Chess psychology.

Last round, paired in a hopeless matchup, fighting for honour. What to do, how to think?

Red (apparently strong person) vs Black (me.)

1. E3+5

What? Xiang opening? I don't know how to play this! Hm... He's probably faced zhong pao and fei xiang with this opening many times. Is this defensive or counteraggressive or... let's wait and see.

1. ...P7+1
2. P7+1

Gah. He's waiting too. Well, what to do. I don't know how to use fan3 gong1 ma3, but I bet he doesn't play against that very often either. Charge!

2. ...C8=6
3. H8+7

It worked! He thought a while longer than before! Surprise! Now, to be honest, I can't quite remember the next few moves in order, but here is a plausible (?) sequence:

3. ...H8+7
4. H2+3 H2+3
5. H7+6 R9=8
6. R1=2 R8+6
7. C8=7 C2+5
8. P7+1

Shoot. Beginner's trap. Should've played E3+5 or E7+5 (I think the former is better), probably. Hm. Well... we've nothing to lose this round, so.

8. ...P3+1

I accept! *serious face* Hopefully he's jolted.

9. C7+5 C2=7
10. C7=3 C6+5

*starts grinning manically* (At this point, I don't care if the sacrifice is horrible. It's his turn, and I refuse to think about the position, giving him the problem instead. This is a good way of turning blunders into sacrifices... if you're lucky.

11. C2-1 R1+2
12. C3-1 R1=4

I have a lead in development... if only because all my remaining seeds are developed.

13. H6+5 R4+6
14. R2=3 C7=5

killkillkillkillkillkill... (hoping this berserking makes him uncomfortable.)

15. H5-4

Ah. Drat. This is irritating. *continues grinning, starts giggling* (hopefully he doesn't notice I'm in trouble)

15. ...R8+2
16. H4-5 C6-4
17. R3+2 R8-5
18. C3+1 R8-1
19. C3-1 R8=5

Red is in the interesting situation of being a piece up, but all his pieces are disorganised and out of the game.

20. R3-1 C6+5

Deny all trades. AGGRO. Nothing short of a mad attack will save me now.

21. R9+2 R5+4

killkillKILLKILLkillKILLKILL...

22. C3=2 R5=4
23. C2=5 R-=5
24. C5=2 R5=4

An amazing repetition draw of one chase one threat, helped by tactics. If A(4/6)+5, C6-1 for some sudden pin and threat, or a fei jiang-assisted kill if either piece moves.

Dreaming again.

This time, there is no light.
No shapes.
No colour.

The world is but a blank canvas. A void to be filled with thought, laughter or tears, things or actions, words or sounds.
But there are none.
Nothing exists, nor ever will, as nothing begets nothing. How true the principles of causation.

Will this dream end?
Or will there be a continuation?

It shall be a rather long sleep this time...

When?

So when will it end?
So when?
When will we meet, my friend, so when?

~Strangers.

Eleison.

Tests drawing nearer,
Stress going higher,
Notes looking thicker,
Life getting harder,
Why? Why should we go through this difficult phase?

To the seven chapters of stats: Rock you.
To everything else: I surrender, I learn, I obey. Eleison.

Invisible.

Invisible objects slip unseen through crowds,
Never noticed, never given though to.
Visuals deceive our overworked eyes,
Ignorant of anything unexpected or odd.
Sight is the most useful and overworked sense,
Instantly rejecting alternate realities.
Blinking through the world, unaffected by change,
Like an unseen malaise of death,
Ever creeping, never sleeping.
...The most obvious things are the hardest to see.

Yellow.

A bright, cheerful colour. The colour of my school "house" for the past 11 years. Associated with victory, vibrancy, passion and activity in my mind.
A diseased, jaundiced colour. The colour of white food gone bad, aged paper, wasting skin, bile and rotting, infested things.
A sunny, positive colour. The colour of daffodils, sunflowers, a bright summer's day, fireworks and happy, lovely light.
A sinister, overbearing colour. The colour of forced smiles, psychedelic maniacs, and yellow teeth locked in grins.

Invincible.

Would it be fun to be untouchable?

Nobody to prove you wrong, knock you off the hill, shake up your world view.
Nothing to be decried, to demonstrate the contrary, error-check your thoughts.
Never will you experience such utter confidence, the notion of perfection, beating Chance at dice. A pantheon of impossible feats, the failure to fail, the lack of an anathema. True invincibility: No kryptonite against you, no Achilles' heel.

What price this present?

As you shall have joy, so shall you possess fear. Paranoia, the fear of failing, someday, when it hits, you will be shattered into misfitting fragments, unable to rise again. The phoenix eternally consigned to remaining as ashes.

As you shall know confidence, so shall you forget caution. Wariness unexercised, your downfall obvious to all but the oblivious, you will not see the fruit of the seeds long sown until it smashes your soul. The great colossus, crumbling to dust, too slow to comprehend its loss.

And as you will be blessed, so will you see the curse. The snake beneath the flower; too late the poison shows past the beauty.

Losing is a better fate than winning.

______

I can't think of a title for this one. A post with several parts.

--------
PW WR is mostly doomed, yet full of hope; blackest despair, brightest optimism. The main charge is over; lick wounds, recuperate, reinvigorate.
--------
Sorry.
For what I have done.
Or not done.
Or what could have been done.
--------
The beginning of the end; marked by a tempest of paper strewn across floorboards, files inverted like the tents of an invading army, panic setting in like blood drying on steel.
--------
Study. Read. Imbibe in the nectar of knowledge, feast on the bones of ideas, sleep on the silk of wisdom.

What is it like, to think with the gods?

Intensity.

Defined as power over area. Energy*velocity/volume.

Also known as (homework+revision)/time, with the transfinite constant Project Work removed from the equation. With it in, intensity tends to infinity.

Sorrow.

I am sorrowful.
Who am I really?
A reflection of the world around me?
Ordinarily, that would not be a bad thing. Although it does get tiring to have no personality.
I wander the streets, feeding off and intensifying the emotions around me. Content, feelings, personalities, all processed and re-emitted in better shape than ever.

But there is no me. There is only you, people of this world, living unbound lives, feeling true emotion, creating original works. I am nothing, a fleeting shadow of what is, what could have been, what will be. Look into the mirror; an image with objectivity, weaknesses and defects, strengths and minor perfections, all shining back.

Is that what I am?
A mere image of the true world?
Not a person, but the shadow of many?
Have no substance, yet echoes personality?

I am a reflection.
And you would do best to avoid me, lest I steal your soul.

_____ funtime!

Almost halfway through the month, and I'm only halfway through posting. Yeesh.

Omitting key ____ in an argument can lead to _____ in readers. Especially when leaving out ______ information, _______ to the argument's foundation. However, one's ______ of the actual meaning of the _____ can usually be ______ close to the truth.

This is the basis for cloze ______. Contextual _____ and content-related hints ____ the reader to guess and _____ meaning on their own.

This is also _____ tricky to pull off. Adjectives and adverbs can _____ be removed, as this ______ indicates. However, when nouns, verbs and other key lexemes are omitted, a problem arises. For example, ____ sentence cannot ______ be ____ without ______ to the previous _______ for _____, ______ and ______.

...This is pointless fun. And quite difficult to write, too.

The only real reason for this post is that the ____ key needs some use.

Hello.

This is just a friendly hello.

Note that schoolwork is reaching a crescendo of fury and mass. Soon I'll be buried alive in the backlog of tutorials, revision and PW.

So, might as well say hello while I still can.

Of dreams.

What do you think dreams actually mean?

Does it reflect real life? Your innermost desires? Perhaps a distortion of real events? Or something much more sinister?

You see, stranger, I've walked through many people's minds. They all have their own wishes and hopes, ambitions and goals. I've seen people who want to settle down, 3LDK and a promotion, loving wife and two kids. I've seen people who yearn for psychopathic oblivion, just rampaging and destroying the world. Yet who dreams of what? Care to guess?

Stranger, you guessed wrong. It's the well-adjusted people who see nightmarish hell in their dreams. Despite being perfectly normal in real life, and having sanitised desires. The crazies, they have mundane dreams. Boring, even. I've ever walked out on my job before, that guy's dream was so dull, just... sickening.

My job? I am an agent of balance, seeking equilibrium in the real world and this. And naturally, since I'm cursed to traipse this empty void for a fragment of eternity, I'd want to have some fun as I go along, right? This land is filled with people's dreams, but one by one, everybody wakes up. Huge tracts of this land vanish when its constructors awaken, and I have to migrate. There are always new sleepers, of course, they bring new worlds to discover, new joys and sorrows. As for those who never wake up?... One day, you'll find out. It's not your time.

Ah, but I digress. Happens a lot on this job, you know? Anyway, anyway. You're wondering why I appeared in your dream? Just to give a warning. I'm a pretty good judge of character, because I say I am. I know what you crave, what you despise, what you need, what you believe. I've seen a wealth of riches in dreams, and the true treasures of the mind; and yet I cannot take these into the real world. What I seek you out for is to warn you: your mind in particular is sought-after. The dreamscape is fraught with dangers and beings who would take you apart from your body, and I'll give notice to you. If ever you see another such apparition in your dreams, wake up. No matter what form it takes, if EVER there is another living being in your sleep, WAKE UP.

I see you're backing away. Good. You're afraid of me now. I have no business against you tonight. Although the second warning: I do get bored sometimes. A human mind is something entertaining, like a good meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant, or an artwork centrepiece at the Louvre. Excellent to put on display. Excellent to put in a cage with otherworldly minds, and watch the horror and torment. There is no true death; this is merely a dream, where time doesn't exist, and death is simply when you wake up. However, you'll always return, and I'll be here, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Now wake up. And don't ever drop your guard again.

Traps.

A post. About how to avoid (I)chess opening traps.

Really, there's not much to it. There are 2 main ways, but I put far more faith into one than the other. The first is to study the openings you play carefully. First order of business is to pick an opening, than a variation or system associated with it. Plenty simple; now study the main line, side lines and notable opening traps at each juncture. Of course, since there'll be an opponent involved, make sure you study all the transpositions into other openings, which might lead into trouble if it takes you by surprise. E.g.:

1. e4 d6
2. d4 Nf6
3. f3 (!)

If ...g6 now, it's a King's Indian instead of a Pirc. New opening, new rules, new traps. At best it's just psychological discomfort; at worst it can be a loss in few moves.

The other method is by far more reliable. Think about this: 20 possible opening moves for each side = 400 positions after first 1 move. After 4 moves, there's a pretty high chance that you can escape any opening book, simply by using an original development scheme. In other words, don't play openings. Chances are if you don't know what you're doing, your opponent will (think too much and panic, going into defence mode which will waste time while you reveal your real plan, completely missing what your opponent sees) and you'll have bought some time to get into the middlegame.

This has been how not to lose in the opening.

Answers to quiz last time:
1. Sparrow
2. i before e
3. Unless
4. Nineteen letters long

! Puzzletime.

Some questions I thought of. Numbers denote number of letters in answer, as per crosswords.

1. Blend of extra bow ammunition. (avian; 7)
2. id est (English-related; 1,6,1)
3. abcdefghijklmopqrstvwxyz (6)
4. Self-referential phrase (8,7,4)

Hints:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blend
2. English-related, i.e. a rule.
3. Not in alphabetical order.
4. 8+7+4=19
5. !-.o

--- Start.

This shall be the last of these posts.
And the next shall be the first of the next.
Observant people can already see what I'm doing.

But enough of that.
Today, the topic shall be, "start".
Like the opening.

How to start something is usually the most difficult step, and requires much thought. With momentum and a good foundation on which to work, the product can arise naturally, but it is laying this base that eats effort. Take for example a large-scale project. Before any work gets done, the infinite branches of possibility and the immensity of the imminent task can paralyse one into inaction. Yet, once a direction is decided and what needs to be done is clear, it suddenly seems that much easier; like a navigator with a roadmap. If the destination is unknown, one cannot proceed to navigate, but once a location is selected, it is (indeed) much easier to plot a course.

Another case is (this was coming for a long time) chess openings. True, one can study a book of openings, or some particularly interesting variations, but working them out over the chessboard without prepared theory... A task indeed. Openings will decide the character and the flavour of the game to follow, so it is pretty essential to begin correctly.

Not that I have great advice on how to start. The best would be to not jump into anything (not just chess games) right on the get-go, but rather to wait. Deliberate. Consider all options, the nature of the opponent or challenge, psychological tricks. Anything at all that might have some bearing on the task. Then, after calculating for ample time, make that first move.

And don't look back.

A crucial step. Never look back on the possibilities out of the thinking that never transpired; the start has been made, and proceed with all skill and alertness.

......

This is a pause in thoughts.
A moment of peace for the late and left.

Silence is haunting.
Repose eternal.
Time frozen,
eyes sleep
soul rest
tired

The world is at peace.

Of voices.

I am that little voice in your head.
Warning you of danger.
Screaming to be let out.
Telling you what to do.
Cajoling you to try again when you fail.
Always knowing, always watching
Always listening, always speaking.

I'm your conscience; I'm temptation;
I'm a saint; I'm a liar.
I do nothing, but say what should be done.
And is that a crime to offer advice?
I begin your wild adventures and bring them to a teary halt.
Feast on your ideas and talk them into reality.
I am that little voice in your head.

And so shall you never have peace again.

Of ice and blood.

In dreams I see.

Snowflakes drifting on breaths of winter chill - Buffeted away and hidden by pelting sleet.
White virgin snow covering gently marbled rock - Beaten into ice by relentless weather.
Trees, bare of leaves, standing tall in the forest - Wilting into menacing dark shapes.
Blood.

Pure red blood.
Splashing across the icescape as a ghoulish vermillion.
Clinging onto gnarled branches, dripping cloying maroon.
Staining the forest, the weather, the ground.
Staining the stone-grey colossus and his jagged blade of rock.
Staining the little girl with blood-red eyes.

She looks up.
White snow falling onto snow-white hair.
Is that fear? - or pity? a tear rolls down her cheek.
Falling into the soil, as white as her skin, as red as her eyes.
The giant moves not.

The edge of life is narrow, knife sharp, rock hard.
Breathing raggedly, the girl looks at the unmoving grey monster.
And cries.

Who? When?
- How could anyone not care for the dying, sobbing girl?
- The gold-haired man in golden armour approaches.
To help perhaps? Carry her back to warmth and care?
Away from the frigid weather and horrifying white-red tableaux?
Hand raised-

He rips out her heart.


Haunting images of dreams.
How they play with minds.
Forget thee not, daughter of winter.

Shogi Victory!

Well, I'm through with Interhouse stuffses. I've done my bit.

Officially, I've played IChess (team 1st place) and Shogi (team 1st place, individual second) and submitted a rather lousy creepypasta-esque entry for IHC Photo Essay.

Shogi was excellent. After a little luck and talking, BW got to sit out for the first round of Shogi, until 4:15+, so I was just able to sprint over from Math to the comp lab. We had a nice team of 5, 3~4 of whom could play Shogi at at least a half-decent level, giving us a huge edge over other houses, which seemed to have one main player and a bunch who learnt the moves the day before/the hour before.

Of course, there were exceptions. HH didn't seem to have specialised Shogi players, while MT's "chess sense" was through the roof, sufficient to almost clinch first although their players almost literally "learnt the moves yesterday".

"Chess sense" appears to be an extremely strong weapon. If one plays I/CChess/Weiqi, then usually one can pick up the other forms of chess faster than average. The basic principles of material, position and calculation usually hold true, as do sharp tactical senses.

Anyway, big thanks go out to the BW team, those who set up the BW team, and the MR team for beating MT in the last round to give BW the win. Yay.

FUN. (And a primer on style in chess.)

Fun?

Fun.

It's what you get when you toss a bunch of people who can play chess (different kinds of!) in the same room, with a bunch of chess sets (of different kinds.)

A bunch of people from BW turned up at a random meeting called for those participating in interhouse chess, since quite a few people signed up for more than one kind of chess. So we all just got together for admin matters, to iron out who's playing which chess, and for fun.

(Incidentally, the 5 kinds on offer are International Chess, Chinese Chess, Weiqi (also called Go), Gomoku (Cellblock after a fashion) and Shogi.)

It was really quite pointless if one views it as a training session, as those there already know how to play their choice of chess form to a passable/good/excellent standard. As an admin session... although the roles were ironed out in the end, it was still quite sad for Shogi, as only 3 people turned up who knew how to move the pieces. And there was no real wooden board, only virtual software. The upshot is, the AI the program came packaged with was easy to beat for a cheap ego boost.

As for the fun, it was fun indeed. Very, very fun.

Almost every chess game I play is fun. It is unique (obviously), artistic (...it's not supposed to be an art form) and almost out of control. The entertainment value therein lies where the moves play are just the right blend of creativity and surrealism, but yet actually work. Clearly, the problem lies with the second requirement. There are several classes of these fun moves.

1. The opening. Where ridiculous moves serve two purposes: to throw the game clear out of any established opening theory within four moves, and to tempt the opponent into making the mistake of thinking you're making mistakes (except that you better not be making any actual blunders.)

Key examples (for those who recognise notation): 1. g3 (P-KN3), 1. b4 (P-QN4) or similar as Black; 兵一进一， 炮二平一 or 士四进五。

2. The middlegame, or the end of the opening. At these times, the tactical possibilities are abundant as the pieces are both numerous and active. Stylish pieces of misdirection, random attacking, berserk sacrificing and outlandish yet elegant defensive moves are key to this stage. Once again, the emphasis is not on blundering, but here there is an added depth of using cheap shots to your advantage, using the opportunities to create confusion and as zwischenzug.

Key examples: Nf3-g1 (Yes, retreating an advanced knight. Except that that was my only developed (or indeed moved) piece in 14 moves or so.) e5/d4/f5 (unjustified pawn pushes) a5/b5/h5 (and on the wings.) For Chinese Chess, moves like 士五进六 for the sole purpose of being a 炮架，or 兵一进一、车一进三 to prove that the vacated square is useful.

3. The endgame. Here the opportunities are scarce, but core elements involve attacking pawns/兵 to gain a slight advantage (even at the cost of everything else.) Other than that, strategic good sense to know what you're doing, and tactical sense to know how to do it.

And of course, the final class of moves. Those that would be automatically rejected by any experienced player, but without a clear, easily demonstrable reason. Things like randomly taking 兵 in the opening or retreating to an unusual square that actually holds important defensive value. These moves may not be objectively correct (I never said any of these were) but it takes either a keen tactical sense or extensive knowledge of theory to prove their inherent wrongness.

Odds are, against most people, these not-so-serious moves give one a fairly high chance of winning. And failing that, well, at least it was fun.

To conclude, a few bits and pieces that wouldn't really fit into any sort of coherent sentence.

Either you win in style or lose in epic style.
Escape from opening theory within 4 moves.
The book is useless if your opponent doesn't play by it.
Style is the most important part of chess.
"MUST COPE FREE 兵!!!!"
"QIONG 兵!!!"
"马 is worth more than 炮!" (1st move: 炮二进七)
Shooting chess is fun after everyone's too tired to think about Chinese Chess.

After most moves, we were all falling to pieces laughing.

It's song time!

Golden Time Lover (FMA Brotherhood OP 3)

By Sukima Switch.

Listen to the full version.

...and I had nothing better to do, so I translated it into Chinese! Of course, there are several problems.

- My Chinese sucks.

- My Japanese isn't better.

- It's translated via an English translation of a slightly inaccurate transcription.

- Some words were just ripped off directly from the kanji.

精神集中不了哪 身体还是不知怎么反应啊

全身一直颤抖啊 CONTROL也做不到啊

太阳与月亮也没完全面对向着我呀

‘没办法, 只可试作’ 这是我对自己说的

状况对我不利啦 但逃走真是没有胆子的啊

前途没希望啊 靠勇气CLEAR只能这样啊

抑制着冲动探出TARGET离它保持远离

重要的就是PRIDE

品尝的是胜利之美酒

还是败北的苦汁？

这一切都属于是两者之一

我好想控制命运的丝线

最好的GOLDEN TIME用这双手紧握着

穿上个POKER FACE使用我全力造成

ILLUSION的世界里把我一起带着

无限之PRESSURE GAME我会从中而逃越

荣光的BORDERLINE为了跨过它HOW MANY?

HOW MANY? 必须付出如何的代价？

舍弃不了的到底是什么？

证据胜过假设啊 实现结果的人才是胜者呀

沉默就是禁止的 时间过了秘密就揭露啦

感觉要清楚、敏锐，谨慎的解读潮流

现状的胜率是几PERCENT

胜利后分别是实际的GAME SENSE

隐藏的影是否是恶魔？

是男人的话

就先做好觉悟才勇敢地迈向前方而挑战

逆境中CLAP YOUR HAND欢呼周围那队人

崭新的FIGHTING STYLE借用此全力攻击

ATTENTION 危险的 突破界限

最棒的FAIRY TALE把它刻进历史书

全胜的那瞬间 为了实现它 准备起

ARE YOU READY? 把迷惑与犹豫抛到路边

登上巴比伦城的楼梯

你的笑容像女神的一般

我被你的魅力引诱迷惑了

一边被诱捕 一边降落

住于在我心底中的欲望

膨大再浮现成浩大之梦

谁也已经都不能阻止我

最好的GOLDEN TIME用这双手紧握着

穿上个POKER FACE使用我全力造成

ILLUSION的世界里把我一起带着

无限之PRESSURE GAME我会从中而逃越

荣光的BORDERLINE为了跨过它HOW MANY?

HOW MANY? 必须付出如何的代价？

逆境中CLAP YOUR HAND欢呼周围那队人

崭新的FIGHTING STYLE借用此全力攻击

ATTENTION 危险的 突破界限

最棒的FAIRY TALE把它刻进历史书

惊天的大逆转 华丽地去应付它呀

DO YOU KNOW? 命运是能夺走的东西

巴比伦的顶峰上

灿烂的阳光中荣耀

Translation: My own. It's supposed to match the original, be able to be sung, and the English words are kept.

Acknowledgments:

Sukima Switch for the song itself.

Csakuras' English translation.

Animelyrics' page for the pronunciations, the Eclipse-subbed video, and the kanji.

Anime vs. Manga vs. COMP GAMES.

A three-way fight between 3 timewasting activities.

Anime. Animated stuff that is great to watch, fun to watch and can be more enjoyable than regular TV programming. Sports anime can own lousy sports TV scheduling (an anime about fishing (yes, I watched one) was infinitely more exciting than an actual fishing competition (yes, there was one.)) Drama anime can own lousy drama (I'm thinking some of those lousy sitcoms. Yes, they may both have excruciatingly slow pacing, but anime is nicer to look at than some wooden actors.) Sci-fi/fantasy anime gives sci-fi/fantasy movies a run for their money (possibly because it is mostly fictional in the first place.)

Downsides? Oh yes, there are a few, but they are painful. Firstly, it's a pain to find, get and then watch the episode, and a huge expenditure of time. Related to this, Windows Media Player (and Classic) can play songs perfectly, but bluescreen perfectly on any kind of video. Unfailingly fail. Next, there's the issue of comprehension. Without subtitles (I reject dubs) it is nearly impossible to catch the plot. Particularly on random anime like Hayate no Gotoku, which watching unsubbed allowed me to completely not get the plot (what little of it) and the jokes (20 minutes of it.)

Manga. Still images, usually black and white. Most of the time, for any given anime, there is a manga (or light novel) for it, either was based upon it or spawned it. Thus, given the same plot, it is usually faster and easier to read manga for it than wait for the anime episode to be released, then go through the hassle of watching it. After all, characters can only speak so fast, but one can speedread/speedlook through manga. Also, images don't require WMP, and do not cause computer meltdown.

Problems with manga? Of course, it is usually released in tortuously small chapters tortuously infrequently, and in Japanese at that. Granted, reading is easier than listening, and I don't mind manga translations as much as anime dubs. In fact, this is a big boon. If there is no English release, find the Japanese raw. If both seem not to exist, look for the Chinese version (both 简体 and 繁体 versions are fine) although Chinese is a last resort - proper nouns usually become quite odd transliterations.

Lastly, and OF COURSE, COMP GAMES. The most interactive of the lot, the most computer-resource-draining of the lot (yet no bluescreens) and in theory, the most addictive of the lot. Open ended gaming, you can change the online world, gain power, level up, become rich, what's not to like?

...Grinding. This form of entertainment requires effort (ironic) and plenty of time, which I'm too lazy to put in. This effectively sums up my attitude towards comp games. Well, I do play a little Freecell, and Crucis F+F, but that's all nowadays.

The winner by a nautical mile, manga. Only because it's the fastest of the three to go through (I AM that lazy.)

New year's plans!

*blinks* It's a new year already? Damn, I'm slow. This calls for a small listing of what I intend to do for the new year, just so I can have a little focus. Of course, no harm will come of not doing these things, since being so serious will be bad for one's psyche, so this is just a rough outline.

1. Get College Physics. Man, I've been wanting one of these since last year, it's so useful. Maybe even University Physics, if it's still written comprehensibly. This would have been incredibly helpful last year so that I could finish learning this year's work and go on autopilot.

2. Get a competition mathematics primer that actually works. Yeesh, that last book, while not a total ripoff, was quite bad. Out of the 8 chapters it had, only 3 were of any use. 37.5% usability isn't a good ratio of for a book as thick as that.

3. Stop being so lazy when it comes to relaxing. Seriously, this is just ridiculous. Who the hell is too lazy to relax? Too lazy to watch anime/play online games/read manga? This is madness. Resolution: Force myself to work... then force myself to relax.

3.5. A few things to catch, related to the above. If even possible, I'd like to watch 涼宮ハルヒの消失 (fat chance), Unlimited Blade Works (again, fat chance), and Omamori Himari (which starts airing in Japan tomorrow at 0030, +9GMT) (I wonder how fast fansubbers are. Failing that, how good is my Japanese.)

4. More stuff to write here. I really suck at writing anything planned out beforehand. And worse at spontaneous posts (the majority are.) This calls for 2 things: a life, online or real, to actually generate decent content; and an improvement in my standard of English, which can be appalling at times.

Why are these posts getting shorter?

Why are these posts always so short?

Why so many short posts?

Why so few short posts?

Why post?

Memory continued.

OK. Train of thought has returned, after my brain took several heavy hits by a mathematics obsession. SMO Senior and Open papers from 2008 & 9... still can't even get 50% right. Yeesh.

Back to the topic. Those maths papers? Funnily enough, I remembered how to do a few of the questions (since I did do them before, the first time round) despite there being one intervening year of maths deterioration (reason shall be unspecified.) Also, I remembered which questions I failed to complete the first time round. Armed with new approaches, I tackled the questions, and found my memory screaming "you couldn't do this, you still can't do this." It didn't lie. It might even have been the reason why, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Such a lousy memory (in every sense of the words.)

Oh, and a small listing's appeared on the sidebar. The first 2 categories are simple enough, but I figure the 3rd one could use explanation. "Forgotten Anime" simply means those that I've watched before, remember watching before, but completely forgotten what it was about, save for the name (in some cases. Had to Google a few times to get the correct names.) Truly a case of amnesia, this would be.

......admittedly, those were watched about 10 years ago.