Hold 'em or fold 'em

Gotta pick up my blogging socks...I can't very well expect people to keep their journals updated if I can't be a role model myself!

So far I've burned DBZ Budokai 3, Tekken 5, Growlanser 2 and 3, Super Monkey Ball, and Dynasty Warriors 4. Super Monkey Ball isn't nearly as good as i was hoping it would be. It's a good think they didn't have it in stock at Electronics Boutique, otherwise I'd have probably bought it.

On Wednesday night, I went to Holm's and played poker. There were a lot of people there, it was really tight playing conditions. I lost my twenty bucks, but I guess it would have to happen sooner or later. After that, I picked up Phil, and Adam came over after work too. Phil is insanely obsessed with DBZ, and he stayed up until 8 AM playing it. I conked out at about 5:30. We played some Shining Tears as well. It's a bit better on two player. Tonight we played a bit of poker (not for cash), and we found out that Phil is terrible at it. He got a few big hands, but for the most part he doesn't know what he's doing, which makes it all that funnier.

Oh, another thing to point out is that Phil and I watched the entire third season of Beast Wars in the course of 24 hours. I'm gonna have to say that I'm disappointed with the third season. Some of the stuff in the second season was stretching it, but it's like the writers threw all continuity out the window for the whole season. Argh, I wish I could write my own season to put the third season to shame.

My dad left at 6:10 AM to the airport, and made it back driving from Toronto before the end of the night. I can't believe he did the whole trip in one day.

Phil's moving to Calgary in a few days, and I'm sure that anyone who knows him knows that things won't be nearly as hilarious without him around. I've known him and hung out with him so long that I've lost count of the times that we make the exact same joke at the same time. There are certain jokes that only Phil would find funny, and now I've got no one to say them to.

I had some people over; namely Adam, Vicky, Holly, and Martine. We didn't do much aside from flip through movies on TV and played some video games.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and fuck around with the poker table. I think black fabric would look so sharp on it. It would be nice to refinish the wood and make the legs a bit sturdier, but now I'm getting ahead of myself. Quite often I think of things I want to buy or otherwise replace, and I tell myself to just put it off until I move out. Until then, I've got to entertain myself though.

I applied for some swanky web development job with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, but haven't heard much back from them. I realize I'm pretty well underqualified for the job, but I'm not sure if it's a matter of me being qualified, or me being more qualified than everyone else that applies. I half hope that they don't hire me so I don't have to work for another week or two, plus it might stress me out knowing that I'm underqualified for what I'm doing.

I guess I've posted enough of my life story for tonight, so I'll get going. And by 'going', I mean 'finding interesting things online since I'm not tired enough to go to bed'.

Listening to... Liam Lynch - Happy Song
Link of the moment... But I thought he died at the end of season 2? Bah.

Two days and 15 degrees later, I'm back

It's much cooler up north than in southern Ontario. I was wearing shorts a few days ago, but now I'm bundled up. Cold in my house.

My computer is, for the most part, set up. I should do some wire management though. Way too many wires.

I went to Video Network and rented DBZ Budokai 3 and Dynasty Warriors 4 for one night, with the intention of burning them. DBZ is really fun, but I haven't touched DW4 yet. Aside from that, I've been playing Shining Tears as well. It's really fun, but it's easy to lose track of your health and suddenly find yourself dead. I'm sure if I can find someone else to play with, it would be really great.

I'm going to have some people over tonight. Yay. When I return the two games today, I'll rent another two, and I'm considering renting a movie as well. However, it might be worth it to watch the Incredibles tonight, if I can get Christina over here. I suggested to both her and Victoria that we should get together and watch it.

Video Network didn't have Super Monkey Ball or X-Men Legends. I guess I'm going to have to get those from Blockbuster or Rogers. Those places are danged expensive (but I suppose I'm doing it in the name of piracy anyways). Suprisingly though, Video Network has Growlanser Generations. I thought for sure I would never come across a copy in Canada, but there it is.

My PS2 is starting to sound unhealthy. I think I've concluded that it was just two bad games that have some issues. Sooner or later I think I'll have to get one of the new slim PS2s though. Unless of course, they come out with a PS2 emulator soon. Next price drop I might get a new one though, which might be around the time the PS3 comes out next year.

Listening to... Trapt - Enigma
Link of the moment... Turner's going to see Motorhead today.

Exam update

CS251
I studied my ass off for this course, and I think it paid off. The exam was one of those exams where nothing makes sense the first time you read it, but after you do some managable questions, you start to figure out. I think I did pretty well considering how little of the material I understood before I started studying. My prediciton will be:
Midterm ~ 92/100 = 27.6% of mark
+Assignments ~ 5% of mark
+Final ~ 75-85/100 = 45-51% of mark
=~ 77.6-83.6%

Math 239
I really thought I could write this exam in my sleep, but it was brutal. I did fine on all the practice exams and understood everything at the review session like the back of my hand. There was a lot of obscure stuff from the first half of the course, and some overall terrible questions on graph theory. I can't make much of a prediction since there are two marking schemes, and I'm pretty sure they'll have to adjust the mark for the final. Overall I think 75%-80% is a realistic guess for a final mark.

CS241
Oh man, I really lucked out on this exam. I didn't understand most of the material before the review session, and disregarded studying for this exam, but the exam was really eay, and I think I may have understood some stuff as I was writing it down. I no longer fear not passing this course. My prediction is:
Assignments = 14.3% of mark
+Midterm = 23% of mark
+Final ~ 80-85% = 40-42.5% of mark
=77.3-79.8%

I just hope I don't get my hopes too high for the next two exams. I gotta walk in prepared for the worst. I've got all day tomorrow to do laundry and study, and then just two partial days to cram.

Listening to... Alkaline Trio - All on Black
Link of the moment... Launch the kittens

The story of Tatoolo

Just so I can keep my posts per week at a reasonable number, I'll tell the story of how I got my alias, Tatoolo.

Of course, no one actually referes to me as Tatoolo, unless that's the only name they know me by. I use it for my hotmail address, yahoo account, and just about anything else that I need an online account for.

Some odd years ago (maybe 9? Gosh I'm old..), we got the internet. Yay. At the time, I was using the family email account (which wasn't all that odd in the early internet days), and I decided I needed my own account. Hotmail was but a child at the time, but one the most popular webmail providers. All I needed was a name. I wanted something that was short, simple, sounded cool, and didn't have random interjecitons of numbers in it.

At the time, I was in my early weeks of Final Fantasy Tactics as well. My ragtag band of renegades included warriors and magicians whose name were decided by chance by the game. Among them was my resident Monk and Ninja, Tatoolo. His fierce attack was able to fell even the largest beast. Certainly the name of such a fine warrior was good enough for me! So it was decided.

I'm happy with my decision. It's such an obscure name that I'm able to sign up for just about anything without having the name taken. It certainly saves time, since I only have to remember one name for all the things I've signed up for over the years.

Another odd point: for some reason, I originally pronounced it TA-tuh-loo, but after looking at the spelling of it, it's most likely pronounced ta-TOO-loh, or maybe TA-too-loh. Doesn't matter much, it's not often I have to pronounce it. If someone asks for my address, I spell it out for them and let them figure out how to pronounce it.

Other names I use for RPGs and fantasy characters:
Crow
Reeves
Aziel (male)
Azielya (female)

Listening to... William Shatner - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Link of the moment... Fantasy Name Generator (not my source)

Gosh, I'm still full

I think I had the best meal I've had in months at Kelsey's the other day. Garlic cheese bread, caesar salad, cheddar bacon chicken burger, and the fudge fantasy. I was full for the rest of the night to say the least.

Watched Dodgeball and Grosse Point Blank. Dodgeball was terrible. The characters were as well developed as most bigfoot photos. The plot was utterly predictable. Even for a stupid movie, it didn't have as many funny stupid moments as most other stupid funny movies.

Grosse Point Blank was good. Joan Cusack reminds me of Nicole, without a doubt. I'm shocked at the similarities. It might just be me, but anyone who has known Nicole long enough should notice the resemblance.

No exams yet. Those start on Wednesday and continue for a week. Then I'm home. Ah, to think that a week and a half from now I'll be sitting in my basement, not worrying about much of anything.

So what do I have to do when I get back home?
-renew driver's licence
-change oil
-give car a massive cleaning
-install DVD burner
-invest some cash
-schedule eye exam

Off to a CS251 review session.

Listening to... Incubus - I Wish You Were Here (yuck)
Link of the moment... Again, I'm low on links

Sin City

I've seen two other blog posts with 'Sin City' as the title, so I figured I'd join in. I went to see it with Grace, and I'll try to take the people behind me who kept kicking our seats and talking into consideration when making my review.

I don't normally do reviews, but I want to for this film. If I say I didn't like it that much without justification, I'll have to explain on a case-by-case basis anyways.

In the first scene with Bruce Willis and Michael Madsen, I found the acting to be dry. They both seemed very uninspired in the scene. I will vouch for Mickey Rourke though, his acting was superb. His role should make the entire cast and crew of Hellboy hang their heads in shame and say "damn...that was good".

From what I'm told, the plot stays true to the original story, which is a blessing for true fans. However, I think it felt way too much like they just pasted a comic book onto film. There was far too much narrative, and given that Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Benicio Del Toro, and (to a lesser extent) Clive Owen all have deep, scratchy voices, the same voice ran through the whole movie.

In my opinion (and I really mean that, I'm not trying to say that any of my ideas would make the movie better), I think they should have really made the film seem like a comic book. Make the action seem way more animated. Sharp, unmoving camera shots, way more black and white scenes (like the purely white bandages on Marv's face in the shadows), and some overly fake comic book effects (admittedly, they did the last pretty well. The explosions looked impressive, and guns looked pretty cool when fired).

I would have even liked it if the characters were replaced with drawn versions of themselves during scenes of inactivity...sort of fading in between foreground and background, between comic book and film. If you've seen the film, Kevin sitting reading the bible would be a good example. Elijah Wood's character Kevin was great, it felt like he really was an animated comic book character on a film screen, not Elijah Wood trying to play a role.

It would have been nice to see them tie in the stories much more, Pulp Fiction style. They tried to have the stories tie in to one another in some small ways, but they weren't tied tight enough. Either do it thoroughly, or not at all.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping for. I've heard nothing but good reviews, so I was hoping this was as impressive as the hype.

If anyone has seen The Maxx (old MTV cartoon), I think it was really well done. Of course, it was animated, but the style itself was a really great fusion of two mediums, comic book and television.

Listening to... Weezer - The Sweater Song
Link of the moment... Sin City @ IMDB

Happy Anniversary, SYMaOYE!

April 2004
Back when the blog was fresh, I'd post nearly everyday. In early April, I was working pretty hard on my website, but I gave that up a while ago. Exams were scary, but I got through them all without any disappointing results. I only had a handful of readers (and still do, but a slightly larger handful now). I was interested in the Calgary Flames and the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. I was interested in the cute redhead softie (software engineer). At the time, Laura and I were a couple, thus marking a year since my last relationship. I posted the lyrics to "Leaving" by Catch 22, which I consider the theme of my life for the last year and a half. I started thinking about buying TV boxsets, and making plans for the summer.

May 2004
This is when I started to realy want to play a MMORPG, thinking of character backgrounds and such, and looking at the costs of different games. I held a really fun LAN party, and got to stay up late with my friends and play games. I also started playing games quite a bit. I got a frustrating start to my economics course. Also, May marked the start of a comments system in each post. I poured a lot of money into my drum set for my birthday. I also got my job back at the school board. I started my list of good oldschool television shows, which I never actually finished. I had a birthday party that irritated me way too much.

June 2004
I got to go on a tour of the city with Sheena which was fun. The Flames were doing well in the playoffs. My basement got an ant infestation, as it does every summer. I made a tape recording of me, Turner, Chris and Sheena practicing, and backed up old videos of performances onto my computer. I also first thought of programming a strategy game in Java, and beat FF7 and FF9. I started remembering why I didn't like my job at the school board. I also noted how I should start buying size 32 pants (now I'm up to 34).

July 2004
I started slacking off with economics, and spent a lot of time hanigng out with Phil and playing games. The Rots' new cd was in the works. I started looking forward to going back to school a bit, just to finish work. I got ripped off with a Spiderman tv boxset on ebay, but it all worked out in the end anyways.

August 2004
I ordered my boot disks for my PS2, and started an evil chain of piracy. I held another LAN party, which was again really fun. My computer was giving me some major problems, which must have fixed themselves. I spraypainted a decal on my computer with Phil and made some tshirts, which I had planned to do all summer. I also ran into Agnes and Andrew at Grant's birthday party, which caused some mental anguish for a few days. I made a list of the voice actors in FFX for no aparent reason. Overall a decent summer. Lots of fun, but I didn't get out much other than for golf.

September 2004
Moved into resurrection college, and didn't enjoy it much. Racked up the usual bills for my visa. I got my second hard drive and started filling it up. I took a liking to Monika. I found out Chore and Face to Face had broken up, farewell to two great bands. I started swing dancing, and got to know poeple here a bit better. I placed sixth out of 22 in my first texas hold'em tournament. Gained some interest in Kristen from dancing, but found out she wasn't available.

October 2004
Hung out with G at the campus cove, but it wasn't as fun as it used to be. Made a post about how high school was much better than university. Went to Oktoberfest with family and neighbours. Had to fix some computer problems. I took on the philosophy that staying up late is just as effective as trying to get decent sleep. Started watching Buffy Season 2, and watched the Omen movies for Halloween.

November 2004
Started getting some nasty facial hair growth from not shaving and decided to keep it up. Bought a lot of halloween candy and coke. I stayed up really late for the first time to finish a CS assignment, and nearly failed it anyways. My mom visited and I got some decent food for the first time in a while. ALso got to see the Incredibles and Half Life 2 finally came out.

December 2004
I thought Trivial Pursuit got stolen, but it showed up after a while. Exams were pretty good, I pulled a 90 average thanks to Algebra being curved, an easy CS final, and a blessing for Statistics. Thought up my "Weekend Shop" idea. Destroyed my watch in a fit of boredom. Came up with the idea of going out for dinner with all my friends instead of a gift exchange. Didn't post much when I was home since I was trying to keep myself as busy as possible. Didn't get to see Vicky the whole time, but I ran into Alexa and had a really fun get-together with Pictionary.

January 2005
I was overly depressed for the new year. Didn't get to go anywhere, half because everyone was busy, and half because the driving was terrible that night. GOt back to resurrection, this time sans-John. Got scared by UNIX immediately. Posted some really good pictures of friends from over the break. Got some 11 degree weather, making a 46 degree difference between Waterloo and Thunder Bay. My wipers broke and I had to fix a car-related problem on my own. Found out that Snapcase was breaking up. Currently up to a weight of 160 pounds. Bought more boxsets from the student life centre. Decided to apply to live in Columbia Lake Townhouses next year. Did some karaoke in the residence, and actually got out more than I thought I did, seeing movies and visiting.

February 2005
Put up some Winamp stats for fun. Got accepted into CLT, and visited Mississauga again. Went to go see Thornley with Sivji, the first time I did anything with a friend in Waterloo for the term. A gas leak in the residence forced us outside, and gave me a good conversation and hot chocolate at William's. Sent some yellow roses to Vic for valentines. I got to go home in late February, a much needed break.

March 2005
I made $20 playing poker at Ryan's house. I watched the original Star Wars trilogy with Adam and Victoria. Right when I got back, I couldn't wait to go back home. Had a major breakdown when I realized that a lot of my classes were right over my head. Neglected a full 10% of my mark's worth of assignments in CS241, and another 5% in CS251, making me reconsider a major in CS. Started playing CounterStrike a lot more. Failed my first midterm in Stat 231. Gained interest in the cute girl in my combinatorics class. Made my blogger profile. Commented on making a gaming table over the summer, and finding a better full time job. Made my Time Horton's per capita table out of boredom.

And here we are! April 2005. Hm, what do I predict out of the next year? This is gonna be hard and probably depressing in the long run.

April 2005
I think I'll do better on my exams than I'm giving myself credit for. I've been studying very well so far. The drive home will be another valuable but draining experience.

May 2005
I hope to stay busy this summer with friends. Hopefully I'll get a golf game or two. I think I might have either a pot luck or a costume party for my birthday, but I don't know who all to invite. Hopefully I'll start looking for a job in late May. So far it looks like Adam will be working out of town, and Phil will be moving to Calgary, but I predict Phil's going to stay here. Perhaps I can go somewhere with my May long weekend.

June 2005
Hopefully my lack of direction will come just in time for job interviews. I'll try to get some work experience under my belt while still going out for dinner with friends, and playing board games (hopefully on my new table!). I'd like to think I'll find a girl who is slightly attracted to me, but I don't meet enough people.

July 2005
Realistically, the heat of the summer will keep me in my basement. Perhaps I'll get out for a tennis game or round of golf every now and again. More of the same of June, just spending lots of time with friends.

August 2005
Ah, I'm getting sad about having to leave home for another year of school. I'll have to email my new roommates about what we all have to bring for the house. I'll try to get together with people more frequently now.

September 2005
The new house will be an interesting novelty until I realize that it has to stay clean, and I have to cook for myself. My roommates will be friendly, but no big friendships will happen right away. Classes will seem hard but also interesting, and I'll barely notice my lack of a fifth course.

October 2005
Cooking will be a regular part of my schedule. I'll meet a few new people in my classes, and mutual acquaintances of my roommates. We'll try to get out for supper or a movie every once in a while. I'll stay in Southern Ontario for Thanksgiving, due to the stress of studying for midterms.

November 2005
I'll continue my trend of burning new games and playing them in most of my free time, in the living room. I'll start looking for female companionship, either through acquaintances or other means (clubs, campus activities). I'll decide that a CS major is better suited to me and stick with a combinatorics major.

December 2005
Exams will be really tough, and I'll be depressed with my 75 average. Still no girlfriend, but that just means more money to spend on boxing day (from my summer job!). Seeing the friends will be great.

January 2006
I'll go out and have fun for New Year's, and get into the routine of a new term. I'll be bored with my room and rearrange it.

February 2006
More of the same. Hang out with John more, and realize that I actually have some friends in Waterloo. I finally get the balls to talk to a girl, but she's already got a boyfriend, or just plain isn't interested in me.

March 2006
Make housing plans to live in CLT again next year, with one of my current roommates and two new ones. Start to go stir crazy in the house, and refuse to go out and socialize.

And there's my year! We'll see how it actually unfolds.

Listening to... Distillers - The Young Crazed
Link of the moment... The Next James Bond

Learning the term for the first time all over again

Studying is off to a rocky start so far. I was really hoping to plow through CS251 today, but I've only gotten through multicycle and microprogramming. At least I've started, hopefully now I'll start getting some momentum and blast through all of my courses.

Right now I'm taking an "MSN break", although no one is on. No one seems to be on lately. Either everyone's started studying, or has better things to do, or MSN just isn't the trend it used to be. I'd like it if you could sort people who were 'away' into a separate category, because they compose about 3/4 of my list at the moment.

I was going to the laundry room when I saw Tunde and Ruby playing basketball outside. I threw everything in the wash and ran up to my room to put some shoes on so I could play with them. By that time, Roberto had joined them too, so we played a game of 21. Ruby won, Roberto quit, and Tunde claimed second place. It was nice to spend some time with them (especially Tunde!). I enjoy the company of them very much, and I think I've been making it clear to them (especially Tunde!).

I couldn't sleep last night (as usual), so I decided to tread dangerously into my message logs from Agnes. Of course, no one was on MSN, as usual. I hope if I ever get a girlfriend half as good as her, I won't take it for granted. My life was pretty great up until about a week after she broke it off with me. Ever since then, I haven't been half as happy for more than a day at a time.

I'm going to try to get into a good sleep schedule from now on. I'll set my alarm to 9 AM for the rest of the week, and since no one uses MSN anymore, I'll have little reason to stay up late.

John's visiting on Saturday (well, he's writing an exam, but we're going to hang out afterwards). The plan will probably be some decent food and then a movie. Rafael will probably come, and I asked Tunde but she seems to be short on funding. She asked if she'd have to pay...I wonder who she was expecting to pay for her. I'd offer, but that might be kinda awkward. Well, if I run into her alone in the week, perhaps I will offer anyways. At the very least, she can join us for a movie. SO long as I give enough warning, I can't see how people can use exams as an excuse, especially since there won't be any on Sunday.

A lot of good hardcore bands come out of Sweden, or the Scandinavian area. Refused, Nine, In Flames, and Blindside for a list off the top of my head.

Listening to... Nine - Futureshock
Link of the moment... Swedish Hardcore Band Nine

Is this what you humans call...e-mo-tion?

Today is a pretty sentimental day around the residence. Today, Pranab Sen is leaving the University of Waterloo to pursue studies at Princeton. In the last week or so, it's become aparent that a lot of people really respect Pranab and are genuinely going to miss him. I won't argue for a single second that he's become a staple of Resurrection College. I don't know who's been here the longest, but I know that he's been around as long as anyone else I can think of.

I signed a card for him the other day, and I read what everyone else wrote. There was some pretty touching stuff in there, and I don't think I'd be out of line to say that I wrote some heart-touching stuff too. It seems like Ruby and Tunde are near the top of the list of people who are gonna miss him, but I know that he's a friend of just about everyone here.

I realize that I've made a lot of friends here (well, perhaps some middle ground between friends and acquaintances) that I don't want to leave readily. Tunde and I had a bit of a one-on-one, and I'm sure she knows I'm going to miss her. This is Ruby's last year, so she's not even going to be around for me to visit next year. I can tell she's a great person after knowing her for only a term. Rafael is going to miss me as much as I'm going to miss him. He's getting mad that everyone is leaving him in the summer. I told him that next year, I'll invite him over for a meal at my place, to escape the cafe food. Good times, good times...

On an unrelated note, April Fool's day! I won't bother trying to e-prank you through my blog, because aparently anything entertaining I do makes me a nerd.

April sixth marks the one year anniversary of my blog. I'll make sure to take some time to reflect on the past year and make some predictions for what next year holds in store for me.

Listening to... The Vandals - The New You
Link of the moment... I'm seriously lacking good links