Cute Can Be Mean

14 Feb

I have been playing Farm Heroes lately. The sweet candies and Odus from Dreamworld in Candy Crush has lost to the cute cropsies. Despite my peeking into Candy Crush on the laptop, I find myself lacking the spirit and zest to go on in the game. Best to maintain my retired status, an achievement of sorts.

Now with Farm Heroes, my main play time on it is on my iPad Mini. The last few exasperations were overcomed and I have zoomed on until Level 111. The cropsies have been acting mean again, not cute at all. I have tried my best at this level in order to gain enough power to defeat Rancid Raccoon but just can’t until I played the game in the office! Shhh….

It was a busy day at the office and towards the evening when all was done, I felt I needed a break and went into Farm Heroes. Now my office Mac desktop is weird. On one hand it does not support Candy Crush, citing my Adobe Flash Player is not updated but it can support Farm Heroes, which works out fine now, considering where my focus is at now.

One game only at Level 111 and I am through! Woohoo… I guess Odus will dream on hoping for me to join him in Dreamworld.

I Couldn’t Resist

13 Feb

Last Friday, I came home from my dinner and grabbed the laptop. The Candy Crush tickets came and I am onwards to the next chapter! Am I coming out of retirement?

Well… I moved only 3 levels, stuck at Level 518 currently, so it’s hard to say I am un-retiring but I just couldn’t resist. Put it this way, Farm Heroes has hit a snag at an impossibly ridiculous challenge at Level 99 and I needed an outlet to channel my fighting spirits. Maybe I should just go trounce some zoo animals instead.

Doing the Unthinkable

11 Feb

Somehow I managed to pass Level 85 in Farm Heroes Saga and I never thought I’d resort to this but I did the unthinkable! Made M1, the hubby and official pet number one, the Roo (yes, even he has an FB account) ‘play’ the game so that they can send me tickets to go on to the next level. Nasty, ain’t it? But this is purely for strategy reasons; there are less Facebook friends playing this game and it is harder to get help when required. So instead of wishing and hoping or even bothering innocent lives, why not simply just rely on family?

At least I am slightly better than those Candy Crush addicts who would text or call friends to send them lives! For the record, when I was crushing candies, I never resorted to this act of desperation nor did I spend a single cent to move forth in the saga.

Speaking of Saga, when I was using the laptop to do the nasties, I discovered that Candy Crush finally updated. Another 15 levels await me but do I want to do another unthinkable? Coming out of retirement that is… we shall see.

Cute Fails

10 Feb

Farm Heroes Saga is cute. The big dopey eyes of the fruits and vegetables just pulls at my inner soft spot, that’s why I started playing the game. The appeal attracted me and I thought this could be the beginning of a new addiction.

But alas, cuteness can sometimes fail because frustration can set in and for the longest time, aggravation as well. Like Level 80 for instance, there was simply no way to pass it and I refused to use my gold bars to short cut my way through.

I must say Candy Crush is a tough act to follow; King.com has not used the same formula of ‘give and take’ for Farm Heroes to retain my interest, like it did for Candy Crush. I contemplated giving up Farm Heroes no matter how cute the cropsies are. They become mean and not cute when they don’t allow you to pass.

But right after I entertained the thought of giving up, they had an update on the iPad and the ‘give and take’ formula kicked in; I passed Level 80 only to be stuck at Level 85! Cute fails again…

All We Do is Eat

7 Feb

These past few days and the next few, it seems that all we do and think about is eating and eating well. Perhaps it is still the festive Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year that is in the air that we are making the extra effort to meet up with friends (and family) for the must-have Yee Sang for good luck along with hearty sumptuous Chinese meals.

We’ve been calling Chinese restaurants all over town to book tables only to be turned away as they have been fully booked. It looks like we are not the only ones with this eating mission in mind during this festive period. After all, Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days and there’s still a week to go.

Despite the set back from the more renowned restaurants, we managed. Today, I am booked for lunch with a girlfriend and later, dinner with friends and their children. Then the gastronomic adventure continues, with hubby and the girls, with dinners on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights with different groups of friends, culminating with a family dinner on Chap Goh Meh, the 15th and final day of the Lunar New Year on Friday!

There’s Nothing to Play!

6 Feb

Ever since my retirement from Candy Crush, I find that there’s nothing to play on the iPad! If not for my Zookeeper Battle, the offerings just do not appeal to me.

Even the latest from King.com, Farm Heroes Saga, which I thought could get me hooked does not have the same appeal as Candy Crush. I suspect this is due to the fact that I was stuck at Level 80 for the longest frustrating time. It was just impossible to overcome the challenge at that level. Well, when one becomes discouraged and frustrated, the charm is lost, no matter how cute the characters are.

So I looked and tried to find something that can occupy my time, otherwise my faithful iPad Mini will be rendered useless! Maybe I should go back to reading my Nora Roberts…

I’ve Lost My Candy Mojo

4 Feb

So it’s been a month plus that I stopped playing Candy Crush. Out of curiosity, I peeked into the game in Facebook on the laptop to see if there’s any updates, only to discover an exclamation mark on Odus. This was last week and only on the game in Facebook (the app on the iPad just got updated yesterday).

What’s this? So into Dreamworld I ventured. Indeed there was an update but only in Odus’ world. And of course, I started crushing some candies.

To my horror, I discovered I’ve lost my candy mojo! Gone were my skills to strategize and conquer, let alone play! Aiyoh… This is not good. Maybe I should come out of retirement to focus on Dreamworld to sharpen my skills in preparation for the main saga’s long awaited eventual update.

Of Cookies and Ang Pows

3 Feb

The Lunar New Year or more commonly called Chinese New Year here is all about family and food. For the adults, it’s about spending time with the family, going back to the hometown to visit the parents and relatives; it’s also about food, home-cooked meals and Chinese New Year cookies. One of the many favorites being love letters.

For the children, it’s learning about bonding with the family and the ang pows, collecting as many as possible. When I was young, besides the cookies, it was the ang pows that I looked forward to. The anticipation and the final tally was always a cherished moment. This feeling is the same with my own children now.

There’s 11 more days to celebrate Chinese New Year. Here’s to more cookies to savor and more ang pows to come!

Wishing all a very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year

31 Jan

A new lunar year has dawned. We usher in the Year of the Horse with great hopes of prosperity and luck and may everyone be blessed abundantly. Today we drive up north to hubby’s hometown. Let’s hope the traffic will be smooth.

Here’s wishing all a very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year or in Teochew, Hokkien, Mandarin and Cantonese respectively, ‘Sin Chia Ju Ee / Kiong Hee Huat Chye / Gong Xi Fa Cai / Kong Hey Fatt Choy!!!’

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The Dinner Spread

30 Jan

The family at the dinner!

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