Indeed it does.
Tried this Blue Diamond Almonds Bold when it appeared in one of the budget stores in the area.
S$3.95 for a 6oz (170g) can, so I'm not sure why it's in that store. Probably trying to ripoff anyone who thinks that everything there must be cheap.
But I found it interesting as compared to the simple salted stuff I used to buy, so I took one to try.
This stuff is GOOD!
The Salt and Vinegar, and Smokehouse are both awesome.
But then again, it may be just me because I like the strong flavour.
Finished Dishonoured.
I have to admit that the stealth mode may be the best I've ever experienced in a game, even better than the last of such kind of game that I played, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. No boss that absolutely has to be taken down by force and there's always at least one pacifist way to get around everything. And it's better than Skyrim's because it's not stupid.
Short, yes, but I think the length is alright. It's just that in most games, there's usually a point where I'd just play for the ending and ignore the sidequests. Somehow I'm getting this idea that this isn't right.
It's like having a meal - if you've reached the point where the food is no longer delicious and you're only eating to finish the plate, then there's too much food for you.
Unless you're the sort who plays only an hour or two a day, but in this case this kind of game wouldn't suit your lifestyle because it's hard to immerse in the game with that kind of time limit.
The developers have said that they planned the game in such a way that there's always a way to get through each mission with any playstyle, and I believe them.
I went for the pacifist stealth run for the best ending and it was never hard to spot a way to get around anything or anyone without killing. Partly it was because I went out of my way to avoid killing anyone since more casualties meant more rats and weepers in the subsequent missions.
Executing the plans, however, was a lot more difficult than the planning even with the fewer enemies. It really helped that I played on easy mode because enemies were "less perceptive". I take that to mean that the range of sight was much shorter. They also don't see me if I'm on a higher level but not blocked by anything, and I hope this is caused by the difficulty level. If not, then this is as stupid as the problems with Skyrim's stealth system.
Surprisingly though, the final parts were not the hardest in the game, even though I chose to merely steal Daud's key and his purse to get the Ghost achievement. Too bad it didn't have any real effect on the ending. As for the lighthouse mission, it was incredibly simple.
I bet this was because I went for the non-lethal route constantly. If I had been massacring my way through every mission, the streets would have been swarming with rats and weepers. I guess this was one part where they couldn't balance everything.
The only major bug I found was at the Flooded District where I tried to help Blake. The problem arose after he arrived at his safe haven when he was wandering around like any NPC would... except Blake would wander down the stairs into the view of one of the tallboys who patrol the alley that leads to their area.
After about ten reloads, I finally resorted to learning Possession on the spot just to force him to GTFO. I half expected him to walk out again eventually but fortunately, that area was easy. All I did was climb to the highest point I could find, shoot the whale oil tank powering the Wall of Light that the train went through (with one crossbow accuracy upgrade and level two zoom) then teleport onto the train. It was as simple as that.
It may sound simple but without foreknowledge of this, I spent a lot of time trying to find a way to take down the tallboys without killing them, partly to save Blake and partly to get past them after. I didn't notice until after quite some time spent on trials-and-error that I didn't have to take down anyone at all.
Despite the fact that it's possible to finish the game without killing a single human or dog, I did kill about 3-4 people, all accidentally without noticing it. This was due to fatigue whenever I was reaching my normal bedtime.
Like the nobleman I had to duel, it was only on hindsight that I thought of making him sleep instead of using the pistol handed to me. That happened when I finished the mission and was surprised that I had one casualty because I had completely forgotten about him by then.
Disclaimer: I do not count a certain NPC as a human because a person who can turn into a whole bunch of rats technically doesn't fall under any commonly accepted scientific category of living creatures at all.
The hardest way to win the game is probably a lethal stealth run in which the player kills everyone and still get the Ghost achievement consistently. TBH I think it's impossible because of the tallboys. I just can't see how anyone can do drop-kills on every single tallboy in the game.
My bro's gf's parents recommended this curry that they claimed to be handmade so my bro got a packet for me to cook.
After the last giant pot of curry I made that took 2 weeks to finish, I was trying to avoid it for a few more months.
But it was expiring due to the lack of preservatives and I was forced to use it.
So I did, but there was no cooking instruction and my bro didn't know how to use it either.
Through pure guesswork, the only sensible method to me was to pour the whole packet of paste into a pot of water.
The resulting curry had an overpowering smell of chilli.
Obviously I didn't do a taste-test before I added coconut milk, so I will never know of it tasted as spicy as it smelled.
In any case, it was only after I added the paste and smelled it that my bro's gf consulted her parents about it.
My bro came over to tell me the packet held enough paste for two pots.
TWO FUCKING POTS??
AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS NOW?
It doesn't even make sense.
Good thing I only added potatoes, so after it cooled, I transferred half of it to be stored in the freezer. No idea how long that will last. Probably at least two weeks but I'd rather not test the limit if I don't have to.
The rest, I diluted with water.
The only meat I have in the fridge this week
is minced pork, therefore I made pork curry, something quite unheard of in Singapore.
But there's no reason why I can't cook pork curry, so I did. Also added a cabbage I bought last week.
The result showed two things.
First, I can't tell the difference between this curry and the ones I made in the past. It's likely that I can't tell "good" curries from "bad".
Second, it doesn't matter what meat I put in the curry because everything that goes into curry tastes like curry and nothing but curry. The only difference is in the texture, hence chicken wings work in curry - it's got a lot of skin.
Anyways, now we have plenty of curry as a dinner backup plan. For the next several weeks, I won't have to cook much, maybe a dish or not even that. With the curry, I can easily just eat it with rice and scrambled eggs or sausages or fishcakes.
At least one week's worth of dinners are half-solved.
I try not to think about the second pot of curry waiting in the freezer.
The concept of cooking in bulk is great, but people are not meant to eat the same food everyday, unless they're in prison or something.
One option is to cook in bulk several types of food instead of just one, but that takes quite a bit of space.
After months of waiting, my lawyer managed to sort out that senseless mess at UOB whose representative told me on the phone that my business's current account there was to be frozen because of my mother's passing even after I had explained to her that it shouldn't matter because the business was under only my name by then and the account was under the business name.
Now I have two chequebooks and I really should consider closing one of them to avoid depositing money for zero interest unnecessarily.
I think I'll close the UOB account. StanChart, despite the higher minimum deposit amount, has a far better customer service standard. The last two times I emailed them a problem, they called back within 48 hours and really went all the way to solve the issue on the spot instead of giving me that "we'll investigate and call you back later" bullshit like I sometimes get from some other companies ( *cough* Star-fucking-hub *cough*).
Maybe someday I'll open an account at UOB but it will take some real incentives for me to do it. The cards are nice but I have no need for most of the privileges.
"Nine generations have been breeding to produce
that."
Best quote.
In his situation, I wouldn't say he's "asset-rich" at all. It may be true that he's got a guaranteed roof above his head, but that's about it. He's clearly not going to change any of his family's tradition so selling the manor is completely out of the question. Hence the value of his home might as well be zero.
He's just a different sort of poor, kinda like us average Singaporeans who own a home. So what if we own valuable homes if there's no point in selling them. It's not like we can just move to somewhere cheaper on another part of the island when everywhere else is just as expensive except for a few fringe areas that nobody would want to live in.
The thing that stands out in this video is that, if I'm not mistaken, he's got that piece of land. Anyone who sees that piece of real estate would know how much he could be doing with it to get out of poverty. I guess he would rather stay poor than ruin the family tradition, for whatever that's worth.
At the very least, he could get a bank loan, renovate the manor, then rent it out. There are plenty of options for him if he wants to go into that. For one, he could rent the entire manor out as a venue for major events like weddings. Another way is to turn it into a simple hotel or B&B.
I mean, it's a manor dating back to the
16th century. The mere fact that it's a five-centuries-old house has to be worth
something. Moreover, the second way would allow him to continue to stay there.
Pride is good and all but it doesn't feed mouths and it definitely doesn't make sure your children get into the better schools. Being a laughing stock on TV for money would have been an understandable way to make money if not for the fact that he's a landowner.
So I'm slow and I didn't see Seikon no Qwaser back when it was first released.
The anime... was just pure fan service. It can't get any purer than that. Not even High School of the Dead.
It's practically hentai, albeit mostly softcore porn. All Japanese drawn pornography is hentai, therefore this is hentai.
Of course it can be argued that we should all be open-minded and sucking on life-energy-infused breastmilk is a legitimate way to gain magical powers in a fictional world.
But where should the line be drawn to differentiate between porn and not-porn?
Are they two now the same in Japan? Perhaps we should be open-minded and accept that there shouldn't be a line in the first place, and shows featuring thirteen-year-old boys sucking on the giant tits of teenage girls should be merged with mainstream entertainment?
Perhaps they should. I, for one, would not protest against such a possibility.
Holy crap!
A gun-shaped controller with a scope and realistic recoil! It would be just like going back for ICT but without the sweating (and the pay).
Delta SiX will be compatible with Xbox 360, PS3, PC, the Wii
U, and of course, the OUYA console. The Delta SiX will utilize the standard
functions of your console controllers but they will be built into the gun’s
frame in a comfortable and logical location. Aiming and turning will be done
using a state of the art accelerometer.
Along with realism and authenticity, I kept the hardcore FPS
player in mind through the entire design process. I focused on keeping it
lightweight, with realistic kickback when firing, enhanced optics in the scope,
and many other features shooters have been hoping for years. We not only too
provide an edge in some FPS titles, but in all FPS titles, offline and on, as
well as in the online multi-player arena.
I am kinda tempted since there are PC-compatible ones that I can choose, but it will undoubtedly just end up as a decorative item in my room.
Since I have used a SAR and a AR-15 before during NS and subsequent ICTs, I don't see how having an actual gun gives me an edge, not to mention I'll have to go to the customs to clear it. Singapore has strict laws about this sort of thing so if they scan the package and see this, I will have to go there and open it in front of the customs officer to prove it's not a real gun.
Or at least that's what I read from posts by people who bought imitation weapons online.
Anyways, it will not make me respond faster because I will have to hold the rifle with two hands. It appears more likely that that would dramatically increase my response time instead.
In additon, the scope would require me to tilt my head. That's obviously much slower than a simple right click. And the slight pause as the scoping animation runs? In Killing Floor, the zoomed screen would appear on the scope immediately even as it approaches the eyes (ie the screen). When I'm "in the zone", I can fire just by looking at that tiny magnified image.
Not all games let that image appear before the animation ends, but that's a significant difference in at least one game.
In contrast, if I'm using a gun controller, I would not be able to see through the scope before it reaches my eye level unless I gain the ability to bend light at will.
And if I ever get such an ability, I wouldn't be playing those games.
Still, for all those FPS fans who haven't actually done any soldiering before and thinks it's cool to have a gun, I guess they would like it.
I, on the other hand, do not associate a real gun with fun. Anyone who was forced to handle a gun would understand, especially after months or years of maintaining it. 90% of the time a soldier spends with his gun is not in firing it, but in cleaning the fuck out of it or going for drills with it, both of which are not fun at all.
Moreover, firing a simple rifle is not big a deal once you have seen a machinegun in action.
But it does look cool.
What I'm really curious about is what sort of madness could drive a person to even imagine such an act.
Started exercising again, but only in the mornings for the first two days because I keep forgetting about it until I'm showering after work.
Though most of the effects of my past training are gone, one surprising thing remained.
Everything felt much heavier than I remembered, so I decided against using the resistance bands until I'm stronger. Till then, I'm sticking with the 3.5kg dumbbells for my bicep curls.
That's what surprised me.
The bicep curls were difficult... until I'm up past the perpendicular, at which point I would kind of bounce. I totally didn't expect that but clearly, the last bit of strength gained from the resistance training was still around, and that was at the top half of the bicep curls due to the way the resistance increases exponentially as I pull the bands up.
Therefore, resistance bands for bicep curls isn't a great idea unless the idea is to train for the upper half of the action. As shown in my case, the dumbbells felt heavy all the way till the upper half when they felt surprisingly light, causing me to overexert, hence the "bounce".
People don't generally switch gears during bicep curls, which would be necessary to avoid "bouncing" for my bicep curls.
Which is why I consulted my bro and borrowed his 6kg dumbbells instead. Those, although very heavy at the start, remained difficult at the top too, giving my curls a consistent feel.
Also tried to train my tricep with the 3.5kg dumbbells but it was incredibly hard for me (I actually felt pain during my first set) and it was useless. I don't need my tricep in my work.
Seriously, I don't think there's any real use for a strong tricep; it's just needed so we can pull our forearms backward. The only people who train that muscle are probably bodybuilders.
Any time someone wants to pull an object, he'd use his shoulder muscles instead. To use the tricep to pull something, he's have to keep his upper arm down and move only his forearm. That action would look really awkward.
Anyways, all the other training seems to have lost their effects, so I'll have to start from scratch again.
This also makes me think that the difference between the 3.5kg dumbbells and the resistance bands was greater than I thought.
Will I have two consecutive weeks of no food deliveries? Will I? Will I?
The curry and my bro's interest in cooking are really helping. He's turning that simple pork-and-potato curry into something more. Like today, he threw in beef balls and broccoli, and reduced it to a thicker gravy while my plan was to use the original curry with some scrambled eggs with capsicums and ham to go with rice.
On Halloween, I dressed up as a price tag of a 3-room HDB flat from the year 2020. It was so realistic people screamed at the sight of me.
The secret to making friends.
Since I have no firsthand experience with the original X-Com series, I do not compare the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown with the old games.
Hence, I feel that this game is actually pretty good.
What I remember from watching streams of the X-Com games was that they were very difficult and they tend to show no mercy to the player. Together with the fact that dead members stay dead permanently in both the new and the old, I feel that the original series won't appeal to the current generation of gamers.
Or maybe it's just me. I have nothing to prove in games and I don't need to be challenged and win for the sense of achievement. I get plenty of that at work, particularly when I look at the invoices in the office in this part of the year.
Hopefully this trend continues next year, but the fact remains that I have no edge, no advantage over anyone else in this line. As a completely new rookie, I am uncompetitive. My survival is wholly at the mercy of my buyers and their sympathy. No business should depend on such a thing.
Still, I'm doing better than my mother did last year and that's something I can be slightly positive about. In particular, last month's revenue showed that the normal trend may not be broken this year and I should be able to climb out of the red for the fiscal year of 2012.
Most likely it will still be too low for me to have to pay income tax though, but I'm confident it's going to be better than 2011, as long as the trend holds.
Back to the game, autosave is a must but this alone isn't enough. I wish it would store like 5 or even 10 autosaves instead of just 1 - the autosave for the beginning of my every turn. However, I've noticed that this is kind of inconsistent for whatever reasons, so sometimes I do have autosaves for later turns. Regardless, there have been a number of occasions when I wanted to replay my previous turn all over again and couldn't, forcing me to replay the entire mission.
Call me a perfectionist, but I just can't stand losing a single soldier even though I'm fully aware of the fact that such deaths are part of the game.
But it's getting more and more difficult. It's obvious I'm supposed to let them die while aiming for the veteran soldier rewards when choosing missions, yet it's still not my thing.
In the mission in which an UFO landed deliberately for the first time, I managed to win with one unconscious soldier for most of the round, and she was a Support holding one of the two medkits in the squad.
If this repeats in an even harder mission in the future, I'm not sure if I will still be able to scrape through again with the single medkit.
Of course, I can just keep reloading but that's something I resort to only when a soldier dies. Nothing else warrants a reload IMO, and I don't think I'm even supposed to save the game whenever I encounter a new group of aliens.
It's the rainy season. Can't wear my suede shoes anymore :(
Got to wear my semi-boots instead. The other day I wore my suede shoes out to work on a sunny morning and it rained cats and dogs in the afternoon, forcing me to stay in the office longer than was necessary :(
Then today, Saturday, I almost got caught in the heavy thunderstorm in the evening that arrived at my neighbourhood about 5 minutes after I got home.
No more!
I'll be wearing my less comfy Dockers from now on till February or March :(
