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Dec. 26th, 2010 06:48 amWould use Sugar's pic, but there is some technical stuff that will come later in this post.
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I was the first one up, and continued with the spreadsheet and the numbers. Marie got up while I was at it, and bugged me to wake Mom, Dad, and Brian up. I insisted on letting them wake up when they see fit. She continued to make a nuisance of herself, and Brian eventually came down from the apartment (which is where he's been sleeping since he came home). Marie shrieked in excitement, "Look who's up!", and Dad shouted at her to quiet down. She then burst into tears, Dad woke up, and Mom comforted her as she went into their room.
-----
Anyway, on with presents. We all got a bunch of stuff, but I'm not gonna go into everything that everyone else got.
First, stockings. Got two MAD Magazines, a chocolate orange, four peppermints (one of which I ate), a bag of pistachios (which I don't really care too much for), a jar of Nutella, a BestBuy gift card, and four scratch cards. Scratched all four cards, and won $1 from one where you're supposed to get three of the same amount. (Not much, even when you don't have a job, but hey, it's something.)
Mom asked me for a quarter while she was scratching her cards. I got one out of my drawer, and then flipped it horizontally over the couch, and it winded up behind it. She told me that isn't funny, and I went and got a penny from the computer desk, and just gave it to her.
Grandma Barbara called us while we were at it, and I was the first to thank her for the gift card. I told her I was gonna wait until I get any more from Mom's side of the family, and then buy myself a Wii to play Pokemon Battle Revolution on. She told me that Aunt Marie and Uncle Ray had one of those several years ago, but then sold it after a while of not playing anything on it... even though they still have their Super NES and a bunch of their games for that one (at least last time we visited them all).
Onto presents: First thing I opened, but before I opened it, had Simpsons face cutouts on springs, of Bart and Moe. The actual present in question was this Zits book titled Are We Out of the Driveway Yet?
Other things I got:
-Burn Up W
-Pani Poni Dash, the complete DVD series.
-the first three manga volumes of Read Or Die
-a Bathroom Reader book, which everyone else (or at least Dad) likes.
Brian commented that Burn Up W doesn't make sense as a title. Mom said that it only makes sense as an anime title, but I told them that titles like that and Pani Poni Dash, randomly put together, are called Word Salad Titles (a term I used not too long ago).
In any case, that's two less titles I have to wait indefinitely for to become available on Netflix.
While we were still distributing presents, I noticed Mabel on the window sill behind the tree, and jokingly asked her to bring something to us.
Anyway, some of the stuff everyone else got: Brian got this compilation book of cartoons that never made it into The New Yorker, complete with questionnaires filled out by various cartoonists. (This one was actually lying on the dining room table for a while not too long ago, before being wrapped up.) Dad got a catboat calendar. Mom got some sink racks, which look so much nicer than the ones she's had up until then. I put some coupons in Mom and Dad's stockings, offering to let them rent one DVD each from my Netflix account. And so on and so forth.
-----
My water balloon completely froze overnight, fulfilling a dream I was never able to fulfill back when we used to go to summer camp. At first, I was gonna peel the balloon part off, but then Marie wanted me to throw it on the driveway instead. She and Brian watched me as I threw it near the garage, and then it was over.
Mom made us pancakes with oranges and bacon for breakfast yesterday. She wasn't able to find soda anywhere, though, so she got some bottles of root beer for us instead.
Shortly after breakfast ended, I set my laptop on the table, opened up YouTube, and played the Jingle Town theme from Snowboard Kids 2. Even though synthesizers (and the song itself, except for at the 55-second mark) aren't exactly appropriate for the holidays, the song in question does go with the game's Christmas-themed course. Mom and Brian were chatting in the kitchen, and I asked Brian if he remembers that game. He told me I play it all the time, but I told him that I actually sold it last summer. In response to "You did?", I told him that it was just one of my timekiller games (exactly what Getter Love!! is for nowadays. I should also note that the last time I ever played SK2 was during the Co7G era (July 19, 2009), a year before I got rid of that game, the original Snowboard Kids, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and most of my SNES games.)
Not long after the song ended, we set the TV to PIX11, which was showing the burning of the Yule Log while playing various Christmas carols.
-----
While I was busy with my spreadsheet, Brian asked me what I was doing. While I tried to explain, he told me that it is possible to do equations and get random numbers on Excel, rather than go through such a tedious process as I had been putting myself through. However, the equation in question is quite complicated, and I wrote down exactly what I'm trying to get, rather than just getting random numbers between 1 and 50,000. I explained to him that just getting some random numbers isn't good enough, because for the PAL Park, it would mean that more contestants would get more than one legendary Pokemon in a relatively short amount of time than there should be.
I wrote everything down on a sheet of paper, and Brian converted it into proper math, as follows:
( One hell of a math equation! )
Translation:
( Read more... )
Brian said that he'll hopefully find me a way to enter such a complex formula into the computer for me one of these days. That would save me a good chunk of tedium when I do the PAL Park for real while writing Parasitic Trio.
-----
Watched episodes 9 and 10 of Burn Up Excess yesterday, so that I can mail back disk 3.
-----
Brian was talking to Dad last night about what I was doing. I walked by, and Dad asked me how I would know how many multiples of 4 are in a given number. That's exactly why learning division is important when you're in grade school. He asked me how many 4's are in 128. I answered 32.
I told them that it does help if one is familiar with bit values in video game consoles or computers, etc. Brian said that he's a bit familiar with those, but mistakenly mentioned that Nintendo gave us a 16-bit console, a 32-bit one, and then a 64-bit one. I corrected him and said that Nintendo started its video game business with an 8-bit console, and continued with 16-bit, 64-bit, and then 128-bit starting with the GameCube, while the most notable 32-bit console ever made was brought to us by Sony.
(Someone on the VGMusic forum--and I think it was Powerlord--once told me that the Wii could safely be assumed to be 32-bit, since it runs on eight 32-bit processors. However, from what I was also once told at the same place, the Sega Saturn (32-bit) and the Atari Jaguar (64-bit) run on two 16-bit and two 32-bit processors respectively, so logically, that would make the Nintendo Wii a 256-bit console. At this point, though, this whole concept of bit values has become convoluted, just like my gimmick of remembering weeks. No one really cares about them anymore, no one probably did back in the Atari age, and even when consoles were differentiated by such, there were those whose bit-values never were definitively made known.)
-----
As of today, we might have to postpone our get-together with Mom's family. A blizzard has been forecast to hit from midday today to tomorrow night, and Mom's been telling everyone that they might need to reschedule. This might be a good thing, though; might give my Action Replay some more time to get here. Don't want to test it on my copy of Pokemon Diamond once I transfer all Pokemon from my Ranger games, only to have the thing erase all my data.
-----
I was the first one up, and continued with the spreadsheet and the numbers. Marie got up while I was at it, and bugged me to wake Mom, Dad, and Brian up. I insisted on letting them wake up when they see fit. She continued to make a nuisance of herself, and Brian eventually came down from the apartment (which is where he's been sleeping since he came home). Marie shrieked in excitement, "Look who's up!", and Dad shouted at her to quiet down. She then burst into tears, Dad woke up, and Mom comforted her as she went into their room.
-----
Anyway, on with presents. We all got a bunch of stuff, but I'm not gonna go into everything that everyone else got.
First, stockings. Got two MAD Magazines, a chocolate orange, four peppermints (one of which I ate), a bag of pistachios (which I don't really care too much for), a jar of Nutella, a BestBuy gift card, and four scratch cards. Scratched all four cards, and won $1 from one where you're supposed to get three of the same amount. (Not much, even when you don't have a job, but hey, it's something.)
Mom asked me for a quarter while she was scratching her cards. I got one out of my drawer, and then flipped it horizontally over the couch, and it winded up behind it. She told me that isn't funny, and I went and got a penny from the computer desk, and just gave it to her.
Grandma Barbara called us while we were at it, and I was the first to thank her for the gift card. I told her I was gonna wait until I get any more from Mom's side of the family, and then buy myself a Wii to play Pokemon Battle Revolution on. She told me that Aunt Marie and Uncle Ray had one of those several years ago, but then sold it after a while of not playing anything on it... even though they still have their Super NES and a bunch of their games for that one (at least last time we visited them all).
Onto presents: First thing I opened, but before I opened it, had Simpsons face cutouts on springs, of Bart and Moe. The actual present in question was this Zits book titled Are We Out of the Driveway Yet?
Other things I got:
-Burn Up W
-Pani Poni Dash, the complete DVD series.
-the first three manga volumes of Read Or Die
-a Bathroom Reader book, which everyone else (or at least Dad) likes.
Brian commented that Burn Up W doesn't make sense as a title. Mom said that it only makes sense as an anime title, but I told them that titles like that and Pani Poni Dash, randomly put together, are called Word Salad Titles (a term I used not too long ago).
In any case, that's two less titles I have to wait indefinitely for to become available on Netflix.
While we were still distributing presents, I noticed Mabel on the window sill behind the tree, and jokingly asked her to bring something to us.
Anyway, some of the stuff everyone else got: Brian got this compilation book of cartoons that never made it into The New Yorker, complete with questionnaires filled out by various cartoonists. (This one was actually lying on the dining room table for a while not too long ago, before being wrapped up.) Dad got a catboat calendar. Mom got some sink racks, which look so much nicer than the ones she's had up until then. I put some coupons in Mom and Dad's stockings, offering to let them rent one DVD each from my Netflix account. And so on and so forth.
-----
My water balloon completely froze overnight, fulfilling a dream I was never able to fulfill back when we used to go to summer camp. At first, I was gonna peel the balloon part off, but then Marie wanted me to throw it on the driveway instead. She and Brian watched me as I threw it near the garage, and then it was over.
Mom made us pancakes with oranges and bacon for breakfast yesterday. She wasn't able to find soda anywhere, though, so she got some bottles of root beer for us instead.
Shortly after breakfast ended, I set my laptop on the table, opened up YouTube, and played the Jingle Town theme from Snowboard Kids 2. Even though synthesizers (and the song itself, except for at the 55-second mark) aren't exactly appropriate for the holidays, the song in question does go with the game's Christmas-themed course. Mom and Brian were chatting in the kitchen, and I asked Brian if he remembers that game. He told me I play it all the time, but I told him that I actually sold it last summer. In response to "You did?", I told him that it was just one of my timekiller games (exactly what Getter Love!! is for nowadays. I should also note that the last time I ever played SK2 was during the Co7G era (July 19, 2009), a year before I got rid of that game, the original Snowboard Kids, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and most of my SNES games.)
Not long after the song ended, we set the TV to PIX11, which was showing the burning of the Yule Log while playing various Christmas carols.
-----
While I was busy with my spreadsheet, Brian asked me what I was doing. While I tried to explain, he told me that it is possible to do equations and get random numbers on Excel, rather than go through such a tedious process as I had been putting myself through. However, the equation in question is quite complicated, and I wrote down exactly what I'm trying to get, rather than just getting random numbers between 1 and 50,000. I explained to him that just getting some random numbers isn't good enough, because for the PAL Park, it would mean that more contestants would get more than one legendary Pokemon in a relatively short amount of time than there should be.
I wrote everything down on a sheet of paper, and Brian converted it into proper math, as follows:
( One hell of a math equation! )
Translation:
( Read more... )
Brian said that he'll hopefully find me a way to enter such a complex formula into the computer for me one of these days. That would save me a good chunk of tedium when I do the PAL Park for real while writing Parasitic Trio.
-----
Watched episodes 9 and 10 of Burn Up Excess yesterday, so that I can mail back disk 3.
-----
Brian was talking to Dad last night about what I was doing. I walked by, and Dad asked me how I would know how many multiples of 4 are in a given number. That's exactly why learning division is important when you're in grade school. He asked me how many 4's are in 128. I answered 32.
I told them that it does help if one is familiar with bit values in video game consoles or computers, etc. Brian said that he's a bit familiar with those, but mistakenly mentioned that Nintendo gave us a 16-bit console, a 32-bit one, and then a 64-bit one. I corrected him and said that Nintendo started its video game business with an 8-bit console, and continued with 16-bit, 64-bit, and then 128-bit starting with the GameCube, while the most notable 32-bit console ever made was brought to us by Sony.
(Someone on the VGMusic forum--and I think it was Powerlord--once told me that the Wii could safely be assumed to be 32-bit, since it runs on eight 32-bit processors. However, from what I was also once told at the same place, the Sega Saturn (32-bit) and the Atari Jaguar (64-bit) run on two 16-bit and two 32-bit processors respectively, so logically, that would make the Nintendo Wii a 256-bit console. At this point, though, this whole concept of bit values has become convoluted, just like my gimmick of remembering weeks. No one really cares about them anymore, no one probably did back in the Atari age, and even when consoles were differentiated by such, there were those whose bit-values never were definitively made known.)
-----
As of today, we might have to postpone our get-together with Mom's family. A blizzard has been forecast to hit from midday today to tomorrow night, and Mom's been telling everyone that they might need to reschedule. This might be a good thing, though; might give my Action Replay some more time to get here. Don't want to test it on my copy of Pokemon Diamond once I transfer all Pokemon from my Ranger games, only to have the thing erase all my data.