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...