::A Geek in Korea::

Final Fantasy Tactics got me through a rough summer when I was living at home, staying in an un-air-conditioned, unfinished, terribly hot attic for some privacy when I was home from college. My car was non-functional, all my friends moved back with their parents, and I was trapped working for my parents. The only thing I did for the entire summer was beat Final Fantasy Tactics levels over and over and it was totally fine. That’s the highlight of that entire summer of constant sweat and work. Oh, and I resolved to never, ever work outside and started riffing movies, which led to my online moniker.

Anyway, Final Fantasy Tactics is long forgotten, but I love the strategic genre of games where you are given a party of different characters with different abilities, have choices as they level up, and buy gear, outfit them, and choose their abilities, then use them to fight in strategic battles with a loosely connected framing story to hold the entire thing together. The “Job” system in Final Fantasy Tactics had you passively unlocking different abilities by using skills in battle, and with the right levels you could discover new playable classes. Sometimes your character just needed to take a few levels in “Chemist” to get that “Auto-Heal” ability when you really needed them to pick up a sword and kick ass, which sucked, but otherwise it allowed for a very flexible crew of characters that could do everything you needed them to to turn the tide in battle. I played the hell out of Final Fantasy Tactics, and have never really found anything like it in the follow ups made by Square. It’s one of my favorite games of all time.

Battleheart in the Android App market takes the “make a party of adventures and customize them to fight foes in a series of battles”, turns it into a real time strategy game set in small arenas that fill with random monsters, and foregoes the story entirely for maximum chaos during a battle. You still can hire people at a tavern depending on their level and potential usefulness to the party, and you can still replay old battles to earn more gold and buy better equipment, but instead of it being a slow thoughtful game of pondering about the maximum percentage of damage for each move, instead there is swiping and buttons for triggers with cool down meters. It’s still cute, and still strategic, but it’s a little different to have to command for characters in real time.

None of the characters can train in cross-class ways, a warrior can’t take a few levels as a healer or something, which limits the true customization of the game compared to Final Fantasy Tactics, but every five levels the characters can choose between two different abilities that can be switched between each fight that do support different roles. There is absolutely no story, which is actually great for a mobile game. I don’t care about why X is fighting for Y, let me PLAY! I’ve put in about an hour into the game and have started replaying battles to unlock more of the featured classes available at the tavern. I can see myself playing this over and over with different classes, which is good because there are multiple save slots for different games.

The battle system requires targeting by swiping, and watching health bars, ability cool downs, and placement. It’s a lot to watch at once, but it does keep you busy. I think the game is complicated enough that there is something for me to go back to, and every few levels I want to keep playing to see all the cool things I’ve unlocked. It’s really a “one more level” sort of game. I’m shocked this game costs 3 dollars. It looks great and has very good reviews. I’d highly recommend it. It’s no Final Fantasy  Tactics, but it’s still a good game to play on the go.

I’ve been hearing for months about how good Downton Abbey is from Jesse Thorn, but I hadn’t really thought to check it out for myself. Then some comedians like Patton Oswalt started tweeting about it all the time, and my interest continued to be tepid. It’s a show about some stuffy family or whatever. What could hold my interest? Then one of my American coworkers asked if I knew about it, and if I was watching it since I pass on recommendations from time to time. This isn’t someone that I would think would find interest in it, although he is a history buff, so I was really impressed that he recommended it and explained that it was something that doesn’t seem like it would be watchable, but said that after five minutes it will stuck you in and you’ll realize only after a short period that you want to see the rest of the series.

Despite being deeply skeptical that such a claim could be true, I have been on a British show kick recently. The most recent British things I’ve watched have been the revived Doctor Who season 5 (Having watched all the rest of the stuff leading up to it now sans specials, I get why David Tennant fans found parts of this season lacking now, but I still liked it a lot,) QI (Stephen Fry is hilarious), and Jekyll (starts of strong, then but hasn’t been holding my interest enough to finish…so hammy). Why not add a semi-historical period piece about the lives of the upper and lower crust of society in England in the early 1900′s. It’s not like I’m going to be watching the Superbowl or anything, so why not give this a chance? Besides, Mad Men isn’t back for a while, so I don’t have a period drama to watch anyway, and it takes a lot for me to be interested in a piece of semi-historical drama to care at all.

I have to say after watching the first episode today on my own, I haven’t been this excited to have a potential show to watch with my wife since The Walking Dead. I can’t be bothered to stay up late to watch the show about zombies with my wife anymore, but when I told her I found a new show to watch, I wanted to clear my schedule and sit down with her immediately so we could start on the first episode. My wife is totally on board with another show for us to watch together too.

Downton Abbey plays to her interests too. She loves historical dramas, with all the forbidden or secret love, the plotting, the backstabbing, and all the drama of the period. Usually I just bow out of the room when something like that comes on because they are all in Korean. Luckily it has all of these things and is filled with fantastic acting and English (with subtitles in Korean available). I didn’t think I’d give a damn about the show at all, but there are members of the cast that have tugged my heartstrings and made me swear at them multiple times within minutes of their first appearance on screen. It’s incredible. There are so many characters, and so much going on, but you want to see it all through.

I’ll be working my way through this series, and it is great to have something to watch with my wife again. I’m going to have to thank my coworker when I see him again for the recommendation.

Let me preface this video by adding there are no positive feelings expressed by linking to this video of North Koreans playing A-Ha’s “Take on Me” with accordions. In no way am I posting something in praise of North Korea, because that is illegal in South Korea. Yeah, getting arrested for posting something on the Internet, even if it is a joke because it broaches a sensitive topic? Censorship sucks. [Support the EFF!]

Also, that North Korean sucks compared to “Literal A-Ha” anyway, so I have nothing to worry about.

WHAT!?! Did Jackass start a sports league when no one paid attention? W-T-F.

My wife relayed a story to me about running into an old coworker of mine that was overjoyed to share that he had been hired by an university in the city after weeks of miserable job searches and unemployment. This is the time when the last of the winter hiring is completed, and he had just been hired to work at a university in the city, which means he didn’t have to move from his apartment or leave the country. He was so excited that he had to share the story with someone, so he blabbed to her all about it, and it was good enough for me to pass it along:

He told her roughly that: “I had been working at the same school for the past few years, but I had told them I was looking for a university job, so I didn’t resign my contract. I had been looking for over three weeks, and was very worried that I wasn’t going to find anything before the universities stopped hiring. I got cold feet about the university move because I couldn’t find a position anywhere. I decided that if I didn’t act quickly, the old position I left at my previous job would be filed, so I sent a message to the director to tell him I was willing to return to the old job.”

According to my wife, the coworker told her, that he had written to his old director to say: ”I want to resign[sic] the job! Please contact me”, then was puzzled when he got no response for several weeks. This old coworker then ran into his old director on the street. “Why didn’t you contact me?”

The director was baffled, “Why would you expect me to contact you? Your position was already filled. Why would I be keeping it for you?”

The former coworker replied, “ Why did you hire someone! I sent you a text about it! I told you I wanted to re-sign!”

The director, “No you didn’t. You told me you wanted to resign, not re-sign! Of course I found someone else!” and then showed him the text in question as evidence of his sincerity. The old coworker then admitted his mistake, but thankfully didn’t suffer egregiously for his mistake because he found a university willing to hire him in the mean time, so this entire affair was merely embarrassing, but not a total mistake.

Being a person that has to send out addendum messages all the time apologizing for ridiculous corrections and mistakes caused by careless texting, either caused by my daughter getting hold of my phone, or being unable to spell something lengthy without fighting with auto-correct, I have a lot of sympathy with my old coworker. I’m also glad that he got a job at a university, since he was a very nice guy to work with and I’m happy to see him stick around.

The weather this winter has taken an extremely cold turn. Our apartment keeps a relatively chilly temperature without a thermostat, which is okay because we don’t have shared heating anymore. When we first moved into our place, if someone in the building wanted to make their apartment a sauna, everyone ended up paying for it. Not any more! A few blankets and sweaters later and we’re fine, but grumbling to ourselves about the weather. We set our thermostat to a reasonable temperature (21°C~22°C), and if we want to be warmer, we just pay a little more. I’d rather have the option to have minimal heat than no control over my heat at all.

My parents house last winter had a heating problem and it was as cold outside as it was inside, minus the wind, and they finally ended up needing to replace their entire furnace this year. Glad I wasn’t around for that! We made it through that winter trip by using thick winter sleeping bags as covers on our beds. I can’t handle that much cold weather all winter. I luckily still ended up seeing my family this winter, and I could go swimming on a beach at the same time. The Philippines are an awesome winter meeting spot!

Since the weather is ridiculously cold, I’ve tried putting off any reason to go outside whenever possible. There are things that make me leave my nest of relative warmth, like obtaining food or necessities. When I do go outside, the cold is very quickly felt, and the ice that covers the sidewalks is in hard sheets, thick, and free of all signs of melting. Thankfully despite the drop in temperature there is still not very much wind. Windy weather which makes Korean winter absolutely intolerably cold.

I’m happy my apartment is near several popular public transportation spots because I can still get anywhere in the city and only need to stand outside as long as it takes to get a bus, or a subway to come, which even in winter is around a maximum of twenty minutes most days. Both the buses and the subway trains are warm too, so while I might have a nice toasty ride, getting off the bus and back into the cold snaps me awake every single time.

I’m really looking forward to spring. /Crotchety old man weather rant complete.

Have I mentioned that the Humble Bundle folks continue to knock it out of the park in an astounding fashion? I woke up this morning to find an absolute steal of a deal waiting for me from the Humble Bundle website. I already own Osmos from a previous bundle on that got redeemed with Steam, and I own two copies of World of Goo, one for the Wii (R.I.P.) and one also I redeemed through another bundle via Steam. I love both of those games, so having mobile versions of them both would already have tempted me to purchase the Humble Bundle for Android already.

Still, with TWO of the games already purchased (for different platforms), I still feel like paying a better than the average rate to end up with four great games on my Android phone is an absolute steal. The return of the option for donations to the Electronic Freedom Foundation (my charity of choice) also scored huge points for me. That’s right, even my charities are geeky, and I donate to them whenever I can with the bundle.

The only new game I’ve gotten to sit down with and play has been Anomaly: Warzone Earth. It is the twist on Tower Defense games that I knew was going to happen, but didn’t expect to be so well done. This game is FAN-TAST-IC. You navigate through different paths as the “Creeps” as different towers pummel you. You can decide who you send through the maze, and which path you take. You have certain effects on timers that can be renewed for defeating optional towers. You can upgrade your creeps while navigating through the level, and you can pick paths to maximize whatever you value in the level, whether it be the randomly dropped effects, money for upgrades, or trying to reach a certain goal for the victory condition.

There are great graphics, the game is built with an unfolding story and tutorial levels that still bring you something to do, and full voice over! It plays smoothly with my Samsung Galaxy S2 as well. I can’t believe I could pay what I wanted for this game. I’d play this on my PC and be satisfied that I got a good game, but to be able to play this on a mobile phone and feel like I am having a good experience is awesome.

The “Play as the Tower Creeps” idea  turns the entire genre on it’s head. You want to get through one more maze, and each of the cleverly placed towers needs to be destroyed nets you the chance at one more bonus for some sweet unit upgrades. I’d love to have a “VS.” mode where both sides are options as players to duel it out competitively, one placing the towers while the creep player tries to make it through.

I keep looking for excuses so I can be uninterrupted for several long stretches of time so I can keep playing and see where the game goes. I highly recommend paying whatever you can for the Humble Bundle for Android (or Mac, Linux, or PC) to snag these games if you haven’t already. Be sure to pay the proper amount to get the additional games that will be added to the deal in the next few weeks. I always buy the deal right away, and each additional game feels like I am being spoiled with riches. I don’t know how many more games I could possibly need to entertain me on a bus or train ride, but if they are going to be putting them out, I’m going to happy to keep buying them.

Also, “Tower Mode” in World of Goo might be the PERFECT game to distract a two and a half year old if she can manage to play it. I know she can navigate different screens in Youtube to watch her favorite videos, but manipulating Goo placement might still be a bit too advanced. I can’t wait to see if Glow takes up playing World of Goo now!

My daughter will surely be singing this too often.

Next weekend I’ve been invited to participate in a quirky draft of Dark Ascension Magic the Gathering cards. I can’t go to a draft without knowing the cards because I want to do well, so I “study up” and really try to be familiar with the cards before I ever put down money to play with them.

As is my ritual, I started the process of preparing for the draft by printing out the visual spoiler then working my way through the cards with the guys from “Limited Resources” while I take notes and listen to their commentary. The show for the Dark Ascension set was a massive three hour listen for the commons and uncommons, with me taking notes. (I am totally aware that is ridiculous.) Once I get that information assimilated, I start playing with the Tappedout draft simulator. That gives me a pretty good idea about what cards to play or avoid, and I can weigh my drafting choice much better.

While I was listening to the podcast, I had a set of head phones die on me, which necessitated me going to my backup “in channel” style ear buds that came with my phone. I greatly prefer head phones to buds. In channel ear buds are great for noise cancellation, but suck when you get inner ear irritation like I do. I decided to go shopping for some replacements, but ended up not getting any of the over the ear hook style head phones my wife and I like.

Since I was out of the house, and a few blocks away from Duel Mall, I decided to stop in to see if they had the release of the new set of Magic the Gathering cards. It turns out that their shipment of new cards got delayed until next week, but they were planning three consecutive weeks of Dark Ascension release draft tournaments. The cards (in Korean?) will cost 17,000 won per event. The tournaments will be held at 11 AM in their store on Saturdays starting February 11th each Saturday in February. I’m not sure if I am willing to draft in Korean as the lone foreigner, but if I get a few people willing to drop into the store and play, I was willing to give it a shot.

I passed this information on to the drafters I know, and most of them are hesitant to start playing without the cards being easily available for play in English, and want to draft the set in our group before we descend on the Korean draft scene in Daejeon. Some work on the weekend and can’t make it. I’ve already got a few days of gaming lined up already, so I’m not itching for opportunities to play quite yet, but there is a chance that I might drop in if I get comfortable enough with the new set.

I’ve been the only person to consistently teach at the children’s camps for the past few years, so I know the program and can deal with all the hiccups that get introduced each year. Small number of classes? Large number of classes? Interviews? Book selection? Choosing activities? Coordinating purchases? Other than the actual logistics of getting students to camp and back, there is little I haven’t done to help the camp run smoothly.

Of course I want the camp to be done right, but even the largest favors I am asked to do at a summer camp  is smaller than what I used to do daily as a teacher at an elementary school academy. This stuff is all small compared to trying to keep a school working when everything is trying to make you fail, and I never had the help of half a dozen hard working campus assistants when I made a request either. I’d much rather get tasked with something for a camp now than ever need to fix a mismanaged class for an entire year.

I had already been asked to give the final speech to all the students at their graduation ceremony. It’s the typical speech that gives vague platitudes and tells students to come back next camp. It was going to be the same old thing, except that the director of the entire language program, who typically sits in on the proceedings and gives a speech and hands out diplomas didn’t show up. There is was a lot of grumbling about the director bailing without any notice. It is extremely unprofessional, but there are rumors he won’t be sticking around for long anyway, so perhaps this was a middle finger to the entire department. Seems like a ridiculous form of petty politics.

This is the guy that ultimately pays my salary and hired me. The most powerful guy in the building decides to skip his gig at the ceremony, and no one knows why. He canceled at the last possible moment without anyone knowing what to do about his speech or duties. There is a formal script that is followed, and someone needs to sit in for the photos and hand out the awards.

Since I had a speech ready, I was asked to take over the director’s ceremony duties by the campus assistants. The director does nothing the entire camp, then goes through this ceremony as punishment. That seems like a fair arrangement. Now the teachers are doing this as well? They all know I’ve done the camps a few times already, so I was first on their list. I gave the closing speech I wrote as the welcoming speech instead (which I flubbed in a few places, I didn’t hit Toastmaster’s heights by any means) and then stayed up on the stage to continue the ceremony and help hand out the diplomas.

There was an announcer that took care of all the announcing like they normally do for the director for me, but it was rather awkward to have to give an award saying, “This guy, representing on the director’s behalf, on completion of this camp, verifies that you have qualified for the supposedly distinguished but actually meaningless self-esteem inflating award…”. (I might be editorializing that a bit.)

The award ceremony was just me pretending to read a paper, waiting for a particular cue from the announcer, then handing over the diploma and shaking the students hand for a picture. This wasn’t the Oscars with award speeches or anything. This photo op is the entire reason this ridiculous, obnoxious, waste of time ceremony exists, so I had to sit up there the entire time and have my picture taken with dozens of kids while hundreds of people watched this empty routine repeat for each prize. I knew I’d be giving a speech, but I’m going to appear in so many advertisements for the program now. I like remaining low profile.

At least it was fast. It only took thirty minutes to run through the smaller class sizes, and then I was happily off the stage and back in the audience. Two of my students gave their speeches, then it was done. One of my students was a lot more expressive speaker than I could claim to be. He knocked it out of the park. After the speeches, the teachers and students took a few more pictures as a group and then we had to pose with different classes. I had an additional amount of time taking pictures with individual students that were in my class too.

I didn’t mind. It was the first time we ever got out on time.

I got a few more texts of appreciation after it was all said and done for stepping in when the camp was in a difficult spot. I’m sure I’ll be working the next one anyway if the program survives. Looks like I did it right.