Bug Attack!

While driving, my foot started itching, so I gave it a scratch. Pretty soon, my hands started itching too, then I started feeling the heat slowly climbing my neck to my face. It was a familiar thing, and I knew that if things didn't get controlled, things might get ugly.

Those of you who know that I almost died before due to a caterpillar allergy can appreciate how frightened I was starting to get at these symptoms. I decided to cancel my appointment and go home, hopefully a bath would wash off whatever it was that was causing the spreading allergic reaction. After the bath, I felt my itching foot settle down, and my hands and arms starting to settle, so I thought I just had to relax and the itch on my face will start to subside too. Good thing I was right.

My SO mentioned that it might have been the venom from an insect that I spread around me using my hands when I first scratched my foot. She's probably right, but now I don't know if the insect is dead (it probably is) and where I contracted it (the shoe? the socks?). Regardless, I'm gonna be more careful with my next change of clothes.

Big City

While looking for a simple meal in SM Mall of Asia, my friends and I ran into Big City. It's basically a hot-dog place, which is just the simple type of food we were looking for, so we gave it a try.

They have 3 basic types of hot-dogs, locally made dogs, Nathan's (imported beef hot-dogs), and Johnsonville (imported pork hot-dogs). They have some rice meals, a pizza, and burgers, but of course we were there to check the dogs.

The the hot-dogs can come in the typical set meals which consists of the hot-dog of choice, fries/onion-rings, and an iced-tea. I tried the beef hot-dog, my SO and our friend tried the local hot-dogs. We all agreed that the hot-dogs were pretty good. The fries were better than usual (though it needed a bit more salt), and the onion rings are fair. What sold us to the place was the price, a set meal costs around P80, which ain't bad considering that the hot-dogs were pretty good (the beef hot-dog tasted similar to Sabrett), and that it included better than average fries/onion-rings. The only downside we found was that the condiments were sub-par (the ketchup wasn't all that good).

The place has a good price-versus-performance ratio, pretty good taste for a relatively cheap price. If you drop by MOA and feel like having a hot-dog, do give it a shot.

Christmas 2006

Am tired, but I wanted to make this post to I can greet any visitors on time.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone!

It's Like Riding a Bicycle

I've been reading some "game of the year" articles here and there, and among the stuff I've found was Company of Heroes. It's reputed to be one of the best modernizations of the RTS genre, and manages to blend good realistic visuals with a focus on tactics instead of build management. It got me remembering the game that consumed be before Guild Wars and poker... Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

It's been a long long time since I last played Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, so I decided to give it a go. I was a bit afraid of how I'll play since I haven't played the thing since... August! I was thinking of playing against the computer first to get myself warmed-up, but then I told myself "what the heck", and I plunged right into my usual old skirmish routine.

I was a bit surprised that it all came back to me rather quickly. My reflexes probably isn't top form, but it was good enough. For some reason, my basic builds, strats, and hotkeys seemed automatic to me, and I was playing as if I only left the game for 2 weeks. :D

On hindsight, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, I've been playing the game for years day-in/day-out, quite a bit of it should already be instinctive for at least a year. Regardless, it felt good that I could still put up a fight.


[below] My Blade Master giving the enemy Demon Hunter a good ol' critical hit while the rest of my squad and my teammates gives the remaining enemy team a final beating.

Bangu-Bang Mania!

Apparently, there's a Filipino startup game development company called Virtual Titania Amusement Software (VITAS) Development that's making an online game to be called Bangu-Bang Mania!. hackenslash.net says it's a casual fighting game inspired by Super Smash Brothers. Beta starts early next year.

Hmmm, given being a start-up, the small staff pool (around 12 as of this post), and the fact that the man who started this has no previous experience in related industries, it should be interesting to see how things pan out.

Good luck, people.


official site | read more | digg story

--- edit ---

VITAS put up a "coming soon" sign at their site.

Hulchul

My SO and I decided to have some Indian food last night, and in the place where we ate, they were showing a Bollywood film. The film was Hulchul, and the production seemed to be pretty good. It seemed just a tad lighthearted, so we decided to watch the rest of the film intently while eating.

The story seems to be about two powerful rival families, and one of the sons from one family falls in love with the daughter from the other. It seems simple enough, but the film elaborates on the complex relationships both inside and outside families, and a lot of plans and schemes take twists and turns. I was pleasantly surprised how they were able to place all the emotion and plot twists, and still have room for comedy in a simple story. In short, I really liked the film.

Production and cameras were quite good, and I already said that the drama and comedy is nicely mixed. Yes, there was a song-and-dance, but it looked like an MTV, not the cheap way of squeezing a song-and-dance into a film that I'm used to in Filipino films. In fact, plot, cinematography, acting, and production are all far better than most Filipino films I see, even in the current Manila Film Festival. In fact, I feel that Hulchul could be better than all local the entries for the local Film-Fest this year!

It's a sad thing to notice, but it should also be a knock on the head to the local film producers.
I tip my hat to Hulchul, I was very happy to have watched it.

hackenslash.net now on YouTube

hackenslash.net, one of the Philippine's gaming news websites, now has an online video channel in YouTube which they are calling hackenslash TV. I haven't seen the videos posted yet, but I'm assuming it will be an avenue for some Philippine video-game related items that they feel would look good on a video reel.

hackenslash.net is under the INQ7.net Philippine online news website (collaboration between GMA Network Inc. and The Philippine Daily Inquirer), making me wonder (depending on how independent hackenslash.net is from the rest of the site) if this is will be looked at as a small scale way of "testing the waters" on other means of publishing news (or other media network programs) online.

I'll be checking out the channel to see if the video news will do any good in improving content delivery (why try if it's not expected to?). Some would argue that they'd need to have some content to show in the first place. I'm hoping that there IS content available, and that this medium would help in its delivery.

Joseph Barbera: 1911.03/24 - 2006.12/18

Joseph Barbera, co-founder of the Hanna-Barbera animation production company, died last 2006.12/18 from natural causes at the age of 95.

Hanna-Barbera gives fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons I watched when I was a kid. I grew up watching Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, The Flinstones, Super Friends, and many other animated products they produced, as I'm sure many of my current generation did. The rights to their animation has been with Time Warner these past few years, which is why the shows they produced in the past are currently being played in Cartoon Network, along with the newer stuff the current kids are watching.

To William Hannah (1910.07/14 - 2001.03/22) and Joseph Barbera: Thank you very much for all the wonderful childhood memories.

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

Since Eragon won't be out for a while (no, I haven't read the book), there doesn't seem to be any movie to watch. So we decided to watch "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny". It starred Jack Black, and I did enjoy his other movies (School of Rock and Nacho Libre), so why not give this a try. Besides, based on School of Rock, Jack Black's musical taste hits home real well.

Apparently, the movie is an extension of existing characters from a previous TV series (similar to Sacha Baron Cohen for his characters "Ali G" and "Borat"). The movie's a semi-musical, so fans of Jack Black's music will be rewarded. Aside from this, the only other draw is Jack Black.
If both of these will fail to amuse you, well, then there isn't really much to say. It's a brainless movie, relying more on Jack Black's antics. This doesn't mean it's bad, but if you're looking for something with substance, this is not it. Think "Dude, Where's My Car" that's high on rock. I, honestly, appreciated all the music.

I go for movies like this every once in a while. If this sounds like your thing then go see it, just don't expect much in the way of substance, leave your brain cells and have a laugh or two.

Free No Limit Hold'em Tournament at Pacific Poker Palace Philippines

I couldn't sleep well this morning 'coz of some ideas swimmin' in my head, so I decided to surf a bit to wear myself down. I ran into this while surfing. Apparently Pacific Poker Palace Philippines (ACF Poker?) is hosting some Hold'em games (limit and no-limit) at Casino Filipino's Airport Casino. Since I don't even play cash games, I don't have much of a shot in tournaments, unless the buy-in is really really low that I'm willing to part with the money for the experience.

Well, it just so happened that that was gonna be a FREE No-Limit Hold'em Tournament today! Given that I had nothin' to lose (it said it was free), I went there to check it out.

There were some schedule changes, but the free No-Limit Hold'em Tournament pushed through at 14:00 today. Yes, it really was free, but only the top winner would get something (P20k). I registered and had my first real-live poker games.

I was doing pretty well in the first table I was placed it, I ended-up being the chip-leader until we were distributed to other tables. The blinds increased every 15 minutes, so my early chip lead became just average in the second table, and I became short stack in the third table. It was bad enough that I was short-stacked and the blinds were gonna eat me up, but the quality of players went up too (and them having huge stacks gave them a lot of advantage).

I could probably have stayed around longer, but I was already getting outclassed, and the stacks of the chip-leaders in the third table just ate me up. The deciding hand was my losing a two-pair to a straight. I normally wouldn't try fighting such an obvious straight with a two pair but I was getting desperate to improve my stack due to the blinds that I decided to charge ahead. I lost, and that effectively ended the tourney for me (I lost everything on the next hand's big-blind).

Before I left the building, I checked how far I got. Out of 12 tables, only around 4 were left, so I guess I got in above 50% of all players. I wasn't really expecting to win, so I'm pretty happy that I wasn't one of the bottom 10%.

Tomorrow (Thursday, 2006.12/14, 14:00) and on 2006.12/13 (Saturday, 18:00) will be 2 other Free No-Limit Hold'em games. On on 2006.12/22 (Friday, 18:00) will be a Free Limit Hold'em game. Registration is 2 hours before the tournament starts. I dunno if I can make it to any of the No-Limit games, but we'll see.

Free tourneys where you can actually win money don't come often, you know. Check it out!

Full Tilt at Full Tilt

I've suffered my biggest bad beat so far, I lost around 75% of my Full Tilt bankroll yesterday and today, most of it today. I was playing a badly this morning, and a headache due to the weather didn't help. I started deviating from my game-plan left and right, seeing opportunities when odds were against me. I guess I wanted to learn to play aggressively I forced myself into bad situations.

I went on tilt, and started playing even worse. I was thinking my open mindedness would show me big opportunities, it instead made me blind on the reality of my odds.

Earlier tonight, I got myself into a table where I decided to try and backtrack my play. I started winning big pots again, and I mentioned to a player who congratulated me that I was still trying to recover from my tilt. She said maybe she'd be my lucky charm, and so far she was, but I still had around 50% of my bankroll to recover.

Then she mentioned something that shoved me back in reality, she said she lost 3 million in just two hands before. Compared to that, my losses were a pittance.

I started playing better, and I actually got a some of my best and most challenging wins during that session. Another player mentioned that we had a good table right there, and I had to agree. The competition was tough, but everyone was supportive regardless if they won or lost. We just had a lot of serious poker fun.

My luck ran out eventually, and my last hand culminated in my losing what I gained from my good run as well as my buy-in (placing me where I am now, at around 75% of my bankroll when the weekend started). Even so, I don't feel bad. I played with great players, I played great hands, and when you think about it, all I lost is play-money.

I'm glad I ran into that bunch. I know I'll get that bankroll back, I've rebuilt my bankroll from scratch several times already, and each time it's always better than the last.

I post about this experience now to preserve it, to preserve the bad beat, and to preserve the knowledge that... well... it happens, and that I know that I will bounce back from this eventually.

Those peeps at the table don't know me, and they'll probably never be able to read this post. Regardless, they made my poker day.

Thanks guys.

Happy Feet

Watched Happy Feet this afternoon. Based on the trailer, I was expecting a cute movie, lots of singing, some funny lines, and a straightforward story. It was cute, there was a lot of singing, but the story was more engrossing than I thought. It's not overly complex, mind you, but I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't dumb things down too much. In fact, it's been a while since I last saw a CG movie I liked. This one is likable. Watch it.

PS:

I missed the trailer for Eragon, but it's gonna be showing soon anyway. I did see a teaser for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It didn't show me much, but the prospect that its coming around excites me.

First Quads!

I got my first quads today at Triplejack. My hand being A3 off-suit, I was pissed at the pre-flop "all-in guys" dominating the board, so I decided to take a shot. It ended up with an Aces over King quad! I was so caught off-guard that I wasn't able to take a screen-shot, but it's recorded in my Triplejack stats.

Given the luck, I used the opportunity to practice using a large stack. It's quite risky, but I managed to take a bunch of people off the board, but I still need to practice using the stack. In the end, I did lose 1k from that particular session's high, but I still gained 3k profit, which is pretty good for me.

I wonder if the day will come when 3k profits are more the norm than the exception for me...?

Odds in Draws and Connectors

I've been reading some stuff about the odds involved in poker, and took interest in the probabilities for straight and flush draws. I've since wanted to try out how knowing the odds would work for me. I found it a bit funny that I learned to use those odds with suited connectors and straight/flush/gut-shot draws in my game from Puzzle Pirates.

I got myself a Parlor Badge (so I can play the poker parlor game any time of the week) then I tried it out. I created a table and set the blinds and buy-in tot he cheapest so I could squeeze in a lot of rounds (it's a bit common). One of the guys who went is was quite good, very aggressive. I had to re-buy like 5 or 6 times, then I just left the table, his stack was too high and he knew how to use it too well I couldn't take him on. Perhaps if there were more of us, I could do it, but heads-up, no. I'm not ready for heads-up.

I joined another table where there were more pirates, and I managed to get my groove there. I got a feel on how the players played, and when I got comfy and had a stack going, I started trying stuff out. I tried playing actively more draws and connectors, and managed to get a few key pots using that strategy.

It really does add a lot of options in the hands you can play. However, that kind of play takes a bit of courage as often you'll often have to get to the river to see if you got anything (and you often don't), and getting to the river can be very expensive. If you know your odds and have a good betting strategy, you'll be surprised how many monster pots you can steal from over-pairs.

Being a generally tight player, this helped round me up a bit more, giving me options other than the standard pairs and trips game. It also helped me look at the board more closely for possibilities. Perhaps with more practice, I can learn the correct odds given various hands and it may end up boosting my play (I hope so).

Rockefeller at Greenbelt 3, Makati

I had dinner with my folks tonight and I decided we try out Rockefeller in Greenbelt 3, Makati. So we did. It's same owners of Oyster Boy, but I guess they changed the menu up to get higher class clientèle.

Service may seem a bit busy hectic, but I'm not sure if they're still in dry run mode (they had a sign saying so before, I didn't notice it). Regardless, service ain't bad. The owner/manager/guy-in-charge keeps tabs on everyone (customers and staff) and was very helpful.

We had an Oytser Combo (which allowed us to choose 3 different types of oyster for a 12 piece order), my mom had Oyster Bisque Soup, my dad had Pork Barbecue with Java Rice, and I had the New Zealand Rib Eye.

The oysters are basically the same ass what you can find in Oyster Boy, which is pretty good. The oysters come from Iloilo, which my mom says where you can find the best local oysters in the country. They're fresh and good. Their version of the Rockefeller isn't the best I've had, but their other types are OK. The priority is freshness, and it is.

My mom thought the soup was OK, my dad wasn't all that sold with the pork barbecue. As for the steak, well, the menu says it's New Zealand Beef (some other steaks on the menu use US beef), and it does tastes like New Zealand Beef. They grilled it pretty good, but the cut was too think for my tastes, and it seemed that I got a medium rare instead of medium. The steak comes with corn in cream and pork and beans, which is kinda odd for me. The pork and beans (I don't remember running into the pork, but then again, who does?) were ordinary, but I'm not sure that it went well with the steak. The creamed corn seemed odd, aside from being creamy, there was a faint coffee taste to it. Ain't my cup of tea.

Price-wise, it's not too expensive, but I can't say for sure it was value for my money. The food was reasonable, and seemed reasonably priced when you look at the menu, but I can't tell if I got exactly what I paid for. Portions were OS, it's not that. The oysters themselves were OK too (ergo, may possibly be considered as acceptable given the price). For the pork barbecue and steak, well, it's quite questionable. Then again, our bill wasn't exorbitantly expensive, service was OK (though they were still hectic), and the meat products are probably not their forte.

Overall, based on tonight, I can't give a wholehearted "go eat there" recommendation. Perhaps I'll check it out again someday, maybe by then some of the quips will change for the better.

Cat or Mini-Rug?

Some people who have seen my this blog told me that what they're interested in seeing is Hanachi-e. OK, so she's my draw for this blog. :P Well, for those Hanachi-e fans out there, I managed to get this pic today. When I look at the pic, though, I wonder at times if it's just one of my rugs. ;)

Sweet Afternoon Dreams

Nothin' much happened today for me, woke up quite early 'coz of the headache. Couldn't get back to sleep. Lost a lot in Full Tilt. Watched GI Joe: Sigma 6 while eating lunch (in the episode I watched, the voice actors changed, for the worse IMHO). Slept almost all of the afternoon. Ate dinner, managed to recover my big loss, and now wind down. I wanted to do a bit more, but I was just a bit beat from the weather. Well, the sleep did me good.

The strange thing was that I dreamt of pastries. I was at a resto with my SO and we ordered pastries. We had this sort of fruity creamy thing with a lot of clear stuff on top, which I particularly liked. People who know me know that I'm not a pastry/sweets guy, so this was kinda weird. Anyway, maybe it's a sign, so I might go looking for some sweets or dessert tomorrow.

The Miracle of Kitty Litter

I had dinner with an old friend and her husband last night, and the discussion somehow went to kitty litter. I mentioned my SO's efforts for training Hanachi-e to use the toilet (and my inevitable assignment to that same task when Hanachi-e is with me), and mentioned that although Hanachi-e manages to go to the toilet bowl already, she still needs to learn to position her feet properly (hence, kitty litter is still needed). She was wondering if it was expensive, particularly since cats to learn to do it on newspapers.

Well, yes, newspapers can be quite effective, but as expensive as kitty litter might appear, it's doesn't really cost all that much, specially if you consider the benefits:

• pee and poop clump, making it easier and less messy to clean-up
• pee and poop dry up, reducing the grossness factor very very much
• cats instinctively want to bury their mess (they hate it as much as we do), so the sandy texture is encouraging
• some kitty litter are composed of materials that also deodorize, so aside from clumping and drying up the pee and poop, it doesn't reek

Yes, sometimes the immediate area gets a little sandy, but I'd rather have sand than pee/poop prints. The benefits of kitty litter are tremendous and definitely make-up for the cost!

The guy who invented this should be given a Nobel Prize.

Weather and Headache

Is there another storm coming to the Philippines? I hope not, but I had a headache when I woke up and have been under the weather since. Sometimes its a reaction to climate changes.

Well, when I went out to buy lunch it was strangely hot, strange in the sense that it wasnt very hot in my place, but it seemed hot outside, a different sort of hot.

It's affected my poker game too so I'm gonna take it easy for today.

Old Blog Posts Migration Complete

Well, I managed to migrate all the blog entries from my old blog to this one. There are some stuff that were left in the old blog, but they're all lists, not blog entries.

I'll be checking those lists too and I'll decide which ones I'd like to migrate here and which I won't. At least in terms of my blog posts, everythin's here already.

Side Effects of Conan O'Brien's Ad-lib

LOL! I can't believe this happened, but it might be true.

In a previous episode of Conan O'Brien, he had a sketch for wacky college football mascots. One of them was a horny manatee on a web cam. At the end of that particular mascot, Conan ad-libbed that there was a www.hornymanatee.com.

In the episode aired tonight, Conan recapped that particular segment and explained that there was this policy that if you mentioned a website on air, even if it was a joke, it had to exist. Due to this policy, NBC had to buy the rights to www.hornymanatee.com!

Is it a sketch too? IDC, the thought of it even possibly being true is hilarious enough!

http://www.hornymanatee.com/

Image Upload Problems

I was trying to transfer some entries from the old blog to here when I noticed that some entries don't have the date printed on them. The display is fine when you view them singly, but if you view them with the others, something is wrong. I tried re-posting those entries, and now I get problems uploading pictures.

So, for those of you who wanted to see what Hanachi-e looks like, please wait 'till Blogger fixes these hiccups. I'll be having problems uploading pics (even in new posts) until then.

-- edit --

It's fixed now (2006.12/07). I managed to return Hanachi-e's old pics. To those looking for new pics, you'll have to wait a bit. I can't seem to catch her in a good shot.

Close 3-Way Showdown to End the Day

I lost an all-in this afternoon 'coz I was so confident with my cards I got blind to the straight that was in front of me. I managed to regain what I lost somewhat, but it made me feel bad to be so blind. I was considering sleeping it over, but an itch made me go for a few rounds. Fate was nice enough to present me with a hand to sort of "even things out" for the day.

By the turn of this particular hand I had a reasonable chance to get an Ace high flush. Any spade would have given me the nuts. A player gave a high bet. From experience I'm not very lucky with straight or flush draws, so I was very nervous to call (in retrospect, perhaps I should have raised, but I really am unlucky with straight and flush draws). After a few tense seconds, I decided to let fate decide. Either I had the nuts or I didn't, no backup outs in my hand.

Fate decided to give me a 4 spade. I got the Ace high flush, and unless someone had a full house (which I doubted), this hand was mine. I was fortunate enough to have been fighting against both a straight and a flush (King high even!)! Moreover, since they both had great hands (particularly the King high flush), they both pushed all-in!

It's not a monster pot, but it's a reasonably sized one for me, and having toughed it out with against such tight competition made my night.

Old Blog

BTW, since I already had quite a few entries in my old blog, and I'm, not sure if I want to go through the effort of transferring all the entries here, those interested in my recent past can check out http://darthritual.spaces.live.com/.

After a while, I'll decide if I wanna stay here of if I'm gonna try another blog (or just keep it for archiving purposes). Regardless, that old one won't be updated for an indefinite amount of time.

The Bauger Haüte Dog

I went to Power Plant Mall around lunch time to get a little different air, as well as to check out if there's anything interesting in Fully Booked. I thought I might as well eat lunch there.

As I was walking around the basement level to decide what to eat, I ran into "The Bauger Haüte Dog". I'ts a hot dog/sausage place, and they served chili dogs. It's something new, and it's been a while since I had a chili dog, so I gave it a go.

The set meals costs P145.00 and includes a hot-dog, a drink, fries, and a glass of iced tea. Portion wise, it ain't bad. The fries are ordinary, nothing special. So was the iced tea (Nestea). The chili-dog itself was OK. The size was big enough, and the hot dog/sausage used is the type where the skin is somewhat tough. I personally don't like sausages like that, but I've been to high class places that serve sausages like that too (ergo, I dunno if it's supposed to be like that). Chili was basically spicy ground meat with some jalapeño thrown in, and cheese.

Overall, it was nothing special, but it ain't bad. Check it out if you like.

Netopia Now Allows Bots on Their PCs

I was surprised to see a move like this has been made. I can understand the financial reasons for establishments to do this, but as a gamer who actually plays the games, this is very disturbing. "Piloting" is already quite disturbing as it is, but bots too?

I haven't thought this through in depth yet, but my current opinion is that bots and piloting causes problems and is a symptom of problems. People who actually play the game are either at an unfair disadvantage or have to put up with a diminished experience. The heart of video games is still fun-factor, and I don't see much fun in effortless accomplishment.

I also think that this is a symptom of bad game design. If people resort to these types of activities, it may indicate that the game is only fun at the "higher levels", and that the road to get there is not fun at all. Perhaps there's something that can be done in the game design to make playing at all levels likable.

Of course, you can't please everybody, and there will always be a few jerks in the crowd. This could also be side effect of the growth of online games as a whole. More people, more of everything, including the problems in online play.

Regardless, I think games are meant to be played, not just "bought". There will always be bots or pilots, but better design and gamers demands should have the muscle to lessen the problems. Like most capitalistic endeavors, the market just adjusts to demand. Your purchases will eventually become the votes and messages that the industry will listen to, so put your money where you want things to go.

Bookworm Adventures

I was getting up to speed with past web comics when I ran into this strip from Penny Arcade featuring Bookworm Adventures. The last word game I ran into that I liked was Text Twist. Perhaps it was interesting, so I gave the trial a shot.

The trial only allows you to play for an hour before expiring, which is a tad too short for me. The game really is simple though, essentially something like Boggle crossed with a fighting game. You fight a series of enemies until you get to the end of a level and fight a "boss". Attacks are made by creating words out of the letters available on the board. When words are made, the letters used are consumed and replaced, and you execute an attack, the damage proportional to the length of the word formed. Sometimes, you get power-ups which gives various bonuses like more damage, upgraded defense, etc.

If you think about it, the concept really is quite simple, but the presentation makes the experience more fun. In the trial, I got to fight creatures from Greek mythology, and there's trivia avaliable for each while you fight them.

I wish I could play it some more, it the presentation (and the game itself) really got me interested. Why don't you check it out yourself?

You gotta love those "ladies"!

I was lucky enough to win a relatively huge pot at Full Tilt with QQ ("ladies")!!! I'm rarely lucky with pre-flop all-ins, so I'm not gonna push my luck much further for today. :P

Exodus

Already had a blog in darthritual.spaces.live.com. Currently checking this one.

-- edit --

All blog entries/posts you read prior to this post are entries from the old blog. I already managed to migrate them here.

Shadowhunt

I think I figured out one of the mysteries of Hanachi-e. Sometimes she gets hyper and runs around chasing phantoms. Apparently, that's exactly it in some cases, she's chasing shadows. Some of the more mundane shadows I cast around the house, she sometimes treats as prey.

Well, next time she seems to act wierdly, I better check if it's my shadow she's chasing. I'll mention this to my SO when she comes back, the same case probably happens to her.

Delayed Nuts

For some reason, all the hands being dealt to me are the nuts for the previous hand!!! So annoying. Put me on tilt several times today.

--- edit ---

For some reason, I did great in Full Tilt. I missed a big pot when I had flushes (the person who got the pot just had a straight! A STRAIGHT!), but I folded to raises. I was so afraid that they had a better flush, I sometimes forget that flushes can be tough to get (not to mention that I was blind to the straight).

Well, at times like that, I always try to remember what 2005 WSOP 2nd placer Steve Dannenmann said during the final table... "Folding to a raise is just a small mistake". I got myself into a nice 2 pair, buffed up my guys, and won a bigger pot! Now my Full Tilt bankroll is at its record high (still pathetic compared to the regulars, tho).

Aside from me not feeling so bad when I lose, Full Tilt has several has a big advantage to Triplejack (where I'm at a -$500 this weekend to my all week high, but still $1k higher than last week) that helps me relax... no or few roulette players. Roulette players make me tense, since they make me gamble instead of play. I like playing poker 'coz the concentration I put per had helps me focus on a single activity. Roulette removes almost need for concentration since everyone basically has a good chance of winning the pot.

I still feel more accomplished when I do well in Triplejack, tho. It's probably because to survive in such a hostile and random environment is a different kind of accomplishment.

Long Overdue Java Self Study

Given the longer periods of time I have for now, I was finally able to get the push I needed to move on from the pure games aspect of my vacation to "games + something productive" phase. I ended up deciding to learn Java. I've used it once in undergrad, but since then, I haven't programmed anything in it. It's ubiquitous enough to be useful to know, and I have been wanting to see it hands on.

For now, I'm going through the basic nuances, tinkering with small stuff (very small) so I can get a feel of how Java is organized, what you can do, and how to typically make things work. I'll probably tinker in a progressive stuff that will allow me to learn certain aspects of the language that I want or need in preparation for the bigger stuff I may come up with along the way.

So far, it's enjoyable. I wonder when the annoying stuff will start to surface...?