Mundane Merdeka
Merdeka is around the corner but it seems like the nation is somewhat under-hyped about it. Gone are the flags that you normally see around and even here in Cyberjaya, there is little decoration to signify our 51st year of independance.
I’ve a feeling the general populace are somewhat jaded over the senseless politics from both sides of the playing field. The stuggle for staying in power has overtaken the desire to work for betterment of the people. It is sad but it does seem the current political system is similiar to being between the devil and the deep blue sea.
I also realize that you no longer hear the idealistic Wawasan 2020 slogan being muttered… and the Malaysia Boleh slogan has become a parody of the nation’s spirit. The words no longer have the same encouraging effect it did when it was first worded.
I still await the day when race, religion, and sex will no longer be a determining factors in the nation’s policies and the country adopts a new nationalistic identity, one where everyone is refered to as Malaysian. I guess there is still hope yet.
Well,… I’m just glad its a day off. Merdeka!…
Totally weirdness
I’ve come across this little documentary about sex dolls and the people who live their lives with one. It was rather disturbing the way some people can get so detached to reality that they accept a life-like puppet as a companion. They’re pretty life-like and these people treat the dolls as their wives. Really weird stuff.
I’m thinking that with the advent of better Artificial Intelligence, people’s strange desires are going to be fed even further perhaps with sexdolls that can interact with its user. Its just scary where this can lead. I bet things get awkward at family reunions.
Brrr… some of those interviewed looked like real pyschological nut-jobs.
I guess its better than these people venting their desires on the local populace. It could actually be a form of deterrant for sex offenders. If they had something like a sex-doll due to their inability to function in normal society, perhaps cases of violent sex crimes might actually be reduced (no matter how bizarre that sounds).
Blow me down!!
The Warhammer jitters are back! Everytime my inbox is graced by their noble newsletters, I feel my pulse increasing and that familiar twitch is back in my eye. The dwarven engineer in particular brings tears of joy to my eyes. Blessed be, blessed be,…
They’ve a new cinematic trailer as well *drool*
Thats just an insane amount of coolness! Theres nothing more awesome than a stuntie spitting slugs of lead from a distance covered by an automated repeater rifle turret and a bunch of assorted mines and grenades!
Ah bless the launch date and let it be near…
Observations
Have a student who is really shy about his drawing capability, he draws his characters reeaaally small. Take for example, an A4 sheet, his character is about 10% of that. I believe he can get the concept if he tries and we’ve got 13 more weeks to turn him around.
Everybody can draw to a certain degree, they just gotta be confident about themselves and wing it.
Another thing I’ve noticed is the fanatical devotion to characters with big swords and skinny frames. Damn you Final Fantasy!! You’ve ruined it for countless of generations!!!
Some alterations to the colour of my orc’s skin whom I’ve christianed Brukai Gnarr the blue-collared orc. orc on the street, the orc’s orc, the orc around town. Liquify works wonders on a face so gnarly as his.
I’m not sure why Photoshop sometimes Saves JPEGs as darker than the image actually is… or could it be something to do with my screen settings.
Will start working on Deadblade, an undead tomb-guardian of sorts.
All in a day’s work
Another day, another notch in the gladiatorial arenas.
Up close and personal…
He wasn’t fast enuff’ A bit too clean on hindsight.
Goodbyes.
Micheal Chuah passed away on the 15th of August and though not blood-related, it was somewhat crushing to know that someone you know is no more. It was the first time I ever worked in the food business and ol’ Uncle Mike gave me that first job ages ago dishing out Nyonya food. This was back with Jason and Wooi when I was somewhere between the ages 16 and 17.
It is sad to know that we’ll never get to hear the old Malaysian world’s top bowler story with his mexican sombrero anymore, eventhough we used to jokingly dread that same old story. It was his moment of pride and joy to represent the county and now all thats left of it are our memories and those laminated paper clippings that he used to keep under his counter. Its hard to believe I won’t hear him reliving his youth again or giving us that flabberghasted stare everytime we’ve done something wrong.
Its good to know he’s in a better place now but part of me still wishes I dropped by to visit one last time. To say last a few last goodbyes.
Rest in peace Uncle Mike.
Thank you.
Respekt
Recently, a team was sent to compete in a contest held by a certain government sponsored university. The team had a really short time-frame to come up with a project and they decided to go ahead with a simulation game about life which, in the end, shows you what sort of person you are. The team worked arduously and around the clock to finish the game on time.
They had ridiculous regulations placed before them but they still managed to deliver a full interactive game. They lost to a silly unimaginative smoking info-mercial that could have been slapped together in an hour. I personally felt that the competency level of the winners were far below expectations and there was a lot of incestuous back-rubbing going on behind the contest’s curtains. The university was recently involved in a scandal that exposed its racist policies so that could also have been a factor but that could just be my paranoid and bitter opinion.
Nevertheless, for the team that competed, I salute them and wish them the very best for they’ve shown their capabilities and tried their hardest. They may not have won the contest but they’ve surely won my sincerest admiration for pulling through and shining. I honestly would have put my money on them to have won the contest but I think that somehow, they’ve come home with something a lot more important than a cash prize.
Respekt doodz…
Confuddled
A big issue I have with the subjects I teach are the varying degrees of proficiency between them. For example, I teach class A, B and C the same software, class A might be totally new, class B might have touched it briefly in previous modules and class C have used and are experienced with said software. For me, having to prepare three different materials is rather taxing and sometimes confusing.
Having to teach three different softwares are also messing with my mind. Hard to prepare for it.
Otherwise I’m actually loving it here.
Pros
- I get 10% discount on cafeteria food (which just increased by 20%) so I’m only paying 10% more. Whee!
- I get unlimited access to tons of resources (books mainly)
- I have the internet! unfettered internet access! bwahaha.
- The people here are pretty friendly, have a small DOTA group going on breaks.
Cons
- Strange obligations such as sudden events that spring up.
- Somewhat messy system.
- Far-far-far away. I’m missing the yumchar time.
Prepared some concept arts as samples for an assignment I’m preparing. Percentage Man below here is just an example of an uncolored drawing. At times it bugs me to show students my own drawings as I feel alot of them have already surpassed me in certain ways. It is something that needs getting used to.
I shudder to reveal my deviantart address.
Then I realized some of the class (actually most of them) are manganatics so for the assignment to appeal to them, I’ve bent over and prepared some slightly manga stuff… I used ’slightly’ because I lack the ability to draw in a manga fashion. (Not that my other style is very strong anyways.. hmph)
Meet Hitohiro ,.. err.. Masamune… or something. Blade-Master of the Dragon Lotus whatchamacallits.
Virtual Villages
Things are still hectic, being the first week of the semester, students are slowly trickling in.
The first week of the semester is primarily a week to get to know the students and there would generally be no tutorials yet. Wouldn’t want to scare the students now would we? Apparently through experience, they realized that if they started the tutorials too soon, the % of students flopping out mid-semester increase.
It’s great that I’ve got some breather time to finish my module outlines and tutorials notes. Theres just not enough time.
As for staffroom diversions, Virtual Villagers 3:The Secret City is keeping me pretty occupied. The darn nitwits in my village keep starving to death. you’d think by now after surviving VV1 & VV2, they’d remember how to grow crops but memory retention seems to be a defect that these villagers have.
It always boils down to some sick incestuous inbreeding fest.