My first YouTube link in my Blog! Gotta love Sarah McLachlan. She's such an amazing singer- her voice just lingers on and on.
This is her first happy song she wrote and I really get the feel that she's happy with her life right now. Her husband must be the luckiest man in the world for her to write such a wonderful song dedicated to him!
Enjoy. I know I did
OMG... I'm getting EMO!
Every time I look at you the world just melts away
All my troubles all my fears dissolve in your affections
You've seen me at my weakest but you take me as I am
And when I fall you offer me a softer place to land
[CHORUS:]
You stay the course you hold the line you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, you save me, you complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe
I get mad so easy but you give me room to breathe
No matter what I say or do 'cause you're to good to fight about it
Even when I have to push just to see how far you'll go
You wont stoop down to battle but you never turn to go
[CHORUS]
Your love is just the antidote when nothing else will cure me
There are times I cant decide when I cant tell up from down
You make me feel less crazy when otherwise I'd drown
But you pick me up and brush me off and tell me I'm OK
Sometimes thats just what we need to get us through the day
[CHORUS]
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Why great men fall
I am very intrigued by the some of the reasons that have been the cause of the fall of great men.
We know from stories whether factual or fiction, that one of men's greatest weakness is women. These women seems to have been the reason (or a great part of it) that have caused great men (and nations) to fall.
I can name quite a few of these stories off-hand. They are:
1. The story of Adam and Eve
I got this verbatim from Wiki. It says,
"In Abrahamic religion, the Fall of Man, or simply, the Fall refers to the first humans' transition from a state of innocent obedience to God, to a state of guilty disobedience to God"
2. The story of Samson and Delilah.
I don't know what made Samson love Delilah as much as he did. Of all the stories I know, this one is my all-time favorite. I will go a little into the story later on.
3. The Story of Caius Julius Caesar and his Mistress Cleopatra
Despite what was written in many historic sources, that Julius Caesar took Cleopatra as his mistress and eventually a wife (Despite Rome's law that a Roman citizen must marry another Roman woman) to further his political power, I feel that somewhere inside Caesar really did love Cleopatra in his own quiet (maybe selfish) ways
4. In recent times, there was also the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal.
5. In many other stories, I'm sure that you have seen women being sent as spies into the ranks of important men as prostitutes. (This has always been a popular military espionage strategy)
Before I further elaborate my thoughts, I think that I should clarify that I am in no way trying to be stereotypical. I also advocate the notion and widespread belief of the saying:
"Behind every successful men, there is woman"
But I'll just leave that thought for another day.
I want to cover briefly the story of Samson and Delilah.
I Googled for this information
Just for the benefit of people who is unclear of the origins of this story. It is from the Christian Bible. Basically Samson was a child chosen by God and blessed with the gift of Superhuman strength. For all the Christian believers who think that Superman's strength existed only in the comics, think again. The Bible says:
And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron (Judges 16:2–3).
Even before this story, there have been hints on Samson's vulnerability/weakness towards women. When Samson set forth a riddle for the Philistine
And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle (Judges 14:10–14).
. . . They said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? (Judges 14:15–16).
Eventually, Samson succumbed to his wife's incessant pleadings and was eventually betrayed by her.
The below is an extract from the book "Why Great Men fall". The Author Wayde Goodall says:
We know from stories whether factual or fiction, that one of men's greatest weakness is women. These women seems to have been the reason (or a great part of it) that have caused great men (and nations) to fall.
I can name quite a few of these stories off-hand. They are:
1. The story of Adam and Eve
I got this verbatim from Wiki. It says,
"In Abrahamic religion, the Fall of Man, or simply, the Fall refers to the first humans' transition from a state of innocent obedience to God, to a state of guilty disobedience to God"
2. The story of Samson and Delilah.
I don't know what made Samson love Delilah as much as he did. Of all the stories I know, this one is my all-time favorite. I will go a little into the story later on.
3. The Story of Caius Julius Caesar and his Mistress Cleopatra
Despite what was written in many historic sources, that Julius Caesar took Cleopatra as his mistress and eventually a wife (Despite Rome's law that a Roman citizen must marry another Roman woman) to further his political power, I feel that somewhere inside Caesar really did love Cleopatra in his own quiet (maybe selfish) ways
4. In recent times, there was also the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal.
5. In many other stories, I'm sure that you have seen women being sent as spies into the ranks of important men as prostitutes. (This has always been a popular military espionage strategy)
Before I further elaborate my thoughts, I think that I should clarify that I am in no way trying to be stereotypical. I also advocate the notion and widespread belief of the saying:
"Behind every successful men, there is woman"
But I'll just leave that thought for another day.
I want to cover briefly the story of Samson and Delilah.
I Googled for this information
And it came to pass afterward, that he (Samson) loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver (Judges 16:4–5).
This sum amounted to a fortune. Delilah seized the opportunity. She set out to discover the secret of Samson's great strength.
And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man (Judges 16:16–17).
The hair did not give Samson his strength. It was the Nazaritic vow. The hair length was the symbol of that consecration. If the hair were cut the vow would be broken, and Samson could now longer receive God's intervention.
Delilah had no intention of passing up the fortune offered her.
And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison houseJust for the benefit of people who is unclear of the origins of this story. It is from the Christian Bible. Basically Samson was a child chosen by God and blessed with the gift of Superhuman strength. For all the Christian believers who think that Superman's strength existed only in the comics, think again. The Bible says:
And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron (Judges 16:2–3).
Most people who read the Bible fail to comprehend the scope of this feat. Samson did not bother to break down the city gate. He simply ripped the entire structure from the ground and carried it away! These city gates were designed for siege warfare, so it must have weighed some tons. Commentators vary on their view as to how far Samson carried the gate. Whatever the distance, to carry it as far as he did and then to place it on a hilltop was an awesome deed.
I want to digress a little. If we are going to have a Superman/ Hercules in our lives, I don't see why it shouldn't be Samson. (I would like to see a movie featuring this superhero)Even before this story, there have been hints on Samson's vulnerability/weakness towards women. When Samson set forth a riddle for the Philistine
And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle (Judges 14:10–14).
Who could possibly solve this riddle? The Philistines knew they could not solve it without prying the secret out of his wife.
. . . They said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? (Judges 14:15–16).
. . . They said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so? And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? (Judges 14:15–16).
Eventually, Samson succumbed to his wife's incessant pleadings and was eventually betrayed by her.
The below is an extract from the book "Why Great Men fall". The Author Wayde Goodall says:
"There are reasons people make bad choices, and it doesn’t happen overnight. There is an evolution — one thought, decision, or move at a time. They decided to go to the wrong place, ask the wrong question, look at illegal or immoral materials, or have a conversation with someone they knew was compromising.
The behavior began somewhere. When their lives are analyzed, there are hints, oversights, and road bumps. The thought process had been going on, but the decision wasn’t made until the opportunity presented itself. I don’t believe this kind of “life altering” failure just hits like a brick on some particular day. There is a process — sometimes it can be short lived— sometimes it works on a person"
This must have been the process of which lead to Samson's eventual death. The story follows that Delilah was the second woman to betray him in a similar manner.
Two questions begin to pop up when I think about this story:
1. Why did Samson love Delilah?
2. Did he still love her even after he was betrayed?
This time round, I tried to Yahoo! out and answer. I keywords I typed was:
"Women" "Men's Weakness"
Here is a very answer to my query from Yahoo! Answers
The question set forth by a user is "Why is women's beauty some men's weakness?"
The best answer that was voted was:
"It's all about science and human nature my friend. Men are pre-programmed to have an emotional response to physical beauty. It has been well documented and proven by science. Women do not have the same response to a good looking man and usually have a hard time understanding why we have to look. You can't beat yourself senseless over your biological programming. You have to accept it and move on. It will never stop, no matter which super model you are married to....It's the natural urge to pro-create because of their physical characteristics.
What makes a real man is the ability to recognize, admire and then leave it alone. And that part is the hardest."
I am guilty of this biased behavior. If a girl (that I have a good impression of) sincerely asks for my help in certain matters, for example in her studies, it is most likely that I would lend some assistance. On the other extreme, if a guy asks for my help on the same matter, I might think to myself "WTF. You got hands, you got legs, you have eyes, you have a brain. Go find out for yourself la. You lazy piece of shit!" Of course I realize the important of tactfulness and I might give the reply and say "I also dunno leh. How ah?" Anyway I am reminded of how Cornflake gave the examination notes I made for them away to two guys I abhor, Dan and Gene. I got mad and threw a Mok-like tantrum. On reflection, I realize how petty I was. Even though Cornflake apologized to me, I must say to her again, Sorry Cornflake! Oh yeah even though I said that I have a tendency to help females more than males, another reason is because I feel that guys should take the effort to become someone dependable. Even if we do badly after , say the examinations, than we should use our failure as a solid ground for further improvement because there will come a time when the people you love will be depending on you for answers and the decisions that you make- You will want to prepare yourself for that. I am not that "Cheehong" lah. haha. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger. Darwin's Law.
You may have doubt about the part where he says "Well documented and proven by science." I know I did, so I did a little more research find sources that sources that proves his point. The biological instincts that men have to protect women have existed since time immemorial. In the book "Why Men earn more" by Warren Farrel, he says,
"Men resent women who seek special protection. Nonetheless they offer it. And sometimes they compete to offer it- with the conscious or unconscious hope that it will be rewarded by her smile, her warmth, her flirtation, or sometimes, something more." Throughout this book, the Author gave many statistical proof of his findings. I suspect that Samson's love for Delilah might have to do with the beauty (physical) that she held. Samson had two weaknesses.
The first weakness was that He must not shave his hair lest because that was the source of his strength. The second weakness was his vulnerability to protect the women that he loved. He wanted to protect the heart of the woman he love, Delilah. If by revealing to her his first weakness, that Delilah's heart would not be protected, than was what he chose to do. But whether or not that was the right action to do, I cannot comment. Because he was eventually captured by the Philistines, he blinded and humiliated, that he eventually managed to defeat them in one of their great feast- when he was bound by chains to two of the building's supporting Pillars. I'll
Obviously, if you are a Christian Believer than the story of Samson and Delilah must be true. By faith, every other part of the bible must be true too. This means that Delilah cannot blamed entirely for Samson's death.
The bible also says:
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful.
He will keep the temptation from being so strong that you can’t stand up against it.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not
give in to it
(1 Cor. 10:13;NLT, emphasis added)
I like this part of the Bible. It reinforces my believe of the need to take responsibility for the results in our lives- To live above the line. How often have we heard people after having a setback say:
"This wouldn't have happened if only. . . ."
"This was so and so's fault.".
The list goes on.
I was watching an Anime from Bandai yesterday. The show is called Gundam 00. In episode 10, Colonel Sergias was commanding 2 battle fleets in a battle against a private military organization, that uses Mobile armor called Gundam suites in their battle to end war. Eventually despite the Colonel Sergia's superior military strategies and excellent leadership abilities, his fleet was obliterated. When you watch that episode, you will realize that what happened couldn't possibly be prevented by the Colonel. The Gundam suites were much too technological advanced . Given the resources that was placed forth in the Colonel's hands it was near impossible for him to capture the suits. The Colonel after his failed mission and loss of a great number of soldiers instead said
"This is entirely my fault"
Just a second after that, the Colonel had an amazing resolve to take actions to minimize damage. If he couldn't capture a suit than he would just take a head or arm off them. This was heavily contrasted by one of the female leaders of the Gundam faction. When the Gundam fleet suffered great damage too and revealed one of their biggest Military secrets to the Colonel, their leader and some of her crew, just broke down and cried and cried.
Great men and leaders take responsibility for all the shortcomings all the people under them. They look back only to reflect their mistakes and learn from it. After Samson was captured by their Philistines, his resolve was only to destroy his enemy.
The Philistines were not aware of the significance of the hair. They did not bother to keep it trimmed, as they saw he was no further threat. "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven" (Judges 16:22). They now chose to make public example of him. "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand" (Judges 16:23). They placed Samson in their public arena. A huge crowd was present. Samson asked the lad who led him onto the floor to place his hands on the two pillars that supported the arena.
And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life (Judges 16:26–30).
Picture this image. Samson in his last desperate attempt to honor God, used all his strength to bow down on his knees with his hands secured to the Pillars of the house of the Philistines, thus bringing down their entire building. It is simply picture perfect and leaves a great resounding "Wow" in my heart.
The choices we make is a reflection of a men's personality. And it is this personality that lends us away from temptation. Thus the reason why great men fall is no longer the issue, since there is no point putting the blame on women or another other matter. Everybody faces the similar temptations. What matters is whether or not we take the bait. Everybody falls down from time to time. The events that follow are truly the important ones. Are we going to succumb to circumstances or react to it? What would you do?
The behavior began somewhere. When their lives are analyzed, there are hints, oversights, and road bumps. The thought process had been going on, but the decision wasn’t made until the opportunity presented itself. I don’t believe this kind of “life altering” failure just hits like a brick on some particular day. There is a process — sometimes it can be short lived— sometimes it works on a person"
This must have been the process of which lead to Samson's eventual death. The story follows that Delilah was the second woman to betray him in a similar manner.
Two questions begin to pop up when I think about this story:
1. Why did Samson love Delilah?
2. Did he still love her even after he was betrayed?
This time round, I tried to Yahoo! out and answer. I keywords I typed was:
"Women" "Men's Weakness"
Here is a very answer to my query from Yahoo! Answers
The question set forth by a user is "Why is women's beauty some men's weakness?"
The best answer that was voted was:
"It's all about science and human nature my friend. Men are pre-programmed to have an emotional response to physical beauty. It has been well documented and proven by science. Women do not have the same response to a good looking man and usually have a hard time understanding why we have to look. You can't beat yourself senseless over your biological programming. You have to accept it and move on. It will never stop, no matter which super model you are married to....It's the natural urge to pro-create because of their physical characteristics.
What makes a real man is the ability to recognize, admire and then leave it alone. And that part is the hardest."
I am guilty of this biased behavior. If a girl (that I have a good impression of) sincerely asks for my help in certain matters, for example in her studies, it is most likely that I would lend some assistance. On the other extreme, if a guy asks for my help on the same matter, I might think to myself "WTF. You got hands, you got legs, you have eyes, you have a brain. Go find out for yourself la. You lazy piece of shit!" Of course I realize the important of tactfulness and I might give the reply and say "I also dunno leh. How ah?" Anyway I am reminded of how Cornflake gave the examination notes I made for them away to two guys I abhor, Dan and Gene. I got mad and threw a Mok-like tantrum. On reflection, I realize how petty I was. Even though Cornflake apologized to me, I must say to her again, Sorry Cornflake! Oh yeah even though I said that I have a tendency to help females more than males, another reason is because I feel that guys should take the effort to become someone dependable. Even if we do badly after , say the examinations, than we should use our failure as a solid ground for further improvement because there will come a time when the people you love will be depending on you for answers and the decisions that you make- You will want to prepare yourself for that. I am not that "Cheehong" lah. haha. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger. Darwin's Law.
You may have doubt about the part where he says "Well documented and proven by science." I know I did, so I did a little more research find sources that sources that proves his point. The biological instincts that men have to protect women have existed since time immemorial. In the book "Why Men earn more" by Warren Farrel, he says,
"Men resent women who seek special protection. Nonetheless they offer it. And sometimes they compete to offer it- with the conscious or unconscious hope that it will be rewarded by her smile, her warmth, her flirtation, or sometimes, something more." Throughout this book, the Author gave many statistical proof of his findings. I suspect that Samson's love for Delilah might have to do with the beauty (physical) that she held. Samson had two weaknesses.
The first weakness was that He must not shave his hair lest because that was the source of his strength. The second weakness was his vulnerability to protect the women that he loved. He wanted to protect the heart of the woman he love, Delilah. If by revealing to her his first weakness, that Delilah's heart would not be protected, than was what he chose to do. But whether or not that was the right action to do, I cannot comment. Because he was eventually captured by the Philistines, he blinded and humiliated, that he eventually managed to defeat them in one of their great feast- when he was bound by chains to two of the building's supporting Pillars. I'll
Obviously, if you are a Christian Believer than the story of Samson and Delilah must be true. By faith, every other part of the bible must be true too. This means that Delilah cannot blamed entirely for Samson's death.
The bible also says:
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful.
He will keep the temptation from being so strong that you can’t stand up against it.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not
give in to it
(1 Cor. 10:13;NLT, emphasis added)
I like this part of the Bible. It reinforces my believe of the need to take responsibility for the results in our lives- To live above the line. How often have we heard people after having a setback say:
"This wouldn't have happened if only. . . ."
"This was so and so's fault.".
The list goes on.
I was watching an Anime from Bandai yesterday. The show is called Gundam 00. In episode 10, Colonel Sergias was commanding 2 battle fleets in a battle against a private military organization, that uses Mobile armor called Gundam suites in their battle to end war. Eventually despite the Colonel Sergia's superior military strategies and excellent leadership abilities, his fleet was obliterated. When you watch that episode, you will realize that what happened couldn't possibly be prevented by the Colonel. The Gundam suites were much too technological advanced . Given the resources that was placed forth in the Colonel's hands it was near impossible for him to capture the suits. The Colonel after his failed mission and loss of a great number of soldiers instead said
"This is entirely my fault"
Just a second after that, the Colonel had an amazing resolve to take actions to minimize damage. If he couldn't capture a suit than he would just take a head or arm off them. This was heavily contrasted by one of the female leaders of the Gundam faction. When the Gundam fleet suffered great damage too and revealed one of their biggest Military secrets to the Colonel, their leader and some of her crew, just broke down and cried and cried.
Great men and leaders take responsibility for all the shortcomings all the people under them. They look back only to reflect their mistakes and learn from it. After Samson was captured by their Philistines, his resolve was only to destroy his enemy.
The Philistines were not aware of the significance of the hair. They did not bother to keep it trimmed, as they saw he was no further threat. "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven" (Judges 16:22). They now chose to make public example of him. "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand" (Judges 16:23). They placed Samson in their public arena. A huge crowd was present. Samson asked the lad who led him onto the floor to place his hands on the two pillars that supported the arena.
And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life (Judges 16:26–30).
Picture this image. Samson in his last desperate attempt to honor God, used all his strength to bow down on his knees with his hands secured to the Pillars of the house of the Philistines, thus bringing down their entire building. It is simply picture perfect and leaves a great resounding "Wow" in my heart.
The choices we make is a reflection of a men's personality. And it is this personality that lends us away from temptation. Thus the reason why great men fall is no longer the issue, since there is no point putting the blame on women or another other matter. Everybody faces the similar temptations. What matters is whether or not we take the bait. Everybody falls down from time to time. The events that follow are truly the important ones. Are we going to succumb to circumstances or react to it? What would you do?
Thursday, December 13, 2007
No title. Too lazy.
I have so much to blog about that I don't know where to start
I'm too lazy (and tired) to arrange my thoughts
Somethings that I want to talk about is
1. My Massage parlor near my place
2. Strangers are really strange
3. My trip today with my friends
- The Skank
- The lady in the beautiful dress
- The super lady who could walk with a broken high heel as though the broken heel did not exist (She walked into the Istana BTW.)
4. Some emo shit
Guess I'll just leave it for another day. . . It'll probably be a long post again
Something that made me laugh today
I was supposed to meet my friends at 3pm at taka today
at 1.45 I decided to double confirm and I MSNed Ivan
Mok: Gogo?
Ivan: Stick Together Team
Mok: Roger that. Over
I reached Taka at 3pm sharp and found Ah Wu.
Mok: Where's Ivan?
Ah Wu: I just called him. He's at Chua Chu Kang.
Mok: WTFBBQ?!?
In case you don't get the joke, my conversation with Ivan was some Counterstrike game hot key. Basically when we played counter strike, the guy who charges into the action scene 1st dies. So Ivan equivalently asked us to "charge ahead first" while he camp behind the steal frags. Some much "Stick together Team?" huh?
Pwned.
Something Random
O and something random for you. Girls in office wear look really cute. Can't wait to start my career. So exciting man. . When I said that, no double entendres was intended! Honest! *Cough*
Sarah Mclachlan. Love.
Here's short section from her song Drifting
You have been drifting for so long
I know you don't want to come down
Somewhere below you, there's people who love you
And they're ready for you to come home
Please come home
Nice Stuff Huh?
I'm too lazy (and tired) to arrange my thoughts
Somethings that I want to talk about is
1. My Massage parlor near my place
2. Strangers are really strange
3. My trip today with my friends
- The Skank
- The lady in the beautiful dress
- The super lady who could walk with a broken high heel as though the broken heel did not exist (She walked into the Istana BTW.)
4. Some emo shit
Guess I'll just leave it for another day. . . It'll probably be a long post again
Something that made me laugh today
I was supposed to meet my friends at 3pm at taka today
at 1.45 I decided to double confirm and I MSNed Ivan
Mok: Gogo?
Ivan: Stick Together Team
Mok: Roger that. Over
I reached Taka at 3pm sharp and found Ah Wu.
Mok: Where's Ivan?
Ah Wu: I just called him. He's at Chua Chu Kang.
Mok: WTFBBQ?!?
In case you don't get the joke, my conversation with Ivan was some Counterstrike game hot key. Basically when we played counter strike, the guy who charges into the action scene 1st dies. So Ivan equivalently asked us to "charge ahead first" while he camp behind the steal frags. Some much "Stick together Team?" huh?
Pwned.
Something Random
O and something random for you. Girls in office wear look really cute. Can't wait to start my career. So exciting man. . When I said that, no double entendres was intended! Honest! *Cough*
Sarah Mclachlan. Love.
Here's short section from her song Drifting
You have been drifting for so long
I know you don't want to come down
Somewhere below you, there's people who love you
And they're ready for you to come home
Please come home
Nice Stuff Huh?
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Omg... You must be kidding me...
I opened my email this evening and I saw this
I was thinking ... "wow" how nice, so many messages on my fun wall from my friends...
and was anticipating savoring my little kinder bueno.. and checking to see what surprise messages they sent me
I scrolled down..
and I saw this from Joshua Koh
I took some time to read it, realized there was no mistake with it, double check and double confirmed my initial findings...
Decided to just ignore it for now and look at my other kinder surprises
Yep, i got surprised all right. Maybe a little flabbergasted when I realized that my next five fun wall posts were all the same messages. . .
Well, I do hope that my friends who bothered to send me this messages, got the answer from the initial guy who started this chain letter rubbish or from god above. Hehe
Next funwall message was from Mortimer the travelling bear. Everybody, say hi to our cute little "Spam your friends funwall" teddy bear
Next let us spare a few tears for our poor friend here
Additionally Alvin uploaded a picture of "I love pervy boy" in my superwall. Removed it immediately. He also invited me to join the group "Pervyboy." Don't know what's a pervyboy but it sounds homo IMHO. Declined it immediately. Next day, he decided to resent me his invitation and re-update my superwall with his "I love pervyboy" poster.
Gosh. I love my fun/super wall so much =D
Next thing I know that made me smile was
when this guy called Pwnzorx sent me a PM to my youtube account
Hey man.. i saw ur comment , but uhm.. well this movie is about Gold farmers , and since your not a gold farmer , u dont have to be mad about it , im sure he didnt mean the video as a racial thing.. i think it was funny tho , not making fun of gold farmers but the whole deal about it , the lyrics , the vid n' all.. Anyway im sure it wasnt made to upset non-gold farmers right?
She was replying to my comment in youtube about the WOW Video blogged earlier regarding "10 cents an hour is a lot for a chinese"
Anyway, if this person was a girl, i think i'll fall in love with her immediately =D
Doubt it though. Chances are low that a girl would call herself Pwnzorx . Right?
Anyway its really nice/sweet of this person. If i were her, i would have just ignore it =D Good to know that there are people who cares a little about strangers out there =)))
I tried to reply to Pwnzorx in my PM and I got this message
I decided to get pissed. Server Error WTH? ZZZZzzz. But that youtube message just made me laugh instead
Great day today. Great dinner with the girls too. They were like gossipedia (except Kath, she was just listening and smiling =D). Had great laughs tonight. Gotta love that from time to time.
On my way home from Tiong Bahru, I was SMSing Shanice and jokingly threatening to tell Colin that we were gossiping about him. I was nearing home, just about a 5 min drive from my place and the cab driver looked at me with a straight face and said "Bedok ah?" Lol... we had been traveling for 20 mins to the west and than he asks me if I wanted to go the the Bedok. I laughed until peng. The cab driver too.
=DD
I was thinking ... "wow" how nice, so many messages on my fun wall from my friends...
and was anticipating savoring my little kinder bueno.. and checking to see what surprise messages they sent me
I scrolled down..
and I saw this from Joshua Koh
I took some time to read it, realized there was no mistake with it, double check and double confirmed my initial findings...
Decided to just ignore it for now and look at my other kinder surprises
Yep, i got surprised all right. Maybe a little flabbergasted when I realized that my next five fun wall posts were all the same messages. . .
Well, I do hope that my friends who bothered to send me this messages, got the answer from the initial guy who started this chain letter rubbish or from god above. Hehe
Next funwall message was from Mortimer the travelling bear. Everybody, say hi to our cute little "Spam your friends funwall" teddy bear
Next let us spare a few tears for our poor friend here
Additionally Alvin uploaded a picture of "I love pervy boy" in my superwall. Removed it immediately. He also invited me to join the group "Pervyboy." Don't know what's a pervyboy but it sounds homo IMHO. Declined it immediately. Next day, he decided to resent me his invitation and re-update my superwall with his "I love pervyboy" poster.
Gosh. I love my fun/super wall so much =D
Next thing I know that made me smile was
when this guy called Pwnzorx sent me a PM to my youtube account
Hey man.. i saw ur comment , but uhm.. well this movie is about Gold farmers , and since your not a gold farmer , u dont have to be mad about it , im sure he didnt mean the video as a racial thing.. i think it was funny tho , not making fun of gold farmers but the whole deal about it , the lyrics , the vid n' all.. Anyway im sure it wasnt made to upset non-gold farmers right?
She was replying to my comment in youtube about the WOW Video blogged earlier regarding "10 cents an hour is a lot for a chinese"
Anyway, if this person was a girl, i think i'll fall in love with her immediately =D
Doubt it though. Chances are low that a girl would call herself Pwnzorx . Right?
Anyway its really nice/sweet of this person. If i were her, i would have just ignore it =D Good to know that there are people who cares a little about strangers out there =)))
I tried to reply to Pwnzorx in my PM and I got this message
500 Internal Server Error
Sorry, something went wrong.
A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation. Please report this incident to customer service.
I decided to get pissed. Server Error WTH? ZZZZzzz. But that youtube message just made me laugh instead
Great day today. Great dinner with the girls too. They were like gossipedia (except Kath, she was just listening and smiling =D). Had great laughs tonight. Gotta love that from time to time.
On my way home from Tiong Bahru, I was SMSing Shanice and jokingly threatening to tell Colin that we were gossiping about him. I was nearing home, just about a 5 min drive from my place and the cab driver looked at me with a straight face and said "Bedok ah?" Lol... we had been traveling for 20 mins to the west and than he asks me if I wanted to go the the Bedok. I laughed until peng. The cab driver too.
=DD
RMT good or bad? okay or wrong?
This morning I was up early at 7am in the morning
A friend sent me this link
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KH1LGdjZUKQ&feature=related
It is basically an interview with what us gamers refer to as a "Chinese Gold Farmer"
What is a Chinese gold farmer? It is a man whose professional career operates in the virtual world. He plays an Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) and farms gold to sell in the real world. This trading of virtual gold for real cash also known as Real Money Trade (RMT) is a big (and growing) industry especially those from China. What these gold farmers do is that they camp at a spot where a monster spawns and kills it over and over again to get a certain loot. When they do, they sell this loot for gold and than sells this gold back to the gamers for real cash.
This obviously annoys the gaming community since they spoil the gaming experience for many by hogging on to a camp spot for 24 hours a day. Is 24 hours possible? Yes it is. Each gold farmer has a 12 hour shift and they play the game in 2 rotations a day. Very, very hardcore farming I must admit.
Anyway this violates the End User License (EUL) agreement that the players have volunteerily accepted when they signed up for the account. Most service providers of MMORPGS says that
all accounts and items belong to the service providers and buying and selling of accounts is not permitted.
I have never ever really disliked a chinese gold farmer and have actually talked to many of them before. They always like to start the day by going
"Nihao"
or "Hao a"
or "gan she me a?"
When I was playing FFxi, mixing with those people were a taboo. If anybody caught you partying or playing with them, you were either a Chinese Gold Seller too or you were a friend of a chinese gold seller which is equally as bad. I had an RMT friend, his in game name (IGN) was Roland. Really liked that fellow together with his female colleague Velma. Once we were partying and camping some monster in a temple, some guy came by and caught us partying. That troubled me since if you get blacklisted by the gaming community, its impossible for you to have a fun time playing the game anymore. Roland and Velma told me that they understand and asked me to sort of "kill them" so I could defend myself. I did and swore nasty words at them to put up an act. That actually troubled me further. Here I am with genuinely nice people who was playing the game with me during their "Off-working" hours and I'm ashame to be hanging out with them.
I loved playing with the gold farmers, and helping them out whenever they needed. The point of this post is that although the gold farmers are violating and spoiling the fun of many of us, this does not make them bad people. They are real human beings, with real blood in their veins and real feelings. If you ask me, playing the game 12 hours a day at the same spot, killing the same monster is not exactly fun or challenging.
This youtube video was a really inspiring one. Don't get me wrong, i'm not going to become a chinese gold farmer when I graduate! hehe. It's just that it frees us from our myopic view of how we think those RMT guys are the evil ones. If you think about it, we are playing games to have fun (that's optional), while many of those guys are playing because they are unable to get a job because they were too poor to get proper education because of the poverty and undesired circumstances. . .
Anybody could have been a chinese gold farmer. If those fat asses (I think of Cartman from southpark's WOW parody) were not born into an American well-to-do family and instead the circumstance and environment of a chinese gold farmer, he might have become one too. And than there are people who argue that, "Hey, they are breaking the law by not following the EUL established. Yes that is true, but so what? This does not give us the right to refer them as Chinese Gold Farmers. Like what was said in the video below, they see that as a degredory term (which as a matter of fact, it is). They see themselves and call themselves a professional gamer. Once, I asked Roland why he chose to be a gold farmer and to my surprise he got offended and told me not to call him that. But anyway to answer my question, he said he was 16 years old and he was playing the game because he couldn't find a job because of his low educational background and needed the money to support his little sister and pay for her schooling fees so she could have better career options in the future.
Doubt he would lie to me on that.
So anyways, there was this post in youtube by Arare66 and he said this:
"MOst of them are kids/teens without proper education because they are too poor.This is reality.
You think everybody has the same god damn equal fucking opportunity to survive as you do in your comfortable little world?Pathethic.
They do what they can do to survive.Period.I played with farmers in WoW before(I know a little chinese) and trust me,they want to raid,they want to PVP,they want to do all the fun stuff that others gamers want to do,but they are not allowed too."
and I felt that there is a lot of truth in this statement. I can actually feel the anger that Arare66 has considering what many other gamers have posted
The other gamers who saw the same video said stuff like
" Fkin noob chinese gold farmers"
""Give him some space"? The single most harmful thing to the economy of a videogame is a bunch of ****** called farmers. I played wow, l2 and every time i saw a bot/farmer i tried my very best to make his life miserable. Camping his body, forcing him to move, following him, killing again.. and again. Until he logged/switched char. If that ****face looses his job - all the better. Game is made for fun, bots&farmers destroy it."
The comments are even worse in another Video that another guy made
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0dkkf5NEIo0
but anyway, I got offended when they sung along in that video that 10 cents an hour is good money for a chinese. Sometimes it seems like we gamers and consumers are too spoilt for our own good. The only thing we think about is how those gold farmers are spoiling our fun and that's the only concern we have.
I posted a comment on youtube disagreeing that that video was humorous and I was told that I was lacking a sense of humor. Either that or we're lacking some sensitivity here. It seems to me that for these people, because we are virtual, we are given the right to post anything that comes to mind. Would they dare go up to the those chinese living on straw mats farming gold 12 hours a day and call them "Fking chinese gold farmers."?
I have this little fantasy that there are two places in the world.
One is heaven, and the other is Earth
Before we are born all the souls are gathered into one place and we are all brothers and sisters and friends.
We come in a pairs, and for each pair, God asks one of us randomly which family we would like to be born into:
1. A wealthy family
2. A poor family
The great thing in heaven is that there is no place for selfishness - It is a place where we do not wish to see our friends suffer and so the soul that is given a choice always chooses to be born into the poor family.
His other friend from the same pair, because of his choice gets to live a life of comfort. But as soon as they are born into the world, they forget what happened and the sacrifice his friend had made.
Than I think of how the guy born into the rich family is scorning at that poor Chinese gold farmer- " Fkin chinese gold farmers go back to farming your rice." That feels me with great anger.
It's not like we do not want to be playing the game for enjoyment purposes only.
It's not like we get to choose which family we get to be born into.
Even if we did get a choice, I want to believe in my little fantasy, that it's because our friend (our 2nd half of our pair in heaven) chose to make that sacrifice so that we could live a better life.
If we can believe in this little fantasy I just shared, than maybe it would be easier to love the people who are less fortunate than ourselves.
A friend sent me this link
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KH1LGdjZUKQ&feature=related
It is basically an interview with what us gamers refer to as a "Chinese Gold Farmer"
What is a Chinese gold farmer? It is a man whose professional career operates in the virtual world. He plays an Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) and farms gold to sell in the real world. This trading of virtual gold for real cash also known as Real Money Trade (RMT) is a big (and growing) industry especially those from China. What these gold farmers do is that they camp at a spot where a monster spawns and kills it over and over again to get a certain loot. When they do, they sell this loot for gold and than sells this gold back to the gamers for real cash.
This obviously annoys the gaming community since they spoil the gaming experience for many by hogging on to a camp spot for 24 hours a day. Is 24 hours possible? Yes it is. Each gold farmer has a 12 hour shift and they play the game in 2 rotations a day. Very, very hardcore farming I must admit.
Anyway this violates the End User License (EUL) agreement that the players have volunteerily accepted when they signed up for the account. Most service providers of MMORPGS says that
all accounts and items belong to the service providers and buying and selling of accounts is not permitted.
I have never ever really disliked a chinese gold farmer and have actually talked to many of them before. They always like to start the day by going
"Nihao"
or "Hao a"
or "gan she me a?"
When I was playing FFxi, mixing with those people were a taboo. If anybody caught you partying or playing with them, you were either a Chinese Gold Seller too or you were a friend of a chinese gold seller which is equally as bad. I had an RMT friend, his in game name (IGN) was Roland. Really liked that fellow together with his female colleague Velma. Once we were partying and camping some monster in a temple, some guy came by and caught us partying. That troubled me since if you get blacklisted by the gaming community, its impossible for you to have a fun time playing the game anymore. Roland and Velma told me that they understand and asked me to sort of "kill them" so I could defend myself. I did and swore nasty words at them to put up an act. That actually troubled me further. Here I am with genuinely nice people who was playing the game with me during their "Off-working" hours and I'm ashame to be hanging out with them.
I loved playing with the gold farmers, and helping them out whenever they needed. The point of this post is that although the gold farmers are violating and spoiling the fun of many of us, this does not make them bad people. They are real human beings, with real blood in their veins and real feelings. If you ask me, playing the game 12 hours a day at the same spot, killing the same monster is not exactly fun or challenging.
This youtube video was a really inspiring one. Don't get me wrong, i'm not going to become a chinese gold farmer when I graduate! hehe. It's just that it frees us from our myopic view of how we think those RMT guys are the evil ones. If you think about it, we are playing games to have fun (that's optional), while many of those guys are playing because they are unable to get a job because they were too poor to get proper education because of the poverty and undesired circumstances. . .
Anybody could have been a chinese gold farmer. If those fat asses (I think of Cartman from southpark's WOW parody) were not born into an American well-to-do family and instead the circumstance and environment of a chinese gold farmer, he might have become one too. And than there are people who argue that, "Hey, they are breaking the law by not following the EUL established. Yes that is true, but so what? This does not give us the right to refer them as Chinese Gold Farmers. Like what was said in the video below, they see that as a degredory term (which as a matter of fact, it is). They see themselves and call themselves a professional gamer. Once, I asked Roland why he chose to be a gold farmer and to my surprise he got offended and told me not to call him that. But anyway to answer my question, he said he was 16 years old and he was playing the game because he couldn't find a job because of his low educational background and needed the money to support his little sister and pay for her schooling fees so she could have better career options in the future.
Doubt he would lie to me on that.
So anyways, there was this post in youtube by Arare66 and he said this:
"MOst of them are kids/teens without proper education because they are too poor.This is reality.
You think everybody has the same god damn equal fucking opportunity to survive as you do in your comfortable little world?Pathethic.
They do what they can do to survive.Period.I played with farmers in WoW before(I know a little chinese) and trust me,they want to raid,they want to PVP,they want to do all the fun stuff that others gamers want to do,but they are not allowed too."
and I felt that there is a lot of truth in this statement. I can actually feel the anger that Arare66 has considering what many other gamers have posted
The other gamers who saw the same video said stuff like
" Fkin noob chinese gold farmers"
""Give him some space"? The single most harmful thing to the economy of a videogame is a bunch of ****** called farmers. I played wow, l2 and every time i saw a bot/farmer i tried my very best to make his life miserable. Camping his body, forcing him to move, following him, killing again.. and again. Until he logged/switched char. If that ****face looses his job - all the better. Game is made for fun, bots&farmers destroy it."
The comments are even worse in another Video that another guy made
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0dkkf5NEIo0
but anyway, I got offended when they sung along in that video that 10 cents an hour is good money for a chinese. Sometimes it seems like we gamers and consumers are too spoilt for our own good. The only thing we think about is how those gold farmers are spoiling our fun and that's the only concern we have.
I posted a comment on youtube disagreeing that that video was humorous and I was told that I was lacking a sense of humor. Either that or we're lacking some sensitivity here. It seems to me that for these people, because we are virtual, we are given the right to post anything that comes to mind. Would they dare go up to the those chinese living on straw mats farming gold 12 hours a day and call them "Fking chinese gold farmers."?
I have this little fantasy that there are two places in the world.
One is heaven, and the other is Earth
Before we are born all the souls are gathered into one place and we are all brothers and sisters and friends.
We come in a pairs, and for each pair, God asks one of us randomly which family we would like to be born into:
1. A wealthy family
2. A poor family
The great thing in heaven is that there is no place for selfishness - It is a place where we do not wish to see our friends suffer and so the soul that is given a choice always chooses to be born into the poor family.
His other friend from the same pair, because of his choice gets to live a life of comfort. But as soon as they are born into the world, they forget what happened and the sacrifice his friend had made.
Than I think of how the guy born into the rich family is scorning at that poor Chinese gold farmer- " Fkin chinese gold farmers go back to farming your rice." That feels me with great anger.
It's not like we do not want to be playing the game for enjoyment purposes only.
It's not like we get to choose which family we get to be born into.
Even if we did get a choice, I want to believe in my little fantasy, that it's because our friend (our 2nd half of our pair in heaven) chose to make that sacrifice so that we could live a better life.
If we can believe in this little fantasy I just shared, than maybe it would be easier to love the people who are less fortunate than ourselves.
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