The Raven and the Stormcrow

Exit, Stage Left

2007-10-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Pat has decided to do her blogging on her multiply site, so she can socialize with her work friends.

I would blog on multiply too, but it appears to lack a lot of the tools that I've gotten used to in blogger, so I guess I'll stay here. Maybe I'll mirror it on my multiply site, if I don't feel too lazy.

It sort of feels strange to stay on Raven and Stormcrow though. So I'm migrating too, over to gaebril.blogspot...

STOP THE MUSIC!!!

Some other guy already has dibs on that address. And he has all of four posts in his blog, over two years. Great.

Well, I can still get gaeb.blogspot.com. So, that will be the new place for me to write stuff.

See you there!

~~Stormcrow~~
Gaebril

Oh yes, I went there

2007-09-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

But now I'm back!

Well okay, I didn't actually go anywhere. I've just been playing mafia. What is mafia, you ask? It's a text-based, online multiplayer game. It's a psychological experiment. It's a battle between a powerful informed minority and a weak, uninformed majority.

Interested in learning the rules? Click here. Want to play? Drop me a line and I'll induct you into the Mafia Gang, a group for playing mafia over email.

Props to Pat's officemate, for praising my writing, and inspiring me to post again.

Stormcrow

Hashin!

2007-06-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

The toy launch for the Transformers movie is this saturday! W00t! Things will start as soon as Megamall opens, at the ground floor atrium area.

Now, there's something everyone should know before they watch the TF movie: It's going to be really different from the old TV series. No shrinking robots: No soundwave, no casseticons. Megatron is a jet! Starscream looks like a baboon! Prime takes off his faceplate, shows his lips! No grimlock, no devastator, no insecticons. Who the hell are Bonecrusher, Barricade and Blackout? The transformations are less blocky, more organic. The robots are a lot less human, a lot more insectlike. They are all very strange and alien, not the reassuring protectors from the 80s.

Get over all of this before you watch the movie. Just from the CG I've seen in trailers, this will be one of the best movies evar that contains cars that turn into giant robots. Sure, it forgets its roots. It's not the transformers you remember. Maybe it shouldn't have been called the transformers at all.

Get over it now. Don't let that stop you from enjoying a really well made movie about transforming robot aliens.

I'd hate to think anyone is unable to appreciate what they get, because of what they wanted.

Stromcrow

DS, Redux

2007-05-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

In the past, I've written a bit about choosing between a DS and a PSP. I'm firmly in the camp of DS now, moreso since my sister got her own. It's really good stuff, and I think that I for one will not find a lack of good games on the system. "Gamer's games" these days being all about big graphics and fast response times, I'm quite happy to find a system where the quiet joy of a turn-based RPG has not been forgotten.

I'll get one once I've figured out what I'm actually supposed to be doing at work, apart from just dicking around on the internet. ^_^

Edit: Posts need pics! Here's a screenshot of FF3 for the DS. (Not FF6, which was released in the states as FF3 as well)

Stormcrow

Schrödinger's pack

2007-05-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

I was watching some guys at the office open packs of the Warcraft TCG the other day.

Until you see the cards for yourself, they could be anything at all.

What quantum physics teaches, gamblers already know: reality is a shifty bitch.

A placeholder

2007-04-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

Have been busy last week... studying ABAP out of the office. My internet presence has been weak recently as a result. This will continue for another week, so don't be surprised if I appear to be hard to contact for a while.

---

Magic, anyone? Maybe not next weekend though..

Stormcrow

WoW, redux

2007-04-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

I have discovered that I can get cheap WoW singles, from the same place that sells cheap magic commons. So, right now I'm really interested in building a deck, even if just a couple of cheap ones for fun.

How are the rules? You can find a good flash tutorial at the official site. Alternately, I could just tell you that it's so similar to Magic that I'm surprised they don't get sued. Untap, upkeep, draw and all that. Instead, I'll look at what's different:

You (the player) are represented by a Hero card, revealed at the start of the game. It sets your starting life, gives you abilities, and defines your race, class and traits (ie, decktype, like a L5R stronghold).
You can only play cards that share a trait with your Hero (ie, only Horde cards or Rouge cards if your Hero is a Horde-aligned Rouge)
All costs are colorless (like L5R). You can play ANY card as a land by playing it face down (like VS). Quests are lands, but with extra abilites.
Damage to creatures is cummulative; it doesn't fade at the end of the turn. Damage tokens are suggested (like pokemon).
Weapons and Armor are just like artifacts with "1, T: Your Hero has +3/+0" or "T: Prevent the next 2 damage to your Hero". (numbers vary)

List of card correspondences:
Creature -> Ally
Land -> Quests (or any card)
Artifact -> Weapon, Armor, Item
Sorcery -> Ability
Instant -> Instant Ability
Enchantment -> Ability with Ongoing trait

So... anyone else want to try this?

Stormcrow

Back to the grind

2007-04-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

The trouble with long weekends is that you promise yourself that you'll do a long list of fun things. Invariably, this list will be longer than what you can really accomplish...

Two years ago, I played La Pucelle Tactics. It's an old school, turn based tactical RPG with cute art and a good story. After 65 hours of gametime, I was one dungeon away from the last boss. Then I stopped. Burned out from too much levelling.

La Pucelle has an insanely complex and addictive XP system. Each character has a base level, and ten more attributes that level separately based on your equipment. Skills level only when you use them. Equipment levels too, during a minigame that you play parallel to combat. You can also fuse items and train monsters.

Last weeked, I played it again, and it's really good! Maybe it's because I can only play a few hours each day, so I'm less bothered by repetition. I really love this kind of classic combat system, and the characters are well made and adorable. I'm looking forward to more from Nippon Ichi. I wonder I can still get Disgaea I.

Stormcrow

Long Weekend Post

2007-04-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

I got a few of the Marvel Legends line of 6" action figures, while they were on sale. I got three two-packs: Captain America vs. the Red Skull, Iron Man vs. Mandarin, and Hulk vs. Leader. These guys have a well-earned reputation for being very well articulated, although I find that balance can sometimes be an issue. Sculpt and details are great; painting is good overall but ocasionally spotty. These two packs have a ton of extras: a comic book, a display platform with stands and a backdrop, and even a VS card. Not bad for 500 php!

My interest in superhero comic books has also been rekindled recently. The best thing I've read recently would be Marvel's Civil War, a well executed crossover. The main draw is the classic conflict between freedom and security; heroes fight each other, split along ideological lines. The ending is meh, but it's though provoking and worth recommending, something I thought I'd never say again about serialized comics.
Since it's a very long weekend, now is a great time to have a lot of links. Let's start with direct downloads of Civil War, via sendspace: 1-10, 10-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91-96

The dark M&Ms dark chocolate name-that-dark-movie game. Seriously, this is a fun game! Play this one with your friends and family. Dark.

The Balls are Inert: A YouTube fan-splice of Dragonball Z. Um. Don't watch this one with your friends and family.

Urban Ninja on YouTube. For Narutards. Very cool.

Finally, two articles to chew on: The End of Console Games and 10 ways MMORPGs will change the world.

Stormcrow

The Frog and the Scorpion

2007-04-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

Original version by Aesop.

There was once a little frog who lived by the river side. One day, a scorpion wandered by and asked the little frog if he would carry him across the river.

The scorpion said to the frog, "Carry me across the river." The frog said, "I will not. For if I do, you will sting me." The scorpion said, "I will not. For if I do, we will both drown."

The frog saw wisdom in the scorpion's words, so he let her climb on his back and began swimming across the river. About halfway across, he felt a painful sting in his back.

The frog felt the scorpion's poison flow into his heart, and as death closed in on him, they both began to sink into the cold water. Just before his nose slipped under the waves, the frog said, "Scorpion, now we will both drown!" But the scorpion smiled...

...and she said, "But little frog, I can swim."

Version with alternate ending by John Wick for L5R: The Way of the Scorpion.

Happy 1st Birthday Tesla!

2007-03-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

It was Tesla's first birthday this weekend, and we held a double-blast celebration. Saturday we had a lunch out at Luk Foo Commonwealth with our high school and college friends. The food was great, but there was some service error which resulted in some people getting full way before the arrival of our 3-way peking duck. O.o

On Sunday it was family time. We hosted another simple lunch out, this time at Kenny Rogers Quezon Ave. We tried their fried chicken sandwich, along with salad and spaghetti. Tesla had a blast, running around playing with balloons and a second cousin around her age. For a moment there we were afraid she would fight her cousin over a balloon!

Teaching Tesla to blow candles...

...and to open gifts!

Raven

Any port' in a storm

2007-03-15T03:22:00.000-07:00

I'm considering getting a portable console. There's a surprising number of people here at the office who spread the word about Nintendo's DS. My cool/geek cousin also has a DS and loves it dearly. On the other hand, at Raven's office, they're all about the PSP. Back on the first hand, the PSP costs almost twice as much as the DS.

My initial impression was that the PSP is for the hardcore gamer, while the DS is more for the casual gamer. The fact that I know a bunch of serious gamers in on the DS is starting to change that though.

So anyway, I head over to gamefaqs, and take a look at their "top 50 FAQ pages" to see how the DS and PSP compare, selection wise. Here's what's on the rankings:

For the DS:
Final Fantasy III
Pokemon Diamond
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Spirit Caller
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All

For the PSP:
Monster Hunter Freedom

Huh?

Stormcrow

The Last Bleach Post

2007-03-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

I've decided to stop tinkering with my "Fighting Card Game: Bleach" system and make a full public release. Just think of it as an open beta with an indefinite duration. The main reason being that I don't have as much free time now, and I'd rather focus on other things.

So, here are the links to the printable, "half 3R", jpgs with bonus rulebook:

EDIT: leave a comment if you're interested in playing! ;D

The secondary reason I decided to halt tinkering with this game is that I heard that someone else will be releasing an honest to goodness licenced Bleach card game. Well Damn! This made me think that maybe I shouldn't release the printable files at all, but what the hell. Have fun with them anyway.

In the future, if I find time to further refine my card game, (and assuming I don't design an entirely new game from scratch), I'd probably go through a different anime and use screencaps from that. Like, say Visionaries?

Or, on the other hand, if you know any artists who'd want to let their art and characters be used for a card game, link 'em over here. Although, it would be for free, or at best for a percentage.

Stormcrow

Looking Back

2007-03-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

Back in high school, I used to have a website. It was a real shitty Geocities affair with jpg backgrounds and blinking words and all that. Like most websites at the time, the top level was just an index of links to sub-level pages. Want to read my thoughts on Magic? Click here. Want to see what my favorite books are? Click here. My anime reviews? Click here.

All things pass, and the blog is now pretty much the format of choice. There are advantages of course, but it would be nice if you could see all posts dealing with my Bleach card game without wading through a year's worth of photos and gimmik recaps. Or vice versa.

Well, now you can! (ba-da-bump) What I'm referring to, of course, is blogger's label feature. It took me some time to realize that it could be used in this manner, but, after choosing just a few keywords and going through all our previous posts, you can now easily find all our thoughts by category. It's on our sidebar, right there. ----->

Want to read my thoughts on Magic? Click here. Want to see what my favorite books are? Click here. My anime reviews? Click here.

Stormcrow

Picnic

2007-02-27T18:20:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my college girl buddies and I went out for a picnic at La Mesa Dam Eco Park. I had originally thought it'd be somewhere out in Bulacan or something, but to my surprise, it is right in the middle of Fairview area.

To my further surprise, it looks remarkably like the Botanical Garden in UPLB Forestry area. There are trees and flowers everywhere, large picnic areas complete with big stone tables for family groups. There was even a boat ride!

My friends and I camped in several likely places, trying to stay away from the sun. ^_^ Who would've thought there's something like this in the middle of the city?

Raven

Slave // Think Twice

2007-02-20T03:48:00.000-08:00

So. I'm now a corporate slave. No longer a member of the academic intelligensia, I'm now merely a cog in a multinational machine. Why'd I do it? For the money, OBV. But at the same time, Hewlett-Packard actually seems to be a great place to work. The atmosphere is a lot more relaxed and collegial than what I'd expect from a big corp. No time-in/time-out, and they give you a laptop to boot. Just don't ask me what we do, I can't tell.

The real downside though, is that I'm no longer able to spend a lot of time with Pat and Tesla. It's pretty much an hour in the morning and an hour at night (if I'm lucky). T_T It doesn't help that Pat works at night and I work during day.

***

I spent the weekend watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Let me start off by admitting that the first episode is bad. Incredibly bad. Amazingly bad. Deliberately bad. As bad as a joke that goes on for too long, when it isn't even funny in the first place.

The episodes are presented all out of chronological order too. A little something to keep the viewer off balance, while evoking a sense of medias res. Perhaps this is to obscure the fact that the majority of the episodes are just character building filler.

I actually set this one aside after watching the first two episodes. But you know what? I watched the third episode last saturday... and ended up watching it marathon-style right until the ending. Stayed up four hours past my bedtime too. It hides surprising depths in the shallows... makes you think twice.

Strongly recommended. Watch it in proper show order, with patience and trust.

Stormcrow

Love Song of Night and Day

2007-02-13T03:39:00.000-08:00

excerpt from the poem by Jenny Scott

I am the sun, you are the moon. Wherever you lead I will go, following across the wide sky, as long as I live and you love. Sun follows Moon until she tires, then carries her until she's strong and runs ahead of him again.

Starlit Angel, by Rebecca Guay

Public Service Announcement

2007-02-05T03:55:00.000-08:00

Be on the safe side!

Me, I use Gracial. It's a combination-pill, which means it has a mix of the hormones needed to regulate the period. What I like about Gracial is the fact that it's easy to get over the counter without a prescription (even though it is supposed to be a prescription drug). It's only Php400 per month, and is available from most drug stores. There's a bonus side effect too - it reduces acne considerably!

Raven

Review: Transformers Classics

2007-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Last December, while doing some christmas shopping, I found a couple of neat looking Transformers. I decided against getting them right then, but still, I was set down the road to start a modern TF collection. Henceforth, a toy review!

This is Optimus Prime, Voyager size, from the 2006 Transformers Classics line. As a trailer truck cab, Optimus has a modern, aerodynamic silhouette. Of note is the addition of a wind vane on the roof, and a repositioning of the smokestacks. An autobot symbol is present on the right door, the kind which changes color when rubbed. While the truck really does looks great, the lack of a trailer is somewhat disappointing, and when placed next to other autobot cars, I wish Optimus was slightly bigger.

As a robot, Optimus has a well sculpted form, with great balance and loads of articulation that allow for dynamic poses. He has two guns: the first is a huge red canon that transforms from his wind vane; the second is a short shotgun that transforms from his smokestacks. The only downside here is some kibble on his forearms, from the doors of the truck. Overall this is a great toy, both for playing with and for display.

Next up is Megatron, also a Classic Voyager. Unfortunately, U.S. law is not kind to Megatron, forbidding any realistic looking gun modes. Instead, he's brightly colored and looks like a nerf gun. With those limitations in mind, Megatron is actually a fairly decent (toy) gun; it's enjoyable to point him around and click the trigger.

In robot mode, Megatron is also well-sculpted, with a good amount of articulation. There are some departures from his TV series look: there's a lot of purple in his color scheme, and he has Energon green wings at his back. His eyes are light piped, meaning that they glow when he's backlit. He has no detachable weapons, relying on his huge arm blaster. Megatron is not as posable as Optimus, due mostly to balance problems that arise from having a lot of body attachments. Overall, despite having issues, I'd say that Megatron is almost as good as Optimus and is certainly a lot flashier.

EDIT: Later on, I was so enamored of the light piping that I decided to use it as an avatar.

Stormcrow

Pre Release

2007-01-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I went to the Planar Chaos prerelease. It works like this: You get a 75-card Time Spiral starter deck and three 15-card Planar Chaos boosters. You then use these cards to play in a sealed deck tournament where each win gets you yet another Planar Chaos booster.

So anyway, I arrived at Galleria at around 10:15 AM. I got in line for registration at Neutral grounds. Met Jem, who had preregistered. Got in line again, because apparently I was in the wrong line. Finally got to pay my 1k, received a ticket for flight "J", which I was informed would start at 4:30 PM. ... What!?!

I spent the next few hours drifting in and out of the tournament area, killing time by watching other people play. Unexpectedy, I found Ruben in a Starbucks, sketching on his laptop. We watched an episode of Dethklok, an animated band which is reminiscent of Gorillaz. Or perhaps Beavis and Butthead. After a while, Hiyas came and I decided to get back to the tournament area.

Wandering the tournament zone, I also managed to find Manchester Sy, a friend who I haven't seen since high school. I chatted with him a little, found out that he had just returned to the Philippines less than a week ago (apparently for good). I got his number; it's always good to have another friend, particularly one that plays magic.

Eventually, the call for flight J players got sent out. While the organization of the registration was kind of poor, things went smoothly once we actually sat down and got our cards. I was pleasantly surprised that there were enough copies of the special prerelease card to go around.

Looking at my sealed pool, there were a couple of great bomb rares in red and white, but the colors were otherwise shallow. Blue and Black, on the other hand, had a surplus of solid commons. There was also a Red-White-Blue dragon. I could have gone for such a three color build, but I chose to make a rareless Blue-Black deck instead, valuing consistency and removal over splashy bombs.

This isn't a tourney report, so I'll cut to the chase. At around 10:15 PM, it was the middle of the fourth round. My record was two wins and a loss. Right before the deciding game, the janitors start turning off the lights, and my opponent offers to just split the last pack by color instead of playing for it. We agree that I would get Green, Black and Artifact/Land. So we go over to the judges and I claim my two prize packs of Planar Chaos, plus a third one to split. We open it, and my share is... three green commons. What!?!

Jem watches as I open my two remaining packs... to reveal the chase card of the set.

Stormcrow

The Beach!

2007-01-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays, Chico, Tesla, and I got to go with the Manasan family to Boracay for a beach vacation for three balikbayan aunts. We stayed there for four days and three nights, where we did nothing other than eat, sleep, swim, and shop! ^_^

Tesla loved the sand! She kept mashing it around her hands and feet, until she decided to try tasting it. XD We also tried dipping her into the pool, and being the water-lover that she is, she enjoyed every bit of it.

Here are a couple of pictures:

So what else is new? Mainly this new (and thoroughly unfinished) blog format, which would hopefully allow us a wider width for pictures and paragraphs. Still need to change some of the colors - we don't really like the red header - and that would entail trying to decipher the template. *sigh* Any help is welcome! Not to mention trying to restore the blog roll, which I had unthinkingly deleted when I was messing with the set templates. XD

Raven

Filler: True or False

2006-12-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

1) Bawal ang bus sa yellow lane.

2) Hindi bawal ang bus sa yellow lane.

3) Bawal ang hindi bus sa yellow lane.

4) Bawal ang bus sa hindi yellow lane.

5) Hindi bawal ang hindi bus sa yellow lane.

6) Hindi bawal ang bus sa hindi yellow lane.

7) Bawal ang hindi bus sa hindi yellow lane.

8) Hindi bawal ang hindi bus sa hindi yellow lane.

What?

Take Three!

2006-12-05T00:56:00.000-08:00

Tesla likes computer!

Tesla, eating

Tesla!

Quick Review: Lost Girls

2006-11-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

The Good:

It's a "pornographic" work involving Alice, Wendy, Dorothy. It should be apparent by now that Alan Moore is great at deconstructing superheros in general (Watchmen and Top 10) or other people's specific literary characters (LXG). Or, is it reconstructing?

In any case, the writing is good. Great dialogue. Storytelling is also excellent. Good incorporation of the literary references. I also have to applaud Moore for trying to make well written and cerebrally entertaining "pornography".

The Bad:

After reading Moore's other works, and Gaiman's too... and glancing at (and passing over) Vertigo's Fables, I'm getting tired of all these literary characters bumping into each other in "the real world". Look, this is basically fanfiction. Doujinshi. Not as clever as you think, overall.

The Ugly:

The "girls" are not as young as the title might suggest. And, do you know what's worse than old lesbian action? Poorly drawn, old lesbian action.

Is it "pornography"?

Haha.

Stormcrow

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

2006-11-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

So, this is not normally a techie blog, but the procedure above had us boggled.

Okay, that's it. Just have some more pictures.

...

Stormcrow

The Hills are Alive

2006-11-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Found the anime on youtube, and I couldn't resist making a /b/ style image macro.

All Hollow's Eve

2006-10-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I talked about this card game I was making. For some reason I forget, I never actually posted the full rules. I recently handed my playtest cards to Celedor, so I figured I'd finish off what I started here.

----------

PART II: COMBAT CARDS (continued).

There are two types of Combat cards: Events and Wounds. These differ in the length of time they stay in play. After an Event is played, it produces its effect and immediately goes to the discard pile. After a Wound is played, it must attach to a target Hunter.

You can quickly distinguish Events and Wounds by looking at the top left corner of the card. Wounds have a damage box but Events do not. In addition, the type will be declared in the first line of the text box.

There are three traits which are associated with Wounds: Shallow, Light, and Heavy. A Shallow Wound automatically goes to the discard pile at the end of any player's turn . Light Wounds and Heavy Wounds will both stay attached indefinitely. However, Light Wounds can be healed naturally over time, during the end of the turn (see below).

A Combat card that has the trait "Action" in the first line of its text box will require and consume your current Action. On the other hand, "Reaction" cards do not consume Actions; they can be played only in response to certain conditions, as stated on the card.

----------

PART III: Starting the Game

You need:
1. A Group of HUNTERS
2. A COMBAT deck
3. An opponent who also has #1 and #2

You start the game by choosing your Hunters. Your Hunters must have a total Renown less than or equal to 40 points. You will not be able to recruit new Hunters for the rest of the game.

Your Combat deck must have at least 40 Combat cards. Shuffle it up and draw 4 cards.

Once everyone is ready, players take their turns one at a time. The player with the most number of Hunters goes first. Play proceeds by each player taking turns alternately.

The game begins on the first player's first turn.

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PART IV: The Turn Structure

Let us look at the structure of your turn. After this turn is completed, your opponent will then take a turn. After that, you take another turn and so on.

Pre Combat

At the start of your turn, assign one of your Hunters to attack, and another Hunter (not yours) to defend. You can only assign one of each, though you could choose not to attack at all. These Hunters enter combat opposing each other. Combat now starts.

Combat

The defending player and attacking player may take Actions alternately. The defending player gets the first Action. These Actions can be spent to play Combat cards with the "Action" trait. Combat cards must be performed by a Hunter in combat, and can only target a Hunter who is in combat. A Hunter can only perform Combat cards with a Skill requirement less than or equal to their own Skill level.

You can also spend your Actions on abilities on cards in play in combat. If you have a Hunter (or Item) with an ability that reads "Action: [effect]" then you may spend an Action to perform the effect. Activated abilities on cards not in combat have no effect unless otherwise specified.

Each attacking Hunter has the ability "Action: Withdraw from combat." This ability may be used any time it is his turn to play an Action. If a player withdraws (using this method or a card effect) then combat ends, ALL Hunters go home and neither player can play additional Actions.

If a Hunter has no Health left, she is KO'd and immediately leaves play. KO'd Hunters are placed in their opponent's Victory Pile.

Post Combat

You may heal one "Light Wound" from each of your Hunters (only if it is your turn). All "Shallow Wounds" are healed, including those on your opponent's Hunters. BOTH players draw cards up to the maximum hand size of four (or discard down to four). Your turn now ends.

Winning and Losing

A player is eliminated when he has no more Hunters in play. At the end of your turn, you win if all other players have been eliminated, or if you have 40 or more Renown in your Victory Pile.

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PART V: ITEMS

Items are an optional card type that you can also choose to play.

An Item card is designed to attach to a Hunter. They have a Renown value found at the lower end of the title bar. Sometimes they will have Health or Skill bonuses, found at the top of the title bar.

At the start of the game, after revealing your Hunters, you may attach one Item to each of your Hunters. The total Renown of your Hunters and Items cannot exceed 40.

When a Hunter is KO'd, Items on that Hunter will also be KO'd. KO'd Items go to their opponent's Victory Pile.

----------

PART VI: PREY

Prey are an optional card type that you can also choose to play.

Prey cards are similar to Hunters. They have a Renown value found at the lower end of the title bar, and a Health value at the top of the title bar. They do not have a Skill value; Prey do not use Combat cards.

At the start of the game, you may put into play up to 60 Renown worth of Prey. (The Renown of Prey is counted separately from Hunters and Items.)

At the start of your turn, instead of choosing another player to be the defender, you may choose to attack Prey instead. If you do, choose one Prey to enter combat as the defender. Other players do not receive Actions, and their Hunters cannot be targeted or enter combat. You may attack Prey owned by any player.

In combat, Prey have the ability "Action: Attach a -2H Wound Token on the opposing Hunter with least health." Prey automatically use this ability when they receive an Action.

When a Prey is KO'd during your turn, put it into your Victory Pile. Prey also have a Victory Pile where you put Hunters that they KO, but they cannot win the game.

----------

Now I remember why I stopped posting these... they're too long!

Stormcrow

2006-10-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

Googly!

I'm writing this post from Googe's Docs & Spreadsheets feature, which comes for free when you have a Google Account. This feature also allows you to upload most types of document files and spreadsheets, and get to work on them online as well. So far I have only been using the Docs part, and it is pretty convenient since I don't have to cart around files in cds or flash disks as long as there is an internet access. Especially since flash disks are not allowed in my workplace. T_T

Speaking of workplace, I'm now working in a nearby call center as tech support and been here for nearly two months (although the first month of that had been training). It turns out okay, although the night shift takes getting used to. And I miss Tesla, as I've used to spend the entire day with her. Now I only get to see her maybe a few hours a day. T_T But so far I'm enjoying the work, and I feel much much better now that I'm employed again.

Now what else is up? Chico and I bought some new PS2 cds, and right now I'm on Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria. It still incorporates the same elements as the old VP: 2D dungeon and town exploration, the battle system, and the style of speech. The new features include a strategic addition to the battle system (you now have to move the team before attacking enemies), and the art is so much better. Of course the characters' costumes rock, and the voice actors are superb. As I haven't yet finished the first dungeon, I cannot yet comment about the plot, but so far it appears to be interesting.

Source: www.videogamesplus.ca

I'm also now back to playing Ragnarok, as they have opened a new server. Thor promises to have an advanced security feature that would keep out third party programs (aka BOTS) and thus ensure that all characters in game are being played by actual humans. As far as I can tell, this is so far true, but of course all things can be bypassed. Already, there seems to be auto-buy Bots in the towns, buying specified items from players at a specified price. I wouldn't be too surprised if there would be levelling bots in the field eventually. While there isn't, I'll be enjoying myself with a bot-free environment. ^_^

Raven

Dinosaurs, webcomics, go!

2006-10-18T23:52:00.000-07:00

So I haven't had much to do in the past week. I really need to look for a job... In the meantime though, I'm enjoying my hiatus. Reading webcomics, among other things. Here are a few absurd ones that have caught my fancy:

(as usual, click the pic to get a larger, more readable image)

Dinosaur Comics
http://www.qwantz.com/
Dinosaur comics has copy and paste art; it is made up for by wonderful dialogue and lovable characters. It features a T-Rex rambling about various topics pertaining mostly to language and philosophy. Hilarity ensues.

White Ninja Comics
http://www.whiteninjacomics.com/
On the other hand, White Ninja appears to lack both good art and any redeeming intellectual features. Instead, it is by turns unpredictable, meaningless, slapstick and disgusting. More hilarity ensues. The Perry Bible Fellowship
http://pbfcomics.com/
This strip makes me want to laugh and weep at the same time. It deftly juxtaposes a sense of childlike innocence with bitter disappointment and the indifference of humanity. Well done.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
http://www.smbc-comics.com/
SMBC is the one comic on this list which is actually funny in the traditional sense. Like in PBF, normalcy and madness blend into a surreal stew.

Stormcrow

Master

2006-10-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

It's been an eventful week. Last wednesday, after many a sleepless night, I finally defended my MS thesis. Yay! Now I can start looking for a job again. ^_^ I'm not sure exactly how one goes about graduating in the middle of the schoolyear but I'd better push paperwork so I don't miss it.

This weekend marked the release of Magic's newest expansion, Time Spiral. I got a FatPack on sunday; that's a pair of (really nice) card boxes w/dividers, a guide-booklet, some land, some boosters, a d20 and a novel. The novel did not disappoint: I expected a rambling, barely coherent story with cardboard characters and a forgettable plot, and I got what I expected.

I was able to meet Ozzy (my constructed friend) to split two booster boxes. As usual, I got all the commons and uncommons. I haven't actually been able to play much limited recently, between my thesis and Raven's work, but Time Spiral looks like a fun set, even if just to collect.

Stormcrow

---------------

In closing, who knew that Quinton Hoover did furry porn? Not I.

TLDR

2006-08-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

1. We have finally moved to our own house, which is actually Chico's old house at New Intramuros.

2. I got a job.

3. Tesla is now five months old. She likes exploring and reaching for things with her hands. And putting them in her mouth. ^ ^;

4. Paperwork is so annoying. NBI, BIR, gyaaah!

5. Currently playing on PS2: Harvest Moon (wtf??!)
Currently playing on PC: DotA (as usual) and Flyff
Currently reading (well, sort of): Wheel of Time, just finished Path of Daggers, about to start on the next one

Random Tesla pic

Raven

Wow

2006-07-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone else want in on this?

Upper Deck will be releasing it later this year.

Stormcrow

Fly for fun!

2006-07-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks Raven and I have been playing a lot of Flyff. In case you haven't seen the TV ads, Flyff is a relatively new MMORPG, being around a year old. One of the main selling points of Flyff is the fact that it's free (for life!), where your payments are only for (entirely optional) in-game items. What drew me in though, were the bright and cute SD graphics, a relief after the headaches I got from Ran Online's gloomy designs. This game makes me wonder why we spent so much money on Ragnarok.

If you have a fast connection, you can download the installer at the Flyff Philippines website and start playing from there.

(as usual, click the image for a larger version)

Stormcrow

Toycon '06

2006-06-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

We went to Toycon '06 last saturday, at Megamall. Raven and her brother wanted to get some Gold for their Ran Online accounts, and they heard a good way was to sign up for the cosplay in a Ran costume.

Here's Raven in her Mystic Peak Shaman costume.

Raven with a booth babe for the Mir II launch.

Raven with a crossplayer from some anime or the other.

League of Extraordinary Magic Cards

2006-06-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

Since Stormcrow has Limited playsets of Ninth, Ravnica, Guildpact, and Dissension, we decided to hold a "League" tournament between the two of us. League play goes like this: each player makes a 30-card deck out of an initial set/number of Ninth booster packs, and faces them off against each other. The winner gets 1 point, the loser gets 2. (negative feedback -S.) At predetermined intervals, in this case 5 points, players earn an additional booster pack. Our pack cycle goes R-G-D-R. The players can update their decks with these new packs, then proceed to battle again.

Me being the inferior player, I get an initial set of six Ninth booster packs while he gets only four. I got a good amount of removal from black and burn from red, dictating the form of my first deck. I faced Stormcrow's initial black-green deck, and the play went on from there.

This card never left my deck.

League play is very immersing, spanning nearly two months and around thirty matches of constantly evolving decks. Inevitably it turned into meta-gaming, where I found myself changing my deck to counter specific elements of his then current deck. After a notable match when he fielded both COP:Black and COP:Red, I changed into white-green (which was weak for me) and eventually went back to my stronger black, but with anti-enchantments.

His deck evolved into a huge monster deck, mostly blue-black with Shielding Plaxes, so I countered with an all-color deck filled with removals (Putrefy, Mortify, Brainspoil, DarkBan) and anti-enchantments with finishers such as Lava Axe, Blaze, and swampwalkers. At the end, though, it became rather boring. I prefer seeing creature interactions, which apparently is mainly absent in Constructed, which our decks were starting to resemble.

These cards are boring.

Hence we decided to end the League in what is basically a tie game, with me finishing with 46 points and Stormcrow with 44. We are now reshuffling the playsets to begin another League play with some variations, adding more Ninth at first and later giving a free choice of what Expansion pack to earn.

Raven

S.N.A.F.U.

2006-05-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

It looks like the Splash Island outing won't push through this year. There were too many people unable to go, who had to cancel, and who can't reschedule.

My deepest and sincerest apologies to those who were inconvenienced by this, and whose schedules were undoubtedly thrown into a spin. It saddens me that our get together did not push through.

Next time, party boys

Welcome To A Christian World

2006-05-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

It's always a good time for cake

(God)parents

The old school gang

Refugees from a Physics camp

Four Generations

The Celebrant

Limited Gains

2006-05-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I mentioned something about ways to get cards for playing recursive Limited. Cracking open boxes and trading away rares is a good method, and it ranks second for me; those with the luxury of time and effort may rank it as first. You can make a profit out of opening boxes. However, spending my weekends on trading and selling cards isn't a realistic option for me, so my optimal method would be splitting a box with a tournament player.

Now, the thing about tournament players is that they value commons and uncommons very little, so generally they're happy to sell them away. In contrast, as a Limited enthusiast, I have no need of rares. Thus, it's profitable for both of us to have an asymmetric split. They get 36 rares, while I get 108 uncommons and 396 commons. Also, they're quite happy to pay for the larger part of the cost.

I <3 style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2362/487/320/breeding_pool.jpg" border="0">
Either way, when you decide to open a booster box you put yourself at the mercy of random processess. You just have to draw and hope that you get good cards.

Stormcrow

Beh!

2006-05-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Click image for larger version.

Bleach Card Game (part II)

2006-05-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last month, I introduced my pet project: a Fighting Card Game. Today I'll try to go over the rules very quickly. As I said before, the system is setup similar to Rage, with combat timing that works like L5R. Let's start by looking over the cards:

Hunters have 3 stats. Let's look at Hinamori. The name of the card is the large font on the side, "Hinamori Momo". Hunter cards will also have a subtitle; in this case, Hinamori's subtitle is "Death God in Training". We can also see in her text box, that she has the "Ranged" trait, which is followed by some explainatory text.

She also has some numbers on the left side. Descending, we find that she has 10 Health, 4 Skill Level, and 6 Renown.

Health is the amount of damage she can take before she is KO'd. The higher the health, the longer she can fight.

Skill Level indicates what Combat cards she is allowed to play. In this indirect manner, this determines how much damage she can do. The higher her Skill Level, the greater her options in combat.

Renown is the cost of putting her into play. You start the game with only a fixed amount of hunters. Large Renown costs means you can have only a few Hunters.

----

Now let's look at a Combat card. The name of the combat card is at the top of the card; in this case, the card's name is "Basic Strike". The card's text box has a few traits: "Light Wound Action".

Combat cards have 2 stats. Damage and Skill Cost. The Damage box on the top left corresponds to the Health Slot on Hunter cards. In this case, Basic Strike deals three damage when attached.

The Skill Cost is on the top right and is a restriction on which Hunters are allowed to use the card. For Basic Strike, only Hunters with a Skill Level of 4 or higher can use this card.

"Wound" means that after this card is played, it attaches immediately to a target Hunter. "Action" means that it costs an Action to perform. "Light" means it can (sometimes) be healed at the end of your turn.

----

Game structure next week!

Stormcrow

Run, it's a Magic post!

2006-04-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

I've been playing more Magic: The Gathering recently. What's nice about Magic is that you can play it on so many levels. You could play in competitive tournaments where the average cost of a sixty card deck is around Php 5000. You could also play casual peasant where all your cards are 2 peso commons. What really captures my interest though, are Limited formats.

One type of Limited is Sealed Deck, where you are restricted to using cards from only a few packs. For example, at the Dissension prerelease, you're given a Tournament Pack from the Ravnica expansion (equivalent to three Ravnica boosters), three boosters of Dissension, and basic lands. Out of this pool of 90 random cards, scattered across all colors, you try to build a 40 card deck, and play opponents who have done the same.

What I like about Limited is the way it levels the pre-game playing field. The biggest problem for tournament-level Constructed formats is the way the most expensive cards dominate the less luxurious decks. On the other hand, for casual "fun" play, it is unusual to find a situation where two players bring decks on the same level of seriousness. In Limited, having similar card pools puts players on the same starting point, which is great; most fun is had out of even matches.

"But", you ask, "wouldn't buying six boosters, per player, every time you play, be really really expensive?" Yeah, so you don't really do that. Instead, you buy a large pile of commons and uncommons when an expansion comes out, shuffle them up, and repack them. Whenever you run out of packs, you just shuffle and repack again. You can play an indefinite amount of Sealed with only the initial investment.

The best pile, of course, has a uniform distribution of each common and each uncommon. I suggest two of each common in a set and one of each uncommon (even the expensive ones). There's no need to use rares; they're either totally dominating or perfectly useless in Limited, so I suspect you're better off without any rares at all.

The second best way to get all those commons and uncommons is to buy a booster box and put the rares in your trade binder. The best way? I'll tell you next week.

Stormcrow

Death

2006-04-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

My work PC got fried. (It wasn't me.) There goes my Holy Week commentary on the Gospel of Judas. And now I have to rewrite the rules intro for my Fighting Card Game: Bleach. (Don't ask me why this was on my work PC.)

Remember kids: Jesus saves, and he does backups too.

-----

For those interested, we're scheduling the Splash Island outing on May 20. If you think you're invited, then you probably are.

Unless you've made a blog describing how you want to smash my skull into the pavement. Then you can just go to bloody hell.

I should mention... KKB ito, eh?
-----

In the meantime, I'll shamelessly steal the Wikipedia entry on Huginn and Muninn:

Huginn and Muninn, sometimes Anglicized Hugin and Munin, are a pair of ravens associated with the Norse god Odin. Hugin and Munin travel the world bearing news and information to Odin. Hugin is "thought" and Munin is "memory". They are sent out at dawn to gather information and return in the evening. They perch on the god's shoulders and whisper the news into his ears. It is from these ravens that the kenning 'raven-god' for Odin is derived.

The name Munin has its roots in the Old Norse word for memory.

From Grímnismál:

The whole world wide, every day,

Fly Hugin and Munin;

I worry lest Hugin should fall in flight,

Yet more I fear for Munin.

Birth

2006-04-03T04:33:00.000-07:00

After a long wait, our beautiful baby daughter has arrived last March 24.

Tesla Muninn Castro Manasan

Baby Tesla was delivered by primary caesarian section due to failure to descend. Initially we tried doing a normal delivery but she was not descending enough to emerge. The water bag had broken the night before, and it was getting dangerous to let her remain inside for much longer. She came out weighing 8 pounds.

She is now ten days old, and it has been a most exciting ten days. It's interesting to note that Chico knows a lot more about baby care than me, seeing as he helped care for his younger brother and sister through their babyhood. The toughest lesson yet for me is learning how to carry the baby.

It's so much fun watching her, waking or sleeping. She has so many cute facial expressions, and she's not really smiling yet. ^_^

Welcome to the world, my baby girl!

Rebirth

2006-03-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

It's been a while.

In a way, not a lot has really happened. I'm still living with the Castros, still doing the teaching and MS thing. Still waiting for the baby to appear. Still supposed to be writing my thesis. It's damn hard to concentrate!

---------------

For some reason I put all my creative energies in things other than doing what I'm supposed to do. Sometime before Xmas I looked at all the card games I had and decided to see if I could do better. For some reason my effort at a ruleset looked like it was made of 80% Rage and 20% L5R. Actually, it also reminds me strongly of Pokemon but that might be because Pokemon (looking back on it) is 50% Rage and 50% Magic. Or Ani-mayhem, which is 60% Rage and 40% Middle Earth.

So, being a resourceful guy, I cooked up a cardset on my beat-up old laptop and printed out the cards at a local photo-shop (I mean, a shop that does photographs). After a couple of runs, I realized that I had a game that ran pretty smoothly and could possibly be considered fun.

However, I also realized, somewhat belatedly, that my choice of Art Direction wouldn't be ideal for public consumption. I also thought up several ways to improve the layout and card designs. So I went back to the drawing board for a month and redid everything. In the end, Alekos' Xmas gift inspired me and I decided to theme the game after Bleach.

(to be continued...)
(no, really)

Old Books

2005-11-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

What's been up? Moved in with Pat. Stayed at the Manila Pen for a while. Helped her clean out her room. Built some bookshelves. I'm actually fair at carpentry (sawing and varnishing, anyway). I know most of you won't believe that but there it is.

The Conservatory

---------------

The thing with bookshelves is that you put books on them. I found a few of my old gems hidden in Pat's closet that I felt deserved at least a little mention.

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
The classsic tome of objectivism. I first heard of Atlas Shrugged from rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan. There was a short fan fiction parodying it, and I was intrigued by the moral dilemma between "take care of the weak" and "don't suffer fools". So I went out and got the book, which made a huge impression on my character, as I was 16 at the time. Amazing read all over. In hindsight, a better order would be to read Anthem and Fountainhead first.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams
By the same guy who wrote H2G2, this is just as funny but a lot more literate. For one thing, it asks that you know a bit of Coleridge to appreciate the story. Did I mention it was funny? I'd rank it aboe Hitchhiker's, and way above anything Adams wrote in his bitter phase.

Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
I decided to pick up some Eco because of something Zafra mentioned. This is a really clever book about mysticism and the lack of it. Throws in a lot of odd factiods about old mystical traditions, wishout getting too dry.

Sometimes Eco can be a really thick read (ie, Kant and the Platypus), but in this book he reallty shines. And anyway, don't you just love semiotics teachers? "Pat is my wife. Pat is a three letter word. My wife is a three letter word."

In case you missed all of that, let's just say it's a very cerebral Dan Brown.

A Depth of Beginning: Notes on Kabbalah, by Colin Low
http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/nok/
Speaking of which, Kabbalah is something that fascinated me for years, which is singular since I consider myself to be neither superstitious nor religious. It started with the aforementioned Foucault's Pendulum, and Neon Genisis Evangelion before that (around 1998). Colin Low's Notes on Kabbalah is one of the finest works on Hermetic Kabbalah that I've read, probably helped by the fact that he's a practicing physicist/computer scientist so the presentation is quite logical and scientific, even if the subject matter is quite not so. Also, it's free and published only on the net! What's not to like?

Stormcrow

A big Thank You to everyone!

2005-10-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

Chico and Pat Manasan

Announcement!

2005-09-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

Pat and I are getting married.

This 22nd of October.

No punchline.

We are Raven and Stormcrow.

Keep Moving

2005-09-09T01:48:00.000-07:00

Raven keeps complaining about gas prices. Right now we figure that given the traffic on her way to work (and the *ahem* airyness of her car), it may be cheaper, faster, and just as comfortable to take the train to work.

So it struck me as kinda funny when I read this from The King of Fatties.

Gas is two dollars a gallon.

A) Gas is five dollars a gallon in most of Europe.

B) I went inside and bought a Red Bull (10 oz) for $2.09.

C) A gallon of water + sugar + coloring , aka soda, is about 5 dollars a gallon.

D) Nyquil is 5 dollars for about 6 oz's

E) I live in Vermont. The "Dairy" State. Milk costs more than 2 dollars a Gallon.

F) Oil requires a huge crew to drain it out of the earth, and then ship it thousands of miles.

I was going to try to make some sense of that, but with the dollar conversion and standard of living adjustments, I got lost. Also, damn the americans and their non-metric system!

* * * * *

I've really gotten back into Magic over the past month.

First, Raven was able to find me a copy of the old Magic: Shandalar game, the one by microprose. Apparently it's so old, it's already free. Now, despite the sucky graphics and akward interface, there's something very addictive about seeing the old art of Hypnotic Specter and Dark Ritual. Let's not beat around the bush. Magic is insanely addictive. Particularly when you don't have to pay any money to build a mox-fast deck that does third turn kills. Too bad that only took me a week.

(to be continued...)

* * * * *

Dried mangoes are pretty damn addictive too. It's just my sweet tooth, I'm sure, but all that fiber must be good for something.

Stormcrow

A negative experience

2005-08-01T01:10:00.000-07:00

Raven and I arrived at two in the afternoon, ready to explore "the new Greenhills". Ten minutes in, and I end up spending 900 (all the money in my wallet) on a Bandai Eva girls gashapon set. Actually, I haven't looked at gashapons in half a year but this was on my old "must buy" list. So I got it. I'm a sucker!

Spent the next hour looking for a working ATM. Raven got Atelier Iris for the PS2, and I bought 102 pieces of 9th Edition basic lands... for drafting, of course. And sat down (in shoppesville) for a 35php hotdog... and a 35 php bottle of C2. What the hell?!

Eventually we meet the rest of the gang for dinner at the new Promenade building. Very reminiscent of Eastwood (insert foreshadowing) but with more airconditioning.

Ruben, Alekos, and I decide on Mexicali. Po vetoes it on the grounds that he hates mexicans. We walk around deciding where NOT to eat. When threatened with Cibo, Po decides to settle for the burritos.

Pat and I order our usual, Cheese Enchilada with Steak Burrito. Okay, this is usually where we take a picture of the food and tell you how good it is. But let me be Frank. IT SUCKED BIG TIME. The food was late. We got chicken instead of cheese. It tasted as if it were boiled and unseasoned. It felt as if it was cooked two hours before and hurriedly nuked in the microwave.

And to cap it off, our parking bill was 130php. On a Saturday. 130 for parking?!?

For me, the entire point of going to greenhills is that it's the bargain bin mall. Kinda like a Quiapo Lite. Where you can get your fill of cds, dvds, sirX and whatnot. But if this trend of upscale development continues, those days are numbered. And really, with all the more accessible alternatives, what's the point of an expensive greenhills?

Stormcrow

Sticks like oil

2005-07-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

Raven's dream

I was walking up a straight concrete road, as wide as Commonwealth but without the middle island. It was clean, but there were no other people or cars as far as my eye could see. Presently I found myself wading knee-deep in black oil. The oil came from one of those standard oil trucks, but this one was lying on its side, a huge rent could be seen in its tank. I didn't know why I was walking in the oil spill, but I was.

I walked past the truck and suddenly found my dad standing in the oil spill up ahead, looking at me intensely. He was telling me to go back the way I came from, gesturing me with his hands, as if shooing me back. I was horrified to see that he had a cigarette in his mouth, the cig bobbing up and down as he was talking, ash dropping down from the tip. I couldn't seem to concentrate on anything else but that cigarette, and I had terrible visions of fire and explosions dancing in my eyes. And I was standing in the oil spill!

Suddenly I realized my situation, and quickly reversed my direction. I tried as hard as I could to hurry back, but for some reason the oil had the consistency of sticky sludge. It was grabbing me and impeding my progress, and I found myself in a ghastly parody of a run.

Stormcrow's interpretation

When I hear of a road like this one, the fast answer is that it represents a path, your journey through life, and so on. As good a driver (ahem) as she is, it's not surprising that she uses a lot of roadway imagery.

There is an oil spill on the road. This represents disaster: some trouble or concern. (Note how the rent oil tanker is similar to a broken tower) And, Raven is in the middle of it. In particular, I know that Raven is concerned about her career, so the road is probably her career path.

Then Raven sees her father, representing... her father. He tries to wave at her to turn her back. Like Marley's Ghost, he is warning her about what will happen if she continues her current path. Which sorta makes sense, since Raven is a teacher, like her father.

The cigarette: more impending disaster. Not only is Raven in trouble, but she has time pressure on her. She's worried about losing precious years of her youth on teaching, and is perhaps concerned about her chances at job hunting as time passes.

The sludge: the grasp of her old career. It's sticky, unlike oil... the meaning has taken over the imagery. She finds it hard to leave her old career, though this is probably just inertia.

Fully booked!

2005-07-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

Since we had played dota the previous night, it was sort of inevitable that Stormcrow and I both woke up late. As a consequence, we arrived at Rockwell 10:20am, 20 minutes past the projected arrival time. We went straight to Fully Booked, the bookstore which organized the event to start with. There was a huge table heaped with Gaiman books and graphic novels right in front, along with an equally huge crowd of people browsing them.

After much consideration, Stormcrow bought two: Smoke and Mirrors, and a new copy of The Kindly Ones (since his old copy is in bad condition). We got a couple of tickets, which would allow us to have a +1/ticket to the number of books you can have signed. We then went outside to the tent, where the event will be held. On hindsight we should have gone there before we bought books. We got numbered stubs, "421" and "423", which we learned was out of the 700 quota for that day (June 9).

Since the programme and signing will start at 3pm, we decided to head back to the mall (which was definitely colder than the tent) and decided to have some lunch. We went back to the front of Fully Booked where we saw Sam Marcelo hanging out by the fountain. After accompanying her to lunch, Jo, a friend of Sam, joined our party a few minutes later by the same fountain. Alekos joined us somewhat later, but unfortunately the numbered stubs and the priority stubs for the following day were already out.

At around 4pm we all trooped back to the tent, and Neil Gaiman arrived around then. The programme started, which included raffle, awarding of the art contenst, Neil's reading of parts in his new book Anansi Boys, and a short Q&A portion. Neil was a surprisingly good speaker, which is not really something that comes with being a good writer. The signing started shortly after that, and we were promised one personal dedication out of a max of 4 signatures per person (depending on the number of stubs).

Since we all had high numbers (Jo had "299" and Sam had "669"), we decided to have a snack to kill time. After snack, we hung around the fountain area reading the books that we had. Stormcrow was very happy with the Kindly Ones that he went ahead and bought Dream Country as well. Joyce joined us at around 8pm, and at that point we heard that the number being served was still at "200"! We had dinner, and went back to the tent to await our turn. At that point the inside of the tent was finally cooling.

You have to hand it to Neil and his resilience. He stuck it out till the end, and it didn't seem as if he even ate anything in the nearly 8 hours of continuous signing! We finally had our turn at around 12mn, Sam had hers at around 1:20am. The even more astounding thing was that it didn't seem as if Neil was beginning to lose his temper.

Raven with Neil Gaiman

Stormcrow with Neil Gaiman

Stormcrow's fanboy moment, after his encounter with Neil

Endurance! Sam, Stormcrow, Joyce, and Alekos

I would also take this opportunity to extend our profuse thanks to both Alekos and Joyce for waiting with us until past 1am. They have just as much resilience as Neil, and deserve just as much credit.

Raven

... in a handful of sand

2005-07-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Neil Gaiman tomorrow! Yay! Looking forward to spending my hard earned money on books I have already read. Yay! Officially it's 2 PM at rockwell tomorrow (saturday), though of course I plan to go early.. around 10! Will need to buy a book to get in line.. Wonder what to get for signing.

-----

Have been playing Sand King heavily. Burrowstrike is just that good, Impale and Blink in one. So much that I don't really mind putting points into attributes, because his two other skills suck. Finally got a quad kill from Epicenter this week, (though it just said triple kill twice). Sweet, but as my opponents get better (and more trained) the BS-Epi combo goes off less and less. Kinda like how they started playing around Nerubian... Should find a different character to abuse. Maybe try for Beatdown Furion.

Stormcrow

And we're back!

2005-06-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

I like being a teacher, if only because I still get summer vacation. How else am I supposed to find the time to play late night DotA, and ShadowHearts (on PS2), and Magic (kinda)? Unfortunately, less work hours means less time blogging. Go figure.

Having someone call you a dead blogger can be very good motivation to prove them wrong (eventually). Which may be related to the reason why most people avoid naming the dead.

---

A prof has an interesting take on the Gloria thing:

"Let's say you had a student who is supposed to get a 3.0, but she cheated and so got a 1.0. And then you found out. What grade would you give her? 1.0 anyway? Or 3.0? Or 5.0?"

BUT, The problem with extralegal measures is that they promise long term benifits at the cost of short term shock. But if the long term benifits look iffy anyway, why bother?

Weatherwax would call it the difference between what's good and what's right. Have to make your stand somewhere, ne?

---

Fifth year anniversary coming up soon. Looking forward to dinner. Heh.

Stormcrow

Splash-ING good time

2005-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Splash was ultra fun! We had, however, the misfortune to be in the venue with some company outing, making the place very crowded. Going there on a weekday would probably make the place less crowded.

Jam wrote a good summary of the day. There was, however, a "Saturday Part 3" for some of us - we trooped back to QC to play DotA at skies. It was a series of very enjoyable 5on5 games, with me, Stormcrow, Ruben, Victor, and Oli going against Nikki, Po, Alekos, Jonas, and Aidz.

Jae has some pics from the dinner at Rico's.

Raven

A pleasant surprise

2005-04-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

Stormcrow and I went to Robinson's Galleria last Thursday to shop for a swimsuit for the Splash outing (and succeeding swimming outings). After a while we decided to have lunch. We had originally planned to eat at Cravings for their unlimited salad, but a closer inspection proved it to be not so sulit. It is usually hard to find a good place to eat at in Gale, so we decided to look around for a new food experience.

The set meal (for four people – daw) at Mediterranean looked good, but the price is slightly prohibitive. Burger King looks okay, but I wasn't in the mood for burgers (we just ate at Wham! last week). We were on our way to inspect Popeye's next when we happened to glance at its neighbor's menu. This neighbor happened to be Chef d'Angelo, which specializes in chicken, pasta and pizza. Stormcrow had already expressed an interest in a chicken lunch, and the size of the servings we saw of the nearby customers was enough to interest us.

I got one of the “Chef’s Samplers”, their version of value meals, I guess. It had a nice large piece of fried chicken with mushroomy gravy, a good serving of spaghetti with tomato sauce, and a slice of pizza (with pork bits, I think) – all for only Php99! Stormcrow of course got a chicken meal – a two-piece buffalo wing affair with rice and Caesar salad for around Php160. Not bad at all, since we weren’t expecting that much from an Italian place (Stormcrow doesn’t like pasta). The only drawback to Chef D'Angelo is that it can only be found at a couple of Robinson's.

Here’s a pic of our plates, partially eaten. ^_^

Raven's meal

Stormcrow's meal

Raven

PS: Happy Birthday, Stormcrow!!!

Seek not the Buddha

2005-03-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

A renowned Zen master said that his greatest teaching was this: Buddha is your own mind. So impressed by how profound this idea was, one monk decided to leave the monastery and retreat to the wilderness to meditate on this insight. There he spent 20 years as a hermit probing the great teaching.

One day he met another monk who was traveling through the forest. Quickly the hermit monk learned that the traveler also had studied under the same Zen master. "Please, tell me what you know of the master's greatest teaching." The traveler's eyes lit up, "Ah, the master has been very clear about this. He says that his greatest teaching is this: Buddha is NOT your own mind."

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"To walk another's path is to walk a false path." -Hoshi Ishida, HC

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If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.

Time Space Blog NOW!

2005-03-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

You ever notice how when you have a lot of things you HAVE to do, you suddenly realize you have a lot of things you WANT to do?

I want to play more DotA. I want to spend more hours on my PS2. I want to watch a stack of anime cds on my desk. I want to read my ebooks. But I don't have time.

This is obviously an effect of having a paperwork intensive job.. but at least it's the job that gives me money to spend in the first place.

--------------

The stuff that I spend my "fun" budget on can be divided into two categories. Either it takes up time or it takes up space.

In the former there are my VCDs and DVDs, dating, and gaming (and food!). Anything consumable, or at least the stuff that isn't meant to be displayed.

In the latter you have the toys and other collectibles.. gizmos, cellphones and PDAs, go in here too. Also jewelry and cars.

The bigger realization is that as we get busier in life, the shift goes from the time-consumers to space-consumers. It's a matter of limiting reagents. Having money to spend is great, but if you don't have the time to enjoy it, what's the money for?

Toys, apparently.

---------------

Getting Jonas and Oli to play DotA until 4 AM merits special mention. Also, a rampaging Nerubian Assassin is an aweful sight to behold.

Stormcrow

Dude, where's my hair?

2005-03-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

I got a haircut last Saturday.

I've been growing my hair for the past two years. I haven't had a haircut in all that time. But, all things must come to an end, and when Raven went to Bench Fix to straighten her hair, I decided that I might as well get a haircut there. The cut is actually a bit shorter than I would have liked, something appropriate for ROTC. But I guess that means I can afford to not get a haircut for longer.

According to my sister, I look normal now.

The second question people ask is Why? As in, did I have a fight with Raven? Nothing so dramatic. I just wanted a change of pace. Also, I short hair is more appropriate for the heat of summer. Which reminds me... april 16, ha!!!

Mobilis in mobili

Losing the last round of DotA makes me want to play more. Too bad it looks like I'll be busy this weekend..

Stormcrow

Restful weekend

2005-02-28T23:49:00.000-08:00

Friday the 25th

Stormcrow and I arrived late at Eastwood – Ruben and Glenn were already there. We all grabbed a quick lunch of grilled stuff at OJ, then proceeded directly to the cinemas. We missed the Constantine showing time, so we opted instead to watch Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events – a decision I didn't regret, as the movie was very satisfying and fun to watch. After that, we all headed to Blue Skies for another dota session. Jem shortly arrived, followed by Victor. We played a series of 3 on 3 games, took a dinner break at Wham, then went back for some last few games (in which I regressed to a tantrummy person).

Saturday the 26th

One of my college girlfriends, who lives and works in Mindoro, went over to Manila for a visit. It was a chance to complete our batch once again. Four of us met up at NIP, and discovered that the fifth was currently at a parlor having her hair straightened apparently because she was depressed at the moment. WTF?! So after a side trip to the Office of Admissions to peek at the UPCAT results, we decided to all go to the said parlor and confirm this allegation. She was indeed there, and have been there for four hours running! The reason for her depression was still unresolved, however. After a few chats and picture taking, we headed for Cello's for a snack and some very overdue exchange of news. Eventually I had to leave early, because another date was coming up.

This second date for the day was a double date with Ruben and Hiyas. We all met at Haven (where Stormcrow was trading cards), and decided to head right away for a dimsum dinner at Causeway Libis. We got a nice couch booth, and there we tried several varieties of our favourite dimsum and had some very interesting conversation.

Ruben's fortune in tea leaves!

Robinsons Metro East was our next stop, and there we found some interesting PS2 cds and the software cd that Hiyas was looking for. Afterwards we headed to Figaro at the Brick Road for some coffee and more conversation. Stormcrow and I ordered this funny sans rival derivative that was named "My Little Oscar", which was fortunately delicious.

Despite the annoying mosquitoes towards the end of the day, the double date was quite fun and I'm looking forward for more.

Currently listening to: L'arc en Ciel
Just finished reading: His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
About to start reading: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (The Wide Window)

Raven

Raven and Stormcrow go to Gonuts

2005-02-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

Stormcrow and I have been craving Gonuts Donuts for quite some time now but none of its existing branches are in our area of travel. This year's Valentines date, we thought, would be the perfect time to go on quest for those donuts.

The day started well and soon we were on our way to Greenbelt. Not surprisingly, we encountered hairy traffic in the Makati area since it's the Valentines season. Eventually we were able to park relatively near the place where we remembered Gonuts to be. After walking around the entire place twice, we realized that Gonuts wasn't anywhere in the building. Apparently the food court was under renovation at that particular time.

"No use standing around here any longer," I said. After a brief txt consultation with Stormcrow's mom for directions, we set off for the next nearest Gonuts branch - Fort. I haven't personally driven to Fort so I wasn't very at ease. Sure enough, we made several wrong turns, a fact made worse by nearly nonexistent street lights and unclear directions. Eventually, we found ourselves in the vicinity of the NBC tent, which we knew to be near Gonuts.

Finally! At that point the length of the line was trivial, and shortly we each had our donut boxes. We even got a box of their promo valentine donuts and ate a pair on the spot.

The rest of the date went smoothly. We had dinner, then played dota with Po, Ruben, and Glenn. A round of coffee and some chat, then we headed home.

And left my donuts at Stormcrow's place. Damn.

Raven

Cup of Tea

2005-01-31T04:08:00.000-08:00

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

(http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~rsnarren/koan.html)

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"Complexity is simple. Simplicity is difficult."
-Shinsei's Shrine, Diamond Edition

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This is the second law of thermodynamics.

A series of unfortunate occurences

2005-01-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

It's been my turn to blog, and it's taken me a week and a half to be able to at least start writing. I actually have a couple of blog drafts already, but I would always not finish writing it - that by the time I would have finished it, the timeliness of the topic has already been passed.

...Like the time my brother's knee got dislocated when he was practicing dance routines for Engweek - so he wasn't able to participate in what he had prepared a year for. And he had to walk around in a cast for five entire weeks. Not to mention the heartache of not being able to do what he wanted.

...Like the fact that there was a Games and Gadgets Show (G2 Con) last Jan 7-9 in Megamall, with a three-day cosplay contest in which I participated twice. The first as Mai yet again, and the second as Cassandra of Soul Calibur 2. The costume wasn't actually finished yet, since the shield didn't have her trademark design, and the sword was ultra rushed. So rushed in fact, that when I ramped a second time and swung my sword, the blade flew off and whacked a poor audience member in the face! ^^;;; Good thing it was made mostly out of styro... I had cosplayed as a group with two of my cosplay buddies, who played Ivy (3rd player costume) and Talim (2nd player costume).

Triple R Combo! Rien as Ivy, Rinoa as Talim, and Raven as Cassandra

Picture taken by Wantan

...Like the fact that Stormcrow and I did a double-Dota session last week. Once last friday night with Alekos and Po, since my brother was conveniently playing in a VS tournament in a nearby hobby store and I was waiting for him to finish. And the second was the following saturday with Alekos and Po again, but with Glenn, and later on Ruben. At the beginning we had an odd number of players so we decided to play a public game. Unfortunately we were creamed by this group of high school guys in a game that lasted for almost 80 minutes! Gah, I was already acting tantrummy by then (that was the second game against them, I think) and I was taking it out mostly on Stormcrow (sorry! ^^;;;). Argh.. So we figured maybe we were thinking of the wrong strategies, coz I think the five of us (Ruben wasn't there yet) were pretty coordinated by that point. Neeeeeeeed more practice!!! Any takers? XD

---

What's probably delaying my posts are the pressure of following our established pattern, and the fact that we enjoy posting pictures, and preparing pictures take some time. Not to mention the fact that I could only write blog entries at work (since I am forever distracted whenever I am home) and by doing that at work I am wasting precious checking time - like right now! ^^;;; Not to mention that frequent complaint about the loading time of blogger's "Create New Post" page, coupled with the fact that I only have an ancient 33.6kbps modem at home. But the computers at work, even with a whopping bitrate of 10 Mbps, don't help! Mabilis nga, clogged naman yung network.. *sigh*

---

I notice that I have been neglecting my studies most atrociously, which doesn't bode any good since it seems that I might actually have to finish my masters here. For some reason I can never bring up the energy nor the time to get out there and start applying to foreign universities, so it looks like I might as well finish the masters here, and apply for PhD abroad. But I had a very bad start in my studies, since my advisers deemed it unnecessary for me to take back subjects even if I had shifted courses. So now I'm having a hard time catching up with the concepts where the profs assume certain things that I should have learned had I been EE in undergrad. ^^;;

---

Not to mention that I feel as if I'm being exploited by my direct superior. Well, yes, they did give me that extra unit credit for the "research work" that I was assigned - which is basically just to develop the syllabus for a new physics subject and the accompanying lab (and experiments - which is actually the difficult part). But now I'm actually spending more time here than I should be, and I am just part time! It's really either that, or bring my work home, which means that I will not get any work done since there are a lot of distractions at home.

---

Okay, I'll stop there. I need to go home na. ^_^

Raven

Gigablog!

2005-01-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

When I was seven, someone gave me a zoid for christmas. It was some little dinosaur thing; my dad built it for me. Eventually I stepped on it and it died.

****

The nice thing about having a salary is being able to afford all the big toys you ever wanted when you were a kid. And, while I didn't have a special affinity for Zoids when I was younger, I was intrigued by the way they're motorized. So a few monts ago, I decided to get Gojulas Giga, an impressive T-Rex type Zoid.

The Box

Zoids are model kits; some assembly is required. Gojulas Giga comes in 138 parts on 19 sprues (plastic frame/sheets), plus 16 loose parts, plus caps, plus a motor. Gojulas Giga is a new design based on the old Gojulas model, so the degree of complexity is greater than that of older zoids. It took me two weekends to fully assemble Giga, though a lot of that was because I relish cutting and shaving the pieces off the sprues.

Here are the parts, still attached to sprues.

The interesting thing about Giga is that he can shift between two modes. "Attack Mode" is classic Godzilla, harking back to the day when dinosaurs were depicted as slow, lumbering beasts. In this mode, Giga's eyes glow green and he makes a stomping sound as he walks.

Attack Mode

"Pursue Mode" is the post-Jurassic Park dinosaur posture. A horizontal back and straight tail imply faster movement. In this mode, Giga's eyes glow red, and he roars as his jaw opens and closes. I kinda like this mode better.. it's more realistic as a predator than as Godzilla stomping Tokyo.

Pursue Mode

The engineering on this zoid is ingenious. The two-legged walk and arm-waving is all controlled by a single rotating axle. The head/jaw and tail each have a separate movement source though.

A closer look...

I was lucky enough to find CP10 in SM North. These "customize parts" were designed for the original Gojulas, but look just as great on Gojulas Giga. The set comes on two sprues with nine large parts.

CP10: fresh from the pack

With the large cannons attached, Giga looks heavily armed and dangerous. A thoroughly enjoyable model kit to build and display.

Armed and loaded

The Stormcrow

UP Cursor Cosplay

2004-12-23T23:38:00.000-08:00

The UP cursor cosplay event was part of the annual Engg Week, and was held in tandem with the cheerdancing competition. The cosplay itself was pushed back two hours due to a change in venue.

The cosplay turnout was ...eight! Admittedly it was sort of predictable, as they limited it to UP diliman students currently enrolled, so there you go. The event was held outdoors, on the Engg Lawn. Grabe ang init!! It was a good thing that it was almost afternoon, and there was a huge building behind us, so it sheltered us from some of the heat.

I played an RO alchemist, costume courtesy of Minami (Arigatou gozaimasu!!).

Carla as RO blacksmith, Trinity as Kurapika, and I as RO alchemist

One good thing I experienced in that event was that I got to meet and chat with Trinity Cross (who played Kurapika of HxH) and her friend Carla (nice meeting you guys! ^_^ ). Poli, miked01, and their friends also dropped by. Some of the event's parts were emceed by the excellent magnetic_rose.

The eight of us went through preliminary judging, in which we posed in front of three judges (sort of what they did in UGG). After the first cheerdance performance, we got to ramp on the rubber mats (woe to those in high heels!). Then, after the rest of the cheerdancing, we got to ramp again and wait for the results of the cosplay judging.

The brave eight

The top three were the following: 3rd place was Carla (Trinity's friend) playing RO blacksmith, 2nd place was an RO sage, and 1st place was....a pink poring made of, surprisingly enough, papel de hapon! This poring was also the mascot of one of the cheerdance teams.

Raven

Journeys

2004-12-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

Ah, procastination. Sometimes it can save you time and effort.. sometimes it just makes you look like an idiot. I guess in the case of our blog, I got a little bit of both. Here's something that happened a month ago:

During the sembreak, I went to the beautiful island of Bohol. It's part of a standing tradition: the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas congress, a gathering of physicists from all over the Philippines. Mostly to have lunch, but also to present our most recent research results and listen to others. Well, it's also something to put in a resume, though the congress is far from being a IEEE journal.

Bohol sunset

The research in question was my undergrad thesis, which I defended in the last schoolyear. It was about the fabrication and testing of semiconductor lasers.. not very intellectualy challenging, but it takes a bit of skill since each laser is about the size of the head of an ant.

Bohol itself was great. I like being in the provinces.. stuff is so cheap compared to what I'm willing to pay in the metro, particularly the food and services. I also got to swim around a bit at the resort the conference was held in, though I didn't stick around for the tour.

Here's me with my co-teachers/labmates

When I got back, I quit my lab.

Not that I had anything against the lab.. I enjoyed it. It was one and a half years of late night experiments to do my thesis, and that kinda grows on you after a while. But for some reason I never appreciated the science of semiconductors, and it's not satisfying to be just an experimentalist without understanding the theory behind it. And I guess there's also the nagging feeling that I was only in the semicon lab because Pat's lab wouldn't let me in, years ago.

So now, I'm in the process of jumping over to Theoretica, and trying out the other side. I'm also wondering whether I should leave physics entirely, and try my hand at Economics, or CompSci.

It's a little late to be indecisive about my career path.. or maybe a little early to have a midlife crisis. Either way, don't ask me what I see myself working on ten years from now, because I'm still thinking about it. Because it's important to be true to yourself... and it's only work if you don't enjoy it.

The Stormcrow

Not just your ordinary Chinese dinner

2004-11-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

After an unexpected lengthy absence, we're back! The past two weeks had been kind of hectic, what with conferences, work, and acads. (In point of fact, the past two weeks were sem break! ^^) On to the blog!

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Chinese food is one of our favorite kinds of food. If we get a craving for it we usually go to such places like Causeway, which offers a wide variety of choices and has the traditional dimsum cart.

Stormcrow and I went to Greenhills one weekend. We saw this very intriguing Chinese place situated in the newly-opened multilevel covered parking lot. It was aptly named "Hua Lan" and the poster invited us to partake of an eat-all-you-can meal for only Php200. The restaurant had conveniently placed floor-to-ceiling glass windows that allowed us to peak at their buffet table. It looked interesting enough that we set a dinner date to try out the place.

This poster caught our attention 2 weeks ago..

In we went one night, and it must have been during the peak of dinner as we almost couldn't get a table. The place was modest in size, and could probably seat around 25-30 people max. We got a very small table for two, and ordered two glasses of bottomless iced tea (which might be a bad idea, as it will war with the food over stomach space ^^ ).

The buffet table was long, and was divided into sections: appetizer, viands/meal proper, dimsum, soup, and dessert. To my delight Hua Lan had radish cakes in cute triangular slices. (To the uninitiated, radish cakes are basically thicker hash browns made of..well, radish. ^^ You can put a kind of a thick red paste that tastes like hot sauce.) I gleefully put on several slices on my first plate.

The buffet table

The viands were varied. From what I remember, there was a dish of beef in oyster sauce (we liked that a lot), fried chicken parts, pork spareribs, pancit, and other chinese dishes that had, strangely enough, more than a touch of Filipino influence. The dimsum were your usual siomai (in pork and shrimp), siopao, and shrimp dumplings (which I didn't eat, lest I die XD ). There were also two kinds of soup, a hot and sour concoction and a reddish hued soup with pork bits.

Stormcrow with his first dinner plate. ^_^

Since it was eat-all-you-can, it was a no holds barred kind of meal. I helped myself to more of the radish cake and that excellent beef in oyster sauce dish. I think I got around 2 or 2 and a half plates worth of the main course, a couple of servings of the allowable dimsum, and maybe two cups of soup. Stormcrow ate maybe just a bit more than I did. (I think I was very hungry then! XD )

Sometime in the middle of the meal, Stormcrow got some samples of dessert. The choices included buchi, a mango-and-sago cold soup, and coffee jelly. We tried the coffee jelly, and it turned out to be pleasantly nice. It was a bit weird (all new things are a bit weird) but it had its charms. At that point I was getting full and wasn't able to take more than a couple of spoons of it.

The sweet conclusion

All in all, it was a very satisfying meal, even though their viands weren't very chinese. In fact there was a distinct lack of seafood in their buffet menu. The price of the meal isn't that far from any other eat-all-you-can places, and you have the option of a bottomless drink as well. The ambiance is quiet and the place is airconditioned. Is it worth going back? You bet!

Raven

Just a girl with a sword

2004-10-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

"One-handed or two-handed, miss?"

"Eh?" I looked up from the orc I killed and squinted at the knight. Eager, but a little cagey.

"Is your sword one-handed or two-handed? Here, I'll let you look at my weapon if I can look at yours."

"Well okay..."

He moved closer and handed me his sword. A flamberge. A bit better than mine, but then, I wasn't a knight yet. When I tried to hand it back, he waved me away. "It's okay, go ahead and keep it!" he smiled.

I whispered to Raven. "Is this guy hitting on me?"

Raven grinned. "Yup. He's completely ignoring me."

"Eeeeeeeew."

"Hey, more orcs!" The knight ran up to them and started hitting them with his fists. Because he wanted to tank us, or because he no longer had a sword, I wasn't sure. I wasn't so comfortable about rejecting the implicit offer right after acceping his sword, so I leapt in. Raven blasted away with her magicks from behind.

After the dust cleared, the knight goes up to me again. "Dont forget to use your potions! Here, have a few!" He drops some potions in my general direction.

"Eeeeeeeew."

To make a long story short, I acted like a frigid bitch and he eventually got the message and left.

I found the entire thing profoundly disturbing. First off, although the guy was nice, his presence was wholly uncomfortable. I don't like depending on the kindness of strangers. At the same time, I couldn't "pay" him what he implicitly wanted, which is to be friends with a girl.

The thing was, it's like the value of face: I couldn't tell him to bugger off, since I didn't want to hurt the feelings of someone who was doing his best to please. Even if, in the long run, he really would be better off going away.

It's almost emotional blackmail, forcing the girl to be nice by putting her in the guy's debt. The bad thing is that (I think) it's socially unacceptable for a girl to reject a "free" gift, even if it has strings attached.

I like deals much better when the price tags are up front.

Maybe girls have the short end of the stick when it comes to courtship. It sucks if nobody is courting you, and it can still suck if someone you don't like, is.

"Guys are so weird."

The Stormcrow

Gashapons of the walking dead

2004-10-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

What is a gashapon?

A gashapon is a little toy that is dispensed by little coin operated machines. I have the vague idea that they were much more common when we were kids... right now, the best I can find locally is a coin operated bouncing ball dispenser near the UP coop.

In Japan though, these things are quite popular. They can be anything, from matchbox sized firetrucks, animals, sentai, robots... or even four-inch high figurines of cute anime babes.

Gashapons are usually dispensed in opaque plastic eggs, if you get them directly from the machine. This usually means that you don't know exactly what you're getting (kinda like a booster pack). But you do know that it will be figure from a specific set of around 4-10 characters.

Here in Manila though, you'll probably be buying them by the set. They cost between 100-300 Php per fig, depending on the set and where you buy. They're very similar to the collectible figures you see being sold in blister packs, except that those didn't come from a dispenser (and are therefore potentially bigger).

I recently went to greattoys to get my first set of gasha. I saw a hot set from Vampire Saviour (aka Darkstalkers) on their forums and figured it would be a good place to start. Good thing I didn't wait for the weekend: I got the last set being sold.

Morrigan! In some variant of her costume. It looks a bit more evening dress-ish. This fig has trouble standing up straight, since her stand is unconventional.

Morrigan (again). In a leather outfit, still somewhat reminiscent of her costume. Not sure if this is one of her win poses. The whip is a nice touch.

Zabel, aka Lord Raptor. Except, it's more of lady than lord. And she has nice skin tone for a zombie. It's very cute, actually. I like this the best out of the set.

Aulbath, aka Rykuo. Again, it's a girl. And it's more of a mermaid than a saughain-type monster. Okay, it looks nothing like Aulbath. It's still a cute mermaid wearing only her hair! (Hm... maybe it's actually his girlfiend)

Finally, in case you were wondering: Gashapon is an onomatopoeic term. It represents the sound of the dispenser eating your coins and dropping an egg.

The Stormcrow

The catwalk and aftermath

2004-09-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Continued from I got game!

It was time for the catwalk. I saw 37 other cosplayers before my turn came, and by that time I was feeling the part. I posed with my parasol, then did the trademark fighting stance with the fan, then the trademark winning stance. Then practically FLEW off the stage. That was sooo freaky and weird and kinda scary as well, since the audience were really expressing their... appreciation of my costume. >.<

Just exiting my parasol pose..

Image courtesy of Hazel

The remaining six cosplayers ramped as well, then all 44 of us went back on stage for group pics. Some formed their groups (Starcraft and FFX), some performed fight scenes (KOF and Capcom), and a couple even did an impromptu rendition of FFXIII's ending. ^_^ I was asked several times to do fight scenes too, since I am also a KOF character, but my costume was not really built for vigorous movements so I just declined.

This is my favorite fight scene. Kyo is played by my brother. ^_^
Image courtesy of Hans

The announcement of the finalists was scheduled for around 8pm, so we had to wait around for that. In the interval, I got to watch the Ragnarok Juno Cosplay and the succeeding announcement of their finalists, had my pic taken by many peeps that I didn't know, chatted with old and new friends, and lingered around inside the Filcosplay booth.

Finally, the time has come for the announcement of the finalists. They were: Honey Candy, Kimari (FFX), Auron (FFX), a male ninja from a game I didn't recognize, Kunoichi (Shinobi), Quina (FFIX), Nightmare (Soul Calibur 2), a second Auron (FFX), Infested Kerrigan (SC), and Zerg Hydralisk (SC). The last three placed third, second, and first place consecutively, with the esteemed Robert Wong playing the Hydralisk. Unfortunately, I did not even get to the finals. Nevertheless I think Mai was a cosplay well done and well carried, judging from the feedback I got from my fellow cosplayers.

This is me with my wonderful Stormcrow! ^_^

Image courtesy of Chris

For pictures of the finalists, visit magnetic_rose's page. Note to the wary: prepare to be shocked! >_<

Raven

I got game!

2004-09-22T02:34:00.000-07:00

The U Got Game Cosplay competition registration was scheduled to be between 1-3pm, and it was already quarter to 3 and we were still on Edsa! I was driving with Stormcrow and my youngest brother, but we had to make several stops that led to much delay. First was UP shopping center, to have my brother's images printed (a registration requirement). Then to LBC Q.Ave, to send Stormcrow's L5R package off to Visayas. Not to mention the incredibly heavy traffic on Edsa up until Guadalupe. I even made a wrong (but not so fatal) turn, instead of Roxas I went into Macarthur. -And- veered into World Trade Center instead of PTTC! >.<>.<

To be continued: "The catwalk and aftermath.."

Raven

Gift of the Magi

2004-09-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

"Hey mom, take a look at what I got Tiago!"

Grinning, I pulled the package out of the closet. I had gotten my brother a zoid, LigerZero(phoenix) for his thirteenth birthday. I showed my mother the box, which was about as big as a PC monitor.

"What do you think? Pretty cool eh?"

"Are you sure it's for your brother?" My mom laughingly asked. "Seems to me it might be for yourself".

And in a sense she was right. My brother was asking for ragnarok stuff for his birthday. However, I had already helped my mom buy him a bunch of pre-paid cards and a guidebook, so I figured I didn't need to give him anything on that front (although I did arrange for him to receive a few in-game items).

A friend of mine once told me something about gift giving: "Never give anything that they would have bought for themselves". It's pretty good advice. If you give something that they would have gotten themselves, it's as if you had just given cash. Useful, but not impressive. Ultimately, it's forgettable.

The best gift is something that the getter wouldn't have thought of themselves, but upon getting, they enjoy and treasure. Even better if it's something that will remind them of you when ever they look at it. In that sense, it's better to stop trying to second guess "what they really want" and just buy them something that you want to give: something that YOU think is cool.

I mentioned this theory to Raven when we were out shopping.

"So what I'm saying is, if I give what I'm interested in, it's a gift that's straight from my heart!"

Raven nodded. "I guess that's right. It's more interesting to receive a gift that's surprising too."

"Yeah. Hey, check out this command wolf! So, baby, you want a zoid for your birthday too?"

The Command Wolf I gave Raven:

Image taken by Raven

The Stormcrow

A parable for our time

2004-09-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

There was once a village with ten people.

It was a very small village, and ideally it should have supported only eight. However, everyone was still ok at having 80% nutrition level, even though it made them mildly unhappy. Still, they shared and shared alike.

Every so often, an 11th member would be born.. But the resulting drop in nutrition levels would cause a member to expire, so the village would go back to having ten members, at 80% nutrition level.

One day, the super-cow was invented. It survived on nothing but water but still gave off more meat than a normal cow. Everyone rejoiced at an invention that would obviously make everybody's life better.

And for a while it did. The ten people in the village each had five times the food they had before (400% nutrition). Life was good.

When an 11th member was born, food was so plentiful that the drop in nutrition levels (to 363%) was unnoticable. Finally, the village was able to increase its size!

And when the 12th (333%), and the 15th (267%), and the 25th member (160%) of the village was born, there was still more than enough food for everyone, so everyone was still happy.

When the village had its 40th member, everyone still had 100% nutrition level. Everyone was still happy.

When the 41st member was born, nutrition dropped to 97.5%. This made people slightly unhappy, but it was still above the minimum survival level, so nobody expired.

When the 50th member was born, nutrition levels were back at 80%. The way it was before.

When the 51st member was born, nutrition dropped a little too low, and someone expired. Back to 50 members. So the village had found the new stable population: 50 members, and 80% nutrition.

And in the end, everyone was back to being mildly unhappy.. except of course, now there were a lot more of them.

Technology doesn't make more people happy; it makes more unhappy people. For as long as people themselves don't change.

The Stormcrow

The Value of Face

2004-08-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Stormcrow and I had dinner today at McDonald's, where he scared a cashier into giving us a big chicken part (but that's another story). While we were eating, this dude approached us and left on our table a laminated card saying that he's a "self-employed" student from Cebu, and it would help him if we'd buy packed dried mangoes from him. If we hadn't bought our dinner yet, and if the mangoes weren't grossly overpriced, we might have been interested. But his mangoes sell at php50 a pack! SM sells the same product for only php35.

This event got us to thinking, what makes gigs like this work? We call it the value of "face". Have you ever had the experience of going to a new restaurant to try it out, finding out that the menu sucks, but still feeling forced to stay and eat there anyway? This is the value of "face" working against you. Many Filipinos tend to inconvenience or even (magpapalugi) themselves just to save face, and that unspoken fact is used by people to their own benefit.

For example, we know that there are a lot of religious people who go out and ask passersby for donations for various holy causes. Before I developed my world view into what it is now, I used to fall for these tactics. A poor and downtrodden looking man would diffidently approach me and hand me a card or a sheet of paper outlining his cause, and would I be so kind enough to donate even a small amount to help? I would either generally mutter confusedly and hand over some coins, or if I tried refusing he wouldn't take back the paper unless I give him anything.

Part of it might be due to the naivette of my youth and my being overly insecure, but most of it was because I didn't want to lose face. This is even more acute when ordering at restaurants. The dinner at McDo, for instance. Stormcrow ordered a two-piece chicken meal. The counter guy said that only wing and leg pieces were available, even for a two-piece meal (even though we could see some big pieces on their rack). Had it been me ordering, I would just have nodded my head and accepted two puny pieces for my meal. I didn't want to lose face by refusing or changing my order. It would definitely not have occurred to me to consider leaving altogether.

Unfortunately many people are taking advantage of this peculiar tendency of Filipinos. Most are solicitors, but we have also seen many eating establishments that ride purely on the value of face. They count on the occasional curious first-time customer, who might or might not have been satisfied, and they make their profits out of that.

Raven

Overload!

2004-08-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

As the semester passes by, it's more and more pounded unto me the hidden (and hence unpaid) part of teaching: the paper checking. I discover that every week, I add another pile on to my already gigantic heap of paperwork, 250-students strong every pile. It gives me that creepy feeling of impending doom, as I know that at the end of the sem I'll be rushing to finish all that I have to within a strict time period.

Now one might ask, so why not check right after each pile comes in? Good question. And for a person who's been too deep in the habit of procastination, I really have no straight answer for that.

I know that Stormcrow is probably having the same problems as I am. We are even considering a "paperwork date". Nothing like reinforcing each other while fighting off procastination's charms. And, as our favorite saying goes, all it needs is the first step (which is actually harder than it sounds).

Raven

A Single Step

2004-07-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

I got this interesting mail the other day showing a pic of Chewy and Lex hanging together.

Interesting, not that it was singular to see such a pic, but because I didn't realize that pisay98 had a weblog. And that so many of my old batchmates had their own. So heck, I'm always turned on by competition. And there's a lot of stuff that's going on in my life right now that it seems such a waste to let it pass by without documenting it.

I also felt a little nostalgic, because in this day and age of big forums and corp webpages, I miss the hodgepodge of the indie personal webpages of old. I even had my own geocities page that got updated, like, never.The only problem would be the setup.. but hey, I've got Raven, and she has web design in her resume. Hehe.. So, no problem. ^_^

Oh, right, there's that thing about having to put up content. Great, there goes my free time. No, really.

A chinese proverb says that every journey begins with a single step.

Watch out world, here we come.

The Stormcrow