Previously, in Trip's Life...
31 August 2007 - Friday
Work: Friday!
Silly Computer Games: Spent the whole evening
playing DTD, because I suck.
Cats:
Argh, Benny and Marmalade have both gotten out of their
collars! I was able to find Marmalade's, in much the same place as last
time -- I guess he has a favorite place to sit while scratching his neck
-- but I can't find Benny's. Sheesh!
I did manage to pick up Benny to make sure his black collar wasn't
just lurking around his black-striped neck!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
30 August 2007 - Thursday
Modern Medicine: Not dead yet, despite having to get
up a million jillion hours early to go to the doctor. Like many
Americans, I need to give up my desk job and stop eating.
Visual Entertainments: Final disc of Solty
Rei. I'm not sure about the Sudden Extra Bonus Threat; what, was
the ending looking too happy? On the other hand, it was an actual end,
with things explained and wrapped up.
Cats:
Twelve paws of cuteness!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
29 August 2007 - Wednesday
Gaming: Ken lured Dave and me over to help him try
out Phoenicia. I almost won, but Ken pulled ahead at the last moment by
a single point! Bah! Possibly I could have won if I had spent my money
on clothmakers instead of development cards, but I'm not sure. Those
would have been awfully expensive victory points, but maybe the
production would have made up for that. Dunno.
Even with Dave, I think we could probably play a full game in an hour
and a half now that we know the rules. It might be too easily analyzed
to have long-term interest, but the bidding aspect might negate
that. We'll have to see.
Visual Entertainments: No visual entertainments
tonight, because Cat and Earl are in Japan having fun without us. Also,
Ayse will be busy every Wednesday night for the rest of the year, so no
more Ghost Hunt. Bah! I wanted to see that!
Silly Computer Games: Note to all who play DTD
self: Really, just level up your main towers. Don't try branching out to
specialized towers until the main cluster is complete. Typhoon towers
FTW!
Cats:
Twelve paws! Of scampering!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
28 August 2007 - Tuesday
The Future: Cybereyes!
Visual Entertainments: Neil isn't dead! I was able
to give him many DVDs to catch up! I think he was confused by Coyote
Ragtime Show but it still rocks! Bleach is still
spiraling toward death! El-Hazard: The Alternative World is
about to spiral toward death! Honey and Clover Special F
is, if possible, sillier than Special L!
Silly Computer Games: Apparently completing DTD on
hard was a fluke. Bah! I pulsate sullenly!
Cats:
I petted Aspen while she was on top of the cat tree trying to eat the
Kibble of Skinniness! I don't think she enjoyed it, but I stopped before
she ran away, so it was all okay. Such a cute kitty!
Writing: FAILURE. Couldn't think of anything to
write, because I suck.
Make a comment!
27 August 2007 - Monday
Twisted Genius: Ninja
Princess Usagi-chan Go!
Well. It's twisted, anyway!
Visual Entertainments: Penultimate disc of
DNAngel. Needs more doom.
Cats:
Twelve paws! And I almost petted Benny while he was demanding
breakfast!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
26 August 2007 - Sunday
Silly Computer Games: Ahahahahaha! I have completed
DTD on
the hard level! Victory is MINE!
Cats:
I refilled the cats' food supply with diet kibble, in the hopes of
getting Aspen to be somewhat less bloated.
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
25 August 2007 - Saturday
Food: Marith came to have Thai lunch with me!
Muahahaha!
Visual Entertainments: Second disc of Moon
Phase. Random scary bits!
Cats:
Twelve paws! No more, no less!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
24 August 2007 - Friday
Cats:
Today is Marmalade's birthday! Yay Marmalade!
I didn't do anything special, but I gave him all the love I usually do!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
23 August 2007 - Thursday
Silly Computer Games:
DTD is
still pretty hard in hard mode. Part of it is that certain creeps don't
seem to be taking damage from what damaged them in medium mode. Maybe I
just haven't upgraded those towers enough?
Apparently I have infected others with DTD, though. Muahahaha.
Cats:
Twelve paws! Mostly on my keyboard!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
22 August 2007 - Wednesday
Work: Bah, customers. And software engineers.
Gaming:Dragon-Blooded! Our plan now is to finish
fixing the airship and flee the Ruined City of Phat Lewts, returning
home in triumph. Hopefully we can do this before getting eaten by Mike's
character's offended flower-goddess girlfriend, the Ghoul King, the
giant leeches, or any of the other uppity locals. (Then we can sit in
luxurious safety at home, making the next generation go out into the
jungle to fetch us ancient artifacts.)
Cats:
Benny used his feline wiles in an attempt to get me to feed him
breakfast sooner! Aspen let me pet her even though she wasn't eating
gooshyfoods at the time! (But it was immediately after breakfast, so I
guess she was still in a good mood.)
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
21 August 2007 - Tuesday
Visual Entertainments: Still no Neil! Hopefully
someday he will show up so I can hand off all the DVDs he needs to catch
up, as my DVD bag is getting quite full!
"Special L" of Honey and Clover is
almost entirely plot-free, but extremely silly. Bleach is
obviously entering the end-of-arc death spiral. El-Hazard: The
Alternative World continues to portary Fatora as deeply
unsympathetic, although I don't know what people have against Alielle.
Carl has not led us astray with Coyote Ragtime Show! It
rocks! Although I'm not sure Angelica has any room to be criticizing
Chelsea there.
Silly Computer Games: Hm, hard mode is more
difficult than medium mode. Who would have thought?
Cats:
Still twelve paws! No paws have escaped the apartment!
Writing: Checkish.
Make a comment!
20 August 2007 - Monday
Work: Ew, Monday.
Visual Entertainments: Fifth disc of
DNAngel. There's a little bit of doom!
Silly Computer Games: VICTORY! I actually swiped the
technique from a different other smarter person, and it turns out that
some creeps are more explodable than I thought. However, the principle
of upgrading to the highest level of whatever tower type you concentrate
on seems to be generally applicable. 'cause I'm an idiot.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
19 August 2007 - Sunday
HAPPY HAPPY KEN-DAY!!
Marith and Dave and I went to Santa Cruz with the birthday boy and
his wife, to eat and buy books and sit at the Perg reading and then eat
more. I bought so many books!
Food: Pearl Alley Bistro food from Sicily! I had a
pork chop, because none of the pastas were what I wanted, but it was a
very good pork chop! Also, chocolate souffle!
Visual Entertainments: Finished the disc of
DNAngel like a couch potato with numerous eyes. Now I can
send it back and maybe get something cooler in return.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
18 August 2007 - Saturday
Silly Computer Games: I finally gave in and looked at
other people's solutions to DTD. As anyone
able to outwit a turnip would have predicted, the key is the one tower type
I had disdained as not cost-effective. It doesn't help against the fliers,
and I haven't figured out how to balance building air defense while also
keeping regular creeps in check long enough to scrimp and save and build
the Tower of Doom, but building a ToD early and upgrading it to crush later
waves is clearly much more functional than building the basic model later
in the game and going enh.
Visual Entertainments: DNAngel. It isn't
that great, but it's okay, and apparently someone else is renting all the
other discs in my GreenCine queue.
Cats:
Aspen tolerated petting that once, but scooping is Not Okay! Ow.
Writing: Check. An actual check, with The Transmundane and everything!
Make a comment!
17 August 2007 - Friday
Work: Blah, customers. But physically I am well!
Cats:
I petted Aspen! She was sitting on a paper bag by the screen door, and I
just reached down and petted her! She twitched twitchily, but I stopped
when it looked like she was going to get up.
Yay Aspen!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
16 August 2007 - Thursday
Work: Not dead! But I mostly avoided the cafeteria,
so I still don't know why I felt so bad yesterday.
Visual Entertainments: Disc 5 of Solty
Rei Hm, that's a plot twist! And that's another! And there's some
doom!
Cats:
Marmalade has been successfully recollared! Benny has been seen all the
way at the top of the cat tree eating kibble! Aspen is still very plump!
Writing: Check, ish. Writing is hard, let's die in a
pit. A deep pit. With no ponies.
Make a comment!
15 August 2007 - Wednesday
Work: Maybe it wasn't something I ate yesterday
after all, since I started feeling horrible around midday despite not
having eaten anything from the cafeteria since breakfast. Hopefully it's
just germs and not alien waves being beamed into the building, the
ancient Indian burial ground under the site, or formaldehyde in the
ventilation system. Anyway, I went home early, and soon felt better, but
getting out in the fresh air probably accounts for that.
Visual Entertainments: Marith successfully showed
people (well, monkeycats and Cat) the first episode of
Mushi-Shi, which they liked! Then Ayse showed us the first
story arc (3 episodes) of Ghost Hunt, which I like! I think
other people like it too!
Cats:
Aspen seems somewhat less interested in gooshyfoods. Maybe she thinks
she finally has enough reserves for when I reveal my cat-eating ways and
she has to escape and live of the land. (Hopefully it won't come to
that, because I am not optimistic about her ability to fight off a
raccoon.)
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
14 August 2007 - Tuesday
Work: I think Marmalade ate my brain while snuggling
me last night!
Food: Bah, something I ate at lunch was the wrong
thing to eat. I am saddened that the nearest cafeteria serves only rich
and fancy food, not simple things like chicken.
Visual Entertainments: Neil had too many
detached single-family residential units and genetic recombination
carriers to make it to Tuesday Night Anime, but we don't hold that
against him.
Last episodes of Mushi-Shi! A little more of Ginko's
history was revealed, but no more than in previous episodes. That is as
it should be.
Bleach episode 100! Definitely a new record for any
series shown at Tuesday Night Anime or its ancestors! Also, go Soi
Fon!
End of season one of Honey and Clover! Now two specials
and then the twelve episodes of second season!
Oh, and more El-Hazard: The Alternative World. Sorry,
no records set here, except maybe for denseness on Makoto's part.
Cats:
Among them, my cats consistently have twelve paws. However, I'm
pretty sure Marmalade has more than his fair share when he walks across
my keyboard!
Writing: Check, ish.
Make a comment!
13 August 2007 - Monday
Work: First day of work in the new digs. It is still
convenient to the bus, but much more isolated from the main campus (a
few blocks, instead of across the street) so lunch choices etc are more
constrained. Ah well.
The restroom seems to have only scary electric toilets. I fear
them.
Visual Entertainments: Seventh and final disc of
Madlax! It sort of makes sense, but the mystical bits are
pretty vague. Maybe that is as it should be. Anyway, victory, tragedy,
hot girls in skimpy evening gowns, how can you go wrong?
Silly Computer Games: Snivel and whine.
Cats:
Benny likes to whirl and pounce upon the Red Spot of Uncatchability, and
will chase it up the wall. Aspen just likes running up and down the
length of the hall after it, and will sit at the base of the wall and
wait for it to come down. Marmalade is too cool to be interested in a
mere dot of photons, but when I went to bed he came to be Super Snuggle
Beast Marma-Marma!
Writing: Check, ish.
Make a comment!
12 August 2007 - Sunday
Visual Entertainments: Disc 6 of
Madlax. Doom! DOOOOOM!
Food: Blackberry whatsit that Al pressed upon us as
we were forcing ourselves out the door. It was pretty good!
Silly Computer Games: Snivel.
Cats:
Argh, Marmalade has taken his collar off and hidden it somewhere! And I
still haven't managed to grow enough additional tentacles to both hold
on to Aspen and put a collar on her. I'm sure Benny feels unjustly
oppressed!
Writing: Check. Maybe even enough to make up for
yesterday, although of low quality.
Make a comment!
11 August 2007 - Saturday
Travel: Our path was plagued by delays of various
sorts, but Marith and I eventually made it to Roseville, only slightly
delaying the start of...
Amazon Sextet of Justice XIId: "Death Spiral II: The Lich's
Cursed Library!"
After defeating the enlarged
giant dire elk of unusual size, the Amazons return to Rati to
regroup (and exchange the druid's belongings for more useful magic).
While Amaryllis is out negotiating with wizards, Natalya is accosted by
an urchin who informs her that a large, scary guy is asking after her in
seedy bars. Amazons are not afraid of seedy bars or strange men,
but a reasonable amount of caution seems indicated, so Natalya takes
Gabrielle with her to meet the inquirer.
The big scary man turns out to be a midget fire giant, from the clan Amaryllis and Natalya befriended
earlier, bringing a request for the Amazons to help them against
their enemies, the frost giants. Normally the frost giants are under the
protection of their lich master, but the lich is away at the moment, so
the time is right for a massive assault!
Our Heroines are all in favor of destroying liches, but aren't sure
they're powerful enough yet, and anyways the world needs saving. Fresa
beseeches her god for information, and learns that the lich has
important information stored in his library, and that he will return
from his horrible undead business in two days. The time is
definitely right for an assault on the lich's fortress!
The Sextet travel to the fire giants' village that night, so that
before the next dawn Fresa can pray with extraordinary ceremony and
receive the spell she needs for their Brilliant Strategem.
Early in the morning, Our Heroines descend into the lich's stronghold,
which turns out to be a series of rooms arranged in a descending helix very
much like the ancient dwarven tomb they explored during their very first adventure together. The
Strategem is shown to indeed be Brilliant, or at least moderately clever:
safe inside a globe of anti-magic, the Amazons can't be attacked by the
spectres guarding the entrance, nor can the enormous iron golem's toxic
breath or the marilith demon's ensorcelled weapons prevail against them.
There is a bit of excitement when Marika and Alyra have to venture out of
the protection to smite their foes with cold steel and they discover there
is an invisible imp on the golem's back setting off fire traps to heal it,
but despite the loss of Amaryllis's magic, the monsters are all defeated
and none of the Amazons suffer any lasting hurt.
The bottom of the dungeon, and the lich's library, still lie further
below!
[Antimagic field is amazingly useful, but amazingly annoying to
use in play. Not only does it force everyone to recalculate their bonuses
all the time, but using it brings up all sorts of questions like, "Does a
+3 holy bow used in an antimagic field imbue its arrows
with holy energy for +2d6 damage against evil creatures? (No, we think.)
How about the +3 on attack and damage rolls? (Yes, we think.)" and "If a
monster takes up 8 squares, but only 3 of those squares are in the
antimagic field, are the monster's buffs disabled? Is it protected
from spells? (Either both yes or both no, pretty clearly, but yes or no
depending on whether it seems like most of the monster is in those 3
squares. Maybe. We think.)" Gah! Games without to-scale maps and detailed
rules seem more appealing all the time!]
Food:No deaths from starvation occurred, no matter
what Sherilyn may tell you.
Cats:
One... five... seven... eleven... eleven... TWELVE! Still twelve paws!
Writing: FAILURE.
AQoj by Silkie (Mon Aug 13 19:08:44 2007)
I liked it when someone pointed out that we were doing a reverse horror movie when the spectres kept sending someone to see what you were up to (trying to avoid the anti-magic field) and getting trapped in Gabrielle's Sunlight one by one. :)
Make a comment!
10 August 2007 - Friday
Work: Shut down and packed up my cube so that on
Monday I can work in a completely different place!
Visual Entertainments: Marith and I went to see
Stardust, and it was swell! I haven't read the original in
ages, but it seemed to have the same basic story and major factions and
generally not be a travesty, as well as being a fine fantasy movie in its
own right. Everyone should go see it on opening weekend so that more movies
like it can get made!
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
9 August 2007 - Thursday
Work: Check.
Silly Computer Games: I can feel my brain shrinking.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
8 August 2007 - Wednesday
Work: Brain still so tiny! Haven't slept well the
past three nights, sigh.
Visual Entertainments: Disc 4 of Solty
Rei. After the doom of disc 3... MORE DOOM!
Food: I grabbed the wrong can out of the fridge,
which led to having a gingerale float for dessert. It was okay, but not
serendipitous.
Silly Computer Games: Argh! DTD still foils me! My
brain is too small!
Cats:
Twelve paws! And 5.9 ears!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
7 August 2007 - Tuesday
Work: My brain is so small. Also, apparently
starting next week I'll be working in a different office. I think it's
just up the road a piece, but I should probably find out before Monday.
Visual Entertainments: Marith was too doomed by her
organization's incompetent management[1] to make it to Tuesday Night
Anime, but Neil wasn't dead, so we gathered anyway. I was too much of a
huge dumb dumbass to bring all the El-Hazard: The Alternative
World, so we made up for it by watching extra Honey and
Clover and then quickly editing the schedule
before anyone noticed.
[1]In general, people don't get positions of power by being
competent. They get positions of power by being sociopaths
having major personality disorders.
Next week, end of Mushi-Shi! Sniff!
Silly Computer Games: Argh. Trying to be more clever
than "all pellet towers all the time except a few ink towers" just gets
me fewer points. Obviously there is an extremely clever solution that I am
not clever enough to see.
Cats:
Twelve paws! And also three noses!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
6 August 2007 - Monday
Work: Blah. Customers.
Visual Entertainments: Disc 3 of Solty
Rei. Ah, there's the doom!
Silly Computer Games: I appear to be getting
worse at DTD! This is
most unfair!
Cats:
Benny gambolled on my legs this morning! I don't know if he doesn't
connect the lumps under the covers to my head and arms at the far end of
the bed, or if he just presumes the blanket will keep me from devouring
him, but he tromped back and forth across me and even settled down
between my legs and batted at my hand for a little while!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
5 August 2007 - Sunday
Visual Entertainments: Earl lured me to see
The Bourne Ultimatum. It was reasonably well-done, but
didn't grab me, possibly because I didn't see the preceding movie. Also,
there was too much camera motion for how close I was sitting to the
screen.
Also, since I bought a new boxed set of El-Hazard a few
weeks ago, the one I had lost has resurfaced. Anyone want it?
Gaming: Jehanne, Alazaïs, and entourage have
successfully killed the barghast that has been plaguing the area! Sadly,
they did it by scrying to find the barghast and then teleporting in,
which means we have entered That Phase of the campaign.
Is it just us, or are barghasts drastically under-CRed? 4 9th-level
characters were able to take it out pretty easily, but if we had tried
to face it at 4th level, it would have been TPK.
Silly Computer Games: So much more Desktop Tower
Defense doom!
Cats:
I can pet Aspen while she is on top of the cat tree eating crunchyfoods!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
4 August 2007 - Saturday
Theatrical Entertainments: Pericles, Prince of
Tyre, performed by Los Gatos amateur theater. It was strange,
although apparently not as strange as written. (It is believed to be
only partially Shakespeare's work, which is why the quality suddenly
improves half-way through.)
Food: Ken made a Lebanese feast for the pre-play
picnic, since Tyre is now in Lebanon. Marinated chicken, tabooleh(sp?),
hummus, pita, zucchini! And bonus yellowjackets, which were less
appetizing, but oh well.
Silly Computer Games: Help! My brain has been eaten
by Desktop Tower Defense!
I can get up to about 2900 points using my current strategy (channel
one entrance to the other, then back and forth across the board, almost all pellet towers, with a few swarm towers and a few ink towers),
which is just a little too low for the top 100 list of the Making Light
group. Obviously I need to become more clever, but I'm not sure how.
Using lots of squirt towers wasn't working at all well.
Aargh!
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
3 August 2007 - Friday
Work: Bah, customers.
Gaming: Designing games is hard when I don't know
what I want out of gaming.
Visual Entertainments: Second disc of Solty
Rei. There is not yet too much doom.
Silly Computer Games: I appear to have used up all
the fun in PsuedoQuest. At least, I can't find any quests I haven't
done.
Cats:
Aw! Aspen and Benny were holding hands!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
2 August 2007 - Thursday
Work: Check. Bah, customers.
Silly Computer Games: Hm, I seem to have used up all
the fun in PseudoQuest. Bummer.
Cats:
Aw, Benny and Aspen were holding hands! So adorable!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
1 August 2007 - Wednesday
Work: Check.
Visual Entertainments: Finished
Tennimon at Cat and Earl's. Yay Tennimon!
Next we will watch something that is not Tennimon, like
Ghost Hunt (by the same person who did Twelve
Kingdoms) or strange French film noir. Probably not
Hackers, though.
Cats:
Twelve paws!
Writing: Check.
Make a comment!
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