Here's My Story

From afar, I guess that this was a barbeque pit but evidently not. Still no idea what it is. Obviously someone felt strongly about skating :) Pretty curvy patterns, don't you think so? This is just outside a school. Shockingly, just a few days before this photo was taken, the tube-like structure was open and there were little circuit boards with electrical wiring. I can't believe nobody was looking after it while its inside was exposed like that. No mischievous hands expected?

There are a few bot designs that are viewed as menace in the game. To me, they are Thruster Sticks (TS) SMG and Nerf Bomb (especially the plasma version). Since I believed my albatross-like plasma bomber is simply not sufficiently competitive, I decided to rent Cluly's version of Nerf Bomb and try to see what's the fuss about. As an aside, I understand from Lathland, a popular youtuber for Robocraft, Cluly is not the first to create the Nerf Bomb but he popularised it by putting up tutorial to build it. He continually improves it and it's now version 4. His version is so popular that Nerf Bomb is nicknamed as Cluly's Ball :) It took me quite a while to learn to pilot it properly. I tested it in all modes except for The Pit. Here's a video of a quick Battle Arena (only 9mins 15secs!): The part I have most trouble is to get it to fly off once it crashes to the ground. The only way I discovered (via trial and error in the "Test Bot" mode) is to press...

I know that (and experienced it during my 4-year stay previously) it often rains during early spring but this is late spring! It made the weather so cold. Brrrr. This was taken at the same time as the 1st photo. No, I'm not kidding :) This was on my left while the 1st stormy photo was on my right. Quack! First ducks I saw on this trip, at Lake Ginninderra. Sunshine in the arid land :P These wildgrass's flowers are pretty and cheery. Looks more like autumn, if not of the green patch grass. This is more like spring! These leaves look almost white in the bright sunshine. On closer look, they are very pale green in colour. Interesting.

Yes, I'm on my annual trip to my sister's place in Australia. This time, I'm staying longer to attend my sister's graduation ceremony (Masters degree :) ). It's much more expensive, though, because I would leave only in Dec. Summer price ticket is a shocker. So that means I would be doing work while I'm here since there are 2 projects commencing mid-Nov (postponed from Aug) and Dec (the usual year-end project). Oh well :| The good news is that Ban's here from 2 weeks and he gets along tremendously well with my nephews :) What do they talk about? At least half the time it's about Civilization V lol. I learned something new on this trip: cricket. My nephews roped Ban and I to play rudimentary cricket in their backyard. Not bad :) Weather has been a little unkind. Cold and rainy. Not the usual late spring weather. Hopefully it'll get better soon.

Spotted this at KLIA2 recently (my maiden trip!). It's amazing :) I wonder why they didn't go with the usual white clothing for him.

I listed Doombringer in the Community Robo Factory months ago - before downward thrusters were - but it garnered only 2 rentals. Recently, I listed it again with the inclusion of those thrusters and chose a top view of it as its listing thumbnail. After almost a week, this was the result: Near the end of its listing period, it had garnered 44 rentals and 1 sale. I was pleasantly surprised, to mildly put it :) I supposed it's still a good bot to use at 96k RR. At top RR, small swingy plasma bombers generally dominate the sky. It may be time for me to revamp my highest robo-ranked bomber :( Unfortunately, my Lovebeam Mercy  didn't garner any rental or sale :( I relisted it again, with some modification. I replaced the L-shaped aerorods with MKX-1 cubes to extend the guns out a little more to minimise gun-clipping. For the same reason, I've also added MKX-1 cubes to extend the single gun underneath the craft. Yes, the side guns at the back are now much mo...

I finally found where this restaurant was: just above Kenny Roasters but to get to it, need to go to the back and take either the elevator or the stairs. Strange. I was the only customer there at just past 6pm but 8 more came in during the next 40mins. Checked and confirmed that they had stir-fried japche (RM17). Yay! :) The first thing I noticed wasn't the huge portion of noodle (that was the second thing) but actually the absence of the smell of sesame oil. Tasting it confirmed its absence. That's something different from other japche I've had. Another difference was the absence of sweet taste. It was purely savoury with a hint of pepper. Unusual japche, at least to me. It took me some time to find and confirm the existence of pieces of chicken. Small and few. Small slices of carrots and onions. Minimal slices of egg. Considering the huge portion of noodle but stingy portion of ingredients relative to its price, its value was probably similar to...

Few months ago, I showcased my bombers I built in Robocraft. The lowest level was (and still is) Baby Forest, now renamed Doombringer (96k robo ranking). Changed to a catchier name before uploaded it to the Community Robo Factory (CRF). Quite successful rentals, probably due to choice of thumbnail too. Will report the final tally (auto-delisting by the game) later. It's been reworked a few times, notably the skirting around the cubes supporting the guns, more cubes to take advantage of the new pilot seat's 7 connection points, and a pair of downward thrusters to help to upright the bot when it goes upside down. I think in the video below I've yet to include these thrusters.

This is actually my third visit. My first visit was terrible. I had their char kuay teow ("CKT"). Prawns were tiny and few (like only 3?). My second visit was a little better but I forgot what I had (sorry!). This time, I had their braised yee mee with chicken, prawn and cuttlefish (RM13.90): When it was served, I could immediately smell sesame oil (or at least I thought so). I was pleased, of course :) Tasting its sauce confirmed the inclusion of that oil and it was balanced. Not too salty, not too oily. The noodle may be a little soft for some people but I'm fine with either way. Its ingredient (including some vegetable) was definitely much more than that in the CKT but it was after all RM4 more expensive. An unusual ingredient was thinly but broadly sliced ginger. Interesting. Would I have this again? Perhaps only if I have to dine at Ativo e.g. seeking sheltered carpark. It would be more appealing if its price was dropped to, say, just below RM10.

Finally, I remember to record another video (with notes) of my 1m RR (robo ranking) medic hover. I really thought we were going to lose :) I had to play Team Death Match because Battle Arena is now restricted to bots of at least 30m RR. Oh well. /block is a very useful feature to use to deal with rude players :)