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What have you been up to in August of 2007?


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

Because the headlines span 2 1/2 months from early June to mid-August of 2007, they are repeated for the months of June, July, and August.

Aug 17, 2007



Aug 17, 2007: Major time was spent with Final Fantasy 12, with 5 videos of my oddities on YouTube. Only two good songs were present, but nothing compares to the record-holders, far below them. For Father's Day, I made a rather unusual self-created card for my father. I passed the 600 mark in recalled dreams (along with a discovery). Some progress has been made for the 2D games. A new card game has been added. I made a list of most every video game I've played at some point. I ran into difficulties with Paypal and I also had a close call with tornadoes. I made a discovery with taking digital photos but haven't found any solutions to the GameBridge-Genesis issue.

#1 Final Fantasy 12: For many days, I've been heavily involved with Final Fantasy 12. The daily entries cover things in far greater depth, but the headline will only contain the basic summary. For the most part, it started with gaining a few levels then defeating the first "semi-boss". From there, I went at levelling up so much, I reached the mid-thirties by the time I first got to see what it was like to have more than one character in the party. That lasted a short while, then continued levelling up to the low 50's when I first began to get the other party members. Balthier and Fran started at level 54 when I first got them. Yes, that's not a typo. I continued levelling up even more, maxing Vaan out at 99 before getting Ashe (starting on 86) and Penelo (starting at 93). From this, I spent many days trying to level every one up to the maximum. My videos on YouTube go in great depth explaining much more on this. During the time, I went after a big ball elemental, gnoma entite, and defeated it several times with inferior weapons and abilities. Sure it took 4 minutes to defeat, I liked doing it and, even funnier, I even had an enemy called "urstrix" watch the battle. That's no joke and I have a video on YouTube to prove it and see for yourself. I once had two urstrixes watching, but wasn't recording at the time (nor was my computer on). This was the funniest thing and I spent a few days trying to record it (since it spanned over July 4, my top favorite holiday of all with quadruple the motive). Once I found a much better way to level up, in Mosphoran Highwaste (another video available), I continued on until I maxed everyone out. Then, from there on, I could focus entirely on hunts, side quests, and the story. I progressed a bit with the story, went on a few more hunts taking whatever I could find, went on a few more side quests, progressed with the story more, and kept continuing until I reached the final part. I eventually completed the game on July 31, 2007 since I was getting bored of it.

Although I have the strategy guide, I only used it to figure out what you're supposed to do next, the slowest, most boring part, but for the battles, I used my own strategies of which I later found matched only about 40% of that in the guide (checked after the battle, if I actually did). The toughest enemy wasn't Yiazmut, with over 50 million HP, it was Omega Mark XII, of which I realized a misprint in the guide. The guide states of 10 million HP, but it actually only has a million instead. Getting reverse to work was the tricky part since it very frequently missed. My usual strategy was to have one major damage dealer become the enemy's sole target (with decoy) and have the other two characters both cast reverse on him at the same time (to boost the chance of success since it frequently misses). I usually have my major damage dealer go berserk if all is well. The support characters mainly just threw cure spells and status effect spells around - haste, protect, reverse, bravery (only on the damage dealer), faith (faith mainly on themselves and not the damage dealer), decoy (on the damage-dealer when reverse is finally put on), and probably some others. The support characters, especially the party leader, used ranged weapons (a bow in particular), to keep them separate minimizing the effects area spells have.

When I think of Final Fantasy, I usually think of it having good music. After all, the top three record-holding songs (that hold many records in one) are all from Final Fantasy: FF6 World version 1 (53 days of the same song, 17 of the same song and speed, and highest sustained compatibility), FF1 World (42 days of the same song, second-highest sustained compatibility), and Battle Zone (46 days of the same song, 12 days of the same song and speed, 107 days on the same source, highest known spike for anything (including outside music) at 3190, and fourth-highest sustained compatibility. I didn't find much of anything of interest in FF12. Ozmone Plain (700 sustained) is the highest, but is no match to FF6 World version 1, less than 1/3 of it). The next highest, Mosphoran Highwaste, is only at 220, just 1/10 that of FF6 World version 1. Rabanastre and that of Outpost are tied at third place with 90, just below the favorite mark (which is 100). Records are not likely going to happen, not even 5th place record held by OWTLI.

#2 FF6 World - 52 1/4 days plus bonuses - magical?: There's something strange about FF6 World, and I mean it. It led to my new record of 52 1/4 consecutive days at listening to it (17 days for the same song and speed). Then, just barely a week later, I went at it again for another 10 days. I returned to it again around early July but don't know how long I was at it and it didn't dominate the day as I was involved with FF12. I returned once more barely a month later on Aug 11 and, as of this update, I've remained at it since with no sign of letting up. Time and time again I kept returning to it, as if it was "luring me to it". Though it has a 2200 sustained compatibility, the highest of any song, even the next highest at 2100 doesn't "lure" me to it like this song does and that's less than a 5% difference. Although there is no such thing as magic (the kind in magic shows is actually just illusions - floating platforms blending into the background, trick mirrors, wires, and things like that), this song, strangely enough, seems magiced (sp.?). After getting bored of it, I get a chance encounter with it and off I'm at listening to it again for several days in a row. Even when I typed this headline, I was listening to it, for the fourth day at it. It may not set the record for the most listened to in a whole year (having random start points with the end being 365.242199 days later; held by OWTLI since it was one of very few songs I had at the time drastically limiting my choices), it may reach second place (Desert Zone) though but can't tell at this point). I don't know what the record is, but it's something around 200 or so days in a given year with the next highest around 100 or so. The 52 1/4 days followed by 9 7/8 and now 6 more puts it at 68 1/8 total days within just 4 1/2 months. The current value, with the start on Apr 3 at 1:00 AM, is around 68 days and continues to count onward.

#3 July 4 - not as good as I had hoped: Last year, I had a great time with launching fireworks on July 4 and was at it for a very long time. This year, things weren't anywhere near as exciting since I didn't get as much of the good stuff. For those who are new to me and/or not sure what's so special about this day, July 4 is Independence Day in the US and on that day, as I've done for more than 15 years, I launch fireworks as part of the celebration. At the time, I was heavily involved with FF12 (see news item #1 above). I got a few photos, but unlike last year, they weren't anywhere near as good. I thought I'd post two of them (click them to see a high-resolution version):

Ulillillia's fireworks for 2007


These are the fireworks I had this year. Note that I have two of the big ones. The reason for this is because the place had a "buy 1, get 1 free" deal on almost everything. The others are quite similar, but compared to last year, I have much less variety which is the main reason. I targetted 500 fuses, since I had many left over from last year. I had less than I thought I did.

a group of 10 smoke ball fireworks linked together


Here, I grouped many smoke balls together in a way that causes many to light up at once. Normally, I only do 1 to 3. When I light such combos, I arrange them in a way so that one of the fuses is as far apart as possible from the others. This area is pretty much right in the center of the image.

Last year, I had much more variety. I had only 6 different types (the two big ones count as a single - they're finales) this year.

#4 Parents, mirrors, and the blocked phones: With one mirror blocking the easiest, fastest, and most motivating route to the phone, it was bad enough. Now, a second mirror was placed that prevents access to that phone but I still had one more. Mom then got a fold-down mirror causing a criss-cross barrier. That is, one mirror in the far south part of the room "points" north and another, the new one, is on the east side pointing to the west. The phone is in the southwest corner. I can't get to the phone since a table is in the way, and to move one of the mirrors means having to get in front of other, essentially blocking my access to the phone. Two phones of two blocked and they expect me to answer it. It seems that my parents have been getting really dumb lately. What if I need to call the emergency number? Getting a long stick to fight the mirrors (at least 4 1/2 feet is what I need) will easily take about a minute or so (it'd be much faster for me to run to a neighbor's house, speak with the neighbor, and call from there, likely 20 seconds on a speed run, triple the speed of what it would take in my own house). Lately, I haven't been able to call anyone or anywhere, or even answer the phone. The parents are doing it to themselves.

#5 A very unusual father's day gift and card: About two weeks before Father's Day (June in the US), I envisioned a card for father's day, but only got to working on it the day before. It involves a brain repair kit, since he does and says some weird things at times. He actually liked it and I even took a photo of the final result. The front of the card showed a basic box (with very simple 3D effects) saying "brain repair kit" on it. A human brain was above this and on the right center, a green circle with "the solution to all your brain problems" was there, sort of looking like a box in a retail store would, even having a price ($34.95). At the bottom had "this isn't an ordinary father's day card". On the inside had more text with various tools and machine parts scattered around (bolts, a screw driver, a ratchet, and a few others). The back had usual card disclaimers, but in a very unusual way. Everyone in my family, even my dad when it came time to giving it to him, liked it a lot. I mainly just copied my near-photo quality visions two weeks prior.

There's still more to it though. My sister made a gift that looked like a normal gift (though, being a box, one could tell it was a box or some object with hard sharp edges just by looking at the wrapping paper). This box resembled the brain repair kit on the card and inside were... real tools (his own tools - mostly screw drivers, a few wrenches, and other things). Also included was the card I made. I'd say this is a very unusual card and gift, but I'm quite sure there's even weirder ones out there, self-made in particular.

Brain repair kit fathers day gift


#6 YouTube copyright scare: When I uploaded one of my Shrek the Third game videos, it was taken down two or so days later due to copyright-related issues. The main thing that bothered me wasn't entirely this, but it was not knowing what part(s) of the video crossed the borderline, since it was never indicated, that was. This bothered me for an entire 3 days preventing me from concentrating on almost anything. Even to today, I still don't know what caused it. It comes down to any of 4 possibilities though:

  1. Some story-related elements were included. The problem here is that, I've seen many videos with story-related elements in them.
  2. The fact that this was the last level and it was played in full. I've, again, seen many videos with the last level being played in full.
  3. The other two I've since forgotten.


It did, however, have one advantage - boosted cautiousness. In other words, I'm now much more cautious when processing videos. Anything with less than 90% certainty I hesitate when deciding if I want to upload it to YouTube. Below 75% certainty, then I reject the idea of uploading it to YouTube. Below 50% certainty, I hestitate with wanting to record it (which is enough to delay it for months, probably even a few years). Most cases hover around 95% and above though. One other video with Shrek the Third is where I make it through the entire "Catacomb Leap" minigame with 10 lives remaining. This has 75% certainty (mostly since it's the entire thing, even though no story elements and things are involved).

#7 Video processing program updated: My self-created program, of which I use to process videos with, was in need of updating in order for something to work. Thing is, I wanted to demonstrate how something is to be done, but the problem of the 10-minute time limit was as issue. Besides, quite a bit of it was fairly boring and thus I wanted a time-lapse system to quickly skip over but still give users the sense of what was going on. Virtual Dub's method is very inaccurate - frames are just deleted with the frame delay offset. The more accurate method to simulate this is by merging frames and since no known program could do this, and that I mostly had the know-how, I added this capability to my video-processing program. However, for quite a while, I've been debating on the more accurate frame-merging method - the "transparent frame" method and the "pixel color average" method. I'm thinking the "transparent frame" method is more accurate. What this is is that, if 4 frames are being merged, frame 4 would be the starting point and fully opaque. The previous frame, frame 3, would be drawn on top as 75% opaque (alpha of 191), with frames 2 and 1 being 50% and 25% (alphas of 128 and 64) being drawn on top with 2 first then 1. When hundreds of such frames are processed, it simulates the effect of being played back at a higher frame rate than it really is. The "pixel color average" method is much simpler and it merely involves taking an average of the the colors in frames to be merged. For 128, 64, 96, and 64 for the four color values of the frames (can be done in any order - addition is commutative), it gives 352/4 or 88 as the end result. Both methods produce the exact same result when 2 frames are being merged, but they start differing with more frames merged and the more, the greater the difference. Both methods simulate the effect of being played back at a faster frame rate than it really is.

#8 Graph-plot EQ for Winamp - 10% max boost to compatibility: This is more than a typical equalizer. I've been wanting an equalizer with numerous channels, more than even 30 since 10 often just doesn't cut it. Take FF6 World for instance. At true speed, frequencies from 100 to 400 Hz in the best area (the first 4 measures of part 2) has a significant boost to my compatibility but from 400 to 700, there's a small drop. From 700, it jumps significantly until 1700 Hz and from there on, it has a slight drop that increases with the pitch. With my sound card's 10-channel equalizer, I can only control 31, 62, 125, 250, 500, 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, and 16K frequency bands. With Winamp, they are 60, 170, 310, 600, 1K, 3K, 6K, 12K, 14K, and 16K. Winamp seems to just have random values not really following the logarithmic scale at all whereas my sound card's equalizer does (it doubles every time with fractional parts chopped off). To get the 100 to 400 area, I'd boost the 125, 170, 250, and 310 bands quite a bit with some on the 500. I'd use the 600 Hz band to drop the amplitude of that area, but the 1K, 2K, and 3K bands raised. It's imprecise and I've always wanted more equalizer bands than this. With the new graph-plot equalizer, it's far better than the 30-channel equalizer I originally thought of. The only downside is that it doesn't follow the logarithmic scale and that for deamplification is inconsistent with that of the amplification part. Positive is evenly spaced when negative is awkwardly spaced (accelerative but again, not the logarithmic scale). Still, it's way better than any equalizer I've used, even Audacity's since it won't let me save settings (even after each use!) and it modifies the wave. It's with this equalizer that I found the optimal range and the consequence to this is a maximum of a 10% boost in compatibility. That doesn't seem like much, but it's enough to turn a song with a compatibility of 2000 to 2200 (The case with FF6 World is only a boost of 5%, from 2100 to 2200, of which is where it stands).

Graph plot equalizer in Winamp for FF6 World


This screenshot shows the graph plot equalizer and how it is for FF6 World. This is 96% true speed. Yep, 27,000 plays and still counting, all that in only 4 months and it doesn't include plays from the game itself nor on my MP3 player (which could boost it to 32,000). Like with OWTLI, if this kept up (and was about as long as OWTLI), this could very well reach a million plays in 11 years and by then, OWTLI would be an antique with video game songs and it may only rack up another 100,000 plays at most.

#9 A close call with tornadoes - 10 miles from me: On June 10, 2007, there were many tornado warnings in my area and one of the tornadoes got within just 10 miles of where I live. I've had a closer call with lightning than that though where a bolt of lightning was only 100 feet away just beyond the power lines. It was so close, I could make out the 14-inch diameter it has with that degree of precision (well, ±1 inch anyway). The tornado was too far away to see, but I'd have rather watched the TV to monitor the storms then look for it. When 15 miles away, me and my sister, the only two home (parents were at work), decided to get the dogs down in the basement where my sister carried them and I searched for them (still taking detours around the mirrors). I then thought that, when 5 miles away, I'd head down into the basement with my sister and continue to monitor the storms, but they didn't get that close. Usually, I get one within 30 miles from me in a given year, provided any tornadoes are even in the vicinity. It's very rare one creeps 10 miles from me. The last time I recall this happening is in the summer of one of the years from 1991 to 1994. It was before I got involved with Bubsy though.

#10 Some progress on my 2D game: Before I got involved with FF12, I was working on my 2D game making the character. I've done a few of the basic "actions" such as jumping, fall-gliding, and level gliding, but that was about it (without the lighting as that comes last (since adjustments means having to reprocess the lighting). I have many "actions" remaining though and other variations. Beyond this, not much else happened. Now that I'm away from FF12, progress on my 2D game can finally get going again.

#11 Paypal != pal - lost motive for selling on Ebay: When you buy or sell things on Ebay, you'll almost certainly think of Paypal as it's very common. However, "Paypal" seems more like "Payfoe" or "Payus" due to a recent episode I had. In short, a Paypal payment from selling a processor on Ebay was delayed a very long time. For an in-depth story, it all started with my computer problems back in late December of 2006 and early January and 2007. My computer was hard-freezing, even in the BIOS. Through asking on the forums using my dad's computer, I was getting the indication that my processor was at fault and I ordered one off Newegg. Once I received it, I put it in and it wouldn't run for some reason. Eventually, I needed to go to a computer service center to get it fixed up and since then, the processor has just been lying around in the box it came in. I've been wanting to sell it for a long time, but just didn't have the motive, then, in mid June, I finally got to listing it on Ebay. I applied my usual formula to determine the listing price and it worked out originally to $69.99. Two days later, I found that I made a mistake with my calculation and that $59.99 was the case but didn't bother changing it. Upon relisting it, I did put it as my original intended price and got two bids on it. The payment was supposedly made right away, but when I made a quick check on my Paypal, I found that the funds haven't been received and Ebay showed that the payment was pending. Normally, it takes 3 or 4 business days to clear a pending payment, a likely cause due to insufficient funds. What I mean by that is, pretend someone bought an item costing $20 and they only had $10 in their Paypal. They pay for the item, but, due to not enough being in Paypal, Paypal needs to withdraw from the bank account or credit card and this takes 3 to 4 days to clear from the two cases I've had this occur. It spanned over the 4th of July holiday and the weekend beforehand so I expected a longer delay. It still didn't clear by Friday so I waited one more business day, or the Monday right after the weekend. Since it still didn't clear, I investigated further and Paypal told me that, in order to even claim the payment, I needed to upgrade my account and I couldn't find any way around it. Upgrading the account meant that they'd take another $2 away. I was very disappointed and this added a monstrous -14 affector to my motive for having Paypal as a payment option, a very extreme affector, enough that I will no longer offer Paypal as a method of payment and with other methods being less secure and slower, my motive for selling things on Ebay dropped quite a bit too - a -3.5 affector (4 times better than that from Paypal so it's not that bad) so for now, it'll take a lot more motivation (3 1/2 times as much) before I bother to sell anything on Ebay. This, however, will not affect my motive (an affector of 1) when it comes to buying things on Ebay or using Paypal to make payments with. Beforehand, I got the payments without any trouble. This just happened out of nowhere.

#12 Some progress and new visions of my 2D RPG game: Between my (somewhat annoying) visions of my 2D RPG game, and other things I've got going on the computer, I've been having new thoughts on my 2D RPG game. I've mostly made progress with the plans (mainly just small updates), and especially lists. If you've seen strategy guides for RPG games, they list the various weapons, armor, enemies, abilities, and other things in them. These lists are what these are. The list of weapons is mainly done, but seems far too repetitive. Another list, of which is tricky to do in full, is that of enemies. I can get the stats for enemies (magic attack, defense, evasion, HP, etc.) in full for those you'd find early in the game, but for those found later in the game, only rough concepts are possible. The full details are not possible (along with finding out costs of items and the SP-usage of spells) without being able to test the game. Though I'm normally heavily involved with fighting enemies before progressing with the story, when testing, I'll do this way, and the way normally expected - progress with a few extra battles. I've got 85% of the major and moderate details worked out for the game. I just need to gain experience with programming and the main game I'm working on, the remake of "The Supernatural Olympics" will be the starting point.

I've been getting a lot of visions as well, near photo quality as well. One vision is where the characters have around 124,000 HP on average and I'm defeating a boss that has just over 20 million HP. I'm cycling between using fire21 and thunder20 of which do 450,000 and 800,000 damage. The boss deals around 25,000 in damage and it's a solo fight. This is based on the case where you're more focused toward the story rather than having extremely high levels for the point in the story. In one case, due to a critical hit, the character's HP drops to 13,000 causing the number in the stats to be a brilliant red, but a cure spell is on the way which restores around 100,000 HP. The character's special attack was used once and it did 3 million in damage (it was a critical hit). Near the end of the battle, the character's SP was getting rather low. I occasionally added status effects, mostly to the character (one boosting physical defense and another to increase the character's actions).

In another vision, it's the very beginning of the game where I'm battling simple enemies that do about 30 HP of damage. I have 3 characters attacking with a fourth (one more focused toward casting spells) casting cure on everyone doing about 140 HP in cure. This scene is rare.

#13 Survive the Flood UNO - a newly added game: It's been on my "to-do list" for months, probably over a year. It's the card game based on UNO where you play solo and formulate strategies. It's bizarre in many ways, but when you've got time to waste and have a deck of even regular cards (UNO cards are not required), you could play a game or two of this. This game has simple-enough rules, and that I have enough programming skills, I could write a program to allow you to play this. I wrote the rules for the game and included my custom-made card deck that has various nature themes such as the beach, space, or a rainbow. They're based largely on cards I made in at least 2002, but I couldn't find the originals and the previous ones were 4-bit color. The new versions, though they have simple cartoon-like graphics, are much more colorful than the originals, provided you factored dithering effects in as well to simulate more colors than those on the standard 16-color palette. My top favorites are those of the beach (3), desert (4), forest (5), and rainbow (7). The forest one is my top favorite followed by the desert, beach, then rainbow. If it wasn't for an E-mail I got, adding a +5 affector to the motive, it may have been delayed longer. It was practically right on neutral (well, -1.1 was what it was - it jumped to 4.5). Thanks for the E-mail (and boosting my motive for it).

#14 If only GameBridge worked with the Genesis...: I've been wanting it for a long while now - getting GameBridge to work with my Sega Genesis. All I get are distortions in the video. The audio comes out fine though. What do I mean by distortions? This screenshot explains it all:

Distortions GameBridge has with the Genesis (Bubsy in level 11 is shown)


Note the great distortions. No, it's not JPG artifacts (JPG quality 10 is a little better than this), it's actually the way it comes out. This is supposed to be level 11, one of 3 levels (world) in which OWTLI comes from. Can you make out Bubsy or what he's doing? You could barely make out Bubsy and without knowing the game, couldn't tell what he was doing. Can you make out the woolie or the object Bubsy is directly above? With thinking, you should be able to make out at least the enemy. Can you tell what the background is of? Again, it's difficult to make out anything except clouds. On my TV, it comes out crystal clear and you can see the individual pixels and their colors without any distortions at all. Like this, it's almost impossible to even play the game. I just tried messing around in this area as I've done for years and like this, it's very difficult, even with pausing the game to try to figure out what things are (and when going faster than 32 pixels per frame, it's even worse). I only got in this area through first playing it on my TV, pausing the game, hooking up GameBridge, then recording a video of the actions I was doing.

I first thought the issue was because of the non-original, non-official RF adapter I used since I lost the true original years ago. I got an official one off Ebay and even that didn't resolve the problem so the issue lies elsewhere. I've tried common troubleshooting methods - reinstalling the driver and software (with reboots after each step to help ensure I get it), downloading an updated driver but there weren't any, trying a different channel (3 instead of 4), jiggling the connection between the two devices, reconnecting it, trying many different games (Bubsy, Sonic, Crue Ball, and a Magic School Bus game), pretty much everything. Everything I did gave the exact same results each and every time. I've run out of ideas too and I'm not getting any help from the forums. Searching the internet doesn't give anything as I'm the only one having this issue. I have no idea what else I could try.

In case you're wondering, I'd like to get videos and screenshots (mostly videos) of various things I do. You then might be asking how I got Sonic-related screenshots and videos to come out. This is because I played it through the GameCube (Sonic Mega Collection) and this system works perfectly fine with GameBridge. For example, in Bubsy, I can get falling faster than 32 pixels per frame, much faster. I'd like to record a video showing the odd effects this has. Think Sonic is fast? Well, even Sonic 3 & Knuckles can't get a scrolling speed this fast. These games are limited to 24 pixels per frame. Though Sonic can certainly fall faster, to up to 128 pixels per frame, the screen won't scroll any faster than 24 pixels per frame. Bubsy, on the other hand, can get up to 96 pixels per frame falling and I've gotten 95 pixels per frame (causing the 32-scale backgrounds to slide almost 3 pixels every frame and it's so fast that you fall from the very top of the level to the very bottom, a span of 0x0600 pixels (or 1536 pixels in decimal units) in under 1/3 of a second, about as fast one's reaction time. How big is 0x0600? Think of Hydrocity Zone in Sonic 3, the first act. Beyond the first pool of water, from the very top of the level to the surface of the water is roughly that distance. Sonic 3's levels bottom out at 0x0C00, double that.

The only other alternative I can think of is using an emulator, but due to legal-related issues I've heard about many times, I'm afraid to even use them, even though I own the actual games I would otherwise intend on using it with (like Bubsy as I used GameBridge to get the screenshot above with).

#15 Another attempt at my story - cut short again: If you recall 3 or so years ago that I once write a story and was attempting to get published. This story was "The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters". I've tried many times to rewrite the story, but it just doesn't come out as good. On my last attempt, I only finished the first act, but lost my motivation, again. Like before, sometime in the future, there's almost certainly going to be another round at it. I once worked out that it takes just 10 days for me to write a full story like this (roughly 300 pages in the movie script format, 200 pages in my play format and 175 in book format), including 2 rounds of editting. The method combines most of the format of a movie script (particularly character speech and actions), some from the play format I used since 1996, and the rest with book format (complete sentences and proper grammer is used), all with a few rare exceptions. It's not the story in my 2D RPG game though, far from it.

#16 September vacation - slightly boosted odds: In an earlier blog entry, I stated of a possible vacation in September, the first in more than 7 years. I still don't know when in September it would be, but the earlier, the more motivating. At the time, my parents wanted me to get over the mirror thing (which had a 1% chance of working at the time until then). Lately, I've heard of the one I'm going to visit (family) really wants to which, to me, seems like a boost in odds, probably now 2.5%, but details are seriously lacking. It's been so long since I last had a vacation, I forgot what it's like to be on one. I've been getting quite a few vacation-related dreams lately though - I wonder if that means anything.

#17 27 new dreams recalled, there goes the 600-mark, and a dream-recalling discovery: While I played FF12, I mainly only recalled one dream per week when I normally recall one dream every 2 days on average. Once I got off FF12, 15 dreams in 15 waking days were recalled (one missed, another with 2 dreams in one). Then, on top of this, I've recalled the night's dream 12 times in a row, tying my old record (13 dreams in 12 consecutive days without a day where I didn't recall the dream). I wonder why there was a sudden dip. It seems that, if I'm heavily involved with something, I recall dreams less frequently, but when I'm not, the dream recall rate sky-rockets. I wonder what was going in October and November of 2006 that caused a very high dream-recall rate. There seems to be a pattern here that I've only now noticed. How to boost the chances of recalling multiple dreams in one night... that I don't know, but I think there's a similarity. One of the dreams has 10 parts to it and another is a lot of fun (though very far from my record that still stands since late 2002). It does have a very high nature rating (though still far from the record). Dream 8-5 is so far ahead of everything, it's not getting any "competition". 1300 compatibility versus 300 - dream 8-5 is liked more than 4 times as much. In addition, one very recent dream is 85% in tact and has been posted as a story as a result. Since the last update, however, I recalled 27 new dreams putting the total count at 607. Passing the 600 mark came quite late. Given my normal trend of 1 dream every 2 days, I'd have made the 600 mark from late June to mid July. I was heavily involved with FF12 at the time and even then, I was still a bit behind. It was only until August came along and I finally got away from FF12 that my dream-recall rate surged and then some.

#18 A list of video games I've played: Ever wonder what video games I've played, both past and present? I decided to make a list of every game that I can at least recall playing. I don't know any of the names of the Atari games, but I have many recalled scenes and things that can help explain what the games are.

#19 Animated GIF tutorial updated: I've updated the tutorial on how to make my complex-behaving animated GIFs to account for some of the newest information and details. The lighting formula is updated to include the double cosine function used. A few other updates as well have been made.

#20 First live TV shuttle launch watched - not as good as I thought: About 7 or so times beforehand, I wanted to see the space shuttle launch. The main problem was that the times it was to happen were all over the place and when I did have the opportunity/chance, either I forgot about it, I was too involved with something and didn't watch the clock, and/or it got cancelled due to weather or technical issues. Just recently, I got the chance but was disappointed in that it wasn't all that long. It was interesting, but it was way too short. I was thinking it'd be something around 8 minutes starting around 15 seconds before the launch. 8 minutes since that's about long it takes for it to get into orbit. Instead, only about a minute's worth was shown.

#21 Digital photo-taking discovery found: I very rarely take photos mainly because I don't have a digital camera and I don't really have much to take pictures of. Despite that, I made a photo-taking discovery. Before, many of my photos came out quite blurred. I knew about the case of partially holding the button in to focus since my first digital photo, but pressing it causes the camera to jerk and thus I get blur. The solution I found to this was to use the camera's self-timer and by comparing two photos with and without the self-timer used, I found a very noticable difference, even at the maximum resolution of 2272x1704 (roughly 4 megapixels). The photos, still, however, have a lot of red-orange in them. I use The GIMP to get this fixed up. I tend to avoid using the flash, even in indoor scenes, since the white causes oddities in the picture due to it being reflected. The top fireworks photo above was done using these techniques, including the adjustments to get as close as possible to true color. The photo of the "brain repair kit" didn't have this since I didn't know about it at the time.

#22 New Genesis game - Magic School Bus: About 3 to 5 years ago, the last time I played "The Magic School Bus: Space Exploration Game", I was attracted to 3 things. My biggest attraction was the "reflector" minigame, of which I recall reaching around level 53. I later reached level 73. This was my top-favorite minigame of all. My next favorite was the "orbiter" minigame, of which I recall getting to level 15 or something (getting 10 planets in orbit is quite tricky). The last thing involves the case where you take photos of various objects, some of which are very strange and humerous. I first only rented the game, but now I actually own it! There are many games I still want though - Tiny Toon Buster's Hidden Treasure, Sonic Spinball (although I've got it on the Gamecube's Sonic Mega Collection), and a few others for the Genesis I don't quite recall. There's other games for other systems too (and probably getting another SNES, though this is unlikely (Why get another? I've lost my other one about 3 years ago and I haven't been able to find it)). Looney Tunes Lost in Time is probably going to be my next one, but this may not happen for quite a while yet.

#23 Behind the scenes of video processing: Ever wonder what I do behind the scenes when I process videos for YouTube (and archiving)? Well, I uploaded a video to YouTube that demonstrates this and I narrate along the way explaining what I do. Watch the video here (opens in a new window).

#24 Thoughts of returning to FF5: When I started at playing FF5, I didn't like it as much as it took so long to level up and regular enemies were frightfully powerful, almost like bosses in a way. However, since around August 12, I've been getting intentions on returning to it.



Daily Events



Aug 1: An unhappy travel dream using 3/4 page of details was recalled. First it was E-mail and YouTube. Then I continued on with my 2D RPG game's plans update. I ate 2 hours later then returned. I mostly spent time on the lists of things - spells, status effects, and weapons. I've still got a ways to go - shields, armor, enemies, and other things. I still want more "extreme" class spells though, especially elemental ones. I once got involved with clearing out an area behind the drier, spanning 15 minutes, but the entire day was devoted to the plans. Woke up at 12:42 AM and went to bed at 4:27 PM.
Aug 2: A 2-part dream using about a half page in details was recalled. It seems like, once I got off FF12, my dream recall rate jumped. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. I first continued with the lists then ate an hour later. I return to the lists and got bored of it. I went on to my site update adding another page - the list of video games I've played (Mario, Sonic, Bubsy, etc.). I next got onto my usual start with the blog's headlines. 14 dreams in 2 months (12 not including those in August already), that's it!? Normally, I'd get one dream every 2 days, not every 5 days. See the headlines for details. I'm now 3 days at Ozmone Plain, 86% true speed. I checked HWW since I had two questions I wanted to ask. Woke up at 3:21 AM and went to bed at 6:48 PM.
Aug 3: 3 days in a row of recalling the night's dream! All day I felt drowsy. I first ate checking E-mail and HWW. I went at my site update. I took a shower so I could go grocery shopping. It was 6 hours later and keeping awake was tough. The update was boring so I took out Sonic and tried to see if the replacement cable worked with GameBridge. I got the exact same thing as before. See the headlines for details about this. I tried contacting support but ran into a problem again - no TSID. The serial number isn't clearly marked either. I still messed around with the fox on my main TV though. I soon went grocery shopping and, unexpectedly, got Domino's. Before leaving, a freezer got defrosted. Near the end, a torch was used to losen the 3-inch-thick ice at the top. Fire element on ice element - really fast melting. Woke up at 6:08 AM and went to bed at 9:59 PM.
Aug 4: A fourth dream in a row recalled! I first ate then, just as I was about to start my usual daily E-mail check (now with HWW), I was (rudely to me), interrupted to hook up something. The problem - a mirror blocks my access to the area and they wouldn't do something as simple as rotating it. I had the choice of arguing with my parents to make this small and easy fix (-3 compatibility) or to help wash the grill (-4.5 compatibility). I had 15 times more motive to washing the grill (1.2), that I only found out would rise even more (to 3.2), than hooking up a new VCR (-12). Once done, taking about an hour, it was taking the trash out (-4 compatibility) next with mowing the grass in the ditch (-18 compatibility). Once done, I finally returned to what I was doing... at almost 1:00 PM. I got to updating my dream journal, completing 9 of now 16 dreams. At the end of the day, I had the idea, for a blog entry, of a video explaining what I do when I process videos. I spent 7 times longer trying to find ways to get it under 10 minutes (90 minutes to do) than it did to record it. I finished all but the intended narration since I was too tired to continue with that. I still have a long way to go with the site update as well. I'm still at Ozmone Plain - 85% true speed. Woke up at 9:46 AM and went to bed at 11:43 PM.
Aug 5: 5 dreams in a row - this one only 1/4 page and vaguely recalled. Watching TV dominated the day - lots of Scooby Doo. I even got to see an episode I never saw before. The rest were all repeats, some rarely seen. I only got a small bit of progress with the site update, only with the dream journal. Annoying parents also played a significant role, but, unlike yesterday, they weren't the main reason for slow progress, far from it. At day's end, I watched a movie, "superstorm", then an episode of Mythbusters involving snow. I've actually had the tongue on cold metal pole case myself about a decade ago so I can confirm it through actual experience. It hurt too. Woke up at 9:28 AM and went to bed at 2:00 AM.
Aug 6: I had a dream but forgot it by the time I woke up enough to write details. Eat, E-mail, dream journal, Sonic and the fox, TV, then the dream journal, are what made up the day. On the first run of the dream journal, I was feeling drowsy. I went at Sonic to "wake up" and after a long while, I returned but got side tracked to other parts of the update. I profreeded the dream journal's FAQ while adding and modifying questions to it). I also realized I needed a major update to the highly outdated COM chart. It's at least 18 months out of date. I went to bed only 20% done. I'm starting to get small signs of getting bored of Ozmone Plain too. I changed speeds to 90% true speed. I'd max out 2 or 3 days from now. Woke up at 12:33 PM and went to bed at 4:10 AM.
Aug 7: Another dream recalled using only 1/3 page of details. I had the usual start - eat and E-mail. With one of the E-mails, I had renewed motive for explaining the game "Survive the Flood UNO", of which I first thought of doing around 18 months ago. One problem is that I couldn't find my old card collection images from 2003 or so. They depicted various scenes involving nature - waterfall, desert, earth-in-space, etc.. Since I couldn't find the originals, and one I did find had the images as dithered 4-bit color (back in 2003, I didn't have the know-how on saving as GIF using more colors). I went to redo them but got interrupted. No, it wasn't my parents (highly unlikely on week days), it was, instead, storms - wave after wave of them. I watched TV for many hours as a result. At day's end, I resumed completing all but the cards' images and final saving. So far, so good. I couldn't get on to HWW all day though. I'm still at Ozmone Plain with a moderately low sign of boredom with it. Woke up at 1:04 PM and went to bed at 3:03 AM.
Aug 8: A strange travel dream was recalled using a whole page in details. I swapped between TV, the cards (5 done of 14), HWW, then later songs (to Mosphoran Highwate - 90% true speed). I saw the first live shuttle launch but it wasn't as I'd have expected - very short live coverage. Not much happened otherwise. At day's end, I recalled the "how I process videos" video and spent 4 hours recording the narration for it then finished it uploading both it and the video processed. Woke up at 1:42 PM and went to bed at 6:00 AM.
Aug 10: A video game dream recalled.... What a streak so far! Most of the day was spent on the cards. I finished them all and even wrote the document explaining how the game is played. Some TV and HWW was included but not much. I was going to go to bed at 7:45 AM, but realized that I forgot to recharge my MP3 player's battery so I added 70 minutes for it to get charged watching cartoons during this time. Nothing much otherwise happened. With many more dreams yet to add, I've got a ways to go. Mosphoran Highwaste plays at 86 and 90% true speed. Woke up at 5:13 PM and went to bed at 8:58 AM.
Aug 11: Sure, 2 dreams recalled in one night.... After the first around 3:20 PM, I was waking up and gooing back to sleep repeatedly. I first ate then checked HWW, E-mail, and YouTube. Storms struck delaying my progress, but when done, I updated the "list of video games" section adding many games I left out, even including the PC since it was left out. I went on to my dream journal but was tired after adding 6 more dreams to it. I've still got the daily entries yet, nearly 70 of them. I also realized I passed the 600 mark for the number of recalled dreams. I also got bored of Mosphoran Highwaste (300 sustained compatibility - fairly low). I changed to FF6 World yet again. Woke up at 8:23 PM and went to bed at 6:16 AM.
Aug 12: 11 waking days in August, 11 dreams recalled for August - yep, a new one. I had the usual start - eat, E-mail, YouTube and HWW. My parents got me into making a DVD from a VHS tape recorded from someone's camcorder. That worked well until I tried to play the output - 2 DVD players wouldn't play the video at all even though it reads one of the still frames from it. The video used a VCD since I have no way of getting into the DVD format. I did manage to complete the dream journal and a few more headlines. I've still got the daily entries left, a few more headlines, and possibly some more dreams. Still at FF6 World (as expected) - 80 to 95% true speed is played. Woke up at 6:26 PM and went to bed at 11:03 AM.
Aug 13: 12 dreams for the month already and it's not even half done! I spent the day swapping between forums, the site update (headlines and daily entries), with occasional TV tossed in. I did the last daily entry for May, and 1/3 of those for June. That's just 1/7 done in terms of daily entries. The big slow down was a 4-hour run at doing something for sister - a drawing to get color. GIMP crashed on me so severely (the same infinite loop problem) that I had to use the reset button, what you'd get for a class 7 bug. It's extremely annoying. There was nothing else that's noteworthy. FF6 World with the same speeds as yesterday play. Woke up at 10:04 PM and went to bed at 10:37 AM.
Aug 14: Awesome! 1 1/2 pages of details for a strange water dream - took an hour to write the details. 3/4 of July is done with only one additional headline yet to do. I got another 3 dreams to add (4 if I get a new one) and I've still got a month's worth of daily entries. It should hopefully be done by the 17th. I'm getting intentions on returning to FF5 lately as well, of which I'm only 12 hours into. Late in the day, I processed an old video of FF12 I had, that of my first "levelling grounds". I'm 2/3 done with it. I needed time lapse for it and it wasn't possible to get in just 10 minutes. I have to split it into 2 parts. Right after I ate, my sister got me at finishing an image started yesterday. Still 96% true speed for FF6 World. Woke up at 10:17 PM and went to bed at 1:05 PM.
Aug 15: A travel dream involving water was recalled taking 3/4 of a page in details. 14 days, 14 dreams, practically a month's supply in a half month's time. All of July is done and a few of August. I finished the compatibility chart so that just leaves the first half of August, 8 or 9 more headlines, and at least 5 more dreams. I mixed in TV, Sonic and the fox, processing a video, and HWW along with the update. I'm even starting to get bored of the update as well. Still at FF6 World at 96% true speed. Woke up at 11:59 PM and went to bed at 2:43 PM.
Aug 16: Another travel dream - what's with this!? That's, what, 12 in a row? TV, running a backup for dad, processing more videos, and updating my site were the main things. All headlines are done but that's all I did. There were 10 to do. I still have 7 or so more dreams to add, the last 10 or so daily entries, and final touch-ups. Hopefully, I'll finish by tomorrow. While processing videos related to FF6, I updated my site (since processing videos is mostly waiting). I'm still at FF6 World at 96% true speed. Woke up at 2:18 AM and went to bed at 4:13 PM.
Aug 17: There's another dream in a row recalled. Website update finally done! That really took a long while to do. As to TV, I watched "The Universe" since 4 consecutive episodes played. When done with the site update, I took a shower then went at FF5. Barely a half hour later, I left for the grocery store. I returned to FF5 afterwards and finally figured out how to get spells to target multiple targets rather than just one. Normally, L1 and R1 offer this, but I found it accidentally. Now the game is easier and more like it. Not only that, but I found a significantly faster/easier levelling grounds further boosting my motive. Current song: FF6 World 96% true speed. Woke up at 4:09 AM and went to bed at 10:57 PM.
Aug 18: A weird computer dream was recalled. What's with many of my latest dreams being rather weird? FF5, Eat, HWW, E-mail, YouTube, FF5, installing a new HDD for dad, working on game character, then FF5 made up the day. I tried a "Tombstone" brand pizza and the compatibility is only 1/8 that of Digiorno - excellent sauce, good crust, fair cheese, and very poor degreasing. As to the character, I finished the other 20 of 24 gliding positions outside the lighting. I have a new concept/idea for the lighting that'll further boost the realism. FF6 World dominated 55 to 60% of my waking hours, above 50%, so the streak (still 96% true speed) still continues. For what I'm doing in FF5, I turn up my msuic for FF6 World and turn down my TV. This counts as FF6 World is mainly the only thing heard. It's like listening to a nearby dog barking and hearing the ribbets of frogs. The game's music is that of the frongs and FF6 World, obviously distinguishable, is like the barking pet dog. Current song: FF6 World 96% true speed. Woke up at 8:54 AM and went to bed at 10:04 PM.
Aug 19: Sure, I get a big long stream of recalling dreams then along comes this time where 2 dreams in one night are recalled! The first isn't recalled that well, 1/3 page of details, but the second, though it was a bit scary, was 1 1/3 pages of details. Eat, forums, E-mail, YouTube, go to Menard's, put closet together, attempt to do the float run, then 2 attempts at getting videos of Jumping Flash where I get up extremely high. As to Menard's, it was to get stuff for mom for a closet, that, afterwards, I was involved with building. For the most part, it was measuring and putting screws in. I'm stumped with the design of the float run. As to Jumping Flash, it was one thing I've wanted for YouTube: the extreme height I can get. I recorded videos of this twice since length was problematic and I needed to practice and restudy how it works. I began processing it but was too tired. Current song: FF6 World 96% then changed to 70% true speed when I went to bed. Woke up at 8:30 AM and went to bed at 1:52 AM.
Aug 20: A school dream with mainly just scenes recalled and little story. Yowsers! 20 days, 20 dreams! Eat, HWW, E-mail, finish processing the Jumping Flash video, playing FF6 a bit (2 levels gained), watching 3 hours' TV, almost finishing the basis of the float run for the character, then going at extending and updating the lists for my 2D RPG game. I renamed one spell to one after my story. Like "protect" in Final Fantasy where it boosts physical defense, "physical shield" didn't sound right. After my stories, it's renamed to "defense up". I've nearly completed the basis of the float run for my main 2D game. I just need to finalize it and get the rotation positions set. Current song: FF6 World 70%. Woke up at 1:29 PM and went to bed at 3:27 AM.
Aug 21: So I got another weird dream.... Float run done twice, stop phase done, medium-size font made, and lots of TV. 2 hours' TV was from eating but another 3 were extra. While "the station was being spammed", I worked on my game. The first time I did the float run was where I forgot about finalization. I redid it with finalization done. The stop state is also done, and, even without the lighting, looks better than I thought. Between the runs at the float run, I made a mediumsized font. If you recall my "The Interactive Animation", I used the large-sized version. I have a version half that size and would be tricky to read. I wanted a size that was between these and did so. This size is used for main text. There's a double-sized version of this planned and started on. It's intended for headers and titles. The smallest is mainly for unimportant stuff. 5 actions remain - 1 important (run), 2 semi-important (the water ones), and 2 I could go without for the short-term (ball and charging the speed blast). The lighting still remains. Current song: FF6 World 70%. Woke up at 12:29 PM and went to bed at 1:56 AM.
Aug 22: DreamCount += 1; // another dream recalled.... Forums, E-mail, eat, TV, forums, FF6, TV, Ebay and 2 new games, FF6, TV, then FF6. The only thing I did in FF6 was level up, about 44. I found one enemy with 32,000 HP and I defeated it many times. I was disappointed in that it gave no EXP. I returned to my old method with the chimera and remained at it. I got 2 new games on Ebay as well - Bart's Nightmare and Virtual Pinball. See the October 2007 headlines for further details on this. Though I played FF6 for 7 hours, my streak with FF6 world still continues since the same song played most of the time on the game (twice as much) so it still dominates the day. Current song: FF6 World 70% (main) and 100% mixed. Woke up at 2:31 PM and went to bed at 7:44 AM.
Aug 23: A vaguely recalled dream was recalled. What a streak! HWW, E-mail, YouTube, eat, HWW, Jumping Flash, then the first layer of the prelake hills made up the day. Jumping Flash dominated it. I wanted to play the game normally to see what the story and stuff was like, since I didn't play it like this for over 2 years. I played through it in full twice (both normal and extra modes count as 1), the first in the normal mode and the second in super/hyper mode which is my favorite. Once done, I spent 4+ hours reaching for the highest point. I mainly played 1-1, 5-3, and 6-3, the first being my top favorite of all (all the best put in one - music, clouds below, and max height is reachable). So far, no new discoveries were made, most of which I knew years before. I've been doing this for about 10 or 11 years ago, almost as soon as I got the Playstation 1 for Christmas. As a result of this, I changed songs to that of world 1-1 in Jumping Flash. When done, I got a start on the closest of the pre-lake hills. The first phase is done. Current song: FF6 World 70% then Nature in the Rough 72%. Woke up at 2:23 PM and went to bed at 7:44 AM.
Aug 25: Boohoo! I'm disappointed - my dream recall streak terminated since I didn't recall any dream. Still, 20 or so in this short of a time span is obviously a new record. Eat, HWW, E-mail, YouTube, hills lighting with half of the antialiasing done, Jumping Flash getting high, then getting videos of Spyro 2. The Spyro 2 thing, where I started a new game, was to get a collection of videos of getting into odd places and how to avoid paying moneybags in all but 4 places (5 if you don't have the special reward for completing the game 100% and starting a new game with it). I got about 50 or so segments already and I think I got everything possible. Current song: Nature in the Rough 72% (?). Woke up at 6:24 PM and went to bed at 11:30 AM.
Aug 26: Sure, I missed it yesterday and now I got one - oy! Processing Spyro 2 video (55 segments, 50 oddities) dominated the day. Since 2 large spots were missed on the pizza cooker tray, I delayed eating for 7 hours. It was very cold in the living room, like 60°F, cold enough that I wouldn't stay out there for more than a minute. I kept my door closed otherwise to keep the 76 to 79°F summer comfort zone. TV and processing the 23 2/3-minute video dominated the first 7 hours. After eating, I did a check on the forums and reached the second-to-last stage of the video. Normally, it'd be the last but since I wanted narration, that would be next then the usual last. 42,000 frames is a lot to do! Current song: Nature in the Rough (70% on computer, 75% on MP3 player). Woke up at 11:16 PM and went to bed at 11:49 AM.
Aug 27: 2 in a row... If only I had the one from 2 days ago recalled.... I first checked HWW, E-mail, then YouTube but had the runs. I went at the hills' antialiasing but was getting disoriented. I took out Jumping Flash 1 and did my usual - climb toward the clouds. I got the Gamecube from sister and began first with Looney Tunes Back in Action, then Super Monkey Ball 2, and the main thing - Sonic Adventure DX, the only modern true 3D Sonic game I somewhat like. It was first the card pinball game I like most then glugging out a few foxes, then getting lots more rings - stage 9 with Sonic offers me the fastest rate - 140 per minute (using Action Replay that is). An hour-long call to support for a DVD recorder was the last thing. August 31 is the leave date, a lot earlier than I expected. Plus, by then, I'd be more on the day shift. I still have no idea if I'll be going or not, but only a 3% chance. Current song: swapping a lot.... Woke up at 9:51 PM and went to bed at 1:13 PM.
Aug 28: Rats! No dream recalled! Sonic DX dominated the day. It was first the minigames - Sonic Chaos Sonic Labyrinth (still stumped on 3-3), and Sonic spinball. The first and last I completed but the second is where I'm completely stumped. The rest involved using Big the Cat and studying the game mechanics very closely and doing a few of those in "Trial" mode with him then completing 3 missions for him. After this, it was 50 minutes of figuring out cables and things for confusing-to-use DVD Recorder. I used every combo I could come up with but got nowhere. I gave up after 50 minutes at it then went to bed. Current song: swapping then Winter Land at 75% true speed. Woke up at 12:35 AM and went to bed at 3:26 PM.
Aug 29: No dream again!? Waaaah! Eat, forums, E-mail, YouTube, recording "Sonic's fastest" video segments for Sonic 3 & Knuckles, getting the vocal track for Spyro 2, DVD Recorder cables, then doing the hills made up the day. I finished 4 of 24 minutes of the vocal track doing 12 of 50 oddities (or 56 segments). The "Sonic's fastest" is where some of the greatest speeds can be obtained. It's much trickier without pausing as I'm very used of doing. Afterwards, I spent about an hour getting the intended vocal track for the "Spyro 2 oddities" video. I only got 4 of 24 minutes of it. Half of the antialiasing is done (yes, it's slow, mainly due to low motive. Current song: Winter Land 75%. Woke up at 2:42 AM and went to bed at 4:58 PM.
Aug 30: Goodie! A dream, though vaguely recalled. The games I got have arrived and I spent most of the last 2 1/2 hours playing Virtual Pinball. I attempted to get the Simpsons game to work but it, like some of my other games, have a hard time being read. I spent 3 minutes trying to do so without success. The chip/card looks rusty. Oh well. I was too tired to continue. About 6 hours were spent at finishing the Spyro oddities vocal track. 2 extra hours were spent at finalizing it. The vacation I was somewhat hoping for won't happen but there's new hope for next year. 7 years without a vacation is long enough to forget what one is like. Next year, it'd be 8.... Mom was mentioning of Yellowstone, of which I assocate a supervolcano with hence what is shown on TV. I don't really know if there really is a "Yellowstone" (or LA, Florida, etc.). By then, I'd be nearing completion of my 2D game's remake. Current song: Winter Land 75% (?). Woke up at 4:59 AM and went to bed at 8:41 PM.
Aug 31: No dream again!? Eat, shower, vet, HWW, E-mail, YouTube, PrimeShooter game, Bart game, grocery shopping, Bart game, Virtual Pinball, and a quick test. Mom left for the trip without me - St. Paul Minnesota, nothing new or all that exciting. The vet was to check something. Puss was leaking out off the rear part of the oldest dog due to an infection common with unspayed females. When the vet was putting drops into the dog's ears, he was surprised that I could count that fast. The ring of a telephone is right at my uppermost limit - hypercount at work. The PrimeShooter thing was something at HWW - I got 334 points, higher than anyone on HWW that I could see. I have enough C programming knoweldge to make such a game. The test was to see if the previous method used in version 2.4 (build large, scale down) would work, but, instead of 2x or 4x (whichever I likely used), it's 8x or 10x. The big thing: motive. The washing machine shredded my old pillow today so I got a new one as I went to Wal-mart. Current song: Winter Land 75%. Woke up at 6:13 AM and went to bed at 10:45 PM (±8 minutes).



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

Year 2011: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Year 2012: 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