Why Would I Write

Category: Random

  • Talking Without Saying Anything: BTC edition

    Talking Without Saying Anything: BTC edition

    In case you haven’t already noticed, my posts do have regular themes: Music Monday, Technology Tuesday, Writing Wednesday, Thursday Thoughts, and Freewriting Friday. I thought I’d start with some direction for my Friday posts – Facebook Feed Friday, the day where I write about the ridiculous posts being shared on my Facebook feed.

    However, after scrolling through my feed for half an hour, it turns out that I don’t have any ridiculous news to write about today. It’s either the Facebook filters are doing a great job (I have spent a lot of time hiding posts I don’t want to see) or people on my friends list are getting less gullible.

    However, while scrolling through my feed today I’ve noticed plenty of posts about bitcoin. I think more would have shown up if I continued scrolling. To be honest, I don’t really have much interest in bitcoin. I mean, I’ve looked it up in the past because I had no idea what it was, and that was it. I wonder if me writing about it will cause Facebook/Google to think I care about bitcoin and show me more bitcoin ads in the future. (Please don’t.)

    For those who aren’t in the know, bitcoin is basically another currency you can use to buy things. What sets it apart from regular currencies is that it is decentralized and unregulated, and as there are only a fixed number of bitcoins in existence, its value won’t depreciate like regular fiat money. Why is it suddenly in the spotlight? Turns out that people have started to recognize it and are investing in it before it gets even higher. Media coverage on it has sky rocketed, which has increased its popularity and more people are hopping on to the bitcoin train, continuing the cycle.

    My only experience with bitcoin has been in the past when my PC slowed to a crawl when it was infected with mining malware. If only I had started mining coins for myself back then. Maybe I’d be rich now. Oh well.

    Turns out, I really don’t have anything to contribute to the topic but for those of you interested in finding out more about bitcoin, you can read this helpful FAQ.

  • Dota is Life

    I’ll never be a professional Dota 2 player. Maybe if I went back in time and committed myself to the game. Just maybe. But for now, I’ll stay a regular pleb, struggling to win matches against people in the same skill bracket as me. I don’t have the mechanical skills that professional players have. I don’t have the skills of each hero or costs of each item memorized. I don’t know how much damage each skill does, what its cooldown is or how much mana it costs at each level. Let’s not even talk about farming patterns or last hitting skills.

    It’s not the end of the world though. I have fun playing the game. I enjoy all the banter and trash talk that goes on between my friends and me. It’s how we bond. It’s like talking shit over a couple of pints. Except that it’s much cheaper and we can do it over the comfort of our own homes. Sure, sometimes it gets stressful, especially when we’re on a losing streak. But you can’t win every game you play, so I just accept it. I win some, I lose some.

    It’s like life. Not everything goes your way. Even if you’ve planned something down to the finest detail. There are elements of randomness that can throw everything away. A lucky rune or Roshan respawn. An accidental feed. Accidentally activating your Black King Bar too early, and not having it ready in time for the next fight. There’s a million things that could go wrong. Just like how there’s a million things that could fall into place for no good reason, and you end up winning off it.

    Sometimes one mistake is all you need – to win or to lose. It’s unpredictable. You’re on a team of five people playing against five other people. Human beings do the most random shit, sometimes you can’t even understand their decisions. But it’s just a game, and we all go along with it. You make the most of it. You can play to the best of your ability and adapt to everything else that happens. Sometimes it’s good enough, sometimes it isn’t.

    The best planned projects can end up failing, and sometimes last-minute work gets you your client’s approval. Mistakes can turn into opportunities and vice versa. Timing, opportunities, and communication. All essential skills both in-game and in life.

    Enemy split pushing you? Try to get a successful gank off and force them to retreat. Enemy five-man pushing you? Split up and take multiple objectives, forcing them to retreat. Game is in a stalemate? Catch them off-guard and force a high ground fight.

    Work got you feeling down? Get a new job, ask for a new role, take a break. Feeling broke? Watch your budget, don’t overspend, save more. Don’t have enough time to do something you like? Spend less time on other things so you can make time for it. There’s always a solution to everything – but it’s not always going to be easy. You’re going to have to make sacrifices in life. That’s just how things are.

    Sometimes you want to play the mid role, but there’s somebody else on the team who picked mid first. That’s fine, just pick another hero and go to another lane. Learn to adapt, overcome. There’s nothing wrong with playing another role. Sure, you don’t get to hog the limelight, but you’ll get your chance another day. There’s always another day.

    It’s just like life. I’ll never be a professional Dota player, but at least I’ll be a professional at something else, and I’ll be making more money than I ever will playing the game (I’ll eat my words if I ever qualify at The International Kappa) – and that’s all that matters.

  • December arrives

    Hello all. I am back. It feels good to be writing something unrelated to Peter Pan – something I’ve been doing over the past month for Nanowrimo. I wrote a story about Peter Pan’s adventures after his adventures with the Darlings in Neverland. It was a grueling 26 days (I managed to finish it ahead of time, despite skipping 2 days worth of writing when I was in Penang yay me) but it was a good experience. It also proves that I’m capable of churning out 50,000 words a month since I’ve managed to complete Nanowrimo twice. The last time I did it, it was back in 2014. Taylor Swift’s 1989 was released around that time, so I spent the whole month listening to the album and writing. This year, Taylor’s album only dropped midway through Nanowrimo so I didn’t get to do the same thing. Nevertheless, I still got to enjoy the album on its own. It’s not as good as 1989, IMO, but it definitely marks a progression in Swift’s music and style. Lyrics are a bit edgier, dealing with themes of revenge and reputation but fans of her brand of music should still enjoy it.

    Other than that, I’ve been catching up on some shows – One Punch Man, Westworld, Attack on Titan, Whiplash, Daddy’s Home, Coco, Murder On The Orient Express, Justice League, and I’ve started reading again. I’ve also recorded a new song (on my iPad – check it out below). So yay me! It’s been a productive month before I start my new job (TBC).

    Vocals need to be rerecorded and drums need some finetuning, so expect another recording in the near future.

    December is here, the best month of the year (of course). Malls are playing Xmas music, which is fantastic. For some reason it puts me in a cheery mood. So much better than the songs played during other festivals.

    The year is ending soon, so I guess it’ll probably be time to do some reflections over the past year. If anybody is interested. Maybe go over my goals again and see what I’ve accomplished and what I have to push back to 2018.

    The Big Bad Wolf Sale 2018 KL is happening next week, so I’ll probably drop by to pick up a book or two or three or four or five or six or seven or eight… more books to add to my backlog collection. Haha.