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Nov. 14th, 2009 @ 10:15 pm
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I picked up Dragon Age: Origins (360 version) today. I'd been considering it since I first heard of the game a month and a half ago, and I really liked the concept and level of freeform play. And I have to say.. I wasn't disappointed. I only played a bit over an hour to see what it's like - I need to finish another game(s) first - but in that time I was at least able to grasp the battle system and delve into the game world lore.
Overall the game play reminds me a lot of WoW or even Diablo. At first, I kept trying to hit the A button repeatedly to attack - then I realized it's just to engage in standard melee. Woops! Special skills are simple to learn and really work just like in WoW. Switching party members is super easy and a lot like Magna Carta 2.
I'm pretty happy with the quality of the voice acting. No one stands out yet as being a bad v/a - which says a lot. And so far every one of the NPCs has a v/a for even random dialog bits, which is really neat for the atmosphere. In fact, the dialog is entirely spoken with no text to read - except when selecting your own character's response. It's definitely one where you need the volume to be audible.
The level of character customization is also quite amazing. I started off with a basic Dalish elf warrior, based off of a character I play in an MMORPG. I plan on restarting after reading more into classes, skills, etc.
What I especially like is the level of depth and complexity to the game world lore. I'm only starting to scratch the surface, but I can already tell at just how involved it is. And that's the sort of stuff that I love. I bought the big player's guide with the game and am very glad I did for the many additional sections - which includes in-depth historical notes and full color illustrations.
I'll definitely post more on it later. But first, I plan on finishing Magna Carta 2. I'm (at an estimate) more than half done at this point and just getting back into the story again after a bit of a break when I was dealing with Roxy's recovery.
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Original entry at http://ilyat.dreamwidth.org/302630.html with  comment(s).
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like 6 people in my LJ friends list have already posted this. i wanna be one of the cool kids too.
.... we also got another guest. bigger than that one. yyooouuuu'll see. =] |
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Oof!
Just went back to the gym after skipping a week. Feels like I haven't gone in a couple months! Maybe it's just because I've been generally groggy and my sleep has been weird, but I generally felt wobbly.
Overall the fitness thing is going well. Making slow and steady progress. The biggest struggle for training for something like a triathlon is not, I don't think, going to be the actual physical endurance, but merely the whole attention span issue of doing things like running and biking and swimming for an hour at a time, regularly!
Honestly I don't have that much with ACTUAL biking, but during the winter I'm going to have to be using my trainer here at home or one of the exercise bikes at the gym. After 20 minutes it gets fairly booorrring. I should just start taking books to the gym or something!
Overall I'm feeling good. I discovered I can do 25 pushups in a set now (from the knuckles, hurts my wrists to do it from my palms), not that I'm focusing on pushups, but that's nice to know. Starting to loose weight again, too. Another week I should be officially down to 180lbs; which happens to be about as heavy as I was upon graduating high school, but I'm definitely more lean now than I was then.
One great thing about the fitness thing is how much it helps me focus, and generally increases my willpower when it comes to doing things that I need to do otherwise. Namely, staying on task with my work at home. This was particularly noticeable throughout this last week that I skipped, and was generally miserably unproductive. Never again! (yeah, right).
Leaving for MFF in less than a week! HOLY CRAP I have a lot to do to prepare, and a couple things that I need to get gone before I leave. I will most likely be very scarce this week, socially. If I'm NOT, please remind me that I should be!
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Twits
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Nov. 14th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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Twits
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Nov. 13th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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i'mma get political for a second here...
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/05/venezuela-chavez-adm.html
tl;wr: venezuela just banned violent video games. BANNED. hardcore. criminalized. this dude wrote a long article about what good games have done him, and how fucked up his government and nation are in general.
intense shit. a good read. the whole thing. a little sensationalist, maybe, but not so much that it kills the message.... and the message is solid.
this is what i'm fighting against. i wish i could do more for this guy. |
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This morning:
Not yet high tide. The water level's risen overall since then, fluctuating a bit with the tides. For perspective.. the water's about 4-5 feet higher than normal. That's typically grass on either side of the roadway, though there is a creek that runs underneath the bridge. The bridge is high enough to canoe or kayak beneath without having to duck much or at all, even at high tide.
Park's closed due to that and other weather factors. I have literally no way to leave because of other bridges being flooded. And even if I got out of the park, I don't think I could even make it out of the county due to road closures. (Kind of puts the fact that I live next to a nuclear reactor into a new light.. At least my thyroid glands will be okay for 24 hrs thanks to my iodine tablets.) The ferry's shut down, as is the James River Bridge (and others), and many tunnels.
I took some files off of my work computer and went home to get things done (so I could actually get there, given that I have to cross the above pictured bridge or equivalent to do so). The fact that I still have power amazes me. It has started to flicker about half an hour ago, so I lit a few candles in preparation.. The wind is so strong that it's been shaking my house nonstop since last night, and the rain is providing a constant serenade of white noise against my tin roof. It's actually quite lovely! I adore storms. <3
I'm expecting the weather to be similar tomorrow. Maybe I'll take a walk and snap some more photos if there are no emergencies. I sure hope not!
ETA:
And while it's too dark to see anything at night, tomorrow (if the power hasn't gone out) you can see the weather over the river through our park webcam.
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Original entry at http://ilyat.dreamwidth.org/302316.html with  comment(s).Current State:  relaxed |
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Twits
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Nov. 12th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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Imagine that he is purring the whooole time
:D ooooomg I want to hug him.
for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) neogeen of course!
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Twits
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Nov. 11th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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Hey guys! I'm not sure if there's anyone who reads this who cares about this particular thing, but I'm planning on going to MFF Later this month, and in order to help out with gas money to get out there I'm running a sale on art commission work!
I'm going to be treating this con as a business thing, sitting in the Artist's Alley and pimping my work all weekend. If things work out half as well as they did at AC, I should easily be able to pay for my trip, if not make a profit, and it will be great for getting my name out there into the community a bit more, so it should be really helpful for me!
Here's a list of prices and links to examples of what I do for these.
BADGES: 25$ !!!! Printed, laminated, and mailed to you! omg DEAL OF THE CENTURY
Example1: http://tresch.tv/images/commissions/ardy-engineer.jpg
Example2: http://tresch.tv/images/commissions/steinbeckbadge.jpg
Colored Character Sketches: 5$! like whoah!
Example1: http://tresch.tv/images/aneo-both.jpg
Example2: http://tresch.tv/images/sketches/tresch_nightfell.jpg
Same thing but inked: 10$ !! the lines!
Example: http://tresch.tv/images/commissions/icefox-color.jpg
OMG digital paintings!: 30$ !!! <--- holy craaaaap
Example1: http://tresch.tv/images/commissions/skrimpf.png
Example2: http://tresch.tv/images/commissions/fweehdrat.jpg
Animated icons: 25-50$ (lots of options available!)
   
Thanks guys!
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Twits
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Nov. 9th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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More commission stuff. This one was fun :)
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Twits
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Nov. 8th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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Twits
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Nov. 7th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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Pulled the van into the shop today to change the brakes, and, hahaha, heat does neat things to metal.
Okay so earlier this year a group of us went to Anthrocon. We drove up to Wisconsin to pick up Karn, and came back down through Chicago to head to Pittsburgh. We kinda made a bad navigation decision and ended up going right through the middle of chicago instead of happily skipping past it. The problem is that we had the van loaded up almost to its GVWR, and we were in stop&go traffic for about TWO HOURS trying to get through Chicago, so we were just kinda riding on the brakes the whole time.
Well, eventually the van started behaving oddly, and we were getting funny smells, and so we pulled over, and lo' we'd heated the brakes up to the point that we'd boiled the brake fluid in the lines! Much farther on the highway and we wouldn't have been able to stop! We had to sit around at a gas station for 20-30 minutes while the brake fluid (brake vapor?) turned back into liquid and then we were off again.
Well, I just changed the pads and was amused at the result of the heat. Aside from more corrosion around the pads and calipers than I would otherwise expect, what was left of the pads was all split and chipped instead of evenly worn.
The amusing part is the front left caliper piston, which had itself started to chip away. The metal, in parts, had crystalized and become brittle like a ceramic. It's going to need to be replaced sometime, but the damage isn't bad enough to not give even pressure on the pad, so I just swapped it out. The new pads will run a lot cooler and I've learned to take it easier on the brakes, so I don't forsee any immediate problems.
Also, the right axle has a CV boot that has split wide open and make quite a mess in there. It seems somewhat recent, as I don't remember the grease being around there when I was fiddling with the power steering pump some time back. So I'm going to have to get that rebuilt. |
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Twits
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Nov. 6th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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Woooo!
It's ALLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE |
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Twits
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Nov. 5th, 2009 @ 05:40 am
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