Random Postings

[SolEX01]

Post 5500.  Another star, another rank, another 1000 posts for the next landmark.

Maybe my 6500th post will also be this boards 500,000th.  :

 

[Asteriktos]

A haiku I write
To celebrate your post count
Congratulations

Fifty-five hundred
That is quite a lot of posts
You must have no life

:angel:

 

[SolEX01]

I do have a life
With a lot of excess time
To learn and to post.

;D

 

[Fr. George]

Post 5500.  Another star, another rank, another 1000 posts for the next landmark.

Maybe my 6500th post will also be this boards 500,000th.  :

As you wish!

We're really movin' with this post count... 1,358 away from 400k. At our current pace, that's a hair over 3 days.

 

[Asteriktos]

I can't beat Dragon Age: Origins    For about three weeks now I haven't really played the game much, for obvious reasons, but every once in a while I give the final battle another shot. I've attempted it probably 8 times now, and it always plays out the same way. Things go fine until the Arch Demon is knocked down to half HP, and he flies over to the inaccessible area and you have to use ranged weapons/ballista to attack it. Shortly after that, the dark spawn always overwhelm me. If I concentate on the Arch Demon, the dark spawn kill me off quickly. If I tried to kill off the dark spawn, I still die, just not as quickly. I really wish I wouldn't have picked Leliana for the final battle, but due to how the story played out for me, I sort of had to use her. I no longer have Sten, Zevran, Morrigan, Wynne, or Alistair to use, so my final four are Loghain, myself (Elf Mage, leaning towards healing), Leliana, and Oghren. I really enjoyed the game up till the end, and I was looking forward to replaying it, but now I'm just frustrated and left wondering why I should bother replaying it if I can't beat the game.

 

[Friul]

I found the main thing with the final battle is you have to switch characters a lot.  When the darkspawn start swarming, switch to either Loghain or Oghren and jump into the fray while making sure your mage stay a little ways off.  If Leliana has a bow, she might be worth keeping safe too.  Also, did you save any reinforcements?

 

[ChristusDominus]

I want zebra striped socks.

 

[Asteriktos]

I found the main thing with the final battle is you have to switch characters a lot.  When the darkspawn start swarming, switch to either Loghain or Oghren and jump into the fray while making sure your mage stay a little ways off.  If Leliana has a bow, she might be worth keeping safe too.  Also, did you save any reinforcements?

I'll give it another shot, trying to primarily use Loghain or Oghren once the dark spawn show up. Up to this point I've been mostly using my character, and just switching whenever I want one of the others to use a healing potion. I'm on the Xbox360, and not the PC, so I'm not used to micromanaging as much as someone playing the PC version would be (from what I've heard). I do have reinforcements, and they're helpful for the first part of the battle, but for some reason the help they offer seems to diminish once the dark spawn show up. Even when I use dwarves, who I'd think would do well with the dark spawn at hand to hand combat, it doesn't seem to help much.

 

[Friul]

I found the Dalish were actually the most useful during the final battle.

 

[Asteriktos]

OC.net apparently set two new stat records last month, with most posts in a month (11,441) and most page views in a month (1,153,212). By my amateurish calculations, we have a good shot at setting a new record again this month, for most posts in a month.

 

[Asteriktos]

I found the Dalish were actually the most useful during the final battle.

I'll give it one more shot today with the Dalish Elves. I'm guessing that part of the problem is that I just didn't build my characters up enough. I loaded the game to check, and my characters are in the level 16-18 range (my PC has the highest at level 18). I probably should have taken them to at least the low 20's (I think level 24 is the highest you can go?) So anyway, I started over last night. I'm using a human (noble) warrior this time, and I'll be more careful about how I progress through the game.

 

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I can't beat Dragon Age: Origins    For about three weeks now I haven't really played the game much, for obvious reasons, but every once in a while I give the final battle another shot. I've attempted it probably 8 times now, and it always plays out the same way. Things go fine until the Arch Demon is knocked down to half HP, and he flies over to the inaccessible area and you have to use ranged weapons/ballista to attack it. Shortly after that, the dark spawn always overwhelm me. If I concentate on the Arch Demon, the dark spawn kill me off quickly. If I tried to kill off the dark spawn, I still die, just not as quickly. I really wish I wouldn't have picked Leliana for the final battle, but due to how the story played out for me, I sort of had to use her. I no longer have Sten, Zevran, Morrigan, Wynne, or Alistair to use, so my final four are Loghain, myself (Elf Mage, leaning towards healing), Leliana, and Oghren. I really enjoyed the game up till the end, and I was looking forward to replaying it, but now I'm just frustrated and left wondering why I should bother replaying it if I can't beat the game.

I also am an Elf Mage, and I just today finished the "Unrest in the Alienage" quest, so when I play the final battle I'll see if I can give some advice. Do you have Shale? She's really great as a melee fighter, and if you complete her personal quest, she'll have Flawless Crystals for her weapons and armour. I also tend to use a second mage--I have Wynne set to a Spirit Healer as well as my protagonist--so that I can keep reviving my characters as necessary. My protagonist also has all four level 4 elemental spells, and they stack nicely. In addition, Wynne has the Mana Clash spell, which can destroy an enemy mage's power.

I'm not sure there is a level limit, but since enemies do not respawn, you can only go as high as the available experience points will allow. I'm at L:20 with my protagonist and L:19 with everyone else after doing nearly all the side quests, except "Unbound" and "Dragon Scale Armour". If you're going to go through the game again, see if you can get those spells; they'll really make things a lot easier.

 

[Asteriktos]

Thanks for the advice on spells and whatnot. I don't have Shale... actually I don't have online capability  :-\  I've tried to go online, but it doesn't seem to work for me.

 

[Nyssa The Hobbit]

I used to get migraines from going to church, back when I first started going to an Orthodox one.    It might have been the incense or the stress of learning a new way of doing things after being Protestant.  I'd then have to lie on the couch for hours, with a heating pad pressed to my head.  Those finally stopped, especially after my doctor diagnosed migraines and said I could take two Alleves to fight them.  I get headaches quite a lot, which last for days, but thankfully most of them don't incapacitate me.  Still, there are the ones that cause nausea or make me have to lie down.  I hate those. 

At least I rarely get the sinus headaches I inherited from my mother.  I started getting them at home in Indiana, but didn't get them when I went back to college in Wisconsin, so that's one reason I moved to Wisconsin after college.  Maybe it's something about the environment?

While Asterikos has described some of the basics of migraines, there are variations.  One common thing is that the pain is often one part of the head left vs right or front vs back.  My migraines are like a railroad spike going down in to my right eye with a side order of claws sticking in the right side of the back of my skull.  I will sometimes get "lightening flashes" in that eye as a warning; early on I worn an eye patch to keep the light out to deal with the photo-phobia mentioned above.  Some people get nausea.  I don't unless it is a particularly bad one.  Functional can be relative too.  If a migraine is caught early things can be done to get rid of it or at least keep it from getting worse. If something is vitally important like with a child or the like, that might require some functioning through will power.  But other times I can be found in bed with a pillow over my face to keep out the light and the noise and not moving.  

I started getting migraines in college over 30 years ago and they could last up to three days.  My mother had them when I was a kid, but she hasn't had them in many many years and she's 87. I don't get as many as I used to, either. Rather then one a week or so or more, I can go for months migraine-free.   So they can stop with age.    About 18 years ago or so I found out that Imitrex was finally in tablet form rather then injections and that medication has been a God-send and I'm not being irreverent.  If I notice any symptoms of migraine and take a tablet the pain will be gone within a few hours which is a LOT better then three days.

Some migraines have a genetic component and for some people certain foods or beverages or other things like mold or pollen or dust etc can be a "trigger" to sent one off.

Ebor

 

[Nyssa The Hobbit]

This is a really good question but I have to admitt that there is no silver bullet. Here are some things that have helped me to keep going at the gym:
1. I Actually write a particular time into my dailer planner for working out each day.
2. Get a work out buddy to help keep you accountable. I workout with another teacher from School who is in amazing shape and she actually trains me to some degree.
3. Plan your work outs. This means determinig ahead of time what exercises you will do. I find that by planning my workouts I become invested in it because I have already put effort into it ahead of time.
4. Don't be down on yourself if on some days you don't have time for a full workout. Every little bit counts.
5. Don't make unreasonable goals. I don't plan on becoming He-Man in six months. Rather I have a general goal of staying healthy, gaining weight, and building muscle mass.
6. Talk to some one who knows what they are doing so that your workout actually brings results.
7. Learn to enjoy your work out. I have actually gotten the point where I find my work out reduces stress and makes me feel better so I rather enjoy it. It may take time to get to that mindset, but once  you do, its a BIG help.
8. Reward  yourself. I choose one day a week where I can eat whatever I want (within reason, I mean, don't become a glutton).
9. Believe that you deserve to work out. Its not a punishment. I tell myself everyday that I deserve to be in shape and keep healthy so I owe it to my self to do so.
10. Give yourself a day or two off every week. If you work out seven days a week, you will becom over-trained and you will not feel well nor workout well. You need at least one day each week for your muscles to rest both from cario and weight training. So on your days off from the gym, NO WORKING OUT.
11. I find that it also helps in developing Christian virtue. I know that keeping a steady work out plan creates discipline and this discipline can be applied to my spiritual life. So in a sense I offer my workout to God.

So there it is. These are all things that help me but, again there is no silver bullet.

Another thing is to work it into your routine naturally.  For example, I walk my Kindergartener to and from school every day.  Hubby has our only car at work in the next county, it's a little over a mile, and they don't bus even little kids under 2 miles, so I have to.  I keep getting offers to drive us, but unless the weather is exceptionally terrible--subzero, sleet, etc.--we walk.  There you go--five miles a day, worked naturally into my day.  (It's also great for the immune system.)  I also used to walk to work.  Since it must be done, I can't slack off.

 

[PeterTheAleut]

One of the more... uhm... interesting :-\ things I've done:  played a concert band arrangement of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in a church for a church audience.

 

[ChristusDominus]

Well, imagine the worst headache you've had. Then make it so light makes it hurt worse. And sound makes it hurt worse. And movement makes it hurt worse. So... you're left to lay in bed motionless, in the dark, in silence, with the only thing you can do is think about how much your head hurts.   I'm glad that I haven't had one in a very long time! I once got one after a night of playing 007:Goldeneye with friends. I couldn't get the images of gunfire and exploding proximity mines out of my head. Not pleasant. :'( 8)

In medical terminology, when we hear someone say "worst headache of my life," the first thing that pops in our heads is subarachnoid hemorrhage.  But of course, not everyone's "worst headache" is that.  It's just the same as if someone comes into ER with chest pain, and we all start to be cautious about a heart attack.

I personally get mild migraines, throbbing and pulsating one sided headaches, especially when I am hypertensive, or if I grind my teeth when stressed.  Also, I don't get flairs, but when someone showed me a youtube video of a flair, I had a pretty bad headache.

A sincere question here: what do you by flair? I get headaches as well but I don't know what you mean by flair. Maybe I have had them and me not knowing

 

[Friul]

Well, Mass Effect 2 was amazing.  Definitely better than the first.  Bioware does it again.  Alas, now I must wait for Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3.  :laugh:

 

[xariskai]

1 bottle of beer on the wall,
1 bottle of beer,
Take it down,
Pass it around
0 bottles of beer on the wall......

And that is always a great tragedy.

Zero bottles of beer on the wall,
Zero bottles of beer,
Go to the store so you'll have something more:
One bottle of beer on the wall.

 

[greekischristian]

10. Give yourself a day or two off every week. If you work out seven days a week, you will becom over-trained and you will not feel well nor workout well. You need at least one day each week for your muscles to rest both from cario and weight training. So on your days off from the gym, NO WORKING OUT.

You need more time than that to rest, at least if you're pushing yourself. Even on a heavy cycle, a 5 day a week workouts (3-4 hrs per day) is very taxing; unless you're also on a high dose of hGH a 6 day a week workout would be counter productive and even then, you still need to rotate muscles and intensities. (for anaerobic workouts, if you're an aerobic athlete you can easily work out daily, provided you vary the load properly).

The problem with just rotating muscles and not taking enough time off is that you're not just training specific muscle groups, you're also training ATP production, Lactate threshold, anaerobic threshold, bone density, and the nervous system throughout the skeletal-muscular system. Without either allowing time for this to rest (or using substances that accelerate regeneration), you won't be able to reach the full potential of your gains and will plateau far faster.