So it looks like Blogust has come to an end. This was much more successful of an attempt for me. I said that I would try to post a portion of my project for Communication on today's blog, so here's what I have written so far for my assignment.
I can remember the good old days before life got complicated, not to say I didn't live a good life. Back in the early 2000s I started college at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster. I couldn't think of what to do with my life so I just lazily took some classes until I fell deeply in love with Physics. I transfered to Cal State Northridge to get my Bachelor's degree and then I went on to UC San Diego for my doctorates in Theoretical Astrophysics.
I spent a good year on my dissertation alone. I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find a published form of my paper, "Music and Blackholes" somewhere or another. In 2018, at the age of 29 I finally earned the title of doctor, graduating with top honors.
After graduating I applied at many universities across California in hopes to find a job with adequite funding for research. I was fortunate enough to get a job at my alma mater UCSD in the theoretic physics department. Though it was a little strange going from student to coworker with some of my professors adapting to the environment came fairly quickly.
Ten years, I spent ten years working at my dream job before I had to set that aside for my other dream, one I thought impossible, to hunt zombies. It turns out that a particular theory for improving travel in space, something we worked on with the biology department, had gone tragically awry. We tried to put astronauts into a heightened level of self-sustanance when they were taken over by their primal desires.
The zombie outbreak was uncontainable, or so it seemed. The infection spread through 90% of the science department within the first hour despite all of our precautions. Within a week San Diego was lost to the infected, only a hand-full of us survived long enough to plan an escape. As time went on the government set up quarantines and scheduled bombings/military cleansings of the areas. The tragedy was almost unbearable, the only thing that kept me going was the only other surviving member of my team, Doctor Margo Sezville. I lost my arm during our retreat from San Diego to save her, from that day we were completely in love.
Basically from here the zombies are completely eradicated, save for a few that pop up occasionally, but thanks to precautions are dealt with safely.
It's been great and I hope you guys enjoyed my blog posts this last month. Until next time.
Notoriously,
Mandog
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Penultimate
So this is the second to last post for my Blogust 2010. Tomorrow I plan to make a more significant post, maybe I'll post a portion of my Comm assignment on here to fulfill the one aspect of Blogust I had yet to complete. I'm getting ready to head off to improv, another great day in the great life that is the Mandog.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
ZOMG
Today was a great, nay GRAND day. Nickbot needed to go to the Getty Villa for a school project, so a few of us went with him today. The Getty Villa is a really nice place, I highly suggest it to anyone. We walked around for a while and saw a lot of really awesome pieces of art. It was a nice relaxed viewing of primarily Greco-Roman art and structures, with some Egyptian stuff in there too. After walking around for a while and Nickbot getting the picture he needed we head off for food. We stop off at Subway just because it's there and it's not as insanely expensive as the Pearl Dragon. What happened next is the true highlight of today.
We decide that we want to visit Riot Studios since we were down near their offices. So we find their address, or well two, and drive over there. We After finding the first address we go up to the building and find out it was locked. So we walked around to look to find the other building, turns out that one was probably their old building. We decide to go back to the first building just to check and as we were outside looking at the listing and saw Riot Games. At this point some guy walked out he talked to us for a bit and told us that he was on the third floor too. He asks us if we want him to go up and ask if someone would come down and we were like, "Sure, probably won't get us anything, but why not?" He goes up there and a few minutes later someone else walks out. We talk to the guy that works for Riot for a while and he's like, "Want to come up?" We're all, "HECK YES!" So we go up to the studios talking to him about the game and who we are, once we get there we meet Pendragon. To avoid making us sign NDAs he does a very swift walk around the office and then takes us back downstairs talking a bit more about the game. It was awesome!
Also, picture
We decide that we want to visit Riot Studios since we were down near their offices. So we find their address, or well two, and drive over there. We After finding the first address we go up to the building and find out it was locked. So we walked around to look to find the other building, turns out that one was probably their old building. We decide to go back to the first building just to check and as we were outside looking at the listing and saw Riot Games. At this point some guy walked out he talked to us for a bit and told us that he was on the third floor too. He asks us if we want him to go up and ask if someone would come down and we were like, "Sure, probably won't get us anything, but why not?" He goes up there and a few minutes later someone else walks out. We talk to the guy that works for Riot for a while and he's like, "Want to come up?" We're all, "HECK YES!" So we go up to the studios talking to him about the game and who we are, once we get there we meet Pendragon. To avoid making us sign NDAs he does a very swift walk around the office and then takes us back downstairs talking a bit more about the game. It was awesome!
Also, picture
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Winding Down
So my blogs as of late have been fairly inconsequential and just me rambling off to have a post for the day. I know that this sucks, but I've done a ton better than I ever imagined that I would be able to this time around. With my long posts on how to play Anivia, recipes and tales of woe I've exceeded the expectations I set for myself. The only thing I haven't done is posted a portion of a story, either an excerpt or a standalone. I hope to do this before Blogust ends, but there are a mere three days left and I'm going to the Gettyvilla tomorrow with some of the Nickbots. Now the chat on League of Legends is bugging out again, this is just awesome. I love that game, but the servers are seriously buggy as hell. Looks like it's back up, and I may be playing soon. Take care.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Yeah....
Blogging poop again today. Hanging out with peoples. Talking adamantly about console wars. Stuff and things. See you guys later.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
BS
I highly dislike being forced to read as I have stated, so most of the upcoming English 102 semester will be me BSing my way through everything. So last night I got enough IP to get Ezreal, this makes me happy. Ezreal was a character that when I looked at him I wasn't impressed but once I decided to actually try him out I had a blast. He's a lot of fun, you can spam all of his skills because of Mystic Shot's secondary effect of reducing cooldowns by a second. I don't think I'm going to be posting an Ezreal guide, mainly because I'm not that great as him yet. All I know is harass, harass, harass. Well I'm going to end it here, and I won't post it on anything either because this post is inconsequential, but I hope to make one last post of meaning before the end of Blogust.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
I Don't Want To
I have to read and post so much shit for my English class... I wonder if I can skim and BS the whole class. I really hate reading a lot of stuff just for the sake of reading. When I read I want to read for the sake of learning and entertainment. Most stuff I am force to read for classes teaches me next to nothing and is boring as hell. Well here's to a successful, hopefully, semester.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Blogust and Life
Looks like my posts may be getting wholly less significant for the rest of Blogust, aside from my few requirements I have yet to meet. I have decided, in an effort to make up for Spring, to take all Gen Eds this semester, of which most will require quite a bit of homework and writing. Once I hit college I decided that grades are important to me, so this hobby I chose to do is now going to be taking a backseat to my academics. I hope to be able to post more of my Anivia guide and the completed concept for my LoL champion. In fact, I have an hour I might as well work on the concept for Mao Shi.
Mao Shi: the Shaolin Weapon Master
Passive: I can't think of one that would fit... help?
Q: Jian Style / Heart Lunge - Mao switches from his current weapon to the Jian, increasing his dodge chance by a percent per level, maxing out at 24% at level 5. If already in Jian Style Mao will lunge forward at the target doing magical damage maxing out at 350 at level 5.
W: Twin Hooks Style / Severe Tendons - Mao switches from his current weapon to the Twin Hooks, increasing his attack speed by a percent per level, maxing out at 50% at level 5. If already in Twin Hooks Style Mao's next attack will hit the target in vital areas doing additional damage and slowing the target, maxing out at 200 damage and 35% at level 5.
E: Bo Staff Style / Iron Will - Mao switches from his current weapon to the Bo Staff, increasing his attack range to 150 and his defense per level, maxing out at 125 at level 5. If already in Bo Staff Style Mao will gain MR equal to the armor granted by Bo Staff Style.
R: The True Weapon is One's Self- Mao fights unarmed for 30 seconds retaining all of the passives from each of the weapons, and being capable of using each of the weapons' techniques.
I just threw in numbers that I felt were appropriate based off of other numbers found on similar skills on other champions. Leave some feedback for him if you would like.
Mao Shi: the Shaolin Weapon Master
Passive: I can't think of one that would fit... help?
Q: Jian Style / Heart Lunge - Mao switches from his current weapon to the Jian, increasing his dodge chance by a percent per level, maxing out at 24% at level 5. If already in Jian Style Mao will lunge forward at the target doing magical damage maxing out at 350 at level 5.
W: Twin Hooks Style / Severe Tendons - Mao switches from his current weapon to the Twin Hooks, increasing his attack speed by a percent per level, maxing out at 50% at level 5. If already in Twin Hooks Style Mao's next attack will hit the target in vital areas doing additional damage and slowing the target, maxing out at 200 damage and 35% at level 5.
E: Bo Staff Style / Iron Will - Mao switches from his current weapon to the Bo Staff, increasing his attack range to 150 and his defense per level, maxing out at 125 at level 5. If already in Bo Staff Style Mao will gain MR equal to the armor granted by Bo Staff Style.
R: The True Weapon is One's Self- Mao fights unarmed for 30 seconds retaining all of the passives from each of the weapons, and being capable of using each of the weapons' techniques.
I just threw in numbers that I felt were appropriate based off of other numbers found on similar skills on other champions. Leave some feedback for him if you would like.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Back to School
I have got to say that even though I had one class that lasted only an hour it feels so great to be back in classes again. I missed the environment of learning, being surrounded by hundreds of people I don't know yet could at any minute meet. I look forward to learning something, anything. My life has structure once again, I missed it so much. Some people might think I'm weird to feel this way, but honestly learning is one of few things that I thoroughly enjoy and will never get tired of. I have a sort of obsession with obtaining new facts, it's just part of who I am.
So it looks like creating a LoL Champion is the thing that's been going on lately amid the blogging group I participate in (or maybe just the Nickbots in general) so I'm going to be working on mine. I'm contemplating some stuff, though it's a little complex I like it. The concept is a Shaolin Weapon's Master.
So it looks like creating a LoL Champion is the thing that's been going on lately amid the blogging group I participate in (or maybe just the Nickbots in general) so I'm going to be working on mine. I'm contemplating some stuff, though it's a little complex I like it. The concept is a Shaolin Weapon's Master.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Gunna Get Heading Out
Going to watch Scott Pilgrim vs the World with Blakegetsbitches, Stanley and Joe in a bit. They should be here soon and then we'll head on down to Valencia. I don't think this is worth making a bitly url for and posting, so I won't. School starts tomorrow and I'm actually pretty excited. I'm looking forward to a good semester. Oh and I might post a review of the movie, or maybe more LoL. Take care Blogust.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Cutting it Close
Well it's just on the cusp of the deadline so let me briefly recap my day. I went to a good friends memorial service, though I was a little late, talked with people and exchanged stories remembering him(Tropical drinks... speaking of which, Marlon had come up with a plan for me to pee my bed in Jack's honor and well it involved drinking half of a gallon of Tampico, last time I had done this was when I was hanging out with my friend Brandi. I happened to see Brandi at the fair today for the concert). Went to hang out with some friends for lunch, came home and went right back out to go to the fair, looked around then watched Weird Al in concert (which I have done 3 times now and every time it has been phenomenal). Met up and hung out with some people from highschool, ate dinner and then left the fair. Now I'm preparing to head out one final time today to play pool and chill with some of the Nickbots before the summer ends.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Requiescat in Pace
Since tomorrow is his memorial service is tomorrow I figure I'll do a little memorial on my blog here. John T Hall, Jack, and I had met in improv I want to say in Spring 2009, but I'm not too sure. Jack was the old guy of the group, but that was only in appearance, he was one of us through and through no matter how old he truly was. The longer I knew him the more he worked his way into my heart. He was nice, fun, funny, smart and had many great stories to tell. Life was going well, he was pursuing something he loved, theater. I worked with him in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, me being part of the production team/usher/house manager and him being one of the Caiaphas the Elder, seeing as it was double cast. Shortly after the end of the play I learned that he was battling with cancer, but it didn't seem to dampen his spirits, at least outwardly. He would commonly make cancer jokes and laugh about it. July 18th (possibly the night of the 17th) he had lost his battle with cancer and had passed on. Jack is loved by everyone who he has come into contact with, I say is because we will never stop loving him no matter what. I will refrain from crying and try my best to not cry tomorrow, instead I will try to smile and laugh for all of the good times we had, I'm sure that's how you wish to be remembered. So my good friend Jack Hall, requiscat in pace.
Ok, now that I've brought the mood down I guess it's a perfect time to talk about the rest of my doings. I'm trying out the biscuit mix recipe scones, I've got to say, it ended up being a small ball of dough after I mixed everything in, so in an effort to maximize the number of scones I made them smaller. This whole thing is experimental, new scone recipe, candied oranges, orange glaze... let's hope that it turns out well. I plan to upload videos of my how to Anivia guide some point in the future but it's unclear seeing as my software is the trial version.
Ok, now that I've brought the mood down I guess it's a perfect time to talk about the rest of my doings. I'm trying out the biscuit mix recipe scones, I've got to say, it ended up being a small ball of dough after I mixed everything in, so in an effort to maximize the number of scones I made them smaller. This whole thing is experimental, new scone recipe, candied oranges, orange glaze... let's hope that it turns out well. I plan to upload videos of my how to Anivia guide some point in the future but it's unclear seeing as my software is the trial version.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Hoo Ha! Nerdfighters!
As many (or possibly just a few) know I am a proud Nerdfighter. For those that don't know what a Nerdfighter is, we are not people who fight nerds, we are nerds that fight against Decepticons (non-Nerdfighters that try to put us down) and worldsuck. We live by a motto DFTBA or don't forget to be awesome. The concept of Nerdfighters was created by brothers who decided that for one year (2007) they will cease all textual communication and make alternating vlogs back and forth every non-holiday weekday. The brothers are John and Hank Green, the former an author the latter a ecotech blogger (www.ecogeek.com)/musician/webmaster. If anyone is interested in being a Nerdfighter headover to www.Nerdfighters.com and check it out, you could also watch the videos made by the Green brothers over on Youtube under Vlogbrothers.
So soon is John Green's birthday and every year the Hank will do a project for John's birthday, and visa-versa. Well I'm participating in this secret project, basically it involves me taking a picture of myself mimicking Hank. Hank wears glasses so I decided to put on my pair of glasses, which I no longer wear because doing so induces dizzying nausea. I'm alright, but I do know that I still shouldn't wear said glasses. So yeah.
So soon is John Green's birthday and every year the Hank will do a project for John's birthday, and visa-versa. Well I'm participating in this secret project, basically it involves me taking a picture of myself mimicking Hank. Hank wears glasses so I decided to put on my pair of glasses, which I no longer wear because doing so induces dizzying nausea. I'm alright, but I do know that I still shouldn't wear said glasses. So yeah.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
I hate Farmville
I hate Farmville, it is the poop of the interwebs. I was destroying in solo lane, getting the first two kills of the game, then Farmville was loaded up and all of a sudden there was a solid 4 second delay between wanting to do something, and doing it. I was lagged so hard that my 7/0/0 lead was for not since I couldn't do anything. Once the interwebs cleared out we were already down hardcore, and they were at the level that their stuns tore me to shreds. So we lost and I'm blaming it 100% on the internet being slow due to the usage of Farmville. So in essence, Farmville is the worst thing ever invented. I ended up doing decently, but I couldn't assist my team when they needed me. Here's the result of said game:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
SCHOOL!
I'm fairly excited for school to start seeing as I've been stagnant the last... FOREVER! I'm one of those really strange people like Marlon who, for some reason, enjoy going to school. I love learning, in fact I live to learn. I'm not 100% excited since a lot of my upcoming semester will mostly consist of annoying assignments that I'm doing not to learn, but just for a grade. I'm going to aim for a 3.78 this semester, that's an A in everything but English which is a B. We'll see how everything turns out. This semester puts me at almost completing my Gen Eds, I just need my majors now. Speaking of majors I'm feeling really unsure about what I want to do with myself career wise. Right now I'm set on a course to sit at a computer typing line after line of code. I'm really not sure if that's something I can live with for the rest of my life, so I've been contemplating alternatives. I really love math and science, it's just the type of guy I am, so I figured why not do something that is a blend of them and is a subject I love. Physics, it intrigues me and is something I can see myself getting a doctorate in, maybe. The problem is I'm not sure if I can stand to go through all of that to get a doctorate in the field and and try to establish myself. Also I had a horrid professor for my 101 class, so I learned nothing in that class, if that happened again I would easily fail in the field. Another thought, which is one that people keep trying to get me to do, is cooking. I love food, making, eating, smelling, being around... I just love everything to do with food. I don't know, I just don't see myself as a chef, plus just like in programming (and kinda physics) I don't see myself doing that for life. Music?... I'm not that good, plus every job market in music is insanely difficult to get into and in some parts (like composition which I would like) seems practically impossible.
So yeah, what do you guys see me doing for a career, it would be nice to see what you think.
So yeah, what do you guys see me doing for a career, it would be nice to see what you think.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Foodz Revisited
So I have yet to make them, but I'm looking at making scones once again, last time I made Blueberry Scones, this time I'm looking at making White Chocolate and Orange Scones, I'm even looking at an Orange Icing to go on top of the scones. I'm also looking at a marshmallow fondant recipe to try out so I can see if it's worth doing in times where I would need fondant. I can't stand how fondant tastes in almost every case that I've tried it in so I'm hoping that this homemade version will taste better to me. Also, I want to make my lasagna again, I haven't cooked a lasagna in almost a year and I kinda want to try to alter my recipe some. I should write up my recipe since I use one I found as a base and then changed it to my liking. There may be something to this whole quitting school and opening a restaurant with Matt, The Kaptain Mandog. I swear, if it weren't for the exorbitant cost I would go to culinary arts school just to learn how to cook better.
Since I'm talking about recipes I guess I can give you my (well I found it online somewhere and changed the amount of butter and garlic salt [maybe orgeno and not garlic salt] because I didn't think it was the right amounts) recipe for a copy cat of Red Lobster's Cheesy Garlic Biscuits. Mind you, this is from memory since I left my copy at Stanley's house... so if it's incorrect I apologize.
4 cups biscuit mix
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/3 cups of milk
6 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 teaspoons dried or fresh oregano
3 teaspoons garlic salt (the last two amounts might not be correct, but it's close)
Preheat oven to 400° and prepare a (usually 2) cookie sheet(s)
Mix the biscuit mix, garlic powder and cheddar cheese in a large bowl, pour in mix and stir (I knead) until a biscuit consistency. Using a two spoon method (scoop with one spoon and then even it out with the other and scrape it onto the cookie sheet) set small lumps onto the prepared sheet, they will bake larger than they are prepared so make it smaller than you think they should be. Cook for 10 minutes.
While the biscuits are cooking melt the butter in the oven. Mix the oregano and garlic salt with the melted butter until homogeneous (evenly distributed).
Pull the biscuits out after the 10 minutes, brush with the garlic oregano butter and put them back into the oven for 5 minutes. Once they're finished cooking I like to give them a final brushing of the butter mixture. Enjoy, but try to let them cool a little first.
Since I'm talking about recipes I guess I can give you my (well I found it online somewhere and changed the amount of butter and garlic salt [maybe orgeno and not garlic salt] because I didn't think it was the right amounts) recipe for a copy cat of Red Lobster's Cheesy Garlic Biscuits. Mind you, this is from memory since I left my copy at Stanley's house... so if it's incorrect I apologize.
4 cups biscuit mix
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/3 cups of milk
6 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 teaspoons dried or fresh oregano
3 teaspoons garlic salt (the last two amounts might not be correct, but it's close)
Preheat oven to 400° and prepare a (usually 2) cookie sheet(s)
Mix the biscuit mix, garlic powder and cheddar cheese in a large bowl, pour in mix and stir (I knead) until a biscuit consistency. Using a two spoon method (scoop with one spoon and then even it out with the other and scrape it onto the cookie sheet) set small lumps onto the prepared sheet, they will bake larger than they are prepared so make it smaller than you think they should be. Cook for 10 minutes.
While the biscuits are cooking melt the butter in the oven. Mix the oregano and garlic salt with the melted butter until homogeneous (evenly distributed).
Pull the biscuits out after the 10 minutes, brush with the garlic oregano butter and put them back into the oven for 5 minutes. Once they're finished cooking I like to give them a final brushing of the butter mixture. Enjoy, but try to let them cool a little first.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Wooing the Mandog
So I'm talking to my friend Batmanda about various things and a phrase I had just said to her is, "I'm fairly certain my heart is my stomach."
Well here's a few tips for all of you ladies out there who are like, "OHMYGODINEEDTOBEWITHTHEMANDOGHEISSOEPICANDAWESOMEANDIJUSTLOVEHIMSOVERYVERYMUCH!"
- calm down, I may be so awesome you can't breathe and forget how to space out your words, but being calm helps get my interest
- cook, just cook something, you don't have to be a culinary master and you don't have to be able to cook a lot of things but if you can cook one thing well or a few things decently it definitely helps
- enjoy and partake in art, it doesn't matter what form of art, be it dancing, music, singing (it is music but I'm separating instruments and voice), painting/drawing/etc. I love art.
- be smart, intelligence is fucking awesome... enough said
- be awesome, this can be achieved though a vast variety of methods I'll let you figure it out
- have a good taste, in everything... movies, music, tv, food and me...
Well I'm off to play some LoL.
Well here's a few tips for all of you ladies out there who are like, "OHMYGODINEEDTOBEWITHTHEMANDOGHEISSOEPICANDAWESOMEANDIJUSTLOVEHIMSOVERYVERYMUCH!"
- calm down, I may be so awesome you can't breathe and forget how to space out your words, but being calm helps get my interest
- cook, just cook something, you don't have to be a culinary master and you don't have to be able to cook a lot of things but if you can cook one thing well or a few things decently it definitely helps
- enjoy and partake in art, it doesn't matter what form of art, be it dancing, music, singing (it is music but I'm separating instruments and voice), painting/drawing/etc. I love art.
- be smart, intelligence is fucking awesome... enough said
- be awesome, this can be achieved though a vast variety of methods I'll let you figure it out
- have a good taste, in everything... movies, music, tv, food and me...
Well I'm off to play some LoL.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Nothing
As I stumble (probably the greatest invention involving the internet aside from the internet itself) searching for inspiration for my blog today I find myself drawing a blank. I'm up fairly early seeing as I went to bed at around 7 and woke up at 10. It's all good though, I just got my coffee (though when I wrote that last sentence it was 11 and now it's 1). We're finishing up everything to get ready for Alice's first birthday party, so I was frosting cupcakes and covering the frosting in a sand design (cookie crumbs and sugar). I've got to get groomed up and get heading out. I'll see you guys around.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sleep
I've been sleeping later and later in the day, and yes I do mean day. I haven't gone to sleep before four in a few months. I'm hoping that in a weeks time my sleep cycle has rotated around back to the place where I wake up at a normal hour (for me, which is about 10).
So last night into this morning I, along with Dave, Rob and Joe were talking about parents and I feel lucky. A lot of people complain about how their parents are constantly on their case about staying out/up late and everything, where as my parents know that I'm responsible and are ok with me staying out late. I constantly say, though usually only internally, that I am really lucky when it comes to parents. Growing up I had a set of rules that were enforced, I had both parents to raise me with support and love. As I got older they become more comfortable with me doing my thing, though transitionally I had to be with my brother which is fair. Now they support me, love me, and help me out while letting me leave at ten and come back in at ten. If, perchance you are reading my blog, and even if you aren't, I want to say that I love you mom and dad.
So last night into this morning I, along with Dave, Rob and Joe were talking about parents and I feel lucky. A lot of people complain about how their parents are constantly on their case about staying out/up late and everything, where as my parents know that I'm responsible and are ok with me staying out late. I constantly say, though usually only internally, that I am really lucky when it comes to parents. Growing up I had a set of rules that were enforced, I had both parents to raise me with support and love. As I got older they become more comfortable with me doing my thing, though transitionally I had to be with my brother which is fair. Now they support me, love me, and help me out while letting me leave at ten and come back in at ten. If, perchance you are reading my blog, and even if you aren't, I want to say that I love you mom and dad.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Adventure
There, I said it. It's out there and I'm not taking it back. I'll even say it out loud for the sake of being thorough on my blog. If I suffer the repercussions, know it was for you. So I had stated that once a week I will take a topic someone suggests, if there are any, and write about it and it looks like Marlon has challenged me to write about the word adventure. I will explain our aversion to the word via my favorite method, anecdotally.
Stating the word adventure is a great tool with a high cost. You see when you say that you want to have an adventure, and mean it, you will have an adventure. The downside to saying the word, is cops get involved (we theorize that it could be something negative, such that if you want police to show up, they won't and something much worse would occur). To this point I have walked away from each situation unharmed and with no repercussions, but there will be a time where my luck will run dry. Here's where the anecdotes begin.
Incident 1: Marlon, Waldino, Roadie and myself were dropping something off at Waldino's house. After Waldino gets back in the car we notice not only is there a police helicopter circling above us, there seems to be an abundance of cop cars in the neighborhood. Roadie decides that he wants to check it out, that it will be "an adventure", and so we are partially to blame since we listened to Roadie. After seeing a few cop cars and getting our fill we decide we're done and want to leave, the only thing is we got ourselves lost. You see where Waldino used to live was one of those neighborhoods with a few dead-end streets and a plethora (yes, more than useful) of looping streets that will make it impossible to stick to our grid-like system in the AV. We start pulling up on a T-section in which a cop car is parked, we approach it with caution and as we get closer the cop pulls his gun out and points it at Marlon's head. We are sufficiently freaking out about now, but trying to stay calm, as we pass the car the cop yells out, "Got nothing better to do?" and we just leave.
Incident 2: Matt, Stanley, Bobby and myself are driving around town because Matt had a bad day, also to note the word had been said whilst driving around. After Matt starts getting into a better mood the guys decide they want some food so Matt pulls into McDonald's. They order their food and everything is fine, except it turns out Matt had bought a cap gun earlier and was joking about pointing at the cashier. The guys wrestle over the cap gun so that Matt doesn't do this absolutely retarded idea. At one point during said wrestling the gun is waved out of the window, the car behind us obviously sees it, backs up and drives the hell off. We get the food, pull around and park so they can eat. As you can probably guess the cops show up now, just one car at first. We're told to put our hands on the car and then we're frisked (cop fingers linger and Mandog's taint.....) and while being searched the situation was explained briefly. Two of the guys get put into the back while they look up our records and another cop car pulls up. Very shortly after car number two pulls in cars three through six also pull in. The cops talk over the situation while Bobby and I still have our hands on the hood, during this discussion a female cop is ranting, "I don't care if it's one time or a hundred times we should press charges!" After a few minutes the cops give us our stuff back, let the two out of the back and say, "Get out of here."
Incident 3: Marlon, Waldino and myself hang out for the first time in almost a year so we want to go on an adventure. This was roughly a year ago today because it was during the Perseid's Meteor Shower which is currently occuring. We drive out to a secluded part of the desert and watch the meteor shower for a while after trying to do so at a park and seeing nothing. Once we had our fill of staring at space Waldino tells us that we should go to Eastside Highschool to look at their campus. We pull up and decided to put on a random selection of extra clothing out of Marlon's car and grab instruments. We walk around in the parking lot for a while playing stuff (Marlon: Guitar, Waldino: Bongos, me: Cowbell) and come across a gate that isn't locked and decide to just walk around. As soon as we take two steps into the gate a cop car is behind us and flashed his lights, at this point I'm like, "SHIT RUN!" and take a pre-running step and think, "That's a horrible idea, stop and turn around." The cop asks us a series of reasonable questions, gets our answers, tells us what we're doing isn't a good idea and then proceeds to say, "Now get out of here before I freaking pee my pants."
Incident 4: I wasn't present for, so I don't know very many of the details but to summarize. Marlon, sisters and Hannah go on a roadtrip to meet an author for his birthday. Was mislead and realized San Diego is too far to go to meet him in time so they'll roadtrip elsewhere. They go to a place called 'Chocolate Mountain' and on the way back are stopped by border patrol. They answer a series of questions and come home afterwards. At some point in the night Adventure was said.
So this is a warning about saying adventure so freely. I am not saying that you should forever forbid the word from your vocabulary, but heed caution, adventure is a powerful word.
Stating the word adventure is a great tool with a high cost. You see when you say that you want to have an adventure, and mean it, you will have an adventure. The downside to saying the word, is cops get involved (we theorize that it could be something negative, such that if you want police to show up, they won't and something much worse would occur). To this point I have walked away from each situation unharmed and with no repercussions, but there will be a time where my luck will run dry. Here's where the anecdotes begin.
Incident 1: Marlon, Waldino, Roadie and myself were dropping something off at Waldino's house. After Waldino gets back in the car we notice not only is there a police helicopter circling above us, there seems to be an abundance of cop cars in the neighborhood. Roadie decides that he wants to check it out, that it will be "an adventure", and so we are partially to blame since we listened to Roadie. After seeing a few cop cars and getting our fill we decide we're done and want to leave, the only thing is we got ourselves lost. You see where Waldino used to live was one of those neighborhoods with a few dead-end streets and a plethora (yes, more than useful) of looping streets that will make it impossible to stick to our grid-like system in the AV. We start pulling up on a T-section in which a cop car is parked, we approach it with caution and as we get closer the cop pulls his gun out and points it at Marlon's head. We are sufficiently freaking out about now, but trying to stay calm, as we pass the car the cop yells out, "Got nothing better to do?" and we just leave.
Incident 2: Matt, Stanley, Bobby and myself are driving around town because Matt had a bad day, also to note the word had been said whilst driving around. After Matt starts getting into a better mood the guys decide they want some food so Matt pulls into McDonald's. They order their food and everything is fine, except it turns out Matt had bought a cap gun earlier and was joking about pointing at the cashier. The guys wrestle over the cap gun so that Matt doesn't do this absolutely retarded idea. At one point during said wrestling the gun is waved out of the window, the car behind us obviously sees it, backs up and drives the hell off. We get the food, pull around and park so they can eat. As you can probably guess the cops show up now, just one car at first. We're told to put our hands on the car and then we're frisked (cop fingers linger and Mandog's taint.....) and while being searched the situation was explained briefly. Two of the guys get put into the back while they look up our records and another cop car pulls up. Very shortly after car number two pulls in cars three through six also pull in. The cops talk over the situation while Bobby and I still have our hands on the hood, during this discussion a female cop is ranting, "I don't care if it's one time or a hundred times we should press charges!" After a few minutes the cops give us our stuff back, let the two out of the back and say, "Get out of here."
Incident 3: Marlon, Waldino and myself hang out for the first time in almost a year so we want to go on an adventure. This was roughly a year ago today because it was during the Perseid's Meteor Shower which is currently occuring. We drive out to a secluded part of the desert and watch the meteor shower for a while after trying to do so at a park and seeing nothing. Once we had our fill of staring at space Waldino tells us that we should go to Eastside Highschool to look at their campus. We pull up and decided to put on a random selection of extra clothing out of Marlon's car and grab instruments. We walk around in the parking lot for a while playing stuff (Marlon: Guitar, Waldino: Bongos, me: Cowbell) and come across a gate that isn't locked and decide to just walk around. As soon as we take two steps into the gate a cop car is behind us and flashed his lights, at this point I'm like, "SHIT RUN!" and take a pre-running step and think, "That's a horrible idea, stop and turn around." The cop asks us a series of reasonable questions, gets our answers, tells us what we're doing isn't a good idea and then proceeds to say, "Now get out of here before I freaking pee my pants."
Incident 4: I wasn't present for, so I don't know very many of the details but to summarize. Marlon, sisters and Hannah go on a roadtrip to meet an author for his birthday. Was mislead and realized San Diego is too far to go to meet him in time so they'll roadtrip elsewhere. They go to a place called 'Chocolate Mountain' and on the way back are stopped by border patrol. They answer a series of questions and come home afterwards. At some point in the night Adventure was said.
So this is a warning about saying adventure so freely. I am not saying that you should forever forbid the word from your vocabulary, but heed caution, adventure is a powerful word.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Nickbot
So I posted previously about how cool Nickbot is, and I couldn't think of anything to post about today, so I'm going to talk all about Nickbot. You see Nickbot is a friend who I met through Stanley. Nickbot is insanely good at any videogame you hand him, he might lose once, but it doesn't happen again after that. Not only is he cool and good at videogames, he also has the best attitude towards the games. I get extremely frustrated when I'm getting slaughtered in a practice match, he just enjoys the challenge when people team up on him. Speaking of LoL (which is where said practice matches occur) that's how Nickbot got his name. We were looking on the forums and someone was complaining about how OP the Nunu Bot is and it just made us crack up, because bots are pathetically easy and fairly retarded. Next time we played a practice match after that we were joking around and said that Nickbot is OP (which is true) and thusly his name is now Nickbot.
"But Mandog, that just means Nickbot is kinda cool, but what makes him completely badass?" Bend over and he'll show you.
"But Mandog, that just means Nickbot is kinda cool, but what makes him completely badass?" Bend over and he'll show you.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Summer
So I feel like I owe you guys quite a bit of Blog now that I've been slacking lately. It's just Summer destroys my sleep schedule, as you can tell by the ungodly hour that I'm blogging. I try to keep active and do stuff during the Summer, but it tends to just involve going to a friend's house (or staying in mine) and playing/watching games or watching movies. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love hanging out with my friends, but I kinda feel like doing more, I kinda just want to drive somewhere and be there for the day. Summer is usually a welcome break from the frustration of the semester and all the headache it brings, but as some of you were aware, I wasn't in school this last Spring. I got a stomach bug that completely knocked me on my ass for the week and I was advised by the majority of my teachers to drop. So I've been in a state of doing nothing for the last 8 months, and I'm not okay with this anymore, August 23rd, I welcome you to arrive. This semester I'm taking all general education classes, because I need to start working on getting a degree. So I have German 101, English 102, Nutrition 100 and Communication Studies 101 to look forward to.
Speaking of school I had mentioned last night that I wanted to blog about my opinion on the importance of music education. I'll try to keep this to biased opinion and facts that I can remember from my Senior Paper I wrote on this (or very similar) subject, but first some background on me and music. Going through my elementary we didn't have any music education, I had to seek it out on my own through private lessons. In fact, because I was so woefully under informed on the subject when picking out an instrument that I would like to play I said I want to play the Piccolo (caps because I knew its name because of the DBZ character) while I went on to describe a clarinet. So in the fifth grade my mother and I went to the local music store Mario's Music to look through their selection of clarinets. We looked at a handful of new and a few used clarinets until we decided to pick out a nice, well-loved, used clarinet because it was significantly cheaper. I went on to have private lessons from then through the rest of my elementary school years, which was up to sixth grade (last sixth grade class of Sunnydale Elementary WOOT!), and my middle school years in which I also had a band class at school. I continued taking band in high school in both concert and marching varieties. In my Junior year I went to a different music store, Simonetti's (I may be massacring his name) where I had been getting my instrument tuned up since I bought it and we proceeded to purchase a professional-grade, wooden clarinet. This Buffet R-13 was the most lovely thing I have ever created music through. Senior year I picked up the Bari Sax to be a section leader in marching band. In college I continued to take a few band classes when my schedule would permit and I also took the three (four if you count Fundamentals of Music, but it barely counts) semesters of Music Theory. So while I may not be the most well versed person in music education I do have a strong foundation myself.
Music education is such an important part of school. Yeah, kids who take music classes may be shown to perform better in school and have better attendance/attitudes, but that's just the facts you throw onto a pamphlet to get a parent to sign their kids up. Music education (especially a performance class) can be something that anyone can look forward to. Music when listened to helps soothe emotions (or invoke others depending on the mood of the music [NOTE: Just listening to a type of music will not turn your child into a murderer, there are other factors in their life that would contribute to this]) it is more-so true when one plays the music themselves. Even just knowing more about music can help you appreciate the music you listen to all the more.
Since I'm running short on concepts of how to convey what I'm trying to say without it turning into my Senior Paper I'll just put stuff here.
- Music made me me and I love the me that is me
- "One time at band camp" hahaha American Pie, you're so funny.... no, band camp is a really nice experience and can result in awesome stories, but don't expect tales of instruments and body parts
- One last one, without music education you will find more music with less actual music and more just abusing auto-tune. Music education affects all music in every form of media. So please Mr. Government Man, don't cut music education.
Speaking of school I had mentioned last night that I wanted to blog about my opinion on the importance of music education. I'll try to keep this to biased opinion and facts that I can remember from my Senior Paper I wrote on this (or very similar) subject, but first some background on me and music. Going through my elementary we didn't have any music education, I had to seek it out on my own through private lessons. In fact, because I was so woefully under informed on the subject when picking out an instrument that I would like to play I said I want to play the Piccolo (caps because I knew its name because of the DBZ character) while I went on to describe a clarinet. So in the fifth grade my mother and I went to the local music store Mario's Music to look through their selection of clarinets. We looked at a handful of new and a few used clarinets until we decided to pick out a nice, well-loved, used clarinet because it was significantly cheaper. I went on to have private lessons from then through the rest of my elementary school years, which was up to sixth grade (last sixth grade class of Sunnydale Elementary WOOT!), and my middle school years in which I also had a band class at school. I continued taking band in high school in both concert and marching varieties. In my Junior year I went to a different music store, Simonetti's (I may be massacring his name) where I had been getting my instrument tuned up since I bought it and we proceeded to purchase a professional-grade, wooden clarinet. This Buffet R-13 was the most lovely thing I have ever created music through. Senior year I picked up the Bari Sax to be a section leader in marching band. In college I continued to take a few band classes when my schedule would permit and I also took the three (four if you count Fundamentals of Music, but it barely counts) semesters of Music Theory. So while I may not be the most well versed person in music education I do have a strong foundation myself.
Music education is such an important part of school. Yeah, kids who take music classes may be shown to perform better in school and have better attendance/attitudes, but that's just the facts you throw onto a pamphlet to get a parent to sign their kids up. Music education (especially a performance class) can be something that anyone can look forward to. Music when listened to helps soothe emotions (or invoke others depending on the mood of the music [NOTE: Just listening to a type of music will not turn your child into a murderer, there are other factors in their life that would contribute to this]) it is more-so true when one plays the music themselves. Even just knowing more about music can help you appreciate the music you listen to all the more.
Since I'm running short on concepts of how to convey what I'm trying to say without it turning into my Senior Paper I'll just put stuff here.
- Music made me me and I love the me that is me
- "One time at band camp" hahaha American Pie, you're so funny.... no, band camp is a really nice experience and can result in awesome stories, but don't expect tales of instruments and body parts
- One last one, without music education you will find more music with less actual music and more just abusing auto-tune. Music education affects all music in every form of media. So please Mr. Government Man, don't cut music education.
Monday, August 9, 2010
No More Short Posts
I know this is an impossible goal, but I want to try to stick to it. I think I'll try to blog about why I feel music education is important. I'll talk to you guys later
Sunday, August 8, 2010
NICKBOTS!
Eventually I'm going to not be posting about League of Legends on here, maybe. It's just hard to not blog about something that takes up the majority of your life. Last night I was over at Stanley's house watching them play, since I do not own a laptop (refer to my post about Juarez) I can't play much outside of my own house. Well The Nickbots, it's the group of us who play LoL that I personally know... inspired by the truly OP Nickbot himself, were playing against a team that decided to stack Sunfire Capes. For those unawares, Sunfire Capes give a lot of life, armor and give an aura that deals 40 damage a second to anyone in the area, and since the other team had roughly 5 a person the output was high. At this point The Nickbots were 11 kills to their 60 some-odd and were down quite a few towers, Nickbot who wasn't playing and I told Stanley to buy Force of Natures and Madred's Bloodrazer. Force of Nature gives a great amount of magic resist and Bloodrazer makes your attacks do 4% of your enemies health per hit. Once all of the Nickbots purchased a Bloodrazer the enemies were dying almost instantly, so they had to re-itemize, which put them behind in gold. After an intense 80 minute game the Nickbots turned the game around and won. This is tale is told so that you will never click yes on the surrender box.
As for my own games I did pretty well today. Everyone else in my last game was level 30 (it's the summoner level cap, I'm at level 30 too) and had more wins than me, from 30 more to 300+ more. I ended up having the most kills, least deaths, tied for the most assists, most tower kills and most minions killed. I love that frozen bird.
As for my own games I did pretty well today. Everyone else in my last game was level 30 (it's the summoner level cap, I'm at level 30 too) and had more wins than me, from 30 more to 300+ more. I ended up having the most kills, least deaths, tied for the most assists, most tower kills and most minions killed. I love that frozen bird.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
I Knew This Would Happen
I knew that eventually I would post a blog that's short and close to the deadline. Well gentlemans and gentlewomans, here it be. Oh, Nickbot is double OP, he is the definition of awesome. Well I'm going to let Nick get back on his laptop. FAREWELL. Oh and Nickbot is cool, just letting you know again!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Foodz
Back in BEDApril I posted an eclectic blog in which a topic covered was my love for food, specifically in the cooking of food. I just would like to reiterate that cooking food is amazing. Today I, with the help of my mother who prepared the slaw by julienning the radishes and tossing it with the broccoli slaw and seasoning, made some delicious Blackened Tilapia Tacos. This dish was quite simple actually, and fairly inexpensive, we're feeding the five of us with plenty of fish and slaw left over for more while spending less than $12.
Ingredients (I'm going to list off what we got)
- a pound and a half of defrosted tilapia fillets (previously frozen is nice and cheap)
- one 10 oz package of broccoli slaw mix
- one bunch of radishes
- 10 (you should go with more since we ran out) corn tortillas
- Cheddar-Jack cheese (I would suggest something like Quesa Fresca, the cheddar jack is good, and I am quite a fan of it, but I think quesa fresca would work much better)
- Blackened Seasoning
- 2 or 3 limes
For the preparation cut the tilapia fillets in half, this will make cooking and handling the fish a lot easier. Coat each half fillet in a fairly liberal amount of blackened seasoning (it all depends on how much you like blackened seasoning) and now your fish is ready to cook. For your slaw just julienne (slice really thin)the radishes, toss it with the broccoli slaw mix and some of the blackened seasoning with a little bit of water.
Cook your fish on a skillet over medium heat, flipping a few times, until the fish is nice a flaky. Put the fish in a bowl and shred it with a fork until you have bite-sized pieces. Cut a lime in half, squeeze it into your fish and your slaw. Heat your tortillas and melt your cheese on the top of it, fill with the fish and slaw, serve with a slice of lime on the side. With this you could also add a salsa of your choice, but keep the salsa's flavor simple, you don't want to hide the amazing flavors already in the dish.
Enjoy cooking fish tacos if you ever have the urge.
Ingredients (I'm going to list off what we got)
- a pound and a half of defrosted tilapia fillets (previously frozen is nice and cheap)
- one 10 oz package of broccoli slaw mix
- one bunch of radishes
- 10 (you should go with more since we ran out) corn tortillas
- Cheddar-Jack cheese (I would suggest something like Quesa Fresca, the cheddar jack is good, and I am quite a fan of it, but I think quesa fresca would work much better)
- Blackened Seasoning
- 2 or 3 limes
For the preparation cut the tilapia fillets in half, this will make cooking and handling the fish a lot easier. Coat each half fillet in a fairly liberal amount of blackened seasoning (it all depends on how much you like blackened seasoning) and now your fish is ready to cook. For your slaw just julienne (slice really thin)the radishes, toss it with the broccoli slaw mix and some of the blackened seasoning with a little bit of water.
Cook your fish on a skillet over medium heat, flipping a few times, until the fish is nice a flaky. Put the fish in a bowl and shred it with a fork until you have bite-sized pieces. Cut a lime in half, squeeze it into your fish and your slaw. Heat your tortillas and melt your cheese on the top of it, fill with the fish and slaw, serve with a slice of lime on the side. With this you could also add a salsa of your choice, but keep the salsa's flavor simple, you don't want to hide the amazing flavors already in the dish.
Enjoy cooking fish tacos if you ever have the urge.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Anivia the Cryophoenix pt 3
So... part three, gameplay. I downloaded FRAPS to try to get some footage, but the version I have only lets me download in 30 second intervals and I haven't gotten any good footage. It would be a lot easier to show you what I mean if I could actually show you examples. I can, however, show you exactly how to not use the wall. It's not my video, but it perfectly examples bad walls.
Laning Phase: Mids
So with Anivia you are likely to be in mids due to your egg which will let you take more abuse than most heroes while staying in lane and the amount of harass you can put out. If you are mids just try to last hit minions and once you get your Frostbite start harassing your opponent. Throw a Flash Frost at them, preferably through minions to get some gold, and stun them. If they didn't avoid getting stunned try to close the distance, starting when you threw the Flash Frost guarantees that you get there, and hit them with Frostbite. If you do this two or three times you almost ensure that they have to leave the lane or die. Once you hit level 6 and pick up your ultimate you can harass that much better because you have two skills that make your nuke do double damage. Throw a Flash Frost -> Frostbite if you can and then a Glacial Storm -> Frostbite. If they dodge Flash Frost, let them come back to the minions throw down Glacial Storm where you get them in the area, preferably where you can continuously hit them when they retreat, and fly in for a Frostbite.
Side Lane
The side lanes you play almost the exact same as you would in mids, except you get wall earlier so you can check the bushes if your opponents are hiding in them. The other things to keep in mind while side laning are using all of your skills to try to save your ally if he gets focus fired and focus on one champion (squishier ones are usually higher priority because they are easier to kill and can output a lot of damage or can heal their teammate.
Ganking Phase
Between level 6 and 10 is typically where the ganking phase begins. If you're mids and you've either gotten the kill or pushed your opponent out of lane you pick either tops or bottoms to go to in the attempt to aid getting kills in that lane. If you can do this as close to level 6 from the mids as possible the better. You want to make it so you have your ultimate and they don't. The phase goes into full swing around level 10 or later when you can take down a tower and roam from lane to lane getting kills and pushing the tower. As Anivia your main purpose in a gank is to tear their hitpoints down, with a well placed skill shot and your nuke you can knock them down by half or more usually, and if your teammates knew your target they can jump on them during that .75 seconds to get the kill. If you don't think you can get both champions you then are to try and cover the retreat by slowing stunning and, if you have it, walling them off. One of the best things about having a skill shot is that they usually have a much longer range than skills that have targets so you can hide in the bush outside of lane and shoot it in without them knowing that you're coming in for a kill.
Team Running Phase
This is where Anivia shines. If you've gotten any amount of progress in your items by now you will be one of the people your team loves because of what you contribute. When you get into huge team fights all you have to do is make sure you're not focus fired to death before doing anything, so stay back until someone else initiates, and then just unload on the other team. With your Flash Frost you can get a short but highly convenient stun on their team and Glacial Storm will tear anyone who stands in it's area apart. Make sure to hit anyone who's chilled with your nuke and you will be sure to get some very lovely kills. With your wall you can either use it offensively or defensively in these situations. If you see an opponent who is almost dead and is running, you can stop that retreat and get yourself a kill, just be careful if it's poorly timed or placed you can end up saving their life. You can easily use it to retreat exactly as you did in the ganking phase, but just as using it offensively you have to be careful because you can wall an ally in and get them killed. Starting out as Anivia go ahead and under-use your wall, because bad walls lose games, good walls help win games.
Well, I can't really think of anything more to add about playing Anivia so that seems to be the end of my guide to Anivia the Cryophoenix. If I get good gameplay footage uploaded I'll get it on here just to show examples. If you guys know anything I didn't cover or have questions leave them in comments and I will address them.
Laning Phase: Mids
So with Anivia you are likely to be in mids due to your egg which will let you take more abuse than most heroes while staying in lane and the amount of harass you can put out. If you are mids just try to last hit minions and once you get your Frostbite start harassing your opponent. Throw a Flash Frost at them, preferably through minions to get some gold, and stun them. If they didn't avoid getting stunned try to close the distance, starting when you threw the Flash Frost guarantees that you get there, and hit them with Frostbite. If you do this two or three times you almost ensure that they have to leave the lane or die. Once you hit level 6 and pick up your ultimate you can harass that much better because you have two skills that make your nuke do double damage. Throw a Flash Frost -> Frostbite if you can and then a Glacial Storm -> Frostbite. If they dodge Flash Frost, let them come back to the minions throw down Glacial Storm where you get them in the area, preferably where you can continuously hit them when they retreat, and fly in for a Frostbite.
Side Lane
The side lanes you play almost the exact same as you would in mids, except you get wall earlier so you can check the bushes if your opponents are hiding in them. The other things to keep in mind while side laning are using all of your skills to try to save your ally if he gets focus fired and focus on one champion (squishier ones are usually higher priority because they are easier to kill and can output a lot of damage or can heal their teammate.
Ganking Phase
Between level 6 and 10 is typically where the ganking phase begins. If you're mids and you've either gotten the kill or pushed your opponent out of lane you pick either tops or bottoms to go to in the attempt to aid getting kills in that lane. If you can do this as close to level 6 from the mids as possible the better. You want to make it so you have your ultimate and they don't. The phase goes into full swing around level 10 or later when you can take down a tower and roam from lane to lane getting kills and pushing the tower. As Anivia your main purpose in a gank is to tear their hitpoints down, with a well placed skill shot and your nuke you can knock them down by half or more usually, and if your teammates knew your target they can jump on them during that .75 seconds to get the kill. If you don't think you can get both champions you then are to try and cover the retreat by slowing stunning and, if you have it, walling them off. One of the best things about having a skill shot is that they usually have a much longer range than skills that have targets so you can hide in the bush outside of lane and shoot it in without them knowing that you're coming in for a kill.
Team Running Phase
This is where Anivia shines. If you've gotten any amount of progress in your items by now you will be one of the people your team loves because of what you contribute. When you get into huge team fights all you have to do is make sure you're not focus fired to death before doing anything, so stay back until someone else initiates, and then just unload on the other team. With your Flash Frost you can get a short but highly convenient stun on their team and Glacial Storm will tear anyone who stands in it's area apart. Make sure to hit anyone who's chilled with your nuke and you will be sure to get some very lovely kills. With your wall you can either use it offensively or defensively in these situations. If you see an opponent who is almost dead and is running, you can stop that retreat and get yourself a kill, just be careful if it's poorly timed or placed you can end up saving their life. You can easily use it to retreat exactly as you did in the ganking phase, but just as using it offensively you have to be careful because you can wall an ally in and get them killed. Starting out as Anivia go ahead and under-use your wall, because bad walls lose games, good walls help win games.
Well, I can't really think of anything more to add about playing Anivia so that seems to be the end of my guide to Anivia the Cryophoenix. If I get good gameplay footage uploaded I'll get it on here just to show examples. If you guys know anything I didn't cover or have questions leave them in comments and I will address them.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Anivia the Cryophoenix pt 2
So I said today will be about her skills and items, and thus it shall be.
Skills
Flash Frost - Anivia brings her wings together and summons a sphere of ice that flies towards her opponents, chilling and damaging anyone in its path. When the lance explodes it does moderate damage in a radius, stunning anyone in the area.
A massive chunk of ice flies toward target location, dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.5) magic damage, slowing movement by 20%, and chilling any enemy it passes through. At the end of its range or if Anivia activates the spell again, the missile detonates, doing 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.5) magic damage in a small area and stunning units for .75 seconds.
Cost
80/100/120/140/160 Mana
Range
1100
So Flashfrost is your basic skill that you use to harass and farm. Just be careful of spamming it too often because in crucial moments where you have to stun someone to save yourself and/or a teammate or go in for the kill it's semi-long cooldown will be your bane. The most important parts of learning to use this skill is leading your opponent with it and then exploding it right as it's gone past them so that you get two hits with it and you get the stun. This is one of your skills that synergies into your nuke Frostbite.
Crystallize - Anivia condenses the moisture in the air into an impenetrable wall of ice to block the movement of her enemies. The wall only lasts a short duration before it melts.
Anivia summons an impenetrable wall of ice 400/500/600/700/800 units wide, blocking all movement. The wall lasts for 5 seconds before it melts.
Cost
70/90/110/130/150 Mana
Range
1000
Your wall, it will almost certainly be the reason why your team loves or hates you. When used right it can save lives, prevent ganks, stop a chase, save a tower, get a kill or even start a gank. The best part of Anivia's wall is that if gives sight, so if you put it into bushes or the jungle you can see your enemies, this has prevented a gank countless times for me. In my opinion this is the best utility skill in the whole game. The most important part of the wall is summed up in three words: Placement, placement and(conjunctions don't count) timing.
Frostbite - With a flap of her wings, Anivia blasts a freezing gust of wind at her target, dealing a medium amount of damage. If the target has been slowed by an ice effect, the damage they take is doubled.
Anivia blasts her target with a freezing wind, dealing 55/85/115/145/175 (+0.5) magic damage. If the target has been chilled, they take double damage.
Cost
50/60/70/80/90 Mana
Range
650
Frostbite, this is where your damage will be coming from against champions. With a cooldown of 5 seconds and the ability for it's damage to be doubled when your target suffers from a "Chilled" effect this will be a spam skill against champions. Throw your Flash Frost, stun them, fly in closer, and tear their health down with this baby. If they survived that you can throw your ult on them wall off their escape and hit them with a second nuke. Most important thing is never use this skill unless they are chilled, you want that double damage, it's completely necessary (I've gotten a few kills with a non-chilled Frostbite, but because of it's short range it's usually better to wait for Flash Frost and kill them with that.)
Glacial Storm - Anivia summons a driving rain of ice and hail to damage her enemies and slow their advance.
Toggle: Anivia calls forth a driving rain of ice and hail, dealing 80/120/160 (+0.25) magic damage per second, slowing their movement and attack speed by 20% for 2.5 seconds, and chilling them.
Cost
50/70/90 Mana Per Second
Range
625
Glacial Storm, or Blizzard if Anivia really was Articuno, isn't one of those high damage, long cooldown ults like Veigar's, it's damage with a debuff and practically no cooldown. What makes it an ultimate? It does a decent amount of Damage per Second in a decent area, with a nice buff that doubles your nuke's power and has a 5 second cooldown. The drawback is that it costs a lot of mana, 90 mana per second may not seem like a lot when you have a 3k mana pool, but with this, and two offensive skills that cost more than 100, you do still run low. The main problem with its mana cost is early, at level 6 50 mana/sec is a lot. So the important thing to master with this are the three words with your wall: placement, placement and timing (though not as much timing because the wall's cooldown is a lot longer) as well as knowing when to shut it off, which is usually immediately.
Rebirth - Upon dying, Anivia will revert into an egg. If the egg can survive for six seconds, she is gloriously reborn.
Anivia's passive ranges from completely OP to completely useless depending on where you are, your opponents and your team. During the laning phase (which in hindsight I should've described the phases of the game since a lot of people who play the game still don't know about the phases.) egg will constantly save your life, you just have to be sure to get to a tower before they "kill" you so your egg will be protected. Outside of the laning phase a lot of times your opponents will just blow through your eggs health without a second thought as long as they know to do so, and your team isn't there to keep them off of you. Other than that you can use the egg offensively by baiting them into attacking it and then your team kills them, but I highly advise against it.
Skill Build Order
There's really only one way you should level your skills as Anivia, with a slight variation.
The order is as follows:
Flash Frost
Frostbite
Frostbite
Crystallize
Frostbite
Glacial Storm
Frostbite
Flash Frost
Frostbite
Flash Frost
Glacial Storm
Flash Frost
Flash Frost
Crystallize
Crystallize
Glacial Storm
Crystallize
Crystallize
This is so you get your Frostbite maxed early, but you don't start with it because you need to chill them first. The only variation being if you're in mids take Flash Frost at 4 and Crystallize at 8, because you don't need the wall as much early on in mids. The reason you don't max the wall until the end is because all putting points into it does is make it longer and that's not really needed until later in the game.
Items
So I run a slightly different build if I'm soloing, just because I want a little more health when I don't have someone right next to me. Otherwise full power to the thruster and tear them apart.
Lane
Amplifying Tome
and Health Potion
out of the gate
On your first trip back you want to try to get Mejai's Soulstealer
and Tear of the Goddess 
so you can start snowballing (getting kills to get more kills) and mana
From here I just go back when I need to and get what I can in the listed order
Boots of Speed
Catalyst the Protector
Sorcerer Shoes
Rod of the Ages
Zhonya's Ring
Archangel's Staff
Void Staff
(if your opponents aren't getting magic resist and you've gotten this far consider Rylai's Crystal Scepter as an alternative)
The only difference for my item build in mids is the following:
Start with Doran's Ring
and Health Potion
don't build to Mejai's, instead get another Archangel's Staff after you've gotten your sixth item and you've sold Doran's Ring back.
Well that's part two, hopefully it makes some sense, I was rushing it a bit. Tomorrow I will cover how to play, tactics and hopefully I can post some gameplay footage in the near future.
Skills
Flash Frost - Anivia brings her wings together and summons a sphere of ice that flies towards her opponents, chilling and damaging anyone in its path. When the lance explodes it does moderate damage in a radius, stunning anyone in the area.A massive chunk of ice flies toward target location, dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.5) magic damage, slowing movement by 20%, and chilling any enemy it passes through. At the end of its range or if Anivia activates the spell again, the missile detonates, doing 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.5) magic damage in a small area and stunning units for .75 seconds.
Cost
80/100/120/140/160 Mana
Range
1100
So Flashfrost is your basic skill that you use to harass and farm. Just be careful of spamming it too often because in crucial moments where you have to stun someone to save yourself and/or a teammate or go in for the kill it's semi-long cooldown will be your bane. The most important parts of learning to use this skill is leading your opponent with it and then exploding it right as it's gone past them so that you get two hits with it and you get the stun. This is one of your skills that synergies into your nuke Frostbite.
Crystallize - Anivia condenses the moisture in the air into an impenetrable wall of ice to block the movement of her enemies. The wall only lasts a short duration before it melts.Anivia summons an impenetrable wall of ice 400/500/600/700/800 units wide, blocking all movement. The wall lasts for 5 seconds before it melts.
Cost
70/90/110/130/150 Mana
Range
1000
Your wall, it will almost certainly be the reason why your team loves or hates you. When used right it can save lives, prevent ganks, stop a chase, save a tower, get a kill or even start a gank. The best part of Anivia's wall is that if gives sight, so if you put it into bushes or the jungle you can see your enemies, this has prevented a gank countless times for me. In my opinion this is the best utility skill in the whole game. The most important part of the wall is summed up in three words: Placement, placement and(conjunctions don't count) timing.
Frostbite - With a flap of her wings, Anivia blasts a freezing gust of wind at her target, dealing a medium amount of damage. If the target has been slowed by an ice effect, the damage they take is doubled.Anivia blasts her target with a freezing wind, dealing 55/85/115/145/175 (+0.5) magic damage. If the target has been chilled, they take double damage.
Cost
50/60/70/80/90 Mana
Range
650
Frostbite, this is where your damage will be coming from against champions. With a cooldown of 5 seconds and the ability for it's damage to be doubled when your target suffers from a "Chilled" effect this will be a spam skill against champions. Throw your Flash Frost, stun them, fly in closer, and tear their health down with this baby. If they survived that you can throw your ult on them wall off their escape and hit them with a second nuke. Most important thing is never use this skill unless they are chilled, you want that double damage, it's completely necessary (I've gotten a few kills with a non-chilled Frostbite, but because of it's short range it's usually better to wait for Flash Frost and kill them with that.)
Glacial Storm - Anivia summons a driving rain of ice and hail to damage her enemies and slow their advance.Toggle: Anivia calls forth a driving rain of ice and hail, dealing 80/120/160 (+0.25) magic damage per second, slowing their movement and attack speed by 20% for 2.5 seconds, and chilling them.
Cost
50/70/90 Mana Per Second
Range
625
Glacial Storm, or Blizzard if Anivia really was Articuno, isn't one of those high damage, long cooldown ults like Veigar's, it's damage with a debuff and practically no cooldown. What makes it an ultimate? It does a decent amount of Damage per Second in a decent area, with a nice buff that doubles your nuke's power and has a 5 second cooldown. The drawback is that it costs a lot of mana, 90 mana per second may not seem like a lot when you have a 3k mana pool, but with this, and two offensive skills that cost more than 100, you do still run low. The main problem with its mana cost is early, at level 6 50 mana/sec is a lot. So the important thing to master with this are the three words with your wall: placement, placement and timing (though not as much timing because the wall's cooldown is a lot longer) as well as knowing when to shut it off, which is usually immediately.
Rebirth - Upon dying, Anivia will revert into an egg. If the egg can survive for six seconds, she is gloriously reborn.Anivia's passive ranges from completely OP to completely useless depending on where you are, your opponents and your team. During the laning phase (which in hindsight I should've described the phases of the game since a lot of people who play the game still don't know about the phases.) egg will constantly save your life, you just have to be sure to get to a tower before they "kill" you so your egg will be protected. Outside of the laning phase a lot of times your opponents will just blow through your eggs health without a second thought as long as they know to do so, and your team isn't there to keep them off of you. Other than that you can use the egg offensively by baiting them into attacking it and then your team kills them, but I highly advise against it.
Skill Build Order
There's really only one way you should level your skills as Anivia, with a slight variation.
The order is as follows:
Flash Frost
Frostbite
Frostbite
Crystallize
Frostbite
Glacial Storm
Frostbite
Flash Frost
Frostbite
Flash Frost
Glacial Storm
Flash Frost
Flash Frost
Crystallize
Crystallize
Glacial Storm
Crystallize
Crystallize
This is so you get your Frostbite maxed early, but you don't start with it because you need to chill them first. The only variation being if you're in mids take Flash Frost at 4 and Crystallize at 8, because you don't need the wall as much early on in mids. The reason you don't max the wall until the end is because all putting points into it does is make it longer and that's not really needed until later in the game.
Items
So I run a slightly different build if I'm soloing, just because I want a little more health when I don't have someone right next to me. Otherwise full power to the thruster and tear them apart.
Lane
Amplifying Tome
and Health Potion out of the gateOn your first trip back you want to try to get Mejai's Soulstealer
and Tear of the Goddess so you can start snowballing (getting kills to get more kills) and manaFrom here I just go back when I need to and get what I can in the listed order
Boots of Speed
Catalyst the Protector
Sorcerer Shoes
Rod of the Ages
Zhonya's Ring
Archangel's Staff
Void Staff
(if your opponents aren't getting magic resist and you've gotten this far consider Rylai's Crystal Scepter as an alternative)The only difference for my item build in mids is the following:
Start with Doran's Ring
and Health Potiondon't build to Mejai's, instead get another Archangel's Staff
after you've gotten your sixth item and you've sold Doran's Ring back.Well that's part two, hopefully it makes some sense, I was rushing it a bit. Tomorrow I will cover how to play, tactics and hopefully I can post some gameplay footage in the near future.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Anivia the Cryophoenix pt 1
Anivia is an immortal being of intense power. She can instantly freeze a path in front of her, covering all in its wake with thick frost – she can even force the cold to violently explode, throwing razor sharp ice shards in every direction. She can also concentrate this ability on a single enemy, riddling his flesh with deep frostbite. The cryophoenix can also summon a glacial storm, a blizzard of terrible fury that both harms and slows those within. When defense is needed, Anivia can create an impassible barrier of ice. Furthermore, Anivia can never die. Whenever she is killed, she simply transforms into an egg, waiting to be reborn.
"Some say the world will end in fire, some in ice. Anivia awaits the inevitable latter."
Alright, now I can get started on my section of the typing. As someone suggested last night I'm bringing this blog to you in parts because a single post of an Anivia guide will be just too much to type. So I'll cover all of the pregame stuff and my opinion of Anivia.
"Why play Anivia when you can just play Annie?"
The forums are stupid and should not be on my blog. There are many reasons why I play Anivia over Annie. Reason one is that playing Anivia is by far the most fun I've had playing LoL. Two, her stun may be harder to hit and less AoE than a Tibbers stun, but you can spam it every 12-8 seconds (depending on it's level) and although Annie's stun is a full second longer Anivia's slows everyone it hits. Three, yes Anivia is possibly one of the hardest champions to master but if you know her she is completely worth it. Although there are more I'm going to put one last word, wall.
Runes and Masteries
I feel that any caster that uses mana (see not Vlad) should run a 9/0/21 mastery set shown here.
For runes I like building
9 x
Greater Mark of Insight +0.95 magic penetration9 x
Greater Seal of Clarity +0.1 mana regen / 5 sec. per level (+1.8 at champion level 18)9 x
Greater Glyph of Force +0.17 ability power per level (+3.06 at champion level 18)3 x
Greater Quintessence of Force +0.43 ability power per level (+7.74 at champion level 18)This gives you totals resulting in
+8.5 Magic Pen
+16 Mana Regen/5 at level 18
+50.76 Ability Power at level 18
With Archaic Knowledge and your magic pen marks most heroes who have 30 magic resist will only have 17 against you. This means that instead of reducing the magic damage dealt to them by 23%, they only reduce it by 14.5%.
That will do it for today's post on my guide to Anivia, tomorrow I'll probably cover skills and items.
Monday, August 2, 2010
What is LoL?
One of the things that has been the primary focus of my Summer has been the game League of Legends. Yeah, I'm a loser who decides to stay at home on a computer for most of his Summer months instead of grabbing it by its proverbial testicles and doing stuff outside. I'm not saying that I hate the outdoors, but this week-end has been double IP (Influence Points, points earned in game by playing and can be spent on heroes or runes which give your heroes passive bonuses) and so I've been on a lot.
What is League of Legends, or LoL? The best way I found to describe it is that it's a tower-defense game, but in reverse. You play as a champion, of which there are fifty-six to choose from, along with four others, or two if you're playing the 3v3 map, against another team of five. You, along with the other champions and the minions, or creeps, that your base summons are trying to take out your opponents towers, creeps, champions, inhibitors and nexus. The inhibitor is a building that when destroyed will let your base summon epic minions in that lane. The Nexus is the primary target in the game, destroy the Nexus and you win. There are a total of three lanes in the 5v5 map, Summoner's Rift which I'll talk primarily about, each lane has an outside, inside and inhibitor tower along with an inhibitor. At the Nexus there are two towers. The base is made up of the inhibitors, their towers, the Nexus, it's towers, the well and well tower. The base is surrounded by a wall that the only openings are found at the inhibitor towers. The well is where champions are summoned, revive at and recall to so they can heal or buy items. In between the lanes are forest, or jungle, areas where neutral monsters are found. Neutral monsters are monsters that either team can kill for gold and experience and a few of the monsters have buffs that you get when killing them. There are two neutral monster bosses, one that just gives experience and gold to all allied champions, Dragon, and the other, Baron Nashor, gives experience, gold and the strongest buff to all allied champions.
Sorry about the poor job at explaining the game, but this is to segue into my Anivia Guide that I will post soon. There's more to the game, but this is all I can manage right now.
What is League of Legends, or LoL? The best way I found to describe it is that it's a tower-defense game, but in reverse. You play as a champion, of which there are fifty-six to choose from, along with four others, or two if you're playing the 3v3 map, against another team of five. You, along with the other champions and the minions, or creeps, that your base summons are trying to take out your opponents towers, creeps, champions, inhibitors and nexus. The inhibitor is a building that when destroyed will let your base summon epic minions in that lane. The Nexus is the primary target in the game, destroy the Nexus and you win. There are a total of three lanes in the 5v5 map, Summoner's Rift which I'll talk primarily about, each lane has an outside, inside and inhibitor tower along with an inhibitor. At the Nexus there are two towers. The base is made up of the inhibitors, their towers, the Nexus, it's towers, the well and well tower. The base is surrounded by a wall that the only openings are found at the inhibitor towers. The well is where champions are summoned, revive at and recall to so they can heal or buy items. In between the lanes are forest, or jungle, areas where neutral monsters are found. Neutral monsters are monsters that either team can kill for gold and experience and a few of the monsters have buffs that you get when killing them. There are two neutral monster bosses, one that just gives experience and gold to all allied champions, Dragon, and the other, Baron Nashor, gives experience, gold and the strongest buff to all allied champions.
Sorry about the poor job at explaining the game, but this is to segue into my Anivia Guide that I will post soon. There's more to the game, but this is all I can manage right now.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Return of the Mandog
Well it looks like Blogust is already upon us. Back in BEDApril I made many cop out posts simply because I didn't have time and/or I didn't have anything to post about that day, I promise to attempt to do less of that. I also hope that I don't fail like I did last time. I kinda want to add a few things to the set of rules, this is mostly personal, no-one else has to follow it, but if they feel like it they are welcome to do so.
- Sentences must be true sentences: noun, verb.... subject and predicate... all that jazz. One word sentences don't count.
- Three sentence minimum is limited to at most twice a week. The other five will have to be at least full paragraphs.
- If both three sentence posts are used in the week I have one week from the second three sentence post to type a large post. The exact size isn't defined, it just has to be larger than what I would normally type.
- Once a week if I am given any suggestions that week I have to use at least one of them.
- I have to participate in another tandem story arch, but only if the others are doing it
- If the others choose to do tandem stories or not I will write at least one stand alone paragraph telling a story, either an excerpt from something that doesn't exist, or a full story told in one post.
I think that's good enough for now. Within the week I will try to post a guide to Anivia for League of Legends, that's something I think would be perfect for Blogust. So I will see you guys tomorrow and if anyone has any requests for a blog post it in the comments and it very well may be chosen.
- Sentences must be true sentences: noun, verb.... subject and predicate... all that jazz. One word sentences don't count.
- Three sentence minimum is limited to at most twice a week. The other five will have to be at least full paragraphs.
- If both three sentence posts are used in the week I have one week from the second three sentence post to type a large post. The exact size isn't defined, it just has to be larger than what I would normally type.
- Once a week if I am given any suggestions that week I have to use at least one of them.
- I have to participate in another tandem story arch, but only if the others are doing it
- If the others choose to do tandem stories or not I will write at least one stand alone paragraph telling a story, either an excerpt from something that doesn't exist, or a full story told in one post.
I think that's good enough for now. Within the week I will try to post a guide to Anivia for League of Legends, that's something I think would be perfect for Blogust. So I will see you guys tomorrow and if anyone has any requests for a blog post it in the comments and it very well may be chosen.
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