Sunday, December 12, 2004

Feelin' Babbly

Warning : Long Post

Guess what ? Streamyx is dead. Again. So come Monday morning I'll have to call Telekom. Again. Since I have the technician's cell phone number I'll expect this to be resolved sooner than the last time. Going through Helpdesk just takes too long you know ?

This next section is my Rome : Total War post. If you don't want to read it, feel free to skip down to the dotted line.

And so I've been playing Rome : Total War the last day or so. I'm playing Macedonia right now, partly inspired by the movie of course. One nice thing about this game is that although each faction's campaign has a set aim, it's flexible and long enough for you to set your own aims too. For this current game, my latest concern is the reunification of the Greek heartland and the neighbouring Diadochi (Successor) kingdoms.

Largely, I have succeeded in doing this. The main Greek city states have been subjugated and Asia Minor (Turkey) is almost completely mine. Also, I captured Byzantium just for the hell of it from the Thracian barbarians. All that's left is to convince the Seleucids (my regional allies) to join me without resorting to war, eliminate the Pontics (they attacked me first) and fend of Egypt's attacks from the middle east.

I just had the most grueling battle just before I left for work. The Brutii Romans have been trying to start a campaign on the Greek mainland by landing troops by sea on the coast of Athens forcing me to expand the Athenian garrison to battalion size (about 800+ men). Just now, they landed 1600 + troops in two regiments north and south of Athens. This is their biggest foray yet.

It looked bleak. The Romans looked like they would likely surround and take Athens, turn it into a big staging area (Athens is a big city complete with walls and training facilities) for more troops who will wage war on the rest of my Greek cities. The saying goes,"The smaller army has to take the bigger chances". So I attacked them first despite being outnumbered 2 to 1.

Luckily for me, the two Roman forces appeared on the battle map on opposing ends (North & South). So I needed to beat off the northern force, turn 180 degrees and march onto the southern force).

That was one heck of a battle. If only I took screenshots.

Happily enough, the overly impetuous commander of the northern force took his entire army and attacked my phalanx platoons head on. Which is suicidal. Predictably enough, he got himself killed. The entire force broke and ran, allowing me to pick them off with my cavalry and archers.

The southern force marched too close to Athen's walls and were fired on by archers. By the time I completed my 180 degree turn and recalled my cavalry, they were too spread out and disorganized to offer any meaningful challenge. My men broke and routed them.

Final casualty count, Macedon Athenian garrison 280+, Roman Brutii invaders 1100+. The survivors boarded their boats and promptly left. I enjoyed this battle immensely.

Next, I plan to make a surprise move and land troops on the Italian peninsular. Starting with Tarentum (Taranto), then march north onto Rome itself. Already, my forces mass outside Corinth....

Boys and their toys. What can I say ? If you like strategy games, try Rome : Total War. You'll love it.

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I've been so busy lately. Too busy to reply mail and too busy to even blog properly. Lots of people having lots of PC problems needed my help. In a way, it's kinda alright to stay away from the online world for a period of time. I read a news article about this somewhere. People need to go out, sit in the sun and do simple things like hang out. The news article said this is good for you and I believe it.

As busy as I was, things are also strangely quiet on the personal side. It felt like I was just going through the motions. I find myself feeling sorta blank even with all the people milling about.

I went out last night with the boys. We went to this club called 99. It's quite a decent place, with a nice, non-threatening crowd. We drank tequila, talked and watched people walk pass. Especially the women. Kuching has quite a good number of nice looking women. Whether they have personalities to match is an entirely different story. I suspect at least half of them to be the stereotypical vacuous, money grubbing tramps.

Which begs the question, why is it so bloody hard to meet a decent woman ? I kinda know some of the reasons, one being that it's hard to trust people you don't know and therefore hard to form relationships. Harder still if you don't stand out.

Oh deja vu. I've probably written about this before.

Anyway, looking at all these people last night got me thinking. Perhaps some of these women have the same questions as me. Why so hard to meet a decent guy ? Why are all the guys I meet seem to turn out to be creeps and abusive, possesive assholes ?

Begs another question, if we all look in the wrong places then how do we find each other ? We're doomed....

I read many blog posts and stories about the trials and tribulations of the dating game. And too often, these tend to degenerate to one of those "all men/women suck" litanies. Which is predictable.

The truth. Men and women both suck. Neither one has a monopoly on rejections and treating people badly. The fault lies in both and none at the same time. No, this doesn't make sense. Or does it ?

Personally, in my own case I think it could be my expectations that screw it up for me. And maybe a lack of finesse. And fear of rejection. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places and at the wrong people. Maybe I'm trying too hard ? Or not enough ?

I'm going to simple this up by saying this. It'll happen when it happens. If it doesn't happen then it doesn't happen. No need to know the why's and wherefores.

Ok. I need to go back to work now....

Now, who read all that raise your hands.

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