Those Shadow Druids never really stood a chance. Sure, it took attacking them head on and regretting it to get it right, but Cernd is a flipping werewolf. It'll take more than bonding your spirit to a magical troll-infested grove to do in a werewolf, that's for sure.
So, my party. Realise it's a bit of a late explanation, and many of you will have figured it out from Facebook (heck, many of you probably attended), but it deserves a retelling. So I emerge bleary-eyed from my room to find Connor, dressed in his bathrobe and a massive grey beard, with an owl under one arm and a magical pimp cane under the other, telling me my magical test has begun and I was needed in the living room. On following I find, to not that much surprise, Natasha dead on the floor. Neither was I surprised when she raised herself off the floor and started attacking me. Connor quickly handed me a plastic short sword (previously seen in a speech on shame culture) and told me to get hacking, so I gave Natasha a few VERY LIGHT blows to the head with the side of the blade. This time I actually WAS surprised to find that this didn't do anything to deter her, and I figured maybe she was just over-exciting and didn't realise zombies die from headshots. However, I was then IMMENSELY surprised and quite deeply afraid to see Connor yell for me to watch myself, and when I turn around a good two social circles' worth of acquaintances were there, zombified as best as a few minutes hasty preparation would allow (it was dark in the hall so to me a simple lurch would have sufficed), coming slowly at me. I'd like to point out at this stage that I hadn't the faintest idea anyone beside my two flatmates were around, I'd spent the past hour or so locked in my room with the music turned up, so this came as a massive surprise. Panicking, I threw my sword at zombie Laura (which she continually reminds me was a bad move survival-wise) and clumsily pulled the doorstop from the door, slamming it shut and putting my weight against it. I'd even have barricaded it with the sofa (which none of the others were expecting at all, thus regaining my honour as a zombie survivalist) had Connor not urgently pulled me away from the door amidst my cries of protest. At the other end of the room we watched the host enter, me with more than a small sense of betrayal, and I made the best barricade I could with the nearby coffee table. At this point Connor reminds me that, having turned 22 (technically I hadn't but I wasn't about to complain) I was capable of magical powers, and thrust the staff into my hands. I made some appropriate spell noises at Natasha, who fell over dead. Now confident I chanted the first spell that came to mind (Expelliarmus, of all things) and watched as the others fell to the ground. Then I got applause, a treasure hunt for my presents, and 36 consecutive shots of Strongbow for not finding them fast enough.
My legs didn't stop shaking the whole time.
It was a truly superb party, one that will not be forgotten. My thanks to all who took part.
Nothing else has really happened this week. ICE reached its conclusion on Wednesday, and then we had more to drink (seriously had too much this week, way too much) and today I got up stupidly early to hand in my translation and flipping clean. The party was great, but cleaning up the debris after? Not so much.
My number of reviews on SquareGo have doubled now, so check them out and get that website counter up! Off home tomorrow, flight's at 9-something, where I plan to bask in the joy of not having to do anything. Oh, and sleeping off this accursed cold I seem to have landed myself with. I drink so much juice, how can my immune system be so bad?!
Oh, and I have a new phone, courtesy of the parents, which is working out pretty well so far. Far more advanced than any other phone I've had before, still a lot of things I don't understand. I'll get there, though, and stop missing calls even though the volume is supposedly turned up to 11.
That's it.
Thanks for reading.
Friday, 17 December 2010
Sunday, 12 December 2010
When Life leaves us Blind, Love keeps us Kind
Need to start of with this, and might I preface by saying I don't normally get excited about music at all, but the new Linkin Park album is simply superb. Those guys really, really know how to put heart into a song. Extraordinarily stirring stuff.
Syntax went off without a hitch. I had everything planned out in my head, so actually getting in there, remembering and writing it was really not a problem. But I couldn't help but second-guess everything I was writing. I'd have a sentence down, an example of a structure misused to create something ungrammatical, but when I look at it on paper again I see it as actually being very much grammatical, and I'd been wrong this whole time. Issues like this arose a whole bunch of times, and the solution I came to in the end was to trust the me that spent a whole week preparing my answers, and not the me swung my a mere instant of indecision. Fingers crossed, but right now I'm perfectly willing to accept a lower mark.
I've been instructed to stay in my room. Feels a bit like that Silent Hill game, except rather than creepy chains keeping me in its the threat of my flat mates punishing me for ruining.... whatever it is they're doing out there. Got my music on a bit louder today (can you guess what I'm listening to) to try and give them a bit of cover.
Last night was Christmas Dinner at Team Argyle's, which went down a treat. The amount of food available was seriously staggering, I was honestly surprised we finished everything. After dinner was extended drinking and games, followed by a trip to the Big Cheese, first in a long while. It was good; maybe not quite as good as some of the nights in my memory, but it was still a great night out.
The ScotMid across the street from us started selling Cadbury's Cream Eggs yesterday. I'm thrilled to bits.
One last assignment, I'll start work on that tomorrow. A bit of a hefty-looking translation, but I'm confident I can get it done within the week. Well, excluding Wednesday. Wouldn't want to work on Wednesday. And then I'll be done, and I can go home. It's not been the longest of terms, but it sure has left me feeling absolutely exhausted to the core. I slept all through today, and that's only partly due to last night. Oh, but I did go to church, you can trust me on that. Tonight's carol service, though, probably gonna miss it. Something tells me whatever's getting set up outside my front door is gonna keep me in the flat for quite a bit. Suits me fine.
Thanks for reading.
Syntax went off without a hitch. I had everything planned out in my head, so actually getting in there, remembering and writing it was really not a problem. But I couldn't help but second-guess everything I was writing. I'd have a sentence down, an example of a structure misused to create something ungrammatical, but when I look at it on paper again I see it as actually being very much grammatical, and I'd been wrong this whole time. Issues like this arose a whole bunch of times, and the solution I came to in the end was to trust the me that spent a whole week preparing my answers, and not the me swung my a mere instant of indecision. Fingers crossed, but right now I'm perfectly willing to accept a lower mark.
I've been instructed to stay in my room. Feels a bit like that Silent Hill game, except rather than creepy chains keeping me in its the threat of my flat mates punishing me for ruining.... whatever it is they're doing out there. Got my music on a bit louder today (can you guess what I'm listening to) to try and give them a bit of cover.
Last night was Christmas Dinner at Team Argyle's, which went down a treat. The amount of food available was seriously staggering, I was honestly surprised we finished everything. After dinner was extended drinking and games, followed by a trip to the Big Cheese, first in a long while. It was good; maybe not quite as good as some of the nights in my memory, but it was still a great night out.
The ScotMid across the street from us started selling Cadbury's Cream Eggs yesterday. I'm thrilled to bits.
One last assignment, I'll start work on that tomorrow. A bit of a hefty-looking translation, but I'm confident I can get it done within the week. Well, excluding Wednesday. Wouldn't want to work on Wednesday. And then I'll be done, and I can go home. It's not been the longest of terms, but it sure has left me feeling absolutely exhausted to the core. I slept all through today, and that's only partly due to last night. Oh, but I did go to church, you can trust me on that. Tonight's carol service, though, probably gonna miss it. Something tells me whatever's getting set up outside my front door is gonna keep me in the flat for quite a bit. Suits me fine.
Thanks for reading.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Tribute Band
And thus the JLPT is over. Reactions: I was a little surprised at the absence of a picture listening section but everything else met expectations. The kanji sections were easier than usual, the reading sections longer than I remember, to the point that I was actually pressed for time right at the last question. Results in March, so a long time to wait.
And now I am exhausted. Like, to the fullest extent of the word without simply collapsing on the floor like some Sim. And there's not rest for the wicked, as Friday is the day of my one and only Edinburgh exam this semester, the dreaded Syntax. Did some hard study today, liking the look of my chances, for the first section at least. Still, got a week to polish up the others, so I'm not worried. But right now all I want is for it to be over, so I can properly rest for a change.
Right, so, Baldur's Gate.
Much to my surprise the resulting party (a party of six, it was voted) was not as uniform as I had expected. Our protagonist is self-styled Swanner, an Ivoker for those who care. I even gave him a picture of me as his portrait, and last night finished up a sound scheme for him using my commonly uttered phrases. He's only level 9, but he's a work of art. Backing him up is dwarven cleric T-Bagz. Yeah, can you start to detect the tone of this campaign? T-Bagz is hard as nails, and as the only true healer of the team he's also one of the most useful. Balthazar is next, an Inquisitor, and the party tank. He's the one who gets the best armour and weapons, and has the first say over buff spells. He's assisted by male bard Gertrude, very much a support character. Lastly we have Fe... Fel... Felididhhidhb? I can't remember. Apparently it's a "perfectly normal name". She's a bounty hunter, so is first into shifty-looking rooms. Support for her is the late HairyToes, a dwarven, uh, meat shield. Unfortunately, due to his meatiness, the party voted him as the first to be eaten to make space for Yoshimo, and then Ceridh. Imoen, if you're familiar with her and are interested, died ages ago, but still hangs on with her mile-thick plot-armour. We're just out of the prison (after 6 long days) and have taken our first mission at Trademeet, getting rid of what we suspect to be a good-for-nothing druid. The slavers are dropping like flies, let me tell you.
More study on the cards for hopefully all of tomorrow, this time for a second and third question. Other than that we'll have to see. No Baldur's, I think, not when I'm like this.
Thanks for reading.
And now I am exhausted. Like, to the fullest extent of the word without simply collapsing on the floor like some Sim. And there's not rest for the wicked, as Friday is the day of my one and only Edinburgh exam this semester, the dreaded Syntax. Did some hard study today, liking the look of my chances, for the first section at least. Still, got a week to polish up the others, so I'm not worried. But right now all I want is for it to be over, so I can properly rest for a change.
Right, so, Baldur's Gate.
Much to my surprise the resulting party (a party of six, it was voted) was not as uniform as I had expected. Our protagonist is self-styled Swanner, an Ivoker for those who care. I even gave him a picture of me as his portrait, and last night finished up a sound scheme for him using my commonly uttered phrases. He's only level 9, but he's a work of art. Backing him up is dwarven cleric T-Bagz. Yeah, can you start to detect the tone of this campaign? T-Bagz is hard as nails, and as the only true healer of the team he's also one of the most useful. Balthazar is next, an Inquisitor, and the party tank. He's the one who gets the best armour and weapons, and has the first say over buff spells. He's assisted by male bard Gertrude, very much a support character. Lastly we have Fe... Fel... Felididhhidhb? I can't remember. Apparently it's a "perfectly normal name". She's a bounty hunter, so is first into shifty-looking rooms. Support for her is the late HairyToes, a dwarven, uh, meat shield. Unfortunately, due to his meatiness, the party voted him as the first to be eaten to make space for Yoshimo, and then Ceridh. Imoen, if you're familiar with her and are interested, died ages ago, but still hangs on with her mile-thick plot-armour. We're just out of the prison (after 6 long days) and have taken our first mission at Trademeet, getting rid of what we suspect to be a good-for-nothing druid. The slavers are dropping like flies, let me tell you.
More study on the cards for hopefully all of tomorrow, this time for a second and third question. Other than that we'll have to see. No Baldur's, I think, not when I'm like this.
Thanks for reading.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Baldur's Receding Hairline
Ding dong, the crazy AI is dead. And with the restoration of the Rickenbacker comes the end of our time in System Shock 2, and the start of a new round of game selection. And the winner may be obvious to some.
Yes it's Baldur's Gate 2, that BioWare classic, another game I should have played but never got around to. But now it's my chance, as the three of us set off for the Forgotten Realms to... to do something... maybe to gate?
Plot aside I'm very much looking forward to this. Not sure what the AD&D2 character creation stuff is like, but I'm guessing it'll be pretty epically in-depth. The plan is for the three of us to roll up characters in secret, irrespective of what would be a 'balanced' team, and see what we come up with. May make the game harder initially, but I'm very excited to see what we come up with. Though I do think, knowing the three of us, a party of three magic-users is not out of the question.
AND, you lucky people, this time you may even get to see how we get on. That's right, I'm going to be attempting a highly entertaining Let's Play video to go along with the game itself. May not come out great, there's only so many screen capture programs that will work with Baby's baby graphics card, but I'm expecting it to be at least a bit fun. Good for my personal collection, and for those of our friends and classmates, if nothing else.
In other news, I fly to London tomorrow for the JLPT N2. Pretty nervous, it has to be said, but preparations have been decent and I don't think I'll let myself down. Wishes of good luck also need to go to Steph, who will be taking the test some 10 hours after me over in Hawai'i. One other exam to worry about too, but that one, Syntax, isn't until Friday, and this weeks' preparation lessons have left me feeling pretty confident.
Now all I have to do is wait until this lovely snow comes and ruins my best-made plans.
Thanks for reading.
Yes it's Baldur's Gate 2, that BioWare classic, another game I should have played but never got around to. But now it's my chance, as the three of us set off for the Forgotten Realms to... to do something... maybe to gate?
Plot aside I'm very much looking forward to this. Not sure what the AD&D2 character creation stuff is like, but I'm guessing it'll be pretty epically in-depth. The plan is for the three of us to roll up characters in secret, irrespective of what would be a 'balanced' team, and see what we come up with. May make the game harder initially, but I'm very excited to see what we come up with. Though I do think, knowing the three of us, a party of three magic-users is not out of the question.
AND, you lucky people, this time you may even get to see how we get on. That's right, I'm going to be attempting a highly entertaining Let's Play video to go along with the game itself. May not come out great, there's only so many screen capture programs that will work with Baby's baby graphics card, but I'm expecting it to be at least a bit fun. Good for my personal collection, and for those of our friends and classmates, if nothing else.
In other news, I fly to London tomorrow for the JLPT N2. Pretty nervous, it has to be said, but preparations have been decent and I don't think I'll let myself down. Wishes of good luck also need to go to Steph, who will be taking the test some 10 hours after me over in Hawai'i. One other exam to worry about too, but that one, Syntax, isn't until Friday, and this weeks' preparation lessons have left me feeling pretty confident.
Now all I have to do is wait until this lovely snow comes and ruins my best-made plans.
Thanks for reading.
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