Tired

I took one of those internet quizes again and apparently, I am an INFP. Interesting. I sometimes wonder, what do these kinds of quizzes really say about us.

In other news, there's this article in the NST that made me laugh. It's about The Registration Department's list of undesirable names.

Ahh bizzare names. I have known a few individuals with strange names. I also know a few new parents who have thought of really bizzare names for their new born children.

It's none of my business of course, but upon hearing these weird names, all I can say is,"What were you thinking?" I know that for some parents, especially the new parent, the reason why they give weird names to their children is to make them "special".

I say, please rethink that. Think of what the child will go through once he/she goes to school. Being picked on and being made fun of because a child has a very long/unpronounceable/strange/funny name isn't pleasant. It may have a very serious impact on the child's self-esteem. After all, an attack on a child's name is really the same as an attack on the child itself.

Think about what this kind of harassment means to your child. And don't believe that kids are all sweet and innocent. They may appear to be that to an adult, but if memory serves, children can be extremely malicious and manipulative. Seriously.

So, to give a child the maximum chance to grow up without any permanent psychological trauma, a harmless name might be a good start. Or if a "unique" name is absolutely necessary, pick one that sounds good and means something good. Please don't name your child after bands/football teams/household appliances/farm animals/exotic diseases etc.

Yes, I'm obviously very bored. And kind of tired. Two more nights of work to go. I'm supposed to go back to the office on Wednesday morning, but luckily enough, I managed to talk my way out of that one. If I had to come in on Wednesday morning after all this night work, I'll collapse from exhaustion for sure. I don't even have enough energy to play WoW these last few days.

Or maybe I'm getting too old for this?

I actually had some things to write about but I'm just too mentally worn out right now. Maybe later or maybe during my break on Tuesday. We'll see.

Until then, please have a nice weekend.

Fire and Buffy

The fire department is be very busy these days. Yesterday, the Sarawak Club burnt down. I've been there a few times. It's kind of sad. The club building had a lot of history in it. A new building will be built but the lost history is irreplaceable.

Just now, I was reading my Livejournal friends list and there is another fire right in the centre of town. We'll probably find out more tomorrow.

One of the things that struck me when our own house nearly got gutted last month was how quick fire can spread and how much heat there really is, even from 50 feet away. Fire can spread by radiation. It doesn't even have to be very near.

Photos of things and buildings on fire are scary enough, but I'd have to say the thing that makes fires truly frightening is heat radiation. Photos don't convey heat very well.

So yeah, these days I'm quite conscious about fire safety. And so should you. Thus ends today's public service announcement.

Actually I wanted to share some YouTube links today.

I don't talk much about Sarah Michelle Gellar these days, but I'm still a big fan. She's in 7 or 8 projects at the moment, in various stages of production. I'm especially looking forward to Southland Tales and Alice.

I found some excellent interviews on YouTube. Very funny interviews. She's a very funny girl with a sharp wit. As well as being very easy on the eyes. I like.

Sarah on Jonathan Ross. Hilarious. Please watch it. Please.

Buffy Meets Blackwood. This one is shot in a limo on the way to a cemetery where they are shooting parts of the Season 6 episode As You Were. Funny, but not quite as funny as the Jonathan Ross one. Watch all 7 parts to get the whole thing.

There are many more videos but these ones are my favourites.

In other news, I just looked at my schedule and I just noticed that I will be working almost non-stop until next Saturday. As in the Saturday that is not the one tomorrow. I practically have only half a day off on Tuesday evening to recuperate.

I wonder who came up with this crazed schedule.

Actually, this is all because of emergencies. One colleague is out of town, another one has exams and another one's mom is in the hospital. Which leaves me and my other colleague to cover everyone.

The extra money had better be worth it. I suddenly feel the urge to buy something.

Which reminds me, I need a USB hub.

Onyxia's Head and Stuff

I was playing WoW last night and right before I logged off and went to bed, something interesting happened.

The character I was playing, a Human Mage, had just hit level 28. So there I was in the city of Stormwind doing my usual routine after gaining level, i.e upgrading magic and tailoring skills (bloody expensive thing to do!) and checking the auction house for any new equipment that I might want to buy.

I was on my way out of the auction house when I saw some chatter on the chat channels. Someone was warning people that Stormwind was about to lag very badly. For a few seconds, it did. I walked towards the town square and there was the cause. A 40 man raiding party had just teleported back to Stormwind, bearing with them the head of the dragon Onyxia.

There was lots of woot-ing and woohoo-ing and fireworks and cheering in the town square as the Onyxia quest giver announced the death of Onyxia to everyone. It was great to see that.

No game set in a high fantasy setting would be complete without a chain of dragon slaying quests, wouldn't it? It's the stuff legends are made of. I look to the day when one of my characters will be powerful enough to join in such an endeavour. It would be brilliant!

So that's what happened in WoW. There are some other WoW stories from the last week, like the time I fought a Lvl 38 human priest with my Lvl 30 Forsaken Warrior and managed to beat him. Three times.

But I'll tell that one next post.

I was talking to Azreen the other night and amidst all the talk about CSI and other stuff, we made an observation concerning our blogs.

Both of us used to be quite prolific with our blogging. Yet, lately, as in the last year at least, we have noticed large gaps in our posting.

There could be many reasons for that, but one possible reason stood out. Neither one of us were as miserable and sad as we were. There's no longer much to rant or complain about. There is less trouble to share and less urge to confide in people.

Misery and pain is really good fuel for writing, that is very true. Without it, there is less impetus to write, at least in my case.

No, I'm not shutting this blog down. I could say that and do it, but I know within 2 weeks I'll open another blog to tell yet another story about WoW or about what movie I just watched or something.

This blog and the person who writes in it has changed direction. Maybe it's not as fun to read as before. Is that right? I don't know. Maybe. It's less miserable and angsty, I think. Is it?

*Shrug

Whatever it is, I guess what I'm trying to say is that Riding the Mellow isn't going to be updated as much as it used to be. I'll try to write twice a week as an exercise of course. Nor will it be as "heavy" as before.

Of course, that could change in an instant. We'll see as usual.

In other news, I watched Silent Hill yesterday evening. Not bad at all.

Also last evening, my dad's PC's hard disk developed a bad sector in it and wouldn't boot. I managed to save it for now by sticking it into my PC and doing a standard scan. It's a good thing we have 2 computers in the house. Imagine how troublesome this could've been, especially considering that my dad keeps very important documents in his PC that he needs to have, like right NOW.

Looks like I'll be buying a new hard drive soon to replace that one.

That's it for today. You have a nice week now.

Postcards From Azeroth

The Throneroom above the Undercity amidst the ruins of Lordaeron

I wanted to do this earlier but I've been having trouble posting pictures the last few days. Not sure why. I would upload one picture and the next one won't load.

Anyway.

One of the best things about the World of Warcraft is... well... the world of Warcraft. I've been playing for three months now and I've taken lots of screenshots.

Here are some of the best shots taken by me of the world of Azeroth.

The Clocktower, Brill. The newly Undead player will begin here.

The breathtaking falls in Elwynn forest. A still picture doesn't do this awesome sight at all.

The even more breathtaking Temple to Elune, Darnassus.

Blackrock Mountain. Dragons live in this area. Only the most powerful of the powerful players can survive here...

I'm posting pictures, which means I haven't much to say. Make that nothing to say. Life on the whole is settling into a routine. Not much excitement and not much news.

This week's been crazily busy. Next week, I'll be more free. The week after that, I'll get busy again.

Not much else is happening.

What is There to Say?

I'm one of those things you'll save forever, but never need
Like an old newspaper no one has time to read
This child has grown into a dead end
Since I lost the power to pretend

But it's alright, that's who I am inside
Not much to say on this non-toxic, ordinary day

- Non-Toxic, Now You See Inside, SR-71

I sat quietly as we had an early dinner while listening to my brothers yapping about what they did during the Rainforest Music Festival.

It was kinder than the other times when we have my birthday dinner together. No more lectures and things like that. Just dinner.

My birthday came and went like any other day. To be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. It was a change. Some previous birthdays had a lot of drama in it.

I spent the rest of the evening watching old Friends episodes and hunting for Sarah Michelle Gellar interviews on YouTube.

I laboured for days thinking about what to write this morning. To think, I used to be so good at being introspective and dramatic.

I'm living in the so-called future. It's odd. I remember when I was in school or uni, I used to think of all the things I would be doing when I reached my age now. I wondered what kind of work I would have and who I would be with. I saw myself.... settled somehow. I saw a place without all the things I had to deal with at the time. It was rough back then.

It was kind of like a mystical place, this place past 30. Maybe I thought things would magically work itself out, I would have all the things I wanted and all my "issues" would go away. I expected a happily-ever-after.

Now that I'm here at this so-called mystical time, it really hasn't "worked out". Not in the way I imagined it anyhow.

No happily-ever-after. Just more of the-story-continues.

That's the problem with imagination. Whatever you imagine will appear as a story in the mind. A story has closure. Life doesn't, at least not until you die. Maybe not even then.

On the way home, I wondered, how many people at the present are where they thought they would be now? How many people's lives have turned out close to their so-called "road map" that they conjured up while in their teens and early adolescence?

I thought of all my friends. I wondered how happy they are with their lot.

Am I happy with my lot?

Actually, surprisingly enough I am mostly satisfied. I've had some disastrous times before. I recovered as well as I could. On one hand, I lost a lot of time discovering myself and blundering around in the darkness doing it. On the other hand, I earned some valuable experience in dealing with trouble. I'm single, but at least now I'm totally fine with that and I no longer feel any pressure, most of which was social programming anyway. I like it this way better than I thought I would.

I imagined many things about being past 30. Mostly, I turned out nothing like what I imagined.

But at least one thing worked out. At least today, I'm at peace with myself and who I am.

Forza Italia! and People with No Manners

Well.

Italy won the World Cup as I expected, but not in the way I expected. I don't like it when a competition this big gets decided by the lottery that is the penalty shootout.

I bet there were collective groans amongst the Italia supporters when the ref blew for the end of extra time, the scores tied at one a piece. Italy, oddly enough, have never been very good at penalties. The last final they were involved in 1994, ended in a penalty shootout too. They lost that one to Brazil when Baggio blasted his penalty over the bar.

I'm glad they won this time. It's hard for me to sympathise with France. Zidane made a terrible mistake during what is the last match he'll ever play for France. Stupid Zizou...

In other France related news, I was reading a World of Warcraft article when one link led to another and eventually I ended up watching a video clip of the song J'en Ai Marre by Alizee. My, what an attractive woman. And what a catchy song.

I'm downloading both her albums tonight. That'll be quite a change from my usual downloading habits. First, it's not metal/rock/alternative/punk and second, it's French. I'm not really a big pop fan anymore.

That reminds me, I need to reorganise my music archive. I have some other new stuff I recently downloaded and I haven't sorted through them yet. I blame WoW.

And talking about WoW, there is something quite distressing that I've been noticing. The game allows players to chat and I've noticed the most appalling lack of manners. What happened to things like "Please" and "May I" when requesting help or when looking for a group to join? Not only that, you reply and so "No thanks" or "Sorry I can't, I'm logging off soon", you get insulted.

And why do some players insult other players who ask for simple things like directions and where to find this and that thing? It is so difficult to give a straight answer?

It's very bad. Some days, I just leave the public channels off, leave the guild chat on and quest in total silence.

I think this pointless insulting of other players and calling them noobs is a sign of elitism. Some people apparently absolutely have to put others down to elevate themselves. It's patheticly sad. I feel sorry for their parents.

I'm not really surprised by this actually, just commenting. Tactless, boorish people are everywhere after all, online and offline. But possible more online.

The rest of this week, I will continue to look for a place to repair that nasty dent on the front of the car, preferably before it starts to rust.

A Day in The Trenches

I come in to work this morning expecting a nice quiet Sunday. Instead I get a ton of delayed work that was supposed to be done two days ago thrust in my face. Of course, since some management people forget that we're just human and that there are only around 12 hours of daylight in an average day, they expect everything to be ready by evening.

This is the issue that I have with management and other leader-like types. For many, the higher up they get, the further removed they are from reality. The further they are from the ground, the less likely they are to know what really goes on. All they see is schedules and graphs and plans and MS Project files.

I recall reading an anecdote about a British intelligence officer who came to visit the trenches of the Somme after the battles were over in The First World War. Seeing the trenches and the mud and the shell blighted lunar landscape, all he could say was,"My God. We sent men to fight in this??"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That's human nature after all. We tend to forget. Old people tend to forget what being young was like and people in high places forget what it was like getting there. And sometimes, people who are happy forget what it was like to be depressed.

With the forgetting, the understanding and empathy goes out the window as well. Such is the nature of people.

Anyway.

I wrote a lenghty post two days ago. A current issues one. I forget what it was about now since I deleted it. I'm taking time off from writing about things I see in the news. It pisses me off and when I'm away from work, I also want to take a break from being pissed by current issues. I'd much rather write about sports or games or what happen in WoW or movies or etc.

I won't be writing current issue stuff for a long time. I'll just let journalists and other bloggers comment on those things.

Talking about sports, I hope Italy win the World Cup. I think they deserve it more.

This is quite a big week for me. I turn 33. With that, I've been doing a lot of thinking. Where I am, where I'm going, where I've been, what's going to happen. That kind of thing. So I'll be writing about that soon I think, if I don't get distracted by things.

All I can say about the situation so far is that I'm not where I thought I would be and I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what's going to happen and I don't know if I'm headed down the right path.

One of the things that power people in daily life are their hopes and aspirations. I'm 33. I need to get new ones. I'm doing none of the things I thought I'd be doing. It's not a bad thing really, but neither is it a really good thing. I'm not sure.

So yeah a lot of heavy thoughts while questing in Azeroth.

I'll write that big post if I gather my thoughts in time. And top of the morning to you all.

Look in The Sky!

If you haven't watched Superman Returns, go and watch it right this second. It's freaking brilliant.

And this coming from me, who doesn't really like Superman to begin with.

I went in fully expecting to go bleh. I don't really like Superman to be honest. I think he's too squeaky clean. I'm more of a Batman person.

Instead of "bleh", I got "Holy Crap" instead. I sat there in my seat for three hours with my mouth open.

Everything in this movie was brilliant. The story, the acting, the effects, the cameras. Everything.

Whoever watches this movie will not fail to notice Brandon Routh. He was awesome. I was skeptical about him, what with him being an Iowa country boy waiter guy and all. I thought it'd be weird seeing Superman looking unfamiliar.

But man, he looks, sounds, acts, moves so much like the late Christopher Reeves, it was uncanny. This guy IS Superman/Clark Kent. I dare say that much.

Now that I've found out that he's interested to be in the Warcraft movie, he is officially cool in my books.

Everyone else was great too. Kevin Spacey as Lex? Genius! Hey, it's Kevin Spacey. Who can say anything bad about his acting? After all, it's Kevin Spacey. And along side him is the great Parker Posey as Kitty. I think she's awesome and I haven't seen her in a while.

Kate Bosworth was great as Lois Lane. I expected her to be a lot more annoying for some reason. I was pleasantly surprised by Kate's performance.

There is this huge, totally unexpected twist in the movie. Real huge. Not telling though.

The effects are awesome but that's no surprise these days. Finally, we get to see just how quick Superman is. I loved that one seen when he shoots out of an elevator shaft and vapour flares around him as he flies past the sound barrier. Brilliant!

So, in short, I loved Superman Returns. In fact, if anyone wants me to accompany them to watch it again this Thursday or Friday, I would go.

In other news, my new DLink G604 wireless router is working out really well. No problems so far and it was easier to set up than my old DLink cabled router, surprisingly. At RM300, the router is amazingly cheap for something so capable, considering the features.

Unfortunately, the PCI wireless cards aren't cheap. RM 120-130 each, depending on make.

All in all, I'm satisfied with it.

In yet more news, I received my Mastercard today. Yes, an entire new world of retail has opened up via my PC! I'm still not sure whether this is a curse or a blessing though.

But still, I'm so pleased because I didn't get rejected for once. It's a good thing. I think.

Finally, I wish to share another brilliantly written blog post I came across. I found the part about living life bracing yourself for yet another tragedy to be particularly resonating.

I could've written this blog post myself, if my mind was less cluttered and if my writing was clearer.

I will probably write something about this some day.

And with that, I bid you all good morning.

Wireless!!

I'm going to watch Superman in an hour.

At home, I've gone wireless!! It's bloody brilliant!

More later.