A Study on the Feats of a Man - Three Mile Island Edition

Nirdian wrote:Borderline offensive, although I may have overreacted a bit. I guess it's nice that people would consider such a thing (since they believe that it works), but it can come across a bit as "Yeah... So I'm just going to pray for your heathen souls." -ish. I'm having trouble wording it, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

Well there's not much that people on the internet can do besides saying "Everything's going to be okay" and "I'll pray for you and your family" because, generally speaking, religion is what people turn to when stuff is complete and utter shit. If you can't do anything yourself to improve a situation then you might as well pray to a higher power that may or may not exist, if only for the slim chance that said power might actually exist and choose to intervene. People who are religious are just trying to give consolation in one of the only ways they really think they can, because to them that's something that might help the situation. I would appreciate people taking the time to do so regardless of whether I believed they were praying to an actual deity or a cardboard cut-out in the sky. But that's just me. I'm not religious at all so I'm not going to be praying for anything before I go to bed tonight, but I want you to know that I'm truly sorry for your granddad's illness.
Two days ago was actually the one-year anniversary of my grandmother's death. She beat throat and breast cancer but eventually passed away because the cancer had hindered her ability to eat what she needed, and so over the years she wasted away until eventually...well, you know the rest. I get what you're going through. It sucks and it's going to suck more, and I feel for you.

Haha, look at me ramble. Update on my life up in here: My dad still smokes pot (in my parents' bedroom, I've discovered)! He always smells weird, you know, but I keep brushing off the possibility that he still smokes because I didn't know where he would possibly do it. He only spends about fifteen seconds outside at any one moment, and he's always either downstairs in the living room or in the kitchen or my parents' bedroom! (Case closed.) So my mom walked in on him and it was unpleasant after that, especially with the incredible awkwardness when the whole family decided to sit down around the TV and watch baseball. My dad was snacking for about an hour straight and then he passed out, at which point I had to listen to my mom telling me all about how she should divorce him and blah blah blah.
The Phillies game started at 10 because they were playing on the west coast, and it lasted until 1:20 am. I was the only one who stayed up for the whole game, so the entire time I was drinking tons of caffeine and eating strawberry ice cream and almonds and whatnot. My brother retired to his room around the 3rd inning, followed by my mom and my dog after the 5th or 6th. After that it was just me and my dad, with him snoring loudly and me hissing curses under my breath because the Phillies pitching staff was just making the game drag on foreeeeeever.
Then the game ended (Phillies won 3-0) and I had the awkward task of waking my dad up and telling him it was time to go to bed, despite knowing the fact that there was no way he was sleeping in his bed tonight. And now I'm here, and it's 2:00 in the morning, aaaaand I don't feel like going to sleep.

Justicarius, Gambeson named the way it's pronounced. I have to wear one for my armored combat, but since I'm a stingy bastard I use a hoodie.
And by armored, I mean armored, a family friend is in the background
here wearing a tin can, I'm the leather lamellar armored guy in the foreground, yes the pic is dark, it was nighttime. Look up SCA Heavy Combat on youtube to get an idea of how fast and hard people hit. (it's not gentle. )

Anywho, sorry about your dad Muff, I haven't had to deal with family like that before, I feel for you.


Here's epic Star Wars fan film to help cheer you up. (Been posting it everywhere since I refound it. I think I put it on the SSLF a million years back, so I'll say what I said then, watch out for the WWII Fighter plane pinup nose art, if you're either in a public/family area, or you're really not fond of artwork like that, if you're not, skip past it, cause the vid is too epic.

Grom, you're doing good, nothing else to say, cause you're doing good.

So, I just got some of those "Smokin' Buds" Skullcandy headphones, and I really don't like them much. They keep popping out of my ears, and it's so annoying. I love the way they cut out sound and stuff, but seriously, they are a pain in the ear to wear.

And, Nird, I didn't mean to offend with the religious talk, and I hope you don't hold it against me. I understand that not everyone is religious, and believe it or not I respect your choice. Don't agree with, but respect it. You won't hear any "HEATHEN! YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!" talk from me. (Well, except that, but that was as an example, so... yeah.)

On another note, I had a dream Nathan Fillion was eating in the restaurant where I work. And I got to talking with him, and he said he'd take my NaNoWriMo novel to some agent or something.

I've been watching too much Castle.

Vorgain wrote:And, Nird, I didn't mean to offend with the religious talk, and I hope you don't hold it against me. I understand that not everyone is religious, and believe it or not I respect your choice. Don't agree with, but respect it. You won't hear any "HEATHEN! YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!" talk from me. (Well, except that, but that was as an example, so... yeah.)

On another note, I had a dream Nathan Fillion was eating in the restaurant where I work. And I got to talking with him, and he said he'd take my NaNoWriMo novel to some agent or something.

I've been watching too much Castle.

It's fine, just remember that I'm the epitome of non-religious.


And about Castle, who can blame you? Castle is frickin' sweet! (I missed the first season though, will have to catch up on that sometime) Personally, I cheered out loud when I heard Beckett say: "Nice shot." And then Castle replied: "I was aiming for his head..." So much epic! (It helped that I saw the Firefly episode referenced there the day before. )

Nirdian wrote:

Vorgain wrote:
I've been watching too much Castle.

And about Castle, who can blame you? Castle is frickin' sweet! (I missed the first season though, will have to catch up on that sometime) Personally, I cheered out loud when I heard Beckett say: "Nice shot." And then Castle replied: "I was aiming for his head..." So much epic! (It helped that I saw the Firefly episode referenced there the day before. )

My mom watches Castle because my grandmother does. I ... help.

It's weird because my family has never really "watched" TV on a regular basis, other than the nightly news and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. My dad didn't really like Conan, and we were glad when Jay returned. Ellen Degeneres should host when Jay gets too old.


Yesterday, I went ot see my school's perfomrance of A Very Potter Musical. Freaking. Hysterical. Gotta go now, got some filming, but I'll let you know details in a later post.


(Christ, what is this? Some real-time life update tweet thing? I apologize.)

The Magic Tuba Pixie wrote:My mom watches Castle because my grandmother does. I ... help.

Do you...not like Castle? Admittedly I'm not a hardcore fan or anything, and I too only watch it occasionally because my mother does, but I enjoy it as much as one could possibly enjoy another NYC policeperson show (plus enjoyment points for the presence of Nathan Fillion). It sure beats the dreary and depressing nightly news or the plain old dreary Jay Leno.

Muffolithid wrote:
Do you...not like Castle? Admittedly I'm not a hardcore fan or anything, and I too only watch it occasionally because my mother does, but I enjoy it as much as one could possibly enjoy another NYC policeperson show (plus enjoyment points for the presence of Nathan Fillion).

Oh, no, I love it. I've just never really followed a TV show, and I don't want to get hooked now (especially since I won't have a TV in college, most likely).





I've noticed I've started dropping the F bomb for increasingly trivial things. I've been trying to figure out Lightworks, that free video-editing software, and I've made some mistakes and have had to start from the beginning of the edit multiple times. It doesn't help that I'm majorly spoiled thanks to Final Cut Pro, and anything else is just about garbage to me. I must have said "fuck" a bazillion times.
It doesn't help that my parents won't fucking leave me alone.

blaaahgrabblegrabble Listen to me bitch about nothing. We went to the National Scout Museum to get a date for my Eagle Ceremony or whatever, I mowed, and then we went and saw Rio. It was cute (I guess), but I usually try to not see children's movies with a theater full of children.



I AM SUCH AN ANGSTY FUCKING TEENAGER I APOLOGIZE

The Magic Tuba Pixie wrote:I AM SUCH AN ANGSTY FUCKING TEENAGER I APOLOGIZE

As long as you're not wearing black and/or non-conformist clothing and hanging around at restaurants moping and whining, I'll still love you.

Hey peeps. I hate to remind people of stuff, but if you guys have a Tumblr, please click on my website button under my avatar to go see mine and follow me. I tried following Vorgy, but it didn't work. i will try again though, buddy!

I have considered partaking in this..."Tumblr", but I have been discouraged from doing so on a number of occasions when I've realized that my Tumblr would exist for the sole purpose of following Hayley Williams' Tumblr and posting pictures of Hayley Williams (a practice which there are numerous Tumblrs dedicated to already). Other than that I'd probably just use it as an outlet to post things that I write that will never be finished and/or to advertise my RPs and get people to join SSLF/TMI, though I feel as though the majority of my followers would already be members of SSLF/TMI.

Anyway, the only thing I did today worth noting was finishing "reading" The Inferno (I say "reading" because I have to have "read" it by a certain date, and because that time frame is now incredibly short I chose to simply read over the short summary of events that is presented by the translator at the beginning of each Canto...but I got the gist of it).

Oh, and yesterday I made a decision in regards to the college I'll be attending in the Fall. It feels weird, finally knowing where I'll be going after high school, but for some reason the decision just didn't seem like such a huge deal to me. It was a hard choice to make, but in the end the school I chose just felt right.

Muffolithid wrote:I have considered partaking in this..."Tumblr", but I have been discouraged from doing so on a number of occasions when I've realized that my Tumblr would exist for the sole purpose of following Hayley Williams' Tumblr and posting pictures of Hayley Williams (a practice which there are numerous Tumblrs dedicated to already). Other than that I'd probably just use it as an outlet to post things that I write that will never be finished and/or to advertise my RPs and get people to join SSLF/TMI, though I feel as though the majority of my followers would already be members of SSLF/TMI.

Well hey, I got Twitter just because there are actors and game developers on there that I wanted to follow (various Naughty Dogs that I've talked to and are totally awesome, Emily Rose, Nathan Fillion and a lot of the other Firefly actors who frequently do some crazy antics together, etc.). It's nice to get little updates from them, especially when there are pictures.

Now I use my Twitter account mostly to follow those aforementioned people and to discuss Uncharted and Nolan North-related matters with a legion of fangirls that I met on Uncharted and/or the official Naughty Dog forums. Too bad a lot of them are British so I never get to play Uncharted with them because of time zone issues...

Of course, I also occasionally talk to the actors and game developers that I came to Twitter just to follow. When I get to, it makes me feel really warm and fuzzy inside. :P

Next I'll be getting a Facebook account exclusively because Uncharted 3 online is going to have some kind of funky integration thing, or whatever. I don't know the details. All I know is I'll stick a skeleton of a Facebook account up there just so I can link the two and get extra stuff.

After I heard 'the news' (which I shan't discuss here anymore) I sat down and just wanted to do something to take my mind off of things.

So I crashed through Crysis 2.

Here's a review: (Not in spoilers because it's all pretty obvious from the cover already, plot-wise anyway.)

Right, so Crysis 2 starts out nice, when you notice that Crytek has fixed the hard-as-nails controls. The surroundings, at first sight, also look pretty awesome. As for multiplayer, it's fun.

And then the cliché-storm starts...

You are:
-AFGNCAAP (Only things you DO know is that you're male, a marine and white.)
-Humanity's Last Hope/Line-of-defence/Super Soldier
-A lone Hero (Mostly)
-John 117 (except even more silent)

You are in: Big Applesauce

You fight: The Virus, The Paramilitary Force Established To Fight The Virus, Also: Humanoid Aliens (Even though they're supposed to be the same aliens from Cry 1...)

So that's the basic premise. Basically, it's HALO, meets PROTOTYPE, meets Crysis, point, period, done.


And now on to my main beef, the aliens. Oh god how I HATE what Crytek's done to their rather creative, clever and intelligent buggers from the 1st game.


-The Aliens in Crysis 1 were smart enough to not venture outside unless fully enclosed in humongous battle-suits. Their main attack force even consisted completely of robotic drones. Also, they could fly, fast.
-For comparison: In Crysis 2 they run around in small, humanoid battle-suits, they backs completely exposed. Apart from not making any sense why they would trade their awesomely effective squid-flyers against impractical, small battlesuits and would completely retire their drones, it's also just stupid and weird and makes them appear exactly like the different enemies from HALO...

-In Crysis 1, the aliens tech was completely based around drawing energy from the environment... AKA, making stuff very, very, very cold by removing all the heat-energy in their vinicity. Which they weaponized. It was extremely clever. They would simply freeze their targets to death and at the same time power their battlesuits. They also fired projectiles made by freezing and compressing small pockets of air/water. Making for realistic-ish ammo.
-In Crysis 2 the aliens have your run-of-the-mill mysterious powercore, or what have you and just fire bland, old plasma.

-I could also go on in length about how dropping a virus in a huge metropolis and THEN moving in yourself BEFORE everyone is dead makes little sense... But I won't.


Right, so in short, Crytek was basically: Hay guys! Let's be HALO! Oh! And Prototype was also pretty cool! Let's throw that in as well.


Oh and for the record, I love HALO, but HALO is HALO and Crysis was Crysis... Now Crysis is HALO... And that I don't like.

Oh and my favorite games in the entire HALO series were ODST and Reach, because there you were 'simply a soldier', I liked that concept (And that concept was also the one on Crysis 1). Makes much more sense than THE LAST OF YOUR KIND! OUR ONLY HOPE! BLA!


That all said, it was still a nice game. Game-play wise. And multiplayer is also nice-(if it weren't for those god-damn aimbotters, rocket-whores and infinite energy guys anyway...)-ish. But I just think that Crytek had an awesome setup, and just tossed it all away to be HALO and Prototype... :/


And a little something from TVTropes that nicely drives my point home:

Spoiler:

And a little extra something about the graphics: While at first they may look very nice and smooth, you later start noticing that they are all very much less advanced than those in Cry 1, the textures are simpler, the models are much simpler, there's a bunch of rough edges, there's tons of places with faulty models and textures (getting me stuck on multiple occasion with suicide the only way out) and the environments are much more enclosed and restricted. :/


/endrant (Yes, I sort of regret buying it, a bit)

Facebook isn't that bad, I don't see why people hate it so much. Granted, you have to be safe with it, but it's great for keeping up with friends and reconnecting with old ones. I got one since a lot of my camp staff friends don't use email and I wanted to stay in touch with them.

So my friend and I watch Limitless on Friday, then went back to his place to stay up until 6 AM playing Halo 3 (we got fed up with Reach, then proceded to absoultely kick ass in Halo 3) then got up at 8 AM to do some work for his parents.

Back to Limitless. It was a really fun film. Not the greatest, but definately above average. It was also really entertaining because when we got there, there was one other person in the theatre, sitting in the exact center. So we natrually started coming up with ideas to creep them out (which we didn't do, since he cn now be tried as an adult ). After about ten minutes, an older couple walked in and proceded to give loud and obnoxious input/narrations on the movie between phone calls.

I built with LEGO again today. It's been a while, and I had forgotten how awesome it is to just sit there and build.

I feel much less angsty now.

Proof that I have a problem:

When I tried to build a nice sky-fi plane, I ended up with this:




Maybe I'm a little too obsessed with giant robots.

The Magic Tuba Pixie wrote:
Maybe I'm a little too obsessed with giant robots.

Well, everybody digs giant robots, so who can blame you?

(Yes, I will always instantly and fully abuse any excuse to post the intro to MEGAS XLR. :3 )

Ugh, I've always hated giant robot walkers. I love the concept of robot gunships and mobs of poorly manufactured infantry though (Terminator gunship things and B1 SW Battle droids, so to speak). That and masses of light tanks with weak(ish) main guns that gang-bang bigger targets and just steamroll everything. ^_^

*Ahem,* Anywho, my load of airsoft stuff arrives today. Right when I have to leave for swords class, conveniently enough. <_< I'll probably wear the OD uniform and combat boots I ordered to break into them so they aren't super stale and crap when I eventually go 'softing. Of course, they'll probably have to go through the wash first... :/

Also, I ordered the BE Type 89 airsoft rifle. I'm not a fan of Japs or their tech, but the FN FAL was out of stock and it's, like, the only full-metal sexy rubberized grip gun in the $100-$150 range (Cost $150, btw). It also just so happens to have a 3-shot burst setting. Dammit I love single-shot/burst shooting. Also, I know BE rifles suck in general, but according to a shit-ton of reviews, this is supposed to be an outstanding weapon.

Justicarius wrote:Ugh, I've always hated giant robot walkers. I love the concept of robot gunships and mobs of poorly manufactured infantry though (Terminator gunship things and B1 SW Battle droids, so to speak). That and masses of light tanks with weak(ish) main guns that gang-bang bigger targets and just steamroll everything. ^_^

*Ahem,* Anywho, my load of airsoft stuff arrives today. Right when I have to leave for swords class, conveniently enough. <_< I'll probably wear the OD uniform and combat boots I ordered to break into them so they aren't super stale and crap when I eventually go 'softing. Of course, they'll probably have to go through the wash first... :/

Also, I ordered the BE Type 89 airsoft rifle. I'm not a fan of Japs or their tech, but the FN FAL was out of stock and it's, like, the only full-metal sexy rubberized grip gun in the $100-$150 range (Cost $150, btw). It also just so happens to have a 3-shot burst setting. Dammit I love single-shot/burst shooting. Also, I know BE rifles suck in general, but according to a shit-ton of reviews, this is supposed to be an outstanding weapon.

With new boots, particularly combat-ish boots, an easy, relatively painless way to break them in is to just wander around the house with them on. Feel a blister coming? Take 'em off. It's way easier than being out somewhere and having to live with the agony a new pair of leather boots brings. So many people don't break 'em in and then I end up dealing with the twelve dozen cadets who have blisters from walking around the barracks.

What kind of combat boots?

And, also, do you happen to live anywhere near NH?

Vorgain wrote:What kind of combat boots?

And, also, do you happen to live anywhere near NH?

SUPRISE! He's your next door neighbor who you've known for a while and he randomly decided to join a forum you're on without knowing you were on it!

^^While on that subject, a turn of events like that would freak me out.^^

Well, my stuff arrived. Uniform is kinda big but it's better than being mostly small, masks feel great (Still have no idea how to frigging tighten them), and the Type 89 is a piece of shit.

The gun itself was kind of scuffed up when I opened the box. It was missing its battery, charger, and a few other extras as well as the battery compartment being damaged. On top of that, the battery is stored in the forward handle like my G36c. If Evike had bothered to give me the battery it was supposed to come with, it's no mystery how much of a %&^$ it would be to load.

So yeah, gonna send it back and look at getting a new gun from the Steelhawk store nearby. <_< Preferably an AK of some type where I know the battery is either in the top or the stock.

Vorgain wrote:What kind of combat boots?

And, also, do you happen to live anywhere near NH?

These ones: http://www.airsoftpost.com/product_info.php?cPath=30_164&products_id=24775 Cheapy-ish boots with great breathing for the generally warm weather here.

Nope, I'm in Southern CA. Soz.

Nirdian wrote:

The Magic Tuba Pixie wrote:
Maybe I'm a little too obsessed with giant robots.

Well, everybody digs giant robots, so who can blame you?

(Yes, I will always instantly and fully abuse any excuse to post the intro to MEGAS XLR. :3 )

lol. I didn't watch that show much, Nirdy, but the theme song was effing catchy!!!

Well, this is odd for me.

It's about 9:00 AM on a Tuesday, and here I am, sitting at home, posting here. This week is the state-wide standardized testing week. I've been taking these tests since about third grade. (They dictate whether or not you get to move on to the next grade / graduate; however, since they're so fucking easy, only complete idiots could ever not pass them.) Since I am a Senior this year, I don't have to take them, and I don't have to go in for class until 12:45.
BEST.
WEEK.
EVER.

Well, that's not actually true; the weeks following the AP tests will be the best weeks ever, since I will be doing NOTHING in ALL of my classes.
>:D

Since I added Flying Whales and other Tales (Crusty's blog) to my favorites, I visit it every now and then. His latest post made me nostalgia pretty damn hard. God I love Titan A.E. twas the first real contact I had with sci-fi (saw it at the cinema when it came out in NL, that was some 10 years ago!) such an awesome movie... Heavily criticized and underrated, sadly.

Been a while since I last saw it... so... ON TO THE INTERWEBZ!

(Also, Crusty, why doesn't your blag have comment-ability?)

More TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills - doesn't it just make you laugh just hearing the name?)week antics!

Since our Venture Crew recently decided we would have the First Annual Venture Crew 905 Banquet, my friend and I have appointed ourselves the main proctors and organizers of the Banquet. I drove my friend and I to the Dollar Tree and Party City today before school so we could use the money we got for tickets to buy decorations and baskets for raffling off.
Let me tell you: the Dollar Tree is the best place ever when you're looking for cheap shit. We essentially just wondered around the store finding any random crap we could and bought it. We will later consolidate the junk into four separate baskets that people can win by buying raffle tickets. One of the baskets includes a sparkly hat, matching sparkly glasses, and, like, a ceramic cat. Some of the others feature a Sham-Wow! knockoff, a spoon, and some name-tag / label things you'd find in a kindergarten classroom. Yeah, fun times.


And then, in Spanish, we practiced for the AP test. The lab we'll be using doesn't really ever work correctly, but today we finally got it all fixed! My teacher was so happy she rolled around on the ground. It was odd.

Heard some days ago that my grandfather might still live for a few years. After closer examinations the doctors found that the cancer was only located in his one lung, so it might be operable. The main question now is if he's fit enough to survive such extensive surgery (he's still recovering from hospital-induced pneumonia right now). I'm hoping for the best.


In other news: My brother is now, officially, a teenager. Loud music (luckily rock), lots of ignoring everyone and being generally phlegmatic about everything. I am not amused.

And: Finally watched Tron: Legacy the other day. I was disappointed. The effects and design and such were all pretty awesome, but the acting was just not that good. Even Jeff Bridges (!!!) failed to deliver... And somehow, although there was lots of action, the movie failed to build any sort of tension. And then there were the faint mood whiplashes and loose ends and general nitpick-opportunities and idiot-balls. Daft Punk was awesome though and the soundtrack... *drool* Omg the soundtrack! So much awesome!

What's more: I gots a blag! Yay! :3