One thing at a time

Applying to US universities on your own, without the guidance of teachers or a school, is confusing, exasperating work. I have no idea where to begin. Sometimes I feel like just forgetting about this whole thing, but then again I can't let this chance just slip away, can I?

Gloominess aside, I am officially hooked onto this song used in a recent Homestuck update:



This song is just the perfect combination of smooth, lively and video game retro, but what can I say? My patron troll is awesome.

::::)

Freedom? Maybe later.

Yes, I'm back, and yes, I've been back for 3 days already, so don't bug me about not posting immediately because I KNOW already.

But delusions of actual readership aside, my return from Wallaby pretty much starts the countdown to my ORD. From here on out, I technically have enough off and leave to never set foot in camp until that fateful day, though I'll probably still go back once or twice for the sake of properly handing/taking over my duties. To think, in about a month and a half's time my routine as I have known it for one and a half years will come to an abrupt end. Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with all that spare time.

Is it weird that I actually feel hesitant about my ORD? Or maybe more specifically, what I should do before and after the fateful day. Studying for SAT II is only half done; uni applications are also only halfway through; haven't even started on uni essays yet. Am I really ready to venture out on my own? Again: yes, I know it's my fault for not managing my time properly and whatnot; I'm not pushing blame or pointing fingers here, i'm just venting. Why can't you just let a guy vent?

On a less depressing side note, during Wallaby I started reading a webcomic called Homestuck. Well, "webcomic" is being used loosely here because a significant part of the Homestuck experience also consists of gifs, flash animations and even interactive minigames which all serve to present a deliciously complicated storyline filled with alternate dimensions, time travel and aliens just to name a few, as well as hilariously ridiculous running gags and jokes. It is a complexly woven epic which is also not afraid to take itself lightly and thus saves itself from being heavy-handed.

Look at that stunning character art. Isn't that reason enough to start reading Homestuck?

But seriously, irony aside, go read it. It's long and it's confusing, but if you have the patience to follow through with the introductions then you will enjoy it, I guarantee you.

PS: I'm still not yet current with Homestuck so NO SPOILERS!!!

Pseudo-game review: 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

It's unfortunate and untimely that at such a fragile point of my life I would start to have such an objectively trivial but emotionally burdensome personal crisis of sorts. And for both problems, the only solution is to wait for Father Time to come and make everything better. Goes to show that people like me can't be left to their own devices for too long or they'll start over-thinking everything. Maybe I just need a good old-fashioned distraction.

Speaking of which, in my time in pre-Wallaby so far I have played and completed a Nintendo DS game called 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors:

Honestly, before I picked up this game I had no idea exactly what I was in for; all I did was skim through IGN and find that this was a pretty highly recommended mystery visual novel/puzzle-solving point-and-click adventure, which to me meant that I could basically pick up this game in between doing work for a casual gaming experience. Ironically, I ended up devoting hours and even days on this game in a bid to figure it out because it was simply THAT amazing and engaging.

In short summary, you wake up in a place you've never seen before and realise that you've been kidnapped by a mysterious person named Zero and have been forced to play a twisted game of "escape the sinking ship" with 8 other people whom you don't know and find hard to trust. Besides a multitude of challenging puzzles that you have to solve to escape each room, you also have to think about which room you want to go into next and how to answer conversations with the other victims, all of which may or may not completely change the ending you are headed towards. In fact, multiple endings and playthroughs are a defining part of what 999 is all about: you will almost certainly die in your first playthrough, but the knowledge you gain about the whole conspiracy will aid you and tempt you to keep playing to discover more endings. And when you finally piece together all the pieces and unlock all 6 (SIX!!!) possible endings, the entire weight of the game will come crashing down on you and you will spend days thinking about a finale that is equal parts shocking, eerie, heart-warming and pretty much perfectly fitted to the story that has been constructed up till that point. From a storyline, atmosphere and engagement point of view, 999 is simply perfection; there's nothing else I can add to that.

Except, maybe...

That A SEQUEL IS COMING OUT!!!

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (the video's title is a literal translation of the Japanese title so it's a bit weird) is a self-contained story, but is made by the same guys who made 999 and features two characters from the previous game, so it's a sequel in a way. While 999's main puzzle mechanic was digital roots, Zero Escape seems to be based around the idea of the Prisoner's Dilemma. The Japanese version is out already, and the North American version will be out on 23 October, which is perfect for when I touch down from Wallaby and start to buy my post-ORD devices. I still don't know if I'm getting a 3DS or a PS Vita, but I do know that either way, this will be one of the first games I'm getting. So PSYCHED for the sequel of a game that I've only played literally just a few days ago. But what can I say; I'm completely smitten.

Take-off

The plane is leaving in 6 hours, but I'm feeling surprisingly emotionless. Maybe that should be the case, but maybe not; Australia will still be the same as it was last year, but the Singapore I'm leaving behind is completely different.

It seems that the motel that is my life is taking in customers now.

Time is Running Out

I'm leaving for Australia in 3 days (for Wallaby, not leisure, so you can stop being jealous now) there's so much to be done in Singapore.

The past few days have been hectic, to say the least. Ever-changing schedules have somehow caused me to lose nearly all my embarkation leave, and until now I'm still not done packing.

Sometimes I feel that I'm in the passenger seat of my own life, only watching but not controlling what happens to me.

If you don't like it, please don't put a ring on it

"Till Death do us part" seems like such an empty promise these days.

You can capture a body, but you cannot capture a heart. And perhaps, having an empty shell of a person is worse than not having someone at all.

And I discovered that my castles stand / Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

Commitment

A calm, serene lake, but all was not as it seemed. Turmoil lurked under the surface, violent undercurrents which rose from the bottom towards the top, ripping everything asunder as they rose. Finally, a leviathan broke through to the surface, shattering the mirror-smooth face of the lake I once mistook for true peace. It was poised, ready to devour the lake and all life within it. Then, just as suddenly, it was gone. A tenuous silence was restored, but it was not the peace I once knew. The surface of the lake rippled constantly, seemingly quivering with fear, wary of the next time the leviathan would strike again.

Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got till it's gone.

Love is not an emotion; love is a commitment.