TIME CONTROL

They say that time flies when you're having fun, or if you're doing something that can be considered as fun. If I could, I'd spend my life only doing things that I deem fun. The years may fly, making me die that much faster, but at least I had a blast.

I pause in my writing, wondering whether or not I should turn this ramble into a post for my blog. Would a narrative on waiting for your turn at the Social Security Services branch make good entry material? Considering that a blog is a personal thing, naturally, anything that I post I would consider good enough, right? Quite a dilemma, no?

It was around quarter to nine when I began to write, my right ankle on my left knee, my plastic folder propped on my right leg and thigh, scribbling intently on the back of a rejected thesis proposal. In the vernacular, my pose would be called de cuatro, evoking the shape of the Arabic numeral 4. I wrote to accelerate the chimes that signal change on the LED display - it is currently serving customer 1017. When 1049 comes around, it will be my turn.

I'm doing this on a workday, Wednesday, and when night falls I'll be heading to the office. I work the graveyard shift for a business outsourcing firm, handling tech support for a financial software company. The pay is quite good - a college washout who only has a high school diploma to his name could do worse than $415.55 a month.

Again I pause, as a soft-spoken gentleman calls out names in a carrying voice, and I hear him mention mine. I walk up to him and he informs me to head to the ID capture area. Good, I think - I'm making progress. (The ID capture area, contrary to what you might have imagined, was not laden with red and white spheres the size of baseballs.) It has been exactly thirty minutes since I started writing this, and I move deeper into the alcove that holds the camera equipment. An older man chats me up, and we speak for a minute. A guard walks over and begins sorting people who need to get their picture taken.

(Here ends the manuscript - original content follows.)

I was third in line for getting my photo taken. A short, pregnant woman in a red dress was accommodated first, and the older man who spoke with me went second. The process is simple - stare at the camera, then walk up to the desk to record your right index fingerprint and thumbprint, and do the same for your left hand. Finally, you are asked to enter and confirm a four-digit PIN. The same man who was calling out names earlier took my biometrics, wrote on a slip of paper which he tore off and handed to me. It seems to be my claim stub for the ID card.

"Next," he called out. I took that as my cue to leave.

I was waiting for a ride home by 10:33 AM.

I only update when there's something I feel noteworthy that's got to be shared with the passing reader.

Complaining about the slowness of help with a thesis proposal isn't noteworthy.

Raking in 4 wins and 0 losses at a DCI-sanctioned magic tournament?

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Doing the above with a ragtag no-bells no-whistles deck?

Definitely blog-worthy.

Here's the decklist, with commentary.

Creatures (19):

1 Festering Goblin - Can take down a X/2 creature after combat, thanks to its -1/-1 to target once it dies. Alternately, can knock out a couple of x/1 creatures instead. In reality, didn't pop out as often as I'd like it to have done so. He's one mean 1/1.

1 Giant Spider - Mainly in for air defense, he made the cut because between him and an instant that gives a small P/T boost, I'd take the 2/4 spider. Didn't come out to play much.

1 Joiner Adept - good early beats (2/1) and turns your lands into painless Cities of Brass. Seriously, what guy playing green and two other colors would pass this up?

1 Kavu Climber - I got it for the cantrip, since it's overpriced for its 3/3 body. However, it was the straight guy in a two-man comedy act that can break a deadlock.

1 Llanowar Elves - I needed an early guy, and he can double as extra mana to get key creatures into play faster. The difference of one turn is huge.

1 Might Weaver - early beats, to the tune of 2/1. Theoretically, he should be able to give red or white creatures trample, but my red creatures were either tech or evasive, and there was only one valid recipient for trample.

1 Nekrataal - Mr. 187 himself. He hits the table and an enemy hits the bin. Most of the time. The rest of the time he's an expensive 2/1 first striker for 4 mana.

2 Phyrexian Rager - I know what you're thinking - playing an ogre (read: 2/2) that nicks you for one and gives you a card in return? In a 40-card deck, hell, yes! Also, I was scrabbling for critters, and the card pile had two of them. It was too good for me to pass up.

2 Pincher Beetles - Normally I wouldn't consider playing with 3/1 dudes, especially these dudes. You can't cast Giant Growth or Healing salve on these bugs to save them, thanks to their Shroud ability. On the plus side, opponents can't bounce, burn, kill, enchant, or do other shenanigans on these bugs. In my fights, however, these guys were stalwart soldiers, facing down enemy 5/4 and 6/4 Wurms with no fear - and the threat of the next couple of guys...

2 Prodigal Pyromancer - the (dare I say it?) jewel of my army. I nicknamed them Ash and Ember in my head, and they always drew the opponents glares when either hit the table, and a groan when both of them went online. They kept x/2 and x/1 creatures away, and as mentioned above, 4 toughness ain't so safe around pincher beetles anymore, often resulting in the beetles going to the red zone unmolested. Fear the flames, or at least, the threat of flames.

1 Ravenous Rats - Another early beater, and an expendable one at that. The discard effect didn't really help that much, from what I've experienced in the matches that it did enter play. Oh well.

1 Rock Badger - Expensive, evasive (mountainwalk) 3/3 red creature. Need I say any more? He's golden when the opponent was playing red, clunky when no mountains were around.

1 Stampeding Wildebeests - Kavu Climber's partner-in-crime, as well as a major deterrent to enemy attackers. At 5/4 for four mana, he's terribly efficient, except for a small drawback - a green creature has to go home every upkeep. Enter Kavu Climber, and you have a setup that says "Draw to cards every turn for 3GG, and get a 3/3 blocker to boot." In their debut performance, these two criminals dug my library for lands and blockers until I could draw Blaze and point to my opponent's head.

1 Thundering Giant - A 4/3 creature with haste that costs 5 mana, two of them red. Getting hit by 4 damage for 5 mana feels like direct damage to me, except he's reusable. Useful for punishing opponents with weak or no defense on your turn.

2 Viashino Runner - More evasive red guys. They ensure an easy 3 damage if the opponent doesn't keep 2 creatures to block, which makes up for the 2 toughness. An OK card for 4 mana.

Spells (5):

1 Blaze - When you see this card in your choices, take it. Splash red in your deck if you have to. In Limited, this is the bomb. It kills either a key enemy critter or a weakened enemy wizard.

1 Demolish - This card usually is delegated to the sideboard, but because I knew there was a chance that I'd be facing transformers (not the mechs from the movie or that 80's show, but non-basic lands that turn in to creatures with abilities by spending 2 mana), this card was mandatory. And on the off chance that an annoying artifact comes up, it's gonna be toast.

1 Fists of the Anvil - Due to the lack of direct damage in the deck, I went for the next best thing. I saw how effective the Fists were in a match that I watched, where an aggressive deck tapped out to attack and finished the round 1 turn earlier thanks to the extra 4 damage. It wonderfully happened to me as well on my last game, where it spelled a win over reinforcements that could have stymied me had there been a next opponent's turn.

1 Spitting Earth - In Limited, you take whatever damage you can get. Spitting Earth is good whenever you draw it, dealing damage equal to the mountains you have in play. Too bad it's a sorcery though.

1 Terror - The classic black instant kill spell. If it ain't a machine or a minion of evil, it's gonna die from a heart attack.

Lands (16):
6 Forest
5 Mountain
5 Swamp

Like I said, no bombs, no flash, just plain old whittle him down to zero before he does the same to you.

Until next time.

Hello, friend, it's been a while. A little over a year has passed since I last did anything with this tiny parcel of Internet virtual estate.

Well, what has passed since then? I'm about to leave my interesting job for a return to the U of the P, in hopes of snagging the ever-elusive scroll of hire-y-ness: gives you +1 prestige point and adds +5 to your Job-Hunting feat rolls.

I've seen what I believe to be the best mecha series of all time, booting Mobile Battleship Nadesico from its pedestal in my hall of fame - Shinkon Gattai Godannar. If neither of these names sound familiar, wiki them, or better yet, grab them off the Net while you still can.

It's a year late, but better late than never as I've just finished watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Voted as one of the best to come out in 2006, and after seeing it I was like "I know why it wasn't the best - there was no mecha action in it." I've been thinking of converting full-time to Haruhiism - the belief that the power to reset and rewrite the universe at a whim resides in a short-haired Japanese brunette schoolgirl who has her heart set out for a male classmate of hers with no last name. On second thought, maybe I better put it off for later days.

This will be all for my reclamation post - I've yet to sleep, and I need to ask my buddies for a certain picture.

Recently I made a post about Rising Force Online. I would like to correct a few things in that post.

Mainly this: the Bellato MAU is not as big-ass as I might have led some of you to imagine. The average Corite and Bellato individual is human in proportion. Battle axes and halberds really look like two handed-weapons when wielded by the humanoids. Long swords are really long swords, as broad swords are broad. When an (Accretian) Imperial soldier wields, they look really tiny. The size difference becomes more pronounced when it comes to firearms and bows. When an Accretian holds a rifle with both hands, it looks proportional. When the humans hold the same rifle (all three races can use around 90% of what weapons the other races can use), however, they look like they're lugging around artillery pieces.

This is probably why no humans can use launchers unaided, and only the mechanical monsters can. By this, I mean the whole of Accretia and MAUs. The difference is that Accretians can easily switch weapons from launcher to another weapon - MAUs cannot. This implies that the horsepower output of any Accretian is what allows them to carry, aim, and fire the launcher without flying back a few meters every time. This also means that MAUs are just plain heavy, which is why they don't get knocked back when some of them fire their missiles.

Winding back to size, an Accretian is at least 25-50% taller than a human. And since Bellato fear the Accretian monsters, they made their weapons against them bigger. A Massive Armor Unit is around 25% taller than an Imperial, but boasts better protection and weaponry. MAUs, however, are not invincible. I've seen an attack group of 3 go down in the face of Cora magic. Granted, there were 2 dozen or so Corites, averaging to level 30, and the MAU squad went down like trucks on thin ice. The Corite hit and run tactic using spells showed them.

MAUs are scary when they raid low-level areas. The Corite response, as shown above, was superior sorcery. The Accretian response - I have yet to see it. In theory, once an Accretian gains access to the level 30 Grenade Launcher, MAUs are toast - the Grenade Launcher can shoot stun grenades which should stun even MAUs. Even its smaller level 10 cousin can throw grenades that screw the accuracy of whatever it hits, potentially providing trouble for the MAU.

A last curiosity is the Flame Thrower. It is considered a launcher type weapon, usable only by the Empire. In real life, flamethrowers have no recoil, so why can't the humans use them? Perhaps the answer lies in the weight and the intense heat generated by the weapon. I've seen Bellato and Cora armor, and none of them look heat-retardant - unlike the Flamethrower infantry of Command and Conquer. MAUs take flamethrowers to a new height, with some models boasting two flamers on the unit. Cheesy cowards.

Major sort-of upheaval in my life: my sister has made it her mission to see that I finish my thesis on time, or kill me trying. While I do appreciate her effort, I'm going to hold back giving her my gratitude until I actually finish the damned thing, which has been for the last two years.

Yeah, I know, I suck. :b

Recent changes: I've taken a vow to avoid softdrinks and sodas as much as possible. Shouldn't be too hard, given the high cost of them drinks.

I've recently tried my hand at Rising Force (RF) Online. Man, it reminds me of Tantra. KSers galore, and the bad part is you can't go into PK mode and off the mothas, if the motha-F-ing KSers are of your race. Sheesh.

Backstory: After the mechanical Accretian Empire was shamefully defeated by the combined weak flesh and blood forces of the Bellato Union and the Holy Order of Cora, all three factions decided that they wanted this holystone-rich planet in the Novus sector. Bellato and Cora broke off their truce - the holystone is up for grabs.

The Accretians are like a massive capitalist robotic ant hive. Each of the three castes are expected to kick ass in the name of and improve the economy of the Empire. If they don't Darth Vader will come back from the dead and whup their non-performing asses silly, and no one wants that to happen. Basically, a master ROM BIOS, either a warrior, ranger, or specialist, is cloned and downloaded into an upgradable hardware bundle - the characters. This basic ROM features no unique or flashy skills, unlike the characters of the other factions. The one good thing that comes out of this mass produced intelligence is that every Accretian is built with the knowledge of Launcher usage. These missile/rocket launchers cannot be wielded by puny humans due to weight and recoil - and it is not unheard of for frontline close combat Accretian units to unleash a withering volley of missile fire before drawing weapons and engaging. Also, Accretian scientists have developed a wide variety of Launcher ammunition to deal with any situations their soldiers might encounter. (In fantasy MMORPG terms, Launchers can be equipped with Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, and Neutral elemental bullets.) Accretians can deploy and enjoy launchers as early as level 15.

If Accretians were this good, why did they lose to the Bellato and Cora Combine?

Well, they were up versus 2:1 odds. The Cora had elemental attack magic, and the Bellato had MAUs (Mobile Assault Units - aka BattleMechs / Mobile Armor). While Accretians could hold their own against the big, bulky MAUs, and they have consumable items that boost magic resistance, in the long run numbers will tip the battle.

To wit: a lv 35 Accretian Specialist might have around 2000-3000 HP. A single MAU, the lowest grade, has at least 100,000 HP, and is piloted by a Lv 35 Bellato Driver. MAUs come in 2 flavors, Goliath (close combat) and Catapult (ranged combat). MAUs are huge - the average Accretian is roughly 6 to 9 feet tall (2-3 meters), and MAUs are easily 5 to 10 times bigger. (There is an unsurety of height ratio, as no MAU has stood still long enough for a curious Accretia unit to measure it. Scientists attribute this to the caffeine in Bellato Driver's favorite beverage.)

So why did I pick Accretia? Because robots are cool. Because elemental rockets and missiles are cool. Because flesh is weak, and steel is strong, which was why the Bellato built MAUs in the first place. It is proper to say that Accretians have no souls; only living things have mere souls. What Accretians have are spirits of steel.

I am very ill. I've just been diagnosed with GERD - a gastroesophageal reflux disease.

What is GERD?

GERD, simply put, is a disease of the lower esophageal spinchter (LES). The LES is a flap that prevents food and hydrochloric acid from crawling up your windpipe whenever you lie down or perform a handstand.

Normally, the LES does its job well enough - it expands to let food into the stomach, then constricts. When it doesn't though, that's when the pain begins.

How does GRD feel?

You know you have GERD if you experience chronic heartburn.

GERD effects feel like an ulcer - too much acid in your stomach. Unlike an ulcer where bacteria produce acids and dump them into your stomach, the hyperacidic effects of GERD spring from reflex. Missing a meal then having a big snack to make up for it sends the stomach into overdrive, doubling its acid production. Also, this compensating binge tends to cause the esophagus to expand beyond the area of the LES.

This is where the pain comes in. Even while eating, your stomach will ache; after eating, the acid travels up. Normally, the LES will keep these gases down, but since the esophagus is now bigger than your LES, some of these will make it into your esophagus.

What do you do about GERD?

GERD is treated using proton pump inhibitors. These aren't Star Trek type weapons - these are drugs which reduce the acid content in the stomach juice, so if it ever does crawl up into the esophagus, it is less irritating.

You could also change your lifestyle and diet. Avoid smoking, sodas, acidic fruit drinks, chocolate, and spirits. Don't eat large meals before bedtime.

Lastly, don't ignore GERD! If left unchecked, the esophagus may start to bleed and narrow, resulting in difficulty in swallowing. Worse, it may give rise to Barett's esophagus, where the cells in the esophagus are replaced by those sinilar to the ones lining the stomach. This defensive mutation increases the chance of developing esophageal cancer.

Well, I've got myself a final term to graduate, and it still doesn't look good. My girlfriend is far ahead of me - she just finished her first draft this afternoon, all four bound volumes of it.

If I'm the one asked, I'll say I have a very small chance of succeeding in this part of my life. While some may attribute this statement to my ever-low self-esteem, I happen to know better. I better start constructing an attractive curriculum vitae sheet.

I didn't mean to make this into a weeping post, honest. I wanted to post about Ken Akamatsu's Love Hina manga. I just finished reading it, and it gave me bittersweet twinges of hope. Here I am wishing life was like art again.

I'd like to thank Akamatsu-san, for creating the world where such memorable characters moved in; and to Keitaro Urashima as well, for giving readers worldwide of ear-to-ear grins and hours of delicious fanservice from his tenants, relatives, and friends.

LAST WORD: There's no way you wouldn't love a guy who shows the whole world what his newly-wedded wife is wearing under her wedding dress.

I'm still alive, though I might be a out of a home and wandering the streets by March. Oh well.

I'm finding it hard to have time for myself, hard to believe, no? But this blog bears witness to the fact - check out how many days there are between this post and the last.

I wonder if Blogger has a better way of laying out pictures and text without messing with HTML - in my experience, anytime I insert a picture using Blogger, they always go to the top of the post, where the relevant text isn't. I might just resort to hot-linking to my online album to do so.

My enrollment is still in limbo, keeping my thesis (or rather my thesis proposal) company - and my fanfic writing has ground to a halt. The last time I checked, I was trying to finish the Love Hina manga at home - the nagging gets to me though.

Final words - Gaogaigar visuals definitely not for kids. Mikoto looks too delicious to be put in a kiddy show. Remember - if it has legs, it's for kids. If it has boobs, it isn't.

I'm still alive, though I might be a out of a home and wandering the streets by March. Oh well.

I'm finding it hard to have time for myself, hard to believe, no? But this blog bears witness to the fact - check out how many days there are between this post and the last.

I wonder if Blogger has a better way of laying out pictures and text without messing with HTML - in my experience, anytime I insert a picture using Blogger, they always go to the top of the post, where the relevant text isn't. I might just resort to hot-linking to my online album to do so.

My enrollment is still in limbo, keeping my thesis (or rather my thesis proposal) company - and my fanfic writing has ground to a halt. The last time I checked, I was trying to finish the Love Hina manga at home - the nagging gets to me though.

Final words - Gaogaigar visuals definitely not for kids. Mikoto looks too delicious to be put in a kiddy show. Remember - if it has legs, it's for kids. If it has boobs, it isn't.

I'm still alive after three nights of watching Henyo, my brother's Net cafe. No sign of the thug who pwned all that time - I'm still not letting my guard down, though.

I know, I know I've let you down.
I've been a fool to myself.
I thought I could
live for no one else
But not through all the hurt and pain.
It's time for me to respect
the ones you love
mean more than anything.
So with sadness in my heart
I feel the best thing I could do
is end it all
and leave forever.
What's done is done, it feels so bad.
What once was happy now is sad.
I'll never love again
my world is ending.

I wish that I could turn back time
cos now the guilt is all mine.
Can't live without the trust from the ones you love.
I know we can't forget the past
you can't forget love and pride,
because of that it's killing me inside.

It all returns to nothing, it all comes
tumbling down, tumbling down,
tumbling down.
it all returns to nothing, I just keep
letting me down, letting me down,
letting me down.
In my heart of hearts,
I know that I could never love again.
I've lost everything,
everything
that matters to me,
matter in this world.

I wish that I could turn back time
cos now all the guilt is mine.
Can't live without
the trust from those you love.
I know we can't forget the past.
You can't forget love and pride,
because of that, it's killing me inside

It all returns to nothing, it all comes
tumbling down, tumbling down,
tumbling down.
It all returns to nothing, I just keep
letting me down, letting me down,
letting me down.
It all returns to nothing, it all comes
tumbling down, tumbling down,
tumbling down.
It all returns to nothing, I just keep
letting me down, letting me down,
letting me down.

Seems apt for my life right now. "Can't live without the trust from ones you love." I wonder how long they will, when they see how hopeless I really am.

This is my last-person seen post. If no one has heard from me via SMS, e-mail, or landline phone for an extended time, it means I might have suffered an untimely demise while tending the Internet cafe in the Pantranco area.

In fairness, getting wiped off the face of the planet by some low-life thug won't be too big a ripple in the cosmic sea. I'll be missed by few people, only my girlfriend and family will cry at my funeral. My girlfriend because she loves me no matter what a worthless bum I am, and my family because of all the cash, effort, and time they poured into me getting a college degree which I had to screw up even further by dying without their permission.

So what has my life been? My life, loath I am to admit it, is defined by whatever people I have in my circle. I am an incurable gamer, and if they had a Bachelor of Science in Gaming I'd have graduated with honors. My life is revolves around accomodating my friends, my girlfriend, trying unsuccessfully time and again to get a college degree, and gaming.

I've self-taught myself katakana, forgotten most of my Spanish and Italian, and since a very young age fluent in both English and Filipino. I've spent the past three or four years trying to get a bachelor's degree in Library and Information Science, clearing all my major subjects in two years only to be bogged down for another two years by the thesis proposal. Life doesn't get suckier than that. I'd say it sucks to be me, but I've got a great girlfriend (the best in the world), I'm still more or less in one piece (though my teeth beg to differ), and I'm still not living in the streets.

I should have tried to go to Creative Writing, or Mass Communication, or Journalism when I got out of Engineering. Why I chose Library and Information Science, I'll never remember exactly. Maybe it was because they didn't have a GWA requirement when I was looking for a college to take me in before the University of the Philippines kicked my ass out after two semesters of being a non-major. Do I regret my choice? I could say I don't. I made a new friend shifting into the Institute of Library and Information Science, despite the Institute's refusal to allow me to graduate.

That's not really fair to the Institute who took me in when the others wouldn't. In fairness, I'm still lost as a freshman, despite being in college for six years already. I'm living in Avenue Q, and my friends do too. But you have to wonder at your department, when your thesis proposal panel tells you during the discussion that the University paper is looking for writers for its literature section. It makes one wonder what to think.

My current life is being sucked away by a corporation more powerful than Microsoft, more eBill than Gates - Banpresto. Curse their SRW line! If I was to create my own major and degree, I'd be Ph. D. in Simulation Role Playing Games, Major in Super Robot Wars. Oh, Kingdom of Loathing comes in second place for draining my time, my blog last.

All in all, this post just wants to say, if I haven't posted in an obscenely long time and people haven't heard from me, I've been killed by some semi-educated lowlife in Pantranco while I was tending the Internet cafe my brother owns. Knock on wood.

My thesis proposal was rejected today. That's it. Just like that. My life is over. Time to look for the nearest bridge to jump off, or a handy gun to slip into my mouth to end it all.

...

Not!

Seriously, my life just got more complicated. I can say goodbye to graduating this October. I hope my mother doesn't kick me out of the house. I hope my dad doesn't order me out of the house. My father in particular seems to be averse to funding my studies any further. I can't handle a part-time job - I wouldn't have time for my research then.

I don't know what to do now.

Again I curse my inability to read hiragana and kanji. Basically, the illustration above is a cup size comparison line-up, from biggest to smallest, left to right. As a friend pointed out over the phone, without ever seeing the image above, the 'contestants' are people NOT from the first SRW Alpha. For the benefit of others, they are (from left to right): Lamia (SRW Advance), Seolla (SRW Alpha 2), Excellen (SRW Impact), Ouka (SRW Original Generation 2), Ivis (SRW Alpha 2), Latouny (SRW Original Generation), and Alfimy (SRW Impact).

The advent of SRW J comes as a little letdown to me, as Banpresto has announced that it will be their last title for Gameboy Advance. As a balm for offended sensibilities, SRW J features bouncing female cut-ins for the main robots' subpilots (which would irritate more narrow sensibilities).

The above is a screencap of the SRW J TV commercial. It's actually two blocks of 3 screens wide and two screens high. The bouncing originals are on the lower left screen of the top block, and the bottom corner screens of the lower block. Yes, folks, Banpresto carries on the proud tradition of using 17-year old schoolgirls as fanservice / robot pilots. Oh, and if you're interested in what the other screens are, here's a map.

TOP BLOCK, left to right, top row first: Athrun and Kira from Gundam SEED (possibly during an in-game series reference battle), Domon Kasshu of G Gundam (performing a Double God Finger, his partner not shown), Double Burning Fire performed using Mazinkaiser and Great Mazinger, Katia (Banpresto Original subpilot), an army of Bonta-kun assault suits led by Sousuke Sagara (Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu), and Tekkaman Blade posing before laying the smackdown.

BOTTOM BLOCK: Don't know who or what this first frame is from, will research; next to it is Misumaru Yurika, captain of the Mobile Battleship Nadesico, Kira Yamato going into SEED mode, Festenia (Banpresto Original subpilot), Coustwell (Banpresto Original mecha), and Merua (Banpresto Original subpilot).

I'll say it again, because I like saying it, those 17-y.o. girls bounce.

I may have it bad right now, but I must remember these things that I must be thankful I have, got, or am getting, or simply am.

I'm still alive.
Three meals a day.
I have parents who still love each other even after 28 years.
I have a loving girlfriend.
I can read and write, do simple to moderately complex arithmetic, and I have manners.
I'm not living on the streets, begging for money or food.

When this fails to cheer me up, there's always onemorelevel.com. Contains Flash games that simply brighten your day.

This has not been a paid advertisement of onemorelevel.com

I've had an odd week so far.

Monday: Had a nasty dream. I dreamt that it was dark skies outside, felt like a thunderstorm was coming down. I was looking down at the neighboring village, where I see a roiling black cloud heading up one of the other villages roads. I didn't know how or why, but I knew that I was seeing a tornado. I could see white plumes of dust swirling into its center. I was concerned, and wanted to warn everyone in the house. I turned around and saw my mother heading out the screen door - and in the space she just vacated was another roiling black cloud. I shouted a warning to her, and reached out to pull her to safety, when suddenly the cloud turned into a full-blown dark funnel and lifted my mother up and away from me. Needless to say, I scared myself awake, a nasty wrenching in my heart region chasing away the drowsiness that usually accompanied my waking up every day.

Tuesday: An even nastier dream - I dreamt I was picking bits and pieces of my teeth out of my
mouth, the pieces ranged in size from fragments I could swallow and not notice to whole teeth and gum bone assemblies. Ugh.

Wednesday: I just sent in my thesis proposal to the dean. I hope it gets accepted - I have less than a month to work it if I want to graduate this October.

I've been amusing myself online with Kingdom of Loathing and this ecchi flash game. At home, the stories in my head drive me to write until my fingers hurt. I don't mind - it keeps the insanity at bay.

I hate DoTA. At least, I hate playing against experts / addicts in our shop.

It's like feeding them. Make that it's like spoon-feeding them.

I almost seem to always go for the underpowered, underdog characters. Thus, resulting in constant ownage of my in-game ass.

If I play the game for fun, and end up getting trounced every single fucking time, should I quit?

I figure it's like Magic: The Gathering, or MechWarrior - he who has the better equipment wins, especially if the said pieces of equipment are no brainers. I mean, it's not hard to lose when you're behind a Red&Green Fires of Yavimaya+Fading deck, or when you're fielding One-Eyed Jack's Jupiter. It would take total noobs to lose using those.

In contrast, I play with no-name red and green cards that have never made it to tournaments. I field BattleMechs that can't perform charging attacks without melting down 33% of the time, and when they don't melt and hit the target, the accuracy is shot to hell. I have fielded such in a tournament, and did horribly. After all, the most expensive piece of my army was only around 1200 pesos - my opponents were fielding more. They were literally playing with tuition fees on a 3' x 3' table.

Should I quit?

Maybe I would quit, but not entirely. I'd probably play the next time a new DoTA hero comes out. Much like in the way I try to keep up with the latest trends in the collectible games that I've played, a few innocent years back.

Or maybe I should stop playing against people better than me. I could take noobs to school - they're the only ones I probably can.

I'm writing this straight off the crest of several high waves. Oldest news (pun intended), yay, I'm 23 now, and still stuck in college. I got me a new pair of rubber shoes out of it. They're a vibrant blue, and I love 'em.

Not as much as I love the copy of Neverwhere which Neil Gaiman signed. On the title page, he scrawled, "Mind the gap!" and emphasized it by encircling the cryptic remark. Help me out here! If a British author tells you to mind the gap, what is he really saying? I'm all for it being a Neverwhere reference, but what if it isn't? What if in his uniquely British-author way telling me that I talk to much?

Here's a transcript of our conversation (which came about after waiting for seven hours in a line).

Me: Good evening, Mr. Gaiman. I hope we haven't tired you too much.
NG: It's been what, three bloody days?
NG: The next time I hold one of these things here, I should do it over a week, and not a weekend. But I have this feeling that this bunch - you'll be there every single day!
Me: Oh yes we would, Mr. Gaiman, yes we would!

I know, I know, after waiting all that time, I should have had some more memorable dialogue. But, hey, it has been eight hours for me, and three nights of this book-signing for him. Neither of us were up for witty banter - besides, I didn't want to hog his time for the other 400 or so people waiting downstairs.

It was a real long line. We started outside the mall (1:30 PM) and seven hours later, we were two floors up. My girlfriend and I were numbered 398 and 399. And there were more people trailing after us; with each passing hour the lines grew longer still.

And lastly, just earlier today, I watched Pinoy Blonde with my girlfriend. All I can say is that the director has had one heck of a great time shooting it - how many people get to order greats like Eddie Garcia and Jaime Fabregas to sing on a film? How many directors get to cast popular names in showbiz in bit roles? I bow to Peque Gallaga!

Just had to nitpick this once. Prepare for a quick katakana Romanization hop.

Last post I mentioned something about Zengar / Sanger. Taking a closer look at the katakana, it reads "ze-n-ga- so(inflected)-n-bo-ru-to." As the first part has been officially translated as "Sanger" (oh, the wonderful Japanese habit of replacing "er" sounds with the "extended short a" symbol), that leaves us with the second part.

Begging the question, the name could have been transliterated as Zengar with even better similarity to the katakana pronunciation, but why'd Banpresto stick with the 'Sanger' romanization? Ugh.

The second part of the katakana sequence reads 'zo-n-bo-ru-to'. The use of the "ru" kana indicates that there is a distinct R or L sound, which must not be glossed over. E.G., 'bo-ru-to' = bolt, but 'bo-- to' (in the tradition of Japanese swallowing their Rs) would be "boat" or "vote".

The N kana before the Bo is interesting. The N might take on the sound of the English M, which would result in Zombolt. Then again, it could stay as N, giving us Zonbolt. The same controversy plagues the three-piece monstrosity Zambot / Zanbot 3 (below).



This was a sad show. I can't believe Yoshiyuki Tomino would kill kids, but he did. SPOILER: 2 of the 3 pilots die in the final battle. Bah. It's a Super Robot show, for crying out loud! Readers are supposed to be happy at the end!

Then again, it is a genuine Tomino piece. Sigh.

I owe the new layout to my girlfriend. I love you dear.

It's been a really long while since I had anything of not happen to me that's worth writing about.

The squatter who slugged me will, and probably already did so, escape the pathetic claws of justice. The system sucks in the way that if I had a gun under the table that time, shot his leg or arm to prevent him from running away or hitting me some more, I'd have been the one to be arrested. I can see the newspaper tagline - "Mauled student arrested for defending self with gun." You can't win ever at some things, it seems.

For the more recent happenings... Well, I've seen the Super Robot Wars OAV, oohed and aahed, and left wanting to see the next two episodes.

The much-anticipated Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, the conclusion of the series, features bounciness yet again! It seems that Banpresto has found the way to keep its target market captive. But beware, they seem to be targeting a new sector of the market - bishonen addicts. I'll explain.



(Above) Zengar Zombolt / Sanger Somvold, one of Banpresto's more popular "Original Characters."



(Above) A new "Original Character" in SRW Alpha 3. Has been called a 'Zengar-ette' by one of the people in a message board I frequent. The thing is, this one's a guy. He's the male Real-type pilot.

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