Wednesday, December 31, 2003--New Year's Eve
. It's just one more day until 2004...
A Year Ago Today: "Old man in! Old man in!" "Old man out! Old man out!"
I played some FFX-2... and went on a Cactuar hunt. Whee! Cactuars are funny!
Later, we went to Jasmine Tzeng's place for a New Year's Eve party. It was rather... empty. The only people who were there were Jasmine, Vivian Chu (and her little brother), Jeffrey and Connie Ho, Franklin, and me... 7 of us... not including parents (mind you, I didn't say adults because I am one). We ended up watching Finding Nemo, which I thought was pretty good for a Disney Pixar movie. Then, we listened to the kids attempting to sing Karaoke... they didn't sing a single note the whole time. Instead, Jasmine was asking everyone else to sing, and no one would sing. Then, eventually, Jasmine led everyone to her room and promptly kicked everyone out except for her "best friend" Vivian, so Franklin and I proceeded to play with her N64.
In NFL Blitz (the fantasy football video game), I'm reputed to be a "Dead Accurate" Field Goal... making... person... something. Anyways, I made all my field goals except the first one.
At about midnight, we all went to the TV to watch that... thing... with the ball... for the Final Countdown. Happy New Year! Then, we watched the New Years show. Jasmine mentioned something about a "constipated orgasm"... referring to what one guy looked like on TV. Okay...
Anyways, that's the gist of today. See you next year! Good Night!
Dice Roll and Limerick have been cancelled today since I just came back from a party and am damn tired.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003--'Tis now New Year's Eve Eve.
Today, after tutoring Franklin on his Chem AP shit, I played some FFX-2... there was Blitzball and a new mini-game called Sphere Break.
As quoted from what I posted on Avalanche Online:
"Sphere Break was all right... a nice puzzle game. What I hated about it was how every time you used a coin, you lost it. I mean, that way, you can't just focus on winning. You also have to keep in mind all those +1 coin bonuses and all that to make sure that you'll still have your good coins to play the next game. I mean, if, for example, in FF9, when you played with a card, you lost it, that would just plain suck. I didn't like the time limit either. It makes me rush too much and I make stupid mistakes. And the Core Sphere should NEVER say 1. That's just cheap.
Blitzball sucked dick, though, unless there's a hidden manual control mode. Seriously, the AI is so stupid, it's frustrating. If I were in control of the game, I'd kick so much butt, but no, the AI has to spend time passing the ball back and forth, throwing it BACKWARDS and swimming around in circles even when it's clear to shoot, and sending it's defenders on offense even though they have bad endurance, pass, and shoot. And what happened to Techs? Those were the best part of FFX, using stuff like Jecht Shot, Sphere Shot, Sleep Shot. (Although Techcopy wasn't exactly the best way to learn them.)
Plus, in FFX, you could just sit down and play Blitzball game after Blitzball game. In FFX-2, you had to go out and wander around while your Command Points accumulated so you could train your characters.
Man, FFX-2 has REALLY ruined Blitzball. Whoever invented the new system and thought it was an improvement over FFX deserves to get shot for utter stupidity. Lucky for me, I still have my old FFX save files."
Other than that, that's pretty much it.
Limerick Time!
The Princess, out the window, sees
The Knight, on his knees.
He's got a wound,
Go help him soon!
So the Princess grabbed her keys.
Meh...
Dice Roll of the Day: 6 + 2 = 8
*peasant-like*Okay... Job's done... More Work?
Good Night!
Monday, December 29, 2003--We beat TMNT... then, we returned it. Hehehe... Turtles In Time was funner, though, in my opinion. The bosses were cooler...
Then, we went to Ariake Sushi with the rest of the gang, including Mark, Ryan, and Justin (and me and Frank). Hilarity ensued, but I don't remember enough of it... damn!
Then, we went and bought some MTG Boosters at the shop at Oakridge Mall. I got 3 Mirrodin Boosters, one of them contained a Gilded Lotus. Yay!
After bring Franklin home and teaching him his Chemistry shit, I went back to Justin's and played MTG in the dark. I 1v1'ed against Mark's anti-everything deck and won with 1 Muscle Sliver, 3 Giant Growths, 2 Lightning Bolts, and with half of my Deck destroyed by Traumatize.
Then, we went to McDonald's to duel in the light. We played a 2v2, with me (Slivers) and Justin (Goblins) VS Mark (Anti-whatever) and Ryan (my Blue-White deck). Justin was the MVP of the round.
Then, I went home, had some dinner, and played FFX-2...
Now, I'm updating my website!
Wow... a lot happened today, and yet, I'm barely writing anything about it...
Limerick Time!
On the rode, on a horse is a knight,
Against the dragon, he will fight.
But the dragon's breath,
Nearly brought him death.
Oh, what to do about this plight?
Hey, that was actually pretty good!
Dice Roll of the Day: 1 + 3 = 4
*yawn* ...I'm getting tired... and bored... and... Good Night!
Sunday, December 28, 2003--Today, I went to Justin's place and played some more MTG with Justin, Franklin, and Mark.
First game, Me (Slivers) VS Justin (Goblins) VS Franklin (Elves). At first, Justin and I attacked each other, but then we realized Franklin, with his Wellwishers, was a threat, so we attacked him. Then, Justin gained tremendous power and he beat both of us. Of course, Franklin should have won, but we didn't know the rules to Provoke quite right. It turns out, you can avoid a Provoke by tapping.
Next, I made a quick trip home to get the N64 and to look up the rules to Provoke really quick. Then, after going back to Justin's place, I watched a duel between Justin and Mark. Then, we played Smash Bros, which apparently Mark is very good at. Then, we played NFL Blitz, me and Justin VS Franklin, and Franklin won three times in a row. He likes WINNING.
Justin: And then, you WIN!
A Year Ago Today: I beat FFX.
After eating some dinner at home (my parents are actively avoiding beef in fear of them "mad cows"...), I played some FFX-2. No spoilers today. Beat the game yourself, or better yet. Go to GameFAQs.com.
Then, since our borrowed games our due tomorrow, Franklin and I tried to beat TMNT, but the last level is pretty tough... for now...
Anyways...
Limerick Time!
A mad doctor named Burril
Tried to make the ultimate girl,
But when he tried nude,
She beat up the dude,
So dizzy, he had to hurl.
That's the weirdest one yet...
Dice Roll of the Day: 2 + 5 = 7
LOL, a seven. What should I do know? Ask out that cute girl?
Naw... I have better things to do than waste my time on some random girl that I don't even know...
Good Night!
Saturday, December 27, 2003--Today, I saw Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was a pretty good movie, with the war scenes and all. You ever noticed how they keep getting into increasingly larger battles?
Later, I played some FFX-2. *X-2*Holy shit! The Aeons are back and they are wreaking havoc across the Temples of Spira?!? Holy Jesus Fucking Shit!
I already had to kill Bahamut in Bevelle. Then, I had to kill Valefor at Besaid. Do I have to fight Ifrit, Shiva, Ixion, Anima, Yojimbo, the Magus Sisters, and the rest of the gang? LOL, well, at least it's better than the ending of FFX. Those battles were stupid and pointless.*X-2*
Then, I updated my website...
Yes, today does seem rather uneventful.
Limerick Time!
Doing his homework for math,
The student heeds not his path.
He trips on a duck,
Lands in some muck,
And ends up 3 hours in his bath.
Dice Roll of the Day: 3 + 3 = 6
Ahh... I think I'll do some writing tonight, but the first thing I'll write is "Good Night!"
Mindy: Good Morning!
Me: Shut up!
Friday, December 26, 2003--Today, I read some MTG shit, including an article. Then, after eating some take-home KFC, Franklin and I went to Justin's house to play MTG with Mark.
First game, I used my new untested red-green Sliver deck and Franklin used his Counter-Control deck, and we beat Justin and Mark, who used decks that I no longer remember.
Second game, I used Slivers again and Franklin used his Elves. Since he barely shuffled (he usually shuffles after games so he doesn't have to shuffle much later) and since I used the deck last and didn't shuffle it or stagger the mana, he got mana fucked so bad and couldn't do anything. As a result, my team lost.
Next game was a 4-way Free-For-All. Mark used Justin's Zombies, Justin used his Goblins, I used Slivers, and Franklin used his Elves. Between Mark and Justin, we eliminated everything Franklin had and kept him wide open the whole game. Justin, on the other hand, was an easy target the whole game for my Slivers, so I kept picking on him, while he picked on Franklin. Mark, on the other hand, saw that I was wide open, so he kept attacking me. Eventually, I decided Mark was becoming too threatening and decided to attack him to try make him less threatening, although he could have easily finished me off next turn. In the end, I brought Mark down to one life, and Justin had a Mogg Fanatic (capable of killing Mark at ease any time he wanted) and Mark was able to kill both me and Franklin, but if he did so, that would guarantee Justin the winner. It was already clear that Mark couldn't win, so we told him that either he could guarantee Justin the winner or he could let Justin, me, and Franklin battle it out and he would "Get a nice show" from us. In the end, after all this talk, Mark decided to just end it and killed us and Justin killed him, and we played another game.
Next game, it was me and Justin VS Mark and Franklin. I used my new, also untested Blue-White deck, Justin used his Zombies, Mark used Franklin's Counter-Control, and Franklin used his Elves. We beat them because Mark couldn't figure out how to use Counter-Control.
Mark and Franklin then switched their decks and Justin switched to Blue-Green Madness. Because Franklin was adept at using his Counter-Control deck, they won quite quickly.
Then, we tried to watch the football game, but none of us got ESPN, so it didn't work. We went to my place to see if we could find a web-feed, which didn't work. Then, we just decided to hit Round Table for some pizza, and after extended talk of how to divide up the payment (which turned out to be needlessly complicated... apparently, although Berkeley people are better at understanding things, UCLA people are better at doing things), we went back to Justin's place to eat and play more MTG.
First, we played another team game, with Franklin using Counter-Control and Mark using Elves. I used Justin's Zombies and Justin used my Slivers. Unfortunately, my proxy slips are much too small and contain too little info for Justin to know what the cards are. Whoops. We lost that one because I forgot to send Justin some blockers, even though we could have easily won if we did. We even had the Phage-Trailblazer combo out! Whoops!
Next, it was me VS Justin, Slivers VS Goblins (a "traditional" match-up). First game, I beat Justin with a quick beatdown involving Muscle Slivers, Hunter Slivers, and Spined Slivers. Justin was kinda mana-jacked, though, but meh. I got out of it completely untouched, I think. While Justin had a phone call, Franklin and Mark looked at Justin's hand and deck and said I was going to lose. Little did they know I had a Sliver force coming out, including not one, but two Spined Slivers.
Second game, it started out all right, but as soon as Justin got out two of his Goblin Sharpshooters (including fancy tricks with Grenades), he wiped out my entire Sliver army, and from there, I couldn't make a come back.
Third game, I had only two mana. Second turn, Spined Sliver. Third turn, Hunter Sliver. Fourth turn, Heart Sliver. Justin destroys my Hunter Sliver. Fifth turn, Hunter Sliver. Sixth turn, it was over. That duel went by so fast, and Justin never had more than a two goblins in play at a time, all of which I promptly destroyed. Justin even had decent mana flow and started with a pair of Raging Gobs (which is why I lost the perfect victory), but today's game is the perfect example of how my Sliver deck should work.
So in short, I have a decent Sliver deck now. Green is essential for Muscle Sliver. (Horned Sliver is pretty good when my Slivers get big, though.) Red is what allows me to pull off all my combat tricks. I mean, Spined Sliver, Hunter Sliver, Heart Sliver, Blade Sliver, Magma Sliver, you gotta love them! It's kinda ironic how at first, I didn't like red Slivers. Now, I see their power! Who needs creature removal when you have Provoke?
Anyways after that, we went home, and I found out that Cal won the Insight Bowl. Yay! Then, I updated my website and that was pretty much it.
Limerick Time!
Dwayne drank juice of orange...
Crap! Nothing rhyms with orange!
You spend many days,
And try many ways,
But there'll never be a rhyme for orange.
LOL, that's so unfair! I rhymed orange with orange three times.
Anyways, here are some old classics that I didn't come up with:
There was a woman from Belvue,
Whose limericks ended with Line 2...
The sequel:
There was a man from Verdun...
Yes, I know...
Dice Roll of the Day: 2 + 2 = 4
Haha, anyways, Good Night!
Thursday, December 25, 2003--Christmas
Merry Christmas!!!!!
I got FFX-2 for Christmas, so I played it today. X-2's storyline isn't so great. It's side-quest oriented, but the gameplay is pretty cool, with all the being able to switch Jobs in the middle of battle, and uber-jobs...
What up with the Leblanc Syndicate? They seem mainly for comic relief, although they can be quite a difficult boss sometimes.
Later, I played some Breath of Fire.
Meh... not much to say, except that Christmas is a wonderful time of year, even if you don't believe in Jesus. Santa Claus is all that counts, yo!
Limerick Time!
Actually, Jack didn't die,
He kept warm by having some pie,
So hot got he,
The ice became a sea,
And they found him floating in the sky.
That was... random.
Dice Roll of the Day: 5 + 1 = 6
Ahh, what a good day... I IMed so many people today just to say Merry Christmas... the good day, yes... Good Night!
Wednesday, December 24, 2003--Christmas Eve
Today is Christmas Eve. Have fun!
A Year Ago Today: I recieve the admission letter to CalTech today. It was my "Christmas Gift".
We had a Christmas Eve Dinner Party at our house. Bernard and his sister Kellie, Jeffrey and his sister Connie, Vivia and her sister Robin, and Wendy and her two sisters Ivy and Tiffany came (along with their parents). It was... amusing.
I haven't seen Vivia since the incident. Hmm...
Kellie, as usually, is as perky as ever.
Robin still won't talk around me... kinda like Maria, except while Maria is quiet, Robin is silent.
Wendy wore a hat... I couldn't see her eyes. "That's the point!"
Bernard spent a large part of the night doing god knows what at god knows where... he's an enigma of sorts, and always alone... as he's always been. To quote my journal last year (which was quoting Alan's journal last year), "but his sister's nice, so I won't do anything to him."
Anyways, there's not much to say, except there won't be a dice roll today because I didn't have time to make one... Wendy was using my computer.
Limerick Time!
The snow has covered the ground.
Little Jack is dancing around.
He ditches his class,
And freezes his ass,
And someday his corpse will be found.
Kinda grim, eh?
Anyways, happy holidays! Good Night!
Tuesday, December 23, 2003--Chemistry homework sucks. Lucky for me, it's Franklin who has to do some and not me.
Anyway, I played some Breath of Fire, watched some Evangelion, and updated some websites... okay, just one. I also built a couple new MTG decks.
Also, on my way to buying lunch from McDonald's, the parking lot was crowded like hell, so I couldn't get in. I saw Alan and Justin there. Apparently, they were going to the Showgi buffet, but the buffet was out of food, which sucked for them. Anyways, later, I came back with Franklin, and this time, we found a parking space. Heh, oh well.
Anyways, that's a good summary of what I did today, although not in order. Anyways, after my Limericks and Dice Rolls, I'll either be watching Evangelion or playing Diablo II, depending on my mood.
Limerick Time!
Here's an old classic:
Beethoven's dad was drunk,
He couldn't resist being a punk.
He went to the preacher,
Then to the teacher,
Who taught him to do a slam dunk.
The ending was kind of random, but whatever.
Here's a new one:
To me, a cute girl once said,
"Oh, I wish I were dead!
Off this tower I'll drop."
But I said, "No stop!"
And brought her to home, to bed.
Disclaimer: The "I" in the Limerick refers to a fictional narrator, not to me... I've never dealt with people about to commit suicide before.
Dice Roll of the Day: 5 + 5 = 10
I'm tired...
Good Night!
I need my Elizabeth.
Monday, December 22, 2003--My mother told me to make sure my little bro does his chem and math homework, so I made sure he was doing his chem and math homework. Then, we watched some Evangelion, played some some TMNT, and I played some Breath of Fire. So far, it's been interesting, but it's really tough since Heal Kits are so goddamn expensive and you don't get money from killing monsters, so that gets really annoying.
Also, after going to the bank, I tried to teach my brother fencing. He didn't seem to like it much. I dunno...
After dinner, I went online, updated some stuff, did a little writing... Meh... today's been quite uneventful.
Limerick Time!
A fire is burning the house.
A snowball is thrown by a mouse.
The mouse is quite big,
It eats like a pig,
The fire, the snowball will douse.
Dice Roll of the Day: 6 + 1 = 7
Ah, that's all. I'm going to go do stuff. Good Night!
Sunday, December 21, 2003--I got woken up today by my brother so that I could play MTG with him. His Counter-Control Deck is pretty powerful. Of course, Blue has always been MTG's strongest, but most difficult to use color.
Also, after eating at KFC for lunch, we went to Best Buy, where I got FFX-2 to put under the Christmas Tree for my Christmas Gift, courtesy of my mother. (Thank you, mom!) But I can't open it now. It's only December 21st. I hear there's a really dumbed down version of the Job System in it, though, and that the ending sucks dick (the "good" ending, I mean).
After playing some Diablo II with Alan, Franklin and I went to Blockbuster and rented 2 games: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.
TMNT, although considered "childish" by some, is actually a pretty good game. It reminds me of times long past when games were simplistic and fun, as opposed to today's games, which tend to be more serious, darker, and (often) mainly about graphics and not about gameplay. Of course, there were a lot of N64 and GameCube games that I missed out on because they were considered "childish" and not very popular, although there are some rare exceptions like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. Ah, those were the good times.
Back to the issue in question, I think it's safe to say that TMNT is best Action/Fighting game I've played in a really, really long time.
As to Breath of Fire, I think I'll try that after I update my journal. I remember playing the original Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II on the SNES, but I didn't get very far in them for some odd reason. (I sucked at RPGs back then. Since then, I've played FF5.)
Although if I play Breath of Fire, I won't have time to do my writing tonight. Oh, well. It's not that big a deal. These are rented games. There's a time limit involved. There's money involved. With writing, although I don't like to keep my readership waiting, there's not a time limit in the strict sense, nor is there any money involved that I should try to "get the most for my money".
Dice Roll of the Day: 1 + 6 = 7
And now...
Limerick Time!
"Hello, Mindy's my name,
From Dark Fiends, the one and the same.
I may be small,
But I'm smarter than all,
And if I beat you, it's no shame."
That girl's quite tricky, isn't she?
Anyways, I'll talk to you later. Good Night!
And for the record, the other two of my there favorite Dark Fiends characters are Tina and Chrissy. If you don't know 'em, go read about 'em.
Saturday, December 20, 2003 - Addendum--At Alan's suggestions, I've gotten up the webpage for Daily Dice Roll Central, the place where you can get up to date information on the Daily Dice Roll that hath returned.
Unfortunately, Franklin distracted me with a game of MTG, so by the time I got this page up, it was already 1am in the morning and everyone was asleep, so we didn't have the chance to collect any bets. Oh, well. We can start tomorrow, but for old times' sakes, here's a dice roll.
Dice Roll of the Day: 6 + 5 = 11
LOL, someone should have bet on that. It was a good dice roll.
Anyways, this is the second "Good Night" of the night.
Saturday, December 20, 2003--I've learned to not care...
A Year Ago Today: I say "Merry Christmas" to a bunch of random people.
Today, I woke up and watched some Evangelion. I like that red-haired girl. What was her name again? Asuka? Red-haired... reminds me of Maria... what's up with red hair anyways?
After eating Dim Sum at the Joy Luck Place (similar to the book by what white-washed lady, I forget her name), I did some writing at home. I like writing. I get to create stuff. I'm creative. *imagines a little 10-year-old girl--like Mindy--saying that line.
Mindy: I'm creative.
Me: Yeah, well, you have the mentality of a 20-year-old.
No, I'm not having an inner dialogue with a fictional character.
Mindy: Yes you are!
Me: No I'm not! Shut up!
Anyways, after dinner (it was some Fire Pot), I watched Bulletproof Monk, which wasn't all that great. The storyline was much too simplistic and coincidental. The action was decent, but not fantastic. The one redeeming feature was that one girl. Oh, and the alternate ending sucked dick. I'm glad they changed it.
Then, I updated my website. As Alan suggested, the dice rolls should be on a separate page, so they will be. Thus, I now only owe you a Limerick.
This one was written by my bro Franklin:
There was a small pencil named Boo,
Who loved to write on my shoe.
"Writing is great!
It's really top rate!"
Said the small pencil named Boo.
And my response:
There was a typewriter named Del,
Who said, "What the hell?
Pencils can't talk,
Nor can the chalk,
But writing can certainly sell."
Meh... not that good, but it's still better than last years'. Anyways, I'll see you later. Good Night, Emma--I mean, everyone!
Friday, December 19, 2003--More testing of my AI. She's incredibly powerful. Better than I had originally expected or hoped for.
Anyways, I spent most of today... not doing much actually.
When Franklin came home from school, I found that he had borrowed Metal Slug (the Arcade game remade for the PSX, although it's an SNES quality game... and that is a good thing. It's nice to know they still have some good games out for non-obselete consoles. Anyways, so we played (2P co-op mode is ALWAYS fun) and because the console version gives you infinite credits, we beat the game, although we died so many times. LOL
Franklin also borrowed a bunch of Evangelion DVDs, which we watched on the PS2. We spent well into the night watching Evangelion, so forgive me, I'm quite tired right now. I'll get you up those Dice Rolls and Limericks tomorrow, provided I don't distract myself again with some other thing that I be doing. One thing you can do is show up at a time when I'm not tired and say, "Dwayne! Update your fuckin' Journal and give us a dice roll/limerick, god damn it!"
Meh.
Good Night!
I've made it a point not to IM anybody anymore unless they IM me first or unless I have something really important to say. It'll be a good learning experience--prove that I'm not addicted to online chatting for the sake of online chatting.
Thursday, December 18, 2003--Happy Birthday Stacie & Stephanie Shih!
The only reason I say that is because I saw it in my old entries and realized their birthdays were today, and even though I don't ever see them anymore, I decided to give them their due. Hey, if I know a person well enough to know their birthday, that means they must be important enough to put on my website, right?
Anyways, I managed to wake up for the Physics final today, thanks to mom calling me at 7am. Thank you, mom!
The final wasn't that bad. I mean, it was hard, but at least it was curved, so I don't even have to do that well to get an A in the class. Woot!
By the time I left the room, I was just glad that it (the Fall Semester) was over and that I had Winter Break! Hell yeah!
So mom shows up, I pack up really quick, I spend my last for meals at the den buying soda, then I finally come home. It's good to be back. I missed my piano. I missed most of the video games I had left behind. I missed my house. I missed my room. I miss having a clean bathroom for once. But most of all, I miss my family and my friends (or at least the ones who didn't go to Berkeley with me).
So, obviously, I played the piano--my piano. (Or rather, the piano that only I ever seem to play--except for my mom, of course, who plays occasionally.)
Also, I had an urge to write a new AI for SCG's Solar Vengeance, so I did. I named her Rydia, after the FF4 character, and she's a pretty damn powerful AI, a lot better than the stuff I used to write. Heh, apparently taking CS61A has improved my programming skills, LOL. That's also probably the same reason I want to write my computer games in a real language now, like Java, as opposed to MegaZeux or Visual Basic. MZ and VB are both good, but they are both toys. If I want to seriously make something, Java's the way to go... or C++, but Java's easier to, and it runs everywhere--or at least everywhere that it counts--albeit a little on the slow side, but fast enough for my purposes.
Hmm... I've stayed up too late working on this AI. I'll have to get back to you tomorrow. Sorry about not having Dice Rolls or Limericks today. I'm tired, and I promise you, I'll get them up for you soon, soon, when I'm not so fuggin' tired.
So... uhh... Good Night!
Wednesday, December 17, 2003--Today, I did not want to review for Physics because I was feeling very lethargic. However, I eventually forced myself to.
Notice how I say "review" instead of "studying". Well, it's a question of connotation. When a person is said to be "studying" for a test, we usually think of a person cramming the night before--a person who knows little to nothing of the material and desperately needs to memorize all the pertinent details, a person spending hours late into the night with his face in book struggling to understand the material because "college is so damn hard!" Not me. I usually spend an hour or so doing practice problems, trying to refresh my memory of the material that I haven't seen since the beginning of the semester. I know the material quite well. Now, I just need to make sure I can access it quickly. No cramming for me, thank you.
It's also a matter of habit. Most students don't put much effort into their homework, believing it's busywork, thinking that its useless except to waste their time, so they get answers from their friends, sometimes copy. Unfortunately, by avoiding homework, they are avoiding practice with the material. Granted, some classes, like Biology, History, and Literature, have no use for homework, but in most math, tech, and science classes (and by science, I mean real sciences like Physics and Chemistry... yes, I know I just dissed all the Bio majors out there) only through practice will you ever understand the material. By avoiding their homework, they are avoiding the material in general. As a result, there's no surprise they don't understand the stuff the day before the test--they've never seen any of it before!
Then, there are those students who diligently do their homework--such as myself. These students, by practicing and applying what they've learned in class, reach a far higher level of mastery than those who blow off their homework. These students are the good students, and usually, they score very well on tests and get good grades. (Of course, it is possible for a good student to have bad grades and a bad student to have good grades, but these are rather uncommon.)
So anyways, in short, do your own homework. It really is for your own good. And if you disagree with me and hope to get through high school and college without putting any effort into it, then I hope you get what you deserve when you get totally screwed over by the uber-hard mudterm.
And yes, I do often call myself a slacker. It's not because I never do any of my work (I always do what needs to be done). It's because I don't want to do the work and have to force myself to do it.
End Study Habits Tangent.
Anyways, today was the CS Final. I went to the room (another room in a gym, but it was the Hearst Gym this time instead of the Haas Pavilion, like they had for Math and EE) a bit early. So Tracy and her friends come in and Tracy sits at my table, just one empty seat between us and her friends run off and go sit somewhere else. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Then Antonis comes in and, seeing an empty seat between Tracy and I.
Antonis: Do we have to have to sit in certain places, like every other seat, or can we sit anywhere we want?
Me: Yeah, you can sit wherever you want.
Antonis: Can I sit next to you?
Me: *reluctantly* I... suppose... you could...
Antonis: You don't mind, do you?
Me: *reluctantly* Not... in... particular... *looks at Tracy*
Tracy: *grins sheepishly*
Meh.
The CS Final was ridiculously hard. There was this one problem that I simply could not solve, and for another two problems, I had to learn a whole new topic--the Meta-Circular Evaluator, the most dreadful of all CS61A topics. (It was an open book test, so I simply pulled out the notes and read through and figured out what I needed to know and how to apply it.
Man, first Math 54 Final is easy, then EE20N Final is a bit harder, and now CS61A is the hardest so far. I hope the Physics 7B Final isn't even harder.
Speaking of which, I really should be getting to bed since I need to wake up early tomorrow to take that final.
Anyways, Good Night!
Tuesday, December 16, 2003--Today's quote: "Some of us are older than we are."
Anyways, after waking up and eating a quick lunch, I went to the EE20N Final, which wasn't tough, but it wasn't easy, either. Fortunately, I still managed to finish 45 minutes to spare, but I wasn't confident about a few of my answers. It came down to "it's either right or wrong", though, so I just turned it in.
At the Final, I chose to sit next to Melo... It was good to see her again...
Anyways, last night, at the Den, I bought 9 packs of Pop Tarts (burning my meals by stocking up on food). Today, at the Golden Bear Cafe, I bought 9 Nutri-Grain bars. What will I buy tomorrow?
Afterwards, it was mostly fooling around in my room, looking at websites, listening to music, and writing stuffs. I also went to the RSF to meet up with Zach to borrow some fencing equipment. I now have swords in my room. Yay!
Also, today, at night, somebody IMed me claiming to be Emma H, although I had seen that SN before and I was pretty sure it wasn't Emma. The person kept insisting, though, and wasn't very forceful. I dunno... I'll get it confirmed with Lizzie or Vincy, if possible.
Anyways, here's a pic of Leila, the pirate, from FF2:
Ahh... A Year Ago Today: I start doing Limericks on my website.
I think I'll reinstate the Limericks. Here's the one from last year:
There once was a kid named Dwayne,
Whom everyone thought was insane.
Not the foe that he fought,
But the friend that he sought,
Who always put him in pain.
"Limericks are back? What the fuck?
I thought I told you, they suck!"
Thus Alan would claim.
He thinks they're real lame,
But I think they're worth more than a buck.
Haha, anyways, Good Night!
Monday, December 15, 2003--Today's quote: "One years ago, Mary was one years older than Mary was one years ago."
By the way, the dice roll will resume Thursday Night, when Winter Break begins.
Anyways, today, after waking up, I went to lunch with Mark at the Crossroads. Then, I did some review problems for EE20N.
At one point, Mark and Ryan showed up in my room because they had accidentally locked themselves in their room, so while they were here for about half an hour, I decided to play a game of Proliferation with them, which was amusing in an... amusing way... I guess...
Then, it was dinner with Mark and Ryan.
Then, it was finish the EE20N Review Problems and update my website.
Anyways, it's getting really late. Who would have thought designing a dice game would take so long?
Anyways, Good Night!
As a bonus, here is Maria from FF2:
This dream is turning into a nightmare, and now, the nightmare must end...
Sunday, December 14, 2003--Today's quote: "Could you please tell your Away Message to shut the fuck up?!?"
Anyways, shortly after lunchfast at the Crossroads, I (re)played FF2.
*2*Yes, I redid the Mysidian Cave because I forgot to save last time. So, I journeyed my way down to the bottom and find the Crystal Rod. No boss. No teleporter. (I was forced to use Warp.) How disappointing.
Anyways, yes, I did find the doppelganger. He was blocking my path at the end fo the first floor, so I put the mask on him and he disappeared.
After healing up at Altair, I made my way to the Mysidian Tower. After all, that's what I got the Crystal Rod for, right? I'm going to use it to open the Mysidian Tower so I can go in and get Ultima.
Unfortunately, on my way in, my ship got sucked up by a whirlpool. Apparently, we were just swallowed by Leviathan, and Leila was gone. Poor Leila. I think she just died. Anyways, with just Firion, Maria, and Gus, I journedy through Leviathan's intestines (a fairly simple, straight-forward, single curvy path to freedom.
Then, I arrived at the stomach, where there were no random battles and lots of people there. Apparently, anytime a ship approaches the tower with a Crystal Rod, Leviathan will eat it. There was another guy with a Crystal Rod. I feel so ripped off.
Anyways, I met Gareth the Dragoon, and incidentally, the first Dragoon ever. Interestingly enough, he wasn't the dragoon as we know them today. In FF2, the Dragoons were simply knights that commanded and rode upon Wind Drakes. They, unlike today's "Flying" Dragoons, couldn't jump, now was the Spear their favorite weapon. On the contrary, Gareth came into my party equipped with a sword and shield. I immediately switched him to dual-wielding spears, as is most appropriate for a Dragoon. (Normally, I make my fourth a character a fist-fighter, but since I like Dragoons, I decided to make an exception for Gareth.)
Anyways, I travelled to Leviathan's mouth, where I was attacked by the Barrel Worm. Heh, the bosses have caught up to me. No more killing bosses in a single turn. No, it took a while for me to kill this bastard. Anyways, I killed it eventually and escaped.
After healing up at Altair, I went to the Tower. (Hmm... apparently, after escaping Leviathan once, he gives up on eating you. The Tower was a nice dungeon, but it was ten floors instead of just five. Oh, well. And the dungeon is full of Imps. I mean, they aren't that strong, but they can cast Muddle 16 on your party, which means my party usually ends up killing itself, since I'm so damn strong. Kind of annoying. Anyway, there were three bosses, one on the 3rd floor, 5th floor, and 7th floor.
First was the Fire Titan. Not too easy, but it was quick battle. Next, I fought the Ice Titan, which was pretty manageable with my Flame Sword and Flame Lances. The Thunder Titan was a little tought, though, because he had attacks that would do 1000 damage in a single hit. Luckily for me, he only used it on about half of his turns.
Then, as I made my way to the tenth floor, I found the Flare Scroll. Sweet. On the 9th floor, I opened a treasure chest and was attacked by the mini-boss White Dragon, who was guarding a white robe. I killed it pretty easily, though.
Finally, on the tenth floor, at the top of the Mysidian Tower, I ran into Mindu. He then cast a spell to unseal the door, but in the process, he used up too much energy and died (like Tellah). Damn... Mindu was a cool character. Oh, well.
Inside the Ultima chamber, I found four orbs that boosted my stats, then the final orb gave me "the forbidden spell", Ultima. This had better be good!
On my way back to Altair (I figured I needed to heal), I noticed that it was severely damaged and that I couldn't enter. What the heck? Then, I noticed that when I was attaked, the enemies were decently powerful now. What the shit? Gatrea, top, was utterly destroyed, and I couldn't enter it. What the hell? Then, as I went to Fynn, I saw a Cyclone whirling just to the north of Fynn Castle. What the fuck?!?
Apparently, the Emperor of Palamecia had summoned the Cyclone and destroyed Altair and Gatrea (and supposedly, Paloom and Poft) and was now threatening Fynn. Apparently, the Emperor himself was inside the Cyclone. Unfortunately, it was impossible to approach the Cyclone, lest it shred me to pieces (according to my information), so I asked around how was I suppose to stop the Cyclone (using the Ask function in the Keyword System, of course). Eventually, "Wind Drake" triggered something, and Princess Hilda said that the Dragoons used to put their pendant into the mirror to reflect its light to summon a Wind Drake. So that's what the Hall of the Mirror is for!
Immediately, I rush off to the Hall of the Mirror and use the Dragoon's Pendant on the Mirror, and in doing so, Gareth was able to summon the Wind Drake from the egg I had left in Deist Cave so long ago. Then, talking to Hilda and Gordon, they said I could use it to fly into the center of the Cyclone. Nice! Unfortunately, the Wind Drake isn't like the Flying Dragon from FF5. I have to actually walk into the Cyclone before the Wind Drake will fly me up, over, and into the eye of the storm. Anyways, I'll go explore the Cyclone later. It's dinner time!*2*
When I headed out to dinner, I just missed the elevator (packed with Tiffany, Stacie, Chris, Eric, Tammy, and Yohan), so I dash down the stairs and catch up with them on their way out.
Me: That elevator is awfully slow, isn't it?
Tiffany: Whoa! Hi, Dwayne. I could have sworn, you weren't on the elevator.
Me: I wasn't. That's the point.
So I have dinner with the 6th Floor Gang (Irwin and Steve later join us).
Upon returning to my dorm, I watched the Simpsons.
Todd: I'm jealous of girls because they get to wear dresses.
LOL!
Anyways, did you know that while it's incredibly easy to find FF1 music on the internet, it's very difficult to find FF2 music? What the hell?
Then, I decided to update my journal. God, that's an awfully long entry today.
Heh, I almost forgot to do my laundry today. Ah, there's nothing like a midnight laundry run!
Anyways, it's getting late, and I should be getting my laundry now. Good Night!
Oh, and here's an Amano picture of Gareth, the First Dragoon:
Saturday, December 13, 2003--Do you know what sucks? When you're playing FF2 and you fight your way through a hella huge dungeon for two hours and you when you get out, you decide to go to the Inn before you save, and when you come back out, you thought you saved already so you go wandering off, and later, since you thought you saved earlier and you didn't want to save your progress, you turn off the console without thinking. Well, I did save earlier. Just earlier than I thought... Two hours earlier!!! Oh, well. I'll just replay that part. Since I know the area already, I should get through it more easily.
A Year Ago Today: Emma Heffernan makes her first uncensored appearance in my Journal.
Anyways, today was mainly me hanging out in my room playing FF2 and getting pissed when I didn't save. I think I'll go replay that part and report to you what it was on an addendum... or maybe tomorrow, depending on whether or not I'm in the mood or not. Anyways, Good Night!
Friday, December 12, 2003--Upon waking up, I looked at some MTG stuff... It was all calm before the storm...
At lunch, Mark and I went to the Crossroads, and when I'm there, I suddenly notice Kim sitting all by herself--this time she really was sitting there alone. Her friends weren't even around this time. I wanted to go keep her company, but unfortunately, she left before I could. Oh, well. Possibly next time. Alex says I'm better off staying as far away as possible from Kim. Meh... (BTW, for those who don't know, that last "word" is a Simpsons reference.)
After lunch, I reviewed math just a little bit with Tracy. Then, at about 2, I decided to go "relax" and play some FF2.
*2*I journeyed down into the Tropical Island and grabbed the Black Mask. Unfortunately for me, it was being guarded by the Gigan Rhino. Fortunately, he was hella easy.
And there were weird little masked pygmy people who kept saying how the mask was theirs and how I'd never find it. I found it easy enough, LOL.
Then, I went back to Mysidia. Okay, so put the White Mask on the goddess statue to freeze the doppelganger... done. Put the Black Mask on the doppelganger to make him disappear... where's the doppelganger? Oh, well. I'll get to him eventually.
Anyways, now, I have to go to the Mysidian Cave to get the Crystal Rod in order get into the Mysidian Tower and get... mwahahaha... ULTIMA!!! Mindu will be there... that guy was cool.*2*
Anyways, at that point, I realized that I wouldn't have time for another dungeon, 'cause my Math 54 Final was in an hour.
After hanging out online for about half an hour, at 4:30, I chose to depart for Haas Pavilion, where my Final was going to take place. I arrived, and the Math Final was slaughter! Hahaha... you've heard me say it so many times, you know what I mean: I killed the Math Final. It was so fucking easy! Whee! I didn't even need my notesheet. In fact, they gave us three hours to do the test--I finished in two. LOL, two of the proofs were virtually identical. One was the special case of the other, so I proved the general case, and then used that to prove the special case.
Dinner at the Crossroads, then came back to my dorm to update website. Hehehe... there's nothing more to say. I shall log off now. Good Night, y'all!
Thursday, December 11, 2003--Today, I woke up a record late of 10:45am!!! Holy Shit! That's bad.
Anyways, after lunch with Mark (apparently, they serve Sloppy Joes every Thursday at the Crossroads... cool...), I went and turned in my essay to Prof Ready.
Then, after a bit of slacking off, I reviewed for Math for a bit. (Not studying, per se. Just doing some review problems and making my one page of notes that I am allowed on the test.)
Then, I went online, updated my website, didn't do much...
Short day, short entry... LOL, I think that's the first time I've ever said that.
Anyways, Good Night!
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - Addendum--I forgot to mention: I was playing Blasterball 2 today and I got a new high score of 111,950, almost double my old high score. This is because they've added more levels, so I've been able to survive long enough to accumulate all those points. Sweet...
Anyways, now for the real Good Night!
Wednesday, December 10, 2003--Have you ever liked a girl so much that you hated her? I have, and I still do. *stabs repeatedly* ARGH!!!
Sorry...
Anyway, after woking up this morning, I finished fleshing out my essay and decided to go slack off for a while before making one final revision.
So, I decided to play FF1.
*1*So, I beat Chaos again and save the Game Complete data. The time it took was 34 hours 54 minutes, which is pretty short for a 100% completion compared to today's FFs. (The first time I beat the game was in just under 30 hours, I think. I forgot to check for a timestamp.)
Then, I decide to make a new game in Easy Mode because you have to beat the game in both modes in order to unlock everything in the collections menu. Oh, I suppose I'll just rush through the game since it's in Easy Mode. I don't have to get 100% monsters or treasures, since I already did that in a previous game, and so I have credit for it.
So I decide to name my new batch of characters after the Leland people at Berkeley. I have a Warrior, and I decided to name him Ryan. I have a Monk, and I decided to name him Mark. I have a Red Mage, so I named him Dwayne. (In all FF1 games--and incidentally, the second time around in most new FF games--there must be a character named after me.) The last charater was a White Mage. I'll leave it to you to guess her name. I'll give you a hint: She's in our year, she went to Leland, and her college is Berkeley.
By the way, apparently Garland is the best damned knight in Cornelia, but there was a disagreement between him and the king, so he left Cornelia and now, he captured Princess Sarah in attempts to gain the throne. I'm not sure on the details. The game isn't 100% clear, but in the ending, they do say, "It all began with a misunderstanding, but it was enough to open Garland's heart to darkness." After you fix the nasty little time loop, Garland's a good guy again, though, with the "corrected world", and no one has any memory of all that stuff that happened in the other world. Garland's a cool character.*1*
By the way, I signed up for classes right after lunch, right at the beginning of my Phase II appointment (it was in the middle of writing the essay), and I have the perfect schedule. Unfortunately, I have a long 9 hour Tuesday of consecutive classes next semester, but overall, my classes are really spread out and I only have 28 hours of work--an improvement of 1 hour!
After beating playing FF1, I did some random surfing on the internet (not so much random, I guess, I was looking at FF1 stuff), and then after dinner, I revised my essay, printed it out, and it's ready to be turned in tomorrow. Yay!
Oh, and for the record: I'm interested only in the mechanics of FF11. I'm not actually interested in playing it.
Oh, and by the way, Diablo II is not an MMORPG. A Massively Multiplayer Online RPG is generally defined as an RPG played online in an infinitely lasting game with thousands of other players, like Ultima Online, Everquest, Ragnarok Online, FF11, or Runescape. Sure, in Diablo II there are thousands of people on your server, but you only play in games with 8 people max. You don't really interact with them the same way you do in an MMORPG.
Granted, Diablo II can be played like an MMORPG. All you gotta do is jump from game to game to game until you find someone to duel or someone to trade or someone to go kill shit with. It's a lot like walking from screen to screen in an MMORPG, except it's a lot more tedious since you're actually changing connections and loading/unloading games all the time. However, if you make the argument that Diablo II is an MMORPG because it can be played like an MMORPG, then by the same token, I argue that it's a plain old single-player RPG because it can be played like one.
At best, Diablo II can be considered a hybrid. It is generally called an Online RPG, because although you technically don't need to play it online, that's the most common way to Diablo II. This is no different from the "Action/RPG" argument. For those that argue that Kingdom Hearts isn't an RPG, we can say it's an Action RPG, just like Seiken Densetsu. As for Legend of Zelda, it's rather controversial whether it's close enough to an RPG in the first place to be considered an Action RPG. RPGs, ever since Dungeons & Dragons, have been about numbers and stats, and usually increasing them. As for Zelda, I don't know enough mechanics of the game to make a judgement, but last time I checked, the only way you got stronger was by getting better items, as opposed to the traditional level up (or variation thereof) or RPGs. I'd classify Zelda as an Action-Adventure game based on that fact.
On an unrelated note, someone once classified a game as an RPG based purely on the story, even though the gameplay was an Action-Adventure. I guess it just goes to show that some people have very strange categorizations of games, but still, there is a general consensus of what a specific genre is. It's just that some games don't fit exactly into a genre. For example, we all know exactly what a first person shooter (FPS), and while there is some first person shooting ation in Metal Gear Solid (MGS), MGS is a far cry from a FPS. The best we can do to classify MGS is as a "stealth game", but guess what? That "genre" is pretty much empty and has no real standards or expectations.
Still, no matter how you look at it, playing traditional MMORPGs like FF11 or Runescape is different from playing Diablo II, and incredibly different from playing, say, FF5. (Yes, someone *cough*Alan*cough* dared to suggest that FF11 and FF5 played like exactly the same thing.) Okay, I'll concede that you level up and kill shit in all 3 games, but that only proves that MMORPGs, "Online" RPGs, and FF-RPGs are all related. (Hence the term RPG.) And no, FF11, despite the name, is not an FF-RPG. Like I said before, FF11 does not play like FF5.
And so ends our somewhat pointless discussion of genres and how, while they are merely guidelines and not laws, they are still guidelines and not to be dismissed.
It's getting late. Good Night!
Tuesday, December 9, 2003--I did a decent amount of work today, but not enough. Keep working, damn you!.
On an unrelated note, I worked on my essay today... wait... that is related.
Also, I ran the Defragmenter on my computer to defragment my harddisk and make my computer run faster. Unfortunately, there's something messed up about my computer that kept changing the harddisk, so the Defragmenter kept complaining, and as a result went really slow and took forever.
While I was waiting for the Defragmenter to finish defragmenting, I played some FF1. *1*Good news: I found the Tyrannosaur, then after spending hours in the Temple of Chaos, I finally found the Iron Golem. By then, my characters were at max level, which was level 50 back in the days of the original Final Fantasy.
Anyways, my collection is almost complete. All I have to is beat Chaos again. Woot! This is the first FF that I've 100% Complete with max level and all treasures and everything!*1*
*poke*
Anyways, leave me be in peace as I work on my essay. Good Night!
Monday, December 8, 2003--Man... I can't believe I wasted both Sunday and Monday. As if wasting Sunday was bad enough, I had to waste a non-weekend day. AARRGGHH!!!!!
Well, at least I did some work on my Greek Lit Essay, which, I suppose is better than nothing, but it's worse than doing some serious work. Where are those people who are supposed to yell at me when I slack off?!?
Aside from that, what I did do was test the MTG decks I made. The Infinite Sliver deck has some problems. The Control deck is decent, but I haven't done enough testing to see how good it really is. The Myr deck actually falls into a stalemate with the Wall Deck because it has no flying control, and stalemate is good for the Wall Deck, bad for any other deck. I have yet to test my Explode and Affinity decks (pure Mirrodin decks). (By the way, the Myr deck is a Mirrodin-8th Edition deck--all cards that have the new card face, which, incidentally, Justin hates.)
Later, I went fencing. After our warmups, Coach Lee decided we should so some Epee today, so we did. Then she arranges a round-robin tournament between the six of us--me, Skyler, Eugene, Neil, Guy, and Guido.
At first, I was beating Eugene, but then he made a comeback and finished me off. I dunno how.
Later, I fenced Neil, and he beat me quite easily, despite all the equipment failure we were all having.
Against Guy, I was kicking his ass at the beginning. Then, when the score was 4-something in my favor, Guy caught on and made a comeback until we were 4-4. Then, somehow, I hit him in the knee for the win. Neil, who was directing, says, "And that's bout, foil fencers!."
Guy: Hey, I don't like that!
Me: Hey, it's an accurate comment.
Guido was the experienced Epeeist. No one could beat him, because the other 5 of us were newbies at epee.
Skyler had only been fencing for about 2 weeks, so when I fenced him, it was pretty easy. After getting the score to 4-0 in my favor, he said, "I need to score at least one." He then quickly approached me with intent. I replied, as our blades clashed, "Should I let you have a point? Or should I just end this and shut you out." As I was saying my last few words, I scored the 5th and final point. "Whoops! Too late."
All in all, it was a good experience, although not as good as fencing foil against Zach or Elvira or Christina. Those were some fun bouts, even if my chances of winning are very small. In fencing, the best way to get good is to get your ass kicked by people who are really good. Therefore, I don't mind losing bouts. It's the challenge and the thrill of the battle that excite me.
Anyways, I'm going to try to work on my essay now. As such, I wish you Good Night!
Sunday, December 7, 2003--Last night, my roommate Luis was watching Anger Management (the Adam Sandler movie) with his girlfriend, and I watched too, and we finished it this morning. It was an... interesting movie. I dunno... I'm just not a comedy person.
Anyways, today, I should have been working on my essay, but instead I slacked off so bad. If anyone sees me online tomorrow, yell at me and tell me to work on my essay. Thank you!
What I did do instead was do a lot of reading regarding Magic the Gathering (all the while developing some theoretical decks). Then, I played a little bit of Diablo II. Then, I went online and slacked off like hell.
Again, long day, short entry. Good Night!
Somebody kick my ass for me tomorrow if I don't work on my essay.
Saturday, December 6, 2003--I waked up and slacked off a lot today.
A Year Ago Today: Jessica Lu copies my homework... photocopies, that is.
Among the things I did today were:
- Create the problems for the Leland Math Contest 2004... Now in the process of getting feedback and analyzing difficulty.
- Eat lunchfast at Crossroads.
- Play FF1.
- Eat dinner at the Crossroads and running into Ryan and Mark.
Now, I'm trying to complete the Collections. I have all the items. I just need to find and kill every enemy in the Bestiary. I have left a Tyrannosaur, an Iron Golem, and Chaos himself, whom I get credit for once I beat the game.
One last note: FF1 is a decent game, but what I really really disliked about it was it's lack of save points. (That's right! 2D graphics do not make a game bad, so screw all the graphics whores!) It was really annoying since I couldn't really heal up in the middle of a dungeon and save my progress the way I could in FF4, FF5, FF6, FF7, FF9, and FF10. Other than that, the game was wonderful.*1*
Anyways, I'm going to go play Diablo II now.
Oh, if anyone wants to try out my math contest and give me feedback (anyone who doesn't currently attend Leland, that is), IM me at Viltris, and I'll send it to you.
Long day, short entry. See you later, now! Good Night!
Friday, December 5, 2003--Because I finished all the labs in EE20N, I didn't have to go to EE Lab this morning, so I slept in.
After lunch at the Crossroads (delicious), I finished my Physics Homework due Monday. LOL, and here I was complaining. Man, it was hella easy.
CS61A Lecture...
Math Discussion... The quiz was all True or False, and it was as hard as one of Knutson's tests.
Ben: Oh, that's good then.
Leonard: No it isn't!
Finally... Fall classes are over! Woot! This is cause to celebrate! Unfortunately, I have nothing with which to celebrate.
Except... I played and beat FF1.
*1*I beat Final Fantasy, the original that is. Damn, that Masamune is a pretty sweet sword. Chaos was an interesting final boss. The most amazing thing he did was use Cure 4, which cured him for 9999, which is more than his max HP of 4000, and I was like "...Shit!"
The ending was pretty good considering that it was mostly text. Garland's reverted back to a good guy, eh? He's a cool guy.
Now, my next goal is to wipe out Warmech...*1*
After that, I went to dinner at the Crossroads and met up with Ryan and Mark. Mmm... pork with gravy...
Then, after playing Diablo II a little bit (Justin gave me a new spear that I can't use yet), I went to the Fencing Tournament with the Fencing Club.
It was a good tournament. I was in a pool with Christina, Brett, Zach, and Erik, 3 of them being some of the best fencers in da club.
My first bout was against Zach, and I performed pretty well, getting hits in and out. However, part of it felt like luck, since I wasn't completely warmed up, and at that point, I hadn't gotten used to my pistol grip. Still, I think I did well. Zach had to use the Flick (his Ultimate Skill) three times (!) in order to beat me. The final score was 5-3, Zach wins.
Later, I asked him the best way to defend against a Flick, and he told me I should either retreat or move in really close, since the Flick requires a very precise range.
My second bout was against Erik, who creamed me 5-0.
My third bout was against Christina, and it was pretty even the whole way through. I noticed quite clearly that Christina became frustrated at not being able to beat me, a supposed "novice". Finally, it was 4-4, and Christina managed to score the final touch against me for the win, but all in all, I thought it was a good bout. Not to difficult, not too easy.
My last bout was Brett, whom I've actually never seen before, probably because I'm always doing drills with the novices rather than electric fencing with the advanced people. However, I managed to beat him 5-2 pretty easily. I think I should have gotten two more touches because for a significant amount of time, his clip fell off, so his electric vest wasn't responding, but it doesn't matter about those two points.
Everyone who went to the tournament made it to the Direct Elimination (the Tree). Out of 11 people, I was seeded 9th, which was decent considering that the people here aren't novices, but a mix of novices and advanced people. I had to fence Severin, whom beat me 7-2. I'm still analyzing that bout to uncover my weaknesses...
In the Semi-finals, Jeremiah the lefty (a favorite among novices) had to fence Mike (supposedly the best fencer in the club... he has won 2-3 tournaments, you know?). Apparently, Jeremiah beat him in the pool, but between the two bouts, Mike apparently "figured out" how to beat Jeremiah--with Flicks. Zach once explained to me why the Flick is so much more effective against Lefties. Against a Righty, you have to Flick to the opposite side to get to their exposed back, making it easier to block and more awkward to coordinate. However, with a Lefty, you flick to the same side, so it becomes a lot easier to hit them in the back. Using this move, Mike beat Jeremiah. "Sorry, that was all I could do," he said, referring to the Flicks. "All my other points were all off."
Zach lost to the Frenchman (one crazy-ass fencer), who then lost to Mike for the championship. Then, I left.
Afterwards, I player some of Diablo II with my Spear Barb. I'm up to Andariel now, and he's at Level 14. Yes, he is over-levelled. Oh, well. I'll have an easy time against Andariel. (It's actually because Alan and Justin join the game and hang out in the Rogue Encampment, meaning I fight harder monsters for about 3x experience.)
Oh, also, I've created 6 out of the 10 problems for the Leland Math Contest. They seem kind of on the hard side, though. Oh, well. What can I do? (I'm also borrowing 4 problems from Gracie.)
Anyways, after updating my website, I decided it would be best for me to go to bed. Good Night!
Thursday, December 4, 2003--It's so late at night right now, that I don't know if my brain is functioning properly. Oh, dear...
A Year Ago Today: "Good news is, I found the rest of the music. Bad news is, there are 20 more pages."
I woke up at 8 when I should have woken up at 7, I went to my 8 o'clock class at 9 o'clock. I really need to get more sleep. After all, I have an early morning Physics final, and to sleep through that would be bad.
Physics 7B Lecture... Luk went over magnetic materials, and he made a superconductor float over a magnet by freezing it with liquid nitrogen. He also used a magnet to hold liquid oxygen in the air. Amusing...
Then, he passed out evaluation forms, and I gave Prof Luk a good review but not an excellent one.
Lunchfast at the Golden Bear...
I was reading the rest of Aesop Romance on the 7th Floor Louge...
Me: Hey, Kim? You know how last Tuesday, you told me I should go to class? Well, Professor Knutson was juggling, and it was quire amusing, so thank you for the advice!
Kim: Umm... okay.
Math 54 Lecture... I slept through most of this one, but thise one didn't have an interesting ending.
EE20N Lecture... Melo shows up, but she considers leaving. In the end, she decides to stay, and I saved a spot next to myself in which Melo sat in.
That Aesop was quite an amusing character. Unfortunately, because of my troubles with the CS61A Auto-grader, I showed up to Greek Literature Lecture half an hour late. Oh, well, it's all good.
Do you know what pisses me off? I still have Physics 7B Homework due monday, even though the classes and discussions are over already. What the fuck?!? The class is over. There should be no homework!
Today, they were serving a special Christmas dinner at the Crossroads, and it was good. They had prime rib, Caesar salad, cider, and other things that I didn't eat. Heh, what's most amusing is that there were two lines for prime rib, one really really long and one short, and nobody saw the short line, so I just got into it. There were also two places with salad, one with a line, and one with no line. For the cider, there was never a line, so ironically, despite the crowd, I spent barely anytime waiting, and I managed to get two prime ribs! Mwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Did I mention it was a good dinner?
CS61A Lab, which was pretty much blah.
Soon afterwards, I went fencing, where we played War, ie, a huge fencing Melee with two teams charging at each other. It was pretty insane and pretty fun, but I didn't have much practice doing actual fencing.
After that, I played a bunch of Diablo II. I've started my Spear Barb, who will be better than my experimental Sword Barb. I'm playing this Spear Barb seriously now, not just for random fun (Unlike the pure Lightning Sorc that I'm planning). Heh, apparently Justin, Alan, and I are forming "Clan Sinitic", the SSS of Diablo II. Justin's Hammer Barb is called SiniticMauler, Alan's Sword Barb is call SiniticExecutor, and my Spear Barb is called SiniticImpaler. Actually, the proper termis "Maul Barb", not "Hammer Barb", but I think "Hammer Barb" sounds cooler.
Looking at the stats on Battle.net, I found out that the 6 Barb weapons in order from worst to best (based on average damage of the best Exceptional) goes Throwing, Polearm, Axe, Sword, Spear, Hammer. Justin, therefore, has the most damaging Barb. Oh, well. I like Spears, and they being Tier 2 and really really long make it even funner. Plus, I can use Leap Attack to pull off a "Dragoon Kain".
So, that is all for my day. I really ought to be finishing up now. Good Knight!
Wednesday, December 3, 2003--I was almost late to Physics 7B Lab today. That would have been a bad thing, since there was going to be a quiz.
However, it turned out there was a last minute change, and there was no quiz, but there was a lab, a lab involving LRC Circuits. It was amusing. I was tempted to blow up a circuit today by using an LC AC Circuit with Resonance. Without a resistor, the current and voltage would go insanely high, but in the end, I stopped myself from blowing up circuits, considering how dangerous it would be for both the circuit and for myself once I had blown up school property. Oh well. I'll blow up a circuit some other day.
The Professors and TAs are starting to ask us to grade them for us. (Actually, it started yesterday in Greek Literature with Prof Ready giving us an instructor evaluation form...) I like most of my classes and TAs. I'll give them a good review, except for Bobak. Bobak kinda sucks.
So, um, yeah, we evaluated the Physics 7B TAs.
Lunch at the Crossroads...
CS61A Lecture... there, the Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) people came and we were supposed to evaluate Hilfinger, Clancy, and (in my case) Tyler, the TA. I gave Hilfinger a medium review, Clancy a bad review (since he never does any lecturing or whatever, and his one lecture was pretty bad), but Tyler a good review, since Tyler teaches the material good.
Math 54 Discussion... the quiz has been moved to Friday. Woot!...?
Ben wanted us to evaluate him, so I gave him a good review. He is a good TA, after all.
Working frantically (taking a break to eat dinner at the Crossroads with the guys), I finish the CS Project just before midnight. Included in that time were the testing that I did. I created a trader and named her Sarah. Sarah is a very skillful trader, especially when she has enough gas to get her hands on the Diamonds. Mwahahahahaha!!! It's all about the Diamonds!
Leonard: "Wow... you code fast."
I call if experience, my friend... experience.
I levelled up!
Anyways, it got really late and I didn't have time to update my website, but I did have time to say "Good Night!"
Tuesday, December 2, 2003--It's so hard to wake up early in the morning!
A Year Ago Today:
- "We'll discuss the news for four or five minutes." "Five minutes." "Why did I let you be timekeeper?" "Because I guessed closer to the number than Dwayne did."
- "The Supreme Court is trying sodomy." "Wait, so are all the guys going at it and then all the girls are going at it?"
Lunchfast at the Golden Bear...
I read a bit of the Aesop Romance in the 7th Floor lounge. Kim was there. When it was soon time to leave for my Math 54 Lecture, I asked her...
Me: Should I skip my Math Lecture today?
Kim: Why would you want to do that?
Me: I never pay attention anyway.
Kim: Then, don't go... Wait... when is it?
Me: Right now.
Kim: I think you should go. You just might learn something.
Me: Okay, I'll go. Goodbye.
Notice how Kim changed her mind quite fast.
So I slept through most of Math Lecture. However, toward the end, I was snapped back to reality by a sudden burst of applause. Prof Knutson was juggling and he was mathematically modelling his juggling patterns. It was quite an entertaining show. Then, Knutson ends his lecture with, "No, you don't have to know that particular topic for the Final, or anything else I covered today, for that matter.
It was a good thing I went to the Lecture after all.
EE20N Lecture... Melody shows up.
Me: I didn't think you would show up. I thought you'd be at home working on your CS project.
Melo: Well, I showed you!
Greek Literature... that Aesop is amusing.
Dinner with Joyce at the Crossroads...
CS61A Discussion...
Finally, it gets dark...
So I officially started on the CS Project today, working my trader, making it trade stuff and making it smart. I worked long into the morning 3am hours.
As a result, I didn't have time to update my website, but I'll say Good Night to you anyways.
Monday, December 1, 2003--It's December and it's getting co-o-o-o-ollldd.
Physics 7B Discussion...
Lunch at the Crossroads...
Today, I ditched EE20N Discussion with the intent to... I dunno... try to use that time more effectively?
CS61A Lecture... it was the best Lecture ever since all we did was talk about the project and how things were going to work.
Math 54 Discussion...
I spent most of the day doing homework (mainly Physics and Math) since I am sooooo behind. Lucky for me, at the end of the week, I'll be (almost) finished with everything.
I did go fencing today, though, and (after briefly fencing Jeremiah the lefty) I put on some electric gear and fenced Zach and Elvira. Against Zach, I lost only 5-3, and to Elvira, I lost only 5-2. (In both cases, an improvements from 5-0.) Both commented on how I've been improving really fast and that I'm pretty good for a newbie.
Against Elvira, I discovered one of my biggest flaws. I only know one move: the feint-disengage. True, I often use the feint-half-disengage and the feint-cupee, but they're all variations on pretty much the same move, and none of them were working because Elivra always beat my feints, like right away. There was simply no time for a disengage. I tried a straight attack, but Elvira's too good for that. She parried. I tried a fleche, but Elvira simply retreated really fast. That girl's fast, man! This means I got to work on my defense and other techniques to improve my repertoire. If I can keep myself from depending on one move (feint-disengage), I'll be able to handle a larger variety of opponents.
Then, afterwards, Lee gave me a private lesson, in which I salvaged my shitty-ass defense.
Coming back, I was greeted by even more math homework, which I, unfortunately, did and didn't have time to update my website. Haha, sorry.
Anyways, Good Night!