Today: Get Some Sun

Debriefing from Share Sad Stories: I get the vague feeling that different industries attract different types of people. Maybe academia gets its poor reputation of absent minded professors because people end up in academia due to a lack of overall life direction? Architecture seems to draw in people who like the permanence of buildings, combined with the passionate nature of design-work. Those two aspects together point towards a bunch of people who are all workaholics. Computer science must draw people in who crave efficiency, and ... machines that do work for them.

But, yes - sad stories. Everyone is Quarter Life Crisis (QLC) and hates their job. Everyone wishes they could quit and travel the world. Everyone wishes they didn't have to work and could play video games all day long. Except the architects, who love working 80 hours a week. I shouldn't have expected anything else, really.

At least my boss isn't trying to undermine my work

At least my coworkers aren't trying to take credit for my work

At least there isn't a nasty office manager who is deliberately difficult

At least someone doesn't tattle to my boss if I so much as take a bathroom break

At least I can commute to work within an hour

At least I have a desk and a computer to call my own

At least my workplace doesn't block websites/ips

At least my workplace doesn't demand I work overtime for no pay every day

Also, I've been reading firstworldproblems on reddit to remind myself that my problems are trivial.

Today I'm going to Get Some Sun.

There's sun out there for the taking! I'm going to get out there and enjoy me some nature, dammit! I just need to get out of work early enough to carpe lux.

Today: Share Sad Stories

Sorry for not posting for a while, this weekend and the last few days have had only one resolution: "Work Overtime"

Today I'm going to Share Sad Stories.

In the spirit of being dispirited at work, I'd like to pry some sad stories out of my friends about how awful and unbearable their jobs are, and hopefully that will make me put things in better perspective.

Just Started: Just Cause 2

Did you know, all these places and names are pretty much in Malay?

Little bit offensive. Maybe more than a little... Why even bother putting bad accents and Malay words in a game? Are you trying to pursue some overarching political agenda? Make some statement? But that's not in keeping with the theme of the... people behind this game, right?

Very confused. Probably not going to make it much further.

Today: Digital Spring Clean

Debriefing from Read a Real Book: Went fine, but the more subtle issue is having proper downtime in which to enjoy a book. Making it a resolution doesn't magically create free time in my day - and forcing myself to read when there's more important things to be done is a silly waste of time.

Today, I'm going to Organize my Digital Files

Or, at least, clean out the stuff I don't use anymore. Tax time is coming up, but more than that, I don't play a lot of these games anymore, or use some of these programs. Also, some of these documents could go in an 'archives' type of folder, or even backed up onto an external hard drive.

Finished: Ghost Trick, Phantom Detective

I hope everyone likes visual novels. I read good reviews about games like 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, so I assume that it works for people other than me (huge bookworm). I'm always recommending people play Phoenix Wright, because I can't imagine a person who doesn't like that sort of thing.

So this game, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, was written by the same people. There. That ought to do it. Go buy it.

More details? Is it because you haven't played the Phoenix Wright games? Fine. It's a game where you solve... (wait for it...) your own murder. Because you're dead. Get it? Ghost Detective?

Specific to this publisher, your brain during the course of the game looks like this:

- "This game is easy."

- "This game is goofy."

- "Huhn, that was neat."

- "WOAAAHHH"

- *KA-BOOOOM*

Because, for some reason, they enjoy a specific twisty-ness to their plotlines that unfolds over the course of the entire story. And I am in full support of any story on any medium that can surprise me with plot twists. So don't give up on any of these games because they are easy, or because the early game is a bit goofy.

Just like Phoenix Wright, Ghost Detective does not have especially difficult-to-solve puzzles, or anything, you're just in it for the very fine storytelling. But on that note, the pinnacle of their storytelling success was in the last Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright proper, not Apollo Justice), so if you want just the best one, play through those. This one is very fine, and the animation and different gameplay are new aspects, but I suppose it's hard to hold a candle to the trilogy of Phoenix Wright stories...

Today: Read a Real Book

Debriefing from Hardcore Gaming: Well, it took two days instead of one, but we got things done. Hopefully now I can finish up some more reviews.

Today, I'm going to Read a Real Book.

Something I haven't done in the longest time. A real, physical book, not an e-book, not on any electronic medium. Just a real book with real pages. Kickin' it Old School.

Battle Royale: BBQ Ribs, Round 1

So our usual large-get-together-location is Everett and Jones, in the Jack London area. But lately we've started to think that maybe we, as extremely big eaters (as well as big tippers!), deserve ..... service. And, what if there are better ribs out there (as Yelp! tells us there are) and we've just been contenting ourselves to pig out in an institution of yesterday's ribs?

Loathe to fall into a 'rib-rut', as it were, we decided the best thing to do would be to scientifically assess what we may have been missing out on. Scientifically, as in, a side-by-side test of ribs. So we each went to a different take out place, got a rack of ribs, and brought them to a neutral location to taste-test.

Contenders: KC BBQ, T-Rex BBQ, and Phat Matt's.

Testers: X, R, @, $, A, and N

(Let me sum that up by saying one of my friends (@) is a little bit insane, and during the planning and scientific hypothesis phase of this plan, insisted that we must all be abbreviated.)

Consensus: Phat Matt's. Runner up, KC BBQ.

Details:

T-Rex BBQ was an interesting place. It was a high-quality-looking establishment, with fancy decor and nice flat screen TVs. Like some kind of super up-scale sports bar. They definitely smelled like they had a good smoker going, but the ribs we got were dry. That seemed to indicate that it was too hot, violating the basic principles of "Low and Slow" passed down to us from our BBQ forefathers. The rest of the menu looked interesting, so I may go back there and check it out, just based on cool decor. Ribs had a faint taste of a vinegar rub, and came with some pretty good potato salad (if you ask me) and sauce on the side. I suppose they deserve another chance, in case it was just that day the smokers were set too strong, but dry ribs are not promising. Also, it was the most expensive of the three contenders.

KC BBQ was much more of a mom-and-pop establishment. In fact, quite the hole in the wall, and I was glad we got take out. Sauce was sweet, but also spicy. Came with some little bit of beans and potato salad ($ thought it was good, I disagreed) and regular old bread. Most everyone besides me agreed it was a solid runner-up, but I was pretty 'meh' on them.

Phat Matt's was a memphis-style rack of ribs, and Mempihs-style may be the way to go. Rubbed down with what seems like a ton of brown sugar-based rub, and then drenched in sauce. The place is also very mom-and-pop, diner-style, and they didn't even have a box, really, just wrapped two stacks of dripping ribs in a ton of tin foil to hand over.

Round Two will involve Brick Pig's, Berkeley E&J, and Great American BBQ. Later, the Final Rounds will pit Phat Matt against the other winners in a cage-match, to-the-death showdown of ribs. We will try and actually go to the restaurant to judge service and atmosphere, too. For now, though, it's just about taste.

Today: Hardcore Gaming!

Debriefing from Benefit of Doubt: It's easy to pretend for just one day!

Today I'm going to put my nose to the grindstone and really get some Hardcore Gaming done!

iPad 2: First Impressions

Video Conclusions: Facetime is okay, but no one I know is on Facetime except my brother. Skype is inferior - it's still the iphone version, pretty low resolution and draggy motion. But you know how long it took them to roll out the original for iPhones. Get on the ball, Skype!

What was interesting was the automatic light adjustment on the camera(s). Even in pretty dark surroundings, it tried to adapt. Moreso than my other webcams.

Games: Apparently, all developers assume that if you have the disposable income to purchase something as frivolous as the iPad, then you are perfectly willing to buy games without trying them out, first. So the best games - the ones you hear about and see other people playing all the time - are not free. Flight Control, Infinity Blade? None of them even have a demo version? So that's mega-BS, in my book. Down to sudoku and spider solitaire for me.

Productivity: Same issue for productivity software. Even the ones that Apple itself produces. None of it is included, even though they are like: you'll really need this! Better get it!

Actually Good Free Apps:

Video: Netflix, ABC video player, Discovery HD video player, PBS video player, Xfinity (if you have that), Hulu Plus (if you have that)

Games: Harbor Master, Smurf Village (be careful not to buy anything accidentally)

News: Flipbook, CNN, ESPN

======> Still looking for more. The App store is still a giant pile of steaming unhelp, as usual.

Accessories: Here's where Apple really shines. You know how lately, video game critics have been wondering how the Helghast became a society of 100% evil people? This is how. Apple ruled them with a cruel and unmerciful iron fist. Their souls were sucked out of their wallets until they became dark, loveless shells of their former culture. I may be on the 'poor' end of the spectrum, but just looking at some of the prices on those things made me feel like I was being punished for mankind's sins. I want an iPad2, yes. But this is way past what we would term 'nickel and dimed'. Can we call it 'Grant and Franklin'd' ($50 and $100 bill faces)? How about I call it by how it feels: Mugged and then Flogged.

Today: Benefit of Doubt

Debriefing on Disproportionate Rewards: Another thing that Chuck doesn't have to deal with is calories, so uh.... that might have been good for one day, but we're done now.

And, this is a pathetic thing to admit, but while I was waiting around for a train, I found myself thinking, "I'm between missions, better start killing these zombies that are milling around..."

I almost started digging through my bag for a mascot head and fireworks, or a watergun with a gasoline can attached...

So, anyway. Enough of that, clearly.

Today I'm going to give everyone the Benefit of the Doubt.

Usually, (and it's been more noticeable lately) I can't stand people. And you could probably put a timer on it. Depending on the person, and how grating their teeny, tiny verbal or personal habits are, their timer is anywhere from 2 days, to 2 seconds. After their time is up, I can't stand being around them anymore. I will just shut them out and pretend they are not there. I cannot live with anyone! I will kill anyone I live with! The only exception was Lin, but he was hardly ever home, and Xian, who I only lived with for what, two weeks? Everyone else, even my own family, I just want to kill them after a few days. I'll chalk it up to being spoiled by Significant Other. And even then, there's the occasional day where I want to choke SO, too, but SO is a great listener so we can usually talk it out. SO? What a bad abbreviation. XO, like the navy. Anyway, XO likes it just as clean as me, just as quiet as me, and has just the same kind of humor as me. And, okay, okay, XO does all the cleaning up and cooking and grocery shopping. I'm spoiled! I admit it! When the people of the world make me want to choke something, I'll just run home and vent. "XO, people are unbearable to be around. Also, can I have a sandwich?"

Not today! We're going to pretend everyone is an awesome, interesting, worthwhile person with the occasional personality quirk that just makes them seem like a [insert your choice of derogatory term or expletive here].

Today: Disproportionate Rewards

Debriefing from Mini-Goal Oriented: Seems fun, considering life as a long series of Dead Rising 2 missions. Though Chuck doesn't have to sleep...

Today, I'm going to Reward Myself (perhaps Disproportionately).

So the aspect of the game that I didn't get yesterday was the occasional fat reward for doing a random mission to completion. So today will be filled with random rewards for completing missions. Such as this morning. Winner of the 'Get To Work On Time' Competition receives a donut! Woo, me!

Today: Mini-Goal Oriented

Debriefing from Speak Accurately: More of an ongoing thing, but so far: failure! Nan was enlisted to help me by pointing out when I start conversations in the middle - he claimed many more instances than I thought possible, and many where I couldn't divine the problem. We had just been talking about Rango, so I mentioned something about Johnny Depp! Five minutes ago? It's not fair! Your short term memory is too short!

Topic lead-ins, topic lead ins. Got to remember to preface commentary with subject lines!

Today I'm going to be Mini-Goal Oriented.

Just finished up Dead Rising 2 (I know I'm backlogged. I'm working on it.) I'll work on a review, too, but sometimes games stick with me during the workday - for instance, when I played Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, everything in the real world looked like it wanted to be climbed on. In Dead Rising, everything is a mini-goal, with associated timer bar. Some you did because the rewards were great, some you skipped because they would cost you too much time, some you have to do in order to unlock other missions later.

So today, I'm going to do that. I'm going to imagine the little arrow over my head, pointing at a mini goal, or sidequest (Sidequest 1-1: Get a Donut ---- Success!) and see how many can be accomplished in that fashion, and if the grueling chores for the day are ameliorated at all by this mechanic....

Today: Speak Accurately

Debriefing on Grin and Bear It: Not my strong suit, so I feel that I gave it my best effort by being aware of both aspects, (the Sanity meter filling, and emptying) and trying to mitigate it both ways.

Today I'm going to Speak Accurately.

Very familiar from earlier resolutions. Both failures, I might add. Yesterday, my boss stopped me in the middle of a thought and said: "Hey. Why don't you try speaking in complete sentences. Because sometimes you seem to start in the middle of a topic, and none of the rest of us understand what you're saying."

I barely avoided a dramatic: "NOOOOOOOOO!" with both fists held up high.

At least I can console myself with the fact that these resolutions will genuinely help me. Remember that complaint about being ignored? Probably stems from this issue with my communication.

Ok. So that's it. It's final. When I open my mouth, I am going to state what the topic of my next statement is as a preamble.

LoL: Soraka Files, Reborn!

After a dismal start to the evening with my horribly newb Nidalee-playing, I went back to the ol' Soraka standby, especially since my friend was rolling with Garen, and somehow (I'm not entirely sure why) Garen+Soraka Lane = Comedy Hour.

If I had to ponder the circumstances, I'd be forced to conclude that it's too tempting for enemy heroes to leave us alone. Garen is often considered ignorable, and Soraka is just a tasty treat for every other champ out there. Pile on the fact that I don't heal the Garen, just let him wander around healing himself from near-death with his passive, and we must look too delicious to ignore. People come steaming in from all over the map to get a piece of that pie. And then silence, spin, silence, Demacian Justice. I even got a few kills. Do you even realize what that looks like on the screen? SORAKA is on a RAMPAGE. Rawr. Run for your lives, ha ha ha.

Anyway, the amount of healing might be why we don't die, and the amount of silence might be why they don't escape. But I really can't put my finger on one thing. All I know is, Gangplank came down to join us, and we pushed towers and killed champs for FAR too long. I didn't even heal either of them, since they each heal themselves.

At the end of the match, the other team was crying "op healz," which must be every Soraka's dream come true.

Today: Grin and Bear It

Debriefing from Exercise: Minimal, but at least it happened. What can I say, I'm in favor of laziness but against being fat. We're trying to find a happy middle ground.

Today, I'm going to Grin and Bear It.

This is very similar to an early resolution, but today, the signs are all there - stuff is heading towards the fan, as they say. Things are going to go south, I can feel it, and I've got to find a way to gird myself up with enough goodwill and cheer to last me through tough times ahead. Does this mean slicing up as many necromorphs as possible and shoving my face with BBQ? Probably. Did you ever play Eternal Darkness on the GameCube? (You should, it is so good.) There was a Sanity meter, along with mana and HP. If Sanity ran low, you'd start seeing things that weren't there - a fantastic little game mechanic. This is a similar, but more Real Life kind of meter. Shall we name it Patience? Or simply, Endurance? A slightly more different Sanity?

So let's say you have 16 hours of non-work to recharge that Sanity meter. Only, that's a lie, of course. After subtracting extra work hours and commuting, you probably have 8 hours of sleep, and more like 4 hours of free time in which to get to recharging. Can you even do enough to get that bar back to full before having to trudge into another full day of work? And how fast does work deplete that bar? Can you keep your head out of water, in that sense? (I hear, for some people, work actively fills that bar. Freaks.) Can you take long coffee breaks to try and pump some life back into your Sanity meter before it goes empty on you? Or do you start losing a little ground every day on it, and have to take big vacations to replenish it to full? I don't know about you, but my bar doesn't always get filled by a long vacation. Sometimes, between travel hassle and home chores undone, the Sanity gauge isn't topped off at all...

I have probably three hours, tonight, to really get some life into that bar. Time to party hard? Can you work hard and have Sanity meter recharge faster? Or is that considered even more work, thus emptying the tank instead (!) ?

Today: Exercise

Debriefing from Be Nice: Largely a success, we just kept the discussion away from work topics, and I'm much better at that. Less likely to choke anyone, that is. Never fear. I will eventually get used to him, I'm sure.

As for high fructose corn syrup, it was a success depending on your view. I did avoid all drinks with HFCS, but I ended up substituting a whole ton of milk, vastly exceeding my dairy requirements for the day.

Today, I'm going to Exercise.

Oh, it was going to be some other mundane resolution. (I won't respond to accusations that today's resolution might have been "Get a Hotdog". These are unsubstantiated rumors.) But being FAT suddenly became too great an issue to ignore any longer! Exercise! It really should be our resolution for every day.

But that's not what we're resolving right now. We are resolving to do exercise today. So for at least today, we are fighting back against the tidal waves of rolling fat. For today, we're pushing that rock up that hill, Sisyphus-style! For today, we're... man, I'm getting tired already, just thinking about it.

LoL: Nidalee Files 1

I never considered Nidalee at all until a few days ago. Oh, I've seen HotShotGG videos (again, I don't watch those, for the record) where he's murdering every living thing on the map with her, but I just figured, she's not for the defensive-minded person like myself. But, as discussed in the latest (and possibly last) Soraka post, I need more versatility, and Nidalee is a good transition, because she has a very solid heal on top of her damage output.

The first game, I actually watched a team fight go down in front of me, while I was frantically mashing the heal button to save my allies, before I realized: "I should... probably be in there, killing them, instead," and then turned into a cougar and pounced in.

In the second game, my five-man decided to make me solo top against Sion and Garen, and it kind of went like this:

"This Sion and Garen are harassing me so hard. Boo hoo, me. "

"Hold me close, tower, you are my only friend. "

"I'm so lonely, none of my friends will come save me. "

"Oh, I'm level six. I'd better use my ult before someone on my team scolds me. "

"Huhn. I seem to have killed that Garen."

Everyone was surprised, but no one moreso than I.

So there are good games, and there are bad games. I still hang back a lot, healing, trapping, and throwing spears, but at least now, I throw spears for good damage, and get away from the fight handily with pounce. Soldiering on with Nidalee Experiment.

LoL: Soraka Files, Final (?)

This may be it for Soraka, folks. She's so good, at least to me. To my teammates, not so much. Early on, things were great for us, Soraka. We healed people and silenced enemies. In five-man teams, we went 8 and 0 in our first matches. But lately, it's looking more like 0 and 8.

It's not to say you don't have your utility. We haven't broken up completely, Soraka, not like me and Sona. But I'm just going to have to put you on the shelf for someone who does a little.... more.

So the Soraka Experiment is hereby over. Until you're called for again, Soraka. Specifically, when one of my super-carry friends needs a little extra babysitting and mana regeneration.

Today: Be Nice

Debriefing from Do Something Else: Relative success. Like I said, there's not that many things that fall under such a restrictive category, so even a little things would constitute a win, there.

Today I'm going to Be Nice.

Maybe I'm just resistant to change. I'm going to grit my teeth and force myself to be nice to my new coworker! I can do it! Just ask him how his day was. It'll be easy.

So easy, I'm going to go for a double, today. I'm also going to avoid high fructose corn syrup. See how I feel about all that.

Finished: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

I stumbled upon this older game because of Gamefly (woo gamefly), and because reviews were remarkably good. I also enjoy the admittedly niche-y genre of 'visual novel'. If you peruse around lightly, you'll see some truly impressive scores at review sites, along with some intriguingly expansive praise. Statements like "Must Not Miss" are surprisingly common, and even "Best DS Game Ever Made" was thrown out there on occasion.

But let me pop that bubble a little. Do you remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books? Did you like them? What was it that you didn't like? I'll bet it was the part where you pick a choice that seemed no worse or better than the other choice ("put on the yellow hat" or "put on the purple hat") and get incongruous results ("the yellow hat has given you syphilis!" or "the purple hat has given you immortality!"). You will suffer mightily during the course of this game. Let me break it to you right now. You solve some puzzles along the way, but you make a grand total of 3 choices in this game. That's right. Three. I'll even spoil it for you. Your first choice is between identical doors marked '4' and '5'. Yup! That's it. Your second choice is between three doors marked '3', '7', and '8'. Your last choice will be between three doors marked '1', '2', and '6'. And that is the only way to control the course of the game. At that point, even the yellow vs. purple question has more merit. There's simply no way to know how the story will turn out based on such decisions. What's worse is, there's only ONE combination of doors that will get you to the proper end. And let me lay the really bad news on you. You are forced to play the game multiple times in order to get the REAL ending. And those are two completely different paths, the probability of you stumbling on the correct combination is slim to none - and all the alternate endings are terrible, and give you no information on whodunit, or which doors you should have chosen.

Let me be as brief with the math as possible: [semi-spoiler, more like walkthru ahead]

531, 532, 536, 572, 582, 431, 432, 436, 472, 482: bad end

571, 581, 481: bad end

576, 486, 476: super bad end

So, did you catch that? That means that the only non-worthless ends are only if you choose 5, then 8, then 6. Let's call this Combo 1. And the other combination is 4, then 7, then 1. Let's call this Combo 2. How are you supposed to know or guess these combos? Walkthrough, I suppose. Or playthrough anywhere from ten to twenty times.

Because - get this - even though Combo 2 leads you to the proper, true ending, you cannot get it if you have not first already gotten the Combo 1 ending. So, even if by chance you landed on the right combo the very first playthrough, you wouldn't get the good end. Also, there are more arbitrary decisions you need to have made correct choices for in order to get it, so be careful! For instance, when someone comes up to you and says: "here, hold this", you'll want to say 'yes'. You don't know it right now, but you're going to need that random item later, and if you don't have it, back to the bad end for you, Combo 2 or not.

So, in all, the storytelling IS good, as everyone says it is, and when you get the proper ends, it IS interesting, but getting there can be odious, probably downright unbearable for some people.

Today: Do Something Else

Debriefing on No BS: Actually didn't get to speak with my boss that much, so it will also have to be a bit ongoing. Nothing much got scaled back with friends, though, as I noticed that it contributes to the "being quiet" topic we discussed previously.

I was going to resolve yesterday to Not Play Video Games for one night, but then I was too busy playing video games all night to make that resolution! Pre-Fail!

Today, I will resolve to Do Something Extracurricular.

That is to say, not my job, not a household chore, and not a hobby (video games included in that list). In my case, that's contributing to a resume-building external opportunity, but judges will accept anything that doesn't fall into one of the categories mentioned above. Surprisingly challenging, no?

Today: No BS

Debriefing from Closet Culling: More or less failure. But in my defense, this is kind of an on-going thing, right?

Ok, here's the honest truth. I went for an all day bike ride instead of going clothes shopping. What can I say for myself. Shopping is awful. Give me some more time to warm up to it. And don't say that I have been for two weeks, because you'd be absolutely right, and I'd have to... stop speaking to you.

Today, there will be No BS.

See how good I did up there, with the truth? I'm going to keep that up.

Because my boss is great. Have I told you? As compared to other bosses, he's probably way better than all of them. He's super relaxed and helpful. But you should see the face he makes when he thinks someone's BS'ing him. It makes him unhappy. So I'm going to try to be extra careful not to be my usual 'exaggerate and make up funny stories' self around him. That stuff sounds like you're BS'ing, in case you haven't heard it. As much as one's friends might enjoy stupid stories that you've exaggerated for their benefit, maybe one's boss doesn't appreciate so much...