|11:20 PM| Okay, I'm making the following text the same color as my backround so that you can avoid Return to Castle Wolfenstein related spoilers. What the hell was up with the last boss? I was told how he was completely impossible, and that it was a stupid way to end the game. Well, it was a stupid way to end the game, but instead of this incredible fight or challenge, I beat the boss in basically one try. I did die on that level once, but since I didn't even see the boss before dying it doesn't really count. Circle strafing, the entire stock of Tesla Gun ammo, a couple rounds from the chaingun, and I end it all with a single blast from the Flame thrower purely for style points. That's it. End of fucking game. You don't fight Hitler, you don't fight Himmler. Hell, you don't even fight anything remotely Nazi for the endgame. That's a load of total crap. The boss was neither impressive nor innovative. A large portion of the damn game was innovative, and exciting. The boss was neigher. I'm highly dissapointed. I'm going to purchase the game for it's multiplayer aspect, so once I've paid money this griping will be legit.
It really shouldn't be impossible to make a decent boss for a First Person Shooter game. The bosses I've seen recently (last 3 years) usually relied on a incredibly shitty methods of being hard. A boss should be difficult in a way that is not frustrating. You should feel that if you get a little faster or better at a couple of game skills you will best the boss. You shouldn't have to get lucky and spend the whole boss fight doing something stupid. When you have to "cheat" the game (Like relying on a path finding problem on the boss's part) you aren't having a good game experience. And why do bosses have to be big? Why not have a boss character that is just as hardcore as the player character, with the added advantage being the new weapon in the game, or perhaps a bunch of fodder enemies? You have another soldier who has basically your stats (Health, speed, accuracy, weapon loadout) and then you are putting your game AI against a player's skill. I have played games where the game AI was very impressive, playing the game better than other humans would. An example of this is the marines from Half Life. They'd dodge, run behind corners, flee towards re-inforcements, and avoid going toe-toe against your superior firepower whenever they could. A boss controlled by AI like that but with the firepower to match yours would make an impressive boss.
"But if I wanted to fight a character like me I'd play multiplayer"
Hmmm. Well, I'll just have to come up with a new kind of boss then. Give me some time. I should talk to good old Bezzy and JP about this.
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|9:50 PM| This is a good read.
I'm built out of meat. If I was chopped into little pieces, they'd be nothing but protein, fat, calcium, water, some trace elements and a bunch of gooey stuff. You can't put them back together, and they aren't worth much. Everyone is just cheap meat animated and made wonderful. The play Hamlet raised these same issues in a much better fashion that I have, but that version seemed so depressed, what was the point, if everyone is just worm food that hasn't ripened yet? I think it's magnificent that a bunch of water and other junk in the right order can play a musical instrument. Anything can be done with the right tools, and it seems that the tools for the purest and most interesting beauty is a big sack of high grade meat.
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|4:10 PM| Went on 2 jobs today, earning me a grand total of $80. That's pretty good for a day that would normally earn me zero. I'm heading out tommorow to finish on of the jobs, so that should take the total up to $120 to $150. It's not quite a living, and I earn more in a day at Lexmark, but i need every spare cent I can get. Sort of.
So I'm going to make cookies for my neighbors. I was going to do it last night, but cleaning the kitchen took a whole lot longer that I anticipated. So did getting the ingredients. So it's scheduled for today. I should make something for dinner, but I've already purchased this weeks noodles.
If I advertised myself as an independent computer person, OH DAMMIT. I was suppossed to call those two companies this week. Son of a gun. Well, that's one thing to do. Call the mobile guys and the Nerdz guys today or monday. Son of a gun.
Good, gives me something to look forward to, possible additional income.
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Friday, November 30, 2001
|5:40 PM| Well, I played that damn game today. After looking through the source book, making a couple "Azarael of the abyss" jokes, we gamed. Highlights include a sudden appearance of Denzel Washington, and the unexpected decapitation of several dogs. Goddamn, we're fucking dorks.
So the weekend is here, and I hope that someone, someplace is doing something. It's entirely possible that they may call me.
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|2:00 PM| Vid wants better press. Though highly intelligent his quick scoff and attitude of superiority sometimes makes me want to throw staplers at him.
There we go.
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|11:27 AM| I don't know what has happened recently, but role playing seems to be possessing the people around me. JP has just updated his blog on a D&D quest, Lampshade has finished her time with AD&D along with mudding, and now my co-worker is trying to start up a game here in the office. Okay, I'm a big sickening dork, so RPG's should be right up my alley, but other than a short stint once a week back at Road Runner with games of Shadow Run, I've never been big into them at all. The Shadowrun games were a good way to pass time at work, but I couldn't see myself dragging my ass out of my home to go gaming.
Well, here at work our options on games is limited, as we've been stealing sourcebooks off of news groups. So despite my protests that it would turn us into "Fucking Goths" we've printed out the source book to "Vampire: The Masquerade". After only a few pages of reading, it's clear that this isn't even a real RPG. I'm going to have be a whiny fucker about this whole operation. Shadowrun at least had 1337 HaX0rs with guns, and we were all big Nueromancer fans so the games were a blast. But we're not a bunch of lilly white bastards with top hats and canes so I think this game idea is DOOMED.
I won't ruin the game with bitching, I'll participate. It should make the day go faster. Goddamn vampires.
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Thursday, November 29, 2001
|9:58 AM| Well, my "boss", Videodrome, has found this little sewer of ego stroking. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. Not much to say about Mr. Drome, other than his wanting of better news coverage. He's taking over for my "real" boss, also known as Richard. both of these guys can be seen occasionally on the work cam, though I am the only one in the office today. I'm sure I'm the only guy that works in this office that is currently wearing pants, as well.
I wonder if I wrote about Vid's day of babbling in here, how I was pretty sure if he didn't shut up, I was going to have to kill him. What an odd day that was. Well, I blab about enough stuff in here, I'm sure I'll mention it again at some point.
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|9:17 AM| Good Gracious, I had quite a morning. I was slow to wake up, as my bed was warm and comfortable, the bedsheets were like a pair of socks you've just pulled out of the dryer. The rest of my house, however, left something to be desired as far as fast moving air molecules go. I got ready for work, and stepped outside only to find the honorable and trustworthy ground had been replaced with a sheet of dastardly ice. Luckily, I did not fall, as I probably would have tumbled down 3 flights of stairs. Grabbing a really heavy weight from my house, and slowly walking backwards while gripping a hand rail, I made my way down to my car.
My car was a solidblock of ice with a Corolla at the center, like a tootsie roll pop or perhaps a Kinder Egg. The locks were frozen, the trunk was frozen, the windows were frozen. With a borrowed scraper I managed to break into my car and carve little portholes through the ice. My windshield wipers were frozen into the hood, so all I heard for a long time was a angry whirring noise when I tried to use them. On the road, they suddenly dislodged themselves, and that was a bit of a shock. With the highway closed by several police cars, I made my way to work with no further incident. Bringing us to NOW.
WELCOME....TO THE FUTURE!
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Wednesday, November 28, 2001
|3:51 PM| Well, a big name network type person came into the office today, so I had to make the webcam vanish, as he might have realized what it was. He was definitely a geek, but... a responsible one! He may not have appreciated me doing all the things I had to do to get a webcam working, so right now it's under my desk broadcasting my feet. I can't seem to get the damn thing to turn off without uninstalling the camera, and I really don't want to do that. The arrival of the network guy made cut short and not finish editing an email that I was getting to be proud of, and likely needed a couple more minutes editing. Any email I write requires a lot of whittling, since I often just throw a bunch of stuff down and then start trimming and correcting all the typos. Ah well, the recipient should understand it well enough. that or never talk to me again and put a bounty on my head.
With quite a solid "thud" noise I rammed my knee into the side of my desk while trying to get out in a hurry. I bring this up because my other leg is acting up as well, so if I want to limp to take stress off of one leg, I put a whole lot of stress on the other. I just have to wince, walk normally, and swear under my breath as I walk downstairs. It's an amusing situation, to me, at the back of my head. But I'm paying more attention to the bruised knee that doesn't bend properly. It's cold as hell around here, I can enjoy it for a short while since it's new and different.
Update:
Found the process, replaced the cam. all is well.
Soooo cold in here. My car was cold, the steering wheel was colder and my house's heater hasn't been turned on in months and months. So cold that my fingers aren't bending quite right. Yeesh. I'll just start burning cardboard, I have enough.
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|10:33 AM| VICTOLY. It appears the printer managment program has once again gotten screwed by Dell, and the contract answer has not come back yet! Why am I happy about this? Well, that means that I won't be spending the holidays installing about a thousand printers here at Dell. Aaaaand if I happen to stumble into a big pile of money, I can travel someplace during December. The tough part will be deciding where. Almost as difficult is the how, and the how long.
Good lord, the storm last night was incredible. I jumped out of my chair on a couple of those lightning strikes, since my lights flickered and my monitor went all weird. I had to turn everything in my house off, and I was kept up all night by thunder and car alarms.
As a kind of joke I started writing a school-type essay comparing my Blog here with "Rosencrantz and Guildestern are Dead" and it kind of works. It works a little too well in some cases, except for the whole being hanged thing, and there's only one of me. If it has any value when I'm finished with it I'll post a link.
Cast list is almost complete, just coding the page right now, and re-sizing components. It's slow going on this work machine. Blerg.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2001
|4:09 PM| At work, I lack a proper free weight, so I've been using a water bottle. It's not much, but enough reps and my arm starts to "feel the burn". It's a big water bottle, and on the back of it is a phone number. "What do you think? we'd love to hear from you, and it's free!" is written above the 800 number. Out of the blue, I tell my boss that we're calling these guys, and we are put through almost immediately to a customer service human. We tell her how my boss buys the stuff by the case (truth) and that he's been drinking it for 3 years (truth). She seemed pleased and amused by our random, good natured call. I wonder what she normally has to deal with. People calling and yelling "My bottled water isn't wet enough, goddammit!"
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|10:12 AM| Drat. The movie Novacaine is getting crappy reviews. I'm missing my pinky ring, it's a drag.
Blah. When I'm nattering on like this, and then someone like JP goes and makes an entry that just blows me away (Look for the starting "well, she's gone now"), I almost lose the compulsion to blab on about myself, but not completely, see how I'm still writing? I'm going to work on a cast list today. That should eat up some time until I can go home and finish up some projects.
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|1:11 AM| So Zusty went and made a cast list and she covered the verbal bases for the people I'd list pretty well. I have some personal slants on them, but Zusty came up with it. I'm a leech. For Vorpal, I'd say him throwing his arms up and grunting as if he was yelling something at me. But that's because I aggravate him more. I can suggest one thing, since she lacks one for Lampshade, her smiling and saying "Bwaaar" in this cute, growly voice. JP explains things so well. He'd make the kind of teacher everyone remembers years later as that bad ass teacher. I can sort of see JP wandering the earth spreading knowledge from town to town and occasionally fighting crime, or saving the town dam. Zusty herself, when she questions me will half blink and squint, this good natured eye-narrowing, as she cocks her head and chirps out a "mewor?"
I guess this means I should make my own cast list. Off to Google images I go.I go! That will be my at work project tommorow.
Goddammit, the cat is vomiting again.
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Monday, November 26, 2001
|5:33 PM| Random Aim Moment:
Vorpal: LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR
Cecil: EVERYBODY GET ON THE FLOOR
Cecil: EVERYBODY DO THE DINOSAUR
Vorpal: hahahaha
Vorpal: I was thinking that as well
Dammit, now I need to find a copy of "Walk the dinosaur" or whatever the hell that song was. Audiogalaxy is being bitchy. If you can help, email me, please! If you don't help I'll be forced to listen to other music, and if "Clubbed to Death" comes on it could erase my brain!
Edit:
Got the song, the exact lyrics are apparently "Open the door, get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur"
Well, that works. I'm uploading it to KDI for your listening pleasure. link will be: This
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|1:49 PM| Not to be outdone by Lampshade, I have established a really boring Webcam. It shows myself and Videodrome hard at work. Hooooray. We sit around. Sometimes I eat Butterfingers. Sometimes Videodrome throws things at my head.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
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Sunday, November 25, 2001
|9:36 PM| This is fascinating. I have to go to work tommorow. What a drag. I liked this vacation. It doesn't help that I was ill and slept through Friday. Well, these things happen. At least I got paid for my trouble.
I'm really feeling like dancing. Too bad I don't know how to do anything besides an incredibly simple waltz.
I've got to find that damn phone number for the martial arts institute in town. I'm such a goof.
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|7:21 PM| I got Wolfenstein, and I think I'm going to pay for it. That way I can play online and give money to the people making such a damned entertaining Online Murder Simulator. I do have one complaint, I've reached an area with Nazi Female Assasins. Sure, they've got big breasts, they bothered putting make-up on, they have their top zippers down a signifigant distance, oh, and to use JP's terms, they have "I'm Fucking" pain noises, these are all common to this sort of game. Undersexed males must snap this sort of thing up, but taking this sort of crap one step further are the boots these characters are wearing. I was caught off guard and low on life at one point by one of these enemies and was killed. When I fell I saw the incredibly huge high heels these assasins are parading around wearing. I'll try to get a screen shot. The last time I saw shoes like this I was hoping the woman wearing them was a prostitute and not merely trying to dress that way.
Almost wrecked my car a couple days ago. Well, I'm a better driver than that, I performed a huge swerve to avoid something without really thinking. What was it? 2 butterflies flew in front of my car and I narrowly avoided hitting them. "Butterflies?" you say. "Cecil, you are a doofus" Ah, but the butterflies justify their existence merely by being pretty. I haven't quite justified myself yet. Also, if you have ever hit a butterfly, and watched as it was stuck to your hood ornament, then had to drive the 15 minutes back home with a dead thing fluttering just inside your field of vision, you'd avoid that sort of thing vigorously in the future as well.
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|12:28 PM| Hooray! It looks like just about everyone is back in town! Zusty has been updating, and I see that Lampshade has returned as well. Thank goodness for funny internet type friends. JP was a fairly constant source of that updating magic. I don't really read any forums anymore, and I don't chat all that often, but this blog diary "racket" is mighty addictive on its own.
Had awful awful awful nightmares last night. The first real nightmares I've had in ages. I missed a dosage on my drugs, (I was asleep for so long that I missed the dosage time) and right as I remembered that I should have taken a dosage a little earlier in the day, I kind of wne nuts. I'm back under control, but I just now made the connection between missing that dosage and these dreams. I put a short little summary of one here because it made this update a bit long and it is depressing. I just had to get it out on "paper". It was bothering me.
Still not back to full power. I was such a glutton yesterday, obviously drained with my fight with disease I ate entire large domnio's pizza in one sitting. I imagine I made comical Chomp Chomp Chomp noises, complete with cartoonish lines around my head to show movement.
Friday was PAYDAY. And I was running gleefully to Amazon.com to blow all of my budget excess on all these nifty books that I've been waiting months to buy... when I remembered something my mother asked me at dinner "Have you started your christmas shopping?" Eeek! So I'm spending all my extra dough on other people! Hmmph. Crazy world.
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