gamer pig test blog

Pathfinder mission . Checking my gear I was carrying 36ish pounds. That makes my strength in GURPS officially at 9. No surprise there. Anyway there was a lot of things that sunk in and now I can't recall. Basically, I learned that my cheapness has allowed me to learn what I am willing to have and at what price. Reading vs Actual Experience . Of course we can never discount the value of experience... but many discount the value of bookish knowledge. Knowledge that gave a new dimension to what I experienced and improved my learning curve. Many things I have read and observed are affirmed and give way to a whole lot of sense in the ebb and flow of combat. the interesting thing is that my knowledge is more on archaic warfare and much of what was true then is true now. there are certain limits in complexity and human capacity that changes very very little in time. To think the average roman was less than 5ft and still had the same combat load as modern man. Survival and Navigation 1

Thanks Guys for the surprise Birthday party! Thank you Henry, Patrick, Trisha, Lilly and of course Chat. Pictures to Follow Operation Pathfinder . Had a arduous 5 hour adventure. I took a lot from the experiences. I was able to apply many of the things I learned, observed and read. It was a very rich experience that I must sit down and take the time to write... not right now during my lunch break. - What I learned in the history of Human Performance. - Survival 101 - Navigation 101 - How to prepare - Bivouac for newbies More Pictures http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i228/xc707/IMG_3482.jpg

dinner with mom and dad . We ate out in HEAT and had some stuff to talk about. Mostly about family and little things. Chat enjoyed and I felt bit awkward. According to mom gaspar is having a hard time, candalf is ok, older sister has mellowed out since having a kid, and melchior is still the same. On the mel note , I told mom why we are not in speaking terms, and it was there where things came to light: he got pissed what I said back to back... and he can ignore what ever you had to say to his face. know I've tried to talk to him as well and he is out of control. The discussion left a deep impression that gave me a dream about my relationship about my brother and I. Chat and I went to the states and I didn't want to talk to him. I was very disappointed and frustrated at how he can't be controlled and he has no ability to self correct. In the dream I just couldnt stand him and I was so angry, the same feeling I have with my old friend, Rosero. I see the same traits an

Had a lot done at work . Modeled nuts, berries and leaves for the background. It is very tiring looking at randomixed surfaces and trying to compare it to the real thing. Dinner with the folks . Dinner with my folks later. Ate at this Korean restaurant . Beany and Meaty, 2 of Veggie Astro Prof's banes. Both my folks have high uric acid problems, so I'm pretty cautious about these things. It was a good experience but it left me bloated and chat couldnt it the food cause it was too spicy. No one knew my bday . thankfully the messege system must have been leaving our company dep out of the loop and they didn't post my bday. So, i didn't have to spend much. Joining an Adventure . From pen and paper to airsoft, taking gaming to a different place. Too bad there is no horse riding and archery... i would love that.

first impression of The Witcher . Its what they say about it in the Xplay podcast. Although i don't find any problem with the dialog, despite having a bad script; like the old man saying "babe" in a dark medieval setting. My first impression of the combat is that it is counter intuitive, I can't just click and attack... but I don't like waiting to get hit and I can't figure out how the "timing" is supposed to work. I've checked the manual and it doesn't give any tips on how it is supposed to work. My overall first impression is: needlessly complicated. I know a lot of work was put in the styles and the combat complexity, so I'll work on acquiring the taste for it. Other than that, it is easy to get lost in the game. first impression of Gothic 3 . a 2005 game with 2001 concepts. The Huge shoulders and stocky character designs are not that cool anymore. Everyone is stocky and buff, even the mages. The character art style is painfull to look

Playing Neverwinter Nights 2 . Comming from a facination of historical warfare and a well informed understanding of medieval life and economy I am really forced to turn off my brain while playing the game. When swords are bought up i get a nasty reaction in my head "Swords were in decline when Full Plate was around, How can there be a wizard in a village when even at its highest population it can't support his profession, whats with magic acting like technology, why are the village houses so close together they are usually small plots of farm land appart? ". I know its a fantasy but looking at the game and seeing it as a rigid system of fantasy disillusions me greatly. When there are thousands of magic swords when having just one with a poetic ability would be just enough to awe. When every piece of equipment is magical, doesnt make magic special anymore... it dizzies me. As I play the game I find myself writing equipment packages for a realistic 11th century warrior (typ

Will be burning out soon unless I get a good game for catharsis. Finished Oblivion at 2nd Level without cheating (although I had to mod because I lost my saved game). Now I'm looking to either Witcher or Gothic 3. Both Games will need an upgrade for my Graphics card, which it is Due for. I have no choice but to spend 6k on a 2008 graphics card which has equal or better memory than my 2004 Radeon 9550. PCX seems to have the best prices and a good warranty. Basically it depends on the availability, from a Radeon HD3100 up or GeForce 9 up. Anything less than 5k is already 1-2 years old. The Radeon X series is already 3 years old and the simplest way to keep up with the tech is remembering the model year of make using 4 years as a standard for programs that are going to be harder to find or make compatible. Cool, Kingston 533MHz 1G is 1k. Ok thats 2k for a DDR2 upgrade. Although for game play I really need a graphics card. Ram is for speed between loading levels or files while g

MRT line 3 . I wonder when this line will be done and how great the corruption involved will be. I know from the news, the North Rail project. I wish this line would be done much sooner, it would certainly ease the traffic of passangers. The image is linked to the title.

Kathy. Thanks, congratulations to moving to Canada as well. Sorry we couldn't see you guys, we've been so busy. wish you guys the best. A days work . So far my routine is to go to work, walking about 1km to the santolan station.That takes about 15 minutes (according to my dad who says that greenhills walkway is 1km and which makes sense since average walking speed is 4km per hour). So I get to walk 2km a day. Total LRT and MRT time is usually 1hour to 45mins (about 15-20 mins per train). I bring hot sauce for my budget meals of about less than P50 (i got P45 today since they said you may not include a drink with the meal, and I used one of our credit recieps for a free meal). Work is long and time can slip by when you are busy. Now and then we just leave to piss or eat. We surf a bit, despite our freedome to download anything we want (including office unsafe content). But, i have my own internet and I don't need to waste company resources on something so complicated. I mo

There is a great view of manila bay on the other side of the office . Bladder hurting and all these kinds of churning feelings in my gut, so I'll take a break a bit. Work Progress . An excersize in Mapping basically. i had crappy joints for my model because of my previous two computers. after this experience I've begun measuring the computer's performance by making agiant mesh and seeing at what threshold does the Frames Per Second start slowing down too much. The Computer at Home, Olde Monster can take up to 60,000 polys before slowing down to arund 20fps. Here I'm at about 8,000 and its at 16fps... ouch. I think its because of the 22 inch screen, Old 1gig SDRAM, GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE , and windows 2000. The graphics card is 2002, 6 years old as of Feb. Ok that makes a big Difference. Thanks to Start>RUN>DXDIAG Every 4 years a Tech-related profesional should save up money to make the neccessary upgrades for their computer. From the price 4 years ago, they should

everything Ok except... my seatmate all of a sudden's negative reaction to me. Avoiding me, snubbing me as I greet him and deaf response to probing questions of any problems. Anyway, thats the only thing bothering me right now. Its wierd since I came into this outfit a wide eyed newbie with amicable and generous apporoach. I ddon't know what I did and the fact the guy didn't approach me like an adult and tell me his problem problem with me is one offense I've taken. Me approaching him to talk to him is not exactly an options since he avoids me and its not like I can take him to one corner and ask him what's up. Anyway, I can't afford to deal with this right now. There are things to do and I have better things to occupy my mind with. It doesnt come as a suprise that I have problems like this, but compared to my other problems not so long ago, this isn't big at all. It should be kinda' expected. I just don't have a clue how to avoid or overcome

Lost my Mask/helm at the Shau . I didn't realize it since I was so tired I was on autopilot, despite my SOP of throwing everything into the car. Quiapo . Took 12pm to about 2pm to go to Burlington. Had new pants custom made, basically I wanted it High waist so that my belly doesn't get in the way when I bend over. Diet . Lost some waist line inch by weeks end. I think its because I've been eating a budget calorie diet with Jolibee's burger stake meals. It follows what people say is a balanced amount of meat (about a palm sized) with just a cup of rice. I bet I'd lose more weight faster with half a cup... but I bet I'd be hungry earlier. Of course I augmented it by working out 3x a week plus Airsoft and then the commute's walking and standing effort. Upper body strength still kinda sucks, but I don't really mind. Muscle that is not needed doesnt grow so its pointless to seesaw muscle building on my arms. Time management . One of my challenges. A lot o

Charles: Yep it was the graphics card, thanks. Basically the graphics card was an Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator or GMA 3000. Its stats can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA. The computer is an Innova Thinkcentre with 1.8GHz, 1GB Ram, 160GB space, and ordered with XP instead of Vista. Despite the better OS it sucked eggs in FPS when I worked on objects with a total of 300+ scenes. When I hit 700+ it was dying (IOW hanging). On screen it says 0.28 FPS but its not moving so one can assume its far less than that since it was more than 5 seconds per frame. Work. It seems the only way can remedy this problem is by taking initiative and, despite corporate bureaucracy, do what i need to do now. If I waited for them to do something about it nothing gets done and I can't blame the computer can't I? Anyway, the severity of an offense would make it negligible when one would consider that it got the job done and nothing was damaged or no one was hurt. The Day s

Thanks for the congrats Thomas and Pat. Its not a perfect dream but it will do given the circumstance. Work circumstances . Right now I'm having some computer trouble, this 1.8GHz, 1gDDR, IBM thinkcentre(C) computer is very unsuitable for work so I'm kinda forced to do some stuff at home. When the work program crashes all the time and having no productivity getting done I feel scared for my job. It makes me look lazy when i have to make computer excuses. I wish I knew it couldn't take it BUT my computer at home has roughly the same specs and is cluttered with viruses and fragmented disks but could still do the job I'm doing now. I don't know why its that BIG of a difference in performance... (maybe its the video processing problem with the screen size (1600 x 1050) but if I go smaller its screws up and I cant access some options... hmmm The Garage Band Game Programmers. To produce a game around the quality that would attact enough international support like Mount

A work environment . Nuances, Stratagems, Carousing and Diplomacy... many skills required in doing well or better other than fan boy enthusiasm. Man, why can't life be simple... I just want to work hard, learn everything I need, take every opportunity to prove my worth for more responsibility, command and a raise, and make my art.

"He got that from his mom ". That was what dad said when we last had a get together and my saving habit was mentioned. Of course I'm nothing compared to Charles, Gaspar, AstroProff, or Candalf. Open Game Invite . I'd like to give an open game invite, for around two weeks from now. Game System : GURPS 4E Genre : Modern Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Theme : Heroic Self Discovery and Awareness Characters : Realistic and Mundane (75cp and 35cp for disadvantages) Character Slots : 2-6 players Play Time : 3 hours (8-11 or 9-12 Fridays or, 1-3 or 3-5 Saturday ) Sessions : 2-3 but each session is stand alone. Mahadlika : The People Under Heaven (Modern) The devil walks, In the streets of manila, the Vengeance of Martyrs Burns, Fallen Gods Rise, and Heroes answer the call... A Philippine Historical-Modern-Fantasy Game Theme thought : What does it mean to be Under Heaven? Character Concept Thought : Who would you want to be when the devil comes calling?

There are alot of things I need to learn ... but thankfully I have not yet needed more than what I already know. I'm on my way and its not too hard just a lot of work. I am using an IBM PC which is meant for call center work than modeling (did I mention i have a freaking 22inch screen! not bad for someone who had to stick to 15 inches and less since forever). The screen size is great but there is no graphics card and it can't handle the calculations made during modeling. Anyway the company is due for an upgrade and hopefully we will get a batch of real MONSTERS for work. All my skills . From HTML, Dreamweaver, even Creative Writing, My love for Philippine History, to my determination to do the job right and a bunch of other skills I've haven't found use for in years are all being used and increasing my value in the team. It is really a place for me to build my mahadlika portfolio and graphics. Although right now we are busy, i'll find time for it in the future. The

Dreams. I'm being trained to develope computer training simulationis... IOW GAMES. YEP I am a GAME DESIGNER!!! Here's rooting for the underdog. Sorry in advanced for my being unable to make the games from now and the future. I want to really get good and get good FAST. If i want to kick ass and make games then I better do this well... the less distractions the better. The only free time I have now are my Sat afternoon.

It may never materialize but I am tempted to run a game on friday nights by the guys (nel and nikos) with squid, Mat, Prin and unlikely Dyep and Vannie. They are interested in play mahadlika, but I find it too heavy to begin with for a new group who I don't know their quirks. Anyway, if it ever materializes GURPS Mahadlika 2008 is going to be very different, grounded and with no supernatural. According to the guys it the players will appreciate the setting and I get to explore the guys the Philippines in what it could have been. One way I could make it easy for them to digest is that, Nel and Nikos play guardians to each of the new characters. They will advice them in the way the world works. 100cp point game of intrigue, some romance, and politics... To bad r*ssel is in a downward spiral in his GMing and doesn't like playing no one else's game but his own. I pitty GMs who are like that and have disgruntled players. The older we all get the more our bad habits and traits be

No wonder my Lolo stuck out like a sore thumb . Two interesting views come to mind when living in the Philippines: Principles they teach you and the Reality you live in . My Father and My Grandfather (Mother's side) are two very different people but they can be a good example or story for any advice I can give my hypothetical children. First of (Randomly) lets start with Lolo. Lolo* Ben (Benjamin Nicolo) was born from a wealthy land owning family in Negros. Despite being from Negros he and his family considered themselves Illongo, simply because of the dominant culture of their area (Negros is divided by two languages and two sibling cultures Zegbu'an and Hiligayn'an). *Lolo = Grandfather What I took away from my Lolo Ben is his inflexible and unbending sense of principles. My memories of Lolo were plenty and he made sure I was a kid that loved my science and math (math wasn't that successful). I was heavily influenced by his religious beliefs and his code of c

One thing I wanted to learn right out of high school was C++, I even got a Dummies book. I didn't get into computer science and I left BS math for the arts. Now, getting into game design I really want to make, even just a 3d environment where I can explore and elaborate. It crossed my mind that am I too old to learn C++... and yes I am. BUT, all is not lost yet. I have the skills to make something more usefull than a 3d landscape. the ability to make a show reel. There are two directions I can go: game or film. Pitch mahadlika as either gives me the flexibility to have my dream in a more reachable form. I guess making that musical-video intro that has been in my head (to the sound of battlestar gallactica's the shape of things to come). It is a 3 minute tune but filling it up with graphics would probably take me more than a year with the skills I need to learn and the titanic processing time... but it will be worth it in the long run.

It sucks that there are so many expenses and too little money to spend on it. These are expenses up in the air till we have money... the computer part, hopefully once I start work (and if they have a great computer) I won't notice it. I need a computer to make my own show reels and Mahadlika stuff. I better start making the story board, character designs for the animation intro. Large Future Expenses . for the Desk Top PC . Total P31,000 1) Software Upgrade P9,000 2) Ram Upgrade 2G P7,000 3) Video Card (Graphics Card) P5,000 4) Processor Upgrade P10,000 for the House . 1) Shelves Spaces ?P15,000-20,000 2) Repairs ? 3) Paint ?P5,000 4) Sets of Curtains ?P20,000 5) Wireless Internet 1-5k/month 6) New Couches P20,000