Every day I almost hit a pedetrian and it’s never my fault. I swear if I try to go one way the pedestrian walking makes an effort to jump in my way.
To sum up how bikers think let me quote a website:
‘It’s really annoying having to brake. You lose all your momentum and you have to push off from a standing start, which is where most of the effort in cycling goes. This comes under the heading of a Really Bad Reason to go through red lights, but it is the real reason why many cyclists do it.’ – Dominic Sayers
Pretty much saying bikers will try not to slow down. This plus the fact that pedestrians have the right of way will generally dictate that bikers will maintain same speed while avoiding pedestrians with quick turns or pre-planned paths.
Here are some examples of pedestrian encounters I come across at least once a day:
(click picture to view larger version)
(click picture to view larger version)
So you know what, fuck pedestrians. Take off your godamn mp3 headphones so you can hear me screaming at you when you don’t look both ways on the road. Here is some advice, if you see a bike, just walk like you were walking without seeing the bicycle because the bike has already thought out a path that avoids you.
With the new year I figured I should write something remembering past memories, and what better way to do it with something I love. All of the following scenes have stirred some emotion in me, and if you know me I probably expressed it so out loud every single time I re-watched them (probably about 50 times each). So without further delay, here were some of my favorite moments in anime within the past year that I could think off the top of my head in some order where the ones at the bottom should be my most treasured moments that are not mine.
ps. bare with some videos not being up yet, they are still encoding. WARNING!!! Major Spoilers
Soul Eater 36 – Soul Eater Induces team soul resonance
Kemeko DX 09 – Sanpeita Loses it after being chased by a killer maid
Special A 22 – Tadashi ruins Hikari’s confession
Toradora 09 – Takasu communicates without words to Taiga
Sekirei 03 – Musubi breaks Yomi’s death scythe
xxxHolic Kei 12 – Himawari takes Watanuki’s scars
To Aru Majutsu no Index 01 – Touma ‘Imagine Breakers’ Index’s ‘Walking Church’
Mai Otome S.ifr – Eliot molests Rena
HYAKKO 06 – Tsubomiya acts like The Ring girl
Code Geass R2 22 – Kallen bids Lelouche farewell
Kannagi 07 – Takako teases Tsugumi about ero games
KissXSis 00 – Ako gives Keita a morning kiss
Aria the ORIGINATION 09 – Alice becomes a Prima
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan 27 – Simon marries Nia No the whole fucking series
Code Geass R2 25 – Zero Stabs Lelouche No the whole goddamn episode series.
Looking back, I made a mistake purchasing this VAIO. The max resolution on the 15.4″ widescreen with XBRITE HiColor technology is a measly 1280×800px. And due to such a low max resolution my desktop often gets cluttered not only by icons, but by windows. I cant browse the web while watching a video without pausing the video and switching over the the web browser.
As a result of the short commings of my low resolution, I searched for a couple apps to make my desktop space a bit ‘bigger’. Here is what i found.
Start Killer
“Start Killer removes the Start button from your taskbar.”
Plain and simple. Why might you ask? Rarely do I use more than a few select programs. When I use these programs I need quick access to them, I want them on the fly in one click. This can be achieved by creating a shortcut on the quick launch of the task bar. Now, when too many icons are too present on the taskbar, it competes with space with other applications open on the taskbar. This means space must be maximized on the task bar. I find that the start button makes a perfect candiate for space maxmization because it takes too many clicks to get to what I want and has too much of what I dont want. So, I removed it with this simple application. Available free in the link above.
Start Killer and my taskbar
Samurize
“Samurize is an advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. IT professionals, overclockers, gamers and desktop modders alike use Samurize for system information, weather reports, news headlines and much much more.”
I guess I just wanted something similar to Vista’s desktop without Vista. In fact, Samurize is much more powerful that the Vista desktop.
I remember my roommate last year showing me Ubuntu the first time. One of the cooler features was the multiple desktop with a 3d switching interface. I wish i knew it was also available for PC’s earlier.
DeskSpace allows you to run multiple instances of your desktop with a visual switch interface. Ill let the screen shots do the explaining.
Windows Media Player
The 3d switch interface
Dragable by mouse or keyboard
Switchable also by taskbar context menu
Part of the DeskSpace configuration
And there you have it, just a couple apps to streamline my small desktop.
With 3 paychecks coming this week and school ending, My Xbox 360 game collection is waiting for expansion. And what great timing too, since awesome looking games are coming out between now and September (not to mention most of them are RPGs). Let’s take a look at some prospects.
Tales of Vesperia
The latest installment in the Tales series. The story is what you would expect from a typical Tales RPG (or any hero tale), that is: Oppression + Hero = Plot. The battle system is almost the same as Tales of the Abyss + Symphonia, the latter of which contributing the notable Overlimit system. Tales of Vesperia will also have secret missions and tons of unlockable stuff, hopefuly make for great replay value. Tales of Vesperia will be released for Xbox 360 exclusively, has been released in Japan on August 7th and released in North America on August 26th. Famitsu has already given Vesperia a 35/40 rating..
Although I haven’t been a big RPG fan in my college career (mostly due to time restrictions) Tales of Vesperia seems like a worth-while game to rent or even buy. Hopefuly they come out with a demo on XBL so i can test it out before hand. Judging from the video below, the battle system looks strikingly similar to Grandia II. Vesperia doesn’t have me super excited, but it looks worth it to check it out.
Infinite Undiscovery
Apparently this game has been undergoing 10 years of development by game company tri-Ace. The 10 years finaly being put into motion with the help of the Xbox 360 hardware. The whole ‘wow’ of the game is creating a world that will be influenced and changed according to how the player makes in-game-decisions, battles, and what the player discovers. The game will play though accelerated game time, where 10 minutes will be about 12 hours in a 24-hour game day. One feature this presents is the advantages of doing things in the cover of night or vice-versa in the light of day.
After reading a couple articles about this game, It got me really excited. Longing for a worth-while RPG for the Xbox360, nothing really made me look twice until I came across Infinite Undiscovery. Emphasized is the way that you can battle. There will be numerous ways to defeat your enemies. But the real selling point of ID is that every thing you do could affect the game world. Now the extent of how this works has not yet been fully displayed (or I haven’t seen any examples yet), but if ID gives what it promises, It will be a revolutionary RPG. Due out on September 2nd exclusively for the 360, I will definitely be getting this game.
Rock Band 2
Rock band 2 features the same game play of Rock Band, but adds several new features which improve on the game. Some of these features include Drum Trainer, Battle of the Bands, Online Tour Mode, and 84 new songs.
The coolest thing about Rock Band 2 is that all songs downloaded for Rock Band will be compatible with Rock Band 2! AWSOME. Not only that, Rock Band 2 downloaded songs will be compatible with Rock Band! AWSOMEx2. Guitar hero sucks simply because Rock Band has much better features. I will most likely be purchasing Rock Band 2 with a guitar.
(dunno if a video of Rock Band 2 gameply matters much, but here it is)
Fable 2
The long awaited sequel to the original developed by Lionhead Studeos (Black and White series, The Movies) promises content 10 times the size of the original. NPC interaction has been greatly improved and many more game changing decisions left up to the player.
WAHHH FABLE 2. I loved the original Fable, but it was much too short. Character creation was the best part of that game, and further customization of that character further in the game. The quests were enormously fun and story was great to follow. If Fable 2 delivers, I will have to augment my schedule around playing Fable 2.
I purchased a new board. WHOOO!
an ‘07/’08 GNU CHB series. Park board at 153cm, which is slightly short (I’m 172cm). It’s not exactly a noodle, but it feel to have a good spring too it. Guess I’ll have to test it out soon to confirm.
Also purchased bindings to go along with it.
Also, ‘07/’08’s but Burton Custom Detox instead (for a very cheap price). Can’t say much about them other than the translucent orange/clear color make them look pretty and match my board to my tastes.
Couldn’t find a pair of boots to match along with them, but I’m looking at these:
K2 T1 DBs – Love the fact that they are BOA too… and $180.00 that’s cheap. Looking for alternatives though, preferably BOA laced, size 10.5-11.5, white, white/orange, or white/red. Shoot me an email @ julius.tan@orewabanchou.com you know of anything.
Lately I’ve been drinking Coca-Cola Zero in place of my favorite Cherry Coke, simply for the reason that it does not have any calories, constituting it as a diet item. Yeah, that’s right, I like it right along side my University Teriyaki plate or Chipote Burrito.
Generally I don’t drink diet stuff for the sole fact that it taste like crap (the no-after taste is haunting) and you might as well be pouring a packet of Equal on your tongue. But Coca-Cola Zero taste pretty close to Coke. Not exactly like it, but tons better than diet Coke. Actually it almost tastes like Coca-Cola with splenda in it, but still a bit better.
My only concern is that it still contains aspartame in it. Yes that mice-seizure-inducing food additive. Still it’s better than drinking high fructose corn syrup that is used to make coke bottled in the U.S.. Why the hell don’t they just use real sugar these days? I’d gladly pay a quarter more if I could get some real sugar in my coke.
