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Wednesday, 06 February 2008

I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

Monday, 30 July 2007

The Gen. X/Y Comparison Rant

Recently I've read a couple of articles here and there on the superiority of the upcoming generation Y. Refering my peers and I. While I don't mind being praised as the computer savvy, smart upcoming generation that will all magically succeed in life, that is far from the truth. The fact is most people, regardless of what generation they are from, are lazy, boring, incompetent individuals that have no real goal in life except to breathe.

If you were to compare the best of Gen Y to X they are about the same. Except the younger generation are much more resourceful especially with computers and what not. But that is reasonable. Generation Y grew up with internet, just as generation X grew up with the telephone. It's only reasonable that the younger generation are able to do more, but only because of the foundations our parents have built for us. There is Y because of X, not the other way around.

The lazy bunch of us are the same regardless of age group. The 40 year old unemployed homeless on the street right off your highway exit is what your WoW addicted friend is going to be like 20 years down the road. This comparison between X and Y is meaningless. Lazy, boring, goaless people will continue to fail in life regardless of what age they are born in. While the intelligent, interesting, and hungry ones of us will continue to succeed in whatever they choose to pursue.

Friday, 01 June 2007

Are you a sheep?

Often times when people find out that my dad works for the government (foreign affairs in specific), a common question thrown at me is "is your dad green or blue?"

I personally don't understand nor agree with the notion of being all for DPP or KMT. Or in the US, a Democrat or Republican. I suppose it's natural when it comes election time, that people will have different opinions and side with one or the other. Though I believe there's a line that people need to be careful not to cross in the process of making that decision to cast your vote. That's the line between being rational and emotional.

I've thought about this for a long time, and my opinion is that the people and the government have equal responsibility to keep each other in check. That's what this system is designed for. The people should decide which party currently is best for the country. I said currently because your beloved DPP/KMT isn't always going to be the most ass kicking government at any given time. Developing a process to form your own opinion that is not of your parents, friends or peers is a tricky one. Unfortunately, it takes an educated, disciplined, clear minded individual to maintain such a composure. When you let your emotions come into this decision making process, you already joined the group of sheeps that the government loves to herd.

How many friends around you are siding with DPP simply because of what their equally ignorant parents, friends or peers told them? If you don't know any, you're probably one of them. It's easy to have your opinions influenced by others and jump on the bandwagon without doing the necessary research to decide for yourself. It happens all the damn time, but that doesn't change the fact that people have the responsibility to keep the government in check. There's no excuse. If too many people don't come to an honest personal opinion when they cast their vote, that's when a country is plagued with a corrupt government and a lot of pissed off people.

This is unfortunately the case in Taiwan. Being green or blue has become some sort of pop culture trend. Look at the flock of ABCs claiming they are green, yet are so ignorant they can't utter a word when you ask them the difference between the two partys' foreign policy. Or your average voter that is for Taiwan independence yet mutter rubbish when you ask them for the advantages and consequences of Taiwan going independence. They are likely the same. Their parents told them the evils of the mainland. How they oppress Taiwan. They get angry, and want independence so they go green without considering other equally important factors. Those that want unification are equally ignorant when asked the same questions. When a majority of the people go down the path of being ignorant, the government will do what they do best. Herd the sheep.

My advice, for what it's worth, is find out all there is to know about each party's compaign. Their policies, the running president's track record, and value them against the current needs of your country, and your beliefs. Think long and hard, and then come up with a decision that is honest to you before casting your vote.

Don't be a sheep.

Wednesday, 16 May 2007

FF3: old school RPG nightmare

I've played just about all the FFs starting from FF4-12, but I've never played an RPG this hard. Lets be honest. Final Fantasy hasn't been a "hard game" since FFVI came out. 4 and 5 were quite challenging, but not to the point of frustration. Usually, the hard parts of the game are optional, but if you just wanted the plot it doesn't take a whole lot of effot.

Now FF3 is a different breed. It's one of those old school games that kick your ass. The game developers must have been nerds who were bullied to hell in high school and wanted to get back at the world by creating this monstrosity.

I walked out of just about all but one boss battle with 2 or more characters KO'ed. Some of the battles finish with 1 character with red health remaining. The dungeons have no save points at all. The only place you can save at is when you're on the world map. That means you can walk through a dungeon, get to the boss, and have to start all over again because you die all the friggin time.

One dungeon recently took me a good 20 tries to get through, and there was no boss at the end, just an item you need to get to proceed with the plot. Judging by the ass whooping I got, I would've needed an extra 5~10 levels to get through the dungeon without much trouble. That's not exactly the kind of "leveling" you expect to do in an RPG game no matter how hard it is.

Now I'm stuck at a boss. Here's the long story short:
* character max HP: ~1000hp
* boss HP: 31000hp
* party max damage / round: 5000~6000hp
* boss move: normal single hit takes about 260~500hp depending on who he hits and he does it twice in a round.
* boss's near death supermove @ about 5000hp remaining: 1000hp dmg to all characters

What happens:
* all is good until he does the super move, then I'm left with exactly one character (even if my whole party is maxed out on HP) with about 40hp left. The 2nd hit from the boss spells the game over.

solution:
* I DON'T FUCKING KNOW

I nearly threw my DS to the wall multiple times. I can't think of a better solution to this than level grind another 10 levels and go back. FRUSTRATION!

Monday, 14 May 2007

woah life

I'm in Atlanta over the summer interning with Liaison Technologies. A lot of programming, a lot of networking stuff...should be a good learning experience. If anyone's gonna visit give me a call!

Looking back, I rarely post without a good rant, and here it is:

Despite my persistent efforts in looking on Purdue's career site on a daily basis and applying to every damn internship position that has anything computer in it, I have mustered up a whooping 2 interviews in the process and failed to get the internship on both occasions. The most insulting part is that everytime I tell someone I'm an engineer, in grad school, with a work permit they tell me "oh you'll get a job/intern/get rich/rule the world" and here I am, interning with a company through pure connections and no interview process. I do appreciate the fact that I have an internship, but it would have been much more satifying and reassuring to have gotten it becuase I was good enough. I'm pretty fking frustrated at the way things are going now.