TF2 Update!

Basically, they went back to a beautiful blend of how things are and how things were. The upcoming implementation is being looked forward to with bated breath. So now we can unlock things both with Achievements, and by finiding weapons. Hooray! I found this out by showing Phil, some of the new stuff on TF2 this morning, when suddenly, I was alerted to the fact that I had passed all three new Spy milestones and unlocked all the new weapons at once.  HI-FIVES FOR EVERYONE! :D

First impressions: Cloak and Dagger: Pretty darn good, especially for survielance. Seems to have a limited usability, in that your strategies are completely different now, mostly survielance and waiting for the perfect oppurtunity. And just being spooky. 

Dead ringer: Actually more useful than I'd thought! good for breaking into places, also gives you more of a certain melee chance, with the ability to survive (Nearly) any hit thrown your way, at least once. Great for getting intelligence, it sucks when you sneak all the way into someplace, only to get blasted in the face and it's all over. A rechargable second chance, really. 

The Ambassador: Not too shabby, still getting the hang of sniping with the darned thing, also pleased that the scantily-clad lady engraved on the gun is more or less impossible to see from the first-person perspective. Really, I didn't want to be "Distracted" or anthything like that.

Sniper weapons: The huntsman: Still really getting the hang of this one, good for medium range, just like it says on the tin. Some people can use this thing as a lethal weapon of mass destruction, I'm still using it like a pea-shooter you fire blindly. Ironicly, blind fire isn't that bad of an idea, each arrow really, really packs quite a wallop, so even without a headshot, you can take out half of most enemies health.

Jarate: Yet to get, really looking forward to it though, what with the team-support factors it presents, since the SMG isn't used to often.

Razorback: Not really looking forward to this one, spies are usually pretty clever, it's entirely possible for them to just revolver you to death, or at least smash your health before you have a clue of what's going on. Not to mention the slowing down is kinda pants (I love that Irish phrase), I think losing your only backup firearm is punishment enough really.


"Un-be-frickin' lieveable!" -The Scout

Summer!

So, I keep waiting to think of something to blog about, but nothing comes. So I am just going to try to wear down the barrier between my brain and this computer and just see what comes out. 

IT'S THE MOTHERFLIPPIN' SUMMER!

I am actually not as exited about this as I should be, I do not think. I do not know why. Perhaps it just hasn't sunk in yet. I will not be missing double french every monday morning, that's for sure. 

So, sorry I haven't had an actual blog post in quite a little while, exams and such, I'm sure you understand. Twitter makes a pretty good substitute, like the difference between saying "I'm hungry" and writing an essay on what hunger feels like. Hmm. Maybe I should eat breakfast.

Team fortress 2 recently released the new sniper/spy update, and I have some issues with it. Not that any of you reading this play TF2, but all the same, I will let you know. The new item-unlock system sucks hardcore. It used to require that you unlock achievements, do stupendous acts that required both luck and skill, and after working at these, you would finally unlock new weapons. Not necciscarily better, per se, but new, and different. The problem with this is, people started developing "Achievement servers", where people would just sit around and help each other unlock weapons. So instead, they decided to turn the whole thing on it's head, with horrible consequences. Right now, the new system is deeply flawed. You are given a random weapon for a random class at a random time, usually which is very, very long in coming. It is as if Santa decided that instead of giving good boys and girls presents they asked for on christmas, he became sullen and moody and just occaisionally gave people presents they didn't ask for out of the blue throughout the year. "What's that timmy? You wanted a bike? Too Bad. You get a barbie. Suck it, timmy." The system is due to have a trading scheme implemented in time, but it does not sound like the sort of thing that will actually be useful. At all. The main frustration is the fact that you don't choose what you unlock. Say that you have unlocked all but 3 weapons. Now, that's 3 out of 18 possible weapons. At very very best, you get 1 new item every hour or two. (But once again, this is all randomized, so in theory it is possible to play this game for days on end and not get a single weapon). This means that if it takes 90 minutes... Wait, time for some maths.

Ok. Based on some rough (and dodgy) calculations, it would take approximately 540 mins (9 hours) to get three of the items you wanted. That's not all three, either. based on probability, that means that you could get one of the three items you wanted three times. If you unlocked 17 items and just wanted to get that laaaaaaast one you've been dying for, it would take approximately 27 hours (1620 mins) to unlock. Or it could only take one hour. Or you could theoretically never get it at all. Valve (The Game Developers) Have promised to add some content, like being able to choose which weapons you wish to unlock next. All the same, it is a rather frustrating system. The biggest Irony is though, (and I just realised this) Is that I am complaining! They keep adding content to this game for free and I have all the weapons I need. I have no right to complain, so I will not. Random rewards are simply frustrating, I suppose, and there's a certain "Look at the cool kids" Factor to it when you see other players running around with their bows and arrows and invisibility watches and jars of urine. The sad part is, they created this system to do away with achievement servers, but now, because it is a time-based system, there are now "Idle" servers where you can log on, leave your computer running overnight, come back in the morning, and bam! New items. I contemplated doing this, but it's just too much of a kick in the groin to mother nature, I think. 

"ahhh, ma petite chou-fleur." -The red spy/edit: I FINALLY unlocked a weapon I didn't have after about an entire week of playing. The huntsman: who needs a fancy lazer-guided gun when you have a bow and arrow? Not you, apparently.

Don't land on your face!

Helpfully uploaded by Emma Gill!

Mah Leg

So, I scraped myself up pretty bad today. Note: this is a "Thing that happened to me today" post, expect no existentialism. Probably. I was playing frisbee with my friends after school today, and because there was a football match on on the grass, we had to play on the asphalt. So, frisbee-ing went well, fun times all around, we even messed with a boomerang I had found a few days prior, Nobody could get it to go around or nuthin' <:[   . So there was a scuffle for the frisbee at one point. This occurs when the frisbee lands at the feet of two or more people, and it's a shoving/kicking competition to see who can get the frisbee. This occurred between Sam and Shane, and I decided to join in. So there was a shufflin' and a kickin', but eventually, the frisbee rolled out, and I, sensing my oppurtunity, ran forth at full pelt, crouching over to pick up the frisbee. And pick it up I did. Hunched over in victory, I sensed pursuers hot on the heels of my new trophy, so I elected to fling it back to Alex, who threw it in the first place. So mustering the last of my strength, I wound up and flung it forward, going into a slight spin. At this point I realized that I was hunched over going at full pelt and starting to spin, my centre of gravity about firmly three feet in front of me. So I braced for a crash, and thrust my arms out to protect my face, and my hands scraped off the rocks, and I did a bit of a flip, and then all was silent. And then all was laughter. Brian was rolling around on the floor, Sam was coming over to see if I was ok, and I began laughing at what was no doubt a hilarious thing to see. I looked down at my hands, and noticed patches of skin had been peeled back or gouged out, with dark crimson blood slowly oozing out. I rolled around a little, as one does when they are in pain, and then got to my feet. Checked my knee, which had two large black/red swathes, shiny with fresh blood and grime. At this stage, I was still laughing, and didn't take much notice of the damage, I mean, it really wasn't that bad, a case of "Road Rash", as my dad used to call it. Everyone literally ROFL-ing, and I adamantly declared "I may have to go to hospital, but I caught that damned frisbee, let it be known!" 

I headed off to the bathroom to wash up, and then gingerly biked home, with bruised palms and knees. Once at home, I washed myself up in the shower, and then applied some bandages, and then recieved a phone call from my piano teacher. I was 10 mins late for my last lesson. I quickly hobbled over to the churchtown school of music, and played in plastered hands, which wasn't that bad. Upon returning home, I filled in my mom on the details, and she ominously foretold that it would have to be cleaned "Properly", a grim prophecy that would no doubt involve cheap vodka. I forgot to mention, I howled at hollered while cleaning my leg up, real men can cry out in pain and still be manly (Grr. I'm manly. See?). After sufficient procrastination, I volunteered for this "Properly". I knew it had to be done, there was still dirt in the wounds, and nobody likes infections. So up to the shower we went, and I stripped down  (Moderately), when she produced soap, scissors, and a needle. We washed it, cut off loose skin (surprisingly not that bad), and then, underneath running water, I began the delicate operation of picking out dirt from my wound with a sharp implement. Bizzare feeling, really. It bears mention that I also whooped and hollered while doing this. Then, as prophesied, out came the cheap vodka. This stung like crazy. I covered my eyes with one arm, leaned on the wall for support with the other, and clenched my teeth as my hands and knee blazed with wrath at their suffering. Then my mom plastered me up like a good nurse, aww. Shoutout to Nicole who had an infected knee before, so I'll probably come running to her sooner rather than later. She also threatened to attack me with antiseptic wipes if I didn't clean it properly. She's wonderful :)

"Ooops! Zat vas not medicine" - Medic, team fortress 2

Bee vs. Spider

I just saw a bee trapped in a spider's web. I watched to see who would escape. The bee made it out alive! The downside is the spider may now die, but the bee does not need to kill to live, so that's nice. 

"I wanted to save them both!" -Vash the Stampede

Blue lips: First listener!

Basically what it says on the tin. I was telling Friend Cosmo about Regina Spektor's upcoming song, "Laughing with" on her yet-to-be released album "Far"(t?) Read the post and my comment yourself, Cosmo's quite the deep thinker. And so I pointed him to her myspace music page so he could listen to her song. I opened the page, and listened to the song, which played through and into the next on the playlist, "The call". After it played through, on a whim, I reloaded the page and listened to "Laughing with" all the way through, then it played the next song, which I slowly noticed was not "The Call". What now? I checked my tab. Yes.


That right, I was the first motherflippin' person to listen to the song. It's quite a shallow boast really, right up there with "FiRsT cOmMeNt" on a Youtube video. But all the same, it is pretty unique, in my opinion, as I may have been the first member of the general public to listen to that song. Like I said, it's a shallow boast though, I was so busy going "Holy crap! 0 views? holy crap!" That I don't even remember what the song was about or how it goes. Shameful, really, but c'est la vie! Just for further corroborative photos, check it.

If you'll notice, the time and playlist elapses, but for some reason the number of times played does not. I'm guessing it has a few people listen to it before it updates it as having been listened to or something, but at any rate, it was pretty sweet.

Also, go actually listen to "Laughing with" on the above webpage nao, it's a wonderful song about people's dependance on God in times of hardship.

"No-one's laughin' at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake" - Regina Spektor

Makes sense!

So, upon reading on wikipedia, apparently tofu is prepared in a similar way to cheese, as it turns out. But first, a word on soy milk. Soy milk is actually an emulsion of soy beans and water. So basically, you take soy beans, crush them into a fine paste, and mix really well with great vengeance in hot water. The result is an emulsion (Fine mixture) of soy bean and water, with some undissolved bits left over, called "okara" in japan. So, both milk and soy contain random proteins just floating about, and when released to an emulcifying agent, like salt, or something that changes the acidity, like lemon juice, all those rogue bits of protein go "Holy shoite lads, it's acid! Stick together!" And so they do, making little globular thingamagijs that are weird. This same process works in both milk and soy milk, leaving a curd of either cheese or tofu in either case. The resulting curd is then squeeeeshed until less and less water remains, and BAM! tofu. So there you go!