Company Trips ain't worth the trouble

Came back from the company trip yesterday. Went to this beach in Port Dickson and stayed at the Bayu Resort. It was a quick affair, arrived at 3pm, had our annual dinner at 6pm, endded at 11pm, woke up on Sunday for some telematches, and checked out. By 1pm Sunday, I was home. What did I get outta it? Nothing, but developed a sort of dislike for some of my colleagues which I thought I liked. It's one thing to hang out with them during lunch, and another to spend long hours in their company. Ugh, now I understand how familiarity breeds contempt. I'm not the type of person who can take much crap. The reason for my short fuse is because of the amount of crap I took when I was much younger. Now I have this defensive attitude when people start doing something that affects me. But enough of that.

Shin has been a darling and had put up the new ROMB layout. Some people hates it, some do not. If you have anything to add, just go here and comment. Shin and I will be monitoring the thread. (Yeah yeah go ahead and get a kick in when we're down)

Maybe you could tell that I'm not in the best of moods. I can't really tell why. Maybe it's PMS, maybe it's my gradually depleting bank account, maybe it's that feeling I got when I woke up. I just don't feel good. When I came in in the morning, reading those comments in the forum thread got me really annoyed. Argh. Sometimes I hate my life and i feel like just going into a long long sleep that never wakes up. I can't take on this by myself, you know. I just can't.

My stomach hurts.

June & April

These two are like the inseparable pair, yet can't seem to stand each other sometimes. And I just got tired of thinking up names, so June & April it is, like the months. I guess that's not really their real names, but only their hostess name in PBCourt. So what kinda people end up as hostesses in nightclubs you think. All sorts really, but mostly for the same reason. Fast cash. S'just that once you start, you can't stop because of the quality of life there beats flipping burgers or walking the streets. Imagine, all the pretty shiny things you get to wear, all the cosmetics you need, all the girlfriends you ever want (platonic or non-platonic). Then there's the partying and the protection of patrons that come to be fond of you. So everybody started hostessing somewhere, whether to make the extra cash or to pay off debts. Then when all that's in hand, when there's no other reason to continue, they just realise it's too much of a waste to quit. The glitzy glamorous hedonism gets to you, esp when you're young.

And then there's the Madame. Some girls stay just to be with her, when they could just walk out and get normal respectable daytime jobs. I think it's easier to cultivate blind loyalty to a person of the same sex rather than to the opposite. I can understand the maternal role the Madame plays to her girls. Especially for those who've stayed the longest, they would even lay down lives for her because there's nothing to lose. And then there's the lesbianism. It occured to me that it's highly probable that the Madame plays the part of the lover and the mother. Few girls can resist that.

But not that the Madame's a lesbian. She's better off bisexual. A flexible sexual preference makes things much easier in the pleasure industry.

For this page, I scripted and rescripted it several times. Despite this, it completely took a different direction when I put in the dialogues. But if this is the direction the characters want to go, I'll just let them. June & April started off as the chirpy airhead pair that makes cliched innuendoes. They are randomly funny and is supposed to serve as comic relief. Then I realise no woman is going to be in the mood to play Laurel and Hardy when they spend 8 hours pretending to like being groped. Every single night.

So I let them speak for themselves. I want them to have deeper personalities, darker intentions and more despairing outlooks. Even if they're only appearing once in ROMB, I want people to remember them and wonder what happened to them as the story moves on with time. Maybe you'll get into these two more in the next page, and still like them all the same. And don't think you know what's going to happen next, cause you don't. I made sure of that. ;-)

Oh hell, I hate to tell a story where people know what's going to happen next.

Random Yammering

Have you watched The Incredibles yet? If not, go watch it. It's awesome. Even the serious boyfriend (who doesn't dig animation btw) could not stifle his giggles.

So yes, new page to be completed by tonight. I haven't worked so hard on a page since...i don't know when. Must be all the women forms I had to draw. Men are much easier to draw, don'tcha think.

Song of the moment: Respect - Pink :D

I'm looking forward to some Urbz action tonight. The thing is, the game's targeted for young girls. I admit I do love the dress-up-your-urbz part. But I think boys secretly like playing dolls too. See how much the boyfriend likes playing Def Jam. YES, YOU GET TO DRESS UP YOUR CHARACTAH! Go get it boys! XD...oh i'm so lame. WAHAHA!

I see the two contractors behind me playing online games and chatting in Yahoo non-stop. Ah, life as a contractor is good. Not that mine is bad. Just feeling cheating on behalf of my company. Haha. Yes, rather mean of me.

Shin coming this Thursday. Hope she gets her dream job soon.

Work like Hell

Lots of office work lately. That's probably why I've not been drawing much. Did try to yesterday, and panel 1 took me forever. By 11.40pm, I've just completed it. Gawd, I'm not sure what's making it so hard to draw. Just a simple box with people inside. Sometimes I really don't know. I can draw really fast, and yet when I'm all fired up, I still somehow take so long to complete just the lineart for a single panel. Too long.

So anyway, I'm playing The Urbz and Fatal Frame 2. Pretty fun. Definitely waiting for Shin to come over to kill the bosses for me in FFrame 2. I'm so chickenshit.

I feel so good today because of many things. Must be because I'm getting enough sleep. Surprising how these things make so much of a difference.

I'd like to type more but I can't. More new projects coming in, and that's why I need to attend daily sessions of Knowledge Transfers. I'm pretty sure my career path is changing for the better starting next year. Not necessarily better pay, but more stress, definitely assloads of responsibilities.

Will try to watch the Incredibles this weekend. Haven't been to the cinema with a huge bunch of friends for so long now. But don't you hate it when you're charged with the task to get tickets. Stupid long queues.

Headache

Oh my head hurts! X_X Could be caused by the fact that I slept at 1 something yesterday. Actually started playing Wanted. It's just really fun. I love how the developers incorporated small RPG elements into the adventure game with money management, an accumulative inventory, etc. The gameplay is up til now, still crazily non-linear. I foresee several arcade sequences coming up soon, including a shooting game. Luckily, you can cheat by turning down the difficulty by tweaking the mouse-sensitiviy/detail level in the Settings menu. I think that is very flexible for purist adventurers who prefer to not have their clicking accuracy and reflex tested. Surprisingly refreshing. The development of story events are not as complex as Broken Sword III, but still pretty refreshing for adventure games, if you ask me. My only gripe is that the game protagonist, Fenimore Fillmore walks pretty slowly (no running by double-clicking), and the camera is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I need to make Fenimore walk until he hits the edge of the screen to confirm that there's no areas unexplored. Combined with the leisurely pace he keeps, it's enough to drive me a bit nuts. Just a bit though, cuz the areas are not that vast, thank god.

I also bought Return to Mysterious Island and The Polar Express. Oh geez, I should've checked out the reviews before getting the latter. Unknown to me, it's not just a kid's game...it's a SUCKY kid's game, according to some of the reviews I read AFTER getting the game. Man...I hope those guys are wrong. Anyway, I'm still wanting to get the Sims 2 in DVD. 4 CDs to play is just too much. Hope to jump into the bandwagon and start developing ROMB sims T_T I want to see sim Jem kick sim San's ass around. That will be so-oh-oh-oh good.

Well yeah. I need to work on the new page I know. But Shin won't be around to update anyway so no rush for me this week. :p She'll be in Melbourne starting tomorrow. Bon Voyage my leetle webmistress! (come back alive the shoutbox needs extra codes)

Family Matters

Tomorrow's a public holiday here for the Hindus, Deepavalli. Which reminds me painfully of the fact that I won't get to spend the best part of Chinese Lunar Year with my family. It sucks. Damn job. I haven't had quality time with all of them for so long. When I go home for the weekends, either my sis is not there, or my mom is not, and the weekends are too short. It's like just a matter of time before I'm driving back to the city again. It's not like I'm homesick or anything, but my family's been going through a lot the past few years and I want to be home to make more good memories with them. The bad ones are quickly overtaking the good ones. Deaths, cancer, debts, aunts bickering over the will, infant nieces hospitalised, financial problems, schizophrenia...jeez, you name it. It gets pretty sickening, but hey, still kin.

The other day I was picking out some old clothes for the Salvation Army and I came across this black skirt my mother bought for me so many years ago. It was then I realised that (after so many years) my mom actually forked out RM60+ for it. You might think, what's the big deal here. But my mom's the type that pinches pennies to the extreme. Every single cent matters and makes a hell of a difference to her. When as kids, my sis and I often stand there in embarassment when she argues heatedly with the vegetable seller over the matter of a few cents. We used to hate going to the market with her. Everything was about money money money. There was only 1 Barbie doll in the family and she sewed us the doll's clothes instead of getting those Martel outfit packs. I really thought I was poor, especially when mom told me to get used school textbooks from the school book scheme, instead having to buy new ones for us. So it really means something, to have mom actually pay RM60 for the damn skirt. I remember that the store was on sale, and we expected the stuff in there to be discounted. Unfortunately, this little black skirt was not. Mom just took one look at the pricetag and kinda froze, while I was standing there worried, totally sure that she will ask me to pick a cheaper one. But she did not. Just said that it's fine, and got it for me. I didin't really get it then when we left that store. I got it now, 5 years later.

Knowing this makes me realise that my mom loves us more than she cares to admit. All the hurtful stuff she said, the beatings she gave us, they don't hurt as much anymore now that I think about it. She could just wash her hands off us and my dad and leave, but she didin't. We might not grow up to be perfect people, but having what I have now is just as good.

ROMB 7-05

One day page. I'm fast when I don't have to draw backgrounds hahhaha! See me cheat with photoshopped backdrops and shortcut comictones! ...Man, I must do this more often. :D

Urm, oh yes. So our monitor girl runs off after bitchslapping Matt. You go, Gabs! Matt, he doesn't have much experience with non-Aida females slapping him...unlike some other guy by the name of San. And you don't really want to see these two dating. Aida will freak out btw. Little brother's supposed to study hard and none of that hanky-panky, if you please. So I'm not going into sappy school shoujo anytime soon, unless it happens by itself. Ha, it's like I didin't say anything at all, isn't it?

This scene is done. Yes! So let's hope it's already up by the time you're reading this or it'll be spoiled T_T. Okie doke. Ju out.

Rainy Days

It's the monsoon now and it rains like hell every evening. People try to stay at home when it does, because the roads will be congested and stuff. My clothes are hanging on the balcony and they're not drying T_T Hope it won't start to stink or something....

Oh alright. I'm starting to draft the new page today. Sorry bout the delay but I was busy with the new ROMB layout since the last update. Learnt some Javascript in the process too. :) Not sure when will Shin have the time to put up the layout, but it won't go up 100% yet because I'm still short of a few pages. Combining SOE galleries with ROMB omakes and hoping to put everything in Keenspace to save bandwidth. Not a simple process though ._.; Please bear with the delay of the new layout AND the new page. This new layout, some people might not be able to stand it, because it's waaaay different with the current clean and easy look. It's a bit...cluttered and over-colorful and...strange XD. But yes, it's a lot like me...gaudy and loud sometimes, but still kinda strangely ... sweet...hehe. (okay, you may go puke now)

Alright. So I go do the draft now. Continuing for where Matt got slapped. People are already asking me when they will start dating and get married and what will happen to Jem and stuff. >_> Well guys, you know how I hate being predictable...

Weak and Weary

Lots of sexy Gorge Fusion discussion here. I don't know. Talking about system design gets me all fired up. I wish I have the time to reorganise all the stuff I've typed out about Gorge Fusion nicely into the FAQ. Maybe this weekend. I'll need Shin's help to put up the new layout already. Much faster to load and more colorful. The current grey/pink color scheme is getting boring to me T_T No offense, Shin.

I'm so tired today. Don't know why, and there's tons of work to do. There's a meeting tonight at 10.30pm and tomorrow's the big day for System Testing for the Rewards project. It never ends.

Alright. I'll start on the bazillion of office mail after lunch. Really dying for a bed here....

ROMB 7-04

Whoaaaaaaaa! Manage to complete the page today! :D I apologise for the lack of backgrounds as there's quite a bit of dialogues to be squeezed in...so yes, that explains the blankness behind our ...lovebirds... XD

Gee, don't you love it when a girl gets her knickers all in knots like that? Gabriella, she's turning out to be more forceful then I initially planned her to be. In the script for this page, the last panel wasn't supposed to happen. Poor Matt...never have much luck with the fairer sex. But hey, can't blame him for what happened. Who could stand being crapped on like that. Poor boy....*scratches Matt behind ears*

One more page til the next scene. I hope you're looking forward for more Aida. Haven't given her any air time for so long. But honestly, I hope that people are not getting irritated with the spread out plot developments here and there. I know I'm juggling more than my fair share of subplots currently, and have to break out the timeline into what each main character is up too. Let's hope I don't start to get confused myself. T_T But yes, I do love how events that seem insignificant right now will somehow play an important role in jumpstarting the more major events. I think life is like that. Nothing is determined in a standalone decision. Everything is linked with the things that have had happened, big or small. And people tend to overlook details mostly. It's fun to zoom in and trace the small stuff sometimes. Only after ROMB's completed, you'll look back and understand why the story sometimes seems to be going in all directions and not straight to the point. You'll see there's no way in reaching from point A to point B without all the details in between. ;)

Ah, less talk more ROMB pages. Enjoy the page, peeps. Keep voting to put ROMB at top 100 in the new Buzzcomic voting list and top 10 in Topsitelists! Thanks all :)