Updates!
Hey look, it's not a post about religion or politics!
General update on what I'm doing. Yeah, exciting, eh?
* Work. Shift to focus heavily on ebay and manufacturing lately. The former's difficult as I need items selected for me by my family, and currently my brother is trying to monopolize the quality items. Hey, he does a great job with them, so whatever. Trying to finish up learning about basics of PHP and general web coding for an online game of my own ground-up design. Also trying to come up with some manufacturing ideas, since my brother bullied my family into getting him a CNC machine. If you can't beat him, use his machine. Also doubles as lessons for 3D modelling for me, so hey.
* Lent. Ditched anything chocolate and cake-like during it, and managing to meet the no-meat-on-fridays rule reasonably. More people should do this - Catholicism aside, it's nice to be able to give up something unnecessary on command. Did you know there are some rites of eastern christianity which fast for 200+ days? Makes muslims and their ramadan look like the professional eaters at a casino buffet.
* Games. Focusing heavily on an old favorite, Lost Souls MUD. Haven't mudded in a damn long time, but since MMOs are currently - how should I put this - made for retards (save EVE-Online, which is made for accountants), I have to go where the complexity and development is prime. Amazingly, LS (lostsouls.org 3000 btw) is still under active development, and just finished a ranger guild revamp. To this day the game contains design philosophies that are golden, and my previous post did not do justice to what they have since accomplished. They deserve far more players, and far more attention. Oh yeah, also into Audiosurf thanks to Hit Points Guy or whoever he is in LJ-world. Rather fun to throw in Willy Wonka music. Meanwhile, awaiting new games (Patapon) and general gaming developments (TF2 updates, etc.) Not sure what mood I'm in for that lately.
* Been wrestling with computer issues, seem mostly solved saved for a telnet problem which is apparently modem related. Add two sticks of ram, get bug hell.
* Oddness. Been reading up on scientology and the Lyndon Larouche. By the time I'm done, I want to be able to perform a 'touch assist' at will, which is moot because I don't plan on touching anyone anytime soon. I know Scientology is some big crazy cult, but a lot of these teachings I'm coming across seem downright mundane, if a bit OCD-ish. They claim you can make a drunk person sober by pointing at things and telling them to say what they are. The funny thing is, I'm willing to bet this has a noticable positive effect on a willing person, even if it doesn't exactly 'make them sober', but instead just makes them more lucid and focused at that moment. Larouche's stuff (remember, I'm not reading everything, just what I have access to) is a lot more comical - the guy has a thing for flair, I'll give him that. On the other hand, LaRouche is also well-versed in history (or at least whoever is writing his pamphlets is), so my reactions tend to vary from 'There's an international conspiracy to reprogram people's minds through the wikipedia? Baloney' to 'Bertrand Russell was a tremendous liar and obsessed with sexual perversion? Well, duh'. You may wonder why I'm bothering to read deeply into what everyone agrees are the two greatest lunatic-conjobs around right now. The reason is multifold - one, to learn about them at their source and have a personal understanding of what they're saying. Two, to be able to identify what they're wrong about and explain why in proper detail. And three, to understand and realize if they may well be right about anything whatsoever. For a long time now, I've maintained a personal standard of giving the devil his due - admitting to someone being correct when they're correct, even if I disagree with them. It's a philosophy with tremendous benefits, and it's paying off here once again. Even if I keep confusing Lyndon with Lipton, those soup guys. Lipton LaRouche.. I'll have to think about that.
* Food. Been getting ahold of great, unique foods at the farmer's market. Raw honey is now a staple for me, as are mushrooms - which I get in tremendous amounts for a dollar. Got some great tasting, powerful wine as well, though I'm not big on alcohol in general. Weird foods have been pig feet souse, beef tongue souse, and my favorite, scrapple. Also conch meat and skate. I can't sing the praises enough for raw honey, as it (to me) tastes better, and I vastly prefer the very firm texture of it in general. Oddly enough, it's sold by a very religious family that are part of Faith Assembly of God, which I can recall instantly because of its unfortunate acronym. For all the religion-defense, atheism-critical blogging I do, I should admit that anyone who self-describes as 'born again' puts me off a little. It's not so much the declaration, as it is the tendency for it to come with this strange lilt in the voice and a habit of repeating seemingly memorized phrases. Oddly, I get the same vibe off pro-abortion types - nothing's creepier than hearing that 'a woman's right to choose' (Always with 'choose' kinda dangling there, the 'abortion' word sliced right out) in the same droning monotone as a rote memorized prayer. Everyone worships something. Anyway, it's made a bit worse as the guy who sells this stuff has dark hair and light blue eyes. I don't know why, but that combination has always bothered me. It's irrational, but if I were a dog, I'd snarl at people with those features without provocation. Damn spice addicts!
* Tech. I got ahold of a roomba. Man, that thing makes life easier, so long as you rearrange your room so nothing is on the floor. Oh, I also go ahold of a new camera. I can put something on the lens and snap a photo with clear results - super-macro mode is amazing, and makes my job easier.
Ah well, later.
General update on what I'm doing. Yeah, exciting, eh?
* Work. Shift to focus heavily on ebay and manufacturing lately. The former's difficult as I need items selected for me by my family, and currently my brother is trying to monopolize the quality items. Hey, he does a great job with them, so whatever. Trying to finish up learning about basics of PHP and general web coding for an online game of my own ground-up design. Also trying to come up with some manufacturing ideas, since my brother bullied my family into getting him a CNC machine. If you can't beat him, use his machine. Also doubles as lessons for 3D modelling for me, so hey.
* Lent. Ditched anything chocolate and cake-like during it, and managing to meet the no-meat-on-fridays rule reasonably. More people should do this - Catholicism aside, it's nice to be able to give up something unnecessary on command. Did you know there are some rites of eastern christianity which fast for 200+ days? Makes muslims and their ramadan look like the professional eaters at a casino buffet.
* Games. Focusing heavily on an old favorite, Lost Souls MUD. Haven't mudded in a damn long time, but since MMOs are currently - how should I put this - made for retards (save EVE-Online, which is made for accountants), I have to go where the complexity and development is prime. Amazingly, LS (lostsouls.org 3000 btw) is still under active development, and just finished a ranger guild revamp. To this day the game contains design philosophies that are golden, and my previous post did not do justice to what they have since accomplished. They deserve far more players, and far more attention. Oh yeah, also into Audiosurf thanks to Hit Points Guy or whoever he is in LJ-world. Rather fun to throw in Willy Wonka music. Meanwhile, awaiting new games (Patapon) and general gaming developments (TF2 updates, etc.) Not sure what mood I'm in for that lately.
* Been wrestling with computer issues, seem mostly solved saved for a telnet problem which is apparently modem related. Add two sticks of ram, get bug hell.
* Oddness. Been reading up on scientology and the Lyndon Larouche. By the time I'm done, I want to be able to perform a 'touch assist' at will, which is moot because I don't plan on touching anyone anytime soon. I know Scientology is some big crazy cult, but a lot of these teachings I'm coming across seem downright mundane, if a bit OCD-ish. They claim you can make a drunk person sober by pointing at things and telling them to say what they are. The funny thing is, I'm willing to bet this has a noticable positive effect on a willing person, even if it doesn't exactly 'make them sober', but instead just makes them more lucid and focused at that moment. Larouche's stuff (remember, I'm not reading everything, just what I have access to) is a lot more comical - the guy has a thing for flair, I'll give him that. On the other hand, LaRouche is also well-versed in history (or at least whoever is writing his pamphlets is), so my reactions tend to vary from 'There's an international conspiracy to reprogram people's minds through the wikipedia? Baloney' to 'Bertrand Russell was a tremendous liar and obsessed with sexual perversion? Well, duh'. You may wonder why I'm bothering to read deeply into what everyone agrees are the two greatest lunatic-conjobs around right now. The reason is multifold - one, to learn about them at their source and have a personal understanding of what they're saying. Two, to be able to identify what they're wrong about and explain why in proper detail. And three, to understand and realize if they may well be right about anything whatsoever. For a long time now, I've maintained a personal standard of giving the devil his due - admitting to someone being correct when they're correct, even if I disagree with them. It's a philosophy with tremendous benefits, and it's paying off here once again. Even if I keep confusing Lyndon with Lipton, those soup guys. Lipton LaRouche.. I'll have to think about that.
* Food. Been getting ahold of great, unique foods at the farmer's market. Raw honey is now a staple for me, as are mushrooms - which I get in tremendous amounts for a dollar. Got some great tasting, powerful wine as well, though I'm not big on alcohol in general. Weird foods have been pig feet souse, beef tongue souse, and my favorite, scrapple. Also conch meat and skate. I can't sing the praises enough for raw honey, as it (to me) tastes better, and I vastly prefer the very firm texture of it in general. Oddly enough, it's sold by a very religious family that are part of Faith Assembly of God, which I can recall instantly because of its unfortunate acronym. For all the religion-defense, atheism-critical blogging I do, I should admit that anyone who self-describes as 'born again' puts me off a little. It's not so much the declaration, as it is the tendency for it to come with this strange lilt in the voice and a habit of repeating seemingly memorized phrases. Oddly, I get the same vibe off pro-abortion types - nothing's creepier than hearing that 'a woman's right to choose' (Always with 'choose' kinda dangling there, the 'abortion' word sliced right out) in the same droning monotone as a rote memorized prayer. Everyone worships something. Anyway, it's made a bit worse as the guy who sells this stuff has dark hair and light blue eyes. I don't know why, but that combination has always bothered me. It's irrational, but if I were a dog, I'd snarl at people with those features without provocation. Damn spice addicts!
* Tech. I got ahold of a roomba. Man, that thing makes life easier, so long as you rearrange your room so nothing is on the floor. Oh, I also go ahold of a new camera. I can put something on the lens and snap a photo with clear results - super-macro mode is amazing, and makes my job easier.
Ah well, later.