Scientific Progress Goes "Boink"

Was yesterday.

And yes I was inspired by Bunda's blog entry.

Wow, 9 years. I've been a staffie for more than a third of that, and a fan of LEGO for more than twice that.

I've visited/attended 6 LEGO conventions and met countless awesome members (I say countless because, while a sidebar tracks that, it might be inaccurate due to not writing down new names at last BrickFair. But it's a lot).

I've been on BZPower for middle school, high school, and college, never wavering.

There have been MOCs and stories and reviews.

And there has been you!

So...here's to 9 more?   

-CF

Anyone here watch Syfy's Eureka? The fifth and unfortunate final season started tonight and it was absolutely fantastic. This show has gotten better with each season, and the twists that came and the sci-fi tropes played off of in this episode were especially noteworthy.

-CF

Oh man. Awesome 11th, 11.5th, and 12th games of Risk Legacy tonight! I won game 11 (third win in the past two years of playing Risk) and STUFF WENT DOWN. So cool, amazing stuff. The game makers really knew what they were doing when designing the game. Twists and turns, etc.
Seriously, if you have any interest in playing Risk with the same 3-4 people fifteen times, where each game builds on the last and allows for radical changes from out of the blue, where the game evolves over time, Risk Legacy is the way to go.

Game 12 was also cool because we got to see the consequences of game 11, like causing everyone to have different strategies that put them out of the comfort zone they had built over the past 11 games.

-CF

If you've been to a convention (not LEGO, well it happens there too, but more like anime or sci-fi), you know what a large group of proud (need I say proud?) nerds and geeks looks like gathered in one place. Same thing happened tonight when Randall Munroe, creator of the webcomic xkcd returned to his alma mater Christopher Newport University, where I just so happen to be graduating from in...*checks watch*...5.5 weeks.

He spoke a bit about some pranks he had played while a student here and fond memories he had, while also explaining his cleverness behind this year's multiple-comic April Fools Day prank.

He's pretty cool and really chill. He just casually talks. He knows we practically worship him (few readers don't religiously check the site at midnight, EST, am I right?), but he was really down to earth.


(I was also first in line for the meet and greet.)

Back at BrickFair 2010, xccj and I made a few vignettes of some comics. (We did the same this past year, but nothing as awesome happened.) Sunday afternoon, whilst packing up, we found a letter from him saying he was "happy to see the cool scenes" we had made. XCCJ let me keep the note, which I have in a clear plastic slip taped to my dorm wall, and I showed that to him asking if he remembered it, and I told him we did more this year too.

And then I got him to sign another sheet of paper which I've placed behind it.

(He even put Hat Man on it!)

Night well spent!

-CF

-CF

I watched the first three episodes of Arrested Development this weekend. I can't wait to watch more. I hope it's as good as people say it is, considering I'm currently watching...
I first have to catch up with How I Met Your Mother (I'm 6 episodes into Season 7) and finish Outlaw Star (over halfway done).

And finally, friends coaxed me into watching the first two episodes of The Legend of Korra with them. Fantastic! I'm also really glad I had not first needed to have seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, though I knew enough to follow along or ask a few questions to a friend to get more familiar with bending and the culture. I definitely hope to continue watching when it airs in a few weeks (and friends have already said I need to watch Airbender anyway, so that will happen soon too).

-CF

Volunteer to be Steampunk coordinator at BrickFair
Build one or two more Space MOCs floating around in my head.
Build Steampunk MOCs.

Do you think I should update my SHIP at all for its second display a year later?* Change the color to trans-red (non-Explorien) or something?

-CF :kakama
Which I have remembered I still need to properly photograph. Probably against a dark green bedsheet (because that would be better than tan).

Pondering... Astonishing X-Men (Whedon) issues 1 and 2 (I have 3-8) or Astonishing X-Men trade paper backs volumes 1 and 2 (collection of issues 1-12) for the same price.

The obvious answer is the trade papers. I've been wanting those for a while anyway. But I want to complete the collection of having the full story arc "Gifted" in comic form since I have the latter 2/3rds of it, don't I? Granted, they'll never be read because I'd have the trade papers to read and loan out.

I should buy the trade papers now and the single issues later. Considering their age and their price currently, they can't be worth immensely more later, can they?

-CF

I'm home.
But I really want to leave.
Pretty much so I can see people (like my girlfriend and my best friend and their friends and then have a fantastic evening unlike what I usually have at school).

Y'know, I probably wouldn't be so eager not to be around my family had I already sent out dozens of job resumes. But I haven't, and I know my dad will ask, and I'll feel guilty and he'll make me feel guilty and worry about my future more than I already do (if I do, I just don't show it, heh). So you can see why I don't particularly want to be around for too long.

Plus, hey, I have people to see that have similar interests as I do, so of course that is who I want to spend time with.

Soon he'll be home and I'll be able to grab the car for the night. Until them I'm working on resume stuff...

-CF

I didn't get a chance to cancel pulling Uncanny X-Men, so I got issue 9 today. Whoops. Looks like I'll get #10 as well because I can't stand having incomplete story-arcs. But that is ok because I was interested in seeing the Avengers come and help out.

I almost canceled Wolverine and the X-Men, but decided against it. It's a favorite and the best X-title out, so I want to show my support. Plus it would have meant no X-Men comics on my pull, and I'm a big fan.

We'll see if I get entangled in the skerfuffle of AvX. On one hand, I'm staying out of it (because Marvel events blah blah blah), but at the same time I wouldn't want to have a gap in my X-Men comic collecting. But the outcome is easy to predict. But for W&tXM, might as well keep that. (And I'll pick up some Vs for fun.)

Then again, I'm trying to wane off of comics because as soon as I graduate college in 7 weeks I shouldn't be spending superflourous money until I get an established income. I've been waning myself off slowly (also in part because I spend way too much on comics a month as it is).

-CF

A fantastic seventh game in Risk: Legacy! I won! Woot! Great Britain now has a major city named after me (though I was tempted to call it TARDIS, but the odds being against me winning again I just had to name something after myself).

We also revealed the new Mutant faction, which was fun to play as in the eighth game but that itself had messy battles, strong tensions, and not too many options for my own gameplay. :/ But I’ve been in Risk withdrawal after a week and a half without it, so it’s all good. (Truth be told, I’m also in a Munchkin withdrawal. Maybe I’ll get to play that soon.)

Maybe if I win again I’ll rename Europe. That would give me a good bonus at times. I’m calling myself Deus Pangaea (“God of the World” or something), and have a city named after myself called Benjamiel (because angels have “iel” at the end), so I could call it Heaven for more tongue-in-cheek blasphemy which is really annoying one of my friends. XD But I’m actually favoring calling it Raxacoricofallapatorius.

We’re also super-close to placing the World Capital down. I hope I get to do that. Except then I’d have to think of another name.

Because in Risk Legacy you can totally do that.

So I put a minor city in Japan and called it Mata Nui. Left my mark. Totally made up for the nonsense word "Otasu" I put in Asia earlier, but not as cool as the angelic name for myself of "Benjameal" for my first minor city.

Just one thing--I'm pretty bad at Risk. We've been playing for 2+ years now and I've still only won one game. My friends have given me some analysis on what I do wrong, but there are just parts of gameplay I guess I still don't get. :/

Any tips? What are some "must dos" (and some don'ts) when it comes to fortifying, attacking, following through, retreating, and of course making risks.

-CF

So that's what happens when you don't check your Flickr contact list for over a week. The suddenly make changes and everything is suddenly so new.

Actually, I like it. Bigger pictures allow for quicker browsing/selection of what to view,* and photo titles are shown too. And there are more images per page.

-CF
*Maybe now I'll be able to discern mech MOCs from Transformers toys.

“They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Gentlemen, we enter this war as friends and grow closer as the battle rages on, our throats being focused on day by day. Keep your petty trifles coming as you will, but they encounter a deaf ear by Deus Pangaea. The globe shall be one, the people unified, and all will a part of The Pangaea Unifecto!” —Deus Pangaea* before entering into the battle of a lifetime.

My friends and I enjoy an epic game of Risk every now and then (not often enough). This has been going on since freshmen year (we are seniors now. Other friends have played with us as well, but it is usually us four), and is a great way to pass a weekend evening. (For the record, we have had much enjoyment with Risk: Onyx Edition, aka Risk: Reinvention, Risk Factor or Risk Revised Edition, and find it highly superior to standard Risk.)

But now, for our epic conclusion to our college career, a roommate was referred to Risk Legacy, a new take on the ongoing battle amongst friends. Here, past victories, defeats, and tactics stay on the board. Through a series of 15 games, events take place that will have effects the following week, or maybe not until 10 games later next month. Rules change as things happen. Cards are to be ripped up and discarded, players make choices on advantages or disadvantages as the campaign continues. There are envelopes that have conditions on when to open them with unknown rules and game changes, and needless to say we can’t wait to open the envelope titled “Don’t open this, ever.”

We got through the first two short games tonight—about 3 hours total. Throughout we were all quipping back and forth with our own faction’s names (between the Tribunals, Sovereignty, Legion and Unifecto, we have quite a reputation to uphold), and the following 13 games are going to be nothing to laugh at.

What’s especially cool is being able to name continents and cities. I’ve got a mental list started, and I’m totally naming a continent after me.

-CF
*Me

So this is interesting and something that everyone should learn but will probably forget:

I'm sure we are all familiar with acronyms: words that when each letter is broken down they each stand for something, like TARDIS, scuba, and radar.

But what I bet you didn't know is that terms compiled of letters standing for something but not sounded out, which you probably thought were acronyms, like FBI, HTML, and DFTBA (and BZP for that matter), are correctly called initialisms.*

Does it matter? No. Does it really matter? Yes. Why look foolish when you can look smart? It just takes some effort to remember the proper terms.**

The more you know.

-CF
*Parts of these paragraphs almost completely copied from wikipedia.
(**And, depending on who you are, MOC falls into either of those categories.***)
(***Acronym for me: must faster to say.)