A Mixed Ending for a Terrific Season

Time for some random post. Since the start of the year, I haven't been regularly watched Man Utd matches (except most Saturday/Sunday's games), though I never missed the match highlight. It has been another great season for the club and the fan, with both the grandeur and the disappointment mixed in.

The ups: obviously winning the record breaking 19th English top flight title, overtaking Liverpool as the top dog. And it has not been an easy feat, considering the squad that won the trophy had been regularly criticised for underperform, like many other great Man Utd sides in the past seasons. I admit that the squad is probably not comparable with the team of, for example, 1999 and 2008, but the spirit of the team and the work rate as the squad is unbeliavable, probably second only to those in 1999 treble winning squad. Berbatov shines in the first half of the season, and also got some crucial winning goals at latter stages (eg vs Blackpool/Bolton). Hernandez has been a revelation with his Gary Lineker-like presence up front and score crucial goals (eg vs Everton/Stoke), a huge bargain for 6m pounds. Nani had his best season since coming to the club, although he seems to be more effective on the right, which overlap with Valencia who also did great since coming back from injuries. Giggs, despite his age of 38, always full of energy and spirit on the pitch. Park has always been a massive big game player. At the back, Vidic has been immense, and at the post, no more words need to be said about the retiring Van der Sar - a goalkeeper of the same standard of the great Schmeichel. Simply put, everyone in the squad contribute to the success at any stage of the season.

The downs: quite a few I guess. Losing the FA Cup semi final to Man City, and most importantly, losing the Champions League final against Barcelona at Wembley last Saturday. The FA Cup could have been different had Rooney not suspended (for his swearing at West Ham), but I had no qualms over the defeat to Barca. Although I still didn't like them for their regular acting and swarming over the referees, the football they played was simply too much for Man Utd to handle.

EPL 2010-2011 was really a peculiar season. The weaker team regularly beat the stronger team, Chelsea's crazy form at the start, middle and end of season, Arsenal's incredible collapse after losing the League Cup to Birmingham, Blackpool relegated despite scoring a massive 55 goals, and much more. Based on consistency, I guess it's fair to say that Man Utd did deserved to win the title, with Chelsea coming close in second (they would be unreachable had that mid-season lapse didn't happen). Man City finally ended their 30+ odd years trophy drought and clinch a CL place, but I'm not quite convinced that they can challenge for the title next season, because they seem to approach games too carefully, sometimes too defensively. Liverpool could be dangerous next season with Dalglish in charge, as for Arsenal, well, it depend on how Wenger is willing to spend I guess.

As for the prospect of next season, it seems like we'll see some major shuffle in the squad. Van der Sar, Neville and yesterday, Scholes retired. De Gea seems to be coming, while some other players seems to be leaving, and Sir Alex seems willing to use the youth squad that just recently won the FA Youth Cup. Hopefully the youngsters/new players added to the squad next season could emulate the success achieved this season, or perhaps bettered it.

So Long, Australia

Tomorrow is the final day of me being here in Australia. I've only been informed of my actual flight ticket last Monday, making the days I've left pretty hectic, dealing with various things like bills, home cleaning, shipping...

4 years flew really quick, it feel like I've only registered in Adelaide Uni yesterday, yet now I've already completed my Degree w/ Honours. By completing my Honours year, I am entitled to continue with PhD, but for some reason I really don't feel like doing so. Partly because I've lost the motivation to study here [I personally find Adelaide, I mean the Waite Campus environment really stale and boring], another reason is because I want to take a short break from study or any form of research. So yeah, someday I'd still want to continue with PhD, but maybe not next year, and certainly somewhere else other than Australia.

Living in Australia is costly, definitely much costly than Malaysia, but the most of the services here are very convenient. The online payment for virtually everything thanks to the visa debit card, the Eftpost when shopping, the all-purpose bus ticket, hospitality and treatment to the elderly, it's no wonder why Aussie ranked 2nd on Human Development Index. Anyway, I haven't travelled much in Aussie, partly because I mostly used my available fund for games : < Good thing I still manage to visit, albeit briefly, the main cities [Canberra/Melbourne/Sydney], as well as playing with snow during my early years here. It was fun, yet tiring. After this, I'm not sure if I'll ever return to Australia. Maybe I will, but certainly not for studying purpose.

Sad? yes, but there's also this feeling that I just don't know how to describe...Until then, goodbye, Australia.


p/s: sorry can't think of any good picture to put :/

Fatigueness

warning: random rants

The last 2 weeks were rather depressing for me because of multiple reasons. First, my LR cloning transformation for my RNAi experiment wasn't working well, getting no colonies in my first attempt while the 2nd attempt resulting in unconvincing plasmid being transformed into the E.Coli. I am doing my FIFTH attempt at the moment, and hopefully I get the right construct this time (my fourth attempt had some positive results). Man, cloning really sucks when you didn't get the right thing (ーー;)
The second cause is the bus. Yes, the Adelaide Metro bus here is a pain in the butt when it comes to non Go-zone or weekend/public holiday. Last Saturday I had to go to the lab in order to prepare some stuff for plasmid mini-prep, but it took me 2 hours alone just to get bus to the campus, and 3 hours to get bus back home, seriously wtf? I swear I won't go to the campus on public holiday/weekend anymore, at least not by public transport -_-

Oh well, at least things aren't as bad as I thought it would turned out. Need to finish this cloning ASAP before I can proceed with the actual hairy root Medicago transformation. Then there's also Honours essay, seminar and thesis that I need to complete before the end of the year ＿|￣|○

400GET, and everything finally comes to an end

FFFFFFFFF щ ﾟДﾟщ

What a crazy season has it been. From the top of the table to the bottom. The title was not decided until the final day, although it's Chelsea's to lose. Arsenal, thought having the "easiest" run ins after their loss to Man Utd and Chelsea, unexpectedly surrendered their ambition of ending their trophyless season by losing to Spurs and Wigan, and even in the final game, they still risk from losing their third place to Tottenham. From pushing very close to their first EPL title last season, Liverpool unexpectedly failed in every competition this season, not even manage to get into top 4. The final Champions League spot was the fiercest ever with Tottenham, Man City, Villa and Liverpool trying to grab the spot. Until March, there are 5 to 6 teams who could possibly get relegated, although unfortunately, the excitement ended early as the relegated battle was decided in the penultimate game (Hull City). And finally, the title was decided on the final day when Chelsea convincingly trashed 10-man Wigan 8-0, ending Man Utd's ambition to win it for the fourth successive season. That's how crazy English Premier League 2009-2010 has been.

Not a good season for Man Utd I guess. Lost the title at the final day, losing the FA Cup to Leeds, of all team, AT HOME as early as the third round, and even tupidly gave away 3-0 lead at home to lost on away goal to Bayern Munich. I was like, wtf щ(ﾟДﾟщ) The defeat away at Burnley, along with defeat and draw at home to Aston Villa and Sunderland respectively looked costly now. Did the selling of Ronaldo and Tevez cost Man Uyd the title? Maybe, but I personally think the squad are good enough even without the two mentioned, especially Nani who improved massively this season. It's just that sometimes they didn't perform as expected when it matters (the game against Liverpool and Villa for example). And the fact that at one point they only has one recognised defender playing (Patrice Evra, while the rest are injured) didn't help either. Carrick and Fletcher playing at the back, now that's something.

Nevertheless, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were underperformed (especially Liverpool) this season (just look at the number of defeats these teams shared). Although I'm kinda cluthing my straw at the way Man Utd lost to Chelsea, both home and away (the foul that never was at Stamford Bridge, and that offside goal at Old Trafford), in the end of the day, Chelsea proved to be the better team and they're the worthy champion this season. Their result speaks for themselves. So, congratulation to Chelsea for their third EPL title.

best things happening this season: Rovaldo-esque dive and the beach ball

Looking forward to next season, but first thing first, let's see how the World Cup goes in 5 weeks time :D

p/s: yes, this is indeed the 400th post of this blog \o/

It's mid-April!

A hectic 2 weeks has it been. Literature review and research proposal finally well completed and need to be submitted tomorrow, then today I also have graduation ceremony for my degree, although I didn't actually attend because, well, can't be bothered to go. Too much hassle, I'd rather went to the campus and do the final proofreading of the stuff I need to submit so that I'll be free tomorrow. My body is aching to start the project, it's been almost a month since I last start doing anything in the lab. Looking forward to plasmid cloning and recombination :D

On a side note, since I'll be mostly free during the weekend, I'll definitely going to finish the remaining 3 chapters of Resonance of Fate with my uber-Godly Leanne XD

asdfgg

Uh...random title? It's been almost one and a half month since I started my Honours year, and today marked the end of the first part (sorta..) with my research seminar. So far it has been a great experience I have to say. The only thing I would regret is probably the fact that I need to get up so early everyday, spend something like 1 hour+ in the bus to go to Waite campus because the place is located so far from here (well, nothing compared to Roseworthy campus I suppose, but still far compared to North Terrace). But damn presenting my project to the "real" experts gave me the nervous for awhile. Oh well, at least there's one less thing to worry for me. But then the next 3 weeks is going to be hectic. Literature analysis, research proposal due, and then there's graduation day in mid april...

There's also Resonance of Fate that I definitely need to play, hope I could finish my LRRP a week early and spare a bit of time to play the game \o/

p/s: my honours project - has something to do with RNA interference, host-delivered mechanism, fungus and arbuscular mycorrhiza.

=Random Feb Post=

Yesterday marked the start of my Honours and final year in Australia (hopefully). I've always been told about how tough Honours years are, but I never thought it was that exhausting, really. Even on the first day I almost crumbled because of fatigue. Well, partly because I only had 2 hours of sleep the day before ;p Half day spent on essay topic and literature review, another half spent on research project in lab, and later on thesis -.-

Since hyperchrome looks dead and I won't be touching dota and my 360 for awhile (at least not until Resonance of Fate is out), I'm thinking of writing some animu episodic reviews to fill the little free time I have at night. For a start, I'd go with my current favorite show Tegami Bachi, Durarara and Ookamikakushi. Though this time I need to do them review shorter than usual.

End of rant, tqvm.

"In an instant, we echo and our hearts meet! " (c) Gauche and Droite

HAAAAAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!

HAAAAAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!

New year and new resolution (as usual), I guess. Looking back at 2009, it was my final year of degree but for some reason I don't feel that busy as I thought it would be, prolly because I'm taking only 2 subjects for every semester, and the fact that in semester 2, one of the subject had all lectures/ pracs/ tutorial cramped in a single day, leaving the rest of my week pretty free, except for some minor projects. Still have time for anime, time for dota, and time for games. How much has I changed since last year? Not much I guess.

Yet again, I didn't go back to Malaysia this summer break, making this my 2nd consecutive years staying in Australia, trying my best to endure the extreme summer heatwave. Well I was supposed to go back, but after MARA mentioned that it is possible to apply for Honours (when they previously said they won't continue sponsorship for all current students), I decided to give it a try. I've already got my honours offer, so hopefully my application would be successful. Although, if I got my Honours sponsorship extension approved, I'll be very busy in 2010. Life's wonderful, eh.

Summer Christmas ;_;

Just want to wish Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. Not me for sure, but celebrating it in Southern Hemisphere country like Australia sure feel much different due to the summer heat rather than winter cold/snow :3

Magna Carta 2's DLC...NOT!

So I'm currently atDisc 2 of Magna Carta 2. The game's surprisingly pretty linear and despite not following any walkthrough, I was still able to keep track with all sidequests (with reference to xbox360achievements.com). Although, I'm here to rant about something else...

It has been proven that it is impossible to max a character's skill tree by default levelling (plus 1 or 2 Seekers Kamond+Pendant of Skill), so the only possible way to do this is by purchasing the ultimate weapon via DLC (which grant a MASSIVE 18 Kamond slots, allowing up to 18x30%+50% = 590% Skill Points bonus upon leveling up). Seeker Kamond, however is a massively overpriced item which is only available on the 2nd visit to Cota Mare, costing 40,000 SID each. which means, to maximise Skill Point acquisition, I need to farm 17 Seekers (since I already has one obtained from previous quest), which is roughly 680,000 SID... But fear not, for I had endure 6 hours of rigorous money grinding (before going to Ruhalt Basin) and was finally able to accumulate the necessary amount of money. Then I went to xbox.com, buy 1000 Microsoft Points and spend 400 on the DLC which contains the weapons and 3 extra scenes... BUT

when I load the game, there's no sign that I've unlocked the scene, or weapons in my inventory. I was like..what the fawk has happened??? So after a few lurking, although I have yet to find a concrete proof, I come to conclude that the ASIA version of Magna Carta 2 has NO DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT aka DLC. 400 MS Points that I spent had gone to waste, unless Microsoft can do something about it..

No DLC in Asia version has left me in despair! My money grinding has gone to nothing, because even though I can (and has already) buy 17 Seekers, there is no weapon that can hold that much kamond except the DLC weapons D :
oh well, for now I can only hope that near the future the dlc will become available on asia version -.-

so my advise to people playing asia version of MC2: don't aim for dlc contents or maxing both Skill Trees, at the moment this is just impossile.


EDIT: SOLUTIONS FOUND, check this post
http://serph-siden.blogspot.com/2009/12/magna-carta-2-overcoming-dlc-content.html

p/s: apparently some people had trouble farming that much Sid to buy Seekers. I personally haven't found any better way than my method, that is by going through the Leti Cave around Chieftain Hill over and over again. Control Zephie in the process to get as many HP lvl3 kamond as possible (and Attack level 3 from the Beast around the save point). This method allows me to accumulate enough money for 17 seekers after grinding for about 5-6 hours. Enough to max one DLC weapons with Seekers.

The Stories So Far...

After Plant Molecular Biology final exam this morning, today marks my penultimate day in my undergraduate year in Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology) at University of Adelaide, South Australia. The final day would come in 9 days time, the 2nd and last paper for my degree, Biotechnology Practice III. In the mean time, my application to for MARA sponsorship extension for my Honours next year is still ongoing. Should it succeed, I'll be staying for at least another year in Aussie. Although Honours could be one hell of a year, at least I could still enjoy the internet connection for another year :3

Would I go back to Malaysia by the end of the year? TBH I really want to go back if possible, because on 27th Nov there's a massive dota tournament held in Malacca (SGNDT Grand Final), plus it has been 2 years since I last place my step on my hometown soil. But thinking about the Honours and graduation next year, it seems like at least I'll be staying here until April (graduation), or at most until the end of 2010 (Honours).

Since there's quite a gap between my exam papers, I guess I could take a break or two to enjoy Magna Carta 2

Extra:
some more stuffs

went to Moonta Bay a few weeks ago due to someone's invitation, mainly to see the great scenery of the dusk's sky on the horizon. The sight of sun setting is a beauty to behold, as seen from those who went to the same place last year.'

wow...

Unfortunately, luck was not on our side this year, as come sunset the tide doesn't rise as much as last year (in fact I could say it didn't rise at all), and hence the sunlight wasn't reflected to produce similar scenery as seen above..

ffffuuuuu

Meanwhile, some sort of unusual pattern was observed on the shore. I would have said it was caused by shells/algae drifted and washed ashore, but this pattern was observed all over the place it's difficult to come out with proper reasoning.

sign of alien attack...not

Mio over muh desktop

I noticed this things up on Toshokan a few weeks ago but never really had a thought of downloading it. Turn out that this thing looks cool putting on desktop, although it consumes quite a bit of memory (130M, wtf). The Cagayake Girls song that they sing can be changed, and without a second though, I immediately change this to Don't Say Lazy :3

Features: 3 choices of costume+nekomimi, options to adjust frame rate/size/transparency/visual quality, and it seems like even the dialogue can be changed. Too bad most of the emotions appeared randomly and we can only control 3 emotions (one which made her pick her bass and sing) by right clicking her head. Her joints (head/hands/legs) can also be movedand rotated but it's fairly hard to do because the angle seems quite limited.

Direct Download: [MU]

UPDATE 260709

Blaaargh 2 I didn't realize the 2nd semester of my final year will be starting this Monday. What have I done during the holiday... Oh well nothing much I suppose. 360-ing, umineko-ing, marathon, what a neet. Too lazy to join this year's winter trip (same location - canberra, melbourne, sydney, skiing at mt.gambier blabla).
And on weekend 2 weeks ago there's Anime Convention (AVCON) held right here in Adelaide - the same day as Daicon in Malaysia. I didn't attend the event, because..well after reading the event timetable, i don't find anything that particularly attract me. Yeah there's cosplay, anime screening (rofl like I would attend this) and such, but I guess it's just me. And the game tournament also didn't attract me too much. Maybe Street Fighter 4 and Gears of War, but the rest aren't to my liking. Dammit we need dota tournament in adelaide!!!1

And next sem will be as butthurting as semester 1. Luckily Biotech doesn't have 6 hours practical, so I only need to endure with Micro prac every week. This time I really need to give my all (more than sem 1), but then I wonder to what extent will I be able to accomplish that, with the increasing animu/games in my list D :

random screenshot.

exam T_T

less than 1 month till my third year semester 1 final exam D :

although i only take 2 subjects, this is still going to be tough for me since the result of this exam can possibly effect my Honours next year. Plus there is only 1 day gap between both paper. Darn I'm going to be a complete hikikomori during this study week, engulfing myself with buncha lecture notes/books/journals/etc.

for some reason lately I'm enjoying myself doing infection&immunity's bioinformatics assignment :3

on a side note, recently garena pubbers always made me laugh :3

apparently someone got obsessed with K-ON and use the show name as garena nick O_o

and...

drow with 2 boots D :

click to show D :

Boot of Travel+Power Treads....oh waw

The game went sorta like 3 v 5 for us (me, zeus and akasha) as drow seems to be totally new to dota, which pissed naix off and leave the game quite early in the game. Despite having squishy heroes against Sentinel's lineup, we still owned them hard with our superior AoE spells, forcing BH and Lyncan to ragequit lulz.

ps: my garena nick - SanzeniN >_>

One more year to come

Ahhh I missed again, just like last year. Yesterday this blog reach its second anniversary. Well late by 3 and a half hour isn't that bad I guess. TANJOBI OMEDETO! \(^0^)/

Still a being lazy ass during my mid term break, which end by this weekend and then continued with the 2nd term of this semester. And lazy to update the blog too. Come to think of it, I haven't even touch my 360 for a few days. There's still a few game I planned to play, but then by the time I have the space to play it, the break might have already over, and I'll be back to the usual day of practicals, labs, reports blablabla -_-


ps: yes, my wide screen monitor crushed a few months back so I can only satisfy with my old monitor @.@

back from slumber

HOLY SHIEET I just noticed that I haven't update this blog for more than a month!
Uh..many things happened since March that kept me busy from updating this. Start of new semester, continuous labs and reports, new games.. in short, I'm just too lazy to write ;p
Now that my mid-semester break has arrived (until the end of next week), I guess I need to write what I have planned in the last month. But then I still have some assignment to be submitted this Thursday and Friday DD:

future raison d'etre plan:
-[review] game review: Star Ocean 4
-[animu] before the spring quick review
-[animu] spring series quick impression
-random blablabla about 360 games
-random stuff
-random stuff
-random stuff
-...
-..
-.




ps: click me ;p

Lost Paradise

random title...is random.

somehow I feel like filling my boredom here because...
-I only has 3 weeks left before the new semester of my final year stars :((
-My housemates still haven't returned home from Malaysia, and our house rent contract is almost expired (within a few more days). How am I supposed to deal with this alone =A=
-my BankSA visa card expires this month, but I have yet to renew it. I won't be able to use EFTPOS for awhile...
-my student card also have yet to be renewed, although it still have about 2 weeks before expires



what's with all this bad news? Argh, I better enjoy this holiday while it last. Going to be a hella busy day once my semester starts.

meanwhile, while lurking through U-Tu-Be/NicoNicoDouga last night, I found an uberly greatly epicly awesome ToV MAD video

[Tales of Vesperia] BATTLE COLLECTION ~RAINBOW~

no words can describe my amazement.

ps: been a long time since I enjoy a mafia-themed animu since Baccano. Done with first part of Black Lagoon yesterday, going to continue with 2nd part soon :)

FInal year...finally =.=

At last...enrollment success!
Time to get a bit more serious this year I guess..
But my weekly schedule made me want to cry...Only 2 subjects are needed for this final year but the schedule never really feel like I'm enrolling in just 2 subjects. Three 5-hours practicals in a week zomgbbqwtf @.@

Tag V4

Didn't realize that mana-dono has tag me with this one :3


01. i love..
boobs

02. right now i want…
to complete my final year enrolment, which has been delayed for sevral days because of class clash u_u

03. i feel like…
marathoning some animu, but I always feel there's something more important to do

04. i hate it when…
My download speed is throttled D:

05. i fear…
Pitch dark. no, seriously

06. i’m lonely without…
my persocom

07. i need…
some sleep right now

08. today i...
play games as usual

09. tomorrow i…
like today

10. i just…
a human

11. i want to meet…
RL horo

12. i love it when…
I beat a particular game to a total completion.

14. i’m afraid of…
losing what I've worked hard for

15. i’m listening to…
Currently Luca Turilli and Yousei Teikoku

17. i wish i was in…
North pole. Summer in Aussie is friggin hot

18. i want to get…
a PS3 and a HDTV

19. i can…
stand being alone at home for 3 months

20. i can’t…
stand being alone without internet

21. i have…
cheezeburger

24. i haven’t…
finished The Last Remnant yet

25. i’m nervous to…
people I'm not familiar with

26. my parent think i’m…
their son :D

27. i think…
Square Enix has been crappy with their games as of lately

28. i’m happy when…
I achieve what I want to achieve

29. i’m sad when…
my pc crash, or my 360 has RROD

30. i like eating…
home made cooking or anything delicious

31. i hate eating…
anything I feel unusual than normal food

32. i love watching…
animu

33. i love listening to…
symphonic metal/gothic

34. I like playing…
dota

35. TAG WHO? =
anon
or anyone who want to do it

New 2009 Year?

random post is random...I guess.

As expected, I spend a ronery New Year eve at home u_u
Let's see...insight into the past and future:

Shit things do happened sometimes. Seems like I got some problems with my WC3. Lately they often lag whenever I try to watch replays, and sometimes it even dragged into real games I played, which really frustrate me because it forced me to forfeit and leave the game. The spikiness that come every once in 5 seconds are unbearable. I guess this has something to do with my screen resolution and graphic card. Time for some upgrade I suppose u_u

Just a week short before the start of enrollment for semester 1 of my final year. Final year, eh.. time to get serious inmy study I suppose. Less dota, less game, less animu...will that really do it?

House issue. Renew contract or find a new one. The landlord has contacted me a fw days ago about the contract, but I'm kinda hesitate to give my decision right away. need to discuss with my housemates first when they returned back from Malaysia. Of course, who would want to pay a rent of $390 per month =.=

Fortunately the thing I ordered a few days ago arrived right in front of my door this morning :D

Spice & Wolf 2009 Calendar XD

Never thought that the calendar is actually "that" big (approx 60 x 40 cm). No wonder the price is not ordinary :3
Despite using most of the wallpapers commonly seen over the internet, it's still refreshing to see them being used in the calendar :3

ps: my camera lens was damaged badly a few weeks ago. that's why the picture sux kthnx D: