Moving back to Phoenix on Sunday.

Win ;ooooooooooooooooooo
Too happy to make a LJ post.

FUCKING. BEASTMASTER.

lolBurtgang


lolPLD


I wanted to post about my progression with Maat's Cap every now and then, but I've been far too lazy. So where am I now? All my jobs are 66 (and yes, I astral burned DRK and SMN a year ago and chigoe burned part of PLD and BST, so what).

At the moment, I'm frustrated with BST. Immensely. Everyone tells me it's one of the easiest ones and all the entries on wiki are written for 66 BST and insist they didn't have to rely on meds/2hour/reward...but I am 0/3 now, and it has been by far my most difficult fight (and I was purposely trying to leave the "easy" ones for last). In fact, the only other one that took me more than one attempt was RDM, and I got him to 24% the first time before sleep resisted and he Asuran'd me. If I had healed myself just one more time after Convert (was concerned about MP), I may have won. The second round, I resisted my first three sleeps and was ready to just use a Warp Scroll out of there to save myself the humiliation (I even told Kongming "Resisted three sleeps in a row" and he assumed I died). But I won. Easily.

BEASTMASTER? WELL FUCK. And I rarely cuss, so you know I mean it.

First try:
I read 2hour was unnecessary. And for whatever reason, I tend to conserve my 2hour if possible in these fights (so that I can do another or something, even though that reasoning is stupid since I have medicated status from Icarus Wing). I also didn't bring any pet food or use potions. Kongming was so sure I'd win, that he made a Nyzul shout even though the plan was if I died, he'd come raise me. I thought it'd be a breeze.

I went in, called Lifedrinker Lars. I slept myself to 100% TP, then sicced Lars on Maat. I then Rampaged Maat's fly, then switched to Maat, popped wing, Rampaged Maat. I then used Snarl and continued to melee Maat. He summoned another fly, so I switched to the fly. But Maat used Familiar and his fly ANNIHILATED me.

Second try:
I decided I might as well use 2hour, because in the last fight I doubt I would've won if I'd kept the fly on my pet. Lars was already near death and Maat was no where near. Kongming also suggested I use CC since its defense is high, and to leave the pet on him while I focus on Maat.
So I summoned CC, used Familiar, slept to 100% TP, sicced CC on Maat, Rampaged Maat, popped wing, Rampaged Maat again, then I TP'd. Except that during the whole fight CC did not hit Maat a single time, and I did not fare much better (I got 24% TP before my pet and I died). I'm not sure how far Maat got, but it wasn't close.

Third try:
This went much better, but my pet still dies too fast, even with Familiar (which makes no sense since others claim they didn't need at 66). I decided to combine both of the aforementioned strategies and only Rampage Maat's pet when he uses Familiar. Except it wasn't even necessary by chance (since sometimes pet randomly hits Maat's pet instead of Maat).
I used Lifedrinker Lars again, then Familiar'd. Slept to 100% TP, sicced Lars on Maat, Rampaged Maat, then TP'd. When he used Familiar on his rabbit, I switched target and popped my wing--but Lars killed the rabbit in just a few seconds. So I switched back to Maat. I saved my TP as Lars was about to die and Snarl wouldn't be up in time for the next pet if I used it after Rampage now. So I waited until Lars died, then called another one. But Maat called a tiger before I could do anything, so when I used Snarl the tiger was stuck on me. The tiger was hitting me pretty hard, so I rampaged it and killed it instantly. Even then, Lars was going down fast and Maat not quite as fast. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to melee Maat and help my pet, since Maat was already down to 30-35%. Except that after a single hit for 29 damage, Maat turned to me and killed me in one WS.

Fourth try in 30 minutes when 2hour is back up. I guess I'll try the third strategy, but with reward this time.




5...
SMN was easy; my avatar didn't even die


4...

Made that last post friends-only so Nick couldn't see. And he was on my friendlist all along.

/embarrassed.

Review of an iPad calculator app (just a very basic calculator, as iPad doesn't come with one):

"Ok I've been wanting a nice basic calculator for my iPad and I love the look of this particular one but the only thing missing is a percentage symbol. Please add the percentage symbol on the next update. You don't know how many people like myself like to calculate using percents when it comes to tipping, shopping for clothes, etc. I don't thnk there needs to be a Square Root or Square-Rooting unless your going to add a scientific portion to the app.

Thanks developers."



Edit:
and, of course, my response:

"I think you need to go back to school, assuming you've been in school before. Or perhaps you just haven't taken basic math classes yet nor learned to be observant or logical.

Pro tip for you and anyone like you: percentages are fractions, specifically fractions out of 100. Fractions can be translated into numbers followed by a decimal point followed by more numbers; this is incredibly simple when the fraction is out of 100 because our number system is base 10. All you need to do is place a decimal point two places towards the left. There is a decimal point included in this app. The only function of a % key is to MOVE THE DECIMAL POINT OF THE NUMBER YOU JUST ENTERED TWO PLACES TO THE LEFT (hey now...doesn't that sound familiar?). I hope that isn't too difficult for you to manage manually, because then I would truly be concerned.

Now, if you've just realized your mistake and what to change your review to five stars, that's fantastic, but if you're still struggling on the topic, here is an example:

You want to calculate the tip for your waiter, who served you a $10 hamburger. You want to tip him 15%. You type in 10 then * then DECIMAL 15. That is your tip. If you want to calculate total, type in 10 * 1.15. That's not a decimal after the 15, that's a period.

It gets a little more complicated when you want to calculate how much you're going to end up spending on your discount shoes. If they're $50 and 70% off, you first have to SUBTRACT 70 from 100. Are you still with me so far? Good. Then you multiply 50 * .3. This is how much you will spend on the shoes (of course, don't forget to multiply by tax, which is a percentage too! This will be a bonus question on next week's quiz).

Congratulations, you've just completed the first week of first grade math!

If any more of you people rate this app--which I honestly haven't even tried out yet myself--poorly because it's missing the most useless key on a calculator, then you're either lazy or have some serious issues.

Have a nice day!"



I couldn't help myself, even though I know no one will read this. It's just too fun. Sadly, I'm not sure Apple will approve my review.

.

I didn't actually plan to make it this red. I was expecting more of a dark auburn...but this is what I got instead! And I like it...

Too tired to write something up, but I'll just copy and paste the e-mail I just sent to my boss explaining the current situation:

Dear _____,

I thought things would look better after my nausea was subsided and I
started eating again, but my tonsillitis suddenly got very bad over
the weekend; my tonsils kept getting bigger and they even started to
bleed yesterday morning, which I'd never heard of in my research. I
was pretty scared. But luckily, I was able to find a community clinic
that could see me immediately, so I went yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday was a very, very bad day for me. I spent over four hours at
the clinic waiting around and getting tests taken and I could feel my
condition getting worse and worse by the minute.

The good news is that I am fairly certain it is a bacterial infection
rather than viral; the main difference is that viral tonsillitis,
which is the most common type, cannot be treated by any medication and
I would have had to wait for around two weeks for it to go away on its
own. I probably would have been in the ER if I had to wait another day
without treatment--it was progressing incredibly fast (my tonsils
didn't even start to swell until Thursday night, and I was unlucky to
have to wait the weekend since most clinics are closed on the
weekends, but I didn't think it'd be this bad by Monday).

They gave me a shot at the clinic and started me on several
antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medicine, and painkillers, and I am
going back this afternoon for a followup and possibly another shot if
I am "approved." After the first round of meds, I could almost
immediately tell that I felt a lot more comfortable (before, I
constantly felt like I was being choked). I had to wake up just a
while ago for a second round (hence being up at this time), and I
noticed in the mirror that my tonsils have already gone down and it's
much easier to swallow and breathe now. It is still a little painful
to swallow, though, but it seems my sinus infection is gone and it's
an overall improvement of my condition, so I am very happy at the
moment.

I apologize again for all of this. It may seem like I do not take my
health very seriously. I suppose, growing up, I was taught to wait any
sickness out at home in bed with lots and lots of soup or, better yet,
ignore it and go to school. On top of that, any time I complained to
my parents enough about something to warrant a doctor appointment, it
never ended up being anything definitive or serious. I was also very
concerned that if I ended up with some crazy ER bill, my parents would
force me to move back to Phoenix, where I'd get stuck being dependent
on them again.

Well, I am going to go back to sleep now. I have to wake up early for
another round of meds and I expect to wake up feeling even better. If
I have the time, I will update you again in the morning and/or after
my second appointment. Assuming all goes well, I believe the doctor is
expecting me to be better in ten days. We are still waiting on the
results of the culture samples and blood test though, so I'll just
have to hope for now that there are no further complications to this
sickness.



Thank you for all the concern,
Shandra





I can honestly say that I expected to pass out and be rushed to the ER any moment yesterday, and I knew for a fact that if the meds didn't have any positive effect, I'd have to go to the ER by the next morning if not that very night. I kept pulling at the skin of my throat instinctively because I thought I was suffocating; I could barely swallow even water (thankfully, my dry mouth/throat problem mysteriously disappeared by Sunday night); I couldn't, and still can't, talk; I kept getting sudden "chills" in my throat, followed by uncontrollable salivation (I couldn't stop it at all, basically it was almost like drool, but in large, large amounts that I needed to hover over a sink for); and I kept spitting up blood. I even cried in front of the doctor at the thought of having to go through this discomfort any minute longer (especially not being able to get an quality sleep). I was embarrassed, but I think it turned out to be a good thing because she gave me a box of "expensive anti-inflammatory" pills and told me to hide it in my pocket and not let anyone there see I had them. She was really nice and really concerned. I <3 you, whatever your name was (sorry, I blame my short attention span).


I wish I had brought my camera with me so I could gross you guys out (I'm currently staying with a friend and his family and left most of my stuff at my apartment). Even I'm pretty bothered by the sight of my own tonsils, and if you know me, you know that it takes a lot to gross me out (let's just say being a medical examiner is my dream job and I love looking at the gore threads on /b/; and those two may or may not be related). I can't even find any pictures of tonsillitis that looks like mine but just take this picture for a second:



and imagine the right tonsil is entirely covered in the white stuff (which is pus underneath the membrane). Then imagine there's a large patch of dark blood on top of that and that the texture looks as if someone hacked away at my tonsils with a fork like they were trying to fluff up some couscous. The left tonsil is pretty close to mine size-wise (mine might be a little bigger), but it doesn't have any white patches on it, it's just a very dark red color (not as dark as the bloody one) and it looks as if there's tonsils on top of my tonsils (like if you take a bunch of marbles and glue them together or something). It's not really the size of the left one that bothers me as much as the bloodied up right one, though--and believe me, it looks even more disgusting than I can even describe... It's like if you take rotting mayonnaise (which I'm not even sure can rot), and then add some rotting ketchup (which I'm pretty sure can't rot because I let a cup of ketchup in my room for a year before and all it did was harden) that's growing some green-brown fungus on top of it. And then make a rough-mountain-terrain texture out of it and let it harden. That's the closest I can get to describing it for now.

Even the nurse let out of "Wha-WHOA omg" when she saw my tonsils, and I turned to her and pointed at her and said in my funny "potato voice" (which is the official name for it--basically it sounds like I'm talking with a bunch of potatoes in my mouth, since my tonsils are blocking my tongue) "Don't you dare even say anything. I know. It looks horrible. I can't even get the image out of my head." I haven't even shown my tonsils to anyone except the nurse and the doctor because I didn't want to gross Ronnie's family out or make them overly concerned about me. I don't even think I told them my tonsils were bleeding @_@

Anyway, I hope I thoroughly disgusted you and/or ruined your meal, because that'd be really funny. Especially if you're eating mayo or ketchup :3