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31 December 2006

New Year Resolutions

I have exactly 5 hours and 49 minutes to finish up this post so I better do it now before it's too late. I've decided, for the first time ever, to make a few New Year's Day resolutions.

Hopefully, I'll succeed in keeping most them as there are a lot of things about myself that I'm not satisfied with. Anyway, here they are. I've made two lists; one for real life resolutions and one for Runescape (hey come on, this post won't even be relevant if it wasn't for the latter).


Real Life Resolutions
1. I will make my quiet time with God more constructive. (I'm too easily distracted)

2. I will spend at least half an hour everyday revising on my school lessons. This "study time" will be extended accordingly on holidays/examination periods.

3. I will be more patient towards my friends/family/other irritating people.

4. I will stop procrastinating when it comes to completing school assignments.


Runescape Resolutions ("Goals" would be a more appropriate word)
1. By the end of 2007, my account will have an estimated value of one billion gp.

2. By the end of 2007, my account will have at least 110 million total experience points.

3. By the end of 2007, my account will have at least five stats which are Lvl 99.

4. I will complete all new quests released in 2007.


I, Timothy Gold, swear to uphold each and every resolution listed above. If I should fail to comply with at least 75% of the targets set in the lists, may my Runescape account be hacked and this post be removed from viewing. :-)

Well, that's about it guys. Happy New Year!!!


Stuff achieved today: Gained 100k Woodcutting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 6:10 PM |

29 December 2006

Some Minor Annoyances

Well, those Internet guys are hard at work restoring the connection speed in Singapore as well as the other countries affected by the earthquake.

It still gets laggy even with the new computer (yes, I have a new computer!) I received just yesterday, but at least I'm able to play Runescape. For some reason, SwiftSwitch doesn't seem to be working right now so I'm having some difficulty taking screenshots. I'll be re-installing the program soon though, so this inconvinience should be taken care of by tomorrow.



Anyway, things in Runescape have been going great so far despite the lag as I had mentioned earlier. I've made quite a few lvl ups, like yesterday when I finally reached lvl 98 Woodcutting. I am only a level away from that skill cape and I've estimated that I'll be able to buy and wear one by mid-January. My hopes of training Hunter to a more decent level, however, have been dashed since I've been simply too pre-occupied with other skills to raise it. A damn shame, but that's what I get for being lazy.


If you look closely, you can see my friend, Turquoisew77,
cheering me on as I get that lvl up.

I am also constantly worrying about school re-opening; I have less than a week of slacking, carefree days left. While the thought of meeting up with my classmates has gotten me very excited, I am really dreading the hours of school work and test papers I would have to deal with once more. I pray that the new school year would be a pleasant one...


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 67 Prayer, Lvl 75 Slayer

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:54 PM |

27 December 2006

Nation-Wide Lag

The Internet connection was terrible today. When I got up from bed and double-clicked the SwiftSwitch icon, the Runescape log-in page loaded just fine; it was only when I tried logging in that I started experiencing a lot of lag.

I could hardly move my character, I just kept disconnecting and logging out. Things didn't improve about an hour later when there was absolutely no connection at all. I was really frustrated about that, and even though I was able to play the game later on, I noted that I had difficulty accessing other websites. Even Wikipedia took forever to load.

It was another couple of hours later, before I learnt that my friends were also experiencing this problem. I assumed that it was the weather that was somehow connected (no pun intended) to the lag. Unfortunately, as I had later found out while watching the news, it was not the rainy weather, but an earthquake all the way in Taiwan which had caused Internet speed to slow down to a crawl.

The earthquake had damaged some cables, resulting in communication and Internet problems all over Singapore. This only seems to affect American websites so much of Runescape was spared since it's a UK game (although it has quite a few American servers). They say that it'll take up to 3 weeks to get them fixed, so I guess I'll be stuck with a laggy computer for quite a while.

I'm quite annoyed with this, but you won't see me sulking and complaining in fornt of the computer. After all, the Taiwanese are obviously a lot worse off than I am. Think of the damage that earthquake has caused.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 100k Woodcutting experience

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:18 PM |

26 December 2006

Some Second Thoughts

I'm in a bit of a dilema right now. The half a year I've been in the GTG Assassins has been great. However, because of the huge difference in time zones, I've been unable to reguarly participate in any clan events since they typically take place at around 3 AM, my time.

I've been tolerating this for a while now, but I'm really starting to yearn going out with a group of friends, defeating the opposing Castle Wars team, destroying all four portals in Pest Control and of course, eliminating each opponent, one by one, in the Tzaar Fight Pits. I hardly ever get to do these activities with my fellow clan members, and that has really gotten me fed up lately. Sure, I really think that the clan community is great; all members are very friendly. Unfortunately, I expect more from the clan than just "niceness".

Another thing that bothers me is the fact that the GTG Assassins is slowly starting to shrink. It has gotten nowhere since that huge crisis when its original website went down and a majority of its members left. Since then, quite a few new players have joined, giving the illusion of the restoration of the clan. But one by one, I see them leave; even a few of the older members have decided to quit. Right now, the only thing keeping me from joining these ex-members is guilt. I'd feel terrible if I desert the clan now during this juncture when it's already doing so badly.

I can't say I'm too pleased with all this. If conditions do not improve, even the other members who have stayed thus far will leave, and the entire clan would eventually collapse.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 150k Woodcutting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 4:43 PM |

24 December 2006

It's Christmas!


Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ooo it's finally that time of the year! Christmas! Well technically, it's not exactly here yet; it's still Christmas Eve, but everyone, both in real life and Runescape, is already in a very festive mood.

I see players walking into crowded banks, wishing a bunch of strangers a merry Christmas. I see friends exchange all kinds of gifts; and players rushing to complete the Christmas update. Christmas is brilliant, simply brilliant.



However, there is still an ugly side of this holiday. Even weeks before it had arrived, there were already beggars busy hunting for richer, higher lvled players, asking them for "prezzies". Me walking around in full Dragon armour and a partyhat didn't help things. I bumped into a player that I haven't spoken to in a while today. We weren't exactly old friends, but this guy, 1lane2, wanted me to include him in my friends list. I accepted his request without any hesitation since our earlier encounters have given me the impression that he was a really nice guy.

I was probably right about that; only, I did not realize that he was also after my money. After I had added him, I played for a little while and then logged out. When I logged back in roughly an hour later, even before my screen had fully loaded, there it was... A message sent by him, asking for an Abbysal whip as a Christmas present. I thought it was a joke at first, so I paid no attention to it. He persisted, and was removed from the list immediately. Here's part of the conversation between the both of us.



I honestly can't stand people like that. Well, at least I showed him that I wasn't the gullibe, naive rich kid he thought I was.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 150k Woodcutting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:39 PM |

22 December 2006

A Review


Yes, that's right! It's Winter at the Karamja Volcano!

My interest in Hunter is waning. I knew it'd happen sooner or later, but I hoped to reach the lvl 80's before boredom started to really set in. For the past 3 days or so, the time I spend training the stat has been noticably decreasing.

I am also a little annoyed with yet another recent feature of the game, the new Third Age Armour sets. From what I've read so far, they provide even greater defence than both Barrows and Dragon armour. Their appearance is also very impressive; I've seen all three sets (Melee, Magic and Range), and they looked amazing.

Unfortunately, they are also extremely rare and difficult to obtain. This has resulted in their prices skyrocketting to absurdly high figures. Take the Third Age Melee set as an example; the shield alone costs 50 million gp. Assume that the other three parts are of equal value, and the full set will set you back over 200 million. That's even more expensive than most partyhats! Although I consider it a little "nooby" to be complaining about the prices of items, I still can't help but feel disappointed that I am unable to afford the sets.


Snowball fight!!!

Thankfully, I still had the Christmas update to enjoy. I finally got round to doing it yesterday after the crowd had cleared, and I had found it quite interesting. I even received a Christmas tree as a reward. It adds a really nice touch to my character's house.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 100k+ Woodcutting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 6:07 PM |

20 December 2006

A Pking Trip Gone Bad

I got up early this morning to play Runescape for a little while before heading off to the library with a few friends. It was great, I got the book I had wanted, I came back early to play more Runescape, and I even started on my school assignment later in the evening.



I also managed to organise yet another pking trip. The bad news is that this one turned out to be a complete failure. We got no kills and suffered great casulties. My sis was killed three times, My friends Jinyi and Ken were killed once, and I barely got out of the wilderness alive with a mere 15hp left on my character's health. Definitely wasn't a very pleasant experience for any of us, but I hope that this won't put them off pking forever. I mean, despite the high chance of losing items, player killing is still fun.

This time though, I used the SwiftSwitch browser to play so I was able to take a grand total of two screenshots (sorry, I was too excited to remember taking more). Lol I really hope that I'll have better luck next time; or better yet, I hope that there will be a next time.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 100k Woodcutting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:37 PM |

19 December 2006

Free World Pking

Okay, I've more or less taken care of the homework problem for now. I'm gonna meet up in the library with a couple of friends tomorrow to get it done.

With that said, I was able to keep my mind of it today. I also managed to have a really great time pking with my sis and my real-life friends in Runescape. We attacked quite a few people, but were unable to finish them off and grab their stuff. A damn shame considering the fact that we must've spent an hour in the wilderness, but at least we had fun.

I would also have included a few screenshots here, but for some reason, the pictures I took during the trip were blank. All I got were these images that were completely black. No clue why it happened; guess the Swiftswitch screenshot taking system just doesn't work with other Internet browsers. Too bad... I'm a little disappointed with its inflexibility.



On a completely unrelated topic, I was fortunate enough to see Season today; a player whom I revere because of her insanely high Farming experience. In fact, Season's the top player for that stat so it was definitely a great honour to meet her. Hehe, she'll make another fine addition to my "Well Known Players" archive.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 72 Hunter

Posted by Timothy Gold at 4:15 PM |

17 December 2006

Salamanders and Homework

Oh oh oh! Thanks to Silpheroam, my fellow clan member and friend, I've learnt of an even better way to train Hunter! Forget those stupid birds, and who cares about those little Chinchompas. It's Salamanders that will get my lvl up there.


My character catching Salamanders.

The Red Salamanders give more exp than both species of Chinchompa; heck they're even easier to catch! I've gained so much Hunter exp today thanks to them.

My only concern now is my school assignments. I've done quite a bit of work already, but a majority of it remains incompleted, and besides, the school holidays certainly can't last forever. I better do something about them ASAP; perhaps I could work on them while Woodcutting? I just want to get this over and done with before school starts.

I'm down to only two weeks of holiday, and those assignments are pretty big, but at least that will keep me from worrying about getting in trouble with my new teachers.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 69 Hunter

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:55 PM |

15 December 2006

A Hunter's Dilema

Well, it's been great back home so far. My total exp is climbing once more, and I've significantly improved some of my stats' ranks.

See that little furry animal on the right? That's a Carniverous
Chinchompa.

Hunter's just wonderful. Instead of only sticking to bird catching, I've finally switched to Ferrets, and finally Chinchompas. They're getting me massive exp. The only problem is that I cannot choose between the carniverous red chinchompas, or the "normal" brown ones. The reds give more exp than the brown ones but are smarter and often escape the box traps I lay out for them.

Me catching brown Chinchompas.

Right now, I'm really unsure which of the two will make my training more effective when caught. I'll probably consult an experienced Hunting friend, but for now, I think I'll stick to the red variety since they look cuter lol.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 63 Hunter

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:32 PM |

13 December 2006

Busy Busy Busy

Dang, as soon as I completed the quest from yesterday, a new one popped out later that same evening.


In spite of the undead tree fighting back, I managed to chop off a
few twigs from it.

It seems that Jagex is determined to keep me busy after all that stuff I had missed this past few weeks. Anyway, it's done now even though I had to stay up to finish it. This latest quest, Animal Magnetism, involved a scientist named Ava who helps me to make some weird arrow-making backpack.


A ghost farmer trying to catch an undead chicken for me.

I had to get her an undead tree branch, an undead chicken, a magnet, some buttons and leather in order to create this device. The machine worked by attracting arrow tips from the ground using the magnet and then combining them with pieces of the undead and brunch and the chicken feathers to create an arrow. I swear, the quests get weirder every time.

It was still pretty interesting though. Too bad I won't be expecting any more until next year. I guess I'll have to let the Hunting skill keep me busy for the rest o the month.




Stuff achieved today: Lvl 52 Hunter, Gained 100k Woodcutting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:46 PM |

12 December 2006

I'm Back!!!

The trip finally ended yesterday, so here I am; back home in front of the computer as usual. I think it's great that I'm able to revert back to my gaming schedule, but I cannot help but feel a little upset at the same time since I had a really good time in Australia.

Here are some of the things I did there:
1. Explored a real submarine
2. Drove through a locust swarm twice (they're multiplying according to the Aussie news)
3. Piloted and lived in a boat-house
4. Caught several jellyfish (tempting, but I didn't eat them, though I did put salt on one to kill it)
5. Survived on nothing but tea, coffee and coke since the water tasted funny
6. Experienced the annoyances and confusion of daylight savings
7. Visited a "haunted" prison

The end of the vacation is also a harsh reminder that the school holidays are also almost up. I'm not gonna worry about that right now; I've got more important stuff to take care of like getting enough experience to earn back the ranks I've lost.


The guy on the left was the person I had to rescue from a Giant
Eagle's nest in the quest.

I made quite a bit of progress today. I managed to complete the quest, Eagles' Peak, which was released while I was away. I also managed to gain an ok amount of Woodcutting experience. If I continue at this rate, I should do fine. I just hope that I'll get round to training Hunter soon; that skill's fun but it requires so much clicking!




Stuff achieved today: Completed the Eagles' Peak quest

Posted by Timothy Gold at 6:36 PM |

02 December 2006

A Very Late Post

This post was typed last night.

Eleven days into my trip in Australia and so far I’ve been doing great. A pity I can’t say the same about things back in Runescape. So far, I’ve had no choice but to cope with the limited time I spend at Internet cafes once every few days.

I guess I am generally still doing well; I mean I haven’t been really obsessing about the game that much since I had left Singapore, but it’s still sad to see my character lag behind everyone else’s. As I had predicted, the Hunter skill was released last Tuesday and since I wasn’t really around to see that I overtake everyone in it, I’m currently stuck with a cruddy rank. I am also concerned with my other stats; they too have been suffering while I was away. Dang, I’ll have a lot of work to do when I return home.


Hunting for birds is all I've been doing so far in the Internet cafes.

It’s really a shame that all this is happening, but on the plus side, I was able to slow this regression down because I was fortunate enough to get access into the Internet. I’ve also been having a good time here in Australia. Weather’s great, scenery is just wonderful, and the Aussies are really nice. You can’t get such excellent and polite treatment back home. I’m actually beginning to not look forward to the end of this trip.

Well, I really hope that everyone’s enjoying their school holidays, or at least doing something constructive like homework. I talked to one of my real-life friends on Runescape just yesterday. When I asked him what he’d been up to while I was away, all I got was a mere “nothing much really” as a reply.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 44 Hunter

Posted by Timothy Gold at 4:56 PM |




Looking For Group
I want my Chameleon now!