I finished my book a couple months ago. Rough draft is essentially done.
I've also reread it once, doing some minor editing. There are a few hiccups, technically and plot-wise, and it's definitely missing some gravy. The meat and potatoes are there, but the gravy is a thin and altogether missing in some places.
But I think the plot itself is good. Interestingly enough, I wrote it before I'd ever read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. And it's eerily similar, yet still a separate story.
I'm terrified of having anybody else read it. I don't know if I trust anybody with it. It's very personal. There's a lot of me in the book and I'm worried that the way I've written some things will speak volumes about my psychosis of which I'm unaware.
I worry about this because of the fallout (and success) that Stephanie Meyer experienced with the Twilight novels. She wrote her books much like I'm writing mine. She had an idea, liked vampires, wanted to put her own spin on things, and developed a plot based on all of that. She developed a plot that was interested to her and that she thought others would find interesting.
I'm betting $100 that she did not intend for Bella to come out as a shell of a human being onto which readers would project themselves. I bet she also did not intend for everything Edward did in this books to be judged as creepy, abusive and harassment. I bet she even though a lot of what Edward did was romantic and that Bella was a completely competent and had a fully developed sense of identity.
We write what we know. An incredible professor explained this to me once. We write what we know. It is difficult to write that which we know little to nothing about, so we write based on our experiences. Stephanie Meyer wrote about a love she was probably familiar with. But I'm willing to bet large amounts of anything that she didn't see anything wrong with that love, except that it was somewhat depressing at times (and even then, I bet she thinks that Edward breaking up with Bella to protect her because he loved her so much, while depressing, was still romantic).
I know I'm projecting a lot of my own insecurities on Meyer's books and assuming a lot of her thoughts here. I get that. So I can't say any of this with 100% confidence that Meyer actually felt that way about the content of her books and then only realized later after people pointed this stuff out to her like, "Hey, you realize Bella is like nothingness incarnate and Edward is that antithesis of the abusive, manipulative boyfriend, right?"
I don't know if that's really what happened. But I would not be surprised were that the case.
And so I fear the same thing happening to my writing. I'm worried that Ruemer (main character) will be ... impersonal. She will be too unbelievable. Or she will be a reflection of my fucked up brain in some way, and I don't want that to happen. I want her to be Ruemer. I want Michael to be his own man. I want Ruemer to lead the way, and Michael to help her out when she might need it. Ruemer can help Michael when he's stuck too.
I had many goals when I set out to write this book. The first and foremost was to write an action-packed, smart, investigative thriller with a female protagonist. I also wanted to pair her up with a male ... side-kick, sort of. But not an idiot, Robin-like side-kick. A legit, back-you-up-in-a-fight, kick-ass side-kick. I wanted to prove that men and women can work together and that the two are not mysterious creatures to one another that and that they can comprehend each other.
In doing all of that, I also wanted to create a unique-ish story for a female protagonist. Some people might claim that she is part of the Waif-Fu trope. Waif-Fu is, basically, River Tam. I like using River Tam as my example of Waif-Fu because she's the perfect example. River Tam weighs all of 110 lbs, is short, and small, and probably couldn't expertly defend herself like she does in Firefly or Serenity even though she's expertly trained (unbeknownst to her).
Physically, even though she's trained, she could not kick and punch dudes twice her size and launch them back away from her. She might be able to do some damage, but she probably won't be able to flip and disable people due to physics. She's half their size.
I love the Waif-Fu trope. I think it's an awesome trope and it creates some pretty excellent characters (Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass, Lisbeth Salander from Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). But I can definitely see how it disenfranchises a character. It makes them less human, less believable.
To avoid this trope, I made her to be about 5'10 and weigh in at about 175 lbs. She's pure muscle and power. Think Gina Corano. I wanted the physics to be real. Ruemer absolutely had to be able to go toe-to-toe with people larger than her, but at her size, she should be able to handle that with her skills.
Ruemer and Michael's relationship had to develop in a believable manner. I only hope it actually plays out that way.
I'm almost positive Ruemer's name will change in terms of spelling. People will not pronounce it right. I might as well just spell it Rumor. Or change it entirely to something else.
But yeah, I'm kind of worried that it won't be well received. I've reread the whole thing, and I feel how the story moves, now. The beginning is slow, middle moves pretty fast, and then the end is somewhat slow, too. There might be a technical issue (chemically) with a part in the end as well that I need to speak with a chemist about and not risk going to jail for asking questions about a deathly substance.
That's all, just wanted to rant about writing, I suppose. I thought of it because I was reading about Stephanie Meyer wanting to be done with Twilight now.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The day before flying to Italy, I made a stop -- one of many -- at Target to pick up a new book to read. I have a couple other series that I could read, but I decided to grab a different one (since Luke is going to read Night Angel trilogy).
After refering to my list of books to read, the most likely candidated seemed to be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. So I grabbed it at Target the day before and then started reading it on the plane on the way over.
I watched a movie on the plane to Amsterdam but once that movie was finished, I started reading the book. And I couldn't put the damn thing down. It gripped me right from the beginning.
My mother-in-law had sort of described the books to me, specifically the character of Lisbeth Salander. And I was intrigued. But I didn't quite know what to expect. Stieg Larsson writes so well. I sort of wish I spoke Swedish so I could read the original text because what I read was traslated from Swedish to English and some spots felt ... off.
Translation issues aside, the book was just fantastic. I read it each night while we were in Italy (except one night where I was just too damn tired, I fell asleep after taking a shower, and Luke said he was cuddling with me and I don't remember that at all).
The prose, the flow, the plot, the character development. It was all superb. I wish I'd bought the next two and brought them along because I finished the first one on the plane on the way back to JFK and tried reading this other book I'd brougt with and it wasn't very good.
I'm enthralled with Lisbeth's character. And I also very much Blomkvist's character too. They're relationship dynamic is extremely entertaining, regardless of how awkward they are together.
Anyway, great book, so glad I finally picked it up. I'm already a couple chapters in to the 2nd book and it's quite interesting.
After refering to my list of books to read, the most likely candidated seemed to be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. So I grabbed it at Target the day before and then started reading it on the plane on the way over.
I watched a movie on the plane to Amsterdam but once that movie was finished, I started reading the book. And I couldn't put the damn thing down. It gripped me right from the beginning.
My mother-in-law had sort of described the books to me, specifically the character of Lisbeth Salander. And I was intrigued. But I didn't quite know what to expect. Stieg Larsson writes so well. I sort of wish I spoke Swedish so I could read the original text because what I read was traslated from Swedish to English and some spots felt ... off.
Translation issues aside, the book was just fantastic. I read it each night while we were in Italy (except one night where I was just too damn tired, I fell asleep after taking a shower, and Luke said he was cuddling with me and I don't remember that at all).
The prose, the flow, the plot, the character development. It was all superb. I wish I'd bought the next two and brought them along because I finished the first one on the plane on the way back to JFK and tried reading this other book I'd brougt with and it wasn't very good.
I'm enthralled with Lisbeth's character. And I also very much Blomkvist's character too. They're relationship dynamic is extremely entertaining, regardless of how awkward they are together.
Anyway, great book, so glad I finally picked it up. I'm already a couple chapters in to the 2nd book and it's quite interesting.
A Storm of Swords
So I finished A Storm of Swords a couple weeks ago. Yeah, about a week before leaving for Italy, I finally managed through the little I had left.
A lot happens; of the first three books in this series, the third is easily the best. There are frustrating deaths and oh so rewarding deaths. Several of each, in fact. And I don't really remember a slow part in the entire book. I was pretty engaged for all 1150 pages.
Still, that's a lot of reading and it took me a couple months. And now that I'm finished with it, I'm taking a break from the series for a while to get some other books in. Yes, I suppose I like this series. But I'm finding the t.v. show far more entertaining.
Martin, while a superb writer, with amazing details and gripping plot, lacks one word in his vocabulary: brevity. The guy even talks in circles. I've watched a couple interviews with him and while nothing he says is ever redundant or needlessly filling the space, he still could be far more brief. The books suffer from this problem overall.
Each book has had actually two major plot points come to pass. The first book was Robert's death. That could have been the end of the first book. Book two could have been Ned's death. Book three could have been somewhere half way in to book two (I don't remember what major even happened in book two, Jon going over to the Wildlings, killing the Halfhand?) and then I don't even remember how book 2 ended but whatever that was could be book 4, book 5 could have wrapped up with the RW, and then book Tyrion popping a crossbow bolt through Tywin's intenstins for the end of book six.
That might have made for easier reading. At least, I feel as though I've read six books as opposed to just three. Technically, and on average, 3000 pages worth of paperback content is six books, not three. So there's that ...
Anyway, Song of Ice and Fire is going on the shelf for now. Going to read a few other things before I get back to it.
A lot happens; of the first three books in this series, the third is easily the best. There are frustrating deaths and oh so rewarding deaths. Several of each, in fact. And I don't really remember a slow part in the entire book. I was pretty engaged for all 1150 pages.
Still, that's a lot of reading and it took me a couple months. And now that I'm finished with it, I'm taking a break from the series for a while to get some other books in. Yes, I suppose I like this series. But I'm finding the t.v. show far more entertaining.
Martin, while a superb writer, with amazing details and gripping plot, lacks one word in his vocabulary: brevity. The guy even talks in circles. I've watched a couple interviews with him and while nothing he says is ever redundant or needlessly filling the space, he still could be far more brief. The books suffer from this problem overall.
Each book has had actually two major plot points come to pass. The first book was Robert's death. That could have been the end of the first book. Book two could have been Ned's death. Book three could have been somewhere half way in to book two (I don't remember what major even happened in book two, Jon going over to the Wildlings, killing the Halfhand?) and then I don't even remember how book 2 ended but whatever that was could be book 4, book 5 could have wrapped up with the RW, and then book Tyrion popping a crossbow bolt through Tywin's intenstins for the end of book six.
That might have made for easier reading. At least, I feel as though I've read six books as opposed to just three. Technically, and on average, 3000 pages worth of paperback content is six books, not three. So there's that ...
Anyway, Song of Ice and Fire is going on the shelf for now. Going to read a few other things before I get back to it.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Fuck You
Note: Luke and I talked about last Saturday and everything is fine.
With that said.
FUCK YOU GUY WHO THINKS I SHOULD SMILE MORE.
Seriously!
HERE'S YOUR SMILE *flips the bird*, NOW SHOVE IT YOUR FUCKING ASS, YOU TWAT.
I swear to the higher powers that may or may not exist, if another man tells me to smile more, I'mma fucking punch them dead in the face.
I do not exist to improve your surroundings. I do not exist to increase you viewing pleasure. I do not exist for you to ogle. So when I am in a bad mood, or fuck, in no mood, good or bad, and just in line at the local Noodles, trying to think if I want Pesto Cavatapi or a Chicken Caesar Salad, or I'm waiting for my order, I don't need to have any other fucking face on than the one that's already there.
I don't need to smile for anyone. Not for you, not for my mother, not for my sister, not for my husband. No one. If I am not even on the same planet as everyone else around me because my brain is thinking of ... you know ... important shit, my face may not be the most pleasant thing upon which to gaze.
Take your male privilege that so encouraged you to even say something that fucking rude to me, and choke on it. How would you like it if your grandma just died and you were sad and had a frowny face on and I came up to you and said "You need to smile more?"
/rantoff
I started this bit because, for about the fourth time, a person I work with who will remain nameless told me that I needed to smile more while I was eating in the cafeteria.
The first two times he did this I gave lame excuses. "You wouldn't be smiling if you had a sinus infection," or "I'm too cold to smile, it's -25 F degrees outside". The third time, I just said "Nope, don't think I will."
This time, I flat out ignored him until he pointedly got my attention by saying my name. And the main reason I ignored him was because I was paying attention to my phone. I had my face buried in it while eating. In fact, I was reading a book.
But nooooooooo, this asshat thought he would tell me to smile, again, when he hasn't gotten one out of me, ever. I don't even get why he does it. I have a fucking wedding ring on; does he think if he says it often enough I'll find ridiculously charming and want to sleep with him? I don't know his motives at all.
When he realized I was either a.) intentionally ignoring him or b.) actually did not hear him (I'm not sure if he noticed I was intentionally ignoring him), he decided to get my attention by saying my name.
Wrong, of course.
When I heard this, I looked up and asked him if he was talking to me. He said yeah, and I said, "Oh, it's Jeanna."
And then he proceeded to tell me to smile again. I'd had it. So I asked him, "What makes you think I should smile more?"
"I don't know, you'll look nicer?"
"What if I don't give a flying fuck about what I look like or what anybody else thinks I look like? Look, I'm eating my lunch, stuffing my face, and reading a book. How can my facial expression be important at this time? That's right, it's not. Only you seem to think that I have to have a smile to improve your viewing pleasure. News flash, I'm not here for you. I'm hereto eat, read my book, and then go back to my desk and do my fucking work."
"Jeez, you didn't have to snap at me." He promptly left the cafeteria at that point.
Had we been in public and not at work, I would have said "The fuck I did. You're privileged ass makes you think that you can demand certain physical appearances of people. You need a fucking reality check. For your sake, I hope you learn to never say this to another person, regardless of gender, ever again."
But I didn't really want him to report me to HR for verbally attacking him any further. I also didn't want to go to HR for some stupid harassment complaint. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
Again, I swear, if I hear another guy (or girl for that matter) use the term "Friendzone", I'm Friendzoning their asses into oblivion. Just a terrible way of blaming the person who doesn't like you. If someone doesn't like you, tough shit. No one, no matter what you do for them, is obligated to like you. You take away the other person's autonomy by assuming they will pay out with a physical relationship when you keep giving them friendship coins when in return, all you're getting back is more friendship coins. And then you keep doing this expecting a different result; that's called "insanity". Talk about manipulative fucks, you guys that do that crap make me sad. I pity you and your pathetic existences where you think you're so special you have to point out that you're a nice guy and that you'd be the best boyfriend ever. News flash: if you have to point that out, it isn't true. Heaven forbid you and another person just be friends without any physical relationship involved. Heaven forbid you tell the other person straight-up from the start that you like them more than that. That's stupid. It's their fault for not being a mind reader, not my lack of self confidence and my inability to admit my feelings to them. Their rejection of me is completely their fault, not any of mine, how could they not like me? I did all this awesome stuff for them!
/rantoffagain
Okay, fuck this, I need to sleep or something, this crap is starting to enrage me.
(Side note: a coworker bitched about being friendzoned and it took all of my willpower not to flip out on them).
With that said.
FUCK YOU GUY WHO THINKS I SHOULD SMILE MORE.
Seriously!
HERE'S YOUR SMILE *flips the bird*, NOW SHOVE IT YOUR FUCKING ASS, YOU TWAT.
I swear to the higher powers that may or may not exist, if another man tells me to smile more, I'mma fucking punch them dead in the face.
I do not exist to improve your surroundings. I do not exist to increase you viewing pleasure. I do not exist for you to ogle. So when I am in a bad mood, or fuck, in no mood, good or bad, and just in line at the local Noodles, trying to think if I want Pesto Cavatapi or a Chicken Caesar Salad, or I'm waiting for my order, I don't need to have any other fucking face on than the one that's already there.
I don't need to smile for anyone. Not for you, not for my mother, not for my sister, not for my husband. No one. If I am not even on the same planet as everyone else around me because my brain is thinking of ... you know ... important shit, my face may not be the most pleasant thing upon which to gaze.
Take your male privilege that so encouraged you to even say something that fucking rude to me, and choke on it. How would you like it if your grandma just died and you were sad and had a frowny face on and I came up to you and said "You need to smile more?"
/rantoff
I started this bit because, for about the fourth time, a person I work with who will remain nameless told me that I needed to smile more while I was eating in the cafeteria.
The first two times he did this I gave lame excuses. "You wouldn't be smiling if you had a sinus infection," or "I'm too cold to smile, it's -25 F degrees outside". The third time, I just said "Nope, don't think I will."
This time, I flat out ignored him until he pointedly got my attention by saying my name. And the main reason I ignored him was because I was paying attention to my phone. I had my face buried in it while eating. In fact, I was reading a book.
But nooooooooo, this asshat thought he would tell me to smile, again, when he hasn't gotten one out of me, ever. I don't even get why he does it. I have a fucking wedding ring on; does he think if he says it often enough I'll find ridiculously charming and want to sleep with him? I don't know his motives at all.
When he realized I was either a.) intentionally ignoring him or b.) actually did not hear him (I'm not sure if he noticed I was intentionally ignoring him), he decided to get my attention by saying my name.
Wrong, of course.
When I heard this, I looked up and asked him if he was talking to me. He said yeah, and I said, "Oh, it's Jeanna."
And then he proceeded to tell me to smile again. I'd had it. So I asked him, "What makes you think I should smile more?"
"I don't know, you'll look nicer?"
"What if I don't give a flying fuck about what I look like or what anybody else thinks I look like? Look, I'm eating my lunch, stuffing my face, and reading a book. How can my facial expression be important at this time? That's right, it's not. Only you seem to think that I have to have a smile to improve your viewing pleasure. News flash, I'm not here for you. I'm hereto eat, read my book, and then go back to my desk and do my fucking work."
"Jeez, you didn't have to snap at me." He promptly left the cafeteria at that point.
Had we been in public and not at work, I would have said "The fuck I did. You're privileged ass makes you think that you can demand certain physical appearances of people. You need a fucking reality check. For your sake, I hope you learn to never say this to another person, regardless of gender, ever again."
But I didn't really want him to report me to HR for verbally attacking him any further. I also didn't want to go to HR for some stupid harassment complaint. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
Again, I swear, if I hear another guy (or girl for that matter) use the term "Friendzone", I'm Friendzoning their asses into oblivion. Just a terrible way of blaming the person who doesn't like you. If someone doesn't like you, tough shit. No one, no matter what you do for them, is obligated to like you. You take away the other person's autonomy by assuming they will pay out with a physical relationship when you keep giving them friendship coins when in return, all you're getting back is more friendship coins. And then you keep doing this expecting a different result; that's called "insanity". Talk about manipulative fucks, you guys that do that crap make me sad. I pity you and your pathetic existences where you think you're so special you have to point out that you're a nice guy and that you'd be the best boyfriend ever. News flash: if you have to point that out, it isn't true. Heaven forbid you and another person just be friends without any physical relationship involved. Heaven forbid you tell the other person straight-up from the start that you like them more than that. That's stupid. It's their fault for not being a mind reader, not my lack of self confidence and my inability to admit my feelings to them. Their rejection of me is completely their fault, not any of mine, how could they not like me? I did all this awesome stuff for them!
/rantoffagain
Okay, fuck this, I need to sleep or something, this crap is starting to enrage me.
(Side note: a coworker bitched about being friendzoned and it took all of my willpower not to flip out on them).
Monday, February 11, 2013
A Clash of Kings
I finished this book back in December I think.
Sadly, I didn't get to this review soon enough. I've forgotten most of what happened in this book. When I try to think about it, I can recall the ending. But other than that, the book was forgettable.
So yeah, just a little blurb on this book. It was very slow leading up to the ending. And even the ending fight was lackluster. It was very sudden, this war that broke out at King's Landing between all of Lannister's loyal lords and Stannis Baratheon's army that is backed by the magic of Melisandre and her Lord of Light.
Again, other than the ending, the rest of the book was slow and boring. Not much happened. Lots of talk again. There were some bits that I'm vaguely recalling about Jon and the wildlings in the north. I think he's been taken in by them at the behest Halfhand. Who he had to kill to prove he was giving up on the Night's Watch.
Oh well, the next book is shaping up to be just as slow, we'll see how it goes.
Sadly, I didn't get to this review soon enough. I've forgotten most of what happened in this book. When I try to think about it, I can recall the ending. But other than that, the book was forgettable.
So yeah, just a little blurb on this book. It was very slow leading up to the ending. And even the ending fight was lackluster. It was very sudden, this war that broke out at King's Landing between all of Lannister's loyal lords and Stannis Baratheon's army that is backed by the magic of Melisandre and her Lord of Light.
Again, other than the ending, the rest of the book was slow and boring. Not much happened. Lots of talk again. There were some bits that I'm vaguely recalling about Jon and the wildlings in the north. I think he's been taken in by them at the behest Halfhand. Who he had to kill to prove he was giving up on the Night's Watch.
Oh well, the next book is shaping up to be just as slow, we'll see how it goes.
A Memory of Light
*Throws book across the room. Folds arms in frustration*
Hi.
*Stares at book laying on the floor. Sighs, then retrieves it.*
Fuck this book, Batman.
There are going to be a bunch of f-bombs in this one. In the immortal words of Lewis Black, "I'd apologize for saying the word 'fuck' so much, but, I don't give a shit."
Back in January, the VERY LAST, HOLY SHIT THIS SERIES IS FINALLY ENDING, book in the Wheel of Time series came out. It's called A Memory of Light. It is about 900 pages. I think. I don't fucking remember.
As per usual in Wheel of Time novels, the book starts with an eighty bagillion page prologue. Thanks for that recap on what everyone was doing. You could have just made them regular ol' chapters. You know, like most writers do.
[Insert Spoiler Warning Here]
Couple of things I fucking hated about this book:
1.) Main Plot-Immune Character Deaths
Brandon Sanderson and/or Robert Jordan felt it appropriate to off several characters that had been around as early as the first book. I don't remember all of them. I do recall a few (Egwene, for example) that just absolutely pissed me off. Most felt ridiculously unnecessary (Gawyn prior to Egwene's death, all it seemed to do was provide fodder for Egwene's death, as though she couldn't sacrifice herself to kill Taim on her own, her husband had to die.)
There were many other character deaths that I just raged at. He killed the horse, Bela. I'm livid.
The main reason I'm frustrated with these character deaths is because they were poorly done. They were either too quick or just really clumsy. Again, some felt unnecessary. Others, while not unnecessary, did not get the going-out-with-a-bang they deserved.
2.) Misogyny out the ass
I've never liked the way female characters were written in these books nor how their male counterparts thought of or treated women. They were typically at odds, insulting each other. The characters all acted like very stereotypical men and women, always at odds. And I think there might have only been one or two scenes where two women were not discussing a man.
3.) Plodding through crap to get to the "good" stuff.
All three of these last novels suffered this. There appeared to be a ton of filler that never moved the plot along.
4.) The Last Battle was done in one chapter that lasted around 200 pages and we read it from about 50 different people's PoV.*
That made the battle drag out; it felt far too long. Far too detailed. There were parts that were ridiculously slow (because they felt unimportant and they weren't moving the plot along) and then there were parts that felt important but were not fleshed out thoroughly and thus, felt rushed.
5.) Demandred coming out of left field with an army that is even bigger than that of the Shadow, adding them to the army of the Shadow.
So that's what Demandred was doing? The entire series? He was in Shara for probably several hundred years and shaped them in to a weapon?
Most authors would have alluded to that. Just a hint. Something subtle. I don't remember anything. Demandred's plans were the best. Flat out, they were great. But we didn't know it was coming until "Holy shit, that gateway is massive and there are a ton of channelers and other warriors coming out of it. We're fucked."
6.) The ending didn't feel like it was written by Robert Jordan.
It read exactly like Sanderson's writing. I could not find the part that Jordan claimed to have written while he was working on Eye of the World over two decades ago. Jordan references the very last "scene" in this quote. Well, the last scene is Rand riding a horse off in to the sunset all by himself in the guise of Elan/Ishamael/Moridin with no powers at all. He can channel neither the One Power or the True Power. We learn this because, as he's riding off, he pulls out a pipe with some tabac and reaches for the One Power to light it. It doesn't work because Rand-Brain in Elan-Body cannot even sense the One Power anymore. He tries for the True Power (idiot) and does not sense it either. He is happy about this. He is relieved by this.
And then, he simply imagines the pipe as lit, and it lights.
The implications of this ability are astounding. Rand can control the Pattern with his thoughts. Doesn't anybody realize the problem with that? Why couldn't he have just found some matches in his coat pocket?
Why didn't Rand just die? Does Tor really want more money? Please dear god do not write the Outrigger series that had been suggested a while back. That would be dumb.
7.) After all that sluggishness, the book wraps up in about 20 fucking pages? Really? Give me a break.
No words for this.
8.) The entire book felt like it was written by Sanderson. I could feel the difference this time. I didn't really notice that in TGS or ToM. Sanderson said he tried adapting his writing to be similar to Jordan's but this book flopped.
9.) Noal? Really? Noal was the one you wanted to bring back as a surprise-return character. WHERE IS INGTAR?! He even admitted to being a Darkfriend! And he turned back to the Light! He sacrificed himself to save Rand and Crew! It was glorious! Fuck Noal, I don't care if he was Jain Farstrider.
10.) Morgase and Elayne are never reuinited. Wouldn't you think they would have come across one another on the battle field at some time, especially considering she was part of Faile's entourage? Why did Rand not tell Elayne? Tam told Rand about it. For whatever reason, Rand decides to not tell the woman who is pregnant with his twins that her mother is alive. Dumb.
11.) Here's something that bothered me. Yukiri, at the behest of a general, I think Bryne, creates a gateway in the sky above the battling armies so that Bryne can get an live-action shot of what is going at any moment. This was a huge discovery and allowed for tactical advances in platoon placement/movement.
It took them PAGES, and I mean like hundreds, to figure out that they could hide from a safe distance away and just plop down massive gateways and bomb the fuck out of the enemy. This, to me, is a huge continuity problem. From the second Yukiri figures out this weave and makes it as safe as possible, why did it take them so long to use it offensively?
12.) All of that adds up to make me feel like this book was Sanderson's first stab at the series, not the third. TGS and ToM were far superior.
I could go in to further detail but I don't want to. The book was not the stellar exclamation point that I was expecting for the end of one of the most iconic fantasy series of all time
I did not even cry at the ending. I eventually was so numb to all of the character deaths that the book's ending being the end of the series didn't even sink in for several days. What I found especially hilarious about the end of the book was the line "It wasn't the ending. But it was an ending." Yeah, no shit, Sanderson. The ending we should have gotten (not what we got) would have been the ending! You just gave us an ending. One that I do not understand how anybody enjoyed.
*I was doing some research on the interwebs about this chapter. The chapter is 50,000 words. And it actually consists of between 70-80 different points of views. To put that in to perspective, I'm writing a thriller novel right now and it is almost complete. It will only barely squeek in to the novel range at about 40,000 words. It has ONE point of view the ENTIRE novel. What the fuck?**
**After doing more research, Brandon Sanderson commented on this website I found and said this chapter actually has 79,000 words (nearly twice as many as my novel) and 31 distinct points of view, for a total of 72 PoV changes (a lot of characters had multiple pov's).
Hi.
*Stares at book laying on the floor. Sighs, then retrieves it.*
Fuck this book, Batman.
There are going to be a bunch of f-bombs in this one. In the immortal words of Lewis Black, "I'd apologize for saying the word 'fuck' so much, but, I don't give a shit."
Back in January, the VERY LAST, HOLY SHIT THIS SERIES IS FINALLY ENDING, book in the Wheel of Time series came out. It's called A Memory of Light. It is about 900 pages. I think. I don't fucking remember.
As per usual in Wheel of Time novels, the book starts with an eighty bagillion page prologue. Thanks for that recap on what everyone was doing. You could have just made them regular ol' chapters. You know, like most writers do.
[Insert Spoiler Warning Here]
Couple of things I fucking hated about this book:
1.) Main Plot-Immune Character Deaths
Brandon Sanderson and/or Robert Jordan felt it appropriate to off several characters that had been around as early as the first book. I don't remember all of them. I do recall a few (Egwene, for example) that just absolutely pissed me off. Most felt ridiculously unnecessary (Gawyn prior to Egwene's death, all it seemed to do was provide fodder for Egwene's death, as though she couldn't sacrifice herself to kill Taim on her own, her husband had to die.)
There were many other character deaths that I just raged at. He killed the horse, Bela. I'm livid.
The main reason I'm frustrated with these character deaths is because they were poorly done. They were either too quick or just really clumsy. Again, some felt unnecessary. Others, while not unnecessary, did not get the going-out-with-a-bang they deserved.
2.) Misogyny out the ass
I've never liked the way female characters were written in these books nor how their male counterparts thought of or treated women. They were typically at odds, insulting each other. The characters all acted like very stereotypical men and women, always at odds. And I think there might have only been one or two scenes where two women were not discussing a man.
3.) Plodding through crap to get to the "good" stuff.
All three of these last novels suffered this. There appeared to be a ton of filler that never moved the plot along.
4.) The Last Battle was done in one chapter that lasted around 200 pages and we read it from about 50 different people's PoV.*
That made the battle drag out; it felt far too long. Far too detailed. There were parts that were ridiculously slow (because they felt unimportant and they weren't moving the plot along) and then there were parts that felt important but were not fleshed out thoroughly and thus, felt rushed.
5.) Demandred coming out of left field with an army that is even bigger than that of the Shadow, adding them to the army of the Shadow.
So that's what Demandred was doing? The entire series? He was in Shara for probably several hundred years and shaped them in to a weapon?
Most authors would have alluded to that. Just a hint. Something subtle. I don't remember anything. Demandred's plans were the best. Flat out, they were great. But we didn't know it was coming until "Holy shit, that gateway is massive and there are a ton of channelers and other warriors coming out of it. We're fucked."
6.) The ending didn't feel like it was written by Robert Jordan.
It read exactly like Sanderson's writing. I could not find the part that Jordan claimed to have written while he was working on Eye of the World over two decades ago. Jordan references the very last "scene" in this quote. Well, the last scene is Rand riding a horse off in to the sunset all by himself in the guise of Elan/Ishamael/Moridin with no powers at all. He can channel neither the One Power or the True Power. We learn this because, as he's riding off, he pulls out a pipe with some tabac and reaches for the One Power to light it. It doesn't work because Rand-Brain in Elan-Body cannot even sense the One Power anymore. He tries for the True Power (idiot) and does not sense it either. He is happy about this. He is relieved by this.
And then, he simply imagines the pipe as lit, and it lights.
The implications of this ability are astounding. Rand can control the Pattern with his thoughts. Doesn't anybody realize the problem with that? Why couldn't he have just found some matches in his coat pocket?
Why didn't Rand just die? Does Tor really want more money? Please dear god do not write the Outrigger series that had been suggested a while back. That would be dumb.
7.) After all that sluggishness, the book wraps up in about 20 fucking pages? Really? Give me a break.
No words for this.
8.) The entire book felt like it was written by Sanderson. I could feel the difference this time. I didn't really notice that in TGS or ToM. Sanderson said he tried adapting his writing to be similar to Jordan's but this book flopped.
9.) Noal? Really? Noal was the one you wanted to bring back as a surprise-return character. WHERE IS INGTAR?! He even admitted to being a Darkfriend! And he turned back to the Light! He sacrificed himself to save Rand and Crew! It was glorious! Fuck Noal, I don't care if he was Jain Farstrider.
10.) Morgase and Elayne are never reuinited. Wouldn't you think they would have come across one another on the battle field at some time, especially considering she was part of Faile's entourage? Why did Rand not tell Elayne? Tam told Rand about it. For whatever reason, Rand decides to not tell the woman who is pregnant with his twins that her mother is alive. Dumb.
11.) Here's something that bothered me. Yukiri, at the behest of a general, I think Bryne, creates a gateway in the sky above the battling armies so that Bryne can get an live-action shot of what is going at any moment. This was a huge discovery and allowed for tactical advances in platoon placement/movement.
It took them PAGES, and I mean like hundreds, to figure out that they could hide from a safe distance away and just plop down massive gateways and bomb the fuck out of the enemy. This, to me, is a huge continuity problem. From the second Yukiri figures out this weave and makes it as safe as possible, why did it take them so long to use it offensively?
12.) All of that adds up to make me feel like this book was Sanderson's first stab at the series, not the third. TGS and ToM were far superior.
I could go in to further detail but I don't want to. The book was not the stellar exclamation point that I was expecting for the end of one of the most iconic fantasy series of all time
I did not even cry at the ending. I eventually was so numb to all of the character deaths that the book's ending being the end of the series didn't even sink in for several days. What I found especially hilarious about the end of the book was the line "It wasn't the ending. But it was an ending." Yeah, no shit, Sanderson. The ending we should have gotten (not what we got) would have been the ending! You just gave us an ending. One that I do not understand how anybody enjoyed.
*I was doing some research on the interwebs about this chapter. The chapter is 50,000 words. And it actually consists of between 70-80 different points of views. To put that in to perspective, I'm writing a thriller novel right now and it is almost complete. It will only barely squeek in to the novel range at about 40,000 words. It has ONE point of view the ENTIRE novel. What the fuck?**
**After doing more research, Brandon Sanderson commented on this website I found and said this chapter actually has 79,000 words (nearly twice as many as my novel) and 31 distinct points of view, for a total of 72 PoV changes (a lot of characters had multiple pov's).
Friday, December 14, 2012
Path of Exile Again Because Diablo III Is Getting Boring As Shit
So, I'm really sad about Diablo III. It's not what it was supposed to be. There is something about it that just does NOT compare to Diablo II. Granted, when D2 came out it wasn't that great, originally. Lord of Destruction expansion made it great.
I think I'm going to give up on D3 for now. Not going to play it unless Luke or some friends want to play it. In that case I'll hop in and mess around. That is the one cool part about D3. I can ignore it for a month and come back and not be behind at all. That's why I quit WoW this year. I couldn't ever get away from it. So I've given up on it entirely. I might pick it up again some day next year. I have Mists of Pandaria, I just don't think I'm going to play it any time soon.
Anyway, back to Path of Exile. I played in the beta earlier this year and was overwhelmed by the plethora of information in the game. I set to reading a ton of the nodes on the Sphere Grid -- er -- Passive Skill Tree. I learned pretty much fucking nothing.
Problems with the game that I have are easy to get over, I guess. As long as I'm diligent in my research outside of the game, I should be fine. But that's a major beef I have with APRG's. I don't want to learn the game outside of it. I want to learn while I play the gorram game!
But no. Games like this are just too complex to learn on your own. So you have to go read forums and find the specs that are tried and true and follow a build that's been tested. And they know it works. I guess, for the game play I'm looking for, I can get past that. Because you definitely don't need to do that shit for D3 and D3 has gotten boring as shit (NOT because the classes or leveling is inherently boring. The loot/item hunt is nonexistent. And it's because the game is too simple. So all the gear except for a tiny .01% of it is shit).
That's the thing about doing something repetitive The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Who the shit would continuously farm an area over and over again for loot if they don't get rewarded?
It's like a monkey staring at a screen. The monkey has been trained to pull a lever when the screen displays a specific shape. When the monkey sees the shape and pulls the lever, he gets a drop of blackberry juice. Happy monkey! He eventually starts associating the shape on the screen with the reward prior to him even pulling the lever. He associates the shape with reward, not the lever.
It's the exact same thing with humans. The human sees a bunch of monsters on the screen and clicks a bunch of buttons to kill them in an effort to get a good item to drop. They problem is that the monsters (shape) are being displayed on the screen and we're clicking buttons (pulling the lever) BUT NOT GETTING ANY ITEMS (drop of blackberry juice).
The reinforcement just isn't there. It was while leveling and every once in a while you get a pretty shiny but it's SO infrequent now, that I've regressed in to not even caring about the reward anymore. I've done the action so many times when prompted and NOT gotten a reward that I've been trained that I WON'T get a reward now.
Blizzard will need to fix D3 to prevent it from bleeding more players. Eventually, nobody will be playing that game unless they change itemization, and the only way to change itemization is if they fix the stat system. And the skills need to not be based on percent of weapon damage.
Gah, D3 is distracting me. Path of Exile, back in March this year, was pretty raw. The Sphere Grid ... Passive Skill Tree ... you know what, I'll just explain why I confuse the two right now.
I think I'm going to give up on D3 for now. Not going to play it unless Luke or some friends want to play it. In that case I'll hop in and mess around. That is the one cool part about D3. I can ignore it for a month and come back and not be behind at all. That's why I quit WoW this year. I couldn't ever get away from it. So I've given up on it entirely. I might pick it up again some day next year. I have Mists of Pandaria, I just don't think I'm going to play it any time soon.
Anyway, back to Path of Exile. I played in the beta earlier this year and was overwhelmed by the plethora of information in the game. I set to reading a ton of the nodes on the Sphere Grid -- er -- Passive Skill Tree. I learned pretty much fucking nothing.
Problems with the game that I have are easy to get over, I guess. As long as I'm diligent in my research outside of the game, I should be fine. But that's a major beef I have with APRG's. I don't want to learn the game outside of it. I want to learn while I play the gorram game!
But no. Games like this are just too complex to learn on your own. So you have to go read forums and find the specs that are tried and true and follow a build that's been tested. And they know it works. I guess, for the game play I'm looking for, I can get past that. Because you definitely don't need to do that shit for D3 and D3 has gotten boring as shit (NOT because the classes or leveling is inherently boring. The loot/item hunt is nonexistent. And it's because the game is too simple. So all the gear except for a tiny .01% of it is shit).
That's the thing about doing something repetitive The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Who the shit would continuously farm an area over and over again for loot if they don't get rewarded?
It's like a monkey staring at a screen. The monkey has been trained to pull a lever when the screen displays a specific shape. When the monkey sees the shape and pulls the lever, he gets a drop of blackberry juice. Happy monkey! He eventually starts associating the shape on the screen with the reward prior to him even pulling the lever. He associates the shape with reward, not the lever.
It's the exact same thing with humans. The human sees a bunch of monsters on the screen and clicks a bunch of buttons to kill them in an effort to get a good item to drop. They problem is that the monsters (shape) are being displayed on the screen and we're clicking buttons (pulling the lever) BUT NOT GETTING ANY ITEMS (drop of blackberry juice).
The reinforcement just isn't there. It was while leveling and every once in a while you get a pretty shiny but it's SO infrequent now, that I've regressed in to not even caring about the reward anymore. I've done the action so many times when prompted and NOT gotten a reward that I've been trained that I WON'T get a reward now.
Blizzard will need to fix D3 to prevent it from bleeding more players. Eventually, nobody will be playing that game unless they change itemization, and the only way to change itemization is if they fix the stat system. And the skills need to not be based on percent of weapon damage.
Gah, D3 is distracting me. Path of Exile, back in March this year, was pretty raw. The Sphere Grid ... Passive Skill Tree ... you know what, I'll just explain why I confuse the two right now.
Seriously, who came up with this fucking idea? I'd like to know so I can kill them.
That's the Sphere Grid (sort of) from Final Fantasy X. It's not an image straight out of the game, but it's a good representation of it. I actually like how detailed it is and kind of wish I'd had it when I was playing that game.
Anyway, here's the Passive Skill Tree from Path of Exile.
I tried reading every single one of those little nodes. Failed.
Essentially, it's a Sphere Grid on crack. It's twice as big as the Sphere Grid from FFX and twice as complex. There's so much shit in there. It's daunting.
But the idea is the same. So I'm just going to call it the Sphere Grid from now one because Passive Skill Tree contains more letters and spaces and is cumbersome to type.
From what I remember of PoE back in March, I sort of enjoyed it. I had a Templar that eventually became worthless because I wanted to play within the game and learn it myself. I didn't want to go to the forums and read a buncha shit. Well, with this game, you have to it. It's fucking necessary.
Alright, fine, I'll get past that. The only other thing that scares me is the possibility of microtransactions. Apparently the game will be free to download and play. But they're going to supplement the game with microtransactions. Currently, they only have two items to purchase in the microtransaction shop: extended stash space, and extended character spots. As long as you don't need microstransactions to play well in the game, or they don't give other players a stupidly unfair advantage, I don't care about them.
I'm actually going to donate to the kickstarter to gain unlimited beta access. I'm thinking of playing a Ranger (since I've played it before) and their ranged damage seems capable. They can be super high damage and not be forced into a glass cannon build to accomplish it. I'm also thinking about the Templar. The thought of Mortifas (my Zeal Pally from D2) making a triumphant return to an ARPG is undeniably exciting.
The other game I'm keeping a steady eye on is Grim Dawn. Unfortunately, it's like 3 guys working on this game by themselves. My team lead has nothing but awesome things to say about it, and from the videos they do have on the game play (that is in wicked early pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha stage) looks pretty excellent. I can only hope the game is a bit simpler than PoE. But only a bit! I don't like the Sphere Grid! At all!
Anyway, there's my rant on D3 and why I'm picking up PoE early for unlimited beta access. Hopefully, it will be worth it. All the reviews look pretty excellent, and from my play time in March, it should be decent. I just hope there's an actual end game. Something that keeps me playing. Unlike D3.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
CrossFit, Laptops, Books, T.V. Shows, and Movies
This is going to be a fairly long post. I haven't written in a while because of being busy as fuck lately.
I finished Protect and Defend several weeks ago, probably a month or two ago now. It was good and that's pretty much all I'm going to say about it. What I will say is that the book has inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone in writing and I've ventured in to the arena of modern thrillers. I'm writing a story about an assassin with amnesia. I'm also back to slogging though A Song of Ice and Fire, which is slow as shit, as usual, in A Clash of Kings.
Netflix finally got the 4th season of Merlin and Luke and I blasted through it in a couple weeks. It was really good. I'm in love with it Bradley James, the young man that plays Arthur. I am not one to be fond of muscly blond haired blue eyed guys, but he takes the cake. Mainly because he has a gorgeous accent and a wonderful smile. And he's actually not all that muscly. He has a similar build to Luke, just shorter. I think the guy is only about 5'9".
We're now watching Game of Thrones, the HBO t.v. show based on A Song of Ice and Fire, specifically the first book, A Game of Thrones. It's very good. I actually prefer it to the books. It's much faster and gets to the point. George R. R. Martin is not known for his brevity. So I am thoroughly enjoying the show.
We also saw Skyfall and Argo in the threat recently. Both were excellent movies. Skyfall is easily my favorite Bond movie of all time. Yes, I still really like Goldeneye, and Casino Royale was pretty damn good, but Skyfall turns everything we know about bond on its head.
Argo was superb. It was very well written. Ben Affleck is shaping up to be an amazing director and actor. I have liked his last two or three movies more than anything else he's ever done. Except maybe Dogma ... still love him in that movie.
I joined a CrossFit gym in the middle of October. I don't know what I'm really trying to accomplish with it. I think I just want to feel better, mentally and physically. I feel better physically because my body doesn't hurt so much from sitting on my duff all day. And I feel better mentally because I'm doing something about my health. I kind of feel like an adult, I guess. Sort of.
And I am writing this on my brand new Sager laptop. It's an NP9170, 17" matte display. i7 3630, Radeon 7970m, 8gb 1600mhz RAM, and 500GB HDD. Dropped $1,600 on it. Worth it after a few tweaks.
Here's where this post is going to get extensive. I've been scoping out laptops for the last six months because the one I have is to a point where I cannot play any new games on it. It's a six or seven year old laptop (got it referbed about four years ago, so it was already 2-3 years old at the time). That poor Dell XPS M1530. I've put it through so much shit. I think I dropped it once or twice. But it's definitely held up and was worth $800 bucks.
So for about six months, starting this past summer, I was vaguely aware of computer hardware. I was following it at a distance. Shadowing it, more than anything. Preparing for a wedding in October left me with no free time. So I dove in to laptop world hard in November and analyzed as much data as I could. I asked computer hardware friends what they know about lappy hardware and came to the conclusion that I wanted the hardware described above.
Next came the brand. Who in the hell did I want to give my money to? Well, my first inclination was Dell because THEY'RE MY EMPLOYER. So right after Thanksgiving (Cyber Monday), I hopped on the interwebs, built out a sick (read: the hardware listed above) Alienware M17x R4 laptop. I was pretty stoked. The only thing I wasn't getting in that laptop was a matte display, which I was willing to sacrifice because 1.) I was getting a $200 discount on the laptop because the final cost eaked in at just over $2000 (bringing the price down to about $1,800) and 2.) I was getting a 17% employee discount for buying a brand new laptop.
Sweet, no? The final price came out around $1520. I was so frackin' excited. Mainly because I like the look of the Alienware laptops; I was excited for the color changing backlit keyboard. And I liked the price point. However, the pricepoint was also something that bothered the shit out of me at the same time. It took a $200 off discount and a 17% off discount to get that laptop down to $1520. Without a matte fucking display.
The kicker was that when I went to place the order, I was two seconds away from clicking CONFIRM THAT SHIT BIATCH when I read that the anticipated ship date was as below:
January 2nd, 2013
I did a double-take and then verbally said "What the fuck?" in my cubicle-office-space thingy, to which a co-worker asked "Are you okay?" And I said "no, I'm fucking pissed" and proceeded to explain my first world problems.
I messaged customer service using Dell's online chatty service-y deal and they weren't any help. I called them and asked if they could get the damn thing to me sooner. Actually, I wanted it by December 21st (a humorous story follows the request of delivery by this date, I'll get to it later).
They couldn't do it. When I told them that I was a Dell employee and gave them my badge number, I think it pissed them off further and they wanted to push the delivery back even further. So I gave up. I told the customer service person on the phone, "Look, this is pretty crappy, and ultimately, it shouldn't take more than two weeks to put a damn laptop together, and even if you're behind on orders, it shouldn't take more than a month. I'm really sad to do this, as I really wanted to invest in my employer, but it looks like I'm going to go with another brand."
They didn't give two fucks.
So then I started looking around the interwebs for good gaming laptops (since that's the primary purpose of this thing: being able to game while I travel). Research led me to Sager.
Sager is a company out of California that builds custom laptops. Straight-up that appears to be all that they do. I think they used to be called Clevo. And really, they take these laptops from this company called Malibal and rebrand them. Oh well, Malibal was charging more for the same hardware. After building out identical laptops on Sager's and Malibal's websites, Sager came out the winner.
Remember how I said I got the thing for about $1600? Yeah, one discount. $100 holiday promo. That's it. One fucking discount, and I was within $100 of the Alienware laptop. Without an employee discount, I got the same damn laptop for only $100 more. AND I GOT MY MATTE DISPLAY on top of it. Fuck glossy displays ...
I called Sager first to make sure they could get this lappy to me before December 21st. This is how the conversation went (as far as I can remember):
Me: "Hi, yes, my name is Jeanna, and I'm looking to by a NP9170 laptop from your company. I just have one question."
Frank (that's the sales guy's name, fo realz): "Sure, I should be able to help."
Me: "Can you get one to me before December 21st?"
Frank: "Um ... are you sure you need it before then?"
Me: "Oh yes, definitely."
Frank: "You know, the world isn't going to end ..."
Me: *silent for a second* "What are ... you ..." *lightbulb* "OH HAHAHA! No I don't think the world is going to end on December 21st. I'm driving six hours to my hometown that day and want my new laptop in time to take it with me so I can game a bit while there."
Frank: "HAHA laughy laughy I know just pulling your leg, good one though, no?!"
Me: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Frnak: "HAHAHAHA!"
Okay it didn't go quite like that but he seriously asked me if I was aware the world really won't end on Dec. 21st. And we did laugh about it.
Anyway, I got my lappy, and it's great. I only have a couple gripes, and I'll get those out of the way first.
1.) With the way the keyboard is laid out and the placement of the mouse pad, the palm of my right hand, just beneath my thumb, touches the mouse pad. I've had to disable the touch-to-click on it. That's okay though because I rarely plan on even using the touch pad. I have my Razer Naga Epic hooked up to the lappy right now.
2.) Again with the way the keyboard is laid out, specifically the fact that the Fn key is on the right side of the space bar and not the left, the space bar is not ... where I'd like it to be. Basically, it's too far to the left. I use my right thumb to space. All the time. Sometimes at the end of a sentence I'll give the space bar and especially sharp two punches with my right index finger. But this is rare. I typically use my right thumb. My right thumb, however, falls far on the right end of the space bar and I don't get the sharp click out of the bar that I'd like to get. Tactile response far to the right edge of the space bar is non-existent. It feels mushy and unresponsive. But it works. And I'm slowly getting used to it. I think I'll eventually not even realize it's offset after a few hours of use (which I'm already rounding on like five hours because I brought it with me to work today).
3.) The charging cable is short and the god damn converter is A BRICK. I'm serious, it is the size of an actual brick you would use to build a brick house.
I finished Protect and Defend several weeks ago, probably a month or two ago now. It was good and that's pretty much all I'm going to say about it. What I will say is that the book has inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone in writing and I've ventured in to the arena of modern thrillers. I'm writing a story about an assassin with amnesia. I'm also back to slogging though A Song of Ice and Fire, which is slow as shit, as usual, in A Clash of Kings.
Netflix finally got the 4th season of Merlin and Luke and I blasted through it in a couple weeks. It was really good. I'm in love with it Bradley James, the young man that plays Arthur. I am not one to be fond of muscly blond haired blue eyed guys, but he takes the cake. Mainly because he has a gorgeous accent and a wonderful smile. And he's actually not all that muscly. He has a similar build to Luke, just shorter. I think the guy is only about 5'9".
We're now watching Game of Thrones, the HBO t.v. show based on A Song of Ice and Fire, specifically the first book, A Game of Thrones. It's very good. I actually prefer it to the books. It's much faster and gets to the point. George R. R. Martin is not known for his brevity. So I am thoroughly enjoying the show.
We also saw Skyfall and Argo in the threat recently. Both were excellent movies. Skyfall is easily my favorite Bond movie of all time. Yes, I still really like Goldeneye, and Casino Royale was pretty damn good, but Skyfall turns everything we know about bond on its head.
Argo was superb. It was very well written. Ben Affleck is shaping up to be an amazing director and actor. I have liked his last two or three movies more than anything else he's ever done. Except maybe Dogma ... still love him in that movie.
I joined a CrossFit gym in the middle of October. I don't know what I'm really trying to accomplish with it. I think I just want to feel better, mentally and physically. I feel better physically because my body doesn't hurt so much from sitting on my duff all day. And I feel better mentally because I'm doing something about my health. I kind of feel like an adult, I guess. Sort of.
And I am writing this on my brand new Sager laptop. It's an NP9170, 17" matte display. i7 3630, Radeon 7970m, 8gb 1600mhz RAM, and 500GB HDD. Dropped $1,600 on it. Worth it after a few tweaks.
Here's where this post is going to get extensive. I've been scoping out laptops for the last six months because the one I have is to a point where I cannot play any new games on it. It's a six or seven year old laptop (got it referbed about four years ago, so it was already 2-3 years old at the time). That poor Dell XPS M1530. I've put it through so much shit. I think I dropped it once or twice. But it's definitely held up and was worth $800 bucks.
So for about six months, starting this past summer, I was vaguely aware of computer hardware. I was following it at a distance. Shadowing it, more than anything. Preparing for a wedding in October left me with no free time. So I dove in to laptop world hard in November and analyzed as much data as I could. I asked computer hardware friends what they know about lappy hardware and came to the conclusion that I wanted the hardware described above.
Next came the brand. Who in the hell did I want to give my money to? Well, my first inclination was Dell because THEY'RE MY EMPLOYER. So right after Thanksgiving (Cyber Monday), I hopped on the interwebs, built out a sick (read: the hardware listed above) Alienware M17x R4 laptop. I was pretty stoked. The only thing I wasn't getting in that laptop was a matte display, which I was willing to sacrifice because 1.) I was getting a $200 discount on the laptop because the final cost eaked in at just over $2000 (bringing the price down to about $1,800) and 2.) I was getting a 17% employee discount for buying a brand new laptop.
Sweet, no? The final price came out around $1520. I was so frackin' excited. Mainly because I like the look of the Alienware laptops; I was excited for the color changing backlit keyboard. And I liked the price point. However, the pricepoint was also something that bothered the shit out of me at the same time. It took a $200 off discount and a 17% off discount to get that laptop down to $1520. Without a matte fucking display.
The kicker was that when I went to place the order, I was two seconds away from clicking CONFIRM THAT SHIT BIATCH when I read that the anticipated ship date was as below:
January 2nd, 2013
I did a double-take and then verbally said "What the fuck?" in my cubicle-office-space thingy, to which a co-worker asked "Are you okay?" And I said "no, I'm fucking pissed" and proceeded to explain my first world problems.
I messaged customer service using Dell's online chatty service-y deal and they weren't any help. I called them and asked if they could get the damn thing to me sooner. Actually, I wanted it by December 21st (a humorous story follows the request of delivery by this date, I'll get to it later).
They couldn't do it. When I told them that I was a Dell employee and gave them my badge number, I think it pissed them off further and they wanted to push the delivery back even further. So I gave up. I told the customer service person on the phone, "Look, this is pretty crappy, and ultimately, it shouldn't take more than two weeks to put a damn laptop together, and even if you're behind on orders, it shouldn't take more than a month. I'm really sad to do this, as I really wanted to invest in my employer, but it looks like I'm going to go with another brand."
They didn't give two fucks.
So then I started looking around the interwebs for good gaming laptops (since that's the primary purpose of this thing: being able to game while I travel). Research led me to Sager.
Sager is a company out of California that builds custom laptops. Straight-up that appears to be all that they do. I think they used to be called Clevo. And really, they take these laptops from this company called Malibal and rebrand them. Oh well, Malibal was charging more for the same hardware. After building out identical laptops on Sager's and Malibal's websites, Sager came out the winner.
Remember how I said I got the thing for about $1600? Yeah, one discount. $100 holiday promo. That's it. One fucking discount, and I was within $100 of the Alienware laptop. Without an employee discount, I got the same damn laptop for only $100 more. AND I GOT MY MATTE DISPLAY on top of it. Fuck glossy displays ...
I called Sager first to make sure they could get this lappy to me before December 21st. This is how the conversation went (as far as I can remember):
Me: "Hi, yes, my name is Jeanna, and I'm looking to by a NP9170 laptop from your company. I just have one question."
Frank (that's the sales guy's name, fo realz): "Sure, I should be able to help."
Me: "Can you get one to me before December 21st?"
Frank: "Um ... are you sure you need it before then?"
Me: "Oh yes, definitely."
Frank: "You know, the world isn't going to end ..."
Me: *silent for a second* "What are ... you ..." *lightbulb* "OH HAHAHA! No I don't think the world is going to end on December 21st. I'm driving six hours to my hometown that day and want my new laptop in time to take it with me so I can game a bit while there."
Frank: "HAHA laughy laughy I know just pulling your leg, good one though, no?!"
Me: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Frnak: "HAHAHAHA!"
Okay it didn't go quite like that but he seriously asked me if I was aware the world really won't end on Dec. 21st. And we did laugh about it.
Anyway, I got my lappy, and it's great. I only have a couple gripes, and I'll get those out of the way first.
1.) With the way the keyboard is laid out and the placement of the mouse pad, the palm of my right hand, just beneath my thumb, touches the mouse pad. I've had to disable the touch-to-click on it. That's okay though because I rarely plan on even using the touch pad. I have my Razer Naga Epic hooked up to the lappy right now.
2.) Again with the way the keyboard is laid out, specifically the fact that the Fn key is on the right side of the space bar and not the left, the space bar is not ... where I'd like it to be. Basically, it's too far to the left. I use my right thumb to space. All the time. Sometimes at the end of a sentence I'll give the space bar and especially sharp two punches with my right index finger. But this is rare. I typically use my right thumb. My right thumb, however, falls far on the right end of the space bar and I don't get the sharp click out of the bar that I'd like to get. Tactile response far to the right edge of the space bar is non-existent. It feels mushy and unresponsive. But it works. And I'm slowly getting used to it. I think I'll eventually not even realize it's offset after a few hours of use (which I'm already rounding on like five hours because I brought it with me to work today).
3.) The charging cable is short and the god damn converter is A BRICK. I'm serious, it is the size of an actual brick you would use to build a brick house.
That is my hand, holding the damn brick.
What the ever living fuck, Sager? Who wants to carry that shit around in their god damn laptop bag or backpack?! Nobody! And look at the length of this fucking cable from the converter to the laptop.
I don' think it's even 4 feet long.
Jesus H. Tap Dancin' Christ, I can't even put the laptop on a normal desk, with the charging cable connected, and have the brick touch the floor. It doesn't even come close. It just fucking dangles. To to mention the fact that the port to charge the battery IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE REAR OF THE COMPUTER. Not the side. The rear. In the middle. So ANY length I could save by putting my laptop right up to the side of a table is gone.
4.) This last complaint is more a complaint about the 7970M's shit-tastic stock drivers, but I think that's a symptom only Sager/Clevo people are dealing with. Right after I cracked the laptop open and started it up for the first time, I immediately installed Diablo III and Borderlands 2. Neither of which played well. In fact, they were both unplayable. Like 5fps unplayable.
4.) This last complaint is more a complaint about the 7970M's shit-tastic stock drivers, but I think that's a symptom only Sager/Clevo people are dealing with. Right after I cracked the laptop open and started it up for the first time, I immediately installed Diablo III and Borderlands 2. Neither of which played well. In fact, they were both unplayable. Like 5fps unplayable.
I was aware of the driver problems, even before I bought the 7970M. I knew they were shit. But I'd seen hotfixes all over the gorram place, and throughout the day today, found beta 12.11 drivers and this seems to have fixed the problem, at least in D3. I haven't tested Borderlands 2 yet, nor have I run 3dmark vantage.
Aside from those 4 complaints, the laptop is baller. The screen is so crisp, and the colors are excellent. It plays video well, I like the upgraded network card I got for free, and the keys on the keyboard feel great. I'm already loving having a number pad again.
Yes, the domain name at my place of work is "Beer".
The great thing about it is that, even though I played Diablo for about 3 hours earlier, the top of the laptop didn't get hot. At all. Hell, even the bottom or back didn't get very hot. It was super nice not to have a furnace on my lap suffocating my vagina.
Anyway, rambling off. Time to go write. Or shoot people in the head in Borderlands. I don't know which I want to do at the moment.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Birthdays
I'm 26 today.
When this week started, I didn't even remember that my birthday was this week, even though I have a party and a concert planned for this weekend.
When I got sick Tuesday night and went to the gym on Wednesday with a cold, I forgot that the next day was my birthday.
When I woke up this morning, all I could think of was how miserable I felt with this sinus infection. Green snot is green.
And then Luke wished me Happy Birthday and gave me a big hug.
Then I said "Holy shit, it's my birthday."
Maybe it was the NyQuil. Maybe it was the menthol cough drop I ate last night that my cat did NOT appreciate me blowing in his face. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the face he made. First it was squinty-blinky eyes, then the right side of his lip curled up a it. It was hilarious.
The magic of my birthday is gone. I noticed it earlier this week, this morning, and just now. There is no anticipation in the days leading up to my birthday. None. I wasn't even excited. I'm not even really excited about the party tomorrow night because all we're doing is going to a bar (a good one) and then coming back to my place to play Cards Against Humanity.
And strangely, I'm okay with that. I've learned to not care about my birthday anymore. I used to care. Especially after Luke and I got together. I expected a gift from him. A card at least, and maybe dinner. That's how I was raised. My Grandma still sends me a check with money (she has an ulterior motive for doing so) and I think my Mom and my Aunt both sent me a card with something in it (confetti). My aunt also told me to watch for a box, and sent me a text message with a picture of a statue-Harry Potter at some museum, probably at Universal Studios in Cali.
But this year I am totally uninterested in my birthday. I don't care about getting older. I still look like I'm 15 so that part doesn't bother me. I just noticed in a really strange way that my emotions surrounding my birthday have done a complete 180.
I couldn't care less if anybody even acknowledged it anymore. Simply put, it just feels like another day.
I'm coming to a worrisome conclusion. I might not be cut out for office-work. I don't know if I can handle the monotony or same-shit-every-day schedule. I'm wondering if I chose the right career path. I think I might do better in a managerial position where I'm not writing code every day. Hopefully, one day, I can grow in to a position like that.
I'm blaming NyQuil for all of this.
When this week started, I didn't even remember that my birthday was this week, even though I have a party and a concert planned for this weekend.
When I got sick Tuesday night and went to the gym on Wednesday with a cold, I forgot that the next day was my birthday.
When I woke up this morning, all I could think of was how miserable I felt with this sinus infection. Green snot is green.
And then Luke wished me Happy Birthday and gave me a big hug.
Then I said "Holy shit, it's my birthday."
Maybe it was the NyQuil. Maybe it was the menthol cough drop I ate last night that my cat did NOT appreciate me blowing in his face. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the face he made. First it was squinty-blinky eyes, then the right side of his lip curled up a it. It was hilarious.
The magic of my birthday is gone. I noticed it earlier this week, this morning, and just now. There is no anticipation in the days leading up to my birthday. None. I wasn't even excited. I'm not even really excited about the party tomorrow night because all we're doing is going to a bar (a good one) and then coming back to my place to play Cards Against Humanity.
And strangely, I'm okay with that. I've learned to not care about my birthday anymore. I used to care. Especially after Luke and I got together. I expected a gift from him. A card at least, and maybe dinner. That's how I was raised. My Grandma still sends me a check with money (she has an ulterior motive for doing so) and I think my Mom and my Aunt both sent me a card with something in it (confetti). My aunt also told me to watch for a box, and sent me a text message with a picture of a statue-Harry Potter at some museum, probably at Universal Studios in Cali.
But this year I am totally uninterested in my birthday. I don't care about getting older. I still look like I'm 15 so that part doesn't bother me. I just noticed in a really strange way that my emotions surrounding my birthday have done a complete 180.
I couldn't care less if anybody even acknowledged it anymore. Simply put, it just feels like another day.
I'm coming to a worrisome conclusion. I might not be cut out for office-work. I don't know if I can handle the monotony or same-shit-every-day schedule. I'm wondering if I chose the right career path. I think I might do better in a managerial position where I'm not writing code every day. Hopefully, one day, I can grow in to a position like that.
I'm blaming NyQuil for all of this.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Torn
I don't know who to vote for.
Fo realz.
No clue.
I want to believe Obama can turn this country around. But just the concept of this voting-between-shitty-and-shittier is so tired and old. I don't want to play in to that system anymore. And all I see happening to him is cockblock after cockblock by the right-wing crazies that have their pockets lined by big oil companies and other major corporations.
I want to vote for Jill Stein. But I don't want my vote to be wasted. And it feels as though it will be if I vote for her (Green party). But I love her stance on almost every single one of her policies. This page sums it up.
http://www.jillstein.org/issues
I'm extremely pleased that there is a politician out there that thinks a.) the two party system sucks, b.) the electoral college sucks and c.) Citizens United sucks.
But what if the worst situation happens: I vote for Jill Stein and (obviously my one vote won't cause this to happen) Mitt Romney wins. NOFX said it best "The President is laugh 'cause we voted for Nader."
Maybe Romney won't be so terrible? I think he will be. I think women will lose a ton of ground in our health care and what is covered by insurance. I also think we will lose our bodily autonomy and no one will ever be allowed to have an abortion again, nor will we be allowed to have recreational sex (i.e. use birth control) because Romney's camp seem to believe that people should only have sex to procreate and that every sperm/egg is sacred.
Obama or Stein? I don't know what to do.
Fo realz.
No clue.
I want to believe Obama can turn this country around. But just the concept of this voting-between-shitty-and-shittier is so tired and old. I don't want to play in to that system anymore. And all I see happening to him is cockblock after cockblock by the right-wing crazies that have their pockets lined by big oil companies and other major corporations.
I want to vote for Jill Stein. But I don't want my vote to be wasted. And it feels as though it will be if I vote for her (Green party). But I love her stance on almost every single one of her policies. This page sums it up.
http://www.jillstein.org/issues
I'm extremely pleased that there is a politician out there that thinks a.) the two party system sucks, b.) the electoral college sucks and c.) Citizens United sucks.
But what if the worst situation happens: I vote for Jill Stein and (obviously my one vote won't cause this to happen) Mitt Romney wins. NOFX said it best "The President is laugh 'cause we voted for Nader."
Maybe Romney won't be so terrible? I think he will be. I think women will lose a ton of ground in our health care and what is covered by insurance. I also think we will lose our bodily autonomy and no one will ever be allowed to have an abortion again, nor will we be allowed to have recreational sex (i.e. use birth control) because Romney's camp seem to believe that people should only have sex to procreate and that every sperm/egg is sacred.
Obama or Stein? I don't know what to do.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Life at Conception
Alright this is going to be a sticky subject but I have a few very specific thoughts on abortion that I want to get straight before I confuse myself again.
Abortion. I wouldn't do it unless I was raped or the baby's existence inside me was a huge threat to my life. Because 1.) I don't want the result of my rape walking around reminding me that I was raped, 2.) there are enough kids in foster care as it is (as well as poor hungry children in the rest of the world) and 3.) I can make another baby that I actually want with my husband.
However, I can understand why a woman can justify an abortion from an unplanned pregnancy. Look at in terms of timelines: Timeline A exists without Baby. You have no idea what that baby will do or become or say or think or anything else. It's all circumstantial. Timeline B exists with that baby and they have grown in to a wonderful human being and they wrote a symphony and they are a premier composer/conductor in a major orchestra. Yay!
You cannot know what that clump of cells will equate to 30 fucking years from now. Alright? Get over that. You are being way too prophetic if the reason you get up in arms about abortion is because future potential. Everyone has potential and a lot of people waste it, I don't hear you griping about those people? I had potential and wasted it but I made it out alright!
You cannot tell a pregnant woman that she is killing a "life" when she is having an abortion. Life, to me, isn't the existence of a bunch of cells or even the semblance of a baby within a womb. You cannot bitch about all the things that that baby will never get to do anymore because, guess what, you don't know what the fuck that baby would get to do! Evar! It doesn't work that way!
My friend once said "I don't know, I wouldn't be happy if my mom aborted me."
Shut up you fucking retard! If your mom aborted you, NONE OF US WOULD KNOW. Timeline B, the one we're in right now with you in it, would cease to exist and Timeline A, the one with out you, would be reality and we would be none the wiser. And nobody would know or be aware of the lack of your existence because you never existed to begin with. You never did any of these things you've done the last 26 years, so it would not matter.
But what about the potential you're destroying?
You're not a prophet. You cannot say what this baby will accomplish in life, at all, to any degree of certainty.
There. That's where my argument comes from for making abortion completely legal. It is up to the woman and her physician (and the father of said baby, expect for rape and incest, then that fucker gets no say) if an abortion is right for her/them.
Abortion. I wouldn't do it unless I was raped or the baby's existence inside me was a huge threat to my life. Because 1.) I don't want the result of my rape walking around reminding me that I was raped, 2.) there are enough kids in foster care as it is (as well as poor hungry children in the rest of the world) and 3.) I can make another baby that I actually want with my husband.
However, I can understand why a woman can justify an abortion from an unplanned pregnancy. Look at in terms of timelines: Timeline A exists without Baby. You have no idea what that baby will do or become or say or think or anything else. It's all circumstantial. Timeline B exists with that baby and they have grown in to a wonderful human being and they wrote a symphony and they are a premier composer/conductor in a major orchestra. Yay!
You cannot know what that clump of cells will equate to 30 fucking years from now. Alright? Get over that. You are being way too prophetic if the reason you get up in arms about abortion is because future potential. Everyone has potential and a lot of people waste it, I don't hear you griping about those people? I had potential and wasted it but I made it out alright!
You cannot tell a pregnant woman that she is killing a "life" when she is having an abortion. Life, to me, isn't the existence of a bunch of cells or even the semblance of a baby within a womb. You cannot bitch about all the things that that baby will never get to do anymore because, guess what, you don't know what the fuck that baby would get to do! Evar! It doesn't work that way!
My friend once said "I don't know, I wouldn't be happy if my mom aborted me."
Shut up you fucking retard! If your mom aborted you, NONE OF US WOULD KNOW. Timeline B, the one we're in right now with you in it, would cease to exist and Timeline A, the one with out you, would be reality and we would be none the wiser. And nobody would know or be aware of the lack of your existence because you never existed to begin with. You never did any of these things you've done the last 26 years, so it would not matter.
But what about the potential you're destroying?
You're not a prophet. You cannot say what this baby will accomplish in life, at all, to any degree of certainty.
There. That's where my argument comes from for making abortion completely legal. It is up to the woman and her physician (and the father of said baby, expect for rape and incest, then that fucker gets no say) if an abortion is right for her/them.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Freedom of Speech and Anonymity
I've been caught up in the recent outing of Reddit scumbag Violentacrez, legal name Michael Brutsch. I'm kind of panicking, internally, about what has been going down on Reddit.
To give you the simplest version of how Reddit operates (for those unaware, as I was originally), it goes a little bit like this:
People can create any little subpage they want, with whatever content they want, as long as it's legal. The rules of Reddit are pretty simple. No doxing other users, no illegal pr0nz (child porn), and don't fuck the website up so that it crashes.
Basically, this allows users to create subpages (subreddits) on fucking anything. Porn is abundant on this site. And that's fine. As long as it's not child porn.
Violentacrez clung to his anonymity to do two things, 1.) Annoy the shit out of people, a.k.a. trolling, and 2.) post extremely questionable content. Some of his subreddits include things like r/Jailbait (sexualized images of clothed underaged girls), r/Chokeabitch, r/Picsofdeadkids, r/RapeJokes, r/Creepshots etc. The list goes on.
r/Jailbait and r/Creepshots are the two that bothered me the most (sad, I know). These two subreddits featured clothed women and girls (level of clothing varies, but usually the women were mostly clothed, shoulders to ass cheeks with cleavage displayed). Jailbait exclusive posted clothed underage girls in an extremely sexualized fashion. Creepshots had women of various ages (underage and above) featured, but was typically focused on the ass or boobs of the subject. These images were typically done in a public place; a student teacher at a high school was fired for doing this in his school, taking pictures of underage girls' boobs and butts (completely clothed) and posting them on Creepshots for other people to ogle.
Two things bother me about this:
1.) The people taking these photos and lauding them about hide behind their anonymity because they know what they're doing is socially unacceptable. They cling tenaciously to their anonymity but disregard the anonymity and privacy of these women they photograph and post.
2.) Apparently, nobody can expect any level of privacy in terms of their bodies being photographed in a sexualized manner if they are out in public. I did not know this.
That could mean there are pictures of me, of my cleavage, of my butt in my jeans, floating around the internet and people fapping to it.
I'm not okay with that. At all. It creeps me the fuck out.
But it's not illegal. So there's nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can actually do is publicly call these people out and strip them of their anonymity as they have done to the women they've photographed. Public shaming does wonders.
Case in point, Michael Brutsch got fired because his subreddit content is socially unacceptable. He didn't care about the anonymity of the subjects in the photos he shared on his subreddits, and yet cried like a bitch when he was outed.
I watched a CNN interview with him. He apologized profusely for making a mistake. What does that sound like to me? "I'm sorry I got caught." What a load of horseshit. This guy is despicable. He parades around the 1st amendment (which does NOT apply to the area in which he was posting; it reads "Congress shall make no law" not "Nobody shall make no rules", fuckwads. Private companies can make any rules they want about what content is displayed on their website). And he clings tenaciously to his anonymity when he gives not a shit about the women in these photos.
Another reasoning of his for posting these images is that they were already posted some place else on the internet. So the fuck what, that doesn't make it socially acceptable you douchenozzle.
I'm irate. I'm sick of this mentality of "Internetz keep me anonymous!" The only reason you talk big is because there's a monitor and so many miles of separation between you and your audience. If you had been in public with these people, you'd turn your habits inward and nobody would know about them.
I can attest to this behavior. I knew a handful of people on the interwebz, through World of Warcraft, that were absolute jerks through that medium. In fact, I thought my now-husband was a giant asshole. Then I met him in person and he was a very sweet and shy kind of nerd. Just like me.
I also met a handful of the rest of them. There were a few people that were nice to chat with, and they were even more fun to hang out with in person. But the jerkwads were completely different people in person. They were fun, hilarious, and super cool people.
Get them back behind the monitor with a mic and they would say some of the most disgusting and vitriolic things I've ever heard. Even when their anonymity had been removed, they still managed to turn in to jackasses again once they had many miles and the internet in between them and their audience. Baffling.
The lack of personal responsibility Brutsch has for his actions is appalling. Look, I don't know how many of you know this (in that all of five people probably read my blog), but I used to take nudies of myself and post them on amateur pr0nz sites. I loved the attention. My self-worth, at the time, was pretty much attached to that approval I was getting on the interwebz.
Meh. I don't regret it. Shit, I had fun at the time. I was young, impressionable, and naive. Then I grew up. Oh well. It's in my past, I learned from it. I no longer attach my self-worth to this kind of thing. But I fucking admit to the fact that I did it. And if anybody ever asked me about it, I'd admit it. A lot of people find what I did extremely unacceptable behavior for a young lady. Well, sorry, I don't know what to tell you. I was a fucked up teenager and had validation issues. I'm a better human being now and learned from that experience.
But Brutsch couldn't do that. He couldn't just say, "Yes, I know what I did was socially unacceptable and I have to be held accountable for the things I said and did because of that. I knowingly did these things that upset people and are perverted and disgusting. However, I am not sorry for doing them. But I will not do them any longer because of the fact that it has totally screwed up my life and I need to get my shit together to be a contributing member of society." He just said "I'm sorry I made a mistake." Most non-sincere apology in the history of apologies. He might as well just have said "I'm sorry you got offended, BUT free speech, yo," or "But Reddit let me do it and I got addicted, so it's a mental disorder just like alcoholism."
It's your fault you got offended by the content, and it's Reddit's fault for letting him do this for so long.
/eyeroll
Grow the fuck up, grow a pair, and own your shit. It stinks just like everyone else's.
To give you the simplest version of how Reddit operates (for those unaware, as I was originally), it goes a little bit like this:
People can create any little subpage they want, with whatever content they want, as long as it's legal. The rules of Reddit are pretty simple. No doxing other users, no illegal pr0nz (child porn), and don't fuck the website up so that it crashes.
Basically, this allows users to create subpages (subreddits) on fucking anything. Porn is abundant on this site. And that's fine. As long as it's not child porn.
Violentacrez clung to his anonymity to do two things, 1.) Annoy the shit out of people, a.k.a. trolling, and 2.) post extremely questionable content. Some of his subreddits include things like r/Jailbait (sexualized images of clothed underaged girls), r/Chokeabitch, r/Picsofdeadkids, r/RapeJokes, r/Creepshots etc. The list goes on.
r/Jailbait and r/Creepshots are the two that bothered me the most (sad, I know). These two subreddits featured clothed women and girls (level of clothing varies, but usually the women were mostly clothed, shoulders to ass cheeks with cleavage displayed). Jailbait exclusive posted clothed underage girls in an extremely sexualized fashion. Creepshots had women of various ages (underage and above) featured, but was typically focused on the ass or boobs of the subject. These images were typically done in a public place; a student teacher at a high school was fired for doing this in his school, taking pictures of underage girls' boobs and butts (completely clothed) and posting them on Creepshots for other people to ogle.
Two things bother me about this:
1.) The people taking these photos and lauding them about hide behind their anonymity because they know what they're doing is socially unacceptable. They cling tenaciously to their anonymity but disregard the anonymity and privacy of these women they photograph and post.
2.) Apparently, nobody can expect any level of privacy in terms of their bodies being photographed in a sexualized manner if they are out in public. I did not know this.
That could mean there are pictures of me, of my cleavage, of my butt in my jeans, floating around the internet and people fapping to it.
I'm not okay with that. At all. It creeps me the fuck out.
But it's not illegal. So there's nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can actually do is publicly call these people out and strip them of their anonymity as they have done to the women they've photographed. Public shaming does wonders.
Case in point, Michael Brutsch got fired because his subreddit content is socially unacceptable. He didn't care about the anonymity of the subjects in the photos he shared on his subreddits, and yet cried like a bitch when he was outed.
I watched a CNN interview with him. He apologized profusely for making a mistake. What does that sound like to me? "I'm sorry I got caught." What a load of horseshit. This guy is despicable. He parades around the 1st amendment (which does NOT apply to the area in which he was posting; it reads "Congress shall make no law" not "Nobody shall make no rules", fuckwads. Private companies can make any rules they want about what content is displayed on their website). And he clings tenaciously to his anonymity when he gives not a shit about the women in these photos.
Another reasoning of his for posting these images is that they were already posted some place else on the internet. So the fuck what, that doesn't make it socially acceptable you douchenozzle.
I'm irate. I'm sick of this mentality of "Internetz keep me anonymous!" The only reason you talk big is because there's a monitor and so many miles of separation between you and your audience. If you had been in public with these people, you'd turn your habits inward and nobody would know about them.
I can attest to this behavior. I knew a handful of people on the interwebz, through World of Warcraft, that were absolute jerks through that medium. In fact, I thought my now-husband was a giant asshole. Then I met him in person and he was a very sweet and shy kind of nerd. Just like me.
I also met a handful of the rest of them. There were a few people that were nice to chat with, and they were even more fun to hang out with in person. But the jerkwads were completely different people in person. They were fun, hilarious, and super cool people.
Get them back behind the monitor with a mic and they would say some of the most disgusting and vitriolic things I've ever heard. Even when their anonymity had been removed, they still managed to turn in to jackasses again once they had many miles and the internet in between them and their audience. Baffling.
The lack of personal responsibility Brutsch has for his actions is appalling. Look, I don't know how many of you know this (in that all of five people probably read my blog), but I used to take nudies of myself and post them on amateur pr0nz sites. I loved the attention. My self-worth, at the time, was pretty much attached to that approval I was getting on the interwebz.
Meh. I don't regret it. Shit, I had fun at the time. I was young, impressionable, and naive. Then I grew up. Oh well. It's in my past, I learned from it. I no longer attach my self-worth to this kind of thing. But I fucking admit to the fact that I did it. And if anybody ever asked me about it, I'd admit it. A lot of people find what I did extremely unacceptable behavior for a young lady. Well, sorry, I don't know what to tell you. I was a fucked up teenager and had validation issues. I'm a better human being now and learned from that experience.
But Brutsch couldn't do that. He couldn't just say, "Yes, I know what I did was socially unacceptable and I have to be held accountable for the things I said and did because of that. I knowingly did these things that upset people and are perverted and disgusting. However, I am not sorry for doing them. But I will not do them any longer because of the fact that it has totally screwed up my life and I need to get my shit together to be a contributing member of society." He just said "I'm sorry I made a mistake." Most non-sincere apology in the history of apologies. He might as well just have said "I'm sorry you got offended, BUT free speech, yo," or "But Reddit let me do it and I got addicted, so it's a mental disorder just like alcoholism."
It's your fault you got offended by the content, and it's Reddit's fault for letting him do this for so long.
/eyeroll
Grow the fuck up, grow a pair, and own your shit. It stinks just like everyone else's.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Too Long, Again
That's what she said.
Okay, just kidding.
The month leading up to and the week of the wedding prevented me from forming any coherent thoughts. I think I finished a book during that time and totally did not post about it. I'll figure out if that's true or not.
Mawwage!
The pictures, ceremony, and reception were amazing. So many people, so much love, and so much happiness. It was a truly wonderful day.
Except that it took too fucking long.
I woke up at 6am. I laid there and stared at the ceiling for ten minutes hoping to fall back asleep for just another 45 minutes before I had to get up and do a bunch of shit.
Nope, I got up and proceeded to start the day off right with a bowl of oatmeal.
Luke had helped me pack the car up the evening before he left to stay at his brother's. So with the car already ready to go, I stopped at the grocery store to by far too many bottles of water and a bag of ice to tote around with me all day in a cooler the size of my torso.
On the way to the manor that morning, my sister texted me that her boyfriend's car had gotten broken in to. I called her right away and ended up picking her up instead (why didn't we just plan that originally? I'm dumb, that's why) and got to the manor at about 8am. We brought everything inside in about an hour. Lots of stairs.
Mom made it after a while and I drove the three of us back to my house. Chad picked us up in the rental car and brought us to the salon. We each had our hair done, my mom and I had make-up application, and Jessica got a mani/pedi. We all looked purty.
Chad picked us up and brought us to the manor. Mom and Jess changed, and then the photographer arrived. We immediately started in on pictures; I got in to my dress, Mom and Jessica helped. I proceeded to put on my 4" platform pump stilettos and wear them for the next 4 hours.
I saw Luke for the first time that morning after I came down the main staircase in the manor. My parents started sobbing, and I pretty much shouted at them to shush it. No crying allowed!
Luke had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face I'd ever seen. I didn't really quite know what he would do when he saw me in my dress. His lack of words said more than anything he could have ever verbally expressed.
Pictures went well. it was a little chilly, and a bit windy, but nothing we couldn't handle. The photographers appreciated the cloud cover, makes for better pictures.
My feet are starting to hurt after two hours in these. At this point I'm thinking "Alright, let's just get to the damn church and get this shit over with, I'm hungry and my feet are killing me."
We head to the church. I forget the bulletins at the manor. Kelly, Chad's s.o., rushes to the manor and back in half an hour, just in time to have the ushers pass them out while the prelude music was wrapping up.
Prelude music consisted of:
Dearly Beloved, from Kingdom Hearts, performed by Kyle Landry in 2008 (played from a disc).
Aerith's Theme, from FFVII, played by our pianist, Kris Henry
Processional music:
Tifa's Theme, from FFVII, played by Kris Henry
Recessional Theme:
Kingdom Hearts March, from Kingdom Hearts (played form a disc).
Pastor Jim read a bit from John about love, and how love comes from God, and when you love each other, you also love God, and it changes you, and it also changes God because you love [her] in the process of loving another human.
Yeah, I can get behind that. Love is awesome. If there's one thing that could affect the higher power, whatever he/she/it may be, it would be love. It's almost like this deity has a Power Bar, and the more people that love each other, the more it fills up and the more powerful it gets.
Too many people don't love others. Actually, it's not even that. It's that too many people hate.
Pastor Paul finished the ceremony, he didn't tell us to kiss like he said he would, just presented us to the group, and then my mom basically shouted at me to kiss Luke while everyone was clapping and the recessional music had already started.
So then we headed to the manor, and my mom got lost again. Somehow. I don't know how people get lost here.
Anyway, Jessica and my photographer, Ashley, bustled my dress, and I headed back down in to the party. My family insisted on doing more organized pictures and I was ready to tear my hair out. I changed in to my ballroom shoes, and we visited with people as they arrived (or were already there).
Dinner was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed it. We had a great time. Jessica and Chad said a few things, my dad said a few things, and everyone sort of cried and laughed.
Luke and I danced our rumba to You Belong to Me by Jason Wade (from the Shrek I soundtrack). And then my dad and I danced to All Of My Love by Led Zeppelin. And then Luke and his mom danced to a jazz tune that was a medley of Pennsylvania 6500 and a few other songs. We also did a garter find and Luke wore it on his arm the rest of the evening.
We proceeded to dance for a few hours, took pictures, visited, hung out, drank, ate cupcakes, etc. It was super fun. I eventually took my shoes off completely because my feet were killing me.
My dad took all the left over alcohol and liquor to our hours and left it all in the garage. Chad took Luke and I to the St. Paul hotel where we spent that evening and Saturday/Saturday night there. It was a good time.
But man, once Luke and I finally had time to ourselves it was very much wanted. We went back down to the hotel lobby/bar and had a drink (I wore my puma sneakers because I had no other shoes and didn't want to put my heels back on) and we sat by the fire in the lobby while we drank. I asked Luke his opinion on how the day went for him, fast or slow? And he goes, "Uh, whoever says your wedding day goes by fast is full of crap, today went by really slow". Maybe we had just been warned so many times about it that we were paying attention all day. :P
Back up in the room, we spent the next half hour taking my hair down. I had about 75 bobby pins in my hair.
I'll spare you the details on what we did next. You can figure it out. You're not dumb.
Pretty sure I passed out within seconds of shutting off the lights. And then for whatever retarded ass reason, I woke up at 8am.
TL;DR: Married and it was awesome.
Okay, just kidding.
The month leading up to and the week of the wedding prevented me from forming any coherent thoughts. I think I finished a book during that time and totally did not post about it. I'll figure out if that's true or not.
Mawwage!
The pictures, ceremony, and reception were amazing. So many people, so much love, and so much happiness. It was a truly wonderful day.
Except that it took too fucking long.
I woke up at 6am. I laid there and stared at the ceiling for ten minutes hoping to fall back asleep for just another 45 minutes before I had to get up and do a bunch of shit.
Nope, I got up and proceeded to start the day off right with a bowl of oatmeal.
Luke had helped me pack the car up the evening before he left to stay at his brother's. So with the car already ready to go, I stopped at the grocery store to by far too many bottles of water and a bag of ice to tote around with me all day in a cooler the size of my torso.
On the way to the manor that morning, my sister texted me that her boyfriend's car had gotten broken in to. I called her right away and ended up picking her up instead (why didn't we just plan that originally? I'm dumb, that's why) and got to the manor at about 8am. We brought everything inside in about an hour. Lots of stairs.
Mom made it after a while and I drove the three of us back to my house. Chad picked us up in the rental car and brought us to the salon. We each had our hair done, my mom and I had make-up application, and Jessica got a mani/pedi. We all looked purty.
Chad picked us up and brought us to the manor. Mom and Jess changed, and then the photographer arrived. We immediately started in on pictures; I got in to my dress, Mom and Jessica helped. I proceeded to put on my 4" platform pump stilettos and wear them for the next 4 hours.
I saw Luke for the first time that morning after I came down the main staircase in the manor. My parents started sobbing, and I pretty much shouted at them to shush it. No crying allowed!
Luke had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face I'd ever seen. I didn't really quite know what he would do when he saw me in my dress. His lack of words said more than anything he could have ever verbally expressed.
Pictures went well. it was a little chilly, and a bit windy, but nothing we couldn't handle. The photographers appreciated the cloud cover, makes for better pictures.
My feet are starting to hurt after two hours in these. At this point I'm thinking "Alright, let's just get to the damn church and get this shit over with, I'm hungry and my feet are killing me."
We head to the church. I forget the bulletins at the manor. Kelly, Chad's s.o., rushes to the manor and back in half an hour, just in time to have the ushers pass them out while the prelude music was wrapping up.
Prelude music consisted of:
Dearly Beloved, from Kingdom Hearts, performed by Kyle Landry in 2008 (played from a disc).
Aerith's Theme, from FFVII, played by our pianist, Kris Henry
Processional music:
Tifa's Theme, from FFVII, played by Kris Henry
Recessional Theme:
Kingdom Hearts March, from Kingdom Hearts (played form a disc).
Pastor Jim read a bit from John about love, and how love comes from God, and when you love each other, you also love God, and it changes you, and it also changes God because you love [her] in the process of loving another human.
Yeah, I can get behind that. Love is awesome. If there's one thing that could affect the higher power, whatever he/she/it may be, it would be love. It's almost like this deity has a Power Bar, and the more people that love each other, the more it fills up and the more powerful it gets.
Too many people don't love others. Actually, it's not even that. It's that too many people hate.
Pastor Paul finished the ceremony, he didn't tell us to kiss like he said he would, just presented us to the group, and then my mom basically shouted at me to kiss Luke while everyone was clapping and the recessional music had already started.
So then we headed to the manor, and my mom got lost again. Somehow. I don't know how people get lost here.
Anyway, Jessica and my photographer, Ashley, bustled my dress, and I headed back down in to the party. My family insisted on doing more organized pictures and I was ready to tear my hair out. I changed in to my ballroom shoes, and we visited with people as they arrived (or were already there).
Dinner was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed it. We had a great time. Jessica and Chad said a few things, my dad said a few things, and everyone sort of cried and laughed.
Luke and I danced our rumba to You Belong to Me by Jason Wade (from the Shrek I soundtrack). And then my dad and I danced to All Of My Love by Led Zeppelin. And then Luke and his mom danced to a jazz tune that was a medley of Pennsylvania 6500 and a few other songs. We also did a garter find and Luke wore it on his arm the rest of the evening.
We proceeded to dance for a few hours, took pictures, visited, hung out, drank, ate cupcakes, etc. It was super fun. I eventually took my shoes off completely because my feet were killing me.
My dad took all the left over alcohol and liquor to our hours and left it all in the garage. Chad took Luke and I to the St. Paul hotel where we spent that evening and Saturday/Saturday night there. It was a good time.
But man, once Luke and I finally had time to ourselves it was very much wanted. We went back down to the hotel lobby/bar and had a drink (I wore my puma sneakers because I had no other shoes and didn't want to put my heels back on) and we sat by the fire in the lobby while we drank. I asked Luke his opinion on how the day went for him, fast or slow? And he goes, "Uh, whoever says your wedding day goes by fast is full of crap, today went by really slow". Maybe we had just been warned so many times about it that we were paying attention all day. :P
Back up in the room, we spent the next half hour taking my hair down. I had about 75 bobby pins in my hair.
I'll spare you the details on what we did next. You can figure it out. You're not dumb.
Pretty sure I passed out within seconds of shutting off the lights. And then for whatever retarded ass reason, I woke up at 8am.
TL;DR: Married and it was awesome.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Act of Treason
I picked this up at random. We had listened to part of it on the way up to Canada back in June, and listened to more on the way home. We never finished it though. Luke picked up the book from his mom and read it quite quickly.
After that, I decided to jump in. I tried starting both the Kingkiller series and the Malazan series, neither of which were interesting to me when started. Kingkiller starts out slowly, and Malazan dives right in with a shit ton of characters and names and I was immediately swimming in a sea of war and betrayal and paranoia (sounds like another series I gave up on).
Anyway, Act of Treason was awesome. It was a CIA Thriller, not unlike the t.v. show 24. We watched all 8 seasons of that show and thoroughly loved it. And Mitch Rapp is exactly like Jack Bauer. Rather I should say, that Jack Bauer is Mitch Rapp. They're the exact same guy and I loved it.
Unforunately, having watched 24 before reading this book, the only way I could picture Mitch Rapp was like Jack Bauer, though he's not described to look like him at all.
The story was really quite amazing. I also enjoyed the fact that one of the main characters that assists in uncovering the insidious "act" is a woman who is the Director of the Counterterrorism Center of the CIA. And in a wonderful way, the book doesn't end in the fashion I was worried it would. It ended quite well.
They're very well written. And Flynn is not afraid of dropping a few f-bombs. Refreshing, since 24 was a network show and the worst they'd say was "DAMMIT!"
After that, I decided to jump in. I tried starting both the Kingkiller series and the Malazan series, neither of which were interesting to me when started. Kingkiller starts out slowly, and Malazan dives right in with a shit ton of characters and names and I was immediately swimming in a sea of war and betrayal and paranoia (sounds like another series I gave up on).
Anyway, Act of Treason was awesome. It was a CIA Thriller, not unlike the t.v. show 24. We watched all 8 seasons of that show and thoroughly loved it. And Mitch Rapp is exactly like Jack Bauer. Rather I should say, that Jack Bauer is Mitch Rapp. They're the exact same guy and I loved it.
Unforunately, having watched 24 before reading this book, the only way I could picture Mitch Rapp was like Jack Bauer, though he's not described to look like him at all.
The story was really quite amazing. I also enjoyed the fact that one of the main characters that assists in uncovering the insidious "act" is a woman who is the Director of the Counterterrorism Center of the CIA. And in a wonderful way, the book doesn't end in the fashion I was worried it would. It ended quite well.
They're very well written. And Flynn is not afraid of dropping a few f-bombs. Refreshing, since 24 was a network show and the worst they'd say was "DAMMIT!"
At least they didn't constantly ask "WHERE ARE THEY?!"
Anyway, good book. Very good read. Going to read Protect and Defend next.
The First Confessor
Did ... did I forget to write about this one?
Yah. I did.
It was excellent. It was a perfectly executed high-five to the most underlying plot of The Sword of Truth series. We learn all about Magda, Merrit, Prosecutor Lotahin, the Temple Team, Quinn (posthumously known as Kolo), The Sword of Truth, The Boxes of Ordin, and Barracus.
I love this book. I am so glad Goodkind felt the necessity to write such an awesome story.
I have only one complaint. It starts off well, but there's a lull. I might not have read it properly in that one conversation Magda has with a character drags on for what feels like ages. In all actuality, it wasn't that long, it just felt like it. That's all.
Otherwise, excellent read for the SoT fans. 5/5.
Yah. I did.
It was excellent. It was a perfectly executed high-five to the most underlying plot of The Sword of Truth series. We learn all about Magda, Merrit, Prosecutor Lotahin, the Temple Team, Quinn (posthumously known as Kolo), The Sword of Truth, The Boxes of Ordin, and Barracus.
I love this book. I am so glad Goodkind felt the necessity to write such an awesome story.
I have only one complaint. It starts off well, but there's a lull. I might not have read it properly in that one conversation Magda has with a character drags on for what feels like ages. In all actuality, it wasn't that long, it just felt like it. That's all.
Otherwise, excellent read for the SoT fans. 5/5.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Contact lenses ...
To complete my Selene costume I am purchasing a set of icy blue contacts from Coastal.com. I put in the order and it came back with a message stating that, because my prescription with my eye doctor has expired, I'd have to go get a check-up and a contact lens fitting.
So I did this yesterday and everything went well. Eyes look good. They work. Prescription didn't even change, which is quite nice because I don't have vision insurance and frames are expensive. And my doc even had some clear contact lenses in my prescription in the office (both eyes are -1.50). The colored ones I tried on were too clear and didn't cover up the green. I definitely need to get the Halloween deals (Angelic Blue from Coastal). Dr. Stout actually used to work at the company that made all those contacts. Coastal.com bought them out. Small world.
Anyway, I was able to put the contacts (taking them out was harder, but I think I'm getting it down). I didn't buy any solution last night though and now, I'm sitting here with one contact that is nicely hydrated with solution (right eye), and the other is completely dried out because I tried to rinse it with, yup, you guessed it, water. My left eye is all red and it's scratching my eyelid pretty bad. I didn't bring my case with because I, like an idiot, didn't buy any solution. IMMEDIATELY upon my return to Eagan this afternoon, I am going to Walgreens and buying eye drops and solution and a better case.
I have to say, putting them in at least was way easier than I remember from middle school. Taking them out still seems a little ... odd. I feel like I'm going to pop the cornea off my eye. But, I guess it'll just take some getting used to. I can't even tell they're in (when they're properly hydrated with solution AND NOT WATER).
Moral of the story: don't use water on your contacts. Ever. Always drown them in solution.
So I did this yesterday and everything went well. Eyes look good. They work. Prescription didn't even change, which is quite nice because I don't have vision insurance and frames are expensive. And my doc even had some clear contact lenses in my prescription in the office (both eyes are -1.50). The colored ones I tried on were too clear and didn't cover up the green. I definitely need to get the Halloween deals (Angelic Blue from Coastal). Dr. Stout actually used to work at the company that made all those contacts. Coastal.com bought them out. Small world.
Anyway, I was able to put the contacts (taking them out was harder, but I think I'm getting it down). I didn't buy any solution last night though and now, I'm sitting here with one contact that is nicely hydrated with solution (right eye), and the other is completely dried out because I tried to rinse it with, yup, you guessed it, water. My left eye is all red and it's scratching my eyelid pretty bad. I didn't bring my case with because I, like an idiot, didn't buy any solution. IMMEDIATELY upon my return to Eagan this afternoon, I am going to Walgreens and buying eye drops and solution and a better case.
I have to say, putting them in at least was way easier than I remember from middle school. Taking them out still seems a little ... odd. I feel like I'm going to pop the cornea off my eye. But, I guess it'll just take some getting used to. I can't even tell they're in (when they're properly hydrated with solution AND NOT WATER).
Moral of the story: don't use water on your contacts. Ever. Always drown them in solution.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Guild Wars 2
Head-start for Guild Wars 2 started Saturday at 12am. I made a few characters (you only get 5 slots, and you can't play on multiple servers it seems), and then promptly went to bed because I was tired as shit.
Saturday morning I played quite a bit. In fact, I played for the majority of Saturday, except where I took a break to watch some t.v. Last weekend was the final weekend of doing nothing for the next month and a half. Oregon this weekend (Labor Day), Wisconsin next weekend (Sept. 8th), bachelorette party the weekend (Sept. 15th) after [Luke is fishing], Luke's bachelor party is the weekend after that so I'll get a little break but I have two hair appointments (Sept. 22), the weekend after that we're gaming it up on Friday and having people crash at our place so we can go to the RenFest the next day (Sept. 29th), and then the weekend after that is the wedding (Oct. 5th).
Holy shit, we're busy.
With the prospect of all that going down in the next month or so, we did nothing this weekend. Well, Luke fished on Saturday, but we did nothing yesterday. I played Guild Wars 2 just about all day Saturday and Sunday, and we started in on another t.v. show, Breaking Bad.
Guild Wars 2 is pretty friggin' awesome. The leveling system is very unique. I've never seen it in an MMO before. There is your main "story" or quest line that you're involved in, but otherwise, you're running around the current area doing these other ... tasks. They're not exactly quests. You go to an area on the map where there's a little gold heart, but it's not filled in. Looks like this:
Saturday morning I played quite a bit. In fact, I played for the majority of Saturday, except where I took a break to watch some t.v. Last weekend was the final weekend of doing nothing for the next month and a half. Oregon this weekend (Labor Day), Wisconsin next weekend (Sept. 8th), bachelorette party the weekend (Sept. 15th) after [Luke is fishing], Luke's bachelor party is the weekend after that so I'll get a little break but I have two hair appointments (Sept. 22), the weekend after that we're gaming it up on Friday and having people crash at our place so we can go to the RenFest the next day (Sept. 29th), and then the weekend after that is the wedding (Oct. 5th).
Holy shit, we're busy.
With the prospect of all that going down in the next month or so, we did nothing this weekend. Well, Luke fished on Saturday, but we did nothing yesterday. I played Guild Wars 2 just about all day Saturday and Sunday, and we started in on another t.v. show, Breaking Bad.
Guild Wars 2 is pretty friggin' awesome. The leveling system is very unique. I've never seen it in an MMO before. There is your main "story" or quest line that you're involved in, but otherwise, you're running around the current area doing these other ... tasks. They're not exactly quests. You go to an area on the map where there's a little gold heart, but it's not filled in. Looks like this:
Those little hearts are, essentially, quests. You go there and you've got 3-5 tasks you can do to complete the heart, and it'll fill in to be a solid gold heart. You can do any of the tasks to fill up the bar to complete the heart. You can leave and come back and finish it later. Completely up to you. But they give you major exp.
There are also a few other things on the map that are part of the leveling experience. Points of Interest are little squares that, when you visit them for the first time, will give you exp. There are also Vistas, which are typically areas up high that you have to jump to get to. For those that played World of Warcraft, remember when people used to try to ninja in to Mount Hyjal from Winterspring and Blizzard didn't like that very much? Yeah, well, the Vistas in Guild Wars 2 are exactly that except NCSoft WANTS you to do them. Like, they want you to go jumping all around to get up to these super high places. It was fun the first 20 times I did this, but there were a few in the most recent zone I finished that were an absolute test in patience and anger management.
And then there are Waypoints. They're exactly what they sound like. Once you've visited one for the first time, you'll always be able to teleport to that waypoint for a small fee (like less than 50 copper a pop). And they're all over the place. Each zone can have between 5 and 20 waypoints, depending on the size of the zone.
I made a few characters, but the one I'm playing regularly at the moment is the Norn Ranger. They get a pet and they use an assortment of ranged weapons (short bows, longbows) and some melee weapons, swords, daggers, a few others.
The combat system is completely unique. Rangers, unlike WoW, cannot have both a melee weapon and a range weapon equipped at the same time. It's one or the other. Ranged weapons have a certain set of skills that can be used, melee weapons a different set entirely. When wielding a bow, it takes up both hands so you don't get an off-hand weapon. But if you were to wield a 1-handed sword, you get to wield something in your off-hand.
The ability bar looks like this:
Down at the bottom, there, is the skill bar. This Ranger is wielding what looks like a throwing Axe in his main hand. So his first 3 skills are based on that. He appears to have an item equipped in his off-hand but because he hasn't used the skills he's got enough times, he doesn't have access to them yet. You start off with only button 1 being available, but if you used it about ten times, then you have access to button 2. It takes more uses to gain access to the buttons 1-5 as you go along, but if you use the same weapon often enough, it does not take that long at all. Buttons 6-9 and 0 are utility buttons and you gain access to them as you level up.
So with the Throwing Axe, this Ranger has a specific set of skills. Were he to change to a Short Bow, they would be different. A longbow also has a different set of skills. Same goes for the various types of off-hands. Buttons 4 and 5 change depending on what off-hand you're using (if you're only using a 1-handed main weapon, allowing room for an off-hand weapon).
There's one more thing on the map that I didn't mention earlier because it wouldn't have made much sense then but I'll tie it in here. You gain your utility skills by not only leveling, but completing Skill Challenges. Skill Challenges are marked on your map by a blue arrow. Once completed, just like the heart, the blue arrow will fill up, and you'll get a Skill point. The skills window is a downwards progression tree. You have to pick 5 different skills to advanced to the next tier. To start you have two rows to use skill points in, and then you have to meet level requirements to get to the next tier.
This guy isn't a ranger, but you get the idea. The first line is the healing abilities. Every single class has three healing spells, one they get for free and then two more they can put points in to.
The next two rows the character has access to once they obtain a skill point. This doesn't show the whole tree, but you can see the first tier is available right away. The second tier will become available at level 10, I think. But you have to first pick 5 different skills to advance to the next tier as well.
Once you've picked 5 skills, and you meet level requirements, you can start picking from the next tier. Same thing for the tier after that, you have to pick 5 in this tier, and meet a level requirement (which I think is 20 at that point). The additional buttons on the side there unlock at levels 10, 20, and 30.
Then there's traits. Traits are like talents on crack. They're awesome. Here's a trait window:
You get trait points simply by leveling. When you put points in to the tree, you'll unlock things at 5 point intervals. And the larger hexagons can have a different talent put in it that you select from an array. Pretty friggin' sweet. It looks like you can change them up whenever you want, too, but I'll have to test that when I get home.
And that's about it for combat and leveling. Character creation is pretty sweet too, you can customize everything. You can change the dye on your armor whenever you want. And there are crafting professions too, although I haven't really played with mine yet.
Game is pretty epic and I've enjoyed it thus far. I'm already level 25, but I won't be playing much in the near future. Once the wedding is past, I'll probably play a bit more.
Guild Wars 2: 10/10
Friday, August 24, 2012
No Poo Again
Warning: the following is a rant.
FUCK NO SHAMPOO. I HATE IT. I CAN'T STAND IT. MY HAIR IS SO GREASY. IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY.
Last week I decided I'd try no poo again. No poo, for those that don't know, means not shampooing your hair because shampoos, even the organic ones, strip your hair of oils that your hair needs to be soft and silky and smooth and not frizzy.
Well, I've showered twice since then (yeah, I don't get smelly since all I do is sit at a desk all week) and my hair from root down about 4 inches is just covered in greasiness. I can't begin to describe the stuff that I'm scratching off my scalp. It's maddening.
I'm going to keep trying though. I am NOT going to use a baking soda rinse though because last time I did that, it dried the SHIT out of my hair. It was so frizzy, I don't think it's recovered yet and that was like three months ago.
I am however, still conditioning my hair with an organic conditioner. The length of my hair, from about the ears down, is soft, but still a frizzy heaping mess. So hopefully in a month or so, it'll start to look better. Let's just hope I can make it a month.
FUCK NO SHAMPOO. I HATE IT. I CAN'T STAND IT. MY HAIR IS SO GREASY. IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY.
Last week I decided I'd try no poo again. No poo, for those that don't know, means not shampooing your hair because shampoos, even the organic ones, strip your hair of oils that your hair needs to be soft and silky and smooth and not frizzy.
Well, I've showered twice since then (yeah, I don't get smelly since all I do is sit at a desk all week) and my hair from root down about 4 inches is just covered in greasiness. I can't begin to describe the stuff that I'm scratching off my scalp. It's maddening.
I'm going to keep trying though. I am NOT going to use a baking soda rinse though because last time I did that, it dried the SHIT out of my hair. It was so frizzy, I don't think it's recovered yet and that was like three months ago.
I am however, still conditioning my hair with an organic conditioner. The length of my hair, from about the ears down, is soft, but still a frizzy heaping mess. So hopefully in a month or so, it'll start to look better. Let's just hope I can make it a month.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
The Enchantress
About two weeks ago I finished reading Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: The Enchantress. It was an awesome conclusion to a fantastic series.
Time travel is something that I always find a sticky to put in to a plot. Sometimes it's not handled properly. But in this book, I think it was done well.
Major Spoiler Alert:
Sophie and Josh are transported back in time to Danu Talis to prevent its destruction at the command of Isis and Osiris who want to put Sophie and Josh up as puppets of the island and rule behind them. Sophie and Josh decide that they want to maintain history the way it occurred and prevent Isis and Osiris (who have been turned into dragons by the Change, something all Elders go through) from forcing this change in the past.
This makes sense enough. Sophie and Josh were brought back to change it and they didn't; they acted so that it to occur exactly how it happened originally, ensuring the continued existence of Earth and everything on it.
It was a very well written series and I'm glad I stumbled upon it. They were fun reads, and I'm recommending them to people all the time, regardless of age. Highly recommended for teens as well.
I'm already nearly done reading The First Confessor. Review will be up soon.
Time travel is something that I always find a sticky to put in to a plot. Sometimes it's not handled properly. But in this book, I think it was done well.
Major Spoiler Alert:
Sophie and Josh are transported back in time to Danu Talis to prevent its destruction at the command of Isis and Osiris who want to put Sophie and Josh up as puppets of the island and rule behind them. Sophie and Josh decide that they want to maintain history the way it occurred and prevent Isis and Osiris (who have been turned into dragons by the Change, something all Elders go through) from forcing this change in the past.
This makes sense enough. Sophie and Josh were brought back to change it and they didn't; they acted so that it to occur exactly how it happened originally, ensuring the continued existence of Earth and everything on it.
It was a very well written series and I'm glad I stumbled upon it. They were fun reads, and I'm recommending them to people all the time, regardless of age. Highly recommended for teens as well.
I'm already nearly done reading The First Confessor. Review will be up soon.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Sleep Experiment
The last few nights (since about last Sunday) I haven't been sleeping well. Somewhat related to stress, somewhat related to not exercising at all last week, I'm getting pretty fed up of waking up at 2am and not being able to fall back a sleep for an hour or two.
I've been doing some research in an attempt to figure out why I'm waking up at 2. After I figured it out, I had a "well, duh" moment.
We sleep in four hour chunks. Why are we then recommended to get eight hours of sleep? Because one four hour block of sleep isn't enough. But it's just enough for our brains to be ready to do an hour or two of work (whatever kind of work that may be) and then we're ready for another four hour sleep.
So for this to work, I'm going to try this:
I've been doing some research in an attempt to figure out why I'm waking up at 2. After I figured it out, I had a "well, duh" moment.
We sleep in four hour chunks. Why are we then recommended to get eight hours of sleep? Because one four hour block of sleep isn't enough. But it's just enough for our brains to be ready to do an hour or two of work (whatever kind of work that may be) and then we're ready for another four hour sleep.
So for this to work, I'm going to try this:
- Go to bed at 9pm. (holy shit, I know that sounds early)
- Wake up at 1am.
- Dick around for an hour.
- Go back to bed at 2am.
- Wake up at 6am to go to work.
Probably won't try this until Sunday this week. We'll see how it goes. And I'll let you know.
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