Video Card News
This effects about 2 people here, but i'll discuss it anyway, since it was a long time coming. It's an exciting time for those willing to buy a graphics card... Probably only me and Brendan at the moment, but maybe I can convince Bryant into getting a new one as well... The two titans in graphics cards unleashed their next generation cards this month; in one corner, the NV40 aka GeForce 6800 Ultra and in the other... the R420 aka X800 XT Platinum.

GeForce 6800 Ultra Clock Speed: 400MHz Memory Speed: 1.1GHz Pixel Pipelines: 16x1 222 Million transistors

X800 XT Platinum Clock Speed: 500MHz Memory Speed: 1.12GHz Pixel Pipelines: 16x1 160 Million transistors

Geforce 5950 Ultra Clock Speed: 475MHz Memory Speed: 950MHz Pixel Pipelines: 4x2 130 Million transistors

Now, what does this all mean? Well... First of all, look at the best of last generation, it's clock speed is actually faster than that of the 6800. Is that good or bad? Actually, it's neither. I just like to see how fast the core is running and see if there might be headroom for the next generation. From the chart it looks like the 6800 Ultra can squeeze a little more juice out of the core, so in the next few months, faster cards might come out (in the same design)

Pixel pipelines... Every generation something new comes to light that I've never really paid attention to... This generation is the number of pixel pipelines. Bottom line without going technical, the more you have the better. So 16 is good.

Finally, the number of transistors actually mean something. The more you have, the more complex (duh..) the design. This means more power and more heat. This brings me to the first down side of the 6800 Ultra... It requires 2 outside power sources, and a 480 watt power supply on the computer. Most of us don't have anything close to this so an upgrade might be needed. The 6800 Ultra also requires two slots in the back for cooling. So you gotta make sure you have a free PCI slot.

Now the good side to the Ultra 6800. It's fricken fast. Reviewers are comparing the jump from last generation to this generation like the jump to the Voodo2 in 1998. Before, every generation would jump maybe about 10-20 frames across the board. But with these new cards, we're talking about a 2x performance jump. These benchmarks are amazing. The 6800 Ultra can add roughly 25 frames per second at a resolution of 1024x768. But that's not the good part. Add 4x AA and 8x AF, we're talking about a 45 FPS difference.

Last week, ATI came out and announced their card, the X800 XT Platinum Edition. People were wondering if this card could match the 6800. Turns out, it did. Its competing head to head with NVidia's card. It stands toe to toe, wining some benchmarks and losing others. It looks like all the benchmarks that it did well in still does well, and those that it doesn't... well... It's still a weak area. That means ATI wins benchmarks for Far Cry and Tomb Raider, but loses to NVidia at Unreal 2004... EDIT Hmm, maybe I was wrong, but looking at a few more review sites, it looks like ATI wins those benchmarks too. But by a small margin.

One More EditIn response to ATI's release, NVidia created a new board labeled the GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition. (Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting turbo edition?) Anyway, it looks like it's an overclocked 6800 Ultra, preliminary results say it's not enough though. Time will tell. I hear that NVidia still has some work to do on the drivers so it might be able to squeeze more frames out of the card.

Now that i've confused everyone.... There's something else I have to discuss. Both companies have come out with multiple versions of this generation. Here's a list from best to worst divided by companies.

NVidia (Name of card - Price - Date Available)
GeForce 6800 Ultra (Extreme) - TBA - June
GeForce 6800 Ultra - $499 - Late May
GeForce 6800 GT - $399 - Mid June
GeForce 6800 - $299 - Late May

ATI (Name of Card - Price - Date Available)
X800 XT Platinum Edition - $499 - May 21
X800 Pro - $399 - NOW

Needless to say, you get what you pay for. Personally, I'm looking at the 6800 GT. I don't think I can justify paying 500 for a new video card. (That's almost a new computer!) Brendan, in your case, I still don't know. On one hand, I'd say get the GT or the X800 Pro when you can, or maybe even go for the vanilla 6800. This is because I'm not sure how much performance you're actually going to see. I have a small feeling that while yes, the Video card in your puter is slowing you down, the CPU may also hamper you from getting more frames. More research will be done though.

So let us start off with the good news...well I guess it's okay news...

First off I must thank Jon for thinking of me as someone who can understand advance theories and strategies in Hold'em. The fact that he got me a tournament book (and also personalized it) is quite humbling to say the least. That means Jon thinks I am a formidable challenge at the table and since I can't really come up on Jon in much except 80 percent of all videogames, painting in acrylics, and perhaps twirling chips, this is a big thing for me. So thank you Jon for that book. Now what does this have to do with anything? Well after reading through it approximately three times (all while letting the ass puke) I have an understanding of tournament poker that I didn't have before. Honestly the hardest thing was unlearning everything I knew about in limit Hold'em. Anyway to make a long story short I've been practicing in Pokerroom's tournaments. Now you can go ahead and say I'm getting lucky, but I'll let the stats speak for themselves. Two days ago I placed 14th out of 330 players. Now that means I finished in the money so with the profits I decided to play in some more tournaments. The second one I played I got knocked out in 50th place out of 290 players because I had top two pair after the turn, but the river gave a guy a set. No biggie. It happens. Now in one that I played tonight I placed 28th out of 280 players. Bottom line I'm understanding NL a lot more now and I have Jon to thank. Hopefully in the near future I'll be able to tell you I made it to the final table where the real money comes into play.

Derek congrats on finishing Lunar. I like how you blog just to brag. Either way that game is old, I finished it on SegaCD so when you finish a real game let me know. Hehe. Also just for Derek since he the only one I know that has even seen a film in black and white that isn't Schindler's List...have you seen Notorious starring Cary Grant and the awesome Ingrid Bergman? It was directed by Hitch. BODEGA BAY YOU IDIOT!

Okay so for those that I have talked to know that it was Audrey's 75th anniversary. So seeing how I got a brand new program from Jon with the new acrylic and watercolor engines...I drew something up for Audrey. Enjoy it.

www.mentalabstraction.com/Posts/Audrey75.jpg

Let us see...what else is there...for those that wanted to try Jon's money making scheme...be careful because the 200 dollar bonus isn't there anymore. Just thought I'd let you know.

Has anyone seen Tony? I've been sleeping too much now that he is gone...now I dont' wake up until 4 p.m. By that time it's almost time for bed again.

My mom just said she ate some nuts. I'm assuming she's talking about the jar of nuts on the shelf...that's fucked up how she keeps my dad's nuts on the shelf...

Haha. Only I would say something like that.

This blog is home to two sentence paragraphs.

Except that last one.

And this one. Well fragments count right? Also I'm glad the Captain (a.k.a. Andy who doesn't fucking blog because his computer is on the ground or some fucking lame excuse...I'm gonna make sure he doesn't get a desk at the videogame store so he can put in the invoices while laying on the fucking ground) decided he would want to write with me. We aren't sure what yet but perhaps this might spark his interest...my friend Mike found some guy that wanted to make a film...anyway he put 100K into his mini production company to make this horror film...so how does that involve me? Well since I'm Mike's friend...I can use all the equipment that he is buying for his horror film...we are talking cameras, editing stations, lights, booms...blah blah blah. But like I told Andy...starting is always the hardest...I'm not sure if I am supposed to keep bugging him until he comes over and we start brainstorming.

Winamp TV kicks ass.

That's it.

I didn't feel like calling Jon to show him this painting... I figured he's sick of me after seeing me TWO weekends in a row! Haha. Anyway this is a painting I just did because I didn't go to class...enjoy.

http://www.mentalabstraction.com/Posts/GKelly4.jpg

Party Poker update
I just played a couple hours today. I played three tables for a while and was doing really well. I added another table and it started to trickle away after a while, but I got my second $100 bonus. So after my session from last night and just now, I'm overall up $288. Not very impressive considering $200 of that was bonuses, but I'll take bonuses with glee. So if you think you can at least break even try this out. Not bad for playing a few hours of online poker. I recommend playing two tables so it's not as slow, three if you can handle it. Four gets kinda crazy.

an easy $200 just for playing poker
I just opened a Party Poker account. As it turns out, we can get some sizeable bonuses just for signing up and playing. I got the 20% deposit bonus ($100) with Card Player's signup code "LEAP" and another $100 for using iGM-Pay for buying in and cashing out (deposit code "IGMPAY"). In addition to this, I will share the wealth with you guys if you sign up through my affiliate link from jhiro.net, which should give you another $65. In order to get the deposit bonuses you just need to play in 500 raked hands for each $100. This doesn't take as long if you play multiple tables at once. So all you have to do is play tight and break even at the tables to get over $200 free.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Click the Party Poker link on the cardrooms page of jhiro.net. This link takes you to the 20% bonus page.

2. Download the software and sign up for an account.

3. Use iGM-Pay to deposit your money. It is the site-recommended method and I had no trouble with it. Hopefully the $100 bonus is still there. You have to deposit $500 to get the maximum bonus, but you don't have to put all that cash in play.

more poker discussion - table selection
On a related note, I started out really bad at Party Poker. Haha. But don't worry, I can explain why and you can learn from my mistake. They have a waitlist system that allows you to get on a waitlist for a specific table, or take the first available seat among all tables. I tried the latter option at first because I was eager to see how the games were. Oops. I ended up playing simultaneously at a couple of pretty tight-aggressive $3-$6 tables. In under an hour I was down almost $200. Not feeling good at that point. I realized that the tables had small average pot sizes and that people were raising a lot, particularly preflop. Basically it was like sitting at a table where I was in every seat. Not fun, not profitable, not attractive in any sense of the word.

Now... as tight-aggressive players, as we all should be at these loose low-limit tables, what we want is the stupid callers who play any two cards. It's frustrating at times when they make a garbage two pair against our top pair top kicker, or we have a set of aces and they hit their backdoor gutshot. But these are also the guys supplying us with our profits, know and remember that. We want a lot of callers seeing the flop so that the pot is big when we finally decide to play with (A) high cards that are probably the best at the table or (B) cards we hope to draw with, in which case we definitely need a big pot for the gamble to be worth taking. We also need that pot to be big because we're paying the blinds every round and also even when we play we usually fold when the flop comes out, so on that rare occasion when we bring in a pot, it's gotta be huge. At those tight-aggressive tables, I was forced to call a raise preflop too often, and even when I won my occasional pot it was too small to keep me from watching my stacks disappear. Eventually I became aware ($200 aware) of this ugly situation and moved on to look for a better game.

So I sorted the tables by average pot size (a nice feature that Party Poker has, although I didn't see average % of players seeing the flop) and looked at the higher end. At the time, the highest average pot size was about $60, whereas my previous tables were around $30. I recommend seeking out tables with average pot sizes of $50 or higher (for $3-$6). By the way, that is not hard to find because there are so many tables and so many players. I also like to check the stats for my tables once in a while, to see if they're still looking good. If not, there are plenty of other tables to jump to.

So after a while I decided to play four tables at once, to accelerate my bonus-earning. The tables were a lot better than the ones I started with, but that big starting loss was a lot to recover from. I played several hours this way, earned my first $100 bonus and got half way to the second one. I ended the night overall up only about $45. I blame the bad tables. I expect that in the future with more careful table selection and the second $100 bonus, I'll be up quite a bit more. It was a costly lesson to learn, but it doesn't have to be so for you guys.

even more poker discussion - player sophistication
Garden City is great. At least it has been for me so far. And I think it's only going to get better with all this poker on TV and people eager to try their luck. As long as no one gives out advice on poker books to read. I need to take that page down. Anyways, the players at Garden City are likely of a different flavor than those you will encounter online. Online, you'll find tech-savvy internet nerds... like us. I think they're more likely to have done at least a little research before putting their money at risk. Maybe read a poker advice Web site, or even a book or two. At Garden City, there's a lot of foreign tongue being spoken by older gentlemen. Okay, maybe they have computers. Maybe they can read English. But it seems less likely that they've done their homework. They probably see the cardroom visits as recreation. They're throwing their money in the pot, talking and joking around calling each other uncle and master, and having a good time. They like the excitement of calling with any two cards if the pot's big, just because there's a small chance they can take it. And being over there by fancy Saratoga, it's not out of the question that some of them may be quite wealthy and not care much about walking away with fewer $1 chips than they sat down with. Kinda like if we played for pennies.

So now game selection, or opponent selection, comes into play. Online you have the big advantages of not paying a button charge every round and no dealer tipping. Those add up quick. It seems like that would make the online games the clear choice, financially at least. But I've noticed that players seem to be a little bit tighter online, even at a good loose table, than they are at the good tables at Garden City. Of course this is not always the case, but it is a general trend that I think makes sense.

So what's the point of this? I don't know. I will keep playing at Garden City because it's profitable and I like playing at a real table with real cards and chips once in a while. I will see how this Party Poker thing goes, at least til I get my second bonus. Good luck and let's all win a lot of money.

non-poker stuff
I do have a bunch of other stuff to share, but that'll have to wait til next time.

***Normally I would put an entry like this into my Xanga, but I was getting errors and don’t always have oodles of time, so here you go Pooky fans!

Well, it’s been a long time….

Work is work…keeps me going like a mad man, but the good news is….

I finished my first project!!!! I felt very good about myself and am proud of what I accomplished. I learned so much in the time frame that I had and I hope I use this time to move onto bigger and better things.

I’ve realized though that work has made me give up a lot. Time, friends, weekends, family…etc….

I haven’t felt this way in a while, but ever since I started working, I feel distant towards others. I feel like I’m missing out on everything. I feel like I’m not included anymore. It’s kind of sad. I work so much that I’ve distanced myself from everyone. Sucks, cause this is the time in my life where I need to keep down this road and continue to focus on my career. It’s just sad not being the focal point anymore.

Another thing, is I’m really excited about trying to take some vacation time, only problem is…I have no one to go on a vacation with. No one has the time, money, etc…once again, that sucks! I really really really want to go to Hawaii. I may just go alone, may need some help from people telling me where to go, but I really need the time off. I need time to re-evaluate things, recharge my mind, body, soul, and to just relax. I haven’t felt completely, utterly relaxed in quite some time. I didn’t even take a total vacation when I graduated.

There’s a part of me that wishes everyone would be on the same level, working M – F, 9-5, it would make things a lot easier. Make me feel like I’m not missing out on much. Oh well, that’s life I guess. Looking at everyone around me makes me think, am I really ready for the working world? Should I be in school still? Did I rush into this real life thing too fast?

In this time, I’ve learned that relationships are tough to keep up, but you gotta keep telling yourself that it’s worth it. All the hard work, the time, the hours spent alone…will be worth it. I’ve learned that my relationship w/ Tiff is strong and she’s become my backbone and support through all the hard times I’ve spent at work. It’s just hard being away from someone you care so much about. But she’s worth it…..

Also in this time, I’ve realized as I grow older, so do those around me. Those who I care about. Recently, my pops had a mild heart attack. Scared the shit outta me. Made me realize, there time is more precious then ever. I’m going to try and see them more often, take some time away from work and just eat with my parents. We don’t always have a lot to say, but I’ll take any time with them. Though my dad looks ok now, I know that he’s gotta stay in shape, keep up w/ medication, eat better, etc.

Made me realize I need to eat better and exercise. Work as of late hasn’t let me do either, but I need to stop letting work control my life completely. I need to take time out and just go on a treadmill and not eat fast food 3 times a day. I know I’m not fat, but I’ve been feeling that way. Mostly because before Dec, I was feeling really in shape and now I’ve seen that all go to waste. It’s depressing gaining a lot of weight since graduating.

Pretty much this blog is a “life’s not fair” type. I know in essence I have things good compared to most, but it’s still depressing at times.

Anyone: What are you doing today?
Me: Working
Anyone: Tonight?
Me Working
Anyone: This weekend?
Me: Working
Anyone: Vacation?
Me: Nope – not until who knows when.
Anyone: That sucks man…see ya going to go play bball.
Me: Yep…thanks have fun, I’ll be in my office getting carpal tunnel and blurring my vision.

See why?

Oh well, Kevin’s coming down this weekend which is exciting. Doing my darndest to get him to move back to SJ, we’ll see. Miss the ol’ guy. If you’re reading this Kev, I’m going to bug the shit outta ya this weekend, but know I want you to do what’s best for you! We all just miss you down here =)

Well, my boo hoo story is over and I hope all of you have a great weekend!

And since I am using Pooky – I’ll put top ten characters (off the top of my head, may not be totally accurate.)

10. Roger Wilco – funniest videogame character from a PC game. Larry Laffer is a close 2nd, and I mean close, but Roger Wilco cracked me up in all those space quest games. Sierra was very creative in that sense.
9. Mega Man – Hardest bunch of games, but cool character, cool music, cool graphics in general. I like the anime influence of the characters. Never liked their simplified names, but I guess they get right to the point…Bubbleman, Fireman, Earthman…etc…
8. Harvest Moon Kid – He pimps ladies, has his own successful business, and can kick it at a bar all night, how can you not like this guy?
7. Master Chief – Able to kill aliens all day and still come up w/ witty lines…Brilliant.
6. Duke Nukem – Same as above, except more witty. Influences – Army of Darkness…Excellent.
5. Jill Valentine/ FFCC Chick – Tie for the hottest girl characters in a game.
4. Sora – Little kid beats the hell out of all the Disney bad guys…intriguing storyline in the middle of it all…can’t wait til the next one!
3. Morrigan – She’s my girl on Super Puzzle Fighter 2….never played any fighting games w/ her, but she dominates in my book…”PassenloAyi” God knows if I spelled that right…haha
2. Larry Laffer – Spent way too much time on these games…but he was hilarious, witty, and eventually got the girl. Gives a guy inspiration, no matter how many times you strike out, you’ll get a hot chick in the end haha
1. Solid Snake – Original spy. Can be incognito and woo Mei Ling and Meryl at the same time, w/ a little bit of the doctor on the side.

These aren’t in any particular order…now that I look at them again, I would go (1 => 10)
1, 6, 10, 2, 9, 3, 5, 4, 8, 7

I hope that confuses you enough…peace out….

Okay a couple of things to blog about...the first on the list is Brian changing his hairstyle...so do you look like Jeff now? Second of all you know that you can change all the exterior stuff you want, but until you deal with the NAPS inside your heart...you will forever feel like you are lacking. Just like Jon and his buttons. Haha.

Next thing to rip into is Brian's top 10. I'm not sure if we can let you into the future video game store anymore with that kind of list...but I'm sure we can let you hang out with the rejects in the parking lot waiting to get in. For example...Ulala? There are so many fione ass girls in videogames and you choose Ulala? Let's say I was turned into a video game character that looked just like a 15,000 polygon model of Brad Pitt. I'd head right on over to the DOA and have myself a little Fight Club with all those slutty vixens. Yeah. Out all all the ninja turtles you choose the one that represents Jon? I hope you two have a nice wedding. We can get both bachelor parties out of the way in one go round. Awesome. Ocarina of time is where the game started sucking?!? When it takes you five minutes to ride Epona from the village to Garudo villiage...that is when you know that you were in Hyrule the way it was supposed to look. I'm not one to agree with a bunch of fanboys...but OOT is probably one of the top five video games EVER MADE. I'll give you the rest of the people on the list...highly creative without being to obvious...to bad your list is tainted with mediocre gaming knowledge. HAha!! So when you coming down for some serious Poker?

Next: Suckin Pak or whatever the fuck her name is was on MTV talking to other asians about what it was like to be discriminated against and blah blah blah. My question for her is why not get the perspectives of asians that have been here for awhile and see how they feel. The bottom line is that everyone gets discriminated against...it is how you deal with it that makes you better than most. Besides all she talked to were the typical all wearing black dresses with too dark of the makeup with golden arches as eyebrows with straight black hair that looks like Morticia...all while eating Kimchee at some fucking restaurant that has too many floating zeros in it's name...and to make matters worse the group of friends look like they can be found at Santa Clara billiards on Saturday night. "I hate it when I got the...oh look it's Bruce Lee's wife Miss Ching chong ching chong". Haha that's funny. Let it go. It's funny because we all know that Bruce Lee's wife was Lauren Holly and if you had the name Miss. ching chong ching chong...you are probably a pretty good porn star. Either way why not ask someone like me who haven't really experience discrimination because I had cool friends and was in a cool neighborhood...and when I did get discriminated against...sometimes that shit was funny. Now the difference between let's say my grandparents getting racist comments is that at the time it could have turned violent...and the whole Pearl Harbor thing...but nowadays I feel that since my great grandparents on down got racist comments thrown at them...I better return the favor to the FOBS. It's not my fault they are jungle monkeys. Man, good thing she didn't contact me...she would have edited everything I just said out. Bottom line is that I know that is a weak argument to be a little racist...but EVERYONE IS FUCKING RACIST...BESIDES MISS. PAK...I SAW YOUR FAMILY ON THE SHOW...EVEN BRYANT SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED AT HOW YOUR FAMILY ACTED...haha!

The third second (also known as thirdly) of all is some poker tips. Now you have heard me talk about suited connectors and everyone besides Jon might be a little confused as to when you can play these. In fact I do remember a couple of you guys asking why you would want more callers with somewhat weak cards such as a 78suited. Here is the thing...in case you are wondering...the reason you want to call with more people in the pot is because the odds of you making a winning hand is pretty fucking minimal. You want percentages...here you go...if you want to flop a straight then you have about a 310 to 1 chance against making it...if you do the math then you are looking at a .32 percent chance of making it. If you do get some kind of draw on the flop you are still looking pretty minimal...if you have the way with it then you are looking at an openended straight draw (HOPEFULLY YOU ARE DRAWING ON THE IGNORANT END OF THE STRAIGHT) then you have 8 outs...this is not including your flush draw if you actually have it...but with 78 you aren't looking to good for the flush anyway...these eight outs translate into a .85 to 1 odd. This is HUGE. That's over fifty percent. So why the fuck do you call when you know with that many players someone is probably holding two faces or god forbid...AK or AA, KK...so on? The reason is this...the importance of playing these is that you should play them the same amount everytime if you have the way with your cards. You can't sit down and be like, "well suited connectors didn't work for me last time so I'm going to tighten up my game". Since the odds of you even getting a draw on the flop are minimal...you have to make sure than when you do FINALLY win a pot with this...it makes up for all the times that you missed before. You need to make sure your pot odds are at the very least fucking even for what you are drawing for. Jon might argue with this...about playing these...but he even knows that if you get a straight...you are looking at a huge pot if you played it right. Secondly I know Jon puts stock in these suited connectors and I know he knows when to play them...if he going to have any thing to argue in this paragraph it will be because my percentages are off or he thinks I put too much stock in suited connectors...but that is a personal judgment on his game. We all know Jon is a better poker player than all of us so there you have it...perhaps Jon can actually blog about this confusing topic in a simpler manner! Thirdly, if you play agressive and tight then you should be up in money to take some chances like this. When I win with a AKsuited and walk away with a 30 dollar pot (which is atually quite small for 3/6) then I'm willing to spend at least 20 of that to see the flop or even see fourth street to see if I can DRAW to a DRAW. Sounds fucking crazy, but like I told Bryant...there have been times at Garden that I flipped over "10 high" and laughed it off...you can bet those fuckers gave me some action...I know this above paragraph is full of contradicting statements...but that is how I play my suited cards...I'm even known to raise with a 7-8suited to make sure my pot odds are enough for me to even be in the fucking hand...and that is dangerous...but more dangerous to other players when they find out I raise with 78suited, in their minds for "shits and giggles".

Another poker observation...and I do not recommend this, but I have found for me...when obseving the right players and listening to your gut (if it is proven correct fairly often) you can bluff about slowplaying. Now there have been situations when I had at least top pair, but at the beginning of the hand I felt I was beat...perhaps a flush draw came or a straight...whatever you know the situations...so I do this when I at least have something to backup my semi bluff...and ALSO REMEMBER THAT I ONLY EXPERIMENTED WITH ABOUT 100 DOLLARS IN ORDER TO SEE WHERE THIS WENT...I would act like I was slowplaying. What does this mean exactly? I will check to see if I'm beat...if someone else bets then I will call. Now when the fourth and fifth come out I am looking for ANY SIGN that he didn't make a hand...and in a way I'm hoping that something comes on the board that either HELPS ME IN MY HAND OR MAKES THE BOARD SCARY FOR HYUNG DING PHAN SITTING ACROSS FROM ME...often times I will check if i'm first to act since I would be happy to have him check...I at least have top pair...but if he bets...and I feel that I'm beat...I will come over the top of him and represent what is on that board. I know I made the right decision when he starts to fucking think. THIS DOESN'T HAVE MUCH PLAY IN A 2/4 GAME...BUT even in low stakes games like 3/6...the guy is still thinking about the 12 dollars he is about to lose if he calls (since in his mind I could have made the flush draw). Anyway the results of the experiment is that I probably made about 50 or so bucks just by raising on the river. If you are playing against some nervous fuck sitting down for the first time...or your table image is that of someone who plays only premium cards...this could work for you. Of course this all depends on how you read the person...I have been wrong and have lost pots in occassions like this...but just as the suited connectors...I have the money because my game was on either earlier that night or last session...where I can take chances like these...Jon's gonna hate this paragraph...its like sticking dirty thoughts into your guys' heads. Hehe. This totally goes against the belief of "if you know you are beat then fold", "don't throw away good money after bad" and blah blah blah...but all good poker players know that these rules aren't set in stone...it all depends at the table you are at and how confident you are at observing other people.

Bottom line is this...if your bankroll is hurting you do not play suited connectors to begin with...it is risky and is only worth while if you have the money to throw away...you can easily just build up a bankroll by playing the top ten hands...the second paragraph on poker is just an observation. I don't want you guys fucking calling and raising then blaming me for the shit not working...because I will just say that the guy you tried it against was either a player like you who plays only quality shit or you totally misread him...either way be more fucking observant. Hehe. I was actually going to blog something insightful tonight...but fuck it...I need a shower.

Oh yeah.
I forgot to post something in my last blog. I AM NAPS NO LONGER. Last week, I went to get my hair cut, and decided I had it with the puff look. It's all gone now, and I look like a Buddhist Monk. Not quite what I had in mind, but at least it's a change. Ahh well. In about a month it'll be back to the 'fro I'm sure. Gah, more work. More to come.

Video game characters
This one is kinda hard. Never really gave it any thought, but here we go. My 10 favorite video game characters (In no particular order.):

1.) Prince Laharl - (Disgaea) This guy had quick wit and a perfect demon attitude. If I had the time I'd educate all of you on the wonders of the game and explain why I spent 80+ hours playing it. Short version: He's an anime character that makes fun of anime, RPG's and uses japanese humor to express his hate. How can you not go wrong?

2.) Sora - (Kingdom Hearts) Another RPG game with a great character. He feels like a native Final Fantasy character, one with a noble quest to save a childhood friend and find his girl. Actually, come to think of it, it's pretty generic. But never the less, his upbeat attitude is fun to watch, and some of his experssions are priceless.

3.) Parappa - (PaRappa the Rappa) You all know him and love him. I don't know why he's not on everyone's list. A rapping dog? An onion rap master? To this day, I can still remember select lines from the game. "Crack, crack, crack the egg into to bowl..." "In the rain or in the snow, I got the funky flow, but now I really gotta go." Word up.

4.) Gordon Freeman - (Half-Life) The man. Sure, the guy never talks, but the world seems to revolve around him. Move through a doorway, and something happens. Yay for scripting. Forget the chainsaws, if you give this guy a wrench, he'll tear shit up. He's the only scientist crazy enough to travel to an alien world, face off with face huggers, and MARINES.

5.) Kerrigan - (StarCraft) She's one bitter woman. Enough to give Steve a run for his money :) I understand where she's coming from though. If I were stranded to fight hundreds of thousands alien-esque type creatures on my own, I'd be a little pissed. She goes on to unite the 3 other races and destroys their leaders one at a time. Brutal.

6.) Donatello - (TMNT: Turtles In Time) I wasted so much money on this game, it's not even funny. Not to mention the time spent with TMNT II. Donatello was the best turtle. He was the smartest and had the longest reach weapon (Or so I thought at the time. I was later proven wrong by a now former friend :D And Don was the only one pimp enough to wear purple. Kinda like Samuel L. Jackson and his lightsaber.

7.) Ryu - (Street Fighter II) I'll stand behind the Japanese Warrior... In the glory days of SFII through SFII Hyperfighting, Ryu would waste Ken any day of the week. Unfortunately, as the games progressed, he would have a little more trouble in my eyes facing his "friend." He always has the same moves. Oh, forgive me, he gets a RED FIREBALL that knocks opponents down. What does Ken get? A crazy-ranged FLAME DRAGON PUNCH. Where's the justice in that?

8.) Link - (Zelda II) A lot of people hated this game for some reason. This was my first entry into the Zelda series and I loved it. If I had it my way, I'd be fighting Ironknuckles all night long. He had a large task, to place 6 crystals, get the Triforce of Courage, and wake Zelda who is sleeping when you first start the game. The third game was fairly fun, but then when it got to 3D the series started sucking. I have no desire to play as kid Link.

9.) Pac-Man - (erm. Pac-Man) Alright, so I'm starting to reach a bit. But I gotta give it up to old school characters as well. This was such a simplistic character whose job was to eat these dots. Why? Who cares! Just don't let the ghosts touch you. Through the years, his look changed. He gained hands, feet, eyes, and even eyebrows. He had a cartoon, and his own cereal for a time. Not too many others can boast such achievements (Zelda and Mario... Is that it?)

10.) Ulala - (Space Channel 5) I'm out of ideas so I'll go for the wacky. I know you guys won't admit it, but I bet you played SC5 at least once in your life. "Up, chu, down, chu, up, chu, chu." Alright I'm going to stop. I've emberrassed myself enough for one night.

top ten game characters
I'm not a hard core gamer. Today I'm just a has-been, amazed and horrified by the amount of time some people (i.e. you guys) devote to staring at the game screen. But... I used to be a heavy enthusiast, spending hours after school every weekday... whole weekends whiled away at Golfland, Nickel City, and even Tilt... playing Street Fighter Anyversion until the doors were closed. Those who know me best know this: I am a fighting game freak, and when Capcom enters the arena there is simply no contest. But even before SFII changed the world, Capcom was putting out fun games with cool characters. So what I'm saying is I've got the Capcom list on lock, and the rest of you can choose your chocobos, stupid green alien light guns, farm hands, and duck characters that resemble your ugly friends.

(1) Mega Man - I only had and played Mega Man 2, but that game is awesome, with unforgettable music. Mega Man blows you up, takes your weapon, and uses it on your friends. Served.

(2) Bionic Commando - Slow-moving bullet coming straight at you? Jump, you idiot! Aw shiet, this fool has NO hops. But this ain't retarded no hops like Mr. Big from Art of Fighting. Instead, he shoots out a Doc Ock arm and it pulls him along. This took a little getting used to, but that's what innovation is about. After a few tries, you're swinging like Tarzan, blasting Nazis like no other. The best was when you'd bounce on a guy's head and he'd be frozen and you could turn around and shoot him. The worst was when you'd bounce on a guy's head and it'd send you straight into a hole with nothing but a wall to futilely try to claw-grab three times before you fall and die.

(3) Guy - Before the one-on-one fighting games... there was Final Fight. And the coolest character was Guy. He had a ninja style outfit and a weird name. It sucks how doing his flying spin kick took off life, but when the hookers are on you, you do what you gotta do. Remember the ending? Cody saves Jessica, so she's grateful. Guy doesn't care for the unfair rationing of tats, so he gives Cody a final beating and flips away. FRIENDS! Okay so he doesn’t get the ladies like the white man (who ends up in jail, apparently, from SFA3), but he's still badass. And his return in Street Fighter Alpha was awesome. Korezo... bushinryu! Eeyooooo! Word.

(4) Hiryu - Strider. Dope looking. Red face cloth thing. Cypher slash. Triangle jump. If only the NES version looked more like the arcade version. Speaking of the arcade game, that upside-down stage was too easy, why even put that in there? Let's climb down the wall and see if it goes anywhere AW DEAD.

(5) Blue guy & Red guy - Forgotten Worlds… this was a great game, one of the few I had for Genesis. It’s like floating Contra with satellite weapons, coins to hog, and of course pretty lady selling you items. Probably the main reason I’d be looking into emulators.

(6) Dhalsim - Obviously I love the whole SFII cast, but let’s look at the original and intriguing Dhalsim for fun. Perhaps not the deadliest force or easiest to combo with, but for interesting characters to talk about and laugh at... Dhalsim! How racist is Japan? Most of the characters were humans with cool powers... fireballs, flying/spinning moves... I guess India's just got FREAKS. Clearly on the hungry side, with stretchy limbs that go across the screen? He wears a skull necklace of course, and his only friends rooting him on are frickin elephants tooting in the back of his living room. Do you remember how ridiculous the Yoga Mummy looked? Oh geez and Yoga Nugie... YOGA! YOGA! YOGA! He actually has to yell out "yoga" every time he punches your head, because apparently HE'S THAT INTO YOGA. Well he's from India what do you expect they're all like that.

(7) Akuma - Oh man... take Ryu and Ken's best moves, add air fireballs and warping, and you've got yourself one of the toughest opponents possible. Then on top of that, later add a Guy-style flip'n'throw, a super air fireball, and of course the 15-hit "shungokusatsu" slide-in-and-beat-shiet-out-of-you-with-flash-of-light super combo. He had so many moves and combos to use, domination was never a question.

(8) Dan - Heheh. Still puts a smile on my face. For those that don't know the story, Capcom was not blind to the fact that numerous companies were trying to make a profit off of their success with Street Fighter II by putting out absolutely shitty imitations. SNK was far from the worst, but they did some serious biting with Art of Fighting. Ryo and Robert, two friends, one Japanese one white, trained in the same style of karate, have fireballs and rising uppercut punches. Hmm. So a Capcom artist drew a picture of Sagat holding the head of a beaten body with a combination of Ryo's orange gi with black undershirt, and Robert's pony tail. In Street Fighter Alpha, he was introduced as a secret character named Dan. He has lame watered-down moves based on Ken and Ryu (“gadoken”, “koryuken”, “dankukyaku”), wears pink or lime green, and his super move is the flurry attack, bitten back from Art of Fighting. Nice counter, Capcom. Speaking of counters, Dan had the lame all-red counter in Puzzle Fighter. So he's the joke character that always rolls around, gets beaten up and made fun of, and cries for his dad. Gotta love it. Hyahoooo! Oyajiiii!

(9) Shoma - Ah, Rival Schools. I love this game. The characters, the moves, team-ups... all put together perfectly. Shoma's the little baseball player with the humongous bat. I never get tired of seeing my opponent get set and spiked into a home run swing, then fly across the screen so far you have to zoom way out. Or you can just chuck a hardball in their face, that works too. Honorable mention goes to Steve's dad, AKA Hideo, the teacher with nerd glasses, fighting gloves, and M. Bison shoulder pads, the Ryu/Ken of Rival Schools. That's the only reason I don't talk more shiet over at Steve's house.

(10) The Hulk - Okay not an original game character, but come on. How fun was it to fight with this guy. Big round punch sends the other guy flying. Or you can grab his head, swing him around like a windmill a few times, and fling. Or best of all, JUMP UP AND GRAB A METEOR AND BRING IT DOWN ON THE OTHER GUY'S HEAD. It's gotta be fun to design these games. I used to read comic books, and I love what Capcom did with all the Marvel characters.

Honorable mention (i.e. I cheat):

(A) 3 green jets (Combat) - Ah, Atari. Classic. Remember this one? Most uneven match ever. 3 green jets each shoot a bullet, for a wide range of shot. The other guy gets to shoot one bullet from one long red jet that's pretty much just a huge target to put smiles on the green army's faces. Tough choice, but I'll take the SURE WINNER.

(B) Buckets (Kaboom!) - The Mad Bomber. That relentless muthafacka. Dropping bombs in a steady stream but trusty old Buckets don't ever fill up. If the first one missed, the second or third will take care of it. Teamwork. Where's the 3D multiplayer version of this?

(C) Elf (Gauntlet) - Shoot enemies from far away, then run in and steal all the items. I grabbed that joystick first for shizzle.

(D) Bub & Bob - I think those were their names... the Bubble Bobble heroes, before they sold out with Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble. The game was fun and addictive, and these guys took care of business with nothing but spit bubbles and smiles.

(E) Samurai Shodown and Darkstalkers characters - These games deserved way more of my attention than they got. Both had excellent and stylish design, as well as innovative game play aspects.


dance contest
The Best Dancer in the Bay contest, presented by the Flavor Group, took place at DNA Lounge in SF on February 28. I found out about it at the nustudios forum. Occasionally at clubs I've seen dance circles with people getting down for a crowd, and wondered if I could hang. Usually I'd only do mini-exhibitions for friends at parties when they egged me on enough. I hate looking back with regret wondering if I could've done this or that, so I decided I would sign up for this contest and see what the funk I got.

I reviewed my dance tapes and practiced popping (it had been a while). I didn't tell a lot of people about it (besides a Friendster post that no one saw)... this was really a personal trial and I was ready to go it alone. But I invited a few friends who I thought might be interested, and when the time came, Bryant came along to see me compete. He got to hold my keys, wallet, and watch when I went on stage--thanks man. When we got there a few people were warming up, and I didn't see anything too impressive, but I could tell it was better than the typical night in a club. I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect, but it was that exciting kind of nervous that we should all feel once in a while.

I was #22 in the order for the 24 first round entrants in the contest. Everyone got 30 seconds to dance to whatever the DJ was spinning at the time... mostly hip hop and house beats. As people did their thing, I thought some were pretty good and had some style. It seemed like a lot of people had basic popping skills, but I didn't see a lot of really hard, sharp popping. Then it happened. I was near the stage, and I swear #20 was on stage, but then they called out my name. "All right switch it up... J Pop... J Pop where you at?" I was behind a few people next to the stage, and had to raise my hand to make sure they didn't skip me. I squeezed through the crowd and got on stage, but at that time I felt rushed to get myself up there, and when I started dancing... ... I was on autopilot. I was definitely NOT focused like I should've been, instead I was just kinda throwing typical dancing moves out, nothing I'm proud of. There was one point that I realized this, and threw a little more leg moves in, but by then it was too late. Soon my 30 seconds was up and I was done for the night. When I got off stage a guy patted me on the back and gave me a "nice job" head nod. He was Asian, so I think that's why, heheh.

After my failed attempt at making a strong debut performance for myself, the battles began. 7 people plus the returning champion Jamar made the second round. Eventually it was down to two guys, Madd Chadd and J Rock. Madd Chadd did some slow robot moves the whole time, but he was damn good at it. J Rock was very versatile, with various styles including popping and locking. Madd Chadd ended up winning, probably largely due to his slow-mo ground moves into windmill trick, which was tight. It turns out the two guys are roommates who drove up from LA.

So in summary I stunk up the place, but it's still better than never having tried. I learned from it... a little about how battles like this are run, and what judges are really gonna look for. And I know without question that I could do way better than I did, I just have to get used to performing and the judging aspect, and focus on busting out impressive and entertaining moves. If anyone wants to get in on this let me know and we'll have some practice sessions. Otherwise... I need new friends dammit.


Gambling on TV: the WSOB
Okay have you guys seen this? I did just today... The World Series of Blackjack. ... ... Come on now. Blackjack is a guts-or-numbers game. Either you have the guts to bet a lot and hope you get lucky, or you play by the numbers and master a probabilistic strategy. The only reliable way to win is to count cards, and even so a tremendous amount is left up to chance. What you do really has no effect on the other players, except if you hit they have one more card to count. But they've got this show set up all dramatic and competitive, with commentators explaining the rules, etc. One player was spouting off probabilities ("I was 70% to win that") and even trying to READ THE DEALER after she checked her hole card for a blackjack. Please. In poker, you can read players because they have something at stake. They want to win the pot... THEY CARE. Blackjack dealers DO NOT CARE. It's not their money at stake. They're probably bored out of their minds, and only find amusement in stupid-looking, talkative, or extremely bad gamblers. But anyways, you watch the players make their decisions, and the double down cards aren't revealed until the end OOOOH SUSPENSE. The only interesting part is that the players just need to have more money than the other players when it's over. So they can bet whatever amount they want. If it's near the end, and someone figures it's all or nothing, he might get lucky on an "all-in" bet. That's not skill. That's Jeopardy. So in summary it's stupid and I don't recommend it. But keep an eye out for the WSOPaiGow.

Since I am the foremost authority on video games (don't argue with me Andy...you know I'm right) I will give the best top ten character list EVER created by any man. While this isn't true, it sure does seem like it...because I am that awesome. Here it goes...if you disagree with any of them...you are entitled to your own opinion...even if it is gay. I did top 12 because I'm that damn good.

11. Sonic the Hedgehog. While some people didn't like these games...they probably didn't play Sonic and Knuckles and/or Sonic CD. Both of these games were some of the most fun platform games I have ever played. On top of that...without Sonic and his bullshit blast processing scam, SEGA wouldn't have become a stable in the video game community. However it seems that stable has been reduced to one of those small, teeny, weeny paper clips that couldn't hold two post it notes together. Anyone remember Sonic Pinball? Still the best pinball game ever made.

10. Soldier from DoomII. Okay so I could have been proper and awarded this spot to B.J. Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein 3D but it was DoomII that solidified first person shooters as a legit genre. Shit I couldn't have given this title to Duke Nukem who I spent more time with than the soldier from Doom, but bottom line you have to respect the roots and this game singlehandedly kept those pimpled face nerds from ever coming out of their houses and procreating with someone else...including myself.

9. Samus Aran. I wish this intergalactic fox could be higher on my list, but the fact of the matter is that you couldn't play without her suit except in the first Metroid. As much as looking at a bikini clad babe with only a four color pallete and square boobs was intoxicating...I think I would have liked to see her in a nice makeover on the Gamecube. Overall though, Metroid was one of the hardest games I have ever played and I am proud to say I finished it. If Metroid Prime II is top notch...Samus will be bumped up a few spots. Speaking of video game babes...

8. Jill Valentine. Interesting that she is in the same exact spot as Tony's list. That was not done on purpose mind you, but let's face it. Resident Evil series. The only reason why Derek hangs out with a heretic like me. Without Resident Evil there wouldn't be survival horror games (No...Shadowgate does not fucking count) and Derek and I would only have God in common. Miss Valentine in Nemesis...was...well fine as hell. And she was a smart ass. And she could shoot the heads of zombies (only when I controlled her...Derek on the other hand would get eaten up and use one of our precious herbs). I would like to recommend that Jill gets into skimpier clothes so she can run away faster...and if not then Tryant will take her spot because he runs around naked.

7. Cloud Strife. FFVII. Is this game overrated? You bet your ass. Was it good though? You bet your ass. This game was good. I give Kylie a hardtime for liking it so much..."what's that Kylie? I can't understand you with Cloud's cock in your mouth..." but the reason why Cloud makes it on this list is because he was one of the first characters with a darkside to him in any RPG. (One could argue that FFIII for the SNES had dark characters...while this is true...they weren't developed as well.) Without Cloud we wouldn't have our typical anime type heroes for all Square games to come...while this is a good thing and a bad thing...Cloud nevetheless deserves a spot on this list.

6. Simon Belmont. Okay so why not Trevor? Why not Alucard from Symphony of the Night. Simon started it all and had the most success in killing off the Count. The first Castlevania was just about impossible to finish and the sequel, Simon's Quest was so good that my mom played that game. Holy Water, flame whips, boomerangs...this guy could do it all. Castlevania still needs a remake that will truly do it justice, but if they keep trying and never forget that it was the exploring...the vast enemies, the central character himself...they can't fail...even though it seems they kind of already have.

5. Leisure Suit Larry. The king of Sierra games. The king of all PC games. Even Call of Duty. Even Tapper. Larry was awesome. The way he thought...the way he acted...and the beauty part about that is that he acted just how you wanted him too. This was an adventure game that was shown in beautiful EGA graphics and you had to type in what you had to do. "Knock on door" "Buy a drink" "Sit on stool" "Stare at tits" "Touch her tits" "Put on condom" I know Andy and Bryant remember the first one. "Hey this freak wants to buy a SPEARMINT FLAVORED, POLKA DOTTED, RIBBED FOR HER PLEASURE, LUBRICATED CONDOM!!" Or how about the sequel..."FUCK THAT...YOU DON'T NEED A GROTESQUE GULP...GOD DAMNIT IT...RESTORE...sigh....20 hours later....SHIT...WHAT AIRSICK BAG...FUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKK!!!!" Even the latest installment where Larry was cartoony...and we got to hear his voice for the first time. Memorable...and I will never forget the frustration and the rewards of playing "Larry, Larry Laffer..hehe".

4. Ryu. So if I had to choose a SFII character I would have to pick Ryu. He symbolizes everything that made Street Fighter II. Classic fireball movement...the shouryuken that no can pronounce...for all you crackers out there...I mean the allyoucan. Or his high flying spectacle, "kyapyapyapyakyukya" thing. Either way someone from Street Fighter had to go on this list for what it did to the gaming world. Every single fighter that comes out will always be measured up to how it changes the genre just as SFII did. If your pissed I chose Ryu over your favorite character, then insert favorite character after number 3.

3. Megaman. I don't necesarily mean MegamanX or Megaman without the helmet, but I'm talking about the original blue bomber. The original Rockman. Okay so it took awhile for Megaman to catch on here in the states. The reason why is because the awesome Capcom artists (and I do mean awesome in a non sarcastic way...they are top fucking notch) had too much sake one night and decided to fuck up the Megaman cover for the NES. If you don't remember what it looked like...basically it had a realistic looking guy that was properly proportioned with a shitty excuse for a Tron suit on the cover. I think he was dodging discs or something...I have no fucking clue...all I remember was that the cover was stupid and I passed it up for something shitty...probably Spelunker. Either way I first got into Megaman with the sequel and then bought the first one. He literally defined the platform shooting, item upgrade game. Oh yeah and I'm not talking about the lame ass crumbs Megaman from Captain N.

2. Link. The first game to introduce a battery in the game cartridge that would keep your data even after you turned off the system. Forgive the shitty marketing on Nintendo's part. I know you remember that commercial..."ZELDA!!!" "ZELDA!!!" Meanwhile she isn't coming out because she doesn't want to be rescued by some white fuck with a mullet in black tights and a tight black shirt. Aside from the commercial (which will play on our television screens in the video game store for nostalgia) Link is badass because he is a small guy with big intentions...fucking up Ganon every single time he decides he wants to rise again. With the Master Sword and his trusty Ocarina...he is unstoppable. Quick quiz...if you know it..answer it on your next blog...this person was the first person that told Link he had to go rescue Zelda...it was his destiny. No it was not the fucking old man, "it's dangerous out there...take this..." Cue item grabbing jingle. "Thanks for the wooden sword you dirty old bitch. What the fuck am I going to do with a wooden fucking sword. (I beat Zelda with the wooden sword.)

1. Tony got it right. If he or anyone else does not put Mario up on top...you are idiotic garnished with retard. In fact maybe you are a retard pretending to be Canadian for Halloween...either way Mario is the icon of video games. If videogame was a legit church...Mario would be God. I could go into why Mario is dope ass...but he started out as a LCD watch game and got his big break with Donkey Kong. The rest as they say is history. Shit I guess Mario could also be replaced with Shigeru Miyamoto. If you don't know who he is either...well we got your termination papers for Pooky on your way out. Hehe.

0. The fuck from Spelunker. Tony laughed at me one time when I threw down the controller after getting hit by three green shells and one red shell followed by lightning bolted in Mario Kart: DD. I told him that I wasn't always like that...until I met the fuck from Spelunker. If you don't know the story with Spelunker...you probably don't know me, but in a nutshell...he is the reason and cause for all my frustration and stress. To this day I am trying to cope with the demons of the past. Some people get felt up by God's workers. Some kids get beat. I get fucking Spelunkered. Until the day I die I will always try to please the Spelunking gods. "WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I FALL 6 FUCKING INCHES YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES. FUCK BORDERBUND. I HOPE THEY WENT OUT OF BUSINESS FOR THEIR SHIT. FUCK THEM AND FUCK THEM AND FUCK THEM AND FUCK THEM UP THEIR SPELUNKING ASSES...

ahem...

So there is my list. Take what you want from it because it is the list to beat. By the way on a quicknote...Dawn of the Dead was a cool film that doesn't take itself too seriously. If you got nothing else to do and don't want to be caught thinking in a movie theatre...this is the film for you. I think it is what Resident Evil should have been (well with the addition of Tryant or Nemesis).

haha Brian, Today was pretty slow at work today so I started compiling my list of games off the top of my head. I will post a link soon =)

While I do that I can think of my favorite characters as well.....

I was bored.

I should have saved my money all those years. *sigh*

Small update since we haven't posted anything for a month now! What the hell is up with that?

Anyway, Pokerroom is back in full swing. They sure have changed stuff since I've been away. Now there are multi-table tournaments going on almost every hour. I was able to participate in one this last weekend. There were about 200 people signed up and the top 10 walked away with some cash, I think the 1st place came away with $500. Anyway, I lasted about an hour and a half only to be bumped out at 53rd place. I decided on my last hand that a KJo was a strong enough hand to go all in. I should have known I was going up against an AK, but whatever. Flop comes Ace and 2 junkers. So I walk away a loser.

Speaking of losers... There are still a lot of them on the regular tables. Thank god for the WPT being televised :) So I'm back to playing a little bit of poker til we get our sorry butts to Vegas.

Road trips: I know not everyone is interested, but Nobuo Uematsu (The Final Fantasy music guy...) is coming to LA on May 10th to perform music from Final Fantasy with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I'm considering flying down that day to see this. I mean, who doesn't want to hear Final Fantasy music conducted by the man himself? Anyone else interested? I can only go for that day since I've got a final the next day. (Studying? Whatever.) But the press release is here for those interested. The website also has 2 awe-inspiring rock remixes of FFVII's battle music and FFV's major theme (Uh, i think.) Front seats have been taken already, and they're asking around 80 for the next seats up.

Hope you all are doing well... Jon, you better hurry up and log about that damn dance competition, I'm getting sick of waiting for the news of Bangs Vs. FluidGirl :D

And does FF: Crystal Chronicles actually end? It's starting to get a bit repetitive.

Double post. I just wanted to remark on the DDR remix on OCR. It's an interesting take on the original, but the sucky rap is still there. The added groove sounds nice, and I've always liked the little melody in the background. Bottom line, it gets a point for creativity and another for a well done mix, but I'm not impressed. There are better things on OCR to listen to.

"Someone get this fricken duck away from me!"

Happy belated birthday to both Bryant, and Tony! Damn, yeah. Where has time gone anyway? Pretty soon we'll all end up as grumpy old men. Like the movie.
...
Guys? Herro?

First blog of the new year, gotta make it stupid.

Classes are as stupid as last year. No, amend that. I have stupid people again. This one chick in my Organizational Behavior exists just to piss everyone off. The first 5 minutes were hellish. "So 3 midterms and no final? *ponder* What about our final? DO WE HAVE A FINAL?" Straight from the horses mouth. She then proceeds to interrupt the professor with one of her stories about her friend. The class groans collectively. It's going to be a long semester.

You know, I really need to find a job that works regular hours. I'm getting sick of this no socom, no ffxi, no chill time schedule. The only thing that is keeping me going right now is the car. As long as I can stick it out for a year, I could get one. WRX? Maybe. I believe Jon said it best when he said "ValueBangs vs. GreedyBangs/CarpeDiemBangs. A clasic match-up." Can't say it any better than that man. But look what he did... He got the best of both worlds. Gah.

If you were wondering if I memorized that little line from him, I didn't. I was going through the blogs of early days, and found it amusing. All of it. Right down to the big video game debate and the poker trials and tribulations. One year and a couple months, still going energizer bunny style.

What does this New Year hold for all of us? New jobs? New lives? Anyone have anything interesting coming up this year? I want to get to Vegas this year. THIS YEAR. All the other years were just in preparation for this trip. We're going! Now if only I can get the time off from work. heh heh heh.

Oh yes. Life is good. I'm still playing with the gifts from Christmas, thank you all! Socom is slowly eating away my time, the Atari brings back memories, and the mag subscription is good reading. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end what was a crappy day at work :) And it was good to talk to you Steve... Missed those stay up til 6 am talking about everything and eat all your food :D Oh, and for all that have moved away from Yars' Revenge, I suggest playing Adventure. And after a through game, go to homestarrunner and click on homepage #13, and mouse over the e-mail option. My bro showed it to me and I got a good long laugh.

Happy Birthday Tony!!!!!!

I have more to right, with little time....

Jon reminded me that I once said, "The plan is to buy a cue stick with the winnings I make in Poker." I also said to Bryant, "If you buy such and such, I will buy my DefTechs for my television." But Jon makes a very valid point. Bryant just likes to watch me spend money! Haha! So I think I will finally set the new G5 aside for now and look for a cue stick. After all I have spent numerous hours in pool halls and too much money to not get my own, legit cue stick. Sure I have a cue stick (that black one), but I might just keep that at Jon's house since he is the only one that plays with it anyway. On the other hand my dad made me realize that the cue stick that I use...is well...his. He said he will pass it along to me when he dies. I will probably cremate it with him so he has something to do wherever the hell he goes after he dies. I just realized that I am not making sense in anything I have just written...to make a long story short, I think it is time to buy a cue stick. What does one look for in a cue stick? Well I got it narrowed down to two choices...

Balabushka or Szamboti.

Then I woke the fuck up and realized that until I make my first real blockbuster film...NONE OF US CAN AFFORD THESE CUES...shit we can't even put our money together and get one. These two cue sticks have fetched as much as...get this...250,000 dollars each. Truly works of art, but out of my price range by about 249,500 dollars. Oh well. So I have no clue why I blogged this other than to hint at Jon that maybe he can afford to put a Szamboti on layaway for the celebration of his new pool table that he will eventually get sooner or later. Peace.

food poisoning. I had that yesterday. I won't go into the gruesome details, but lets just say that from now, vomiting will be no big deal for me. I couldn't even keep water down yesterday. Wonderful. Imagine having a stomach ache and nausea that lasts for 24 hours straight. You can't eat or drink anything (that's hell already) and you can't sleep even thought ur exhausted. I'm a bit cracked out right now, as i haven't eaten anything in over 24 hours, and have just started drinking water again, so im a bit dehydrated.

sorry i haven't updated IisB for a while..i'll start up my daily updates as soon as i finish my grad skoo applications.

Brian, also take note of the Chevrolet Prism LSi. It make look like a piece of shit, but don't be fooled! It goes from 0 to 60 in at least 15.5 seconds. Who needs power when ur driving??? Apparently no one who drives this car! I should be glad this POS even comes with a spare. i shouldn't complain tho. Sure beats public transit.

I agree with brendan. The chart makes me feel poor. Then i watch MTV cribs and i feel even poorer.

Thanks for the gifts
I got no one anything this xmas. NO ONE. No one got SHIT from me. I couldn't afford it. And yet, you bastards got me gifts. How much of an ASSHOLE did i feel like when i got to the horiuchi house and found a pile of gifts waiting for me. ARgh. you guys are too much. Thanks so much for everthing guys. One of these days i'll get u guys ur xmas gifts, one of these days. i have already watched Swingers ten times. anD fuck that STUPID FUCKING DASH in YARS REVENGE!!! It's worse than the fucking snake in Pitfall that doesn't move AT ALL and YET YOU STILL HIT IT SOMEHOW BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO TIME UR GODDAMN JUMP PERFECTLY!!!!

Happy bday to bryant. sorry i couldn't have been there. I'm sure it was a blast, as all korean birthdays are. Haha. hope you had a good one man.

goddamn i'm hungry. Popeye's would be good right now. or peas porridge hot, nine days old.

I think the wit level of this group is amazing. The best kind of wit comes when you don't try at all (another area where i am dead last). I was chuckling for quite a while after reading about how the celica's back seat was "cruel joke on your friends". Or maybe it's cuz i'm just stupid. one or the other. Nah, it's probably cuz i'm stupid. Yeh fuck it. nevermind.

aight. back to work. this data ain't gonna enter itself.

lates

Fuck this. That chart makes me feel inferior amongst my friends who are "rich". How about Sunday morning we all drive down, get some coffee and biscotti and go car shopping and don't stop until we all have one we like! Haha! Good luck Brian on your car! See I was smart...I bought mine when I was so poor that my option was either a civic or my car. Needless to say we didn't need to see another civic of any sort. Oh yeah and Jon you forgot about the Enzo. I'm sure Brian will notice your little flaw though.

Further note...when Brian blogs like two paragraphs, his shit stays up for about 3 weeks. When I blog something that is full of shit and nothing...and is the equiviliant of about 10 page paper...Jon comes in with his HTML bullshit skills and on ups me with all his ugly colors...artwise...not sure about the yellow ocre green with the camdium yellow. Might wanna fix that. Gwahahah....sigh...I think I'll post up my long one again just go get your flashy graph outta here. See ya!