| Background Story |
[27 Apr 2006|10:05pm] |
Long ago, two kingdoms lay side by side, nestled in the foothills of the Grey Mountains. The King of the west and the Queen of the east had been on the verge of war for years, caused by ongoing territory disputes. These disputes began to get violent, and disrupted the quiet life of a certain druid prone to mischief. He cast spells and wove a complex net of trickery to bring the two rulers together in such a way that they would fall madly in love. And so they did. The union of the kingdoms was glorious, and they ruled the two valleys for a long time of peace and happiness.
They had 3 children, two boys and a girl. The eldest son, Peter, was noble and brave, and became very skilled at the ways of the Paladin, using both might and faith to win over ones enemies. The younger son, Jacob, was prone to illness, and confined to his bed more often than not. He had a great talent in the arcane arts, however, and spent hours studying old magical tomes and ancient scrolls, learning how to wield the very elements themselves. Their daughter, Alana, seemed to be equally talented in both combat and magic. She studied with both of her brothers, and they were very fond of her.
Just as Peter was reaching manhood, and Jacob not far behind, a dark shadow fell upon the kingdom. A devil came to Alana in a dream, deceiving her into welcoming him into the royal castle. The devil murdered the King and Queen in their sleep, and began slaughtering everyone in the castle until Peter and Jacob faced him the the grand hall, and defeated him, in front of the very thrones of their parents. The devil's body dissolved into a pool of acid, and dissolved a smooth basin in the stone floor.
Peter and Jacob ran to find their sister, fearing the worst. Although they did find her to be alive, she was trapped in a deep sleep. The devil's passage through her mind had done so much damage that she could not wake. The brothers' grief was tremendous, having lost both parents and their sister, and they each buried themselves in their studies, trying to find a cure for Alana. Peter devoted himself ever more to the goddess, striving to find a solution from the high priests. Jacob delved even deeper into the arcane, researching demons and seeking help from experts in demonology.
Peter became angry at Jacob for dealing so closely with demons, fearing he would be corrupted by their dark power. Jacob saw Peter as being so filled with pride that he could not see that Jacob was drawing closer to the answer. The rift between them deepened until Jacob fled to his mother's old castle, bringing his associates and dark experiments with him.
Meanwhile, as the brothers fought, the kingdom was neglected. Disputes that had been pacified for years by the union of the kingdoms began to erupt, starting in bars and taverns, and eventually becoming violent conflicts. The golden age of peace was at an end.
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[20 Feb 2006|12:22am] |
Katsucon!
Despite not spending very much time at the convention at all, I had a lot of fun. Part of that was working like crazy to finish the gun Friday night and Saturday morning. We picked up Greg on the way home Friday night and, despite having woken up at 7am that morning, he stayed up until 5am. Then we got up at about 1 and finished and painted it. After eating, letting the paint dry, and driving Greg home, we eventually got to the con at about 8ish.
At first, I had the unfinished part unwrapped, so you could see the wooden frame. But nobody seemed to notice it, so I wrapped the unfished part in the sheet with the black straps.
As luck would have it that was just as a bunch of Trigun cosplayers were passing by, and stopped to ask about it. So I opened it for them, and many pictures were taken.
In almost all of the pictures I am grinning like an idiot. :D
Pictures will be uploaded sometime later... for now... World of Warcraft.
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| Snow and Religion |
[12 Feb 2006|12:17pm] |
Snow! And lots of it.
Unfortunately that also means shoveling.
And lots of it.
In other news... I have built a Frame. It suitably resembles the Christian religious icon. It also has a PVC pipe mounted in the lower section, although not yet permanently attached.
One of the biggest achievements to date: A small device composed primarily of a copper tube with wooden dowels inside of it, about an inch and a half long. When you pull on a string the wooden dowels are pulled inside of the tube. Many thanks go to Richard for the assistance in crafting that.
Now I have 5 days left. One of those days is Valentine's Day.
Heres the ToDo list:
Finish Frame
Central Sliding Box
Hinged Struts
Joint Boxes
Catch Assembly
Mount Catch inside of PVC
Install PVC Pipe (Securing it has to wait until everything above is finished)
Cut and Assemble Handle
Run Wire and Tubing
Build Sheath for Machine Gun
Cut and attach panels for rest of Gun
Paint and Detail (Make it look pretty)
I've been thinking about scrapping the skull design for the handle from the Manga in favor of another design that is probably more comfortable and offers greater control. Also a lot easier to make.
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| Wolfwood's Gun |
[30 Jan 2006|04:12pm] |
As many of you probably know, a while back I decided to make a lifesize model of Wolfwood's Gun. Despite lots of talking and planning, I haven't really gotten all that much done on it.
I bought metal pieces for a frame, and got the turntables for the handle to be able to spin.
Well now I've actually cut out a handle. Its made of wood, 3 layers of 1/4 inch Luan. I messed up on the sizing, so its not the final version, but it is a lot more final than the posterboard mock-up I had before.
I've also put the handle in place inside the frame and taped some bracing at the ends, so now I have a five foot rectangle with a badass handle about 2/3s of the way up.
It is, however, heavy as crap.
Possibly too heavy.
I think I'm going to post more updates on this project as we get closer to the deadline: Katsucon.
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[24 Jan 2006|04:44am] |
The coffee burned its way through my stomach. "I'd better put some food in there," I thought. But what? The only food in reach was all liquid, and I'd had my fill of liquids with the coffee. There was a single Wheat Thin lying on the table, but it didn't look terribly trustworthy. I tried to probe it's thoughts, to no avail. Apparently this Wheat Thin had no opinions on the Bush Administration. I'd kind of expected such a health-conscious food to have somewhat strong feelings on the matter. Maybe the potato rumored to be in the fridge would yield better results.
The potato had some opinions, all right. My stomach didn't seem to agree with them. The resulting political debate was leaving my nerves confused and feeling out of the loop. My nerves obviously don't follow politics.
My tastebuds began eyeing the peppermill curiously, but the idea of milling pepper into my mouth was ridiculous enough to quell the absurd suggestions coming from my tongue.
Sandwiches sounded good. But with only potatoes and a wheat thin, the only possible combination was going to resemble one of those pathetic recipes on the back of a Triscuit box. "Put Potato on a Triscuit and it will be delicious! Obviously anything we suggest must be amazing. After all, we are Nabisco! Bow down to our snack food culinary skills and eat whatever we tell you to!"
The rest of the interview was mostly unintelligible. Needless to say, that guy got fired.
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[21 Oct 2005|03:07pm] |
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If automobiles had advanced as fast as computers have technologically, by today the average car would cost $200, get 1,000,000 miles to a gallon of gas, but with some models of cars only able to use selected roads lest they crash and be destroyed, and, once a year, even when being used properly, some of them would randomly explode in a firey mess, killing everyone inside.
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| three little birds |
[20 Oct 2005|05:58pm] |
Day 4 of Cisco Certified Network Associate Training
I have determined that this class is beyond me. Not in terms of capability, I'm perfectly capable of doing everything being taught, and theres a good chance I'll pass the exam. But theres no way in hell I'm going to ever need to use any of this information. Unless I manage to get a job configuring Cisco routers. As awesome as that would be, thats not exactly what I imagined when I decided a career in networking computers would work well for me. Instead of configuring individual computers, it seems that working with Cisco routers would involve telnetting to each router, from a single computer. Easier, but much more boring.
The only real purpose now to getting my CCNA is that the mere possesion of it can probably land me other jobs, like the tech desk at Best Buy, and I can probably get paid more in the IT world.
I'm not trying to say its not interesting, it certainly is. It's just not what I expected.
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| Lost shaker of salt |
[19 Oct 2005|09:58am] |
Babies are like little vampires, except all they want is to eat and know that they are safe.
www.achewood.com
Cisco CCNA training class. This stuff is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I am about a hair's breadth away from being in way over my head. At the same time, this is probably the most learning I have ever done in any class, ever. Class starts at 8:30am, with 5 minute breaks spaced intermittently through the day, and an hour break for lunch and another break for dinner. It is the third day and I have yet to get bored, even once. Everybody gets their own computer to use in class, so I've been taking notes in Notepad. I have at least 5 pages of notes. During breaks I read webcomics.
The pass rate for the exam is discouraging though. It's something like 50% per class. Considering I have no experience whatsoever with Cisco routers... my chances aren't too good.
Although studying a bit and retaking it sometime soon shouldn't be that hard, especially after getting a feel for the way the exam works. I wonder how long I need to wait between retakes.
Break is over.
-Dave
PS: Actual cisco term - NSSA - Not So Stubby Area
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| All of us, All of us sing about it |
[30 Apr 2005|05:08am] |
I've been siezed by the sudden urge to update this thing, but I really don't have anything to say.
Ok thats a lie. I have a ton to say. I don't know how to say it. If I started ranting, I might just offend most of the people I know. So thats a bad idea.
The person I worked for a couple months ago is doing another show. I don't think she likes me very much. She's kinda a crabby person, a little too overcritical and a little too inept for her own good. She really knows nothing about the technical aspects of theatre. I did an entire last half of one of the shows completely wrong, and she thought it was fantastic. The Colors were completely wrong. She has this crazy idea that if she somehow manages to trick enough people into coming into this crappy basement of a church, sit them in folding chairs, and then proceed to show them a fantastic play, that they will come back again, and tell their friends. If they don't like sitting in the crappy basement of a church, then they just don't appreciate theatre and shes not gonna do anything about it. So nobody really seems to want to work with her. I don't really want to. I want money, but shes not even gonna pay me that much. she owes me like at least 60$ anyways. I guess I should try to get that from her at least.
Another thing to add to that list... I should get back in touch with the Stagehand's Union again. Get back on that reference list.
But for now... WoW beckons with it's mighty beckoning.
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| I’m learning to fly but I ain’t got wings, Comin’ down is the hardest thing. |
[27 Apr 2005|11:05pm] |
We can all talk like its not our faults.
When I said All of you I meant Everyone.
-Especially you, Skippy. Damn you and your politics of PMS.
I just wish everybody would relax. Get along with each other. Find peaceful, reasonable ways to deal with each other. Take everything with a grain of salt and a little bit more tolerance.
I, for one, believe that I can change the dynamic of the world I live in by changing the dynamic in my mind. Yes that would mean the world revolves around me, but as far as I'm concerned, thats all that really matters. All I can change is myself, right?
What does that mean? It means I want to play more Starcraft, more Smash Bros, go on more walks, see more fantastic movies, have more good times in general. Will everyone always be around? Probably not. Will there be drama? Probably. I don't care anymore. Have fun with your drama.
I'm going to try to once again become Dave of the Basement, the most hospitable guy anybody knows, who never has anything to do but think of cool things to do with his friends. And hopefully I can fit stuff like a Girlfriend and Building My Desk and maybe even Helping Out My Family into all of this.
Stuff we should do soon:
Go for a walk on Northwest Branch where it crosses Rt 29
See Hitchhikers Guide this weekend
More walks in the Seminary park?
Rent movies and make more oven pizzas and whatnot
See Kung-Fu Hustle
See Sin City
Stuff I still need to do:
Take my dog to the groomers
Clean the 'Pico Spot'
Pick up my refill of Albuterol (Asthma Medicine)
Call a Psycologist
Talk to Karey, the person I'm working for.
Finish my desk
Clean my room
Clean the basement
Somehow get rid of the Permanent Ink stains on the floor
Rennovate the deck
Help my dad with the pool
Learn to program Java better
Build a treehouse
Find out if I'm diabetic/hypoglycemic/have a thyroid problem
Clean out the downstairs fridge
Sell my textbooks
Do laundry
Help Jen move out of Frostburg
Help assess Jen's car, and whats wrong with it
Finalize plans for France
Help plan Canada
Help plan Faux Prom
Get a summer job
Have a gigantic videogame tournament this summer
Hellsing marathon
Cowboy Bebop marathon
Play more pool
Have a huge game of Ultimate Frisbee
Get new glasses
Get blinds/curtains/tack up a sheet over the window
Design a way to bring my bed to normal height without ruining the coolness of my room
Build shelving over my desk
E-mail the people I stayed with in Sweden last year
Visit my grandma
Check out the College Perk in College park, my cousin keeps ranting about it
Check out the moose lodge in College park, my aunt keeps ranting about it
Visit my uncle/cousin Chuck when he comes to visit possibly this weekend
Take my car in for its 20000 mile tune-up, its about 3000 miles overdue
Go dancing with everybody
Thats all I can think of right now.
Let me know if I forgot anything.
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| "We're too damn poor to keep you from the gallows pole" |
[27 Apr 2005|09:43am] |
I'm tired of "group" politics.
What happened to the time when everyone could be friends with each other, and nobody ever needed to be removed from any sort of "group."
When friendships waxed and waned through circumstance and class schedules.
Either I was totally clueless, or things were just simpler back then.
Why can't everybody just get along?
Yes that means All of you.
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| We are your Overlords |
[15 Mar 2005|05:32pm] |
As I'm sure you've heard by now, Melanie's party went perfectly. ::evil grin::
Busy busy weekend. Sometimes I really really miss the days when there really wasn't anything to do.
So anyways. The summer solstice is the 21st of June. If I were to have a party on that day, who would come? It's going to be a Tuesday.
Speaking of such celebrations... the Spring Equinox is this Monday, the 21st of March. Lets celebrate.
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| Head strong, What's wrong, I've already heard this song before. |
[23 Feb 2005|10:25pm] |
| [ |
music |
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What the fuck do you think? |
] |
Hit dirt
Shake tree
Split sky
Part sea
Strip smile
Lose cool
Bleed the day
And break the rule
Live win
Dare fail
Eat the dirt
And bite the nail
Then make me miss you...
Then make me miss you...
So wash your face away with dirt
It don't feel good until it hurts
So take this world and shake it
Come squeeze and suck the day
Come carpe diem, baby
Draw Lead
Piss wine
Sink teeth
All mine
Stoke fire
Break neck
Suffer through this
Cheat on death
Hug the curve
Lose the time
Tear the map
And shoot the sign
Then make me miss you...
Then make me miss you...
So wash your face away with dirt
It don't feel good until it hurts
So take this world and shake it
Come squeeze and suck the day
Come carpe diem, baby
Yeah, Suck it!
(Solo)
Live win
Dare fail
Eat dirt
Bite the nail
Strip smile
Lose cool
Bleed the day
And break the rule
Hug the curve
Lose the time
Tear the map
And shoot the sign
Then make me miss you... (Come on, Come on)
Then make me miss you...
So wash your face away with dirt
It don't feel good until it hurts
So take this world and shake it
Come squeeze and suck the day
Come make me miss you...
Come carpe diem baby
Come carpe diem baby
Mandatory Metallica.
Its been a long day. Sleep will come none too soon... And hopefully everything will be better in the morning.
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| Blinded By The Light! |
[16 Feb 2005|06:30am] |
So Yeah.
Lots of things have happened recently. Room is clean, desk is in a different place. I have plans for a new desk, plans for a pair of giant metal wings, plans for a bed that hides under the couch. I've been feeling very creative, I really want to build something.
I feel more and more like I'm finally able to realize plans and ideas that I've always had. When I was younger I couldn't get anything done because I wanted it done as perfect as possible, and my capabilities at the time weren't as perfect as they needed to be. But it seems what I'm capable of is catching up with what I expect of myself.
I drew out a detailed blueprint of the desk I want to build, complete with a cut list, a list of every piece of wood I need to cut. As anal and obsessive as that sounds, its actually really useful. I can therefore figure out exactly how many 8' 2x4's to get, how many pieces of plywood, etc. Hell, I could even determine exactly how many screws I would need.
And I'm learning how to do some drafting in lighting class. He wants us to be so very precise, but yet we have the tools and skills to be that precise. So it makes me unbelievably happy.
As it is 6:30am and I have not slept yet, I'm starting to get kinda dizzy. I think I shall head off to bed soon.
...like golden horses on a steel carousel.
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| its been a while |
[16 Feb 2005|01:13am] |
 | You Are Edward From "Edward Scissorhands."
You are very shy and often misunderstood. Innocent, sweet, and artistic, you like to pass your days by daydreaming and expressing yourself through the arts. You are a truly unique individual. Unfortunately, you are quite lonely, and few people truly understand you. |
Take The Johnny Depp Quiz!
I am the master of Scissordry!!
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| Christmas = Good |
[26 Dec 2004|02:22am] |
I have to sincerely thank all my friends. You guys make everything worth it. Thanks for helping me bring in the new year in my own particular fashion.
You made the longest night of the year one of the best I've ever had.
I got a gigabit switch for Christmas, making the little network in my basement blindingly fast. Time for some roaring games of Starcraft.
And now I must fight the temptation to go feed my incumbent World of Warcraft addiction, and instead go to sleep, or I risk dissapointing Judy and her family in the morning.
Goodnight!
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| she don't need nobody to be her man |
[11 Nov 2004|10:03am] |
Morning.
Got a new cell phone. It has two and a half ringtones, the settings are impossible to manage, and it looks girly. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have a new phone, I just wish I could still use my old phone. It was much cooler.
Classic Nokia Rocks.
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