Zel-kun’s Words

This is the first chance I’ve had to sit in front of the computer without a couple dozen projects on my desk this week.  With about a hundred new people moved into the office over the weekend, the kickoff meetings that occupy most of the support team here, there has been quite a bit of work to do.

So it finally winds down with a large pile of solved issues I’m sure will reflect nicely on my report, and a nice tall can of Arizona Red Apple Green Tea.  I finally got the chance to do some much needed organization at my desk, so I’m not tripping over the jungle of wires both above and below (I have several laptop and desktop stations set up), I can actually SEE my desk.

I am happy to report that after all this time, the desk is still grey.

Zel-kun out.

Well, been fiddling around with a little program called photoshop.  Its been sitting on my computer for ages upon ages and I finally cracked it open and laid into a couple projects I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time.  The first is actually getting a logo onto the forums, which I’m fairly pleased with.  Another project is finally getting rid of that ugly vSlider banner at the top of this here page.  I’m significantly less satisfied with the results, so I’ll work with photoshop for the next couple of weeks and see what I can whip up.

Well, its a busy day (took me three hours of typing a few words at a time to write this, so I’ll leave it at that.

Zel-kun out.

This weekend, despite my previous stance of not wanting to get it, I bought World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade.  I went home and installed it, then downloaded the patch, and waited…

…and waited…

…patched AGAIN…

…and waited…

Then it was finally done!  So I signed on…

…”server unavailable”…

So I go out, eat lunch, come back, and sign in, and it works!  I get my first taste of Burning Crusade as I load up my paladin and venture north to the newly-installed Blood Elven lands.  Let me tell you, they are huge.  I spent about an hour running through the two regions exploring, and the scenery is very well-designed.  I still get the feeling the world is too large for the people in it, though.  There are chairs that could easily sit someone five or six times my character’s size, as well as doorways you could ride your horse through.  I personally feel the whole of Azeroth needs something of an overhaul.

I then rode out to Outlands, and I was pretty impressed.  The scenery is very nice, and the quests there are pretty standard, but any questing at 60 is welcome.  It looks like they have a fair amount of added content for the 60-70 player base.  My one concern is that there doesn’t seem to be any added content for players below 60, and I feel that could use a lot of improvement.  There are many stale periods where there’s not that much to do (35-45… 55-60…), there’s a distinct lack of solo and duo content.

I started a Blood Elf to see what it was like, and the plot, scenery, and mechanics are very nice.  The character models are very nice, but that makes me wish they gave the other races an overhaul, because they desperately need it.  For example, if you’re a male human without a beard, you have this ugly hairlip-looking thing going on.

All in all, I suppose its expansion-worthy, considering all the little additions they give us for ‘free.’  I feel they still need to address the problems at hand, and take care of these grotesquely overpopulated servers, and perhaps scale up the character models, and they could have a pretty fantastic game on their hands.

But, even without, its still a fun game I can get together with my friends and play, and that’s always a good thing.

Zel-kun out.

Before today, I had no idea that such a thing as water intoxication existed.  But as shown in this story here, such a thing is very real.  The story is that of a woman who participated in a ‘Hold your wee for a Wii’ contest, who drank too much water, and subsequently died of water intoxication.

This came as a shock to me, as I always thought that the more water you drink, the more that just passes through your system.  But apparently your cells continue to absorb this water and swell up.  And when your brain and spinal cord swell up… very bad things happen.

I heard that the radio station fired ten people including the DJ’s that organized the contest.  I originally thought this was unfair because I (and I like to think of myself as a somewhat learned man) have never heard of death by water, so maybe you can give a pass to these DJ’s that were just having innocent fun, dire the consequences may be.

I then hear exceprts from the show both before and during the contest, and I must really re-think my position on the matter.

Before the show:

“So whoever holds their wee the longest wins.” The first DJ says.

“But can’t you die of water poisoning?” The second DJ asks.

“Your body is 98% water, your body will just throw up what it doesn’t need.” The first contends.

“Maybe we should research this or something before we do this.” The second states.

A nurse calls in:

“If you drink too much water, you can get water intoxication and die” (paraphrase, I don’t remember the EXACT line), the nurse stays.

“We had them sign releases,” the DJ replies, “Why don’t you join the contest?”

“Because I don’t want to die!” (this IS an exact quote)

Now, with all of that… you’d think that maybe you’d take a little caution and research it a little.  We have this thing called the internet (which I hear is a series of tubes), and if you want to know something, you can find out within minutes.  Yes, its true, there is more than email, chatrooms, and porn on the internet.  Incredulous, I know.

Zel-kun out.

Well, with the completion of my new PC came the need to install new games.  I have a love/hate relationship with PC games.  They can be some of the most unique and innovative games out there, but they all too often fall short of their potential.  I’ve played a couple brilliant games that were miserably executed (Vampire Bloodlines, Arcanum), and I’ve played some pretty good games that were ultimately uninteresting in concept (Sacred, TitanQuest).

I installed Blaze & Blade, which was a Japanese RPG from 1999.  It was released in Japan on the PSX, but never made it to Amaerica until they released a PC version.  The cover looked good, as did the in-game artwork.  The price was right (free, borrowed it from Zai), so I figured I’d give it a shot.  I was treated to the most poorly thought out piece of garbage ever.  First off, it wasn’t a tru PC version, it was emulated, so there was no support for the mouse, and the keyboard controls were clumsy and awkward at best.  It took me no less than ten minutes just to figure out how to navigate the menus.  The there’s the gameplay…. its good in theory, it tried to splice the traditional Japanese RPG style with American, meaning you crafted and created the characters yourself, then went off on a somewhat linear journey.  But with its clunky controls, positively silly battle style (your party ALWAYS followed you in a straight line, regardless of where the enemy was coming from), and a picture that seemd somewhat blurry, it failed in what it tried to accomplish.  In Blaze & Blade’s defense, I think it would have made a pretty cool multiplayer PSX game.

So I uninstalled B&B, and treated myself to Vampire: Redemption.  Another old game (why am I playing these old games on my new comp?), but something of a classic.  Its a Vampire the Masquerade game that takes place in the Dark Ages, ending in the modern era.  Its full of cheesy, overdramatic dialogue, and its attempts at horror come out more comical than anything.  But its backed up by some very solid gameplay and a decent plot.  The game is basically all battle, so the Vampire system was nearly completely thrown out, allowing you to slaughter hordes of demons and vampires with all sorts of crazy spells and weapons.  I got through this one in two days.

So I decided to go out and buy NEW games, with the hope of actually seeing all that RAM and new video card put to use.  I bought Neverend and Dungeon Siege II, both of which looked promising.  I liked the first Dungeon Siege.  It had its problems… namely the complete lack of plot and character development… and that it was basically one GIGANTIC dungeon crawl, but the gameplay itself was pretty good, and the mechanics were unique and fun.  I hear DSII addressed the issues of the first, and expanded on the learning-based levelling system.  I’ve only played it for about ten minutes at this point, but I think I can concur.

Then there’s Neverend, which I was nervous about because I see dozens of RPG’s on the shelf, and three out of four of them are garbage.  But once in a great while you can find that obscure game no one has ever heard of, and it turns out to be really good.  Neverend is this game.  The one thing that reeled me in was the summary on the back of the box, which stated I played a character with a name.  This is very rare for a PC game, where you create your own character, but as a result you have no backstory, and no voiceover.  So you start as this female elf bandit named Agaeven, who gets robbed by her own bandit group, and there it begins.  The game uses an active turn-based battle system, not entirely dissimilar from Final Fantasy VI.  The game boasts some pretty nice graphics, and a good soundtrack so far.  That’s usually the second thing about PC games, the soundtrack is usually very lackluster.  Usually one or two tracks and that’s it, relying on ambient noise to fill in the rest.

Also waiting to be installed is Oblivion, which I’m hoping will live up to its reputation.

Zel-kun out.

Finally, at long last, the final component of my new computer arrived.  Finally I can rip out everything from my computer (lovingly referred to as Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, for all of the brilliant light that emanated from her) and break into the large pile of parts laying in the corner of my room.  That is what I spent about six hours last night doing.  And, of course, I find out I need to buy another hard drive, because I only have ONE IDE connection.  Okay… fine.  I’ve been meaning to do so anyway.

So with a new motherboard, RAM, hard drives, video card, processor, and an array of new LED fans, Amaterasu will be reborn into something far greater than she has ever been in the past.  But until then, I will be building it, piece by piece, and file by file.  So I will likely go a few days without full computing capabilities.  No big deal, I have patience.

Zel-kun out.

Friday night I went to the wake, and Saturday morning I went to the funeral.  I’ve been to a few wakes before, but this was my first funeral, the whole event felt like something from another world, from a place far removed from this land of video games and pop culture.  Before, I thought wakes and funerals were essentially the same, Saturday, I found out this notion couldn’t be more incorrect.

The wake was somewhat familiar to me, a funeral home filled with people gathered to mourn the dead and support the living.  Its a place of warm handshakes, heartfelt embraces, and small bouts of laughter as people recall the good times and appreciate the life that was lived by the departed.

The funeral felt surreal, the feeling beginning as I was pulled over on the way there (expired plates).  The officer asked for my registration, proof of insurance, and asked where I was going.  I informed him that I was headed to a nearby church, to which he replied, “Theresa’s funeral?”  I tell him yes and he hands me back my registration, “The reason I pulled you over is because your plates are expired.  My brother is at the funeral, should be in uniform, give him my regards if you see him.”  And that was that.  Small world.

I entered the church, the first time I had been in a church in many years, and saw no one I recognized.  The church was almost silent, though it was filled to near capacity.  Zai and I took our seats just in time for the procession to come down the aisle.  They covered the casket in a cloth, then continued to move the casket up to the front.  The priest gave his sermon, the congregation sometimes replying to his words with a quiet and unified “grace be to God” or other response.  I was completely lost, I had never been in a Catholic (I think it was Catholic, Zai believed it to be, and she was raised Catholic) church before, and the whole thing was utterly alien, but surprisingly beautiful.  Everybody’s mannerisms were the same: slow, deliberate, each action filled with the emotion that shrouded the church.  The dignity and sadness in the room was palpable.

There couldn’t have possibly been a more fitting farewell to the departed.

Afterwards, my father, a few family members, and myself went out to this little place from some food.  It was a small little bar with a restaraunt attatched, with rock album covers displayed proudly all over the wall.  The food was good, and it was a nice way to return to reality.

I really don’t have much more to say.

Zel-kun out.

…from home while you’re at work are rarely a good thing.  My father called today to inform me of my cousin, whose wife passed away during a miscarriage.  I ask if there’s anything more tragic, something more wrong than dying in the attempt to bring life.  I didn’t even know her and this saddens me greatly, I can’t even begin to comprehend what my cousin is going through right now.  My thoughts go out to him.

Sorry to bring you all down, needed a bit of catharsis.

Zel-kun out.

Well, another year gone by.  For the first time in quite awhile, I actually went out for New Year’s, counted down and drank sparkling grape juice, the whole nine yards.  I spent the evening at Zai’s, watching Venture Brothers DVD’s and eating Mexican food.  Paul stopped by for awhile so he could rant for awhile about how awesome the new Zelda is.  This was good because I wanted to do the same.

The last time I went out for New Year’s was when we welcomed 2004. I think, where a group of friends and I went out to House of Kobe (Japanese place), drank sake and green tea, generally having a good time, afterwards, I believe I stopped by Kyle’s.  Its an odd event in memory because we parted ways over the course of the next year.

2004, more than any other year of my adult life, was turbulent.  I began the year as I began the previous three years, working retail and going to college.  I had a group of friends I pal’ed around with (from the high school days), and another seperate group I hung out with during the week (my ‘adult’ friends).  I could never get these two groups to intermingle.  For all their similarities, they were too different.  On one hand, you had social deviants, just out to play D&D, goof around, and generally enjoy being deviants.  On the other hand, you had more grown-up people, with spouses and homes of their own, who also enjoy goofing around and playing D&D.  The couple of times I tried bringing them together for a game, they never meshed well.

I think its important to note that I didn’t begin the year in the best of spirits.  As is the norm for Wal-Mart, I worked New Year’s Eve and was due back at work on the 2nd, so I was not looking forward to it.  My car was totalled in a collision on Halloween, as such, I missed a few weeks of classes.  While a couple professors allowed me to make up the work, a couple did not, and the spotty transcript did not leave me in a very good mood starting the next year.

The student loan I qualified for that semester was a scant few hundred dollars, and I was already heavily in debt due to my own irresponsibility with money.  So I opted not to go to the next semester, this did not make my parents happy.

Pete, the only bastion on reasoning and sanity at Wal-Mart, had moved, so it was me against the forces of idiocy, and as they moved me from Electronics to be a cashier (which is without a doubt the most mind-numbing work I’ve ever had the misfortune of doing), I knew idiocy had won.

I waded around from one day to the next, coming dangerously close of falling into that malaise that affects all long-time Wal-Mart employees, that keeps them there, hopeless.  It was out of sheer happenstance that someone who worked in my mother’s building was looking for a help desk technician.  And only through the compassion of a man who was my mentor for awhile that I escaped (the story of this man here).  To this day, I consider myself extremely lucky.

This had two side-effects.

1. To take the job, I had to move to Illinois.  Because of this, I couldn’t hang out with my friends.  Even on the off-chance I got to Indiana, being as I work the standard work week and they still worked the haphazard schedule of retail, it was unlikely that our free time matched up.

2. Moving to Illinois put me at a scant 45-minute drive to Zai’s house (driven so often I could tell you the number of pebbles in the road between the two points: 27,323), which means I was suddenly seeing a lot more of her (once every couple weeks as opposed to a couple times a year), and was likely a huge influence on our getting together.

So I began the year in a slump, and ended the year elated.  It was a good year.

Oh… 2006 was cool too.

Zel-kun out.