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What have you been up to in September of 2006?


If you want to understand the blog and how it's laid out, go here.

Sep 30, 2006



Sep 30, 2006: A sudden, extreme involvement with video games came along, especially with Final Fantasy 7. The record is now set at 107 days straight from the same source. I'm also now back at working on my story. My 2D game has almost no further progress and I seem to have found that Molebox is causing all sorts of problems. An increase in housework occurred. I made a "plug-in" for merging video frames for reducing the frame rate and frame count. I had a case where I got a nosebleed while in the shower. There was also a strange and suspicious phone call I had. I was just about to get the new monitor. My 2-year anniversary of my first car accident also came and went. I have another 20 dreams added putting me at 450 total.

#1 Extreme involvement with video games: From all those recent full system restorations, my temptations for drowning the fox and playing some other games I haven't played in over a year (even two or three years in some cases), my motive for playing my video games shot through the roof, even into the four-figure range. Some of the games I played were "Taz: Escape from Mars". I got two new songs off of it. I mentioned this in my previous blog update. I also played "Skullmonkeys". The only thing I don't like about the game are the videos and two other things, but it's the 2D style (2D is more for me than 3D) and the game play that I like the most. It's also the most challenging, but fun game. Almost all other 2D games I play, I rack up so many lives and I almost never lose them as they're just too easy. Getting 99 lives is a common sight for me. In Mario 3, I've had 99 lives as early as the second level. In Skullmonkeys, I often lose about forty or so lives, versus usually 3 at the most in most other 2D games. When I got to the level called "Incredible Drivy Runn", I was at 99 lives which made for the rest of the game easy. Nope, no game over screens. In fact, I almost never see "game over" or "continue" screens. The only time I really see "game over" screens is if the game is too hard (unfair such as Rayman) or if it's forced on you such as completing it (as from Super Monkey Ball 2 and finishing the last stage). Another game I played was Frogger, the Playstation game. This game was very difficult as well and I needed the "infinite lives" cheat code so I don't have to waste time playing the first level of the first (top) world so frequently to get the maximum of nine lives. Some of the levels (such as uncanny crusher or airshow antics) took close to sixty lives. The original Spyro the Dragon was also played and completed 100%, another one of those games where I often get 99 lives, except it takes much, much longer. It was clear until the fourth world (beast makers) that I actually lost a life for the first time on the game. The original doesn't have the double-jump bug I love in the second one. In fact, if the original had the double-jump bug (jump while stopped then charge while still stopped horizontally and going up to perform the double jump), I'd play it 50% more than the second one. I also played Final Fantasy Origins (the first Final Fantasy). I reached the area where you visit the terra cavern getting to level 35, (and no, I haven't beaten the big boss here yet either). As the "ACC" stat goes up by 32 for a given character, another hit is added. If it was 80, he/she would do 3 hits. If at 153, he/she would be doing 5 hits. I've only been at Final Fantasy since 2003 or 2004 (not sure which). I got Final Fantasy Origins in Christmas of 2004 if I recall correctly (check my blog for details, it was a Christmas gift with 100% certainty meaning check December or January). I did, however, get a few new songs on my computer as a result of this and I have at least 3 more to get. As a result of this, I haven't been on the forums, except mine, since, even not having my computer turned on for several days in row (six at one time - a somewhat scary dream prevented me from going any longer than six).
#2 Final Fantasy 7 craze: I was getting a very strong temptation to wanting to play Final Fantasy 7, the only modern such game I've actually completed. I'm up to my old tricks again - crossing the marsh without having visited the Chocobo Ranch (poison the Midgar Zolom and wait, cure it if it can't be poisoned, curing everyone as the snake hits someone), then reaching a very high level before fighting "Palmer" in a town called "Rocket Town" complete with over 100 million gil (gil is the monetary unit used). Then, seven days into the game, I was unable to find out how to get the Chocobo Lure materia so I ended up having to start a new game since I couldn't do the Chocobo Racing stuff without it. I started a new game and eventually finished it in full. I beat Emerald Weapon (a very powerful monster in the American version) in only 6 2/3 minutes without a KO (when the HP reaches zero, you have KO, whatever KO stands for (Killed off?)). I even beat Ruby Weapon (another very powerful monster in the American version) solo and with only one KO otherwise saved by the "final attack - revive" materia combination. Then again, having the strength stat maxed out right after leaving the Temple of the Ancients (hint: morph an enemy called "Heavy Tank" in Gongaga), the vitality stat maxed out (this is possible as early as you obtain the morph materia - just morph an enemy called "spiral"), as well as having the dexterity and luck stats maxed out once I got the submarine (hint: that one plane - morph "bad rap" for luck and "poodler" for speed), it made the battles with these monsters very easy. In fact, with 255 for the dexterity, I had to put the battle speed at the slowest to make use of it where my characters make two or even three actions before the enemy does (five if haste is used) and when I get one-hit kills on enemies from a slash-all or mega-all materia, with a 5 in 6 chance of the flash occuring doubling the damage, I can defeat several enemies before even one of them strikes. I went through 200 battles of 3 and 4 enemies (in the forest around Mideel) and not once did the enemies attack. I did this as I was trying to master some materia. In such games, I spend far more time fighting the enemies than going along with the story. By the time I reached the final part of the game, I already spent like five times longer fighting enemies than following along with the story or doing other side quests. With 120 million gil (hint: master some alls on a double-growth weapon or armor (even triple) which has nothing but alls, and sell the mastered alls - they're worth 40 gil per AP in normal growth and for 4 on a double, it's 320 gil per AP and for 200 AP earned in a battle, that's 64,000 gil per battle. This only works if mastered. Fort Condor, late in the game, has all materia that you can master in this way.) My last game, if I recall correctly, is where I had 1.3 billion gil as I was trying to find out how high it can go. I almost never use spells in the game. Rather, it's almost always the "attack" command. I only use spells if the regular "attack" command has little use or when cure is despirately needed or just to see the effects. Normally, for cure, I use a cure-all spell (regular cure) with the character having the highest magic stat, not in battle. By using regular cure rather than the higher level cure spells, you can save MP for later (and save ethers).
#3 Emerald Weapon defeated in only 6 2/3 minutes!? Yow!: How I beat Emerald Weapon in only 6 2/3 minutes (so fast, I had 13:23 left on the clock when the enemy was destroyed), was that I first maxed out the strength, speed, and luck stats for Cloud, Yuffie, and Red XIII. Before the battle, I made some preparations. Set Cloud's limit to level 4 (Omnislash), Yuffie to level 3 (and gain "Doom of the Living" first if you don't have it - use the level 3 limit about 5 to 8 times or so to obtain it), and set Red XIII's limit to level 2 (and gain "Stardust Ray" first if you don't have it - use the level 2 limit about 5 to 8 times to obtain it). Barret's "Ungarmax" attack is somewhat better than that of Red XIII's limit, but takes a bit longer to charge up. First, level up to level 99 for these characters. Having a maxed attack and level 80 will only do about 6300 damage for a normal hit, but at level 99 with the same maxed attack, it can do about 8000 damage. Short of going to the challenging Northern Cave, use the forest around Mideel to level up if needed. Each battle is worth 2300 experience and you need 2.42 million by the time you max out at level 99. First, fill up the limits without using them, for all three characters. Cloud's "Omnislash" can do about 150,000 damage with a maxed strength and luck, Yuffie's "Doom of the Living" and Barret's "Ungarmax" can do about 100,000 to 130,000 damage each, Red XIII's "Stardust Ray" can do about 70,000 to 90,000 damage. The last preparation, and a big one, is to enter the battle with the "all lucky sevens" effect. To get it, you need to drop a character's max hit points by equipping magic or summon materia in a way to get the max HP value to end in two sevens and below 7777. Fully cure that character (I can get it with Cloud on level 99) with the lower HP. You should see something like "3677/3677" or the related. Equip your old materia combination (or optimize it - mastered materia is not really required) to get 9999 HP again and use Hi-potions (which restore 500 HP) and regular potions (which restore 100 HP) to land exactly on 7777. Do not go over, or you must get the double sevens at the end and repeat. Do not enter a battle during this time, except the one for Emerald Weapon. Before entering battle, go into the config menu, set the ATB mode to "wait", the far right, and drop the battle speed to the slowest. With the dexterity maxed out, even the slowest seems pretty fast. By entering the battle with the "all lucky sevens" effect, Emerald Weapon takes on almost 500,000 damage (497,728 to be precise) within just two minutes. With Cloud's "Omnislash", Yuffie's "Doom of the Living", and Barret's "Ungarmax" limits used right away, you can add on another 400,000 damage, making the enemy about 90% destroyed and it hasn't even attacked yet! Now it's like defeating an enemy with 200,000 HP and is now even easier than the final battle Sephiroth at the end. Limits take priority over the enemy's attack, even if it's ready, and being able to make two attacks before the enemy from the maxed out dexterity stat really hampers the enemy's power. To get two attacks before the enemy, you need to stop the ATB the moment another character is ready. When the enemy makes its move, let the ATB charge up for each character as much as possible and when the enemy is done, have it so that only one character has a menu and quickly choose something to stop the ATB gauge. While stopped, wait for the other character's ATB gauges to replenish leaving only one character's empty. Partially charged ones are counted as empty. When the other two are empty, or partially changed, let that character make a move and when another is available, pause the ATB gauge unless another character is available. Always have it so that one character is available. Without doing this, the maxed dexterity has little meaning and you might as well use a faster battle speed if you want.
#4 Ruby Weapon was also somewhat easily: Although I don't know how to prevent the enemy from eliminating party members, limits and the "all lucky sevens" effect are useless. W-magic, W-summon, and master summon (from the Kalm Traveller after defeating Emerald Weapon, or by mastering all summon materia and returning to Bugenhagen's planetarium once you get the huge materia - do the merge with the red huge materia to get it once all summon materia (including "Typoon" and "Knights of Round"). Equip one character with two mastered magic pluses along with the W-magic, W-summon, Mime (only available with a black chocobo) and master summon materia. Also, obtain a lot of Elixirs. If you have W-item (from Midgar or Bonevillage) and at least one Elixir (morph that one enemy that starts with "Vl" near bonevillage to get one), you can obtain 99 with ease. Just enter a battle with W-item. Select the Elixir and use it on someone, anyone (even an enemy, but becareful about that). Choose another item and only select it. Then, without choosing what to use it on, cancel it and you get the Elixir back. Select the same item again and cancel it and now you have two Elixirs. Continue the select-cancel pattern and each loop gives you one more Elixir. The same can be done with any item that can be used in battle (too bad it don't work with those sources (mind source, power source, etc.)...). If you don't have master summon, be sure to get Hades and Knights of Round to a sufficiently high level, at least level 4. Knights of Round is only available if you get a gold chocobo. I don't recommend equipping W-item. First, save your game before even entering battle. First, get it so that it buries it's claws. If your well-equipped character is removed, reset the game and try again. When the enemy buries its claws, use W-summon to first use Hades to stop the creature then use Knights of Round. Only use summons if the character has enough MP and at least 8000 HP. Otherwise, use an Elixir to restore this. Without stopping the creature, it will counterattack when you use Knights of Round. Set up Regen and Wall at the start. With the maxed dexterity, and the slow battle speed, the Regen and Wall effects last a long time. If the enemy is still stopped, use Knights of Round twice with W-summon. If it remains stopped after this, use Mime. With a maxed magic, each time Knights of Round is used, it can do about 129,000 damage. In a good run, you can use Knights of Round five or seven times, almost entirely defeating it. If it begins moving again, use Hades again to stop it. Limits are of little use. Cloud's Omnislash barely does 12,000 damage with the maxed strength, level, and luck.
#5 107 days straight - yow!: Since May 13, lasting clear until August 28, I had Battle Zone playing on my MP3 player. When only 60 days into it, I made a calculation and found that I could last for even 100 days. It turns out that I was indeed right and it was a little over 100 days. From the start, I had it playing on my MP3 player for half of May, all of June, all of July, and almost all of August without having changed the songs. Making it even more impressive is that the range of speeds I used, from 55 to 65% of the true speed, is very narrow with a large amount of time spent at 57.5 to 62.5% of the true speed, a very narrow range. Normally, I'd have it with a range like 60 to 80% or even a wider range. The sweet spot was 60% true speed. The song has two parts to it and 46 measures. During measure 43 the spike at 3190 occurred. I could no longer get it to that point. From all that time, the motive for listening to it slowly dropped and eventually other songs took over. This is a record that would unlikely be beaten for even two decades as it's so impressive. I wonder what the creators of that song would think - listening to it for 106 days straight without having changed it at all. The case of the same song for 46 days, the official record, that record wouldn't likely be beaten in a decade or so. The 107 days record is the same song from the same single source. For 12 days straight, another record, I didn't change the song, speed, or equalizer settings. After all, the old record was only 22 days, left untouched for about a decade until Winter Land came along. Then the massive spike on my MP3 player occurred when listening to Battle Zone and that record left untouched for a whole decade was more than doubled. Now, if I went for a whole month at the same song without changing it, I still wouldn't be 70% of the way to the record. That's impressive. Funny enough, I still, even to the time of this update a month later, have that part playing in my mind where the massive spike occurred. In fact, it's the highest compatibility setting I've ever had. The only thing that would beat that compatibility record would be a trip to Hawaii or something where I could expect even 4500 (and a motive of 12,000 after applying the affectors). In other words, I'd much rather go on a trip to Hawaii much more than listen to that area with the big spike even though that spike led to otherwise insane records almost no one would bother to attempt.
#6 Back to my story: Just after having completed playing Final Fantasy 7, I began working on my old story, "The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters". I haven't worked on it for about a year or so (check my blog for a more precise time). At first, I tried to rewrite it from scratch, but it wasn't coming out nicely so I took out my old printout I had lying around and began writing it in book form. For several consecutive days, I've been writing it until my motive for updating my website got above it as my website hasn't been updated in over a month. At the time I started updating my website, I reached what was scene 14 in my previous version, the first of Act 5. Now it's all parts and chapters. Scene 14 is chapter 14. Act 5 is part 5.
#7 An increase on housework - yuck: It's just one of the things I have negative motive for doing otherwise. I sometimes do whatever I can to prevent from having to do it. However, when parents start complainin', that's when my motive goes up and depending on what I'm doing, it can be done in about a second, to even an hour at the most extreme end I've experienced (about 140 for the motive seems to be the highest). Again, it's all in the numbers. The more my parents complain, the higher that affector gets (a positive one) and when the affector gets high enough to get that activity above neutral, then I'd otherwise do it. As the headline's title stated, I've had an increase on the amount of this housework. The reason is because one of my parents got surgery to fix something and can't lift anything. As soon as I heard this was going to happen, I figured that the amount of unwanted housework would double and again, there's that issue of motive being negative. I can help it out myself by turning the task into a game to add some positive affectors to it. Heh, I haven't even cleaned my room since April of 2004 or so due to an extreme negative motive (and it's still deep into negative territory at -53). It's so low that it could take even a week of my parents complaining to get it high enough....
#8 2D game - no more progress: I've had pretty much no progress with my 2D game. By only being able to only sell it on my website, short of paying a hefty fee for advertising. Since I get so little traffic, I have to find another way to do it. I now have negative motive for further development, but not deep or even moderately in the negative territory. Why? Gamestudio's limitations. If I make any further changes, except to fix bugs that someone may report, it'd just get undone anyway when Lite-C gets released as I'd otherwise have to rewrite the entire script. Plus, any further developments using the C-script method means having to use Molebox which seems riddled with bugs. I can't just go without it as then my script would be revealed due to yet another limitation in Gamestudio. It is against the EULA to view and read the script. Why not just code it in C anyway? First, C is confusing, at least when I attempted to do it 2 or 3 years ago. Back then, I had otherwise no knowledge of scripting. Today, I can work wonders with what little I know and I have several tricks up my sleeve for working around the rather annoying limits of Gamestudio. In fact, I even got Gamestudio to process an effect for a video so I can now design animations at almost any frame rate, but have them run at a slower frame rate with the effects of a higher frame rate - gotta love that color-averaging formula. See news item #9 below for more details on what this was all about. I'm now advanced enough, I could almost just make my own 3D engine from scratch. I utilize much of what I know in my 2D art, and now that I know trig stuff to some extent, I can even figure out how to get the camera to move and how to plot vertex positions. It's drawing the textures, faces (triangles), and doing the lighting, however, that I don't know. As that one law goes, "You level up the fastest and easiest if you do something at your own level and no higher or lower". Since I'm much more comfortable with 2D since I'm otherwise almost a master at 2D, given I have so many formulas, I should start with something 2D. The issue isn't neccessarily motive (which hovers around neutral), but it's the rather confusing syntax used. I once looked at the source of some open source program (GIMP? - I don't recall) and didn't see the familiar "function name(parameters)" anywhere. Rather, I see a bunch of other things. C-script is a lot like C in ways, but it seems severely limited. I recall one forum member on the HWW forums, when I posted my script involving trig stuff (sines and cosines used with camera movement), saying that my script sample looked *exactly* like C. I wonder what this would look like in C (the stuff after the // to the end of the line is a comment, stopping at the end of the line and things between /* and */ are blocks of comments - read them to help understand what various things are and what they do):

function move_camera() // declare the function without parameters
{
   /*  These are local variables, present only in the function and temporary.  They
   are slower than global variables, but do have uses.  */
   
   var horiz_speed[2] = 0, 0; // old then new speeds
   var vertic_speed[2] = 0, 0; // old then new speeds for vertical movement
   var cam_dist = 0; // camera distance
   /*  The "[2]" means an array of length 2, or two variables under the same name.  In
   this case, the old and new speeds are being logged.  */
   
   while(1) // a loop without end
   {
      // First, we'll establish the camera angle.
      if ((key_cul == on) || (key_cur == on)) // if turning the camera
      {
         /*  This is only processed if the condition is true, holding the left arrow
         key or the right arrow key.  */
         if ((key_cul == on) && (key_cur == off)) // left is positive in Euler angles
         {
            camera.pan += 5.625*time;
            /*  Camera rotates left if the left arrow key is pressed, but not the
            right arrow key.  If so, it should rotate 5.625 degrees per tick.  A tick
            is 1/16 of a second thus a rotation of 90° per second.  Time is the
            duration of the last game frame, in ticks.  From the forums, I know that C
            uses radians rather than degrees so I'll need to do that conversion as
            well - 180/pi to get degrees from radians.  */
         }
         
         if ((key_cul == off) && (key_cur == on)) // right is negative in Euler angles
         {
            camera.pan -= 5.625*time; // same here as above, only for turning right
         }
         
         if (camera.pan < 0)
         {
            camera.pan += 3600; // make positive
         }
         
         camera.pan %= 360; // keep within range of 0 to 360
         /*  The first part is used to get a positive value.  If a variable was -3 and
         I used variable%=10; in C-script, I'd get 7.  Someone on the Gamestudio
         forums said that you'd get 3 instead of 7.  %= gives the remainder of a
         division (modulo function) and thus 3 would seem correct.  */
      }
      
      if ((key_pgup == on) || (key_pgdn == on)) // if tilting the camera
      {
         /*  key_pgup refers to the page up key and key_pgdn refers to the page down
         key.  This is otherwise the same as that of the pan, only with the tilt, up
         and down movement rather than left and right.  */
         if ((key_pgup == on) && (key_pgdn == off)) // pitching upwards
         {
            camera.tilt += 2.8125*time; // tilt the camera downwards
            /*  Pitch up at 45° per second, half as fast.  */
         }
         
         if ((key_pgup == off) && (key_pgdn == on)) // pitching downwards
         {
            camera.tilt -= 2.8125*time; // tilt the camera upwards
         }
         
         camera.tilt = clamp(camera.tilt, -90, 90);
         /*  This prevents the camera's tilt from going any more "down" than straight
         and going any more "up" than straight up.  */
      }
      
      // Next, we'll move the camera based on that angle
      if ((key_cuu == on) || (key_cud == on)) // if moving
      {
         horiz_speed[0] = horiz_speed[1]; // record previous speed
         horiz_speed[1] += (cam_accel[1]*time); // update current speed
         cam_dist = (horiz_speed[0] + horiz_speed[1])/2*time; // average the speed
         /*  What this does is it uses the distance-acceleration formula (as I call
         it) which determines how fast the camera should move.  It adds the
         acceleration rate (the "cam_accel[1]" variable) to the speed then computes
         the average speed, the distance to move.  */
         
         if ((key_cuu == on) && (key_cud == off)) // one key can be pressed - forward
         {
            camera.x += cos(camera.pan)*cam_dist*cos(camera.tilt); // move camera
            camera.y += sin(camera.pan)*cam_dist*cos(camera.tilt);
            camera.z += sin(camera.tilt)*cam_dist; // if going up, move the camera up
         }
         
         if ((key_cuu == off) && (key_cud == on)) // one key can be pressed - backward
         {
            camera.x -= cos(camera.pan)*cam_dist*cos(camera.tilt); // move camera
            camera.y -= sin(camera.pan)*cam_dist*cos(camera.tilt);
            camera.z -= sin(camera.tilt)*cam_dist; // backwards is the reverse
         }
         /*  Pressing the up arrow key moves you forward and the down arrow key moves
         you backwards in whatever direction you're moving in.  This allows for
         movement on all 3 axes at once.  Now, if falling a few hundred mph wanting to
         go, say, northeast, movement would be nice, wouldn't you think?  */
      }
      
      if ((key_cuu == off) && (key_cud == off)) // reset speed if not travelling
      {
         horiz_speed[0] = 0;
         horiz_speed[1] = 0;
         cam_dist = 0;
      }
      /*  If this is left out, the speed I leave off on would be the same I start with
      when I begin to move the camera around again.  This would eventually cause the
      camera to initially move so fast, control would be very hard and eventually
      become impossible to control.  This prevents that from happening, starting from
      a complete stop.  It fixes a potential bug.  */
      
      wait(1);
      /*  This causes the loop to wait one frame before being executed again.  As far
      as I know, this is a Gamestudio-only feature.  If regular C doesn't have it,
      then I'd likely need to make such a system, but don't know how.  */
   }
}


This, fully tested, allows for the camera to accelerate in the given direction faced. It applies to 3D only. For 2D, there is little difference, just that there is no Z coordinate. This makes a quick way to zip around big levels. If I'm at one part of the level and need to see something at the other side, I just use a decent acceleration rate (3.667 gives 80 mph per second, that of what the stomp allows), head to where I know the destination is, and just watch everything whizzing by at an ever-faster rate. It's thrilling looking at what things are like going 999 mph. This is only a small sample and one of my temporary functions. Compared to C, there shouldn't be that much of a difference. Of course, I could add a frame-advance mode system easily with a set frame rate so I can then record movies at that frame rate and stitch the frames together with Virtual Dub. If I want to reduce the frame rate, or add motion blur effects, I can, say, record at 240 fps, then do an 8:1 frame merge to get 30 fps playback complete with motion blur. For further details on the frame-merging thing, see news item #9 below. As far as the scripting stuff goes, I can work wonders with what little I know. Gamestudio doesn't have an "elseif" or the related, but does have an "else". I don't use it because, for a few cases in my 2D game, you'd be working with indentation levels very deep, the whole screen's width in nothing but tabs and with all those }'s at the end, I could easily lose track of them and it would cause a lot of syntax errors. This method just makes it look cleaner and since I don't notice any worthy difference in speed, I use this method. I only use "else" in a pair since I don't get the excessive indentations. The script above goes four indentation levels in. In some cases with my 2D game, I could be going in excess of thirty indentation levels. I think I stand a good chance at learning C now, compared to 2 or 3 years ago. It's just now a matter of getting the motive above neutral, in which, at the moment, is hovering at neutral, neither above nor below it. The last thing I need is a compiler. From looking at Newegg, they seem to cost several hundred dollars for even the cheapest ones, so much they are automatically beyond my spending limit. Someone helped find a free one, but I haven't messed with it yet and I don't know if I can sell any programs made with it. If you'd like to help bring my motive up, what would be most useful would be:



* False statements may seem odd, but there are quite a few I found. The manual extensively states that the range of the var is from -999,999.999 to +999,999.999. I've proven this wrong and then some. Little do you know, my 2D game very frequently goes beyond the stated limit. In fact, the range is actually -2,097,152 to +2,097,151.9990234375. There have been reports that entities cannot go beyond something like 131072 quants from the origin. Wrong and I have proof of it. I can even place entities in the level edittor beyond that, even beyond the stated limit of the var. It's not just 3 decimal places, it's ten, but four is all that's needed. 5.999, in the manual, seems to be the closest you can get to 6. By having 5.9991, you can get closer. Another false statement is the range of fps_max. The range is otherwise unlimited. It states a limit of 400. I (and others, too), have used a higher value, such as 2000 and there's otherwise no difficulties there. Beyond 16,384, however, is where trouble starts, due to the limits of the var. With acceleration, it's 512 (but with some mathematical tricks, it can be increased to 16,384). It can still be set above 16,384, but there's otherwise no meaning in doing so. Another, although not technically a false statement, is with sun_light. The manual states that if sun_light is above zero, the sun is enabled. It has no mentions of negative values which also works without any trouble, although it does look a little weird (who's ever heard of a light darkening something?). I'm quite sure there are more false statements or inaccuracies. When I check through the manual, I often ignore the range and use values not stated just to see what other inaccuracies there are.
#9 A somewhat useful video "plug-in" I made: At first, I wanted to see whether or not Gamestudio can write BMP files. I made a small piece of code that generates a palette approximating the colors of the 16-bit palette (using the 565 method, 5 bits for red and blue and 6 for green). After working out the few bugs I had, I have proven that Gamestudio can write BMP files that any graphics viewing or editting program can read. I did, however, have to research the file format of BMP images. Then, from comments I had on the Gamestudio forums, telling that I should make a video of my 2D game and post it on youtube.com, a site I otherwise only rarely heard about on CNN. Because it uses flash and streaming, I had negative motive for using it, -3.6 to be more precise. I still, however, made a video to test various things but was faced with a serious issue. In version 6.31.4 for Gamestudio, the only version that really works with my 2D game, there is a flaw in the design of the file_for_screen instruction. If I just create a loop and use it, the first frame would be a bitmap image, but all others are the default. 6.40.5 does not have this, but weird things happen in that version. The solution was rather strange - have a huge number of file_for_screen instructions with wait(1) after each. Wordpad's replace feature sped up the process once I got past 100 frames. I did, however, have to extensively test it with short videos getting progressively longer. When doing the final run, to capture each frame, I was recording the game doing some kind of demonstration of its features. That went quite well. I test ran it at 60 fps and found that, even with 640x480 resolution, it was a bit jerky. I save the AVI and it plays back at 60 fps with no trouble at all. I then searched around Virtual Dub for a way to merge frames into one another to reduce the frame rate, but I couldn't find anything at all. Either unused frames are deleted or it doesn't have that feature. This is where I ended up creating a plug-in from Gamestudio. Now knowing that it can write BMP files readable by any program, I utilized Virtual Dub to save all those BMP images (save image sequence). I then tested my theory on how to merge frames and found that it worked flawlessly. I wrote the script in Gamestudio to do the same thing, using my well-known color-averaging formula to blend the frames. I checked the outputs of a few frames, for testing purposes, and found that the script was doing as expected. I then continued with the full range reducing the video from 60 fps to 20 fps merging the frames. When I put the frames together in Virtual Dub, it was a bit jerky like before, but upon saving as AVI and opening that AVI, it played back exactly as I envisioned it. I've hypothesized the algorithm close to even 18 months ago and I just now got around to testing it. Back then, I didn't have any worthy ways of testing it. The only restriction this technique has, at the moment, is that the frame rate reduction must be an integer. That is, I can't reduce it to 25 fps from 60 fps. I know it's possible, but I don't yet know the technique. I do know that it is a derrivative of this technique. Too bad for the 4 GB file size limitation of AVIs though and that I don't have a lossless codec to sort of help with it....
#10 Molebox causing problems?: The mystery deepens. Some users can download and save my game to the desktop without problems while some can't. One user had their key file not working properly, but, upon using another computer for it, it worked without any problems. It even worked on my computer and my dad's computer without any problems. For the fun of it, I even test ran my game on my dad's computer in full edition mode. Oddly enough, the closest lines on the road were behaving very weirdly coming in and out of the view. I zipped up everything and unzipped it on my dad's computer and it worked without any faults there. The first one with the odd screw-ups was where I had Molebox used. The second case was the original right after using the publish command in Gamestudio. I have strong evidence it points to Molebox being faulty. There's just one problem though. If I don't use Molebox (or some file packer), anyone could read the script and this would be very problematic. It's quite strong evidence pointing to Molebox being problematic. Some users could run the game just fine while others may not be able to get it to load. I have very extensively tested my game so these flaws I'm encountering aren't on my end. The version on my dad's computer which had the lines faulty worked just fine on my computer. That just gives me even more reason to build my game in just plain C rather than using Gamestudio due to it's excessive limitations and sometimes annoyances.
#11 A suspiciouis phone call: Although I've never released my phone number to anyone, one of my website's fans (supposedly) called me telling me that my website was down just after midnight on August 24. There are three unusual things about this that really caught my attention. First, I don't have my phone number mentioned anywhere on my website. From what I've learned on the HWW forums, the area code and station code can be identified with a bit of research. However, the last 4 numbers are otherwise random meaning a 1 in 10,000 chance of correctly guessing it. My home town has several such numbers so the odds are weakened to about 1 in 60,000 or something. Second, the call was placed just after midnight, around 12:30 AM or something. It's very unusual for someone, especially strangers, to call this late at night. Third, the caller was a stranger who mentioned that he/she was one of my website's fans. I haven't gotten a call after this point so it didn't raise too many alarms. It was not a threatening call though (rather, it was somewhat friendly) so the alarm level isn't all that high. The first unusual thing is the big one. Someone could just pick up the phone, dial the area code, pick one of the local station codes, then guess the last 4 digits. It's a 1 in 60,000 chance. That's about as common as getting a "straight flush" hand in Poker and otherwise unlikely.
#12 Taking a shower with a nosebleed: I tend to get quite a few nosebleeds, the reason why I hate my nose (-27 compatibility with a -32 affector). Normally, I don't get a nosebleed while in the shower, most often after blowing my nose. On September 2, I had just that - a nosebleed right when I got into the shower. Rather than my usual 30 minutes for a shower, it took closer to 40 minutes because of it. In fact, it may have been several years (longer than the time since my last vacation 6 years ago) since this even occurred, so long that I have no recallable memories of it even happening. As frequently as I have had nosebleeds, this is a first in a very long time.
#13 Energy requirements for spells - yowsers!: On September 29, I wondered just how much matter was needed to convert to pure energy to use the spells. As far as I can tell, you'd need 8 9/10 milligrams to use the simplest fire spell, which needs 400 spell power. The weakest spell, scan, at about 250 spell power or so, would need 5 9/16 milligrams of matter. Ultima6, on the other hand, which requires 88 million spell power, needs 1958 1/4 grams of matter converted to pure energy. I was amazed when I did these calculations. If you've studied physics or at least know the use of the formula Einstein discovered, E=mc2, you'd understand this. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, but converted to energy (and energy can be converted to matter). There is enough energy contained in a milligram of matter to keep ten 100-watt lightbulbs on at once for a little over 8 5/9 years! One gram of matter can be converted to up to 89 7/8 terajoules of energy. There are 277 7/9 kilowatt-hours in one gigajoule and thus, this is just shy of 25 million kilowatt-hours. I found this very impressive and amazing.
#14 20 new dreams recalled: 20 dreams have been recalled. During the time since the last update, I have two cases where I recalled two dreams in one night. I also had a case where, 9 days in a row, I recalled the night's dream but there's also long gaps between some dreams, even a week. I'm now right at 450 dreams. If my prediction for 500 by the end of 2006 is to hold true, I need to recall another 50 dreams within the last 92 days of the year. It still looks to be possible, but it'll most likely be very close. Afterall, after the blog, the dream journal is the biggest single document hovering near 1 megabyte in size for the text only.
#15 Here we go again - one week and going strong: Having returned to my computer from extended time playing video games, I was bored of the song I was listening to last (Cactus Point, the first level of the desert world in Frogger). At first I had Desert Zone going for a bit, then some song swapping. One night, when I went to bed, I changed songs on my MP3 player for something more worthy and I stopped on the music from Final Fantasy from Final Fantasy Origins (that from which you get when you leave a town or a cave). At first I didn't like it as much, but when I set the speed to 46,667 (from changing tracks), I quickly caught onto it, especially parts 1, 4, and 7 (of seven total). I first slew the speed down a bit (to 45,000, 43,333, and 40,000 if I recall correctly), but it was getting worse (worse as in 700 times better than neutral peak, still extremely impressive, but not so much when the original was 1600). I then sped up the song a bit (first at 48,333, then 50,000, and 52,500) and around true speed (which is 50,000 for those who don't know), it was quite impressive. When I hit 52,500, I recorded a spike at 2140 during the last part of part 7 going into the first part. I've been sticking with that speed on my MP3 player since with occasional speed changes. I tried 55,000, the next highest available one, but it didn't work out as nicely but 57,500 sounded better. Parts got better, but the best parts, the most motivating ones, dropped quite a bit. On my computer, 53,000 to 54,000 is the best where the highest spike of 2280 was recorded. I then changed speeds to 48,000 Hz (96% true speed) and that same part of the song has a spike of 2410 on my computer. I'm used to the case where my MP3 player is better (knowing the case with Battle Zone with that famous spike of 3190 that led to 107 days straight of the same song). Although it's only 1.2 times better, being so high as it is, it's very worthy. I have a feeling I'll be at it for about 25 days total, if my formula is correct. In Winamp, it's my most played song (or second-most played as shown in my latest screenshots of Winamp).
#16 New monitor - not quite: Still wanting a monitor that supports 1920x1440, I looked around Newegg for it. The one I was originally looking at wasn't there anymore but there was another one. As before, I will refuse to get LCD's - the prices they have aren't justified with all the disadvantages it has, not even close. By going with a CRT, even with a huge shipping fee, the price is still less than half that of the LCD. See the table below this for details. One of the reviews for that monitor I was looking at on Newegg mentioned that a user could only run at 1600x1200 but the resolution stated was 1920x1440. The monitor is the exact same size (or so close to it that I can't tell a difference), but it supports a higher resolution and it's "native" resolution is what I have. The dot pitch is only a very slight amount finer than what my current monitor has (0.25 millimeters versus 0.26 for my current one. It didn't quite seem right and the case of the 1600x1200 maximum from one user made me need to research it and check for consistancy. I took out Google and looked it up. I went to like 6 or so different stores to prove the 1920x1440 maximum resolution and it was indeed correct. I was just about to order it until I checked how much I had left. By ordering it, putting the shipping fee in as well, I'd only have $6 left, way too close for comfort, considering I may need something (such as food, more important than the monitor). I had to put it off longer until I had the funds. At the start of the month of October, I should be good to go. I've even had ideas of modifying a screenshot (or series of screenshots) to simulate what it would be like to run Windows at, say, 3200x2400, or 2560x1920. However, something doesn't add up in terms of the dot pitch and native resolution. That new monitor's native resolution is 1600x1200 and it has a dot pitch of 0.25 millimeters. According to my calculations, with my monitor's viewable area as a guide (14.4x10.8 inches), that's 111 1/9 pixels per inch (or 0.009 inches between pixels (which is a dot pitch of ~0.23 millimeters) at the native resolution of the new monitor. 0.25 millimeters converts to 0.0098425... of an inch. The dot pitch is almost 10% bigger and that assumes the entire screen space is used without overlap or the black border. By running at something like 1440x1080, if such a resolution can be used, then you'd get around the actual dot pitch. 1920x1440 would mean pixels being spaced 5/6 as far.

FeatureIA*CRT detailsLCD details
Max resolution2.1CRT monitors have a higher maximum resolution than an LCD monitor does for the same viewing angle. CRT's can go clear up to 2048x1536.LCD monitors have a bit lower maximum resolution. I have yet to see an LCD supporting above 1600x1200 as the maximum resolution.
Resolution support1.8CRT monitors support any resolution, low and high, very well with no loss in quality. This is a great feature for gaming and game development.LCD monitors, however, only support one native resolution. There is a big drop in quality when such a monitor uses a different resolution.
Clarity-1.3CRT monitors are a little less clear than that of an LCD due to a lower contrast ratio.LCD monitors have a higher contrast ratio and this helps with clarity.
Colors allowed1.5CRT monitors support the full 16 7/9 million colors. When doing artwork or game development where high-precision color determination is needed, this is otherwise a requirement.From what I know, LCD monitors don't support the full 16 7/9 million colors, but rather that of 18-bit (from what I read on the Gamestudio forums). That's only 262,144 colors.
Price7.2CRT monitors have a base price 1/3 that of the LCD. Even with the hefty shipping fees attached, they're still less than half that of the LCD where the LCD gets free shipping.LCD monitors cost triple the price of the CRT equivelent before taxes and shipping. An LCD supporting 1600x1200 costs $450 or so when the CRT version is only $150.
Desk space required-1.7CRT monitors are space hogs. They use up a huge amount of space, close to ten times that of an LCD of the same capabilities. Space, however, isn't all that important to me.LCD's, though they're the same width and height as a CRT of the same size, they are very thin in comparison, even 10% as thick.
Display adjustments-1.2CRT monitors require a bunch of fine-tuning to get the image to dislay nicely. This, however, is a one-time-thing only though.LCD monitors, as far as I know, don't require any adjustments, except maybe the brightness.
Display defects3.9CRT's have little in the way of defects. Once the monitor reaches the end of its life, the whole display is affected.LCD monitors have dead pixels. Although I've never seen it because I otherwise never see LCD's up close, it can affect how I process my usual tasks making things difficult.
Weight-2CRT monitors, being huge, weigh a lot. Those supporting the highest resolutions can weigh even 50 pounds. When moving things, this can be tricky to work with.Although never experienced, an LCD monitor for the highest of resolutions would weigh about three pounds (estimated by looking at the images, 150% margin of error (and thus, don't count on it**)).
Electricity usage?CRT monitors take about 70 watts of power for a decent one using a low amount of powerI don't know what LCD monitors have in terms of power consumption so I cannot tell.
Refresh rates1CRT monitors seem to support a wide range of refresh rates. The higher the resolution, the lower the maximum refresh rate is.I don't recall the refresh rates of LCD monitors, but I think they're the same as CRT's. I always use 60 Hz anyway.
Overall30***I have 33 times the motive (the actual value) for getting a CRT monitor as it fits many of my needs.LCD's have too many disadvantages to warrant the price difference they have, but even with the same price, I'm still 4.6 times more motivated to get a CRT.


Table footnotes:
* IA means "importance affector". Positive means that this feature would make me more likely to get a CRT monitor. Negative for a feature means I'd lean toward an LCD instead for this feature. The greater the number, the more extreme of an impact it has for me. 1 means neutral and that I don't care for it and the feature would not affect my decision at all. There is a 10% margin of error though.
** 150% margin of error sounds weird, but, being geometric, it means from 40 to 250% of what my actual value is. For my 3 pounds estimate, the range could be from 1.2 pounds to up to 7.5 pounds, a very large range.
*** Unlike comparing compatibilities and averaging them out, the base compatibility (1.1) times affectors (30.018) gives the motive. The base compatibility is a tiny value, 1.1 as I generally don't care much about monitors, or how their body looks. It's the features, which are affectors, that make the difference. With the base compatibility near neutral, the motive is almost the same as the compatibility.

Although some aspects would make me get an LCD instead of a CRT, the two powerhouses are the price (a huge difference) and the way the display works for an LCD. I don't know how much electricity LCD's use so I cannot tell, but the lower the usage, the more I'd go for it. When I shop for things that have a similar function, I use all these numbers to make my decisions. Even the company makes a difference. If they require you to pay for tech support, there is a -7 affector placed on it making me 7 times less likely to get that product, a huge difference. If I didn't have to pay for tech support, but only long distance fees due to no toll free number, the affector is only -1.2. It'd take ten of these 1.2's to make up a 7 (and I'd still come short). The quality of customer service also has an influence. Some of the worst I've seen would have a monster -28 affector put on it. Newegg's customer service has a strong 2.7 affector which helps them a lot and partly why I prefer them to anything else. Their compatibility is the highest I've seen for any store, a tad past 300. Tigerdirect is around 12, likely due to having to return things a lot (due to refurbished products, and that their prices are somewhat higher. Factoring out the bad experience I had from defective refurbished products, it's more into the 120's range (as you can tell, there's a -10 affector involved). I use numbers in almost everything I do.
#17 Function activity_or_object(this): Lately, almost since I released my game, I've been saying "function [insert name of object or activity here]". If a dog was barking and I let it out, I may say "function, dog". If I went to the bathroom, I'd probably say something like "function, toilet". If stuff keeps falling, I'd say "function, gravity, strength" with "strength" denoting a parameter. There are some cases where I think of potential parameters.
#18 My 2-year anniversary of my first car accident: I recall the events on September 4, 2004 remarkably well, about as well as one of my dreams 97% in tact. At the start, I was heading for Kmart to get a new printer for my script (my story, not computer program as back then, my first program wasn't even in existance). I took the printer home and began setting it up but noticed that a needed item not included (very annoying) was missing - a USB cable. Being very annoyed that printers don't come with a USB cable, I had to make an extra trip to Kmart. Why Kmart? At the time, Wal-mart, because mirrors blocked my access to 99% of the store, was not an option. As I left heading for town again, someone ran through a stop sign and we were forced to slam on the brakes and we eventually ran into the car in a T-bone collision. I sometimes play this scene in my mind game from all sorts of angles. The usual would be that of what I actually saw. Unlike this case, I can see the accident happening from overhead, about 100 feet overhead. We were in the left lane of a 4-lane highway heading south toward town at about 55 mph or so. The car came from the right where a frontage road was and was going about 40 mph. My sister was driving where I and one of her friends was. The driver who ran the stop sign had minor injuries. I got a nosebleed, as I'd otherwise expect knowing how common they are and what little force is needed to get one at times. Since we were in relatively okay condition, my sister dialed the emergency number within the first 5 to 10 seconds. While my sister was speaking, I recall looking around and finding a hotel called "Vegas Hotel" and mentioned it. My extreme defensive ability, able to absorb nearly twice the damage as most could for physical damage, helped considerably as the 30 mph impact speed could've done much worse. Considering all I had was a mere nosebleed and a little redness around the area the seatbelt is, I otherwise sustained almost no injury. The parents also came, my dad in particular. There were a few policemen when the arrived and the one who ran the stop sign was taken into the hospital in an ambulence. The police interviewed us. One of the policemen asked what kind of damage there was, for possible insurance claims. My dad inspected the car and found a damaged radiator. My door was stuck and I couldn't get out of it and thus had to use the driver-side door. Some other mechanical parts were damaged, but I don't recall what, but all in the front end area. The radiator was leaking antifreeze. Shortly after the collision, we got out as I suggested thinking the car might catch fire. I soon returned home and went to the store in another vehicle and got what I was after - a USB cable for the printer that didn't bother supplying one. I can replay these events in my mind game at nearly any angle, but my favorite view is the top down view. The effects caused from the seat belt went away in about a day.



Daily Events



Sep 1: No dream this time. With nothing on on TV, I first cleaned out the forums. I then played FF1 getting to level 23, halfway to 24. I then ate. This took 2 1/2 hours, longer than expected. I returned to FF1 and reached level 31. Strange how I've never visitted anything other than the B1 floor of the Terra Cavern and I'm that high. With the "next level" indicator no longer going any higher at 32,800 per level, I can continue to level 99 and not explore any further. Even by level 24, enemies tend to flee. If struck first and had 8 snakes, I'd be left with about 3 or 4 as the others flee. It actually does help, but once Gnoma starts fleeing, then it'll become slower to do. I'm still at Cactus Point though. Woke up at 12:23 AM and went to bed at 4:07 PM.
Sep 2: September starts and right away I get 2 recalled dreams in one night, both only 3/5 of a page in details. The vampire boss in the Terra Cavern was defeated in one hit on the very first action! I didn't use the forums, or even go online. I was either involved with FF1, reaching level 36 where the warrior was doing 5 hits, making it easier to take down an enemy called "gnoma". Now, if only the warrior went first rather than last.... I then watched my dad calibrate a gun so it aimed properly. Next, I took a shower but with an unusual twist. Just as I got into the shower, I got a nosebleed so I started my shower having to deal with my very annoying nose. That added about 8 minutes to my shower time as I had to get it to stop first. I know, I hate my nose as it's almost entirely useless having far more disadvantages than any advantages, how weak they are. I continued on with FF1 for a bit more then left to go out. There were 6 stops. The first was the bank - nothing special. The next 2 were second-hand shops. All I did here was just calculate the ceiling height using my 45° trick. Fourth, it was my sister's apartment so I could play Final Fantasy 7, the only other RPG game I've completed. The fifth stop was Denny's. Here, I met Aruetta, a friend I had during my school times. It was cold in there. Sure 66°F may not seem all that bad, but I'm uncomfortable in anything less than 75°F and I've mentioned adding another 10°F. I got orange juice and 2 biscuits, of which I only ate 1 1/4's worth leaving the last of it for the birds. Last was the Wal-mart Supercenter. I first checked for TV-capture cards, of which they didn't have any. They only had really old stuff (like the Radeon 9250 - that card is about 2 1/2 years old and the one I had before my current one was even better than that and it was 1 1/2 years old. It was then getting groceries. While doing so, I made a few discoveries with the several faulty carts almost everyone complains about. The back wheels often lock up (get stuck) and it makes turning very difficult and you really need almost triple the force to counter the increased friction this causes. It's not uncommon to run into things. Rather than going 3 or 4 mph, I limit it to 2. Again, when in vast, open areas, I kick up the speed a bit, but when near an intersection or an area where someone could come out of, I reduce my speed. From other shopping carts I've used, I could easily have 60 pounds' worth in drinks (~27.5 kilograms) and control the cart better than these carts with barely even 30 pounds is even 50% worse in terms of how hard I need to push. From the extra weight, the wheels lock up with greater chance. With the wheels being squeaky and loud (~40 dB at about 3500 Hz - beyond the bad frequencies' lower edge of 2000 Hz), I had to go very slow (as in no faster than 1.2 mph). 1.2 mph is unacceptably slow and since I can't stand the loud, high-pitched sound, I ran a few experiments to find out how to allow myself to go faster (even normal walking speed) and get rid of the squeaking. By simply lifting on on the back, which adds more strain to the front wheels, I can now go even 7 mph and not get the squeaking control was much better. That's strong evidence pointing to the back wheels being at fault. I reported my findings to the staff. Since it was 20 months of not going to Wal-mart at all (besides waiting outside in the parking lot), I don't recall what the previous carts were like. I've only tested a few of the carts and thus these results don't entirely apply until many of the carts are tested, to see if there is great consistancy. I returned home to put stuff away then I played FF7 for a while then went to bed. While writing my log, I got a nosebleed again. Woke up at 1:57 AM and went to bed at 7:31 PM.
Sep 3: Just 2 things describe the day. The first part was eating while watching TV, mainly the news. The second part, making up the last 13 hours of my day, was playing Final Fantasy 7. I'm now to the area where you must cross a marsh with a huge snake. Being behind on the levels, I went off and done several battles reaching level 24. I could still cross the swamp without a chocobo - just use bio on that giant snake and if not poisoned after 2 or 3 hits, cure it. Once poisoned, just wait, but be sure to keep HP up and don't attack it - use cure after each hit. It'll die soon and you can continue on. If the snake is run into again, just repeat. It's rather easy for me and all you need is just 750 HP. Woke up at 6:02 AM and went to bed at 10:00 PM.
Sep 4: I first ate. Little did I know it was Labor Day as I was confused why my parents weren't going to work. Holidays almost always throw me off, except 2 - Christmas and Independence Day. The others have below neutral or, in the case of my third favorite, Halloween, right on neutral. Today is also the second anniversary of my first car accident - T-bone intersection. See news item #18 for the full story as I still recall it remarkably well. Unlike the first few days of the month, rather than going off to my games right away, I went on the net, but only to check my E-mail and my forums. I also added a small notice on my website of what I've been up to. It was off to my games again. I'm now at the part where you go to Rocket Town. While heading there, I recalled a forest in the shape of a foot where 6 of the same enemy were present in a triangle. It was here where I just went off to level 99 on my first game (which was my last time before this (and thus, this is the second run at the game)). I got the first mastered materia as well - exit. I reached level 51 by the end of the day. I should be at 99 by the day after tomorrow. It don't take me that long. Woke up at 8:02 AM and went to bed at 12:52 AM.
Sep 5: I first ate then resumed play at FF7 reaching level 61. At 5:29 PM, I watched the new CBS Evening News, now with Katie Couric. I did this just to see what her broadcast would be like. I liked the old format about 3 times better. I finished my day on level 71 afterwards as a multimillionaire - 12.7 million gil. That's only 1% of what I had before. Besides eating and the news, all I did was play FF7 battling enemies in the same area. I've got a long ways to go yet. Woke up at 10:38 AM and went to bed at 11:13 PM.
Sep 6: I first ate watching space stuff. When done, it was off to FF7 again. I continued my "dash for 99", but was too involved with wanting to know what happened in the story. From level 84, I continued on. When I did, I already had 43 million gil - in 42 hours' play time. Nope, no cheats of any kind - just stick some "all" materia to a double-growth weapon or armor (Rune blade for Cloud in my case), plus a fifth from another character, battle lots of enemies, and when an "all" gets mastered, replace the mastered one with the newborns. By having 4 on a double-growth weapon or armor, alone they give 320 gil per AP gained and for 200 AP, that's 64,000 gil per battle. At one point, I had 22 alls, 19 of which sold when I ran out of ethers (from using trine to wipe out huge groups of enemies with the least amount of MP) - that's 26.6 million gil right there alone, not including other junky materia sold as well (exit for one at 23 1/3 gil per AP, revive as another, and HP pluses as yet another). Okay, so that house for sale at Costa Del Sol (sp.?) at 300,000 gil may seem very high, but with 43 million, it's quite cheap, let alone 200 gil for that basketball game in the Gold Saucer's Wonder Square. The last time I played, I had 1.3 billion gil almost making income faster than Shin-ra could dream of. Mastered alls really pay out big. So, level 84 doing 2300 damage.... When doing the case with the Wutai, the strategy guide was saying that a boss would be tough without all the materia. 800 HP damage - huh, not much on 6000 (and that's without HP plus materia). It only took 5 hits to take the boss down with Red XIII doing 5000 damage in one hit. It's a lot of fun doing this sort of thing. I continued on with the story until I got the morph materia and was just outside of Gongaga. I then went at using the morph materia on an enemy called "heavy tank" to get an item called "power source". Next up is maxing out the strength stat at 255 for each of my favorite characters. It don't take long either. I did, before this, go to Battle Square and to get Cloud's Omnislash and some other worthy materia - enemy lure, one of my favorites, pre-emptive, and speed plus. I've maxed out the speed before (without any boosts), done with a slug-like thing near the end of the game. I recall having to set the battle speed on the slowest as it charged up so quickly. I also had the luck maxed out as well on that last game, but don't recall how yet. Tomorrow, it's mainly getting the strength stat maxed out (or at least very close to it). Woke up at 9:11 AM and went to bed at 4:02 AM.
Sep 8: I slept for 12 hours - I haven't had that in a while. The day has 3 parts. I first played FF7 again, morphing the enemy "heavy tank" in the Gongaga area. Next was eating and watching the news and a few educational TV shows. The third part is the rest of the day - playing FF7. This is broken up into 3 subparts. The first was morphing the enemy "heavy tank" to strengthen my characters. With only one character being able to morph the enemy, often needing 2 attacks, it was taking rather long. This is where the second part comes in - getting 3 morph materia by fighting the enemy called "sea worm" in the Mideel area. Yep, about 480 of them was needed. Put the fury ring on my only powerhouse and just cruise along. The exception is mastered materia - replace it with the baby it makes. Yep, 31 mastered alls, 15 mastered HP plus, yeah, you should get the picture. I soon got the 3 morphs from mastering it twice, and by then, the materia list was very crowded with mastered alls taking 1/5 of my total count or about 1/7 the limit. I reached level 97 and upon selling all those alls, HP pluses, and other materia where I have more than 3 mastered ones, I jumped from 46 million gil to just over 101 million - nine figures (and I'm only on disk 1). With that much, still less than 8% of what I had before, I could buy out parts of Shin-ra. That'd be something! The third part is resuming the morphing of "heavy tank", ow with 2 characters at 255 for the attack stat. I think I may know the formula for calculating damage. I think it goes something like this: ((source_attack2×source_level2÷modifier) ÷ (target_defense2÷modifier)) × random_offset. The modifier for normal attacks is 800, but 640 if berserk. The "random_offset is a random number from 0.96 to 1.04. If the flash occurs, the resulting damage is doubled. With the attack no longer going up, which is used to determine damage (not strength), and only the level going up, I found that the level has a big impact on the damage done. This is just a rough idea based on what I have. After I levelled up 10 times, I was doing 1000 more damage (in berserk mode). I finished the day morphing "heavy tank" for the other characters. Yuffie, another one of my favorites, is next. Woke up at 4:40 PM and went to bed at 7:24 AM.
Sep 9: Game, eat and TV, then game, ending with a major problem. To get chocobos, you need Chocobo Lure materia, of which I don't have any at all. The guide says to get it from Chocobo Billy, but he doesn't have it at all. This makes it impossible to even get a chocobo for those chocobo races. There doesn't seem to be a way to get it either, short of starting a new game and going through all this all over again. Chocobo races and Bone Village don't seem to have it (or even carry materia like that). Now I have 4 options. The first, and preferred, method is to somehow obtain it in another way. If that's not possible, the second method would be to just run on the tracks like I had it and just hope I get one that way (and it may even take 30 to 50 battles). Third, if neither of these work, I could just continue the game without being able to use or raise chocobos at all, which defeats my wishes. Lastly, I'd have to start a new game from scratch and go through a week's worth of progress (80 hours' playing time) and from my added disappointment, my frustration would cause me to skip important things I got on this round. Last time, this wasn't the case. Woke up at 2:55 PM and went to bed at 8:06 AM.
Sep 10: Two dreams recalled in one night, how nice. I first ate watching TV. I then resumed the game to see if I can encounter a chocobo within 40 minutes - no success. I figured that, since I've already gone through the game and recently, I could get to where I was in less time, about 60 to 75 hours instead, provided it goes as I expect and so far it has. I'm only 9 hours in and I just got out of Midgar on a higher level (20 and 21) with bolt2 and ice2 spells available, seemingly 50% faster than before. Heligunner, a mechanical enemy, and bolt2 go together well. By tomorrow, I should be at the point where I start the dash for level 99. Woke up at 7:45 PM and went to bed at 11:43 AM (±1 minute).
Sep 11: The five-year anniversary - I wondered what news reports were going to be like. They covered nothing but this and was rather boring. I'd have rather added another ten days to Battle Zone's record of 100-something days than listen to this for 15 minutes. On that day, I woke up at 2 or 3 PM, just in time for school. At first, it was an ordinary day, as if nothing happened. I never knew it happened until I was riding in the vehicle to school where the driver (mom or sister, not sure which) and later my teacher told me. Besides that, I got another dream recalled, only a half page in details. Like many of my other days, I first ate. Unlike some other days, especially recently, I watched some TV, including a show explaining the birth and evolution of the universe that I've never seen before and it took priority over the game. As it's been lately, I returned to the game getting Chocobo Lure as I originally couldn't and by the end of the day, I was just past Gongaga. No morph materia yet meaning I couldn't morph "heavy tank". An enemy called "beachplug" is my newest favorite enemy. My MP3 player is at Desert Zone. Woke up at 10:04 PM and went to bed at 12:36 PM.
Sep 12: Eat, TV, and FF7 - the day's events in just 16 characters. I've began the dash for 99, again. Already 5.8 million gil. As far as I can tell, 8 gil seems to be about that of one US dollar. I even changed my design for the "dash for 99". Since I'm just about to get the Tiny Bronco and one enemy near Mideel (Sea Worm) is more effective and so consistant. It'll be easier and faster. When the level up takes 30,000 experience, damage done under normal means is 2000, or I reach level 70, I'm continuing on using Sea Worm. It's a relatively weak enemy. As you may have expected, given 5.8 million gil, I've got mastered materia. Woke up at 8:58 PM and went to bed at 11:45 AM.
Sep 13: 18 hours and 53 minutes - battery duration of my MP3 player. If I recall correctly, my previous record was 18 hours 27 minutes. First it was eating and TV then I was off to FF7 continuing the dash for 99. I'm now at 35 million gil. At first, it was my usual method - the foot-shaped forest just outside Rocket Town. When at level 63, from mastering more alls, I sold the mastered alls (all but 3) bumping me to 5 million gil. I went on to get the Tiny Bronco then went on to battle Sea Worm until about level 73 where I just wanted to continue knowing I needed to master morph twice and it would mean taking out 500 of these "sea worm" enemies which means 650,000 experience in all, a little over a quarter of what is needed to reach level 99 and that's on double growth. I've finished about 130 such battles and have 370 to go. This means 24 mastered alls from Cloud alone and 3 more from another character, 6 HP and MP pluses (12 total), and plenty of additional mastered stuff. When done with this, it's morphing "heavy tank" for raising characters' strength. Not just 4 characters as before, but at least 6 is what I'm hoping for. Woke up at 9:58 PM and went to bed at 1:47 PM.
Sep 14: I first checked my E-mail and my forums. It was 6 days or so and nothing new. I then ate watching TV. I returned to FF7 for about 45 minutes trying to master morph twice then watched "Assignment Discovery" since I haven't seen it in a long time. When over with, I continued on with FF7. Once morph was mastered twice, I began morphing "heavy tank" ending with 3 of my characters 7 units short of maxing out the attack stat (248), but I've got more to go. I now have 34 mastered alls and a dozen each of mastered HP and MP pluses. I've also, lately, been getting strong intentions on writing my script, "The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters" in book form with new enhancements. At 5:08 PM, I woke up due to a nosebleed taking 25 minutes to get rid of. That's only 90 minutes' sleep. I went back to bed. Woke up at 12:23 AM and went to bed at 2:30 PM.
Sep 15: Another dream recalled, one with nice scenery. It uses 4/5 of a page in details. I first played FF7 maxing out the strength of 3 characters. Then, while getting 99 "power source", I was browsing the bestiary and found that spirals morphed into "guard source". Since I still needed to level up to level 99, and they were worth a lot, it seemed like a worthy option. I got Cloud's defense almost maxed when my dad got me at counting soda cans for the club. My hyper count ability came in handy here (counting 16 cans in a 4x4 grid in about 1.5 seconds, 8 times faster than my dad did). When done, I ate. I returned to the game finishing about where I left off at the time I had to start a new game, but with a few exceptions. First, I haven't gotten to the point in the story where I was before, but very close. Second, I don't have even 70 hours' play time, unlike 80 from before. Next, unlike before, the defense stat is maxed at 255. Fourth, I don't have Cloud's Omnislash nor "enemy lure" or "speed plus", all from the battle square in the Gold Saucer. Unlike before, I have the Chocobo Lure materia. Like before, I have 110+ million gil, from mastering so many alls, HP pluses, exits, and, unlike before, MP pluses. Unlike before, I don't have as much mastered magic. I almost never use spells, except cure. In both cases, I never had a KO (from 0 HP left). For details on my style of playing such games, see news item #2, especially at the end. I only have 65 hours, 34 minutes of play time. Woke up at 1:10 AM and went to bed at 7:13 PM (±1 minute).
Sep 16: I'm now where I left off in terms of the story. However, almost all day since I got here, I've been at chocobo breeding. Wondering why I couldn't get a speed beyond 90, I spent several hours running experiments using my usual method, learned from watching Mythbusters. This went on for about 6 hours and found the cause. Each Chocobo has random variations in their top speed. A "great" seems to range from 84 to 107 for the speed. A "wonderful" varies from 97 to 117, at least from what I've seen. To reliably see what effects things had, the reset button on the machine came in handy. To cheat the expense of unsatisfactory top speed, I fed Sylkis greens as needed (about 60) and went to go start a race. When I saw the top speed as unsatisfactorily low, I pressed the reset button and when reloaded, I just got rid of the slow chocobo and went with another in stock. By resetting it (the 6-buttons-at-once method doesn't work until the race is over and as a result, it's much faster this way), my lost expenses are undone and since the stats never change (tested), it's as if I secretly knew the top speed. Stamina always maxes out at 999 and isn't an issue. By using manual, holding the R1 and R2 buttons together through the entire race, and pressing the square button, I can easily win the races. Sprinting, by doing this, does not increase the speed and just wastes the stamina. Sure 117 for the speed is rather low for class A, but, even with everyone else in the 130's and 140's, I can still win by a long shot. I barely managed to reach class S with a chocobo only going 90 for the top speed. I had to constantly block others just to do it and took 8 runs to win the 3 races needed. Although I don't recall my previous run at it (with 1.3 billion gil), I think I had 140 or 150 as the top speed. Cutting corners also helps (that is, sticking near the inner edge of a curve). Late in the day, I took a shower so I could go to the grocery store. I've lately, had very strong intentions on rewriting my script, "The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters", in book form rather than what I had before. Today was also the Season Finale for the car club - I didn't go for one reason. My motive for going is only 1.3 whereas it's 2350 for playing FF7, a whole 1800 times higher. I nearly forgot to take my shower and I delayed eating for 3 or 4 hours from this. Even going to the grocery store may be delayed from this. Woke up at 3:52 AM and went to bed at 8:52 PM.
Sep 17: I first played FF7 now with a green Chocobo. I left for the grocery store at about 12:08 PM. While out, I first went to some shack, for dropping stuff off from the Season Finale (car club). Then it was the Wal-mart Supercenter. Next was Domino's (for me), then it was at someone's house. I returned home, ate, then continued on with FF7 getting a gold Chocobo. Speed is 147. In C rank, the others were still in the long circular climb by the time I'm at the finish line and on the long course, I finish before the others even enter the water scene. In B rank, the others are just leaving the circular climb and the long course has them just leaving the water scene. In A ranly, they were barely at 3/5 of the way through for the short and 3/4 the way for the long. The gold chocobo does not slow down from the space and water themes nor on any large climbs it just keeps on running along. Even the rider called "TEIOH" is not a problem. His speed is 10% higher and stamina is 25% higher than my chocobo's is, even when in S rank and I have a super slow poke. I actually saw him come in last when he's usually second (I finished 5th). With the gold chocobo, there's no challenge at all, even S rank is easy. What I was seeing in the C rank (and sometimes B) for my slower, regular chocobos is what I'm seeing in the S rank on the short course. Shortly after the long spiral climb up, there is a place where you can see the other chocobos. They're quite small, even though it's S-rank. I found several bugs as well. When mating chocobos, after naming the new one, the "chocobo farm" music, after it begins playing again, has a reduced volume and until the music changes, the music plays back at a reduced volume, about 60% that of normal. I encountered this when I was feeding the newborn and noticed that the sounds caused from feeding them (if feeding 50 of any kind of green, you'd hear it 50 times were unusually loud compared to the background music. When I fed it again, it was normal. I bred another one, getting a newborn, and noticed that the music volume reduction occurred right after naming the new chocobo and you see the farm scene. Another involves the blue (river) and green (mountain) chocobos. In the races, when a normal chocobo enters the ocean or space themes, speed is reduced. Special chocobos are immune to this speed reduction and go through it like it was just part of the rest of the course. The bug is that the green chocobo (for mountain-climbing) is immune to the speed reduction when going through these special areas, but still climbs rather slowly. The blue chocobo climbs rather quickly, but is slown down by these speed-reducing areas. There seems to be a reversal here. The black and gold ones go through the course at full speed without being hampered by this. By the end of the day, I reached the final part of the game, the crater, and the long climb down. I'm up to 130 million-something gil, still only 10% of what I had before. I went through the northern cave to grab the last of the materia and treasures. When 4:00 AM came, I watched "Assignment Discovery" while late. I went to bed right afterwords. I was cold almost all day, -67°F when I woke up, 10° cooler than I'm comfortable with. Brrrr.... It's the worst time of year for me and showers. Woke up at 9:05 AM and went to bed at 5:33 AM.
Sep 18: Yes! One more dream recalled! I woke up cold and remained cold all day. Cold sometimes puts me to sleep. Since about 9:00 PM, I've been trying to remain awake, but my MP3 player's battery died only 5 minutes later and I had to recharge it. I had to wait for this. I played Final Fantasy 7 at first maxing out one character's luck and halfway maxing out two characters' speed. They were so fast, I had to reduce the battle speed. I later watched TV while waiting for the battery to recharge. I watched something relating to UFO's, only it was a special type - USO's. One thing that caught my attention when watching this was when a map showing about where Atlantis was (a piece of land in the middle of the Atlantic between the east coast of the Americas and the west coasts of Europe and Africa. It was roughly located (within about 400 miles) to what I had in my first script, only the version shown on TV was closer to the Americas than I had and it was 20% bigger. I've never seen such a map until now and I was surprised at how close I had it. Speaking of which, my urge to rewriting my script has gotten stronger and is now starting to distract me from the game. At the moment, it's only slightly. Motive is currently at 60 for rewriting my script, versus 85 for playing FF7. With Gamestudio, and a small experiment beforehand, now that I know Gamestudio can write BMP files, I can print in color without using the more expensive, thicker paper. I can print in color at the highest settings and have it printed out with the same amount of brightness/contrast as shown on my monitor. Without doing this, it prints 80% darker than it should be (that is, the color 00FF00 on an image would print out as 00D000 or so instead). By utilizing my math, color, and experimentation skills, I can find the algorithm needed and modify the image by writing a program in Gamestudio so that it brightens the image as needed. I have a few leads, but nothing worthy at the moment - what about shades of gray like the color 40c080? From a past experiment, the color 50FF50 prints on paper like 00FF00 would and 5050FF printed on paper is the same as 0000FF on my monitor. I have several tricks and methods available to help optimize my accuracy. Woke up at 3:05 PM and went to bed at 1:00 AM (±1 minute).
Sep 19: I first played FF7 continuing to morph poodler and bad rap to max out the speed and luck. I ate when I got about 3/4 of the way and continued after done eating. When done maxing out the speed and luck, I went to the Battle Square to get Cloud's Omnislash and W-summon. I then went on to doing the special battles. I got a second gold chocobo as well, this time "161 km" (as the game notes it as). That's just a very tiny fraction over 100 mph if that's 161 km/hr. When that chocobo was running at it's full speed, the race course looked rather screwy when going up a steep hill - polygons were being clipped away from being so close. It even leaves the camera behind when climbing up that long, spiral path at the start of the short course. S rank is so easy with this chocobo, it would be suitable for even a whole class higher, even two classes higher. I then did a few other side things. Battling Emerald Weapon is likely next, but first to max out Red XIII's speed. He's so slow (used as a test subject to see what effect dexterity had - it's purely linear (that is, double the dexterity, the character's ATB bar fills up exactly twice as fast)), it's as if the enemy used a slow spell on him or the two fast ones are in auto-haste. At the end of the day, I watched TV - space stuff in particular. Woke up at 8:16 AM and went to bed at 12:56 AM.
Sep 20: FF7, eating while watching TV, and attempting to rewrite my script make up the bulk of the day. On FF7, I defeated Emerald Weapon with 2/3 of the allotted time left on the clock. For details on how I did this, see news item #3 above. I also defeated Ruby weapon, for the first time. See news item #4 above for how I did it. The gold chocobo reward has a big negative - it's super slow, barely past half as fast as my speed demon, just 88 versus 161. I eventually finished the game. From then, I went on to check my E-mail and try and rewrite my script. I otherwise started from scratch, but it was coming out much worse than I had in my original printout. Woke up at 10:47 AM and went to bed at 4:08 AM.
Sep 22: From around 10:30 AM, I woke up and went back to bed 3 times. I got another dream though. At first, I checked my E-mail. I then went on to watching the news then drowning the fox. I got bored of of this quite quickly. I began watching TV around 8:00 PM first with Sports Disasters (3 episodes) then "A haunting" (2 episodes). I watched the latter since there was nothing else on, except things of neutral compatibility. I was also eating during this time. When over with, I played Bubsy but soon got bored of it. This is what happens when the motive is below 2 without anything higher. I get frustrated with deciding what I want to do next and when I do, I get bored of it quickly. I then browsed Newegg, noticing that their format changed, and tried to see if I could get the bigger monitor. The one I originally was looking at was no longer there but found something like it for a similar price. I was just about to order it, but wasn't sure if I had enough money for it. I checked and found I'd, after ordering it, have only six dollars left, way too close for comfort. I'll have to wait until next month, the start of it anyway. Further details about this are in news item #16 above. I also looked into TV capture cards. I didn't seem to get anywhere as much of what I saw wasn't an actual card. With boredom settling in, I tried working on my script again. Unlike my recent attempt where I was writing it from scratch, I just copied my existing script, but writing it in book format instead of the movie script or play formats. My motive shot up high again and I'm likely to get at least halfway to the end (not including editting) with what my motive is right now. My current, finished version, is very well-written. The only things corrected are facts and making unclear or vague statements have greater clarity. This last part went on for 5 hours. I also saw a mouse in my room. It was 3 inches long (not including the tail), an inch tall, dark grayish-brown fur (or 302018, ######), and about an inch wide. My dad also had surgury and this would mean a major increase in housework. See news item #7 for more details on this. Woke up at 4:27 PM and went to bed at 9:05 AM.
Sep 23: One more dream now recalled. I first continued on with my script then ate while watching TV. I later resumed my script and got to what was scene 6 in my old "The Rise of Atlantis" script where I had 25 scenes and 8 acts. At the end of the day, I watched Looney Tunes, something I haven't seen for at least 2 months, likely even more (even 4 or 5 months). I did see it twice in one week though. I did check my E-mail though. The guestbook is really screwed up. I access it but redirects incorrectly making it impossible to approve or delete anything. This has been going on for 2 months and it's gotten worse. Woke up at 3:50 PM and went to bed at 7:17 AM.
Sep 24: That's 3 dreams in a row recalled. I first took a shower as, unexpectedly, I was going to the grocery store. Strangely enough, my dream depicted this exact same thing, and with relatively few differences. I went afterwards then came home to eat watching "Fall on Boomerang" as I did almost exactly one year ago. I watched it until a bunch of trash came on (Dexter's Lab being the first one). I returned to my script getting to what was scene 8. I was interrupted at 9:10 AM (±10 minutes) to go take trash out and pick up stix (not to be confused with the game :)). I returned to my script getting past the first half of what was scene 8. I was too tired by then and went to bed. My MP3 player is at the same song as my computer, Final Fantasy 1 World. Woke up at 6:14 PM and went to bed at 10:35 AM.
Sep 25: I first continued on with my script to 1/3 of the way through what was scene 9. I then ate watching TV as usual. I returned to my script. 106% true speed seems very good on my computer. 105% true speed on my MP3 player has 105% true speed. Parts 4 and 7 (of 7), the last measure in particular, is the best, spiking at 2280. I have a feeling I'd be going at it for over a week, close to even two weeks or more. Unlike Battle Zone where it was best on my MP3 player (likely because my computer had low-end, cheap speakers. It's 30% better on my computer. 104% doesn't sound as good as 106, but 108% is only slightly worse than 106. Mathematically, I could use 106.8% for the mega sweet spot. As to my story, I'm half done with what was scene 12. I'm now about to reach the good stuff. Woke up at 6:00 PM and went to bed at 7:59 AM.
Sep 26: That's 5 dreams in a row! This one takes a whole page in detail. Although it starts bad, it becomes very decent. It's a multicategory dream. I first worked on my script getting to what was scene 13, one of my favorites. Scenes 1, 5, 8, and 13 are my favorites to this point. I ate next watching TV, then continued on with my script. I reached what was scene 14 and the very start of what was Act 5, my top favorite act of the 8 acts in the script. I suddenly stopped as my motive for updating my website exceeded that of my script. A huge affector, at 7.3 or so, was that it's been a month and if delayed to October, September wouldn't get any of the headlines. The latter had a 4.8 affector, the first only a 1.5. Since then, I began updating my website. I completed most of the headlines. When done doing what I had, I recalled my attempt of explaining how I update my website. I finished the intro part then the first page of the main part (the headlines). That's about 15 to 25% done. Other than that, I put sodas in the van for dad, due to his recent surgery. I'm still at FF1 World on my computer and the same speed and EQ settings. Well, I changed the speed from 106 to 107% true speed, a difference of less than 1%, but, as predicted knowing the exponential curve, it was better. Woke up at 6:51 PM and went to bed at 12:34 PM.
Sep 27: Man, 6 dreams in a row! This one is a full page of details, but took 70 minutes to write as my mind kept drifting off. I first ate while watching TV. I then continued updating my website until I went to bed, which was after 10 hours of updating my website. The bulk of the time spent was on the "how I update my website" article I wanted to do on my previous update. It has now been completed, except for the final phase - breaking it up into the pages. The rest of the time was spent updating my dream journal adding 4 of 17 dreams. Tomorrow, I should have the dream journal finished. I briefly stopped looking at mail from Vantage Press. I spent about 40 minutes checking out their website for an E-mail as I had a question - are color images supported. I couldn't find it or any answers to this question, but images are supported. I also ended up with 2 more credit card ads in the mail - junk mail. Why are they bothering to spend like 50˘ to mail these sometimes packed envelopes when I don't want a debt-causing credit card. I'll continue to reject the offers for a debt-causing credit card - the company should just save on the postage and use this for other, better uses. Woke up at 10:23 PM and went to bed at 1:14 PM.
Sep 28: 7 dreams in a row, lucky seven. This one took 1 1/3 pages of detail. With nothing on on TV for quite a while, I first continued updating my dream journal completing 13 dreams of now 18. I have 5 left and one image. By 3:10 AM, I ate as good stuff was on (Assignment Discovery which covered physics-related stuff, another new thing I haven't seen yet). I returned to the dream journal afterwards. I soon got to making an image of somthing in one of those dreams, but, even 3 hours later, I was barely even half done. I lost motive with it. I just decided to describe it in words, using lots of numbers since that's all I pretty much had. I also got bored of the speed I had for the song and changed it settling on true speed for a bit. I finished the dream journal, now with 448 dreams. Next are the daily entries, over 40 of 'em. I still have 2 days left though and if I recall any other dreams, they'll be added to the dream journal. Woke up at 10:38 PM and went to bed at 2:01 PM.
Sep 29: What's with it! 8 dreams in a row!? The new dream takes 4/5 of a page. This now puts my 12-in-a-row record in focus. When I changed the speed to 96% of the true speed of FF1 World, it's now the last 3 measures of parts 4 and 7 that are really liked as well as the same transition from part 7 to part 1. I first, because the pizza cooker tray was not washed, continued on with the website. All of August is done. I ate at this time (upon completing August in the daily entries). From 9:05 AM to 11:14 AM, I was moving stuff around - cleaning the garage for installing a furnace. When I returned to my computer, checking my forums, I found that one user posted serious adult content. I had to edit it out. I got to September 10 in the daily entries when I returned to moving stuff around. I finished after another 1 2/3 hours. I reached September 18 (I haven't started it yet.) in the daily entries before going to bed. Around the middle of the day, I was curious to know just how much matter needed to be converted to pure energy for using spells. For my details I got from this, see news item #13 above. I should be done by tomorrow. Although I still have a few other adjustments, I should be done by the middle of the day. However, I have grocery shopping and a shower beforehand. I'm still at FF1 World at 96% true speed. Even the the least liked parts 2 and 5 are better which will greatly help the motive and likely to add another day or two to my potential. Woke up at 12:21 AM and went to bed at 5:46 PM.
Sep 30: 9 dreams in a row - this one just vaguely recalled using 1/4 page in detail. I first checked my forums and E-mail. There were 2 more threads pure spam. I locked them and editted the spam and dangerous content out. I even created a new category on my forums which contains the spam. I finished my website's update and checked it over. I checked my forums again and a previous spammer posted the same content again - second warning, the next case being a temp ban. I then ate and took a shower afterwards. I went to the Wal-Mart supercenter to get groceries. While there, my cart was making thumping sounds. I found that the back, right wheel had a dent in it that caused it. That otherwise went well. I did, however, have to wait a long time for one customer at the checkouts in front who had a lot of groceries. At home, I put stuff away and began washing my bedding. When I tried replacing the cover sheet, things got rough, very rough. I asked for a simple razor blade to cut the foam block I was using as a bed. I got one and it was filthy due to heavy rusting. I didn't get anywhere after this as I continuously got into arguments. I knew this big increase on house work was going to cause trouble. Part of it is that my dad seems to want to rush things which adds a -1.6 affector to my motive for doing it. At one point, my mom tried cleaning my room some. I kept getting begged to take the trash out (and with a -10.5 base motive, it'll take a lot of begging). Then it's giving the dogs water which has a small -1.5 affector (it takes about 5.8 of these -1.5's to make a -10.5 to put that big one in perspective) meaning I'd rather fill the dog's water dish 33 times before taking the trash out. By simply rushing me to do something, the -1.5 affector drops to -2.4 for the activity and the -10.5 drops to -16.8. With all the arguing, I took a "time out" by staying in my room to settle down. I reached about 90% of my limit of tolerance, in the danger zone. If I was paid something like $10 per week for doing this, it'd add a +1.8 affector putting a few things into positive territory, but the trash is still quite far into negative territory and the case of rushing me almost cancels out the benefit (leaving +1 1/8). After about 30 minutes to settle down, I did go out and continue on what house work I was trying to avoid. This went on for 3 hours and it was at 6:20 PM that I was done. I finally did what I was after, but there was a disappointment. The razor blade was of practically no use at all and even scissors were of little use. Scissors were used to get a start, but it took basic pulling to tear out a small part, my only intent. I viewed my forums, checked my E-mail, then made those few fixes in my story I was after. I, hopefully, could work on my script tomorrow, even order that bigger monitor I'm after. Oh how I can't wait for 1920x1440.... Nothing else happened. I'm still at FF1 World. Woke up at 2:14 AM and went to bed at 7:52 PM.



Go to another time:
Earlier than 2005: Earlier than Nov 2004 | Nov 2004 (and late Oct 2004) | Dec 2004

Year 2005: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Year 2006: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Year 2007: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Year 2008: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Year 2009: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Year 2010: Yet to arrive....

The news entry headlines in bold are color-coded for a reason. They tell how big the event was for the headlines and how good my day was for the daily entries. From May 2006 onward, a slightly different system is used, of which has triple the precision. For dates prior to this that use color coding, from the white color, skipping two to red and so on is used. Here's what each color represents (for updates to before May of 2006):

Extremely major event / Very good day
Major event / Good day
Somewhat major event / Somewhat good day
Normal event / Average day
Somewhat minor event / Somewhat bad day
Minor event / Bad day
Extremely minor event / Very bad day


Footnotes:
None