The worst kept secret ever.
So it figures after talking with John yesterday I'm willing to open up a little more on this blog. Well, somewhat. He went back and actually posted the names of people from high school who affected him in various ways relating to...relationships (the word "posted" is a link, btw). I don't know if I'm quite ready to do that yet, but I can reveal some poorly kept secrets and work my way up to full disclosure.
So I'll start with the obvious one: several (not all) of the MTM2 trucks that I have made are based on people from high school. Mainly, girls I had a crush on. Meg already knows this, John now already knows this, I doubt any more BLS folks read this but if they do now they know this. And my WPI friends who read this now know this. And maybe some MTM'ers now know this. That's where the backstories for the trucks come from. I thought of most of them back at BLS, and kept it all in my head. At some point in the middle of freshman year of college I realized, "Well, they'll never know, and they'll never actually drive monster trucks in real life, so just make them for the game." And it's worked, I feel much better having done it somehow.
I won't make the connections just yet, it's up to you to figure them out. But, here are the few that I've actually made (The truck names are links to pictures, it's just neater that way).
First, there's The Ride. The name comes from a song in Ridge Racer Type 4, I don't know when I applied it to the girl I applied it to but somehow it just seemed right. The backstory has a line describing the driver:
A calm, friendly, nice, even quiet person outside of the truck, the driver rides an emotional rollercoaster to cold, calculating, and deadly serious when she pulls to the line, then back to sweet and sponsor and fan friendly as soon as the run is over.
Now, a few BLS'ers might pick out who it is. But it's still obscure, right?
Then there's Expect No Mercy. Name from an old mud racer, that I feel would describe the mystery girl as a monster truck driver well-she wouldn't look like one to kick ass, but she can, and she's so nice she's giving you a warning! I kept driver description to a minimum in the backstory.
The wheelbase and the driver fit the same description-short, and the name comes from the obvious lack of respect such a combination would get..
The third truck is OutRageous, which has a design history dating back to a doodle on a book cover in 7th grade music class...the final design made 7 years later looks pretty much the same. I think the name comes from a Pontiac concept called just "Rageous". Again, I don't know when I applied it to this girl, but it made sense. Hell, I didn't even have a crush on her (although I recently saw a photo which would have changed that), but I explain why I made it in a second. The driver?
The driver also is a bit of a show off, playing to the crowd every chance she gets and making sure that she holds the top spot for most flamboyant driver.
These three trucks are, in my mind all teammates who are kind of joined at the hip (like the girls, hence the third truck). The team name is..."The Posse", which is kinda the one truly obvious connection back to reality. If you're a member of the Class of 2003 from BLS and you can't recognize who these represent...well, either I did fantastic or really bad, depending on how one looks at it.
The only other truck I've made that follows this is Mayhem Maker, something I came up with years ago just doodling out made-up truck names in my Latin notebook. I can almost guarentee that anyone who I haven't told who this truck represents wouldn't be able to guess the girl.
The Maker behind the mayhem is one of the sport's great personalities. Intelligent, happy-go-lucky, and nice, but with a tendency to be a bit airheaded on occasion, she manages to be on the edge some of the time and over the edge the rest of the time when driving.
Good luck on this one >-D
There's other trucks I haven't made yet. "Drama Queen" would refer to a girl who was into theater, who I never really had a crush on but thought was a cool enough person to have a truck. I think "Mazakari" (stolen from Robot Wars) referred to a girl I couldn't have anyhow because I knew she had a boyfriend.
I guess it's a kind of childish way of releasing some inner feelings, but it works. It also sent me onto the path of making other trucks which, while not referring to anyone in particular, also exist in the same universe as these other trucks. I think I'll end here, this has been a ridiculous enough post. Maybe tomorrow I'll expound upon the assignment John gave to me (it's pass/fail, apparently), or how I'm going to prove Fr. Scanlon wrong by wearing dress shoes at some point this term. I dunno, see you then, anyhow.
So I'll start with the obvious one: several (not all) of the MTM2 trucks that I have made are based on people from high school. Mainly, girls I had a crush on. Meg already knows this, John now already knows this, I doubt any more BLS folks read this but if they do now they know this. And my WPI friends who read this now know this. And maybe some MTM'ers now know this. That's where the backstories for the trucks come from. I thought of most of them back at BLS, and kept it all in my head. At some point in the middle of freshman year of college I realized, "Well, they'll never know, and they'll never actually drive monster trucks in real life, so just make them for the game." And it's worked, I feel much better having done it somehow.
I won't make the connections just yet, it's up to you to figure them out. But, here are the few that I've actually made (The truck names are links to pictures, it's just neater that way).
First, there's The Ride. The name comes from a song in Ridge Racer Type 4, I don't know when I applied it to the girl I applied it to but somehow it just seemed right. The backstory has a line describing the driver:
A calm, friendly, nice, even quiet person outside of the truck, the driver rides an emotional rollercoaster to cold, calculating, and deadly serious when she pulls to the line, then back to sweet and sponsor and fan friendly as soon as the run is over.
Now, a few BLS'ers might pick out who it is. But it's still obscure, right?
Then there's Expect No Mercy. Name from an old mud racer, that I feel would describe the mystery girl as a monster truck driver well-she wouldn't look like one to kick ass, but she can, and she's so nice she's giving you a warning! I kept driver description to a minimum in the backstory.
The wheelbase and the driver fit the same description-short, and the name comes from the obvious lack of respect such a combination would get..
The third truck is OutRageous, which has a design history dating back to a doodle on a book cover in 7th grade music class...the final design made 7 years later looks pretty much the same. I think the name comes from a Pontiac concept called just "Rageous". Again, I don't know when I applied it to this girl, but it made sense. Hell, I didn't even have a crush on her (although I recently saw a photo which would have changed that), but I explain why I made it in a second. The driver?
The driver also is a bit of a show off, playing to the crowd every chance she gets and making sure that she holds the top spot for most flamboyant driver.
These three trucks are, in my mind all teammates who are kind of joined at the hip (like the girls, hence the third truck). The team name is..."The Posse", which is kinda the one truly obvious connection back to reality. If you're a member of the Class of 2003 from BLS and you can't recognize who these represent...well, either I did fantastic or really bad, depending on how one looks at it.
The only other truck I've made that follows this is Mayhem Maker, something I came up with years ago just doodling out made-up truck names in my Latin notebook. I can almost guarentee that anyone who I haven't told who this truck represents wouldn't be able to guess the girl.
The Maker behind the mayhem is one of the sport's great personalities. Intelligent, happy-go-lucky, and nice, but with a tendency to be a bit airheaded on occasion, she manages to be on the edge some of the time and over the edge the rest of the time when driving.
Good luck on this one >-D
There's other trucks I haven't made yet. "Drama Queen" would refer to a girl who was into theater, who I never really had a crush on but thought was a cool enough person to have a truck. I think "Mazakari" (stolen from Robot Wars) referred to a girl I couldn't have anyhow because I knew she had a boyfriend.
I guess it's a kind of childish way of releasing some inner feelings, but it works. It also sent me onto the path of making other trucks which, while not referring to anyone in particular, also exist in the same universe as these other trucks. I think I'll end here, this has been a ridiculous enough post. Maybe tomorrow I'll expound upon the assignment John gave to me (it's pass/fail, apparently), or how I'm going to prove Fr. Scanlon wrong by wearing dress shoes at some point this term. I dunno, see you then, anyhow.