I was recently working on fixing the Ciaran Doherty webpage.

Yes. Ciaran Doherty is my signature character for the roleplaying games by White-Wolf, Inc. He's got a very detailed background. Check him out at http://wiki.white-wolf.com/worldofdarkness/index.php/Ciaran_Doherty.

Or at his rather bland and unofficial website: http://ciaran.maclenet.com

Or his Masquerade-breaking blog: http://ciaranrequiem.spaces.live.com

I'm not kidding here: I have made a boardgame. That board game goes by the name of "Intrigues". I conceived the idea around 6.00pm yesterday, got the mechanics running by 11.00pm, and had it beta tested today, at 4.00pm. Me and Shafiq are the first people ever to play Intrigues.

Intrigues is a byzantine game of school politics.

So it works like this: up to seven players (I'm going to make it eight once I've balanced all the other seven) play as seven different students who want to rule a school, on the way gaining Influence and backhanding everyone else. The first player to claim eight rooms (half of the school's fifteen rooms over three floors - the school map is based on my own school) wins. The first one who gets an Influence score of 50 wins. The first person to get 25 Grade Points win.

So really. I made this on Thursday, and tested it in its first Alpha version on Friday. I am a game designer genius. All those Vampire sessions, it appears to have paid off.

So, where was I?

You play one of seven possible characters. In this original beta, the seven characters are real students of Sri Inai Senior KL - me being one of them, and Shafiq one too. Each has their own Character Advantage and a distributed Character Profile. Character Profile tracks your character's Attributes (I gave myself a rating of 4 for Intelligence, but justified it with a Resolve rating of 1). Here is an example of Shafiq's Character Advantage:

CHARACTER ADVANTAGE: INDIFFERENT
May reroll 9's and 10's whenever a roll involves his Favored Traits (Composure, Computers, Stealth).

It's looking pretty cool. We tested it out today, after fixing the 59 Event cards (there must be 59!). Shafiq didn't like some of the ones I suggested, like "Grade Curve" (All Players with a Grade score of less than 15 cannot do any other action but Study until the end of next turn), or "Voyeur" (All other Players must reveal one Event card in possession to the Player). But we agreed on things like "Detention" (Player must be moved to closest Empty Class and forfeit turn). He had some arguments on the merits of "Hall Pass" (May gain one extra action in the turn Hall Pass is used), but in the end we put that in.

My personal favorite Event was the rather unrealistic "The Regnant" (The Player may control the target's actions for his next turn). Where in school life is there a Regnant-Thrall relationship?

Our test was not completed, but Shafiq won it. Playing himself, he started out with a devilishly good Event card hand, but so did I. In fact, I got all the good ones - "Levy Support +4", "Blackmail", among others. But Shafiq played a killer first action - he played the "Spot Check" Event, and I lost all my cool, hawt weapons of +1 doom.

In the end I controlled 3 rooms (two Empty Classes, one Classroom), had an Influence score of 6, and a Grade Score of 5. I lost to Shafiq. He had 2 rooms (the Science Lab and one Classroom), an Influence score of 6, and a Grade Score of 12.

This has great potential.

Yes. Victory of all. I've stopped that damn habit that has plagued my ugly hands for five years.

Nail biting.

Laugh at me, if you want, but it's a serious thing. I haven't had to clip my own fingernails for five years. This is completely serious. (Something you don't see often on my blog, as you'd have it)

Me and Shafiq sidelined his God-powered Requiem chronicle, in which he plays the over-powered, over-omnipotent Gangrel named Tom Habbart. So Tom has gone through so many lifechanging problems, and still survived. Mainly because he has this one last-ditch power.

And now we are running a Mage chronicle. I passed him the book. And we're still using the same setting of Defacto City - check out http://defacto.elwiki.com, which I'm going to set up right now. Defacto City, a city in which has more life than my first ever chronicle-city (New York, since you asked) was the setting of the longest chronicle we've done - the Tom Habbart one.

So Defacto City is run by Seers, which means everyone of the fifty-plus Mages are all pretty wary and cautious all the time. So Shafiq's character, Mark -Basilisk- Manson, he's now a Mage.

Ugh. Look at me. I can't even write properly without losing focus.

I was suspended from the Prefectorial Board last Friday.

...But you probably know that anyway.

(UBER-POST ALERT! This is going to get quite long)

My mom, Seroja, Izumi, AMIRUL B!, Roslyn, my dad

The students of Sri Inai Senior Kuala Lumpur (Sri Inai KL) have been lucky enough to be enjoying the visits of six Japanese students on a transfer program arranged by the Fukuoka Prefecture Private School Society (or something similar).

Yes, I have to mention the name of my school. I know this is attention-whoring, but it gains me lots and lots of clicks! LOTS OF THEM, I TELL YOU!

Me being one of the most prominent members of school society, I had agreed with my sister Roslyn to host a Japanese student. Knowing that I would be a crummy host, I made Roslyn take the student. We got a girl. Her name is Izumi Hashimoto. All of the six Japanese students in Sri Inai for three days were about 17 or 18.

Five other students became hosts: all of them from either Form 3 or Form 5. Bryan, whose blog no longer exists, hosted one Satoshi Wakiyama. Nil Irma had one Takeru Kaida, and Woon Sze was the luckiest. She and Nil were part of last year's Malaysian-Japan exchange to Fukuoka, and she stayed at the house of a girl named Tomomi Niiro. Last week, Tomomi was on the exchange program at Woon Sze's place. On the Form 3 lineup there was Ashley taking Yuka Yamawaki, Aween taking Yukiko Morita, and Roslyn - THE SISTER - hosting Izumi Hashimoto.

So over the days before their arrival, we all had been furiously learning Japanese words and phrases. I didn't. Because I already knew the basic Konnichiwa and Arigato. Hopefully, that would be enough. And I was bound to learn a bunch of words from Izumi and co. And I did.

Roslyn and the five Hosts went to an opening ceremony at some far-off hotel on Wednesday. There, they would meet their respective Guests, and meet and mingle. The ceremony began in the morning, then they would go around KL seeing the sights. I have no idea what sights they went to, but I hear Dataran Merdeka (Merdeka Square) was one of them. And they took pictures.

They went around the city, and then came back for the FIRST MEET with students by 4.00pm. I was waiting for them, because my mom was going to pick me up instead of the usual van trip. I greeted each, and heard their "Nice to meet you"s, and it was fun. In a little while my mom came over and picked us up.

When we got home we showed Izumi around, and gave her the Guest Room downstairs. Roslyn and Seroja both arranged so that they could stay there too.

After a bit of a rest and tea with keropok lekor and drinks, with Izumi trying out local fruits we had like rambutan, Roslyn asked my mom if they could go shopping somewhere. Apparently, Izumi hadn't had much of a chance to go out to shop or get things for her friends and family back home. My mom agreed. They went off - I think it was Jaya Jusco, but then they later went to KLCC. My dad would meet them there.

I stayed home. They said it wasn't necessary, and besides they were going to buy girls' things. I had Rockstar: Supernova to watch, and there was Football Manager 2006 on my computer. So I waited for them to come back. They came late, like at ten. We stayed up and had durian and some drinks and went to sleep at midnight. Roslyn and Seroja stayed with Izumi and chatted into the night. Or did they sleep? I had no clue. I slept earlier than everyone else.

THURSDAY

Thursday was a fun one. This would be the first day the Fukuoka girls and lads (four girls, two guys) would experience Malaysian school life. It would either bore them or excite them. I suspect it bored them.

Two Japanese students were slotted with the Form 5s, two with Form 4, and two with Form 3. Nil's boy Takeru and Woon Sze's girl Tomomi (I always previously thought that Tomomi was a guy's name, having read the book The Ghost In The Tokaido Inn by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler) were in Form 5.

First period was Add Maths. Because of the person doing the keys didn't unlock the spare classes (cryptically known by the school as 'The Floating Classes', and by me as 'My Office') I stayed in the Add Math room doing a bit of Biology work and watching Tomomi and Takeru, bored probably, talk to each other.

Next was double English. We had to do compositions. I find compositions to be fun, because I'm a writer. And we had to do "Weekend In A Remote Village." I made a silly, mad, out-of-it story about a guy and his fiancee Violet in Tonga trying to find boxes of DHARMA INITIATIVE breakfast cereal so that he could redeem it for his mother's severed head. Mr. Durai always warned the entire class not to be like me. I wrote the story, and more. It was fun. He marked it well, though I suspect he thought I was a pretentious snot.

After that we had recess. I sat with the Japanese students + hosts. I have, like, influence. I can sit with anyone I want. Despite this, I have spent the better part of three years sitting with Shafiq and Bryan. This is unfortunate. They, along with me, had the famed Sri Inai nasi lemak. They must have liked it, because they were going, "Oishi!" (I might not have spelt it right). "Sedap!" we thought them. Now they know what delicious means in more than two languages. Whee for education.

After break was when the fun stuff started. We had one period of Maths, in which En. Wan gave everyone work - including Tomomi and Takeru, and later Biology. During Bio we didn't learn anything from Pn Mazni because she was enthralled, talking to the two Japanese students. She's the Library teacher, so we always have Bio class there. Takeru took my usual seat.

Next we had double Chemistry. This was the most fun. Pn Mas was teaching for a short bit about Soap and Detergents. Then she decided, to keep everyone from getting bored, WE WOULD DO AN EXPERIMENT! We were going to PREPARE SOAP!

I have the feeling my status in the Chemistry class has corroded quite a bit. Now everyone pushes the Bunsen burner away from me, and give stares to the teacher anytime I got to do anything more than just stirring. Naturally, I did the stirring on this one. Tomomi and Takeru were fascinated, watching me stir sodium hydroxide. At least I think they were. Well, so we spent the better part of an hour making soap. And make it we did. (It would have been great to have photos of this. But we didn't. I think only Bryan has)

After that, En. Wan gave the Form 3s and the Form 5s a major reprieve. He let us have Games period after lunch, instead of the usual boring Extra Classes. Yay. So I walked around and didn't play anything, but had the chance to take pictures. And have people take pictures of me. I have been seen wearing a truly strange hairstyle, as well as quite a smirk on photos. Why? This is a mystery, and we will never know.

After school, there was the usual weekly Prefect Meetings that all of us were loath to go to. So I skipped it, and so did Woon Sze and Nil. We're in quite a bit of trouble over that one. Me? Shafiq wanted to go to McDonald's next door, and we had a meal before going back. By then the meeting was already started. So, naturally, I could not possibly join.

So an hour later my mom came and picked me, Roslyn, Seroja and Izumi. She had plans for us all tonight. Around six we'd go to Central Market for more suovenir (it looks so weird, like I spelt it wrong) purchasing. Later we'd go for dinner at Great Eastern Mall. Lastly, maybe we'd go for bowling. Izumi was quite excited. She bowls well, she says. We all laugh and admit our extreme lack of bowling skill. We had fun that day.

Heading for Central Market, a place I had never been to in my entire sixteen years of life, we took the LRT. People packed the LRT. Everyone felt like sardines. Regardless, I love LRTs. Truly. There's a certain romance to it. You all probably think I'm crazy. There, we had corn-in-a-cup. And a little bit more. We saw one of those Kodak Stations there and printed pictures. Do you know how extremely useful those machines are? Very.

Near eight-thirty PM we took the LRT back to Keramat where we met my dad. We then took the car to Great Eastern Mall, which wasn't too far away. We had dinner at Cozy House. Izumi had heard so much about kuay teau (another word I believe I am spelling wrongly) and that was what she had. Everyone else had Western-style food. I personally had a black pepper chicken chop. Yes.

We didn't have bowling that night. We visited two closeby bowling alleys but they were both packed with professional tournament players. So we watched and waited for twenty minutes, but eventually went back. And thus ended Day Two, nearly midnight.

CHECK MORE FOR THE NEXT EPISODE! AND WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF PICTURES!

(I was uploading them today but my line is so incredibly, majorly slow. Expect quite a bit to be reposted on this blog post)

Max Barry's second book, Jennifer Government, is finally in my possession. I've been passively trying to get it for about three years, ever since I was introduced to Barry through his browser-based game NationStates.

I've played NationStates for quite awhile now, from my original nation, Lake Blackal, to my newest (made tonight), The Most Serene Republic of Kestimetruthta - any Alias fan will understand - just to get back to the hilarious international politics scene.

So, Jennifer Government: it's pretty much a satire on corporations. Allow me to quote: "In the future, the world will be run by giant American corporations. Everybody will be so happy, tax-free and rich that they will change their name to that of their company."

This is just brilliance. I don't need to reveal anything more than that. Go find a copy!

I got it at the Mid-Valley MPH for RM36.00.

After a truly buggy day, I have succeeded in installing Football Manager 2006. Leed Fung owed me that game.

Did I tell you I was involved in the Debate yesterday? Yesh. I represented Tahan house (blasphemy at its best, since I've been a Jerai - T's greatest enemy - since Form 2) and led the team.

... to sweet, sweet victory? Or just mind-numbing defeat?

Well, let's just compare the teams.

On Tahan... we have...

1. AMIRUL B RUSLAN
2. Zayaana Shazlene (whom I was forced to use, replacing first-choice Sofia Alia)
3. Roslyn Ruslan (yes, that sister of mine)
4. Allya Shafiqah (sister of Loser.Of.The.Year founder/member as well as tagboard spammer Adib Muhammad)

While I expected to go up against a lesser-strength Jerai team (only two houses this year - we had a major reconstructioning) seeing that their star debater and (dare I say it) personal debating protege Bryan See Tho [F] said he was not going to take part, but it turned out they fielded their strongest possible lineup. Impressive.

They had Bryan, Shafiq, Nisha, and Aween.

Pn. Mas forced me to kick Sofia off the team. I'll be very willing to admit online that that decision was not an easy one, as I had invested quite a lot of time into aiding her - and I was just as sure that she was placing quite a lot of her own precious time into the debate, too. The team voted unanimously against her - with the exception of my own vote, but I vetoed it thrice, until Pn Mas forced the decision anyway. Disappointing, but that didn't turn out too badly.

The debate topic was "Culture and Tradition are More Important in Living a Full Life than Science and Discoveries", with Tahan - my house, if you need repeating - taking the Opposition slot. I love being the Opposition. There's something unique about going against the grain.

Undoubtably, the crowd support was somewhat towards Tahan. I do not know why, for this time around I had not tried to bribe anybody to make immense decibels of noise. But they did anyway.

I was the First Speaker for the house - I have been First Speaker in all debates since 2004. But this time I wasn't so sure about an easy victory. Bryan had honed his speaking talent fairly well over the last 10 months or so, and he has the gift of plausibly gaining the crowd's attention. This was obvious when he did his poem. I'm extremely flashy. Flashy as in likes to flash. But not flashy as in likes to walk around nude.

Let's skip all the boring bits, okay? So I came out with huge applause (usually when I get huge applause it's actually because people all around hate me, but I don't think so this time). The end score reads as so:

Jerai: 717

Tahan: 756

We won by 39 points! After the narrow, two-point Malay debate victory by Tahan over Jerai - great debating by Nil, by the way - we made quite a large margin, considering Roslyn and Zayaana did shakey speeches, and Bryan had one hell of a strong Rebuttal.

And I won BEST SPEAKER. Mr. Durai announced that decision. Woo. I am so happy. Crowd loved that. Wish someone took pictures.

To sum things up, I got pats on my back from people who usually wouldn't dream of going anywhere near a 5-feet radius of me, and Yusuf said, in his usual sycophancy, "You were amazing! You won the debate on your own!"

No editing of any quotes whatsoever.

What the hell is this? Bug, or something creepier?

Yes, worth double-posting for.

I am +5 late on old blogposts.

Got back from the school-endorsed MOTIVATIONAL/LEADERSHIP CAMP! at Kem Intan Suraya, Sg. Siput. Fun. And painful.

Expect blogposts. No, seriously. Read, readers!