While my wife, her sister, my daughter's yaya, and my daughter herself, got themselves hooked on Boys Over Flowers this past weekend, I myself got hooked to an addiction -- Biotronic on FaceBook.
While it was a busy weekend with a Saturday trip to the doctor for my wife's monthly check-up and a Sunday worship and me running errands (and walk-xercising to boot), the weekend afternoons meant indulgences -- them with Jan Di and Jun Pyo and a marathon of the series (in subtitles, no less) and I with Biotronic.The FB game app is by no means original. It's the usual mix-three-explode-mix-four-bigger-explode-fill-the-meter run-of-mill game (much like Bejeweled or Chuzzles) but I guess part of the appeal is that it's fresh (new elements that you need to mix and match -- not jewels or chuckling, furry heads), new twists (mix-four and get a single-color bomb, get 5 or more and get a multi-colored bomb that can eliminate all the same shapes on-screen at the same time) and the fact that you always race against time, all the time. The trick is to always find the best combo -- the fours or fives -- as the three-combo only give you only additional micro-seconds. The bigger the explosion you make (with 4-5 the combos), the longer time you gain. But then again, the longer time you spend at a level, the smaller the score. So, you have to analyze the pattern of elements as soon as they appear and look for the killer-combos right away. Otherwise, your effort will just be a race against the seeming unfair clock.
Part of the addiction I've experienced with Biotronic is that fellow FBer Rastle, the notorious little lady who offices a block away at an online media company, has bested my score last Saturday evening! For approximately four days I've topped the scoreboard then out-of-nowhere, she comes and trumps my 69,470 with 69,940!
Played Biotronic last Saturday from 4pm to 10pm and then again the next day from 3pm to 8pm. Now, my right arm and wrist are sore from all that clicking and mouse manipulation. Talk about addiction :)
other fb addictions
Aside from Biotronic, other addictive game apps I'm currently hooked on include FarmTown, FarmVille and Restaurant City. I still play Pet Society every now and then just to make sure that my pet stays healthy as well continue my other farm over at Barn Buddy but my extra times are spent on the three game apps first mentioned!
Up and coming addiction includes Mafia Wars (yes, I'm a late bloomer) and there's a new farm app called myFarm. Still trying it out but it's not excitingly different from FarmTown or FarmVille so not sure if I'll stick with that game.
new blog up
I've just started a new blog -- The Diabetic Daddy -- a blog chronicling my now-forever battle with the big D. In it, I hope to daily post how I'm managing my diabetes as well as my weight management.
I also plan it as a rough guide to living the diabetic lifestyle which include calorie and sugar-counting on all food intake and reviewing foodstuff considered friendly for diabetics including all those items on the grocery shelves tacked and labeled with "fat-free", "sugar-free", "low-fat", "high-fiber" and "n% less sugar".
It features a newsreel for all matters pertaining to diabetes and I will add more features to it as I find time.
Why create it? To keep reminding myself that this is a battle I need to take seriously as well as to help other like myself who are struggling with the need to change the lifestyle. Information and education are key objectives for that new blog.
There's a likelihood that there'll crossovers between The Coffee House Chronicles and The Diabetic Daddy but I hope you guys also bookmark that one as well.
july is moving on month
This month, July, marks my last month with the company I currently am employed with.
Yes, folks, I'm moving on and in exactly 28 days I'll be rewriting my professional career at a new desk and a new office with a new set of colleagues and it's actually pretty exciting. The decision to move on has been a long time coming but the stars and the planets have finally aligned and they have, through various auguries, informed me that now is the time to move.
While I've made no secret of my intent, I've not broadcasted it widely either (except to a select few) until now.
For sure, the news has already circulated around the office and before you hear rumors that I will be moving to another gaming company let me say that I'm not transferring to a rival gaming company. I'm not even moving to the other online gaming type of company (MMORPG and casual games).
I'm moving to another industry and my FB and Twitter friends will know, come August 3, what industry and what company that will be. I'm going mainstream and my whole family is excited with that prospect.
And why move when I am already in possession of a stable, nurturing and developmental job that promises career development and a chance to scale the corporate ladder, you ask?
There are personal reasons and there are other reasons but primarily, I've got my family's future in mind when I finally made that decision to accept the offer from this other company. This move is actually a step-back in terms of career growth from my point-of-view but it's a necessary sacrifice that I need to make to ensure that years from now, my family will be taken cared of and I will still have a career to make of.
There's still a chance to scale the corporate ladder with the new company and who knows, maybe I can still make CMO one of these days.
So, this month is basically about wrapping up things in the old office and prepping for the new one. Papers accumulated for the past three years are being sorted out, odd jobs and responsibilities being relinquished to colleagues, and come last week of July, I'll be saying my goodbyes and relishing the 43rd floor cityscape view from the relatively new office space I have.
