Ramblings, Dreams, and more! Also monetary rambling and whining.
Right. So. Ramblings. I was thinking about the sudden surge of 3D products on the market now, and wondered briefly if any of them have the ability to, or if there is any intention to create devices that project the 3D out beyond the screen, towards the viewer.
I ask this because I was thinking about a mass effect wiki article detailing the way the holographic interfaces in the ships work. Standard users wear gloves, and advanced users have implants, but they all use force-feedback devices to simulate touch on the holograms.
Surely, the gloves idea would be possible with today's technology, right? Maybe not perfect, but at least the sensation of something pressing into your fingertips and the palm of your hand.
I don't know if it would be enough to replace the mouse (I recall reading something about the popularity of touchscreens giving way to the awful truth that people are far too lazy to lift their hands up to where they keep their monitors all the time) but for something like the old table-arcade games, it would be a damn interesting way to play an RTS or something. And those old movies where military commanders sit over a table and push little boats around with sticks as a sort of by-update current location map, I could see something intuitive like that working on the battlefield if it could be made rugged.
But whatever.
Lately, I've been having a lot of odd dreams. Last night, It was some sort of amalgam of movies, with harry potter, nightmare on elm street, and the abyss thrown together into something bizarre. We had escaped from the sinking ship with scuba gear... that was how it started. We were inside a dark room with one of those pools inside that you launched mini-subs from (there were a couple on racks) and the lights were mostly out, just a few glowing LEDs and the light comign in from the water below. Somewhere on the ship, Freddy Kruger was slaughtering people, and somewhere below us on the ocean floor was another one of Voldemort's Horecrux.
Gotta point out; I never read the last 2 books, so this is interesting in that this is running off summaries. Not that it has anything to do with the true HP books. Still.
So we all don scuba gear, and jump in, right before the ship.. disappears? Something. Anyway, we get to the ocean floor, and it's vaguely movie-esque, but there's this sort of tornado of water in a valley between two rocky (coral-y) outcroppings, and it's obvious that trying to swim through would slice you up by all the shells and sand being pushed around by the water at very high speeds. But we circle it and find a big rock that has a hole in it you can travel through. Now that I think about it, that might have come from Contest, by Matt Reilly. I think it's Matt Reilly. Anyway. After that, we find some sort of sub-surface paradise, and as we're hunting... my damn phone alarm goes off and wakes me up. Curses!
Anyway. I say "we" but I have no clue who any of the other people were. Or who I was.
Also, a few nights ago, I was dreaming up a story. Like, an epic-yarn sort of deal, where it's detailing the origins of a bunch of heroes who would be the main characters in a story or some such... I dunno how to describe it, really. Just know that each hero had a back story, and I was getting the condensed version before the story really began. Or something.
Anyway! So, I don't remember much of the others, but one of them was interesting. Based on the theory that enough belief in something makes it real, a group of powerful individuals (or maybe they were gods? it was never really explained further) created four villages. Each village worshiped a (made-up) being that embodied a facet of magic or the universe or something, but was described as incomplete. After years of worship, 4 beings came into being as sort of protectors of their respective village. Then the powerful, shadowy individuals had all the villagers sacrifice themselves to their guardians in some sort of empowerment ritual. The stunned and powered-up guardians were then thrust together, to merge into a single composite being with power over 4 different facets of the universe or fields of magic. I remember she was (a she, obviously) very tall. But also very depressed. Due to the ritual and the way she was made and all, she was very very hard to kill, though not quite impossible, and she went around dealing justice but hoping that somewhere out there was something or someone powerful enough to kill her, since she'd been 'created' to guard the four villages, and had failed to guard them from themselves. Or really, from the shadowy individuals that plotted the whole thing.
When she was approached to go on the epic journey or whatever, she figured that'd be her ticket out, adding the stipulation that, after she'd done her part, she be allowed to die. So maybe the one in charge was a god? Dunno. I woke up before it could get much further, but I spent much of that morning dwelling on that story, since it was sort of sad, but interesting, as well. What were her thoughts like? Without developing like a human does, being created out of faith alone, and then losing the very believers who brought you into existence as they gave their lives up to further empower you. I dunno. I also liked that every time I saw her face, she had sad eyes. Like, the kind people talk about in books but never do a good job of pulling off in movies. Soul-crushing sadness in an impassive face. Or something like that.
And... that's about it for dreams, lately.
New Dot Hack anime, Quantum is a 3 parter, and I really want to see part 3. Persona 4 anime announced. Unsure what to think. I liked P3 more than 4, but 4 WAS fun. I'll watch, but I dunno how much I'll enjoy it, knowing that they might have used the budget to make a Persona 3 anime, instead.
Disgaea 4, on the other hand, is looking to be amazing. I mentioned it in facebook, but one of the main characters is an evil human who was supposed to be reincarnated as a prinny, but they ran out of prinny suits, so they threw on a prinny hat and pushed her through the system. I love that.
Also, it's politics-based, as opposed to the coming-of-age story from 1, and the.. er... comign-of-age story from 2, and the school-based setting of three. I suppose 1 and 2 had some netherworld politics going on as well, but this is supposed to be far grander. And the fact that there's a demon in it that uses Obama's "YES WE CAN" campaign slogan and artwork is just icing on the cake.
Also, you know... HD sprites and what-not. An online mode I'll never use, dungeon building (which I might use) and the much loved Nekomata and Succubus monster classes. After all, if I'm going to have an army of demons, at least half of them will be appealing to look at.
As justification, I'll simply say that most Disgaea female demon classes are faster than their male counterparts, and admit that I prefer speed over strength. After all, as DBZ taught me, strength is nothing if you can't hit your target. Silly Trunks.
Speaking of Trunks and DBZ, found a few DBZ fics that were... interesting. As well as a couple that updated I've been watching. That was a nice surprise, even if the slower of the two gave me an entire filler-chapter. Hope the next one makes up for that.
Also a Pokemon SI that was surprisingly entertaining save for the rampant drinking and smokign of the main character. Who was 11. If the author is as bad, I pity them. If the author is underaged and thinks that's what drinking is like, then I pity them more.
Aaand... that's about it. I really need to get off my butt and write. Write, or publish the chapters I've already written and face the consequences of writing something so Hammy. At least, according to Nate.
Oh, and I'm not sure what to think of my Job. I like being able to tell people I work at Geek Squad. I even like it when I'm in my groove there and working on PCs and everything clicks.
... But damn, I hate manning the counter. I hate telling people how much it costs to fix their computers. Especially when the prices I'm quoting are TEN TIMES what I'd have asked for working from home. I suppose, if nothing else, this gives me some experience if I ever get called upon by family members to fix their PCs. And hey, some of them, I know I can say "Just take it to Best Buy." Because not all the prices are insane. Just.. most of them. lol.
Oh, and the hours blow. It makes sense, I suppose; they hired three new people, and transferred in a 4th from somewhere else, but seriously, Any one of us would have been enough, given the hours we all get. I made almost twice as much bi-weekly on unemployment than my last check, and this upcoming one is literally frightening to me when I think about it. I get the sinking suspicion my bid for employment took me from a barely-there budget to a non-existent one. I've slid by on rent, but that has to stop. Car payments, Car insurance, Phone bills, Rent, and food. I need to pay for all that, and 7 hours a week won't do that unless I'm making $75.00 an hour. I'm already in the hole. At this rate, I'm going to have to file for bankruptcy. I hate money troubles. But this is getting out of hand. Without a set schedule at best buy, taking on a second job would mean telling a potential employer I've currently got unreliable scheduling. Or if I get a second job that pays more, risk losing the Best Buy job because I had to limit my availability while still in training and therefore expendable.
And the IRS is breathing down my throat. technically, it's too late, and I'm basically expecting them to kick down the door and ask for their share since I haven't paid my taxes in 2 years. But what the hell can I do? This years looking to change that to 3. And with that fucking settlement bullcrap adding $600 to my "what-you-owe" bill, there's no way I can pay that off without winning the lotto or something. I'm smart enough to know I have too little luck to go to Vegas and win big, The lotto is just as bad, honestly, and the only stable money-making investments all require money to get started. Good luck doing that with a bank account in the red.
I don't think I can go back to Unemployment if I quit or get fired. I have to be laid off. And I dunno if Best Buy even does that. AND even if it DID, would it base my unemployment pay off my current pay? Because it's a bit lower than what I made at OAOT. And I was skipping out on some bills there, too.
Damn, I wish GM hadn't closed the warehouse. That job was simple, paid damn well, and if nothing else, would have made a nice stepping stone to something else in a few years. As it is, I can claim management skills, but any deep digging will expose that as relatively untested. Guess I ought to update the title of this post.
Once upon a time, I wrote SIs for fun. At one point in one, my character stated a desire to return to reality due to the requirements and obligations I had. But at that time, I was successful and able to meet all the demands placed upon me. Now? Heh. If I woke up in another universe, I'd probably be ecstatic. I'd feel bad about leaving friends and family and debts behind, but honestly, life kind of sucks right now.
I suppose It's a good thing I'm not suicidal. Cuz there's enough pressure to drive some people towards that outcome. I'm just going to have to bear with it and hope things get better soon.
I ask this because I was thinking about a mass effect wiki article detailing the way the holographic interfaces in the ships work. Standard users wear gloves, and advanced users have implants, but they all use force-feedback devices to simulate touch on the holograms.
Surely, the gloves idea would be possible with today's technology, right? Maybe not perfect, but at least the sensation of something pressing into your fingertips and the palm of your hand.
I don't know if it would be enough to replace the mouse (I recall reading something about the popularity of touchscreens giving way to the awful truth that people are far too lazy to lift their hands up to where they keep their monitors all the time) but for something like the old table-arcade games, it would be a damn interesting way to play an RTS or something. And those old movies where military commanders sit over a table and push little boats around with sticks as a sort of by-update current location map, I could see something intuitive like that working on the battlefield if it could be made rugged.
But whatever.
Lately, I've been having a lot of odd dreams. Last night, It was some sort of amalgam of movies, with harry potter, nightmare on elm street, and the abyss thrown together into something bizarre. We had escaped from the sinking ship with scuba gear... that was how it started. We were inside a dark room with one of those pools inside that you launched mini-subs from (there were a couple on racks) and the lights were mostly out, just a few glowing LEDs and the light comign in from the water below. Somewhere on the ship, Freddy Kruger was slaughtering people, and somewhere below us on the ocean floor was another one of Voldemort's Horecrux.
Gotta point out; I never read the last 2 books, so this is interesting in that this is running off summaries. Not that it has anything to do with the true HP books. Still.
So we all don scuba gear, and jump in, right before the ship.. disappears? Something. Anyway, we get to the ocean floor, and it's vaguely movie-esque, but there's this sort of tornado of water in a valley between two rocky (coral-y) outcroppings, and it's obvious that trying to swim through would slice you up by all the shells and sand being pushed around by the water at very high speeds. But we circle it and find a big rock that has a hole in it you can travel through. Now that I think about it, that might have come from Contest, by Matt Reilly. I think it's Matt Reilly. Anyway. After that, we find some sort of sub-surface paradise, and as we're hunting... my damn phone alarm goes off and wakes me up. Curses!
Anyway. I say "we" but I have no clue who any of the other people were. Or who I was.
Also, a few nights ago, I was dreaming up a story. Like, an epic-yarn sort of deal, where it's detailing the origins of a bunch of heroes who would be the main characters in a story or some such... I dunno how to describe it, really. Just know that each hero had a back story, and I was getting the condensed version before the story really began. Or something.
Anyway! So, I don't remember much of the others, but one of them was interesting. Based on the theory that enough belief in something makes it real, a group of powerful individuals (or maybe they were gods? it was never really explained further) created four villages. Each village worshiped a (made-up) being that embodied a facet of magic or the universe or something, but was described as incomplete. After years of worship, 4 beings came into being as sort of protectors of their respective village. Then the powerful, shadowy individuals had all the villagers sacrifice themselves to their guardians in some sort of empowerment ritual. The stunned and powered-up guardians were then thrust together, to merge into a single composite being with power over 4 different facets of the universe or fields of magic. I remember she was (a she, obviously) very tall. But also very depressed. Due to the ritual and the way she was made and all, she was very very hard to kill, though not quite impossible, and she went around dealing justice but hoping that somewhere out there was something or someone powerful enough to kill her, since she'd been 'created' to guard the four villages, and had failed to guard them from themselves. Or really, from the shadowy individuals that plotted the whole thing.
When she was approached to go on the epic journey or whatever, she figured that'd be her ticket out, adding the stipulation that, after she'd done her part, she be allowed to die. So maybe the one in charge was a god? Dunno. I woke up before it could get much further, but I spent much of that morning dwelling on that story, since it was sort of sad, but interesting, as well. What were her thoughts like? Without developing like a human does, being created out of faith alone, and then losing the very believers who brought you into existence as they gave their lives up to further empower you. I dunno. I also liked that every time I saw her face, she had sad eyes. Like, the kind people talk about in books but never do a good job of pulling off in movies. Soul-crushing sadness in an impassive face. Or something like that.
And... that's about it for dreams, lately.
New Dot Hack anime, Quantum is a 3 parter, and I really want to see part 3. Persona 4 anime announced. Unsure what to think. I liked P3 more than 4, but 4 WAS fun. I'll watch, but I dunno how much I'll enjoy it, knowing that they might have used the budget to make a Persona 3 anime, instead.
Disgaea 4, on the other hand, is looking to be amazing. I mentioned it in facebook, but one of the main characters is an evil human who was supposed to be reincarnated as a prinny, but they ran out of prinny suits, so they threw on a prinny hat and pushed her through the system. I love that.
Also, it's politics-based, as opposed to the coming-of-age story from 1, and the.. er... comign-of-age story from 2, and the school-based setting of three. I suppose 1 and 2 had some netherworld politics going on as well, but this is supposed to be far grander. And the fact that there's a demon in it that uses Obama's "YES WE CAN" campaign slogan and artwork is just icing on the cake.
Also, you know... HD sprites and what-not. An online mode I'll never use, dungeon building (which I might use) and the much loved Nekomata and Succubus monster classes. After all, if I'm going to have an army of demons, at least half of them will be appealing to look at.
As justification, I'll simply say that most Disgaea female demon classes are faster than their male counterparts, and admit that I prefer speed over strength. After all, as DBZ taught me, strength is nothing if you can't hit your target. Silly Trunks.
Speaking of Trunks and DBZ, found a few DBZ fics that were... interesting. As well as a couple that updated I've been watching. That was a nice surprise, even if the slower of the two gave me an entire filler-chapter. Hope the next one makes up for that.
Also a Pokemon SI that was surprisingly entertaining save for the rampant drinking and smokign of the main character. Who was 11. If the author is as bad, I pity them. If the author is underaged and thinks that's what drinking is like, then I pity them more.
Aaand... that's about it. I really need to get off my butt and write. Write, or publish the chapters I've already written and face the consequences of writing something so Hammy. At least, according to Nate.
Oh, and I'm not sure what to think of my Job. I like being able to tell people I work at Geek Squad. I even like it when I'm in my groove there and working on PCs and everything clicks.
... But damn, I hate manning the counter. I hate telling people how much it costs to fix their computers. Especially when the prices I'm quoting are TEN TIMES what I'd have asked for working from home. I suppose, if nothing else, this gives me some experience if I ever get called upon by family members to fix their PCs. And hey, some of them, I know I can say "Just take it to Best Buy." Because not all the prices are insane. Just.. most of them. lol.
Oh, and the hours blow. It makes sense, I suppose; they hired three new people, and transferred in a 4th from somewhere else, but seriously, Any one of us would have been enough, given the hours we all get. I made almost twice as much bi-weekly on unemployment than my last check, and this upcoming one is literally frightening to me when I think about it. I get the sinking suspicion my bid for employment took me from a barely-there budget to a non-existent one. I've slid by on rent, but that has to stop. Car payments, Car insurance, Phone bills, Rent, and food. I need to pay for all that, and 7 hours a week won't do that unless I'm making $75.00 an hour. I'm already in the hole. At this rate, I'm going to have to file for bankruptcy. I hate money troubles. But this is getting out of hand. Without a set schedule at best buy, taking on a second job would mean telling a potential employer I've currently got unreliable scheduling. Or if I get a second job that pays more, risk losing the Best Buy job because I had to limit my availability while still in training and therefore expendable.
And the IRS is breathing down my throat. technically, it's too late, and I'm basically expecting them to kick down the door and ask for their share since I haven't paid my taxes in 2 years. But what the hell can I do? This years looking to change that to 3. And with that fucking settlement bullcrap adding $600 to my "what-you-owe" bill, there's no way I can pay that off without winning the lotto or something. I'm smart enough to know I have too little luck to go to Vegas and win big, The lotto is just as bad, honestly, and the only stable money-making investments all require money to get started. Good luck doing that with a bank account in the red.
I don't think I can go back to Unemployment if I quit or get fired. I have to be laid off. And I dunno if Best Buy even does that. AND even if it DID, would it base my unemployment pay off my current pay? Because it's a bit lower than what I made at OAOT. And I was skipping out on some bills there, too.
Damn, I wish GM hadn't closed the warehouse. That job was simple, paid damn well, and if nothing else, would have made a nice stepping stone to something else in a few years. As it is, I can claim management skills, but any deep digging will expose that as relatively untested. Guess I ought to update the title of this post.
Once upon a time, I wrote SIs for fun. At one point in one, my character stated a desire to return to reality due to the requirements and obligations I had. But at that time, I was successful and able to meet all the demands placed upon me. Now? Heh. If I woke up in another universe, I'd probably be ecstatic. I'd feel bad about leaving friends and family and debts behind, but honestly, life kind of sucks right now.
I suppose It's a good thing I'm not suicidal. Cuz there's enough pressure to drive some people towards that outcome. I'm just going to have to bear with it and hope things get better soon.