Reah’s Crib

I have been figuring out how to get more points in Mahjong Titans. It’s the computer game I told you about in one of my previous posts. I got hooked to it a few weeks ago, and stopped playing last week. Yet, yesterday morning, I decided to play again, to improve my statistics.

According to the help section, the way you can improve your score in this game is to get pairs from the same class, one after the other. I was doing this before but I didn’t think my score got better.

However, I realized that the way I could get more bonus points is that I should try to find all the pairs I could find in the same class until I could not find any pair of that class exposed, then that’s the time I should start finding pairs from another class until I could not find any pair again. This cycle will go on until I could find all the pairs in the board.

There are some instances though that I would not eliminate all pairs especially if there are still a lot of tiles of the same class not exposed. I would just eliminate those tiles I need to eliminate first (because the tile it hides is the one I need the most. It could be a match to another tile at the very far side of the layout).

After doing this strategy, I noticed how fast I could solve most of the puzzles, and yes, my score got better. (Though there are still a lot I could not win.) So far my highest score is 769 points in the cat layout. I am still struggling in the Dragon layout, but my scores in Spider and Fortress aren’t that bad. While in winning percentages, my numbers in Spider and Fortress layouts aren’t that good compare to how I am doing in Crab layout which has 89% winning percentage. Nice eh?

Anyway, here are the screenshots of my scores (so far). (Note: The name on the title bar on the screenshot says Chris though, because the Vista laptop I am using is not mine. But I am the only one playing Mahjong Titans in this laptop. )

On Turtle Layout

On Dragon Layout

On Cat Layout

On Fortress Layout

On Crab Layout

On Spider Layout

I just got a tattoo for free!

You figured it out, eh? Yep. It’s just a henna tattoo. I don’t think I am brave enough to get a real tattoo on my skin. But my cousin, kuya Dokie Luterte, who’ve done my henna tattoo on my back, is really a Tattoo artist. If you see on the pictures above, he has a collection of tattoo designs where you can choose from. It’s cool having him as my cousin since he does tattoos, so I interviewed him. Yay!

Me: When did you start tattooing, kuya Dokie?

Kuya Dokie: I started tattooing 5 years ago, with my friends skin, as my canvas. I don’t think I could say I am really a good tattoo artist, but i prefer to be called a skilled tattooist instead. I can immitate any drawings/designs… and if you want, fix some of its details. [For the last part, I think  he meant fix details on an existing tattoo.]

Me: But you got tattoos on your skin too, right? How did you get interested having them?

Kuya Dokie: When I was 14 years old, I was influenced by my bestfriend to have one. His parents got separated, and he wanted to do something rebellious, and I joined him. Hehe.

Me: Woah! Tita and Tito probably got mad at you!

Kuya Dokie: Yeah, but they got over it after a few years.

Me: Hehe, I saw earlier Tita got a henna tattoo on her hand. Anyway, how much do you charge your customers?

Kuya Dokie: Since I’m using disposable things, especially the needles, my minimum charge for a tattoo is 300 pesos (2×2 inches only).
For bigger designs, there is 100 pesos additional per inch added [on the minimum 2x2 inches size].
Example,  a 5×4 inches tattoo is worth = 900 pesos.

Or we can talk about the price. And I do black and colored tattoo designs.

Me: Cool! So, they can negotiate eh? If anyone is interested getting your tattoo service here in Tagum, how will they contact you?

Kuya Dokie: I don’t have a tattoo shop. I stay at home most of the time, so if you can, you can go to my house along Seminary Drive in Tagum City. I also do home service, with a minimum charge of 500 pesos, tagum area only… My mobile number is: 0918-******* [Note: I won't publish his mobile number yet, until I talk to him about this. But you can email me, at reah.guevarra@gmail.com if you want to get the service of my cousin, or just leave a comment below.]

Me: Why Tagum area only? Why not include those who are in Davao city?

Kuya Dokie: Well, Davao city is a big area, and there are several tattoo artists there already.

Anyway, here is a sample of his work.

And another sample below.

Recently, I got hooked in Mahjong Titans, a computer game readily installed in a Windows Vista Home Premium computer / laptop. For the first few minutes playing it, I confused it with the real Mahjong my uncle got addicted to. I found out that it wasn’t that game.

Mahjong Titans is a solitaire game  like the Freecell game, but instead of cards it uses Mahjong tiles. Your goal is to be able to find a pair of identical tiles, until all 144 tiles are paired, or a total of 72 pairs. You may think it is easy, but only the tiles on top, on the right and left are movable, and those under or in between are locked up. You have to remove first the movable tiles, before you can exposed the locked tiles.

By default, Mahjong Titans is using the traditional tiles of Mahjong, but you can also customize its look or tile set with:

• Primary color tiles – These are actually traditional tiles with just black, yellow, blue, green, red, and pink as backgrounds of the images instead of white.
• Pastel Tiles – The image background has pastel colors of course, but the images are designed for kids or to players who are young at heart. The images in traditional tiles are replaced with stars, moon, rabbit, flowers, among other things.
• Large Print Tiles – So you could easily see the images. This is my favorite tile set.

Aside from changing the tile set, you could also change the overall background with seagrass mat, green felt, brown felt, red felt, and cherry blossom.

What I like most about this game is that the level of difficulty on playing depends on what tile layout you choose. Most of the time, you need a different strategy on each of the layout. And sometimes, it becomes tricky too, that you end up losing when you use the same strategy you used in your previous game (in same layout). The layouts to choose from are: Turtle, Dragon, Cat, Fortress, Crab, and Spider.

Your score depends on how fast you find pairs. Bonus points though would help you improve your Mahjong Titans scores. These extra points are achieved when you free up pairs in the same class one after the other. Bigger bonus points if you have the opportunity of finding pairs on the same class. Less score points if you use the hint feature most of the time. You can undo some moves though.

(Update: I tried to find pairs in the same class quickly. I found some of the points aren’t that much high to be considered bonus points. Now I still wonder how Mahjong Titans scoring really works aside from trying to be quick in matching.)

On the bottom left side of the screen, it tells you how much available matches are still laid out or exposed on the game board. The most frustrating part is seeing just one match left when there are still a lot of tiles left. That’s more likely you are losing the game. In fortunate times though, that one last match may make you win depends on what tile it frees.

If you lose the game, you have an option to restart it but of course lose points in your game statistics. The good (bad) thing with restarting the same game several times  is that you end up memorizing where the tiles are, which for me is a kind of cheating. But I do this sometimes, especially when I wonder why I lost.

Animations and sounds make this game more interesting as well, and the ability to save the game to play it later is also a big plus.

I mentioned in my previous post that I went to Tagum City a few weeks ago and I was there for a couple of weeks.

My relatives were so great to allow me staying there, not to mention I brought Chris with me. They treated him well, and I think they love to have him around. One of my cousins, Doki, entertained Chris with one of his magic tricks. I didn’t know Doki could do card tricks. Actually, Chris was using my cousin’s computer, while my cousin was showing to me the magic trick. Chris got distracted and started watching us, even he didn’t understand much of the dialect my cousin was speaking. My cousin ended up messing up the trick, yet, Chris was already interested and decided to learn it.

The trick was about This, This, and That cards. Doki eagerly taught Chris, and even gave him his three spare cards as a souvenir for his stay in Tagum, and so that Chris could practice too. Before we left Doki’s room, he showed the video where he learned the trick. It was the video below.

The following days, Chris was practicing the trick to me, and when he already kinda mastered it, he showed it to the my nephews and nieces for more practice.

About eight in the evening of the 26th of May, and just a few hours before we flew to Davao City via Zest Air airlines, I texted my aunt who lived in Tagum to reserve us a room in Molave Hotel. We wanted the cheapest room for two persons. I was still in Manila that time, so calling the hotel myself to reserve a room will be a long distance call, that’s why I just asked my aunt to reserve a room for us. And she got one.

The air-conditioned room we had in Molave Hotel was 660 pesos per night. It had a private bathroom, cable TV, a bed of course, a dresser, two glasses, and slippers which aren’t a pair–one was smaller than the other, and different colors too.

The not-a-pair of slippers in the bathroom

What I liked most was the water dispenser just outside the hallway, because I got hot water for my oatmeal. Yay!

We only stayed one night in the hotel, since we planned to stay anyway for two weeks in my Aunt’s place, which was in Seminary Drive. We were in Tagum to attend the wedding of my cousin, and for a vacation with my relatives.

Anyway, how we got to Molave Hotel?

From Davao International Airport in Davao City, we opted to just take a bus to Tagum City. Take note, a non-airconditioned bus. The fare was 60 pesos per person. That’s better I think even if it was less convenient, because we might had end up paying 500 pesos or more for a taxi. It was early in the morning anyway, around 7 am, so the weather wasn’t that hot, just the morning sun. We arrived about an hour later in Molave Hotel. It could be seen from the highway where buses pass. It would be a few blocks BEFORE the Chowking restaurant.

If you are looking for other inns or hotels in Tagum City, you can find them here: http://tagumcity.50webs.com/inns.html. I am not sure though how updated the rates are or even the contact numbers.

I’m back in Iloilo City for a vacation with my partner. Just like before, we are staying here in Ong Bun Pension House near the corner of  Quezon and Ledesma Street.  I have a map below for you to see it’s location in Iloilo City.

View Larger Map

I think Ong Bun has the cheapest and affordable rooms for travelers like us. All we need anyway is a place to stay in and a bathroom to shower in. The room we got is worth 530 pesos per night. It looks simple, has  twin beds, and a cable TV. There is no hot shower though, well at least in the room we are staying in, but that is fine.

Here’s a pic of the room we have.

The room we are staying in Ong Bun Pension House

Right now, Ong Bun is renovating some of its floors so it may look less attractive to first time customers. But the finished part is nicer than the other floors. I think that is where most of its suite rooms are situated.

The renovated portion of Ong Bun Pension House

The renovated hallway

If you are not booking their suite rooms, at least you may enjoy their free WiFi connection if you are traveling with your laptop. I appreciated it much.  I think the connection is better than it was two years ago.

Aside from free WiFi, they also got a small restauraunt upstairs and laundry service.

Near Ong Bun, is the Robinson’s Mall, and SM Department Store. If you need to go to SM City, you have to take a jeepney or a taxi. Also, there are several fast food chains nearby like Chowking, McDonalds, and Greenwhich.

Check it out now in www.reddit.com so you won’t miss the fun. But if you want to use the original Reddit layout, you can go to http://classic.reddit.com/.

One article that I read today triggered me to write this post. The article was about non-egyptian mummies.

What struck me most about this article were the mummies of Guanajuato in Mexico. These people were buried due to a cholera epidemic outbreak in 1833. And there bodies were mummified naturally–due to the air and weather in the area.

Mummies of Guanajuato in Mexico housed in a local museum, photo from www.guardian.co.uk.

But the interesting part I learned about this event was that some of these people were buried alive, and these could be seen from their horrific facial expressions.

Head of a Mummy in Guanajuato's Mummy Museum. Photo taken from About.com.

If you want to visit the mummy museum, their address is Municipal Pantheon Esplanade, Downtown, C.P. 36000, Guanajuato, Mexico. Find out more through their official website.

Buried Alive

The premature burial of some of the mummies in Guanajuato lead me to another topic to look up to in Google and that is the topic of being buried alive. So I googled “buried alive”, and found interesting facts about it from Wikipedia.

I learned that:

• George Washington feared of premature burial that he asked his servants not to bury him until it passed three days from his death.
• A medieval philisopher named John Duns Scotus of Scotland is said to have been accidentally buried alive – when his tomb was reopened, his body was reportedly found outside his coffin with his hands torn and bloody after attempting to escape.
• Oran, a sixth-century monk on Iona: having presumably been declared dead, he was buried, but was dug up again the following day and found to be alive. He is said to have subsequently been re-buried for heresy when he claimed that after his first burial he had seen heaven and hell.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_premature_obituaries

Buried Alive in Philippines Search

Being an SEO writer, I couldn’t help myself thinking how many people searched for the keywords “buried alive“. Surprisingly about 1000-2000 people do search that in Google everyday and most of them come from the Philippines. (Disclaimer: I just estimated the number of people by comparing it to the amount of traffic from a keyword I know of.) I am not sure if location has a value on Google Trends results, but it is interesting to find out that Filipinos do search about it.

I was really not a full time Education student back in college. Only had 18 units of Education which I took up only two summers. Nevertheless, I still took up the Licensure Exam for Teachers or LET last year.

I had two choices to review for the test. Either I would enroll in a review class or self-study. I chose to review on my own. It was not an easy choice. I guess I was just lucky that my good friend already enrolled in a review class so what I did was just photocopied her review manuals. I suggest you do the same.

Anyway, I started to self study just a month before the exam. If my goal was to be one of the top 10 examiners, I guess I would had taken the review seriously and started the review months before. I might also had enrolled in a review center. But that time, I just want to pass the exam and get a license. So, it took a lot of self-discipline to study by myself since I easily get distracted by my favorite past time. Only a week or two before the exam, that I seriously went through all the manuals and tried to understand every concept in Education.

Anyway, here are other pointers I want to give you if you plan to also review on your own for the Licensure Exam for Teachers.

1. Know your weak and strong subjects. Alot time on reviewing the lessons of your strong subjects. And enjoy the review so you could easily remember what you are reading. But alot more time on your weak subjects. Well, at least if you are weak in math for example, make sure you didn’t miss reviewing the concepts of what is covered in the test for General Math.

2. Understand theories and concepts. Review the different methods of teaching. Imagine how these ideas would be applied in a real teaching environment. If you are already teaching then that is great, since you can easily imagine how the theories and concepts are applied in the real world.

3. In my opionion, the exam is more of your analytical skills, so strive hard to improve it. Once you have understood theories and concept, make sure you know how to differentiate them and explain them in your own words. At least by doing these, you can easily recall them when you are taking the exam.

4. Don’t take for granted subjects under General Education. Remember that you have to pass all three sets of tests including General Education. Don’t assume this test is easy since you took this up when you were in Elementary or High School. Remember that a lot of years had passed. So brush up your memory especially the basic mathematical equations and basic science concepts.

5. Prepare everything before the exam. Make sure you have read the test guidelines many times. Check your calculator. To be sure, check the allowed calculators in the PRC’s list. If you don’t want to buy a new one though, make sure you have a non-programmable calculator. But don’t take my word on this because I wasn’t sure if other proctors had allowed calculators not in the list, although my friend said she didn’t even check the list and just grab a basic calculator with her. Proctors check each calculator before the exam starts.

6. Take enough sleep before the exam. Make sure you don’t feel drowsy while taking the exam so you have enough time to answer them all.

7. Eat well before the exam, and pee too. You are not allowed to go out while taking the exam.

8. Avoid erasures. In CEU, where I had my college years, we took our exams in Scantron. So, I was used to answering tests by shading the boxes or circles. I knew how erasures could make a bad score. So before you shade it, make sure you are shading the right answer, or at least it is your final answer. If you need to erase it, make sure it is clean. But I still don’t think it is a good idea.

9. Follow instructions. Listen to what the proctor is telling you during the exam. If it is not clear, ask the proctor.

10. Most of the time, you haven’t reviewed whatever appears on the real exam. What will help you answer the exam is your basic understanding of the Education topics, and your analysis. (Don’t overanalyze.) For other test takers, they call it common sense.

Blogging is the most in thing now, and if you still haven’t into it, then maybe you can start your own inside your own Friendster Account. Here are the easy steps:

1. Log into your Friendster account

2. Look on the upper left corner, on the navigation tabs. Near the link for Home, is Profile. Move your mouse over the Profile link, and choose Blogs. 

3. Once you are in the new page, you are ready to create your new blog. Just type in any name for your new blog, and click the Create a blog button.

4. If you have successfully create your blog, Friendster will direct you to the blog dashboard. 

5. Study the features, choose a theme, and once you are ready, write your first post.

Good luck!