A Pretty Busy Week… and Weeks to Come

A quick summary of what’s been going on:

• Sister got married this past weekend. Family came to U.S. for the ceremony and I played host for about a week.
• Cat sitting my sister’s cat, Commander Shepard (Yes, that is what they named her), and even though I’m allergic to cats, I am still doing it because I love my sister.
• Finally found out that I could use my lunch time at work to start working on some design work that I wanted to do, but never found the motivation after work (as long as their personal and not for profit/business).
• Wifey got an iPad, courtesy of my dad, and she’s enjoying it.
• I’m thinking about getting a new Macbook Pro/Air/iMac/not too sure. I gave my old one to my brother-in-law who would have better use for it as a birthday present. Old one was a Core 2 Duo 17″ pre-unibody MacbookPro.
• Designed a WordPress template (based upon another template framework) for work and got some good response to it. I’m definitely coming together as a better designer ^_^
• Loosing the weight I gained when family visited.

It was definitely great to see a few of my families again after quite some time. I’d definitely like to travel back more often if possible, but that’s just one of those things that won’t happen as often as I’d like it. Maybe it’s for the better, for someone with a positive attitude, I’m sure there’s bound to be a positive explanation.

Halloween is coming fast, Thanksgiving next, and Christmas soon after… with so many more occasions and a little over 2 months left in this year, it definitely has been a year with great growth.

I Finally Finished Soulsilver

I’ve had Soulsilver for a pretty long time. I finally beat it. Only put ~50 hrs into it. I also beat Red as soon as I beat Blue. A couple of my Pokemon are 30 levels lower than hi Pokemon, but I endured the blizzard with a whole lot of revive. It was by far one of my most accomplished boss fight of all games I’ve played.

I figured as someone who mentioned himself as a gamer, I should talk a bit more about games as well. I’ll figure out a place to put my gamer tag and info somewhere on the site soon.

~王 [Wong]

The Big Picture without the Little Picture

Everyone has ideas. When you have a great idea, you want to have that idea materialized. I am no exception. How I tackle my ideas though is the same idea on how I tackle on things I want. If we think about our current generations, the world demands for a lot of things for less, especially less time. My big ideas, I would like them to come to fruition right now, or if not, very soon. I want everything served to me on a platter “right now.” Everyone wants that convenience. If you can travel a longer distance in a shorter time, why wouldn’t you? I would. That’s why if anyone asks me what super power I would want, it’s what Flash from DC Universe has (but let’s keep that for another discussion).

A couple of the projects that I want to undertake are:

• Game blog/news/review
• Cosplay creation

The blog was one that I was going to undertake, but did not happen because of certain last-minute financial situation. I was actually a blessing. I was going to dive right into it without much plan. I knew what I wanted to do and how the end product would be, but I never really sat down and went through the process of actually creating a project of that size. After not being able to start the project, I sat down and wrote up a small process for it, and found that it would have taken me a lot longer than I thought. I count it as a blessing, because there were many small components that I had to make sure worked before my end product worked flawlessly.

An art piece will not form if the first line is not drawn

Everyone knows the big picture of their ideas. Look at companies such as Google, eBay, Facebook. Surely they didn’t start out that way.  Everyone knows of the recent news about Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. Apple started small too, but it was the care from the little that it is as successful as it is now. Same goes for the companies mentioned earlier.

I knew I had to start small. I believe I had that knowledge when I was going to go through with it, but some how did not find a practical means for such knowledge. It wasn’t until a situation, foreseen or unforeseen, that I learn of the little picture.

Don’t start big. It’s good to dream big and end big, but start small, start smart, and start going. As long as you care for the small, it will eventually grow big. You and I, we both were once young and small. If we can get to where we are now with time, then you can get your business to where you want it to be… in time. Patience and persistence will pay. Believe it!

~王 [Wong]

Mr. Fix-it

This battery still had 96% life before this happened.

I try to fix some of my broken things when it’s convenient for me, but I usually prefer to pay someone else for the hassle. Lately, I find that I actually prefer fixing things myself and it give me a self-satisfaction of being able to fix something. When it comes to my systems and belongings, I [try to] take really good care of them. Not a bad thing when they last long, but there are certain things that cannot be fixed.

I owned a MacBook Pro 17″. I had the pre-unibody core 2 duo model. I cannot agree with the statement told to me that Mac’s batteries are “suppose” to expand, which in turn tells me that the battery needs replacement. Especially when the batter is < 2 years old. I don’t know how the geniuses at Apple store can come to their conscience to tell people that is the reason a battery expand, but I for one has never seen any other batteries in such a bad condition.

Obviously there is nothing I can do with that battery, so having to pay for a new one to fix it was the only solution.

First time peering into my PS3 system

Another case though was my Playstation3. The Blu-ray reader just stopped working. I actually contemplated on buying a new PS3 just to replace it, but after much thought, I could not just replace my 60Gb system. It has a lot more sentimental value and also one of the few PS3 systems that purely plays PS1 and PS2 games based upon its hardware.

Fixing my PS3 myself was a risk I was willing to take. So I bought a YLOD PS3 that still had its blu-ray reader working when it was last used for a lower price on eBay. Now, my 60Gb PS3 is functional as it should be. I also feel a lot more than accomplished fixing the issue at hand, especially for 1/3 of the price I would have payed to send it over to Sony to fix it. Not to mention loosing every thing on my PS3′s memory. Why Sony decides that has to happen is a decision of the company. As consumers, we some times only have say in certain things.

Fixing things aren’t always easy, but the accomplishment I got from fixing my own PS3 gave me a sense of triumph. I brought up the idea with my wife of actually making our own entertainment center when we move out of this apartment and [hopefully] into a house of some kind. I thought it could be a good project. Whether that happens or not, I shall know when the time comes and will share it with you.

~王 [Wong]

Welcome Home!

Me in person

It is almost always pleasant to hear the words “Welcome home!” Everyone love the peace of mind when they’re in a comfort zone. Home is such a place for me.

Writing posts brings me that peace of mind; the thought of me writing again makes me feel at home. I enjoy sharing my thoughts. I believe I have an innate desire to share. The thought is always crossing my mind, but being one who prefers being a wallflower than the center of attention, it is in blogging that I find my comfort level in share without hesitation.

Typically people write blogs with specific purpose. I’ve always written without a clear topic. This time, it’s going to be the same. This is incidentally about me and my ramblings. I guarantee no good materials, but there could very well be times when a post might just come in handy. How you use your time here is up to you; how I use my time here, I hope it serves a far better purpose for more than just me.

I welcome you to Matthew Wong’s Journey: The struggles and success of a young married gamer and designer.

That’s a picture of me. I thought I’d put my face up in the first post and not have to do it ever again.

~王 [Wong]