So over the last two days I have been working on Egoboo stuff during the time in which I would normally be doing nothing / posting on my blog.
So, yes, I've gotten a lot of stuff done thereabouts.
Anyway. I figured I'd just let this slide for a while until we're fully moved in.
We officially move tomorrow, but it'll be a while after that before we're all set up and everything, I expect.
Also, I'm not sure when we're getting the Internet connected, but I assume it's not going to happen right away.
Thus: Further lulls in blogging, MSNing, Facebooking, emailing, etc.
And, unfortunately, Egobooing. But probably to a lesser extent; I expect to have my computer set up before the Internet is... but ehh. Things could happen at different speeds than I had foreseen.
It's all really crazy right now.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Online multiplayer + Food channel
I'm not feeling very well.
At first I was just headachey and coughy and sneezy. But then later in the day I felt very lethargic. I thought it might just be the drugs I'm taking, but they say "non-drowsy."
Well, I'm inclined to believe that they are indeed the source of that problem anyway... One would think it's different for different people, after all.
Besides, I don't need to go to sleep; I already tried. It was relaxing, but... I never fell asleep.
Then a few minutes ago I went for a glass of water, and after I came back (I think it was the water -- even though it wasn't very cold or anything -- but it could have been the movement) I got really shivery. It's died down quite a bit, but... it's still pretty weird.
So if you haven't figured it out by now, this is going to be a fairly short post (I picked what seemed like the two simplest subjects from my notebook).
I have not watched anything on the Olympics today, but yesterday I watched several things. I think I watched men's beach volleyball for the longest. It was the U.S. team against the Latvian team. Latvia won, but not by a lot... anyway, they were pretty low-ranking, so that was a pretty big disappointment for the U.S. team... I want to see how well the team does in later games; it was obvious they are really good, but they just weren't doing their best... nerves or something, I guess.
Anyway, in the future I'd like to see more of that as well as fencing, boxing, and maybe some other stuff I can't think of right now.... Hopefully that isn't all over already.
So anyway.
Aside from special occasions such as the olympics and when good movies are on, I don't watch a lot of TV.
What I do watch is mostly on the food channel.
That might sound silly to you, but it's very interesting. It's educational and quite entertaining as well.
I like watching the Iron Chef; it's basically a big cooking competition. I used to watch the Japanese version (but dubbed in English, of course; I don't speak Japanese) a long time ago, and after that the earlier American version (which wasn't all that great).
So, yeah, I enjoy that quite a bit.
Also, there's sometimes reality TV type things, which normally wouldn't appeal to me, but this time they're interesting.... Because it's to determine who will be the next Iron Chef or the next person to get his or her own show.
Then I love Alton Brown's show, "Good Eats." He had another show, but I never saw it (I think he's doing something else similar pretty soon). I probably would have liked it though.
Anyway, he's really interesting to watch. He's really good at all kinds of food, and he knows all the background information, too; where all the ingredients come from and the science behind why stuff works the way it does... he really knows his stuff! He's also very funny to watch. "Good Eats" is a lot like Bill Nye's show, but with food.
So... yeah. I highly recommend it; go watch.
Now, I'm going to give you a quick overview of some games I like to play online; if you want, you can Google/Wikipedia search them to get more information (I would provide you with more, but like I said, I don't feel very well, so I'm going to try to wrap this up fairly quickly). I'm just going to stick with the computer stuff; if you have a DS, let me know what games you have....
---The Battle for Wesnoth.
This is a turn-based strategy game with a fantasy setting. I really like it; it's a lot of fun to play and it has a lot of polish, especially for a free/open source game.
Unlike many games of this genre, there are actually multiple single-player campaigns, and a lot of them are of a pretty decent length (I still haven't gotten around to finishing "Heir to the Throne", the "main" campaign, despite having been playing the game for two or three years now).
But you can also play multiplayer hotseat, over a local network, or online.
---Savage: The Battle for Newerth
This would take a while to describe properly. It's also in a fantasy setting (it's sort of weird; like Aborigine / native American folklore meets steampunk), and it's... well, it's either a strategy game or a fighter/shooter thing. You can be the leader and play it like a real-time strategy game, or you can be one of the units on the field (obviously there are many more of these; each team only gets one leader, otherwise that would be weird). When the leader tells you to go some place, destroy some building, etc., it'll show up on your screen telling you where to go. You can ignore all the instructions, but the leader is less likely to give you extra money and suchlike. Also, you often will mess up miserably when you don't follow instructions.
This used to be a commercial game, but now it's free (to advertise the sequel, I guess).
---Civilization III (: Conquests)
It's a strategy/simulation game; you've probably heard of it.
I really, really like this game. I have liked it for a very long time (it's been several years now, I really don't know when I first started playing but it was fairly new at the time, I think; there was only the "Play the World" expansion), and I guess it would be considered "old" now. But it's still an excellent game! Yes, it does cost money... but since it's old, you may be able to find it cheap used.
I've never played online before... and games always take a long time (you are, after all, building your civilization from the ground up)... but I would really like to try it anyway!
---Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim (: The Northern Expansion)
This is a real-time strategy game, but it's refreshingly different: you don't have direct command over any person in the game. You can give them motivation (like bounties placed on foes), but other than that, where to go is up to them. You are, of course, in charge of construction and financial management and all that, though.
It's interesting and challenging trying to motivate the heroes in your kingdom (and sometimes those in other kingdoms!) to do what you want.
Majesty is also a commercial game, but it is also pretty old, too, so if you do find it it will probably be pretty cheap.
This is another game I have never played online. Games could potentially be pretty short, but... nobody plays it anymore; it's pretty old and not as popular as CivIII (although there's a sequel coming!).
...If you play any of these games, let me know so we can play online some time!
...There might be more; I'll post about them later if I think of them.
Right now, I'm going to bed.
At first I was just headachey and coughy and sneezy. But then later in the day I felt very lethargic. I thought it might just be the drugs I'm taking, but they say "non-drowsy."
Well, I'm inclined to believe that they are indeed the source of that problem anyway... One would think it's different for different people, after all.
Besides, I don't need to go to sleep; I already tried. It was relaxing, but... I never fell asleep.
Then a few minutes ago I went for a glass of water, and after I came back (I think it was the water -- even though it wasn't very cold or anything -- but it could have been the movement) I got really shivery. It's died down quite a bit, but... it's still pretty weird.
So if you haven't figured it out by now, this is going to be a fairly short post (I picked what seemed like the two simplest subjects from my notebook).
I have not watched anything on the Olympics today, but yesterday I watched several things. I think I watched men's beach volleyball for the longest. It was the U.S. team against the Latvian team. Latvia won, but not by a lot... anyway, they were pretty low-ranking, so that was a pretty big disappointment for the U.S. team... I want to see how well the team does in later games; it was obvious they are really good, but they just weren't doing their best... nerves or something, I guess.
Anyway, in the future I'd like to see more of that as well as fencing, boxing, and maybe some other stuff I can't think of right now.... Hopefully that isn't all over already.
So anyway.
Aside from special occasions such as the olympics and when good movies are on, I don't watch a lot of TV.
What I do watch is mostly on the food channel.
That might sound silly to you, but it's very interesting. It's educational and quite entertaining as well.
I like watching the Iron Chef; it's basically a big cooking competition. I used to watch the Japanese version (but dubbed in English, of course; I don't speak Japanese) a long time ago, and after that the earlier American version (which wasn't all that great).
So, yeah, I enjoy that quite a bit.
Also, there's sometimes reality TV type things, which normally wouldn't appeal to me, but this time they're interesting.... Because it's to determine who will be the next Iron Chef or the next person to get his or her own show.
Then I love Alton Brown's show, "Good Eats." He had another show, but I never saw it (I think he's doing something else similar pretty soon). I probably would have liked it though.
Anyway, he's really interesting to watch. He's really good at all kinds of food, and he knows all the background information, too; where all the ingredients come from and the science behind why stuff works the way it does... he really knows his stuff! He's also very funny to watch. "Good Eats" is a lot like Bill Nye's show, but with food.
So... yeah. I highly recommend it; go watch.
Now, I'm going to give you a quick overview of some games I like to play online; if you want, you can Google/Wikipedia search them to get more information (I would provide you with more, but like I said, I don't feel very well, so I'm going to try to wrap this up fairly quickly). I'm just going to stick with the computer stuff; if you have a DS, let me know what games you have....
---The Battle for Wesnoth.
This is a turn-based strategy game with a fantasy setting. I really like it; it's a lot of fun to play and it has a lot of polish, especially for a free/open source game.
Unlike many games of this genre, there are actually multiple single-player campaigns, and a lot of them are of a pretty decent length (I still haven't gotten around to finishing "Heir to the Throne", the "main" campaign, despite having been playing the game for two or three years now).
But you can also play multiplayer hotseat, over a local network, or online.
---Savage: The Battle for Newerth
This would take a while to describe properly. It's also in a fantasy setting (it's sort of weird; like Aborigine / native American folklore meets steampunk), and it's... well, it's either a strategy game or a fighter/shooter thing. You can be the leader and play it like a real-time strategy game, or you can be one of the units on the field (obviously there are many more of these; each team only gets one leader, otherwise that would be weird). When the leader tells you to go some place, destroy some building, etc., it'll show up on your screen telling you where to go. You can ignore all the instructions, but the leader is less likely to give you extra money and suchlike. Also, you often will mess up miserably when you don't follow instructions.
This used to be a commercial game, but now it's free (to advertise the sequel, I guess).
---Civilization III (: Conquests)
It's a strategy/simulation game; you've probably heard of it.
I really, really like this game. I have liked it for a very long time (it's been several years now, I really don't know when I first started playing but it was fairly new at the time, I think; there was only the "Play the World" expansion), and I guess it would be considered "old" now. But it's still an excellent game! Yes, it does cost money... but since it's old, you may be able to find it cheap used.
I've never played online before... and games always take a long time (you are, after all, building your civilization from the ground up)... but I would really like to try it anyway!
---Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim (: The Northern Expansion)
This is a real-time strategy game, but it's refreshingly different: you don't have direct command over any person in the game. You can give them motivation (like bounties placed on foes), but other than that, where to go is up to them. You are, of course, in charge of construction and financial management and all that, though.
It's interesting and challenging trying to motivate the heroes in your kingdom (and sometimes those in other kingdoms!) to do what you want.
Majesty is also a commercial game, but it is also pretty old, too, so if you do find it it will probably be pretty cheap.
This is another game I have never played online. Games could potentially be pretty short, but... nobody plays it anymore; it's pretty old and not as popular as CivIII (although there's a sequel coming!).
...If you play any of these games, let me know so we can play online some time!
...There might be more; I'll post about them later if I think of them.
Right now, I'm going to bed.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Illinois
Must... do... blog... post.
Now, excuse me while I flip open my notebook and grab a topic.
Ah, yes, here we are. Illinois.
Today... we will be talking about Illinois.
Now, I suppose I should put an explanation here for those of you who are tagged in it... OK, well, actually, that would be nobody. This is just on my blog right now. However, whenever Facebook decides to import it this, I will likely be tagging people.
This is because I figured you might want to read it.
...Of course, you should already be reading my blog on a regular basis, because it's highly educational. Be sure to tell Mom and Dad.
But every once in a while there are posts that may interest specific people, and this is one of them. So I will tag people.
Some of you are from Iowa, and have asked before what Illinois is like. You have probably gotten the short answer (which usually consists of, and is often limited to, "the water is pretty nasty.") before, but now I will give the lmited edition never-before-seen long answer. Yes, you heard correctly. For a limited time only, you can call within the next five seconds and receive this lovely set of Ginsu knives absolutely free of cha....oh. Wait. That has nothing to do with anything.
Where was I? Oh. Yes.
Hopefully this will serve as a better explanation.
Now, some of you are from Illinois.
I must have "mentioned" you for one of two reasons:
1. I thought you might like to hear about your state from the perspective of someone who has not been here as long.
2. I thought it would be entertaining to have you watch me make fun of your home until you cry.
OK, so it probably wasn't that second reason. But it's funny to think about.
...Or maybe I just have a weird sense of humor. But we already knew that, so let's move on.
(If you got bored of the explanation above because it didn't really apply to you, this is where you can start reading again. I know, aren't I so nice?)
So we will start with the GOOD things about Illinois.
1. Chicago.
This is probably the biggest one, I suppose.
It's got a lot going for it. There are nifty museums, interesting stores (not that I "shop"; I just buy; meaning I always know what I'm getting and then I leave), good places to eat, enormous skyscrapers, giant metallic beans, gang shootings...
Oh, wait. That last one isn't a good thing. And I really am not sure whether the weird bean thing actually serves a purpose. Don't try to explain it to me, you will be wasting your time. Not because I won't listen, but because it simply is not possible. I suppose you could prove me wrong, but I doubt it, and just to warn you; if you try and fail you owe me a nickel.
Anyway. I have always liked big cities... I wouldn't like to live in one, but they're interesting. I think Chicago is my favorite, although I must admit I have been there more times than any other large city, so maybe that's why... I dunno. I still feel like I have not seen enough of it, though. I could spend unhealthy amounts of time there... it's very fascinating.
There's so much diversity; there are clean, shiny places right next to old, filthy places. And the people are like that too; all very different.
Because of that it's very photogenic.
2. Food.
Although I don't really eat out very often, I have already eaten at several different places in Illinois that had very good food. There are just way more good places to eat here.
Not much more to say about that, really.
3. Things are here.
There's no better way to explain it... stuff... is here. It happens... here. It seems like it's just a little bit more alive than a lot of other places. A lot of different companies are based out of Illinois. A lot of famous people were born / lived here. Interesting stuff happened / happens here.
It's a very subtle difference, but it's there.
4. Casimir Pulaski Day.
I really only have the vaguest knowledge of what this holiday is supposed to celebrate ("some guy named Casimir Pulaski fought in a war or something"), and I'm not sure what people do to celebrate it (or if anyone does anything at all). But that doesn't really matter.
It's just inherently amazing.
It's a lot like the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, actually.
...Yeah, sorry. Only four good things.
Maybe there are more, but either I didn't think of them or I haven't discovered them yet.
Now we will talk about... [insert ominous music]
The BAD things.
There are more of these, I'm afraid, and they're sort of bigger things (in my opinion, anyway).
1. Traffic.
Traffic is awful. People on the road have no consideration for other people.
The speed limit is completely ignored, which is annoying for people who would like to follow it: Basically, you either break the law, or you die.
I could complain about this for a long time, but there's no reason to go into any details... it pretty much explains itself. I'll just say I really dislike it and leave it at that.
2. Things are expensive, and people are to financially focused.
Where I live, sales tax is very high, and I don't think it's all that much better in very many places elsewhere in the state. Gas is also more expensive here.
In addition to this, things that should be free cost money.
It costs money to get certain things out of a library.
It costs money to join homeschool support group things.
VBS at our church was free. Apparently this is extremely rare.
...That's just plain stupid.
3. The air and water are awful.
You'd be surprised how fast you get used to breathing bad air. I guess I got used to it before I even registered that it was so nasty.
All I know is that whenever I go back to Iowa I feel like I'm breathing properly for the first time in months.
And the water, well... it obviously depends on the city, because different cities will treat it differently. But I have not yet been anywhere with good water. I don't even think I've had anything that borders decency. Yeah, I know. It's bearable. In fact, I hardly notice it anymore because I'm used to it.
But that doesn't mean it isn't bad. The city I used to live in had amazing water. Many other cities in Iowa had very good water as well.
Water is supposed to be totally flavorless, right? So why does the stuff here... taste like something? It's just not right. It means it isn't clean, really. I'm sure it's not like there are awful germs or something that are going to kill me. But it does taste bad, and that irritates me.
4. People are generally not as considerate.
I mentioned this in the traffic area already but... Generally it seems like the basic line of thinking here is "you stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours." Not so in Iowa. It's not that everyone was amazing and kind and perfect. But it seems like there were a lot more polite people there.
Here, everyone just seems to ignore each other.
I don't know anyone who lives on our street except my aunt and uncle, and they live upstairs in the same house.
But honsetly, if they weren't relatives and were just random strangers up there... Well, I don't think I would be able to say I knew them either.
Of course, this may be partially my problem. But it's sort of a stifling atmosphere... people just aren't like that here.
5. Crime and corruption are pretty bad.
I haven't heard about a lot of crime since being here, but... I think that's just because it happens. It's almost like it's commonplace, I guess.
But anyway, from reading in the newspapers, corruption is pretty bad, too. There's just really stupid stuff that government and law enforcement people are doing. I can think of a few examples, but I really don't want to take the time to list them; I think you get my point.
I find the corruption generally more disturbing than the crime.
6. Homeschooling is weird/shunned.
It's like everyone in the state is two years old. Homeschoolers are thought of as being pretty weird, generally, and they don't participate in stuff with people who go to public schools. Dual-enrollment just doesn't happen.
And the homeschooling people just stick together, like some kind of cult. It's hard to say whether it's the homeschooled people or the public schools who are the source of all the strife. All I know is, both are contributing to the problem, so we're quite independent and are not involved in any sort of homeschool group because it's just too hard to do that. Also, like I said, it usually costs money.
...You know, I think I could go on and on, but... I guess I'm done.
At any rate.
I'm sure if I had lived here all my life I would like it much better.
But I haven't.
It's not all that bad. But I certainly don't like it as much as Iowa.
Now, excuse me while I flip open my notebook and grab a topic.
Ah, yes, here we are. Illinois.
Today... we will be talking about Illinois.
Now, I suppose I should put an explanation here for those of you who are tagged in it... OK, well, actually, that would be nobody. This is just on my blog right now. However, whenever Facebook decides to import it this, I will likely be tagging people.
This is because I figured you might want to read it.
...Of course, you should already be reading my blog on a regular basis, because it's highly educational. Be sure to tell Mom and Dad.
But every once in a while there are posts that may interest specific people, and this is one of them. So I will tag people.
Some of you are from Iowa, and have asked before what Illinois is like. You have probably gotten the short answer (which usually consists of, and is often limited to, "the water is pretty nasty.") before, but now I will give the lmited edition never-before-seen long answer. Yes, you heard correctly. For a limited time only, you can call within the next five seconds and receive this lovely set of Ginsu knives absolutely free of cha....oh. Wait. That has nothing to do with anything.
Where was I? Oh. Yes.
Hopefully this will serve as a better explanation.
Now, some of you are from Illinois.
I must have "mentioned" you for one of two reasons:
1. I thought you might like to hear about your state from the perspective of someone who has not been here as long.
2. I thought it would be entertaining to have you watch me make fun of your home until you cry.
OK, so it probably wasn't that second reason. But it's funny to think about.
...Or maybe I just have a weird sense of humor. But we already knew that, so let's move on.
(If you got bored of the explanation above because it didn't really apply to you, this is where you can start reading again. I know, aren't I so nice?)
So we will start with the GOOD things about Illinois.
1. Chicago.
This is probably the biggest one, I suppose.
It's got a lot going for it. There are nifty museums, interesting stores (not that I "shop"; I just buy; meaning I always know what I'm getting and then I leave), good places to eat, enormous skyscrapers, giant metallic beans, gang shootings...
Oh, wait. That last one isn't a good thing. And I really am not sure whether the weird bean thing actually serves a purpose. Don't try to explain it to me, you will be wasting your time. Not because I won't listen, but because it simply is not possible. I suppose you could prove me wrong, but I doubt it, and just to warn you; if you try and fail you owe me a nickel.
Anyway. I have always liked big cities... I wouldn't like to live in one, but they're interesting. I think Chicago is my favorite, although I must admit I have been there more times than any other large city, so maybe that's why... I dunno. I still feel like I have not seen enough of it, though. I could spend unhealthy amounts of time there... it's very fascinating.
There's so much diversity; there are clean, shiny places right next to old, filthy places. And the people are like that too; all very different.
Because of that it's very photogenic.
2. Food.
Although I don't really eat out very often, I have already eaten at several different places in Illinois that had very good food. There are just way more good places to eat here.
Not much more to say about that, really.
3. Things are here.
There's no better way to explain it... stuff... is here. It happens... here. It seems like it's just a little bit more alive than a lot of other places. A lot of different companies are based out of Illinois. A lot of famous people were born / lived here. Interesting stuff happened / happens here.
It's a very subtle difference, but it's there.
4. Casimir Pulaski Day.
I really only have the vaguest knowledge of what this holiday is supposed to celebrate ("some guy named Casimir Pulaski fought in a war or something"), and I'm not sure what people do to celebrate it (or if anyone does anything at all). But that doesn't really matter.
It's just inherently amazing.
It's a lot like the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, actually.
...Yeah, sorry. Only four good things.
Maybe there are more, but either I didn't think of them or I haven't discovered them yet.
Now we will talk about... [insert ominous music]
The BAD things.
There are more of these, I'm afraid, and they're sort of bigger things (in my opinion, anyway).
1. Traffic.
Traffic is awful. People on the road have no consideration for other people.
The speed limit is completely ignored, which is annoying for people who would like to follow it: Basically, you either break the law, or you die.
I could complain about this for a long time, but there's no reason to go into any details... it pretty much explains itself. I'll just say I really dislike it and leave it at that.
2. Things are expensive, and people are to financially focused.
Where I live, sales tax is very high, and I don't think it's all that much better in very many places elsewhere in the state. Gas is also more expensive here.
In addition to this, things that should be free cost money.
It costs money to get certain things out of a library.
It costs money to join homeschool support group things.
VBS at our church was free. Apparently this is extremely rare.
...That's just plain stupid.
3. The air and water are awful.
You'd be surprised how fast you get used to breathing bad air. I guess I got used to it before I even registered that it was so nasty.
All I know is that whenever I go back to Iowa I feel like I'm breathing properly for the first time in months.
And the water, well... it obviously depends on the city, because different cities will treat it differently. But I have not yet been anywhere with good water. I don't even think I've had anything that borders decency. Yeah, I know. It's bearable. In fact, I hardly notice it anymore because I'm used to it.
But that doesn't mean it isn't bad. The city I used to live in had amazing water. Many other cities in Iowa had very good water as well.
Water is supposed to be totally flavorless, right? So why does the stuff here... taste like something? It's just not right. It means it isn't clean, really. I'm sure it's not like there are awful germs or something that are going to kill me. But it does taste bad, and that irritates me.
4. People are generally not as considerate.
I mentioned this in the traffic area already but... Generally it seems like the basic line of thinking here is "you stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours." Not so in Iowa. It's not that everyone was amazing and kind and perfect. But it seems like there were a lot more polite people there.
Here, everyone just seems to ignore each other.
I don't know anyone who lives on our street except my aunt and uncle, and they live upstairs in the same house.
But honsetly, if they weren't relatives and were just random strangers up there... Well, I don't think I would be able to say I knew them either.
Of course, this may be partially my problem. But it's sort of a stifling atmosphere... people just aren't like that here.
5. Crime and corruption are pretty bad.
I haven't heard about a lot of crime since being here, but... I think that's just because it happens. It's almost like it's commonplace, I guess.
But anyway, from reading in the newspapers, corruption is pretty bad, too. There's just really stupid stuff that government and law enforcement people are doing. I can think of a few examples, but I really don't want to take the time to list them; I think you get my point.
I find the corruption generally more disturbing than the crime.
6. Homeschooling is weird/shunned.
It's like everyone in the state is two years old. Homeschoolers are thought of as being pretty weird, generally, and they don't participate in stuff with people who go to public schools. Dual-enrollment just doesn't happen.
And the homeschooling people just stick together, like some kind of cult. It's hard to say whether it's the homeschooled people or the public schools who are the source of all the strife. All I know is, both are contributing to the problem, so we're quite independent and are not involved in any sort of homeschool group because it's just too hard to do that. Also, like I said, it usually costs money.
...You know, I think I could go on and on, but... I guess I'm done.
At any rate.
I'm sure if I had lived here all my life I would like it much better.
But I haven't.
It's not all that bad. But I certainly don't like it as much as Iowa.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Sega: You are doomed.
Yeah, I know, I missed a day.
Still, I'm doing better; it's only a one-day gap! Maybe next time I'll get three in a row?
Oh, yeah, and I suppose before starting the main topic of this post, I am expected to say something about today.
It's 08.08.08... I could have woken up at 08:08:08 and done something memorable. But, really... what? Last year was 07.07.07, and I "celebrated" that by... Umm, I think I changed my avatar/icon thing on MSN to a picture of Setzer Gabbiani. Next year maybe I'll do something more interesting, because the same thing is going to happen, but with nines (and nine is, I guess, my favorite number? Kinda...).
But really. Then it's going to happen with tens. And elevens. And twelves. After that, well... it'll have to wait a hundred years? Or maybe a thousand? Or... something? But, of course, other things can happen... like 07.08.09, 08.09.10, 09.10.11, 10.11.12, 11.12.13, 02.02.22, 03.03.33, etc.
So... yeah. Interesting date combinations actually happen on a sort-of-frequent basis.
Also, though, today was the start of the olympic games in Beijing.
The opening ceremony was at 12:00 GMT, though, so if it was shown live... I didn't get up early enough to see it. Maybe they'll have it on later or something.
So... yeah. I'll probably watch olympic-y stuff, since... it only happens every four years. I don't necessarily find all of the events interesting, though.
Let's move on to the main topic, here, shall we? Actually, I know already that it's going to melt into some different topics. See, I already had a conversation about this with Ben yesterday.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I ranted for a really long time and he listened... or... read it. Or whatever.
Thus, I decided a blog post would be more fitting, and now I will go into it with a bit more detail.
So. Sega.
Sega is doomed.
The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is sort of their "main thing." It gets them most of their money, right? If it dies, they die. It's really the only thing keeping them alive.
Also, it was only a matter of time after they stopped making consoles and started being a third-party developer... (although I must admit I like them a bit better this way... the silly Nintendo rivalry is gone).
So the reason Sega is going to die is because Sonic the Hedgehog is going to die. Eventually people are going to realize they haven't really done anything worthwhile in years (apparently the Sonic Rush titles were good, but they're overshadowed by the host of lousy games). Then they'll just stop buying games. At that point, it won't even matter if they do something good, because people won't buy it unless they waste a ton of money on crazy advertising campaigns ("This time it's actually a good game! Really! We promise! Just by the stinking game already!").
I've read some blogs and the like, and it seems that a lot of people's loyalty hinges on Sonic Unleashed. If it doesn't end up being amazing, I'm pretty sure it'll mean big trouble.
And I really don't think it will be amazing.
It might be decent.
But if it was amazing, I would be surprised.
At first it looked promising... But really, all that stuff about "going back to its roots" and "fixing all the problems of the past" was just a bunch of meaningless promises to keep the fans happy (sort of like something a politician would say).
Because then they revealed concepts such as "Werehog Sonic." Not only is "werehog" a pretty stupid (and entirely unimaginative word), but the concept itself is also REALLY overused.
It's like they were trying to find a way to make a game people would buy, and someone said something like this:
"Hey! Transformation is really trendy. Let's make Sonic transform into an alternate beastlike form at night! Then we'll REALLY be popular!"
...There are several problems with this. First, like I've already said... this has been done many times before. It's very cliched. Everything about it... transforming, the beastlike form, different things happening at night... BLEH. Second, well... Sonic. He's... already an animal. So conceptually it doesn't even make much sense. And third, Sonic already has a sort of "alternate form", Super Sonic. It's pretty spiffy. Just use THAT.
If I ever meet the people in charge of this stuff, I'm going to scream, "STOP TRYING TO BE 'COOL' AND JUST START MAKING GAMES ALREADY!" I think their problem is that they are trying to SELL games. They don't realize that you sell things (particularly games) by making them good, not "cool." I mean, sure. Popularity leads to sales. But eventually people realize that the product wasn't really that great, and the company suddenly loses everything.
I really wish Sega had the guts to pull off something like New Super Mario Bros., where they go back to their very first game (in this case, I think it should be the second, because it added some nice things that I don't think Sonic games should go without) and scrap pretty much all progress they ever made and make a direct sequel. That could be really cool (NSMB certainly was).
And I definitely think they have the skills, labor, talent, creativity, money, etc. to do something like that. The problem is that they're completely spineless. They're probably afraid of it not selling well and them going bankrupt. But... so what? If they don't do it they're going bankrupt anyway. Just take the risk... "Final" Fantasy, anyone?
I read one blog that pointed out another big part of the problem. I think Sega is really trying to listen to its fans, but... its fans don't know what they want! They all say things like "Sonic should move really, really fast. That's what Sonic games are about." and "Sonic shouldn't share the spotlight; make him the only playable character, just like in the first game!"
I'll start with the second statement... Umm, what was wrong with Sonic 2? I think it may have been the best game in the entire series (it certainly had the most memorable soundtrack, if that counts for anything). And... it had Tails. He was playable in several situations. There's really nothing wrong with that. Sonic without Tails is like Mario without Luigi, or Batman without Robin! Just... don't do it. Sure, there's a point at which you should stop making new characters, and they've probably reached that point (I really don't think we should see the return of Blaze the Cat or Silver the Hedgehog except in spinoff-type games). But they have several existing characters that are very likable (even Big the cat; admit it, you DO like him... if for nothing else, then because he's fun to hate). And I really don't see anything wrong with them being playable... Sonic can still be the main character. It doesn't take a lot more than having his name/face on the cover. And he can also be playable a bit more than the other characters, or the other characters could be unlockable.
Then the other thing, speed. Well, sure. Moving quickly is cool. But the game actually has to be fun. There's a point at which it's just obnoxious. Focus more on making a cool platformer; speed is really just one aspect of a whole game.
I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS, SEGA/SONIC TEAM/WHOEVER! DON'T MAKE ME KEEP PLAYING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
But, yes. This brings up a new topic. What if Sega really does mess everything up? What if we never see a good Sonic game again?
This is part of why copyright makes me sad. Most major fangames get shut down. And that's really too bad. Because while making boring remakes / games that aren't as good as the original is really stupid and a waste of time... there does get to be a point where the publisher/developer doesn't do it right anymore, or just stops altogether.
Still, maybe some ambitious game made by a fan will get Sega's attention and make them see that they really could do better. I hope something like that happens; it's going to take something pretty crazy to pull them out of this rut.
Now, this brings me to another topic... Doki-Doki Panic / "Super Mario Bros. 2" (it's actually not SMB2 at all, but that's a long story; Wikipedia it). I really like the concept there, whatwith the throwing of plants and enemies and all that. But Nintendo seems to be done with it... Occasionally they'll throw in an Eastereggish sort of thing with those vegetables (and Princess Peach still uses them to attack in Smash Bros.), but they haven't made a whole game with it again.
I am seriously considering making a game using that concept and taking it to new, unusual levels... We'll have to see. I'd also have to come up with a good engine. I have one for GM that I downloaded once, but by the time I cleaned it up and removed the stuff I didn't want, well... I may as well make a new one, really. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off... And hopefully I'll actually stick with it this time, and maybe even finish it!
...But don't count on anything. I'm still not even sure I'll start.
So, there we go. I guess I'm done. But before I finish, here's the state of my notebook page right now (I added some things that I either thought of a while ago and forgot to put in, or just thought of recently):
-International... stuff.
-Cartoons.
-Vigilanteism (probably not a whole post).
-Online multiplayer games (this may not be a whole post either).
-Food channel (almost certainly not a whole post).
-Stuff about J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis (those will probably be in two different posts)
-What Illinois is like, for those of you who aren't here (and how it's different from Iowa, for those of you who... Oh, wait. No, you don't even read this, do you?).
-Movies; IJatKotCS and Prince Caspian (I'm pretty sure these will be in two different posts as well, or maybe one rather long one).
So that's it then.
El fin.
Still, I'm doing better; it's only a one-day gap! Maybe next time I'll get three in a row?
Oh, yeah, and I suppose before starting the main topic of this post, I am expected to say something about today.
It's 08.08.08... I could have woken up at 08:08:08 and done something memorable. But, really... what? Last year was 07.07.07, and I "celebrated" that by... Umm, I think I changed my avatar/icon thing on MSN to a picture of Setzer Gabbiani. Next year maybe I'll do something more interesting, because the same thing is going to happen, but with nines (and nine is, I guess, my favorite number? Kinda...).
But really. Then it's going to happen with tens. And elevens. And twelves. After that, well... it'll have to wait a hundred years? Or maybe a thousand? Or... something? But, of course, other things can happen... like 07.08.09, 08.09.10, 09.10.11, 10.11.12, 11.12.13, 02.02.22, 03.03.33, etc.
So... yeah. Interesting date combinations actually happen on a sort-of-frequent basis.
Also, though, today was the start of the olympic games in Beijing.
The opening ceremony was at 12:00 GMT, though, so if it was shown live... I didn't get up early enough to see it. Maybe they'll have it on later or something.
So... yeah. I'll probably watch olympic-y stuff, since... it only happens every four years. I don't necessarily find all of the events interesting, though.
Let's move on to the main topic, here, shall we? Actually, I know already that it's going to melt into some different topics. See, I already had a conversation about this with Ben yesterday.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I ranted for a really long time and he listened... or... read it. Or whatever.
Thus, I decided a blog post would be more fitting, and now I will go into it with a bit more detail.
So. Sega.
Sega is doomed.
The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is sort of their "main thing." It gets them most of their money, right? If it dies, they die. It's really the only thing keeping them alive.
Also, it was only a matter of time after they stopped making consoles and started being a third-party developer... (although I must admit I like them a bit better this way... the silly Nintendo rivalry is gone).
So the reason Sega is going to die is because Sonic the Hedgehog is going to die. Eventually people are going to realize they haven't really done anything worthwhile in years (apparently the Sonic Rush titles were good, but they're overshadowed by the host of lousy games). Then they'll just stop buying games. At that point, it won't even matter if they do something good, because people won't buy it unless they waste a ton of money on crazy advertising campaigns ("This time it's actually a good game! Really! We promise! Just by the stinking game already!").
I've read some blogs and the like, and it seems that a lot of people's loyalty hinges on Sonic Unleashed. If it doesn't end up being amazing, I'm pretty sure it'll mean big trouble.
And I really don't think it will be amazing.
It might be decent.
But if it was amazing, I would be surprised.
At first it looked promising... But really, all that stuff about "going back to its roots" and "fixing all the problems of the past" was just a bunch of meaningless promises to keep the fans happy (sort of like something a politician would say).
Because then they revealed concepts such as "Werehog Sonic." Not only is "werehog" a pretty stupid (and entirely unimaginative word), but the concept itself is also REALLY overused.
It's like they were trying to find a way to make a game people would buy, and someone said something like this:
"Hey! Transformation is really trendy. Let's make Sonic transform into an alternate beastlike form at night! Then we'll REALLY be popular!"
...There are several problems with this. First, like I've already said... this has been done many times before. It's very cliched. Everything about it... transforming, the beastlike form, different things happening at night... BLEH. Second, well... Sonic. He's... already an animal. So conceptually it doesn't even make much sense. And third, Sonic already has a sort of "alternate form", Super Sonic. It's pretty spiffy. Just use THAT.
If I ever meet the people in charge of this stuff, I'm going to scream, "STOP TRYING TO BE 'COOL' AND JUST START MAKING GAMES ALREADY!" I think their problem is that they are trying to SELL games. They don't realize that you sell things (particularly games) by making them good, not "cool." I mean, sure. Popularity leads to sales. But eventually people realize that the product wasn't really that great, and the company suddenly loses everything.
I really wish Sega had the guts to pull off something like New Super Mario Bros., where they go back to their very first game (in this case, I think it should be the second, because it added some nice things that I don't think Sonic games should go without) and scrap pretty much all progress they ever made and make a direct sequel. That could be really cool (NSMB certainly was).
And I definitely think they have the skills, labor, talent, creativity, money, etc. to do something like that. The problem is that they're completely spineless. They're probably afraid of it not selling well and them going bankrupt. But... so what? If they don't do it they're going bankrupt anyway. Just take the risk... "Final" Fantasy, anyone?
I read one blog that pointed out another big part of the problem. I think Sega is really trying to listen to its fans, but... its fans don't know what they want! They all say things like "Sonic should move really, really fast. That's what Sonic games are about." and "Sonic shouldn't share the spotlight; make him the only playable character, just like in the first game!"
I'll start with the second statement... Umm, what was wrong with Sonic 2? I think it may have been the best game in the entire series (it certainly had the most memorable soundtrack, if that counts for anything). And... it had Tails. He was playable in several situations. There's really nothing wrong with that. Sonic without Tails is like Mario without Luigi, or Batman without Robin! Just... don't do it. Sure, there's a point at which you should stop making new characters, and they've probably reached that point (I really don't think we should see the return of Blaze the Cat or Silver the Hedgehog except in spinoff-type games). But they have several existing characters that are very likable (even Big the cat; admit it, you DO like him... if for nothing else, then because he's fun to hate). And I really don't see anything wrong with them being playable... Sonic can still be the main character. It doesn't take a lot more than having his name/face on the cover. And he can also be playable a bit more than the other characters, or the other characters could be unlockable.
Then the other thing, speed. Well, sure. Moving quickly is cool. But the game actually has to be fun. There's a point at which it's just obnoxious. Focus more on making a cool platformer; speed is really just one aspect of a whole game.
I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS, SEGA/SONIC TEAM/WHOEVER! DON'T MAKE ME KEEP PLAYING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
But, yes. This brings up a new topic. What if Sega really does mess everything up? What if we never see a good Sonic game again?
This is part of why copyright makes me sad. Most major fangames get shut down. And that's really too bad. Because while making boring remakes / games that aren't as good as the original is really stupid and a waste of time... there does get to be a point where the publisher/developer doesn't do it right anymore, or just stops altogether.
Still, maybe some ambitious game made by a fan will get Sega's attention and make them see that they really could do better. I hope something like that happens; it's going to take something pretty crazy to pull them out of this rut.
Now, this brings me to another topic... Doki-Doki Panic / "Super Mario Bros. 2" (it's actually not SMB2 at all, but that's a long story; Wikipedia it). I really like the concept there, whatwith the throwing of plants and enemies and all that. But Nintendo seems to be done with it... Occasionally they'll throw in an Eastereggish sort of thing with those vegetables (and Princess Peach still uses them to attack in Smash Bros.), but they haven't made a whole game with it again.
I am seriously considering making a game using that concept and taking it to new, unusual levels... We'll have to see. I'd also have to come up with a good engine. I have one for GM that I downloaded once, but by the time I cleaned it up and removed the stuff I didn't want, well... I may as well make a new one, really. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off... And hopefully I'll actually stick with it this time, and maybe even finish it!
...But don't count on anything. I'm still not even sure I'll start.
So, there we go. I guess I'm done. But before I finish, here's the state of my notebook page right now (I added some things that I either thought of a while ago and forgot to put in, or just thought of recently):
-International... stuff.
-Cartoons.
-Vigilanteism (probably not a whole post).
-Online multiplayer games (this may not be a whole post either).
-Food channel (almost certainly not a whole post).
-Stuff about J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis (those will probably be in two different posts)
-What Illinois is like, for those of you who aren't here (and how it's different from Iowa, for those of you who... Oh, wait. No, you don't even read this, do you?).
-Movies; IJatKotCS and Prince Caspian (I'm pretty sure these will be in two different posts as well, or maybe one rather long one).
So that's it then.
El fin.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Camp (part 2)
Two days in a row.
Ohsnap.
So anyway. Ben reminded me of some things (they happened at camp) that could almost fill a whole post (you may have seen his reminder in the comments of my last post). So that's probably all this will be about; it'll just be shorter than usual.
Hang on a minute. There is a fly in here that is driving me crazy.
...Hmm. It's gone.
I doubt it's gone permanently; it'll be back. I already knocked it down once....
I'll keep you posted.
Moving on.
Oh, wait. It's back.
...And it's gone again.
(Wow, this is going to be a weird post, I can tell.)
Anyway.
Camp.
I forgot to mention that Daniel purchased a grocery store and brought it to camp. So... we had a lot of food that week. We mostly just ate it after the evening chapel, which I guess makes sense, as that's sort of the longest gap between meals and all.
So then on the last day we had quite a bit of food left. There was one bag of Doritos, it was some sort of... mysterious flavor. I think you were supposed to guess what it was or something.
Anyway, Daniel said he wasn't opening it until everything else was eaten (except the gum; there was a lot of that...). So... yeah. I don't think it actually happened like that, but anyway. Eventually they got opened. I'm not sure who decided they were "Mountain Dew flavor" but that pretty much sums it up, so we all agreed, mostly. They tasted... limey.
Anyway. We ate ALMOST all of it on the last night. But apparently some of it was left on the way back, so it got eaten then. I didn't help, because I was in a different van.
So I also forgot to talk about "The Amazing Race." (By the way, the fly is buzzing around again every once in a while; I tried to smash it, but... no.)
We've done this every year at camp since I can remember. Well, maybe not that far back, but at least every year I've been at senior high camp (they may not do it at the younger camps, though, so... no idea how long they've been doing it). I think they might have gotten the name/idea from something on television, but I really don't know because I don't typically watch television. (Fly came by again; I think I got a pretty clean hit, but it kept going after that. Ooh, yes! I swatted it in midair and it fell down, but... no. Still flying. Resilient, this one.)
Anyhow, basically it's a giant relay, but instead of just running, there's blobbing and carpetballing and bellyflopping and movingwaterfromonebuckettoanotherusingafairlysmallcupping and gettinghitwiththosefoamswimmingpoolnoodlethingsing and all sorts of stuff like that. (Another good hit... it's still going! Ooh, and there's another. Possibly the hardest yet. It fell... no idea where it is now, but I'm pretty sure it's still alive.) So then this relay... yeah. I don't know. The team I'm in never seems to do very well in it, and I'm not really sure how one would be able to do well in it... it seems like the slightest thing can get you way off-track, but at the same time it seems like it's hard for the people in back to get ahead. A lot of the things can only be done by one team at a time, so it's all down to how quickly you get it done, I guess....
I dunno.
Anyway, we got... Umm... ninth place? Tenth? Pretty similar to our overall rank in the end, I think.
...So then I (actually, was it my idea originally?) got the idea to do "The Amazing Chapel."
Basically, it'd be like... One person would speak, and some other people would pass the offering plates, and others would do special music, and stuff like that. Then my ideas degraded into things like loudly unwrapping and chewing bubble gum. Some other people had ideas like "someone to fall asleep" and "two people to pass love notes back and forth."
...Anyway. It would be really silly, and of course it'd never be done; it was just fun to talk about. But it's funny because our sillier ideas were actually pretty similar to real chapel, sadly.
Yeah, this was a short post.
I can't really say I don't have anything else to post. I mentioned a lot of things I wanted to post on yesterday, and I have lots of other ideas brewing as well.
But I don't want to spend the time right now; I might not have enough time before I go to bed / before the day is over and I miss a day of posting again.
(By the way, I haven't seen that fly in a while. I don't think I killed it, though; it's probably writhing on the floor in agony... That makes me almost feel sorry for it. But I don't know where it is so I can't squash it.)
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Ohsnap.
So anyway. Ben reminded me of some things (they happened at camp) that could almost fill a whole post (you may have seen his reminder in the comments of my last post). So that's probably all this will be about; it'll just be shorter than usual.
Hang on a minute. There is a fly in here that is driving me crazy.
...Hmm. It's gone.
I doubt it's gone permanently; it'll be back. I already knocked it down once....
I'll keep you posted.
Moving on.
Oh, wait. It's back.
...And it's gone again.
(Wow, this is going to be a weird post, I can tell.)
Anyway.
Camp.
I forgot to mention that Daniel purchased a grocery store and brought it to camp. So... we had a lot of food that week. We mostly just ate it after the evening chapel, which I guess makes sense, as that's sort of the longest gap between meals and all.
So then on the last day we had quite a bit of food left. There was one bag of Doritos, it was some sort of... mysterious flavor. I think you were supposed to guess what it was or something.
Anyway, Daniel said he wasn't opening it until everything else was eaten (except the gum; there was a lot of that...). So... yeah. I don't think it actually happened like that, but anyway. Eventually they got opened. I'm not sure who decided they were "Mountain Dew flavor" but that pretty much sums it up, so we all agreed, mostly. They tasted... limey.
Anyway. We ate ALMOST all of it on the last night. But apparently some of it was left on the way back, so it got eaten then. I didn't help, because I was in a different van.
So I also forgot to talk about "The Amazing Race." (By the way, the fly is buzzing around again every once in a while; I tried to smash it, but... no.)
We've done this every year at camp since I can remember. Well, maybe not that far back, but at least every year I've been at senior high camp (they may not do it at the younger camps, though, so... no idea how long they've been doing it). I think they might have gotten the name/idea from something on television, but I really don't know because I don't typically watch television. (Fly came by again; I think I got a pretty clean hit, but it kept going after that. Ooh, yes! I swatted it in midair and it fell down, but... no. Still flying. Resilient, this one.)
Anyhow, basically it's a giant relay, but instead of just running, there's blobbing and carpetballing and bellyflopping and movingwaterfromonebuckettoanotherusingafairlysmallcupping and gettinghitwiththosefoamswimmingpoolnoodlethingsing and all sorts of stuff like that. (Another good hit... it's still going! Ooh, and there's another. Possibly the hardest yet. It fell... no idea where it is now, but I'm pretty sure it's still alive.) So then this relay... yeah. I don't know. The team I'm in never seems to do very well in it, and I'm not really sure how one would be able to do well in it... it seems like the slightest thing can get you way off-track, but at the same time it seems like it's hard for the people in back to get ahead. A lot of the things can only be done by one team at a time, so it's all down to how quickly you get it done, I guess....
I dunno.
Anyway, we got... Umm... ninth place? Tenth? Pretty similar to our overall rank in the end, I think.
...So then I (actually, was it my idea originally?) got the idea to do "The Amazing Chapel."
Basically, it'd be like... One person would speak, and some other people would pass the offering plates, and others would do special music, and stuff like that. Then my ideas degraded into things like loudly unwrapping and chewing bubble gum. Some other people had ideas like "someone to fall asleep" and "two people to pass love notes back and forth."
...Anyway. It would be really silly, and of course it'd never be done; it was just fun to talk about. But it's funny because our sillier ideas were actually pretty similar to real chapel, sadly.
Yeah, this was a short post.
I can't really say I don't have anything else to post. I mentioned a lot of things I wanted to post on yesterday, and I have lots of other ideas brewing as well.
But I don't want to spend the time right now; I might not have enough time before I go to bed / before the day is over and I miss a day of posting again.
(By the way, I haven't seen that fly in a while. I don't think I killed it, though; it's probably writhing on the floor in agony... That makes me almost feel sorry for it. But I don't know where it is so I can't squash it.)
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Camp
So.
I have not posted in quite some time.
But for this last week I was at camp. And then today and yesterday I was working with my pictures; uploading them to Facebook and all that.
And now here I am.
I have decided to get back to posting every day. I thought yesterday that I would just do it in the morning before doing anything else on the computer, but I kind of forgot about that and started uploading photos, so... that didn't work out.
Anyhow. If I'm on MSN/Facebook/whatever, be sure to remind me that I need to do a blog post. Unfortunately, I'm likely to be busy with something else.
Well, we'll see how this goes. Hopefully I can get started again. I have a LOT of stuff I wanted to post about (I wrote it down in a notebook):
I saw Prince Caspian maybe a month ago, and wanted to post about it... but I never did. And then I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull about two weeks ago. So now I have two movies to post about.
I wanted to write about cartoons I like. Not on television... On paper. Like Dilbert and Calvin and Hobbes (those are my favorites, I think). Actually, I had some random comments on television cartoons as well, if I recall correctly. And comic books. Ooh, that's going to be a good post.
Then I was going to talk about some games (mostly on the computer, but on DS as well) I like to play online, and how I'd rather play against people I know than faceless nobodies, so you guys should all share what games you play too... Later, though.
And there was another post I was planning on doing; it's kind of complicated, and I'm not sure how to summarize it. In my notebook I wrote the word "international" because I knew I would remember what i meant about that. It won't make any sense to you... I suppose it's sort of about culture, but that's just part of it.
Anyway, it should be a pretty long post, so don't necessarily expect it any time soon.
Ah, vigilantism. Adam and I had an interesting conversation about this. It might be a pretty serious post, it depends on what angle I end up taking.
Here this just says "FTP." It was written lightly on the bottom of the page; I think I planned on posting that day or the day after, but I never did.
Anyhow, I can just say that quickly right now: I got FTP (File Transfer Protocol) stuff working so now I can actually update the Egoboo website. I've already done it a couple times... but I have quite a few more things I'd like to change (it needs better screenshots, for example). Unfortunately, there are certain directories I have difficulty uploading to, and I'm not sure what the problem is.
It also says "Food" here; I was going to talk about the Food channel... it's pretty much the only thing we watch on cable (which is why we will probably not have cable when we actually get our own house). I'm not sure why this did not justify a full topic, but I'm going to transfer that so it does.
Anyway, I'm not going to talk about any of those things just yet because I want to talk about camp. So I have taken a break from sitting at the computer doing almost nothing and listening to the remixed soundtrack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 until my brain rots, and am... Oh, wait. No.
I'm listening to it right now.
It's here, if you were curious. I really don't know whether any of you will really care for the style... I didn't used to, either. But that was before OCR.
So, umm... moving on.
Camp.
So Sunday afternoon we went down to Iowa. The trip doesn't seem so long anymore; I guess I've made it a lot now? Not enough, at any rate.
Of course, we also travel an hour and a half or so every Sunday and Wednesday, so that might have something to do with it as well.
Anyway, we stopped in a gas station or something, and I realized I could breathe properly. You'd be surprised at how quickly you get used to air; it takes probably five seconds. So I had sort of forgotten how stifling it is in Illinois. I didn't get water until later, but that's better too. Especially in Ames.
We arrived at about... I don't know. Some time at night. Six or seven, I suppose. Something like that. We spent the night at Ben and Nathan's house and spent most of our time playing Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.
Then the next day we went to camp. This is where the story gets slightly blurry, because I don't exactly remember what happened on which days.
Anyway. I do know we went climbing on Monday. I didn't really feel up to it, which is weird, because I had been planning on it.... Anyway. I just took pictures. Then we played Mao. Or maybe that was on Tuesday.... Anyway. At some point we played Mao. We sort of taught "Big Dan." I think he'll have to play a few more games before he understands it fully, though.
We played again on Friday, and I decided I want to type out all our rules, so there is no confusion about how we play (everyone plays the game differently, you see). There are some things I'd like to change, actually, that are either kind of dumb or just unclear.
So some of you can expect an email with that file attached at some point. Don't bother asking for it, though; I'm not giving it to someone who hasn't played with us. :P
Anyhow. We also did some weird games, as you might expect. There was this one game where you had to grab a big rubber ball with a plunger and get it through a goal... and one in a pool where you throw sponges into buckets. Then there were some more ordinary things like dodge ball and tug-of-war (why isn't it "war of tugs"?). Also, there were huge, crazy games like a giant game of kickball except it was actually... six games. With a common outfield, and... lots of water. It's sort of hard to understand unless you've played it before.
We also played this game called Ga-Ga; it develops that it's actually a fairly traditional Israeli game. It's apparently popular at Jewish summer camps (here in the United States) or something like that. Anyway, it was an interesting game, and pretty fun. Basically it's like a sort of dodge ball kind of thing, but you want to only hit people at the knee and below. Here's the Wikipedia article.
...I'm pretty sure this is all Seth did all week.
Then there were tournaments; I did carpet ball every day except Thursday and Friday (because I won on Wednesday and figured once was enough). I won a fifty cent concession stand coupon thing. And fame and glory.
...Or something.
Then we played Squinney Ball in a tournament on Friday. Either this game was invented at this particular camp, or it goes by a different name elsewhere, because Daniel and I were trying to look it up and couldn't find anything.
Basically, it's like a sort of human foosball. So it's sort of like soccer or something, but you play with your hands, and you can't move, because you have to stand in these big barrels buried in the ground. It has always been one of my favorite games at camp... or ever since a couple years ago, or whenever they got it; I guess it was pretty recently.
Anyway, we lost the tournament in the first game; it wouldn't have been too surprising if you had seen the other team... they were all pretty huge. I came up with a great team name, though:
"The Champions Will Eat Us For Breakfast Versus The Fabulous Lamprey Collaboration Because a Rolling Stone Never Strikes the Same Place Twice in a Bush, Featuring Bent Leg, Nigel, Rocky Balboa, Big Dan, Alien, and What?"
...Yes, we really did have the word "versus" in our name. The stuff after "featuring" was our aliases.... A couple we had to come up with on the spot, but the rest were already established (Maybe some time I'll talk about how I got the name "Nigel," but it's not a very interesting story). I knew that they wouldn't use the full name, as I intentionally made it ridiculously lengthy. Also, I already knew the people in charge have no sense of humor... Or, more accurately, they don't have my sense of humor. So our shorter name was just "The Fabulous Lamprey Collaboration" (that was my original name idea before I ended up making it so long).
Oh, and I should also explain the phrase "The champions will eat us for breakfast."
See, everyone gets put into big teams for the whole week, and this year they took their names from breakfast cereals. We were the Wheaties. I think it was on Tuesday that I said "So that means we can't lose, because we're the breakfast of champions! Or... wait, no. It means we can't win, because the champions will eat us for breakfast." It pretty much became my motto for the week, much to Seth's dismay.
I think we ended up in tenth place out of thirteen.
Then there were some other things we did... there was a zip line thing, which is always fun.... And we did archery. I did really well considering I only get to do it once a year. It's the sort of thing I might invest in doing on my own, but... I don't have that kind of money, particularly now, when I have no job (no, I still haven't gotten hired at GameStop, but my hopes are still fairly high for once the school year has started up again).
Then there was, of course, the important part; the speakers.
I don't think I had heard either of them before, but they both did a really good job. Apparently my dad went to school with one of them... that's not too surprising; I'm pretty sure he went to school with everyone.
Anyway, he also had these optional Bible study things that were really interesting. I didn't go the last couple of days, though, because we were signed up for archery right before that and it ended up sort of overlapping both times.
Also, the camp director (or at least I think he's the one who does it) puts together these nice devotionals for every day, I got a lot out of those too -- sometimes more than I did from the speaking.
The week ended with a big bonfire thing where people gave testimonies of what God had done in their lives that week. I couldn't decide what to talk about, so I didn't go up.
I took a lot of pictures of the week; you can see them on Facebook... if you don't have Facebook, well... too bad? I guess I could email them to you; I'm already sending them to a guy who was in our cabin.
I'm sure I forgot a lot of things, but oh well. If there's a specific interesting story I should tell, remind me and I might do it later.
So... anyway.
Today I sent my letter to Lemony Snicket.
Basically, there were some people trying to organize a "Worldwide Fan Mail Day." I think it was part of some efforts to revive this website and save it from being shut down (I really don't think they're in any huge danger of that happening).
Anyhow. You'd think meeting him in person would have been enough, but... no. It's not like I had much time to ask him questions.
Besides, I did not actually meet Lemony Snicket. He was... unable to attend, and his personal representative Daniel Handler was there in his stead.
Now you're going to go look up those people on Wikipedia and be really confused, and treat my like a child who does not understand that Santa Claus does not, in fact, exist.
But no. It's sort of hard to explain. Actually it's a lot like Mao. But I don't think I'll expound upon that analogy, and I'm not sure how I would anyway.
Anyway, I think I'm done for today.
Was this a long post?
*scrolls*
Well, it was decent. But then again, I was talking about an entire week of activity, so... yeah.
Anyway. That's it for now. Expect more posts in the near future.
I have not posted in quite some time.
But for this last week I was at camp. And then today and yesterday I was working with my pictures; uploading them to Facebook and all that.
And now here I am.
I have decided to get back to posting every day. I thought yesterday that I would just do it in the morning before doing anything else on the computer, but I kind of forgot about that and started uploading photos, so... that didn't work out.
Anyhow. If I'm on MSN/Facebook/whatever, be sure to remind me that I need to do a blog post. Unfortunately, I'm likely to be busy with something else.
Well, we'll see how this goes. Hopefully I can get started again. I have a LOT of stuff I wanted to post about (I wrote it down in a notebook):
I saw Prince Caspian maybe a month ago, and wanted to post about it... but I never did. And then I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull about two weeks ago. So now I have two movies to post about.
I wanted to write about cartoons I like. Not on television... On paper. Like Dilbert and Calvin and Hobbes (those are my favorites, I think). Actually, I had some random comments on television cartoons as well, if I recall correctly. And comic books. Ooh, that's going to be a good post.
Then I was going to talk about some games (mostly on the computer, but on DS as well) I like to play online, and how I'd rather play against people I know than faceless nobodies, so you guys should all share what games you play too... Later, though.
And there was another post I was planning on doing; it's kind of complicated, and I'm not sure how to summarize it. In my notebook I wrote the word "international" because I knew I would remember what i meant about that. It won't make any sense to you... I suppose it's sort of about culture, but that's just part of it.
Anyway, it should be a pretty long post, so don't necessarily expect it any time soon.
Ah, vigilantism. Adam and I had an interesting conversation about this. It might be a pretty serious post, it depends on what angle I end up taking.
Here this just says "FTP." It was written lightly on the bottom of the page; I think I planned on posting that day or the day after, but I never did.
Anyhow, I can just say that quickly right now: I got FTP (File Transfer Protocol) stuff working so now I can actually update the Egoboo website. I've already done it a couple times... but I have quite a few more things I'd like to change (it needs better screenshots, for example). Unfortunately, there are certain directories I have difficulty uploading to, and I'm not sure what the problem is.
It also says "Food" here; I was going to talk about the Food channel... it's pretty much the only thing we watch on cable (which is why we will probably not have cable when we actually get our own house). I'm not sure why this did not justify a full topic, but I'm going to transfer that so it does.
Anyway, I'm not going to talk about any of those things just yet because I want to talk about camp. So I have taken a break from sitting at the computer doing almost nothing and listening to the remixed soundtrack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 until my brain rots, and am... Oh, wait. No.
I'm listening to it right now.
It's here, if you were curious. I really don't know whether any of you will really care for the style... I didn't used to, either. But that was before OCR.
So, umm... moving on.
Camp.
So Sunday afternoon we went down to Iowa. The trip doesn't seem so long anymore; I guess I've made it a lot now? Not enough, at any rate.
Of course, we also travel an hour and a half or so every Sunday and Wednesday, so that might have something to do with it as well.
Anyway, we stopped in a gas station or something, and I realized I could breathe properly. You'd be surprised at how quickly you get used to air; it takes probably five seconds. So I had sort of forgotten how stifling it is in Illinois. I didn't get water until later, but that's better too. Especially in Ames.
We arrived at about... I don't know. Some time at night. Six or seven, I suppose. Something like that. We spent the night at Ben and Nathan's house and spent most of our time playing Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.
Then the next day we went to camp. This is where the story gets slightly blurry, because I don't exactly remember what happened on which days.
Anyway. I do know we went climbing on Monday. I didn't really feel up to it, which is weird, because I had been planning on it.... Anyway. I just took pictures. Then we played Mao. Or maybe that was on Tuesday.... Anyway. At some point we played Mao. We sort of taught "Big Dan." I think he'll have to play a few more games before he understands it fully, though.
We played again on Friday, and I decided I want to type out all our rules, so there is no confusion about how we play (everyone plays the game differently, you see). There are some things I'd like to change, actually, that are either kind of dumb or just unclear.
So some of you can expect an email with that file attached at some point. Don't bother asking for it, though; I'm not giving it to someone who hasn't played with us. :P
Anyhow. We also did some weird games, as you might expect. There was this one game where you had to grab a big rubber ball with a plunger and get it through a goal... and one in a pool where you throw sponges into buckets. Then there were some more ordinary things like dodge ball and tug-of-war (why isn't it "war of tugs"?). Also, there were huge, crazy games like a giant game of kickball except it was actually... six games. With a common outfield, and... lots of water. It's sort of hard to understand unless you've played it before.
We also played this game called Ga-Ga; it develops that it's actually a fairly traditional Israeli game. It's apparently popular at Jewish summer camps (here in the United States) or something like that. Anyway, it was an interesting game, and pretty fun. Basically it's like a sort of dodge ball kind of thing, but you want to only hit people at the knee and below. Here's the Wikipedia article.
...I'm pretty sure this is all Seth did all week.
Then there were tournaments; I did carpet ball every day except Thursday and Friday (because I won on Wednesday and figured once was enough). I won a fifty cent concession stand coupon thing. And fame and glory.
...Or something.
Then we played Squinney Ball in a tournament on Friday. Either this game was invented at this particular camp, or it goes by a different name elsewhere, because Daniel and I were trying to look it up and couldn't find anything.
Basically, it's like a sort of human foosball. So it's sort of like soccer or something, but you play with your hands, and you can't move, because you have to stand in these big barrels buried in the ground. It has always been one of my favorite games at camp... or ever since a couple years ago, or whenever they got it; I guess it was pretty recently.
Anyway, we lost the tournament in the first game; it wouldn't have been too surprising if you had seen the other team... they were all pretty huge. I came up with a great team name, though:
"The Champions Will Eat Us For Breakfast Versus The Fabulous Lamprey Collaboration Because a Rolling Stone Never Strikes the Same Place Twice in a Bush, Featuring Bent Leg, Nigel, Rocky Balboa, Big Dan, Alien, and What?"
...Yes, we really did have the word "versus" in our name. The stuff after "featuring" was our aliases.... A couple we had to come up with on the spot, but the rest were already established (Maybe some time I'll talk about how I got the name "Nigel," but it's not a very interesting story). I knew that they wouldn't use the full name, as I intentionally made it ridiculously lengthy. Also, I already knew the people in charge have no sense of humor... Or, more accurately, they don't have my sense of humor. So our shorter name was just "The Fabulous Lamprey Collaboration" (that was my original name idea before I ended up making it so long).
Oh, and I should also explain the phrase "The champions will eat us for breakfast."
See, everyone gets put into big teams for the whole week, and this year they took their names from breakfast cereals. We were the Wheaties. I think it was on Tuesday that I said "So that means we can't lose, because we're the breakfast of champions! Or... wait, no. It means we can't win, because the champions will eat us for breakfast." It pretty much became my motto for the week, much to Seth's dismay.
I think we ended up in tenth place out of thirteen.
Then there were some other things we did... there was a zip line thing, which is always fun.... And we did archery. I did really well considering I only get to do it once a year. It's the sort of thing I might invest in doing on my own, but... I don't have that kind of money, particularly now, when I have no job (no, I still haven't gotten hired at GameStop, but my hopes are still fairly high for once the school year has started up again).
Then there was, of course, the important part; the speakers.
I don't think I had heard either of them before, but they both did a really good job. Apparently my dad went to school with one of them... that's not too surprising; I'm pretty sure he went to school with everyone.
Anyway, he also had these optional Bible study things that were really interesting. I didn't go the last couple of days, though, because we were signed up for archery right before that and it ended up sort of overlapping both times.
Also, the camp director (or at least I think he's the one who does it) puts together these nice devotionals for every day, I got a lot out of those too -- sometimes more than I did from the speaking.
The week ended with a big bonfire thing where people gave testimonies of what God had done in their lives that week. I couldn't decide what to talk about, so I didn't go up.
I took a lot of pictures of the week; you can see them on Facebook... if you don't have Facebook, well... too bad? I guess I could email them to you; I'm already sending them to a guy who was in our cabin.
I'm sure I forgot a lot of things, but oh well. If there's a specific interesting story I should tell, remind me and I might do it later.
So... anyway.
Today I sent my letter to Lemony Snicket.
Basically, there were some people trying to organize a "Worldwide Fan Mail Day." I think it was part of some efforts to revive this website and save it from being shut down (I really don't think they're in any huge danger of that happening).
Anyhow. You'd think meeting him in person would have been enough, but... no. It's not like I had much time to ask him questions.
Besides, I did not actually meet Lemony Snicket. He was... unable to attend, and his personal representative Daniel Handler was there in his stead.
Now you're going to go look up those people on Wikipedia and be really confused, and treat my like a child who does not understand that Santa Claus does not, in fact, exist.
But no. It's sort of hard to explain. Actually it's a lot like Mao. But I don't think I'll expound upon that analogy, and I'm not sure how I would anyway.
Anyway, I think I'm done for today.
Was this a long post?
*scrolls*
Well, it was decent. But then again, I was talking about an entire week of activity, so... yeah.
Anyway. That's it for now. Expect more posts in the near future.
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