It helps if I actually post right? I meant to post this yesterday, and thought I did, but starting 23 December 2011 and ending 1 January 2012, I will be taking a break from the internet. I will not post for the next week. I might post maybe one or two things, but overall, its going to be going quiet over here. Nobody really cares though, so all is good.
See you in the New Year.
Let the hype train begin:
I know I’m looking forward to this. Since I was little, I’ve always been a fan of The Hobbit. I’ll be there opening day, just as I was ten years ago for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and the two sequels. Can Peter Jackson do it again? The trailer seems to indicate that he’s on the right track.
I just worked for 12 hours, called in the at the very last minute, didn’t realise that they’d make me work both the other person’s shift and my own at the same time. Not fun in the slightest. I smelt like burnt bacon and still need to shower. I’m just tired.
I was just going to post another photo, but I’m too lazy to check to see if I posted it before. Ah, screw it, I’ve got too much of a headache, here’s a photo:
We’re 9 days from Christmas, NINE DAYS. I still have some things to pick up for people, and not enough time to get them. Its crazy man. I still haven’t watched a single Christmas movie either. Strange that I’ve avoided watching anything Christmas related. Okay, that’s a lie, I rewatched last year’s Animated Community Christmas, and Syfy Christmas Specials for Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Haven. That was all I’ve watched.
Nine days, I can’t get over it.
My sleep is messed up again. I would wake up, wander around my house, go back to sleep, and repeat. This kept happening all night. The worst part of all this is that I don’t think I dreamt except for one dream. Yes, I’m going to tell you about the dream I had.
I’d been having trouble sleeping all night, I would wake up wander around my house, go back to sleep, and repeat the cycle again, all night. Finally I fell asleep. When I awoke the next time, it was beautiful outside. The sun was shining, the dead grass and trees twinkling with a little bit of frost and melting snow. I then looked at my clock. It was 1pm. I was supposed to be at work 5 hours ago. So I tried calling someone, but the lines were busy and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone. So I got ready and walked 20 minutes to work.
I don’t know what happens next because as I was walking down the bike path, the weather getting colder, clouds starting to fill up the sky, I awoke in my bed, one hour had passed since I had woke up previously.
Up to that point I didn’t even realise that I was dreaming. Right now, I don’t even know if I’m dreaming, but I’m just going to play along with it until I either wake up, or go back to sleep. Time to finish getting ready to work.
Not the best day of the week to say the least. I got woken up this morning, called into work for a meeting. The meeting was essentially a huge reprimand about how the quality of work has shifted since we’ve taken over. Fun.
To top it all off, my niece was having a miserable day as well, she just keeps getting sick. She ended up at my house all afternoon due to it. Shot my plans off, so didn’t get to clean my house (again) as planned.
I’ve also had a headache for much of the day, which didn’t even go away after I slept for a bit this afternoon. It was so bad, I ended up ordering out for pizza instead of cooking supper.
If I didn’t have to go in tomorrow, I wouldn’t. I’d stay in bed and sleep, really sleep you know?
So I completely forgot to post anything yesterday. I got home from work after 9pm, and I actually thought I’d posted something already. Remember that lengthy post from Sunday? I had thought I posted it yesterday. Oops.
I had a busy day of doing nothing, yet again. Still haven’t gotten around to giving my house a good cleaning, but I did get around to getting my dog washed. He’s now nice and clean. He’s much happier for it too.
I almost forgot to post something again tonight. Sorry. More tomorrow.
I’m finally over whatever I had. Whatever remains in my lungs is negligible, so I consider myself better. The healing can now begin. HUZZAH! Now onto the fun part, time to disinfect my house. Actually, that doesn’t sound like fun at all.
Sigh…
VIDEOGAMES! I’m really enjoying the hell out of Mario Kart 7. I didn’t really get around to playing all that much against others online, but when I have, it worked awesome. I only got dropped once. Mario Kart 7 is just pure Mario Kart, if you know what I mean. Its a genre unto itself at this point. No other game could get away with having such cheap rubber band AI, but this one does well. Its one of the few instances where it actually intensifies the gameplay; you always feel that anyone could win at any moment. I enjoy that, even when it irritates me to the point I want to stab someone (specifically the computer player) in the eye. It elicits good hate, whatever that means.
I didn’t really get to play that much since I last posted anything. I’ve been busy working. Oh boy did I work. It’s like the moment everyone realised I was better, they could work me harder than they ever could before. I’m so very tired.
Huh, just got an email from Microsoft…my Gold account expires today. I completely forgot. Oh well, I don’t really feel like paying $60+ for something I rarely use anymore except for when I use Netflix. I can always watch that on my Wii, PC, or 3DS at no additional charge anyways. The days of playing with friends online has passed for me. None of them want to play anything anymore it seems. Sigh, nostalgia.
Yes, I’m making up for not posting in the last two days. I just didn’t feel up to it, or have anything really to say. Less than usual actually. Today I feel fine, and in a mood to just write something. Speaking of writing, I bombed terribly. I did not complete my novel for NaNoWriMo, and I’m fine with that. I’m going to give myself a year, and brainstorm, and plan. I’m not just going to go into it half-cocked again, thinking I could just wing it. Not going to happen again.
So, anyways, I didn’t post anything for two days mostly because I just didn’t feel up to it. While it might be good to write something everyday, to get myself in the habit, I’m not going to kick myself for not posting something. I also felt invigorated to not have to force myself to write. Maybe in the new year, I’ll set aside 2-3 days a month where I just don’t post anything. I should probably start to bring a focus to this blog too. I’m going to think on that.
I just don’t get it. I don’t understand why people are surprised when they walk into my workplace, and I greet them and give a kind word. I had to explain today that I treat others the way I would want to be treated in such an establishment. Its all about mutual respect. If the customer is polite, I’ll be polite. If the customer isn’t polite, I’ll still be polite anyway if not a tad quick to get rid of them. It confuses me that people don’t understand that.
This isn’t the post I originally wanted to post. I had intended wax poetic on the arc that EA has taken over the years and how Activision took their place. But yeah that’s not going to happen. Its all been said.
To sum up EA’s story arc: Evil=>Good=>Evil.
It’s just too much effort, and its a waste of my time. So the last thing I’ll say on this subject is this: EAs practices in the last year alone has been atrocious.
They’re slowing becoming scumbags again. That is saddening.
Today may be the first day I will not start about my cold. I still kind of have one, but its not too terrible. Just sitting here listening to this weeks GiantBombCast. I was just going to lazily post, “Peck peck gobble peck peck”, in honour of it, and mostly because I’ve got nothing to write about…
I watched Ip Man today if that interests anyone. I liked it. I’m just done with today. I want to sleep.
Since I have such a bad cold (which I’m starting to think is not a cold), I’ve been forced to sit back, relax, and NOT overexert myself. Luckily, I’m not working until Thursday morning. With all this relaxation time, I’ve been able to watch some movies, TV, play games, and sleep here and there (I’ve not really be sleeping). So here are some super short reviews of things I’ve played and watched in the last few days while I’ve relaxed.
I admit it, I’m not a good reviewer, but those were my thoughts on the things I played/watched in the last few days. I’m going to go continue to take it easy and take a nap.
I have a cold, one which I thought I was almost over. Fever broke Wednesday, and the cough lessened, but when I went to work Friday it decided to stage a counter-attack. Near noon Friday afternoon, I blew my nose to get rid of some mucus in my nose, and next thing I know, I’m falling over. Oh joy, a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time: VERTIGO. HOORAY!
I was forced in to see a nurse, who said the only thing I could really do was to go home and rest, and if I couldn’t then I’d have to not over exert myself for the remainder of my shift. So yeah, I still ended up working for the last two days, and I don’t feel any better. Luckily (or unluckily, can’t decide which), I won’t be working again until Thursday, so I’ll have a few days to just rest and get this out of my system. So look forward to another week of my bitching about having a cold.
I have a cold. I can’t wait until I stop writing that. I’ve written that every day this week so I might as well end off with it. I’m still sick but getting better every day. My throat itches, my head is still stuffy, but I no longer have a fever. I will be off to work shortly. I hope this day doesn’t suck. Once I come home, I think I’ll be off to bed.
Sigh, I have a cold. Its getting better though. I’m seriously entertained by starting the post off the same way everyday, I don’t know why. Now back to that cold. I had a slight fever yesterday which seems to have broken, or not, I still keep getting aches. I will be working tomorrow, I have no real choice in the matter. It’ll be four/five days since I first exhibited cold symptoms, so it should be burned out by then. If not, oh well, I’ll wear another face mask all day again. Not fun, but yeah no real choice.
Today, I just plan on resting and getting better. I really need to work. Here’s hoping this is almost over.
So, I have a cold. Yes, that’s the third time I’ve started a post that way this week. So let me say it again. I HAVE A COLD! Poor me. I hate being sick (repetition), I want to go back to bad (repetition), I’m just trying to reach my quota for posts (repetition).
I’m fooling around with you. Yeah, I’m sick. I’m getting better (hopefully). I may or may not be working for 2 hours this afternoon depending if I feel up to it. If I do, I’ll be wearing a mask again. Not working tomorrow.
So, I have a cold. Just finally started to really settle in, I’m just going to lie here and watch TV, drink some cup of soup, and hope I get better soon. I hate being sick.
I’ve got a cold. I hate colds. I’m going away now until I feel better. Just wanted to meet my daily quota of posts. Bleh. 
I’m going to go pick up some OTC cold remedies and then go back to sleep before going to work…in a mask…to prevent any spread of this cold. Good thing its only the early symptoms, so nothing more than this big ass cotton ball around my head, and leaky, runny nose.
I just want to go back to bed.
Found which post the “CHRISMAS” tag goes to and fixed it. Funny, that I never noticed it before. Oh well, I’m a terrible person.
So onto other things, I’ve almost finished all my Christmas shopping. Only have one or two things I was unable to purchase online. I don’t like to go Christmas shopping because the amount of people, and how rude every single one of them are, gives me anxiety. This doesn’t happen at any other time of year, but when people start getting that crazy glint in their eye, all because they’re miserable or caught up in the act of consumer culture, I just want to run.
Sigh, why can’t everything I want to purchase be available online or at least online at a good price?
So, I’m broke as hell but still decided to check out Canadian Black Friday Weekend sales at the local Walmart. Even if I had cash, I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the sales I wanted, primarily Skyward Sword for $40 and Batman Arkham City for $30. I guess I got lucky in that way. Look on the bright side and all that.
I can’t remember if I posted yesterday and I’m too lazy to check. Anyways, all this week I’d been having issues sleeping, and after work last night I went to bed. Ok, not RIGHT after work, but around 7:30. I ended up sleeping until 6 this morning. I guess my body really needed to sleep.
Worked this morning, and it sure was slow. I assume everyone was just away, probably across the borders just partaking in crass commercialism. I don’t care. Slow work days can sometimes be good.
More unexpected spending incoming. Remember that “exhaust” smell my sister said she smelt? I finally caught a whiff of it, and ended up opening windows and lowering my furnace to as low as necessary so that it wouldn’t be used to much and so we wouldn’t freeze. Yesterday, I received quite a few tips at work, which I was originally going to put towards buying something for me during this weekends sales. Not anymore. Those tips, plus whatever other money I can scrounge up, will now be put towards calling the furnace man in to check it out. I really hope its not bad.
So in no particular order, here we go.
I haven’t been sleeping well for the last 4 days or so, I can count the number of hours I have actually slept on one hand (that being 5). I’m not a happy camper. I’m tired but I’m not. Not fun.
I was walking my dog in the melting snow earlier, and realised that my memory and creativity used to be a lot better when I was younger, and I think it was due to all that amateur musical theatre I used to do up in to CEGEP. I did alot, and I used to have to remember a lot lines. I was one of those middle ranged actors, nothing big, nothing too little. I generally played the minor character bit parts with a lot of lines (or one or two songs) per play. Forcing myself to memorise all my minds had the added effect of forcing me to keep my mind and memory sharp. I don’t have that sort of mental exercise anymore. I’m disappointed.
Les Miserables is playing on PBS, and its such a great musical. GREAT! I’ve always enjoyed it. I know I don’t have the vocal range, but when I was younger I liked to occasional sing along to some of it. Good fun.
I went to work for the first time since Saturday. Still didn’t tire me out enough to sleep.
I’m also cold right now, and have no idea if my furnace is leaking exhaust or not. My sister said she smelt something “exhasuty” (not a word) in the air after our furnace ran for a while. That’s bad.
I think I may have just enough money from tips to purchase myself a copy of Skyward Sword or Batman Arkham Asylum. This was after having no cash from being hit from unexpected bills this week.
I apologise for the lack of coherence tonight. 5 hours of sleep is messing with my mind. I’m going to try to sleep now. I’m so tired.
Also, I just noted I have tags for CHRISTMAS and “CHRISMAS”. So disappointing, no I’ll have to go look through my posts and find where the misspelling originated from.
Yeah, that’s a lot of question marks, but you know what I don’t care. I just came inside from shovelling. Its not a bad amount of snow, but I can already feel it in the middle of my back. That’s the only thing I hate about snow.
I’m currently sitting here relaxing, watching a Giant Bomb Quick Look of WWE ‘12.
I don’t know anymore. I’m so far removed from wrestling, that I have no idea who any of these characters are, and it just doesn’t interest me all that much. I was never huge into wrestling, but I always enjoyed the games. There was something so relaxing about just hammering on some dudes with grapples and finishers, but now its just the same year in, year out. My interest has waned.
So I do enjoy my time on this blog, even if it doesn’t seem like it. As you could probably guess, I don’t have anyone reading this but myself. Its nice that way. This is supposed to be practice, a means to get myself writing something, and doing something each day, even if its just posting a stupid photo, or writing something of little to no consequence.
Recently, I’ve been looking over my Blogger stats and see all these different websites popping up. For a moment I was surprised. Did I have an audience? Were people reading my daily musings? When this moment passed I started researching the referring sites. Apparently I’m receiving something called “referred spam” in which a nefarious site (most of which seem to be hosted out of Russia) attempts to get me to click on their link to find out who they are to either increase their page views, install malware/viruses, or to just promote their own site. Apparently, there is nothing that I can do about this, so I’ll just be ignoring these sites. That said, its pretty annoying, and I don’t like it.
Now I can go back to being alone here, writing for me and nobody else. Maybe one day I’ll actually do something that draws someone to my blog of their own accord, something they will enjoy. I’m in no rush, I don’t care. Just me, my laptop, and my thoughts. Oh, and my dog, I can’t be forgetting him (especially when he’s trying to drag me away from my computer to feed him, early I might add).
I thought I was getting ahead. I’ve got a more or less part time job, and only a handful of bills to pay. I had wiggle room, I finally had some cash that I could spend on myself, specifically to get a haircut, and maybe to get my dog washed and groomed before Winter properly sets in. I got a phone call earlier, I’m not going into specifics, and now I’m completely broke and then some. I just sat down for the last hour or so wrapping coins just to make sure I’d have enough to cover this new found expense plus other bills. I think I might come up short actually. Oh well, I’ll have to cut into my grocery bill maybe and hope I can get through the next two/three weeks on less. It shouldn’t be too bad. Even though on top of this new found expense, my hours were cut by 4 so I’ll be getting even less for each pay period.
This just sucks.
I really do want to just cry. Not a good thing to feel when you’re finally getting a head a bit.
So yeah, this more or less a follow up to my previous post. Don’t know why I didn’t just include these links yesterday,. Here are the links to UN-GO and Chihayafuru.
I just really enjoy both series and wanted to share. I hope you enjoy them as much as I currently am.
Good night.
Out of this anime season, I’m really enjoying UN-GO. Just wanted to get that out there. Quality.
Though Randy’s pick of the season is Chihayafuru, so awesome. Find a stream of it, you won’t be disappointed.
Today I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. It was just that busy. Surprising since usually its slow as hell on a Saturday, and I can usually get all I need to get done well before the end of my shift. I’m taking about my work, in case you can’t figure that out. Ugh. Can’t wait for this day to end, just so I can go to sleep. Tomorrow I clean, and then finally write.
I’m completed wiped after a very hectic, and annoying day. Suffice to say I worked hard for my money. I came home to a complete utter mess and I put my head in my hands, and just sighed. Tomorrow I go to work, come home, clean, and then sit down and write. Sunday, more cleaning, and more writing. Monday, relaxation for the most part until I work in the evening, and then two days of rest.
Also, I apologise for missing a post yesterday. I came home and was in bed by 8:30pm. I’ve got no life.
Might be a repost, too lazy to check. Going to sleep now, tired from work.
ZZZZZ…
Someone donated two pounds of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee to the place I work. I was elated when told to brew a pot and sell it at out regular price to our customers, maybe asking for a little donation if they like it. I’ve had Jamaican Blue Mountain before, and can still remember the taste, and I was happy to share it with people who may not have had the chance to try it before.
So I made the pot, and gave it to the first people who walked in, asking them to come back with feedback on what they thought. Ten minutes later, they came back and asked if they could have the regular coffee we sell instead because this didn’t taste right. I was surprised. I poured myself a cup and had a taste, and told them I may have brewed it too weak and to come back next time I was on and I’d figure out the correct ratio of water to grounds.
Last night, after doing much research and math, I figured out an amount that would maybe make it a little strong, but still drinkable. So I walked into work, got out my measuring cups, did my thing and brewed another pot of Jamaican Blue. This time I wasn’t taking any chances, this time I took the first cup from the freshly made pot…and it was a complete failure.
First off, the coffee tasted like an ashtray or dirty dishwater or both. This was not the Jamaican Blue I remembered. Second off, without an hour of drinking the coffee, I was hit major stomach upset and pain. Signs that the coffee was stale. I’ll have to check in with my boss to see if they still expect me to sell it, but myself I will not be drinking any.
I’m currently very far behind on my attempt for this years NaNoWriMo. Initially, I set out to just wing it, sit down day one and start, see where the story would bring me. Unfortunately, this plan was the absolute worst thing I could do. By going into this in such a way, my story refuses to come together beyond an initial premise:
A Man wakes up and sets out to destroy the world.
This premise coupled with one of the bleakest openings I’ve written (or read) has resulted in zero progress. The premise could result in an interesting tale if handled properly, but I don’t think I’m up to this story this time round. As it is now, I’m abandoning this story and tabling it for another day.
This does not mean I have given up on NaNoWriMo, this just means that this years attempt will not be completed before the deadline of 30 November 2011. I will going back to the drawing board, and over the next few days will be planning out another story from scratch. When Saturday afternoon/evening arrives, I plan to begin the writing process once more. For now, I will rest, and tomorrow I’ll look over some old story ideas to see if anything is promising.
This will be yet another one of my failures recently, but I’m hoping it is one that I will learn from.
Yet another lazy day, and it looks like yet another lazy week is in the pipeline. Other than work, I’ve got nothing to do this week. I think in my off time I’ll sleep or something. I just don’t know anymore.
I’ve had a more or less uneventful week. I’ve worked, done some Christmas shopping, and little else. Its not even pass US Thanksgiving and I’ve begun to Christmas shop. I need to finish everything before the stores start opening late for the holidays as I do no like to be around all those crazy people. One of these days I’ll snap while Christmas shopping and seriously hurt someone. Their rudeness gets on my nerves and I just don’t want to deal with them.
Sigh…Steam got hacked, possible encrypted CC and personal information taken. This and PSN hack make me hate the internet sometime.
I’m just going to leave this here and walk away. Always loved this poem and it sticks in my head to this day. Typed up from memory so if there are any errors they are my own. Enjoy!
“Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
I have all the luck, yet another day where I feel unwell. I have no idea what is wrong this time, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I have an infection of some sort. A lymph node appears to be swollen and the swelling goes all the way up to my ear, so my face feels lopsided and achy.
Right now I’m just killing time before I cook my supper; Making pizza. Hooray!
Before I move on to important things, I did not make the above animated gif. I found it. All the other gifs seen on this blog were made my me. So enjoy them and please if you use them don’t link back to the original source. Now to more important things…
THe above image perfectly depicts how I feel after coming home from work: wired and antsy. I’m happy to be doing something with my time other than sitting around doing nothing. Unfortunately, work is already wearing me down and eating up all my time. I can confirm that I will not meet my goal of completing a 50000 word novel by November 20, 2011. I am OK with this. I am still participating, and I’m going to write as much as I can before the deadline. I’m just taking a few days to plan and brainstorm, as my original story idea isn’t panning out. So back to the drawing board for now.
At the moment I’ve got two ideas, I don’t know if they’re good ones, but I think they lend themselves to a story better than what I have now. Either I’m finally going to write the story of The Santa Claus Strangler or take the idea from my failed collaboration with JD, and just write the whole story from scratch, but with the story progressing entirely how I saw it.
Wish me luck.
I remember this one off clip from Conan' O’Brien from years back. They had to use all the sketches they put together but could never fit into any of their segments. It was real random stuff, and I could see why they had problems. One part has stuck with me all these years, and to this day, I can find no record of this sketch.
What I’m looking for is a clip of PIZZA GHOST. There were two bits in that whole segment where it was used. I remember almost nothing about it beyond the image of a Pizza Box (?) popping up and yelling, “PIZZA GHOST” <Spooky Voice>. I still giggle just thinking about it. I will find Pizza Ghost one day.
One day.
I hate Christmas. Everyone has to be so difficult and contrary. No one will give me a straight answer when I ask them what they would like or what they need. ARGH!
I REALLY HATE CHRISTMAS! TOO MUCH STRESS!
Second full day of work, so so tired. Luckily, tomorrow I only work the morning, 4 hours, and then a day off, and then back in again. Really messed up schedule. Guaranteed 16 hours a week minimum, 28 maximum. It all depends on what’s going on that week.
Just so tired.
No progress on my novel. I’ll be spending tomorrow evening making a basic plan of it, as I had a notion. An old notion, but something that would work for a novel. I’ll try to write something substantial Sunday.
I’ve not written a single word toward my novel today. I am absolutely terrified. On the plus side, I started officially working. Its not much, but I’ll be working 28 hours a week. Definitely enough to get by on for now. Tomorrow night I’ll have to sit down and try to make up for the lack of writing. Part of it I think is that I just don’t know what I want to write, the other part is that maybe what I’m attempting to write isn’t any good to begin with. I’m almost tempted to just say screw it, scrap the 400 words I’ve written and plan over the next few days an actual story. I don’t think I’ll be able to just write without some sort of a plan or guideline. But I’m not quitting. I will attempt this endeavour, and I don’t care if I succeed or fail. The journey (CLICHE ALERT) is what matters in this.
The first day isn’t even done, and I’m already regretting participating in this years NaNoWriMo. I am so unprepared for this undertaking and I don’t like where its taking me. I’ve written barely 400 words and oh lord is it bleak. My story begins with a man waking up, realising he’s miserable, and deciding to set off on a journey to end the world.
BLEAK.
I don’t know if I’m just being hateful, or what. My Protagonist just told a bunch of birds that he’s going to sing the song that ends the world. I don’t know where this story is going, or what. I already know I’m not going to finish it. It has to be a false start.
Once again, BLEAK.
I’m going to stick with it for now, but I’ll probably call this a wash before the month is through. Maybe it’ll help me work through things, or something. Ugh.
I really don’t know why I did this, and I know I’m going to fail. I will be participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo. For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo refers to National Novel Writing Month, which usually falls in November of each year. It is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days or less. I’m going into this blind. I don’t have any particular story, no characters, nothing. I will fail this. I know it, but you know what? I don’t care. I’m writing this for me, nobody else. It’ll be bad, but if I can do it, I’ll have something to be proud of.
This is actually the third time I’ve attempt to write a novel in my short 27 years of life. My first attempt was in High School, when I had planned to write a short Fantasy novel as a present for my father, based on a shared love of JRR Tolkien. I never got past the planning stages and got bogged down in the backstory of my characters. My second attempt was a few years ago, it was to be a collaboration with my buddy JD. I had wanted to go into it blind, and just write a chapter, hand it over to him, and have him react to it and so on and so forth. That failed miserably, and I know it was me who held it back. Once again I got hung up on the back story of the characters. This time, I’m going in with nothing, just an opening line.
I’m hoping that this for once doesn’t end up in failure.
I have failed myself. Yesterday, because I got sick, I was unable to post anything. I could always post something and have the system date it as yesterday, but there would be no point. I would know that I didn’t make it. I had almost successfully posted at least once a day for the last month. My Combo has been broken. Poor poor Randy.
Continuing on with my failures, this months Video Game Challenge has been a complete wash. I did not complete Eternal Darkness, nor did I get to play any other horror or Halloween themed games. Additionally, today I won’t be able to play through Costume Quest like planned since I’m too sick to actually play. All I want to do is puke. Be happy I was able to post at least this notice.
What I may do is postpone announcing November’s challenge until Monday November 7, and spend the rest of the week trying to finish out Eternal Darkness. Do a little overtime if you will. Also I haven’t figured out what I want to play for November, I have a handful of games I want to finish, but I don’t know where to begin.
On to something more positive, one thing I did do successfully this month is play through Sonic Colours in preparation for the release of Sonic Generations. It took me roughly 5 hours (or less) to beat it and it was done over three sittings. Easy to beat, hard to master. I liked it and couldn’t recommend it more.
According to JD I’m more than 50% through Sonic Colours. Wow. Short game, but a quality game. Playing through this over the last two days has really reignited my hope in SEGA for Sonic Generations. If its half as good as Colours, Generation will still be better than any other Sonic games released in the last few years. I’m glad that its shaping up.
I’ve also picked up Kirby’s Return To Dreamland. I am a huge fan of that pink puffball, and everything about this game evokes a sense of nostalgia. Back in the day I used to play Kirby Superstar for the SNES with my cousin, and this brought me back to that. High praise. I recommend it to everyone.
I’ve started playing through Sonic Colours for the Nintendo Wii, and boy am I enjoying it. Its been a while since I played a “modern sonic” that I’ve enjoyed. Everything really came together: a cheesy story (Robotnik opens an amusement park and harvests aliens for their energy), fast gameplay, multiple paths, and an even difficulty. This definitely wipes the horrible taste known as Sonic Unleashed from my mouth, I tell you what.
So, I just finished watching tonight’s episode of Community ("Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps")…Wow. That was either one of the most awesome things I’ve seen or the worst. I can’t tell which. Either way it was pure insanity, and I couldn’t stop laughing throughout.
Yeah, just watch it if you can, I can’t describe it. Wow, just wow.
I’ve been having trouble finding what to write everyday simply because I have nothing to do, and nothing new to say. I’m broke, not going to school, and don’t have a social life, and not particularly interesting overall. This is a problem when you attempt to keep a daily blog. As I’ve nothing new to do, this has more or less become some sort of half-assed journal. I didn’t really think that would happen, but I guess it was inevitable.
On the brighter side of things, I’ll be starting a new part time job soon, I’m just waiting for the details to be confirmed. I’ll be working around 28 hours or less a week. Better than nothing, and it gets me out of the house which is a good thing.
Today, I spent the entire afternoon cleaning my house, something I’ve been unable to do for several weeks now, as I’ve had to wait for my back to make a full recovery. It was nice to do, mindless but nice. Apparently I let my house go a bit, so it was nice to air it out, wash some floors, deodorise some furniture and whatnot. I’m still not done, but I’ll finish it off over the next few days.
Update on my monthly video game challenge. I’m considering it a failure, I’ve just had not motivation to complete Eternal Darkness. It just never hooked me like I thought it would. I’ll still attempt to play it out by the 31st but don’t hold your breath. I still plan on playing through Costume Quest on Monday but if I do, it’ll be for me and nobody else. I’ll be starting the challenge afresh come November.
I’ve been looking forward to this, check out the trailer below:
I initially went SQUEE and then got weary. Something just seems off about the voice acting in this one. Usually Disney does excellent dubs for Ghibli films, but yeah something seems off with this one. Maybe it was just the clips they chose for the trailer, but it doesn’t seem to be as well put together as previous film dubs.
So, um, yeah, just read the latest at Rhymes With Witch by the creator of the webcomic, Something Positive, and I’m a little freaked out. For Halloween (I assume), RK Milholland has done a series of water colours titled, “The Last Trick-Or-Treaters”, each one panel comic depicts the horrible end of trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Some are darkly humourous, but all are horrifying. I recommend them purely for the scares, and the art, but be warned. As of this date he’s done 8 parts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), check’em out.
It doesn’t really feel like I have a life at the moment. I’m tired all the time and I’ve got nothing to do. I’m failing miserably at my monthly videogame challenge because I’m unable to motivate myself to play the game further. Life is just BLAH at the moment and I don’t know what to do anymore.
Yeah, I know this sounds like I’m depressed, and maybe I am, but I’ve also been known to be effected by the weather, and seeing as its been nothing but rain clouds and grey skies, I’m pretty positive that’s what’s going on with me at the moment. All I’ve got is time on my hands and I’ve got to figure out what to do with myself.
Sorry, running late today, been on my feet all day and just got back from seeing Real Steel. Its been a while since I’ve seen a film in theatres, but this was worth it. Of course a movie with Hugh Jackman will usually be pretty good because he’s a very likable actor. This one would have been good either way. It was a fun, mindless film with lots of robot on robot boxing violence. It was Robocky (Robot + Rocky), and it very much followed that type of storyline. Good movie.
I’m tired, so off to bed.
Remember how I was complaining about the weather? So roughly an hour after I posed that complaint yesterday, the sky opened up and hail or sleet (not sure which) came pouring down. It was a complete white out outside my house. The wind was blowing strongly and banging against my doors and windows. Apparently we had a tornado/hurricane warning in effect at that time for my area. Go figure. I need to not complain about the weather so that doesn’t happen again.
This weather we’re having is starting to get on my nerves, it won’t make its mind up about whether it wants to be sunny and nice or rainy and miserable. It’s preventing me from getting any serious housecleaning done. Another season messed up due to global warming I guess.
Nothing really new going on in my life at the moment, though I will be starting a part time job soon, which makes me happy. It’ll give me something to do with my copious amounts of time while I figure out what to do to get ready for school. I started reading The Edupunk’s Guide to DIY Credentials which seems to be a good (free) manual for self learning. A lot of the particulars don’t apply to me as its heavily USA-centric, but the core of it is good. I’ll have to start thinking about creating a lesson plan for the beginning of next year. Seeing as I really do want to get readmitted to school to complete my English Literature Bachelor Degree, it’ll probably be very literature centric, but no idea yet.
Just realised that I’ve not only written more blog posts than I did previously on The Slacker Chronicles, but I’ve also written more blog posts overall.
Hooray for me!
So, yeah, I feel like absolute crap today. My body hurts, my eyes hurt, and my stomach is upset. Just not my day. So I’ve been surfing the internet, and all I’ve got to say is, “What’s the deal with “Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure”?” The internet has been surprisingly receptive of this “game” manufactured to sell toys to little kids. Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade seem to like it, and Jeff Gerstmann, of Giant Bomb, has taken it and ran with it, going so far as considering on the latest Bombcast (10-18-2011) to go out and purchase all $400 worth of the figurines. The last part should be taken with a grain of salt as Mr Gerstmann is known for doing stupid things when it comes to video games.
Here’s the launch trailer:
I really don’t know how I feel about all this. The trailer makes me immediately nostalgic for old Transformers, He-Man, TMNT cartoons, etc. Cartoons whose sole purpose was to sell toys to children. At the same time, it makes be feel dirty. How much of the game can be completed with the starter figures? What is the entire cost of the game if you just want to “mainline” the game?
I’ve been out all day today, and it looks like I might be receiving work more regularly. No details as of yet, but here’s hoping its something that I can do. I’m just so so tired today, been awake since 6am, and on my feet since around 8am. Its nice to just sit back and relax at the moment.
So yeah, whenever you see something “Posted Without Comment’ that basically just means I had nothing better to write about that day, or I just thought the photo was amusing and wished to share. Here’s another:
So I’ve got nothing big planned today. After I run some errands this morning, I’m free sit down and play through the remainder of Eternal Darkness. From what I understand, it should average roughly 5-6 hours per playthrough, and it has 3 different endings. I’m a little over 3 hours into the game, so that means at least 50% done the game. I just want to finish it and get my motivation back. For some reason this challenge just hasn’t motivated me. I’m liking the game so far other than some niggling issues with the combat, but it just hasn’t quite hooked me yet. Maybe if I play for more than an hour at a time it would grab me.
More in a later post.
I think I’ve caught a cold. For roughly the last week I’ve barely slept, my sinuses are all congested, and I apparently have a slight fever. So more than likely a cold. Its been a boring week otherwise. I’ve done nothing. I don’t have any motivation to do anything right now, all I want to do is sleep. Due to this I’ve barely played anything of Eternal Darkness this week. I would have thought I’d be done it by this point and moved on to something else. Instead I’ve spent the week watching an anime called, “Tiger & Bunny”. I enjoyed it quite a bit, which is something I’ve not been able to say about an anime in a few years.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and I’ll try to beat Eternal Darkness this weekend and keep the internet posted.
Guess who just called? Yup, that’s right. Man, they must really want me back. I’m probably going to lose my number over this too. Oh well. I think I’ll let them lose my business for good.
After some research I discovered that at some point VMC was bought out by BELL Canada. I don’t really like BELL from previous experiences with their customer service. Unfortunately, they’re the only game in town.
Sigh, I wish they would stop calling. I recognise their number so I’m just going to ignore their calls from this point forward.
So due to this whole economic downturn I’ve been without a job since roughly May of last year. While I have looked for jobs in my community, I haven’t been all that successful. At this point in time, I currently have next to no income, leading me to cut off as many extraneous costs as possible. My cell phone has been deactivated since the beginning of September as I’ve had little reason to use it. Why tell you all this? To set up the next paragraph.
Roughly around the same time I hurt my back, I started to receive sales calls from Virgin Mobile Canada asking me to reactivate and Top Up my cell phone this month and they’d give me 25% more time based on the amount deposited. I notified them all of the above and that I’d only be able to add time around the end of October, and only if I deemed the cost necessary. In reply to this the sales person assured me they would call back near the end of the month.
They have called me almost every day since.
I’ve been using a pay-as-you-go Virgin Mobile Cell since 2006/2007, whenever they first released them in Canada, and have had little to complain about. But this is starting to drive me nuts. How many times can I explain to a salesperson I have no extra money to spend at the moment? I’ve sent an email to them in regards to this, and hope that this can be resolved. I’d really hate for them to lose my business as they’ve been good to me up to this point.
Just felt I should share.
Even though I went to bed a early last night, I’m still tired. I had a horrible night of sleep. My mattress is killing my back, which had finally returned to normal. I really just want to go back to bed but can’t. I don’t know what to do.
So, I just played Eternal Darkness again for roughly 50 minutes or so. I think I’m finally at the point in the game where shit just got real. The combat is still clunky, but with a better weapon things are much easier. In the third chapter, you play a squire (?) to Charlemagne who receives a message meant for his king, and becomes infected by its curse. The chapter teaches you the basics of the magick systems in the game, which requires the player to collect runes and assemble them in such a way to produce a spell. As the chapter progresses, the cursed character is slowly rotting away, becoming a zombie. This is also the first time I’ve felt how Sanity effects the actual game. As my character’s sanity was lost the camera went slight askew, and there were parts of the game you would play through just to discover you imagined it and had to redo it again. Once this starts happening, the tension rises. While I wasn’t frightened in the slightest, I can see how this mechanic can lead to some possible terrifying situations.
Today was just about as relaxing as it could get. I was able to sleep in, and then just relax completely for the rest of the day. Just me and my bastard dog doing absolutely nothing.
Here’s another picture of my dog just to fill up space:
I hope your day was just as relaxing as mine.
Good night, and I’ll (probably) post something more substantial tomorrow.
So, was hanging with my buddy JD today. He somehow convinced me to finally get back to playing Sonic Unleashed. One second while I take a breather. Just writing that name right now is bring so much rage to the surface. JD sat there and laughed non-stop because he could tell I was going to snap. I HATE Sonic Unleashed. The first level of the game is decent, and then they shoot two poorly designed Brawler type levels at you, a QT eventfest, and a poorly designed Sonic Speed level. This game just does so many things wrong. For instance, every other Sonic game will map the homing attack to the same button as jump, here they map it to a completely different button. So when I’ve intended to jump and home, I’m really just jumping and then pressing the button again (which does nothing) and usually falling in to a pit.
Sonic Unleashed shouldn’t be this bad, but now I hate it completely. You hear that SEGA, SONIC UNLEASHED MAKES ME ALMOST NOT WANT TO PLAY SONIC AGAIN. I hate it. I really really hate it.
I find it quite fitting that the last achievement I received for this game is titled, “Still Broken”. That just about sums up my feelings for the game.
Just realised that having everything be Life of Randy might be too much. Basically because of my resolution to write something everyday, there will be one Life of Randy post per day, so roughly 30 Life of Randy posts a month, 365 for the whole year. Yikes.
Might have to use that label for only specific things, or maybe rename this blog, “Life of Randy”?
I’ll figure something out.
Today I awoke at 6am and y’know how my back felt? Achy. Not a bad ache, but the ache one feels when they’ve slept in the wrong position. My back feels so much better today that it has all week. So I guess everything is almost back to normal for me. I’m going to try and get out stretch, walk, and just plain move around. I’m so glad that the pain has stopped. The stiffness that remain should go away the more I move and stretch out my back. Here’s hoping this good fortune keeps up.
Have a good day everyone!
I’ve not made much progress in Eternal Darkness since Tuesday, but the game has me intrigued. While I’m disliking the combat, the story is slowly getting its hooks into me. If you’ve not played the game before, the story begins with one Alexandra Roivas returning to her grandfather’s house after his mysterious and violent death. By exploring his house, she slowly discovers that things are not what they appear to be.
In the game, once Alexandra finds the Tome of Eternal Darkness, we are treated to a series of gameplay vignettes, featuring different characters who are associated with the overall story arc. I’m only roughly 1 1/2 hours into the game, and so far I’ve played through the back story of Pious Augustus, a roman soldier who seems to have set the games events in motion, and a Ellia, a dancer whose curiousity leads her to explore a mysterious and foreboding temple.
Each story introduces the player to different gameplay elements. In Pious Augustus’ segment, we learn about the combat system. I’ve already made it clear that at this point in time the combat plain annoys me. Ellia’s segment introduces us to the games trademarked “Sanity” system. Every time you see a monster, you start to lose sanity. As you lose your grasp of your mind, the game starts to mess with you, changing the visuals, telling you your controller is unplugged when it isn’t and others. The only way to regain your sanity is be killing each monster you come across.
Tomorrow I plan to sit down and play through more and I’ll keep you posted on my experiences.
Good morning,
My back is almost “back” to normal? See what I did there? A bad pun? Get it? Yeah, I’m wasting my time. I just had breakfast, surfed the internet, and drank a cup of coffee. I’ll be out for a bit, running some errands, but after that I’ll have some time to sit down and play more Eternal Darkness. I’ll have more about Eternal Darkness up by the evening.
More in the next post.
So, yeah, I kind of decided that these random daily posts about nothing in particular will all be titled Life of Randy. Its just easier to do it that way. Due to this decision, I’ve went back and renamed some to include that title in some way. You’ll now be able to find all of this pointless posts tagged with “Life of Randy”.
On the subject of Randy, my back is much better. Other than one spot near the middle of my back being achy, and my left side from that spot down to my knee being stiff, its all good. I’m starting to get back my full range of movement, even though its for short periods of time. I’ve had to take a break here and there to allow my back to rest, but I’m glad this is almost over.
Didn’t really game much today, or yesterday, but I’ll be getting back into it now, and I’ll provide some steady coverage of Eternal Darkness starting tomorrow barring any further back complications.
See you next time.
Yesterday, I was able to sink around an hour and a half into Eternal Darkness. In that time I died three times, all due to the game’s clunky combat system. At this point in the game combat consists of pressing A and swinging aimlessly. You can not block or dodge enemy attacks, you can only swing your weapon. The combat does have the appearance of complexity, as you are able to lock-on to an enemy and select parts of the body to attack. In the segment I played I was able to cut off a skeleton’s arms, and head, which resulted in it failing to the game, at which point the game prompted me to press B to administer a “Finishing Blow”. Cool in concept, but hampered by the controls at this point. I’m hoping that the combat evolves more the longer I play, but I don’t see that happening.
Gameplay reminds me of a point-and-click adventure game, with you controlling the player character instead of controlling a cursor. As you explore your environment, you can examine certain items, bringing up in many cases well written walls of text that describe said item. So far, all the text in the game is well written, quickly establishing the tone of the game. The game’s graphics are also decent for a GameCube game released almost 10 years ago.
Other than the combat, my only other issue is that its not really that scary of a horror game. Going in, I had read and been told that it is a genuinely frightening game, but so far its solicited zero response from me.
So I’m feeling much better, its been 5 days since I first hurt my back. Today I’ll be flying solo, no OTC medications to help. The pain in my back has lessened greatly, all that remains is stiffness throughout my back, limited mobility, and the occasional twinge of pain in my left side. I’m glad that it seems to be healing at a good pace, but I can not wait until I’m able to move about more. I really want to return to the gym again.
On the gaming side of things, I’ll be posting my initial impressions of Eternal Darkness later today, as I was able to bare sitting in my gaming area for a long period of time yesterday. Hooray for me. That should be up by 3 today, I just want to put in a little more time before I write anything on it. My time with Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame has been an enjoyable one, but I think I will take a step back and take a break from it. Yesterday, I discovered that I’ve been effected by a glitch in the game which prevents the unlocking of a specific achievement. In order to resolve this issue, I’ll need to delete and redownload the game, and play from scratch across all four initially unlocked characters. For me a single playthrough of the game cab take between 45minutes to 90 minutes, and after the amount I’ve played it this weekend, I’m not up to it again. Still a great game though, all things considered.
And lastly, I hope you enjoyed that random photo of my dog yesterday. I was lazy and didn’t feel like writing anything yesterday. I also like that photo. Anyways. I’ll be back in a bit with impressions of Eternal Darkness.
Since I’ve been incapacitated due to my back, I’ve been limited to either lying in bed, or sitting in a big comfy chair in my living room. Unfortunately, my Wii or GameCube isn’t set up in my living room, so I’ve been unable to play Eternal Darkness, but I’ll try to rectify that if the back pain continues. Instead, I’ve been playing what I can, which has been primarily Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame, which I originally purchased for my Xbox 360 last year, but haven’t really sunk a lot of time into it due to it lacking an online co-operative or competitive mode.
Like its comic book progenitor and movie counterpart, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame pays loving tribute to the 8-bit era of gaming. The over world map invokes comparisons to the over world maps of Super Mario Bros 3 (NES), right down to enemies randomly appearing on the map which you can challenge. The game play is highly reminiscent of River City Ransom, with its mix of old school brawler, RPG, and platformer. The stages themselves contain little nods to other games in the genre, for example the whole final stage is basically the Technodrome from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, and a Link (of The Legend of Zelda fame) runs on screen during a stage acting like the little imp thieves from Golden Axe carrying bags of coins.
It took me all this time, but I have finally beaten the game, and enjoyed every minute of it. I have in fact beaten it with all the main characters. I have also spent a lot of my time playing it with my older niece. Co-op is even more fun and chaotic than single player mode. I can not recommend this game enough.
As an aside, as I’ve not been able to start my monthly videogame challenge off properly, I’ve proposed a mini-challenge to myself to pass the time. I’ll be attempting to complete the game 100%, finishing off with a complete gamer score of 250/250. Currently I have the majority of the main game achievements, and none of the DLC ones. Soon that will be rectified. I have five to go.
Today I’m just writing for the sake of writing. I have nothing really to talk about other than how much pain my back is in. It started on Thursday. I was getting out of the shower when my lower back started to spasm. I was completely incapacitated for the remainder of the day. My sister and mother were nice enough to buy me Robax Platinum which seems to be working. Yesterday, the pain went from being really bad to just being painful. The spasms stopped luckily, and now I’m just dealing with a stiff back and minor pain.
Time and time again I have seen it written that in order to become a good writer, you need to just write. I know I’m not a prolific writer, I know that everything that I write isn’t pure gold. Even though I know this, I am just unable to sit down and write for any length of time.
Today while going through my newsfeeds on Google Reader (Yes, I’m one of those people), I came across an article titled, “A Sure-Fire Approach to Improving Your Writing (and Getting Over Writer’s Block)”. Once again, it said the same thing I already know…just fucking write. The articles author, Seth Godin suggests the following:
If you know you have to write something every single day, even a paragraph, you will improve your writing. If you're concerned with quality, of course, then not writing is not a problem, because zero is perfect and without defects. Shipping nothing is safe.
And guess what? That’s what I need to do. So starting tomorrow, I’ll be writing something, anything, just so that I can work on my writing skills. And it won’t be good, I know that, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have to be good.
So my plan for this month is to complete my video game challenge of the month starting with Eternal Darkness. On that note, there will be a slight delay to my initial impressions, due to a personal issue. I hurt my back and its uncomfortable to sit in front of a computer or play a game for long periods of time. My initial impressions of Eternal Darkness will be up by Tuesday barring any issues.
I’ll be posting something short tomorrow. TTFN!
For my inaugural challenge, I have decided to not only focus on a single game, but also on a theme. Seeing as its October, what could be a better topic than Horror and Halloween.
Without further ado, let me introduce to you our first challenger:
Starting 1 October 2011, I will play Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem for the GameCube for the first time. I will be posting my initial impressions sometime this weekend, and will follow up with a status report every Tuesday and Thursday showcasing my progress in and my thoughts on the game.
In addition to this, if I should beat the game prior to the 31st, I will follow up with other horror/Halloween centric games, and try to complete as many as possible before my 31 October 2011 deadline. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, on that date I will attempt to play the entirety of Costume Quest (XBLA) in one sitting. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to record this playthrough since I don’t have the proper equipment, but I will post throughout the day, and somehow provide some other content.
I know I’m looking forward to this, and I hope you are too. Tune in soon for more!
Next week I will once again take on the Randy’s Video Game Challenge. Below is an excerpt from my original post on The Slacker Chronicles dated Tuesday, July 14, 2009 to explain the particulars:
Every month I have chosen to focus on one game and play until completion. This doesn’t mean that I have to 100% it, this just means I have to beat the game from beginning to end. By undertaking to challenge myself each month, I agree to complete at least ONE GAME per month. The motivation behind this challenge is to clear out the backlog of games I've accumulated over the years.
My criteria for selecting the games are as follows:
- I need to have easy access to the game in question. What I mean by this, is that I have to either own the game, know someone who will lend me the game, or in the case of older retro titles, have access to a working emulator.
- The game has to be one I’m interested in. This means I will not force myself to play something like Superman 64, or E.T. the Extraterrestrial: The Video Game.
- The game needs to be beatable within one month. There are exceptions to this rule such as for last gen or current generation RPGs which may take upwards of 60+ hours to beat or whole series of games.
Something I wish to add is that I will not exclusively play one game a month. I still intend on playing other games for fun, but overall my focus will be on completing this challenge.
Tune into the next time for more from the exciting world of Randy, where I will reveal my choice for October’s Video Game Challenge.
So I’ve already failed in what I’ve set out to do. When I started updating regularly at the beginning of September, I wrote that I would post no later than 3:00pm. As of this writing its now 5:19pm, and I’ve yet to post anything.For this I apologise.
Moving on, I’m still unsure what I should be writing every Tuesday and Thursday, but I’m starting to get some ideas on how to proceed. As you may have noticed the majority of my posts so far have been video game related. For the time being I will be continuing along those lines.
As a means to ensure regular content, next week I will be reintroducing my Monthly Video Game Challenge to the world. Tune in next week.
…
Who am I kidding, nobody reads this anyways.
This weekend I had the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time. Myself, my buddy JD, and my two nieces (10 years old and 13 years old) sat around playing videogames all day. Started off with Beatles Rock Band and Lego Rock Band, played some Mario Party 8, and ended off with Mario Kart Double Dash for the Gamecube. It was kind of sad that I had so much fun just goofing around with my nieces instead of going out and doing something.
I think the worst part about being unemployed and not currently going to school is the phone calls from telemarketers. I’m on the Canadian Do Not Call list, which to date has been pretty effective. Other than the occasional call from a market research firm, or a promotion from a company I’m registered with, I’m mostly left alone. However recently I’ve been receiving phone calls from a call centre in India claiming to be contacting me on behalf of “Windows” or “Microsoft” or “The Internet”. Yes, you heard me, they’ve claimed to be calling on behalf of “THE INTERNET”.
An example of my most recent call from them goes something like this:
[Call Start]
Telemarketer [friendly] : Hello, I am calling on the behalf of Window’s Operating System, and our records indicate that the internets are reporting a large number of virus originating from your Microsoft computer.
Randy [emotionless] : I am aware that this is a scam. Please stop calling me.
Telemarketer [angry in a thick Indian accent] : Well, how do you know this is a sc--
[Call Ended]
For any one reading this, yes, these calls are scams. For one, Microsoft will never cold call you regarding any customer support issue. They will only call you if you first contacted them about an issue.
This scam is so big at the moment that even the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has listed it as their “Scam of the Week”. Please go to their site for more details.
As of this past Sunday, it has been 10 years sense the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. In the times since we’ve seen many changes in the world around us, changes to how the citizens of the USA are perceived throughout the world. The persona of strength, and infallibility put forth by the USA was shattered, and now the world saw just how vulnerable the country could be. This isn’t a post about politics, or how the world changed that day in September 2001.
Most people remember where they were when they first heard the news, I know I do. I was 17 years old. I had awoken that morning and turned the TV on for some background noise. Over a bowl of cereal I watched the Today Show report that an airplane had crashed into the WTC. They weren’t sure what had happened, and as they talked about it, a second plane crashed into the south tower.
Beyond that I don’t remember much more. I think I spent most of the day, like everyone else, watched the news, shocked. To this day, I’m still a little shocked that something like that could occur so close to home. So close but still far away.
As I will not be attending school this year and am currently unemployed, I’ve created this blog with the intention of improving myself and acquiring marketable skills. The goals I have for this blog for the remainder of 2011 are:
First, I will write a minimum of 200 words, twice a week, and have it uploaded to the my blog no later than 3pm.
Second, as you can see the current blog is as simple as it gets: No logo, no complicated backgrounds, just a single colour and text. Truthfully I like minimalist web design, but as I learn more about web design, I will slowly tweak the site to be more aesthetically appealing. But first I need a logo, and a better by line than what I currently got.
Third, I don’t know how I’ll get people to read this blog, but I’ll figure something out. Maybe I’ll actually open a Facebook and/or a Twitter account and try to get the word out. This doesn’t really concern me at this point as this is a personal project and I don’t really need validation from anyone else.
Lastly, if I can at least accomplish part of these goals, I’ll be able to finally get out of this rut. I’m tired of being bored.
Tune in next Tuesday for another exciting edition of RandyTheBlog. Have a good weekend!
Starting this week, I will be posting twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. I still haven’t determined what will be the content of the posts, but I’m sticking to that schedule even if it kills me. Hopefully once this blog starts rolling and I’ve gotten comfortable, I’ll post more often, but right now twice a week is more than enough.
I guess this is as good a time as any to announce this but JD and I have talking and we’ve concluded that The Slacker Chronicles is officially dead. This includes all versions of it that we came up with from a public access TV sitcom, a web series, a media news site/web-blog, and a short prose series. So I will no longer be posting to The Slacker Chronicles website, which isn’t that big of an issue since there has been nothing posted there since sometime last year. I may do a series of posts trying to describe the various iterations of TSC, but it was something of little note.
So what does that mean for Randy The Blog? Not much, other than now I’m free to write about video games here. I may even revive my monthly video game challenge.
Tune in Thursday for more from the exciting world of Randy at RandyTheBlog!
