This is purely a post about my excursion activity to Megamall yesterday with two CS faculty members… pretty long, but pretty eventful. Practically saved the week from being a non-happening week…

Very dialogue-intensive, but that can’t be helped…

.:Short Notice, As Usual:.

So I just came from sitting in on Sacha’s CS 21A class (Neill’s class is already CS 21B…). The few students remaining were all pretty funny, considering how they were all trying to do as little work as possible. In any case, Sacha was talking about how she learned to type a bit quickly with the QWERTY keyboard, but I believe she’s more accustomed to the Devoran (Is this the right name?) layout by now. I told them the simple secret to learning how to type quickly…

Marcelle: I learned to type quickly when I learned how to type with one hand.

Sacha: Exactly why were you typing with one hand, Marcelle?

Marcelle: I was thirsty most of the time in front of the computer, so I sometimes take a swig while still typing.

Sacha: Good. I was just making sure you weren’t up to much else…

Wait a minute… for a very “innocent” Persocom like Sach, how did she know that?

I was hoping to go to Megamall yesterday so I can practice my KOF 2K3. Sacha concurred with the idea, and so she suggested that we grab Eric (Get your minds out of the gutter. Not that kind of grab.) and go. Eric was busy for a while, and then we eventually went, but I had to go to the comfort room. Eric was in there, and he was calling me an “infidel”, for reasons I did not comprehend. Hilarity came along when I walked out of the comfort room, thinking that he felt frustrated I didn’t take the urinal next to him as I instead took the cubicle, which meant he couldn’t inspect the jewelry.

The comfort room didn’t say “Ladies”, don’t worry. However, it did say “For Faculty and Staff Use Only”.

So myself, and Eric, and Sacha were on our way to Megamall for the second straight week, when while walking to the LRT station, it occurred to me to call Peppy so we were effectively inviting him at even more short notice than last week, when we were just getting ready to leave. Due to color coding and L5R, Peppy, begged off, but he was invited (As was I, but I have a RAW Deal tournament to handle.) to go to Sacha’s house for yet another gathering of minds. Still short notice, if you think about it.

.:On Blackmail And Collections:.

So I was telling Sach and Eric while we were walking to the MRT station at Cubao that I wanted to get an IR port so I can upload Peppy’s rendition of Livin’ La Vida Loca. Eric told me that he really didn’t think if Peppy could be blackmailed, since he probably wouldn’t care. I guess he had a point. Then he turned the tables on me.

Marcelle: I don’t think anyone could find any blackmail material on me. I’m clean.

Eric: Rightttt.

Marcelle: For one, I don’t have any weird collections.

Sacha: *cough*ChineseGirls*cough*

Marcelle: They’re not a collection, Sacha. If I were collecting Chinese Girls, they’d be mine.

Sacha: You sound a bit frustrated that such is not the case.

PWN3D!

.:On Preoccupations And Arrogance:.

After all the arguments on Debian Testing and Debian Unstable, which was a conversation that completely lost me, Sacha and Eric turned to teaching. Eric now knows the ICA plan, and recommended I learned to swim before I get to it. I do know how to swim, Eric. Ah, well.

We then talked about gaming. Video gaming, to be exact. Eric was telling me to go get a PS2. I was telling him that I’m just a poor student who couldn’t afford that, so I only have a copy of Smackdown and a Memory Card for the PS2, but no PS2. I told him that I’d want to get an X-Box if I had the money, though. After all, the X-Box has Dead Or Alive: Extreme Volleyball Challenge.

Eric: Oh. I see.

Marcelle: But of course! I’m a huge fan of sports games!

Eric: And the skimpily clad beauties in the game are nothing to you?

Marcelle: I’m more interested in the bouncing action… of the volleyball!

Sacha: Are the characters in this game female?

Marcelle: Yes, Sach. Why?

Sacha: Good. I would’ve been scared of you if these were skimpily-clad guys…

Marcelle: It’s fine, Sach. And you, of all people, would be the least worried about any “bouncing action”, neh?

PWN3D!

Anyways, I think their notions of my masculinity are still skewered. I think the comment about Cosmopolitan costing a bit more than Mobile Philippines cinched it when they recalled that FHM is the men’s magazine, not Cosmo…

Nonetheless, at the MRT, Sach was looking at me funny…

Sacha: You’re graduating now…

Marcelle: I know. I’m sorry, I’m not really meant to be so giddy about it.

Sacha: No, it’s not the giddiness. It’s the fact that we teachers can ridicule you graduates for one last day. I’m imagining you wearing a toga right now… (Can I effectively say that Sach just fantasized about me? Okay, forget that thought.)

Marcelle: Hey! I think I look gorgeous in a toga.

Eric: O-kay…

Marcelle: I was about to say “I look hotter”, but I think even that’s a bit of a stretch already…

Speaking about arrogance, the topic then shifted to Neill and his karma-hunting on Orkut…

.:Quantum Fun:.

Finally, the three of us got to the arcades. It’s pretty interesting because Eric and Sach started it off by playing some Dance Maniax together. Sach was pretty good at it, but she plays to score (Uhmm… numerical score.), not for show. She was able to hit 200+ combos, while Eric was running on an F… I guess it was pretty funny, but in any case, Eric would redeem himself later in another game, anyway.

And then Sach and I went for it together. I gave her a lineup of pretty difficult songs, the easiest of the lot being “It’s A Party” on Mild Mode. Beyond that, I went for “Locomotion” (Sach found my hip-swinging to extend my combo with style quite… more interesting than her actually playing the game. It’s got to be the hips.), “Heaven Is a ’56 Metallic Gray”, “All My Love”, and “In My Dreams”, all in Wild Mode. I was able to do most of my tricks, although I wasn’t on Center Mode, which meant I was handicapped. Thank Gawd I didn’t hit the machine and make my finger bleed this time. I was ramming hands with Sach here and there, though. You can tell I’m more accustomed to Center Mode by now.

When we were done, Sach watched Eric play Percussion Freaks, and also checked out my Double Mode run of Dance Maniax, which I did pretty well at, although I was more for show than for score, so I was doing all the turns and footwork here and there… Eric was doing pretty well at Percussion Freaks, the times I saw him at it in between my songs. In any case, it’s understandable why Sach took a break… she went two straight games of DM.

Nonetheless, after a go on Percussion Freaks from Sach, then a go on Guitar Freaks from Eric, the three of us tried Session Mode, wherein there will be a drummer, and then two guitarists, all working on the same song. The first two songs were fine, but I swear, I didn’t get the hang of strumming the lever, although holding the neck buttons wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, come the third song, I was the main cause for our failing the stage. Ah, well. I suppose that I was pretty much enjoying myself, anyway, although I have a long way to go with Guitar Freaks, since I just really can’t handle it…

Eric had to get a band-aid for his finger after a while. His thumb, I believe, was in need of it, thanks to Guitar Freaks. In any case, while he went off to the grocery, Sach patiently waited for him, as neither of us were willing to go on another Dance Maniax run, and in my case, I was much less willing to try any of the other simulation games. I just waited around with Sach for Eric, and then they continued playing, while I headed to KOF 2K3 and rack up a pretty consistent win rate. I went as far as 6 or 7 wins before the challenges stopped, I believe. I even ran into a fellow player from PinoyGamerz Online (Site’s currently down, so never mind the link.), SCU Iori. He was pretty okay, but I don’t think he was capable of handling Malin and Duolon, as those two critters are hard to hit, and then Goro just comes in and cleans up after them.

By this time, Sach and Eric already left, but I was enjoying myself nonetheless, since my game has improved substantially. Griffon wasn’t so bad, but my pride was in my Duolon, who was beginning to do the teleporting combo with consistency. I guess working on the stun combo is in order, as that’s the key to really making my opponent scream how broken Duolon can be.

After a few more games, I left already. I swear… next time we go for this, Peppy has to be around. Maybe we can plan this in advanced next time, neh? Or would I be fully afflicted by Sacha’s sickness and call all my gatherings on such short notice all the same? Nah. I don’t think I have enough fangirls (Maybe fanboys, but that’s scary!) to manage that…