School's out

Or just about. I still have my weekend adventure class, but I hardly think that counts as school, haha.

Finished the summer session pretty easily. Billiards was an obvious Pass, I'm not actually sure how to fail that course. I haven't gotten my grade for Microecon back yet, but assuming I didn't totally bomb the final, I should easily have an A. Infosys I *did* get my grade back, and it's not really that surprising I got an A, haha. My lowest assignment grade in the class was an 88, and the next lowest was a 97.5. =D My Hiking class is this weekend, so I'll be out in West Virginia for about 2 days. Sounds fun.

Finished FFIV: TAY a while ago, it certainly had a rather interesting ending to everything. Unfortunately, they opted for one of those final bosses that look like a mass of...stuff. I totally had no idea what I was supposed to be fighting the entire time aside from what the name told me it was, haha. Overall, I'd rate the game as a 6.5/10, like I gave FFIII, haha. I *do* recommend that anyone who wants to play FFIV also play TAY shortly thereafter, because TAY is notably better and develops the characters alot more than they bother to in the original game, especially Kain.

Currently playing Pokemon Soul Silver now, although at sort of a lax pace. Pokedex is @ 60-some odd, with 3 badges. Once I get past the Lake of Rage event, I'll probably spend most of my time filling out my pokedex for a while, so I'll probably start playing another game around then to break up the tedium. Not sure which one yet though.

FFXIV has entered actual beta-testing finally! Of course, I don't really follow it that closely, haha. I'll get it when I get it. I'll probably preorder the collector's edition in a few weeks after I figure out how much money I need to spend on a new camera.

Oh yeah, I guess I never said which laptop I ended up getting. It's this one. The cheapest of the G73s sure, but I don't really need any of the stuff that makes the others cost more. And it can still kick arse. Almost hit 4000 on the FFXIV benchmark, which is absolutely amazing for a laptop right now, especially for this price. Hoping this will take care of my gaming needs for 3-4 years, until I finish college and all that jazz and it's practical to actually build a proper desktop, with modifications. ;D

Looks like K-ON! S2 isn't finished after all! I was expecting another half-season, but they've started a new intro, so it'll be a full-length season it seems. That's good, as KyoAni isn't trolling everyone like they did with Haruhi S2. Looking around at the other summer anime seeing if anything's worth watching, but I haven't seen anything yet.

Me and Erik hit up the PF Chang's in Annapolis to see how their cuisine held up. It was certainly quite good, and the servers were surprisingly professional, but the food just didn't match up to the local stuff from Hunan L'Rose. And it cost more. So Hunan L'Rose has been added to our list of places we like to eat often (incl. Matsu Sushi, Potato Valley, Famous Dave's, etc.) Probably gonna move away from Asian cuisine now and look at other stuff, and I'd also like to try out a few new curries before the end of the summer. Hopefully I won't "discover" Death Curry Mk. II, haha.

2 classes remain

And then I'm finished with most of Summer stuff. Still holding out with high As in Microecon and Infosys, and I managed to score second place in the Table Tennis tournament. (The guy who beat me had a crazy flat shot, haha. Still managed to get the score 4-2 though) Also, more word on my Hiking class finally, there's an info meeting a week from Monday, so I'll finally be able to learn something about what's happening. Hopefully there'll be finalized dates so I can let people at work know when I need off.

Changed one of my classes for the Fall this week. Instead of doing my SciLab credit with Water: An Interdisciplinary Study, I changed over to Exploring the Environment: A Geo-spacial perspective. So instead of running around outside looking at mud, I get to run around outside with a GPS. Sounds neat!

FFIV:TAY is actually shaping up better than it seemed at first. The first story segment with Ceodore is really the most painful crappy part of the whole game so far. Rydia's tale was a complete 180, and very enjoyable to go through. Obviously the single-character tales aren't that long though, but there are challenge dungeons you can grind for special gear and whatnot. I don't care enough to do that. Overall, the only ones that weren't that good were Edward's and Edge's, for somewhat obvious reasons. Palom's was surprisingly one of the better tales, and Yang's, while enjoyable, had one of the dumbest plot devices in history. Okay, so they're on a boat. A boat with sails. They're crusing to Baron, and suddenly run out of fuel. So, with no fuel, they turn around and stop at an island. To look for coconuts. So they can run the ship on coconut oil. Riiiight. Only one side-tale left, that being the Lunarian's Tale. Then onto the latter half of the main game, hopefully with as little forced Ceodore as possible.

Summer!

SUCKS! =D You know it's true. God damn giant fireball thing.

Anyway, today's a recap post since I've been too busy/lazy to post for two months.

Spring Semester I more or less dominated. A's in Calculus II, Chemistry I, and Scenography (Theatre Shop). B's in CompSci II and Discrete Math(Logic & Proofs). No idea how I pulled the A in Calc, other than being awesome. GPA for semester was 3.6, overall rose to 3.5.

Started Summer classes (half over already, lol). Microecon is easy and I currently have a 98%. Management InfoSys is also easy, but more annoying, so I *only* have a 97%. lol. I actually went out of my way to write up all the assignments for InfoSys early, so now I don't have any outside homework assignments except reading. Billiards/Ping Pong is a Pass/Fail class probably, and I don't see how I could possibly fail, haha. My Trail Hiking course sent me a notice a few weeks ago, but I still don't have dates on that. I guess it's early though, but it should be confirmed in the next two weeks.

GAMES. I CAN PLAY VIDEO GAMES AGAIN! =D Haven't done too many, trying to work down my queue (But it's only getting bigger? haha) Played through Fallout 3 and all the add-on scenarios. Honestly, while it was a good start, the game just flat-out isn't as good as Oblivion. Combat in particular, but there's also significantly less story to explore and the fan-content isn't quite as good either. The Add-ons mostly sucked though. Mothership Zeta and maybe Broken Steel were passable. Was on a post-apoc kick, but the fuel died out pretty soon after exploring Megaton. Maybe there's something else out there to satisfy me...

Also played through Pokemon Colosseum's Story Mode, since I sort of had skipped that before and gone straight to XD: Gale of Darkness. Was somewhat interesting, though XD was longer and better, even if the main characters in Colosseum are significantly cooler, haha. I picked up Pokemon Soul Silver the other day, though I'm trying to save it just a little bit more. I played enough to start messing around with the PokeWalker though, so I've been carrying that around now. =D

Current game is FFIV: The After Years. Honestly...it's kinda painful. I've cleared the first scenario, but this has potential to be the worst FF game I've played. As a small bit of respite, Kain isn't a one-dimensional failure of a character like he was in FFIV, now he's two-dimensional just like everyone else. =D No complex plot here yet though, but maybe I'll like it more after all these side stories. Of course, maybe it'll all be tedium. Let's find out! (Thank god Rydia's story is next.)

Oh yeah, I started working! Yeah... It's not too bad though, even if it is dreadfully boring. Better than most jobs I've worked. Working 3 nights a week atm, might bump it up after classes are over. Hope to buy at least a new laptop and a PS3 along with some games by the end of the summer. Not finalized on which PC yet, though I've got it narrowed down to a handful, and I may very well buy it next weekend or the following. If I have enough funds, I'm also thinking of getting a new digital camera and a tablet. We'll see how long they keep me around, haha.

No additional progress on the HeroQuest minis. I know, it's been sitting there since Spring Break. >_>; I'm actually hoping to start that up soon in-between bouts of being ruthlessly frustrated at FFIV:TAY.

Nothing much new on the anime front. I ended up watching Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou through to the end. It wasn't terribad, but after about 3 episodes it seemed like they just said "Screw it!" and threw the plot into hyperdrive. Amusing at least, though I'd only give it a 6/10. K-ON! S2 should also be ending this week, and has been significantly more irrelevant than the first season.

I managed to get my hands on the Higurashi translated game! So far I only have the first four chapters, but I can't wait to actually sit down and realize all the loads of stuff they had to cut from the animoo. Hoping to get Ch5 and 6 soon too, since Tsumihoroboshi-hen is easily my favorite of the series. I probably won't get to read any of these until August though, haha.

Discovery! Hunan L'Rose in Odenton is absolutely fantastic for Chinese cuisine. Myself and Erik went there for a curry lunch a few weeks ago, and got almost more delicious food than we could eat for dirt cheap. I didn't see any steam buns though. =(

Less than a month left!

And good golly I can't wait for this semester to be over. Granted, I'll probably be saying that about all semesters, summer and winter included until I graduate(save one, but that's a SERKET ;D).

Anyway, I more or less systematically destroyed the rest of Nanoha, including all of StrikerS, the A's and StrikerS manga, and what's come out of the ViVid manga. StrikerS feels a bit drawn out in places, and more or less all males have been reduced to token appearances, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. Especially Nanoha's power of Friendship, aka FULL POWER TOTAL ANNIHILATION. Overall I didn't like it quite as much as A's, so I'll drop it just a bit to 7.5/10. The manga for Nanoha is neat though. Instead of the anime based off the manga, or them being just retellings of each other, the manga actually fits into the series in between and around the anime seasons and fills in more of the background, and in the case of ViVid, it continues to extend the story. ViVid's not quite as interesting as the previous iterations though, so I think the series might be tapering off after this.

Beat FFIII. I sort of rushed the end, since the pacing was bad and all, but that's to be expected of the earlier FF's. My final party was Dragoon, Black Belt, Summoner, and Devout, although I didn't grind the BB's JL enough, so I probably would've got more damage leaving him as a Thief. Ah well, it didn't matter too much since Refia as a Dragoon dual-wielding Gungnir and a Holy Lance was retardedly overpowered most of the time. I didn't bother with any of the DS-exclusive content, because it was designed like crap. Anyway, the remake is better than the original, but not by a significant amount. 6.5/10? Maybe I'm being generous. Anyway, next FF game will be FFIV: After Years this summer, followed hopefully by FFXIII toward the end of summer when I get my own PS3 =D I've also got an itch to play FFV Advance at some point, though I'll save that for now. Maybe they'll release news on an FFV DS by the time I want to play it, right? Right? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

I'm managing to have a better grip on Java and OOP in general, but alot of times it's still a pain in the arse. It took less than two days to completely get the Document Storage System Database for Project 4 working flawlessly, and surprisingly the hardest part was getting started. However, I still want to punch someone in the mouth with a knife every time I hear the words 'code reusability' or 'class abstraction', because that's bullshit and Copypasta does the EXACT SAME THING AND WORKS WITH ALL PROGRAMMING PARADIGMS. GAH! Anyway, only one programming assignment left, and I get to find out what crap it is this time on Monday. /joy

Touhou news! The English patch for Hisoutensoku (12.3 - Unthinkable Natural Law) has finally come out! It only took 8 months! lol All that just to find out exactly how retarded Sanae, Cirno, and China were. But that's why we love Touhou. Because where else are you going to get kappas building nuclear fusion-powered giant robots guarded by an idiot crow who ate the sun? With this, the only Windows game that lacks a patch is Double Spoiler, and I've heard that the hacking is mostly done, there just needs to be the translation finished. Hopefully they'll use an actual translator and not the Valleygirl crap that loser put up on the wiki.

Nanoka?

So I finished Nanoha, and then I accidentally watched the first episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, which led to me watching the other 12 in rapid succession. Fortunately I was still on top of my homework this week, haha. Anyway, S1's plot was a bit cliched, but what isn't these days? Still one of the better Magical Girl series I've seen, so I give it a 7/10.

A's was in every way superior though. It pulled off the 'conflict without any villain' really well too, which I was glad to see. That type of plot setup is usually too difficult to pull off, so it's very rarely even used. Vita was a great addition, though some of the other arrivals could do with some fleshing out of their characters. Nanoha StrikerS is next, and a full 26 episodes this time, so we'll see where things go from here. Looking forward to the rumored Psycho Nanoha anyway, heh. Anyway, Nanoha A's gets an 8/10 from me.

Still chugging along in FFIII. The game's a fair bit easier than I remember from the NES version, though I might just be better at RPG's now. Didn't need to do any training even until after the Fire Crystal though, and most of it's just been grinding Job Levels when I want to use a new class. Geomancers and Dragoons pwn. =D

NEW FFXIV AWESOME CHOCOBO MOOSAC!

Fall confirmed

Signed up for Fall classes, and I got to sign up on time too! Unlike last time where I had to wait an extra week because my AP classes weren't calculated in my total credits properly.

Pretty much everything is the same, except I have my Stat discussion class later in the evening on Tuesday (The earlier one only had room for 11 people, weird). Also, I needed departmental permission or something to take Sewing, so I just said screw it and signed up for the Management class I need to take on Tu/Th mornings. Now I got class pretty much all day Tu/Th, Water on Wed, and a 4 day weekend. Rock. On.

Also, it seems Nanoha only bothered with the super-animation for that part in the first episode, since then it's been standard quality, haha. It's not bad though, I'm halfway through the first season and it's still interesting.

Animoo

This past weekend was nice, first time in a while I just kicked back without worrying about schoolwork at all. Even started to work on my HeroQuest minis a bit more. I didn't get any done though, so I don't have anything to show yet. With Finals just around the corner, I might not get another weekend like this until after that. And then I need to get a job and start summer session. Haha, Katy, you're nuts.

Tried out a Thai place down the road from Marley on Saturday with Erik. A bit pricey, but the food's pretty good. Been a while since I had Thai. The staff was really good, but the atmosphere was...off? I do't really know how to put it. Maybe it was too bright inside? Not good for casual dining, but a good place to bring your parents. Next up, gotta find a good Chinese or Ramen place in the area.

After Thai, went to go check out Lunar Golf, WHERE WALDENBOOKS USED TO BE. It's a neat little place, probably the best minigolf for your money (unless other places changed in the 10 years since I've been), as you get to go around 3 times for 1 pay. Personally though, I'd prefer to go to an outdoor course. The holes are larger and Lunar Golf had no Windmill! How can you have minigolf without a windmill!? My wall-bouncing and jump tactics were pretty awesome, but I ended up losing in the end, haha.

Picked up Phantasy Star Zero, and FF3 again, the later of which I got sucked into faster. I should have FF3 done by the end of the month, god I have too many games to play.

- To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) S1 rating: 8.5/10
Railgun ended a week or so ago, so I needed more animoo to keep me entertained. Especially after Mikoto's epic Railgun halfway through the finale, I don't think I can just slug through crap for a while. (Even skipped through OP's Luffy vs. Hannyabal fight yesterday, and I never skip OP filler) Lucky me though! K-ON! season 2 just started, so that's another 3 months of them eating cake and not performing, haha. Decided to try out Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, but it looks like there's too much ecchi and not enough substance, so I might drop it after a couple more eps. Finally, on a whim I decided to start Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha earlier today, and it was pretty decent. Then about halfway in HOLYCRAPWEHAVEANANIMATIONBUDGET. Seriously, that was a surprise. Not your typical Magical Girl series either, much darker. I'll update on that later on as I have time to work through.