I know many of you are dying to punch me or stick a sword in my neck. Haha.

Here’s your chance!

Just click here, create a character in under 10 seconds (unless you’re a vainpot like me – I took 10 minutes to scroll until I got an outfit combo that I liked), and BISH, you’re fighting me.

After that, you get to fight Plurksters and Barflies and Pingsters.

This fantastically cute “game”, which was introduced to me yesterday by Swordplay, and then unleashed into Plurk by me, suddenly got extremely viral.

That’s the power of Plurk for you.

Everyone’s playing this now. Come and join us! =)

I’ve only been to the Botanic Gardens once in my life and that was for work. For a photo shoot.

It’s quite possible that my parents could have brought me there when I was little, but I have no memory of such an event.

I’ve never been much of a park person.

I’ve never been a tree, or plant, or even flower, person.

If you were to ask me, at any point in my life, to go to the Botanic Gardens, my answer would be, “Siao ah, go there for what?”

Continue reading…

Having supper with the Goonfather and Unker Kell.

Unker Kell was telling us about his new job at the Singapore Science Centre and the Goonfather was teasing him about how he’s going to get bugged by kids asking him questions all day (even though it isn’t that kind of job).

“What are you gonna say if they ask you why E=MC²?” the Goonfather wanted to know.

At which point Unker Kell actually launched into a speech about energy and mass having a party, or something like that, I don’t know, physics has never made sense to me.

The Goonfather interrupted him.

“No, no,” he said. “You must tell them this:

“E=MC², right? Now, E is the elephant. On the other side of the equation, you have the monkey and the cheetah. What you need to do is mate the monkey with the cheetah to produce twins, and then when you combine everything, it is equivalent to the elephant.”

There was a stunned silence for a moment.

And then pandemonium. By way of me spilling chilli sauce all over myself because my body suddenly decided to laugh very violently.

Unker Kell offered the Goonfather a finger and a descriptive word.

I told the Goonfather, “I think you should be a teacher.”

Which prompted a discussion on how our future generation will be made of morons if the Goonfather were to became a teacher.

But we agreed that the kids would love him.

“‘Cher! Why does one plus one equal two?” teased Unker Kell.

“No, no, no,” said the Goonfather. “The question is not why, but how one plus one equals two.”

More spilled chilli sauce. More laughter. Even though it wasn’t even all that funny when you really thought about it.

The Goonfather, putting on his teacher face and affecting a teacher voice, went on to explain, “I want you to take out a ruler.

“First, I want you to measure the length of the number one. Okay?

“Then, you measure the length of the other number one. Got it?

“Now, I want you to measure the length of the number two. Right?

“Finally, you will see that the combined length of both ones is the same as the length of the two. That is why 1 + 1 = 2.”

Over a thousand men (in relationships) were recently polled on a British website to find out if men would rather play video games or have sex with their partners.

32% said they’d rather play games.

Which is a pretty moderate statistic. What’s more remarkable is that the number shot up drastically when the game in question was a new game.

72% of the respondents said they would rather play a new video game than play bedroom games with their partners.

This tells me one thing: There is hope yet for mankind.

Google has the full report.

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Table of Contents

1. Larry is back!
2. Time Wasters by Swordplay
3. Plants vs. zombies. Who will win?
4. Positive gaming news
5. April Fool’s Day in Guild Wars
6. Results of last week’s contest
7. Win 4 boxes of Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition!!

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Larry is back!

I didn’t play Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (2004), although I wanted to. I actually had a copy sitting around but was too busy to play.

Now I don’t know where it’s gone, and its sequel, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, is here, after five long years.

Well, sort of here, anyway. The last I heard, it’s now sitting in someone’s office in MDA waiting to be rated before it can be released in Singapore.

This sequel continues the adventures of Larry Lovage, nephew to the original Larry Laffer in the earlier Larry games.

I tried a bit of the early games (those created by Al Lowe) and liked the humour and sarcasm and the problem-solving.

I don’t know how this new release will measure up. There were mixed reviews on Magna Cum Laude, with critics complaining that it’s not the same without Al Lowe’s touch. The gameplay was apparently slightly modified to keep up with the changing face of video games.

Of course there were also those who liked it, too. So, it’s always best to play the game and judge for yourself, you think?

Well, it’s any time soon. I hope it’s good. Will let you know if I get a copy of the game.

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Time Wasters by Swordplay

Swordplay is my pesky li’l bro who spends all his time playing time-wasting games. To make him a little bit more useful, I’m sitting on him and making him recommend one fun and simple web-based game each week.

Today’s recommendation:

This is the well-loved Flash version of the well-loved classic Whac-A-Mole arcade game. You know, little critters pop out of holes? Whack ‘em with hammer fast as you can?

Tontie is that, and harder. A lot harder.

Accompanied by a chirpy soundtrack reminiscent of cheesy Japanese game shows, Tontie is simple and addictive, and infuriating at higher levels.

Each level introduces a new critter which requires different handling. Some of them you have to hit twice, some you can’t hit without losing life, some you can only hit when the conditions are right, and so on.

You have to memorise the conditions for every monster because, by level 20, you’ll be getting 20 different kinds of monsters popping out at random, very fast, like at the speed of light or close. As you progress, you can buy weapon upgrades and extra life to help you conquer the game.

So many years after release, Tontie is still widely played and Swordplay goes nuts over it. Apparently, he cried out in agony when he accidentally downgraded his weapon to a red hammer with a click, right after parting with his life savings for a gold hammer.

Can’t say I blame him. I would too, probably worse. In fact, I haven’t even reached the stage where I have enough money to buy a gold hammer.

Well, this game is very good for taking a quick break and refreshing your energy between work or study. Just be careful not to get addicted!

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Plants vs. zombies. Who will win?

I don’t know how Swordplay does it, but he has a knack for finding rubbishly cute stuff on the Internet.

His latest find: An MTV for a B-grade zombie game that will be released on May 5, 2009, by PopCap.

Okay, it’s not really a zombie game in the usual sense of the genre. Plants vs Zombies is advertised as a tower defense game. I think you’re supposed to use a bunch of cute assorted plants to repel zombie invaders.

The MTV is cute and funny and catchy. Have a watch. I LOL’ed at the opening sequence because it was so unexpected and comical.

Swordplay also did some detective work and turned up the identity of the singer behind the MTV: A pretty Japanese lady by the name of Laura Shigihara.

Okay, I don’t know if she’s actually Japanese. At least half, I guess. She was educated in the USA, so she could be an American Japanese or Japanese American, or something in between.

What’s important, though, is that she’s got a super cute voice and she’s pretty and she writes and performs videogame music for a living!

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Positive gaming news

After months of bad press on gaming, we finally see some good news articles that should give you some ammo against critics of your lifestyle.

Shooter video games ‘sharpen vision’

FPS games have been found to improve an aspect of our vision known as contrast sensitivity. Yes, playing FPS can indeed train our vision with long-term benefits! I celebrated this discovery by playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox 360 last night. Not only do I think it’s good for the eyes, I think shooting zombies is good for the soul, too!

Study: Violent games least likely to cause gamer aggression

A study has shown that, out of three different kinds of games, violent games were the least likely to cause aggressive behaviour. The test was done on the Xbox 360, using an FPS, a racing game and a 3D tennis game. It was found that the racing game caused the most agitation and agression among the gamers.

Hey, next time anyone’s doing any tests involving gaming, invite me! Any excuse to play games, you know? ;)

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April Fool’s Day in Guild Wars

Most MMORPGs feature “live” events to commemorate special days, such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas. You’d get limited edition items and fun themed quests. If you’re enterprising, you’d also get to make a fast buck by stocking up on those limited items and selling them after the event is over.

But I never saw a game commemorate April Fool’s Day until Guild Wars.

In the last two years, the game brought joy and laughter to players by turning them into funny things on April 1st.

Last year, everyone got turned into stick men.

This year, we all got turned into Gwen-chan. It was very well-received.

Gwen is an important NPC whom everyone loves because she features very largely in the game’s storyline. She normally looks like this:

Anyway, there was some kind of glitch where newly-created characters didn’t get turned into Gwen-chan, and that led to a lot of hilarious roleplaying among gamers.

Whereever there was a normal player, a huge school of Gwen-chans would surround him or her.

Players spoke in baby talk and pretended that the normal players were parents.

By unspoken agreement, the normal players would dance and all the Gwen-chans would crowd around and watch, and make inane, kiddy comments.

Overheard: “Why are we all gathered around the naked lady?”

Overheard: “DAAAAAAAAAADDY!!!!”

At one point when everyone was crowding around two “daddies” and feeling deprived of maternal care, someone suddenly shouted: “There’s a mommy by the storage!!” (storage = bank)

A few Gwen-chans rushed over to the storage and started MOMMMMMMMYing the mommy, but I think she was AFK or busy sorting her inventory or something and didn’t respond.

After a while, one of the Gwen-chans complained, “YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A MOMMY!”

And: “Daddy are you AFK??????”

LOL.

This one’s a good mommy:

And good daddies:

This is me attempting to pull Swordplay’s hair:

Haha, yes. Swordplay is the one kneeling on the floor.

I logged in the game but didn’t play (in the sense of adventuring and questing). After participating in the cutesy roleplay for half an hour or so, I basically just left my avatar there and, while doing other stuff on my computer, occasionally checked in to read the chat and laugh.

It was a total riot. I’m already looking forward to next year’s April Fool’s Day! Um, that is, I hope I’ll still be playing Guild Wars by then.

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Results of last week’s contest

Ahtiong is a lucky boy! He is about to win yet another GGF prize. This is his fourth time in five months! How cool is that? This week, he wins for himself a copy of Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition!!

Congratulations, ahtiong! I will contact you this time I since I already have your contact info, several times over. *lol*

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Win Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition!!

So, what’s the matter, huh? You people tired of getting free stuff, or was last week’s contest too difficult?

I still have four copies of this to give away.

Fine, I’ll make it easier this time. Just answer these two questions if you want a copy!

1. At the German Games Convention 2008, 16% of participants said they’d had a game account stolen by hackers.

a) No way!

b) True.

2. What exactly is Gamer Mode in Norton AntiVirus Gaming Edition?

a) The opposite of a younger brother: Won’t bother you while you’re in the middle of a game, but keeps you protected throughout.

b) Something that automatically suspends updates, alerts, and other background activities when the system goes into full screen mode.

c) All of the above.

Closing Date: April 9, 2009, 11:59 pm.

Find out more about Norton Antivirus Gaming Edition here.

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I’ve been wondering whether I should spread GGF out and, like, publish one small entry a day, rather than compile everything at the end of each week.

It would probably be easier for you as a reader and for me as a writer, no? The only problem would be that the name Gamer Girl Friday would become a misnomer.

What think you?

I was quite the monkey when I was younger, catching bugs for fun, crawling through mud, attempting to climb trees (but failing because it’s hard to find climbable trees in Singapore when you’re not an actual monkey).

When I grew older, the female hormones in me decided to revolt. They wanted a say in my daily activities. They lobbied, for instance, for knitting lessons.

Calling a mutiny, they quite succeeded in driving out the males, consequently usurping the terrority for themselves.

So it was that I found myself turned from monkey to cat.

I developed a dislike for bugs, water and dirt. I liked sitting in air-conditioned rooms, safe and protected from the harsh elements of the outdoors. And I learnt how to knit.

Last month, when I received an invitation to gallivant in a faraway jungle and visit with bugs, my female hormones obviously received the news with a lot of joy.

As the story goes, the male hormones in me didn’t all get banished in the last uprising. Some of the more enterprising ones hid in fat cells, where they knew the females would be loath to go near, and bided their time.

One day, they told themselves, they would overthrow the tyranny and reclaim their territory!

My trip to Bako National Park in Kuching, Sarawak, where I was invited to explore as part of a media familiarisation trip, seemed like the perfect opportunity for the male hormones to carry out a forceful takeover.

Thanks to my inner insurgents, I actually enjoyed being Jungle Jane very much.

I think the two sides are now at full-on war. The males are now demanding for me to take them somewhere a) rugged, b) dangerous, c) dirty, or d) all of the above.

The females are retaliating by growing a pimple.

While I leave them to fight, I’m starting my account with our arrival by boat at Bako National Park, on the way to which we had encountered a sunbathing crocodile.

Everything I saw in Bako National Park, the oldest national park in Sarawak, was a delight. Paving our way to the jetty were mangrove plantations, a rather strange sight for a city girl.

Oh, during our boat ride, we encountered this handsome ang moh who turned to our boat and sort of smiled at us. He looked like some National Geographic celebrity, with his trekking gear and sunglasses.

We later bumped into him again at the park, where he had set up his camera and was waiting to photograph monkeys in the mangroves.

I didn’t dare to talk to him because he seemed a little pissed off with our group for going into the mangrove swamp and scaring the monkeys away, although it wasn’t our fault because our tour guide wanted to show us stuff in there.

This is where the monkeys will come out from the adjoining jungle to play at if there aren’t any tourists walking about. So, obviously we didn’t see monkeys that day because we were playing in their playground.

We did see one proboscis monkey on one very high treetop at the edge of the jungle. But it was very far away.

Here’s the best I could do with my camera zoom:

The big fleshy reddish-beige thing in the middle of its face is its nose, which is what proboscis monkeys are famous for.

The mangrove trail was awesome. Besides making our shoes awfully wet and muddy, it served as a great backdrop for photography and also turned up some really cool wildlife.

Such as a woodpecker.

Can you spot the woodpecker? I never would have. Our tour guide Anastasia saw it and pointed it out to us. Anastasia is truly an amazing guide.

Here’s a zoom-in on the woodpecker:

It was hard to photograph it because it was very high up in a tree, and when we tried to get closer, it disappeared entirely.

But we saw it pecking at the tree industriously a few times before it went into hiding. It was so cute!

We also saw a hermit crab, which Juraida very bravely held out to let us photograph.

One part of the ground swarmed with fiddler crabs. The male ones have one giant claw which is bigger than their shells, making them look very funny.

They’re very tiny, about 1 or 2 inches in length.

I actually jumped the gun. We had started with a jungle hike before going into the mangroves. We actually climbed a mountain! I think we got up to about 200 metres above sea level or a little over that.

The climb was really fun because we had to navigate steep and trecherous rocks and sometimes climb on tree roots. It was like going through an obstacle course, which is something that very greatly appealed to me when I was a monkey girl.

That’s Anastasia climbing up the trail, which had been cut out by park authorities for trekking purposes.

Basically, we just climbed and climbed while Anastasia stopped occasionally to point out items of interest.

For instance, here’s a cinnammon plant, from which you get cinnammon spice:

What a good workout that was. We were also constantly harrassed by mosquitoes. Our insect repellent totally did not work.

There are many different trails you can explore in the park. The mangrove swamp I described earlier was one. The jungle trek is another.

Some of the “steps” are easy to climb, such as this:

Others are really tough, especially when going downhill, requiring you to hold on to neighbouring mouldy vegetation for support or risk falling to your demise.

I don’t have photos of the tough ones because I was too busy trying to stay alive during those times.

Well, okay, it’s not as bad as I just described. I kinda survived without a scratch on me, if you don’t count the mosquito bites.

Here’s a rest stop where people can take a break and have a smoke:

You’re not allowed to smoke outside of this little rest area.

After an hour or so, we reached the plateau, which was sort of a flat rocky base with sandy craters.

It was hot! And I forgot to bring sunblock. So I got quite tanned after the trip.

At the plateau, we were introduced to a variety of carnivorous pitcher plants, which eat insects.

Here’s one:

Here’s another:

And a giant lounging one:

I really wouldn’t mind going mountain or jungle trekking again. But I must say that having a good tour guide helps. It’s fun to have someone there to point out interesting plants and animals, and tell you stories.

For instance, I would have just walked past this plant and ignored it as being just a stupid common plant:

But Anastasia made it interesting for us by describing how her grandmother used to harvest these ferns and process them into cures for a host of ailments.

Well, you know what, I’m only halfway through my Bako National Park report, although that’s the end of our mountain trekking. Please come back again for part two!

Next stop: Monitor lizards and snakes and a screaming tour guide.