The Twelfth Day of Christmas

It's the 6th of January, which means it's the 12th day of Christmas. I can never remember if you're meant to take down your Christmas decorations now, or the day after, but what's pictured above is pretty much the extent of our Christmas decorations.

I bought that tree back when we first moved out of home, because I thought we needed a Christmas tree, but we didn't have the space for a proper-sized one. I had originally planned to buy a single ornament every year, as a Christmas tradition, but then I noticed Myer selling a whole bag of baubles for $1, so I just bought that and haven't been bothered buying another ornament since. After moving yet again, my desire for more junk to clutter the house is at an all-time low.

Christmas was somewhat relaxed this year. It involved lunch at my cousin's house, followed by a relaxing evening at home with MrFodder, eating leftovers from the lunch.

At my dad's birthday lunch last year, my brother mentioned having an amazing dessert while he was in Malaysia, which he described as a custard croissant, which he later elaborated to "custard between two layers of croissant and you had to cut pieces of it out with a knife". I'd never heard of anything like that, but it sounded a bit like a vanilla slice to me, which is vanilla custard between two layers of puff pastry (which is another laminated dough, almost the same as croissant pastry, except with less sugar, and no yeast).

I did a few practice runs, as I hadn't had much success with custard before, and I also ended up making my own puff pastry. I wanted to surprise my brother at Christmas, so I didn't tell him that I was doing this.

Unfortunately, vanilla slice isn't what he was thinking of, and I guess he must have done some research, because he later linked me some recipes for Feuilleté au Custard. Which is pretty much what he described. That's definitely on my to-make list, something to try and master before his birthday this year.

As a bonus image for today, here is the picture he sent of the dessert he had:

(It's the thing on the top-right side of the plate)

Smurfs, Christmas and Interest

I've been reading through Nome's blog (Nome was the former lead designer for HoN) and came across this particular post talking about some of the troubles new players have when they first play HoN or DotA. I agree on all of those points, but I think one of the biggest barriers to new players is the attitude of other players. This has been made much worse by the fact that HoN is now free-to-play, so the number of 'smurf accounts' has gone up dramatically.

Smurf accounts are accounts that high rated players create to play against low rated players (though there are players who make new accounts simply because the queues are too long at higher level games - naturally it's a positive skewed distribution, as there aren't many pro players). Since this is their "fake account" they don't care about stats so much, but it also means they will be matched against players far weaker in skill than they are. And because most of their first games will be in the non-verified category, it is likely that they will be matched against people who have genuinely just started, at least for their first few games. Because they are much better players, they can typically win games on their own. This leads to a few problems, two in particular:

-players who shouldn't win, do win. I played in a game where me and my team were fairly average, but the other team featured four players who seemed to have no idea what was going on and one player who was incredibly skilled. He was enough for them to win the game, which meant that the clueless players all received a higher ranking than they should have. While this would get balanced out in their next game, where they should lose, I have played with someone who was 1600 and still had no clue (the starting rating is 1500, where you typically win or lose 5 rating points per game).

-everyone is a smurf - or so some people think. We played a game with Mark the other day, and during the game, someone on the other team implied they thought Mark was a smurf (he made a new account when HoN went free-to-play, and his current rating is 1000). Even when I play on my own "smurf" account, a lot of the time the games end with people complaining about smurfs.

(I would just like to say here that I don't really consider my smurf account a smurf account in the sense that I don't (always) play in order to beat people of a lower skill level to me. I use it to play heroes that I wouldn't normally play so that I can learn them without people complaining, "OMG, how did you get to 1700, you are so bad?!" I also think for a while, I was getting a bit of support burnout and just wanted to play other heroes.)

The problem with all the smurf accounts also means that new players never really get to learn the game because they are so severely punished for any mistake that they make which discourages trial and error. Add to that the fact that experienced players are constantly abusing them for every little thing they are or aren't doing. The only way for them to learn is to read up on a lot of theorycrafting, but they will probably never do that because their experience in playing the game is horrible. Plus, it's incredibly boring.

Olek suggested this a while ago, which was to have a "noob period" where you play your first 5 games against other new players. I think it should follow the Starcraft 2 model, where you have a practice league. Of course, this doesn't stop smurfs from making accounts and entering the practice league. But it does help divide the genuinely 1500 rated players from the new players, and you are less likely to encounter the pro players who don't want to wait in queue for a game.

Christmas baking is half-done!

This year, I went with a chocolate cupcake, fudge brooooooooownie (in honour of the Mumble channel), a choc-chip cookie and a Mars bar slice. I would have made shortbread or gingerbread, but we don't have a working oven, and the thought of baking 6 cookies at a time wasn't all that appealing. When Julian suggested rocky road, I thought it would be awesome, as it didn't require cooking, but nobody I polled said they liked rocky road, so I went with the Mars bar slice instead. That was the baking for my co-workers, not sure if I can actually be bothered making stuff for friends as it took almost the entire weekend. But I kinda want to because I'm still sad I couldn't give Vinnie a fudge brooooooooooooownie on his birthday.

Lastly, I've been thinking about what makes a blog interesting. Lately, I'm starting to think maybe I fall into that reality TV category, where people watch because it makes them feel good that their lives aren't so bad. Not that I think my life is bad, but some of my posts involve me thinking about on the train wreck events in my life, and I think it makes people feel better about themselves. Maybe the other part of it is the fact that people are usually surprised to find I write the things that I do. So maybe they enjoy reading about the "private me". If you aren't shy about it, I'd appreciate it if you told me in the comments or via email why you read my blog. =)

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

So much of my blog is about doom and gloom and the fact that I wish I were more X because it would make me life easier. Today I've decided to just stop and smell the roses. I've been a lot more calm since I quit my job at the casino - probably because I don't have the guilt of taking people's money, as well as having to deal with incredibly stupid/drunk people who can't seem to listen to reason. It has been a pretty relaxing break, I like how I can just do things whenever I want rather than trying to plan things around my shifts and having to shift sleeping patterns constantly (although I am finding that I have trouble reverting to "normal hours" now that I'm on break).

I baked a cake for my dad on Friday, and I honestly forgot how much fun it is to bake. I decorated it with pink icing (because we only had pink food dye) and tried piping cream, and overall, I think it turned out pretty nice. I also got to try out my shiny new silicone baking tin(? Is it still a tin if it's made of silicone?). Reading through the blog where I got the recipe from, I've decided I want to try more things, like chicken pot pie, chicken kiev, savoury crepes, beer batter fish, rogan josh, shepard's pie. Most of them will probably have to wait until I move out and have the dinner parties that I've been planning (as mum and dad already cook more than enough food for us to eat that I think anything I make will end up going to waste).

Although in more food news, my silicone rolling pin should be arriving in the mail (hopefully tomorrow), so I can get started on my gingerbread cookies and truffles for Christmas! Going to see how vegetarian-friendly I can make my Christmas presents, as I believe Gale and Olek don't eat eggs or gelatin. Also will get around to buying ramekins at some point during my present hunt for family members so that I can try making crème brûlée.

MrMan5.5 has finished his exams for what will hopefully be the last time ever! I'm really happy for him, as this semester has been pretty stressful for him and he has spent most of it cramped up at home studying. We will be leaving for Japan in less than two months' time, and I can't wait to play all the gashapon machines! ^________^ I don't plan to buy all that much though (other than a kimono as a souvenir), so if anyone is after anything in particular from Japan, let me know and I'll try to find it.

I took Amanda out shopping today, and it seems she would like more clothes, but I think every time she goes out shopping with mum and Anjelica, she ends up getting dragged around and doesn't really get a chance to find anything for herself. As it seems that all hope of grooming her into the next pro-DotA player have disappeared (I still haven't managed to convince her to install War3 on her laptop), I guess I should be a good sister and take her out. I did say that I would buy her something if she got a good grade on her piano exam, and the thing we went to buy today she ended up paying for with her own money, so I'm planning to take her to the DFO or something so she can buy some new clothes for the holidays. The holidays where she'll hopefully spend time with her friends rather than staying at home watching Gossip Girl and Avatar: the Last Airbender. The last thing this family needs is another me.

I'm quite surprised at the response rate to my poll (although still not as many people as I had for my guessing exercise). Now that I have more than 10 results, I feel comfortable opening the spreadsheet, because it's pretty much impossible for me now to guess who made which response. I don't really care about any individual answer, because someone's private life is their own business and not mine. I'm still going to wait a bit before I publish any actual results, because I don't want someone to say something to someone who hasn't filled it in yet and bias the results. There are quite a few things that I find interesting though, and a few questions that I now have that I hadn't thought of before, but I will explain all of this in a few days! The psych student in me is actually quite excited to do some analysis - even if it is statistics.

After some prodding from Teekay, I've started playing a bit more SC2 lately. I'm finding that I'm a lot more relaxed while playing now. I think when I was playing with Julian and Charles, the focus was so much on winning the game, and now with Teekay and Olek, I feel like it's more about playing the game. If I misclick and click a zealot instead of a stalker, then I just shrug it off, maybe berating myself for it later if we lost. I don't feel like such a dead-weight for the team. That being said, I am currently playing much worse than when I was playing with Julian regularly, so maybe I know my skill is worse and it doesn't bother me when what happens in a game matches my expectations of my skill. In addition, when I do manage to play well, it's a pleasant surprise.

I just realised that I'm not entirely sure how to handle all of my data, so I just sent an email to my stats lecturer asking him some questions. It made me realise that I should study up a bit more on stats before I start the analysis. Yes, I know that I said this post was supposed to be something with me saying, "I need to be more X", but what can I say, I'm a chronic self-improver!

Moving Forward

Guess I should put the important stuff at the top, since not everyone will read all the way down to the bottom. Have handed in my letter of resignation, and so won't have any income until next year. This means I shouldn't spend so much on Christmas and I know I said that I was going to do this last year, but last year I made eclairs and transporting them around wasn't so easy. So I'm thinking shortbread and gingerbread, but that doesn't seem like enough variety. I want to make eclairs again, because they're fun to make, but the cream is a problem. :( Mince pies, which are more Christmas-y will probably have the same problem. So does anyone have any suggestions for what I should include?

Now that I have a full time job, and will be starting soon, it seems like I have started thinking about the big stuff quite a lot, in particular, the 3 Ms: moving out, marriage and motherhood.

MrMan5.5 and I are planning to start looking at places to move out after we get back from Japan. I know we're not going to be able to afford some super fancy place, but I think that if we're going to live somewhere, it's a good idea to think about the things that are important to me, and the things that aren't so important. I've lived not far from the CBD my whole life, and so I would prefer to be close, but I think in the end, if I have to travel, I have to travel. It's not that important to me to live really close if it means paying a lot more, and giving up something else. I don't want to live in some apartment the size of a shoebox just so I can be right in the heart of the CBD.

The most important thing to me would have to be a decent kitchen. When I was planning my ninja move out earlier, I saw so many places that had what I wouldn't even call a kitchen. I'm not expecting about a modern, stainless-steel kitchen, but honestly, if there is only a microwave, that hardly constitutes a "kitchen".

What I'd also like, but isn't essential, is enough space to have people over for dinner. It's something I've always wanted to do, but I don't really expect to be able to do it in the first place I move out to. Mum doesn't like having people over, and she or dad almost always cooks dinner, so it's not really something I can do now, but I really like the idea of having a few friends over for dinner. Maybe we can watch a movie or something afterwards. Just a relaxing night in. Plus, it'll give me a chance to practice my cooking!

Probably because Lucy likes weddings so much, and because I've had an all-time high number of friends get married this year(2), I've been thinking about marriage a lot. I read an article by a woman who commended on the fact that women are meant to wear an engagement ring, and men aren't. Does that mean women are taken off the market the moment they say "Yes", but men don't make the jump until the big day? I also wondered where does the man's wedding ring come from? Is he meant to buy his own ring when he proposes, or is she meant to have a ring to preempt his proposal? Or is she meant to buy the ring later after she accepts? I asked Lucy and she said that Julian gave her a ring when he proposed, and she bought a ring for him later.

So that begs the question, what do you do when the woman proposes? If I wanted to pop the question to MrMan5.5, am I meant to buy myself a ring? If he says yes, is he also agreeing to pay for the ring? Can I buy him a ring, and then he wears an engagement ring instead of me (but then people might think that he's married when he's not)? The biggest question I want to know the answer to, is does he become the bride and I become the groom?

I was talking to Lucy about potential bridesmaids, after she and Kelly have both had trouble with the whole bridesmaid thing. She said that it's important to pick bridesmaids that are easy-going, as the day is meant to be about you, not them, and if they're not easy-going, then they'll cause drama on your big day. I think maid of honour would have been easy to pick, but since MrMan5.5 has 3 good male friends, I'd have to pick two other bridesmaids, and the third one I'm a bit unsure about. If I could have groomsmen, then it would be so much easier I think. The number of easy-going guys who I have known for a long time, and feel close to is much higher than the number of easy-going girls who I have known for a long time and feel close to.

Then I just remind myself, that neither of us has accepted a marriage proposal, so why not cross this bridge when I get to it?

Being a mother seems like such a daunting prospect. The thing is, every time it comes up, and I mention that I'd like to do experiments on my children, I get told that I'm a horrible person. Only a few people have asked me what kind of experiments I'd like to do - and in case anyone has forgotten, I did study developmental psychology, and one of the most respected researchers in that field did a lot of his observations on his own children. So can you really fault me for wanting to find some stuff out with my own? I don't think I want to become a researcher, as I really don't want to get into that whole mess of author/co-author, who gets credit? I also don't want to have to mess around with ethics committees and sucking up to people so that I can get funding.

I'm just waiting for MrMan5.5's friend to finish his cloning/gene splitting research so that I can have 8 genetically identical children in order to rule out genetic factors.

It feels like an exciting time of change, and I'm looking forward to it. :)