An Interesting Accident

In Tactics Ogre land, that is. As I was levelling up the rest of my team -- Jeunan is now a Terror Knight instead of Dragoon (to take advantage of the dark Dagda's Hammer Armour Set), Xapan the Berserker, Ophellia the Divine Knight, Kliana the Familiar and Irae the Iron Golem -- I stumbled across a skill that Rudlum the Lich has: he can apparently Zombie-fy! So he/I accidentally made Kliana a Zombie! Which is kinda cool cos the familiar can now resurrect three turns after she is killed. The whole thing is a bit like ... Dracula (!!!) Anyway, Kliana is now Rudlum's new sidekick and I think the two complement each other pretty well. However, the familiar cannot be levelled up ... it's like she will never grow old (like a vampire). How awesome is that?

In the meantime, I have scavenger-ed another generic's skills to make Rudlum more versatile; he can now use the Spellbook, making him a bit of a "Divine Lich". So the only two generics (characters that are NOT in the TO official story line) are Kliana and Irae. All the others were pretty crap/useless.

Now planning what to do next with my team ... should I re-do one of the routes or the Save Lanselot mission again?

Another Favourite Track

A great track that brings back some (err, not so great) memories ...

The Inevitable

Before I get to the topic of this entry, I'd like to say how awful this winter has been. I just keep getting sick. Nothing major but just getting this lingering cold. I think I caught the latest one from a colleague ~ yikes ~ which I then passed onto my dad. At least today my nose has stopped running and I hope, after a good night's sleep, I will feel better tomorrow. After all, I have two yoga classes booked for tomorrow night. Hamstrings situation seems to have improved; I can now bend forward without having pain in the upper back thigh (I must have torn my hamstrings when I tried to do the split around Christmas).

Okay, topic. Now, I've reached the final levels of the Phorampa Wildwood in my latest Tactics Ogre playthrough, I'm confronted with these two Heavenly/Divine Generals; one holding a one-hand sword, the other a hammer. Neither are exclusive. The question is: shall I keep one of them? Or save my one and only Heavenly Fork for a weapon that is actually worth having (like a dagger ...) While I am pondering this, I have actually reached an impasse. Cannot decide. Does this mean I'm finally done with the game after 722 hours?

Love this track right now

Auto Battling

It's amazing. Am cruising through the Palace of the Dead with help from the AI. Yes, it's a bit dumb but it is making life So much less tedious. Now finally in the post-100 levels and will get what I want in this round. Yesss!!!

A Silent Scream

So, I was going down the Palace of the Dead one last time (using up ALL my palace guides), hoping to get three more guides, a dark 2-h sword (which forms the only armor set I don't have) and a couple of heavenly forks (from the two bosses) before finally getting my lightning spear for Ravness. But when I reached Floor 98, which was supposed to lead to Floors 101-115, nothing happened ***screammmm inside head***... it turned out I'd forgotten to check a scene before my descent into Hell (how stupid is THAT?) So I ended up having no palace guides left and just one heavenly fork ... which I can still use to get the lightning spear from a Divine General in San Bronsa ~ but that's it. Finito. I am NOT doing PotD without those guides. It just means I will never have the complete set of armor that slows enemies down, which is going to bug the hell out of (the completion-ist) me! 

Google vs FB/Twitter etc

I've always liked Google (and Wikipedia). For years now (can't remember exactly how many), I've been using the Google search engine for both work and leisure, it's a service that is open to ALL, without the need to sign up. I admire that. After all, information should be free to all. It's very democratic. Facebook, on the other hand, you'd need to sign up to be part of its community. It's free to sign up but you have to sign up all the same. Most information generated from this community, useless or otherwise, is inaccessible to those who don't sign up. That's why I am not on Facebook, partly because I think I'd become an online stalker if I join but mostly because it has created this enclosed community that makes information exclusive. Twitter leans more towards Google in that while people have to sign up to use its service ~ to tweet ~ (which is fair enough) information on Twitter is available to all. You don't need to sign onto Twitter to read other people's tweets. 

Now, FB/Twitter and other social networks are accusing (well, this is how I understand it anyway) Google of favouring its Google+ contents in its search results; i.e. Google+ contents will come up First in a Google search. Hmm, let's see ... FB and Twitter contents still come up in the top ... just not the first result. I just don't see HOW these networks, especially FB, accuse Google of "being evil" while they are totally restrictive with their own contents (?) as pointed out by this poster (mantrik00) in The Guardian:

"It should be realised that the terms of Facebook and Twitter obviously restrict Google from displaying/using their data on its search results page. Using any other (out of the way) means to bypass their terms of agreement to include Facebook’s and Twitter’s data in the search results page would make Google vulnerable to legal challenges from these firms. After all, these firms are extracting fees via agreements with Microsoft for giving access to users data on their network to be used in Bing's search results. Remember Google use to list profiles & data from these sites earlier, but it discontinued the practice after the terms of Facebook and Twitter became restrictive. (Now that they are facing the heat of competition from Google they are using unofficial hacks to get into the search listings. They should change their terms of agreement).

"Facebook, Please don't preach. Google is the best we have in a world of evil. Facebook, for exampe, has close to 1 billion locked-in users who cannot easily take out their data and move to competitors. All of Google's services on the other hand provide unprecedented control for the user to opt in, opt out, and move to other competitors with their data."

I agree.

A Controversy (2)

The controversy over "What is Yoga?" rages on (http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/the-great-yoga-divide/?ref=yoga) and it makes me think more about my own approach to yoga. What is it to me? A form of exercise? A form of meditation? A form of escapism? A form of lifestyle? The last one is interesting as it encompasses every aspect of my living: how I eat, how I work, how I make choices etc. 

I think, for me, it did start off as a form of exercise: i.e. okay, I am gonna bend a little lower/deeper in the next class. Even to this day, has it changed my diet? Not really. I might have eaten more greens/salads but there hasn't been any fundamental changes in that. Has it changed the way I live? Other than having a regular practice (I have a class @ pm today, for instance), I still play my Tactics Ogre and go around the city looking at the latest phone models. I still download TV shows and films to watch. I still work. Come to think of it, my life is extraordinarily ordinary and yoga hasn't really changed that in any way. 

But, at the same time, it HAS changed me and I'm still trying to put my finger on exactly what it is that has made these changes (and what are these changes). Something (I don't even know how to describe it) has affected my attitude towards life (one of the changes). Something has sharpened my sense of awareness ... of myself, of people around me, of the world, of life. And I think that is why yoga is beyond exercising for me now. I'm not sure whether it's good, or bad, (or even if it matters) to be more aware but all I know is I've simply become more aware (and even sensitive) towards people/things/events around me as well as myself.

At the end of the day, yoga is a tool. How people choose to use that tool is entirely up to them and what they/we get out of using this tool will be as diverse/different as the people who use it. Take a toothbrush for an example. For most people, it's a good and useful tool to clean teeth. But some people might use it for other things like polishing metal or, I know, combing a cat. You can also use it to jab yourself in the eye but most of us wouldn't do that -- even if someone asks us to - for obvious reasons. So to say practising yoga, especially in its "westernised" form, is dangerous doesn't quite make sense. It really largely depends on how it is taught and practised. Yoga itself is not inherently harmful.