Here's My Story

Atlas Reactor ended its Beta phase with 10-day Open Beta from 15 Sep - 25 Sep. I was happy to see an influx of new players and some even bought the game during this period (as I surmised from the presence of many players using the title "Founder"). During the last weekend of this Open Beta, they conducted a second round of ranked match playtest. The 1st round was conducted weeks ago, where I played only 4 matches. My heart couldn't take it lol. Old already :) Needed 10 placement matches to get initial rank. Fortunately, they counted matches from previous round and so I needed to do only 6 more but that too took me a while (because of my damn heart beating fast!). I played Aurora when no one on my team wanted to play support. Otherwise, I played Grey, which I was most comfortable with at that time. At the end of the placement matches, I was ranked this: According to their first post on the 1st round of playtest , there were 7 divisions altogether i.e. Bronze to C...

I was so busy on the day my dad discharged from hospital  (recuperating at Ban's place) that for the first time ever I forgot Ban's and my anniversary until late at night @@. Since Ban had family dinner celebration the next night, I planned to have a more-expensive-than-usual dinner to celebrate two nights later but was concerned about my dad's condition. Fortunately, my dad was fine with our plan and in fact both my parents encouraged us to go out to celebrate by ourselves. For that, I'm grateful :) We had a wonderful time dining at Kinpachi . Besides the usual salmon sushi and amaebi sushi, I also had fried soft-shell crab (with an unusual mild spicy taste) and salmon handroll. All were great but I probably wouldn't order amaebi sushi again (if I can remember!) because of its small size and so it's better to order salmon sushi which is cheaper. We chit-chatted about a variety of topics, taking our time with our dinner. We used Garmin to get home but we t...

I visited my dad the day after his surgery  during lunch time. Although he sounded weak, my mum and sister said he looked better than the night before. However, he was briefly alert when telling me about a powerful Pokemon he caught lol. There is this device that helps patient to exercise his lungs. The goal is to blow hard enough to float all 3 plastic balls to the top. At that time, my dad claimed that he could only support 2 balls but about 5 mins later, he managed to get all 3 balls up :) In the late afternoon during my second visit, yet again he looked so much better. I had high hope that he could be discharged earlier than norm. My only concern was that he felt a little stressed staying in hospital, because of pain (28 staples!!!), bloated stomach, constipation and a bed that caused pain at his lower back (apparently experienced by a few other patients too). Doctors who attended him generally agreed that his pace of recovery was faster than norm. In fact, the head of th...

On the day of my dad's surgery, I arrived at hospital at 12.15pm and discovered that my dad was wheeled into the operating theater at noon. Earlier, we were told that the operation would take about 3 hours. Given what happened to my mum , my dad wanted me to stay within the hospital compound during the duration of the operation. I was in the ward, reading a book and snoozing. At about 4pm, I was a little worried because no one told me anything. I figured that if I didn't receive any emergency call, that meant there was no problem. However, at 5.30pm, I asked a nurse in the ward for status update on my date, pointing out that it had been 5.5 hours since my dad left the ward. In short, she didn't know the actual status but she did say that sometimes patient is left in OT to rest before sent back to ward. Also, she spotted a doctor involved in the surgery and surmised that the operation was already over. About 3 hours later, I again asked for news. This time, they told me ...

In a past Actuaries Digital issue, Geoff Dunsford wrote to the editor giving his opinion "on feedback the Institute provided to the Government on its March Discussion Paper on the Objective of Superannuation." Among the things he said were: " The Actuaries Institute letter suggested that one of the objectives of superannuation should be “To supplement the Age Pension in order to provide a combined level of income that allows Australians to live a dignified retirement”. This statement suggests that the Age Pension is a fixed (universal) amount, whereas for most people on retirement, and for many years after, it will only be a part pension they receive. This is provided in accordance with the Means Test rules then current and there are no guarantees how these might change from time to time –  for then existing pensioners as well as new ones. To suggest that a part pension is the primary element in the superannuation system is arguably misleading. " Andrew Boal...

My dad is scheduled for a surgery to remove a cyst very soon in PJ. As a standard procedure, there will be a follow-up appointment 2 weeks after discharged. After staying at Ban's place for a night , he finally accepted my suggestion for him to recuperate here. He didn't want to because, understandably, he's more comfortable at his own home but ever since he discovered there are many Pokemons here...@@. So the plan is for my parents to stay at Ban's place and I'll be there until bedtime to take care of him. Ban and I will then sleep at his brother's place and return to Ban's place as early as possible in the morning the next day. After 2 weeks, I'll bring him to the follow-up appointment. The plan after that will depend on how well he recovers. I hope his surgery goes well. My mum had a near-death experience while undergoing a simple surgery and also during recovery and so it took us (my family) sometime to calm my dad's anxiety. I also hope ...

One of my favourite songs, especially its lyrics. I'll paint my mood in shades of blue Paint my soul to be with you I'll sketch your lips in shaded tones Draw your mouth to my own I'll draw your arms around my waist Then all doubt I shall erase I'll paint the rain that softly lands on your wind-blown hair I'll trace a hand to wipe out your tears A look to calm your fears A silhouette of dark and light While we hold each other oh so tight I'll paint a sun to warm your heart Swearing that we'll never part That's the colour of my love I'll paint the truth Show how I feel Try to make you completely real I'll use a brush so light and fine To draw you close and make you mine I'll paint the truth Show how I feel Try to make you completely real I'll use a brush so light and fine To draw you close and make you mine I'll paint a sun to warm your heart Swearing that we'll never part That's the colo...

I mentioned in the passing that Ban and I went to Butterworth. We stayed at my sister's place. More importantly, my parents were there too. Yes, it was the first time we stayed together with my parents after I came out to them I believed the 2-week stay went quite well, although Ban said it was quite "challenging" because of the new experience. My dad even took the trouble to remember what food Ban couldn't eat and what he didn't like to eat. My mum made the effort to converse with him. Ban himself made the effort to chit-chat with them. We both read bedtime story books to my nephew at night. My niece was so attached to Ban that on the day we left, she pleaded with him not to "go home" and then later cried wanting to go with us. Poor girl. My parents stayed a night at Ban's place (Ban and I stayed over at his brother's unit) and the next day had lunch with us as well as Ban's mum and brother. It went well...except that twice my dad pla...

Previously all life insurers had a Chief Actuary who typically reported to the CEO.  Of more importance than the formal reporting line was the role the Chief Actuary played.  The Chief Actuary had the necessary seniority, authority, serious board engagement and strategic contribution, that today APRA is requiring.  Over time many or most companies replaced the Chief Actuary title with the AA title.  Subtle though this change has been and minor in terms of replacing the word “Chief” with “Appointed”, I am of the view that this change has been a contributor to the “decline” in seniority / influence from this key actuarial role.  The focus somehow shifted to the listed duties of the AA and hence complying with prudential standards rather than the needed senior, authoritative, strategic contribution at senior executive and board level. - Lindsay Smartt, President of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia 2016 Interesting. Labels affect people of all age...

Just before we departed for Butterworth, Ban realised that his car road tax hadn't been renewed. Since it was going to expire during our stay there, I suggested using MyEG. For past few years, I had been using MyEG to renew my road tax and they had always delivered it the next business day. While that was true for Klang Valley area, their website stated that it would take up to 3 business days to deliver elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia. Ban ordered his on Tuesday but due to some website/system/internet/goodness-knows-what errors, he ended paying four times. Had to call to get them initiate refund all but one (processed in 2 weeks...hopefully!). Yet by end of Friday it hadn't arrived. According to their website, they can be contacted "9am-7pm daily except for nationwide public holidays" but no one answered his call on Saturday despite trying for half and hour! On Monday, he managed to get them and they said that his road tax was printed on Thursday but they couldn...