I dreamed of her this morning. Then, I woke up.

Defeatism

It is one thing to be stoic and resolute in the face of adversity and challenges and it is one thing to be fatalistic. There is a difference.

Acceptance and understanding versus just rolling over.

There is also a third category where one simply rationalises to oneself that it is actually for the better, that's the Ah Q way.

Oh well, I observed a few bit of defeatism and self-deception in some people lately.

I wish the weekend were longer. There is so many things that I want to do. Not enough time and energy. Oh well.

Time waits for no one.

I found an old 'I love you' card that I had wanted to give her. In the end, it was never given. There it was, lingering in the corner of that drawer.

I wish the weekend were longer.

whee!

I wonder how much dust the construction near by home is generating.

It is a chilly 24.5 degrees this morning. The monsoons are here in full force. I think it was never generally this rainy or cold at this time of the year.

Time to get fit again!

I miss her.

Sadly, I had a headache and I didn't do much on Saturday.

I must manage Saturday well. There is only so much time.

A nice beginning to a weekend. I drew a few bit.

I will have to buy bread and pastries today!

Starting to go running again!

Phew! I am okay now, I think I was struck down by allergies for three days. That can be quite debilitating. I am astonished. Two months gone from a cold or flu and allergies. Just like that.

I had loved her with all my heart.

I am not fully recovered but I will go out to draw today and also think. Oh well. Not feeling too good.

I have seen the folks at Baker & Cook, Spinelli's and also Starbucks feeding old men and old women at times, and also bags of giving free food. And I have seen that quite regularly.

There are good people out there.

Imperative Reaction - Surface

Fairy tales are fairy tales.

There are no happy endings.

The weekend was too short.

I have almost recovered! Whee!

A person I knew since since childhood has removed me as a friend on Facebook. That is not unexpected. He had never been a real friend, he was trying to make use of me recently but when he found that he could not, he decided that he had no use for me. So, he did the expected thing, I was wondering when he would do that.

I tire of Path of Exile. I think it is time to take a break and look at something else.

Recovering from a flu. One month downtime. Ugh.

Level 72. Tier 2 map.

It is a bit tedious. The world design is a bit uninspiring, the entire look and feel, the design.

I spoke too soon. I did some thinking. Wilson said to get more hit points and I did.

I solved the problem and I am now in Act 8 and my character is level 64.

I tried Path of Exile recently. I got a Ranger up to level 56 in Act 7. It seems that at this point, I may be stuck as Wilfrid had predicted.

It seems that a far-left ideologue has removed me as a friend on Facebook. He has tried converting me to his ideology but the positions of the extreme left and right have always been distasteful and absurd to me. My posts are seldom political anyway. I suppose he felt threatened and was insecure.

Underpowered

I started on Grim Dawn again since Wilson was playing. The game is as bleak as I remembered it. My character, a dual class of Soldier and Occultist, is underpowered. I don't think it can survive the bosses on the Elite setting. I tried the boss at the end of Act I and it took a fair bit to kill him.

Relegation candidates 2017-2018

My prediction for relegation in the 2017-2018 season are the following:

Watford
Swansea City
Huddersfield Town

That concludes my Diablo 3 journey.

I was trying Season 11 in Diablo 3 with Wilson, Wilfrid and Shawn. I had thought that I might be able to get the stash tab in the Season objectives.

I have been looking carefully at one of the easier conquests to do to get the stash tab.It's pretty stressful. It's not as easy as I thought, it has to be a rolling, continuous grind for gold, with the gold counter flashing.

Looking at the list of conquests and how it is within the realm of possibility with my skill level, I am concluding that I don't have the skill to pull it off after all.

I also calculated the time needed. I will probably cut my losses and run.


Conquests

Avarice/Avaritia – Complete a 50,000,000 gold streak while outside of The Vault and The Inner Sanctum.

Speed Demon/Need For Speed – Complete a Nephalem Rift at max level on Torment X within 2 minutes.

Boss Mode/Worlds Apart – Kill the following bosses at max level on Torment X within 20 minutes of the start of the game.

Divinity/Lionhearted – Reach Greater Rift Level 75 Solo.

Masters of the Universe/Masters of Sets – Master 8 of the following Set Dungeons.

Last night, I dreamed of six kittens that had invaded my home. They were friendly and they purred and they slept afterwards. Then, I woke up. Hahah.

I have enjoyed playing the Necromancer in Diablo 3 tremendously. I have basically hit a plateau, a peak if you may. I had played alone and accumulated all the powers and items needed. I had thought it out before the release of the Necromancer and worked towards my plan accordingly. Now that the plan had reached fruition and my objectives met, it is time to move to another game

My four builds are at:

Inarius set build - GR65
Rathma set build - GR60
Pestilence set build - GR60
Trag'Oul set build - GR55

I can push the Inarius set build to GR66 or GR67 probably but that is basically the limit for me. I have tried the Trag'Oul set build in a bloodstorm configuration, however, that would require a player of a greater skill to utilise it effectively like Wilfrid or Wilson.

I have realised that Diablo 3 is basically a game about the application of burst peak damage at the 'elites' and 'bosses' at the right moment while avoiding 'trash mobs', and much of it depends on cooldown reduction. That sums up the endgame. That requires good timing, careful choice of engagement, manual dexterity in missile and meleé avoidance.

To push any further, I would probably need to accumulate ancient items (of which more than half my items are) and augment them. That would be expensive in game resources and time-consuming.

To date, I have all the classes levelled to level 70, Barbarian, Witch Doctor, Wizard, Demon Hunter, Crusader, Monk, Necromancer. I have all the sets of all the classes and have viable builds for all the classes. GR50-GR70. I have extracted every single power from all the classes in the game.

I will complete the campaign game for a second time because I had more or less forgotten the story aspect of the game, it is like a new game to me and that should take twos hours or so, then I move on. Whee!

Hopefully, there will be a new expansion for Diablo 3 but probably not.

I was telling Wilfrid earlier that I had managed to optimise my other two builds further and pushed them further.

Trag'Oul set build - GR55
Pestilence set build - GR60

I think I have pushed them as far as I can at this point, maybe there is a bit more potential to be squeezed out of them, I will see. They are viable builds though the Inarius set build edges them out a bit. As it stands, I have the other two at:

Inarius set build - GR65
Rathma set build - GR60

I will see if I can push my Rathma further, as it stands, the Rathma set build has weapons with poor damage, likewise, the Inarius set build can be improved with ancient legendary or weapons with better damage. I am simply not dealing enough damage.

Yes, I know all the top players are using the Inarius set, reaching over GR100 and there are some using Rathma set which has hit GR95 at least.

I tried acquiring items last night for the Necromancer and I was unsuccessful. I need a new strategy, an approach. I shall have to think.

I will have to think on how I can increase my weapon damage for the Necromancer.

Pushing to GR65-70 will require that my necromancer deal 12-40 billion damage per hit consistently. Right now, the peak damage is about 6 billion per hit, it is simply not good enough.

Now that I have reached a plateau of sorts for my Necromancer, I will seek to acquire all the items associated with the Necromancer and extract their powers, yes, every single item.

I made Greater Rift level 64 with my necromancer last night. It was with the Inarius set build. I think I have hit a limit as I tried GR65 twice and failed abysmally last night. I need a better weapon, presumably an ancient weapon and more damage for my necromancer if I want to progress further.

No more easy progress, now comes the hard work.

I also made progress with my Rathma set build. I hit GR55. The Rathma set build was unable to do GR60. The Pestilence set build is limited to GR50.

Inarius set build - GR64

Rathma set build - GR55

Pestilence set build - GR50

Tang'Oul set build - GR45

I made Greater Rift level 60 with my Necromancer last night with the Inarius set build. I had more or less optimised my Necromancer with the right items and powers.

It is probable that I can push for another 2-5 levels. I will see tonight.

Meanwhile, I had optimised my Rathma set build further and pushed it to GR55.

I had prepared and planned for the Necromancer for a while now based on what little I know, that of it being a class based on the intelligence attribute. This had allowed me to progress swiftly to acquire four full sets in a matter of days. It has also allowed me to progress swiftly to GR40.

As for allegations that the class is overpowered, it isn't. It is easy to build, easy to play, easy to progress in the intermediate GR levels, however, it might not be easy to achieve the higher GR levels. In the rankings, the best Necromancers are hitting GR104 which is a bit short of the Wizard's GR106 or the Witch Doctor's 107 for 2017.

Greater Rift level 55 with the Inarius set build last night. The previous night, I had used the Rathma set build to hit GR50.

The top 100 Necromancer players are using the Inarius build too. Is it overpowered? I don't think so. Why? The best necromancers only hit GR95 while wizards are at GR106 and other classes can exceed GR100.

I dreamed of her again.

Greater Rift level 50 now!

I have all four sets of the Necromancer and have four builds built around them! Yay!

Necromancer

Necromancer! Yes. Last night, my necromancer managed to hit a Greater Rift level of 40 with the Trag'Oul's Avatar set. The night before, I managed to reach Greater Rift 30 with a Legacy of Nightmares set.

I have two to three pieces each of three other sets. I should be able to assemble another set and build in a day or two. It's great fun.

The weekend was too short!

Last night, I have finally extracted all the powers for all the classes into the Kanai Cube, with the last item being a second Belt of Transcendence!

Yes!

Tonight, the new Necromancer class arrives! Yes!

I found one more item for my Witch Doctor. I also found the Little Rogue sword with my Monk.

One last belt item for the Witch Doctor now. Then, I will take a break from Diablo 3 before the Necromancer pack comes out.

I dreamed of her last night.

Items!

Hurrah! I have gotten the last two items for the Witch Doctor. I just need two more of the same so that I can extract their powers. It may take a week or two, it is really dependent on luck.

The Belt of Transcendence

I managed to get another hard to get item in Diablo 3 after the expenditure of probably thousands of blood shards.

I got one of it and I think I need to use it, I can't extract it as a power. Oh well. The Belt of Transcendence.

Victor Vran

Victor Vran was for me the best game of 2015, I spent over 100 hours on it. It was a joy to play, a delight. I heavily recommend it.

The game was a complete surprise from an unknown Bulgarian studio. I must say that I was hugely impressed.

Finally! The new DLC, Fractured Worlds, for Victor Vran is out! Whee!

I didn't get the other one as it featured a heavy metal theme, I don't care for heavy metal music nor the culture.

Witch Doctor items

Last night, I was lucky, I managed to get two items that I needed for my Witch Doctor. For one of the items, I managed to get two of it. I was able to extract the power and I have another to equip, the Tall Man's Finger ring. I got it via purchase from Kadala.

I also managed to upgrade a rare staff and got the Wormwood staff which I used to extract the power at the Kanai Cube.

Hurrah!

I require one ring, one voodoo mask and one belt now. Three items left.

The final stretch

I have completed collecting all the powers in the Kanai Cube for the Monk, now I have five powers to collect for the Witch Doctor.

Not far now from completing my final objective.

Hazell Dean - They Say It's Gonna Rain

More powers

I managed to add two more powers to the Kanai Cube in the last two days. I also managed to get more of those items too, it means that I can extract the powers and also that I have the items to equip on the character.

All in all, a good thing.

I have five more powers to extract for the Witch Doctor and a last one for the Monk.

Objectives for Diablo 3

I have many objectives for Diablo 3. As I achieved them, I make new ones. The original objectives were to get all the sets items for all the classes and reaching GR40. I made the initial objectives.

I revised my objectives over time.

The last set of objectives were:

1. GR70 (for primals)
2. Paragon 800
3. Put all the powers in the cube

I have achieved 1 and 2.

For point 3, I have all the powers for wizard, crusader, barbarian and demon hunter in the Kanai Cube now.

I have only witch doctor and monk left. For the former, 6 items, for the latter, 2 items.

Diablo 3 goals

Diablo 3 today is a different game from that which was released about four or five years ago. I gave myself a few goals, and revised them along the way.

I achieved two of the major ones this week and last week. I made Paragon level 800 last night and Greater Rift level 70 last week.

Whee!

Now, the final goal would be to put every single power into Kanai's Cube. This would depend on a lot of luck.

I have a minor one of getting higher levels for my legendary gems.

Ladytron - Ghosts [Official Music Video]

I shall go to an exhibition at NAFA in the late afternoon.

Yesterday, I went to a place where I was once very happy. I walked around, remembered the old times. How the place had changed. The cafés, the shops, and more. It was the same but it was not the same.

After two hours, I left. I decided against drawing at a café there. There is too much sadness there for me to want to linger.

Tears For Fears - Advice For The Young At Heart

The depth of my love.

Correction. That was a Malayan Water Monitor.

I spotted a Dumeril's monitor lizard climbing a tree yesterday. It has distinct crossbars on its back. I took a few photos and saw the crossbars later.

I have also spotted the clouded monitor lizard previously. I have seen the Malayan water monitor lizard most often.

The weekend was too short! ugh

Eurythmics - When Tomorrow Comes

Alison Moyet - Invisible

Alison Moyet - Whispering Your Name

The lag on Starhub is terrible. Diablo III was almost unplayable last night.

I remember that night at Swee Choon in Jalan Besar with great fondness. It is so far away now.

Oh well.

I didn't draw much this weekend. Oh well, if only.

Marnie - Wolves (Official Video)

Marnie - Alphabet Block

Logged into boardgamegeek for the first time in years. Haha.

It has been 1037 days since I watched a movie at GVcinemas.

I would have bought American if Dell hadn't made it inconvenient for small corporate buyers online. I ended up with Acer PCs recently from Courts at Ang Mo Kio because it was available. The few Dell machines at the store weren't the ones I wanted. Ditto for HP. I dislike Acers but these are low end office machines that I needed, any brand would do. They are indistinguishable.

The old Windows Vista Core 2 Duo machine, an old Dell Vostro 200, has finally died after all these years. I had put good RAM into the machine and extended its life. I had also put a new HDD in recently. It had rendered good service for many years, a decade of hard use. I guess that was it. Now, I will strip the few usable parts of that thing.

People do believe in their own mythology, I see it far too many times.

Focus.

Dune .....folding space

This is shaping up to be a busy week.

Woo hoo! Diablo III, Paragon level 626 now. My aim is level 800 eventually. It is getting punishing. 1.8 to 2 billion xp every 12-13 minutes. Hmmm.. It will take about half an hour to 40 minutes per paragon level at this point.

Friday! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Apparently, buying ice-cream to bribe people works. Funny how people would rather go with an unprincipled, power-hungry person with tyrannical tendencies.

There will always be people who will sell out, follow the herd. Extremely disappointing, I have left with great disgust. They will use reasons like unity against a common enemy and more. Aligning oneself with disagreeable creatures is really not the way to go.

I realise that I have not watched a movie in the cinema or on DVD for over a year now. Has it been that long?

Time flies.

I haven't been having dinner for the last two Fridays and one Saturday. Finally, I did have dinner on Saturday evening, a vegetarian pizza at the Living Café. It was delicious.

Revising the prices of a brochure on sepak takraw balls and net. Prices have gone up across the board.

A little bird had flown into my room a few days ago. It was distressed at being trapped. I managed to open a window and shoo it out

Oh well. Such is life.

The holidays were a respite. It has given me time to think.

Back to the office.

The years have passed really fast.

25 degrees today. It has been constant rain for the last two days at least.

I broke my glasses. I need to get a new pair made as soon as possible.

I miss her. I miss the sound of her laughter and the long conversations we had.

The weekend flew by in an eyeblink.

Art Stage is just over. I remember going a few years ago.

The mystery of the rooster is solved. Apparently, a local tycoon had instructed his folks to bring them around the neighbourhood. It is likely to cater to his superstitions of a new Chinese year.

I think I will go visit the Jurong Bird Park soon. It has been about four decades since I was last there. I guess in a sense it will be a bittersweet visit for another reason. Oh well. Such is life.

News in Chinese on the radio

I have the opportunity to listen to news in Chinese on the radio rather frequently these days. The focus on news items from mainland China is there and it can be startling as listening to this news broadcast, one would never have known if there is anything else happening throughout the world. It is as if Singapore is an outpost of China. I wonder if the local stations hire folks from the People's Daily or something to do the news programming.

Now, I do wonder about news in Hokkien over the airwaves. I heard a bit of it twice over the years.

Weirdness. A rooster flew in just now and was crowing loudly.