Updates from Vietnam

Today is the 9th day of our backpack trip and we are currently in HCMC, leaving to Danang tomorrow night by taking 18 hours trains. Different elements have made up the trip so far and today wasn't a good day for us so hope that we are soon begin to have joy again.

Too many things about the trip can be written and I think I would have a hard time organizing all these into an interesting and comprehensive entry. Chon has pondered of writing a book. So we shall see what will happen.

Til next time.

小人物小故事

富都巴士总站里。来来往往的人流，密密麻麻的档口，不同的人卖着几近一样的东西。有一个中年华裔的档口，被夹在六个马来妇女的档口间。但对于匆匆经过的旅客，他们只看到一档又一档卖着同样东西的档口，谁也没有留意到这细微的不同。一个马来售票经纪，在他的档口买了一瓶水；而后一个马来青年，买了一盒烟；而后一个女保安，买了一包零食。

为什么他们没有选择其他的档口呢？六档里的其中一档？不是种族，不是性别，不是运气，是他的努力。其他档主有的选择发呆，有的选择自忙自的；只有他，也只有他，挂着一幅笑脸半坐在椅子上朝两边来往的人群打招呼。或许，顾客买的不只是货物，他卖的也不仅是货物。只是如果笑一百次才额外收获一单生意，你会否会费心去做？一整天的脸部疲劳，如果只赚多十元，你又是否会去做？

这故事能带来什么启示？我也不太懂。这不过是城市生活里某个角落某个小人物的生活的某段。之所以被我察觉到了，并不是因为我觉得具有深刻的启示，而是因为在总站里等朋友等了一个小时半没有事情做，周遭又没有好看的女生，所以就这样了。

DoTA

I wanna crap on this, because I think this game alone took up most of the times that I spent on computer games these four years, just like most of us. But no one will be that lame to wrap up like me. :)

Everyone more or less have a bit of heroism, especially in the virtual realm of gaming. Before the fascinating DoTA, there were few similar maps popular like HeroArena, 3 Corridor. In fact, seniors had a strong team in 3 Corridor. After its emergence, DoTA quickly overshadowed the rest because of its unique hero skills, spells and combinations, and game balance. It brings up the joy of hero killing by blasting dumb and exaggerating sounds. It may sound stupid but deep down player's heart, it contributes to most of the pride and satisfaction one wants in gaming. As simple as that.

*Please read with caution because the following paragraphs contain self boasting of the author that may make you feel uneasy or nausea. Any illness caused is deeply regretted.

Chapter 1: Voyagers to a new land
DoTA wasn't popular at first. (Is that true for every game?) At the time wei wah introduced this map to our circle it wasn't really known among NTU students. And so we (wei wah, boon keat, lit ting, ccc and me) wandered into this new land and started to explore. Somehow I adapted to this map quickly. Maybe because it allowed me to play in my own cunning way. For the first two days, me and ccc could play against the rest of three and still won most of the matches. I've turned Bounty Hunter into a killing machine and Night Stalker into a walking nightmare for others. Of course, this only lasted for two days.

We started to play more often as a team and went to massacre noobs in NTUBnet. There was a NTU ESport Competition and we decided to give it a go. Our team name was "iAM", and my nick was "iAMstupid". For 3 weeks we trained day and night (day was night and night was day as far as sleeping concerned) and won the champion relatively easy. Only the final match was a tough battle. And we won the IG's medal too. Competition wasn't that stiff as not too many people had played that much to develop the skills and team work. Strategies adopted that time weren't as abundant as what exists for today. Our combo of maximizing AOE spell (double stun and double wave) worked pretty well.

The first year of NTU I spent about an average of two games per day perhaps. Without others being as mad as us, as voyagers to a new land, we were pretty successful. Of course winning trophies were great, but the root of the happiness lied in the good spirit and co-operation between members and the feeling of togetherness. I guessed that's the major reason why we play team games.

Chapter 2: Inhabitant of a desert island
At the top of my game, I suddenly decided to stop my addiction and let go. I realized I need more time for other aspects in my life like studies. I was very lucky that my grades weren't affected in the first year because most of the contents were learnt during STPM. Also, there were more and more people getting mad on this and it's just a matter of time before they becoming more skillful than us. It's too time consuming to maintain the level that I were at.

I didn't stop it slowly but abruptly. From the perspective of gaming, in some way it's like pulling out from the voyager's team and isolating myself in a desert island, without any connection to the game and unaware of any updates or changes. I played countable matches whenever I back to ipoh with my rubber gang members, and though I didn't play during normal days, I were still able to bully them. Haha.

Chapter 3: Return to the homeland
But after one and a half year, I finally came back. Not that I could still play competitive games since I was disconnected to this for so long but occasionally I played for the sake of revoking my skills and memories.

Moreover, I realized more of the need of using it to destress as life's getting tougher. Maybe I was influenced by someone else or I am the one who influences others or maybe both exists and strengthes each other, a new gang of dota "kaki" was formed informally which include me, Bee, Eddie, Kamen, HY, Xandra, Wen Keat, Jee Voon, ZF, Luke, KW, sometimes Ka Hong, JiaVei and a partial but special member: Teng Hooi (He's special because he got most of my exposures, knowledges to DoTA but lacks practical ability). We seldom played "VS" matches among players because it consumed too much energy. We prefered to play against "hard" but predictable AI computers.

Why is it called Homeland? It's because I used to play game. Most of us grown up playing different games. How far can we disconnected ourselves to games esp. PC games? Not too far. Some of us already said that they could not imagine giving up gaming in the future. Of course we should not be too addicted into it, but occassional short addiction seems like do more good than harm. The problem lies in how to control the degree. I have to admit that I am actually very weak against temptation, that's why I need to isolate myself from being exposed to it.

So, how long will DoTA remain popular? I think it will be quite long. Even nowadays people still play Starcraft and CS. Learning a game needs a lot of time too. So most likely, I will still play some dota matches in the future, although it will become lesser and lesser in the future.

By the way, I've just finished two VS matches from 12 to 2am. Played like shit and won none, so bad. LOL

Last bit of thoughts -- as a student

I had my last exam at Tuesday and I will not have any more at least for the next few years. It's the end of school life. I had a short moment of joy followed by a long period of contemplation. Although I have 3 months before starting to work, I need to settle few things quickly first before enjoying the holiday.

I had packed most of my stuffs and prepared to move out straight after final FYP presentation. Besides that, I have to pay library fines, return things borrowed from others, keep a list of things that I passed to others to keep, duplicate mail-box key for future mails, enable hand phone roaming, and plan for my graduation trip!

I haven't gone back to my home for really long time. Not to forget spending the last good times with friends and keeping their contacts.

And I shall not repeat the mistake of not planning ahead for my work, career and future. I had already suffered the consequences of not preparing in advance for my IA and FYP.

So though it seems that 3 months are long, it's challenging to schedule it nicely for the right balance. No longer could I wait for things to happen and take it when it comes. For a meaningful end to these 4 years and for a bright start of future, I need to plan it ahead of time.

It's time to collect last bit of joy, because it's going to end.
It's time to feel sad, because it's going to end.
It's time to plan ahead, because it's going to start.
It's time to grow strong, because it's going to start.

What if I could stay as a student and continue to enjoy life? It's not possible as time keeps moving. It's not meaningful either as life isn't just about this. The objective of being a student is not to remain as a student. Of course I will miss uni's life, just like how I miss other past events, but I had enjoyed it most of the time so I don't regret leaving it. By the way, could anyone stay?

Life just begins to unfold. Loooooook backward... to look forward.