Here's My Story

Introduction I dub my sisters and I "Planners". People may mistaken us as control freaks but they are misguided. Our actions are a result of us being Planners. Who are Planners? We plan for the future. Not only for the next 1 or 2 steps but several steps ahead, at the very least. Sometimes we plan for decades ahead. We not only plan to achieve goals that are beneficial for our loved ones and us but also plan for actions to be taken should adverse incidents happen to thwart those goals. I'm not alluding to incidents with small probability ala earthquake in Malaysia but incidents with significant probabilities and mostly those with at least 50% chance of happening. Mind you, when presented with evidence that our goal is no longer desirable, we do not hesitate to change it or dump it. We are not that stubborn. Example A simple example: if I know I'll be out for at least 1.5 hours, I will bring a small backpack containing the following (with their reasons written...

His death taught me that if I had an residual feelings of discomfort that he was gay, they didn't matter two hoots compared with losing him. I'd like people to think about that. Death sure puts things into context for you. - Anne Gregory, writing about her gay son who died about 8 years after he came out to her.

After having hosted a few sessions of DnD and played many sessions of games hosted by other GMs, I conclude that it is very useful for every player to try hosting a game, even for a short while. This would enable them to see from a GM's point of view and hopefully helps the games go smoother too. A GM prepares the following (1) The main and minor storylines that then provide 'quests' (2) The various encounters, both combat and off-combat (3) Setting scenes e.g. the environment, village, NPCs, sound, smell (4) Enemies of the PCs (5) Appropriate maps (6) Alternate/backup plans (this probably causes the most grief) A GM also has to manage players to ensure the game goes as smoothly as possible. The most ostentatious behaviour is the disruptive one e.g. player arguing over rules, questioning his team mates actions all the time, making his character doing very disruptive actions in-game. The player may meant well (likely trying to get his party to have highest chance...

Recently, I received an e-mail from AllOut.org: Russian leader Vladimir Putin is on a rampage against human rights. Friday morning we learned that Putin's courts formally banned Pride marches for 100 years in Moscow . Then the news broke that anti-gay activists are using the government's gay gag laws to sue Madonna for $10,000,000 in "moral damages" because she spoke up for gay Russians in a concert this week. If that wasn't enough,  punk band Pussy Riot was sentenced just this morning to two years in prison  for speaking out against the government. The judge cited "homosexual propaganda" as one reason to bring the hammer down on the three young women - two of them moms. Enough is enough. In days Putin is going to be face to face with all the leaders of the world at a high profile, media packed United Nations Meeting in New York.   If we move fast, we can ignite a global media firestorm that embarrasses Putin's government and gets h...

This is the 3rd sudoku puzzle I couldn't solve and, understandably, they are all from the Diabolical category. I gave up after 1hr 15 mins, especially it was already lunch time. I'm not satisfied with how I solved most of the Diabolical puzzles because it usually involved guessing, rather than strategy. Humph!

Calvin: I'm sick of hearing about personal responsibility! I've already done my part to make the world a better place to live. Hobbes: Really? Calvin: Sure! I was born! Hobbes: Oh yes, I forgot to thank you. *rolls his eyes upward* Calvin: Join the club! Hahaha. Calvin here just reminds me of Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory.

A principle that scientists term parsimony is relevant here. The principle of parsimony dictates that when two theories have the same explanatory power, the simpler theory (the one involving fewer concepts and conceptual relationships) is preferred. The reason is that the theory with fewer conceptual relationships will likely be the more falsifiable of the two in future tests. - 'How To Think Straight About Psychology' by Keith E. Stanovich Interesting. I've always thought that the reason to choose the simpler theory is because it's simpler to explain. Also, in the specific case of regression, the explanatory contribution made by the extra factors could be spurious and that fewer factors mean fewer data to deal with.

Following my first GM-ing session, I had 2 more sessions to date. The 2nd session was the first time Ban's brother joined the game. Also, I didn't play my cleric then, as planned after the last GM, to see the difference. It went quite well, imho. Ban's brother tried to do a few 'clever' things but the situation didn't give him much opening to do so (and I suspect he might have toned it down too) and so it didn't get really far. The important thing was that I didn't try to stop him from wanting to do so. I particularly liked the druid part (I made up his dialogue sort of on the spot) and the the beginning of the skeleton part. The combat part, however, was a little easy because I rolled badly for the monsters for their first 2 rounds or so. Fortunately, the players had no negative feedback and Ban's brother enjoyed the session, especially the druid part. I'm glad I managed to inject some zany moments :) Also, I also learned a f...

The last update was about 3 months back. I honestly thought it was longer than that hehe. Here's the updated result on completion of puzzles M (Moderate): Since the last update, my performance has been a little erratic. At first, I was a little alarmed at the creeping increase in time but subsequently I managed to lower it back down. That was short-lived though: later it spiked up dramatically. So similar to stock market haha. I vaguely remember that the latter spike coincided with a new computer game. I think it was Tetris Battle on Facebook. Anyway, the bright spot in this update is the new personal record of just over 9 mins :) I still wonder how on earth I did it. The stars must have had aligned perfectly then. I now have enough data with respect to completion of puzzles T (Tough): As expected, time taken to complete is generally longer than for puzzles M. Quite similar to puzzles M data, there was a downtrend in time that spiked up towards the end. Shortest tim...

Today is Ban's birthday. I sang him a simple birthday song in the morning, which included usage of a couple of nicknames :) Later, my sis and her hubby treated him to lunch at Hokkaido Sushi (menu's exactly the same as Sushi Zanmai!). As I'm lousy at thinking of what gift to give him, I was tempted to give him a red packet. Actually, I did think of getting a computer game for him (likely would have shared with a few friends), which I did last year, but I changed my mind when I recalled that last year he played the game(s) until crazy! Played late into the night. Not a very good present imho. So this year, I offered to buy him a pair of shorts since the pair that he usually wore outside was half gone already. I wanted to shop with him but instead, he shopped for one while I was at yoga class. Oh well. Happy birthday honey! Wish you good health and much happiness! *muaccccckkkkk!*

(continue from Part 2 ) These were what I chose as I leveled up my warlock to level 4: Level 2 I chose the feat Improved Initiative (+4 initiative bonus). I was puzzled as to why this feat was highly recommended by the guide. Ban reasoned that perhaps it's good for a striker to move and cause damage as early as possible. Although there are a myriad of feats to choose from but very few of them stood out at that time. Hence, I'll just keep this feat until I find better ones. Level 3 Initially I chose the Encounter power Fiery Bolt for its damage (primary damage of 3d6 + Con modifier fire damage and splash damage of 1d6 + Con modifier fire damage). That's the primary role of a striker: dishing out high damage. Later I changed my mind, after I conducted a mock battle. To utilise the splash damage, I would need at least 2 enemies (preferably more of course) adjacent to each other but when would they do that? Likely only when they try to surround one of my allies but ...