Here's My Story

Recently we attended Derek's birthday dinner. Naturally, a few days before the day, I started checking Google Maps on my laptop on how to get to the venue as it was new to both Ban and me. Me: Hey, since you use smartphone, maybe you should install Waze or Google Maps. Ban: ...... *continues playing game on his laptop* Me: Especially if Marge (name we gave his Garmin) doesn't know how to get there. Also, Waze can tell whether there's heavy traffic or not. Ban: ...... Me: Oh wait, you don't have data plan. So forget about it. Ban: ...... Me: You must be happy, right? No need to do extra work, installing *in a teasing voice* Ban: Me: *LOL* See, naughty or not? :)

Here's a game that I remember to record hehehe. Sorry for the jerkiness. I really don't know why it's like that, especially since in game, it was ok. Please watch it at higher speed. I recommend x2 speed. Dark Reinhardt did exceptionally well here, although there were only like 2 enemies who were fliers. Top score, top kills and top damage. Since then, it has won many more BA games than lost them. Proud of this self-built bot :) Now I hope that the blink-crash bug is fixed very soon before Dark Tracer becomes obsolete :(

I built Dark Tracer  because I thought the blink module, BLM, would be useful in BA. I managed to play with it a few times before a bug crept in: if the bot was damaged after it blinked, the game crashed. I wasn't the only one experiencing this and we had dutifully provided our feedback (along with the auto-generated crash reports) using the appropriate channel. So I can't play Dark Tracer at the moment :( As for the shield module, DSM, it was obviously useful in TDM but I was skeptical about its use in BA (my preferred game mode), until I saw a few players using it quite effectively. There were 2 main uses: protecting bot while capturing towers, and protecting bot and team mates while battling multiple enemies. Hence, I decided to build a ground bot incorporating DSM. So since this bot is meant to be on the front line, preferably with team mates (to maximise the benefit of using DSM), I opted for Mech legs instead of caterpillar tracks since it wouldn't be the hit-and-...

When I last tested my cholesterol level , the pharmacists expressed concern over the total cholesterol level and especially the LDL (bad cholesterol). The next day, I met a friend who is a doctor and I took the chance to tell him the results. He advised me to seek medical help. So, once back at PJ, I visited my regular doctor. Like my friend, he explained that they would look at all the indicators and not merely the Total/HDL ratio, which I had been using as a yardstick. Given my healthy diet, his conclusion was that I needed to exercise more @@. At that time, my exercise regime in a week was something like this: 1 hour yoga, 1 hour treadmill, 30 min treadmill or 30 min yoga or 20min swimming x 3 (2 rest days). And I need to increase this??? So far, the new regime for a week is as follows: 1 hour yoga x 2, 1 hour treadmill, 30 min swimming, 45 min treadmill x 2 (one rest day). I sometimes replace the 45 min treadmill with 1 hour yoga if I'm in PJ, rather than Seremban. While ...

Apparently, for the first time, there was Franco voucher available on Groupon. From my last visit , their food was expensive based on the portion they served. So I took this opportunity to purchase a RM50 voucher, shared with Ban. The discount was 33%. I ordered their Mac Cheese. Sorry, no photo because I was so tired (after yoga class and had mild sinus). When it was served, I thought it had only macaroni and cheese but after some digging (oh, yes), I found some mushrooms (the Asian kind?) and 3 pieces of luncheon meat. It was filling but probably due to the cheese. This time I made room for dessert as I decided to try their vanilla souffle (RM 16.80++). It was my first time trying souffle. According to their menu, souffle is normally served in fine-dining restaurants. I didn't know that and it just raised the bar for me hehehe. As stated in their menu, it was freshly baked (needing 20mins). When served, the first thing I noticed was the vanilla aroma, which whetted my...

From previous post , I said that I thought of having a bot with BLM specifically built for BA. I searched the CRF for a chassis that could fit 1 Flak, some SMGs and 1 BLM. However, since I do not know how much spare CPU the bots had, I was afraid to purchase any. Hence, I was forced to build one from scratch. I haven't built one from scratch for a very long time. I tried using hover blades but failed to balance it. I know I'm quite hopeless at balancing rotor blades. So in the end I chose caterpillar track. Easier to build with...and I'm lazy to build hehehe. Hence, born Dark Tracer: I wanted to have dual weapon types and when I asked Ban what weapons I should have, he immediately suggested one of them to be Flak, to counter fliers. Although it seems weaker now, Flak is probably still the best anti-air. I chose SMG as the other weapon type since it is great at short range. So on a one-on-one duel, I have to be most cautious going against ground LML and p...

As stated in the last post on Robocraft , they were going to introduce new component: module. However, the major patch Maximum Loadout, did more than that. Key features are: BLM: module enabling your bot to blink! DSM: enable your bot to place a temporary fusion shield one a side (instead of, say, a dome) SMG and Rail no longer have hit scan Nano no longer damages enemies i.e. purely for healing allies Multiple weapon types can now be mounted on your bot Using modules and firing your weapons drain your power, similar to concept of mana in many ARPG games However, there are major problems right now: Too many things that cause Rail's inaccuracy, aside from needing to lead now that hit scan is gone Flak damage is fishy. The trigger's radius seems smaller now and damage is erratic The above problems plus SMG needing to lead now and the buff to wings and plasma damage result in the emergence of fliers. Many of them. Tesseracts/drones aplenty. Bombers aplenty. It was ba...

Although I'm aware of the Dragon-I outlet at The Curve for many years, I had yet to dine there until recently. I have never suggested it because Ban usually doesn't like Chinese food. They are usually not suitable for him. However, not sure what happened but recently we went there after gym. I'm quite sure it was Ban who suggested it @@ Lol, oh well. I ordered La Mian with Fried Chicken Taiwanese style and a glass of fresh corn juice. I forgot to take note of the prices :( I vaguely recall that the corn juice was just over RM 6 before service charge and GST. It tasted like milkshake. Delicious and sweet! I would order this again :) The soup was clear and simple, almost bland. Clearly stingy on vegetable. The noodle was, however, soft and nice. The chicken was already cut into small pieces. Unlike many other fried chicken I had, including the supposedly Taiwanese style, this had mild ginger taste. Unusual, isn't it? It was crispy and quite delicious...

With the advent of aeroflak, my beloved plasma bomber is no longer my prime choice. For a while, I favoured my SMG mechs and then LML came along, which not only put further back the viability of fliers but also put to question of which ground SMG is best suited for current meta. If you want fast ground bots that can quickly take cover from missiles, then SMG cruiser or hover are the best. However, the former loses control too easily, especially on ice, and the latter is susceptible to flak (as stated previously ). SMG mech is great at tanking and also jumping to avoid plasma shot but jumping makes it vulnerable to flak too. Tesseract is still the best flying bot around but only if you're able to control it well. Sadly, I'm not. So I usually just cycled through the current bots I have, playing many TDMs. I bought a few bots to try out, including a tesla plasma of which I was so bad at piloting it :) I did consider getting a walker copter rail bot but decided to wait until ...

Compared to a year ago, my income is lower but there's higher expense: (1) Home loan interest rate is much higher. (2) Rent is significantly lower. (3) Dividends are smaller. (4) Increased allowance to parents. (5) Loss of a client whose fee accounts for almost all of my actuarial consulting fees. Unlike previous years where I always had quite substantial net income, currently my income just meet my expense. This is unfortunate as I'm hoping to save money and invest in shares as they are cheap right now. Sigh. Instead, I have to watch my expenses. No extravagant stuff for sure. Fewer trips to restaurants.