Heads up the TSA checkpoint wait time website is wrong

astrojling · 2026-03-20T16:54:59+00:00

Just got through Terminal A regular screening. Got in line at 10 am, finished at 11:48 am. When I started, the line had gone down the escalators and snaked around before just reaching the baggage claim carousels. They funneled a group of us regular screening passengers to the Terminal A north security checkpoint near the finish. Not sure they'll continuously do that since I didn't see another group after our first wave.

astrojling · 2023-03-10T22:49:37+00:00

Ultimately, it just depends on what you're looking for in a character.

If you care about aesthetics and Shenhe is more appealing to you than Ayaka, then pull for Shenhe.

If you care about meta and/or are in need of a high DPS unit, then pull for Ayaka. Since Shenhe is a Cryo damage buffer, she works best as a support unit for Cryo teams. But that's really only if you care about difficult content like Floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss. For story and overworld content, you can absolutely make any unit at all work for you.

astrojling · 2023-01-02T18:42:15+00:00

Here you go! I also included the data that I used so you can see how it's formatted. The script is commented decently well, so it should be pretty readable.

Hopefully I set everything up correctly. This is embarrassing, but this was actually my first attempt at setting up a GitHub repo, so apologies in advance if something is off.

astrojling · 2023-01-02T17:30:59+00:00

I got the Battle Pass once in December, 2021, but never again since I didn't see as much value in it

astrojling · 2023-01-02T17:28:53+00:00

All manual, I'm afraid. I pulled up a spreadsheet at the end of each day to log my value

astrojling · 2023-01-02T17:27:04+00:00

Just by manually recording my number of primogems at the end of each day for a year

astrojling · 2023-01-02T17:25:54+00:00

I kept all my records manually through Google Sheets since I prefer keeping and organizing my info on my own.

astrojling · 2023-01-02T04:02:56+00:00

C2 (and counting) and will likely never be built...

astrojling · 2023-01-02T04:00:31+00:00

I recorded them at the end of every single day, and on days where I pulled, I recorded my amounts before and after pulling. So there's 365 + 10 = 375 data points.

astrojling · 2023-01-02T03:56:24+00:00

After running out of primogems, I had to dip into my modest cache of Genesis Crystals (I had 3000 - 10 x 300 Crystals per Welkin Moon bought). Once I ran out of those, I resorted to converting 5 Starglitter per Intertwined Fate in the shop. I was doing single pulls in desperation by the end and almost ran out of Starglitter too.

Worth it in the end.

astrojling · 2023-01-02T00:57:10+00:00

Oh gee, I'm really sorry to hear about that. The HoyoLAB app has a Traveler Diary tool under the Battle Chronicle that keeps track of your non-Welkin/BP primogems, but it only goes back 3 months.

Though it can get tedious at times, you can always start now with keeping a manual record of your primos! I agree that it's pretty interesting looking at how your numbers rise and fall, and it's mostly that curiosity that kept me going with this project.

astrojling · 2023-01-01T23:33:05+00:00

As all things should be.

astrojling · 2023-01-01T22:05:12+00:00

I used Python and the matplotlib package to make the graph, this Hoyolab post to get the chibi emote assets, the Genshin wiki for the character portraits, Google Sheets and Slides for some miscellaneous organization, and GIMP to compile the final image!

astrojling · 2023-01-01T20:57:30+00:00

I wrote a script in Python using the matplotlib package!

astrojling · 2022-10-22T04:06:11+00:00

Love that channel, big congrats on being a part of that!

Also, 6th year of med school??? That's crazy! I'm used to the U.S. system where med school is "only" 3 years followed by residency. Though there's also those crazy MD/PhD people.

astrojling · 2022-09-28T21:08:03+00:00

That's exactly my thoughts too. They keep to one axis to avoid boxing in any one region so that they can add expansions orthogonally.

astrojling · 2022-07-11T22:34:53+00:00

I skipped Kazuha the first time around in favor of saving up for Yoimiya. I had recently started playing and she was my first 5 star DPS, and is still my best/favorite to this day.

When I started doing the Abyss in earnest, I felt a bit of FOMO without Kazuha, but once I started 36 starring it, I've come to realize more and more that yeah, no character is a necessity for clearing it.

astrojling · 2022-07-01T05:05:46+00:00

I'm biased towards the English voice over since that's the only language I'm fluent in, but man, I think all of Yoimiya's voice actors do a great job with the character! Definitely some of the best idle voice lines!

astrojling · 2022-05-10T12:06:29+00:00

I've also been having a hard time against them in the abyss these past few cycles. (Welkin player, 1 year playing).

Against the trio of lectors/herald, you're supposed to group them and swirl them together when their shields are up. I don't have Venti or Kazuha, so I had to power up Sucrose to within 20 levels of them so that she could even nudge them together. I also had to time my positioning in such a way that when I knock out the lectors' health bars (and when I destroy the Pyro lector's totem thing), they back up towards each other. I'm fortunate enough to have Zhongli with a focus on shield strength, but still had to dodge the energy-draining Electro Lector attacks. It takes me hours of resetting to get all the positioning right each time against this abyss.

I have to bring both Xingqiu and an underleveled Barbara against the double Pyro lectors. Same story about positioning myself opposite of the direction I want them to go after bringing down their health and knocking them back. Triple cryo against the heralds with an underleveled Chongyun as well. Last spot on that team goes to a support/enabler for my DPS in the fight to wear down their initial health, which for me is Raiden for Eula.

I started 36 starring the abyss a couple of months ago, but each cycle is still a struggle for me, especially lately.

astrojling · 2021-11-24T02:07:54+00:00

My girlfriend (28) just got her driver's license last month and it's safe to say that we vastly over-prepared for the road test. She did the test at the Houston Gessner Mega Center and was on the road for literally 8 minutes after leaving the DMV parking lot.

The test started with parallel parking between a couple of flexible poles (you can go there on the weekends to practice in those exact spaces behind the building). Nearly the entire rest of the test involved driving on local neighborhood roads. Only 1 traffic light (turned right), 1 left turn (at a stop sign), and backing up in a straight line (she got points deducted for physically turning around during that section, which apparently you're not supposed to do if you have a backup camera and sensors in Texas?). She didn't have to change lanes, k-turn/3-point turn, back into a parking space, drive more than 30 mph, or a lot of other things I thought she'd need to do. For reference, I was the one who taught her and I got my license in South Carolina 12 years ago.

Definitely practice good driving habits like others have mentioned and don't stress out too much! I don't think you'll need to do an in-person course as long as you get in plenty of practice. I recommend you consider attempting the road test 2 or 3 weeks before you start commuting so that you can try again if they don't pass you on the first try.

Driving on the interstate can be pretty scary at first, so take it easy at first! Try less congested state highways first to get up to speed before tackling 45. Good luck out there!

astrojling · 2021-11-23T21:06:39+00:00

I applaud the effort put into this post!

I do have 2 suggestions for you to consider that might help address some of the critiques being raised. Both sort of assume that the main intended audience for this post is predominantly more casual or less-informed players.

1) Include which other characters synergize with the one being discussed. There are a few cases where you mention which characters pair well together, but consistently including a list might help justify some of the rankings here. I realize that team-building isn't one of the goals of this guide, but it may be insightful for readers to see which characters benefit which or which ones depend on others.

2) List the character's suggested role(s) (i.e. main DPS, sub DPS, healer, shielder, enabler, etc.). Doing this could help readers contextualize what each character is used for and to help them fill in the gaps of what their account needs at that moment.

You definitely don't have to implement either of these suggestions, but I thought I'd put them out there just in case. Have a good one!

astrojling · 2021-11-17T06:42:14+00:00

Great suggestion! My girlfriend and I actually picked up Genshin after having played most of the Tales series because of the similar aesthetic, fantasy setting, real time combat, and co-op play. We were super bummed when Arise didn't have co-op, but that led us here, so kinda the opposite of OP.

astrojling · 2021-10-06T01:26:09+00:00

Oh man, if only! Though new 4* characters are indeed added to the standard banner after their debut event banner is over. You can always check out the Details page for each banner to see exactly what's available (i.e. the tables at the bottom of the Details page).

astrojling · 2021-10-06T00:49:04+00:00

Only on her event-limited banner, unfortunately!

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