[ 29032007 12.34 all you need to know ]

asterisk* trials

Venue/Time
3pm, 31st March @ Gaming GiantsKatong Shopping Centre#B1-35/38

Format of Trials
(subject to change)Version: 6.40

ROUND 1
(-apspdu)1v1 (3X 1v1 per game)
Time Limit: up to 20 minutes
- No ganking, no runes, no neutrals, no power-ups, no item sharing (includes chicken), no lane changing, no item restrictions
- Hero choices will be your own
- Starting gold will be same as a 5v5

ROUND 2
(-apsp)5v5
Time Limit: up to 40 minutes
- No item restrictions, no item sharing (includes chicken)
- Both teams will draft before game commences

You will be judged on aspects such as:
- Creeps farmed/denied
- Item build
- Creep and lane control
- Coordination/assistance to team-mates
- Awareness

Notice
- Please be on time (no later than 15 minutes)
- You will be required to sign-in and fill up a form (approach anyone at the counter if you cannot find the * members)
- Trials will be FOC (no LAN charges will be incurred)
- As of now, 12 girls have expressed interest and have confirmed with us that they will be present this Saturday. We urge all other girls who have not responded to do so as soon as possible so we can make proper arrangements.

Girls listed for trials – kim, d4wn, kelly, claire, cass, yann, maria, impulsedragon, dragon's friend, lingzi, jaime

Good Luck Have Fun!

***
i was reflecting on the game played on saturday.
i won't say we played well. but i can say we were having fun. and its been a while since we've really had fun as a team. cos in the end, a win against them isn't really worth anything. no win is worth anything, except a win against the best.
we have come a long way. and its nice to see how things worked out in the end, and interesting to guess how things will be in the future. when cyn and jy left, i was almost ready to go find a mixed team and forget about an all gals team. too many hurdles, too many politics. but shan dawn and i, somehow stuck around.

and, i like challenges.

[ 27032007 4.13pm HELP HAS ARRIVED! ]

to all you singnet subscribers out there... who cannot view some blogs, like my asterisk* zenith blog, this is what you have to do !

for internet explorer:

Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
u go tools -> internet option -> connections tab -> lan settings
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
the check the use proxy server
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
address is proxy.singnet.com.sg
port is 8080
then bypass proxy server for local addresses
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
then should work le

for firefox:


Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
the firefox is almost the same
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
tool -> options -> advanced tab
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
network tab
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
settings..
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
Manual Proxy config
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
use this proxy ....
checked
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
then the http proxy and port is the same as what u did for ie
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
no proxy for : localhost, 127.0.0.1
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
if its not there
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
automatic proxy config dont check it

HOWEVER:


Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
if some of ur download sites are blocked
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
u have to remove the use of the proxy
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
just uncheck the box
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
not remove but "not using"
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
cuz now u are surfing that page by going through a proxy server
Leon™: What would I do without friends.. says:
so some download websites are blocked by singnet

***
this makes me very happy!

[ 27032007 12.23am bend.it.like.beckham.revived ]

i just caught the show again today. and alot of what the show was about rang true.
its about fighting for what you want to do, against your race, culture, and most importantly- social stereotypes.
it also brings in the politics which can happen even among the like minded females fighting on the same soccer team. even though i feel this bit wasn't elaborated on sufficiently- the point of conflict being a guy that 2 of them were interested in.

as you all know, asterisk is opening up for trials. and the fundamentals of why i game, the reason behind an all gals team, have been questioned. all this has made me question my motives once again...

its not easy to pursue gaming for me. through my entire schooling career, it was always studies first, game when i have the time. i can only thank God for giving me enough discipline so that i managed to complete my studies without retaining, and even, doing well enough.
its not just may parents though, a lady from an agency called me the other day and she asked me what i have been part timing as. after i gave her my impressive list of gaming related part time jobs, she was totally astounded... she was like"but that totally doesnt fit your profile!" i do have to go against what i've been taught all my life about what a successful student from my line should be like after graduation.

my parents are just starting to panic about how much i game, maybe its cos i'm alot free-er now to pursue my long time hobby, whatever it is, they have been referring me to sites and articles about gaming addiction. =.="
also, they dont see it as a wholesome activity. they'd rather i be out there teaching orphans to read and keeping the elderly company. stuff like that. but i'm not so selfless. in fact, if you wanna come down to it, i'm actually a pretty selfish person. most of us are, i guess. its just whether you want to admit it or not.
so, i'd like to go into a career to do with gaming. but i think they wont have it. of course if i really want to, there isnt anything much that they can do to stop me, but i know they wont be thrilled. which is interesting, since they've always said things like "why game so much? gaming can earn you a living is it?"

another reason why its so difficult is that i'm simply, not good enough. see, in the show, jess was good enough. she had the raison detre to defy everything she was taught.
i dont.

Originally Posted by xsomebodyx
Honestly, yes. If they can do well in games like CS, why can't they excel in DotA too? By comparing them with guys, it's not really fair, as studies have shown that the proportion of male gamers is slightly more than female gamers. BUT on the other hand, the number of female gamers have increased dramatically over the past decade. Seriously, I don't see why we won't be able to see top female teams duking it out with top male teams in competitions.Oh yes, I just thought of something else. Has anyone ever considered MIXED TEAMS? =D That would be uber cool or.

me:"end of the day, there are many reasons why i would choose to commit to my gals team than a mixed team, simply because, if i'm in a mixed team, i would EXPECT to win. not that i dont want to win in a gals team, just that its expectations vs dream/aim.and you dont have the silent pressure that you're being blamed by the guys."

Originally Posted by <3dwarf
usually gers are thot to be a weaker gender, be it sports, gaming, etc... but it's kinda true you see, usually if gers started the same time as guys in any of these activities, most likely the guys will win, not sure why, however there's still possibility that gers can win in gaming but sports i wud have to say nah... good luck asterisk! wee ^^

me:"tell that to my male sailing teammates back in JC who used to run their 2.4km slower than me. and its not that they are weak. i used to do 11minutes."

when all's said and done :
xsomebodyx"gogo gals out there prove to the guys that u r up to the challenge =D (sry i just want more eyecandy :X)"

=.="

its an age old debate. and i dont believe either side will ever be totally convinced of the other.

***

back to asterisk* trials...
kim, d4wn`, kelly, kelly's fren, cass, kristin, impulsedragon, impulsedragon's friend, hq gal, nicole, lingzi, yann
12. anymore takers?

***

i watch you while you are sleeping

you belong to me~*

[ 25032007 2.09pm recruitment! ]

dear all,
i am pleased to announce that asterisk*[X3M] is recruiting, so please inform and encourage your female dota friends to attend our trials. we are looking at taking 2-3 new members to our team. trials are tentatively set for next satuday 31st March at Gaming Giants at katong shopping centre at 3PM. Details can also be found on the asterisk zenith blog or dotasg forums : http://www.dotasg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20797#post20797

pre-requisites:-
1) must be FEMALE. males need not apply.
2) preferably not studying, or not in a crucial exam year.
3) have decent connection + com at home to train. or able to go lan to train with the rest of the team online.
4) can commit to at least ONE training session weekly.

trials will be held at Gaming Giants at katong shopping centre and we require you to be down in person so we can verify your sex. this is NON-NEGOTIABLE.we look forward to meeting you soon.

Gaming Giants
Katong Shopping Centre
#B1-35/38
(below Asteriods cyber cafe, where the old DC8 used to be. go down the stairs near the POSB atm outside Katong Shopping Centre. its on the right.)

[ 23032007 1.06pm | doGgY- ]

ok. i'm suddenly + a new cocker spaniel. his name is muffin and he used to belong to my sister. my mum agreed take him to live in our house on the condition that my dad and i look after him, and that i take him to my house when i get married. =.="

***
anyway, asterisk* is opening trials, those female dota players out there, pls fall in, leave me tags / buzzes, ANYTHING. dont worry too much about personal skill... we'll trial and see how things go. theres other factors than personal skill that we look at.

***
some blogs are down... i dunno why... is it cos of pakistan? http://www.withinandwithout.com/?p=657

[ 17032007 10.16pm how to tell a girl that you like her ]

here's a useful guide for all you lousy guys or nerds out there who have no idea what to do about the girl you like. [cough*ant*cough]
or maybe you're just curious to know.
take it all with a pinch of salt though, because its coming from ME.
***
before i get into it, lets start with a quote. an actual conversation today at sakae sushi actually.
ant: so ice, how do you tell a girl that you like her. or how do you let her know?
ice: erm... well, you ignore her, don't talk to her, wait for her to talk to you, act mysterious...
ant: ok... its very clear that ice doesn't want me to EVER get a gf.
the rest of us: ROFLOL.
lux: ant is COOL man!
***
so with that for background... here goes.
there are some things to consider before you tell the girl you like her.
1) do i know her well enough, or at least how she is like?
2) does she have a bf already?
3) is she straight?
4) do you think she likes you? or at least likes having you around?
5) are you un-attached?
6) are you, in the least, compatible with her?
if you answered no to any of these points, then u better think twice, thrice... many times.

so, actually 1) is subjective. because she may not exactly be very close to you personally, but if she's part of the group you hang out with, chances are you'll have gotten some kind of idea of how she is like. cos, no matter how you may try, there's always things about another person that you will never really know. i mean, my parents for example, have been married for like... 30 years or something and they still do discover new things about each other that they havent known.
actually, if you said no to 1) and/or 6) you could actually take a risk and tell her. however, if you answered no to 2-4, then, STAY CLEAR, or you're asking for Trouble with a capital T.
***
so after considering these points, and you've decided that you just wanna let her know, i've found that sometimes actions speak much louder than words.
a sincere look in the eyes with unguarded affection (although you may be talking to her about something as trivial as the weather) sometimes does the trick better than telling her directly, especially if you just got to know her. however, i do expect that she will require a confession in future just to make sure that her gut feelings were right.
so... hang around with her lots, and talk to her when you can, but not going overboard doing so, cos it might get a little irritating.
if it gets to the point where she starts asking you weird questions and pressing you for answers, perhaps asking for your contacts as well, its 80% sure that you've hooked her.
which is the right time for you to just express in words how you feel about her.
***
=D
and thats it for furryfish's guide to confessing your affections to a girl.

[ 16032007 9.16pm confused. ]

going to sleep unhappy and then proceeding to have weird dreams doesnt do much for your mood the next day.
i'm camping in my room, avoiding the relatives who are flooding my living room downstairs. upstairs is out of bounds for the kids, so i'm quite isolated here. happily so.
spent the day considering things, while slicing mushrooms/washing plates/cutting eggs/frying garlic etc etc. so much so that mum actually asked why i was so unhappy. tired perhaps.
ok. a kid just intruded. grr.
***
the dream:
its more the non action than the action that bothers me. if you saw something like that happening in front of you... yet did nothing about it... its telling me something.
***
funan interschool:
stuck at home while the games were all being played, no commentators down today... actually a blessing in disguise or i'd have to cast solo. and it was refreshing to be alone for the day... reading... and slacking off from helping mum
***
the night before:
"i know you well, i know your smell...
i've been addicted to you..."
i think i'm losing myself, in a very... subtle way. i cant exactly express it any other way other than that. there doesnt seem to be something i can hold on to that i can call MINE and MINE alone anymore. or maybe, i just cant see what is mine.
"once i thought that all i had was mine,
that what was mine, would always be..."
maybe this is what happens to rafflesians after they finish schooling... with the rafflesian culture so strong... its absence is a palpable loss. perhaps we all need something or somewhere to belong to. i am defined by my past.
and suddenly i'm not sure if i want change in my life, or whether i'm scared of changes.
this is the state of mind which should be accompanied by an overnight session by the beach. preferably with a fishing rod in hand, friends in calling distance, but not too close by...
at the end of it all, i'm stronger than my confusion. thats just something i'm not confused about.

just remember that i loved you before you were anything~*

[ 13032007 10.48pm tired.of.fun ]

i'm in a super tired state. and i've been really busy the past few days. so... it all started when my parents left for malaysia on friday morning. that day, i went to watch 300 with kaldorei + friends. lol... leng's bus pass FTW. following which we had training at HQ where i accidentally alt-Q-Q. -_-
***
saturday amk raiders compie as well as gamers inc compie, after which we chionged cloud's house - cloud ant ice and i.
one thing i have to say about ant, he's one of the very few mutual friends who actually doesnt mind tagging along with ice and i, without comments like "dian deng pao" and such. lol... its actually quite appreciated. but i guess ant doesn't appreciate it... cos we molest him. HAHA.
anyway, we trotted over to cloud's place where ice proceeded to hog the computer, and me cloud's dog. haha. ant was just staring mouth agape at ice's games. zz.
but i have to say, that the few games of bridge were just damn fun. cloud was not bad for a first timer, but ice seriously blew. so much for faking that he knew how to play just so he stay at the com and not do the walk through demo game with us. LOL!
"i bid for 3 diamonds. partner 2 of spades."
TT"
***
sunday, i was just totally unable to wake up for church... =.=" and when i finally dragged myself out of bed it was to go to gamers inc to check out the final day of games, which zenith won of course. xqR came in second, joey pulling the qop 2dr throne trick twice.
had dinner and met an old colleague from egames.
then... due to the incident (as mentioned on asterisk*zenith) i went over to gaming giants for the remainder of the night.
***
yesterday, woke up early for shoutcasting at funan interschool compie, only to have the games start a couple of hours late. start late = end late, and ant+ice+gears of war = super late. so we got to shan's bbq at around...... 9pm? no more food cept for chicken wings! TT"
oh yes, before i forget,
11th march - jiayi + ant's birthday. and cass also!
12th march - shan + tofu's birthday.
thats almost half our teams having birthdays within the last 2 days.
had a really nice time chatting with the people at her bbq last night... cept that my ass is hurting from sitting on that see saw with ant. =.=" strangely, he feels no pain.
***
today - late for commentating, and many absent commentators! one hit head one in malaysia still. thank goodness for ant cos i was too zonked to drag myself there early.
home early!
***
tomorrow- commentating all day long again, parents returning from malaysia!

***
boring post, but i wanna remember these few days...

The Happiest Monster

yay! can view it straight here alr... i managed to set it up!

[ 06032007 8.54pm super damn cute ]

haha... you'll regret it if you dont watch this youtube clip.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qg8mZKbUzwE
its so freaking cute i cant stand it.
***
anyhow i found this interesting article somewhere on msn.
http://www.slate.com/id/2160481?nav=ais
"Beauty and the Geek Maybe good looks do make you smarter." By Tim Harford

some of it really rings true... lol

Perhaps beautiful people are better at their jobs. There is no mystery as to why we want decorative Hollywood stars, but the same logic might apply to sales staff. Even a bureaucrat might be more persuasive if he or she is good-looking, and who wouldn't want persuasive employees instead of charmless ones?

Remember, too, that beautiful people have probably been treated well all their lives. This might affect abilities that have nothing, ostensibly, to do with appearance: If handsome kids get all the attention from teacher, why would they not do better at school?

something to think about ya?

[ 06032007 12.43pm SAD!!!!! ]

last night, taking a slow (and very long) walk back home from tampines, i spied a little wriggling thing on the path ahead. scuttling over, i discovered that it was a rarely seen little beauty. a brahminy blind snake! it was about 10cm in length and thinner than your mouse wire. so, of course, me being me, i picked it up and brought it home. [lol! examining it under microscope at the gas station eh?] it feels exquisite against your skin... like a moving metal chain, cool and sleek, its little tongue a treat to see as it flickered in and out occassionally, so small that it was finer than a strand of hair.
i brought it home and kept it in a container in my room, leaving it ajar so as not to suffocate it. and when i woke this morning, it was gone! somewhere in my room. TT" i hope it survives. and i'm so sad that i cant hold it again...
maybe my mum let it go... cos she doesnt like me capturing bugs and stuff... all very well for her, SHE eats them. *thinks of the 2 poor beetles she recently chomped into*

anyhow heres a pic of it, taken off the web, cos i had no time to take one of mine... SO SADDDD

and here's the link if you'd like to know more about it!

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/brahminy_blind_snake.htm

[ 05032007 1.15pm dreammmm ]

i had a really weird dream last night... it woke me up and i told you~* about it immediately. the joys of all night long phone zzing.
it has convinced me totally on one point. before i get to the point, let me relate my dream.

i dreamt that my mum was in a raid with some of her guy friends, playing on my laptop and other laptops in my bedroom. (ok, this is from what little understanding i have of WoW, i mean, i dont even know what kinda items you get and what a raid is exactly.)
so, yes, she was WoW-ing and she was about to pick up an ogre axe thing (mixture of dota and WoW maybe?) which added +20 strength and which she totally needed because her character just levelled and couldnt use the lousier items that she had. (k i know this part doesnt make sense, but its a DREAM yo..) as she was about to pick it up, her friend stole it. and she got so mad that she stabbed him to death in the stomach, repeatedly, with an ice pick. ON MY BED.
strangely, he didnt make any noise as he was being stabbed... and i would think that death by an ice pick would be something like poking a piece of agar agar with a tooth pick... NOT a pretty picture.

and where was i through all this? i was sleeping in the computer room, then i finally decided that i had enough of being thrown out of my room, so i went and demanded to sleep in my own bed, strangely, the fact that someone was just murdered there didnt bother me at all, i was too sleepy. so my mum, i think, dragged the body off the bed and dumped it at the foot. and suddenly the room was empty. halfway through my sweet sleep, i woke up with a start, realising very very suddenly that my mum murdered someone. so i got out of bed and trooped over to her room, stepping on the dead guy's bloody middle in the process. i could feel the wetness in my dream...
and she was crying in her room, very upset that she killed him. =.="
i took a peek at my ankles which were somehow stained with DRIED blood, even though i JUST stepped on him.
everything was in colour. very detailed. i even know which bedsheets were on my bed...

so what, you may ask, is the point that i was getting at since the start of this account?
what the main point is, is that WoW is evil.

here's a treat for all you self-proclaimed tofuboi fans out there! pic taken from gamesync gallery, from RP's ex3 gaming compie, i believe.

current thread featuring zenith players at :
http://www.dotasg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=18421&posted=1#post18421

[ 03032007 2.03pm to YOU. you know who you are ]

hello. i cant reply on your tagboard, i hate flooble. and anyway there isnt enough space. so here is what i was looking for, and as it is backdated quite abit, naturally i would look through the pages at the back, yes, past page 5. lol.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/animals
its the fur bearing trout! somewhere towards the end of the page.
incidentally, they took the key words "furry fish" out of the article, so i was searching in vain.

and well, honestly, i have NOTHING to do. having graduated from NUS last year, and not having a permanent job yet, of course i have time to burn. ^^

i was actually pretty intrigued by your argument on how anything can be found online with just the hit of the enter key. i guess that is particularly pertinent in my case since the nature of my hobby is internet based. as a matter of fact, i do sometimes search my nick to see what comments have been going around about me, where i'm linked to etc. VOD's of interviews and games i've done/ commentated are, well... pretty much publicised, so it is interesting to know where they are being linked to and what is said about them. i dont usually make my presence known on sites where i've seen my name mentioned, what i did on yours is a precedence. =D

[ sneaky grin at all you other people who blog about me and think i dont see what you write. ]

as for your dilemna, i say you pick what you wanna do. which appears to be archi. be true to yourself, thats how i ended up with a geog major.

***

that said, i am presently dying my hair black. i hope it turns out DARK, cos i have no time and money to waste on another dye job at a salon. OMGOSH which means i cant use my headset while playing game for an hour from now... laptop sound sucks. oh well.

***

i had an interesting night at egames, contrary to what the masses might think, i do not actually haunt egames everyday, or even every week. so last night was a refreshing change from chionging games at home in the solitude of my room, or my dad's computer room. the lan experience does make a change... its nice to play and hear you by my side. mostly.~*

gearing up for an upcoming competition, for those of you who are wondering who is in my new team, well... too bad, but you're not gonna get it out of me. YET.

anyhow, wcg smu qualifiers and funan interschool coming up as well, that just means i gotta start drowning myself with water for 4 hr straight commentating sessions again. in addition, parents are going overseas again! which makes for good tawn-ing opportunities. but somehow i realise that we always lack water when we tawn.

k. starting to ramble and become one of those boring blogs where the author only talks on and on about her/his life. eeeee...

one last grumble, if i may...

i miss my longer hair!!!!!!!