kainzero

This lack of time is really getting to me, but I kind of enjoy it. Being busy makes me feel like I'm actually doing something, and I have to dig deep to really do something I want, like say, going to the gym at 5AM.

Unfortunately I have fallen behind in a lot of things because I haven't diminished in my unwind time. I'm still playing TGM (and doing horrendous, might I add), and running console room inspired me back into fighters so I'm into BlazBlue at the moment.

Mmm, my new main...
So far, BlazBlue feels really solid to me. It feels like a much simpler game than Guilty Gear but with the crazy features of it. Plus with only 10 characters there's a lot less matchups to learn than GG. It's a bit frustrating learning though, since everyone has such eccentric moves compared to SF. In SF, you can recognize punches and kicks, but in BlazBlue you have people jumping awkwardly and airdashing every which way and random objects come out of the ground and hit you, it's quite confusing.

I'm still at low-tier though since I lose to Noel D-mashers and Jin scrubs. *sigh* Losing to Jin online is like losing to Ken online.

Familiar much?
Online play is pretty good though, I have to admit. It's a bit frustrating when I can't block overheads or miss combos, but still it's nice to come home and relax and play a game competitively instead of driving 40 minutes - 1 hour to AI / FFA for competition that destroys me and has wait time in between each match.

Learning photography has been more stressful than it needs to be. I devoured two books on Friday (400 pages in 3 hours! zomg!) and it's given me a lot of insight on perfecting technique but now I can just readily pick apart flaws. It's like, I'm always needing new gear or my lighting is wrong, and then there's the woeful composition problems. This isn't a cheap hobby. =(

The blank space on the left of the picture irritates me."
Food blog progress has stalled. I find it a bit irritating to bring a camera with me to every decent meal and to take time out to photograph everything. Plus I find that photographing meals is both difficult and boring, and that I'd rather capture the expressions of the people at the table while eating than just a picture of food.

And that's it so far. I need some more saucy things in my life.

-Oh man, Bigmista's BBQ is the truth. Just good old fashioned BBQ, with the right amount of smoky flavor and great sauce (served on the side so you can douse it like a typical American). I thought Jaybee's had better baked beans and the sausage was just okay, but everything else like the brisket, pulled pork, ribs were superb.

-It was so good, it inspired me to try making my own BBQ Brisket. I bought the Bicentennial Rub from Penzey's Spices and some hickory wood chips and got some Bison brisket from Lindner Bison. It turned out okay, but I think I smoked it for too long. The crust tastes like beef jerky.

Lovingly hand-carved... not really.
(Speaking of which, I thought it'd be funny if I had an "M" Bison party and served Turnaround Punch and Buffalo headbutt wings and other foods. On the other hand, maybe I should keep my jokes to myself.)

-As you can see by my photo, all I can say about getting the new camera is that it just horribly exposes my lack of technique and composition. Guess it's a long way up, but as long as I get on the learning curve it'll be fine. The other thing is that things get sooo expensive. I have to buy a bag and another lens and a new SDHC card. I can only shoot 16 RAWs with the 1GB card I have, that's LOLtastic. And there goes another $250.

-Gearing up for AX continues. I feel baller after buying a bunch of 360s and monitors. On the other hand, I'm already getting swamped with work there. Ohhh well.

-I started Japanese class yesterday. Feels good to be back in school. The downside is that it's pretty much the same class I took at UCSD, even though that was 7 years ago. But the good thing is that I'll at least get practice again and continue learning. And I'll be a curve breaker, hahah. But there's a weeaboo in the class -_-;

-I didn't go bowling last weekend. I feel pretty mad about that. But I did waste the entirety of Sunday playing Tales of Vesperia.

I consider this a good reason to play Vesperia.
-We'll see how fitness holds up after this week. Cooking everything yesterday was already a pain, I didn't even get to make my fig bars or cherimoya sorbet, hopefully staying on top of nutrition won't be too hard with the busy schedule.

-I begin Japanese class at El Camino next week. M-Th, 6:30p-9:30p. Looking forward to it. Might mean I have to start working out in the morning... could be fun, busy times. Or I could follow status quo and NOT work out.

-When I get paid at the end of this month, time to buy a ticket to Japan. Timeline is around October 13 so I can catch Rei's birthday. Tickets right now are $580 round-trip on Singapore Air, that sounds like a good deal. Then I'll hostel it around in Tokyo / Osaka / Kyoto with a Rail Pass. $2500 should be good enough for this trip. Stashing $500/mo. for 4 months is easy, especially since I'm due backpay for the raise I should've received in December.

I can't wait to visit Japan!
-Bowling practice on Sunday. Just playing around for now. I got a referral to a coach who I'll call next week.

-Currently in the market for a camera and read up a lot today. The Canon T1i impresses me because it can record HD Video as well, 30fps @ 720p instead of the 23fps @ 720p that the D90 offers. Also might be looking into a film camera just to learn. Or I can go D40 and upgrade later when I need to. Who knows.

-I still need to hijack Daisuke's pool to learn how to swim properly.

-AX in only 2 weeks. I'm not even up to speed with most of my stuff, I still need to acquire 360s and configure them.

-I think I found the answer to my cardio woes. I should just play basketball to lose weight. Yes, I'm a fatass.

Hmm. This could be me soon.
-Food blog to come up soon. I still love eating at "nice" places. I was thrilled to eat at Animal (review pending) for only $25. $25 for a Foie Gras + sausage biscuit, pork belly sandwiches, meltingly tender ribs, and veal shortbread. I don't know where else you can get that kind of deal. I plan on tackling Chez Melange next... after checking out Ramen California and Big Mista's BBQ, that is.

-Gaming still remains my Achilles heel and the quick way to not get things done. Vesperia, Company of Heroes, Sims 3 have also sucked my life away in the last few weeks. And I'm playing Halo 3 with the guys again. After the first 4 frustrating games getting my aim back, the games mostly evolved into "Can Marc and Joe's ridiculous +7-12 K/D spread make up for everyone else's negative K/D spread?"


A typical game.

See you all in a month! If all of you haven't moved to Twitter by now...

-Texas is the land of short shorts. Great if you have a shorts fetish, but bad if you have a skirts fetish.

-Rei would always tell me how he liked to visit LA from Japan because of how he could look out and see the landscape and the skies. Dallas was way more scenic in that regard.

-People are a lot friendlier. Even the fobs were and it was easy to start up random conversations.

-...except when they're in their cars. Everyone I drove with had immense road rage.

-I hate it when I meet people who do more with their lives when they have less time and talent than me. Then the competitive fire kicks in and I feel like crap for not taking advantage of being me. Well, at least I'm inspired now.

-Food was decent. My favorite restaurant had to be Potager in Arlington, a locovore and organic restaurant. I actually finished a salad. However, eating out all the time made my stomach unhappy. I can't believe my diet at home is actually that healthy. I guess all that steel-cut oatmeal and brown rice regulated my digestive system too well.

-I'm not so sure I like meeting people online. Especially when I travel. If they're cool, I get sad that the friendship lasts only as long as the vacation. If they're not cool, then plans kinda get lost and uninteresting.

-I got tired real fast. 5-6 days was enough. The 8 days I spent, kinda overstayed my visit.

-At least I had time to watch basketball. The immense hate for the Lakers is starting to make me like them again.

As an avid Chowhound reader, I noticed that whenever sushi came up, the restaurant "Urasawa" would always pop up, with the caveat "if you can afford it." With at least $300 for the prix fixe (depending on the seasonal ingredients), it didn't come cheap. But I live my life as a value-oriented person, not as a bottom-line person, and with the general opinion that it is definitely worth it, I stashed a small amount of savings each month just so I could go.
On April 4th, I finally went, bringing along Daisuke and Gilbert with me.

( Irrashaimasen~! )

Recently on Chowhound, someone made a post decrying the lack of good drip coffee in Los Angeles. He had his epiphany at Blue Bottle in San Francisco, and took those memories back to LA where he found the coffee lackluster.

It reminded me of when I used to read about coffee. I knew about the difference between Arabica and Robusta, or a city roast and a French roast. I followed the production process, from farming to drying, to selling at a coffee market, to the final roasting process. I knew about the regional differences, from a full-bodied Sumatra to the smooth, almost fruity acidity of a Kenya, to the mild and clean Kona coffees.

There was only one problem.

I never tried any of them. It just so happened that the coffee books were next to the tea books during a summer vacation where I would just plow through books at the library.


Something I didn't have.
The extent of my coffee experience had been the occasional cup fully doused in cream and sugar. I then progressed to the cappuccinos at Denny's. And then, finally, on a trip to NorCal with Bryant while I was pouring in my 5th creamer and 4th sugar, he remarked, "You should probably drink it black to appreciate the actual coffee." From then on, although I rarely drank coffee, I always drank it black, getting the occasional blend at Peet's or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf whenever my friends wanted to get coffee.

So after that post I thought, I owe it to myself to actually try some damn good coffee. I found a local microroaster by the name of Cafe Klatch. Being headed by one of the Barista champions was good enough assurance that I could have fresh roasted coffee beans packed with care, and I ordered their Kenyan AA, the highest grade of Kenyan coffee. I bought myself an electric kettle to heat up boiling water efficiently and easily, and tried in vain to secure a single cup coffee manual drip but I couldn't find one despite visiting all the major household stores and coffee vendors in my area. I'd have to improvise... which would end up being a terrible idea.

Taking notes from this helpful video, I set off to work to prepare my coffee that I had received as soon as I got home.


I stuck a heaping tablespoon of the coffee beans into my blade grinder and grinded away, pulsing as I went, taking in the aroma of the freshly ground beans. For my brewing device, I removed the coffee funnel from my automatic drip machine and stuck it over my mug.


I followed the steps, presoaking the filter. Only there was a problem when I got to the presoaked coffee stage, and later, the drip stage. Maybe you can tell by this picture.


The funnel was clearly too big for just one cup of coffee. The water dripped through in a mere 30 seconds. I took my coffee, expecting a grand transcendent experience... and all I got was brown-colored water. Where were my wine-like notes, my acidity... anything?! I stared at my brewing vessel, having only myself to blame.


It's like if you pooped in a toilet and kept the color and none of the flavor.
And so ends my first day of gourmet coffee--in straight failure.

whatchu think i live on a farm? nigga be for real


it was fun.
pics and silly videos to come later

Before I leave for Michigan tomorrow and explore the midwest, I thought it'd be nice to go get some ramen. Santouka is obviously my favorite, but I've always wanted to try Asa again. Last time I went was after the ramen article in the Times, so it was really crowded and maybe their quality slipped.

I went in and ordered their Kotteri Shoyu Ramen with butter and extra chashu, and mochi cheese takoyaki. After taking a sip of the broth, I was like, WOW. This is some strong ass stuff! But after a while it got kinda annoying because it would keep hitting you with that flavor, and it kinda hurt after a while; I'll try the assari broth next time. I still maintain that their noodles are the best; unlike other ramen places, these are locally sourced and hand made. The chashu was kinda disappointing. It looks pretty with its ribbons of fat, but it seems overcooked and not very tender. I wanted to get an egg, but it wasn't on the menu; but then I heard you could've requested egg. Ah well. So in my bowl was some negi, 3 pieces of chashu, some butter, and 2 bamboo shoots. Once you start adding more toppings, it doesn't seem as cheap anymore.

Oddly, after I was done with my bowl, I was still hungry. A bowl of Santouka Chashu or Toroniku Shio fills me up right, but Asa's did not. Either Santouka's broth is richer, or that bowl is much deeper than it looks.

Takoyaki was decent. I think I made a mistake getting the mochi cheese. I liked it in my monjayaki but it didn't really taste like anything in the takoyaki. Still, I love the texture, so next time I'll just get the regular style.

I want to come back just to try the Assari-style Ramen.

The plaza itself is pretty nice. You got Sanuki no Sato right next to it, the best Udon place in LA. There's Sen Nari sushi, which is pretty average (and average in LA is pretty hard to get) and I also discovered Bonjour Bakery, a French-style Bakery not unlike Chantilly Patisserie. I got a sublime mocha cake from there to share with my family. So at the very least, you can pick up great dessert.

Actually, at this point in time, I could even go back to Asa Ramen for round 2, but that ain't gonna happen.

I finally finished Valkyria Chronicles on Saturday. I don't remember the last time I grinded out game that quickly, especially nowadays that I'm working and not in school. Plot and story discussion behind the cut with spoilers:

( Let's drive these Imperials back out of Gallia! )

Gameplay-wise, it was pretty fun. Towards the end it got kinda imbalanced once you got elite scouts. I played it pretty conventional though, and I was surprised to learn of the brokenness of Awaken Potential. And for whatever reason, brokenness can be cool as evidenced by FF6.

I found that a lot of missions were hard at first but after losing the first time the strategy gets dramatically easy. It'd be nice to have a mission preview of where everything is and what you can see in the beginning. It'd also be nice to see where the enemy spawns during the later missions because towards the end I got caught many times with lancers spawning and spearing the back of Welkin's tank.

Still, as far as gameplay design, it was really refreshing. Nothing's really been done like that and I would love to see a balanced multiplayer version come out. Unfortunately, I heard the game bombed in the US (and people are saying it's gonna be a rare title), and DLC probably won't come out here. Dang. And I wanted to play as Big Tits McGee and wreck everyone.

------

Starcraft. Ohhh man. I started playing on iCCup which is basically a third party server where people actually play real games. It is tough as hell and I find myself making noob mistakes all over. Even when I know the obvious counter, I fail to really capitalize on it. My game sense is getting a little better but my multitasking is still bad and I really struggle in TvZ because my MnM group management is god awful. Especially when I try to go SK Terran and I have to manage MnM and multiple Sci Vessels. The learning curve is definitely MUCH higher and learning game sense is one of the most arduous tasks out there.

Believe me, I'm used to this screen.
They say if you get a 50% winning record in the first year, then you're talented. *sigh* I have a long way to go...

At least watching pro matches are entertaining. It's amazing to see them manage multiple bases at once while coordinating multi-front attacks.

Also the cool thing about iCCup is that... I've played 21 matches (and I'm sitting at a cool 7-14... =\) and only two of my opponents were American. Pretty nuts if you think about it. I imagine my progress in this game will be MUCH slower than SF2.

What's happening tomorrow night, anyone

I spoke too soon with the magic tanks, as the battle after I mentioned that, some chick appeared and fired lasers out of her lance (which surprisingly, doesn't do any damage against my tank). Also, she deflected a tank shell with that lance. Just... wow. Ugh. And here I was giving it props for that World War feeling and without any ridiculous anime crap. I have a feeling that the story will eventually be something like this:

-Randgriz has some super powerful Valkyrur weapon that Gallia will fail to hold on to and concede to the Empire.
-The Darcsen Calamity was a sacrifice to purge the Valkyrur from this world because they unlocked some superpower, and whatever they used to invoke it, they'll probably use it again.


WTF is this shit?!
Things I don't like about the story:
-The game sets itself up as a small country versus the big superpower, and if there's a weapon that can change the course of the second Europan War, they should have way more forces. This is like the other 49 states going to war with Rhode Island.
-Don't like how the Imps are set up to be evil, dressed in all red and with mean looking characters.

Things I do like:
-The characters. Although I think Alicia and Welkin are a little bit one-dimensional they still make for good characters. Welkin is pretty cool actually, it's not often you see a nerd as the starring main character.
-The setting. I can't mention it enough. The WWII-esque setting is awesome, sets up great gameplay and a good story.
-The format. I love the book format. It just works so well and seamlessly integrates the side stories, and I like how all the scenes play out.
-Short skirts and stockings are military-grade. Yep.


"The short skirt adds to mobility. Yeah. That's it."

Things I like about the gameplay:
-Minimal classes, and no counter classes. One thing I hate about most strategy games is that it breaks down to RPS. Here, a scout can't necessarily beat an assault guy up front, but if they sneak up from behind or use grenades they can. And then it becomes a matter of how effective you can use your guy, should you use get rid of the sandbags or just plow through people, positioning people so they can't run on you, etc.
-Perfect leveling system. I hate games where you level your guys based on individual performance, because it usually leads to several guys way stronger than the rest. Assigning EXP seems to be to way to go, and it doesn't unbalance any character either because they're all the same level. Brilliant.
-Because I keep talking about WWII, the addition of weak points on the back of tanks is a nice touch. Just like in real WWII where an anti-tank unit to the rear is game over, because it was the least armored (if armored at all). Although one has to ask, why put a radiator in the rear, it doesn't make sense because there's hardly any airflow back there. =D

The weakpoint isn't obvious at all!
-A great mix of real time and turn based gaming. The turn based stuff gives you things to think about, like how to position your units, movement points, which units to move, base control, orders, etc. The real time stuff injects a little bit of action with twitch movement, positioning and aiming, deploying against a stationary force and trying to find their weak spots. It's a really, really good mix, as you feel equally tested mentally and physically. I also really like their cover system.
-Epic battles. The first battle against a massive tank feels like you're fighting the Death Star. Awesome, awesome stuff. (although again, who puts their radiators boxed and facing upward? Where's the airflow?)
-It looks gorgeous. The animation is top notch, the way people move and articulate seems flawless. It could use a little more anti-aliasing but to me, really, the quality of the animation just stands so far above and beyond most RPGs. When the game is still it doesn't look impressive, but watching it in motion is a real treat.

What I don't like about the gameplay:
-The AI. The AI is retarded. I've seen them try to outrun my tanks and that's free kills for me. I've seen them leave my units on the brink of death with CP to spare. They tend to just stand in open fields waiting to be picked off or rushed behind corners. They don't calculate any headshot risk/reward so you can be pretty much assured that you won't get 1-shotted to the head by a sniper or a shocktrooper or anybody. It'd be nice if the AI pulled off some brilliance or took advantage of its guaranteed kills.

Someone doing their best AI impression.
-Kinda wish there was something more to the equipment other than timed upgrades. I haven't hit the equipment forks yet but it's kinda lame to be like "Yay, next chapter, buy better gun, repeat." In a game that lacks unit-specific abilities, there should've been some variance in equipment. And I don't think the unit potentials are really something that sets them apart.

There's also a nice little Skies of Arcadia fanservice, but I wouldn't know because I never got far in that game. I just use Aika and Vyse in tandem because I know they get along well and therefore, will assist fire more often. It sure beats remembering that Dallas goes well with Claudia, or something like that.

Overall it's just a great game. I'm really hoping that the story doesn't let me down even if it seems that way.

I thought it was gonna be one of those weird steampunk games with magic tanks and whatever...

But instead it's like a World War II strategy game that mixes the fast pace of an RTS with a turn-based strategy. I really like the setting.

I enjoyed the second mission when you have to protect the gate. Two times in a row I missed shooting the tank and hit the gate instead. o_O;

It's too bad the AI is dumb as bricks though. It'd would've been nice to have some multiplayer.

I'm getting better even though TvZ is my weakpoint right now. Managing groups of M&M and dealing with muta harass is too much.

Anyway, in one game last night I had two expansions with a third on the way, and I set up a full contain on his base. This one guy is clearly going for a lurker drop. I set up turrets way beforehand, and he keeps pushing for it for some reason even after he kept losing lurkers. Finally he broke through, so I just moved my SCVs to my other expansion. Then he said "gg" as if he won. What a wiener. I smashed him with the rest of my troops and reinforced my expansion with more units, then he wants to ally for the win. Bitch, please.

I don't know what it is but I've been doing really bad at Starcraft. And when I actually do well, I drag 6 minute games out into 25 minutes because I don't have finishing instincts.

For example, I stopped an overpool rush with 14CC. That should've been game, but nope, even with my 90 food army, 2 sunkens and a lurker at the ramp stopped me cold.

This sucks.
Hopefully I can break out of this slump.

Played Halo last night, and man, for some reason is was really entertaining, although for some reason my skill level dropped a lot at the end. It was like my BR lost its reticle magnetism. Also, I thought it was funny how the callout on Valhalla went from "under the arch" to "McDonald's", that had me laughing the entire time.

Anyway, while playing on Sandtrap and bitching about the map for the billionth time (to the point where Marc bitched back at me, hahah) I actually took a step back and thought about why it is such a shitty map and how this would lead to something like MLG-style.

The biggest thing about Sandtrap that bothers me is the lack of cover. Because it is a vast open field, any man-to-man fights are either luck based on the spread of the BR, or whoever has the distance weapon will win. There are 12 people, and only 3 power weapons (2 lasers, one sniper), so we know who's going to win those fights. The only indoor fights are in long tunnels, so the cover isn't as dynamic. The rest of the fights take place in vehicles, which IMO are extremely unbalanced and / or lacking in skill. Warthog vs. Warthog is nothing but point-and-click, with pure randomness. Warthog vs. Banshee basically depends on the skill of the Banshee, as in, he better not fuck up. And I don't even know what the other thing is. Also, because the map is a giant open field, any vehicle vs. a Spartan is insta-win for the vehicle, you won't see any daring sticky grenades, brute shot flips, or even well placed power drains.

The next thing that bothers me is that it's purely symmetrical and hardly memorable. Callouts are impossible because everything looks the same and there's no real distinguishing marks. I think that's what makes FPS maps more memorable, they need some unique feel or unique identifiers.

I thought more about MLG settings, which would appear to take a game and strip it down to a lot of basic stuff with no vehicles, 4 weapons, no items. I think the reason being is that you can create a better competitive atmosphere by limiting everything first, and then slowly expanding it. A game HAS to be released and tested by thousands of people before it can be truly mapped out, at which point changes can be made; this almost never happens with videogames, and I get the feeling that designers throw in all the features they can think of with little regard for playtesting. It's one thing that I think Blizzard does extremely well, they know how to balance their games and the features are carefully implemented, with input coming from the top level and not the battle.net forum scrubs.

I think even more interesting is the clear split in H3 between MLG and the other Halo Matchmaking players. MLG players think that Matchmaking people are garbage AR / Vehicle whores, Matchmaking people think MLG players bitch and whine about anything that doesn't add up to their system of competitive values. And sadly I think Bungie sided with the Matchmaking people.

And yes.
This is what went through my mind as I said out loud,

"FUCK SANDTRAP"

i got denied from entering j-lounge because i had white designer shoes. the bouncer wanted dress shoes. i saw some fools roll up with $30 black basketball shoes. seriously?

oh well. 25 degrees in hollywood, roosevelt hotel has an awesome burger, good spot to hit up for late nights since they're open 24 hours. $12 for a top tier burger and fries.

back to starcraft.

I don't know what happened but I just got an incredible craving for Japanese food. Which is strange because normally when I go out to eat, it's just Japanese food and I get tired of it.

I made a ton of curry the other day, even though I haven't even began to eat it, but it's probably like, 20 servings at least. I had ramen yesterday and I've been enjoying ajitsuke tamago on the side with it. That, and the chashu in the ramen is usually oh-so-delicious. Oh, and I've been wanting to go back to GaJa for some okonomiyaki (NOT their monjayaki, which I thought was terrible food. Delicious, but too liquidy for my tastes). And then I think about the fried chicken and buta kakuni at Musha, the creaminess of sake and amaebi sushi, kurobuta pork cutlet in demiglace from Cafe Hiro, the takoyaki at Asa Ramen...

I should probably learn how to cook some of these things.

-the games on youtube are still highly entertaining. right now it's like watching a good basketball player play. you can't do what he can, so it's impressive. and yet, it's highly easy to understand, just hard to grasp.

-still practicing against the computer. i'm just trying to get my build down, and to counter things. usually the comp goes 3 gateway zeal rush, and by that time i have to be able to micro with 2 vult + 1 tank + 2 rines and mines without really losing anything. i can get away with some ghetto vulture micro but in a real game they'd just kill all my scvs.

-played mike, went 2-2. one loss, he went cannons on me, and i thought range upgrade would beat it. i thought wrong. sad, because i had a factory and all i had to do was pop a tank and support my bunker, then siege. also, watching the replay, i had enormous advantages that i was too scared to capitalize on. like, freakin... 140 food against 70 food, mike had a siege tank and a bc, i had like 8 siegetanks and 20 vultures, and i didn't feel like i could win. just poor closing play in general.

-reviewing more replays, i'm too scared of not knowing what their entire army looks like, because i've been in so many winning situations but fail to capitalize. need to remember to use scan to recon the army, and i need to get in the habit of looking for expansions more often.

-avg. apm is around 130-180. just played with some bnet scrub who had an apm of 20. jesus. no more 3v3 bgh anymore, really. i feel a bit faster but i need to manage my expansions better because i have too many loose drones. i also almost always feel cramped for space. would also help if i learned to rally units to battle locations faster. in one game against mike, i had like 10 tanks and 8 vultures sitting in the middle of nowhere, and i thought i lost a battle, then i found my units. need better management -_-;



this game is fun. it's nice to play a competitive game, even if i'll never be able to get to the top, or even a very high level. just getting on a path to improvement is fun enough for me.

started playing games competitively again. well not like, hardcore, but there's been a big void in my life and competition usually fills it.

i tried left 4 dead but i got bored of it real fast. theoretically survivors shouldn't lose but people suck and it doesn't feel right without tactics. even with tactics it doesn't seem deep at all.

ironically, my bro was really looking forward to l4d but because of the random lag spikes, he just started playing tf2 on my comp instead, so i picked that up again and started playing with him. people also suck at playing support in this game but generally they're all better at fighting than me. my medic skills are top tier, i can usually lead the game in points if i play medic but if i play anything else i'm near the bottom. sucks to be me.

i got curious and started watching starcraft. with english commentary it's highly entertaining. i'm trying to get back into it but i am REALLY bad. and all i'm doing is playing against an AI script. it's probably evolved into a Go-type learning curve where you gotta lose your first 100 games to understand how to play. it'll be a while. also have to unlearn 3v3 bgh and move to 1v1 maps. everyone plays python now so... whatever.

i still like HDR but i can't play till the 360 comes back so yeah. i play a lil bit of ST on GGPO though. playing HDR made me realize how crappy SF4 was. or maybe it's just the setup AI which puts the screen right at your face so that i have to look up and down to see my meters. hm.

speaking of which, i went to daisuke's last saturday and ended up playing halo. i realized how much i liked playing on a nice manageable 20 inch screen, his 40 inch was just dizzying and it's so hard to pick out movement. nevertheless i still rocked it like usual, wouldn't be surprised if i had K/D ratio of 2. medic awareness from tf2 made me a lot better.

there's basketball but i haven't played ball in 3 weeks. every time i get excited to play, it always lapses.

and as usual i always attempt my one chess tactics puzzle a day.

single player i been playing persona 4. it's pretty good. way more fun than persona 3.