dunderfunk

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Christmas is well over, but I'm still receiving cards and gifts from my friends overseas. I think that's the main reason I've been in such a dunderfunk lately - I'm just sian of work and Singapore and everything, and I miss people who aren't here.

Okay that's the wrong use of dunderfunk, one of the many words I learned from bullshitting game Balderdash the other day. I can't remember the actual meaning of the word, but I remember that many people voted for my fake meaning, which was "a military term for a botched undercover operation". Ahahaha. But now every time I think dunderfunk my own definition comes to mind.

Words I remember the true meaning of: sigatoka (a disease that affects bananas), filipendula (hanging by a thread) and otolith (a stone found in the inner ear of mammals). It is highly unlikely that I will ever get to use these words in real life. ("Whoa, look at that black colour banana, maybe got sigatoka.") The game was surprisingly fun though, thanks to the people who were playing - turns out that journalists are quite champion bullshitters.

Watched Borat and Death Note 2 yesterday, which were both disappointing. Borat is a poorly-connected string of gags, while Death Note 2 - although interesting - requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. My hopes are now pinned on Confession of Pain. I figure even if it's awful, it has both Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro, so how bad can it get?

11 hours more to the new year. I shall spend them in a succinct summary of this year: playing WoW and getting drunk. :)

 posted by zyn :: 12:33 PM :: 1 Comments :: permalink


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Harry Potter and the Ridiculous Theories

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

One of my most interesting dates ever was with a guy even more into Harry Potter than I was (and that's saying something). We spent seven hours and six beers on character analysis and plot development, and by the end of it I was completely enamoured.

Of course that turned out to be largely due to the beers.

But I was reminded of it again today when I came across this amazing site featuring theories of what will happen in Book Seven. With nothing better to do with my time, I read all the theories. And came up with a few of my own. (The main characters are all very boring, so I'm focusing on the extras.)

1. Draco Malfoy

Will survive, turn spy for the Order under the guidance of Snape, and become Harry Potter's secret gay lover. They will proceed to use the combined Malfoy/Potter fortunes to become Minister of Magic and Head Auror respectively, set up the Armani Wizarding Collection, and convert Hogsmeade into the gay clubbing centre of the magical world

2. Severus Snape

Will survive, turn out to be a good guy and the world's foremost Potions Master, and become Remus Lupin's secret gay lover so that Remus can have a lifetime supply of Wolfsbane

3. Remus Lupin

Will die because he's Harry Potter's mentor and they have a knack of perishing. Will be killed defending Snape from Fenrir Greyback, leaving Alan Rickman - I mean, Snape - to smolder in his thwarted love and general bitterness in the Hogwarts dungeons forever

4. Hagrid

Will die for the same reason as Remus (the mentor thing, not the Snape thing, ewww)

5. Neville Longbottom

Will kill Bellatrix Lestrange using a little-known lethal poison brewed from herbs in partnership with Snape and then go on to marry Luna Lovegood and become Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts

6. Pansy Parkinson

Will follow Draco Malfoy in his defection to the Side of Light and seduce Ron Weasley

7. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle

One will sacrifice himself to save Draco Malfoy from Voldemort's wrath (thereby convincing Draco to change sides), the other will continue to be his faithful minion and become chief bouncer at Hogsmeade's biggest club

8. Ollivander

Will turn out to be Voldemort's brother, thus explaining why he sold Harry the wand that is the twin of Voldemort's (this is after someone pointed out that "Ollivander" is an anagram for "An Evil Lord"!). Will pay for his evilness by dying in the Final Battle

9. Regulus Black

Will be discovered to be secret spy still alive and will become Harry Potter's new godfather as all his parent figures are now dead

10. Ginny Weasley

Will die, because she annoys me

 posted by zyn :: 9:26 PM :: 1 Comments :: permalink


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hark the herald angels sing

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

It's hard not to believe in love when it's really all around. And in herald angels too.

To paraphrase Tiny Tim - Merry Christmas, everyone.

(Especially my er zi, who sends me lovely emails once in a while. Ma teng ni.)


So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
A new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young


- John Lennon, Happy Christmas (War is Over)

 posted by zyn :: 3:30 AM :: 0 Comments :: permalink


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all i want for christmas

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

is my two front teeth, without braces. And whaddaya know, I got them today from the dentist santa (second cousin of the tooth fairy)! Yay!

(Aside: Why do we say "all I want for christmas IS my two front teeth" and not "all I want for christmas ARE my two front teeth"?)

Although it's all a bit anticlimatic because I don't recognise myself in the mirror anymore and also I have to wear these inner retainers that continually trigger my gag reflex.

I admit that this whole braces thing was quite a stupid idea (enough with the 'I told you so's, Janne). Everyone asked me why I needed braces and I always told them that it was because my teeth grew crooked in college, which is true, but I think the closest I ever got to the real reason was a conversation I had with K once:

K: So how come you got braces?
Me: Well... my teeth weren't straight and they stuck out in front and I'd just broken up with this asshole and -
K: I see.

In any case, I don't regret it. Even now I'm not sure if I really did it as a reaction to a bad breakup or if it simply coincided with my then-state of bewildered singlehood. I can smile big big again, and that's all that really matters.

My dentist was so thrilled with my teeth today that she wanted to bring me to the photo studio across the road to take glamour shot. Since I'd dragged myself out of bed in cargo pants, I politely said no. Then I surreptitiously ran off to the bathroom and spent five minutes baring my teeth at the mirror to see whether really that nice or not.

I think they're okay lah, although when c7676 saw them he said "Wah!" very loudly and gratifyingly. Haha.

(Yes I went back to work even though I'm on leave because, well, that's what I do. But I probably spent more time writing Christmas cards and coming up with Christmas gift ideas than doing any actual work.)

Anyway off I go to eat apples now. And satay and nougat and chewing gum and chicken wings. Yummydummytummy!

 posted by zyn :: 11:11 PM :: 3 Comments :: permalink


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it's beginning to look nothing like christmas

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Saturday night and I'm confined to my bed after an unexpected and unexpectedly bad bout of food poisoning. I haven't been in the best of health recently - don't know whether it's because I work too hard or I play too hard or my new bed is too hard.

Being sick is another reason why the Christmas spirit hasn't quite set in yet for me. I've written half my Christmas cards, compiled a Christmas Prezzie List, bought myself a Christmas present in the shape of the Sony Ericsson M600i (which is proving to be too smart a phone for me), done my Christmas facial and pedicure, bought a Christmas dress, and even picked up a Christmas jazz album. And yet - it doesn't feel anything like Christmas. The closest I've felt to a Christmassy mood is seeing Greatfather Winter and his posse of Yuletide elves and quests on WoW.

For some reason the lack of snowy sidewalks and steamy mugs of seasonal coffee is getting more to me this year. Last year the loss of a white Christmas was kind of muted by the excitement of first-Christmas-at-home-in-four-years, with its concomitant last-minute Christmas shopping and stuffing my face with Christmas goodies.

I suspect it's because I've been putting off the buying and wrapping of gifts under the convenient pretense of overwork. (Actually that's not a pretense, it's real.) But if I had more hot toddies and a nice fireplace and Christmas stockings, I think it'd begin to look a lot more like Christmas.

10 things I want for Christmas this year:

1. A week's leave once Burning Crusade comes out
2. An eventful property market
3. Instant cellulite vanisher
4. A new blog layout without me having to do any work for it
5. Big bonus
6. The courage to move out on my own
7. A resort-spa-scenery-nature holiday without trekking of any kind
8. A cool hi-fi set
9. More interesting new friends
10. An extra 2kg

On a complete diversion, Since it seems like some random WoW players read this blog (I love all my stranger WoW comments), just a question for warriors out there - does it seem like it's a lot harder to hold aggro now, especially in a crowd situation? I suspect it's because all the dps classes are dealing a lot more damage now (esp warlock and mage) but I'm having to work a lot harder just to hold aggro. Also, which is more rage/threat efficient: Shield Slam or Devastate? Devastate doesn't seem to be working as well as I thought it would. :(

 posted by zyn :: 12:01 PM :: 2 Comments :: permalink


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i'm blogging so much because i'm bored like hell

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The problem with human beings is that they all have hearts. Which means they're all vulnerable as long as you know which buttons to push. Everyone has a button, but some people are easier to upset than others and most people are very bad at hiding their upsetness.

I try not to push too many buttons, especially if they're too easy - which then also makes it too cruel - but sometimes gleeful inspiration strikes and it's hard to pass up the chance for that one line, or that one glance, or that one calculated accidental smile.

It's hard, but it's not impossible, and I usually try - really try - to be kind. Every time a situation blows up spectacularly in my face, I go back in time to locate that one moment where things might have gone differently. Which is why I spend an inordinate amount of my life trying to spot these moments as they go by so I can attempt to redeem all my past mistakes by making the right decision this time.

I've only met one person so far whose buttons I never had the temptation to push, because his buttons would also have been my buttons.

I know this makes no sense to anyone except me but one day, down the road, I will reread this and smile at how seriously I took myself.

On a completely unrelated note, I bought James Blunt's Back To Bedlam the other day. I wasn't sure what possessed me to do that until You're Beautiful came on.

The thing about having an iPod is that it gives your life a soundtrack, and now for every phase that I go through, every intense moment I have, every memorable person I meet - I can put a song to it.

Yes she caught my eye
As we walked on by
She could see from my face that I was
Fucking high
And I don't think that I'll see her again
But we shared a moment that will last 'till the end

 posted by zyn :: 9:33 PM :: 5 Comments :: permalink


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yankee doodle

Every time I hang out with one of my American friends, I remember how much I miss all my other American friends. Fortunately this doesn't happen very often because, well, most of my American friends are in America.

But one is in town for a little while, and so we had drinks last night (did you know that happy hour at Balcony Bar starts at 2?? How awesome is that?!) and it was great fun. There's something to be said about the liberalism of an entire culture that allows you to tell them all kinds of things that don't come as a shock, unlike what I imagine to be the case with most Singaporeans. I think I've reached a phase in life where most of the people I've called friends for a long time probably wouldn't be able to understand why I do and think some of the things I do and think. The precious few that do understand and don't judge are just that - precious.

Anyway it's always nice to hang out with someone chill and laid-back and good conversation. I think this Christmas I shall call all my American friends - Bonnie and Sean and Allison and Kyla and David - and reminisce about the good old days when college was all there was to life.

 posted by zyn :: 1:36 PM :: 0 Comments :: permalink


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christmas spirit

Monday, December 11, 2006

With the special report over at last, I rewarded myself with a very good weekend. Yesterday we ran ZG and took down Venoxis with just 13 men, but we were defeated by Jeklik. We need more people lah. Any high-level character on Frostmourne looking for guild please contact us. Except mage, too many mages liao.

After dinner we did DM Tribute, although we inexplicably wiped twice. Then we sped through UD Strat in slightly over an hour, which is amazing. Next time we try 45 min Baron run. Yay!

I also respecced full Prot to get Devastate, which has now become the only reason to be a warrior. Now no one will be able to draw aggro from bosses away from me no more. Muhahahaha.

Today, sleep-deprived and determined to tear myself away from my WoW addiction, I went shopping. Well, not so much shopping as wandering around malls buying random things that caught my eye, which is even better and which I haven't had the time (or the patient company :p) to do for ages. Then I rewatched Casino Royale just to remind me why I'm buying the Sony Ericsson M600. It's awesome.

And now, after I've bored you all with my blow-by-blow account, I shall ice my cupcake of a weekend by going to bed with Neverwhere and my new stuffed kangaroo, which I have named Jay for obvious reasons. I'm not generally big on soft toys but this one is really cute. :)

 posted by zyn :: 12:02 AM :: 2 Comments :: permalink


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World of Insomnia

Friday, December 08, 2006

I'm having trouble sleeping again. I'm not a dramatic insomniac but ever since college I've had periods where I just lie awake at night and nothing works, not even accounting textbooks. Okay I lie, I never tried accounting textbooks, because numbing my brain by chainwatching Will & Grace at 4am was more fun. At least in Penn I could walk out to the living room, where Ian was almost guaranteed to be frying chicken and watching cartoons at 3am. In Harvard I watched sitcoms until the sun came up. This year I tried pills. Now I'm out of tricks, and I can't even sleep in tomorrow because I have an 8am job. Damn the job.

I'm on the verge of giving up all pretense at sleeping and just logging on to World of Warcraft. But even that's become stressful because my XP bar is back and I have to start questing and battlegrounding again because I can't use gold to buy PvP reward items anymore!! Right after I reattained my Sergeant rank just so I could buy the cape some more! And given that I took, like, four months to go from level 59 to 60, it's safe to say that I will probably still be at level 62 when Burning Crusade comes out. Except that I can't do that, because now we're in this new guild where the motto is Guild Before Self! and our guildmaster emails us at work to tell us to go home early and play. Stress. Have to take leave to play liao. Don't even know whether to battleground first to get gear or to quest first to get level. Or maybe pay someone in China to do both for me. It'll probably cost like five dollars.

Anyway warrior also no fun one, tank tank tank only. Some interesting new talents, I'll probably respec Arms so I can use my Gravestone War Axe. But no one wants an Arms warrior at level 60, much less 70. I should start a new character. Maybe druid, seeing that I actually have to work to draw aggro from my guild's feral druid and now resto druid more powerful healer than priest (which is ridiculous) plus got Innervate and combat rez. Sounds fun.

Or warlock. Apparently the other day one single warlock took down a Tier 3-geared warrior and another warlock pwned three warriors at one go. Warrior sucks. Anyway warlock now got felguard so it's like getting a tank and a caster in one.

Aiyah who am I kidding, my pally is still level 15 and my mage is level 6. I got the sheep skill then I got bored. Haha.

Sigh stress at work, stress at play. No wonder cannot sleep.

 posted by zyn :: 1:30 AM :: 5 Comments :: permalink


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phonetics

Monday, December 04, 2006

I have lately been tormented by a pernicious predicament that has monopolised my mind and stolen my sleep. Until I find a satisfactory solution I suspect I shall dwell in distress and anguish in alliteration.

(And thumb my thesaurus.)

Behold, the burdensome brainteaser: Which cellphone should I buy?

The PDA phones are practical; the sliders, seductive. I am contemptuous of conventional candybars but James Bond's product placement of the Sony Ericsson M600 (white, of course) was singularly successful. Got stylus somemore. But no camera lah.

And, as I abandon all pretense at poetics, there's the whole problem of WiFi vs 3G vs HSwhateverA. Do I seriously need WiFi? I mean, I know it's free islandwide and all but how likely is it that I will be out one day wandering the streets, miles from any cybercafe, and suddenly immediately really need to check the Internet for something?

Also, there is a very big chance I will find myself completely incapable of using it anyway through sheer lack of geekiness.

So say I don't need WiFi. Do I need 3G? How if I one day go Japan or Korea and then have to rent icky handset that someone else has pressed to his or her sticky oily cheek? Eeeeeee. Okay need 3G. But then I have to make sure I go Japan or Korea, if not then wasted.

3G aside, what about camera? Given that my current (really, really, really awful substandard) phone has a really awful substandard camera that CANNOT LINK UP TO PC TO TRANSFER PHOTOS ARGH WTH, I feel I deserve at least a 2 megapixel camera on my phone. That's fair enough, right?

Other things I would like to have:

  • document viewer: so I can take my Excel files everywhere with me (heehee)
  • MP3 player: but preferably not a music-centered phone because I have iPod and a strong innate anti-multitasking prejudice that says phone that is good at music is not good at other things
  • big phonebook: for my many contacts (I've had to delete people out of my phone - and therefore necessarily out of my life - recently)


Actually what I would really love is a stylus. But I also want numerical keypad. Very few phones come with both (above-mentioned Sony Ericsson is one of them. But no camera lah).

But above all, I want a phone that looks good on me. At this juncture I must express indignation that so few phone shops have mirrors!! How are you expected to know whether you like a phone if you don't know what you look like carrying it?!

After spending two whole hours scouring Toa Payoh for the perfect phone today (hugs to Yen), I have narrowed down my options:

Phones that fit most of my criteria but that I do not look good with: Nokia N80, Nokia N73, Samsung D900, Dopod 818 (black version. Still trying to decide if pink version is too Barbie-does-tech).

Phones that I look good with but that don't fit enough criteria: Sony Ericsson M600, Sony Ericsson W850i, any Sony Ericsson that is white and not too big.

Phone that seems perfect but I don't know whether I look good with because I can't find it anywhere, bloody hell: O2 Stealth.

Phone that I may buy if I can bring myself to spend $1,000 on a phone: O2 XDA Atom Pure.

And that, in a Jurassic-size nutshell, is my phone problem. Clearly I need help.

 posted by zyn :: 10:30 PM :: 0 Comments :: permalink


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