So Elton's present kicked so much ass, it's probably a good thing he has a Christmas lunch with his family, because I'm just too busy playing with it at the moment.
I'd been talking about a netbook for the longest time, pretty much since I started my new job and had days when I was stuck in town for hours between appointments and wishing I could work on my articles instead of wasting time. It's not because I'm hard working; I'd much prefer to do work during office hours so I can do my own thing after. I do NOT like to be working after the sun goes down, which is actually a good thing, because I'm driven to be more productive.
Yes, I already have a laptop. Unfortunately, it's a really old Fujitsu that has 20GBs hard drive and has completely lost the ability to shut down without me holding down the power button till it emits this little whine and goes black. The battery is so dead, it lasts for about an hour even on normal web surfing. And, as light as it is, it's still a shoulder killer.
And so, on the day of Christmas (I have no clue how you guys count it), my sweetie gave to me, a HP Mini. It's so cute and small, the wire bag I'm using to store the wires is almost three quarters the size. Elton picked it because the reviews on Cnet Asia are pretty good; the keyboard is as big as it gets on a netbook, making for comfortable typing (which is true, it feels like a normal full-sized keyboard, and is even better than the stupid Mac one I have to use at work).
I'm still in the midst of exploring it, but so far the main specs are a 60GBs hard drive, 1GB RAM, 1.5GHz motherboard or something like that. It has a built in camera and two USB ports, a SD Card reader, and one dubious looking HP USB port thingy, no idea what it's for. I'm trying to download the essential software for it, managed to waste a ridiculous amount of time on the paid version of AVG. The free version works just as fine, honestly.
What did I get for him for Christmas? An air purifier. It wasn't much of a surprise, since I physically blocked him from buying one so I could get it for him. What the hell do you get a guy who keeps buying everything himself?! And mind you, it's not just me who had problems with getting him something for Christmas; Yvonne, long time friend, was tearing her hair out and defacing his Facebook wall in some attempt to find inspiration for a present.
I found out by accident that apparently I'm the only one who buys stuff for my boyfriend's family. I've been doing that for a few years now, since I'm a sweet and generous soul. Actually, I just find it weird that during Christmas, I'll give him some big ass present and have nothing for the rest of the gang except greeting words.
Anyway. Even if your partner just gave you socks for Christmas, it's the thought that counts. Really. The thought there are more generous and thoughtful people out there.
Naturally, around this time, wish lists are made. Here's mine.
1. To have the super power that woman in The 4400 has to take a super realistic mental holiday that lasts as long as she wants while only seconds pass in real life.
2. To be able to fly on my own power, not in a machine of any kind.
3. To be able to teleport any distance.
4. To age very slowly and have a long life expectancy and be really healthy.
5. To live happily ever after with my one true love.
So generally, I'm running on a fantasy/sci-fi theme here. What? Like if someone could give you anything you could possibly want and you'd ask for something mundane like money? Really? And what currency, pray tell, considering how everything seems to be crashing left, right and center? How about, to always have the material things I want? Isn't that what money does for you? You gotta refine the wish, can't just say something like, to always have what I want because then you'll start having love-sick morons hanging around who might shoot you or something cos they got jealous.
If you're completely baffled at why I put that strange super power as number one, well, that sort of lumps in four and five together. And it fits in so nicely with real life, without being real life. On that mental holiday, you can do what you want, go where you like, have all the time in the world to just relax, after a stressful day. Imagine, after each day of work, you could just go on a vacation that lasts for weeks, even years if you like. Suddenly work isn't so bad after all.
And see, if your super powers were something more real-life based, it could end up being nothing more than a parlour trick you can't make money off of, or something that would really complicate your life, with government agencies hunting you down to work for them or to kill you off. That quiet little power would let me go on with my life and be the most well-adjusted person ever. I like it.
The books always go on about how eternal life has the cons of the people you love growing old and dying around you. That mental vacay power lets you bring people in with you, so you and your partner can have all that time together, but you won't have to leave without each other. I mean, I guess you could always wish for eternal life for the both of you, but what if you got sick of each other after, say, the first 50 years of so? Makes it kinda tricky to move on.
About number two. Well. I've always wanted to fly. Some of my best and most frustrating dreams are of me flying, but I can't go beyond a certain height. And I always have wings in them. I'm sure it means something to those dream analysing people out there, but I've not bothered to figure out what it means, since I dream so often and I can't remember most of it anyway.
The truth is, far out as this sounds, I've always believed in magic. And I believe that we can't really touch it because we're too far removed from it. It was probably around a really long time ago before we got all industrial and technological. I believe it still exists, just beyond our reach, and that there are others out there who believe in it too.
Carl Jung posited the idea of a Collective Unconscious, kinda like this giant server shared by the whole of humanity that consists of everything we've ever imagined and thought about. Some things, which enough of us believe in, manifest themselves all over, which is why ancient civilisations share certain myths without any way of communicating, like dragons and angels.
I know it sounds crazy, but it may be coming back. The 4400, Heroes, god knows how many superhero comics and novels. All these super powers are really just another sort of magic. A much more limited sort, but still, magic. One of the games I used to play was called Shadowrun, where one day normal human society as we know it was transformed and magic re-exerted itself. Maybe that might happen. I can only wish.
I have come to the conclusion that just because you like to eat at a restaurant doesn't mean you should go into the kitchen. I used to absolutely love reading magazines. It was my monthly treat to myself, walking out of Kinokuniya with a sack of mags, anticipating the quiet evenings in the comfort of my bed flipping through the glossy pages.
Now though, I look through them with a critical eye, breaking down the sections, the layout, how the articles are written and so forth. Whatever joy I used to have about them has been sucked away. On the bright side, that saves me a lot of money. Well, that, and the fact that if it's published by us, I get it free anyway. That, and it frees me up to read other things, like books.
One of the unfortunate side effects of being in the business is that you realise it is a business. As with any publication, we have to offer our advertisers a little something extra because they are the ones who pay us. Six dollars does not even cover the price of paper, ink and glue that makes up the magazine; we get our money from the ads you see in them. It's not so bad if your advertisers have things worth talking about, but when it's just plain shit, I find myself hard pressed to even come up with two sentences.
The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that non-advertisers get shunted aside. Violently. The harsh reality is that every inch of space in a magazine is precious publicity we can't just give away to someone who doesn't advertise, unless the product or service is that remarkably special. And face it, for my section, it takes a lot to stand out.
Being the newest of the new, I have the unenviable task of writing snippets, those short little write ups about what's new in the market. I also do other things, but that's my monthly bugbear. It feels like I'm trying to fit a watermelon through a donut hole. Every month, the sheer amount of new stuff, press releases, product launches and so on is unbelievable. I am about as neat and organised as it gets and even then my workspace looks like a beauty company just exploded all over it. So the cruel cruel fact is, the advertisers get featured, the ones that don't wait their turn. I do play favourites, pushing the ones I like higher up the list, but even then, they may not make it if there's no space.
Which is why I've decided to put the ones I love here. I don't see why I can't, since I've tried them personally, found them amazing, and can't write about them for work. Actually, I'm going to shift over to Blogger for that, because who knows, I might be able to make it bigger than just a hobby and Vox isn't the most customisable blog engine. I'll still write here about other things, but for all the beauty stuff, go over there.
At work, I am a little different from my usual self. I'm not as loud, not as outspoken, not as enthusiastic. I find that my normal level of enthusiasm doesn't seem as welcome, since they seem to enjoy affecting a cynical nonchalance towards all things. I do feel a little bit like Ugly Betty, sans braces and suspect fashion sense. I seem to get along almost everyone at work, but of course, I don't know what they Meebo their friends about me. Colleagues are like family; you can't really choose who they are, and you're stuck with them even if you can't stand them. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes you become really efficient at your work so you can get out ASAFP.
But as the Channel 8 scriptwriters will tell you, any family will have its evil elements. Kym had the misfortune to encounter one of them.
Now, before I go on, I must explain that Kym comes across to most women as a threat. She's beautiful, with generous assets and cat-like eyes that give her a (sorry girl, but it's true) slightly bitchy appearance. If you don't know her, you may think she's one of those bitchy women who steal boyfriends and husbands for sport. The truth is, she couldn't be further from that; she can't help being born looking like a bombshell.
To be honest, when I first met Kym, I didn't expect that we'd be friends, mainly because she was hanging out with this girl who I disliked on sight. Things took a change a couple of months into training (we met at our old job), and we started being friends. Looks aside, she is a very sweet person who couldn't steal a free brochure to save her life. The only worry you could possibly have about her around your guy is your guy hitting on her, not the other way round. She values friendship so much she still keeps around some really toxic friends who keep slyly putting her down and making her feel bad about herself. The only vice she has is the fact that she loves gossip, though she doesn't go around spreading malicious lies.
Which is why I found it absolutely baffling that one of her colleagues hates her guts enough to send evil messages about her to others. I find it even more baffling that she managed to send that message to Kym. That takes skill.
And I have no clue why she would dislike Kym that much. She's been nothing but nice to that girl, even helping her to photocopy their course notes and whatnot. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the situation to comment further, but I am pretty riled up that some bitch out there is talking shit about my friend.
What I do know is that that girl is seriously insecure. Truly, it takes one heck of a childhood trauma to hate someone when they've offered you nothing but kindness and friendship. Having checked out her Facebook page, I'm even more convinced that Kym is just a convenient target for her to take her self-esteem issues out on.
Kym is, literally, attractive. When we go out together, I harbour no illusions that the guys are checking me out; my appeal sinks in a little later after I've had time to unleash my witty charm. I have a feeling that girl doesn't like playing second banana. If that doesn't make it irritating enough for her, Kym's just a naturally friendly person who gets along with most people, and from her looks, that girl seems incredibly uptight. There's even a really good one of her frowning, that'll fit perfectly next to the dictionary entry for PMS. Ah, the wonders of Facebook.
Normally I'd go on, but I'm trying to cut down on negativity. I get enough of it as it is.
I think that's probably why I started loving pink a while back. I can't remember exactly when it started, but I find that surrounding myself with pink things puts me in a happier mode. And people encountering my wall of pink usually react in two ways; they smile or they gawk. Either way, they sort of forget what they were pissed off about for a while.
And now I've added another new pink gadget. I traded in my stupid ass HTC Touch Diamond for my new LG KF350, otherwise known as the Ice Cream phone.
First, what was so stupid about the Diamond? Despite being such an "intelligent" phone that apparently allows you to do everything, it doesn't allow you to do some very basic things, which I've ranted at length before, so go read the archives. For that price tag, I shouldn't have to trawl the net for third party software to message groups of people at a time. It hung, constantly, it was quite buggy, it required more steps than an advanced tap dancing class to do basic things like call someone from your address book or to send a message. All that, for a supposed business phone. And, AND, they wasted valuable tab space on things like weather reports. Yes, because I live in Singapore, country of ever-changing seasons.
Technically, I downgraded getting the Ice Cream, but it fits so much better with my life and functions so well, it feels like an improvement. LG used to have retarded OS that was about as user friendly as an instant detonation grenade. But the Ice Cream's OS is a drastic improvement. It's like the bastard child of Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung, taking the best of each. It's like Sony Ericsson in terms of the menu layout, Nokia in its SMS functions, and Samsung in its cutesy display and sounds. Everything is customisable, including the external LED light display, which you can design by picking out the dots under the settings.
It's not as high-powered in that it doesn't have 3G or WIFI, but I can't remember the last time I made a video call or linked up to a WIFI signal outside of my house. It has a 3mp camera, no flash, unfortunately, but that's what cameras are for. It has an expandable memory using micro SD cards, supports MP3 playback, has an FM radio and supports Java games, so you can download and put them on.
But what I really really like about it is the design. It's very much like those clamshells that Docomo produces, very slim with a nice big 2.2 inch screen inside and a keypad with big tactile keys that make messaging so much easier. I am vehemently against touchscreen phones; they make messaging hell. I got the one in pink, obviously, and it's this lovely pastel shade like strawberry ice cream. The inside is white, with silver trimmings, and the keypad lights up in pink.
And the reason why I started using PDA phones in the first place - to put in appointments with greater ease - is completely satisfied by the Ice Cream. Sony Ericsson has quite a lengthy page-by-page process for this (at least, the older phones did), but its so easy on the Ice Cream, I may just do away with the planner I bought. Or not.
I got it for $338 WITHOUT a contract at the Singtel retailer at Rivervale Mall. It's similarly affordable at other places, but I went there because they gave me a good trade in price for my Diamond. Heck, I even got money back.
See, pink does make people feel happier.
As I was putting my face on, Elton came over to examine the proceedings and also to potentially tickle me. Fortunately, I was putting on my eyeliner, so had an excellent reason to tell him to not try anything funny.
E: Ah hah! So you cannot move, right?
Me: Forced movement does not count as part of my move.
E: (silence) Did you just quote a D&D rule at me?!
Me: Yup. True sign of nerdism.
E: Nerdism, a religion born of the 21st century.
Me: No lah, I'm sure there were like cavemen nerds.
E: (laughs) How is that possible?
Me: It took a nerd to invent the wheel.
E: Why did it have to be a nerd? It was probably some slacker farmer.
Me: Nah, it was a nerd caveman, slacking at home while the other cavemen were hunting. He was probably trying to make dice.
That said, I'm quite impressed by the creativity of gamers. Now that there's the 4th edition of D&D out, a great deal of fan-created stuff have been flying all around the internet. And it goes beyond just character sheets (we had those a long time ago, because the character sheets in the books really suck, and it's almost like a legacy they feel they must carry on); people are coming up with these "power cards" and bases for miniatures and crib sheets. One dude even made this template that you can cut out, stick, and have an envelope for your power cards right there on your sheet. Anything to make the gaming experience a little easier.
Elton started a 4th ed D&D campaign a few weeks ago and I'm having fun. As a 3rd ed gamer, I find it a little difficult to let go of the rules I've grown up with. But I have to say, I do like some of the changes to the rules.
One of the main complaints was that the game has become too simplified. True, it's no longer as customizable, but the good thing is, it's a lot more forgivable. It used to be that we planned things out backwards, starting from level 20 and figuring out what you needed to qualify for whatever prestige class you wanted to play. If you wasted one of your feats on something stupid or put your skill points in the wrong skills or just took the wrong class, you might not be able to get into the class you wanted, hence the need to plan things out beforehand.
For 4th ed, you can retrain all you want, which means you can let things be a little more organic and just go with the flow. Which is good, when you have a full time job and don't have the time or energy to put that much effort into gaming anymore.
What I really really like is the fact that tanks aren't useless anymore. It used to be that tanks had a difficulty in getting the bad guys to focus on them and not, say, the party caster. Now we get a whole host of funky abilities (yes, I play a tank in a group full of guys), and it's so very dangerous to ignore us. My current character is a water genasi swordmage and I'm just loving it. Even at level one, we've got a number of tricks up our sleeves.
Gaming with a bunch of guys hasn't been an issue for me, I guess mainly because I've been gaming with the same bunch of guys. The core group, Elton, Peeyush, Dzaki, hasn't changed, and the rest I've gamed with in one way or another, so they're used to me. In general, they're pretty ok. I guess maybe because all of them are older than me and had time to grow up. I've known this bunch for seven years already, so they've had sufficient time to stare at my tits and move beyond them.
But there are some gamers I wouldn't play with, mainly because they'll do things like a) overprotect my character, even when I'm playing a tank or b) make it a point to kill it. I've heard horror stories of GMs asking a girl playing a female character for her character's menstrual cycle, because "wild beasts might be attracted to the smell". (At point of writing, Elton went, "You're kidding!" over my shoulder. I'm not.)
I guess it's really a matter of how socialised your geeks are. There are some who have never, and I mean, NEVER had any female contact in their lives beyond their mother, and those are the sort who'd ask for your character's menstrual chart. Thankfully, the guys I game with have had girlfriends before. Maybe girlfriend for some, but hey, at least they had some action.
Which is why I'm a little bemused by this female gamer who wrote a book about her gaming experiences and is now the resident female voice at the D&D headquarters. How incredibly unlucky must she have been to be able to write a book about her shit experiences? Why is there a need for a female perspective on D&D? The extent of my girliness in my gaming career has been a fully pink set of stationery, pink frosted dice (courtesy of Elton. I used to have a set of red ones that I can't find anymore), and an aversion towards classes and races that have ugly pictures. But I've not exactly interpreted rules in a "female" way or thought, "Hmm, how can I make the barbarian more girly?"
Then again, I guess she deals with the menstrual chart bunch, who think we're aliens anyway, so perhaps there is a need for a so-called female perspective on the game. So long they don't blame us for the game dumbing down.
