Another Halloween, come and gone

Alright, it’s not over yet, but there goes most of another Halloween. This is a first Halloween in a long time that I was in ‘Sauga, and Vinh and Mai went out Trick or Treatin, so I had the usual door duty. The house on Rothesay is probably really busy, but here on Erin Centre Blvd, it’s pretty peaceful. On average there’s one group of people every 9 minutes, which means we have a surplus of candy. YAY!

That’s all I wanted to say for now, since I figured I needed an update. But with my usual poker thing, today I managed to hit a low of -4.40, which is a result of 4 tournament losses. Then I played some cash games, starting with some limit.. recovered a dollar of loss, then recovered 2 more, and then just now in the window of 10 minutes, I played higher stakes than usual and now I have a positive of $6 today. Which is nice.

I remember when I first started playing poker online, I would mostly play $1 tournaments, then I moved on to $5 tournaments – but every now and then I play a cash game, and I remember one time my first hand was pocket aces, so I made $25 in a window of 2 minutes. But results aren’t so typical, so it’s not always a safe bet.

It’s too soon for another poker-progress chart, so I’ll post it in about a week. Hopefully it’s still positive by then.

My Get Poor Slow Scheme

Okay, in the other blog, I said I started playing small-stakes online poker again, and I don't really care if I lose the money, but at the same time I'd like to see my game improve, so I'm keeping track, and here's my progress so far:



Okay, the dark blue line in the middle is my actual poker winnings and losses.

The pink, always non-decreasing line at the top is my peak performance line. On some days, I might reach $5 in winnings, and then I play one more game and I lose that one. So perhaps my peak would be $5 that day, and my actual is $4. If I stopped one game earlier, my peak would be my actual. Similarly, if I only have losses in one day, the peak would be $0, as if I didn’t play at all that day.

Naturally, the actual can’t ever rise faster than the peak, so the peak is a non-decreasing line, and the distance between actual and peak will never shrink.

Similarly, the sky blue line at the bottom is the lowest of the day, thus it is always non-positive. And opposite like the pink, it is always non-increasing, and the distance between actual and low will never shrink.

Then there’s the teal line. Every poker game I play gets me a bonus point whether I win or lose, which can later be converted to cash. The teal line is an estimate or average of two games per day, which is 2 points, which converts to 20 cents. So for example, at day 17, after playing for averagely 32 games, even though my actual says $0 win/loss, I’ve made 32 bonus points which will later become, theoretically, a profit of $3.20.

So the teal line makes me feel better than the actual line. So with analysis:

At best, I'm making approximately $8 per week.
At worst, I'm losing approximately $8 per week.
At actual, I'm making about 16 cents a week. Hmmm...

The Show where Nothing Happens

Everybody Loves Raymond. I used to not watch it, so I didn’t know the big deal – you know, every now and then it’s on TV and I get a glimpse of it. Then a few weeks before the Series finale hit, I started watching it. And I like it.

It’s odd – because I think nothing happens in the show. For example, in Friends, there are 6 people, and they each have lives and different places to go to. But for Raymond, they’re always in the same house, always in the same three rooms (bedroom, kitchen, living room) and there are always the same characters – Ray and Debra, and then Ray’s family. Every now and then of course they meet some other people, but for the most part it’s just Ray and Debra.

And… they’re talking. They’re arguing, and it’s funny. So nowadays I’m watching it more when I don’t feel like watching Jeopardy, as it’s on every day from like 7-9 from TBS. It’s a charming little show, and it’s actually quite funny for a show where nothing happens. Not sure if I’ll be getting any dvd season boxsets anytime soon, but for now, I’ll continue enjoying it on TBS.

GameSpy – Download This!

Way back when the Internet first started, one way or another, I got subscribed to the GameSpy Daily newsletter. So it keeps me up to date on the world of gaming with reviews and information and pictures and videos and whatnot. I also subscribed to Fileplanet so I can download videos and demos faster.

Anyway, one of the columns that Gamespy offers is the “Download this” column, which features small freeware or shareware titles, reminiscent of older games such as Breakout, Jumpman, etc. – so that’s where I downloaded N, the Ninja game, and re-found a good working version of Scorched Earth.

Today from Download This, I downloaded a small 2d-vertical scrolling shooter in outer space, with a key difference. The designer decided to skip all those little enemies that die in one hit, so you’ll only be fighting boss battles. It’s quite fun, and challenging. Well, it seems fun – the boss music is there so it seems exciting, and yeah, it’s challenging. So far I’ve played it 3 times and lost on level 9 all three times. The normal mode is a timed game, and when you fight a boss quickly you get bonus time, and when you die you lose time, and of course, bosses get harder and bigger.

Anyway, it weighs in a little under a meg, so downloading it shouldn’t be a problem.

http://www.fileplanet.com/157906/150000/fileinfo/Warning-Forever-Demo

Enjoy! Beat level 9!

The Joys of Drafting

Ahh, the joys of drafting (magic cards, of course). We have been drafting quite a bit during the past few weeks (two and a half times), and it’s a lot of fun. It’s hard to explain. Opening a booster, seeing new/old cards, then formulizing a strategy to choose cards. So decision making comes into play, and then there’s some psychology too (in an awkward sense, like, “I think I can take this uncommon card now, and I really think this card will pass around to me again so I can take it again”) – so that’s a fun psychological part. Then after all the cards are drafted, then you make your deck – formulate a strategy, etc, and then play against each other.

Drafting does have its drawbacks. First, it costs a lot. You can have a small draft for around $12, so around the price for a movie – or a bigger draft for about twice as much, which, proportionally, makes sense. And then comes another negative which isn’t really a negative, but… it is.

The other negative is having a lot of cards afterwards. One of two things happen: We don’t use the other cards, and they take up space; or we do use them to make other decks, and we use up time. It does take time to make a deck, but it’s also fun – to make constructed decks, but yes, it does use up time. Back when we were all active magic players, this wouldn’t be a problem – more cards means more choices so we can make better decks, and everyone will have fun.

Now’s not really the case anymore – we still use magic cards in deck, but not as much as we used to. Well, I still do it, because…we have a lot of cards. If we could sell cards for 2 cents a card, that’d be a pretty good deal… we’d make maybe $40 easily with that.

Anyway, Alan’s birthday is coming up, and for that I think he wants a CBS draft – so that should be fun. Also, VK’s birthday is mid-November, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d like a draft too. I’m hoping a big Type 2 draft – a really big one, maybe. That’d be sweet. And then of course in December, we have our 2nd fake draft, which would be fun. I sure hope we play with those cards more often though.

Ravnica: The Novel

The Ravnica fat pack came with the Ravnica novel, which I started reading on the 10th and I finished last night. Read every night from 1:00 am until I’ve read 10-25 pages, and then I was done.

I liked it. I guess we can measure a book’s goodness by how well you can translate what you read into imagery, into something believable in a fantasy setting. And yes, this book can do that. The writing isn’t superb – won’t win any awards anytime soon, but it was enjoyable and kept me wanting to read more.

Some parts did not – the first two chapters were somewhat confusing (time-changes), but after that it gets much better. There are multiple story lines from multiple characters (or people from different guilds) and eventually they do meet up together, and it’s exciting in that way.

Of course, it helps to know some stuff before reading the novel; getting accustomed to Ravnica by playing it or reading about it a lot helps. Agrus Kos is the main character, but there are a few angels and zombies and goblins, and other main characters like the Gorgon Sisters and Savra. Also, it is in a… city, RPG fantasy like setting, so I think having played MMO’s adds to the experience – actually, I only say this because there’s a character in here that has a pet wolf.

Anyway, the imagery works quite well, and twists and turns throughout the story keep your interest. So overall, I like this novel. It’s easy to read, and it’s fun. Now I’ll look forward to reading the other Ravnica novels, and if I can get my hands on the Kamigawa novels I’d read those too.

Three Week Party

Oh boy, I have so much to write about on this blog or on other blogs. Actually, I’m kinda not using this blog to its full advantage – I wanted this blog so I can write an entry whenever I wanted to, but now I’m trying to keep it at about a post a day. I guess I could write 4 posts in one day, but… well, since not a lot of people are commenting anyway, then sure, why not?

Anyway, around April, Duy had a party that lasted about 4 days, because my parents went out on business. Anyway, now my parents are heading out to Germany for 3 weeks, so I can have a three-week party! So, who wants to skip school and hang out? :P

Convocation

This Saturday coming up is Convocation. They want a bunch of us to come so they can tap us and… well, no. Anyway, since September or whenever I decided myself that I didn’t want to go. If I didn’t go, they would mail it to me and everything would be okay.

The May convocation would’ve been good – that was my time to graduate with all those other Fall 2000 co-op people – I would’ve known at least 10 people, with at least 50 other people I’d recognize from First Year. Now however, it’s… such a… hand-me-down kind of feeling. The big grand event is the end of Winter Term event – but now, we’re doing a “middle of Fall Term” event? That’s such a… notsogood event. And I won’t know anyone there, except maybe a couple people.

And then I have to dress up and stuff, and overall I don’t really want to go. However, my parents, last week, started talking about it and they want to go. Well, my mom wants to go at least – it probably makes sense. Like highschool graduation, it’s a huge milestone, and pictures must be taken and stuff. However, I really don’t want to go for the reasons above. I talked to my mom about it, so she might be starting to see my side, so right now I’m not sure if I’m going.

Magical Shopping Arcade

I went shopping for magic cards the other day... but not at any store - in my kitchen, and in my living room! After the draft, people didn't seem to take their cards home - not their decks, nor their unreal tournament cards. So technically, they're just taking up space.

So I took the liberty and gave them a meaning - I took them and put them and constructed a deck! Well, I left the draft decks alone, but I took maybe 120 of the unreal tournament cards and put them together for use in 3-4 decks. I took apart Andy's deck cuz I asked him and he said it was okay. Although, master warcraft would be cool... but oh well. Can't do much about that.

So... that's about it. Weird draft next week hopefully, fake draft in December, and I think I'll be done the Ravnica novel in about 12 days. I'll write a review of half of it tomorrow.

Crime Scene Investigation x7

I must’ve seen six episodes of CSI this week, not counting SpikeTV. Actually, no… CSI Miami, Close to Home, Criminal Minds, CSI NY, CSI, and Without a Trace – and tonight I’ll catch Numb3rs, cuz I hear that’s good.

I guess the CSI formula works – crime in the beginning, and then we watch people collect clues to catch a bad guy in the end. Not sure why it’s so good – maybe the deduction process feels so good, being able to deduce little things a bit at a time, eventually coming up with a conclusion and catching the bad guy. I think that’s what it is.

Okay, so each non show is different, even within the CSI’s. CSI is 80% forensics. Close to Home reminds me of Single Female Lawyer, except she’s not single, nor a slut, but she’s pretty hot and at the end of every episode she turns around and smiles at her client. Close to Home is 70% tactics, trying to get the guy to talk or find some clues and stuff.

Criminal Minds follows patterns to deduce where the bad guy is… and it helps that the main character has the innate ability to figure something out at the last second. Plus, some of the girls on that show are pretty hot. And then Without a Trace is mostly about what people say – they would talk to a guy about the victim, and then there would be a ~45 second flashback about what happened, and from that they deduce who to talk to next.

So… CSI Las Vegas is now in its 6th season – is the show still attractive? Well, the formula still works, but are they coming out with original cases? Technically, if you count the other CSI’s, they’re now in their 10th, 11th, and 12th seasons. Some episodes are unique to their city, or unique to the characters in the show, but most are probably pretty similar.

Well, it’s still working – I’m still watching. Although, it’d be cool if they made a show where each of the investigators used to be criminals, so they each have special knowledge about different fields. Orrrr, maybe a show where every couple episodes, a member of the team dies or becomes the bad guy… that would work…

The Earth is an egg!

Rahxephon is weird. Alright, I remember I’ve seen maybe 1 or 2 episodes of Rahxephon (I assume 1), and yeah, it’s weird, but intriguing. Multiple timelines, universes, a love story, mech-war stuff – it’s weird. So I ordered the Rahxephon motion picture from ADV (from the sale) and I just watched it.

I was about to quit watching it about 40 minutes through because it irritated me – because episode 1 is thoroughly contained within the first 40 minutes. It’s like they wanted to make the movie watchable by people who hasn’t seen any Rahxephon, but they failed in that way, and that was a cowardly tactic. I haven’t seen ep 2, but I wouldn’t be surprise if ep 2, and maybe ep 24, were in the movie. Anyway, so I was about to turn it off, but about half way through it was really really sad for about 3 minutes, and then really really weird for 3 minutes.

Then it gets weirder. Okay, so it’s a weird movie, but they do eventually tell you more stuff so you can understand it, and then at the end it gets weird again. The dvd box says that it’s still a love story, and yeah, there’s a love story in it, with a lot of… weirdness. I wouldn’t say it’s an action anime movie – things do blow up, mechs do fight – but at heart it’s a weird philosophical, time-twisting confusing movie with a love story interweaved in the middle.

Because the first 30% of the movie was a cop-out, and the movie was weird, but it had some pretty moments, I’m giving it a 6.8/10. It wasn’t expensive and it came with a box and a nice booklet, so it was okay.

So the question is, can you watch it without watching Rahxephon? Um, I only saw ep 1 of Rahxephon, and ep 1 of Rahxephon is in this movie, so it’s as if I didn’t watch anything before watching this movie. I bet this movie will be quite a bit better if I did watch the entire series, but for now, I suppose you can watch it the way I watched it. Actually, if you didn’t see episode 1, you’d have much more enjoyment, at least from the first 40 minutes. So I hope you haven’t seen episode 1 yet. =)

I’ve got my panties!

Yay! My panties came in the mail today! Now I can touch panties and watch panties at the same time! So many things to do...

Great Teacher Firefly

Boy, what a long week that was! Well, it felt long - waiting for the Ravnica draft wasn't an easy task. To keep myself busy, I decided to watch a lot of stuff, and finish my Kratos video. So I watched:

Sunday: Firefly 2, Firefly 3
Monday: Firefly 4, GTO 27, GTO 28, GTO 29, Prison Break, CSI Miami, Firefly 5, Firefly 6
Tuesday: Close to Home, GTO 30, GTO 31, Firefly 7
Wednesday: Firefly 8, GTO 32, GTO 33, Criminal Minds, CSI: New York, GTO 34, Firefly 9
Thursday: Firefly 10, Firefly 11, GTO 35, GTO 36, GTO 37, GTO 38, GTO 39, CSI Las Vegas, Firefly 12
Friday: GTO 40, GTO 41, Firefly 13, GTO 42, GTO 43, Firefly 14

And now I'm done Firefly and GTO! Sweet. Finally, after 4 years, I've finished GTO - it's a really good series. Anyway, so there's still about 16 hours before the draft, but Jia's here now (shouldn't be a surprise to you) so the time will go by fast.

Close to Criminal Phones

Tuesday I watched Close to Home, yesterday I watched Criminal Minds. Not much to say on them; might watch more Close to Home, will probably watch more Criminal Minds. I’m still trying to keep busy until the Ravnica draft, by watching a bunch of stuff; also, I’m starting to learn how to play the Moonlight Sonata. Now, whenever I play it I think of “The Phone”, a Chinese/HK horror flick – Jia knows what I’m talking about.

Lastly, I finished the last Kratos video. Took me two days, and a lot more work than the other videos – this one actually is timed and has edits and timing to the song, so it’s not just a compilation, but actually has events happening with the music. Time lightning blades to beats, demon fangs to notes, things like that. If you pay extra attention to some parts of the video you can notice the little things too, which is always a bonus. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t proud of this one.

I’ll have a live showing of it on Saturday, and then I’ll upload it for downloading later.

What's the worst thing that Kratos can do in a middle of Lloyd's combo?

Our Mrs. Reynolds

Oh, what a funny episode! This has got to be one of the funniest episodes I’ve seen so far. Firefly, episode 6. I’m not sure what to say – if you’ve seen the episode, you know what I’m talking about. I love the part near the beginning, the talk about killing (everyone should have the right to kill, if someone tries to kill you you should try to kill them back), the stupid planet and rules… man, funny as hell. Hot lady in the episode too. And lastly, my name was in the episode! Fresh Bao! Speaking of Bao, I wouldn’t mind some Ban Bao (<-- I don’t know the accents) now.

Anyway, I borrowed Firefly from Wen, and so, Firefly, GTO, and some other things will keep me busy until Ravnica. I can’t wait.

Oh, and before when I said that David probably wouldn’t like Firefly, that’s because the first 20 minutes of episode 1 are totally different than the rest of the show. And of course, during the first minutes of the pilot, things are also pretty slow, and kinda gloomy with no character yet. So… yeah, that’s it. So if David or Alan or whomever would watch more than 1 episode, then it’s great.

but I want to watch serenity now!

Song of the day: Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children – One Winged Angel (8.6mb, 6 min)

So Friday night, Wen and Ambrose and I went to see Serenity, the movie sequel of the short-lived Firefly TV series.

The movie was quite excellent. First, a little background: I’ve seen only the Firefly pilot, the first episode, which is actually 2 episodes. The first episode introduced me to all the characters and the general theme of the series, which is the key to being able to enjoy the movie. I would recommend everyone to watch at least the first episode of Firefly before watching Serenity.

Anyway, Serenity was awesome. It probably was awesomer for veteran Firefly watchers, who saw the (short) series, and then had to wait this many years for the movie to come out. Maybe it’s kinda like growing up with Cloud Strife, and then having to wait 7 years to see the spectacular that is Cloud Strife to come back. So if you grew attached to the characters while seeing the series, you’d probably be more excited about the movie than I was. Anyway, I digress – I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, even though I only got to know the characters briefly, a few months ago.

The movie had a lot of drama, action, happy, sadness, and also a lot of humour; well, with so much black space out there, you’ve gotta have some humour or else you’ll die of loneliness and isolation. Or something to that effect. Anyway, the movie had its funny lines and moments, which added to the whole effect.

Additionally, we saw it on opening day, that is, we saw it with all the other huge Firefly fans, so that added to the effect – it was like a group of “like” people watching a movie everyone was interested in, so the additional cheering and clapping that would’ve otherwise been corny, added to the effect of seeing Serenity on the first day.

Anyway, Wen would probably have a better review of it eventually. He lent me firefly, so I’ll watch that over the next few days.

Oh yeah, if you haven’t noticed, I downloaded the FF7:AC Soundtrack. It’s pretty good, especially One Winged Angel. Enjoy it. I’ll probably put up a couple more tracks over the next little while.