MaplestorySEA - Take N

With the Nova patch, here comes Take-N again. 

I remember, in Take-B, I spent everyday grinding for the 3/4 daily boxes & completing the quests:

1st half hour: activate 2 runes

2nd half hour: 1 frito/polo portal

2nd hour: 1 elite boss

3rd hour: flamewolf portal

2nd Cumulative Box: 7 Gacha Tickets

Being a working adult, it was honestly quite tough to achieve everything in the given time.. It was always either I stayed past midnight to complete the quests or hoped to be home in time for all the boxes.. It was a stressful period (for the final reward of an Absolab Weapon)

This time round, the final reward was a Dominator Pendant!.. Unfortunately, I really didnt want to stress myself out. [I'll leave the Dom Pendant to faith (please Ark... drop me a dom pendant someday soon... 😇)]

I decided to do just enough to get the 2nd reward of 7 gacha tickets though... 

GIANT PINK BEAN CHAIR

I think my luck this time round was not too bad... Rising Sun Pendant & Giant PBC! 😝

MaplestorySEA - Normal Lotus

🙌 WE DID IT... N.Lotus!!! 

Compared to Damien, Lotus is a much fast-paced kind of boss run with only 5 lives given to each participating member. Considering the few practice runs we had, this was rather unexpected. Xdeatell, DmgOverTime & I literally had only 1 life left when we cleared it. HanabiKatsu as usual... was the mvp with 4 lives left (she's really one awesome paladin). 

Vandereich's very 1st clear - Normal Lotus

A screenshot to commemorate the occasion. 😂

Downed N.Lotus

N.Lotus Drop: S-Grade Energy Core!

N.Lotus Soul Crystal (4-man party)

$-$

MaplestorySEA - Normal Damien

N.DAMIEN DOWNED... 

Kiineziz's 1st successful Damien run with Vandereich!!! *happy* 😄😇

(special mention: with HanabiKatsu, DmgOverTime, Xdeatell & I2ualBlade)

Its been a good few weeks since Kine's 1st attempt with the guild to fight Damien (didnt survive long enough to celebrate the very first successful guild run). All the tips and practice runs that came after in hope that we would survive better... 💖 *appreciative* 

Here's to more challenging boss runs in time to come. Lotus next? 😂

Damien downed!!!

Brand Soulstone :')

Special Mega from HanabiKatsu

Normal Damien's Soul Crystal! 

MaplestorySEA - Kiineziz solos CRA (Queen, Pierre, BanBan)

The recent halloween event buff/medal are really quite OP. Till the day I can solo CRA bosses without the timed event buffs, im satisfied with this. 😆

First successful Chaos Pierre run

Second successful Chaos Ban Ban run

3 out of 4 CRA bosses solo-ed! :D

Week off from work!

It's finally November... Hello Annual Leave!

Since starting work in Mid-May, I had been dying to take a break from the routine day-to-day tasks (especially so when my senior goes on leave since we cover each other's duties). The past week, too, had been an exhausting one, leaving work only at 9/10 pm each day... 😓

It was sad that the plan for a short trip over this mini week-long holiday didn't pan out, but it really has been quite a fun one (doing the things I had been wanting to do). Just yesterday, I clocked approx. 16k steps from hanging around Plaza Singapura, getting a haircut at Act Point Salon @ Singapore Shopping Center and heading to Punggol's Waterway Point Shopping Center on a whim. & today, I got to eat at Santouka Ramen @ The Central and went bowling @ Kallang Leisure Park!

Personal Best Score!!! (K.)

楽しかった！！！

I've also completed an anime series over the last two days (Angel Beats) and I really wonder why I hadn't caught on the anime when it came out in 2010. It really tugs at the heartstrings and brings out a lot of questions about life. *** highly recommended for anyone who hadn't tried the series.

There's still so many things I'm wanting to do over this mini-break... like, creating some stamps (I got a tiny stash of lino-cut related materials from Art Friend), singing K, watching more anime, pack my room (to make it study-friendly since my Japanese lessons are starting next week!!! *楽しみ*), some shopping, and most importantly... EATING. 😇

"休息是为了走更长的路"... maybe its time, to start planning my next holiday. 😂

MaplestorySEA - Level 230

Its been almost 10 months since I went back to MapleSEA. Creating the then-relatively-new class, Kinesis, was the best in-game decision I had ever made. 

Mages had always been my fave in every possible mmorpg game and to find a mage that had everything I wanted (100% stance, no mp, flash jump, debuff, bind, etc.) - simply magical. haha. 

Yay Kiineziz 230! Cheers!

MaplestorySEA - the Bean Journey

Its MapleSEA's 12th anniversary and Pink Bean is back as a create-able character in Maple World! - that's what they said, but I've never seen one myself. :3

The bean journey to level 200 was the ultimate grind but thanks to guildies, they made it so much fun. 

Maple Level 200 Announcements

Megas from the Guildies... <3 Vandereich

For providing Kishin, HS and waiting to level together... thank you! :)

-we did it! beanz lvl 200- 23 July 2017

Travel Log - Hong Kong Day 4

Click here to read from the 1st post of this travel log! 😄

Day 4: Hong Kong -> Singapore

With only the morning left to spare in Hong Kong, we went to Jordon MTR Station to have breakfast at the Australian Dairy Company! 

Australian Dairy Company

Map: 47 Parkes St, Jordan, Hong Kong

I had the breakfast set which comes with a toast with fried eggs (I changed it to scrambled eggs), ham macaroni and a cup of milk tea/coffee. They have extremely good business, so do be prepared to queue!

Jenny Bakery
Map: Shop G24 Ground Floor & Shop 42 1st Floor, Mirador Mansion, 54-64 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

After a hearty breakfast, we took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui to get Jenny cookies! When it comes to Hong Kong, Jenny Bakery's cookies seem to always appear on the list of items to purchase when you visit.

iSquare Shopping Mall
Map: 63 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

As we still had time after accomplishing what we had wanted to do/eat all morning, we decided to explore iSquare Shopping Mall. To my surprise, they still had HMV!!! Sadly, I didn't get to buy any of La La Hsu's albums as they were out of stock, but nonetheless, I'm really glad to know that HMV still exists in other parts of Asia. 😂

Hong Kong International Airport

We headed back to the hotel to catch the free shuttle bus to the Airport Express Station in Kowloon. The first bus that came was full and we were denied boarding. As the interval between the shuttle buses is around 20 mins, I really wanted to give up and just hail a cab, but we decided to wait and thankfully, the bus that came after was pretty empty.

Disney Shop @ departure area

Egglet at the Airport!

I'm really glad that my first friends' trip was with you guys! I don't think I know of anyone else that is this accommodating and easy-going. A trip full of laughter & joy despite my refusal to take too many pictures. heh.

Here's to a brand new chapter in our corporate lives! 頑張ってね！😎

Previous post: Travel Log - Hong Kong Day 3

Travel Log - Hong Kong Day 3

Click here to read from the 1st post of this travel log! 😄

Day 3: Day Trip to Macau & HK Central MTR Station

We had booked the 9 a.m. ferry out to Macau, so we had to wake up early to make our way to Sheung Wan Ferry Terminal. The tickets stated that we had to be at the boarding gates 15 mins prior to departure so when we reached the entrance of the ferry terminal (located in the mall) at 8.45 a.m, we were in such a rush to clear the immigration and make our way to our designated gate that we went to the wrong gates where they were like "the ferry is full, please wait for the next one". It was such an epic moment cause we just stared at each other like "now what?" till we were told that we were at the wrong gates. LOL.

While we were planning for our trip, we were pretty worried about Macau because it was a first for all of us and we weren't sure about the transportation and stuff, but! it was pointless worry as it was relatively easy to get around (special thanks to my friend who did all the navigating around HK & Macau 😘)

As many would know, Macau is the land of casinos! From the ferry terminal, there were many free hotel shuttle bus for you to choose from (they requested to see our IDs before allowing us to board, meaning you should at least be of a legal age). We boarded the shuttle to Hotel Lisboa as it was within the area of the Ruins of St.Paul's. The bus brought us direct to the basement entrance (into the casino) so we had to walk through the casino to get to the main entrance. 😅 - what a way to start our Macau leg of the trip.

View from the Ferry Terminal

Turbojet ferry

First stop: Egg Tarts! @ Margaret's Cafe e Nata
Map: Macau, 新馬路馬統領街金利來大廈17B地舖

If there is one thing you need to do when you visit Macau, it is definitely to eat their egg tarts! I got to know about this brand of Egg Tarts from an ex-colleague (blog) and it was really yummy. 😋

Just look at the EGG TARTS!!! ♡ 

Second Stop: Ruins of St. Paul's 
Map: walk from Edificio Yue Bo Ii, I, 7 號, 3 Tv. de São Paulo, Macau

After satisfying our egg tart cravings, we took a short walk towards the Ruins of St.Paul's - one of Macau's famous tourist spots. The surroundings have such a European feel to it that it doesnt feel like we're actually in Macau.

European feel!

Look at the buildings!

Shopping street leading us to the Ruins

Residential near to the ruins

After the ruins, we hailed a taxi to bring us to the other side of Macau (Taipa Village)! 

View of Macau Tower en route to Taipa! ♡

Third Stop: Taipa Village
Map: 21 R. Correia da Silva, Macau

We had wanted to eat the Tai Lei Lok Kei pork chop bun (澳门大利来记猪扒包) but unfortunately for us, it was closed that day (our series of epic events)...  So, we decided to head to our last stop in Macau - The Venetian Macao.

[update 14/5/2017: according to Google Maps, its permanently closed...😞]

Passed by Galaxy Macau Hotel along the way to The Venetian Macao...

Last Stop: The Venetian Macao Hotel
Map: Estrada da Baia de Nossa Senhora da Esperanca, Macau

wow. just wow

This... is the restroom. Can you believe it?

The mall of the hotel (kinda like our Marina Bay Sands)

Sedap Singapore @ the food court

Pork Bun!

Heh. we found the branch anyway. 

The other famous egg tart brand in Macau!

Before we knew it, it was time to take the free Venetian Macao shuttle back to the ferry terminal (our ferry timing was at 4 p.m.). 

Special note: the bus had free wifi! 

Views en route to the ferry terminal:

Tim Ho Wan @ Central MTR Station
Map: IFC Mall MTR Shop 12A,, Central, Hong Kong

For our last dinner in Hong Kong, we decided to try the famed Tim Ho Wan! Yes, I know Singapore have them, but its always nice to taste the difference between the original and the franchise.

Conclusion: the variety of the original Tim Ho Wan is much lesser than the ones in Singapore, and they taste different too. At the end of the day, it all boils down to personal preference. I liked the HK version of the carrot cakes as you could really taste the radish in it. (: SG's version tend to have a little meat in them so it differ quite a bit in taste.

Victoria Harbour @ Tsim Sha Tsui
Map: Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

To end of the trip, we headed for Victoria Harbour @ Tsim Sha Tsui to enjoy the night harbour view and watched the Symphony of Lights played out by the participating buildings (the symphony begins at 8 p.m. daily, subject to weather conditions).

The view is great, the symphony... mmm... I shall keep my comments to myself. haha.

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