EN -W-lOM(o(-t- Mich mB cela ee M lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca (¥Y Beauty on a budget: Essence Longlasting Lipstick (¥ Hit the spot (¥ Planning the perfect bro-date And more! Valentine's Day for people who have been dating for five minutes > Celebrating special moments in a new relationship Mercedes Deutscher News Editor f you don't view February 14 as a corporate hallmark holiday—rather as a celebration of all things love-related— Valentine’s Day may be what you consider a big deal. Valentine’s Day is a day that you can show love and affection to your best friends, your family, and even your pets. Most commonly, however, it is perceived as a day to appreciate a romantic partner. Yet what if you have only just recently entered into a relationship (monogamous or not) with someone? The beginning of a relationship is a time where people try to put their best foot forward, playing jump rope with a line between showing intimacy and not being overbearing. Valentine’s Day (or any occasion where you could be expected to do something special) is a stressful ordeal. Perhaps having the right idea of what to do may come easily if you have known this person for an extended period of time, but if you've just started dating, this is often not the case. My advice for new couples would simply be to communicate. Do you or your partner even like this holiday? If you both answer no, don’t stress too much over it. If you do, perhaps discuss what you like about Valentine’s Day, or maybe even discuss what you like about dates in general. Do they like the traditional fancy date with flowers and chocolates? Is their idea of a nice evening curling up with pizza and beer while watching a marathon of Bojack Horseman? It’s also important to assess where you and your partner emotionally are in this relationship. Maybe you both fell head over heels for each other overnight and a romantic hotel suite in Whistler seems like a perfect Valentine’s Day. However, if you are both still testing the waters and prefer something more light-hearted, then go for something simpler instead. Yet what if you are both on different levels? If you feel very passionate about your partner, but they are taking longer to become emotionally invested, don’t force some grandiose celebration on them. It doesn’t mean that you can’t show that you care or that you have to be dishonest about how you feel, but consider that making a big deal out of a single day so early on may be overwhelming or downright scary for your partner. Perhaps you are on the other side of this equation, where you're just wanting to take things slow and your partner lets you know that they absolutely adore you. Communicate early on and stand your ground so that they may not get ahead of themselves, or get any wrong ideas, but try to understand that what they do is because they care about you. If your relationship stands the tests of the first several months, days like Valentine’s Day can serve as cherished early memories. Every relationship is unique, so do something that is unique to all parties involved. Don't stress out too much about it though, because after all, it is just another day of the year. Get Good vol. 3 > The quest for key-mapping perfection Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor n my previous entries into this series, which offers up advice on making that transition from console to PC gaming, I mentioned something called key mapping, a term many people were confused by. This is mostly only important in games in which your character is imbued with various skills and powers that change and become better as you level them up. If any of those skills and powers are classified as “active,” it means you have to activate them via a command of some sort. This is opposed to “passive” skills, which are either always active, or will activate on their own when certain criteria is met. For example, a common passive skill in a game is that your defence is boosted if you fall below 30 per cent health. One of the advantages of PC gaming is that the use of a keyboard offers you more buttons to have active powers or skills assigned to. Ona console, you are limited by the number of buttons on your controller, unless you want to get into combining buttons, and that can get complicated really fast. The act of choosing where to assign what skills/powers is called key mapping. In general—and this is for any game—you can go online and get a hot key map that someone has already laid out. This will then tell you what skills, items, or powers to place where in regards to key mapping. My advice is to check these out to get a handle on what abilities might be important, but don’t treat these maps as gospel—there is room for deviation. Whether you play on a game pad ora regular keyboard, there are a couple things you'll need to keep in mind. Your most basic attack, and the one with the lowest “cool down’—the time until a skill can be used again after you use it—must always be equipped to your left mouse button, because it is the easiest button to hit. The right mouse button is dependent on your style of play. If you like characters with low defence, then I advise equipping some sort of dodge, jump back, or parry skill here. If you play a character with really high defence, then I advise equipping some sort of buff—a skill or spell that temporarily increases your base stats—or a taunt that will draw enemy aggression if you're playing in a group. If you're using a gaming mouse that has extra buttons, | prefer equipping items to these, because then all your item effects will be grouped together and easy to hit with your thumb for when you need them. Some games allow you to use the scroll button as well, which is great for switching between weapons quickly. As for the other keys, I just have a few simple guidelines. The skills/powers with the lowest cool downs are going to be the ones you will use the most, so keep your favourites within easy reach of your index and pinky finger. These two fingers have the greatest range of motion and generally have the fastest reflex time. Try not to assign anything with the intention of using your thumb, unless it is a dodge, a jump, ora jump back assigned to the space Image of Corgnelius via imgur bar. The thumb will usually never move from the space bar, because otherwise it will throw off the other motion keys. Skills/powers with a cool down between 5-10 seconds should be assigned to keys within reach of the middle and ring finger, and anything greater—meaning abilities you will activate only a couple times during a basic battle—can either be assigned below or above your immediate range. Try to limit your use of these long cool down abilities, and focus only on one or two of them. I find it helpful to assign them just out of reach of my index finger because it is the easiest to move and return into my regular position. Keep in mind that key mapping is not a permanent thing. It can and will be changed as you level and receive new powers and abilities to use. Try out a couple different variations, and tweak it as needed to best suit how you play. Just like with a controller, the key is to use those keys so often that you automatically know what they are and what they'll do. It’s all a matter or muscle memory.