The Wonderful World of Arxane

So perhaps one post a day is a bit too much. Still, at least I'm keeping myself fixed on it this time.

Unfortunately, the past week or so has been bad for writing, so nothing's gotten accomplished in that department. I'm still trying to settle into a groove concerning my classes, and I still have a bit of a ways to go before I can structure out the time I need to get some serious writing done. Still, things are looking up, at least. Now, i can at least recognize that time is available.

One of the big things I'm trying to do right now is find a good yet cheap bicycle. The parking at UCF during the day is awful - I often find myself driving around for 45 minutes to find a spot. Since I live about a mile from campus, a bike would be ideal to travel there. However, I want a good bike this time. I bought a Wal Mart bike when I was at OU over three years ago, and it fell apart after a year of usage. I don't want crap like that anymore, I want a good bike. Still, I've discovered that good bikes go for around $200+, and I'm not exactly wanting to spend that much. All I need is a good bike for commuting, one that's comfortable and sturdy (and cheap). Hopefully I can find one within the next few days, because driving up to campus at eight in the morning every day to beat the parking rush is getting tiring.

Until next time, have a good one.

Not much to say tonight. Today's been mostly dealing with some issues that have cropped up. Hopefully I'll be able to resolve them within the next couple days, if not by tomorrow. Needless to say, nothing else got done, sadly.

Until next time, have a good one.

College football is underway (finally!) and with it comes the joy of rooting for your team while praying they won't suck as much as you assume they did last season. For me, it's time to see if the Oklahoma Sooners can actually overcome that accursed bowl game hump that's afflicted them the past five BCS games. I mean, aside from a thrilling defensive-stop in the Holiday Bowl against Oregon in 2005, there hasn't been much to cheer about lately in Sooner Land when it comes to the bowls. Losing to LSU in 2003 and being thrashed by UCS in 2004 was bad enough, but then to play Goliath to the David that was Boise State in 2006 and be humiliated by West Virginia in 2007...Bobby Stoops had better right the ship this year or some fans might actually *gasp* consider the probability of possibily finding the coals that maybe will be used to warm a hot seat for him.

But hey, as long as Stoops continues to beat Texas and expand his ever-growing Big XII Championship collection, he should be fine. Still, winning a BCS game every now and then sure wouldn't hurt, now would it?

The video game that's been occupying my time lately (and by "time," I mean 2 hours a day at most, in an effort to curb my procrastination) is Final Fantasy X-2. The reason why I'm playing it, oh, three hundred years after it was first release is simple: I had no desire to pick it up when it was first released. Now, I recognize that die-hard Final Fantasy fans hate FF X, about as much as they hate FF VIII (which I can understand). And yet I enjoyed FF X. Sure, it wasn't very deep and it abused its use of cinematics quite a bit, but overall I found it a very enjoyable experience. Now, I'm not going to say it's the best game in the series (god, no!), but it certainly left a good impression on me by the time I finished it (maybe it was those environments, because it certainly wasn't the mediocre voice acting).

Still, why pick up FF X-2 so long after finishing FF X? Well, buying it for $10 at Gamestop doesn't hurt. So here I am, playing through the first "true" sequel in the Final Fantasy series, and so far it's...well, it's all right. It's nothing deep (when one of the biggest selling points is a trio of hot-looking babes, things rarely are), but it hasn't done anything to make me toss my controller out the window. I'm not yet sure how I feel about the nonlinear mode of gameplay, but at least it has the courage to be different and not rehash the same thing. I'll need to play the thing more to fully gauge what the game is like, but I'm optimistic it'll hold my interest to the end, where Skies of Arcadia: Legends awaits me.

Concering my LoZ fic, I've finally started writing again, and wow, it's been a long time. I couldn't get much actual writing done because it's been a while since I wrote the last chapter, so I've mostly spent my time breezing through previous chapters. One thing that stood out for me is how poor my writing is, laced with repeating sentences and countless examples of purple prose. I can only hope I can improve things with my later chapters.

Until next time, have a good one.

LoZ: OoT: Chapter 62 - 1%

In high school, my contemporary American history teacher once commented that if you tried to compare your current self to a version of yourself even three years past, you would not recognize your younger self. These words stuck with me for some reason, and sitting where I am now, I can't help but recall them.

Three years ago, I was a fifth-year college senior getting ready to graduate from the University of Oklahoma, a shy nerd and a shut in who preferred to watch DVDs than do anything involving human contact. Today, I'm a first-year PhD student at the University of Central Florida, still a self-proclaimed nerd but now actively attempting to make some friends and is within the first few months of a relationship with a wonderful gal. I dare say if I met my three year younger self, I would not recognize him.

The past several months have certainly been some of the most dynamic of my life. The whole summer was dedicated to finishing a Masters thesis on a topic so esoteric that most people blink in bewilderment when I try to describe it to them. Overlapping that research, writing, and defending period of time was getting ready to move down to Orlando, approximately 1200 miles away from the state I've lived in for 11 years. And here I am, sitting in a place rented out with a roommate and into my first week of classes at UCF while still coming to grips with this entire new chapter in my life.

With that new chapter comes, I feel, a much needed overhaul of my writing schedule. It's no secret that my writing output these past few years has been minimal at best nonexistent at worst. And when I say "writing," I of course refer to a certain fan fic that I started working on during my first few years as an undergrad at OU. When I started writing it, I saw it as nothing more than a love letter to one of my favorite video games of all time, a novelization of the N64 classic Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I didn't think it would ilicit that much of a response when I posted the first few chapters on fanfiction.net, but instead sit among literally dozens of OoT novelizations that were posted on that site.

Boy, was I wrong.

With each successive chapter I posted to the fic, more and more people were reading it. Even now I'm amazed at how many people read the fic, and I felt very grateful at the number of people who enjoyed the story despite my unrefined writing style. I can remember feeling a sense of excitement with each chapter I wrote, and any criticism towards a story point or my writing style I gladly accepted to better myself as a writer.

So what happened, exactly?

The short answer is that I got lazy. Sure, other reasons were also applicable, including a heavy case of writer's block and a need to focus more on my studies as my work load grew more heavy, but none of that should explain why I haven't seriously updated the fic for well over two years. No, I can point the finger squarely at myself for why updates haven't been made to this fic, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Despite the semblence of truth found in my teacher's observation I stated above, one thing about me hasn't changed all that much: my profound ability to procrastinate. I can still remember several instances in college where I had an enormous project or homework assignment due, and I only started it the day before it was due. Hell, if my research professor hadn't kept an eye on me, I would've only started writing my Masters thesis a month before I was due to defend it. Even now I feel the urge to put things off, despite the fact that it will seriously hurt me somewhere down the line if I don't address it.

Well, I think it's time to address it. I think it's time to realize that I can no longer sit around and waste my time for no bloody reason. It's time for me to, to use a more colorful expression, get off my ass stir some shit up. And that includes getting back to work on that OoT fic. It's about time I finished what I started all those years ago and give back to all those people who've patiently (and not so patiently) waited for me to give them something deserving of their praise-worthy devotion to this pet project of mine. I can only hope I'll match that intensity with my writing - they deserve that much from me, and nothing less.

So, during this week, I shall finally get started on writing the next chapter of my fic. On top of that, I'm going to try and write something in this blog every day (or close to it). And as part of every entry, I'll include a progress report at the bottom that indicates how far I am with writing that chapter. With any luck, someone stumbling upon this pathetic blog of mine will see it and decide to keep me from relaxing so I can actually finish it. Let's see how that goes.

So, without further ado, it's time for me to sign off for today. Until next time, have a good one!

LoZ: OoT: Chapter 62 - 0%

Apparently, my time-management sucks. So far I've been able to do little with the time I have after writing my thesis. I really should look into doing something to manage my time better, like write out a schedule or get someone to make sure I'm doing something other than watching the NBA post-season (go Celtics!). Well, I still have about two months to sort things out before I have to defend my thesis, so with any luck I can get something going...hopefully.

Oh, and by the way, I'm moving to Florida at the end of the summer. Goodbye, Norman, hello, Olando!

One of the (many) things I'm trying to do these days is to read every night for at least an hour. My school work previously had rendered reading a luxury, but recently I've managed to find the time to read a book for just a little bit of time every evening. Most of the stuff I read is speculative fiction (read: fantasy and sci-fi, with a sprinkle of horror every now and then), and for the longest time that was basically all that I read.

That is, until the past month-and-a-half, during which I read one of the longest and more sluggish books I've ever read in my entire life. That book, my friends, is the Holy Bible.

Now, I must make it perfectly clear that I am not a Christian. I am not even a religious person; I instead consider myself nonreligious. Then why did I choose to read the Bible? Two reasons. First, I once was a Christian (a Methodist, specifically), and the most I had ever read of the Bible were short verses read aloud in Sunday School and youth group; I decided that reading the Bible as a nonreligious person would be a good opportunity to see exactly what the religious believe, as well as give Christianity one more chance to convince me of its beliefs (it didn't). Second, I've heard from many prominent atheists and Christians alike that most Christians have never actually the Bible beyond the most basic verses, so to read the Bible from cover to cover would be to do something many people of the Christian faith had never done.

I could use this opportunity to go into a long-winded review of the Bible and my deep thoughts on its contents, but I won't. Instead I will simply say that after closing the book upon the final page of Revelation, I can understand why many Christians have not read their most holy book entirely. The Bible, to put it bluntly, is a chore to read. It starts off interesting enough with some amazing stories in Genesis and the first half of Exodus, but things quickly go downhill when in the second half of Exodus it discusses the exact building materials and methods of the Tabernacle...twice!

Then comes Leviticus, where most Christians probably toss in the towel when trying to read through the whole Bible, as the book is merely a laundry list of laws that mostly don't apply to modern society. If they survive Leviticus and the almost equally mind-numbing Numbers, readers can later look forward to 1 and 2 Chronicles, which is a Cliff Notes version of the two Samuels and the two Kings. And how about Psalms, which is like reading a hymn book without the notes? And let's not forget about all of those prophets - Amos, Habbakuk, Obadaiah, etc. - who basically repeat the same stuff over and over.

Then, upon getting through the Old Testament, which takes up about 7/10s of the Bible, the reader can begin the New Testament, where upon reading the story of Jesus four times in a row, he can read all of those letters to various churches across the globe before finishing with the visual trip that is Revelation.

So what I'm saying here is that the Bible is not an easy book to read in one go. If one were to choose to read the Bible from cover to cover, he must be prepared. Reading the Bible isn't easy, but then I'd imagine that it isn't supposed to be. But even with that knowledge, the Bible is perhaps the most plodding book I've ever read through (though that title might be challenged when I read Tolkien's The Simarillion later on).

And yet, despite my overall thoughts on the Bible, I consider reading it to be a satisfying one. Though I do not believe in its contents, it was quite interesting to learn where many of Christianity's ideologies come from, and to understand why some people believe what they believe. And while it is a selfish reason, it's also satisfying to know that I've done something that many Christians haven't done, something that I feel all Christians should do if they are to properly acquaint themselves with their religion.

When I started reading the Bible, I considered later on reading other religious texts - the Koran and the Book of Mormon seemed the most likely candidates - but after finishing the Bible I think I'll hold off on those possibilities for a while. Right now, I'm in the mood to read something a bit more enjoyable. Plague Dogs, here I come!

Last week was quite a full week for me. On top of finishing a final project for my "Intermediate Dynamics" class and trying to get some results from my research code, I've been swamped with getting started on my thesis and prepping everything to graduate by the end of this summer. Everything is far from finished, but I feel I'm now at the point where I don't have to feel pinched all the time.

That's not to say that writing my thesis isn't going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. Far from it, in fact. Even though I enjoy writing, my professor has made it clear that my thesis writing is terrible. It's a tough pill to swallow, but one I must swallow if I'm to improve enough to get a thesis past my committee. These next couple months are going to be writing hell, but if I schedule things properly (like I've never done before), I should manage well.

Along with writing my thesis, I'm hoping to get some other writing in as well, including some original works and that LoZ fic. With any luck, I should be able to crank out some material and not blow all of my free time on Grand Theft Auto IV. Here's hoping...

Well, it's finished...half, at least.

After god knows how many years, I finally finished the summaries for the first 26 issues of The Ancestral Trail by posting issues 24-26 earlier today. Granted, I was hoping to get them up last weekend, but that didn't happen. In any case, the first half of the series is complete, and the second half in the Cyber Dimension will begin soon. Twenty-six more issues...can't wait to post them up and help some people relive the memories of reading these things all those years ago.

In other news, 65 pages of my script for the ScriptFrenzy event have been finished, which is far below what I wanted to have written. Today being August 27, that leaves only four days to hammer out the final 45 pages needed to meet the 100-page requirement, which means over 11 pages a day to get the thing done on time.

Truthfully, I'm not sure if I can reach that limit, though it's not too much of a loss. The script I have out so far is utter crap, and I don't see myself tuning or reworking on it once the competition ends. Still, it did give me some motivation to get back into writing, and once the month ends, I should be returning to other writing projects that mean a little more to me, such as that Legend of Zelda fic people keep (rightfully) bugging me about.

Well, that didn't take very long.

Only a couple posts into my new attempt to post in this blog more often, and already a couple of folks have left comments asking the question that seems to be on a lot of people's minds: when in god's name am I going to finish that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fic?

By now, the latest hiatus for the fic's updates has lasted...oh, well over a year now, perhaps even a year and a half, which has left some people very unhappy with me. Believe me, those two comments in my previous entry were not the only ones I've received over the past 12+ months. My email box has gotten an email asking the aforementioned question at least once a month now, reminding all the time that I'm an utter failure for doing something that (apparently) many people are waiting for me to do.

So why haven't I updated for so long? What excuse do I have for the hiatus? Without going into details, the reasons for the lack of updates boil down these three points:

- Working on my Masters program and thesis
- Terrible cases of writer's block
- General procrastination and laziness

I won't try to justify my lack of updating the fic, I'll just say I understand a lot of people are upset with me and I want to make it up to them as best I can. So, with that said, when will the fic be updated again?

I cannot say. I've decided not to set any kind of timetables for updates anymore, because my life is so up and down right now that I don't want to make promises I can't keep. At best, what I can say is that the best time for me to resume work on it will be next month, since I've got a few other projects on the forefront at the moment. I'm currently trying to get back into the groove of writing before I tackle the LoZ fic again, and once I feel comfortable writing more consistently, I should be ready to update the fic on a consistent basis again. Again, I can't give a definitive timetable for that, but with any luck updates should be starting back soon.

To all the fans of the fic who have impatiently waited for me to write another chapter, I sincerely apologize for my lack of direction this past year and a half. If you have any patience left inside you, I hope to reward you with more updates eventually. Until then, the best thing you can do right now is to continue to write me, either in comments in this blog or through my email address. If you continue to makes your feelings heard, I should be held accountable for my actions, which should push me to get things moving again. You are all the reason I continued to write that fic that one day popped in my head all those years ago, so you should at least have a say in making me get off my ass and get things moving again.

Until next time, have a good one!

I'll admit it - I'm one of the guys who bought a PlayStation 3 early on. I'm one of the guys who spent $600 on one of those machines despite the fact that the Xbox360 already had a huge share and the Wii was becoming this generation's Tickle Me Elmo. Looking back, I think I made the right choice. While the PS3 still isn't setting the console world on fire, it's doing a lot better than it did initially (not helped at all by Sony's wretchedly esoteric marketing campaign), meaning decent games are starting to find their way onto the console. Also, I bought a version of the console that has both a fairly large hard drive and good backwards compatibility, something Sony "brilliantly" decided to stop supporting recently. True, I use the system more for my PS2 games than my small collection of PS3 games, but that's because I'm waiting for Sony to start its inevitable Greatest Hits lineup for the PS3, dropping those $60 Blu-Ray discs to a manageable sum. Once that happens, I look forward to plunking down a reasonable sum for games like Motorstorm and Heavenly Sword, games that I feel should only be bought at such cheaper prices.

Yet despite owning my PS3 for well over a year now, I never took advantage of its online capabilities. This was mainly due to the fact that I couldn't even get it online in the first place. The only means I had of connecting the PS3 to the intrawebs was a wired connection directly linked to the modem (leaving my laptop without internet access, unfortunately), and yet nothing I did made the PS3 recognize the connection. So, I just gave up and waited.

Then came last week, when I decided to buy myself a wireless router. Thinking it might be nice to have the internet through the air instead of through a wire in my apartment, I plunked down the dough for a Linksys WRT54G2 router (it looks dark and menacing and evil, so I named it Dark Linky). Despite Linksys' inability to provide setup instructions for a MacBook Pro, I managed to get the wireless router up and running, leaving my laptop free to roam the studio apartment. But then I wondered, what if my PS3 might actually work?

Deciding to give it a shot, I hooked my PS3 directly to the router and turned the thing on. One quick journey through the internet setup and...boom! Instant access! My PS3 came to life! It was almost insulting how easy it was to connect through the router. I still have no idea why it didn't work through the modem, but now that the PS3 is connected, I don't care to find out.

So now that I have an internet connection, what to do with it? It was then that I remembered reading on IGN about a PS3-exclusive online-only game called Warhawk, which anyone can play online for free through Sony's online network. Deciding to give it a shot, I stopped by the nearest Gamestop and bought a used copy of Warhawk. Back at home, after going through the online registration process, I popped the disc in and logged into the game.

Five days later, I am kicking myself for not getting this game earlier. It is absolutely amazing. It reminds me of the time I spent playing Dune 2000 and Warcraft II (yes, Warcraft was once an offline game series, remember) in the computer labs at my high school. Sure, I got killed a lot by the other players (I still do), but that sweet satisfaction of taking down a soldier with a flamethrower or blowing him to bits with a grenade or blasting a Warhawk cruiser to bits with a missile...it just puts a big smile on my face. As long as Sony keeps these servers going, I should be playing this game for quite some time.

Also, now that I have my PS3 online, I'm wondering what other games I can get connected to the tubes. Motorstorm, while having a fairly shallow single-player, is pretty damn good as a multiplayer game, I've heard, though I'd rather wait for the price to go down on that one. There's also Grand Theft Auto IV coming out this month, which apparently has a kick-ass multiplayer attached. If that game is as good as I'm hoping it to be, I just might bite the bullet and spend the $60 on that one.

Until then, I can't wait to surprise someone with a TOW missile while hovering on the outskirts of the map, hehe.