How Things Change

This was the original blurbs about the Paradise War when the idea was conceived in late October 2005.

-High Standards
A leader who won't balk at insubordination. A father and daughter reunited. A talented pilot with a past and a future. A veteran itching for a good fight. A rookie too confident for his own good. A brother with a dark secret.

These are the men and women of the 501st Kojito Battalion, the next best thing to the Elite squads. Bringing his pilots together, Major Church must train and prepare his new recruits for one of the toughest challenges ever faced by the Lunar Space Fleets: jump deep into enemy territory with no backup and find out just what the Colonial Defense Forces are up to.

But when the CDF plan is finally unveiled, the fighters of the Kojito Battalion find themselves sorely outnumbered and surrounded, barely able to keep themselves alive much less get back to the Moon and warn their comrades of the immiment attack.

-The Hidden Truth
They’ve survived not one but two jumps deep inside Colonial territory, setting high standards by discovering the secret location of the guarded homes of the Colonial forces and then searching for the secret Colonial project meant to doom them all.

Their ranks shattered once again, Major Church has called upon any and all pilots, seeking to bolster his Battalion, but at what cost? The Colonial forces aren’t sitting back taking their last defeat lightly, they’re already on the move, planning extensive operations, which if successful may mean the end of the Moon and the forces protecting it.

Entrusted again with jumping into Colonial space, volunteers of the Kojito Battalion seek to rescue their own from the clutches of the dreaded Sky Marshall Varick and while there, to find out what the Colonial forces have planned for their next operation. But the pilots find themselves wondering just how far “we never leave a man behind” goes when they find out that not everyone is who they seem to be.

-A False Victory
He has faced a task that no one should ever have to face, and he has survived. His victory rendered all but meaningless, Makabe Connor is deemed unfit to pilot. But the stalemate between the Colonial Forces and the Lunar Fleets has ended, and the battlefield has evened out considerably in the Colonial's favor.

Reinforced again, the brave men and women of the 501st Kojito Battalion are relegated to a patrol force with one of their old friends, and a newcomer that defies all logic. They are faced with the reality of war once more as a new generation of Colonial Armors break though the Lunar rear lines and attack the Moon, leaving a shocked and frightened Lunar force in tatters.

But the consequences are more dire as a threat much greater than snubfighters looms over the horizon, preparing for the final battle that will decide the war for Paradise, and the survival of the Moon itself. And admidst all of the fighting, who has been watching Paradise?

-Paradise War 2: The Plague of Corruption
The Rules of engagement have changed, and so have the Front lines. The war for Paradise may have ended, but the war for the survival of humanity has just begun. Betrayed by one of their own, the chaos mounts as a new enemy nears the Colonies, and if they fall, what is to stop them from destroying the Moon and wiping out every trace of Mankind?

Each part of the Paradise War was to be written in Novella form, one after another, like a short story that never ended. But sometime in December or January, I decided to roll it all into one novel-sized work, combining "High Standards", "The Hidden Truth" and "A False Victory" into just "The Paradise War".

I don't actually have a blurb that encompasses it all, maybe I should make one up soon. Sometimes I feel like they should be a few paragraphs, letting the would-be reader get hooked in the tiny sample, but other times I feel like it should be a quick blurb that leaves you begging for more. Of course, it'll probably be easier if I finished the damned book first before worrying about the little details.

For last year's NaNo, I created an idea with some help from StarCraft. Entitled "The Prodigy", I came up with a great tag line "Either she'll end the War, or he'll end Everything", and with help from graphic designer Tiana Calthye - and by help, I mean she did it herself - created a little banner.

And for this year's NaNo, I have one idea that keeps growing, one titled "Project MAi", an idea originally conceived in 2003 during an early morning production shift in the bakery. Like "The Paradise War", it too has changed formats during the years, until now. I also have a few more, but I have time to decide.

There comes a point

There comes a point in everyone's life where the discover where their talent lies, and how their current skills fit in. My point came on Sunday night during the MFC (Medieval Fight Club). It was something I had noticed myself doing a few times, and it mainly stems from the fact that I've been trained for half of my life on how to deal with an enemy mano-e-mano. I'm not quite as useful in larger groups as I could be.

But the recap of the day:

First was Park Tag at 1PM. I brought Stuart along so he could see what it is we do. It was a smaller turnout, but at the same time we also had some exciting near-misses on one section of Malmo. Next time if we go back there I definitely want footage of that.

Second was a Taste of Edmonton. Long story short I got a lot of glances, mainly because I still had my tabi and shin guards on from PT. But there is some good food there. Very tasty.

Finally it was Medieval Fight Club. It was awesome, but I'll admit it wasn't entirely what I wanted. I have a few answers from them now, so the next time I participate I should be able to help the group out more.

Everything talks, you just have to know how to listen to it.

Like your body. Right now mine is saying "I'm in pain, so you're in pain". But I expected it, and given all of yesterday's activities, I am not surprised. Obviously we played Park Tag, the game that turns Playgrounds into BATTLEgrounds of Epicness. Now, the very first time I played my thighs felt like they had tripled in density, it was really hard to bend at the knees. The second time it was my abs and lower back muscles, since for all of the lifting I do and all of the jumping I can do, I'm still not used to it.

This time, it's all of them. The course was bigger this time, and there were more people, which crowds even the largest course, forcing people to find alternate routes via jumping. There were four girls out yesterday, and the tallest of them still being shorter than any of the guys (if barely, but still shorter), and they seemed to take priority on the less-leaping-required-routes for Base Tag, even with the one-step rule for sand. From my experience, girls can jump just as far as guys, but I never take into account that some people just can't jump. It's something that's so natural for me, and that makes it hard to understand.

So the battleground was large, but it unfortunately didn't have a good separate entity for Fish in the Water. We instead sectioned off a piece of the equipment and used that. Josh had his camcorder out for most of Fish, and when we create the video, you have to see teh skillz I displayed at one point, hanging by my legs, holding on to one piece of wall avoiding Dan, who was it. I'm not one to brag, but it was spectacular. Thinking back on it, that's probably why my abs and back hurt.

I should mention that it's a good hurt, the kind of hurt you get when you're building muscle, not the kind that you get when you pull or tear one. And so, Park Tag ended that day and we all went home. Except, I went to another school much later to watch Stuart spin some fire poi, and so I checked out the playground there. Much to small, with a very distinct lack of everything for Park Tag, but after he was done spinning, we started competing against each other.

First it was the long jump. I kneed my pecs every time I jumped. The first time I landed I was wearing sandals, and let me tell you that sandals and damp grass don't get along well. So I went barefooted, taught Stuart the proper way to roll, and then decided that acrobatics in the sand would be fun. And they were. And now he wants me to learn how to break dance. We returned to his place and he taught me a trick with swords, now all I have to do is remember it.

EDIT: Aw fuck ... make that 80 CDs now. Another few more and I'll have to reorganize again. *le sigh*

"Didn't we just leave this crowd?"

Life, the never ending cycle. Repetition. You know, that kind of stuff.

For example, in my last post I mentioned organizing my CD and DVD collection. The DVDs are easy, they're on a shelf, and I can do them one by one if I need or want to. Books and Manga are the same way, though I admit I'm running out of room for DVDs, Books and Manga. Each has their own separate shelving unit, and space-wise the DVD shelf and the Book shelf can hold approximately the same numbers, though the Book shelf has to have the height to accommodate hardcover books and reference-sized books. DVD cases are generally the same height, or at least within an inch of each other. Width is another question and easily dealt with for the time being. My Manga is closer to DVDs than they are books, being as most of them are the same height and I have no hard-cover Manga. Yet.

But what about CDs? Unfortunately, with my Alphabetical sorting habits, it makes it annoying and difficult to properly place my CDs in the binder. Especially with the CD sheets I have to hold the CDs. The ring-side of the sheet holds the CD while the outside of the sheet holds the cover from the CD case, which can help to find a particular CD if the art on the cover is different from that on the CD. The page is designed to hold 4 CDs to a side, and 8 in total, but the way I do it makes the capacity cut in half.

When I get new CDs I go back and resort them alphabetically, which means taking out CDs and the booklets and moving them according to the new list. Most of the booklets are thin and therefore have no problems fitting, but some are thick (the Meteora, Queen Platinum Collection, and L'Arc~En~Ciel booklets come to mind immediately) and when placed back to back with other thick booklets (luck of the draw usually), it makes for a very difficult time to get the booklets in without tearing them.

I have come up with a partial solution: leave spaces between some of the CDs, especially if you know you're going to be buying/receiving a particular CD. I bought two new CDs today and got one in the mail and I didn't have go through the arduous process of re-organizing 70 other CDs to get the new ones in their proper places. Unfortunately, I'm out of expansion spaces, so the next few CDs I purchase will require me to go through the process all over again. But hey, 50% less work is better than 100% hard work right?

Teh 3vilness and Movies

So a while ago I was given the invitation to join teh gr3at3st 3vil known to the intarwebs: Facebook. To quote Drake: "Sooner or later ... the Thirst always wins." This post ain't about teh inherent 3vilness of FB, so let's just say it scares the fuck outta me. Then why bother posting right? I mention FB because it's connected. Sorta.

A friend of mine posted a note about the movies on a list that she had seen. 73 out of 239 she had seen. Apparently if you've seen 85 or more then you have no life. I scored a measly 99. I could have broken 100 if I had seen all of the movies that I wanted to, but oh well. So I'm a nerd with no life, go figure. That was probably evident by my movie collection: 135 movies and TV shows, all on DVD.

I organized them once again (I usually wait until I get three or more new ones) and cleaned up a bit and then took a pic to attach to the note I put on FB about the movie quiz. If I keep up this expansion, I'll have to move my game collection to a different shelf unit entirely and re-buy a few boxsets in the slim DVD cases.

But after sorting through and counting the collection properly as well as archiving it on my computer, I decided to go ahead and properly count the rest of my collections: CDs, Books, Manga, Games. My count was off on a few of them, but for the most part I was accurate. Now all I have to do is organize them properly. My bookshelf is a mess, my manga has to be sorted again and I have to arrange my games properly since I keep moving them.

And finally there are my CDs. I arrange them in a binder and keep them in my car. Only, I've acquired enough new ones to go through the annoying process of putting them into alphabetical order. 75 CDs may not sound like much, but they're heavy, coupled with the booklets and the D-ring binder (because the C-ring was just too small and kept popping open). I actually need to think about finding a bigger binder, because though I have more pages for CDs, the binder itself is running low on ring space.

So I'll be off now, archiving everything and watching some new movies.