Hamlet

There are no more classes.  There is only the work to be done.  Time to be spent.  Papers to be written.  Friends to miss already.  Foods to eat.

Hamlet to watch.

I guess I've never mentioned David Tennant.  He's super awesome.  He's a good actor, and so is Patrick Stewart.  And together, they are the respective protagonist and antagonist of a production of Hamlet.  It is a glorious thing.

He also happens to have played the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who, which is also a thing.  And by a thing, I mean a thing that you should watch, because it's good.

This morning I played the last of the Guild Wars 2 beta up to three in the morning.  It was excellent.  There were terrible giant fiery moa birds.  We died a lot.

That's about it for today.  Talk to you tomorrow.

Manic Monday Morning

Last day of GW2 beta.  It goes till 3:00 in the morning for me.  MUST PLAY.

MUST WRITE PAPER.

MUST DO ALL THE THINGS.

Church this morning was good.  That was a thing.

Um....?  Finals week starts Wednesday, and I have till then to get it all done.  Life is good.  The Legend of Korra is a good show.  You should definitely be watching it.  But only after you've watched Avatar:  The Last Airbender.  Because that show is pretty much the best thing.  Do those things.  That's my contribution for the night.

I really don't have much else to say.  Sorry to be lame.

-shrug-

The Journal of Gregory Nime, entry 2

Nilbog made a mistake.  I suppose it was only a matter of time before he did something overwhelmingly stupid.  We let it happen.  He was so adamant about it, and we weren't about to force him to wait at the inn.  He struck out in the night to try the prison on his own.

I will have to wait until tomorrow to learn whether he survived this foolishness, but I know from the noise of the guards that he did not accomplish our mission.  It's going to be a terrible three days.

I know that I should not care so much about this.  Nills has never made overtures of friendship to me, despite having saved my life on nearly half a dozen occasions since we set out from Bach's inn together.  But he has saved my life more times than I can ignore, and—perhaps I'm overly idealistic—I still feel he's a better man than he knows he is.

I cannot leave him to rot in that prison.  I have to know if he still lives, and if he does, I have to give him freedom again.  Even if Ansley and Dreyfuss and Cobbermark decide to move on, I will stay.

I'm a mad fool.

A To-Do List and GUILD WARS 2

So here's what I have left for this semester:


English Grammar:  One eight to ten page research paper, and one take-home final exam due Wednesday morning.

Pres. Speaking:  Two short papers analyzing speeches due Thursday morning.  Exam 8:00am.

New Media:  Exam 4:00pm Monday, May 7.


Writer workshop:  Finished manuscript and a portfolio of my finest writing due during Finals Week.

It's the final stretch.  And yes, this is what's on my mind today.  This, and

GUILD WARS 2 BETA EVENT.  A little less than two hours from now, the floodgates will open, and I will... be in a meeting with some peers about my writing.  Then!  I can come home and log in. Maybe.  If my wife isn't buried in it on my computer.

At any rate, I am ridiculously excited about this.  Maybe I'll take some pictures or something.  Yes, I am blogging now so that I don't have to do it while I could be playing Guild Wars 2.

Sounding a Note

So I presented this video in my New Media and Society class this morning, and now I'm sharing it with everyone else.  I might do another blog today, or I might not.  We'll see.  I do have a lot of work to do preparing for my speech later today, and then working on some of the other projects I need to get done before the semester's over.

To watch the video, either follow the link above or watch it below:

Enjoy!

No Time for Blogs

I've spent all day trying to work on this speech, and it's still nowhere near acceptable.  Honestly I think I'll be okay so long as I don't somehow fail the speech, but I'm just not feeling this.  It's awful.

Yes, that is the dichotomy I am currently in.  It's gonna be okay.  This is awful.  Life is good.  I'm a honey badger.  Eat some pound cake.

Chocolate chip cookies.

Nope.  No stress here.

Madness aside, I'm excited because the Guild Wars 2 client is on my computer and the beta event's coming up.  And school is winding down, and I think (maybe?) I'm gonna survive this.  Most of my effort is going into maintaining a productive mindset.

As such, that's all I have to say today, and I'll ramble about some other stuff tomorrow, probably after I've lost it in front of my Presentational Speaking class.

Shruggety shrug mcshruggers.  Bye.

BIRTHDAY FEVER

So it's my birthday.  I was born twenty-two years ago today.  This is probably the first birthday I will spend not anticipating some sort of party, or some other shenanigans.  I feel like being a mature adult and just kind of going on with my life.

There's a sullen pit in there, somewhere, that wants nicely wrapped presents.  Maybe an iPhone or something stupid like that?  Video games.  The point being there's some part of me that wants stuff because that's what I got every birthday for a lotta years.

I don't particularly like that part of me, though I have come to terms with the fact that giving and receiving gifts is one of the languages that speak to me.  So I guess I'm actually spending quite a bit of this nonplussed at myself.

I'm also spending it reading Homestuck because HOLY CRAP HOW AM I NOT CAUGHT UP YET.

I am about to commence with feverish writing time for Workshop, then feverish bored/anxious time while I listen to speeches, and then feverish dishes-doing, and then feverish meatloaf eating, and then feverish I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO WHERE IS MY LIFE.  The latter will likely take place in my office, and I will probably be doing it late into the night.

So I guess, maybe, I have birthday fever?

I miss home.  I miss my college friends already.  Life is a weird thing.  I'm not even very unhappy.  Just a jumble of annoyance and excitement and contentment and discontentment all rolled into the semblance of a guy who needs to shave.

I'm gonna go write now.

-shrug-

I WROTE THIS IN PAGES BECAUSE THE INTERNET IS DUMB

I’m writing this blog on my word processor because the internet is being SO MANY BUTTS RIGHT NOW.  I mentioned a while back that I’m a bit, well, stuck on Homestuck.  This thing has only been going for—what—three years?  It’s huge.  A huge, labyrinthine timey wimey mindsplosion of amazing things.  Did I mention convoluted?  Because it is that.  To the point of hella.  Which is not an adjective a writer should use when speaking in his own voice.

Don’t judge me.  I have a degree.

Or I will in, like, two weeks.  I wrote eeks at first.  Did you know all you really need for a bachelor’s degree in writing is to frighten a couple mice?

On more serious topics, I punched myself in the face again today.  The unpleasantry was my own fault, and I hope it gave you a great deal of happiness.  Or, once again, whatever perverse name you have for what you feel when you watch a guy hit himself.

-shrug-

No wait!  I’m not done with the blog yet!  I did more than Homestuck and face punching today!  I also worked on those things I need to get done to accomplish that elusive goal I have set, without which my life is pretty much over.  There will be worse things to see than face-punching if I’m not BA by the end of May.

The Shallows is an interesting book, and I’m glad I was forced to read it for a class—for what that’s worth.  As a result of a speech I’m writing for my other class, incidentally, I fully intend to drastically increase my deep reading (or reading of physical books, or whatever you want to call the old way of doing things) so as to balance that part of my brain with the internet part that’s been getting stuffed full for the last four years.

Also, this week I should be downloading the client for Guild Wars 2, which has a Beta Weekend Event this weekend.  Wow that was redundant.  At any rate, I hereby bind myself by bloggery forespeech that I will not play the game until I’ve got my reading, a good amount of research, and one of those pesky papers out of the way.  It’s an undertaking, but with a juicy, delicious prize like GW2 waiting for me, I shall not want for motivation.  

It doesn’t hurt that if I don’t play the game, my wonderful wife certainly will, and enjoy it immensely.  I can enjoy it vicariously through her if necessary.

I think my rambling is finished for the day.  

-shrugs off-

Penance Mark II

So I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to do a blog.  As such, here's a video of me paying for my crimes.  Enjoy.  Or whatever it is you do when this happens.

Cats and Immortality

My wife wants a Maine Coon if we ever get a cat.  And I have to admit that such a cat would be pretty spectacular.  The only problem with getting a cat is that I have hopes to spend stupidly high amounts of time with my cousin, who is pretty allergic to cats.  I don't really like the hairless types much, either.

I also have this thing where I love animals but I don't really care for having pets.  My family had pets when I was younger, but they all died/disappeared/were re-homed by the time I was fifteen, and I've never really wanted one again since.  I got a bit attached to the ones we had, and knowing the stories of all their endings saddens me a lot.  I also go to know how much work goes into having a pet, and I don't really want to put that much effort into something that, ultimately, is categorically incapable of loving me back.

You see, I don't believe animals have souls.  Not that I don't believe heaven will be bereft of animals.  I believe there will be all sorts of creatures in the place I'll be after the end of time, but I just don't think my dogs Buddy or Midnight will be among them.  They aren't people.  There's nothing immutable about them.  Nothing to preserve.

Actually, I feel rather strongly on this issue.  Maybe it was that one girlfriend I had who believed the opposite that fashioned this rather vehement streak in me.  Maybe it's my pain at the loss of my pets.  Maybe it was my upbringing (I will be the first to say that my parents were always loving to their animals and never spoke with bitterness about their status as not-people).  But there, that's a thing about me that you may not have heard about.  You probably haven't heard it because it's never come up, or because I keep to myself because there are those out there who would string me up by my small intestine if they heard me say that animals other than humans don't have souls.  I really rather wouldn't have that conversation.

I mentioned earlier that I love animals.  And I do.  Because while rocks and blue skies and lakes are pretty enough, those things can't touch the heart-swelling (or panic-inducing) beauty of living things, be they trees or German Shepherds or giant squid.  Earth is full of these wonderful creatures who should be respected and protected.  Just not at the cost of human life.

That's where I draw the line.  Never, when a human's life is weighed against the life of any other creature, should the other creature's life take preference.  Not unless that creature is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be a sentient being with an immortal soul.  For me, that is one definition of the sanctity of human life.  It's also my big beef with utilitarianism.

The idea that the few be sacrificed for the many never really sat well with me.  Yeah, there's Christ.  I have feelings about that, too.  Not heretical feelings.  Just "Sometimes I wish there was a better way" feelings.

Now, though, I think I'm getting into deeper territory than this blog was intended for.  If you're interested, hit me up about truth and right and God's plan some time.  Preferably not during Finals week.  Once I have my writing degree would be nice.

Right this instant I'm going to eat some bacon and watch Star Trek:  Voyager with my wife.

Shrug out.

Positive Reinforcement

So this weekend's an open beta weekend for Diablo III.  That's cool.  I'm gonna try it for a little bit.  Then I'm gonna be done and go do more productive things.  I'll let you know how it goes, I guess.

I got some positive feedback on my manuscript, which is super cool and makes me happy.  I have to be humble about it, though, because that's the right thing to do.  Honestly, it's just encouraging when I go for a certain thing in my writing and people have the response I'm aiming for.  Makes me feel like writing is actually a thing I can do.

Last night I did more productive things with the helpful, loving prodding of my wife, and I hope to do more of the same, as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post.  At some point I'll give you a video of something, and you'll get to watch it and have thoughts (and maybe feelings).

After my presentation, I might even post my video project up here.  We'll see how that goes.  For now, I'm gonna go.  Peace out.  Chill off.

Le Shrug

Don't Hurt Me

I realize that yesterday's utilitarian blog ended up being the blog for the day. Maybe later I'll make a face-punch video to make up for that. Tonight, I'm just gonna blog about how I need to write a speech and memorize it for a week from now, and I still have no idea what I'm going to talk about.

I'm thinking maybe music copyright or something. I really don't know.

Meanwhile, I have a growing addiction to that one horrendously complex "webcomic" I mentioned a couple days ago. So complicated. So weird. So addicting.

And once again, all I really wanna do is drop everything and write. Gee golly goodness, maybe I'll just pull some all-nighters or something.

That's all I have to say. Seriously, I've got work to do. Sorry.

-shrug-

The Bold and the Colorless

This isn't really meant to count as my blog post for the day, but I've noticed that the links I've posted aren't showing up like they're supposed to. I've tried coloring the text, but that doesn't work, and there doesn't seem to be an underline function. From here on out I'll try to bold anything I've hyperlinked. Maybe this post will make it more obvious what I'm trying to do with that.

Is This Even Really a Webcomic?

Can't talk. Too busy reading(?) Homestuck. It's fantastic. Only downsides are the occasional vulgarity and foul language. Short of that, it's just sheer excellence. I've been quietly nerding out over it all day.

It's both the way the world builds slowly in intensity and the way the author plays around with the narrative that hook me. I can't really explain it now that I'm smack dab in the middle. Well actually, I think I can explain it in two words:

Liminal fantasy. You see, liminal fantasy is when there is the realm of the fantastic and the realm of the mundane, and these two realms bleed into each other throughout the story. Like all good fantasies, Homestuck isn't really hard and fast on the liminal line. There's the fact that it's cartoony to begin with, then there's the whole super complex thing with captchaloguing (I don't think I spelled that right) that's there from before things start getting intrusion-of-the-fantastic all up in there. But I think it's really well done for a comic(?) hosted on a site called MSpaintadventures.

So yeah, that's enough talking about it, now it's time to get back to reading.

A Series of Thoughts

It rained today. Pretty hard. Hard enough to knock the cable/internet out for a few hours. Thus the post-10pm blog post today. I'm determined not to punch myself in the face again.

Last night I finished one big project. I've plenty more to go, but it feels good to have something (almost) done. I do still need to present, but yeah.

You know, what I really want to do is drop everything and write. I guess that means I'm a writer, right? I have this project for Senior Seminar, and it has captured my imagination. I like to describe it as taking inspiration from the Iliad, Arthurian legend, Roman history, and Germanic folklore. I won't say any more in case I want to publish it at some other point. Maybe I'll talk more about it later.

I finished watched that playthrough of Kid Icarus today. It was pretty good. The ending could have been better if you ask me. I think my favorite part was the music. There was one mission near the end that had glorious scoring. It was awesome.

Today's one of those days I feel the coming of graduation rather sharply. It's probably only going to get worse the closer we get, too. I think it's all gonna be okay. Just gotta stick to it, you know.

Anyway, that's all for today.

In Which the Protagonist(?) Muses About Stuff

Wow, there's pretty much nothing on my mind today that I want to blog about.

[Mind-wandering starts here]. I've done some work on a video project for one of my classes which involves writing a piece of music. And I miss it. I started writing music with Garageband on my Macbook almost from the first day I got the machine, and it's consistently been one of my favorite uses. Granted, it's all pretty much canned instruments, but I enjoy it a lot. I even put together a cover track for a parody with some college friends.

I also miss writing a lot. I have this tendency to stay up till 5:00am writing when I'm on a roll, and that's not really something I can do when I have stuff to get up for every morning. I also have a bad habit of both overestimating the time I have to get things done and underestimating my ability to accomplish necessary things in that time frame.

What's useful about doing this daily blogging thing is that it forces me to sit down every day and do some writing, even if it's not particularly good writing. I do have to say that the idea for this came both from relatively faceless internet sources (read: articles by writers) and from my friend Evan, who now co-writes a blog over at Culture War Reporters. In the last few years he's started up a few blogging projects, including one that involved a specific time period during which he obliged himself to blog about something every day. Sound familiar?

That's about all. As a parting note, if you've never heard of Tobuscus or doubt his inhuman levels of awesome, watch this video. And if you've never heard of Minecraft or don't like that, you're a lost cause, and most everything I say on this blog is probably boring or annoying to you.

Shrugging off.

Saturdays Are Stupid Busy

I pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 today. Registered and everything. Stoked. I also managed to not die in Dungeons and Dragons hell today. More stoked. I haven't had much time to spend with my wife today. Not so stoked.

I don't really have time to blog for long today, either. So this is pretty much what you get.

Ciao, folks.

Entitlement

So about three days ago Guild Wars 2 became available for pre-purchase. Here's how it works: you pay for the game up front, and then you get into every Beta Weekend Event that Arenanet puts out for the game until release, a three day headstart come release, and a token in-game item that will only be useful for the first ten levels or so.

Ever since Arenanet started ramping things up towards release, the hype train has been chugging full speed ahead, but this comes with an ugly, ugly downside. There are thousands upon thousands of people who seem to be endlessly and terribly misinformed about the way things, and distrustful of Arenanet's own official word on things to a level that can only be called spiteful. Sometimes it seems like the buzz around Arenanet is a firestorm of awesome, and then you read the Facebook comments and it looks a lot more like a seething, maggot-infested mass of entitled twelve-year olds.

I'm a fanboy for Guild Wars 2. I'm a raving fanboy, hiding my madness inside from all but my wife, who appears totally chill about this game in contrast. I tend to love everything that comes out Arenanet's gates about Guild Wars 2. But I have no illusions that the game will be perfect. I just think it will be amazing, and I hope that a lot of people agree with me.

I also have the decency to let Arenanet say what they want about the game, and then digest it and make my own conclusions about it.

So anyway, the latest thing is that Arenanet is running a stress test on their servers today, which was pretty well unannounced and isn't open to the general public. People are incensed, even though this is not a Beta Event—it's a stress test to help them prepare for this month's Event. I don't want to tell people what to think, but—

CHILL. OUT.

That's what I'm thinking about today. Tomorrow, my wife and I are going to go pre-purchase Guild Wars 2 for ourselves, and we're super excited.

Graduation and Sharp Things

A month from now I'm graduating from Houghton College. Which will be awesome, because I'll be done with school. It's also terrifying, for reasons I've already discussed a few times on this blog. So there's that.

You know what else I thought about today? What happens on the microscopic level when you cut something? Actually, the whole idea of sharp things and cutting stuff just sort of weirded me out for a bit today. Is it the hard molecular bonds driving a wedge into and through a malleable substance, dividing the bonds?

I mean, when I cut my finger, at what level has my skin been cut? The cellular level? If bigger than that, does that mean some cells in the line are cut in two? I'm almost positive my confusion is through sheer ignorance. It's not like I'm suddenly a schism skeptic or anything. It's just weird.

Anyway, I think that's all for today. My internet's been a bit rough and I want to get something posted before it forces another face-punch video.

All-consuming Vortex

It is so very easy to consume. I spent about an hour and a half today watching someone else play Kid Icarus. I spent another half an hour playing Tetris Battle. Another forty-five minutes on Star Trek: Voyager and Fringe each. Twenty minutes of forum-surfing of Guild Wars 2 Guru. My wife has been watching NCIS on and off all day.

Even now, as the day winds down, I'm listening to Tonight Alive and fighting the urge to play more Tetris while I try to write this blog post.

I like to call myself a writer, but I spend much more of my time consuming what other people have produced—outside of my own field—than I do practicing my craft. I even have a hard time generating original thoughts to discuss the things I consume.

It hasn't been a bad day. In fact, it's been an awesome day. My wife is super happy. We had lasagna hamburger helper for dinner. I enjoyed geeking out about English grammar for an hour this morning.

Sometimes I do feel like a failure for not doing a lot of writing, but tonight I'm just struck by how weird it is that I spend so much time watching, reading, playing, instead of writing, composing, or enjoying the outdoors.

Not that the sleet made the outdoors a desirable alternative today.

So yeah, that's what's on my mind today. Maybe forcing myself to blog at least once a day will help keep this in focus or even—Heaven forbid—lead me to change my ways. We'll see.

Once again, this is me shrugging.

Peace off.

Greek Mythology and Let's Plays

I've been watching this playthrough of Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game plays fast and loose with the Greek Mythology it's kind of almost based on. The Good Guys are an angel named Pit and the goddess of light, Palutena (which is a sort of portmanteau of Pallas Athena), and they face off against Medusa, Queen of the Underworld. Yeah, that's not really how the myths go.

In comparison, the God of War trilogy is canon.

I keep watching it, though, because the characters are well-written and well-acted for a 3Ds game. It's not like the pinnacle of drama, or of video game storytelling, but it's entertaining, especially since every stage is essentially a long skit (or miniature play) putting you into the world even as you play through. Oh, and every fourth wall is broken. All the time.

I won't lie, it's glorious.

It's called Kid Icarus because the handle character, Pit, is an angel who can't fly on his own. Palutena gives him the power of flight for five minutes at a time, but after that his wings burn off. But... Greek mythology didn't really have angels. I mean, there were daemons, but that was different. Pit's wearing a toga and a halo/golden laurel, and his iconic weapon is a bow—which actually tends to fire like an automatic rifle.

I haven't played it, but I can't afford a 3Ds or the game. I can afford to watch someone else play it, though, and that's enjoyable enough.

Is this a weird thing, watching Let's Plays? Does it defeat the purpose of gaming?

This is me, shrugging.

Crunch Time

Four large school projects.

Three major personal projects.

Two volunteer projects for friends.

A job search.

A grad school search.

Two Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.

Moving across three states—again.

The last month of college.

Bring it.

Hereafter

He is Risen, praise God!

Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, whatever day you want to call it, Christ has Risen and lives today, and He's way better at living than I am, so I think I'm gonna try to follow His example.

Later today I'll be back with my other family, and then tomorrow I'm driving the rest of the way back to college, where I'll spend a month laboring the final stretch until someone hands me a piece of paper and it's time to drive all the way home again.

What really strikes me is that I'll be leaving behind a load of good friends when I leave school again. Yeah, I've got Facebook and Twitter and Skype and Steam to keep in touch, but it's not the same as seeing them in person. I've got so many good memories built up from my time there, and it will certainly be a sad thing to go away knowing there are some of them I'll never see again, barring class reunions. I ought to think of some way to let them all know how grateful I am for the time we had.

I'm a writer, maybe I can think of something.

First World Problems

My friend and former roommate Kyle posted this as his status at some point today, and I think it's a pretty good summation of what's going on in Christendom at the moment:

"This is the in-between day. The day when the reality of Christ's death sank in. The day when they were forced to recognize that it really happened. He was really dead. The day in which nothing happened. On Good Friday God asks us, "do you trust Me?" On Saturday He ask, "No, really, I mean it. Do you trust me?""

I'm facing an interim year. Once I graduate, I'll be moving back home with my parents (with my wife Rachael in tow) for the time being. My current plan involves applying to various MFA creative writing programs (specifically the ones with fellowships attached) and waiting a year to find out if I get in, because I was late for the party for the coming academic year.

What this means for me is that I have time to make bank, if I can find a way to make bank. As was so recently hammered home for me, this means making connections. And that means interacting with people. My Kryptonite. Whelp, that's just the way it goes. Time to deal, right?

Merf.

So anyway, that's the sort of thing on my mind today. There's fun stuff happening with Guild Wars 2, like that it's now officially rated Teen (I think). I spent some time watching a Let's Play of Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is another one of those pretty games I'll probably never get to play because I can't afford a new game system and won't be able to until I make bank, like I was talking about earlier.

I could spend some time creating a backlog of games I want to play.

I could spend some time creating a reading list of books I want to read.

I could spend some time creating a watchlist of films I want to see.

Each of these things would cost me money, unless

1. I can borrow games (and their respective systems).

2. I have reliable access to a library with a good collection of books.

3. I manage to bum my way through the theaters.

None of this I can realistically expect to happen. I can look forward to spending my money on gas, food, and bills for the foreseeable future, which renders one array of my writing-resource sucking tendrils totally paralytic. I'm aware that one must intake if one is to put out art properly. Another concern.

I'm noticing that I don't tend to write these blog posts until the end of the day, and that they're egregiously organized. Maybe I'll work on that. Or not. We'll see. For now, I'm going to work on not having to punch my own face.

A Good Day

We are dust. You may have heard the statistic that an adult human's body broken down into component compounds would sell for $20 on the market. Some scientists like to say that we're stardust. Regardless, we're a bit more than just the carbon and water and oxygen and aught else that makes up our bodies. We are, as Shakespeare once wrote, "the beauty of the world" and "the paragon of animals." But the conclusion of that praise, calling us a "quintessence of dust," is not a flattering proclamation.

It is good to remember that we were fashioned from the stuff of the earth. It reminds us of our true worldly ties, and it puts a check on our belief in "our better angels," as another wordsmith of the English language put it.

Today is Good Friday. For Christians like me, that means it's a pretty somber day. It's the day we remember Jesus's death. I've been relatively happy today. Earlier, I had some moments of distress, as I thought about my need for a job once I graduate, and worried about my future, but during the Good Friday service, as communion came around, I became eager.

I'm usually anxious or a bit depressed when it comes time for communion. It's rare for me to be eager to celebrate what Christ has done for me pursue His purpose in my life. When I put it that way it sounds odd, but there it is. For just this moment, I'm excited to be a Christian and to be going out into the wide world at this time in history. I want to shine for Him. This is a big deal for me, because I've always been reluctant about the whole ministry thing.

The emotion is temporary, I'm sure, but I mean to retain this attitude.

Sorry for all the seriousness. Well, that's a lie. I'm not sorry. Deal with it. :P

The Sader of the Lambs

Every year around Easter time my family does a Sader meal—it's like Passover with added communion and celebration of Jesus's fulfillment of, well, pretty much everything important ever. Part and parcel with this is the cooking of a lamb in delicious fashions, including citrus and other various things I don't know about because I don't know the first thing about cooking.

This is how I've known Easter since I was in middle school. As opposed to the stereotype I really don't understand. I know where the bunny and the eggs came from—as well as the time of the year it falls under. I guess this makes me weird, but to me Easter's a bit more important than candy, egg hunts, and the like.

My little sister thinks I should blog about how I punched myself in the face today. I've noticed it gets a lot more attention than the alternative. Maybe I should just make this a face-punch blog. But I won't. It is just a bit painful and shame-inducing.

Unfortunately, I don't have much else to ramble about. Talk to you tomorrow, folks.

Penance to the Face

As you might have noticed, I failed to produce a blogpost for yesterday. As recompense for this disgrace, I present to you a video for your derision.

Defensive Gaming

Today, I played Brawl with my friend and my sisters. I used to be way better at the game than any of them, because I had more access to the game. Now I'm about even with Ethan, and my sisters get better every time I play against them.

My best character is Link. In my family we always do five-man stock matches, and the reason I do so well is I'm able to keep from being K.O.'d until it's just me and one other person, and I can use the many tools at Link's disposal and my experience with the game to win a one-on-one.

I'm a very cautious person, so my gaming strategies reflect this. I'm quite poor at games that require me to aggress for success—for example Starcraft 2. I also like to be able to handle myself in many situations. Thus Link, who fights with a sword but also sports several long-range options to rely on when the fire gets too hot.

From my extensive reading into Guild Wars 2, it's a very aggression-oriented game. Because every character has primary responsibility for his/her own well-being, the game mechanics are designed so that no one can rely on turtling to stay afloat. Even the guardian, a profession based on the idea of protecting one's self and others, can't just bring all the best defensive skills and armor sets and then stand there exchanging blows with a cave troll. You do have some particular tools, like the dodge mechanic and movement-while-casting, but that must also be coupled with making sure you're doing damage.

I am a mite-bit concerned that I might not be as good at Guild Wars 2 as I'd like to be, considering I've never been so hyped up about a game in my life. Maybe I'll need to relearn some things, but I can't know how things will go for sure until I put fingers to keyboard and try the game myself.

Meander For All You're Worth

There's a lot of things I could talk about today. The mediocrity of Torchlight, the joys of hanging out with friends. Dagorhir. How my old youth pastor—the pastor who performed my wedding ceremony—spent the end of 2011 and part of 2012 trying to get his back sorted out.

I'm home now, and spending time with family, which makes it awkward for me to avoid the face-punch punishment I established for myself a few days ago.

I recently decided I want to apply for grad schools, but I'm too late to make it in for this fall. So I'll be waiting a year regardless. There's much of my future that I'm unsure of, and it's kinda distressing. There's also taxes to sort out, and many other things I'm not gonna bother mentioning in this blog.

I'd rather talk about fun things than all my uncertainties.

So yeah, Dagorhir is super fun. But I never really stopped creating and acting out stories outside (read: LARP), so I guess that influences my preferences. I don't like sports much, but inasmuch as Dag is a sport, it's my favorite one. I wish I had the money to make more swords, and go to events. Maybe I'll be able to after graduating college.

Do you know what else might be fun? Teaching a freshman writing class. I like the idea of being a really tough teacher, especially for the ingrates who want to float by on rivers of beer.

I'm pretty scattered and, as I said earlier, I'm at home spending time with loved ones, so I think that's about all I have to say for the day. I won't mention that I also wasted my free/alone time earlier today.

How Farmville is a good idea.

Have you played a Free-to-Play game lately? Maybe some Spiral Knights or a Facebook app by Zynga? Or any Facebook game, really. You may have noticed the energy meter, which slowly drains as you play the game.

Now, I realize what this mechanic exists for. The hope is that you'll pay to play the game more than this meter allows. But there's a side effect that comes with it. You see, I like to balance my gaming with time spent doing more productive things. Like blogging. When I run out of energy in Spiral Knights, it helps me to realize I have better things to be doing than playing a game at that moment, and I can drag myself away. As opposed to, for example, Skyrim, which has claimed near a hundred hours of life despite the fact I don't even own the game.

This perspective may be the equivalent of looking at the faintest rosy glint from a pile of polished dung, but I'm not nearly as opinionated about this sort of thing as some people.