It's Personal

"Apparently, some dude dies in real life who is a popular WoW player. The people in the game think it would be nice to have a memorial for the player so they log into his account, take the character to a lake, and set it up for everyone to come pay their respects.A bunch of dudes decide this would be a great time to ambush everyone so they run over a hill, kill the dead guy's character, and then wipe out everyone who was there to show their respects. They filmed the whole thing and put it on the net..."

In one of my earlier posts highlighted my level of addiction to World of Warcraft (WoW). But these guys have really taken it to a new level. An Online funeral. And then for another guild to go ambush everyone who went to pay their respects.

Apparently this happened on the server I play in (Illidan). And as the video suggests, we take ganking \ camping very personal there. I once got camped big time in Stranglethorn Vale (STV) and so I requested for help in my Guild and a couple of 60s came down and ended up camping that guy non-stop. The Horde player called his guildies down as well and so we ended up with a night-long ganking session.

And Yes, we owned them big time. :)

Here is a link to see the video of the ambush lead by the Serenity Now Guild : Serenity Now Video on Google

Click on the title link above to read the full article.

One Year On

I've just realised it has been one year since I started blogging online. Although it doesn't seem like a milestone, it does seem like a while ago when I look back at some of my first few posts.

Originally it started because my company blocked access to MSN, Friendster and all other forms of "Interactive" sites. And so my blog was formed so I could keep in contact with my friends. And also to help relieve some of the MSN withdrawal symptoms I was suffering from. It was my portal-away-from-work and believe me, I think my blog is one of the reasons why I am still mentally sane.

Looking back at some of the earlier posts now, I see a little bit of me in every one of them. The funny bits, boring bits and even some painful bits. Some posts were of things I choose to share with everyone. Some were reflective of my thoughts at that certain time, while some were just for me to be able to vent my anger out at something. (Looking back at these now, I see that I have a large number of 'anger rambling' posts).

I realise now that my blog has grown into something I would visit nearly everyday (either to write a post or to read other people's comments). And reading other people's blog has become something I enjoy doing every lunchtime at work.

I never did intend this blog to be anonymous. Although sometimes I think that maybe my posts would be a bit different if my blog was kept anonymous. I probably would have created a bigger window into my world. It would probably be showcasing a lot more scarier side of me.

Maybe it's because I know that there are people reading this. But I doubt I would be comfortable sharing every intimate detail of my life online - even if it was anonymous.

In some ways, I am surprised that my blog has lasted a year. And that I have not abandoned it. (God knows how many Diaries I have kept\abandoned over the years). My grandmother has always said that I am a girl with many knifes, but none of them are sharp. A Chinese saying that means I will start alot of projects but finish nothing, or to know a bit of everything but be good at nothing.

A saying that was probably quite true when I was a young girl. But not now.

Atleast I know that the butterfly knife I carry around in my handbag is sharp.... Just kidding. :P

Thanks for reading.

Tell-Tail Signs

10 Tell-Tail Signs to tell that you are addicted to World of Warcraft :

1. 1) You spend a good deal of your time at work free time at work reading up the best build combos and specs for your current character on WoW forums
2. 2) You discuss different builds and specs with your self-confessed WoW addicted colleagues at work.
3. 3) You type in the subject heading "LFG" when trying to get a lunch group together
4. 4) The first thing you do once you rush home from work is to turn on your computer and log on to WoW
5. 5) You turn up late to all your friends' gatherings because you were trying to finish off an Instance or BG
6. 6) You rather stay at home playing WoW than go out with your friends
7. 7) You wake up at 3am in the morning to log on and try to get the Arena Chest (hoping there are less people around fighting for the chest).
8. 8) You happily tell your boyfriend you got 10 HK (honor kills) when he asks you how your day was
9. 9) You explain to him you just made 20G on AH while your boyfriend starts massaging your shoulders
10. 10) You realise it's 2am (2 hours past your boyfriend's birthday !!). You now realise why he was giving you a nice massage (he is now soundly sleeping in bed). You put your character in stealth mode, go over to your sleeping boyfriend, wake him up and say 'Happy Birthday'. He gives you a slight smile before falling back into his deep slumber. You contemplate whether or not to crawl into bed as well. You decide against it and turn your attention back to WoW. Because it's nearly 3am (Arena Chest drop time - only happens every 3 hours) and you still have a long way to go before winning 12 trinkets to complete the quest.

Humm... I am so dead. (For those wondering, 8 - 10 are actual chain of events from last night). :P

And so.. Yes, today is his Birthday. I hereby solemnly promise not to log onto WoW ... Tonight.

...I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight. I promise not to log onto World of Warcraft tonight....

Reading Between the Lines

This probably would have been one of those emails which makes you smile a bit and think back to your job description.

I might actually smile at a few of those lines if this was sent out by anyone else other than my manager. The manager who interviewed and hired me.

I can recognise two of those lines .. and sadly .. its so true. For my company anyway. I don't know how true it is for the companies listed here.

Here is a copy of the email :

===================================================


"COMPETITIVE SALARY" --- TCS
We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.

"JOIN OUR FAST-PACED COMPANY" --- ACCENTURE
We have no time to train you.

"CASUAL WORK ATMOSPHERE" -- COGNIZANT
we don't pay enough to expect that you'll dress up.

"MUST BE DEADLINE-ORIENTED" --- SIEMENS
You'll be six months behind schedule on your first day.

"SOME OVERTIME REQUIRED" --- WIPRO
Some time each night and some time each weekend.

"DUTIES WILL VARY" --- IBM
Anyone in the office can boss you around.

"MUST HAVE AN EYE FOR DETAIL" --- POLARIS
We have no quality control.

"CAREER-MINDED" --- SAPLABS
Female Applicants must be childless (and remain that way).

"NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE" --- NOVELL
We've filled the job; our call for resumes is just a legal formality.

"SEEKING CANDIDATES WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE" ---HCL
You'll need it to replace three people who just left.

"PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS A MUST" --- INFOSYS
You're walking into a company in perpetual chaos.

"REQUIRES TEAM LEADERSHIP SKILLS" --- SATYAM
You'll have the responsibilities of a manager, without the pay or respect.

===================================================

Friday !

Its Friday !!!!!! Yaaayyyyy !!

Finally.... This week passed by so slowly. Every day has been painstakingly long. Too long.

It's probably because that I've been doing On-call for two weeks in a row. My colleague who is schedule on this week actually asked me if I could swap with him. I told him, two weeks is the max. Three weeks, and you might as well commit me to an institution.

Seriously.

For now I'm going to join my buddies for a quick Friday night beer downstairs and go home to my Warcraft.

Uni Lecturers

I swear that the lecturer I have for one of my master units has to be one of the worst I have ever had.

But this has nothing to do with the way she teaches. I actually think she is fine when it comes to the way she teaches.

Only though I do understand why she is a lecturer, its because I doubt she would ever survive outside in the corporate world as a project manager.

She can... list out requirements for a report - but mark and grade it on another totally different set of requirements.

She can... set out deliverables we are supposed to complete - but on the day it's due, asks if a certain something else was included (even though not included in the deliverables).

When we told her that it wasn't in the deliverables she requested... she simply replies :

"Surprise me"

Riggghhtt.

And this course should have "Mind Reading 101" listed as the course prerequisite in the university course outline.

I think I will just go and hang myself if my project manager was like her.

Sleeping on the Job

"MetroNaps Australia is this week launching its sleep pods in the foyer of the ABN AMRO building, on the corner of Phillip and Bent Sts in the city. Busy workers are invited to stop in and put up their feet for 20 minutes to relax and rejuvenate in style. Nappers' privacy is secured by the darkness of the dome-shaped pod, which lets them drift into a light sleep to the sound of relaxing music on a pair of headphones."

Sleep pods !!!!! Kudos to the genius that thought of this idea !

I'm not too sure about the location of these pods though... In the foyer of the building ?!

I would have thought some place more private would be more appropriate ? Maybe a designated "cat nap" room in each level of the building ?

I do wonder when we would get one. Atleast then I can stop taking cat naps in the data centre.

The data centre really is a bit cold for cat naps... :)

Bad Day

My day today :

• Main production database decided to suck up every ounce of CPU power (from the server it resides on) and grinds the server to a complete halt.

• At midday 12pm.. !

• We managed to somehow gracefully shutdown the beast.

• Manager thinking we might as well reboot the server, asks me to restart the box.

• The server blue screens (The blue screen of death)...

• The error msg shows : STOP: Cxxxxxxx unknown hard error

(Thank you to the Engineer at Microsoft for putting in such meaningful error messages).

• Restart the server again - do recovery operation - cross fingers and pray it comes back up alive.

• Server is Online

• Recover database - Start database - database starts to grind server to a halt again - CPU 100%

• Shutdown database - Set job queues to Zero - Start database

• Nothing runs when job queues are at Zero - which makes database useless - Business people start calling again

• Alter job queues to 1/2 of what they were before (so atleast something runs)

• Everything back Online - 2pm

• Sit back - breathe - Monitor Server - Start writing Incident report - Wish I had taken a sickie today and just play WoW at home.

I knew I should have stayed at home today. . . :(

Yet another one..

Another totally useless online quiz to waste your time on from Blogthings :

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart. In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored. You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change. You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic. Your ideal relationship is comforting. You crave a relationship where you always feel warmth and love. Your risk of cheating is 100%. You are not suited for a monogamous relationship. You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred. In this moment, you think of love as something you don't need. You just feel like flirting around and playing right now.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

"Your risk of cheating is 100%. You are not suited for a monogamous relationship." ... hummmmmmm..... but I think of marriage as something precious ?!?! What the ????

I nearly choked while drinking my glass of water and sprayed it all over my LCD screen at work when I read the "Your risk of cheating is 100%" line. Seriously. My colleague actually came over to see if I was ok, and I had to do a quick Alt-Tab to swap my screen back to my work stuff.

Oh well, atleast it entertained me for about 5 minutes. :)

Sago with Coconut Milk Dessert

Due to popular demand (ok.. maybe only two requests), I've decided to post online my recipe for Sago with Coconut Milk dessert.

Ingredients:
------------------

4 Soupspoons of Sago (can be replaced with Tapioca Pearls)
4 1/2 Cups of water
1 Can of Thin Coconut Milk
1 Pandan leaf (tied into a knot)
1/4 Cup of sugar (you can add more if you like it sweeter)
1/4 Rockmelon (cut up into small 1/2 cm cubes - you can substitute this with watermelon or honeydew)

Method:
-------------

Pour coconut milk into a saucepan, add the pandan leaf and bring to boil while adding in the sugar. Stir constantly. Add 1/2 cup of water into the mixture and continue to simmer for an additional 5 minutes on low heat. Remove the saucepan and place into a basin of cold water. Once the coconut milk reaches about room temperature, poor the contents into a large bowl and refridgerate.

While the coconut milk is cooling, bring the 4 cups of water to boil in another saucepan. Add in Sago and continue to boil for 5 minutes. Stir constantly so that the Sago won't stick to the bottom of the saucepan. After 5 minutes, turn the heat off and place the lid over the saucepan for 10 minutes. Once you remove the lid, the sago should appear all transparent (Don't worry, you haven't lost all your Sago!!). Run cold water over the saucepan while pouring the contents into a seave and continue to run cold water over the sago for a couple of minutes.

Stir the sago into the coconut milk and continue to refridgerate. Cut up the Melon into small cubes and add into the sago & coconut milk mixture.

Your Sago and Coconut Milk Dessert is now ready to serve !


Notes:

----------

• The pandan leaf can be removed prior to refrigerating the mixture.
• The dessert is ready to serve once you add in the melon. However, you can continue to refrigerate it.
• If you are using watermelon instead - it doesn't mean 1/4 of the watermelon (unless the watermelon is tiny!) You should only need about 1-2 cups of the fruit - depending on how small you manage to cut up the cube pieces.
• Try tasting the coconut milk mixture before refrigerating it. Add more sugar if it isn't sweet enough.
• If you are not worried about calories and prefer a creamer tasting dessert, normal coconut milk can be used instead.
• You must stir the coconut milk constantly while simmering it. Otherwise the mixture has a tendency to 'spit' !
• The Dessert should last up to 2-3 days if kept refrigerated.
• The whole process takes about 30-40 minutes to complete.
• This recipe serves 2-3 people

Hope this is easy enough to follow.. Have fun !

Blogging Mad

"A teenage Japanese girl who gradually poisoned her mother into a coma while keeping a blog about her worsening health will be sent for treatment in a reformatory, a court official said today. Investigators searching the girl's room after her arrest found animal parts preserved in formaldehyde along with a copy of a book about Graham Young, a British serial killer convicted of poisoning dozens of people in the 1960s and 1970s, newspapers said".

"The daughter, a bright chemistry student, idolised Young, reports said".

"The girl obtained the thallium from a local drugstore by saying she intended to use it in a school chemistry experiment, media reports said. She also appears to have poisoned herself in an effort to evade suspicion, newspapers said".

Classic case of someone who is really blogging mad. I really hope she didn't do it just so that she would have something to write about in her blog. Click on the title link for the full article on SMH.

Dinner @ Harry's

Harry's is located directly upstairs of a local surry hills pub. And Yes, its one of those dodgy types you find in certain parts of Surry Hills. There is a huge neon sign board above the pub which reads which unconvincingly reads "Best Singaporean Chilli Crab". As we walked up the creaking wooden stairs, I began to have second thoughts. Would I end up with yet another bout of food poisoning ?! Again ?!?

At the end of the staircase we see a stack of plastic crates all piled up. Each crate holds two huge freshwater mud crabs. Which upon close inspection were all still alive - Slightly more convincing now. So I gave my Cuz the We're-here-already-might-as-well-try-it-look and walked in with her.

And I was glad I did.

The Chilli crab was great and according to the Singaporeans and Malaysians on the table, it did taste like authentic Singaporean\Malaysian Style. The Sambal Kangkong (Chilli Chinese Spinach) was definitely one of the best I have ever tasted. As it was agreed by all around the table. The sauce was thick and the Belachan was so yummy we ended up ordering an extra plate of Kangkong.

The night past away quickly to the sounds of crab crunching, sucking, slurping and laughter all washed down with beer. We were all thankful we weren't deviated away by the restaurant's first impression.

We also ordered the Fish head curry and Chilli Pipis. The boys managed to eat another bowl of rice just with the curry sauce !

At $50/pp I would agree it is borderline expensive given the location. It would however, be best to give the Pipis a miss and stay with what Harry's does best - Singaporean Chilli Mud Crab & Sambal Kangkong !

What does love mean ?

A person I care deeply for asked me this question before I left Perth.

What does love mean to you ?

I couldn't answer him straight away, and never really thought about putting that feeling into words. After I left, this was the answer I gave him (albeit, in a condensed form - since I had to SMS it back). But here is my full answer and it is something that I feel would be nice to share here. :)

Love means different things to different people and at different stages of their lives. When I was younger I believed in finding my soulmate. Someone who I was phyiscally and emotionally connected to. Chemistry. Without that chemistry feeling, I didn't believe I could love and feel for that person. Now I think love is more based on trust, commitment and communication. I think that real love is something totally unconditional. To love and to give unconditionally. Love is knowing that there is only person who holds the "key" to your heart. And knowing that just being with them, makes you feel really good inside. Love is not being able to stop thinking about this person and not being able to stay separated for too long. Love is not knowing what to say, but also when you know that you don't have to say anything at all to be heard.

In response, this was his answer:

Love is a special kind of relationship. It is experienced by all, yet understood by few. It manifests itself in sustained well-intentioned abnormal behaviour towards its partner and its depth & variety will be influenced by varying the degree of the aforementioned manifestation. It is my reason for life & living, and it's why we're drawn towards each other. Love. Ain't it a beautiful thing ?

hummm.. He's English is definitely better than mine. :)

What does love mean to you ?

1 month away

I'm finally back in Sydney after a whole month being away on holidays !!

Really not sure if that is something to celebrate.

It's my 1st week back at work and I feel like I've just gone and dug my own grave. I have so much work to get through, it just isn't funny. You would imagine that things that were looked after by me would be taken on by someone else in the team while I was away. After all, I was on annual leave for a whole month. But, no. They decided that everything could wait until I got back. Even when one of the SPs on the SAN failed (1 week ago), they decided that it could wait as well. There is a failover, but what happened if that failed as well ?! I think I would just refuse to come back to work if the whole thing failed.

Damn me, if I ever contemplate taking a whole month of annual leave again.

I think the next time I want time off, I would rather quit my job (get my leave paid out in cash) and find another one when I get back from my holidays.