汉亮部落格 ~ Ma' Skill Is Ma' Will

RFACTOR 2 Beta Personal Review

2012-02-12T23:34:00.000+08:00

It took me a while before I could finally fix up a rig(cuz I doubt the laptop that I used to race on rfactor 1 could support RF2's requirement) and load up rFactor 2 beta for testing, however somehow I managed to get save enough funding to get it cuz couldn't resist the temptation to give it a go since a few of the MSR members has already begin racing it.

Anyway getting straight to the point, let's start the engine...

Installation

I'll start with installation. Installing the simulation is straight forward and simple. However I did encounter problems when installing the mods. The 1st problem I faced was the historic F1 mod was detected as faulty thus cannot be installed.

To solve the problem I reinstalled RF2, this time it worked and able to install, however the simulation failed to start up, just blank black screen. So once I again I tried reinstalling. After several attempt with several other possible solution such as messing around directory's security settings, I finally got everything working :D

Price

For me, I still don't really like the idea of letting us choose which package to purchase(either the 1 year of lifetime license). I don't really know will RF2 be the best racing simulation for me in more than 1 years time yet I also can't be sure will there be any other better simulations in the future. Thus choosing was a real headache for me.

User Interface

For me, its simple, clean and satisfactory. I do keep in mind that this is a simulation and not some fancy racing games by EA or Codies thus I wasn't expecting something bizarre from ISI on the UI department. Something simple and easy to start up was what I needed and it was what ISI provided.

MOD Management

I love it! Unlike RF1 where I have to maintain a messy record of what mod I've installed etc, RF2 allows simple and easy installation and uninstallation of mods.

Settings and Configuration

Starting with race settings, you're able to have different setting for each practice, qualifying, and race sessions, these settings are easy to fiddle about.

Next, onto the Display, Control, Audio, Video Res, Difficulty settings.

Display, Audio, and Difficulty settings is fairly simple and similar that of RF1.

Control settings is where you can find additional feature from that of RF1, previously in RF1, if I plug in my wheel after I launched the simulation, it won't be able to detect. However this isn't the case anymore for RF2. I won't need to relaunch in the case where I forgot to plug in my wheel before launching it.

Another feature that caught my eye was vehicle specific FFB multiplier and wheel range by vehicle set. I'm able to set different FFB strength for different cars I use and RF2 remembers these settings applied to each different cars.

I'm also able to set my wheel's turning degree in the simulation itself(unlike RF1 which you can't), additionally I'm able to set my wheel's turning degree based on the preset degree on each different vehicle(which enhance the realism as in reality different cars have different degree of rotation)

Video res settings would be what you'll find during RF config.

Gameplay and Performance

Now into the main aspect of the simulation.

As I'm not too experience about racing simulation since I only started racing RF1 from 2009, I'm just gonna list of things that I like and things that I think there's room for improvement.

The graphic was fairly good and satisfactory for me, although I would say I did only start to accept and like RF2's graphic after I turn on the HDR settings, I don't think I can say the same if I turn off HDR. With HDR settings being turn on, I can really feel the sense of immersion was great, I was able to almost instantly immerse myself into the sim when I 1st started driving it. I can feel that I'm going fast unlike RF1 where I took time for me to feel the speed and get immersed by it.

Here's a video of the sense of immersion you can get when everything in rFactor 2 beta is max including HDR, posted on Youtube by randomgame100:

Though I can't comment much on physics, I can say that it definitely feel more of a simulation than RF1. Driving it requires more precision and it definitely take a longer time to have the confidence to start pushing the traction limits.

FPS performance, while being run on 8GB RAM, Intel i5 2320, with XFX 5770 GPU, I occasionally tend to get FPS below 30 when everything is "max". Thus to be on the safe side, I tune down the settings to "high".

Head motion, when I 1st drive in RF2, I instantly was able to feel the head motion in RF2 was different from RF1. But this time in a bad way(atleast for me). After a while of driving around, I find that it was very hard for me to handle the car properly, and I also easily feel dizzy. However after installing Real Head Motion Plugin by magicfr. I feel so much more in control.

Other than the Head motion, any serious problem I face was the wheel's violent stuttering whenever I go off the track or hit the kerb. However thanks to my fellow MSR driver, vyrush, the solution to this problem can be found here.

Sounds, so far for me its nothing too great nor nothing too disappointing to mention. Except for the spotter, which is incredibly soft. I can hardly hear the time I just set after each lap.

List of cars, as it's still only a beta, the choice of cars is really limited, all I can say is although it's nice to challenge myself to drive the historic F1 machines, I still had more fun driving the Renault Megane.

The tracks are quite good too in my opinion. Unlike tracks in RF1, the rubber mark on the tracks in RF2 isn't that obvious, thus braking in RF2 will rely more on track side object and markers rather than relying on rubber marks on the road.

Replay

The replay has definitely improved from the static RF1 replays, RF2 now have replays that are more exciting to watch as its no more static. However I do look forward and hope that the final product do have a chase cam in additional to the T cam, cockpit cam, and nose cam.

Well I think that sums up my simple and amatuer personal review, hopefully I didn't miss out on anything that I had in mind when 1st driving in RF2. Finally I'd just like say that RF2 beta is definitely going the right direction in the process of being a finish product, and I hope more mods will be released in the near future as only 3 types of cars is really hard to satisfy me :P

Why do I have to be an Introvert?

2012-01-29T02:20:00.000+08:00

In this post, I'd like to share this article that a friend of mine shared on FB, cuz this article successfully describe 90% of myself.

Not sure any of you would actually take the time to read this TL;DR stuff about myself, but here goes...

source: http://owlcityblog.com/2011/06/27/10-myths-about-introverts/

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.

This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.

Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.

Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.

On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.

Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.

Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.

Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.

Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.

Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.

A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is.) Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

It can be terribly destructive for an Introvert to deny themselves in order to get along in an Extrovert-Dominant World. Like other minorities, Introverts can end up hating themselves and others because of the differences. If you think you are an Introvert, I recommend you research the topic and seek out other Introverts to compare notes. The burden is not entirely on Introverts to try and become “normal.” Extroverts need to recognize and respect us, and we also need to respect ourselves.

_____________________________________

Yes, I'm an introvert, I'm not saying introvert is better than extrovert, in fact, most of the time I envy extrovert who can socialise and fit in so easily.

I'm often unnoticed, mostly because I a man of few words, and most of the time people around me will find me boring or stuck-up or arrogant. Referring to Myth #1, its not because I don't want to talk, I often think of what to say to try to make myself heard as much as possible, but often not much that I can think of that is suitable to be voiced out from my mouth.

In fact, I actually love to talk and share about myself, my passion, my interest etc. Just that often I'm afraid no one actually interested to know about myself, so me keep talking about myself would not only bore everyone to death, but also make myself sound very selfish. And by referring to Myth #6, yes although I often deny it, I do feel lonely whenever I achieve something or enthusiast about something but got no one to share it with.

Referring to Myth #7, if you know me well, you'd know that the note to myth #7 is quite true. I often like to be different and prefer to be valued for my own novel ways of living. Things like willing to spend big on my interest in racing rather than spending on good food and what most people do for entertainment. Things like having no interest in Apple products while the world is crazy for it. Things like being interested in a least popular Bundesliga rather than popular leagues such as BPL and La-Liga. Things like these often make people around me find that I'm the odd one, the weird one.

Those are some of the things that the article successfully describe my situation.

Honestly most of the time I wish I could be an extrovert, I wish I have the talking and socialising skills that extroverts do. I don't like it that people find me boring and uninteresting. I don't like it that I often think too much before acting to ensure my act is acceptable to others and end up not acting at all.

Work, Live, Play

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000+08:00

Its the end of my 3rd week of work life. Life really made a huge turn.

The most significant changes is how much time I have for myself after being employed... I used to be able to spend hours gaming, watching movie or drama, but now the only time I have is the couple of hours I have after reaching home after work, and that's usually after 8pm, my free time only arrive after dinner around 9pm. Then my spare time only last till 11pm where I had to go to bed to be fresh enough to work the next day.

This kind of schedule really make me more appreciative of time. No more lying around doing nothing, no more day dreaming. It make me really plan what I wanna do so that the limited free time I have won't just be wasted.

Life at workplace is so far so good, I like the nature of the job that require me to visit different client's office almost every week. I feel better this way than having a job that make me sit in the office everyday.

My other free time will be like everyone else, the weekends. Which I usually spend doing something healthy to keep fit(cuz people start to be lazy to exercise after work life started).

Since gone are the days where I need to cycle everyday to college or climb 12 floors just to reach my apartment, nowadays I attend monthly kart races and weekly basketball games in the morning to make sure I sweat enough and to maintain the amount of stamina that I have. Yes I might look thin and small from most people's impression, that's why I wanna show that I'm packed with energy although I might not look like someone with energy.

2011 Wrap Up and 2012 Wishes

2011-12-31T22:22:00.000+08:00

As the same as my last year's post around this time, I'ma wrap up the past 365days of my life BUT FIRST, I wanna start off with some 2012 wishes.

1st of all, wishing my family members a great and most important healthy 2012 ahead.

Wish my friends,

the 2 brüder who've been with me since I step into highschool. All the best in your business, studies and pursuit of happiness, remember money is important but what's more important is being contented and happy.

people whom I met at Sunway College including all who I know, all who I feel I'm close to and also all that I wanna be close to. Those who already working, 加油！Must survive the stress and tiredness of working in Accounting Firm. Those who still studying, work hard work smart and don't be like me to be obsess comparing myself to others who have graduated and working.

people whom I know from MSR, all aliens and non-aliens, front runners, midfield and backmarkers. It has been fun racing with y'all, it's been fun meeting up for gathering and karting activities. Sorry for any mistakes I've commited on track which have ruined your race, and wish 2012 will continue to have great races with y'all.

people whom I met from highschool, to some of them who I haven't seen in a long time, man it's been a very long time since we've meet up. Not sure what y'all up to. But no matter what, all the best and remember, we gotta meet up some time. To those who we manage to make time for gathering and meet up, thanks for the effort to organise and make time for it, all the best to y'all too.

people whom I met from primary school, 大家还好吧？虽然大家都跟以前小学时已经很不一样了，我也很少跟你们联络，但每年gathering时还是高兴能看见你们。无论大家都在干什么，都希望大家都是一路顺利的！

All the best too for those who weren't listed above :)

Now for my year end wrap up,

Unlike previous years, this year I can't really recall much significant matters that took place, it just feel like it has been a year filled nothing significant, mainly just with studying and trying hard to graduate as I'm already graduating slower than some of my classmates. This year was mainly filled with disappointment that I haven't graduated while some of my friends are already working and earning, while I'm still studying and relying on parents for money.

At a quick glance, some other significant matters that I could remember was:

My first time at Sepang International Circuit watching the F1 Petronas Malaysia GP. It was awesome and if I'm financially capable, I'd definately go again next year.

My first time going for Kart Racing. After the trip to Port Dickson where I tried racing a kart, I continue karting at several location and tracks including a couple of my-kart races which took place at Sepang Kart Circuit and CityKarting Shah Alam.

This year was also when I started learning German as my fourth language, mainly because of my interest in German Football and also because of the German Car Manufacturing Industry, currently still at a very basic and amatuer stage though and still continuing this learning process, perhaps will take up a course on this when I have the time and money.

Next, hmmm... Can't recall much already, only can recall how disappointed I am to be 21 year old man, yet still relying on parents to survive, still un-able to graduate, still not earning my own income. Ah 对啦，2011也要完了，2012也就要开始了，我也是在多一年的是一个人，哎唷，我不是在complain哦，是在说虽然这也是我差不多6年单身了，但也不应该说自己是寂寞的，大家要记住哦，单身也要开心也要笑的哟！

Next year, especially at the start, will be a filled with change. I'll be starting my work-life, living as a working class people. When I enter highschool from primary school, non was my primary schoolmate. When I enter college from highschool, non was my highschoolmate. Now it seems it'll be the same too, entering a company where non is my college mate. No matter though, hopefully these new people that I shall meet in a couple of days time are a friendly and helpful group.

As for my 2012 wish, I'd hope that I can be like a sponge, absorb and learn rapidly in the work environment, hope my career will 一路顺利.

每个人都想当主角 (The Selfish World)

2011-11-15T12:51:00.001+08:00

Does the above quotes sound familiar to you?

Yes you always find people sharing them, be it on facebook, G+ or twitter.

I've always come across countless amount of quotes about life and love across the net, and based on my interpretation, half of them really are inappropriate and conflicting.

For now I'd just talk about the above quotes and any other quotes which bring the same meaning. The thing is, this kind of quotes are one of the reasons how people nowadays can be so selfish.

This kind of quotes teach people to "Live for Themselves". Making everyone only think about themselves, pursuing their own happiness and satisfaction.

This eventually make everyone into people who thinks that other people opinion don't matter, making everyone nowadays wanting to be the main character, nobody wanna act as the supporting role anymore.

The fact is, THE WORLD DOESN'T SPIN AROUND YOU.

People who thinks "If You Can't Accept Me The Way I Am, Then Don't Be Apart of My Life", these kind of people are too self-centred. Everyone is affecting and affected by his/her environment, nobody is a one-man island.

I'm not saying that people should completely live their life according to how others require them to be, I'm saying that moderation is required, and judgement is required when to and when not to take other people's opinion into account.

Sometimes other people's opinion can bring about improvement. Instead of ignoring it and continue to live the way you wanna live, why not take a moment to assess yourself? Why not make an effort to maybe change yourself to improve yourself?

People should always accommodate other's opinion, and sometimes give in to other people needs.
没有人是世界的中心点，人偶尔也要把自己当配角.

P.S - The above article is just my opinion and my stand-point, there's no need for any argument if you don't agree with me.

PES 2012 Personal Review

2011-11-05T18:05:00.001+08:00

Every year, football game fans are again and again offered 2 fantastic football game, FIFA by EA, and Pro Evolution Soccer or Winning Eleven by Konami.

For the past few years, my vote of preference goes to PES, from PES 5, to PES 2010, to PES 2011. Before that I was on FIFA 2004.

This year, after researching on both FIFA 12 and PES 2012 and experiencing both gameplays, my vote goes to PES 2012, again.

Why? Some of the things that PES has over FIFA that won my vote is:

- MODABILITY -

being only partly licensed, the PES community has an active and wide range of mods and patches that can be downloaded for free to mod the game. Things like adding new faces, new kits, new stadium, new teams, new balls, etc. This is evidenced by comparing the amount of patches and mods available at pes-patch.com vs fifa-patch.com .

This is just like how I enjoy RFactor so much due to its wide range of available mods. Something that's not flexible and must stick by how it's originally made (like Apple Inc. products) ain't really my taste.

Two patches that I'd recomend is PESedit patches and also SMoKE patches, although I'd recommend SMoKE's patch more due to it having the Malaysian National Team in it :P

- SYSTEM REQUIREMENT -

since this is just a personal review, I'm gonna mention this aspect too since it also affected my choice. I'm running quite an old outdated GPU, the Nvidia 8400M GS. And I'm also only on an outdated 2.0GHz processor. And although I'm able to run FIFA, the game ocassionally freezes for a couple of seconds.

And in this aspect that Konami is the clear winner. PES is able to cater for a wider range of PC gamers, the graphic can be set low to cater for gamer like me who's on a lower end system and also can be set high to look spectacular for gamers who have better rigs.

- PLAYER STATS -

I really like the community at pesstatsdatabase.com which review, discuss and provide an up to date stats of majority of the players in the game. The modability of PES allows me to modify players stats according to the stats at pesstatsdatabase.com . This makes gameplay more enjoyable as team have the appropriate stats and well-known players stats aren't over-rated and less popular players stats aren't under-rated.

Now into the game itself, on what has improved and what can be better.

At first look after you launch the game, you'd see almost the same thing as you'll see in PES 2011. Yes, Konami haven't been working on the interface and presentation, but for me that's ok. Atleast I'm familiar and don't need to spend time thinking where do I go to change settings or edit teams etc.

One thing they've added is the personal data preferences. Just like how NeedForSpeed games can be played by several different people in different level of achievement and story progression.

The game become more technical, mainly in defending department. In the past, its easy to defend especially using the button A(xbox controller) pressure button. Now, not every tom, dick and harry can easily defend just by pressing that. This new PES require player to make use of left analog to control and position defenders properly, button RT to lock-in to hold up play, button X(xbox controller) to call for another defender to assist, and finally button A itself to chase and win the ball. In a way, this new defending gameplay makes the game more challenging and realistic, as being out of position when defending will really cost your team.

PES 2012 also continue to have 2011's 360 degree dribbling system. This allows users to run and turn in all 360-degrees, a very rewarding feature if you're good with the analog stick.

The game referee is now more precise and fair, foul will be given if you're blocked off when dribbling with the ball, or brought down when dribbling etc. Advantage play is also given if you're still in possesion although being fouled. Although its definately better than 2011, some occasional unfairness will also occur, but based on my experience, its like only 1% of it happenning.

Shooting system has also changed a little. With the "shooting technique" stats removed from PES 2012, user must now use their own technique to shoot to score. Just pressing shoot will result in a normal straight forward shot, while combining the shoot button with several other button will result in different shot such as lob, curve etc.

Goalkeeper have improve a little from the 2011 title, it has become a little smarter(in 2011, GK sometimes dives towards a stupid direction allowing player to score), but although it's improved, there are still some occasional incident where the GK become slow to react or dives towards a wrong direction, but still its better than that of PES 2011.

New game mode of "Become the Boss", where you're the boss of the club, and you're only allowed to play as "Coach Mode" in the game, meaning you can't control the players directly, only able to perform substitution and tactical changes, something like Football Manager.

Existing game mode of Master League and Become A Legend still exist with a little changes here and there together with some repetitive cut-scenes of coach talking to the manager.

A new feature of Right Analog stick control, while in possesion of the ball, users can now use the right analog stick to control another off the ball player to run to a specified direction using the right analog stick, a feature very rewarding if mastered.

However the part where player jump over a ball still frustrate me at times, or when I pass but a player from further down the field come to claim the ball instead of a nearer player. Hopefully Konami sort or stuff like this in the future.

Overall PES 2012 has improved significantly from PES 2011, mainly in the aspect of gameplay, the way it's played now is more like how a real football match is played, in both defending and building up the attack.

Given the game's more technical approach, I'd recommend to watch some of the videos posted by ThePesTutorials if you find it difficult, good luck and have fun :D

A Reminder for ALL to Register as a Voter

2011-10-21T00:42:00.000+08:00

Hi, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind my friends or any reader who's eligible to register as a voter for the upcoming election to GO REGISTER YOURSELF AS A VOTER!!! Cuz its bloody simple and not troublesome at all... Even a lazy bloke like me find it simple and straight forward to do it, what's stopping you??

here's how you do it...

According to Article 113 of the Federal Constitution, one of the functions of the EC is to register qualified citizens as electors, to enable them to participate in the electoral process to elect their own representative to represent their voice in the House of Representatives or in the State Legislative Assembly.

The EC had carried out this function since its establishment without fail. The system of seasonal registration where qualified citizens could register only once a year for a period of between 21 to 42 days has been replaced with all-year-round registration since 16 July 2002.

Why You Need To Register ?
It is the right of every qualified citizen to elect the government of their choice to govern the country by electing their representatives to represents them in the House of Representatives and the State Legislative Assemblies. You can vote for a representative of your choice during the general election or a by-election as an elector. You will not be allowed to vote if your name is not listed in the electoral roll.

If you are a qualified citizen but have not yet registered as an elector or if you are a registered elector who wish to register your new residential address, you can do this at the following places:
(a) EC offices
(b) Computerized Post offices
(c) With representatives appointed by the EC at government agencies
(d) With representatives from political parties appointed by the EC (new registration ONLY)

To register as a normal elector, you need to:
(a) come personally to any of the registration centre;
(b) produce your MyKad to the EC staff on duty who will fill the registration form for you;
(c) check your particulars in the completed form that is given to you by the EC staff before you sign the form;
(d) sign the form after you are satisfied that all particulars in the form are in order;
(e) keep the copy of the registration form that is given to you as proof of registration. It can be used as evidence of your registration in the event that your name does not appear in the draft of the Supplementary Roll when it is exhibited in which case you can submit a claim.

Alright, the above was the TL;DR version, the following will be my summarised version...

If you already eligible to vote,

1st, bring your IC to any computerised Post Offices (full list of them HERE)

2nd, take a number and when its your turn, tell them u wanna register

3rd, they'll ask for your IC and fill up a form for you

4th, check the information filled up are correct then sign

5th, keep the copy of the registration form that is given to you as proof of registration

alright, now you can go back to doing what you were doing...

77 Laps of Indianapolis Oval - Tribute to Dan Wheldon

2011-10-19T12:12:00.000+08:00

The Malaysian Sim Racers will be hosting a 77 laps race round the Indianapolis Oval track as a tribute of the late Dan Wheldon who recently past away after a 15-car accident during lap 11 of the race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 16th October 2011.

The 77 laps race will start at 2300 hour Malaysian Time on Friday (21st October 2011).

More details about the race and how to join are available at http://www.malaysiansimracers.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1360

Rest In Peace - Dan Wheldon

我是个看台剧的男人。。。

2011-10-18T23:35:00.000+08:00

虽然偶像剧通常都是女性才比较喜欢看而比较少男人会看，但我自己不否认我是个满喜欢看偶像剧的男人，可能是因为生活上每天都无聊没趣的，所以才会有兴趣看那些在我生活里没有却偶像剧里有的故事跟情绪。

虽然大部分我认识的人都会选择看港片例如TVB所播的，我却比较喜欢看台剧，这可能是因为我比较注重华语而不太喜欢粤语。

我看过的台剧虽然也不是说很多，但也不算少，通常都会选看有参感人和搞笑的，不然就是选看有我爱看的美女演员，例如陈意涵，曾恺玹，等等。这些台剧都是在http://sugoideas.com/ 看的。

这里我想分享我对一些我已看过的台剧的感想，

《爱就宅一起》
这可以说是我开始看台剧的第一套台剧吧，觉得还不错的，杨丞琳演得满感人的。

《命中注定我爱你》
这戏让我不停的一级一级追，不停的想知道会发生什么事，那时真的让我上瘾了。

《痞子英雄》
可以说是我最爱看的其中几套台剧吧，它故事根本跟其他偶像剧不一样，主题并不是什么浪漫爱情故事。动作片里还参了一些搞笑的部分，所以故事也不会不停的在正经的情绪里，真的值得一看。

《原来我不帥》
这也可以说是我最爱的其中几个吧，原因是有曾恺玹，哈哈 just kidding，是因为它成功的把很多的搞笑部分参进一套感人的故事，所以看起来会觉得感人，却同时间会笑起来。

《旋風管家》
这套有一种轻松爽快地感觉，可以说跟《原来我不帥》差不多一样但比起来这就少了那可以深刻感动的情结。

《熊猫人》
哈哈，我会去看这套戏都是因为我是周董的粉丝而我想看周董的自导自演的戏剧是会要怎样的不同。看过了还觉得满新鲜的，因为故事不是完全关于爱情，是参了各种比普通偶像剧不同的东西。

《海派甜心》
这也是一个成功把搞笑混进感人的爱情剧情中，但我个人还是会说这还比不上《原来我不帥》吧。

那对我来说，一个感人的戏剧必须有感人的故事加上感人的配乐，在我看过了满多部戏剧的观察，那种有感人的配乐真的可以留下很感动的情绪。一些我看了后却没什么太有印象或感觉的台剧包括了《流氓校長》，《就是要香戀》，《就想賴著妳》，等等。原因可能都是不够感人，或太容易被猜测的剧情，或剧情结论太无聊或无趣了。

最近在追的台剧是《我可能不会爱你》，到此为止是满不错的，演员都是很有经验，故事也满特别的。

My 1st Podium Finish

2011-10-11T20:33:00.002+08:00

In conjunction of my upcoming 50th race in sim racing this coming Friday and my recent 1st time getting podium, I like to write a TL;DR post

Ever since I started sim racing as a member of The Malaysian Sim Racers more than 2 years ago, I was never one of the front runners, I always mingle around the back of the pack and normally only manage to gain places from other driver's mistake. Getting a race win was virtually impossible, so my aim all these while was to finish a race in the top 3 position.

Although some might say "so what if you get podium or even win a race, its not like you'll get prize" etc., Yes true, winning or getting podium in just 1 race do not really get you any tangible benefits, but for some of us passionate sim racers, the intangible enjoicement of finally achieving something is quite indescribable

I did managed to get 4th a few times, but never did I get anywhere above that, until now, in my 3rd season in MSR, I've finally achieved it. Although it can be said that I was lucky to achieve it due to several of the more experience driver not attending the race, but nevertheless I was "enjoicing" about the result.

It was my 44th official race in MSR, the race was at Sachsenring(which made me more enjoice because its in Deutschland), the circuit is located near Chemnitz in the Free State of Saxony where its the home of Chemnitzer FC which currently competing in the German 3.LIGA. I was driving the Porsche 997 GT2 car, which is also from Germany(Porsche Headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany).

It was the 3rd race of the 3 races raced at Sachsenring, I started from 8th position and had a decent start without gaining or losing any places. Due to the fact that I started quite at the back, I decided to pit as early as at the end of lap 4 to avoid having to spend time to overtake any drivers ahead of me, the strategy was to drop back by pitting early to give myself room and to jump ahead of others later in the race while others are in the pit.

At around lap 12, every driver has finally did their stops, and I managed to advance to 2nd place, just ahead of multiple championship winner maranello55 who hunted me down for the last couple of laps of the race. The gap was rapidly decreasing as he managed to be within attacking distance during the final lap.

(above: a shot from within maranello55's Ferrari F430- racing towards the final corner in the final lap)

If this was my 1st season, I'd probably be under pressure and make mistake during that final corner, but fortunately this isn't and I was calm enough to pull though the final corner without losing that position.

(above: my best achievement so far, runner-up)

To me, that 44th race of mine was a combination of luck and calmness. Unlike any other races, I had the luck to enjoy an incident-free race, other times I'd normally end up spinning either in the process of defending a position or trying an overtaking move, but this race I managed to keep mistake to the minimum and didn't experience any spin throughout the entire race, something like the perfect race for me. Since my goal of being in a podium position is finally realised, wonder when will the fantasy of finally winning a race can be realised? hopefully before my 100th race...

The Gathering of Sim Racers

2011-09-19T17:06:00.003+08:00

Recently attended another gathering among MSR members, this time with a bigger crowd and a more happening atmosphere with more senior members around including some of the founders.

These are the list of members that turn up, excluding 2 more who arrived later.
(credits to MSR's photographer Azan for capturing the whole event)

Its like a mini open house, the food were great, big thanks to the senior members for the preparation.

It took place at Teluk Kemang, Port Dickson. Got there catching a ride in fellow MSR member NikFaris' TRD. In the back seat of the TRD, really get to feel the difference of that Japanese car driving on the highway compared with the Wira that I drive.

The satay was great

The chat and discussion involving anything from sim racing to dugong and mermaid lasted till around 2am when those of us who aren't sleeping over set off on our journey home. Great meeting everyone there, all nice and friendly blokes.

The Obsessed Me

2011-09-14T15:58:00.002+08:00

Lately, I've been envying some of my friends who've started earning and providing for themselves.

It started early of this year where there's already quite a few of my classmates who graduated and got a job, but this obsession wasn't that serious back then until middle of this year when I tried applying for jobs which end up in failure. Even effort of applying for internship fails. This obsession grew even worse when more and more of my classmates also started the working life.

I think this obsession is also partly caused by my bad practice of overly comparing myself with others(as expressed in the blog post titled "Competitive Me")

This obsession initially comes from the aspiration to be financially independent from my parents. I'm already 21 and so I knew its time to stop relying on parent's financing. From then this aspiration slowly grew into an obsession, nowadays no matter what I do, one part of my mind is constantly thinking about ways to earn money.

I think I need a cure for this obsession.

Buka Puasa Gathering

2011-08-18T00:10:00.002+08:00

Sempena gathering majlis berbuka puasa yg berjaya diadakan dkt KLCC petang tadi, saye akan blog dlm BM utk kali ni, haha.

Hakikatnyekan, saye pun tak tau la nak blog psal ape, hanye nak kate sronok la dpt berjumpe, sbb bukan slalu kitorng buat gathering ni, dan slalunye pun ade yg MIA so bkn slalu dapat jumpe muke2 sume org, haha.

K la, dah saye mrepek panjang lak, saje saye nak blog kan event ni utk dikenang mase akan dtg nanti, hahaha poyo je kan? XD

~ Picture of the Day ~

saye rase gambar nilah yg paling unik dr byk2 gambar yg di-upload Wani dgn Ainur, trima kasik byk utk effort bawa kamera tu, haha...

anyway kpd yg MIA kali ni, jgn risau, dgr kate kitorng akan ade skali lg gathering mase raya nanti, make sure korang dtg la nanti.

YouTube Top Tips for Slow Broadband or Limited Bandwidth Users

2011-08-10T14:55:00.002+08:00

This guide is made specially for budget broadband users with slower download speed or limited bandwidth capacity.

Because not everyone can afford high-speed connection(since high-speed broadband isn't relatively cheap especially in Malaysia), and also because almost all wireless broadband services have limited bandwidth which will either charge users or implement speed throttling upon exceeding the allowable threshold.

Before I go on, this guide is only usable for Firefox users, however I'm quite sure that other browsers too have similar add-ons as what I'm gonna recommend below, so just use Google if you're not on Firefox.

Below are the detailed guide,

Reduce YouTube Video Playback Quality

Why? Because different video playback quality have different file size. A better quality video will take longer time to load and will eat up more bandwidth compare to a lower quality video.

take this 3 minute video as an example,

even though this video is just 3 minute, a normal playback with default setting of 360p quality playback can eat up to 19.5MB of bandwidth, while if you set it to low quality playback of 240p, it's only 6.9MB, see the difference it can make?

This is particularly so if you just wanna listen to songs on youtube while you're surfing other sites and not interested in seeing the video at all.

I recommend installing this SmartVideo Firefox add-on.

After installing it(which require you to restart Firefox), access its preferences by pressing Ctrl+Shift+M. There you'll see a "Video Quality" options, choose Small(<= 320*240 px)

There, now all videos will be initialised at 240p low quality playback to save bandwidth and speed up loading time. However if there's particular video that you'd wanna watch in clearer and better quality, you could anytime mouse over the YouTube video and change the playback quality.

If for some reason you don't favour this add-on, then you could also try YouTube Video Quality Manager Firefox add-on. Although this add-on is still at experimental stage, I've tested it and it worked well too.

After installing this add-on, find a red coloured Q logo bottom right of Firefox at the add-on bar. Right click it and choose small(240px) and you're good to go.

Prevent YouTube from Auto Playing the Video

Sometimes, you're not even sure that you wanna watch that video, you might wanna read the comments or description first before deciding whether to let the video load and play. The following steps can help you save bandwidth by preventing unnecessary loading and buffering of video that you might not wanna watch.

Firstly, you'll need GreaseMonkey firefox add-on which enable the support User Scripts.

After installing GreaseMonkey, install THIS SCRIPT. Now that you've installed the script, YouTube won't auto start playing any video anymore, video will only start loading and playing upon you clicking the "Play" button on the video.

Hope y'all find the above tips useful, and lets hope Malaysian broadband will get better, more affordable, and above all, higher or even unlimited download threshold.

How to remove the Avast! Licensing Alert window on Avast 4.8

2011-08-04T22:21:00.005+08:00

This guide is specially made for those of you who uses Avast 4.8, be it the Free Version(Home Edition) or the Paid version(Professional Edition).

Ok, now you're just doing what you're normally doing on your PC, and SUDDENLY THIS POP OUT!

At first it was ok, just a simple click on the "X" button will do the trick.

However what if it pops up when you're doing something that can't be paused? lets say online gaming? or imagine this sudden pop up ruining a nice moment while watching a movie?

Well, straight to the point, this can be solve by just few simple steps as follows.

~ONE~
Right click the avast! icon at the tray bar, click "Program Settings"

~TWO~
at the "Troubleshooting" category, tick the "Disable Avast! self-defence module"

~THREE~
go to "C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4" and delete these files: asw6Noti.exe and asw5Not2.exe

~FOUR~
Finally, remember to untick the "Disable Avast! self-defence module" which was previously ticked.

If ever the notification comes back again, repeat the steps.

There, no more annoying nagging from Avast! to upgrade.

When a Sim Racer gets into a Racing Kart

2011-07-24T23:30:00.002+08:00

Last month, after a long effort of saving up, I finally tried driving a real kart(no not the genting themepark funkart which go like tortoise) at a rooftop mini circuit at Port Dickson.

Being so trilled by it, I decided to sign-up for a race session at MY-Kart where MSR's very own CRT racers do their racing.

We headed to Sepang Kart Circuit for this session of MY-Kart race.

Being too used to waking up late because nowadays I don't attend any classes yet, I ter-bangun lewat pulak. Guys, so sorry to have y'all waiting for me.

So in the midst of rushing to get there in time, I forgot to bring my music, and more importantly the camera. So no pictures from myself here. :(

Fortunately, another 1st timer like me, Syed Ahmad, brought his, thanks for the photos.

here's some of the gang that went,

Anyway the race is split into 3 sessions of 2 qualifying heat and 1 final race which grid position is decided by the previous 2 qualifying heat.

During the 1st heat, I was given a kart with slow acceleration problem. At first I thought that's just how these K3 karts behave and its just me who's being very slow. It was only after another fellow MSR driver drove it that we found out that the kart is having problem.

While the 1st heat was a disappointment, the 2nd heat improved, had a good time battling it out and swapping position.

As for the final race, since I was allowed to choose which kart to drive, I managed to finish #4. Overall ending with my at position #31 out of 42 drivers.

pictures! courtesy of Syed Ahmad,

these are the K1 karts for experience kart racers.

these are the K3 karts which I'm racing in

the start/finish line

Overall was a great experience, most importantly I had fun and realised I had to work hard to finance myself if I am to take up kart racing as a serious hobby in the future.

The different kind of Race - Leg instead of Tires

2011-07-24T18:40:00.004+08:00

I've always enjoyed physically pushing myself to the limit especially when it comes to running. I like the fact that I need to use mental motivation to push myself beyond what my leg can physically run. Guess it all started when I managed to be in the top30 during merentas desa back in school when I'm still a kid in Form 4.

Anyway it was 2 weeks ago (17th July) that I've joined my friends to participate in the McD Olympic Day Fun Run as a team. I figure since I had free time, why not join the run for fun.

Well 1st of all thanks to Jess for the photos and more importantly the invitation to join. Appreciate it.

Though I'm not sure whether it was a 4 or 5km run, I've manage to run the whole race without stopping or walking. I don't wanna slow my teammates down now, do I. Haha.

Unlike how I normally start a run, this time I forgot to put on my music before it started. It was only when I started feeling that I'm consuming quite an amount of energy that I pull out my MP3 to fuel my energy with music.

Now normally I'd run to the tunes of Initial D's Eurobeats. But this time I run to the tunes of Capeta OST and "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers.

In the end, if not mistaken my team managed to finish in the top 50. Every runner particapating that day received a certificate too.

It was great fun and I enjoyed the run, will participate in more runs in the future if the distance suit me.

The First Test Session

2011-07-02T15:33:00.003+08:00

My 1st time is a racing kart, the excitement feels something like the 1st time I attended a real race during the 2011 F1 Malaysia GP at Sepang. Cuz the 1st time is always something special.

Went for a 10 minute stint, cost RM20, but personally I thought that RM20 was really well spent.

During the 1st lap, felt the sensitivity of the steering, unlike in sim racing where I could set the steering turning degree and angle. Turn the steering to fast, I'd end up with understeer or oversteer.

Here's 2 laps recorded from the stint I tested.

The track consist mainly of hairpin, 5 hairpins to be exact, and its full throttle from the last hairpin all the way to the 1st hairpin turn. Which its the 1st time I experience going that fast in a kart.

During the test session, I really felt the speed, and the g-forces pushing me around. But when reflecting back after a while after the session, I really felt it wasn't that fast, it is a 4 stroke kart after all, so it can't really go that fast.

When I think back, I brake too early for the 1st turn, being too cautious during the hairpin. Feedback from the guy who run that place is that I'm taking the hairpins too narrow.

Despite being disappointed didn't push as hard as I should have, still glad that I finally stepped into kart racing, not just simulation but in real world.

Really looking forward to the next time I'm gonna go for another test session. The thrill of speed is a real drug that I can't resist.

我叫阿伦，这是我想法。。。

2011-06-25T11:52:00.003+08:00

我叫阿伦，没那么蠢，
只是有时想法太单纯，
有时迟钝，但是无论，
我都会把事情搞得顺。

这是我想法，你不用害怕，
我不会逼你跟我相同挣扎，
你要“发揽闸”，就随便你吧，
总之别把麻烦赖到我好吗。

我不太优秀，只爱看足球，
但我有能力请不要把我给弄丢，
我的能力会比你想象更持久，
我只想写到这首歌会有“feel”。

我叫汉亮请你别看小我，
我知道我很多事都做错，
但我会证明如果你放下了我，
你迟早会发现是什么你已错过。

我不想依靠，我怕被看小，
我想依靠自己头脑直到我老，
有什么烦恼，都自己去搞，
一个人事情就别拿小事来闹。

就写到这里，我灵感没了，
希望下一次会有机会再聊，
我会记住微笑，天天都会很好，
记住要抬头往前冲往前跑！

MSR Season 12 - The Finishing Line - My Final Thoughts

2011-06-25T01:06:00.006+08:00

It's concluded, Season 12 of the Malaysian Sim Racers racing league comes to an end with the final race at Abu Dhabi.

And here's my thoughts for my 2nd season racing with MSR.

Season 12 started off using F1RFT 2010 Formula One cars, with the 2nd half of the season using FSONE 2009 Formula One cars.

My season started off well with me managing to finish races and collecting points. However it didn't last long, the mix of bad luck and my own fault made my season 12 performance go downhill there after.

Problems like low framerate problem preventing me from racing in Monaco.

The lack of practice resulted in accident in both Spa and Brazil.

The accidental mistake resulted in a DNF in an otherwise competitive-able Japan.

Then its the being stuck on the kerb at both Australia and Turkey causing me to retire due to engine overheat.

Then there's the one month break I took to prepare for my exams resulting in me missing 4 races including one of my favourite track at Monza Italy.

And finally there's the sudden lost of force feedback during the final race preventing me from ending the season in a good mood.

While there are those unfavourable races mentioned above, there's also some very self satisfying ones,

The pace I had during the race at Suzuka Japan was quite pleasing, for once I was able to be not more than 2 seconds slower than the leader's pace, just disappointed that I ended up crashing.

And there's the race at Canada, which I personally felt its my most self satisfying one although I only finished 7th. But I felt that was the most fun, probably because many attended the race.

My best result from Season 12 came during the Korean GP, finishing 4th despite being lapped 6 times by the leader.

Really had fun learning to tame a Formula One car this season 12, its been a long season and I hope season 13 can begin as soon as possible :P

Lastly, wanna congrats Maranello a.k.a Nazirull for being MSR Season 12 champion and thank everyone whom I've raced with through out the season, its been great fun racing with you guys.

meine einzigartige Reise

2011-06-21T09:00:00.002+08:00

I'm the Best...
I'm Unique...
There's only one Me...

我最优秀！
我很特别！
世上只有一个我！

Ich bin der beste!
Ich bin einzigartig!
es gibt nur eine mir!

Concentrate on being you, because you are special, so your journey is different.
专心的做好自己，因为你是很特别的，所以你的行程也很特别。
werden Sie selbst, denn Sie sind etwas Besonderes, Deshalb ist Ihre Reise wird etwas Besonderes sein.

My Race might not be the same as others, but doesn't mean I won't finish the race. Look at Jensen Button's race win at the Canadian GP despite visiting the pits for 5 times.

So remember, you're journey might be different, but nevertheless you might end up on the podium. Just outdo yourself and be happy being YOU.

The Result of Physical Inactiveness for the last month or so

2011-06-19T11:18:00.005+08:00

Its been more than a month since I did any "real" sports or exercise.

Woke up for the game... After a long break from basketball, the excitement fuelled me with the stamina to push beyond the limit that I could endure after long time of physical inactiveness.

However as I was just about to push all out, the finger got injured, although not broken or bleed, it just swollen to the extend I couldn't bend it. And that was game over for me :(

As a result of the sudden cool down from a high tempo game due to the injury, found myself a lil' dizzy cuz wasn't used to physically pushing my body that hard due to the no-exercise period before the exam.

With the final race of MSR Season 12 this coming Friday, just hope that this finger can recover in time to grip the steering.

Its the history we're talking about

2011-06-16T02:13:00.004+08:00

Yes, exam is the history, be progressive and look ahead instead of looking at the mirror just to find a car bugging you from the back.

And if you know me well, you'd know I've never been the person who tend to talk much or even at all about the recent exam, I did it and its over now, lets leave it that way, at least until the results are out.

Well, unlike what I used to do, I didn't really planned anything for this holiday. However these are just some of them in my mind.

Job application comes to mind immediately, then its cleaning up my messed up room, then to my car which served me so obediently.

Learning Deutsche comes after that. Yup you heard me, actually was deciding whether to try learning Japanese or German, since German's character are similar of English which just a little more alphabets, I've decided to try learning German. Since knowing more language is always an asset, I say why not give it a go? Furthermore, some of the world's top car makers are Germans, BMW, Mercedez-Benz, VW, Audi etc.

Even my facebook language is on Deutsche now. Here's some simple once that I've learned from using/reading it quite frequently lately,
guten morgen = good morning
gute nacht = good night
Ich liebe dich = I love you
willkommen = welcome
glück = good luck

Its been a while since I catch up with Naruto Shippuuden episodes which I've missed for countless of weeks too, probably will start catching on those.

Then its back to my hobby, sim racing. Downloaded many mods, means to test drive these new cars to see how different cars feels, with Pagani Huayra, V8, DTM, RedBull X1, MP4/13 etc to name a few.

Well, lately I've been pointed out something on my driving. Since I normally drive alone, I've kinda grown accustom to my driving alone style.

Meaning? I grown accustom to having that little(or rather to me its little but to others its massive) G-Force when taking a corner. Although I don't use a bucket seat, I kinda got used to that little G-Force I get when I'm behind the wheel.

Well that habit kinda continued on even when I have passenger aboard, which in a way frighten them, which I'm terribly sorry.

However I can assure anyone riding along that that's actually not dangerous, its actually the experience of the G-Force which make it feels scary, just like how you might feel scared during roller coaster ride when in fact roller coaster don't really travel that fast(FYI, normal driving is faster than a roller coaster)

Well I do understand how it feels to be a passenger as well, so I'd like to apologise if I've forgot to switch back to slow driving mode when carrying passengers.

Anyway for now I'm not sure how long my holiday is going to be, it'll be a holiday until the day that I got hired or the day I decide to go for P4 class(most probably after results are out in August). Will still spend most of my time in my apartment at Sunway although might move around KL and Cheras too.

Also means that I'm able to get back to training my fitness, back to my dumbbell and push-ups, arms getting a little weak after a month of no training due to exam preparation. Possibly also back to basketball during the weekend, man I kinda miss it although its just playing against my bro.

Probably find some strangers to meet up? Haha I don't feel like 孤独终老, and don't really like being labelled forever_arone. Yes I know I am, but mind you, I don't really like being reminded. I don't really like 缘分 though, 缘分要等,我不喜欢等...

Well that's all for now, hopefully I'll be updating this more often with both informative posts as well as personal opinion and emotions post. And hopefully more readers will drop by, I did notice I'm getting more hits from international visitors especially due to post regarding sim racing, drawing anime, and other informative post. Keep 'em coming and don't forget to click on the ads while reading ;)

Signing off a TL;DR Personal Post, 汉亮...

Go Safe, Go Legal

2011-06-07T09:15:00.002+08:00

Street Racing vs Track Racing, which will you choose?

Ever since taking up sim racing as a hobby, I've kinda built this prejudice feeling against illegal and dangerous street racing.

I've become someone who stress that racing should be done in proper venue rather than on public roads.

Everytime I read, see, or hear things like people(be it friends or stranger) racing on highways, hill racing at highlands, taking photo of their meter to show off their top speed, etc... I get annoyed by it.

Long story short, I'm annoyed by people who feels proud of being an illegal street racer. I won't even have respect for you even if you've won an illegal street race by drifting downhill at genting public road.

For me, if you wanna prove your skills? Race on the track... Just so if you wanna know, Sepang Track Day is available and any cars meeting the safety requirement are allowed to participate, infos HERE

I've become someone who disapprove people who thinks its fun to race on public roads. I regard them as fools. Lately my mom told me an incident about a relative who died from illegal racing after crashing his MyVi. Not only I didn't pity that guy, instead I thought that he's a fool who thinks racing can be done on public roads, more so in a MyVi.

If you race karts, I'll gladly show my respect and regard u as a "racer", as compared to people who race real cars illegally on public roads which I won't even consider these kind of people worthy to be called "racer"

I'd even go to the extend of rather regard sim racers who only do virtual racing as "real racers" than illegal street racers whom I'd rather regard them as childish racer wannabes.

I've become someone who regard that real racing skills are only shown on the track, not on public roads. I believe track racing requires more knowledge and racing skills than illegal road racing.

So guys, if you wanna race in real life, be safe, go legal racing!

I'm Vroom My Way Forward with a Smile

2011-06-07T09:00:00.003+08:00

The ACCA June 2011 sitting has finally arrived, and its no doubt as a student attempting it, and as much as I'd like to say I'm not stressed, I bound to finally reach my limit of not having stress...

I found myself unable to concentrate due to the stress, I found myself reading and reading something but ain't sure how much actually managed to stuck in my head, I found myself doing the same routine everyday even Saturday and Sunday. I found myself staring at the notes but my brain flew somewhere else.

BUT I'll still put on a smile(be it a real or fake one) and face it, because I believe if F1 drivers are able to keep their 100% focus and concentration, endure immense pressure, and yet still able to complete the whole race weekend without any slip ups, so can I...

Most people tend to have role models in their life, well I've never had a role model, cuz there's no one specific person that I really can relate to. So I relate myself to myself, you can say that ego and pride push me forward.

One thing's for sure, you can be sure that I'll be smiling :D