ShirtNinja Theaters Present: Inner Visions

Campus Chaos 2007

2007-09-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Just over 24 hours ago I started my evening at the Shaw Conference Center downtown for the renamed (and moved twice) Ookfest. It was "100.3FM The Bear presents Stage 13's Campus Chaos" back to school bash. And it rocked.

The line-up went like this: Italian Editon, illScarlet, State of Shock, Marianas Trench, Danko Jones, Social Code, Tupelo Honey, Hedley and Three Days Grace. Each band had 45 minutes on stage with the exceptions of Hedley and Three Days Grace who each received an hour because they were headlining the night.

The performances were scheduled to start at 6PM, with doors opening at 4PM, but with 9 bands and only a single stage (as opposed to three stages and 18 bands), they started things at 4:30. We missed Italian Edition and some of illScarlet, stood in line for drinks during Social Code and rested for the first half of Hedley in anticipation of Three Days Grace.

It was a lot of fun, a blast, and all that jazz. We were a little more disorganized this year and didn't buy any disposable cameras, my cell died at 5:30, and everyone else left theirs behind. So we actually have no pictures of the events, only the aftermath. I have some nice visible bruises, and parts of my body are sore as hell.

I bodysurfed three times (technically five if you count the fact that I was dropped twice half-way to the front). Being dropped isn't nearly as bad as it sounds, or at least not for me, unless you get hurt. If you're dropped, you get pulled back onto your feet, then you throw up the horns and shout to let them know you're okay. When you make it to the front, really big security pull you from the crowd, set you down on your feet and then you get directed back into the crowd. I honestly didn't even think about the hundreds of hands on my back, head, legs, arms and ass while I was surfing.

This was my first concert where I surfed, but my third where I've gone mosh pitting (that is so not a proper word). If you enter the pit, expect to be hit. Expect to fall. Expect to be helped up. If someone falls down, you pick them up, it's expected of you. I do feel a bit of sympathy to the girls who somehow end up on the edge between the pit and the rest of the crowd, but then, if they don't know what's happening, clearly they deserve it.

And then you get the guys who feel they still need their personal space while standing 10 feet from the stage (arguably one of the most crowded spots in ANY concert). Indeed, while rocking with Three Days Grace, there was a guy who kept pushing people around him so he could have two feet of room everywhere around him. Except to his right, where I was standing. He tried the subtle approach of leaning against me with his weight, but I leaned back. After a few minutes he turned and pushed me away. I turned and shoved him right back. And that's when shit just about started flying. I was ready and more than willing to take him, but two seconds before fighting started, two things happened: Stuart jumped in from out of nowhere (I never knew he could move that fast, it was faster than me), and then a girl who was 5 foot nothing and about 100 pounds in high heels pushed me and the guy apart with one hand each.

Milliseconds later the crowd intervened (before security took notice), separated me and the guy and we went back to our merry ways of rocking out. All of that took place in about 10 seconds. Afterwards I felt hungry.

And Three Days Grace does a good job of integrating "Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter into one of their songs. Two guys from Colorado sang along with Stuart and I during that part. Sam must've felt a little left out during that part.

Pros:
-Music was awesome, the bands got the crowed pumped
-Despite 4000 people in attendance, there was still plenty of room
-Security was well organized and prepared

Cons:
-Sad choices for beer (Canadian, Coors, MGD)
-Long lineups to get a drink (despite a dozen people serving)
-Bad air circulation, no A/C

I'm thankful I'm 6 feet tall. The air is very stuffy down at the 5'6 level, plus all you see for the concert if you're not right up front are the backs of people. And you can't do much for the bodysurfers.

In closing, I really need to attend more concerts.

He Stood Tall and spoke.

2007-08-16T00:21:00.000-07:00

"Let them come." he said brazenly, unafraid of the mayhem he was to unleash on himself. Indeed a very small, very dark piece of himself - buried in the darkest deepest recesses of his mind, body and soul - cried out in jubilation. "There can be no other way, no solution more clear to me than right now."

"Let them come."

The minions of Darkness - snarling drooling beasts with claws that could block steel and fangs that could tear flesh like it was butter - surged as one, a collective mind of evil. But he stood his ground, not flinching or betraying any sign of fear. A lesser man would have died from the sheer terror of it all he supposed, but a lesser man would also not find himself in this situation.

In a second, the first beast had reached him, claws ready to tear his head off and devour entrails. In the second after, the beast found the odd experience of seeing double that slowly slid apart. In the third second the next beast saw something shining in the moonlight before seeing nothing else. In the fourth second, the minions saw the spray of blood from the first two beasts.

They all paused, as if a silent command had been issued, and then they parted to make way for two more beasts clutching weapons. At last the shining death in his hands formed itself into a sword, straighter than straight and now tinged with a hint of red. He slowly bowed his head, a formal invitation for the champions to attack.

And attack they did. Coordinated, elegantly and brutally, they came at him with the grace and poise he would have expected from a ballerina, not beasts of the Darkness. Metal clanged with metal as he blocked their attacks, drawing them slowly away from the main body of the horde before him. But he had made his mistake at last. The Darkness didn't need to rely on numbers to win, and the beasts knew this.

Now surrounded by outcroppings of rock, the beasts bounced around, opening up new angles of attack to unleash. They came at him, as one, from different angles and swung. Their attacks were good, but the Darkness had assumed wrong, and he suddenly push off of the outcropping of rocks he had backed himself onto. The minions outside saw only sparks as the blades connected harshly for brief seconds.

It all faded away, and seconds evolved into minutes. A figure emerged, but the Darkness was not surprised to see him, it knew he had slain the two champions. The Darkness had fully expected him to do so, the question was the amount of time it would take. The minions leapt to attack, all of them at once, a surge of blackness so absolute it blocked the moonlight.

<Wait ...>

The beasts halted their attacks, dropping to the ground after stalling in mid-air. <We can sense your divine will ...>

It was an evil and oily voice that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. <We can sense it, and the potential within you.>

"Then you know why I have come."

<There is more than one way to defeat an enemy.>

A chill settled in his shoulders, and it felt as oily as the voice speaking to him. "But death is usually the most absolute. I will do what I can, what I must."

<So noble, so brave, so heroic, and yet it will grant you nothing more than a death at the hands of my minions. A death so brutal, so gruesome that they will not be able to sing songs about it for generations to come.>

"Songs are not why I am here, not do I hold any fantasies about my death. I am here to end the threat you pose."

<And we can aid you with what you seek.>

And for a second, he saw the truth in their words. Enemies did not always have to be enemies, evil could be harnessed for good, as it had in the past. Should it get out of hand, someone else would rise to the challenge and finish it. "You would sacrifice yourselves to aid me?"

<We have never truly died.>

<Only lived in many different forms.>

As the spoke, the chills in his shoulders erupted, letting two black oily snakes emerge, their teeth oversized and glistening with saliva, their eyes glowing red. "So you are the Darkness."

<We are all the Darkness.>

He felt power and confidence. The minions were his to control, his will was now what mattered. His will was now what they would obey.

<They will learn of what you have become.>

<And they will hunt you down.>

They were the voices of the Devil's Advocate, able to see things he alone could not. He bared his teeth. "They will try, and they will fail. Even without your help I can handle them."

<Let them come.>

<Let them come.>

"Let them come."

Hey Look ... Summaries

2007-08-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

For new stories!

-NaNo '07 Idea 1:

War has raged on the planet Farslow for a decade. Both the Syndicator forces and the Scions – self-proclaimed Heir of the Stars – are deadlocked, until a mysterious killer deals a deathblow to the Syndic base. It’s up to the Elite Tracker known only as Tark to solve the mystery before the secret, and the planet, is lost forever.

-NaNo '07 Idea 2:

The 20^th Century brought Mankind a wondrous standard of living, impressive technologies, immense discoveries and unparalleled destructive wars. Yet, none of it would have come to pass if not for the actions of a daring few. Exiled from their home countries and summoned before a shadowy and perhaps sinister council, five wandering souls were charged with the task of finding the threat that had cut a bloody swath across the world for untold centuries.

Failure meant a fate worse than death – either at the claws of the beast or the hands of the council – but success would grant them an opportunity to be pardoned, and to go home into welcome arms.

Idea 1 would be horror/suspense/action based, with emphasis on the suspense and action aspects. Obviously set in the future, it definitely holds with my penchant for sci-fi.

Idea 2 would be the same, but set in a "modern" day setting - that is to say back in the early 1900s - and would concentrate more on the exiles' hunt versus the actual shaping of the world.

So tell me what you think: good, bad, tweaking, or whatever.

How Things Change

2007-07-30T04:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-07-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

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?"

2007-07-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

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.

Park Tag

2007-06-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

"We turn Playgrounds into BATTLEgrounds ... of Epicness"

Normal tag turns into a running match, whoever runs fastest and has the most stamina can come out the winner. Park Tag balances being agile and being fast, so you can be excellent at one or the other and not have too much of a disadvantage. Or you could be good at both, but it doesn't mean you're going to be the best.

It's unmeasurable fun as you dart through a playground, once thought to be for children ages 3-5, trying to avoid being tagged. There are many different types of tag capable of being played, and it usually depends on what the actual grounds look like.

Fish in the Water, where the person who is "it" closes their eyes and moves around a very small and compact set trying to tag somebody. Sand is all but off-limits, if the "it" person calls "Fish in the water" while you are in sand, then you are now "it". Or if they manage to tag you. A good warm-up and cool-down since it involves virtually no running or exertion to avoid being tagged, just balance, the ability to be light on your feet and the ability to stand using only a toe or two and a finger or two.

Capture the Flag, this requires strategy and a flag (duh), but the rules always change with every new ground we come to. Sometimes you'll have two lives, other times you'll have one. There might be one safe-zone or three. The rules adapt to try and eliminate camping and encourage fun, thinking and agility.

Shark Tag. The newer playgrounds that are constructed of metal sides and plastic bottoms works very well for this. The shark can only use the sand and any metal, but no plastic. Runners are allowed the metal and plastic and a one-step hop across the sand. By one-step I mean if you land with one foot, you must leave with one foot. If you land with two, then you must bunny hop.

Regular Tag. One-step rules apply here as you dart across the equipment. If you're tagged then it's a five-second count to start again or ten seconds to get your butcher (the one who tagged you). Counting to ten gives you free reign to tag anyone, it doesn't mean you have to go after your butcher solely.

We're going to try to bring a camera-man along for the next round, because the epicness of some of our stunts will blow your mind as they succeed or fail miserably. So get out there and play some Park Tag, get some fresh air, exercise and have fun.

There's a First Time

2007-06-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

And then there's a second time that blows the first time away. Except we didn't stay long enough for Evan to start his mixing. I talk about raves. I've been to a whole two of them, the first was in a basement of a small downtown building, tickets were $5.00, and there was probably about 100 people. The second one was larger, and definitely had the capacity to be larger. It was held in an old skate park on 118th Ave and 90th Street. I recognized more people here, and had more fun.

Holding it in a skate park is pretty cool, it allows for different heights to spin poi and to dance, but the best part was the bowl. Some people were spinning in the bowl while a few others did tricks along the bowl. Sliding down, jumping out, wall walking, all sorts of crazy fun stuff. One thing I tried several times was running up a side and trying to do a hand stand on the ledge of the bowl. Obviously I failed miserably, I'm used to dropping down to do hand stands rather than trying to push myself up.

I did a wall walk around the taller bowl and got about 3/4's of the way around before I started sliding back down. Around the more shallow bowl was a set of makeshift steps to get out, so I wall walked up and jumped over the steps and then wall walked down ... well, it was more like run down and try not to fall. The first time I tried sliding down, my shoes played a trick on me. It went like this:
Shoes: "Psst, we're going to use our grip now."
Me: "what?"
*screech!*
And then I ended up tumbling down a 6 foot wall. Smooth moves. Then I developed a good way to do it. Crouch down on the ledge, grab onto the side and slide sideways on your feet, man it worked so much better.

The rave was actually a spur of the moment thing, the girl Stuart was supposed to be going with decided to back out at the last minute, so after he and I finished beating Team USA in NHL '07, I was informed of my evening plans. I think I should learn to spin staff now.

The Lords came to work yesterday

2007-06-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

And I mean both types. Ole' Ronzilla himself stopped in, he wanted to check up on Ray for some reason (because being a salaried employee clearly means he has absolutely nothing better to do than to check up on the other salaried employees of the warehouse, not even spending time with his family), except Ray was spending time with his family. It was his daughter's grad, and he forgot to inform Ron of the that. Well, Ole' Ronzilla hung around for about two hours before giving up and going home.

That was one lord that we can do without. And according to this amazing Coca-Cola fun fact (which if it's true is quite scary) we now have a nice method of disposing of bodies.
...
I mean ... getting rid of meat.
...
yes ... meat.

We finished our daily meeting, and started work, and as Dosman and I left the office, we struck up a conversation well within Ronzilla's hearing range. It went like this:
"Hey Dosman, I see you got to 40 finally, get your mount?"
"No, as soon as I hit 40, a 36 and a 38 jumped me. I ran back inside to get my 40's spells and then pwned some noobs. DOTted them both, feared them and then DOTted some more. Two strikes and they went down."
"Nice."
"And then a 70 jumped me."
"Insta-gibbed."
"Pretty much. Are you in the Barrens yet?"
"Yeah, I'm three bars away from 16, but I got my Fire Totem so I can use Fire Nova Totem and Searing Totem. They fucking rock."
"Shammies rule."
"I do Lightning then Fire Blast for DOT, drop the Nova, let it explode then hit Searing. Mob is dead in 10 seconds."

Now, if I were Ronzilla (which thankfully I'm not), I'd be confused beyond most of a fuck. So much 'net slang and WoW acronyms were packed into every sentence. Which reminds me, I need to hearth back to Thunder Bluff for more Shammy spells and to upgrade my leatherworking.

The Lords are taking a break

2007-06-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

My WarCrack addiction took a backseat to something far more adrenaline packed yesterday.
PAINTBALL!
This is going to be a complicated sentence, so try to follow along eh? It was Jamie's brother-in-law's stag party (get all that?) so we went Paintballing at a course between Tofield and Ryley named Tags Paintball. Pretty nice outdoor course, but some of it was flooded with water, including the safe house. And there were rules for the course, it went like this:
No ...
Alcohol
Drugs
(and something else that I can't remember because I was stuck on the alcohol part).
Fortunately one of the owners said "you can drink, but don't let anyone else catch you", and if they did, well we had guns and they didn't. Paintballs can break skin y'know.

We did the Ghost town course first, a bunch of shacks, dead cars/vans/a trailer and segregated into teams. I was on Team Blue, so I got a blue ribbon tied around my arm. Although, my helmet stands out more than people who want to go professional in the sport and buy their own. It has a red and black color scheme and a Japanese flag decal across my visor. Cuts down on glare a lot.

So, blue team started in the far east corner while green team started near the safe zone we ended up designating. There were 10 of us for the stag party of Hardeep's, and four guys joined our group, they were definitely going beyond the recreation aspect of the sport. They were divvied up, two on each team. Noll and Tom took our team, mainly because they had blue on already.

First game I covered Noll as he advanced, he took out three guys and I tagged Dosman, then Noll was tagged out, so I moved back closer to our start position to help Jamie and Tom take on another guy behind cover. We won the first round with three of us left, not too bad.

Second round, we switched ends on the Ghost Town, and Noll wanted to do a death charge up the center to try and get 6 greens that were in a single shack. I agreed, but we only got to the third shack up, maybe halfway there, when we came under fire, I moved back to the second shack, hoping to spot a shooter, but one of the greens was trying to flank us from the outside, I warned Jamie, Noll, somehow made it back there without me noticing, and then I ended up tagging Dosman again. He was the little bastard trying to outflank us. Serves him right. Hardeep and Tanner were left as well, until Noll and Jamie were taken out. That pretty much left me to charge, and then I ran out of paintballs. Stupid damn hopper.

Next game we moved to the Castle, surrounded by a moat and mosquitoes aplenty. Blue took possession of the Castle first, trying to get the greens as they advanced under cover of bushes, stacks of pallets and large wiring bails. One of them snuck around the north side of the moat and crossed, and I was certain I had heard someone moving over there, I didn't see anyone. He shot me with two balls and I jumped so high, both from pain and surprise. I've got two nice welts from him.

Second round we switched, and I decided to forgo my mask and just stick with my helmet because it was getting hotter. That would turn out to be a mistake. I took the mask along so if I was shot in the head I wouldn't have greasy paint in my hair (now that I have hair again), and the round I took it off, Dosman ended up tagging me in the head with two rounds. The first broke on the top of my helmet while the second broke on my head.

Finally, last game we decided to do some speed ball to finish up our paintballs. Don't let the name deceive you, you don't usually advance very fast, it's a game designed around machine gun warfare: fire 1000 rounds and hit two guys once each. This is where I got shot a lot. A lot a lot. Noll covered me and I made it to the third cover up before I got shot with two balls in the finger, one on the arm and one on the mask. Back to safety, respawn and shot a death charger as he took out two of our guys.

Most of them ran out of balls quickly, and as the game ended, I painted an old light fixture orange to use up mine. Needless to say, a real-life FPS rocks the fuck out of any video game.

And May the Lords of Kalimdor have Mercy ... again

2007-06-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got a few minutes to spare.

I've unfortunately given up on Earthen Ring and the Ronin, it would have been great to roll with Chief again like the old days, but they've started hitting a barrier that hit me a while ago. FIA had been doing a lot of endgame content as I reached the 40's, and even with the BC expansion, it's just not enough in the end. And considering the length of their gaming careers, they've done a lot. In a period of three months half of the core of FIA had each logged almost 1000 hours of game time. Take 24 hours, subtract about 9 hours for work, and say 5 hours for everything else and leave the rest to gaming. Fucking amazing.

So right now I've got a level 14 Blood Elf Mage on the Farstrider RP Realm, in the hopes that I'll eventually get around to rolling an Alliance character and find Shadow, and today I started on Cho'Gall PVP Realm as a Tauren Shaman, who is currently level 10. I'm rolling with a BE Paladin made by Dosman, a short dude I work with. He's got a 38 Warlock as well, and more time on his hands. Once we get high enough, he'll drop Silvermoon City and join me in the Barrens and we'll roll across them like an unstoppable plague of Elf and Tauren.

But not tomorrow, because tomorrow is Paintballing for a friend's brother-in-law's stag party.

And May the Lords of Kalimdor have Mercy ...

2007-05-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

So, being the nerd that I am, I figure I should explain a bit about my crack addiction. Not actual crack, but rather my anti-life: games. It started back in my one failed year of college, I was browsing the Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), looking at games like EverQuest (EQ) when I came across PlanetSide (PS). It caught my attention for a reason, not just because it was Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO), but because instead of a role-playing game (RPG) it was a First Person Shooter (FPS).

I won't go into the details about the game, you can look them up online anytime. But I did sign up for Open Beta and was accepted with my mongrel of an old machine. Beta was alright, but when it came time for Commercial Release, I was all over it. It rocked. Started on the Johari server, y'know, for us West Coast people, as a Vanu, tech loving purple bastards. But after making it to Battle Rank 12, I decided to try one of the other factions. I joined the Konried/Emerald server, the East Coast, and made a New Conglomerate, and ended up joining the Fratres in Arma with my character Ottoman.

Great outfit, that'll come later.

Months progressed, and after almost two years and the introduction of the battlemech system, we decided that with World of WarCraft upcoming, we should maybe switch and get some fresh air. About 10 of us got into the closed beta, then the open beta, and then we pretty much all switched over to the Commercial Release on the day. I was a Night Elf Hunter named Syuu and FIA provided for me a truly exceptional gaming experience, even though they had more time to dedicate to the game than I did. Regardless, I took a leave and left, coming back every once in a while.

Well, now the Burning Crusade expansion came out (okay, so it was a while ago), and I felt my addiction calling to me. Then on Tuesday we were talking about BC and WoW at work, and I bought the expansion on Wednesday.

Lo and fucking behold, someone had "hacked" my account. They didn't go to extremes, my password is/was simple. Which has led me to believe that it's someone I know. On the FIA forums someone else re-registered my name (the site has gone through it's third upgrade via Chief) even though it had been almost a year since I had last played. I got my account back thanks to the secret question and answer and phone number, all of which have now changed.

But everything I had done for Syuu, everything the Guild and Chief (Quintis) had done was almost for naught. Who the hell gives an Elf a fucking shotgun?! Stats be damned, it's a bow, or at the very worst a crossbow. Well, unfortunately FIA has all but disbanded, and the remnants have moved on under a new tag, Ronin. Currently I'm whipping out all of the things I remember about people so they know this false "Ottoman" is truly false.

Truffle did some looking at our ISP addresses, the new guy is from NY, I'm obviously Canadian, which has always been one of my strong points among FIA. Y'know, the ONLY Canadian in the guild and all ... kinda like how at one point FIA in WoW had about four female players. Real girls too, not just Hoots using a female avatar like he used to ...

Regardless, since it was hard to contact Duke/Quintis, I moved onto a new server and rolled a Blood Elf mage on Farstrider, in the hopes that ShadowPuppet (now Sprydle in WoW) is there. Except I think he's still Alliance. Gotta check.

Running out of time, gotta jet to work, back to fill in my WarCrack addiction post later!

System Of A Down Discography

2007-05-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

When your System Of A Down decides to have a Suite-Pee you Know no Sugar will be for good Suggestions against the Spiders spawned from the Ddevil that Soil my War? So your Mind creates a Peephole for CUBErt and his Darts so he can P.L.U.C.K. them.

And as the Toxicity rises, your Prison Song becomes pure Needles that perform the Deer Dance with rubber bullet kisses for a Jet Pilot named X who loves Chop Suey! So you Bounce in the Forest at Atwa because Science is pretty Shimmy especially against Toxicity that the Psycho did during his Aerials.

I didn’t Steal This Album! But Chic‘n’Stu did with their Innervision that produced Bubbles that went Boom! Buying Nüguns with A.D.D. for Mr. Jack while sing I-E-A-I-A-I-O exactly 36 times in front of Pictures isn’t the true Highway Song so Fuck The System and your Ego Brain if you want to survive the Thetawaves and play Roulette to Streamline your car.

Now you Mezmerize for the Soldier Side Intro since it’s easier than B.Y.O.B. or taking Revenga against the Cigaro man who’s on the Radio/Video and when This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m On This Song you watch a Violent Pornography that answers your Question! Then the Sad Statue in Old School Hollywood gets you Lost In Hollywood.

Finally you Hypnotize and Attack the Dreaming people who Kill Rock‘n’Roll and Hypnotize for Stealing Society is a Tentative thing that eats U-Fig and the Holy Mountains are in the Vicinity of Obscenity because She’s Like Heroin on a Lonely Day with the Soldier Side.

Once again, the Bold Italics are Album titles and the Bold are Album tracks. System Of A Down is produced by Rick Rubin, who just brought you Minutes to Midnight.

Linkin Park Discography

2007-05-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

Double Post Bitches!!

In my Hybrid Theory I got a Papercut that took me One Step Closer to being With You while rebelling against the Points Of Authority that are Crawling or being a Runaway but By Myself I realize In The End I found A Place For My Head that I had Forgotten while searching for the Cure For The Itch as you were Pushing Me Away.

During your Reanimation you went through the Opening of the new Pts.Of.Athrty which Enth E Nd your [Chali] had Frgt/10 what it was like P5shing Me A*wy so you could see the Plc.4 Mie HÆd with an X-Ecutioner Style that was H! Vltg3 against [Riff Raff] that were Wth>You on their Ntr\Mission for a Ppr:Kut or to be a Rnw@y for My "<"dsmbr when [Stef] was By_Myslf finding a Kyur4 Th Ich that was 1stp Klosr to Krwlng.

But as the Meteora falls I was Foreword enough to say Don’t Stay because I was Somewhere I Belong and not Lying From You or trying to Hit The Floor because it’s Easier To Run and Faint while doing a Figure.09 for Breaking The Habit and From The Inside you know Nobody’s Listening to your Session that’s gone Numb.

And when you’re on your Collision Course you can’t keep your sentences straight or that Dirt Off Your Shouler/Lying From You is hard while I’m a Big Pimpin’/Papercut from Jigga What/Faint is worse than being Numb/Encore because they love Izzo/In The End your Points Of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer are just totally fucked.

We’re approaching Minutes to Midnight so I Wake and remember that I’ve Given Up my sleep to Leave Out All The Rest so I can Bleed It Out while seeing the Shadow Of The Day and recall What I’ve Done as I keep my Hands Held High so I feel No More Sorrow on Valentine’s Day that’s In Between the people In Pieces which are The Little Things That Give You Away.

Like the Finger Eleven Discography, the Bold Italics are Album Titles of the Linkin Park discs while the Bold are all of the tracks on each.

Corporate Challenge.

2007-05-27T00:47:00.001-07:00

"I'm a Corporate Whore."
"And how."

Err ... wait ... well ... wait ... yeah.

The 2007 Corporate Challenge officially kicked off on Friday May 25th, coincidentally my brother's birthday and the opening day for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Coca-Cola didn't enter, my bosses stated that it was the beginning of our busiest season, and they couldn't let that many guys off work and this and that and every other excuse.

That's probably for the best, I'm not sure I would get WCB coverage when I wipe out on the Terwillegar mountain bike trail. So despite not being a part of a team, I nonetheless went to the opening ceremonies that were held right across from Northlands, just off of 112th Ave. All because I ended up getting volunteered to help the ATCO I-tek team with their opening ceremonies rap song.

I can't rap. But that's okay because Stuart rapped. I biked. Except I was expecting an actual stage to bike across and figured I'd just zip across the stage and then bunny hop right off. Imagine my surprise when the "stage" was just grass. Great. But there was food, I saw SNC-Lavalin there and was quite tempted to bug them, and on top of it, I was made an honorary I-tek member.

But only for the duration of the challenge.

I did all of that before work on Friday, and then decided to heed the call to volunteer at WEM on the Saturday for the Unknown Challenge. Problem was, it fucking started at 8:30AM, and when you work until 5:30AM ... well ... Denny's coffee isn't too bad. I wasn't the only one to heed the call, Andrea and Chloe were there, and Crystal who had asked for our help. I hadn't seen any of them since last year. ... wait ... was anyone else at Akkiko? No, just Andrea. Okay, so I lied. Get over it.

And last year I was bald. Now I'm not. Threw Chloe for a small loop, and Crystal. So we all signed up (not at once, Andrea was there at 7 or 7:30 apparently), I had my name misread about a dozen times, and I remembered that I should have signed in Hiragana instead of the scribbles I once pretended to call "english", 'cause holy man, it throws people for a loop. So remember when I was made an honorary member of the I-tek team? Well, they gave me a shirt.

So did the Volunteer people. My coke shirt was dirty, so I changed into the I-tek shirt they gave me, and when I did that, that team went all "wait, you're volunteering, but you're wearing an I-tek shirt ... won't they think you're cheating?". But, with another shirt, I changed ... and as soon as I changed I realized I did so in front of the rest of the volunteers. Man, good thing I'm not too ashamed of my torso. Both scars have started fading.

Chloe and I were sent to Challenge number 3, the Murder Mystery room, in which a one way ticket to chaos and back (quick, name the song lyric I just butchered!) was held. Chloe is quite good at being an evil line person, while I switched constantly between registering new teams, taking the list of names to Chloe and riling the teams up.

"EPCOR huh? Hoo boy, you should have heard the smack-talk I-tek was throwing down about you guys."
"ATCO Pipelines huh? Man, EPCOR was talking trash about you guys, saying you should be like I-tek and just hide"
"ATCO Gas? Pipelines said something about your mothers while they were here. Pipelines that is, not your mothers."
"ATCO Electric? Well, Gas says you smell, TransAlta called, they want the rights back for the light-bug, and SNC told me they were going to buy you out like AltaLink."

Surprisingly only two teams got all pissed about the order they were put in, and another team failed to grasp the concept that when 177 teams are roaming around the mall, a 20-minute wait to get into the room could last forever. Hats off to UMA for letting the girly company with an extremely long name that didn't even fit on our registration sheets (and their name ended with Council) go first after they were whining like babies just to shut them up. I've never seen a team so proud of being whiners before.

After the events ended, we cleaned up and left, wandering around the mall, wondering what to do. I made it to the other side when Stuart told me they were all meeting where I had originally started for lunch. Fuck. Along the way I'm pretty sure I made things awkward, but I hadn't had caffeine in me for several hours, and what I did have left and took my energy with it. That was a fun drive home ... NOT.

So it turns out that I-tek placed 6th or 7th or something ... they didn't get any medals. Hah, I guess they chose the wrong lyrics for their rap song. Thankfully I'm busy next Saturday shooting a moving tree named Goertz with paintballs, but the week after that I'll probably go down to Terwillegar to see Stuart wipe out.

Man, what a supportive friend I am.

...

Hey, if I wipe out, he's got to as well.

Whoops, Past the Minutes to Midnight.

2007-05-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to post a follow up to my last post, specifically about what I thought about the album. Well, better late than never right?

I want to point out right now that when I copied the music onto my computer the tracks copied with completely different names. For example, song 4 is listed on the CD jacket and booklet as "Bleed It Out", but when ripped to my computer, it was suddenly titled as "What I've Done". That song is listed as track 6 by the jacket and booklet, but is now titled "Little Things That Give You Away" (track 12). Odd, no? But oui. My drives have had problems when it comes to properly getting information from CDs before, so I simply used WMP to search for track and album information.

Lo and behold, Microsoft believed there were over a dozen bonus tracks hiding on the CD somewhere, including a version of QWERTY, the track they use on LPTV for their episode intros and outros. Leave it MS to screw things up. Moving on, for the whole two lurkers out there who take the time out of their day to read this blog ...

... Steve ...

It really is a good album, with a mix of song types for all to enjoy. Maybe it's just me, since I seem to enjoy nearly every sort of music out there. My favorites include Wake, Given Up, What I've Done, Hands Held High and No More Sorrow. The rest are all good, but these to me are a cut above.

Also, I think this is the first time I've heard Chester Bennington swear on a studio track. Mike swearing isn't anything too new, just listen to Fort Minor.

Besides, at the very least you can bring your Linkin Park Discography up to date.

Many Minutes to Midnight

2007-05-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

So last night (Sunday May 13th a.k.a. Mother's Day) was the Worldwide Launch of the new Linkin Park album, titled "Minutes to Midnight". The band was in New York for the interview, and throughout they played 6 new songs, "What I've Done" included. Now, I've heard a lot of their stuff, from their three albums, the mash-up with Jay-Z, their Underground works, live DVDs and more but I have to say that I think their new album is going to rock.

Maybe even old school.

More on this tomorrow, when Minutes to Midnight is available in stores.

An image of one's self

2007-04-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

Now, in my opinion, you create this image of yourself. Maybe other people don't or can't see it the same way you do, but maybe that doesn't matter. For example, I'm a hockey fan, but only recently. Likewise, I've only recently started to play hockey, and I'm not horrible at it, but I think Ty Conklin could kick my ass and he's a goalie. Regardless of my skills, I cheer for the Edmonton Oilers, my home team. I'm born and raised in the City of Champions, and I have to say my starting year of watching hockey was an excellent one.

The Oilers barely squeaked into the playoffs, gaining the number 8 spot and thus playing the Detroit Red Wings, ranked number 1 of the 2005-2006 season. Well, long story short, we eventually kicked their asses and moved to the second round against the San Jose Sharks, then to the Western Conference Finals versus the Might Ducks of Anaheim. Finally, we dragged out the Cup Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes to game 7 where we ultimately lost 3-1. Still, very close and very fun.

This year the Oilers lost their chance to make the Playoffs long before the regular season ended, but our rivals, the Calgary Flames are currently battling it out with Detroit. The rivalry between our two teams is strong, but I'd rather see the Flames win over an American team, especially since they're an Albertan team. Unfortunately, if they do make it past the first round and in the unlikely event all the way to the Cup Finals, they'll be bragging about that until the Apocalypse.

I have a friend down in Calgary whom I just recently sent a short story about hockey. It touches upon conflicting values and the image of one's self, if discreetly. The question I ask myself is taken more seriously this year than it would have been last year. Have I betrayed my own image?

The answer? Probably not. It's just a game, and it's just a short story. Yet, if my coworkers knew about it, I would probably never hear the end of it.

Now I digress. The story is to follow. Post a comment or two on it, or about this post. Or both. Or Not.

Hockey

He could hear the crowd roaring and chanting even from the locker rooms. He could remember the times he chanted along to the crowd from bars, from home, from anywhere there was a TV and sound. “LET’S GO OILERS!” they all said. And there were a lot of them. It was a sellout crowd for Rexall Place as usual; over 13,000 people were crammed into the stadium, eagerly awaiting their beloved team to take to the ice.

His friends were among the crowd waiting for the hockey players, some had season passes, while others had bought tickets just to see him play tonight. “You alright? You look like you’re going to puke.” The team captain asked.

He slowed his breathing a little and looked at his captain. “I haven’t been this nervous since I was drafted.”

“Relax, you’ll do fine out there. I need you to do fine out there. Back me up like always, and show me some of that skill that got you your hat trick last game.”

The team jersey looked so natural on the captain, and every other player in the locker room. But it seemed out of place on a rookie like him. He wasn’t one of those kids who played hockey since he was born; he had only recently learned to stop properly. It wasn’t his first dream to play in the NHL and be signed for a nice contract, but it had certainly crossed his mind like everyone else’s. It was certainly a factor contributing to his mounting nervousness.

But another reason stood out in his mind. This game would decide who would take the last spot of the playoffs. Being the team in the number 8 spot didn’t mean much when it came to the playoffs; many teams had beaten the regular season’s number 1 team and moved past the first round.

They shuffled out of the locker room, listening to the announcer over the speakers. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to Rexall Place for the last game of the 2007-2008 season, and the last Battle of Alberta!”

He was about to step onto the ice when a thought flashed through his head. It wasn’t the first time it came up, and it wouldn’t be the last. Jerome Iginla turned around expectantly and waved for him to step into the rink.

“I wonder what it would be like if the Oilers signed me?”

It didn’t matter right now. Iginla took his spot on the right wing, he took his left wing, Miikka Kiprusoff stood ready to block any and every shot that came his way past Dion Phaneuf’s defense. The puck dropped, and he was damned if he was going to blow his team’s chance to win a second Stanley Cup just because he was an Oilers fan.

The game started with high-octane action. Yelle poked the puck back to Phaneuf who passed it to Iginla. Jerome deaked out Sykora and Hemsky, skating over the blue line. He followed quickly, brushing past Staios’ attempts to block him. Roloson kept his eyes on the puck, watching as Iginla used a backhand pass to get it across to the rink to the open left winger.

Everything slowed as he received the pass, skated a few more feet, watching the goalie shift to face him, and then brought his stick back and lowered his center of gravity. The puck was cradled perfectly in the curve of the blade as he rifled a shot off. He could hear the crowd go silent as the puck lifted a few inches from the surface of ice, he could hear the breathing of Staios, now right behind him, he could hear the sounds of Iginla skating forward to be ready for a rebound shot if necessary.

But as the puck flew towards the net and the goaltender, he wondered ever so briefly if he was placing his friends in an awkward position. To cheer for a member of the Calgary Flames while in Edmonton, surrounded by people you knew, people you worked with, lived with, conversed with, in the City of Champions it was almost unthinkable.

And then Roloson made his move to block the shot aimed right for the five hole. The first shot of the game, less than 20 seconds into the first period, would it be saved, or would it give the Flames an early chance to pull far ahead of their rivals?

His eyes closed as the puck passed the crease and the next thing he knew Iginla and Yelle were hugging him, a motion made awkward from the chest pads they wore as they skated back to center ice. But the question would haunt him every time he or another member of the Flames took a shot.

Finger Eleven Discography

2007-04-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Because I'm so lame on a Saturday night.

To Tip in the Quicksand, you must first Tip and Shudder while you're Awake and Dreaming because you're Above the Condenser of Thin Spirits that take a Glimpse of a Costume for a Gutterball while dancing in the Temporary Arms of a Swallowtail.

But when you face The Greyest of Blue Skies for the First Time it'll Drag You Down to My Carousel and make you Sick of it All like the dedication For the Ocean that will Broken Word will Suffocate on and all your Bones + Joints will be Famous for Walking in My Shoes until you Stay and Drown.

Out of 10 Finger Eleven knows the Other Light brings Complicated Questions that make you Stay in Shadow for Good Times to get those Absent Elements for your Thousand Mile Wish to have Conversations with The Last Scene of Struggling like a Panic Attack followed by Therapy that shows you One Thing like your Obvious Heart.

And when it's Them vs. You vs. Me with only a Paralyzer for Falling On you know that I'll Keep your Memory Vague because I Lost My Way in this So-So Suicide and now sing the Window Song for a Sense of Spark that comes from Talking to Walls while trying to Change the World so you Gather + Give because this fight is Them vs. You vs. Me and really it's an Easy Life.

The words in bold italics are the titles of the Finger Eleven albums, and the bold words are the tracks on each album. So whaddya think?

I come before you today

2007-04-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

not as a writer, but as a reader.

I've been interested in reading since I knew how to read, which was long before I got interested in writing. Mostly what I read were published works in papers, magazines or books. You know it has to be somewhat decent, having to pass by editors and publishers alike who have visions of what you should write whether you like it or not. And then I started writing myself, and that's when all hell broke loose.

Up until about 2003 or early 2004, the stories I wrote were fairly bad, the plot was probably the only exceptional about them, but the way it was executed drained everything out of it. Characters were flat one-dimensional nondescript people, and good guys always won with few or no problems, and bad guys lost. It took a man to break me out of the wall I had found myself inevitably a part of. Ramza Lionheart, self proclaimed Black Swordsman, if by any remote chance you're reading this, I just want to thank you for everything you've done. Or really, for that one review you left me ... or maybe it was a response to a review I sent you. Regardless, it certainly opened my eyes.

Reading his works was nothing short of amazing. He had the talent, the brains and the imagination to pull off complicated story lines, humor and action quite well. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he made it onto the publishing scene and shattered it like he tends to do. He and I stayed in contact for a while and then things happened and we went our separate ways.

While searching for a way to plug a DVD player into a TV through only a coax port, I discovered a CD with an unfinished story from 2002. Over 4 years old, it had lain in wait, patiently waiting to be finished. Well, it'll have to wait a little longer I'm afraid, but reading it after such a long time, it gave me a good chuckle. It was a classic example of how I always wanted the good guys to win, all of them. In some ways, DragonBall Z helped that mindset grow, because of the Dragon Balls, good guys who died could be wished back. But in watching other shows, people who died stayed dead.

How's this for a polar opposite? Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of the Gundam saga, ended up earning the nickname "Kill 'Em All" Tomino for the number of named character deaths in Zeta Gundam and Victory Gundam. Reportedly he was in a depression when he made those two series, and he even wants to strike V Gundam out of the UC Timeline because he's over his depression and doesn't like it. Now I've watched both series (as well as most Gundam out there) and have seen the reactions garnered from killing everyone off.

You can't please everyone right? I sent "This Is War" to a friend of mine and she loved it. Other people found it mildly depressing. The choice I now have to make is how far am I willing to go? Which people am I trying to please? But that's actually going off topic from what this started out for.

Back on topic now. Ramza nuked my writing world, and I changed for the better. I used to frequent Fanfiction.net, perusing through the stories and seeing all of the ideas, some which were enticingly original, and others which were carbon copies of crap (no this ain't going to be an alliteration speech like V's from V for Vendetta). Late last night I came across a collection of short stories or drabbles which perked my interest.

It had to be the most original thing I've ever read this year, and probably most of last year. I sent her a PM over FF.net which apparently blew her away. All I did was let her know how good her stories were and that I'd be looking forward to reading more.

Sometimes you get a message that changes your world. It happens in more ways than one. The way I changed her world is completely different from how Ramza changed mine. Positive reinforcement. I simply spoke my views as a reader.

My current project "The Paradise War" starts out well enough. The problem I'm worried about is I'll fall into old habits that die hard. That is my main downfall as an author.

I've come before you today not as a writer, but as a reader. Take a couple of minutes and encourage talent. Life isn't always about you, sometimes it's about the other person.

It's a Double Feature!

2007-03-31T00:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, today I bring you not only a short story, but also one of those internet quizzes that involves your mp3 player. So, quiz first:

If Your Life Had a Soundtrack
Opening credits: Temple of Time - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remix OST
Waking up: Guts - Berserk OST
Average day: Prophecy by Soulfly - MTV Headbanger's Ball, Volume 2 Disc 1
First date: Push It by Static-X, Wisconsin Death Trip
Falling in love: I want It All by Queen, Platinum Collection Volume 2 of 3
Love scene: Pushing Me Away - The String Quartet Tribute to Linkin Park
Fight scene: Unidentified Enemy by Hiroshi Watanabe - Berserk: Chapter of the Millennium Falcon OST
Breaking up: Jakobz Ladder by Project Wyze - Misfits, strangers, liars, friends
Getting back together: Let's Go, Come on by Super Eurobeat - Super Eurobeat presents Initial D: Fourth Stage
Secret love: Pain Inside by Adema - Adema
Life's Okay: Tree of the Dead by Tyler bates - 300: The Battle of Thermopylae OST
Mental breakdown: Question! by System of A Down - Mesmerize
Driving: The Fight Song by Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood (In The Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Learning a lesson: Fatality by Loaded - Mortal Kombat: More Kombat
Deep thought: Falling to Pieces by Thornley - Come Again
Flashback: The Encounter - Initial D Live Action OST
Partying: Forgiven by Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
Happy dance: Rock Star by N.E.R.D. (Feat. Jason Nevins) - She Wants To Move
Regreting: Movin' Up Moving Now by Super Eurobeat - Super Eurobeat presents Initial D: Fourth Stage
Long night alone: Starship Troopers Theme
Death scene: Savior - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Disc 2
Closing credits: The Wolf by Tyler Bates - 300: The Battle of Thermopylae

... You know, for having 1000 songs on there right now (and more to come), there's quite a few repeat albums. Meh, most of them work quite well.

Now onto the Story!

This Is War

Warfare/Sci-fi

The flashes from the muzzles of the artillery very briefly lit the area, serving to let the enemy know that another salvo had been fired. Smaller flares from machine gun nests shot over the distance as the tracer bullets lit the darkened sky. The otherwise brilliant moon couldn’t penetrate the haze of clouds and smoke.

Several men were using various objects as cover for their advance, they were trying to join up with the rest of their platoon and engage the enemy head on. With all the jamming from both sides, satellites and even homing beacons were useless, and no one wanted to send up a signal flare to mark their position, it would probably invite certain death.

Armored boots crunched over the soil and grass and bits of concrete as one soldier came to hide behind what was once a pillar. His elbow pads clicked faintly against the concrete and then he slid down to one of his armored knees to peer around it. Other men rushed past him, the rustling of their fabric audible to him as they passed. Everything seemed so much louder when they were trying to be quiet. He waited a few seconds, scanning behind him with his helmet – one of the few pieces of tech that hadn’t been jammed in this war – and then moved forwards again, continuing the leapfrog.

They had gained almost one hundred meters of ground when bullets hissed past them. “Close.” The man muttered but continued onwards. They didn’t return fire, for all they knew, the enemy was simply firing at random for targets of opportunity, or to scare them into thinking they had been discovered.

But when a bullet snapped right beside him into the former building foundation, he knew that they knew for certain. Crouching down again, he looked over at a few of the men he was with, hiding some meters away under their own piece of rubble. They cocked the hammers on their rifles and readied themselves. He took a deep breath to calm the shakes that were starting, and as his team swung their rifles overtop of the rubble, he did as well and they opened fire as one entity.

It was blinding and deafening, he could barely tell if his rifle was firing or not amidst the noise. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a man go down from a shot to the throat – one of the few body parts unprotected – and then somebody yelled “Grenade!”

The explosion outdid the noise and light from the rifles and threw them all. He felt pain all over, and noticed that some of his body was warm while other parts were cold. His rifle was nowhere to be seen and his helmet was missing as well. Painfully he sat up and felt the fragments of metal shift in his body. Wounded, definitely bleeding and obviously in a bad situation.

Boots crunched soil, grass and bits of concrete as many pairs approached the area where he sat. The lit visors that surrounded him weren’t blue like the one he once had, but red. His enemies. They could see him as he pulled a grenade from his vest and hold it out and he could feel the rifles aimed at him as they all waited for what he would do. “This is war.” He said and pulled the pin.

As the grenade dropped to the ground the soldiers pulled their triggers and it was a nanosecond race between the bullets and the grenade to see which would kill the man first. But with all the light and noise, he couldn’t really tell.

Or even care.

It was war.

--
This is what happens when you dream of Clones, mixed with Coke. It's gotten a few good words from a trusted friend.

Adios!

Ninja ... VANISH! *p00f!*

ShirtNinja Theater Presents: Inner Visions (c)2007 Kiyoshi Perkins

Round One

2007-03-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to me giving into everyone on the internet. I remember back in the day I used to have a blog that I shared with my friend and creator of WorkBytes.net, and all we'd do is create sentences out of track listings on CDs. It was pretty fun and we or I might end up doing that again sooner or later.

I personally run the HTML creation and maintenance of WorkBytes.net, having created now three different versions including the current format of the site. The title is an obvious pun and the comic itself was based off of life in a call center and soon grew past that. But all of that information is available under the Creators tab on the site. This is about blogging.

I read various blogs and livejournals, though most of them are the same at heart, places for people to pour their hearts and/or troubles out where people can decide whether or not to take the time to actually read them. And it gets addicting. Though I'm bad at guaranteeing, this blog is mainly going to be a place to post quick story ideas and random chapters from whatever I'm working on. It helps keep my mind focused on the big picture, or the main title I'm trying to work on.

And when in doubt, I follow Heinlein's Rules for Writing (author of Starship Troopers):
1 You Must Write.
2 You Must Finish what you Write
3 You Must Refrain from Rewritting, except for Editing
4 You Must Put the Work on the Market
5 You Must Keep the Work on the Market until it is Sold

"Writing is nothing to be ashamed of. But do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."

My current big title is "The Paradise War", a work in progress that originated out of my desire to leave mecha fighting for a while and go back to old-fashioned fighters in space. The idea and plot quickly formed for the 2005 Nation Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org) which was sent to me by a friend from the States.

In 2006 I put that idea aside to work on "The Prodigy", an idea created solely to compete in the 2006 NaNo. In early 2007 I picked "The Paradise War" back up, dusted it off and resumed writing, and shortly thereafter, I created the idea of "Inner Visions" to keep all the various ideas unusable for "The Paradise War" in check.

"Inner Visions" is going to be a collection of short stories, poems and quick rhythm and rhymes that pollute my head. I cannot afford to stop writing one book to start another and then drop the second and go back to the first, so instead they get logged. Whether or not Inner Visions actually gets published is another matter entirely, but one might consider this publishing, according to some rule about publishing.

Thus is why the stories posted here will seem short and quick. They are ideas given five minutes of time, nothing more. And of course the random internet quizzes. So I fare thee well after having to read all that text, and I hope you'll be back to read my future posts.

Adios!

Ninja ... VANISH! *p00f!*

ShirtNinja Theater Presents: Inner Visions (c)2007 Kiyoshi Perkins