Curse of the Eight

It seems fitting how recent circumstances in my life have culminated in me making this entry. As evidenced by the previous... well, lacking quality entries, it's surprising to see me finally post something. And of all days for me to type, it had to be this one - a Friday the 13th.

Now, I know I'm an anomaly when it comes to my beliefs. I don't follow any religion, yet under certain circumstances I get spooked by (childish) superstitions. I'm sensible enough to realize that the "bad luck" today supposedly unleashes is only what we make of today's events. Despite this, I can't help but feel that something conspired to punish me today.

I haven't been posting like I said I would. I feel stupid for failing to do so. But if there is/are (a) god(s), there must be some kind of schadenfreude-styled puppeteering going on here. If not, then it's karma biting back for some event that I've forgotten... or a set of poorly-timed events that spiraled into the topic of today's entry.

And this is how the fates saw fit to punish me - with a migraine.

Today's story warrants the use of a TL;DR notification now - before I even explain what the hell is going on. Most average people who read this blog don't even need the TL;DR if they view the above picture - they're now asking one question:

TL;DR: "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

The answer is "yes," by the way. Sans the moon. *cringes*





CURRENT MUSIC:
Nobuo Uematsu - "Succession of Witches"
Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack

Those of you who are reading this either were hooked by my "story" and it's curse-ridden plotline... or just had nothing better to do with their time. Regardless of your reasoning for reading, I think you should have this playing in the background while you observe my tale of woe and misery.

Why? Because the tone of "Succession of Witches" (stylized in the official soundtrack as "SUCCESSION OF WITCHES") matches the mood quite well. There's just something about a piece played primarily on the upper half a harpsichord that makes it sound mildly creepy.

When you combine this eerie aural atmosphere with my (initial) difficulty in using Windows 8, you can get a glimpse of how taxing (not really) this experience has been... and just how fragile my mind is when encountering new things.





Ladies and gentlemen, it seems I've got some explaining to do. Since you've gotten this far in the entry (assuming you weren't here for the TL;DR), I can only guess that you what to hear the ever-so-true tale about me getting hexed with the crapstorm that is Windows 8.

You sick bastards.

I suppose that since you've made it this far, I might as well treat you with the story. Here goes.



A few weeks ago, I received a call from my dad. He was wishing me a happy belated birthday and told me that the next time he came down from Las Vegas to visit relatives, he'd try to meet up with me and give me a belated birthday present.

As the days got closer to the present, he revealed to me two things that piqued my attention:

1. He and my brother were coming down from Las Vegas during the tail end of the second week of September.
2. He kept asking me questions on my laptop's condition and usability.

So, I knew the approximate date of their arrival... and I had an idea of what I was getting. I kept telling him that my four-year-old laptop - despite its slow, Vista-toting venerability from the middle of 2009 - still got the job done when I needed it to.

And then came yesterday, when he told me to meet up at the local Souplantation. I went (with Wendy in tow) and was presented with a Sony VAIO T-Series laptop.

I was right to be suspicious of the box's broken seal. There's an Apple logo on a not-Apple product, and that's just wrong.

I was immediately surprised how light the whole system was - the thing's constructed out of aluminium and weighed far less than my current laptop.

LEFT: My silver. (Not to be confused with Daenerys Targaryen's horse.)
RIGHT: Old Faithful. (Not to be confused with the Yellowstone geyser.)

It's smaller than my beast of a desktop replacement as well, and the screen size is just about similar. (I want to say it's at least 17 inches - my current laptop is a 19-incher.) The new laptop also boasts superior capabilities. Just take a look at the table I included below to get a taste of what my silver is capable of right out of the box.

	Sony VAIO T-Series (2013) "The Silver"	Fujitsu Lifebook N-Series (2009) "Old Faithful"
Processor:	Intel Core i7 (2.0GHz)	Intel Core Duo (2.4GHz/2.4GHz)
Memory (RAM):	8 GB	3 GB
Hard Drive Space:	1000 GB	500 GB
Graphics:	Intel HD Graphics 4000 (32MB VRAM)	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 (256MB VRAM)
Max Resolution	1920x1080p	1440x900p
Operating System:	Windows 8 (64-bit)	Windows Vista SP2 (32-bit)

As you can see, my new VAIO (which might end up getting referred to as "the/my silver" from here on out) pretty much outclasses my old Fujitsu laptop (which might be referred to as "Old Faithful" from here on out as well) with two notable exceptions: the graphics card and the operating system.

For the first issue, I'm not all too worried about it, despite my status as a gamer. Generally speaking, any gamer who spends some serious game time on a computer/laptop will make sure that their rig is capable of playing whatever games they're wanting to load up. However, as this was a surprise gift out of nowhere, I'll have to forgive the fact that my silver probably won't be able to handle World of Warcraft. Besides, I was eventually going to go in the market for a lightweight-yet-powerful rig for non-gaming purposes (wat.) - and receiving the silver for my birthday seems oddly well-timed.

Despite it being a new laptop... it apparently will have trouble playing Counter-Strike: Source...

Despite my wants... it's my (gamer) needs that take priority...

...while Old Faithful flexes its muscles at the silver for its surprising superiority.

...and as such it looks as though Old Faithful will still see plenty of use in the days yet ahead. (Don't worry, silver; I think you'll be able to play Papers, Please. Hehehe.)

However, all those "gripes" pale in comparison when it comes to my vehemence against the silver's operating system. Upon my dad's declaration of the new laptop's OS, I grimaced.

Everyone has heard of Windows 8 and how it tries to be tablet-friendly. Everyone has also heard that this is system-wide and anything but swappable, meaning people who don't use tablets (y'know, normal people who buy actual computers/laptops and not an easy-to-break Lite-Brite that makes actual Lite-Brites laugh) are stuck with a system that is just awkward to use on a not-tablet. 8 was uncompromising, especially for longtime desktop users who felt jilted for receiving an OS that wasn't built for their rig.

(I would just like to mention at this time that my silver possesses a touch screen. Not that that's going to make me like that horrendous start menu any more than I already do. Which I don't.)



Despite what numerous websites, tech stores, friends, bandwagoners, and the media say, I was convinced to give 8 a shot. (My silver: you have both my dad and Mike G. to thank for your current lease on life.) So rather than slowly nod in thanks, use the silver for a few days, and then proceed to place it in storage or re-gift/sell it like I secretly intended on doing, I decided to give this new bad boy a spin. I'm going to get my usual programs installed (stuff like WinAmp, Steam, KMPlayer, Skype, and the like). I'm going to play with all the settings and configure everything to how I want it. I'm going to see if I can tackle Windows 8's steep learning curve.

In the end, who is going to win? The not-so-user-friendly operating system known as Windows 8... or Josh Blanco, the semi-tech-savvy Filipino slacker who really should blog more often?

The struggle won't be anywhere as epic as this fight was, but it'll be pretty cool to me nonetheless.

Let's find out, everyone. *boots up and taunts the silver* Bring it on, Windows 8.