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What have you been up to in June 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



Jun 2: Besides the forums, I worked on the water but knowing what height-relevant wavelength I needed was the only problem. I originally thought of a 4x, but the waves were way too close together. I tried 8x but that seemed just a bit too wide. My sister liked the 8x better. I only have the largest waves left. Full antialiasing is used too! I was then at that Shrek game. I completed the game in full using hard. Now it's the next (and last) hardest - grimm. I seem to do rather well for that difficulty. I've unlocked everything except the commentary stuff. All quests are complete. I'm still at FF6 World. Woke up at 4:13 PM and went to bed at 11:58 AM.
Jun 3: I had a dream but forgot it when I woke up enough to write the details. I first ate then played the Shrek game in full using the grimm difficulty. Only the ice lake and first part of the Acadamy Grounds (this due to the bad camera making it impossible to see where things were toward the start in the first area. Those where you play as Sleeping Beauty is where I had more troubles. I even recorded some videos and processed 2 of them. I uploaded both to YouTube. I made no progress with my game and I used a few of my tricks to avoid unwanted housework. I watched 3 hours' TV at the end, while I processed the videos. I'm still at FF6 World. Woke up at 11:17 PM and went to bed at 12:00 PM.
Jun 4: First, I ate watching TV. I then checked forums and E-mail and finished the waves. I made another stamp and updated the checklist. I also fixed a few bugs I had with the checklist. Next was processing a video for my sister, of which was 6 fragments and still frames with varied but odd frame rates (4.56 to 4.91 fps). That took a while. I got a start on the character but I'm debating on just how to do it. I'm still at FF6 World with signs of getting bored of it. Woke up at 9:23 PM and went to bed at 11:19 AM.
Jun 5: Finally a dream recalled! It only takes a 1/2 page though. I first checked forums and E-mail. When I checked E-mail, I saw that one of my videos at YouTube was rejected due to copyright infringement and it bothered me for the rest of the day making it very hard to concentrate. No reason was stated and I don't know what in the video was "dangerous". Without knowing what was "dangerous", I may not be able to avoid it in the future. Whether it's part of the plot, the fact it was the last level (the whole thing), the game itself, or something else I don't know about. Another video of the same game didn't get this. From my more usual 70% concentration, I went to 30% because of this. This made it awefully hard to get anywhere in my game design. I'm having a hard time with deciding whether to use 768x768 as the base of 128x128. Nothing is working out for the 768 size. Why so big? Anti-aliasing is easier. Either the result looks dorky or it's off quite a bit. The original is unrealistically scaled. I spent a rather long time on Wikipedia, adding details to the new game including 2 screenshots (that are hopefully good and not a problem. I played the minigames and finished the catacomb leap one with 10 lives and 7000 points. I reached round 9 in "ships ahoy" for the first time. I got videos of these but both are too long for YouTube. 100 MB I can understand but 10 mins I don't. Even with quality 6, I can get 20 minutes worth in 100 MB. Quality 10 may be 30 minutes. I'm still at FF6 World. I changed the speed to 96% true speed on my MP3 player when I went to bed. Woke up at 10:00 PM and went to bed at 1:49 PM.
Jun 6: 1 1/3 pages for the new recalled dream - amazing! Yesterday was unlucky. Today was the opposite. First, a well-recalled dream was recalled. Second, I got a graph-plot equalizer plug-in for Winamp. Now I have no need for both my sound card's EQ and Winamp's basic EQ. It has 250 plot points. I've been wanting one for quite a while. Only 2 oddities though (not truly logarithmic and negative dB is inconsistent with the positive), but otherwise not a concern. Third, nothing bad occurred. I didn't get much toward the copyright thing. I didn't get anything done with my game design (lost motive). However, thoughts have refocused toward my story - "The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters". I processed a sampler for FF6 World and a 20-lap version of Desert Zone. 15% reduction? Try 30 to 50%! I have 96% true speed playing for FF6 World. I also watched "James and the Gaint Peach", a show I haven't seen in 5 or so years. Woke up at 2:49 AM and went to bed at 5:18 PM.
Jun 7: The start was the usual - eating and TV then forums/E-mail. Having low interest/motive for my game design, I was tempted toward my story again. It combines most of the movie format with a bit of my old play format since 1996, and a bit of book format. It was what I had planned for a bout a year. I formed the main plan, of which 95% of the plot is memorized in the correct order. I'm otherwise copying my previous finished design but taking out the useless talk stuff I had and adding/deleting some parts. I finished the first 3 scenes in my version 3 style, or the first of eight acts (and 25 scenes). I'm still at FF6 World, a week already! Woke up at 3:42 AM and went to bed at 6:13 PM (±1 minute).
Jun 8: Yay! A water dream! At first, it was the usual - eat, TV, forums, and E-mail. I then resumed my story but hit a snag - the lack of a formula and loss of interest/motive. I tried out methods to fix the distortions with the Genesis. I watched "Tom and Jerry - Fast and furry" - mediocre story. I went at Sonic playing as the fox. I took a shower then went through the first 3 zones. I left for the store. When I returned and put stuff away, I returned to that game. I only lost 2 lives in all, got all the emeralds, etc.. That game is too easy. FF6 World still plays at 96% true speed. Woke up at 4:57 AM and went to bed at 11:21 PM.
Jun 9: Today was a mixed day, both good and bad. The start was the same. I then got an idea for the character. The 2 obstacles are motivation (low) and how the base design looks. My old method used previously was based off measurements. The end result, despite measuring and remeasuring, looked dorky and at the higher zoom, never worked out making it even worse. The new method uses the old system. It has both the motivation (medium) and looks cases having significant improvements, but the scaling is now off. I adjusted my old method to get the peak balance between all 3. Motive remains practically unchanged. The looks got slightly worse but the scaling has a major improvement. Rather than 6x size, I now intend on 3x instead to get a balance there. I got a brief start on 1x then parents got me at mowing the grass. I resumed at 1x for a bit then both storms and good stuff on TV prevented any further progress. I also watched 2 old movies as well - the original Shrek, and Chicken Run. The second of which was better. Still, I had FF6 World playing at 96% true speed. I just went 53 days at the song then a week-long gap then 9 or 10 days back at it. Woke up at 10:46 AM and went to bed at 12:38 AM.
Jun 10: I first checked forums and E-mail then ate. I rechecked the forums then went at updating the details on how to make the animated GIFs I have. I began watching TV, mainly of things I missed earlier. I ran backup during this time. After the TV shows were over, I played the Shrek game and had everything unlocked. I now have little reason to play it so out came my Genesis - the fox goes in "the stuff" on spikes and Bubsy falls faster than 32 pixels per frame. I went to bed afterwards. 96% true speed for FF6 World still goes on. Woke up at 11:02 AM and went to bed at 2:47 AM.
Jun 11: Forums, Bubsy, and another attempt at the character made the day. I attempted 3x zoom for the character but lost interest and motive again. I played Bubsy much of the day. I mainly went for the highest speeds I could. In level 13, I found a new way to enhance my chances of success and with it, more likely to go faster than 32 pixels per frame where things starting getting weird. That's just another 7 into the 4000 or so I already have. I changed speeds to 90% true speed for FF6 World but have moderately strong signs of boredom with it. I changed songs to Desert Zone at the end of the day. Woke up at 12:54 PM and went to bed at 3:48 AM.
Jun 13: I first woke up to severe storms and tornado warnings with tornadoes getting within only 10 miles from me. Once cleared, I ate watching TV. I checked the forums and E-mail, then went at TV (space stuff). A brief return to the forums followed by more TV (space stuff) due to two good shows on at the same time (8:00 PM, "From the Earth to the Moon" and "The Universe"). Another check of the forums occurred then it was Bubsy and Sonic that I went at. I played a full game of Sonic and drowned/tortured the fox (spikes!). I'm still at Desert Zone - 67% true speed. Woke up at 2:42 PM and went to bed at 9:51 AM.
Jun 14: TV, forums, then Sonic - exciting, isn't it? I drowned that fox on Sonic in "the stuff" (that's nothing new) and watched various stuf on TV. I was quite tired after only 12 hours' waking time, likely because I was awake so much yesterday. I'm solidly with 25 2/3-hour days. More storms are forecast for the weekend. I had Desert Zone playing for the first 1/3 of the day and OWTLI for the last 1/10. I got the replacement RF adapter and a new Genesis game - Magic School Bus - Space Exploration Game. Woke up at 8:58 PM and went to bed at 8:57 AM.
Jun 15: A dream recalled without a story but a few scenes. I first checked Ebay from the total requested thing yesterday then ate watching TV. I checked the forums and E-mail as well after eating. I then went at the character at the usual 1x zoom and otherwise finished the "stand right" phase. Before I continued on, I wanted my sister to look at it, but she was sleeping. I took out Sonic again and went at putting that fox in "the stuff", on spikes. At the end, I went at doing stuff for mom's work place. I often surprise her on just how fast I am. I wonder if my case of using spreadsheets for my animations has anything to do with it. FF5 Castle plays on my computer (110 then 120% true speed) and OWTLI plays on my MP3 player (57% true speed). A surprise storm struck just before checking the forums - intense rain and lightning. Woke up at 6:56 PM and went to bed at 11:53 AM (±2 minutes).
Jun 16: Awake for 25 total hours - that's rare! The start was the usual. After a bit of drowning the fox, I put together a dad's day card, a rather odd one involving a brain repair kit (see the headlines for details). I got moderate progress with the character as well - stand, jump, level glide, fall, and fall-glide. I took a shower then went places. First it was to pick up a car from a repair center. Second, it was Wal-mart where many things were unavailable. Once done, I went to Gamestop for FF12 then got pizza at Pizza Hut. I returned home to play FF12. I found it a bit weird at first but, like I do with the rest of the series, I went at my usual of fighting enemies, lots of them. I listed my old processor on Ebay, the one I unexpectedly got in late December of 2006, just after Christmas. I used the same formula/algorithm as before. OWTLI at 57% true speed plays. Woke up at 10:21 PM and went to bed at 10:00 PM.
Jun 17: Wow! A 10-part dream!? I think that's a new record. It even features "superleviburst", an upgraded version of "leviburst", but I thought of it just a day after the dream that featured the "leviburst" ability. I first checked Ebay and E-mail. I ate afterwards then gave dad's day presents including that "brain repair kit". From then on, it was FF12 with two storm interruptions. I made almost no progress with the story but major progress with the licenses system and got to level 19 with Vaan (alone!). I have yet to see what it's like to have multiple characters in the party. I'm taking down enemies (starting with level 13) that have at least 700 HP. There's a strong resemblance to FF2 where it seems as if you can go anywhere provided you have the needed power for the enemies. I took 3 hours to get to sleep though. Woke up at 11:15 AM and went to bed at 7:00 AM.
Jun 19: Slept almost 13 hours.... I first checked Ebay then ate. I went at FF12 again and reached level 32 and got almost every single augment. I've done two hunts, took down 4 tough enemies (with 2000 HP), including those werewolves (together too since I couldn't "fish" a single one out). I'm doing almost 400 damage by now. My favorite thing is when I see one of the "Rabanastran Watch" allies battling wolf or slaven doing just 6 damage when I come along with a blizzard spell and do 400 damage to it taking the enemy out in one hit. I made no progress with the story - levelling up is what I intend on doing and tomorrow is likely to be the same. The one thing I don't get yet is that the manual (not the guide) shows 124 MP with just 396 HP. I've got over 2300 HP (1300 when excluding the bonuses), but only 121 MP. I don't get that. Seems like a misprint in the manual. Look at page 12 in the center and you'll know what I mean. Woke up at 10:19 PM and went to bed at 1:17 PM (±1 minute).
Jun 20: First it was checking Ebay and E-mail. Then it was FF12. I made just a little progress with the story and got a second character in the party. The auto behaviors are bad (long delay and always the same enemy as Vaan goes after. I've spent some time adjusting to it now doing everything manually to get the most of it. I like the way the characters mention of not fighting those werewolves - I've fought them both at once, solo, 5 or so levels lower with success. With the 2 together, they're much easier, easy enough that I don't have to cure anyone mid-battle. The major downside is that it takes twice as long to level up. When I got the new character, I was expecting level 3 with very few license points. I saw level 35 (the level Vaan was on) with over 3500 license points. It was the LP that surprised me the most. I spent most of that (to 800 remaining) on what Vaan had. Both characters now have over 1000 license points and I've got all I could get of use (well, minus the "quickening" things, whatever those are). I wonder if the other characters will start on level 40-something when I first get them with 6000+ license points. It took 3 hours to get to sleep since it got hot in my room (82°F) unexpectedly. Woke up at 12:52 AM and went to bed at 2:44 PM.
Jun 21: A brief check of Ebay and E-mail was first, then I ate. FF12 was next. I found an interesting way to get 100+ chains with ease and with werewolf even. As a consequence, I have a much better weapon now and could take them down with ease. I even took down the wild saurian, a dinosaur-like thing. It wasn't worth as much EXP as I thought it would be and getting it to respawn both ways (random wondering and getting at least 2 zones away) was as good or as fast as the werewolves or the cave. Being slow with levelling, I went at progressing with the story. Realizing I was solo again, I saw an opportunity for faster progress with levelling up and thus only a few seconds of story progress was made. I can now easily take down the werewolves as solo and is the best/fastest method I have so far. I reached level 45, almost 46. Being this early in the story, it's a wonder to be on that high of a level. I just got 3000 HP, 160 MP, 2000 LP, and doing 1000 damage. 116 is my biggest chain so far and I could almost triple it, if it can go above 127 or 255 that is. Either that, or it's 999, 9999, 32,767, or 65,535 (if a 16-bit variable was used). Above 999 I'm not going to attempt for at all. Woke up at 4:07 AM and went to bed at 6:23 PM.
Jun 22: I first dealt with a near-purchase on Ebay. I dealt with that for about 2 hours. I also checked E-mail. I ate then went at FF12. The first half of the time was continuing with levelling up. A 132-battle chain with werewolf was formed along with a few other 50+ chains. I was getting bored of it so I progressed with the story and a lot. When I got the gambit system available, I was in for a surprise. First, when I got other characters, I saw that they had 7000 LP, of which only 3800 were spent. I went from the startin 2 slots to the max at 12 in about a minute and with so much LP remaining (2500), there's plenty of room for more. I even took out the wild saurian alone. The 2700-some EXP is nice but the werewolves superchaining method is the fastest. I also like the oddities in the guide. "Basch is strong so keep him healed". Strong? You call 800 strong when the others do close to 1200? Healed? When is that needed when you've got over 3500 HP and enemies can't even do 1% of that? "You're probably not strong enough to fight the wild saurian". I've taken it down, solo, after it ate a wold (which makes it stronger), without protect and with half of the HP missing at the end. Those kinds of tips don't apply at all. Those for finding out what you're supposed to do next still apply, even with 1 million HP and doing 50,000 damage (provided that was possible). "Avoid the werewolves" - I've done a 132-chain on them. "Careful with spending gil" - with 400,000, what difference does it make? These sorts of things and oddities I highly enjoy and the more extreme, the btter. I otherwise rarely use the guide. It's figuring out what you're supposed to do next to progress with the story or to find a mark that I use it, but otherwise, it's my own strategies. Woke up at 5:41 AM and went to bed at 10:51 PM.
Jun 23: The start was the same as before - ebay, E-mail, eating, then FF12. For FF12, I made no progress with the story but focused heavily on levelling up. I messed around with various spells and "Dive Talon" and found a somewhat faster way to level up. 5000 LP and level 55. 2 more hunts have been finished (1300 damage really packs a punch and one run at the characters hitting it, the mark has HP critical status (very low HP - below 20%). While finding a mark, I found an area with level 38 to 40 enemies and took those out. Normally, by then, you'd probably have cure 2 or maybe cure 3. I have just regular cure. You'd likely have a weapon better than the one I've got (due to werewolf). Yet, I can take down single enemies with a party of 2 just fine. I need better enemies like these. Other than this, it was mostly taking out "Dive Talon". Even with below 200 MP and using spells to defeat it (since I have no other way of getting it), MP is hardly a concern. Woke up at 9:07 AM and went to bed at 11:27 PM.
Jun 24: The same start as yesterday. I found out that I have a Sega Saturn RF cable, a system I don't have. As to FF12, I made no progress with the story, but plenty of progress with levels. I got Vaan, my favorite so far, to level 67 with the other 3 at 56. I somehow ran across a very powerful bow better than the previous weapon. I also got an axe but strongly disliked it since the damage was all over the place. For the last 9 or so hours, I've been battling those level 38-40 enemies and after 2 hours, found a reliable way to take these enemies out alone, even a group of 3 of them. Immobilize, combined with the bow so I can attack at a distance, make it possible to defeat 30+ of these enemies without taking a hit. I reached halfway to level 68 from 67, have 6000 LP, about 4300 HP, and around 210 MP. The method with the werewolves is about 1600 EXP per minute. This is about 3600 EXP per minute, more than twice as fast. Woke up at 9:57 AM and went to bed at 1:44 AM.
Jun 25: Level 74, others at 59, all the same as yesterday, and the same area. I made no progress with the story or anything outside gaining EXP for levels. I spent a bit levelling up the weaklings some as well. That's pretty much it. Woke up at 11:19 AM and went to bed at 1:08 AM.
Jun 26: I noticed I need to add about 10 hours to my time for Jul 4, only 8 days away. Before the usual start from yesterday, I renewed my subscription to Scientific American and subscribed to Astronomy while I was at it. I got to level 85 with the others at 60. Vaan has 5204 HP and 255 MP. I've found a faster way for level-ups but is riskier due to an enemy called "water elemental", of which starts attacking when using the most-used spell of all - immobilize. It happens with any spell, even cure or shell. I use immobilize 2 to 3 times as much as cure as it makes enemies practically harmless except when I get up right next to them. Despite a rather small amount of MP than I'm used to seeing in other Final Fantasy games, I otherwise never go below 70, very rarely just 40, below that of the max. I otherwise have no concern with it. It's just immobilize then my most commonly used battle option - attack. Like the last 2 days, no story progress was made at all and I'm still in the same area, the Garamsythe Waterway. I even face that "water elemental" enemy alone - immobilize is so handy for that. Rarely do I need to call in a reserve. I sometimes get an enemy to near death then poison it leaving it to have the poison take the last of its HP while I deal with other enemies in the area. I especially like doing it to the frog. I mainly just like the sound effect. I found 3 or so bugs/design flaws as well. Woke up at 12:12 PM and went to bed at 4:19 AM.
Jun 28: Level 93, 5700 HP, 270 MP - same thing as yesterday only with Vaan only (using the others if "water elemental" puts Vaan to sleep). I did slip in Mythbusters, and by around 4:00 AM, I was feeling tired. I figured I'd play that "Magic School Bus" game I got and I played it in full. It's been 3 to 5 years since I last played it and I've only rented it until now. I especially liked the "reflector" minigame where I got to level 58 or something beforehand. I reached level 73 and while sleepy. If only I could save midgame then revert if I make a mistake. That way, even level 73 is only a moderate start. The same goes for "orbiter", my close-second-favorite. I was awake for 24 hours, 8 more than my usual. I woke up at 2:03 PM and Jul 4 is about a week away. By then, I'd wake up at 2:00 AM and go to bed at about 5:00 PM. Adding 8 hours shifts that to 10:00 AM and 1:00 AM which is much more like it. Given that I tend to sleep a bit extra, not always the case, a further 2 to 4 hours could be added putting me right into my target range. Tomorrow, I should reach level 99 on FF12 with Vaan. Woke up at 2:03 PM and went to bed at 10:11 AM.
Jun 29: First it was the same start as I've recently had - Ebay, E-mail, eat, then FF12. Before I ate, I played FF12 for 80 minutes recording a video of my recent activities that I continued today as well. That is, until Vaan reached level 99. I used him to level up Bash and got him from 60 to 66. I'd like to get the others to at least 80.... Woke up at 8:11 PM and went to bed at 10:03 AM.
Jun 30: I woke up at 3:00 PM due to a major stomach ache but went back to sleep an hour later. As to FF12, I first spent time levelling up as before but was starting to get bored of it. I progressed with the story. Guests now show up as level 80+. The guide says of avoiding (running from) bangaas and don't attack. Having had Libra active, I noticed it'd be a one-hit take down for each one and, you guessed it, I took it out with the old-fashioned "attack" command. I could've taken them down solo as, after all, I've taken down "water elemental" solo as well and that's a much tougher foe. Seeing the guide, I was a bit concerned on that part. With a one-hit take down, doing 3000-some damage (not a critical either), fight seems a much better option than flight. A boss the guide says would be very tough took 2 hits to take down, one hit doing 3300-some damage delting the boss' health bar very significantly, almost HP-critical. Ashe started on level 85 with Penelo at 92, both of which much higher than expected. I have yet to see a weapon in shops better than the one I got from werewolf, just before my current one. I also got the "cura" spell, something I only recall in FF9. It does 2000 HP in cure (3K if the caster is fully cured or HP critical). Once back in more familiar territory, I returned to the "hunting grounds". I took a shower in an attempt to go to the many stores I needed to go to. OWTLI played on my MP3 player until I went to bed - FF6 World (again!) now plays. Woke up at 7:28 PM and went to bed at 12:12 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: 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