The thing about losing...

...is that sometimes most people do not want to feel that bitter taste in the mouth. And that they'd stop at nothing to assert their twisted sense of reason.

I really don't want to comment about something that has died down, but seeing at how other people continually dispute the authorities' decision on contests, I feel like I have to assert my points yet again.

I'm not saying that I agree to the lack of communication in the changes of contest mechanics. What I find absurd is how a select few of people suddenly raise such a ruckus over the results when they didn't so as much utter a single word of dissent during the duration of the contest. It boggles the mind why they suddenly question the technicalities on how the winners won at this point in the competition.

Thing is, they had all the time in the world to raise their questions during the contest period. But did they say anything? Nil. And when I raised that point to them, I was mockingly asked if I joined a competition, passed anything noteworthy and won anything.

Funny thing was when I pointed out just what exactly did I win, they jeeringly accuse me and my teammates of "stroking our egos". Sheesh.

FYI, my friends and I stand nothing to gain if we paraded our credentials to everyone. What we're just trying to stress is that people should ask their questions whenever there's something that they need to clarify. Like everyone else who joined, we're also doing this out of love for the game, the thrill of collaborating & exchanging ideas, and the wonder of seeing other good works out there.

Again, I'd like to reiterate that we all deserve to be properly informed of any changes in contest mechanics. We also have to do our part if we so much as claim that we are here "for the spirit of competition".

For the record, I don't care if I win or lose in the contest. All I'm after is the bonding time spent with friends and the creative effort we put in to make our works real good. Since this is an individual contest, I'd be content and happy to say that if any of my friends and teammates' entries bag a spot, we all consider it as a collective accomplishment.

After all, we are true to the spirit of Granado Espada, and that is: Freedom, Unity and Friendship.

The question is, are you?

====

If it's a bit convoluted and complex for people to understand, here's the gist of it all:

1. I'm all for proper communication of changes in contest mechanics. I have not, in any other way, suggested otherwise.
2. If you don't want to be left in the dark, ASK QUESTIONS.
3. Judges' decision is final and incontestable. Read the fine print.
4. I am not parading my previous wins. Some people asked (although maliciously...I dunno), I merely answered. I believe I did not win accolades on my own. I had help. And I always acknowledge the help of others.
5. Be genuine in extending your congratulations. Stop saying one thing, then mean another.
6. Don't think that if your work wasn't chosen, you're trash. Take this as a learning opportunity to strive to be better in what you do.
7. Constructive criticisms actually give the good and the bad side of things. It's not done out of spite. It's in the spirit of helping the other improve their work.
8. Virtual items will not make you rich in real life. Nor will you gain real and true friends.
   
9. Stop blowing things out of proportion. Do not misconstrue the words of another. <--If ever I am guilty of such, say it so to my face and not flood teh Intarwebs with useless chatter.
   
10. Most important of all: BE A SPORT.

I can feel teh lurv~!

This be teh month that I finally felt teh universe conspire to help me in meh GE life.

Nahmba wan:

Gavin quest, done!

Who's the bigger betch nao? >:3

Finally gave teh Ice Betch her just desserts. Nyahaha. But I couldn't haf done it wifout teh epic borrowed equips. xD Ya know who ya are. ;D

Nahmba toooo:

Inside GE's sewage system..teh stinkzorz xD

Finally got my ass inside Reboldoeux Culverts. Teh mobs be packing quite a punch thar. But it be a naisu place to power-level to s3xpartz. I even saw Mahoney & Mulann of the LC Faction taking a power nap. :3 Good thing I wuz still wearing teh wise man necklace from Gavin's quest. Helped a whole lot in AR & DR stuffz.

Nahmba thwee:

I was hoping to get to Zeia that same day that I went inside the Culverts, but things didn't go teh way it wuz planned. I wuz just running around Culverts until teh fegs in squad chat told me I should be in channel 1 if I wanted a peek at Zeia.

And true enough...

O hai thar, Nar! :3

ZEIAAAAAAA~!

That be my friend and sole faction member, Trianna. Hehehe. We were both thrilled, we nearly kissed Zeian ground when we got there. xD

Too bad we didn't last long outside the place. Fakken mobs were like raid bosses AR & DR wise.

Still, it be a good experience to be thar. :3

Nahmba fowr:

Stupid me. I has a couple of EXP cards rotting in meh inventory, until I decided to do this...

and this...


which resulted to this...

I really feel like weeping nao. Two farking years in teh making of clean living...that is, no macro or bot for meh girls. And nao they be s3xpartz! T^T I r be liek a proud momma. :D

Nao if only I be getting my elem to s3xpartz too..

Nahmba faaayv:

Following meh 2 girls' promotion, I had help from Vashal, Chinensis, Xei, Reclusion and everyone else from OC and a few friendly peepz to whack teh huge...and I mean huuuuuge...Avalanche Apparition! Sorreh there be no screenies for that. >_<

Teh epic trio of convoluted lurv~!

DeSanggria & Chinensis lurv trio in a yuri & buttsecks pictorial XD

Yezzzz! I has her! I has her at last!

I didn't haf teh heart to change her name to something else, so I stuck to naming her Selva (even if there be dozens of her wif teh same name running around town XD).

I cannot thank Vashal enough for helping me from Chaos Requiem, to Gavin, and to teh epic quest to get Selva. So yah...even if he doesn't wants it...thank you, feg! :3 No srsly...my heartfelt thanks to you. ^^

My epic gratitude as well to Reclusion (who helped me loads in more ways than one :p) and to the people who helped me with HAA right when everyone else was busy with PY. I lurv j00 all!

And today, I celebrate all these accomplishments with a tall order of Starbucks Espresso Frappuccino. :3

Cheers! ^0^

[CCrew Quest] Love Love Revolution!

♥♥ Love-Love Revolution! ♥♥

I seriously need to blog and pimp our Community Crew events. -_-;;

Anyway, I'd like to invite everyone to join this month's forum quest hosted by the Community Crew! Valentine's Day may have already passed, but not the love fever (ok, I admit that was a lame line XD)!

The event entitled, Love Love Revolution, invites you to hatch a diabolical plan to help specific NPCs create the ultimate love strategy.

I know you're curious to learn more, so read this nao!

What we really need to see in yer werks is the kind of planning/strategy you will execute to help the NPC. No need to detail the outcome of it...we just needs teh epic planz!

Join nao and you might win 30x ABS + White Cristatus back costume! >:3

Contest runs from 15 February to 8 March 2009.

Teh daet wif teh troll

I be talking 'bout meh daet wif teh GCR troll in their event, Win A Date Wif A Perv...errr..I mean, Win A Date With A Troll.

I totally missed out on teh first day of voting, but thankfully, I was able to have a bit of spaer tiem the next day to hang around. I first bought some chocos from Lisa, only to find out that these stuffs cost a farking arm and leg (almost 2m for 9999 pcs.).

I can't remembur how many chocos I bought, but I think I spent around 20m. So yah, meh vis account is currently dwindling, thanks to some spur-of-the-moment splurging that I did.

So yah, I went off to Auch to pass meh votes to Straightener and to just hang around wif the crowd who were also participating in teh event. Turned out to be a fun session meeting wif a lot of people I just usually see in teh broads, as well as wif some of teh familiar faces I know of.

To sum up the convos that happened in Auch, it was mostly about weird perversions.

One wuz xArchangel's yuri tendencies for our twin female elementalists.

If you see it, you sh1t bricks. XD

Two, Llavore and DelaValliele had a field day peeking at teh girls' skirts. -_-;

Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?

Find teh perv in this pic.

*headdesks & facepalms*

And yah, it turned out I won for spamming chocos. Got some good stuff from teh GCR fegs (nyahaha!) too. Not bad, not bad. XDDDD

I know I wuz blabbing about teh daets and all, but I got a bit of teh cold feet that time. Good thing my good friend and sole faction mate (teh lulz), Trianna, and her sister, Hemonus, offered teh perfect distractionz...Swamp Frog Fish! >:3

I dragged teh GCR pervies to join us for an FF squad, in which we whacked about 3-4 Wetland Frog Fishies before finally landing on teh real one. It was a fun experience, 'cept for the time when Vashal was being his grumpy self, scaring the living daylights out of meh.

Wetland Frogfish...do not want! >_<

Speaking of His Grumpiness, he chided me to work on meh Chaos Requiem quest and offered to tag along for the tour. Little did I knoe that when I agreed, I already signed myself up for teh daet that was supposed to be teh prize (aside from teh items & stuffz) from their event.

And so, there I was, being shown around teh dangerous caverns of Chaos Requiem. I wouldn't have thought to step foot inside teh place after meh fateful first-hand tour of teh place in teh test servers.

Wait for meeeee!

And if that wasn't done, he goaded me further to finish meh Gavin quest. To cut teh long story short, yes, I finished it all & got meh 2nd Gavin card. LOL.

Speaking of which, here's one of the most memorable convos we had on the way to Ferruccio Wall:

Me: I already have Gavin's card, btw.
Al (Vashal): You bought it. <--notice how he never asks questions? teh lulz!
Me: Yes.
Al: What a waste.
Me: I like cute guys in my barracks, so sue me.

Epic conversation is epic.

I feel like I'm going to incriminate mehself more, so in summation, I got the Chaos Requiem & Gavin quest done, which means I can now enter Zeia! Yay! So despite meh troll daet's unnerving disposition, I still owe him big time.

Al, if you're reading this (which I hope to God you won't...harharhar), I just want to say my thanks for all the help and assistance in teh quests. I hope in some insane way, you enjoyed hanging out wif meh. I enjoyed it too, yah noe. When you weren't being grumpy on me, that is. :p

And stop running away from your responsibilities wif our kids. HAHAHAHA. Teh epic lulz.

Ok, ok. I end here. My fingers hurt.

P.S.: Many thanks to the GCResidents Faction of Rambutt server, their FL, Straightener, for the fun event yesterday. I was srsly lmao-ing in meh seat. XDDDDD

That be (l-r): GCResidents (Desmond,) Moi, Maki (Straightener), Pervie Ash (DelValliele) & Grumpy Al (Vashal)...wif valinorian

[Pimpage] Player-organized Valentine events

Valentine's is already on this Saturday! It's not liek I celebrated this commercial propaganda or anything...LOL

Anyway, I'm pimping two player-organized activities over at the GE forums because they seem to look fun and interesting. Besides, this'll give you something to do on V-Day as well. ^_^

1. GC Residents Faction Event: Win A Date With A Troll

The General Residents Faction of Rembrandt Server is inviting the female Rambutt players to vote for their favorite forum trolls! The event is somewhat similar to the official in-game event, Win A Date with a [GM] 2, though instead of the Cash Shop chocos you'll only need to buy Lisa's sweet confections.

Check out the details here.

Sorry Bach and Giovanni peeps. This is a Rambutt-exclusive event. :/

Totally LOLed at this event, but count me in! GCR peepz are sooo darn funny.

2. Anonymous Valentine

Hahaha! This is my own mini-event that I just thought of last night. Decipher the story of the poem and a few other details and win a barrack slot from me! XD

Check out the details here.

Yay, this is open to all servers! Hope you can join. :3

[edit]

I nao has winnarz! Congratulations to Straightener of Rembrandt & DeAngelia of Giovanni! :D


And with that said, I'd like to send everyone an advanced Valentine's greeting! Spread the GE lurv!

Hugs and smoochies,
DeSanggria Family

Conquering the swamps & my very own man-flesh

Finally finished the Bahamas quest. FINALLY! Augh.

I was stuck for a while at the Frog Fish hunting part of the quest as I was rushing my mains to Expert level. Anyway, a few Fridays ago, I saw someone broad for an FF squad, so I quickly joined the group.

Gag time before the hunt

Initially I was anxious to get the quest done because I didn't want to get caught in the middle of a crossfire with other factions who are hunting FF. Turns out that I didn't have to worry much. One of my squadmates spotted the fiend in some secluded corner, so we went there and whacked the thing like crazy.

Whacking the bejeezus out of FF.

Thank goodness we didn't have to share the spoils with other squads.

After FF, we stuck around as a group to hunt for the elusive Elite Amber Bee. I kid you not when I said that this thing is elusive. We spent a good number of time running around the map, but to no avail. In the end, I wasn't able to hang around that long and I had to hunt for the insect alone.

As I was more of a casual AFKer, I finally got the kill after 2 days. What's frustrating was that it looked like the normal Amber Bees in the area. Can you believe that? =_=

For those who are having difficulties searching for the Elite Amber Bee, here's a few tips that I got from those who finished the quest (and based from my own experience as well).

1. Camp at H-J7 in Bahama Swamp of Eternity.
2. Run around, switch channels & hover your mouse pointers on the bees (the elite version looks the same as that of the normal one, so you best be alert).
3. You can also AFK in one spot that has a considerable spawn of Amber Bees and cross your fingers that when you check your quest log, you've already killed it.
4. Oh, and be careful of the Escudo Prefer Leader, that is, if you don't have imba armors. :p It spawns in the same coords as that of the Elite Amber Bee.

Family pic with the Witch of Bahamas

=====

In other news, I finally struck gold in ABS. And no, it's not a Dragon Heart Recipe. XD

I'm glad I took the risk this time in ABS a day before the 800% drop rate expired. Look at the best loot that I got!

I can hazz man-flesh. >:3

Okay, Soho the Wind might not be what other people would refer to as the "best loot", but given my unlucky streak in ABS, I'm just floored with delight! More hot guys in my family barracks, yay!

WTH are these two doing in a dark alley in Auch? XDDD

I also got some useful stuff like a Steel Spirit Stone, some colored ores, Amethyst pieces (prepping up for Chaos Requiem quests XD), elite 92 armor recipes and a few consumables. Not bad, not bad. ^^

Bahama Quest done, Gavin & Chaos Requiem, here I come! >_<

Advertising love

Teh location

Teh starstruck actress

Teh emo actor

Teh perpetrators

My entry for the Valentine's Category was actually a project that a few friends and I wanted to work on the summer of last year. We were supposed to do a real life vid + machinima MTV using GE elements, but sadly, it didn't push through as we were busy with personal commitments.

I broached this idea to the group, originally thinking of using the song Inori~You Raise Me Up by Lena Park (OP song to the anime Romeo x Juliet). I admit, I was so into the anime that time that I wanted to create some fanart stuff for both fandoms (i.e., RxJ & GE). But then again, I heard this ethereal song, Feel This, sung by Bethany Joy Galeotti, and I knew this was the perfect song for this project.

And so on one sunny Sunday afternoon, I invited some friends over for the shoot, including the very lovely Sigrid, over to the University of the Philippines. Incidentally, I am also taking up my Masteral in the said school, particularly in the College of Mass Communications, so I knew some pretty good locations for this shoot.

I'm particularly glad that the weather cooperated with us. It was the perfect day to shoot the video, since the sun provided excellent lighting and the cool afternoon breeze kept us all in a relaxed mood. :3

Anyway, since we were just shooting for a 30 second video, I only took a few shots of the actors in specific locations. It was fun handling the video camera again and it was a joy to take videos of Sigrid who was really gung-ho on the emo look for this vid. Hehehe.

And so, without further ado, here's the end product of that fun and wacky video shoot.

Of course, what's a video shoot without bloopers? Here's just a few that I've managed to upload.

The emo actor fails at jumping onto tree branches. XD


Nobody's too emo for a quick breakdancing stint.

UP's majestic trees and verdant landscape also make for a perfect place for some...PHOTO OUTTAKES! (~'_')~

All I can say is...this has been so much F-U-N! Again, major props to you guys who helped out and made this project a sweet success!

Spread the GE lurv! :3

Rendezvous in Port of Coimbra

Over a week ago, my cosplay friends (also GE players) and I finally pulled off this small project that took almost a year in the making.

The girls already had their costumes done waaay before, and the reason why this project has ben delayed for the longest time was because of me. LOL. I wanted a new costume, so I took my sweet time getting Selva's clothes and props done.

I originally wanted to cosplay Selva back in last year's e-Games Domination II, but due to some circumstances, the costume was pushed back at a later date. In the end, I'm glad it was delayed because I had more time to hammer down the details to this really intricate but beautiful ensemble.

Anyway, our little photoshoot escapade was scheduled on the same day as the GE PH 2nd Community Gathering. I was forever anxious that day because the skies were overcast and there was an impending gloom with the weather. I certainly didn't expect Mother Nature's unpleasant disposition, and this made me nervous to the core.

We all planned to meet up at Lucido's (Brunie) place to have an early shoot in their lovely living room for the Barracks setting. But we all got there late, so we just stuck to the original plan, which was to shoot in Fort Santiago in Intramuros.

I'm glad I booked the place for our pictorial. RCM Hrin has been there before, and I highly agree with her that Fort Santiago can be likened to Port of Coimbra. The magnificent landscaping and awesome ruins make for a great Baroque-inspired setting.

Anyway, we arrived late again in the location (LOL Pinoy time XD), which meant we had little time left for the actual shoot. Dressing up in costume can take too much time as we had to make sure that everything's in place.

We met up with our other friends who are also our photographers, CryptSealer (an ex-Cervantes player) and Azartras (ex-Carraccian). Our long time friend, who I shall herewith dub as Anonymous Photographer-san, was also there to help stormseeks (Bernelli) and be photographer for a day as well.

Let me just say that it was so much strain for me to be cosplaying and taking photos at the same time. The costume didn't allow me to move around that much, hence I was limited to just shooting from a few angles. Thank God for photographer-friends who had awesome photo taking skills.

And since Fort Santiago is first and foremost a public park, we had scores of tourists fishing for their cameras and taking snaps of our group. There was quite a number of Korean tourists in the area, though we weren't sure if they're familiar with GE.

All in all, we had so much fun! Much thanks to the Intramuros Administration and the Park Administrator of Fort Santiago for being so gracious and accomodating. Much love as well to my cosplay buddies Lucido, Gatoblanca, stormseeks and to our awesome photographers!

There will most definitely be a part 2 of this!


And now, may I point you to this direction where I kill your browsers with photos. >:)

The Pirate Adelina

The Mistress of Pistols, Brunie Etienne

The bitter soul, Selva Norte

The Queen of Rifles, Grace Bernelli

Now we're done with the serious shots, let's take a look at the scenes we messed up. XD

Selva gets tips from Bernelli on how to properly wear the armshield.

This is how you do the poledance pose, noob!

Bernelli endorses Duty Free made lamp posts!


Photobombing is srs bsns.


OMG it's Man-Selva and Man-Bernelli!


The local Auch Infantry person-san looks clueless with all the ruckus.

The Year of the Ox

Everyone's so gung-ho on the Year of the Ox since Chinese New Year. And would you believe it has also invaded GE?

Holy Cow!

It's the invasion of cow costumes! RCM Hrin blogs about this cool stuff that's going to be available as an exclusive loot in Adelina's Booty Search.

Ridiculous as it may look like, but I'd love to own the white cow with black spots costume. It reminds me a lot of that scene in Kung Pow. LOL. Besides, I love messing up the looks of my characters. Hehehe.