I'm not really a vain person. My wardrobe consists of free t-shirts from work events and several ratty pairs of jeans. I wear one pair of Nike Frees everywhere from the trail to interviews. I haven't cut my hair in two years. And I'm not terribly obsessed with my waistline, except in that it makes it that much harder to do pullups.
However.
My ten year high school reunion is next year. I haven't seen 99% of those people since graduation (and I don't exactly miss most of them.) I have a vision of stalking into the gym, picking out whichever of the hot chicks actually came out since high school, crooking my finger, and stalking out again. That would be FUN.
It's not terribly likely to happen with my current catassing, couch-potato, whiskey-drinking self. I've worked out on and off (more off than on) and alternated between eating really well, moderately badly, and extraordinarily badly, for the past nine years. Add in an 8-month whiskey binge that added 50 pounds, and I need to do a bit of work.
So, here we are. Some goals, in handy list format:
- During my more diligent periods, daily updates in some public place have helped a lot, so I'll be updating this every weekday and probably most weekends.
- For the moment I'll be doing Crossfit (modified for my actual capabilities, of course) which is a three day on, one day off program.
- I'm going to stick to the Zone diet for at least three months and see how that goes (I had a Zone-appropriate breakfast and feel fabulous, so I'm down with it so far...)
- I'm going to track my weight daily with the Hacker's Diet tracker to keep an eye on trends.
- I'm going to stick with this until the date to the left, or until my high school reunion, whichever is later. This is the hard part.
I may add a few more goals, just as sort of a life-tracker thing, but for the moment I need to groove in a few of these habits, so that's where my attention will be.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Holiday Roundup
Been playing a little of this, a little of that:
SimCity Societies: Fun for about three days, then I became bored. Haven't tried the newly-added "challenge modes" yet, but I'm not exactly captivated by the gameplay. One of the things I liked about previous SimCities was watching my city grow and change over time - in Societies, what you place is what you get. I got nine of the ten achievements by building a small town that earned a profit, letting it run at top speed while I had lunch and read for a while, then using the hundreds of thousands of dollars I'd accumulated to build the rest of the city types on the same map. The "Authoritarian" one is the only one I haven't gotten, because it's dependent on having your Sims be not upset but not overly happy, which requires some fairly specific planning. Overall, I give it a resounding "eh".
The Sims: Seems to have run its course again. I've got a lovely little town I can come back to when I feel like it, but the charm has, once again, worn off.
TR: Went to the roleplaying event on Defeat of Earth Day, which was fun, if predictably disrupted by bored players with particle effects. The clans that showed up in uniform looked damned sharp though. Played some on Resurgence Day, but missed the actual attack. Pity.
My main hit 18 and I'm nearly done with Divide - one more boss, a few CP attack/defense missions, and the instances, and I'll be on to Palisades. I think the plan will be finish Divide, finish Wilderness on Jaxon, run through Palisades, go back to Divide on an alt, do another zone on the main, etc. The cloning system is awesome but there's definitely going to be some repetition, particularly when I have 8 troops to run through the 30-50 content. Fortunately, Divide at least has some bits I want to do again (the Bane-in-prison quest line in particular is fascinating.)
The fun of combat has definitely not diminished, and I'm beginning to play with some of the unique Ranger skills - I can see how the classes will begin to differentiate. I also want to start fooling around with crafting, now that there's a global trade system and one can find markets to sell equipment with well-chosen mods. 30 is a ways off yet, though.
SimCity Societies: Fun for about three days, then I became bored. Haven't tried the newly-added "challenge modes" yet, but I'm not exactly captivated by the gameplay. One of the things I liked about previous SimCities was watching my city grow and change over time - in Societies, what you place is what you get. I got nine of the ten achievements by building a small town that earned a profit, letting it run at top speed while I had lunch and read for a while, then using the hundreds of thousands of dollars I'd accumulated to build the rest of the city types on the same map. The "Authoritarian" one is the only one I haven't gotten, because it's dependent on having your Sims be not upset but not overly happy, which requires some fairly specific planning. Overall, I give it a resounding "eh".
The Sims: Seems to have run its course again. I've got a lovely little town I can come back to when I feel like it, but the charm has, once again, worn off.
TR: Went to the roleplaying event on Defeat of Earth Day, which was fun, if predictably disrupted by bored players with particle effects. The clans that showed up in uniform looked damned sharp though. Played some on Resurgence Day, but missed the actual attack. Pity.
My main hit 18 and I'm nearly done with Divide - one more boss, a few CP attack/defense missions, and the instances, and I'll be on to Palisades. I think the plan will be finish Divide, finish Wilderness on Jaxon, run through Palisades, go back to Divide on an alt, do another zone on the main, etc. The cloning system is awesome but there's definitely going to be some repetition, particularly when I have 8 troops to run through the 30-50 content. Fortunately, Divide at least has some bits I want to do again (the Bane-in-prison quest line in particular is fascinating.)
The fun of combat has definitely not diminished, and I'm beginning to play with some of the unique Ranger skills - I can see how the classes will begin to differentiate. I also want to start fooling around with crafting, now that there's a global trade system and one can find markets to sell equipment with well-chosen mods. 30 is a ways off yet, though.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The Sims 2
I acquired almost all of the Sims 2 expansion and "stuff" packs (long story) and decided to install them on Sunday just so I could throw out all the shrinkwrap. This was probably a tactical error.
I played the Sims back in the day, and quite enjoyed it, and the Sims 2 was a definite step up in complexity and depth. But after a while the irony of neglecting my housework to do virtual housework gets to me, and I shelve the series. There are some neat things going on with the expacks, though, and they've been fun to explore. (Note: I installed four expansions and three "stuff" packs at once, so I'm not real sure about which bit came from what.)
More stuff is always a plus - the house construction and interior design aspects of the series have always been near the top of the list for me. There are also quite a few new min-maxer treats since the original, like "talent badges" for things like fishing and "lifetime achievements" that, if achieved, seem to shortcut the whole mood concept (permanent platinum mood? Woo!) I love having kitties running around, so I'm down with the "Pets" pack, but "Seasons" just seems like a long-delayed wishlist item packaged all shiny.
I haven't started my own business yet, so can't comment there, but if I don't update about TR as much, it's because the Stilwaters are busy fishing and mowing the lawn :P
I played the Sims back in the day, and quite enjoyed it, and the Sims 2 was a definite step up in complexity and depth. But after a while the irony of neglecting my housework to do virtual housework gets to me, and I shelve the series. There are some neat things going on with the expacks, though, and they've been fun to explore. (Note: I installed four expansions and three "stuff" packs at once, so I'm not real sure about which bit came from what.)
More stuff is always a plus - the house construction and interior design aspects of the series have always been near the top of the list for me. There are also quite a few new min-maxer treats since the original, like "talent badges" for things like fishing and "lifetime achievements" that, if achieved, seem to shortcut the whole mood concept (permanent platinum mood? Woo!) I love having kitties running around, so I'm down with the "Pets" pack, but "Seasons" just seems like a long-delayed wishlist item packaged all shiny.
I haven't started my own business yet, so can't comment there, but if I don't update about TR as much, it's because the Stilwaters are busy fishing and mowing the lawn :P
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Divide, part 1
Spent a while in Divide today with my ranger - it's much bigger, and feels much more dangerous, than Wilderness. It's a nice contrast, actually. I like that not all of the Logos have handy quests to point them out, although I will probably end up hating it if I can't find all of them.
I've played my specialist some, too, and am starting to get a feel for how to play him - much more defensively than the Soldier, for obvious reasons. I really didn't use the soldier's skills that much, other than the chaingun, but I'm feeling the lack in some cases. The Repair tool is damned handy, though.
My Commando is on ice for the moment - I don't want to try to run Divide with two characters at the same time, or I'll go nuts.
I'm really looking forward to the holiday events - I will have a week off at the end of the month, so I should be able to take part in the RP memorial service as well as the Bane assault on Foreas base. Good stuff!
I've played my specialist some, too, and am starting to get a feel for how to play him - much more defensively than the Soldier, for obvious reasons. I really didn't use the soldier's skills that much, other than the chaingun, but I'm feeling the lack in some cases. The Repair tool is damned handy, though.
My Commando is on ice for the moment - I don't want to try to run Divide with two characters at the same time, or I'll go nuts.
I'm really looking forward to the holiday events - I will have a week off at the end of the month, so I should be able to take part in the RP memorial service as well as the Bane assault on Foreas base. Good stuff!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tabula Rasa: The Soldier
The Soldier class is the intro to the combat line of TR's class tree. As such, I think it performs its function tolerably well. There isn't a tremendous amount of distinction at this tier, but really levels 5-15 are more about learning game mechanics than class roles, and the tools the soldier has available work fairly well for that purpose.
There are four Soldier-specific skills, and I tried out all of them. Since they're the real distiguishing factor, I'll focus on them for the purposes of this review. (Attributes are non-class-specific, and crafting is its own topic.)
Rage: Rage is on the verge of being drastically altered, so I'm mostly going to skip it, other than to note that I'm not very good with remembering to buff myself regularly. It was pretty awesome when I did remember to use it, but that's probably at least partially because it's 5x as powerful as intended.
Shrapnel: This one was fun - it's a point-blank AoE effect, handy for those tight situations. It has a longer cast time than I'd really like, but it seemed to do pretty decent damage, and AoE always makes me happy. I may play with it further on my melee clones (I can't see it being too useful on a sniper, though.)
Machine Guns: I can't imagine why you wouldn't put at least one point in this. I saved my chainguns for heavy targets like Kael and mortars - they're ammo eaters and you can really go through cash if you use them too much - but situationally, they were invaluable.
Reflective Armor: Again, why not put a point in it? In these lower levels, you level past armor far too quickly to cling to any particular piece, so I used the best stuff I had at the moment, type be damned. The concept is fascinating, though, and I like the idea of different advantages to full-suit vs. piecemeal armor.
Overall, the skills seem reasonably well-chosen to give players a taste of upcoming decisions. The idea of armor types that are more complex than simply "good, better, best" is a critical one, even if the actual choice isn't critical this early. Shrapnel is reflective of skills to come (carpet bombing and scourge, in particular) and Rage is a nice differentiator between Soldier and Specialist. I was able to solo the Wilderness instances with sufficient but not excessive challenge, and I definitely got a solid grip on how to play a heavy combat character.
The only real lack was in melee combat - other than critical kills, I really don't have any taste of how that would work. Hand-to-hand doesn't make much sense when it severely damages your weapon, plus the shotgun has beautiful knockback and is well-suited to those kinds of close-quarters situations. I was originally planning to aim for Spy, but I know I like sniping, and I have no idea if I'd like melee. A melee weapon - even a set of brass knucks - would give players a way to try out that playstyle here, where the stakes are low.
(As it is, the critical kill concept is just bizarre - distance and cover are your best advantages. Why on earth would you give them up? But that's a rant for another day.)
There are four Soldier-specific skills, and I tried out all of them. Since they're the real distiguishing factor, I'll focus on them for the purposes of this review. (Attributes are non-class-specific, and crafting is its own topic.)
Rage: Rage is on the verge of being drastically altered, so I'm mostly going to skip it, other than to note that I'm not very good with remembering to buff myself regularly. It was pretty awesome when I did remember to use it, but that's probably at least partially because it's 5x as powerful as intended.
Shrapnel: This one was fun - it's a point-blank AoE effect, handy for those tight situations. It has a longer cast time than I'd really like, but it seemed to do pretty decent damage, and AoE always makes me happy. I may play with it further on my melee clones (I can't see it being too useful on a sniper, though.)
Machine Guns: I can't imagine why you wouldn't put at least one point in this. I saved my chainguns for heavy targets like Kael and mortars - they're ammo eaters and you can really go through cash if you use them too much - but situationally, they were invaluable.
Reflective Armor: Again, why not put a point in it? In these lower levels, you level past armor far too quickly to cling to any particular piece, so I used the best stuff I had at the moment, type be damned. The concept is fascinating, though, and I like the idea of different advantages to full-suit vs. piecemeal armor.
Overall, the skills seem reasonably well-chosen to give players a taste of upcoming decisions. The idea of armor types that are more complex than simply "good, better, best" is a critical one, even if the actual choice isn't critical this early. Shrapnel is reflective of skills to come (carpet bombing and scourge, in particular) and Rage is a nice differentiator between Soldier and Specialist. I was able to solo the Wilderness instances with sufficient but not excessive challenge, and I definitely got a solid grip on how to play a heavy combat character.
The only real lack was in melee combat - other than critical kills, I really don't have any taste of how that would work. Hand-to-hand doesn't make much sense when it severely damages your weapon, plus the shotgun has beautiful knockback and is well-suited to those kinds of close-quarters situations. I was originally planning to aim for Spy, but I know I like sniping, and I have no idea if I'd like melee. A melee weapon - even a set of brass knucks - would give players a way to try out that playstyle here, where the stakes are low.
(As it is, the critical kill concept is just bizarre - distance and cover are your best advantages. Why on earth would you give them up? But that's a rant for another day.)
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Next Tier
Finished Pravus Research, which wasn't a bad zone but for a bugged quest drop that made me restart it. Fortunately, all that meant was I had to kill about three extra Bane, so I'm not too cranky. Finishing the instance and associated quests meant I did get my clone credit in time, so I now have a Ranger and a Commando at 15, who each have an extra clone credit. Go go alt fiend!
Got both of them to Divide, where it is clear I will be kept happily occupied for quite a while. I'll probably switch off between the two of them and my Specialist, who's only 8 and has a ways to go in Wilderness. Soldier class review incoming, once I gather my thoughts.
Got both of them to Divide, where it is clear I will be kept happily occupied for quite a while. I'll probably switch off between the two of them and my Specialist, who's only 8 and has a ways to go in Wilderness. Soldier class review incoming, once I gather my thoughts.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Caves of Donn
Ran the Caves of Donn solo tonight. Wasn't too terribly hard, minus a couple of mismanaged group encounters, and the regrettable slaughter of the party of Foreans I led into a Bane mortar. I like the instances, although I wonder if the intro movies are supposed to be quite so choppy. It may be time for a driver upgrade, who knows?
Dinged 14 somewhere in there - we'll see if I can make it through Pravus without dinging again - that would allow me to clone before 15, so my clone would get the credit at 15 as well. Either way it's not a huge deal, I guess.
I'm slightly baffled by the change to crafting - now all weapon mods require crafting skill as well. I suppose that's nice enough, but I'm not spending a point on it on an actual fighting character. I'll make a crafting clone at some point and play with it then. Until then, I'll just sell off all the recipes and save the components for the forthcoming Military Surplus.
Work was insane last week - hopefully I'll get more time in the next few weeks.
Dinged 14 somewhere in there - we'll see if I can make it through Pravus without dinging again - that would allow me to clone before 15, so my clone would get the credit at 15 as well. Either way it's not a huge deal, I guess.
I'm slightly baffled by the change to crafting - now all weapon mods require crafting skill as well. I suppose that's nice enough, but I'm not spending a point on it on an actual fighting character. I'll make a crafting clone at some point and play with it then. Until then, I'll just sell off all the recipes and save the components for the forthcoming Military Surplus.
Work was insane last week - hopefully I'll get more time in the next few weeks.
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