Burger Experimentation

Every once in a while I get in that sort-of zone where I feel like challenging myself to something ridiculous - even when nobody is presenting me with a challenge. Today - well, tonight, rather - is one of those times. One of my good friends is flying in from Japan tomorrow morning, and my friends and I will be driving down to Los Angeles International Airport at 0715ish to pick him up. I figured that between work and some other things I wanted to do afterwards, getting sleep would be pointless. Thus, I concluded to myself earlier today I'd be pulling an all-nighter.

That's not the challenge, however. I had a thought a few hours beforehand on whether or not the whole "food tastes better after midnight" theory was just a placebo effect or if it was a reality. Yeah, I know - some challenge, right?

Either way, I'm prepared to conduct this little experiment. After I got off work, I went to In-N-Out and ordered two Double-Doubles (Animal-style, no pickles or tomatoes) and an Arnold Palmer. Roughly 20 minutes ago I downed a Double-Double and half of the Palmer, and it was de-lish. Now I'm waiting until midnight to eat the remaining burger and drink to see if it tastes better than its earlier-consumed counterpart.

*checks watch*

I Be Talkin', Mon

I have to apologize for posting so bloody late today. I've been busy sorting out my Lego collection. Tuesday's antics (as explained in this past Thursday's entry) ended with us throwing all the Lego pieces I had into boxes and plastic tubs without any regard for the "sorting system" I originally had implemented. We were running out of daylight, so we were in a bit of a pickle.

Now that I've finished sorting all of my Lego pieces (between the "minifigs and models I'll be using for a future comic idea" pile and the "shit I'm throwing in storage until I need to go digging again" tub), I figured it'd be time to deliver on what I said yesterday and how I'd be responding to reader comments. Granted, there's not much for me I could respond two - only two people said anything, and it was from Thursday's entry.

Here goes.





Three Dimensional Moon Building

"This is such an odd mash up of topics. I think playing army makes up for girly anime- so keep your man card. But I think your adult card may be at stake - assuming you didn't trade it for a loly-pop years ago."

- John

To be honest, I thought I lost my "adult card" eons ago. Part of it stems from that whole "3 to 300 years old" thing I lightly skimmed on when I first did a reader response. Another part probably has something to do with psychological conditioning and trauma from the past - and I'm no expert on that field (I speak from experience - the trauma, mind you). And finally, part of that is due to my constant misplacing of things all over the place all the time.

Of course, John, your theory could be correct. Maybe I ran into some stranger in a white van who offered me candy in exchange for a vow to never fully grow up in a mental aspect. Me, being the naïve and then-manipulable self I was, probably bought the lies that were told and sealed the deal.

"The 3DS is getting its price cut because it failed horribly as a handheld. Look at its sales and the sales for its games."

- Arelfel

Like I said, a number of factors contributed to this. Yours is also one of them, but the Nintendo fanboy in me simply overlooked that problem. However, I'd say that it didn't fail "horribly." My guess is that people were finally starting to realize that all this hype on three-dimensional everything was just the latest technological fad for this generation and therefore mistakenly realized that the 3DS' graphics would be stupid. =P

Anyway, while this announcement would at first seem to be a financial loss for the hundreds of thousands of gamers (like me) who bought a 3DS, there's actually a huge amount of gain for anyone who decided to fork over a quarter of a grand. Nintendo simultaneously released news of an "ambassador program" that I heard about at work last night. According to the video game company (link as of 30 JUL 2011), anyone who had a 3DS before the price drop will be getting 20 free games from the online store. The first 10 will be on special pre-release before they hit the e-market for paid prices while the latter 10 will consist of "ambassador-only" exclusives from the Game Boy Advance virtual console.

I look at the sales and go, "Okay. People aren't buying a 3DS." Insert economy issues or incorrect usage during their first encounters or misinformed word-of-mouth or some other financial statistic here. However, in the long run this might aid Nintendo in the fourth quarter. (Someone remind me at the end of the fourth quarter to post my results on this.) Potential buyers who were hesitant are now excited to have a new toy to play around with. 3DS owners who've had the system before this announcement welcome the announcement (probably just for the freebies, but hey, that's something). And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords believe this could very well be a case of financial equivalent exchange in the future.





I'm refining my Lego military forces while I have Burn Notice playing in the background, so I'm just going to call it a night for today's entry. Ciao!

Updating Updates

Not much to talk about today. I'm just being straightforward.





CURRENT MUSIC:
Kristopher Carter - "Batman Beyond (Main Title)"
Batman Beyond ~ The Original Television Score

I remember as a kid how much I watched this show. I mean, it's Batman - the only DC Comics character I recognize and know a decent amount of backstory for. Throw a new Batman, the future and a darker storyline into the mix and you got a series that got my attention and wanted me to sit down for the whole shebang.

The music was just amazing, too - an industrial-esque sound to match the "new"-ness of Neo-Gotham. "Batman Beyond (Main Title)" fit perfectly with the spinoff's opening sequence. Maybe too well. That guitar riff (as well as the entire opening) just brings me back to my childhood. Before the dark times... before the Empire. before it was disrupted by events I wish not to talk about here until I feel it necessary. And before the Empire.


Seether - "Fake It"
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces

First Seether song I heard. Can't remember where exactly, but I liked the sound of it. The lyrics don't really require much explanation - the meaning of pretending to be who you're not is pretty much up-front and there. Fun song to sing along with, too.





So I don't have much on my plate for today apart from work and all work-related things I have to deal with. My process of archiving all my blog entries is finally finished, so that makes me really, really happy that I don't have to do that anymore.

It's gotten me inspired to work on some of the other pages I have on here. With some of the new tags I've created, I know that I need to work on my "About Me" (that page looks horrendous IMO). "The Tags Guide" needs to have a few new tags thrown on it, and I'm very certain my infamous "Hate List" requires some updating (I encountered a few things that need to be changed).

Much to my surprise, yesterday's "mash-up" of an entry garnered some attention, so I know that my readers deserve to be listened to. I'll respond to stuff tomorrow. I promise. Which reminds me... if you want me to respond to a question, comment or concern of yours... you should "Ask The White Knight" about it.





I think that concludes my blatant attempt at self-advertisement. Ahehehe... I'll... just get to work on updating the pages now... ...yeaaaaah... *awkwardly shuffles away*

Three-Dimensional Moon Building

Today's title corresponds with the three things I'll be talking about in this entry. For once, it's also in consecutive order, as well. Enjoy that while it lasts.

I honestly don't have much to say today. It's just one of those days where I felt like relaxing before work. Sure enough, I did. So, to make up for today's apparent lack of text, here's some other text (and pictures!) to make up for it.

Cleansing Discovery

So much work before work... if that makes any sense. It doesn't? Eh. Get used to it.

I've been doing some extensive sorting on stuff I have interred in my room. Things I don't need, things I do, things that entertain me, things that don't, things that - if sold - could net me money, things I should just toss. It's taxing for a packrat like myself, but in the end, the room begins to look... well... cleaner than it was.

Of course, you find things along the way you forgot about long ago - unused Legos, an old ID, past debit cards long since expired, posters you want to suddenly hang up on the wall - stuff like that. So when I'm done cleaning, I'm gonna go through all this. There's bound to be something awesome amidst this.

White Knight Live: Some Beach (Road)

I know that the people who read this (tiny) blog of mine are asking what's with the sudden decreas of typed verbal output. Maybe a few of you are questioning why I've been doing nothing but work, work and more work.

Then there's that person wondering what the hell I'm doing this close to an open body of water.

To answe that last question (and only the last question) I shall simply say: a friend and I made plans, but after I got lost and part of our plans went FUBAR, we agreed to make this the impromptu meeting spot until we figure something out.

To be frank, I'm not a huge fan of the beach. It's too warm in the day and too freezing at night. I can't cool off in the water due to a lack of swim apparel and the more-important fact that I can't swim. Plus, I've never been physically fit enough to sport anything that would make me awesome-looking. (Yeah, I'm self-conscious. Bite me.)

But every once in a while, the weather's nice enough to warrant a trip regardless. That crisp, salty breeze... the soothing sound of the tide lapping the shoreline...

*clears throat*

Well, it's a nice day. I'm gonna go back to getting some sun while I wait for my friend. Until the 'morrow, readers!

Stomach-Driven Thought

Sometimes I wonder what it is that makes me so distracted so easily. I mean, for one thing I could be talking about one thing and then the next I'm talking about something else. It's crazy when you think about it.

Why do I do that? It might be some kind of attentive deficit hyperactive disorder, but I have yet to get myself officially checked (although there have been recommendations that I do get myself evaluated.

Oh, I don't know. I'm just rambling. I think the important part is that we all understand that I am currently craving waffles. And lunch food, but that's another topic. But not really. Food sounds REALLY good right about now. It might be my hunger-driven self wanting some kind of food-based nourishment badly, but alas: I have no money until pay day, where I will once again have no money because of bills and what not. Yaaaay.



And without further ado, I present myself with: FOOD! *rushes to work to get some nom-noms before clocking in*

(Author's Note: Good Lord; I don't think I want to post again without food... =/)

This Is This Entry's Title

This is the first sentence of this entry.
This entry will count as a post for today.
This is not Josh almost panicking because he realized he almost didn't post for today.

But he did, so nyah.

Until the 'morrow! *noms on din-din*



(P.S. This is the last sentence of this entry. =P)

Happy Grinding Without Me

As I have much to do today before I head off to work, I don't have the time to leave you with an entry suited for a twisted palette you all possess. So instead, I'll just list some of the notable pieces of music that's been on playback lately on WinAmp. And yes, the entry's title stems from the music.

Enjoy! (If you don't, you can always "complain" about it or something... =P)





CURRENT MUSIC:
Eminem - "Without Me"
The Eminem Show

I've said before that I've always been a rocker at heart, but every once in a while there's an R&B/hip hop/rap artist/group I'll listen to and like. As the evidence here states: Eminem has made my list.

There's an adage out there used by business professionals and crafters alike: the project management triangle. It can be boiled down to a simple "three qualities; two choices" scenario (in business: good, fast, cheap). This can be switched around to fit almost any scenario or topic, and music is no exception.

Since high school I've had a sort-of running joke with hip hop and rap songs that follows the "three qualities; two choices" format: "Hip hop and rap songs can be popular, good and have a deeper meaning behind the lyrics. Pick two."

While most artists out there would have the former two attributed to them, Eminem - in my opinion - is a rarity who branches out to hit all three aspects. He knows he can deliver a message, and while he does it in less-than-tasteful lyrics, he knows this - and he lays down the lines anyway, provoking the responses he want from both fans and haters alike. "Without Me" does just that - it's more of a simple statement that says, "I know I'm controversial, but you know you like it. I sure as hell do."


Flipsyde - "Happy Birthday"
We the People

Now here's a group that I can cite as an example of my running joke in real life. The only reason why the average person would currently know about Flipsyde would be because two of their songs were used as themes for the Olympics:

• "Someday" for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy (used by NBC)
• "Champion" for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China (sponsored by AT&T's Team USA set list)

Granted, yes, Flipsyde's pretty popular regardless, but maybe two of my friends have known of them before they heard me randomly blaring one of their songs one night.

Anyway, "Happy Birthday" is one of those songs that exemplifies my running joke. In my senior year of high school I was part of a group assigned by our ASB to play music out in our quad during lunch on Fridays. Now, for the past three years before my tenure, the committee blared nothing but rap and hip hop because that's what they wanted. Frankly, the school population was pretty sick of not getting a say. So, being the rebellious bastard I am, I polled the crowds who sat outside and as I expected, they wanted rock. I gave it to them (opening with Black Sabbath's "Iron Man") and while the crowd responded with much enthusiasm (people came up to me and my friends, shook hands, gave out heartfelt "thank yous," etc.), ASB didn't.

ASB wanted the committee (and in turn, me) to play more "mainstream" things (i.e.: hip hop), and so after the committee head capitulated and started resuming playing what the crowd didn't want to hear, I decided I'd take a turn at the wheel. I decided to conduct an experiment and made a playlist of songs that I felt as good. One Friday I took the original hip hop-laden CD we were going to play and swapped it out with a modified one I made prior to that day. "Happy Birthday" was among the track listing. As I expected, the crowd didn't respond well to the music, and neither did ASB. When I revealed the playlist and lyrics to the crowd, they were shocked - they took another listen and realized it was actually good music I had given them.

The whole point of this story? Aside from me rambling on because I like listening to myself, "Happy Birthday" is an amazing song. I honestly can't recall many hip hop songs focusing on - of all things - abortion (and the remorse the would-be father feels about it). Give it a listen - I think you'll agree with me.


Frank Klepacki - "Grinder"
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Original Soundtrack

The whole "archiving my blog" thing can be pretty arduous, but if you have something that can help you with the grind, then you're set. What's funny is that "Grinder" does just that - and what's funnier is that it's called "Grinder."

Like I mentioned before, for those of you who don't know, "Grinder" is well-known as the menu music from Red Alert 2. Opening with cool-sounding Morse code effects (I've yet to figure out what they're tapping out) and then launching you straight into a heavy, bass-driven sound that brings back fond memories for C&C fans and instills into the minds of the musically-inclined the desire to air-guitar and/or headbang along. And don't ask me about the brilliant, unintelligible ramblings the chorus spouts off - nobody knows. Not even Klepacki himself.

Whenever I listen to this piece, my output is increased by like 1000% while the song plays. I could have zero energy at work and this cycles through, and soon afterward I'm rocketing off doing stuff crazy-fast. I could be playing a real-time strategy game and all of a sudden my army production begins to go to immeasurable levels of "oh shit, someone's getting steamrolled somewhere." I could be sitting in a chair feeling all "blah," and then "Grinder pops up and without warning I jump up and air-guitar along.

Klepacki: you are a genius. \m/





Until the 'morrow!

Brann Spankin' New Archives

Long before I have to go to work, I already am at work. I'm sure that makes a lot of sense to you, so I'm going to go ahead and not delve into the meaning of that sentence.

Eh, what the heck; I'll explain. The Internet can be a very unforgiving place, so in order to preserve all my thoughts that I've put on here (and conversely, all the thoughts I will place on here), I'm making an offline archive of The White Knight Chronicles in order to preserve my history for posterity^[1]. Besides, I figured it'd give me a little something to do in-between now and work tonight, so -

Warning! Life form pattern not recognized. Archival processing terminated. Continued interference will result in targeted response.

...oh, that doesn't sound good. We miiiiight have a complication or two... *clears throat*

Anyway, today's entry title, this opening spiel against a fictional AI, and parts of the blog that follow are all direct references to World of Warcraft and the Wrath of the Lich King instance "Halls of Stone" - specifically the part where you protect a dwarf explorer named Brann Bronzebeard against multitudes of enemies. Audio quality on the video is low; I suggest lowering the volume once combat starts. (To WoW players: I think you'd agree with me when I say Brann's current voice sounds much better than this version.)

(Author's Note: Yeah, I know: this whole thing seems childish. But I like having fun, so... deal with it and my hyperactive imagination. Hehehe.)






CURRENT MUSIC:
Matt Uelmen - "Secrets Long Forgotten"
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack

A snippet of the music that can be heard in some of Wrath of the Lich King's instances - specifically anything involving old gods, long-forgotten titans and the origins of the modern races of Azeroth. The track carries the sound of discovery and echoes an ancient and advanced civilization's presence.

Quite obviously most of this would make sense to a gamer, but most of you reading this aren't World of Warcraft fans (much less gamers), so this track probably has no significance for you. Shame, though - it's good music. Play it while you're at some long-forgotten location for the first time and you're discovering new things. Should fit well.



"Augh, another computer. Says 'hit any key.' W...Well, which one's the 'any key'!?"
- Unknown Marine
(StarCraft: Brood War - Terran Mission 7: "Patriot's Blood")

Classic computer joke right here. I think one of my life goals is to run into someone stupid enough to believe that there's an actual "any key" in existence. When I do... I think I'll be elated and die a little inside at the same time.





Hello, readers. Today's Friday, and as such, I think I ought to treat you with a good entry today. I'll just grab the past entries' data, process them into my laptop, and we should be good for you to hear about my -

Security breach in progress. Analysis of historical archives transferred to lower priority queue. Countermeasures... engaged.

...uhm... shit. L-Let's get to work!





Working Sleep Breakdown

I have to say that today's process of waking up surprised me. Last night marked the first night in years where I willingly went to sleep before 0100 and willingly woke up roughly eight hours later at 0900.

Normally my schedule looks something like this:

• 0930ish - 1030: wake up
• 1030ish - 1230: zombified actions performed to "wake up"
• 1230ish: shower
• 1300: begin preparations for the day, start any plans I may have made
• 1500: leave for work (assuming I work that day)
• 2355ish: arrive home from work, assuming I was at work
• 0000-0200ish: random stuff on the computer
• 0200ish: quick internal debate on whether I want to sleep or not
• 0200-0330ish: more random stuff on the computer, arrive home if I was with friends all late
• 0200-0330ish: fatigue makes me call it a night, power down electronic stuff and hop into bed only to get shot back awake
• (half-hour afterwards): sleep

According to the typical schedule I have here, I get anywhere from 5.5 to 8 full hours of sleep a night, and usually it's somewhat restless. This past night was different, though - at least 8 solid hours. No interruptions. No nightmares. No waking up in the middle of the night because I realized something that triggered my conscious self to do something. And quite importantly: no fatigue.

Kind of weird in my opinion - I think I'm somewhat used to having the less-than-recommended amount of sleep necessary. Over time I'm sure it'll lead to part of my undoing, but for now, I'll take it.

Despite not having any fatigue whatsoever and possessing a cool and cheery demeanor, I couldn't help but notice something tugging at the back of my mind...

And then it hit me. Today was day three of... six? Again? Oh, gee, I knew something seemed a little off when I woke up. In the event you don't recall, I had to work six days in a row before I had five fun and relaxing days off... and now I'm back to working another straight set of six days. I found out about this last night at work^[2], but I don't think the whole "sandwiched vacation" thing fully registered in my brain until well into this morning.

Eh. I'm still picking up a decent vibe in the air, so I'm sure today will present something fun and exciting. The last few days have so far - day one went by like a breeze with lots of fun while day two offered me... not much. Well, it wasn't negative, at least. So, day three: what do you have to offer me tonight? *arches eyebrow*





Safeguarding Knowledge

So, about this whole "archiving" thing. I've always been one to back up important things in my life - or at least anything that can be stored electronically. This blog is no exception, and I -

Alert! Security fail-safes deactivated. Beginning memory purge...

What!? No, no, NO, NO, NO!!! I thought I had those wired so that - AHA! *smacks the "any key"*

System online. Life form pattern recognized. Welcome, White Knight. Query?

"Query?" Uhm... how 'bout I talk to my (small) fanbase and you just sit there and archive my blog in silence? I'm kinda talking to the readers and your imaginary interruptions are distracting all of us.

Acknowledged, White Knight. Establishing link with offline database and creating duplicate archive.

Thank youuuuuu! *turns back to the camera and audience of readers* Where was I...? Oh, right. *clears throat*

While Blogger possesses a server-side system that can archive all the entries any user has, I've always been one to want a backup archive in the rare event that a server crash ensues. At home I have a folder full of Microsoft Word document files consisting of a blog I typed up. Surprisingly, it's not just a simple copy-and-paste procedure that most people would think of me doing - there's also a data log I have (thank you, Excel spreadsheets) documenting the days I've written something down on the Internet. Naturally, this archive is incomplete and always has room for more data (just like every other archive out there), and it has a story to tell.

A long time ago when I had a Xanga, I never did anything of the sort. To be honest, I'm kind of glad I didn't - I was pretty depressing and emotional back then, and if I were to read those blogs, I'd probably end up wanting to time-travel and punch myself in the face all those years ago. Later on I moved to MySpace when that was the big thing and began blogging there. Then I got a Facebook account, of course (since, y'know... it's the main thing at the moment) and began to somewhat blog on there.^[3]

Anyone stalking watching me will notice a severe drought of bloggage - in my high school days I slapped something on the Internet almost every day. Once I graduated, I pretty much stopped - I didn't have much to talk about. All my high school experiences constituted most of the content I posted during my high school years. Of course, with The White Knight Chronicles, that sort of changes things since I'm posting every bleeding day. Until today I have made no attempt to preserve and archive any of the entries present here.

That's where this entry comes in. I'm currently taking every posted entry present on Blogger and saving a hard copy on my laptop via MS Word. I'll also be rolling through Facebook and MySpace and double-checking to see if there were any entries I missed archiving in the past. Years from now when I do some self-reflection (for whatever reason), I will have this archive to look back on and measure how much I've grown over the years. If only I was smart enough to do this back when I was much younger.

To the archives!





Footnotes:

1 ^ [Pre-Blog Opening] Yeah, because people totally want to read every single unimportant event that occurs in my life. Of course, if I'm famous later on, that'll probably change.

2 ^ [Working Sleep Breakdown] Turns out while I was going through the archives that I already figured this out about a week ago. How this realization eluded me is still a mystery - and I'm very sure it had nothing to do with cactus juice. *sips*

3 ^ [Safeguarding Knowledge] Due to the personal sensitivity of some of my Facebook entries I've refrained from linking any of them. Heck, you probably couldn't even see any of them - my privacy settings prevent anyone who I deem a security risk to be unable to see virtually anything I do on Facebook. When you think about it, it's quite ironic - I'm like "secret agent" status on the social network yet I'm perfectly candid here on Blogger. (Then again, I don't tell you all everything...)





Well, I must be off. Between all this archiving and work, I'm gonna be quite busy for some time. I will catch y'all somewhere between tomorrow and Sunday with another entry, so keep your eyes peeled!

Oh, and while you wait, you should submit some kind of question, comment, and/or concern for me to address and respond to. It'll be fun, and I promise you I'll provide some kind of answer. =D

Until the 'morrow!