Rest in peace, Cocoa

Rest in peace, Cocoa (10th October 2021 to 29th October 2023), you were an adorable, well-behaved, easily approachable hamster. You were not just our pet, you were our furry child.

You joined our family slightly more than two years ago on the 10th of October 2021. On the way home from the pet shop you already bonded with wifey.

Princess Cocoa, the nickname we gave you as you liked to have your meal on the palm of our hands, instead of eating from you food tray. We had to held you up and fed you like a princess.

You loved being at high places, the platform on the stairs that joined the two containers that were your living space, became your favourite place to stay and sleep.

Hardly ever saw you on the running wheel, and while your cardboard building destruction skill was impressive, your tunnelling and hiding space making skill were hilariously lacking. Could almost always spot you when you thought you were well-hidden.

Perhaps you never did meant to hide from us? Since you were so warm and approachable, frequently eager to hop onto our palm and let us pat you. The others said you bit them, once or twice, but you never once bit me.

I hope I will always remember that feeling of your tiny tongue licking my fingers and palm, clearing off the food crumbs.

Thank you for the joy, companionship and wonderful memories. Thank you for being part of our lives.

I hope you had a good life with us, I hope you enjoyed being part of the family. I will miss you, Cocoa.

If you see Snowball in hamster heaven, help us say hi, and be nice to each other.

Other |sane side| category entries.

Diablo IV is no longer grindy

Diablo IV, at least in the Season of Blood, is no longer the grindy chore that it was.

I am already at character level 55 on my second weekend since the beginning of season 2. With my limited gaming time and my slow game play style, this is super fast levelling!

So Blizzard has been listening to their customers and is doing the right thing to bring the fun back to Diablo IV, good job Blizzard!

There are players who got to character level 100 in less than 20 hours in this Season of Blood. Not my thing but I guess some people get their kick from things like that.

The important thing is Blizzard gave the player the choice, which is always a good thing.

I hope the end game can hold my interest. But I am jumping the gun here, I hope I will finally get to max character level in this season, and finally get to see the so called 'end game'.

Even if the end game is not holding up, I am still happy with Diablo IV no longer being grindy, that getting to max character level within the season is now possible for casual player like me.

Other |geeky gaming| category entries.

做笔记

为了下个月要和同事的分享，我重温了八字的书。

终于又看完了，现在开始做笔记。

老实说，我觉得很好笑，我竟然要分享八字的知识？！？这件事我始终觉得怪怪的，有点荒谬。

我自学八字，从来都没有想过是要分享的，我就是好奇然后要多了解自己和家人的八字而已。

之前做的笔记纯粹是给我自己理解而已，没有想过要给别人解释，所以就是自己看得懂、不适合分享的形式。

很多我看懂了的东西我根本就没有记下来，但现在要分享给没有看过那本书，要从零开始解释的同事，我需要做别人也能看得懂的笔记。

之后还要把笔记转换成精简易懂、适合分享的版本。真是的，我在做什么啦？做什么为自己增添麻烦？

这整件事就是大大的一个荒唐就是了。

随兴随想 |系列|

转眼五年

五年前买了辆车，圆了一个梦想。

一转眼五年过去了，还是很满意那辆车，没有要换车的打算。

希望可以没有毛病的让我一直驾多很多很多年。

车和人都是…

随兴随想 |系列|

Diablo IV second season

The second season for Diablo IV, Season of Blood, has begun.

I didn't managed to complete the first season. I got to the last chapter but wasn't able to complete it, very far from being able to complete it to be honest.

Still far from the max character level 100, I was around level 67, so was still primarily playing in tier 3 difficulty instead of tier 4, which is needed for the quests in the last chapter of season 1.

I did managed to get all the free stuff in the season tiers though, the last being the 'monster' title. Well, except those that require character level above 67, mainly resource used for seasonal boost so didn't really miss any free stuff.

Think I will play a rogue in this season, not sure if I can complete the season journal given the game time I have, or the lack of really, but one can hope.

It will be good to finally have a max level character. Again, one can hope.

Other |geeky gaming| category entries.

Success!

Took half day leave last Friday, and a full day leave today (Monday).

That makes a 3.5 days long weekend, which I intended to not work at all.

And I succeeded! I ended Friday shortly after 13:00 hours and I didn't turned on my laptop to work at all throughout the 3.5 days.

Feel so proud of myself.

It has been a while since my last weekend without working overtime, so good job!

Hope I can keep this up.

Other |nutty nuts| category entries.

灰

乏力、低能量、力不从心。很纳闷、低落。

这是今天起床后一直保持的心情、感受。

是忧郁症吗？不太像…

昨晚睡眠素质没有特别好，也没有特别差，所以也就是平常的累。

但那乏力感、那纳闷，有别于常。怎么了？

灰灰的、蓝蓝的、沉沉的。

心语细述 |系列|

有感而发：小毛孩可可

我们家仓鼠，可可，年纪大了。已经是八十多岁的婆婆了。

近来它越来越不活跃，食欲也大大减低。

情人老婆仔说可能它的牙齿已经没力了。我想老婆仔说得对，因为曾经可可每晚宵夜吃的豆谷类食物，它现在已经不感兴趣了，多数时候看那些它留下没吃的，都是有壳的。

今天看它有时上楼梯会有点吃力的样子，观察一阵后发现它的四肢开始有不协调的迹象，还从高处跌倒了几次。

唉… 我可爱乖巧的小毛孩老了，真的为它感到心酸。

情人老婆仔说买了些婴孩的食物，还没有收到。这几天除了它的粮食，也会给它多些新鲜的蔬菜。

周末清理它的住处时会把连接两个盒子的楼梯拿掉，让它就只是在一个盒子里生活。虽然知道它喜欢高的地方，但看它有时辛苦的上楼梯，和会从高处不小心掉下，觉得还是这样对它比较好。

不知道它还会跟我们在一起多久，但希望可以让它过得好好的。

我知道它离开的时候我会伤心的。

有感而发 |系列|

疲累

睡眠素质不好的我，对累不陌生。

这一周至今，两天工作日都是累。今天特别累，还没有午餐就开始累了。

昨晚也没有比平时频醒，觉得睡眠素质就一般般，没有特别的差，但今天特别累。

午餐后喝了一瓶红牛，因为下午和经理有会议，是一直在对话那种会议，不是可以放空那种…

红牛下肚，到了和经理会议时候我依旧是累了，会议是由我伸一个懒腰提神开始。

傍晚下班时我已经累到头痛了，关了电脑就直接床上做死尸到小儿子来房里叫我吃晚餐为止。

累，就是累。除了累，还是累。

随兴随想 |系列|

Parental angst

Complete results for kids' second exams are out, with the useful average of the whole form included.

The younger son did not disappoint, his grade continues to improve, and while fell short of his targeted position among his form, he has passed every subjects and is within the top 20 percentile.

The elder son on the other hand, is a major headache. Not really surprised from his attitude throughout the semester but still disappointed. I guess I am still trying to believe him, even when he has not delivered on his promises. His words are cheap.

At the beginning of the school year I emphasised that he no longer has any buffer, he should treat it as a 'do or die' situation, and put in everything he has into his studies.

He continued to scorn study and prefers to waste his time playing computer game, watching television, and gluing himself to his smartphone.

So it's no surprise with the results he got. He has dropped to the bottom 16 percentile now. Being the absolute last in his form is perfectly within the realm of possibility now given the trend of his decline.

So I took it upon myself to analyse his results and to go through the analysis with him. Taught him how to analyse, how to interpret, and how to strategise. Taught him about the weighting, showed him the trend of his form, how he compared to the average of his form and what does it mean, and which subjects he should put more effort in and which are less important because of the weighting.

That was yesterday, and the first thing he did today after he woke up was to play computer game, then had his lunch, and continued to play computer game after lunch without washing up his dishes. At the time of writing this sentence he is still playing, and wifey has reminded him several times that he has already exceeded his game time.

Yes, such is the angst of being the parents of a child with problematic attitude.

Other |sane side| category entries.

Not gonna make it

First season for Diablo IV, Season of the Malignant, will be over in about two weeks time.

Feel like it just started not long ago. How time flies.

Really don't have much gaming time lately, just completed my quarterly report yesterday and it's shocking the amount of thermal simulations I have done in last three months...

Ya, hence the lack of gaming time, as I was working on weekends, holidays and even annual leaves. *Sigh*

Anyway, I am playing the druid class in Diablo IV first season, a shapeshifting druid. I started off with a werewolf build but it became too fragile when I started the tier three difficulty, progress became a frustrating grind.

So I gave up on being different and looked up a cookie cutter werebear build. Survivability went up so progress becomes less frustrating, still feel too grindy for my liking, and now I am just like the other druids... =(

Given the season will end in about two weeks time and I am just level 57 at the moment, I don't see how I could complete the season journal in time, especially since I only really have time for proper gaming in the weekend. Well, weekend when I am not working overtime, that is.

So ya, looks like I am not going to make it. Oh well, a shame.

Other |geeky gaming| category entries.