The Competition Is Over

On April 19th, a blogging competition began between myself and Abby. There were a few rules and guidelines, such as that every day a post must be made, if you knew ahead of time that you could not be on the computer you could do posts ahead of time to make up, and the post actually had be about something, not "I BLOGGED HA!!!!". It has been almost four months since then, over ONE HUNDRED DAYS, and we have kept up more or less diligently. I must admit, there were three days where I did not blog, but the competition went on anyway. Sadly, my opponent has now thrown in the towel. It's all over. I am not forced to write a post every single day anymore. Kind of feels nice.

Now most likely this won't be the end for forever. Once we have a few months to recharge, It is very likely that we will resume a new competition. I probably will post every now and then between then, but not nearly as frequently. I think I'll enjoy my vacation as I do best, by goofing off :)

It was great everyone, see you later!

Writing Trash

I'm writing my story, and I've come to a point where I don't know what to do. So I need to write SOMETHING, quickly. I'm tempted to just wrote absolute trash with an extremely low amount of work put into it. Meaningless stuff, just to put the word count up. Filler where filler has never gone before. This competition is about quantity above quality, right? But for some reason, I can't forsake what I have done so far. Already the quality isn't very good, just doing so much of it every single day. But I know that other people will be reading this story, and even though I will preface it a thousand times that this is an experiment and the writing won't be very good, I can't just become a machine. My writing isn't very good to begin with, I can't make it worse. So will I be doomed to make every section reasonable to read? I guess. I would hate to waste time if it really was just misspelled word after misspelled word, run on sentences, and prolific use of commas (oh wait, I do that anyway).

I ran into the same problem with blogging. Some of my posts aren't very good, that is obvious. But I've tried to keep a standard, always have so much amount of content and make it worth reading. Remember back in June when I was writing seven posts on the weekends EVERY weekend? Well on the very last weekends that I had to do that, I only wrote five posts, thus I got behind in the competition two more posts. I only had a few minutes, and I could think of literally NOTHING to write about. So I conceded those two posts. Sure, I could have written short little things about junk, but I didn't. I don't want to waste the time of those reading my blog.

Chain Mail

It all began with chain mail as in actual mail; letters. But in todays culture that is uncommon, it is all over the internet. Like those annoying messages that some people (you know who I am talking about) always decide to forward to everyone they even remotely know. Although amusing (and often more so when you think how actual people actually fall for this stuff) chain emails are usually a waste of time. I hate to tell you this, but I kind of am aware that even if I don't forward this mail I'm not going to die a gruesome death like all of those examples you presented. And in any case, if it does happen it will all be for science, so I can be rest assured that my death would not be in vain.

But much more common is facebook chain messages. They feature some sort of message that assures you that only a small percentage of people will stand up for what they believe and re-post this message so that more and more people are infinitely annoyed. Although some present good points, I usually avoid them mostly because of the principle of it. But there is one that I saw recently that was rather depressing

We all have at least 100 friends on Facebook, but when it comes to needing a friend how many will actually be there? I can guarantee not even 15 friends will like this status. Like this status if you will be there for me. Set this as your status to see which friends will be there for you

By itself there is nothing depressing about it, just your run-of-the-mill chain status. I expected for there to be tons of people commenting "i love u (insert name here)" (notice how I have resigned myself to the belief that the rest of the youth population on this planet do not know how to spell?). But there was not a single like. Not a single one. I think I should probably do it now, if no one else will. But really, that's just sad.

And then there are some chain statuses that parody chain statuses. And usually, these are really, really funny. One I recently re-posted was

PLEASE post this as your status if you know someone who has been eaten by Penguins. Penguins are nearly unstoppable and, when hungry, also breathe fire. 71% of people won't copy this into their status because they have already been eaten by Penguins. Another 28% won't because they are hiding in their showers with fire extinguishers awaiting the coming Penguinapocalypse. The remaining 1% are awesome and will re-post.

Now that is the exact opposite of all the other chain statuses. Really, I can't help but laugh at this one.

But chain messages on facebook are not limited to statuses. One slightly more productive method is chain notes. You answer several questions about yourself and tag a few friends. A nice side effect of this is that people get to know you better. I of course have the belief that it would be best if they, oh, I don't know, got to know you in real life. But still, I don't especially find these annoying. It is a good way for me to practice my skills as a stalker. But really, these aren't that bad. Because of the way society is set up, we can learn more about a person by simply reading a quiz than having actual conversation. Still, I have never made a not, though I was close a few times. I guess it is the whole "principle of the thing". And also the fact that many quizzes focus on love lives, and I don't care about that sort of thing. Except my companion cube.

All The Time In The World

Remember the Humble Indie Bundle I talked about awhile back? Well I have actually refrained from buying it yet. And they've been adding even MORE indie games to it. So not counting the ones I already have, I would be getting seven new games. It ends tomorrow, so I should probably get on that. Why haven't I bought yet? I didn't want it to suck my time. As I'm sure you know, I've been on the computer an outrageous amount of time the last few weeks of this summer. I seriously haven't exercised or taken care of my personal hygiene for quite some time. Video editing, watching tutorials for video editing, watching amateur films to get a feel for video editing, 3d animation, surfing the internet, blogging, watching anime, the list goes on. But the most important thing I should be doing is writing for Camp NaNoWriMo. And of course, I am way behind schedule. So what would happen if I throw seven new games into that mix? I can tell you, the result most likely won't be pretty. But with all this free time I have it should be easy for me to allot a few hours for writing and then just goof off for the rest of the day. I guess because it is so early in the competition I have yet to feel the full terror of a deadline approaching.

I really need to gain more time management skills. One would think that it would merely be exercising discipline. But lo and behold, the minutes whiz by before I can even see them. You know the phrase "time flies when you are having fun"? My entire day is filled with constant "fun" entertainment, so it goes by really quickly.

The good news? The video editing is going swimmingly. Explosions of an epic magnitude, dust clouds, bullet holes, they are all there. But although I'm having fun with it, I know that I need to replace some of that with writing. Maybe I will force myself to do minimal special effects tomorrow? What a dreadful though....

My Writing Is Going Slow

You know how I mentioned Camp NaNoWriMo before? Well, we are a week into it and I am far behind the pace. I should be at 11k, and I am merely at 6k. Sad. Although I know that I am going to finish, not doing so is not an option. The only question is how much catching up, and how miserable it will be, I will have to do later. My particular story is about a young French boy in the early 18th century who's father is fighting in one of the Napoleonic wars. His mother then dies and he is forced to live in an orphanage. The simple seed of the idea was given to me by Ryan in exchange for me suggesting something for his novel. Actually, the original seed did not mention what war it was and where and when this took place. So at first I placed it in the civil war. But, it was not to long before I changed the scene to France. I think that part of the reason for this is because all of the last three novels of note I have read/have been reading took place in France (Les Miserable, The Stranger, The Count of Monte Christo). So perhaps I was more fit to take on their culture.

The protagonist of the novel is a nine year old boy by the name of Victor. Although in many ways I modeled him after myself (enjoys solitude, is considering being a hermit, like running around in the rain, has no artistic ability) one thing is clearly different; he's a philosopher. Yup, at the age of nine. See, I tried a style similar to in Les Miserable; instead of devoting every second to the story itself I am free to discuss philosophy whenever I want. It makes great filler material.

I have been having some difficulty with this novel because obviously, it's not going to be very exciting. The chance of an action scene is very, very low. Though this temporarily disheartened me, in reality this is a very good thing. It is forcing me to write differently than I normally do and thus expand on my ability.

Television

Television. One of the most common source of entertainment and, also one the largest time wasters that our culture has to offer. I watch TV every now and then, but not a real lot. I'm mostly on the internet, which is also a common source of entertainment and time wasting. But we won't get into that. Anyway, most of the time spent watching TV is wasted. Pure and simple. We might laugh or cry, but are we really being engaged? Not especially, our minds aren't given time to let our imaginations work. Honestly, what do you gain from watching a reality show? Not much, I can tell you that. Yet we are entertained. Instead of making our mind do the hard work of thinking, we give it a break and let a show do the thinking for us. We aren't even usually given the choice to share feedback, like we would while watching a youtube video or something. This doesn't mean that TV is bad, necessarily. Many documentaries are engaging, intriguing, and education in a way that the information will stick with us. And I can't help but crack a smile when watching old retro shows like "The A Team", "Knight Rider", and "Leave it to Beaver".

As you most likely know, I enjoy anime. Isn't that a cartoon? Well, yes it is. But it is on the computer, so I am able to pause the video when ever I like (which is usually extremely often, it can take me an hour and a half to watch a 30 minute video because I am bouncing back and forth so much). Not to mention that it is in Japanese with English subtitles. That is just cool. And because I plan on learning Japanese at some point it is educational. And did I mention that I can also experience Japanese history and culture? Yeah, I don't think time is being wasted here.

To clarify, I am not against film here. It is an art medium that many film makers feel is a why to express their creativity. After all, I quite enjoy doing special effects. What I'm against is the mindlessness that TV has evolved to represent. Many shows allow us to stop thinking. All the mental capacity is needed is to be able to operate a remote control. And sometimes, not even that is required. Just pressing the "on" button. I just wish that we would press it again a little sooner, instead of allowing it to steal our valuable time.

Garage Sales

Tomorrow I will be off at the local garage sales in my fair town. I have always enjoyed garage sales, despite never actually having one. But going to them, that's fun. Walking/driving around town, trying to find which of the sales are the best. Being a guy, I'm not particularly into "shopping", but garage sales are different. Their vary nature means that at any instant a wave on nostalgia will overcome me. Some old toy, game, or video, and BAM, instant memories. Truthfully, I can't help myself when looking through the newspaper with adds for garage sales. When I see the word "toy", I instantly zero in on that sale. Which is odd, because I rarely play with toys anymore. Still, it is a hot topic word when it comes to sales for me, I can't help but want to see what games and what toys. Still, I hardly ever buy anything. The memories are more than enough to give me satisfaction.

You know when you look over a post it seems to have a different feel than what you imagined while writing it? That happened with this post. In every day life, it is rare for me to buy things. Mostly because I hardly ever leave the house. But this post seems to portray me as if I really get into the "spirit" of shopping. Which I don't. It's garage sale specific.....

Being A Nerd

I'm a nerd. A big one. And yet at the same time, a dumb one. Like someone who spends all their time and energy on something and yet only excels on SOME things. After spending a day of playing MineCraft, reading several hundred webcomics, and laughing hysterically at abridged series after abridged series, I think yet again of how big a nerd I am. I seriously haven't exercised for forever. I'm a pile of bones that fly across a keyboard making my wants realities (figuratively speaking) on a virtual plane. Except going to an Anime Convention, which is basically as nerdy as you can get, I have had minimal hum contact in the last month. Hours and hours are invested in various nerdy activities, how could I go back now? I have reached and passed the point of no return. Less and less do I care about the opinions of other people. Seclusion and solitude are a solace.

Once I had a few young children (about 3rd and 4th grade) ask if I was a nerd. I replied in affirmation. Still, they wouldn't take my word for it. They discussed if I was a "nerd" or if I was "cool". I simply wondered why I couldn't be both. Finally they reached the conclusion that I was "cool", which I guess is good for me. But again, I think, why do we think that I can't be both? And I'm happy to say that I don't care if I'm the latter.

Characters Having Minds Of Their Own

Yet again my mind is being dominated by writing a story. The characters, though they have yet to be developed, are starting to have a mind of their own. Actions are not decided because I think it would be cool, but because the characters think it would be cool. The story is flowing, instead out of my mind to the page, like a river. Continually rushing, with no beginning and no foreseeable end. Don't you you love it when stories, plots, and characters are like that? As if they are writing the story themselves? I like to think of one Charles Schulz (the creator of the comic strip Peanuts) story. Although I can't remember the exact wording, Charles (or "Sparky") was having a conversion with a reporter about the lineup of the players on Charlie Brown's baseball team. It seemed there was often some discrepancy about which position each character would play, such as who was second base, because several players had been seen on it. Now I don't remember the exact words that Charles used to reply to the reporter, although I recall that it went something along the lines that he didn't know, they just picked positions themselves or something. Isn't that how writing is supposed to be like, letting the characters loose to wreck havoc on the world as we know it? Isn't more plausible that they are the one's in control, not us? Who are we that we think that we can tell them what to do? They have achieved sentience, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

Laughing Over The Internet

There are many objects of interest on the internet that provide amusement. How do we express this emotion? By laughing. It is true that we could just giggle at the screen, but why not show our pleasure by telling the world about it?  There are a few ways of doing this, and I will cataloger them here for future referencing.

LOL: The infamous "Laughing Out Loud". Though very easy to type, and thus suited for beginners, this option is not recommended, because it is very likely that we will choose to eat you if you use this prolifically.

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!! Still one of the more "simple" options, this is a step up from "LOL". This effect is achieved by alternating hitting "H" and "A" keys. If you wish to make it longer and therefore more annoying, feel free to use "Copy and Paste". "Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!" symbolizes loud, boisterous laughter.

Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!! Ooh, now were are getting more advanced! The addition "B" at the beginning throws off many people, but fear not! Simply try typing this one more slowly. If you messed up (such as "Bbbbwahahahahahaha!!!!!!" or "Bwabhabhabhabhabhabhab!!!!!!") simply delete it and try again. Remember, this can take practice. Even us professionals mess up occasionally.

Mwahahahahahaha!!!!!! Similar to "Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!!", but achieving a different effect. This is the "evil" laugh that were are so fond of. But to be honest, it is more fun just trying to laugh this way in real life....

Although this is somewhat weird and useless, after I got this idea I could not help but use it. No matter what happens, at least I'll know that I amused myself :)

Anime Iowa: Day Three

Yesterday, Sunday, was the last day of the Anime Iowa convention. Sadface to the extreme.

I was cosplaying as the character Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist. I will excuse you if you have never heard of it. My particular costume included a jacket and shirt without sleeves. Which is weird because before this I had never worn a shirt without sleeves before in my life....

I loved the convention, and all the nice people that make it so enjoyable. For some reason, complete strangers seem on intent on giving other people hugs. As you probably know, I abhor hugs. So a few awkward situations were created when I refused. Oh well.