the world of lucas and kyungsil

I'm a bit of a gamer. I can't help it. When I met Kyungsil, I was messing around in WOW. While it was never my favourite game, I've probably spent more time in it for the fact it's one of the most well developed. And I do hate saying that, because I just don't like Blizzard. Probably the most arrogant and nonexistent Customer Service in a gaming environment I've ever had the displeasure of using, they're without doubt the worst company bar none.

But WOW is a great game to introduce your wife to the wonderful world of MMOs. I'd have preferred EQ2 myself, but the graphics are so dull and dusty that you kind of get bored quicker. We gave up WOW after the last expansion didn't blow our minds.

You see, it turns out my wife is a highly skilled PVPer. I discovered this by accident when we reached a certain level and I was just itching to stab some kids. And I said to her, come along. Let's do this for one turn. Maybe two. Kinda relax and maybe, I don't know. See what you can do.

And she ended up second on the ranking ladder for the game.

My mind suitably humbled, we ended up competing pretty much amongs ourselves to be make the most kills in the various battlegrounds and were getting ourselves prepped for the highly anticipated Arena season post-expansion. Unfortunately, the expansion was a dud and pretty much cut us out of enjoying the game by doing what WOW does best: cater to raiders.


Disappointed over this and some account locking scandals that required trying to communicate to Blizzard's robotic "customer service" emailer for about two weeks before an actual human got involved (thanks to googling up a list of random emails for _____@blizzard.com), we gave it up and chucked it in.

And now find ourselves waiting for the next best thing. We've been waiting for six months. We've tried one or two other things, but none have clicked for us.

But now we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The highly anticipated Guild Wars 2 is set to give us pretty much everything we ever wanted. Some level of personal control over character appearance (I'm sick of looking like a multicoloured M&M or a drab brown yawn of nothing) is a highlight. And the PVP looks brilliant with a real attempt to make it more of a sport by chucking out the gear>skill equation and putting it back to skill>gear where it damn well belongs.

What's got us very excited is the lack of raiding. I hate raiding. Dungeons and raids are the worst kind of gaming experience in an MMO. The species of human attracted to raiding is generally of the worst kind. Spend ten minutes in WOW with any raiderps and you're guaranteed to find your iq lowering and your blood pressure rising as you battle all kinds of nonsensical mathematical arguments. It goes against the whole spirit of roleplaying by introducing and enforcing a reliance on number crunching as opposed to having fun.

And the worst thing about it all is it's little more than an overly-glorified memory exercise similar to playing Mario Brothers. Neither my wife nor I find flashbacks to 80s style gaming to be particularly interesting. One of the best things Blizzard suckered me into was Diablo. The first one. I'm old, study me (as a friend of mine is wont to say). And the thing that was so beautiful about it was the random spawning dungeon monsters. You never knew what you'd get, where they'd be, or when a glowy dude would pop up to make your life exciting. And that was what was fun about dungeons.

These days, raiderps need to "know" the "fight". They'll watch it on YOUTUBE. They'll demand you do, too. It's stupid. Why should you "know" a fight? Where's the fun in that? You could do it blindfolded, then. Count to one and tap 1, count to two and tap 3...

Guild Wars 2 seems to be addressing these very issues. The very issues that get the maths nerds excited are the issues which make the roleplayers and gamers yawn. And I'm so glad they're doing away with them. Bringing back the social element which means I won't be sitting there getting all mad "brah" when some guy comes in and sneaks up behind all the hard work I've done so he can ninja a kill and leave me standing around for a half-hour respawn.

And man, it looks so beautiful, too. I have been trolling through the YOUTUBE gameplay vids and I feel guilty when I do because I worry my wife will think I'm looking at porn it's that good.

This is going to be fun. So much fun I can't hardly stand it (as the great Lux used to say). Finally a game we can get into again together. Where our skills will even be able to link up and do even more than ever before.

Until then, however, my wife and I are sitting here all sad. And waiting.

Not waiting for the Star Wows MMo, though.

Help me ArenaNet. You're our only hope.

i've practiced rabbit latte a few times nowadays. My aim is making 2 rabbit latte in 2mins.

since going to korea a few years ago, i've had a total fascination for korean architecture, in particular the hanok. they're an amazing building and the interiors are just so beautiful they make your mouth water. recently, i've been considering what kind of house we would build, and i just can't my mind off building something that resembles a traditional hanok.

what i especially love about the more traditional style is the almost pod-like nature. how you have many rooms built around a kind of enclosed courtyard. i love that style, and would like to spread it out a little more to really split up the rooms from them so you get a distinct separation between spaces, yet draw them all back together by shared exteriors. kind of like this picture with the delightful snow in it. Though it's an old building, that wall kind of connects two separate "containers" and i like that. though, it doesn't really show you how warm korean architecture looks.





i love, also, the relationship between the wood and the stone, bound together by white-painted clay. it really pulls everything together in a way that you see in modern buildings. of course, the roofs are prone to mold and whatnot so really need a modernised approach, but the concept of the hanok is absolutely brilliant. you have one central living space and a few podded secondary spaces. and you just can't get better than that. you really can't.

there is something about watches which drive me nuts. i love them, and given the right pay packet, i'd be out there collecting them by the dozen. this week, though, i fell on this site, and realised this is what i really want to max all my credit cards out on. and i'd have to, too.

the romain jerome collection is just stunning. this beaut is one of the steampunk range, lovingly crafted from bits of the titanic. yes. THE titanic. you can get some with moondust and volcanic bits, too.

i haven't got a decent watch at the moment - but i reckon i can start here. anyone got any tips on how to convince my beautiful wife of the pure necessity of this watch and a few others from this insane collection?

so we've been looking at houses and think we've found a good one. all floorboards and set up high off the ground (so we won't get flooded) and with ducted heating to keep us toasty.

it's a long journey from home to work, though, but i kind of like the house anyway. means i may have to get an ipod. for kyungsil, it's probably a better journey to her work, so that's a bonus.

we applied today, despite the rugged terrain that is paperwork, and have our fingers crossed to hear back from them soon!

this week: we're going to the city to take photos of local architecture!

and speaking of architecture, how's this treehouse!?

i bought some batteries for the camera in hope we'd be going to the city for a look at more of the buildings in melbourne, but unfortunately kyungsil has to work today.

now i'm kind of bored.

we're going house hunting. our lease expires in late may, so we need somewhere new to stay before we go mad. the house we're currently in, while not the one in this picture, is spiritually its cousin.

kyungsil and i have hated it since day one when what should have been a resigned move into a normal house turned into a nightmare which has not ended.

however, as we only had two days to find a house and move into it, it was the best we could get. especially as we didn't know our way around to go to many home opens.

this time, kyungsil has started visiting home opens. her first adventure today wasn't the best, but we have some hopes for the next one. we're looking at a few suburbs, most of which will involve a bit more travelling to work, but will be cheaper so i hope to save some money to pay off my crippled credit cards before they send someone round to cripple me.

this post really isn't going anywhere as it is 11pm and i need to push my wife into bed so she can get up in the morning. that's if i can drag her from her anime. i'm hoping for her sake the next house is wonderfully normal at least.

just a last point: today my thoughts go out to eric dando who is letting his goose loose at the williamstown literary festival, and also to my good friend andrew hindle, who's getting his goose ready for experimental surgical procedures to fix what is commonly known as cancer.

i was so nervous travelling to korea to meet kyungsil's family. i half-expected her father to chase me down the street with a shotgun or meat cleaver, screaming, "you stole my daughter!"

but he was the most amazing guy and i can never forget how happy he was to see her when we arrived. and also how enthusiastic he was. her mum was even more amazing and i have to say i was never much with my own family, but i felt very welcomed and humbled by hers.

in this photo, you cannot tell how uncomfortable i am, though. the shirt is two sizes too small, even though it was the largest shirt i could find in korea. one day, when we move there, i am going to have problems buying clothes despite the amazing scope of the shopping districts in daegu and seoul.

i learnt where kyungsil gets her cooking skills and her gambling skills from, though. from her mum, obviously, who cooked up the most amazing food (and homemade yogurt) and then proceeded to do something i am yet to be able to do: beat kyungsil at cards. how she did this is a mystery, because i still maintain my wife cheats.

 a few pictures from our wedding day. it was a small gathering because that's what we wanted. we were honoured by those who did attend and had a brilliant evening because of it. :)

thanks from me especially to azly and jess. thanks to azly for popping back to australia for the special day and for his support. and to jess, who has always been an absolute rock. i am more grateful to you both than you know.

and then, of course, my beautiful wife. her hands shook like a leaf when i put the ring on (as a result it nearly slipped onto the wrong finger), but i'm sure there was a glint of triumph as i signed my name and she took ownership of the groom.

i think this is one of the most breath taking photos of kyungsil, but she never agrees.


i'm right, though.






oh yes, i am.
i have witnesses we were NOT taking a hit out on anyone before our wedding.


not at all.

everything you need to know about plot development you can learn from the geniotic, kurt vonnegut. recently, while writing a zany book i've been working on, i kept feeling my characters were a little, well, flacid. so it was great timing that a friend of mine, ged maybury, slapped this up on his facebook page. i will now share it with you so you can benefit from the true secret behind writing a brilliant story.

 kyungsil is the queen of cake making. to describe one of her cakes is to describe simply the best cakes ever made. she's dedicated not just to being creative, but to the flavour. as such, she's always trying to cut back on the sugar and often we have cakes which are also made of almond meal and less gluten, simply to be healthier.
 the reduction of sugar has made many cakes, which should be hard to eat for being too rich, absolutely more-ish. she uses only the darkest and best of chocolate in her cakes, too, and doesn't then add a few cups of sugar, leaving all her chocolate cakes tasting like, well, like chocolate!
 proud as punch, i'm popping these up not just to test the image-capabilities of blogger, but also to smile as i remember some of the best she's created as she was teaching herself from scratch how to use some of the more advanced materials and techniques involved in cake making.

i hereby claim first post.

because that's what i do.