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Talecraft
A few years ago I saw this card game at National Bookstore. I bought the game because it intrigued me but I never tried it until last weekend. I thought it might be a good game for our barkada slumber party. I know slumber party sounds more appropriate for a bunch of preteen girls but I can’t think of a better word. It proved to be quite fun.
This game involves story telling. Each player picks up 1 genre card, 2 character cards, and 6 object cards. The object cards can contain story lines, physical objects, or switch cards. The switch cards can be used to pick a card or swap 1 of your current cards with another from the deck. I’m not sure if this game has a scoring mechanism but it’s still fun even if it’s not competitive. This game is fun when many people play it but I think it can also be played in “single-player” mode as well. I think it can be used for creative writing practice. For example, draw 1 or more set of cards every day/week then use those cards to create a blog entry.
We played 2 rounds of Talecraft before we took a break. During the break we forgot about it because they started setting up the Xbox Kinnect. Here the tales that I crafted.
First Round
My story involves 2 guys who liked the same girl in a small village (Lord of the Rings style). The “other guy” was an evil albino who becomes evil whenever there’s a full moon. When evil albino kidnapped the girl, the good guy comes to her rescue. The rescue mission messed up so the girl was now in real danger. Just before the girl dies, evil albino sacrifices himself to save the girl that he loves. They both survive but he becomes blind. The end.
Second Round
Twin brothers are the main protagonists in this story. One is a loveable miscreant while the other is a reluctant yet promising hero. The girl that the reluctant hero loves is taken by a psychopath. The twin heroes go after them. The psychopath turned out to be in love with the girl who is his daughter in another timeline. (I picked up forbidden love as an object and sci-fi as my genre.) Our heroes fought bravely but they could not defeat the psychopath incest father. Just when they were about to be killed, boom! Deus ex machine! The Christ Figure (I didn’t think thoroughly about this card) arrived and saves the day. The end.
Other highlights that I can remember:
Kenneth: In a galaxy far far yet near… (I can’t remember the rest)
Edward: Sorry Ed, I can’t remember anything about your story. :p
Warrick: A brave warrior who fought evil was sent into the future. (Sound familiar? 😀)
Jeno: 2 women + a sexy tattoo + “cries in the night”. Nuff said.
Why is the sky blue?
I was texting with Moises last week when suddenly out of nowhere he asked me this question. I thought it was a joke at first. Apparently this was a serious question from him. He was looking at the sky late in the afternoon when that question suddenly popped up. I don’t know the correct answer but I told him my best guess. I think it has to do with the refraction of light from the sun. When the light hits the atmosphere/troposphere/whateversphere, it becomes visible as blue in the visual spectrum. This was the best answer that I could come up with. After this, I called him then the stupid questions started popping up.
1) Why is the sky blue? Because God is an Atenean.
2) Me: Why is the sky purple?
Moi: Why?
Me: No it’s not.
3) Why is the sky black? My dad overheard the question and he answered: Because Ateneo’s coach is Norman Black.
Moi: Why?
Me: Because it’s already night time dumbass. Look outside.
In the end we didn’t really find out the right answer. Here’s the real answer:
Computer Health
I’m the go to guy in our family when problems involving gadgets arise. They think I can do magic with computers even though I only know some basic stuff. This morning I had a funny idea of creating a simplified hierarchy of gadget repair ability.
The band-aid
Level: n00b
This category contains most of the people who know very little about computers. Most people think either the antivirus software will be the cure for all viruses or will want to reformat their computer as soon as a problem arises. These people refer to all computer infections as viruses.
The school nurse
Level: novice
These hobbyists are the regular people with a little know how. They can spot and differentiate some infections but don’t necessarily know how to fix it. I belong in this category. We know how to fix some simple issues and most simple annoyances, mostly software related.
The doctor
Level: adept
The tech support in many computer repair shops belong in this category. They repair computers and other gadgets for a living. They are trained to fix the harder problems that most hobbyists will be wary to try.
The surgeons
Level: expert
Programmers and computer engineers with advanced knowledge and experience comprise of this category. They are the guys that major tech companies hire to build the software and hardware (not the assembly line).
Deus ex machina
Level: l33t
This rank exists because I think it literally means god of the machines. I also like how the word sounds. I might also call these people necromancers because they can revive dead computers. People who work for data recovery services belong in this level.
There you have it. These are the levels of gadget repair expertise that I can think of right now. I know it might not be funny but this is the last of three posts I made consecutively so I’m tired I’m only writing this post because I’m bored in the office.
Scottylosophy 