Saturday, September 11, 2004

Fun Filled Saturday!
NOT. =p

Well, it wasn't particularly bad, it just wasn't great. I got up and went to the gym with my mom. We did an upper-body workout today and I think we're doing lower body tomorrow. My dad said something about how working both muscle groups back to back wasn't a very good thing to do, but I don't really have many other opportunities to go to the gym, so....

I'll have to get the straight of what he was trying to say. If all else fails, I'll just go for a nice long walk, something I haven't done for a while.

Anyways, back to why today wasn't as great as it could have been. :p

I wanted to go to B&C Collectibles this afternoon to enter a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament they have every Saturday. My friends John and Mark go every week, and they have tons of fun and get a bunch of great cards. Unfortunately, I could not attend. The tournament goes from 12:00-1:00 officially, and then to about 3:00 un-officially.

I had to work from 1-5 at the library today. It was a slow, boring day. Hardly anybody was there, no New books (my favorite section to do) needed to be shelved; I was stuck shelving non-fiction.

I loathe shelving non-fiction. The whole section seems like the lighting is dim, and it gets pretty cramped in some spaces. It's just not a pleasant task. And I had to do two full carts of it. At least.

CDs are pretty bad, too. I mean, I'm sure the order the library uses must make some sort of sense to somebody; but to me it might as well be a foreign alphabet. v_v

Wait, no. Given time, I could probably learn the foreign alphabet. I don't think I'll ever really understand this CD system.

Ergh. I'm starting to get headaches at work, especially when I shelf read. I think it has something to do with the air conditioning; the quality of the air in the building. Whenever I shelf read, I have to crouch and check the bottom shelves. And then, I need to stand back up. Moving from one position to the other makes my head spin slightly. Repeat about 8 times in a half hour, and I've got a nice little headache. -_-;;

Only it's not nice. But it is little. And it most certainly is a headache.

Moving along....

I checked out the movie Glory from the library three days ago and watched it. (Good movie; I'll explain it later.) The library only allows for two day checkouts for movies, or else a late fee is tacked on for each day it is late. Hehehe...

But, I am an employee of the library, and therefore exempt from late charges. >:D So long as I place late items on a special "Employees Only" return shelf, I am not charged for overdue materials. ^__^

I could keep a book/movie/CD out indefinitely. Or, so long as I still work at the library. :D

After work, I returned home for about an hour. I chatted with about six people on AIM, which, while lovely, is a bit of a hassle. I can't have very good conversations with somebody if I've got five other people demanding responses from me at the same time. :0

Then, at 6:00, my aunt drove me down to Mr. St. Louis's house. He wanted his lawn mowed, as usual. Also as usual, he wanted it done neatly, with lines. And, I kid you not, he actually came outside and pointed at a spot I had missed.

x______X;;

It was this narrow strip of grass no more than an inch across, and half a foot long. I promptly ran it over. Multiple times. He left me alone. =/

So, I finished that and got paid. It was a bit nicer, cutting the grass in the evening as opposed to afternoon. There wasn't nearly as much sun, and there was a nice breeze cooling me off even further.

I'm sure I've done stuff since then, but my mind's fuzzy. I know I've been on AIM for quite a while, and I read MyOs and OB and such. Hmmm....maybe that's really all I did. ^_^;;

*yawn* See you all later. Hope you enjoyed reading. :)
Comments (2) | Permalink

Friday, September 10, 2004

   Kiss of Death
The Kiss of Death is the name of a pizza that I took a part in eating tonight. It's a thin crust pizza, with onions, scallions, roasted garlic, diced garlic, caramelized onion, and Gorgonzola cheese. It tasted great, but my breath has been sufficient to keep any and all insects out of my room. Either that, or it killed all of them.

Either way, I'm happy. I don't like the bugs that come into my room.

I'll get into more detail about today, probably tomorrow. I need to squeeze a post in here, and if I go on about my day, it could probably take a long while. And besides, I'm in the middle of a duel as I'm typing this. >_>

I'm playing Lady Katana for the second time this evening. I built myself a Burn deck this afternoon with my multitude of leftover cards. While it may not be of the caliber of my Beatdown deck, or something I might come up against at B&C's or the League, it is sure proving to be enough against Lady K's outdated Warrior deck. >_>

Here are some quotes to lighten things up:

Lady Liger: ...
Lady Liger: You suck.
Lady Liger: ^^; Your deck seems to be quite the annoying little bugger, lol.
Legoboy1: You have no idea. ~_^
Lady Liger: *feels very afraid*

Lady Liger: Gorg attacks you directly.
Legoboy1: Another Waboku
Lady Liger: ....
Lady Liger: Bah, I say.

Legoboy1: Heh. I've got an old friend of yours to play.
Lady Liger: Oo;
Lady Liger: Not Lava Golem...
Legoboy1: I'll offer Gorg and a token for Lava Golem. :-D
Lady Liger: $#%Q@!!

Lady Liger: Urge to kill...rising...

Lady Liger: When I said "little bugger" before, I meant "annoying bastard deck from hell".

Lady Liger: You realize I hate you, right?

Lady Liger: I...feel....violated.

Lady Liger: Pride....shattered....Will to duel...waning.... *cries*

Lady Liger: Where the hell are all those deathblow cards of yours?
Legoboy1: In my other deck. >_>
Lady Liger: Nice, lol.

And that's all for now. Because I'm dangerously close to tomorrow.

Comments (2) | Permalink

Thursday, September 9, 2004

Operation: Egg Drop
Okay. My Physics class has had a project in the works for the past two or three days; if even that long. We are to each design a container that will hold an egg and keep it from cracking when dropped from 10-15-30 feet up in the air, respectively. I've done a project similar to this one before, in seventh grade. At that time, I had relied on cushions to soften the impact of the egg. My group sealed up our egg in a nice Tupperware container with bubble wrap, moss, cotton balls, etc. And it actually worked. ^__^;;

This time, though, the drop is significantly higher ad the parameters are a bit different. We have an equation that gives us points depending on the weight of our container, the damage done to the egg (or lack thereof) and then the number 2000 tossed in for good measure. So, my first idea this year was: cut open a stuffed animal, further pad the insides with bubble wrap or something, and then put in the egg and find a way to seal the thing back up again.

Then I started thinking a bit more humanely, as I would have to decapitate said stuffed animal in order to make it fit in the 25 centimeter by 25 centimeter by 25 centimeter size restrictions.

So, I decided to try out a parachute-ish sort of thing. I got a tiny Tupperware container, carefully poked holes through the edges and fed string through the holes. Then I carefully tied the strings to a modified plastic shopping bag. The container, when empty, was noticeably slowed by the parachute. Not really significantly, but enough that you could tell. I hypothesized that if I added any weight to the container (i.e. an egg) it would drop like a rock.

So, I ditched that idea. I was sitting at my grandparents' dining room table pondering my next move. I consulted my grandfather, and he came up with an absolutely brilliant idea. There' this sort of soft, soft, foam. It generally retains its shape, and yet will cushion very, very well. If he can find a cube of the stuff within 25 centimeters by 25 centimeters by 25 centimeters, then I am golden.

By simply cutting a slit in the foam, one can insert the egg into the center of the foam. The foam will close up the space behind the egg, keeping the possibility of the egg falling out to a bare minimum. When dropped from a significant height, the foam will most certainly absorb most, if not all of, the impact.

Heh, it sounds good in theory, at least. :p

Here's hoping. *crosses fingers*

Anyways, I've got more work to be doing. Like, Vocabulary for English. >_>

Today's excuse for English Class: I was subduing terrorists in or school's hallways.

Last Minute thought: I beat John five times today in a row. With the cards I traded for, I rebuilt my deck. John reckons that I could take on his friend, who works at B&C Collectibles. He says the guy has an awesome deck, and listed off some of the cards. Should I ever make it to B&C'S finally *ahem* it would be fun to play this guy everybody claims is so skilled.

Yay for me. I'm good at Yu-Gi-Oh. ^_^;;
Comments (3) | Permalink

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

   I was almost out!
Oy. I almost didn't get this post in. But, thankfully, I've started on it and all should be well from now on.

So, starting off with the last period of the day, because school was relatively uneventful other than that. I had Honors English III. As I always do on my way to his class, I think up a totally outrageous excuse for being late. He told us on the first day of school, not to give him some lame excuse for being late. Or something like that, whatever.

So, today's excuse was: "I was detained by an secret elite faction of Jewish Neo-Nazis!"

>_>;;

Anyways. During the class. He called on me to answer a question. He wanted to know: how many forms of discourse are there? So, looking frantically back in my scrambled notes, I answered: six. But, in my haste, I hadn't realized that the six consecutive lines I had thought were the forms of discourse, were in fact methods of exposition. I promptly apologized and corrected myself before he could tell me I was wrong.

Then he said something about my notes: If they were in the format that he had given us, I wouldn't have made that mistake.

I responded quickly: "These notes were taken before you introduced use to your method."

"Very good, Mr. Donnel, you think fast on your feet. I like that."

Then he went and branched off for about a minute, and then sort of turned back to me. He asked a question, but I wasn't sure if it was directed at me or just my side of the class. He said my name.

"Oh, were you continuing to question me?"

"Yes, Mr. Donnel. I find you to be a slippery fellow and I want to continue to pick on you a bit." Blah blah blah, something, something, something. "I know I won't be able to browbeat you. I won't be able to get a clean hit on you."

I don't know why, but that made me feel pretty good. ^_^

Mr. Lamoureux complimented me on using quick thinking to thwart him, and then (I think >_>) was sort of calling me clever. A difficult target for his bat of stupidity. It was neat.

And don't misunderstand me. He actually has a padded baseball bat that he hits people with. It's red, and it sits on the chalk tray behind and to the side of his desk.

So. I feel moderately better about that class. :D

After school, I went home and got changed. Then I went to work.

There was this other lady there, working in circulation. She's short, sort of pretty, and has the tanned skin of some sort of ethnicity. She totally pwned me when it came to shelving books. And, this is in the New Books section, too; where I'm actually moderately speedy. I felt like a one legged puppy named "Little Brudder" swimming through molasses.

Frozen molasses.

She was just that crazy when it came to putting books back. I am in embarrassed awe.

After that, I was driven straight down to a Youth Ministry meeting. We're trying to pull together some semblance of a "Youth Group". For our church. We had one, that ran perfectly well for fourteen years. Then our new priest and D.R.E. came in and disbanded it in favor of making a new one.

So, ergh. We have to build from the ground up.

I went to a meeting with my nutritionist and got a special note allowing me to take a water bottle to school. I can't wait to use it on the director of discipline now; Mrs. Gartska. She is evil, and I'd love to shove a doctor's note in her face, allowing me to break rules that she so carefully laid down.

I tell you, she's sadistic about it. I think she dropped a couple of classes she used to teach, just so she could prowl around the school and get kids in trouble.

Oy. It's late, I'm tired and spiteful. Time to go and hope for better things to come.

Like the weekend.
Comments (2) | Permalink

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

   It's About Time.
(This is a duel between my friend John and I that took place a couple of days ago over AIM. The moves of the game are the same, but the dialogue is slightly different and obviously this isn't how and where we played. I hope you enjoy it, though, because I certainly enjoyed writing it. ^_^)

John logged into the system. Computer data wafted gently from away from his feet as his digital self fabricated itself. Ben was already there, absently thumbing through his cards. They were both pretty relaxed, despite what was at stake in the game they were about to play. It was the highest stake of all. This was to be a duel of pride.

For countless duels in the near past, John had beaten Ben. Always before then, Ben had been the victor, cunningly outmaneuvering John’s overt and repetitious tactics. But John had acquired many new and powerful cards, and he had built his deck in such a way that his cards played off of one another; they were alike in theme. Ben had told him that time and time again; themed decks were stronger. John’s new Spellcaster deck more than rivaled Ben’s slightly outdated Beatdown. But Ben was determined to reclaim some of his past glory.

“Yo.”

“Hey.”

“So, did you make up your mind about that trade?” John asked.

“Heh, I’m still thinking about it.”

“Bah.” John spat, disappointed. Then he leveled a finger at Ben. “LET’S DUEL!”

Ben nodded in response, a smile unconsciously coming to his lips. A stadium materialized in a bright flash of light, and the two young men positioned themselves at either end. The holographic generators, rather redundant in the digital setting, hummed to life and cast multicolored shadows over the playing field. The two duelists drew their opening hands.

“Who goes first?” John inquired.

“I’ll go.” Ben said, drawing a card.

Surveying his hand carefully, Ben chose a single card and placed it onto the countertop before him. A holographic image of a facedown card wavered and appeared. “I’ll set one monster in Defense Mode.” Ben declared. “And end my turn.”

“Fine then.” said John. “I’ll set two Spell or Trap cards (*Will be referred to as S/T from now on*) and summon Strike Ninja in attack mode!” A dark, lithe figure appears on John’s side of the field, arms crossed and daggers drawn. He is wearing tight-fitting clothing, with bronze signets on his joints and a narrow bronze mask shielding his face. Flanking him on either side are two horizontal facedown cards. John looked at Ben’s facedown monster rather suspiciously, and then ended his turn.

“Fine then. I’ll set one of my own S/T-”

“Activate facedown card!” John declared. One of his facedown S/T rose up, revealing itself. “Mystical Space Typhoon! Destroy his card!”

A sudden vortex emerges from John’s card and engulfs Ben’s, destroying it. The two catch a brief glimpse of a ring of fire before it is eliminated by the cyclone. “Well done, you’ve managed to destroy my Ring of Destruction.” Ben concedes. “But, you’ve left your other card open.....to my Mystical Space Typhoon!” Ben plays the Spell card from his hand, and it races across the field to consume John’s card.

“Damn! My Spellbinding Circle!” exclaims John, watching as the cyclone destroys his trap. Spellbinding Circle could have paralyzed one of Ben’s monsters, rendering it unable to attack, and effectively making it a sitting duck. It was a good card for Ben to be rid of.

“I’ll set another monster card.” A second horizontal card materializes on Ben’s side of the playing field. “And I’ll end my turn.”

“Ha!” laughed John. “Your defensive monsters will be useless once I use this card! Raigeki!” A great bolt of lightening streaks across the field. Ben’s two monsters are revealed. One, a purple-haired girl with a third eye in the center of her forehead, and the other, a pink-haired girl dressed in a tunic and holding a golden staff. Both were destroyed by the lightening, breaking into fragments of data. John laughs triumphantly. Then, the woman with the third eye returned to the field as a pale shade, and raised her eyes quizzically to Ben. “What card do you desire?” she asked quietly.

“Kuriboh.” he replied, after a second of thought.

“As you wish.” The Witch of the Black Forest closed her eyes, and then the center eye blazed open with an eerie green light, causing Ben’s deck to glow. A single card drifted out of the deck, and then settled into Ben’s hand. The Witch’s ghost disappeared. Ben looked down at the card in his hand. Sure enough, it was Kuriboh.

“Strike Ninja, attack his Lifepoints directly!” John commanded.

Ben hesitated. He could discard his Kuriboh to protect himself from Strike Ninja’s attack, and not take any damage. Or, he could take the attack on his Lifepoints, and save Kuriboh to use later. Thinking quickly, Ben recalled all of the times where John had summoned monsters much more powerful than the Strike Ninja. He opted not to defend himself just yet. The Strike Ninja ran across the field towards Ben, and then cast one of its daggers at him. Ben watched as it flew end over end, and then struck him smartly in the chest. Ben took a step backwards, wincing in pain as his Lifepoints went from 8000 down to 6300. John smirked, and then ended his turn.
Ben draws a card, and then sets a card face-up on the field. “I’ll summon Zombyra the Dark, in attack mode!”

Another humanoid figure, bigger and more thickly articulated than the first, appeared suddenly on the field. His skin was gray, and his features rough. A breastplate of what appeared to be bone covered the creature’s chest, and a blueish material clung to his body. A large red cape flared from around his shoulders. “Zombyra, attack his Strike Ninja!”

The demonic warrior tensed at his master’s command, and then charged across the field, striking the lesser ninja with a powerful fist in the chest. The Strike Ninja exploded into fragments of data, taking with it 400 of John’s Lifepoints. A brief flash of pain crossed John’s countenance as his Lifepoints dropped from 8000 to 7600. Ben’s Zombyra shrunk when it returned to his side of the field; its special ability deducted from its attack strength whenever it destroyed an opponent’s monster. It was weaker than before, and so Ben activated another of his cards. “Swords of Revealing Light!”

Yellow cross-like figures rained down from above the playing field and sharply took their places on John’s side of the field. John would not be able to attack through the swords for three whole turns. Ben’s monsters were safe, or at least he thought.
John’s turn was short.“I’ll set one S/T, and one monster card in defense mode.”

A single horizontal card emerged on the field, flanked by another vertical one.

“I’ll play Pot Of Greed, which allows me to draw two more cards from my deck.” Ben declared. “And now, Zombyra! Attack his facedown monster!”

“Ha! I’ll activate my facedown trap card! Magic Cylinder!” John exclaimed triumphantly.

Two gaudy-looking party cups appeared on the field in front of John’s monster. Zombyra, already charging across the field, ran into one of the cups. The two cups turned over so that their closed ends were in the air, and then shuffled themselves. One cup tipped over, and Zombyra blindly charged out, attacking Ben’s Lifepoints directly. Ben fell backwards, leaning on the guard rail behind him for support. His Lifepoints dwindled from 6300 down to 4400, only slightly more than half of his starting amount. “Fine then.” Ben rasped. “I end my turn.”

“I thought you would.” John smirked. “Now, I summon my Skilled Dark Magician!”

A black robed creature stepped onto the field. Broad shoulder guards extended down to just before his elbows, and a peculiar sort of helmet framed his sallow face. In his hands was a baton, with a golden orb affixed to the end. Energy crackled about the orb, and he swished the baton dramatically as he appeared.

“Next, I’ll play Premature Burial, and pay 800 Lifepoints to resurrect my Strike Ninja!” John’s Lifepoints fell to 6800, and the lithe form of his ninja card emerges from the ground on the palm of a great zombified hand. John’s monsters press tentatively at the swords barring their path. They cannot move them. John ends his turn.

Ben checked the status of the duel on the small screen in front of him. John was leading 6800 Lifepoints to Ben’s 4400. But, he only had one card left in his hand! If Ben could somehow get rid of the cards on his field, John’s options would be severely limited. Ben drew a card, hoping for a good card. His eyes widened in disbelief; he’d drawn just the right card!

“Raigeki!” Ben grinned, slapping the card down onto the countertop. A great bolt of lightening streaked out from his field, splaying apart around the glowing swords and then converging again to destroy John’s two monsters.

“Shit.” John swore, letting his temper get the best of him. He looked desperately to the card in his hand. It was the only thing he had in this time of need. And Ben was about to take it away from him.

“I summon Spirit Reaper!” said Ben, playing a monster card. A diminutive little zombie phased onto the field, garbed in a flowing purple cloak and armed with a large, sharp scythe. “Spirit Reaper, attack his Lifepoints directly!” Ben’s Spirit Reaper streaked across the field, slipping unaffected through the luminous blades, and brought its scythe down at an arc across John’s chest. It was a minor attack, only depleting 300 of John’s Lifepoints. But, Spirit Reaper’s effect activated. When it attacks a player’s Lifepoints directly, that player must discard a card from his or her hand. John’s last card, Sage’s Stone, fell into his Graveyard. John’s Lifepoints fell to 6500. Ben ended his turn.

“This is the last turn your Swords of Revealing Light are on the field.” John reminded Ben. “Next turn I’ll be able to attack.”

“John. You’ve got nothing except the card in your hand. Hardly what I would call an attack force.” Ben pointed out.

“Yeah, well. Whatever. I’ll set this monster in defense mode.” A horizontal card appeared on the field. “I end my turn.” The luminous Swords of Revealing Light gradually fade into nothingness.

“Very well then. I’ll summon Kuriboh to the field!” Kuriboh appears on the field, a small little brown ball of fur with purple eyes and small green limbs.

“Heh, that monster’s not going to do you much good. It’s only got 300 attack points!” said John.

“Yes, well. I’m going to power it up with this card! United We Stand!” The Spell card materializes on the field, showing an image of two diverse hands grasping each other in friendship. Kuriboh grabs the hands of Zombyra the Dark and Spirit Reaper. Its attack points are raised by 2400, up to 2700! “Now, Zombyra, attack his monster! Once its out of the way, Kuriboh can be ready for a direct attack!”

“I don’t think so.” John laughed. “Take a look!”

Zombyra the Dark was once again charging across the field. John’s monster materializes from its card. It’s an Old Vindictive Magician! Before Zombyra can complete its attack, the sinister little sorcerer in tattered clothing casts a bolt of magical energy at Kuriboh, destroying it. Then Zombyra attacks him, and he is destroyed. Zombyra shrank again slightly, his special ability once again tolling him.
Ben narrows his eyes. Attacking with Spirit Reaper wouldn’t serve much of a purpose. 300 Lifepoints wasn’t much to get excited about, and Spirit Reaper’s special ability wouldn’t work when John had no cards in his hand. Ben switched his Spirit Reaper to defense mode to prevent any damage to his Lifepoints.

John’s turn. He drew a card. “I’ll play Monster Reborn, to revive my Skilled Dark Magician!” John’s destroyed monster rose out of the playing field through a gateway of light. “Now my Skilled Dark Magician, attack Zombyra the Dark!”

At full strength, Zombyra would not have been destroyed by the Skilled Dark Magician’s attack; but he was weakened due to one of his special abilities. For having destroyed two monsters, 400 of his original 2100 attack points were gone, leaving him at 1700. The Skilled Dark Magician, with an attack power of 1900, easily destroyed him with a fierce strike of his magical baton. Ben twitched slightly as 200 of his Lifepoints were removed. He was down to 4200. With no other cards to command or use, John ended his turn.

Ben drew a card, and then placed it down on the playing field. “I summon my Giant Orc in attack mode!” Ben’s Giant Orc was a massive gray brute with muscles upon muscles. He wore green pants, with brown flaps extending over his sides, and wielded a massive bone club with two hands. “Attack his Skilled Dark Magician!” The Giant Orc roared loudly and pounded its unadorned feet across the field. With a wide swing, the Orc struck the Skilled Dark Magician in the chest, causing him to flinch back and explode into thousands of fragments of data. John’s Lifepoints drop down to 5900. Ben’s Giant Orc stumps back over to his side of the field, and then collapses onto the ground, legs crossed and head bent with exhaustion.

John’s turn. He draws a card, and then sets it down onto the tabletop in front of him. “I summon Gemini Elf!” Two distinct female elves appear, locked in a tight embrace. Intricate markings were painted on various areas of their face, giving them an almost mythical appearance. “Gemini Elf, attack his Giant Orc!” The two women separated a bit, and an orb of magical energy suddenly began to grow between them. Interlocking their hands, they struck the orb and sent it hurtling towards the Giant Orc, who was immediately destroyed by it. “I have nothing else to do.” John said.

“I’ll offer my Spirit Reaper as a Tribute to summon my Dark Driceratops!” Ben’s Spirit Reaper disappears and in its place emerges a very large, very ugly creature. It has a large reptilian body, with scales and claws and fangs; but it also possesses a bird-like beak around the teeth and a mane of feathers about its head. Short horns surmounted the top of its head, and its eyes glowed red with madness. “Attack his Gemini Elf!” The great beast let out a ear-shattering mix of a squawk and a roar, and charged at John’s sole monster, destroying it upon the violent contact. John’s Lifepoints drop to 5400.

“Okay, I’m in trouble.” John admitted sourly. “I’ve got no cards on the field, and no cards in my hand.” He draws. “Hmmm, this could be interesting. He looks across the field at Ben. “I could make a huge comeback or just totally screw myself.”

“Heh, you’re still in the lead.” Ben reminds him.

“Yeah, well. Let’s just see. I activate Pot of Greed.” John draws two more cards. “Well, I’m going to try and stay alive. I’ll set one S/T and one monster in defense mode.”

“I’ll activate my Harpie’s Feather Duster to destroy your facedown Spell or Trap card.” Ben said calmly. A huge gust of feather-filled wind emerged from Ben’s side of the field and tore through John’s trap card, Mirror Force.

“Damn, Mirror Force.” said John, obviously chagrined.

“Now I’ll activate the Nobleman of Crossout, to remove your monster from play.” A shimmering knight appeared, and struck two X-shaped slashes at John’s monster. It disappeared from the field. Once again, John’s field was empty and he had no cards in his hand. Only this time, Ben hadn’t yet attacked. “Dark Driceratops, attack John’s Lifepoints directly!” The massive beast nodded its affirmation and charged across the field, leaping up over the barrier to deliver a blow directly to John. John fell over backwards as his Lifepoints took a huge hit. They dropped down to 3000, lower even than Ben’s.

John drew a card. “I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode.” A yellow figure of interconnecting orbs appeared. In place of hands, it had magnets, and in place of hair was another magnet that stuck out of either side of its head. John didn’t play the card in defense mode because of Dark Driceratops’ special ability. Even if John’s monsters were in defense mode, Dark Driceratops could still inflict damage to John through them. And because Beta’s attack points were higher than its defense points, John hoped to take less damage to his Lifepoints by playing it in attack mode. “I end my turn.” John said sullenly.

“I’ll set one S/T, and then attack your Beta!” Dark Driceratops charged across the field, destroying John’s monster and bringing his Lifepoints down to 2300.

John’s turn. “I’ll set one monster in defense mode and end my turn.”

“I’ll set another S/T, and attack your monster with Dark Driceratops!” Ben declared. Dark Driceratops charged across the field once again. John’s monster appeared in a brief flash of light. It was a fierce-eyed young girl with a mystical green staff. She determinately set her staff in the ground, and then faced her obliteration. John’s Lifepoints dropped down to a mere 700.

But, the Apprentice Magician’s staff remained on the field! Somehow, her power lived on! Another Magician emerged from John’s deck, the Magician of Faith, and grasped the staff. Then she laid herself down onto the field, immediately transforming into a horizontal card. Ben ended his turn.

“I’ll play Graceful Charity!” John said determinately. He drew three cards, and because of the card’s text, he had to discard two of them. “I’ll discard Dark Magician of Chaos, and Buster Blader!” John let the two powerful monsters fall into his Graveyard. “Now I’ll flip up my Magician of Faith!” John’s pink-haired little Magician stood up on the field, and then zapped John’s Graveyard with her staff. He would now be able to return on Spell card to his hand. “I’ll bring back my Monster Reborn! And I’ll use it to revive my Dark Magician of Chaos!” A tall, slim figure dressed in dark, dark blue leather emerged from the floor of the playing field, holding a long, equally dark staff. He also sent a burst of magical energy at John’s Graveyard. John could now bring another Spell card back from the Graveyard. “I’ll take back my Mystical Space Typhoon, and I’ll use it to destroy one of your facedown S/T!” For the third time this duel, a cyclone flew across the field and destroyed a card.

“Ergh. My Draining Shield. I was going to use it to stop your attack.” Ben mumbled.

“Now I’ll offer my Magician of Faith as a Tribute to bring out another powerful Magician! I summon Chaos Command Magician!” Another Spellcaster appeared on the field, garbed in stiff green cloth, decorated by golden-orange lines and orbs. He too possessed a staff, with a glowing orb inset at the end. Dark Magician of Chaos had an attack power higher than Dark Driceratops, and Chaos Command Magician possessed an equal attack strength. John had single handedly turned the duel around. Now he was the one with more monsters, and stronger ones. Ben made a quick move to save his Lifepoints.

“I activate my Trap card, Waboku!” Three meditative women stepped out onto the field in front of Ben’s Dark Driceratops. They were dressed in turquoise robes, and their hoods and collars framed their face, emphasizing their sorrow of facing battle. John’s monsters would not be able to penetrate their magic protection. He regretfully ended his turn. The women disappeared.

Ben drew a card. “How many cards are in your hand?” he inquired.

“None.”

“And are those two monsters the only cards you have on the field?” Ben pressed.

“Yes.” John replied.

“I’ll play my Spell card, Dark Hole!” Ben placed the card down on the stadium tabletop. A vortex suddenly appeared over the field and sucked in all of the monsters. John’s two magicians and Ben’s Dark Driceratops.

“Crap.” said John. He knew that he was wide open, and with only 700 Lifepoints left.

“I’ll summon my Cyber Jar.” said Ben. A small metallic cylinder with teeth-shaped slits appeared on the field. Above the grinning sharp teeth rested a large green orb, somewhat like an eye. “Cyber Jar, finish him off!” The green orb began to glow, and collected in energy from all around it. With a slight movement of the teeth slits that may have been a grin, Ben’s monster blasted John with a focused beam of green energy, wiping out his Lifepoints.

“You suck.” said John. Then he disappeared in an explosion of data.

enricopalazzo24 signed off at 5:41:02 PM.

Ben grinned, and picked up his cards. “That was fun.”
Comments (2) | Permalink

Monday, September 6, 2004

   *random blurb*
I've learned to prioritize my homework. ^___^

Only....it didn't work as I intended. >_> Instead of getting everything done in an orderly fashion, history is taking longer than anticipated and Theology is getting the back burner. Both are due tomorrow (I think?) and they come before my Off period so I can't get it done then either. v_v;;

Pre-Cal, Physics, and French homework can all be put off with a moderate degree of safety, as I have all of them after my Off period. I can get much of the work done then.

I've only got about five more questions left to my history homework, and then 15 Identifications. But they won't take me long, I'm sure. I've already defined most of them in my answers to the other questions, so transferring those will be a snap. *snaps fingers for emphasis*

At one point during the picnic today at my grandparents' house, everybody was talking about how great I looked. >_> They went on about how much weight I've lost, or how much it seems to be (as I've gotten a bit taller as well). My mom was more than happy to inform them that I'd lost ten pounds, and that I was eating conscientiously, and we went to the gym often.

Oy.

I was right across the pool from them, and I pretended not to be listening. v_v;;

I didn't eat too, too badly today. I had grilled chicken instead of hamburgers and/or hot dogs, and I ate some fruit on the side. The only real bad thing I ate was that weird cheesy potato mix that my grandma made. And a little bit of sausage dip, which is practically a given. There was no way I was missing out on that. =p

Progress has been made on the theatrical portrayal of my second-most-recent duel with John. (The one that I won. :p) I'm nearing the end of the actually duel, but it will take some time to get the descriptions into place. I'm finding the dialogue to be the hardest part, because John tends to swear a lot whenever I thwart him. And I thwart him a lot. So...yeah. That will be done and up relatively soon, I hope.

RPGs. V_V;; I've really got to find some time to work on these. I was swamped with homework this weekend, and week nights thus far have been similarly occupied with work and study. Rather than totally relying on my memory, I've now begun to actually re-read materials and read notes.

I never, ever read [pronounced red] my notes, except maybe before exams. Maybe I can get better grades this year by doing so. :p

Tomorrow I don't have English, and I am very much delighted about that. Despite the fact that I find it to be an....interesting....class, I'm still rather high strung about it.

History has been great thus far, except that nobody in my class is sure about our assignments. We don't know when they're due, specifically. So I could be working frantically for the rest of tonight and find out that this twenty-four question study guide (plus 15 IDs) isn't even due. That would.....well......that would be something.

Tomorrow I'm making a big trade with John tomorrow. I've got three cards that he wants, and after an huge amount of haggling, I managed to squeeze ten cards out of him. >:D

Two of the three I'm giving him are very rare, and two of the three he's giving me are very rare. The other eight are common cards that he deems worthless because of their rarity. I'm not a huge fanatic when it comes to rarity, so these other eight card mean more to me than they do to him. Particularly because of their effects. I think John will have a few more problems beating me just as soon as I acquire the cards from him tomorrow.

Mua...ha...ha....

I've started working with earplugs in. O_o;; It may seem weird, but I find that it really cuts out distractions. It gets uncomfortable after a while, though, and I take them out. After getting some air back in between my ears, I pop them back in and everything is about 29 decibels quieter. Or something like that, anyways.

Crud. I just remembered I still have a bunch of emergency number/health form stuff to fill out for school. >_> I don't particularly like the idea of a Saturday Detention, so I'm going to leave now....

Bye!
Comments (3) | Permalink

Sunday, September 5, 2004

   Mass, Me, and Mayhem
I stayed up late last night watching CrH and Lady Katana play Literati, and then taking a hand at a game myself. I was winning until, naturally, I had to leave and go to bed. From what I hear, though, CrH wound up winning. Which is cool. My seat won, at least. =p

I was woken up this morning at about 10:00. I got up, got ready to go and went to Mass. Nothing really out of the ordinary there. Well, nothing particularly different about the Mass. I suppose that there are several extraordinary things that go on in the Mass, actually. What with the Transubstantiation and all...

Yeah, anyways. I came home and made myself some breakfast. No, not burned myself some breakfast; I actually succeeded in making something. I sort did an okay job of frying two eggs, and I managed to get them on some slices of bread easily enough. Add some cheese and ketchup, and I had myself a good eggs sandwich. Yum.

After that, I headed upstairs to my room. I chatted on AIM with various people, while simultaneously reading in my history book. I actually finished the Chapter I was supposed to read, so now all I have to do is answer the 24 questions and do the 15 Identifications. No problem.

Well, it wouldn't be that much of a problem, except that I have other subjects, too. And I have a picnic that is going to take up most of tomorrow. So, that makes it into a bigger sort of problem.

Crap. I feel like I'm totally going to be screwed. But I know I won't be. No matter how bad things seem for me in terms of poor time management and procrastinating; somehow, I always pull through. Maybe a little bit worse for the wear, but still mostly okay. Heh, so much for a restful three day weekend. :p

By the time I finished reading for history, (among the other things I was doing) it was just about time for me to be picked up. I changed out of my shorts and into some pants, as the weather has been turning chilly lately. My dad found the windbreaker I had borrowed from him, and so I had that to wear as well.

Victoria's dad showed up just about when she said he would, and I got in the car. He drove down to Sacred Heart to pick up Victoria, and then we were off. ^_^

It didn't take us too long to get to the Waterford Speedbowl, maybe fifteen minutes, or something. We found a parking spot, fooled ourselves into thinking we could find it again, and then went to buy tickets. It was $14 for adults, and $5 for children ages 6-14, I think. Children five and under were free. It was a pretty reasonable price, considering the range of the children's ticket covered a large enough area.

We found a likely spot on the benches, and then waited for about forty-five minutes as more people bought tickets and slowly filled up the stands.

The first event of the evening was a "Blind Bus Race." Two school buses were brought out onto a sort of racetrack, each with two people inside. One of the people inside was the driver, who would be blindfolded. The other was a navigator, to guide the driver and try to prevent him from crashing into things. It wasn't much of a race at first. One of the drivers was very cautious, and couldn't even come close to the other bus. After the other bus got about half the track for a lead, the officials called a time out. They started off the buses back on the starting line, and let them go for the final five laps, admonishing them to stop being babies and speed up. =p

The race was a bit more interesting after that, with a bunch of narrow turns with the buses side by side. Several times, one bus came very close to crashing into the barrier, which was maybe twenty five or thirty feet away from me. ^_^;;

So, one guy won, one guy lost. Next event.

I believe the next event was the Four Cylinder Demolition Derby. Basically, they took a bunch of drivers in beaten up cars and put them in a blocked off area to ram each other into submission. It was fun to watch. ^_^ The winner wound up being one of the three female drivers out there. Her car was the only one left functioning by the end of it. Which is...how she won. >_>;;

After they had towed off the smashed up cars and miscellaneous broken parts, a space was set up for a nice game of soccer. Only, the soccer players were four buses. And the ball was a little white car. :D

The four buses started off on opposite sides of the "field". When the countdown completed, the buses surged forward, pushing the little car ahead of them. Then one would strike another bus, and stop. The car was crushed in a matter of minutes, sort of rolling underneath some of the buses when they tried to move it. Eventually, though, one of the buses got ahold of the car and drove it straight through in between the two opposing buses. Heh, it was cool. :D

Next up was the Eight Cylinder Demolition Derby. This was for cars with eight cylinder engines, although I think the winning car actually only had a six cylinder. More general mayhem ensued, with so much smoke and gas and such rising up so that much of the field was obscured. There was one car, Warhog with a little stuffed pig atop of it. Warhog came very, very close to winning, and Victoria and I were cheering it on. :D Sadly, it got pinned in a corner and some puny little car without a proper rear end took the win. =/

Watching the victorious car drive away was pretty funny though, heh. Its back wheels didn't work, and the backside/bumper dragged along on the ground behind as the front wheels pulled it away.

Finally, it was time for the grand finale. School Bus Demolition Derby! >:D

Last bus to move and able to strike another bus wins.

There were six buses; it was awesome. Twist, RAM. Spin, BAM. :D Fun fun fun fun fun.

It eventually got down to two cars. On one, he steering was almost totally shot. The front wheels pointed off in different directions, and occasionally turned perpendicular to the bus. It was still able to move, though, sluggishly. The other bus was scrunched up, having been savagely struck from both front and rear. The hoods of both buses were gone, and the engines could be seen by the stadium lights. With one final charge, the scrunched bus collided right with the engine of the other bus. The bus's engine blew apart into pieces, spraying all sorts of liquids in every direction. Spectacular. ^___^

Victoria and Mr. Fleury were a bit disappointed that there was no trailer racing, which I guess is a funny thing to watch. This was my first visit to the place, though, so all fo it was new to me. I had a fantastic time, regardless of the lack of trailer racing. :D

I got home, and started typing up a response to Anime Stereotype High School. Part of the way through, however, my computer froze up. O_O;; I lost the post, and I just couldn't force myself to go and make another one. v_v;;

Oy. I've got to get off my arse and catch up on these RPGs. If only I had more time! x_x;;

Speaking of which. It's nearing eleven o'clock. I've got head off to bed soon if I am to have any coherent thought tomorrow.
Comments (2) | Permalink

Saturday, September 4, 2004

   "Well, it's not a prybar."
Heh. I've already pretty much filled up my plate for this weekend. Today's pretty much over. Tomorrow, I've got Mass in the morning and I'm going to a "Back To School Bash" at the Waterford Speed Bowl. Victoria invited me along, and according to her: "it has 4 cyl. and 8 cylinder demolition derbies, a school bus demo derby, usually trailer racing (which is a bunch of cars/trucks racing with trailers hitched to the back of them, plus various other stuff."

Should be interesting, I think. And loud. :p I don't know how long it's going to be, but I'm being picked up at a quarter to five. Then on Monday, my grandparents are having a Labor Day picnic, which will take up much of my day.

"So Ben," you ask. "When will you get your homework done?"

Ehrm. >_>;;

I'll have to get everything done in the few hours between Mass and the Back to School Bash. And then maybe I'll have a few hours after that. Then another few hours between waking up on Monday morning and the party. I've got a lot of homework, so hopefully those random hours will be enough; coupled with my Off period on Tuesday.


I tried to sleep in today, but my mom woke me up. >.> It's not that I'm against going to the gym; I just don't feel like getting up early on a Saturday. I stayed up late last night to enjoy the first weekend of the new school year. Like I said, free time is much sweeter when you have less of it.

I did some cleaning around the house today, as well as mowing Mr. St. Louis's lawn. The day went sort of off and on as far as work goes. At one point I'd be working hard, and at another point I'd be hardly working.

I got to watch some of the Three Musketeers today. I skipped about to the scenes with swordplay in them. I've still got some residual zeal from watching fencing in the Olympics. My last post, as you can see, was full of fencing images.

Eh. I'm tired. I'm sitting in my room, watching The Road to El Dorado. At the moment, the giant stone jaguar is terrorizing the city. Fun.


I want a giant animate stone jaguar. =/

I'll have the literary embellishment of my duel with John up later; probably tomorrow. It's taking longer than expected, with the descriptions I'm doing of the cards and the action. It's fun, though, and I think it'll be enjoyable to read. ^_^

Well, I'll be off now. There's lots of stuff I should be doing, and not a lot of time to avoid doing it. So...yeah.
Comments (1) | Permalink

Please note the post before this one. :p
Shazam!

Grrr.....a dramatic crossing of blades....>:D

Me, in a couple of years. =P

Streeeeetch, and gotcha!

It really is a gentleman's sport.

Phew! He missed. >.>

Sproing!

How the Continental Congress really got things accomplished.

Watch out behind you!

*sigh* Inevitability.

Fencing is for everyone.

Another notice, I posted something last night. Be sure you read it, now that I've got you here. =P
Comments (2) | Permalink

Friday, September 3, 2004

   Hey, hey, two tests today.
I didn't get up early enough to go to the gym this morning, most unfortunately. I'm just not sure if I'll ever actually be able to do it. x_x I'd have to get up at 5-5:30 or something, and I usually get to bed at 10-12 at night. I don't function well after consecutive nights of limited sleep.

Eh. I'll figure something out eventually. Maybe week nights I can weight train. Cardio isn't much of a problem. I can do that without going to the gym.

This morning, the laundry hadn't been switched over from the washing machine. So, my mom tossed the clothes that she and I would need today into the dryer alone, so that they would dry faster. I packed up my school books and such, put in my contacts, and ate breakfast. By the time I was done with those activities, my clothes were dry undampened enough where I could wear them with only minor discomfort.

It was about 7:10, and in order to get to school with relatively enough time, we need to leave by 7:15. So, we left, and I managed to get to school at a sufficient time.

I had Honors English III first period today. It wasn't particularly awful. The more classes we have, the more I get accustomed to Mr. Lamoureux's teaching methods, habits, etc. I would almost say that it's an orthodox way of teaching, but it seems so radical in this day and age. It's sort of refreshing, and sort of not. You see how confused this class makes me? =p

Anyways, we pretty much took more notes on the forms of dissertation, and at the same time we reviewed the practice of using logical definition. So, not terrible.

Theology III was next. We discussed a few saints whose feast days are in August, and what they are known for. Then we copied down a bunch of vocabulary words. Like I said before, there's only so much we can do without texts. But, there was news that the books just might be in; I'll have to check it out.

Psychology is always pretty fun. We discussed and took more notes on the different fields of psychology and what those particular psychologists deal with. Nearing the end of the class, we started discussing the 4 basic types of personality: Obsessive-Compulsive, Hysteric, Passive Aggressive, and Passive Dependent. Just wait, we'll soon get around to labeling everybody in the class as such. Because you know how much people love to be labeled. ;p

My next class was AP U.S. History. We had a test today on the book we were supposed to read over the summer: Booknotes: Stories From American History. We were allowed to use the paper we had written on the book as a reference while taking the test. While this, I imagine, greatly aided other students in my class, it didn't do a heck of a lot for me. My paper on the book was not very thorough. It was done the night before, and it rather strongly relied on the wording of the assignment: "This book covers the entire span of American history. You are to take brief notes on each of the time periods and they will be collected and graded in September."

I took "brief" very seriously. I cut out sections that dealt with singular people, among other restrictions. My paper was only about seven pages long. One boy in my class had 42 pages, heh. I can't wait to see what our grades are, comparatively. =p

Anyways, the test. The test itself was simply a long section of True and False, and then another section of Identities. So, I went through, debating whether or not the statements were true or false. Some of them I was not sure about, but others were obviously false. When I got to the identities, though, my progress slowed. My paper didn't hold much information on individual people and only a little on certain specific events. I primarily relied on my memory of the book, and it got me through the rest of the IDs. I think I left about five blank, out of a test of 70-odd questions. Mr. Currie is putting the grade of the paper and the grade of the test together to form one final grade. Depending on how he interprets my paper, the test may save it or simply reinforce it. And that ended that.


Day B's are interesting days, because they fit my schedule so that my Off overlaps with lunch, giving me: Superoff! So, today I was present in the cafeteria for all three lunch periods. In first lunch, it's mostly Juniors and Seniors, then there's a lunch period for the middle school. Finally, second lunch rolls around. Freshman, Sophomores, and whatever hapless Juniors and Seniors get stuck in there with them. Heh.

I ate lunch in first lunch, I believe. I bought myself a chicken and cheese quesadilla and tossed a good number of jalapeños. It was pretty fortunate that I did, because it made the quesadilla unappetizing to those who would normally harry me for food.

I sat through the middle school lunch period, talking with my friends John and Ryan. Then second lunch began, and I detached myself from my seat with John. I bought a soda, because I was very thirsty, and I wanted something to wash down the jalapeño flavor, too. I walked back into the cafeteria and looked around. Christina, Victoria, Raine, and a couple other people I knew from Sacred Heart were sitting together at a table down at the other end of the cafeteria. From where I was standing, it appeared full. So I went and I sat down with Tyler, Ivan, and Colleen; three other Freshman who came from Sacred Heart.

Colleen must have caught me looking over at the other table, because she promptly asked me: "Do you like Christina?" I stared at Colleen. "I mean, like, are you going to ask her out?"

As tactfully as I could, I shrugged and something quite noncommittal. "Well, what about Raine?"

"I don't really feel like telling you." (or at least, my response was something like that) "I don't like to talk very freely about this sort of thing because it leads to complications."

*fend*

*fend*

She eventually got the hint that I didn't want to continue on the subject and returned to her lunch. Amanda, one of my Sophomore friends from fencing, sat down next to me. We talked for a while, and then the bell rang. We went upstairs together, and split up to go to our lockers. I had a Physics test to get to, and she had Off.

I arrived a couple seconds late to Physics, and wound up stepping into the room in the midst of prayer. >_> I immediately stopped moving, and waited for the prayer to end. Then I sat down. Mr. Baginksi handed out the tests, and I took our a pen.

"No pen on my tests. Or homework, either."

"WTF?" Heh, okay. I didn't actually say that, but that's what I felt like. I told him I didn't have a pencil. He told me to go to my locker and get one. I told him, I didn't have one in my locker, either. So he sent me downstairs to the bookstore to buy a pencil. And in the meantime, minutes were ticking off of the available time for the test.

Britney, a girl in my class, was at the bookstore exchanging books, so I had to wait for her to be finished before I could even discuss buying a pencil. Amanda was there, though, so we just sort of talked while I waited. ^_^ Britney eventually finished, and I bought myself two pencils. I quickly went back upstairs and began the test.

It was most certainly not what I expected. I had expected multiple choice, or matching or something. Well, at least a small section of it. >_> But no, this was hardcore stuff. Short answer, actual mathematical computation, (without a calculator, I might add, as I haven't yet found mine) and graphing. There was a table in there, too, with the different prefixes of measurement: kilo-, deci-, milli-, etc.

I didn't have any trouble filling in the blank spots on the table as far as prefixes and their corresponding values were; but for the life of me, I had NO CLUE what their symbols were. Mr. Baginski had told us to know the table in the book, but I hadn't counted on us having to know the symbols; I mean, who does that? O_o

Eh. The test could have gone better, if I had precise calculations with a calculator. As it stood, I used paper and pencil to reduce these things into scientific notation; which, incidentally, I'm not even sure if it's an acceptable form of the answer. x.x;; We'll see, I guess.

Finally. The last period of the day. Honors French IV. A Godsend. Ironically enough, Mr. Ayres is teaching Theology for the seniors this year as well. So, for the moment he is indeed associated closely with God. What was really cool was how I began the class.

Mr. Ayres: "Bonjour." (Hello, basically)

Me: "Bonjour." (ditto)

Mr. Ayres: "Ca va?" (How are you?)

I sort of teeter myself back and forth. We both supply the answer.

Both: "Comme ce comme sa." (Not really bad, not really good)

Mr. Ayres: "Pourquoi?" (Why?)

Wry smile, then Me: "Deux examens." (Two tests.)

Mr. Ayres: "Aaaaah." (signifies enlightenment)

So, we started class. We read a poem in French, translating as we went. For homework this weekend, we've got to answer some questions in French about the poem. Fairly simple.

The bell rang, and I packed up my stuff to go home for the weekend. My dad was waiting in the parking lot, and we got home rather shortly. I got online, checked the usuals, and then played Literati with Mimmi. :D

She led for the first few turns, and then I continuously hit on bonus spaces and racked up points. I got a few lower pointed words, and she crept back up in the scores with a couple good words. She eventually came back to beat me, crafty Swedish maiden that she is. ~_^

Afterwards, I dueled John on AIM. I won't tell the rest of you the result, because I plan on being incredibly expansive on it tomorrow. ^_^ Mimmi knows, though; she might tell you. :)

Other than that, I've pretty much just been lounging about; enjoying my first weekend of the school year. Free time has never been sweeter. =P

Reminder list for Ben:
*Homework list
*Expounded Duel with John
*Weekend plans, if any.
*Bitter complaining about homework; Mr. Currie's comment
*Things that probably should be, but won't be, done this weekend.
Comments (2) | Permalink