dorobo_hamster

• I went on a road trip to Mount Donna Buang. [To be blogged]
• I went on a snow trip to Mount Hotham. [To be blogged]
• I Ultrastarred Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Fuwa Fuwa Time, Curry Nochi Rice, Sore ga, Ai Deshou and Kumikyoku "Lucky Star Douga". Wow! (Especially since Kumikyoku "Lucky Star Douga" is the equivalent of four songs.)
• I redid the Ultrastar website (layout still the same).
• I went to 9 WWWA screenings and watched Vandread, Monster and Firefly (US TV series).
• I went to the WWWA marathon and watched Voices of a Distant Star, Cowboy Bebop and Sorakake Girl.
• I went for dinners after screenings.
• I went to two #se440 dinners.
• I went to Henry's welcome back dinner at Gold Leaf, Docklands.
• I went to CJ's birthday party.
• I finished reading The Cosmic Logos and started Gene of Isis.
• I went to X-man's place twice.
• I went to Mos' place.
• I went to Mos' place and X-man's place on the same day and played Haruhi Wii.
• I watched Essendon versus Hawks (which had a brawl and an Essendon comeback) and played taiko Wii at Jack's place.
• I went to a Grand Final BBQ Jack's in which Geelong defeated St Kilda in a very close game.
• I followed the Anime Saimoe Tournament 2009.
• I went to Manifest.
• I played Travian au2 endgame. I started again on au2 >_<
• I graduated and went to karaoke.
• I caught a flu.
• I did mIRC scripting.
• I installed Windows 7.
• I watched both of Nick's basketball finals and he won both of them.
• We had a cooking party and a picnic at Studley Park. [To be blogged]
• I got a new phone.
• I went bowling and scored 132 and 91 -_-
• I went to Meridian and SEE (but watched anime).
• I finished watching K-ON!, Munto (both the OVA and the series), the CLANNAD movie, Haruhi season 2, Hayate season 2 and Chaos Head. I watched some of Nodame Cantabile (live action) and Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou.
• I played DotA, various TD maps, Minesweeper and Portal: the First Slice. I did the level 19 cave run in Perfect World.
• I blogged several times.
• I read about stuff on Wikipedia.
• I have left out a bunch of stuff.

I can't believe I've done so much! I feel like I was mostly just sitting at home playing Travian. Also all the major things were so long ago. I really haven't done all that much. I guess it's the compression of three months into one summary that makes it seem like a lot. Ideally I should have one-sentence blog posts about most of these. Although I don't want people knowing what I did on the day that I do them. Yeah so the summary format is better.

P.S. Happy Halloween :O
Lollipop Candy ♥BAD♥ Girl by Tommy heavenly6

Yuiiiiiiiiiiii :(

Congratulations on Taiga for winning the tournament. I haven't seen Toradora! but from what I heard it's unexpectedly good. Toradora! had more episodes and so could develop the characters more. Well even if K-ON! had more episodes I think it comes down to the type of anime that they were: Toradora! was more serious and the point of the story was actually to develop the relationship, whereas K-ON! was just awesome fun.

As for Saki, I suspected early on that they might not have what it takes to win. They looked strong because they voted for any Saki character but in the final what counts is high votes in a single match. Well with anti-voting you never know. But each of the final eight had their challenges and did well to make it that far. Special mention to Hinagiku who did not make it because she had to face Yui. She was definitely finals material, not just quarter finals, but good enough for third place. Though that's what happens in tournaments. It is the luck of the draw and makes it exciting.

So even if your character didn't win (Mio ;o;), the tournament is not really about winning but rather being able to support and cheer for your character, and being able to appreciate that others are doing the same for theirs.

That was the Anime Saimoe Tournament 2009. See you next year!

• A: Yuuki (Saki) won comfortably against Chiaki (Minami-ke), 734 to 545.
• B: Isumi (Hayate) pulled out a 759 after only 475 in Round 3 to upset Kana (Saki) on 737.
• C: Louise (Zero no Tsukaima) narrowly escaped defeat to Momoko (Saki) 846 to 837.
• D: Koromo (Saki) had a comfortable win against Amu (Shugo Chara!), 700 to 440.
• E: Yui (K-On!) defeated Minorin (Toradora!) 838 to 752.
• F: Taiga (Toradora!) defeated Azu-nyan (K-On!) 825 to 711.
• G: Mihoko (Saki) won comfortably against Eruru (Utawarerumono), 770 to 441.
• H: Nodoka (Saki) won in a tough battle against Nagi (Hayate), 890 to 874.

Saki had three easy wins and won one of three hard matches that could have gone either way. Nagi, the runner up in 2007, did well and almost won against Saki's main character and favourite for the tournament, Nodoka. Louise, 5th in 2007 continues to be strong after her peak. It is interesting to note that Rie Kugimiya is the seiyuu for Nagi, Louise, Taiga and Yuuki. She really produces moe characters. The upset was Isumi beating Kana. Is it really each character's individual strength, or is it just Saki versus the rest?

K-On! and Toradora! won one apiece against each other with their more popular character making it to the quarter finals.

Yui is guaranteed to face Saki characters in her next two matches. My predictions for the quarter finals are Taiga, Nodoka, Yuuki and Yui, although there is not much separating any of the characters and I won't even bother to predict the final outcome because it's as much of a random guess than anything.

Aha. Making a post from something that happened over a year ago -_- Here are links to the previous parts for a recap:

• Snow Trip (14th July 2008): Introduction
• Snow Trip (14th to 17th July 2008): Part 1
• Snow Trip (14th to 17th July 2008): Part 2
• Snow Trip (14th to 17th July 2008): Part 3

Tuesday and Wednesday Night

Snowboarding finished at about 4:30pm. I expected to be there for longer, but everything was closing up and it gets dark at around 5 anyway, and it takes over an hour to drive back to Bright so we were starving by the time we returned to our cabin. Also if I hadn't spent so much time feeling sick I would be exhausted (as on the second day) and I wouldn't get much out of staying longer.

Dinner was nice. The others had organised beforehand to cook, I think two people for each night (it was so long ago that I can't remember exactly) so I had food cooked for me while I relaxed :D

Since one cannot snowboard all day for reasons mentioned above, we had several hours to spare before we had to go to sleep. This part of the trip is as important as actually snowboarding because you get to actually talk to one another and do activities to make it a real holiday. We watched the second Harold and Kumar movie which was awesome. I hadn't seen the first one or even heard of Harold and Kumar so I had no idea what it was going to be like. We watched something else after that. I can't remember what is was but people were tired and falling asleep and I think it was something that required some thinking.

At night, I slept outside near the fireplace (we had more people than beds). I was watching the new Evangelion movie whilst I waited for the dishwasher to finish because it was really loud. The movie was a bit disappointing because it was just a recap of the series, and no new footage (or I didn't notice any enhancements). It was okay though because I hadn't seen Evangelion for years and it was a nice refresher. I only watched the first part, which lasted about and hour because I was sleepy should have been getting some rest for tomorrow. But wait? The dishwasher was still going? I got up to check and I intended to stop it because it might be on an infinite loop, or at least it would need to be stopped so we could sleep and we could always start it again tomorrow. I looked around the kitchen and the dishwasher had no lights on and was off... but it wasn't where the sound was coming from anyway. What?! If it wasn't the dishwasher, then what was it? The taps weren't running and the sound wasn't coming from here. I walked around to the adjacent living room thinking it might be the air conditioner. But the sound grew softer. In a small place like this, there are limited possibilities as to where it could be coming from. It was definitely the kitchen. But everything was still and dead and the sound wasn't emanating from anything there. ??? How can I not even track the source of the sound? The source wasn't moving, but it was just coming from thin air. Ah. As I leaned over the counter, the sound became louder. I could triangulate its position now: it was... ABOVE ME. Guess what? It was the exhaust fan.

I turned it off and went to sleep.

Previously I mentioned talking about nerds. Either Tuesday or Wednesday night we had general gossip sessions. I had never really been one for gossip, but I found that it's really nothing more than sharing information. These "gossip" sessions weren't like what you imagine based on the stereotype of gossip. They were more like catching up with what's been happening with other friends. Also it is natural to be curious about people you know. If you weren't, you don't really care about them. Or maybe you're just too busy; I'm just trying to express what I learnt about gossip, not what you should or shouldn't do.

Wednesday Snowboarding

On the second day of snowboarding was a full day for me, unlike the previous day. It was annoying being crowded because you don't get enough freedom and consequently practice. Towards the end, however, it was almost empty because it was late in the day and starting to snow. I went for one final run as fast as I could. The visibility was low which made it more exciting and I had the slope all to myself! I still fell over far too many times, due to the lack of practice from only having half a day the day before and the crowds, as well as the uneven ground and higher difficulty of snowboarding. It was a good experience in the end.

Okay I skipped a round because there are matches every day and it just keeps going and I fall behind. Round 2 showed that many of the votes in first round were strategic votes because the totals were vastly different from the Round 1 totals.

Block A

Yuuki Kataoka (Saki) as predicted facing Chiaki Minami (Minami-ke). Yuuki is in a strong position with 878 votes versus 477 votes in the previous round.

Block B

Kana Ikeda (Saki) ended up beating Tsukasa (Lucky Star) AND Fuuko (CLANNAD). I think my prediction was off because I am a Lucky Star and CLANNAD fan, but also because their vote totals were propped up in the first round by their matches, as well as Mio's match, being on the same day.

Isumi (Hayate) got through against Nagi (Kannagi). This branch had really skewed voting, with the Round 3 match having votes in the 400 range, but the previous rounds having 500 and 600 votes. As a reminder, this is the branch with Kana Minami (Minami-ke), Mio (K-On!) and Konata (Lucky Star).

Kana (Saki) looks to win this one too with 713 vs Isumi's 475 in Round 3.

Block C

Louise (Zero no Tsukaima) triumphed in a tough battle with Hisa Takei (Saki), however there is still another Saki character on the other side for the finals match, Momoko Touyoko (Saki). Momoko didn't have it easy either, with a real threat from Kyou (CLANNAD) but prevailing with a comfortable margin. Mion (Higurashi) did well, but just couldn't match Lousie. This final looks to be an epic one, with Round 3 votes at 784 for Louise and 770 for Momoko.

Block D

Amu Hinamori (Shugo Chara!) is a weird one. After defeating Ui (K-On!) in the first round, she scored only 336 in Round 2 but then pulled out a 655 to defeat Komoe Tsukuyomi (Index) who was on 546. Hanyuu (Higurashi) made a good effort (566) but was no match for Koromo Amae (Saki) with 792. Looks like another Saki finalist.

Block E

Yui (K-On!) had a high profile Round 2 match, defeating Rika Furude (Higurashi) 836 to 773. No doubt many of those votes were by the Hayate faction trying to knock Yui out. In the most epic match of the tournament Yui defeated Hinagiku (Hayate) with championship level votes, 953 to 935. There's the grand final right there. My favourite character Ayumu Nishizawa (Hayate) did well but was out-voted convincingly by Minori Kushieda (Toradora!) 866 to 656.

Block F

In another blow for Hayate fans, Maria (Hayate) was defeated by Taiga Aisaka (Toradora!) with 725 against 850, although this was somewhat expected. There is no denying Taiga's strength, however she is up against Azusa (K-On!), who defeated a tough opponent, Nagisa (CLANNAD), 885 to 723.

Block G

Eruru (Utawarerumono) had a strange draw, drawing with Haruhi (Haruhi) 434 votes apiece in Round 2 and then subsequently beating Haruhi and Yuki Nagato (Haruhi) 534 to 149 to 397, with the Haruhi characters suffering from split votes. On the other side of the draw, Mihoko Fukuji (Saki) dominated, defeating Misaka (Index) 683 to 599 and then Ritsu (K-On!) and Ushio (CLANNAD) 787 to 445 and 345. This was odd too, having Ritsu and Ushio draw, and then having a split vote for any KyoAni fan.

Block H

With Nagi (Hayate) being Hayate's last hope, she trumped Saki (Saki) 889 to 770. But surprise, surprise, Nodoka Haramura (Saki) is on the other side with a score of 741.

Final Eight

Saki. They look to win half the matches, A, B, D and G, with tough battles in Block C and H. Block E and F are coincidentally both K-On!-Toradora! matches. K-On! looks to have a slight advantage, but they will be very close, battling for the remaining two places in the final eight. Go Yui and Azu-nyan!!!

Getting the numbers into the final eight doesn't mean Saki will win however, since all of the final eight have the strength to beat any other of the eight. It is still quite an achievement though and anywhere in the top eight will be remembered in history.