Jul 12, 11:15 am
11:00 AM - Its Saturday morning and here we are at MLG Orlando. In a dark ballroom, lit only by the monitors and tv’s displaying this year’s most competitive 360 titles, hundreds of people prepare for virtual battle. We’re waiting for our turn to sit down and shoot our first bullet of the day. I’m in the zone - the kind of focused adrenaline that sets apart assassins from civilians. Okay, well, maybe I am being a LITTLE dramatic. But no less, we’re couting down to round one. FD, how do you feel?
Psyche - I am feeling pretty good right now. I got a good amount of sleep so I should have energy to frag all day. Go FD!
Brookelyn -I’m waiting in line to get LAN play in before the tournament, but am disappointed to see there are only 4 stations dedicated to Rainbow. It’s going to be a long day!!!
Valkyrie - Woot, I’m going to roll some noobs in a few minutes. Be glad it’s not you I’m going to make cry…
***
1:30 PM - We’ve played 2 teams so far in warm-up (Lost one, won one). But now that Rhoulette is here, we’ve got all of our pieces in place. It’s only a matter of time (very, very little time) until zero hour, so the pressure is on. Remember, Pyra, breathe deep and visualize the kill.
Reporting in from the front,
Pyra
Jul 01, 1:44 pm
I rolled out of bed at 6:30 in the morning on Wednesday and drove to work on my day off. The powers-that-be decided to schedule a meeting on my only day of freedom! But no less, I showed up for duty right on time. About two months ago, all of the Pharmacy Technicians at my workplace were given an employee profile to complete online. It was a personality test presented as a wide array of questions (personal, situational, math, vocabulary, etc). We knew the test would be utilized by our company for some greater purpose, but nothing happened with it for such a long time that it was no longer a concern. But hump day bumped the issue to the surface. A rep from the company that does the performance analysis (a.k.a. Performisys) was here to hand-deliver our results. My fancy, custom-bound “Confidential Report” had never been opened and I would be the first person to lay eyes on the results! After reading it through with some backbone information provided by the rep, I got some great insight into how I tick. (On these scales, which are 1 to 10, either extreme will have its strengths and weaknesses. A 10 isn’t necessarily better than a 1.) Here are some of the more predominant scores from the list:
Learning Index : 9 out of 10
Strong capacity to adapt quickly in a learning situation.
Typically finds it easy to learn the requirements of a new job.
Numeric Ability : 9 out of 10
Quick in mentally determining mathematical solutions to problems.
Demonstrates a sound understanding of mathematical processes.
Numeric Reasoning: 10 out of 10
Demonstrates little difficulty in assimilating new information of a numerical nature.
Can process numerical data to reach conclusions or understand inferences.
Assertiveness : 4 out of 10
Low need to control others and very diplomatic.
Attitude : 9 out of 10
Optimistic, Relaxed Social Style and Trusting.
The kind of person who immediately gives trust but won’t give it back when its broken.**
**A low attitude score would be skeptical and only give trust where its earned.)
Independence : 2 out of 10
Cautious and reserved; May seek support or supervision often
Objective Judgement : 8 out of 10
Will tend to trust observable facts in their thinking process.
Comfortable with a logical approach.
Accommodating : 9 out of 10
Holds societal norms and self-control as important guides for behavior.
Cooperative; likes harmony within a group
I mulled over all of these key points in my profile and applied it to how I work with others. In doing so, I realized I could also use this in my other social settings. Even though I already knew these things about myself, I always ignored it. So now that it is in writing, its unavoidable. Because of my personality, I tend to leave a lot of things unsaid around people who are on the opposite side of these scales. But meeting them half way will solve a lot of communication issues and hopefully result in amazing relationships. Stepping outside of my norm will be awkward, but rewarding. I guess rolling out of bed with the sunrise wasn’t such a bad deal after all.
Jun 11, 5:10 pm
Do you remember that trip I went on back in December? That oh-so-wonderful trip to Lala Land (a.k.a. Europe) was about 6 months ago. Well, believe it or not, I didn’t use my computer again until just NOW! How how how did I go half a year without my beefy little machine!?! As soon as I got back into the states, I went to CES for a week. Then, as soon as I got back to Dallas, I moved in with my dad ... who, by the way, doesn’t have internet or cable and doesn’t use his AC! Bless his heart, he even has a laptop but uses it as a paperweight. Talk about old-fashioned! Then, I moved into the apartment I’m in now and got insanely swept up with work and training for MLG that I never bothered to buy a new desk. Because of that, I never used my PC. If it weren’t for my Dell laptop (thank you FD), then I would be lifeless. Anyway, with my weekend off, I decided to set up my new desk. I call it my “Gaming Corner.” With my new DVI cable plugged into my PC and my VGA into my Xbox 360, I can switch between the 2 with one button. Now I can play FFXI and R6V2 at the same time (I mean, I can write my blogs and play R6V2 at the same time). Ummm. What? Whatever. My PC is back to life and I can’t stop squealing!
The icing on the cake: I just cracked open my new Razer Barracuda headphones and they are SHWEET. The bright blue light looks so pretty in the dark.
Downside: I keep trying to use my keyboard as a touchpad. I’m learning how to use a mouse all over again. Six months without one put me into a funk.
Jun 03, 1:30 pm
There are sooooo many bases you gotta cover before stepping into a match. Not only do you need a solid foundation of knowledge of the maps, strats, physics and your teammates’ play-styles...you also need to think quickly, adjust to the opponents’ moves, communicate what you see going on, and make sure that no environmental distractions are taking away from your focus. As I am working through all of these aspects of competition, I want to share with you my efforts to minimize my environmental disturbances.
1. Switched from playing on a tube TV to a smaller LCD.
2. Started using the tube TV to make noise while I play (to familiarize myself with background noise).*
* Thanks to Valkyrie for this tip!
3. Bought a new WIRED controller to break in before San Diego.
4. Went to the eye doc. Got 2 new pairs of glasses! (I can see everything now!)
5. Sitting on a folding chair instead of my bed during practice.
It’s been a while since my last team competition (Gears of War for PMS Clan at CPL Summer ‘07), so I am definitely feeling the pressure. But with my experience in the past few years, I have adjusted well to the demands of competition and tend to perform better at live events than online. Nonetheless, Pyra FD is about to be unleashed with a whole new team on a brand new game and SHE IS EXCITED!!! Less than 2 weeks to go…
The rediscovered contender,
Pyra
May 07, 11:30 pm
For a long time, my HTC was my best friend. He allowed me to organize my life with the simple click of a stylus. The Winbows 5.0 OS made me feel right at home and it had 3 alarms that helped wake my butt up every morning. But eventually newer, flashy versions were released and my guy started to look pretty drab. So I decided to kick him to the curb and make a change. Thanks to my Crackberry friend and roomate, Lady PMS, I am now addicted to my very own Blackberry Curve. *sigh* Yea, I know you’re jealous. Mwahaha. Okay, maybe not. But regardless of what you think of my new handheld pal, I am so psyched. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone would have been fun but I don’t think its worth half a grand. Anyway, with my new phone, I have constant feed to my emails and messengers, a cool trackball and GPS!!! Since tomorrow is my day off, I plan on getting some things done around the apartment and playing with my Blackberry. Personalize! Woo! Goodbye HTC, hello Curve! *hug*
