I conquered 21km!

I never thought I can finish, but I did in the Army Half Marathon today.

The early morning drizzling and my muddy shoes were quite discouraging. However, my left knee, which always gave me problems after about 5km, miraculously never hurt at all. Running in a mass that stretches in the kilometers was another pushing factor that was not present before. I must admit the girls were an extra motivator too. Still, it was a journey not easily accomplished. Previously the longest distance I have covered was 14km which I completed in 1 hour 30 minutes. It was a grueling experience to say the least. Today it was much worse.

There were plenty of water points, some drums and music to replenish my energy, and the scenery was beautiful, yet all I cared was to look for the next distance indicator. The lack of training became apparent after I crossed the 18km mark. Both of my arms started to feel numb. I was exhausted beyond description and was panting desperately as if my whole system was going to stall due to lack of oxygen. The worst thing was that my brain was not functioning properly; I felt giddy and surrounding seemed blurred. Such feeling never occurred before so I stopped to rest, and walked for a considerate distance.

The thought of 3 days off and achieving something mastered enough energy for me to run the last 1.5km in a good pace. I didn't exactly start at 0:00, but when I look at the timer as I crossed the finishing line, it read 2:24:xx. Yes I did it!

Coincidentally, today was also the final for the man's marathon. After reaching home I checked the world record. For men it stands at 2:04:26, and women 2:15:25. So after all the suffering (I can't walk properly, and have difficulties climbing up and down the stairs), I still took more time to complete half of the distance. This leads me to think that, a medal in events such as marathon, triathlon should carry more weight than the other medals in the Olympics. Full respect to the athletes.

The Last Lecture

Mr Lim told me about the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It was a very inspiring talk by this Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, who died of pancreatic cancer on 25th July this year. Although it lasted for more than 1 hour, it is definitely worth watching. I was nearly going to this school!

parents coming

Finally my parents are coming to Singapore to visit me. They have talked a lot about coming here yet they delayed every time. They missed my POP and scholarship ceremony, and I really miss them and the delicious home cooked food. Although living alone guarantees ultimate freedom, I think some discipline and parental guidance are no harm either. I can finally see my toddler brother, too. I heard from my parents that he had changed a lot since I last saw him. Below are some pictures of him taken around his 2nd birthday in Shanghai.

He received a toy car for his birthday.

Not satisfied? (Mum was taking the picture there).

The stapler looks more interesting to him.

Officially A Singaporean

Last Sunday I attended the Citizenship Ceremony in Singapore Poly to receive a certificate of identity. Now I'm officially a Singaporean. However, I stiil cannot get my ic, which is supposed to be presented to me together with the certificate. Damn army.

《仙剑奇侠传》历代简评

我认为我还能算一个仙剑的崇拜者。从小学玩到现在，从DOS版玩到四代我一部都没放过。无论舆论的褒贬，我对狂徒制作群和上海软星的支持是没有动摇过的。随着网络游戏的迅速崛起，作为单机角色扮演游戏泰山北斗的仙剑奇侠传的前途可以说是一片迷茫。

DOS和WIN95版

仙剑之所以能“活”到现在90%归功于当时风靡于大江南北的第一代的成就。游戏的操作十分简易，BUG少，但引人入胜的情节是它成功的主要因素，李逍遥、赵灵儿、林月如和阿奴四人之间的爱情故事几乎可以和中国民间四大传说相提并论，主题曲《蝶恋》也跃升为最出名的游戏音乐。每当我看到开场动画中一只只仙鹤在云雾飘渺的丛山中飞翔时，我就会激动起来，迫不及待的进入游戏。仙剑的迷宫是无与伦比的困难，尤其是在傀儡洞中寻找隐藏的五灵神像时我走了几天都没找到，为了能通关必须和朋友经常讨论迷宫的走法。从阴森的迷宫转了出来，就到了热闹的城市，看一幕幕感人的画面，读一首首耐人寻味的诗歌，用有中国特色名称的招式和物品。悲惨的结局所留下的震撼和悬念，能常常令我想起游戏中的高潮迭起的故事。仙剑从此成为了一种文化，一个不能超越的极限。

新仙剑：内容和一代大致一样，只不过用了全新的游戏引擎，虽然漂亮了不少，不过感觉没那么爽。

仙剑二

整个游戏被一代的光辉所埋没。为了对一代有个交待，大宇做出一个“能模仿时就模仿”的续集，一样是一男三女遨游江湖。剧情被一代所束缚，故事的发展毫无起伏，也缺乏连贯性，不能给人新颖的感觉。美术更是彻底的失败。作为帅哥李逍遥和美女赵灵二的女儿，李忆如却被画成了一个丑八怪。网上论坛里不乏腌臜制作团队的玩家，也是因为如此仙剑二很快的在玩家的记忆中消失了。最近看了一篇报道，说公司的内乱是导致二代失败的主要原因。虽然是“家族败类”，但我觉得感人的结局和动听的音乐还是值得鼓励的。

仙剑三

在仙剑二失败后，仙剑三的制作完全由上海软星负责策划。为了不让这个金字招牌倒下去，整个团队可以说是呕心沥血，这一点可以从游戏里的多个小游戏和庞大的系统看出来。魔剑培养，御剑飞行，冶炼合成，投资当铺，我真的不知道他们哪里来这么多点子。整个战斗系统也是大改革，可以说是我见过最精彩，而且不用疯狂按热键的战场。故事背景也基本脱离了一代，我能控制更多的角色来玩出不同的结局。情节的起伏虽然不能和一代相提并论，但也十分有创意，可见这次大换血把仙剑又带回到了正确的轨道上。我所不能接受的是粗糙的3D场景，虽说停留在2D是与时代背道而驰，但好歹也不要让我一直被卡，卡通风格的人物也不适合这么一个老字号。

问情篇：填补了一代和三代剧情中的空缺，起了一个承上启下的作用。虽然删除了当铺和魔剑系统，整个感觉根三代差不多。酒剑仙，剑圣，圣姑，李三思，巫后等等熟悉的人物都作为配角一一登场。

仙剑四

这是上海软星解散前的遗作，一发行就受到了好评。虽然他的历史地位还需要时间的奠基，但四代无疑又掀起了一股仙剑热潮，网上铺天盖地的都是关于“仙剑文化”和“拯救国产单机游戏”的声浪。遗憾的是制作团队的骨干都相继辞职，又给仙剑的将来蒙上了一片阴影。我个人觉的故事情节完全可以和一代相提并论，四个主角的个性被刻画得十分鲜明。战斗系统也被改动，和三代相比各有千秋，3D造型也从卡通升级到了真人比例，画面也细腻的多，操作起来也相当顺畅。