" INGRESS! The fate of the world lies in the palm of your hand. Tip the balance with the tips of your fingers. Walk to embrace change for humanity, or walk to defend humanity from invasion! Pick your faction, dive into the action! "

If you're into Augmented Reality (AR), this is THE app for you. Developed by Google's very own NianticLabs, it is essentially a game. In a nutshell, you play as part of two factions, one embraces the change for humanity called the Enlightened, and the other opposes and considers it as an invasion, called Resistance. I myself have only played it recently, but find it deeply absorbing. You literally have to walk around to collect Exotic Matters or XM used to capture "portals" scattered across the world. 

Ingress is categorized as an AR-based MMORPG. Since it is developed by Google for Android platform, you will need an Android device to play it. Now you may be intimidated by the fact that it is an AR game and you may need high end devices to play, but don't worry - a lot of  devices can support this game. There is no heavy graphical processing going on at the background. You do need at least Gingerbread (Android version 2.3) and above to play it, and good internet connection with WiFi and GPS support is recommended.  

As I've mentioned earlier, the main objective in Ingress is to capture as many portals as you can, and link them together to form a field that may span across a small area, or as large as inter-cities. I could imagine it spanning across states and countries even. Since it is an MMORPG, you will be playing as part of either one of two factions - namely Enlightened and Resistance. (To be totally fair, I will not be mentioning which faction I'm playing for, although it is tempting to recruit my readers as part of my faction)

Portals are usually unique landmarks, buildings with historical or architectural value or importance, should be highly accessible and is a permanent fixture of the area. Some of them include arches, water features, public transit stations, entrances signs etc. Some of the portals in Kuching are shown in pics. There are more in the Peninsular, especially KL and Johor, as well as the neighbouring Singapore. 

When you're near a portal, you can hack it to get items. If a portal is neutral (Grey color in the game), you can deploy Resonators to capture it for your Faction (Blue represents the Resistance, Green represents the Enlightened). You can link portals together with a portal key obtained randomly as you hack portals, and attack enemy portals to force it back to a neutral state and then recapture it.

The most interesting aspect of the game is that you will be walking around from one portal to another. You may want to drive too if it's too far, or take the public transport. Point is, you'll be moving around. Me and my friend tried it yesterday afternoon, and it took us from Tugu Pahlawan, the temple at the end of Carpenter Street and around Waterfront area. I have to admit at that time I was a little lost because I couldn't make sense of anything in the game, but now that I've read a little about it, I think I'm good to go.

The game itself is still in beta version, downloadable from Google Play for free. However, you have to request an invite and get the activation code to play. It's still free, but I got mine about two weeks after requesting for an invite to play. Let not that put you off from trying it though, because I tell you it is very addictive - more than Candy Crush Saga or Subway Surfers and the likes. 

PS : Future posts will include details about the game and some of its mechanics, guides, media and in-game items, hints and tips. 

Out of frustration a phrase kept going on and on and on in my head! I tried to ignore it, but it got worse, made me even more frustrated. Finally I gave up, and linger on the thought, and this came out. 

mengapa kita bertermu, kemudian berpisah

menyebabkan aku resah

gelisah

tak tentu arah

pelbagai prosa ingin ku kota

dalam nova resolusi beresonasi

gendang telinga bingit!! tanpa bising

lidah kelu!! bila bicara seribu

kotak hati sepi tanpa menyendiri

rahsia akal tanpa destinasi

aku ingin kembali menemuimu!!

menemui diriku dalam dirimu...

Then I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and just thought of you for a few.. 

So the Malaysian Parliament has been dissolved. Day of election is coming. I'm not a political guy, matter of factly. I just don't have the time (and luckily most of my mates don't really bother about it - or if they did we never really talked about it) nor the interest to know what happens and what decisions is being made as long as it has positive impact on my immediate surroundings. (Ignorance is a bliss, eh?)

I still get asked a lot tho. "Are you going to vote?" "No." "Did you even register as a voter?" "Nope." "Why didn't you?" "Please refer to question and answer 1." It's a very effective deterrent for people who consistantly talks about politics and how our votes would change things and this and that. Yeap, I agree to that, but I disagree with Malaysian political culture. 

Purely for reference, not comparison, in the US the candidates would have a civilised debate, live, in front of their supporters. I have yet to see our candidates do that. I'd like to see it. Maybe they did and I missed it (like I said, I'm quite ignorant on this issue). What I see is the opposition throws and issue out, promises to solve it because the current government did not do anything. The current government then retaliate by saying such proposal is absurd. Then comes the sex scandals. Comes bribe issues. Comes this and that - and the main issue becomes a background. What we do is we stab each other's back. We fight dirty, that's what we do. 

A friend of mine tweeted something along the line of "Please hurry up the election before more sex scandals pops up. We're tired of it." I suppose a lot of people feel that way. The people's problems become secondary, and the personal (and dark side of professional) life of a candidate becomes the highlight. I gotta say, the media does not help. 

My parents are probably not going to vote either - for an entirely different reason. The "permanent in" or "dakwat kekal" that was introduced as part of the voting procedure worries them. Being obidient Muslims, they are afraid that the ink would prevent them from proper ablution and thus cannot perform the prayer. I've tried to explain to them that the ink allows water to pass through, much like inai, but alas, they said better safe then sorry. I even showed them the statement from Mufti and all those Islamic Governing department things whatever. (That shows how indifferent I am about voting)

Well, am I going to vote? Perhaps. I hope I have the motivation to learn a little politics, at least at the area where I'm supposed to vote. But for now, I really can't be arsed. Maybe when I see changes in the political arena - fight fair for voters' confidence, then I'll start voting. 

"I'm sorry I have to tell you this, sometimes your jokes are mean." This is the phrase that I will start to use more and more. It's because I get pissed off a lot easier nowadays compared to before. Stress has everything to do with it. I don't blame myself for not being able to handle my stress, because I am handling it. Just not yet as efficient as it should be handled. Nor do I blame my friends who seems to love making fun of me, because that is just their personality. I have to adapt, but at the same time I have to let them know where I draw the line. 

I don't mind being the fool or jester, but sometimes you have to understand that something meant to be a joke to you is rather offensive to others. I do not like it when people assume stuffs about me that they judge based on what they perceive. Like the other day, it's not a surprise that I don't have many friends because I keep correcting other people's grammar and people gets annoyed that they don't want to be friends with me anymore. Wrong on both accounts : I have a lot more friends than I let you know, and they all either jokingly apologise (which I don't need nor are they obligated to do - apology in this matter is treated as a playful banter) or mock jokingly, not sarcastically.

Dictating how I perceive life in general based on what I say at one point of time or another is another mistake. Make assumption about me, then be ready to make an ass(out-of)u-m-e. Just because I stand on the wrong point does not mean that I see life on the depressed side. Yeah I get depressed sometimes, but that's only because I tend to be emotional. That does not mean I see the glass as being half empty. Man that is so lame.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that be a little bit more sensitive about the other person. Just as loud music is appropriate at bars, clubs and parties, but is not in, say, a funeral - jokes are appropriate at certain times but not others. Sometimes, all you need to do is just be a friend and ask, "How are you holding up?"

I gotta say I'm a die hard fan of pastries and cookies (I'm sure I'm not alone n this one). The thing is I have to  (really really REALLY have to) watch what I eat. I gain weight very easily and lose rather slowly. But, I will make exceptions every once in a while. Otherwise, I'd probably be stuffing myself full with pastries ALL DAY LONG between EVERY MEAL. XD

Anyways, this is the first time I've actually tried a home made cream puff. Already I'm craving for more. Had a prospective client coming to our office for a visit and a presentation. As good host we decide to serve them a little breakfast. You know what they say, one way to win a heart is to win the tummy. 

Well obviously the pics aren't the ones I ordered. The moment I got to the office, put the puffs on the table in the pantry, half was gone! I didn't even have time to snap a picture. (Plus it would be very awkward to snap pics of food with guests around) Delish much! XD

I'd like to thank Nurul from Mia's Kitchen for preparing this great masterpiece of a pastry. My colleagues love it! The prospective clients love it too! She also has a few other pastries and desserts to die for - crepes, pavlova, these puffs that comes in either icing or chocolate toppings. I think she has a few other dishes - she posts them on facebook. Here's a sneak peek!

For now she operates from her house. I hope she goes around and expand this to a full business!!

PS : I'll have to ask for her permission to put her contact channels. Will update once she give's me an OK!

I have to admit, my Desire has given me a lot of memories. Mostly good, some.. meh.. lets just say not so good. It has brought me new friends, new relationship, but some of the friends I made became strangers over time, some stayed. The relationship did not work out, but I'm glad for the experience. Desire. It is time for you to retire. 

LOL! I am being so dramatically emotional about a phone! HTC Desire! I don't suppose a lot of you know this model in particular - HTC is afterall the underdog brand in device manufacturers. What many did not know is that HTC is actually the pioneered handheld device developments. But, lets not talk about tech history.. 

This is my Desire - Box and all!

HTC Desire is the first model in the Desire range - preceding Desire HD, Desire X, Desire C, Desire SV and Desire V (I think.. working with memory here. Correct me if I am wrong). I got my Desire about a month before it actually reached Malaysian market. Had it specially ordered from the UK. 

It has caught many eyes back then - having one of the largest screen (yeah 3.7 is small nowadays, but back then - 3 years ago - it was HUGE!), bright AMOLED screen, and get this - an OPTICAL TRACKPAD! Yeap. it is touchscreen, but I sh*t you not, the trackpad helped so much in navigating full desktop version website on a 3.7 inch screen. 

It was the first HTC phone that I had, and fell in love with the brand immediately. Sense UI (version 2 back then, now up to 4+) integrated the phone contacts with Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype. Gallery was integrated with Flickr and Picasa. Loved it cuz I don't have to open different apps to know what my contacts are up to. 

This is also my first Android platform - instant and unconditional love! Back then my Desire was on 2.0, Éclair was the pseudonym if I'm not mistaken. Official support upgrade up to 2.3 Gingerbread, but I went as far as rooting it to support 4.1 Jelly Bean. Still loving it despite occasional lag. It was expected tho - latest software driving a 3 years old hardware. It's like an F1 driver driving a Kancil on a circuit. 

Anyways - I got myself a new device for new year - Chinese New Year to be exact - tho I'm not Chinese, the spirit of CNY is felt. (>.<) Another Android, of course. A HTC thats for sure. Red, in theme of CNY. and loving it even more. But that's another story. For now, I'm putting my Desire to retire.