I had a busy day, and I’m too buzzed to write anything worth while.
Have at it m8’s.
Leave a commentNot sure if trolling or serious
On the drive back from a milk run I noted the amount of homeless people with signs out on the road, and all in close proximity to each other. I counted about three or four, all of them had signs. One was a young skinny guy that was begging for food, said he’d take anything. Then I saw this young woman in a nice summer chair out near a crosswalk, dressed well enough for a warm summer day, sunglasses and all that, as well as a sign that said “My Birthday is in 2 Days, anything helps”. I think I had a mental moment similar to Lewis Black’s “If it weren’t for my horse” skit. I honestly couldn’t fucking tell if that was a real life troll or if she was seriously that much of an entitled killatwat. Either way, she had a smug look on her face that would suggest that she likes to shit the bed frequently, and bask in the aroma permeating the air.
I deal with the public everyday, and the public includes the homeless. Yeah, there are some that are homeless because of bad attitudes and decisions. There are also people that lost their jobs, can’t get back on their feet because no one will hire them, or they’re just too mentally fucked up to even halfway function at a shit job that will hire almost anyone with a pulse (unless it’s a dead guy up against someone that vapes cannabis oil, then the dead guy wins), and have no one else to turn to. We used to have institutions to keep these kinds of things in check, but history would say that in the 80’s that’s how we started to really Make America Great Again™ 
I’m sorry… I had a Grandmother who had to raise 7 kids on her lonesome after her husband ditched her for her best friend. I would hear stories about what they had to do to survive day to day, and how Grandma had to go from being a housewife with no experience to finding any form of work just to stay afloat. As a result my view of the poor seems to clash with everyone else… although I already clash with everyone else on other subjects and people with similar hobbies, so what have I got to lose? 
I used to be the kind of person that wouldn’t wish that sort of thing onto anyone, but now, living in an age where literally almost any of us could miss a paycheck or two, or have a medical catastrophe thing happen to them to completely fuck up their life… I’m tired of seeing all of these well off self entitled little shits, and wretched fuckmuffins that think they’re well off enough to be mocking the very people they could be joining in a soup kitchen line someday. Lately it seems like the only way people are able to learn anything is to have first hand experience, and to that I say bring on the brawndo mates!
One CommentEvening Open Thread: Sandvich Edition
It was too warm for me to want to cook anything today/tonight. I made some nice hearty sandwiches, for all to share. I even have enough for after work lunch tomorrow. I was wearing my Half Life 2 shirt today at work, and the spirit of Gabe’s many sub sandwiches convinced me to make something hearty with not too much effort, and I think I succeeded.
Today was productive, both at work and at home with SFM; got a lot of animation out of the way. I might even be able to render something tomorrow. Nothing worth sharing yet, will keep posted. In the meantime, to keep with the theme of Valve and sandwiches, here is one of my favorite TF2 characters:
Microsoft is listening in on your Minecraft porn discussion?
I think I can check this off of the “I predicted this would happen” list.
Leaked documents and recordings obtained by Motherboard show that humans are able to listen to intimate conversations held over Skype — something that has hitherto not been revealed by Microsoft.
I don’t want to discourage reporting on these kind of things, but this stuff is pretty obvious. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, CreepyUncleGoogle, they’re all the same. All of this technology runs on the backs of large computers, computers that can record your voice or anything on your account information. Computers that are maintained by people, and can be accessed by said people, as evidenced in recent reports over the last few months about Apple, Amazon, and Google. Microsoft being among them shouldn’t be a surprise, none of this should be. I’ve predicted these kinds of things since the dawn of MySpace (and fucking Trogdor). If you want to own or use these kinds of services I won’t hold it against anyone, but these are things to keep in mind if you choose to put something with a microphone attached to it in your home. Your conversations about tongue bathing the neighbor’s pitbull next door is currently being listened to by the device of your choice… for science and research of course. 
It was fun while it lasted
I have to admit… I played a little bit of CS:CZ (not the deleted scenes) and actually kinda sorta had fun… up until I was introduced to the retarded AI for the hostages. I also did some more SFM work, and finished up doing some voice lines with Yutram a bit ago. I’ll tear back into it tomorrow after work if I don’t accidentally a nap. I’m up a bit later than I should be, but wanted to get some recording done.
Aside from gaming I went on a small shopping spree online, picked up some gamer t-shirts and sauces (what a combo amirite?). I also had to retire a favorite pair of sandals, they were pretty ancient though; gives me an excuse to shop for some new ones I guess.
Alright! Time to rest up for another week of anxiety…
Leave a commentThe safest version of self harm
I’m the kind of person that is willing to even try a game that is slightly less than passable for a game just to see what kind of train wreck I’m getting myself into. I figured I hadn’t touched Counter-Strike: Condition Zeroes Deleted Scenes in a good while, and figured I’d forced my ass forward… I died and woke up in another game.
You can interact with just about anything in the map, but there are no npc’s around to talk to you or berate you when you decide to fuck with the main computer behind the counter. Trying to go into the next level will crash the game, and it seems to happen every time my character dies. The lack of other people in the map almost gives it an unsettling vibe, as though everyone was mysteriously teleported away via the resonance cascade without a trace. I would almost expect the narrator from The Stanley Parable to step forward and narrate this accident.
I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this game… When CS:CZ originally came out I didn’t know of its existence, but apparently it went through quite a bit of development hell according to Wikipedia. I recently found some early beta versions, and now I’m contemplating checking them out. I always like looking at early concepts for games, it gives you a look into the development and creative processes that go into creating a game. I think I liked the earlier concepts better than the more linear final version.
Leave a commentMy next victim
One of my co-workers is having me look at their All In One Desktop (computer entirely built into a monitor) over the weekend, and it looks like it’ll be a fun one to fix. Originally the issue seemed to lie in them not being able to run The Sims 4, but looking at it I can see that it has more underlying problems. It seems to be running two anti-virus programs at the same time (McAfee and one other that sounds suspicious), and it pegs the poor little pathetic intel celeron at 100%. I might not be able to get The Sims 4 to run due to it barely meeting the system requirements, but that drive will be getting replaced with an SSD I recommended for her to purchase; an 860 EVO will be worlds better than some shitty 5400 RPM spinner.
It’s kinda funny… I found out tonight that my Dad fixed her Mom’s computer just a few days ago (and I had supplied an SSD for that too). Small world, eh?
Leave a commentWhen Imaginations Collide
Did some creative writing this afternoon with Yutram for one of the upcoming videos. I have a feeling it’ll be awhile before I release anything, but it’ll be fun to animate a mental collaboration between two unpredictable imaginations. It was a nice escape from a hellish day, surrounded by 50 shades of stupid. I’m already contemplating what the weekend has in store for me, perhaps something that involves digital explosions. I might break my little rule about video editing over the weekend since I didn’t really do much of that this week due ailments earlier on in the week. I’ve at least made progress in other areas in terms of visual prep though.
I’ll be sure to post anything I’ve declassified.
Evening Open Thread
I actually did SFM stuff tonight! Nothing that I can share yet… but I went over some of the blueprints with Yutram and he approved. I’m building a set for a future scene, and I can’t really spoil the details of this one. I’m tweaking the lighting for it now, and when I’m satisfied enough I’ll head off to dreamland, where my imagination goes on autopilot. I didn’t sleep too well last night, it was too muggy even with the window wide open. I’m hoping some fresh sheets will cure that.. among other things. 
I had some spumoni ice cream with ground toffee peanuts and some banana.
I had extra ground nuts left over from tomorrow’s yogurt parfait. This time I’m doing one half vanilla, and one half strawberry, both mixed separately with Japanese matcha powder. I was actually quite surprised to get a nice green color out of the strawberry yogurt. For the fruit portion I just did a whole sliced banana, and did more granola and pulverized toffee peanuts. I should of done this idea years ago, these do a good job of keeping me full until I get home. Much more filling and versatile than just buying one yogurt a day.
Leave a commentHave It Your Way
I’ve been telling people about this at work, and we’re in agreement that if Burger King put this out as an official commercial we would probably eat there more.
Open Thread!
3 Comments