Germboy has returned

Last night, I dreamed of two worlds, both hellish and horrible, awaiting my presence.

The first was the inside of some alien world, a giant cityscape full of horrific monsters that used horrifying technologies to torture and warp those who they hunted, and I happened to be one such being. It was akin to Half Life 2, the inner citadel parts. In this place, bad things happened, and even if someone could somehow irk out a survival, they would eventually be destroyed by a onslaught of arbitrarily bad luck and end very badly. You could find peace there, but the fear of things always going wrong kept with you, forever.

The other was a house, constantly burning but never falling down. The inside was full of demons and evil spirits, and once you were inside the house you could never find your way out. Doorways led to empty voids, and the unbearable heat and noise of the house constantly grated on your ears. You might find friends in this world, but most of the time they would die shortly after finding you- caught on some shard of wood that, on a whim, thrust out from the wall and gutted them. Still, there was some sort of peace in this place, as despite the constant burning, blood, and evil, the knowledge that this was the worst of this place gave you a sense of relaxation. I found I could sleep here, and on some level I found I preferred this hell over the alien world, and soon found myself happy to be one of the lunatics wandering its corridors.

I recalled this dream earlier today when I went over to Kurt's place, and we began dinking around with playstation emulators. After a while, I told him he needed to play Silent Hill, and I remembered this dream- and its meaning. The two worlds represent my favorite videogame series- Half Life, and Silent Hill.

And while I love both, I feel most at home in that foggy town, with its evil nightmarish reality waiting behind the serene silence. I would rather face down the horrors of my own nightmares, or face the horrors of an evil cult, than be turned into a Combine Stalker.

However, that's because knowing myself, I'd probably join the evil cult, and say creepy stuff like, "Monsters? They look like monsters to you?"

Germboy, out/Peace.

While doing errands, which my day has been full of, I got caught in a rainstorm while listening to Jon Hopkins, who does ambient, soft, philosophical, full music. It was practically a religious experience as I was pelted by the cold water and harsh winds, while beautiful clouds dominated the sky, the world presenting me with a gorgeous sunset as the cold air tore through my body. In this experience, I saw the meaningless beauty of the world around me, and the possibilities of myself as a person. In myself, I saw both the ugly and the amazing, the guilt and the stress and the high points as well, and realized that what matters is inner peace, and all that comes with it. It was a moment of indescribable beauty.

I switched my ipod to play music from Red Alert: Yuri's Revenge. I wanted to become a psychic mastermind and take over the world.

Germboy, out/Peace.

( The Real Adventures of Galen the Barbarian. )

This is a rewrite of an old story about the equivalent of a tv studio in a fantasy world. Enjoy!

Germboy, out/Peace.

Those of you who know me at all know I'm a pretty big nerd, so when I say I've been gaming for a while that should come as little surprise. Lately, I've been going back to Dungeons and Dragons, mostly due to a client that is interested in the games, and that has led to him seeing the films The Gamers and Gamers 2: Dorkness rising.

So far as I can tell, these films are relatively unknown beyond the pacific northwest area, as they are produced by Dead Gentlemen films, which to the best of my knowledge, is situated in Tacoma, although I have heard they have an office in LA. Even so, the first Gamers movie was filmed on spot at Pacific Lutheran University, and both movies are filmed in the Tacoma area.

Unlike the pathetic Dungeons and Dragons movie produced by Wizards of the Coast, these films are comedies, the first one being a rather awkwardly filmed but still entertaining student film about a bunch of nerds in a basement playing D&D, and the plot is just that- what happens in their game is showed with the players as their respective characters, and all the ridiculous jokes that take place during a typical dungeons and dragons game are displayed, complete with player dictation and commentary- a brute is backstabbed with a ballista, the rogue steals a peasant's pants, a natural 20 results in an arrow chasing a guy down, and a player who is not present at the table is portrayed as standing with a blank expression on his face.

Where the first film ultimately succeeds is that it does not take itself seriously at all. It is a student film, and simply portrays what a typical game of Dungeons and Dragons is like. It appeals to the average gamer, producing the overwhelming feeling of, 'Oh, I've been there, I totally played with a guy like that.'

The second one is a bit different. It follows the path of Lodge, an anal retentive DM attempting to publish a dungeons and dragons module based on an adventure he is hosting with his social group, a bunch of typical gamers who don't really understand the idea of role playing, but instead just want to play by the rules and powergame. The end result is that they get killed due to their inability to think outside the rules and roleplay seriously. Eventually, a female player is introduced to the group, Joanna, who plays a charismatic fighter that ends up helping the party succeed and beat the adventure. It follows a similar formula as the previous film, with the in-game actions being shown with voice overs, and the in-game characters being played by the same actors as the real world gamers. However, this one has some actual plot surrounding the game, and some have argued that its primary weakness is it doesn't act enough on it- the character development occurs, but doesn't quite go far enough. Even so, the plight of Lodge and his gaming group makes for a rather enjoyable watch, and the end result makes me want to play the campaign portrayed in the movie.

The second film is available on netflix, and both are on Amazon. Both are worth watching if you play Dungeons and Dragons at all, and in a few of the groups I've played at, we usually watched those movies as a warm up for playing the campaign- by the end we were usually quite hyped and very much in the mood to game. And even if you aren't a big D&D fan, they still appeal to those with a geeky sense of humor.

So, if this sounds good, try to pick them up. They're good movies, and you'll be supporting a small studio.

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, I had one of the coolest dreams I've had in a while last night. The details are a bit blurry, but it started out with me going to Seattle and looking for a job. I ended up as an IT guy for this motel/restaurant in Pike place, and I was treated fairly badly, and not paid well. But that's okay, it gave me the resources I needed.

I was another person, years later, going to a convention in Seattle and starving. I go to this hotel, and there's food lying around everywhere, but it's ridiculously expensive, so I begin stealing food here and there so I can survive the convention. That's when I notice the weird IT guy- he's an older guy, with short cropped white hair, and there's something off about him. I notice him plugging devices into the network jacks, something that doesn't look good.

So, I decide to follow him.

That's when I become the IT guy again, and it's revealed that after years of abuse in this hotel, I've become a full blown mad scientist. I live in a junk yard, and for the most part, I'm left alone. The devices I've been plugging into the network jacks are nodes for an AI I'm working on.

I leave for my junkyard, and I notice this kid following me. Now, throughout the dream, the pov keeps on changing between the scientist and the kid, and a rather epic chase ensues. The kid has a gun somehow, but the scientist has his machines, and it became this amazing game of cat and mouse, which finally culminates in the scientist turning on a machine, causing the clouds above to clear. The sky is dominated by this spider-like mass of metal joints, with no central node, and evil looking metal claws that can reach down to the ground and tear things apart.

The kid runs, although as he does, the entire junkyard begins to fall apart as it joins with the spider thing in the sky to form a giant mass of machinery and evil.

And then I woke up, wishing I was still asleep.

In the mean time, in real life, I've been really busy, and wanting to hibernate. I guess I did a bit of that today, as I got probably 10 hours of sleep, and I kind of regret it, as I'm running behind on errands. I've been taking as many shifts as possible, but at the same time I've been playing hard, when I do play, although I really haven't had much free time at all lately. Still, I like it, it gives me a sense of purpose, and the hope of a big paycheck is nice- I'm hurting financially. It's real bad, but next paycheck will hopefully be in the 900 range. My goal is to hit 2k, and then buy myself something nice, as I haven't been able to do that in a long time. Hell, I kind of want to do a computer shopping spree- I need an external hard drive, I could use a new HD, I kind of want a new videocard, and I need new headphones. But in the mean time, I just need to work.

Still getting ready for the WEST tests- education exams, pretty much. The WEST-B is the first one I have to take, and it doesn't seem intimidating at all. I've taken the practice test, and it's ridiculously easy. The WEST-E, on the other hand, is the advanced test, and in my case, it covers all fields of science. This has resulted in me studying madly for fields I am unfamiliar with, but I'm enjoying it.

Anyway, that's about it.

Germboy, out/Peace.

I haven't written anything here lately in a while, mostly out of sheer busyness. Moving was a one day task, but ever since then I have been confronted with my own financial mortality. For the first time in a while, I look at my incoming debts, and I do not have the money to cover them. This has led me to become a shift whore, taking any work I can, and the result has me working a relatively large amount, taking a lot of swing shifts and whatnot.

I've been trying to make time for a lot of people, as the holiday seasons are coming, and I'm finding I want to reconnect with people as much as possible- rather, people are reconnecting with me. The result has me feeling worn thin, but very special. When you don't see someone for a long time, they see the best in you, and give you insight only one can perceive when they are viewing you from a big picture point of view.

More and more, I'm beginning to feel the uneasy transition to adulthood. Late, but as I feel a drive and direction in my life, I begin to feel like I can do this on my own. However, I feel a lot of this is based on the fact that others are finally perceiving me as an adult. My newly established goatee is helping this process, as I am no longer mistaken for a high school student. This has led to an increased level of confidence when dealing with situations at work, but also an increase of pressure as I begin to try to ensure my financial survival.

Even so, things are working out as they always do. The first part of this year was utter hell, but this latter half isn't going badly. Anique is back in town, and we hang out regularly. Because I have a queen sized bed, we can sleep together in comfort, and I have been slowly getting used to the idea of waking up to kisses, instead of my usual zombie like dread of this existential universe. That puts a completely different spin on the day.

I am busy almost every weekend this month, but I'm somehow okay with that. This upcoming weekend, I'm going to Leavenworth with Anique to drink beer at an authentic-ish Oktoberfest, which will be better than the scam that was the Puyallup one. Still, it was nice to hang with some friends and bitch about prices. The following weekend I might be going to Portland. And then after that is Halloween, and parties. I'm co-hosting a halloween party at my place, dunno when it'll be going down, but I'll shoot out invites when I have more details.

And then there's Akicon. I don't know if I'll go- I have the WEST-B exam that Saturday, and while it gets out at 1, and I could theoretically drive to Everett in no time and enjoy most of the con, I might be so exhausted I'll just want to sleep and skip that con. Which would suck, because I really do enjoy social cons.

Anyway, that's been my life lately. Lots of work. Lots of social crap. No life, because I have a life. Wait, my not having a life, which consisted of a lot of internet, blogging, etc, has been placed on hold because I'm busy going outside, hanging out with people, partying, and working. Stupid having a life.

Anyway, off to outside.

Germboy, out/Peace.

I just had one of the best dreams of my life.

It took place in this massive city-complex, that had buildings inside buildings, and at no point could I really see any ground, and the sky was a rarity.

It starts with me and a few friends, more companions, going up an escalator. I'm a nerdy guy, but I'm pretty much one of the leaders of the group. There's an elderly man above us, and he begins to have heart problems, and falls to his knees. Two cops with silver visors appear and take him away, and he's screaming old middle ages terms at them, seeming to think of them as demons. One of my companions thinks it's odd, and that it might have to do with this conspiracy we're investigating. I agree.

The conspiracy we are investigating is this rising cult that has been going on inside this archology, and we hope to uncover what's going on. Almost everybody is a member, and the resulting behavior is a relative blandness, as though the individual doesn't have anyone inside them anymore.

We arrive at the orientation seminar for the cult, which is at a giant stadium. We sit near the back, and watch as this muscled man rants about how this cult will allow you to change your life, and be someone new every day. We all think he's mad, but we stay till the end, listening to his insanity. He tells us that to be part of this change, we must attend a certain class at the local school.

After the seminar, my group and I decide to check out the school, and we find the particular classroom- it's got at least 120 people in it, and one teacher frantically pacing back and forth at a whiteboard. I go over to the door to the roof, and hear people handing off packages in the drop box. From what I gather from the lecture, part of being with the cult is handing off packages to various drop points, and whatnot. Suddenly, while we're waiting by the door, watching the lecture go on, this bright orange light seeps from under the door, lingers a while, then leaves.

From what I had heard of the orange light is it was an individual who had been changed by the cult to be something superpowered, but only he could be given those powers.

And then, I realize I have to leave class, and drop off some packages. Because I'm a courier. I look at myself, and I'm a rather well dressed individual. I look at my group, and they all look different. But they've always been different. The kids sitting at the tables all look completely normal and bland, but we are individuals, free from the cult, and we need to drop off packages for the corporation we work for.

We go outside the classroom into an open air neighborhood/office complex, and begin handing off packages. I get into an argument with a particular individual, a guy who is constantly trying to piss me off, and then I start talking with my friend who is always talking about the cult, although he's taller and looks different, like he's always been. After we finish making deliveries, we go to the cafeteria in our dorm area, which is little more than a projection and a little window that leads to an empty room. One of my comrades is complaining about the lack of food and how it all tastes like cardboard, and voila, suddenly a new menu item appears, but I can tell it will taste like crap.

My friend who talks about the conspiracies and the cults begins talking about how the corporation we work for might have some involvement with this cult he keeps on seeing around, with all the empty people. I agree, and we decide to go investigate one of the orientation meetings.

On our way up the escalator to the meeting, an old man begins to cough and have a fit. Some policemen take him away, and we're at the meeting again.

Beginning to see a pattern? In my dream, this was all new. And it went on for another time, until when the orange flash came, there was a bit of a moment where some people dropping packages off began freaking out, and I actually looked outside to see they were wearing maintenance outfits, not delivery outfits. And then the orange light came, and I was wearing my Scout t-shirt, and I was a baseball jock. I go and get into the same fight with the guy I'm always fighting with, this time he's an Otaku and we end up holding Katanas at each other's throats, and whatnot, until at one point, when we're going up a side passageway to meet another friend who joins us, (and conveniently vanishes whenever the yellow light comes) I notice she has a stick of deodorant stuck in her shoulder. We laugh about it, and she just explains it was an accident with a package, although I realize the room we're picking her up in looks a lot like a robotics lab. We still continue laughing and I begin to put the deodorant on, even though it's attached to her shoulder. Just then, my conspiracy theorist friend looks at my exposed shoulder, where I'm holding my shirt back so I can put on deodorant, and sees a 9 logo, and peels it back to reveal a metal hole.

He freaks out, as that appears to be a computer jack. He runs to a terminal, and activates it. Suddenly, everything goes strange, I see a logo, and then I turn over, my glasses begin hurting my face, and I wake up.

So, from what I gathered, we were robots/clones, existing inside a massive AI controlled city. As promised, we experienced a new life every day, even though everything was more or less the same, just the identities were changed. Our minds were transferred to new robots by the orange light, and the old person who was taken away was one of the aged clones/robot things. I suppose the purpose of the city was to contain several people in a continual dream, but we managed to uncover the reality of our robotic natures. Or at least, I hope my comrades did. The orange light and the techs who handled all the packages before the orange light showed up were a similar group of people running a similar set of programs, and the orange light was the AI itself, wiping the clones minds and transferring our minds into new clones.

Still, that's a very advanced, very surreal dream. I want to make it into a story. It's Spork/Kami level good.

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, I had a few dreams recently. One was vague, and involved a rush to be a bio major, Spork giving me a textile she spent 4 years working on and me thinking that she should keep it and wanting to refuse, but finally accepting the gift, and getting in a car wreck but being ok.

The next one, a more recent one, involved me going to UW and being placed in the dorms. This particular dorm is about 20-30 stories high, and has a main central shaft, with two side buildings. I get placed in the same area as my brother, and being the oldest there, I appear to get my own dorm room, although I decide I should hang out with Mark, seeing as I get along with him. We're 'the weird quiet kids who talk about Silent Hill.' Oh, and there was some CSI type show that was always showing a version of Silent Hill 4, but it had more in common with RE4. Walter Sullivan being Dr. Salvador, and all.

Anyway, after a dorm meeting in the central space, which has hanging platforms that cause me to have a panic attack (I was hanging from a wooden platform, which wasn't very strong, and it was moving in the wind. However, the focus wasn't dangling, it was that people were trying to help me calm down, and the RA didn't care.), things finally calm down and I look at my room assignment. Apparently I have a room to myself, and my listed job was software engineer, and I chortled, as I had been help desk, and apparently was now working as a teacher anyway.

Anyway, I go to investigate this other room, which is on the other wing. As I wander to the other side, I see what looks like a cult forming. I go into the other wing, and it's a giant sanctuary, and robed people begin filing in. I'm running around, trying to find my room, and there are more and more of these religious people (religion unclear, but it looked pretty christian) filing in, and I finally make my way to the dorm head's office, which has an open bar. I help myself, and listen to the other students from my wing complaining about the full church in the dorm. And then I wake up.

It was nice to nap. I needed that. I'm not even going to try to understand the symbolism there, as, despite it being fairly thick, I also see a lot of elements from it mirroring things I've seen at Foss and whatnot.

Germboy, out/Peace.

http://christwire.org/2009/09/is-video-gaming-a-threat-to-americas-high-school-jock-culture/

Yeah...

EDIT: turns out this isn't for reals, but satire. Huh.

Germboy, out/Peace.

As part of the prerequisites for my teaching certificate/science endorsement/masters in education/science teacher career, I have to spend 40 hours in a classroom. This week, I started shadowing my old Biology teacher, Dr. Merritt. I recently saw him before this, when I went on that long beach walk at the beginning of summer with Yi that resulted in me getting a horrible sunburn that left me tan for the duration of the season. After that long walk, we ended up at Merritt's, and he made a delicious shrimp BBQ dish for us, and made us all mixed drinks of the delicious variety.

Well, realizing that I needed to get in some classroom time in, I contacted him and have been shadowing him for the past two days.

Watching him with his students, even in difficult classes, I have found that I want to do this type of work. It is stressful, yes, but seeing the way he gets when he's working with highly capable kids who actually want to learn, and even the way he can turn around kids that aren't interested in science is inspirational.

So, my past few days have filled me with a great want to be a science teacher, and I have to say that it is making me want to succeed at the WEST exams even more. In the mean time, I've been getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night, so I should hit the hay and hope the caffeine shakes that have been a result of this lifestyle stop.

Germboy, out/Peace.

And I'm back from PAX. This time around, I cosplayed.

PAX technically starts on Thursday, with parties being hosted by gaming corporations, usually with free drinks and the like. Officially, however, it starts at 10am on Friday, which was when I arrived. The day before, Holly, Spork, and myself had been running around getting ready for the con and finishing cosplay stuff, and we arrived bright and early Friday, just in time to meet some TF2 cosplayers that I would soon become friends with. At least con friends, but we exchanged information enough that we would be able to communicate after the con. While in line, the scouts, a guy named Garret, Spork, and myself, along with the spy with a scout mask, did a Scout rush along the line. We got an applause.

This was just the beginning. With Spork's help, I was a pretty good Scout, and the entire PAX experience was different. Instead of just being a face in the crowd, I stood out, and every few minutes had to pose for a picture. While it was pretty cool to be complimented and photographed, after the second day, I was exhausted. Still, it stood as an advertisement for the fact that I really like TF2, and I had some really good conversations with people about the game thanks to it, even if by the second day I was quiet, tired, and half dead.

Still, there were some really cool high points.

Valve loved the costume, and gave me a free t-shirt for simply being a fan, something that people normally had to stand in line for 3 hours to get (to play the l4d2 trailer. I did that Sunday, as I had nothing better to do, and had heavy bags that I didn't feel like carrying.), and thanks to the costume, they were very receptive to my questions and whatnot.

I made the acquaintance of several tf2 cosplay groups, with one of them somewhat offering me a room next year. One of the groups and I ended up playing TF2 in the PC freeplay area, with all of us playing our classes. At one point, we were played the map Well, which involves trains that randomly run over anyone standing in the way, adding an element of randomness to the level. I spawned next to the medic, and he said over the voice chat, "Okay Peter, let's do this." and began to heal me, with hopes of grabbing the enemy intelligence. We make it halfway across the map, kicking ass, and suddenly, I get hit by a train. The entire team saw it, and collectively facepalmed. You had to be there sort of moment, but it made my day.

Anique came up for an hour or so, and we hit up Pike's place market. It was really nice to see her, and it was nice to slow down and eat something real, and have a beer at the Pike brewery with her.

Also, I ran into Tycho. He said my costume was awesome. That was also pretty good.

So, overall, a pretty bitchin time. Cosplaying, while exhausting, made the con a completely different experience, and while I don't know if I can handle doing it again next year, I'm really glad I did it this year. Still, by the end of Saturday, I was downright cranky, and was glad when I finally hit the hay.

And I'm thinking right now, I need to do just that for an hour or so, I'm more tired than I think I can remember being, ever.

*collapse.*

Germboy, out/Peace.

I love some of the imagery in my dreams. This last dream jumped around like a Scout on steroids, but it had a few amazing scenes, and was one of those weird social dreams where you end up having long conversations with friends, and wake up feeling much closer to them.

This dream, however, had a freaking Lynx that ended up cuddling with me, and Mark, who looked like the ice truck killer from Dexter, staring at a guy until his face bled. Psychic powers ftw. Also had a long conversation with Deb, and a bigass freaking bear. Also, the Silent Hill/Wicker man cult at some point.

PAX is coming up. Oh my god, excitement.

Also, I recently went to the UWT counseling office to discuss getting my teacher's cert with an endorsement in teaching science, which would effectively make me a middle-high school teacher. It seems like a good fit for me, but the biggest issue I'm having right now is the tests- the WEST-B and WEST-E. The WEST-B is a basic skills test that looks rather like the WASL, and the WEST-E is a specialized test, and in my case, it would be focusing on science. This is problematic, as while I know a lot about biology and astronomy, earth science, geology, and some aspects of physics are my weak points. My biggest problem was that I always tested out of things, or decided to go the high route- for example, instead of taking earth science, I took biology. Then instead of taking physics, I took advanced, and even more advanced biology.

So, I need to take a few refresher courses, preferably self directed. If anyone can point me towards some guides that would be good, that would be appreciated. In the mean time, I'll just do some self directed studying, and try to get up to speed on all this. I'll probably snap into full gear after PAX.

But in the mean time, I'm excited. The prospect of being a teacher just seems awesome to me, especially a science teacher. I think I could be happy doing that, and although I'd probably complain all the time about waking up early, the ability to work with kids, teach them about the world, and get paid to babble about science is awesome. It's also a nice direction, and it's giving me a lot of hope and energy for the future.

Anyway, I think I have work today, so I'm going to go figure that out.

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, I've been working a lot lately, and I can't complain. The downside of this is less attention given to my blog, but my financial worries have vastly outweighed any need to attempt to find myself, as I seem to be unfindable. A nice paycheck, however, is easily doable, if I can get the shifts, and lately, I have been.

The good: Anique is back in town for a while, as she graduated. It's been good times, although after barely seeing her for a month or two, it's a rush. Not that I'm complaining, at all. Life has been really good. Also, good is work. Work is good. It's stressful to some extent, but I can handle it, and I haven't had any really bad shifts, so I'm doing alright on that front. Also, I'm going to Portland next weekend to take Anique on her graduation vacation, so that should be epic. And PAX is coming up.

The bad: Dental stuff. Long story, but I need 2k of dental work done. I'll make some calls tomorrow to assess my options, but it is keeping me up at night.

The other: Can someone explain what's going on with Obama's health care thing? From what I can tell, America is trying to catch up with the rest of the civilized world and have a public option for health insurance, which would possible force the rest of the health insurance companies to stop sucking. Seeing as I'm running out of my parents health insurance in a matter of months, this seems like a good thing, so why is it not succeeding, aside from Republicans being partisan assholes? I need more input on this issue, as I have been slacking on it. No tv and all.

Anyway, I've been posting a lot lately, but a ton of it is sub par word vomit that I don't wish to pass onto readers, but this is the gist of my life lately. Again, a quick sparknotes edition of the healthcare thing would be appreciated.

And NIN and Rick Astley work well together.

Germboy, out/Peace.

I just watched a very interesting movie called Visioneers that my roommate rented to watch with his girlfriend over the phone, then suggested to me. It wasn't a fantastic movie, but I really liked it.

It follows a late decent of George Washington working for a soulless corporation that reminds me heavily of TF2's BLU, complete with heavy blue tones and an industrial/corporate appearance. There has been a rash of exploding people suffering from the insanity of living in said banal corporate existence, and he struggles to find himself and love in this bleak existence.

It seems like it would be a dark comedy, but what it gets wrong is the lack of comedy. It really didn't have much, and what may have been attempts at humor were so depressing they didn't really succeed. Even so, the acting was well done, and overall, it was a rather enjoyable movie. It really needed a bigger budget, and it really reminded me of a play due to the simplicity, but in the end, I enjoyed this flick.

And I have to be at work in the morning. Why am I still awake, I do not know.

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, I've decided that instead of being one of those people who randomly shows people youtube videos when they come over, I can just post them in my blog, and that way when we hang out, I already know you've seen all my good videos and we can just skip that part of the conversation. So, without further ado, here is my list of good youtube. And you can reply with your cool videos, as the internet is too big for any one person to find all the youtube gold.

( My youtube things that rule. )

Anyway, I went to Anique's art gallery today. It was a really good time, and I got to meet/know better some of her friends, and the whole experience left me feeling really great. Hell, I've been having a great week thus far- Spork's awesome visit, I picked up some more (temporary) hours at my work so I'll be able to make actual money, I tasted my first beer, I went to a good party at Kurt's that ended up with Kurt and I hanging out till 3am discussing how fucked up high school was, and now Anique's gallery. Freaking good times to be had. I went through some depression after Spork left, but I think that was because we were in such close proximity that after she left it took a bit of time to get used to being alone again, and then I had an insomniac episode a few days later, but that happens. Even so, so far, life is being good to me, and I'm happy.

Anyway, I went on a long walk today, and it's pretty late. I'm going to bed.

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, this year thus far has had approximately one unpleasant thing happen to me per month, more or less like clockwork.

July saw differently. I don't want to call it early, but I had a more or less decent month. Nothing really bad happened. I didn't get fired, I didn't get into debt, my car didn't explode (well, the check engine light came on, but it's under warranty, so it's being looked at), and really, my annoyances were minimal, as pointed out by a previous post. My earbuds died. The heat was annoying and gross. My money situation didn't get much better.

But all in all, I'm just grateful nothing really bad happened, and hopefully the rest of the year will follow this trend. I need some good luck, as I'm way overdue.

But, I have a feeling it's coming. Spork's visiting this weekend, and we might end up doing a trip to go see one of our friends in Everett. And hell... Having someone from Portland visit me is awesome, albeit a bit strange. It's a massive compliment, but I'm used to going down to Portland, not having Portland visit me. I find myself wondering what we'll do- No Powell's, no Falafel stand, no Ground Kontrol... Instead, there's The Harmon, MSM, and Pike's place market. In any case, this is gonna be 15 types of amazing.

I also reinstalled WoW. Shane got me back into it, so if you want to get angry at me, blame him, he's my dealer. It's fun, but I've started running into a lot of the things that caused me frustration in the past, mostly pertaining to how I like to play solo, and that's not such a good idea in that game. Still, it is fun, but I still feel TF2 is more up my ally, but it's nice for late nights.

Anyway, off to the day!

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, today is being one of those hot, lethargic days where I somewhat regret not having a shift to go to, as work would be a pleasant way to pass the time- Getting paid to be hot and lethargic instead of being hot and lethargic and not being paid. I'll ask for more shifts again soon, see if that bears any fruit.

In any case, I decided to pick up Fallout 3 again, and until the game crashed, I was rather enjoying it, as it is just a really solid, amazingly done game. Which brings me to the next question, can anyone tell me if any of the games that have come out in the past few months or so have been really freaking amazing, like Fallout 3 good? I haven't heard about many, but I've also been on a TF2/Valve thing lately, so I don't really do much gaming outside that.

Now, off for something else.

Germboy, out/Peace.

This weekend has been Portland good, mostly due to Anique turning 21. Good times were had, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with her, which is always great. I also walked somewhere around 6 miles today, and thanks to the use of sunscreen, didn't get too badly burned- my face got burned a bit, but that's probably from the sweat having washed away any sunscreen that had been there. In any case, this weekend has just been damn good.

The heat sucks, though.

I can barely think anymore, despite constant hydration and ineffective fans, but in the end, I'm just glad I've had a good weekend. Also looking forward to moving out in a few months, I'm tired of hearing mom's new boyfriend yelling at her kids next door.

Germboy, out/Peace.

So, I recently saw Moon at the Grand, and was blown away. This was the first real bit of real sci fi I had seen in a long time.

*minor spoilers follow, but it's nothing you can't tell from the trailer*

It follows an Astronaut, Sam Bell, who works at a moon based automated mining facility alone for a 3 year contract. His only companion is an AI voiced by Kevin Spacey that inhabits a moving computer deck with a screen displaying a smiley face, and his only contact to the world is through messages that take a week to receive. He is tired, worn out, and slowly losing his sanity, but there are two weeks left on his contract.

One day, he goes out to get some fuel from one of the automated harvesters, and crashes his rover, blacking out. Afterward, he wakes up in the infirmary, feeling like crap. The AI informs him that he is not to go outside until he's in perfect shape, but he manages to trick the AI into letting him out, and find the crashed rover with an astronaut inside- himself.

Dragging the man back, he removes his helmet to find the man is himself, with all the wonderful philosophical questions that brings it.

The movie was thoughtful, well acted, and brought up some great philosophical conundrums that don't exist yet. Sam Rockwell, who played the astronaut, did an amazing performance, and Kevin Spacey was on par with the performance of the voice actor for HAL 9000. The music was by Clint Mansell, who worked on Pi and Requiem for a Dream, so that was a treat too.

In any case, this is one of the best pieces of sci fi I've seen in ages. It's at the Grand, if you care to see it.

Trailer:



Germboy, out/Peace.

I hate when dreams have great plots, but the segments of the dream all have different plots, making for some really bizarre storylines.

This one featured the Pyro from tf2 heavily. He had fallen in love with a woman, possibly the announcer, and her husband was abusing her heavily. The pyro challenged the guy to a duel, and ended up beating the everloving shit out of him, despite the guy having hurt the pyro in turn. Well, the guy was a complete dick, and had called in some mental health workers and policemen, who took this opportunity to declare the pyro a dangerous creature, and that's where I came in- I was a lawyer, in charge of defending the pyro.

That's where things changed again. We were all staying in a giant firehouse that doubled as a school, and even though I was preparing my case to defend pyro, I was more of a student as well, expected to fit in with other kids, the age range of them being college aged to 11 year olds. Well, I ended up wandering off, and when I returned the firehouse was under construction, and was practically folding in on itself, like something out of house of leaves.

There was something about perfume bottles as evidence, and something odd about that, but I don't really recall it. Still, the sequence with the guy fighting the pyro was pretty amazing- the guy was this aristocratic asswipe with a sword, but the pyro just tore him a new one, even though he was coughing up blood through his respirator. It was just intense.

Also, Kurt and I brewed yesterday. And it's still a work in progress, but according to Kurt it's coming along really well, and we'll probably get a batch rotation going on for our first few beers, so that way we can try different recipes and whatnot. This is gonna be really cool.

Anyway, off to other stuff.

Germboy, out/Peace.