Weekly church sermon - April 26th Message

Firstly, yaysome for off duty again this week. And today, our dear Senior Pastor Richard Toh and his wife Pat Shum is here to teach today. This week's topic is "The Lord is Compassionate."

Remember that despite the prophet's plea to convince the Israelites to turn from their evil ways, they still won't listen and was brought to exile to the land they don't know. Well, God is angry with his people, but he always never forget His covenant with Abraham and his love to the people. So, sending them to a land far far away =/= He hates them forever. "For anger and sorrow lasts for the night, but joy and happiness lasts forever."

It goes roughly the same with parents. They may be angry with their kids for wrong doing, yet they never forget their love and ever-growing (NOT lasting) relationship with their kids. For things may go "physically" cold at first, but somewhere, deep inside their hearts, their love for one another is still here.

For reference, Isaiah 54 is good for you. =P

That's all for this week.

Pangya USA random SS

Konnichiwa! Watashi wa Cyber(D:)Dragon desu!

And this is it, my newly made "old" account from A18 to Ntreev USA. And btw, my old name is ~Destiny.Dogma~, but they allowed me to change my IGN for my first login, so I changed into this. =P

Here are some of the SS I take.

Pink Wind -25 3-chip in 18H tournament


Blue Lagoon -26 5-chip in 18H tournament
That's all for now. If there are any new hits, I won't hesitate to post. =P

WoW - Comments on Warlocks and Priests

Well, recently I played an Undead Warlock Affliction-spec (currently level 22 with VoidWalker) on WoWscape, and I must admit, it has some mixed comments between the good and the bad.

Pros of being a Warlock:
- Multi-affliction that can kill a mob quickly (CoA + Corrupt + Immo)
- Having pets along can speed up the process, and sometimes allows you to let your pets do the aggro.
- If done correctly, most Warlocks can solo.

Cons of being a Warlock:
- Low HP, unless you use Imp as your pet to increase HP.
- Low DEF, so survivability rate is low.
- Easy to get PKed.

And the talents:

Affliction comments:
This talent allows you to cast any Affliction skills quicker, and more painful to the mob. So, if you want a fast kill, this is a good build for you.

Demonology comments:
This one allows you to have stronger pets, so if you rely on pets, then this talent build is a nice choice.

Destruction comments:
This talent increases your DPS damage, just like Affliction.

Recommended pets:
Imp - if you want a higher HP for better survivability.
Voidwalker - for mob control, since this pet has high HP and DEF.
Succubus - again, for mob control, but not as good as Voidwalker.

PvP attacking pattern:
Immo > Corrupt > CoW > SePa > CoA when opponent is dying

As for my main, I'm having a level 36 Draneii Priest with Shadow-spec currently in Desolace.

Pros of being a Priest:
- Highly needed in raids/parties.
- High HP with Power Word : Fortitude
- If you are Shadow-spec, you can actually solo most of the times, although healing is still a good need in parties.

Cons of being a Priest:
- Not so strong in DPS.
- Easy loss to Paladins and Warriors unless you manage your Physic Scream timing well.

For the talents:
Discipline comments:
- It allows you to have better DEF and HP, so for high survivability rate, this is good for you.

Holy comments:
- It lets you heal at a higher rate, very highly needed in parties and raids. Your Holy Spell damage also increases.

Shadow comments:
- It strengthens your Shadow magic and gains access to Shadowform, allowing you to solo more often.

My PvP attack pattern : Holy Fire > Mind Blast > SWP > PhyScr > Heal + PWS > Mind Flay > Mind Blast (repeat heal + hit)

Weekly church sermon. April 19th Message

Firstly, apologies for the really late update because my computer went bonkers, and I had to do everything within 2 days.

Anyway, for this week, Pastor Reynold is here to teach (did I mention his 'r' pronounciation becomes something like 'l'? No offense Jeremy.) about "The Lord is at work."

A start to a simple question:

Imagine yourself as a parachuter. You would depend fully on the parachute so that you can land on the ground safely (after like more than 2 km worth of free-falling.) Exactly like what you depend on God. If you feel that you don't need Him, its like as if you pull away the parachute. Kinda amusing, but in practice, its not a very good thing.

Then, he imagines of Cyrus who was a pagan king, but was called on God to do something. But, the purpose is not because of how strong his army is, but is for the sake of the Israelites. In practice, some people may be ambassadors of God themselves. (Hey, maybe they can tell you off too if you do something wrong.)

That's all for this week. Editing to be done soon.

AuditionSEA Season 2 Patch 6064 Review

Dear Clubbers,

There will be a game client patch on 16 April 2009, from 0930HRS to 1230HRS(+8GMT).

- 8 POPULAR SONGS!!

- 100+ New Avatars!

- Winner Room Item

- Messenger UI Upgraded!

- Macro Option Now Available!

Game Client Patch has been extended to 1300HRS(+8GMT).

** Game Service has resumed since 1315hrs(+8GMT).

Well, not really 8 songs, but only 6 are playable, namely:

Wheesong - Insomnia (New Korean song.)
Pussycat Dolls - My Humps
NeYo - Closer
BY2 - (Forgot title ROFL)
Audition - December (V.O.X Remix)
Audition - Move

Of course, no new modes as Korean Audition doesn't have anything new at a moment. (Hey SEA server, are you trying to catch up?)

My FAM leader, -VEN has commented good and bad things.

1. The Winner Item alignment has a lot of mis-alignments. But at least you can invite as many people as you want.

2. The FAM time-left display bug is still there.

Ah well, at least new songs are here, so not a total loss for this patch. =P

Pangya USA to be opened to replace A18

Albatross18 was closed down more than a month ago due to contract expiration, but most players said that the OGPlanet only cares about money and ignores the players' cries to reshape their ever-plaguing server. For example, they overpriced the Power Meter (something that allows you to set the meter power without a regular power slider.) and hackers are getting more and more rampant.

And now, the new company who took over the management have made this announcement:

The call has come down from the starter's booth: you have been given a tee time, and it's at twilight rates to boot!

The Pangya Open Beta Begins on:
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 7:00 PM PDT (-7 UTC)

The Albatross 18 Account Migration process will begin on:
Wednesday, April, 15th, 2009 at 9:00 PM PDT (-7UTC)

There will be a short Beta Preparation and Migration maintenance on Thursday, April, 16th, 2009 between 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM

The Account Migration process will commence again on:

Thursday, April, 16th, 2009 after 7:00 PM PDT (-7UTC)

(There will be a "Recover Account" button on the Official Pangya site. The Actual migration will require a Maintenance)

Servers are opening then and you'll be able to log in and enjoy Pangya in its new home. Starting April, 15th, 2009 at 9:00 PM, you will be able to request recovery of any previous Albatross 18 accounts you may have. The recovery process includes your level, characters, caddies, mascots, items, and gift boxes. Elements such as Pang, records, trophies, guild affiliation, et cetera will NOT be migrated.

The process is simple and will be initiated via the website (http://pangya.ntreev.net/). First, you'll log into your Ntreev USA account (you can create an account if you don't have one yet). Then, provide your Albatross 18 account ID and Date of Birth. Finally, choose whether you would like to keep your old In-Game Name (IGN), or if you'd like to create a new one when you first log in. Please note that if existing IGNs do not adhere to Ntreev USA naming conventions, a rename will be prompted regardless.

Once you have confirmed the transfer, your actual account data will be merged in the next server maintenance.

The first maintenance period scheduled after launch will be held from 12:00 AM ~ 2:00 AM PDT (-7 UTC) on Friday, April 17th

In other words five hours after the game launches. You can play Pangya in the meantime, but please bear in mind this very important warning:

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP SPECIFIC DATA (CHARACTERS/NON-STACKABLE ITEMS/CADDIES/MASCOTS) FROM YOUR ALBATROSS 18 ACCOUNT, DO NOT ACQUIRE THE SAME CONTENT ON YOUR NTREEV USA ACCOUNT!

This means that if you have a set of Medieval clubs fully upgraded on your old Albatross 18 account, DO NOT buy that clubset on your Ntreev USA account! If you do, you'll keep the Ntreev USA version, and the Albatross 18 version will NOT be migrated. The same applies to characters, caddies, masctos, and any other non-stackable items. Stackable items will be merged with your current account, so feel free to buy power potions!

Thank you all very much for your patience during this transition period, we look forward to seeing you all on the greens soon.

Swing for the Heavens!

--Pangya Team

*All dates and times are subject to change, any updates will be announced as soon as possible*

Hmm, interesting note after a month of waiting for this news. Well, I am going to transfer my Junior D account there (Yes, I played PangyaSEA once before it closed down more than a year ago.) and see whether the new company have got what it takes to take on a new challenge. According to some people, they might bring us to Season 4, which can be a good thing.

All we have to do now is wait, and hope that they are doing a good job.

If you want to transfer your account, please create your own Ntreev USA account and wait till tomorrow night (or on Friday morning for SG/MY players) and go to this site to transfer your account after you logged in your account.

Weekly church sermon. April 12th message.

This week is supposedly be Pastor Reynold, but Pastor Alexa took over instead. And this week I'm playing piano for worship team.

Normally every last Sunday the children are together with the adults to P&W, but for this week they also do that as today is Easter Day.

The message started with a short 20 min clip taken from the movie "The Passion of Christ". Pastor Alexa explained on the meaning of Jesus' crucification on the Cross and his Resurrection. There are 3 theories which Alexa stomped:

1. The ladies may have gone to the wrong tomb. This is seriously a LOL stuff. If they had gone to the wrong tomb, then the angels would've told them that this was not Jesus' tomb. But in the Bible, they said," He is not here. He has risen from the dead, like what He said." They never even mention about going to the wrong tomb. =P

2. The "swine" theory, where you feel so weak that you went into a state of unconsciousness and then, when no one is around, you finally woke up. Like hello, if Jesus did that, and proclaim to his disciples in a condition like this, they would say," Eh master, you look so weak. Come lets go in and rest." But again, they don't. Jesus only appears to some people on and off, without showing any obvious pain. Another theory stumped.

3. The disciples took Jesus away. Remember that the chief priests asked the Pilate to send the Roman soldiers to guard Jesus' tomb, because they heard that on the third day, he will be resurrected. That is true, because they fear that the disciples will steal his body. However, it is the work of God that made this resurrection possible. Even so, the chief priest tell the soldier to tell Pilate that the disciples stole his body while they're sleeping. No wonder chief priests during Jesus' times are so kiasu and just do for their own benefit, not for God.

That's all for this week's message.

Wonders of Tail-chaining

Here is something to ponder about:

If you realize that the colour you want to destroy isn't here for quite some time, you decide to extend it, or try to do a tail chain?

Anyway, look at the right-side of the picture I'm doing. It may look redundant, but if you had looked carefully:

1. When the lower yellow puyos are gone, 2 lower green puyos drop 1 space, thus having others above it to drop.

2. Once the lower green puyos are gone, the upper puyos drop 3 spaces, and the red puyos and the upper puyos drop 1 space before dropping another 4 spaces after the red puyos are gone too.

3. Calculating, the far lright column drops 1 space assuming that the lower puyos disappear. That means, the upper yellow puyos will pop, followed by blue (position of the puyos are quite important.) and green.

So, that's the wonder of tail-chaining. The only thing to remember is:

1. Roughly count the number of spaces the upper puyos will fall on both columns.
2. Carefully place the puyos you want to destroy from up to down.

This is what you should get:

School assignment review, EE2A2

It's time for a review after completing 3 parts for the EE2A2 subject.

Part 1 - Create a "Hello World", and make a sequence where you are asked to make 1 pin into a high output or low output, or give you an error.

For this part, we use the HyperTerminal to communicate with the RS232. We need the expression of "if (kbhit()==1)" in order to allow the following orders to be executed when one of the keyboard note is pressed. At the same time, whenever an output is activated, at the same time, the particular pin that has a high/low output must be "physically shown" (which means we need to use the multimeter to test LOL.)
My first try was OK until the multimeter part when it didn't work. After changing some steps (especially from output_high to bit_set and vice versa) and changing to a particular location, it worked normally.

Date completed : 19th March 2009

Part 2 - Create your name, date of submission and name of college on the LCD

For this, I think this is easy once you get the idea on how to initialize the LCD operation properly. At first, I have been in such a blur in all the LCD operations, until after Nicholas explained it to me. After a few trial and errors, I finally get the words to come out from the LCD, but some of them that I don't want came out. For example, I want a capital K, it gives me capital O instead. Despite my efforts, after a few MORE tries, Mr Lee pointed out that I SHOULD NOT use the RS232 line, because it is interfering with the inputs I am putting on. Silly me, so I delete the RS232 and everything was OK, just a few more fine tuning to do and presto, its done!

Date completed : 2nd April 2009

Part 3 - Create a wave that the stepper motor use using your own settings.

For this part, this is where the fun of doing assignments begins. Even some of the top pros like Kelvin and Zeneng (mainly because Zeneng didn't follow Mr Lee's recommendations that he introduced last week.) still have trouble doing this, although Kelvin may have finished it by now (I hope.)

Anyway, the settings for the stepper motor is completely up to the user. Like Part 1, you need to use the HyperTerminal, so the expression "if(kbhit()==1)" should be here again. The fun part is, you need to use at least 2 body spaces in C++ programming in order to do this part. More interestingly, the pattern of which body goes first is tricky. *smirks* One is for the stepper motor to run while you send the RS232 to change settings accordingly. For me, this was a really mean task to do. What's more, due to the fact that all are unable to complete it in time because of a lot of errors, he gave us a grace period to hand in out last assignment next Tuesday.

Even with the extra time, I've done most of the work, but its still not working properly.. Currently, I am still rechecking my work and maybe add in a few missing pieces if possible.

Date of submission : 14th April 2009

That's all for the assignment review. Stay tuned!

Frustration of downloading PSP games for free.

Have you ever wondered of how frustrated you are when:

1. Most commonly have to wait until they let you download unless you buy their premium accounts? I mean seriously, its really annoying, namely Megaupload and Rapidshare.

2. You find that your download is too slow even if you can access others with ease and/or tried reconnecting.

3. You find that you can't find the games you wanted to play. (This is especially for PSX and emulator games. I had a lot of trouble with this lately.)

4. They have the link, but the link is broken.

5. When your download stops working, you have to redo the whole thing.

These, are the 5 common problems that every PSP holders would ever dread whenever they download any PSP, PSX or emulator games. The first time I have a hacked PSP, I had troubles with the first, second and fourth problems. But now, I start to have trouble with problem number 3. For the past 2 months, I couldn't find my old favourites of PS1 games (PSX-PSP that is), namely Builder's Block and Legend of Mana. I nearly gave up finding them when I finally found it, flawlessly.

Hard lessons? Don't let these problems get to you. Persist, and the PSP game you wanted will be made ready for you. =)

Wake service for the late Tay Heng Lee

First of all, sorry for the late update, because by the time I came back from the service, it was time for me to sleep. =P

Anyway... The wake service was held at the PJ Modern Casket a few minutes drive from PJ New Town. (I wish I can call it PJ CBD.) The service started at 8.30pm, and ended at around 10.15 pm. On such a short notice, I had to follow my parents and one of my relatives, with my short pants ON! (Embarrasing leh.) Almost all people who attended the services wear jeans/long pants. So, I feel kinda left out. XP

So, we began by having a moment of silence for one minute before Pastor Alexa started the opening prayer. Then, Don led us into worship by singing 2 songs. AFter settling down, Pastor Alexa gave a briefing about the service, thanking the crowd for taking their time to attend the wake service despite the horrible weather. (Yes, it was raining really heavily on several occasions.)

Then, it was time for the relatives and friends to give a speech about Uncle Heng Lee. There are so many messages which talk about him. I think I liked his brother's speech the most though. Very touching.

And so the speech drag on and on, until Pastor Alexa stopped and made way for Senior Pastor Richard (He's leading the congegration on all centres if you don't know about him.) to give the message to all of us. This is somewhat similar to this story of King David (NOT ME OK? LOL!)

You remember that King David is a man of God, but has sinned against him by sleeping with Bethsheba, don't you? Well, God actually didn't like that and sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke the king. Of course he realized it and the prophet said that the Lord forgave him, but with a price of his newborn son. So, for the course of 7 days, the king fasted and pleaded to the Lord to heal his son. Unfortunately, after 7 days, the baby died. When the administrators did tell him about it, he got up, dressed, and ordered a meal. They were surprised and asked him," Why are you acting this way? While your son was sick, you fasted and prayed. But when your son died, there you are, sitting on the table and eat!"

You know what David said?

"While my son is still alive, I fasted and cried out to the Lord. Who knows? Maybe God will have mercy and heal my son. But now he is dead, so what's the point? I can go to him, but he cannot return to me."

This is something similar to what happen when the CBC KD congregation held a 3-day fast and prayer for Uncle Heng Lee just last week. Pastor Richard's message is so true after all.

And another point is, would Aunty Shirley rather wanted Uncle Heng Lee back and continue to suffer, or would she let him return to the Lord where there is no pain, no sorrow, just pure happiness? I believe so.

The services ended with 2 more songs, a benediction from Pastor Alexa, and all the people rounded the casket to pay our last respects to Uncle Heng Lee, and to send condolences to his family and relatives.

Weekly church sermon. April 5th Message.

Today is my turn to do ushering (together with my parents and Aunty Poh Gek), and for this week, Pastor Alexa Ho is teaching to the community. I wonder whether she did actually combine this week's agenda together with the recent events going on. (Remember about our dear member Uncle Heng Lee?)

For this week, she recapped of how they have prayed so hard to have him healed and to have his strength back again, only that the situation gotten worse till the point of his death. People may have a misunderstading of this : If God is a healer, why must he let Heng Lee to die? Why must we suffer together with him like this?

Now I'm not saying that God doesn't answer to prayers. He does, but it is His decision that matters. That is why He is in fact a mystery.

That reminded Pastor Alexa of the similar case back at CBC Sea Park, where one of the members also suffered from colon cancer for 6 months. She also ask the same question, which is difficult to answer. Amazingly, her mother treated Alexa and Pastor Reynold coldly at first, saying that she will only believe in Jesus if her daughter is healed. But, after one holy communion at her house, the mother asked about it, and realized that they too had gone through this suffering. So, she accepted Jesus as her personal savior. Savvy huh?

Anyway, enough off-topics. XP Overall, I believe that even if we tried our very best to ask God to heal Uncle Heng Lee, in the end, it will be His decision to either heal him, or just allow him to come back to Him. What's important is that we should move on, and stay strong together with his family.

That's all for this week. Next week is Easter Day, so stay tuned! =D

Common dealing problems

Lately, I have been deleting 2 friends from my Facebook list. Why?

1. It starts with one of my classmate, Raymond Chew Jin Hui. Last week on Thursday was a free day as our lecturer has finished teaching all the materials needed and he was there to help us in either A or F assignment. I decided to head to the Web together with Omar to finish up our F assignment. While I went back to the EE lab to ask the lecturer about the F assignment, here it was on the blackboard, insulting my name and even dared to write his name. As a result, I am emotionally angry and write on his wall before deleting him from my Facebook list. That's how I feel. Yes, I may have been a pain in the ass to some people, but seriously, I have been watching you Ray. Don't think that I don't know anything about you. Always skip Dr Ting's class, think that you know but you don't actually know. Only know how to act pro and always hope of finishing class early. Doesn't he even notice that I have changed my attitude after getting advices from Dr Edwin? *curious*

2. Recently my latest addition was actually a device to my ruin. When I wrote about my ashamed being an EE students (because my classmates play DOTA in the lab on the last 3 Fridays.) That guy butted in and hurled insults and said that I am actually a retard. (Just because I play some simple games, doesn't mean I am one of them.) Like what the hell, is that even involving YOU? For goodness sake, mind your own business ok? No point trying to butt into something that YOU don't involve. I do not disclose the name, you should know who am I talking about. Think back of what you said before you even start to hurl insults on me. That's another person "fired" from my list. (Well, Omar did actually find my own cause, fine I take the blame since I didn't pay attention fully to Mr Lee's F2 subject. That I understand.)

*Sigh* End of my rant of today.

And no, I am not against those 2, just wanting to let them know that I am not a kind of person to be messed with. Mess with me, and your Facebook and MSN is auto deleted from my list. ASAT. (As simple as that.)

-20 in Fortress Yard G.C Regular Tee. =)

Savvy much? After a recent demotion from G0 in Everybody's Golf Portable 2, I have made this very encouraging round. Firstly, I made an Air Spiral Eagle chip-in at Hole 1. Secondly, I hit a backspin plus a single Homing Eagle at Hole 6. Finally, I made a backspin HIO (or ace to some people.) at Hole 7.

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o250/chaseer23/IMG_4881.jpg[/IMG]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkN0tftjG2I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4AtVLnnDUg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJaPsgiEyqA

If you are wondering what games I have in store, I have:

WoWscape (Private Online)
AuditionSEA Season 2 (Online)
Everybody's Golf Portable 2 (PSP)
Sim City 4 Rush Hour
Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary or Fever 2 (PSP)
Persona 4 (PS2)
Shadow Hearts (Used to play.) (PS2)

And yes, PS3 is not worth buying now, giving the fact that it is expensive, and how Sony screws up some of the PS3 products. =P

Recent death of Tay Heng Lee, Natasha's father, member of CBC KD church.

Today, I just received and SMS by Abel, telling us that Uncle Heng Lee has passed away today this morning, due to liver cancer which he was suffering for the past 2 years.

Personally for me, it was a shock to hear of his death as most of the people in CBC KD attended a special service to pray for him and to end his stay in the church. The special service lasted for 4 days from last Tuesday to last night where Uncle Heng Lee had a chance to come to church to praise and to worship the Lord. By the way, for the last 2 months, he was unable to come to church on Sundays because he is bedridden. (From what I can see because he is always in the bed, resting.)

Unfortunately, due to my business in my assignments (and no, I'm not rushing my work!), I was unable to attend the special service until last Friday night. That was the time where I was able to see him after 2 months. To my huge surprise, he looked very different from before. His face is normally plump (no offense Natasha. =P), but he looked so thin, and he looked very, very tired. And I saw Natasha, her mother (Aunty Shirley), her younger brother Nathaniel and her grandmother here as well. Aunty Shirley has been taking care of her husband very diligently ever since he is suffering from liver cancer.

Everyone in the church sang P&W songs and cried out to the Lord to heal Uncle Heng Lee, to enable him to walk again, and to have a good appetite once again. After the service is over, (around 10.15pm if I'm not wrong.) my parents had to stop by Natasha's house to carry him back before sending Eu Jin back home.

I believe that Uncle Heng Lee is very glad to be in the house of the Lord to praise and worship Him in His name. One of my MSN Christian friend commented that this may be his final dying wish to come back to worship the Lord before his death. I believe the time was right for the special service to commence. Truly God is in control of everything. =)

Nevertheless, a loss is still a loss. With my heartiest condolences to Natasha and family, I have a message for them. Stay strong in faith with the Lord, and stay together in one family.