#i did a speed run twice to check everything and it took me 10 mins but like i said that was a speedrun

[xviruserrorx]

I got bored so I made a uQuiz of How many Angels from supernatural can you name?

Warning: When I say Angels I mean Every Single One that has been named in the show... There are 83 questions... Have fun 😃

[tigerkirby215]

5e Akali, the Rogue Assassin build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Jessica “OwleyCat” Oyhenart. Made for Riot Games)

(Shit meme by yours truly.)

I mean honestly it’s about time I go around to this. With the year nearing its end (thank fuck) here’s a build I had planned pretty much since the Soulknife subclass was shown. Yeah spoilers I guess Akali’s a Soulknife Rogue because she throws a shit load of knives. No she isn’t an assassin, despite the name of “Rogue Assassin.”

GOALS

You can never have too many kunai - We need a hell a lotta kunai and shurikens to throw at our enemies. Remember that part where I said “Akali’s a Soulknife Rogue?”

Smoked 'em - We’ll need to be able to turn invisible and stay invisible while still being able to hit our foes.

Quick and deadly - You’re quick and deadly like a ninja, with dashes over and around just about everything and swift executions. Almost like you are a ninja.

RACE

Akali is a human, no matter how much training in stealth, spirits, and singing she has. She is however from the magic land of Ionia filled with magic people, and since she probably got some spiritual training from Shen I figured that’s good enough justification for me to grab a Dragonmark! A Mark of Passage Human gets a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to another ability score: we’ll go for Charisma for K-Pop stans. You can also learn a language of your choice and Sylvan makes sense to speak to the spirits.

You have a Courier's Speed for +5 feet of movement and can add a d4 to Acrobatics or motorcycle land vehicle checks thanks to Intuitive Motion. But the main feature of note is Magical Passage for Misty Step in your pocket once per Long Rest. You know me: gotta have Flash available.

If Dragonmarks aren’t an option: Variant Human with +1 to DEX and +1 to CHA is good enough. Take the Mobile feat at level 1 instead of later in the build, and perhaps invest in Fey Touched or something when the time comes for that feat I don’t know.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You run and jump around and throw a lot of knives. Almost like a ninja.

14; CONSTITUTION - Be it Gunblade or Riftmaker, Akali is deceptively survivable. That and even ability scores are nice.

13; CHARISMA - Charisma is tied to performance for Korean raps in whatever band you joined this time. Look I’m not saying I want Akali in Pentakill but...

12; WISDOM - Shen tries to teach you a lot of Wisdom and I’m sure at least some of it got through to you.

10; STRENGTH - ‘Kali got abs. Being a ninja requires 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and a 10 kilometer run every single day.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Ninjas don’t normally have a good math and science program. The answer to how many kunai you brought is “yes.”

BACKGROUND

While you may have once been part of the Kinkou Order you have since decided to go rogue. When you’re part of a ninja organization killing people is cool, but if you do it on your own you’re just a Criminal. You get proficiency in Stealth but I’m going to suggest replacing your Deception proficiency with Arcana for some teachings thanks to Master Shen. You also get proficiency in Thieves’ Tools (though if you want to min-max I’d perhaps swap this out for something out) but I’m going to suggest replacing your gaming set with a Disguise Kit, because my lord Akali has a lot of skins.

Be it your old connections from the Kinkou Order or a new informant for assassination contracts you have a Criminal Contact that can easily supply info, and who you always have a direct line to. They send the target, you get the kill.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee, Pan Chengwei, and Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

wOw ThE cHaRaCtEr WiTh “RoGuE” iN tHeIr NaMe Is A RoGuE?!?! Blatantly obvious information aside Rogues get proficiency in four different skills! Take proficiency in Acrobatics for ninja stuff, Perception for warding, Intimidation to scare little Noxian kids (hey ninjas are scary!), and Performance for Korean raps.

You also get Expertise in two of those skills: naturally you need Stealth to be a ninja and Performance to be K-Pop artist, so take expertise in both of those. You also know the secret code language of Thieves’ Cant, which only other ninjas (or just regular old Rogues) know.

But of course you can’t be a ninja without knowing how to Sneak Attack. If you attack an enemy that’s distracted by an ally or have advantage to hit a weak point, you do an extra d6 of damage. Don’t worry: your assassination potential only gets better with time.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get Cunning Action for some ninja speed. You can now spend a Bonus Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Yeah spoilers I guess Akali’s a Soulknife Rogue because she throws a shit load of knives. No she isn’t an assassin, despite the name of “Rogue Assassin.”

3rd level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype and Akali is a Soulknife because it turns out psionics is the fastest way to get a shit load of throwing knives thanks to Psychic Blades. When you take the Attack action you can make a psychic knife in your hand that does a d6 of Psychic damage, and you can either use it to stab in melee range or throw it up to 60 feet.

If you attack with the blade you can make a smaller blade to attack with as a bonus action. The damage die of this bonus attack is 1d4 (instead of a d6) but other than that it pretty much works the same. The Psychic Blades vanish immediately after hitting or missing, and they leave no mark on their target, which is just a nice little bit of ninja flavor.

You also have innate Psionic Power which... takes a bit more to explain that “funny psychic throwing knife.” You have Psionic Energy die equal to twice your proficiency bonus, and you can use them on the following abilities:

Psi-Bolstered Knack lets you boost your skill checks with legally-not-Bardic Inspiration, as long as you’re proficient in the skill.

Psychic Whispers lets you coordinate in team chat and set up ganks.

I’m not going to go too deep into these abilities because they’re listed in the subclass and if you don’t know what the subclass does buy Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and read it yourself. “See? Balance.” And speaking of balance your Sneak Attack damage now increases to 2d6!

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement but because it’s the 4th level in a Rogue build we’ll instead be taking the Mobile feat. Along with a 10 foot increase to your movement speed you can also cross over difficult terrain (cough walls cough) without spending extra movement if you Dash. But most importantly if you attack an enemy in melee range you can run away from them without provoking an attack of opportunity, even if you miss!

Yup XP to Level 3′s meme explains it better than I can. Sneak attack and run away: keep to the shadows and never stand still.

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 1

What? Did you think that we’d be going for pure Rogue levels? Ha ha Warlock levels go brrrrr. Regardless a connection to the Spirit Realm manifests as powers of the Archfey, such as Fey Presence to Charm or Frighten anyone within a 10 foot cube with an epic rap battle.

And you also get Pact Magic, which comes back on a Short Rest! You get two cantrips at first level: For a Shuriken that inflicts Deep Wounds on those who idolize Eldritch Blast take Chill Touch, because a ninja should always have the right tool for the job. For some ninja trickery grab Minor Illusion to manipulate the shadows to your whim.

For your leveled spells Hex will cripple your foes to make it harder for them to run while also making your strikes deadlier, and uhhh... that’s about it, really? I mean, Sleep from the Archfey list is pretty nice for a sleep bomb but you really don’t need it. We’ll be holding off on leveled spells for a bit.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations... hey wouldn’t it be funny if we just didn’t take invocations? I mean, feel free to grab some basic stuff like Armor of Shadows or Devil’s Sight for a time, but again we’re going to want to wait for...

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and while you may never have gone to an official school you were sure to keep all the teachings of Master Shen in a tome. A Book of Shadows from the Pact of the Tome to be precise!

While Pact of the Blade would probably make more sense I’m pretty sure you can’t make your Psychic Blades into Pact weapons. That, and we need a multitude of features from Pact of the Tome more.

Picking up the Pact of the Tome will let you learn 3 cantrips from any class’ spell list. For a quality assurance guarantee on your skill checks take Guidance for that extra boost you need. For some natural Ionian magic Druidcraft will let you feel the spirit in the earth and the trees. And I know there are some spells I seem to stick into every build but yeah: Message is still good even if you have telepathy, for some silent resourceless communication between allies.

Oh and remember how we took no invocations last level? That’s because we’re going to be grabbing both Aspect of the Moon to confuse Diana mains as well as remain alert through the night without needing to sleep, and Book of Ancient Secrets to have some ninja tricks you can prepare over 10 minutes by Ritual Casting. I’d suggest Alarm and Comprehend Languages as the most in-character options but you can get more ritual spells by picking them up and inscribing them into your book (with some really damn expensive ink.)

You can also finally go and pick up those spells that I’ve been ignoring! Darkness is good for a magic smoke bomb (as long as you’re okay with blinding yourself and your allies too) and while perhaps not the most in-character Mirror Image is a damn good spell to up your survivability. And while we may already have Flash once per long rest I won’t ever complain about more Misty Step.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement: time for hee-hoo Athlete Feat that I take whenever I want a +1 in DEX but don’t know what to do. But believe it or not there’s actually a reason for it this time: Akali is an athlete, and you need to be able to perform feats of acrobatics like a ninja. Because again: you are a ninja.

You also get another spell along with another cantrip: for your cantrip Mage Hand will let you do a little bit of spirit-jitsu to reach the kimchi on the top shelf. As for your spell Pass without Trace was added in the Tasha’s extended spell list but you don’t really need it. Your friends might but for the most part I’d again suggest waiting for next level.

(Artwork by Zeen Chin. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation and to be sneaky like a ninja One With Shadows will let you turn invisible if you stand still in the dark. Alternatively (if you think Stealth Expertise will carry you) you can take Far Scribe for some more secret shadow messages.

You can also learn third level spells like Blink for a slightly unreliable Smoke Cloud that’ll shroud you randomly, or Fear because ninjas are scary.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fey Warlocks get Misty Escape. As a reaction when you’re hit you can drop a smoke bomb to turn invisible and then teleport up to 60 feet. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn unless you attack or cast a spell, and can use this feature once per short or long rest.

You can also prepare another spell and for a ninja flashbang grab Hypnotic Pattern to daze everyone in a 30 foot cube. What? Ninjas can use flashbangs.

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation and we can finally run across the universe to whoever we marked with our shuriken. Or at least 30 feet closer. Relentless Hex lets you teleport up to 30 feet and arrive within 5 feet of an enemy you have Hexed, as long as you can see them. While you can dash for this distance or Flash (Misty Step) this will let you get past any difficult terrain or obstacles with ease.

We can also finally get what we came for: a smoke cloud we can attack from while still being invisible. Take Greater Invisibility for invisibility that remains even after you attack. Yes this does mean as a Rogue you’ll have Advantage on all your attacks (to Sneak Attack), and yes the aesthetic of stabbing people with psychic knives that leave no mark while you yourself are invisible is freaking nuts. There are other 4th level spells you can take (Dimension Door and Shadow of Moil being two worth mention) but your other spells are still good. It’s up to you what you do as again I only own the build, not your character.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 12 - ROGUE 5

At long last we’re going back to Rogue! 5th level Rogues can use their reaction for an Uncanny Dodge to take half damage from an attack. Remember that you only have one reaction per round, and this is the same reaction that you need to use for Misty Escape. So decide if disappearing but taking full damage is more valuable than taking half damage.

Your Sneak Attack also increases to 3d6, and you know those Psionic Energy die of yours? Well they’re now d8s! Finally!

LEVEL 13 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills. Acrobatics is an obvious must but I’ll leave the other skill up to you! Make your own build, even if it’ll probably include Riftmaker. (But when in doubt I opted for Perception personally.)

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 7

7th level Rogues become masters of dodging skill shots thank to Evasion. If you make a Dexterity save and succeed, you take no damage. If you fail the save, you only take half damage! Additionally your Sneak Attack is now 4d6.

(Artwork by Pyeongjun Park. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement. Hey about we cap that Dexterity score which has been sitting at an 18 for the past 6 levels? Deadliest knives, most agile of dodges, and BADDEST of dance moves. (Wait no that’s Charisma.)

LEVEL 16 - ROGUE 9

9th level Soul Knife Rogues can improve their weapons to Soul Blades, giving a few new uses to your Psionic Talent die. Homing Strikes will let you add your talent die to a missed attack, potentially allowing you to hit. If the talent die causes your attack to hit, you spend it.

Psychic Teleportation on the other hand will let you roll a Psionic Talent die as a bonus action to teleport an unoccupied space you can see, up to a number of feet away equal to 10 times the number rolled. This feature spends the die no matter how far you teleport. And finally your Sneak Attack increase to 5d6.

LEVEL 17 - ROGUE 10

The nice thing about Rogues is that they get more Ability Score Improvements. For MORE dancing increase your Charisma to show them what you’re made of. I’ll keep making jokes about K/DA don’t worry.

(Artwork by Atey Ghailan. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - ROGUE 11

11th level Rogues get Reliable Talent to turn any roll of 9 or lower on a skill check you’re proficient in to a 10. As per standard whenever I hit 11 in a Rogue build I like to make a list of your lowest possible roll so...

27 on Stealth or Acrobatics

25 on Performance

19 on Intimidation

17 on Perception

15 on Arcana

With results varying based on your choice of Expertise, of course. And if somehow that isn’t enough to make a skill check, your Psionic Talent die increases to a d10 along with your 6d6 Sneak Attack!

LEVEL 19 - ROGUE 12

Hey more Ability Score Improvements! That means you can nearly max out your Charisma just before level 20!

LEVEL 20 - ROGUE 13

13th level Soul Knife Rogues get the ultimate stealth tool: the Psychic Veil. As an action you become invisible for 1 hour unless you dismiss this effect (no action required). You remain invisible unless you deal damage to a creature or you force a creature to make a saving throw. You can use this feature once for free per Long Rest, and have to spend a Psionic Energy die to use it again.

Now some might say this is a weak ability since you have Greater Invisibility, but that spell only lasts a minute. This ability is far more useful for infiltration and out-of-combat uses, as with a full hour of being unseen you should be able to get into most places that you shouldn’t be. But if you think “a second level spell extended to 1 hour” isn’t a good capstone just remember that your Sneak Attack does increase to 7d6. And that... you know... You could just go Rogue 12 / Warlock 8 if you don’t like the level 13 ability.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

They can't stop me. I mean, they can try - 45 feet of movement with the ability to dash and teleport, with Athlete helping you scale up walls and Mobile making difficult terrain a non-issue. And yeah the Mobile feat in general makes you incredibly slippery.

I make problems... disappear - Who could’ve guessed that a permanently invisible Rogue would be dangerous? With a dozen tools to play keep-away you can easily be in multiple places at once and make your enemies unable to know where to strike.

I'll make this look like magic - You’ve got a nice bit of utility too with some great skill checks (boosted by your Psionic talent!) along with a ton of cantrips and the ability to learn any ritual spell you may find.

CONS

There are over 300 pressure points on the human body - You have a lot of features that are more for flavor than actual practicality, notably Relentless Hex which uhhhh... just Dash? You also have abilities which aren’t that strong, like weak Warlock spells we didn’t swap out (feel free to do that yourself) and Psychic Veil generally being a mediocre ability. (Nothing you can do to fix that.)

I was just warming up - Your stats aren’t awful but also aren’t fantastic... well except for your Intelligence: that’s pretty bad. And without any saving throw proficiency and a surprisingly limited amount of skills for a Rogue you really won’t be helpful outside of your area of expertise.

You don't get back what I take - Almost all your class features run on limited resources. Most of your Rogue abilities rely on your Psionic Talent die, and while you may have a lot you can only get one per Short Rest. Similarly you only have two Warlock slots, which even if they come back at the end of a Short Rest it leaves a lot to be desired. Frequent tea breaks are nice and all but you can quickly exhaust yourself without breaks.

But you are quick, silent, and deadly. All the skills of a ninja in one package. Dive in, make a clean cut, and get out before they know what hit ‘em. Akali’s that girl. 'Kali go grr. 'Kali don't stop. 'Kali don't skrrt. True Damage we do it, and maybe if you perform well enough you can get into Pentakill too. Look I’m not saying I want Akali to be in every band that Riot makes, but Pentakill Akali would be equally cool and hilarious.

(Artist unknown. Made for Riot Games.)

[reshrodancer-blog]

The long awaited Yakuza 0 review

To make things clear, this is my first Yakuza game. I haven’t played any other ones and i’ll most likely compare the game to Far Cry 3 or Nier: Automata since i’ve played those games recently and are fresh on my mind. There’ll be slight spoilers for the first 3 chapters. You can skip this part if u don’t wanna hear about the pacing problem. I’ll put the different parts into segments like i did the first time. Starting with the story, the biggest problem that the game has is it’s pacing. I guess it’s kinda unavoidable to not have pacing issues since you play as 2 different characters and their events unfold in different speeds, but the start is a real mood killer. The game opens up with you playing Kiryu in a high tension cinematic, then just makes you walk around with your best friend for like good 5-10 mins. After some bullshit, the game ramps up and gives you, probably, the best fighting gauntlet in the game, and a fantastic boss fight at the end. Next chapter, running around and doing fetch quests for buncha homeless people, the “fighting gauntlet” in this chapter is non existent, and the boss fight is less than stelar.  The first boss fight has stakes, Kiryu knows the character for a while, and we’ve had enough time to get to hate him. The second one, the stakes are considerably lower and we get like 2 scenes with the character, which is obviously not enough time to flesh out the character, and the reason for fighting him is kinda dumb. We beat the boss, have a talk and the chapter ends. Next chapter begins with quite a long cutscene, following bunch of unrelated characters, this is obviously made this way to make Majima’s(second MC), reveal as big as it is, considering the following games, but i haven’t played any of them so the bait didn’t work. The game doesn’t shy away from re-using bosses multiple times, but the reusal doesn’t bother since most of the have a huge role in those current events and the title card before each bossfight makes it very much worth it. Otherwise, the game has a great story, the characters are well thought out, kinda 1 dimentional but they do their job GREAT. The twists are good, and the ending might be a bit bitter-sweet, it still is a good wrap-up to everything. The game has horrible pacing issues in the first few chapters, the middle’s pretty decent, and gets kinda bad towards the end but not as bad as the first part. That’s the story-based pacing issues. The gameplay part doesn’t get any better during the main quests all you do is: 1.watch cutscenes 2. fight. That’s all there’s to it, no different minigames, considering there’s shit ton of it in the game. Well except 3 parts of the game where u play Karaoke twice and a toy grabbing machine once and well, 2 “stealth” sections”.  And the last problem that the story holds is the presentation, there are 4 different ways the game presents it’s story: 1. Fully animated cutscenes with voice acting, 2. In-game-engige with voice acting, 3.In-game-engige with no voice acting, 4.weird visual novel style. My problem with this begins with the fact that the fully animated cutscenes are not that long, also there are multiple time where the game switches from animated to engine to animated again. I know the game is made with a low-budget but these are still problem. Second problem being the in-engige cutscenes, the amount of animations the in-engige cutscenes have is pretty low, and it gets obvious pretty fast, the characters start doing the same movements and this might be a problem of mine but some of those animations really annoyed me. I don’t have any problems with the visual novel style, except that it’s not used a lot during the game, maybe about 5 times in the whole game. To leave the story part in a high note, the voice acting is amazing, you can feel every bit of emotions whenever characters talk and it enhances the story by a thousand easily. Huge amount of work is put into the side content into the game, considering Kamurocho and Sotenbori are basically few streets big, it’s filled with stuff to do to the brim. Starting from Karaoke to bowling, from western gambling to japanese gambling and 100 different substories, which are well-written. It has it’s cheesy moments but the writers knew about that fact and double downed on it which just makes it much better. The amount of care that’s put into the mini-stories is amazing, you do different things almost every time, it doesn’t have the same problem as the main story. Comparing this to smth like Far Cry 3, Yakuza 0 beats the game with ease. FC3′s side quests boils down to, go shoot ppl and fetch smth, i’d give’em a pass if they were well written but the story in the side quests is dogshit. Here’s an example: A lady asks you to check a plane wreckage, you go inspect the place, a man asks you what you are doing, you tell’im about the lady and he goes “There’s no lady in this village”, quests ends. Like what the fuck is that supposed to be, that’s it, no conclusion, Jason doesn’t question it, nor does he react. Meanwhile in Yakuza 0, you teach a Dominatrix how to act dominant, kids see you doing it and the game turns that awkward situation into a lesson for the dominatrix. The problem lies in the fact that non of the side quests have voice acting and they use the in-engine cutscenes. But i can forgive that for being amazingly entertaining. And the reward you get from the side quests are worthwile, almost everything in the game connects to something else. The biggest side-quests in the game are Kiryu’s Real Estate plotline, and Majima’s Cabaret Club plotline, which is the main way of making money. Both have similar story beats, both has to fight against the best 5 respective businessmen.  Kiryu’s job is to go around buying real estate and turning it into profit. This takes a long time and you aren’t doing anything to make the money, you buy the land and wait until the money flows in. Meanwhile Majima has a minigame where you have to keep the customers and your hostesses happy. The way you acquire managers and security for kiryu, and hostesses for Majima is through substories, which also tie into a lot of the minigames in the game, like dancing, fishing and such. What people complain about is the fact that you make the most money from Kiryu’s story while doing nothing, meanwhile you make 1/10th of the money with Majima since you actually have to pay attention for that. But i think the fact that those 2 thing contradicting each other works for it’s favor, you can swap characters after the game’s main story ends, you can send your advisors to collect the money and swap to Majima to do his part of the story. And to kinda offset the money problem early game, Majima’s upgrades cost considerably less than Kiryu’s. The upgrade system, i think it’s pretty bad. Most of the upgrades feel insignificant, for someone who’s new to the game i don’t think they’ll remember most of the combos that you unlock and the ones they’ll upgrade doesn’t change much aside from “deal more dmg”, “get more heat”. And the weird upgrade grid that the game has just adds unneccesary confusion. The fighting on the other hand. The fighting is great, the hits have weight to them. Every hit gives off a great visual and audio feel. The heat actions are over the top and gruesome. The game has 3 different styles for each character: Balances, fast and weak, strong and slow. Kiryu’s styles are more “practical” meanwhile Majima has the more “fun” styles. But both have broken styles which just makes the other styles obsolete. You can unlock a 4th style for each character if you complete the business subplots. One big problem with the balance of the game comes from the healing system. You can hold 20 healing items which heal the character for 75%. You can get these the moment you are allowed to roam the world, there’s no lock behind these and make the game a cakewalk even on the highest difficulty and ruin the mood of the game quite a bit, especially on bossfights. Imagine having 20 health bars, meanwhile the bosses have 2 to 6 maximum. Hence why i decided to handicap myself and only you maximum of 2 healing items per fight, after that each fight felt like a challenge and the victories felt a lot more impactful. But i shouldn’t be handicapping myself to make the story games feel more impactful, the game fails at that pretty badly. But if the game has a great soundtrack, even the most unbalanced fights can feel epic. And needless to say, Yakuza 0 has a phenomenal soundtrack, each fighting style has a different music tied to it, almost all of the bosses have music attached to them and the way they are integrated into the fight is fucking amazing. Especially towards the end, the music reaches amazing heights. Doesn’t matter how dull the fighting gets, the music will keep you pumped up until the last second you play. And you will get bored of the fighting, if you want to 100% the game. This game has one of the worst 100% metrics. The game makes you do EVERYTHING and sometimes do stuff multiple times. It took me 186 hours to 100% the game. Did i get frustrated of how bullshit the gambling is ? Yes, absolutely. The way the game adds up your score is when you stop playing certain minigame. This automatically sets your brain to quit the moment you go below the number you started with, so u quit after winning a round or losing a round and it becomes quite frustrating after some time. Catching every fish, playing every song in disco, beating up 200 enemies which each style, which one of them is unlocked really late into the game, you’ll get sick of it. And like i said before, there are japanese gambling minigames, like koi-koi and mahjong. I love Mahjong, it’s fucking fantastic but Sega could’ve done a better job if they wanted to include a japanese minigame with japanese symbols in the game. Thankfully this is fixed in Yakuza 6 and i’m glad. There are a lot of flaws with the game, but i love it without any doubt. The way the game captures the Japanese environment and culture, the amount of stuff you have in the game, the out of this world soundtrack, the high points of the story, the way the different side contents bleed into each other without any problems, and i’d recommend this game to everyone. 9/10

[bernicefitcpt-blog]

My first Sprint Triathlon Experience

I could probably count on one hand how many times I trained for each sport event leading to the weeks that I put on that tight one piece. Not that I didn't take the training seriously, but that's what my time allowed for me to do. Just so freakin' happy that I did finished my first triathlon event.... AND LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! ... And gotta love those automatic PR's: 1:31:33

Morning of : 

SETTING UP:Found a spot in the 2nd row of the racks next to a Brazilian lady #55 who looked like she knew what she was doing, and another nice lady named Brenda who helped me a ton! First, she did mention to keep a narrower space for myself in case someone wanted to come next to me. So i did. Then another lady came super close to my front tire with her stuff. She looked a little more nervous. And even Leanne, the lady who checked me in came by and said hi to me! She said she's been doing tri's since her late 20s and she’s now 60! You go mama! She looked like early 40s. Dang, I wanna me like that! So i'm feeling super NEWBIE status and I'm here looking like a lost child haha. I asked Brenda if theres a certain way she sets up her transition area and yup! Makes sense. Place it in the order you'll be using it. 

Heres a pic of it:

Here are some things I wish I knew: Bring something I could step into to rinse my feet. Maybe a stool would help? Have my phone ready to go on my bike. Stretch your hamstrings and hip flexors with the ball and foam roller more.     And a huge thing: having a running belt! Since i knew i had to run with my number on me, I took my lululemon fanny pack strap and attached my number to it. Brenda was the one who told me I didn't need to put my number on yet as I was practicing putting my pins on haha. So thank God i had that. Or else I would be fidgeting with it. 

SWIM:

Training: Thinking back to my first time ever competitive swimming event at the Honolulu Triathlon (Sprint - 750m), it made me want to practice this more than anything else. I really thought this might be the hardest part for me during the actual race day. The last time I had am actually in person swimming lesson was when I was like 5? Lol so, I read my books (usually the most confusing bc I need to visualize everything), watched some YouTube videos, and observed swimmers as I went to Palolo Valley Swimming pool. After discovering this pool that was only 5 min from my gym, I went a total of 3 times to practice on my swim! Each time I would do at least 600m, just to practice harder than my actual race length. One time I got 700m in the 40 min I decide to swim. You don't realize how much of a workout swimming actually is! One of the biggest lessons I learned is to STAY CALM. In the midst of putting my body in a mild hypoxic state where you're not breathing as you normally would. "THE BREATH IS SO IMPORTANT" - seriously cereal! As a Yoga teacher and personal trainer that starts with talking about the breath and diaphragmatic breathing, I realized that without this, we are nothing! Well, not nothing, but we are more likely to get anxious and if so consistent, could lead to depression! No good! 

Anyway, back to the swim training!  I also swam in open water like twice only, but next time think I should do more because the ocean water vs pool water is like night and day difference. From the breathing technique to just the extra resistance you get from the thickness of the water, current, and waves, I'll definitely be swimming more in open water. Elenor, the nice older lady who's retired from doing like idk 20 or 40 ( i just know a lot lol) of triathlons, she said the same thing, especially 2 days before the race which was the last time I swam to train. 

Day of:

Favorite part!! (Surprisingly!) I was probably most excited for this because I saw how working on my technique since the HNL TRI has worked for me!! As I jumped into the water to swim to the buoys to start, i started feeling a little like "sea sick." Never felt that before going into a swim. We had 3 min to swim to the buoys bc i was on the 2nd heat! (Go orange swim caps! Pink would have matched me but i wouldve had to be doing the relay. Lol i would mention this bc my color theme was black, grey, and bright pink haha)   Ran into fewer ppl this time at the start. Thank God! Being kicked in the face and swam on my legs isn't a joy. Mma in the water anyone? Haha During the swim, I was just focusing on breathing technique and continuing to swim without stopping. OH! and making sure i was swimming in a straight line to my destination. I was actually done in what felt to me was a quick 12 min and 44 seconds. I still had energy to run barefoot to the transition area! Yeeee! Haha

TRANSITION: should have not messed with my phone and trying to put it in my ziplock bag to put in my back pocket haha. Oh well. Lesson learned! I will need to get one of those bike phone things. Also my bluetooth didn't connect to my phone and fitbit. But i put my phone and fitbit on for my bike and run.

BIKE 

Training: I purchased my bike only like at the end of July from a guy that didn't need it anymore for super cheap in comparison what they normally go for. Thanks facebook marketplace! Lol! So i was told to get clips for the pedals and to get specific tri shoes. Went to the Bicycle Shop first to let them check my bike out. Turns out that my tires were extremely flat! I get one of these . I rode it for 3 miles before that around Kapiolani park to just get used to it. Also used for maybe only 2 miles at Lanikai. Felt normal to me, but hey... what do i know! I felt so accomplished just doing that! Went to Boca Hawaii  to get those. I had no idea that i actually had to put the clips on the bottom of the shoes. Learned a lot from the chick who didn't even bike but helped me to pick out the shoes and clips. It was then i realized this is not going to be a cheap sport. $120 tri shoes, $55 clips. Then i checked out the biking gear. Got myself my tri one piece. The girl (forgot her name)told me ppl like it bc it gives less room for drag or something like that. I got the small so it was skin tight. Plus i thought maybe i would lose weight if i trained more. $150. Thankfully i got the friends of Boca discount.     

Brought myself to Ko Olina to practice with my clips. I was told by a friend and also the girl working at Boca. "Yah. You're going to fall." And me in my head: “Nah. I know how to ride a bike.” Best believe, put on clip in for the first time. Then BOOM. Fell over on the side i put my one clip in! Even the Ko Olina security asked me if I was ok. Haha. Felt super comfy with it. Riding fast is fun! Just my butt hurts after a while sitting. Did 3 miles that day too. The next time i biked, ran, and swam at Ala Moana it wasn’t that far.  My last time practicing riding was half the course of the actual. Went to Kahala area to diamond head and around Monsarrat. Learned I shouldn't stop when charging a hill. Had to test out my gears and go on a hill. One of the scariest parts for me is trusting all the cars around me to not run me over. Single lanes for a car and bike freak me out. I now know how a biker feels with cars speeding up next to him or her. Im like 1. Don’t fall 2. Don’t fall. 3. Don’t get hit. Thank God for helmets! Thankfully i didn't fall or get hit this time. Lol! 

Day of: I learned so much!! Felt fast from my swim and ready to bike like a wild woman lol. Took long deciding whether to put my phone in my back pocket in a zip lock or int pouch. Big no no bc it cost me some time!  Kind of slow getting my clips in the bike after reviewing some of the footage Rich uploaded of me. But once i was off, I was off! They had huge blue signs with black arrows which showed me where to go. One of the most challenging parts was avoiding the potholes on the road in the quick turns in the neighborhood. Here's the bike path:  

My favorite part of biking was riding down the hill on kilauea ave. I figured out to change my gears on the hills which wasn't so bad dafter all. It actually felt faster than 46 min. The hardest part was going up Monsarrat. I'm so glad that we had the whole road to ourselves so we don't need to worry about getting run over. Cops blocked traffic every time they would see a bike coming. I was so glad to come to the finish line and see Rich there recording me and cheering. I slowly got off my bike because the inside of my thighs and upper hamstrings were done. It felt like i was coming off a long ride off a horse.

RUN:

Training: i would practice a slow jog after practicing on the stationary bike to "condition" my legs. This was not nearly enough to simulate how it would actually feel on race day but what did I know! I never biked more than 6 miles outside. Only about 14 miles inside on a stationary bike then to a .7 to 1 mile jog walk. Nope! Not like it! 

At the transition: I put my Lululemon socks on, already had my number on from the bike transition, and put on my favorite Hoka running shoes. Put on my Lululemon Visor and BAM! I was off! 

Day of: i haven't hurt that much starting a jog/run. To motivate me, the little girl who was 11 old passed me up with her mom! At first, i passed her but maybe into the first mile i felt soooo uncomfortable. I felt restricted  so i unzipped the front of my one piece tri suit. Ahhhh... homer simpson status?! Lol Just wanted to get to the finish line but enjoying my last few moments of my first tri! When I ran, i felt like I could think more clearly. Talked to myself a lot to motivate myself. What was going on in my head?! Thought about how grateful I was to God for giving me these abilities to do a triathlon"Are you pushing yourself the most you could!?" I sped up. All the way to the finish line. Pretty much a sprint with my legs hurting already. Saw Rich yelling, and BOOM! Didn't slow down til I was past the finish line! At the end, i went to the booth to get my shirt - which was my medal. About 10 minutes later I saw my friend Milli and then about 20 minutes later I saw my brother, mom, sis in law, baby nephew, and their dog. It was so great to have them all there! 

After: In about 30 min to 45 min I checked the scores. It said I placed 3rd. So during the awards, they called my age group (25-29 yo) and the 3rd place winner. It wasn’t me! So I thought, it’s okay. I didn’t place. Then they said on the mic, “In 2nd place, Bernice Aurellano!” I was pretty shocked. Came home with a cool successory too! Earrings! Check it out: 

Definitely doing it again. Actually, just signed up for my next triathlon sprint this coming Sunday! Excited to see what my body, mind, and spirit are capable of doing this time around. To the Ko Olina Race we go! 

Picture of my fam afterwards: 

The traditional FINISH LINE photo! LOVE LOVE LOVE the feeling of getting through to the finish line! 

Check out this awesome Video - posted on instagram @BerniceFitCPT and Youtube - created by my love, Rich! 

Until next time.... I’ll tell you about my 2nd experience! 

Aloha,

Bernice

[machinem3tri-blog]

AG Nationals, and a new National Champ!

Claire from the Junior Elite team here! A little insight into my experience racing the Olympic distance at USAT AG National Champs in Omaha...

I'm currently sitting in a car, smashed between my stuff (which, as I have been CONSTANTLY reminded, I have too much of) and my sister on the way to College (eeek). But, I digress. I went into Age Group Nationals one week after racing at the Junior Elite National Championships both slightly sore, and nervous after a disappointing set of performances in my individual race and Mixed Team Relay. My bike leg had been slow, and I was worried about the Olympic because the bike was twice as long. After a day off following JE Nats, I went back to training Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday I headed off to Omaha. At the airport I saw many of my fellow triathletes, as evidenced by the steady stream of bike bags and boxes I saw in the time I waited to check my own bike. I also played a fun game, Spot the Triathlete, which if you want any tips, lace locks, garmin watches, and water bottles are pretty good giveaways.

After landing in Omaha and retrieving my baby (bike), I headed to my hotel for a late dinner and to put my bike back together. In doing so, I discovered that the read derailleur was scratched (thanks TSA for the wonderful repacking job....). After a frantic FaceTime call to my dad and some freaking out, I decided that everything was for the worst and I would likely have to buy a new bike a la Coach Andrew last year, although as my mom informed me I am WAY too dramatic.

Friday morning came, and I was up bright and early, determined to be the first person in line at Greenstreet Cycles' bike tent at the expo. I got a light stretch-out run in, and sat down in the growing line at 9:30, 30 mins before the expo opened, and an hour before the bike mechanics got there. Eventually, I met up with my teammates and wandered the expo, specifically the Rudy Project tent, which by the time we all left, Laura, Johnathan, and I had all bought something from them, and came back to my bike in time to learn all I needed was a quick derailleur adjustment and went on my way. We finished our swim and bike warmups, Laura and I checked our bikes into transition, and went back to our hotels to test out our new 2XU recovery tights.

After a team dinner that involved all you can eat spaghetti (and it was gluten free!!!), I went back to pack my bag, and headed to bed.

I woke up early race day morning, and my mom and I headed towards the race site. However, as we got closer we found a long line of cars extending our miles from the race site. With some quick thinking (and waze) we skipped some of the line, and once in the race site I hopped out of the car after finding Laura walking towards the site, and left my mom to park the car. I checked into transition with just enough time, only to find out the extended 15 minutes and then 30 minutes later. After doing so many ITU-style races, it was funny to see how much stuff people had in their transition area, though I kept it simple.

I did a quick warmup, some therapeutic shopping in the USAT tent to calm my nerves, and eventually my wave headed down to the dock to swim.

The race started with a buzz of the air horn, and we were off. After a couple strokes fighting the girls next to me, I decided to take what I had learned from the JE Series, and moved away from the crowd in the opposite direction. Once I was in an open space, I sighted the yellow triangle way off in the distance, and ignoring the orange sight buoys, I headed towards the yellow. I broke away from most of the pack, but found one other girl out ahead with me, but after some steady strokes I passed her, cornered the first buoy, and headed towards the second. Once I passed the second yellow and started heading back however, I realized I had no idea which direction I was heading in, although I had caught up to a number of the men from the wave before me and I decided to follow where they were going. Every couple meters however, I would see a cap, and panic, as I wasn't sure whether it was the light pink of my wave, or the light orange of the wave ahead of me. Finally, I made it to the steps and sprinted into and out of transition, and it was off to the bike leg.

Knowing the bike had been bad the week before, I tried to focus on a high cadence and just staying above 20 mph. Every time someone passed me, I would check to see if they were male or female, and if they were female what age it said on their calf. One of the girls who passed me had her age slightly obscured, but I chased her down until I could read her age at 23, and then went back to my usual cadence and speed. At the turn around point, a U-turn because *apparently* they must exist everywhere, I almost went off the road, and my wheel touched the grass. I was going so slow around the tight curve that the three guys behind me had to pretty much stop. One of them laughed (not in a mean way) as I almost went off the road and said good luck as he passed me. The compliments and enthusiasm from other athletes is one of the reasons I love this sport so so much. Earlier, as well, a man from the wave ahead of me had complimented me on my swim as he breezed past me on the bike. After turning around, I searched form girls from my wave to gauge how much of a cushion I had, and tried to keep my speed up despite my growing fatigue and the wind. After getting caught by 2 girls from my wave (but not my age group) in the last .2K, I headed into transition. I kept my shoes on my bike, and even after running a couple feet, I caught multiple people who were running with their shoes on. Considering the length of the transition area, and that I had to run with my bike for practically the entire length of it, I appreciated my quick, ITU/draft-legal-inspired transition style.

I started towards the run course, focusing on keeping a steady pace and not going out too hard. Halfway through the first lap down (1/8 in), the two girls who had passed me at the end of the bike came up on me from behind, throwing me off because I had believed they were way ahead at this point, proving the effectiveness of my quick transitions. I kept up with them as the pushed a faster pace until the back stretch of the first lap, when one took off, and the second took off a bit later leaving me behind. At the turn around I kept looking for anyone who could run me down, and other girls in my wave, but there were too many people on the two-loop course and I couldn't make out specific people. As I started the second lap, I realized the error of my ways, in trying to keep up with the fast 20-year olds, I had pushed myself a bit too much, and my pace drastically dropped, which is uncharacteristic for me, as I usually have a faster back-half. But I just kept going, until I was caught by one other girl from my wave, and we ran together for a bit of the lap, until she started to fade, I told her to keep going, and tried to take off, although I could still see her behind me coming towards the finish line. In the last few meters, my vision started to tunnel, and I was breathing hard, but all I could see was the red arch of the finish. Sprinting in, I heard the announcer say that another national champion was about to cross the finish line, and a small smile broke out on my face as I crossed the line, unable to talk and slightly dizzy but ridiculously happy.

Overall, the race was a success. No leg was the fastest I have done it, although considering the hills the bike was pretty good, but it is the overall race that matters, not the individual leg times. I hadn't imagined that I would win, I was hoping for top 10, especially considering the previous weekends race. I am so proud to be the national champion for  my age group, and when people mention it, it still doesn't feel like it should be me, that really it was just a small field for the race, and that there must be other girls out there faster than me. Maybe there are, and maybe I will race them in the years to come, but this year, despite my often unbelief, I got to wear the national champion jersey (which I got in a large so I can wear it forever!!!).

[alwaysrunning-never-lookingback]

5/30/17

Today’s workout was rough! Very similar to last Tuesday, I just added two more repeats and it was about a MILLION times hotter!

Workout: warm up (10 min jog, static stretches, dynamic stretches, static stretches, strides)

1k at 3:08 50m walk/150m jog **WAY TOO FAST. I just got so excited and I was feeling good, but I paid dearly for it at the end. Guess who has two thumbs and still can’t pace his workouts properly??

1k at 3:19 50m walk/150m jog  **Much better. I was shooting for 3:20s (Around 5:20/mi pace) and I was very satisfied with this one. If only my naiveté on the first repeat hadn’t sealed my fate, maybe I could have kept this up.

1k at 3:18 50m walk/150m jog **Solid time, just like the last one. I specifically remember this one being awful and my mouth was dry, it seemed, all the way down my throat and into my lungs and stomach. This is the point at which I realize I am not nearly hydrated enough.

1k at 3:22 50m walk/150m jog **A little slow, but not bad, all things considered. It seemed as though this one would never end!

After a set of four repeats, I took an extra 100m recovery jog as well as a little bit of time to drink some more water, wipe sweat from my face, and generally just feel bad for myself for a minute.

1k at 3:18 50m walk/150m jog **Almost felt as good as the first one. I was back on pace, but even before this one was finished, I knew I couldn’t hold pace the rest of the way.

1k at 3:30 50m walk/150m jog **Here is where everything fell apart on me. I had hit my limit. I was both fatigued and dehydrated by the heat, and it showed. Every 200m I checked my time, and with every glance at my wrist I was more and more off pace.

1k at 3:36 50m walk/150m jog **The worst of them all. I wanted to die! This was nothing but miserable and I hated every second of it.

1k at 3:34 50m walk/150m jog **I tried to get this one back into a good pace, but mentally I had given up, so there was no option but to admit defeat. The 1k repeats on the track had bested me.

cool down (15 min run/walk barefoot on the grass inside track)   I was terrified of this workout before it began, and today it certainly had its way with me. But I suppose it is better to bonk in a workout every time than to bonk in a race. I cannot recall the source, but I heard once that “Running doesn’t make you special, or make you better than anyone else, but it sure as hell wakes you up.” And today, that’s exactly what it did. I realize now the things I must change (sleep habits, post-run work to stay injury free, etc) if I want to get any better. I comprehend more fully the work required of me and the sacrifice I must make to achieve the goals I have set and the dreams I am working for. Above everything else, I understand that my running at this pace doesn’t have nearly the endurance required. I have some work to do. This workout hit me so hard I was forced to nap, and I hope it helped to speed my recovery.

As for my weekly mileage, I’m at 17.58, so less than 2.5 miles behind schedule. Not to worry, though, tomorrow is my day off (!!!) which means I can easily run twice. Currently the plan is for 7-10 in the morning on some mountain singletrack, followed by a group run in the evening with some friends from the local running store. I love training alone because it allows me to do my own thing, but sometimes I just need people!

And remember, let’s be friends! I’m always interested in finding new people to share this passion and trade ideas & philosophies with. But more importantly, I want to hear YOUR stories. Find me on Twitter @KoltonGWilliams and we can talk about running. Or check out my videos on YouTube here. Heck, email me at williamskolton@gmail.com if you feel so inclined. And please, share your stuff with me! Drop me a message, comment, whatever. Let’s connect! I would love to read your blog and watch your videos and follow all your activities, running or otherwise. Teach me about your running gear and your training, ask me a question, or tell me what you ate today. I want to hear it all! Run as fast or as slow as you need to have a good time, but get out there and run!