Winter is arrived.. (14th of June)

She wanted a new chair to replace our old one so she led me to that furniture store to have a look at that office chair in the morning. As mum had to make sure that the chair she chose is flawless, she was like an inspector checking everywhere around the chair, pointed at some scratches she saw, asked me to tell the shopkeeper if he could fix it. Reason why he dropped the price is that around the edge of the chair, there were some scratches there because it once fell off from the truck. But he promised us that he'd paint it to brand new by Monday. He patted me and smiled, 'Don't worry, I'm used to seeing Asians checking out my furniture haha' as we were standing next to the kitchen table together, our eyes directed to mum, who still focused on checking her future new chair there...He told me he just came back from Thailand, and asked if I am still a junior high school student o3o After I said I'm soon to be graduated from uni, he said my appearance is way too young to be a student, and even described me as one of those cute little Japanese girl o3o Yes, I just look too tiny >3<

Because of this, I was late to panpan's house. We didn't do much but watched the movie-Dear John. The part that I like the most is where they exchange letters to maintain their long distant relationship. It's hard to imagine how this method would work in one year time. Remembering my first relationship was also a long distant one, though we talked to each other almost everyday, that feeling of not being able to see or make physical contact with each other is enough to kill you inside, so mine only lasted for half a year, or precisely 4 months as I already lost all my hopes. This movie surpassed my expectation as it made me cry at some points, another heartbroken moment when she says 'see you soon, then', he struggles to decide what to say back and ends up saying 'goodbye' after she insists him to say the same back. T___T *sobs*...PS but I didn't have a good impression towards this actress in the beginning of the film when she used to be one those bitches in the film-mean girl...=0=

Anyways, tonight we went to that pizza place. I wanted to order both pasta and pizza at the same time due to my greediness =3= Yet somebody was not willing to share half of his pasta with me if I order a pizza..So lastly, I had my Spaghetti...(Images below)

My seafood spaghetti worth a try. The amount wasn't that small either. It wasn't that chilli. What I think is the chef is so generous putting decent amount of seafood in it....

Panpan's pasta...Mine is better :3 I'm sorry I took yours mwahahah...>3>

An hour later, our dessert time was taken place in Guylian at Darling Harbour, where it's close to that water park. This was what I ordered at that place. I enjoyed my selections on the same plate a lot, both chocolate and ice-cream are my favourite. Sad that I normally don't remember the name of any dishes or desserts I ordered, so I can't tell you what it called. Nevertheless, any options in dessert house won't be a bad choice. It really depends on what you prefer to have. During that time I enjoyed my dessert, panpan was there taking so many photos of me eating while doing silly faces. My retardedness must have been so odd showing how unfeminine I am....But this is what korara is like, whether you like me or not >.>

And and and and the winter festival(?) will be held in a month at Darling harbour. We took a glance at that snowy house where it is located near Tumbalong park. Its existence is really a symbol for winter's arrival when everyone gathers up to feel that 'coldness' inside. I really wish Christmas in Australia can be in winter, not summer. Imagine how hot Santa Claus feels when he flies across Oceania handing gifts to everyone in this continent with his whole set of red fluffy clothes and hat...Anyways...it's only a wild thought...

Back to the point, the light reflection from the top to the bottom adds to a sense of mysteriousness to this white house. The white cherry blossom is blooming in this winter, accompany by people's warm conversation  with their love ones, and of course, other sounds are made from everyone's enjoyment from taking photos...

Not to mention that ice rink is behind this white house. However, it was already 9:40-ish that time. Panpan had to take me home...I hate somebody played around with my feeling when he said he wasn't going to take me home though T___T I was saddened a bit til he said he was only joking to see what my reaction was going to be =3=...

Exhausted,fun and petty (13th of June)

Pulling an effective all-nighter with my friend Anthony. I was invited to skype with him, but too bad, I don't use skype sorry~However, it was so good having someone accompany throughout this cold lonely night finishing the last bit of your final. Yes, I claimed that I was close to that finish line to panpan, but you know my standard could be so high, so I might need more time to edit and all...Without Anthony's support, I would have fallen asleep on my table...

Anyways after I got it all done, ate a bit of rice, and headed straight to uni. My train was on time, bus was there waiting for me once I arrived. Now that's end of this course in this semester, you might have the same feel as me once you shove that pile of papers into that assignment box. I felt great, but sleepy..That immediacy of falling deep sleep on the bus is not something I felt embarrassed about, but the time when I woke up with saliva around my right cheek got me so alert looking around to check if anyone saw it >3> Oh damn this sleepiness =3=..

So I went straight to bed and napped napped for an hour, got ready to take mum to MTC again at 2-ish. Mr Leah is her consultant, he quickly finished appointment with her, and notified us when the next appointment is going to be. As mum asked for me to go get something to eat together, though I seriously wanted to go home straightaway, I went with her to 80 degree bakery. I'm such a fatty ordering two cakes at the same time o3o I shared taro cake and that coffee brulee cake with her though she wanted me to eat more...

I seriously needed more sleep to meet up with my friend Nick later, so I told mum I had to go home now and get some sleep lol She finally let me go >3< My second nap nap time of the day til 5:30ish, I then felt someone crawled onto my bed, opened her arms and clung me tight. Yup, clingy mum has always been this clingy to her daughter, she begged me to sleep with her at night, I said that I'm now a grown up =3= I want to have my own room...>.>

At 6ish, Nick picked me up down there, we then discussed where to eat in his car for 15 minutes. As I told him that I wanted to eat something spicy, he suggested to go somewhere at Hurstville. I asked if we could go Chatswood, he said it'd take at least 50 minutes to get there by car, so then we ended up in that twisted noodle bar. Throughout the trip, we talked a lot about work, one of the most common topics we'd touch. Apparently workplace dispute happens at times, he cannot avoid it. Plus he only started working a few months ago, right after he graduated, no doubt, unfair treatment must have been the case...

That twisted noodle bar is the same one on Dixon St. I still remember last time I went there was with panpan, who ordered medium spicy for both of us, I couldn't take that...So this time, in order not to embarrass myself in front of my friend, I picked small spicy. Then we had our awesome conversation the whole time during dinner, talking about food, family and his new car. He loves to listen to my stories about how my mum and I get along with each other etc. Unlike most of others, he enjoys family talks just like me. That's why a connection is formed between us as we have something in common.

After dinner, we didn't think where to go next, his original plan was to take me to the beach so we could talk there while enjoying the view, but then the beach he wanted to go was too far from Hurstville. We ended up going to Oatley park to chat. During the time when he drove me around, he started a lot of car talks, I asked so many questions in respond to his interest. On the other hand, I also wanted to know a bit more from him. That was a great chance for me to learn so much for something that I originally had zero knowledge at. His patience and clear explanation have impressed me quite a bit, as usual, it's so much comfortable to talk to someone like him. And it was generous of him to drive me back home. Thanks for the night again~

Came back, talked to panpan and he linked me to an awesome grammar site which designed to help you to cut down grammatical errors you make from any forms of academic writings. I was only saying he should have given me this site a bit earlier so that my final I just submitted this morning, could be even more perfect. Maybe I have misinterpreted him or what, his attempt to keep explaining this and that gave me le feel of being super petty. For a guy, sometimes he is being petty about things like hell, such as picking on small things; goes on proving he's right in trivial things though the other person is already feeling annoyed, yet he still keeps doing it...We had that worst moment of the day again when neither of us gave each other a way out. He said I didn't straighten things out and call him things unnecessary, I said he never admitted things...lol...unsolved problem between couple has always been pretty annoying..>.>  

End of flap flap period (12th of June)

The really last day to do my research paper...I pretty much strive for my best to make it to the ultimate perfection. Just to repeat myself here: without this addiction induced by our own human brain, bodily action towards the game design; plus its power is pretty much extended to the whole wide world where possibilities are open up, the gaming industry won't go any further. BUT most importantly is that, gaming is thrived with the proliferation to use mobile devices, without this invention, this driven force, the prevalence of using game apps to feed our hectic lifestyle, games won't be as popular as now...It is a huge topic to dig it deeper than it's seen, now when I look at games, this manufacture drug, it makes me think more about real time effect, contagion effect, flow theory derived from psychology field, inseparable with interaction among the peers, and a lot of things are awaited to discover...I guess I've made a good choice having Flappy bird as my subject, the most recent phenomenon presented to the marker. Some intriguing point such as, a lot of practices doesn't make much different in better performing when actual progression stops at a certain point, where huge amount of effort won't acquire you with any technical skills. It does against what we normally see the theory of 'practices makes the better', it's a false statement when applies to games, especially to this type of casual game...

Anyways...too much flap flap theories these days...Now let it out of my way....One of the most interesting final essay I've written so far, but a reminder to myself: even just to analyse it, never let this addiction alive..it is terrifying...

Continued flap flap (11th of June)

Another day busy working on my final research paper on Flappy flappy birdie...A lot of changing of the actual contents, decisions are made to fix everything to the better, paragraphs are removed, new ones are added, more research findings are needed, less academic sense of words are used, data, videos and other relatable materials are looking to support my viewpoints. There are just too much things for me to organise. It was starting from a mess having incomplete information, unmatched topic sentences to link to the previous paragraph, lack of resources to further up my argument, improper use of quotes and weirdly form of sentences spreading across a few pages. Just by looking at how messy it was, you'd probably lose interest to give a second thought to continue writing it. But doing a final is to test your patience, at the end of tonight, at least 50% has to be done...I guess I made it...except that my high standard requires for an extra day for this completion. However, knowing tomorrow will be my last day to fight for my at-least-68-to-70-grade essay...It is tough to count how long you have left there...Expecting tomorrow will be exceedingly productive...That peak productive time has to happen...

PS: Somebody doesn't seem to be happy because exam didn't turn out to be good...Wish him all the best for the next one tomorrow though!!

Final video completed (10th of June)

With Pai and Jim's help, I got 80% of my video done at AIT. It was just really stupid of me forgetting to save that 32 panels into my USB before I left home this morning, or else it'd have saved me much more time to do my work this afternoon, instead of re-cutting 32 panels from my storyboard. But yeah, it was a not-bad-process to learn how to make camera movements to each panel. The easiest way to do it is to adjust the scale and position point by changing the direction or numbers, set another anchor point and do it again. Everything was easy but without people teaching you how, you wouldn't know how to get it started. After Pai finished hers, Katie also got hers done half an hour later. Jim was there next to me playing games the whole time, he only occasionally did some work and looked at what I was doing. Two hours have passed, he still hadn't started his work on premiere pro=3= He was just cutting those 32 panels with photoshop in two hours, which actually took him less than half an hour to do it if he could do some productive work...But then again, Tia was worse as Carson helped her to do her work...I assumed Carson is indeed her bf, not that I realised til tonight when they were being so intimate. Now I realised how awkward I was a few weeks ago, being the biggest light bulb ever on my way home, asked Tia to wait for me while Carson was there. Without knowing them two are couple...I even asked them why they wanted to go to another way=3=...

Anyways....I don't mind other people's business, I just wanted to get my work done. By the time I got back, I asked Gino to give me some opinion towards my final video, he also taught me how to minimize the size of the video as well as to pick a right format to export it at the end. This is what I call a real friend in need. Plus he did suggest me with something unnoticeable, which I really thanked him for correcting my minor errors before I submitted my work. As he was actually struggling with his own work, 60+ panels were just too much for him to finish within several hours, I then told him to cut down half of it since marker wouldn't check anyways. Video can be varied from the original storyboard can't it? Don't give yourself a hard time if the challenge is too big...

Le Monthsary and Vivid combined (9th of June)

Somebody cook me a bowl of spicy chicken noodles in his house. My lazy butt wasn't bothered to move, so I pretty much lied on his bed to eat the food. Hugging time is the most wonderful time ever, to fill up the gap of our lack of connection. And thanks for brushing my hair. Undeniably brushing gf's hair is really one of the top romantic things to do...  

Our monthsary today is also the last day of Vivid festival. So going to Circular Quay was necessary to have our mini celebration. Paying for an exclusive meal was expected, $126 was gone from his wallet. The following photos are the evidence of his wallet 'murderers'...

That brown-ish thingy is the duck liver. It was much different from what I thought it'd be like. I remember I had eaten lots of animals' livers when I was a child, but I hardly remember what each of them taste like...But anyways, the combination (as it's shown below) of everything in this image, was so damn heaven-like...

Sorry if I placed too much (as in so many layers thickly) on the bread. You know, I don't really waste food. PS: Please don't ask me what this dish is called, nor the name of the restaurant...I, can't, remember...sorry>.>

Next, my watermelon salad is simply made, easily eaten and beautifully presented on a black dish...As you can see from this HD image taken with my S4, every ingredient is clearly shown there, no need me to tell you what they are right? I like it in my first sight, and I chose it in the first time I read the menu. I don't know how much olives are in the market currently, but sure they have never been in a low price, so unarguably, saying this dish is mostly paid for the Olives, is reasonable. 

Fish never disappointed me no matter what cooking method that is. This fried fish with pumpkin was a great mix. I only want to say is that the amount was way too less. 

                                

After dinner, 2 hours left to walk around Circular Quay. I took him to those places considered to be relatively interesting. This is one photo taken in that no.25 spot where our movements will be captured by the projector behind, and reflecting it on the wall. Now you can see somebody's fist was towards my head. Yes, he is a brutal bf (jokes xD), but I am a sadist (wait...did I just type that?>.>)...I find it pleasurable to...(shtop it hand...shtopp what you're typing...>3>) *Please ignore me...ignore this paragraph..*

Horray...glad I found my way back to this place. Simply we put whatever we want under the scanner, it takes a few seconds to cut that image, and reflecting onto the rough wall. This image might be a little bit vague for you to see my little hand down there with a folk shaped ring on my fingers. If you want, you can even place your head under that scanner, I am not sure if it works, but worth experimenting once. 

Towards the end of the night, he bumped into two of his friends, who were there as volunteers helping people out at that 'Graffiti me'. I guess most of the time, it is more enjoyable to see his friends more than spending time with me..And it's true~

Lastly, I'd say Vivid festival should really be ranked as the top event of the year. Every light installation is colourised, electrified and computerised, showing how technology advancement has added so much more fun and flavour into our lives. Thanks for that special someone spending the last night of Vivid with me. Now enjoy the rest of the photos I took from MCA...

 If I don't remember it wrong, it's called 'Gamma world'? Amazing optical illusion formed by ancient/modern patterns..

 Please don't tell me those two guys are naked...I predict it as a sort of Egyptian-Japanese style. Looking at it closely, the background is certainly Egypt, but they bow...Do Egyptians bow?? o3o 

 And the left one is cartoon-ish style, in comparison to the right one which are three snaked tangled up together. To where the light installation presents, how it's displayed, is all about the artistic value. It suits the place-Contemporary arts and the theme-vivid...really vivid indeed...

Last but not least, the last picture-big circle, draws a full stop to vivid festival, 2014...Good night world..

A day of 'gaming talk' (8th of June)

Texting Jenny that I couldn't make it today as I had to get my final essay started.

Not much today, really...Except that I have completely figured out my essay structure, a few sub-titles were named as game design, interaction with others: competitiveness and contagion effect and  future implication: game merging and clone versions. Oh btw...my central issue here is to discuss the addiction Flappy bird induces. You know the recent trend Flappy 2048 has pushed a new wave to the original game Flappy bird =3= This is exactly how apps developer loves to take advantage of the original game's success although the game has taken down forever...Been looking for academic articles and resources such as the one about data collection from the impact of practices against how well players perform etc, will be useful to back up my discussion. From small to large scale, addiction could be formed within three layers: theoretically, the players' affective mind is in respond to the game, and that the human brain itself stimulates a chemical substance called dopamine, which drives players to repeatedly perform a certain task in a form of an action. Secondly, the game design is similar to slot machine in which its features strongly culminate player's addiction when quickness, simplicity/complexity deceit (SCD), flow, operant conditioning-the reward system and illusion of practices in better performing are the fundamentals letting players fall into pit of continuously gaming. And lastly, at a larger picture, the addiction is extended to a larger virtual world when interconnection is made through networked communities in which more new gamers will be attracted towards this trend after the game has gone viral. Next, contagion effect will lead to online competitiveness between gamers under the impact of social interaction. As far as we know, competition is one of the determinants of game's enjoyment, human's nature tends to assess themselves in a way of comparing their results to others. Then what implication Flappy bird addiction has for market? Drawing back to what I just said, the recent trend of Flappy 2048 is one of the clone versions apps developers try to cash in on the idea of the original version. The success of Flappy bird creates incentive for apps developers to develop other similar style as alternatives. So this is only a summary of my final research paper, the growth of addiction is still expanding to the point where we don't know when to cease....Now you see how casual game, along with so many factors taken into account, has become a central discourse in gaming industry...