Things to Purchase/Acquire
Drum Set - This has been purchased, and I've been playing it for a few weeks now. I can definitely agree that the cymbals will need to be replaced at some point (they sound way different from the ones I use during lessons), but it is certainly sufficient for what I need right now. Hopefully I will be able to get a place to put them soon so that they can actually be of use.
Things to Learn
Drum Lessons - Been doing these for a month and a half now, and I really have a blast doing them. My instructor is my kind of guy, and we seem to spend half of our time just messing around, even though it is all still learning new things. Probably only going to do them for a couple more months, but I will probably miss doing them.
Guitar Learning - Fallen off the wagon on this. Haven't even touched the thing in over a month. Definitely need to get back into it.
Games
DS Games (35%) - Did finish Chrono Trigger a while ago, and I'm most of the way through Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Will be finished soonish.
PS3 Games (33%) - Gone through five whole games already, so I'm taking a break from those to focus on some of the other categories.
Other Media
Movies (24%) - Doing very well here. Already 24% done, using only 17% of the year so far. As long as I watch one movie per week, which is easy to do, then no troubles finishing this goal.
Shows (7%) - Not doing so well here thus far. I always forget how long shows can be at times. Perhaps I should have made this goal for only 10 shows.
Books (66%) - This is kind of a cheat. One book, I started way back in last year and only finished it this month. The other book was an audiobook, so it wasn't really reading a book. Still, got all the same information from it. I think this goal will be easily crushed. Next year I'll probably set it at five books instead of only three.
So for the next two months, the goals are pretty simple:
Really really hoping for the last two. Another update in a couple months.
]]>The reason I enrolled into the program in the first place is because I've wanted to start my own business for a long time. My dad did it when I was young, and that experience never left me. Being around that left me with a sense of determination that most people never get. Even today, I still fully intend to start a company that develops video games (and this website is somewhat critical to that effort).
Anyway, the time since college hasn't really helped in a lot of ways. The economy certainly had an effect since by the time I tried to get a good job in my field, most companies were playing it safe. I had an initial intention of starting a company with my dad, but by the time I had graduated and was ready to get going on it, I had lost all motivation to pursue it. The thing about startups is that if you don't really love the idea, it will never happen. So I ended up getting a part-time testing video games before I managed to get my current job at Boeing.
After being here for a year, it has become painfully obvious that big companies are just not for me at all. I thought I could endure it for a few years, wait for the economy to bounce back, then move into a smaller company like I had originally intended. But no, at the start of the year I was already starting a search for another job.
And last week, the stars aligned for me.
There is a new startup in the area called Ivycorp, which "employs" several people I've worked with in the past. I say "employ" because there is no real money in it yet, most people are working for stock. After talking to them, I have agreed to also join, with the intention of becoming a full-time employee after they acquire funding.
So for the present, I will be working for them, for no pay, on the weekends when I'm not doing my paying job. The first thing I'll be working on will be in mobile phone apps, so that's an exciting new area for me to dive into.
Why am I crazy to do this? Well, with the time I'll be committing to Ivycorp, the hours I'll be working for the next few weeks will be upwards of 70 hours per week. Sacrifices will have to be made, but I'm hoping that the time invested will be well worth it. The company has very strong potential (I'm not at liberty to talk about the details), so I'm hoping that it will be a place I get to spend a good amount of time at. More than anything, this opportunity is several steps toward my ultimate goals, and I'm ready to take the risk necessary to get on the path.
]]>But, after doing this for half a year or so, I'm calling it quits on public transportation, at least for commuting to work. The fact of the matter is that it just takes too long. When I drive to work in the morning, it's generally 30-35 minutes depending on traffic coming out of Seattle. When I drive back home in the evening, it's 25-30 minutes usually since the roads are clearer by then. In contrast, taking the bus, as I said before, it takes 20 minutes to walk down there, and then the wait which can be as much as 15 minutes, and then the actually bus trip is around 50 minutes on average. This means the whole trip can be 70-85 minutes on average. Back when I was working my old schedule, the trip back would include a wait of up to 15 minutes, and the bus would take anywhere from 60-90 minutes due to rush hour traffic, plus the 20 minute walk back up the hill. Lately, with my new schedule, the wait can be up to 30 minutes if I happen to miss one, but the ride on the bus is usually 30-45 minutes. So taking all that into account, taking the bus right now takes 120-180 minutes of my daily time.
So, take the bus, 2-3 hours gone. Driving the car, 1 hour.
I've known the discrepency was there since I first started, but I had ways to justify it, which I will list here and then refute.
I'm too tired to drive in the morning
This was really my main reason, and it is true. On the days when I do drive, I do have trouble keeping focus on the road in the morning. Plus, who wants to add the stress of driving in the morning when you could have someone else do it for you?
Well, the fact of the matter is that the only reason this happens at all is because my current car has nothing to listen to. When I was living with my parents, I would drive their car to work, which has a nice sound system for me to use. Even with the fact that those trips were more than twice as long as my current ones via car, and I woke up at the same time as I do now, I never got tired in the same way. So, my conclusion is, I just need something to listen to when I drive in the mornings. Easily fixed.
I can do things on the bus
Sure, I can. And admittedly I have played through a few games on my PSP and DS on the bus, plus listened to dozens of podcasts. Never got around to reading.
The big problem is that it took weeks for me to get comfortable doing it. I don't have motion sickness to the same level as most of my family, but I'm not 100% immune to it. The thing is that when I do things like this in a moving vehicle, it causes my body temperature to increase very quickly, which in turn leads to me becoming nauceous and getting headaches. I know this is true because I can do the exact same thing with less clothing on, and be completely fine. On the bus, I already have to take off my outer clothing just to be comfortable at all. It's weird to sit there in a T-shirt when everyone else is bundled up with winter coats and scarves, and I'm still hotter than I'd like to be.
And so even then, most of the time I just don't want to play stuff, which I would rather do than anything else while riding. The only time I ever played on my PSP or DS was in the morning, never on the way home. And a lot of times I'm too tired in the morning to do it. So the only other thing I have to do is listen to podcasts. Well, I can listen to podcasts at any time, I don't need to be on the bus to do it. I can better spend my gaming time at home, which I do.
Taking the bus costs less than driving all the time
This is the one thing I cannot refute, because it is true. To get a bus pass for a month, it costs me $69 (currently, it used to be $60). Back before I started taking the bus, and I was just driving from Seattle to work, my gas bill each month was over $100. Based on my gas mileage, the distance to work, and the current gas prices, it is overall cheaper to take the bus.
But really, what is a few bucks each month? In the last few weeks, I heard someone say something that seemed so obvious, yet was something that I didn't really understand until I heard it. What he said, in just as many words, was "time is the most precious resource you have." And I brought that back to my goals this year, which is to use my time to its fullest. Why am I wasting an extra hour or more riding this bus to and from work just so that I can save a few bucks and maybe get some things done while I ride?
So, I am quitting the metro as of today. Well, I really quit a couple weeks ago since I haven't taken it since January. Even if it is just an hour, I still want that hour to spend time where I want to, which is at home, where I can actually get things done. I gave public transportation a try, but the fact is that busses just don't work well enough when the distance is further than five miles. Things would be a lot different if I were going into Seattle for work, but that's not the case. I just need to get used to driving in the morning again, and things will work out just fine.
]]>For a long, long time, I never really cared about what I did with my life. I went with the motions, yet had some nice ambitions. Well I don't want my dreams to remain dreams. Somewhere along the line, I figured out that if I wanted to do something, I had to work a lot harder for it than I had thought. It's the kind of spark that most successful people have, but it can take time to acquire it. I don't want to say that I've acquired that spark, but I know that some day it will come, and I want to be fully prepared for it.
To be more productive
Being more productive to me is just like it sounds: to get a lot of things done, especially in the creative field. Last year I managed to make a game (technically anyway, I didn't invent the game, and it only took 10 hours to code), and almost finish two novels. But it's more than just creating. I fully intend to do that too, hopefully make an original game and have a publishable version of at least one of my novels, plus write another one during NaNoWriMo this year. But this also includes consuming as much media as I can. My backlog of games, shows, and movies, is horrendous, and I'm hoping that this year I will end with less than when I started.
To be more efficient
This is really the sticking point for me. I can be productive when I want to, but what I really have trouble with is wasting time. I tend to spend a lot of time doing useless things. Surfing the Internet, checking sites I've already visited a dozen times that day, that is one of the big ones. Also those times where I just sit and think about what I should be doing without actually doing anything. Those need to cease. I also have a big problem with doing things promptly, taking care of them before they become a problem. These mostly involve various chores, like doing the dishes or cleaning the apartment. So no more procrastinating over stupid things either. That's what I mean by efficiency, no idle time and get things done when they need to be done.
The first 10 days
So in regards to the first 10 days of the year, I obviously haven't completely changed myself, but the results so far have me very pleased. Here's a small breakdown of the things I've been doing lately.
Those are all the major things. My only real goal with these is to keep them going long enough to the point where they become habit. I admit that with my schedule the way it is, taking time out of my evenings to work out and do chores, it doesn't leave me with a lot of time to do things that I want to do. Well, so be it. As time goes on, I've come to realize more and more that most of the things that I have done to kill time do not benefit me in any way. If it turns out that I spend so much time doing necessary things that I don't have time to watch something before bed, oh well, there's always tomorrow.
After this gets posted, I'm also going to make a separate page that contains my whole list of goals for the year. This way I can remind myself what I want to do, as well as give updates on what I have done.
As is usually the case, I have started yet another blog, and no matter how much I try to keep on top of it, I will inevitably slip. This has happened here as it does with every blog I've ever tried to do. The last weekly update was three weeks ago, and at this point, I can't remember all I've done since then. So you know what, I'm not even going to bother!
Yes yes, the main change here is that the weekly update stuff is going away. But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm not going to post stuff here. No no, that will continue. But instead of trying to do a weekly all-encapsulating blurb, the updates will be more focused, just to talk about things that have interested me recently. They could certain be movies or TV I've watched, perhaps a game I just finished playing, or maybe even just commentary on a current event. I remember that back in the old days of the Realm (and the Murph Mafia, circa 2002), people who actually read the shit I posted liked it because I would just rant about things, mostly teachers. I kinda want to go back to a model like that. Just speak freely about what I think is interesting.
With that, here's a couple things on my mind right now.
Carl Sagan's Cosmos
Originally filmed back in 1980, this 13 episode show won many awards, which is quite amazing considering it is 100% an educational show. But really, it is well deserving of those accolades. Being too young to watch it originally, I had never seen any of it until recently. The idea to watch it came from some like-minded people on a forum I frequent, and they tend to post Youtube clips from the show, or on occasion, a clever remix of clips set to music. I'm very glad that I did.
I'm certainly no dummy when it comes to science. I am an engineer after all and I had my fair share of biology, chemistry, and physics, plus other general sciences. But what was really great about this show is that it's not just about the science. It's not just about the universe and astronomy, though it is the main theme. It is also about history. It absolutely blew me away to learn that some of the most respected philosphers of all time were actually some of the first influencial people to stamp out the precursers to modern science. It infuriates me beyond measure to think of how advanced we could be right now if the library at Alexandria hadn't been burned down, if the Christians hadn't taken over, if superstitious BS hadn't squashed the idea of the scientific method. It took two millenia to recover from those horrible mistakes.
And even beyond that, the show is full of the unsung heroes that created modern science. Take Kepler for example. When most people think of astronomy and those who were persecuted for thinking that the Earth was round, and it circled the sun, not vice versa, most people automatically think of Galileo. Why is that though? Compared to Kepler, Galileo was an amateur, and they lived during the same time. But nobody really knows about him, even though Kepler is really the person who founded modern astronomy, and laid some of the foundations for physics well before Newton. And the show is just full of anecdotes like this. Absolutely wonderful.
The show is not perfect, it is quite old now, and Carl is a bit heavy handed on some topics (see mankind's imminent destruction, but I forgive him since it was the Cold War when it was taped), but the information is still way better than most people will ever get. Highly recommended. As of right now, it is still on Netflix streaming, which is how I watched it.
The Paleolithic Diet
So one of the things that I did recently was watch Super Size Me. Most of the information in it didn't surprise me since a lot of it is well known at this point. Still shocking yes, and some of the conclusions don't sit that well with me, but it was entertaining at least. This doesn't really relate to what I want to discuss.
My best friend has been talking about this Paleolithic diet for a while now, and from what I've seen it certainly seems to be working for him. He's always been skinnier than I, but I could tell that recently he's put on more bulk, while staying thin. The diet, from his description, is only marginally different from my own, which is a med-carb, high-protein/fat diet. Anyway, as a way to pass time at work, I decided to do more research on the diet.
Some of this stuff really blew my mind. Especially when I read about the toxins that are generally found in grains, potatoes, and other starchy foods. I honestly never really realized that it is true that all of those foods have to be cooked before they can be eaten. I was like, "Hmm, I don't really make bread, but it does have to baked. I also bake potatoes, and steam rice." And I went down the list, and I was like, "Well, that is rather interesting."
And then came more information about how this sort of diet has been known for 150 years. Forget Atkins, the Paleolithic diet has been helping overweight and obese people since the 1800s. The more I read, the more it made sense, and the more I felt like I should give this a try.
So starting soon, I'm going to be switching over to this new diet, as well as getting back into working out on a daily basis. You can add this as a sub-resolution for the new year.
That's all for now, and as far as updates are concerned, this is really a weight off my chest.
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Last movie watched: Watchmen
I'm pretty sure this was the only movie I watched in the last couple weeks. If I did watch something else, it wasn't worth mentioning. Watchmen, however, is worth mentioning, cause it's pretty damn good. Like many others, I've read the original comic, but unlike many others, I didn't care much for it. Probably just a thing of having it too overhyped, and I found it to be decent at best. I recognize the influences it has had on so many other works, but it just never grabbed me. I ended up liking the movie much more, mostly because it had an ending that made sense. Also, it didn't get itself bogged down in exploring the characters that have little to say (which is most of them to me). Very well paced, extremely awesome fight and action scenes, and it did feel like the comic in the same way that Sin City did. I'll probably end up picking this one up just for the style and fights.
Last TV show watched: Penn & Teller's Bullshit Season 5
Again, like season 4, just watched it because it's streaming on Netflix. Same good old stuff. I definitely liked how this season brought up some things that I'd never really thought about before. It also has good examples of how they really don't represent one side over the other, it's mostly just common sense to intelligent people. I pretty much ended up agreeing with them on every topic this time around, which season 4 did not do to me.
Last games finished: Call of Duty 4, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest
Neither of these are really worth talking about since they're both replays for me, and obviously I did them because I like playing them. Both are just nice short games that don't require a lot of thought, FF:MQ in particular. I still can't get that final dungeon theme out of my head.
Current PS3 games: Uncharted 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla, PixelJunk Shooter
Now that I have time again, I can play multiple games in a day. Working through Uncharted 2 on the hardest difficulty, so once that's done with, I can put it to rest for a long while. About 1/3 way through that one. Secondly, also jumped back into Red Faction and have been grinding into that. Although the game itself is pretty fun to play, it is starting to show a lot of its repetitiveness, and that's kind of turning me off to it. Still, I'm over half way through it now, so there's no point in quitting yet. I just might not go for 100% like I had originally intended.
But I also got a new game, PixelJunk Shooter, which came out last week. The verdict is still out on this one in terms of how much I like it, but the first impressions are good. Based on the trophies listed, it seems there are 15 levels, and I've done 6 so far. The game is a bit harder than I had assumed. I haven't managed to get 100% on anything in any level yet, which means a lot more plays to complete them. I like the concept and level designs, but the controls are a little lacking. Specifically I don't feel the aiming is precise enough, and doing spins is harder than it should be. Otherwise it's a good little game, and it's easy to pick up for 15 minutes to just do a level.
Current DS game: Chrono Trigger
Yep, still working on this. Looking at a guide, I realize that I'm a lot closer to the end than I had realized, and if that's true, it's not as long of a game as I had once thought. I suppose it's just weird for me because most of my RPG gaming was during the PS1 days, when a fully played out game would take 70+ hours. Even the shorter RPGs I've played take 30 hours or so to do full completes. Really, FF:MQ has long been the shortest RPG I've played, and that's 10 hours to get a 100%. Chrono Trigger is probably longer than that, but it doesn't really feel like it has been. Maybe it's just because of the lack of grinding compared to most games of its type. And the sad thing is I still don't like it that much. I feel like I'll enjoy it more on the New Game+ playthroughs since I will just be wiping the floor with enemies at that point. Again, it probably suffers from overhype.
Next week is Christmas week, and I couldn't be more stoked to take a huge chunk of time off work.
]]>Just click Writings, then Seraph: The Fall of Celes to access the story.
]]>Anyway, I did succeed in my quest of 50,000 words by the end of November. I actually got to almost 54K, and would've gotten even more if I hadn't gotten sick the last couple days of the month. Despite getting to the goal, the novel is still not finished yet, so it won't be going up here until it is. Be sure that I will be posting about it everywhere once it is.
Overall, I'm extremely glad that I did this. It really pushed me to focus on one thing all the time, and luckily it is something that I already love to do. And the sense of accomplishment is something that I rarely get from anything else. As far as stories go, I have yet to actually finish a novel in my life, so I can't wait to have it published here. The only other time where I've felt so good about my work was back in high school when I did a bunch of AMVs. Unfortunately, I grew out of that, though I wish I still had interest in doing so. I had great times making those videos.
Now the only problem is trying to figure out what I'll do next year. Depending on what projects I work on in the coming months, I may skip next year to work on those instead. As it is, I don't really have any other story worlds that are as fleshed out as this one had already been before I started writing. I don't know, we'll see!
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Last movies watched: There's Something About Mary
Huh. I guess this was the only movie I've watched in the last week. Anyway, I was always bummed that I'd never seen this movie in its entirity, so I finally sat down for the whole thing. Turns out that I had already seen 80% of the movie before, and didn't really know it. So, there wasn't much there to really surprise me. Regardless of that, the movie isn't really that entertaining anyway. I will say that I do generally like the characters more than typical American comedies, but the humor is still just as bland and predictable and stupid. I just don't get why people think stuff like this is funny. Pass.
Last TV shows watched: The IT Crowd Season 3, Penn & Teller's Bullshit Season 4
Man oh man do I want more IT Crowd. Third season was the best one yet, and it pains me that there isn't more to watch on DVD yet. Will be getting the whole thing for myself sooner rather than later. So good.
I've also been a fan of Bullshit for a long while, though I'd only seen various episodes from seasons 1-3. I just went with season 4 because it's on Netflix streaming right now, along with season 5, which I will watch shortly. And like many people, I do not always agree with them, since the views are tilted towards what they believe, but more often than not I do. And even on those that I don't agree, the arguments made are worth listening to. Debate is a good thing, and having plenty of nudity is never a bad thing.
Current anime: Naruto Shippuuden
Back again! Now that my internet connection has magically healed itself and streaming works well again, I hopped on the Hulu to start the slow process of catching up on Naruto. It's still good, even though the last arc I just finished was painfully slow with stupid characters. I'm still trying to determine if it was filler or not. Hopefully not, cause it's pretty central to the main story. Anyway, now I'm only... 25 episodes back? Maybe? Yeah, lots to catch up on.
Current games: Uncharted 2, Call of Duty 4
Just putting these here cause... I played both this week. New playthroughs started on both. That's all. I love them both.
Still more writing to go, so the novel will not be up until the weekend. Looking forward to a weekend where I don't have to worry about that anymore.
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