Wednesday, October 31, 2007--
Happy All Hallow's Eve!
I have a vague recollection of not feeling well today for some reason.
On this day:
In 2003:
- I scare the shit out of Jessica Vu because "I looked real".
- While playing BS with the fencers, I start saying Bullshit instead, and everyone else follows suit, including Christina who never swears and was shocked by the words coming out of her own mouth.
In 2002:
- Amy dressed up as "Amy". Stephanie dressed up "Stephanie". Yily dressed up as "a student".
- Stephanie Huang makes her first appearance in my journal.
- Yily Liu makes her first appearance in my journal.
- Candy Hand!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007--
On this day:
In 2004: UCSC Fencing Tourney! I fight like a demon. (I'm still looking for that fighting spirit.)
In 2003: "The only thing you need to know for your exam is--naked woman!"
In 2002: "Sodom Hussein"
Monday, October 29, 2007--
On this day:
In 2005: I write "
I wonder if she's going to keep her promise...". I have no idea who the
fuck I'm talking about?
In 2002:
- "Warning! Open Trench." "Do you see an open trench around here?"
- Ihui Wu makes her first appearance on my journal.
- "The Camel is our god, and we have to bring lunch to feed the Camel."
Sunday, October 28, 2007--
On this day:
In 2004:
- My watch stops.
- Minjung gives out too much Halloween candy.
Saturday, October 27, 2007--
On this day:
In 2003:
Prof Hilfinger: You can submit Project #2 and we'll still run a sanity test for you.
Me: Sanity tests, huh? I still can't believe I haven't failed any yet.
Tracy: *laughs*
Today was State Championships for Magic the Gathering. Last year, I went 3-5, so this year, my goal was to win half my games (4-4). Anyway, since last year, I ran a not-serious Sliver deck, this year, I ran a Goblin deck, built for me by Justin himself:
4xAuntie's Hovel
4xSulfurous Springs
7xSwamp
7xMountain
4xIncinerate
4xTerror
4xMogg Fanatic
4xKnucklebone Witch
4xAdder-Staff Boggart
4xMad Auntie
4xGoblin King
4xBoggart Mob
2xWort, Boggart Auntie
4xSiege-Gang Commander
Sweetest Win
So I played against a Red Deck Wins deck with a splash of green for Tarmogoyf. Playtesting showed that I was expected to lose this matchup. Somehow, I managed to win game 1. My opponent then won game 2. In game 3, my opponent was winning. The critical moment of the match was when I had a pair of Mad Aunties and a Knucklebone Witch (all of them pumped by the Mad Aunties to 3/3). My opponent had a 5/6 Tarmogoyf and a 1/1 Goblin token from an earlier Mogg War Marshal. So he attacked. Fortunately, I knew he already had Tarfires in the graveyard, so I knew no combat trick he had could make his Tarmogoyf bigger. So I double-blocked with my Mad Aunties. My opponent then tried to kill off my Mad Aunties by assigning 3 damage to one and 2 damage to the other, then Tarfiring the Mad Auntie with 2 damage. I just had the Mad Aunties regenerated each other. The guy then cursed, knowing full well that he had screwed up in quite a number of ways, then conceded the match.
Most painful lost
So I was playing against a blue-white control deck. In game 1, he was color-screwed, so I easily ran him over. In game 2, I was doing well until I hit a land clump. Needless to say, I lost. In game 3, my opening hand had 1 land. I mulliganed down to 6 cards, 1 land. I mulligan down to 5, no lands. Cursing, I mulligan down to 4. The hand had land in it, so I decided to go with it (since after all, 3-card hands are rarely better). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to draw any mountains.
Most amusing moment
So normally, I carry around my
Pink Prinny to Magic games for good luck. In one round, I ended up playing against one of the few girls who plays Magic. So the guy sitting next to me sees the pink prinny and asks the girl, "Is that yours?" >< The girl then proceeded to give that guy shit for gender profiling. (Incidentally, the girl had a scary discard deck, but I managed to wipe her out in two quick games.)
In the end, my record was 5-3, thus exceeding my goal of winning half my games. Not only that, but I ranked 37th place out of 192, qualifying for prizes (top 64). (I won 3 boosters.)
Anyway, throughout the day, I discovered that Wort, while theoretically good for recurring goblins, is too expensive to be any use. And when I get her out, she just dies anyway. (This is constructed, after all.) I also noticed that I'd often get Boggart Mobs stuck in my hand because the control decks would just kill my goblins. So I think I should cut Worts altogether and reduce the Boggart Mobs.
Friday, October 26, 2007--After work today, I went to a Friday Night Magic to playtest the Goblin deck I'd be running at States tomorrow. I didn't do so well. I ended up facing off against a various control decks and a mono-green aggro deck. In particular, Garruk Wildspeaker (aka, the G-man) and Jace Beleren were problematic for me. But I've already spent so much time preparing for this tournament that I might as well go to the tournament tomorrow.
On this day:
In 2006: Shortest entry ever!
Thursday, October 25, 2007--
On this day:
In 2003: UCSC 2003 Fencing Tournament
In 2002: I read Jabberwocky for the first time.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007--
Happy Birthday Cindy S!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007--
On this day:
In 2003: Somebody writes "dwayne is so hot! I <3 U"... amusing...
More Tuesday Night Magic with the folks. Funny story, in my first pack, I opened Jace Beleren, so naturally, I went blue. Then, I decided to go white to compliment my blue. Then, by freak chance, in my second pack, I opened Ajani Goldmane.
I eventually ended up with merfolk and kithkin.
9xIsland
7xPlains
Aquitect's Will
2xDeeptread Merrow
2xSilvergill Douser
2xSilvergill Adept
2xPaperfin Rascal
Merrow Reejery
Streambed Aquitects
Jace Beleren
Fallowsage
Mulldrifter
Militia's Pride
Knight of Meadowgrain
Springjack Knight
Kithkin Harbinger
Oblivion Ring
3xNeck Snap
Ajani Goldmane
Wellgabber Apothecary
Unfortunately, not even dual planeswalkers could win games for me. I ended up beating only 1 out of my 3 opponents.
Monday, October 22, 2007--
On this day:
In 2004: Tracy asks me to be her lab partner in CS150.
In 2005: Work begins on Demons Engine Architecture 3.
Sunday, October 21, 2007--
On this day:
In 2004:
- Kim is easily amused.
- Tracy needs to start resisting.
In 2003: Demons v2 is conceived... only to be scrapped 2 years later.
Saturday, October 20, 2007--Today, Jonathan had a party where we watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was disturbingly amusing. Also, Paradise couldn't make it, it turns out.
On this day:
In 2006: My first ever MTG Constructed tournament. It was a playtest for States 2006, and I won second place.
In 2005: Duckie quits fencing. That makes me sad. )=
In 2004:
- I dream that Sarah T has a boyfriend... which is obviously untrue.
- Tracy asks me what time it is, so I slip my watch onto her wrist.
In 2003: Anika "wakes" me up after I fall asleep in the 7th floor (all girls' floor) lounge.
Friday, October 19, 2007--
On this day:
In 2006: Rohan makes his first appearance in my bloop.
Thursday, October 18, 2007--
On this day:
In 2003: "It looks more like a deformed Pac-man."
In 2002: The second shortest journal entry ever, succeeded by October 26, 2006.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007--
On this day:
In 2005: Abhi eats his room freshener. (It smelled like nutbread. And looked like and tasted like nutbread, too.)
Monday, October 15, 2007--For some reason, I'm feeling a bit sick, but not sick enough to skip work. Maybe ******** got me sick? Ugh.
On this day:
In 2005: I have dinner with Nadia.
In 2004: I pwn the on-campus Microsoft Interview.
In 2003: Rubik's Cube girl--I mean Amy--solves a 5x5x5 cube.
In 2002:
- Ryan Chao makes his first appearance in my Online Journal.
- Sarah Tseng makes her first appearance in my Online Journal... as "Little Rodent".
- Maria Motonaga makes her first appearance in my Online Journal.
- Signing Alan's birthday card... Nadia refuses.
- "We have pi over two radians of time left."
- Iwen Wu makes her first appearance in my Online Journal.
Sunday, October 14, 2007--
Happy Birthday Princess Vivian!
On this day:
In 2005: Princess Vivian makes her first appearance on my journal.
In 2004: Kim saves a seat for me. How sweet!
More Soul Nomad. *Soul Nomad*
Earlier in the story, Agrippa and Pinot were subdued and enslaved by the main character, now called Devourlord. So Endorph shows up and frees Agrippa and Pinot, but not before Devourlord kills Agrippa just to torment Pinot.
"How can you torture me like this? This is just... worse than evil."
--Pinot
I was shocked. Utterly shocked. Although not as shocked as I was when Levin...*Soul Nomad*
Later, I went to a party at Kevin Davis' place and met a girl named Paradise.
Saturday, October 13, 2007--I wonder if Little Vivian reads this thing.
Anyway, today I called up Little Vivian, and...
On this day:
In 2003: Anika first appears in my Online Journal.
In 2002:
- Birds flying in formation around a traffic light.
- Jasmine Alley
- The debut of Dark Fiends
Then, I played more Soul Nomad.
Friday, October 12, 2007--After work today, I went to the Lorwyn release event at Uncle's Games at Crossroad's Mall (a sealed event). I ended up building a black-green deck with a splash of white:
6xSwamp
6xForest
3xPlains
Vivid Grove
Vivid Creek
Peppersmoke
Nectar Faerie
Thieving Sprite
Ghostly Changeling
Eyeblight's Ending
Moonglove Winnower
Shriekmaw
Fertile Ground
Leaf Gilder
Woodland Changeling
Wren's Run Vanquisher
Elvish Branchbender
Lace with Moonglove
Gilt-Leaf Ambush
Cloudcrown Oak
Wren's Run Packmaster
Seedguide Ash
Kithkin Harbinger
Avian Changeling
Oblivion Ring
Changeling Hero
Wanderer's Twig
Moonglove Extract
The MVP of my deck was the Wren's Run Packmaster. Basically, once I got it out, it was only a matter of time that I had an unstoppable army of wolves on both offense and defense.
I ended up going 2-1-1. The one loss I got, in retrospect, I could have won if I had held out an extra turn and pumped out more wolves rather than attacking every time I had wolves to break through for damage. My opponent that round had Amoeboid Changelings, which could tap to remove all creature types from a single creature, thus neutralizing the deathtouch on some of my wolves. As such, he could take down 3 wolves a turn without any losses. I, on the other hand, could have pumped out 3 wolves a turn. Clearly, I should waited for just one turn, and I could have been attacking for 6 more damage per turn.
Well, you know how they say, hindsight is 20/20.
On this day:
In 2002: For some reason, I talk to Diane over AIM for the first time ever, and she blocks me.
Thursday, October 11, 2007--
Happy Birthday Justin! and Lizzie.
On this day:
In 2005: Rae makes her first (and so far only) appearance in my bloop.
In 2002:
- I give balloons to Justin for his birthday as a prank... and go bankrupt.
- I almost get run over by Tiffany Wang.
I just got the Soul Nomad strategy guide for this game. While it has more information than most of the internet combined, I am very displeased with the guide because it suggests what I consider to be a suboptimal strategy.
The strategy it suggests is to use a single squad with the strongest characters you have available. It claims that this is faster than building multiple squads because you spend less time powerlevelling. THIS IS A LIE! Because you can buy levels, I beat the game without any powerlevelling whatsoever.
Plus, the guide acknowledges that even with its strategy, you'd still need to powerlevel. Given that it suggests roughly level 50 for the final battle, and I beat the game at a mere level 32, I can say with absolute certainty that the strategy guide's strategy is suboptimal. (No, I didn't use any Combines to boost my main character.)
Granted, I'm optimizing for beating the game at the lowest level (which in my opinion equates to most skill). The strategy guide is clearly optimizing for shortest game, which you'd naturally achieve by powerlevelling just enough and blow through the enemies with a single squad.
On a completely unrelated note, I got the Soul Nomad soundtrack. It's such a good soundtrack.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007--Today was another boring day.
On this day:
In 2006: I play a casual MTG draft with
Alan Comer.
In 2002:
- Justin the flag-bearer!
- What's the plural of Tiffany? Is it Tiffanies or Tiffanys? And while you're at it, is it Cindies or Cindys?
- I begin working on my Halloween costume.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007--Today's kinda boring.
On this day:
In 2002:
- The first addendum... points to yesterday.
- Stephanie Yaung makes her first appearance in my journal.
- Lei Huang makes her first appearance in my journal.
- Nadia Shaw makes her first appearance in my journal.
- The Tiffanies (Wang and Hung) makes their first appearance in my journal.
Monday, October 8, 2007--I went to the gym today and discovered that I could benchpress 100 lbs (on the machine) no problem! Although granted, it might just be because of the adrenaline after a nice hard run.
On this day:
In 2005: Nadia tears her hand open. Ow!
In 2003: I have lunch with XineWu, who eats one slice of pizza, a small piece of cake, a cookie, and a soda.
In 2002:
- Linda Fang makes her first appearance in my journal.
- Ke Xu makes his first appearance in my journal.
- The Shih Twins, Stacie and Stephanie, make their first appearance in my journal.
- "Oh, is it something Woytek taught you?"
- Joanna Chen makes her first appearance in my journal.
Sunday, October 7, 2007--Soul Nomad. *Soul Nomad*
It turns out that Soul Nomad has a secret second story, commonly known as the Demon Path. Anyway, I started on that.*Soul Nomad*
On this day:
In 2002: *shrig*
Saturday, October 6, 2007--
Happy Birthday, Kim H!
On this day:
In 2004: "Well, you can't go wrong with Christ. Especially if your alternative is Clancy."
In 2002: I start saying Good Night on a regular basis!
Then, Soul Nomad... *Soul Nomad*
"Just think of them as baked potatoes."
After fighting through a bunch of Drazillians, we see what's causing all the commotion. Apparently, Gestahl is fighting Master of Death Gamma and Master of Life Joules, and he's getting his ass kicked. Fortunately, we show up. Seeing that they don't have the power to defeat me, Gamma and Joules summon their minions and eat them, including Thuris. However, when they summon Feinne, she defies and asks Gig to destroy her, so we do. Seeing that they really don't have the power to defeat us, Gamma and Joules call forth their master Drazil, and the three of them fuse together to become this ginormous beast god thing. Unfortunately, it was at level frickin' 942.
So Gestahl offers us his power, but unfortunately, he's not allowed to simply give his power. Instead, we have to take his powers by defeating him in battle. And he's at level 60. Fortunately, it was as simple as sacrificing a few of my squads as meatshields while trying to deplete my own Stamina enough so that I can use my specials to one-hit Gestahl.
Finally, now that Gestahl's power is mine, the final battle against Drazil begins. Unfortunately, he's still at level 942, but now I see the trick. He has 9 Drazillian squads around him, each one of which boosts his level by 100. So I lure out the Drazillians one by one and wipe them out, then finish of Drazil once and for all.
Apparently, I got the Danette (default) ending. And now, I'm working on the Demon Path.*Soul Nomad*
Time on the clock: 42:24:54. Main character at level 32. Danette (my powerhouse when I'm afraid of getting my main character killed) at level 34. *spoiler*
Odie*spoiler* (my powerhouse Dracosage who just nukes character without fear of retribution) at level 33.
Friday, October 5, 2007--After work, I played even more Soul Nomad. *Soul Nomad*
Even though all the World Eaters have been defeated, the land (called Haephnes) is still dying. Supposedly, it's because souls from this world are being drained into the world of Drazil. So we have to go to Drazil to talk to the Masters of Life and Death, Gamma and Joules. First, we have to get to Drazil. So we go find Dio, who's supposedly trying to open a passageway to Drazil. Unfortunately, he doesn't like us and tries to kill us. Apparently, Gestahl is the resurrected form of Lord Median the Conqueror who wants to get into Drazil and rule both worlds. So Dio sics his dogs Yavis and Parin on us. After defeating Yavis and Parin, we fight Dio proper. And after defeating him, we enter Drazil. But the portal to Drazil is weak, so only me and Danette can make it through.
In Drazil, we discover that everyone looks like the main character. We also discover a young Layna, who is apparently the real Layna (as opposed to Layna the Firebrand, who was actually Virtuous posessing Layna's body). She also reveals that the main character is a World Eater sent from Drazil to Haephnes and Layna is, apparently, a World Eater sent from Haephnes to Drazil.
In any case, apparently Gestahl had already made his way into Drazil and was wreaking havoc in the palace.*Soul Nomad*
I think I'm near the end.
On this day:
In 2004:
- I get my foot in the door with the Microsoft recruiter at the HKN Career Fair.
- Me: Aren't you hot in that sweater?
- Kim: No.
In 2002: Giant Abomination
Thursday, October 4, 2007--More Soul Nomad. Massive spoilers within. *Soul Nomad*
On our way back to Astec, we discovered that the Nereids had contracted Scarlet Iago, so we pooled together our monies to buy the medicine for the Nereids. It was then revealed that the Thurists had been spreading Scarlet Iago. However, Levin's sister Euphoria suddenly contracted Scarlet Iago and suddenly died, and Levin went on a rampage, killing Thurists. We joined up with Levin, but then had to fight the Thurists. Eventually, Thuris himself showed up, ate the Thurists (including their leader, the Priestess Kanan) to gain the power to fight us, but we still beat him anyway. Two World Eaters down, one to go.
We then travelled South, to Orviska, where we encountered Dio (Odie)'s former comrades. Then, we met the real Dio, who unsealed the forest for us so that we could hunt down the World Eater, but as soon as we got in, he sealed us inside. In any case, we discovered that the World Eater was lifeless and ended up wandering the forest for three days until Layna suddenly rescued us. After leading Layna to the World Eater, Levin suddenly betrayed us, killed Layna, and revealed himself to be Raksha, the third World Eater. Levin then revealed that he was the one who had killed Euphoria. Endorph was pissed, so he attacked Levin in revenge and managed to kill him, but Raksha simply jumped back into his World Eater body. After a tough battle, we managed to damage him. Raksha then tried to trick Endorph with an illusion of Euphoria, but Endorph survived and (with his theme song from Phantom Brave, "R&R Junkie", playing) he counter attacked with Psycho Burgundy and finished Raksha off once and for all. We don't know if Endorph survived, but my gut says he's alive.*Soul Nomad*
On this day:
In 2004:
- Tiffany Shiao makes her first appearance in my journal. (Although there's a possible reference to her in the April 1, 2003 entry).
- Me: Apparently, the EE122 Mudterm scores are out.
- Tiffany: Yeah. What did you get?
- Me: ...I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone.
- Tiffany: Oh, it's okay. I did really badly, too. You don't have to tell me.
In 2002:
- Diane Ko makes her first appearance in my Journal.
- Alex Jukl makes his first appearance in my Journal.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007--After work, I played Soul Nomad for a few hours. *Soul Nomad*
In attempts to find Levin's sister and to find out the truth about Shauna's father, we tracked Cuthbert and his black market allies Yesterwind to their headquarters. After a few battles, we rescued Levin's sister.
Then came the battle on the roof, where we fought against Cuthbert and Lobo, the boss of Yesterwind. Afterwards, Christophe tried to give Lobo a second chance (apparently, they used to be friends), but Lobo refused and took Christophe hostage. Endorph then showed up and rescued Christophe, then handed him Lobo's dagger and told him to end it. Cuthbert, however, refused to allow Christophe to dirty his hands and killed Lobo himself, then, after telling Christophe to live for himself and be true to himself, committed suicide.*Soul Nomad*
Soul Nomad is such a good game!
On this day:
In 2003: The "Are you hot?" incident #2.
In 2002: "She said 'break up,' not 'break down'."
Tuesday, October 2, 2007--After work, I played Soul Nomad for a few hours. *Soul Nomad*
So with Tricia now in my party, I travelled down to the home of the Angels. There, I helped defend their home against sand monsters, and then two of them, Agrippa (a gunner/Seraph) and Pinot (a healer/Cherub), joined my party. It turns out that Corsius, the place where Tricia lives and Levin's sister is currently located, is under attack by Shauna's bandits. We fought them in Corsius, but it was too late. Tricia's father Hawthorne and Levin's sister Euphoria were both kidnapped.
So we chased Shauna to the Crying Mountain where we did battle. But then, Shauna escaped. Elsewhere on the mountain, we found Shauna holding Hawthorne hostage. She then claimed that Tricia wasn't really Hawthorne's daughter and that he had bought her from the slave trade and implied that he had raped her. Shauna then killed Hawthorne.*Soul Nomad*
On this day:
In 2002: Franklin makes his first appearance in my bloop.
Monday, October 1, 2007--Today, I dismantled my Time Spiral Block Sliver deck. Because, you know, Lorwyn is released and Time Spiral Block is over. Here is the final version of my Time Spiral Block Sliver deck (named Infested Terran):
4xPlains
4xNew Benalia
7xMountain
3xSwamp
2xUrborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3xTerramorphic Expanse
3xDead & Gone
3xThunderblade Charge
4xSudden Death
3xSidewinder Sliver
4xSinew Sliver
3xHoming Sliver
4xSedge Sliver
3xNecrotic Sliver
3xEssence Sliver
4xBonesplitter Sliver
3xPulmonic Sliver
