Today was a bit more active I must admit...I was in a constant state of sleepiness but otherwise it went well.
Woke up and tested to see if the primary application I use to work with currently works via VPN. Previously it was not functional but I had an idea and fortunately it worked so I was able to work from home and not worry about fishtailing (though I enjoy fishing) my way out of my dad's housing area.
There was a good bit done today mostly communication which isn't exactly my cup of tea but I honestly don't mind. Lunch took care of the last few checks I accumulated over this year, got food and filled up my gas tank at Sheetz. On a similar note I'm planning to eat out less next year to a) Improve my diet overall and b) It'll help my budget in the long run. The rest of the work day was straight forward. Eventually Dean stopped by (even though i was going to see him Friday) to pick up Golden Eye and his wii motes.
After that I watched a portion of the Quake speed run and played some HoN, had a couple good and bad matches of course. Tried to take a nap earlier but for some reason I was kind of worried of falling asleep. It may sound silly but I was worried I wasn't going to wake up or sleep through my alarm as I didn't wanna mess up my sleep schedule. In either case after laying in the bed for about 1.25 hours I went back downstairs and spent the remainder of my evening cleaning up the downstairs area and finishing the last tweaks and fixes on my sister computer.
I did have a great spur of inspiration though when looking at my dad's computer I realize that is uses DDR SDRAM and likewise my first machine I use also uses DDR SDRAM. The speed is noted to be a bit slower but from what I've experimented with so far its definitely much faster but will see in the long run. Equally back to my sister computer its running much smoother now and without the 'extra options' that were there before... Computer wise I think I'm done optimizing machines. Did mine earlier this month then tyler's yesterday followed by my dad's and sisters. I'm actually out of machines to upgrades. At least I believe so but will see.
Think that's about it for now... I really should be off to bed and get my 6ish hours of sleep.
Nite all!
Edit: One more quick add my plans for New Year's is set I'll be spending it in Midlo with a few friends, good times :).
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Keeping up with the Blog.
For starters I'm looking forward to a fairly quick and conclusive week this week. There's a handful of things I need to do but honestly not too concerned about it. Today wasn't bad woke up and got to work a bit late due to the icey roads but made it none the less. Nothing too excited happen I'm suppose to finish this one particular ticket I've been working on for 2 weeks but I've honestly haven't made any head room for it as of yet. Have gathered a great deal of information but a good bit of it doesn't make sense...so will see how that goes.
As for the evening two friends stopped by. Another session of teach individuals how computers worked ensued and basically merged two computer systems together. After that played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal which I'm thoroughly enjoying so far. Honestly can't get enough of this game. Though in retrospect I'll need to catch up on sleep so hopefully tomorrow is pretty laid back and will provide an opportunity for additional rest. One of my goals next year is to get on a psuedo normal sleep schedule and end the silliness relating to sleeping for about 5-6 hours a day.
No other real news for the moment aside from cleaning the house which is just basic normal stuff and likewise no real plans for the week. Maybe a hang out session or two and possibly plans for New Years which is mostly in the air...while I do miss having Magfest during this time can't be helped that I have nothing better to do during that time. I mean it might top last year as I was in the registration line giving people discounts on excess tickets I had from registration.
Haven't had a great deal of time to play any video games today though I do hope that if time allows I can squeeze in some HoN and maybe get to the next level in Super Meat Boy or IWBTG not sure as of yet.
Pretty much out of things to say at this point so off to bed. I'll have some sort of creative rant tomorrow sense I think things will be calmer by then.
Night all!
As for the evening two friends stopped by. Another session of teach individuals how computers worked ensued and basically merged two computer systems together. After that played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal which I'm thoroughly enjoying so far. Honestly can't get enough of this game. Though in retrospect I'll need to catch up on sleep so hopefully tomorrow is pretty laid back and will provide an opportunity for additional rest. One of my goals next year is to get on a psuedo normal sleep schedule and end the silliness relating to sleeping for about 5-6 hours a day.
No other real news for the moment aside from cleaning the house which is just basic normal stuff and likewise no real plans for the week. Maybe a hang out session or two and possibly plans for New Years which is mostly in the air...while I do miss having Magfest during this time can't be helped that I have nothing better to do during that time. I mean it might top last year as I was in the registration line giving people discounts on excess tickets I had from registration.
Haven't had a great deal of time to play any video games today though I do hope that if time allows I can squeeze in some HoN and maybe get to the next level in Super Meat Boy or IWBTG not sure as of yet.
Pretty much out of things to say at this point so off to bed. I'll have some sort of creative rant tomorrow sense I think things will be calmer by then.
Night all!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Da Weekend after X-Mas (and X-Mas)
The past few days haven't been too shabby but seeing how I should probably be in bed soon along with the fact that it wasn't too interesting I'm gonna breeze through them fairly quickly.
X-Mas:
For Christmas morning I wasn't really awake in any real way shape or form. In fact I slept through my alarm and my dad came to my room to wake me up. I was able to get ready and over to my mom's house in about 30 minutes which I have to say is a mass improvement. The morning was eatting pancakes and opening gifts. My dad and myself picked up my sister a laptop for a surprised gift, she broke down into tears cause she was so happy it was great. As for my own gift the best one was socks and later on in the evening got a bear clock (basically its a clock with 3 bears surrounding it quite nice). After the gifts were done we tried out the "Monopoly Card Game" my mom picked up. Have to admit pretty freakin awesome and definitely encourages aggressive game play. That and unlike monopoly takes about 15-45 minutes to play so there's no overly exaggerated games which take forever due to trading stale mates. Amusingly enough I won the round and from there we went to my Aunt's place.
As usually I made my way upstairs to relax and read. My cousin got some sort of reading gift which I had to set-up but that didn't take long. Also wrote instructions how to install additional books for later. When that was done read more 1984 and then rested my eyes on the floor for a bit...yes actually rested my eyes not fall asleep, lets keep that straight. When my mom was ready to head out warmed up and cleaned them off and departed. After taking my mom back home (and almost got stuck in the culdesac) made my way back to dad's. Stayed up a bit late but did go to bed at a decent time.
Saturday wasn't all that exciting along with Sunday both pretty calm filled with mostly gaming and relaxing. I would right more but getting tired needed rest work tomorrow.
Night all
X-Mas:
For Christmas morning I wasn't really awake in any real way shape or form. In fact I slept through my alarm and my dad came to my room to wake me up. I was able to get ready and over to my mom's house in about 30 minutes which I have to say is a mass improvement. The morning was eatting pancakes and opening gifts. My dad and myself picked up my sister a laptop for a surprised gift, she broke down into tears cause she was so happy it was great. As for my own gift the best one was socks and later on in the evening got a bear clock (basically its a clock with 3 bears surrounding it quite nice). After the gifts were done we tried out the "Monopoly Card Game" my mom picked up. Have to admit pretty freakin awesome and definitely encourages aggressive game play. That and unlike monopoly takes about 15-45 minutes to play so there's no overly exaggerated games which take forever due to trading stale mates. Amusingly enough I won the round and from there we went to my Aunt's place.
As usually I made my way upstairs to relax and read. My cousin got some sort of reading gift which I had to set-up but that didn't take long. Also wrote instructions how to install additional books for later. When that was done read more 1984 and then rested my eyes on the floor for a bit...yes actually rested my eyes not fall asleep, lets keep that straight. When my mom was ready to head out warmed up and cleaned them off and departed. After taking my mom back home (and almost got stuck in the culdesac) made my way back to dad's. Stayed up a bit late but did go to bed at a decent time.
Saturday wasn't all that exciting along with Sunday both pretty calm filled with mostly gaming and relaxing. I would right more but getting tired needed rest work tomorrow.
Night all
Friday, December 24, 2010
X-Mas Eve
Overall today wasn't too bad, definitely had one of those mornings where I woke up about 2-3 hours after crashing then went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Ended up going to bed at around 5-6ish then woke up at 9 (not sure why) then woke up at noon (not sure why again) and then finally decided 3rd time was a charm and felt it was necessary to actually get out of bed. From there woke up got dressed and made my way over to my mom's place.
Recently she injured her right arm (think its sprained) so I provided assistance with some shopping, cleaning, and setting up the tree. Dinner was also made but I didn't stay long wanted to get back and do...um...not much to be honest. Played a good bit of HoN once again but that's about it. I need to practice for Magfest but its been on the backburnder for a bit. I did spend sometime running anti-'bad stuff' on my sisters computer though I don't think I'll meet my original quota of x-mas but I want to make sure its 100% complete.
That's about it for now going to accumulate about 5-6 hours of sleep and then enter my multiple sleeping stupor until my family members decided to depart. Good nitght everyone and of course.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Recently she injured her right arm (think its sprained) so I provided assistance with some shopping, cleaning, and setting up the tree. Dinner was also made but I didn't stay long wanted to get back and do...um...not much to be honest. Played a good bit of HoN once again but that's about it. I need to practice for Magfest but its been on the backburnder for a bit. I did spend sometime running anti-'bad stuff' on my sisters computer though I don't think I'll meet my original quota of x-mas but I want to make sure its 100% complete.
That's about it for now going to accumulate about 5-6 hours of sleep and then enter my multiple sleeping stupor until my family members decided to depart. Good nitght everyone and of course.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Its 4 o'clock...and I'm awake why?
Honestly I'm not sure why I'm awake at this hour but seeing how my day is finally drawing to a close I figured now would be a good time to start blogging about how it went.
For starters worked at home today and it wasn't all that hectic. I did have an interview this afternoon and below is an excerpt of how I was feeling afterwards that I posted on my fb notes page.
"Ever seen me nervous? Trust me you obviously don't its a terrible sight and what pretty much happen for the first 15-30 minutes of my one hour interview. I've never seen myself triple question my thoughts, go silent for periods at a time attempting to formulate answers and on top of that I don't remembering saying ah or um...At least I nailed the first handful of SQL questions..I think. In all seriousness though the only time I've seen myself that nervous is when I'm thinking (keyword here 'thinking') about asking someone I'm deeply interested in out...Either that or when I climb up water slides but that's more fear than nervous.
For starters worked at home today and it wasn't all that hectic. I did have an interview this afternoon and below is an excerpt of how I was feeling afterwards that I posted on my fb notes page.
"Ever seen me nervous? Trust me you obviously don't its a terrible sight and what pretty much happen for the first 15-30 minutes of my one hour interview. I've never seen myself triple question my thoughts, go silent for periods at a time attempting to formulate answers and on top of that I don't remembering saying ah or um...At least I nailed the first handful of SQL questions..I think. In all seriousness though the only time I've seen myself that nervous is when I'm thinking (keyword here 'thinking') about asking someone I'm deeply interested in out...Either that or when I climb up water slides but that's more fear than nervous.
In regards to the title though I was prepared for it so wasn't caught off guard...but some of the stuff like 'have you ever encounter an issue with a boss or co-worker' or 'when given a set of possible solutions and given the best one how do present it'...it all felt like it came from Interviewing101...something I knew 2-3 years ago but definitely not now. I spent so much time worrying about my knowledge in SQL in being immersed in it that I forgot the basics of an interview...luckily it was over the phone though...god forbid if it was in person.
I'm honestly not expecting a follow-up in anyway shape or form cause every time they sound interested and telling you all about the position that you'll probably never get a glove on your just left feeling, empty. Have to admit though the fiber optic x-mas tree that my dad set-up is making me cheer up a good bit.
Any who won't dwell on it there's always better things in life, and things to be learned...just some lessons learned are bigger than others...some people drink during downs, I myself prefer delightful digital debauchery.
La ta."
In short I was feeling pretty awful about the whole interview process and raging a good bit around the house and trying everything in my power to reduce the rage. I must admit some of it was physically exert but at a much lower capacity so I'm grateful to myself restraint for that. Approximately 1 hour after I finished the interview I got a call from my recruiter telling me the interview went well and there looking to do a second interview/lunch.
Sort of have mixed feeling about this because on one hand I'm really glad that they found me interesting while on the other hand I find it frustrating that they thought that my performance was 'good', 'acceptable', 'qualifier' I dunno. It could be that I set my bar for myself silly high and never able to leap over it, but I have a separate post for that...found out something interesting about an actually classification relating to some of the games I play.
After the whole interview silliness concluded my workday had a light dinner and spent the rest of the watching tv, playing Super Meat Boy, and Heroes of Newerth...pretty relaxing day if I have to say so myself. This seems a bit condensed so I'm gonna go ahead and hit that gaming interesting thing i found out today.
So for those that don't know I'm a strong advocate of game that actually teach you through trail and error along with being difficult leaving little room for error. There's actually a name for this genre called 'Masocore' or as defined by the internet (specifically Giantbomb.com)
"Through trial and error gameplay, complex game mechanics and intense difficulty, masocore games are specifically designed to frustrate players over and over again...Masocore (a portmanteau of "masochism" and "hardcore") is a video game sub-genre specifically designed to frustrate players by combining complex game mechanics with intense, seemingly impossible difficulty, in special "trial and error" scenarios."
This probably contributes why I don't enjoy a lot of games unless its on Hard/Difficult setting. Not to mention seeing how I enjoyed "VVVVVV", "Super Meat Boy", "Cave Story Hell" amongst other titles this is no surprised. Supposedly there's one called "N+" but that requires a system I don't own so don't see myself picking that up anytime soon. However now that I do know what it is I'll be looking for more titles of this genre (such as Mighty Jill Off {thank you super Meat Boy}, I want to be the guy two {I avoid this game like the plague but I'm actually gonna sit down and give it ago...on the second screen after 12 deaths....good start} and some others i can't think of atm...oh ya Super Kaizo Brothers) as I believe they'll keep me interested longer than...most titles where I go 'oh...this was hard...but I finished it in 12 hours and well lacking'.
That's about it for now need to head off to bed get some rest and be ready for the eve of x-mas...nite all.
P.S: To clarify any confusion from this post relating to the "masocore" this does not mean I'm a "masochist". By using that prefix logic that would be assuming that all 'homo sapiens" are "homoncul..." I mean "homosexuals" which is definitely not the case.
Anywho nite again!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Blog Post Inc
So finally I've finally decided to take the opportunity to actually get some of my thoughts out my system over the past 2 weeks and I must say a good bit has happen all the up to this point. Some of it has been super productivity while other parts of it have been rather lazy and laid back. As 2010 concludes itself I can only really reflect at this point on the mistakes I made along with parts I felt I did far beyond I would have original thought (more 'I's please). None the less this maybe a lengthy post or broken down into 3 post...I can't say for sure but in either case let me get started.
Vacation Week:
For starters this is the first period of time in my life in which I had honestly had an entire week off work...though probably unlike most I did not have anything played out what so ever. This week I'd have to say was partly wasted/experimental. Originally I had planned to visit my friend in Ohio or visit Chicago to see the US's second largest arcade. However both of those were canceled due to snow, I ain't mad at you snow. From there I plotted a second course of action of perhaps visiting several board game stores in VA...I also choose not to take that one as the travel cost would effect my overall budget for the year so it was declined as well. It may sound like penny pinching but the main thing I want to be is comfortable for retirement and I've effectively started my retirement plan about a year or two late so I wanna make sure I'm on the ball for the remainder years. Not to mention it seems like its the best idea to start planning in your mid 20s but that's a topic for another day.
As for I actually did on my vacation was a bit of well...reflection I would say. I relocated my computer and spent most of the time watching TV, playing games and staying up into the late hours of the morning...basically reliving my college days. Overall I didn't mind it though I would not want to make habit of it. I did find recently that if I do stay up late all the time I do get a little bumped out but I'm not sure if that was a result of the lack of planning for the time off or just the effects of staying up multiple nights late and sleeping for 12+ hours. The other thing I've learn is that I'm probably better off going with hourly in the future. I still have about 3 days of vacation saved up and no real urge to spend them... rather just take the pay hit and recover it later with the compensate cost.
There were a few highlights game wise though, I effectively avoid Cata which I'm extremely proud of myself for doing so, it was some what tempting but after going through a handful of steam games i.e: Dead Space, Sol Survivor, Disregard for Gravity, Beat Hazard, Metro 2033 I figured I'd be set...that and I have this thing called morals which surprisingly exist in this day and age. Also located GSN and National Geographic a good and an evil I suppose. That's about it for the vacation week.
Week following Vacation:
This week after the vacation was a bit more stressful and more than I bargained for. During the vacation week I got a potential interview opportunity for a Support Analysis position along with following up with Magfest contacts and catching up with work I missed in the last week...fun times. For the Support Analysis position I knew there was a possibility of an interview but didn't find out till Monday that I was definitely green light for one for the early portion of the afternoon. Its got a lot to do with SQL so I've been reading up on that a good bit and make sure I have a firm understanding that I can talk about it. That and looking over my resume mentally for accomplishments that I could point out and relate to the potential position...I really do hope it goes well...but will see.
Magfest wise things were hectic for a bit there was one individual that kept changing his mind approximately every week and after a month ( I was being exceptional nice) just dropped him and have recomposed a group along with a second group (which broke down) sense then. So I'm feeling pretty confident there. We have about 4 people in our room might add a 5th if people weren't lazy at responding but will see. That and the challenge both looking forward to actually maybe giving it a bit more effort this year.
As for work its been a bit on and off. there's been some cases in which its been exceptional busy while other days its been a bit slow. Can't complain too much just keeping up with the task at hand.
This week however has been a bit different with work becoming exceptional heavy. The main issue being that while I'm suppose to be working on one urgent request I've been assigned another request in my queue which I've been staying up into the late hours of a couple nights working on it....not fun I must admit, but was able to complete a majority of it. Any free time accumulate has been used to play Killing Floor (finish x-mas achievements in 3 days yay!), steam sales started so grabbed Super Meat Boy...loving it, and a good bit of HoN...which I might take a break from for a bit but undecided. Shopping has been taken care of and bought myself a new book, 1984, in light of the recent Net Neutrality rulings I've felt it necessary to obtain a better idea as to why people keep referencing this book when they hear about Net Neutrality. Gave the SC2 demo ago and it wasn't too bad however I value it more at about 35-40 bucks rather than 50 still think that's a bit much for it. Rest of the time I've spent studying SQL and that's about it.
Plans Ahead:
With this year drawing to a close there's definitely been some highlights. Obvious Magfest each year is a huge factor along with the Distant Worlds concert ranking up there with the trip to NY which is always a nice break from the norm. I've already composed a list of things I plan to aim next year and complete to the best of my abilities.
1) Drop to 165-170 lbs. - I was about this weight in college don't see any reason why I can't go back to it.
2) Accumulate an average of 8-10 hours of sleep each day - There was a brief period where I was getting 12 hours of sleep....loved it but I think 8-10 is suitable.
3) Keep 3 tracks of the budget - Originally I just had a digital copy till it got corrupted so going to keep 3 records now. Digital, papers, and back-up of the digital...all encrypted of course.
4) Learn to cook - Its a life long tool just like riding the bike or playing an instrument can't go wrong.
5) Working out 3 days a week for 30-60 minutes - I use to love running in the cold gotta get back to it.
6) Pick up Meditation - Way over due.
7) Re-establish time schedule - One thing I use to do in college/early post-college was keep track of how much time I would spend on each task...definitely good for figuring out lost hours.
8) Read 1-2 books a month - I already due this with web documents but would like to do this with hard copies.
Leaving room for 2 more to expand upon or there either person and not listed though I am willing to share if people wanna guess lol . That's about it for now gonna do a daily update tonight if time allows. La ta
Vacation Week:
For starters this is the first period of time in my life in which I had honestly had an entire week off work...though probably unlike most I did not have anything played out what so ever. This week I'd have to say was partly wasted/experimental. Originally I had planned to visit my friend in Ohio or visit Chicago to see the US's second largest arcade. However both of those were canceled due to snow, I ain't mad at you snow. From there I plotted a second course of action of perhaps visiting several board game stores in VA...I also choose not to take that one as the travel cost would effect my overall budget for the year so it was declined as well. It may sound like penny pinching but the main thing I want to be is comfortable for retirement and I've effectively started my retirement plan about a year or two late so I wanna make sure I'm on the ball for the remainder years. Not to mention it seems like its the best idea to start planning in your mid 20s but that's a topic for another day.
As for I actually did on my vacation was a bit of well...reflection I would say. I relocated my computer and spent most of the time watching TV, playing games and staying up into the late hours of the morning...basically reliving my college days. Overall I didn't mind it though I would not want to make habit of it. I did find recently that if I do stay up late all the time I do get a little bumped out but I'm not sure if that was a result of the lack of planning for the time off or just the effects of staying up multiple nights late and sleeping for 12+ hours. The other thing I've learn is that I'm probably better off going with hourly in the future. I still have about 3 days of vacation saved up and no real urge to spend them... rather just take the pay hit and recover it later with the compensate cost.
There were a few highlights game wise though, I effectively avoid Cata which I'm extremely proud of myself for doing so, it was some what tempting but after going through a handful of steam games i.e: Dead Space, Sol Survivor, Disregard for Gravity, Beat Hazard, Metro 2033 I figured I'd be set...that and I have this thing called morals which surprisingly exist in this day and age. Also located GSN and National Geographic a good and an evil I suppose. That's about it for the vacation week.
Week following Vacation:
This week after the vacation was a bit more stressful and more than I bargained for. During the vacation week I got a potential interview opportunity for a Support Analysis position along with following up with Magfest contacts and catching up with work I missed in the last week...fun times. For the Support Analysis position I knew there was a possibility of an interview but didn't find out till Monday that I was definitely green light for one for the early portion of the afternoon. Its got a lot to do with SQL so I've been reading up on that a good bit and make sure I have a firm understanding that I can talk about it. That and looking over my resume mentally for accomplishments that I could point out and relate to the potential position...I really do hope it goes well...but will see.
Magfest wise things were hectic for a bit there was one individual that kept changing his mind approximately every week and after a month ( I was being exceptional nice) just dropped him and have recomposed a group along with a second group (which broke down) sense then. So I'm feeling pretty confident there. We have about 4 people in our room might add a 5th if people weren't lazy at responding but will see. That and the challenge both looking forward to actually maybe giving it a bit more effort this year.
As for work its been a bit on and off. there's been some cases in which its been exceptional busy while other days its been a bit slow. Can't complain too much just keeping up with the task at hand.
This week however has been a bit different with work becoming exceptional heavy. The main issue being that while I'm suppose to be working on one urgent request I've been assigned another request in my queue which I've been staying up into the late hours of a couple nights working on it....not fun I must admit, but was able to complete a majority of it. Any free time accumulate has been used to play Killing Floor (finish x-mas achievements in 3 days yay!), steam sales started so grabbed Super Meat Boy...loving it, and a good bit of HoN...which I might take a break from for a bit but undecided. Shopping has been taken care of and bought myself a new book, 1984, in light of the recent Net Neutrality rulings I've felt it necessary to obtain a better idea as to why people keep referencing this book when they hear about Net Neutrality. Gave the SC2 demo ago and it wasn't too bad however I value it more at about 35-40 bucks rather than 50 still think that's a bit much for it. Rest of the time I've spent studying SQL and that's about it.
Plans Ahead:
With this year drawing to a close there's definitely been some highlights. Obvious Magfest each year is a huge factor along with the Distant Worlds concert ranking up there with the trip to NY which is always a nice break from the norm. I've already composed a list of things I plan to aim next year and complete to the best of my abilities.
1) Drop to 165-170 lbs. - I was about this weight in college don't see any reason why I can't go back to it.
2) Accumulate an average of 8-10 hours of sleep each day - There was a brief period where I was getting 12 hours of sleep....loved it but I think 8-10 is suitable.
3) Keep 3 tracks of the budget - Originally I just had a digital copy till it got corrupted so going to keep 3 records now. Digital, papers, and back-up of the digital...all encrypted of course.
4) Learn to cook - Its a life long tool just like riding the bike or playing an instrument can't go wrong.
5) Working out 3 days a week for 30-60 minutes - I use to love running in the cold gotta get back to it.
6) Pick up Meditation - Way over due.
7) Re-establish time schedule - One thing I use to do in college/early post-college was keep track of how much time I would spend on each task...definitely good for figuring out lost hours.
8) Read 1-2 books a month - I already due this with web documents but would like to do this with hard copies.
Leaving room for 2 more to expand upon or there either person and not listed though I am willing to share if people wanna guess lol . That's about it for now gonna do a daily update tonight if time allows. La ta
Monday, December 20, 2010
Way behind...
Surprisingly life has been very burst...on and of per se and I haven't had a chance to really sit down and provide updates. I'll be doing so tonight and making it a future goal to stay on the ball on this...like seriously this time no more 'every day yay' and then going dead for weeks on end...anywho work later all!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Reasons I don't plan to come back for Cata....
Yes my friends in the early hours in the morning I've seen it fit to finally write this post elaborating on exactly why I don't plan to come back to the World of Warcraft. I feel this post (in addition to my time spent on vacation) is far overdue and will give an overview along with a detailed level reasoning as to why i do not plan to return. There all fairly valid reason from my point of view and of course can be argued as sense we are all humans (most of us anyways) we are capable of debate. However without further a due lets begin.
ActivisionBlizzard:
Instead of rambling on about how much I despise this overall merger I'm just going to link this 17 page article of all the changes that have happen to Blizzard sense the merger to June/July 2010:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=128252
This pretty much saves me a large chunk of hassle and pretty much states the facts without having me throw in the large amount of bais opinion that comes with my voice when delivering a message.
Friends on multiple servers:
This one is definitely a biggie on my list. Prior to considering coming back for Cataclysm there have been about 2-3 friends that have been interested in having me come back and play with them on each of there respective servers. In the past when attempting to level multiple toons on multiple servers while playing with several friends it never turned out well. I would spend approximately 8-12 hours a day leveling and socializing which in my current real life scenario I definitely don't have the time. Primarily this would cut into my other game time, job hunting, and A+ studies. Not to mention sense this is during the early phases of the game it might result in raiding with multiple guilds...another big no no on my list.
Enjoying the time away:
Since I quit back in the earlier portions of this year I haven't really had an urge to come back. Equally due to my knowledge in previous MMO there was already a plan in place to fill in the void of time that would result from quitting (which wasn't that large sense I mostly was playing arena at that point). As a result the list of my steam games has increased significantly along with my passion for board games. Now a days I find myself playing through my games on steam/wii, playing casual games of no stat hon and board games with friend. I enjoy the fact that my life/free time no longer revolves around a raid schedule and I'm free to do as I please. The choice of going 'hey I wanna go work on Kirby Super Star today or maybe Dead Space' rather than 'did I work on those dailys today..is the hope the heroic isn't occy' doesn't seem as a appeal.
Lack of time there of:
This kind of ties into the last point but rather as of late I haven't had a lot time (with the exception of this week) to really sink a large chunk of time into a game. With warcraft I would need at least 2-3 hours set aside to take care of everything I wanted to (on a single toon) while if I'm working on another title or reading I can place it aside when I please and go about to attend to another task. Not much to this point but felt another paragraph was necessary.
Its new and fresh...or is it?
I know not everyone can reflect on this but basically Cata has had this kind of feel on me. Do you remember playing Golden Eye and how insanely fun it was. Remembering the spawn points for special weapons, respawn after you killed someone to effective camp their body, Facility on 00 agent in under 2 minutes and 5 seconds? Those were solid and good times right? Back in the day where Rare made solid games that made you nod and truely appreciate the company (well at least till they made Donkey Kong 64...ranks up there with Super Man imo). In either case then Perfect Dark is released a little while later. Same solid game but with improvements. There's added functionality for bots, more weapons, added firing range feature, saved statitics the works...but I still have more fond memories of Golden Eye. Why? Mainly I think because it came first and even with all the fixes and tweaks the old dog is still one of my best friends.
I've used this analogy with Diablo and Titan Quest as well and the way I feel with games that follow this model is that its had its day in the Sun and just as Blizzard wiped away all there good memories of old world (with its bit of bad coding {honestly from a dev standpoint fixing it would have been nicer} old dungeons, and uneven terrain to be exploited for climbing purposes) I feel that I must to must say the old dog to rest and move forward. This also reflects back to being a 'gamer' rather than a 'warcraft player' but none the less I feel its time to move on :).
Not everything is new in Cata...early levels:
I know some people will disagree with me and my 1 week worth of PTR knowledge relating to this but based on what I played primarily the newbie areas had been revamped...well some of them. Orc newbie land is exactly the same along with a few others. Equally though while some of the new areas are updated (Gnome, Troll, and Undead to name a few) the secondary quest hubs are essentially the same...which was a huge let down. I always find the first 5 levels to be the easiest and chill but when your hitting that second quest hub area you'd hope the freshness would continue which is unfortunately not the case. You get a bit of stale bread with your fresh milk and it doesn't leave the freshest taste in your mouth.
PVP Balance:
This is basically blank till I see what's happening this arena season.
Endless Cycle:
I'm getting way to sleep at this point but basically this point is establishing that I really don't feel like sinking back into the loop again where I'm binded to paying 190 dollars (approximately 2.5 billion steam games or the 1/3 of a PS3) to play the game each year. I feel like my money could be better invested else where and I would actually have possession of whatever I own (steam is pseudo possession but good enough for me). That and I'll see myself come next expansion going 'well nope I don't wanna play...oh look my accounts been reupped and I'm good to go'. Just going to sit out and put my foot down.
I realize there's some points I missed here (seeing how its 5:30 in the morning) and the donut shop openned 30 minutes ago so I'm going to get myself a fresh donut...maybe sleep, nite all :3
Edit: 12/23/2010 - Just realized this was formatted incorrectly so tweaking this post
ActivisionBlizzard:
Instead of rambling on about how much I despise this overall merger I'm just going to link this 17 page article of all the changes that have happen to Blizzard sense the merger to June/July 2010:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=128252
This pretty much saves me a large chunk of hassle and pretty much states the facts without having me throw in the large amount of bais opinion that comes with my voice when delivering a message.
Friends on multiple servers:
This one is definitely a biggie on my list. Prior to considering coming back for Cataclysm there have been about 2-3 friends that have been interested in having me come back and play with them on each of there respective servers. In the past when attempting to level multiple toons on multiple servers while playing with several friends it never turned out well. I would spend approximately 8-12 hours a day leveling and socializing which in my current real life scenario I definitely don't have the time. Primarily this would cut into my other game time, job hunting, and A+ studies. Not to mention sense this is during the early phases of the game it might result in raiding with multiple guilds...another big no no on my list.
Enjoying the time away:
Since I quit back in the earlier portions of this year I haven't really had an urge to come back. Equally due to my knowledge in previous MMO there was already a plan in place to fill in the void of time that would result from quitting (which wasn't that large sense I mostly was playing arena at that point). As a result the list of my steam games has increased significantly along with my passion for board games. Now a days I find myself playing through my games on steam/wii, playing casual games of no stat hon and board games with friend. I enjoy the fact that my life/free time no longer revolves around a raid schedule and I'm free to do as I please. The choice of going 'hey I wanna go work on Kirby Super Star today or maybe Dead Space' rather than 'did I work on those dailys today..is the hope the heroic isn't occy' doesn't seem as a appeal.
Lack of time there of:
This kind of ties into the last point but rather as of late I haven't had a lot time (with the exception of this week) to really sink a large chunk of time into a game. With warcraft I would need at least 2-3 hours set aside to take care of everything I wanted to (on a single toon) while if I'm working on another title or reading I can place it aside when I please and go about to attend to another task. Not much to this point but felt another paragraph was necessary.
Its new and fresh...or is it?
I know not everyone can reflect on this but basically Cata has had this kind of feel on me. Do you remember playing Golden Eye and how insanely fun it was. Remembering the spawn points for special weapons, respawn after you killed someone to effective camp their body, Facility on 00 agent in under 2 minutes and 5 seconds? Those were solid and good times right? Back in the day where Rare made solid games that made you nod and truely appreciate the company (well at least till they made Donkey Kong 64...ranks up there with Super Man imo). In either case then Perfect Dark is released a little while later. Same solid game but with improvements. There's added functionality for bots, more weapons, added firing range feature, saved statitics the works...but I still have more fond memories of Golden Eye. Why? Mainly I think because it came first and even with all the fixes and tweaks the old dog is still one of my best friends.
I've used this analogy with Diablo and Titan Quest as well and the way I feel with games that follow this model is that its had its day in the Sun and just as Blizzard wiped away all there good memories of old world (with its bit of bad coding {honestly from a dev standpoint fixing it would have been nicer} old dungeons, and uneven terrain to be exploited for climbing purposes) I feel that I must to must say the old dog to rest and move forward. This also reflects back to being a 'gamer' rather than a 'warcraft player' but none the less I feel its time to move on :).
Not everything is new in Cata...early levels:
I know some people will disagree with me and my 1 week worth of PTR knowledge relating to this but based on what I played primarily the newbie areas had been revamped...well some of them. Orc newbie land is exactly the same along with a few others. Equally though while some of the new areas are updated (Gnome, Troll, and Undead to name a few) the secondary quest hubs are essentially the same...which was a huge let down. I always find the first 5 levels to be the easiest and chill but when your hitting that second quest hub area you'd hope the freshness would continue which is unfortunately not the case. You get a bit of stale bread with your fresh milk and it doesn't leave the freshest taste in your mouth.
PVP Balance:
This is basically blank till I see what's happening this arena season.
Endless Cycle:
I'm getting way to sleep at this point but basically this point is establishing that I really don't feel like sinking back into the loop again where I'm binded to paying 190 dollars (approximately 2.5 billion steam games or the 1/3 of a PS3) to play the game each year. I feel like my money could be better invested else where and I would actually have possession of whatever I own (steam is pseudo possession but good enough for me). That and I'll see myself come next expansion going 'well nope I don't wanna play...oh look my accounts been reupped and I'm good to go'. Just going to sit out and put my foot down.
I realize there's some points I missed here (seeing how its 5:30 in the morning) and the donut shop openned 30 minutes ago so I'm going to get myself a fresh donut...maybe sleep, nite all :3
Edit: 12/23/2010 - Just realized this was formatted incorrectly so tweaking this post
Saturday, December 4, 2010
What a wonderful and splendid party
Initially today was kind of blah at first but I have to say come time 7:15-7:30 it really started to pick up.
So ironically I woke up at about noon today (its ironic because that's the time I was born and went downstairs to check my cell phone, emails, facebook and so forth. Found out I had 2 miss calls one from my mom and the other from work. Wasn't too surprised to see the work one and found out that supposedly my timesheets for last week weren't submitted. So the second thing I do...boot up my work computer and get it sorted out. One has to admit that its kind of annoying that the first/second thing you have to do is work related but I didn't let is phase me too much. From there I spent most of the day sorting out the remainder of the task that needed to be done before guest arrived.
I probably spent too much time contemplating over and devising the overall set-up. There was one miscalculation relating to how many people can effectively sit at the 'awesome/epic table'. The most it can hold is about 7-8 people however there was a definitely possibility of 14-16 people being present at any point in time ( I believe the max was 13-14 but it was something I was keeping in mind. So after several measurements and coming to reality on things three tables definitely had to be used (awesome/epic table, my old computer desk and an extra folding table my dad had). The wasted time was trying to get the kitchen table in there and figuring out any last minute tweaks. There was a neat idea I had of hosting a computer in the other room to run old emulators but that fell through when I realized the extra Hard Drive had was installed with Linux and I have minimal knowledge running duel monitors in Linux. So I gave up on that idea and downloaded "Kirby Super Star" (which didn't get played but I might give it a go tomorrow.
After all those configurations were made I had about an hour or two of chill time so I decided to give Elder Scrolls 4 : Oblivion ago. I realized Bethesda makes really buggy games but then I saw the S2 logo and realized that there would be some quick easy bugs real quick. No more than I had played 30 minutes in that I found that when stealth around enemies (i.e: walking) it increases your stealth stat. So from there I rebound my 'w' key to '-' on the keypad and put something heavy (i.e: wallet or wood glue) on it to keep walking into a wall. The stats currently at 75+, it would be higher but there's a prompt that displays every 25ish levels or so. At that point I let it go into 'auto-pilot' and started to load sheets into the washer and attending to other task.
Around this time my dad came back and gave me his gifts...speaking of gits I got a couple of neat ones. My mom gave me 50 bucks (which I used to purchase consumables), dad gave me a $30 gift card to food lion, and Sarah Watson and her bf gave me a harmonica... overall pretty awesome gifts. I've been looking for something new to learn and well the Harmonica seems like the right direction to go in. The money I plan to spend on friends no real reason to spend any of it on myself. My dad departed around 6ish or so and at that point John was on his way over.
John arrived at 6:30 and I got his opinion on number of pizzas. I was thinking 4 to 6 and he agreed with me on 6 so that's what we rolled with. After the order was placed I put a sign on the door informing I might be late (which wasn't necessary as no one really came on time) and we made our way to Wal-Mart and Lil C's. John was harassed a bit by the bell but we were able to gather the necessary materials. At one point we found two Raspberry White Tea with different package but almost the same product information. The only difference was the sodium intact but calories, portion size, carbohydrates all the same. I believe sugar was slight different but otherwise same product. John went with the lower sodium sugar choice I grabbed a Moutain Dew and laundry sheets and we made our way to Lil C's. The total was a bit much when I heard it but completely expected. With a back seat full of pizzas we made our way back.
Upon returning we set-up the pizzas and started to consume which about 10-15 minutes from chilling in the kitchen Sarah and her bf Adam showed up. It was really good to see them again and lead them into the house. Pizza was offered and consumption and talking of animals ensued amongst other things. They were unaware Lil C's did stuff crust pizza but was pleased by the overall taste. There's definitely people out there that don't know about it primarily because Lil C's doesn't really advertise about it (sense their most popular for there $5 hot and ready) that and along with the fact that you gotta wait for it to cook before picking them up. After some time I realized that maybe some activity's need to be done to kill time so I suggested we make pilgramage to the board game room. Once again (I believe) they were impressed by the set-up but we sat down (Sarah grabbed some chips and dips) and we started to play Fluxx.
The initially round was quick however the following round was taking sometime and not to mention people were starting to show up as we were playing through it (two guest, even got through a game of boggle). I suggested we stop early and begin a game of "Eat Poop You Cat". The moment I began to describe the game Dean instantly knew what I was talking about (which was good cause I wanted to make sure I got the rules right). The basic objective was to write a sentence the past it to the next person which they would draw a picture. Once the picture is drawn then its passed again so the next person can write a sentence about what they think the picture is and so forth. Overall the game was a huge hit and went off really well. We got about 3 rounds in before a couple guest had to depart.
During these periods I got to try out one of the guest cupcakes with Marshmellow roses. After eating just one I had to give the guest a few as well. They equally thought they were delicious and gave the individual the well earned praise. At this point the Harmonica gift was up and it looked all sorts of pretty, really couldn't argue with how cool and well done it looked. After that gift but what else.... cake of course. 3 tier layed cake with 2 layers of chocolate...probably the main reason I'm up and writing this without any issues...chocolate keeps me awake/hyper yay! Cake consumption lead to game suggestion the primarily ones were Left Center Right and Mafia... Left Center Right was the selection. A good bit of rolling and stealing ensued but unfortunately Mo and his crew had to depart due to a personal issue which occured.
In all honesty it the thoughts that counts, even the people that didn't make I really did appreciate them give me their respective happy birthday and keeping me in their thoughts over the course of the day. Overall it was quite good couldn't ask for me. While the departure of some did even out the group and made it a bit small its the impression in time which they left in history and in my own and others memorys that count (please see pants cannon for details).
This left us with about 6 people for Left Center Right which went on for quite sometime until Mina eventually crushed us all with 9 chips left. From here there was a small break and I took the time to clean up garbage before proceeding to Catan as Sean had never played it before. Around this time Tyler had called and eventually showed up cleaning up a good majority of the food left over (which I was thankful for as I did not want the responsibility co consume that much). However before the game started two guest had to leave which left us with about 5 people for Catan...and 2 hours of madness which ensued.
Surprisingly I wasn't paying all that much attention (between harmonica practice and text messaging) and found myself constantly in the lead and winning...it was weird. Eventually I did win when people started trading me to help me win to get it over with (rofl). Tyler was close but unfortunately there was some favoritism. Ways were parted soon after and I found myself smiling at the remains of which was probably one of the top 5 birthdays I've had in quite some time.
Still fueled by the power of triple tier caked I spent the last hour or so cleaning up and putting furniture back in its place. Pretty much everything is back in its original order and I find myself typing the events of the evening.
Looking back at it I can't honestly express in words what good friends I have and the amount of entertainment/fun that occurred. Old friends along with new friends all in a central location with some cross communication. Everyone overall seemed quite happy and pleased with each game (well minus the one person that just doesn't like games I suppose) played and experienced. Big props have to go out to my dad for letting me use the place for the evening. I don't believe this would have been possible if I had been in my apartment due to the limitation of space and worrying about neighbors. Such a huge plus to have the spaciousness of a house to work with for gatherings such as these.
Well I'm slowly drawing to the conclusion of this post...there's not much left to do except wait for this sugar rush to wear off so I can sleep soon. I think I've found the best solution for this problem though...Honcast.
Good night everyone best of dreams and thanks again for the splendid times :D.
So ironically I woke up at about noon today (its ironic because that's the time I was born and went downstairs to check my cell phone, emails, facebook and so forth. Found out I had 2 miss calls one from my mom and the other from work. Wasn't too surprised to see the work one and found out that supposedly my timesheets for last week weren't submitted. So the second thing I do...boot up my work computer and get it sorted out. One has to admit that its kind of annoying that the first/second thing you have to do is work related but I didn't let is phase me too much. From there I spent most of the day sorting out the remainder of the task that needed to be done before guest arrived.
I probably spent too much time contemplating over and devising the overall set-up. There was one miscalculation relating to how many people can effectively sit at the 'awesome/epic table'. The most it can hold is about 7-8 people however there was a definitely possibility of 14-16 people being present at any point in time ( I believe the max was 13-14 but it was something I was keeping in mind. So after several measurements and coming to reality on things three tables definitely had to be used (awesome/epic table, my old computer desk and an extra folding table my dad had). The wasted time was trying to get the kitchen table in there and figuring out any last minute tweaks. There was a neat idea I had of hosting a computer in the other room to run old emulators but that fell through when I realized the extra Hard Drive had was installed with Linux and I have minimal knowledge running duel monitors in Linux. So I gave up on that idea and downloaded "Kirby Super Star" (which didn't get played but I might give it a go tomorrow.
After all those configurations were made I had about an hour or two of chill time so I decided to give Elder Scrolls 4 : Oblivion ago. I realized Bethesda makes really buggy games but then I saw the S2 logo and realized that there would be some quick easy bugs real quick. No more than I had played 30 minutes in that I found that when stealth around enemies (i.e: walking) it increases your stealth stat. So from there I rebound my 'w' key to '-' on the keypad and put something heavy (i.e: wallet or wood glue) on it to keep walking into a wall. The stats currently at 75+, it would be higher but there's a prompt that displays every 25ish levels or so. At that point I let it go into 'auto-pilot' and started to load sheets into the washer and attending to other task.
Around this time my dad came back and gave me his gifts...speaking of gits I got a couple of neat ones. My mom gave me 50 bucks (which I used to purchase consumables), dad gave me a $30 gift card to food lion, and Sarah Watson and her bf gave me a harmonica... overall pretty awesome gifts. I've been looking for something new to learn and well the Harmonica seems like the right direction to go in. The money I plan to spend on friends no real reason to spend any of it on myself. My dad departed around 6ish or so and at that point John was on his way over.
John arrived at 6:30 and I got his opinion on number of pizzas. I was thinking 4 to 6 and he agreed with me on 6 so that's what we rolled with. After the order was placed I put a sign on the door informing I might be late (which wasn't necessary as no one really came on time) and we made our way to Wal-Mart and Lil C's. John was harassed a bit by the bell but we were able to gather the necessary materials. At one point we found two Raspberry White Tea with different package but almost the same product information. The only difference was the sodium intact but calories, portion size, carbohydrates all the same. I believe sugar was slight different but otherwise same product. John went with the lower sodium sugar choice I grabbed a Moutain Dew and laundry sheets and we made our way to Lil C's. The total was a bit much when I heard it but completely expected. With a back seat full of pizzas we made our way back.
Upon returning we set-up the pizzas and started to consume which about 10-15 minutes from chilling in the kitchen Sarah and her bf Adam showed up. It was really good to see them again and lead them into the house. Pizza was offered and consumption and talking of animals ensued amongst other things. They were unaware Lil C's did stuff crust pizza but was pleased by the overall taste. There's definitely people out there that don't know about it primarily because Lil C's doesn't really advertise about it (sense their most popular for there $5 hot and ready) that and along with the fact that you gotta wait for it to cook before picking them up. After some time I realized that maybe some activity's need to be done to kill time so I suggested we make pilgramage to the board game room. Once again (I believe) they were impressed by the set-up but we sat down (Sarah grabbed some chips and dips) and we started to play Fluxx.
The initially round was quick however the following round was taking sometime and not to mention people were starting to show up as we were playing through it (two guest, even got through a game of boggle). I suggested we stop early and begin a game of "Eat Poop You Cat". The moment I began to describe the game Dean instantly knew what I was talking about (which was good cause I wanted to make sure I got the rules right). The basic objective was to write a sentence the past it to the next person which they would draw a picture. Once the picture is drawn then its passed again so the next person can write a sentence about what they think the picture is and so forth. Overall the game was a huge hit and went off really well. We got about 3 rounds in before a couple guest had to depart.
During these periods I got to try out one of the guest cupcakes with Marshmellow roses. After eating just one I had to give the guest a few as well. They equally thought they were delicious and gave the individual the well earned praise. At this point the Harmonica gift was up and it looked all sorts of pretty, really couldn't argue with how cool and well done it looked. After that gift but what else.... cake of course. 3 tier layed cake with 2 layers of chocolate...probably the main reason I'm up and writing this without any issues...chocolate keeps me awake/hyper yay! Cake consumption lead to game suggestion the primarily ones were Left Center Right and Mafia... Left Center Right was the selection. A good bit of rolling and stealing ensued but unfortunately Mo and his crew had to depart due to a personal issue which occured.
In all honesty it the thoughts that counts, even the people that didn't make I really did appreciate them give me their respective happy birthday and keeping me in their thoughts over the course of the day. Overall it was quite good couldn't ask for me. While the departure of some did even out the group and made it a bit small its the impression in time which they left in history and in my own and others memorys that count (please see pants cannon for details).
This left us with about 6 people for Left Center Right which went on for quite sometime until Mina eventually crushed us all with 9 chips left. From here there was a small break and I took the time to clean up garbage before proceeding to Catan as Sean had never played it before. Around this time Tyler had called and eventually showed up cleaning up a good majority of the food left over (which I was thankful for as I did not want the responsibility co consume that much). However before the game started two guest had to leave which left us with about 5 people for Catan...and 2 hours of madness which ensued.
Surprisingly I wasn't paying all that much attention (between harmonica practice and text messaging) and found myself constantly in the lead and winning...it was weird. Eventually I did win when people started trading me to help me win to get it over with (rofl). Tyler was close but unfortunately there was some favoritism. Ways were parted soon after and I found myself smiling at the remains of which was probably one of the top 5 birthdays I've had in quite some time.
Still fueled by the power of triple tier caked I spent the last hour or so cleaning up and putting furniture back in its place. Pretty much everything is back in its original order and I find myself typing the events of the evening.
Looking back at it I can't honestly express in words what good friends I have and the amount of entertainment/fun that occurred. Old friends along with new friends all in a central location with some cross communication. Everyone overall seemed quite happy and pleased with each game (well minus the one person that just doesn't like games I suppose) played and experienced. Big props have to go out to my dad for letting me use the place for the evening. I don't believe this would have been possible if I had been in my apartment due to the limitation of space and worrying about neighbors. Such a huge plus to have the spaciousness of a house to work with for gatherings such as these.
Well I'm slowly drawing to the conclusion of this post...there's not much left to do except wait for this sugar rush to wear off so I can sleep soon. I think I've found the best solution for this problem though...Honcast.
Good night everyone best of dreams and thanks again for the splendid times :D.
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