It's deeper than you think...and I'm not addicted.

If you know me well (actually if you know me at all) you would know that I love to play Warcraft III. Some of you may say I'm addicted to it, I treat it so seriously, I spend too much time playing it. Well let me tell you, I don't treat it too seriously (though I do get angry when I lose because of my competitive nature) , I do realize its a game, and I spend as much time playing Warcraft as anybody else spends watching TV or playing beer pong. I like to regard Warcraft as a modification of chess in a way, thus Warcraft stimulates the brain...much more than TV or drinking does.

Let me explain why I enjoy this game, and then whoever wants to flame me can. (It may get pretty long and boring so I'm sorry if you lose interest)


First off, like I said Warcraft III (WC3) is a like a modification of chess, although WC3 is a lot deeper than chess. First off, WC3 is in REAL-TIME. Meaning you are making many decisions on the fly while the other guy is doing the same thing. Imagine chess in which your opponent can move his units 3 or 4 times while you are still thinking about 1 move. In WC3 there are 4 different races with different units to choose from, unlike chess which has one "race" with both players having the same units. (Though this does give chess balance, meaning no player has an advantage based on units.) Also, WC3 can be played 1v1, teams of 2, 3, or 4, or Free for all, which 4 people fight to the death. All scenarios bring different strategies, which I will explain now.

Unlike chess, in which each player starts with the same amount of units, WC3 makes you build units. Some units can't be made until certain buildings are built. Buildings cannot be made without the proper resources. How you manage these resources and when to build buildings, when to make units, and when to attack or defend will make or break the game for you. The worst part? You don't even get 10 seconds to make a decision. Also, knowing WHAT units to build is essential. In chess, sure some units are better than the other but in general, any unit can kill another with one move. In WC3, it takes a lot more for one unit to kill another. For example, 1 archer has no chance against 1 grunt, but 1 grunt can't beat a huntress, and 1 huntress can't beat a fiend, but a fiend can't beat a tauren, and taurens can't beat gryphons (cause gryphons are in the air, while taurens are on the ground), but then again, an archer can kill a gryphon? So what to units to build, and how many of them, is important to winning as well.

So now you decide to engage in a battle, how are you going to manage your units? When are you going to pull that unit out of the battle because he is hurt? Can you heal him? Which units are going to attack what? When are you going to cast your spells? Probably the most difficult part of the game, it takes fast thinking and quick hands to master this, something that chess lacks.

A decent WC3 player does about 70-80 actions in a minute. "Professional" WC3 players does up to 150 actions a minute (not including spam). In an average game a player will make between 1000 to 2000 actions. A game of chess is over in 70 moves. Think about that...

Now I'm not saying that everybody should play, and I'm not saying its not a geeky thing to do (it's a little geeky I will admit), but before you tell me that I'm obsessed with this game, and that I'm addicted, and that I should do something else with my time, maybe you will stop and realize that this a hobby, something I enjoy doing and would rather be doing instead of watching stupid rich white girls complain about stupid problems while they are on their decks looking out towards the beach (I'm talking about Laguna Beach btw).

Flame on.

UD the elite schedule makers

Semester Schedule

                                              TERM: 05F
Advisor: SWANY, DOUGLAS MARTIN

                  Fall 2005
COURSE         CRED GT TITLE                    DAYS    TIMES      BLDG ROOM        DATES
CISC-301-010   3.00    ELEMNTS OF LOGIC & AUTOM TR     1100-1215PM GOR  204   08-30-05 TO 12-07-05
                  Instructor: SHANKER V
CISC-361-011   3.00    OPERATING SYSTEMS        TR     1230-0145PM SMI  203   08-30-05 TO 12-07-05
                  Instructor: SILBER H
ECON-315-010   3.00    ECON HISTORY OF COLONIAL MWF    1010-1100AM PRN  118   08-30-05 TO 12-07-05
                  Instructor: GRUBB F
ECON-340-013   3.00    INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS  TR     0200-0315PM PRN  331   08-30-05 TO 12-07-05
                  Instructor: WANG S
         12.00 TOTAL REGISTERED HOURS

What is missing? OH YEAH I PAID FOR AT LEAST 13 CREDITS...and they give me 12.
Hopefully people will be dropping like mad...cause my schedule needs some improvement. Need to switch ECON 340 sections so I can get it on MWF. Need to add a breadth requirement(either A or B) but I'm not sure which ones yet. Debating on either PHIL204 (hoping someone will drop and Sandy stays in the one section) or GEOG203 (Intro to cultural geography...interesting cause of the nature of my last post). Other longshots include ENGL210 (Short story) and FLLT321 (anti-heroes in Chinese Literature). It will be a madhouse come August 1.


Summer Goals update:
goals for this summer:

1) bench press 185 pounds (1.5 times...dropped the weight on my chest :( )
2) curl 105 pounds (95 pounds twice...105 negatives)
3) gain -15 pounds. (i've given up on this one...)
4) learn a new programming language (in the process of learning css)
5) drink bubble tea with friends and introduce at least 5 people to t'licious
(reintroduced 2 people)

Some things never change...

Let's take a journey through time shall we?

We'll start in the 1500s, when the conquistadors found their way to Latin America and found gold and more importantly they found a new group of people, the Aztecs, the Incans, and the Mayas. New people, with totally different cultures, different way of living, and what does the white man do? They wipe them out completely and take their gold.

Moving onto the 1700s, the pilgrams! White people escaping their homeland to come to America for religious freedom. They even get a warm greeting at Plymouth Rock by the Native Americans! Things are great, the Native Americans are helping these new settlers move in, get used to the new climate and help them hunt and what not. Everything was great, they ate turkey together and everything to give thanks to one another. But then what? More white people are coming over on ships, they need more land. They start moving west, taking the Native American's land until they are left with tiny reservations. Not to mention mass-murdering them.

Ahead to the 1800s, I guess white people had to sail around Africa on their trade routes to India and stopped by Africa for a pit stop. They see all these black people tilling the land and they think to themselves, "Hey! We could get them to do that for us in America!" So they whip them and force them to come to America to work in the field for nothing.

Of course this ended with the end of the Civil War, but for some reason the white man (actually we'll call them white Americans now) still believed he was better than the rest of the world, and arrogence soon took over. Seperate bathrooms, eating areas, bus sections, even water fountains for "colored" people. White America had to be an isolationist, because they are too good for the world. Hell they even rejected the metric system and adopted their own system that .00001% of the world uses (are there any other countries that use the US system?) Even through WWI and WWII America stood in the corner alone.

Where I'm trying to go with this is that people in America are extremely stubborn. ESPECIALLY white people. It's "America is the best!" "America this! America that! w00t AMERICA!" But if they just open their eyes for 1 week...all I ask is 1 week to show them the world, they will realize that there is more to the world than hotdogs, hamburgers, baseball, football, Ford and Dodge. I mean, if you don't like foriegn food, don't like foriegn cars, don't like foriegn culture, great, you have your opinion. However the thing that pisses me off most about white people in America is that they ACT like they are the shit. Ignorant shit like bombing Arabs, referring to Asians as "you people", and callin black people "N*g***s (even calling fellow white people the same thing). The most ignorant thing I think that's anyone has demonstrated to me was when some white guy came up behind me and was said "CHING CHANG CHONG!!!!". What the hell is that suppose to mean? I don't go up behind white people and go "PIZZA BREAD HAMBURGER!!!!!!" The worst part was that everybody around me laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. And then they cry foul when the guy that said it is on the ground with a rosy cheek and an imprint of my knuckles on his jaw like he didn't expect it to happen.

That got disorganized real quick...I think my rant on white people will end there.
P.S.- And its not that I'm racist, cause a lot of my friends are indeed white. It's just those ignorant white people who think they are better than everybody even though they live in a trailer park and don't bother to get an education while poor minorities are looking for every opportunity to learn (like Malcolm X who educated himself while in jail...that's dedication).

P.P.S- I had a day to think about this post...and the irony of it is, I try so hard not to be a fobby Asian, or be a thuggish African American, what the hell am I trying to be? I was about to write that I'm trying to act white but in all actuality I'm not. I think I'm just trying to be as well balanced as possible.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

My new site, still under major construction. All posts will be on xanga until further notice.