Wednesday, April 30, 2008--I considered buying GTA4 yesterday, but I decided I was better off hanging out with the Tuesday Night Dinner and Games crowd. So instead, I bought GTA4 today and played it. It was fun, but it feels like the exact same game as GTA3, except with new physics and new graphics. It's almost like there's no justification for this game to exist except to make Rockstar more money.
Don't get me wrong, thought. It's still a fun game. (It also seems easier than the GTA3 series, thought that might just be because I haven't gotten far enough in the game yet.)
Sunday, April 27, 2008--On impulse, I bought a PS3 today. Instead of making up new stuff to write, I'll quote what I said at the forums at
RPGVillains.com:
"Despite being a Microsoft employee, I decided to buy a PlayStation 3, mainly for MGS4, Disgaea 3, and FF13.
Unfortunately, only the stripped down 40gb version was available, but I reasoned that the only real feature that was missing was the PS2 back compat, which I don't really need, since I still have a PS2. (Plus, as a software developer, I understand that back compat is a pain in the ass, so I don't fault them for not having it.)
In any case, I got Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Army of Two. Ninja Gaiden Sigma is one kickass awesome game (but frickin' difficult). Army of Two, on the other hand, is pretty much unplayable without an HDTV (the text is too small and blurry). So I guess I'll need to buy an HDTV.
I'm gonna pick up GTA4 shortly (if it's not already sold out) and preorder MGS4, Soulcalibur 4, and Disgaea 3."
On this day:
In 2003: I tear my arm opn on a Soda Fountain.
Saturday, April 26, 2008--Today was another one of JKern's massive party thingies. The theme was his birthday, and we watched motherf~~~ing snakes on a motherf~~~ing plane.
Lilia: Isn't having snakes on your plane kinda like having a bug?
me: Probably. Lilia, file a snake: bugs on the plane.
On this day:
In 2006: I freeze myself at Fenton's Ice Cream.
In 2003: BAMM... we lose in the semi-finals to Homestead. If it hadn't been for seedings, we would have faced them in the finals, like we should.
Friday, April 25, 2008--Happy Birthday JKern!
To celebrate, me and Fred and MichCh and JKern and a whole bunch of other doods went to Ipanema and ate loads and loads of meat. 'Cause you know, there's no better way to celebrate than by eating loads and loads of meat.
Thursday, April 24, 2008--After work today, I went to the gym and benchpressed 110 lbs on the free weights. I'm getting stronger every day!
On this day:
In 2003: I get out Infinite Slivers for the third time...
Tuesday, April 22, 2008--
On this day:
In 2004: I'm Heena's first victim for the Indian Dance.
In 2003:
- Alan builds a deck with barely any land, lots of blue instants, 4 Cognivores, for a total of 180 cards.
- I beat it using Infinite Slivers (well, technically, I was one turn away... I had Heartstone, Ashnod's Altar, and a Riptide Shapeshifter in play). This is the second time I used Infinite Slivers.
Monday, April 21, 2008--
On this day:
In 2006: I beat Kingdom Hearts 2.
In 2003:
- I win with Coalition Victory for the first time.
- "Dwayne, you tapped out. I play Vengeance on your Sliver Queen." I sac a token to Ashnod's Altar to get 2 mana for the Clot Sliver's ability to regenerate the Sliver Queen.
Sunday, April 20, 2008--
On this day:
In 2006: I danced with Duckie.
Saturday, April 19, 2008--Happy Birthday Paradise! (and Colleen and TiffShiao and Rabbit)
On this day:
In 2003: I pull off Infinite Slivers for the first time ever.
Friday, April 18, 2008--Today, I meant to go to the last Lorwyn draft ever, except I decided to go to Paradise's bday party instead.
Earlier this month...
me: Hi Paradise! Facebook says your birthday is coming up soon. You should throw a big party or something.
Paradise: Well, I'm busy that weekend, and next weekend is Jonathan's birthday, but I'll see what I can do.
Today...
Paradise: You're coming to my party tonight, right?
me: Well, I was kinda hoping to do other things tonight.
Paradise: But you have to come! You're the one who told me I should throw a party! So basically, I'm throwing this party just for you!
me: Well, now that you put it like that...
me: I'll be sure to drop by.
So I dropped by Paradise's birthday party and stayed long enough for delicious food (fish tacos, apparently) and a hug.
Then, I went home and watched Battlestar.
Thursday, April 17, 2008--So as it turns out, on Monday, since my spotter physically had his hand on the bar stabilizing it for me, it was a lot easier than it should have been. This time, I had my spotter only touch the bar when I needed him to help me rack or unrack the bar, and this time, I was only able to bench 100 lbs. It's okay. I'm
still getting stronger every day.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008--
Happy Tax Day!
On this day:
In 2003:
- Math 78 Evaluations: "This class lacks entertainment value." "Mr. Langlois is a cool guy. Give him a raise or something."
- "I failed to realize that 5 was also 10 divided by 2."
- I officially qualify for the USAMO! w00t!
After work today, I went to meet up with the guys in Cafe 16 to play a Lorwyn-Lorwyn-Morningtide booster draft. Today, I told myself to mind my signals in hopes that I would improve.
So in my first pack, I opened an Oblivion Ring. Knowing full well that passing the Oblivion ring would send the people to my left into white, and knowing full well that I needed the removal (the red and black packs that I saw were seriously lacking in removal), I took the Oblivion Ring. Then, I noticed that the person on my right was sending me a lot of green elves, so I decided to take the green elves (and other good green cards).
Eventually, I ended up with the following green deck splashing white (for 2 Oblivion Rings):
11xForest
5xPlains
Vivid Meadow
Elvish Warrior
2xKithkin Daggerdare
Bosk Banneret
Wolf-Skull Shaman
Kithkin Mourncaller
Battlewand Oak
Lys Alana Bowmaster
Gilt-Leaf Seer
Elvish Harbinger
Winnower Patrol
Lace with Moonglove
Lys Alana Huntmaster
2xNath's Elite
Game-Trail Changeling
Orchard Warden
Oakgnarl Warrior
Coordinated Barrage
Burrenton Bombardier
2xOblivion Ring
Oaken Brawler
I beat Brian, but I lost against Darrin and Tim. It was a pretty decent deck overall, though, just that the Microsoft people are way better than me.
Interesting story of the night: So Tim opened a
Vigor, so he wanted to play green. Unfortunately, I was on his right, and I was aggressively cutting off the green. And somehow, the guy on his left also decided to go green. So Tim was left with no green whatsover. (I don't remember what kind of deck he ended up with, but interestingly enough, he still beat me.)
Another interesting story of the night: So while I was playing Brian, he
Weight of Conscience on my Nath's Elite. He later plays a
Wispmare, conveniently forgetting that Weight of Conscience was the only enchantment in play. Fortunately, he had 2 Elemental creatures, so he just tapped them to remove the Nath's Elite from the game before the Weight of Conscience could be destroyed by the Wispmare. (The Weight of Conscience fell into the graveyard as a state-based effect when the Nath's Elite was removed from the game.)
Monday, April 14, 2008--So you know how
last week, I said that I'd be doing free weight brench presses? So today, I decided to do free weight bench presses. With the assistance of a spotter stabilizing the bar for me, I was able to benchpress 130 lbs (free weights). Well, more accurately, I did 10 reps of 100 lbs, 10 reps of 110 lbs, 10 reps of 120 lbs, and finally, 10 reps of 130 lbs. (Assuming, of course, that Matt's statement about how the bar weighs 45 lbs is accurate.)
Saturday, April 12, 2008--Today, I decided to make some curry for dinner. So the recipe says that for half a block of curry calls for 3.5 cups of water. I put in 4 cups of water, but my curry came out
way too thick. It was pretty much gelatinous, not liquid. (It was still delicious though.) Clearly, I need to add 5 cups of water, next time.
Friday, April 11, 2008--
On this day:
In 2003: I beat FF5.
After work today, I went to Crossroads Mall Uncle's Games to play a Magic the Gathering booster draft. The format was the usual Lorwyn-Lorwyn-Morningtide.
In any case, my first pick was a
Weed Strangle (which incidentally, I never actually played), so I decided to go black. After getting passed a couple of
Nameless Inversions, I decided that, yes, black was a good way to go, because clearly, no one on my right was playing black. Sometime during that, I was passed a
Wren's Run Vanquisher, so I decided it was likely that playing elves was safe. Thus, I ended up with a black-green elf deck.
In my second pack, I opened a
Profane Command, and in my third pack, I opened a
Rhys the Exiled, so clearly, Lady Luck was smiling upon me today. (I also got passed an
Earwig Squad, but I decided not to play it on account of not having enough rogues.)
Here's how my deck ended up:
9xForest
8xSwamp
Leaf Gilder
Kithkin Daggerdare
Elvish Warrior
Wren's Run Vanquisher
Lys Alana Bowmaster
Elvish Branchbender
Winnower Patrol
Rhys the Exiled
Elvish Promenade
Nath's Elite
Game-Trail Changeling
3xNameless Inversion
Lys Alana Scarblade
Ghostly Changeling
Moonglove Changeling
Eyeblight's Ending
Moonglove Winnower
Violet Pall
Weed Strangle
Profane Command
Cloak and Dagger
In round one, I played against Adam, who was playing a pretty decent Merfolk deck. I had bad draws in game 1, so he beat me. In game 2, I made a rather impressive showing and pounded him. Game 3 lasted all the way until the end of the round (rounds are 50 minutes), and I managed to beat him at the very last second with
Nath's Elite luring away all his blockers, allowing me to smash face unhindered.
Record: 1-0
In my second round, I played against Ian, who also had a Merfolk deck. Unfortunately, his deck didn't seem to like him, allowing me to defeat him in two quick breaks.
Record: 2-0
(During the break, my brain told me to go grab a bag of chips, so I did.)
In the third round, I played against Colin, one of the more skillful players at Uncle's Games. He was playing a red-white deck. He beat me quite soundly in game 1, but I was able to make a come back in game 2. Game 3 was just loaded with removal, and the game eventually degenerated into a topdeck war. Colin was winning at first, managing to stabilize the board while beating me down. I was reduced to 1 life (and Colin was completely unscathed) before I managed to stabilize with a well-placed
Profane Command, killing his final attacker and bringing back a creature of mine. Then, after drawing a
Ghostly Changeling, I started beating him down. I attacked without abandon, while Colin desperately tried to draw a burn or a haste creature. Unfortunately, he didn't.
Record: 3-0
There were 10 of us to begin with, so we went into a 4th round. In the final round, I played against Pierson, who I had
previously played, who had only returned to Magic about a month ago after a long hiatus after Ice Age. He played a black-white deck. I beat him down in two quick games thanks to Rhys.
Record: 4-0
So yeah, that won me first place. It was my first Limited win ever (as far as I can tell). Hurray! (Now, I just have to get good enough to beat the players at Microsoft.)
I won 7 booster packs, 3 of which will be a draft set for Tuesday and 4 of which I opened. I got a
Vendilion Clique, a
Taurean Mauler, a
Primal Beyond, and a
Chameleon Colossus. Not the most valuable of cards, but not a bad pull nonetheless.
Lady Luck truly smiles upon me today.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008--After work today, I went to Joey's place to play Smash Bros Brawl with Joey, MichCh, Troy, Joey's girlfriend, and Fred. I discovered that, yes, Shiek is definitely still my best character and that I'm a lot better at 1v1s than free-for-alls. (Also, the funnest thing I did was teleport
through Kirby's super move.)
On this day:
In 2004: Prof Shewchuk: Quick sort was invented by a man named Tony Hoare. Yes, that is an unfortunate last name, but what are you going to do about it?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008--
Happy Birthday, Meher!
Also,
Happy Birthday, Bernard.
On this day:
In 2004: Lily N and I are in the same room at Berkeley for about an hour, and we don't even notice.
After work today, me and Troy and MichCh and Meher went to Maggiano's to celebrate Meher's birthday. (No, I don't know how old she is, and no, I'm not gonna ask.)
Monday, April 7, 2008--After work today, I went to the gym and benchpressed 200 lbs. I'm getting stronger every day! (Actually, more accurately, I did 25 reps of 200 lbs easily, and reps 26 to 28 were somewhat difficult, and rep 29 I barely pulled off, and on rep 30, my body just said no. Also, this is the benchpress machine, not the free weights, so there may be a mechanical advantage of up to 2 to 1. I'm planning on doing free weights soon, though, since the benchpress machine tops out at 250 lbs.)
On this day:
In 2003: Connie Chu, apparently.
Also, after I got home from work, I discovered that my Black Mages 3 CD had finally arrived. To quote the semi-review I posted on
RPGVillains.com (formerly AvalancheOnline.com):
"K, my Black Mages 3 CD finally arrived.
In any case, it sounds like this CD is the weakest of the 3. That said, there are some pretty good songs in here. (Ironically, most of the good tracks aren't really rock tracks.)
My personal favorite is KURAYAMINOKUMO (Cloud of Darkness). I loved it ever since I heard on the FF3ds soundtrack.
Darkness and Starlight was epic, epic like Dancing Mad was epic.
And Distand Worlds and LIFE were both good, which is strange, because they're both calm, tranquil songs in a rock album.
Personally, I think Black Mages is drifting away from their original style (which may or may not be a good or bad thing). In the first Black Mages album, the songs were pretty straightforward: take one of the original FF battle songs, replay it faithfully except with a rock instrumentation, throw in a kickass solo in the middle, and you have a Black Mages song. I'm not sure what's going on in Black Mages 3. Maybe the solos just aren't kickass enough.
To be fair, the way it usually works with me is that the more I hear certain songs, the more I appreciate them. It's actually rare for me to love a song when I first hear it (although when I do, you know it's a kickass awesome song). I'll have to give the CD more time to prove its worth.
(It's also worth noting that I tend to remember the best tracks from the first two albums and not the tracks as a whole, so it might also be unfair in that regard.)"
[Addendum 4/11/2008: Yes, the album did indeed grow on me. I've also grown fond of Neo EXDEATH and Premonition, but I still think this is the weakest album of the 3. It's still good, though.]
Sunday, April 6, 2008--Today, I played more Joan of Arc. The game's actually a lot more interesting now that I have access to the skill binding system. *JoA*
Also, the storyline suddenly got interesting. Joan fell off a cliff, and now Liane is the substitute Joan. I think Joan is still alive, though. It would be weird for them to randomly kill off the main character, although it wouldn't be the first time.*JoA*
On this day:
In 2004:
- Three mudterms in a row.
- I run into Daisy... literally.
Saturday, April 5, 2008--
Happy Birthday Duckie!
Today, I played Joan of Arc. The game has its annoyances, but it's not so bad that I'm gonna stop playing it. (As opposed to Fire Emblem and Front Mission, which had so many annoyances that I just gave up on them altogether.) I finished chapter 2 today by fighting a few "hard" bosses. (They weren't that hard at all, but they were more powerful than the guys I had been fighting before.)
Friday, April 4, 2008--After work today, I and Abhi went to Chris's place to watch the season 4 premiere of Battlestar Galactica. *BSG*
Apparently, Baltar is Jesus now, except he has a harem of hos.*BSG*
We also played some Rock Band. Apparently, the song "Still Alive" from
Portal is now in Rock Band, so I sang that. It was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008--Shadowmoor previews have begun on
MagicTheGathering.com. I should prolly start reading the Morningtide novel.
On this day:
In 2004: I play my first booster draft at Games of Berkeley.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008--I think she might actually like me. There's no way to be sure, though. But she and I get along in a way that I've never gotten along with other people. (Well, except maybe Princess, but we all know how that turned out.) I guess the only way to find out for sure is to ask her. If only she weren't so far away... It's okay, if she likes me, it won't be a problem getting her up here. I mean, she likes the rain. (And this is Washington.)
On this day:
In 2007:
Solar Vengeance: Fleets announced!
In 2006: I name a successor to be the next me at Berkeley, and the next me is Lei.
In 2005: Karen agrees to take EE/BioE 125 with me.
In 2004:
- A possible reference to Tiffany Shiao, although no names were mentioned.
- I take Kim fencing.
In 2003: "We're kicking butt, 2 to 2!"
Also, I'd like to make a few announcements:
The game formerly known as
Demons shall now be called
Ares' Children. This is because the game is not so much about the demons as much as it is about humans fighting a war. Therefore, I decided to rename the game to better fit the plot and setting. Also,
Ares' Children sounds much cooler than
Demons.
I'm announcing a new fiction series that I will be writing called
Backside. The premise is that the world is divided into two: Frontside, the "real" world that normal people experience, and Backside, a mirror image of the world except with magic and fantasy creatures. And a young girl named Allie has discovered that she has the power to go back and forth between the two sides of the world.