I've made a few additions do my blog... Go check them out.
I've edited a few links. Took out some and added others. It seems by bros are back in the blogging business, and a few of my cousins as well. And I added some RJGE and S03H people. Here are their links.
Daryl - www.xanga.com/dacrylic
Darren - www.xanga.com/darrenlow
Shanny and Elaine - www.elaineandshanny.blogspot.com
Ling Ting - www.sola-fide.blogdrive.com
Aditi - www.bagendedscoot.livejournal.com
Ihtimam - www.judeslads.blogspot.com
Jheeva - www.sneaky-sneaky.blogspot.com
Mie - www.miemiu.livejournal.com
Those who I've unlinked and want me to link them again, please let me know. Thanks!
I've edited my goals. Realised that some of them might take a few years to complete. Now it seems pretty reasonable to me...
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Pre-Exam
SI was a pretty much ok affair. It was a battle between this guy.
And this guy.
To fans of the following idols... Sorry for the lousy pic quality. Its cos my TV is umm sorta problematic! Thus the bands of darker and lighter shades of colour.
Saw Zul Othman's article on the SI grading of songs the following day, and I think Jonathan Leong his highly overated still despite all his songs garnering praise and Bs. If you notice carefully when he sings the end of his phrases he tends to strain his throat and the sound comes out all awry. Well I think my money was on Hady FTW (Eh believe me I didn't bet anything though haha). His vocal quality is interesting, but the pitching at the end of his phrases are nearly pitch perfect although he did screw up in his second song.
Well, Jonathan did well in winning hearts of Singaporeans by singing "Should I Stay", which was a local song. I felt pretty touched, having a band as well. It really felt it was meant to motivate all us Singaporeans to go out and chase their dreams when it comes to music. Another thing Jon'll be happy about was that he and Hady beat Energy hands down.
On a night where Tanya Chua (wrong song choice), Electrico (More "action" than "music" IMO) and Energy (Not enough energy and vocals) disappointed, I felt kinda bored, though I was impressed by Jasmine Tye's? rendition of Murderer, which I forgot which artiste sang. I was on the comp and once I heard the beautiful singing I turned my head to watch. But of course... Most of the singing was lip synching.
Something that I wanna gripe about is that the SI2 single was sang quite poorly during verses at the beginning. The pitching was totally off for both Jon and Hady. I can bet with you on that. I can safely say that Hady had to modulate to another key when he came to the chorus from the verse just to correct the pitch. My ears don't lie. I hope.
I think I'm officially an SI critic ahaha.
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Besides that, we celebrated my cousin's birthday! Though her birthday is on the 28th... Which is Thursday? Her name's Serene in case anyone wants to know. Haha.
So it was a pretty eventful pre-exam build up. A bit guilty that I ponned CAP to mug though. =(
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Exams (FF Style)
These examinations are a series of battles that have to be completed for Class O, Level 17 acolytes to move to Level 18, and one step closer to being a Class A Hunter. Acolytes are graded by the ability and fortitude exemplified when doing battle with various difficult opponents and vicious monsters.
Day 1 - Jenova (GP)
The first boss was pretty much ok I guess. It had like 4 forms. Jenova Birth, Jenova Life, Jenova Death, and Jenova Synthesis. Jenova Birth was pretty ok. Had to choose one out of many ways to defeat it, and of course I went with the easiest way IMO. And I think lots of other acolytes picked method 10 as well. The rest of the Jenovas had to be tackled one after the other without any healing, and that made it really tiring. That was the tough part, and I was glad once I defeated it. With my maxed out speed/dexterity stat I made it out without much injury.
FYI Jenova looks like a female half angel half human half demon kinda weird thing. Its from FF7. She is Sephiroth's and Cloud's "mother". If I'm not wrong that is. Cloud has to fight Jenova all over, from disc 1-3.
Day 2 - XATM82 (Econs)
The second boss was really tough. Being an acolyte without any suitable lightning spells and a very weak offense stat, I took a long time hacking on the tough metal exterior of this boss. Dodging its melee attacks were no problem, but the problem was that time was running out and I had to defeat it. Eventually I did, with mere seconds to spare. The time limit imposed was horrible, and I can imagine how some of my fellow acolytes felt when they failed to defeat it on time. For the last portion of the boss, you had to defeat 2 out of 3 sections. One of my fellow acolytes merely defeated only 1 portion and thought he had won in record time, only to find out that he had not even fully destroyed the machine yet.
FYI, XATM82 looks like a gigantic mechanical spider thingy. Its attacks aren't strong, but in FF8, it takes extremely long to defeat. Squall fights this in disc 1 at Dollet, and as Squall runs from the communication tower, he is continually chased by XATM82.
Day 3 - Kraken (Maths)
Finally something that I was really used to and comfortable with. Fighting underwater with all your thoughts floating around you is quite ok for me. Kraken had 14 tentacles that had to be satisfactorily handled before a killer blow could be dealt to its soft underbelly. I sliced through them pretty easily, until I reached the sixth one, then I dodged its attack and went for the other tentacles before finishing that one off. And Kraken was successfully defeated. Easy peasy! Against a slow boss with low physical endurance I did pretty well.
FYI Kraken can be found in almost every FF. It even appeared in the first ever FF, if I'm not wrong. Kraken is a gigantic squidlike monster that wraps its tentacles around its prey and sucks the life out of them. If you've watch POTC2 you'll know what Kraken is. In FF9, Kraken is one of the 4 final guardians before you fight the 3 final bosses, Deathguise, Trance Kuja and Necron.
Day 4 - Tiamat (Chem)
Tiamat was pretty much the most imtimdating boss, but it was easier to handle than expected. I trained harder then usual, and found Tiamat easier than the final boss, Lich. Tiamat was pretty straightfoward to beat. Dragon type, with all rounded stats. Just be fast enough and it can be defeated no problem. Other acolytes perhaps may be overwhelmed by the sheer size and energy that Tiamat had. Clarity of thought was especially important to defeat this boss, as Tiamat is pretty much the smartest boss of them all, although it doesn't seem sentient at all.
FYI Tiamat as well can be found in lots of FFs, as well as Legend of Mana and a few other Squaresoft games. Its a large dragon with powerful claws, fire breath and all the stuff a typical dragon has. Its probably the strongest dragon type creature Squaresoft has ever created, Tiamat = Bahamut, Tiamat usually helping the evil guys and Bahamut usually being the one that helps the good guys eventually.
Final Preparations
Trained a bit and got a few morale boosts and power ups such as the news of the successful merit award for my Grade 8 Secondary skills Exam. (My second job class is a bard) I went with a fellow guild mate Darren to check on the status of his arm injury. When we arrived the very first thing we had to do was to uncast the charm put on his arm for protection. It was quite an interesting process. The healer used a small chainsaw kinda thing to break the charm. You shoulda seen the look on Darren's face. I think he was quite freaked out and traumatised from the process.
Then we sorta came to this room to scan his arm.
Woah secret X-Ray room lol. After that we had to wait for the Scan on the broken arm for some time at the nearby reception counter. He still had the traumatised look on his face so heres my pathetic attempt to snap him out of the trauma.
D: (Tries to call someone, but can't cos his phone has no reception)
D: Hey Ben your phone have reception or not?
B: Uh yeah.
D: Ehh... How come.
B: (Comes up with this stupidly brilliant idea)
B: Lol cos I'm sitting nearer to the reception counter than you. Get it? Reception?
D: (Pauses for awhile)
D: Ehh. Not funny...
Yeah but he wasn't traumatised anymore. Haha. So I guess it worked?
Finally we went to see this chief head healer guy who told us how the arm was doing. So the fracture on his arm hadn't healed yet, but he didn't need to recast it cos it would slow down the development of the arm.
Before:
Haha ignore this one. This is just part of the cast.
After:
Looks kinda ok doesn't it? But if you compare it with his other arm, this arm is now much thinner than the other. And also a lot more dirtier.
So that was one fun day at the hospital haha.
Last Boss - Lich (Bio)
The tough thing about Lich is that he's the only one who can speak to you and psycho you, as well as his Bio spell that drains your health and spirit totally. And that was my weakness, the element of poison. My speed and endurance totally slowed down, and I couldn't think properly. But I survived cos I found an antidote and started whacking Lich when his guard was down. And I realised the source of his power was his cauldron and I started defending myself against his attacks, so it was pretty ok in the end.
FYI Lich appears in a few FFs, noticably in FFT as a summon. Lich is actually a skeletal like figure with a cloak who specialises in poison as well as dark attacks. Lich is more well known and deadly for the bad status effects you get in battle against him, than being an extremely tough or difficult boss.
After that you guys must think I treat exams like a game. The fact is: you have to, otherwise you'd burn out. To fight and maintain full health is impossible, like wise to do the paper and score really high imba marks. So might as well pace yourself and not tire yourself out so much. Think of it light-heartedly and you'll feel light-hearted too! ~ A BenLow exam tipDunno if that works for you, but it sure does for me.
For FF junkies out there... Hope you like the post!
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Post Exam
Yay exams are over. And that means...
Yup I'm at disc 3 now. Alan lend me disc 3 and 4 please! =)
Also I'll be having fun with Fisherman's Horizon Theme (FF8) and Eternal Harvest (FF9). Trying them out on piano. For guitar perhaps Boss Fight Theme (FF7) or To Zanarkand (FF10)? We'll see about that.
Besides that... It's time to prac for Eden-Sol's evangelistic event, as well as Open House. Also I've gotta meet up with my guitar instructor to sort out SYF stuff. I'm gonna get busy real soon so wish me all the best! See ya guys.
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