So just for my cousin's wedding I have to spend another two thousand dollars on airfare to NZ.
The worst part about this whole thing is not the price but the timing - the day right after the wedding I've already booked a flight to Seoul some months back.
Initially I, for some reason, confused the time of departure of that flight with that of the flight to China and made me panicked a little because it was near impossible to get a flight back in time for a 1.30pm flight out. I'd have to arrive by 11.30am that morning and I could only leave the ceremony at 8pm or it would have been pointless to go. Getting a flight in that period of time was ridiculously hard unless the budget is greatly increased.
Fortunately, the mistake was discovered just now when I took another look at the itinerary of my Seoul trip and realized I was flying off at 4pm instead of 1.30pm, meaning the arrival time from NZ can be up to 2pm.
That made life so much easier. Still, I tried to book directly with the only airline that had late-night flights arriving in Singapore by 2pm - Cathay Pacific - and reconfirmed that it was more expensive than booking through Expedia.
No idea why because my bro told me it was cheaper for him to book directly with Qantas. Maybe single economy seats just get absolute the worst treatment from airlines while online travel agents don't give as much of a damn.
Regardless, the same flight I paid $2300+ for on Expedia would have cost me $2700+ on Cathay's site for absolutely no reason. No thanks.
The time of the flights also makes the entire trip more challenging.
Just the original flight from SG to Seoul was going to be tiring enough, departing Singapore in the afternoon, stopping in Vietnam for over 5 hours before arriving in Seoul at pre-dawn. The plan was to have a second dinner in Vietnam somehow and then stay at Incheon until about 11 while having a really really long breakfast. Alternatively, there is the option of trying to leave my luggage at the check-in counter and taking a long walk till 2pm. Maybe try their breakfast somehow. I still don't have any idea what Koreans have for breakfast but some googling will be done before the flight. Guessing porridge.
Anyway, now the flight from NZ will begin at midnight and arriving at noon. Hopefully sleep is possible on the 11-hour flight from NZ to HK because that's the absolute best time for it.
Basically, my entire first of December will be dedicated to travelling from New Zealand to Seoul. Despite the obvious fatigue it will cause, the idea is kind of exciting.
Total time that will be spent in airports:
HKIA: 2 hours
SIN: 4 hours
HAN: 5.5 hours
Looks like half of that day will be spent walking and sitting around in 3 airports.
Someone also reminded me about showering. In the current plan, I'll be going for more than 24 hours without even a shower and that's very bad.
I'll be needing an extra set of clothes and either one of the following:
1) shower facilities in either Changi or Noi Bai
2) a bar of soap and a towel
No idea how much a shower costs at Noi Bai or if there is even such a facility but Changi's going to cost S$9. Otherwise there's always the option of wiping myself with a soapy wet towel on the plane. I've seen a roommate do it in the past and it's not hard to figure out.
Went back to DotA 2 again while I wait for Payday 2's release.
After looking through the current list of heroes, Io seemed to be the best choice. First, Io's strength-based so logically it should be tougher than agility- or intelligence-based heroes. Second, he's support so nobody will be expecting me to gank or carry.
Used this guide right from the beginning to get myself used to the orders at which I level up my abilities and buy items.
First game was horrible but I was playing co-op against Medium bots so it wasn't too bad. Second game felt better as I got the hang of the game mechanics and controls but was still pretty bad because I fed the Sniper bot a lot. Third game was tough because only one teammate was decent. It felt like a good idea to partner with Phantom Lancer but he turned out to be as noob as I was.
Fortunately, all three games were won so it was a nice consolation for my own performance, ie the 11-13 deaths in each of the three games versus a single kill in each game.
All in all, Io's an epic support. It can kind of heal, it can speed up allies and it can buff up allies. In exchange, its offensive capabilty is severely limited and its ultimate ability is ridiculous hard to use.
First, its attack ability. Yea, it's got only one, and it involves balls revolving around Io that damages enemies it touches. These balls hurt enemy creeps, and against enemy heroes, they explode and deal area damage. The only form of control Io has over them is that it can control the radius of their revolutions. I'm only starting to get the hang of using that to my advantage.
Second, its ultimate is probably the hardest to exploit among all ultimates. It teleports me and an ally to anywhere on the map after 2.5 seconds and teleports me back after 12 seconds. I've tried to use it to chase enemies but in pub games, allies don't know when I use the it so they get confused and waste it. I can also use it to escape but the 2.5s delay makes it almost useless and enemies know where I'll be returning to.
Therefore, the easiest function so far that I've found for it is to use it to teleport back to the fountain to heal and get items without waiting for the courier. That, IMO, is probably one of the worst ways to use an ultimate, but it's also the only way I can use it successfully so far.
Still, it's a good hero. Its basic ability is to tether an ally. This tether increases the movement speed of both and any healing done on Io is also done on the tethered ally at 150% effect. In other words, Io and Pudge are awesome partners.
The Overcharge ability buffs the attack speed and resistance of Io and its tethered ally while causing constant damage to Io. This ability is not only for the obvious purpose of buffing the carry but for keeping Io's HP below maximum so that it can be healed at all. At full HP, all healing is 0, so nothing goes to the tethered ally. Overcharge's second function is to make sure Io gets healed, and therefore the ally gets healed.
All these makes Io the team carry's best buddy.
However, using Io also requires a different mentality compared to using other heroes. For example, when you leave the fountain, normally you would look for enemies to gank or lanes that need defending.
With Io, you look for the best teammate to buddy up with, and that's usually the carry.
So an astronaut almost drowned during a space walk.
The strange thing about this was that unlike on Earth, water does not have to fill the helmet before drowning the man inside.
First, there is the surface tension of water that causes it to stick to surfaces. Without gravity to pull it down to the ground, it can stick to any surface, including the astronaut's entire head.
Second, the water got blown around by the air ventilation inside the helmet. This ventilation works by blowing air from behind the head to the top and then down the front.
Hence, the water stuck to the back of the head, got blown up into the hair and then back down the front onto his face. Following the surface of his face, it flowed into his eyes, ears and most importantly, nose.
The helmet didn't even need to be anywhere close to being full for him to drown.
It probably also covered the entire surface of the inside of the helmet but that wasn't important.
Things like this remind us about how unprepared we are for space travel. Here, we're just talking about a couple guys up in space. If civilian space travel becomes bigger, we're going to see hundreds and then thousands of people up there living without gravity. How many accidents will it take for them to learn how to properly live in space?
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