GET C IN BM, JOIN THE FORCE!

I was reading a report in TheStar.com.my today of how the govt is encouraging more non-Malays to join the police force today and it says here that "Those intending to join the police force as constables need not have a credit in the SPM Bahasa Melayu paper under a move to encourage more non-Malays to join the force....but will be given three years to obtain the credit, failing which they have to resign."

Wait a minute. I thought this was about encouraging more non-Malays to join the force. Is lowering the BM language requirement encouragement enough? Oh, I have a C in BM. Yay, I can join the police force!

The thing is, the article reports that reasons why, for instance, young Chinese won't join is because of the low pay and promotional prospects. I quote "Farn said that apart from the low remuneration, the authorities should also find out the real reasons for the poor response from non-Malay youths."

So is not getting a C in BM one of the real reasons non-Malays are not joining the police force?! Pfff...

GUNAKAN ORI - THE BENEFITS

Since I got my rig, a P4 3.06Ghz monster with a fancy Icute case that has a blue fluorescent tube that goes around the mobo (stupid gigabyte one with the supposedly important dual BIOS), my ATI Radeon 9700 has been giving me problems. How did I know for sure? Because my Windows XP crash reports tell me so. And that is the beauty of using original software.

Did you know, for instance, that if you use pirated sware, you can't get critical updates AS they come? So far, having religiously reported every crash, they have been getting lesser and lesser, excepting my gcard problem of course, which turns out to be not a driver problem but a physical defect, which means I have to go get it changed before the warranty expires. But this whole reporting thing and the MS staff helping me isolate the problem is really very cool. That's what I call support!

Also another benefit of buying ori software, especially multiplayer games, is the fact that you get to play online, without which I think I wouldn't have had the training and confidence I did before I went for WCG. Adversely, having to buy ori to play online at ESO was why popularity for AOM was so much lower than the original AOE/AOK which one could play on Zone even with a pirated copy. Who wants to pay RM140 JUST to pay online?

Still, I think most hardcore gamers wouldn't mind forking out the dough, which was why collector editions for WC and Civ III got snapped up so quickly. I went to SB a few days ago and the DVD cut for WC (yes, the one where all the cut scenes are rendered!) was sold out!

So why this sudden sanctimonious outburst for ori software? i just need some Msian gamers to play withlah. I just started Asheron's Call 2 and have not met one single Asian. What gives?!

HEY, THAT'S ME!

A few minutes ago, an acquaintance of mine pinged me on MSN and told me he read something about me in less than flattering light at Challenge-MY, one of Malaysia's most visited gaming forums run by a guy named Nael and his friends. Taken a little out of context if u refer to my original post, but it is strange to be made the focal point of such attention (albeit only a little but hey, that's me in there! *huah!*). I guess it may be related to the fact that I stepped on his girlfriend's tail months ago in a post referring to her colourful vocab, a fact revealed to me during the WCG launch at Sunway I actually forgot about until now. Naturally, I have become quite unpopular among the group, a most justified response considering how this holier-than-thou aunty came to rain on my parade - who the hell does she think she is!!?? Effin fatso! Ure not my mother!

Hey, that sounds familiar...

FOURTH PLACE JENN

"Reporters report the news, not become the news."

Trying to challenge this adage, I took my first step towards world domination by joining the World Cyber Games 2003 tournament which ended yesterday. The results? I was fourth in place to rule the world - in AOM that is. Sigh.

Truth be told, I made a lot of mistakes. Lokes tells me mostly, I was battling myself. I was full of self doubt, I did not sleep worrying if I would cave in (and I did), I wasn't confident at all of my chances may have been real. These are all true.

Also true is the fact that I did not expect the other participants, excepting Irwin of course, to be good. Being arrogant (and at the same time carrying flawed strategies with little study of details, as was my analysis of what happened later on) that I would somehow be able to scrape through with just enough training and six hours sleep a night, I made the mistake of underestimating my opponents, to perhaps inject some (false) confidence into my already tired veins.

Sigh. What a weekend. Awesome, amazing and an experience I would most likely remember for a long time.

Until next year. I shall try again next year. If AOM is still in. Or maybe I should try FIFA....:)