Baby's first month

Today, the baby is one month old, according to the lunar calendar. As per tradition, we went to offer prayers to my deceased father to introduce the baby to him, as well as pray for the baby's health. At the same time, we delivered some cakes to relatives, since I was unable to hold a baby shower due to my schedule (currently attending classes at night and preparing for some tests).A shot of the family together.

Aoi's first birthday

Today is my wife's niece, Aoi's first birthday. So we got down to making it a memorable event (although simple). Her first birthday, away from home, but still as happy and enjoyable!

And of course, we cannot forget the birthday cake! Thanks to Eve for collecting it!

Easter

Today is Easter Sunday, celebrated by Christians to mark the resurrection of Jesus. Of course, to me, it is just another holiday marked in our calendars.

There is also a theory that Easter is a festival to celebrate an Anglo-Saxon goddess called Ēostre.

And while some countries celebrate Easter Sunday with Easter Monday (the Monday after Easter is a public holiday in lieu of Sunday since Easter always falls on a Sunday), unfortunately, we don't have that in Singapore... sigh...

Easter eggs, anyone?

The search goes on...

I am searching for an online game, a MMOG that has elements of RPG, some form of class/skill progression, with quests and not so much grinding, while allowing players to create their own stuff, with players that can help each other but does not require too much commitment.

Some candidates:
World of Warcraft - Quite a good game, only problem is that you have to pay to play. And with so many people online, spending hours each day, the casual player like me will have a hard time with guilds and thus never get my hands on the better equipment (since I end up soloing...)
Second Life - This is really a virtual world, where you can create anything you want... the game is great in terms of customisation, but it seems to lack an objective. You don't seem to be getting anywhere. Unless you really want to live life in a virtual world (I prefer working and strolling in the real one), this may not be that "escape from reality" that I am looking for in MMOGs...
PlaneShift - This is actually more like a MUD with 3D graphics when I first tried it out, but over the years, it seems to have improved and now actually looks more promising than before, with good graphics and normal choices of character creation options.
Entropia (Planet Calypso) - A sci-fi MMORPG that looks great, and seems promising in terms of gameplay as well. Yet to really try this out... the game download seems to take ages.
Anarchy Online - A MMORPG with free-to-play option, though the expansions may cost. Graphics looks good, gameplay seems promising, though it is a sci-fi setting and thus not my cup of tea (I prefer fantasy setting).
Perfect World - It seemed like a great game, some even said the graphics are better than WoW. But I don't think so. And after a while, it kind of gets boring. You can customise your avatar much like in Second Life, but beyond that, it doesn't really have much of a RPG aspect, and the quests involve grinding at the low levels, plus level advancement is slow. After a while, you don't seem to be going anywhere.
Rappelz - The graphics (from the screenshots) looks to be wonderful, and seems like an interesting game as well with the selection of races and classes. And a pet progression system as well to buff up the pets.
Runescape - Actually quite like this one, just for plain simple fun. But there isn't much of a storyline so it can become quite a bore trying to play this for long. The objective seems to be just to improve your own skills.
Rubies of Eventide - This looks promising, with a normal selection of races and skills to advance in. Graphics looks good as well.
Silkroad Online - Has an item mall, which means that players who pay will get an advantage. Graphics seems to be very promising, but limited selection of classes.
Tibia - 2D graphics... else it seems to be a good RPG game.

If you know any interesting free MMOG/MMORPGs to recommend, do feel free to let me know!

Losing focus

I lost my focus today. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, in focusing on the goal to accomplish, I was focusing on trying to deliver what I thought would be acceptable. In the end, I was struggling with to do things in a manner that I am not used to, and messed things up big time. If I had focused on the task, and did things the way that I have been used to doing, I am sure I would have been able to accomplish the goal and did much better.

But that is all water under the bridge, so no point crying over split milk.

Recognition

What is recognition? Why do we seek it?

People are recognised for the things that they do, whether they seek that recognition or not. Sometimes, a person may be doing something that he wants to accomplish for his own sake, yet gets recognised in the process for accomplishing a feat that is commendable. Of course, there are also those who seek recognition, and thus work towards accomplishing tasks that will gain the recognition of others.

But is recognition about oneself? Or can it be about others as well? After all, although there are times when one's accomplishments are the results of one's hard work, more often than not, we accomplish tasks with the help of others. In being recognised for our accomplishments, are we not also gaining recognition for those who helped us? Is the teacher not recognised for the accomplishments of his students?

Calligraphy practice piece - 精湛

Gotten down to writing it, as promised. This is a practice as my calligraphy teacher wants me to use this phrase to prepare a piece to take part in an exhibition in Japan at the end of the year.

Back home!

After 3 days in hospital, finally back home! And sleeping soundly...