A Manifesto of My Own

Back in the summer of 2002, during a summer session at Upward Bound, I played Halo... A lot. It was the thing to do for that summer, and the summer that followed. Not just because it was cool as hell, but because it was fun as hell. I have many a fond memory of system link battles crossing the hallways of our dorm and 8 people duking it out in Blood Gulch. Sniping someone out of a tank, stealing said tank, and raining down pwnage until some bastard managed to return the favor...Ah, those were good times.

By the end of that summer, I decided I HAD to have an Xbox so I could play Halo at home. When I finally succeeded, I proceeded to break the game. Inspired by the epic Warthog Jump by Randall Glass and the amazing Frogblast explorations, I did my best to make the Halo engine kneel.

During my summer sessions at Upward Bound, I was also exposed to programming for the first time. I'm from a small town and a small school, and this was really cool and new stuff for me. It was just BASIC, but it occurred to me that's how games like Halo were made, and I knew then what I wanted to do with my life. I was 16.

Now it's one thing to have a dream, and another thing to have the skills and abilities to achieve that dream. I'm no fool; I knew then that this wasn't going to be easy. I originally wanted to go to The DigiPen Institute of Technology, a school co-founded by Nintendo of America for the purpose of educating aspiring game designers, programmers, and animators in the tools of the trade. At the time I was applying for colleges, however, they did not have a financial aid program (they do now) and the tuition and other expenses were far too expensive for me. I ended up going to UW-Oshkosh, which turned out to have a rather good Computer Science department.

In the meantime, I delved into the community, and learned more about the Bungie team: the traditions(starts at 4:40), the inside jokes (Frog blast the vent core!), and yes, the music (first commercial only). I've seen the tours of their new digs; I've been watching the job postings like a hawk; And lately I've been looking up all sorts of stuff on the area, like climate and housing costs. It may have been a dream 6 years ago, but now its fast approaching the time where I have to make a choice: Do I pursue my long held dream?

Back then, it seemed like a no-brainer. I've never been a very social person, and at the time, it never occurred to me that making such a change in my life would affect me so drastically. But things changed for me in college. I have beautiful 3-year-old niece now. I have a lot of good friends that I just don't want to lose. I have no illusions about it, I'm probably not going to see as much of my friends as I do now after graduation no matter what I end up doing, but at least they wouldn't necessarily be 1000 miles away. Yeah, I'll make new friends wherever I go. I just don't want to go alone :/

Well that's what's on my plate this year. I figure I have to make a final decision by the end of fall semester so I can start on the job/apartment hunt, whether it be local or not. For now, though, I've decided I'm going to work towards making that dream a reality. My practicum will be geared towards game programming and design, and I'm planning on my own 7 step plan to Bungie domination, as an homage to Bungie's 7 step plan for world domination(scroll down to the heading "The Plan"). I'm hoping that by creating a game plan it will keep me as focused and determined as I am now. Stay tuned, as I'm sure my usual sense of humor will be in full swing when I write that one :)

Dusting Off the Shelves

So it's been a long time since I last wrote in my blog. Something like 18 months or so. Well anyhow, I figure it's time to get on my ass and type up a little of my life. Besides, I'm at work and I'm bored out of my mind.

I have this belief about life--based on my own thus far, of course. The basic idea is that it's something like a roller coaster, with all those ups and downs. The ups of nervous excitement and anticipation. The downs of fear and delight. Then deadly derailing that happens far more often in the metaphor than in reality.And isn't it always just as everything is going swimmingly when all hell breaks loose? Well, I suppose it's better than waiting in line--it's far more exciting.

One fun ride I've been on lately is called the Internship Splash of Happy Fun Time. Recently I had an interview at a company here in Oshkosh, one that I thought went rather well (AKA, I didn't completely freeze or blank out). So for a few days I was riding high, hands in the air, laughing and smiling as I waited eagerly to see whether or not I did well. So I waited. And waited. And for a change of pace I ate some ice cream and then I waited some more. Finally I emailed them asked what was going on. They responded that I had interviewed with the wrong person, and I would have to come in for another interview. OK fine. I'd rather not have another uncomfortable interview but at least I'd have a little more confidence this time.

So I waited to hear about the next interview, as I baked in the July heat. And I waited. And I had some more ice cream. And finally I contacted them again, and found out that they'd decided that they weren't going to accept another intern at this time after all. Brilliant! I've now wasted just over a month waiting for an internship that wasn't going to happen anyways. Granted, I still have my job, but an internship would satisfy a graduation requirement, not to mention it was a paid internship, and would probably pay almost twice what I make now. In the end though, I don't think I would want to work for a company that manages to drop the ball as badly as they did.

Now I have another internship possibility coming up, and I'm waiting, once again, for news about this one as well. With luck I'll even have an interview before September!

IPod use on N.Y. streets could mean iFines

IPod use on N.Y. streets could mean iFines

Heh...I suppose it was only a matter of time...On campus in Oshkosh we see plenty of people just going their merry way and almost getting flattened 'cuz hey ain't paying attention. Fortunately drivers around here are used to that sort of thing so they tend to be even more cautious.

So does that mean that hawt female night elf really IS a chick?

According to this article, 64% of online gamers are women. Hmmm...NE1 WAN7 2 CYB3R?

Google Searches Code

This seems like a great idea. Every so often (especially when changing from Java to C++ and vice versa), I'll forget some simple thing or two. Here's hoping this makes my "I can't BELIEVE I forgot that" moments pass much quicker.
Macworld: News: Google helps programmers find code online

Balance in WoW

Warlocks are what now?

Woes of the iGeneration

The Tech Zone Computer Hardware Reviews

Ok, the story itself isn't particularly interesting, it's the spelling and grammar of the article that bugs me. I could understand if the website it appears on was a non-English site, or if the author (Stephane Dion [sic] ) had an obviously non English name, but neither are so. I suppose my only consolation is that it's not coming from a reputable news source such as the New York Times, but it does make me despair of the quality of the "iGeneration".