Scale

My class was “chosen” to “grace” the closing ceremony of the Singapore International Science Challenge (heck, why didn’t I give the initials). The bus ride into Ngee Ann Poly was just one nice experience, because honestly I’ve never seen soo big a campus ( not that I’ve seen many things ^^) There’s like more than 80 LTs as compared to nj’s 5, and there’s so many blocks meant for the various fields of study
Anyway, the conference hall we entered was like more than four times the size of LT5, and the ceremony was, as always, a waste of time. What can I say? It is entirely irrelevant to me, it’s not like research on snow puppies and their adaptations to the tundra climate interests me in the least bit. And I’m even less interested in who won the whole thing unless it is nj winning it (probably the same for every other nj student there). What made it funnier was the nj students were there for a gosu reason: TO CLEAN UP THE HALL. Really n1. Nj’s school admin is starting to remind me of cat high’s one : they’re both pretty good at wasting the student’s time. Yes, I know it’s important for the hosting school to have their students grace the event, but why couldn’t they let them at least view the exhibits? Otherwise, what’s the point of making so big a fuss out of it when the students can’t even be proud of it? I guess I spent 4 hours there only to get starcraft from kai sheng, and to watch really nice performances from the Indian dance and Chinese dance (I’ve no idea what’s going on in the Malay one nor the Western one).
I watched a dozen reps of starcraft right away because I want to be in-the-know on what to do in match ups I have no clue about. Reps are forever in high supply thanks to China and Korea, because it is a national sport in Korea where the top professional Lim Yo Hwan used to earn more than a hundred grand a year, and due to the fact that China’s rapid modernization leads to millions of teenagers having access to computers. I call it the right game at the right time, like it was just ten years back when starcraft first game out. It didn’t take more than a year for televised leagues to appear, then dedicated channels, and then matches held on open air stages, and even indoor sports stadiums, all in Korea that can boast to have a third of their population playing computer games, and more than 80% of the population is wired up to the net. It’s pretty much the same for China now for warcraft, as there are wars all over the various districts and high schools that would never happen on a similar level in Singapore. Hmph. I can still remember 2 years back during the global finals of WCG held in Suntec there’s this guy who said “how come the antimage can mana burn one?”. As if that wasn’t funny enough, he continued to ask “how come abbadon got razor that aura har?” It’s a pretty tragic thing, actually, to not know the history behind things you’re so interested in. Some people even thought that DOTA spawned a new custom map called standard game. Sighs.
Ok back to starcraft reps. The gameplay is pretty different, obviously. In starcraft, macro makes up 90% of your game performance, where else in warcraft it’s the reverse. It’s always a line of stuff fighting against a line of stuff, no early engagements, just expo and mass. No surrounds needed, no blocking, no early creepjacking to screw someone over. It’s just who masses the right units in the right position with the right expo spots and the right amount of money to tide you through the game. Now don’t start calling me a noob all over. Of course micro’s there to lockdown units or to move marines back and forth to medics. But looking at THAT MANY things dying and not being able to do anything about them sucks. I still prefer real micro :D Guess it would still take a long time before I’m used to macro-ing multiple unit structures and researching ugprades =/ While starcraft simulates a real warfare that gives the player the ability to oversee the process, warcraft simulates skirmishes that gives the player the ability to manoeuvre individual units tactically. Of course, both games require different sets of skills that I’m unable to master at gosu enough a level ^^
Last year, I went for a “motivational” talk whereby the speaker tells us knowledge in general. Of all the knowledge in the world, we’re only aware that 5% of it exists, obviously we’re clueless about what the remaining 95% is. Within that 5% which we’re aware of, we’re only able to understand (albeit not even fully for some) 1% of it. So just how much do we really know about the world around us? =)
In perspective, the enormity of the unknown puts everyone off. Hell, who doesn’t? Why would most people rather take a dive in a swimming pool than in the ocean? Sharks aside, the water is as real as it gets. Once you get to plunge in, you wouldn’t be amazed only at the depth of it. Have you bought your goggles yet?
K, I really amaze myself with the amount of rubbish in my head by this post alone =P
IT IS TIME TO MUG SC REPLAYS! Uh, I actually meant lets mug for common test! ... -.-‘