Total Star Wars butchery!
7/19/2005
This is why.
"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness."
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Chapter 1
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness."
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Chapter 1
7/17/2005
Whee.
So, I'm on vacation - w00t. It's actually quite nice. We're out in the middle of Colorado at Steamboat Springs. On top of that, I've got about 30+ members of my family here, actually from all over the world (mostly from the corners of the US, but also one person from India. Personally, I think my favorite part of this vacation is that there seems to be no specific plans as of yet. I mean, I'm really looking forward to doing all the fun hiking, mountan climbing, tubing, etc, but it also seems like if we want to just sit outside and soak in the atmosphere and read a book, we can! (This is a rare occurence on our vacations - normally they're quite packed with things every minute.
Let's see... what all has happened since my last post at 5/27? Quite a bit - for those of you who have spent time with me in Austin, you know I've been damn busy at work, and taking care of my bike. That's been most of my time, especially since my boss was out because of his new baby for two weeks, and my boss' boss was out for a week on vacation, so I got to be the sole member of the build team during a few publishes and hotfixes - definately an enlightening experience. O_O But fun nonetheless (not for long periods though, >_<)
Moved into my new beautiful place, which is AWESOME - it's nice and big, and is finally getting cleaned up - even Vincent feels at home.
That, and Sean got married at the end of June - congrats Sean and Mel! You're both absolutely wonderful! ^_^ And my best man speech seemed to go off without a hitch, which I can't necessarily say for one of the other toasts, during which Sean was constantly uttering, "I can't believe he's saying this in front of my relatives..." =P
And then Kim and I got to visit DC a little with Chamal and Phoebe, which was a whole lotta fun. ^_^
And then more weddings, went back to Houston with Kim to see a hugemongous Hindu and Catholic wedding, of which my mom and relatives kept dropping hints about marriage. So subtle... so subtle... *laughs*
Anyways, so that's the narrative of what I've been up to (for the most part). Probably more to come.
Let's see... what all has happened since my last post at 5/27? Quite a bit - for those of you who have spent time with me in Austin, you know I've been damn busy at work, and taking care of my bike. That's been most of my time, especially since my boss was out because of his new baby for two weeks, and my boss' boss was out for a week on vacation, so I got to be the sole member of the build team during a few publishes and hotfixes - definately an enlightening experience. O_O But fun nonetheless (not for long periods though, >_<)
Moved into my new beautiful place, which is AWESOME - it's nice and big, and is finally getting cleaned up - even Vincent feels at home.
That, and Sean got married at the end of June - congrats Sean and Mel! You're both absolutely wonderful! ^_^ And my best man speech seemed to go off without a hitch, which I can't necessarily say for one of the other toasts, during which Sean was constantly uttering, "I can't believe he's saying this in front of my relatives..." =P
And then Kim and I got to visit DC a little with Chamal and Phoebe, which was a whole lotta fun. ^_^
And then more weddings, went back to Houston with Kim to see a hugemongous Hindu and Catholic wedding, of which my mom and relatives kept dropping hints about marriage. So subtle... so subtle... *laughs*
Anyways, so that's the narrative of what I've been up to (for the most part). Probably more to come.
7/16/2005
*tumbleweed rolls by*
So, it's been a long time since I've updated - sorry (to all my loyal readers, ie: me). Anyways, I'm in Denver right now with my family and I will definately update again. In the meantime:
damn right!
damn right!
5/27/2005
5/22/2005
4/28/2005
Son of a...
Yeah, so today SUCKED. A lot.
First off, my cat hasn't let me sleep for th last three days, so I'm exhausted. Oy. -_-
And I had two critical bugs that showed up at work today, one out on live that I can't replicate it, so I can't fix it, and the other a server crash for our QA team, that the cores (snapshot of the program when it crashed) were purged from, so the only way I can fix it is to wait for another server to crash again. -_-
Also, I know that it's impossible to write perfect code, but it's also really depressing being responsible for bugs that make it out - it's just a total downer and makes me feel like crap, plus it's noone's fault but my own. Looks like I just need to double, triple check my code better. *sigh*
On a positive note, my name is in the credits of a video game! That's friggin awesome ^_^, so if you play Star Wars Galaxies, click on the credits, and you'll see my name in the credits. w00t!
The new Batman trailer is out - which looks AWESOME, definately go check that out. It looks much closer to the comic, and it's just more real than the previous ones. The world feels like it could actually exist. I'm excited to see it.
Penny Arcade has an awesome spoof of Star Wars and current television.
I'm still looking at motorcycles, and in a strange turn of events, Kim has gone from total fear of them to interest! She even wants to try to ride mine once I get it. We're gonna go look at some this weekend... can't wait ^_^ - I almost physically drool over the different paint jobs on the YZF-R6.
I've been more artistically inspired as of late - starting to see beauty in the little things in life again (I wonder if it's the lack of sleep o_O). Anyways, I really like Megatokyo, there's a frame or two that stood out to me in todays. It's amazing how much emotion you can portray in one image. The female in this strip is very dark, (as can be seen through most of the strip / comic), but in the second to last frame, a total emotional shift is made in her countenance, of vulnerability. Beautifully done. I wish I could make things like that again.
We have no phone in our apartment, and it doesn't look like it's going to be fixed, and we barely have an internet connection. Suck.
First off, my cat hasn't let me sleep for th last three days, so I'm exhausted. Oy. -_-
And I had two critical bugs that showed up at work today, one out on live that I can't replicate it, so I can't fix it, and the other a server crash for our QA team, that the cores (snapshot of the program when it crashed) were purged from, so the only way I can fix it is to wait for another server to crash again. -_-
Also, I know that it's impossible to write perfect code, but it's also really depressing being responsible for bugs that make it out - it's just a total downer and makes me feel like crap, plus it's noone's fault but my own. Looks like I just need to double, triple check my code better. *sigh*
On a positive note, my name is in the credits of a video game! That's friggin awesome ^_^, so if you play Star Wars Galaxies, click on the credits, and you'll see my name in the credits. w00t!
The new Batman trailer is out - which looks AWESOME, definately go check that out. It looks much closer to the comic, and it's just more real than the previous ones. The world feels like it could actually exist. I'm excited to see it.
Penny Arcade has an awesome spoof of Star Wars and current television.
I'm still looking at motorcycles, and in a strange turn of events, Kim has gone from total fear of them to interest! She even wants to try to ride mine once I get it. We're gonna go look at some this weekend... can't wait ^_^ - I almost physically drool over the different paint jobs on the YZF-R6.
I've been more artistically inspired as of late - starting to see beauty in the little things in life again (I wonder if it's the lack of sleep o_O). Anyways, I really like Megatokyo, there's a frame or two that stood out to me in todays. It's amazing how much emotion you can portray in one image. The female in this strip is very dark, (as can be seen through most of the strip / comic), but in the second to last frame, a total emotional shift is made in her countenance, of vulnerability. Beautifully done. I wish I could make things like that again.
We have no phone in our apartment, and it doesn't look like it's going to be fixed, and we barely have an internet connection. Suck.
4/24/2005
Childhood...
So anybody who really knows me and has talked to me on a personal level knows that I don't remember much of my childhood. I'm not really sure why - all I get is small bits and pieces, little shards of memories, like individual pages ripped out of a novel.
I came across a link (included later this post) that reminded me of one part of my childhood - Final Fantasy III (VI Japanese). Man, does that bring back memories. I remember begging my mom to go pick it up for me right when it came out, and I remember how excited I was when I was actually holding the box in my hands - it was close to winter time if I remember right, and I was SO excited to sit down and start playing it. It's pretty amazing how a little image of a box can bring back all these memories of childhood joy - I can practically see myself as a kid in my old living room staring at the box with a big, goofy smile on my face.
Anyways, that game has a lot of memories attached with it - I remember constantly playing it, I remember being pretty young - looking at the release date, I guess I was thirteen. I remmeber Mike would come over all the time and watch, because he hadn't got a copy yet - man, that was fun. I don't know if I've ever got as caught up in a video game plot as that one. For any of you who say that video games are not a respectful story-telling medium and that a chunk of pixels cannot create emotion, I say you have never experienced the Opera scene of FFIII - it's a spectacular piece indeed. I think I actually shed a tear or two when I played it (I know I did in later replays of it). That, and the final section of the game was just awesome - it was like living an epic. I guess it was just easier to immerse a kid back then - I'm glad it was that way. Even listening to the music brings me back... man, I need to play that again...
I had been looking for the original ads for a long time - the real debut of Mog in a large role - as a badass ;) Thanks to the internet, I finally found 'em! I wish I could higher quality pictures of them, though... Part 1...Part 2...
Anyways, the thing that reminded me of it was this - a spoof of the ending of it where the PSP is trying to take over the world and the other game systems are trying to fight it off. If you've beat FFVI and have a knowledge of old game systems, this is actually the funniest thing EVER. ^_^
Yeah. Work is going crazy, I'm getting close to finishing the project I've been working on for two weeks (soooo close....), and with CU and EP3 going out very soon, things are only going to get crazier. But it's all good. ^_^
I've been thinking of getting a motorcycle - a dream a couple weeks back brought it on. It doesn't help that a week or so after that, my roomate got the fastest bike on the planet - not exaggerating - the Limited Edition Suzuki Hayabusa. Now I would never want to get a bike that expensive or that powerful, especially since I've never driven a motorcycle.
I think I found one of the reasons I want it, too - I always loved riding a bicycle when I was a kid, I'd bet this is an extension of that - the agility and openness of riding in a bike, it really appeals to me. And for anyone who thinks this is a terrible idea, keep in mind that I believe in driving safely. I DON'T intent to drive like a madman, or without safety gear. I fully intend to ride my bike (if / when I get one) like a responsible person at the speed limit and wear a helmet, gloves and padded jacket (I haven't tried any padded pants yet, so I dunno about that...)
Anywhoo, here are the ones I'm looking at: my boss, who's ridden on bikes more than he's driven in a car prefers cruisers and is strongly recommending the Honda Rebel, which is appealing because of the low price, and low power. But I really prefer the look of a sport bike, and I think I'd just constantly be waiting to sell it off and get a bike that is more visually appealing to my style as well.
The ones I'm seriously considering (in order of increasing power and price) are the Ninja 250R, a great low power bike at a low price - not the best looks in the world, but not too bad, my concern would be that I'd get tired of a low power bike and want one a little more powerful, not an issue with the others (all the minimums of the sport bike realm). That and I'm not sure my giant 6'2" self would really fit comfortably on it. The Ninja 500, a more powerful version, a little more sleek, looks nicer, and would probably last longer. The GS500F, supposedly another good but powerful starter bike, although the looks of it are a little goofy. The YZF600R , powerful, large, sleek and sexy, but the price matches it...
Really hard to decide, I want to get a nice bike, but I also don't want to ruin it, since it's my first one (the chance of laying it down...) So yeah, I dunno -_-. Then there's the, "if money were no object, and I already knew how to ride a bike" - the CBR600F4i, and the absolute top of my list - the sexy YZF-R1. Although it's probably good that I'm not even CONSIDERING either of those, cuz I would probably either destroy 8 - 10k of motorcycle, the chances are my killing myself are way too high o_O.
The other decision is new / used - both have their merits, most obvious being the price. New - brand new bike, guaranteed quality, but I have to tax, title and license. Used - might get a lot off the price, will probably already be broken in, but no guarantee on the quality of the bike, have to settle for some scratches or dings.
Anyways, so that's me - back to work tomorrow, and then to pack things up to get ready to move up north. How about you? How are you doing?
I came across a link (included later this post) that reminded me of one part of my childhood - Final Fantasy III (VI Japanese). Man, does that bring back memories. I remember begging my mom to go pick it up for me right when it came out, and I remember how excited I was when I was actually holding the box in my hands - it was close to winter time if I remember right, and I was SO excited to sit down and start playing it. It's pretty amazing how a little image of a box can bring back all these memories of childhood joy - I can practically see myself as a kid in my old living room staring at the box with a big, goofy smile on my face.
Anyways, that game has a lot of memories attached with it - I remember constantly playing it, I remember being pretty young - looking at the release date, I guess I was thirteen. I remmeber Mike would come over all the time and watch, because he hadn't got a copy yet - man, that was fun. I don't know if I've ever got as caught up in a video game plot as that one. For any of you who say that video games are not a respectful story-telling medium and that a chunk of pixels cannot create emotion, I say you have never experienced the Opera scene of FFIII - it's a spectacular piece indeed. I think I actually shed a tear or two when I played it (I know I did in later replays of it). That, and the final section of the game was just awesome - it was like living an epic. I guess it was just easier to immerse a kid back then - I'm glad it was that way. Even listening to the music brings me back... man, I need to play that again...
I had been looking for the original ads for a long time - the real debut of Mog in a large role - as a badass ;) Thanks to the internet, I finally found 'em! I wish I could higher quality pictures of them, though... Part 1...Part 2...
Anyways, the thing that reminded me of it was this - a spoof of the ending of it where the PSP is trying to take over the world and the other game systems are trying to fight it off. If you've beat FFVI and have a knowledge of old game systems, this is actually the funniest thing EVER. ^_^
Yeah. Work is going crazy, I'm getting close to finishing the project I've been working on for two weeks (soooo close....), and with CU and EP3 going out very soon, things are only going to get crazier. But it's all good. ^_^
I've been thinking of getting a motorcycle - a dream a couple weeks back brought it on. It doesn't help that a week or so after that, my roomate got the fastest bike on the planet - not exaggerating - the Limited Edition Suzuki Hayabusa. Now I would never want to get a bike that expensive or that powerful, especially since I've never driven a motorcycle.
I think I found one of the reasons I want it, too - I always loved riding a bicycle when I was a kid, I'd bet this is an extension of that - the agility and openness of riding in a bike, it really appeals to me. And for anyone who thinks this is a terrible idea, keep in mind that I believe in driving safely. I DON'T intent to drive like a madman, or without safety gear. I fully intend to ride my bike (if / when I get one) like a responsible person at the speed limit and wear a helmet, gloves and padded jacket (I haven't tried any padded pants yet, so I dunno about that...)
Anywhoo, here are the ones I'm looking at: my boss, who's ridden on bikes more than he's driven in a car prefers cruisers and is strongly recommending the Honda Rebel, which is appealing because of the low price, and low power. But I really prefer the look of a sport bike, and I think I'd just constantly be waiting to sell it off and get a bike that is more visually appealing to my style as well.
The ones I'm seriously considering (in order of increasing power and price) are the Ninja 250R, a great low power bike at a low price - not the best looks in the world, but not too bad, my concern would be that I'd get tired of a low power bike and want one a little more powerful, not an issue with the others (all the minimums of the sport bike realm). That and I'm not sure my giant 6'2" self would really fit comfortably on it. The Ninja 500, a more powerful version, a little more sleek, looks nicer, and would probably last longer. The GS500F, supposedly another good but powerful starter bike, although the looks of it are a little goofy. The YZF600R , powerful, large, sleek and sexy, but the price matches it...
Really hard to decide, I want to get a nice bike, but I also don't want to ruin it, since it's my first one (the chance of laying it down...) So yeah, I dunno -_-. Then there's the, "if money were no object, and I already knew how to ride a bike" - the CBR600F4i, and the absolute top of my list - the sexy YZF-R1. Although it's probably good that I'm not even CONSIDERING either of those, cuz I would probably either destroy 8 - 10k of motorcycle, the chances are my killing myself are way too high o_O.
The other decision is new / used - both have their merits, most obvious being the price. New - brand new bike, guaranteed quality, but I have to tax, title and license. Used - might get a lot off the price, will probably already be broken in, but no guarantee on the quality of the bike, have to settle for some scratches or dings.
Anyways, so that's me - back to work tomorrow, and then to pack things up to get ready to move up north. How about you? How are you doing?
4/23/2005
Random.
Who said video games aren't sexy?
http://www.psp-style.co.kr/
http://www.redassedbaboon.com/index.cfm?show=column_detail&id=17
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