Bydood

Author: ronnguyen

  • Nothing but pure development!

    Now that was PRODUCTIVE!

    DEVELOPMENT

    It was just one of those nights where my fingers just felt like typing…

    So I initialised upon Kimzii’s project by laying out the HTML and CSS of the website. I have forgotten how great it feels when I start off from a blank canvas. Lately, my work have been either editing/adapting to someone else’s HTML and CSS!
    Now I have control and know where everything is rather than being clueless and spending hours looking for the right files…

    Kimzii called me over Skype for a chat. It wasn’t much of a chat since I was so into typing out and concerned about keeping the code clean and tidy… We didn’t talk long but we did discuss more business.

    By the end of this night, I made a quick layout; a logo box, navigation bar and the header banner. The reason why I am proud of it is because the code is so clean and I’d like to maintain this standard… I made it so optimised so that I can make an admin panel as well…

    Tonight, I am looking forward to writing out more.

    SUMMARY

    Unfortunately, I did not have time to either play games or be social with my friends since it was a night of development.

    It would have been half games, half development but Trish’s Internet was down so there was going to be Battlefield… I think I need this evening to be 30% development and 70% gaming in the virtual world of shooting other gamers!!

    And now I hear I am all of a sudden going out to drink tonight!

    Well, lets see how I feel later…

    Will I be able to maintain this standard?

  • Family… Social… Development…

    Appreciate my friends… They’ve kept me on my feet since that day…


    FAMILY

    So I get home planning to do some development or play some games but what really was waiting for me was a discussion about business with Tim. We spoke about many things but the highlights of it was the conversation about what’s available in the world today and what we should be building for tomorrow!

    We’ve decided something that may change the communication patterns over the web. 

    Lets see where we get to on that one.


    SKYPE (SOCIAL)

    So there were 3 conversations that took place during the day.

    Firstly, my brother (from Australia) John and I had a development talk regarding ideas we spoke about during my trip in Sydney and decided we will have a meeting over Skype on Friday and see what complications arise for this project.

    My second conversation was with an old friend Kimzii, who happens to want a website template. We discussed what elements will be needed and the themes she likes. I’ll probably just mash up something that looks rubbish but so long the functionality works, it should be fine.
    We also spoke about my progress towards what happened a few months back. She was the first person who gave me advice very early when the wound was wide open and now we speak of it again. As a good friend, she sat and listened to my words and responded what I should try and do (which I’ve done already) so now all I need is patience because now that I’ve told her what I need to, it’s up to her what to decide what she wants until she feels ready to talk again…
    Then we went on to discuss Kimzii’s situations and oh dear me, my dilemma is nothing compared to hers; feels like I’m living in luxury!

    My final conversation was with Lyndsey. We were talking about my last blog post and was feeling a little down but towards the end, she made me realise that although things look tough right now, she will be the friend to turn to no matter what the situation… 

    So from all the advice collected, thank you… 


    DEVELOPMENT

    Have you had one of those days where you feel exhilaration when an epiphany kicks in?

    This morning, I sat down at 7.30 with my croissant and coffee reading some articles written in Wikipedia about real-time data consistency, the need to acquire data from the database in the most efficient way.

    I’ve been thinking too boxed in lately but when I revisited this issue, I had a solution and it definitely beat my last idea since each node kept connecting to the database resulting the server to crash every time.

    All it is was to make a CRON job in the server and schedule to update the database every few minutes and the rest is all up to front-end development…

    Lets put that into code shall we? 

    To be continued…


    SUMMARY

    Projects are flowing, my algorithmic mind is instigating… I’m finally getting somewhere. My motivation is running smoothly!

    Friends and family is all I need for now and they are my priority! And I really do appreciate what I have in my life!


    Diversion is not what I need… I need to move on…

  • The life at home…

    I have a million thoughts in my head so why does my current thought land on the one I least want to think about?!
    DREAM
    So this morning I wake up with a smile… Why? The visual creations developed randomly in my mind completely shocked me by surprise! 
    It was an illustration that brought me back to a life where everything was all so perfect… But now disintegrated into thin air that I cannot piece back together!
    The setting was when we were still together and we bought a house. We were living in the house we always wanted, plain and simple. We were happy; talking, smiling, laughing, closeness… It was the one place I was truly happy.
    The rest of the dream was a blur because that’s how I see our relationship… I wish I could bring it back! But how?
    If YOU are reading this… Please tell me where we are…
    Ok… I’m done… Lets move on…
    GAMING
    So yesterday, I finally pressed the power button on my PS3, signed in to PSN and unwrapped the plastic cover from the game I wanted to play most… Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception!
    This game is amazing. I haven’t played a good game since Max Payne 3. The climbing, the puzzles, the combat and the storyline, truly something different from what I usually play. 
    I felt a bit of Zelda elements in the game but in a realistic environment… This is probably why I enjoy this kind of game.
    I’m not very far but will keep you posted.
    DVDs
    So I watched 2 DVDs: ‘Due Date’ and ‘Lee Evans: Live at the O2’.
    ‘Due Date’ was an okay comedy and worth watching. I wouldn’t say it was the best but to see the star of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. act with the odd but funny actor from The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis was a combination that I would never miss (funny that I missed it at the cinema though)… Overall? I give it a rating 4/5 in my opinion…
    Lee Evans never disappoints me! The amount of laughter that came out of me was too much! Always wonderful to see him perform. Basing upon real life situations into some comical sense is sheer genius!
    Rating on this without a doubt 5/5! I recommend this guy to anyone, ANYDAY!
    SUMMARY
    It has been such a long time since I stayed home and catch up on everything!
    I really enjoyed it…
    I should do this more often to do productive stuff in terms of development and gaming to further myself for the career side of me. I owe it to myself…
    Career… What will I be doing in the next 10 years?!

  • My last 3 days… Progress?


    Thursday 1st November 2012

    Quiet evening…

    So finally I get round to connecting my PS3 but figuring out where to place it in my room was getting me a tad bit agitated! Probably need to invest in a small table or something!
    I didn’t even get to fire it up since I felt so exhausted so I will probably try it out in the weekend… My first game to play is definitely uncharted 3! Been hyping about it for ages!!

    I was supposed to play Xbox however, I had no motivation whatsoever to turn it on… Also, Trish and I arranged to play online but turns out, I got tired and sleepy…
    Friday 2nd November 2012

    Ah yes… Friday, where the weekend started!

    Finishing up work, a few colleagues fancied a quick drink however, we needed to make it a quick one in order to head over to another pub since we arranged a little get together with our last old place… 

    So 1 drink ended up to be 3-4 drinks and since I usually down them too fast, I was already tipsy!
    We spoke about forming a karaoke group… I am definitely up for that! So we should be organising something for the Christmas period..

    So I shot off from one pub to the next with drinks waiting for me there too! Everyone was more or less drinking already since I heard the party started at 5 and we arrived at 7! (We as in me and my colleague)… I also bumped into my boss (we go way back) but it was quite a night to remember. 

    So after that, we were invited to head over to another pub where loud music and a DJ was playing. Since the night was still early for me, I really didn’t mind…
    So we moved on to this other pub and barely anyone were dancing and it felt like my mood disappeared and so I purchased a Jaegermeister to see if it made me feel it but unfortunately, nothing happened. About 5-10 minutes of waiting for something to happen, my colleague and I decide to leave.

    We ended the night with eating at McDonald’s and talking about the 3 pubs we shifted to. 

    As a result, the evening was great but expected to stay out much later than that!! However, I am glad we did go to see the people who we used to work with… Brought back a few memories… Also, the first pub we went to with the colleagues, it definitely brought us closer so all was very well…


    Saturday 3rd November 2012

    This day was all so rushed!

    So from the night before, I was completed tired and not bothered to move on this morning so I text my friend Lyndsey to cancel our outing to fireworks and told her how I was so exhausted…

    An hour later, my mate Karjun calls me and starts to convince me… Long story short, I could not decline anymore since he made some valid points and so I texted Lyndsey to tell her that I’m going and we needed to rush off to buy the tickets before 5pm.

    So I was late (again) since it was just one of those days where I wanted to take my time and get ready. Saw her sitting at the bench looking at her phone (as she always does) and started our journey from there..

    I felt like I went to the gym after all this walking and running from train to train, bus to bus, back and forth… We had no lunch!! We stopped at Starbucks but every food stall we saw, we stared at them and could smell the lovely scents! I felt like I could hallucinate and faint!! Maybe I’m exaggerating but I was pretty sure I was hungry!!

    After buying the tickets and all, we finally sat down to a meal at McDonalds (2 days in a row) and I sat down to eat that Big Mac like there was no tomorrow! But some guy was staring at Lyndsey and she wanted to slap the hell out of that guy! That would have been hilarious!

    So after this amazing meal, we went to Starbucks to wait for Karjun to bring his car around and with my 1% of battery life, Lyndsey took the right piss to charge her phone in front of me saying ‘ohhh! I only have 70%! Give me until 80%!!’ Now I felt like slapping this one!! Proper rubbing in the fact I only had 1%! Pshhh! Lol.
    Eventually, Karjun came and she didn’t read 80% and so I had to live with 1% for a few hours!! Although Karjun had a mobile charger, Lyndsey took it and still wanted to charge it til 85%! That’s right, 5% EXTRA than what she intended to charge it to… Shabby!!

    Enough about the charging story… Point being… My battery died and it was a sad moment for me :(.

    So we went to meet the others and about 10 people turned up altogether and we watched the fireworks… It was alright but for £10?? I think I am better off to go where it does not require an entry fee to see a display like that!!

    The night ended with heading back up to central by car to have dinner subtracting 2 from our group…

    So we ended up eating at china town and half of the table ate the same dish… I didn’t eat much since beer and wine somehow was placed in front of me…

    Downing the 2 drinks, another 2 pulled up! Seemed as though they were just materialising in front of me…

    After the meal, the night ended there with some people wanting to continue the night and others wanting to go. I was one of the individuals who wanted to go home. 

    Overall, the day was fantastic. With certain individuals getting along and meeting new people, it was a great night and I couldn’t ask for more…
    The connection last night and everyone’s energy was definitely worth witnessing and I truly enjoyed myself (excluding spending £10 for the fireworks display)… So thanks Karjun for convincing me to come out… Appreciate it big time!


    SUMMARY ON THE THREE DAYS

    So it turns out I didn’t get to play games for the past 3 days except setting up my PS3 so partly happy about that…
    It has mainly been all about SOCIAL lately and of course it’s vital to have a social life than to stay indoors all the time so I do not regret my actions when it comes down to choosing to go out than playing games…

    But the question still remains… Have I become stronger…?

  • Positive thinking…

    So a new month huh? What’s in store for me this time…?
    SOCIAL
    Last night I swung by Westfield to see Lyndsey to shop and hang out. We went from shop to shop and I was dragging her shopping bags hitting shoppers left, right and centre!!
    We ended up at RED 5 and I went to buy “Addict-a-ball”! 
    After an hour later or so, we sat down to eat some Pho… She ate anyway, I just had iced coffee… Mmmmmmmm… Delicious!
    She started talking about the value of money and how important it is to her..
    It bought me back 6 years of how I once lived my life. There was a person once upon a time who thought the same way. Now it becomes a mere memory… Funny that…
    Finishing up with the food, we went home to find out our train was delayed and ended up waiting up to 30 minutes but we had some jokes and laughter… Pretty awesome stuff!
    MOVIES
    Instead of my usual nights of playing games, I changed my pace and watched a film. Last nights theme was Halloween so why not a horror? So Tim (my brother) and I plug in Grave Encounters…
    This film was a mix of Silent Hill and Blair Witch Project. It held comedy and jumpy moments.
    It was about a crew of individuals who wanted to explore a haunted hospital. At first they walk in brave but they had no clue what they had walked into…
    The film was disturbing since I usually don’t sit down to watch these things but it ended with questions in my head and as I hear, there will be a sequel so maybe they will be answered. Overall? I think it’s definitely worth watching. Felt realistic..
    DEVELOPMENT
    Working more on my Titanium project but creating a base template to develop upon. So I am just setting up all my files in an organised format and entering bits of code to keep it consistent. 
    I guess you can say I am still designing my structure of the program… Early days….
    SUMMARY
    I am keeping this structure of social and gaming sides even. I seem to be doing pretty good this week as I feel as though I have done something productive everyday so far!
    Lets keep this going…!

  • A productive day… IN GAMING!

    Happy Halloween y’all!
    Looks like tonight we’re going to have kids either knocking asking for sweets or egg being thrown on our doorstep… Hmmmmm…
    GAMING
    After a long day of work yesterday, I come home to a text indicating confirmation to fire up my Xbox 360 to play Battlefield 3 but this time with one of my gaming buddies, Trish! Not long after, my brother Tim joined the party and all there was on the mic was singing and screaming however, made the game funnier and exciting; made me start singing to Chris Brown’s Turn up the music or Psy’s Gangnam style! Good times…
    It was so hilarious with all the terrible parking and driving into pillars with either a tank or a car… But our teamwork was awesome! Although the beginning of the game, was slow with the kills, I adjusted and became synchronised with Trish and Tim.
    Again, I died so many times but this time, killed much more than yesterday and I was on top of my team’s leaderboard which was a proud moment for me leading with a score of 12K… Mind you, the opposing team’s leaderboard was very different so I won’t go into specifics…
    After we played Gears of war 3 but didn’t play much of that… Just ended up playing team deathmatch… This game, I ended up falling asleep whilst Tim and Trish were talking over the mic then woke up with Trish saying ‘Ron! You still there? Gone a little quiet’! That was where I decided that I’ll end my gaming evening there.
    With all this multiplayer experience, I didn’t bother with setting up my PS3 to play Uncharted 3! And now today is the release of Assassins Creed 3! I’ll probably go to purchase it after work! (If its not sold out!!) 
    Lets see how I feel tonight…
    SOCIAL
    I spoke to my good friend, Lyndsey, after the games and we spoke about how we missed all the Skype sessions we used to have but now disappeared… Since then, there have been too many issues that we can’t even talk… Missing the laughs and jokes we once had…
    Yesterday, it was one of the days she was herself… It was good…
    Always good to cherish these moments before it goes bad again…
    DEVELOPMENT
    Since last night I slept quite late (1am), I did not do any programming however, I did wake up to do some coding but not as much as I planned to. I sat there with fingers on the keys with Titanium just waiting for me to type, all I did was stare and the brain trying to work it’s magic but the cogs were not turning… Hopefully, I will have better luck in development tonight…
    SUMMARY
    I’m beginning to feel like everything is returning to normal again…
    I always loved gaming but lost my way years ago… I have so much catching up to do!
    I hope I can continue to keep my passion in gaming going as well as keeping my friends close… The social part of my life is also improving and I don’t want to let go of it… 
    I’ve opened new doors that I have always ignored!
    To be fair… I’m so glad everything happened the way it did…
    Discovering myself and trying new things was definitely something I needed to do…
    Thanks to all of you that made this possible!

  • A step in the RIGHT direction

    Welcome back to reality…
    Looks like my motivation to do things for myself is back again!!
    Yesterday, I got home, played games, did some programming and did some research regarding my projects that I’ve put on hold for a very long while!
    Feels like I am finally back to my old self again… I’ve missed it…
    Gaming…
    So I fire up my Xbox 360, jump on Battlefield 3 straight onto the multiplayer servers and into Caspian Border! The amount of times I died was crazy… Not so healthy for my statistics but hey, I stopped playing for a while so there’s a reason for it… Give me a few days and I’ll be flanking them all over again ;).

    I also went out to buy Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception at GAME on Sunday but haven’t even started that game. And I just remembered that Assassins Creed is out tomorrow so that helps my wallet lose weight! 
    And so saying all this… Game on!!!
    Development
    I didn’t do as much when I sat to do some coding but it was definitely a good start to the week. I feel as though I have done something productive for a Monday evening…

    So I’ve opened up Appcelerator’s Titanium (http://www.appcelerator.com) to do some quick development instead of creating apps from scratch… Good thing about this package is that I can develop using JavaScript! Try it out developers!! I’ve made some test applications in the past but never released any just yet but I will definitely keep you posted…

    Also, I’ve had a look at GameSalad (http://www.gamesalad.com) which is an application that you do not need to code but just drag and drop onto objects to make them animate! This is fantastic for rapid developers so check that out also! I will be developing on these platforms since I have limited time to do these things…

    Conclusion
    I’m hoping this motivation will continue but I would say that the things I’ve been doing such as clubbing, hanging with friends and my trip to Australia, Sydney was definitely a big boost to forget my past and start living the present… I wouldn’t say that I am over what has happened because it is a known fact that the feelings will come and go especially when something reminds me of that person, but there will be a point where I will feel strong and be ready to move on…
    Lets just take it day by day shall we…?

  • Tomb Raider – My review

    Tomb Raider – At the EB Games Expo, Sydney

    Tomb Raider… The one game that I have been waiting for since their first announcement and sneak-peek of the game, I finally had the privilege to play the demo and see how the game is!

    The game was absolutely phenomenal! It was really realistic, Lara Crofts actions and the way she speaks is just so fluent!


    In this new Square Enix creation, there was a sense of feeling where it was emotional and struggle… To top it off, the camera views and reaction to what she sees or feels during gameplay made me know exactly how Lara was feeling. Games, from what I’ve tried, did not give me that experience which is why I feel this game has great potential and I am completely sold!

    The demo was approximately 10 minutes of gameplay and got to explore the environment long enough to judge it.

    Using the bow and arrow was pretty awesome. The longer you hold the button down, you can measure how hard and far you would like to shoot. I took down a deer! Not a pleasant view but Lara did say “Sorry” for me so all is well! 🙂

    From all the positive notes I’ve written here, its clear as day that I will definitely go ahead and purchase this game!!

    The game will be released on 05/03/2013 so get ready for this marvelous game!

  • Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale – Review

    Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale – At the EB Games Expo, Sydney

    Hmmmmm… Thoughts on the Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale huh? Let me think…

    As I watch this game from a distance with 4 players competing to win the new slim Playstation 3, it felt like watching a replica of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros Brawl!

    Being a fan of the Super Smash Bros series, I felt disgusted seeing this! The only difference is that they were Playstation characters and that was it! That was a big disappointment for me…

    Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale did offer some characters that I would not even imagine being in this type of environment though. Papa the rapper vs Nathan Drake (Uncharted), that’s just unreal!

    Overall? It’s nice to see all these characters all in one arena just fighting each other so I don’t disagree with the idea but maybe they could have come up with a unique way instead of ripping it off from Nintendo?? One thing is for certain…….. I wana play as Papa the Rapper!! 🙂

    Release date is 21/11/2012! Look out for it…

  • Medal of Honor: WARFIGHTER – Review

    Medal of Honor: WARFIGHTER – At the EB Games Expo, Sydney.

    I was sent in to play this game along with 7 other individuals sitting all in one row. As we all put on our headphones together, the scenario was capture the flag – 4 vs 4.

    Firstly, this was one of the first times playing with this kind of headset and it was remarkable! Usually, my choice is with earphones. Just hearing every footstep in the game was so precise and adds that extra realistic feel to the game. Sorry if I am late to the game but I will definitely consider investing in this!

    Now, I am a huge fan of Battlefield 3 so please bare with me if I sound a tad bit disappointed…

    The game was enjoyable and almost felt like Battlefield 3 however, the graphics was a bit off and felt like I was playing a gimmick. It probably just takes a little time to get used to but I always thought first impressions count and I know it is from the same developers and all but I feel like the game needs to be completely different from BF3 and not similar don’t you think? Just my opinion…

    Jumping over walls, and the way how you grab the flag is pretty cool. You literally see the flag on the persons back. Very realistic indeed! Also, the animation at the end of each round is nice to look at.

    To conclude, the game needs to be worked on a little bit just so that it gives me a reason to buy the game. Right now, I see Battlefield 3 as my game…