Why Would I Write

  • The First Boot

    No matter how many times I go through it, the first time you turn on your computer after making some changes to its hardware is one of the most nerve-wracking experiences you can have. When you plug in the power cord and turn on the machine, you always hope that the computer boots up fine. In my experience so far, it’s probably been less than 50%. There’s always something that doesn’t go right the first time. Yesterday I decided to upgrade my desktop by replacing the motherboard, processor and RAM. It was a pretty straightforward procedure. The hardest part was probably attaching the I/O shield to the motherboard because for some reason my ASUS H270 Prime Plus came with a lot of excess metal that had to be folded before I could set it on properly. After that was screwing the board onto the case and then plugging the power cables into it.

    I decided to screw everything back properly, confident in my skills, before the first boot. Powered the machine on, the lights on the board lit up and the CPU and PSU fan spun so I thought it was all good. Nope, the screen stayed black and the motherboard was beeping continuously. Weird, but a beeping motherboard means something was wrong so I unplugged the computer, unscrewed the PSU to have a closer look at the processor. The cooler was on tight and I was 100% I put the processor in correctly (it’s pretty much idiot proof these days, with the specifically cut nook to guide you). I decided to re seat the RAM stick and looked around the board for any other abnormalities. I then noticed that I had forgotten to plug in the top chassis fan. I plugged it in, plugged the power back in before screwing the PSU back into the case and viola! It booted successfully. I did a quick run through of my BIOS options and started the boot into Windows 10. No issues at all.

    Oh, interesting thing about Windows 10 – you can actually change your hardware without having to do a reinstall of the OS. I’m not sure what Microsoft did to make it work, but in my experience it has been a flawless transition. It was pretty much like sticking a hard disk into a new computer and have everything work perfectly. I’ve read online that this isn’t the case most of the time but for what it’s worth, it worked for me. I’ll update this post if there are any issues in the future.

    Don’t forget to link your Microsoft account to your Windows 10 product key so you can reactivate it again after you change your hardware. My reactivation didn’t work when I tried to use the built-in Windows 10 activation feature so I had to get in touch with Microsoft support. The tech rep controlled my PC remotely and helped me to activate it (after I showed him proof of purchase of my new motherboard) and gave him my product key. That bit was annoying, but I didn’t have to do anything much so it wasn’t too bad.

    The stock fan on the i7 7700 is kinda noisy, so I might change that in the future if it bothers me but other than that I’m happy with my upgraded PC. I even managed to run a 720p 60 FPS stream last night without any lag. This means there’s no reason for me not to stream again, woot!


    Feel free to drop by for some low level dotes. It’s always a fun time!

    Other than that, I’m learning to use a 60% keyboard which I picked up a week ago. The Anne Pro is a pretty good alternative to the Vortex Pok3r if you’re on a budget. Some might even prefer the Gaterons to Cherry MX switches – but that’s a personal preference (as for me, I have no complaints). I’m still not used to pressing Fn WASD for directional movements at the moment, but time will tell.

  • Sunshine Underground

    This morning I woke up with Chickenrace – Heartbeat in my head which was a first for me. Generally I don’t listen to a lot of Japanese music, only a handful of bands due to my limited (none) knowledge of the language. This song was introduced to me by Jason who heard it in the opening of an animation discovered them on Youtube. It had everything we loved – catchy synths, chunky bass lines and head-bopping melodies. I didn’t understand a single word of it besides the “every night” and “anyway” in the chorus but it didn’t matter. It showed me that Japanese bands were capable of coming up with tunes that were just as catchy as their western counterparts.

    It wasn’t long until we found their discography and listened to all their music. Since I can’t really talk about the content of the lyrics (I haven’t bothered looking up what their songs mean), I listen to them for their vocal melodies and funky guitar riffs – I’ve yet to come across a band that does pop punk funk as well as these guys. Then again, it’s probably quite a niche genre? I don’t know, I haven’t done any searching. I can’t seem to find a lot of information about them online besides a now defunct Purevolume page. Youtube also has a very limited selection of Chickenrace songs so I can’t link all my favorites, but here’s what I’ve managed to find:

    Chickenrace – Farewell

    Chickenrace – Heartbeat

    Chickenrace – Story Of My Life

    Chickenrace – ???

    Chickenrace – I Want You Back (cover)

    Chickenrace – Sunshine Underground

  • 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.