A Dose of MapleStory… (17): The merging of Fornax and Gemini

I’m not talking about the constellations, FYI.

Fornax & Gemini. I never liked either of these two MapleSEA servers. Despite it was dubbed “Malaysia” servers, I never bothered to make a character there, despite being proudly a Malaysian myself. This was because these two servers were a bit… unusual.

The Fornax server was created during the time the Pirates were released. It was a whole new job and everyone were anxious to know more about it, and so they created a new character – in the new server of Malaysia! Therefore Fornax used to be full of Pirates and they can be seen everywhere, just like in a pirate den or a pirate cove or pirate lair or whatever you call it. This is not good, especially during Party Quests.

The Gemini server, on the other hand, is a daring experiment conducted by MapleSEA to see whether such server would attract more players to play the game. It was the first, and probably the last ever, server in MapleSEA to use the Chinese language. Apparantly, the plan backfired.

Both servers never actually gained any stable players as they were overshadowed by the older servers Aquila, Bootes, Cassiopeia and Delphinus & Eridanus.

Delphinus and Eridanus were previously two different servers too but they got merged as somewhat they had too little players. Both were “Singapore” servers.

Now, even Fornax and Gemini got merged. Gemini even got changed back from Chinese to English! The reason they did that was apparently the same as Delphinus and Eridanus – to increase the player population. They had even released a short “story”:

Dear Maplers,

On the night of the Perseid meteor shower, Spiruna’s assistant woke up abruptly from a nightmare and hurriedly ran to look for her Master, Spiruna who was still soundly asleep.

“Master! Master! Hurry wake up! I need to tell you something! Please please listen to me!” Spiruna’s assistant shrieked.

Spiruna look at her assistant and said “ahhh let me catch some sleep, I have not been having much rest ever since the unite of Delphinus and Eridanus”

“But, but, but, I just dreamt of the meeting of another two constellations!!” replied Spiruna’s Assistant.

Spiruna jumped from her bed and said “WHAT?” and hurried to her orb and started chanting.

After some time, Spiruna looked up from her crystal clear orb and said to her assistant “Yes, it is time for Fornax and Gemini to collide according to your prediction.”

Dear Maplers my foot. But well, it’s eventual. Sooner or later even the rest of the servers will be merged into Aquila, and subsequently shut down… I have seen that happen in other online games that go bankrupt like PangyaSEA and Survival Project.

Better play while you can. Or perhaps go play some private server, lol.

Letter Song – ENE

“Letter Song”. This song was originally composed for the vocaloid Hatsune Miku by doriko (the same person who composed Romeo & Cinderella). The song was however later picked-up and sung by other amateur niconico singers. Among the fandubs that I have listened to (I listened to over five versions), I find ENE’s version the best. Her singing voice was stable, mesmerizing and clear, almost like a pro.

The lyric of the song was already pretty touching and mind-bogging. Together with ENE’s voice, the song literally turned into a masterpiece, soothing and relaxing! The following is the lyric translated by bluemist.

Letter Song
The place where I walked with the person I liked.
The scenery I saw during that time.
Not looking back, I run past them now.
What would I be coming across now?

Trying to stop, trying to find the meaning.
Maybe I may have not matured yet.
The things Im seeing, the people Im meeting.
Inside me, Im just looking at the past.

To my future-self of 10 years,

Are you happy right now?
Or are you sad
and crying?

But beside you, theres something that wouldnt change
Without you noticing, have you been treasuring it?

With each day passing, I am hiding these feelings.
And time is the only thing I can chase.
Getting close behind someone elses dream
Will those days come back someday?

To my future-self of 10 years,

Who do you like right now?
Or do you still like that person?

But before you try to love somebody else,
Would you say that you are able to love yourself?

Those people you hold dear, are they still beside you?
Or are they far away, and walking their own paths?

But when those meetings and partings repeat,
Would you be more wonderful than who I am today?

To my future-self of 10 years,

If you are happy right now,
Would you remember me that day?

Even though I was crying in pain that time,
Kindly change these tears into memories.

HELP! IT’S A TRAP!

The definition of “trap” from Urban Dictionary: a man who likes to dress up in women’s clothing and make-up. He even thinks he’s a woman at times, also acts like one and has an odd phobia of not wanting to showing his naked body. Out of shame? We can only guess, but he definetely has something ‘extra’ to hide you know where.

I saw a trap as recent as a few minutes ago.

She was so convincing that it really came as a surprise to me when she revealed that she’s a he.

And there goes her in a maid uniform, her wearing a school swinsuit to the beach, her doing CPR on another guy… yuck!

H2O -footprints in the sand-, episode 4. Watch it yourself.

I was scarred. >_<

An introduction of Nakhaie Ahmad

I was introduced to this Nakhaie Ahmad fella from an article entitled “Muslim group says too many Hindu temples making Malays uneasy” over at The Malaysian Insider. This fella’s claim is so biased even though he provided statistics, it could only be said to be half-true. 72 Hindu temples to 13 mosques only in Sentul? Has he provided the number of suraus? Has he provided the size of the 13 mosque compared with those of the 72 temples?

Nakhaie Ahmad made the above statement as the president of a Muslim group, Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Yadim). That’s his present position. He could have been higher up.

I made some research on this Nakhaie fella and I was baffled by what I had found: he was an ex-member of parliament for Baling, representing PAS. But more research shows me more. This was what I found:

Lama dahulu PAS mempunyai seorang Naib Presiden bernama Ustaz Nakhaie Ahmad, beliau menganggotai dan pernah diberi amanah besar dengan pelbagai jawatan utama parti, daripada AJK Agong, ketua penerangan, ahli majlis sura’ hinggalah kepada pengarang Harakah, suara rasmi parti Nakhaie pernah menjawatnya. Beliau juga pernah menjadi Ahli Parlimen Baling, Kedah atas tiket PAS.
Apabila ada krisis didalam Umno, parti itu bermasalah dan terbahagi kepada dua kumpulan satu dipimpin Dr Mahathir (team A) satu lagi diketuai Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (team B). Kedua-duanya berhajat kepada sokongan moral dari PAS. Nakhaie berpendapat, PAS perlu menyokong kumpulan yang lebih kuat iaitu team A, bagi membolehkan PAS memerintah dan berkuasa untuk melaksanakan Islam dengan lebih mudah apabila sudah berkuasa!

Pendapat beliau tidak dipersetujui oleh pemimpin PAS yang lain kerana mereka berpendapat PAS tidak boleh berfungsi didalam kerajaan yang dikuasai Umno-BN, apatah lagi Umno jauh lebih kuat daripada PAS yang hanya mempunyai 1 kerusi parlimen ketika itu. PAS memilih untuk bersama dengan Team B, menentang Umno yang di pimpin oleh DR Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Gafar baba dan lainya.
Nakhaie bersama kumpulanya ‘angkat kaki’ dan menyertai Umno sehingga ke hari ini. Beliau dilantik sebagai Timbalan Ketua Penerangan Umno dan berceramah di seluruh negara memuji Umno dan memburukan PAS. Antara yang dikata Nakhaie ialah Markas PAS hanya di penuhi bantal busuk saja, Orang ni kalau perintah negeri nak buat Belanjawan pun pun tak reti, Penulis rakam ucapan Nakhaie itu dan bersusah payah menghantar pita rakaman itu ke Harakah untuk di jawab tetapi Harakah tidak melayanpun jauh sekali untuk menjawab celaan Nakhaie itu.

Apabila berlaku pilihan raya umum 1990, PAS dan Team B (semangat 46) menang 39-0 di Kelantan. Kerajaan itu kekal sehingga kehari ini walaupun KU LI telah kembali menyertai Umno semula bersama Rais Yatim, Ahmad Shabery Chik, Kadir Sheik Fadhir, Radhi Sheikh Ahmad dan lain-lain. Kecuali KU LI, semuanya diberi jawatan menteri dan Timbalan Menteri atau setiausaha parlimen oleh Dr Mahathir, Abdullah mahu pun Najib!

Kemasukan Nakhie kedalam Umno gagal mengubah wajah Umno, cahaya Islam tidak juga kelihatan pada Umno malah lebih buruk daripada dulu , tetapi ustaz Nakhaie yang berubah menjadi kaya dan hidup senang berbanding dahulu, dia diberi jawatan pengarah Yayasan Dakwah Islam Malaysia (YADIM) tetapi Islam terus juga dihina dibawah Umno dianggotai Nakhaie!

Apa sesiapa ingin menjadi Nakhaie ke-2 ?

oleh Basiron

Source: http://dupahang.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/nakhaie-suatu-pengajaran-kepada-yg-mahukan-bersama-umno/

Wow. A vice-president of PAS who jumped over to UMNO during the Dr. Mahathir vs. Tengku Razaleigh days. He even remained with UMNO when Semangat 46 was disbanded. Accordingly he was the highest member of the PAS hierarchy to have defected over to UMNO!

As a PAS member he was known as “Ustaz Nakhaie Ahmad”. As an UMNO member he is known as “Datuk Nakhaie Ahmad”. Which is the more respectable name? You decide.

From what was said, Nakhaie Ahmad is now a rich guy living in a big house. However, he is no longer a respectable figure. Go figure. PAS is now using the story of Nakhaie Ahmad to tell PAS members to not defect to UMNO. However, if you ask me, PAS should also tell their members to not end up having the mentality of this Nakhaie guy. PAS would do badly if  so.

Work Permits Needed To Work In Sabah

Even if you are proudly a Malaysian, you will still have to apply for work permit to work in Sabah if you are not a Sabahan (i.e. Sarawakian, Peninsula Malaysian).

That’s a fact and I am pretty aware of it. My parents are Sarawakians working in Sabah and they do renew their work permit every year faithfully as the law in Sabah requires them to do so.

This “work permit for non-sabahans Malaysians working in Sabah” issue became a hot topic recently when it was recently raised by the deputy president of Liberal Democratic Party (not to be confused with Japan’s), Chin Su Phin. Chin was quoted suggesting that such work permits (for non-Sabahan Malaysian) be abolished. However, this move was criticized by Parti Bersatu Sabah president Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Quote:

“It is very important for us to be protective of our rights and interests, especially to give the assurance and confidence to local people who will seek justice and a fair share of work and other opportunities,”

I noticed that the natives of Sabah are pretty vocal about their so-called rights and had resorted to where they would reject any outsiders from being included as their own. Recently I was criticised by a commentator who left a comment at one of my posts saying that “Hi Kiddo. You are a Sarawakian, no wonder. Sabah is for Sabahan.”

In Singapore, the government are actually encouraging people to immigrate to their country, especially people who are able to contribute effective to their country. They are even offering loans or bursaries to oversea students like Malaysians and Indonesians who are thinking of studying in Universities in Singapore where after graduating from the university, these students will have to work in Singapore for a period (to repay the loan), the government here are hoping that they would stay after the period and eventually apply for citizenship. It benefits the country as a whole.

Compare what was done in Singapore and in Sabah. Now compare which is a more developed state?

As for myself I have both a 12 and a K on my IC. It is almost about time I choose whether I want to become a Sabahan, or remain a Sarawakian like my parent. My parents say I should remain Sarawakian but I wish to be registered as a Sabahan – I mean that I was born here in Sabah, I have had all my primary and secondary education here in Sabah, and all the people I’ve got to know are all here in Sabah. I have no pride being a Sarawakian at all as I was not raised there and have nothing to be proud of  (Sibu gets flooded every time, too).

However after this fiasco, I might as well rethink what I should do. Sabahans may not be as friendly as I have thought after all with people like Joseph Pairin Kitingan.