she wasn't a mannequin. Wonder what's next, maybe the part where Will's house get overrun by those vampires, except my scenario would involve hobos instead...

THE LAST STUDENT IN 3666
IS ALONE
I
AM
HAM