Categories
Diary

A Comic Relief – Uh Huh … Say Hello To mioTV?

I love watching Formula One on TV, at home.  Getting another setup box because ESPN is moving back to SingTel this July is something I dread, but inevitable.  I suspect under the umbrella of mio Home – a bundle of land lines (yes, plural!), broadband, and television – I may have saved some money.  It took the super patience SingTel sales consultant at Bishan Junction 8 one full hour to explain to me how mio Home works.  Who says the SingTel service is bad?!  After that one hour fruitful session, Cynthia commented that both of us were like a broken record.  “F1 will be broadcast in mioTV?”  “Yes, F1 will be broadcast in mioTV.”  “You sure F1 will be broadcast in mioTV?”  “Yes, I am sure F1 will be broadcast in mioTV.”  “I am signing up for this only because of F1.”  “Really?  Just F1?”  “Really, just F1.  So you sure come this July I can watch F1 on mioTV?”  “Yes, F1 will be on mioTV.”  “This July?”  “Wait a minute please.  Let me check.”

OK.  At least he admitted that he was not that sure.  All that drilling was not going nowhere.

After what appeared like 10 minutes, this friendly SingTel sales consultant emerged from his office and produced a screen printout for me.  He said with a big smile, “This is not easy to come by!”.  And I wondered why.

I love working with sales and service consultants, face-to-face or on the phone.  I always picture them as someone cheerful, always eagers to help.  After my mioTV installation appointment was made, I needed to shift the morning session to afternoon.  No problem, the hotline said.  A few days later, I needed to shift the afternoon session back to morning.  Sorry sir, all fully booked – so said the hotline.  On the day itself, SingTel called me if I could shift the appointment to the morning.  Really, I kept my entire day free just for SingTel.  Of course you can.

There is one good thing coming out of this mioTV exercise.  The sales consultant was so helpful that upon further poked by me, I was informed that the promotional rate for my 3G mobile broadband add-on (30 GB) will be expired on July 2nd, this year.  It will be a hike from S$12.57 per month to S$39.99!  My oh my, how lucky I am to discover this than years later, when I would discover that I had been paying so much more per month for a much slower speed.  Like before.

July 2nd I will be out-of-town.  Can I sign up for another promotional deal for July 2nd onwards (S$13+ with a reduced quota of 10GB, a cap of S$39.99 a month – finally! – and the speed is increased from 1 Mbps to 7 Mbps!)?  Hot-line replied: Nope, because today is not July 2nd and you can only do it on July 2nd.  OK.  Great.  And I am told that to enjoy the promotional rate, I have to sign up online.  Are there any other ways?  Yes, the hot-line replied.  But I will have to pay S$1 extra per month in order to sign up via the sales consultant on the phone, instead of DIY via online.  This really makes sense.  Especially when I am out-of-town.

Fine.  I requested to terminate my 3G data plan from July 2nd onwards and will deal with it when I am back from my summer holiday.  How I love SingTel for prompting us to be alert and creative in solving problems.  All the so-called savings from mio Home bundle would have been wiped off by the silent hike of the 3G data price.

*     *     *     *    *

The duo who installed mioTV for me were fantastic.  101% service oriented, dramatic with a good sense of humor.  If there was a feedback form, I would have punched in 5-star rating for all categories.

Hours ahead of the scheduled appointment, this duo appeared at my doorsteps.  The Chinese guy had such a big pair of eyes and defined face line that I bet girls would melt seeing him.  After opening the phone socket at my living room near to my telephone, one guy got a shock.  Where was the 2nd line?!  The what?!  2nd line!  The Chinese guy turned the tracer on and the Malay guy (equally charming) went to the phone switch box outside of my apartment armed with this bizarre hand machine that emitted sound.  I suppose this futuristic device is to determine the phone signal without having to tap onto the physical wires.  How nice if the Matrix has incorporated this idea into the film.

“Is there a tone?” the Chinese guy would shout.  “No!” the Malay guy would reply.  The Chinese guy would switch to another bare wire and shouted out loud, “Is there a tone?”  “No!”  “How about this?”  “No!”  “And this?”  “NO!”.  “THIS?”  “NO!”. “THIS?”  “NO!”. “THIS?”  “NO!”. “THIS?”  “NO!”.

Déjà vu.  It was broken record once again.

“Where is the main wire?” asked the Chinese guy.  “Erm, I have no idea,” I replied.  Shortly, I realized that he was talking to himself.  Next, three of us – the good looking duo and I – were busy going round my apartment to hunt for that missing wire.  Later, after some detailed explanation from the Chinese guy, I understood that outside my home, there is a telephone cable that concealed 3 pairs of wires.  This cable goes underneath the floor outside my home, into my home, and emerges from a main socket somewhere.  And our job was to find out where.

As the hunting team combed through my apartment, I was busy concealing all the not too PG stuffs.  Like my used socks and what not.  One socket after another socket, we frown in disappointment.  Finally, we have located the source.  When we opened the case, it was empty!  The Chinese guy exclaimed, “The cable should come out from there!”.  “But there is nothing inside!” I replied in equal if not more enthusiasm and drama.  The duo stormed through my kitchen, through my storeroom, even went into the false ceilings of the bathrooms turning my house upside down.  I really give it to their positive work attitude.  After what appeared as a fruitless exercise, we concluded that the contractor who renovated my home back in 2000 must have forgotten to connect all six wires from the cable outside to my home inside.

What does that mean?

Well, my home could potentially support three telephone lines.  How SingTel has this vision that a tiny home like mine would need three telephone lines?  I do not know.  With mio Home, one phone line is dedicated to broadband Internet access shared with my main telephone line.  Another phone line is dedicated to watching TV channels on demand.  Interestingly, because of this 2nd phone line (that comes with a new telephone number!), I now can have two telephones at home!  Cynthia can talk to her mother in Indonesia while at the same time, I to my mother in Hong Kong.  One happy family.  The Chinese guy laughed when he heard me thinking-out-loud and commented that incoming calls for the 2nd phone line is not free, unlike the first one.  “Huh?” I said.  “But you can set up a fax machine and receive faxes for free!” he hinted.

Things you would not have known if not thinking-out-loud.  SingTel puts in a lot of hidden bonus materials for those who care to ask.

Back to the drama, we failed to locate the 2nd phone line.  There was no 2nd phone line in my home.  What a disaster!  “What shall we do now?” I asked.  The duo proposed that they would route a new cable from outside, use the existing StarHub concealed cable truck, drill a hole through my wall, and route the line around my living room to where my telephone is.  Concealed and free-of-charge.

Free?!  Wow.  It is not even SingTel’s problem.  But they were happy to make this works for me.  Though I am not a big fan of mioTV.  I am touched.  Not only did they do all these for free, the Chinese guy was sensitive enough to ask if I have a vacuum cleaner.  “For?!” asked I.  He took out his huge and long tool (I swear I have not seen such size before) – a driller – and told me that if we could suck the dust while he drilled, my home would not be so dusty thereafter.  Good idea.  He drilled and I held the sucker (sorry I forgot the English term for that).  And to add onto the drama, our driller failed to go through!  He tried until his face was all red.  I stayed still and looked at his driller in puzzlement.  Later, we found out that his driller had hit a metal plate put in by StarHub as an attempt to defend its cable (whoever came out with that idea is a true genius).  Wrong hole.  So he positioned his tool up a bit and drilled.  It went through OK.

*     *     *     *     *

It is true.  There is a high chance that if you do not know what you are doing, your mioTV may take 30 to 40 minutes to get switched on.  The SingTel duo said to me that it is IMPORTANT to switch off the power at the mioTV box BEFORE turning off the power main.  Failing to do so may incur a 30 to 40 minutes penalty the next time you switch on mioTV.  If I may backtrack a bit, I also love SingTel for keeping us alert and proactive in not creating a problem in the first place.  The solution can be so simple that you feel like a genius knowing it.

PS. What if I have a sudden power failure while mioTV is on?  Read on and you will understand my concern.

*     *     *     *     *

Contrary to how some may perceive, I love to embrace change.  Take wireless phone as an example.  I have changed from Nokia 8850 to Nokia N85 to Nokia N95 to Nokia N96 to Nokia 97 to now, a Nokia N900 over a decade (on a more serious note, I did change from nVidia to ATI and being a PC gamer to a PS3 gamer).  My next phone is likely to be a different model of a Nokia.  So, how does changing from StarHub TV to SingTel mioTV feel like?

Since during this promotion period (what a scary marketing phrase coming from SingTel), all the channels are opened for viewing, I requested for my favorite girl-fight-girl, girl-fight-lots-of-guys, girl-feed-girl-with-blood movie “Blood, The Last Vampire”.  It is on demand, so once I click OK, the movie started.  Wow.  That is pretty cool.  OK, the censorship is horrible (that’s why I seldom buy DVDs here) but that is nothing to do with SingTel.  Will I pay S$6.42 per movie?  I suppose if I think deeper on how much I spend on StarHub TV’s movie channels a month (S$28) and end up probably not watching any, if I think deeper on how many DVDs that I have bought thinking that I would watch but still in wraps, S$6.42 per movie may seem reasonable.  I don’t think Cynthia will be delighted to drop the Star Movies, HBO, and HBO HD channels currently playing in StarHub TV.  So all these thoughts are purely academical.

Net-net, what does this mean to me?  It means Cynthia now has StarHub TV and SingTel mioTV channels to watch.  I can say goodbye to console gaming and eBay off my PS3 today.

PS. I do like mioTV’s ability to retain the signal’s aspect and resolution and let us have 3 levels of zooming in and stretch and what not.  That way, the faces and arms on TV for the non-HD channels are not stretched unnaturally.

*     *     *     *     *

I have always wanted to make a listing of the electrical appliances used across four power sockets in my living room here in my website.  I guess now is a right time to do so.

I think I may have reached a critical stage on how many electrical appliances I can support in my living room.  I kid you not.  If I am not careful in manually load balance the demand, the circuit breaker would trip.  If I am lucky, my home would be blacked out.  Otherwise, the entire tower may black out.  I pray that none from my condo reads this.

In no particular order, here is a laundry list of what are plugged in, of which three of the four power mains can be switched off if not used.  That is a pretty sophisticated power saving mechanism I have derived lately.

  1. Plasma TV
  2. Wireless headset that is perpetually connected to the TV
  3. Main telephone
  4. Portable telephone (with charger)
  5. Sony Playstation 3
  6. Network-attached Storage (my home server and more)
  7. Squeezebox (to stream my music wirelessly)
  8. Squeezebox controller (believe it or not, it is a computer on its own)
  9. Audio amplifier (that is also used for gaming, video, home studio, and etc.)
  10. CD player
  11. Blu-ray player
  12. Radio player
  13. StarHub Hubstation HD
  14. mio Box (modem and home network for broadband)
  15. mioTV setup box
  16. Wired modem for mioTV
  17. HDD recorder (because my mioTV does not come with one)
  18. Network switch (yes, I have that many devices)
  19. 24″ LCD computer monitor
  20. My power hungry computer
  21. Maxtor external on-the-fly backup drive for my computer
  22. Printer
  23. 22″ LCD computer monitor
  24. Cynthia’s computer
  25. Computer speakers for Cynthia’s computer
Categories
Linguistic My Hobbies

Objects In The World Of Spanish, And The Distractions That Entail

Learning a new language makes me feel like a kid once again.  It is long, hard, made of wood, and we use it to write, to sketch, and to paint, what is it?  And my study partner would answer, “Pencil!”, in Spanish.  And it would be my turn to ask, “What is it?”.  “A handkerchief”.  “What is it for?”.  “To wipe nose!”.  So on, and so on.  For the obsessive compulsive me, this exercise is ideal to practice for our upcoming Spanish examination.  Unfortunately Cynthia is far from being an OCD.  And she prefers to watch television instead.

Learning should be fun.  The beauty of a language is not what the words mean but what one can do with them.  To that extend, I love learning expressions.  Every culture has its unique way to express a certain idea.  In English, there is a saying: Every cloud has a silver lining.  I think it is beautiful, though at time of a heavy downpour, I can hardly find any silver lining.  Dark patches all over the sky, that is all I see.  But expressions like this stick to our minds.  In Spanish, the same idea is expressed in a more practical term.  No hay mal que por bien no venga, which roughly translate to good things won’t come when nothing is bad.  Don’t think too hard on the logic involved.  My mind goes into an infinite loop whenever I ponder too hard on the Spanish version of every cloud has a silver lining.

Learning new words, I must say, is hardly possible without dictionaries.  Kids nowadays are so blessed.  The online free ones are even better than some of the paid ones.  By right, I would imagine that with an explosion of readily available online knowledge, kids nowadays should be super kids in no time.  Yes?  One may be awed by the movie Matrix when Neo learns Kung Fu via an instant download from an optical disk.  The 20 years younger version of me back in the nineties would too be awed by the fact that one can learn the overview of Spanish history – or any topic of my choice – with a click of a button at Wikipedia today.  Or to learn how to bake a cake at YouTube.  Perhaps with the explosion of online knowledge comes an explosion of distractions in an equal magnitude.  That may be why our kids are still not the super kids we would have expected.  Or because knowledge is so readily available, we seldom make an effort to memorize.  That would explain why I keep searching the same Spanish word online again and again.  The penalty of not memorizing a word is another click of a button.  Hardly a penalty at all.

Learning objects is more fun that I thought.  Cloth hanger in Spanish is called percha.  Informally speaking, ser una buena percha is an expression that means to have a good figure (for girls).  I suppose if one’s body is good enough to hang clothes, one’s figure must be good?  My favorite one is pañuelo that means handkerchief.  Instead of saying it is a small world, there is a Spanish expression that says the world is a handkerchief (¡el mundo es un pañuelo!).

Learning online could be distracting.  What does a comb use for?  Peinarse.  I looked up the word and was attracted by the poetic usage of the verb comb (peinar).  Las aves peinan las olas depicts the beautiful graphical scene of the birds gently combing through the waves.  And by looking up the meaning of secarse (to dry), I stumbled upon the sentence me sequé las lágrimas (I dried my tears), and was intrigued by the conjugation of the first person past tense of ‘to dry’.  Soon, I am staring at how to express crying one’s heart out in Spanish (llorar a lágrima viva).  I am pretty sure none of these matters for my Spanish examination.  But I think I am too old to study solely for an examination.  Don’t you think?

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The Cloud Revolution By Charles Babcock – If You Need To Know What Cloud Computing Is As Of Today, This Is It

If you happen to fall under the category of someone who has heard of the term “cloud computing”, may have some ideas of what it is, but cannot quite pinpoint what it does and how we can benefit from it, “The Cloud Revolution” written by editor-at-large of InformationWeek Charles Babcock will get you acquainted with the topic in no time.  While the book is still technical in nature, those who have worked in and with the technology industry should have no problem following the materials from start to end.  The ideal audience would be those in the professions of application and system architect, data center specialist, business analyst, and all the way to CIO, CTO, and COO.  What “The Cloud Revolution” provides is a snapshot of where cloud computing is today and presents the snapshot in an easy-to-understand manner.  This includes both its potential and challenge.

In a nutshell, cloud computing enables on-demand network access to a shared pool of resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released.  It simplifies and drives down the cost of operations while enabling the business users to tap onto the computing power in a way never dreamed before.  Today, most businesses over provision what they normally need in terms of computing resources due to operational spikes.  But yet, when there is an unforeseeable demand spike, some businesses fail to delivery (have you ever tried to buy movie tickets online during the holidays?).  The idea is that instead of buying more and more servers to cater for the spikes and leave the servers way under utilized in normal day operation, outsource the spike (or even the entire operation) to the cloud.  How much would that cost?  For example, Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) charges $0.085 per instance per hour.

The cloud economy is hard to ignore.  Take web hosting as an example.  Most bloggers do not host their websites in a server at home (having said that, I know some do).  For those who have opted for a paid service, we often have to be mindful on how much disk space and monthly bandwidth we utilize.  Right after my holiday to Spain, I have published articles that came with photos on a weekly basis.  During the 12 weeks publication period, I had experienced spikes that busted my monthly bandwidth quota and had the site shutdown momentarily several times.  There are web hosting companies out there that have grown into a significant size and offer unlimited disk storage and monthly data transfer.  That is way more that what I would dream of (though I have my reasons to stay with my existing hosting company).  And that is an illustration on how such an economy of scale can benefit the consumers.  Imagine what this could mean for the corporates.

As highlighted in the book, there are challenges that corporate users faced with cloud implementation.  Not having a control on where the corporate data resides can be an issue.  It could be a security risk too.  There have been talks about ‘private cloud’ or even a ‘hybrid cloud’ in achieving the economic of scale that lowers the cost using existing data center setup as a benchmark.  If corporates can host their in-house applications through virtualization, outsource the spikes to a public cloud, or even consider conducting the system test, user acceptance test, stress test, and etc. that often do not contain real life data outside the private cloud, they may be able to reap the benefits of cloud computing.

Another barrier of taking cloud computing to the next level – as mentioned in the book – is that some of the major standards are still very much proprietary.  And it seems to me that the open standard is still at its maturing stage.  I think one of the reasons why this book is so named is because if the corporates wish to skip through the proprietary stage, the corporates need to get together and voice out what they want: No vendor lock-in.  That is a revolution in a sense, besides the fact that to make cloud computing works, there are changes in almost all levels.

The book has quoted some noteworthy implementations.  On the private sector, there is SalesForce.com’s cloud platform – Force.com.  On the public sector, in USA, there is NASA’s Nebula Cloud Computing Platform.  The author has also quoted a number of major players in cloud computing.  If you wish to pick up one book to know what cloud computing is as of today, “The Cloud Revolution” would be it.

External Link: To browse the book in Amazon.com, click here.

Categories
I See I Write

Asmara Lifestyle At Bishan Park – Singapore’s Best Kept Secret?! – Garden Spa, Restaurants, And More

You have no idea how surreal I felt last evening, when Cynthia and I attended a blogger event somewhere so close to our home.  We have driven up and down passed Bishan Park along AMK Ave 1 so many times a month, in the day and at night.  We had absolutely no idea that behind the rolls of trees there are restaurants, a garden spa, and more.  During the private tour organized by three cordial ladies from Asmara Lifestyle, when we got a chance to shuttle between the bar and the restaurants and the beautiful spa, for a moment, I thought I was inside our Botanic Gardens.  Such serenity and soothing scent.  That brings me to the second reason why I felt so surreal.

I often participate for a blogger event knowing more or less what I am getting myself into.  Bar and restaurants, checked.  Catching up with good friends, checked.  But the spa is a surprised for me.  Pilate?  And nails treatment?  In a way I was relieved that I brought Cynthia along.  Seeing how excited she felt.  But in a way I am a bit weary what this could mean to my credit card bill, having a resort like spa and facility so close to our home.  Then again, since a happy wife means a happy life, I am delighted to have come to know this establishment.

The overall design of this awards winning establishment follows very much to the philosophy of being immersed with the nature.  Initially I observed that some trees appear to be out of place.  Upon inquiry, I realize that the structures are built around the original landscape – trees and etc.  There is a rather huge rock in the middle of a bar, which has been there before the bar was built.  At first, it is strange to see staffs at times hopping over the stone to get in and out of the bar area.  But I suppose this adds another layer of charm to the decoration.  I heard that they may call this new bar “Middle Rock” and intend to bring in live bands for entertainment.  I also heard that they may bring in a projector TV for the broadcast of World Cup.  Immediately I said to Cynthia: You can have the car key, I will have my beauty sleep.

For those who are into garden dining and bar, there is Canopy.  Beautiful ambiance, with different dining theme from month to month.  They are open for breakfast and brunch too.  For the vegetarians, there is Green Room Café.  For both indoors and alfresco dining.  We have tried some of the dishes.  They are delicious.  A must try even if you are not a vegetarian.

OK.  I must admit I can’t write more than my first impression after spending a short albeit lovely evening at Asmara Lifestyle.  I am not a man for spa but I may try it out once and share my experience here with you.  Meanwhile, I have taken a few photos for sharing (see below).  To reach Asmara Lifestyle by bus, you can take Bus 136, 133, and 262 from AMK Bus Interchange.  Or by car, there is a public car park in front of the entrance.  If you come by CTE, exit AMK Ave 1, drive pass Bishan Road and then drive s-l-o-w-l-y.  You wouldn’t want to miss the public car park entrance on your left.  Back to the garden spa, there are 17 rooms in total open till midnight.  Some are for special treatments.  Some are couple rooms that are pretty spacious.  Stay tuned for more write-ups.  For reservation details, please click onto the links below.

The address is: 1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 Bishan Park 2 Singapore 569931.

Categories
For the Geeks

Sony Ericsson Backstage Event

Last week I have attended a Sony Ericsson blogger event and got a chance to ‘speed date’ some of their recent and upcoming devices.  I must say, the last time I owned a Ericsson phone was more than a decade ago.  Back then, seemed like everyone around me was either holding a Ericsson 688 or that banana-Matrix phone.  Back then, battery packs were easily changeable.  Even the antennas.  Look how far wireless phones have evolved.  It never ceases to amaze me whenever I stop and ponder upon it.

Forward to 2010, the five Sony Ericsson phones I have had brief moments with are the Google Andriod powered Xperia X10 mini pro, Xperia X10 mini, Xperia X10 and the Vivaz and Vivaz pro (picture above from left to right).  I suppose if you are into Google Andriod, Xperia series may be your cup of tea.  For those who are familiar with the Symbian OS, you may feel at home with the Vivaz series that is able to capture media in HD format.  Sony Ericsson Vivaz comes with a 8.1 megapixel camera while the pro version comes with 5.1 megapixel.  I guess with a QWERTY keyboard, there are some trade-offs users have to make.  But still, 5.1 megapixel is pretty decent, in the context of wireless phones.

During the blogger event, quite a few of us fell in love with the Xperia mini and its little brother “pro” that comes with a keypad.  The pro version does remind me those cute little phones that were used in the TV series Gossip Girl, as one good friend of mine has pointed out.  The colorful mini series is designed with simplicity in mind, easily operable with one hand.  At the four corners are the shortcuts for popular functions.  As for me, I prefer larger screen – like the Xperia X10.  4 inches large with a resolution of 480×854.  That is pretty impressive.  I have yet to fully understand how do the Timescape and Mediascape work in real life.  There is this “infinite button” – a magic button that helps you organize your contact communications and favorite friends and artists related contents within and beyond your phone.

So tell me, are you a Sony Ericsson fan?  How do you like your Sony Ericsson phone?

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Neon Angel, A Memoir Of A Runaway By Cherie Currie – Heart Wrenching and Heart Warming At The Same Time

I seldom read memoirs.  But I was curious about the life story told from Cherie Currie’s perspective after watching “The Runaway” played by Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart.  “Neon Angel” has enough dramas that can pass as a great fiction.  The rise to stardom, the crash, substance abuse, brutal rapes, exploitation by the management, constant struggle amongst the dysfunctional family and band, and through it all, Cherie Currie constantly reinvents herself from a singer to actor to drug counselor to physical trainer to author to painter to one of the prominent chain-saw carvers in the world.  While it is hard to position Currie as a role model –  rather as a projected symbol of angst, rebel, and perhaps victim of the seventies, her survival spirit is astonishing.

Originally published in 1989, Currie reworks the materials with Tony O’Neill.  That explains why in this new edition, the events that happened more than thirty years ago are told in such a vivid manner, in such level of details and emotion.  And I suppose with age, the rework exhibits a better sense of mature reflection on the key decision points and milestones.  Some are deep regrets.  Some are triumphant.  For those who are interested in how the music industry worked in the seventies, “Neon Angel” has much to offer.  The road trips, the music creation and recording journey, the tours, and the fans.  A big chunk of the literature is dedicated to substance abuse – of hers and of those around her.  The honesty within thrills me: On how drug and alcohol has destroy hers and her family’s lives again and again.  No, I don’t despise her.  I sympathize her.

And in the mist of the chaos and illusions, there are glimpses of heart warming moments.  One ending chapter moved me to tears.  If you happen to like the movie “The Runaway”, this book “Neon Angel” will fill in the gaps on the stories that cannot be told in a movie setting.  The movie contains snapshots of events pasted together that may or may not follow the actual timeline.  I am short of saying that “Neon Angel” is an entertaining read (in fact it is).  Because the book is more than an entertainment.  It would mean different things to different people.  For those who are into the music industry or the sociological fabric of that era, the book is certainly an insightful read.  For the victims of substance abuse, broken families, and rape, there may be a common voice within.  Some parts of “Neon Angel” reminds me of a book I have read a long time ago – “Prozac Nation” by Elizabeth Wurtzel.  Yes, it is both a heart wrenching and heart warming read.

*     *     *     *     *

In 2013, I have reread this book.  And the updated book summary can be found in here.

At Amazon.com: Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway

Categories
For the Geeks Game Reviews

So You Want A Final Fantasy XIII “Growth Egg” As Early As End Of Chapter 11?! Yes You Can!

Arguably one of the most important items to obtain in Final Fantasy 13, “Growth Egg” doubles the Crystogen Points (or experience points) you earn that are needed for your character development.  Who wouldn’t want it as soon as possible?  To obtain a “Growth Egg”, you need to complete a class A mission that is opened for you at the end of chapter 11.  It is a very hard mission and I reckon it is designed as an end game activity.  But if an average gamer (me!) can do it, there is a high chance that you can too!  Here is how I made it, not without blood and sweat.  And in the mist of it, I have obtained a 5-star rating and unlocked the “Limit Breaker” trophy or achievement.  That is a 100,000+ damage in one shot!

Prerequisite

After the final boss in Chapter 11, instead of moving forward and trigger Chapter 12, move backward and obtain Mission 55 “Can’t We All Just Get Along” from the rooftop of a deserted school.  I chanced upon this because I have missed out one of the components to repair Vanille’s toy (another pretty rewarding thing to do).  If you need a guide to obtain that mission, click here.

Key Strategy

For this class A mission, you have to face a very tough boss called Neochu that can take down casters with one shot.  And it has quite a few hyperactive adds called Picochus that hit very hard, very fast.  The encounter is very much like its little brother nearby (which I hope you have tried).  Take down the boss first, and then worry about the adds later.  To do that, you will need Vanille (hence picture above!).

Battle Team Setup

Interestingly, Neochu is not immune to Death spell.  So the key is to have Vanille picking up that ability (under Saboteur role) after the expansion of Crystarium at the end of Chapter 11.  To have a better chance to pull off this debuff strategy, upgrade the Belladonna Wand to Malboro Wand.  I have upgraded the weapon level to close to 40, which may not be necessary.  I have Snow equipped with Paladin and Hope equipped with Hawkeye.  Both equipments are at star level.  By the way, all the upgrade components I have obtained from mob drops (or spoils).  It is very doable if you have been doing some side missions.

I set up Snow as the tank (Sentinel) and Hope as the healer (Medic).  As for Vanille, she switches between Saboteur (for debuff), Ravager (for damage), and Medic (for extra heal).  So in total, only 3 Paradigms are required.  To manually execute the Death spell, I have picked Vanille as the leader.

Prior to the final boss of Chapter 11, all my characters have maxed out their Crystarium for three roles (out of six, for all six characters).  After the boss fight, I choose one role to specialize and max that out.  I didn’t make any special purchase for this mission.  I suppose wearing accessories for extra health points would help in some ways.

Stage One – One-shot the Boss

Preemptive strike is out so left with the options to either use the shrouds to buff up your offense or defense before engaging the boss.  I walked into the battle with neither because I forgot (see, I am your average gamer).  In retrospect, buffing up the haste level may work better.  It may speed up the process.  The target time to finish the battle is 28 minutes.  I have earned the 5-star rating.  So I must have taken lesser time than that.

I went in with Snow tanking and Hope healing (for the entire fight).  As for Vanille, I spammed Death spell.  If Neochu hits Vanille first before Snow grabs the aggro, it is game over.  If Vanille unable to land the Death spell and one-shot the boss within 5 rounds, it is also game over.  The combined damage of Neochu and its annoying little creatures is just too much for one healer to take (before end game that is).

I read that some spent hours one-shooting the boss (only to be overwhelmed with the little ones – how sad!).  It didn’t take that long for me.  Maybe upgrading the wand helps.

Stage Two – Heal Up!

Once the boss is down (which is the easy part), it is time to survive the group of cute little Picochus.  Even with two healers and a tank, my team could barely survive.  Especially when my tank lost the aggro.  You could either fast switch Vanille between the Medic and Ravager roles to heal and to spam the area of effect spell Firaga.  Or if like me, the tank was down and soon faced an inevitable wipe, I called in the cavalry.

Stage Three – Summon the Eidolon

Some say Eidolons in Final Fantasy 13 are pretty useless.  It is quite right that these god like creatures don’t seem to be as powerful as they should be (given the fact that it is such a pain to make them yield and be your own).  As for me, Eidolons have turned the tide in the past when I faced with seemingly insurmountable battles.  And I must say, I love the over-the-top animation for these Eidolon encounters.

After Vanille summons her Eidolon, Hecatoncheir, your job is to keep both of them alive for as long as you can (which is not long).  Before Hecatoncheir gets decimated by these little adds, switch to Gestalt Mode and unload some punishment to the Picochus.  I manage to half their health points, which in retrospect, it is really not bad.  Meagre amount of damage dealt aside, the beauty of summoning an Eidolon is that when Eidolon leaves the battle, all the party members are back up with full health.  Time for round two!

Stage Four – Taking Down the Adds

This is the most nail biting moment.  I mean, I have come that far.  I really don’t want to fail here.  With Snow tanking the little mad Picochus, Hope can barely keep him alive (he is my best healer in the game).  I have to switch Vanille between Medic and Ravager mode to balance between staying alive and killing off the enemies.  It is a painfully slow process.  The good news is, as you wear down the number, it gets progressively easier.  Later on I found out that I could cast Imperil debuff on the little ones to lower the spell resistance.  That made the job done much faster.  If I am to do this again, I would cast the area of effect debuff, Imperilga, before the area of effect spell Firaga.  You may be tempted to one-shot the little ones with Death spell.  I don’t like the extra aggro on Vanille.

Some find it hard to take down the adds.  At bare minimum, if you have Snow on tanking position and both Hope and Vanille on healing, you should be able to last indefinitely.  Hope should also be able to solo heal Snow most of the time (there is some randomness in FF13 after all).  If you can’t, you may need to further develop your characters and gears with the side missions.  If you can, it is simply a matter of patience.  And “Growth Egg” is a reward you would love to have.

Categories
I See I Write

The Story Of Yeh Chi Wei – Singapore Art Museum

At the opening ceremony of “The Story of Yeh Chi Wei”, it is heartwarming to hear the late artist’s granddaughter giving a speech on Mr. Yeh Chi Wei’s art and the effort in putting an exhibition together – works by Yeh and works by The Ten Men Group (a community led by Yeh).  It must have been a proud evening for the Yeh’s family as well as Yeh’s fellow artists to see this collection artwork displayed in one of Singapore’s museums.  There is a strong essence of Southeast Asia style in Yeh’s work as he was used to organize painting trips to different locations in the region and exhibit their works together after the trips.  Yeh taught art for 22 years in Singapore and passed away in 1981.

As an Asian, some of the themes I can quite readily relate, which is always a good start in attempting to appreciate the art.  I in particularly am drawn to the usage of powerful black color contrasted with muted colors.  That intensity.  Below are some of the photos I took during the opening event.  As for the event itself, Cynthia and I really appreciate the school kids stationed in front of the key exhibits explaining the artwork to the visitors.  They have done a great job and we love it.  Back to the exhibition, catch “The Story of Yeh Chi Wei” now at the Singapore Art Museum from May 27 to September 12, 2010.

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

Life As A Business Analyst – A Comic Relief

Here is where I need to put a little disclaimer.  While the following write-up is inspired by things that I see and do during my nine-to-five job, all the characters and events are fictional and by no mean resemble to anyone or anything in particular.  That means to say, if you think that I am poking fun at you, it is purely your imagination!

*     *     *     *     *

Job titles often mean little.  When people ask me what I do for a living, I would tell them that I write to pay the bills.  On one side, I have a bunch of buyers representing a corporation who have the money and think they know what they want.  On the other side, I have a bunch of producers who have the skills and able to procure and create what they think the buyers want.  Think, is the keyword here.  It is near to impossible to transform thoughts into words.  Or collective thoughts into words that everyone can interpret in the same way (think about religion).  The buyers are busy talking.  The producers are busy crafting.  As for me, my job is to articulate the requirements in black-and-white so that the producers produce what the buyers want.  Or think they want.

All good requirements begin with something visionary, something bombastic.  Why?  It is simple.  Within a corporation, resource is limited.  In order to convince the shareholders to fund your great idea, it has to stand out from your peers.  It has to be inspiring.  If you can relate to the following illustrative story, you have worked in a corporation for far too long.

*     *     *     *     *

It begins with a one-liner that I have crafted after a brainstorming session with the buyers that represent our corporation.  It says: To equip our top team with vehicles of prestige and unparalleled power.  The buyers seem happy with that.  It is a bit vague, but who am I to complain?  I take this document to the engineers of our corporation and immediately, they frown.  One asks, “What do you mean by unparalleled power?  Can you be more specific?”.  Very well, I haven’t given much thought.  I know nuts about cars of unparalleled power.  If we start to ask the buyers about the required down force and aerodynamic development, the average damping of vibration after bumps, the type of engine (V8, V10, or V12), and maximum power and torque, I am sure we will lose them.  What shall we do?  I know we can’t afford a Bugatti Veyron.  What about a Ferrari?  With the end goal in mind, the engineers and I do a bit of reverse-engineering.  The requirement now says: To equip our top team with vehicles of prestige and unparalleled power in excess of 600 horsepower.  The engineers seem happy that they do not need to produce a car that is impossible to make.  The buyers would be happy not to read too much into the technical details.  In a strange way, our buyers can visualize horses better than engine design.

The next day, we present our ideas to the buyers.  They love the Ferrari.  Out of nowhere, one buyer talks about how the bumpy road is near his home.  More chip in on the terrible road condition in some selective areas I have not even heard of.  The meeting turns into a pandemonium.  I attempt to quiet the crowd and offer, “Well, it is a Ferrari.  Just go over the speed humps slowly.  Or take a different route!”.

One buyer attempts to wear the hat of an engineer (uh-oh) and asks, “Can’t we modify the car and attach a set of bigger wheels?”  “Like a custom build design?” I asked.  What about aesthetic?  Will it even work?  The engineer replies, “We can custom build anything“.  All the buyers nod with delight and as the presentation is drawing to an end, another buyer asks, “How many can fit into a Ferrari?”

Good question, how many do you need?  It has been a long meeting and no one wants to think anymore.  “There are some pretty powerful SUVs,” I offer.  But no, they love the Ferrari, with custom big wheels.  “Can’t we have an extension that fits as many as we want?”  I look at the engineers and here comes the standard reply, “We can custom build anything“.  The meeting ends with a refined requirement that says: To equip our top team with vehicles of prestige and unparalleled power in excess of 600 horsepower that can handle all road conditions and fits a group.  In my mind, I think of a limo, an elongated version of a beautiful Ferrari.

*     *     *     *     *

After some intense prototyping exercise, our engineers come up with the following design.

And the buyers are shocked by what they see.

*     *     *     *     *

A few months later, before we roll out our final product to our top team, I have received an urgent call from the legal and compliance department informing me that we have a non-compliance issue.  How so, I ask.  You are missing a few stickers at the back of the trailer, the caller replies.  By law, we have to display how many passengers at most we carry inside the trailer.  That is odd.  So I make a visit to the engineers and investigate what has gone wrong.

“You have not specified what is inside the trailer and we assume that we are carrying a bunch of monkeys.  We don’t need a sticker for that,” an engineer explains.  “Why would we do that?!  Just doesn’t make sense!”  “Since our buyers have no clue how big or what the group is, we called up Ferrari and asked if their engines are powerful enough to satisfy our needs.”  “And they replied?”  “They said: Our prancing horse can pull a zoo of monkeys with no sweat!”

“Since when we take requirement from our suppliers?!”, I ask in desperation.  The engineer shrugs, “Since the day we define what unparalleled power is?”.  “And by the way”, he continues, “we have to put a 60 kph sticker at the back of the car by law because of the trailer.”  “That is an awfully slow car with an imposed limit of 60 kph,” I protest.  He shrugs again and says,”We ask for power, not speed, yes?”

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

The Losers – Actually Pretty Fun To Watch!

How come I have watched so many movies lately?  In recent Spanish classes, our teacher often asks what we have done over the weekend.  Most of us would have watched at least one or two movies.  One dude has watched Iron Man 2 twice!  OK.  The power of peer pressure.  But still, what do Singaporeans do over the weekend?  How come so many of us watch so many movies all year round?

Cynthia and I were going to give “Losers” a pass.  But our buddy TK wanted something brainlessly fun.  And with all the work stress over the weeks, I really don’t mind to have a good laugh.  I suppose one wouldn’t lose much if to watch “Losers” on TV.  The plot is hardly memorable.  But still, the chemistry between the actors and the fun factor … Gosh!  It is absurd.  Some parts don’t make sense.  But with enough blood, sex, and money in a strong dose of humor, I am not complaining.

An environmental friendly nuclear-like bomb that is capable to decimate the entire island with no pollution – designed for the green terrorists?  At that point onwards, I didn’t take the film seriously.  That works.