week 10

1 more week then finals start. Here's my schedule:

Saturday: CS final
Tuesday: Physics final
Thursday: Math final

I'm still rocking the beard but it's getting tough. When I sleep on my side it presses up against my face and that's uncomfortable. Also I don't feel clean when I get out of the shower and I'm not shaved. My goal is to keep it until finals, but I doubt that's gonna work.

This game is sick! I love these kinds of games. Give it a try if you have time to kill:
http://www.playauditorium.com/#index

Black Friday

At midnight I went to look at the lines in a few places. There were tents around Best Buy, and a few people in front of Target. There was a line at office depot too. I didn't do any shopping. I was on Brand though, and the traffic sucked. But it was also cause of the Americana.

It turns out in NY that some people trampled and killed some guy running into a Wal-Mart. Never underestimate how cheap and/or greedy people can be.

Nice win by the Lakers. Mavs continue to demonstrate that they're the chokes of the NBA. But to be fair, Josh Howard was sitting out.

Finals coming up :(

turkey

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

long weekend

Waiting on traffic to die down before I head home. It should be good by 8:00. The 405 and 101 looked terrible about 2 hours ago.

Celtics came back and beat the Warriors

Thanksgiving break is a tease. At least for us. We get a 4-day weekend only to come back and start studying for finals. It's bittersweet.

rain

finally some rain. I love it. It's kinda weak here. Supposedly it's stronger in G-dale.

I got a lot done today. Red Bull is clutch.

Paranoia sucks.

I'm so pumped for Lakers vs. Celtics on Christmas.

Thanksgiving is almost here :)

I don't think I need anything on black Friday. There are some great deals on plasma TVs. If it were next summer, I'd get one. But I'm good right now.

short week

Well there are only 2 days left to this week, that's good news. My friend invited me to her party today. My response? "South campus majors actually have stuff to do, remember?" For those of you who don't know, UCLA is split into a North and South campus. North campus contains the humanities, languages, political sciences, history, etc. South campus contains the sciences, engineering, math, and to a lesser extent, psychology. I'm not even gonna get into how easy the north campus students have it here. I'll save that for another post. But I felt pretty good about what I said to her.

Went to Gordon Biersch tonight. The beer was good, food was decent. I've had a mild headache the past two days and still am tired.

When I got back to my place, the garage gate clicker wasn't working. Mess. I tried it 100 times, every which way, angle, distance, and direction. I had to call my roommate to come open it. Now I have another errand to to take care of.

Working on some CS stuff right now. Hopefully I'll get it done before I sleep. Then I'll wake up, do physics, then start on math, etc., and then it'll be Wednesday :)

weekend

I'm so tired. I slept like 6 hours Thursday night and 6 again last night cause I had to wake up at 8 for my tennis tournament. On the plus side, it went well. We won our first two matches then lost in the quarterfinals in a tie breaker. Oh well, I did better than I thought I would.

The Albertsons across the street is closing down so a new apartment building can be built in its place. So they're having a liquidation sale where everything is 10%, 25% or 50% off. I stocked up nicely.

iPhone 2.2 update is out. Hurray... now we get Google street view. That's alright I guess. Where's copy/paste, video recording, MMS, and a widescreen keyboard for texting? Pick up the pace Apple.

Still need to see Quantum of Solace.

Tyler Perry's House of Payne sucks.

It's gonna rain during Thanksgiving. Awesome. I love rain.

friday

douchey parties going on tonight. I want none of that.

I have a tennis match tomorrow. Hope I'm not too rusty.

top 10 South Park characters

Here's another of many top 10 lists that I'll have in this blog. This one will rank my favorite South Park characters. I started watching this show about a year ago, and I'm almost all caught up. I have about 22 episodes left then I'll be in the current season (12). This is up there with Simpsons. It's one of the few shows that genuinely makes me laugh. Yeah, some of the episodes are very wrong and offensive, but the rest are great. I don't think there's a huge amount of character development in these later episodes, so this list should be pretty solid at this point. Enjoy.

10. Chef

This guy is great, especially his reactions to the kids' problems. They'd be like Chef, we did so and so, and he'll say, WHAT? Then he'd bust out in spontaneous song, singing something like I'm gonna make love to you womannnn... RIP Isaac Hayes.

9. Tuong Lu Kim

Being the only Asian guy in the show, he has to fit stereotypes. The funniest thing about him, besides the fact that his eyes are always closed, is his accent. He can't make the 'l' sound or 'c' sound. So he says things like "God damn Mongorians!" and "Welcome to Shitty Wok."

8. Kenny

Besides the fact that this guy is immortal (well, maybe not, but I won't spoil anything). He's funny cause his voice is always muffled. Good thing too, cause he has a pretty dirty mouth. You can sometimes make out what he's saying. Also, he's always been the medium between the boys. If any of the other three are fighting, he'll be neutral.

7. Jimmy

This guy is a comedian. Literally. He tells fantastic jokes and loves the audience. Timmy is okay, but this guy is way better. My favorite episode with him in it is the one where he gets a hooker. I was in tears.

6. Cartman

Yeah, he is a douche, asshole, jerk, etc. But you can't help but love this guy. He adds so much to the show. One, his voice is hilarious, and two, he's the funniest one of the main characters. There are too many notable episodes to list. But if you're even a noob to the series, a few should come to mind. The one where he joins NAMBLA and the Sea People one are great. Plus he sings a lot too.

5. Randy

Randy started off like all the other parents in the show. Mature, calm, quiet, and actually boring. But in the later seasons, he's really picked things up. He overreacts to a lot of things and goes crazy sometimes. A few notable episodes are the new one about the election, the Easter one, Guitar Queer-o, and of course the Warcraft one. He's actually the only parent who's funny. Kenny's dad was funny for a few episodes, and Kyle's dad was funny for the episode where Kyle becomes black, but that's it.

4. Tweek

Hehe, this guy is awesome. AHH geez! I can't take the pressure. He's always nervous and jittery because his parents own a coffee shop and always give him coffee. He doesn't say much except that he can't take the pressure.

3. Towelie

The second episode I ever watched was the one with Towelie and the Okama Gamesphere; and boy did I laugh (the other one was Cartmanland). I must've watched it a dozen times before realizing there are other episodes. I nearly collapsed the first time I saw this. He just comes and tells them about towel safety, then RANDOMLY busts out "you wanna get high?" He's a towel who gets high. What's not to love? He was in only two other episodes I think.

2. Butters

I love this guy. He's clueless and nervous. He's usually the one who gets manipulated by the others and believes everything he hears. Like the time when he thought he was in love with the Raisins girl, or the time when he first saw a porno. One other quote I like is when he said "hey guys should we just pull our pants down or turn around, put our weiners between our legs and give her a nice fruit bowl?" LMAO. The one where everyone though he was bi-curious was great too. Also his voice just inherently makes you laugh.

1. Mr. Mackey

This guy is the best, mmkay? He's the school counselor, but does a lot more than that. My favorite episode of his was when he hooked up with the 4th grade teacher. When he grew, his body stayed the same but his head just kept getting bigger, according to him. Drugs are bad, mmkay?

basking

i'm enjoying it, it's great having some free time for once

I'm trying to decide on which classes I'll be taking next quarter. So far it looks like discrete math, comp sci, and an upper div lab. Then in spring i'll take one more lab, my last physics class, and one more comp sci class. I need some A's though, i'm just a bit below a 3.0 and need to be at or above it for grad school or things will be tough.

Anybody see that new commercial for the Nikon Coolpix with Ashton Kutcher? He's such a douche.

I'm in g-dale right now enjoying the time off, but I still have work to do. The weekend should be great.

temporary freedom

I finally have a few days of freedom. The next thing due is another programming assignment next tuesday, but I have the weekend for that. I started the one due tonight early in the day, and didn't even finish it. It's okay, cause I got an A on the midterm. I'm gonna enjoy my free time by hanging out, playing tennis, catching up on gaming and basketball, and hopefully see Quantum of Solace.

TGI Fridays kinda sucks. The food quality is whatever, and they overcharged me. Hooters also sucks, and so does thai food.

It's 4 AM. Guess who's not going to class tomorrow?

I saw this video last night and can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Take a look.

week 8

those midterms were gross. Glad they're over with. After I turn in a programming assignment tomorrow, I'll be clear for at least a week. Excited for that.

The air was still ashy last night.

Why do people insist on standing in doorways in groups to talk? Or even in the middle of a walkway. Are you that dumb to not realize you're standing where a lot of people walk? Or are you just too selfish to care? I make an effort to purposely bump into them to knock some sense into them. But I need to start bumping into them harder.

How do you suspend KG for one little play and not Shaq for escalating a fight? Stu Jackson is a joke. Oh well. But I doubt the Celtics need him for the game against New York.

The Physics department at UCLA needs some changes. 10 spots for the solid state lab? TEN? Considering there are about 30 students in the lecture for it? My enrollment appointment started half an hour ago, and the class was full this morning. How does that work? I don't wanna take the particle physics lab. Ideally I will take the solid state lab, one upper div elective that I've almost decided on, and finite math. Then in spring I'll take CS 32, another 180 lab, and maybe Armenian or something. Then it's all over!

so tired. 3 hours of sleep will do that to you. Tonight's sleep will be incredible though.

triple double

let's see, what's in the news?

Dwight Howard had a monster game with 30 points, 19 boards, 10 blocks, 3 assists. Thanks bro.

Hit up Red Robin and got an A1 Peppercorn burger. GS.

So we're still pretty early into the season and there was already a fight in the NBA. It was in the Rockets/Suns game if you missed it. Last year there were no fights, and this year there's one already. But it wasn't that big. No suspensions will be handed out, at least I don't think so. It was mostly a shoving match. But it's still bigger than anything that happened last year. It was funny seeing Shaq push people over one by one with ease though.

Need to do homework tomorrow and over the weekend, and CRAM for two more midterms. Why do they almost always end up on the same day??

cold

it was pretty cold today, I actually turned on the heater. It was pretty lonely too, up until around 6:00. But I did get a good amount of studying done. Good thing too, since I have two midterms on monday.

Lakers over Mavs. It was a nice game. Still undefeated too. Impressive. So are the Hawks. How did that happen?

There's this tree outside that sways in the wind and grinds against the wall and window of my room. Not only is it annoying to hear, but it wakes me up sometimes. It's also ripped the window screen and now bugs are getting in at will. They said they would replace the screen and cut down the branches too. But that was what, a month ago? Usually they're really quick about maintenance. But not this time. I took things into my own hands. I got my Miracle Blade and cut off some of the branches. That should help with the noise. But I have to go tell them again to replace the screen.

Monday

Didn't the UCs put Veteran's day on a Monday before? The old calendars aren't up anymore so I can't check. But having tomorrow off is useless for me, and many south campus students. I can't imagine how thrilled north campus students are. This gives some of them 5-day weekends. No wonder they party every day. Poor guys, they have it so hard >_>

Firefox sucks lately. It's been crashing on me frequently. What happened? It used to be so stable. Hopefully a new update is coming.

I got a 12-pack of Red Bull. I drink about 1 per week, two at most. I have two midterms next Monday, and the usual weekly homework in each class. Let the studying begin.

I borrowed Ico from a friend. It's by the same people who brought you my #3 favorite game (look down two entries). Maybe I can play it next week.

rounding out the top 20

First and foremost, I apologize for my two week absence. It shouldn't happen again. Let's leave it at that and get back to business.

Here are 8 more games to my top 12 list to bring it to a clean 20. This is because there are too many games I like, and also since 12 isn't a clean number. It's even, but I like multiples of 5.

20. Donkey Kong Country (SNES, 1994)

This was one of the first games I ever owned. Before getting an SNES, I had only a Game Boy and an NES that I borrowed from my cousin. But after going over to a few friends' houses who had the SNES, I was convinced it was for me. I can't believe I remember these details: It was a Thursday. I got out of school, went to the back exit where my mom was waiting for me, went to Toys R Us, and picked up an SNES console with this game. Then I would just sit there taking turns with my sister playing this thing. What sets it apart is the gameplay and graphics. Yeah, graphics. In 1994, these were the graphics to beat. This game was platforming bliss, rivaled only by the Mario franchise at the time. It had animals you ride, collecting tasks, several allies, memorable bad guys, and just a dash of humor. Even though Donkey Kong appeared in the original 1981 game with Mario in it, this was the true start of the franchise since he was the main character from this point on. I indeed came back for more, picking up the next two on the SNES, two on the game boy, and even the incredible N64 adventure.

19. Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)

I have a certain rule about trying to not put more than one game of a single series in this list. This way I can express when I thought the series was at its peak. But I had to violate it sooner or later with the Mario series. It's just that good. This is actually the oldest game on my list. The fact that it's up there with games from the past few years should really tell you something. Again, this was platforming at its best. My memories with this one include going to my neighbor's place a few times a week just to play this. Back then it was pretty hard to master this game since there were so many secrets and unlockables. But we finally did, finishing the traditional path of the game, the Star Road, and then Brown World. If you don't know what those are you're a noob. But about the game, it has everything there is to love about platforming as well as the Mario series. It set the stage for the transition to 3D in Mario 64, which is higher up on this list.

18. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2, 2005)

Here's one that belongs to a distinct segment of the gamer market: the car enthusiasts. If you know me at all you know I am one. The Need for Speed series and the others are all good and fun, but sometimes you wanna be a little more serious about your games. This is as realistic as it gets for racing games. You get real cars, real physics, real world locations, and a very real driving simulator. It's a car lover's dream. You start off taking driving tests to get your racing licenses, get a little money, buy a used fixer-upper, mod it, and take it to the tracks. The more you win, the more money you get. You eventually get better cars and better modifications, and work your way to the top. To me, that's my idea of car heaven. I even started with the first car I had in real life, an Acura Integra. That sense of nostalgia is great too. I'm still playing this game, after jumping into it rather late (2 years ago). The next one is due out soon and I look forward to it. Hopefully I'll have this one completed by then.

17. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN, 2001)

Except for maybe Diablo II, this is the game I have poured the most time into. No joke. It's somewhere near 1000 hours. You wanna know how I did that? College dorms. 2004-2005 was the year. Our door would be open all the time, and people would just come in to play. There were days that my gamecube didn't turn off the whole day. People would come in at 9 am and wake me up to challenge me. I kid you not. I was even in a few tournaments. I did pretty well but never took home the gold. I'm not sure what it is exactly about this game that's so good. It's tremendously fun, one of the best multiplayer games, easy to pick up, and very difficult to master. Wait, I just answered my own question. Mastering the game was the most fun part. I even trained a few people. There are so many little things that take a while to develop, I had it down to a science. Yeah, maybe my GPA suffered a bit that year, but that year was definitely the most fun I've ever had in my life, and not just cause the gaming.

16. Perfect Dark (N64, 2000)

This game really pushed the N64, as well as the gaming world at the time, to its limits. Literally. You had to have an "expansion pak" for the N64 to play it. Most people didn't mind though. It was well worth it. This game took everything Goldeneye had presented and made it better. They're not part of the same series though. They're both made by Rare and very similar, but not the same series. Only the Mario series gets two games in this list. But yeah, this had it all: a full array of awesome, technologically advanced guns, inspiring characters, good story, and excellent gameplay. What's more is that it was VERY difficult to complete the game on the hardest difficulty. I wasn't able to do it, and neither was anybody I know. I got through about half the levels on the hardest difficulty, but some levels (Attack Ship? Pelagic II?) were near impossible to finish on that difficulty. It was very advanced for its time though. It had hostage situations, cloaking, rockets that you can guide, drugs you can take to slow down time, and just so many cool little things. It was also one of the best multiplayer games. However, I still put Goldeneye above it since it came earlier and brought more to the gaming world.

15. The Sims (PC, 2000)

The Sims, Diablo II, and Smash Bros Melee. These are the three games that I spent the most time with. This game definitely earned its game of the year award. I first played this in middle school when a friend brought it over. Now that I think about it, it might've been my first entry to PC gaming. I remember thinking that I had never seen such an in-depth and fun game before. I still think so today. You get to customize people, their lives, their surroundings, and almost everything else. Talk about power, the addicting kind. I would play for hours thinking I'd played for only a few minutes and realize I had to get back to my homework. It's really fun to start a bachelor, have him gain skills and friends, advance through his career, get married, have kids, and so on. In a way, you can plan out how you'd like your life to be. It may sound cheesy, but that's one of the biggest reasons people like this game. I only enjoyed the original though. I got the two expansion packs after it, but it eventually got killed with the dozens of expansion packs and the sequel. But it was truly revolutionary for its time, and one of the few PC games I actually bought.

14. Max Payne (PC, 2001)

This is still my favorite PC game of all time (even though Bioshock and Diablo II are higher in the list, don't ask). Presentation, innovation, gameplay, story. All top notch. We've all seen the Matrix (I hope). But this game presented the whole concept of slow mo into shooters to make things better. You're one man, framed for murder, out for answers. But the odds are against you. That is, until you discover bullet time. You can slow down time to get an advantage in shooting people, and dive out of corners for a stylish kill. What I really loved about this game is not only the story, but how it's presented. Production value is high. Voice acting is excellent. The cutscenes are these comic strips drawn with pastel or chalk. Whatever it is, it looks great and really gives you a sense of how the story is going. If only the game were a bit longer. Don't get me wrong, I played it through several times. I have yet to see the movie, but will since I'm such a fan, even though I have heard only bad things about it.

13. Grand Theft Auto III (PS2, 2001)

An open ended environment is a great thing to have. No other game (that I have played) has a better one than this. Like its 2D predecessors, GTA3 is one of the only games where people spend 99% of the time doing something other than the main objective. Similar to the Scarface story, you're a guy who escaped jail and had nothing, but will end up with everything. I'm an average fan of the mafia world, and this game portrayed it fairly well. You start with small jobs with some people, possibly end up whacking your boss, then move on to the bigger, better deal. Missions vary from escorting a person, robbing a bank, stealing a car, or a gang fight. That's the main game, and it's very fun. But often times you'll find yourself in the middle of a mission and decide that it's much more fun to just drive around and reach the city limits, find weird people, start a high speed chase, or a killing spree. It's fun, trust me. There's just so much you can do, and you should take the time to explore everything this game has to offer. There were a few more installments of the series afterwards, but this was definitely the pinnacle of the series.