Hasty Words Lead To...

(WARNING! This isn't mine. This is someone else's work that I took and modified to look like...)(This! My pixel drawing of an Ar-15 tricked out for sniping.)

...Dire Consequences.

So I suppose I spoke to soon earlier this affy-noon...or whenever I made my last post. I'm too lazy to check. I said that nothing interesting was worth noting lately...but I was wrong! Not even an hour after posting on here, I discovered a new hobbie! Pixel Art!

That's right! I was browsing some pixel art sites (out of boredom) and decided that I'd give it a try! I'm not that great yet, so I'm only practicing...but here's my first piece. It's supposed to be an AR-15 set up for sniping. I wanted it to look more like an M-110, but it didn't come out quite right...but it's close enough. To be totally honest, I can't claim that the ENTIRE drawing is mine alone...

I took an existing pixel drawing of an HK-416 and modified it by changing it to/adding a longer fore-guard, a scope & scope rings, a rear-flip sight in down position, a Harris bipod, and a 20-round magazine. The original drawing (someone else's) is at top, my drawing is below, enlarged a bit to show detail. Pretty good, eh? I thought so.

I'm starting small, by practicing on modifying others' work and learning pixel drawing techniques...but eventually I think it would be cool if I could draw entire scenes or objects on my own. We'll see how far I go with this. I could get bored of it or simply not have enough time to do it...or I could seriously become AMAZINGLY GOOD at it and rock your world. That's right, I said it. So I guess I did at least one interesting thing today.

----Blind Prophet Artist Man

Nothing for a whiles.

Okay, so I haven't exactly been keeping up to date with my blogging. Sue me. Is it my fault that I have an actual life outside of this magically window to another world in front of me? I suspect not...but I have no proof.

So I guess I'll just fill you in on what I've been doing lately until I find something more exciting to talk about. I've been going to class and looking for a job. That pretty much sums it up. The class is Colonial America, and is actually a pleasant surprise. I was expecting the usual hum-drum Jamestown to Revolution shpiel, but instead we're going quite deeply into EARLY colonization of the AMERICAS, rather than the U.S. proper. So I'm learning a lot about early Mesoamerican cultures and stuff...and it's pretty cool. So class isn't boring, like I thought it might be (no offense, Dr. ******! Colonial U.S. history is just not my bag!).

As for the job...well, that's pretty self-explanatory. I'm finding that it's difficult to score a job, at least in "the city" or my hometown. I might have to start looking around in "the city" (yeah, yeah, I know...civvie internet OPSEC). That would cut into my potential funding through gas usage, but it's better than nothing.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Maybe my life will become more interesting tomorrow.

----B.P.

Lazy Old Days, Rollin Away...

(PIC REMOVED. hahaha)
(*sigh*....slow day.)

Hmmmm...Ten extra points for the yahoo what can name that there tune. Seriously, tell me what song that phrase is from and I will give you ten whole points! Don't you feel special? Earn it first, dork.

I don't know. I'm trying to keep this blog going, but lately I haven't been feeling extremely talkative or interesting. Too badz. In fact, the entire purpose of this here post is to upload a photo on blogger.com so I can post it elsewhere on the net. Yeah, I'm that guy. The one who's too cheap to PAY (or put up with the hassle) for the same service elsewhere. Screw you, Flickr.

So here's the info for the pic. It's me, staring longingly into the single eye of my recent infatuation....yup. The computer. I've had a long weekend and a slow semester schedule...what can I say? I'm working on finding an actual full-time jobbie, but that's not going so well. COME ON, OLD-FOLKS HOME! CALL ME ABOUT THAT COOK POSITION! :P Alright...I'm even boring myself now. Buhbye.

----B.P.

Oh Noezzzz!

Well, it's back to school. Yucky stinkin turdy college. At least I only have two more semesters left (including this one). To top that off, my class load is pretty light because I'm mostly finishing up my content classes (history/gov). Next semester is my professional semester, so I'll be busy student teaching at a local highschool--not much time to do anything else.

So yeah, I have a light load right now and that's awesome...Now if I could only manage to snag a job...I'm planning on trying to work full-time this semester so's I can save up a nicely sized nest egg that I can use to move to my future job location (wherever that is). About...oh, say....$4,000 ought to do nicely. I'd settle for $2,000, though. I just need enough to cover actual moving costs plus a down payment on an apartment and then perhaps enough to survive for a month or two. That's really all I need.

So GIVE ME A JOBBY! Does anyone know someone they want killed? Does anyone want drugs or something dangerous transported to another location? Does anyone need help finding people? I can do those things! Hire me!

Aside from that, I guess I'll go apply at Denny's.

----Blind Prophet

Wisdom from the Old Man

(pretty amazing what you can do to yourself with MSPaint.)

Ahhhh, young ones...gather 'round and ready your tender ears. I shall now, in the beneficence of my aged grace, pass on to you sacred words of knowledge from ancient days yon past...

Damn, I feel OLD. Just looking back over the archived posts on this blog makes me feel like a rheumy 80-yr old. By simply analyzing the tone of my sarcasm and wit (poor excuse though it may be) I am able to see how much I've grown...or at least changed. The stumbling humor found in some of my earlier posts is but a nipping puppy compared to the mighty canid power of my....bored with the analogies yet? I am.

It just struck me how much I've aged in the past 3 years, both mentally and physically. I swear, it's just like good 'ol daddy always huffed to me: "Turn around thrice and you're MY age!" I'm scared to turn around! It's not that I'm tired of life or exhausted or anything morose like that, it's just that I don't usually notice the passage of time in large increments. It's hard enough to keep track of my own BIRTHDAY! Who the hell can keep track of YEARS? And they's be movin' Jimmy Boy, they's be movin'.

I get the same feeling when I see high school kids walking around. Dear Christ Almighty Frozen Custard God, was I ever that young? Was I ever that oblivious and obvious and ignorant? And tiny? I feel the same size as always but now when I see high schoolers, for some reason they look so small and innocent, like witto itty kiddies. Very scary to see them in large doses.

Alright, not much more to say. It's just amazing how quickly time passes and how little we notice it until moments like these...when it's too late. Man, I need to get stuff DONE. I have so many things I want to do in my life and there's precious little of that left in which to accomplish it. At least I'm almost done with college. *sigh* Onward to the breach, I s'pose....

----BlindProphet

P.S. Crap. I'm going to look ugly when I'm old.

The Prophet's Too-Late Review!!

That's right, folks...it's time for Steve's Too-Late Review--when you get to read a review of a game that's been out for a few years, but I've only recently played! Woohoo! You'll find almost nothing useful in this unless you haven't played the game...so if you're a few years behind the gaming scene, or in case you've just missed this title, here's the review of...

STAR OCEAN: TILL THE END OF TIME


So I just finished playing this game about an hour ago and I wanted to get this all down while it's still fresh. I'm always wary when I begin a new game, especially an RPG...since the RPG scene is so fragmented into little groups of particular series lovers, particular battle system lovers, and those who enjoy a particular visual style or storyline...well, to be honest, the games can be pretty hit-or-miss. Final Fantasy is a giant in the RPG world because Square-Enix has managed to strike a perfect balance between moving story, dynamic skill/battle systems, engaging visuals, and enthralling musical scores. Unfortunately, not every software company has hit that perfect conflagration of elements...so sometimes I can find myself 10 hours into a game and struggling to care about the story or battle system.

I'm not ashamed to admit that's what happened with Star Ocean, despite the fact that's it's from Square-Enix. I actually began the game about two years ago, excited to try a newly purchased RPG. As the minutes of gameplay passed, I became upset with the moderately steep learning curve for the battle system (which is an active-time battle system; I usually prefer turn-based systems. Maybe it was just steep for me...but in my opinion the battles don't get really cool until more than a third of the way into the game.)...coupled with the seeming lack of actual story development. It seems as though the story has enough to grab your interest right at the start of the game...and then gradually looses it about the time you're on Elicoor II for a while. Your characters are stuck on the planet for a looooooong time, so I just lost interest and put the game down in favor of something else.

Just a month ago, I decided to finish the game during my month off from college for winter vacation. Enough! I hadn't completed the game yet and it was beginning to wear on my mind. So I hesitantly picked the game up, remembering my earlier frustration...yet determined to plow through and finish it, no matter how horrible it became. I was surprised to learn that as the game progressed, it became more and more interesting and involved. I don't know if the designers purposely made the game this way, but it seems like the last 20% of the game is the best--as far as exploration, puzzles, character development, skill-gaining, and treasure! So as I kept playing, things just kept getting better and better.

The story is absolutely trippy! I won't spoil the surprise, but about two-thirds of the way (or maybe even close to 75%) through, everything that you thought you knew is thrown out the window and your characters recieve an enlightenment that just completely blew my mind. There was a very creative plot twist that brought the story to another level. It was awesome!! From here on out, the locations got more and more beautiful and detailed, and the enemies became more and more difficult and challenging to fight. Whereas in most of the first portion of the game I was hurting for cash, by the end of the game I had accumulated over 2,000,000 dollars (called Fol in the game)!! I had actually earned more. That was just the amount left after I'd pimped all my characters out with awesome equipment and accessories. Sweet, sweet, sweet. This, combined with the item synthesis system gives you a near god-like ability to just completely max your characters out to insane levels of strength. Needless to say, I didn't need to level grind very much in order to remain capable of defeating the enemies as they progressed in difficulty through the game----though at one point there is an unbelievably large jump in enemy strength that required an hour or two of grinding for experience and Fol.

Now, despite all of this awesomeness near the end of the game, there were a few problems. Firstly and foremostly, the dialogue during cutscenes...awful, just awful. I don't know who the hell they hire to do the voices, but they sound...well, cartoony...and in such a mind-blowing sci-fi RPG, it just didn't seem to fit the tone. Pacing of dialogue was a little off, as well...but no biggie. The fight music is the same throughout the entire game (except for the final boss and a few bigger bosses)...which got old, let me tell ya. Also, some of the enemies were just plain old goddamned annoying. Stupid fucking quad-footed robots sentries. There were times in the game where I wanted to punch someone in the face so hard some kid in China would feel it....but in a way, this is a good thing. I enjoy games that piss me off sometimes; that means that the game was a challenge. It makes me appreciate that "The End" at the bottom of the credits after the final cutscenes.

So, in closing, if you haven't played the game by now, try it out. It's definitely worth the $15 (or less) that you'll chuck for it at the nearest used videogame store. The Clear Game replay option, combined with the extra dungeons that you may have missed the first time through definitely make this game a candidate for another try. So that's it! Enjoy the game!

----B.P.