Okay, I'll admit it: I lied about a long entry showing up on here today. I've been at a friend's hous since around three in the afternoon, and I've been here since.
I suck, don't I? (Don't answer that. PLEASE.)
Well, if it's any consolation, I WILL be. I can guarantee this because this time, I'm PROMISING it.
My friends know that when it comes to me and promises, I will go to every length and measure to fulfill it.
No joke.
In the meantime, here's a quote to keep y'all sated:
"There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change."
- Euripides
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
No 150 Memorial (Today)
Instead of talking about how awesome it is that I made it to 150 consecutive posts, I'm gonna throw out a salute to all those in the armed services who've given their lives in the name of what they believed in.
*salutes*
So, expect a long entry tommorrow. I'll compose something while I'm at work tonight.
In the meantime thank those who've served in the military. Thank 'em for their sacrifices. Give 'em a free steak at the barbecue you're all at.
Oh, and happy Monday to the non-Americans reading this. =P
*salutes*
So, expect a long entry tommorrow. I'll compose something while I'm at work tonight.
In the meantime thank those who've served in the military. Thank 'em for their sacrifices. Give 'em a free steak at the barbecue you're all at.
Oh, and happy Monday to the non-Americans reading this. =P
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Insert Annoyed Grunt Here
I'm going to be honest with you right now... I don't feel like typing up a quality entry today.
I got struck with a wave of insomnia that didn't pass on until well after 0800. Ended up falling asleep and waking about... oh, I'd say an hour ago.
As such, I'm feeling sleep-deprived and not in any condition to type anything coherent other than these sentences.
I apologize for this, but hey - I'm entitled to these kinds of entries. That, and - more importantly - I'm apologizing for it. *shrugs*
Doesn't that count for something? No? Well, sad face, then. =(
I got struck with a wave of insomnia that didn't pass on until well after 0800. Ended up falling asleep and waking about... oh, I'd say an hour ago.
As such, I'm feeling sleep-deprived and not in any condition to type anything coherent other than these sentences.
I apologize for this, but hey - I'm entitled to these kinds of entries. That, and - more importantly - I'm apologizing for it. *shrugs*
Doesn't that count for something? No? Well, sad face, then. =(
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Not Just a Financial Investment
I have calculated that this sentence will end... NOW.
CURRENT MUSIC:
Infected Mushroom - "Suliman"
Vicious Delicious
Yerps. Psychedelic trance music. Woo. All the fun of trance with the unique versatility most other electronic music can't provide. (That's what I think, anyway.)
While I could probably use this for background music in a movie - action sequences,street racing nighttime driving, training montages, to name a few - I honestly believe the sound of this piece feels right at home with space-based fighter combat. (The vid here proves its compatibility with Star Fox 64, but I've field-tested and confirmed "Suliman's" compatibility with the Gradius series. =D)
Rammstein - "Sonne"
Mutter
Probably my favorite Rammstein song out there. Despite the divisions amongst the online community (still) attempting to find out what the meaning is behind this song, I could care less - I'm too busy enjoying this song.
To people looking for some PvP background music, I'd recommend this song. Works even better if you're a stealthy kind of character who destroys the competition. =P
Yoko Shimomura - "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms"
Super Mario RPG Original Sound Version
As my generation of gamers got to experience the Super NES in its heyday, this piece should bring back memories of those good old days when we'd blitz our homework so we could play our beloved video games. Of those Super Nintendo games, a great portion of us would have to rate Super Mario RPG as one the best out there.
My reasoning stands by the music - Shimomura did a fantastic job with the soundtrack. It's just musical wonder from start to finish, but "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" really takes the cake. It's probably the most well-known piece from the game.
"A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence."
- Stephen Covey
True. With so many (bad) choices surrounding so many people it's quite interesting to see that some people haven't given in to lying about themselves.
You ever take the time to just go over your finances and notice that something's missing?
Mind you, I'm not talking about fraud or companies double-charging your card. I'm talking about overspending and being gluttonous with your spending habits.
For some ungodly reason, I ended up doing that while I was at work. I pulled out some scrap paper during lunch, whipped out a pen, and began crunching the numbers. After calculating all the necessary expenditures, bills, taxes and service fees* I ended up with a positive number that was much higher than I thought it would be.
That left me baffled enough to ask the rhetorical cliché "Where [the [expletive]] is all my money going!?" I'm quite concerned - according to the math I should have "X," but instead I'm pretty much clinging to life at "-Y."
I asked myself, "How are you going to get '-Y' to start looking a bit more like 'X,' you financial blunderhead?" I came up with a few theories, and I don't like any of them.
* = I didn't count food in this equation. I figured that if I wanted to eat at a good place (which I do a lot), it'd be out of the "remainder" part rather than "necessity."
** = Pretty hard to perform correctly, but I suppose anything's worth trying at least once. Right?
So, time to test my character and competence, I believe. I'll see you all later.
CURRENT MUSIC:
Infected Mushroom - "Suliman"
Vicious Delicious
Yerps. Psychedelic trance music. Woo. All the fun of trance with the unique versatility most other electronic music can't provide. (That's what I think, anyway.)
While I could probably use this for background music in a movie - action sequences,
Rammstein - "Sonne"
Mutter
Probably my favorite Rammstein song out there. Despite the divisions amongst the online community (still) attempting to find out what the meaning is behind this song, I could care less - I'm too busy enjoying this song.
To people looking for some PvP background music, I'd recommend this song. Works even better if you're a stealthy kind of character who destroys the competition. =P
Yoko Shimomura - "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms"
Super Mario RPG Original Sound Version
As my generation of gamers got to experience the Super NES in its heyday, this piece should bring back memories of those good old days when we'd blitz our homework so we could play our beloved video games. Of those Super Nintendo games, a great portion of us would have to rate Super Mario RPG as one the best out there.
My reasoning stands by the music - Shimomura did a fantastic job with the soundtrack. It's just musical wonder from start to finish, but "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" really takes the cake. It's probably the most well-known piece from the game.
"A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence."
- Stephen Covey
True. With so many (bad) choices surrounding so many people it's quite interesting to see that some people haven't given in to lying about themselves.
You ever take the time to just go over your finances and notice that something's missing?
Mind you, I'm not talking about fraud or companies double-charging your card. I'm talking about overspending and being gluttonous with your spending habits.
For some ungodly reason, I ended up doing that while I was at work. I pulled out some scrap paper during lunch, whipped out a pen, and began crunching the numbers. After calculating all the necessary expenditures, bills, taxes and service fees* I ended up with a positive number that was much higher than I thought it would be.
That left me baffled enough to ask the rhetorical cliché "Where [the [expletive]] is all my money going!?" I'm quite concerned - according to the math I should have "X," but instead I'm pretty much clinging to life at "-Y."
I asked myself, "How are you going to get '-Y' to start looking a bit more like 'X,' you financial blunderhead?" I came up with a few theories, and I don't like any of them.
- Starve.
Seems like one of the things I throw my spare money at would be food. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm a bit of a food connoisseur who'd prefer good food over everything else, but that's a costly route that I simply can't afford at this time (or rather, shouldn't afford). By cutting off a major amount of gluttonous spending and refocusing on cheaper food (possibly bought in bulk), I could save a lot of money. However, by doing so I risk jumping off the bandwagon very swiftly (too much bland food in my system = me bugging out for something BETTER) - and not to mention that cheap food equates to unnecessarily-high amounts of sodium and carbs - something I'd much rather not have due to "Operation: DREAM EATER."
- Cut off every source of monetary-based entertainment.
By this, I mean stop buying all the ridiculously fun toys I get for myself (and sadly, I've got a lot). This would obviously start pulling me out of the red, but at the cost of me getting bored and slowly wigging out from monotony. I get bored easily, so I figured I'd counter it by surrounding myself with a plethora of fun things. It's worked so far, but... there's gotta be a line, right?
- Work more hours.
So far this seems to be the one choice I'm leaning towards at the moment. I could try to grab more hours. However, what I'd gain in money I'd lose in free time and sanity - two things I just seem to lack lately in life. I'd end up financially stable, but I probably wouldn't be there in one piece at the end. I've done this before (that end road doesn't look pretty at all), and if I have to go down this road again, then... so be it.
- Do the "impossible" and find a healthy balance of the above three options.
I say "impossible" because I think it is. I've never been one to balance my life around, and those who claim that they're able to have yet to realize how thin the tightrope they're treading on actually is. (I give them a year before they lose their stability and begin burning out.) However, if done correctly** this would be the best option. In theory, of course.
* = I didn't count food in this equation. I figured that if I wanted to eat at a good place (which I do a lot), it'd be out of the "remainder" part rather than "necessity."
** = Pretty hard to perform correctly, but I suppose anything's worth trying at least once. Right?
So, time to test my character and competence, I believe. I'll see you all later.
Friday, May 27, 2011
The Longest Short Entry Ever
An off-Friday. This has been a loooooooooooooong week. I can only assume that this weekend will be longer.
Yay for short, right-before-work entries, huh?
Yay for short, right-before-work entries, huh?
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Aural Focus
Tags:
music
"I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be."
- Peter Gibbons
Office Space
Sometimes, I think we all need a day like this. I got one today, and it felt GREAT. =)
Evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first blog here that just might throw you off... mostly because I willingly detract from the usual norm*.
Why? It has to do with two things: what happened to me when I woke up, and what I did for the day afterwards.
I woke up and for the first hour of consciousness or so, I had zero sense of time - for some odd reason, my sense of time was not active. I had trouble convincing myself today was Thursday, and it took me about ten minutes' worth of staring at an analog clock** and roughly fifty minutes of me mentally arguing with myself about whether today was actually Thursday or not.
After that weird... episode... I decided that I would just take it easy for the rest of the day. As a result, today was mostly uneventful. For starters, I was asleep most of the day for some unknown reason, and when I was active, it was either to react to a power outage that nearly messed up my external hard drives (I was defragging my laptop and the externals at the time) or eating a meal that would give me a pleasant food coma.
I wanna say that I pretty much became Peter Gibbons incarnate... y'know, if I actually had work today at a desk job I hate oh-so-much. That's not to say that I did absolutely nothing - I had a personal day that I thoroughly enjoyed (and currently still enjoying) sorting music, listening to said music, sorting TCG cards, and sipping various suicides*** and cleaning my room. It sounds uneventful, but paradoxically I think I actually got a decent amount of things I wanted done. Made me happy and - from a mental standpoint - fully recharged. I like that. It's going to be worth it being in a state like this when I go into work for the Memorial Day weekend.
So, what does all that have to do with today's entry and it "detracting from the usual norm" that I go by? Well, that's where the footnotes come in. (Well, the first one, at least.)
* = For God's sake, I threw up the quote as the first thing on here! How does that NOT detract from the usual norm? Also, notice that the bulk of today's entry is first as compared to the pre-blog things I usually tout off when I throw up something decent. Come on... PLEASE tell me you're not this dense...
** = A lazy American? Using analog clocks to tell time!? HAH! That sounds almost as preposterous as card games on motorcycles!
*** = I associate the term "suicide" with two different things. The first is the obvious one everyone knows it as (the taking of one's own life). The second (which I was using in the footnoted sentence) is a self-concocted beverage that consists of your choice of whatever drinks are readily available - combined, modified, and served at your disclosure. This can be done as a virgin drink (if you wanna be experimental, kid-friendly and highly caffeinated) or as an alcoholic cocktail that's a wary step up from an Adios Motherfucker (if you wanna be experimental, "kid-friendly" and highly drunk). Just don't use milk. EVER.
Now, seeing as how I had loads of fun going through my music collections, I think that will be today's entry's primary focus. Play the music along with me or search for these things online so you can - if anything, it'll provide you with interesting ambient music.
Who knows? You might end up becoming intrigued by one of these tracks as well. *arches an eyebrow*
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: For your aural pleasure*, I've provided a YouTube link to each of these tracks. Now you don't have to go through a painstakingly difficult search to find out what it sounds like - the only painstaking task you have to go through would be to bear with the annoying advertisements. I just hope you're using an Internet browser that supports tabbed browsing as that'll be much easier to use. Oh, and in regards to finding you links: you're welcome. =P)
* = Heh. "Aural pleasure." Sounds dirty. *snerk*
CURRENT MUSIC:
Bear McCreary - "Prelude to War"
Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Soundtrack
Wow. I just love how this track opens up. I heard this and I'm sitting there thinking of a gazillion different scenarios I could use this in when speaking from a movie perspective.
This track (along with the rest of Battlestar Galactica's music) now has me somewhat intrigued with the show . While it possessed the "space operatic" feel I was expecting from a sci-fi series' soundtrack, the overall ethnic sound carefully woven into the music was a welcome surprise. With the numerous (combat) scenes I imagined in my head as "Prelude to War" played in my head, it made me wonder how the track was actually used in the series.
I've yet to see the actual show itself, but from some of my friends keen in the science fiction department, they say it's a pretty good program. Judging from my reaction to the aural quality of its soundtrack, I think I might have to give the series a shot.
George Michael - "Careless Whisper"
Make It Big
I know a few of my readers were either old enough to listen to music during the 1980s or are fans of '80s music are cheering a bit because of my song selection. Knowledgeable people (in regards to popular music or me) will probably be arching an eyebrow. Of course, the rest of you are probably asking me or yourselves, "...the hell is this song?"
Subconsciously, if you're around my age or older, you already know "Careless Whisper" - either you heard it on some radio station doing some '80s throwback when you were a kid, or your parents listened to this enough.
Regardless, I'm quite sure everyone knows of its famous riff.
Jazz rendition of Super Mario Bros. 3 music aside... *clears throat*
Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda - "Bombardment 2"
Eternal Arcadia Original Soundtrack
Quite the track to use for an aerial-based fight (or any fight, for that matter). Not only that, but it has a bit of a pirate-like feel to it, which makes it all the more fun.
I mean, after all... pirate ships. Airships. Pirate airships. Pirate airship battles. OOO.
Try imagining a pirate ship fight using your choice of vehicles (historical pirate ships, wooden sail airships, spaceships, etc.) and try to use a different track afterwards.
I can guarantee few come close to how... epic... "Bombardment 2" sounds with that.
Koutarou Nakagawa - "Beautiful Emperor"
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Original Soundtrack Volume 1
God, I love this piece. It screams heroic dominance - kind of an announcement to the listener that says, "Hey! Pay attention to the guy/girl who's currently using this as their entry fanfare!" Perfect for byronic narcissists and power-hungry would-be global conquerers alike.
Which means that every once in a while, this'll be blared by yours truly. I might be at work walking into the team member service center to clock out, or I might be stuck in heavy traffic in the city. No matter the situation, you will know... that the person blaring this believes themselves to be of high value to society.
*blares "Beautiful Emperor" and sets the speakers to 11*
The Lonely Island - "I'm on a Boat (f. T-Pain)"
Incredibad
Probably one of The Lonely Island's most known songs from their debut album. Every time this comes on, I can't help but sing along. (It's better if more people are present with you when it does go on. And for future reference, dibs on T-Pain's lyrics. =P)
Anyway, what's NOT to love about this song? Absolutely brilliant - it's a great satirical take on rap songs out there today. Hell - even the music video does the same thing. Incessant swearing, lyrics and film clips that have nothing to do with the song itself, a sick beat, and backing vocals by T-Pain? What more does a rap song/video need?
Well, that'll be it for tonight. I'll see you all tomorrow, I suppose?
- Peter Gibbons
Office Space
Sometimes, I think we all need a day like this. I got one today, and it felt GREAT. =)
Evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first blog here that just might throw you off... mostly because I willingly detract from the usual norm*.
Why? It has to do with two things: what happened to me when I woke up, and what I did for the day afterwards.
I woke up and for the first hour of consciousness or so, I had zero sense of time - for some odd reason, my sense of time was not active. I had trouble convincing myself today was Thursday, and it took me about ten minutes' worth of staring at an analog clock** and roughly fifty minutes of me mentally arguing with myself about whether today was actually Thursday or not.
After that weird... episode... I decided that I would just take it easy for the rest of the day. As a result, today was mostly uneventful. For starters, I was asleep most of the day for some unknown reason, and when I was active, it was either to react to a power outage that nearly messed up my external hard drives (I was defragging my laptop and the externals at the time) or eating a meal that would give me a pleasant food coma.
I wanna say that I pretty much became Peter Gibbons incarnate... y'know, if I actually had work today at a desk job I hate oh-so-much. That's not to say that I did absolutely nothing - I had a personal day that I thoroughly enjoyed (and currently still enjoying) sorting music, listening to said music, sorting TCG cards, and sipping various suicides*** and cleaning my room. It sounds uneventful, but paradoxically I think I actually got a decent amount of things I wanted done. Made me happy and - from a mental standpoint - fully recharged. I like that. It's going to be worth it being in a state like this when I go into work for the Memorial Day weekend.
So, what does all that have to do with today's entry and it "detracting from the usual norm" that I go by? Well, that's where the footnotes come in. (Well, the first one, at least.)
* = For God's sake, I threw up the quote as the first thing on here! How does that NOT detract from the usual norm? Also, notice that the bulk of today's entry is first as compared to the pre-blog things I usually tout off when I throw up something decent. Come on... PLEASE tell me you're not this dense...
** = A lazy American? Using analog clocks to tell time!? HAH! That sounds almost as preposterous as card games on motorcycles!
*** = I associate the term "suicide" with two different things. The first is the obvious one everyone knows it as (the taking of one's own life). The second (which I was using in the footnoted sentence) is a self-concocted beverage that consists of your choice of whatever drinks are readily available - combined, modified, and served at your disclosure. This can be done as a virgin drink (if you wanna be experimental, kid-friendly and highly caffeinated) or as an alcoholic cocktail that's a wary step up from an Adios Motherfucker (if you wanna be experimental, "kid-friendly" and highly drunk). Just don't use milk. EVER.
Now, seeing as how I had loads of fun going through my music collections, I think that will be today's entry's primary focus. Play the music along with me or search for these things online so you can - if anything, it'll provide you with interesting ambient music.
Who knows? You might end up becoming intrigued by one of these tracks as well. *arches an eyebrow*
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: For your aural pleasure*, I've provided a YouTube link to each of these tracks. Now you don't have to go through a painstakingly difficult search to find out what it sounds like - the only painstaking task you have to go through would be to bear with the annoying advertisements. I just hope you're using an Internet browser that supports tabbed browsing as that'll be much easier to use. Oh, and in regards to finding you links: you're welcome. =P)
* = Heh. "Aural pleasure." Sounds dirty. *snerk*
CURRENT MUSIC:
Bear McCreary - "Prelude to War"
Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Soundtrack
Wow. I just love how this track opens up. I heard this and I'm sitting there thinking of a gazillion different scenarios I could use this in when speaking from a movie perspective.
This track (along with the rest of Battlestar Galactica's music) now has me somewhat intrigued with the show . While it possessed the "space operatic" feel I was expecting from a sci-fi series' soundtrack, the overall ethnic sound carefully woven into the music was a welcome surprise. With the numerous (combat) scenes I imagined in my head as "Prelude to War" played in my head, it made me wonder how the track was actually used in the series.
I've yet to see the actual show itself, but from some of my friends keen in the science fiction department, they say it's a pretty good program. Judging from my reaction to the aural quality of its soundtrack, I think I might have to give the series a shot.
George Michael - "Careless Whisper"
Make It Big
I know a few of my readers were either old enough to listen to music during the 1980s or are fans of '80s music are cheering a bit because of my song selection. Knowledgeable people (in regards to popular music or me) will probably be arching an eyebrow. Of course, the rest of you are probably asking me or yourselves, "...the hell is this song?"
Subconsciously, if you're around my age or older, you already know "Careless Whisper" - either you heard it on some radio station doing some '80s throwback when you were a kid, or your parents listened to this enough.
Regardless, I'm quite sure everyone knows of its famous riff.
Jazz rendition of Super Mario Bros. 3 music aside... *clears throat*
Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda - "Bombardment 2"
Eternal Arcadia Original Soundtrack
Quite the track to use for an aerial-based fight (or any fight, for that matter). Not only that, but it has a bit of a pirate-like feel to it, which makes it all the more fun.
I mean, after all... pirate ships. Airships. Pirate airships. Pirate airship battles. OOO.
Try imagining a pirate ship fight using your choice of vehicles (historical pirate ships, wooden sail airships, spaceships, etc.) and try to use a different track afterwards.
I can guarantee few come close to how... epic... "Bombardment 2" sounds with that.
Koutarou Nakagawa - "Beautiful Emperor"
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Original Soundtrack Volume 1
God, I love this piece. It screams heroic dominance - kind of an announcement to the listener that says, "Hey! Pay attention to the guy/girl who's currently using this as their entry fanfare!" Perfect for byronic narcissists and power-hungry would-be global conquerers alike.
Which means that every once in a while, this'll be blared by yours truly. I might be at work walking into the team member service center to clock out, or I might be stuck in heavy traffic in the city. No matter the situation, you will know... that the person blaring this believes themselves to be of high value to society.
*blares "Beautiful Emperor" and sets the speakers to 11*
The Lonely Island - "I'm on a Boat (f. T-Pain)"
Incredibad
Probably one of The Lonely Island's most known songs from their debut album. Every time this comes on, I can't help but sing along. (It's better if more people are present with you when it does go on. And for future reference, dibs on T-Pain's lyrics. =P)
Anyway, what's NOT to love about this song? Absolutely brilliant - it's a great satirical take on rap songs out there today. Hell - even the music video does the same thing. Incessant swearing, lyrics and film clips that have nothing to do with the song itself, a sick beat, and backing vocals by T-Pain? What more does a rap song/video need?
Well, that'll be it for tonight. I'll see you all tomorrow, I suppose?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Lack of Communications
My friends know me currently as someone who will purposefully lag when it comes to cell phone-based communications, which makes planning things with me quite difficult. (Barring times when I'm the one spearheading the plan, of course.)
Of course, it only gets worse when I actually lose the phone in question.
My cell's been M.I.A. since yesterday afternoon. Or before that, possibly... my memory's not that good.
Current theories suggest that it's probably at work somewhere, stashed safe and sound.
So, to those of you who read this and have my number: if you've been calling or texting me since... oh, let's say... Monday night...? ...then now you know why I haven't responded.
...hey, at least this is legitimate...!
*clears throat* A-Anyway... time to work! *leaves*
Of course, it only gets worse when I actually lose the phone in question.
My cell's been M.I.A. since yesterday afternoon. Or before that, possibly... my memory's not that good.
Current theories suggest that it's probably at work somewhere, stashed safe and sound.
So, to those of you who read this and have my number: if you've been calling or texting me since... oh, let's say... Monday night...? ...then now you know why I haven't responded.
...hey, at least this is legitimate...!
*clears throat* A-Anyway... time to work! *leaves*
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Snuffing Self-Doubt, Artist-Style
Discovering who I am and what I've done to get myself where I currently am at seems to be my biggest trend these days.
Naturally, one can assume that a decent entry will contain some amount of "facts" I've discovered about myself.
So, three guesses as to what today's entry will discuss. ("Wine, women and song" would be incorrect - although hedonism would be an interesting topic to discuss...)
Naturally, one can assume that a decent entry will contain some amount of "facts" I've discovered about myself.
So, three guesses as to what today's entry will discuss. ("Wine, women and song" would be incorrect - although hedonism would be an interesting topic to discuss...)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Seek the Answers Through Work
It's another Monday. Another workday for myself, which means an off-day is soon to follow.
And usually, with off-days come good blogs - so the sequence would say.
Oh, I don't know. I'm just throwing words up here as I think of them. Perhaps this is the simplest form of blogging (and in that regard, writing) out there? Why can't I do that now with my own writing?
Hm. Perhaps I'll ponder it over work. And while I eat my lunch.
Why do I think freely when it comes to simple matters such as thinking of what to write on today's entry, yet fail to get anything done when an actual writing project comes along?
Maybe I'll get the answer to you tomorrow. For now, work awaits me and the crowd of people who didn't get raptured on Saturday! (Wait... nobody got raptured. HAH!)
And usually, with off-days come good blogs - so the sequence would say.
Oh, I don't know. I'm just throwing words up here as I think of them. Perhaps this is the simplest form of blogging (and in that regard, writing) out there? Why can't I do that now with my own writing?
Hm. Perhaps I'll ponder it over work. And while I eat my lunch.
Why do I think freely when it comes to simple matters such as thinking of what to write on today's entry, yet fail to get anything done when an actual writing project comes along?
Maybe I'll get the answer to you tomorrow. For now, work awaits me and the crowd of people who didn't get raptured on Saturday! (Wait... nobody got raptured. HAH!)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Late-Night Snacks
Some say that food tastes better after midnight. I subscribe to that theory (and to great gusto!) and highly recommend my fellow night owls that're hungry to go off and get food as well!
Unfortunately, I'm kind of pulling a double-standard - I'm eating a burger at the moment. While it tastes awesome, it's not as awesome as it would be past midnight.
However, if I waited until then to talk about it here, then I'd miss today's deadline, and THAT wouldn't be good.
So, I'll just eat it now while it's still warm and oh-so-tasty. *noms*
Unfortunately, I'm kind of pulling a double-standard - I'm eating a burger at the moment. While it tastes awesome, it's not as awesome as it would be past midnight.
However, if I waited until then to talk about it here, then I'd miss today's deadline, and THAT wouldn't be good.
So, I'll just eat it now while it's still warm and oh-so-tasty. *noms*
Saturday, May 21, 2011
End? Um. No.
Tags:
opinions
In light of today's (supposed) current events, I figured I might as well join in the "festivities" that I think will be going on.
If that sentence confused you (or at least boggled your perceptions of me), then good - you might get something out of this post today.
CURRENT MUSIC:
Halestorm - "I Get Off"
Halestorm
I remember first hearing about Halestorm (and then listening to them very soon afterwards) at last year's Rockstar Uproar Festival. They had a great sound, and sure enough I ended up
Anyway, moving on from expository background. This song's just brimming with energy. Lots of it. While the lyrics may seem sexually charged (with the less-intelligent and closed-minded thinking this), I saw something else embedded within the song - a metaphor for (the singer) being on stage, giving an amazing show to the fans (who Lzzy is singing to) and feeding off of each other's positive energy.
In that same regard, I can relate to this song. Artistically speaking, I kind of do the same thing when it comes to my literary work. I feed off of the positive reinforcement that I get from comments and constructive criticism, and the readers in turn get something fun to read.*
* = If we ignore all those short entries I post almost every other day on here and the occasionally-depressing poems I touted off back in high school, then this statement is true. =3
Muse - "Uprising"
The Resistance
The opening track to Muse's most current album is actually the song that got me into listening to them in fervor. (Yeah, I know - what the hell took me so long to like them?)
Truth is, I heard a few songs by them in the past back in high school and I thought they were just "pretty decent." Then last year I was exposed to The Resistance and I ended up purchasing a copy. Some time later I found myself parked in a car underneath a shady tree with time to spare, so I popped in the album as I sat there reading. Ended up repeating the album because I loved it so much.
Anyway, I found this fitting with today's entry because a good portion of the world is so wrapped up with today that it's snuffing out the more important aspects of life - like, oh, I don't know... LIFE? Enjoying the day anyway? Not giving a damn what anyone says or judges about you? Disregarding negative and untrue comments about your performance? Taking pride in the fact that common sense exists in your level of rank while it runs scarce higher up in the chain of command?
...wait, we're not talking about work? Oh. OH... *clears throat* uh, well. "We will be victorious," anyways. =3
R.E.M. - "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Document
Something tells me I'm going to hear this song being blared by somebody on my way to work, assuming we don't hear strange alien signals first. *snerk*
"In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal - or at least wildly inaccurate - it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important aspects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover."
- Douglas Adams
(The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
Strangely appropriate for today, don't you think?
Sadly, though, I have yet to read this book. I really want to, though.
So, good day to you ladies and gentlemen! Today's a bright and sunny day, which contradicts with what some say could be the start of "the end of the world" - otherwise known as "the rapture."
To those who, like me, don't really pay attention to current events or just say "I don't give a damn"* about the news, here's the nilly-willy:
Today - Saturday, May 21, 2011 - is supposed to be the day of rapture. According to Christians, God's chosen people (the believers) will ascend into heaven while the rest of us normal folk will get hit with a worldwide chain of earthquakes.
...what.
* = Oh, that's our shortstop!
Now, some of you are wondering what I'm doing relaying current events to you readers. A few of "some of you" are probably even more perplexed due to the fact that you know I'm an empirical and apathetic agnostic.
Truth be told, I wanted to share my two cents on the matter, and I know that if I did so on Facebook, I'd end up looking like some sort of (counter-)troll who's metaphorically slapping the faces of every devout Christian friend I have on there.
So I decided to post here - not only would it count as an entry, but at least here I can say what I want with little repercussion. But just in case...
DISCLAIMER:
Now, as a person who believes that anyone and everyone - including myself - is a fool (or will be if they aren't yet - as if), I will do my best to not express my true opinions. By that, I mean that I'm censoring myself from sounding truly offensive, because at last analysis, my opinions on this supposed rapture were half-insult, half-research - all parts lampooning Christian beliefs. In short: THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT TODAY'S SUPPOSED RAPTURE. If you don't like it, then don't accept it. If I offend you, I apologize, but hey - this is what I think of this whole spiel. That's all.
So, like I summarized up above, today is yet another supposed rapture. Devout and faithful Christians will be taken up into heaven as a reward while the other non-believers will be left on Earth to either repent and hopefully ascend as well... or suffer the impending doom that the apocalypse will bring - starting with a precise chain of earthquakes hitting each area at roughly 1800 hours local time. All this has been predicted by radio evangelist Harold Camping*.
Now, I say "yet another" primarily because in the past, there have been numerous raptures that have come and gone. Predictions have been made since the days of modern Christianity, with the earliest rapture "occurring" in 1844. Since then, numerous people and groups have touted off years or days for "the beginning of the end."
1844's rapture was touted off by William Miller).
Jehova's Witnesses claimed that 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1942 were rapture years.**
And more notably, since the 1980s numerous people have said that those years would be the promised rapture (1981, 1989, and virtually every year of the 1990s - thank you, televangelism: you've created sheep out of men).
Even famed physicist Isacc Newton made a prediction that a rapture will occur - albeit that his calculations ended up pointing to 2060.
Now, with all those years coming and going and their respective predictions being proven untrue (minus Newton's***), I have to ask the Christian community: "Do you REALLY think it's going to happen today? Do you REALLY believe that Harold Camping is right?" Seriously, if each of these past "raptures" already occurred, then I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be over six billion people on this planet by now. (At worst, we'd probably be down to about 300,000 or so.)
As of today, there is no scientific proof that there will indeed be millions of people suddenly rising up and earning eternal life in the heavens and stars above. The only "proof" that these false prophets have been claiming comes from some little holy book that says that judgment is coming. This "Judgment Day" doesn't exist anywhere else but in theory papers and publications by Christian groups.
Of course, with today being what it supposedly is, skeptics and disbelievers living in time zones far ahead of me (GMT-8) have been a very good resource in terms of debunking the crap out of this. New Zealand isn't in a state of post-earthquake emergency, Londoners seem to be tweeting that nothing has happened, and the New York Police Department isn't even expecting a mass panic.
Of course, my friends who aren't buying this prediction are hosting rapture parties, with some of my Facebook friends joining in a "post-Rapture looting" that'll occur... if the rapture indeed happened.
Now here's a fun fact for you: even other Christians are denying any truth to Camping's claim. Level-headed believers cite Matthew 24:36 (KJV: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.") by stating that there is no possible way anyone would know an actual date for any (pre-/post-) apocalyptic event. Christian-operated website RaptureFail calls Camping yet another false prophet as its users and friends report in worldwide that nothing has happened to them. (If I wasn't going to be at work, I'd be reporting in as well.)
I've been quoting others' views on today's "rapture," but I've yet to voice MY response. (Brace yourselves, easily-offended Christians.) I'm sorry to say this, but to you Christians ditching work and friends to go off and pray and prepare for your ascension: you are blind, petty fools who were easily swayed and swindled by a crazy and potentially-megalomaniacal and zealous Christian. I hope you get fired or suffer some horrible sickness or hangover or get some punishment that seems fitting for your transgression.**** Perhaps one day there WILL be a rapture, but it will claim you when you're not even expecting it. I only hope you're not driving a vehicle that anyone I care for's riding in.
So, to those of you who, like me, aren't buying this crap: let's just continue our lives as normal. We'll probably end up getting beers or something later and talking trash about everyone else.
To those of you who did: the rest of us will be making SO MUCH FUN OF YOU over a few rounds of beers. Fair warning, because I'm sure there's a few messed-up individuals who'd do far worse to you.
* = I would have linked Camping's official biography on Family Radio, but it wasn't loading. Hell, Family Radio itself was having problems loading for me. I checked my connections and found that my Internet is operating normally - which leaves me to assume that traffic's getting higher due to the numerous people who're now debunking this and lampooning Camping. Go, Internet!
** = I suppose this could be true. I mean, look at the numerous amounts of God-fearing people who lost their lives during World War I, the Roaring Twenties and WORLD WAR II. *scoffs sarcastically*
*** = Who's got a DeLorean with a flux capacitor? Go to 2060 and see if the world is gone for us, will you?
**** = I could have said "Die in a fire," but that just seems too mean - especially if one of my friends actually believed in this.
Now, I'm not sure if you read all of that. Fortunately (for you bastard skim-readers out there), I fashioned a TL;DR for you that will easily summarize this whole spiel:
If that sentence confused you (or at least boggled your perceptions of me), then good - you might get something out of this post today.
CURRENT MUSIC:
Halestorm - "I Get Off"
Halestorm
I remember first hearing about Halestorm (and then listening to them very soon afterwards) at last year's Rockstar Uproar Festival. They had a great sound, and sure enough I ended up
Anyway, moving on from expository background. This song's just brimming with energy. Lots of it. While the lyrics may seem sexually charged (with the less-intelligent and closed-minded thinking this), I saw something else embedded within the song - a metaphor for (the singer) being on stage, giving an amazing show to the fans (who Lzzy is singing to) and feeding off of each other's positive energy.
In that same regard, I can relate to this song. Artistically speaking, I kind of do the same thing when it comes to my literary work. I feed off of the positive reinforcement that I get from comments and constructive criticism, and the readers in turn get something fun to read.*
* = If we ignore all those short entries I post almost every other day on here and the occasionally-depressing poems I touted off back in high school, then this statement is true. =3
Muse - "Uprising"
The Resistance
The opening track to Muse's most current album is actually the song that got me into listening to them in fervor. (Yeah, I know - what the hell took me so long to like them?)
Truth is, I heard a few songs by them in the past back in high school and I thought they were just "pretty decent." Then last year I was exposed to The Resistance and I ended up purchasing a copy. Some time later I found myself parked in a car underneath a shady tree with time to spare, so I popped in the album as I sat there reading. Ended up repeating the album because I loved it so much.
Anyway, I found this fitting with today's entry because a good portion of the world is so wrapped up with today that it's snuffing out the more important aspects of life - like, oh, I don't know... LIFE? Enjoying the day anyway? Not giving a damn what anyone says or judges about you? Disregarding negative and untrue comments about your performance? Taking pride in the fact that common sense exists in your level of rank while it runs scarce higher up in the chain of command?
...wait, we're not talking about work? Oh. OH... *clears throat* uh, well. "We will be victorious," anyways. =3
R.E.M. - "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Document
Something tells me I'm going to hear this song being blared by somebody on my way to work, assuming we don't hear strange alien signals first. *snerk*
"In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal - or at least wildly inaccurate - it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important aspects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover."
- Douglas Adams
(The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
Strangely appropriate for today, don't you think?
Sadly, though, I have yet to read this book. I really want to, though.
So, good day to you ladies and gentlemen! Today's a bright and sunny day, which contradicts with what some say could be the start of "the end of the world" - otherwise known as "the rapture."
To those who, like me, don't really pay attention to current events or just say "I don't give a damn"* about the news, here's the nilly-willy:
Today - Saturday, May 21, 2011 - is supposed to be the day of rapture. According to Christians, God's chosen people (the believers) will ascend into heaven while the rest of us normal folk will get hit with a worldwide chain of earthquakes.
...what.
* = Oh, that's our shortstop!
Now, some of you are wondering what I'm doing relaying current events to you readers. A few of "some of you" are probably even more perplexed due to the fact that you know I'm an empirical and apathetic agnostic.
Truth be told, I wanted to share my two cents on the matter, and I know that if I did so on Facebook, I'd end up looking like some sort of (counter-)troll who's metaphorically slapping the faces of every devout Christian friend I have on there.
So I decided to post here - not only would it count as an entry, but at least here I can say what I want with little repercussion. But just in case...
DISCLAIMER:
Now, as a person who believes that anyone and everyone - including myself - is a fool (or will be if they aren't yet - as if), I will do my best to not express my true opinions. By that, I mean that I'm censoring myself from sounding truly offensive, because at last analysis, my opinions on this supposed rapture were half-insult, half-research - all parts lampooning Christian beliefs. In short: THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT TODAY'S SUPPOSED RAPTURE. If you don't like it, then don't accept it. If I offend you, I apologize, but hey - this is what I think of this whole spiel. That's all.
So, like I summarized up above, today is yet another supposed rapture. Devout and faithful Christians will be taken up into heaven as a reward while the other non-believers will be left on Earth to either repent and hopefully ascend as well... or suffer the impending doom that the apocalypse will bring - starting with a precise chain of earthquakes hitting each area at roughly 1800 hours local time. All this has been predicted by radio evangelist Harold Camping*.
Now, I say "yet another" primarily because in the past, there have been numerous raptures that have come and gone. Predictions have been made since the days of modern Christianity, with the earliest rapture "occurring" in 1844. Since then, numerous people and groups have touted off years or days for "the beginning of the end."
1844's rapture was touted off by William Miller).
Jehova's Witnesses claimed that 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1942 were rapture years.**
And more notably, since the 1980s numerous people have said that those years would be the promised rapture (1981, 1989, and virtually every year of the 1990s - thank you, televangelism: you've created sheep out of men).
Even famed physicist Isacc Newton made a prediction that a rapture will occur - albeit that his calculations ended up pointing to 2060.
Now, with all those years coming and going and their respective predictions being proven untrue (minus Newton's***), I have to ask the Christian community: "Do you REALLY think it's going to happen today? Do you REALLY believe that Harold Camping is right?" Seriously, if each of these past "raptures" already occurred, then I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be over six billion people on this planet by now. (At worst, we'd probably be down to about 300,000 or so.)
As of today, there is no scientific proof that there will indeed be millions of people suddenly rising up and earning eternal life in the heavens and stars above. The only "proof" that these false prophets have been claiming comes from some little holy book that says that judgment is coming. This "Judgment Day" doesn't exist anywhere else but in theory papers and publications by Christian groups.
Of course, with today being what it supposedly is, skeptics and disbelievers living in time zones far ahead of me (GMT-8) have been a very good resource in terms of debunking the crap out of this. New Zealand isn't in a state of post-earthquake emergency, Londoners seem to be tweeting that nothing has happened, and the New York Police Department isn't even expecting a mass panic.
Of course, my friends who aren't buying this prediction are hosting rapture parties, with some of my Facebook friends joining in a "post-Rapture looting" that'll occur... if the rapture indeed happened.
Now here's a fun fact for you: even other Christians are denying any truth to Camping's claim. Level-headed believers cite Matthew 24:36 (KJV: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.") by stating that there is no possible way anyone would know an actual date for any (pre-/post-) apocalyptic event. Christian-operated website RaptureFail calls Camping yet another false prophet as its users and friends report in worldwide that nothing has happened to them. (If I wasn't going to be at work, I'd be reporting in as well.)
I've been quoting others' views on today's "rapture," but I've yet to voice MY response. (Brace yourselves, easily-offended Christians.) I'm sorry to say this, but to you Christians ditching work and friends to go off and pray and prepare for your ascension: you are blind, petty fools who were easily swayed and swindled by a crazy and potentially-megalomaniacal and zealous Christian. I hope you get fired or suffer some horrible sickness or hangover or get some punishment that seems fitting for your transgression.**** Perhaps one day there WILL be a rapture, but it will claim you when you're not even expecting it. I only hope you're not driving a vehicle that anyone I care for's riding in.
So, to those of you who, like me, aren't buying this crap: let's just continue our lives as normal. We'll probably end up getting beers or something later and talking trash about everyone else.
To those of you who did: the rest of us will be making SO MUCH FUN OF YOU over a few rounds of beers. Fair warning, because I'm sure there's a few messed-up individuals who'd do far worse to you.
* = I would have linked Camping's official biography on Family Radio, but it wasn't loading. Hell, Family Radio itself was having problems loading for me. I checked my connections and found that my Internet is operating normally - which leaves me to assume that traffic's getting higher due to the numerous people who're now debunking this and lampooning Camping. Go, Internet!
** = I suppose this could be true. I mean, look at the numerous amounts of God-fearing people who lost their lives during World War I, the Roaring Twenties and WORLD WAR II. *scoffs sarcastically*
*** = Who's got a DeLorean with a flux capacitor? Go to 2060 and see if the world is gone for us, will you?
**** = I could have said "Die in a fire," but that just seems too mean - especially if one of my friends actually believed in this.
Now, I'm not sure if you read all of that. Fortunately (for you bastard skim-readers out there), I fashioned a TL;DR for you that will easily summarize this whole spiel:
DON'T PANIC
Friday, May 20, 2011
30 Seconds!
It's a good Friday today. Off of work, off of school, and off doing things I want to be doing. Which is always a good thing.
As much as I'd like to apologize for this short entry for today... I'm not going to. Like I said before, this is my blog, so... yeah.
In other news: I'm still one for one in posts. And this is post 140. So, there. Something you probably didn't know.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Indulging in ADHD-Laced Food
Today was one of those lazy days that was partly by choice and partly induced by other elements.
I'm talking about consuming a copious amount of amazing sushi and the equally-copious amounts of lethargy the inevitable food coma that follows said sushi consumption gives you. (If you got lost in that sentence, don't worry - so did I.)
As such, it's given me ample amounts of time to catch up on some things, like much-needed sleep and the last few episodes of Band of Brothers and season six of How I Met Your Mother.
Such treats are a rarity for me now due to me getting handed a bunch of hours at work, and... yeah.
"But wait," I hear some of you asking. "You finished your classes already! Shouldn't your off-days from work no longer be plagued by school and therefore now have more free time to catch up on 'some things'? Or you just being a lazy-ass/bum/butt/bones* on us?"
I guess I'm going to have to say that I am feeling lazy. I mean, now that I don't have to work my tail off for some suit who judges me as a number, I can do what I want!
And the first thing I want to do is not please everybody! *immediately submits this entry and goes off playing Super Scribblenauts*
* = That phrase will vary depending on your personal language levels and morals on censorship. I can't speak for all of us, now, can I?
I'm talking about consuming a copious amount of amazing sushi and the equally-copious amounts of lethargy the inevitable food coma that follows said sushi consumption gives you. (If you got lost in that sentence, don't worry - so did I.)
As such, it's given me ample amounts of time to catch up on some things, like much-needed sleep and the last few episodes of Band of Brothers and season six of How I Met Your Mother.
Such treats are a rarity for me now due to me getting handed a bunch of hours at work, and... yeah.
"But wait," I hear some of you asking. "You finished your classes already! Shouldn't your off-days from work no longer be plagued by school and therefore now have more free time to catch up on 'some things'? Or you just being a lazy-ass/bum/butt/bones* on us?"
I guess I'm going to have to say that I am feeling lazy. I mean, now that I don't have to work my tail off for some suit who judges me as a number, I can do what I want!
And the first thing I want to do is not please everybody! *immediately submits this entry and goes off playing Super Scribblenauts*
* = That phrase will vary depending on your personal language levels and morals on censorship. I can't speak for all of us, now, can I?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A Head Start
So after I woke up I decided to start cleaning up my room.
A tell-tale sign that you've made progress is when at least 85% of the floor that was previously unviewable... is.
Guess I'm doin' something right here. If all goes well with this, I might start DREAM EATER with one task already finished! That would make things easier, wouldn't it?
Well, back to cleaning, and then work, work, work. Woo.
A tell-tale sign that you've made progress is when at least 85% of the floor that was previously unviewable... is.
Guess I'm doin' something right here. If all goes well with this, I might start DREAM EATER with one task already finished! That would make things easier, wouldn't it?
Well, back to cleaning, and then work, work, work. Woo.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Dance of Consuming Ambitions
As promised, today's entry will be an informative and somewhat-lengthy explanation on the tasks I have waiting for me once Operation: DREAM EATER officially commences.
So sit down, get a bit of something to drink, and - if you're one of my old-school readers - prepare for another infamous "big wall of text." *grins mischievously*
CURRENT MUSIC:
Klaus Badelt - "The Medallion Calls"
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ~ Original Soundtrack
A fitting introductory track, and while it brings Pirates of the Caribbean to mind, it also heralds a bit of cinematic humor and irony.
I mean, it starts off gallantly - Jack Sparrow's standing on the mast/crow's nest of his ship, looking at his destination while the orchestra announces his heroic fanfare. However, the camera then reveals to us that Sparrow's ship is... well, not so epic, even though the music states otherwise (due to the fact that it's small and - more importantly - sinking).
Two intermissions fade in: the pirate warning/salute and the descriptive camera shot of Port Royal.
Then as Sparrow finally makes berth, we see that his ship has laughably sunk. The music echoes its fanfare even louder than before as if to say, "Yes, he IS a hero in this movie, even if his 'ship' sucked."
Amazingly done, and quite fitting for the explanation of Operation: DREAM EATER. Yay, well-composed music!
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Old fans of mine might have gotten some déjà vu there... mostly because that description is about 85% similar to what I wrote on another blog on Facebook over three years ago.)
Koji Kondo - "Dire, Dire Docks"
Super Mario 64 Original Soundtrack
Maaaaan, this track brings back memories of the good moments of my childhood spent playing an awesome game such as Super Mario 64. I almost miss it.
This calming piece just chimes its way through my ears and just gets me relaxed. If you hear this playing in my general direction, I'm about ready to work fully focused and void of stress (at least for the time being).
Tashannie - "Caution (Don't Bother Me)"
Parallel Prophecys
Korean hip hop. Yep, I'm not kidding. It's surprisingly catchy and pretty cool to dance to. I'll be honest - I actually got up from my chair a few times because I wanted to dance along, too.
And because of those urges, I now feel like investing in a few DDR dance pads and bars. Laugh at me all you want, but you know it'd be pretty cool.
*starts looking for USB dance pads*
"Ideals are like stars - you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of water: you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny."
- Carl Schurz
Well, my course is set, then - I got quite a few metaphorical constellations to follow now, and once I officially set sail, they'll be the only path I'll follow.
Evening, ladies and gents. Enough pre-blog talk; time to move on to the main course!
In the event that you didn't read yesterday's entry (or if you're just too lazy to click the link and would prefer this TL;DR-ish paragraph), I came up with a sort-of campaign I'll be working on over the summer to give me something to do. I have 11 tasks that will need to be finished before Friday, September 23 of this year.
Of course, what are these objectives, you might be asking? Well, consider yourselves lucky this time - I was originally thinking of posting another link back to yesterday's entry and forcing you to read them, but that's just cruel.
So instead, they'll all be here for your convenience, and now I'll be explaining what each task is and what my plans are to achieve all 11 of them.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: None of these are in any specific order other than what I thought up of first.)
I changed design templates recently (went from Blogger's "Simple" to "Picture Window") and I like the look. A few readers have also expressed its crispness, so I can assume it doesn't look as horrendous.
There's going to be a few new pages and some gadget additions coming eventually, so I'd suggest that you keep your eyes peeled. I just might add something or change the HTML to make this thing look snazzier than it does right now.
Get Gefallen (US-Tichondrius - Human Rogue) to Lv85 and figure out a workable Combat PvP spec.
As mentioned before in this blog, Gefallen was my very first Lv80 character in World of Warcraft, so I have a sense of honor and duty to make sure he keeps up with the times. In the case of 2011 and the Cataclysm expansion, I felt that it would be morally wrong to ditch him in the dust and leave him at Lv80, so a few weeks ago I began the arduous grind to Lv85.
Last time I played World of Warcraft (about a week-and-a-half ago), I left him around Lv83 because I ran out of rested experience* to make the grind easier. I figured I'd let him sit there for a week or two to let the rested experience build up again. (So much for getting him to 85 by the end of April. *laughs*)
Now as you can see, simply getting Gefallen to 85 is only one-half of this objective. I also have to figure out a workable talent build for him. From the start of my WoW experience I've always gone the route of the Combat tree - I believe sustained damage without an over-reliance on stealth-based abilities is the best way to keep your foes on their toes (hee-hee, I made it rhyme).
And since most Rogues out there are PvP-specced for Assassination or Subtlety (and in turn, look down upon Combat Rogues and laugh at its supposed inferiority), I think I'm going to need a lot of practice to fine-tune a combat routine.
I got a few ideas, but as none of my friends play on US-Tichondrius anymore (as far as I know, at least), finding a willing test subject and/or sparring partner will be difficult. I could just transfer to a different server, but I have a guild vault that I'm not leaving behind (it cost me a lot of gold, and until Blizzard implements a guild-transfer service I'm not letting all that time I spent farming go to waste).
It'll be quite fun to accomplish this, I'd say - just as long as no jackass Shadow Priests gank me while I'm off questing and leveling...
* = "Rested experience" is a game mechanic in World of Warcraft that aids casual players (such as myself) - the ones who simply aren't able to grind out leveling in one major sitting. If you go to a designated "rest area" (such as a friendly major city or inn) and log your character off within, they begin to build up rested experience while you remain logged off (shown as a blue hue over a portion of your experience bar). This bonus experience accrues in an amount proportionate to the time you haven't played that character, capping itself at 1.5 levels' worth of experience (roughly ten days in real life). While the rested experience bar is active, all experience gained from killing monsters is doubled - which helps when one feels too lazy to fight a gazillion things.
Get Chariselle (US-Ravenholdt - Blood Elf Paladin) geared for end-game PvE raiding.
My other World of Warcraft goal for DREAM EATER will require a bit of work. Unlike the challenge that Gefallen possesses, Chariselle will be somewhat easier - mostly due to the fact that she's already Lv85. As of today, her gear is rather shoddy compared to most other players - she's sporting armor that was either given to her as a quest reward or bought off the auction house because she had the gold for it.
While that may sound good to a non-player, it isn't - especially when the loot from end-game dungeons makes her current outfit pale in comparison.
My friends want me to tank for them in some of the end-game content, but as Chari's armaments are... well... shit... it'll be a long while before I can soak up all the damage for them.
I personally consider this to be a bit of a challenge because in all the time that I've played Cataclysm, I have yet to set foot inside any of the new dungeons introduced in this expansion... meaning that in order to get this awesome gear that the dungeons have, I need to learn about all of them... what the bosses inside do, what the groups of monsters inside are capable of, and - more importantly - what adjustments I need to make for my typical tanking routine.
Should be fun, assuming I get a good amount of competent people helping me through these dungeons.
Finish the first 30 pages of a new screenplay.
As the creative literary genius keeps spitting out ideas for new things to write about, I usually end up casting them aside due to time constraints, apathy, or because another project has priority. While this may sound cruel to a future literary/media hit, it's not - as it sits off to the side, it begins to mutate and transform into something else entirely, and when I take note of it, it's usually something I end up taking a good second look at.
As such, there's quite a few ideas sitting off-queue at the moment, and I know that at least one of them (or another idea that may surface) will be pretty good for a movie adaptation.
Since it's been a while since I've worked on scriptwriting, I figured I'd start fresh with a new idea and a new screenplay.
30 pages is the farthest I've ever gotten on writing a screenplay, and that was because it was for a college class.
With this objective, I'm simulating both the time I had to work on that last screenplay and the deadline that constituted as my final.
If you have any ideas of your own, go ahead and pitch them to me - it's not just my thoughts that deserve to be heard and potentially broadcast throughout the world.
Work on and complete the next chapter of my Street Fighter fanfic Unincorporated.
With all the serious and semi-melancholic talk I throw on here, I figured it'd be nice if I typed some something more... silly. Yeah, the non sequitur posts qualify as humorous, and so do a number of other posts I have on here. However, I just need to write something down that has nothing but silly in it... and I figured that I might as well bring an old project back from the dead.
Cue that one fan of my fanfiction work gasping in delighted shock.
It's been a little over a year-and-a-half since I last touched anything regarding FF.net. As a writer, I think I need some kind of practice, so... *dusts off the fanfiction folders in the laptop... for real, this time*
Begin and complete Radiant Historia (NDS).
Atlus' time-traveling RPG came out on American shelves this year back on February 22, and upon the recommendation of a friend, I procured a copy of it*.
Despite my ownership, I have to confess that I have yet to play the game for some reason. However, with summer coming next month, I figured I might as well have an entertaining and new challenge to finish before it ends. Even though I'm not much for typical RPGs, I've heard good things about it, so I'm excited about popping the game into my 3DS and playing it over a night of insomnia. ("New game smell" has nothing to do with my excitement. Nope. *shifty eyes*)
* = Good thing - apparently, copies of Radiant Historia are somewhat rare now.
Lose some weight / get more fit.
More often than not, this objective will be seen on New Year's resolutions across the world. While it's obviously too late* for me to add it to my list** (well, not really), it isn't too late to add it as an objective for DREAM EATER.
While I'm working on keeping a strong mind, it's all for naught if an equally-strong body isn't there to carry it around and protect it. By completing this, I'll be more energetic and positive, and I can build up the self-confidence I need oh-so-badly.
Plus, getting fit has other potential perks... more energy for dancing around like a madman... and potential lady-friends, perhaps? *winks*
* = While 3.5 months is plenty of time to see results, it's a tad late to see them by the time beach season comes around... which just so happens to be very soon from now.
** = In the rare event that you don't know what my New Year's resolution list is... either you're a new reader or you're just not that perceptive. =P
Write a poem.
Every writer, whether they'd like to admit it or not, has a dark side to them that occasionally surfaces in their minds when the pen hits the page. Those that write poetry just happen to know how to hide their distress in plain sight.
Poetry is both complex and simple like that - and now that I'm starting up some writing projects (as listed above), I figured that I'd have to get in touch with that embittered soul I keep within myself. No matter how pathetic it is, it still has a voice that yearns to be heard, and if one listens closely enough, they just might hear it say something meaningful that changes a life.
I miss writing poetry - it's a great way to express oneself in a literary fashion. I used to do it for classes, but every once in a while I just came up with one of my own and decided to jot it down.
Trust me, though: this isn't going to be as simple as it sounds to be.
Work out and organize the rough basics of an epic road trip I want to take next year.
In my view, your early twenties are the prime and twilight of your adventurous years going around and doing crazy/stupid/fun stuff before you have to lock yourself down for your careers. Some may argue against this theory, but let's face it - you don't hear of people taking road trips with their friends when they're in their thirties.
With that in mind, I told myself that I wanted to hold one great and epic road trip across the mainland of the United States. I want to see the sights that I wanted to see, visit the places I wanted to go to - not just drive past like my parents used to do on our family or moving trips.
As such, I'm making it official - I'm going to start planning this thing. I'm going to figure out who amongst my friends would want to go, what supplies we would need, what cars we would take, where we would stay, etc.
However, all that means nothing if there's no itinerary for us to follow. Sure, the sporadic and random "spontaneous road trip" sounds amazing, but it holds the high chance for something to fall through - and not just before the trip starts.
The basics of this objective: find out who would want to go and what the basic route would be, assuming worst-case scenarios in terms of how many people will be going and how long this road trip would be.
Clean my room and maintain its cleanliness.
Some say that a messy room is the sign of a genius. Some say that they're just lazy-butts who'd rather let the filth grow instead of taking three steps to the nearest waste receptacle. Some are just American slobs. =P
Anyway, I've always been messy as a child. I've always been messy as a teenager. And now that I'm 21... I can still be messy. Eep.
Obviously, this objective is self-explanatory, so I'll just cut it short here.
Complete at least 50% of a cosplay outfit of my choice.
To the readers who don't know what cosplaying is, I'll see if I can keep it simple.Think of Halloween and how people dress up as something. Cosplay is pretty much the exact same thing, except cosplayers don't just limit their days of wear to just October 31.
Despite the numerous creative ideas I have for my own outfits and who I want to cosplay as, I figured I'll start with something simple that will require minimal work and money.As I want to keep it a surprise, I won't say anything about it yet, but as work on this objective goes on, you'll see updates on it - photos, reference pictures and what not.
I plan on officially starting DREAM EATER when June begins, so you'll probably be seeing a major update to this operation when that Wednesday rolls around.
Until then, just keep this whole spiel in mind - we'll have to see if I make it. (I know I will.)
In the words of How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson: "Challenge accepted!"
See y'all later!
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: HTML is FIXED! Jesus, that took a while… [201105200930])
So sit down, get a bit of something to drink, and - if you're one of my old-school readers - prepare for another infamous "big wall of text." *grins mischievously*
CURRENT MUSIC:
Klaus Badelt - "The Medallion Calls"
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ~ Original Soundtrack
A fitting introductory track, and while it brings Pirates of the Caribbean to mind, it also heralds a bit of cinematic humor and irony.
I mean, it starts off gallantly - Jack Sparrow's standing on the mast/crow's nest of his ship, looking at his destination while the orchestra announces his heroic fanfare. However, the camera then reveals to us that Sparrow's ship is... well, not so epic, even though the music states otherwise (due to the fact that it's small and - more importantly - sinking).
Two intermissions fade in: the pirate warning/salute and the descriptive camera shot of Port Royal.
Then as Sparrow finally makes berth, we see that his ship has laughably sunk. The music echoes its fanfare even louder than before as if to say, "Yes, he IS a hero in this movie, even if his 'ship' sucked."
Amazingly done, and quite fitting for the explanation of Operation: DREAM EATER. Yay, well-composed music!
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Old fans of mine might have gotten some déjà vu there... mostly because that description is about 85% similar to what I wrote on another blog on Facebook over three years ago.)
Koji Kondo - "Dire, Dire Docks"
Super Mario 64 Original Soundtrack
Maaaaan, this track brings back memories of the good moments of my childhood spent playing an awesome game such as Super Mario 64. I almost miss it.
This calming piece just chimes its way through my ears and just gets me relaxed. If you hear this playing in my general direction, I'm about ready to work fully focused and void of stress (at least for the time being).
Tashannie - "Caution (Don't Bother Me)"
Parallel Prophecys
Korean hip hop. Yep, I'm not kidding. It's surprisingly catchy and pretty cool to dance to. I'll be honest - I actually got up from my chair a few times because I wanted to dance along, too.
And because of those urges, I now feel like investing in a few DDR dance pads and bars. Laugh at me all you want, but you know it'd be pretty cool.
*starts looking for USB dance pads*
"Ideals are like stars - you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of water: you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny."
- Carl Schurz
Well, my course is set, then - I got quite a few metaphorical constellations to follow now, and once I officially set sail, they'll be the only path I'll follow.
Evening, ladies and gents. Enough pre-blog talk; time to move on to the main course!
In the event that you didn't read yesterday's entry (or if you're just too lazy to click the link and would prefer this TL;DR-ish paragraph), I came up with a sort-of campaign I'll be working on over the summer to give me something to do. I have 11 tasks that will need to be finished before Friday, September 23 of this year.
Of course, what are these objectives, you might be asking? Well, consider yourselves lucky this time - I was originally thinking of posting another link back to yesterday's entry and forcing you to read them, but that's just cruel.
So instead, they'll all be here for your convenience, and now I'll be explaining what each task is and what my plans are to achieve all 11 of them.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: None of these are in any specific order other than what I thought up of first.)
Operation: DREAM EATER
Find the "perfect" look for this blog.
This one's quite simple, really - improve the look and add more pages to this blog.I changed design templates recently (went from Blogger's "Simple" to "Picture Window") and I like the look. A few readers have also expressed its crispness, so I can assume it doesn't look as horrendous.
There's going to be a few new pages and some gadget additions coming eventually, so I'd suggest that you keep your eyes peeled. I just might add something or change the HTML to make this thing look snazzier than it does right now.
Get Gefallen (US-Tichondrius - Human Rogue) to Lv85 and figure out a workable Combat PvP spec.
As mentioned before in this blog, Gefallen was my very first Lv80 character in World of Warcraft, so I have a sense of honor and duty to make sure he keeps up with the times. In the case of 2011 and the Cataclysm expansion, I felt that it would be morally wrong to ditch him in the dust and leave him at Lv80, so a few weeks ago I began the arduous grind to Lv85.
Last time I played World of Warcraft (about a week-and-a-half ago), I left him around Lv83 because I ran out of rested experience* to make the grind easier. I figured I'd let him sit there for a week or two to let the rested experience build up again. (So much for getting him to 85 by the end of April. *laughs*)
Now as you can see, simply getting Gefallen to 85 is only one-half of this objective. I also have to figure out a workable talent build for him. From the start of my WoW experience I've always gone the route of the Combat tree - I believe sustained damage without an over-reliance on stealth-based abilities is the best way to keep your foes on their toes (hee-hee, I made it rhyme).
And since most Rogues out there are PvP-specced for Assassination or Subtlety (and in turn, look down upon Combat Rogues and laugh at its supposed inferiority), I think I'm going to need a lot of practice to fine-tune a combat routine.
I got a few ideas, but as none of my friends play on US-Tichondrius anymore (as far as I know, at least), finding a willing test subject and/or sparring partner will be difficult. I could just transfer to a different server, but I have a guild vault that I'm not leaving behind (it cost me a lot of gold, and until Blizzard implements a guild-transfer service I'm not letting all that time I spent farming go to waste).
It'll be quite fun to accomplish this, I'd say - just as long as no jackass Shadow Priests gank me while I'm off questing and leveling...
* = "Rested experience" is a game mechanic in World of Warcraft that aids casual players (such as myself) - the ones who simply aren't able to grind out leveling in one major sitting. If you go to a designated "rest area" (such as a friendly major city or inn) and log your character off within, they begin to build up rested experience while you remain logged off (shown as a blue hue over a portion of your experience bar). This bonus experience accrues in an amount proportionate to the time you haven't played that character, capping itself at 1.5 levels' worth of experience (roughly ten days in real life). While the rested experience bar is active, all experience gained from killing monsters is doubled - which helps when one feels too lazy to fight a gazillion things.
Get Chariselle (US-Ravenholdt - Blood Elf Paladin) geared for end-game PvE raiding.
My other World of Warcraft goal for DREAM EATER will require a bit of work. Unlike the challenge that Gefallen possesses, Chariselle will be somewhat easier - mostly due to the fact that she's already Lv85. As of today, her gear is rather shoddy compared to most other players - she's sporting armor that was either given to her as a quest reward or bought off the auction house because she had the gold for it.
While that may sound good to a non-player, it isn't - especially when the loot from end-game dungeons makes her current outfit pale in comparison.
My friends want me to tank for them in some of the end-game content, but as Chari's armaments are... well... shit... it'll be a long while before I can soak up all the damage for them.
I personally consider this to be a bit of a challenge because in all the time that I've played Cataclysm, I have yet to set foot inside any of the new dungeons introduced in this expansion... meaning that in order to get this awesome gear that the dungeons have, I need to learn about all of them... what the bosses inside do, what the groups of monsters inside are capable of, and - more importantly - what adjustments I need to make for my typical tanking routine.
Should be fun, assuming I get a good amount of competent people helping me through these dungeons.
Finish the first 30 pages of a new screenplay.
As the creative literary genius keeps spitting out ideas for new things to write about, I usually end up casting them aside due to time constraints, apathy, or because another project has priority. While this may sound cruel to a future literary/media hit, it's not - as it sits off to the side, it begins to mutate and transform into something else entirely, and when I take note of it, it's usually something I end up taking a good second look at.
As such, there's quite a few ideas sitting off-queue at the moment, and I know that at least one of them (or another idea that may surface) will be pretty good for a movie adaptation.
Since it's been a while since I've worked on scriptwriting, I figured I'd start fresh with a new idea and a new screenplay.
30 pages is the farthest I've ever gotten on writing a screenplay, and that was because it was for a college class.
With this objective, I'm simulating both the time I had to work on that last screenplay and the deadline that constituted as my final.
If you have any ideas of your own, go ahead and pitch them to me - it's not just my thoughts that deserve to be heard and potentially broadcast throughout the world.
Work on and complete the next chapter of my Street Fighter fanfic Unincorporated.
With all the serious and semi-melancholic talk I throw on here, I figured it'd be nice if I typed some something more... silly. Yeah, the non sequitur posts qualify as humorous, and so do a number of other posts I have on here. However, I just need to write something down that has nothing but silly in it... and I figured that I might as well bring an old project back from the dead.
Cue that one fan of my fanfiction work gasping in delighted shock.
It's been a little over a year-and-a-half since I last touched anything regarding FF.net. As a writer, I think I need some kind of practice, so... *dusts off the fanfiction folders in the laptop... for real, this time*
Begin and complete Radiant Historia (NDS).
Atlus' time-traveling RPG came out on American shelves this year back on February 22, and upon the recommendation of a friend, I procured a copy of it*.
Despite my ownership, I have to confess that I have yet to play the game for some reason. However, with summer coming next month, I figured I might as well have an entertaining and new challenge to finish before it ends. Even though I'm not much for typical RPGs, I've heard good things about it, so I'm excited about popping the game into my 3DS and playing it over a night of insomnia. ("New game smell" has nothing to do with my excitement. Nope. *shifty eyes*)
* = Good thing - apparently, copies of Radiant Historia are somewhat rare now.
Lose some weight / get more fit.
More often than not, this objective will be seen on New Year's resolutions across the world. While it's obviously too late* for me to add it to my list** (well, not really), it isn't too late to add it as an objective for DREAM EATER.
While I'm working on keeping a strong mind, it's all for naught if an equally-strong body isn't there to carry it around and protect it. By completing this, I'll be more energetic and positive, and I can build up the self-confidence I need oh-so-badly.
Plus, getting fit has other potential perks... more energy for dancing around like a madman... and potential lady-friends, perhaps? *winks*
* = While 3.5 months is plenty of time to see results, it's a tad late to see them by the time beach season comes around... which just so happens to be very soon from now.
** = In the rare event that you don't know what my New Year's resolution list is... either you're a new reader or you're just not that perceptive. =P
Write a poem.
Every writer, whether they'd like to admit it or not, has a dark side to them that occasionally surfaces in their minds when the pen hits the page. Those that write poetry just happen to know how to hide their distress in plain sight.
Poetry is both complex and simple like that - and now that I'm starting up some writing projects (as listed above), I figured that I'd have to get in touch with that embittered soul I keep within myself. No matter how pathetic it is, it still has a voice that yearns to be heard, and if one listens closely enough, they just might hear it say something meaningful that changes a life.
I miss writing poetry - it's a great way to express oneself in a literary fashion. I used to do it for classes, but every once in a while I just came up with one of my own and decided to jot it down.
Trust me, though: this isn't going to be as simple as it sounds to be.
Work out and organize the rough basics of an epic road trip I want to take next year.
In my view, your early twenties are the prime and twilight of your adventurous years going around and doing crazy/stupid/fun stuff before you have to lock yourself down for your careers. Some may argue against this theory, but let's face it - you don't hear of people taking road trips with their friends when they're in their thirties.
With that in mind, I told myself that I wanted to hold one great and epic road trip across the mainland of the United States. I want to see the sights that I wanted to see, visit the places I wanted to go to - not just drive past like my parents used to do on our family or moving trips.
As such, I'm making it official - I'm going to start planning this thing. I'm going to figure out who amongst my friends would want to go, what supplies we would need, what cars we would take, where we would stay, etc.
However, all that means nothing if there's no itinerary for us to follow. Sure, the sporadic and random "spontaneous road trip" sounds amazing, but it holds the high chance for something to fall through - and not just before the trip starts.
The basics of this objective: find out who would want to go and what the basic route would be, assuming worst-case scenarios in terms of how many people will be going and how long this road trip would be.
Clean my room and maintain its cleanliness.
Some say that a messy room is the sign of a genius. Some say that they're just lazy-butts who'd rather let the filth grow instead of taking three steps to the nearest waste receptacle. Some are just American slobs. =P
Anyway, I've always been messy as a child. I've always been messy as a teenager. And now that I'm 21... I can still be messy. Eep.
Obviously, this objective is self-explanatory, so I'll just cut it short here.
Complete at least 50% of a cosplay outfit of my choice.
To the readers who don't know what cosplaying is, I'll see if I can keep it simple.Think of Halloween and how people dress up as something. Cosplay is pretty much the exact same thing, except cosplayers don't just limit their days of wear to just October 31.
Despite the numerous creative ideas I have for my own outfits and who I want to cosplay as, I figured I'll start with something simple that will require minimal work and money.As I want to keep it a surprise, I won't say anything about it yet, but as work on this objective goes on, you'll see updates on it - photos, reference pictures and what not.
I plan on officially starting DREAM EATER when June begins, so you'll probably be seeing a major update to this operation when that Wednesday rolls around.
Until then, just keep this whole spiel in mind - we'll have to see if I make it. (I know I will.)
In the words of How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson: "Challenge accepted!"
See y'all later!
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: HTML is FIXED! Jesus, that took a while… [201105200930])
Monday, May 16, 2011
Operation: DREAM EATER
Tags:
Operation: DREAM EATER
As the beauty and tranquility that is summer looms over the horizon, I couldn't help but look back at what I did for myself in the past three summer vacations. My answer was "nothing (self-worthwile)," and so I figured I needed to get something done.
Back in those summers, when I had projects I wanted finished, they all ended up falling apart for one reason or another. Work got in the way, I decided to procrastinate until autumn, the project became disinteresting, I lacked the determination and moral support.
*Eisenhower accent* But this is year 2011! Much has happened since the apathetic triumphs of 2007-10!*
This year, I know I can do this all. Not just because I'm more empowered with more optimism and self-worth, mind you. No... I have more at my side now. Surely there's no way I can be defeated!
And so it is: The White Knight's metaphorical high command has declared summertime as a campaign todenounce the evils of truth and love extend our reach to the stars above end this stalemate and triumph over my lack of willpower to do stuff!**
COMMENCE OPERATION: DREAM EATER!
* = A bit of a homage to Eisenhower's D-Day speech back in 1944.
* = No, the crossed-out stuff isn't a Team Rocket reference at all. Noooooooope. =P
CURRENT MUSIC:
KCE Japan Sound Team - "Encounter"
Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack
Every fan of Metal Gear Solid knows this track by heart, because we all know that the tension that builds up the moment you get caught hits us like a brick wall. This track captures that feeling perfectly.
Since I need to build up energy to finish all this, I figured this would be perfect.
TeddyLoid - "Dancefloor Orgy"
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: The Original Soundtrack
This track just happens to have a versatile sound to it - I can use it as background music for combat sequences, street racing, ambient working music, etc.
In today's case, it's being used as warm-up music. And not the physical workout kind of warm-up, mind you (though "Dancefloor Orgy" would probably work as well for that).
Hello, ladies and gentlemen who read this blog. Today's a decently sunny day - and I'm not talking about the weather.
Last night I went to sleep early due to a long and tiring day at work. We're talking at around midnight, which - when you look at a night owl such as myself - is very early.
I had this weird dream involving a spotlight-lit podium on an outdoor stage, me in a dashing suit accepting a golden trophy of some kind, a crisp Californian sunset with a nice, cool summer breeze, and a crowd of people (a good portion of them people I know) giving me a standing ovation.
I woke up feeling both perplexed and well-rested, so (after ten minutes of just lying in bed,) I immediately got up to contemplate the meaning behind this bizarre dream.
Alas, in typical "me" fashion, I ended up sidetracking and worked on improving the look of this blog (longtime readers will see the changes - somewhat better-looking, right? =D).
As I finished with that, I realized something: I had unwittingly began working on a task I wanted complete months ago but never got around to doing.
That got me thinking... I had other projects I wanted finished sometime decently soon, but I never actually did any of them. I blamed my procrastination and my apathy, but I don't know about this year... I'm feeling good.*
So, inspired by the changes I made to the look of this blog, I ended up working on something new: a giant project that would oversee and aid in the completion of some of the projects I had cast aside on the backburner.
Enter "Operation: DREAM EATER."
Now, some of you may be wondering what the objectives of this operation are, but I'm sure there's at least one of you who cast a raised eyebrow upon reading the name of today's entry. So, first things first: the meaning behind the name.
As this newfound inspiration came from that weird-yet-awesome dream of mine, I figured I'd pay it a bit of tribute, so that explains the "DREAM."
As I wanted to make sure I had this idea of ideas in my system, I figured I'd lock it down in my mind. And to make sure my brain ate this idea up with gusto, I decided upon the second half of this operation: "EATER."
Now, in Pokémon, there is a Psychic attack called Dream Eater. Upon its use on a sleeping target, it devours the sleeper's dream and restores the user's HP by an amount equal to what was consumed. Yes, I wholly intended this reference with the mission name.
Coincidentally, "DREAM EATER" sounds like the code name for another tactical mission - one I happen to know quite well. =3
Now the second half: the objectives. It's quite simple, really: complete the projects I set for myself before summer officially ends. That calendar date is Friday, September 23.
Of course, what projects are they? They vary in task and entertainment, but they all have some sort of value.
Now, as I have work soon, I don't have the time to explain the details of these 11 projects, but that's what tomorrow's entry will explain. Hopefully I've garnered some interest (and later: potential support) amongst you all.
Until the 'morrow, everyone!
Back in those summers, when I had projects I wanted finished, they all ended up falling apart for one reason or another. Work got in the way, I decided to procrastinate until autumn, the project became disinteresting, I lacked the determination and moral support.
*Eisenhower accent* But this is year 2011! Much has happened since the apathetic triumphs of 2007-10!*
This year, I know I can do this all. Not just because I'm more empowered with more optimism and self-worth, mind you. No... I have more at my side now. Surely there's no way I can be defeated!
And so it is: The White Knight's metaphorical high command has declared summertime as a campaign to
COMMENCE OPERATION: DREAM EATER!
* = A bit of a homage to Eisenhower's D-Day speech back in 1944.
* = No, the crossed-out stuff isn't a Team Rocket reference at all. Noooooooope. =P
CURRENT MUSIC:
KCE Japan Sound Team - "Encounter"
Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack
Every fan of Metal Gear Solid knows this track by heart, because we all know that the tension that builds up the moment you get caught hits us like a brick wall. This track captures that feeling perfectly.
Since I need to build up energy to finish all this, I figured this would be perfect.
TeddyLoid - "Dancefloor Orgy"
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: The Original Soundtrack
This track just happens to have a versatile sound to it - I can use it as background music for combat sequences, street racing, ambient working music, etc.
In today's case, it's being used as warm-up music. And not the physical workout kind of warm-up, mind you (though "Dancefloor Orgy" would probably work as well for that).
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men - for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."
- T. E. Lawrence
I think it's time I switch from nocturnal dreaming to diurnal dreaming, then...
Hello, ladies and gentlemen who read this blog. Today's a decently sunny day - and I'm not talking about the weather.
Last night I went to sleep early due to a long and tiring day at work. We're talking at around midnight, which - when you look at a night owl such as myself - is very early.
I had this weird dream involving a spotlight-lit podium on an outdoor stage, me in a dashing suit accepting a golden trophy of some kind, a crisp Californian sunset with a nice, cool summer breeze, and a crowd of people (a good portion of them people I know) giving me a standing ovation.
I woke up feeling both perplexed and well-rested, so (after ten minutes of just lying in bed,) I immediately got up to contemplate the meaning behind this bizarre dream.
Alas, in typical "me" fashion, I ended up sidetracking and worked on improving the look of this blog (longtime readers will see the changes - somewhat better-looking, right? =D).
As I finished with that, I realized something: I had unwittingly began working on a task I wanted complete months ago but never got around to doing.
That got me thinking... I had other projects I wanted finished sometime decently soon, but I never actually did any of them. I blamed my procrastination and my apathy, but I don't know about this year... I'm feeling good.*
So, inspired by the changes I made to the look of this blog, I ended up working on something new: a giant project that would oversee and aid in the completion of some of the projects I had cast aside on the backburner.
* = As I get distracted easily, some will say that I'm in danger of running this campaign and not achieving any of it. While this may be true, I actually foresee an advantage with this ADHD-seque behavior of mine - I'll end up focusing on different fronts without actually exerting myself. Since I'll end up leaving a task due to boredom, I'll hit a new project feeling refreshed (because surely this task at hand won't bore me this time!)
Enter "Operation: DREAM EATER."
Now, some of you may be wondering what the objectives of this operation are, but I'm sure there's at least one of you who cast a raised eyebrow upon reading the name of today's entry. So, first things first: the meaning behind the name.
As this newfound inspiration came from that weird-yet-awesome dream of mine, I figured I'd pay it a bit of tribute, so that explains the "DREAM."
As I wanted to make sure I had this idea of ideas in my system, I figured I'd lock it down in my mind. And to make sure my brain ate this idea up with gusto, I decided upon the second half of this operation: "EATER."
Now, in Pokémon, there is a Psychic attack called Dream Eater. Upon its use on a sleeping target, it devours the sleeper's dream and restores the user's HP by an amount equal to what was consumed. Yes, I wholly intended this reference with the mission name.
Coincidentally, "DREAM EATER" sounds like the code name for another tactical mission - one I happen to know quite well. =3
Now the second half: the objectives. It's quite simple, really: complete the projects I set for myself before summer officially ends. That calendar date is Friday, September 23.
Of course, what projects are they? They vary in task and entertainment, but they all have some sort of value.
- find the "perfect" look for this blog
- get Gefallen (US-Tichondrius - Human Rogue) to Lv85 and figure out a workable Combat PvP spec
- get Chariselle (US-Ravenholdt - Blood Elf Paladin) geared for end-game PvE raiding
- finish the first 30 pages of a new screenplay
- work on and complete the next chapter of my Street Fighter fanfic Unincorporated
- begin and complete Radiant Historia (NDS)
- lose some weight / get more fit
- write a poem
- work out and organize the rough basics of an epic roadtrip I want to take next year
- clean my room and maintain its cleanliness
- complete at least 50% of a cosplay outfit of my choice
Now, as I have work soon, I don't have the time to explain the details of these 11 projects, but that's what tomorrow's entry will explain. Hopefully I've garnered some interest (and later: potential support) amongst you all.
Until the 'morrow, everyone!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Project Foreshadow
I'm fairly certain that this summer will be quite interesting... at least in terms of personal projects that will be done over that time.
Now, I say "will be done" because I will damn well make sure that they all go through. I'm personally overseeing that they get finished. Otherwise, I don't think I'll be happy with myself ever again.
Yeah, it sounds a bit harsh on myself, and yeah, it sounds a bit negative, but sometimes an ultimatum has to be presented for satisfactory results to be achieved.
But why not start now? Part of that's due to procrastination, but a good portion of it has to do with me wanting to recharge my batteries once I get my two days off later this week.
Thursday can't show up soon enough. Geez.
Now, I say "will be done" because I will damn well make sure that they all go through. I'm personally overseeing that they get finished. Otherwise, I don't think I'll be happy with myself ever again.
Yeah, it sounds a bit harsh on myself, and yeah, it sounds a bit negative, but sometimes an ultimatum has to be presented for satisfactory results to be achieved.
But why not start now? Part of that's due to procrastination, but a good portion of it has to do with me wanting to recharge my batteries once I get my two days off later this week.
Thursday can't show up soon enough. Geez.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Quick Reload
As I've got a few errands to run before I go in to work tonight, I'll do my best to condense anything I want to say.
And by "anything I want to say," I really mean "anything I can actually think of," because I'm just not in that writing mood. *shocked gasp*
Yesterday, Friday the 13th... it was somewhat rough. I got through okay, but there were three contributing factors:
And by "anything I want to say," I really mean "anything I can actually think of," because I'm just not in that writing mood. *shocked gasp*
Yesterday, Friday the 13th... it was somewhat rough. I got through okay, but there were three contributing factors:
- a major bull-rush on the store (timed to start right after I got off my lunch)
- that craptastic movie that came out yesterday (you idiot fangirls know what I'm talking about - a good third of the mob I encountered consisted of your rabid kind)
- the aftermath of work (my friends and I thought we escaped the day with little scarring...)
All of these were enveloped into what I call "what made my Friday the 13th." It didn't kill me or my mood, but it sure as hell put a dent on my energy levels.
Now, I'm not certain if I'll be at 100% today - I'll be lucky if I'm even at 75% operating condition.
Of course, it's just energy levels - my mood's still been in a pretty high-spirited state, so I'm sure that counts for something.
Guess it's time to reload and refuel, because life won't give me that opportunity willingly. *smiles*
So, if you'll excuse me, I got some things that need to be done and over with before I head off and earn my pay for today. I'll catch y'all later.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Friday the 13th
It might be sheer luck that yesterday's near-mishap with Blogger going down might have been a day early - let's face it: Blogger might as well could've done it today and I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
But with today being the 13th... hoo, boy. This makes me wonder what's in store for me at work.
I'm sure I'll find out the hard way, but... something tells me it'll be okay in the end.
It worked out okay yesterday... and I'm still in that peculiarly chipper mood... so I have to assume it'll be okay in the end.
Bring it on, Friday the 13th... bring it on.
But with today being the 13th... hoo, boy. This makes me wonder what's in store for me at work.
I'm sure I'll find out the hard way, but... something tells me it'll be okay in the end.
It worked out okay yesterday... and I'm still in that peculiarly chipper mood... so I have to assume it'll be okay in the end.
Bring it on, Friday the 13th... bring it on.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Non Sequitur 2: "Forecasted Renovations"
Tags:
non sequitur
A question I posed myself: "How do I increase the readership of this little blog of mine?"
No answers have presented themselves yet, but I have some ideas.
Of course, with things going my way lately, I now have the time to test said ideas.
And ramble about random shenanigans at the same time! Thumbs up, soldiers!
CURRENT MUSIC*:
Damn Dangerous - "Wrong Side of the Hax"
The Leet World: Season One Soundtrack
Now I'm willing to wager that most (if not all) of you are unfamiliar with The Leet World (unless you know what machinima is). A quick explanation on both before I dive into the music:
A machinima is a cinematic production filmed using real-time computer graphics engines. More often than not, video games (such as the Halo series, World of Warcraft or The Sims) are called upon due to their readily-available and low-cost graphics engines.
Smooth Few Films' The Leet World is a Counter-Strike: Source machinima stylized as a comedic reality show.
Anyway, a few days ago, I was attempting to go through my external hard drives in an attempt to free up much-needed memory. I ran into a folder loaded various machinima and instantly was greeted with a wave of nostalgia. I went through some of the series I had in it (selecting random episodes from each), and when I ended up going through The Leet World's folder, I saw the soundtrack for their first season. Pretty good stuff, I'd say - the tension flows quite well in the track as well as the episode it shows up in.
Jerry Goldsmith - "The Huns Attack"
Mulan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack
Ah, Disney's Mulan... a personal childhood favorite of mine.
I liked the soundtrack to the movie, but when I hit random, this track came up, and I got the chills when the horns started blaring.
This track captured that feeling of inevitability quite well. Not only that, but I'd say this piece has been etched in the minds of all who've watched it - even without watching the movie, I can still hear that chilling battle roar the Huns cry out when they amass at the top of the mountain...
Michael Kamen - "Paraplui"
Band of Brothers ~ Music from the HBO Miniseries
A soft piano interlude gives way to the strings and a lone... I'm going to say clarinet (most of the woodwinds still sound alike to me)... and while it gives off a tranquil feeling, you can't help but notice that the strings also emanate a high amount of tension.
Quite fitting considering its use - the paradrop sequence for the ill-fated Operation Market-Garden.
Linkin Park - "WTH>You (Aceyalone / Chairman Hahn Remix)"
Reanimation
One of my favorite remixed tracks from Linkin Park's remix album.
As background music, it seems to work well for a variety of things - credits sequences, "nighttime driving" and PvP combat (montages).
* = Despite my good mood, why'd I pick stressing musical pieces? Am I just drawn to "not happy" things? *shrugs*
Well, hello, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to today's entry of The White Knight Chronicles!
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-sequitur entry. Like the last one before it, I'll just be talking about anything and everything. Please don't have an aneurysm over attempting to comprehend any form of "complex" and underlying meanings I may (not) have implied.
It's a Long Entry, Yes?
If you're wondering why I suddenly decided to post something huge here today (and why I decided to make this entry a non sequitur), then here's your answers on why:
- All my finals are done - my classes decided to have them smashed together on the same day. While that would cause immense panic, it also causes immense relief - as today was the first day of finals, I no longer have to worry about them... which means work and procrastination are now my only enemies from posting something decent.
- I've been having a good past few days. Quite strange, if you ask me, but I'm enjoying it.
- I woke up with a rather obnoxious and painful leg cramp that has yet to fully go away (right calf, if you're
stalkingcurious), and as such, I'm not in any mood for any post-celebratory physical exertion. Writing doesn't require legs. =P
Feeling Good (and yes, I also mean the Muse cover)
You ever have one of those days where you just can't help but feel good the whole time you're up and about? Well, I had one of those days yesterday. It was pretty amazing - and to some of my friends, shocking and out of character.
It was a decent work day - I got my job done, I got to hang out with some friends, and I had enough time to draw up some ideas for this here blog.
Of course, now would have been a good time to do so, but apparently Blogger's been reverted to read-only mode to undergo site maintenance. Guess it'll have to be another time when I'm not working. Hrm. *shrugs*
Cars in Hillbilly Hell
Watching Cars on Blu-ray... wow. So much more awesome-looking and sounding.
I have to say... I looooooooooove this movie. Well-made, well-executed, well-watched by the mass public.
As amazing as it was when I first saw it, it just looks even better watching it on an HDTV and a Blu-ray player.
Blogger Down; May Mess With The White Knight Chronicles
So apparently, Blogger went down roughly around 1255 hrs. PST and as of the moment I'm writing this (2245 hrs. PST), it's still down. Theoretically, it could be said that I didn't post something on my Blogger site today.
While I feared a moment like this would come, I'm not going down without a fight. Therefore, I'll be posting this both on here and on Facebook. Should Blogger not come back online in time, I'll at least have people to verify that I did post on time.
I think it allows for a get-by due to a technical fault. I mean, I'm physically able to post and I made sure I managed my time well enough. Since it's Google's fault, I don't think I should be faulted on this, and I'm pretty sure you'd agree with me on that one.
If you don't, then... as some of my friends say: "Fuck your couch." (I still have no idea why we're screwing with a couch. Any one of my friends care to elaborate on this?)
The King of All Cosmos: "Um. So, this is being graded on a curve, yes?"
So, if you've never played any of the Katamari games, you're reaaaaaaaly missing out on what could be the greatest and only legal form of acid tripping in existence.
Between the ridiculous things The King of All Cosmos says ("'Checkbook:' a book filled with numbers. People either smile or cry when they read this. It must be a very good novel.") and the ridiculousness of the game itself, it is sure to give you a hilarious kick.
Don't believe me? Get a PS2 and invite me over. You will see how insane and trippy this series is.
As I'm with friends at the moment, I don't want to take too much time away from hanging out with them, so I'm afraid I must bid you adieu for tonight.
I'll see y'all later - and hopefully Blogger gets their stuff fixed before midnight. Either way, though... I'm safe.
Until the 'morrow, everyone!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Never Any Different
Well, today seems interesting. Between work and last-second cramming for finals... it's gonna be hectic.
But I got a decently good feeling about tonight. I don't know.
Oh, and one closing note: be sure you log off your online accounts. Otherwise... you get posts like the one that showed up last night. Mm'kay?
But I got a decently good feeling about tonight. I don't know.
Oh, and one closing note: be sure you log off your online accounts. Otherwise... you get posts like the one that showed up last night. Mm'kay?
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Shitskies (Or, How Josh's Blog Got Hijacked Again)
Tags:
Hijacked Entry
-Alright, so I've been given permission to do a post on Mr. Whitey's blog, so this aint no hijacked entry!
-Anyway, so i guess Mr. Whitey was quite disappoint about the lack of meat in the previous blogs, so to make up for it, i will do nothing but type! even if it is just rambling. HOLY SHIT, so i just heard that F1 2011 is coming out 27th of Sept. which is freaken awesome, except that i still need to play the first one....well, i have, but my compy can't really run it. I guess Namco is gunna publish it, since it came from a Namco Bandai Press Conference. And then something about Dark Souls coming out early Oct 2011, along with a new trailer right now, and some game called Bodycount looks interesting, though i've no idea what it is exactly.
-so, until something else comes up, i'll lay off the videogames for awhile. God, i need some alcohal if im going to keep this up. maybe i'll go get some. brb!
-ok back....so, in Counterpoint today, Bowen made us listen to a 45 min long String Quartet...Holy Shit, that felt like a life time! Who ever thought that it was a good idea to have all of the movements melt into each other was a fool! seriously! you try to sit still for 45 mins, especially when you hear the piece end 8 times! and it really doesn't sound that interesting to me anyway....but then again, i was falling asleep because they thought it would be a great idea to have an 8:30 music class.....
-Once upon a time, there was this monkey! The Monkey's name was Bill. Bill was your generic brown ape, with the monkey paws, and the monkey feets, and he had a long ass tail, the size of Wisconsin! Anyway, while strolling through the town one day, with his tail destroying everything in that he just walked past, he ran into some hommies who were gunna get all up in his shit for messin' up their grill. But because Bill was a good monkey, he just turned and walked away, without knowing that his hugeass tail had just destroyed them with since its the size of fucking Wisconsin! by now, the tail had just realized its true potential and the fact that it could take over the freaken world because of its copious amount of mass, so the tail began thinking of ways to kill bill, (HAHA!!!) or atleast make him the dominant entity within his mind! Part 1 of Plan B began with a trip to the McD's where the he would place the poison fry within Bill's normal frys, in which to kill him. Too bad that the Tail didn't come with a brain, otherwise he would have known that killing bill with the fry would kill him too. But Bill ate it, and then he died, with a nasty lawsuit to follow. but it was easily worked out. Oh, and the Tail died too. THE ENDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-God dammit Namco! Half the People watching your press conference were waiting for Tales news, and they glissed over it in 30 Seconds.....SOB......
-But there's a new Ace Combat for something, and dear lord....Soul Caliber V.....I can dream that it'll be good, right? And then some probably crappy DBZ and Naruto Game......Not bitter...what are you talking about?
-Seriously, what happend to showing stuff off a E3? (side note, i hear they might revoice Tales of the Abyss, unless its the same actors....god no!) something something something, sobering up!
-anway, before i end, i should probably mention the obligatory FACT that Mr. Whitey does in fact, enjoy the smell of Mikes Farts, so fart away! oh, and something about poop and the fact that its a hilarious word, and when upside down, its spells dood....and when backwards, its boob.....and then upside down again its qooq. anyway, i'm done before yall think i'm high or something!
(Author's Note: ...I really need to look behind myself and make sure nobody sneaks up on me. Again. How lame is it that I came to and saw this typed on my computer screen? *sigh*)
-Anyway, so i guess Mr. Whitey was quite disappoint about the lack of meat in the previous blogs, so to make up for it, i will do nothing but type! even if it is just rambling. HOLY SHIT, so i just heard that F1 2011 is coming out 27th of Sept. which is freaken awesome, except that i still need to play the first one....well, i have, but my compy can't really run it. I guess Namco is gunna publish it, since it came from a Namco Bandai Press Conference. And then something about Dark Souls coming out early Oct 2011, along with a new trailer right now, and some game called Bodycount looks interesting, though i've no idea what it is exactly.
-so, until something else comes up, i'll lay off the videogames for awhile. God, i need some alcohal if im going to keep this up. maybe i'll go get some. brb!
-ok back....so, in Counterpoint today, Bowen made us listen to a 45 min long String Quartet...Holy Shit, that felt like a life time! Who ever thought that it was a good idea to have all of the movements melt into each other was a fool! seriously! you try to sit still for 45 mins, especially when you hear the piece end 8 times! and it really doesn't sound that interesting to me anyway....but then again, i was falling asleep because they thought it would be a great idea to have an 8:30 music class.....
-Once upon a time, there was this monkey! The Monkey's name was Bill. Bill was your generic brown ape, with the monkey paws, and the monkey feets, and he had a long ass tail, the size of Wisconsin! Anyway, while strolling through the town one day, with his tail destroying everything in that he just walked past, he ran into some hommies who were gunna get all up in his shit for messin' up their grill. But because Bill was a good monkey, he just turned and walked away, without knowing that his hugeass tail had just destroyed them with since its the size of fucking Wisconsin! by now, the tail had just realized its true potential and the fact that it could take over the freaken world because of its copious amount of mass, so the tail began thinking of ways to kill bill, (HAHA!!!) or atleast make him the dominant entity within his mind! Part 1 of Plan B began with a trip to the McD's where the he would place the poison fry within Bill's normal frys, in which to kill him. Too bad that the Tail didn't come with a brain, otherwise he would have known that killing bill with the fry would kill him too. But Bill ate it, and then he died, with a nasty lawsuit to follow. but it was easily worked out. Oh, and the Tail died too. THE ENDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-God dammit Namco! Half the People watching your press conference were waiting for Tales news, and they glissed over it in 30 Seconds.....SOB......
-But there's a new Ace Combat for something, and dear lord....Soul Caliber V.....I can dream that it'll be good, right? And then some probably crappy DBZ and Naruto Game......Not bitter...what are you talking about?
-Seriously, what happend to showing stuff off a E3? (side note, i hear they might revoice Tales of the Abyss, unless its the same actors....god no!) something something something, sobering up!
-anway, before i end, i should probably mention the obligatory FACT that Mr. Whitey does in fact, enjoy the smell of Mikes Farts, so fart away! oh, and something about poop and the fact that its a hilarious word, and when upside down, its spells dood....and when backwards, its boob.....and then upside down again its qooq. anyway, i'm done before yall think i'm high or something!
(Author's Note: ...I really need to look behind myself and make sure nobody sneaks up on me. Again. How lame is it that I came to and saw this typed on my computer screen? *sigh*)
Monday, May 9, 2011
Keeping Information
So, if you're skimming my blog, you're probably noticing that this post is relatively short.
While it may look as though I failed to uphold my end of the bargain, I will now redirect your attention to a brand-new* page on my site - the "About Me" section!** Now my small reader base can find out more about me and what not! Wai~!
If you're unhappy, then tough - my blog, my rules. In that respect, I'm counting this bio update as the "better thing" I supposedly promised you all. =P
* = Okay, so people who've been here for a while know it's not really a brand-new page... but it beats that "{ U N D E R C O N S T R U C T I O N }" I had on it, right?
** = "About Me" just seems too... bland. Anyone have any other ideas?
In closing, I want to share with you something I discovered earlier today that sort of spooked me out*. I stopped by work and found out I wasn't working today (which is odd - I always seem to work on Mondays...).
As I came out and walked to my car, I found a tattered piece of paper on the windshield. At first I thought some random solicitor was just slapping advertisements on every vehicle out in the parking lot, but when I read it, it just felt... weird.
* = If you get this reference, DO NOT SAY ANYTHING. *snerk*
Well, aside from that... weirdness... and the semi-exciting update on the biography page, that's all I have to report. If you'll excuse me, I need to study for finals. Whoo. *waves bye*
While it may look as though I failed to uphold my end of the bargain, I will now redirect your attention to a brand-new* page on my site - the "About Me" section!** Now my small reader base can find out more about me and what not! Wai~!
If you're unhappy, then tough - my blog, my rules. In that respect, I'm counting this bio update as the "better thing" I supposedly promised you all. =P
* = Okay, so people who've been here for a while know it's not really a brand-new page... but it beats that "{ U N D E R C O N S T R U C T I O N }" I had on it, right?
** = "About Me" just seems too... bland. Anyone have any other ideas?
In closing, I want to share with you something I discovered earlier today that sort of spooked me out*. I stopped by work and found out I wasn't working today (which is odd - I always seem to work on Mondays...).
As I came out and walked to my car, I found a tattered piece of paper on the windshield. At first I thought some random solicitor was just slapping advertisements on every vehicle out in the parking lot, but when I read it, it just felt... weird.
"At night, we played poker with Scott the guard, Alias and Steve the researcher. Steve was very lucky, but I think he was cheating. What a scumbag."...what the...?
* = If you get this reference, DO NOT SAY ANYTHING. *snerk*
Well, aside from that... weirdness... and the semi-exciting update on the biography page, that's all I have to report. If you'll excuse me, I need to study for finals. Whoo. *waves bye*
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Cycle Continues...
...and once again, we find a string of "crap" entries before we encounter a decently good one.
I apologize for the lack of quality entries, but I'm very well sure that tomorrow's will more than make up for it.
Why so short, you ask? Work. Work. More work. And did I mention work? *scoff*
Sleep now. Type later. *zzz*
I apologize for the lack of quality entries, but I'm very well sure that tomorrow's will more than make up for it.
Why so short, you ask? Work. Work. More work. And did I mention work? *scoff*
Sleep now. Type later. *zzz*
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Announcement!
I drew out some plans to improve this site some more. I'm working on some pages and trying to figure out what templates look best here, so expect some new things to come soon!
...and by "soon," I mean "after my finals next week!"
*whimpers* I don't wanna super-study...
...and by "soon," I mean "after my finals next week!"
*whimpers* I don't wanna super-study...
Friday, May 6, 2011
Fresh!
Today's going to be a great day! Freshly paid, freshly-made Mexican food, fresh mint mouthwash, freshly shaved... freshly freshed.
I wrote the above sentence thinking I didn't have time today. Turns out I misread my watch by a good 40 minutes.
I honestly don't know how I was that off, but it happened, and well... that's good. Gives me some time to relax before I had to go off and work tonight.
Something tells me though... tonight will be a fresh start on something. Don't know who, what, or where this freshness will affect... but we'll just see about that, huh?
I wrote the above sentence thinking I didn't have time today. Turns out I misread my watch by a good 40 minutes.
I honestly don't know how I was that off, but it happened, and well... that's good. Gives me some time to relax before I had to go off and work tonight.
Something tells me though... tonight will be a fresh start on something. Don't know who, what, or where this freshness will affect... but we'll just see about that, huh?
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Line Space Line Space Line Space Line
Too warm outside. It's ridiculous. A cold one sounds lovely for a night like this. Shame I don't have any. =/
Quite a short entry for today, but if anything, it summarizes how randomly short my day's been.
A day of classes, music sorting, reading Band of Brothers, and cleaning my room.
How sweet and to the point... but it's what happens when the weather's crap like this.
Quite a short entry for today, but if anything, it summarizes how randomly short my day's been.
A day of classes, music sorting, reading Band of Brothers, and cleaning my room.
How sweet and to the point... but it's what happens when the weather's crap like this.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Writing at War with Writing
Tags:
writing
There's only a finite amount of topics and word combinations a writer can use before they end up rendering their work as "stale." Once exhausted of their supply, they'll more often than not lean back in their chairs, exhale sharply and ask themselves, "Now what?"
Other artists perceive this as a simple case of writer's block when it is just a case of lack of inspiration. The two share the same symptoms, but the difference is that a writer's block (which doesn't exist) coaxes the writer to walk away frustrated and come back later, while the lack of inspiration subconsciously forces the writer to stare at their paper or computer screen and wait for something - anything - to provoke a written response to be penned or typed out.
I had one of those moments (yet again) today as I opened up Microsoft Word to start on a new story that's been on my mind recently. As I began to type some things out, I began drawing blanks and ended up with only a paragraph's work in the two hours I stared at my screen. (At least I think it was two hours - I've been losing my sense of time and date lately.)
So after that, I ended up going through my bookshelf and pulled out some books and DVDs I had - namely: Band of Brothers (both the book by Stephen E. Ambrose and the acclaimed miniseries - check them out if you haven't; great stuff). After having finished the first two episodes of the HBO program and the first five chapters of the book (for reference points: D-Day and the assault at Brécourt Manor), I leaned back again in my chair, asking myself why I kept jumping around like this.
I had no answer, so I went Google searching for quotes based on writing, writer's block, inspiration, and so on. After about several dozen clicks, I found this quote:
"Writing is 90 percent procrastination - reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write."
- Paul Rudnick
I realized that I've been putting this all off for quite some time and I told myself, "I'm going to get to that point. I know I will." Part of this internal struggle with myself, with my writing, has to do with timing and a muse kicking in when I'm not expecting it - or when I'm just on autopilot. I know I'm going to get out of this rut soon. I'll write something. Maybe after a few more episodes and chapters of Band of Brothers... maybe after a meaningful conversation with someone... maybe when I'm off stargazing*... maybe when I finally admit defeat after a twelve-hour staring contest with my laptop screen.
However, I have one question for myself: "When's my four in the morning going to kick in?"
Perhaps I'll find out while I'm at work.
* = Someone remind me one of these nights to go off and stargaze. Hell, someone remind me to write about it - I think I need to rant about it...
Other artists perceive this as a simple case of writer's block when it is just a case of lack of inspiration. The two share the same symptoms, but the difference is that a writer's block (which doesn't exist) coaxes the writer to walk away frustrated and come back later, while the lack of inspiration subconsciously forces the writer to stare at their paper or computer screen and wait for something - anything - to provoke a written response to be penned or typed out.
I had one of those moments (yet again) today as I opened up Microsoft Word to start on a new story that's been on my mind recently. As I began to type some things out, I began drawing blanks and ended up with only a paragraph's work in the two hours I stared at my screen. (At least I think it was two hours - I've been losing my sense of time and date lately.)
So after that, I ended up going through my bookshelf and pulled out some books and DVDs I had - namely: Band of Brothers (both the book by Stephen E. Ambrose and the acclaimed miniseries - check them out if you haven't; great stuff). After having finished the first two episodes of the HBO program and the first five chapters of the book (for reference points: D-Day and the assault at Brécourt Manor), I leaned back again in my chair, asking myself why I kept jumping around like this.
I had no answer, so I went Google searching for quotes based on writing, writer's block, inspiration, and so on. After about several dozen clicks, I found this quote:
"Writing is 90 percent procrastination - reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write."
- Paul Rudnick
I realized that I've been putting this all off for quite some time and I told myself, "I'm going to get to that point. I know I will." Part of this internal struggle with myself, with my writing, has to do with timing and a muse kicking in when I'm not expecting it - or when I'm just on autopilot. I know I'm going to get out of this rut soon. I'll write something. Maybe after a few more episodes and chapters of Band of Brothers... maybe after a meaningful conversation with someone... maybe when I'm off stargazing*... maybe when I finally admit defeat after a twelve-hour staring contest with my laptop screen.
However, I have one question for myself: "When's my four in the morning going to kick in?"
Perhaps I'll find out while I'm at work.
* = Someone remind me one of these nights to go off and stargaze. Hell, someone remind me to write about it - I think I need to rant about it...
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Reading a Day Off
Tags:
books
CURRENT READ:
Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
David Kenyon Webster
In case you don't know (most of you probably don't), I'm something of a World War II buff.
While all war is atrocious, I can't help but admire the stories and media based on this great conflict.
In this case, I'm currently reading a book written by Private First Class David K. Webster.
People knowledgeable with American paratroopers may be familiar with this name - Webster was one of the guys mentioned in Band of Brothers.
It's a pretty good read - if one wanted to know a sample of what life was like for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
*keeps reading*
Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
David Kenyon Webster
In case you don't know (most of you probably don't), I'm something of a World War II buff.
While all war is atrocious, I can't help but admire the stories and media based on this great conflict.
In this case, I'm currently reading a book written by Private First Class David K. Webster.
People knowledgeable with American paratroopers may be familiar with this name - Webster was one of the guys mentioned in Band of Brothers.
It's a pretty good read - if one wanted to know a sample of what life was like for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
*keeps reading*
Monday, May 2, 2011
Just Blank, Really.
Another day, another dollar. It's all that has been going on with me so far.
It sucks, but hey, it's life.
With finals coming soon, all I know is that I have to study a lot and focus a bit more on that if I want my gazillion hours of relaxation to come in.
Of course, work comes first. That's today. That's now. Yay.
I'll just go back to watching some movies before I go in...
It sucks, but hey, it's life.
With finals coming soon, all I know is that I have to study a lot and focus a bit more on that if I want my gazillion hours of relaxation to come in.
Of course, work comes first. That's today. That's now. Yay.
I'll just go back to watching some movies before I go in...
Sunday, May 1, 2011
May May Be Fun! (Maybe.)
The first post of the new month... just so happens to be the first short "I'm too lazy / I'm procrastinating again" entry for the month as well.
Lovely, ain't it?
Well, either way, that means that I'm four months down - 33% of the calendar year's gone. Yay, me!
Here's to May! *downs a beer*
Oh, and a question for you: doesn't that title confuse you just a tad? It confuses me. *grins*
Lovely, ain't it?
Well, either way, that means that I'm four months down - 33% of the calendar year's gone. Yay, me!
Here's to May! *downs a beer*
Oh, and a question for you: doesn't that title confuse you just a tad? It confuses me. *grins*
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