Very Welcome Idle Weekday

So it’s day one of the first “normal” weekend and day off I’ve had since the end of my comprehensive examination.  So how I choose to start it?  By staying in bed until about lunch time.  As usual it got me told off by my father, but it’s my day off, so I’m going to stay in bed as long as I choose, darnit.

Oh, and apparently my tito arrived from the province this time.  When I finally rolled out of my bed, he was on the phone with my mother, which would apparently turn into a three-hour marathon as the two siblings caught up with each other and swapped stories.

As for me, I spent a good part of the day in front of the PC, in this case finishing the last stretch of my Classic Ironman run on XCOM: Enemy Unknown 2012.  I even recorded the ending, though given the rate of encoding it might not get uploaded to Youtube until maybe tomorrow.  Oh well.

Speaking of the run through the Ironman run through the Temple Ship, it was very strange to say the least, especially when compared to the gauntlet I experienced in just Classic.  You see, it seemed like the game decided to skip several spawns — in this case, the Thinmen, Muton, and Sectopod sections were completely empty.  Now given how this was an Ironman game, it made me doubly paranoid, as the game might just decide on spawning them all at once at the last room but… It never happened.

I have a theory for what might have possibly caused it.  You see, by the end of the room that contained the Floaters, Heavy Floaters, and Chrysalids, for an inexplicable reason one of my soldiers caught line of sight to the part where the Muton Elites normally spawn.  This caused them to spawn out of event order, which meant that they came rushing to my squad before they were even supposed to (they died to Overwatch fire at the entrance of the Muton room by the way, surprising me in the process).  

Given how this WAS a Classic Ironman game, I didn’t question the gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.  Once I got to the final room though, it was all just a matter of mopping up.  I used the experience I gained during my Classic run, and suffice to say that the Uber Ethereal didn’t last three turns, heh.

Now that was well worth the time I spent today on it.  So gratifying, especially given how hellish it was during the starting months of the Ironman game.  So expect to see the video soon, ahaha.

Hobby Sidetracking

I know that I should be using my rest day tomorrow to start double-timing on my screenplay rewrite, but at this point I don’t think I’m in the right mindset to even try… So I won’t.  Instead, I’ve decided to just spend at least some of it on my neglected hobbies, Warhammer 40k painting and modeling in particular.  

Specifically, I want to actually start on the 5-man Devastator squad I pledged for the Bolter and Chainsword’s annual Librarium Painting Challenge.  Along with the sergeant (a vet with a power fist that was basecoated and dipped a LONG time ago, but I never got around to finishing), the squad is rounded off by a pair of Missile Launcher marines, and a pair of Lascannon marines.  Not really points-efficient, but the point of the challenge is to put some paint on unpainted models after all.

It should be fun, though once I get the marines basecoated, I’ll definitely have to shift my focus to the screenplay on Thursday. Let’s see how many pages I get out then, eh?

As for work… Ah, it’s the usual Tueday shift, meaning that, had my CS systems been working, I would have had a heck of a headache at the end of the day.  Luckily they weren’t, which meant it was just membership calls for the most part, though those calls did come in faster than usual.

What else… Hmm, let’s see.  This morning on the way to work, someone’s fingers got caught in the doors of the MRT as it closed, and not at the threshold of the doors itself, but in the moving hinges to the side.  Ouch.  The folk around the poor woman tried to get the train to stop by pressing on the emergency button close by, but the train of course kept on going, and all this was highlighted by the train operator making an indignant announcement on the PA to stop playing around with the emergency stop button.  Needless to say, many people were more than a little annoyed at this.  Luckily the woman was able to free her hand once we got to the next station, but I can how something like this might leave a lasting negative impression on her.

Oh, and finally I wasn’t able to go to the gym this afternoon.  I was just so sleepy, that I pretty much decided to nap the rest of the afternoon (and the evening — I went to bed at around four, and woke up around nine).  It’s kind of my fault though, since I did stay up late (reading Zetman, for the curious).  I’ll just have to make up for it tomorrow afternoon, I guess.

And that’s pretty much it for me today.  Hopefully everyone else out there experienced more excitement than I did, ahaha.

Rainshowers and More Katawa Shoujo

It was surprising Sunday, at least as far as my usual day at the office went.  It wasn’t headache-inducingly stressful at all, and the gap in between calls made it seem like what I’d expect on a Monday.  Okay, there were instances where the queue suddenly overflowed, but that only happened once or twice over the course of the shift.  That pretty much meant that, once again, we were mostly left to our devices.  It wasn’t enough for us to wander around the floor to chat up some batch-mates, but the avail time did allow us to browse the net while we waited for the calls to come in yet again. 

Although it wasn’t so when I came into the office, it started raining sometime mid-shift, so our view of the city outside the office was veiled again in grey.  It was still raining once I got out, but it wasn’t so hard that I got soaked before I could find a jeepney to ride in.  The downpour continued for most of the afternoon, which had the welcome effect of making the afternoon much cooler… Which meant it was so much easier to go to sleep.  Which obviously I did, since I was going on just an hour or so of sleep.

The reason why I didn’t sleep that well can be easily inferred by the picture above.  Yes, like many of my peers in the community, I’m playing through Katawa Shoujo.  Though it would be pushing it to say that the writing for the game was perfect, it’s still very good, full of nuance and, hmm, sensitivity?  I’m not really sure that’s the right word to describe it, but obviously when you’re dealing with a cast full of characters with physical disabilities there’s an expectation that the narrative might trivialize or otherwise put undue focus on the disabilities rather than the characters who have them.  

That’s not quite what happens here; while the disabilities of each girl are shown front and center, they’re simply very small aspects of what makes them who they are.  Indeed each of the characters (yes even Kenji) have vibrant personalities separate from the disabilities that they have, so much so that it’s easy to forget that, yes, they’re even disabled to begin with.

I’m not yet far enough into the game where I have to make a definite choice of whose route I’d go with, but at this point I’m fairly taken with Rin, who has the right mix of contemplative and just plain loopy that makes me want to find out just what makes her… tick, I suppose. Unfortunately her route is probably the most complicated in the game, and I’m no Keima Katsuragi. So I think I’ll think I’ll leave her story for last, and focus on the more obvious choices…

Like Lily.  Not that her route is any less complicated (it would be wise not to think that way, else you’re on the road to the Manly Picnic quicker than you can say ‘uncle’).  Okay, there’s Misha and Shizune, but given how the council president and her sidekick is pretty much in your face from the get-go I think it’s best to give some attention to the other girls first.

Speaking of which, I better get to playing.

P.S. I added another Puella to the stampede.  While the relatively simple designs of the extras shown in Episode 12 make them easy to sketch and make lineart for, their simplicity makes them look boring compared to, say, Oriko or even Yuma.

That leaves, hmm, two more extras from the series proper left undrawn.  Oooh.

Of Workshops, and Sad Girls With Disabilities

It’s the start of classes again, as far as yours truly was concerned, and although I did wake up in the expected time (that is, around nine in the morning), I still ended up getting to the campus slightly late.  The plan was, of course, to leave around an hour before twelve, but in the end I still left around forty-odd minutes before noon.  Why this happened was because I suddenly remembered the voice recorder my father mentioned a few months back, and I thought it might be helpful with regards to the lectures in the class.  So I (and eventually my father) spent some time digging through the detritus sitting in my sister’s bedroom, but when the recorder was found, I didn’t spend too long trying to puzzle out the functions (or read the manual for that matter), and unceremoniously slid it into my pocket after putting in the triple-As that came with it.

So after a short bus ride (well, as short as you can get close to the mid-day rush hour), I found myself at EDSA station with about ten minutes to noon… Which didn’t really mean much, as the train from Baclaran took its sweet time in getting there.  The ride to DLSU once a train did arrive was quick, but it was already a little past twelve when I got to the campus.    A brisk walk to Miguel Hall later, and I was at the classroom that was listed on my Enrollment Assessment Form.

Only there was no one there.  Apparently the class had relocated to a screening room one floor down, so with your expected amount of panic I rushed downstairs.  

Incidentally, despite going to classes there for almost two years, I’ve never really poked around Miguel Hall, so actually finding the screening room the class had relocated to took another extra minute.

Thankfully though I was able to find the room, and with just a bit of embarrassment I let myself in. The lecture hadn’t started in earnest yet, so there wasn’t any problem for a late-comer, but I did have to lead the class in prayer… Anyway our professor this time around was really soft-spoken and, in a word, relaxed, though he does seem to have this habit of staring at a particular person in the eye… Or maybe that was just my impression.  Anyway, he’s an industry veteran, as is expected in these sorts of classes, but is more into doing non-mainstream works these days, and doesn’t seem to be bothered much by the strictures of screenplay writing that were hammered into our heads last term. 

As for the class itself, it was more of a refresher than anything else of what we learned during the previous semester (which meant that the recorder wasn’t really needed).  We watched some movies in between the lecture (because our professor admitted that he’d be hard-pressed to fill the three hours our class was allotted), including a set of ten-minute long shorts (one by Bernardo Bertolucci), and talked about which screenplay we would use for the duration of the workshop.  There was a lot of groaning (I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s slightly embarrassed at the output from last term), but in the end most of us decided to stick with the screenplays we already had, rather than start something from scratch, although there were those who bit the bullet and opted for a rewrite.  Brave souls, those ones are.

Since our previous professor so enthusiastically forwarded our screenplays to our current one, we’ll be going with the final version of the so-called first draft.  The rate should be around two to three screenplays per session (the better to spread the embarrassment around!), picked randomly of course.  I am so looking forward to seeing mine read and critiqued, so so much (read the sarcasm in my tone).

Anyway, after that there’s little really to say. It started raining a little after class ended (relatively early I might add), so obviously I was more than a little soaked once I got home, and after a perfunctorily look at Twitter and Pixiv, I went to bed for the afternoon.

Now enough of this real-life nonsense.  I’m awake, not doing any drawing right now, and don’t have Skyrim open for a change, so I figure it’s about time for me to boot up Katawa Shoujo (かたわ少女) and devote some hours on it.  

For those who’re not familiar with it, it’s something that’s been a long time in coming, and anticipated by more than a few folk in the circles I’m part of.  What started as a thread on the (in)famous 4chan turned into a sprawling project to create a Visual Novel in the usual Japanese style of the genre…  And here it was, finally completed five years later, after who knows how many staff changes and whatnot, nevermind the internal politicking that darned near torn the project asunder. The fact that it’s distributed free online does not diminish how tremendous an achievement this was.  In the words of the much-esteemed 2DTeleidoscope (in the interview by the Otaku Journalist):

“Think of every novel that never gets written, every Internet community that dies in flames. Realize that Four Leaf Studios endured five years of rewrites, revisions and personal drama to produce this product, shuffling through staff like cards in a game of Old Maid. And yet the idea survived. The work is done. This is great and worthy of our admiration, no matter what you think of romance with disabled girls.”

I’m not sure we can call the culmination of the project as the Great Western Visual Novel, but it’s a momentous achievement, and it’s one that deserves playing… And sharing.  And don’t let the fact that the girls in question are disabled (lets not mince words here), or the fact that the games isn’t ‘all-ages’ (something that’s easily remedied in the game options), turn you away.  Give it a chance.  It’s quite the gem.  

As for me, I think I’ll take my sweet time on this. Oh yes.

Engine Shutdowns

I wasn’t able to go to work today, mostly because I felt really really under the weather.  I felt terrible, and while I didn’t have a fever this time around, I was dizzy for a good part of the day, and when I wasn’t dizzy I had this splitting headache instead.  I was a little worried that this might have been caused by a jump in blood pressure, but a trip to the doctor showed that, extra poundage aside, I was as healthy as you’d expect.  The likely cause of  this was all the stress that’d piled up during the past few days, though I have a suspicion that those extra pounds have something to do with it as well.

So I took my medicine and stayed in bed for a bit, but it quickly became boring just lying around.  So I opened up my laptop, plugged it into my LAN, and proceeded to goof off online for a bit.  I couldn’t do this for too long though, as the aforementioned splitting headaches would hit me after a bit, so I had to lie down again, although I did keep the laptop on and within easy reach.

Aside from that I don’t have much to share about my day, really.  Kind of hard to talk about stuff when I’ve spent almost all my day in bed, after all.  Heck, I wasn’t even to get any drawing in, which is kind of a shame really.  I guess I’ll have to make up for that tomorrow.  Unless Skyrim gets in the way, of course.

Speaking of Skyrim, I finished both the main quest line and the Civil War quest line.  As I expected, Alduin went down very quickly, even on Master difficulty, while the Civil War quest line was simply a series of siege after siege.  My first play through, of course, ended with an Imperial victory, which that little screenshot above came from. 

Now for those curious on just why Emperor Titus Mede II was there with his victorious Legion ah, well, let’s just say that I finished the Dark Brotherhood set of quests first before I even considered going through the rest of the Civil War missions.  The idea of the Emperor as an undead thrall following me faithfully while I went about helping reunify his sundered realm just tickled me for some reason.  Makes all the sieges I was in even more funny, given the battlecries of “FOR THE EMPEROR!”, and yet the Emperor was there with them, care of yours truly.  Truly ironic.

I hope I can upload one of the videos I recorded of one of those aforementioned sieges, but Youtube has been giving me problems for most of the day. It just has to be shared, if only to show how the undead Titus Mede is truly a force to be reckoned with, though it would be an exaggeration to say that he cut through Stormcloaks with the force of an angry Dragonborn… His equipment isn’t even upgraded, after all.

Turning Skies

Although a good part of the country is well into the Christmas season (I never commented on it before, since I kind of take it for granted, but ask any Filipino, and they’ll likely tell you that, yes, the Christmas season starts around October), that fact never really registered until today.  No, it’s not all the songs and the decorations popping all over the place, but the fact that our center has started to receive a surprisingly large amount of calls during a Monday (usually the slowest workday in the week), most of them from Toys R Us stores.  It made for a surprisingly stressful start of the week, and I’m actually wary now of how things will be tomorrow.

Finally was able to visit the bank today, and deposit part of the salary I received on Saturday.  Since that payday bundled in my 13th-month pay as well, this meant it was a substantial amount compared to what I usually received every payday, but the bulk of it went to paying off my credit card bill.  Some people might find it strange for me to do so, but with the bill paid off in full it means that I’ll be (hopefully) starting off the new year without any kind of debt for a change.  The left-over pay is still comparatively large, and likely enough to cover the expected Christmas spending, as well as make up for the hit I’m expecting on my next payday (I did take a leave of absence to finish my Screenplay Writing project after all, which means I didn’t come to work for five days).

I was planning on going out today to look for a possible replacement for the office chair I’ve been using for my computer table –one of it’s five legs finally broke, and while it’s still possible to sit on it, I have to be careful to keep the gap facing the direction of my keyboard, else there’s danger that it might tip over–but I was so tired from work earlier that as soon as I lay down on bed, it was lights out until I finally woke up early tonight.  I’ll have to see about that after work tomorrow, though this time I’ll have to look into chairs with steel supports, since this is the second time I’ve lost an office chair due to one of its (plastic) roller legs breaking.

Hmm, since I’m not tired due to the nap I had, I think I’ll catch up on some of my hobby backlog.  So anime for a bit, and maybe some sketching for the Puella Stampede, which some might recall I had to put on hold due to the start of classes.  We’ll just have to see.

Because like men who like to RP as girls, girls also get the urge to RP as manly-men

Well, that, or Skyrim.  Yeah, I couldn’t resist getting the new Elder Scrolls game, and I have to say that it’s fairly addictive.  My first character so far (a Redguard who’s mostly Neutral aligned, but with Good tendencies) is already level 72, and while I should already think of finishing the main quest, I’m putting it off for as long as possible (especially since Skuldafn temple is pretty much a one-way-trip to the Endgame), since there are more than a few Sidequests I haven’t done yet… Besides, Alduin doesn’t scale with the player’s levels, and with Dragonrend I think facing the big guy will go very quick.

Not As Painful

I was able to do some jogging again today, after five-odd days of not exercising. This time around I experienced none of the cramps I’ve come to expect after a period of inactivity. Okay, so maybe doing all those stretches prior to walking briskly to the halfway point might have helped, as well as the heat of the afternoon (I’ve found that I’m less prone to cramping up if it’s blazing hot instead of windy or cloudy for some reason), but the run itself was mostly painless. Indeed the only pain I experienced during the route was my stomach feeling like it would it explode, but that was due to the fact that I drank about one-fourth of the contents of the water bottle I brought by the time I got to the halfway point (which I normally do only once I’m close to the Ayala area), since it was so darned hot.

After a few circuits in the triangle, I dropped by the hobby shop in Park Square to pick up a medium can of matte varnish (for the Land Raider mostly) and two cans of Tamiya paint (black for a future Deathwatch project, and Racing Green for the Black Reach orks I had still mostly unassembled). I’m probably going to feel the cost of the purchase next month, but eh, better buy them now rather than later. From there it was straight back home, and a cold bath to wash away all that icky sweat, heh.

Hmm, I wonder if I’ll get any darker after this… Probably not; while I was under the hot sun for half of the route, I spent the other half mostly in the shade of Makati’s buildings, and later on the trees in Ayala Triangle. Besides, it’s not like I can get any darker, especially since it’s already late into the year.

With that business taken care of, I started on some of the orks from the aforementioned Black Reach set. I assembled a group of five (not that hard, as the models included in Black Reach could be snapped together even without glue), slotted them into the bases provided, and gave them a blast of green paint. The result was a lot darker than expected, but this’ll make much of the later painting a little easier, as I’ll only have to focus on the rags and armor the boyz are wearing, as well as the shootas and choppas they’re carrying. Unlike the marines of my DIY Chapter though, I’m in no rush to paint myself some a fieldable squad of greenskins right away, so I’ll likely paint a model at a time as a sort of long-term side project.

It’s going to be a slow day tomorrow, so I’m torn between staying up later than usual, or just going to bed right after I finish this entry. I’m probably just jump into bed, as that’ll give me more energy for work tomorrow, and anything left over will be useful once I get home. Whether or not I’ll actually use the energy left for something creative, however, remains to be seen.

Hibernation Excuse

I think it’s inevitable that, after several nights of experiencing barely six hours of sleep each, all that fatigue would just build up to the point where I was too tired to even care about doing anything. It’s exactly what happened to me late afternoon yesterday, which is why I had to make do with a placeholder just to reserve a post. I was just so tired, really, that even that short filler was a bother.

Which is why I jumped into bed as soon as I finished it. That was around six or so in the evening. While not exactly straight (I had to go down to the toilet earlier this morning), that’s nearly ten hours of slumber. Sleep debt is scary, isn’t it?

Of course, this means that, if anything, I have a little too much energy starting this work day. I suppose it’ll help, since Thursdays are normally the heaviest of work shifts I have to endure over the week, and going through one fueled by a good night’s sleep rather than energy drinks will somewhat help with my attitude over the phone, but still… It’s pretty unusual to go to work with a ‘full tank’, ahaha.

Anyway, there’s a lot of things to do once I get home, if  I still have any excess energy left. Reading through the rest of Syd Field’s book, another of my afternoon jogs, adding to the Puella Magi stampede, assembling Meltagun-toting Tactical Marines… Yeah, plenty of stuff to keep me busy and tire me out.

As a final note… Since payday falls on a Sunday this time around, we’re supposed to get our pay on a Friday. That would be so nice if it were true, as this half of the month’s bills are already arriving, and my savings won’t last more than a week at this rate. *sigh* Yeah, I’m still feeling the effects of that vanity purchase of crusader parts, meltaguns, and Deathwatch conversions, but seeing my Crusader completed and nearly ready to run over the enemies of the God-Emperor makes me feel that it was all worth it…

Long Done, Never Photographed

The title, of course, refers to the conversion I did for my Space Marine army a while back of an assault skimmer. The model itself was completed, painted, detailed, and sealed a long time ago, but I never got around to actually taking a picture of it.  After I finished the Crusader this afternoon, and set about taking pictures of my fieldable army,  I finally figured, eh why not take some photos of it as well. 

Despite its look, no, I don’t use it as a Stormraven proxy. I use the VDR rules posted right here in the blog, and only during the rare Apocalypse game.

As for the Crusader itself (which I designated as ‘Eternum’), it’s mostly detailed and weathered. All it’s missing really is a coat of matte varnish to even out the shiny areas (unavoidable when one uses Tamiya sprays for base colors), and I only wasn’t able to do so because the can of varnish I thought still had some life in it was apparently empty already. Oh well. I’ll just buy a new can after my next payday.

Modeling aside, there’s really not much to share today. Since it was a Monday, the calls came in at a relaxed pace, so there wasn’t any build-up on stress on my part, and the only down side I could think of was the fact that I wasn’t able to do any jogging this afternoon. Then again, the final detailing and for the Crusader could be blamed for that. I’ll just have to make up for it tomorrow.

Raiders and Raiders

I’m a firm believer of making Army lists (for Warhammer 40000 I mean) with the models one has on hand… Which is why I’m tickled at the challenge of trying to fit my newly-completed (though no detailing, weathering, or sealing just yet) Land Raider Crusader into my usual list. Normally I use twin Vindicators, but hey, it’s something different for a change.

I’ve thrown in my other mk-I land raider in for kicks as well. Because, really, the Crusader is kind of lacking against any kind of vehicle. That said, having AV 14 will help somewhat with its survivability, and as long as I keep away from those nasty melta-bearing units the pair of land raiders will probably last a good chunk of a game.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve come up with so far, using the models available to me:

2-Raider  1750-point Casual List

HQ

Librarian in Terminator Armor, Storm Shield (The Avenger, Might of Ancients) – 165 points

Powers will change depending on the opponent of course. Epistolary upgrade only taken at higher-point games, to maximize the psychic power use.

Elites

 Assault Terminator Squad (3 Thunderhammer/Storm Shield, 2 Lightning Claw) – 200 points

6-man Sternguard Squad – 1 power fist, 1 missile launcher, 5 combi-melta – 205 points

In a larger game the Sternguard squad would probably have their own transport, but in this case they’ll probably just hitch a ride in one of the rhinos. The Terminators plus the attached Librarian, will of course jump into the Crusader.

Troops

Tactical Squad 1 – Power Fist, Plasmagun, Lascannon – 215 points

Tactical Squad 2 – Power Fist, Plasmagun, Missile Launcher – 205 points

One might note the fact that I’m not using the more popular meltagun, and instead opted for plasmaguns for my squads’ special weapons choice. It’s simple really, since I don’t have any Tacticals modeled with meltas, and indeed I only received a pack of ten meltas recently. Besides, the plasmagun will help somewhat against armies with Marine-like saves, particularly Terminator-level threats.

Fast Attack

Land Speeder Typhoon – 90 Points

Land Speeder Typhoon – 90 Points

Heavy Support

Land Raider – 250 points

Land Raider Crusader, multimelta – 260 points

Transports

Rhino – 35 points

Rhino – 35 points

Yeah, it’s not exactly a killer list, and melta-heavy armies (or ones with tons of brightlances) will slag those land raiders very quickly, but this isn’t really set up for the local metagame here anyway. Just something I can throw down on the table when the folk want a simple game.

So, how about it?

P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures of the Crusader itself. I just finished adding some paint-chipping and mud effects on it tonight. I think I’ll add a few more details, like name scrolls or purity seals and maybe some decals as well, hit it with a layer of matte varnish, then take a picture of it and post it here.

P.P.S. Added pictures. Oh yeah.