World of Warcraft: Legion, and… Coffee

So yes, I have the urge to write something today, so here goes.

I’m gonna just rave about how well this latest World of Warcraft expansion is.  I’ve already written three days ago about the expansion, saying all the nice stuff… so actually just bear with me while I go through them again.

First of all, I find that levelling in Legion is less hectic as in WoD (Warlords of Draenor) expansion.  Yet although levels are easily gained, it still makes one want to complete the quests and objectives.  Clearing objectives grant a hell lot of experience, more so than I actually thought it would.  I’ve levelled up unexpectedly a few times already and I’m now already level 108, two more levels to go for max level.  And I will still continue to play after I hit max level, because there’s really so many things to do in the game.  Killing rares (read: rares with silver lining on their portraits, not elites with gold lining) are actually not as hard as you think it is, now that mob levels are dynamic. Also, they are FFA – someone could be killing it and you can just throw your spells at it too – it doesn’t affect the loot that he or she gets, and you get your share of loot too. There’s no longer “kill stealing”, especially at objectives areas. You can just throw a spell on a mob that someone is killing, while killing your own mobs. When that mob dies, it counts towards your objective progression too.  That person won’t bother either – because he/she still gets their loot AND it counts towards their progression.  In fact, I’d say most people won’t mind, or even welcome your random spells so that they can kill the mobs faster and get on with it.

Gathering profession is fun again – the fishing nodes that are in the battle field appear at spots that weren’t too dangerous to be in.  The fishes are just fishes that you can use to research on better recipes, to cook – just straight forward stuff like before.  Unlike in WoD, you get scrap version, normal version, and even enormous version of the same type of fish.  You need like 10 scrap versions to gut to get normal flesh to cook, or need 5 normal version or 3 enormous version etc.  (Something like that.)  Which is terribly repetitive and takes up unnecessary space in bags. In Legion, that’s gone.  Thankfully.  I haven’t been trying first aid yet, because my cloths are precious – I need to save them to up my tailoring.  I’ll look at them again once my tailoring is maxed.

There’s so many backlogs to clear – I haven’t been maxing my profession levels since Cataclysm.  The max profession level is now at 800, and all my tailoring/fishing/cooking are still stuck at 600. LOL.  My fishing skill is slowly climbing up, and my herbalism is always there.  Well, it takes time, and I’m just gonna slowly do it.

So on top of all these, there’s the artifact weapon that every player would want to level up.  Every spec of every class has its own artifact weapon, and since now you can switch to any spec at the drop of the hat, everyone is able to go through all the necessary quests to get their hands on the artifact weapons for their class.  My priest has 3 specs in total, and I have 3 artifact weapons in my bag, one each for different spec (and the weapons are all different). You pick up random items in treasure chests scattered across Broken Isles that gives you artifact points, and for every 400+ or 600+ points (it increases as your artifact levels up), you get to choose an artifact trait to level – which can empower your spells to make them do more damage / heal more. This is so interesting – I mean, who would resist opening random glittering treasure chests  that you spot around the world that you’re exploring? And to be rewarded for that – wow! It’s just that there are three weapons for me to go through – so honestly that’s a little daunting! But I really wouldn’t mind if those treasure chests would respawn eventually. Or maybe I’ll just be done with levelling my discipline priest artifact and go for another healing class! Heh heh.

And then, there’s the Class Hall followers quests!  Similar to Garrison quests back in WoD, this one will have you managing your followers to complete their own quests in return for rewards like player XP, follower XP, even artifact levels.  Best part now is that you can monitor/start/end these followers quests via mobile!  So freaking convenient oh my goodness.  And yes, of course I have that app in my phone now!  :D

So yes, lots of good things have happened in the latest World of Warcraft expansion, so seriously, if you have more or less stopped playing after Cataclysm, give this new expansion a try!  I did, and I’m still loving it!

Right.  Now, with that out of the way… I’m happy to say that after working in this company for 13.5 years, I’ve finally put the coffee machine here for good use.  I’ve been having proper coffee (espresso with milk from coffee joints) every morning for awhile now, that I couldn’t go back to just instant freeze dried coffee granules with milk anymore.  It just doesn’t cut it… at least not in the morning.  It doesn’t have enough caffeine for my brain.  It almost feel like I didn’t take my coffee if I drink those in the morning.  But yet buying coffee every morning will eventually take a toll on my expenses every month – $5 a cup a day isn’t cheap.  And since my company provides milk, has a microwave, and a Jura coffee machine… I thought why not give it a try?

So even though I have never operated a microwave oven before, I asked Bruno a few quick questions about it yesterday afternoon after lunch, and proceeded to warm 1/4 cup of cold milk in the microwave oven by setting it to 30 seconds.  The timing seemed just right for that amount of milk, as it came out warm.  Then, I put the cup at the coffee machine and hit the “1 espresso” button.  And viola, I get half a cup of single shot espresso with warm milk!

Well it doesn’t taste as good as Jewel Coffee or anything, but hey it still taste pretty decent!

So this morning, I decided to save my money and make the coffee again for my morning caffeine ritual.  I decided to make a proper big cup this time, so I warmed up half cup worth of milk (needed 2x 30 seconds – I don’t dare to let it heat inside for one whole minute), and pressed the button for 2 shots of espresso.

And yay! I got a full cup of … 2 shots espresso with hot milk!

So yup!  Money saved!  Gonna do this from now on, lol!

Updates.. and then some

Japan Trip

Went to JTB last Thursday to book for the Tokyo accommodation, so that we can ask them to help us buy the Ghibli Museum tickets.  But you know what?  They are marking up the accommodation prices by almost 50%.  Like, erm, really?  A room for 3 nights – I can get from Japanican.com at SGD800+, but they are charging me SGD1,400+.  Like, wow.  Literally wow.  We decided to not go for it, and give up on the hope of going to Ghibli Museum (this time, we’ll get there eventually!).  So I’ve booked the hotel on Japanican.com and now, waiting for certain dates to tie up the loose ends.

Things left to do:

  • Remind Kyoto hotel to assist with application of visit permit to Kokedera
  • Confirming Shirakawa-go accommodation with the ryokan on 1st October
  • Book Nomi Bus for the Shirakawa-Go trip
  • Change enough YEN for the trip
  • Double confirming the train timings so that we can purchase all the train tickets in advance at Narita Airport

Hope everything will go smoothly as planned. *crosses fingers*

Gaming

After the conclusion of The International 6, Dota 2 community is kinda in a lull right now.  Teams have been disbanded and rosters are in a disarray now.  There’s so many rumours going on that I’m kinda immune to all.  Now we are just waiting for official team line up announcements.

In the meantime, I’m just playing World of Warcraft’s latest expansion: Legion. I’m levelling as a Discipline priest, which is surprisingly doable.  Yeah, granted I can’t heal much, it’s about just enough for solo play.  Most of the time I hardly need to heal myself.  At scenarios against level ?? bosses, the NPCs will help to heal me.  Whenever my HP goes to half, I’ll get healed and I just need to spend my mana on offensive spells.  And being a disc priest, there’s literally only 3 buttons to press for offensive spells: Smite, Purge the Wicked, and Penance.  That’s all, really.  It should be boring, but it isn’t really.  I played WoW for the whole day yesterday, and I didn’t really get any fatigue. I find it refreshing that now, quest rewards can randomly be upgraded.  A green reward item can randomly become a blue, or a blue item could get randomly upgraded to legendary when it dropped into your bag.

Gathering professions in WoW have also been improved.  Nodes are shared (you don’t need to rush to get that herb and worry that it’ll be gone after someone got to it before you), and you can get random profession-related item on top of whatever you are gathering.  Take fishing, for example, I can get random fish which I could throw back to the water to get permanent 5 levels to my fishing skill.  Or I could get baits that could help me fish up even more unique fishes.  I’ve always quite like fishing, so I foresee I’ll be fishing pretty often in Legion.  Heh.

Misc

Jewel Coffee opened up a branch at Millenia Walk!  Yay!  Walking distance from my office to a good cuppa.  Starbucks is actually rubbish, now that more and more decent coffee connoisseur chains popped up. I think I might just stop drinking Starbucks once I’ve redeemed all the free drinks.

I’m going for Frozen Planet in concert this Thursday! I’ve been waiting for it for two years. I’ve managed to procure 2 tickets and I’m gonna drag Bruno to go with me lol.  I think he’ll be napping halfway through though… :x

I’ve pledged for 2 Bobby backpacks via Kickstarter, and have received them!  I think I -might- bring it for the Japan trip – but we’ll see how it goes.

Sigh, now with the haze and dengue issue, we now have to worry about Zika.  And my block is just right outside the Zika cluster border at Bedok North Ave 3.  Insect repellents have sold out everywhere, but I’ve managed to order some online via Giant website, so hopefully I’ll be getting some OFF! insect repellent lotion later.  I’ve also bought an essential oil burner for my mom as she wants one in the living room, and the seller has offered it together with a free essential oil, so I chose Lemongrass (naturally) to repel the insects.  Not sure when I’ll be getting that… hopefully soon!

I’ve been repeating this song on youtube/iTunes for quite a bit.  The lyrics are so sad… it tugs my heart strings everytime he sang “你退半步的动作认真的吗? 小小的动作伤害还那么大”. T_T

绅士
作词:薛之谦
作曲:薛之谦
编曲:郑伟、张宝宇

好久没见了什么角色呢
细心装扮着
白色衬衫的袖扣是你送的
尽量表现着像不在意的
频繁暴露了自欺欺人者
越掩饰越深刻
你说我说听说
忍着言不由衷的段落
我反正决定自己难过
我想摸你的头发
只是简单的试探啊
我想给你个拥抱
像以前一样可以吗
你退半步的动作认真的吗
小小的动作伤害还那么大
我只能扮演个绅士
才能和你说说话
我能送你回家吗
可能外面要下雨啦
我能给你个拥抱
像朋友一样可以吗
我忍不住从背后抱了一下
尺度掌握在不能说想你啊
你就当刚认识的绅士
闹了个笑话吧
尽量表现着善解人意的
频繁暴露了不欲人知的
越掩饰越深刻
想说听说别说
忍着言不由衷的段落
我反正注定留在角落
我想摸你的头发
只是简单的试探啊
我想给你个拥抱
像以前一样可以吗
你退半步的动作认真的吗
小小的动作伤害还那么大
我只能扮演个绅士
才能和你说说话
我能送你回家吗
可能外面要下雨啦
我能给你个拥抱
像朋友一样可以吗
我忍不住从背后抱了一下
尺度掌握在不能说想你啊
你就当刚认识的绅士
闹了个笑话吧
你能给我只左手
牵你到马路那头吗
我会像以前一样
看着来往的车子啊
我们的距离在眉间皱了下
迅速还原成路人的样子啊
越有礼貌我越害怕
绅士要放得下

等着

信,写好了。

心情,暂时收拾起来了。

就等着对的时机,就会把信交给你。可能是几个月后;可能是一年后;可能是几年后。

那时的我,应该是心痛过了,累过了,不想再折磨自己了。也许,到时那对我会是一个解脱。虽然会是个结束,但也会是一个新的开始。你我都是。

New rig!

So yup, finally got my new rig on Friday.

The specs:-

  • GIgabyte H170-D3H i5 6500
  • Zotac GTX1060 Twin Amp
  • Superflower 550W Gold Edition
  • Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SSD
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz 16gb DDR4
  • Fractal R5 casing with additional Fractal fan

I initially wanted MSI GTX1060 Armor, but it was out of stock.  I initially also wanted Seasonic X Series 650W – also out of stock.  And I wanted that Zotac 480gb SSD – ALSO out of stock.

Sigh.

But anyway, Bruno came along to help me out – helping me with the transport, and also to install my two old HDDs into the new rig.  Much thanks to him.

In other news, Pokemon Go! is out in Singapore! Bruno and I spent the entire day walking around Yishun to catch pokemons before we went for our Suicide Squad movie.  I’m two minds about this game…. yeah it was fun catching the pokemons, it was a little surprising to see the number of people walking around looking at their phones, and also the amount of turnout at pokestop clusters (with lures on each one).  It was almost like an unofficial event / gathering of sorts.  But that’s where the positives end.  In Singapore, it’s really too damn humid and hot to walk around.  It gets very uncomfortable after awhile.  And god, don’t even let me mention about the battery usage.  It drains the battery like mad, because the game needs to keep running as you walk around.  And the phone gets SO HOT.  RIP, phone components.  Maybe I should use my Note 2 strictly for pokemon go instead….?

 

 

Waiting…

5 more months to the Japan trip.

Can’t say I’m super excited at the moment, but can’t say I don’t look forward to it either.

I’ve booked the various hotel accommodations, booked the portable pocket wifi rental, and now we are just waiting for the tickets to be released for Ghibli Museum and Kokedera.

The accommodations that I picked this time are all ranked top in TripAdvisor, but I guess the prices are still pretty decent.  The Shinjuku hotel is ranked top (under Shibuya in TA for some reason), the Shirakawa-go gassho-style hut is also ranked top in TA, and the Kyoto boutique hotel is ranked second.

Hurhurhur.  Baibai moolah.

The Tokyo itinerary is somewhat settled, but the Kyoto itinerary is still wide open.  I still don’t have much idea where to go specifically or what to do… guess we’ll just see where our legs bring us, lol.

Waiting, waiting, waiting….

5 months seem like a long wait.  =(

我不愿 让你一个人

五月天

我不愿 让你一个人
作词:阿信
作曲:阿信+冠佑
编曲:五月天+周恒毅

你说呢 明知你不在 还是会问
空气 却不能代替你 出声
习惯 像永不愈合 的固执伤痕
一思念就撕裂灵魂

把相片 让你能保存 多洗一本
毛衣 也为你准备多 一层
但是 你孤单时刻 安慰的体温
怎么为你多留一份

我不愿让你一个人 一个人在人海浮沉
我不愿你独自走过 风雨的 时分
我不愿让你一个人 承受这世界的残忍
我不愿眼泪陪你到 永恒

你走后 爱情的遗迹 像是空城
遗落你杯子手套和 笑声
最后 你只带走你 脆弱和单纯
和我最放不下的人
也许未来 你会找到 懂你疼你 更好的人
下段旅程 你一定要 更幸福丰盛

我不愿让你一个人 一个人在人海浮沉
我不愿你独自走过 风雨的 时分
我不愿让你一个人 承受这世界的残忍
我不愿眼泪陪你到 永恒

你说呢 明知你不在 还是会问
只因 习惯你满足的 眼神
只是 我最后一个 奢求的可能
只求你有快乐人生

只求命运 带你去一段 全新的旅程
往幸福的天涯飞奔
别回头就往前飞奔
请忘了我还 一个人

#BleedBlue

This is just some Dota 2 stuff.

You know, like I’ve mentioned many times in my past entries, when Bruno introduced me to the world of Dota 2, it was during the Shanghai Major. I had no idea who’s who, what heroes who’s on, etc.  But somehow, one way or another, the team Evil Geniuses (EG) stood out for me.  Maybe it’s their logo, maybe it’s their play (or whatever kind of play I could made it out at that point), maybe it’s their player… I don’t know.  I just somehow… felt inclined to support them.  I like them.  And that’s weird.  Maybe I like PPD’s (their captain) cool composition. It can’t be Bruno’s influence for sure, because he doesn’t like PPD and he doesn’t like EG. (He thinks they are pretty good though.)

And then, they lost to Team Liquid (I only noticed how cute Jerax and Matumbaman were during that game) and was placd third in the tournament.  Team Liquid also became a team that I liked / supported from then on.  But Team Liquid lost to Team Secret, so meh, that’s that.

I never liked Team Secret from the get-go.  I think I don’t like the players (didn’t like puppey, didn’t like EE).  But Bruno liked Team Secret, so well, meh.  Shan’t say too much bad stuff about them *cough*.

And then, there’s the roster switch hoo-haa which messed up EG.  Too much stuff to write about here, and let’s just say I hated Secret even more because of this. EG (and Secret) became horrible, had bad gameplays, etc.  Team Liquid, however, did not change their roster and rose steadily to the top.

Although I’m also a fan of Team Liquid, and i’m very happy to see them finally win a LAN, I can’t help but feel sad for EG. EG has been the first Dota 2 team that I supported, and I will always be a fan of them, as long as PPD is the captain of the team.  Fear may retire after this TI, but I sure hope he’ll stay behind as a coach or something.

This is probably the first time I felt such a connection for a team I support.  I used to support Manchester United, but when they fell off the top, I kinda stop supporting them (yes I’m a lousy “fan”).  But this time, even though EG fell out of favour, playing badly in tournaments and stuff, I just felt heartbroken, but somehow my support was unwavering.  I was still proudly wearing their flair in Reddit even though it’s grayed out (due to them being eliminated early during the Manila Major).  When they were eliminated, I still tweeted PPD to let him know that hey, you know, there are still fans out there who still believe in EG.

As long as PPD is in EG, I will always be bleeding blue.  #BleedBlue #InPJSaltWeBelieve

=)

 

Terribly tired

You know, sometimes I was thinking… maybe it’s better if I can just die in my sleep.

I doubt many people would notice my absence / miss me anyway. I don’t have many friends that I talk daily with, LOL.

… Yeah.  How nice would that be?

If one day I disappear from the face of earth… what would you do?

Maybe I’m just bored out of my mind at work now, to be thinking about all these.

Maybe I should just go plan my Japan trip.

But I don’t feel like planning Japan trip.  Just wanna, you know, walk around and explore when I’m there.

Meh.