Tag Archives: iPad Mini

How to Read Harry Potter

10 Jan

As I have been reading my Nora Roberts’ MacGregor series non-stop these few nights, I can’t help but recall the time back in 2011 when the girls started reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. I held them off the series but eventually gave in and bought the whole series for them. The treasured books has been read and reread many times over.

Last year, M2 told me she reads the series in two different ways.

How does one read a book in two different ways? Surely, when reading, you read the contents, flip the pages and repeat this process until the end, no? Unless you consider lying down with legs pointing skywards being the other way?

Well, I learnt then there IS another method to read a series of books. First, you read the conversations in the book; just the conversations. In M2’s case, it was all seven of the Harry Porter books in this manner. Then you read the book as a whole—complete in the way they are written—again, all seven in the series. What an interesting method. M2’s mind boggles me sometimes.

I don’t think I will do that as much as I enjoy Nora. My other way of reading is simply just reading the online version instead of the physical paperback, having discovered this alternative recently. So in my case, it’s holding my iPad Mini to enjoy a good read instead of holding the paperback. And no, my legs are not pointing skywards.

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A Promising Start

2 Jan

This new year brings many new changes. Firstly, I am proud to announce on the last day of 2013 (December 31st), I completed Level 515 of Candy Crush, the finale of the last possible level in the saga… until an update that is. It’s an achievement of sorts having been addicted to the game the whole of 2013 and starting the new year with a status change. I can now say I am a fully retired professional candy crusher.

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Got to wait for the next update!

But this status will change, of course, once King.com decides to release the update on both Facebook and on the iPad. You know me, die-hard candy crusher to the core.

Change number two: yesterday, I decided to update my iPad Mini to OS7! There’s no turning back at the point so gotta get use to it, ugly as it may be with the icons having gone 2D and flat. I figured if I had managed with my iPhone4 all this while, I should be able to handle my iPad Mini.

Change number three: the girls go back to school today. M1 is now in her final year in high school and M2 has gone on to Secondary school, the equivalent being junior high school. How time flies. It seemed like just yesterday when they were kindie-going and now I have two teenage girls.

I am sure there will be more changes to come and new situations to get used to but for now, these new changes indicate a promising start to the new year.

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A Belated Gift

27 Dec

It’s Boxing Day and I had gone to play golf in the morning with the hubby. And obviously I did not open the laptop to play Candy Crush considering it’s an early morning tee off and we shouldn’t be late. But for the record, I have been stuck at Level 500 and it has been most frustrating. These pass few days, being the Christmas holidays with the festive mood, I am hardly working so I have been trying to conquer this level at every opportunity available.

Fast forward to the late afternoon. I came home from my golf outing and routine was normal, playing five unsuccessful rounds of Candy Crush on the laptop before moving back to the iPad for Zookeeper Battle and checking emails. Everything was normal; then in the evening, I reached for the laptop again and launched the game for my usual five attempts at Level 500 but suddenly, I find myself leap-frogged to Level 501!!! Surprised, shocked, taken aback, I couldn’t believe it!

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Notice the non-star at Level 500 and question marks for tickets?

Eh? What’s going on? I have been stuck at Level 500 for sometime but out of the blue or is it out of pity, I have been gifted with this! I have gone on to Level 501 without completing Level 500 and without even asking for tickets to go on to this latest chapter, Ice Cream Caves.

A belated Christmas gift? A computer glitch? A loyalty reward? Whatever it is, gee, thanks King.com! I just hope you don’t reverse what you just did for I have gone on to Level 506. A gift’s a gift, no taking back, belated as it may be.

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Should I Do It?

26 Dec

As we countdown to the end of 2013, I am contemplating to just update my iPad Mini to OS7. I must admit I have gotten used to my iPhone4 by now with the new interface because it’s all conditioning with daily usage. But I still don’t like those ugly green and blue message bubbles.

My immediate concern is if I leave my iPad as is for too long, my eventual free update may not kick in. Is this a silly thought? Not very tech-savvy, huh? The other concern is more of an irritation than anything else. I simply don’t like those little red dot numbers sitting at the top right of an app. Yes, my Setting icon has the red dot with a number one in it.

The last concern is most of my apps are upgrading to the OS7 look and feel and if my iPad is still in OS6 mode, well… would things still work? Again, not very tech-savvy, huh? As it is, Papa Pear Saga is not working at all on the iPad.

So to squash all this unnecessary concerns, I should just do it, update my iPad Mini once and for all before the year ends!

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It Ain’t Over

20 Dec

I thought my candy crushing days met its end four days ago when I reached Level 500 in Facebook. Thinking I would take my time to do so, I had not been opening the laptop to attempt to finish it. After all, the updates have been really slow especially on the iPad.

But this morning I was surprised to see, in Facebook on the laptop, the saga has continued until Level 515! Yay.

I guess it ain’t over! And ever since I have been having problems launching the Papa Pear Saga on my iPad, it’s back to crushing candies for me.

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What Kind of Update is That?!

12 Dec

I came home from work yesterday and after dinner, got ready for my daily evening routine: crushing some candies on the laptop. I have been stuck at 492 for awhile and my closest rival finally caught up to me.

But as I launched the game (in Facebook) on the laptop, there was this new icon on the left (on the iPad, it’s on the right). What’s this, I wondered…

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Odus sits where the Prize Wheel used to be in the game on Facebook

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Candy Crush Dreamworld

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The iPad version. Prize Wheel is still there and Odus is at the other end

It’s ‘Dreamworld’, a new subset of the main game. Huh?

Is this an update? You call this an update?

Eeesh. I thought retirement from the game is imminent as I am at the end of the saga with 5 more levels to go (made it to 495) to reach level 500 and now this.

So I tried it out…

I must say it’s easier than the main game but there is this owl, Odus, that you have to watch its balance on the moon. Interesting. I guess my candy crushing days are not yet numbered.

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What am I Thinking of?

6 Dec

It must be the holiday season or the constant rain that made me download another game from King.com to play. What am I thinking of to decide to start yet another saga, Papa Pear? As if my Candy Crush and Zookeeper Battle games are not enough!

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Currently for Candy Crush, I am at Level 491 and it will end at Level 500 on Facebook unless they update there while on the iPad, it stops at 485, waiting for the snail-paced update to happen. Maybe the fear of not having some saga to keep busy made me do it. Whatever the reason, this is definitely self inflicted.

Hrmph.

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Same Old, Same Old

2 Dec

The latest Candy Crush update didn’t last very long for me to play on the iPad! This morning I breezed through the remaining levels of Cherry Chateau and now, I have to wait for tickets to move to the next chapter, which can only be played on Facebook, on the laptop, at home. And this will only happen when I leave the office this evening.

It is indeed same old, same old as far as my candy crushing days are concerned. More waiting than playing. Sigh.

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Hah! About Time

28 Nov

Last night when we got back from dinner at a friend’s place in the city, I found that Candy Crush finally has the long awaited update for the iPad. Hah! About time, I thought and clicked on it.

Waiting, I mused over the casual dinner, smiling over the remark of the mismatched wine we all had. But does it matter? Food was hearty and delicious, company was great and ambience delightful, one can’t have it any better. Even M1 and M2 enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I suspect both have comatosed over dinner (and dessert) as they were very quiet in the car on the journey home. All in all, it’s a nice change to routine for a weekday.

And speaking of routine, not crushing candies on the laptop was suddenly an acceptable act. Honestly, I was getting tired of waiting for the update and having been stuck at Level 480 for sometime, the lengthy period has made the game lose some of its charm. Plus the fact that I only play it before going to the office and returning home does not help matter.

But oh! They are so smart this time, updating with two chapters instead of typically one! Yay. Maybe there is hope to reignite the challenge in me. Instead of just adding Sugary Shire (which I completed), Cherry Chateau (where I am stuck) has also been included. I guess I don’t have to rely on the laptop so much now until of course, I overcome 480 and come to the end of the Cherry Chateau chapter (Level 485).

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Stuck at 480 for sometime now

So let the crushing of candies continue. About time too, don’t you think?

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Not Quite an Addict

21 Nov

Candy Crush has not been updated for the last few weeks and these days, I find myself only playing it on the laptop at home – before heading to the office and when I return home. Somehow this arrangement made me realize I am not quite the addict I thought I was.

Lately I do not play the game at the office on the desktop although I must admit, I had played on my iPad Mini when the game was still playable then. But as I have progressed so far (at Level 476 now in Facebook on the laptop) and the update on the iPad has yet to happen, there’s no candy crushing in the office for awhile. But Zookeeper Battle still occurs… Heheheh.

To say that I will retire from the game are big words and quite a significant status change despite the discovery of not being quite the addict I thought I was. After all, I am a full-time candy crusher, semi-full time golfer and occasional graphic designer. What am I gonna do, addict or not?

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