Ryu2.mind

Ten more weeks until the day.

Yes,this blog's been quiet. As you might have guessed, things have beenbusy, so I haven't been able to write anything much of note (well, noton this blog at least...) Also, one thing I dislike are those short,superficial entries, stuff like:

Today I went to the restroom. It sure felt good afterwards.

Asa reader, sure I'll read them, but it sure won't make me feelsatisfied. As a writer, I'm of the school of thought that if there'snothing substantial to write, then don't write at all -- and that hasbeen the case lately. But still I'd like to tell everyone I'm stillalive... but with a twist.

So, in an attempt to break thesilence in an interesting way... I give you the same thing, as certainfriends of mine whom I feel have "distinctive" blogging styles would say it. [Anyone other than myself able toidentify the "insipiration" of half or more of these "entries"... Ifear your e-stalking skills! =P ]

Shout outs to everyone in the blogosphere... blog on!

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it's 3:05 am! ack! dunno why i'm up so late. my head hurts. i feel like some soondoobu. umma!

haven't been up wit da blogs. blah. learned the chinese word for "virtual memory" today. yay!

i miss mah homies.

now it's raining in shanghai. boo.

tomorrow is another day. yay!

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Deadline's approaching.

Me feeling like I'm getting pulled in all directions. HAHA. :)

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gettingef'n slammed. dunno wuts going on. just a boy from the westside doinghis job. like bono from u2, got no compass, got no map, got no reasonsto get back. part of me wants to shout and scream, cuz ya can't believesome of the crap that's goin on. part of me wonders if i should leavealtogether and do da hip hop thang full time. but u know, part of melikes the adversity. iron sharpens iron. cuz the man upstairs knows, ief'n wouldn't be enjoying this, livin da 9 ta 5.

wutever happens, it's a leap of faith. until then, juss keepin' it real.

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Day 246.000

I'vebeen crazy busy this week, with my kids. Even though it's challengingat times trying to relate and understand them since they're so youngthemselves, I love them still and trying to come up with new things forthem to do is the best part of my job.

"Xbox 360" seems to bethe prima donna, always being first. She's from Washington as well, sothat's sort of cool. She's very easy to teach and she's a great teamplayer. It's as if it's a part of her personality from birth.

Thenew kid from Japan, "Playstation 3" seems to have a lot of potential,but he's going to take some time to get used to. He's a real math whizand can handle a lot of small tasks at once, but explaining the bigpicture is harder.

Still, they're all cuties, and I can't wait to see them grow older.

Thanks everyone for your pr's!

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Thisweek, I spent most of my week stomping bugs and putting out brush firesin my company's product. Sometimes, it seems that assuming the role ofthe protagonist in this game would be less stressful than handling therapid fire requests that come in. Is there a Medal of Honour for gamedevelopment?

But what broke me was the time when on my iPod Nano,Chr1s T0ml1n's song "Famous One" came up just as four new bugs appearedin the database. Now bring on the crashes and the regressions, I'lltake it like a man. But my ears still couldn't believe the first minorchord in the bridge is a D rather than a G. It just spoils the wholething musically. Bloody freaking idiot -- what was going through yourmind when you composed it. It was the last straw for me.

So inthe middle of my anger, I stood up and yelled "DIE DANNY CHAI!". It hada carthartic effect on me, and it's spreading to all the other productteams as a means to depressurise. Yup, when things get frantic, invokingthe desire for Danny Chai's demise never fails to relieve the stress.

And that was my week.

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Beenburning the midnight oil, working on the first next generation gameproduced in China. As I look from my brand new, glass covered officebuilding, I remember beneath the veneer, this is still a Commiecountry. And deep inside, the Commies will ruthlessly steal and takeadvantage of what you have. From the trade officials to the PSB,corruption and greed run rampant. We can only hope to mitigate it andstay ahead of the game. When they steal your secrets, you have to beahead... while watching to see that the Commies don't change the rulesof that game on you.

MSFT -- I'd put my money there.

I'd rather be golfing...

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getting slammed at work. microsoft visual studio .net is like my wife i spend all my time with her love, yell, scream... living on the edge, deadline by deadline now that's extreme programming.

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Currently reading: GPU Gems 2 : Programming Techniques for High-Performance Graphics and General-Purpose Computation (Gpu Gems) By Matt Pharr, Randima Fernando see related

something more...

inthe midst of my time here in SH, i feel like i'm finally starting tofeel like a resident instead of a visitor. in a way, i'm just startingto get settled in, but paradoxically, i feel like the familiaritythat's starting to seep in makes me want to explore all the more inthis new chapter of my life. i see life pass me by, the rich and thepoor, and i long for something more, to understand and to grasp whatgoes through their minds, their thoughts on the street here.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
evenin the office, this feeling wells in my heart. in the code i write, theequations, algebraic and geometric relationships i come across, i seethe fingerprints of a cosmic Creator, weaving the ones and zerostogether. seeing the beauty of what my co-workers and i weave,marveling at the amazement of how math, physics, computer sciencecollaborate in a dance choreographed by us and create images, emotions,drama. all this awes me, amazes me and yet... it's making me long forsomething more.

friends, does your own work make you ache for something more?

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Work, work...

Workingfor the Evil Empire, I've been putting in the hours lately. Too badthere's no pool near my office like in the other Evil Empire so I cango take a refreshing swim. Diving into the Huangpu just doesn't cut itfor me. I'm so jealous of Fruity, buffing up and training for hertriathalon!

Luckily, my sanity has been preserved as I've beenable to grab some scones for breakfast at good ol' Starbucks. There arefour within five minutes walking distance of where I live.

Still, I wish there was Verde here. Yes, there's Bellagio, Hui Lau Shan, r-b-t, but nothing beats Verde! :)

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Subject: Reward and Purpose

HIGH:
Progresson our game is going well, and I'm starting to feel the buzz that'sstarting to appear on the Net from fans who've seen the first hintsthat we've dropped so far. We're having journalists from one of thebiggest gaming magazines in the world fly out to Shanghai for thefirst-ever external unveiling of our project on Monday. Theanticipation is definitely energizing me in the midst of this demandingtime.

LOW:
I'm reminded of the fact that Idecided to come to Shanghai for more than just professional reasons. Ifervently hope that I will stay faithful to that promise even in themidst of my busy-ness, and that I remember that the rewards of thisworld are but temporary.

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Why I find graphics programming fascinating

SoI've been working a lot lately, doing the graphics programming for ourgame. It's certainly an important part of CS, and yet, most peoplethink of it as being superficial. Sure, I could have studied somethingmore "traditional" in the CS department, gone to Google instead andbecome a billionaire by now, but whatever. Love of the game.

Idunno, graphics is intellectually challenging because it synthesizes somany things. It amazes me, how math, physics, computer science, evenaesthetics can be combined into one discipline. Utterly fascinating.

Andthat's what makes it all the more remarkable. Because it's somethingthat everyone can appreciate. Joe Sixpack isn't going to know thesignificance of proving P == NP if you hit him over the head with it,but everyone can go... "ooohh... look at those pretty pictures."

Boring.

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Day-amn...this is some freakin' fine shit I'm working on. Gonna pimp this bitchup, yo, making it all look good for the glamour shots in the mags. I'mworking on the graphics... the part everyone notices. If a game was agirl... the graphics would be like the boobies and the ass, the partswhere everyone goes "oooohhh... nice" while drooling all over. Yeah,BIATCH!

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hello world!!! i'm getting slammed!!! for how long??? i don't know... that's TBD...