First time readers

So you finally found this blog. Not sure how (unless I told you) The blog is about my random life. My job, games, movies or anything that interest me. Feel free to comment or just enjoy the ride.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Passengers



Last movie of the year and its about a modern day titanic. Chris Pratt is standard on a ship there still has 90 years to go before everyone wakes up. In his despreate state he found a way to wake up Jennifer Lawrence and bot of them start an adventure in the ship. This movie is good without the love element in it. But I can see without two characters in this movie is looks harder for just one to handle the problem in the ship. This movie shows that humans need interaction and can't be alone. Its a good pace from all the action and hi octane stuff from the previous movies. Great watch for the end of the year.  

Year End Review 2016

2016 has come and gone. Lets see how did we do this year.

Games

iOS: 9 (↑ 6)
PS Vita: 19 (↑ 2)
PS1: 25 (↑ 7)
GBA: 4
PS4: 5 (↑ 4)
PC: 1 (↓ 1)
NES: 8 (↑ 7)

Adventure: 5 (↑ 3)
Racing: 9 (↑ 2)
Puzzle: 8 (↑ 7)
Platformer: 3 (↓ 7)
Action: 30 (↑ 19)
Fighting: 8 (↓ 3)
Sports: 1 (↔)
Shooter: 5 (↑ 2)
RPG: 1 (↔)

Game Played : 70 (223) (↑ 17)
Finished Game : 62 (188) (↑ 24)

Uncharted Drake's Fortune Remastered (200 Game played) 

Games that I spend for 2016

$324.11

Game of the Year

3. Horizon Chase

Funny last 3rd game of the year is also the first game I've played. Horizon Chase is the first game I've played in 2016 and it still holds up. The fast pace arcade racing game provides endless fun. There are a lot of cars to choose form and the soundtrack to this game is awesome. I've bought this game again for my ipad mini. 

2. Lara Croft GO

Played a lot different consoles this year but this iOS game sticks out as one of the best puzzle games that I've played. The cel shaded graphics provide a nice atmosphere to guide Lara in the vast temple and jungle. The only gripe I have about this game is that, it is over too soon. Hopefully 2017 there will be another Lara Croft GO 2. 

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

The best game of the year is also the last game for the series. Uncharted 4 is the only day one purchase I have and without any hesitation I dive back into the world of Nathan Drake and friends. The graphics and gameplay is superb. The ending is a bittersweet farewell to my beloved game. 


Series

This years series is more due to a couple of full seasons I start binge watching 

1268 shows (↑ 210)

Memorable moments and shows
  • Person of Interest Finale. An strong ending to a powerful series.
  • Veep is the best comedy of the year
  • DC/CW crossover. The best 4 episode in television by far.
  • Phineas and Ferb. Finally bindge all 220 episodes. 
  • Rick and Morty, just started to watch this series which is super awesome.
  • Stranger Things. 80's nostalgia at the best 
Movies

23 Movies for the year. With some that I watched on bluray.

Movies of the year

3. Captain America Civil War
2. Doctor Strange
1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Unrelated = 38 :)  (↓ 2)
Even More Unrelated = 192 (↑ 32)

NEW STUFF FOR 2016

1. Ipad Mini
2. iOS Gamevice.

GAMES SPEND FOR 2016


MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR 2016

1. Got bonus for this year. Which was great
2. Celebrated my 10th year wedding anniversary at a 5 star hotel. The complete package.
3. My wife presented her PHD and passed.
4. Went back to New Zealand for a vacation.
5. Help someone organised a wedding.  

2016 New Years Resolution

1. More games, more movies, more series, more comics (seems to be that way)
2. Try to lose at least 10kg... Need to start eating right (gained 6kg from the last weight which is very bad :( )
3. More new blog post about other stuff (more blogger this year than last year) 

2017 New Years Resolution

1. Really lose 10kg this time... This time with wife so have to be serious.

2. Try to find some change in life.

3. Be a better dad.

4. Balance in life in terms of all the other stuff 

5. Get the Switch.

Happy New Year 2017

Friday, December 30, 2016

Day 367: Last post of the year

Its 12:44pm and I am bored out of my mind. 50% of the staff are on leave. But my team everyone is here.. Most of my emails are coming out unanswered since most of them are on leave. So really there is nothing much to do. My wife wants me to go home. I think I want to go home as well. Well goodbye working year 2016. There are some ups and down. The year has been a rollercoster. Here is hoping that 2017 will be a better year for me... Happy new year...

Day 366: Meetings were cancelled

I was supposed to have 2 back to back meetings on Thrusday. But low and behold that one for the  key members are already on their annual leave. So the meeting was cancel. The evening meeting was also cancelled due to CK needs to settle some stuff. So yesterday I was free as a bird. So I took H1 and H2 to the best butter chicken place in KL. Which was great. The order was long but they did enjoy the food. Today is the last day of the week or the year 2016.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

The Accountant



This movie shows that even if you are mentally under develop you can still lead a normal life. If you consider shooting and fighting a normal life. Ben Afleck plays a person with autism who by day works as a forensic accountant. But on the downside he is a jack at all trades and deliver swift justice to the people who are immorally wrong. The movie pacing is good enough but there are 3 different stories converging at the same time. We don't really know why is there one path of the story (the treasury dept) was even necessary. In the end they didn't cross path with the accountant. I can see this being another Taken, Equalizer and John Wick kind of movie. This movie does what it was meant to do.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Day 365: Year One

It was supposed to be yesterday that I've written about my one year in my company. But since I was swamped with work yesterday. I literary didn't stop typing until 430pm. So arriving early as usual. Let me take a couple of minutes to reflect on myself on the year... Let's make this as short and sweet as possible

Pros

- Great Friends and Colleagues
- Flexible working hours
- Work is unpredictable
- Lots of perks( phone, parking, breakfast, medical)
- Best boss and working team in the whole company
- I do love what I do.

Cons

- Colleagues can't separate personal and professional issue
- After 365 days there is still no process in doing things. Everything is just gung-ho.
- Work does get repetitive and tedious.
- Underappreciated. People see me and say I have nothing to do.
- Handling people sucks.
- Salary is low

As you can see the only thing that I highlighted is the only thing that is really sometimes gets me down in this company. Will I survive a Year Two? I doubt it. If 2017 will be my last year in the company I will take it as it is. I've already set up what I wanted to do which was find a job and see if I can survive as long as I could. Which I did. I may work for 365 days now but I've been here close to 1 year 8 months. I've been telling my friends that I want to find another job and they say don't leave yet, wait for your bonus. Which I don't know if I will get any bonus. But come April I need to make a decision on what do I really want.

Achievement: One year in the company.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Day 364: Last week of the year

After another 3 day weekend. Is time to go back to work. This week there a lot of things due. As for yesterday, everybody was frantically trying to get their claims done. Since it was the last day of claims. Other than that, TJ is back so there is some news. Nothing much besides that.. Back to work today...

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Deepwater Horizon


Sitting at home and decided to watch this movie. This is a true story about the events of the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon. This movie tells the events as it is. They just dramatize a bit of the action since Mark Walberg is the hero of the movie. It shows how human error play a big role in stop the disaster. I enjoy the stakes of the movie but we already knew what was going to happen. The human element in this movie makes it worth watching.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Final Fantasy XV

Well this game is something...























Game no: 188
Genre: RPG
Platform: PS4
Factory Sealed: 120

What's is it about:
This story can't be explained in a couple of sentences. Since you need to be immerse in the whole Final Fantasy mythos to fully understand the motivations of the characters and why they do the things that they do. I can only summarize this is a story about friendship, family brotherhood and scarifies. This is the core that makes the story what it is. This is the story of how Noctis, Ignis, Prompto and Gladious battle to save the whole world



Gameplay consist of:
Where to start. It's an RPG after all so they threw everything except the kitchen sink
- Exploring: This consists of the world map and you go around following your waypoints or main story waypoints. Which comes to the next item
- Driving: Noctis and crew drives around in the car called the Regalia. This car is longer than the average car. Drivng is not like any other open world sandbox games. You can driver around like crazy and your speed is limited to 60 miles (I don't know, since the car feels very slow). You can drive it manually which is just pressing the R2 button or you can ask Ignis to drive which is better. You only can stop at parking spots and rest stops. Rest stops are one stop shops where you can refuel a car and get some grub. You can also ask the local for some extra work to get more money. They usually give you quests like finding an item or killing a beats.
- Running/Walking: When you are not in the car you spend a lot of time walking around the vast map. Since the car can't go offroad, you spend most of the time running to a certain checkpoint. Pressing the Circle button will make you print but only for a couple seconds. While running in the land you will encounter monsters which will trigger
- Combat: This game offers an active combat system. There are no random encounters. You can choose to engage an enemy or not. You only can control Noctis but you can give basic commands to the rest of the crew. Noctis is the only one that has MP. His MP is mainly used to warp from point A to point B. This will give Noctis the element of surprise when attacking his enemy. Some enemies have higher level than the group so you really need to think if you want to fight them. As far as weapons Noctis has his default weapon the engine blade and 13 royal weapon which he can absorb. We can only assign 4 weapons at a time and map them in the directional keys. Beside weapons, there are also 
- Magic: Noctis has the ability to absorb magic to use magic. There is only 3 types of magic available which is Fire, Lightning and Ice. You need to craft them and add items such as potions or elixir to double the power.

That the base of the gameplay but there is more:

- Cooking: Ignis has the ability to cook. He gets new recipes by killing animals, eating at restaurants or finding ingredients in the world map. the more Ignis cook, the better recipes he can make. I think the best part of the game is 
- Eating: Each rest stop has diners and restaurants. They offer photo realistic food. The food offers ability that will last for a certain time. Abilities like add 600HP or gain 50% exp.
- Photography: Prompto has a camera and he takes pictures of your adventures. There are more candid photos with some places requires you do to a photo op. You are allowed to choose the photo at the end of each chapter which makes a good scrapbook. 
- Camping: Gladious skill is camping. Camping is where you recharge your health and absorb all EXP points you gain during your battles. Ignis will cook something at the campsite. 
- Fishing: Noctis ability is to fish. Is not the deep the gameplay but it does offer a fun distraction. 
- QTE: There are a lot of quick time events and answers you need to decided. Most of the conversation has branches that will determine how to end result is going to be. 
- Leveling Up: As any RPG there is level up and there is also a skill tree that you need to upgrade.


What I liked: 
- The ability to choose the song in the car
- Eating food. The food looks so good.
- Combat is fun and frantic. Its hard to get an A for finesse. You need to change weapons on the fly and get good combos to get a good result. 
- The quest are fun.
- Seeing the sights.
- I didn't get to ride a chocobo but I hear that is great. 
- Easy mode. If you die, you will automatically be revived which makes combat more fun.

What I didn't Liked:
- Running. That sucks. Some places you are not allowed to run. It will be suck on a certain crawl.
- The story. It doesn't make that much sense and some parts you will be lost on what the heck has happen.
- Chapter 13. The most out place chapter in the whole game. The most draggiest 3 hours of my life
- Chapter 1-9 is open world and after that is all linear. You can't return back to the world map and the game did mention it was going to be the last time you will be there. 
- The ending... 

Status: Finish the main quest. Played for 23 hours and beat the final boss at level 36. Which is impossible with the current boss.

Score: With all the flaws this game is still a great game. Worth to be played again after you win the game. Just for the exploration part. The story doesn't leave you wanting more but the gameplay does make up for that.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Day 363: TGIF

Final day of the week and the start of another long weekend. Xmas falls on a Sunday so which means Monday is a replacement holiday. Nothing much happen today. In the morning was a couple of emails and deals that need to be done. In the evening the whole sales team was doing the competency test. They were scrambling here and there to get the answers. Besides that, it has been a good day. Peace out... see you next week

Day 362: Ice Cream Party...

Yesterday will be forever etched in my mind when the company bought 6 big tubs of ice cream to have an ice cream party for the whole staff. We have the choices of cup or cone and I think that there were more than 10 liters of ice cream. After everyone went for the 3 round of ice cream the tubs were still 2/3 full. Others decided to bring their own container to bring back home. As for me I just two 5 scoops of my favorite flavor (pralines and cream).

In other related daily news. When I was about the leave the office I saw a card on the floor. Low and behold, after I picked it up. It was our CFO credit card. I had to went up and give it to his staff. I think he wants to thank me but today he is on leave. I do not for the glory.

CK is been giving me more of his work. I think he is prepping me up to pick up his work. Which I don't mind. Since everything with a process is easy to learn

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Day 361: Competency test done...

Yesterday was a jam packed day. I was getting ready for the meeting that I was going to have with MF. End of the year there are a lot of housekeeping in terms of my products that I need to take care off. A lot of renewal of contracts. Around 11am the meeting started and went well. Need to see if we can land it and it would be great. After lunch a group of us wanted to do the Competency Test. This needs to be done every year and reflects on our yearly KPI. It's 80 questions of random stuff that is related to my job and other stuff that I need to know and also other stuff that doesn't relate to my job. This test is actually to see how many friends you have in the company. Since some of this questions can only be answered by the experts. I completed the test and got 77.5%. Which is the stretch target for the KPI. Today is Ice cream day... Woot

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Day 360: Last company briefing for the year

Today everyone is dressed in corporate colors since it was the last company briefing of the year. The CEO said that we are doing well and we will be expecting a good bonus As usual... I always feel that I am at the end of the straw for this. Do I care.. a bit.. But there is nothing that I can do about it. Other than that, we found out that next year the company will be organizing a company trip for the team. Probably somewhere abroad but we don't know yet. Boss assigned me some work which I think it is good exposure for me to learn more about what CK does on a daily basis.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story



I've seen trailers of the movie multiple time so I already know what to expect. The events of this movie takes place between episode 3 and  4. But mostly at the end of episode 4. It bridges the gap of a lot of plot points that were missing during the start of episode 4. First of all the movie is grade A awesome. It starts of slow introducing all the relevant characters and it kick into overdrive once the whole gang is present. The characters are well rounded and offer a unique perspective on the story. Even K-2SO the droid in the movie offers dark and witty humor. There are a lot of cameos from the characters from the previous movies but only a true fan will notice the subtle nods at the old series. The is the most high stakes Star Wars movie yet and we already know what have happen in the future. It is great to see how it all went down. A must see for the end of the year.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Day 359: I'm solo again today

Back from my long weekend. didn't feel like a holiday. Came to the office and notice my whole team was on leave. My boss did came for a while and then he disappear. Probably off to a meeting. As for me I finish a couple report that was due. I have a meeting on Wednesday but nothing special this week. Another week until the new year. Soon it will be time to go home as usual. Man work has become repetitive. Tomorrow I need to amp up the speed of work since I want to finish a couple of things before the end of this week.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Day 358: Last long leave for the year

Today in the office the boss was not in. Everyone assume he is on holiday or just probably working from home. So today is my last of work for this week. Nothing much to report but I can't wait for my 4 day break. 

[update]. Yesterday one of my collegues resigned and it was his last day on the job. It was unexpected that he managed to kept it mum for 2 months. Well it seems 2017 is going to be an interesting year for the company. 

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Day 357: Today is a holiday in Selangor

As the title says that today is a holiday in Selangor and most of them in the office also took some time off since their spouses worked in Selangor. Came to the office, did some work. The guy that I did like came in again. So I said in advance that I have something else to do for lunch (which I did) and I left him. CK came in usually around 1045. But he was gone until 3pm. His laptop was on his desk but he was not there. I really didn't mind. That's the best part about my team. We don't really mind  what happen to the rest of the group. I left at 3 since my boss was also on leave. I was to have a meeting on Wednesday but the client asked to postponed it on Thrusday. I told my CM is that I've already applied for leave so I am not interested.  So let's see what he says.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Moana




This is a historic movie. Since this is a movie where we brought my youngest daughter in the cinema. She is a special kid who is a bit sensitive to loud noises. So Moana is a story that teaches us that you need to question everything in order to achieve your goal. The story never cuts from being to draggy. Each plot is around 15-20 minutes. The songs in this movie is super catchy and awesome. My daughter loved "you're welcome" and "I'm shiny". The comic relief in the movie is a idiot chicken which provides laughter for the kids. There are a couple of scary parts which my kid keeps on climbing on to me.   Overall is a awesome movie and I am glad is my daughters first experience in the theater. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Day 356: 84 Hours break

Friday... Last day of work and with that comes a long holiday. Besides that I got some good news finally after 1 year of not selling anything. I finally made a sale. Which was good on my part. After that is a long break until Tuesday... Yay..

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Day 355: Another awesometacular day

Got to the office got an email that we need to complete a certificate. So spend half of the day doing that. After that went for lunch with the group. Had fun talking around. Back at the office finish bosses task for me. After that plan on what to do for next week. Went home at 430. A typical awesome day. Last day of the week tomorrow... Yay

Day 354: With the C team

On Wednesday I am solo again. H1 and his finance team got a finance group lunch at a mall. I heard it was Korean BBQ. So I had no one to go for lunch. Luckily there was two of my friends RJ and IJ was there to bring me out for lunch. RJ just bought a Xiaomi health tracker thingy so he needs to find a weighing machine so he can enter his data. After lunch he went on a hunt for the machine with no luck. He walked to 3 malls to get it. It was quite funny and hilarious at the same time

At the office the boss gave me something to do and I think I can do it well. So far nothing I can't handle 

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Day 353: Today is a busy day

Came to the office and I haven't got a chance to sit down. There are emails to answer, calls to make. Stuff to due. RN just got back from a long vacation and gave me a 100+ page document to read and vet through. Good thing I am a fast reader so I think that I've read it as fast as I could. Why do I get this feeling that tomorrow is going to be a late night working. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them



This movie makes you feel that is a prequel to Harry Potter. The only problem is the only thing Harry Potter about this movie is a 5 second score, the name drops and that is about it. Its just part of the universe but you don't feel any connection to the past movie. That said, watching this without watching Harry Potter will leave you utterly confused. Nothing make sense to a first time viewer. Now to the good part. The movie was awesome. The creatures from the mind of J.K Rowling are amazing and fun to look at. There are only a couple of beasts loose in the city so the movie is only 50% monster hunting. Another 50% is devoted to the bad guy (which is a surprise cameo in the end). The only problem I can see is that the B plotline doesn't serve any purpose in the movie. If you take it out, the movie is still good on its own. But you need a villain exposition in the movie for the movie to at least have some stakes.

🌟🌟🌟.5

Gunsmoke

The original Red Dead Redemption...




Game no: 187
Genre: Shooter
Platform: Nes

What's is it about:
You are a bounty hunter who goes to areas in the wild west seraching for bad guys

Gameplay consist of:
- Shooting left, right and straight.
- Avoiding bullets
- Levelling up weapons  
- Riding a horse

What I liked: 
- Soundtrack is awesome.
- The bosses have variety
- Buying weapons

What I didn't Liked:
- Its super hard
- There are enemies from the back of the screen. But you can't turn around.

Status: Saw the whole game through youtube

Score: A great way to waste your time

Monday, December 5, 2016

Day 352: The office is on holiday mood

Everyone in the office is trying to finish their annual leave. So it's quite a somber mood at the office. I as usual have a lot of work to do. Well relatively a lot. TJ ask me to help him to submit a document at his client office. I am happy to help... Nobody ever sees it. But I really  don't mind. I wonder what I am going to do tomorrow...

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Metroid

The original game that started it all.




Game no: 186
Genre: Action
Platform: Nes

What's is it about:
Samus Aran a bounty hunter stuck in a planet to destroy the evil Metroid (something like that) 

Gameplay consist of:
- Shooting,
- Item and weapon collecting 
- Boss fighting
- Exploration
- Collecting energy to gain more powers. 

What I liked: 
- This game looks fun but its looks super hard. You need to have precision like reflexes to navigate the underground caverns
- Weapon collecting 
- The soundtrack is eerie-ly good 

What I didn't Liked:
- Looks super hard
- No on screen map. A newbie will get lost in here for days. 

Status: Saw youtube cak made a world record speed run in 15:43 

Score: A great way to waste your time

Captain America and the Avengers

A deep game that involves a lot of strategy



Game no: 185
Genre: Action
Platform: Nes

What's is it about:
The Mandarin has captured Iron man and the Vision and its up to Captain America and Hawkeye to rescue the Avengers. 

Gameplay consist of:
- Navigating through the map of the US. Each place has a wave of enemies to overcome. Certain paths of the map has bosses you need to fight.
- Shield throwing. Captain America has the ability to deflect bullets and do a shield dash
- Arrow shooting. Hawkeye has the ability to do a long jump and shoot arrows in 8 different directions. 


What I liked: 
- Ability to level up. Collect diamonds and increase you health
- Hawkeye and Capt are seperated in the beginning. But when you get them both together, you can switch them on the fly. 

What I didn't Liked:
- The bosses are hard and cheap
- The stages lack variety. Its just the same stages re skinned again and again.

Status: Played half way and youtube the rest

Score: A great way to waste your time

GI Joe

The greatest American Hero the best NES game of all time



Game no: 184
Genre: Action
Platform: Nes

What's is it about:
A group of soldiers call the GI JOE goes all around the world to defeat the evil forces of COBRA. 

Gameplay consist of:
- choosing the right JOE for the job. You will be given one that is suitable for the terrain (Duke for the forest,, Snake Eyes for the sewers) and you need to choose the other two to help you along the way
- Shooting
- Punching
- Jumping
- Planting bombs
- Riding vehicles which consists of a Frog, a Snail and a helicopter.
- Upgrading your stats and weapons 

What I liked: 
- Stages are varied. It starts of will a walk from left to right. After that you need to plan timers to destroy the base.
- Every stages has it own unique boss from the cartoon
- Snake Eyes doesn't use any ammo
- General Hawk has ultimate jump attributes

What I didn't Liked:
- Rock and Roll has the best firepower but the worse attributes 

Status: Finish the whole game multiple times

Score: A masterpiece. Worth to be played multiple times. 

The Room Two

The best iOS puzzle game is back


Game no: 183
Genre: Puzzle 
Platform: iOS

What's is it about:e
The escape room game where you are stuck in 6 rooms and you need to solve puzzle to escape

Gameplay consist of:
- puzzle solving
- using the monocle to see to hidden clue to solve more puzzles
- examining items to unlock more clues to solve more puzzles

What I liked: 
- The stages are well varied and there are a lot of different environment
- They provide you clues to help you to solve the puzzles
- I don't know if it's a horror story but the music and ambiance is damn creepy

What I didn't Liked:
- Nothing 

Status: Finish the whole game 

Score: A rare gem, need to be played at least once 

Day 351: Great Friday

Last Friday before a two day weekend. Nothing much to report but it's a free period. Nothing much that I am doing today... Next week will be another week.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Day 350: Random stuff that happen in the office

Thursday in and we are up for a very heavy rainy season. It didn't stop raining the whole day. So here are some random stuff that happen in the office

1) My colleague ZN ask me for help. She rarely ask me for help for her work. But yesterday I could see her overwhelmed. So I gladly help her. No questions ask
2) No one went for lunch outside of the office today. We all just went to a food truck and bought a 3 dollar burger. Which was way too small for the price. After that most of them were still hungry.
3)  Our downstairs pantry window was broken by a small and long object. Good thing the glass was tempered. The glass didn't shatter but the whole are was a crime scene , complete with tape...
4) Another meeting yesterday... nothing much happen

Level: +1
Current Level: 85