SWNow :: Episode 29 :: Level 69 :: 121907

Hunter X Hunter ~ Chapter 263, Page 12

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No, I'm not changing the schedule of this blog's episodes - It's still during Mondays. Every Monday of the month, you'll get a glimpse of what's happening in my life. It's just that my life is kinda revolving between my Thesis (Web Application) and the Prelim Exams tomorrow and this Friday, so please bear with the slow month. But enough excuses, and lets get on with the show:

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:: TropangGaius Hobby :: Valkyrie Addiction ::

Juner, the Tropa's Wizard, is already at level 90. Austin & Jeff, a Hunter and a Priest respectively, is at level 87+ (That's yesterday). Boogie's at level 70 (a Rogue), one level higher than me (a Crusader). Considering that we only started playing 3-4 weeks ago, I think Ragnarok Online Valkyrie is becoming the new Magic:the Gathering of the Tropa. Anyway, I cannot really play because of my Academics... Or can I?

RO Pics

That's what happens when a programmer is really bored. *sigh* It's getting hard to power level... And I've got a lot of things on my ToDo List... Waahhh I need to prioritize gawd darn it...

:: Academics :: Still *Thesis Mode* ::

Gawd, this damn thesis is in the way of every freakin thing I want to do. I think it's taking over my life. Anyways, I think I'm almost at 7th Milestone, three more and I'm free. Oh wait, there's still testing and two chapters left...plus the Final Oral Defense... WAAAHHH!!! o__0 I don't want to talk about this here...

:: TropangGaius News :: Christmas Party ::

Well, we (Me and Austin) are planning to have a Tropa-wide Christmas Party. The current option is as follows: Dec. 22-23 2007 (This coming Saturday), we're going to hang with the Kasambahay Crew at their (Unofficial) Christmas Party - this setup takes care of logistics since we won't have to worry about the place or the food, we'll just pay 250php (Most likely less, but not more) and every thing's taken care of.

A couple of downsides though: Me, and the Tropa. My family is having a reunion this Saturday. This Saturday night, to be exact. Also, Emil might be there (Worst case: Aubrey would be there too) as well as his tropas. I don't have any quarrels with him, but I'm not sure If he'll stay safe when I'm drunk and Edwin's with me. That combination will be one BIG problem. Next problem: Since we're just hanging with the other crew, I don't think it's possible to separate our Tropa with theirs - meaning, it's not just a TropangGaius party, it's a Kasambahay + TropangGaius party. That might lead to some people going emo (such as me) or some people being OP (Out of Place) or even being the reason why they can't come (Hello Miki!).

I'm working on my side of the deal, but can you guys work out your side of the problem? Vote on the sidebar please, or better, comment! There's a "Comment" link below this post.

:: Girls :: No ::

Guess what? *sigh*

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I guess that's that. I'm sorry I can't update the blogs more, I'm just really busy. I promize I'll update more regularly after the Thesis is finished o__0 Ciao peeps, and Vote Plzz!! ^^

SWNow :: Episode 28 :: RoK Points :: 121007

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I know, I didn't update last week. My thesis is killing me. Gawd, A major Web Application design revision is not what I need, with just one week to work it all out. I need to go and interview Mrs. Genota later this day actually, and get some data from Ms. Milka afterwards... Darn it, its gonna be a long day. Anyways, Here's mai m0&D4e Updaet!!1!one11! (Not a typo)

As you can see from the Picasa Slideshow above, It's Austin's Day yesterday. Sorry for the quality of pics, my cellphone's Night Mode + Macro Focus sux (Forgot to change it to normal). I got to juners house sometime after 5:30pm (Gibbs is with me), and found boogie playing Ragnarok Online. Still a Novice @ Level 8 (or 9, not sure), he's still farming Fabres at the Training Camp. A few minutes (and a whole manga) later, we got up and went to Austin's place.

"RoK Points" ~ Juner (Word of the Day)

We watched Bitoy's Funniest Videos (An America's Funniest Videos rip off) while eating spaghetti and flan. Quite a dinner, very tasty. ^^ After that, we all went to a nearby comp shop to play Ragnarok Online. And stayed there for three or so hours. Hehehe *Adik Mode* After an exhausting Journey on Midgard, we went back and drank a few shots (of GranMa) while talking about our lovelifes. After another three or so hours, the discussion went back to the current tropa's hobby - Ragnarok Online.

Speaking of Ragnarok Online, I guess I didn't really quit. Here's a screenie of my Ragnarok Character, Faint*Smile (Got the name from the Anime 'Claymore' - Teresa, of the Faint Smile). We're planning to make a Guild, and the verdict was to claim an Agit by Late January to Early Febuary (After the Final Oral Defense of our Thesis.) Which leads us to the current dillema of the TropangGaius™ Guild Name. Hence the Poll at the sidebar of my blog. Please Vote! Btw, here's a quick description of each of the Guild Names:

• Planeswalkers™ - We're all Magic:the Gathering players here, so why not a Guild of Magic's primary heroes? :P
• Jooglers - Boogle's idea. Moving on.
• † Claymore † - No, not the ragnarok item, but the Anime/Manga of the same name. I love that anime, and this is my entry for the guild name. ^^
• Limit Break - Most of us are Final Fantasy addicts, and since the most iconic final fantasy is FF7, how about this as our Guild Name?
• • A N B U • - Most of us are Naruto fans, and this is the name of the Elite Konoha 'Military Ninja Police'.
• Others - Please post your Guild Name entry at the comments section of this episode. Click the comments link at the very bottom of this post.
  

Btw, the poll will run from now and will close at December 12, 2007 @ exactly 11:59pm. Please vote\comment on or before the date. Moving on...

Magic:the Gathering Worlds 2007 happened, actually, and the results was just in: the Finals was between Uri Peleg's TarmoDoran synergistic Aggro Deck versus... guess what? A spinoff of last year's champion's deck: Patrick Chapin's MonoRed Knoll-DragonStorm Combo. Yes, I guess combo's not really dead - since this DragonStorm deck even made it to finals. Tough luck for him though, since Uri Peleg won that game at 3 wins - 1 lose. Congrats to Israel!

I guess that's that. I think the next couple of weeks will be rough on me (My thesis needs doing, and the code is freakin complex. I wish there's someone I can talk to who has sufficient ASP.Net knowledge...) *sigh* Ciao peeps! oh, and Vote!

== Tropa Advisory ==
After this week, up to two tropas can overnight at my house to Power Level at RO (Preferably one them is a Full Support). Just give me an early warning (About 1-2days prior) kk?

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Listening to: JPop! Currently, BoA (Be the One)

SWNow :: Episode 27 :: Lame Lame Lame :: 120107

As usual, Firefox users, Right Click + View Image for better resolution.
IE Users, download Firefox ^^ Hehehe

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Detect Evil. Hehehe ^^

I don't think I'll be playing Ragnarok Online anymore - The graphics and the gameplay is really annoying. It's hard to enter the server, and the Item Mall sux. It does, really. I'll just stick to RFOnline, since the Giga 2 & Giga 3 patches look really cool.

Ok, those things aside, I woke up this morning at 1:30pm. I have a seminar at 9:00am, and 1:00pm at the school. T_T Wahhh, I freakin overslept again. Oh well. Nothing much happened this last few days. Well, the Manila Peninsula Mutiny happened (30 mutinous soldiers + unarmed senators, bishops and journalists Vs. 1500 Soldiers + 3 Armored Personnel Carriers. Wtf did they expect to happen? It really is 'the lamest coup ever') My thesis is rolling along, I still don't have the data from Mam Milka, but I think I can incorporate that easily. On Magic:tG, I'm really bored on this set's Standard Environment. It's kinda dull - Lorwyn's Tribal Theme doesn't really strike me as a good mechanic - It forces the player to include 'suboptimal' cards because there's no other alternatives (Changelings, etc.) Control, on the other hand, is having a hard time (Counterspell, where art thou?), while Combo is dead. o__o *sigh*

So, Let's recap:

1. Thesis - In Development.
2. Ragnarok Online - Lame.
3. RFOnline - Loving my Int +4 CR Upper & Int +3 CR Lower ^^
4. Magic:tG - Dead.
5. Gals - No comment.
6. WebComic - Still looking for a WebHost... Can anyone help me? Please?
   
7. Dungeons? - Haha. Hmm... Actually...

Yes, there's actually some D&D News for all of you. Not exactly D&D, but D20 Future. I'm currently working with tagailog to create a D20 Future crossover campaign - Bubblegum Crisis: Pasig 2040. I'm ironing out the details, but I think I will release the Core Rulebook this Tuesday, after I get the all clear from tagailog, who's illustrating the book.

That, I think, is everything. Hmmm. I'm Curious. ^^ Hehehe Ciao, peeps! See ya later.

SWNow :: Episode 26 :: Got Banned :: 112807

As usual, ryt click + view image. Or better yet, click here.
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After three days, I got banned from Valkyrie. ^^ Hehehe, I guess I was caught using a 'third-party program'. Anyway, here's what I found out about the free-to-play server that's not written (I think) at the official site:

1.) Valkyrie is a PK Server.

2.) Some items that can be bought from Hypermart expires after a few days. I think the items all have the 'Neo' prefix and a seven day expiration after the 'box' containing the item is opened.

3.) The most sought after item in the mart is the Field Manual (+100% Exp Rate) and the Bubble Gum (+50% Drop Rate). Each come in boxes (five items/box) that can be bought for 1000 Rok Points (50.oo Php), although this week (and this week alone), there's a sale: each box can be bought for 400 Rok Points (20.00 Php).

4.) The Thor Server is going down permanently on November 30. On its place will rise the Valhalla, a Non-Pk Free Server just like Valkyrie. HOWEVER - Level 70 and above characters from Thor server will be migrated into the Valhalla server, complete with their stored items! Which sux.

5.) According to a few sources (IRC, Forums, etc), Level Up Games is tracking botters (aka 'Third-party Program'-users) using a combination of Surprise Maintenance and a so-called 'Timeout' System. The server suddenly goes down, and a script will run at the Login server, flagging all accounts that try to access the server that has an exact timeout delay. Meaning, anyone who accesses the server exactly every 10seconds (Kore timeout default) is automatically flagged. Changing the timeout doesn't work (Apparently. That got me banned), and unless you modify the source code of the Kore (or any of the bot's variants) you're using to randomize the timeout, I don't think you can avoid getting caught. Btw, the server resumes its normal activity after 30 mins.

6.) The drop rate is 1.0 - which is freaking too low. I left my bot to roam payon 7 (Elder Willow Forest) to harvest some Trunks, and after almost 9hours, i got only 10 Trunks! Wtf? Given that the bot is online only 1/2 of that time (The server almost always disconnects after an hour or so - sync error, aka Lag), that is still too few.

7.) I'd rather play RFOnline. Below is the reason why:

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That's a teaser from CCR, creator of RFOnline, about RF Online Episode 2, Giga 3 (It's currently Giga 1 right now, Giga 2 next month). Interplanetary battles would be awsome - and that Gundam-like Accretian Rocks! ^^;

Aside from those, a lot of disasters happened. The Typhoon Nina, The Return of Typhoon Lando, and an Earthquake, to be exact. o_0 Anyway, we're (thankfully) not affected by these. And right now, I'm thinking about my thesis. I hope that one doesn't become a disaster as well. Anyhow, I guess I'll go back to coding the web application... Ciao, for now.

SWNow :: Episode 25 :: Going Dancer :: 112507

SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

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I Love SeeqPod! Also, did you notice? Yup, you can now Digg™ So, What Now?'s blog posts! :D Oh, and if you didn't notice, since yesterday, the 'chat box' at the left column is now 'upgraded' to Meebo Rooms! I still kept the CBox though, as a messege drop box... Ehehehe I'm trying to update more often, even though my schedule's really darn crappy. The thesis is driving me unstable, and my head hurts. I need to migrate the profile provider's database from the accounts database to an XML or any other database in order to make the student number a primary key... WAAAAHHH!!! *Explodes*

Anyways, the power today was a bit wobbly, fluctuating every now and then. There was a brownout from 1pm to 5pm, I think, and I've reread Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Fantastic story, kinda short though. I'm itching to download the movie...along with the complete The Sandman graphic novels (also by Neil Gaiman) and Level-Up-Game's Ragnarok Online - Valkyrie Server. *sigh* I know, ragnarok online again. This is because of the Salvador Brothers :( They want to play Valkyrie since it's a "Free" server - hypermart is still available though.

I don't like Ragnarok's "Free" system, since you can buy powerful items (Monster Cards, Equipment, etc.) if you're loaded with cash. RFOnline's "Free" system doesn't sell weapons and the items are even OBB-like (Meaning there's a chance that you get nothing for your money) which is perfectly balanced and doesn't spoil the game's economy. Also, Ragnarok doesn't have a "Premium" Mode which sucks (RFOnline's paid "Premium" mode doubles your XP, PT and drop rates). But I guess I'll play Valkyrie for a bit. It would be freakin' weird since RFOnline has cutting edge graphics, and Ragnarok...well, looks like a PC-port from a gameboy advance game. Y'know, like FF Tactics Advance. *sigh* I wanna play FF Tactics DS :(

A brief look at me IRL:

[EMO] I'm sad, tired and lazy. I wanna play online games and leave this web application (my thesis) to rot. *sigh* A lot of what I planned during my final year at Letran is kinda screwed, but still... (I'm sorry. You know who you are, and I know what you're expecting, but I can't...) My gawd.[/EMO]

Enough of that.

I guess nothing really happened since my last post. Oh, and my Ragna Character's going Dancer. Back to support class, just like my very first RFOnline character.
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Listening to: Keep It Simple, by Cobra Starship

SWNow :: Episode 24 :: More Angel :: 112407

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Your Guardian Angel [Acoustic]
by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

When I see your smile
Tears run down my face I can’t replace
And now that I’m strong I have figured out
How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul
And I know I’ll find deep inside me I can be the one

I will never let you fall
I’ll stand up with you forever
I’ll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling for all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I’ll be the one

I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I’ll stand up with you forever
I’ll be there for you through it all (through it all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Cuz you’re my, you’re my, my, my true love, my whole heart
Please don’t throw that away
Cuz I’m here for you
Please don’t walk away and
Please tell me you’ll stay woah, stay woah

Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I’ll be okay
Though my skies are turning gray

I will never let you fall
I’ll stand up with you forever
I’ll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
[to fade]

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Gawd, I love that song. The lyrics kinda hits the spot, for me :D hehehe.

I was 1 hour late for my 7:30am class yesterday, coz I thought the classes were suspended again because of the typhoon Mina. It was a laboratory class, Compiler Design, with Mr. Rivera. Fortunately, the problem was quite simple (A lexical analyzer), even though I'm the only one who got a program running by the end of the class o_o *sigh*

Sometime after that, I helped austin with some paperwork for his brother (Jeff). We walked all over the campus, but didn't accomplish much - turns out that Jeff himself must finish this batch of work. Oh, and Austin's highschool crush (Not his crush since high school but his crush who is currently at high school) was apparently the daughter of Mrs. Genota, and she's at her mom's office while we're conducting our business. Austin's smile was kinda chilling though... Man, 6 years difference? As boogle and jun told me - 'Masyadong pedo', indeed.

Oh, and speaking of boogle: Congrats, to you and to Shane. ^^

After that, we went to the Nursing Night, a.k.a Grand Chipsi Night, as one of my berks told me. I thought I'll have trouble getting in the gymnasium since I'm not a Nursing Student, but it turns out that it's ok for other letranites to go in. Some of the bands were cool, one of them played My Guardian Angel (it sucked, though) and the view was a bit...lacking. The program was quite boring after the Pageant's (how do you spell that?) Talent Show and the Bands were through though, and nothing grand really happened.

It was a tiring friday. And I still need to finish the Accounts Module of my Thesis plus inform Ms. Milka about some data requirements we need... -,.,- Hmmf, back to work, I guess...

*Clicks the play button above* ^^ hehehe

SWNow :: Episode 23 :: Twenty :: 112107

Haha.

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After twenty whole days, here I am, blogging again. Not much to say though... Coz my life has been taken over by this gawd forsaken thesis of ours. I'm actually taking a break right now from the coding session. Since today's a wednesday, I don't have classes, and tommorow my only subject still doesn't have a teacher, so I'm taking advantage of this two-day 'vacation' to clean up the Web Application. And since I'm lazy, here's some pics of what the hell's up with me.

(As usual, Firefox users - Right Click + View Image. IE Users, Download Firefox. ^^ Hehe)

Thesis: This is what it looks like on the outside. The Client-side is very very underdeveloped, with the design still pending as Nelson (One of my thesismates) still hasn't made one that I liked. ^^

Thesis: This is what it looks like on the inside. The Accounts Module is 60% Complete, and the ASP.Net website really helped me a lot. I really love the built-in Authentication System of ASP.Net 2.0.

RFOnline: This Larc now. A Level 40 Berserker, with decent armor (a 1k armor in my level is high, but if you look at the message window... Our archon, PapaSpy007, has freakin' 27k armor! Given that he's a Level 50 Sentry (Defense-type Warrior), 27k is still a very huge number.) and also with a decent weapon (A +2 SI Tower Axe).

Magic:TG: A casual deck, which is one I'm using right now. It uses Vedalken Mastermind + Reality Acid/Oblivion Ring to take out threats (Stack Oblivion Ring's leaves play trigger over his comes-into-play trigger, to remove the target permanently) and Evoke + Momentary Blink/Makeshift Mannequin to gain card advantage. The win-con, obviously, is the singleton Bogardan Hellkite, which can deal 20 damage instantly if used correctly.

LolCats. ^^ Hehehe

Ok, that's that for now. Still havin' trouble with my 'friendster' account. *sigh* I guess I'll go back to coding... Ciao...

SWNow :: Episode 22 :: FOOL Update :: 110107

The Unnamed Hero, with The Fool Arcana's Tarot
I <3 Persona 3
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Lots of things to say this episode, it's my very first "Free Day" this sembreak. Right now, I'll just enjoy blogging and writing. Tomorrow, I'll go to Alabang Town Center, enjoy playing cards (Yes, I'm back to Magic - It seems that I can't get away from it) and do a bit of malling. Two days from now...crap, it's back to the... *sigh* I'll discuss that later kay? Anyways, here I go again with my monolithic numbered list of what the f*ck I've been doing since the last last episode.

1. Thesis. We passed - Approved with minor revisions. I can't freakin' believe it. How the hell did we get through the defense? I didn't elaborate on the fifth chapter much, but I completely revised the flowchart just the night before the defense :p Hehe Turns out Mrs. Gabriel was on our side, and she even answered a number of Mrs. Quing's questions.
   
2. Approval sheet. I procrastinated for two whole weeks, and passed the Revisions to Mrs. Quing and Mrs. Gabriel on the exact day of the deadline. I even forgot the thesis - I only brought the Revisions with me. Somehow, both our panelists signed, though Mrs. Quing did so reluctantly.
3. Academe. I passed in Linux with flying colors. I think I passed in Economics. On Software Engineering and Electromagnetics however, I don't think I made it. *sigh* I shouldn't have focus everything in the thesis. Gawd, my priorities are freakin' screwed because of this whole "If I don't pass Thesis, two others will fail" responsibility that I really don't like. Meh, I hate my student life.
4. Magic: The Gathering. I'm back, and like always, I'm choosing between my favorite color Blue, and my second favorite color Red. It's Blue/White Counterpost Control vs. MonoRed Nova Combo, and I'm kinda leaning for the Nova. It dies to fog and control decks through. I'll post a decklist here after I tweak it a bit more...
5. Side Projects. I created a total of five projects for nursing students this last week. My total profit is -450php. Gawd, One of the rules in freelancing is: Learn to say no. I guess I still haven't learned that eh?
   
6. RFOnline. I'm playing around with my 'zerker Larc, but I guess I'll wait for Juner and Edwin. They're also planning to restart their RFOnline accounts. I'm at level 34 (I think).
7. Gals. I'm having a bit of trouble with my female relationships right now, and unfortunately, the privacy of this blog has been breached. It's kindof hard to write about people who might be reading this blog, y'know.
8. Anime. I love Romeo X Juliet and Gundam 00! Hehehe, The story of Romeo X Juliet is superb, and the graphics of Gundam is just amazingly high def. My PC is even having trouble just playing the High Definition videos of Gundam 00!

Ha. I guesss the list wasn't that long. Not as long as the last one, at least. Well, aside from gatherings at my house and my Heroes obsession, nothing else is happening..until two days from now. The apocalypse is near - The development crunch officially begins this saturday, and I need to Email details to my thesismate Joy right now. So, Ciao, I guess. See you in a bit.

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Team Fortress 2 Rocks! I wish I could actually play it tho...

SWNow :: Episode 21 :: Mmrs - jRAM DDR4 :: 102207

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A lot of pinoys are responding to my Meetup Call for a Dungeons and Dragons group. To all of you, I am a Herald Level Dungeon Master with extensive knowledge of D20 3.5 and White Wolf's New World of Darkness Storytelling System. Please stop bugging me - I have a thesis to finish, and I simply don't have the time to organize a campaign. I know, I might be coming off as a little arrogant, but I really really have to focus on my academics. I really really really do.

Believe me, I want to start a Saga Edition Star Wars Campaign, a Post-apocalyptic Mech Wars ala-Armored Core-style D20 Future Campaign and a Classic Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 without any rulebook restrictions (Any rulebook can be used, provided you give me a xerox copy of all relevant data) campaign.

I really do. But I can't.

There's too much I need to do. I need the Data Access Layer of the Online Election Software running in two weeks - and everything else running in four weeks. That's an awfully short time for such a huge project. So please, bear with me - I'll be back, I promise, but in the mean time, I cannot DM. Yet. Kk?

Gawd. I need to pass two case studies, one research paper and the revised thesis tommorow. And I'm right here blogging X( Hehehe.

*I will post a full update later, maybe this night. Hang tight, Ciao for now.*
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~A Quote from Red vs. Blue:

"Church: Thanks for the support Grif. Way to be a team player.
Grif: Hey, I've got to think about myself here.
Church: There's no "I" in team Grif.
Grif: Yeah, there's no "U" either. So I guess if I'm not on the team and you're not on the team, then nobody's on the godamned team! The team sucks!"

SWNow :: Episode 20 :: Mock Thesis :: 100807

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I'm trying to create a prototype for juner's thesis since yesterday, and the whole software's at about 50% complete. It's a very fun thought experiment, and I'm planning to finish it by tommorow. Here's a sneak peek (As usual, Right Click + View Image for better resolution):

junThesis -

• Presentation Layer: 40%
• Business Logic Layer: 0%
• Data Access Layer: 100%
• Documentation: 80%
• Total completion: 55%

Aside from that, I became tired from grinding my soul chandra (RFOnline) so I created a new character! His name's Larc, and I'm planning to make him a berserker. Below's his pic - I got Larc (I got the name from Legend of Mana) last night, and leveled him up to level 22 in just a few hours with the help of premium. Hehehehe :P

Darn it. Iv'e started to write my blogs using the wordpad of my new fone (Word To Go), but it's really annoying. I don't like my keyboard, and there's no smilies...

Btw, I'm still adding a few things to this blog post, just refresh tomorrow morn... Kay?

Magic:tG :: Kithkin? Kithkin!? :: 100307

Prinny Dood!
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Kith.dec

18x plains
2x forbidding watchtower
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20x lands

4x sidewinder sliver
4x sinew sliver
4x knight of the holy nimbus
1x crovax, ascendant hero
4x steadfast guard
4x wizned cenn
4x knight of meadowgrain
1x thoughtweft trio
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26x critters

4x surge of thoughtweft
3x oblivion ring
3x temporal isolation
2x griffin guide
2x fortify
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14x other spells

That's my deck. A mono color aggro rush deck more known as "White Weenie". Wtf's wrong with me? Man, the deck's nowhere near competitive... I'm really thinking about quitting right now, since the whole block is a bit lacking. Kinda like Kamigawa, but w/o the flavor.

Kith.dec plays just like every other Aggro Deck. Just attack. If something big gets in the way, evade with Griffin Guide or remove it through oblivion ring or temporal isolation. Win using Surge of Thoughtweft or Fortify. *sigh* I hate Lorwyn.

I'm not saying the whole block sucks. Gaddock Teeg, Cryptic Command, Thorn of Amethyst, Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Oona Prowler and Eyes of the Wizned are powerful cards, but the rest? There are very few cards that's even near ravnica's power level. That said, i think goblins will be the dominant aggro deck this season, and UB teachings will still be top control deck.

I'm gonna playtest my crappy deck now... *sigh*

SWNow :: Episode 19 :: After 1 Month :: 100107

Watch the video above. It's enlightening, to say the least...
"What's war good for?"

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Darn it, there's a lot of things I want to share. -___- Okay, lets do this: (Btw, I'll add links a little later k? There's a bunch of blocked sites here at school because of 'Gaming Content' or somesuch)

1. Persona 3 Rocks! especially the soundtrack, though the story and gameplay is also superb! Kudos to Shoji Meguro, Persona 3's Music Composer for awe-inspiring tracks such as Burn my Dread and The Poem for Everyone's Souls. Bonus Trivia: Rie Tanaka voiced both Mitsuru (Persona 3, Japanese Ed) and Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED).
2. Thesis is almost complete! Well, the documentations at least. The whole paper is almost 50+ pages, and is 95% complete - with only typographical errors and a few revisions at the last chapter to take care of. ^^ Hehehe at last, I can rest a bit before the Proposal Defense and the Development Crunch (OH CRAP, I almost forgot about that!) arrives.
3. Spent the night in Letran (School) last September 20 for the Overnight Novena for Our Lady of La Naval de Manila. It was enlightening, got a bit of solitude from that.
4. I'm playing RFOnline-Ph again! Well, It recently became a Free-2-Play Online RPG, so, why not? I already have a sufficiently high level character, and I'd only need to grind just another level (I'm at level 42 - I need to be at level 43 to equip my SI Vulcan...) before engaing in the Chip Wars... So, I'm playing again! Mwahahaha! ^^
5. My parents bought me a new cellphone as a birthday present! And it's a friggin PDA-Phone to boot! Hehehe I'm very happy about it - It's a Sony Ericson P990i, complete with Wi-Fi features! ^^ I got a GBA Emulator running in it! Hehehe... The only problem is that it doesn't support my sim (yet)... so mehhhh...
6. I've developed a need for gun-toting animes. Last last week, I'm craving for Gunslinger Girl, and now, I'm looking for Trigun Reruns. Also, I'm downloading GunXSword. Wtf's wrong with me?
7. Bought a new mouse (Yey!) and got a haircut. I kinda don't like it, but my parents and friends tell that its better from my long haired look. Hmmm...
8. I'm also developing a taste for webcomics. Oh, and I need to finalize the design for Austin's webcomic. I'm thinking about taking down these GIFs at the left panel and replace them with a WebComic Listing... Hmmm...
9. Oh, And my birthday was at September 12 for those of you didn't come at the celebration.
10. It's my bestfriend's birthday a couple of days from now! Oct 3 <--- Gazee's Day. ^^
11. I'm loving Fall Out Boy's new album - Infinity on High, especially Golden, Thnks fr th Mmrs, The Take Over, The Break's Over, I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me + You), You're Crashing, But You're No Wave and The Carpal Tunnel of Love. Wow. That's a lot of tracks :P
    
12. I'm really inclined to quit Magic right now. All I'm doing with my cards are crappy, non-competitive White Weenie decks. Which kinda sucks. I'll post a decklist later. I hope.

I'm hating my house right now - Actually, I'm hating a lot of things right now. I'm so uninspired. Darn it, and my sociophobic tendencies is on the rise. It's like a war in my head right now, although my mood isn't really bad. I kinda like what's currently happening. Oh, and about my last post - I'd rather forget about it. I've bitched about it on my friends, so I'm cool. ^^ Those things aside, I hope my laziness goes away when I get home, so that I can place pics and links at this post. Oh, and put a WebComic listing at the panel. -___-

So, Ciao!

SWNow :: Episode 18 :: Psych :: 090107

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"Anger, based on sensation, seems indistinguishable from fear." ~ Wikipedia, on Emotion

[SARCASM] It's really nice when someone just takes your hard work for granted. I just love the feeling, I think I'm addicted to it. I've been hooked to that 'drug' since the start of this semester actually, when someone I'm really loving right now (but will remain unnamed) just scrapped my idea for our thesis. Oh, sorry, correction: MY thesis, since she (apparently, or deliberately) didn't get it.

That incident aside, a few more 'sessions' led to my quick addiction to that lovely feeling. Some are just small, inconsequential details, but some are really great. Just like what happened last saturday morning. Aside from waking up in the right side of my bed, this lovely girl went on and on about what I gave her that night. Ah yes. The Laughter. [/SARCASM] I just spent the better part of the week creating those, and 4 to 5 hour sleeps aren't really helping my mood, So I guess I'm really 'hot' back then. Even so, I guess that was the last straw.

I'm going to finish my Chapter 3 first before I contine this rant ok? Ciao for now...

SWNow :: Episode 17 :: Three :: 082707

My Final Fantasy
by: ~Falany

"You are in every move I make
you, in every step I take
you killed my hopes, but filled my my dream
you are the thing that's hurting me."

"You are the last thing I decide
to never lose out of my mind
you are the first thing I can see
when sleep comes washing over me."

"You are the cruelty of my life
stabbing my heart without a knife
I know that you're not meant for me
even though I long you to be."

"Your voice has never left my ears
your touch is what I hold the dearest
you are the one I want with me
you are my final fantasy."

---

Another three day "Vacation", where I tried to make sense of the Software I'm developing for the thesis. Also, I'm supposed to pass three chapters by the end of the week. Yes, I know it's supposed to be one week per chapter, but it seems that the vacation-days count. I know, we're very VERY late, but I can't do this alone. Darn it, why the hell am I the one doing all this crap? Arrgh, my head hurts, my fingers are kinda numb, and I want to eat something. I also want to play Lineage, and get back to working on the WebComic, which is currently on hold because of our thesis.

Btw, next saturday is the celebration of my brother's birthday. The saturday after that is the early celebration of my birthday, which is would probably degenerate to a drinking session here at the house. At the actual date of my birthday, Joy has planned a three day hotel-stay in order to attend at the Y4IT Seminars. Three days of seminars, while living at a hotel...would be kinda nice...if Mam Rebong approves of it. After that, the following saturday, I'm planning to date my lovely bes. I'm really missing her right now... Anyways, let's skip to october: A programming contest is scheduled, and I'm apparently one of the contestants. Surprise, Surprise. Those events aside, I think my thesis will fill up most of my free time.

Darn it, I have to get back on creating my chapter 3... so until next monday, Ciao for now.
---
The poem is for a certain attractive someone. I'm still curious, If you're wondering :) Hahaha

SWNow :: Episode 16 :: Break up :: 082007

"I shall face damnation for you."

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Five whole freakin' days of freedom from Letran - from thursday up to today (monday). A vacation? Hardly. My PC's acting up again, and it's fairly hard to get it running, and since I'm reviewing a number of things (in programming), it made my "vacation" dotted with headaches. Anyway, here's a quick rundown of what happened:

- My Ichigo 100% download was completed, and I'm in the middle of watching the OAVs.
- Our thesis is still on the works, I need to finish the chapter 2 - four articles left plus the synthesis.
- Found myself a new MMORPG - Lineage 2, Revenge Private Server. This one's free.
- I'm enjoying my new 'discovery': www.tun3r.com <-- Internet Radio roxx0rz! Hehehe
- We're four days away from the grand opening of Enkwentro, the first tagalog webcomic.
- Planeswalkers. 'nuff said.

Aside from those, I have to get my router stabilized, my mouse is moving on its own and I think my hard disk is really near its breaking point. If not my hard disk, then my memory. Darn it. PC problems, Money Problems, Thesis Problems, Real life Problems... I need a break. A real break.

---
Listening to: Bartender, T-Pain, ft. Akon

SWNow :: Episode 15 :: WebComic :: 081307

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Again, Right-click -> View Image above for a better resolution. Or click here: Link.

So, I'm going to have a pretty huge project with Austin (A fellow tropa). Austin is a Comic Artist, and I'm an avid WebComic fan, so I thought, why not make our own webcomic? Hehehe, I've got some of the preps pinned down, and I'm finalizing a bit more, but right now - I'm commenting everyone I know at Friendster. Not sure why though... I'm inspired? I didn't see anyone of note this day, but still, I have a very good feeling today...err, tonight I mean.

This week, I just discovered that Granado Espada is going pay-to-play. Which translates to goodbye and good luck, GE. I'm not shelling any money for anything right now, and I'm actually looking for freelance jobs and stuff for extra cash. I'm not sure why I'm saving (and looking for) cash, but I guess I'm expecting as huge drain on resources coming on...and I don't think it's our thesis. Speaking of Thesis, we failed to submit our Related Literature on time, and we'd probably pass it this wednesday, meaning a -3% deduction on our grade. *sigh* I guess it can't be helped...

I guess that's that. Wait for the opening of our WebComic! ^^ Hehehe

SWNow :: Episode 14 :: Hiatus :: 080607

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I’m really busy. Thesis. Granado Espada. More Thesis. I hate my life right now. You can probably guess what this blog post is going to be about… *sigh* so, first things first:

Hobbies
Yup, you guessed it. I no longer play Magic: the Gathering. Well, I do, but I’m no longer spending any money to buy me some cards. I’m also going to stop being a Dungeon Master for a while, which means that my budget for RPGs are also nil - Both for Pen and Paper and for Online Games. I’m officially going into Hermit Mode, and dropping almost all of my previous hobbies. The only things I’m keeping are this blog, a twitter, and my account at Granado Espada – all of which are completely and absolutely free.

Blog
I like this blog, so I’m keeping it even though I have finally secured the blogspot URL that I want. I’ll try to update every Monday for the episodes (Yes, I know I’m goddamn lazy sometimes, but crazy schedules make crazy people y’know), and try to keep the other articles moving along. Right now, I’ve got a Life Article in the works, an OL_RPG and an RL_RPG in the drawing board (err, word processor?) and a Literature Post in my mind. Oh, and since I’m planning things, I’ll try to squeeze in an Anime post.

Twitter
I’m going to start tweeting. I’m not sure why, but I think it will help me from getting distracted from what I’m supposed to do.

Granado Espada
GE is a massively multiplayer online role playing game which garnered a lot of awards before going beta. And since I took the time to download its bulk (3.6gb), I might as well play it right? But kidding aside, it’s really engaging and fun to play. I’m currently at level 36 and the level grinding ain’t so tough, so I’m going to stick to this game. Note: This is the only game (aside from casual Magic) that I’m playing right now. Something’s freakin’ wrong with me.

Magic: the Gathering
I just sold almost all of my magic cards. Well, those with value at least. So, it’s not possible for me to create a competitive deck right now without the help of proxies, friends or a large wad of money. ‘nuff said.

Real Life RPG (RL_RPG)
I spent quite a lot of time on a few of the group’s adventures, and I’m kindof disappointed at what happened. First the nWoD campaign was so damn slow that a hastily thought up Dungeons & Dragons session became the main campaign. The Eberron Campaign, on the other hand, was too damn unstable and unbalanced for some of the characters, and the D&D Heroes of Battle (Mages Vs. Psions) went downhill fast because of lack of roleplaying and an absurd amount of things I (as a Dungeon Master) have to track. The Star Wars campaign didn’t even get off the launch pad after I spent quite a lot of money at the book and at the battle grid. Not to mention the amount of time and effort I put in creating these campaigns. So, final verdict: I’m temporarily putting my DMing days on hold. RL_RPGs are now officially on a hiatus.

Thesis
Ah, my favorite subject. Shit. So, we’re going to pass the Data Request Letter tomorrow (hopefully) to mam ella, and start compiling Chapter 2:Review of Related Literature afterwards. Since that is due this Saturday, I expect a rather lengthy session with Mam Alon this friday (just like the day before the submission of the topic proposal, where we stayed on campus until 10:00pm). Those things aside, I’m doing fairly well at ASP.NET and Visual Basic .NET, although I’m already two weeks behind my planned software development chart. Yes, even after all these cramming; I’m still two freaking weeks behind my schedule. Crap.

Hermit Mode
After all is said and done, I’m officially deleting my rather bleak gaming existence and going all out on my thesis and a few distractions. I have to finish my thesis, and it has to be the best there is – Software, Documentation and Research Paper.

Girls
…I’ve hated Friendster since 04/2005…

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“Torpe.” ~ Bes, 4 years ago
“Torpe.” ~ Bes, 4 minutes ago

SWNow :: Episode 13 :: Friday :: 071307

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*looks above* Note: Right Click -> View Image for better resolution. ^^

It's Friday the 13th. Link. Link. Link. I hope nothing like that happens since I'm expecting a few things at school today. Here's an overview of what I intend to do - first, find one of the gals I like and try to get them to accompany me at the concert tommorow. Next, find jeboy and make him pay me ^^ he owes me some money, but he's a good man. He's never let me down since high school. After that, I'll try to speak with mam milka about our thesis proposal, and get some data about the online enrollment database. Then, I'll buy an illustration board so that I can make a battle grid, before finding one of my berks. The tropa are going to join in an FNM a bit later, so good luck to them. I'm hoping I could get them to buy me some cards (and sell me some cards too) but If I can't its alright. I'm kindof expecting a drain on resources coming (aka Freshmen night tommorow).

Ironically, this is my 13th Entry in this blog. Also, the second episode out of my regular schedule. Unfortunately, I have to cut this short because I'm kindof running out of time - still have to do my morning routines and travel to school etc etc... So, I'm going now! See you on monday! ^^

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SWNow :: Episode 12 :: Once Again :: 070907

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The picture above is the interface of what almost became our thesis. It's 1/5th of the whole application architecture of our 'super system' - a unification of all systems available in Letran. It was possible, and I can do it. The problem is time. I'm gonna need to design hell of a lot of subsystems in order for that behemoth to work, and it's jut not worth the effort. I mean, the system is just too freaking huge for an undergrad research paper.

So, guess what? Yup, back to square one, but this time a lot things have settled. The first is our Thesis Topic (OnE Letran) and Thesis Adviser (Mam Alon Teodoro). Next, the roles each of us (Me, Joy and Nelson) are supposed to do is now clearly defined. What I need to do: Find an Editor, furnish my Thesis Proposal, get a copy of the Central Database from Mam Malou, construct a sensible Database Application Architecture and try to design a Data Access Layer from what I currently have.

Shit.

*Thesis Mode*

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SWNow :: Episode 11 :: Lucky Me :: 070207

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"Ang daming benefits..." ~ Me, to a certain girl.

So, everything was going well with our thesis. I've got half of the program up and running, and I just passed the Thesis Concept to our adviser Mam Teodoro. Unfortunately, Sir Vince gave us another topic - Letran's very own Online Enrollment system. He told us that since the project is tied with Letran, we have higher chance of getting a "Best Thesis" from it (He obviously haven't seen our Thesis Concept). Now, he didn't really force the topic on us, in fact I could have easily told Sir Vince that we already have a working topic.

But since Joy doesn't really have an idea about the concept, I opted to consult her with this Online Enrollment System. Joy is in charge of the documentation, and I'm in charge of the software. I can do both systems, no problem (I have enormous amounts of resources available), but if Joy doesn't understand the concept, then were screwed at the oral defense. Any non-software related question should be under Joy's documents - and that's what I'm worried about. So, I consulted joy about the topic she prefers more, since I don't have any problems with either of them. She told me that she'd rather have the Online Enrollment system, and with that our topic has changed.

Current ToDo List: Find a new Adviser (Mr. Infante?), Get an Editor, Conduct an Initial Interview, Finalize the Thesis Concept Paper, and Construct an appropriate Activity Chart for the Design and Development of the system. In short, back to square one. -___-

I need to type some things up and still have this eBook I need to read, but I'll post something about our thesis right after I finish the Concept Paper. Until then, Ciao...
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SWNow :: Episode 10 :: Peon :: 062507

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I thought Joy got the concept of the '3d Internet' that was supposed to be our thesis. It turned out that she didn't, which is why she's having doubts about the plausibility of our thesis. I won't blame her though - even I doubt it's plausibility. Here's the gist of it:

1.) The input is basically a text file (from notepad or any other text editor), and the output is shown on our program (the 'Browser').
2.) The processes involved is the interpretation of the text file into 3d shapes. Which is basically just a 'lexical analyzer'.
3.) The output is a 3d rendered landscape according to the attributes set by the text file.

Example:
Text file - < Room width="6" length="6" height="10" > < Table > < /Table > < /Room >
Browser Output - a three dimensional 6x6x10 room (w/o walls) with a three dimensional table in the center (Position 3,3,1). Everything doesn't have textures, and the background is just pure white with a black grid.

Basically, we're just using an HTML-like language of sorts in order to render a scene. The attributes of the objects are inside the tag, and you can place objects within objects That's it - our whole thesis. Pretty simple concept, pretty huge program. I'm planning to use Microsoft VB.Net in conjunction with Microsoft Silverlight (For platform and browser independence) and Microsoft DirectX9 (for 3d Rendering). If anyone out there who knows some resources I can use, please PLEASE leave a comment. I'm gonna need all the help I can get on this one.

Hmm... What else... I've met all but one of my teachers this semester, and they're all normal. I'm gonna need to take my Engineering Electromagnetics class seriously this time though, or else. Darn it, I really need my TODO list shortened by tommorow... So until my next post (expect that later this night - I promise I'll post something!), Ciao! ^^

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SWNow :: Episode 9 :: Girls :: 061807

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I know. I skipped a week. I'll make up for that somehow, but right now, I'm so darn sleepy. I guess my Lazy Factor is still kicking strong. I wonder when it'll stop. Anyhow, here's the 'current events' of my life right now:

Internal OJT - I am assigned to the MIS Department (Management Information Services) which maintains all of administrator's technical needs - from ID printing, to format and systems installation, to update and upgrade and even virus scanning. Right now, my job is to take pictures from elementary to high school, and also some of the employees. I'm not sure If I'm still at the MIS when college students are scheduled to have their pics taken though. I hope so...anyway, I met this girl, Marge (2nd year, Psych) and she's kindof a curiosity. I don't know - I feel like I'm attracted, though I'm not really sure why. Hmmm...

Next is the Dungeons & Dragons: Ebberon Sessions happening once a week at my house right now. The campaign is progressing as I thought it would - a knock-down-the-front-door style of role-playing game. I literally lead my players by the nose so that they arrive at the dungeon in one piece, then they take over the mission through whatever means they have in their disposal. A very quick style of playing, but at least we're enjoying it. Btw, they just slew a Wyrmling Blue Dragon (Above) last session.

What else...I finished watching Heroes, which led me into developing my own Theory of Evolution. Yes, I'll post that here soon, but before that I'll try to post a VB.Net report about my latest project, the MapCloak Dungeon Master's Screen. I'll flesh out the details about the program later. Hmm.. I think that's all...

Oh, and Aubrey and Emil have broken up. And I just saw Rein this morning, who told me that she's going to enroll this sem... *sigh* I'll try to update some more later, kay? But for now, Ciao and thanks for listening...

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Magic:tG :: Four the win :: 061507

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So, 10th Edition's in black borders, have legendary permanents (Legacy Weapon?) and includes the Beacon Cycle. Is it really a core set or just reprints of old staples? I mean, Windborn Muse, Beacon of Unrest, Goblin Piledriver, Overrun and... hmm... I guess Blue's getting nothing eh? Oh well - The other cards are powerful though. Here's a set of four decks that I might play next standard season (Right Click-> View Image to see it more clearly):

So, a quick deck description one at a time. The first is a classic Goblin Sligh which is again viable because of 10th Edition's Incinerate + Goblin Piledriver inclusions. The gameplan is simple, early game pop out some goblins, midgame burn to the dome, and late game Blood Moon + Goblin King for the last few bits of life. Its weaknesses are its inconsistency (Goldfish kills at turn 5 normally, one to two turns slower than the current top tier decks).

Next in the line is a Flourishing Aeons deck, a combo deck which is reminiscent of the classic Stasis decks. Early game it disrupts the enemy's game through Gigadrowse and Exhaustion, before recurring either Walk the Aeons or Exhaustion using Reclaim and Recollect while Patagia Viper attacks overhead.

After that is the powerful Swarm Deck, a midrange tempo deck. Early game, set up a few walls on the ground and win midgame through Sprout Swarm + Overrun Combo. The deck needs to stop the opposition through its walls before it can attack for massive damage, which is why there's 12x Defender cards maindeck. The other cards are either to help Sprout Swarm (Wall of Roots, Centaur Omenreader) or to help the massive Overrun (Baru, Nacatl War-pride and Wildebeests). This is one of the more powerful decks I designed over the week.

Next up is my personal favorite, AggroCon Slivers (yes, I've got a thing for slivers). The build packs hell of a lot of removal, from damage (Lightning Helix, Seal of Fire, Cautery Sliver) to destroy effects (Mortify, Necrotic Sliver). It gains life (Lightning Helix, Essence Sliver) and has virtual pump spells (Marshalling Cry, Sidewinder Sliver, Sinew Sliver and Sedge Sliver). What? Did I just say the whole deck? Well, that's because the whole deck is very streamlined, with very little room left for tech. Which is both a good and a bad thing.

Anyhow, those are my four deck for the win post, see you again next time!
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Ps> I wish my blogs have deck/card tags like MTGSal
Ps2> I know, I haven't posted an Episode post this week. I'm working on it.

SWNow :: Episode 8 :: Slothy Behaviour :: 060507

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So, I'm playing RFOnline again - Lvl 42, and itchin' to get to 43. Hmm... I'm one day late for this episode eh? I guess my Laziness Factor is still kicking. That's what happens after one whole month of getting up 6:00am and sleeping 9:00am...you know, I become really 'undisciplined' as my parents tell me. Really lazy. Anyways, here's an update, a look into my very secluded life.

I'm playing RFOnline, Legend of Mana and watching Heroes. I have also looked into my schedule next semester, and I'm having quite a big problem about my OJT (Internal) since the ITCC no longer accepts trainees at the surfing lab. I hope I can transfer to another department since I don't really like the idea of working as a trainee during the first semester. Btw, my sched's only on tuesday, thursdays and saturdays, 7:30am to 5:00pm every week for the whole first semester. Quite nice, with huge tracks of time to be used for my thesis.

What else... I discovered that my berks don't like the romance of the roleplaying games (the 'Dialog' part) and loves the Hack and Slash part of it. We'd have to find a neutral ground since I don't like the Hack & Slash part, it's far too messy and quite complicated. And since I expect a large gathering here next saturday, I'd better prepare an adventure to their liking. (Yes, I think I'm dropping the nWoD sessions for a more mundane D20 Ebberon Setting.) And also, I think the plan is to have some bonding session afterwards since Jonathan's gonna bring some drinks (Hard. I wish they're hard. I hope so...) and there's some plans about grilling someone. Or something.

Hmm... What else... I'm kinda out of ideas (or too lazy to write them) so, I guess I'll see you next monday. I hope. ^^

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SWNow :: Episode 7 :: Extension :: 052807

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As you can see from above, I'm proNaruHina all the way! Congrats to their pairing (in a mission) in the recent manga! ^^;

So, Cyndie extended her stay in IRRI until last friday :) I'm quite glad for the week, and I'm no longer emo. However, I also need to extend my stay here until thursday too, since I just discovered last friday that lunchbreaks are subtracted from the time record. And the nWoD session last saturday? Well, I designed scene 1 to go for 15 mins. We spent the 15 mins, with a few hours extension. About 2 to 3 hours extension. -___- I'm not sure how to handle this peeps, but I'll try to do some damage control next session.

What else... Hmm... Err... I don't think anything else is worth mentioning right now. Nothing much happened last week, except perhaps that I'm stalling the production of the 'professional' job right now. Not so professional eh? But still, I'm gonna kill my body If I'm going to continue this 20-hour days I'm doing. Four hours of sleep just won't cut it, so I'm back to my usual routine for a week or two before going back to the software.

I guess there's nothing else... Go NaruHina! Hehehehehe
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SWNow :: Episode 6 :: Last Day :: 052107

The picture above is for a certain someone whom I really liked.
Click to Enlarge.---

I'm a bit sad today, since today is Cyndie's last day at IRRI. She has finished her OJT tenure of 166 Hours, so I won't be seeing her regularly from now on. Anyways, as Nelly Furtado have said (sung, actually), all good things come to an end...eventually. *sigh* It was really fun being with her everyday...

That aside, my little 'professional' job is driving me nuts. SQL is supposed to be easy, but no - it decides to go all sloppy on me. Well, I'm actually to blame, but still - no one said anything about schemas and servers until it was too late. Oh, btw, the nWoD Session went as I predicted, with almost three hours solely on character creation and prologue. Next saturday, we're still there at scene one, but I sure hope they cooperate more... -___-Those things aside, It's still the same around here...sorry I'm not in the mood to explain right now. I'm kindof gloomy.

*thinks of happy thoughts*

Last friday, we (Me and Cyndie) were attacked by IRRI's cursed printer. ^^ Hahahaha It was really fun, with the printer doing nothing as we predicted (It prints a lot of copies, puts pictures on blank templates etc...). The printer became normal again a few hours before closing, so in the end Cyndie was able to pass her trimmed printouts to her supervisor.

*stops thinking*

*goes all gloomy again*

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SWNow :: Episode 5 :: Pouch of Sand :: 051507

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Why the hell am I so damn sleepy today? I just can’t keep my eyes open. This is the first time that Cyndie asked me for some help (an improvement from her ‘I don’t need help’ behavior) though I only need to demonstrate things once for her to pick the tricks. I feel like my brain’s fogged up, and I can’t design properly.

Oh, and that reminds me, I got my very first outside-the-campus project. I feel like a damn professional. A damn sleepy professional. It was a relatively easy custom software job for this photography shop at Los Banos. An automated ID Creator, with database capabilities, preferably SQL. Unfortunately, I’m using Visual Basic.NET (I’m still learning its quirks) and I’m not very comfortable with SQL through VB.NET. Another problem is the print module of the software – I’m not sure how to print a form in VB.NET (There’s no PrintForm Function). Those aside, I hope I can finish the software by Friday morning, since that’s the deadline.

What else…The OJT night’s this Thursday, I still have 74 Hours left, Cyndie’s OJT is only until this Monday, and I’ve got to finish the story for the Storytelling Session (nWoD) this coming Saturday. I hope my berks won’t give me a hard time at the character creation, especially JM. They’re freakin notorious for spending a lot of time in choosing their options – the chapter’s good for one to one-and-a-half hours of gameplay, but I expect the character creation to span for about three or so hours. That’s four (or more) freakin hours. Anyways, I hope all would be well by Saturday. I guess that’s every thing about me for now, so Ciao!

PS> Take a look at my latest photo manips at my portfolio – LantisGaius.DeviantArt.Com! ^^
PS2> MAGIC:tG PLAYERS PLEASE READ: Toothless Strategies, by: The Ferret, more specifically the 'Five Common Novice Misperceptions In Deck Design' part. It's good stuff, very helpful.

SWNow :: Episode 4 :: Dentist :: 040707

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The dentist was Dr. Rubio. I encountered him last tuesday, just before I went to Juner's house. It was labor day, so I've no OJT. Let's start from my innermost tooth (The molar? Whatever), 'kay? It was cleaned, calcified (Calcium + Amalgam + Pasta) before being lasered into place. Yes, the dentist actually owned a handheld blue-laser (cobalt?) that he used on one of my teeth. Thext tooth was extracted, which has broken off into three pieces. Each was taken off with minimal effort. The next was root-canalled, a process where the nerves inside the teeth are taken off and replaced by rubber. The next was cleaned and also calcified. I went back the next saturday for a final filling.

But it still throbs. Darn it, the extracted tooth was a bit decayed, and maybe the gums was affected by its taint. My gums hurt a bit because of it.... Anyways, that's that about my teeth.

OJT matters: Cyndie told me this morning that she's planning to do some overtime this week. Up until 9:00pm, since the last shuttle goes off the Institute by 9:15pm. And guess what? I'm going with her! This arrangement has a lot of benefits - from adding almost 4 hours per day at my Daily Time Record and an extended bonding period with Cyndie, I'd love to do overtime.^^ That aside, I sure hope this OJT finishes quickly (120 hours to go). Btw, Cyndie was chosen to be a candidate at Mr. & Ms. OJT Night at our (Guess what?) OJT Night this May 17. If you guys want to attend, just ask me (through text or through the cbox) for a ticket (p15) since outsiders are encouraged to come.

Darn it, my PCs still busted, and my dad needs to use laptop...so Ciao, I guess...
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Mood: Mixed
Music: Emo
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PS> Happy Birthday Dad! ^^
PS2> Congrats grace, and for your new boyfriend...
F*** Y** you S#**-eating Man-Wh***! ^^ Yes, I do hate the bugger.

Magic:tG :: Something Dredged :: 050207

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I was searching around in the MTGSalvation forums for a competent Jhoira Control deck that won’t cost me a fortune when I accidentally clicked this curious little thread named ‘Something Blue, Something Dredged’ at the Decks for Critique subforum. The list at the first post contatined the barebones of a very powerful Combo deck, and the second post completed the list with Aggro-Control elements as a backup plan if anything goes awry. Believe me, I was impressed by the poster’s boasts of turn 4-6 kills, and (at a God hand) the deck even managed a turn 3 kill. It was running under an inginous engine that looked like a pile of crap(cards) at first, but they’re really damn synergistic once you playtest the deck. Here’s my take on NarcoBridge.dec –

// NAME: Dredge.mwDeck
// Land
6 Island
4 River of Tears
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
// Critters
4 Drowned Rusalka
4 Narcomoeba
4 Magus of the Bazaar
4 Thought Courier
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Blazing Archon
1 Mindslicer
// Other Spells
4 Bridge from Below
4 Dread Return
2 Nightmare Void
// Sideboard
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 4 Darkblast
SB: 4 Krosan Grip
SB: 3 Damnation

The Combo: During early game, play draw enablers (Drowned Rusalka, Thought Courier and Magus of the Bazaar) and dredge (Golgari Grave-troll, Stinkweed Imp and Nightmare Void) like crazy. The goal is to hit Bridge from Below, Dread Return and Flame-Kin Zealot at the graveyard. When there’s one or two bridges at the graveyard, flashback Dread Return (Sacrificing three creatures as a cost) targeting Flame-Kin Zealot. This will trigger a chain reaction that would end on the destruction of the entire universe, depending on the number of Bridge from Below in the ‘yard. A single bridge would net you three 3/3 zombies with haste and a 3/3 elemental with haste (12 Damage Total), two bridges will produce six 3/3 zombies with haste and the elemental (21 Damage Total), three bridges: nine 3/3s plus 1 elemental (30 Damage Total) and if you somehow got all four bridges at the 'yard after the combo, then its 12 3/3s plus 1 elemental (39 Damage Total). Don't forget that these zombies are fast - they've got haste because of the elemental.

The Aggro/Control: If the combo goes awry, such as when a stray critter hits your opponents graveyard and the bridges remove themselves from the game, the deck suddenly becomes an aggro-control hybrid. The dredging would continue, but the Imp and the Narcomoebas would act as control elements (plus the Nightmare Void) in order to stall the game. Control would have a pretty hefty problem of countering the dredgeable and huge Golgari Grave-troll, but when that monster takes the bat and swings for damage, it will score some huge damage.

The Problem: It lacks removal - this is done deliberately in order to make sure that accidents won;t happen. A critter dying in the other side of the playmat means that the bridges on your 'yard disintegrate. Vs. an aggro matchup however, well, that's why theres three damnations on the sideboard. The Leyline on the board also prevent the critters on the other side of the table from going to their graves.

Anyway, this is the deck I'm going to build this TimeSpiral Season, and probably the deck I'm going to bring to the Regionals. ^^ So, good luck to all of us, and Comments and Critiques are very much appreciated. Ciao, for now - I'm off to playtest!

SWNow :: Episode 3 :: Toothache :: 043007

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I HAVE A FREAKIN' TOOTHACHE DAMN IT! +_+ Arrggghhhh! Darn it, one of my teeth started aching this saturday, and I can't think straight. I still need to design a CSS File on the IRRI Website, and I can't freakin' think straight, I can't feel my fingers coz' of the awful cold, and I'm having a freakin' toothache! +_+

As you can see, I'm really happy fucked-up annoyed at my current state of delirium. I'd love to finish Final Fantasy 12, and I'd really like to download Naruto: Accel (Whatever) for the PS2 right now, but unfortunately, my stupid OJT is sucking up most of my daytime energy. Oh, and the monitor at my house is freakin' busted. Sorry for the fragrant language, but I'm having a freakin' toothache right now, and I just finished lunch. With iced tea. ICED tea. +_+ That aside, the lunch was great, I just noticed how sexy Cyndie has become after 3-4 years. And her voice... just wow. I love her voice...

Anyways, last week was boring, just like this week. The OJT is just a tiring repetative exercise of the mind (just like magic), and even though I'm learning quite a lot from it, its kinda boring. I love Imeem, my source of music here in the training center. Aside from work, nothing happened this weekend (aside from my usual anime-filled schedule). Ah, just remembered, tomorrow's supposed to be Labor Day. That's 9 hours off my OJT Schedule, and another day here at IRRI to be made up. *sigh* 154 Hours and 45 mins to go...
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My toothache can withstand 500mg of Mefenamic Acid (Painkillers). It wants me to die. Die an ugly, painful and gruesome death.

I. Hate. Toothaches. Period.

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Mood: I have a freaking toothache
Music: I have a freaking toothache by: the freaked out guy with a freaking toothache

Anime :: Blood+ :: 042807

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Wow. I just finished the 50th episode of Blood+, and the ending was complete. This is one of the very few animes that left me satisfied after the last episode. Right now, I'm downloading episodes 10 and 11 of Naruto:Shippuden and Gilmore Girls Season 7 - Episode 19, as well as the first 10 episodes of Pokemon Diamond & Pearl. *sigh* A lot to watch, and since the toll my OJT is exerting on my body is quite steep, I can only watch during saturdays. Which is really annoying. Anyways, here's what I can say about Blood+.

"Saya, Tatakaitai!" ~ Haji, Saya's Chevalier, telling saya to fight.

The last episode of Blood+ was full of emotion - from Diva's duel, Saya's breakdown, Amshel's defeat, to Haji's Last words... it was damn complete. Saya and Diva's fight felt real - with Saya's indecisiveness and Diva's 'I've-got-nothing-to-lose' attitude. Diva no longer cared about herself since she already has babies, and her reaction after she alone 'crystallized' after the two queens both skewered each other was superb. I loved the part when Saya begged Diva to take her with her, and when Nathan appeared by her side with the twins. "She just wanted to have a family", Nathan said. The scene was very well done, and the ending more-so. Haji, for the very first time, disobeyed Saya's wish and told her to live - his usual 'Saya, Fight!' became 'Saya, Live!'. It was a very sweet moment for the two.

After the small kiss, Diva's first chevalier came back for more beating. Amshel's remaining bit of strength pushed both Saya and Haji to their limits - their synchronized movements was the crowning glory on all of the fights in the series, second only to Solomon and Amshel's quick brawl on Episode 40 (I think). Although Haji defeated Amshel, he was forced to remain inside the soon-to-be-bombed opera hall while Saya were forced to run. His last words was...very touching.

After that, they (Amshel and Haji) were both crushed below a ton of rubble. Really sweet. Anyways, the final episode left a few hanging threads for a sequel - not a small feat mind you, since the last episode did a good job in capping the series. Here's a few that I think I recognized as a good plot device for Blood+'s sequel:

1.) Saya awakes after 30 years - and Diva's babies would be teenagers while Kai becomes their father figure.
2.) Loulou, the last surviving Sif, is still around - the place where she was created (Kherbet) was only mentioned in passing. There might be more Sif.
3.) Nathan was in a small scene after he died. It was implied in last few episodes that he was a Chevalier of Diva's mother - which has a chance to be true since he was the least understood amongst Diva's chevaliers.
4.) If Saya and Diva's mother were killed while it was pregnant, this meant that her counterpart (the other queen) might still be alive and kicking...

I guess that's that. All in all, I give Blood+ a 9 out of 10. ^^; Nankurunaisa!
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Disclaimer: Blood+ is an anime series, produced by Production I.G and Sony's anime production arm, Aniplex.

SWNow :: Episode 2 :: OJT :: 043007

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...img src="WaterCourse1_files/image012clr.gif"
style="width: 407px;
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border-style: none;
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~ IRRI Knowledgebase
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*sigh* Darn it. So, I got the OJT for IRRI. The 200 hour 'On-the-job' Training on the International Rice Research Institute Los Banos, Laguna. First things first: The food sucks, and the transportations.... well, there's no transportation. Add to that the ridiculous prices on the canteen and the jeepney fare from my house to here, and I'm really starting to reconsider my choice. And I'm really thankful that I didn't go to Intel, Cavite - or the transportation would be the least of my problems.

So, my external OJT's going on right now...and I do mean right NOW. I'm typing this blog post inside Mr. Atienza's Office - more like a computer laboratory - at the workstation assigned to me. The workstation has two monitors by the way, and you can drag windows from one monitor to the other. Very cool. Anyways, I found out last week that Ms. Glaiza, a beautiful young psychology student from Letran is also here (at the other department) while just this morning, I found out that Ms. Cyndie Rose (Hi Jm!) is with me, inside the same office. She's still as beautiful as I remember her back in High school. Aside from that, my job in the Institute is quite simple - though terribly tedious. The gist of it is that I', going to recheck & repair this website currently being maintained by IRRI - a part of the Rice Knowledge Bank. The pictures are small (and need to be enlarged and re rendered through photo shop), the pages are unlinked (which needs to be linked) and the CSS is buggy (Debugging CSS is not that hard though - just delete it and the bugs go away. No seriously, that's what I did).

I guess that's that for the external OJT - now lets move on to the Internal OJT. Here's the longest explanation I can say about it: It most thoroughly suck. It really does. The trainees go room to room at the ITCC Bldg, cleaning keyboards, mouses, CPUs and monitors. It yucky and messy and I hate it. And I have 100 hours of that shit. T_T Anyways, I guess that wraps up this episode of SWNow, so until next monday, Ciao~!

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Click to Enlarge... ^^; Ehehehehe...

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Btw, about my M:tG post - Here's a few keywords I missed: Fortify, Indestructible & Fear ^^ Total Number of Keywords: 49 - Just one less from the total number of keywords in the whole Magic:tG Card game before Future Sight. Sheessh. XD

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Mood: I'm realllly cold. There's an aircon in front and at my back... >_<

Music: Irreplaceable Male Version ^^